#can you believe it literally took only five episodes for them to be like

[quinnmorgendorffer]

And on the fifth episode, the House writers created the "House and Wilson laughing together in an episode-ending montage" and mixed it with "House is playing the music in the final montage" trope. And they saw it was good.

[maxanor]

i'm not saying this to be callous or rude, but i think what's hitting a lot of buckt*mmys hard is that they're truly just unable to admit that they aren't very good at media analysis. the term 'media literacy' has become so overused in fandom that i genuinely think people forget what it means- it's a learned skill, something you have to study, something you can educate yourself on by reading papers and books and watching all sorts of movies and tv. they're all so convinced that the breakup came out of nowhere when it could not have been written more clearly; tommy has consistently been shown as an outsider in buck's life.

to claim that "everything was perfect" in 8x05 is so ridiculous i almost don't even know where to start. they had two scenes without eddie: in the first, tommy was incredibly condescending towards buck and and his interests (it's time to put away the screen, you already had your five minutes, lights out evan), and in the second scene buck literally says "my boyfriend won't even kiss me" and tommy responds with "that's not true" but they pointedly do NOT show them kissing. if the audience is meant to believe that buckt*mmy are endgame, it would have made perfect narrative sense to have them kiss right then to show (not just tell) us that tommy cares about buck, boils and all, and they did not do that.

moving onto 8x06, the only clue needed to show us they were going to break up was tommy buying buck lakers tickets. that's all it took. in 7x04 it's made so clear that buck does not like basketball. if tommy genuinely knew buck, he would not have bought him tickets to a sport the show dedicated an entire episode to telling us buck does not like! if their relationship was meant to last, tommy could have bought buck tickets to a fight in vegas like he did with eddie. this would have been a great callback, because it's supposedly the first moment buck got jealous of tommy and eddie hanging out. it would remind the audience that even though buck was jealous, he got tommy in the end and they're now doing the activities he wanted to do with tommy before.

once again, media analysis is a skill. no one is perfect at it, and ofc shows can throw away the book and make decisions that don't make sense. but to claim this came out of nowhere shows a severe lack of knowledge and understanding of how stories are written. the shippers were seeing what they wanted to see and they missed all the signs the show was sending them, and now they're claiming the rug was pulled out from under them.

[yourdoseofapple]

I think there should be a building game show for Minecraft. Like Lego Masters, most cooking shows, etc. Like listen. I think fighting is cool and all, and I myself was raised on watching bed wars and Minecraft hunger games and all that, but like also… builder are insane? Like I love watching, Empires, Hermitcraft, other big builders (and redstoners for that matter) because I’m so fascinated by how their brains work???? Like you’re telling me Bdubs took some dirt and made a literal mountain as a BACKDROP for his build in a season??????? Bro????? Like I want some builders to go head to head in a building challenge.

Like, okay hear me out, each week their “building themes” could go from mimicking IRL architecture styles - medieval, French colonial, minimalism, etc - OR could rely on game mechanics. Like you gotta make a build, but it must include five red stone functions - could be as simple of auto lighting and stuff - all the way to farms included into the make of the build!

Judging wise, I think that would be the hardest thing to pin down, because the issue with Minecraft building is that there are a lot of factors when it comes to the concept of building because every builder has an inherent “style” they have and so to compare isn’t necessarily fair???? Because what one person likes may not be the same as another person, so I don’t believe you can judge inherently on how a build looks, but more so if it fits the criteria - did you do your research and keep to the prompt 100% or did you take some liberties in the favor of making it seem stylistically “better” - also, while I am inclined to be like “hey look we could have it audience choice” I am aware that in previous Minecraft events - every tournament event live-streamed like ever - every YouTuber is gonna have bias on their side, and if there is someone with a larger viewership that others, there is of course going to be favor towards them. The ONLY way I could see this being different is if it was all pre-recorded and episodic, but I still believe there would be a heavy amount of bias if someone was on the show with more viewership than others. We would want it to be fair. I do think audience participation is important though, and should be a major inclusion! Like, before an event is to occur I think it would be fun to choose the prompt of what they’re building that week, but the contenders just can’t tweet/say/promote one they wish to do, so it is STRICTLY up to the audience without bias.

Also, I think everyone should come out a winner, not in the “No one came out on top because we are all equal” way - because while that is important it is still a tournament, and as we’ve seen in literally every competition show ever there is always a first place winner - but more so in the, while you didn’t win, let’s reflect on how you are still fantastic and getting something out of this. I know it sounds a little basic, so I do think it would need to be extrapolated on. But I wouldn’t want anyone who “loses” to just go away with “you got clout” award. You were featured on the show, that’s inherent, you deserve more than that, again this can be fleshed out later, but they deserve more too, somehow.

Also for the finalists - I’m thinking either 3 left or 2 left - it should be a mega build level prompt. Could be something like “build a city!” Or just “build a mega base with x block being the main block” and, again, not sure how it would be judged, but winner comes out, with second/third place having some reward as well, not as good, but still considerably great. I also think it would be fun to have prior contestants come on and have to participate in the “here is your block that I got to choose for you” to add some spice to it. IDK what the prize would be, I know it is normally money, and while it could be that, I think it would be more fun to have something a little different that would still be fun and a true “winners” item. Again, not sure what it could be, but it would need to hold to the truth of “oh, hey, this is a true prize and its still fun and I’m getting something out of this!”

Anyhow, enjoy the strange thoughts of my brain and if any streamers/youtubers are out there reading this, lemme know what you think cuz I’m curious. Do I think I could ever do this? Probably not cuz I’m an opera singer doing my masters so time is bet a dream to me at this point, but like. I think it is interesting and would love opinions on it just from the standpoint of discussion. I streamed at one point, maybe I’ll start back up again one day if only to have fun. I feel like that should be what it is, fun, that is the most important thing at the end of the day and builders should have some competitive fun too!

Also, I will admit that I am obviously not knowledgeable on everything - again opera singers not full time Minecraft anything - so I don’t know if something like this has been done before, and while I think it would be cool if something like this existed, it may already exist and I quite simply don’t know! Thoughts, opinions, anything else?

Anyway, if anything, have a good day!

[stripedstarsblueflags]

i didn't win the wheel: episode 6

would you believe me if i said i thought i was ready for how depressed doing this series was going to make me, but i was wrong? i am stupid. i am actually stupid.

Logan (in the most deadpan, empty, listless voice I have ever heard and I've worked with middle schoolers): "We will be playing a mini football– foosball– ah, game... and first to five– whoever wins–"

[he looks up at Alex, then points to the camera]

Logan the Game Show Host: "⭐⭐ Gets to spin that wheel ⭐⭐"

jesus christ, i remember starting this series, first rewatching it all, and realizing that i could literally watch everything drain out of logan episode by episode. i just.. legitimately forgot how quickly that happens. how few episodes there are. let me TRY to find something good... anyways, The Bit is back. at this point in the show logan is doing pretty much all the introductions, so alex has very much settled into his role of "can i play with this while you're talking? okay thanks :)". logan actually tries to direct his attention to the camera more than once as he's introducing it, because alex is just fidgeting away... but it's not restless or hyperactive or excited. it's like he's matching logan's energy. logan is dejected, lifeless, bored; alex is an absolute mirror right in the very introduction of the video which, um, not a good look if you're the editor. and then logan does his little thing and looks right at alex, even as he's moving away, and then *all of the sudden* there's this brilliant smile and he's actually laughing... and alex, who at first only laughs a little (because logan's dark cloud is raining on them both today) meets logan's eyes and hears the laugh and THEN his sunshine is back. look at how quickly he glances from logan back to the camera... it's like he's just unexpectedly been given his cue. oh! look at that! this is actually fun?? we're having fun?? listen to him i think we're having fun!

sorry to dash your hopes, alex. after the one glint of laughter, logan is immediately locked in, i mean look at him he's practically gritting his teeth. meanwhile alex isn't quite having fun– he's losing by a lot– but he's trying to sort of jumpstart some fun anyway. the whole time he's making his little noises like "aaaAAA!" or "oooOOoo" that don't really mean anything, but it's kind of like when you're trying to get your dog to do something it doesn't want to do... you put all the emphasis in your voice and pretend that the bath or whatever is actually THE BEST PLACE EVER and SUPER SUPER FUN just to get the task over with. to get participation. and logan is... well, he's participating in the game, but he's not participating in alex's game. and alex seems awkward and alone and like he's trying too hard, because he is. because he's expecting a little bit of banter, a little bit of anything from logan's side that he can sort of coax into something eventually, because if anyone can bring logan out of his shell it's alex. but right now he's left with nothing. logan's doing what he's told. he happens to be alongside alex. that's all alex is getting.

ugh, thank god that's over. we're warming up a little! only took the most painful game of foosball i've ever secondhand experienced. alex spent the whole time losing, but not only did he not really lock in, he also didn't stop talking for more than five seconds for, like, the whole game. "what team are you, by the way?" straight up asking useless questions just to get something. i said earlier that alex's exuberance comes out extra when he's around logan– subconsciously or consciously– but this is a very solid, definitive example of what it looks like when it's intentional. he's nearly embarrassing himself. he sounds like an absolute goofball because he's trying so hard to bring the energy up. because they've done this before, they've played together, they've connected, they've had fun, why can't it be like before? why can't they find their own little world away from all the shitshow around them just for three minutes like they used to? he's trying too hard and he doesn't really know how and it shows.

but look, we got that little win celebration. FINALLY. some emotion!! never mind the fact that there's literally no eye contact... hmm, wonder how alex will react to this?

[Logan is declared the winner, cute little transition graphic]

Alex: "Disgusting defeat..."

Logan: "5 - 1... I'll give it to you, I had a little practice trial before–"

Alex: "To be honest with you, I don't think it owuld have made a difference."

Logan: "A little..." (cuts himself off because he's laughing)

aaaaahhhhh that's refreshing. okay. you know what this reminds me of? episode two. "you're a lot better at golf than me, so i expect you to do well." neither of them approach these challenges with the arrogant, hyperbolic confidence of carlos and charles (which is always hilarious and adorable between those two but anyways) but they're generally pretty confident. competitive, like all drivers. i have yet to see a put down from one to the other stronger than the infamous wink of episode one but i can only count two instances where they're putting themselves down. logan did it first when alex was getting distracted by his own anxiety. and here alex does it. why? because he spent the whole damn game trying to break the ice and WHEN DID IT BREAK? at the win. at the hands-in-the-air, the cheering, the laughter. so now he's going to go after that feeling like he's cracked the case. he exaggerates not only his own defeat but also apparently his skill level? logan tries to sort of put them on an even plane and alex is like hell no i ain't messin with this self confidence moment. he's found some momentum, he's running with it, he's not going to drop it now. still fidgety but now turned almost all the way in to face logan. no eye contact, but not gazing all over the place either, he's listening. he's listening carefully. knowing the moves to make. and you know what?

Logan: "I mean you did score an oggie to lose, little own-goal.. but, uh–"

Alex (laughing): "Oggie..."

Logan: "Little oggie, oggie..."

