#ep 2 is honestly my fave ep of s1 i think

[dangermousie]

Here is my subjective ranking of all the costume trailers iQIYI released (since I didn’t watch moderns or republican stuff they posted) note - not only is it subjective, it is just the trailers which often does not correlate with either quality of or my interest in the drama itself.

11 Go East - I am vvvv fond of Tan Jianci but this was the only trailer that bored me. It wasn’t bad, it just gave me NO hook of any kind. It’s a pity since this was one of the very few historical trailers (as opposed to wuxia, xianxia etc) and I love those. This said, trailers and dramas often don’t correlate so I hope the drama is good.

10 Reborn for Love - half this trailer is cutesy hijinks and I am just not wired for that. By the time the trailer was halfway over, I found myself thinking that if it wasn’t for leads, I’d not check it out. But the back half has blood and romance and I sat up and paid attention.

9 Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Pact - I wanted to be more excited for this than I was. I love the cast. But even in comparison with the trailers for the other two entries in the series it looks…generic. I don’t truly get the vibe or the story. It’s nice but doesn’t grab me.

8 Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Sword and Beloved - it’s gorgeous and intense and screams fantasy romance and Cheng Yi fighting and bleeding. Pay your taxes, everyone!

7 Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Love in Pavillion - the visuals, the vibe, the angsty love feel, the colors! That trailer was my fave out of Fox ones. I need this drama now!

6 Strange Tales of Liao Zhai 2 - I haven’t seen s1 and mysteries (even supernatural ones) aren’t my thing. But the visuals in that trailer are insane and I spy with my little eye Yang Xuwen as one of two mains and the man owns my heart for Eternal Brotherhood and he brings his young Hu Ge vibes here too!

5 Win or Die - this baby is apparently only 18 eps and is all war war war but it’s a Cao Dun drama so the visuals are eye popping. It’s just stunning to look at tbh and sometimes (a lot of times), I want a grim war epic.

4 The Legend of Rosy Clouds - this trailer just grabbed me for some reason - it really makes you want to watch these people. It’s not visually amazing compared to the rest but it’s just dragging me in. In fact, while this isn’t my favorite trailer, out of all the dramas they promoed, this is the one I want to actually watch the most. I used to love the anime so maybe that’s why?

3 Snowy Night: Timeless Love - all the snow and the longing and the battles and we all know we will see red blood on that pristine white soon enough.

2 Love of the Divine Tree - it’s very very pretty and has so much shipping and angst and I have a huge 17 hangover so seeing Deng Wei with similar vibes is sending me. Honestly, my fantasy romance junkie is thirsting.

1 Fangs of Fortune - if someone told me a trailer for a drama full of actors I don’t care for would be my favorite, I’d not have believed it but here we are. This is fantasy and visuals and hooking you done right. I need this NOW!

ETA; I forgot follow your heart OMG! That’s my most fave except for Fangs of Fortune!

ETA2: and A Moment But Forever - I would rank it just behind snowy love.

[rupertgayes]

How would you pitch watching Due South to someone who doesn't know it?

THE PREMISE: mountie from the northern reaches of canada goes to chicago to avenge dead dad (also a mountie), gets into buddy-cop shenanigans with a detective. said detective leaves the show in season 3 and gets replaced by another detective, shenanigans continue to ensue. there's also a dog. he's very cute.

THE PITCH: honestly, after being in the spn fandom and having most of popular culture awash with prestige shows (that are not spn, but like spn are typically dark and gritty and like killing characters off too) and having most of the popular media landscape try to cover their collective asses by having an aloof, 'you-can't-make-fun-of-this-because-we're-not-taking-it-seriously-ourselves' air, it was truly refreshing to sit down with a close friend of mine and check out this show.

i'm being completely serious when i say there's a certain je ne sais quoi about this show. is it because it's from the 90s? perhaps. is it because it's canadian? maybe. i wasn't even alive when this show first started airing and i'm not a media analyst. it basically takes the premise of the dudeley do-right cartoon and asks 'okay, but what if that was like, a real guy?' and fucking runs with it to the wildest heights. it's a comedy, but it's also so bizarre in some ways that it makes it a truly unique treat to watch. i love psych and brooklyn 99 for having a comedic procedural aspect, and neither of them are comparable in whatever it is that due south is doing.

there's honestly a lot of heart and soul in the entire show, and it has the ability to shift from just being comedic to having drama, mystery, and moments that pull at your heartstrings. it's a show that you can enjoy on the surface as a fun episodic show with fun characters and fun moments, but it also lends itself quite well to extrapolating on the characters, their motivations, etc. (and by etc i'm also including any shipping you might want to do).

i won't say it's a paragon of DEI, but again, i think it has a level of earnestness which makes any slip-ups it does have something i can kinda view with indulgence, versus shows that are making the same (or worse) mistakes 20+ years after this show already ended. these characters are treated with a level of dignity and respect, and i think overall the characterization is pretty consistent - there are some shifts happening between seasons 1-2 and 3-4, but i feel like it has more to do with budgets, a change in creative team, etc., versus writers not 'getting' certain characters.

there's also a lot of memorable episodes, scenes, bits. i think the latter seasons are more campy (my favorite) and some eps from s1 and 2 make for legitimately some great television. even the more mid episodes have something worthwhile, too. some of my fave moments in no order:

fraser (the mountie) saving and talking to? a rat in a strip club

also him going to a leather club

twice

and meeting a mountie in a latex version of his red serge uniform

using a tarp as a parachute

mafia egg conspiracy

aliens??

due south but make it silence of the lambs a little bit

performance arsonist

lake pirates? ghost ship?

also why are most of the major bad guys here doing some form of environmental crime? get your captain planet on ig, i'm into it

also fellow cops can also be bad guys. acab ig??

sick muscle cars eric kripke himself would've enjoyed. sometimes they get set on fire tho

due south but make it to wong foo thanks for everything

fraser running away from women so he doesn't have to kiss or interact with them

way too much time in closets, in general.

fellas is it gay to ask your new partner of one week maybe to pretend he's a woman so he can decide if he finds you attractive

there are red ships and green ships but no ships like partnerships :)

and to reiterate about the dog: there's a dog who's half wolf and all deaf and fraser can talk to him 'because he (the dog) reads lips'

his dead dad shows up too sometimes

anyway, it was really nice to watch this show for the first time, there are still moment i scream-laugh at because they're just so ridiculous and i'd never catch any other moments like that in any other show. i definitely see why there's still active fans for it thirty years later. there's also some wild shipping fodder here, which is at least partially why there are still fics getting written for these guys today. destiel if the cw weren't cowards etc etc. when i watched the finale, i cried tears of joy because while i'd miss the characters, they got an ending that actually seemed to fit, instead of it being a rush job, which is not unique to spn but, you know.

also you can watch it for free on youtube rn.

