#completely forgetting about the episode saying him because unless people got dvds it's not like things were easy to rewatch back then

[kateis-cakeis]

I'm curious more than anything, but why did fanon decide that Aithusa is female?

I mean, it's never 100% completely confirmed that Aithusa is male either. Yes, Kilgharrah said "'you named him", but he also said that Aithusa "bodes well for Albion, for you and Arthur, and for the land that you will build together."

So Kilgharrah can be wrong.

But! I wanna know if anyone has a good starting point of how this part of fanon came about. I tried to search, but nothing was really coming up for it.

Though, I do know with fanon sometimes things just start and nobody knows how they started or when exactly, so I understand if this is one of those cases :P

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Weird q..but i really dont understand why most fans hate season 4, especially the last episode. Why? I think it gave us a deeper look on both sherlock and mycroft! I felt it tells a lot about mycroft how he had to step in and take control of things ever since he was a kid himself. Also he is not a robot or a killer. Also redbeard thing. It was an appropriate deep psychological trauma (cause most shows usually disappoint in that area). I am not trying to impose my opinion. Just want to understand

Hey Nonny!

It’s all good, and I totally respect your opinion and how you enjoyed S4! It’s totally okay! I know that there are quite a few who got a lot of of S4, and who genuinely enjoyed it.

Sadly, I am not one of those people, and I’ll try to be as diplomatic a possible in my response, but PLEASE know that I don’t think you’re “terrible” or “stupid” for liking S4 because I DO get passionate sometimes in my responses, and I’m just merely speaking as someone who studied the series very closely for quite a long time before S4 aired, and as someone who knows Day-One-ers (ie., people who watched Sherlock on its day one airdate) who also are a large majority of the people who did not like S4. This is just me simply stating why I didn’t like it, but it’s different for everyone.

Stating what I DO like: The acting and cinematography of the first two episodes were brilliant for what they had to work with, and I’ve never faulted any of the actors for the flaws of S4. And for TFP, they did the best with what they had to work with.

That’s… pretty much all I really liked about S4.

Now, here’s my problems with S4:

Nothing made a LICK of sense to the narrative that they were telling in Seasons prior. 

This series was always based a bit in reality, and suddenly everything became comic-book rules: X-Men villains, shitty “redemption” arc, destroying favourite characters just for drama, ludicrous physics, explosions that only destroyed one small room in an apt where in previous episodes one explosion destroyed an entire block, etc.

Sherlock was OOC.

Mary was being built up to be a fantastic villain? Ah, nope, here’s the lacklustre twist where tee hee Mary’s just an assassin with a heart of gold that still emotionally abuses Sherlock and John and just won’t fucking stay dead.

And speaking of this, the DVD’s make NO LOGICAL SENSE unless she was planning to kill herself

AND she tries to make her death equatable to Sherlock’s??

Everyone was RIDICULOUSLY out of character in TFP, I’m so sorry: Mycroft is a bumbling coward for the most part, Sherlock disregards John when he gives the Vatican Cameos warning, the Holmes Parents are assholes because Mycroft COULDN’T SOLVE A PROBLEM WHEN HE WAS 12?? ARE YOU SERIOUS???? And that creepy Moriarty / Eurus thing, and LITERALLY they’re implying that EVERYTHING HAPPENED BECAUSE EURUS DIDN’T GET A HUG. Like, I’m so sorry, but that’s lazy writing.

And don’t even get me started on the ridiculousness of the entire character of Eurus. She LITERALLY had X-Men powers, and like… just nothing made sense. Her involvement in the entirety of S4 MADE NO SENSE. Why go back to prison if you can get out?? WHAT IS THE POINT?? AND I repeat: She did all this because she didn’t get a hug. Yes. I’m oversimplifying, but at the base level, that’s what it was, because she wanted Sherlock’s attention. Welcome to the club, kid, stand in line, everyone on the SHOW wants his attention.

The ENTIRE plot of the first 2 seasons got wiped out all because it wasn’t Moriarty who was interested in Sherlock, but Eurus?? What… What about Carl Powers?? Like…. the ENTIRETY of season one and TGG makes no sense now, because of that one 5 minute scene where Eurus “enlists” Moriarty. I… ugh.

The SUDDEN tonal switch from kind-of Sherlock to James Bond, for some fucking reason.

And on that note, how terribly lazy and cheap TFP looks in comparison to the other two episodes. The whole episode looks like it was filmed in a small house with 4 identical rooms.

EVERYTHING that was etablished in 2 episodes prior were COMPLETELY forgotten when Mary was “shot”.

The complete character assassination of one loyal blogger John H Watson in favour of Mary for some fucked up reason, even though AT HIS OWN WEDDING HE COULDN’T STAND BEING AROUND MARY. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe for one damned second that John would EVER forgive Mary for murdering his best friend after seeing what it did to him. That’s not love from her, and that’s NOT John’s character EVER in the ENTIRETY of the series.

And speaking of character assassinations, Molly’s character being devolved to S1E1 Molly, where instead of giving her agency like they were doing with her the ENTIRE series, so much so that Sherlock picked up on her dominance enough to give her a big role in his mind palace in HLV and TAB, only to make her a sad little self-insert Mary Sue pining for the main character, and in turn made Sherlock a TERRIBLE human being for MAKING HER say what she did. It’s gross.

AND speaking of Molly’s character, they’ve been setting up Mollstrade since as early as ASiB, but I guess that plot line got shafted. Look I LOVE Hopkins, and I am ANGRY they didn’t give her more than 3 fucking lines in the entirety of ONE episode after HEAVILY promoting her actress and character, but they essentially reduced her to a piece of ass for Lestrade to chase. AND THAT’S NOT HIS CHARACTER EITHER. EW GROSS.

The constant plot holes being gaped wide open, and the Chekov’s gun moments where they bring up shit but do nothing with it!! 

TD-12? Nope, just a lame reference to a story we like. 

John got shot at the end of TLD with a VERY REAL FUCKING GUN? Nope, it was a dart gun. 

John not suddenly knowing how to be a doctor.

The TGG one I mentioned up above. 

What was in the letter? And who was Anyone??

Moriarty essentially being erased as anything other than a hired thug and had no part whatsoever in Sherlock’s history. 

Eurus… Just all of her character is asinine. 

Everyone in T6T suddenly not knowing John’s the blogger, which is in direct contradiction to literally the entire series. 

The AGRA plotline was ridiculous, in the end.

Baby? What baby? It was only there when convenient.

They dropped whatever plotline they were going to do for Mycroft: He was being set up as either dying, or the villain.

Redbeard. I’m sorry, I disagree with you on that. Mofftiss is trying to tell me that a little boy fell down a well and went missing, and that WASN’T the first place searchers / the police wouldn’t have looked? Sorry, no. And then. AND THEN his parents just… go along with this thing where Sherlock shuts down and they DON’T get him therapy? Yes, I agree the mind is a funny thing, and we can be traumatised into forgetting or dissociating from traumatic events. I GET IT. But… like I don’t believe the Holmes are so heartless as to just never grieve or have memories around about their supposedly dead daughter. It’s another OCC thing for me.

John’s cheating.

Disappearing and reappearing characters, like this scene, and the entirety of the aquarium scene.

Mary and John being terrible parents

OH GOD THIS FUCKING SCENE. That bomb SHOULD HAVE DESTROYED THE ENTIRE BUILDING.

What… who was this girl on the plane? What? Like I know WHO, but if she’s supposed to be Eurus talking to Sherlock, why don’t we see Eurus… talking to Sherlock? I … Ugh.

NORBURY. 

The glass SUPER SECRET GOVERNMENT ROOM THAT NO ONE SHOULD SEE INTO in T6T.

Sloppy camera work that some believe was intentional, but if it wasn’t, jesus c’mon.

The RIDICULOUS amount of 4th Wall Breaking. Like… even the actors didn’t give a shit.

Essentially, everything on this list here and in this blog tag here.

And everything mentioned on these three posts:

T6T: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night 

TLD: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night

TFP: 10 Revealing Things That Haunt You Late at Night

There’s SO much more I can go into, but please go through my “something’s fucky” tag in that last link.

Notice how probably 90% of that has NOTHING to do with “johnlock not becoming canon” because the Johnlockers get MONSTROUS accusations as to THAT being why we didn’t like S4, even though it was, like critically panned by the GENERAL AUDIENCE who have NO investment in the series other than “I liked it in the past”.

Two of my fave YouTubers have interesting (not perfect, but still good) takes coming at the series as casual viewers:

‘The Day Sherlock Died’ by The Closer Look

‘Sherlock is Garbage, and Here’s Why’ by hbomberguy

So it’s NOT just Johnlockers. I’ve talked to Sher1011ies at 221B con who didn’t like S4 either, because most of them realized how shitty Molly was treated in the last episode. So yeah, a big middle finger to those who think I dislike S4 because of  “no Johnlock”. No, I disliked it because I need my stories to make logical narrative sense. I disliked it because I love John and they ruined his character all for the sake of drama and because Moffat has a “hurting Ben” kink. I disliked it because Mary should NOT have been “redeemed” because she was an abuser. I disliked it because Moriarty was turned into a cartoon villain, even though he was already overused in the series. I disliked it because the core of the show – the FRIENDSHIP of Sherlock and John, and their solving mysteries together – did not exist at all. I disliked it because John got sidelined. I disliked it because TFP was a ridiculous episode that, if you replace ANY of the characters, it wouldn’t make a difference, because it didn’t feel like an episode of Sherlock. I disliked it because everyone was OOC.

Anyway. Sorry. One too many accusations my way over the past 1100+ days LOL.

As for your assessment of TFP, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you. There was no growth and actually it implies something far more sinister: That the Holmes are and were terrible parents that gave no shits about their daughter, their traumatized son, and expected their eldest to essentially be a parent. It implies that Mycroft, at 12 years old, orchestrated the ENTIRE Sherrinford thing… Look I can suspend my disbelief, but there’s limits, and this is one of them. A LITERAL CHILD. Perhaps Uncle Rudy had a hand in it somehow, but then why not shit on Uncle Rudy? Why is Mycroft blamed for it all?

Look, I don’t doubt Sherlock had a traumatic experience regarding “Redbeard”. But then why play into the fact that he was a dog? Why bring another character into the series just to have a gotcha moment? Because Mofftiss wanted a “Shyamalan twist”, that’s why. They threw EVERYTHING away for a twist ending either because they GENUINELY thought it was good, or they got tired of doing Sherlock. ALL of TFP is LITERALLY a really bad plot twist because reasons. TFP makes no sense to the ENTIRE narrative structure of the previous 12 episodes. It erased EVERYTHING from the previous episodes, and coated it with a gross closing by a character no one wanted in the series, and then tried to convince us that it’s a new beginning – “a journey they had to go through” – but it SOLVED NOTHING.

Anyway. I have big feels about S4, and the only way I can enjoy it is to watch it subtextually, but even then, I cannot sit through TFP without cringing. 

That said, Lovelies, please do not attack Nonny for enjoying S4! I know you guys won’t, but Nonny came out with an olive branch and they just want to understand why the fandom is passionate about S4′s… whatever it was. We can have a civil discussion about it, and point out – without attacking – why S4 is universally panned. It’s okay to like things no one else does, and Nonny was respectful to me in this ask! 

So with that, feel free, lovelies, to express why YOU didn’t enjoy the series, or why you did! I’m interested in both “sides” / pov’s whatever :)

[lunawings]

Ace (and Leo)’s PriZoom Birthday Party!! 4/4/2021

(Yes it took way too long before someone coined PriZoom... But)

That was.............. 

AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Comments on Tatsuyuki Kobayashi’s live appearance at the end

Not to say this showing wasn’t without occasional feedback/unnecessary noise from people who should have been muted, but still, it went a LOT smoother this time. There were only about 170 people but there were supposedly two different rooms (text only and regular cheering) so I don’t know if that was the actual grand total. I did regular cheering of course. I don’t have that much to say in SSS but I like to be a part of the madness. People were really chatty and relaxed this time too! Making shoutouts to the cosplayers and such. Lots of familiar faces from the previous stream!

The staff has even started doing this little thing at the end where they showcase a bunch of different cameras. They didn’t pick mine, thoughhhhh. Actually the only time I was on the main screen was at the very end of the movie. (I think perhaps they have realized they have been inexplicably infiltrated by a gaijin and don’t know how to handle it, as is the Japanese way.) It was the perfect time to realize I... COMPLETELY FORGOT THE 366 LOVE DIARY DANCE FFFFFFNOOOOOOOOO--I have to practice before the next one. It hadn’t occurred to me that we would actually get 366 Love Diary.

So they have mentioned these showings would be the theater edit, and going into it I was really curious like... would it really be the theater edit? Like the completely original version with 366 Love Diary and everything? Or did they just splice the DVD into the theater cut? But I think it really WAS the theatrical version. I won’t know unless I see Part 3 or Part 4 though, because those had some pretty significant differences between the theatrical version and the TV version. (A really noticeable animation error with Leo’s hair in Part 3, Shin’s got a different phone background in Part 4, etc...) Nnnrrrgh I don’t really want to see Part 4 but I might have to... NOT today though. I made the difficult decision to only do Part 2 today. (I miss disposable income....) But hopefully I can do Part 1 in May for Taiga and Part 3 in June for Alexander?

I’ve always considered Part 1 and Part 3 to be my favorites, so I always forget how much I do like Part 2: BABY KAKERU, Joji dragging the Shuffle on his date, JOJI! HAIR!!!!, ACE, Orange Flamingo, Joker Kiss, sssAAAILInGGGGGGGGGGG... (even on ZOOM I got the full body goosebumps when Minato looked up). 

Some notable stuff:

People yelling in Okayama-ben during the Joji flashback (そうじゃ、そうじゃ！instead of そうだ、そうだ！etc) I was DYINGGGG

When Ace’s mic is cut: “Is there a problem with Zoom??” “TAKE JOJI OFF MUTE!!”

Several people prepared fish for particular scenes in episode 4 and 6.

I think my favorite feed was the person who aimed their camera back at the screen with their Torachi and Dorachi plushies watching.

Or maybe just the person who had up the background of the Ikebukuro Train Station the whole time (PPPPFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT)

Someone had up the ferris wheel in Shizuoka where the Kouji scene takes place too though!! AAAAHAAAAA!!! (Going there is seriously one of my favorite King of Prism memories of all time.)

Additional shoutouts to:

The Hiro cosplayer who was eating curry during episode 6.

The girl in the orange happi with “From the cradle to the grave” actually framed on her wall (possibly in real calligraphy!?)

The Tsubasa fangirl (!!??!) who held up a Tsubasa fan whenever she was on screen

The person with the Ace plushie (!!). I didn’t know they existed. He had his hat from the Joker Kiss performance too. 

There was at least one Leo cosplayer but there were SEVERAL Ace cosplayers. Like WOW. Also shoutout to the person who cosplayed as an actual Ace of Hearts card omg I love this fandom so much. 

But really though there was SO. MUCH. ACE. LOVE in this showing. So many Ace backgrounds/homemade Ace cheering goods, etc. I know this was specifically the Ace birthday showing but still. Considering Ace isn’t exactly a main character I think this was pretty huge. 

And now onto what you were possibly all waiting for, the Tatsuyuki Kobayashi greeting! This was basically almost exactly what it felt like to go to a theater greeting show in Japan, just on Zoom. I used to always talk about trying to see the voice actors at smaller events to try and get them to notice me and this was... basically THAT. Almost better in a way!? Because he could see all of us equally? Read all of our comments on the screen!!! Of course I had no idea what to say when presented with this opportunity....... GAHHH HE’S SO FREAKIN CUTE 

We started off by singing Happy Birthday to Ace and Leo (actually just him because we were on mute!), and then we all blew out the candles on a cake together. He mentioned him and the staff would eat the cake later haha. 

He then started to talk about his experience playing Ace. He mentioned that when he first sang Love Mix for Pride the Hero, his character didn’t even have a name yet. He was simply the ghost singer.  And when he came out and made that surprise performance at the MRS concert he was so nervous he barely remembered it!! But when he got to perform again as Ace at the SSS live in Feb 2020, now that Ace had come into his own, he was much more confident and it was very meaningful to him. 

This really resonated with me. I’ve actually seen Tatsuyuki Kobayashi in concert a total of three times. The first time was at MRS during that surprise performance. It was an amazing surprise, but at that time I only saw him as Joji even though I knew he wasn’t. (And I wasn’t even all that attached to Joji back then because he was such a minor character at the time.) The second time I saw him was as Asahi at a Pretty Series show, where I was waaaaaay at the back and didn’t really get to see him that well, so I didn’t really get a proper chance to appreciate his performance. But when I saw him as Ace at the SSS live... THAT was when I fell in love with him (and HOW). Because really, he did just seem SO CONFIDENT and like he was enjoying it so much and finally seeing him perform as Ace for real was really meaningful. 

Sorry for the tangent, but yeah. He talked about how moved he was by how many of us had come to cheer on Ace today with backgrounds, props, cosplay, etc. And he credited all of us cheering him on for him making it this far, for finally becoming the leader of the Shuffle! AWWWWWWRGH! I’m SO HAPPY for him AHH he deserves everything and moreeeeeeeee this was so nice

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

My Feelings About Bradford Buzzard And His Grandmother

First, If No One Has Seen The Last Episode of The Final Season of Ducktales Reboot with the Last Adventure, do not read this unless you seen that episode first.

okay here goes...

