#ep 3 was fully glorious (let's not talk about 4)

[booasaur]

wtFOCK - 7x03

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 3

Let’s Split Up and Look for Clues! 

Welcome back to the Seven and the Museum of Adventuring. My previous pronouncement of combat was a little premature but hold tight, we’ll get there. For now, we’re back with Antiope who just saw a glimpse of the Ending of Things (aka, Ending) and is freaking out a bit. She tells the others and they all do various checks to see what they can find out.

Ostentatia casts Commune With City and clocks that there is some kind of abjuration shield magic on the government buildings in town, stopping them from being spied on. She also clocks some lingering undead-ish magic and a weird divination effect on Antiope, specifically on the Aguefort logo of her jacket, like someone scryed on her and just got that she had something to do with Aguefort. At this, Penny reminds her that the only true piece of info they gave Ending when they broke her out is that they were from Aguefort.

Sam with a 19 Insight still feels the connection she and Ant have with Ending because of their spells turned against them in the initial encounter. Yelle does a Perception check (27) and once again doesn’t really get bad, dreadful, menacing vibes. But also, she recognizes that she’s chill with a lot of things most people don’t love. 

Antiope reiterates that she texted Charity that she’s interested in the internship so she can learn more info--even better now that they know the buildings are safe from scrying. Yelle remembers Aguefort’s warning about people watching them and Sam asks Zelda if her “weird boyfriend” (“he’s actually really cool”) is friends with the elven oracle. Zelda says yeah, they’re both friends with Adaine, she can ask about any weird divination stuff. Sam makes sure to specify she should look into TK but NOT Ending, no doubt remembering what happened when she tried to do a spell on her. 

It’s been a big day as Zelda says so they all go to the TGIF-esque Slappy McFinnigans to celebrate (which Sam has problems with--the fact that they’re celebrating I mean, but she’s mainly ignored). They’re quickly kicked out because Katja can’t help herself from trying to brush the mane of their centaur server and they reconvene at the more their speed SlamBurger, where a horse can fully destroy a soda machine to absolutely zero reaction.  Zelda says that Ostentatia was right in that they should all do the quest because it doesn’t close any doors and they have the 2 weeks to figure things out. They all seem a bit more on the same page (though Sam is still pretty frosty towards Ant) and start making plans.

Before they leave, Yelle pulls aside Ant and Sam and says hey, first of all, you two are still linked to Ending from before. Second of all, I know y’all are Going Through It right now and you don’t have to talk about it or make up right away but you need to get your heads in the game and you need to know that you’re both loved and still family. 

Penny, Zelda, Katja, and Ostentatia go back to the museum to try and get more information for their quest. Katja goes to the information desk (horse in tow, of course) and just starts asking information about TK. She’s told that she’s one of the museum’s benefactors and has been missing for years, and hey, do you understand that a museum’s info desk is about where the water fountains and exhibits are, not just random information about the world?

Ostentatia bails her out by calling her over so she can do her plan which is just to walk into the back area like she owns the place. Now, Aguefort students do have a certain level of clearance to be back there and she does have her school ID. But instead of explaining that, she tried to use her Earrings of Diamond Charm to charm the employee she runs into which fails. And then she does a pretty good tag-team lie with Katja about how they NEED to pass a class but that doesn’t fly. Then Ostentatia tries flirting which ALSO doesn’t work. Zelda at this point steps in and just headbuts the dude so they can book it away. I personally would have gone with, “Do you know who we are? We killed the dragon that’s your current main exhibit,” but you know. No backseat adventuring. 

While this is happening, Penny is stealthing like a pro, looking for anything Arcana related. Ostentatia and Katja also did checks (O getting a nat 20) and we’ll go through all their info gathered now. 

Katja basically gets info on TK we kind of already knew. She was a benefactor of the museum. She’s centuries old like Aguefort. She was concerned with consciousness and divinity and specifically how will and divine will manifested, as well as elemental magic.  

Ostentatia gets a lot of info with her Nat 20. She gets a full map to the temple where TK went which is called the Temple of Earth Defiant. The point of the temple is that it’s up in the open air and harsh winds--wind being a symbol of chaos and unpredictability to dwarves--but they still use it as a place to honor their heroes and they rebuild and upkeep it despite the erosion and how hard it is to get there. It’s hallowed from evil and lots of stories about it involve heroes racing there for sanctuary. It was made by dwarves but it’s a pilgrimage site for other primordial beings like goliaths and earth genasi (which is what TK is). There are 3 heroes who have big statues here: Asha Hammerheart (a SUPER dope name I must say), Yvonna of the Sundering Hills , and Kora Ironbrow.

Penny finds that, amongst Kalvaxus’s hoard there were 7 unrecovered artifacts--the Mirrors of the Eidolons (which are the smashed mirrors they found it seems). Eidelons are kind of like the elemental plane version of angels/celestials. They’re primordial (remember Katja saw primordial language on the wall of the dragon cave) and kind of aligned with things like titans and genies. Raw element with no agenda (unlike celestials and demons and such which have a clear alignment which makes up the D&D religious system). It is said by wizards--who look at these things in more of a nuts and bolts way than say clerics who take the fuzzier religions view--that Eidolons are the hands of the gods because gods are beings of spirit--how could they form the physical world. Will of the divine manifested by elemental beings? Sounds right up TK’s alley.