[aardvaark]

Leverage character asks: 1,3,17,45 (your choice on character)

thank you for the ask & for fueling my leverage obsession lol <3

1. Canon I outright reject

honestly i love the character development on leverage, even when it means the character has some negative traits or weaknesses or something. hmm… i think one thing i disliked was hardison being a super bad tipper (some ep in s5). he doesn’t care about workers? particularly after five years of leverage? idk.

i also wish eliot didn’t seem to like cops so much, but thats more of a gripe with the show’s/showrunners’ attitudes towards police.

3. Obscure headcanon

sophie: that she’s trans! love that hc. shout out to @transsophiedevereaux. also that sophie had a drunken one night stand with maggie, which is actually (word of god) canon rather than a head canon, but seems to be rarely mentioned.

nate: nate x sophie x sterling… it’s happened at least once.

parker: so many!! but the one i’ll share is that. uh. she’s probably killed someone. pre-leverage, she’s known to be dangerous for a reason, and she’s been in a lot of awful situations unfortunately. she would probably have done so out of necessity, it might even have been self defense, but yk. it’s still killing someone. and no, i don’t mean the pilot flashback - according to word of god (ie john rogers) she probably didn’t kill her foster parents when exploding their house. anyway, i’ve seen some cool fics about this idea and discussed this topic w @laser-tripwires and i think it’s really interesting for a variety of reasons, but i won’t list them here bc this is already getting so long lol.

hardison: that he still secretly adds to nana’s income somehow (he canonically paid off her medical bills), that he plays D&D, that he likes [insert media beloved by geeks that i don’t really know much about, but i love that people hc him as enjoying the things they enjoy so much].

eliot: my own silly hc that many of his scars are actually from kitchen accidents rather than fights lol

17. Quotes, songs, poems, etc. that I associate with them

gonna answer this one for sophie only, cause i have quite a few answers just for her!

1) i saw a gif set of sophie once with the lyrics of "thief" by imagine dragons, and it was a really gorgeous gif set and the lyrics fit very well.

2) yk the fable "the scorpion and the frog"? at the end of s1, she seems to excuse her actions (conning the team) like the scorpion - that it’s just in her nature, lying is who she is, she’s a thief and this is what thieves do, etc. additionally, it’s what sterling says about her, that her behaviour was predictable because it’s "who she is".

3) the gambler by kenny rogers. bc the chorus is canonically her life philosophy lmao (according to the last dam job).

45. Their favorite celebrity

sophie: canonically, db cooper. she idolises him in the db cooper job lol. poster above her bed as a teenager etc etc.

nate: man, his would be oddly specific im sure. like he reads war strategy books, maybe sun tzu. or perhaps a chess grandmaster, like bobby fischer. i don’t know much about war strategists nor chess players, so if anyone does, then maybe you can suggest a more specific person.

hardison: i know he loves star trek, doctor who, star wars - im simply not pop culture savvy enough to know who his fave actors from those shows might be. BUT. i think it would be funny if his fave celebrity was wil wheaton (who was in star trek, and who, of course, played cha0s in leverage). also, wil wheaton is famously into D&D, video games, comics, and other "geek" stuff that hardison proudly enjoys too. hardison does not see the resemblance btwn wheaton and his nemesis, no idea what you’re taking about.

eliot: i think he would have people he looks up to or thinks are incredible, who are celebrities but only in a very specific field. like a renowned chef, but not a "celebrity chef" as in one who’s on tv. i mean like a chef who is famous among chefs, for being one of the most talented in the world.

parker: i feel her definition of celebrity would be somewhat different to most people’s. plus, her knowledge of the world is deep but narrow - she knows everything possible about thievery and anything even tangentially related (probably a decent amount of physics, for example), but pop culture? not so much. she later gets into stuff like dr who via hardison though, so perhaps the actor of the current doctor, ncuti gatwa. now, there’s also famous thieves, BUT they’re generally only famous because they eventually got caught. parker does not get caught. she would not idolise someone who ended up caught. maybe the thief of an unsolved heist. honestly, parker is famous in the leverage crime world. so. herself? not that she enjoys being a celebrity lol.

[emeryhiro]

Thank you so much for answering my questions last week!! Your answers were so insightful and interesting, and have made me even more excited for the book of carol!!

That's awesome to hear that you're more confident about caryl canon after watching ep one. I totally agree with you about how them being alone will open up opportunities for it in a way it never has before. And i agree that if it doesn't happen, it's probably because Melissa & Norman don't want it (which I'd be super disappointed about but would respect their choice). But from everything I've seen, i also think they do want things to go in that direction!

Haha emotional and unhinged are great words to describe caryl in general! And I'm excited for nostalgia. The emojis are intriguing! They're making me think Carol blows up a plane, hopefully once she's safely in France lol! And that's interesting about how the people at the nest treat Daryl, that also frustrated me in s1!

I had a couple of other questions but no worries if you can't answer any of them:

1 Do we see anything specifically relating to Carol from Daryl's pov in this ep? Or is he talking generally about 'people at home'?

2 What did you think of the opening credits?

3 Did you see the ep title? I'm really curious about what that might be!

4 Where would you rank the ep in terms of your fave twd eps?

Thanks again for everything you've shared! I love how you've given us hopeful teasers without spoiling the details!

Hey Anon ♡

You're so welcome!!! I've been having a lot of fun answering your questions, so feel free to let me know if you have any others, and to be honest, I'm happy with any excuse to talk about Caryl 😅

Mild spoiler warning for my response to question 1 ♡

1) No, there was no situation where Daryl directly spoke about Carol. However, I do think there's a good reason for it, which I've spoken about in detail in a previous post [HERE]. It's also important to note the screen time division; episode one is about 85% Carol and 15% Daryl, so we don't get many scenes with him and very little dialogue. The dialogue that we do hear from him sounds very frustrated and resentful as if he's tired of being held back by the Nest and wants to leave as soon as possible (like he's rushing a resolution for the conflict in France).

The line below that we hear in the teaser is actually in episode 1, and it's the only time he references anything about home.

"I don't know if this is the place I'm supposed to be. I've been thinking about all the people I left behind, wondering if they're still thinking about me."

This is then followed by a few other lines where, in no uncertain terms, he says that he doesn't think he'd ever be happy at the nest.

2) I loved the opening credits; there were some really nice animated scenes of Carol that I really liked, and my favourite is the closing shot of the opening credits which is one of Carol and Daryl together. 🥰

3) No, unfortunately, I don't remember seeing or hearing anything about the episode title. But I think they'll announce the title either during San Diego or the following week, but most probably during the next screening of episode one that's being held on the 26th of July (tonight).

4) Honestly, episode 1 is now my favourite episode of TWD. It hit all the right emotional notes and delved deep into Carol's mindset, which is way overdue. It also had the walker action and suspense that left me on the edge of my seat (literally) the entire time. Melissa is incredibly talented and has everything it takes to play a leading character, especially one like Carol, who has so much depth and layers.

