#but. i JUST rewatched the first seasons. and its definitely a kids show but its GOOD

[lunarflux]

I'm rewatching HOTD with a friend who's never seen it, and we just finished episode 8. When I watched the show the first time, I binged the entire first season in one night while I was doing work, so there was a lot that I didn't really pay attention to.

At the final dinner scene with the Greens and the Blacks, I didn't see the look on Aemond's face during the toasts. The sheer look of disappointment at mild anticipation from waiting for either Jace or Luke to bring up the eye incident was so obvious, and Aemond looked genuinely disappointed. There's more than one layer to this - Aemond claimed Vhagar, not knowing Rhaena was to try to claim her next. There's room for at least acknowledgment that he took something from Rhaena.

In the same breath, Jace saying he had fond memories of their childhood without acknowledging that it wasn't fond for all of them definitely hurt Aemond. There's little blame there because even Alicent tells Aegon that "his cousins can't be his play things forever" which would insinuate that Jace and Luke followed after Aegon's lead as the oldest just as Aemond followed suit when Aegon brought him to the Street of Silk.

I think this would be a matter of who wants to step up first as each of the children had some kind of reason to feel angry, and at a young age, it requires a lot of humility (which is not easily learned) to take ownership of your part in an incident that had so many layers to it. There was more than one incident where we see young Aemond want to talk to one of them about their treatment of him, for example, at Laena's funeral.

Had Aegon, Luke, and Jace not teased Aemond, Aemond would have not felt such a burning urge to claim a dragon as soon as one was available. That directly led to him claiming Vhagar, then into him losing his eye. Had Alicent done more to keep all of the children from treating Aemond differently, the behavior might have changed sooner. At the same time, Rhaenyra wasn't aware of how the kids treated Aemond, and if she had known, she should have also said something. However, the rift between her and Alicent prevented them from talking about their children in a way that would benefit all of them.

Aemond's eye is gone, full stop. If Jace's toast was different or if Luke said something about that night, that final meal would have ended basically everything. We know after season 2, episode 2, Rhaenyra cares for Helaena as they are both mothers, but in theory, if Rhaenyra would have seen how Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond were more or less emotionally neglected, Rhaenyra would have been the best person to step in and create a bond with them. Aegon would have learned about how to be a king and would have been close to his half-sister, possibly negating the notion that he would be cast away from the kingdom once she ascended. Helaena would have felt more compassion about her affinity for the odd, and Aemond would have had a sibling beyond circumstances.

Alicent had too much forced on her to be able to be a mother in it's highest capacity. There's blame, but there's reason. Otto clearly has the most influence on her, and had Otto used it to its full potential, he could have easily given her reason to treat her children as the "just in case rulers" and foster them into good leaders with Vicerys as "what not to do" examples. However, Otto, while he does care about his daughter, had such a broad goal that he didn't take into account what the kids should have learned from Vicerys in terms of what he did right as king.

This whole show is a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" situation. Just like Rhaenys says in episode 3, did Luke's death really start the conflict or was it when Luke took Aemond's eye?

[pagesofkenna]

moment of silence for whatever the hell happened to Dragon Prince

[englishstrawbie]

Station 19 7x10

I snuck in a rewatch during my (slightly longer than it should be) lunch break. It was an excellent finale, IMO. I really wanted to enjoy whatever they gave us and go out on a high. And they delivered for me.

Once again, this is going to get long…

Maya being stuck in the fire and imagining everything that’s waiting for her set up the theme of the episode. It felt fitting that she thought about Carina and the family they’re trying to build, it’s where her storyline has been leading all season and, once again, shows how much she has changed and grown since the Maya we first got to know.

I’m very grateful that the incident didn’t put her off being a firefighter. I was trying to make peace with the idea of her moving on, but I’m much happier with this outcome, knowing she will continue to grow and thrive both personally and professionally.

Do I wish that we’d seen more of Carina’s reaction? Of course. But we got to see Carina fighting the wildfires too and I’m so glad they included her in that way. Although they definitely missed a trick not having Maya see her in the forest, rather than at the hospital – I expected to see Carina just after Andy was taken away in the Aid Car. That would have been a really emotional moment.

“Suit up”… the scene of Carina getting dressed in the yellow suit was a highlight of the episode for me, especially with the superhero-esque music in the background. ��� (Gif-makers, I can’t wait for you to do your thing!)

Carina telling Maya that she’s pregnant, all their happiness, the kiss, the throwback to the proposal – even their annoying hand placements were back! I loved that moment, it was perfect for them. 🥰

I loved all the firefighting, watching them working together and struggling but eventually getting their part of the fire contained. This show is at its best for me when it’s about the team and fire, the scary moments and the way they always come together and win.  

Powell dying in the fire tornado, watching her little body get pulled in… I’m sorry, but it made me laugh. 😂

It took a while to get used to the flash forwards, but I like that they showed us what each character wanted in their future, without making it canon, because it leaves the possibilities open.

Carina and her three kids – and Peggy and Dayna still being around! (Running her own clinic, just like she also dreamed, I’m sure.) Travis living his best life with Vic and Dominic. Sully and Ross getting married. Vic taking Crisis One national. Argh, seeing Dean again made me emotional. 🥺 Sully doing more for vets. Ben watching his kids grow up. Pru becoming a firefighter too. Even Beckett (and you know how I feel about Beckett) envisioning his future with Ross’s sister, that made me lol but it was sweet.

I didn’t see Andy and Jack coming. I saw a few jokes about it earlier this week, but I didn’t take them seriously. I don’t think it was necessary. I can only think that they meant it to be a full circle moment – but, for me, the full circle moment was Maya as captain of 19 and Andy as Chief, because that’s what they used to talk about. And I absolutely loved that, especially with Pru being there too. ❤️

The wigs though. 😂 I took me a minute, but Andy’s hair reminded me of a girl I used to go to school with.

ETA: oh, I forgot! Captain DeLuca-Bishop finally! 😍

Ben going back to being a surgeon… yeah, we all saw that coming. 🙄

Vic and Travis, true soulmates, getting their happy ending. I love that for them.

This show has been such a big part of my life since Marina came along four years ago and I’m going to miss it. It’s given me so much – friends and community and a return of my love of writing. I’m grateful for all of it (except 5B 😜).  ❤️❤️

[unlikelyjapan]

s2e3 rewatch notes

One more before the weekend...

"When I was a kid anything that would give me some type of excitement, or amusement or enjoyment would get fucked ... Sometimes they'd try too hard, or they'd make promises they weren't able to keep" - everything in Carmy's AA statement can be related to cooking, the restaurant, drawing, Claire - pretty much the sum of Carmy's parts now.

Second Carmy/Syd kitchen scene:

Carmy is always the first to ask about anyone's parents (but only to Syd) - just like he inquires about Syd's Dad, his first concern is to ask about Marcus' mom while they debate sending him to Copenhagen. Family and people, in general, are always at the forefront of his mind, while progression is always at the forefront of Syd's (even if she does genuinely cares and checks in, it's secondary)

Carmy's "I want to make a suggestion" to go out was so loaded - it was obviously a premeditated move that he wanted to do the food tour with Syd. "I think WE need to go out, and we need to try some stuff"

After he tells her he'll see her in an hour, Goodbye Girl by Squeeze starts playing, and the track ends as Tina realizes that Ebra isn't ever going to be by her side in class *dies twice*

Richie dropping off his daughter: I have a precocious 6-year-old daughter as well and.....they tried to squeeze way too many lines into Eva to advance Richie's storyline when it should have come via Tiff or something - I hate being a negative nelly, but this part is so botched/lifetime drama-y.

(His obvious tenderness is sweet though)

10:44am call with Claire: this is only 2ish hours after his AA talk - I guess the subject matter was resonating with him?

Her forcing the convo on how ingratiated she is with his family makes me throw up my hands and say "no wonder the guy had a fucking panic attack later!". I was just highlighting how in AA how his family tries too hard sometimes - this is a prime example with her "I know all the fuckin' Faks" jousting.