My feelings on Bradford's Grandmother, I don't like her.

she is the reason Bradford became the way he is in the first place.

plus whenever Bradford tried to reason with Scrooge, he got ignored, so of

course he had to use the papyrus to make Scrooge, Della and Donald forget he was ever there. even if he did transform into a monster,

it wouldn't be because he's evil. it would be from the negative emotions and the misinterpretation people have of him, so he isn't truly a villain, if anything he is a victim and that jerk of a Finch is the root of it all.

Even if she is Scrooge's hero, but even he would need to accept that she was a insensitive woman who caused a child trauma that led him to grow-up cold and truly alone.

Yes Bradford made mistakes, but he was blinded.

He tried to keep chaos from going out of control, even if it meant doing something that would hurt a family, which he shouldn't of did and that had crossed a line.

I don't believe that Bradford was truly evil, he was just a broken soul who wanted to stop dangerous adventures and possibly save those like him from suffering the same trauma he suffered since his childhood.

No one has to agree with me, but I just feel that most villains have good in them.

And most of their trauma and suffering are caused by the good guys or the main hero/heroine.

Plus No Hero or Heroine should be above the consequences of damaging someone else's life,

Either they be another hero or villain or a neutral party.

Scrooge wasn't truly at fault for what happen to Della, but if you think about it, it was 100% Della's.

She could of not stole the ship, but she did. and it because she chose to listen to the one who told her of the surprise, she could of chose to ignore it and act surprise later, and not cause her family to end up they it did.

Scrooge didn't mean for to become lost in space, but he isn't excused for some truly heartless things he has done in the past because of his greed before he found the true greatest treasure, which is his family.

He hurt Magica, and I believe the reason why they had that fight so long ago in the series, is because she wanted to get him back for what happen to her brother.

Even if Louie made a good point, that his villains/enemies, made him a better person.

That still doesn't excuse him for purposely not helping someone who asked for help, even saying they give him anything if he help them.

The pain that Scrooge felt when he lost Della, was perhaps the same feeling that Magica felt when she lost her brother and never saw him again.

I believe that the Phantom Blot, might really be Mr Vanderquack, Bentina Beakley's son-in-law,

Who is now a widow, who lost his wife and Bentina's biological granddaughter, before Webby came along.

But the biological granddaughter could of survived, while Edna Beakley-Vanderquack did not.

the reason why Blot wants to destroy all magic and Magica,

might have to do with the fact that he lost his wife Edna and his child.

If the incident happen before Webby was born, then I think Pepper might really be Bentina's Granddaughter.

But all that is just a theory.  if the story picks up in a Darkwing Duck Reboot and reveals that the theory about Phantom Blot being Mr Vanderquack, the widow of Edna, and Pepper being his long-lost daughter is true....then I guess I would be surprised.

But yeah back to the whole Isabella Finch, she is truly not as great as everyone makes her.

She caused Bradford to become who he is, and she couldn't see the damage it would cause later in his life.

Plus I believe that there was a reason why we saw a clone of Bradford, the real Bradford might of known what would happen if he faced Scrooge, so he used that ray thing that makes someone smart or dumb,

Shot it at his clone that looked 100% like him, then sent the clone to deal with Scrooge, while the Real Bradford himself sneaked away unseen by both sides.

If that theory is true, then maybe it will show it in the reboot of Darkwing Duck.  

I hope some of you understand my view on Bradford, at first when it was revealed he was a part of FOWL, I did thought he was a villain. but after the episode that first showed that papyrus, and even showing a bit more of his past...but perhaps not all of it.

I don't view Bradford as someone who is evil, just someone who is deeply hurt and tried to do good but ended up hurting others in his quest to achieve it.

Yes he did wrong in his life, and he was blinded by his ambition that cost him in the end.

And we should try to remember, he wouldn't be that way if it wasn't for that insensitive Isabella Finch.

Once more, no one has to agree with my feelings about it. but I still find that Finch is my least favorite character in the Ducktales 2017 Continuum.

one of the tags for this is “True Monster” and to me,

Isabella Finch was the true monster.

Bradford was her victim, and she couldn’t see that her adventures that she dragged him on, was making him unhappy and would place stress, trauma and fear in his life, and making him go down a dark path just to keep the whole world safe.

Bradford wasn’t even truly evil, just broken and emotionally hurt.

which Della, Beakley, Scrooge and the rest of the family and friends couldn’t open their hearts and eyes enough to see.

it is possible the only one who could see it, was Magica.

because the way she said that he wasn’t a villain.

I can’t agree with the actions of those who are suppose to be “Good”

but end up hurting those who are just hurt themselves.

Discord didn’t even get a proper punishment,

he, Celestia and Luna just made the three scapegoats of his actions, get turned to stone, and Star Butterfly despite the fact that her and her family have misused magic for who knows how long of generations,

she chooses to move the blame from her Mother,

to magic itself, who let me remind you everyone, is not truly at fault, but those like Star and her family who wield it.

and if you misuse that power, it is your fault, not the source of the realm your magic comes from.

at least Lena was able to do better than what Star did, I still love SVTFOE

(and still hope to get a complete dvd collection of SVTFOE someday.) 

and the last episode was still good, but I can’t agree with placing blame on magic, when it was Moon who misused it and caused so many lives to be in danger, and even ended up with Quirky dying.

Steven Quartz Universe, he went through trauma in his life that caused him to end up the way he turned out in Steven Universe Future.

I for one, love both the first series, the movie and Steven Universe Future.

the Steven Universe Future brought out some truth of Steven, that some can relate to and understand but maybe not fully.

because of what was revealed in Steven Universe Future,

about Greg’s past, I see him as both a Good and yet Bad person.

same with how Rose was during her life, as both when she was Pink Diamond,

and then when she reformed as “Rose Quartz”, which I still think that would make her a Trans-Gem, like gems who are normally be made one way, might feel like they are either a Rose Quartz, a Ruby or even a Zircon.

but the episode where we learn a bit more of Greg’s past, like how he felt about his parents and how he viewed their rules and how it seem like a prison to him.

but he might of only seen what he wanted to see, he might not of got the full picture growing up, and I had theorized that one of his parents could of been sensitive to loud music/sound, it is possible that Greg couldn’t understand.

Steven had a right to be mad at Greg, and even disappointed in him too.

Greg had cheered him up, and even made him happy finding out about his father’s old home.

but Greg made his son go back down to his lows again.

it was good that it was revealed that Steven is getting the help he needs.

when he corrupted himself, it was good that no one tried to hurt him

but hugged him when he needed that emotional support.

the kind that shows that those who are his family and friends, are there for him and are sorry they couldn’t see how much pain he was going through.

at times when a character who is normally a villain, and shows no sign of goodness in them (unlike Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and  Tirek showed when they bonded in one episode....who had shown a side of good that was in them.)

they can’t be saved...

I wont force others to agree on my view on all this, just try to respect that is how I see it.

not all villains are evil, some end up being Anti-Villains,

just as how some heroes who aren’t always good, end up as Anti-Heroes.

 even if Isabella Finch was long gone in the world of Ducktales 2017,

but to me she was the root of Bradford’s suffering and trauma.

and that makes her the woman behind the man, and the true villain.    

 now I am gonna just go and sign off and have me time.

I might sign back on later or tomorrow, it depends.

and I really hope some of you will understand how I view Bradford,

yes at first I thought of him as a villain after it turned out he was FOWL.

but then after seeing the other sides of him, I can’t help but understand he was misunderstood and he only wanted to protect the world from danger.

(he just ended up going about it the wrong way, and went too far in the wrong ways to achieve that peace.)

and his grandmother Isabella, Ludwig, Scrooge, everyone, including the rest of FOWL, couldn’t see that.

I hope that at least such a thing gets resolved in a darkwing duck reboot.

and the Bradford we saw in the very end, turned out to be one of his clones.

because I believe that Bradford deserved better, he was not born that way, he was made that way because of his so called grandmother, who couldn’t see that she was making him unhappy and causing him trauma.

well thanks for listening, and once again no one has to agree about my feeling about Bradford or Isabella Finch,

or the whole theory about Phantom Blot being Bentina’s son-in-law,

who she thought died along with her daughter and granddaughter....

well the granddaughter she had before taking Webby in.

see ya later and keep safe everybody.                                      

[hollenka99]

The Hero

Summary: Jackie was made to be the hero. He's proud to fulfill that role. Then one fight goes wrong and it takes everything from him.

Warnings: Torture, gore, implied mouth gore, starvation, dehydration, aftermath of torture, aftermath of violence, dehumanisation, poisoning. If there’s anything else I’m overlooking or accidentally didn’t include, please tell me.

@egopocalypse you said you wanted to be tagged in this so here it is.

Jackie isn't sure how he ended up standing on an unfamiliar doorstep. He knows he was trying to find his way to a red room a few minutes ago. And wasn't he attacked by an intruder at one point? Wait, no, there was a woman getting her leg mauled by a dog too. He decides it's best to ask the occupants of this house if they could help him. Directions to the nearest danger that required his intervention would be great also. The one who answers the door is a man that suspiciously looks a lot like himself, albeit older.

"Hi, I'm Jackieboy Man. Need any help?"

His cheeriest smile and inviting hand don't change the man's reaction to him. Instead, the confusion only grows on the homeowner's features. Jackie is told he isn't what the guy had expected. That doesn't sting in the slightest. At least he'd been expected.

Upon being ushered inside, the man introduces himself as Jack. He offers him a can of Dr Pepper and a plate containing several custard cremes that 'honestly need to be finished already because they are going soft and he would've probably had them for breakfast tomorrow for the sake of it'. Jack takes the time to explain the situation. They were technically characters and there was a man called Sean who had given them life. Jackie was already vaguely aware of all this.

While Jack wasn't entirely sure it was true, he was beginning to believe the previously inexplicable changes the house had made earlier that day were in fact it adapting to Jackie's imminent arrival. That was cool. So was the entire room that belonged purely to him. There wasn't much yet, only the bed and wardrobe, but soon enough he would make it his own.

He hasn't been alive for 24 hours when he is introduced to Sean. The older identical duo discuss superheroes like Batman and Spider-Man with him. Despite what he'd expected his creator to be like, he doesn't mind the guy. Possibly because he hasn't had the chance to know them properly, the two men don't seem to be too different from each other. An off-hand comment to Jack regarding this causes him to laugh. Jackie can't say he appreciates the weird vibes it gives off.

The other two speak privately in another room about editing videos, not far enough that their voices can't travel through walls. They discuss giving the teen an education as well as somebody called Angus. He doesn't like the way they talk about this stranger. Just who was this Angus? He can only assume he is a villain Sean is designing to be Jackie's rival.

On the night Jackie is due to be introduced to what Jack claims to be 'the greatest pizza topping ever', he gets his answer. Angus was certainly no villain. The guy who stumbles with his arm around his friend's shoulders takes the young hero by surprise.

Everything about him radiates a man who had only woken minutes earlier. Once he gets to know Angus better, this doesn't seem as unusual. The Australian hunter sounds displeased while mumbling about someone called Jake disturbing him for the sake of pizza. It takes Jackie a shamefully long minute to realise there was no Jake, only Jack.

For the majority of the evening, Jack's attention is focused on his best friend. They chat and attempt to share inside jokes that mostly fall flat. While they do include him occasionally, Jackie is simply left to observe the strained relationship. He's been alive for less than a week but he can tell it should not be this uncomfortable to see two friends interacting. It isn't right for the so-called 'wildlife expert' to need Jack to complete his stories either.

When Angus returns to his bedroom, Jackie offers to help with the dishes. He convinces himself that's what a true hero would do, help around the house. He cautiously questions whether Jack is okay. The answer worries him somewhat.

"It's fine. He just happened to have a bad day. I'm sure you'll get to see him when he's not so forgetful."

There is something about the way Jack smiles after that answer that makes Jackie ill at ease. It's different from the way the young hero does. Jackie was all wide and beaming, the sort that made your cheeks ache if you maintained it for too long. The one Jack was providing him, on the other hand, had barely an ounce of life in it. Even in the past few days since they'd met, Jackie had witnessed the eye-crinkling grin he was sure had to be Jack's natural smile.

The boy chooses to forget about it. It was probably something that should be properly addressed at some point but, for now, it was best to leave it. Jack decides otherwise.

He explains how it has been two years since Angus began declining. He's tried everything he could think of to help. He's watched all 10 videos of the series countless times, sometimes playing them on multiple tabs to increase efficiency. Once he realised it didn't count unless he was in Sean's world, he transferred the method to a new location.

Jackie questions whether he will end up lethargic and forgetful as well. The adamance, almost anger at the mere idea, that no, of course he won't is shockingly swift. Jack insists he isn't saying this for the sake of scaremongering or choosing sides. This was about providing him with an informed opinion. He deserves to know, his friend reasons.

The following weeks pass with little incidence. He and Jack marathon all 12 Marvel DVDs they own. Having misunderstood his friend, Jackie trains all night which leads to him dozing off as Tony Stark celebrates his birthday in the sequel. He is also introduced to Batman. He's more interested in Marvel but Jack is trying to give him something to relate to. He humours him in appreciation. Plus, it leads to a competition to see who could make their voice go the lowest. He can't fault him on that.

During the day, he is either seen increasing his agility and reflexes or in front of a computer, determined to fight back against hackers. Jack tries to dissuade him from his morally questionable hobby. Jackie only argues it is part of his job. Part of him wishes the older ego would leave him be. If he could stop meeting him in the hallway a second after he walks in from evening patrol, that'd be nice too. He's not been hurt so there's no need to worry so much.

The Gregory Brothers, what he first mistakenly hears as 'Gregory's brother', write a song for the channel. It takes quotes from various videos, predominantly Happy Wheels with some Papers, Please thrown in. Quite clever when Jackie thinks about it. Annoyingly catchy too. The best part is watching Jack become nostalgic when he recalls recording the episode featured in the second verse. Jackie chooses to tease him about the Mother Ape Ass line. Jack takes in good humour. Nevertheless, Happy Wheels is a good series to sink his teeth into, especially seeing as it was currently three videos shy of hitting triple digits.

Jack the Magnificent's entrance into their lives introduces magic with it. He has the genius idea of referring to the new guy as Magnificent to avoid confusion. It is quickly made redundant when Jack names him Marvin. Whatever the new ego's name is, Jackie has to admit it's nice to have someone else around. As much as he likes Jack, having only three people to talk to was wearing on him. The majority of the time it was only one option anyway.

Never mind Marvin being a new person to talk to. Even more exciting was his magic. With one simple click, he could conjure a flame in his hands. They are mesmerising. Jackie forgets himself at one point, reaching to touch the fire before its abrupt extinction snaps him out of it. He begs to know how he does it. This leads to the magician letting him hang around in his room with half-hearted reluctance while he taught himself spells.

Jack has an argument with Sean. Jackie doesn't understand what it's about, other than it appears to be super petty. He doesn't understand why Jack won't distance himself from Sean. He's seems so fed up after an argument and Jackie can't do anything. Not once does Jack forget to check he's okay with being vented to. Jackie never says no. How could he? Jack's his friend and it's not like he's got anyone else who is vaguely aware of the situation. Except maybe Angus. Then again, it might be more cathartic for Jack to rant to someone he can see is listening. Jackie's sure Jack isn't close enough to Marvin to confide in him as well. So even when he's tired, even when he would rather switch his mind off for an hour, Jackie says yes. As the weeks progress, the young hero convinces himself taking a very long hour for himself couldn't hurt.

Marvin tests his card tricks on him too. No matter how much he tries, the magician can never get it exactly right. There is always something he gets wrong, whether it be the suit or number. Taking a leaf out of Jack's book, he encourages him to keep trying. Card tricks didn't have to be his strong point. He didn't have to give it up entirely either.

When Marvin's patience wears thin from the failed attempts, he sneakily introduces Jackie to a card game. When Jack catches them playing, he's too honest for his own good. The head of the household disapproves immediately, although he seems more annoyed with Marvin than Jackie. After some persuading, Jack relents and allows the practise to continue so long as new rules were implemented. Jackie could only act as dealer for the time being and watch to ensure they weren't cheating. Prize money was to be avoided, as was magic. Despite the sidelining, it's not a bad time. There is friendly banter accompanied by dramatic reactions to being bested. It's the first time the three of them have hung out together and it is clear they should do so more often. The only bad thing about it is that Jackie had nearly two years left before Jack would let him be any other role.

Not long afterwards, Jackie spots a sketchy individual sprinting away while hanging outside a shop, wishing for Marvin to hurry up. His friend will not be impressed with him but what does Marvin expect? Thwarting criminals is his job. Jackie is duty bound to pursue the thief. The chase grants him the adrenaline boost necessary to convince himself this will be an easy fight.

It is not an easy fight.

It's not that his game is off or that his opponent is larger than him but... he may have miscalculated. It will be fine, he's sure. It's just a couple stab wounds to the chest. A superhero like him should walk stuff like that off. And he will, as soon as he gets this blood under control. Maybe his suit could do with being washed too. Jack and Marvin would already be annoyed enough that he'd gotten himself hurt.

Marvin is initially unimpressed. He asks if the fight was worth getting injured. He complains of how he'd probably get stuck listening to Jackie's whining about the bruises. Then comes the realisation. In the fraction of a second, his demeanour changes as he rushes to help the hero to his feet. The journey home feels a lot longer than it should.

