#but s2 and s3 is what we should have gotten in the beginning and is sooooo good

[amemberoftheosc]

Thoughts on TPOT 13

I thought it was a really great episode and I was glad to see all the character development and interactions that they had! It was silly and stuff and I liked that I think they did my favorite characters pretty well and the character arcs are going well!

[Spoilers ahead!]

It was great to see Firey and Leafy on their Dreamier Island! Aha, oh my gosh, it's ever dreamier than OG Dream Island! It was sad however to see that the storm that One brought to the island, perhaps a test before doing the real damage(?), kill Leafy yet somehow spare Firey And the end credit scene! He looked so sad :< Like, his head going down told it all We needed no words, he is alone and I don't know how he's supposed to get Leafy back! Is her supposed to just travel to the mainland to recover her? That sounds even more lonely than just being there on the island I hope that Leafy somehow is able to come back to him They really seemed like they were having fun together and putting the past behind them!

Now onto the meat and bones, the challenge! Sweet little challenge and I loved what they did with the dragon dodging the fireballs using that classical dodging movement! And oof! That conversation between Golf Ball and Donut? Man, they both had some good points I must say Someone has got to show Golf Ball that she needs the support of her team in order to win! Her statements about wanting victory and feeling as though her efforts are in vain are good to hear It shows that she does care, it's just she doesn't know how to show it Reminds me of Nickel from I.I before S3 and S2 ep15 came actually However, I believe she has gotten some character growth! After all, she seemed to care about finding Basket Ball and even said to her team that they should go to Basket Ball's factory, not hers! Lastly, I found Golf Ball thinking that Tennis Ball was going to save her was sweet I've been taking a liking to Tengolf and I just found that sweet of her to think Now the rejoiners! Thanks to One for making it so TWO contestants rejoin! And yippie! Pencil and Liy made it out on top and that's amazing ^^ I find them kind of like foils of each other really Because, even though Liy didn't choose to rejoin her old team, everyone on her old team is glad to see her back She is also mostly vibing and chilling with her team Meanwhile Pencil out here, getting rejected from Ice Cube and Book, getting sassy, and then putting Ice Cube's and Book's team UFE! Talk about revenge, maybe Ice Cube could learn a thing or two from Pencil Ah that reminds me, I found Ice Cube taking Book away from Pencil and stating that they would rather be on separate teams from Pencil and actually conversing with Book made me happy! Since they had a nice bond during the beginning of BFB but then eventually drifted, even into TPOT But now, they're talking again!!!

Robot Flower's arc has been something I can't recall that well but she changed a herself a little bit to be like how Flower was in BFDI and then One worsened it! Oh the mayhem and destruction And then Basket Ball agreeing to One to get Robot Flower back and Robot Flower seeing who they were on the screen, thinking: "Huh, that was me?" And then Basket Ball going: "No, that wasn't you. I missed you" And Robot Flower appreciating the sentiment The quotes aren't quite correct but I tried lol Also, side notes, Pillow locking Golf Ball and Donut outside on the hotel roof time just reminded me of a reverse Seven Minutes in Heaven lol And now it reminding me of a fic where two people get trapped in a closet so they can work out their bickering and differences (it was a DDLC fic lol, Sayori and Monika trap Natsuki and Yuri inside it if I remember correctly) When I saw the Game Cube Book picked up I was like :O I thought it was pretty cool seeing it! Also, I saw someone comment that what One wants is Two's powers, which makes sense The "not powerful enough" comment and stuff I think that's all I have for this episode and I'm glad to have done my thoughts on an OSC episode again ^^

[bigblueoctoling]

still pisses me off that team order shouldve won and marina deserves better in all fucking honesty since splatoon 3 never went in the way it shouldve gotten and basically ruined the entire splatoon f^^base as a whole as well as how ppl use/view the internet nowadays thus making me hate chaos in terms of splatoon on a fundemental lvl and not to mention that p^^^l was a complete asshole to begin with that SOMEHOW gets liked by every1 despite being nothing but a complete jerk 247 and thinking that her so called """"relationship""" with marina of all ppl is """more important""" than oh idk HER OWN FUCKING VALUES ABT THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING THAT MATTERED TO HER is just the most pathetic thing shes ever done in her lame boring ass life this fake non canon splatoon 3 never happened side order never happened beta!pearl is sm better and who marina should be with instead and more importantly team order deserved the victory instead of the loser team that deserves nothing cuz lets be real here j dont think the splatoon team never wanted to go down this direction in the first place when they rly wanted order to win just for the sake of actually making things interesting for once but nope apparantly the entire damn """"community""" cares too much abt certain squid asshole character to even give a single flying fuck abt anything else but whatever """"epic important thing"""" she did in oe that doesnt mean shit at the end of the day and not to mention i kinda wish splatfests were never a thing to begin with cuz that just means the creators themselves have less power over their own series for no reason and its not always a good thing to leave the fate of the next entry in the hands of ur so called """"f^^s"""" when they will always want the worst outcome for no reason other than petty bullshit f^^service and nothing else and thats literally one of the main reasobs why c^^^s shouldve never won to begin with given that barely anything in this non canon timeline means shit besides the very rare exceptions like neo and such and honest to god i hope team past does the right thing by making it so that order wins instead and we get the true best ending for once instead of this forgettable excuse of an entry we got and just overall still pisses me off to this day how ppl somehow care more abt a lame relatiomship with a complete asshole being shipped with an octoling who deserved better for no particular reason besides shameless clout at all than literally her own damn values even if it means sacrifices but are still neccessary regardless and i honestly refuse to even accept splatoon """"3"""" as """"canon"""" anymore especially when they shouldve never left the fate of the series in the hands of their awful f^^base and i rly hope they never do specifically finalfests ever again or better yet never do splatfests again in general and find smth else thats better cuz it makes everything extremely complicated for no reason and the sad part being were only allowed to see one outcome and not even the best ones like team order especially and s3!marina can genuinely fuck off for all i care shes not even real compared to the order version of her thats more real than that lame as hell version of her will ever be to begin with and im so sick and tired of basically the entire splatoon f^^base in general with all of their bad shitty takes of the series (cough cough 5pl4tf35t3ever and dr 5p3ctr3 cough cough) that make me wanna mentally die of cringe so badly and how theyve ruined everything and how the whole series has technically been ruined ever since the s2 finalfest that got ruined for the wrong reasons all cuz ppl think order is """"bad"""" when in reality its not and therefore its their own damn fault to begin with now here they are hating themselves 247 when they got their shitty wish like no shit this is what u losers somehow perferred over marina getting what she rightfully deserves of course ur gonna be hypocritically miserable abt it cuz thats basically all u fucking are and all u ever will be for the rest and remainder of time and beyond

all in all i just wish team past would erase this shit timeline forever as well as changing everything for the actual better and in case ur wondering im one of those actual sane ppl that only want team past to win for the sake of actual splatoon lore like octarians and such and real things that ppl would be nostalgic for and such others like not and not some stupid petty ass reason that ppl made tf up for shitty attention purposes and nothing else that drive me up the damn wall so many times u have no idea

but yeah team order and marina still deserves better and beta!pearl x marina is the true pearlina experience thats a far better/more interesting dynamic than what """"canon""""!p^^^l will ever have since that spoiled piece of shit can burn in hell for all i care in all honesty for literally ruining everything in general and SOMEHOW getting liked by many despite all the horrible shit shes done that makes me question every1s logic (or lack there of in this case) and not even a single damn moment from oe or whatever changes all the shit things shes done b4 multiple times already like srsly wtf

Hey! So this is my first anon ask and this is sheer lunacy. This is all damn near one single run-on sentence, but because your passion fascinates me I'll go out of my way to dissect this post.

So, for starters, I assume this was sent to me because I have a pretty negative opinion about Splatoon 3, but I don't think we dislike Splatoon 3 for any of the same reasons at all. I'm gonna have to roast you a bit, I'm sorry. I'm just gonna go through this and try to discern the meaning of this behemoth as well as I can, if I misunderstand something please feel free to send another ask.

A whole lot of ranting about Pearl

I'm sorry, but if you came here expecting someone who has antagonistic feelings towards Pearl, you came to the wrong place. Frankly, I don't actually understand what your issue with her is- I don't really see what makes her an asshole. Like, she has a cocky personality, she banters with Marina on TV, but not only is this very clearly only playful banter with no ill intent behind it, but Marina also banters back at Pearl? If anything, Splatoon 2 went really far out of its way to show how passionate Pearl is about Marina- that's what the entire final fest of Splatoon 2 was about.

