#do the nublar 6 just not know what came of the rest??

[idle-compy]

wait wait wait if mantah corp island got shut down what did they do with angel, rebel, and firecracker

[lamponellatempesta]

JWCT COUNTDOWN

DAY 1: Favourite Character

This is the little piece I've written for my favourite character or my favourite girl, Brooklynn. It's located on the first night on the mainland after being rescued.

(Countdown gently created by @campbenji )

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It’s the first night at the hotel, the first night after returning to the mainland. It’s one o'clock in the morning, photographers and journalists still flock under the hotel where the 6 teenagers who survived isla Nublar and were brought back to the mainland that same day stayed. Brooklynn is looking at them, sitting by the edge of her room window, after getting washed and settled and putting on pajamas after months; she was still realizing that she should no longer need to run for her life, fight to survive and she would sleep in a real bed. She didn’t know if she would be able to. The relief of being back in the arms of her parents, Manuel and Noah, had been shattered by the cameras, the flashes and the questions of journalists, who once she knew how to answer, but not now. The only thing she wanted was tranquillity; she turned to look at her parents, who were resting in the other bed, a smile came out.

The cologne of her father Noah and the cinnamon scent of her papito Manuel filled her nose and embraced her, began to lose hope of being able to smell again those smells that reminded her home, They reminded her of the warmth of the people who raised her and tried to protect her from that world that was the internet. The internet.

Before it was his whole life, now she did not know how to react; she did not know how to answer the questions of journalists on her channel "I do not know" she had answered, maybe it was an evasive answer but it was the truth. She didn’t know. She didn’t know what she was going to do from then on; everything was hazy, confused and muffled.

She had to admit that she was already missing the silent nights of Nublar where the only audible sounds were the roars of dinosaurs and insects, you had to watch your back every minute, but there was peace, in a way, in the end it wasn’t so bad, she got used to it.

The background chatter she heard from outside made her head beat and she felt more trapped than she did on the islands, the thought of having to face everything on society again, What her old life entailed made her feel bad, she felt the tachycardia rise more she watched the photographers, the flashes shoot; she preferred to look inside the room, back to her parents. She breathed. Brooklynn decided to get up by passing his bed and going to settle in that of Manuel and Noah, among them and got comfy. She needed their warmth, their home smell, their hugs and their affection...their protection. The two parents soon embraced her and held her as tight as they could. They too must have suffered her lack and now she would not have rejected those attentions that she once called too much honeycomb; now she just wanted them.

The last thing she perceived was the cuddling of her father Noah stroking her hair and her father Manuel singing her the lullaby when she was little, the first night they slept together after her adoption. When everything was fine. When she was happy and felt it. It was again like that one night seven years before, in their London home; outside there was hell of the orphanage just left behind, but she was safe in her parents' arms.

That night it tasted the same; it had left the chaos outside and was safe in the arms of Dad and Papito. It was a new start, a new beginning, full of uncertainties, but Brooklynn felt protected and safe, like that night of the past. This was enough for her. This was enough. She fell asleep with a smile on her face and some tears that had crossed her cheeks. She would face the hell that was waiting for her outside, but she would face it the next day. Now she’s just a child finally safe.

[campbenji]

It has been an eventful week, so this post took longer than I wanted to, but finally, a long post on s4:

Ok, let's start with the good stuff, because I think that's what most of us want to focus on right now:

-> First of all, call me a kinnie, but Ben was my favorite character this season. After two seasons of trying to find a middle ground between the Ben he was when he got to camp and the Ben he found in the island, it looks like he's finally sorting everything out, bringing back his sensitive, careful side, but still being open with the campers and feeling more sure of himself, which was a great change from s3 Ben, when he was still figuring this out. They did a great job with Episode 2 (the "just Ben" dialogue tugged some heartstrings ngl), and his interactions with the rest of the campers sure were more lighthearted and natural than in previous seasons, and it shows that he's finally finding his place within the group.

-> Mae!!!! 💖 She was a rush of fresh air while watching. Finally! An adult with morals who's willing to look out for the kids and actually doing something to take them home. I especially enjoyed her disposition to listen to the campers, which had been missing in the show (yes, even with Dave and Roxie I'm sorry), and was probably what made her escalate so far up my list of favorites. I wish we'd gotten a little more on her, since she was missing around halfway through the season, but we'll see what's in store for her in s5!