The next few days blur. He catches shreds of conversations. At first, it is Jack and Marvin whose chatter mixes into one incoherent mess. After that, he finds himself in a hospital bed with medical professionals recapping events he is sure are partially fabricated. Once he's able to focus better on what is being said, Jack tells him there is a chance Sean is working on bringing them a live-in doctor.

Previously, he had half listened to his friends when they warned him to be careful. His attitude towards the subject had been irresponsible. Who were they to stop him from fulfilling his role as the guy who saves the day? It takes his reflection having a black eye and slightly misshapen nose in a hospital bathroom for him to finally open his ears. This wasn't just a case of him collecting bruises and cuts anymore. He's unsure whether if it ever had been.

Within a week of returning home, Jackie happens across a path he hasn't seen before. Following it, he allows it to lead him to a house. He spots a boy playing with his two little sisters. The others needed to know about this. Who knew what this could mean. Jackie can only hope it's not anything serious.

He assaults Jack and Marvin's ears as soon as he races past the front door. The stranger sitting across from them is startled. He has glasses and his hello has a foreign sound to it. Beside him is a blood stained lab coat. Not the best first impression, if he's going to be honest. But he supposes neither is a loud teenager. Jack speaks up.

"Jackie, this is Dr Schneeplestein. He'll be helping to keep us all in one piece. He's just come out of a rough surgery. Maybe tone it down a little, alright?"

The doctor mostly spends time with his family or at work. Their interactions primarily consist of ensuring Jackie's injuries are kept in check. He is gentle enough when treating wounds and Jackie is yet to let him know how much he appreciates that. They have no other common ground. Dr Schneeplestein is practically twice his age and a married father of three. Jackie, on the other hand, is technically a minor and hasn't really paid much attention to anyone other than his housemates and Sean.

He has the craziest dream one night in the middle of October. It involves covering himself in cheeses, meats and peanut butter, blowing up Mars and punching camels. The song accompanying it gets stuck in his head for the entire day too. He wakes with an inexplicable need to lift something heavy or hop off the first floor. Instead of listening to his impulses, he lifts his slim dresser and jumps on his bed. To the young hero's astonishment, the dresser is much lighter than expected and he stays suspended in the air for at least a minute.

Jackie's first instinct when planning to demonstrate his findings to his friends is to arm wrestle. Jack takes him up on the challenge. The newly strong hero goes easy on him, which makes the big reveal all the better. He's glad he can impress the others like Marvin's magic impressed him.

His new powers give him and Marvin reason to fight again. The magician is still getting the hang of manipulating plants. When leaves try to wrap around Jackie's legs, he dodges them more efficiently with each session. Jack supervised their training, the doctor usually present or nearby.

In the last week of October, Jackie gets one of the dumbest idea he's had so far. He finds string and ties it around his ankle. Marvin is busy reading up on some spells. His near facepalm solidifies the fact that this is indeed stupid. The smirk as he reluctantly takes the string and rolls his eyes makes it worth it. It is worth it even more when Jack laughs and Dr Schneeplestein decides he wants nothing to do with them,

On Halloween, he and Marvin mess around with air manipulation. Nobody will notice if the household mop and broom are missing for an hour or two. While they joke about riding broomsticks through the night, Henrik is probably with his children and Jack is filming this year's pumpkin video. He's unassuming when his phone vibrates as a notification pops up. It doesn't last long.

Jackie becomes very worried when the panic button system he'd designed is activated for the first time. It's Jack. What could put him in danger? He was carving a pumpkin. There was obviously the risk of accidentally cutting yourself, it was a sharp knife after all, but it shouldn't be serious enough to declare it an emergency. Unless his hand slipped and hit his wrist.

It's not Jack's wrist that's been cut. He would have loved for it to have just been a bleeding wrist. Anything would have been better than what he finds.

The second he lays eyes on the body, he freezes. Oh God. That was Jack, blank eyes open and streams of blood staining the pumpkin and table. He wastes precious time just staring. Then he sprints. He sprints, yelling through tears the entire time. The doctor can't get to work fast enough.

Marvin talks at him as they wait for a miracle. He's probably trying to calm him down but it's useless. He's not really listening. Marvin's lucky he didn't have to see Jack. There was so much blood on the table and his eyes weren't closed and holy shit, someone murdered Jack while they were in a different part of the building. Someone just broke in and killed a member of their household without them knowing anything was wrong. He was supposed to be the hero and he'd let this happen through carelessness. All because he'd been messing around with his flight. He could have prevented this.

"Earth to Jackie, hey." Marvin's fingers snap. "Shut up. This is not your fault so stop saying it is." "But-" "No. And he's going to pull through, just watch."

Jackie debates whether to let him stay in denial or use common sense to convince him of the truth. He chooses to stay silent but makes sure Marvin knows what he thinks of his misplaced hope. Dr Schneeplestein had diverse skills but none were bringing people back from the dead.

Apparently, there is always a first time for everything. It doesn't even register when he hears the news. Jack, alive and just unconscious for a while? That made absolutely zero sense. He hovers around the infirmary until he is granted permission to visit. The bandages surrounding Jack's neck are unnerving because he knows what's underneath. But at least his chest is rhythmically rising and falling. He tells Angus what's happened too. The longest occupant of this house wastes no time in joining him.

Jack regains consciousness and is soon talking. Jackie doesn't have the heart to admit he was the one who found him. He can tell from their behaviour anyway. Jack explains his side of the story. It was Antisepticeye, the parasitic glitch Sean had chosen to unleash the previous night. No wonder nobody was aware anything bad was occurring. It's kind of hard to see someone break in if they aren't fully corporeal.

He's going to update security as soon as Jack is discharged. If he can work out how to include a glitch detector, that should keep them safer. While he's at it, he should buy the doctor something too. Reviving Jack must have taken a massive toll on him. He deserves a gift for his efforts and for keeping Jackie safe in his own way.

Sean finally has the decency to show up the day after Jack wakes up. Surprise, surprise, there's raised voices. He is sick of the fighting. There's always some underlying issue between Jack and Sean. Jack will be the one to start arguments but Sean's at fault for triggering the resentments. He is so tired of them squabbling. You can't go a month, sometimes even a week, without something putting them at odds. He knows there's probably no way to stop it.

It's descended into quieter, but by no means less harsh, words. Marvin can't really hear it. Jackie sure as hell can. As much as he tries to wait it out, he can't take it anymore. He has to get out of the house for a bit. Although, not before calling them out.

"Shut up! Both of you!" Jackie screams. "Sean, in case you haven't noticed, we're alive and we'd like to stay that way if possible. Don't make anything else at our expense like an asshole. And Jack, you know I have your back buddy, but you kinda provoke him half the time. It really doesn't help. So let's agree you're both as bad as each other and that Sean is at fault this time."

He leaves them with that. His mistake is going on patrol while disgruntled. Finding himself aimlessly marching around the streets of Athlone, his senses are go haywire. Because of course he can't catch a break tonight. Usually, he's hyper aware of every person near him. It is a good way of keeping him alert in the presence of danger. It's far easier to win fights if he can tell a perpetrator is about to attack him from behind.

At least, that was how it was meant to work in theory. It had acted in his favour in the past. Unfortunately, it had to fail him at some point. He blames the demon's insistence on disorienting him. It's not a difficult feat. Antisepticeye only has to glitch to a new position several times. Constantly being plagued by white noise and taste of metal in the air doesn't aid him either.

Jackie begins the fight at a disadvantage. He struggles to make up for it. Attacks fail to land. He thinks he breaks Anti's jaw but it glitches back into position so quickly that he can't tell. It's over when a jolting touch throws his body in a fit of pins and needles. He should have taken a moment to admire the sun earlier that day. He's not going to see it again for a while.

His new room is far removed from the one at home. With nothing but four walls and a door, it is devoid of light. The only source of it comes from a ceiling lamp. There's no furniture, not even a crude excuse for a bed. Time doesn't exist when he's here alone. It is measured in Anti's company and the absence of it.

Jackie's a fairly quick learner. When the lamp is lit, he is being paid a visit. Sometimes Anti won't bother with the light at all. There are still ways of detecting his presence. Food and drink will come whenever Anti feels like providing him with it. Once the demon takes advantage of his age, there are more rules. He is to be referred to as 'Sir' and Jackie is simply a boy. If he pretends to genuinely follow through with it, he can bide his time.

He spots an opportunity to escape when Anti leaves him be for a while. All it takes is a well placed blow to the door for his strength to free him from the room. His legs are in serious need of regaining their previous skill. He makes a dash for it, nothing to lose. It's only a matter of working out where the exit is. Regardless of left or right, static is everywhere he turns. It grows louder to a disorientating degree. It deafens. His hood is the thing to doom him. One grab and he's being hauled back to square one.

"You call that an escape? Pathetic."

The violent crack of his left leg leaves it undoubtedly fractured. The damage is duplicated on his right for good measure. He's questioned on which bone has been targeted, formal name necessary. Oh, how is he supposed to know? Radius? That was a major limb bone. Anti promises that's the next one to go if he remains this ignorant.

His lack of medical expertise is what truly ruins his legs in the end. Being forced to set the bones himself is bad enough. Not having any doctor present makes it worse. Having been allowed a chance to inspect the injury, he finds it's worse than his shin. It's his knees that are beginning to swell.

To his arm's fortune, Anti generously dedicates himself to providing Jackie with an education. His lessons begin with Biology but that is swiftly rectified to involve more Science and History. Soon, it will be any subject Anti finds relevant.

As often as he can, Jackie talks back, mocking Anti's efforts to hurt him. He can take away everything he's known, isolate him in darkness and make him silently dream of freedom. Jackie can handle that. All he has to do is survive until his friends come or he feels capable of making another escape attempt. Jack, Marvin and Schneeplestein must be searching for him, right? They probably have little to go on but he knows they care enough to try whatever method available. So he fights back however he can.

Then he takes it too far. Then he uncovers Anti's bad side. The demon is naturally cruel but he's patient. You do not want to see him furious. Jackie regrets learning that the hard way. The first few apologizes that leave his lips as his head is pinned to the floor aren't entirely sincere. He's not sorry for what he said. He's just sorry he triggered action. His sincerity increases when the needle's first piercing of his lips is felt. It is only a matter of minutes before he stops speaking altogether. For good measure, he temporarily loses the privilege of free movement around the room.

Anti visits an eternity later, acting resentful that Jackie needs water to stay alive. His blinks are dazed when a knife frees him. His captor comments on how pathetic he looks as he gulps the contents of the bottle provided. He probably does but who cares. He's been dying for a drink for who knows how long. Presumably literally, when his mind focuses enough to reflect on it.

This may be the first time but it won't be the last. He certainly makes an effort to reduce the frequency from then on.

December is ushered in with chocolate. Jackie doesn't care about the tradition of advent calendars. They're for children, which he isn't, and he doesn't appreciate the way Anti explains them like they haven't been lurking in shops since before Halloween either. If he can predict the demon's way of thinking like he hopes he can, he believes he knows where this is going.

He's correct in his predictions. It is a month of stomach cramps, helplessly being revisited by the little he ate and fevers. He refuses as many meals as he can get away with. Other times, he gives in and eats for the sake of having something in his stomach. Maybe his mind is working overtime to be suspicious of everything but he swears Anti increases the dosage for days Jackie's stomach speaks for him.

Anti introduces him to a seasonally appropriate song. It's gentle enough to lull an exhausted person to sleep if they let their guard down. He doesn't fall for the trap. He should have, it probably would have been the only time the song would have positive connotations. All is not calm when it plays. Out of spite, he remains silent as the night.

Anti hands him a present on what he claims is Christmas Day. It's a cake filled with berries and decorated with seeds wrapped in leaves. No matter how much he wants to tell the demon where he could put the 'gift', he can't escape the truth. Jackie hasn't eaten in days, which is exactly what the manipulative bastard must have planned. Survival is survival, even if the negative consequences outweigh the positive. Food that will upset his stomach is better than no food.

He doesn't realise how counterproductive that is until the symptoms hit him. His heart needs to chill out already and it would be great if he had better control of his muscles too. He swears he'll catch his breath any minute now. Just as soon as his chest stops hurting. Something at the back of his mind is uncomfortable with the plan to sleep it off but he wants a break. This has been a particularly rough round. He deserves to allow himself a rest, right?

When he wakes, his muscles feel stiffer. His body feels more drained that he's used to in general. He learns about yew trees, of how pretty much everything but the flesh of its berries is toxic. How, if left untreated, it tended to prove fatal within hours. Things fall into place. He wonders how long Anti just left him there. He promises himself he'll toss the next meal he's given to the other side of the room. Maybe shove a few yew seeds into the demon's mouth and see how he likes it.

His friends are coming soon. It's been nearly two months but they must still be trying to work things out. If they took a break from searching for the holidays, he doesn't mind. He hopes the four of them enjoyed themselves. With any luck, he'll be witnessing what a proper Christmas is supposed to look like next year. He pictures it. It's better than dwelling on the truth of last few days. That would just drive him crazy. One thing's for sure, they are never learning of what his first experience of the holiday was like.

The second Anti realises he can exploit Jackie's naturally heightened senses, the hero is sent to another room. He despises the way his ears uselessly strain to hear anything. It's darker than what he's gotten used to as well. Left long enough, his head begins working against him. It's not real, what he sees, of course it isn't. He is once forgotten about for so long that he swears Marvin bursts the door open so Jack can tell him it's going to be okay as Dr Schneeplestein checks him over. He's so tempted to leave with them but it can't be reality. Anti wouldn't let them get that far.

It is unbearably satisfying to win a victory against his captor when he stumbles upon a loophole. He sings the song he and Jack had made inside jokes out of. It annoys Anti enough for him to deliver consequences. He may be robbed of his ability to see and to have anything to listen to but it's impossible to steal his sense of touch. There was always the option of destroying all neural connections but what use would the boy be then? None. He can feel the strings attached to his mouth and he can still feel pain. It's not a good victory in regular terms but any victory against Anti is a good one is Jackie's eyes.

He learns Spring is approaching when Anti mentions Easter. That was always in Spring, right? Christmas was always in December and that had passed. It must be after New Year's Day now, in the very least. The demon began speaking of how religious the Irish were and briefly explains Lent.

Jackie doesn't like the sound of fasting.

The Wednesday associated with ashes deprives him of any necessity. Then, to his absolute shock, the demon hands him a glass of water. It's a regular sized glass too. He is far from trusting of it at first. Given everything that's happened to him, he has every right to be wary. He only drinks it to get this bout of poisoning over. Perhaps he can power through it long enough this time to deny Anti the satisfaction of watching him suffer. However, hours pass and nothing happens. Nothing continues to happen as he accepts the single daily glass of fresh water offered to him throughout the week.

There is a catch, of course. The privilege of routinely quenching his thirst comes at the price of food. He is fasting after all, Anti reasons. Fasting was about endurance. Jackie couldn't be a hero if he was unable to endure, especially in challenging situations.

If he's going to be honest, the starvation wouldn't be too much of a problem. He's gone days without food before. Once the actual sensation of hunger disappears, it's manageable. He could do this. Water must keep people going in famines. Who's to say it wouldn't sustain him too?

Two more conditions are established. Being charitable, better known as giving alms, would manifest itself in utter obedience. After all, it was about time Jackie learned defiance was completely pointless. Additionally, while Anti didn't expect him to pray, he did assure him certain outbursts were even more encouraged than usual. Should Jackie wish to beg, call for the others to save him or confess his transgressions against his captor, Anti was welcome to hear it all.

Even if there was a way to observe the passage of time here, he would have rapidly lost count of the days. He can however measure the decline into chronic fatigue. His lessons carried on as normal, including Physical Education. One missed punch soon turns into several failed attempts until it was general lack of co-ordination. Every hit Anti lands becomes more successful in sending him to the ground. No matter how many times it happens, no matter how much effort it takes to do so, Jackie returns to his feet.

There comes a day when he experiences sudden dizziness, despite laying on the ground. Anti's nearby, his senses are sure of it. For that moment, he continued to rest on his back. If he was being allowed the luxury, he wasn't going to squander it. Even if that meant he risked further repercussions. Besides, his chest didn't feel right. Without warning, he blacks out.

Jackie wakes to Anti closer, practically seated next to him. The unbearable weariness of resurrection informs him of the unfortunate nature of his spontaneous 'nap'. The boy shifts the slightest amount. His captor immediately looms over him.

"32 days." The glitching demon looks thoughtful for all of half a second. His cruel grin takes pride in his next words. "Pathetic. Most can make it to 50 days. There are some who can reach over 70. But here you are, pretending to be a hero, unable to survive even 5 weeks. A real hero would last long enough to break the record of 116 days. You barely achieved a quarter of that. What kind of hero are you?"

The following two weeks proceed the same as the previous five. Living in anticipation of water, fainting unexpectedly and being revived. He doesn't understand what makes the Friday so good when it steals his hydration benefits. Two glasses of water later, Anti is proud of him.

Upon being congratulated, Jackie comes to the realisation it was over. Had he done it? He had! Oh, thank God. He was doubtful of how much longer he could endure the cycle. The praise disorientates him.

Even more confusing is the glitch presenting him with his prize. A small creature is placed on his lap. The fur is nice to touch, steady breaths are felt when he holds a hand in front of what he can only assume is its face and the ears are longer than he was anticipating. A rabbit, it was a rabbit. Sure, he was vaguely aware the animal was associated with the holiday but... he hadn't been prepared for a rabbit.