There are a lot of ways I could interpret this in poor faith, it reads very poorly to say you prefer the Pretty Smiley Cute beta pearl over the Pearl we got, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt- even so, however, the way you just sort of flagrantly reject Pearl's development in Octo Expansion is really lame. Like, Octo Expansion was the main thing that characterized Pearl and Marina- like, you saw Pearl bantering with Marina on TV, got mad, and refused to accept her actual identity and personality when it was shown to you in Octo Expansion. I'm also confused as to how you have such a generous reading of Marina if Octo Expansion doesn't count, since, again, a lot of her character development also came from OE. I also have ZERO idea why you're discrediting Side Order when it expands on Marina's character so well- it kind of just sounds like you're discrediting it because it shows Pearl to be a good partner for Marina, which is a fact you inherently disagree with contrary to the canonical evidence shown to you.

Team Order should've won instead of Team Chaos

As someone who was on Team Order, I agree, but I also think that you suffer from what I, personally, feel spoils a lot of the splatoon fandom, which is an overemphasis on the results of splatfests.

I think it's very clear that the intent of the final splatfest was to take either result into account from the getgo- saying that the devs wanted something else and simply were strongarmed into Chaos is putting a LOT of words into their mouths- I'm someone who has very negative feelings on Splatoon 3, but none of the many problems Splatoon 3 has have anything to do with Chaos winning over Order.

Frankly, if you hate Pearl so much, I feel like you should be thankful that Order lost, since we got Side Order, which revolves around Marina, rather than getting some sort of Chaos themed DLC that revolves around Pearl.

I also think that you're crazy if you believe that Chaos won because it was Pearl's team. You do realize Pearl is the less popular of the two, right? By a pretty significant margin? It's very apparent that people simply preferred the idea of a chaotic apocalypse over an order-based dystopia. And, again, I say that as somebody who preferred an order-based dystopia.

A part of the problem I have with many splatoon fans is that they take splatfests too seriously, and that's pretty clearly a core problem you have. You put an immense importance on the splatfests and seem to believe that the devs do as well, when frankly it's quite clear that they don't. Even for the case of the final splatfests, it's true that they have an impact on the theme and plot of the next game, but you seem to be under the impression that because past won that we will literally be going into the past, which is very clearly not what's going to happen. The world didn't become a mad max post-apocalypse because Chaos won, nor would it have become a Cyberpunk dystopia if Order won, they just influence the framework with which the devs build the next game around. The devs aren't being forced to do anything.

Antagonism against Splatoon 3 Marina

Now this I really don't get. I honestly don't think you actually like Marina if you think that Splatoon 3 represents her poorly. Like... I'm genuinely fascinated with you. Please, do respond to me and tell me what you actually dislike about Side Order. Is it literally just that Marina likes Pearl? It's frankly really lame that you only seem to care about Marina's relationship status rather than how she's actually represented, but by all means feel free to prove me wrong and tell me what Side Order does to misrepresent her, I'm all ears.

Marina didn't get what she rightfully deserved (winning the final fest)

This is another point that fascinates me. You do realize that the final fest, in-universe, is just a big game, right? Like, the fate of the world wasn't actually decided there, Marina wasn't gonna get anything if she won. Marina wants things to stay as they are, that's why she was sad that she lost, but Pearl immediately said that she had no intention of changing the fact that the two of them are together, and that she intends to change things for the better and amplify Marina's voice even more. Which she did!

Really, if anything, you're sounding like the perfect embodiment of why I dislike splatoon 3 fans- you don't seem to actually understand the plot of Splatoon and you're deluded into believing that splatfests are THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT ON EARTH. And also that your favorite character is the best and every other character is cancer.

I wanted team past to win for Real Reasons and not Stupid Reasons

Yeah and I wanted Team Present to win because WE GET LORE ABOUT THE PAST IN EVERY FUCKING GAME. Do you think we wouldn't get lore about octarians if Past DIDN'T win? If anything it just means we're going to get more lore about that stupid tyrant Octavio and not about Marina.

That being said, I'm not stressed about my team losing because I have confidence in the splatoon devs to take the story in the right place. Splatoon 3 has a lot of flaws, but I believe it's largely from a tremendous amount of crunch in having to squeeze Splatoon 3's lifespan of two years onto the Switch before its successor came out. Despite my distaste for Chaos as a theme, the Splatlands handle it very well- similarly, despite my distaste for the past as a theme, I imagine it will be handled well, and my worries are misplaced.

beta!pearl x marina is the true pearlina experience

I'm going to be entirely honest with you, this exclusively reads as "I hate women who aren't tall and slender and stand around and smile and look pretty" because beta pearl is not a character. There genuinely just isn't any alternate explanation. You see canonical pearl as some sort of vile little troll because *GASP* she's a woman who doesn't align with traditional beauty standards and *GASP* has a cocky attitude! I honestly think that I hate you, anon. Perhaps that's unfair, but you're the exact definition of the kind of Splatoon fan I hate- someone who flagrantly ignores canon because they believe their headcanon is superior, when their headcanon is just "the characters are more normal and socially acceptable to me".

If you wanna prove me wrong, I implore you to actually explain all of the things Pearl "did" aside from being a thoughtful partner to Marina and doing everything in her power to give her the biggest platform she can and give her a mansion to live in and share her infinite money with her. Please, tell me how she is in any way a bad person.

[uroojs]

I know we talk about Avatrice having a healthy relationship and to some extent they do…but I also think they have a communication problem.

For example, in the beginning of episode 2, they’d both gotten into a fight about whether they should be involved in the fight with the Samaritans and Miguel. I think that scene in the bar where they keep taking glances at each other is part of their unresolved fight.

What if Beatrice felt that Ava was upset with her, decided after they got back home, to go to the bar during her shift as a way to somehow feel close to Ava, because they were fighting? They didn’t talk it out. Beatrice might be giving Ava space?

But I think they don’t communicate right away or openly about what is happening.

This happens again in episode 6-8, where Beatrice doesn’t openly communicate what is happening to her, what is going on with her. She lashes out unfairly at Ava. When Ava comes from the other realm, she doesn’t tell Beatrice what is happening with her. They don’t always openly communicate with each other.

Then the one time they did in s2 (and of course can’t forget S1). It’s not an often thing.

So they do have a healthy relationship but have a hard time openly communicating? I suppose they are trying to do the best they can.

Which sort of worries me for their future. When Ava and Beatrice meet in S3, will she be honest with Beatrice about what happened on the other side? What she knows? It just feels like the start of them tearing apart, or having trust issues?

What do you all think?

[zvahl]

thoughts on rebirth?

I liked rebirth a lot! I'm sad it was discontinued:[

I feel like it's a perfect idea in concept, remaking at the very least the beginning half of the series and removing any of the earlier Let's Play/Minecraft Mechanic-y elements that were ultimately discordant with what the series became. As far as story goes, I mostly enjoyed Aphmau's whole thing: I remember the 'waking up in the forest' part was a popular headcanon back then (anyone remember that Proxy Comics animation?), so it's kinda funny to see it became Canon - i mean, it is basically what happens everytime you start a Minecraft world isn't it?

I loved the Jury set-up. I think the Jury should have gotten more time in s1 and should not have been disbanded by s2 (but thats a separate post...) But I'm so happy they got more attention, even if the series never panned out fully.

I loved that early NPCs got some more character and were fleshed out a bit. Vischer, Donna, Brendan, etc etc. but ESPECIALLY Zenix. I'm glad they gave him Mystreet Zenix's personality because OG Zenix was a little... lacking in that department. I loveeeee Rebirth Zenix (& Garroth).

As far as criticism I have two main ones I can think of rn:

1. I really, really do not like the opening scene. I feel like it trivializes two of the og series' main reveals. It all but tells you Garroths whole Thing before you've even met him, and I don't like that we actually see Vylad put down the staff. One of my favorite scenes in the OG Diaries is when Hyria is telling her story and Vylad interjects revealing He put all the events of the past two seasons in motions. I think the delivery of that scene is really, really good and *Goddamn* is it such good payoff on the mysteries surrounding both Vylad and Aphmau's characters at that point. It makes me giddy everytime I watch it. I think the opening would have been fine if we just see the staff by itself doing it's thing, or just see it from Aphmau's perspective waking up.