-> Now, the scene that made the entire living room shake: When Darius calls Brandon.

First of all, welcome back mister, you were greatly missed. Second, every time I think about how Darius's insticts jumped to immediately calling his brother I cry tears of happiness, I really thought he was gonna call the police but no he called Brandon hold up I'm gonna cry-

Anyways, I live in fear over what's gonna happen, since Brandon is probably the only person on mainland who knows or suspects the campers are still alive, and what would be better than making him reach out for the last 2 people who saw them? I really hope Brandon, Dave and Roxie make it to the campers, let them have a last chance at saving them.

(Also, random thought: Did anyone else got the tiniest bit scared when both Mae and Kash didn't believe the campers surviving on Nublar? Because someone a while ago said something about the public not believing the campers come from Nublar and saying it was all for attention and...um...*sweats nervously*)

-> Yaz's PTSD finally catching up with her. Some say it came out of the blue, others say it was about time. In my opinion it makes perfect sense, since not only has it been 6 months of running for their lives, but Yaz was the one who stared at the Scorpius Rex in the face, all the feelings and trauma from the Long Run had to have an impact on her. She had been bottling everything up, and the Long Run was the last straw that made everything come spilling out. I wished other characters had also gotten to talk about their trauma, but more on that later.

-> And talking about the queens of Rome, Yasammy stands unbeatable as it always has. Although they didn't become canon, we still got incredibly sweet moments between them: the drawing scene from Episode 1 (which has a lot of similarities with the balcony scene from the Cattle Drive 😏); Sammy helping Yaz with her nightmares (the bed scene was so domestic and cute, definitely made the top 3 of my favorite scenes of this season); how they were taking care of Angel, and the line that takes the cake: "Pretty sure you're the reason I have any feelings at all, Sammy" Like ARE WE GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT??? The implications, the symbolism,,, that line is everything

-> THE CLIFFHANGER, aka one of the 3 or 4 reasons I'm still hyped for s5. I was already speculating it around Episode 8 when I started noticing Kash was mentioning his boss too much for it to be normal, and because I spent the entirety of October theorizing about his dad showing up I had some hope. When I tell you that the moment Kenji started walking closer I had a pillow on my mouth to not scream it, and when the reveal happened my sister and I were yelling so much I think the ones on the last floor heard us 😳

It's still hard to believe because,,, how were we right about that?! We barely had proof other than the painting and the 2 or 3 lines we had about Kenji's dad, and yet we were right??? I can't wait to see where they take this in s5, because the angst potential is unmeasurably high, and we might finally get the insight on Kenji's family that we've been so desperately waiting for since the beginning of the show

-> The kayak friendships! Darius and Sammy got more scenes together (which btw, there's not near enough 😐), and the Ben and Yaz friendship has finally gotten more development! The "I just don't like like you" scene has quickly become one of my favorites from the show lol

-> Baby dinos! They were so freakingshly cute, and how they did that sideplot of Ben not wanting to befriend them so it wouldn't hurt like it did with Bumpy but then giving in and naming the Brachiosaurus Firecracker had me smiling like an idiot 💖

-> And by the way, HOW DARE YOU SHOW US THAT SCENE OF BUMPY NO ONE WAS READY FOR THAT! My sister broke down crying, and the way they set it up after "I'm sure she's already forgotten about old Ben" LIKE HOW DARE YOU??? 😭😭😭

-> It was such a cool detail to bring back the DNA Sammy collected from Nublar, the drone had been a question on my mind for almost an entire year and now it's finally resolved.

Now, the bad stuff:

<- That. I could go on for an entire 10-page essay about how this makes me feel, but I'll try to be as short and concise as possible: some paragraphs.

First of all, the way they introduced it into the show. Sure, Kenji had flirted with Brooklynn in the first episode of s1, but afterwards there was absolutely nothing leading to it. All their interactions after that were more on a friendly light, even familial to some extent. It is mentioned that the s3 finale was "the turning point" of their feelings, but to be honest, there were no implications to it. Kenji had become more selfless during the past six months, coming to view the campers as family, him being worried over Brooklynn was not "romantic" in any way. We'll go back to the s3 finale later.