I have no doubt that the rest of the episodes will be just as good, if not better, especially the reunion episode!! And I'm confident that this season will be my favourite of all time, from any show.

~~~~

Thanks again for the questions! Once again, they were a joy to answer😊🩵 I'm sorry if this was a little delayed. I've been very busy with my uni finals during the past couple of weeks, and I wanted to wait until I had enough time to give your questions proper responses.

Also, I can't believe today is the day we finally see the trailer!!! I'm SO EXCITED, and my brain/emotions are already on overdrive. I also apologise in advance 'cause I already know I'm gonna be over analysing it and sharing my thoughts as soon as I can 😅

[deliciouspirateangel]

just finished binging the entirety of high school musical: the musical: the series in six days and now i'm going to ramble about it for longer than anyone would care to read. it's gonna be generally positive but definitely nini and olivia unfriendly so if you dont wanna read that... dont ♥️♥️

so i suggested to my sister a while ago that i wanted to watch the show bc the videos that youtube commentary channel "pretty much it" did for it were hysterical. and she had watched the first couple of eps by herself and was like "i dont think you'll like it. its not as funny as they make it seem". but we finally decided to start it anyway

(also i dont know the entire casts' real names so i'll mostly refer to them as their character names)

season 1:

that first season was kind of rough. especially the pilot. it got better over time but its definitely my least favorite season over all. im not even a fan of high school musical so it lacked the nostalgia enjoyment for me

and i definitely did not like nini and her main character syndrome. and sorry to say but i think olivia is the least talented cast member over all. pretty privilege is so real like she didnt deserve to be the break out star she was just the most marketable. kourtney and ashlyn's voices were so strong and stellar, and they might not've been Dancers but they could definitely move. and gina was the best dancer in the fucking world and while i do think her voice wasnt as good, she could obviously still sing. nini's best talent moments were when olivia was shining thru imo (that one taking it for gra-a-a-anted song comes to mind first) but i was not here for the acoustic numbers and honestly i dont think she was a great actress

so i definitely wasnt a fan of the whole nini ricky gina ej love square. i know its a tried and true teen show staple but goddamn it got tiring. i just never liked rini and i didnt like how nini treated him right from the start asklfjlds. she was also rude as hell to everyone else, especially gina, being all passive aggressive towards her. literally saying she wanted to kick gina in the face bc gina is a good dancer and she's intimidated?? but also all the talk in general about gina being intimidating or aggressive or a bad seed like ??? the microaggressions were off the charts

not to mention the fucking macroaggression of kourtney's entire s1 "character". i think hattie mcdaniel had a more nuanced role in gone with the wind. it was so fucking painful to watch. she didnt exist to be anything other than nini's personal soundboard, cheerleader, stylist, life coach, and whatever else she needed in the moment. thank god they gave her a real character by s2 bc kourtney was way too talented, too gorgeous, too charismatic to be forced into the role of nini's handmaid the whole time

i dont really have much to say about s1 cause i wasnt into it at the time lol. it was okay. all the actors did a good job, it was kind of funny, the only song that really stood out was miss jenn's fantasy sequence song with lucas. the actually high school musical show they put on was painful to watch but thats high school theater for you babyyy

season 2:

this was such an improvement from s1 and my favorite season over all. there were a handful of eps in the middle where i was constantly like "this is my fave ep" "ok this is my fave ep" "ok now THIS is my fave ep" it was a delight. i love beauty and the beast and was so happy for ashlyn getting belle, and everyone else was very well cast. although idk why seb was chip and not cogsworth?? my sister said it was bc disney didnt want to confirm that they were gay 💔💔

the music was obviously better bc we've got fucking alan menken on the track. all the numbers from the show were perfect. i wish ej had gotten to sing the gaston reprise bc he didnt get to reach his full gaston potential and i think we deserved that 💔

the debacle with the whole rose song was sooo annoying. nini deserved to be that fork. she dragged the whole show down like it was always so much better when she wasnt there aklfjlksd

the rivalry with the other school was lots of fun. i liked all the new characters. my favorite original song was miss jenn's number with derek hough

season 3:

this season was likeee a pleasant mid for me??? idk it was fine and fun but it didnt have anything in it that blew me away. i think this season was screaming for extra episodes more than any other, since we were missing a chunk of the cast. we deserved to cut back to salt lake every now and again and see what the non-camp-goers were up to

kourtney and gina as elsa and anna was a dream. not the biggest fan of frozen but they did a good job. everyone looked so cute in their costumes and kourtney's solo was amazinggg. the new characters were fun but i dont have strong feelings towards them lol. but i loved getting to explore kourtney's character and her struggles with anxiety, that was very real

them filming a documentary was funny bc have they not been filming one this whole time? my headcanon was that the to-the-camera interviews were all in their heads and everyone was practicing for when they became famous lol but then ricky ruined that in s4 by acknowledging them directly rip 💔

i liked after their show ended and they all got sharpies and wrote their names on the walls back stage. that was definitely a potent theater kid memory and got me a lil teary eyed

i liked ej taking on the role of director and copying miss jenn's hand holding and high pitched singing at the first read thru. i liked ej and gina together i thought they were cute. it was disappointing that the show wouldnt commit to them for even a minute and they always had to be teetering on the edge between being a couple and not. that was frustrating

and girl just get nini out of there already. olivia wanted nini to be there as much as i did. she was sooo over it by s3

umm favorite original song was corbin bluh's basketball song

season 4:

very very fun season again. loved the chaos of filming the movie at the school while school is happening. as if every movie set in a real school doesnt shoot in the summer. oh well. gotta have a season!

there was too much mack for me personally. i dont think he gave wanted they wanted to be given. i needed more dani tho. her actress was so good at bad acting. she couldve been a much bigger comedic presence also she looked like a cross between sofia carson and emma roberts but sometimes just looked like a latina emma roberts ??? is that just me??

and still the lack of seb and big red at the beginning like ?? did they specifically piss off the writers so they had to banish them for nearly half the show?

loved that the little girl from camp was there. she stole the show. and maddox and jet are fine alskfjsldk i just didnt form strong opinions on them but i do like them

ashlyn's "i need to give her mouth to mouth! AS A FRIEND!" was the funniest line of the entire show hands down

so happy they finally had a halloween episode! it was lots of fun and everyone looked so cute in their costumes uwu. but that guy from camp that was stalking carlos??? that was so bizarre and it never paid off likeee what was the reason

and gina's mom was pissing us off so bad. she was acting wild this season. like gina has to focus on her studies so no boys but she can work from sun up to sun down on a movie lmao. and her mom had the nerve to be like "well i never came to your shows bc that was just high school theater but THIS is a movie" like wooow. and i swear it felt like she was about to sell gina off to mack bc he was famous. and when she started with that "porters dont wait around" mess and ricky cleared her with a quickness with that whole "well i seem to remember gina waiting around for you on opening night" like damn