(Alex is still laughing)

Logan: "But you know the deal. That means... I get to spin that wheel–"

(he and Alex immediately start laughing before he can completely round off the sentence)

it fucking works. it did take me a while to figure out what oggie meant because i'm culturally inept and even more so when it comes to anything to do with sport. anyway, it's a silly word, and alex has such a low threshold for what he finds funny (even LOWER if it's said by logan) that he can't help but laugh and repeat it to himself, and then because he's laughing logan goes ahead and repeats it again. looking over at him to catch the smile on his face. and of course alex can't even hold the eye contact because now he's flustered, because he wasn't ready for happy logan today and he doesn't know how to play it cool at the best of times... also standing that stiff with his hand on his hip so he can continue to face like 80% towards logan? is not playing it cool? logan smiles and alex remembers how head over heels he is. love to see it.

Logan: "So. Let's get into it."

Alex (frat boy Logan voice): "boom. spin that wheel babyyy"

(brief moment where he clearly has no idea what he just said)

Alex (normal voice): "What?"

(surprised and hysterical burst of laughter)

first of all, alex leaning into logan (while logan puts his own hand on his hip to make room) and putting his chin in his hand is fucking adorable. alex in general is adorable but can you imagine him acting this way with literally anybody else? even george? think about it the answer is no. moving on:

sometimes alex reaches the point of his silliness where nothing he says makes sense, even to his own ears. on team torque logan is obviously pretty used to the glittery moments of nonsense, but this is so random and so stupid that logan's laugh sounds like he was very much caught off guard, and then alex is laughing at himself and they're both cracking up and they have to visibly switch gears to focus on the wheel as it gets to a prize. because after all this they've finally gotten to ✨their space✨ and it's surprising because neither of them thought that was going to happen today! and it's a relief! but it's at the end of the activity. and we've gotten to a point where ✨their space✨ can only exist in little bubbles, little pre-designed staged moments when they're not in real life anymore they're just in a video. and then the video ends and real life is back and how are they supposed to keep pretending like the world isn't falling apart for one of them? how is that space sustainable in the real world?

so basically alex had to jump through eight and a half hoops to get to this point and it's over as soon as it's begun. because he doesn't get to have this part of logan in a way that he can keep. that part is off-limits to him, closed off by the neglect and the depression and the constant self-deprecation that is unspoken but visible from a mile away. logan's losing f1, he's losing his seat, he's losing his team, and alex isn't even comprehending that he's losing logan. he's not giving up his prompting or joking even when it gets awkward, even when logan might even consciously be shutting him out, because he's not willing to except that this is ending prematurely. "it ain't over til it's over" well alex fucking needs that. he needs every last second of logan he can get before they're torn apart and he doesn't want to spend those seconds looking at him between iron bars but that's what it feels like. because logan isn't allowed to have happiness and alex isn't allowed to have logan.

fucking hell

episode 7

[karatekels]

WARNING: SPOILERS WILL BE COMING! 🚨

So, as we all know, part 1 of season 6 is dropping tonight! It's looking like midnight my time, and because I am a large baby, that is past my bedtime.

I'm going to be binging the episodes early tomorrow morning, and posting my ranting rambling thoughts here - maybe I'll just use this post? - the way I did for the first five episodes of my rewatch.

I will hide them under a cut, and I don't plan on posting anything about the new season outside of this post for a week or so.

Basically, if you want to avoid spoilers: read with caution!

Episode 1: Peacetime in the Valley

…God I really love how they do music on this show.

Okay this peace better die real fucking quick because I’m annoyed.

CHOZEN IN A SHORT ROBE, NOW WE’RE TALKING.

Looking at this newspaper clipping, I wonder if we’re supposed to care about little details or if they just didn’t really care and it’s completely random. If it’s NOT random, I have thoughts:

Why is the photographer who took Terry’s mugshot only named by their initials. Anyone know a B.T.?

…okay, looking at the column on the left, this had better be a joke. CLOWN MURDER?!

And then the article itself is cobbled together. Unless this is just a fake newspaper as a plant, then this is pretty week bud.

Coincidentally, if you or any other showrunner would like to hire me to write fake newspaper articles for your show or movie so that people like me don’t tear you apart online, I am available!

Okay so Tory and Robby are clearly still together, and the only thing that isn’t complete peace is Kenny and Anthony only looking at each other from a distance?

DANIEL’S SMUG SMILE AS THE COBRA KAI LOGO GETS THROWN AWAY GO FUCK YOURSELF SIR.

Amanda YES, bring up Terry getting the charges dropped!

Kreese vs. US Marshals eh?

Stop talking about my man without showing him, Daniel.

Oh good, already tension between Daniel and Johnny’s views on things.

OH JOHNNY LOOKS GENUINELY DEVASTATED THAT THEY DEMOLISHED THE ABANDONED WAREHOUSE.

…wow we really are just forgiving Benedict Penis Breath for some reason, huh?

IT DID NOT TAKE AWHILE FOR YOU TWO TO TALK AGAIN, ROBBY. YOU LITERALLY JUST HAD A FIGHT AND THAT SEEMED TO FIX EVERYTHING??

…Johnny wants to use fire on the children? I can think of a couple that can be guinea pigs *cough*KYLER*cough*

Ohhhhhh… Daniel picking Chozen over Johnny isn’t gonna end well. What if instead we got rid of Daniel and Johnny and Chozen hung out.

– insert Sekai Taikai exposition here –

And the new name of the dojo iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis… I MEAN, WE’VE ALL BEEN CALLING IT MIYAGI-FANG FOREVER.

Of course Daniel is angry (I mean it is a stupid picture of Mr. Miyagi but still)

…Chozen going against Johnny here really doesn’t check out. But I am here for a Chozen vs. Johnny fight.

The worst double-date in history! WHO CARES IF SHE DOESN’T WANT TO LEARN MIYAGI-DO??

Robby, don’t you dare speak ill of the precious Kenny/Silver mentorship dynamic you JERK.

Daniel (and Chozen) being so dismissive of Johnny’s feelings makes me sad

Oh DIP OMINOUS TEXT MESSAGE GOOD THING YOU BOUGHT THAT AXE.

Tory looks so sad and I hate it. Eat your waffle cone, Miguel.

Robby why in the hell would interrupting the game make Kenny want to listen to you? Also lmao look who’s taller now Kenny grew like 2 feet.

HI SHAWN. …Being ominous in an arcade is great.

Daniel preaching balance when he’s simultaneously…Daniel is infuriating.

…Chozen alcoholism subplot? ANDNO KUMIKO?! BUT I SHIP IT SO HARD!

Oh Johnny really brought the axe huh?

OH MY GOD STINGRAY I’M DYING.

Shawn your child brother is starting high school please do not take him to a strip club.

ROBBY WHY WOULD YOU APPROACH WHILE THEY HAVE BATS.

WE DON’T WANT TO FIGHT, he says while joining the fight!

…am I Stingray? “Because it’s awesome” – I WILL BELIEVE IN COBRA KAI FOREVER.

And he appreciates that Amanda is a smokeshow.

Don’t you dare disrespect ponytail dude, Shawn Payne.

Did the prison system actually help Shawn? SHOCKING.

Daniel being the bigger person? Only took HOW MANY DECADES?!

…so we’re calling it Miyagi-Do? Even though it’s not just Miyagi-Do? THIS IS DUMB.

We don’t get to see how Kreese got to Korea? REALLY?!

Episode 2: The Prize

NICK! YAY TERRY BACKSTORY! (Also Barrett yay but I mean… TERRY)

Kreese defending her is so cute OH MY GOD SHE’S IN THE AIR CHILL OUT GRAMPS.

Oh good, sewage in the cooking pots.

Not a real talk about money on this show! Oh, we’re cutting away?

…Why did we linger on that one student when Kim said “Silver is gone now”? Am I just looking for hope where there isn’t any?

I’m sorry, how old is this man going to be now? HE LOOKED 80 IN THE LATE 60S.

Does Amanda just dress like that everyday? Daniel is a lucky man.

I would watch an entire YouTube series in the vein of Trixie & Katya’s “I Like to Watch” that’s just Chozen watching reality shows.

“Your incompetence is why I must stay alive” is a brutal fucking line.

Kyler and his gaggle of 45 year old college freshmen. Or just Brucks.

…please think Chozen and Johnny are a gay couple, Mr. Realtor. Okay no, but Johnny blowing this up pretty spectacularly is pretty great.

Why do I feel like this is going to culminate in Kreese stabbing Immortal Kim because he’s “worthy of taking control”?

OR THE SNAKE COULD BITE HIM UMMMM.

As someone who has been in university in some capacity for like a decade, this… was not my experience. Though watching Kyler get shit on is kind of fun.

OH NO DUTCH REFERENCE. HE’S STILL IN PRISON THOUGH THAT’S GOOD.

Deus ex Johnny-fan ftw!

NOT HALLUCINATION NICK MARINI!

…Okay, so we are just gonna double down on the homoeroticism with men being each other’s weaknesses? I mean I’m here for it.

Frats have always seemed so stupid to me, with hazing and shit. Even for morons like Kyler. Never thought I’d see the day where I’m rooting for Kyler but I guess here we are. DESTROY THE DOUCHEBAGS. (Though how is anyone getting into college with this ASSAULT)

American tourist loses mind in cave, talks to snake. Film at 11.

Kyler acknowledging he’s a moron? I’m here for it. NO NOT ANOTHER FRAT COME ON.

LMAO Johnny insisting he has a job – AND IT WORKS HE JUST STARTS SELLING CARS.

Amanda is right though, what’s in the briefcase, Johnny?

Kim Da-Eun is gonna JUMP Kreese’s bones istg

Episode 3: Sleeper

Chozen freeloading is hilarious

“Chicks dig me” as a response to possibly having a daughter is crazy.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?!

…the cobra is still in your dealership, Daniel?

“I’m a girl dad” – Johnny Lawrence, 2024 (or whatever year this is supposed to be I can’t remember)

…okay this episode is called Sleeper and we’re seeing that same student we did in the last episode when they said “Silver is gone now” DID TERRY HAVE A BASTARD CHILD AND NOT KNOW ABOUT IT?!

You tell ‘em, Devon.

Lol “LEE, CALL YOUR DAD, YOU’RE HANDLING THIS PROBLEM AT YOUR HOUSE.”

Please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character please don’t be a stupid retcon of Miyagi’s character

Got a lot of mystery boxes in this episode, huh?

…”we can have a girls’ night,” says the 50-something year old man to the 3 teenaged girls he isn’t related to. I do love his relationship with Devon though. It’s a shame she’s going to die in a freak karate accident so that Johnny can name his daughter after her.

THE HORRORS LOCKED AWAY IN A HIDDEN COMPARTMENT ARE THAT HE WAS A BOXER?!

…oh and he beat the shit out of people.

AND HE CHANGED HIS NAME?! OKAY SHIT’S GETTING INTERESTING.

Lmao the Ouija board fakeout

Yeah good Daniel, leave your dolled-up wife in the shady gym.

OH MY GOD JOHNNY PLEASE STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING.

Kreese is really just trying to make a bunch of killing machines (or at least one, anyway), huh?

The Big 3 weren’t lying when they said they were going all out this season with the fights.

Also is Kreese just fine with the snake bite? He’s fine?

Oh noooo, Mr. Miyagi wasn’t a perfect human I’m SHOCKED.