And my god, she knew he was about to tell her that he was busy today, and she claps back "can you not make this weird?" - it literally harkens back to his family's bullying and expectations that Carmy will pacify them. (I know she can't know all this, but damn)

This part of the conversation gets its own bullet point:

"You know, he [Fak] told me that you guys are really close and that he's your best friend" - I didn't realize the first go around how bold the attempt at enmeshment was. With Fishes as context, the toxicity levels in this conversation are off the rails.

Also, her demented smile when she says "really?" when he says "no...no, Fak's not my best friend" - aggghhhh!

"No, no. He is. He's probably my best friend"

What the hell is this? "That's interesting, to sit with, for you" with the continued weird little smile -this isn't flirting, this is her relishing in the fact that she can manipulate him.

Why didn't I clue into how caustically fucked this scene was the first time? I think I was so distracted by the whispy dialogue and cadence of the conversation that I actually blacked out of the dialogue. Thank goodness for subtitles, because this script is mildly psychotic to read.

I know Storer said that one of the themes of this season is "winning is losing" - Claire is definitely playing to win at all costs. Is s2e10 showing that she lost? Or am I sitting through this dialogue again next season? I NEED TO KNOW.

Anyways, Secret Teadrops by Martin Rev (google the lyrics) plays as sydney enters Kasama - God, the music suggests she was thrilled to be spending a day out of the usual context with Carmy, and her checking her phone constantly is killing me.

Twenty Five Miles by Edwin Starr starts playing at the start of the food montage, just as Sydney gets the text from Carmy that she'll be doing it alone.

"I've been walking for three days and two lonely nights, and you know that I'm mighty mad"

After the owner of Avec tells her that she needs a great partner above all else, the lyrics blare again with "although my feet are tired, I can't lose my stride" - she can't abandon faith in Carmy just yet.

After the Pelican meats scene where the butcher (I forget his name, sorry!) tells Syd that he and his wife lost their restaurant in Bucktown after a business partner cut and ran, the song again blares with "I'm SO tired, but I just can't lose my stride"

Syd starts to adjust her language to "I'm not exactly solo" in the next restaurant scene- ugh - painful.

Enter conversations about profit sharing. Naiya assumes that she and Carmy are INVOLVED involved, and when she finds out they're just "gentleman's agreement" partners, she basically tells her to watch her back. Syd registers the statement, but looks so dejected, like she knows she's on a fool's errand now.

The lyrics flare one last time simply with "I've got to walk on"

Cue Carmy's phone going to voicemail as she has the jitters on the loading dock. She looks so sad, but also resigned to her fate at this point.

Sydney calls Marcus right after trying to call Carmy looking for any kind of sign or reinforcement. We're at the triangle again, with Marcus interpreting it one way, and Syd....really not reading anything into it at all.

I feel like Fak making fun of Marcus for "looking forward' with that big, dumb smile on his face means he knows Marcus' affection for Sydney.... and I'm starting to realize all the plots I don't like are the result of Fak's intuition and/or meddling.

Syd awkwardly trying to poach BOH workers is adorably baller and shows how aggressive she is just now realizing she needs to become- and she's so terrible at it, and I love her.

Future Perfect by Duretti Column (what an awesome deep cut) playing - I love that this part of the montage is Syd diving deep into herself and her more analytically-bent creative process and fuck everyone else. It's just her carrying the creative load of the restaurant right now, but she's truly free.

Lyrics repeat "You tell me stories, you speak in pictures"

She's being absolutely present ("Don't live in the future") and letting the food and the city that birthed it speak to her honestly and it's just so beautiful. The old family pictures surface in her memory alongside the plates she's crafting - her own contribution to the chaos menu, her past and present combined, her future (The Bear) undetermined.

Back to The Bear with "Make You Happy" by Tommy McGee playing in the background - I feel like enough ink has been spilled on this scene, but honestly read the lyrics here - ack.

One small observation after Carmy says "I'll let you know" - in the background, Marcus looks completely defeated, Fak's suppressing a laugh or something, and we get Richie's "ooooooohhhhhhh!"while Carm gives him dagger eyes. Y'all....these are not great men.

Syd rightfully realizes she needs to get the fuck away from everyone in that instant if she's going to do anything productive with the inspiration she's culled from her day of exploration and calls in the favor from the kitchen. I love that it almost immediately cuts to her there with her emotional support spoon 🥺

The ravioli failure - i.e. the fantasy vision of the food she had on the plate during her journey day not matching the reality of what she can craft on her own = the fantasy vision of the restaurant/life she could craft with Carmy not matching the reality of what she can is forced to craft on her own.

Oof, taking a break for a few days now....

[hecckyeah]

Hey! So, I know you probably haven't watched it yet, BUT: when you do, I must know your comprehensive thoughts on the latest Rookie episode!?!

ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE!!!

Okay, because I'm insane, I'm going to split this into two sections: not-chenford, and chenford.

SPOILERS FOR 6x02 UNDER THE CUT

First up, everything NOT-chenford-related:

Honestly they could have botched it, but it was SO FUN having Randy back for the wedding. "Sit down, German, I got this." i mean???? iconic. Also having him be literally in Pete's place and WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND? even more iconic. I'm a ride or die Randy fan, so all his scenes just made me unreasonably happy :)

it was understandably short, but I loved having Celina ride with Nyla, finally. It was kind of satisfying to see her get humbled in interrogation, because imo Nolan has been kind of lax with her training, letting her get away with things the other rookies would have been fired for. So it's nice that she'll spend some time away from him and with a *ahem* more experienced TO. hopefully. We'll see.

Ugh, my heart breaks for Aaron this season. Kid's traumatized for REAL. And his comment to Celina about not sharing things with the therapist because he wants to get back on patrol, not necessarily get better. That bothered me. I really hope they dig into that a lot. But I also hope nothing horrible happens because of it. He seemed so unstable, even when he wasn't drunk. I'm also very interested to see where this goes with his and Celina's friendship. Just a lot of good stuff that could be a really thoughtful and interesting story if handled right...

Aaaaand this episode confirms that I intensely dislike Bailey. Everything about her character is just trying too hard, like the writers were so tired of having Nolan date and break up a few times, they were like okay fine this one can stay, and even though they have chemistry readings in the negatives, they keep trying to push it even though it feels so wrong. I'd rather have Nolan be single the rest of the show than be in this stale cardboard relationship. But it's fine, they're not going to split them up now, so I'll have to deal with it lol

The whole thing with Oscar suing was SO rushed. Like, so insanely rushed I couldn't even be annoyed at him. I hope they bring him back and do it for real, because that was weird to kind of shoehorn in there just for dramatic effect.

EPIC COP TEAMUP IN SUITS AND TIES MY BELOVEDDDD. Seriously they all looked SO GOOD chasing down bad guys and beating people up. White dress shirts were truly the MVPs of this episode

Will Celina just. be wearing long sleeves the rest of her life? Seriously how long has she been a rookie already?? Most of Angela's pregnancy and maternity leave, so at least 10 months, if not more. Hell, she should be graduating from the program soon. The timeline in this show is absolute trash.

Speaking of-- Baby Wopez name drop when????? poor girl's been nameless for too long

James coming in clutch with the playlist was chef's kiss. I LOVE that man

ALSO JAMES AND WESLEY'S BROMANCE. "I went with a suit." "Me too. Mine has a tie." "Oh my god, same!" I CAN'T WITH THESE TWO. Probably my favorite bromance of anyone ever.

Finally, just in general-- I know some people were put off by how much stuff was jam-packed into 42 minutes (again. how???) but I think they pulled it off reasonably well. There was actually very good pacing, lots of comedy and angst and everything in between. I personally LOVED this episode and I think it deserves a few rewatches just to pick up on everything they threw at us. It has its flaws, but it will definitely be a 100th episode to remember, that's for sure.

AND NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE MOMENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.

