#but to have an entire ep centered on death

[trashasaurusrex]

sims 4 let out a banger expansion. they can't keep doing this to me

the holidays are coming and i need food!!! i can't keep doing this with you!!!!

gdi!!!!

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - I'm Late But Who Cares?

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Jan 2025 Week 5

Ongoing Series - Thai

Your Sky (Sun iQIYI) ep 11 of 12 - Oh no my babies are in trouble! I actually don’t mind the coming out being part of the conflict, it’s rare to see these days, but it was more common in early BL. This show feels like such a throwback Thai BL anyway, that it’s sort of goes with the story. Of course it was conflict that was resolved almost immediately. But honestly I’m so charmed by the show I don’t mind any of this.

ThamePo (Fri YT) ep 8 of 12 - still enjoying but annoyed by Jun. I’m glad everybody’s feelings have been made clear, Iun is too much a little shit for the way he went about it. The hand holding was very cute tho. 

Truer words! When a character reveals the entire plot of a show.

The Boy Next World (Sun IQIYI) ep 4 of 10 - Phu’s friends are the best. I love them so much. Still cautiously enjoying this.

The Heart Killers (Weds Gaga) ep 10 of 12 - Why are Kant’s pants always too short in this show? Meanwhile, the plot progresses as expected. But it’s OK. I’m enjoying it enough. I like that Kant, who is slightly evil, is willing to go even more evil for the man he loves. It was a twist I was not expecting. I believe it less with Style. Oh my, have we turned into a caper all of a sudden? Huh. This was a good episode. But then I do like a caper.

I’m also gonna mention briefly that I see you Heart Killers for using old tropes in a new way. The bleacher shot (Lovesick callback), the empty pool. Very very clever.

Fourever You (Thurs YT) ep 17 end - Nice solid ending I remain more interested in the couples we never got but i hope we get a season 2. 

Conclusion

A standard university Thai BL centering around two couples (med student meets engineering youth) in two parts (chasing the forever dragon that is 2 Moons). This was watchable but not much more than that with nice optics. Best if you can get hold of the extended (sexy) version especially for the second couple. 8/10 

Perfect 10 Liners (Sun YT) ep 14 of 24 - Wine is totally getting the "good one." Faifa (hands-down my favorite character in the series) is the master of the sarcastic ja particle. He’s very clever with it. Pay attention if particles in Thai interest you. I don’t understand why Yotha it’s so special that everybody’s willing to cater to his erratic whims.

(Am I the only one who thinks that Book and Santa should lead a BL together?)

Sangmin Dinneaw (Sun iQIYI) ep 5 of 10 - This is such an odd show. But it was a very nice kiss. And more.  And I love the boy admiring his marks after. Nice touch.

Flirt Milk (Sat YT) ep 2 or 10 - everyone behaves like a complete idiot and it’s driving me nuts.

Ossan‘s Love Thailand (Mon YouTube) ep 4 of 12 - I dislike most of the characters in this show, but I truly loathe the daughter character.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

When it Rains it Pours (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - I continue to enjoy this more every week, and I’m really looking forward to next week. (Shocker.)

Eternal Butler (Taiwan Fri Gaga) eps 8 of 12 - no ep this week, Happy New Year! 

Impression of Youth (Taiwan Weds Viki) eps 4 of 9 - It’s modestly enjoyable but of all the relationships I think I like the brothers the best. I mostly have a smile on my face when I watch it, but so far it’s eminently forgettable. To the point where I occasionally forget to watch it when it airs. That said it looks like next week we’re getting very Taiwanese. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 17 of ?? - sigh

It's airing but......

I Will Turn Back Time (China Gaga) 6 eps - It’s Chinese, no idea if it will end well or not. But it’s the stepbrothers trope. Still, I’m not gonna watch it until it’s done.

In Case You Missed it

Winter Is Not The Death of Summer (Thai) - It's done. Spies reported in the following: Not recommend. "Lots of awkward silence and muddled story. Abrupt ending. Doesn't lean into either the romance or the prison aspect." So yeah, I'm leaving it a DNF.

End of year wraps are here!

2024 Trend Report

MY BEST & WORST BLs of 2024

Best Kisses (and sex scenes) of 2024

BL's 2024 Quirky Awards

2024 Awards - Quick Picks

Next Week Looks Like This:

*** Yeah we already in it and my calendar is a complete mess, so no visual for you. ***

On now: FC Soldout (Korea iQIYI) 8eps - sports BL, football player meets actor.

2/14 Exclusive Love (Taiwan Gaga) - Shy aspiring singer inherits funeral business.

2/27 Secret Relationships (Korea iQIYI) - Stars Wei's Kim Jun Seo. Adapted by Cradle Studio (Kakao). About clever and resourceful Daon who has worked hard to overcome being poor. His cheap ways annoy his coworker, Sunghyeon but after “an incident” with his parents, Daon grows closer to him. But Daon also has feelings for his former tutor. This has the signs of a classic Kdrama all over it: Office setting, love triangle, lead suffering for his self-actualization. I’m optimistic about a longer treatment.

2025 Line Up

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 1

BL Announced for 2025 - PART 2

20 BLs Announced for 2025 That I'm Really Excited About

GMMTV 2025 Line Up - My Totally Biased and Wildly Flawed Feels

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENT

Best line in BL history? Possibly

(last week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

[fantasywater]

Blitz and Via's pain and the Stolas-centered Status Quo is God Narrative.

Weeaboo was literally written like a parody and yet...

Viv (without any irony) took Emberlynn's clear trope-heavy and cringe fanfiction and made it an entire episode on purpose.

Mastermind should finally make any holdouts see that Viv is indeed writing an animated fanfiction and is reveling in doing so.

Via is going to have the same trajectory as Blitz. She is a female side character. She will not be allowed to hate Stolas for too long because even the actual main character didn't get that luxury. In essence, both of these characters are actually in a yaoi and all that implies.

Blitz vs Stolas:

Blitz spends all of season one uncomfortable, disinterested, and angry at Stolas's sexual harassment and coercion.

In the penultimate episode, Truthseekers Blitz sees himself as Stolas's prisoner. Keeping with the lack of consent theme he is also screaming and fighting against being smothered by his feathers. Yet the writers still made Blitz make out, and have sex later, with Stolas in the same episode.

In the Season One Finale Ozzie's Blitz finally tells Stolas off about treating him like a sex toy, but of course, he still must sneak a peek on his phone of his transgressor in bed with him.

In the next present-day episode Seeing Stars the narrative and the characters themselves act like the sex toy anger never happened. They instead write both characters acting like an old married couple.

In Western Energy Blitz refuses to play knight for this powerful demon prince, but he still sends his capable fighter friends to Stolas's aid. Later he has a romantic slow-mo scene, bugged-eyed rose-tinged whispers, and texts his tomentor a get well soon.

In Opps Blitz goes on an angry tirade about how Stolas makes him feel like he's pretty much a rich man's prostitute. This will be the second time he says this. His former friend brushes his concerns off.

In FullMoon Blitz once again for a count of three tells Stolas(this time with hatred in his voice and body language) about everything he put him through. You know pretty much a year's worth of sexual assault and harassment. But then is written to apologize for speaking truth to power i.e. his abuser.

In the next ep Apology Tour he spends the cold open trying to have sex with Stolas while mentioning for a fourth time that Stolas is a classist ass with a sexual fetish for the poor. Then he holds him in his lap later, gets jealous, and then leaves with a wistfulness like he lost out on the love of his life.

In Ghostfuckers, he burns effigies of Stolas and admits they were nothing, but still, screws over his own business, daughter, and coworkers while he pines for his abuser.

In Mastermind he suddenly forgets every monstrous thing Stolas has ever done to him. Stolas is now Blitz's heart and is, therefore, honor bound to take care of his rapist.

Via vs Stolas:

In Loolooland Via tells her dad he ruined their family by his infidelity with Blitz. Still, they hug it out in the end.

In Seeing Stars she runs away from home because he broke a promise to her. He then spends hours with Blitz (the catalyst of her mental breaks) instead of looking for his child. Has another hug at the end.

In Mastermind she sees her dad on national television about to give his life for the guy he threw a nuke into her family for i.e. abandoning her through death. Tries to run and save him anyway.

In Sinmas she finally has had enough and cuts him out of her life.

Now the fandom will say well Via is free of Stolas. So something stuck.

Look again.

Loona(homewrecker's daughter) and Via have a heart-to-gaslighter about their dads and then hug like besties. These two are also complete strangers to each other.

In merch, Loona and Via are often paired together including in the recent Sinmas one.

The official Spindlehorse account put out a car decal featuring Blitz,IMP, Stolas and Via on their page. It would have been fine except for the blatant signage of Blitz saying my family as the tagline. They hurried up and deleted it.

The creator and voice actor have both said Loona has a big part to play in season three. Three, gaslighting a neglected child, guesses as to what that is going to entail.

Does the fandom see it yet? Blitz's pain does not matter and neither will Via's. The status quo will always be maintained.

They are allowed their pain for a short while. Then they comply.