Johnny is SO happy they’re fighting I love it – OH NO BOOOOOOOOOO PEACE. Go get matching tattoos or something you dorks.

Oh no Daniel, is your perfect worldview crumbling? Was surrogate daddy not as perfect as you thought?

YES, CHOZEN. WHAT DID HAPPEN IN CANCUN?

Nooo Chozen don’t leave even if it is for Kumiko I’LL MISS YOU.

Yes, let’s end the episode on “girls are easy”

Oh no wait, more Daniel mourning the loss of his innocence

Were the rumours right? We’re going to Spain? LET’S GOOOOOOO – wait how are they going to afford everyone going?

And we’re down to six – Miguel, Robby, Hawk, Sam, Tory… Kenny/Demetri/Devon?

Episode 4: Underdogs

Hawk thinks patriotism will earn him a spot? God I hate that mohawk.

“Each and every one of you has a shot, even though many of you are either our children, close enough to be our children, or are our clear favourites”

SHUT UP DEVON IF ANTHONY GETS PICKED I’M GOING TO KILL SOMEONE.

Johnny assuming he’s as good as a partner at the dealership is KILLING me

THANK YOU FOR TELLING HIM NO ABOUT ANTHONY, JOHNNY.

Why is Daniel so against them… actually earning their spots?

Hi Mike!

Lol flashback – but why not show Terry?

YES DEVON MY QUEEN.

AWWW, Penis Breath is so happy with his new name.

SERIOUSLY? ANTHONY?

If Anthony makes it I’m killing myself.

Devon speaking up for all neglected minor characters everywhere.

What in the actual fuck is going on. Go away Yasmine you suck. OKAY BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF DEMETRI’S HAPPINESS. …maybe her dumping him would’ve been better she is the WORST.

Binary Bros. will be the couple with the drama this season.

This capture the flag game seems fun but Mike can’t look at everyone at once…

I mean your son IS going to bleed and get the shit kicked out of him, Daniel. Wake up. No? Gonna keep feeding him your bs? Cool.

Barnes has quite the craftsmanship.

JOHNNY VS MIKE LET’S GOOOOOOOO… but away from the saw please.

HEY HE SAID THE THING.

…we’re really just gonna call each other bad boys with a straight face?

Okay Devon, enough with the negative self-talk. You’re sounding like me.

NOOOOOO Binary Bros. are fighting!

Kenny is kind of cocky af and I hope he doesn’t get it.

Smart move would’ve been to go up top and see if you can spot the flag…

OH WE TOOK KENNY OUT WITH A CHEAP TRICK…that’s not funny.

Oh SHIT Demetri is being an asshat. Why is NO ONE asking bout Hawk?

MAN now Devon has to feel bad because someone else chea– OH MY GOD IT WAS HER.

Episode 5: Best of the Best

Why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous why does Tory’s mom healing feel so ominous

Oh look Kreese has come for a visit.

And yet another blonde champion has turned against Kreese.

OH MY GOD, DEMETRI SHUT UP.

Robby you lovestruck little fool it’s adorable.

I really love Terry (duh) but Johnny is 100% my favourite Sensei.

HEY LEAVE THAT CANADIAN DUMMY ALONE, EH?

What about your worst impulses, Danny Boy?  S H U T    U P   and appreciate your hot wife for once, Jesus!

…Carmen is going to go into labour in this episode isn’t she.

AND there it is! Nope wait, false alarm. Everybody go hug Miguel.

NO NO NO DON’T BE DEAD NO NO NO

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT

HER FIST WAS CLENCHED – WAS IT KREESE?

Why does Sam and Miguel’s relationship seem so focused on beating Robby and Tory? While Robby and Tory seem actually into each other?

Daniel you suck, you hypocritical, self-righteous twat.

This is some mighty fine acting, Miss Peyton List. Best crier on the show since Xolo!

JOHNNY YOU HAVE A BABY ON THE WAY CAN YOU NOT YANK THE STEERING WHEEL.

…he’s right though. SHUT UP DANIEL.

Okay but Johnny this is really stupid you’ve sold cars for four minutes.

LMAO “YOU’RE FINALLY LEAVING HIM” GOD AMANDA LISTEN TO JOHNNY HE’S RIGHT.

Johnny gonna embrace boxing with the students? Daniel can’t really say anything about it not being about Mr. Miyagi then.

She kept… the bottlecap… I AM NOT OKAY.

You did not try, Daniel. Shut the fuck up. I’m mad at you. Go away. Get your head outta your ass.

You don’t get to know everything about anyone, Daniel. Especially when you’ve got your head so far in the sand you can’t even come to grips with who YOU are.

Amanda go find Tory. GO FIND TORY, AMANDA.

Okay there’s Tory. USE THAT MOTIVATION, ROBBY.

Can Robby get a decent haircut for once please? He’s a cute kid, his head deserves better.

Good for you, Robby. (Also why do I feel like he’s going to change his last name to Lawrence once the baby is born and then they’ll all just be one big happy sappy family)

I’m sure that Tory seeing both of Sam’s living and supportive parents there won’t screw her up at all.

Oh that’s gonna be Tory’s therapist or something for Amanda isn’t it UH OH.

YEAH YOU NEED TO STOP THE FIGHT.

OH SHIT. Not Danny striking first.

FUCKING GOOD ENOUGH WITH THIS KUMBAYA SHIT.

…Kenny’s gonna be mad about that – oh wait he’s not there and I’m sure it’s going well for him.

Not the bloodstained headband.

…Hawk really kept the dumb mohawk for the tournament huh?

Tory and Kenny gonna be fighting for Korea with Kreese?

(Why is Kreese there? This is televised? The police??)

LET’S FUCKING GO TORY.

[canonicallyobserving911]

WIP Wednesday

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

Important update regarding 'Chapter 29'

FANON FanFic: Buddie Multi-Chapter - Hiatus Reading: “I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”

This is an EPIC LOVE STORY!

Currently 28 chapters completed: 1.77M Words; Rated: Mature

#1 {Previous snippet} #2 {Previous snippet} #3 {Previous snippet}

#4 {Previous snippet} #5 {Previous snippet}

The good news is the chapter is huge because there’s a lot happening with the Diaz family. 🎆🥂

The even better news is Chapter 29 was getting so big, I had to divide it into two chapters, i.e., chapters 29 and 30. 🥳😁🤗

Here’s the 4-1-1: On Sunday, June 23rd, I posted a Several Sentences Sunday and I indicated it would be the final snippet from Chapter 29. Even though that was my original plan and I was adamant about sticking to it, my plans changed as I continued to write the chapter.  On Monday, I realized in order to do the chapter justice, there was no way I could reasonably fit everything into 80K words or less.  Therefore, I took yesterday to reevaluate and I decided to divide it into two separate chapters.  It was a great decision but it wasn’t the first time I’ve done it within this multi-chapter fic.  I did it with Chapter 22 because it was huge and I didn’t know until I got ready to post it in AO3 that the site wouldn’t let me upload that many words in one chapter.  So, Buck and Eddie’s marriage ceremony and the time the Diazes spent in Italy was divided into two chapters, 22 and 23.  Since Chapter 29 is larger than Chapter 22 was before I divided it, I knew I couldn’t continue writing it until I made that crucial decision.

Please understand I love writing and I love all the fics I’ve written but for many reasons, this one is special to me.  Mainly because Buck, Eddie and Chris as well as the other main characters are growing and I can see how far they’ve come when I go back and review previous chapters.  I’m allowing the writing and the narrative to go where they’re organically going to go and for me, it’s the best way to write.  Two of my biggest pet peeves with CANON is lots of things happen off-screen and there’s not enough time in each episode for everything to be included.  I know they have 43 to 45 minutes but I like to see things happen and it’s the same way when I’m reading.  I’m still pissed we didn’t get to see Buck and Eddie sing karaoke but I digress because if I go there, we’ll be here all day.  I like to see and read everything so I won’t have to do mental gymnastics in order to figure out where or what the show or a writer wants me to know but that’s just me. 😜

I’ve posted about the way I worry over the size of the chapters in several of the notes sections and this time was no different because I literally had to stop stressing over how large Chapter 29 had become. I fully understand multi-chapter fics aren’t every reader’s cup of tea but I love long fics and not only do I write them; I read them too.  One shots are great and I’ve written some but I usually end up turning them into a series because I believe there’s even more story to be told.  When I started writing this fic more than a year ago, my initial plan was for it to be 12 chapters but by the time I got to Chapter 6, I changed it to undecided then after I posted Chapter 11, I decided the final number would be 30.  After I wrote Chapter 25, I took a few days to reevaluate where I wanted Buck’s, Eddie’s and Chris’ storylines to go and I knew I wouldn’t be able to fit it all into the remaining five chapters, therefore I increased it to 40.  The good thing about that is I incorporated 2 additional chapters in the count so my plan is to still complete this fic within 40 chapters.

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who’s read and commented on this fic on AO3 (I read and respond to every comment) and to those who’ve reblogged posts about it on Tumblr.  I really appreciate all of you and I know writing more than 1 million words for a fic is a lot but I love this fic, I’m going to see it through to the end and I’m going to continue to let the writing do what it does.

Since I’m planning to post both Chapters 29 and 30 no later than this weekend, I’ve included one more snippet below and I hope everyone enjoys reading it.

__________

Here’s a snippet from one of Buck and Eddie’s conversations they’re having while they’re lying in bed and it’s emotionally angsty.

_________

“Babe, you know how much I care about Bobby and my relationship with him, right?”

“Of course I do.  He’s been there for all of us but for you it’s different because he’s not just your captain, he’s also a father to you and you’re his son.  It’s been like that for years.”

“Exactly and him being my captain, mentor, friend and father figure has been great but the truth is… I don’t think he believes I can lead.  I didn’t tell you this but when I was trying to get him to notice me so he could see how good I am at being a firefighter…”  He trails off because he’s not sure if he should even mention it.

Eddie raises his eyebrows but he doesn’t interrupt, he just patiently waits for him to continue.

Since Buck’s not sure where his career will end up whenever Frank releases him to return to work and he’ll have to discuss what he’s thinking tomorrow when he meets with Captain Mehta, he decides to just say it.  “He told me I didn’t have enough life experience but I think my personal life shouldn’t matter.”

“I agree, it shouldn’t but did he say anything else?”

“No… well yeah but it was all about taking inventory of my life so I—I can be at ease but I still don’t know what that has to do with me being fire captain.”

Eddie gently squeezes his hand because he can tell his husband is getting upset.  He inhales then says, “Amore mio… a lot about your life has changed since then and it’s unclear why Bobby said those things without elaborating but I do have some ideas about why he didn’t… which we’ll discuss in a minute but let me ask you a question.  Last April, during your performance review, did you ask him about it?”

“No… I didn’t because he listed my PT scores as outstanding when they weren’t.  Then he um… reminded me that I died and I told him I needed to be held to the same standard as everyone else.  I wanted to talk to him then but it didn’t seem like the right time and I still want to talk to him but I don’t think he’ll be objective and it’s the reason why I believe it’s time for me to consider transferring out of the 118… again but it’s different this time and it’s the reason why I want to talk to Captain Mehta since I’m thinking about applying to work at another firehouse.”

