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mariana-oconnor · 10 months ago

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His Last Bow

Hey Tumblr,

I have 0 idea what happens in this story. Kind of hoping it's a bit like Curtain, the last Poirot story, because that's a bop. Well, it's very depressing, but I love the solution. Although I also really hope it isn't, because then Agatha Christie would have copied that and I really don't want that to be the case.

I also really want ACD to have done something insanely over the top and decisive to make it really clear that this time there would be no retconning. Like... idk, the world being invaded by aliens. Sherlock Holmes stealing the crown jewels and being executed for treason. Mycroft turning out to have been a double agent all along and destroying the entire British Empire.

I'm no longer feverish, although my lungs are still trying to propel themselves out of my body in a way that keeps leaving me a little asphyxiated, so that's fun. But no jellyfishifters this time I expect. Or sea turtles... Yeah, Idk either.

It was nine o'clock at night upon the second of August—the most terrible August in the history of the world.

Oh Watson, you sweet summer child. I bet I've seen worse Augusts. Even if Holmes does die in this one.

The sun had long set, but one blood-red gash like an open wound lay low in the distant west.

London... is now... a hellmouth?

Are we not in London? Is that the city from a distance. Where are we? Why is the sky split open? What is going on?

The two famous Germans stood beside the stone parapet of the garden walk...

The only two famous Germans. Ever. You know... those two.

Oh, so we're actually in the 'Sherlock is a spy' period. Weirdly I assumed that that was only going to be referenced. But no, we're actually going there.

So the red line is... the war front?

One of these was his present companion, Baron Von Herling, the chief secretary of the legation, whose huge 100-horse-power Benz car was blocking the country lane as it waited to waft its owner back to London.

Is the Baron compensating for something? Maybe.

But we're not in London and we're not near the war front, so... what is that red slash in the sky. Is it London?

This is probably not the mystery I am meant to be trying to solve. I should pay more attention to the espionage and less to the environs.

“They are not very hard to deceive,” he remarked. “A more docile, simple folk could not be imagined.”

Someone has not been down the pub when the home team is playing. Hoo boy. Docile is not a word I would use...

"One's first impression is that they are entirely soft. Then one comes suddenly upon something very hard, and you know that you have reached the limit and must adapt yourself to the fact."

That is, indeed, what she said.

“Meaning British prejudice in all its queer manifestations."

Oh boy. I don't think you mean what I'd mean by those words, but yet you have still brought upon me a great sense of national shame and wincing.

"I was invited to a week-end gathering at the country house of a cabinet minister. The conversation was amazingly indiscreet.”

Given the general level of OpSec shown by government workers, bankers, and just... everyone within these stories, I cannot say that this surprises me. I'm disappointed, but not surprised. The majority of government people we have met have been entire and total imbeciles in the matter of privacy, data protection and general best practices regarding secrecy.

“No, no, don't call it a pose. A pose is an artificial thing. This is quite natural. I am a born sportsman. I enjoy it.”

Ugh, I hate this guy.

“And all the time this quiet country house of yours is the centre of half the mischief in England, and the sporting squire the most astute secret-service man in Europe. Genius, my dear Von Bork—genius!”

I will say, they're commenting on other people not being discreet, and here they are just laying out everything without even a hint of subtlety. Using people's names. confirming their identities, confirming their true purposes. Unless this, in itself, is a subterfuge... They're not at a party, at least, I suppose.

“You flatter me, Baron. But certainly I may claim my four years in this country have not been unproductive. I've never shown you my little store. Would you mind stepping in for a moment?”

This all feels very Cask of Amontillado, don't you think?

Is Van Bork Sherlock?

He then closed the door behind the bulky form which followed him and carefully adjusted the heavy curtain over the latticed window. Only when all these precautions had been taken and tested did he turn his sunburned aquiline face to his guest.

Oh. My. God. Did someone just use basic security protocols to prevent someone from listening or looking in on them? Be still my beating heart. I might faint.

I am so confused about who is speaking right now. I need more dialogue tags. I have lost track. These two have merged into one very confused spy with multiple personalities. Or maybe just two heads. I don't know.

“Out of date and waste paper. The Admiralty in some way got the alarm and every code has been changed."

If that wasn't Sherlock or Mycroft, then I don't know who it was because every time the Admiralty has been in these stories they have been incompetent to the point of deliberate treason.

Will come without fail to-night and bring new sparking plugs. — —Altamont.

Is Altamont Holmes?

“You see he poses as a motor expert and I keep a full garage. In our code everything likely to come up is named after some spare part. If he talks of a radiator it is a battleship, of an oil pump a cruiser, and so on. Sparking plugs are naval signals.”

I take back that gif from earlier. Don't tell people the code words. Good grief, man! You've just compromised all of those phrases. I get that you're providing exposition for the audience, but still. STILL.

"I assure you that our most pan-Germanic Junker is a sucking dove in his feelings towards England as compared with a real bitter Irish-American.”

Fair.

...at a touch from the Baron's chauffeur the great car shivered and chuckled.

Is the car alive? I don't like this description.

“Those are the lights of Harwich, I suppose,” said the secretary, pulling on his dust coat.

THANK YOU!

It's Harwich... No hellmouth, just Harwich. Mystery solved.

"The heavens, too, may not be quite so peaceful if all that the good Zeppelin promises us comes true."

Oh, you mean the bustle in the hedgerow? No... don't be alarmed about that. It's just a spring clean for the May Queen. Or if you're talking about the piper, he's just leading us to reason. It's really nothing to be worried about.

...beside it, seated at a table, was a dear old ruddy-faced woman in a country cap. She was bending over her knitting and stopping occasionally to stroke a large black cat upon a stool beside her. “That is Martha, the only servant I have left.” The secretary chuckled. “She might almost personify Britannia,” said he, “with her complete self-absorption and general air of comfortable somnolence."

Is Martha Holmes?

Honestly, that makes a lot of sense.

Or Holmes could be the kitty cat.

It was a new experience to him, the silence and darkness of his widespread house, for his family and household had been a large one. It was a relief to him, however, to think that they were all in safety and that, but for that one old woman who had lingered in the kitchen, he had the whole place to himself.

DANCE PARTY TIME

“You can give me the glad hand to-night, mister,” he cried. “I'm bringing home the bacon at last.”“The signals?”“Same as I said in my cable. Every last one of them, semaphore, lamp code, Marconi—a copy, mind you, not the original."

No. No. No.

This is not how you do a treasonous handover of government secrets. I don't care how empty you think the goddamned house is. You don't say the actual thing. YOU USE THE CODEWORDS. THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE CODES. YOU UTTER NUMPTIES!

Fuck you both. You're morons. What even is this? This isn't espionage. This is slapstick.

Good lord.

I... I despair.

I guess if you're this good at it, then it's no wonder that even the bloody Admiralty managed to get a clue.

Mycroft's probably been feeding you information for years, you muppets.

It's the incompetence that gets to me, it really is. If you're going to be moustache twirling evil German spies then at least have the self-respect and decency to be good at it.

This is pathetic.

The Irish-American had entered the study and stretched his long limbs from the armchair. He was a tall, gaunt man of sixty, with clear-cut features and a small goatee beard which gave him a general resemblance to the caricatures of Uncle Sam. A half-smoked, sodden cigar hung from the corner of his mouth, and as he sat down he struck a match and relit it.

Oh yeah, this is Holmes, isn't it?

You couldn't even pretend to be good at being a traitor?

“So it's not quite as simple as you thought. It was four years ago that I had it made, and what do you think I chose for the word and figures?”

Tell me you're not about to do what I think you're about to do.

Please.

Tell me you have one braincell in your tiny head. PLEASE. You cannot be this dumb. YOU CANNOT BE!

“Well, I chose August for the word, and 1914 for the figures, and here we are.”

And you're being dumb by trying to show off how smart you are. That's the worst kind.

“How could they have got on to Steiner?” he muttered. “That's the worst blow yet.”

You literally just told a man your safe combination. I don't know what to tell you, my dude. Maybe you're just bad at this.

Then he sat dazing for a moment in silent amazement at a small blue book which lay before him. Across the cover was printed in golden letters Practical Handbook of Bee Culture. Only for one instant did the master spy glare at this strangely irrelevant inscription. The next he was gripped at the back of his neck by a grasp of iron, and a chloroformed sponge was held in front of his writhing face.

“Another glass, Watson!” said Mr. Sherlock Holmes as he extended the bottle of Imperial Tokay. The thickset chauffeur, who had seated himself by the table, pushed forward his glass with some eagerness.

Didn't call the chauffeur being Watson. Discounted him as Holmes for being too thickset. I guess since it's indicated Watson might have written this one I should have thought about Watson as well. Genuinely didn't think he'd be in this one, though.

"There is no one in the house except old Martha, who has played her part to admiration."

So Martha was working for Holmes this whole time. I think she wins the prize for being the best spy in the story.

"I shall no doubt reappear at Claridge's to-morrow as I was before this American stunt—I beg your pardon, Watson, my well of English seems to be permanently defiled—before this American job came my way.”

Oh no! Holmes used the word 'stunt' how scandalously unEnglish of him!

"The fact is, Watson, that this gentleman upon the sofa was a bit too good for our people."

Guess the Admiralty is worse than even I gave them credit for.

The last remark was addressed to Von Bork himself, who after much gasping and blinking had lain quietly listening to Holmes's statement. He broke out now into a furious stream of German invective, his face convulsed with passion.

No... no... Holmes. You're not monologuing in front of the enemy prisoner. Don't do that. I believed in you.

"And yet I live and keep bees upon the South Downs.”

...don't tell him where you live...

I give up.