2. I don't really care for the fact that Aphmau has her Irene Powers right off the bat. I think it should have focused entirely on her more... 'human' contributions to the town like when she's helping Brendan, etc. I've always imagined Irene, before being reborn, put all of her power into the relic in her Dimension as basically a last resort just in case shit went sideways and her incarnation needed it, but that she was never really intending on it needing to be accessed again. It goes to her automatically solely to keep it out of Zane's hands - kind of like the legend of Chang'e, where her absorbing the relic is definitely the better option but it's still treated as a tragic and unfortunate occurrence. I always liked that s2 was building off of s1's characterization of Aph as someone who loves to help out, but through the lense of her just being some Lady who has been abruptly forced to contend with her now extremely confused identity as someone now tied to Irene (even before she knows she *is* irene). and the struggle with those new expectations she experiences both from others who witness her accidental shows of power and herself, who wants to be doing More but doesn't really enjoy this newfound ability. her non-magical work seems almost inadequate now when she can literally bring people back from the dead and banish demons that have been unstoppable for centuries.

other than that I do genuinely enjoy rebirth. it's fun. it's nostalgic. even if it never got finished I do love that MCD at least got some update since the cancelling of S3.

[liamgallaghermpreg]

happy wincest wednesday!! what's the best and worst season for sam to knock up his sister?

happy wincest wednesday vicky!!!! omg thank you for this extremely tailored-to-me ask. i've only seen 1-6, so i can only answer for those.

i love all interpretations of when sam & dean(na) give into their feelings for each other, but i'm personally a post-in my time of dying truther, and think they had sex for the first time in wake of john's death.

oh, my god, this got long:

best season: i'll go with season 2 despite the eventual devastation. because lets face it, their lives are always a mess. but in s2, sam's grief over jess has lessened, and i think he'd finally be ready to reconcile his feelings for his sister. almost losing her in the truck accident and losing john is a lot for him to handle – and we know sam is an internalizer; despite deanna's unwillingness to discuss things, she certainly wears her heart on her sleeve – but sex is something that can happen without words.

i think the conception sex happens after 2x04 children shouldnt play with dead things. deanna finally admits she's having trouble dealing with john's death – that she feels it's her fault, even – and apologizes for her recent behavior. and then follows it up with:

[...]You're the most important people in my life. And now … I never should've come back, Sam. It wasn't natural. And now look what's come of it. I was dead. And I should have stayed dead. You wanted to know how I was feeling. Well, that's it. So tell me. What could you possibly say to make that all right?

oh boy that is a prime lead-in to some in the backseat of the impala lovemaking. no time to bother with a condom. they want to feel each other. a couple months later, it's obvious that deanna's pregnant. and tbh, i think her first instinct would be to get rid of it. (side note: it is my personal hc that john and/or others have knocked her up in the past, and she's gotten rid of it every time. it's the most practical thing to do for a hunter. otherwise you end up with situations like john's or the harvelles). but this is sam's baby. and sam's having visions. deanna's rattling around john's "save sam or kill him" instructions in her brain. playthings happens, and deanna is more sure of her brother being it for her than ever (side note – every ask if they're a couple this season gets even better with dee's pregnant belly in the way).

and sam...sam quietly doesn't argue when deanna wants to keep it, because he's scared of what's to come, and wants deanna to have a peace of him when he's gone.

(another side note: what is and what never should be fully includes a domestic fantasy for deanna in this 'verse).

ahbl is devastating of course, but oh god the wack morality of deanna deciding the deal is worth it because now sam will have a peace of deanna with him when she goes to hell. she convinces herself she's doing it for them both.

them having a child would have s3 play out totally differently, imo. sam wouldn't trust ruby so blindly (possibly going so far as to kill her, become king of hell to save deanna and their child). not that sam doesn't fiercely care for dean in canon, as that's his driving force for his actions in s3, but with a kid on the line? they can't do anything for themselves and they need their mom!! sam's mother is his biggest blank in his life, and he doesn't want [child] to have that too. especially because they both would have died to a deal to save their loved one (not that sam knows that yet).

worse: obvious answer is halfway through s3, because the child would not survive the season finale, and lilith would fully taunt sam over this, driving sam even deeper into his demon blood revenge mission. the wedge in the beginning of s5 drives even deeper because they have this unspoken thing between them, and deanna can't hide her emotions but neither will talk about them.

BUT! i think s6 provides another interesting answer. soulless sam knocking up his sister? he has no qualms about fucking raw, and she can just abort it if she gets pregnant! oh, she wants to keep it? fine, her prerogative. he has other things to take care of. this, i think, is devastating for deanna. and OH GOD, when sam comes back. sam's lack of autonomy is already a very sad and very fascinating theme throughout spn, and look what his body did without his knowledge. he's overjoyed for a child with deanna i think, but constantly grappling with the implications.

thanks for the ask!!!!

[kurokoros]

i'll never forgive the show how they handle their characters' traumas. but esp Steve, he should get a storyline where it gets acknowledged. he should have been the one who got vecna'ed in s4 instead of nancy. steve only ever getting upset about his love life is toxic, people call him a hopeful and positive person, but he never deals with everything. i don't want him depressed out of his mind, but him not feeling anything, and only caring about love is wasted potential. we need more episodes. all of the characters have way more potential than they will ever reach.

i know there is a lot of criticism that the cast is too loaded, but sometimes i wish there was another core teen since the beginning. maybe it's the x reader brain in me, but i wish we had a character who would become friends with Steve in s1, and then it slowly would build up to a friends to lovers situation. it certainly would have been better than the whole love triangle debate in s4. Steve deserves a better love interest, and the payoff would've been great. plus, it wouldn't reduce Steve to Nancy's love interest, how they already started to do in s4. every other of his relationship was botched in favor of this ship.

Steve never getting a plot outside of romance bothers me, but not in the sense that I think he should be single. Like, they could have given him a new girlfriend in S3 and it would have been fine. Good for him. Now can we explore some of that trauma? How's the probable brain trauma going for him? What's his family like? The fact that he didn't get vecna'd is criminal. All I ask for is crumbs, but if we had gotten a full on possession a la S2!Will??? god that would have been so so sexy of the duffers. it would have been so. oh my god. I always think of Stiles from S3B of Teen Wolf, and how it would be so similar of a situation with Steve. no one would suspect it and possessed!Steve would make a terrifying and heartbreaking season antagonist. I know that Billy existed in S3, but I literally did not give a shit about him. Steve being possessed would actually raise the stakes.

The thing about the cast being bloated is that it's not the actual size of the cast that matters so much as how the characters are being used. The new characters have all been sassy comic relief since S3 and could be cut from the plot with minimal changes because their "bonds" with the other characters don't feel believable.

I totally agree about another teen character making sense in S1. Not to self-promote too much on main, but my rewrite/reimagining focuses heavily on an OC named Daphne Hopper, a friend of Steve's that ends up wrapped up in everything. Slow burn. Mutual pining. Steve and Nancy are nipped in the bud midway through S1, basically. I find the premise of "what if one of Steve's friends went missing instead of/alongside Barb in S1?" so compelling, because it would put him into more of an active role in his development, rather than him having a change of heart because of some girl he's been casually dating for like... a month tops? probably less than that judging by how Nancy and Barb talk in episode 1.

[fandomele]

On top of what I've read, which I completely agree with, I want to add an opinion from the point of view of someone who pretty much only cared about characters' relationship and development in any direction, and who only cared about general plots in terms of how characters were affected:

I feel that having this second SHIELD and, most importantly, having it ATTACK the base (after kidnapping Hunter, who had significant moments with nearly all members of the original team excluding Jemma who, to be fair, was excluded from most bonding moments) should have lead to some long-term in-fighting between everyone else vs Bobbi and Mack (or possibly everyone vs Bobbi, Mack, and whoever sympathized with Bobbi and Mack)

and this is considering that Mack was already there at the beginning of s2, while Jemma was gone for around six months (take this with a grain of salt, I can't find any source to back me up right now so I'm going by memory, could have been four months), but didn't know Jemma so he came in after that, and other SHIELD attacked what, a month or two after the beginning of the season? While Bobbi had been there for that month or two? And maybe it's less? So Bobbi in particular didn't exactly have time to become best friends with anyone considering everything else that was happening.

