#but maybe season two was just returning to the pilot's roots where there was that girl who was obsessed with one of the lifeguards

[beautifulscreaminglady]

I don't know if I'm going to continue watching Baywatch. I love season one but season two has a wildly different tone and what's worse, in a way that feels obvious and forced. I don't know if there was a writer change or what but the drama and the stakes go up to 11 and things get fucking DARK. Also they replaced Hobie's actor and also seemingly de-aged him which is a real trip.

[positivexcellence]

Supernatural star Jensen Ackles on playing Dean again in The Winchesters finale: 'It was a mixed bag'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: If your return wasn't exciting enough, you guys also brought in Bobby (Jim Beaver) and Jack (Alexander Calvert), and it feels like you really managed to pull off that surprise.

JENSEN ACKLES: Yeah. People were like, "Are we gonna see more faces in the finale?" And I was like, "Of course you are, but I'm not telling you who." [Laughs] There's a treasure trove to choose from. And moving forward, God willing, there's been plenty of interest by folks that are deeply rooted in the Supernatural lore who were like, "Hey, why didn't I get a call?" I'm like, "Wait till season 2." Hopefully we can bring those familiar faces. We want to make the most entertaining show we can. That's what we set out to do in the beginning and what we hope to continue to accomplish.

Let's talk the alternate universe twist, which is a great way to sidestep canon.

That's the thing. Everybody's like, "I can't believe you're gonna mess with the show's lore," and it's like, "Hang on, just trust us." And in fact, it plays right into it. You've got Bobby, you've got Jack, you've got the fact that Sam is still on Earth, and here's Dean, literally in heaven trying to do things to protect the life his brother's living. So it furthers the lore.

And then it opens the door to other characters, a different Sam and Dean, etc.

Right. It would've been a fool's errand to try and box ourselves in with what had been created on Supernatural. We would be boxed in by that. In order to get our two heroes together and make it make sense in that timeframe, it had to be messed with. And the only way to really mess with that was just to make it a completely separate, alternate thing, which luckily the mothership had established with Chuck [Rob Benedict] when he was like, "I've made multiverses, and you guys are my favorite." So we knew that there was still stuff out there. And then also to tether it to the fact that, oh, if this was a fail safe that Chuck created, how many other fail safes does he have?

Obviously you played Dean in the pilot, but you didn't have any dialogue. You've been doing the narration. But what was it like to really be back playing him again in this setting?

It was a mixed bag. It's weird because we're in a different city, filming with a different crew. I'm working with different actors. Having Jim there and having Calvert there, it was almost like we were brought in from another team to come and show these new recruits how to play baseball. [Laughs] Like we weren't on our home turf. But it was a position that we were all very comfortable with jumping into and, how could you not be with playing those characters as long as we all have? It was like Dean was on location.

You really threw fans for a loop with that turtleneck and peacoat look.

[Laughs] Kerry Weinrauch from Supernatural is our costume designer on The Winchesters. When Kerry and I started talking about, "Well, what's that gonna look like when Dean hands the letter to his dad?" I was like, "What if he tries to pass as a sailor or somebody that's in the Navy? People wouldn't bat an eye if they saw somebody that looked like he just got off a boat." I was like, "I don't know, maybe peacoat?" [Laughs] She's like, "Yeah, we can get you peacoat." And then she had a turtleneck and she was like, "I mean, if we're gonna do it, let's do it." [Laughs]

It was also Dean with facial hair!

Without giving away too much, I'm supposed to do another character, and I needed that kind of facial growth and that hair to stick around. I didn't know if I should cut all my hair off and shave my beard. And [showrunner] Robbie [Thompson] was like, "Well, then don't." I think they did a good enough job of making it look like I've been in heaven for a while. In fact, Jim Beaver actually added a line in that scene in the train station where he's like, "I'm gonna go get the cavalry." And, I think I say like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "Well, you know, we gotta get some help." And then just before he walks away, he goes, "Nice try with the beard though." I think we were just running long on time and we had to shave every little bit of stuff away, so unfortunately that that didn't make it. But we got to have a little fun.

I'm assuming that was your Baby?

Yeah, that was number one, Dean's original car. It was funny. As I arrived on set, they were doing the the car screeching to a halt, the shot of it coming through the portal. Our stunt driver is a local stunt guy there in Louisiana, Tyler, he's one of our assistant coordinators. I walked up and I stood by the monitors for one take and they all cut and I'm like, "That's it! Get out of my car!" [Laughs] Tyler's like, "Dude, I saw you over there and I got really nervous."

You also had to show up and deliver so much exposition in what was also a really emotional scene for Dean.

I know. And the funny thing is, for the last like six seasons [of Supernatural], we hired guest stars to come on and deliver the exposition. [Laughs] Jared and I didn't have to do any of that s---. And here I am coming in as a guest star and having to deliver like, the biggest piece of exposition the show has ever seen. I'm just thankful it was Robbie's writing. His writing just slides right off the tongue.

Safe to say you guys opened up so many potential stories with that ending!

I'm hoping. We're in such a weird time right now with the network kind of changing guard and not knowing quite what the new format's gonna be and how that's all gonna pan out. I know that everybody did everything they could to make the best show that they could. I know I'm really proud of it and everybody involved is really proud of it. Hopefully we land on our feet in some capacity, but I don't know what that's gonna look like.

EW

[hopeshoodie]

How do you think Rocco would have done in s1 and how do you think your s1 mc would have handle him if they were couple-ed at the beginning?

👀

Also so many asks I want to send ahshshs spams you

This ended up being super long oops, readmore inserted for anyone who doesn't want to read me rambling about S1 and Rocco

Honestly I don’t think there’s many people who would do well in Season 1, not because there were a lot of eliminations (there really weren’t), but because the islanders in S1 did really realize the value of building up their personal narratives through relationships 

MC/her partner and Tim/Jen were the only ones who got close. The rest of the islanders were kind of just vibing, doing the challenges, and picking on each other. It’s one of the reasons I really like S1, it genuinely feels like a pilot season where the characters don’t know the meta of what’s happening and are just generally messier than shows that have established seasons. 

So as for Rocco, the question isn’t really how much drama he’d get into, it’s if there’s a character who he’ll like enough to create an organic storyline with. And that’s where I struggle. Because Allegra would NOT be into him, Lucy and Cherry would see right through him, Erikah likes pretty boys, Sammi is too good for him and comes in too late, and Talia has better options. 

That only leaves Jen. I can kind of see Jen defaulting to him the way she defaulted to Tim, and Rocco never has a problem with his partner being poorly behaved, but I don’t think… They’d be endearing in the way Jen/Tim were. Jen and Tim were shippable to the audience because they felt mismatched, you kind of root for Tim. But Rocco, with his cluelessness to how out of touch he seems socially, isn’t as endearing as Tim. So instead of having an incredibly endearing (but a little annoying and uggo) partner paired with a bland but attractive partner, you just have two generally attractive partners who are both insufferable. I don’t think the audience would root for that. 

Then again, Rocco already has a leg up on the other competitors, because he has depth that he’s willing to get into. No one else really confesses personal issues or gets super intimate with the other islanders in S1, but Rocco’s ready to come out swinging with ‘I dropped out of college because of depressions and also I think maybe I need to respect women more and also I struggle to connect with people because they always seem to make fun of me’, which gives him more intimacy to the audience and islanders AND sets him up for personal growth. The producers would want to keep him around/bring him back just to foster that growth and have a story to root for. 

So here’s my S1 route for Rocco- he comes in as an OG islander. He cracks on with all the girls, but instead of it blowing up into ‘he’s a snake let’s all bully him!!’ the S1 girls are just… Not impressed with him. He gets paired by Erikah because it’s either him or Jasper/Miles. She’s visibly not happy about it. He does his Rocco schtick- trying to get in on conversations, telling drawn out travel stories, trying to joke around with people but missing the punchline- and everyone generally ignores/makes fun of him. He gets eliminated, but the producers bring him back on day 10 as a returning islander, and that’s when he apologizes to the women for not really listening to them and only focusing on himself and what he wanted. I think he gets paired with Talia (instead of Jasper/Miles, ew) and she’s chill with that as long as he’s committed to actually being chill. 

Also my S1 MC Clara would eat Rocco's heart in the marketplace. She's a bitch.

[veronicamarsconfessions]

Editor’s Note: TV moves on, but we haven’t. In our feature series It Still Stings, we relive emotional TV moments that we just can’t get over. You know the ones, where months, years, or even decades later, it still provokes a reaction? We’re here for you. We rant because we love. Or, once loved. And obviously, when discussing finales in particular, there will be spoilers:

There was a time when Veronica Mars’ legacy was that of a beloved cult show that was canceled too soon by network executives who didn’t understand it. With the arrival of a crowd-funded feature film in 2014, its legacy evolved as one of the first shows to see the benefits of a revival. Now, it simply brings thoughts of sadness, rage, and betrayal.

When Hulu first announced it was reviving the series for an eight-episode fourth season, the news was met with resounding joy from a vocal and passionate fanbase that had never given up hope it would return after the crowd-funded feature film reunited Kristen Bell’s Veronica, a pint-sized private eye with a sharp mind and even sharper wit, with her one true love, the reformed bad boy Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring). But the fire that had burned for more than a decade and twice-revived the show was suddenly extinguished in a single, heartbreaking, and wholly unnecessary moment when Logan was killed by a bomb left in Veronica’s car shortly after the couple exchanged wedding vows.

I can still remember the shock I felt when I reached the end of the screeners Hulu sent. The whole thing felt kind of surreal, like if I didn’t acknowledge what had happened out loud maybe it didn’t actually happen. But it did happen. And I’m still filled with a fiery rage and a deep sadness when I think about it now, nearly two years removed from the episode in question, because needlessly killing Logan was a betrayal of the worst kind. The character’s untimely demise felt engineered for nothing more than shock value, like it existed only to leave Veronica even more isolated and cynical. But the interviews that series creator Rob Thomas gave in the aftermath, in which he tried to defend the decision, revealed something much worse while only driving the knife he’d stuck in fans’ backs deeper.

“In order for us to keep doing these, I think it needs to become a detective show—a noir, mystery, detective show—and those elements of teenage soap need to be behind us,” Thomas told TV Guide of the decision to kill Logan, noting that he also hoped to take Veronica out of Neptune and on the road in potential future seasons. “I sort of viewed these eight episodes as a bridge to what Veronica Mars might be moving forward.”

Instead of being a bridge to the future, it was a bridge to a grave of Thomas’ own making. Not since How I Met Your Mother ignored literal years of character development to deliver a half-cooked series finale the creators had come up with several years prior has a show felt so out of touch with its characters, the story it was telling, and its fans. Thomas’ decision to kill Logan is the perfect example of a creator being unable to recognize their own biases to the detriment of their creation.

He wrongly believed that Veronica needed to be hardened by years of nonstop torment and trauma in order to prove she was a great detective whose story was worth continuing. In putting her through the emotional wringer (again) after spending the entire season attempting to dig into her flaws and determine the root of her problems, Thomas swiftly undermined his heroine and her trauma with one misguided act of devastating violence. The fact that Thomas then chose to also skip over Veronica’s grieving process entirely reveals how little he ultimately thought of Logan or Veronica’s relationship with him, which had pushed her to be better and work through her longtime trust issues.

It is common knowledge by now that Logan was not intended to be Veronica’s love interest when the show debuted, but the fans took to the character more than they took to Teddy Dunn’s Duncan “He Used to Be My Boyfriend” Kane, so the latter was jettisoned from the show after Season 2. And in the end, Logan turned out to be a much better partner and match for Veronica’s personality. So what’s truly unfortunate about Thomas killing Logan, and killing him so violently, is that his thought process during Season 4 has the potential to color everything that happened in the show up until the moment the bomb went off. There is also the issue that Thomas apparently believed that Veronica achieving some level of romantic happiness was a one-way ticket to the grave, as if shows like Friday Night Lights hadn’t already soundly debunked the myth that happy couples did not make great TV.

Obviously an emotional family drama does not play by the same rules as noir, but Veronica Mars had already proven that you don’t need to play firmly within the sandbox of the genre to excel creatively. So why should the more adult version of the show attempt to put itself back in the box to be confined to something more traditional or stereotypical? Furthermore, love and contentment are not character flaws or weaknesses. They are not an element of “teenage soap,” as Thomas put it. In fact, one could argue that by allowing herself to believe that she and Logan could have a happy future together regardless of everything she’d witnessed in her line of work, Veronica had shown more personal and emotional growth in the show’s fourth season than she had in the entire run of the series.

At the heart of the matter, though, is one simple, glaring truth: Logan’s death was a fundamental misreading of the entire Veronica Mars fandom and what they liked about the show. Storytelling should never be dictated by the fans and their desires—one of the loudest and most common complaints critics had about the movie was that it felt too much like Thomas was just giving the fans what they wanted rather than attempting to tell a good story—but when your fandom has dug their hands into the cold soil of the TV graveyard to raise your show from the dead, you should probably have a grasp on what exactly the fans like about it in the first place. After all, they’re the reason you still exist and will be one of the final arbiters of whether or not you get to continue to exist in the future. And the idea that fans would somehow be interested in watching a version of Veronica Mars in which Veronica was on the road, completely alone, and Logan was blown to bits is just a wild miscalculation.

This isn’t to suggest Veronica Mars could not ever survive without Logan. That would be to undercut the rest of the show and the woman Veronica has become since we first saw her cutting Wallace (Percy Daggs III) off the flagpole in the series’ pilot. But there is a difference in writing Logan out of the show’s ongoing story arc—his secretive Naval career offered the perfect out—and violently killing him in an attempt to shock viewers and show just how resilient your heroine is in the face of trauma. A survivor of rape who had to solve the murder of her best friend (Amanda Seyfried) while still in high school because the sheriff’s department was too inept to do it (or simply did not care to do it), Veronica had already been through more in her young life than anyone should ever have to live through.

Although Logan’s death led to her finally seeing a therapist, it seemed to be a one-time thing, so nothing has really changed. Veronica is still the same person she was before the show returned, except now she’s also a widow and Thomas has alienated an entire fanbase to the point that many fans, though likely not all, have no interest in revisiting her story. And they’re not likely to either, since Hulu chose not to move forward with another season.

So much for that bridge to the future.

[kirstinmaldonado]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN 2.0

I remember watching Glee. The pilot episode came out the end of my junior year, and then resumed my senior year of high school when I’d already been chosen and named Show Choir Captain (which of course was the biggest triple threat honor and validation one could have as a senior in the arts, right?). ;)

I’ll remember how I felt after the pilot episode forever. A spark lit up inside of me. Of inspiration? Of drive? Of acceptance? 

All three!? It made this little choir nerd feel COOL! I remember being blown away because there was nothing quite like it at the time, representing teens unabashedly following their passions whether it seemed cool or not, right or wrong. To just be! The next morning at school we all chatted about how badass we felt and how we would bring that energy to show choir. How cool it was that such a show came out when we were seniors, in a very “Watch out world, this is OUR year” way!

Little baby Kirstie transferred to Martin High School, with its renowned and arguably top music and theatre program of high schools in that area, for freshman year; which felt simultaneously like a nice clean start and incredibly horrifying. I had a few friends from community theatre but not too many in my grade and not too many that I shared classes with.

I was one of two freshman to make show choir my first year, and while I was excited for such an honor it immediately ostracized me. No one knew who I was or where I had come from, and that made me few friends and a few enemies. Although I wasn’t popular in high school, I don’t think I was unpopular…I ran in the theatre and choir crowd and took all AP classes, even graduating in the top 30 of my almost 1000 person class. 

My amazing mother instilled a strong worth ethic in me, so I valued working hard in school. I loved the schedule, I loved taking notes because I liked looking at my handwriting and cursive, how neat it was. I liked to highlight and color code everything so it was easier and more enticing to look at. I loved immersing myself in studies and extracurriculars which I balanced well, the curriculum only made harder if I skipped studying to hang with friends, which then turned in to grueling all nighters. 

But…sometimes I’d go to first period exhausted (sliding in to my seat right on time or late, you know how I roll) and there would be a Starbucks coffee on my desk from my best friend Will. Or after school when I’d planned to walk home, my friend Jory would give me a ride, but only after we got snow-cones and belted “If Only” from The Little Mermaid musical in the car all the way home.