“And most of that information came through you,” he cried. “What is it worth? What have I done? It is my ruin forever!” “It is certainly a little untrustworthy,” said Holmes. “It will require some checking and you have little time to check it. Your admiral may find the new guns rather larger than he expects, and the cruisers perhaps a trifle faster.”

god fucking dammit

Why are you telling him about the misinformation? The misinformation is meant to misinform. That's why it's called misinformation. You're undoing half of the work you did.

I... guys... guys, I just can't.

“My dear sir, if you did anything so foolish you would probably enlarge the two limited titles of our village inns by giving us ‘The Dangling Prussian’ as a signpost. The Englishman is a patient creature, but at present his temper is a little inflamed, and it would be as well not to try him too far."

Did he just threaten Van Bork with hanging. By referencing a possible pub name? A+ threat, but yikes.

The two friends chatted in intimate converse for a few minutes, recalling once again the days of the past, while their prisoner vainly wriggled to undo the bonds that held him.

They just... they just left him alone.

And went and had a chat.

I don't even know why I thought they'd drive him away immediately. Why would they?

"I have a check for five hundred pounds which should be cashed early, for the drawer is quite capable of stopping it if he can.”

Such a weird line to end this on. OK then Holmes. Go cash your cheque.

And that was the last of the short stories... It didn't quite have the same poignancy as Curtain. But it certainly gave me a lot to talk about.

This has been a really fun year and I've loved writing these up - and spending far too long finding gifs and sometimes making my own memes when I couldn't find the precise thing I needed to say.

If you've read all of these, I have no idea why, but Hi! 2023 was certainly a year, wasn't it? Thanks to all of you. It's been really fun reading comments and learning things when people added to the notes to answer questions I'd asked.

I hear we're doing the novels next year. I have definitely actually read all of those. But I do get them all mixed up, and I will have forgotten a lot of them. I think I also signed up for another substack, but right now I can't even remember which one. That'll be a fun surprise.

Hope you all had a good, or at least not terrible, 2023. And I hope we all have a better 2024.

Happy (almost) New Year!

#Letters from Watson #His Last Bow #Sherlock Holmes #long post

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weemssapphic · 1 month ago

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Hi author! How are you? I hope everything is going well for you!

You see I was doing my little night tour on Tumblr (yes instead of sleeping, brilliant idea I know😁) and in addition to reading a whole bunch of interesting stuff I saw this, oh but wait before I have to tell you how brilliant I am, but like more than a star you'll see,

Shall I give you the context? Yeah it's funnier like that 😁So I know I'm behind on reading the fics, I know they are posted on the two fanfiction sites I use the most, including Tumblr, but I'll still take a look, if I see a chapter I will no longer click on I don't know what which displays the rest of the post (I really forgot the sentence that you click on 😅)But I didn't expect to potentially have an event spoiled for me because of a reader's message. 😂Usually it's TV series that I spoil for myself! Never a fanfic 😂But I really liked what I potentially spoiled for myself 😁That's all for my brilliant moment of genius 😅As much as a star huh?

So after this I went back tonight, it didn't teach me a lesson apparently 😅But I was able to discover this post that I share with you below

Well, my moment of genius happened and I wanted to share this with you

https://www.tumblr.com/h3llbutterfly/762126969212141570/ok-ok-okso-here-is-my-perfect-ending-to?source=share

In four words: idea return Larissa weems

Enjoy this idea, my dear author!Bye! Take care!

Hello! I'm well, how are you? :D

Hahaha can I tell you a secret? Sometimes I'm impatient so I intentionally spoil myself just so that I can live in peace until I get to reading whatever I'm planning on reading...

Ahhh that post!! Wouldn't that be perfect?! I need Weems back 😭 killing off Gwendoline mf Christie's character was the dumbest thing Wednesday writers could've done I stg...

#asks #maxfanartfan #also the gif on that post is just purrrrr so gorgeous...

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hussyknee · 6 months ago

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On Death in the Nile now, reading the set up at the hotel before the murder. I have to say, I don't give a shit about any of these three selfish young idiots. Idk who I have less respect for: the spoiled autocratic brat who turned people out of their homes for her swimming pool and stole her best friend's fiancée; this obsessed nuisance with no self-respect who stayed besties with this woman until this point and is now wasting all her money feuding with her over this sexist milk sop loser; or said milk sop loser who stayed engaged to a stage three clinger until said brat crooked her finger at him with no compunction about fucking over her best friend. Jesus wept. If my best friend "stole" my fiancé I'd just decide I dodged two bullets not having to waste any more of my life on these horrible people.

I'm more interested in whatever Oedipal shit is going on with the Allertons. Tim's a shady suck up. Also, as someone whose own life force is being sucked dry by a child vampire of a mother I can't escape, I feel for Rosalie in my marrow. At least mine doesn't write trashy soft porn and peddle it to strangers. I hope she chucks her mother into the Nile on her way out.

Edit – Copypasted reblog after finishing the book:

Umm.

Uhhh.

Well.

You know what I really hate/love about Agatha Christie novels? It's that when I'm reading them I nearly always think "you know, in any other case the main suspect would clearly be X because the obvious motive would be Y and it would be obvious they did Z and A to pull it off BUT the narrative is CLEARLY not supporting that...unless they're really going to rip the rug under our feet THAT far which is a RIDICULOUS idea..."

And it's not a ridiculous idea. It's never a ridiculous idea. Christie keeps fucking doing that over and over again and I'm still like some Charlie Brown lining up to kick Lucy's football. Idk whether this is entirely down to Christie's genius or the fact that I'm trusting as a newborn puppy and my autistic inability to fathom that people can tell me lies extends to fiction.

Anyway everyone was exponentially more interesting than I gave them credit for, I really just wanted give the murderer an award for brilliance and resourcefulness, and, very ironically, I now feel a lot more sympathetic to all three of the love triangle idiots (even the loser dude for some reason). The ending was heartbreaking.

And I want to apologise to Mrs. A for having called her creepy the first two chapters. She's a darling. Reminds me of my own late MIL. Tim doesn't deserve her.

#agatha christie #death on the nile #murder mystery #detective fiction #books #knee of huss

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presidentdisastraofgallifrey · 1 month ago

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Judging Doctor Who: Tenth Doctor

Disclaimer: This is all in good fun and I don't take fandom serious

Good episodes I like

New Earth - Cat nuns! The Doctor at his silliest! The return of Cassandra! Horrifying sentient clone people infected with every disease at once! What more could you want?

School Reunion - Sarah Jane Smith!!!!! This one does such a good job of showing the tragedy inherent to traveling with the Doctor, but how they'd all choose it anyway.

The Idiot's Lantern - another good balance of silly and creepy, and so very sad but like in a fixable way this time

Fear Her - I have heard this one is unpopular and I don't get it?? It's sad lonely children struggling to cope and accidentally hurting people. It feels very sweet and relatable and a nice filler type episode

Smith and Jones - this is SUCH a good intro for Martha with her smarts and bravery! Also! Judoon! On the moon!

Gridlock - this introduces so many cultural aspects of New Earth, I love it. Also horrifying but hopeful. I may have a type.

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks - this felt like a very classic dalek plot but still with the obligatory new and unexpected lore, and the love story b-plot was sweet

Blink - Again, everyone loves this one for a reason. Sooooo creepy.

Partners in Crime - their dynamic is so chaotic. They enable each other. It's great.

The Fires of Pompeii - Just a very good story

Planet of the Ood - So beautiful and so sad!

The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky - I maintain the genius school bit was unnecessary, but I liked the rest of it! The horror of relying on technology until it turns on you! Sontarans are great! Also Martha is in this one!

The Doctor's Daughter - Oh the inherent tragedy of a war long outlasting living memory that started only months ago! Also the Doctor being sad about his family!

The Unicorn and the Wasp - I am a sucker for anything fitting an Agatha Christie framework, and it had a great dose of Doctor Who weirdness

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead - It's scary! It's sad! River is there and she loves him and she sacrifices herself for him the very first time he meets her and he'll know that every other time!!

Turn Left - My actual favorite genre of episode of anything is when shows create their own alternative universe of what if? Also! Donna is so so ordinary but the most important person in the universe!

The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - This was a powerful finale, and I loved seeing everyone he'd ever known come together. And also Donna's end was so beautifully tragic

The Next Doctor - This is kind of au-adjacent while still functioning in universe, and I love the all around confusion and hijinks

Bad Episodes I like

Tooth and Claw - The cult part of the plot feels a bit contrived and the episode is all over the place. But the royals are werewolves and we have Torchwood backstory!

The Girl in the Fireplace - The implied romance is forced and the story itself is flimsy, but I enjoyed the time skips and the drama was fun

Love and Monsters - sure it's silly but it's also really fun

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - I don't think the cybermen appearing as ghosts on their way from the other universe thing makes much sense, but it's a good tragic end for Rose and has one of my favorite scenes ever of the daleks and cybermen arguing

The Runaway Bride - yes I love Donna's intro and their dynamic, but if I really think about it this plot is ridiculous

Good episodes I don't like

The Lazarus Experiment - This falls pretty firmly into being a very classic who monster of the week format, but I was bored

42 - I just really don't love the genre of story where they're trapped on a single space old station/ship with an invisible enemy

Voyage of the Damned - I couldn't think of anything strictly wrong with it, but I was bored

Midnight - This falls under the same genre as 42, just not my thing

Planet of the Dead - a little uninteresting, but a fine episode technically

The Waters of Mars - ok, this story is actually great, but I can't handle the water zombies. I've only seen it once. I will, however, be reading the novelization

Bad episodes I don't like

The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit - It was a little all over the place and I think trying to bring in the actual origin of Satan was lazy writing

The End of Time - Just, what? Apart from not liking Simm!Master anyway, this plot made no sense and the Master's plan had no apparent goal and his characterization was SO over the top (yes even for the Master) and they brought Gallifrey in but in the worst way. That said, Ten and Wilfred are a great duo

Episodes that are kind of offensive

The Christmas Invasion - It was otherwise a little wonky but fun, but I can't get over the treatment of Mickey

The Shakespeare Code - Same as above, otherwise kind of weird but alright, except for the way Martha is treated

Human Nature/The Family of Blood - I actually love this story but it is SO upsetting the way Martha gets all the responsibility, deals with a ton of period racism and sexism despite being the most educated person there, loses the only friend she makes, is constantly brushed aside by the Doctor, and basically wins the day but is NOT acknowledged for it

Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords - alright, this one is just bad for a number of reasons, but it goes here because I'll never be over brave, medically trained Martha getting her big independent heroic year which is...traveling and talking about how amazing the Doctor is while her family is held hostage

#doctor who #ten

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insomniac-jay · 1 year ago

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For the Record

After the arrest of the Music Meister, Barry learns a shocking truth about the musical villain.