That said, they literally joined to gather intel, make friends (even if we know it was real friendship, the people living in it don't) and then their SHIELD attacked to seize control LESS THAN ONE YEAR since Hydra did that, to a base full of people who are likely traumatized and cannot handle with grace new betrayals and battling old friends in their own base a second time.

Daisy is someone who may not be vindictive but holds you accountable and will snap at you and call you out if you do something like this, and even if she was busy with her own storyline she should have been a lot more aggressive towards Bobbi and Mack, especially since she almost got shot by their people. Instead with the time-jump at the beginning of s3 we find her being literally bffs with both of them. Honestly I think she should have gotten way closer to Hunter and THEN Hunter could have helped her patch things up with Mack first (since he was there months before Bobbi) and THEN gotten closer to Bobbi too. I could also have seen her call out anyone who forgave them too quickly because she's the one who got into a world of unnecessary trouble because of their doing.

Jemma, the most vindictive person on the show (a super interesting trait if you ask me, which disappeared into her 'be a girlfriend' plot) should have been passive-aggressive for at least a year, ESPECIALLY against Mack, the person who basically took Fitz's side without ever speaking to her and confronted her soon after she came back from being undercover in hydra for months, and she should have used the fact that he was potentially using Fitz, was a liar and a traitor, and whatever else was true from her point of view to finally defend herself AND distrust him and Bobbi for a very long time. Tell me you can't imagine Jemma Simmons making little annoying comments about them every time they give her the chance. Maybe THAT could have also led her to defend himself with FItz and finally resolve their fight ONSCREEN, telling him why she left and all that, instead of leaving it unspoken. Season 3 should have had her still completely cold to both of them (also because she spoke to them like... four times, she was completely isolated, barely knew them) and eventually befriend Bobbi a bit more later

unclear if Fitz should have been as bitter, because he was even forgiving and in disbelief when Ward betrayed him and his first instinct seems to want to believe that people have good intentions and Mack and Bobbi are still fighting bad guys, but he IS traumatized by Ward? But also Mack sorta saved him from an explosion? But the explosion was caused by people from Mack's side who could have easily killed him with it without a second thought? Fitz could have become less of a 'I'll immediately be the new best friend of every new character that appears' and more of a 'I am starting to be more distrusting as a general rule' or the opposite 'I am choosing to be trusting but know that it's a choice made after plenty betrayals', and he shouldn't have been as close to either of them in s3. The plot did lead him to be closer to Coulson and Hunter, so I at least appreciate that in terms of relationship-development, and he made up with Jemma because it was important to put everything aside and escape, so that's good too, but in season 6, from their fight, we find out he still doesn't really know why she left, which was terribly important for his character development, so yeah, definitely not good enough.

All three of them and May were put in the position of believing they were attacked by Hydra (remember when she confronted Bobbi about it?) so they should also be pissed about the fact that they were put in the position of killing SHIELD agents they knew and finding out they weren't there with bad intentions only after the fact

How much they didn't have bad intentions is technically up for discussion, because they did break into the base with explosions and gas, so they could take over. More in fighting also from agents who will NOT take orders from the new group should have been there, and not just because loyal to Coulson but because they don't want to just take orders from whoever seizes power, blindly, like in some weird dictatorship

I guess I can see Hunter and Coulson's reaction as acceptable, Hunter and Bobbi's relationship is super messed up and leads him to be the kind of guy who will forgive Mack only to spite her, and then forgive her really quick when she almost dies for him, and Coulson has several side-plans and doesn't need to be too mad at people who weren't in his team to begin with.

But still, it could have opened a lot more plots about who should trust whom, how to re-earn trust when you make such a bad impression, or hell, bitter plots about 'wow these guys literally betrayed us and you forgave them so easily but when *I* do something you don't like I need to beg on my knees?' which is a situation Daisy and Jemma in particular can complain about, and even have one of those situations in which Mack/Bobbi bond for real with one of them while arguing over this and saving each other's lives. Something to make the return of their friendship earned.

note: I really like Bobbi, the severity of the reactions being especially directed at her is simply because she was there for a VERY LITTLE time, and if my two-months coworker who started working when we were super busy and we barely saw each other betrays me she may never be my friend or have to grovel compared to the 6-ish months coworker who shared a lot with me before the busy time.

hey if you're a shield fan and you see this please reblog or comment with your thoughts on the whole SHIELD, the real SHIELD plotline. cause I think it's super interesting but also misses on the execution in places. plus I know it's a topic of contention in the fan base or all least was in the spaces I used to be active in.

[roirence]

world trigger stuff

Kofi / Twitter

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Sorry this is not much of an ask for one of the brothers, but I just wanted to hear your idea. During the MC's stay with brothers, there is usually an implication about how much time has passed. We understand that S1 was a year, but there never really stated the time passed between S1-S2, S2-S3, and then at the beginning of lesson 61 we are told it has been about a few months or so. I guess I am asking how much time do you believe has passed since S1.

Oh okay so I've only ever had a very vague idea of this but I'm gonna try and calculate it now with what little evidence is given in canon but it's gonna be super rough (and I'm gonna be trying to sort it out while I type, so yeah. This will probably be long and unfiltered)

Ik RAD is more of an Uni than a school (they don't all have classes on the same days and Levi has the option to stay at home & attend online classes when he wants), but Uni semesters and vacations are chaotic and all over the place so I'll be following a school schedule- 3 semesters each lasting 3 months, and 3 breaks in between each lasting 1 month. But pls keep in mind that since RAD is an Uni everything will be more flexible

S1 is obviously 1yr

They say a lot of time has passed between S1 & S2 (though considering how codependent they all are, I'm pretty sure it could just be a week and they'd all freak out. Remember Mammon's calling Devilgram? Where he acted like it was the end of the world cause he was gonna be separated from MC for just 3 days...) anyway I personally see the gap between S1 and 2 being about 8 months long (because I imagine them going stir crazy if it was any longer than a year)

Why specifically 8 months? Well:

During S2 they're still an exchange student but not for a whole year. When they arrive in S2 the play, festival, school dance & final exams are already being planned. All of these things usually happen at the end of the school year. They missed the first two semesters of RAD in those 8 months and spend the next three months and the holidays (say a month) in the Devildom. So S2 is 4 months.

At the end of S2 Lucifer tells MC he won't let them stay apart for long and he tells his brothers to immediately start arranging their rooms and getting ready to leave. Since Lucifer was still mad at Diavolo at this time and was willing to help the brothers & MC run away it's safe to say he was still being somewhat irrational and was planning to run away after MC.

But in S3 we see he has instead made friends with Diavolo again, gotten permission to come to the human world and gotten a proper house there, and that Barbatos is connecting the bedrooms of the two houses together AND they came while RAD was having a break. So cause they went through the legal path chances are it took some time to get there. Since they waited for a break the gap between S2 & S3 is a school semester long. So the the gap between S2 to S3 will be 3 months.

Except given how eager they all were to leave immediately I don't think it'd be that far fetched that they all moved their classes around as much as possible and jam packed them to give themselves a bigger break (let's say given their status they could schedule their own exams too and Diavolo in a bid to make Lucifer forgive him completely supports this). Say it takes them 2 months and 2 weeks to arrive in the human world and (according to what's said) 2 weeks to meet up with MC. So again, in the end the gap between S2 and S3 is 3 months.

Since S3 happens during a break it should be 1 month. And they can't squish their next term schedule and make more time either since Diavolo says they have something important happening at RAD (making preparations for new exchange students?). So S3 is only 1 month.