That’s just two tiny examples of how amazing my friends, how amazing their hearts were. I cherish my time at high school and the people I met there with all my heart!! I feel so fortunate to have spent the BEST times, the worst times, and all the times in between with them. We explored family hardships and disputes, our own sexualities, our fears, our dreams with each other.

My friends were diverse. They were FUN! They inspired me with their work ethic. We all weren’t even pursuing the same thing, and in a way that made all of our uniqueness that much more precious. 

I think that’s how Glee was. A bunch of unique people, all doing their own unique things, then finding each other by sharing a common love and becoming friends.

So senior year show choir, we all became a bunch of Rachel Berrys, Santana Lopezes, Finn Hudsons, you name it. Glee had given us, or at least me, this new sparkly confidence. It reminded me that music was exactly what I loved, and what I wanted to spend my life pursuing.

After I graduated and months flew by, I didn’t watch the show as religiously like I used to. I’d catch a few episodes here and there, ones where the characters development and newfound growth  intrigued me, but my life had taken a turn and I just didn’t have the time anymore.

July 13, 2013. I was at my ex’s brother’s wedding when I heard the news. 

Cory Monteith had died from an overdose.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever cried about a celebrity’s death before then. Although I hadn’t been close to the show anymore, a part of me felt immediately heartbroken. Heartbroken that he’d been alone, heartbroken that he was doing what he was doing in the first place, but had the ability to keep edging deeper and deeper into a point of no return. I had romanticized about a relationship like Rachel and Finn, I had admired his and all the characters hearts and purpose. I had rooted for him. They in a way, felt like my friends, because that’s how I viewed my friends in high school. He was an everlasting part of why and where I was now, because Scott, Mitch, and I formed our trio for a contest to meet the cast of Glee that first season. 

People made fun of me that day. You don’t even know him. Why are you so upset?

I watched The Quarterback and then I couldn’t watch Glee again. Occasionally it came on TV, but it didn’t feel the same to me.

To me, Glee was the first show of its kind, representing and making heroes and stars out of people who would have normally been called losers. I’d never seen representation on screen that made me feel special as a Latina or as someone pursing “not a real career.” As the season progressed it evolved past the cheeky humor and delved in to real-world topics and teenage struggles. 

Seven years later, with Naya Rivera being found the day of Cory’s passing, I couldn’t help but feel like he played a role in guiding her home.

I think Naya was incredibly underrated. The show obviously had its main frontrunners, but Naya’s character transcended the “normal” teen woes of wanting to be a star. Through her sarcasm and wit, she was more complex. She had more to hide. She had more to give.

I loved seeing a Latina woman on the screen, a REAL one, not just an actor with darker features. I loved seeing her delve in to her sexuality with her best friend, and her experiences made my own feel valid. I thought what courage it must take to sit down with your hispanic grandmother, who you love so dearly, and be able to share a part of them that they maybe wouldn’t understand. I was crying from the second that scene started, thinking I’d maybe never have the courage to be that open.

I’ve thought of Naya and her family a lot this week. I’ve seen how many people loved her. While I never met her, I know her and the rest of the cast left a special mark on my life journey, and I will forever be grateful for them, and her.

I will remember show choir practices, in our sparkly, itchy  outfits, preparing for contest.

I will remember sneaking up in to the auditorium catwalk to sneak kisses with my best friend.

I will remember making the silliest videos when we all went to All-State choir.

I will remember belting and dancing on our cars to “Don’t Stop Believing” at the local Starbucks parking lot.

I will remember holding my friends tight crying as we all wore our different college shirts in our final performance as a show choir, having no idea that I was about to go out and be a part of something greater.

Glee brought together a hodgepodge of people. And that’s what Pentatonix was too. And it brought us together.

So I guess at the end of the day, all I want to say is… thank you, to Glee. To Cory. To Naya.

For creating special characters, that lit that special spark.

Rest in peace.

[handlewithkara]

Why would Karamel fans “move on” from Karamel?

I am puzzled by this concept that Karamel shouldn’t be rooting for Karamel anymore. It just boggles my mind in so many ways for so many reasons, I felt like jotting down some of them;  

1.) Shipping does not work that way. Look I could elaborate, but I think most people who have ever encountered shipping understand this aspect. 

2.) Kara has NOT expressed comparable romantic emotions towards anybody since Mon-El. 

(gif by @ i-am-aci01 ) 

Look, I know there are fans who wish she would express that kind of romantic interest in other people, but looking at the show, it’s just a fact that it hasn’t happened. And since there is only one more season left, I don’t think bringing in somebody new would work, nor do I personally believe in any other relationships that have just been rather tepid. 

This is not a case of: Kara has found happiness with somebody new, you should be happy for her, because that flat out hasn’t happened. She just hasn’t gone to the same level of relationship and romantic interest with anybody else (wake me up when Kara kisses a person, has sex with them, moves in with them). 

Not all Karamel fans feel that way, but I consider myself one of the fans who is open to the concept in theory, because I do love Kara. But it just hasn’t happened. There just is not relationship that makes me consider “okay, you should really respect that Kara happens to romantically love this person now more than she did Mon-El”.

(as for Mon-El, yes he found somebody but to me season 3 made it clear that he was not happy with her and he ended things with her, they could have used Winn’s visit to tell us that Mon-El changed his mind on that or found somebody new altogether, but again, this is not what happened. As it stand the last what we knew of Mon-El was still that he was deeply unhappy to go back to the future and only did it out of duty)

3.) Kara wants romantic love. I get the concept of Kara not needing a romantic relationship to live and the sister relationship between Kara and Alex being the most important one. The thing about Kara is... she has always wanted love. In Supergirl’s pilot episode, we see her proactively looking for love by going on a blind date. 

In one of her timelinewise earliest moments where she could feasibly have urges she voices her desire to express herself romantically: 

(gif by @ i-am-aci01 )

She explicitly expresses this in season 1: 

(gif by @ i-am-aci01 )

Kara found love with Mon-El and lost it. And then she didn’t have any meaningful romantic progress for two years. She didn’t whine about it. She didn’t neglect her duties to search love. She was just basically still the same kick ass hero who helps others and supports her friends. 

So maybe one could argue, okay, maybe the drama with Mon-El turned Kara into a person who has no interest in romantic love anymore. Except ... to me (other than how that being a really sad story) again that didn’t happen. When William unexpectantly asks her out, she has a big smile and she does want to go on a date with him. And when I look at the scene where she expresses her frustration on how she can’t progress things with William 

(gif by @ i-am-aci01 )

I don’t look at that scene and think that this is a woman who needs to learn she doesn’t need romantic relationships. I look at this scene and see a woman who wants love and it’s really unfair that she sholdn’t get to have one, that circumstances shouldn’t allow it for her. 

Especially: if Alex is allowed to have romantic relationships on the side without it threatening the Sisters Uber Alles status, why can’t Kara? Why would Kara’s romantic relationship be a threat to a sister ending when Alex’ relationship isn’t? 

To me it’s just really clear from Kara’s history on the show and the opinions she has expressed that Kara wants romantic love and to me it feels sad and unjust that she shouldn’t get to have one, especially with how long it has been since she had a relationship, especially when fellow heroes Nia and Brainy can have one and her sister can also have one. 

The arc of Kara’s romantic relationships has never been that she’s too thirsty and needs to learn to keep in her pants, not has it been that she doesn’t want it. It has overwhelmingly been that she wants it but things got in the way, things like duty, getting murdered by your high school teacher or alien invasions and time traveling inducing wormholes. 

Even if the message were that maybe Kara doesn’t like relationships enough, I still feel like the logical way to sensibly close up this arc would still be for Kara to get to experience a relationship without things getting in the way, so she can properly decide that maybe that isn’t what she wants. (I for one would argue: Kara has already kind of experienced that with James and it most certainly did not cure her from wanting a romantic relationship since she started a relationship with Mon-El soon after) 

4.) Kara and Mon-El’s season 3 ending sucked and provided no closure. I know there are people who did not like the relationship and hence probably didn’t pay much attention to Mon-El’s exit episode. But as a Karamel fan, of course the details matter to me. And the details sucked. And they didn’t just suck because “damn, I didn’t get my preferred couple together romantically”, but also because the details were intensely frustrating, From Kara’s point of view it is frustrating that she never got to hear the whole story (and all the bits I mentioned in my previous points in regards to Kara and her romantic arc in general). And from Mon-El’s point of view because Mon-El was very clearly unhappy when he left. 

In the end, there are generally two reasons why people “move on”, either because they have gotten closure (something that wasn’t the case with Kara and Mon-El) or because something better came along (whether within the show or in a different show or fandom, and for many people that just isn’t the case, either because good ships are rare or because people still care about Kara and nothing better has come along for Kara)

If the writers didn’t want to continue Karamel as a romantic storyline, there is ways they could have gone about it. Very easily. Instead they left the characters on these deeply unsatisfying note. There is a lot of options they could have gone for which I would still have disliked as a fan of the Kara&Mon-El romantic relationship, but I would have grudgingly accepted. 

They could have put Kara into a new relationship very quickly and have her drop lines that downplay her relationship with Mon-El and have Mon-El be happy for her. (basically what they did with James)

They could have had him return the necklace to symbolically put an end to Karamel’s romantic relationship, for Kara to give it to Alex or her next love interest. Or Mon-El could have given it to Alura, who was right there, since it was her necklace originally. Instead, after a season that put intentional emphasis on the necklace, Mon-El leaves still having it.

They could have had Mon-El and Imra reunite melodramatically in the finale and have him declare his feelings for Kara were just an illusion, Imra is who is supposed to be with. It could even have worked as a nice parallel to Kara saying she nearly lost herself when she tried to pursue violence against Reign. Except that just isn’t what happened, this isn’t what they wrote for Mon-El. What they did write is Mon-El smiling at the thought of spending more time with Kara (even giving Brainy a line that draws emphasis to the fact that Mon-El is smiling) and being saddened when Brainy tells him he can’t, he has to go back. 

So, let’s say, maybe end of season 3 was too quick for the writers to come up with something good. Well in that case they had another opportunity to put a final lid on the relationship when Winn came back for a guest episode. They could have had Winn return the necklace and tell Kara that Mon-El died. Kara would have been a bit sad and as a  viewer I would have gotten the message, okay, he is not coming back, any appearance is at most going to be an AU. 

They could have used Winn to tell us Mon-El returned back to Imra and they have seven children now. Again as a viewer I would have gotten the message, okay, so the writers tell me Mon-El and Imra are supposed to be together in every universe, Mon-El can’t be a good character if he leaves seven kids behind. 

Instead they did nothing. They left Karamel in complete undefined limbo (with nothing coming in to replace it or otherwise directly contradict it)  with the last note they ended on being Mon-El going back to the future because Brainy tells him that he HAS to, not because this is what Mon-El would have chosen, because Mon-El needs to be a big damn hero, not because that is what makes Mon-El happy. 

5.)  This is the last season, if there is a time to hope for a happy ending, people do understand that it is now, right? Especially since the show has shown in the 100th episode that they are willing to bring Mon-El back for special occasions. So there is a precedent. They brought him back once for a very special episode, so why would it be unreasonable for me to hope that they would do it again, even if it were only for an Easter Egg? 

Especially since I really enjoyed his guest appearance and how they wrote him. Even if they didn’t want to return to romantic Karamel, I would still want him to return and see them again, kicking butt together, giving each other advice. That would still make me happy and I would be rooting for that regardless of what Kara’s romantic choices are, because I like their characters and I think they have great chemistry together and I want to see them do scenes together. 

So no, I am not getting my hopes up for anything beyond an episode 100 style guest appearnce. But I don’t feel guilty for hoping this or for saying if they were wiling to give more, I’d be very happy. Because Kara is still there, still wants love and nobody has taken Mon-El’s place. Because their relationship was left on a tragic note. And because the last time they brought him back, it felt like it was on good terms, I really enjoyed it and it was respectful towards Karamel’s history, even if it wasn’t overtly in your face romantic (but open enough so fans could see something if they wanted to [because of the angry face Kara makes when Myxy talks badly of Mon-El, because of the face she makes when he gets killed, because of the face she makes when he walks past and her eyes follow him]. 

If all that happaned was Mon-El having a short cameo rather than a proper getting together arc, yeah, I would be kind of sad. But I just recently wrote a lengthy post about the many things Karamel did get already (because Karamel did get the kisses and the lseeping together and the living together and the declaring their love to each other and the true love’s kiss), and even though O do strongly think that there is still a story there, I could live with it being just a cameo. To me it would still be a nice note to leave the characters on considering their history as we have seen it so far. 

Of course people who just never saw the chemistry or the potential are free to hope for something else, but since I’m a shipper, I did see the chemistry and the potential, so yeah, why would I stop now? 

[get-lost-in-fanfiction]

LOST - Another Story

Rating: M

Word Count: 3.8k

A/N: I hope everyone enjoys the new character. I have big plans for her in terms of the overarching story of Lost. Also for the dialogue I’m following a transcript of the episodes so I can get it all right. Anyway, here’s Pilot Part 2!

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Pilot (Part 2)

I sit down, trying to ignore the mixed expression Sawyer is giving my right now. One would assume he is upset I know his true name, or he thinks I'm some spy. Then a horrid thought crosses my mind, what if they think I'm an Other? I realize they don't know about the Others now, but in the future, I'm not sure. I'm putting my trust in Sawyer to keep my secret and protect me, but knowing how he is in the first season it doesn't seem likely. But I know the kind of man he is meant to be. So with that in mind and with a sigh, I begin to tell Sawyer everything I know.

“My name is Amelia Kassman, I am 20 years old, now single, and I know the future, ” I pause there to take in Sawyer’s reaction but he seems too stunned to speak.

“I know the future because where I come from this world doesn't exist. This reality, or whatever this is, is from a TV show called Lost. This Island isn't actually real, and the show was filmed in Hawaii. I come from 2010, and the show has just finished it's 6th and final season. Weeks before this I had just watched the finale. I can assure you, it's just as weird for me too.”

I pause again, letting Sawyer soak up the information. I nervously tap my leg, knowing once the rain stops Jack, Kate, and Charlie will be on their way back. Sawyer opens and closes his mouth a few times, seemingly wanting to talk but unable to. As the rain suddenly stops, I suck in a breath. Fuck. I watch Sawyer as he stands up and walks out of his tent.

I stay a little longer in Sawyer’s tent, listening intently for the sound of a fight to break out over the handcuffs Walt finds in the jungle. Once I do, I rush out of the tent and over to where Sayid and Sawyer are fist-fighting.

“Hey guys. Come on, man. Hey.” I hear Michael say as I jog up to the scene.

“Hey. Break it up. Break it up! Come on! That's it! It's over! That's it!” Jack shouts, running in a few moments after I arrive.

“Son of a bitch!” Sawyer spits at Sayid.

“I'm sick of this redneck!” Sayid calls.

Sawyer gets up close to Sayid, “You want some more of me, boy?” He taunts.

“Tell everyone what you told me! Tell them that I crashed the plane! Go on! Tell them I made the plane crash!”

“The shoe fits, buddy!”

“What is going on?” Jack shouts over the commotion.

Sayid shouts something in Arabic angrily at Sawyer.

“What's going on?” Jack commands again louder.

Michael hands the handcuffs to Jack before speaking up, “Look, my kid found these in the jungle.”

I roll my eyes when Sawyer decides to butt in, “And this guy was sitting in the back row of business class, the whole flight, never got up. Hands folded underneath the blanket.”

“Oh-” Sayid gasps softly.

“And for some reason,” Sawyer continues, “just pointin' this out - the guy sittin' next to him didn't make it.”

“Thank you so much for observing my behavior.” Sayid spits back at Sawyer.

“You don't think I saw them pull you out of line before we boarded?”

I watch as Sayid tries to get to Sawyer again to hit him.

“Come on, bring it!” Sawyer exclaims.

Kate steps up and yells loudly, “STOP!” As Sayid backs off.

Kate continues after the situation is visibly diffused, “We found the transceiver, but it's not working. Can anybody help?”

“Yes. I might be able to.” Sayid claims calmly.

Sawyer throws his hands up, “Oh great. Perfect! Let's trust this guy!” He shouts again.

At this, Hurley steps in, “Hey! We're all this together, man. Let's treat each other with a little respect.”