Eddie’s eyes widen because he’s in shock but he recovers quickly.  “Let’s talk this through because you told me you want to be captain one day and not just any captain, you said you want to be captain of the 118.  I know you’re not ready to go back to work and you know I’ll fully support your decision if you decide not to but amore mio… how do you feel about being fire captain now that it’s possible Frank could be releasing you from therapy soon?  I’m asking because being captain is your dream.”

“I—I’m not sure but I have been thinking it might be time to give up on my dream since things have changed and if I decide to return um… it’s likely everyone on A-shift will be moving on to other things but where’s that going to leave me?”  He admits with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

“My love… you know I’ll support you no matter what you decide but I have to be honest, I’m worried”.

“Why?”

“Because being captain of the 118 is your dream and you’ve always been Bobby’s protégé.”

“Yeah, I thought so too but it’s different now because Bobby has already picked the person he wants to take his place but he’s never even considered me.”  He pauses for a few seconds then continues.  “It’s not important anyway because I can work out of any firehouse in Los Angeles”.

He frowns and replies, “Buck?!  Your dream is important and it matters.  In September, you told me being captain of the 118 is something you’ve been wanting for a long time so… talk to me.  If you don’t want it anymore I’ll understand but if you do… you know I’ll be here with you every step of the way.”

“Babe, I know you will but the fact is I’ve been on medical leave for more than five months and I—I was on paid administrative restrictions and paid administrative leave several weeks before that.  A lot’s happened over the years and I don’t know if Bobby will ever be able to see past the stuff I did.”

“But Buck…”

He whispers, “It’s ok.  I’ve made a lot of mistakes as a firefighter and I don’t know if I can come back from them.  I’ve disobeyed orders more times than I can count, I filed a lawsuit against the city and a lot of other things that I can’t change.  It’s where I am now so maybe it’s time for me to consider other options.”

What is Eddie going to say next?🤷🏽‍♀️

What is Captain Mehta going to say to Buck when they talk? 👀

Is Buck going to leave the 118 if Frank releases him to return to work? 🙃

__________

Fic Summary: Months after Buck and Eddie were hit by the same lightning strike; they’re still struggling with the aftermath of it.  But before they make their love confessions, they’ll spend time getting to know themselves as individuals first. Eddie learns to enjoy the simple things in life as he participates in activities on his own and with new friends while Buck learns the rest of the 31-year-old deep dark family secret about his conception and birth. Their journey to forever is still a work in progress but once they finally admit they’re in love with each other, everything that follows their love confessions will be cataclysmic.

__________

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Eddie makes a new friend while Buck receives devastating news regarding the sperm donation he made for Connor and Kameron.

Chapter 2 - Buck does a lot of research to learn more about the abnormalities found in his red blood cells and Eddie starts a new therapy journey that’s all about him and not the traumas he’s experienced.

Chapter 3 - After more than a month, Buck and Eddie finally spend time together outside of work but it doesn’t end well and they part with a lot of uncertainty regarding their places in each other’s lives.

Chapter 4 - Eddie has a few realizations about his life which causes him to consider moving back to El Paso, TX while Buck continues to be reminded of his past which causes him to take an impromptu road trip across America.

Chapter 5 - Both Buck and Eddie have difficult conversations with their parents and Buck finally learns the truth behind the reason why his mother despised him while Eddie finally tells his mother about the way she tries to control him.

Chapter 6 - More than two weeks after Buck pushed Eddie away after suggesting they needed a break; Eddie decides to try again. Eddie’s there for Buck when he’s at his worst just like Buck was there for him when he was at his worst and he won’t let Buck give up.

Chapter 7 - After Buck’s mental breakdown, Eddie has his back the same way Buck had his when he had his own breakdown more than a year ago.  They share several vulnerable and emotionally intimate moments with one another and they begin to realize their small, sweet and caring gestures matter just as much if not more than any grand gesture ever could because these are the foundations of a long-lasting love relationship.

Chapter 8 - Buck, Eddie and Chris all have their own therapists and during their sessions, they reflect on their pasts while they’re in the present so they can prepare for their future together as a family.

Chapter 9 - Buck and Eddie are there for each other when Buck has to testify as a witness during the trial.  But by the end of it, they’ll both realize their individual and shared traumas are going to keep resurfacing until they talk about them, deal with the fact that they’re in love with one another and face the fact that they can’t live without each other.

Chapter 10 - As Buck and Eddie finally begin to confront their past traumas, they realize how much they need each other to fill in the gaps of their memories.  Additionally, the universe screams at them for what appears to be the one hundredth time so Buck can realize he doesn’t have to ‘find it’ because he already ‘made it’ and Eddie’s reminded tomorrow isn’t promised and he doesn’t have to die alone if he doesn’t want to.

Chapter 11 - A “virga” or dry thunderstorm is in the forecast but once the rain starts, the thunderstorm happening outside won’t be able to match the storm brewing inside between Buck and Eddie.  It’s the universe’s final scream and when the tumultuous winds begin to blow, they’ll have one last chance to hold onto everything they’ve built over the last six years or they’ll lose it all forever.

Chapter 12 - Buck and Eddie have always shared a deep physical attraction and an emotional intimacy that’s unmatched but now that they’re in a relationship, they’re learning how to navigate the romantic intimacy they’ve been waiting for six years to explore. The love they have for each other is a once in a lifetime, soulmate, love of their lives type of love that transcends space and time.

Chapter 13 - While navigating the newness of their romantic relationship, Buck and Eddie take advantage of every moment they spend together. As their individual lives, people from their pasts, time constraints and the possibility of losing each other again make attempts to interrupt and interfere with their journey to forever, they love, care for, support and hold onto each other even tighter to withstand it all.

Chapter 14 - Buck and Eddie can see the lights at the end of the tunnels regarding the results of Buck’s Cancer Screening along with everything else they’re dealing with. But are the lights they see exits to the tunnels or are they headlights on different runaway trains that are speeding towards them in an effort to interrupt their forever?

Chapter 15 - Buck and Eddie have known they were exactly who the other one wanted in a partner since they met six years ago when they agreed to have each other’s backs. They’re in a romantic relationship, they’re both preparing to ask the other one to spend forever with them and by the end of the seventh week into their relationship, together they will plan their most important and greatest adventure for their future.

Chapter 16 - As Buck and Eddie begin to prepare for their marriage ceremony that will take place in Rome, Italy in December 2023, they start planning their first international adventure as a romantic couple. Even though Chris is still the only person they’ve told about their relationship, several people who know them have already witnessed the love they share and as the days continue, others will witness it too.

Chapter 17 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to departing Los Angeles for their international adventure, a moment in time will remind them; life is fragile, tomorrow isn’t promised and every second of everyday should be cherished because everything can change in an instant. The result of that realization will cause them to hold onto each other even more.

Chapter 18 - As Buck, Eddie and Chris prepare for family gatherings before and during the Thanksgiving holiday, the “Santa Ana Winds” start to blow and all sorts of expected and unexpected familial drama ensues.

Chapter 19 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to their wedding day, the universe begins to align everything so that some of their parent and children's relationships are strengthened while others come to an abrupt end.

Chapter 20 - With only 14 days remaining until Buck, Eddie and Chris depart Los Angeles, CA traveling to Rome, Italy, for their first family adventure, an early morning conversation about “tying up loose ends” helps Buck and Eddie realize there are still several things left unfinished on their ‘To Do’ lists. The question is will there be enough time to complete all of them?

Chapter 21 - Buck, Eddie and Chris are finalizing their ‘To Do’ Lists, double checking their itineraries and packing their suitcases in preparation for their trip to Europe so they can board their flight that departs Los Angeles, CA on Friday, December 15, 2023 at 3:25PM.

Chapter 22 - While Buck, Eddie and Chris spend the first 8 days of their European family adventure in Italy, their primary reason for going will be fulfilled as well as several others they hadn’t considered or anticipated.

Chapter 23 - As the Diaz Family continues their Italian family adventure, they’ll say, “Ciao” or hello and goodbye to a lot of things almost immediately after they become an official and legal family.

Chapter 24 - After Buck, Eddie and Chris arrive in London, England on December 24th; the Diazes immediately start preparing to spend their first family Christmas together. During their stay, each of them will hear a few choice words that will be the life raft to get them home to complete their searches to be seen and to be found.

Chapter 25 - After spending more than two weeks in Europe, Eddie, Buck and Chris are back in Los Angeles and they’re getting ready to attend Maddie and Chimney’s New Year’s Eve party. During the event, they have plans to make two surprise announcements but the question is, who’s really going to be surprised, the Diaz family or their found family at the 118?

Chapter 26 - Buck and Eddie are once again faced with their greatest fear of losing each other but this time it could be permanent and if it is, then they won’t be able to spend the rest of their lives together.

Chapter 27 - After Buck resumes therapy, he’ll continue to face the fact that he “DIED” in March 2023 and during those sessions, he’ll learn about the 7 stages of grief. As he continues his healing journey, Eddie will be right by his side just like he promised and the Diaz family will start to deal with their three minutes and seventeen seconds loss as a family.

Chapter 28 - Two years ago, Eddie was asked, “What are you afraid of?”; twice, once by Frank and once by Buck but he only answered one of them without deflecting. Since that time, he’s been to therapy and him and Buck got married but the question resurfaces when Frank asks Buck the same question and Buck asks it of Eddie for the second time. However, when Buck asks, his reasoning will be about something else entirely.

Chapter 29 - Will be posted soon.

Chapter 30 - Will be posted soon.

__________

Read chapters 1-28 are available on AO3.

Continue reading on AO3

[lookingforhappy]

So, be honest, how are you doing? Are you gonna be okay? Cause I'm ridiculously upset tbh. I kept feeling weird watching the show (but some parts of episode 1 were kinda nice).....then the incident happened. Then basically everything was on fire.

took me a while to process the season tbh i think everyones collective disgust is helping honestly bc it means i can go ahead and write/draw/hc stuff that ignores it or changes it wildly lol

i thought the majority of the show was pretty medicore, not the worst thing they could have done just not as in depth as it needed to be.

the puke scene was a bad shot at humour that i hated but if i sat here listing every bit that i hated then id be here all day and honestly i dont know if ill ever do that because theres just too much to list.

i checked out entirely once five said they all had to die to fix the world and then it just kept getting worse and worse and my literal nightmare scenario happened.

how many times do we need to re learn that any variant of "it was all a dream" doesn't work??? the only and i mean only time ive seen it done well is inception (funny bc elliot page is in that too) and that whole movie is about dreams which is why it works.

(little hope is another example of a story that pulled the "it was all a dream" thing and lost 90% of its audience because of that ending)

just honestly why. who did they think would like this??

when five ran out on them and got on that train i was so sure that they were going to do a sacrifice end with five.

he had lost literally everything, his families trust, his girlfriend, his dream life (living comfortably in a world he understands with someone he loves

as bad as five/lila was - and believe me i have many problems with it from a characterisation standpoint from both perspectives - it was an interesting move for exploring fives psyche and wants... like he has always been the family man but when presented with something he understands as intimately as solitude and survival but with the comforts of a stable world, food source and someone to be with)

like he was set up perfectly to die and be redeemed through that (again, not something i like but something that would have been better), have diego be with him during his final moments and have five apologise for cheating with lila and confess that he only did it in the throes of surivial induced insanity/desperation and that he always wanted diego happy. end with five dead but remembered, and the family alive.

then it lit on fire. like it was smoldering before but yeah like you said a literal housefire erupted in that last episode. the ending pissed me off so bad i can never enjoy that season again - literally tried to rewatch the season to try and understand it better but couldnt start the final episode bc its awful.

idk im just praying that not everyone leaves this fandom for dead because i know theres some amazing fic writers out there and the series itself was good for 1 - 3 seasons.