Sam decides she’s desperate enough for information that she calls her mom who she is understandably snippy with. Her mom gives her a contact to talk to when she asks about TK but Sam stonewalls her on show business talk. She tries to play the “mother knows best, you’ll thank me later,” in a kind of Gothel-y way while acting like anything in the past never happened and says Sam is attacking her but when Sam accuses her of neglect, she proves her right by hanging up the phone.

Sam then calls the number and it turns out to be Lola Embers (Fig’s agent) who has been waiting for Sam’s call for ages and wants to talk to her, even though she’s currently chasing her dog across the park. She says she met TK once at a genasi woman networking thing and also says she once saw Charity get into an argument with TK over government funding or not getting a grant or something similar. She then says she’s in a lake trying to get her dog and Sam, being a water genasi who can breathe underwater and also a fundamentally good person even though she’s currently being aggro as hell, goes to the park to help her. Lola assures her that if she’s ready, she’ll help her get new acting gigs and that the world is ready for the new her. 

Yelle meanwhile casts Speak With Plants on some trees near TK’s office and, after a super stoner to stoner conversation, gets a magical footprint trail of where she ran off to when she absconded 12 years ago. 

Antiope (who is in a sports bra because she destroyed her top with the Aguefort logo since that’s what was pinged, revealing in a wild, nat-1 fueled retcon that she got a tramp stamp reading “Leader” in the Red Waste) goes to see Charity to fill out some paperwork, ingratiate herself, and perhaps get some info. Charity has her hot, young, assistant (who Antiope is instantly crushing on) give Ant his shirt (and Charity’s lack of surprise at seeing his 4 horses pulling a chariot tattoo makes the group think they’re def banging). She kind of explains what the Ministry does and Antiope boils it down a bit to snitching on other adventurers. Charity says it’s more of a who watches the watchmen situation and visibly twitches when she has to say the word “snitch”. 

When she takes a second to call Antiope’s dad, she accidentally leaves a tab open on her computer which has TK’s file open (probably up from when the Maidens asked about her earlier). Antiope sneaks a peek and learns that the artifact that TK stole is called the Legendarium Extrodia and it tracks quests. It seems that at some point TK must have had top level access to get her hands on it. It also shows that TK was marked for assassination (which seems like a pretty good reason to get the heck out of dodge). Brennan also says she’s learned enough that she can use the L.E. if she finds it. 

At this point, Yelle tells everyone to come back ASAP so they can follow the magic footsteps. Antiope wants to come but doesn’t want to burn bridges with Charity (or chances with Preston--equally important) so she, at Katja’s suggestion--pretends to have diarrhea and is Nat 20 convincing. Interesting choice for the end of the first meeting with a person you’re crushing on. But Preston is actually pretty supportive as she races out the door as fast as possible.

The Seven follow the footsteps out of Solace and it becomes clear that TK was headed to the dwarven temple Ostentatia learned about. This is a multi-day journey so Cinnamon sings a glorious, magical, horse song and summons mounts for everyone which I will now name because this is obviously the most important part of the episode:

Snowfire - Danielle

Taffodill - Sam

Alagonia - Antiope

Candyheart - Penny

Starforge - Ostentatia 

Strawberry Dancer - Zelda 

Crucial info. 

As they travel, Antiope casts Primeval Awareness and gets that there is something ancient in the mountain. They travel through Pilgrim’s Pass (a village area most travelers to the temple pass through) but find it completely razed to the ground. They investigate. 

With an 18 Survival check, Antiope finds tracks that seem halfway between dog and cat. There are more than 4 legs and it’s hard to tell how old they are because there’s not a lot of rain in the area. They could have been left long ago and been undisturbed. Regardless, these are clearly from monstrosities. On a 26 History Check, Katja knows that this area used to be protected by Blink Dogs (teleporting dogs) but they seem to be all gone now. On a 22 Nature check, Yelle sees a weird feather made out of plant material. It seems like fae stuff but bad vibes. On an 18 Insight check, Sam knows this was a purposeful slaughter.

And on Penny’s 30 Arcana check, oh boy. Penny finds broken common scrawled on the wall in human blood talking about a queen of the mountain who rules the skies. That only the queen may see and none may see themselves. And that the people were told to destroy the seeing glass and did not obey. In from of that message is a bear hide covering something magic. Penny lifts it with reckless abandon and sees tons of mirror shards.

Friendship bracelets! She thinks.

Gotcha bitch, the thing in the mirror says.

Uh-oh.   

Penny calls over her friends to let them knows she may have made a tiny mistake. The group is pretty split between, “Understandable,” and “Girl, WHAT?” In her defense, she did try to cast Friends on the person on the other side of the mirror shards but that’s not enough to stop an entire pack of 50-60 Displacer Beast (magic tentacle cats)/Blink Dog hybrid monstrosities along with the Harpy Queen (voice from the mirror) and her plant feathered harpy minions to start rapidly making their way to their location. 