and omg when mack was over for dinner and ricky came over with chocolates but saw him thru the window. i was like ugh fuck its gonna be the stupid thing where he sees this and gets the wrong idea and its gonna be a stupid wedge between him and gina that doesnt need to be there bc no one can communicate BUT THEN gina sees him outside and runs to him and i think i screamed bc i was so relieved aslkjskl but their kiss was very cinematic and cute ♥️♥️

and omg on sunday night im sitting there trudging thru s1 like "yeah starting this might've been a mistake" and by friday im bawling my eyes out bc the story is ending 💔💔 sofia deserved the whole fucking egot and a golden globe too for that scene at the end. and i was SO invested in her acting career and like pleading with the show for her not to pass on it and stay at school but fucking genius that she is found a way to do both!!!

and i honestly didnt know what i wanted miss jenn to do like i was rooting for her both ways but of course she staaayed. and the show ended and it had the "skip credits" button and my sister was like "oh there's something after the credits?" and then i saw "for good" listed at the end of the songs and i screamed again. and was bawling again when everyone was singing that. who knew this silly little show would have such a death grip on me by the end???

so over all it was really very good and not a waste of time. i liked pretty much every character and it was just a lot of fun! would definitely watch it again

my over all season ranking would be two, four, three, and one is dead ass last

my favorite characters from the start were gina, miss jenn, carlos, ashlyn, and big red lowkey alskfjdskl. kourtney got up there in s2 and beyond. and i do really like ricky, ej, seb, they're my secondary faves. (kinda wish ricky had more to do bc aside from his parents, i feel like every single one of his issues had to do with a love triangle and i just wish the character was granted a little more texture) and the camp kids were good, they were fine, they're like third-iary faves. and the only ones i dislike are gina's mom and nini lol

and i wasnt like screaming over any ships but generally i liked them all except rini. ej and gina was cute, i liked ashlyn and maddox, i liked ashlyn and big red, carlos and seb probably were my faves if i had to pick, i liked kourtney with howie (wish we saw him again) and jet, and yes by the end i was rooting for rina they just won me over this season and were super cute and im glad they ended where they did ♥️

[etanesnil]

Hi fellow moot that I don’t really know! Since we started following each other cuz of tog, just dropping by to say that it’s been super fun seeing you post about my current hyper-fixation: iwtv🩸.

If you wanna share, what were your fave eps of s1 and s2? And also your fave characters? ❤️

Hiii!!! ❤️❤️ Sorry this took so long to answer!

My favorite episode of season 1 is honestly the first episode!! I freaking love the first episode.. the whole thing with the wedding, and then Paul, and then the church scene… I should rewatch the whole season sometime before I start season 2 (Yes, I haven’t watched season 2💀) I finished season 1 just as s2 was coming out, but I haven't put aside time to sit down and find a site to watch the second season. I do enjoy looking at season 2 gifs that people have reblogged though, makes me want to just start watching it right then and there to find out the context haha (like Claudia's gf(?), why she had to die, and what looks like a court hearing with Lestat?, younger Daniel who knew Armand intimately(?) from before?) I do plan on watching it for real though!! Just dunno when :P I think my favorite character is Louis, or maybe Daniel. I loved everything about the confession in the church at the beginning of the show, him being really reluctant to feed off of people, and his love for Claudia and Lestat…

[buckevantommy]

Hey! It's the first time Buck Begins anon from before!! First of all do not feel bad for rambling - that is exactly what that ask was for! I loved hearing your thoughts!

And to answer your question about how I started watching -- 911 was a show always a show on my 'to watch' radar but I didn't give it much thought? I did watch s1 of lone star tho. until then I saw bi Buck on my dash for the first time after Tommy kisses him and i just went oh??!??! 👀👀 I binge watched season 1 and 2, and then I gave up and ended up watching s7 part 2 live while also watching s3 for the first time 🤣 there were some gaps I had to fill using fanon knowledge but I think it worked? And now I'm furiously trying to watch s4 around my busy work schedule before s8 airs 😅🤣

Hasn't stopped my from reading bucktommy fic or posting gifsets tho. Tommy has bewitched me, I love him. Every time I watch a scene where Buck talks about his love life a part of me is just- don't worry, your man is coming

oh! same here! i'd known about it for years but i'd just avoided it thinking it was just a different take on the same old tired procedural cop shows, or maybe something too dramatised like grey's anatomy. i'm not sure i even realised it was about firefighters until i heard people referring to it as 'the gay firefighter show' and even then i didn't really connect the dots.. 🔥👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🚒

one of my fave spn blogs (bc i was a destiel girlie before the gay firefighter show consumed my life) was a 911 fan so i learned about bi!buck through her blogging (shoutout to @sunglassesmish: kay, you have changed my life for the better 😚🫶). i mean, i came from spn - where bi!dean is widely considered unacknowledged canon and it's a show now several years past its finale but with a dedicated fanbase still hoping for some kind of reboot or movie or something to fix the shit they did in the finale - to a show with a canon bi character, moreover a character in his 30s who had been presumed (by some)/written as (sorta) straight for 6 whole seasons. and evan buckley.. he's so much like dean wincester: the all american heroic ladies man with a traumatic upbringing and a megawatt smile and babygirl features and a heart of gold who just wants to be loved.. honestly i could write essays about these two.. ✍️

i love that we're on the same page! i started with season 7 (i watched 7x05 and onwards live) and got through seasons 1-3 while s7 was airing week to week, and so my buck knowledge was growing as i excitedly waited for the next ep to air with the rest of fandom (there's just something about that weeklong anticipation, i've missed it so much - the theorising, the time for fanworks, etc). 📺

i was also the same, trying to learn what i could through dash osmosis of the seasons i hadn't watched yet (i knew vaguely about the lightning strike and tried not to spoil myself too much about the family secret but reading fic and meta blew those doors wide open 😅). and even in season 1 i was like: i'm so glad he'll grow to be that person in season 7 one day, that he'll get to be vulnerable and open and earnest and loved and also get kissed by a handsome guy. 🥰

OMG WE ARE BOTH ON SEASON 4!! 🥳 i mean, i knew that, but it's still so exciting to know there are folks out there in the same boat! ⛵ i don't think i've liveblogged any other ep besides Buck Begins, but i think i'll probably do a lightning strike/coma liveblog when i get to it.

omg the amount of bucktommy fics i've consumed since april.. i remember in those early days i was consuming every single fic that got posted on ao3 - about a dozen 1k fics a day - until eventually there was 60+ fics a day and i couldn't keep up, but i'm still reading about 2-5 fics (mostly short ones) a day. this fandom is hella talented. 📚

our love for tommy kinard knows no bounds. 🤝💖🤝 and YES- omg- the way he is just craving love and a partner on the same page as him, someone he can be himself with.. lightning boy will meet him flying into a hurricane and i just think that's neat. ��️😘

[raayllum]

just want to say thank you so much for appreciating season 4 so much tdp <3 i dont really understand why it is so disliked;  not without his problems, but still sweet, sad and thoughtful