[byemambo]

4Minutes EP. 6 - My Takeaways

Y'all...The way I was working OVERTIME trying to figure out how I wanted to explain my thoughts for this episode (this post is extremely long: take that as you will). So please welcome OG TymeGreat vs. NDE (near death experience) TymeGreat and their timelines (everything else under the cut!):

Great Version

Tyme Version

Key Events: Assessing the Timelines

I listed out key events that I felt matched up within each existing timeline (and I'm sure I missed more key events/details that aren't listed in my findings), no matter the person nor alternative reality they're in. For Great's timeline, the key events include:

Waking up to take his exam

Hitting Manee with his car

Receiving the call from Title

Korn being attacked

Great learns Tyme's identity as the attacker

Great confronting Tyme at the hospital the next day

Great confronting his parents for their crimes

Great renounces his ties to his family

While these events occurred regardless of the different decisions Great could make, what was striking to me was Great's distinct characteristics that existed in both timelines while also having characteristics individual to their respective timelines. For OG Great, he's extremely defiant and cynical, especially if he's able to get a rise out of his father for reasons prior to knowing about the business, I'm not exactly sure (except for him being the mistress's son before the first wife committed suicide).

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

Given that we didn't get any scenes of him bonding with Korn throughout the episode unlike NDE Great, I can only imagine there's a bias towards Korn as the favorite son between the two where one listens and submits while the other vocal and disobeys. Along with being defiant and having the guts to gauge the wold with cockiness, he is also a coward that's easily persuaded and manipulated. This shows up most during scenes like the hit and run or when Title demanded Great to help get rid of Dome's body and in turn, become an accomplice to the crime.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

OG Great also operates on this mindset of being silver spooned his entire life more explicitly than NDE Great, and becomes hot headed when placed under immense pressure once he's unable to play mind games with his targets such as Tyme. Even though their hook up and Tyme leaking his sex tape caused a scandal with his dad's company, the amount of trauma Great has dealt with growing up (this kid never played a crane machine game so I can only imagine how lonely his upbringing was) resorts to him chasing after those dopamine hits and becoming shameless as a result.

One of the few times OG Great chose his own morals and acted upon them in the storyline was when he found out about his parents and their involvement with the scheme, but this decision only occurred when people he cared about died or got hurt, like Nan and Tyme. Because he had developed a short spanned codependency on Tyme (whether for more sex or because he found his serious demeanor amusing), once he had been left with nothing due to reasons beyond his control, he leaves his family behind after the confirmation of their crimes.

Unlike NDE Great, OG Great is self centered and only acts when pushed beyond his limits, but only if the consequences of that limit involves someone he genuinely cares about (this is the stark difference between Dome's demise versus Tyme's meltdown after Nan's death). Sure, people can argue that Great knows Tyme at a similar level of depth like he knew Dome (apart from being sexually involved with one another), but his interests peaks in Tyme once he finds out that he's seeking revenge against his father and finds that mere effort entertaining for him. In the OG timeline, Great's flaws directly causes his detriment in the end, getting shot by Dome's older brother Tonkla in vengeance.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 5

In Tyme's timeline, there aren't as many moving parts that we saw on screen as much as Great's (since their particular story is limited narrative through Great's perspective) but these events remain consistent in his story:

Tyme works a hospital shift

Den tells him about his NDE research

Tyme works the night shift with Great in his proximity

Tyme attacks Korn in search of Nan

Great confronts Tyme at the hospital the next day

What I found most interesting in OG Tyme's timeline was how linear and straightforward the events occurred in sequence, which would have been the case if Great never asked him about his occurring NDE symptoms like he did in the NDE timeline while being under Tyme's care. Tyme's prior knowledge to Den's research served as a seed planted in the back of his mind, which if Great hadn't asked him (if he chose to help Title get rid of Dome's body), Tyme would have went along with his plan and shelved Den's research with no intention in intervention. The difference in approach between OG Tyme and NDE Tyme was rooted in their initial encounters, both being Great bumping into Tyme and how it was handled.

If Great continued heading his way, Tyme's initial impression of Great would have been slightly annoyed (which we saw a preview of how he yelled at Great during the first cardiac arrest Great had when he bumped into Tyme and didn't help him). But if Great stopped to apologize and even help Tyme with the papers, there is a hint of consideration in that gesture, even if Great himself is a flawed person capable of doing bad things. For some, basic human decency isn't a mind blowing trait for people to fawn over, but this can be contrasted when Tyme asks P'Anne for his information and finally gets confirmation of Great's identity.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 1

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

From the perspective of Tyme who's dedicated his personal life in bringing down the family responsible for the death of his parents, I'm sure having a painted image of what inhumane and vulgar things the family is capable of, Great's first impression as the younger son of the enemy is somehow normal? As if this man isn't capable of hurting a fly, let alone killing people like his father does (why did I think of fucking Lord Ozai and Prince Zuko when proofreading this loooooord someone send me to bed asap). Rather than treating Great as just a means to an end with no prior attachment and full intent in harming the family's reputation as OG Tyme would have, NDE Tyme's prior interactions with Great by him helping Tyme with his papers (the readiness to correct his faults while providing a solution to aid in the damage caused, big or small), Great bringing his hurt friend to the hospital without acknowledging his own injuries (a sign of selflessness and reliability) and asking Tyme about his symptoms related to his cardiac arrests and moments of NDE, there are layers being shed off of Tyme's preconceived notions about the family.

Episode 2

Episode 6

Not only are there layers, Tyme's curiosity peaks because why is the son of the family who killed his parents seemingly harmless and clumsy? Shouldn't someone of his background be more cautious and conceal himself more, especially when speaking to a stranger such as Tyme? Does he know what his parents do and the damage they have caused for countless families and victims? In comparison to OG Great who's callous and bold, NDE Great is soft and easily startled, therefore, needs a more calculative and somewhat honest approach to secure a connection to get closer to bringing the family down.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

Characterization: A vs. B

When writing my reflections, I found it interesting how TymeGreat's relationship develops within their respective timelines, especially how each encounter they had with one another fueled different emotions and residual feelings. In the OG timeline, their relationship is innately lustful with distance between them, their main objectives involve concealed vengeance, amusement in the series of events occurring between them and not being able to access the full story of the two worlds both individuals were a part of before their paths crossed.

Whereas in the NDE timeline, their relationship began with a curiosity that defied expectations and welcomed communication, such as asking intimate questions and offering valuable solutions to majority of their problems: Great asking Tyme about his cardiac symptoms, Tyme consulting Den about his research after Great's conversation, Great confiding in Tyme about his upbringing, Tyme revealing the cause of his parents' death, Great confronting his own family for their crimes and seeking accountability. All of these traits wouldn't have been present if that initial hit and run played out differently: they would have crossed paths regardless but their attitudes and motives would shape the state of their relationship.

Episode 6 vs. Episode 3

Episode 6 vs. Episode 5

However, there are innate traits that remained consistent in both characters. Great with his impulsivity and tackling his problems head strong, Tyme with his nonchalance and caring attitude towards the people he loves (such as his grandmother). What really caused the divergence of their whims were purely based in the circumstances they find themselves in during their initial encounters. When they met at the bar, Great's impulsivity charged the motion of their relationship, ending with his cowardice separating the two once Nan died at the hands of Samarn. Tyme's detached attitude that drove his girlfriend away from him and poses concern from Den as a fellow doctor in how he denies his patients of their own identity and autonomy, causes him to take advantage of Great's relations to the family, ending in his own death after denying the bribe by Great's father.

Episode 6

Episode 6

Episode 1

Despite it all, the most significant element that both Tyme and Great share is the leverage both have over one another through their emotional attachments, which may seem small in comparison to more flashy events within the storyline but for these two characters: it makes a world of a difference. When NDE Tyme reveals his identity during the ambush against Korn, which led Great to help Tyme find Nan and as a result, saving her life. This is critical as OG Great is inherently a coward with a dopamine deficiency and enjoys causing trouble for his father's reputation at his own demise.

Episode 4

When Tyme is willing to risk his life exposing Great's family to the press, Great reminds him of his grandmother, driving Tyme to accept the bribe from Great's dad and find safety at Aunt Ging's house together. Unlike OG Tyme, whose reserved and passive attitude enables his life to be filled with the absurd and mundane, that money is the driving force of life and the root of all evil that took his parents away from him, so what else is there to live for as long as he avenges his family?

Episode 5

Now for my questions for the last two episodes: if Great dies in the OG timeline and is actively dying in the NDE timeline, since Tyme's destined fate to die in the OG timeline has been altered once he's notified of Great's condition in the emergency room by Den, he has a chance of avoiding death that OG Tyme suffers from. It may be a stretch but look at the two hit men who targeted Tyme and Great.

Episode 1 vs. Episode 5

The hit man in episode 1 look significantly younger than the hit man in episode 5, but same facial hair? The shadow in the first image throws me off but it's freaky to speculate as it sent shivers down my spine whenever I got a better screenshot of them. If I put my two brain cells together: in the OG timeline, Tonkla targets and shoots Great but Tyme is also shot in episode 1, which makes me believe that their timelines are converging somehow as both of them enter their 4 minutes of limbo and their memories and experiences are warped.