[leandra-kinard]

sorry in advance if i come off degrading or rude here (not my intention at all) but i'm sending this to you because you mentioned fictional narrative re: buddie, so i wanna add my thoughts about plausibility in relation to narrative format and medium conventions. long rant & full disclosure, i just watched 911, so i don't know how the conversation around this was pre-tommy but i don't understand how people thought/think it's a slowburn romance arc they were building with buddie that could actually happen. literally no romantic relationship on this show has been slowburn because it's just not how procedural shows of this kind are written. bathena barely interacts in s1 and were put together in a couple episodes. madney are only friends for five episodes or so. none of buck and eddie's relationships have build-up that lasts more than a few eps. the closest i can think of is buck and abby and even that wasn't much. i just don't think it's the nature of these type of shows, with the exception of something like the show castle where two main leads are set up as one day becoming romantic, to give breathing room for romance to go from zero to established. they're written in on-average 6-episode arcs and planned according to audience response, this is basically how every aspect of these shows work including the romantic plots.

which brings me to my second point you already touched a little bit: medium conventions but especially in relation to queer rep. when we have queer rep in these type of mainstream shows they're rarely stories about bi/gay awakening. double gay awakening? honestly, i don't remember a single show where something like this happened. i'm shocked we even got bi buck AT ALL because nominally straight hot guy main character getting confirmed as queer rarely happens. i kinda find the notion of people genuinely expecting this to happen with two main characters over seasons-long burn kind of laughable. and don't get me wrong, i understand why people love the idea, i'm myself a slow-burn building-a-bond-before-romance type of gal but i just don't think that type of queer story would ever work in a format like this, considering the average audience. look at something like 911ls for example, carlos and tk are both openly gay and start having sex on ep 2 and are boyfriends by ep 10 - that's the space queer stories currently hold in mainstream media. where it's made clear from the start and executed quickly over a few eps (not saying there's no further story with them, i just mean the relationship development). so yeah i don't think buddie was ever an option for the writers beyond being aware of the interest in it which is objectively very small compared to the millions of people watching this show. tldr: i think being ship-baited by a mainstream procedural show on fox is like going to the hardware store and asking for milkshake.

Okay, so I don't agree that slow burns aren't possible at all on shows like 911. Afaik, that popular ship on the Rookie also took several seasons, and there are many more shows that had a "will they, won't they?" situation with two main characters. Sure, it's much more difficult to write, plan and pull through, but it does get done.

Many people were hoping Buddie was FINALLY gonna be a queer version of that trope, and the thing is, there was enough subtext in the previous few seasons to support it. There were scenes that were shot and composed with commonly used cinematographic and contextual tropes that are usually used for romantic couples; there was all that stuff with Eddie having panic attacks over Ana, seeming very distanced with her, Carla's "Make sure you follow your heart, not Christopher's", and much more.

I do believe that backdoor was always open a tiny crack wide, and the writers were aware of it being a tiny, tiny option and therefore included all these little bits that would later make it plausible. There were interviews in the past with Tim where he even hinted at something like that, or left the option open; and there were other writers and directors who also subtly confirmed some subtext. It was never explicitly spelled out but hinted at.

So I'm pretty convinced that it at least was some level of consideration, in the past - always with a tiny probability to become possible, but it WAS there. (And before anyone reading this says "oh so that WAS ship baiting?" Nope, it wasn't. Giving yourself the option to maaaaybe do something in the future as a writer is normal procedure.)

Also, just because something was never done before (i.e. a queer slow burn) doesn't mean it'll never get done. It just makes it a lot less likely and subject to MANY external factors.

But yeah, I definitely agree that putting TWO queer awakening arcs around main characters into the story is extremely unlikely to ever happen on a show like this. And actually, we kinda already had two: the show started with Michael coming out to Athena. So yeah, even though we were thrown into the last stage/aftermath of that arc in s1 rather than seeing it play out from the start of its development, we had that.

[i-write-sin-not-tragedy]

...Top five Charlie moments, I'm curious.

Sorry this took so long!!! I had many feelings lol

Here we go!

5. Her ranting to Alastor

It's just a cute moment to me! I especially love Alastors aroace stare of death the enitre time but also i think its a good moment to highlight how Charlie works? If that makes sense. It was nice to see her ranting to him, frustrated and confused over the situation with Vaggie. A runner-up to this is definitely her talk with Rosie, but i particularly enjoyed seeing Charlie just. Ranting lol

4. Her Hugging Angel

YALL HAD TO KNOW THIS ONE WAS COMING i Have so many things to say about the end of episode 4 but this this is my favorite scene. Like they could have easily played it off or not really addressed it but Charlie waiting up till Husk brought Angel home???? Specifically so she could apologize to him?? Just overall her realizing that she messed up. Angel accecpting the apology and telling her he understands that she genuinely wanted to help him.

This scene means a lot it was so sweet it was so kskfkwkfkekdkwkd Charlie is such a kind hearted person and it was eating her alive to know in her fury and anger to protect Angel she inadvertently made things worse,,,,god. Sweet girl im so happy they hugged im so happy he reassured her it was okay, he knows her heart is in the right place.

3. "Just, come see what im trying to do here. It's really important to me."

I just aaaaaaa god FUCK. She genuinely cares about them so much. Charlie has found company and family in this band of misfits and at this point knows they all believe in her, and this scene melts me. Charlie telling her dad how important this is (and the flash to Angel and Pens faces and how those words alone mean so much to them ill cry)

Charlie believes in them so much. She calls them her family to adams face later on, and i melt

2. "What makes you think you can treat him like that!?"

Just. Angry Charlie. Charlie looking ready to beat Valentinos ass into the ground (and she probably would have had Angel not stepped in)

Like I genuinely believe she'd be pissed if she saw ANY of the other Hotel staff being treated like this, but I do think it being Angel played a part in HOW mad she got.

(Let me cook here okay)

Its like. Angel up till then had been making a point to not let on bad things were for him. He only ever called Val his "Boss". He actively hid and covered up his text messages. Charlie had been operating under the impression that Angel was an addict and sex worker, but she had absolutely no idea he was a victim.

Thats why i love this moment. You see it click in her head. The way she watches Val push Angel, the way her eyes follow, you can literally SEE her putting the pieces together, the Realization of just how much Angel was dealing with.

I can only imagine what was going on in her head but I think a big reason why she got SO angry in this scene is because she finally understands.

And shes ready to kill over it.

1. That's princess of Hell to you, pig."

I have very little to add to this besides that this is badass. I LOVE angry Charlie. i LOVE seeing her pissed off. She has been building up to this. She deserved this moment to look Adam in the eyes and remind him EXACTLY who the fuck hes talking to.

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

I just I’m raging at this weeks episode and I know I should be happy but I’m not I’m so pissed off.

So the girls knows what happened in Atlas but they’re bickering about if it's really as bad as it seems and if they completely failed or not which leads to this:

“What good is saving anybody if Salem just destroys the world anyway.”

“That’s how Ironwood thought, you don’t mean that.”

NO RUBY IS RIGHT YANG SHE IS RIGHT IF THE PLANET IS DESTROYED EVERYONE ON THE PLANET IS ALSO DEAD GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY UNDERSTOOD THIS WHY CAN'T YOU.

Also are we now really trying to "but the economy" the entire fucking planet? How are they deluding themselves into thinking protecting the relics shouldn't be a top priority? Why are we trying to act like Ruby is wrong for recognizing Ironwood was right when he was very concerned about Salem getting the world ending relics? It's absolutely disgusting how the show in continuing to drag James's name through the mud like I knew it would happen but fuck it's got me so annoyed.

Salem ending the world is a real problem to be worried about, handwaving it away as "something only a bad person like Ironwood" would think is just insane to me. She wants everyone and everything dead, Salem getting half the items she needs to do that should scare the shit out of everyone but as we find out later in the episode this is not the case and it is the last thing on their minds.

Yes, saving people is important, but the mains are ignoring the very real problem of no amount of people saving from disasters like Atlas will matter in a world ending scenario. Everyone will die if Salem gets the relics. And even if the gods lied about ending the planet if humanity isn't united that won't fix the fact that as of right now they have every reason to believe they will and need to be acting as if that will happen. And saying Ironwood was totally wrong and we did everything right, shows a callous disregard for the consequences if Salem unites the relics. Why is the show trying to make us root for these girls again?

Now you remember the damn cat???? The one who literally was sacrificing themselves for you? It took you this long to wonder if they're okay? Once again we find out the cat might not be so good a person this episode, but at this point the mains have been thinking they are a friend and can be trusted so once again them forgetting about the cat and the civilian is just a gross disregard for peoples lives that feels so weird right after the girls try and boost themselves up as better then James for trying to save the people.

Also Jaunes explanation on the story is so confusing because we don’t fucking know the story so we don’t know what went wrong or why. Or why their storm isn't as bad or violent and Blake and Yangs given they should be in a really bad emotional position right now with everything they have found out.

Let's also finally talk about the elephant in the room. Yes the bee's being canon is a very good thing. They said I love you and kissed so we cannot deny they are canon. This is very good and needed to happen but it happened five episodes late if I'm being generous and 3 seasons too late worst case. But even how they got together wasn't....great. A storm that forces them to tell the truth? They aren't saying it because they're ready to? They're being forced to? Okay. This is so weird and awkward.

I also have to wonder how they started mentally talking to each other and why neither thought it was weird. This whole scene feels so awkward and forced and even if it leads to a good thing we've been demanding that doesn't make the writing work. I also have to wonder, why is the bee's relationship "more important" then finding out about Salem getting the relics? Why isn't that a bigger concern for literally all of the girls? It should be that's for sure. And just do not even get me started on the damn comedy surrounding them all getting out of the damn storm just. Don't. This post is way to long as it is.

Aaaannnndddddd Jaune has Crescent Rose how boring. This is the dumbest way to get Ruby her weapon back. All of the theorizing about how her losing her weapon was a sign of her losing herself and finding it again would be tied to her finding herself again just got tossed out the window. The interesting and complex storytelling tied to that arc are just gone and I am so damn annoyed. It's been established for a long time a persons weapon is apart of themselves and we could have had a great arc about Ruby's search for Crescent Rose mirroring her search to find herself again. It could have actually been a good use of wonderlands weirdness that is once again not utilized in a meaningful way.

[sevenrenny]

Having chronic migraine sucks, cause nobody took me seriously for years, telling me "Everyone gets headaches/I get headaches too!" meanwhile, without my medication, I'm incapacitated from the pain for four days a week on average, and everyone thinks I'm just being lazy when I physically can't get myself out of bed or even open my eyes, let alone feed myself without throwing up.

I go to work with ringing in my ears. I have to use a shower chair because the dizzy spells hit out of nowhere. I get blurry vision and sudden vision flashes. Even after the migraine episodes pass, I'm left with post-migraine where I'm physically drained and got massive brain fog.