Against the boy's better judgement, he succumbs to the temptation of making the most of his reward. He had to admit, Anti didn't have to supply the water or gift him the animal. Part of him reasons it would be rude to ignore his captor's attempts to be civil. He cherishes the soft fur, desperately staying awake for as long as he can with it. He's not stupid enough to believe this is permanent. He fights the pulls of drowsiness, rabbit clutched to his chest. Ultimately, despite his best efforts, he is too weak to oppose his body. He wakes to his comfort gone.

Anti returns it by unceremoniously tossing it before him, sticky and unnaturally stiff. It's eventually removed when he refuses to interact with the corpse. The boy is not surprised when he is given food with an unspecified meat. He's not stupid. Of course it's what he thinks it is. Why should he eat anything with meat? In fact, why should he eat anything Anti provides him in future? All this fasting had taught him was he could live without food. Of course, he'd be constantly tired and unable to really put up much of a fight. The point was he could die and wake up, over and over, until Anti got bored. The demon takes notice.

"You're so smart, aren't you? A clever little boy." Anti stops stroking his hair to grasp it. His smile fades as abruptly. "But no-one likes a know-it-all."

He gets his comeuppance. He supposes he deserves it for trying to outsmart Anti.

The boy doesn't understand what he's watching when shown footage of the house. It's Jack and Marvin with an ego he doesn't recognise. They're all just... sitting there, watching something on TV and being friendly with each other. Which is fine. He's not expecting them to spend every second of the day looking for him. Come on, he's not selfish. For all he knows, they're just taking their mind off what they hope isn't happening to their friend. It's probably fake anyway. That's what Anti does, he gets a kick out of screwing with his head.

The new guy's name is Chase Brody. Good for him. What does he care? It isn't like Sean had to deliberately choose to make Chase. While the boy has been here. For at least five months. Possibly six. Possibly so much longer.

He calls Anti a glitchy bastard to his face. Screw him for trying to convince him he's been forgotten about. It throws him for a loop when nothing happens. Perhaps the satisfaction of his student's reaction is enough of a reward. Well, congratulations, he got what he wanted. But the others are coming. They'll work out how to find him eventually. They have to. The boy can't exactly make a run for it himself, thanks to his knees. That was the whole goddamn point of ruining them. Maybe they're close to cracking it. Maybe Chase has some expertise that can help them. Chase, who is definitely not his replacement. Why on earth would he think that?

His birthday comes, bursting with celebratory activities. Seventeen to be exact. Anything he's dealt with since arriving is eligible to be repeated. He is presented with an exam to acknowledge the academic year drawing to a close. If he got a question wrong, there was an appropriate penalty. The cake is no prize for completing the test and neither is a trip to his 'favourite' room. He'd like to insist Anti really didn't have to reverse the treatment so the boy was bombarded.

Amongst other things, he is bestowed the privilege of a hot shower. He doesn't dare admit he prefers shivering until he feels queasy. Why should he complain? Anti was acting nice for his birthday. So what if his shoulders and arms turned pink? He probably deserved it for being ungrateful enough to desire heat those previous times.

There comes a period where Anti is gone for far longer than usual. He wants to believe it's been days but time is a strange concept by now. So much so that he could either be told it had only been an hour or it was nearly December again and he'd believe both statements. Regardless of how long Anti had been gone, the boy was alone.

As usual, being left in silence is hell on his senses. He would kill for an incessantly ticking clock, just to have some relief. The only thing he can pick up is someone else's voice. It's deeper than his so it couldn't be Anti's. Much to his ears' annoyance, he strains them further to solve the mystery of who the voice belonged to. His mouth goes dry when he catches a German accent.

Now he knew Dr Schneeplestein was here, he couldn't let him stay as long as he had. With only himself to save, he'd become a little complacent. However, Anti had to rest at some point. He decides to take advantage of that time. He gets as far as reaching for the sleeping doctor's shoulders before the sound of static causes him to flinch.

"I thought you were a clever boy. But it looks I can't trust you to behave."

Anti drags him back to the room he hates the most. His captor's sigh is the worst sound he could hear in this context. If the boy couldn't do as he was told, there was no choice but to take better precautions to ensure this was an isolated event. Whatever he's expecting, it's not slit ankles. When Anti leaves, he tests his legs. Neither foot can push off the ground to perform even the simplest step. None of his bones are broken. That said, he could sense a certain disconnect in the joint.

The boy is promised he can be redeemed if he participates in some birthday celebrations. The next ego to appear after him was... Marvin. Shit, what was Anti doing with Marvin? Were he and the doctor not enough? He asks if the other person will be harmed. At confirmation they won't, he accepts the offer. It turns out to be a standard Biology lesson. Anti apologizes for not preparing properly. While it was customary to use say, a frog, one wasn't available. Time was too short to rectify the oversight. He had been planning to use a cadaver so they would have to do without other now-necessary equipment. The shrug is casual but the scalpel begs to differ.

Anti takes his time. It takes everything not to give him a response. Focus on believing in Steve and maybe it will stop soon. Breathe slower and maybe it will become slow enough so he won't have to for a while. Ignore everything Anti shows him and maybe he'll give up. He's never been so thankful for the off switch being flicked. Once conscious again, he is positioned in a way that suggests he was thrown and abandoned. His torso aches from incisions. His insides feel wrong and misaligned somehow.

It's the final straw. The boy can't let Anti keep abusing him like this. Somehow he's got to escape without the demon being alerted. The best time to evade detection is when he's occupied with someone else. Which means he has to sacrifice either Marvin or Schneeplestein. He'll be back for them, he swears.

It happens to be the doctor he has to use as the distraction. As soon as he lasers a hole in the door, he searches for Marvin while he has the opportunity. The magician cannot be found. Regrettably, he has to postpone Marvin's salvation too. He's so sorry. He's not a hero, however much he liked to play the part before all this. The consequences of waiting any longer aren't worth it. Anti would probably resort to amputation or something similar if he didn't leave right now.

The first breath of fresh air he takes in months mocks him. So does the realisation that the sun isn't a theoretical concept. He's never seen a sunrise so insultingly gorgeous. Never mind all the things the boy took for granted. He has to get home. He has to save Marvin and Schneeplestein, even if it means exchanging himself for their guaranteed safe return.

The boy goes against his purpose when he deliberately breaks into a Next. All he needs is a fresh top and a pair of trousers. He doesn't want to show up in the tattered mess that was his suit. Besides, he recognises this shopping center. He's visited the coffee shop here multiple times. Even better, it was near the River Shannon. He's missed admiring her on the bridge. All he needs to do is cross it and keep following the road until he reaches home. He's so close.

Hope comes from Sean's Bar. If he's reached it then home is only down the street. Please, oh please. If he can just be granted permission to sit on Sean's sofa for a few minutes, he'll be beyond grateful. He usually sided with Jack but Sean shouldn't turn him away, right? He wasn't a completely bad guy as far as the boy's memory serves. Five minutes and he'll be out of his hair.

Hope vanishes when a voice that is clearly not Sean's answers the buzzer. He panics momentarily, wondering if he's hit the wrong button and disturbed a stranger unnecessarily. But no, he definitely rang Flat 12. A woman chastises him for bothering her this late. He learns Sean hasn't lived at this address in months. She doesn't know where he is now.

He spots a house with no cars parked beside it. He knows he shouldn't but he takes his chances. The boy gets lucky. With nobody home, he accesses a laptop. It takes longer than it should, no thanks to his lack of practise, but he eventually gets into the account. And oh, isn't the internet a wonderful thing. Within an hour, he's discovered he has to travel to Brighton, England and what the fastest way there is. Athlone to Dublin, Cherbourg, Portsmouth then finally Brighton. It will involve two ferries and an overwhelming amount of walking. However, it's better than other options. God knows stowing away on a ferry is safer than on a plane.

He doesn't know what he's doing, breaking into someone's home, hacking their devices then planning to be a stowaway. Yet, he would have otherwise stayed lost forever. Besides, it's roughly 26 hours to reach Dublin's port from here then another 15 hours by foot from Portsmouth to find Brighton. If he sleeps with one eye open, he may be able to get a few hours in before heading out.

Somewhere between Rochfortbridge and Milltownpass, his flight gives out. He finds branches and utilises them as he endures on until he reaches the bog. The boy refuses to rest on the second night of his journey. It's not long before dawn by the time he reaches Dublin. The branches are swapped for crutches before departing for France. He collapses and stays on the ground for the entire cruise. There isn't as much time to do so when destined for England.

Survive, just survive. He's already made it this far. What's 15 hours of 'walking' compared to the rest of what he's gone through? The sun passes the baton to the moon and then takes it back. He suspects it's during the hottest hours of the day when he spots a beach. Brighton, he had finally made it to Brighton. He considers messaging Sean to make things easier for himself. Then again, this was the guy who replaced him with another ego and moved out of Ireland while he was still missing. He ultimately decides against it. How large could one seaside town be? Sean's home could be found eventually, with it access to his own home.

He stumbles upon the gateway to his world accidentally. The house is different from how he remembers it. It's grown, likely to accommodate his replacement and any others he's not aware of. But it's hopefully still similar to the home he left behind. He couldn't bear to return to somewhere unrecognisable. He stands there, palm weakly banging on the door. An ego wearing a cap answers. The boy's pretty sure they've never met before. This must be him.

"Yeah?" Cap Guy is surprised by his appearance. He doesn't blame him. God knows what shape he's in. "Whoa, you look like you had a rough time in your video." Video, what video? Does he not know one of his own had been missing? "Please let me in. I can't remember the last time I... the last time I, uh..." Ate. He's forgotten when the last time he ate was. Or drank something, for that matter. And dear God, he would be grateful for a chance to crash on their floor for a minute. "Who is it, Chase? Is it Sean? Tell him he can turn around and never come back." He vaguely recalls that voice. But it's only just in earshot and he's so exhausted. "I don't know. I think he might be a new one." Chase notices the unsteadiness. The boy's arm is guided around the unfamiliar ego's shoulder. "It's okay, dude, I've got you." "He better not be making new egos. If he fucking thinks he can do that after everything he's pulled, Sean's got another thing coming. The zombie was bad enough." "Marv, I could use your help."

He barely manages to catch a glimpse of Marvin before his legs buckle and his mind switches off.

Memories of what a bed feels like flood in. There's something in his arm and another thing wrapped around his hand. What had he done to impress Anti enough for him to bestow him the luxury of a bed? He had gone crazy enough to dream of an arduous journey to England. It had been so vivid, almost as if it had actually happened. But that would have meant leaving. As if he was capable of that.

"Hey Jackie, you waking up there? I'd love it if you could open your eyes for me."

He obeys the soft-spoken voice's coaxing. It's a fake Marvin in what pretends to be the infirmary back home. He's probably been dumped in the deprivation room again. That would explain it. He likes this illusion though. It's nice to imagine he's back to his old life.

"Oh, thank God. At least you're okay." Not-Marvin's smile is gentle. He hates it. "So... long time, no see, huh?" "Uh huh. You know where the real Marvin and Schneeplestein are? I need to get them out." "What? No, this is real. I'm real. Jackie, come on, look at me. You're home." "Jackie?"

Jackie. It doesn't feel right. He hasn't been Jackie since, well, the start of November. Except, his name was Jackie. It's always been Jackie. All that he's experiencing couldn't be falsified. Even the most realistic visions didn't use his name. They'd always called him things like 'buddy' and 'dude'.

Marvin states it's September 22nd 2017. Ten months and three weeks. He's been gone for ten months and three weeks. How many days even was that? So many more than the three and a half months he had here before disappearing. Who knows how much he's missed since then. At least Marvin was here. He hopes Angus is doing alright. Man, he's really looking forward to seeing Jack again too. He's probably recording a video at the moment.

The two friends chat for a while. Jackie lets the magician lead. No point risking aggravating him unintentionally. They had looked for him. There had simply been too many dead ends and they were gradually losing hope of ever getting a result. Marvin tells him about Bastet the cat and the rabbit whose full name was Tim the Enchanter. Jackie wouldn't mind meeting Bastet. Tim, he'd have to work his way up to.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. Jackie makes a innocent comment about how Jack must be busy on a video if he hasn't come to visit yet. He is apologetic for causing Marvin's face to fall. With a heavy sigh, the magician admits he was wondering when the subject would be brought up. All he can tell Jackie is that Jack was unavailable. He'd show him exactly what happened as soon as he recovers a little.

As promised, he's allowed out of bed later that week. It's not close in the slightest to what he'd theorised. Jack is connected to all these wires. He's breathing through a mask. A coma? A freaking coma?! Sure, the last time they had seen each other it had also been here. But he'd been conscious. Jack had been perfectly awake and pissed off at Sean.

Where even was Sean in all this? Jackie hadn't seen him around either.

"Is Sean like this too?" "No. I'm not saying I wish he was the one in that position. That would be a shitty thing to want. But it would be easier to get on with life if he wasn't able to ruin it by pulling his usual crap." Marvin must notice the instinctively suppressed flinch. "Fuck, I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you. But just look at him. How can you not be mad?" "I- How? When?" "August 3rd. He was about to record a video but apparently wasn't feeling great. Went to Henrik to see if he could help then... Schneep hit the panic button. The door was locked and trust me, I tried every spell I could think of to get to them. Chase was there too. Nothing worked. Nothing. It opened on its own. And there he was. We can't do much else other than keep him comfortable. We update his drip with Henrik's back up supply but that's running out. I'd ask Sean for a way to get more but it's not like he's ever really done anything helpful for us." "Schneep's missing." "Yeah. Mr Glitch Bitch himself took him while he tried to save Jack's life. You... haven't seen him, have you? I've been wondering whether he kept you in the same place."

Yes, Jackie's seen their doctor. Seen him and betrayed him. He used him to escape. Who knows what he was being put through at that very moment? Knowing Anti, he was likely taking his frustrations of losing Jackie out on Schneeplestein. The plan was to get home, regain strength and then attempt a rescue. It seemed the doctor would have to wait. Whatever it takes, he is not going to be at Anti's disposal for nearly 11 months. Jackie is going to earn his role.

That's going to take a long time if Marvin directing him to a chair and asking him to breathe becomes a common occurrence.

Angus drops by the infirmary briefly and Jackie's glad to see him. It means a lot to know he's made the effort. However, Jackie cuts the visit short. All he can concentrate on is the memories of when it was just the three of them. That month before Marvin entered the picture. The hunter wasn't always invested in the socialisation and it could lead to awkward evenings but on his best days, Jackie had begun to really warm to him. But, of course, it never been Jackie and Angus. There was Jack and Angus, Jack and Jackie or the trio. Jack was the missing link and it showed. So he lies about how tired he is. He can always make up for it later.

He's soon permitted to sleep in his old bedroom. Everything in the house has changed. There's new egos, Marvin has pets and Jack is comatose. The doors to their rooms have personal symbols painted on them. Jackie's is left blank. The room itself is pretty much how he left it. They've basically preserved it like some dumb time capsule. The only new things are the presents and envelopes that he suspects contain cards. 'Happy birthday, Jackie! We miss you.' in what is undeniably Jack's handwriting? No, the tag gets ripped off the wrapping paper immediately. The gifts and cards are hastily removed from the bedside table they were lying on.

Jackie questions whether he should visit Jack's room. He knows the guy had a habit of keeping photographs. He's curious to know who was in the current occupant of the frame he owned. He wouldn't mind lying on his bed too, give it a purpose for once. On second thought, the bedroom would be as devoid of life as his own. Plus, the bed would be cold.

Jackie instead finds the video posted on July 10th 2016. The thumbnail is so fake, simply Sean posing heroically for the image. Jackie clicks regardless. His creator recites his introduction before welcoming the audience to the game. The first glitch appears. The boy pathetically clamps his eyes shut in response. Device beside him, he simply listens as the audio runs.

"-this time, I was getting all freaked out the last time, I was getting all scared, and I was acting like a little cry baby. So this time, I've got a special solution: I'm not going to be scared anymore because I am going to morph into a superhero!"

He peeks at the dramatic montage of him changing into his costume for the first time. This was it, the beginning of the superhero made to be fearless, made to face danger head on with little consideration for the consequences. He was supposed to be someone whose confidence was something to admire. People should look to him for inspiration in conquering the things holding them back. He wasn't meant to act like a little cry baby.

And yet, laying on his bedroom floor with hands covering his face, Jackie can do nothing but sob.

[sleemo]

Force For Thought

Producer Ram Bergman tells Richard Edwards how The Last Jedi is pushing the boundaries of a Star Wars movie. — SFX Magazine, Winter 2017

Usually when SFX speaks to a filmmaker a couple of months ahead of their blockbuster’s release, they're hectically running around fiddling with scores, signing off the colour grading, or making a last dash to finalise effects shots. So it’s something of a surprise when The Last Jedi producer Ram Bergman tells SFX, “We finished the movie, there’s just clean-ups here and there, working on the DVD, press, things like that. But the film’s basically done.”

We’re going to take that as a big positive ahead of Episode VIII's arrival - along with the fact that all of the behind-the-scenes buzz around the project has been, well, good.

We’re the first to admit that big studios aren’t generally in the habit of spreading anything but messages of harmony and love ahead of their blockbusters landing in cinemas, but the rebooted Star Wars galaxy has had to deal with more than its fair share of backstage shenanigans since Disney bought the keys to the Millennium Falcon back in 2012. Indeed, from all the (not officially confirmed) rumours about Gareth Edwards’s diminished role on Rogue One to full-on director swaps on Episode IX and Han’s solo movie Solo, it’s only JJ Abrams on The Force Awakens and now The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson who’ve made it to the end in one piece.