Misc: Baby's first time writing Flash, Flash/Barry Allen experts (my mutuals) please tell me I got him and Iris right

@calciumcryptid @honeysgalaxy

•

Flash watched as the police took Music Meister away. For a theater guy, he was stronger than expected. Not to mention his hypnosis powers threw Flash in for a loop. But nothing he couldn't handle.

Still, something the Music Meister said stuck with Flash.

"She's waiting for me at home."

Who was "she"? His mother? Maybe a younger sibling? He felt bad for the guy. Sure he tried to rob the bank, but knowing that there was someone he had to take care of made the arrest bittersweet.

For now, Flash hoped that Music Meister would start reforming sooner or later. He'd even help him if he wanted. For now, the law would taking the reins from here.

•

The courthouse was packed with reporters, spectators, and lawyers all awaiting the trial of the Music Meister. Outside, an even larger crowd formed, mostly made up of journalists trying to get the inside story and a glimpse of the criminal.

Barry had his eyes on a group of women sitting in the front row. The one in the middle looked like she'd been crying for hours while the other two were comforting her.

"It's okay, Christie," one consoling her told her. "He's gonna be back home with you in no time."

Both Music Meister and the judge arrived at the same time, making the room go quiet. His muzzle was back on, preventing him from using his powers.

Music Meister and the crying woman made eye contact with each other. Barry sensed the intimacy and unspoken feelings between them. The woman didn't look angry or disappointed; rather, she looked forgiving and sorrowful. As for Meister, Barry could tell he wanted to reach out and wipe the tear forming in her eye.

"Who is she?" He whispered to Iris.

"That's his wife."

Barry stopped.

"His wife. Music Meister is a married man."

"His who?"

This had to be a lie. No way. Absolutely no way that the distraught woman at the front of the courtroom was Music Meister's wife. Also, the implication that the "she" Meister talked about before his arrest made him added even more questions. When did he have time to get married? Was it even legal?

"You're lying to me."

Iris narrowed her eyes. "I'm not. Why don't you look at his records yourself, genius?"

"It's just...you never hear about rogues being married."

"I know. Couldn't believe it when I first read his records, either." Iris snapped pictures now that the trial began. "And to a civilian too. That's not something you see everyday."

After a nearly 4 hour trial, the verdict was delivered. Music Meister was sentenced to three years for robbery but had the possibility of parole.

Fitting his status as a Metahuman, he'd be sent to Belle Reve.

Barry watched as Meister and his wife, whose name was Christine, embraced each other. No tears threatened to spill out her eyes again. He then planted a kiss on her forehead with the muzzle still on.

"Are you sure that's his wife?" He asked Iris again.

The hard time he had believing that not only was Music Meister married, but to such a well put together woman was apparent.

Iris wordlessly handed Barry the file as she took pictures of Music Meister being escorted out of the courtroom, Christine and her friends following behind him.

Later that night, Barry busied himself looking through Music Meister's records. Sure enough, his martial status confirmed what Iris said, but also had additional information such as his previous arrests for misdemeanors in his home state of Louisiana and a copy of his marriage certificate.

"Poor Christine," Barry mumbled. Given how sad she was over the news, he guessed that they had a good marriage. "I better go pay her a visit at some point."

#jay's writings

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aphroditestummyrolls · 2 years ago

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I would love to hear all your thoughts about writing about the orient express train itself? You make your world so lush and i want more thoughts from you about it 👀

oh hi friend <3

thanks :) like, how i write about the train itself? the setting in MotOE is so juicy for two reasons: 1) the claustrophobia of it. Girl (gnc), you are stuckkk there-- with all these strangers, sleeping, eating, passing the time-- and there is no escape! You only have so many options if you're going to make a friend, and you damn well might make an enemy. But! 2) you're also in constant motion. Constant motion with no control, hurtling toward your destination. I think my favorite thing about the train as the setting for this story/murder in particular is the predetermination of it all.

Like, Cassetti's trial is done, and his sentence is about to be carried out. Once that train starts, so does the clock, running down his time, and the time in which his murderers have to do the deed. As soon as the train starts, so does the plan. And then the train is stalled and then the PLAN IS STALLED TOO--

I know all of this analysis is quite obvious, but agatha christie is just such a genius to set this story on this train just the way she wrote it. the pressure, the tension, the dry heating contrasted with the dead of winter. It's just so good.

The most important things to me in writing the train are making sure that the pressure cooker element, and the hourglass of it all are front and center. we are TENSE. 'we' in this case, being pierre and mickey especially.

Because there's also the elements of luxury, elegance and romance in train voyages-- in the book, Poirot even says that "the train is as dangerous as a sea voyage". there's something in the air, the "we may never see each other again" vibe that is equal parts freeing and confining. The cojoining compartment doors. the tight corners where the bounds of propriety can be brushed against both figuratively and literally. no one knows who you are, and you dont know them, there's no one to call you out for the responsibilities that you'd usually have. For mickey, that's a huge thing-- that anonymity.

And for Pierre, its the most one in a million chance. Because he can't leave responsibility behind on the train, his responsibility *is* the train. he's never included in the romance of it, the luxury is never for him, he *provides* luxury to others. there's a conversation that these two men have in a flashback in this story that just... there they both were, always at the whims of others.

anyway, this is long now haha thank you for asking! i hope it makes sense! my askbox is always open to chat about this story, it is gnawing at my brain.

#the pierre/mickey fic #murder on the orient express #a dangerous fortune #mickey miranda #pierre michel of avignon #asks becasue im sad lol

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what-if-nct · 2 years ago

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Also Dirk Benedict who played Face in the A team can sing I am crying. Also Face gets shot. I'm crying again. Also he was chased by a man with a gun. He looked around and then bumped into a T R E E lmao. He literally saved himself by throwing a bible at that man and ran away. It was so random but so funny.

No I am not obsessed with the A team. Also Murdock is like the weirdo and he's like so weird. He's like me. He came back from nam as a weirdo. Thats the plot honestly. But like there was this one scene where's a gunfire, and Murdock has to sit in a ton in the middle of the fire so he can fire back from closeby. He was wearing earprotectors, but as he actually had to get up, he stayed down in the ton and covered his ears, cringing from the sounds of the bullets (and dynamite Face was throwing dynamites). Poor baby :((((( (He did manage to get up and shoot back, but as the bad guys drove away they ran over Murdocks ton my poor baby :((((((((( )

No I am NOT obsessed.

Anyways so Mark Lee is the adorablest person ever. Hendery is so weird. Yangyang. Yangyang i love that baby. Also the Kun Xiaojun Mickey tiktok I remember that move in Kick Back. I always watched Xiaojuns pretty coloured hair kickback focus cam. I love him so much. I have read a fanfiction about Kun unvirgining Xiaojun and it was so sweet. They were making sweet love.

Also animals are the best creatures ever. I love cats. Also geckos and foxes. And sheep. Sheep are so amazing and cute. Also goats. And ponies. Actually every animal except the scary ones.

I read Andy Griffiths book 'just disguisting' and it was so disguisting. Theres a list of disguisting things in it and theres 'cockroaches without head' and 'saliva' and 'when youre drinking a cup of cold water but you realise you accidently drank a cup of cold saliva'. I recommend the book. Do you know the treehouse series from Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton? It's literally the best.

-sneeze

I love how much you love the A-team. I also love how you talk about them. I can just feel how much the show makes you happy. And like jumping in a tree to get away from a bad guy already funny but defeating him by hitting him with a bible, like that is comedic genius. Awww the war ptsd got to him, poor little guy.

Hendery is a little weirdo I love him. Also I really need people to put respect on Hendery's version of the Ok lyric. It goes Jeno, Hendery, Yangyang, Mark, Taeyong. Am I biased to deeper voices? Yes but I said what I said. Honestly Hendery and Yangyang are tied for second. And I miss kick back wayv. Xiaojun's hair was so pretty. But I am in love with his hair now, I hope they keep it for their next comeback. And they posted a wayv x dream vlog or a Renjun hanging out with his cousins and Haechan tagging along vlog.

Animals are the best, I was at my mom's house yesterday and there's a cat in her apartment complex and I went to pet the kitty and she laid down and let me pet her, she was so soft and fluffy and let me rub her belly. My mom said she was a guard kitty cause she protected her from the birds. And she was the most precious guard kitty.

I looked up just disgusting cause it sounded familiar and I knew it did, I always saw it in the library at school, but because I was in elementary and this was the early 2000s, I was like ew that's a boys book I don't wanna read that, I wanna ready Madeline and Junie B Jones. And Arthur I loved Arthur. I still watch Arthur as an adult. But now as an adult and I no longer see things as boys stuff and girls stuff, it looks really cool and I wanna check it out. And I'm surprised its written by Andy Griffith, it look me so long to realize Matlock was Andy Griffith, I always knew who don knotts was no matter what age cause he always looked the same plus I use to watch threes company as a kid, Christie was my favorite.