In the NDE timeline, because Dome is saved and returns home to Tonkla, the only person reasonable in targeting Great would be Manee after she finds out which family is responsible for her son's involvement in illegal business (which her giving up her life savings and being given the 4th card during her ritual that calls for separation of loved ones). This separation in question is the separation of Tyme from Great as Great's fighting for his vitals to stabilize just as Tyme rushes to the OR?

Because NDE Tyme goes with his grandmother to Aunt Ging's instead of sending her on her own as OG Tyme does, both of them are technically off the radar from being targeted, or at least bought enough time to make a safe escape if Great's father goes back on his word outlined in the proposed bribe. Seeing as Tyme's wearing the same shirt in both timelines at this point, we're now waiting to see how this will play out, and I'm literally so excited to lose sleep all over again.

Episode 1 vs. Episode 6

If you made it to the end, pat yourself on the back! And if you've been actively reading my previous posts regarding my takeaways, I really appreciate the love they've been getting! I'm more than happy to hyperfixate on this series and help out with really digging deep in the details that could help those who are having difficulty following along with the series. Idk, y'all got to yell at Bible on Twitter then because he thinks he's so funny tweeting this:

If y'all would like to read more, check out my tags and thank you again for sticking around, see y'all next Friday or whatever day my brain finishes finalizing its thoughts to share with y'all :)

[mysterioussinkhole]

severance 2x04 spoilers and thoughts on religion in the show's universe

It's been discussed a bit how Lumon's company culture and Kier as a figure are very Mormon-coded. This is primarily in terms of American exceptionalism as a core tenet of a religious movement that centers on the wisdom of a singular man, purported to be advancing the human race.

What interested me in this most recent ep (2x04 Woe's Hollow) was the language Milchick uses in his speech before Innie Irving's death. Specifically the last line about condemning him to "the eternal dark".

To me (whose knowledge of Mormon theology is limited to the bits of research I've done, I'm def not an expert), this draws a comparison to the concept of the Outer Darkness. References to it are present in the Christian Bible, but within Latter Day Saints teachings it is a realm of the spirit world (where we go/return to after death) that is for those who have committed the highest sin.

Knowing God's Will, promising to follow it, and then consciously rejecting it. Apostasy.

The assumption is that not many people go there, and there's debate over what actually merits being condemned to the Outer Darkness after death.

The usage in Severance of that language does feel very intentional, especially after an episode that gave us more of the Kier-based philosophy the innies are educated to follow. Irving B is condemned to nonexistence after the high crime of harming not just a coworker, but an Eagan. Knowingly and willingly.

We don't know what happens to innies when their outies leave the company in disgrace. If they're simply never reactivated or if their data is erased entirely. However, I think this language implies that within the Kier religion's philosophy Irving has been sentenced for the highest crime possible and his soul can never be redeemed.

Good for him.

[dangermousie]

The best cdrama you probably haven't watched - Tribes and Empires Storm of Prophecy

Most of my airing cdramas are ending within the week and unless we get a lot of other good replacements, it means time to rewatch a favorite.

And this favorite? The sprawling, epic fantasy Tribes and Empires Storm of Prophecy. Tribes has a huge cast (one of criticisms I've seen leveled at it - but that is why I love it; it's epic in every sense of the world), but it centers around three very different men - Shaofeng Heye (Zhou Yiwei), a son of a murdered barbarian chief who will eventually lead the rebellion that tries to topple the empire, Muyun Sheng (Huang Xuan), a disregarded prince who is half-fae and whose mother was supposedly the emperor's great love who he mourns (the truth is so much darker and more complicated) and Muru Hanjiang (Shawn Dou), the cursed son of the chief general who was abandoned to live on the street due to prophecy. Sometimes they are allies, sometimes enemies, sometimes both at once.

Despite the huge budget, it was not a hit either in China or internationally - people complained about the slow pace, the large cast and the lack of ending (the drama is 70+ eps and tells only half the story.) I loved every second of it. I grew up reading Russian novels which were also sprawling, with a huge cast, deliberate pace and often lack of resolution at the end. Perhaps that is why the one audience where I think it was a hit was the Russian-speaking cdrama fandom (all the MVs I can find, btw, are made by Russian speakers.)

(The above is a gorgeous general MV)

Why do I love it? Other than the amazing visuals (it's directed by Cao Dun, all of whose dramas are genuinely stunning looking), there is the fact that it really feels like a window in a whole other world - epic and a little alien, complex, full of horror and beauty.

And there are the characters and the narrative. Because this drama does not hurry, it's not only the mains who get fleshed out - secondary and even tertiary characters are fully-fledged. Two of my favorite characters are emperor and empress - two intense monsters locked in an emotional cage with each other, clawing at others and themselves, as bystanders die.

This is a dark dark world - made before the censorship tightening up, there is none of that "tireless emperor ceaselessly working for the people" nonsense or even other character spouting about working for the greater good. The emperor and most of the imperial family are monsters, grasping for power, lives of people as ants to them. Some characters do have ideals but they are not glib or easy or fit within modern parameters. This is a narrative that starts with Shaofeng Heye's entire tribe being wiped out because of an act of kindness by a boy (and his tribe and other tribes are locked into a life death struggle for resources perpetually.) Blind loyalty to the crown is not viewed as a virtue - Muru Hanjiang's father is a monster for throwing his infant to die due to a prophecy that states he's a threat to the throne.

(another general MV)

Also, me being me, there are ships. There are a bunch, but my favorite is Muru Hanjiang x Su Yuning. She's a minor noblewoman picked to be a crown princess because her horoscope says that whoever she marries will be the ruler (interestingly, MHJ's prophecy that upended his life is that he will end the rule of the Muyun dynasty - clearly they are meant to marry at some point, heh) and she has no choice about it. Their love is glorious and largely unspoken and kinda doomed; the way the drama ends with her ditching literally EVERYTHING and following him and his clan to horrifying exile that might result in death (and even as he still tries to drive her away to protect her, she knows what he's doing and vows to wait for him) is glorious.

This MV for them is amazing:

I also loved Shaofeng Heye and Princess Muyun Yan Shuang. Not functional in the least but so hot!

(The third main OTP of the prince x spirit, I liked but not as much as these two.)

Anyway, this is my next rewatch.

[xf-cases-solved]

S2E10: Red Museum

Case: Bro, don't make me try to summarize "Red Museum," so many things happen and every single one of them is baffling.

You know what? This entire episode feels like an SNL Stefon sketch, so I'm going to write it as one.

If you're looking for a monster-of-the-week X-Files tale centering around obscure religions, look no further. Fox network's hottest new episode is "Red Museum." This episode has everything. A cult of creepy vegetarians who all wear red turbans and whose sermons are all written on the fly by a dude who has a really impressive WPM. Children wandering around the woods in their underwear with "HE/SHE IS ONE" written on their backs with black Sharpie. Walk-ins.

Oh, what's a walk-in? It's that thing where a body's original soul is replaced by a new, different soul for some reason.

But that's okay if that's not for you. If what you're looking for is a story about a deep-seated conspiracy of unethical medical experiments, look no further. Fox network's hottest new episode is still "Red Museum." This episode has everything. An awkward road trip with an old man out into the countryside where he tells you his life story, unprompted. A random plane crash implicating the local doctor. Bovine somatotropin.

Oh, what's bovine somatotropin? It's that thing where you genetically engineer a growth hormone and give it to cows to make them produce more milk.

Still not what you're looking for? That's no problem. For those of you itching for some more myth arc plot, look no further. Fox network's hottest new episode continues to be fucking "Red Museum." This episode has everything. A middle-aged white man you're somehow supposed to distinguish from the millions of other middle-aged white men and remember that he's the guy that killed Deep Throat. A complete lack of usable evidence. Purity Control derivatives.

Oh, what's Purity Control? It's that thing from "The Erlenmeyer Flask" where you mix human DNA with alien DNA to conduct a series of experiments on the unsuspecting human population. 

Also, there's a perv creeping on kids through peepholes.

Anyway. This episode... goes some places. 

Moving on.

Does someone die in the cold open: My notes say, "no death in CO, but that kid is fucked up," which I feel is a good summary.

Does Mulder present a slideshow: YES!! Our boy and his projector have finally been reunited at last! He hasn't done a slideshow since "Tooms," which actually makes it all make sense now, bc that was the one he did in court that made me (and Scully) want to die from secondhand embarrassment. Maybe Scully had been keeping the projector locked away until he proved he could be trusted with it. She had the key to the storage closet in her pocket when she was abducted.

Does the evidence survive the investigation: Yeah, nah.

Whodunit: Bro, I don't fucking know. All of them. They all did it. Every single person is complicit. You're complicit. I'm complicit. Just blow the planet up and start over.

Convictions: 🙄😒

Did they solve it: Last line of the episode is "this case remains open and unsolved," soooooo. I'm not even giving them a "no, but" bc they didn't even manage to keep Deep Throat's killer alive long enough to get any useful information out of him. Maybe they shouldn't have given you guys the X-Files back, actually...