“Rian wrote the script and people really loved it,” Bergman recalls. “That was as simple as I can say. When Rian was hired, JJ was essentially just a month into filming, so there were not really any guidelines for us - we just had the script that JJ was filming and dailies of what they were doing. Then at some point in the writing process, we basically told the studio where it’s going to go and everybody seemed to be on board. It was the month after JJ finished filming the movie when we delivered the script, and Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm head] and the studio loved it. The first draft is probably 90% of the movie that we ended up shooting a year later.”

For anyone looking into that galaxy far, far away, that seems like a wise strategy. With high-school noir Brick and tricksy time-travel thriller Looper - two of the most memorable films of the 21st century - Johnson proved himself to be a quirky, idiosyncratic auteur with a great ear for snappy dialogue. Why hire such an exciting talent - albeit one who has no previous experience of a mega-budget blockbuster - and ask him to churn out another studio sequel, unless you’re desperate to play safe? But was there ever a danger that Johnson might have pushed the story too far?

“There were some things where you say, ‘Oh shit, they’re never going to let us do this!’ but they totally did, and I think everybody realised that it’s probably what it needed.” says Bergman. “And everybody was like, ‘Don’t be safe.’ To the credit of Kathy, and Bob Iger and Alan Horn [Disney CEO and chairman, respectively] and all those guys, they never tried to push us towards the safe. Whatever we pitched, whatever Rian said he wanted to do, they completely supported, and I think they understood why it needed to be that way. So definitely, Rian had the vision, but you have to give credit to the people on top; they had the vision to actually say yes, we need to shake it up a bit ”

Of course, that screwing with a formula includes Johnson’s much publicised approach to Luke Skywalker, which famously prompted star Mark Hamill to tell his director, “I pretty much fundamentally disagree with every choice you’ve made for this character.”

“I think when you watch the movie, you think this is not where I thought it was going to go,” Bergman tells SFX. “That’s the beauty of it. I cannot get into the details, but the script that Rian wrote was really taking it in a direction you never really expected, and which kind of made it exciting for everyone who was involved in the movie. But of course in the beginning it was hard for Mark, especially coming from Episode VII [where he barely appeared], which also was a bit hard for him.”

STAR LORE

While every previous Star Wars episode has been preceded by an in-universe gap of at least a year (anything from the 12 months or so between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, to the three decades separating Jedi and The Force Awakens), The Last Jedi breaks with tradition by picking up exactly where its predecessor left off. It's a move Bergman reckons was something of a no-brainer.

“There wasn’t any deliberation,” he says. “Immediately when you saw the end of The Force Awakens, with the cliffhanger, you knew you wanted to know what happens right after that moment. It wasn't even a question.”

That decision, however, adds to a tricky dilemma - how do you explain away 30-plus years of backstory, without playing around with Star Wars storytelling convention by adding numerous flashbacks? (The closest the saga has ever come is Rey’s vision in Episode VII, and that was effectively a cheat because it was driven by the Force.)

It's certainly information that can't be brushed under the carpet. For starters, we need to know the identity of Rey's parents; how Supreme Leader Snoke came to run the First Order; what made the former Ben Solo hook up with the Knights of Ren; and how Maz Kanata got her hands on the lightsaber Luke lost at Bespin. It would also be handy to learn why gigantic evil organisations with galactic domination on their minds keep on building colossal battle stations with easily identifiable fatal flaws.

“You definitely think about [how to supply that information],” admits Bergman. “Again, I can't tell you how, but I think when people see the movie they’ll basically understand to a large degree what happened in between. But not everything is going to be answered...”

REY OF LIGHT

Perhaps the other biggest mission for The Last Jedi to negotiate is the sheer volume of core characters - the biggest principal cast in Star Wars movie history. Okay, the late Han Solo’s no longer a concern - or is he? We don't know yet if Harrison Ford’s been tempted to return for a back-from-the-dead Corellian cameo – but Episode VIII not only has to service original stars Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, and The Force Awakens stars Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren and BB-8, but also newcomers Rose Tico, DJ and Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo. And there will probably be more we don’t know about yet.

“It’s definitely a challenge, because this movie does have more characters than previous movies,” says Bergman. “But at the end of the day you kind of figure out who are the main characters carrying the main story, and you make sure you give arcs to tell the story of other characters. You don’t have 10 hours in a movie, you only have a limited amount of time, so how you tell the story of all those characters is the tricky part. I think Rian delivered.”

And then there's the bantha in the room, the small matter of a previous second instalment in a Star Wars trilogy that’s frequently held up among the best part twos of all time - and no, we’re not talking about Attack Of The Clones. The Empire Strikes Back got so much right that it must be tempting to just use that as your template and be done with it - much as The Force Awakens riffed heavily on A New Hope.

“You look at it, and you look at all the movies, but by the same token you put it aside and you say let’s do what’s right for this movie,” Bergman counters. “Let’s forget about the expectation, let’s do what’s right for the structure of this movie. You stop looking at the other movies as a reference. You tell the story of this movie as it is. Are there things that would be similar? For sure, but by the same token, it’s not. You’re not consciously saying you're making something different or similar - you’re just trying to tell the best story in the best way.” Hopefully the Force really is strong with this one. 

— SFX Magazine, Winter 2017

[koganphrancis]

Last night’s Shameless was so bad, Cameron had to tweet this deleted shit to try to provide some context.

Here’s his caption: “Many notable scenes are cut each season, but I was really disappointed to see this beautiful bit of writing by Dominique Morriseau go. Hope we’ll get to see it in DVD extras.”

So once again I’ll deal with this stupid shit before I deal with the episode’s stupid shit.  I for one am grateful this bit didn’t make it into the show.  I’ll start with the obvious-it’s more dismissal/retconning of Mickey and not only what he did actually do for Ian, but also of what he meant TO Ian.  Fans over on Twitter are saying what Ian said was technically true-that Mickey didn’t tell him he was amazing or could be something.  To me that’s splitting hairs-if Ian was too dense to see that Mickey thought the world of Ian, that he thought Ian could do anything he wanted to, that’s on Ian.  Mickey, more importantly, never BLOCKED Ian from doing anything he wanted to do.  Ian had a better source of support than most people ever get, and the show keeps insisting that it didn’t happen.

The next thing that bugs the hell out of me in that speech is that IAN DIDN’T DO ANY OF THAT FOR MICKEY EITHER.  So, even if he one hundred percent believes what he’s saying, he’s also saying that he knows that was wrong, so where was he when Mickey needed someone telling him he didn’t need to be a thug/drug dealer/pimp?  

And beyond that-why didn’t Ian ever visit Mickey in prison then?  If he’s aware that having someone believe in you makes all the difference?  AND WHY ISN’T IAN THERE FOR YEVGENY?  So, sorry, Cam, this “beautiful bit of writing” sucked.  

I will say that cutting the scene made what happened between Ian and the girl and Ian and Terror completely pointless and meaningless, but, hey!  That’s Shameless for you!  

Now for the episode itself-read more if you dare...

It was so shitty I’m really not going to waste time on most of it.  A few bullet points:

Ian’s done mourning (at least this week he was.  Since every week everyone is acting completely different from the week before, maybe mourning for Monica will be a thing for him again?).

Ian still has his job despite running out before his shift last week.  I’m not surprised, but they don’t even address it?

Fiona says utilities are included in the rent she’s charging-um, really?  I don’t know anything about the housing situation in Chicago, but in Massachusetts utilities aren’t included because of the cost of heating in winter/cooling in summer-and even if Fiona doesn’t pay for whatever is heating those apartments, since electricity is included in the fixed rent wouldn’t people just buy a shit ton of plug-in heaters and let her carry the expense?  

The cock mug was back-but Debbie drank out of it, not Ian.

Ian took “a” med-guess they found he only needs one drug to keep all his symptoms in check?  

Lip dreamed about tits (sorry you had to direct that scene, Regina King-you deserve better), but not one of his dream girls looked anything like Snore, LOL.  Snore was only in the background at the diner for one scene-no lines.  She’s the new Liam.  I don’t get why they brought her back this season when they obviously cottoned onto the fact that she’s not that good an actress.  Lip winds up banging the kickass chick at  the bike shop, but they’ve telegraphed that she’s going to be a Sex Addicts Anonymous participant and Lip’s sponsor will probably wind up having to lecture him at some point.  Yawn.  Youens wasn’t mentioned at all in this episode-maybe they’re done with him too?  Lip bringing that one meeting to his house took care of that?

The stuff with Kev’s family was reminiscent of Frank’s time at the commune with the yurts and did anyone need more of that?  Also, I’m sorry if I was supposed to get indignant on Kev’s behalf that the Kentucky folk abandoned him to go into foster care-Kev has a son with Vee’s mother that he has nothing to do with either, so maybe put that rock away while you’re in that glass house?  

Frank being a turn on to any woman is something they’ve done to death and it’s more unrealistic each time.  

Fiona had some big cathartic thing happen from Sean popping up-not really though.  There was the typical trope of her spewing all her shit before Sean could say why he was there, so all she did was look like a jackass assuming he was back to win her fair hand all over again when he was actually there to make amends and tell her he’s married.  She said a bunch of stuff about never being able to trust him that Terror should’ve said in 7X12 in a final farewell to the series scene.  Fiona went on and on about how Sean ripped her world apart and he was the love of her life and all this shit that the show never showed.  It was such crap and do they really think we’re invested in any of it?  Had they shown her suffering/missing him after the wedding fell through, maybe, but they didn’t and it’s too late to convince us now.  (BTW Sean’s wife was young and pretty-of course she was.)  

The other Fiona thing for the week is that Nessa is her fucking toady at the apartment building-in constant touch with Fi and acting as her right hand when she’s not there...doesn’t she have a job as an accountant for an airline?  Isn’t that a pretty much 9-5 job?

Liam’s still in school, but Carl’s not in school?  What?  Also, Carl’s storyline is as boring as it is unbelievable and again I can’t believe that they expect us to be invested in it.  The veteran he’s going to help out-had no lines.  

Now the Ian stuff.  First off, anyone can just wander in the EMT bay where they keep the open, unlocked trucks.  The chick Ian helped in a previous episode turns up saying how he said if she needed help, she could go to him.  Then the cut scene should’ve happened, but all we got was Ian tucking her in on the couch and walking up the stairs, pausing to look back at her.  The scene was...weird.  The girl looks a bit like a poor man’s Peyton List-same moon face, just take Pey’s make up and hair extensions off and she could’ve played the role-and that just took me out of the story-we’re supposed to feel a bit anxious about Ian being involved with a teen here, so how ‘bout irl?  

Anyway, next time we see Ian, he’s waking up in his tiny bed with the girl laying there with him.  Damn Ian must be a sound sleeper if he didn’t notice someone crowding in there with him-remember, he’s only taking one med now, so I’m not buying that it knocks him out unless it was a Benadryl.  Ian’s only in boxers (so at least my prediction of never seeing him shirtless again didn’t come true-but who wants to see him topless with a teenage girl?), and he wakes the girl up and climbs over her and pulls some pants on.  She gets out of his bed in just her undies and a tight tank top and says it was creepy downstairs so she came up to sleep with him.  

So, in this week’s “there’s been no character development” highlight-here we have Ian acting as clueless as he was with Mandy in Season 1, when 15 year old Ian couldn’t find a way to let a girl know he’s gay/not interested in them/that it’s wrong for them to be all over him.  Let’s reset Ian to zero-forget all his life experience AND make him so dumb as a 22 year old that he doesn’t realize he needs to tell teen girls NOT to get into bed with him.  Nope, he just picks up her phone off his bed and puts his number in there so she can call him “the next time she needs a place to crash”.  

Lip sees the chick come out of Ian’s room-doesn’t even say anything about the age of consent or whatever.  

The girl must see herself out, because next we have Lip and Ian coming into the kitchen where Fiona has been sitting up all night smoking Lip’s pack of Camels.  Ian misses a perfect opportunity to tell Fi she’s lucky Sean’s married to someone else-he would’ve set a match to her life otherwise.  Ian’s wearing a tank top by now and he has a farmers tan and it made me sad.  

Next time we see Ian, Terror pops up in the truck bay at work.  He gives Ian shit about the teen girl, Ian says he was just trying to help, they try to argue but their lack of chemistry smothers that too.  Even though for once Ian sort of sticks up for himself and says, “Would you mind easing up a bit” (on the lecturing), it was just lame.  Terror says Ian can’t let kids from the shelter sleep with him, Ian says, “I’m gay,” (so, Terror didn’t know?) and that there was nothing sexual about it and he was just trying to help, but Terror says she’s an incest victim and these kids don’t know when something’s sexual or not (or something-I didn’t bother jotting it down).  For once Terror has a point, except he ruins it by making it all about HIM, as always.  He says it’s bullshit that Ian was trying to help (um, no it’s not?  He really was?) and that Ian’s trying to weasel his way back into Terror’s life, but then, instead of telling Ian that they’re never going to get back together, he just says, “do not use these kids to do it.”  UGH!  NOOOO!  That was as much as saying, “We’re going to get back together, but not for this reason.”  FUCK NO!!!!  DEVIL!!!!  Ian at least gives him a fuck you look to end the scene, but...

the next time we see Ian, he’s walking home in his bright red sneakers and Terror pulls up next to him in his shitty little Terror-mobile.  He gets out of the car and commends Ian for Teenie wanting to get into a junior firefighters’ program (which makes zero sense without Cam’s tweet).  Ian says something like did he do  something right or whatever, and asshole Terror says, “You’re not out of the doghouse-yet.”  NOOOOOO!  Not “yet”!  Fuck you, Terror, just walk away from this!  He’ll fuck you over and you know it!  You’re never going to keep him interested in you-no one knows why he’s ever been involved with you to begin with!!!!  Ian perks up like the kicked puppy he is with these assholes and says, “What can I do to make it right?”  Terror says he can help him find housing for the kids.  WHAT?  HOW?  Terror has contacts and ways of making that happen and he can’t do it-WTF is Ian supposed to do?  What a lame, obvious plot point to keep them “together”.  It’s such horseshit!!!  Anyway, Ian says, “OK, I can do that,” and fucking Terror says, “Thank you.”  I’m now predicting that Geneva the teen dies in the episode after next and Ian cries down at the docks and Terror follows him there to tell him it isn’t his fault, he tried, and then they’ll fuck and I’ll puke.  

The final scene is the family (and Nessa?) all gathered in the living room, and all it did was highlight what a pale shadow the show is of its former self.  They’ve lost whatever spark they used to have.  

A final thought: Terror’s eyebrows are really taking over his entire face.  In the scene in the EMT barn, they were all I could see.  They just sit there like big furry caterpillars and make his face even less expressive as an actor.  

[elizabethrobertajones]

9x21 rewatch

hey so I have frequently commented on the uncanny way my rewatch lines up with new canon kind of unnerving me at times

anyway for the historical record, 12x13 is the next episode we are waiting to air at the point I start watching and this was in no way planned, this is just where I got to in a 2 year process.

I fucking knew Ramiel had a lamp that used to belong to Metatron in his basement.

I love that the recap to start with is pretty much all 9x18 after some basic season 9 angel war stuff. I sometimes forget that it’s a huge season-changing plot episode because I never focus on all the drama that takes place during it but look at all the really meta stuff. But it scrapes together the rest of the arc and puts it into a sensible shape to actually finish the season with, although with Buckleming episodes you NEVER need the ENTIRE recap because it’s always too long and covering too many details like they don’t trust us to remember everything that’s going to be mentioned here. It’s literally a 2-parter recap that after a minute of angel stuff switches to recapping Abaddon's entire season and Crowley and the Mark of Cain and the hell hounds and some more Crowley and anyway we’re 1:55 into the episode and oh my god should I be actually collecting which episodes have the longest recaps? I bet 12x13 is going to be 5 minutes

Leith, Scotland - 1723

Hey Gavin. I was always disappointed they didn’t make him ginger, since Crowley is obviously not wearing the same meat as when he was Ferrrgus. And then Rowena showed up and I was doubly mad that Gavin was not ginger. 

Anyway this is pouring one out that they cast someone who wouldn’t be wildly unchallenging for people to think was related to moderately-successful-literary-agent instead.

Also, Abaddon busts in and is ginger and says she’s a “friend of the family” - with hindsight would it have made sense for Gavin to even wonder if they were related? How much does he know about Rowena? It seems like Crowley didn’t know her since he was a boy. Did he ever complain about her? I feel like he’d be the sort to tell Gavin lurid stories about his own horrible childhood to make him shut up and appreciate it :P

Crowley called Abaddon “the world’s angriest ginger” in 9x10 and honestly if I didn’t mention it then, getting in to the beginnings of Crowley’s own family drama here is basically demanding I stop and laugh at this. I don’t think Rowena is angry - justifiably so if she is - but Crowley certainly has some issues with Abaddon that I think we never really appreciated at the time.

ABADDON Yes. You're packing. Sailing for the colonies. I know all about it. Change of plans.

I mean, at least they’re upfront about the horrific retcon, the one genuinely open wound on the show that just *turns to scream out of the open window for a while*

[A YOUNG MAN enters ]

YOUNG MAN Ooh. What's this, then? Are we having a party?

I wonder if Gavin will still be gay/bi in 12x13? 