“Shut up, Lardo.” Sawyer shoots back. I wince, watching this scene in person is a lot worse than on TV.

“Hey! Give it a break.” Jack says exasperatedly.

“Whatever you say, doc. You're the hero.” Sawyer says and Jack shoots me an odd look. For a beat, I don't understand why, but suddenly it comes back to me. I also called Jack ‘Doc.’ Terrific.

I stay on the beach, trying to convince myself to go on the hike with everyone. I know it won't be easy, and I know that the climbing scene was faked. I'm not very strong, but I've got enough upper body strength to fight so why can't I climb? I was hiking before the crash, anyway, so it could be plausible for me to go. I drop my face in my hands and sigh loudly before pushing off the sand. I walk myself over to the gathering group of Kate, Sayid, Shannon, and Boone.

“Shut up, and stop trying to be charming.” I hear Shannon say angrily to Boone. She then turns to Kate and Sayid, “I'm coming with you.”

I see Kate looking visibly uncomfortable, “I don't... know if that's such a good idea.” She says slowly.

Shannon scoffs “What are you? Two years older than me? Please.” I walk quickly up beside Charlie as Shannon whips around to see us, “You two are going, aren't you?”

“Yeah, are you?” Charlie says.

“Yup.”

“Yeah, I'm definitely going.” Charlie says as I shudder slightly.

“I’d like to come too if you don't mind?” I ask Kate politely.

“Look, everybody can come. But we're leaving now.” Kate says, annoyed. I'm glad I like this early season version of her or else I’d be annoyed too.

Charlie then speaks up to Shannon, “You couldn't tell from that, but she's actually really nice.”

I turn my head and see Sawyer smoking while reading his letter. He looks up at me and we lock eyes for a moment before glancing beside me to see the others walking off. I look away and try to suppress the butterflies. I don't like men who smoke, but Sawyer makes it look sexy. Thankfully he runs out of cigarettes soon.

I tighten the laces of my boots as Kate turns to me. “You have a backpack?” She asks.

“What?” I say in reply, as I mentally smack myself.

“I said do you have a backpack, you should carry some water.”

“Yeah I have a backpack, I was hiking in Australia before the crash. Do you want me to get it?” I try and keep my tone even and kind as I talk to Kate.

“Yeah, go do that.” I worry she’ll leave me behind so I run as quickly as I can to my tent to get my backpack. Once I do and fill it with some water bottles I rush back to the group.

“I'm ready,” I call.

“Great then, let's head out, ” Kate says. I give a quiet sigh in return, this is going to be a long hike.

We are well into the jungle, and I start to worry that Sawyer won't be joining us. I won't lie when I say that he is one of the reasons I even came on this hike. Not that he is the only reason, though, I also came because I wanted a gun. Despite my adversity towards them, I have the strange need for one. Knowing what lies ahead I feel like I can become a trustworthy gunman. The quick crunching of another pair of feet shook me out of my thoughts.

“You decided to join us.” Kate says unamused.

“I'm a complex guy, sweetheart,” Sawyer calls back and turns his head to me to give a little wink. I try hard to keep my cheeks from turning bright red.

“I didn't know you were comin’ on this little excursion blue eyes,” Sawyer flirts, is he flirting? I can't tell, and part of me doesn't want to look into it too much. I know having a crush on Sawyer won't end well for me, there are too many competitors. I don't want to mess up the timeline just because I have a silly crush.

“Yeah, dimples, I decided to come. Better than sitting on the beach staring at the ocean all day,” I see Sawyer’s face turn a little when I use his own nickname game against him. Maybe I could have a bit of fun with it.

“Touche,” is all he can say.

We get to the base of a cliff and I realize this is the moment I've been dreading. Kate looks to Sawyer, Shannon looks to Boone, Charlie looks around and I look up at the top of the cliff. Sawyer starts to climb up first, followed by Kate and Sayid not far behind. Charlie is a little way behind them and I decide to follow him, not wanting to be behind the slow pokes of Shannon and Boone. We struggle up the side of the cliff, grabbing branches and roots that stick out and trying our best to find footing. Charlie occasionally offers me his hand to help pull me up and I am grateful to take it, also opting to help him as well when I can. My hands, back, and forehead are sweating from nerves and exertion. Sawyer reaches the top of the cliff first and helps lift Kate up along with himself. Sawyer and Kate then help Sayid and Charlie, too. Somehow, Shannon and Boone got ahead of me, and Shannon is too proud to get the help from anyone but Boone, so he is the one to pull himself up and help her. I realize I’m the last one when I see Sawyer’s smiling face looking down at me.

“Need some help there, blue eyes?” He says with a bit of amusement in his voice.

“Yeah actually, I do,” I puff back, not realizing how much I’m struggling.

So Sawyer reaches his hand down and I hoist myself up to grab it while still clinging to some roots. He wraps his large hand around my smaller one then grabs hold of my forearm with his other hand. He pulls me up as I use my other arm to lift myself up. I roll over the edge of the cliff and Sawyer lets go of my arm. Everyone stares at me for a moment and I feel my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. I quickly scramble to my feet and brush myself off.

“Well let’s go,” I say embarrassed and while avoiding eye contact with Sawyer.

We get to a fairly flat place in the jungle with tall grass and lots of tree cover. Cicadas are chirping loudly as I walk beside Sawyer. I swing my backpack around and pull out a water bottle, take a swig, offer it to Sawyer who waves it away, and then screw the cap back on. I stow the water away as I remember that during the mountain my favorite theme was playing. I laugh a little to myself and Sawyer glances at me quickly, I put my fingers up to my mouth and smile shyly in his direction.

We walk a bit more before Sawyer throws his hands up and speaks, “Okay! Wide open space! You should check the radio, see if we're good.”

“We're not going to have any reception here.” Sayid says as he continues to walk.

“Just try it.” Sawyer exclaims.

“I don't want to waste the batteries.”

“I'm not asking you to keep it on all day!”

“We're still blocked by the mountain.”

“Just check the damn radio!” Sawyer huffs.

“If I just check! We might not have any juice left when we get to-” Suddenly a loud roar interrupts Sayid and everyone whips around to the movement. We hear puffs and everyone looks around to find the source of the noise and the crunching of the grass and leaves around us.

“My god.” Shannon squeaks, I glance at her.

“What the hell's that?” Boone asks, I want to speak up, but I have a plan quickly forming in my mind.

“Something's coming.” Kate says quietly, and by the look in her eyes I can tell she thinks it's the Smoke Monster. The beast starts running at us, huffing.

“It's coming towards us, I think.” Charlie says nervously.

Kate rushes towards us, “Come on, let's move,” she says hurriedly. Everyone begins to run off but Sawyer and I. He looks down at me worriedly, an expression I didn’t think I would see.

“I shouldn't have come. Aah!” Shannon screams.

Sayid pulls Charlie along and they all start running, “Go! Go!” he shouts. Sawyer tries to push me away to run but I stay put, ready to strike.

I hear Kate yell, “Sawyer!” and Sayid’s exclamation of “Let him go!”

I quickly reach for Sawyer’s gun and shoot at the bear, knowing where it is. It bursts out of the jungle, Sawyer stumbling back a bit, as I quickly put a bullet through its chest. The bear drops and I look up at Sawyer, the smoking gun still in my hand.

“Blue eyes..?” Sawyer starts, but Shannon cuts him off.

“That's... that's a big bear,” She says, looking fretfully at the animal.

“You think that's what killed the pilot?” Kate glances at Charlie nervously.

“No. No, that's a tiny, teeny version compared to that,” Charlie says, holding up his fingers for comparison.

Kate looks at it for a moment, “Guys, this isn't just a... bear. That's a polar bear,” she says.

Boone decides to speak up, “That can't be a polar bear.”

“It’s a polar bear,” Kate, Sayid, and I say in unison as Sawyer gives me a look, the gun still in my hand.

“Yeah, but... Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle,” Shannon says.

“Spot on,” Charlie replied cheekily.

Sayid then speaks up, “No, polar bears don't live near this far south.”

“This one does,” Boone quips.

“Did. It did,” Sawyer says, misbelief in his eyes.

Kate then turns to me, “Where did that come from?”

Before I can speak Sawyer butts in, “Probably Bear Village. How the hell do I know?”

Kate scoffs, “Not the bear. The gun.”

I look down at the gun in my hand, flick the safety, and look back up at Kate, “I took it from Sawyer.”

“And where did Sawyer get it from?”

“I got it off one of the bodies,” Sawyer replies.

“One of the bodies,” Sayid repeats.

“Yeah, one of the bodies.”

“People don't carry guns on planes..” Shannon states.

“They do if they're a US Marshal, sweet cheeks-“ Sawyer starts, but I cut him off.

“There was one on the plane,” I state, hoping to dissolve the situation.

“How do you know that?” Kate says to the both of us, slightly panicked.

“I saw a guy lying there with an ankle holster, so I took the gun. I thought it might come in handy. Guess what? Blue-eyes here just shot a bear!” Sawyer states happily, gesturing to me when he mentions the polar bear.

“I have a name you know,” I say, a bit annoyed.

“Well nicknames are my specialty, peaches,” Sawyer says smoothly.

Kate interrupts us before I can reply, “So why do you think he's a Marshal?”

“Because he had a clip-on badge,” Sawyer holds up a badge, ”I took that too. Thought it was cool.”

“I know who you are,” Sayid begins, “You're the prisoner.”

“I'm the what?” Sawyer says incredulously.

“You found a gun on a US Marshal. Yes, I believe you did. You knew where it was, because you were the one he was bringing back to the States,” Sayid glances at me before he continues back to Sawyer, “Those handcuffs were on you. That's how you knew there was a gun.”

“Piss off,” Sawyer spits.

“That's who you are, you son of a bitch!” Sayid starts to get angry.

“Be as suspicious of me as I am of you,” Sawyer states coolly.

“But you are the prisoner.”

“Fine! I'm the criminal. You're the terrorist. We can all play a part,” Sawyer turns to me, “Who do you want to be blue-eyes?”

Kate suddenly reaches towards me and wrestles the gun out of my hand, I’m glad I put on the safety. Once Kate has the gun she points it at Sawyer, looking at me guilty. I know that look, she thinks I’m just a child. I’m not a child, but, compared to the rest of the survivors I am.

“Does anybody know how to use a gun?” Kate says.

“I think you just pull the trigger,” Charlie quips.

“Don't use the gun.” Sayid states.

“I want to take it apart,” Kate says calmly.

“Oh,” Charlie says softly.

Sayid takes a deep breath and says, “There's a button on the grip. Push that, it will eject the magazine,” Kate follows Sayid's instructions and ejects the magazine, “There's still a round in the chamber. Hold the grip, pull the top part of the gun.”

Kate does what Sayid says quickly, and almost too expertly. If I didn’t know her I would be suspicious. She then gives the magazine to Sayid and the gun to Sawyer.

Sawyer grabs Kate’s arm as she gives him the gun back “I know your type,” he says quietly.

“I'm not so sure,” she says back.

“Yeah. I've been with girls like you.”

“No girl's exactly like me,” Kate says coldly, but with a slight glance at me.

Kate then walks off and Sayid speaks up, “We should keep moving.”

We walk a bit more, to an open hilly area. I close my eyes and face the ocean, breathing in the air. Despite being hot and humid, I can’t help but marvel at the beauty of the Island. Even though I know back home it was just Hawaii, this is no Oahu. Sayid then gets the transceiver out and I steel myself for Sawyer, again.

“Oh! Now's a good time to check the radio! Not before.. but now!” He says angrily.

“We're up higher,” Sayid says calmly.

“Yes, we are!”

Suddenly Sayid gets excited, “Bar. Hey! We've got a bar! Mayday! Mayday!” But all that comes out is feedback.

“What is that?” Kate asks.

“Feedback,” Sayid answers.

“Feedback from what? What would do that?”

“I don't know.”

“I'll tell you what would do that,” Sawyer begins angrily, “This guy not fixing the radio. This thing doesn't even work!”

“No. No, no, no, no, it's not broken. We can't transmit because something else is already transmitting,” Sayid explains.

“Transmitting from where?” Charlie asks.

“What?” Shannon adds nervously.

“Somewhere close. The signal's strong,” Sayid says, and I remember the radio tower. I wish I could somehow get away and find it, even though I know what happens when we do a few months down the line.

“Somewhere close? You mean on the Island? That's great!” Charlie claims excitedly.

“Maybe it's other survivors,” Boone adds.

“From our plane? How would they even—“ Shannon begins, bur Sawyer cuts her off.

“What kind of transmission is it?” He asks.

“Could be a sat phone, maybe a radio signal…” Sayid says as he trails off.

“Can we listen to it?” Kate asks nervously.

“Let me get the frequency first. Hold on,” Sayid says.

“There's no transmission,” Sawyer dismisses.

“Sawyer,” I say quietly, touching his arm a bit. He looks down at me and shuts up.

Sayid finally gets transmission to play and Charlie starts to get excited. “The rescue party. It has to be,” Rousseau’s message is heard clearly, “It's French! The French are coming! I've never been so happy to hear the French!” Charlie bounces up and down as he speaks.

“I never took French. What does she say?” Kate asks.

“D-Does anybody speak French?” Sayid says hurriedly.

“She does,” Boone says before I can, and I realize that might have been a bad thing to say.

Shannon then suddenly gets defensive towards Boone, “No, I don't. What?”

“What the hell are you talking about? You spent a year in Paris!”

“Drinking, not studying!”

Suddenly the transmission ends and a male voice speaks from the radio, “Iteration 7294531.”

“Okay. What's that?” Charlie asks, looking hopeful. Sayid, not so much.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…” Sayid says quickly.

“‘No, no, no’ what?” Kate asks hurriedly.

“What ‘no’?” Shannon also asks.

“The-the batteries are dying!” Sayid shouts.

“How much time do we have?” Kate asks.

“Not much.”

Boone turns to Shannon again, “I've heard you speak French! Just listen to this! Listen to it!”

“I can't!” Shannon cries.

Sawyer huffs, “You speak French or not? Because that would be nice.”

The radio speaks again “Iteration 17294532.”

“That voice is weird. What is that?” Charlie inputs, but no one answers his question. I look sympathetically at him.

“Come on. Come on, Shannon!” Boone urges.

“Come on!” Kate adds.

Even Sayid, who is doing mental math manges to say, “Come on!”

The transmission begins to play again, and Shannon looks nervously at it, “Il est dehors….”

“It's... it's repeating,” she says.

“She's right,” Sayid adds.

Boone looks at Sayid, “What?”

“It's a loop,” Sayid begins, "’Iteration’—it's repeating the same message. It's a counter. The next number will end... ‘533’.”

Just as Sayid says, the radio blares, “Iteration 17294533.”

“Does anyone know what the hell he's talking about?” Sawyer says angrily.

“Sawyer please,” I add, but he doesn’t hear me.

“It's a running count of the number of times the message has repeated. It's roughly thirty seconds long, so... how long…” Sayid says as once again he tried to figure it out in his head.

“Don't forget to carry the one, chief,” Sawyer adds.

The radio begins again after, “Iteration 17294534.”

Shannon looks at the radio and starts to translate, “She's saying .. ‘Please’. She's saying, ‘Please help me. Please, come get me.’”

“Or she's not! You don't even speak French!” Sawyer shouts.

“Let her listen!” Kate yells back.

“Shut up, man!” Boone adds.

“Guys, the battery. The battery.” Charlie says nervously.

Once again the radio says, “Iteration 17294535.”

Shannon puts the radio up to her ear and says, “I'm alone now. Uhm... On the Island alone. Please, someone come. The others, they're... they're dead. I-it killed them. I-it killed them all.”

“That was good,” Boone reassured her.

“Sixteen years,” Sayid finally says.

“What?” Sawyer asks.

“Sixteen years. And five months. That's the count.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Boone asks.

“The iterations. It's a distress call,” Sayid starts, “A plea for help. A mayday. If the count is right... It's been playing over... and over... for sixteen years.”

“Someone else? Was stranded here?” Boone says worriedly.

“Maybe they came for them,” Kate speculates.

“If someone came, why is it still playing?” Sawyer adds.

“Agreed, you’d think then it wouldn’t matter if they’re rescued,” I say, but not really adding much to the conversation. It’s weird seeing them all talk like this, knowing who it is. They all still have hope they’ll be rescued.