S4 starts with the new exchange students arriving, meaning it's a new school year. Since the gap between S2 & 3 was also the first semester of a new school year and S3 was the first vacation of that school year, that year must have passed during the time between S3 and S4, for a new year to be beginning. So the gap between S3 and S4 is 8 months

Personally I wanted the gap between S3 & 4 to be much smaller than roughly 8 months, but at the same time it'd make sense that it took a while for MC to master a spell as complicated as teleportation, as well as for the new exchange program to be properly set up

S1 -> 12 months

S1 - S2 -> 8 months

S2 -> 4 months

S2 - S3 -> 3 months

S3 -> 1 month

S3 - S4 -> 8 months

So altogether they've known each other for 3 yrs

Or at least those are my thoughts

Edit:

*slowly sweeps canon under a rug while whistling *

....Let's just say Solomon is so old he constantly fucks up how long things have been.... I mean he doesn't know his own age so it's a possibility right...? I constantly forget how far into the week/month/year we are and I haven't been around for thousands of years....so yeah..... that's what we're going with guys🥲✌🏼👏🏼

[bestworstcase]

@lizarr7 reply on this post

When I first finished the series, and started to get into the fandom, I was disappointed to see the general consensus was that season 1 was good, s2 was fine, and s3 had some good episodes/moments, but was generally bad. One of the major reasons listed always seemed to be that Cass's character ark became weird and her villain part was contrived and had no real foundation. I was like "oh, this sucks. I liked season 3! It was my fave and I loved Cass as a villain. Was I being shallow? Was I ignoring glaring plot holes or forced "character development"? I thought it seemed pretty good for a kids show, especially one so silly." I'm glad there is another community who share my opinion in that regard. It sucks to like something and have everyone else hate on it :(

if it helps any most of the hardcore s3 + cass hate comes from 1. people who convinced themselves back in s1 that moonvarian was gonna happen and are still bitter that it didn’t, many of whom additionally brag about only watching a handful of episodes in s2, and 2. people who hated cassandra from day one and were never interested in engaging with her character in good faith to begin with lmao. just ignore ’em

dunno how long you’ve been in the fandom but cassunzel circles are generally a lot more positive wrt s3, and then there is also [clenches fist] the zhan tiri corner of the fandom we are small but mighty ghdghsksh

anyways

s3 fascinates me because it’s simultaneously...like objectively the messiest on a technical level but also my favorite seasons for a lot of reasons and regardless of the bone i have to pick with how the arc was written, ultimately cassandra’s villain arc i think did deliver on the essentials of the setup done in s1-2, and almost all the things i wanted out of the show, as much as it could within the limits of being a disney princess cartoon targeted primarily at children hgkshns

tangentially related i have got. a list of fic recs floating around somewhere but tumblr being what it is i have no idea how to find it so! short list, some good cass-centric fics, most but not all set during or after s3: 

strings by hemlock/pathygen - alt s3, complete, written while the season was airing. focused on cassandra’s journey back to corona with zhan tiri, strong lean into eldritch horror, fantastic imagery. labor by singing light is a follow up oneshot exploring rapunzel’s side of the story

destinies fulfilled by @daylightlucidity - another alt s3, also complete, also focused on cassandra’s journey back to corona with zhan tiri. a lot more canon flavor™ except it says the actual grievances out loud and zhan tiri gets to be a real character instead of a cattle prod

burn a broken effigy of me and you & the doomed knight by murphy @ancientriverbed (who also wrote some excellent fan songs which u should check out!) - the former is a trilogy of ‘missing episodes’ set in each season + a oneshot epilogue, with the third evolving into a whole canon divergent s3; the latter is a standalone winter holidayish oneshot. both are cassunzel endgame. very thinky character driven stories.

not all who wander are lost by @lemon-embalmer - post-canon cass-centric picks up from the end of s3. strikes a much more serious and grounded fantasy tone without losing the voices of any of the canon characters and also has a great cast of OCs.

@erazonpo3’s cassandra’s tangled adventure au is likewise post-canon cass-centric what happens to cass after she leaves corona. very canon-flavor. there’s a bunch of oneshots and a couple longer fics in addition to the art so that link’s just to the au tag.

bite the hand that feeds by @pancat-n-sausage is “tangled the series, but what if cass and rapunzel were both shapeshifters” and strikes a nice balance between canon flavor while also having a more serious feel and while the story itself has not gotten to the zhan tiri parts yet i am excited about her lore™ 

i don’t. read a lot of oneshots but here are a few that i like

...also i wrote the thing so reccing it feels like cheating LMAO but i really am fond of gloaming all i do is write variations on s3 and i think it’s my favorite to to date

[emylilas]

Oh you're right! I hadn't considered this difference between people who thought S1 was too slow and those who loved it for the time it takes to build everything. I personally think the two seasons were working as a pair and there would have been no interest in having a similar pace in both seasons.

If we get two more seasons, I know I would love the end of S3 to be the beginning of the holy war at its most intense point, and S3 focusing on the peeps of the war. Building up the tension, making everything heavier, a bit suffocating at times (but balanced just like in the previous seasons with the lighter moments), and then having S4 be about the holy war and maybe the aftermath. But I guess this wouldn't work for those to whom S1 felt a bit too slow.

Honestly, I'm just very excited about all these possibilities and I can't wait for Simon and the whole team to surprise us. Because, as much as we can anticipate and speculate, they know their characters better than we do, and they know how to surprise us. There are definitely things I'd like to see, characters I'd love to get more of, questions I hope will be developed and maybe answered, but most of all, I want to be surprised like I was for S1 and S2.

My only disappointment towards the show is 2x08 because, to me, it felt like because they didn't have as much time as planned, they had to focus more on avatrice to wrap the story as they needed, and as much as I love them, I love how every character is significant to the plot and wish we could have gotten more of all of them for that last episode. But apart from this, I've always felt like the story was exactly what it should have been, even if I would not have originally thought of this or wanted this myself. They never let us down, and I can't wait to see how they'll surprise us again next time!

Now that we're getting our third season, or a continuation of the story, I'm really wondering where the credit scene will fit in all that.

I personally hope S3 pick up before that scene. I want to know what happened between the cathedral and Beatrice's leaving, the sword glowing and Vincent apparently reintegrating the OCS. These three points are too big not to give a proper explanation of how we got to that point, especially if the sword means Ava is back.

Getting her back in the first two episodes would seem a bit rushed to me. We need to experience the tension and urgency of trying to get Ava back ourselves, not just to know that's what the characters are going through.

I hope whatever deal they've made or we'll be able to make will allow them to take their time.

[fallindomino]

how i would have changed s2 of hsmtmts

obvious disclaimer but im not a screenwriter or anyth so im not claiming what i want is best, this is just for fun lololol

okay so first of all nini would still have dropped out of yac but she wouldn’t have gone back to east, she would have transferred to north bc she was too ashamed to tell anyone she left at first and maybe she still wants to explore who she is away from ricky and the others

nini could join north’s batb and this way maybe we could have some playful rivalry with lily and nini and more scenes with antoine shdhdjdj also it could have been a great opportunity to flesh out lily’s character so those scenes where she reaches out to ricky and her confession at the end of the season actually make sense lol

speaking of ricky ,,, i think he should have left the play at some point hear me out. he only joined in the first place because of nini and barely wanted to do it at all once he realized he wasn’t gonna be able to perform with her. he could have joined crew and been a manager with natalie or smth considering he rlly does see the theater gang as a second family. also this would leave so much room for ej and ricky development and bants since ej joined the av club and began to pursue film. they could have some convos where idk ricky asks ej how he figured out what he wanted to do after duke didn’t work out and ricky could actually develop some interests that arent the play or nini ,,, maybe fucking art club i mean he did p good on that centerpiece for carlos’ quinceañera.

with ricky not being the beast anymore i think seb should take his place that would be soooo good. and since seb isn’t chip anymore carlos won’t make those snide comments about chip being a small unimportant role and we can just cut that whole fight bc it was dumb and bad. we could still have seb being insecure that carlos is only dating him bc there aren’t really any other gay guys at school. in a heartbeat is great and i did like ricky being supportive in the background it was kinda funny too idk dhdjdjfj

ooh i almost forgot abt rini ahshdj okay so i still think they should break up. but in my version there’s no ricky pulling an ej 1.0 and deleting comments off of nini’s insta, cause with ricky in art club and nini at north trying to figure out what she wants i think one of them would realize that they’re going in different directions and only got back tgt because they made each other feel safe cause what they had was familiar. this could be triggered by ricky mentioning smth abt nini at yac and then nini breaks down and tells him that she dropped out and is at north and doesn’t know where she’s going. and then they can both realize they aren’t good for each other rn and have a less tragic mutual break up.

honestly i really liked the scene of nini taking charge after miss jenn freaked out cause with the character detail of nini giving every person in the cast of productions she’s in a thank you note she just seems really like someone who is suited to lifting others up. this could still be explored at north, maybe she could help lily through her issues that were briefly implied in ep 11 and nini realizes she wants to be a drama teacher and encourage kids to go off book and put themselves into their acting, something she couldn’t have at yac.