(There’s 1 bed in the room and this guy also has a key and, well, they’re planning on skipping the country to the new world. Meta of the time went into this but I suppose I have not much else better to do here with his story than explain as it unfolds :P)

Anyway who knows - same director and everything, Buckleming aren’t half bad at referring to their OWN canon, they’re as cheery as anyone else about implying Rowena is bi, even if they can be staggeringly homophobic in other ways. Guess we see how the wind is blowing.

Like right here they just immediately kill Gavin’s boyfriend and he doesn’t mention it again all episode >.>

The opening with the angels is still so ridiculous but I’ve never watched this NOT on a terrible stream before and I need to appreciate at DVD quality the angels watching Metatron’s useless plant/trap/whatever because their faces are exactly the sort of “what the FUCK am I watching” expressions necessary here while he talks :P

I love the implication here:

EZRA Oh, I can't tell you how great it feels to finally have a night off, right, guys?

Cas is working his army hard... weirdly more appreciative of the angels telling stories about eating pizza and actually taking the opportunity to kick back on Earth and go to bars and enjoy a night off.

I have a lot of feelings about this because Cas’s angels are the most human - they still sound angel-y when they switch to talking about plot stuff, but when they’re kicking back they sound regular and human. Considering angels go BACK to trying to live somewhat like their old selves in Heaven, Cas’s army is the most randomly dressed, relaxed bunch of angels we’ve ever seen, and this didn’t mark a permanent change, as once they were back in charge, they give this up and all angels wear black/white/grey again. After 12x10 I have a lot more feelings than normal about angels and proximity to humans. Cas had his angels doing things like healing humans at the hospital for no reason other than that it was a good thing to do. Cas’s angels seemed closer to human than any of the other factions we came across. These angels were changing and adapting to living on earth - making the most of it and blending in and maybe getting to know having a vessel that they may NEVER have done before.

Just... aargh.

Cas let his angels have a night off and when they asked what they were supposed to DO with a night off he squinted and furrowed his eyebrows and thought about what Sam and Dean would do and said, “Humans seem to enjoy going to bars in their spare time” and all the angels took it as gospel and shuffled obediently off to have fun >.>

EZRA ... being handpicked by the big man himself. I'm not really supposed to talk about it. 'Cause it's Metatron.

Back in 9x14 there was some moment like this which had a ton of ambiguity about who was being referred to of all the available villains, of Bartholomew, Gadreel or Metatron. Now Cas and Metatron are ambiguously blurred together, though on first viewing it might not be so obvious because we don’t know these are Cas’s angels, but “the big man” is a reference to a boss and their boss is Cas and they’re like ??? this angel seems to be talking to us like he’s on our team (and having the same night off as us) but is Castiel hand-picking anyone for anything - and then he goes and drops Metatron’s name after a weighty pause.

There are a lot of weighty pauses this season

Also blurring good guys and bad guys - the martini being delivered to the angels’ table looks like the one Abaddon drinks later

ALSO then Ezra walking down the alley sees the silhouette of a man in a long coat and stops in horror before realising it’s not Cas, relaxes, and then is nabbed by Cas’s angels.

The scary alley moment is more than enough to mimic the usual patterns of victim and monster in the show and the spectre of a man in a long coat seems monstrous to Ezra, using Cas as the villain... 

Once Ezra is chained up and waiting, Cas’s appearance is heralded by terrifying slow footsteps and Ezra’s fear:

EZRA Is that...him?

Side note: the classy purple angel who I’ve always had a soft spot for is not named in the episode but appears to be called Benjamin by the transcript. 

Obviously not Cas’s BFF Benjamin but they’ve been very good about not re-using angel names. “Benjamin” appears to only be in this episode and isn’t named anywhere in the dialogue, so I suppose easy to ignore.

Dean shows up wearing his bizarre/excellent putrid yellow jacket which is an incredible stretch by the wardrobe department to find something unflattering. It brings out all the worst in his face, which I never knew had a worst until I saw the promo pics for this episode – for the first time. Of course it’s yellow because sulphurous connections because Dean’s about to be a demon.

I’ve seen it compared in a more favourable light (literally) to Brokeback mountain and a jacket one of the characters wore because of the hug scene, but I think in general the whole point is to really underline in red pen a dozen times that Dean’s in deep with a demonic connection.

(I was also just reminded of Sam’s jacket in 12x12 which is an eye-catching reddish-pinkish-orange, depending on the light. An anon helpfully suggested he might have a witchy descent (which is just teasing after how many times we’ve hoped for it and written speculation that FINALLY it might be Sam’s time) but aside from red being witchy in general, now I think about it, it would sort of be the colour of Rowena’s hair :P (Somehow this entire rewatch is about ginger-ness))

God I do not miss season 9 Dean.

(All he’s done so far is hear “commander”, look affronted, look at Sam and whisper “commander?!” in an affronted way and I should be flipping out from the Destiel of it all but Dabb era has been wrecking me

like

I have it paused and they’re about to hug

but I just don’t feel it, you know?

Not when in season 12 there’s a serious danger of them nuzzling or clinging like they don’t want to let go

*pat pat*

*Dean allows himself 1 hand placed on Cas’s back out of Sam’s sight to stay for about half a second longer than it should*

God we are so fucking spoiled right now

Can’t believe we used to think Destiel was canon off of season 9 nonsense

DEAN So...Commander?

CASTIEL Yeah, not my idea.

wait never mind

Dean just can’t let things go about Cas, can he? All he needs is a waitress to flirt with him or the angels to give him a cute nickname - I mean, intimidating title - and off Dean goes.

Has he said anything this episode except for “commander” yet?

blah blah talking tactics and angel war how can a conversation between these two be dull?

Aside from being dull, the scenario is twisted around completely implausibly:

CASTIEL Dean, this angel-on-angel violence -- it has to end. Someone has to say, "enough."

right yeah good, then Cas asks them to interrogate the angel and wtf. We aren’t hurting angels! Unless Dean does it!

But nah we need a cliffhanger so Dean can say this:

CASTIEL Well, you've had success at these situations before. If you don't want to do it, I understand.

DEAN Who says I don't want to do it?

so it looks like a cheap 4x16 moment and I guess we’re seeing Dean all twisted up and about torture and showing how he wants to do it and so on but... Ugh, CAS. Why do you suffer for these things in your characterisation :P Especially bloody stupid ones that in the same scene you are being characterised properly over - it’s like they just drop that after paying lip service to where Cas’s arc is actually supposed to be at, to put in something entirely different. 

Imagine if Cas had asked them to go talk to Ezra because they were better at interrogations than him - without torture - but Dean shows up in there with an angel blade clearly ignoring that and wanting to go the threatening torture-y route. Cas stays in character, Dean is scary, easy!

At this point, actually looking forward to the trips to Crowley and Abaddon scenes

CROWLEY So, here's the thing, boys and girls -- we have a crisis. Admittedly, a crisis of my own making.

He really never wanted that throne :P He tries to reassert his power and declare himself the winner just for being back at it - and now we know WHY he’s so motivated to always go back for the throne - obviously with Abaddon it’s too personal not to do it to spite her, but then again in literally 3 episodes Crowley is back on vacation, bored stupid of the job, and just enjoying hanging with Dean instead. He loves the idea of getting Dean to run Hell for/with him, to take the edge off the boredom (and probably scare demons out of fighting against him).

ABADDON And I'm hearing that one of them also has the mark of Cain -- all bad news, since the Blade is the one thing that can bring about my --

CROWLEY Utter destruction.

ABADDON To be indelicate. But here's the thing, pet -- same goes for you. And once I'm gone, who do you think's next on those cute boys' list?

Now there’s a familiar line - pretty much the last thing said in 12x12 was Lucifer reminding Crowley of this. Crowley here has both a healthy reason to fear it, but also, since 9x16, a reassurance that Dean seems to be controllable and that he might just be able to control him or at least NOT die by his hand, so long as he plays his cards absolutely right.

Crowley getting demon!Dean for his own uses seems like it HAD to happen once Dean got the Mark because Crowley would never be able to just let him be - even if they always have that knife (and it’s great that it actually COULD kill Crowley but I don’t know if they’ve ever even given him a glancing blow from it because he always plays them well enough to avoid it) Dean with the Mark is violent and dangerous in a whole new way. 

Not sure Crowley counted on feelings, mind you :P

But, regardless, season 10 does not take long at all for Crowley to feel safe with Dean, and even in season 11, newly cured of the Mark and compelled by Amara to come help her, in 11x02 Dean can’t kill Crowley. At this point it’s more like they need to grudgingly accept they’re friends or something? >.>I definitely find it interesting this taunt comes up again because Crowley should be secure DEAN at least likes him enough not to kill him because first he thought he puppet-stringed him into not doing it and then it seemed that they genuinely cared about each other enough not to do it... If anything, the fact Sam and Mary would still happily kill Crowley are the problem :P

Cas... Cas owes Crowley TWO, has been threatening to murder him for years, and still hasn’t done it, mostly because they avoid socialising unless it’s the sort of desperate scenario where they have to put aside their issues and deal with a bigger problem.

I suspect Crowley has a lot of contingency plans for finding himself trapped in an elevator with Cas when they have no greater reason to work together, and now I’ve typed that I REALLY want that episode :P

CROWLEY To be clear... I'll not be joining you ever. Except at your death scene, where I shall burst into song. Goodbye. You have no hold over me.

ABADDON Oh, no?

[She snaps her fingers and GAVIN appears.]

ABADDON Gavin, honey, say hello to daddy.

blah blah old fandom complaints. Abaddon knows Crowley is emotionally vulnerable because of her spy, Lola, so the same trick Bobby WASN’T dumb enough to go for seems to be an option here. Probably illustrating how Crowley has changed specifically by using this exact same exploitable weakness as 6x04

... it still comes across as really silly and timeline breaking to do this particular thing and NOT send Gavin back >.>

Since it’s Buckleming I have no idea how they’ll deal with this plothole or if they’ll even mention it.

Anyway Crowley folds like a cheap suit, which he’d hate because he wears expensive suits

Crowley’s got to have saved them a couple of times now because it was convenient but this is I guess the first time really playing off his heart to make him save anyone. Even Sam and Dean don’t seem to think that’s worth doing despite knowing how messed up he is. While they had hi in the Bunker immediately after his almost-cure they didn’t exactly try guilting him into helping them

I wonder how it might have played differently if Dean saw that confession, not Sam. I seem to remember Sam commenting on it to Crowley but not nearly enough to actually gain anything from emotionally manipulating him :P

To be honest considering Abaddon was messing up Gavin’s eyes, and Crowley breaks and asks her to stop, there might be a parallel with him “saving” Dean by putting the First Blade back in his hand and waking him up as a demon. Gavin wants to be a Prince of Hell (fat fucking chance) but Crowley has what he’s looking for there in Dean. It’s all inverted though, despite Crowley caring for both - obviously Dean does not want that job at all.

Anyway then Sam figures out how to do the interrogation without anyone getting hurt, Winchesters discover it’s really fun to tease angels.

more on the surface cooperating and working as a team and presenting a united front

GAVIN You are not my father. My father was Fergus MacLeod, a simple tailor. A drunk, a monster.

ABADDON Sounds about right.

GAVIN He looked nothing like you, and I buried him.

CROWLEY A lot can change in 291 years.

Just gonna assume Fergus was ginger and you can’t stop me.

The idea of Crowley being not-suave is slightly terrifying but like Rowena, I think he’s held up entirely by determination to be more than he was in a “past life” - Rowena never technically died but she remade herself completely and I think sustains herself out of pure spite at the world that mistreated her :P

I guess Crowley’s always known about suits, but that doesn’t mean he had the best ones.

There’s something vaguely wrong about Abaddon and Crowley almost seeming to co-parent Gavin with the amused back and forth looks as he discovers where he is. Like, they set aside their differences to mock him? Is this a staggeringly clever parallel to what Sam and Dean are doing with Ezra as we back and forth, or are these just scenes where they wanted to write all ~comedic moments~ between all the characters... I have no trust of this :P The irony about Gavin thinking they’re in Heaven and these are angels is just... too heavy anvils.

Oh, I was wrong, under his yellow jacket, Dean is wearing the shirt he dies in, which makes this episode, 9x23 and 9x05. Still a weird place for it to pop up. I’ve been having a lot of issues with 9x05 randomly relating to important episodes but, like… not… lately :P

This is still really cold to US:

DEAN You're a fan. Just 'cause you're hot for Metatron... ...or Bieber or Beckham... Just 'cause you know everything about them doesn't mean that you actually know them. 

SAM Or that they even know you exist. 

DEAN Ooh, that's cold, Sammy.

SAM I'm just sayin', man.

Going back to the Becky portrayal of fans… Which to Sam and Dean PERHAPS in-character they hadn’t really had time to think of it differently… It’s much clearer from an outside POV that Charlie represents a better type of fan, but she’s a friend to them and even if she read the books, well… I don’t think they’d think of her as a fan. CAS said he’d read them and admired Chuck’s work. :P

Also generally in episodes with fans, there comes around some validating point about their engagement even if it’s disagreement or confusion elsewhere, being a fan is given approval or at least an attempt at understanding, especially as they learn and grow from these encounters, seeing themselves from outside eyes. Bringing it up out of context without any wider message, it just sticks with them not liking fans, and Buckleming maybe having a bone to pick, and is just generally awful.

SAM Wait a second. Just, please, uh... Clarify this for me. You desperately wanted this job, but you didn't know what it was? 

EZRA Well, until you were chosen, the exact nature of the mission was kept a secret. 

DEAN Wow. 

SAM Wow.

There’s possibly something to be said here about Cas and Metatron in 8x22 but I have no idea how to get to it while going through Buckleming stuff which now sounds like a critique on Cas for not reading the terms and conditions though Metatron did sort of tell him what they were up to…

GAVIN You sold your soul?! Sold it?! For an extra three inches of willy?! 

CROWLEY Priorities change. I wasn't the bon vivant that I am now. I'll simplify -- my soul did a stint in hell, where it became demonized. Then I had to possess another person so I could traffic with the living. Any of this sticking?

If 12x13 does what I WANT it to do (and assuming Dabb has any ability to wrangle Buckleming onto the same “flawlessly fixing borked canon” train the rest of the writers are on :P) then this does not have to break canon as it currently does, provided they put Gavin the fuck back in 1723: this episode establishes he apparently didn’t know EXACTLY what details and phrasing he told Bobby in 6x04 – he didn’t even know Fergus sold his soul, never mind what for. In 6x04 he was more than happy to rat Crowley out for all of this. Now, however, we have a weird loop where Crowley is the one who tells him this info and unless there are some very complex loops in the way time travel affects ghosts and personal belongings left in your original time, making a sort of bizarre “I can be a ghost before I died” thing (??? I write time travel nonsense for fun and this is making even my head hurt and I just randomly added two characters basically meeting eyes across two separate unrelated time travel out of body experience trips to a novel I didn’t think had enough time travel shenanigans this week :P) – Gavin has to go back so that he can die in the right time, and be a ghost to now pass on this info that he didn’t know…

Argh.

I really like this angel’s style. Modern fashion but absolutely in Cas’s model. Like, this is sort of catwalk Castiel :P she gets to wear leggings.

Cas should wear leggings

Anyway more admiration for the angels here, because “Benjamin” (if that is his real name) is also so snappily dressed, and they’re BFFs who probably judge people together, so these fashion-conscious angels are another little detail I love about Cas’s army. They still loosely fit the idea that angels either wear suits as a uniform, or she takes Cas’s general aesthetic and dresses like it, but of course both put a different, fashionable spin on it… So different from the stuffy angels of the past, while sort of fitting a pattern that fits for angels…

RIP Ezra, the most useless angel we have ever met. He was clearly a plant from Metatron to do exactly this (not that he knew it), since I don’t think it’s just his death that was planned by the traitor within Cas’s army. Metatron WANTED Cas to find the not-portal and see that mocking fake Heaven, and so he gets all that information to him by giving him an angel so useless he’ll blab the entire script. I honestly don’t even know if Metatron is controlling Ezra to say all this or if he was that terrible all of his own volition :P

CASTIEL I was sure everyone here was loyal. Finally united by a common cause. 

DEAN Well, that's the problem. See, you don't think anybody's lying. I think everybody's lying. It's a gift. 

I think they TRY to write Cas properly but fall down when the plot stuff happens. There’s nothing wrong in general with the set up here and Cas’s beliefs, except for when things they decide to do for the plot suddenly contradict them :P

In this case, good. Cas believes that these angels were truly committed to whatever he’s been saying to them about their current mission and I guess relying on the angel hive mind. I wish there had been more emphasis on Cas’s uncertainty about doing this because season 6 but he does have to step into a leadership role, and wrangling angels without drastically reprogramming them (e.g. when you need an army in a hurry to catch a target that you’re worried about, and don’t have time to do more than throw in some house rules like “no dress code” and “take Friday nights off to go to a bar” or “do side quests at the hospital”) means relying on some of those more angel traits like loyalty to a cause.

The angels are so messed up now though, that without actual unquestionable leaders like the archangels, listening to Metatron and listening to Cas weigh about the same, and some angels think Metatron is the new god or are willing to deal with him as such in order to get back to Heaven (same difference) and Cas has these soldiers loyal to him…

Of course Metatron is playing on their idealism, which we’ll get into next episode with the suicide bombers “taking it too far” but this is the early stages of his plan and it’s playing off basically this mindset – that Cas is hoping for idealism and loyalty. Especially as he has pure good intentions for it (HOSPITALS. ANGELS. AAAH it’s been years and I still scream about it) and Metatron is basically taking this Cas stuff and throwing it back in his face.