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sweetdreamsjeff · 10 months ago

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There was all these great things that he was still going to do....

The Last Word: Elvis Costello on Reassessing His Back Catalog and Why He’s a ‘Freak of Nature’

Singer-songwriter talks new album The Boy Named If, the legacy of "Alison," the genius of Jeff Buckley, his past collaboration with Paul McCartney, and more

January 14, 2022

BY KORY GROW

What songs do you wish you could sing? It would be great to sing [Purcell’s] “When I Am Laid in Earth” like Jeff Buckley did at Meltdown in ’95. It was astonishing to hear him sing this piece of music from Jacobean times, and it just feel like it could’ve been written for his voice. But he had such a gift of an instrument of a voice. He could turn that to all sorts of music that took his interest, and it didn’t sound in any way an affectation that he did it. He would sing Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan pieces he’d learn phonetically; he didn’t understand the language. He talked about singing Mahler at that festival. I said, “That’s in German. Do you speak German?” “No, I’ll learn it.”

I was curating that festival. Now it’s very poignant because it was his last performance in London, but we didn’t know that then. His life was ahead. There was all these great things that he was still going to do. That was just a very sad coincidence. We should be happy that he sang it that one time. You heard him sing something like [“When I Am Laid in Earth”], surely you’ve heard Grace, you’ve heard “Corpus Christi Carol” by Benjamin Britten — he could sing that as well as he could sing a song by Morrissey, although why anybody would want to do that, I don’t know. Or a song by Led Zeppelin; why anybody would want to do that, I don’t know, but he did. That’s his choice.

BEFORE THE PANDEMIC hit, Elvis Costello was living what he calls a “carefree and jet-set” lifestyle. He’d recorded a well-received album, 2020’s Hey Clockface, completed a tour, and had even tracked a handful of new songs in Helsinki and Paris before Covid hit pause on the world.

“The next thing, I found myself staring at the water on Vancouver Island, not knowing when I would leave again, not knowing when we’d start work again,” he says on a call from his Manhattan home this past November. “So I looked at a group of songs that I had begun that year, and I saw they were actually connected in some ways. They were, I hate to use the word ‘philosophical,’ but they did have a look at life at different times —the innocence of childhood, the confusion of young adulthood, and then looking back at different things with a different perspective later.” Those tunes — some of which sound carefree and jet-set, some which reflect the singer-songwriter’s trademark bittersweet brooding — now comprise his 32nd studio album, The Boy Named If, out this week.

Costello, who was born Declan MacManus in London 67 years ago, has always been an introspective songwriter, chronicling the acrimony, shame, and occasional glimmers of hope that accompany everyday life for the past 40-plus years. He’s the first to point out that while songs like “Alison” and “Pump It Up” are beloved classics, neither were smash successes. His biggest hit in the U.S. came in 1987 with “Veronica,” a song about the unlikely subject of Alzheimer’s that peaked at Number 19 on the Billboard chart. So his perspective on his career is that it’s been successful enough to allow him to keep making more albums, tour, and collaborate with artists he grew up admiring. Over the years, he’s taken advantage of opportunities to work with Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, the Roots, and many others. His artistry earned the singer an Order of the British Empire medal for his contributions to the arts.

In an interview for Rolling Stone’s Last Word column, Costello reflected on what he’s learned at nearly every stage of his life and what keeps him going. “I’ve been doing it long enough now that I should’ve learned something,” he says. “For heaven’s sake, you can become a priest and a doctor in seven years; I’ve been doing this 43, I should be able to do something by now. I certainly can’t do anything else.”

In 1977, you said that your primary motivations were “revenge and guilt.” Does that still hold true? Yeah, I had drunk about half a bottle of Pernod when I said that. I thought it sounded good and so did the journalist, and then I have people quoting it back to me as if it was a page from the catechism. It’s just some moment of bravado. It sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? But think it through for a minute and it doesn’t make sense. But awfully picturesque.

How did you learn to move past that press persona? Making 30 or more albums. Each one is different in personality. Those records sometimes require you to unpack that mythmaking aspect of those first few records, because if you listen to the individual songs on those first albums, you’ll find much more nuance to what’s being said about anything. And to some degree, if you’re stuck with my face and my voice, things sound more aggressive because I’m a freak of nature. I have a gap in my teeth. Everything explodes out of my mouth as either a threat or a snarl [laughs].

What do you think caused you to think about the various stages of life while writing the songs on The Boy Named If? I do have boys that will be 15 next week, and an elder son who’s in his forties, so I have the perspective on some of these transitions. And I lost my father 10 years ago; I lost my mother early last year. Those things will tend to make you think about yourself as a child because now you’re promoted by that event in some way.

How did your mother and father influence you as a songwriter? I wrote a 600-page book [2015’s Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink] sort of romanticizing the stories of my grandfather and my father as traveling musicians and how it influenced me. But I also began that book when my father was in his last illness with Parkinson’s. Although he had passed during the process of me writing that book, he was sort of alive on the page, wasn’t he? The actual truth was, it was my mother that told me to write things down that troubled me or bothered me, both good and bad ways. That was her example.

You have a line on “Farewell, OK,” a track from the new record, about “Elvis in the velvet hereafter.” What’s your relationship with the name Elvis now? I never really hear it because my family don’t call me that; most people call me by my initials, which my dad began. He called me “D.P.” [for “Declan Patrick”] so that’s an Irish convention, I guess, that he picked up. And I don’t really hear many people call me by that name, so I just don’t hear it anymore. It’s like a secret identity, or something; it’s like being called Clark Kent. It’s just a name. It’s just a brand.

You’ve played with the Attractions’ Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas for more than 40 years in different capacities. What’s the secret to making a collaboration like that work? Well, of course there was a time when we didn’t work together. They had different views of what that band was; we had reached an end with that band a couple of times, two or three times, long before we actually disbanded for the first time, let alone the second time. … Even when we weren’t cohesive, we made good records. Blood & Chocolate was a good record, and we were completely at war most of the time. Sometimes not getting along can be good. You didn’t have to be happy-go-lucky or cheery all the time. That’s not really what it’s about.

What still attracts you to writing rock music? I don’t like much rock music. I like rock & roll. I think if you lose the roll part, a lot of the fun goes out of it. And when people ask me, “What’s your favorite record?” I usually don’t name any electric-guitar records made in the last 30 years because the beat is so square. I like things that float a bit or swing a bit, whether it’s rock & roll or actual jazz that swings, or even the way Hank Williams records lope.

You listen to these records out of Nashville, they couldn’t float if you filled them full of water. They just don’t; they’re square and they sound like bad rock records from the Nineties. To my ear, they just do. But somebody likes them. My grandfather — he was a trumpet player — never used to criticize other musicians. I’m trying to live by his example a little better these times and not be so critical of everybody else. But you can’t like everything.

Do you wish you could record songs in a different style? I wish I could sing certain types of tunes that I’ll never be able to sing. I don’t think I’m ever going to sing as a countertenor.

You’ve collaborated with Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach on songs, but they seem to write words to fit the melodies where you have said you do the opposite. What have you learned from working with them? With Paul, we started very spontaneously. One of us would start strumming a rhythm and then some harmony would emerge. Like most everybody, I’ve been watching Get Back. And it’s really amazing to see the Beatles writing like that … taking those same stumbling steps that all songwriters take, letting the nonsense words almost carry the tune for a moment, and then the real meaning comes out from that. So I did actually have that experience of writing with Paul in that manner. I’m not saying [my experience is] equal, but that was one of the ways we worked.

What about working with Burt Bacharach? With Burt Bacharach, it was very different. It was predominantly music first and often one or the other of us would make the first musical statement. In some cases, I wrote a melody to which he would write the bridge. Sometimes writing every other line would come from one or the other of us once we’d got a dialogue going. But then my job would be to respond to the mood and the implication of that music, what would serve that music in a narrative. The mood of the music was very apparently melancholic and reflective, so I didn’t want to overcomplicate lyrics with lots of showy images. I wanted to keep the language fairly plainspoken.

When you’re writing without a collaborator, you can choose to speak simply, or you can sometimes explore more images that the listener has to ponder more. There’s some lyrics that I wrote for Imperial Bedroom that are quite opaque. There are some songs that I wrote 10 years ago that have very clear narratives, like “Jimmie Standing in the Rain,” and then others that are much more impressionistic, like “Stations of the Cross.” If you read that lyric, you can see the seams within each verse, but each verse does not necessarily lead to the next; they lead to the chorus. Sometimes it’s almost like the editorial function because the bridge might be from the perspective of the other character in the song, or it might step outside a first-person narrative to observe that. You can travel in time and space just like a novelist can, but you’re doing it in a much more compressed form in a song.

What have you learned about expressing complicated perspectives in your lyrics? You don’t usually get taken to jail for killing people in songs. “Watching the Detectives,” “Alison,” “Man Out of Time” — these are just early songs that seem to mention murder or shooting people, but they don’t actually describe shooting people. That’s not what they’re about. They’re not about an act of violence at all. They’re about observing violence on a TV or they’re about taking the hope from somebody or taking the will to carry on from yourself. There’s all sorts of ways that you might choose to express it: Sometimes extreme language is used to convey something very mundane, but nevertheless, something that you feel you want to say.