Chenford thoughts :))))))

But first let me just get this out of the way real quick-- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHLSKDJFOAHGOIJWE;LKTH;SKLJD;LFKHAGLJKSDFA;HLGKJLSKJDKFJDKJFKDJFKJDKFJDKFJKD OH MY GOSHHHHHHHHHHHA;LKGHSJNBMNMCC HELP KJAEHKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG IM HYPERVENTILATING AHGHGHAHSHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

okay, anyway.

Here we go!

I'm just a little bit torn on how they decided to approach this. On the one hand, it was nice that they were still able to work together and talk without excessive drama. Although... Tim shutting the door on her did hurt. Yeah. That hurt a lot. But I had really hoped that they would acknowledge that Lucy was in the wrong last episode too. She was being completely unreasonable and like Tim said, she was projecting. But in this ep, it seemed like she was validated and he was the one being unreasonable. While his trauma with Isabel is something they desperately need to talk about (like Lucy said), she was also reacting too harshly to it and being unfair with her accusations. But honestly, it's okay. We still have 8 episodes to sort it out and it seems like they're very much on the right track. I'm hoping they have a really really really intense, tearful, honest, raw, cathartic conversation about the whole thing. Seems like that's the direction they're going, so I won't hold my breath but it is something that needs to happen.

ALL OF THEIR INTERACTIONS were just so. hnnggg. so chewy. so much going on. THE LOOKS DURING THE WEDDING. hang on I'll come back to that in a sec.

The scene with the Hammer was NEXT LEVEL. (Also fun that they named the episode after That Scene, specifically. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........) For some reason I immensely enjoyed watching Tim get thrown around like a rag doll. Not sure what that's about. Never seen that side of myself before.

THE FORESHADOWING. That on-one-knee thing was more than I thought they'd give us, and OMG I ATE IT UP. The little pause, where Lucy's breath kind of catches, and Tim just seems kind of oblivious. THAT'S CINEMA, BABEY.

Kind of insane about Tim just passing out like that. Poor man.

CELINA MENTIONING LUCY'S BACHELORETTE PARTY????? hello even more foreshadowing :))))

The scene cuts back and forth when Lucy is helping with the cake and Tim with the flowers??? THEY'RE TELEPATHIC SOULMATES DON'T TALK TO ME.

And the fact that the lie detector was RANDY'S IDEA? I'm shrieking. "Ein wenig crazy," is definitely something my adhd bilingual ass has said irl

oh my lord how CLOSE she scoots her chair?? i'm melting

I thought it was kind of a nice touch to have Tim be actually surprised by the lie detector picking up his answer to the last question being a lie. Because honestly.... now it makes a little more sense: he's been lying to himself. Which is kind of an angle I didn't see coming. "I guess we do have a problem," sounds to me like he literally hasn't been able to admit to himself that he doesn't want Lucy undercover. Of course he wants her to make detective, that's not a question. Detective doesn't equal undercover. But he's been telling himself probably since day one that he's fine with it, that she's not Isabel, that he has nothing to worry about . . . and now he's finally seeing that he really is terrified. Something she's seen in him all along. And while their argument last episode was about more than just this (I still believe she was in the wrong for projecting so hard and making crazy assumptions about him), I think I can see where the writers were going with it.

THE I LOVE YOUS D E S T R O Y E D ME

Okay, back to the Looks at the wedding. Tim being all 🧍and scanning the crowd for his girl . . . Lucy delivering the Heart Eyes of the century . . . Them still sitting together because even though they're fighting, they're still each other's person, and nothing can change that . . . I'm going into cardiac arrest.

In my book, "We're gonna get through this" is a nice breath of fresh air and a bit of relief, but it doesn't mean they've worked everything out. Again, they need a good solid conversation. One that this episode was never going to give us, sadly. But it'll come!

ALSOOOO that moment when Aaron interrupts them and we see Tim's hand around her waist, I just OOF i need a moment

I AM NEVER GONNA BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS EPISODE. the foreshadowing, the parallels, the pining, the dancing, the fighting, the emotions, EVERYTHING. It was not perfect but it was WONDERFUL. 10000/10, I need to watch all their scenes about five million more times.

AND THERE WE HAVE IT. I'll definitely be posting more thoughts soon, but that's where I'm at for now. Basically I think they set the groundwork for a really solid, healthy relationship going forward. I LOVED their moments in this ep, absolutely top tier. The ANGST. I am eating up every second of it.

2 episodes down, 8 to go!!!

[on-a-sunbeam]

Revenge and Dollhouse for the ask game?

YES HI!!! Uhm I’ll do Dollhouse first!

My rating (1-10): I’d give it a 6, maybe. Which is to say that I enjoyed it A LOT but also I have just like. A Few Critiques. Just one or two.

My favourite character: ADELLE!! There is no contest here at all I loveee her

My least favourite character: Okay, this used to be super easy because I really hated Topher at first, but I have grown to tolerate him so. I mean I hate like almost all the clients and also Sierra’s handler, but you’re supposed to hate them so it’s not really specific to me, I guess. I’ll say Nolan though, for obvious reasons.

The character I think I'd be friends with: I think Ivy because I have friends that Ivy reminds me of heh

The character I think I won't hit off with: Maybe Ballard? He seems very serious I don’t know

My favourite episode/scene: EVERY SCENE WITH ADELLE. I’m kidding but only slightly. Uhh I really liked A Spy in the House of Love, though, and I think Echoes is pretty funny. Belonging has um. A LOT going on in it, but I will say I really liked Adelle in that one, too.

Whose clothing style I like best: Unfortunately, I’m legally obligated to say Topher because I dress exactly like him. It was slightly detrimental to my whole initial hating-him campaign that every time I saw him I went ‘ah I would wear that’

Times I watched it (and if I would again): Once! And I definitely would again; despite its flaws I do really like it and it’s not super long either. Plus Adelle.

Aaand Revenge!!

My rating (1-10): 8.5! I love it a lot

My favourite character: UHHH HARD tie between Emily and Victoria. I do also really like Amanda so I don’t know.

My least favourite character: It’s been a hot second since I’ve watched this, so no one’s really jumping out to me. I will say though that I somehow forget that Jack exists half the time. I really don’t know how I manage that when he’s kind of a Main Guy, but it’s still a little surprise every time he shows up. This doesn’t even happen to Declan, just to him.

The character I think I'd be friends with: I’m not saying Ashley is normal, per se, but I am saying she’s MOSTLY normal. I feel like we could hang out and chat while I was blissfully unaware of any scheming.

The character I think I won't hit off with: I have a weird soft spot in my heart for Tyler but we most certainly would not be friends

My favourite episode/scene: SHOOT. Okay, I liked the party where it all came full circle to the beginning, and I feel like there were some really good twists, but I really like the scene where Amanda dies (which is stupid because I love Amanda but). Also I know this is SUCH a small thing, but for some reason that group shot of the Grayson’s after Victoria kills Helen means everything to me. It’s so silly, but I love it so much.

Whose clothing style I like best: Nolan, maybe? I don’t know, I feel like he had some iconic looks.

Times I watched it (and if I would again): I have a confession to make guys, I actually have not finished it yet 😔. I’m actually still in the middle of season 3 because I’m slow at watching things sometimes. But I have really liked it so far, so odds are pretty good it would be something that I will rewatch!!

Sorry, I just thought of an answer to the least favourite character thing. I HATE AIDEN. I HAVE NO RHYME OR REASON I JUST DISLIKE HIM.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the ask though!!!

[parachutingkitten]

Not an ask per se, just a similar feeling. You’re someone whose Ninjago stuff, here and on YT, I’ve really enjoyed for at least a few years. And I’ve been similarly obsessed with the show for some time. But… it’s as you say — DR is objectively fine, objectively nice, but I don’t feel the same obsession about it and its characters, plot, etc that I used to feel all the time with Ninjago. And I *cannot* figure out why, and it’s also been driving me slightly up the wall. It’s maybe because I genuinely try to give media the best chance when I interact with it, but despite multiple DR rewatches I don’t see what everyone else sees. And the disconnect is a sad, like you mention — I joined the community here because I was so glad to have people who loved this show in the same ways I did, and now it’s like they’re all on a different wavelength and I want to be there but I’m not. It’s definitely strange for sure, made worse I think by the fact that DR isn’t like horrifically bad or anything, I just feel… okay, when watching it, and can’t even explain why.