okay now ej ,,, so like i said in ricky’s section, more bants between them cause i feel like friendships kinda fell by the wayside due to all the relationships so more friendship !!!! also the scene where ej tells his dad he’s not going to duke shouldn’t have been an ending scene, it should have been fleshed out with his dad pushing back saying how he pulled all these strings to get him in and ej saying he doesn’t wanna go if his own hard work couldn’t get him there. and also more scenes of ej doing av club things !!! and realizing he rlly likes film and wants to do it OMG IT WOULD BE SO COOL IF HE BROKE THE FOURTH WALL AND ASKED THE DOCUMENTARY CREW ABT THE FILM INDUSTRY god i would love that. the only scene we rlly got of ej doing film things was at the quinceañera which made me kinda sad. uhhh also i just wanted to specifically mention how ej got mr mazzara that job at cal tech bc it really showed how he wanted to be there for people not just for gina, who he had a crush on, but for mr mazzara who supported him outside of romance, so i wanna keep that for sure.

gina !!! okay so i mostly liked her arc in this season, the only changes i would make would be to flesh it out a teeny bit (god this hypothetical s2 would have to be like 22 eps at least shdjdjdjfj) anyways besides ashlyn singing home to get gina to stay i think there should be a scene where they actually talk in her room abt how gina feels safer when shes on the run (second chance reference ilysm) hhhh and also a scene of her and carlos actually working out compromises for their choreo cause i liked that bit of development too and fleshing that out would make gina an even better foil for lily, who felt a need to hog the spotlight like gina used to. with gina’s own arc fleshed out her character would feel more whole independently from romance and portwell would be even more rewarding than it is in the current s2. the only thing i would really change abt portwell is that they would kiss !!! in the finale but thats bc im biased.

ashlyn should have gotten a more fleshed out storyline about being insecure about not being a good enough belle or the typical belle. there were some throwaway lines when north did their typical dramatics but the only two real scenes that showed it were when ash talked to big red about it and when she was telling nini she wanted to do a run in “home” bc lily did it. ashlyn should get more screen time where she has to grapple with the reasons she doesn’t feel good enough and big red can still support her but also gina too bc i would like more roommate besties interaction.

kourtney could still date howie, that harry potter shit was cute but there needs to be smth else for kourtney’s arc. idk she’s still into fashion so maybe she could be out here trying to create her own line or smth? this doesn’t have to be resolved in s2 like making a wholeass line takes time and she could work on it into a potential s3. kourtney just didnt get much outside of howie and the stuff at the beginning of the season where she said nini inspired her to be independent and that's why she got a job was just dropped?? so i think that fashion could fill that for her if she’s still dating howie cause like having her whole arc just be the pizza place kinda overlaps w big red’s mini arc abt how he wasn’t settling for hospitality, its what he wants to do with his life.

ik what ur thinking. anna, even if you added more episodes, where would u find the room to add all these plotlines?? well first we cut (most of) the seblos fight, so thats some time saved. honestly most of the time that we r going to gain is going to be from cutting ms jenn’s time. things like ms jenn’s and nini’s car ride would get cut, but mostly all of ms jenn’s romances would get cut down. considering she’s the teacher and isn’t actually a character with an arc how does she have THREE love interests this season?? like all of the weird tension between her and zack can be cut, like just some short scenes of them being competitive can stay. all of the stuff with ricky’s dad can go bye bye we don’t need it. i did like her w mr mazzara so most of that can stay i just didn’t like how he said he would give up cal tech for her, ew no that would be gone.

the MENKIES !!!! this is the last thing im gonna address cause in a perfect world every character would get a long fleshed out arc but then the season would be waaay too long and also im mostly trying to work within material the show gave so this is mostly made up of “realistic” deviations from what actually happened. lol idk what that even means it just makes sense to me. but anyways!! uhhh bro idk i thought them dropping the menkies was funny but it also made the finale really BAD lmao. in this finale, seb is the beast, east still had to deal w the fact that they’re underfunded compared to north but no one is injured, lily is less of a poorly written character and maybe ppl are even rooting for her, and wow i just realized i never actually said what role i think nini should have in north’s show. OOH she could be student director instead of lily cause lily both being in the play while also directing was weird considering omg i just checked and according to her wiki page shes a FRESHMAN?? and they let her be student director? lol hell nah. okay so with all that in mind ,,, the menkies should have been the season cliffhanger instead of portwell. east and north should both be nominated, both schools perform at the menkies, and then the award winner is about to be announced and THATS when it cuts to natalie and the end of the season.

one, this actually gives more tension for a summer s3 as we would be waiting to see the consequences of whichever school won. also i bet people would be wondering if nini’s gonna be transferring back to east or staying at north. people would also prob wonder if ej would be getting the scholarship if east won and what that would mean for his interest in film.

lmao that got longggg and idk if anyone’s even gonna read this but it was fun to do :D

[multimetaverse]

HSMTMTS 2x08 Review

Most Likely To was the best ep of S2 so far and ended one ship while launching another. Let’s dig in!

Gaston was super fun, a very nice showcase for both Larry and Matt. This is the kind of energy that early S2 was lacking. Also feels like the first ep where East High might actually have a shot at beating North High. Covid restrictions played a role but we really needed to see more rehearsal scenes and scenes of the wildcats just being theatre kids. This also may be one of the last times we see EJ perform as a student in the musical so I’m glad we got this.  

EJ has been criminally underused for most of S2, he’s marketed as part of the big 4 along with Nini, Ricky, and Gina and Matt Cornett’s name is listed 3rd in the credits but in the early eps of S2 you’d think he was guest star. Lately he’s started to become more important and tonight was an excellent showcase of why he’s such an interesting character. I’m not gonna check but this feels like it’s the most EJ screen time in a single ep that we’ve gotten all season long. 

Of course, the main reason for EJ’s increased screen time is because of Portwell. I’ve been neutral on them but tonight they really won me over’ their scenes were so sweet that they warmed even my cold black heart. Matt and Sofia are good friends irl and that shines through in their easy rapport and great chemistry. Gina snorting at EJ’s joke was cute and I loved the shot of Gina accidentally walking into the shot for EJ’s confessional. As an aside, they’ve been doing some fun stuff with the confessionals lately which helps add a bit of the metaness that helped make S1 so great.

The real big Portwell scene tonight was EJ and Gina talking on the couch at Ashlyn’s. Lot’s to love there. Gina’s speech to EJ about what she sees when she thinks of him was sweet and her saying that EJ tried to do the right thing and often failed but kept trying echoes what she said of herself during her confession to Ricky. Also when EJ asked Gina if she understood the feeling of having her life mapped out she replied, ‘’not really’’ which is almost certainly the inspiration for Gina asking a question to EJ and him responding ‘’not really’’ in their pre S2 face time call on the hsmtmts instagram. 

EJ is still wracked with guilt for the guy he used to be but Gina reminds him that he’s grown and is a good guy which leads to her slip up about her seeing him that way vs the rest of the gang hinting that she’s beginning to catch feelings for EJ. Which leads to EJ complimenting her and them having a moment that could well have led to a kiss if Ashlyn hadn’t come home. And they cap it off with Gina falling asleep and EJ covering her with his Duke sweater. 

It’s been nice not seeing Gina upset over Ricky these past two eps and it’s a damning indictment of the poor writing and pacing of S2 that her story in the first 6 eps can be summed up as Gina being upset over something Ricky said or did. Not only has Portwell allowed EJ to rise in prominence but also it’s allowed Gina to escape the rut her character was stuck in pining for Ricky. 

I hope after S2 is over that we get an interview where Tim explains how the Portwell plot came to be. The S1 finale set up some possible interest between them as did the pre S2 face time call but nothing came of it during the first 4 eps, they stood next to each other a lot but barely interacted otherwise. Notably in 2x01, which Tim himself wrote, EJ tries to grow a beard and tells Ashlyn that he says her as so young which is extremely jarring now that we know that EJ is crushing on Gina who is Ashlyn’s age. 