[how do i determine if a case is solved? check the scale here: x]

This episode is sponsored by: Part one of this five part SNL Stefon YouTube compilation for those of you who had no idea wtf I was referencing up there

***

General Total Stats:

(green means stat has changed since last ep; red means new stat added to list)

Total Cases *Definitively* Solved So Far: 15 (they haven't solved anything since fucking "blood," and technically they weren't even on the x-files then. they haven't solved a genuine x-file since "roland," and i only gave them that one out of pity. time to just keep the x-files closed and assign them to the department that tracks down people who pirate movies. mulder & scully and the search for the Truth 20-something college kid making copies of jurassic park to give to his cousin in exchange for weed)

Total Number of "Mulder/Scully, It's Me": 9

Total Number of Times Scully Has Conveniently Not Seen Something Crucial: 6

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Been in Mortal Danger: 14 (i think they technically both could have gotten blown up, right?) 

Total Number of Times Scully Has Been in Mortal Danger: 14 (i expected these two stats specifically to be more disproportionate, but so far they're pretty even huh)

Total Number of Sexually Charged, Uncomfortably Intimate, and/or Flirty Moments Between Friendly Coworkers: 19 (bbq napkin scene. she wants to devour those ribs and then devour him)

Total Number of Autopsies Scully Has Performed On Screen: 5

Total Number of Times Scully Plays Doctor: 2 

Total Number of Times Mulder Talks to an Informant: 21

Total Number of Times People Making Out in a Car Are Hurt or Killed: 2

Total Number of Times Someone Correctly Guesses a Password: 3 

Total Number of (Plot Relevant) Nosebleeds: 5

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Tasted/Sniffed/Touched Something Questionable Without Following Proper Safety Procedures: 4 (it was just gas, but it was on the floor of a slaughterhouse, directly underneath a hanging hunk of beef, and there was a very obvious red can labeled "gasoline" sitting three feet away on the floor, so i feel like he could have made that inference without sticking his hand in it)

Total Number of Times People Fight in a Parking Garage: 1 

Total Number of Times Someone Says "Trust No One": 3 

Total Number of Times Someone Says "I Want to Believe": 4 

Total Number of Times Someone Says "The Truth is Out There": 2 

Total Number of Cigarettes Cigarette Smoking Man Has Smoked: 16 

Total Number of Maggie Scully Sightings: 3

Total Number of Lone Gunmen Sightings: 3

Total Number of Alex Krycek Sightings: 3 (no more krycek for right now 😔. mulder's projector has returned, but still we lie in wait for rat boy's resurgence)

Total Number of Times I Had to Look Up What State the Episode Takes Place in Even Though I Literally Just Watched It: 13½ (not only did i not know, but i wrote this up over the course of two days, and had already forgotten by the time i got to this stat even tho i looked it up yesterday)

Total Number of Times I Had to Look at an Episode's Wikipedia Page to Fill This Out Because It Was Fucking Confusing and/or Too Boring for Me to Pay Attention: 7 (i am still not convinced i followed the whole thing. i don't think it's possible)

[cantsayidont]

The thing I find most perplexing about the PICARD show — and I am going to say upfront here that I have not made any attempt to investigate any of the behind-the-scenes stuff or even paid any particular attention to the writing credits — is that judging by the end product, it really looks like there were significant differences between what was pitched, what was originally written, and what actually ended up on the screen. In fact, it seems like there were at least two, possibly three big changes in direction along the way.

@procrastinatorproject remarked (and I'm going to quote rather than reblog the reblog, to avoid making an unreadably long chain):

They spend a lot of time in the early episodes deconstructing Picard, the Great Captain. They make it abundantly clear that his typical MO of Giving A Great Speech and centering himself and his morality and his worth and self-sacrifice isn't a sustainable, useful way to solve problems. (See: threatening to resign in protest, tearing down the "No Humans" sign on Vashti and acting like he knows how to combat entranched racial divisions in a place he hasn't been to in almost 20 years, etc.) This is made clear repeatedly and I thought it was a really interesting and brave deconstruction of this Great Captain Narrative that we got especially in TNG (with the occasional nuance, yes, but still this at its core). And then they drop the ball on that when in the final episode, Picard saves the day by Making A Great Speech and cerntering himself by offering to sacrifice his life.

I'll go a step further than this: The strong impression I got from the first seven or eight episodes of PICARD S1 is that the first season was likely intended as a miniseries, and that it was originally pitched not simply as a deconstruction of the character, but as "The Death of Jean-Luc Picard." PICARD-era Picard is not a particularly young man even for the 24th century (he's 94 years old), and we're told early on that he's dying of a rare degenerative disease for which there is no cure. His choices have had serious consequences: He's burned bridges with most of his friends and colleagues, his last Grand Gesture was a disaster that cost him the last of his credibility with Starfleet (and destroyed Raffi's career, something the show never really has Picard even acknowledge), and he's isolated himself in bitter disillusionment. His former shipmates are no longer around to help him, and the people he recruits are not nearly so tolerant of his bullshit. The entire premise of the show suggests that this is Picard's last chance and his last ride — and I think probably the final curtain for the TNG cast as well. (The fact that the first season is set in the last year of the 24th century also seems significant in this respect.)

I also suspect that this was what lured Patrick Stewart back to the role; I think they probably told him, "Look, this is going to be Picard's King Lear — it's not going to be just another sci-fi action potboiler, it'll be a big Shakespearean tragedy that will really let you go out with some gravitas." (What actor would say no to that?)

The problem, of course, is that while this is interesting, it makes for a pretty bitter pill for the audience. I've never particularly liked TNG, and my emotional attachment to the characters is limited, but I can't see that this is what most fans would have hoped to see for Picard: He's all alone, sulking on his family estate with his Romulan servants (another pseudo-Shakespearean gesture, I thought, though incongruous for STAR TREK's alleged post-scarcity socialist utopia); Beverly is ominously MIA; he hasn't talked to Will and Deanna in so long he doesn't know they have a 12-year-old daughter (and when he finally goes to see them in Ep. 7, by far the best of the series, Deanna very justifiably reads him for filth); and his relationship with Geordi and Worf is apparently cordial but distant. He's a sour, unhappy old man whom Starfleet Command sees as a self-righteous crank who's outlived any usefulness or relevance. Even without getting into the other ways the story takes Picard apart, that's pretty grim, and when he sets out with the other new characters on what's clearly suggested as his final quest, it's plain that he's probably not going home again.

The way the final episodes of S1 try to dial this back is SO jarring and so unsatisfying that it really doesn't seem like it was the way it was intended to end at all. What it feels like is like someone higher up at CBS came in after the show was already well along in production and said, "Wait, what are you doing? You can't kill off Picard! How are we supposed to have a Season 2? And where are all the other iconic STAR TREK characters?" There's every indication that the finale was hastily rewritten very late in the game, after much of the shooting was either underway or already completed.

So, rather than bringing the tragedy to an organic conclusion, we get an incredibly stupid cop-out finale that's still a downer without even offering a satisfying resolution. It's hard to say which part is more frustrating: Picard's big death scene surrounded by people who barely know him (and who up to that point didn't even like him that much); the incongruous arrival of the Starfleet "cavalry," riding to the rescue in a way we were previously shown (repeatedly!) wasn't going to happen; immediately undoing Picard's death in a very uneasy way (making him a synth, something the rest of the series then has to tiptoe around); or attempting to contrive an emotional climax with Data arguing for his right to die — despite the fact that the character had in fact been dead for 20 years. While we're keeping score, I was also irritated by the way the finale vilified the Romulans; the Romulans' response to the situation was a little heavy-handed, but the thing they were afraid of was very real, and the only reason it was averted was that the synths at least temporarily decided to table the impending "intergalactic robot genocide" they were preparing to kick off.

How the season — and, perhaps, the show — was originally supposed to end, or whether whatever was originally planned would have been any better, I don't claim to know, but I really suspect it was supposed to be different. (To @procrastinatorproject's other point, I don't know that the critiques the earlier episodes made of Starfleet and the Federation necessarily had any resolution or direction in mind; if PICARD was really intended to bring down the curtain on the TNG era, a lot of it might well have been left unresolved with the expectation that subsequent projects were going to move on to later eras, like the "post-Burn" future of DISCOVERY, where what happened with the late 24th century Federation could either be shrugged off as no longer relevant or used to set up other plot developments, as seemed most useful.)

I actually liked S2 much better overall: The stuff with Picard's mother is extremely clunky and never lands emotionally, the attempt to suggest a Picard-Laris romance is just uncomfortable (poor Orla Brady!), and there are aspects of the plot that aren't very satisfying, but there's also a lot that's fun. It has some nice moments for Jeri Ryan ("I am NOT the worst driver here!"), the scenes with Seven and Raffi are great, Agnes' ill-fated hookup with the Borg Queen actually breaks some new ground with STAR TREK's dullest villains (which S3 then walked back), tying up Picard's friendship with Guinan was nice, and I didn't even mind the unexpected Wesley Crusher cameo. Its biggest problems are that it doesn't really fit: The tonal shifts from S1 are jarring; it doesn't bother to resolve any of the critiques or dangling story threads from the first season; and for all its attempts to tie in more STAR TREK lore, the obvious question, from viewers as well as probably CBS, remains, "Why is Picard still hanging around with these (mostly) new characters he barely knows rather than the other beloved TNG characters?"