I don’t know how much sense this makes, but I thought it might be something for you to think about if you’d like. I’ve been tossing around the idea that I don’t love DR because it is… good. It’s good, but too neat — if that makes sense? The new characters — I love them all, but their personalities and backstories and situations they’re put in all remind me of several other stories. The subplots of the episodes always have an end goal in mind, often an emotional realisation, and whilst that’s a neat way to tell stories, it doesn’t feel like, to me, the way Ninjago used to tell stories. Like, the first thing that comes to mind is Sora feeling hopeless and that episode with the djin where she realises that it’s important to hope. And maybe this isn’t a great comparison (as I’m typing it out, I realise that it isn’t the best example oof), but I immediately thought of Zane after Seabound, when he’d turned off his emotions. Sora’s bad feelings, whilst not as ‘significant’ as Zane’s in that context, began just before and were wrapped up neatly in that episode and not brought up again. Zane acts detached from the start of S16 if I remember, and it’s only near the end of the season (I think! I know that it’s a few eps at least) when he meets Sally, talks to her, learns a little about her life, and is able to come to the realisation that he shouldn’t be repressing everything. I think DR, because of the amount of characters it has, especially those that are new, and the amount of new worldbuilding, plot stuff, etc that they have to add in, it being a reboot/sequel type of thing, leaves less time for the nuance and time devoted to the character arcs in the original show. Or maybe I’m just crazy, honestly idk.

Something else that stands out to me is the fact that DR has to establish so much about these new characters and their world that they… they do something that old Ninjago didn’t do, and whilst it’s maybe objectivity a better storytelling choice, I think it’s part of the reason I’m not really feeling it. What they do is that they have the characters act kind of realistic. Arin worries about his parents, often. Sora did too. Wyldfyre and Kai definitely have a few moments where it’s implied that they’re confused about what’s up with their powers. In Ninjago up to s16, because they wrote a lot of it without intending much or anything to come after it, I feel like they thought less about this than the DR writers, who know that they’ve got a few seasons lined up, do. For example — hands of time is when we find out about Ray and Maya, but it was never often addressed by Nya and Kai. It’s brought up in s4, of course, but if they were real kids whose parents had vanished one day they’d probably bring it up more often, like Arin did. But it’s often not done in the narrative because the writers gave them other things to focus on, because they’re storytelling devices and not real kids. There was no real buildup to Nya being the water ninja, for example, but Sora’s said to be good with tech a few moments after we meet her. This ain’t a critique of either show — just a different choice I sort of picked up on, if it even makes any sense. And as crazy as it may sound, I liked that about the old Ninjago — it saw the characters more as storytelling devices, I think, than relatable to the audience (Kai was the hothead, Jay the humour, etc — ofc they were more than that, but they retained that sort of vibe from S1 a little all throughout the show I think). DR, on the other hand, seems to want their characters to be more relatable, more multifaceted, make more sense — which, when coupled with the fact that they’re new characters and that the ninjago fandom has historically thrived on gaps in the show to enjoy it (we’re a very AU, OC, heavy fandom, etc), I think DR attempting to flesh out their characters in the way that we’re often used to doing with the old characters in fic, art, etc means that I like DR a little less because there’s less to ‘work with’, and less that inspires thinking of the characters in different situations — bc whilst relating is nice, it is also enjoyable when the characters are written with some core characteristics in mind and you explore other parts of them or those characteristics in different contexts. I don’t think makes much sense, but I hope that it maybe gives you something to think about — as you can probably see, I’ve been going a little crazy over not liking it and not knowing why, so I know that the feeling isn’t great.

I'm picking up what you're putting down here. My next video has a bit about getting disillusioned with a fandom, and it sucks. It always does. It's heartbreaking when you feel like that special bond between you and your show was somehow broken. I empathies, and it's important to feel it out.

Now, I don't think ninjago was better at character arcs, i don't think having a character arc be longer is better, or even really a characteristic of classic ninjago, but I do think the DR character arcs feel very by the book. They're following the screenwriting 101 guide perfectly, but it ends up feeling a bit lacking because of it? If that makes sense? Now, ninjago was historically very bad at character arcs, but when they got it right, they always had a bit of a spin on things, and interesting visual payoff, whatever. I think the zane's emotions arc isn't particularly great (and the sally piece is sort of at the end of the first half of the season ;) I would argue sora's arc in season 1 about finding confidence is better, but that doesn't mean I find it much more enjoyable.

I will agree that that the characters in ninjago definitely feel more like characters, while the DR cast (old cast included) feel more like people. Neither are a bad thing, but I think it definitely has an effect on the tone. Characters allow for a more lighthearted goofy vibe, because the show is operating on a higher suspension of disbelief most of the time. DR on the other hand, does want a little more vulnerability from its audience on a regular basis.

Lastly, I do think you're onto something with DR being fully planned. The two seasons we have so far feel very indistinct. There is less of a defining singular "adventure" in each season. And again, that's not a good thing or a bad thing, but it ends up making things feel different. Ninjago is an episodic series of adventures. DR is a continual evolving set of circumstances. Those are just going to feel different.

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Just finished watching Providence. I'll probably have some more thoughts to share about it after sleeping on it, and possibly later if I rewatch S3 again (😍).

Providence and S3 spoilers ahead!

The first thing I can't stop thinking about is that upon giving the Psycho-Pass subreddit a quick look before watching the movie, the only post I saw was about how "this movie should have come out before S3". I didn't read the body of the post in fear of spoilers, but throughout watching the movie, I kept thinking about how much I disagree with that. How insignificant would Akira be if you didn't know he was Kei's brother? How random would Atsushi be as a character if you didn't know what he meant to Arata? Imagine this random kid showing up. No one would react positively to Arata, Maiko and Kei. Akira would feel like a side-character we only cared about for a split second and Atsushi would be confusing in the wrong way. Season 3 wouldn't be the same without the mystery of Tsunemori's incarceration. Objectively a wrong take if you care about the storytelling and characters at all imo.

With that out of the way, while Providence answered some of our burning questions, some have been left unanswered, such as:

Did Gino change his haircut so drastically all of a sudden because he realised the wind blowing in his face meant he couldn't see shit?

I'd be willing to buy that he just enjoys changing styles regularly, though.

Since I'm looking at her... do we know what Frederica's deal is, exactly...? I also can't help wondering - is there a reason why Shimotsuki hates her this much? While she's always complaining over petty things, she seems to hold a pretty specific dislike towards Frederica. Is it really just her personality? (I'd be willing to buy that, too...)

I feel like we have gained a net zero information about either Homura Sr. or Jr. Or Bifrost.

I feel like I had another serious question... before I started joking about Gino's hair. It'll probably come back to me. I guess there's always "can Shou's backstory get a Moment? Anyone else remember how S2 didn't give its new cast the same amount of time S1 did? Babyboy's still kinda just Here rn."

I'm still a bit confused about Jackdaw and Vixen, and the fact that I only just realised that Vixen is a woman probably does not help.

I miss Azusawa and Obata...

Oh right, I think I remembered what I meant to talk about. There are events that clearly happened between Providence and S3 that haven't been detailed, such as Gino leaving the Bureau to join Foreign Affairs, Kunizuka running the fuck out of there or even, I believe, Arata and Kei being appointed as Inspectors. We know that Tsunemori contributed to the latter - I wonder if we may learn more about her reasoning in the future. I think we can also infer that Gino, who stated in the movie that he intends on protecting Tsunemori, had to change plans one way or another due to her arrest.

I feel like we still don't know enough about Akira's relationship to his brother or to Atsushi, and I don't know whether that will be forever left in the air of if it will be detailed. The exact implication of Stronskaya Sr. and her relationship to her daughter are also vague.