Yeah it's like... 4x01-4x02 is the only time the show is presumably going to have any time for anything remotely resembling filler, which the previous three seasons also had some brief shares of (1x05, 2x04, honestly 3x01 for how much its two plotlines are drawn out the whole ep, and Rayllum's plot line in 3x02). So just like those filler eps, early S4 spends time getting us re-acquainted with the bulk of the main cast (everyone but Rayla really) and the ways they and the world are either different now, or have stayed the same, i.e.

Corvus and Callum have more than two lines of dialogue with each other, Soren is fully integrated as a crown guard, Ezran is being king in a very Ezran-y way (both good and bad), Callum is the same but also fronting and much more serious, and Claudia's stability is hanging on by a thread. Then 4x02 kicks off the plot for Claudia's side of things, and technically also for Callum (and Rayla) with Rayla's arrival, but 4x03 has to accordingly deal with some of that fallout. Claudia's actions directly kick off the plot, and then it's travel and stopping Aaravos time from 4x04 onwards (which again, is structured very similarly to 1x01-1x03 and 2x01-2x03 being the Castle / Moon Nexus arcs respectively). 4x04 gets the audience caught up with the fanatics (S4 is the first season to actually explain what type of elf Aaravos is - a Startouch elf - that he's ancient, etc etc), and Claudia and co. are also given what they need (Sir Sparklepuff) to be set into motion.

As you can see, I don't think the plot of the season bothered people (something if not multiple things are established every episode) but I do think people found some of the character interactions lacking. Which - I'd rather have people be awkward and unfair and not entirely honest with others than themselves and acting like people than anything else. Claudia can be awkward with over sharing (per usual) and Callum can be shut down (it's an interesting character turn and not an entirely unexpected one).

Like I genuinely feel bad for people who were disappointed or didn't like S4! It sucks when a show you love has a bad season you didn't enjoy, and it's not as though that's never happened to me. I just think I've typically either 1) borne it better, 2) got over it and looked at what the show was trying to do to, or 3) saw it coming ahead of time and left, lmao.

Like S4 of Infinity Train is really good but not nearly (to me) on the same level of S3, yet I know people how prefer it, and yeah - it does come down to preferences. JWCC S4 feels like it lost sight of what the show was (a simple fun premise executed very well) by adding in too many elements; I didn't make it past ep3, and the previous season had wrapped up 90% of what I was emotionally invested in anyway and works pretty well as a total finale. TDP wasn't this, as there were still a lot of loose ends following S3, and I think S4 carried them on just fine as well as setting up so many interesting things ahead (much the same way S1 did, and kind of to be expected when Arc 1 was so wrapped up). Getting to see the characters (somewhat) enjoy peace while not knowing the events were in motion to see it all come crashing down was a great sense of dramatic irony, iMO.

Anyway, I loved S4 plenty when I watched it for the first time, and I love it even more now! It's my 3rd fave season, which considering how much I adore and have nostalgia for S1, is saying something. If this is the show's 'lowpoint' I can't think of how even more incredible it's going to be

[elastijubilee]

Favorite TV Shows Ever (in no exact order):

Frasier (1993-2004)

Cheers (1982-1993)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

Angel (1999-2004)

Schmigadoon! (2021-present)

Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)

Fringe (2008-2013)

Westworld (2016-2022)

Alias (2001-2006)

I Dream of Jeannie/Bewitched (I couldn't pick, ok?) (1965-1970) (1964-1972)

Honorable Mentions (Some who honestly may be faves depending on how I feel):

That Girl (1966-1971)

The Golden Girls (1985-1992)

Saturday Night Live (1975-present)

30 Rock (2006-2013)

Bob's Burgers (2011-present)

The Middle (2009-2018)

Poledark (2015-2019)

The Muppet Show (1976-1981)

Key & Peele (2012-2015)

Grimm (2011-2017)

Doctor Who (2005-present, and I'll watch classic at some point)

Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)

Community (2009-2015)

The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)

The Big Bang Theory (be mad) (2007-2019)

Daredevil (2015-2018)

Other TV Shows I've Enjoyed A LOT:

The Owl House

Gravity Falls

Dead Like Me

Lost

I Love Lucy

Futurama

Supernatural

Arcane

Parks and Recreation

The Office

Firefly

The Nevers

WKRP in Cincinnati

News Radio

Wings

The Nanny

Married with Children

MadTV

M*A*S*H

Big Brother US

That 70s Show

The Burns and Allen Show

My Hero Academia

Black Clover

She-Ra: Princess of Power

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Plus, there are others that I have liked and enjoyed throughout my life but these are the top ones and ones I've watched the most...in some cases I'm still finishing some and they could change placement in this hierarchy.

TV Shows I Hope to Start Someday:

True Detective (hopefully soon)

Miami Vice

Poker Face

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

Black Sails

The Expanse

Yellowjackets

Yellowstone

Weeds

Breaking Bad

Better Call Saul

Star Trek Discovery

Wonderfalls

Crystal Lake (whenever that comes out)

Mare of Easttown

That 90s Show

Timeless

Revolution

Dark

1899

Orphan Black

A League of Their Own

Fraggle Rock

Barry

Top Shows I Saw the Potential or What Others Like But Either Wasn't for Me or I Had Strong Critiques of:

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Centaur World

Star Vs. the Forces of Evil

Voltron

Single Parents

The Great North

Once Upon a Time

Glee (haven't finished yet but s1 was great with some fun stuff in s3 and everything else I've seen has been up and down and really awful in places)

Galavant

Dollhouse (though I'm thinking about picking up again bc I remember ep 4 being a lot better than the first 3)

Scream Queens season 2 (but maybe nobody likes that one?)

American Horror Story

The Muppets (2015)

Series I need to start watching again to know how I'll feel and it's been awhile:

Black Clover

Central Park

The X-Files

Battlestar Galactica

[aeroplaneblues]

Alright! its time for top anime of 2022 list🎉

This year I didn't watched that many however I did found some good ones! 2 of those are recurring shows which I try to avoid, as this might be used as a rec list, but I like them that much!

the tldr; is on twitter

10- Vampire in the garden: this one was on netflix which I guess is why it didn't get that much attention, i like the concept and visuals were very nice its a bittersweet end but I quite enjoyed. 09- Raven of the inner palace: the story is interesting, its starts very monster of the week style with ghosts then moves to a main villain, the relationships between the MC and the rest of the cast is honestly the highlight. My only complain is pronunciation of the names are jp localized so I hope this gets a chinese dub. 08- Gundam: the witch of mercury: the last gundam i watched was wing and do not remember anything but i know its reputation, I gave this one a chance because the designs are really fun and I also went in with the idea that it was yuri bait. TURNS OUT this might not be what I was expecting, there is one more ep of this + the rest of the cour so I'm hoping it improves from here. The characters carry this for me even the background ones, they all feel like characters not props! Plus ZERO GRAVITY HUGS!! 07- Mob psycho 100 III: I know this list is numbered but I love all of these equally ! However, this in comparison with s1 and s2 is one of the weakest, maybe bc it had to close loose ends? idk but its still a good one, the moment I cry was with ekubo more than reigen i know i know but reigen had his moment in s2 and I think that hit harder. Time to read the manga! 06- My dress-up darling: this is ecchi, im saying this first bc if people barely tolerate bnha fanservice this is not for you. I usually avoid this but I was dumb and didn't saw the tag😂 and I got attached to the main characters and the story, I read the manga and the ecchi is very far and far between as the story progresses. I think it has a lot of heart and its quite fun love story, plus you learn so much about cosplaying! 