Anywho. The Dean stuff is kind of still so blunt and cruel and I literally don’t know this man. I mean, I’ve got season 7 on one end and season 12 on the other when it comes to stuff I’ve been watching lately. Wandering back to Mark!Dean is really bizarre. I remember wank about how this particular exchange was kind of… so un-Dean and not nice of him to say to Cas, but considering on both sides of this arc a normal squishy Dean exists, I really kind of appreciate the acting.

While also loathing it.

Be strong, Lizzy. 4 episodes after he loses the Mark he’s washing cars in booty shorts. Dean’s still in there.

Anyway!! One of the BIG redeeming scenes of this episode which I love to bits from so many directions (Sam and Cas!!! Talking!!!!! Let them be friends 2k17!!!!!!) and am just gonna quote in its entirety:

CASTIEL I wanted to ask you about Gadreel, the time he possessed you. 

SAM It's not really something I like to -- 

CASTIEL Sam, please. 

SAM He didn't possess me completely -- more like we, uh... shared housing. I was still me.

CASTIEL Did you ever sense a presence? 

SAM I don't really know what I felt. I mean, maybe that I wasn't completely alone. 

CASTIEL Did you ever feel threatened? 

SAM No. More that he... wasn't at rest, l-like he had unfinished business. Now that we know more about him, I-I'd say he felt misunderstood.

CASTIEL But not -- not a danger, not hostile.

 SAM No. I was wrong, obviously. He killed Kevin.

I LOVE the way it codes Gadreel as a restless spirit/vengeful ghost. After season 7 had such a detailed exploration of that for Bobby and now Dean is on a descent that in season 10 will also be directly and openly paralleled to being a vengeful ghost, this description had me excited for that parallel since this aired when it came to Dean, as well as just appreciating what this does for Gadreel (and in a way what it says about angels as he’s paralleled to Cas too for some of his actions to Cas’s in earlier seasons).

I think his vengefulness is really interesting as a way to look at it. We saw Bobby descend into vengefulness because he was given more and more reasons to rile himself up against Dick, until in the end he possessed a maid and marched off to try and kill Dick himself. Obviously there’s similar parallels just because Gadreel possessed Sam (and his own vessel is going to get caught in the crossfire, not that anyone spares a thought for him despite him TWICE being depicted on screen without Gadreel in him) and ended up being thrown at targets at least one of whom was picked for the same reason Bobby got so angry at Dick – Gadreel killing his torturer was a no-brainer for him, and got to vent a lot of anger at his treatment. It softened him up to carry on killing, and like Bobby was warned about becoming a vengeful ghost eventually you just start hurting people and it becomes a pattern…

I sort of feel like as well it justifies that Gadreel is on borrowed time and softens his need to redemption to being less proving himself to anyone else (though from main character eyes, I think he would – maybe Heaven would be less impressed with his redemption just because it’s a footnote detail to them) and more to personal realisation in that same way Bobby knew it was time to move on, many other ghosts we’ve seen reach that point, and Dean in the end also went and reached out to Death, assuming it was HIS time to move on as well and that he couldn’t keep hurting people.

(Yikes – this makes me realise I have literally never talked about this idea since the middle of season 10 when I didn’t know how it was going to resolve aside from presenting this idea… 10x23 was underwhelming enough I forgot that my favourite metaphor for this arc had played itself out correctly :P)

Anyway I am always liable to end up writing reams about Gadreel so I should probably stop, as all his stuff is yet to come, and I think the dialogue speaks for itself about how beautiful it is Sam felt his presence and I guess… wasn’t troubled by it. Like, if he felt different, and in hindsight realised his change in mood must have been Gadreel, then that translates to Sam having felt this on top of his normal emotions (I talked about how Gadreel seemed to be influencing Sam at various points while that was going on) – if Sam felt this too, I think that translates well into the almost nervous energy he had at times (9x04 especially since it showed him chilling at the Bunker except for where he was throwing himself into massive tasks, but in general being peppy and defying Dean’s nervousness about him staying home and resting up – Sam himself didn’t succumb to any vengeful anger over that time, even in the scenes where he was dealing with Crowley. He’s so much more well-balanced than he used to be, honestly :P)

Also eee Sam and Cas talking. Cas apologetic but also in need of answers, and looking sympathetically at Sam all through this. Sam being troubled but also caring enough about Cas to open up and feel comfortable about talking about it to Cas… yessss

There are SHOCKINGLY few scenes of them being emotionally kind to each other like this

CROWLEY I mean, I beat you, starved you, came home drunk, beat you some more, woke up hungover, and, yeah, I beat you. In all fairness, I didn't really have any role models. My mother was a witch!

Note to self because a promo for 12x13 came out already while I was working on this – Gavin knows she’s a witch! And he’s asking how she’s still alive even after seeing how much nonsense this family has.

My confidence is a wee bit shaken but we’re sticking with it :P I’m sure we all have MacLeod family drama rage on the back burner that this episode is going to bring up in full.

Anyhow, I vaguely remember people paralleling this to what Rowena and Crowley talk about when it comes to her neglect. My internet is down but I recall discussion of how many pigs Fergus had been worth selling for :P Long story short, perpetuating abuse and neglect to create this messed up family. Gavin seems like the most well-adjusted but we’ve left him alone for 3 years and he’s got this brilliant legacy so who knows what’s up.

I also wonder given the themes of the season, if he’s maybe knocked someone up with a baby-out-of-time, so even if they send him back to his watery grave (that he fucking owes the universe and this season has ~cosmic consequeeences~ as a threat) there’s some more MacLeod fucked up abandoned children out there >.> Rowena mentioned her own father and how much Gavin looked like him… Given how well HER life turned out I suspect this might not be a good thing in both the parallel to Gavin, AND her own backstory. Like, she doesn’t seem about to say “well I had a normal childhood, this was all just teenage rebellion that went too far” or something :P

GAVIN So... If you're a king... that would make me... Prince? 

CROWLEY And you say I've never given you anything. A title!

I had to stop this to make a gifset which I think explains everything I might have said here

Crowley with retconned hindsight is just like “fuck it” “my kingdom is based solely on the fact a prince of hell wants to fish in peace and I let him” “this is the most unintentionally hilarious thing that has happened to me in 300 years” “I love my son” “I actually love him”

“give the fucker what he wants”

GAVIN And if I was to accept you as my father, you could keep me from eternally burning in hell? No matter my sins?

[...]

GAVIN This might work out. For the first time in my entire life, I can see possibilities, a future... Just as soon as you take me back to my own time and I can board that ship for the new world.

Oh my poor queer little Prince of Hell. You have a get out of jail free card but hear the call of the New World, where you can be yourself and know full well you’re not going to hell no matter how many dudes you bang… it’s the life you always dreamed of.

(Someone should really just tell him, dude, Gavin, your prince of hell-ishness… God is bi. Be chill. You’re fine)

I think I promised to go into this further when I got here, but honestly those lines are so blatant. Gavin thinks he’s going to burn in Hell, and he wants to start a new life. He MAY be a criminal or something and just on the run and there’s some boring back story they’ll give us. But for now, I remember everyone and their mum blogging about how he was queercoded in this episode (and his friend in the room with one bed and a hot red head to share really ruin the ‘on the run murderer’ speculation :P)

I love how Gavin immediately gets confident and sits down in the chair that Abaddon and Crowley have sat in while in a position of power…

A position where Abaddon ends this episode stabbed and Crowley has to sit in the chair shot and useless, and Gavin – well he’s talking about Crowley sending him home to board his ship that will go down and take this entire timeline with it right now.

Meanwhile, Cas leaps straight to action on Sam’s word of trust. Obviously he was thinking about reaching out to Gadreel because after hunting him before, 9x18 had been a bit of a turning point for everyone. I don’t know if Dean shared his intel on Gadreel but it seems unlikely they DON’T share notes like this – despite never seeing them talk it all out on screen, TFW generally knows each other’s shit unless it’s MEANT to be a secret.

So somewhere or other Cas has been musing on it, that Gadreel was captured and Metatron may or may not have used it as part of an elaborate set up, but Gadreel sure was ready to die and gave them ALL that lingering look as he was handed back over to Metatron (and Dean beat the SNOT out of him, you’d think he’d want to get as far away from them as possible :P)

And clearly he has some way to communicate with Gadreel, despite the fact that previously he had been hunting him fruitlessly… Perhaps a spell can send a message one way or angel radio can be directed, but the actual location part doesn’t work….

Which just gives me weird feelings about the longing retcon and  how Cas can always tell where his humans are...

I mean Metatron tapped the line obviously because he’s watching EVERYTHING but

CASTIEL Thank you for coming. And thank you for coming alone.

GADREEL I've seen you through Sam Winchester's eyes, and he trusts you.

*screams some more about how they’re face to face BECAUSE of Sam on both sides, vouching for everyone’s character and they in turn implicitly trust Sam’s character judgements completely and honestly they just work together so well after this and aaaaaah*

GADREEL You have a reputation for honor.

CASTIEL In some circles. As for reputations, yours precedes you.

Aaaaaah but reputation. Cas’s reputation gets worse and worse but this season presents his story very interestingly from the angels. Ephraim, Bartholomew and now Gadreel have heard of knew first hand that Cas was above all a good and honourable angel and solider. Gadreel taps into the rumour mill – he based his decision to help Dean on a character reference from CAS and in turn used Cas’s name and how he knew his reputation and Dean’s to gain Dean’s initial trust…

Clearly he’s listening to the nice things angels say about Cas, and the later character defamation where all the angels seem to have nothing nice left to say about him starts later… 1 episode later, and then quickly escalates >.>

Cas’s reaching out makes Gadreel defensive too quickly – I think Cas underestimates his trauma a wee bit –

GADREEL What happened in the Garden was not my doing.

CASTIEL I know you feel misunderstood. And you're eager to redeem yourself and maybe more. 

GADREEL You refer to my support of Metatron's campaign to rebuild heaven? 

CASTIEL Your support? You've recruited for him, you've killed for him. And I know you truly believe it's for the greater good, but you've placed your faith in the wrong master.

He wants to relate his own experiences and need to redeem himself to Gadreel’s feelings. I think between Gadreel and the good reputation rumours and this, Cas should have played up a bit more that he’d slaughtered thousands in Heaven and felt bad about it because it’s pretty accusatory :P

I find it interesting he says “wrong master” – as I was saying, he and Metatron are rivals, presented even as equals, especially with the faith in them. This makes Cas sort of indirectly owning that he’s the “higher power” in charge here, which I don’t particularly like but I suppose he’s thinking “commander” not “cult leader” (as Dean accuses him of next episode) and he’s keeping that distinction where few of the angels are, while meanwhile dropping back into his military mindset in a way we basically NEVER get to see Cas do when it comes to command and plans and stuff even if we do get him being tactical sometimes…

CASTIEL I know him too well, Gadreel! I made the same mistake, and it led to the fall. 

GADREEL Which led to my second chance. 

CASTIEL This is about more than just you.

Cas continues trying to pull Gadreel back… he has a point here, although I’m more concerned as with many Buckleming dialogue decisions, why Gadreel was defending that point in the first place. There’s so many little character un-intuitive lines that I think were meant to have juuust that little more subtlety that were totally botched somewhere in the “this is what we mean” to “what we actually wrote” process :P

Like Crowley talking out why Gavin should hate him and ending up in completely the wrong place. Or starting from it. That bugged me :P

Anyway I love Cas lying on a sofa crying about how much he loves his family but I also love BAMF angel Cas arguing these things about duty and their mission and what they were ‘made’ for with other angels just because that whole angel mindset is fascinating to me

*Dean has flashbacks to the Mark*

This can not end well. It looks like it’s really messing him up :P

On the other hand I just noticed Sam is wearing a horrible green shirt we rarely see and I’m distracted.

Imagine if he wore it with the orange jacket.

Brb getting the First Blade because we’re just suddenly decided after the halfway point to link up with the other part of the plot.

SAM (disgusted) Oh! Come on, Crowley! You really, uh, uh, have to hide the Blade in a corpse? Not -- not with a corpse but in a corpse?

Sam Bucklemings all over the place – they had this info already but he seems to be reacting fresh to it which would be fine because EW GROSS WHAT IS YOUR DAMAGE but it’s too much exposition explaining that the Blade is in there, and Jared is just… not committed to that much exposition, so transforms into Buckleming!Sam, who often sounds bemused by the words coming out of his own mouth.

I do love that jaunty piano music (which I have looked up several times in various contexts because it’s clearly public domain or something & always forget what it is) that they use to show Crowley and the New Prince of Hell are chilling. Gavin is reading his newspaper, Crowley’s just kind of sitting there plotting.

I have no idea what he’s planning to do at this point. Abaddon will kill him easily because she massively out-powers him (see also: everything I said so far in the rewatch about this, everything I said in 12x12 about this :P) but he eventually warns Dean it’s a trap, when he’s already coming here with the first blade, just not knowing Abaddon is here too… Like, what was his plan if Dean bailed and didn’t show?

As a display of control it’s a bit counterintuitive because comes up here to have a showdown with Abaddon anyway despite the warning, so Crowley should discover Dean CAN’T be commanded… but he kind of really needs Dean to kill Abaddon for him.

Maybe he just trusted he could do it but used the one word he knew that was a code to tell Dean to be more careful, but…

Anyway we had a “Romeo” and “Juliet” in 2 adjacent episodes, and I saw people talk about how that was Destiel just because all the other love arc stuff but honestly, the whole Juliet thing reflects waaay more on Crowley, and his yearning for love still unrealised since 8x23, but building up to him FINALLY snaring Dean in 9x23… And well, hindsight is everything :P

GAVIN I'm going to the colonies. I'm workin' my way across. I've given my word!

Ooh so confirmation he was not A: running away or B: being sent… A different obligation. Maybe THIS is about his poor dead boyfriend who honestly there is NOTHING else directly about in the episode, like mentioning his friend was clearly just Too Gay to imply ANYTHING else about him…

Let Gavin be gay 2k17

DEAN (on phone) All right, we're on our way.

CROWLEY (on phone) Oh, and, Dean, you need to get a move on. It's a good day's drive from Poughkeepsie.

Dean had basically already hung up on him oh my god this is such a shoddy plan – it’s not even making the most of what he CAN do in his situation

A bit of back and forth about parenting as well. Crowley is sort of a John mirror this season as well (if we take all the layers of subtext as VERY distinct from each other) and he is basically going to “parent” Dean back to demonhood… Right now he’s struggling with parenting Gavin, and muses on if Dean was nice to John. It parallels Gavin and Dean as Crowley’s two children – Dean as the “better” son doing everything Crowley asks (except for not coming here in the first place – he’s also telling Gavin not to get on the boat for his own good but at Crowley’s expense right now)

ABADDON Little trick I learned from Henry Winchester. 

Crowley’s wtf expression is great here. No one tells him nuffin

Appreciating the difference in their backgrounds here. We even see Cas and his car, but Gadreel approaches humbly on foot. I guess he has a crumbling façade? Cas has a bit more of an imposing and clean put together skyline, but in the end he’s still parked next to the skip on the exact same ground as Gadreel :P

GADREEL Even though you and I are on opposite sides in this situation, I believe there must be honor, even in matters of war.

ILY 

CASTIEL Obviously, Metatron has someone inside my camp. It's how he knew we were meeting. Just fighting fire with fire. Consider my offer.

ILY MORE – you really go all out. I mean you could have found some other dumb angel like Ezra but nah, you have a weird personal connection to Metatron’s MAIN DUDE who has MURDERED SO MANY ANGELS and you’re like you know what if we need a turncoat I want that guy

Metatron and Cas warring over their playing pieces >.>

Ah, that final 10 minutes of a Buckleming episode feel. Dean tells Sam to go hang out in the basement, taking control in that “this is a dictatorship” way. He MIGHT want to protect Sam (from himself as much as anything) but I sort of feel there’s a lot of guilt there that he knows he can’t really stop himself at this point, and he’s kind of craving the violence and he just doesn’t want Sam to SEE him this way…

*long sequence where Dean busts in and doesn’t talk* Not at all like 12x11. (I’m still fixated on that. This is obviously the much darker example, but I think 12x11 might be fridge horror, realising how MUCH of a sameness these two instances have to each other, and what was going on with Dean here, and how he’s stripped down to a killer – just the next time a goofy one who gives a thumbs up…)

Weirdly amused by this

Reminds me of 9x17 and those souls in a jar except it’s just an empty water cooler bottle in an empty basement. Sam looking in all the wrong places to save his brother’s soul right now…

Blah blah Dean fighting Abaddon. The first implication Dean didn’t need the feather to fly, in like, implicit stuff they show, that he resists, has the glowy Mark, and force-pull the Blade back to him. The Blade is just a useful perk of having the Mark; the Mark is oh so much more.

(And Dean, probably quite rightfully tbh, never explores these powers ever again aside from enjoying the cheap healing while he’s a demon)

Anyway Sam misses everything except for Dean over-powering Abaddon’s push one final time and killing her.

You can always tell when they are worried something wasn’t dramatic enough so they totally ruin her death with the most OTT dying effects ever – even Eve and her ridiculous close up cuts back and forth was at least doing more than floating there screaming and she melted slower. I mean… It’s close in badness.