So, S3 changes course again, finally doing the "getting the gang back together" nostalgia plot that the network and a lot of fans expected in the first place. That by itself might have been fine, but it has to go out of its way to reverse a lot of the major developments of the first two seasons (resurrecting Data to kill him off and then having to contrive a way to resurrect him again really beggars the word "clumsy"), and the plot rambles and wanders in the middle in incoherent ways that left me unsure if it's just badly written or there was ANOTHER word-from-on-high change in direction during production. The hilariously stupid Big Rock Finish isn't even much of a finale, since they obviously decided they didn't want to completely close the door on Picard and company after all.

There's evidence of this kind of thing in the other shows as well. LOWER DECKS, for instance, sets up several new characters at the end of S2, but then basically abandons all of its ongoing character threads for the entirety of the very weak S3, which is full of pointless guest appearances and cameos that don't amount to anything even on a sitcom level, before trying to pick up the abandoned story threads in S4. DISCOVERY, of course, then does its big and rather jarring era shift after setting up STRANGE NEW WORLDS as a spinoff. The idea of establishing a new era chronologically later than TNG makes sense, and would have been a natural step if PICARD had really been the finale of the TNG era, but going from "It's a TOS prequel!" to "It's set 900 years after TNG!" in midstream is weird, and I have to wonder if that's what they originally intended.

Obviously, one doesn't have to strain too hard to see why CBS has decided that it's safer to lean on nostalgia, but the disjointed progression of it makes me think that there were more creatively ambitious (not to say necessarily better) plans that have repeatedly changed, and how each of these shows has wrapped up seems to be materially different from how they began, in ways that are often very odd as well as unsatisfying.

[mystycalypso]

Okay so I'm prefacing this with I know this is 100% not gonna b canon, but I had an idea. So here's the thing yknow how ppl theorize whatever Nicky was talking to was possessing him atleast partially bc his eyes changed color? What if he was possessed... but not by the Entity or the Guest?

What if it's Mya who's possessing him? I think it might notve been intentional, but rather bc the supernatural tend to thin the veil between life and death and with two strange god like beings centering around the Peterson house where her body is buried... well it'd be easy for a child to get a new shot at life in a way.

Think about it: we havent seen her eyes yet have we? In the teaser she's in her eyes are the closed, but we know in the other iterations of the story her eyes were green and Nicky's were brown. But in this version it could be the opposite since his were green!

That could also be y he's able to act coherent in ep 5 while acting so strange in ep 6: it could be when the entity messes with Nicky or they see Mr. Peterson the two souls get scrambled by the stress of everything, leading to them having trouble making decisions.

Like I said this prob ain't what they were going for, but it's a fun idea nonetheless!

So uh- I was doing digging to see if there were any leaked character models of Mya for this and

Uh

...I found something weird af that I don't see anyone bringing up?

It started with this image that came up in the Google search for Mya Peterson WTRB, Me and Kaydin were laughing at the Hello Neighbor lofi art, and I wondered where it came from, since it's official art but I'd never seen a video including this on TinyBuild's channel. Reverse image search only brought up an article about hn2's release date from April 2022, so I started searching that time of upload on their channel, nothing.

So I just searched "Hello Neighbor Lofi" on YouTube. And thankfully, someone reuploaded this.

Ik this came out before episode 1 of wtrb, but seriously uh WTF IS GOING ON HERE?

The words "Nicky" "Trinity" and "Aaron and Mya" can be clearly heard and repeated by a distorted voice for the entire thing, along with weird laughter and groaning. Does this add to the possession theory? This voice seems to be repeating the terms as if practicing to use them. It's- weird. And in case it helps with any of the mysteries of this show I want to bring it to people's attention.

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

If I write a video essay on why S2 overall didn't work for me personally what bits should I add from fandom consensus (I'm posting this before I go to bed, I'm first breaking S2 down episode by episode, putting 'pins' in topics for after when I break down why I was disappointed, I'm already at Ep 3). I won't be discussing how Izzy's death impacted elder queers (I'm 21) or physically disabled people as it's not my place, but will be linking people's experiences. I also live in a rural Red state, I've been visibly closeted my whole life. I can't speak to finding a queer family the way Izzy did in S2.

I've already got:

Jenkins confirmed that this season was always going to be 8 episodes, so he bit off more than he could do and gave us a story as broad as an ocean with little depth.

Izzy's arc is centered on leaving Ed, only claiming to not want to be without Blackbeard, though neither character really WAS Blackbeard. Izzy suddenly becomes Ed's mentor.

How if you wanted Izzy to be tied to Ed and Blackbeard it could have been so easy to just portray Izzy as suicidal this entire season, and genuinely depressed, instead of having the time of his life.

The fact Izzy, Stede, and Ed rarely interact with the main crew. In the scenes, they are in they are framed as two separate groups. Making Ed feel like he was never brought back into the family, and Izzy as only having made friends with the heartbroken crew

Stede being shallow as fuck, ignoring Lucius' trauma, telling jim to 'hush' in ep 4 during the Ed apology scene (fuck him), telling Ed he shouldn't apologize in ep 8, the ONE TIME Ed apologizes to someone, looking at them and fully meaning it.

Ed stops trying to make peace with the crew after episode 5.

Lucius' line implying sexual assult, and Fang's line about what he did to Ed's unconscious body being the type of humor this show should have stayed away from.

Not confirming what the Olu/Jim/Archie/Zheng situation is IN CANON. Are they all together? Who knows??? I literally see it as Archie/Jim and Zheng/Olu where Jim and Olu are partnered? But the only confirmation of that is Olu called Jim Babe this season. Like????

Izzy's funeral being tearless, them making jokes atop a grave, and it is followed by a WEDDING. OH, and the ring being left there(I won't reference the leg, but will reference that some find it odd that THEY REMOVED HIS LEG, a part of his body, to use as a headstone)

IZZY'S DEATH NOT SERVICING ANY PLOT. It doesn't move the plot forward, it's thrown in for no reason.

Izzy's death set up. (IE. Two infamous pirates not checking a hostage. It's lazy and doesn't add to the plot)

The fact Izzy is fucking lying if he thought the crew loved Ed- like?.

The crew seriously thought Ed murdered Buttons, didn't they...

[bronx-bomber87]

Good Morning! Super excited for these next set of eps to review.

We’ve reached the iconic and pivotal DOD eps. I’m nervously excited to review these. I want to do them justice. They are momentous for not just Chenford but the entire series. Rosalind Dyer is one of my fav recurring baddies. I loved Annie from Castle as well. Was psyched she would be joining The Rookie. This was a rare one where I got to use all the gifs I wanted to. Yay. Kid in a Chenford candy store haha Thank you to all the wonderful gif makers out there. You are the real MVP's. Let’s get this started :)

2x10 The Dark Side

We start with Lucy and the guys out for a post work drink. Armstrong is there as well. They’re talking about Jackson dating a celebrity. Asking how that is? Lucy says they’re happy if he’s happy. Nick calls her bluff and says ‘Liar.’ LMAO Lucy cracks and says men suck ha They sure can. That the single men in LA suck. That whenever they find out she’s a cop they freak out. (To touch on not dating a cop bit. It is only a mistake when it’s not Tim. Let’s be real.) Especially while she's still a rookie just not a good idea (cough Nolan cough) He was never a good decision though....not even a little bit. I'll die on that hill haha

Armstrong joins the convo and comes in with some solid advice. ‘Those aren’t men they’re boys. Real men are not afraid of a strong woman.’ Your real man just isn’t ready yet my dear. Nor are you. I really love this scene though. I enjoyed Nick a lot as a character. Poor Lucy she goes on her 'Sister Officer Lucy Chen' rant ha Classic. Oh the irony of this convo. In S5 she definitely isn't in a nunnery anymore heh. That is quite awhile away from this point though. Have to note how pretty she looks in this scene. Her outfit is simple but she looks stunning.

Lucy leaves the table to get another round. That’s when Lucy runs into Caleb….really unfortunate that’s his name. That’s my BIL's name haha He seems normal enough with his flirting with Lucy. Both of them being ignored for another drink by the bartender. He's making her laugh and appearing nice and kind. Ugh run Lucy run…Their moment gets interrupted by Lucy noticing a guy stealing tips. She walks away from the convo and apologizes. End ups arresting the thief. The way she takes him down is bad ass I have to say. (Tim would be proud) Says 'Surprise I’m a cop’ haha

Roll call comes around and they find out about Rosalind Dyer. A rare unicorn in their world. A female serial killer. She’s agreed to show them the 3 bodies that were never found. In exchange she gets life with no parole instead of the death penalty. Everyone’s day is now centered around this. Tim and Lucy discuss her past murders. Lucy telling Tim she was in college when they found the first victims.

That it was all anyone could talk about, wondering how a woman could be so barbaric? Tim shares his own story about it. How he worked a scene for the 4th victim. That he was advised not to look at the body. How he wish he hadn’t… The hindsight of watching this scene unfold right before they run into Caleb. It’s bone chilling to think about. Their convo being framed around this before he shows up.