Was Tim not set on doing Portwell until he realized he needed to give Gina something else to do other than hopelessly pine for Ricky? Narratively, it made sense after Rini got together in S1 to put the other two Big 4 characters together in S2 but did Tim not want it to seem so obvious to the audience so he deliberately kept Portwell apart until 2x05 where EJ’s feelings make for a nice plot twist? Was he just reluctant to plug EJ back into the love square due to how much more complicated it would make things but later felt he had no other options? Or was it just plain old bad pacing and writing?

Of course, I wish that there wasn’t such a large age gap between Sofia and Matt but there are no Gina ships that avoid that problem, there’s also an age gap between Sofia and Joshua, just as there was between Olivia and Joshua and Matt in S1. Depending on when they film S3 there’s a good chance that most of it will be finished before Sofia even turns 18 which is deeply unfortunate. There’s a broader issue of teen girls being cast in mostly age appropriate roles while their male love interests are older adults and in particular it often affects female characters of colour. Netflix has a really bad track record with those kind of age gaps but Disney has problems too as we’ve seen on HSMTMTS and on GMW where by the end of S3 they had 18 year old Peyton Meyer as the boyfriend of 14 year old Rowan Blanchard’s character (not to mention canon Joshaya which didn’t have such a bad age gap between the actors but was problematic regarding the ages of the characters themselves).

A knock I’ve seen on Portwell is that EJ is just gonna leave for university next year but that was never gonna happen, Matt’s under the same 4 season contract as all the other mains and he’ll be sticking around in some capacity much like Sharpay ended up doing in the movies. It is true that EJ will probably have to move on at the end of S4 while Gina still has her senior year left but that will also happen with her and Ricky since he’ll be graduating at the end of S4. It was a big mistake to make EJ a senior but it also may end up being a big mistake to make Gina a sophomore. It would have been too messy to retcon EJ to be a junior but Tim probably should have taken the chance to retcon Gina into being a junior in S2.

That Rini breakup was so sad (missed opportunity for gotta go my own way). They managed to get in a Troyella reference with the treehouse. This was inevitable they just have not been communicating well though now that we know that Ricky thought Nini left YAC for him some of his desperation to spend as much time together as possible makes more sense. I think Rini is endgame if the series has 4 seasons but it wouldn't shock me if we never seem them dating again and they only get back together in the series finale. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Nini never dates anyone else for the remainder of the series or at least not seriously. 

We’re not even halfway through the series so it’s way too early to permanently slam the door on Rini though this time apart will probably help Joshua and Olivia move on from their own bitter break up before it bleeds too much into their performances. I do wonder if Tim really has a clue what he's gonna do with them for the remaining 24-28 eps of the series, assuming S3 and S4 have 10-12 eps each. 

Roman Banks killed If I Can’t Love Her and the montage of all the couples or ex couples was great.

It was nice to finally meets some parents other than the Bowen’s and Salazar-Roberts’. Kourtney’s mom was played by Dara’s actual mother and their dynamic was great as expected. It seems from their conversation that Kourtney's father is dead which I don’t believe has been mentioned before. Cash Caswell.... well it gets what the character is about across. He really looks and sounds like a rich Utah republican, I bet he knows Mitt Romney personally. I liked EJ going to tell his father that he’s not going to Duke and recognizing that he wants to build his own life on his own merits. 

We saw a bit of that S1 Miss Jenn energy tonight which was fun though I didn't like how curt she was with Seb nor did I like how rude Carlos was to Seb although we know that blows up in 2x10. 

Jazzara rising! I really liked how Jazzara and Portwell are sort of mirroring each other and since Mazzara knows about EJ’s feelings for Gina it wouldn’t shock me if helping EJ out is part of him showing a softer side in 2x12.

Of course Ashlyn is VP of the Nostradamus society. It's clear her family has some kooky new age beliefs (her parents are probably members of some naturopathic medicine group on Facebook that doubles as a gateway into Qanon)

It was nice to see Big Red being such a good friend to Ricky and the return of Ricky’s infamous pillow hugs. Lmao at Ashlyn just chilling while Big Red is comforting Ricky

Also Miss Jenn saying sexy and Big Red referring to pillow talk, the writers are adding a bit of spice when cooking up these scripts.

Looking Ahead: 

Looks like Gina may be wearing EJ's duke sweater next ep according to some posts I saw. Jack presumably is there to somehow help Gina decide what she wants with Ricky and EJ though him having wanderlust might also feed into Gina’s thoughts on settling down in SLC or moving with her mom around the country.

Let's see what mom of the year, Lynne Bowen, has up her sleeves. Ricky’s bedroom at her place in Chicago looks much nicer than the apartment Mike Bowen has so perhaps she makes a lot more money than he does. 

Not looking forward to the Zoom portions of the ep but I guess it was inevitable. 

There’s only two paths for Gina’s story to go in the remainder of this season; either she decides to move on from Ricky and give EJ a chance or she decides that Ricky is worth trying again and squelches her budding feelings for EJ. The former looks much more likely after tonight’s ep but either way it needs to be handled with care. Inevitably Gina and Ricky need to talk about what happened between them but if Tim really wants Ricky to continue being a viable love interest or even a good friend to Gina then he needs to really have Ricky apologize and show a thoughtful, kinder side of him that’s largely been missing this season. 

What I think Tim is doing is setting up Portwell getting together in 2x12 but Ricky pining over Gina until Portwell break up late S3 and Rina get together in the S3 finale before they break up later in S4 and Ricky gets back with Nini near the end of the series. If I had Tim’s ear I would tell him that he should pick which ship he wants to do, Rina or Portwell, but don’t do both. He wants canon Rina? Great then end Portwell before it starts and have Rina happen in S3 and introduce other obstacles to them getting together rather than having to damage EJ’s character and make him lose another girl he likes to Ricky. He wants canon Portwell? Great then have Gina and Ricky’s conversation be closure for the both of them and have Gina and EJ get together and break them up without Ricky being a cause of it or waiting in the wings to get with Gina soon afterwards. Doing both will be a disaster and I truly hope that Tim Federle carefully thinks over his mistakes in S2 and really plans out the remaining 2 seasons of the series while there’s still time to prevent things from going really off the rails like GMW and AM did thanks to the bad decisions of Michael Jacobs and Terri Minsky. 

Until next week wildcats. 

[robbiedaymonds]

3x04 madwife analysis (aka freakout)

So when I started watching s3, I decided to only watch Laura’s scenes for many reasons. I didn’t exactly like any Madwife references beyond the first episode and I wasn’t expecting anything big.

But boy was I wrong as fuck!

I realized, before I started writing this, that we’ve gotten a lot of Madwife in s1 and s2, but almost all of it was from Sweeney’s PoV right? His feelings, his yearnings, his puppy-dog eyes. And now, we’re seeing Madwife from Laura’s point of view and the angst is overwhelming.

Let’s begin.

First off, it seems like Laura gave up the coin and went to purgatory/hell to try to find Sweeney right? At least, once she realized in 3x03 what was going on, she changed her tune. She talked to that old lady about Sweeney. She hilariously brushed off any sort of “relationship” between the two of them in a laughable, memeable way. 

And then my friends.....

the old lady says “You were just talking like maybe he’s someone special.”

And what happens? We see Laura, looking mournful and guilty even, and then...AND THEN! 

A MOTHER FUCKING MADWIFE MONTAGE OVER A ROMANTIC/ANGSTY SONG!!

I’m not even joking, I almost died. I was like “Am I really seeing this?! Is this really happening?!” And lord when I rewatched that part and listened to the lyrics, it hurt my god damn soul.

And then, Laura quickly changes her tune and tells the lady that no, he’s just the guy who killed her, but her face says otherwise.

Okay, BREATHE. Take a moment if you need to.

Second off, a small moment. Laura’s humming this tune that we heard in 3x03. Laura figures out the title is “Requiem of Balder”. !!! For those who don’t remember, Baldr is Odin’s son and briefly was mentioned in connection with Sweeney when he was doing his big battle as Lugh near the end of his life where he killed Baldr (or Odin), when he was talking to Mr. Ibis. This is cool because it not only links Laura with Odin and her destiny to kill him, but also Laura and Sweeney in a roundabout way.

Third, let’s just say, the moment I screamed and paused the show: the blood. Laura’s dust on the ground and some guys find Sweeney’s mutilated :( corpse. They take him away and the tomb he was laying on was covered in blood. His blood. One dude stays to clean it up and starts hosing it off which makes the blood start to slide down the sides of the tomb and what happens? The guy steps on the grigri potion that Samedi gave her to give her life.