If Abaddon had died fast like a regular demon but maybe brighter and shoutier Dean’s reaction to keep stabbing would also look far more natural as he wouldn’t freeze frame with her, and could just kinda keep on going, as if it WASN’T satisfying enough and he WANTED the entire minute of her suspended in the air screeching.

Oh well. This show is sometimes terrible, and ends an interesting female character’s arc so terribly I literally have not had ANYTHING to comment on about her plans, what else she was up to, just, in general, how she’s been doing :P

AFTER she goes down it’s all really well acted though. Oh Dean. You’ve really fucked up this time :P Stupid death aside, it’s a great moment for showing how out of control he truly is and how completely in over his head with this power he is.

Which makes the way he begins to resist it in season 10 that much more powerful, because I think the Mark only ever gets stronger, Dean just gets better and better at resisting it. As I’ve said a few times, he’s remarkably much more human underneath while he’s a demon than he is at the end of season 10

DEAN I just still can't get over the fact that Crowley has a son. (to CROWLEY) How's he doing, by the way?

Dean appears to have got over it remarkably easy since this is the first thing he says. Conceal don’t feel… repress all that bloody murder under frivolous distractions :P

Nice of him to ask though I guess.

CROWLEY If the lad goes back, his destiny is to board a ship bound for America. That ship went down in a storm. All hands were lost. He had one chance in this world to change his life. You want that to all end in tragedy?

Yes, they know… They were there in 6x04

Unless it didn’t HAPPEN

SAM The lore all says the same thing -- you change any one thing in the past, the ripple effect impacts everything that follows.

CROWLEY Please. No one bends the rules like you two bend the rules. He's one misfit kid. He impacts no one.

SAM You don't bend that rule, okay? You don't. We'll take him back to the bunker, figure out the spell. That's the way it's got to be.

COSMIC CONSEQUENCES

I can’t believe they even fuckin’ said it and then literally never revisited it. Was Gavin’s actor busy? Could they not just recast him? 10x04 “oh shit now all that drama’s over, we need to find Crowley’s son”

Feeeeeelings

I always forget how funny that is

Crowley talking about having a trace of humanity in him and Gavin never being used for Crowley’s ulterior motives is meant to confirm Crowley well and truly is changed. Goes off and picks up Dean as well at the end of the season (who he was watching very curiously and chatting to while Dean was in his murderbloodlust state, as per usual with his fascination with Marked!Dean).

GAVIN The ship went down? Well, that's a good fit with the rest of my life.

I have become genuinely attached to him and I think it’s because he’s useless, cute, probably gay, and I hate this episode so much because I just want him to be dropped in the ocean where he belongs.

GAVIN So this is goodbye, then?

CROWLEY Yes. Forever. Unless, of course, I catch you smoking, in which case, I'll smack you stupid.

GAVIN Goodbye, then. And thank you...father.

Wonder if Crowley really has kept in contact – or kept tabs on him. Might be safer for everyone involved if he cuts ties and NO demons know that Crowley has a son alive in the 21st century who Crowley is too attached to for his own good…

CROWLEY Goodbye, Gavin. Oh, uh... Don't go mentioning that whole "Prince of Hell" thing. Doesn't play too well in most circles.

PFFT

I honestly think Crowley’s face is enough to add in the retcon that he’s not just looking out for Gavin or trying to avoid embarrassment about this but also… yeah :P

Oooh I forgot Dean actually explains. In my defence, it’s a Buckleming episode but normally it would be a bit more subtle – at least it gives them a few great soundbites for later recaps:

DEAN First time I touched that Blade...I knew. I knew that I wouldn't be stopped. I knew I would take down Abaddon and anything else if I had to. And it wasn't a hero thing. You know, it wasn't... It was just calm. I knew. And I had to go it alone, Sammy.

If you’re not horrified about the little journey Dean goes on there… A+ acting. He’s horrified and fascinated and guilty in turn.

In possibly one of the most terrible Winchester Miscommunication Moments filed under this very specific bracket, Sam misinterprets this as being about some sort of petty brother thing they’ve been arguing about all season and Dean lets him:

SAM Oh. Of course. So it was just another time where you had to protect me.

DEAN You could've gotten nabbed by Abaddon, and she could've bargained her way out. We couldn't afford to screw this up.

Dean giving more “normal” reasons why he’d leave Sam out.

Sam then, tentatively, and having ignored all the huge neon signs so far that tell him he should NOT be this tentative and shouldn’t have been for many episodes, suggests,

SAM Look...I'm glad it worked out, okay? I am. And I'm glad the Blade gives you strength or calm or whatever, but, Dean, I got to say... I'm starting to think the Blade is doing something else, too.

DEAN Yeah? Like what?

SAM I don't know. Like, something to you. 

He might just be careful for Dean’s sake, but there’s been a real pattern so far of him ignoring neon signs about Dean for one reason or another – maybe a lot of performing Dean related issues on Sam’s end of struggling to interpret him and known when he’s being deflected from for REALL serious reasons and when Dean’s just being Dean… Maybe he just doesn’t want to accept it because it’s terrifying and also BROTHER KILLING CURSE hey and you’re the brother :P

Anyway Dean vetoes Sam suggesting Dean chill with the whole blade thing, with a simple “no” once again dictating what they do, and that’s that. Onwards to 9x22 and all THAT nonsense…

Although I suspect the next episode I watch will be 12x13 and we’ll deal with a ton of nonsense for other, less fun reasons. >.> Here is a blank space for future me of Friday afternoon to scream in horror:

D:

[edit: wandering by a couple of weeks later to add a tag I forgot. Saw this blank space. Now know I should have left a much bigger one. I am pretty sure I rewatched this episode and Buckleming did not :P]

[thenightling]

Dear Newbie Once Upon a Time Writers...

Dear Newbie Once Upon a Time Writers,

I realize how “hard” It must be watching six whole seasons of a TV show or checking it’s Wikia for information but here’s a few tidbits that might help.

1.  Belle already has an apartment over the library.  Rumplestiltskin gave it to her in season 2.  The second floor of the building is an apartment.  There was no reason she had to live in Hook’s ship.

2.   Cinderella’s child is female and was a big plot point in season one and caused the debt that enabled Rumple to find his son in Season 2.  That child should NOT be close to the age of Snow White’s child born two seasons later.

3.   The sword used to wake up Rumplestiltskin in season five...  Not the one that threatened him when he was mortal.   That one was taken by Rumplestiltskin.  The one Hook kept is the one that belonged to Milah.  He took it after she died.

4.   Rumplestiltskin is three-hundred-years-old.  There were several Dark Ones before him.  There is no way Nimue became the first Dark One Two Hundred years ago.  If you acknowledge this is a mistake than fix it.  Not all of your viewers read your Twitter feed.

5.   Even when angry at Rumplestitlskin Belle, in Storybrooke, NEVER called him “Gold.”  It was always “Rumple” even when she banished him from the town it was still Rumple.  Even when they fought in Season 2, it was still Rumple.

6.   Rumplestiltskin DID choose love over power a few times already.   When he died in season three to save everyone from Pan (And yes, he did actually die).  When he dropped the dagger to try to save his son, costing him his freedom, power, and sanity. and even simply going to Storybrooke he submitted himself to twenty-eight-years of helplessness, almost as penance, to find his son.  Please stop erasing and undermining all of season 3 because you ran out of ideas.

7.    Unless there is more than one Genie lamp in Rumple’s shop (And that is possible) the lamp Aladdin took is actually Sidney’s from Season 1.  Sidney was not Aladdin’s Genie.   Sidney was freed by Snow White’s Father, not Aladdin.  Aladdin was no where around at the time.  And then he got himself trapped in a mirror.

8.   Anastasia from Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is Will Scarlett’s love interest.  You took him away from her without explanation in Season four while still insisting Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and his happy ending were still canon.  How? 

9.  Anastasia is THE Anastasia from Disney’s Cinderella, not the Russian Princess.  Anastasia was one of the two wicked stepsisters. That was her name in the movie for Heaven’s sake.  This is established in the first episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.  How can you claim Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is still canon when you just gave Cinderella two renamed stepsisters and stepmother in The Land Without Stories?  Fix this!  The only way both can still be canon is if you decide there are alternate reality versions of Cinderella’s family.

10.    Why would Thomas (Cinderella’s Prince) have thought she might want to kill her step-family if he truly knew her story and knows her?  So much for true love.

11.  In regard to Rumplestiltskin and Belle.  The true love’s kiss nearly worked in Skin Deep in Season One but Rumplestiltskin resisted.   Then it nearly worked in the dream in Season six.  Why would it not work in season four?   You don’t fall out of love with “True love” and it doesn’t stop being true love just because you happen to be fighting with the person.  What the Hell kind of messed up message is that?  True love is just that, true love.  That means eternal, endless, without condition.   Once you put conditions on it, it’s not True Love.   Learn what the terms mean before writing for plot convenience.

12.   You still have the unresolved issue of having corrupted the Charmings in Season Four by having them abduct a baby (thinking it’s okay because she’s not human) and THEN giving the child double potential for Darkness after being told twice that all people have the potential for dark and light.   If the plot ruins two well established characters and is full of contradictions it does not “make for a better story.”   You left this hideous mess unaddressed.

13.  And speaking of unaddressed we have Grumpy / Dreamy and Nova / Astrid.   Blue Stole their happy ending and it’s never, ever been fixed.  Why?

14.  It was Henry who tore out the final pages, not Regina back in season one.  See, we have these new fangled things called DVDs and we can check these things...

15.  Several characters were NOT shown getting their memories restored after the events of season five and that’s just lazy.

16.  “Dark Ones don’t sleep.”   I swear they don’t remember ANYTHING from Season Three.  Do they completely forget Rumplestiltskin’s nightmare / conscience crisis when he had the nightmare about killing Henry?

17.   Hercules saying he could not beat cerberus because he has three heads yet one of his badges from The Trials of Hercules shows that he beat a Hydra.  

18.  Characters with hearts blacker than Rumplestiltskin and older than Rumplestiltskin (like Churnabog) didn’t suddenly drop dead from a heart attack in Storybrooke so why was Rumplestiltskin’s darkness taking over his body after he dies even a thing?!  It made no sense.   After years of establishing that he’s immortal just to retcon it like that with the idea that “The Dark One is Immortal, Rumplestiltskin is not” was just stupid.   It especially doesn’t make sense if we now discover he’s half-faery and Mother (Black Fairy) is more evil than he is but clearly didn’t die.

19.  Belle claimed she always saw the man in the Beast.  Was she lying?  If this is true than he would not have been just The Beast to her in her dream world at the start of season six.

20.  How the Hell did Regina simply magically open Rumple’s cell in The Dream World?  The very reason he can’t get out is because it’s magick resistant.

21.   Rumplestiltskin killed the healer (who knew him when he was human) at the time he was having the affair with Cora.   Cora isn’t THAT old.  Rumplestiltskin is a good three hundred years old.  So this can’t have been more than a hundred years ago...  HOW would the healer still be alive at that point and not aged?  It would be easy to assume he just went back and killed the Healer shortly after becoming The Dark One but Hades himself said it was while he was with Cora. The timeline doesn’t add up.   Rumplestiltskin would have been at least two hundred at the time he met Cora. Why would the Healer still be the age he was when Baelfire was a little boy?!

22.   Excalibur was designed to cut immortal ties and the slightest wound from it is fatal (as proven with Hook).  If this is true than how come Rumplestiltskin can be lightly nicked with the Dark One Dagger on more than one occasion (Same blade) without it being fatal?

23.  How was Pinocchio a child with little Prince James (the twin of Charming) and also a child when Prince Charming’s child is a child?   Was it that he didn’t age when he was wood and he had an exceptionally long childhood? 

Please, please, try to be consistent and fix your previous mistakes...

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

'Riverdale' Season 2 Finale: Here's Why Was Arrested and What's Next in Season 3! (Exclusive)

WARNING: We’re about to give you answers to the biggest questions you have after watching Riverdale’s season two finale. If you have not watched the episode, or do not want to be spoiled — leave now! For everyone else, grab a milkshake and pay attention…

That Riverdale season two finale had everything!

A miraculous recovery? Yup. A shocking arrest? You betcha. A sultry bedroom scene? Oh, yes. And two new members of the Southside Serpents? Check and check!

But despite all of these answers, we were still left with plenty of lingering questions about “The town with pep!” and its ridiculously attractive residents, so we called up Riverdale show runner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and asked him to spill on everything from Archie’s arrest to that casual Black Hood reveal.

ET: Jughead lives! What was the decision behind nearly giving fans a heart attack and trying to make us all think that Jughead was going to die?

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa: You know some of the cast members said, “God, that should’ve been the cliffhanger for the season finale!” But we did a version of that with Fred where Fred’s life hung in the balance — and then Fred lived, of course. And I knew that Jughead wasn’t going to die and it felt like making that the season finale, unless we were actually going to kill Jughead, I didn’t want to do it because it would’ve felt like a little bit of a tease, but no delivery. And really when we talked about it, what we wanted was for Jughead to make a real sacrifice in a heroic way for the Serpents and we wanted to play the reality of that. But for us it wasn’t about the cliffhanger or the shock, it was the actual action that Jughead took as a gesture for the Serpents. 

The actual cliffhanger that you decided to end the season with is Hiram trying to frame Archie for murder. We ended the episode with Archie getting arrested in front of the entire school — Can you talk about your decision to end the season that way instead?

Absolutely. I think all season long Archie has sort of been drawn to revenge against the Black Hood and he was drawn into a really dangerous fame with Hiram. He was attracted to Hiram’s power. He was attracted to Hiram’s money. He was attracted to the way that Hiram did business. We felt like though Archie shifted back to the side of the angels with Fred, that there should be consequences for what Archie did this season. He tried to go toe-to-toe with a much more experienced, older mobster and if felt like there should be a payoff to that. 

Also, we can’t forget that Archie actually did lie and take credit for that murder. He was trying to show off to Hiram’s mobster friends and said that he “took care of” that boy in the cabin when it was really Andre who committed the murder.

Absolutely! He did that out of bravado, exactly. So it felt like all the chickens are coming home to roost. And it felt like all of these lies are going to connect to bite Archie in the behind for all the stuff he did.

Let’s talk about our two newest Serpents! We actually saw Cheryl get her jacket in a special ceremony and we say Jughead ask Betty to be his "Serpent queen." What did that mean for you to be able to expand the serpents this year?

The Serpents are currently in a giant state of flux. They’ve got a new leader, they’ve got two new members, and they’ve left their old territory — the Southside — behind. We hope they’re going to exist and Jughead has said that he’s going to keep them going, but how? They’re the Southside Serpents and they don’t live on the Southside anymore and a lot of them have defected. I think that’s a very big question that we hit early on in season three.

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Can you talk a little bit about Betty and Jughead's relationship in this final episode? We saw them have a nice romantic rendezvous in the Five Seasons, which was a nice surprise for that couple. 

Yeah, so much of this season has been dark for both Betty and Jughead, but even more than that, they were on separate tracks. Betty was with the Black Hood and Jughead was with the Serpents and we didn’t see them working together as detectives as much, Betty kept Jughead out of the Black Hood business, and Jughead kept Betty out of the Serpents — nor did we really see them dating or doing any of the normal high school stuff. So I think it was important in the finale to kind of bring them together again as a couple and remind people that they are a romantic couple as well and that again is something that we want to get back to in season three.

I spoke with Madeline Petsch and Vanesaa Morgan two separate times and they both mentioned how excited they were for a few Choni scenes — specifically one with Toni moving in with Cheryl and Nana Rose. Can you talk about your decision to cut that scene from the finale and use it for another time?

In the finale we always write it big, but in the end we have to leave some behind for timing reasons. For instance, at the end of season one, we had shot that the Coopers were going to adopt Jughead. We shot that scene, and I think it ended up on the DVD, I can’t remember. We ended up cutting that partly for time reasons and also because we wanted to see what the strokes for season two were going to be. If we were going to tell that story, the first thing the that would’ve happened in season two would’ve been that Jughead moved in with Betty, — so the same thing was true for Cheryl and Toni. I will tell you though, and I will let all of the Choni fans know, that I’m the biggest Choni fan. If scenes didn’t make it into the final cut, they will be on the DVD and we will try to release them and I can promise you that they are big stories ahead for Choni.

(For more details on the deleted Cheryl and Toni scenes from Riverdale’s season two finale, read our full interviews with stars Madelaine Petsch and Vanessa Morgan here!)

Given the fact that fans were waiting all season to discover the identity of the Black Hood, it was a bit surprising to learn from a brief conversation with Sherriff Minetta that the “copycat Black Hood” was actually Tall Boy. Can you explain the decision to have Tall Boy be the second man under the mask, and if we should really believe that to be the truth?

The central Black Hood mystery was resolved when Hal was caught, and Hiram hired Tall Boy to pose as a copycat from the Riverdale Town Hall onwards. This was almost a coda to the Black Hood story. We’ve seen Tall Boy working for Hiram in the past, so it made sense that Hiram would hire Tall Boy to do his dirty work – afterwards, he was able to dispose of him without any remorse or loose ends to tie up.

If season one was about introducing viewers to the town of Riverdale, and season two was about completely shaking things up, what can you tease about what’s ahead in season three? What is something that you definitely want to include next season?

In season three we’ll see a Riverdale that has fallen to the dark side – you can call Riverdale Sin City in a sense. On some level, this next season will be able how our characters try to maintain their decency and optimism while living in the once all American town, which has now descended into chaos and become a full fledged crime town.

Riverdale’s third season will premiere later this Fall on The CW.

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