Early on you actively kept “Alison” out of your set lists. Why was that? Because it was the only ballad we had. It was like a moment where the tension would slacken in the show, and that wasn’t what I wanted. So I felt, “Well, that makes it too easy. Let’s make it a little harder. Let’s play a bunch of songs they haven’t heard yet.” So, we played the second record, which nobody had heard. I think those were probably stronger songs for the Attractions because we had started to record them [for Costello’s first LP with the group, This Year’s Model] and they belonged to us.

Last year, you released Spanish Model, which featured Spanish-speaking singers covering This Year’s Model. Did that give you a new perspective on those songs? I was sort of shocked to find several of these songs had much better tunes when sung by somebody with an evidently more beautiful voice than I have. “Hand in Hand” quite surprised me. That’s quite a pretty tune. It literally never occurred to me, because it was “don’t ask me to apologize” — all attitude. And then [on Spanish Model] I heard that I’d actually set it to quite a tender tune, much more so than I sang it.

Speaking of attitude, in 1977, you were famously banned from SNL after suddenly switching to “Radio, Radio” in the middle of your slot. How do you look back on that decision now? Before anybody noticed that we’d even done it, we were back in England, recording the rest of This Year’s Model. We’d forgotten about America temporarily, because we had to be on Top of the Pops in England. We never thought about NBC again. … It’s clear we weren’t going to have a career in television; they told us that. And guess what? I never wanted one, really.

#jeff buckley #elvis costello #what songs do you wish you could sing #rolling stone magazine

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milady-pink · 1 year ago

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Waitress AU

Warnings: Food/baking, domestic abuse, unplanned pregnancy, cheating

Summary: Working at a dead end job, waitress Christine soon finds herself with a new problem: an unplanned pregnancy. Life is all about trying to find the sweet spots and luckily this pie genius has a new (and pretty adorkably sexy) OBGYN, who isn’t too happy at home either.

TL;DR Quirky cute and sexy Erik as a doctor, lab coat and all.

Word Count: 1058 || Graphics: @firefly-graphics

"The Negative "

Recipe Book

AO3

“What the hell are y’all doin’?”

“This is a female emergency, Piangi! Your testosterone filled mind wouldn’t comprehend.” Replied Meg, said with not a drop of hostility.

Huffing out a frustrated breath from the antics of his waitstaff. Crossing his hairy arms he calls into the women’s bathroom, “There’s no one on the floor! Am I gonna have to put on a waitress uniform myself?”

Poking her red-beehive out, Carlotta responds, “The blue would do numbers for your figure”, before closing the door once again.

Brows furrowed in anger, Piangi threatens the girls. “Need I remind you that I can fire your ass—”

“Sorry Piangi we can’t hear you—water’s running”, Carlotta cuts him off.

At the end of his wit, the chef tries one last time to regain control of the situation. “Get out here! I am only gonna say it once….This is the last time I’ll say it!” Walking away, defeated, he lets out an aggravated, “dammit”.

Back behind his grill, he cocks the antics of his female workers as hysteria.

Now that the three light-blue dressed women were alone, Carlotta once again presented the pregnancy test to Christine, with Meg right there filling up a disposable cup with sink water.

“I gotta get back to my table” she trains to reason, wanting to be in any other musty, dimly-lit bathroom than this one.

Not having any of it, Carlotta crosses her arms and snarks, “Chrissy, it’s time.”

“You’ve been nauseous every mornin’ this week,and its only Wednesday.” Pipes in Meg, offering her the water.

Realizing she won’t be getting out anytime soon, Christine shared,”I don’t wanna know”, in a mumble.

“You’ve waited too long as it is.” Pushed Carlotta.

“It might just be a fluke! Don’tcha wanna know?” Asked Meg.

After some time of considering things, Christine took the test reluctantly, and went into one of the stalls shutting the door behind her. She heard Meg say in concern, “I hope you drank enough” through the metal door.

“Ya ever done one of these before?” Questioned Carlotta from the sinks.

“No”

The redhead points her nail file at Meg. “Read the instructions to her”, she told the blonde.

Squinting her eyes to read the fine printing on the pink and blue box, Meg started. “Se puede saber la duración—”

Carlotta quickly cut her off. “English, Meg, English!”

“Oh”, she exclaimed, “do not insert the test stick into your vagina!” She replied, happy to be of service.

“Thanks”, snarked the older woman, earning her a gleeful smile in return. She turns her attention to the waitress in the stall, “How did this happen anyway?”

“Yeah”, joined Meg, “I thought you didn’t sleep with your husband much nowadays?”

“Uh—well, it was after that girl’s night, few weeks ago, and I was wearing that stupid red dress.” Christine groaned, frustrated from her past behavior. Hindsight is 20/20.

“Oh! I love that red dress—the way it shines in the light! Reminds me of those figure skatin’ outfits they wear on TV!” Trailed off Meg, easily distracted by the smallest details.

Carlotta, not one to forget the catastrophe at hand, grabs Meg by the shoulders and shakes her. “Focus Megan!”

“Anyway”, continued Christine, used to her friends’ antics, “I came home and he was sittin’ on the couch with two beers. He got me drunk and, next thing led to another….Now I’m sittin’ on the toilet tryin’ to accurately pee on a piece of plastic.”

Trying to be helpful, the blonde questions aloud, “Maybe his ‘boys’ don’t swim as well as they used to, ya know?”

“Or maybe my life is ruined because of one stupid mistake.” Christine asks as she opens the door to her stall, leaving its confines; pregnancy test in hand.

“Or, you’re perfectly fine and just gotta head cold! One night is hardly enough time for… that.” She emphasized by staring at Christine’s stomach.

Rolling her eyes, she hands the stick back over to Carlotta. “Now what?”

“Now, we wait.” Making her point clear by starting the timer on her watch for three minutes. All three girls watch Carlotta place the test on the sink, window side down.

“Gah, my mind is racing! I feel like I can’t breathe, I’m panicking real bad!” Christine discloses to her two closest friends.

“Everything will be okay, what’s the worst that could happen?” Meg asked the other two.

Carlotta decided to answer her while Christine paced back-and-forth in the small restroom. “Well, Chrissy could get stuck with a parasite that she won’t be able to get rid of until the thing’s eighteen years old!” As she spoke her voice steadily rose until almost screaming at the last word.

“Oh”

“Yeah”

Fed up with how her friends were speaking as if she wasn’t in the same room, and whose life was really at stake, she decided to break their bickering. “Enough! The only way I’m gonna survive this won’t be with you two going on and on.” By now she had stopped pacing, choosing instead to stand in one place with her hands on her cheeks, eyes closed and head pointed upwards. “Dear God, send me a sign that these three minutes in the women’s restroom at the diner with these two crazies,” this earned her offended looks from her colleagues, “be the last few minutes of peace in my life.”

The other girls, who had watched their friend say a desperate prayer, each mumbled a quiet, “amen”.

Taking a deep breath, Christine crossed her arms over her stomach and looks to Carlotta. “How much longer?”

As the redhead opened her mouth to speak, her watch’s timer went off giving Christine her answer. All three restroom occupants looked towards the test sitting on the sink ledge, then to the woman of the hour who had to live with whatever results it gave.

Slowly walking over to the sink, getting a pat on the arm from Meg as she went, Christine looked down at the test, then back up at the mirror in front of her. Picking up the test, window side still down, she closes her eyes and flips the stick over. With a final breath of air, she opens her eyes and looks at the test’s answers. Seeing the result, she makes eye contact with herself through the mirror and lets out a sigh.

“Shit.”

#phantom of the opera #christine daae #raoul de chagny #erik destler #musical fanfic #sara bareilles #waitress #pies

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heartintact · 11 months ago

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Ivy’s criticism over her choice only made her huff out a laugh—definitely the first time someone decided to get all hermeneutical over where she chose to keep her nudes in. “Yeah, well, it wouldn’t have looked that hot on a cooking book, so…” The decision could’ve been the dirty kind of formulaic, but wasn’t sleeping with your professor the biggest cliché in the book? It was nice, getting called out without any cruelness and being able to joke about her mistakes as if they were old friends. That air of comfort was quickly replaced by something different, though; suspiciousness made its way into Farrah’s heart once her classmate approached the laptop. It didn’t make any sense; they didn't know each other well enough for her to assume she was some sort of digital genius, but a part of her hoped Ivy would be able to get some of the information with a couple of clicks, catching any detail she could’ve missed. But it was as if the device had never belonged to anyone. “Maybe we should leave it; it’s the safest thing to do,” she began, already looking apologetic as she added, “but… let’s take it anyway. It’s too fucking weird not to try to see if we find something, don’t you think?” Mysteries had never been precisely Farrah’s forte. Agatha Christie was hardly her favorite author, and she was the world’s worst Clue player. But something strange was going on—that certainty was creeping into her body. Her attention moved to the other then, determination in her gaze as she pulled at her arm, once again anchoring her to reality. They had no time to lose; just being in the house was a dangerous gamble. “We should’ve probably grabbed his phone when we could, but—whatever, it’s too late now.” That night, they’d been affected and needed to find a safe place. Not to mention, trying to get his phone could’ve ended up terribly in many outcomes: their fingertips could’ve been found on his clothes, someone could’ve tracked the location back to them. The more time passed, the more obvious it seemed that this was going to be the kind of scenario haunted by loose ends.