05- Sasaki and miyano: cutest bl I've ever watched/read, sasaki reminds me of childe which I find it so funny I can't unsee it. Miyano isn't your uwu protagonist and their relationship is build sloooowly on a lot of love and respect. Its nice to see this type of bl without its usual uh nonsense. 04- The case study of vanitas II: the thing about this second season is that i didn't know if bones was going to adapt everything, the manga updates at shoujo pace and has had rough months of absence HOWEVER it was all adapted, like a month after the last ch came out we saw that ep which is the wildest thing for me tbh. Anyway that last ep is why this is here, it was the BEST fight scene ending like [SPOILERS] watch it, it was amazing. 03- Chainsaw man: yeah i know ofc this is here, this is one of the best adaptations I've ever watched, it is beyond perfect. Several episodes I felt like I was watching a movie, can't rec it enough it even has its own mads mikkelsen inspired character voiced by the same va of the other mads mikkelsen inspired character from my other fave show. Also love the detail how mappa draws shoes as fujimoto draws them. 02- Spy x family: this is another good adaptation, I started reading this manga in 2019?? And I kept thinking how GOOD of a story it was and it was a shame so little attention it got, but now with the anime its got the much deserved attention. I adore it immensely, here is hoping for a continuous success.

01- Bocchi the rock: THIS is at the top bc of how relatable it is for me and what a nice surprise to know its actually a good anime. I was expecting it to be another "cute girls do cute things" like "do it yourself" from this year and I wasn't wrong its just that it has a little more depth than that. All the girls have good and bad traits, goals and obstacles to overcome so the story focuses on that with their collective goal of playing music. As someone with social anxiety that lean on rock/playing guitar to make friends and not succeeding on that front I want to see bocchi accomplish her goals, its cathartic like that. Also the animator are truly having fun with the different styles of animating the jokes which is always a treat to watch.

If you got it to this part, thank you so much for reading! If you give any of this a chance and like them let me know! I love talking about anime as you can see haha. I hope next year the season isn't as dry mid way so I get to watch more!

Happy New Year!!🎉

[hekatekun]

fav s3 episodes/skits?

im so glad you asked i have a lot of opinions and a huge essay in the making on s3. in the meantime, allow me to answer more than what you actually asked for

what really annoys me is that s3, at its high points, really knocks it out of the park for me. its highs are high but, ofc, that makes its lows reach rock fucking bottom. somehow they wrote a season that its pilot and finale are some of my alltime favorite episodes but there is so much horseshit inbetween these really hard hitting segments

homerun tier skits for me usually have two or more of these: showcasing the full sextuplet interdependent dysfunction - not focused on duos/trios ("let's do chores", all of ep25), narrative self awareness with narrative also covering Personal diagetic narrative aka existential anxiety (<- 100% coherent sentence but think about a skit like "choromatsu's memorial hall"), performance/theater/creation motifs and premises ("contract renewels" -- also iyami's comedy school in s1 is a skit based on this premise of Being Performers, as is the skit in s2 where he attempts to commit suicide. that being said the latter is my #1 alltime fave ep for all these reasons as anything solely about osomatsu includes criteria one because he's the integumentary system). the secret fourth category is that it's totoko/totonyaa focused. i am not immune to yuribaiting

side note, can i just say ep1's translated title is "Untilted" but its actual jpn title is 降板 (koban) meaning in baseball terms leaving the mound/knocked out, or just resigning/withdrawing which *leans close to the mic to blow out my audio* i think better conveys the mental image of them getting strongarmed out of a job. this has been bothering me ever since i started planning the essay last year. but i digress.

cour 1 is honestly overall solid but because s3 is ultimately about the introduction of inevitable change thru the omusubi and the twins' Denial of this change themselves, because the old guard appealed to them so much as does youth now glorify the experiences of our parents and grandparents and even older siblings. so cour 2 suffers from this seemingly intentional and implicitly malicious dropping of the ball. though, this is a bad faith narrative and i have so much more to say on this but that's for another time. however, i think the laziness in cour 2 was an exacerbation of the laziness shown in cour 1

with alllllll of that in mind, i like ep1, ep4, ep5, ep9, ep18, ep25, both "dimwit generation" skits, "totoderella" and "contract renewels"

[dangermousie]

Done! And we close the show on Ramo and Sibel happy and at peace, at a picnic with his family and loved ones. looking forward to a life of peace.

I agree with @academyofbrokenhearts that this is more of a respite than any true “forever peace” though. Even if Ramo and co retreat to Adana (and they will) and he will retire (he may try, he’s exhausted) and even if he actually decides to go legit (dubious), with his insane reputation (he blew up the entire mob in Istanbul. After beheading Adana mob back way when), there will always be people coming after him for revenge (think how many he’s killed) or just to try to show off and make their name by killing “the executioner of kings.” Now, I think he’s smart as fuck, he’s going to stay on top of all of that and live long and die in his bed, but they aren’t gonna have a violence-free hippie paradise.

It’s a lovely moment of tranquility to end on, though.

I have finished 40 eps, which due to Turkish running times is well over 90 hours in, I think, around 2 weeks. My eye bags have eye bags. I think the last time I marathonned a Turkish show this hard was GB years and years ago. And my verdict? WORTH IT WORTH IT WORTH IT!!!

It is not my n1 Turkish show (that is probably Fatmagul), but it is definitely going onto all-time faves list and Ramo x Sibel are definitely my n1 ever Turkish show couple. I preferred the first season (which to me, just as Cukur’s first season, is a basically perfect show) to the second due to the changes (some of which was out of their hands due to cast changes thanks to lengthy covid hiatus, and some due to narrative changes between two sets of writers.) I preferred the seedy vibe of s1 to polished one of s2, I liked that s1 resembled an (enhanced) reality and missed Adana, I missed the women being in gunfights and the family counsel, I also preferred when Ramo wanted revenge, peace whatever way for his family and to rise in the mob, rather than just revenge and peace whichever way for his family. But they did a good job writing the changes and honestly, seeing what disasters dizis turn into when they run for a decent lengths and between seasons (and not even seasons that had such issues with cast changes and covid insanity as this did), the fact that s2 is so overall solid (despite some tonal shift and occasional holes) is a miracle.

BUT! While s2 was flawed, Ramo remained fucking amazing, the ship was unreal, Sibel had a spine of steel, supporting characters were largely wonderful to follow (and, consistently, this show did something not enough dizis do - gave the mains lion’s share of screentime. Dizis tend to have large casts and sometimes drown in them. The makers of this knew they had Murat and Esra so why not use them to the utmost. Smart!) The plot was twisty and fun (and when they ran out of things circa 36-38, they quickly wrapped up the story. More shows need to know when to leave.)

This was a great watch and in my Top 5 Turkish shows of all time. Also, I will now watch everything Murat Yildirim has been in (that I haven’t seen yet.) That man makes me thirstier than the Sahara. He’s not unreal beautiful like some Turkish actors - he’s the kind of handsome you will give a second glance in the store, but you can imagine him in the store in the first place, if you know what I mean, but that makes him more appealing, and that charisma is insane.