And my friends, we watch with held breath as MAD SWEENEY’S BLOOD mixes with LAURA’S POTION and starts to glow with golden veins. And wouldn’t you know it, Laura gets yeeted out of purgatory and winds up, naked and alive, lying on the floor where the mixture had...mixed.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!!

I know most of the fandom had this idea from s2 onward. Sweeney’s blood was the key to Laura’s potion. But the implications is that Sweeney had LOVE IN HIS VEINS because, remember Samedi said the final potion ingredient was two drops of blood infused with love. *SCREAMS* I can’t even eloquently say how much this destroyed me in a good and bad way. The fact that it meant Sweeney kept up his bargain: he was paramount in making Laura live again. T___T His love (whether it be specifically for her, or just his ability to love in general) was paramount in making her potion work.

The poetry of it is just unparalleled.

Okay so Laura wakes up and asks where Sweeney is (she uses his GOD DAMN NAME and let me tell you I just about ascended to the pearly gates myself) and is told he’s gone. Like...gone gone. The subtle emotions on her face are indescribable. She’s guilty and sad, there is grief and confusion there. She says it’s “her fault” that he’s dead and that she should have been able to bring him back, but couldn’t. She’s so damn sad, you can’t help but feel for her. I don’t know if “her fault” was because she ran him away after they had magic~sex~ with the Lao or because she couldn’t save him...maybe it was both. 

In any case, Laura facing her feelings and dealing with consequences of her actions and decisions is a big step for her. (Also can we celebrate that she’s alive again?! I hope she doesn’t squander this second chance, but I doubt she will. She has a plan and it’s to kill Wednesday so thank god.)

Also, we have Laura picking up Sweeney’s coin, which is, for once, covered in his blood rather than tucked away in her chest. That moment was sort of sweet and understated and I think will have something to do with Doyle finding her, but we’re not here to talk about that. The fact is, she didn’t leave it. She still has Sweeney’s coin, even after she willingly gave it to him.

Lastly, we find Laura eating, sitting in a cemetery. I feel like she’s at home in places of the dead now, even though she’s alive. I love the motif and the implications of what that means. Anyway, the guy brings over a box and in it is Sweeney’s ashes. Laura takes it almost delicately and we get some gorgeously  heartbreaking shots of her hands stroking the sides and we get the line “Somehow all of him fits in here.” RIP MY HEART OUT WHY DON’T YOU. And then, as if I’m not in enough pain, they show another snippet of a flashback with that same ghostly romantic song, a shot of Sweeney sitting in that field. I think that’s important to note...THAT is the moment she thought of. When she was at her lowest and Sweeney told her to suck it up and keep fucking fighting, no matter what.

I think that says a lot in that moment. Now that Laura’s alive, she could easily return to a normal life, but that moment spoke a lot into her future. She’s going to keep on with her mission to kill Wednesday. Sweeney died trying to do the same and since she couldn’t save him, she’s going to kill the god instead.

And of course, there’s the symbolism of Laura being dropped off in the dark near a glowing hill. We know Laura always saw Shadow as a glow in her B&W dead vision right? So she’s standing there, glow in the distance....HUGGING THE BOX TO HER CHEST. She’s hugging Mad Sweeney to her chest, looking a little lost, just one sad girl trying to kill the Allfather, and she’s walking toward the light. OOF. It hurt big time, y’all. I can’t even.

Anyway, I feel like there may be a moment where Laura buries the box and officially says goodbye to Sweeney, but I also can’t help but think of all the emotional connection there is with the simple fact of her holding onto it. She could have dumped it into a river after she left the cemetery, but no she took it with her, her sole possession besides a golden god-coin, a box of ashes.

There’s a lot to unpack, and I haven’t even scratched the surface. I’m still digesting and I need time to process! Feel free to add your thoughts, let me know how y’all are doing. 

[hournites]

I’m getting the feeling that the writers/show are putting hournite on the back burner based on the lack of content and honestly I would be fine with that. I want Beth to get more development and be fleshed out and a badass (and work more with Charles because they are simply dynamic & iconic together). Rick has already gotten so much character development. So while I do ship hournite I want Beth to be strong as a stand-alone character and not have her existence or purpose simply be tied to a ship if you know what I mean.

Hournite is a slow burn because Hournite was intended to be a slow burn, we've been told this at the beginning of the season. So there's no surprises there. Beth was never tied to the ship, which I think is evident in the way how people viewed her (even the other characters such as Courtney, Yolanda Pat, her parents, Dr. McNider and ofc Rick) from s1 to s2. She is, however, alongside Rick in parallel, which is reflected in the narrative scheme of their episodes, conflicts and character themes. Beth is already strong and stand-alone, coming together to walk side by side with Rick should they be honest about their feelings with each other wouldn't derail that, especially with how already their relationship progression has been played. It's like having two people walk on separate parallel paths, holding hands in the middle.

I think it's important to consider there's only been 25 episodes of the series and Rick and Beth haven't even interacted in about 8-9 of them. Despite that Hournite is already happening, we're actually getting Rick's POV of it this season. Without using any expository dialogue, Rick is falling for Beth and it's believable. The way they're already set up shows it hasn't and won't change their own personal stories.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if in s3, we get a flip and get a glimpse of Beth's perspective of her feelings for Rick. It doesn't mean or make her entire story will revolve around her developing a crush.

I think we're good.

[ginger-grimm]

NO NUANCE NOVEMBER - RIVERDALE EDITION

Archie is a horrible main character. He has no valuable plot line. Other than that he is just a shitty character in general. He cheats on his girlfriend, puts his family, friends and teens in danger because of a hero complex, betrayed his father and best friend to work with an actual mobster...

In fact, all the characters on this show are shitty. It's just that some are shittier than others and some are more redeemable than others.

Choni is a bad ship. The worst ship. They're rushed, toxic and would never work past high school IRL.

All the ships on this show suck safe for Veggie.

Reggie is an underrated character and deserves an actual storyline.

Veggie >>>>>>>>> Varchie

Barchie is a horrible ship with no real chemistry and it clearly died before it even started in s1.

Veronica Cecilia Lodge deserves her own damn storyline that isn't linked to her father, her boyfriend or some stupid business.

Dilton Doiley's death was unnecessary. The writers just wanted to kill off a well-known character but not a main. I will never get over his death.

Cheryl Blossom is an AWFUL character. She's entitled, an elitist, a bully, nasty for no reason, abusive towards her girlfriend and generally a nuisance. Being a lesbian and having a traumatic past doesn't give her the right to act this way. It's a reason, not an excuse.

Toni Topaz was her best self in s2. Period. Everything about her was ruined when she got with Cheryl. It's a damn shame because Madelaine and Vanessa have such good chemistry and the couple could have been awesome. Also, Toni could have gone places.

The writers ruined Kevin and Fangs when they had them involved in that fucking tickle porn plot.

All the parents on this show, safe for Fred and Tom, suck ass.

Nana Rose is not a fucking saint. She adopted Penelope just to groom her to marry her son and treated her horribly.

Penelope Blossom and Hiram Lodge should have gotten arrested and locked up in like s3. Period. Penelope killed kids and Hiram...well, you know why. I like Mark and Nathalie as much as the next girl but they're characters stopped being interesting long ago, if they even were to begin with.

Bughead was cute in s1 but they should have split in s2 for good.

Jughead should have never joined the Serpents. It's clearly not something he ever wanted, considering the Serpents ruined his family, and he should have continued writing instead.

The concept of teens being made Kings and Queens of gangs is so annoying to me. Like an IRL gang would ever put a 16 year old in charge, even if he is legacy.

This show has an ensemble cast and should use it. It's annoying watching the core four have their own boring/annoying major plotlines and then sprinkle in some weird shit for Reggie, Toni, Kevin and Cheryl that makes no sense and is cringy/uncomfortable to watch.

Notice how all the POC/LGBTQ characters get the worst storylines/unnecessarily killed off? What's that about? Stop it. This literally starts with Veronica.

S4 was the worst season of this show. Yes, s3 was batshit insane but at least it some semblance of a main plot. In s4 everything was related to Jug and everything else was confusing/boring/frustrating.

PLEASE stop giving us weird incest plots. We do NOT need to see this in 2020. Or ever.