“Guys,” Charlie says, “Where are we?”

LOST

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Please let me know if you’d like to be tagged in updates!

[cowandcalf]

10.11. – Review and some musing

Since yesterday I'm thinking about how to start this review. I guess it'll end up being an ode to McDanno. Because let's be honest…still after such a long time, years of being in love, my love for the boys is a blazing fire. They make me sit on the edge of the couch, smiling stupidly, happy with what I witness what's happening between them. They make me sweat and grin and cry and gasp for air.

So, I start with the boys. Honestly, I've never expected season 10 to be so freaking full of McDanno moments. Gosh, I'm still a bit beside myself. For example, the scene in Steve's office. Danny…Danny. This handsome man (and the haircut! This freaking hot Mohawk, gah!!!) gets me twisted in knots because I try to find out what's he's up to. Danny doesn't normally admit to Steve his inner secrets. The way he confessed so openly why he has made up the mold story? Uh-huh. Intense. He shows feelings. Shows how much he was worried about Steve without being ironic and ranting and cutting the air to pieces with his hands. Intense. That what it was. And Steve? Steve takes Danny's confession in stride, kind of shifts on his seat and says he was touched. Steve doesn't really know what he should do with this piece of information even though he’s known it the whole time. It's kind of a load of emotions getting dumped on Steve only to grow in intensity a second later.

The bonsai comment? So not Danny-like, at least, not to the Danny I'm used to. He admits just openly that he's started that hobby for therapeutic reasons, telling there that he's not okay, that he's needed some support, some help from the shrink-corner and that's new. Did he visit a therapist? A psychologist? Does he still have sessions? Steve didn't ask any of this but the questions hang in the air. Danny, being just Danny, tells him of course, he doesn't normally inform everyone that he has a bonsai but he's just said it to Steve. So, he wants Steve to know and he even takes his miniature tree to Steve's house where he’s gong to trim this little precious tree with the special clipper doing this with a steaming cup of coffee beside him on Steve’s table only dressed in a flimsy shirt and old boxer shorts and Steve forgets how to breathe and decides to wear only sweat pants made of heavy cotton farbric. Not so easy to stretch. So, many hidden signs.

And what's with the burst pipe full of sewage? Yak, that's something traumatic when that happens, meaning Danny’s house was flooded with that stuff, ugh. At least, the bathroom and normally Danny would freak out, ranting, complaining, telling everyone how he's drawn the short straw from life. But none of this is happening. Danny smiles when he explains how the shit-smell has chased him out of his own home and he seeks refuge…at Steve's house. I'm sure he just made that story up, too and Steve knows this but still. Six to eight weeks! That's a long time and they haven't even mentioned where Danny would sleep. Maybe with Grace gone and Charlie growing older Danny feels lonesome and needs company.

But I can't get over Danny's sweet smile. The smile where he's asking Steve to let him crash at his place. It's a smile where one couldn't hide effectively enough the crush, they have one the one person that stands right in front of them. It's a sweet, tender, meaningful smile, uncommonly in Danny's repertoire to make faces. It's a gentle, genuine smile and it's connected to the stay at Steve's place. And normally Danny is the one who's annoyed and not Steve. Somehow the tables have turned and Danny tries to coax Steve into doing something Steve's not so fond of just for the fun of teasing Danny. Steve plays the annoyed one very well and all he can come up with are used towels. Ha!

Danny pushes boundaries twice in a short amount of time. He barges in Steve's door the first time without telling or calling or asking if it's okay with Steve. Now, just the same. He packs his bags and even takes his bonsai with him, stores his luggage in the office for Steve to see because Danny knows already Steve won't say no. So, what has Danny in mind? Living together for about two months? Jesus! I love this scene. It reveals Danny's softer side, an unexpected side. He wants to be with Steve that's a fact. And Steve lets him. I'm really curious about what's going on. Guys!!!! Ahhhh!

And the helicopter scene! That's another great McDanno moment. First, Danny jokes about animals although he loves animals. But he teases Steve about the gooses. And Steve comes up with the helicopter ride and doesn't even ask Danny if he's okay with it. He knows very well that Danny hates to fly with him. And oh, surprise! Danny goes! He jokes about the wild goose chase and Tani rolls her eyes at the boys! But Danny doesn’t scream and digs his heels in the ground just for the reason to show how much he doesn't want to be with Steve in a freaking helicopter, in the air!! Nope, he just went after Steve again with this mysterious smile.

As for the record, I…god…I loved seeing them paired up again, chasing bad guys, like in the old days. Time changes things, I get that but it was a great moment. And guess what. Steve is super correct and knows all the rules and is the pilot of the helicopter and yet he lets Danny use his cell although is highly prohibited and against the rules. But he lets Danny be. And Danny gives two shits about rules because they're in a no-fly zone because of gooses so no rules. And that's heavily teasing and an odd flirting with Steve. He dares him and Steve goes with it as always.

And I love that Steve still trusts Danny with all he's got. The Adam case bothers him and he leaves it to Danny to get through to his rogue team member. But Steve can't deny himself the comment if Danny can manage secrecy and Danny only lifts an eyebrow, tilting his head and quips a nice answer in return. Not offended in the slightest. That's really new and I freaking love it. Danny is much more relaxed and that rises my interest.

The guys going to live together for a longer time. That's going to be interesting and my heart whispers already poems of love…mm-hmm.

The half-season finale was just as good, as fantastic as every episode from season 10. I'm so in love. There's something thrilling about this season. It's heavy on the feels. The unexpected McDanno moments throw me. It's overwhelming. The cases are interesting and I never forget that it just a show and things might be bent a bit until they fit. Yes, they mess up timelines and don't follow up often on loose ends. I don't really dwell on those moments. I take what I get and I tend to extract the best moments for me. These 42 minutes and something always fills me with a giddy joy. I'm still enjoying every moment. It's still a wild ride and every episode leaves me with a lot to think about.

Lou is surprisingly fun. He's the one I struggle with the most. He's often over the top but so far, his scenes are filled with quip, pulling faces while discussing important leads, adding a lot of solid ohana-feelings and deep-rooted devotion to the team. This season Lou kind of grows on me. He's good people when he's not losing himself in some stupid, senseless explanation about how to dip malasadas in coffee or how to be a respected young man, or some stories about the good ol' days in Chicago.

The team has grown together. Tani fills her shoes and she walks tall. She's badass, proud, unwavering and would make Kono proud. She's full of admiration for Steve with the needed respect. But she's also the one who kind of sees the private person behind Steve the boss-man. She's caring and she's not afraid to show it. She loves Steve deeply, like a sister. She also breeches with ease Steve's professional persona. She expresses feelings and thoughts that have Steve gulp because it's so honest and straightforward and I love that.

Junior… man, this guy captured my heart. He's great. He's Earth where Steve's Air. They match as perfect Brothers. I'm always calm knowing Steve's not totally detached from his former, very important life as a SEAL. Junior watches out for him. Always, everywhere. He's grown a fantastic backbone and I'll never get tired of watching him morphing into a SEAL. He becomes a brother and a teammate for Steve. My heart still skips a few beats remembering the scene where they freed Joe White and Steve ordered him to stay behind, to not get entangled with the danger. And Junior's answer came sharply and precisely like a shot. "Today I'm a Seal and you're not my boss. We're a team and I'm coming with you." He said it with such confidence it blew me away. And it took Steve one second to recognize Junior as his brother. Junior is Steve's younger brother and he's always all in or nothing. I love his courage and the tender, shy side he always shows together with Tani. I love this boy and he's a good company for Steve. Keeps him sane.

Adam…Adam. Yeah, there's a lot going on. The way he laid down his gun and the badge was dramatic. I'm not sure yet what to think of that. I have always liked Adam. He fits into the team although he has never undergone any police training. He's born and bred Yakuza got taught from his father, a big name in that world. He should have had the courage to just tell Steve that things went wrong and he has to quit the team. That would have been the right thing to do.

The way he did hide information to safe his girlfriend was okay for me. Steve would have done the same, Lou and also Danny were already in such a situation and they just did what had to be done without informing anyone. But with Adam things went sideways and he went rogue, also emotionally and friendship-wise. After everything was settled he should have gone to Steve and get things out of the way. Steve would have understood. There, I don’t get Adam’s intentions.

Quitting the team like that? The worst imaginable way for Steve. You don't just quit the team and that's an emotional blow for Steve just because Steve cares for every single member on his team. But as I see it, Adam's world shifted when he lost Kono. Being an important member of the Yakuza makes you a slave, for a lifetime. You never can get out. So, they say. No freaking chance. Adam's history proves that. He killed his brother. He tried to be an honest businessman only to realize his past bites him in the ass. He ran away and tried to start a new life with Kono only to lose Kono to her obsession with a case that grew out of hand. Adam loves with all he's got. He has found new love with an old friend, unsurprisingly a daughter of a Yakuza boss. Adam grew up with all those people and now he's back in this energy. He knows the game. He's found a new woman and he loves again. For a man like Adam, he will do everything in his power to protect his woman. He won't lose again a woman he loves.

And his move to quit the team is about the woman he now loves. He has to stay close, by her side. Maybe he realized he only can really play one tune, only be fully immersed in one game, being on the Yakuza team. He betrays Five-O but as it seems Adam has reached a crossroad and his decision is made when he sits down at the head of a big table with other members of Tamiko's family and members of her father's clan.

Quinn…she wasn't in the episode and with some shame I have to admit I didn't even realize it. Not until someone pointed out that Quinn was missing. God, that's so horrible of me. She's a great team member but I seem to have a blind spot for her on the team. She doesn't leave an imprint. I can't tell you why. It's just…she's there and it's really good and she isn't and I don't miss her.

And the cliffhanger! Wo Fat is back. His name at least and seeing Steve's face when he spits his name revealed how much it pains him to just spell it. I think Steve might still have nightmares over what he had to undergo getting tortured, getting to hear dark, poisonous secrets his mother designed and everything came back to haunt Steve never to be really free of that massive emotional trauma. And now his nemesis is back in the form of Wo Fat's former wife. Just as cruel, brutal and cold-hearted as her husband. A killer seeking revenge with the deep wish to get to Steve.

Wow!

Season 10…ten points out of ten!

[writersplanetarium]

Facade: Pilot (Rowaelin Actor Au)

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

“I’m so in love with you it hurts. And there’s not a moment that goes by that I don’t think of you. Not a second where I don’t imagine what it’d be like to be the one you hold at night. The one you kiss like that. The one you take on dates. The one you can’t imagine yourself ever giving up. And I know that I can never be her for you, but… I need you to know that you’re that for me. You’re the one I want and I just… I couldn’t go on this mission without telling you that, selfish as it is. I know you love her, and I know it’s hopeless for me, but… I just needed you to know.” She brushed her hand over his cheek, tears burning her eyes.

“We broke up,” he replied.

“What?” She asked, her eyes widening in surprise. He set his hand over hers, shaking his head.

“I couldn’t do it. I tried, damn it, I tried to move on from this, from you, but I couldn’t. I’ve been so in love with you for so long and I thought… I thought that I could find someone new and these feelings would go away. I thought I needed to move on because you’d never want someone like me. Someone so… broken.”

“I’d rather it be you, broken or not, than to ever be with someone else,” she said, brushing her hand back through his hair, “Besides… we’re all broken one way or another. But maybe… Maybe we can try to get better. Together.” He nodded, the movement small, but noticeable.

“Together,” he said agreed softly. His hands came to rest on her hips as he dipped down, capturing her lips with his. She pressed up into him as she brought her other hand up, wrapping it in his hair as well as she returned the kiss. Their lips moved in perfect synchronicity and their bodies moved together like two lost halves finally pieces back together. A mix of tenderness and passion and despera-

“Cut!” Aelin and Rowan quickly parted, both of them frowning. "That's a wrap for the day!"

"What did you have for lunch?" Rowan barked, a distasteful look on his face.

"Garlic bread," Aelin drawled, a smirk plastered over her lips.

"You two can't make it look so good," Lysandra said, fanning her eyes as she walked over, "It makes me emotional."

"You guys did so good!" Evangeline said from Lysandra's side, "I wish I could make myself fake cry that easily."

"All you need is one whiff of Aelin's breath and you'll be crying right away," Rowan said to the girl, patting her head as he walked off.

"Or the mortifying thought that you have to kiss a buzzard," Aelin retorted loud enough that she knew he'd hear. Lysandra put her hands over Evangeline's ears and sighed with a smile.

"Ah, sexual tension."

"Don't misuse the ear muffs to spout your bullshit," Aelin said, pulling Lysandra's hands off Evangeline's ears.

"Come on, you two totally have something," Lysandra said, elbowing her friend in the ribs. Aelin pouted, picking up Evangeline and holding her up in front of Lysandra.

"What kind of example are you setting for Evangeline? Encouraging the notion that women should love big, mean men."

"Rowan's not mean," Evangeline said, "He gave me the last slice of pizza the other day!"

"Traitor," Aelin said with a huff, setting her back down.

"Who's a traitor?" Aedion asked, strolling up in sweatpants.

"Evangeline is defending Rowan's bastardness," Aelin said. Aedion rolled his eyes at his cousin. He'd heard more than enough over the years about Rowan's bastardness. Aelin made sure of that. It was bad enough he was her neighbor, but he just had to be her co-star too. Her love interest, at that. The world was cursing her to be stuck with Rowan Whitethorn. She just hoped it didn't last forever.

"You say that as if you're any better," Aedion said.

"He started it," Aelin said with a frown. She still remembered that first day she met him. So maybe she was playing her music a bit loud, that didn't mean he couldn't just ask her to turn it down like a nice person. But not the buzzard. He came over glaring, not even throwing in a please. Aelin despised him.

"He started it, but I'm finishing it!" Evangeline said firmly, "That's what the teacher says whenever kids are fighting in class, and it means you have to stop fighting."

"Hear that? You have to stop fighting," Lysandra said to her friend, putting an emphasis on have. Aelin could see her holding back a smile.

"The only thing I have to do," Aelin said, emphasizing the same word, "Is find more garlic bread." She turned, stalking off towards the food table, the others following. They dodged between workers and cameras and actors as they made their way through to the food.

"That shot is going to make for a killer season finale," Lysandra said, "I'm so excited! The fans are going to freak. They've been rooting for you two since day one."

"They've been rooting for Daemion and Charlotte from day one," Aelin corrected, scanning over the foods absentmindedly.

"Clearly you haven't seen all the things I have," Lysandra said with a wink.

"I swear she lives on those fan pages," Aedion remarked, "We'll be in bed and I'll look at her and there it is. Another fan page. We're out to eat. Fan page. We're in the car. Fan page."

"I like interacting with the fans! That's not a crime," Lysandra said.

"The best part is when they don't know it's you," Fenrys chipped in, joining their little crew, "It's so easy to poke fun with them." He was dressed down far too much to be doing any scenes. He wasn't scheduled to be there anyway.

"Don't you have the day off?" Aelin asked.

"Yeah, but Rowan's car is in the shop, so I told him I'd take him to go get it after work," Fenrys replied. He looked at her half accusing, half teasing as he set his arm on her shoulder. "Can you believe that someone hit it and busted in the window?"

"Okay, I admitted that was an accident!" Aelin said, shoving his arm off of her.

"Only after they caught you on the security camera," Aedion pointed out.

"Well, it's partially his fault for parking like that," Aelin said, "He was more than a foot from the curb."

"Don't tell him that," Fenrys said, "He's already in a pissy mood because of it and the whole kiss thing, so we don't need you two getting thrown in jail for assaulting each other before the party tonight. You are going right?"

"When have I ever missed a party?" Aelin asked with a grin. They were throwing a party to celebrate the wrap up of filming. Season three of their show, finally done. And they'd been renewed for another two, at least, already. A story of a bunch of college kids with magic trying to save the world hooks almost everybody in. Most people assume it'll be a show just like any other, and while it has its stereotypical tropes, it works, all the same, to divert them as well. The party was going to be a welcome relief for Aelin. She had been on set a lot lately, since the end of the season focused so heavily on hers and Rowan's characters Charlotte and Daemion.