And because of my GI issues (that's a whole separate medical issue that has landed me in the ER five times this year), I can't take oral medication because my body refuses to absorb most of it or it just decides my meds aren't on the guest list and activates the puke button.

The only medicine that seems to work is this autoinjector I take once a month... and it's the equivalent of about 600 USD per syringe. I have to jump through so many hoops to get it. It doesn't get rid of the migraines, just lessens their frequency and severity. (My current doctor has suggested I start Botox treatment but I don't feel financially ready for that.)

Even with my official diagnosis, hardly anybody believes me. "It's just a headache," "Ninety percent of people in the world get headaches!" "You need to eat vegetables more," "Try visiting my doctor. She's a gynecologist but she specializes in everything," "Have you tried meditation?" "Have you tried-"

I can assure you, whatever you're going to think of on the spot, I've already tried within the past 10+ years of my life dealing with this issue. This, and my GI issue and other chronic health issues.

I've also noticed people get uncomfortable when I explain to them what 'chronic' means. They squirm about it. They deny it's a thing, that there has to be a cure, I just haven't found it yet. They make up solutions on the spot. I kid you not, someone suggested I put a snail on my forehead for it to 'absorb' the migraine.

I have office workers telling me they know more than my medical professionals. I missed a few work days due to being in the ER from an intestinal issue, and had a coworker ask me what was I possibly doing to make myself sick, that- "You must have an unhealthy lifestyle, or you wouldn't be like this." Another coworker pitched in, stating that I must be doing something wrong. Family members insist on that assumption, too.

In other words: the chronic illnesses I was born with (the chronic migraine, gastroparesis, PCOS, chronic skin issues, other health concerns) are somehow my fault. I truly do believe this idea stems from how uncomfortable the thought of chronic illness makes them, and the belief that they can avoid becoming chronically ill themselves if they try hard enough, that you only get chronically ill if you did something to deserve it somehow.

I'm exhausted explaining myself to healthy people who believe I owe them my medical history. I outright say I don't want to discuss it. It just makes everyone prod harder. When I run out of energy and just want to rest and not speak anymore (because everything I say goes in one ear and out the other, anyway,) it's as if I've insulted them personally, scoffing that they're just trying to help.

This is not how you help. You're making me more tired than I already am. Literally, the things I do require help with (needing a ride home on occasion because I'm having aura symptoms and can't drive and there's no public transit, needing silence so the pain doesn't escalate, needing things to me repeated because the fatigue and brain fog made me miss what was said, needing time alone because I'm drained and can't go do the thing you want me to do, needing a ride to the ER) everyone refuses to do, which tells me this isn't about helping, it's about your curiosity regarding my health. It's about you needing to be right.

If you really want to help, just ask what can you do. That's it.

[all-seeing-ifer]

Wait I really like ats s5 it has some banger episodes, why don’t you like it?

oh man. season 5.

so, in theory, there's a lot about season 5 that I should like. I think it reinvents the show in an interesting way and I love the themes of never stopping fighting even in the face of the knowledge that the good guys are never going to truly win and that the deck is always going to be stacked against them. the fucking dialogue between gunn and anne in the finale? "I'd get this truck packed before the new stuff gets here"? holy SHIT it is so good!!!

I totally get why people like season 5 I do think it genuinely has a lot going for it BUT you DID ask so I will now be presenting Isabel's List of Varyingly Serious/Petty Beefs With Angel Season Five. In No Particular Order:

Spike's a good addition to the show and god knows angel season 5 does more interesting stuff with him than buffy season 7 ever did but it is fucking insane to me how much focus and development he gets while gunn fred and lorne, who have been mainstays of the show since like season 2, continue to get absolute jack shit to do

just generally let's be honest. anyone who isn't a white guy this season is fucked. harmony gets no development despite being granted main cast status illyria gets nothing to do despite being set up as a super duper important addition to the cast I don't even know what they were fucking thinking with eve. etc.

THEY FRIDGED CORDY AND FRED WITHIN THREE EPISODES OF EACH OTHER. AND AT NO POINT DID ANYONE IN THE WRITERS' ROOM THINK THAT MAYBE THE FACT THAT THEY WERE WERE STARTING TO RUN OUT OF WOMEN WAS PERHAPS A PROBLEM

speaking of cordy my best girl of all time, I know people love you're welcome but i'm sorry i remain deeply ambivalent about that fucking thing. like yes it's nice that the cordy we know and love gets to come back for one last hurrah but also the episode basically never treats her like a person with feelings of her own and instead she's just there to motivate angel and then die so he can be sad about it. i can't believe it only took 40 minutes to set feminism back 4000 years

also sorry but did they really think you're welcome was going to be enough to make up for what they did to her in season 4? have you seen season 4? one episode where cordy looks hot and has her tits out and swordfights will NOT undo the damage that has been done

and then they proceed to set feminism back even further by just refusing to acknowledge the existence of their show's secondary protagonist for the basically the rest of the season and also fridging fred in an arguably even more horrific way three episodes later so wesley can be sad and so they can introduce a new character who does nothing

like seriously nothing makes me more rabid in season 5 than the scene in power play where the characters all vote on if they're gonna go through with their suicide mission against the circle of the black thorn and it's just all the men voting on it bc illyria's been incapictated bc I guess in angel season 5 women don't get to have agency even when they're literal godlike demon lords

on the subject of the illyria plotline i fucking hate how gunn gets treated. like sorry all the men on this show (sans lorne. unproblematic king) have done awful shit why does gunn get singled out as having done something uniquely horrible just for a shady business deal he couldn't possibly have known the consequences of. like we know why but still

and on the subject of gunn.... the fact that they wrote a storyline implying that the only way for the only black main character in the show to become smart and capable is for him to have his brain magically altered and NO ONE in the writers room was like HM MAYBE THIS IS A BAD LOOK ACTUALLY. christ i would feel way better about the whole "gunn feels like he's just the muscle" conflict if the show more consistently came down on the side that players does where gunn does actually have way more to offer than being the muscle but has just come to see himself as just The Guy Who Fights. but unfortunately they spend at least as much time writing gunn as Actually Just The Muscle. usually to make wesley look better (i promise i'm not bitter about it)

and perhaps i'd be less annoyed about all this if gunn also got literally anything else to do this season but this is truly all he gets until not fade away

which i guess is still better than fred? like fred just dies. that's it

guys i don't think we shit on the girl in question enough. like it's bad. it's really bad. i'm so glad we're currently in the shit talking lies my parents told me renaissance but can we also start bringing that same energy for this piece of shit

nina's an art student so i hate her by default (<- guy who went to art school <- i am allowed to say this)

despite spike being intended to serve as a replacement for cordy they just straight up don't give him relationships with any of the characters other than angel (and fred for like. one episode) and it results in him just feeling incredibly out of place

just in general actually it feels like the writers kind of stopped caring about any of the character relationships aside from angel and spike and fred/wesley (which they only care about bc it's a reason for wesley to be sad anyway)

the pacing is a nightmare and i do not give a shit about the circle of the black thorn. sorry

and just as a disclaimer i would like to acknowledge that like. ats was always fairly shitty about race and gender this isn't unique to s5 but MAN does it feel like season 5 in particular is just. saying the quiet part out loud constantly every episode

anyway thank you for giving me free rein to just bitch about angel season 5 for an extended period of time this was fun. still i'm honestly glad that you enjoy it like really truly I wish that were me

[crobones]

seriously, if you're going to have a character arc come full circle in terms of fulfilling goals that they'd had in the beginning, do it like Loki, not like Our Flag Means Death.

Loki fought the whole season to prevent the inevitable, but then acknowledged that his wants were ultimately selfish even though the motivation was altruistic. He tried absolutely everything he could literally time and time again, trying to save the timelines and the TVA and his friends, and preventing the time war.

He even spent centuries with his friends off screen and there was a significant reason for the time skip! (looking at you, infinity war and endgame! fuck that five year time skip! we knew everything would ultimately stay the same except for the fact that Loki learned theoretical physics and what he needed in order to move the plot along. Fuck, they even just acknowledged there were several times he lived through certain circumstances because of how he acted and what he said in that final attempt at the Mulitplier. They managed to both show and tell in a way that fucking worked for the pacing.

essentially, loki tried so hard to achieve what everyone thought would save them, and when they finally succeeded, it still wasn't enough. and as opposed to choosing between time no longer existing or killing sylvie, he asked people for advice. Everyone essentially said "kill the one to save the many" and we know for damn sure that old Loki would have done just that. He would have killed Sylvie and been done with it.

But he had character growth! he wanted people to have free will! he wanted his friends to be able to choose between life on a timeline or life with the TVA! he didn't want to kill a person he cared about, even if that was the only answer! so he took their opinions and ultimately said "fuck that" and sacrificed himself.

he wanted a throne and a purpose in the very beginning, then he learned he didn't want any of those things - he wanted to be loved! and THEN he realized that he would have to sacrifice that love in order to save existence and the people he cared about. sacrificing those things was the last resort. so he ended up alone. on a throne. burdened with a terrible purpose. but it was for selfless reasons.

now! how am I making this about izzy, you ask? well! season one, izzy was incredibly selfish! but even then, we have the first divergence of character arcs.

Loki spends his first season learning that people deserve free will and sometimes he needs to relinquish control. he learns he needs to trust people.

season one izzy basically doesn't have a character arc! he begins and ends the season wanting blackbeard. then season two comes along and they speedrun his character development in what, two episodes? and half of it happens off-screen between the seasons!

but both loki and izzy learn that what's important to them is community, love, and the freedom for everyone to be who they want to be. where loki fights tooth and nail to hold onto these things before he must sacrifice himself, izzy's choices of self-sacrifice throughout the beginning of the season are motivated by selfharm and suicidal ideation - he believes he deserves punishment for what he has done in the past.

then, Izzy's last choice of making himself the target is less for wanting to die and moreso trying to give the others the chance to live. arguably, this is a step forward in his narrative? idk, putting yourself in the line of fire is still putting yourself in the line of fire, regardless of motivation. but, oop! he doesn't die here, no. he survives the talk with Ricky. huzzah!

however! he dies moments later due to being shot as a result of 1) no one checking to make sure Ricky was disarmed, 2) stede's suicide mission, which was literally the only plan they tried, and 3) even though people in this show can survive falling from the crow's nest onto the deck or being stabbed multiple times through the torso where there actually are important organs, the show wanted to tell us that "people die for real sometimes."

but it doesn't stop there! izzy then refuses any attempts to save him, and then apologizes to his codependent for... being codependent... yet this act of his dying is thus reinforcing that very codependency... and he "wants to die"...

like. if loki could have it any other way (and trust him! he's tried!) he would. he would choose life with his friends and loved ones. but he chose self-sacrifice as a literal last resort because it was the only way.

if given the chance, would the izzy that existed at the end of season two have chosen to live? not only was his death the result of someone else's plan, but it wasn't even a matter of the plan going to shit and THEN izzy sacrifices himself. no, his death was simply a byproduct of the plan going to shit. and then it was turned into a metaphor for the very character he was codependent on.

loki's motivations changed, he fought for any and every other possibility, but his end result was ironically what he had sought in the very beginning. it is tragic and beautiful.

izzy's motivations changed, but he never tried to keep what he had. he never forgave himself. he forgave literally everyone except for himself. he reverted right back to being willing to die for blackbeard. it isn't even tragic, it's just poorly written.