“There should be one of my notebooks around; if it isn’t here, it’s probably in the bedroom—I studied here a couple of times. And a sweater; I think there’s nothing else.” It had never occurred to her how messy she’d been about her little affair, probably because she’d always assumed that once things were over, she’d have the time to put her belongings in a small cardboard box and leave the place for the last time. As if she were getting fucking fired or something, that was quite the way to look at a pseudo-breakup. But now, with such an abrupt end to their professor’s life, it seemed awfully obvious that she’d been incredibly careless. Just the fact that no one had ever caught her before now seemed like a miracle. A few more minutes of looking around led to nowhere—a mess of papers to grade in one of the drawers, books, a couple of notes, pens, and pencils on the other. And she knew her notebook wouldn’t be on the bookshelf, ‘cause he definitely wouldn’t be the kind of man to put it in a special place if he saw it laying around. “Let’s go; it’s probably there.” She proposed with resignation in her voice. One of her hands grabbed the Inferno’s copy, her other hand coming to rest on top of Ivy’s, urging her to stop looking and move on to the next room. The bedroom was as clean as usual: white walls without any family pictures, a king-size bed with more pillows than someone would actually need. Her sweater was easy to find, folded inside the closet. And while she didn’t see her notebook, something else caught her attention: a lavender-colored piece of paper she’d seen before, only because her roommate had practically shoved it against her face, talking about how it would be the event of the decade. “Did you know about this party? Some frat is throwing it.” Her nose wrinkled at the concept, her eyes looking up to gauge Ivy’s impression. “Why the fuck would he get an invitation? Pretty sure professors are not welcome there.” More importantly, why would it be on his bedside table?

It took Ivy aback when Farrah insisted they stick together, as if this was a haunted house. In a way she supposed if the other girl was superstitious it wouldn't be such an absurd thought. They were in her dead lover's house, snooping through his things in order to take the proof that he'd been sleeping with one of his students before someone else could find it. Idly, Ivy wondered if he had a family, if they would be the ones to come and pack all this shit up and then where would it go? She wasn't unnerved by the thoughts for more than a second before she was nodding at her assessment. "Okay, so no need to go through his prescriptions or cutlery drawer, noted." Ivy's hand lifted in a gesture to indicate as such. Really there was no reason to take anything that wasn't Farrah's anyway, but she was curious, admittedly. Prior to finding out that the other had been sleeping with him she really hadn't given much thought to the person he was outside of their weekly classes. Professors were barely people to Ivy, just obstacles. To find out he'd been having some torrid affair with someone who came across so sweet... and who also happened to be top of the class. Well, she was connecting some tentative dots, but not quite finding herself ready to ask about it, because that might further torpedo this whole plan not to talk to each other.

As they slipped into the study, again her eyes searched the room, following behind the other as she surveyed the room, noticing the laptop propped on the desk a moment after Farrah did. Surprise flashed across her features and she pursed her lips. "Well, shit. Guess I was wrong. They must have taken the suicide thing and ran with it... or we have a stunningly incompetent police force in this town." She quirked an eyebrow, smirk suddenly playing on her lips. "More so than usual, anyway." As someone who regularly bent and broke the law like it was nothing, it wasn't like Ivy didn't benefit from said incompetence. She was swiftly distracted by the mention of a book containing photos. "Photos?" A look of recognition took over quickly after she asked, nodding as she lifted her gaze to the ceiling. "Got it, no perving on your nudes." She said, slipping over to the bookshelf to scan through the shelves until her fingers were plucking out a particular one, Dante's Inferno sitting in her palms as she turned the front cover for a second and then decided against it. "S'kinda fucking on the nose, y'know..." She was muttering until her attention was called over to Farrah by the laptop. Making her way over, she placed the book down beside the laptop and leaned in next to her, not really noticing the closeness as she squinted at the screen, face screwed up in confusion. "What the fuck?" She muttered, hand snaking between them and gently brushing Farrah's hand away so that she could click the trash icon, but as it loaded it revealed nothing, yet again. "Why would this..." She frowned, swallowing as discomfort crept in. Ivy lifted her gaze, eyes searching the room suddenly in a paranoid fashion. "Let's take it with us. I... I know a guy." Was Farrah sick of hearing that yet? It was an uncomfortable deja vu. "I mean, if you wanna know, that is? Shit, maybe we should leave it?" Why did Ivy suddenly feel more urgent? She stood up straighter, hand finding Farrah's arm, trying to prompt her. "What else are we looking for?" She asked, before beginning to tug open the desk draws, giving in to impulse.

#txt. farrah thornton.#—farrah & ivy.#thursdaygrl #jesus... the linguist in me really went for the word hermeneutical. one of these days i'll shut up

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musette22 · 3 years ago

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About what nonnie asked, Seb mentions Steve and Bucky's issues with guilt and specifically Steve's survivor's guilt in a CW behind the scenes video. I don't know if it's the exact thing nonnie is looking for because I am sure both Chris and Seb must have mentioned it at other times, since it's such a big trauma element for Steve which affects their relationship. There's also a Collider interview in which this is mentioned but I think it's just Chis that talks about it. The interview is still very intresting as whole.

I hope that helps ❤️

(i love Collider's interviews btw, they always make such good questions that trigger answers with such insightful content about plot and the experience of characters, really showing they made their homework and have knowledge about the movies, as well as the interviewers probably being fans themselves)

CHRISTY, you genius! Thank you so much for this!! So I just watched that video and literally went "OH YEAH, he did say that!" lmao, at least I know myself well 😂 This is a super interesting little interview (and also icon for its meme potential of course), thanks for reminding me! <3

youtube

And the article you linked... Oh Chris...

"I let you go. I’m sorry."

SHIT. Gonna go cry now, again 😭😭

Thanks again for this, lovely! That's super helpful and interesting ❤️

#I agree about collider interviews always being insightful and interesting #definitely #a joy to watch/read #sebastian stan #chris evans #stucky #minnie answers

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ct-multifandom · 3 years ago

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Miracuclass Amogus Cringe

I was going back and forth about making this post, but then I saw @charming-mage ‘s and I was like screw it we’re doing this. This ended up 10x longer than I thought it’d be.

Marinette (crewmate) - tries to organize everyone into a buddy system to corner the impostors, gets frustrated when people agree to her plan and then start running rogue. When discussions start she’s leading the conversation and asking the most questions. She greatly prefers crewmate over impostor because she likes the mystery solving element of discussions.

Marinette (impostor) - whenever she kills someone she goes, “ahhhh” out loud and panics while her avatar sprints away from the body. She likes coming up with convoluted plans, especially when she can communicate with her fellow imp(s), and tries to make it seem like she’s in two places at once wether it be through venting or falsified testimony.

Adrien (crewmate) - he has to unmute and ask how to do like every individual task to the point where he’s been voted out over it before because cmon, you’ve gotta be lying about it at this point, just piece it together and stop unmuting during task time. He makes puns and sings little improvised songs while tasking. When he suspects someone but they don’t get voted out, he offers to tail them at the cost of his own safety. Same with fixing sabotages late-game. To him, getting killed is just part of the game progression, and it’s not a big deal because he trusts his fellow crewmates to avenge him and doesn’t mind ghost-tasking.

Adrien (impostor) - okay maybe he lies about not knowing tasks sometimes. But it also took him a while to learn imp mechanics and he kept asking about them out loud like, “what’s the red square task on the floor? Why’s my name highlighted?” And somehow nobody noticed while his partner(s) were like nggggg Adrien no... At least he’s good at playing innocent/fake-detective-ing in discussions. Whenever he kills someone he makes some stupid one-liner about it out loud.

Alya (crewmate) - we got Sherlock Holmes over here. She overanalyzes every tiny detail and isn’t scared to sacrifice the sus for the greater cause. When she finishes tasks, she likes to hang out by security and snoop in case of the rare satisfaction of catching someone red-handed. If there’s an emergency meeting, it’s probably because she probably saw something. She supports Crewinette’s plans to corner the imps. She thinks tasks wins are boring and that it’s a lot more fun to win through voting correctly. If they task-win or lose she stops before the new game and asks who the imps were and for a recap of their actions.

Alya (impostor) - a force to be reckoned with. She’ll wait for the perfect moment to strike someone, and then cover her tracks, join a group and win herself a strong alibi anyways. Her reputation as a ruthless detective protects her, even when the game is set to show that the ejected person was innocent. She always chooses someone to kill and someone to blame for it, but sometimes she gets carried away and they vote her off for pointing too many fingers.

Nino (crewmate) - he’s just tasking, man. If he gets killed he’s like, “oh mf” and just keeps ghost-tasking. He mostly hangs out during the discussions unless he has something solid to say, only jumping in at the end to confirm, “so we’re voting for _?”. He leads his own little crewmate squad around when he finishes tasks to protect them while they finish theirs.

Nino (impostor) - mostly plays off the strategy of his partner(s). He likes playing the protective team-player type “innocent diversion” role while the partner(s) get to killing, so when discussions start he’s totally in the clear, which gives him an opening to dodge suspicion in the future if he needs to take over killing. He pretends to fix sabotages all the time because people rely on him to do that as a crewmate.

Max (crewmate) - freakishly good at the card scanning task. People always ask for his secret and he’s like? It’s so easy? He has every map memorized to a t so he can point out the contradictions in people’s stories like an ace attorney character. It’s surprisingly really helpful. He’s the opposite of Alya in that he’s a big supporter of the “guys, stop voting off random innocent people, we have like five tasks left. Whoever hasn’t done them, just finish them” strategy.

Max (impostor) - he tries his best to protect his partner(s) in the discussion while laying low himself, and sometimes he gets voted out for it, but if he senses that there’s nothing he can do, he’ll throw them even further under the bus to build credit for himself. He doesn’t like sacrificing innocents as a crewmate, so his defenses are only sus when he’s caught being wrong. He sabotages a lot to control people’s movements and vents liberally unless he committed to a tasking group. That being said, he can go whole rounds without killing out of caution.