Caleb shows up and Tim is immediately suspicious and does not like this guy. His face has me rolling the entire time. Gives Caleb a hard time about the word 'Perp'. His facial expressions I can not LOL Now part of this reaction is his cop gut. I truly believe that. Not trusting whoever this guy is for Lucy. His default is suspicion. The fierce protector coming out to play in this scene.

I think the rest of his reaction is him just not liking this guy being interested in Lucy. Jealously thy name is Timothy Bradford. Its seeping out of him and he can't stop himself. He's completely forgotten he's dating one of her closest friends in this moment. Written all over his face how territorial he’s being right now. I always love me some protective/jealous Tim. This scene and honestly this entire episode is full of that.

Lucy’s face is screaming ‘chill out’ the entire interaction. She's basically scolding him with her eyes above. They have a mini silent conversation with their eyes before the scene continues. If that isn't the most married look they've had so far. I love it so much. He definitely looks reprimanded in that second gif above. Tim is as transparent as person can be in this scene. Not even trying to hide it a little bit. Caleb has shown up and Tim's guard and protective nature are out in full force. Doesn't like this guy just showing up and sniffing around at all.

Caleb is clearly nervous around Tim (as he should be..) It's too funny he keeps trying regardless to talk to Lucy. Tim deftly snags the paper out of the air. She didn't have a chance of grabbing it. Caleb has to sense how much Tim doesn't want him here. He could not be less welcoming of this man. Tim reads the paper and he asks if Caleb has a last name LOL He says Wright. The irony of that last name...

I doubt our boy even knows why he’s reacting this way to Caleb. Only that he is and very strongly at that. All his feelings when it comes to Lucy are muddled and confusing for him. Yet he acts on them anyway. From the moment this guy showed up the green eyed monster was present. Tim continues to grill him. He asks what he does for a living? Says if it’s a screenwriter he’s going in a cell. He really hates screenwriters haha A theme through out the show for him.

Eric’s facial expressions during this entire scene truly is perfection. Look at the way he looks at Caleb as he leaves. If looks could kill he would be a dead man. Also you can see the mask on Caleb drop when he turns away from them (shudder). The immense distrust written all over Tim's rigid body language. You'd have to be blind not to see it. Both of their faces above are a summary of the entire scene. Lucy is happy to have caught the eye of a 'decent' guy. Tim doesn't trust this guy as far as he can throw him.

Tim doesn’t even think he’s done anything wrong till he turns around and sees her face. Kudos to Melissa for the great reaction. He says 'What?' All innocent like he didn't just drag that guy through the mud. Treat him like a criminal they deal with on the daily. She is so affronted and honestly confused as hell with his reaction. Her face basically saying 'What the hell was that?'

From the moment Caleb shows up to the moment he leaves Tim is NOT pleased with his presence. Lucy is truly confused as to why he is acting this way. She can’t put together why he was trying to kill that entire interaction. We all know Lucy included (deep down) this was jealously thorough and through. But she chalks it up to him being stressed about how crazy everything is right now. Sure that’s it Lucy…She demands the paper back with just her face and outreached hand. Tim is shocked she wants the number of this doofus. He relents and unwillingly hands it back to her. Almost rolling his eyes as he does so.

They’re driving in a caravan to the first burial site. Lucy is looking at Calebs online profile in the car. Tim snaps at her to focus. That this is going to be most dangerous day she’s ever going to spend on the job. Oh the weight of that comment when you know these eps….They both have no idea how true that’s going to be. Might seem like he’s mad when really he’s protecting her by getting her to focus. It’s his way of doing it. I also think it's a little frustration bleeding over from the whole Caleb thing. Not that he's going to put that together right now. Hell doesn't even realize how territorial and jealous he just was.

We rejoin Tim and Lucy once they arrive at the first spot. They're talking about Rosalind during this 'Hike' to find the remaining bodies. Tim asks if she’s less scary in the light of day? Lucy tells him no…but mentions how smart she must be. To have gotten away with this for so long undetected. Lucy smartly mentions there’s a play here they’re not seeing.

Tim tells her it’s just to jerk them around. Oh my love it is far more than that. Lucy is so sharp to observe this hike has to be more than just her deal. She is proven right when they find a fresher body in one of the grave sites with the old one. It’s obvious she has a partner on the outside they just don’t know who…

Lucy is looking at Caleb’s “profile” again. Watching a video of him with a puppy. Jealous/Protective Tim makes his next appearance. Could not be more obvious if he tried. Not a fan of her being enamored by this guy. He makes a snide remark saying I bet that’s not even his puppy. It’s scary how spot on he was with Caleb the entire time. It’s mainly from jealously and being protective of her, but it’s frightening how dead on his cop gut was. He turned out to right about everything with him.

Lucy naturally gives him push back and says she just wants to enjoy a cute puppy. That it’s been an awful day. Can't she just do that? Jealous Tim won't agree with her. So he is a little shit and says 'This your first decomp right? ' Watching her face go from happy to grossed out LOL Oh Tim. He knows how bad this smell is going to be for her and is enjoying it haha The way she follows after him is too funny. Melissa is also amazing at expressing so much as well.

The eerie part of this scene is it’s them being the ones to discover the DOD tattoo… There are so many forewarnings in this episode for her. For them. Literally smacking us in the face with them. That could’ve been her if things had gone wrong... Ugh my heart. They find out the newer victim was suffocated…What an awful way to die. I’m asthmatic and it gives me a pre-asthma attack just thinking about it.

A light hearted part of this scene is once again the lack of personal space. Ah personal space. They don't know her and never will. We're all ok with this notion. Nolan ends up getting Rosalind to lead them to the second site. They find a new body in it with a DOD Tattoo. The freshest one yet. They realize it’s every three months. That 12/09/19 is the the next DOD. John notes it’s 12/08 they have a day to find the next victim.

Tim and Lucy join Armstrong at the jail to search Rosalind cell once again. Trying to find some connection. A way her and this person have been communicating. Nick asks where her books are and they say they sent them back. He asks for every book she's read in the last 6 months.

They’re searching all the books and of course Lucy is the one to crack the code. I love it. Finds something in the binding. Its a coded piece of paper. She figures out the cypher fairly quickly. You know Tim loves how damn smart she is. He’s impressed. She figures out a name from the code. My girl. Bryan Coleman. Funny that doesn’t sound like Caleb Wright….

Harper and Nolan end up saving the next girl. They find out he’s been using the old abandoned zoo as his staging ground. What kills me is them saving her condemns Lucy. They stopped him from scratching that sick itch. Grey tells them all to go home and rest. Lucy spins around and tells Tim she’s just going to go home and crash.

Tim tells her that’s a mistake and gives her the advice that will haunt him in the next episode. Hell for quite awhile if I’m being honest. He will carry this moment with him for a long time. Says after a hardcore assignment she needs to blow off some steam. Find a way to decompress. If she doesn’t she’ll never get any sleep.

Lucy is super cute asking if he's really telling her to go get a drink instead? He tells her yes. Preferably a strong one even with another human being. We all know who that human being is going to be….Side note I adore the fact that he always opens the door for her. Doesn't even realize he's doing that. Just does it out of habit. Her real man standing right in front of her but it is far too early for that hehe

Literally makes me sick to watch her scene with Caleb. My skin crawls knowing where it’s headed. He took advantage of Lucy with her guard down. Her cop eyes we're retired for the night. Just trying to decompress. We go back to the station where Grey tells John and Nick they found a body at the old zoo. Bryan Coleman. Which can only mean one thing as we go back to Lucy. That Caleb is the apprentice….

She goes from giggly and relaxed to sheer terror in a matter of moments. He drugged her and Lucy is slowly realizing the situation she is now in. He also snags her phone before she can use it. Sadly she is over powered easily due the drug he gave her. Then sticks her in the trunk of his car. The ep ends there.