[intheticklecloset]

AHHHH you finished seraph of the end!!! the same anon here👋🏻 Honestly I was so excited for you when you made the poll and it started winning, had my fingers crossed it would win because this anime is so so underrated🥹It starts with a BANG and ends with one too! Did you have favorite moments or episodes besides what you already said? And now that you’ve finished it, do you have top 5 favorite characters👀 if you’d like to share☺️

This reply got a little long so I put it under the cut. No spoilers, though! 😅

AHHH such good questions! Well, aside from what I've mentioned previously:

I really like Yu's character development. He starts out as kind of a jerk (understandably) but ends up being really kind and overprotective, and I love that for him.

I loved Yoichi's character development, too! The absolute sweetest of sweethearts having to fight his demons (quite literally) and grow into a solider but still keeping his optimistic spirit despite it all was just *chef's kiss*

Also I was pleasantly surprised by Shinoa. I wasn't sure about her for the first several episodes but she REALLY grew on me.

Was pumping my fist for Kimuzuki at city hall (if you know you know)!!

Overall though my favorite part(s) of the show was those very rare moments when Yu and Mika were able to be together. MY HEART!!! (I don't ship them AT ALL btw - I just see them as best friends/family.)

As for top five fave characters, I'd have to say:

Yu - he's just SO great; I loved him and was rooting for him the whole time

Mika - we don't get a lot of him but his struggle and his connection to Yu had my heart SOARING

Kimizuki - I just loved this dork so much LOL

Yoichi - sweetheart vibes!! I love that he's an archer too like adfaflhh

Aside from those four I don't know if I can settle on a fifth place? I liked Guren (for a while) and Shinya (wasn't sure at first but I decided I like him), and Shinoa was another one who really grew on me, like I said.

I added Seraph of the End to my watchlist YEARS ago, but there's just so many anime out there and my watching stamina is...not great? So when Hulu started being dumb about some stuff and I decided to cancel it, I cross-referenced the shows I had on my list there with Crunchyroll and learned that Seraph and Durarara were the only two that weren't available on CR. Hence the poll, because they both looked good and I couldn't decide but I knew I wanted to watch one while I had the chance.

I went in to Seraph totally blind, knowing nothing but that there were vampires in it, and OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING. I can't believe it took me so long to get to! I'm so glad it won the poll!

Thank you for giving me a chance to fangirl about it - I JUST LOVED IT SO DANG MUCH! 😍😍😍😍

[eshtaresht]

GUYS GUYS I CAN'T KSODKLSOSL!!!1!!1LKDKJ;;S !!!l1JK!::kKD;P SOSKSLSPSODS A;SDOKDLAD I CAN'T EVEN FORM WORDS

spoilers for ep 12 (and a bit for trigun in general) and my overexited ramblings under the cut

you know an episode will be good when where's no opening

so, the twins are meant to be characterized straightforward in every anime adaptation, ig. it's not bad, but the manga twists their personalities 180° and it adds SO MUCH nuance (I'll talk about this at length some day)

tbh I had to pause for laughter when knives was YEETED outta the gate (I have sense of humor of a five year old)

everybody already said everything, but still. OG HAIR COMEBACK OMG AHRAHAAKFJDlahjddjha!!!!!!!! ;!!! ;! and not only hair, but the whole characterization this episode was much closer to trimax vash, and not just sadboy depressive bbg

MERYL/REM PARALLELS LETS GOOOO!!! like, I guessed this would happen, but the visuals, the tension and pure GRATITUDE in vash's voice when he was able to break free from his mental prison... we're eating good

speaking of eating, I CAN'T get over that moment when vash deadass BIT KNIVES. that's peak sibling behavior, he's literally fighting tooth and nail over there

also mashwood is so real tonight!! love love love meryl&nico interactions in stampede, they barely spoke to each other in other versions! and the look of relief on vash's face when he sees nico skedaddling away with meryl!!! he's so glad that they're gonna be okay and that nico made the right choice and came back to help, if briefly. interstingly, he was able to remember everyone, but after the explosion at the end he still lost his memory.

and THE WINGS, DUDE!!!! it gives the finale of trimax, when they both had only one wing left..... still missing feathers, but I love the diversity with knives's, eh... knives, and vash's energy/void or whatever that is, I support it

he's so pathetic even when he looks cool, homeboy had NO control when he used his wing for the first time... cudos for learning new powers on the spot tho

ow ow ow that scene with the military hurt... and he couldn't even save them!

"why are you like that, vash?" "I'm vash the stampede" "IT'S BEEN OVER A CENTURY AND THIS IS THE BEST YOU COULD CAME UP WITH" same here, knives, he's hopeless. I anticipated that moment, but it probably hits even hard for stampede onlys

angel arm!!! tho it's not that angelic now... how are we gonna call it? I take suggestions. rip arm and coat, I feel like we'll actually get a more trimax leaning design next season!

to all the ppl (myself included) who wanted to see vash cry properly... are you happy? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY??? after the last episode, after all the mental torture knives put him through, vash still doesn't want to hurt him and, just like knives, can't handle the distance between them.......... I am inconsolable. and as much as knives wanted to break vash, it hurts him so much to see those tears irl....... but he just can't stop, because they're both SO FUCKING STUBBORN and it already took to much to get there and he just can't. stop. now.

"nai is dead, you killed him" first of all, *sounds of screaming crying throwing up*. second of all, his name is million knives, vash, stop deadnaming your brother/j

the death scene itself.... oh it's soo good and yummy. I know this mf isn't fully dead and conrad will fix him, but still. he can have a second death of self as a treat

btw, gotta adress my earlier theory about "happy birthday" being metaphorical. no, it is in fact July 21st, and tristamp lasted about two months in universe. still pretty hard for me to believe, it felt five times shorter due to the pacing. but it is what it is: I'm esht and I was wrong, I'm singing the esht wrong song

and just as I thought this would be the end of it, WE GOT A FLASH FORWARD THAT HAD BASICALLY EVERYTHING WE WERE HOPING FOR AND MORE

RAISED BOUNTY! MERYL GIRLBOSSIFICATION!! a hint at insurance society (tho that was more of a threat and she's still a journalist). MILLY CONFIRMATION!!! ERIKS' LACK OF ARM AND AMNESIA!!!! EARTH FLEET AND CHRONICA!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

IT'S GONNA BE GOOD SEASON 2 IS GONNA BE EVEN BETTER I CAN FEEL IT IN MY BONE MARROW

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball GT 24

✨GT Stands for Giru-eating Trout✨

This is the one where Pan tries to pet a baby space-deer, and it sticks its nose up her shirt for no good reason.  The deer kind of pokes her in the butt a little later, but that’s easier to write off.  What the hell was this for?  Like, how did this happen?  They’re storyboarding this episode at Toei headquarters or whatever, and one guy is like “Say, I have an idea... Now hear me out...”

Let’s back up.  Last time, the GT crew found a fourth Dragon Ball on a derelict ship.  They also found a single survivor, and took him to a hospital on Planet Pital.  Oh, they named the planet after the last five letters in hospital.   I just got that.  Everybody just sort of chills out after they hear the boy will recover, but then there’s an explosion in his room, and Goku charges in to rescue the kid and a nurse who was in the room when it happened.

What caused the explosion?  Well, the boy is possessed by Baby, and this was all a scheme to get close to the GT gang.  But he used a little too much of his power at the end of the last episode, and he accidentally blew up some equipment in the room.  But since no one suspects anything, he figures he can still proceed with his plan. 

So what’s Baby’s plan this time? I mean, he’s had so many of them already, so it’s hard to keep them all straight.  Well, it seems like he’s abandoned all of his old plans, and now he just wants “Saiyan power”.  We’ve seen him enter people’s bodies and control them.  This boy is just the latest example.  Apparently this makes Baby stronger, and he seems to think parisitizing the bodies of Goku, Trunks, and Pan is the next step.

So what are the GT gang up to while all this is going on?  Jack shit, that’s what.  Goku’s hungry, but he refuses to eat in the hospital cafeteria because he’s afraid someone will poke him with a needle when he’s not looking.  According to Trunks, the hospital is the only place on the entire planet that even has a cafeteria.  Wait, did I misread that?  That can’t be right.

No, that’s exactly how Trunks puts it.  This is followed by a gag where Goku, Giru, and Trunks all go wading in a nearby stream to catch fish. Seriously?  Those are your choices?  If you’re hungry on Planet Pital, you either go to the hospital or you go fishing.  There’s no grocery stores?  No vending machines?  No agriculture?

Oh, also the fish are easy to catch, but they taste terrible.  So it’s literally the hospital or starvation on this planet. 

Anyway, that’s why Pan is out here getting sexually harassed by a deer.  I guess she didn’t want to go fishing.  While she’s away from the others, Baby approaches her, hoping to make her his next victim.  When her back is turned, he reaches out and...

Wh-what?  What is wrong with this kid’s hand?  I took a screenshot of this because I could not believe what I was seeing.   He’s supposed to be reaching out to grab Pan, but the fingers are pointed in the wrong direction, like he’s bringing his hand in towards us.  But the thumb is pointed like... argh this is driving me nuts. 

Before Baby can make his move, the doctor finds him and tells him he should be resting, and he escorts him back to the hospital.  So Baby waits until they’re alone and possesses the doctor instead. 

Goku’s still worried about eating in the cafeteria, and I just noticed that his anxiety about needles kind of rhymes with the threat of this episode.  Baby is literally lurking around this place, sneaking up on unsuspecting victims and “snoick!” injecting them with nasty goop, i.e. himself.  So as dumb as Goku sounds right now, he’s like the guy nobody listens to in a horror movie. 

This is really weird, because normally GT episodes are so thin on plot and weak on continuity that I never would have expected scenes like this to actually tie into anything else. 

Luckily for Goku’s tummy, the doctor (actually Baby) assures Goku that no one will stick him with a needle, and this convinces Goku to try the cafeteria, and it turns out he loves it.  They’ve got shrimp curry in there and everything.  Also, the doctor (actually Baby) invites Trunks on a tour of the hospital, because he mentioned being so interested in the advanced technology here.  He never actually said that, as far as I’m aware, but whatever. 

So he takes Trunks to look at... some machine, and lets Trunks play with the buttons and dials.  Trunks is like “Oh, cool!  This is amazing!  And if I switch this then... yes, wow!  This is incredible!”  What is going on?

Then the doctor makes his move, and... strangles Trunks? What?  Every other time Baby’s done this bit, he just forces himself down the victim’s throat.  This time, he tells Trunks exactly how he survived their last encounter and infiltrated Pital using that sick boy they found. 

But Trunks has outsmarted Baby because Goku and Pan arrive to back him up.  Turns out they’ve been onto Baby since the start of this episode.  Remember when Baby blew up that hospital room?  Well he used his ki to do it, and Goku sensed it and recognized Baby’s unique energy immediately.  They couldn’t sense him while he was inside someone’s body, but all they had to do was play dumb and wait for Baby to make a move, like how Trunks did when he agreed to go on this “tour”.  As soon as Baby revealed himself, Pan and Goku could come a’runnin’. 