Honestly, there's a lot going on in this movie. A lot of politics... a lot of religion... and a thick wall of the story's context. It's complex, and it's interesting how Psycho-Pass is continuing in this direction that already stood out in S3.

I'll just say I'm upset about Saiga. Evil evil bad. I'm really hoping for more content with Arata, Maiko and Kei in the near future because I seriously love them!!! And I want closure for them!!!! Akira was a pretty interesting character, though his quick death was frustrating - which I assume was not not on purpose. Though it happened maybe a little too fast due to the movie format (compared to an episodic format), the revelation of his allyship was set up pretty well. Like I said, details are definitely missing - Atsushi didn't explain why Akira was so willing, and he was interrupted before he could say who he was in his own words.

It was pretty nice to see Kougami be a little cringefail. I didn't enjoy his characterisation in S3, but in Providence, it feels a lot more sensible - like he can really feel that he doesn't have control. I'm satisfied with his and Tsunemori's dynamic in the movie, wherein they care about each other deeply - dare I say, Kougami might even care a little more than she does at this point? - how does that dynamic shift feel my guy? - but Kougami's wrongdoings have weight and the narrative doesn't force him back on her. You can feel that he wants to be back, you can feel that to Tsunemori he never really left, but like I mentioned in a more personal post, Gino's her source of comfort, her trustworthy teammate; Kougami isn't welcomed back by default. This feels natural. This feels like the writing cares about their feelings.

What else... Oh yeah... Did anyone else feel like Saiga was kinda................. hot?

[curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn]

A reflection on season 1

Going into this rewatch, I really wanted to challenge my old opinions of it (specifically the opinion that s3 takes what was best about s1 and improves it) and see if I could walk away with a new perspective.  I know that there are plenty of fans who believe that there’s something special about s1 that hasn’t been recaptured in following seasons, so I also wanted to identify what it is distinguishes s1 from the rest of the series and decide, as objectively as possible, if it truly is the best season, as many have claimed.

To get to the point: no, this isn’t the best season in objective terms.  It has flaws and weaknesses, just like the next two, but I definitely notice a big difference in the overall feel of the show compared to s3.  In this regard, I can understand how personal preference might sway viewers to prefer one over the other.  It’s far simpler in its concept, so it ends up just being a show about some normal theater kids putting on High School Musical.  Its simplicity allows for some moments to breathe a bit more than s3 does (though I think the 10-episode season helps), but there’s also a lot more awkwardness and emptiness between moments in the earlier episodes.  I was really surprised at how slow the first few episodes felt to me, and it wasn’t until 1x04 that I felt as though the show was going somewhere.  My personal feelings on this are largely due to Nini’s storyline being the focus in those first few episodes, and it’s not until Ricky’s struggle with his home life (which I would consider the emotional core of the show) gets more focus that things felt like they were starting to move.  There’s a clear shift in the direction of the show in 1x05 (and in my opinion, a shift towards something much deeper), but the show doesn’t fully commit to this shift through the rest of the season.  This shift is threefold: the positive progression of Ricky’s growth from his relationship with Gina, the expansion of character focus beyond Nini or Ricky, and the reveal that Nini lacked a sense of true identity in her romantic relationships.  The direction of Ricky and Nini’s arcs are never resolved, and they’re actually regressed by the conclusion of this season.  While I believe this is intentional, the framing of the conclusion is still trying to evoke a sense of celebration and triumph, making the conclusion feel really manufactured and jarring when it stands on its own.  This is why, after my first viewing in 2019, I didn’t rewatch the season until s3 aired... it simply cannot effectively stand on its own.  I’ll get to my opinions on how it compares to future seasons in those analyses, because I do have more to say on that.

Something very interesting I wanted to point out: Gina is always shown to offer the consolation and comfort Ricky is looking for in Nini, and when Nini has the opportunity to give Ricky emotional support, it’s shown that she doesn’t understand his struggle.  Throughout the entirety of 1x04, every person Ricky turns to for comfort are incapable of giving him the emotional support he needs, and this includes Nini.  The emotional poignancy of the episode is that the only thing that can make Ricky feel safe is returning home to his mom and listening to HSM, signaling that theater is becoming a new safe space to him.  This is notion is made deeper in the next episode, when Gina, to his surprise, empathizes with him in a way no one else had.  In 1x07, Ricky wants to call Nini after Todd answers the phone, but Gina shows up and offers him the comfort he was never expecting.  Then in the last 2 episodes, we see Ricky frantically try to contact Nini after Todd shows up, only for Gina Porter to give him the consolation he needs and also successfully encourage him to show up for his cast and walk back into the gym.  In 1x08, we see Ricky’s eyes light up with surprise for a moment when Nini says “I get it,” when he apologized for his behavior on Thanksgiving, but her next lines reveal that she actually doesn’t get it at all.

Last comment: I was shocked at how little Gina was actually in this season.  EJ actually leads more plotlines than she does, technically making her more of a supporting character (even though her character arc is much stronger than his, imo).  She is the antagonist the first 4 episodes, so she really only has focus when she’s disrupting Nini’s storyline or scheming with EJ.  Then, she becomes the character to further Ricky’s growth and storyline for the rest of her appearances.  Despite her appearances being more limited, her presence is so strongly felt this season, which I think really speaks to Sofia Wylie’s screen presence and strength as an actor.  Honestly, not a single minute is wasted with her screen-time.  It's seriously to the show’s benefit that she becomes the female lead in the following seasons, because her character was already upstaging others.  I honestly think Sofia’s performance is what gave Gina so much depth and richness in s1, so she is without a doubt the MVP of this season.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Rules: List 10 of your comfort shows, then tag 10 people

I was tagged by @sorry-bonebag

Oooh okay, this is weirdly hard, because I watch a lot of shows repeatedly, but I don't know that I turn to any of them for comfort when I'm like...upset, or stressed. When I do return to a show, it is either because it makes for good background sound to help me concentrate better on a task, or because it's wriggled its way in to my brain and I need to just get it out of my system. But honestly, if I'm feeling in need of comfort, I mostly just watch whatever I was currently working my way through, or start something new, because I mostly just need something to distract me for long enough that I forget how to experience emotions.

So, I guess for this challenge, I'll just talk about the shows that I have rewatched the most.

KinnPorsche: I have watched KinnPorsche a whopping 14 times, front to back, and there are definitely a few episode (Ep 6 in particular) that I have likely watched more than that. The first 4 watchthroughs were because KinnPorsche was my first BL, and I had never seen anything like it before, and didn't really know where to find more, and so I devoured it again and again because it just made me happy to have a mafia show where everyone was gay and homophobia wasn't really a thing. Unfortunately for me, and everyone, I found KinnPorsche right around the time that I had to write my thesis for my degree, and I had discovered that because I have ADHD and I do not know Thai, it was helpful for me to focus by having something playing in the background, and even more so if it was a Thai show because then the words I was hearing and the words I was writing wouldn't get mixed up. Which meant I found..ten people that I made sit through this show with me one by one until my thesis was done.

Our Flag Means Death: I watched OFMD 11 times, because I hadn't seen anythign quite like it, and because there was non-binary representation, and because it was my first show with elder gay men finding their first love, and because it was just fun, and in my opinion very expertly handled in terms of switching from a slapstick comedy to something much more rich, detailed, and serious by the end. I think I was hitting a pretty significant low, and it was one of the few dopamine hits I could get. So I milked that puppy for all it was worth.

Bed Friend: I literally could not tell you what it was about this show that captured me so thoroughly. I think it was simply just how surprised I was at how much trauma they included in this show, without any advanced warning in the trailers. I just wanted to see Uea happy and so I watched this show repeatedly until the season ended.

The Eclipse: I have seen The Eclipse six times front to back, and traced the trajectory of Akk and Ayan's relationship much more than that. Akk is my favorite BL character. I liked seeing how complciated his character was. And I just remember being the kid who had so many adults asking things of them, so I sympathize really hard with the fear Akk has of letting people down. I also just love how strong of a message Golf was sending, and just loved watching First and Khaotung cry.