Anyway, goodbye Ramo, you were amazing!!! @academyofbrokenhearts I am in your debt for pushing this on me!

[petrichoraline]

Hiii let me chacha real smooth in your inbox for that "X or Y" game!

The Untamed or Word of Honor? Pat or Pran? To my star or To My Star 2? Pawin in Star in my Mind or in The Eclipse or in Never Let Me Go?

Gmmtv whiped boys edition: Palm or Tinn?

And would you rather eat Noey's over salted food OR Tan's 'dr bun wont eat that' instant(ly failed) noodles? -☆

<33 what a smooth sliding into my ask box 🥰 it's a tough road ahead from here on though, go make a cup of tea, i've prepared you a read

The Untamed or Word of Honour?

ohhh shit, okay. so.

cql was the most draining show - it's amazing and so enticing but i had never watched anything from the wuxia genre before so it was A Lot..i would not rewatch it tbh, maybe the special addition if i miss wangxian too much 💞 it's so tragic and i'm always at risk of The Feels when i come across any cql or mdzs post, not to mention the yi city arc which fucked me up in a particular way...

woh doesn't make me as emotional because everyone is insane? it's actually impressive how unhinged every single person in the show is, the stories are tragic too, especially the last episodes but i was kind of numb to it, decided to focus on my guys and their happy ending only ✌️

woh gave me wen kexing, visuals (the designs of the characters are wild, espeecially the ghosts, they're straight out of a children's book, so expressive and individualistic) and the most blatant expression of romance they could - not only could you feel the love through each gaze, touch and action but boundaries were pushed in terms of script and the portrayal of physical affection was more than what they had to do. also i'm obsessed with the lipreading videos <3

cql and mdzs are still distant to me and i feel like an outsider to the fandom but i feel the same way about woh. cql introduced me to wuxia, i see posts about it more often and i feel like i remember the characters and events better. not to mention i got into mxtx bc of it so i have it to thank for the blast i have when im reading svsss. so ig i have to pick the untamed? but woh really is special, i hope ppl watch it

Pat or Pran?

boyyy i would usually say pat no questions asked but i think about pran and how he's handled all that his mom put him through and how he clearly struggles in so many ways and my protective instincts are screaaming, he's such a brave patootie (or, yknow, patootie)..but yeah no, i'll say pat, he is so loving loving loving despite everything, so considerate, so caring, he's a bit of a jock, a bit of a theatre kid, a bit of a band member - he's straight out of high school musical but adorable

To My Star or To My Star 2

TMS2!! i am sure s1 is great but it just didn't leave a lasting impression on me, it was the second season that had me shaking in excitement and yelling at the screen and going through tumblr to read analyses and stuff. it made me care about seojoon and jiwoo soo much and even if in the future i find the first season better in retrospect, s2 is my baby (and it got me so excited bout daseul's vision for blueming 2 🥰)

Pawin in Star in my Mind or in The Eclipse or in Never Let Me Go?

ohh that's interesting..maithee, namo and phum are all annoying but supportive losers lol

i dont have much of an opinion on any of them like phum was a villain for most of the show and then he had a glow up and became a rich hottie with a cute boyfriend, namo was a decoy that suddenly became a part of the squad and i dont remember much about maithee in the og show honestly.. based on the our skyy 2 episodes, i'll go with namo - he gave off sweet supportive kid who just wants to be loved and that's pathetic and cute <3 (tho maithee deserves betterrr)

Palm or Tinn?

in terms of whipped, i think i'd go with palm. man is borderline crazy for nueng, it's impressive. with their our skyy 2 eps out it's confirmed it's not just teen hormones lol

when it comes to my personal fave...they're both precious and frustrate me a lot but ig i'd go with tinn - i think of his reaction to gun rawring at him, about him coming back with those grocery bags.. he's so intense and awkward and devoted but it's not in the way palm is (which makes even me a bit uncomfortable hahah)

eat Noey's over salted food OR Tan's 'dr bun wont eat that' instant(ly failed) noodles?

i cannot deal with salty food, i'm more sensitive to salt than others so whatever noey's cooking has got going on that makes others spit it out immediately? not for me. nuh uh.

i can't find tan's noodles but i found the chicken scene and boyy that is probably salty on top of burnt and with disgusting texture soo (also burnt on the outside raw on the inside is wildd)

yeah. noey's food. small bites, lots of water - if it's otherwise tasty then i'll take a day to finish it, it's cool. :') (on a side note they'd both look with such anticipation and nervousness and wide eyes and aaa reminds me of dfqc, i love it when bad cooks try their best and realise they suck lol)

[krispiecake]

hiii tell me about your show pls!!!

1) i love you. we should kiss

2) before i get into this because im #scared ppl will make fun of me, I’m aware that my show is a teen drama and deserves criticism in some areas, i am actually very interested in having long conversations about this criticism bc i think that its genuinely interesting and i have a lot of thoughts about how some themes such as (and especially) class could/should be handled going forward in the final season. However, i also think that it is a very well made show and also very well written (99% of the time lol) and explores very interesting lgbt+ themes and is the first show in a while that ive seen that portrays first/new/young lgbt relationships really well. That is my disclaimer.

3) so. its called young royals on netflix. and its my favourite thing in the entire world. Its a swedish show centred around the prince of Sweden, Wilhelm (diagnosed autistic by me. bc i said so.) Key facts about him are: anxiety disorder, lame, sometimes I wish i could smack him upside the head but with love. Wilhelm is sent to a private boarding school after getting into a very public fight in order to punish/straighten him out (pun intended). At this boarding school we are introduced to Simon (my fave character), who is a non boarder/scholarship student along with his sister. When we meet Simon for the first time its when he is singing a solo in the choir for the prince’s welcome ceremony/celebration thing. During this, Wilhelm basically um. falls in love. Well maybe not love but the boy is down BAD and it’s embarrassing for him. Key facts about Simon: i love him, has never done anything wrong ever, I love him. While Simon’s main ‘role’ as it were is love interest, I believe that the show does a fairly good job and creating depth for him as a character, providing a lot of context and information about him as an individual and as part of a relationship. He has his own plot lines and scenes completely separate to Wilhelm. HOWEVER I would also like this to be explored further in the 3rd season, and I hope we see a more emotional side to him too, because while we do see him express both positive and negative emotions, I still feel like he holds the especially negative ones back and away from other characters like Wilhelm - which is in character, however I personally would like to. see him cry or something idk because he deserves a breakdown. like a proper one with shouting and throwing things.