Kim (crewmate) - he’s the guy who calls emergency meetings early into the game only to say, “I miss you guys :)” He gets voted out all the time for doing troll-y crap and ignoring Crewinette’s plans. He’s also severely confused by some of the tasks and game mechanics, but fakes it till he makes it, until the discussion where he rarely says anything valuable and just jokes around. Sometimes, though, he’ll offer a tiny offhand detail and everyone’s like Kim, I hate to say it, but you’re a genius or that’s the piece we’ve been missing! And he’s like haha ok. He’s always behind on tasks, sometimes out of laziness, sometimes out of confusion, but he’s one of the people Max is impatiently waiting on.

Kim (impostor) - he gets caught in the act a lot and it’s hilarious, but other times he gets away with everything the entire time, which is kinda scary. He’s weirdly good at introducing so much confusion and derailment to discussions that everyone gets totally lost and doesn’t know what’s going on, allowing him to survive when they could’ve easily figured him out. Unlike Max, he knows literally nothing about the maps and always says he was at the “slidey thing” or whatever and everyone’s like idk wtf the slidey thing is, and if this were anyone else they’d be gone immediately, but it’s Kim so he might actually be telling the truth. He refuses to learn the names of anything because this really helps him out.

Alix (crewmate) - always trying to convince her friends to experiment with ridiculous game settings. Occasionally, she gets to them, and they get games with comically unbalanced imp:crew ratios, awful lighting, an overwhelming load or lack of tasks, or hilariously low cool downs. She revels in the chaos. When she tasks she usually moves from place to place alone but tries to hop in with groups to confirm her movements. She’s pretty good at sussing imps out when they offer enough information, but otherwise she just makes goofy comments with Kim.

Alix (impostor) - not too worried about killing people and venting. She moves fast and dashes from place to place, joining a group on the opposite side of the map from her last body. If anyone says, “I saw someone vent but I didn’t see who” it was probably her. She likes the “stand in a clump and watch the chaos ensue when one person drops” technique as well as the gambling “hope that the UI for the task everyone’s doing covers your killing and venting” strat. Sometimes she’s forced to vent to a dead end and gets caught, and sometimes the big brain detectives catch her, but she’s usually pretty smooth.

Rose (crewmate) - a big fan of hide and seek mode. She likes grouping up for tasks, protecting each other at the cost of efficiency. During discussions, she has a hard time believing anyone’s the impostor, and everyone’s like, Rose, we know there are exactly three of them, you can’t defend every individual person. Whenever she gets killed she is like *gasp* et tu, Brute? No matter who it was.

Rose (impostor) - runs around with her squad when... oops... looks like something got sabotaged! Uh oh, wonder who could’ve done that? She’s in a battle against that task bar more so than the players, and tries to stay away from killing. She emulates crewmate behavior perfectly so no one ever suspects her until really late. If she’s the only imp left and she has to kill, it’s like an Agatha Christie locked room mystery level of drama and betrayal within her squad. But we were all together the whole time... omfg no way... it was one of us.

Juleka (crewmate) - she secretly prefers when everyone tasks alone, but goes with the squad for Rose. She only talks in discussions if she’s 100% sure about something, and she often incomprehensibly mumbles vital evidence. ~10 minutes later when they catch the imp she’s like iItoldyouso and the crew’s like ??? If she gets killed and her tasks are done, she haunts that impostor relentlessly. Sometimes she even organizes ghost brigades in ghost chat and gets everyone to follow them.

Juleka (impostor) - definitely gets a kick out of the kill button. Whenever she takes someone down she’s like heeheehee. If she was peer pressured into a task team again, she’ll anxiously try to slip away unnoticed for a second to catch someone in the hallway outside, but if she’s alone, she’s on a hunt. Nobody is safe. When she defends herself on voice chat she also mumbles incomprehensibly and everyone’s like sure, fair enough.

Mylene (crewmate) - seasoned task group leader. She also sings little task songs like Adrien. She tries to organize people into chatting regular status updates so they can tell if someone goes missing. She reports every body she finds and actively participates in the discussion, but whenever she makes good points, she gets overlooked. Then, the crew’s like Mylene, why didn’t you say anything sooner? And she’s like agjdjdhh Either that or she gets voted off for always reporting and being too eager to discuss on top of it.

Mylene (impostor) - gets her partner(s) inside her team and tries to tag-team anyone passing by, only for all the impostors to have alibis when she reports. If the ratio is right, they can destroy their own group, and then immediately point the finger at whoever is left, which works about half the time. Mylene is a pretty convincing actress, but the high IQ tricks only work a couple times.

Ivan (crewmate) - he’ll take one for the team if he has to, especially in those sabotage cases where you’d have to be isolated and vulnerable. Otherwise he’ll protect his group. He has an “innocent until proven guilty” attitude when he runs into other people on the map, and skips during a lot of the votes.

Ivan (impostor) - we all know he can’t lie to save his life. He usually gets voted out really fast if he kills someone because he gets nervous and starts saying contradictory things when questioned. That being said, he’ll do what he can to keep his partner(s) in the clear. He never vents because the risk is too high for him, instead just running around and saying, “sorry” out loud when he catches a victim.

Nathaniel (crewmate) - he’s the opposite of Adrien in that he’ll do anything to avoid getting killed. He runs around tasking on his own, but he’s usually behind because he’s so focused on avoiding everyone, to Max’s frustration. He also never reports bodies. This causes him to be sus at all times, so he gets voted out a lot. Wild Nath sightings are rare and terrifying because he’s never in the clear and he’s just standing there, menacingly. Imp!Alix sees him as a fun combo of Where’s Waldo and Assassin.

Nathaniel (impostor) - the millisecond that cool down timer runs out, someone is getting killed. Hit and run. He’s good at entering a fairly crowded large space, striking, and staying in everyone’s blind spots while he runs away, especially when the lights are out. He likes venting to isolated areas and killing as many people per round as he can, laughing when someone finally reports and everyone unmutes to go WHAT!? at the number of deaths. He tends to operate separately from his partner(s) unless they have an actual plan.

Chloe (crewmate) - gathers every single person in medbay and makes sure they all watch her scan. Yeah okay, we get, you’re a crewmate. She feels personally offended whenever someone kills her, which is often, since people tend to jokingly target her. During discussions, she accuses anyone and everyone of being sus, even if she just walked past them or saw them tasking alone. She likes stalking people as a ghost and spilling tea in ghost chat.

Chloe (impostor) - reacts similarly to Marinette when she kills. She will throw her partner(s) under the bus if it’s more advantageous in the long run, and she’s great at shifting the blame to innocents. People vote her out a lot anyways, and she says she can’t believe that they even like this stupid little game. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Unless she wins. Then it’s fun.

Sabrina (crewmate) - discussion detective supreme. She keeps track of every piece of evidence and testimony, every detail. She tails the sus at a distance, trying to catch them doing something. Sometimes it gets her targeted, but sometimes she catches them and calls emergency meetings to snitch. Somehow she manages to do this and finish her tasks at the same time.

Sabrina (impostor) - sabotages everything, and tries to get her partner(s) to do it too. Once she won because the crew just didn’t fix O2 in time. She avoids killing Chloe, but feels bad if she has to kill anyone else too. She typically just sticks to making other people seem suspicious, and likes the game mode where you can’t see if you voted correctly or not.

Lila (both) - she rarely joins these games. She isn’t even a member of the chat group they use. They occasionally invite her, and she usually lies about how busy she is, but she accepted a couple times to further her narrative. She pretends to be really bad at being an impostor to establish herself as someone incapable of trickery. Regardless of her role, whenever the body announcement pops up, she goes, “oh nooo, not [victim(s)]... nooo....” and Mari’s like stfu Lila.

Bonus Polaroid kids because,,, they <3

Kagami (crewmate) - hella efficient at tasks. Two discussions in and she’s done. She’s the interrogation specialist who stresses out the imps and crew alike with her barrage of questions. She likes moving either alone or in partners, three people maximum, unless Crewinette needs her, in which case she’ll stick to the plan no matter what.

Kagami (impostor) - you’re walking through the base / there’s no one around and comms are down / out of the corner of your eye you spot her / Kagami Tsurugi. She will have you cornered and you won’t be able to do anything about it. She always has a made up explanation for what she was doing, but sometimes it falls through solely because she’s always acting sus.

Luka (crewmate) - he likes crewmate a lot more than impostor. He’ll tag along with a task group until he’s done, and then he’ll go lurk in the corner and spy on people. He moves along the walls, and a few times this has led to him witnessing murders in the middle of the room while the imp only saw him after it was too late. Cue the mad dash for emergency meeting.

Luka (impostor) - works together with his partner(s) to perform some high level backstabbery. He rarely gets voted out unless he messes up because he builds bonds of trust with like half of the crew while he leads the rest into his partner(s)’ traps. He feels bad about killing sometimes, but he doesn’t mind sabotaging.

Zoe (crewmate) - she finds one or two other people she trusts and follows them around. She uses the logic of “well we could’ve both killed each other by now but we didn’t so they must be safe”. She immediately recounts everything that happened to her that round in discussions, even irrelevant details, just in case they might end up useful, and tends to bandwagon with voting.

Zoe (impostor) - tries to catch people in secluded corners or rooms with closable doors to kill them. She avoids taking risks, but sometimes she reports her own bodies and tries to act all surprised by the discovery. She’s a good actress, but she’s not the best bs artist, although the crew is used to her giving a ton of details right from the start, so they don’t suspect her unless there’s a hole in her story.

Marc (crewmate) - does tasks on his own but makes sure to stop near crowds when he can. Whenever he’s running around alone and sees someone else, he immediately turns around like ohmygodohmygod and anxiously dances around the other person who’s more than likely just another, equally anxious crewmate with places to be. He still gets killed a lot.