What We Do in the Shadows: I have seen the first three or four seasons of WWDITS like five times, and there are particular episodes (The Wellness Center) that I have seen upwards of 20 times. Again because I was sleep deprived, broke as shit, and stressed out of my goddamn mind balancing school and work, I didn't have the brain power to look for other shows, so I just watched this or used it as background noise.

Young Royals: I have seen this show roughly five times. Young Royals is the show that made me realize that it was actually really helpful to have foreign language shows running in the background while I did work. I really liked it, and I thought they navigated sweet and serious very well.

Bad Buddy: I have seen BB four times. I love how much goofiness and joy they managed to pack in to such an emotionally charged show. Ohm and Nanon are incredible actors, and it was a very very very good show. I watched it one, and then saw a fan edit of them on social media and went "I miss my boys" and watched it again. Then I rewatched it with a friend, and then there was a clown rewatch leading up to Our Skyy 2 which was really helpful for me because my lovely mutuals on tumblr are massive Bad Buddy fans and it was extremely educational listening to them discuss the show.

Laws of Attraction: I have watched this three times since it finished airing less than a month ago. I just love Charn and Tin so much.

And then we're gonna get in to movies, because those are the only shows I've really watched on repeat on my own:

9. The Old Guard: I watched this movie 11 times. I do not know why. The first time I saw it, it was fine, the second time I saw it something absolutely rotted my brain, I thought it was the best action movie that has ever been made, and I could not stop watching it. Maybe it's just cause I'm gay and Charleize Theron and KiKi Lane are hot, and Joe and Nicky were allowed to be violent, masculine, gay, and immortal. 10. Big Eden: I do not know how many times I've watched this movie, it's probably five or six. But this is one of my favorites of all time. It never fails to put a smile on my face. Pike is one of my most beloved characters. Before I even really knew or acknowledged my queerness, I saw this film, and for the first time in my life, when the movie was done. I IMMEDIATELY started it back over and watched it again. Back to back. It's so sweet. AH!!!!

I'm not tagging ten people. Whoever wants to, please take this as your invitation to respond.

[resetting37]

The shows and franchises of Evelow

@darby-draws asked

I was recently thinking about some of my OCs being more fantasy nerdy vs scifi nerdy and it got me thinking about what type of genres and media your main OCs might like? for one, just in general scifi shows or horror movies or long fantasy books. But I was also thinking, with your own world its not as easy to say they the big obvious genre staples like LOTR or Star Trek for example... but does your world have similar Really Popular things like that.

Things like: Is there a really long running tv series thats had multiple iterations, like star trek that any of your OCs grew up with and have Big Opinions on? Fantasy epic multiple movies 3 hours each to tell the story? Would any of your OCs enjoy binging that over a long weekend for fun?

Thank you for the question !! I was going to make more faux posters of some shows that could exist in Evelow, but I'd rather just go ahead and talk about the topic. More could come in the future, we'll see. I'll also add in the character opinions. (sorry in advance if this gets long.)

So Evelow doesn't have the huge library of stories that we have. Mostly due to limitations, as Evelow's shows and movies are filmed in Evelow, and though it's a big civilization, it's not quite the same scope our present day world has. They'll have maybe one or two blockbusters a year, while most movies are indie or low budget. TV shows, however, are given more budget. Though there's not really enough on the screen for characters to be too picky in their genres, so I'll just present some vague ones.

Here are some popular shows/franchises:

Paranormal Paradise

Brother and Sister duo are on a secret unit that deal with the unexplained or the paranormal, as the title suggests. Pair that with sunsets and synth wave music, and you have a show that's currently on their third season.

This one is fairly popular with Evelonians. Out of my ocs, Kat thinks it's fun and while she's "team Una" (the name of the sister character), she finds the monsters designs the best part of the show. Cora thinks she's ridiculous, as she's "definitely team Kotori" (the brother.)

Kat eventually gets Morgan into it, but Morgan isn't the least bit interested in the "fandom" aspects, like head canons or introducing more recurring characters.

The show isn't really considered nerdy, but it's a popular one.

Feast of Legacies

This one is older in relevance to the current timeline, probably aired when my characters were kids and thus has more impact. (though probably not "age appropriate", kids still liked the fun outfits and action scenes) It was a dark fantasy show about a barbaric bounty hunter that was super campy and violent.

Future spin offs have since grew with the times or made things more serious, and those can be popular too. Ivar has even acted in one of the movies too, as a nod to his arena persona lol. Characters from the show come up a lot in halloween costumes and cosplays.

Morgan and Advik probably rewatch this one again as adults. "It still holds up, guys !"

•

I don't think space stories take up a lot of space (haha) in Evelow's culture, though there are some given that there are always going to be people fascinated by it, even if we don't know much !

They have a popular anthology show called "Planetary Politics" where each season involves a different planet and a story arc surrounding a different group of characters. The show can be experimental, with many seasons involving people in makeup and costumes, even a season fully animated (sorry they couldn't find any people who could successfully play the part of space jellyfish)

Advik and Ian used to watch this show together all the time, but since then Audrey has also taken a liking to it.

•

There's a good amount of horror movies roaming around Evelow, I'd say one of the biggest franchises is Tartar-us (Though the first movie that was released many years ago was called 'Under Deck')

It's campy, it's gory, and a staple in every horror enthusiast's library (except for the esteemed ones who think this franchise should have died a long time ago.)

here's Zack arguing to Ian it's the greatest movie of all time.

(though looking at this makes me realize that outer space play enough of a role in pop culture to be featured in spinoffs in movies such as the 'pirates' franchise for kids.)

•

I want to give my characters at least one more fantasy genre to have in their world, but I'll come up with more ideas later. I also feel like I've barely answered the original question ??? So I'll at least do that with my main cast

Audrey didn't grow up with movies unless they were brought over from other cities. Her town of Dile mostly had theatre and books. She liked heroes journeys, or stories with fantastical elements.

Advik loves both fantasy and sci fi. I'd say he likes fantasy more since he's much pickier about his sci fi. (He doesn't like stuff that tries to play it like it could happen in the world. I think HE'D be one of the few people really into space stuff.)

Katsumi likes more grounded stories. She doesn't care about world building if the character writing is bad. She loves style, but not if it's devoid of anything else. Also, if she has to see inaccurate costume design one more time, she swears...

Zack prefers sci fi over fantasy, since the former leaves room for potential horror elements. (since that's his actual favorite genre.)

Avery prefers fantasy over sci fi, since the stories tend to be more conventional and the costume designs are better. (She's much less picky than Kat in that department.)

"What's the difference, they're all movies" - Morgan. (She hates labeling things into genres.)

[brucebocchi]

wrote something for facebook about my history with anime and journey towards born-again weebdom:

Something weird happened to me over the past year. Like a frog in a pot of increasingly hot water, I found myself way the hell into anime again, and at a level I don’t think I ever had been before.

Anime was always kind of in my periphery, especially with stuff like Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z, and Sailor Moon blowing up in this side of the world. I was a fan of all three as a kid, plus I’d watch the odd show on Toonami and Adult Swim here and there, but I didn’t consider myself much of an anime fan beyond that. Especially not in high school, and if you went to school with “Naruto kids” like I did, you can probably understand why. I didn’t really seek it out.

About 10 years ago I decided to finally see what this Neon Genesis Evangelion business was all about and it rearranged my brain. I had no clue something like that existed before I’d even heard of Pokemon. I had to see what else was out there that I missed. I caught up on shows like Gurren Lagann, Nichijou, and Madoka Magica, and even followed Kill la Kill and the first season of One Punch Man as they were airing. From there, though, I kind of petered out again. I’d watch the occasional Netflix drop here and there, catch up on Jojo, and rewatch the Evangelion movies like they were recurring holidays, but that was kinda it.