The kayak scene in s1 and the talk in 02x04 are scenes I want to bring into attention, since in these it's shown clearly that Kenji is way more mature than Brooklynn, which is of concern when it comes to their romantic relationship. While I do consider their age gap to be concerning, it's more about the gap in maturity: 13 is still on the very early years of adolescence, while 15 is halfway through. It's even implied on their character designs. Brooklynn's blog is clearly directed at children, her design and clothes are still somewhat childlike, and then you have Kenji here with A FREAKING BEARD. It's weird as hell.

Also, "there's a bit of romance in the air"? A bit? A bit?! They were thrown into our faces every five minutes! Not even 10 minutes into episode 1 Kenji was already looking at Brooklynn like that! So many aspects of the season were overshadowed in favour of That: how the island works, what's the plan behind it, how did the campers get there, who's aware of its existence, how are the campers going to leave this island, I can name more. Some of these were either never talked about, or mentioned in one quick line you can easily forget. And you could say "oh but this is like season 1, it's a new island, we'll have time to explore it later", but the truth is: s5 is pointing out to be the final season, with Kenji's dad showing up and Brandon going for Darius. Next season is coming loaded with Mantah Corp, Kenji's relationship with his dad, and the campers trying to get home in one piece. There's not going to be enough time to explore the island correctly like s2 did, for example. All those questions had to be answered this season, and they weren't, thanks to their supposed development.

And the butchering of the characters...oh god. Outside of Ben, every character in the camp fam was affected by the romance subplot, if differently for each one. Kenji and Brooklynn were basically not allowed to have any meaningful interactions with the camp fam besides each other, and when they did speak to other characters 90% of the time it was related to the romance. Kenji was supposed to have more development in s4, yet all he did was become a simp for a 13 year-old girl and any arc he could've gotten this season was thrown away. I think Brooklynn was treated better when it comes to this, but she was still reduced to her romantic subplot, and her feelings didn't look genuine. Yaz and Sammy have had 3 seasons of build-up, and after everything that happened in The Long Run there should've been a follow up to their feelings and where their relationship stands at that moment. In my opinion, if they wanted to go for a romance subplot, they should've gone for them, it would've been paced out better and it would have made sense.

But the one character outside the pair that was most affected by all of this was...

<- Darius...Darius, my boy, how do you keep going? It's been 4 seasons, and he has not cried ONCE. Every other camper has gotten their moment to cry, to be vulnerable around others, except Darius, the leader, the godforsaken main character. The show constantly forgets he's 12, he barely counts as a teenager, and he's enthrusted with the lives of 5 other kids, who are as much as 3 years older than him, as well as his own. The s3 finale was sort of promising an answer to this, an insight on the pressure Darius is constantly feeling, BUT *drumrolls please*, turns out Darius instantly forgets about what Kenji said to him in 03x10 halfway through episode 1, Kenji being angry at him was just because he had a crush on Brooklynn, and Darius never gets the focus he deserves because why would we do that when there's this "romance"!!!

Also think it's important to mention how he was held back by Kash for 3 whole episodes. I said I wanted the rest of the campers to deal with things by themselves, but between them doing perfectly fine without him and him being incredibly chill with his situation compared to, for example, when Mitch and Tiff were chasing him and Sammy in 02x07, just leaves me severely disappointed. He literally has numbed down all the trauma and grief he has in order to help the others, and that's just our interpretation, because at this point who knows what the writers will even do with him. The trailer for s4 had most of us waiting for a season that would focus on him, yet he was distant from many of the campers through the season. Darius deserves a season that truly focuses on him and lets him talk freely about his feelings and trauma the way other characters have done through the show.

<- The beacon. Before the season dropped my speculations were that Mantah Corp had intercepted the signal and they just never cared about it. But not only was it never mentioned, we also found out that Kenji's dad is the president of Mantah Corp. If they had received the signal from Nublar, he would've been informed, and would have gone after it (unless he's an actual piece of garbage of a human being, which honestly would not surprise me, but in the context of the show I don't think they're going that far.). My theory right now is that someone related to the park got the signal, but assumed it was just a person and decided to not act, Dave and Roxie heard about this and are trying to figure out what to do, hoping it's the campers. It's been 2 seasons and we still don't know what happened to it, we need answers.

So my final conclusion is that the season wasn't all bad, the plot had a lot of potential and some of it was handled properly and still managed to keep me on the edge of my seat, but there were some major fuck-ups and decisions that messed up some of its aspects. It's definitely my least favorite season, but looking back at it it's not as terrible as I first thought it was, and I am still tuning in for s5.