"She's telling the truth," Lysandra said, "I remember when we were in high school and she came down with a cold. She was there doing shots of cold medicine and seemed drunker than half the kids there." Aelin and Lysandra had grown up together, both under the overbearing, manipulative wings of their agent Arobynn Hamel. He'd turned the girl against each other young, pitting them against each other for the best movie parts. They'd been serious rivals until they'd both grown up and Aelin had left the business altogether for a while after she lost Sam. Now she was represented by Dorian's father. She wasn't sure he was any better, now that he was the one holding her leash, but she'd at least met Dorian and Chaol in the process, who were also in the show.

Lysandra had stayed with Arobynn a while longer and had turned from client to lover as soon as she was eighteen. Aelin hated her still until she caught them arguing at a party one night and realized that Lysandra wasn't trying to sleep her way to the top, she just didn't have a way out like Aelin did and her career was being held over her head. So when the opportunity for this show came, Aelin discreetly told Lysandra about it. Once she had a part, she had worked up the courage to get a good lawyer and leave Arobynn. It was a scandal for months, but the word on it was finally dying down and she was able to enjoy her newfound freedom. Her and Aelin ended up becoming fast friends on set, and Lysandra had even taken to Aelin's cousin, Aedion, who played her love interest on the show. They'd gotten together a year after filming had started and had been together happily ever since.

Aelin partly believes that to be why she wanted Aelin and Rowan together so badly. So they could have the shared experience of finding love through the show. But Aelin wasn't interested in love anymore. She'd tried after Sam. With Dorian. With Chaol. But they just didn't work, and Aelin was exhausted with love. Losing Sam had devastated her. She'd almost decided to never act again. But she kept going, she kept fighting, to live the dream Sam would never get to. It'd been hard, especially after Aelin lost Nehemia too, not even two years later. Aelin had just gotten the acceptance to the show a few days later. She'd almost declined, almost threw herself into a dark hole, never to come out, but then came Rowan.

Stupid Rowan.

He'd said she'd never last when he heard she got the part and the spite that filled her to prove him wrong pushed her through.

So now here she was. Still suffering, but proving him wrong every step of the way, every single day and making sure he knew it.

"Aelin and I are actually going to go shopping to get new dresses for the party after Aelin's done here," Lysandra told Fenrys.

"Can I come?" Evangeline asked, "Pretty please? I promise I'll be good."

"Well, I suppose if you're good..." Lysandra said dramatically, making the little girl laugh with glee.

"I promise!" She said, "I won't even complain once." Lysandra had taken in Evangeline when she was young after finding out the Arobynn was planning to do the same things with her as he'd done to Lysandra. Both her parents passed and Lysandra managed to get custody of the girl, now taking on the role as her guardian. Aelin knew Lysandra was tempted to get her out of the toxic atmosphere, but the girl loved acting so much that she couldn't bear to do it. Luckily enough, she was able to get Evangeline a role in the show as well and set up with a reputable agent who could really help them both.

She, Evangeline, and Aedion all lived just next door to Aelin, so Aelin often acted as an older sister type for the girl. Watching her when they were out, taking her to school or set when Lysandra or Aedion were busy. She loved her like family. And really, she was.

Unfortunately, her other neighbor was a bastard buzzard whose house she'd physically shove further from hers if she could.

"Well, you ladies enjoy," Fenrys said, "I'll see you all tonight." They bid him goodbye and Aelin watched for a moment as he headed towards Rowan's trailer.

"You grab your bread and go get changed," Lysandra said, "We're losing daylight!"

"I'm going," she retorted, grabbing the food and making her way to her own trailer.

[jbuffyangel]

Entertainment Weekly Arrow Article

We never get any big articles of Arrow, so yeah I am posting the whole damn thing. There were some interesting little tidbits and of course discussion around Emily Bett Rickards’ exit. Is it wrong that I am low key pissed that of course Arrow gets the cover of EW after she leaves? Is it also wrong that while I’m happy Arrow is getting some attention, I’m annoyed it wasn’t an Olicity cover? Cuz that’s where I am at. (X)

How Arrow saved the TV superhero — and why it had to end

As 'Arrow' prepares for the end, Stephen Amell and the producers reflect on its origin story and preview the 'Crisis'-bound eighth and final season. 

Stephen Amell is dreading the eighth and final season of Arrow, though you wouldn’t know it on this hot, sunny July day in Los Angeles. Wearing Green Arrow’s new suit, the CW star seems perfectly at ease as he strikes heroic pose after heroic pose on a dimly lit stage. But once he’s traded heavy verdant leather for a T-shirt, jeans, and baseball cap, his guard drops and the vulnerability starts to creep in as he contemplates Arrow’s last 10 episodes, which was set to begin production in Vancouver a week after the EW photoshoot took place and premieres Oct. 15.

“I’m very emotional and melancholy, but it’s time,” Amell — who is featured on the new cover of Entertainment Weekly — says as he takes a sip from a pint of Guinness. “I’m 38 years old, and I got this job when I was 30. I’d never had a job for more than a year. The fact that I’ve done this for the better part of a decade, and I’m not going to do it anymore, is a little frightening.”

Developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow debuted in the fall of 2012. The DC Comics series follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Amell), who, after years away, returned to now–Star City with one goal: to save his home-town as the hooded bow-and-arrow vigilante who would become known as Green Arrow (it would take him four seasons to assume the moniker). What began as a solo crusade eventually grew to include former soldier John Diggle (David Ramsey), quirky computer genius Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), lawyer-turned-hero Laurel Lance/Black Canary (Katie Cassidy Rodgers), and the rest of Team Arrow. Together they’ve defended their city from a host of threats — dark archers, megalomaniacal magicians, and the occasional metahuman — while Lost-like flashbacks revealed what Oliver endured in the five years he was away, first shipwrecked and then honing his skills around the world to become someone else, something else.

The premiere gave The CW its most-watched series debut since 2009’s The Vampire Diaries. But before they launched Arrow, Berlanti and Guggenheim had to suffer through a failure: 2011’s Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds. The duo co-wrote the script but lost creative control of the film, which flopped. So when Warner Bros. Television president Peter Roth approached them in late 2011 about developing a Green Arrow show, they were wary. After much deliberation, Berlanti and Guggenheim agreed, on the condition that they maintain control. Says Guggenheim, “As long as we succeed or fail on our own work, and not someone else’s work then maybe this is worth a shot.”

Their take on the Emerald Archer — who made his DC Comics debut in 1941 — was noteworthy from the beginning. Taking cues from films like The Dark Knight and The Bourne Identity and series like Homeland, the writers imagined a dark, gritty, and grounded show centered on a traumatized protagonist. “As we were breaking the story, we made very specific commitments to certain tonal things, such as ‘At the end of act 1, he has his hands around his mother’s throat.’ And, ‘At the end of act 2, he kills a man in cold blood to protect his secret,’ ” says Guggenheim.

A hero committing murder? That was practically unheard of then. Having Oliver suit up in a veritable superhero costume by the pilot’s climax was radical too. Sure, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was deep into Phase One when the producers were developing Arrow, but TV was traditionally more apprehensive about comic books. Smallvillefamously had a “no tights, no flights” rule and only introduced superhero costumes in the last years of its 10-season run, and there weren’t any masked avengers running around NBC’s Heroes or ABC’s No Ordinary Family, the latter produced by Berlanti (Let’s not even mention NBC’s The Cape, which was essentially dead on arrival and never did get its six seasons and a movie). But Arrow not only fully committed to the idea of someone dressing up like Robin Hood to fight crime with a bow and arrow, it introduced a second costumed rogue, the Huntress (Jessica De Gouw), in episode 7.

“It’s just comic book to the extreme and the fans seem to really love it,” says Batwomanshowrunner Caroline Dries, a former writer on Smallville. “They still maintain it very grounded, but it’s very different with everyone in costumes. The appetite for superheroes has changed in my mind in terms of like they just want the literal superhero [now].”

Not that the team wasn’t meticulous about creating Green Arrow’s cowl. “We had to have so many conversations to get it approved, but that’s why we got [Oscar winner] Colleen Atwood [Memoirs of a Geisha] at the time to [design] the suit,” says Berlanti. “We were determined to show we could do on TV what they were doing in the movies every six months.”

“It’s really easy to make a guy with a bow and arrow look silly. We sweated every detail,” says Guggenheim, who also recalls how much effort it took to perfect Oliver’s signature growl. “I actually flew up to Vancouver. On a rooftop during reshoots on [episode 4], Stephen and I went through a variety of different versions of, basically, ‘You have failed this city,’ with different amounts of how much growl he’s putting into his performance. [We] recorded all that, [I went] back to Los Angeles, and then sat with the post guys playing around with all the different amounts of modulation.”

That process took eons compared to the unbelievably easy time the team had casting Arrow’s title role. In fact, Amell was the first person to audition for the role. “It was Stephen’s intensity. He just made you believe he was that character,” says Guggenheim, recalling Amell’s audition. “We had crafted Oliver to be this mystery box character, and Stephen somehow managed to find this balance between being totally accessible in a way you would need a TV star to be, but he’s still an enigma.” After his first reading, Amell remembers being sent outside for a short time before being brought back into the room to read for a larger group: “I called [my manager], and I go, ‘I know this is not how it’s supposed to work, but I just got that job.’”

In the first season, the show’s chief concerns were maintaining both the “grounded and real” tone and the high quality of the stunts, and investing the audience in Oliver’s crusade. Beyond that, though, there wasn’t much of an over-arching plan, which allowed the show to naturally evolve — from introducing more DC characters, such as Deathstroke (Manu Bennett) and Roy Harper (Colton Haynes), sooner than they initially intended (the shot of Deathstroke’s mask in the pilot was meant as a harmless Easter egg), to promoting Emily Bett Rickards’ Felicity from a one-off character in the show’s third episode to a series regular in season 2 and eventually Oliver’s wife. Even the whole idea of a Team Arrow — which, over time, added Oliver’s sister Thea (Willa Holland), Rene Ramirez/Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) and Dinah Drake/Black Canary (Juliana Harkavy) — was the result of the writers allowing the best ideas to guide the story. “Greg used to say all the time, ‘You have a hit TV show until you don’t, so don’t save s—,’ ” says Amell.

Also not planned: Arrow spawning an entire shared universe. “We went on record a lot of times during the premiere of the pilot saying, ‘No superpowers, no time travel.’ But midway through season 1, Greg started to harbor a notion of doing the Flash,” says Guggenheim. “I’m a very big believer that it’s great to have a plan, but I think when it comes to creating a universe, the pitfall is that people try to run before they can walk. The key is, you build it show by show.” And so they did. First, they introduced The Flash star Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen in the two-part midseason finale of Arrow’s second season. From there, Supergirl took flight in 2015, then DC’s Legends of Tomorrow in 2016, and Batwoman is due this fall. “It’s like the hacking of the machete in the woods and then you look back and you’re like, ‘Oh, there’s a path,” says executive producer and Berlanti Productions president Sarah Schechter. But even though Arrowis the universe’s namesake, Amell doesn’t concern himself with the sibling series outside of the now-annual crossovers. “I never think about any of the other shows,” he says. “I want all of them to do great, but they’re not my responsibility. My responsibility is Arrow, and to make sure everyone from the cast to the crew are good.” His sentiments are seconded by Flash’s Gustin: “I don’t understand how he does it — his schedule that he maintains with working out, the conventions he goes to, the passion he has for it, and the love he shows towards fans. He’s always prepared. He cares more about that show being high quality than anybody else on the set.”

That said, the universe’s expansion precipitated what is widely considered to be Arrow’s best season, the fifth one. After focusing on magic in season 4, the show returned to its street-crime roots as part of “a concerted effort to play not just to our strengths but what made the shows unique,” Guggenheim says of balancing their four super-series in 2016. “Because Arrow was the longest-running Arrowverse show, we were able to do something that none of the other shows could do, which is have a villain who was basically born out of the events of season 1,” he explains of introducing Adrian Chase/Prometheus (Josh Segarra), whose criminal father was killed by Oliver. “That gave the season a resonance.”

It was midway through season 6 when Amell realized he was ready to hang up Oliver Queen’s hood. “It was just time to move on,” the actor says of pitching that Oliver leave the series at the end of season 7. “My daughter is turning six in October, and she goes to school in L.A., and my wife and I want to raise her [there].” Berlanti persuaded him to return for one final season, which the producers collectively decided would be the end. “We all felt in our gut it was the right time,” says Berlanti. Adds Schechter, “It’s such a privilege to be able to say when something’s ending as opposed to having something just ripped away.”

But there’s one integral cast member who won’t be around to see Arrow through its final season. This spring, fans were devastated to learn Rickards had filmed her final episode—bringing an end to Olicity. “They’re such opposites. I think that’s what draws everyone in a little bit,” showrunner Beth Schwartz says of Oliver and Felicity’s relationship. “You don’t see the [love story of] super intelligent woman and the sort of hunky, athletic man very often. She’s obviously a gorgeous woman but what he really loves is her brain.” For his part, Amell believes the success of both Felicity and Olicity lies completely with Rickards’ performance. “She’s supremely talented and awesome and carved out a space that no one anticipated. I don’t know that show works if we don’t randomly find her,” says Amell, adding that continuing the series without Team Arrow’s heart is “not great. Arrow, as you know it, has effectively ended. It’s a different show in season 8.” And he’s not exaggerating.

The final season finds Oliver working for the all-seeing extra-terrestrial the Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) and trying to save the entire multiverse from a cataclysmic event. “[We’re] taking the show on the road, really getting away from Star City. Oliver is going to be traveling the world, and we’re going to go to a lot of different places,” says Guggenheim. “Every time I see Oliver and the Monitor, it’s like, ‘Okay, we are very far from where we started.’ But again, that means the show has grown and evolved.” Adds Schwartz, “This is sort of his final test because it’s greater than Star City.” Along the way, he will head down memory lane, with actor Colin Donnell, who played Oliver’s best friend Tommy Merlyn in season 1, and Segarra’s Adrian Chase making appearances. “Episode 1 is an ode to season 1, and episode 2 is an ode to season 3,” teases Amell. “We’re playing our greatest hits.”

But season 8 is not just about building toward a satisfying series finale. “Everything relates to what’s going to happen in our crossover episode, which we’ve never done before,” says Schwartz. Spanning five hours and airing this winter, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” will be the biggest crossover yet and may see Oliver perish trying to save the multiverse from destruction, if the Monitor’s prophecy is to be believed. “Oliver [is told] he’s going to die, so each episode in the run-up to ‘Crisis’ has Oliver dealing with the various stages of grief that come with that discovery,” says Guggenheim. “So the theme really is coming to terms, acceptance.”

If there’s one person who has made his peace with Oliver’s fate, it’s Amell. “Because he’s a superhero with no superpowers, I always felt he should die — but he may also not die,” says Amell, who actually found out what the show’s final scene would be at EW’s cover shoot. “I cried as [Marc Guggenheim] was telling me. There are a lot of hurdles to get over to make that final scene.” Get this man some more Guinness!

[ick25]

Rockman.EXE Final Episode Review!

I ain’t afraid of no Gostler.

Finally, the last episode of the first season of the Rockman.EXE anime, the last episode before Axess changes almost everything!

You might not know this, but I am NOT a huge fan of Axess, it nearly destroys everything I’m used to and love from the first season, but I’ll talk about that some other time. Lets dive into this final adventure!

Who you’re gonna call?

The episode begins at night where Netto’s dad is carrying out an experiment. He created something called the “Dimensional core” that projects a grassy field in a parking lot, however, this is not a hologram since Dr. Hikari is able to touch a tree, claiming the experiment was a success.

He is basically God now.

The next morning we are at Netto’s house where his useless mom is humming Aki’s cheesy song while Netto is working on some kind of device he invented. The device happens to be a wireless plug that allows him to connect Rockman into a far away computer.

I’m not completely sure how this is suppose to work. I initially thought it was a way for Netto to plug-in to any computer withing range, but I think it just allows him to reconnect with Rockman if he is stranded in a computer, since it has been showed in the anime that he can’t send chips if he is not directly connected to the computer or server.

Netto gets a phone call from Commander Beef who gives him some worrying news about his father before the title card appears.

We then see Netto and his friends, along with Higure, Masa and Mariko-sensei for some reason, in a commercial plane, I guess Yaito decided to get cheap on us today.