Around this time last year, though, I randomly remembered a show that I loved as a preteen, one that I was just as excited to watch alongside DBZ on weekdays after school: Tenchi Muyo. It didn’t really have the lasting impact the other Toonami shows did, but I loved it when it was on (and let’s be real, that many beautiful anime women jam-packed into the same show was something of an awakening for my pubescent self). I decided to seek it out and see if it held up, and it mostly did! I ended up watching most of the franchise, or at least the parts of it that actually involve the main cast.

From there, I found a video essay on YouTube about one of the Tenchi sub-series that absolutely hooked me, and I’d be happy to share it. Anime became something of a YouTube rabbit hole for me, and I was inundated with recommendations for shows I’d either heard about and missed or that left a mark I wasn’t even aware of. Then I decided to finally play Persona 5. Then I decided to see what this Chainsaw Man business was all about. And what else was airing that season. That snowball kept rolling.

By my count, I’ve watched some 38 discrete anime series in the past year and change (plus another three that I started and am in no hurry to finish), and I’ll gladly list them if asked. Granted, anime seasons are short and a handful of them are spinoffs, so the number’s not as crazy as it might look on its face. It’s still a lot, though, and I would actually recommend most of them! I definitely stuck to some niches; I’d say at least half were comedies and there was plenty of action-oriented stuff in there as well. But it’s been really incredible just seeing how far it can reach as a medium to depict just about anything the human brain can conjure up.

Anime fuckin’ rules, y’all.

[marypsue]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on S1 of ST being a tragedy! No main character dies, so I never thought of it that way before

I mean, nobody has to die for a story to be a tragedy (at least, in the modern definition. I'm pretty sure '(almost) everybody dies' is a requirement of Greek tragedies and Renaissance revenge tragedies). But also, no main character dies in season one...if you take season one as part of a series. Which it wasn't originally conceived as.

I am not going looking for copies of the original pitch bible, because I am lazy, and also I only saw them floating around this webbed site. But the show changed a lot from the initial pitch (Joyce had a Long Island accent! Lucas' parents were divorcing! Murray was there and named Terry Ives! Most of what ended up in Hopper's character originally belonged to Mr. Clarke! The original pitch bible is fascinating). And part of the original pitch was a proposal for possible sequels.

The Duffers' proposal for a possible sequel was "It's ten years later, and Eleven is dead".

So that's the setup. Everything that came after season one was made up wholecloth after season one was a hit and people wanted more, but also people loved the adorable little psychic murder child (cue the Duffers shockedpikachu.jpg) and Netflix obviously recognised it would be a bad call to make a new season without her in it. So it makes sense to take season one as a unit, as a self-contained story on its own. You can also take it as part of a whole, but it makes sense to read it first as a complete story. Especially given the thematic drift of later seasons and the way they are...I'm just going to say it, each new season is very much added-on to what came before rather than being built on foundation that the earlier season(s) laid. It is very clear there was never a planned five-season story arc from the beginning. (This isn't necessarily always a bad thing, when it comes to sequels, but it does mean it makes sense to 'read' each season as its own thing.)

Okay, now that we've established all of that. Season one has one very clear goal, one very clear stake for the characters: save Will Byers from the Upside Down. (I like this. It makes the stakes both extremely high and extremely personal, it makes it very easy to understand each character's motivation, it also keeps the stakes grounded in reality. I like this a lot.) And by the end of the season, that goal is accomplished. So at first blush, you're right, season one doesn't look like a tragedy.

But when you start to unpack it a little, you start to see just how many important things were lost along the way. It's most glaringly obvious with Mike and El, with Nancy and Barb. The whole Wheeler family is fractured down the middle, with Mike and Nancy on one side and Ted, Karen, and Holly on the other, and Karen, who's been trying so hard the whole time to be part of her children's lives and understand what's going on with them, is aware of the ever-expanding gulf between them but will never be able to cross it, and will never fully know why. Hopper's finally managed to snatch a kid out of the jaws of death, save a woman he obviously cares about from the pain of losing a child, and Joyce has finally had someone believe her, support her, trust her. But it became blindingly obvious to me on my fourth rewatch that Hopper's plan, from the moment he went to leave the middle school gym, was always to trade El for Will. And that decision (and the fact that Joyce obviously understands that he did something to get the lab to let them go after Will, but she obviously doesn't dare press him on what) has broken her trust in him, and left him with what looks like an equally heavy burden of guilt as what he was carrying before. The lab stays open. The government gets away with everything. No one will ever know the true extent of the hurt they've caused.

And in the end, none of it even saved Will. He's back. He's alive. But he's spitting slugs in the sink. He's permanently marked by the Upside Down, and by trying to hide it from his family, he's putting a crack down the centre of them, as well. They're losing Will, just as surely as they had when they thought he was dead, just without him going anywhere.

And there's still a hole in the world.

The fragile bonds of community, the things that people share in common, the way catastrophe can bring people together and bring out the very best in them, are the major thematic threads woven through season one. Human connection is the only thing that can change what seems inevitable, the only thing that can bring back what's seemingly lost forever.

And it's still not enough to protect anyone from the random tragedy of the world.

The love was there. The love mattered. The love bent the entire course of the world around itself.

And it still wasn't quite enough.

If that's not a tragedy, then I don't know what is.

[sahaias]

Finished Violetta season 3

Idk how to feel now that i have no content left to watch (outside of the reunion special and movie that I consider non-canon), this is my comfort show and to have it gone kinda sucks

I guess some thoughts on season 3 as a whole:

Still my least favorite season, but it wasn't bad like I remembered

Gery and Clement feel like such pointless additions who would've been better off being one-off antagonists for like 10 episodes at most.

The Milton plotline is genuinely so stupid and forgettable. Once he's gone at the halfway point and he's nonexistent, it feels like "why did we waste so much screentime on him?"

Vilu and Leon should've been together the whole season, facing barriers in their relationship but never breaking up. The season was at its best when they were together, and it's genuinely so fucking annoying that they were together for the longest amount of episodes in season 1 over season 2 and 3 when Tomas was still a thing.

Fuck the whole Roxy storyline, it was so aggrivating

The side couples' plots were kinda boring imo. I like Naty and Maxy but their storyline was a bit blah. Diego and Francesca have telenovela drama and then just kinda exist in the show it feels like. Broduey and Camilla's relationship was super boring imo.. I'm not very interested in Federico even if Ludmila was super interesting this season. And I don't even care the slightest about Gery x Clement, Pablo x I forgot her name (though Pablo deserves to be happy after losing Antonio), or Nicolas x Jade. All are actual screen waste imo

Angie and German are hard for me to root for bc he and Maria were together when she was a little girl? Even if she's like 30 in the present, the whole knowing her back then aspect ruins any interest in the relationship for me

I actually thought the Andres love doctor plotline was kinda funny, and it matches how so many queer people in my life are amazing at analyzing others' relationships but struggle with finding relationships themselves

Ludmila's development was definitely the highlight of the season, but I don't think it's enough to carry the season

The whole "new kids in the studio" plotline was cool for giving Maxi his career development story, but the characters were weird. It was weird how one of them was played by an actress in her 20s and was set up as Andres's love interest, only to suddenly leave, Meanwhile, the rest were just children who looked younger than the studio students we saw up until that point (being like 12-15 instead of 17-18)

The last few episodes felt so rushed through with a ton happening, which was annoying considering how much the conflicts dragged on throughout most of the season

The show is still my comfort show bc I love the characters (most of them) so much

I'll definitely watch Soy Luna soon, and I'm excited since it'll be my first time watching it. But it probably won't be until a while into 2024. I work 12 hours a day 4-5 days a week, and I think I'm going to watch stuff that's lower commitment for now. Plus, I have a massive game backlog. My free time is super limited

Thanks for reading my thoughts while I rewatched Violetta! I don't know what I'll post about moving forward (definitely Soy Luna but that might not be for a hot minute), but it was nice to interact with everyone! I hope we can continue!