It’s a crazy stressful two-parter. So damn good though. I remember when this first premiered how hard it was to wait for the next episode. I’m pre emotional just thinking about analyzing the next episode. Can’t wait to do it though.

~~~~

Side Notes-Non Chenford

Wopez good scenes not many but really good. Wes clearing not handling his post traumatic stress well. Mixing his prescription with alcohol. Angela coming home asking if he was trying to kill himself. He says I don’t know… Not a great answer bud.

The whole Rosalind SL. It’s so dark but so good. Getting a deeper look into Nick and seeing some chinks in his armor. What he sacrificed to catch her. It’s very good. I enjoyed his character a lot and getting more depth with him as well.

Thank you as always to those that like/comment/reblog these reviews. It’s means the world to me. I love doing these and they take time to assemble. But they’re so worth doing to enjoy this rewatch together. I’m also enjoying the hell out of analyzing these eps and our beloved couple. I’ll see you all in 2x11 :)

[the-gateway-to-madness]

Thoughts on Varian and Hiro

Frankly it's too bad these two are from different franchises on wildly different ends of the fiction spectrum, because I could (and am about to) go ON about them being character foils.

• Both start out childish, but mature into (very sassy, witty) strategic minds who draw other people to them.

• Both of them are obviously prodigies (additionally, both 14, dark hair, notable front teeth, small and slender, just to name a few other similarities heh-).

• Both have father figures they look up to, which they then lose.

• Both snap when they realize/decide someone they looked up to was responsible for their father figure's death.

This is the crucial point where their arcs diverge, right here-

Hiro gets the good ending because he has support.

Baymax is right there still. Treating him with kindness and concern. Reminding Hiro to center himself with footage of Tadashi. His friends go to him and comfort him and pull him back towards the light. He gets to go home to Aunt Cass.

But Varian... Varian is left utterly, completely alone. In the dark. Wounded, with no healthcare companion to nurture his pain into growth, into goodness. And with no light in sight and no way out, he twists and makes terrible decisions (or I guess I should just say, he goes ahead andbhas a villain arc).

That's not to place the blame on Rapunzel. She was left in charge of an entire kingdom during a massive crisis, and as heart-wrenching as Varian's pleas are, she couldn't go help him right then. And from context, it seems like they couldn't find him to help him afterwards, which means Varian was avoiding his potential support network (indicated by The Alchemist's Return, when when he wants to come back, he just shows up)/was being driven away by the Corona guard without Rapunzel's knowledge (indicated by the secret guard ops in- The Quest for Varian, right? Was that the ep-).

It's also not to say Varian is a bad character. I love the child and his arc, and I absolutely love that he realizes he done screwed up on his own, of his own conscience. Point here is comparing Varian's arc and Hiro's, and the difference in support at the point of no return that determined how each of them developed. It's not even all that complex. I just think it's neat.

[three--rings]

So it turns out there were a lot of things from S2 I was waiting to pass judgement on until I saw how they played out and...I ended up not thrilled about. And it's all these little things that keep bothering me.

Things I'm not happy with in OFMD S2:

-Jim and Olu feel retconned into not being in love. Like I know we want to talk about happy polycule but it feels like they aren't even very close this season? They were even more of a secondary ship than Lucius and Pete in S1 but we got essentially no good Jim/Olu stuff in S2. Instead we got the Olu/Zheng Yi Sao romance which on paper sounds good, but lacked chemistry. Especially from Olu's side. I feel like they kept repeating that "break in your day" thing cause they didn't have anything else. IDK weird weird decisions were made. I don't mind the Jim/Archie stuff at all but that was also not given any real romance time. They kissed and then I guess that was that?

-While on the subject of Zhang Yi Sao...why was she there? Like, don't get me wrong, I love her character and her inclusion in the show, but while the build-up in the first few episodes was great, then...they did basically nothing with her. Her entire plan was foiled by a moron in a split second and then..IDK she's now just riding on the Revenge and not even in charge? She's come way down in the world and I don't like it.

-Izzy dying. I don't mind the death scene itself, (though i wanted Izzy's friends on the crew more involved) but I think having him die shifts the genre and is disappointing in a way that feels unlike this show. more to be said obviously but not in this post.

-Speaking of that scene I grow more and more annoyed with Izzy saying "they love you, Ed." Not because it's not a great sentiment that would be narratively meaningful, but because it's NOT DEMONSTRABLY TRUE. Who loves Ed on that crew? Maybe Fang? There was absolutely no moments between Ed and crew after ep 3. They tolerate him for Stede's sake is all I can say. They love Stede. They love Izzy. And then Ed just leaves them and they are probably relieved.

-the way the central problem the whole season with Ed and Stede was communication but they never actually do anything about that, just declare victory.

-the way there was no climax or resolution with any antagonist in the last episode, they just barely escape, swear revenge like they're gonna head into battle, and then retire. Which makes ZERO sense and it bothers me SO MUCH.

-The lack of Stede and Ed costuming. IDK if it's because I've been writing a fic for a year centered around the clothing but like the show feels incomplete if they're not getting to dress up. I was looking forward to Ed wearing more than his leathers and we got a rice sack. This is entirely a personal gripe and not important but, yeah.

-Zero focus on the crew and no new info about any of them. I was really, really looking forward to getting more backstory, more personal info on characters like Roach, Frenchie, Wee John, but no.

And yanno, the thing is that I'm not unhappy with what S2 GAVE us. I like most of it. I love eps 1-6. Though 6 is showing the pacing issues badly. But what I miss is what we DIDN'T get. None of the stuff on screen was bad per se or couldn't have fit into a very excellent, cohesive season of TV. But I feel like all the connective tissue, all the thematic resolution, all the stuff that would have made it shine was missing.

Like they had a bunch of notecards of great scenes and filmed them but forgot to write the parts to connect them in a meaningful way? IDK this season feels a little like a first draft?

Not eps 1-3 though. I feel like they were perfect, and then they ran out of time/energy to polish the rest. (4-5 were also great, but they could have fit in with the rest better ultimately.)

I feel like people who are happy with this season are like 'we got this moment and this scene!' and that's great and cool and I also love that moment but I'm still left unsatisfied by the whole, yanno. Sigh.

[thanx-files]

Gethsemane Review and Season 4 Wrap-Up

Listen. Listen. These get longer every season, but I can’t help myself. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to put my thoughts into comprehensible language after Gethsemane. So please, indulge me, agree with me, start a fight with me in the replies, but whatever you do, just join me in being unwell about season 4 of The X-Files. Spoilers, of course.

Gethsemane

I, a child of the 21st century, am watching this show on a streaming platform. It has long since wrapped, and I know for damn sure that David Duchovny will return as Fox Mulder for many of the seasons to follow. Even so, I am choking on this ending. What the exact and entire fuck do you mean HE DIED?

I cannot imagine watching this, then waiting MONTHS to know what happened. I know those message boards were buzzing. Not only that, but the viewers would not have had the benefit of the Dean Winchester trope thanks to which every time a main character dies you think, “it’s fine honestly don’t even worry about it, they’ll be back in two weeks.” (Even if you’re wrong.)

UGH okay now that I’ve talked about that, it’s time to be a broken record: I love to see Mulder and Scully at odds. The scene as they’re leaving the Smithsonian is ART to me. They’re no longer fighting the same war; they’re on the same battlefield, arguing about who the fuck is shooting at them in the first place.

He doesn’t see that she needs him because of how desperately she doesn’t want to need him. She says she’s out of the game while sliding all her chips into the center of the table. They’re impossible. I’m obsessed with them.

Also we got more Catholic Scully in this ep, and we know I love that, too. I love that no one can touch whatever God is to her — not a priest and not Mulder either. I love that she is unthreatened by the truth, whatever it happens to be.

Also, the dialogue this ep goes hard in general, but Mulder hearing the phrase, “They invented you” is so fucked up. He’s a cog in the very machine he hopes to dismantle. Or is he? Or was he?

This ep had me, who jumped onboard with MSR the second Mulder turned on that slide projector in the pilot, wondering if I had been wrong the whole time. Then they pulled that ending. The last seven seconds of the ep had me so fucked up. Scully getting choked up — the FBI official she’s been explaining it all to trying to keep her from saying the thing out loud. It’s overwhelming.

This has all been a lot of summary and not a lot of reviewing, but what else is new? TL;DR: This ep fucks. Favorite season finale so far, followed by Anasazi.

Season 4

One of the strengths of season 4 is how connected it all feels. With a few notable exceptions, we start up on this rollercoaster hill of autonomy, mortality, power, and the self. I know those are major themes of the whole series, but when you look at them through the lens of the cancer arc, they look kinda different. Suddenly we have foreshadowing. We have the specter of death looking in on us for more than just an episode, a moment. We start to feel like maybe something bad could actually happen to Mulder and Scully —something permanent and paradigm-shifting.

The weakness, for me, of season 4 is that it has no sense of humor. No Clyde Bruckman. No Coprophages. No Jose Chung. The episodes are good, of course, but none of them are fun! I don’t need another sitcom ep, but I do need a breath, for the love of God.

5 favorite eps:

Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man: Yes! I am as surprised as you are, seeing as I made a comment last season about how little patience I have for the CSM and his musings, specifically. But I find I did actually want to know who this guy is. And the fact that he’s watching the Gunmen the whole time — that’s the power thing I was talking about before. He says it himself: He could kill them anytime. But not today.

Tunguska & Terma: The first time a 2-part mytharc sequence has made it to my favorites list! I fucking love it when Alex Krycek shows his face around Mulder and Scully because he WILL stab them in the back and it WILL be dramatic as fuck. (I wrote down the phrase “just kiss already” something like 7 times in my notes during these eps, basically any time Mulder and Krycek were on screen.)