Netto tells everyone that Commander Beef just told him that his dad had suddenly gone missing in Jawaii. He is obviously worried by this and the grown-ups try to cheer him up, with Higure saying that Commander Beef was probably lying, which angers Masa for some “unknown” reason.

Netto suddenly receives a call from Enzan who gives him more information about Dr. Hikari’s location and what he was working on.

I find it interesting that this last line was skipped and given to Rockman later on in the american version.

What is Enzan’s reason to help Netto all of a sudden?

Speaking of the dub, the line they gave to Yaito here was very awkward, by revealing that she likes Chaud/Enzan which is completely out of character.

We don’t go to commercials just yet, but we get the first screen saver we haven’t seen since the first part of the season.

Gotta love the sub’s sense of humor.

The next scene takes us to the shopping mall that has been taken over by some big roots, with a giant tree suddenly appearing on the roof. Netto and company are now on a helicopter where they are amazed at the sight of the tree. Rockman tells them that the tree is made out of cyber matter but functions just like a real tree.

While giving us the code for shrinking the Shield program. I used to think that was a chemical equation or something. XD

So after Mariko-sensei makes a bad joke, Yaito orders the pilot... Oh no! Why is SHE the pilot?!

Did we really need that gag to return?

Meanwhile, on another part of Jawaii, we see the Ex-WWW who have opened a second restaurant called Maha Niban and it seems there is an air of contentment around them because they all look happy and fulfilled.

Oh boy, I can tell something bad is gonna happen to them soon and I just can’t wait!

Back to our heroes, the inside of the mall looks like that planet from the Degoba system where Yoda lived, except the camera rotates around some of the plants that look three-dimensional but they’re actually bi-dimensional.

Which raises a question. How come these plants are bi-dimensional but Dr. Hikari was able to touch a solid tree at the start of this episode?

The group suddenly hear a familiar voice, it turns out to be Aki-chan who calls for Netto from a projection near the wall.

Aki tells them about Dr. Hikari’s experiment and how it started in the parking lot of the mall with the program he created called the Dimensional Core, however, viruses have taken over the Dimensional Core making the cyberworld in the mall unstable.

After Aki’s transmission is cut off, everyone decide to go to the parking lot, but not before Yaito reminds us how clumsy Sakurako is by telling her to stay put.

Seriously, what were you thinking, Yaito?

The group find an elevator that is still working, while they wait, Rush sees what looks like a pink female version of himself, presumably, another Mole virus. The girl virus lures him over and then... Does this.

What in the world was that?! This always confuse me. Is that how those viruses are supposed to be like? Is Rush like a tamed virus? Was it trying to eat him? Unfortunately that isn’t the case since Rush quickly hides behind Meiru who then notices that they are not alone.

What a silly question, Dekao. They are viruses, they are programmed to destroy everything in sight, whether it moves or not.

The group manages to escape through the elevator where Tohru says that the viruses probably materialized due to Dr. Hikari’s experiment. Just then,  Metools begin to destroy the elevator.

So cute, yet, so deadly.

The group is forced to get off in the second floor with the Mettools right behind them, but they are suddenly stopped by a group of Bunny viruses. With viruses on both sides, Netto and friends pull an impossible stunt to avoid getting hit by the viruses attacks.

No uncomfortable line after that, Netto? When that happened in episode 29 you were pretty happy about it. 

After the vines break and Higure is chased away by a Ghostler virus, Netto and his friends decide to use their Navis to stop the experiment from the cyberworld. 

I remember this part having my full attention, if viruses where able to materialized in the real world, maybe the Navis would too, we might see something different for once.

o_o  Well... That’s certainly different.

Apparently the cyberworld has become so unstable due to the experiment, that the Navis had nowhere to stand on, because that’s how computers work, right?

So after this, we get the second intermission with Rush running away from a Mettool, with some confusing messages from the subs.

One, what would Pharaohman’s first appearance have to do with anything? And two, isn’t it CTRL+Alt+Del? Because either way, DON’T DO IT!

None of the PETs can find the Navis, so Netto takes out his WiFi device and says how it is connected to Rockman, and can tell Netto if there is a Bluetooh-I mean, if Rockman is within range.

Then what was the point of building that thing?

With the Navis missing, the group have to find another solution, but before they can think of something, they are surprised by a Handi virus, and during the confusion, a Magma Dragon virus kidnaps Mariko-sensei with Masa running after it. Netto and friends are then ambushed by a Powei virus who chases them. 

While trying to get away from the virus, Meiru trips (because of course she has to trip), Netto goes back for her and gets her out of the way just in time.

The virus breaks a water fountain and the splash deletes it giving Netto an idea of how to fight the viruses.

Meanwhile, we find the Navis walking around an area that looks like the inside of a tree. Since they have no idea where they are or where they’re going, they start to lose hope until Aki-chan appears before them with the compression code for Fast Gauge because we need to speed things up.

We return to Netto and friends who have found Gabgom’s department store that Yaito mentioned back on the plane, where they are all suiting up for some Live Action Virus Busting or LAVB.

So we get a Ghost Buster tribute, but instead of high tech gadgets, our heroes have water guns.

The boys cover an area of the mall shooting water at the viruses to delete them. Rush is also helping out (Even though we know he has a virus summoning ability), and we get one last scene with the weird female Rush virus before she is deleted with the water; but I still have one question in mind.

The girls cover another area where Yaito is riding a mini tank that fires water balloons.

She had a bazooka in another episode so this doesn’t surprise me.

Then we get this quick scene of Masa-san changing into Commander Beef in a dressing room and attempting to save Mariko-sensei from the Magma Dragon.

As expected, it didn’t work. 

After this, the Magma Dragon lands and is ready to eat Mariko-sensei or something, but the boys appear to save her. Since the Magma Dragon is big, it takes a lot of water to finally delete it. They reunite with Mariko who asks if everyone is alright.

Wow, that’s cold, Netto. I know it’s just a Gostler, but a materialized virus is still pretty dangerous, except for Rush.

We then get the final commercial break that omits the second part, something the subs kindly reminds us of.

I guess it’s fair since we saw chibi Blues twice in the last episode.

We return with the Navis who finally see the exit.

“Hurry just like a Fast Gauge!”

Back in the real world, our heroes arrive in the parking lot basement where they find the Dimensional core under a gigantic tree, but before they can think of how to fix it, they are surprised by a very big cameo from the game.

The Life Virus!

Of course the anime leaves the final boss of the first game for the final episode, and it is even more intimidating than in the game.

Turns out the powerful Life virus is the one responsible for making the program unstable. Since the boys are the only ones with water tanks for some reason now, they shoot water at the Life Virus, but because it is so humongous, their attacks are ineffective and they quickly run out of water.

With no more water, Netto and friends wait fearfully as the Life virus approaches them, but just then, Netto’s wireless device starts to react.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! FINALLY!

After 55 episodes, Rockman finally appears in the real world!

The rest of the Navis appear soon after, giving Meiru and the others my exact reaction to this scene.

But I have no idea why this shot was skipped in the dub.

The Life virus attacks and the Navis fight back.

Unfortunately, their combined attacks are not enough to delete the Life virus, so Netto connects his PET to the wireless device in order to send Battle Chips to Rockman.

Now, if you’ve been taking screenshots of the episode like me, you’ll notice that there are quite a few recycled shots and animation errors, like Netto’s slot-in scenes with his regular cloths except that they were painted over to look like the outfit he’s wearing.

And this reused shot from episode 51, since it’s the wrong chip and the background is from the WWW lair.

Kanketsen is Fountain, a chip that normally can only be used with an aqua element Style Change.

Speaking of said Style Change, Netto somehow activates the Aqua Custom Style without the Extra code to finish off the Life virus with the Mega Deus Ex Maquina burst!

Now it’s the right chip, but still the wrong background.

Once the Life virus is deleted, the Dimensional core stabilizes and all the other plants, trees, and even the Net Navis return to the cyberworld.

With everything back to normal, the group find Netto’s dad who was sleeping the whole time, and the ending music starts to play in the background along with the credits.

Netto wakes him up by pulling his ear, and then he has this weird formal exchange with Mariko-sensei.

No questions about why your son’s school teacher is with them in the artificial park you created in a mall in Jawaii?

Now, this part might be a little infuriating since Netto’s dad had no idea that the experiment was corrupted by a Live virus, how it took over the shopping mall, and how everyone was worried about him since they didn’t hear from him in a very long time, but the upbeat ending music kinda makes you realize that this is not suppose to be taken seriously.

The worst part is that Dr. Hikari just straight up leaves Netto behind while he goes back home to Japan in his weird flying van, something I would expect from Yaito.

I guess it’s a good thing the dub changed his lines to avoid making him feel like a jerk. What does he say instead? Well, its kinda of spoiler for what happens next.

Rockman and the other Navis materializing in the real world, and the Ex-WWW is attacked by a giant tree... I should feel satisfied, but not really.

My final thoughts?

Wow, once again the show plays with my emotions by finally making Rockman and the other Navis appear in the real world but it doesn’t last long and it doesn’t feel as meaningful as it should be. The whole episode is treated like a filler episode rather that an important plot point for the next season. During that time, and also because Axess was never dubbed in Latin America, I never knew that they were gonna use the Dimensional Core as the basis for the Dimensional Area in the next season.

Speaking of Axess, it looked like they weren’t even planning on making another season after this, but they just had to because of the forth game that would be released for December of 2003. This episode premiered in March of 2003 while Axess started in October of the same year, that means that the producers had to hire a whole new team of writers and animators to work on Axess in the course of 7 months, because the feeling of the new season is almost completely different from the first two, and that is why the first seasons will remain in my heart while having mixed feelings towards Axess.

The idea of Netto suddenly being an inventor in this episode is a cheap way to introduce the Wireless device he gets from Meiru in BN2.

Only to have it stuck forever on the other side of a room when confronting Princess Pride who had destroy part of the floor.

Battle Network logic.

Before ending this review I have to thank WolfPack Productions and the other groups who subbed these episodes, specifically the former because they made their own credits after this episode.

And thanks to them, not only did I discover that Higure and Numberman are played by the same voice actor, but Coloredman too.

So thanks to them and everyone who follows me on Tumblr and Deviantart who liked and or commented on this reviews.

[blue-mint-winter]

BSG 4x19 Daybreak rewatch

I cried. This is the end of this epic journey, this is a goodbye to those amazing characters.

It’s really hard to talk about it in a calm and analyzing fashion, but I believe that the resolutions we got were fitting and satisfying.

What really struck me is that in the finale finally we reach a real unity between Cylons and humans. They now fight side by side as comrades and it’s not just the skinjobs, but Centurions too. Even Adama crosses the line he thought he’d never cross - he allows for Sam to be hooked up to systems in CIC, becoming a Hybrid for Galactica.

This episode does this really neat trick of showing us the life of certain characters before the fall. We see how certain events and decisions they made, seemingly random and insignificant, led their fate to Galactica and now.

The whole mission to save Hera - I like how it’s shown as this crazy, for volunteers only, last stand of Galactica, the last battle. But this irrational mission is the key, the visions and prophecies came to fruition there and Kara finally fulfilled her purpose and found the way to Earth.

I love the moment in which Kara puts in the coordinates she got from her father’s song and they jump. Incredible scene.

Hoshi becomes Admiral of the remaining Fleet. So he followed in his boyfriend’s footsteps in a way.

Hera is rescued thanks to Boomer. Boomer’s fate is just really bittersweet. We get a flashback of her when Adama gave her the second chance instead of throwing her out for doing a bad job as a pilot and how she said she owed him one. Returning Hera is Boomer paying that debt. She can become that person she once was, before all the betrayals - one of Adama’s kids. Boomer’s final choice is to side with humanity, with Galactica. But she still pays for all her sins with death by Athena’s hand.

I don’t really know how to feel about Athena killing Boomer. On one hand who else would be more suitable to do it, on the other hand maybe suicide would have been a better option? As a callback to S1 when Boomer was unable to kill herself because of her programming, if she overcame that now... However, Athena killing Boomer is the closest it can get to a suicide. They share those memories from before the attack on the Colonies. Athena is who Boomer could have been.

Gaius deciding to stay on Galactica in the last minute makes sense. I wonder why Head Six told him to go, to use his new political power and influence thanks to his followers in the Fleet. Maybe reverse psychology? Maybe she was testing him. Because he had to stay for everything to unfold in the right way.

I love Gaius and Caprica reconciling. It’s not hard to see that he chose to stay because she was staying. And for once Gaius didn’t listen to his self-preservation instincts, because something was much stronger - his love for Caprica Six.

Gaius’ flashbacks to how he met Caprica Six were wonderful. She became a witness to an argument between Gaius and his father who stabbed a nurse and I love just how it must have affected her. She thinks of Cylons as humanity’s children and then she saw this example of a father and son being so completely at odds, unable to understand each other, fighting.

Caprica Six finding a nice retirement house for Gaius’ father where he could be happy may have been part of her scheme to get access to defense mainframe, but I believe it was more than that. I think she would’ve been able to seduce it out of Gaius without that. Caprica through this good deed won Gaius’ heart, she saw and reached the man under the arrogant scientist. And how funny it was him who first used the “L” word. Gaius Baltar talking about love, than quickly backpedaling to cover up that he was actually open about his feelings for once.

Gaius’ role in the finale is what he does best - talking. This time his words reach CAVIL, so that he gives them Hera.

Turns out that Roslin’s opera house vision had one purpose only - so she’d hide Hera from Centurions in that one critical moment on Galactica. If she never had that vision, she’d never go out of sickbay to look for Hera and the child would’ve never gotten to Gaius and Six and CIC and there would be no ceasefire between Cavil faction and human-Cylon alliance.

Final Five scene. Oh wow. So Tigh offers Cavil resurrection tech for Hera and all Five have to combine their knowledge, but it also lets them know everything else about each other. And that’s when the hour of reckoning comes to Tory.

I have to say that on one hand I love that Tyrol had that Cally flashback, how she was on his side from the start. He loved her, maybe not like Boomer, but they built a life together, a marriage, she stayed by his side through some very tough times. Their relationship meant a lot to him, otherwise he’d never have grieved like he did. And Tyrol attacking Tory when he saw her memories of Cally’s murder is significant of that. All in all, after this season did Cally so dirty, I like that the last thing we see of her is a positive memory Tyrol had of her. And her death is avenged.

Ironic that Tory’s downfall was exactly as foreshadowed. She kept this big terrible secret and when it came out, it destroyed her. Gaius did warn her about it once. The secret of her affair with him destroyed Tory’s friendship with Roslin and her last real tie to humanity. But she didn’t learn anything from it, she never came clean about murdering Cally and so she paid the price.

This situation is also interesting when we look at Tyrol’s perspective. After Boomer’s last betrayal he lost all trust in Eights. “They’re just machines,” he says to Helo. Tyrol was once able to forgive Cally for shooting Boomer, he even married her, the killer of his first love. But what Cally did was out of love for him. She was fiercely devoted to him. Tyrol couldn’t forgive Tory for killing Cally, but what Tory did was pure calculated murder. She did it for her own selfish reasons. And even with Cally out of the way, Tyrol was not interested in a relationship with Tory which is something she must have hoped for. In the end he kills Tory in rage and then he swears off all women and lives alone in highlands on some northern island, away from people.

What all of this says about Tyrol is that in my theory he never had a real, deep love with Tory and he compensated by creating Number Eight. Boomer was his perfect woman. Pygmalion and Galatea, anyone?

I can’t help but feel that Tory was so alone. As a human all she had was her job and Roslin. She and Gaius just used each other, it wasn’t meaningful. She easily let him go. It seems in the end she fled from her humanity into giving her all to be a Cylon, but even then she continued being alone. She didn’t really become close with her fellow Final Five and she had no other friends, human or Cylon. I liked that in finale Ellen had a few moments with Tory, giving her some friendship, but it was too little, too late. Tory lived and died alone.

Because of Tory’s death the secret of resurrection is lost. Chaos erupts on the bridge but Cavil’s side is going to lose, so he kills himself.

We finally learn what happened to the mutineers like Racetrack and Skulls - they were imprisoned, but now they got drafted for this suicide mission to attack the Colony and rescue Hera. These two get shot down early in the mission, but when they drift dead in space, in just the right moment Racetrack’s hand falls down and hits the missile button and the Colony is blown up. This is the true end to Cavil’s faction.