Marc (impostor) - he goes full anime villain mode. All according to keikaku. He’s one of those people who disproportionately rolls the impostor role and ends up with it like twice every five games. He plans out every move he’s gonna make, every complex lie and big brain play, and sometimes he gets that glorious evil win, but sometimes his plans are totally sabotaged by stupid things like Kim’s trolling.

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therealvinelle · 3 years ago

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How do you feel about the Twilight fanfic Luminosity? If you ever read it, that is.

For future reference - while I love dearly to discuss fics, I’m not very keen on giving honest reviews in public. This is because fanfiction is written by internet people who are very fragile more often than not, and I don’t want to risk hurting any feelings. So if people want to know my thoughts on a specific fic, it’s best to DM me for the uncensored ramble.

Now, I haven’t read Luminosity, so this post is based on me poking Google with a stick. And while I don’t have any particular thoughts on the fic itself, I do have thoughts on the genre.

Apparently, Luminosity is Twilight’s answer to Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. I haven’t read that one either, but @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin summarized it so I know the story well enough. Harry is a child genius who employs the scientific method in his daily life, which changes the timeline dramatically. Luminosity is the same, Bella is now a genius rationalist.

My first thought here is that these kinds of fics, “What if the protagonist was actually smart?” are very hard to pull off because more often than not the author is writing BBC’s Sherlock. Congratulations, the protagonist is now a smarmy asshole, dismissive of characters deemed uncool (in Harry Potter fanfiction this always translates to the Weasleys), and vowing us all with what the author has mistaken for intelligence.

This last bit is my main problem with the genre - I’m promised a highly intelligent protagonist, but the author themselves isn’t intelligent enough to pull it off, or they don’t understand what intelligence is. Yes, I sound like a smarmy asshole saying this, I’m aware of that. I’ll give an example off the top of my head: this one fic where a character was so terrifyingly intelligent, he could take a second long look at a wall and then tell you exactly how many bricks were in it.

If reading a fic makes you feel like you’re listening to a dudebro point out how dumb the characters in the movie Alien were, or like you’re watching Moffat’s Doctor Who, it’s a BBC’s Sherlock fic. The “I would simply have ___” type of superiority complex smart.

This type of fic is also very dismissive of the characters’ canon counterparts, and again you’re left feeling like some guy cornered you at a party and now you have to listen to how much smarter he is than Agatha Christie. Yes, plot holes and stupid characters not intended to be stupid can sadly be found everywhere in fiction, but fans’ complaints of perceived stupidity are just as often unfair. To take a Twilight example, I’ve seen argued that Carlisle should have claimed plastic surgery to explain his beauty and youth, when the man works in a hospital. Plastic surgery is easily recognized if you know what to look for and medical professionals will spot it instantly. He would never have gotten away with it. (To say nothing of how the CPS would have gotten on his case for performing black market cosmetic procedures on his children.)

This isn’t at all to say that Luminosity is this, or HPMOR for that matter. I haven’t read Luminosity so I couldn’t say, could very well be Bella is in fact brilliant, while HPMOR actually is quite clever (turns out Voldemort’s conquest of Britain was too easy, so he got bored and killed a baby, putting his own horcrux in the child, ensuring he would in time have a worthy opponent. This is why Harry is the way he is).

The above rant is mostly just me not being a fan of the type of fic, and hoping that Luminosity doesn’t fall into this trap.

#plastic surgery doesn't do what people think it does #luminosity #twilight fic #fanfiction #harry potter and the methods of rationality #twilight renaissance #twilight #twilight meta #Anonymous #ask #long post

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ultrahpfan5blog · 3 years ago

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Reflecting on Superman and Lois season 1

Now that the season is over, its interesting to look back at a very stop start season. Its very difficult for a show to hold your interest with the type of scheduling problems this show had, and in its very first season. When the show was announced, I wasn't terribly surprised but I was also not overly excited. There has been a lot of Superman and Superman adjacent material that has come out before and after the announcement so I did wonder about what they could do new. In addition, while I certainly liked Tyler in his guest appearances in Supergirl, in Elseworlds, and in Crisis, he did feel like the inferior Superman in Crisis when he was opposite Brandon Routh's Superman who really looked and felt like Superman, even better than he did in Superman Returns. However, once the trailer dropped, I was sold. It was clear that the show was going for something a lot more cinematic and a lot more grounded than the previous Arrowverse shows. I did have some apprehensiveness over the teenage boys angle because teenagers can become very stereotypically irritating in shows and given that a good chunk of time was going to be dedicated to them, it was going to be vital for them not be so.

Having finished the season, I have to say that the execs and the writers have pulled off an excellent first season. I don't think I would call it the best season 1 in the Arrowverse. I still love The Flash season 1 over any other Arrowverse season and while I haven't seen it in a while, I love Arrow season 1 as well. This may come at 2nd or 3rd place based on further reflection. I do think its has some issues when it comes to the villain storyline and with the big action set pieces, but the film's heart is set at the right place and the characters are all very likable and you want to see conversations between the characters. That's when you know that the writers are doing a good job when you almost feel that the show should go back to the character moments.

Firstly, the idea of a matured Superman is what works wonderfully well. There is something wonderful about seeing Clark and Lois as a couple who have known and loved each other for over a decade. Closer to two decades I guess. Characters don't quite look their age tbh. Lois would have to be in her early 40's at least. But I can honestly overlook that. Bitsie and Tyler were already a very likable couple in Elseworlds and the show has just used that natural chemistry to brilliant effect. But the big relief was that Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin are excellent as Jonathan and Jordan. I was initially a little worried that Jordan could be a little much, but both of them were excellent and one of the highlights of the season was the bond between the two brothers. Jordan and Jonathan have conflicts but they are brothers and they love and support each other unconditionally.

Jonathan could have so easily been the douchey, jealous brother but Elsass is honestly one of the mvp's of the season. You really care for Jonathan, even though he arguably has a slightly less meaty role in the story. I think Bitsie Tulloch is outstanding all season. She has shot up very high among all my favorite Lois Lanes. She's very different from the other versions and that makes her stand out. One of my favorite episodes was episode 8, which deals with Lois dealing with memories of her miscarriage along with almost losing Jonathan. She is excellent in that episode as is Elsass. Tyler is wonderful throughout. He's a strong Superman but his Clark is even more endearing. Little things like him being so psyched for the Harvest Festival, how he plays young Clark in flashbacks as someone distinctly different, him meeting Lois and working with her for the first time, the adorable "my mom made it" moment when Superman first saves a kid etc... He just embodies everything you know and love from the character. Wole Parks is another terrific addition. Initially you think he's an alternate version of Lex Luthor but it was genius idea to have him actually be John Henry Irons. There was something innately likable about him even when he was fighting Superman and we thought he was Lex. I loved how they handled the dynamic of being Lois' husband in another world and having a daughter. It makes for an interesting dynamic but it never gets into problematic territory because he is mature enough to know that this Lois isn't his Lois, but they also show his difficulty in dealing with that. I liked the bond he seemed to be forming with Jonathan. And I liked how he came along to be an ally with Superman.

The Cushings are ok. They play an important part in the season with Sarah Cushing being Jordan's love interest and Kyle being a big part of the how the villain story begins, with Lana also being a major character in the story. All three actors are excellent but Kyle does have the stereotypical doucheyness which was a little annoying for the first 10 episodes, however he does redeem himself in the final arc. I hope Lana gets to be a bit more active in the show because she does feel like a bit passive as a character. However, I did find that Sarah and Jordan romance actually pretty cute. Both actors did a nice job making them feel like awkward teenagers, dancing around their feelings for each other. Sam Lane is another character who starts out pretty unlikable but I warmed up to him by the end.

Where I think the show doesn't really work at full strength is the superheroic aspect of the show. The character drama in the show is great. I think it works gangbusters. The superhero plot of it all is a little meh. While Adam Rayner is perfectly fine as Edge/Tal-Rho, as a character he's just not that interesting. There is an interesting perspective there that he's sort of a mirror image to Clark where he got mistreated by people when he landed on Earth and that is how his worldview shaped that way, and he longed for family, but there isn't enough done on a character level with him. As a result, the last third of the season was a little iffy. The whole, build Krypton on Earth felt like a variation of Zod's plot in Man of Steel. The method is different but the eventual outcome is the same. I also don't know why all Kryptonians, apart from Lara, are homicidal maniacs, when they are said to be a peaceful race. The arc also becomes repetitive because there are like three climaxes. And I feel the finale was the weakest climax of the lot. Episode 10 or 12 would have served as better finales with a little tweaking. If I remember correctly, the original order was for 13 episodes and it got extended to 15, so this might be an explanation to why it feels this way. The action is fairly by the numbers. While it looks like there is clearly more money on display here than say for Supergirl or The Flash, the action scenes aren't particularly exciting or inventive.

While I am not super high on the finale, I am mostly happy with how things wrapped up. I think they should have had Tal-Rho die tragically because I really don't think he's interesting enough to be brought back again. The arrival of Natalie Irons will surely be a source of some emotionally charged scenes. i hope there is some character bonding between the her and the brothers. Jonathan seemed pretty interested in meeting her when he saw videos of her. I do wonder how the show will continue to incorporate Smallville as a setting. Season 1 obviously had a very specific plot based reason to be in Smallville, given Edge's plot was based in Smallville. But I can't imagine every big bad will have Smallville based plot. But the characters are all settled in Smallville, with the Cushings and Lois buy half the Gazette and running it with Christy. So that's going to be an interesting balancing act that they have to do. I hope they can bring in some traditional superheroics as well because Superman rogues gallery is rich enough. Out of the episodes, I think 6-8 were my favorites, and the flashbacks in episode 11 were incredibly charming. While the season is not flawless I don't think it completely nailed the superheroic heights that it was aiming for, it was a really entertaining season of tv. An 8/10 for me.

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