So it looks like now they finally have Baby dead to rights, and this time they know he can survive getting blown up with ki blasts, so they’ll do a more thorough job of it.  But first, Pan asks Baby about how he found the One-Star Dragon Ball that he used as bait in the previous episode.  Baby is... surprisingly accommodating about this.  He explains that Dr. Mu just happened to discover it one day, and he “digitized it” and stored it inside his own head, which is why the GT Crew never detected it before.  So basically I was right when I speculated that Dr. Mu just happened across a Dragon Ball the same way Bulma way back in the beginning.  We still don’t know how Mu learned what it was or that there were six more, or how to make them grant wishes, or how to track them down.  But honestly, I’m surprised Baby was willing to explain as much as he did.

Pan asks if Baby has any other Dragon Balls, and he says they only had the one.  He wants the whole set, but he knew he could just wait for the GT crew to gather the others.  Wait...

Okay, so he either wants the GT crew for their Saiyan power, or he wants them to locate all the Dragon Balls.  Right now they only have four, but he’s trying to ambush them in this hospital anyway. 

I mean, this will work out for him eventually, but you see what I’m saying, right?  This whole scheme in Episodes 23 and 24 is pretty clever, but shouldn’t he have held off until they found the other three Dragon Balls?  Or is he content to eliminate the GT crew today and finish tracking the Dragon Balls himself?  I mean, that sounds sensible, but it’s not what he’s saying he wanted to do.

On the other hand, maybe I should give this episode a little more credit.  The good guys looked clueless for most of this story, but now we see that they were just waiting for Baby to overplay his hand.  And Baby has a bigger agenda than he’s letting on, so maybe he’s just playing the part of a mustache twirling rival in the hunt for the Dragon Balls. 

So they fight, and Baby gets kicked around a lot until he pulls a Kid Buu and powers up.  I know I keep harping on this, but it is impossible to tell how strong anyone is in this show. If Baby could actually take on three Saiyans and win, then why is he bothering with all this sneaking around?  And if he’s not strong enough to take on three Saiyans, then what the hell is this?  And if he’s capable of big ki stunts like this, then why aren’t Goku and Trunks turning Super Saiyan to finish him off quickly?

Here’s a cool shot of Trunks getting blown away in the blast Baby is throwing off.

Trunks sustains a nasty cut on his arm...

And Baby liquefies and dives right into the wound.  Okay, so up to now, Baby’s had to enter people’s bodies more forcefully than this, because none of his victims had open cuts on their bodies.  Apparently it’s simpler for him when he can just go straight into their bloodstream.  Also, this shot implies that Goku and Pan are just standing around watching this happen.  Way to be, guys.  Way to be.

So now Baby has control of Trunks’ body, and while Pan and Goku argue over how to defeat Baby without hurting Trunks, Baby gets the drop on Goku and aims a ki blast at his face at pointblank range.  Baby thinks Goku can’t dodge, but consider: Even though GT Goku can’t teleport properly with his dumb kid body, he can teleport about six feet above his current position, as seen in Episode 4.  So he could use that in a fight, if only to buy a little breathing room.  He probably couldn’t get away with using it more than once before the opponent figures out his limitations, but it’s a thought.

But it doesn’t matter, because Trunks suddenly begins to resist Baby’s control, and he turns Super Saiyan, which overwhelms Baby in some way.  Apparently he didn’t know about this?  Even though Goku and Trunks used Super Saiyan to fight Luud and Rildo?  Did Baby not know about those battles?  What was the point of him controlling all those idiots if he didn’t stay up to date on their activities?

So this is a total shut out for the good guys, right?  Baby’s only chance was to control their bodies, but now he can’t even do that anymore, so this is it, right?  Wrong, Baby uses a bootleg Solar Flare trick and runs away while the gang are blinded.  Seriously, this is just Imperfect Cell all over again.  The difference is that Giru has a filter for his optical sensor, so he can follow Baby’s movements.  Except it doesn’t matter because no one actually follows Baby or tries to stop him.  Giru just watches him go and reports that he’s getting away. 

And Baby makes it all the way to a spaceport, where he possesses a woman and feeds on all the other passengers.  Things didn’t go as he hoped today, but he’s confident that he’ll win the next time, once he’s gotten stronger. 

And the good guys... don’t seem to care?  They can’t find Baby after he’s out of sight, because there’s no ki to sense and the trail has gone cold, but they also don’t bother to warn anyone on Pital about this alien parasite that controls people’s bodies.  Goku says some boilerplate crap about how they’ll defeat him by working together, and then they just get back on their ship and leave. 

This is really weak.  I don’t know what I expect them to do in this situation.  I mean, they kind of have to move on because they’re still in a hurry to find the rest of the Dragon Balls before the Earth explodes.   But they don’t even bring that up when they leave Pital.  You could do some interesting character work with that premise.  Goku and Pan don’t like leaving the Baby problem unresolved, but Trunks has to keep them focused on their mission. 

And that’s what bugs me about GT.  So much of this show is just stuff sort of happening.  Fights just sort of end, not because one side was stronger or more skillful, but because the writers wanted the fight to be over.  Baby doesn’t mind losing this skirmish, because he knows he can just try again whenever he’s ready, but that just underscores the fact that he never needed to pull this stunt in the first place.  He just did it because the writers wanted him to.  And then when it didn’t work, he just ran away and no one stopped him because the writers weren’t ready to kill him off yet.

✨ “Good” “Ideas”, Poorly Executed✨

So yeah, Baby is just a remix of Buu and Cell at this point.  He drains energy from his victims, leaving spaceships full of corpses.  Well, that ship from the last episode didn’t have any corpses, so I don’t know what the rule is with Baby.  Maybe he plans to eat these passengers later and the episode ended before he could finish. 

Cell, of course, always left the clothes behind, because it’s creepier and more awesome.  It’s the little details that the copycats never pick up on, which is why they’ll never surpass the original.

As for Buu, Baby basically stole his absorption technique, except that Baby enters his victims’ bodies instead of enveloping them the way Buu would do.  Also, Baby’s method of entering his victims is a lot like that trick Super Buu would do to blow people up from the inside. 

There’s some other tricks Baby has up his sleeve, but those are just stolen from other villains, so I’ll address those when the time comes.  Basically, this little shit is the crown jewel of Dragon Ball GT, perhaps the most memorable character introduced in the show, and he’s just a shallow retread of ideas we’ve seen before.

To be clear: I don’t object to the Dragon Ball franchise recycling old ideas, or borrowing ideas from old stories to make new ones.  The recent Dragon Ball Super movies have shamelessly brought back Broly, Gogeta, and the Red Ribbon Army, and they’re still excellent films.  GT is allowed to do the same.  My favorite Dragon Ball character is Cell, who is literally just a mashup of several other characters combined with a cicada.  When it comes to originality, the bar is actually pretty low for me. 

The point I’m trying to make here is that GT is a terrible show, and people will try to defend it by saying is had “some good ideas”.  But it doesn’t.  Baby is perhaps the best thing to come out of GT, and it’s not a “good idea”.  It’s a mish-mash of a bunch of other ideas we’ve seen before.  And that would still be serviceable, except the show is poorly written, glacially paced, and oftentimes just unappealing to look at.  Also, it gets really saccharine in places. 

Maybe a truly “good idea” could have overcome those flaws, but GT doesn’t have one of those.  What is has are a bunch of obsolete storytelling formulas and elements borrowed from more successful shows.   The only reason it lasted as long as it did was because it’s chock full of characters from the hit manga Dragon Ball.  If GT were a wholly original story without any connection to Dragon Ball, it would have died on the vine a lot sooner.

✨Positivity Page✨

Having said all that, it’s refreshing to see how much more focused the show has become now that it’s ditched all the other villains in favor of Baby.  It’s just one bad guy, operating alone, and he’s actually a genuine threat, instead of a dance trio or that stupid catfish man-child thing that could predict earthquakes. 

My guess is that Toei had to struggle to change the series when they decided to ditch the “Grand Tour” concept in favor of a more “Dragon Ball Z”-style plot structure.  Before, there was a clear sense of GT having these mini-arcs with a different villain in each one.  They didn’t have to be good villains because they weren’t going to be around long enough to matter.  Goku would beat them up in a few minutes and then they’d head out to the next planet. 

Maybe Baby was always going to be the secret mastermind at the end of the Dragon Ball hunt, but I get the sense that they already had plots for the Luud Cult and Giru’s homeworld, and quickly adapted them to set up Baby as the secret boss of both of those things.  Then, once Baby was introduced, they jettisoned all that other stuff and focused squarely on him.  Episodes 8 through 22 really felt like they were making it up as they went, and now that Baby is here, we’re not seeing that haphazard storytelling anymore.  Which tells me that they only used it in Episodes 8-22 because they had to, not because they wanted to. 

I’d like to say that GT has finally found its footing, and can now tell the story its creators set out to tell, except that isn’t actually true.  The story they wanted to tell was the Grand Tour, but then they realized it wouldn’t work, and everything after Episode 3 has been a hasty course correction.  With Baby, things have settled into a comfortable path forward, but this is just Toei doing the practical thing to keep the show on the air.  

✨Is this episode worse than “The Roaming Lake”?✨ 

Yes, it’s worse.  To give this episode credit, it spends a lot of its run time looking like every episode before it.  Characters just sort of tool around waiting for the next plot point to happen, and it gets pretty dull in places.  This is something GT 22 and “The Roaming Lake” have in common.  We spend a lot of time in this episode fretting about Goku’s dinner plans.

But it turns out it’s all a shocking SWERVE~!, and the GT crew was only pretending to while away an afternoon.  In fact, they were just waiting for Baby to ambush them so that they could spring their clever trap.  The problem is that when you do an episode about the characters pretending to do nothing, it’s still just as boring as when they’re sincerely doing nothing. 

Like, I’m just spitballing here, but they’re on an alien planet, where they could literally do anything the writers could imagine.  Why not have them go to an arcade, where they could play-duel with lightsabers?  Maybe they go scuba diving.  I don’t know. 

Instead they stay at the hospital, because there is literally nowhere else for them to go.  They can’t even eat anywhere else.  Okay, fine, but instead of having Goku fishing in their backyard, why not have him hunt for wild game in the Pital wilderness?  I know they want to keep close to Baby, but they also know Baby will come after them. 

Hell, let’s say they don’t want to leave the hospital grounds.  Fine.  Then have them check out some cool shit in the hospital.  They could go look at the new babies.  Just think of all the adorable baby aliens they could have put in this episode.  Maybe there’s a sick bird in the hospital, and Goku uses his Movie 5 Super Saiyan bird-healing powers to fix it.  That’d be fucking awesome. 

I think the thing that I keep circling around with these “Roaming Lake” comparisons is this: With GT, these dull episodes are the A-plot.  “The Roaming Lake” was just trying to fill time until the show could resume adapting the manga.  GT doesn’t have that logistical issue, and yet it still churns out dull filler anyway.  It’s like GT is waiting for a secret chapter of the Dragon Ball manga, and then they can do a kickass 65th episode, but until then we’re just sort of limping along with this side-story.

✨The Blade Braxton Memorial Haiku*✨

Come visit Pital!

See our nipple-biting deer

And poop-flavored fish.