I love how the show isn’t afraid of showing this higher power influencing people and events according to its plan. The moment when Caprica Six and Gaius see Head Six and Head Gaius is still one of my favourites. The whole vision coming true and Kara putting in the coordinates she took from the song and Racetrack’s missiles shooting at just the right time all aren’t an accident.

So they found Earth, our Earth, and they decide to settle all over the planet and start over with a clean slate.

Kara’s goodbye with Sam was just so touching. The dogtags, I love you, “See you on the other side.” Sam took the Fleet into the sun. And when Kara disappeared we know she joined him.

I love how Sam’s flashback about his search for perfection ties with his ending. By becoming a Hybrid he gained access to that higher plane of mathematics and launching the Fleet into the sun was him achieving that “perfect throw” he was looking for. Through the flashback we saw the deeper side of Sam than the jock. It makes so much sense why he’s one of the Final Five.

Everyone’s settling on Earth, Agathons are back to being a happy family. Ellen finally gets to be with Tigh full-time. Adama and Roslin go off to find a place for their cabin by the lake.

I got so emotional when Gaius said “You know, I know about farming.” This is a beautiful ending to his arc. Not only the skeptic became a true believer, also the man who once despised his upbringing, who wanted to be something more and better than a farmer, now goes back to his roots and it’s important and useful skill to have. He’s no longer ashamed of coming from Aerilon.

Adama and Roslin slayed me. I cried when she died and he put the wedding ring on her finger like in her visions from The Hub. I cried again when he sat by her grave and said that the sunrise reminds him of her. Wow. That love.

Roslin’s flashbacks give us one important insight into her - she literally had no life before Galactica. She lost all her family and her life became empty. She tried to fill it - a date with Sean didn’t work, so she threw herself into politics and Adar’s campaign. Galactica and Adama became her real home. As bittersweet is that they couldn’t have a fairytale perfect ending, I appreciate that Roslin died loving him and being loved in return. She brought them all to Earth as the Dying Leader. It was her time to rest.

Speaking of Earth, it looks like D’Anna really stayed on the nuked old Earth because she never showed up after that episode :(((

Lee and Kara. Their love is really tragic because they could never really be together. The flashback of their first meeting when she was Zak’s girlfriend and they almost cheated puts into focus that they were doomed from the start. All they had were those stolen moments, but something always got in the way, sometimes because of their own doing. In my eyes, Lee and Kara had a complicated love, because they were so many different things to each other all at once. I guess in a way Zak’s ghost always stood between them.

So in the end Kara’s like that pigeon, she annoyed Lee to no end so he smashed a few things chasing her and then she flew away when she wanted to and left him alone.

Okay, so maybe to some people tying up BSG to current times, Hera as the mitochondrial Eve, is controversial, but I think it’s pretty brilliant. Showing how people make robots again in real life now is not really as much about robots as about every other issue BSG told us about. Because we have it all here, right now, happening - torture, terrorism, war, slave labour, corruption, everything. By tying the story to our reality the viewers can’t just close it like a book, “it’s just a scifi, it’s fictional, none of it is real, let’s forget every lesson this show imparted because it has nothing to do with reality.” Wrong! Yes, it’s not real, but it talks about things that happen in real life. It shows us that when we only see the same-faced enemy, we forget that they are only human just like us. To avoid the mutual annihilation, we should strive to better understand each other, to find common ground.

So that’s it. This is the end of line. Farewell, BSG, one of the best frakking shows ever made.

[sidgenoheatwave-blog]

Heat Wave Prompts 2019

Heat Wave 2018 Prompts

Note: You can use prompts from this or previous years, or choose not to use one at all! Prompts are meant as inspiration only.

Caught in the rain

Victory sex

Double cream pie

Oral fixation

“Secret” relationship

No tan lines

Secretly a virgin

Touch-starved Sid

Consolation

Private island

Humiliation kink

Popsicles

Tool belt

Rope bondage

Exhibitionists

Love at first sight

Soulbond sex

Dream thieves

Mermaids and weird genitalia

Sex rituals at center ice

Dracula’s castle

Just fucking machines, being overwhelmed and a good dose of overstimulation

Accidental pregnancy/didn't realize he could get pregnant

Sid decides to take a year off to have a baby, and wants Geno to be the father

Werewolves and scent kink

Werewolf au. Every team has an alpha. The Pens have two.

The Road to El Dorado

Met at friends’ wedding

A forward forward and an amenable photographer for ESPN’s The Body Issue

Porn Stars au: Sid is really good at playing the fake virgin

Nipple play! Geno loving on Sid’s nips

Sid has extremely sensitive nipples and can come just from having them played with

Voyeur and exhibitionist neighbors

Rival sex, Geno is a Flyer and Sid is a Penguin. Enemies to lovers, with secret romance and angst

First time blowjobs - sloppy, messy, and explorative

Sid is being bullied by a new coach or new player on the team. He tries to hide it because he's ashamed. Geno finds out and saves the day.

Sweat kink, cause you know Sid likes to marinate after games

Sid's been cursed and Geno has to fuck it out of him

They warned me Satan would be attractive

Testing out the pool/hot-tub Sid has just built

"I want to undress you, vulgarize you a bit." - Henry Miller

Sid’s not often into sex, but man is he into Geno.

Emperor and his most favored consort

Favorite couple on a porn site

Animal traits: penguins court by giving each other small rocks

Sid's a tentacle monster, and Geno is very into it

Double penetration: can be with toys, with fingers, or with straight up dick

Mpreg, Sid wants a baby SO badly

Dressing room hook up at a department store

Detective and homme fatale

Secret agent AU, Sid is the honeypot trap for Geno

Pulled over by “Officer Geno”

Someone's got a shapeshifting dick.

Accidental soulbonding, they have to fuck to settle the bond

Geno has a magic dick

Naked except for the jewelry.

Geno’s frat boy look

Feelings happen to demisexual!Sid after knowing Geno for years and years

A bet on how far they can get during roadies in team outings without getting caught

The boys make a bet on who can fuck the longest without coming and try to get the other to lose 😌

One of them is cursed and the only thing that will break it is getting pregnant

Overstimulation with lots of sex tears and sensitivity

Some no holds bar, compleatly unrealistic, exhibition fucking. Everybody sees and they LIKE IT

Phone sex with needy sid

Zach and Miri Make a Porno au

Team soulbonds are normal and triggered through sex

Sex magic to break a scoring slump

Dom/sub relationship that turns serious and loving later

Friends with benefits

AU, sex worker!Sid, Geno is the cop who has to keep arresting / rescuing him

Pilot/frequent flyer

Knotting in Geno’s heat nest

Sid claim biting Geno during heat. The scar is messy. Multiple bites.

Scent marking without realising it, and scent marking on purpose

They're both alphas and one REALLY likes to get knotted

Alpha Sid mounts omega Geno in the lockerroom and it’s MESSY

Alphas aren't supposed to be able to bond to each other, but they bond anyway (accidentally or on purpose)

Geno hooks up with Sid between relationships. Sid doesn’t mind. neither does Geno, until suddenly he does.

Wolfbrother au (A Companion to Wolves - Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette) where Evgeni and his wolfsister go into heat.

Werewolves taking a mate and wanting to fuck in the snow after running all night under the moon

Genderswap Geno shaving Sid’s legs, his hands on her thighs and Sid watching him bite his lip in concentration.

Rule 63, for both. College or pro teammates, a lot of competitive bets for sex/use of toys

Mermaid!Sid with gold under his nails, under his scales, and Evgeni who is forced to hunt him.

Sid’s sex superstitions. They are crazy and hot but should not be encouraged. Too bad Geno doesn’t care. He just wants to win games!

Sid has to give Geno a creampie before every home game: it's a superstition

Sid is a swan turned human, and he could easily break bones as he could accept Geno as a mate.

Geno gets cloned (accidental magic?). Obviously they both want to fuck Sid and neither of them is going to give way to the other.

Private plane banging, in those tight, white dress shirts from the video

On the plane - Geno wears one of those vibrating plugs that Sid controls on his phone - does he come in his pants? Or can he hold out till Sid fucks him.

Sid finally manages "Russia with Geno", but since Moscow is having a literal heat wave right now, he's not coping too well and around the apartment he's wearing as little as possible, all damp and dewy and curls. Geno's losing his mind over it.

Assassin!/escort! au. They both think the other works in the same field as them. They both keep hooking up after blowing/blowing up clients.

Geno is secretary or assistant to a friendly, wealthy, but suspiciously evasive businessman!Sid. They have an awkward friendship (note: Sid must secretly be a thief but he doesn’t tell Geno at first because he wants to protect him) (second note: Sid must also be in love with Geno) (third note: after a few months of this Geno become a thief too)

Young, hot Pope (either Sid or Geno) and his devoted cardinal, fucking on holy ground/under the Sistine Chapel ceiling. maybe now, maybe set in the past, maybe the Renaissance.

Soul bond dream sex. Knowing theres a mate out there bc you feel them from the moment they're born and you dream of their successes and losses. You share when they have sex dreams and what happens when you finally meet?

The story behind that gif of Geno publicly nut-tapping Sid during shirts off our backs(?) Dom claiming his territory or bratty Sub making sure he's going to get punished later?

As captain, Sid always has to be in control, carrying the weight of endless responsibilities. He longs to relinquish control briefly, but doesn't feel he is allowed, doesn't even know how to formulate the question. Geno figures out the problem and is up to the job.

During on-ice scrums, Geno always comes charging to the rescue whenever someone takes liberties with Sid. After many years of this, Sid and Geno finally come to terms with what it means.

Sid is arranged to marry the Crown Prince of Russia. Then the Prince breaks the long engagement to secretly marry someone else. War looks like it may break out. To save face, the Russian Royal family ask their lowly cousin Evgeni, to marry Sid. Or maybe seduce him, so the Canadian's can't sue for breach of promise.

As long as Geno has known Sid, he has a gold collar of thorns around his neck. Then one season Geno returns from Russia to find it gone. In its space is the pale length of Sid's neck. Geno knows he shouldn't look, shouldn't even think about it - about Sid... but he can't stop. Maybe D/s au, maybe some mythological au, maybe a magic au, whatever.

Geno likes to wear perfume sometimes (think Flowerbomb by Vikor and Rolf, maybe Bloom by Gucci), and Sidney likes the scent of Evgeni’s skin.

Monster fucking, but think “A monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the Latin root monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, then adapted by the Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, griffin, satyr. To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.” — Ocean Vuong, from “A Letter To My Mother That She Will Never Read”, published in The New Yorker.

Sid/Geno/Anna:

Sid and Anna taking turns fucking Geno with a strap-on 👀

Anna is ovulating and Sid and Geno lovingly and jokingly compete who gets to impregnate her which (of course) means a lot of sex in general

Sid/Geno/Anna scenario where they kind of have a cuckolding/"cheating" thing where Anna fucks one of them and tells the other one about it in great detail to satisfy his humilitation kink. Could also involve filming during sex to show the other partner. Author's choice who loves the humiliation, though it could also be a scenario where she does it to both of them.

[aprilskyforever]

Sweden Selects 2019 - the final!

Start the countdown... it’s time to pick a winner!

24 candidates have become 12, and they’re all eager to win the golden ticket to Algeris where they’ll represent Sweden in Tmblrvision 2019. The race was tight, but our finalists are:

1. Avicii feat. Agnes and Vargas & Lagola! Avicii, as we all know, passed away in April 2018, but his legacy lives on. With the vocals from the lovely Agnes Carlsson (with hits like Release Me) and Vargas & Lagola (Salem al Fakir, Melfest 2010 runner-up, and Vincent Pontare, son of Roger Pontare) the song opening the final is Tough Love!

2. Malou Prytz! The young rising star from Småland made her debut in Melfest 2019 and is now slowly making her way up the charts. Here she’s competing with Left & Right.

3. William Segerdahl! Another young, promising talent, heading from Vänersborg, had his breakthrough in Idol 2018. Now he’s here with the uplifting Dansgolv (Dancefloor), a song about being there for a friend. (”I love listening to your problems, as long as I’m not one of them”)

4. Juliander! A 21-yearold from Stockholm but with roots on Öland, has been support act for Zara Larsson among other things, but is now competing here with the very soft Afterglow.

5. Nadja Evelina! From Bollnäs, living in Stockholm, Nadja Evelina released her debut album Vi? (We?) earlier this year and have been played a lot on radio P3 and appeared on television ever since the first single Jag vet (I know) was released. It’s a song about the fight between heart and mind, knowing what’s best to do after a break-up versus what you really want to do.

6. Mares! A bit of an indie pop sensation, the boys from Uppsala sometimes seem to be all you hear on radio and see on toplists these days. They’re here with Penseldrag (Paintbrush strokes), but if you like them I recommend checking out 95 and Sunnanvind as well. Penseldrag is a song about painting, but maybe not as literal as one would think.

7. Klara & Jag! The two Stockholm ladies Klara and Johanna have been writing music together since 2010 but didn’t release anything in their own name until 2017. Here, they compete with Måste jag dö? (Do I have to die?) The song is about making a special someone realize how the other person really feels; stopping them from hurting the people around them. (“Do I have to die in order for you to understand? Your breaking my heart when you go on like this. What is love? Should it be this hard? Baby don’t hurt me no more”)

8. Junior Brielle! A somewhat psychadelic pop sensation, the brothers Gustav and David Röhdin from outside Östersund have been on everybody’s lips the last year and a half and released their debut album TAMPA earlier this year. Love is a song about... well honestly I’d have to hire an expert or ask them myself to find that out. However, I want to mention the bridge: “You can always lie to yourself, but don’t ever lie to me”

9. Tove Styrke! From Umeå, now an international star, Tove saw her first days of fame in Idol 2010 and have since the album debut released hit after hit after hit... The song Sway is from the album with the same name. She’s also the only returning artist from Sweden Selects 2017.

10. Crying Day Care Choir! If you like folk pop, fast acoustic guitars, harmonies but also a somewhat playful sound and at times the perfect soundtrack for travel or a lazy summer day, CDCC has all you need. The group consists of the brothers Jack Elz and Bill Nystedt, as well as Jack’s wife Sara Elz, all from Malmö. Spill My Words is from their latest EP Falling Rising, but I do recommend checking out songs like Sad Season, Bigger Heart and Fine Indeed, if you like Spill My Words.

11. Isak Danielson! From Hovås in Göteborg, comes the 21-yearold shooting star Isak who made his way to fame first in X-factor 2012, and then as soundtrack in different American TV-shows as well on Maddie’s Ziegler’s Instagram, all with the song Ending. He competes in Sweden Selects however, with the song Power.

12. LÉON! Stockholm born and raised Lotta Lindgren, has only been releasing singles so far but is surely making her way up the charts both nationally and internationally. Here she’s competing with You and I. 

Youtube | Spotify

Voting works just like before, you send me your ranking of the songs and the top 10 will get points using the Eurovision scale. Voting closes on July 29th 23:59 CEST.

Scores for songs that failed to qualify under the cut:

Semi 1, 24 voters:

7. Familjen - Rök och speglar, 114 p. 8. Maia Hirasawa - Jag vill göra det nu, 106 p. 9. VAX feat Teddy Sky - Crime, 99 p. 10. Amaunet - Pilot, 80 p. 11. Victor Leksell - Tappat, 78 p.  12. Little Jinder feat Lorentz - Heartbreaker, 60 p.

Semi 2, 23 voters:

7. Friska Viljor - Unless You Love Me, 95 p. 8. Anis don Demina feat. Mapei - För stora för den här stan, 93 p. 9. Sarah Klang - Call Me, 91 p. 10. Sabina Ddumba feat Mr. Eazi - Blow My Mind, 81 p. 11. Norlie & KKV - Seven eleven, 70 p. 12. Isa Molin - Scared Holding Onto You, 62 p.