ANYWAY. We get to see their relationship grow over the episodes and honestly there is a little bit of flip flopping from Wilhelm, bc while Simon is confident in his sexuality, its implied that this is the first time Wilhelm has ever really acknowledged his attraction to the same gender, meaning we watch him learn how to (sort of) accept himself and be comfortable in liking Simon. PERSONALLY I think the way this is portrayed is quite authentic and at least somewhat similar to my own experience in coming to terms with being a lesbian specifically (although i never rlly got to kiss any girls about it so. that sucks). I think a really good example of this is their first kiss scene at the end of s1 ep 2, where we see Wilhelm making the first move when he initiates handholding (im aware of how juvenile the sentence sounds i just couldnt think of another way to put it lol) as they are watching a movie (its movie night so the two main dorms are all present, Forest Ridge (boys) and Manor House (girls). They have a cute little handholding moment until Wilhelm becomes flustered/anxious over people noticing and runs out of the room. Simon follows after a moment and this is when we get the first kiss. Simon is the one to initiate it the first two times and Wilhelm just kind of 🧍. He’s not good at this yet okay. After the second kiss, shocked back to reality by a noise from the movie down the hall, Wilhelm starts with ‘I’m sorry I’m not-‘ and Simon starts to leave, obviously sensing rejection. However, rejection does not come because Wilhelm grabs his arm and pulls him back. He’s clearly very anxious about the whole situation and running through his head is what I assume to be a million different thoughts of ‘am i allowed to want this? is this okay? do i want this? what will my mother say? this would be national news. What would my brother say? am i allowed? i dont think this is allowed.’ Simon does not say anything, allowing Wilhelm to take the time he needs to organise a coherent thought. And despite his anxiety, despite every thought in his head, he pulls Simon closer by his shirt and this time, Wilhelm is the one that kisses him.

I like this scene bc 1) its cute, like rlly cute 2) as I said i think this is a good example of the whole ‘coming to terms with it’ aspect because I remember that anxiety, I remember those ‘what would my mother think?’ thoughts and most importantly, I remember my lesbianism (or in Wilhelm’s case, his queerness and attraction to Simon) winning. I remember the way that once it popped into my head that ‘hey, you might be a lesbian’ it literally never left until i sat up one day and confronted it. And I think that this is a really sweet and probably true to life for some people way of showing this on screen.

Now. I actually have so much more to say about this show Like i could talk/type for HOURS. about it but I won’t. Know that there are so many details about this show and the casting choices and the writing and directing and acting choices that i am OBSESSED with throughout BOTH seasons. All that i typed literally only got us through 2 episodes and i didnt even talk about the other important bits. I really cannot over emphasise enough how much there is to this show. Anyway, I’m gonna leave it there though, but feel free to ask questions/for my opinion on any aspect of it. I will say if you havent watched it and somehow this has convinced you to do so, there are a few triggering subjects such as drug + alcohol addiction/misuse, death and grief, and MASSIVELY child exploitation material from season 1 ep 4 onwards - this is because a, if not THE, major plot point/conflict in the show is that a ‘sex tape’ (as it’s referred to sometimes) is filmed of Wilhelm and Simon (both 16yrs old in the show) without their knowledge or consent, and is then leaked to the public. I have some personal grievances about how this is handled in the show, however, I also dont think its handled ‘badly’, as the way the characters handle it is part of the plot and is ultimately part of what the show is criticising. If you want me to explain this further I can do as well, as i know this subject can obviously be very triggering and its best to know what youre getting into to decide if this show is right for you.

[besidesitstoowarm]

series 2 retrospective

this season felt like it lasted FOREVER. i think a lot of that was down to how much more slowly i got through the episodes (this season had a lot of baggage for me that i think i've now shed, so i was kind of dreading all of them) but the other part is the lack of real stand-out phenomenal episodes, i think. i don't count the finale, bc finales always have a ton going on and iirc they're all somewhere between great and mindblowingly excellent. i guess my fave this season would've been "the impossible planet" with maybe "new earth" as a second? "school reunion" gets huge nostalgia points for me, which is quite the feat bc i haven't even seen the era it's nostalgic for. this has the weakest of moffat's rtd-era eps and i don't think any of the episodes just slam my ass into next week in the same way as like, "dalek" or "utopia"

but my memory had been very unkind to this season and i am brave enough, and sexy and genius enough, to admit my wrongness. it's honestly really powerful of me. anyway i do think this season carried on and expanded upon some of the themes of last season, namely sympathizing w mickey, the doctor's savior complex, and the near-suicidal devotion that rose has to traveling with the doctor. all three were handled well, including the doctor taking his protective shit too far; nine would tell rose to sit the hell down and stay put, but ten was willing to BANISH HER TO AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE just bc HE decided she would be better off there. he will learn nothing from this, and make the same type of decision for donna

idk if this makes sense, but ten is the "main character" in the way that nine wasn't in s1? nine kept himself deliberately closed off, he did not want his pain and his feelings to be centered in the way that loud, boisterous ten edges his way into every conversation. nine went places and saw things and saved the day, sure, but was also willing to leave or sit this one out or stay out of things, which makes sense as a recent genocide survivor/perpetrator. he doesn't want to be the center of attention, he just shows up and crazy goes down around him (and his companions do whatever). that feels a little closer to early classic who, to me. the show lives and dies by the quality of its companions. ten (who is heavily influenced by rose) wants to be The Hero. he wants to Save The Day

i am sticking by my theory that ten was crafted and molded by the mingled energy of rose and the tardis as bad wolf, and so he's like. well he's basically what donna becomes at the end of s4, this time lord human hybrid thing. i maintain this bc it makes sense both plot-wise and thematically and it's romantic in a cannibalistic way which appeals to me (two different ways to be "inside" someone). so in that sense, ten isn't just a response to having been nine (having "survived" being nine) but he's also absorbed rose's outsized opinions of him. he was born from her love and devotion for him, and his regeneration took place under her care, under her belief that "the doctor is special and important and nothing is allowed to happen to him" and wow it gave him an ego! it also gave him a pathologic need to Save The Day. i can't wait to see what happens to him when he is with any other companion

and so we say goodbye to rose. she was the perfect companion to restart the show with, very likeable, very bubbly, very curious. she was opinionated and saucy and empathetic, and she had fantastic chemistry with both doctors, which is hard to pull off for such different actors. i don't really have a lot to say that i didn't already say in my various individual episode write-ups, but i will miss rose, and i look forward to her various returns

[spacedlexi]

Hello! :) I was replaying the 1st season of twdg and I had a question. In ep 2, did you help Lilly with Larry or did you help Kenny?

Just asking bc I really get stuck on this 😮‍💨

Lovely art BTW!💙

aha ive chosen both options. its a hard decision. i understand kenny doing what he does but also you couldve given lilly a moment to Try to at least check his pulse or something. but i get that it doesnt take long to turn so like it would be dangerous to attempt any cpr so like.... yeah... its a bad situation

mostly i just want a second to make sure clem isnt looking 😭 little baby girl had to see that with no warning

i think for the most part i choose to help lilly Just because violently murdering her father in front of her is a bit of a Dick Move and this way she isnt completely shut off from the rest of the group. even tho she still does what she does later...

but since i usually agree with or talk down kenny in other situations im still able to keep things mostly peaceful with him and take him to find clem in the final ep. my main goal in s1 is to always keep clem the least traumatized she can be i dont want her to see lee as a killer. even tho shes usually very understanding 😭

and thank you!! hehe 🥰 your violentine art is also very cute 🥺