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s2 ep26: Basics pt 1

Voyager's first season finale cliffhanger! While I hated cliffhangers back in the day (waiting months to find out what happened was not fun, let me tell you) I think this one was pretty good in general, and it certainly set up some very high stakes to be resolved in the next season opener.

I'm not a fan of the Seska baby plot, and I honestly don't see how they wouldn't have figured out it was a trick, but I guess suspension of disbelief is required here. If I were Janeway, I'd never risk my entire ship to go rescue some baby who's most likely not even in any danger, but I guess when someone tells you they love you, it puts you in a weird bind where you kind of have to give them leeway to go back for the kid they didn't want with the Cardassian spy you both hate. (But yet, no such concern for the Threshold lizard babies- why didn't they go back for them??? Huh??? Why are Cardassian babies so much more important than lizard babies?? Answer me that, Kathryn! And I see Commander 'fuck them kids' Chakotay whistles a different tune when it's his unwanted space children they want to leave behind! Dude really hates Tom Paris that much, doesn't he?? What did he ever do to you, Chakotay?? I'm joking, but also a little bit serious.)

We get some Suder scenes, where, thanks to his mind meld with Tuvok, he's now just a weird ass dude obsessed with gardening, which, somehow, makes him even creepier.

If you ignore how stupid the actual plot itself is, the rest of the episode, where they try to figure out a way through Kazon space, and come up with ingenious ways of tricking the Kazon into thinking they have more ships, is actually pretty interesting stuff. (It could have done without the zany gag of accidentally projecting the Doctor into space in the middle of the battle- the whole episode has been pretty serious, and it was a little too incongrous to stick a silly gag in there while shit is otherwise getting very real.)

The part where the Kazon take over the ship is pretty hair raising stuff, I don't think we'd ever seen anyone capture a Starfleet ship on screen before. It definitely did not need the gross gendered violence thrown in there though- a bad guy hitting a Starfleet captain on their own ship is enough to show villiany, we didn't need the 'you're just a woman, shut up' bs in there too, that was just gratuitous misogyny. We've already established the Kazon are misogynists, there was absolutely no reason to put it in there. And did they really have to have Seska making a false rape accusation? The misogynist trope that women just go around making false rape accusations to get what they want is only bolstered by stuff like this, and it's harmful and unnecessary. We already know that Seska is bad, they didn't need to add that at all. (And anyway, a patriarchal society like the Kazon probably wouldn't even care or believe her, so they should have made up another reason for Cullah to want the kid.)

Leaving the crew stranded on a planet with no Voyager, no tech, a bunch of volcanos, some possibly unfriendly natives, AND a large snakey-dragony creature looming in the background seems almost like overkill in terms of having enough peril to place them in, but I'll go with it. Everything moved along at a good pace, and having the ship stolen is a hell of a cliffhanger. Seeing the Kazon fly Voyager away from her crew is deeply sad, and you know seeing that would have just lit a fire in Janeway and company to work even harder to get it back. And they do have a small sliver of hope of rescue- Tom Paris is out there in a shuttle, which was presumed, but not confirmed, to be destroyed (because of course Tom volunteered to fly a shuttle through a space battle to go back and get help) and Suder is still on board, having hidden in the vents when the Kazon takeover, and he said he wants to do something for the ship, so he's probably gonna fall back on what he knows best: murder! But like, its for a good cause this time- he's gonna kill those Kazon and present them to Janeway llke a cat bringing it's owner a dead mouse lol.

So yeah, even though I had a few issues in this ep, it's still an edge of your seat cliffhanger where you have to see what happens next.

Tl;dr: Some questionable story choices, but done with enough panache that it compels you to find out what happens in the second part asap.

[evevoli]

toh theory: luz’s palisman will hatch into a swan

so a few months ago (see: “before luz carving her palisman aired” months ago) i rewatched Yesterday’s Lie and started to have some thoughts on what luz’s palisman will be; namely, that it’ll be a swan when it hatches.

instead of actually delving into canon like a normal person, i first want to point out the parallels between luz and the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Ugly Duckling.

for those unaware, The Ugly Duckling is a story about, well. an ugly duckling. every animal he encounters mercilessly bullies and berates him for being “ugly” and different from the other ducklings, so he runs away to do some wandering. after some time, the now adult duck approaches a flock of swans, expecting them to kill him and end his miserable life. however, the swans accept him with open arms. he looks down at his reflection and realizes he’s grown into a swan himself, something far more beautiful than any of his peers. his egg had merely been mixed up in a clutch of duck eggs; he’d been a swan the whole time.

this is absolutely a reach and i’m well aware of it, but i think you can definitely draw parallels between luz and the duckling. luz was mistreated by her peers for being an outcast because she had been born into an environment not suited for her, that being the human realm. she then found witches who accepted her for who she is and has come to feel that she belongs with them rather than the world she was raised in. it’s a bit of a stretch to claim dana terrace definitely absolutely had this old fairy tale in mind when writing TOH, but i find the parallels interesting nonetheless.

now speaking about canon itself, my strongest point here for Swan Palisman is that bird palismen have been clearly established as a clawthorne thing, as every member of the clawthorne family we’ve met so far has had one. going into emo found family symbolism territory here, but i think luz having a bird would fully cement her place as eda’s child and as an undeniable part of the clawthorne family.

additionally, king had his big moment in season 2 when he changed his name to King Clawthorne and effectively adopted himself. eda has canonically referred to both luz and king as her kids multiple times in the show now, so personally i think it would only be right for luz to have a similar moment that fully establishes and unites her as part of eda’s family. what better way to do that than by having the palisman she and eda carved together be the ultimate symbol of a clawthorne, a family well-known for its carving tradition?

(plus, if we take the blatant bird motifs seen in the emperor’s coven’s aesthetics into account—the coven scout and golden guard masks, and the wings seen on the coven sigil and belos’s portal, namely—it’s clear the show’s designs and identity as a whole center heavily around birds. personally, i think it’d be flat-out weird if the main character of The Owl House just didn’t have a bird palisman. how out of place would that be if she just had like a rat or something i mean come on.)

though i have to say, real quick, that my one counterpoint to this entire scheme would be this fella from Hunting Palismen:

it’s the only bird palisman we’ve seen besides flapjack (who is his own can of worms) that doesn’t belong to a clawthorne, resembling a goose or perhaps a swan.

...i have nothing of note to say on this though tbh i just thought it was worth pointing out for the sake of integrity or whatever. i imagine it’s too late in the story for these orphaned palismen to be relevant again, so i will say that i highly doubt this guy is of any real significance, and so am more or less electing to ignore him. sorry bell swan.

BUT onto my next point: birds themselves are all fine and good, of course, but the strongest, most tinfoil hat-iest point of evidence i’d like to bring to your attention is camila’s already established connection to swans.

it’s this quick line in Yesterday’s Lie that made me break out the conspiracy board to begin with; luz liked to make camila tinfoil swans! if that isn’t the most damming undeniable blatant piece of confirmation on earth (yes i am playing this up for comedy i promise i’m not insane) then maybe this additional jpeg will convince you:

her calendar in Reaching Out—an episode with a heavy focus on luz’s relationship with her parents—has an adult and baby swan on it, directly below a photo of camila and luz, mind you. yes i absolutely noticed this on a rewatch at some point or another and went

im right and that’s the end.

/j ANYWAY, as i said earlier, birds are extremely important to luz’s family in the boiling isles, and swans specifically represent her family in the human realm. i would like to point out that much of luz’s inner conflict in season 2b centers on her fear of having to choose between two worlds—between her two families—when she returns home.

this is James and the Giant Reach territory again, but i have a feeling that if this palisman were to hatch when the kids are still stuck in the human realm, regardless of what kind of animal it winds up being, it will come to symbolize this very conflict; a mark of luz’s family in the boiling isles, trapped with her family in the human realm.

no matter how the series ends, i feel that this palisman—the animal representing camila that was carved with eda—will serve to symbolically unite the nocedas and clawthornes and cement them both as fundamental and undeniable parts of who luz is as a person.