[clarkewilliams-blog]

     hey lads!!! i’m reese ( 21, est, they/them ) and this here is clarke. i’ve played too many versions of him but i’ve revamped him a bit here to make him a slightly better player so he can have the contract that would let him fit somewhat into this rp lmao. all you need to know about me is that i fucking love hockey and my og team fucking sucks so all i’ve done for the past five years is love on prospects and watch them develop and ( sometimes ) make it to the nhl. so i apologize in advance for going absolute ham on the details of clarke’s path to the nhl no one cares abt. clarke’s a mix of some of my fav nhl prospects and players which i’ll list at the end if anyone cares. also i don’t really know anything about the rangers besides lundqvist being the king and how to properly pronounce skjei so bear with me here.

     i’m always super excited to play clarke, so let’s get to it!!!

          gregg sulkin. male. he/him.  ／  clarke williams just pulled up blasting high hopes by panic! at the disco — that song is so them! you know, for a twenty-four year old nyr defenseman, i’ve heard they’re really -private, but that they make up for it by being so +easygoing. if i had to choose three things to describe them, i’d probably say cold lakewater against sweaty skin, the cool shadows around a spotlight, and an easy smile captured by an unnoticed camera. here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble! ( reese, 21, est, they/them)

THE STORY

--- clarke williams was born on the coldest day of december in a snowstorm, it was only fitting then he would love the cold like nothing else. he fell in love with skating long before he did the sport of hockey : he loved how it made him feel, how exhilarating and freeing it was. when he was eight, he picked up his first hockey stick ( a little LATE by some standards ) and fell in love again.

--- he ascended beyond his peers quickly, driving the game from the blue line even at a young age. his high school made a bid for the coveted state championship TWICE : once his freshman year and again his sophomore year. they never did make it all the way and that’s something he wishes he could have experienced. despite not winning it all, he was noticed by scouts and invited to the tryout camp for the us national team development program. he made the program and finished his last two years of high school with the ntdp in ann arbor, michigan with the u17 and u18 teams, respectively.

--- after his graduation from the program, he was selected in the second round of the 2013 NHL draft, 49th overall to the san jose sharks ( IRONICALLY, that draft pick was originally from the rangers ). he was scouted by the university of north dakota, quinnapiac, and university of minnesota; ultimately, he committed to north dakota, the first school to offer him a scholarship. his freshman year he was selected to team usa at the 18u world juniors where they won gold (2014 u18 wjc), and again his junior year to the 20u world juniors where they won bronze (2016 wjc).

--- the end of his junior year he chose to sign his entry level contract with the sharks instead of finishing his final year at north dakota : they made the frozen four all three years of his tenure, finally winning it all in 2016. it seemed like a fitting time to move on. waiting out the full four years of college and going to free agency had never been on clarke’s mind, the sharks were the ones who’d seen something in him, drafted him, and believed in him — he was always going to sign with them. he finished the 15-16 season on a professional try out with the sharks’ ahl team, the san jose barracuda.

—- the next season (16-17) he played for the barracuda and was called up at the end of the season when injuries plagued the team. he played well during the playoffs but was held to no points and the next season despite his best efforts, he was sent down to the barracuda halfway through training camp. that season (17-18) he was called up in january, once again the sharks made playoffs and he played in them, building upon his progress from the season prior. he entered the off-season feeling like he was in a good place and ready to work through the season, determined to make the big club in october.

—- however, that off-season brought chaos. he’d already flown into san jose for training camp when his agent called with news of a trade. clarke was sent to ottawa as one of the many pieces in the erik karlsson trade. but it didn’t end there, he was still packing when news of a second trade hit : he’d been flipped to the new york rangers in exchange for a third round pick.

—- he arrived at rangers training camp with something to prove, determined to show not one but two teams they’d made a mistake in trading him. he still didn’t make the team straight out of camp, but he played a mere three games with the hartford wolfpack before an injury hit the rangers and he got the call to join the big club. determined to not let this opportunity slip through his hands, he played his heart out on the ice, having an impressive breakout season and establishing his place as a talented two-way defenseman. he did not get sent back down that year (18-19).

—- this past off-season, the team took a gamble and signed him to a lengthy contract instead of a bridge deal, 6 years 4.5 AAV. he starts the first year of this contract this upcoming season.

MISC

—- clarke spends his summers in minnesota at his family’s lake house. he 100% has that dumb minnesota energy and posts videos of him wakeboarding all the time. when he’s not training and preparing for the season or playing in da beauty league ( a summer minnesota hockey league ), he’s probably on a boat. he’s most likely just returned to new york very recently.

—- very calm off the ice ; very easy-going and likes to keep things light. it’s his way with dealing with stress and pressure : just pretend it isn’t there and it won’t affect you.— he’s a hella private person but kinda not in an obvious way?? like he doesn’t share much about himself, esp what he’s feeling or even when massive things happen in his life; even his mom doesn’t know a lot of things that happen/happened to him. however, at the same time he’s extremely personable and friendly, which makes it not super obvious to his friends that they don’t really know a ton about him until they really think about it.

— “tough as a junkyard dog” ; “an absolute beast” ; will play injured ( i don’t condone this and no one should but i can’t stop him… ). there’s this large blotchy thing on his neck that kinda looks like a hickey or rash but it’s actually a three a half inch scar he got when he was 16 when a skate slashed his neck. he’s very lucky it didn’t hit his main artery. it runs from about his adam’s apple and extends toward the side of his neck.

—- he lives in an apartment with two of his teammates during the season, it makes the rent a little more reasonable.

—- ain’t no lie, baby. bi bi bi. ( but on the DL obv ).

—- hockey may have been in clarke’s blood; however, his mother knew the merit of clarke being a well-rounded athlete : he ran cross-country and track, played baseball, and lacrosse. he especially excelled at baseball, but he absolutely hated the practices, so his stint with it did not last particular long. but he had a tough competitive streak, doing well in xc and track, and even lacrosse to a degree ( it certainly helped spades with his hand-eye coordination ). he started focuses more on hockey once hitting high school.

—- SEHNSUCHT : it’s a german word that roughly translates to a yearning for the future, and can maybe be considered a rough antonym for nostalgia. it’s rooted in a belief of constant improvement and that perfection is impossible to achieve ( but that it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for it anyway ). it fits will very well ; he’s not one to dwell on the past and is constantly working to improve himself and his game.

—- he really likes being high up, not because of any sense of ego but actually being high up and looking down at things helps him keep things in perspective ( everything is just a small part of each other ).

—- he hates when people worry about him which is real ironic since he worries about everyone else too much ; be it his team, his friends, or family. it comes with being extremely loyal. on the ice he hates to see teammates pushed around and pretty much will always do something about it.

—- he was raised by a single mother and he appreciates her very much #doubleshifting. it’s given him a humble outlook on life and for a while, he worked as a line cook in a diner to help pay for his hockey equipment. he never wanted to make the nhl for the money or fame, he just wanted to make a living playing the sport he loved. the most he’s made the tabloids was when he briefly dated a model/singer ( possible wc??? ) — they broke up after three months: she couldn’t cope with his schedule and said he was distracted from her.

—- he studied aeronautics in college because besides going into the nhl, the one thing he wanted to be was a pilot.

—- there’s this video of brock boeser where he says “y’know” 45 times in a three minute interview and that’s clarke trying to do media. ( like i said, dumb minnesota energy ).

—- PLAYING STYLE : clarke is an excellent two-way defenseman. his most prominent skill is his ability to skate. he’s very quick and evasive and very good on his edges. he’s good at defensive zone exits and capable of jumping up in the rush, and his speed allows him to get back quickly if he needs to. his slapshot finds its way through traffic and he’s looking to get more minutes on the second powerplay on the point. he can throw big hits when necessary and doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice his body to block shots. he’s good muscle on the ice when scrums break out.

—- 6’3” 201 lbs.

—- PLAY COMPARABLES: brendan guhle ( skating ability and speed ), seth jones ( two-way game ), jake mccabe ( physicality ).

—- PERSONALITY COMPARABLES : brock boeser, will borgen, casey mittelstadt ( just... dumb minnesota energy )

if you actually read all that... i’m very impressed and we definitely need to plot. i’m not one for listing wc’s mostly because i’m bad at them. i’ll be back later after my family thing to read intros, plot, and get interacting with you all!! 

oh also fun fact, i also wrote most of this without brady skjei in mind until i went on campfriendly to find contract comparables and i lowkey kinda accidentally made brady skjei huh.

[maevelin]

That is what i find so frustrating about TO. You have to be on another level of crap storywriting, if you have all the characters you need there in front of you on a plate yet instead of using your creativity and working with what you have you conjure up a baby plot revolving around a character no one even asked for. The whole reason we wanted TO as a show was to see more of TO family. These are supernatural creatures that have lived 1000 years yet theyre reduced to soap opera storylines. 1/2

I was really slow to pick up on the fact that TO wasnt going to be the show we all asked for. I wasnt really an active part of the fandom on social media then so didnt know what was going on so when TO was announced i stupidly thought this is going to be amazing, a plot about the original family. By that point i was sick of damon and most of TVD characters and was rooting for klaus to kill them all lol. It wasn't till the scene where Rebekah's driving away from NOLA in her car i (2/3)

Realised that she's actually leaving for good. I still thought in my head that this is just part of the plot but then i found out Claire left and i realised that this baby plot is actually what the show is, and not the show i was expecting so i stopped watching for a long time. Maybe i was just stupid because the pilot did make it clear it was about a baby plot and not TO family. Also weird how elijah was barely in TVD, rebekah was in it more yet Elijah was more prominent in TO. (3/3)

--- 

I honestly believe that JP never cared or wanted to write for vampires. She doesn’t have the knack or the talent for that genre. She does not grasp it. She does not care for it. I think she was there to fill in the blanks for Kevin and together they made a decent team. Kevin had the genre down up to a point and was good with the plot and the characterization and Julie could sprinkle some soap to the ships and the emotional drama and that combination actually fit. 

It is no wonder that once Kevin was out everything became a shipping soup and by the end of it everyone seemed to have one goal. To be human. To act human. To get the white fence, the babies, the normal life. Which would be find for a drama soap or show concerning humans but was catastrophic for the kind of genre show TVD was and what TO was meant to be but never was. I mean how many vampires were even left in the end? Not just those that died but those that turned...human. Come on now. JP wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She didn’t care for TO in the way a genre writer should and would. She wanted to get her baby soap and that was the only chance she actually had to go through with it. Everything else of hers that didn’t belong to the TVD franchise was getting cancelled in their pilots or before their first seasons even finished airing. And in general as a writer she writers for the telenovela kind of soap and she can’t separate in her mind church from state in the way that she couldn’t divide what she wanted as a fan from what she should write as a professional. She believed it to be one and the same and when it would not work she would throw everyone else under the bus so to avoid responsibility and then she would try to make it work anyway. Well... newsflash Felicia!

I on the other hand however was not in the same boat you were where TO was concerned. 

By the time S4 of TVD had reached its middle I was seeing things I hated. When they killed Kol while they were planning for the spin-off my mind was on red alert. I knew by that time how JP operated. It was obvious. I already knew her ways with the fans from Kyle XY too. Then I heard Phoebe had signed first. BEFORE Joseph while they had killed off Kol so Nate wouldn’t be part of the show. I saw where that Klayley trainwreck was leading. I already knew JP’s lack of talent and her inability to actually create intellectual plots and twists. So I was suspicious. I wanted this to actually work. I was an Original groupie first. I was rooting for the Original to get their own show but not in that way. It was like I watching a crash happening and I could not avert my eyes while everyone else was not seeing it.  I was voicing my concerns back then and I remember that the fandom kind of saw me like the crazy lady in the lot but when the backdoor pilot aired I was 100% sure of what TO was going to be. Rebekah was regressed to a supporting cameo ffs! Kol was dead. Klaus was OOC crying in the streets next to his lunch that was obviously by the promotional interviews and the way they framed it in the backdoor pilot meant to be his love interest with what I saw from the gifs later (since I had never finished the backdoor pilot because when they threw the twilight scene I was out) was a copy of a KC scene with the whole art but meant to be more ‘deep’. The whole episode had some cinematic moments that were okay and I remember liking that they had used the Lafayette cemetery from Interview with the Vampire. The soundtrack seemed awesome. Marcel actually seemed interesting. And then...the baby crap and I was out. Back then before the backdoor pilot had even aired Joseph Morgan had said in an interview that if he was in charge some things may have been differently done. But then I remember thinking...oh crap...and then the episode actually aired and OH CRAP.

I never bothered with TO. 

I dropped TVD like a bad habit when S4 ended and saw the ridiculousness with the doppelganger nonsense. At that point given everything JP was doing I found it really hard to understand how people could hold on to hope when it came to her and her writing. I was trying to warn people from the fandom left and right. Because I had honestly gotten truly attached not only with the ship but with the fandom too and I didn’t want people to get their hopes up and get treated as I was seeing them get treated. I was seeing it, I was speaking about it and understandably most people believed me to be irrational. I remember even people that I was close with and still am to give me the sideeye and be okaaay then.

By the time the official pilot aired along with TO’s first season I was 100% they would cut out the KC phonecall scene that was only meant to be a hook to get the green light for the backdoor pilot rather than anything else. The seen was cut of course.

But then I remember thinking that any responsible writer would aim to get a crossover as soon as possible and get Caroline there even to create a closure small arc to span in the two shows slowly (as they did with BTVS and ATS) but then they were all about saying how logistics were not working and the universes were going to be separated and I was still unable to understand how people actually had hope when the people in charge had no talent to do the basics and were so reluctant. The warning bells were there. Kudos to the DCTV universe for actually going for the crossovers in parallel back then so to show to everyone how the excuses the TO writers and producers were using were just that...excuses.

I was out for sure but I remember that I still kept an eye out to what blogs I followed reblogged and I remember when I realized how sloppy TO actually was. I remember seeing a gifset from a flashback of Klaus that aimed to be a visual parallel to Lestat from Interview with the Vampire only in the lore of the TVD franchise it was from before he broke his curse and he was shown with double fangs and golden eyes that were Hybrid traits. They actually didn’t bother to keep the basics of their main lead consistent for crying out loud. I don’t remember from which episode that gifset actually was. Only that it was from the first episodes and I was like...come on!

I remember I basically muted and unfollowed many blogs back then so to get my dash clean from that mess.

Anyhow I then returned for the 100th episode of TVD. When 5x11 of TVD was meant to air and the promos were out I was insisting that anything else that a kiss would be bad news for KC. I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s excitement but I was just getting a bad feeling about it especially after knowing JP’s track record. It was just too obvious to my eyes and it would be a regression in the development KC had up to that point. You DON’T narratively speaking -from a writing perspective- go from one cheek to the kiss to the whole sex when the characters are in different shows forming different attachment and ships if you don’t meant to wrap up the story. Which would mean leaving fans high and dry after leading them along. By that time TO was doing well in the ratings and I knew JP only cared for that and the KC fandom was not needed in her mind. I had made posts about it warning people again before 5x11 had aired. I remember I had even gotten some aggressive asks from KC fans about spoiling their fun and being negative without an actual reason. Then 5x11 airs, the sex scene is there (all sloppy to just get it out of the way...bad directing, not bothering with a song, giving the bare minimum) and JP goes all out and gives the interview about the KC closure minutes after the episode airs so to ruin everyone’s parade. Then there was the bomb with Claire’s exit which in my eyes was pending anyway ever since I had heard Claire had wanted to stay in TVD but was given an ultimatum only for her to be barely there in the backdoor pilot.

So generally speaking when it came to TO I was never hopeful. Not when JP was in charge. Not when they hired Carina out of all people for their writing team. Carina that hated Klaus and the KC fans. Not when they were disrespecting KCers from day one. Not when they were disrespecting the Kol fans. Not when Daniel was out there saying that once we would meet the new girl we would forget all about KC (which was said before TO’s first season aired so it was obvious that everyone was lying about Klaus not having a love interest). Not when the cast was mocking a whole fandom. Not when the conflicting interviews kept coming. Not when they had hired the gossip girl writers and producers and no one bothered with the actual genre. Not when...not when...not when...the list kept going. 

I kept my criticism and my predictions going and I remember being patient because most people believed me to be crazy (which I am generally but not when it came to that so I could understand the confusion) 

....and flash forward and here we are. 

Although, admittedly, certain things did surprise me on a real life level, at first anyway, because fictional stuff aside I could never believe that certain people could act in the way they did (losing flights? getting into twitter fights, picking out fans, and even calling them assholes in podcasts? on and on), but otherwise I never had any expectations to begin with so most things didn’t surprise me and yes I did earn the right to go ‘I told you so’...which I tried to tone it down many times but sometimes it was just too fun to resist.