Demons: I know we all love to see a pathetic shell of a man abandoning all reason. We also love to see Scully as the deranged, protective one, stopping at nothing to save her partner. Even if said partner made some truly terrible decisions.

Gethsemane: See above.

5 least favorite eps:

The Field Where I Died: Not only was this slow and boring, but by the end, I was ready to crawl into the TV and slap Fox Mulder my own self. This case could’ve been solved and no one had to die. But he wasted their time. (Please feel free to correct me in the replies; I would actually love to be wrong.) Also, the southern accent for the big field monologue made my Carolina girl heart wither.

El Mundo Gira: That’s not even remotely what a chupacabra is. I feel like this was supposed to be our Jose Chung this season. It let me down.

Tempus Fugit & Max: Back to our regularly scheduled programming where I get lost in these two-parters because who is that? Where are they going? Who is chasing them? What? Huh?

Zero Sum: I am confused and I miss Scully. Skinner and Mulder will just do circles around each other and growl at people without her. I know this is a glimpse of the stakes of the cancer arc, but it’s not very good TV, is it?

[jdorian]

yes to all of that but also I'm still hoping we might get some kind of flashback or realization from the bachelor shenanigans, even if it's much later. and not just, as tim said, those scenes as some kind of fan service for us buddie fans. because yes, thank you, I missed buddie but not as a consolation prize like 'here, now be quiet' lol (I did want to hear them sing but at what cost! now he hates us again!)

lmao Tim hates the whiny little bitches who went and straight up *demanded* to have the scene released when 1) you can want something and be respectful about it and if you're gonna go to the actors and creators that should be the bare minimum tbh, Tim got like death threats and got called names and got accused of queer baiting, all for... *checks notes* not showing us two fictional characters singing karaoke? sheesh.

and 2) as Tim said, it would've cost thousands of dollars to get the licensing for the song and it just didn't further the story and now he sure as hell won't pay that money just to please the people who were practically online bullying him and frankly, I'm with him on that.

fuck everyone who behaves like that.

having a light hearted, loose lipped drunken night with buddie as fan service is just a different form of what the show's been doing back in the day before — as he just confirmed — Tim pulled away from it out of worry of being accused of queer baiting (which... looking at the situation at hand; fair.)

I don't see what it would be a consolation prize for though? for the rushed episode? they didn't know it'll be like that when they started filming and frankly, getting that 2-3 minutes of them being carefree and silly is a very good ratio in an episode that centers two other characters imo

for all the times we didn't get to see them interact or even touch in the last couple of seasons? for that it kinda seems like a nice gesture, actually.

again, all this is just my personal opinion, but I have no qualms with how the episode went down aside from a very minor desire to see more of the cut scenes, but frankly? they cut stuff from every ep; they cut an entire rescue call from 7x04 just this season alone... and we were never really bent out of shape over it, so yk it is what it is.

[pixiedane]

Star Trek Picard and Trauma

I want to preface this by saying I am thoroughly enjoying S3. I've noticed a marked improvement in storycraft and pacing, the characters and relationships are lived in but not stagnant, and thus far the treatment of trauma has been respectful and moving. However, I've noticed some trends wrt whose traumas are centered and how they are presented.

Content warning for: childhood and generational trauma, loss, death, and spoilers for Star Trek: Picard through episode four.

Picard: This series is and always has been about Picard's trauma. He is also the only one who was allowed to have a traumatic arc in TNG and the films so the writers have a long history to work with. The story should and does center his trauma and the wild thing is he actually is better at interpersonal communication post S2! In S3 Eps 3 and 4 he uses actual words to describe his emotions and his needs to Beverly and to Jack. He diffuses the Shaw situation with a little smile that tells Shaw he understands and a request to work together. He allows himself to be vulnerable in small moments. It's growth.

Picard's main trauma response is fight. He's known as a diplomat but in times of danger or fear he fights. He spent all of Ep3 seeking a fight. Heroes fight so it's the easiest trauma response to write for/most common to see in a positive light.

Riker: Will's trauma was revealed in S1 but it was a plot point and character beat, we didn't see him dealing with it. Now we see the profound impact losing his son had on him, we see why he gave up his command, and why his family is fractured. Riker's trauma is painful to witness and Frakes is incredible in the role.

Riker's trauma response, now, is freeze. He's lost too much already to risk losing more. He's stuck in the trauma. That's why he prioritizes keeping the ship intact. That's why he can't record a goodbye message to Deanna. It's the opposite response to Picard's, which sets up a great conflict and then coming together.

Beverly: Like Dahj and Yvette before her, Beverly's trauma guides the narrative. Unlike Dahj and Yvette, Beverly has a point of view and is an active participant in the story. It's a huge step up from S1&2, and from TNG, and should be celebrated. That said, Beverly's trauma, and Beverly's story, is entirely related to men. Mainly to Jean-Luc, but also to Jack I, Wesley, and Jack II. "I lost my parents" including her mother as well as her father is the only nod to a woman. Beverly was raised by a single (grand)mom and became a single mom twice and none of that ends up in the story. Beverly's motherhood is all about Jean-Luc's fatherhood and that is a missed opportunity.

Beverly's main trauma response is flight. She literally fled the legacy of Picard. And that's been true all along, she's run away from relationships and emotional entanglements and regulations she doesn't agree with. But backed into a corner she fights. Sometimes with a phaser rifle, sometimes with a surgical implement, sometimes with her brain.

Shaw: I clocked Shaw's abrasive personality as a trauma response from the beginning and I guessed it was Borg related (to be clear that indicates good storytelling). He's now begun his atonement arc and has already won over the characters and audience.

Shaw's trauma response is "asshole" aka fight. He's a specific type of character that Hollywood loves to write.

Seven: I have so much to say about Seven. Seven's entire arc, since Voyager, is based in trauma. In Picard S1, Seven exhibited a fight trauma response. She was in a bad place emotionally and she responded by shooting, shouting, and drinking. She was alone, which is especially terrible for someone who grew up in the collective. But by the end she'd integrated into Picard's band of misfits. Then in S2, Seven exhibited a fawn trauma response. She was afforded respect and affection that she'd been starved for her whole life and she'd do whatever it took to keep it, even give up her own identity. And that, too, is related to her childhood, in which she wasn't allowed to have her own identity. Now in S3, she's exhibiting both fight and fawn. She's playing a part, a part she hates!, by putting up with Shaw's abuse because she doesn't want to lose her new Starfleet position and community (collective). But she's also fighting it, and she's spent every single episode so far stomping around the halls in a tear going after various bad guys. S3 Seven is closest to Voyager Seven because she was absolutely walking the line between fight and fawn throughout Voyager. It made her super complex then and it makes her super complex now. But Picard Seven is a Strong Female Character™ and I miss the vulnerability of Voyager Seven. Jeri Ryan is absolutely playing it, but I don't see it in the writing, the way it is for Picard, Riker, Shaw.

Worf: Worf is "working on himself" and I love that for him! It's not clear what prompted his zen makeover or what the end goal is. It is, perhaps paradoxically, still a fight trauma response. He's in the zone. I love his interactions with Raffi, but I also have concerns. I think she needs validation more than tough love and tea.

Raffi: Raffi wears her trauma like a cozy sweater and she is constantly and openly punished for it. Every single person she talks to in the first three episodes berates her for choices: the Orion drug dealer, her anonymous handler, her horrible ex Jae, her son by proxy, Sneed the Ferengi gangster, and no longer anonymous Worf. Raffi explicitly asks for support and the answer is always no! Finally, in Ep 3, Worf accepts her as his partner in crime, but he is so condescending about it! I love that he calls her by her full name but it does come across as judgement: no one will take you seriously if you are angry and sarcastic and go by a cute nickname. Raffi deserves so much better than this show ever gives her.

Like Shaw, Raffi's trauma response is to make her trauma everybody else's problem. Unlike Shaw, she gets absolutely no respect from the writers or the audience for it.

Deanna: We haven't seen Deanna's trauma onscreen in S3 (unlike Will, we did see some of it in S1) but we've heard about it. Unfortunately, it was described as literally mirroring Will's emotions which, YIKES.

Jack: My precious boy is truly his parents' son. Beverly's and Jean-Luc's childhood traumas created the circumstances of Jack's childhood trauma. Like Beverly he was raised by an older single mom to doctor the needy and marginalized. Like Jean-Luc, he was raised by a loving, frightened mother and an absent, distant father. Jack grew up to be precocious, independent, brave, and compassionate — and yearning for but equally afraid of commitment and connection. Beverly and Jack read codependent to me, but the ease with which they are integrating Jean-Luc back into their life (which, again, I see as due to his growth since S2 even if that's an accident) is promising. I'm excited for their circle to widen even more when they meet up with Deanna, Worf, Geordi. It won't be easy, Beverly's flight burned bridges, but I'm excited. I also demand more of the Jack and Seven dynamic. I half hope he tells her about his visions before he does his parents (tell someone Jack, I beg you). Seven is outside the TNG family, but connected to it through Picard, and that's what Jack needs. She will protect his identity separate from his status as Jean-Luc's and Beverly's son. And Seven totally needs a little brother so it's win win.

Conclusions so far: Obviously, we're only 4 episodes in, but they've laid the groundwork. I think it's safe to say the writers find it easier to write men's trauma with respect than they do women's. Again, Beverly's treatment is a gigantic improvement from Yvette's. But it's still centered on men (and the frank discussion of the personal trauma that led to her decisions was notably written by two women). And Raffi's treatment hasn't improved yet (I do have hopes! please don't dash them!). I'm most worried about Deanna. I hope she turns back into a person when we see her irl instead of on a screen.