It is at this point that Ostentatia remembers that abominations and monstrosities cannot step into the temple which means it’s time to RUN. 

And NOW it’s combat time. 

The premise of this fight is that the girls are on their horses, moving towards the center of the temple as fast as they can while fending off the closest enemies. I won’t give an exact play by play but the two highlights are as follows:

Yelle conjures up a bunch of geese with raptor stats (...so normal geese) to swarm the head cat/dog abomination and has to do a truly stunning amount of math for which she is rewarded with SEVENTY POINTS OF DAMAGE. 

Antiope does some insane arrow trickery and gets the Queen Harpy in the wing (which Ostentatia helpfully gets on video so she can show Preston later) and then forces her to take damage as she falls. If not for an extremely lucky Box of Doom nat 20, she may have been down for the count. Antiope still comes away with more than FIFTY points of damage on her though. 

And we end the episode mid-combat! We will catch up on our girls next time!

Superlatives 

Penny: Most Likely to Make Friends During a Hostage Situation 

As a companion to Danielle’s superlative last episode, Penny gets this award for reading or misreading every situation as an opportunity to make friends or make friendship bracelets for the ones she already has. 

Random Thoughts

Did you guys notice that with Katja having Cinnamon and Charity’s assistant being Preston, that’s two of the main pet NPCs from A Crown of Candy?

Antiope’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Rail against the dying of the light! Why are you OK with this?

Penny’s Reaction to Yelle Saying That Maybe Things Ending Isn’t So Bad: Entropy is TERRIBLE! Everything needs order!

The greasy cashier’s response to Ostentatia’s flirty, “Come here often?” is “To my job? Honestly no.” Brennan? Chef’s kiss. 

My other fave line this episode is from Sam. “I believe Cinnamon fucks.”

It’s very cute that Penny is like, “I gotta text Riz about this Eidelon stuff!” Not because she wants help. Just so they can geek out together. 

The joke that Brennan didn’t think about the birds is so funny considering all the bird facts in Misfits.

Also re Birds attacking: “They made a movie about this Brennan!” 

Good on Ant for refusing an Aguefort sweatshirt from Charity when offered after the little scrying incident before. Remembering things like this saves lives. 

It has been brought up several times that Ending isn’t necessarily Bad just Ancient and Powerful and I trust Yelle’s vibe check but also, like, a forest fire doesn’t have malice behind it but it can still devastate a city while it clears out dead trees that need to be cleared, you know? Not ready to start wild speculation yet but I am curious. And am similarly curious about the sisters Ending has mentioned. Oh and the parallels of 7 Maidens, 7 mirrors. It’s all there, we just need a little more info. 

Honestly, get you a man who will see you rushing out of a building, loudly claiming to have diarrhea, and instead of being grosses out will just supportively confess his own stomach issues. I wish he was just a little younger cause I want that for Ant. 

I do like that D20 has been playing a little more fast and loose with the RP ep/combat ep format. I think it really helps with story flow. 

In this episode Antiope and Brennan as various non-Zelda NPCs rolled 2 Nat 20s. O rolled one. Ant rolled 1 Nat 1--which was on a self imposed roll to see how she responded to Sephie’s tramp stamp improv. And O may have rolled one for initiative also but I wasn’t sure. 

[televinita]

Zoo 3.11, “Cradles and Graves”

Maybe, you’re gonna be the one that saves me

I don't know if I'm more upset that this show had the gall to unironically use (a cover of)“Wonderwall” for dramatic effect, or that after 3 days of my inability to stop watching this episode, it's actually working for me.

I distinctly remember bursting out laughing when the first lyrics hit my ears, and now I'm like, teary eyed and nodding sagely through that whole montage. "Wow. So deep. So profound and meaningful."

------

A list of things I did not care for this week: the IADG bullpen unless Tessa was talking. Now that we've got that out of the way... Some things I like about the first 5 minutes -Imagining the Darkest Timeline version where they are all already dead by the time Clem finds them. -The (unintentional?) hilarity of the fact that Jackson's blood waits for the exactly perfect moment to ooze under the door for maximum dramatic effect -The fact that Mitch is found on the stairs instead of where he was shot, which suggests to me that he got to feel the full horror of seeing both Max and Jamie on the ground before he succumbed to his own wound (which is probably just an irresponsible directing choice because if he had, I'd think he'd be a little more grateful about the whole them-not-being-dead part, but it's fun to think about! Otherwise I just get bogged down again in wondering about the logistics of GSW injuries.) Ctrl + Z I loved it, but my parents and I could not stop laughing during the entire resurrection scene. "So I guess everybody's actively dying and no one can help us, but it's cool. Just gimme some of that tank serum (totally valid medical term) and mix it with water (just your basic home remedy recipe), and then we'll suffocate them back to life and five minutes later their mortal wounds will be fine and we can get on with the real problems." A.K.A. So there's example 57 or so of an entire episode's worth of possible plot being pushed aside because this show refuses to take a breath. We could have wrung so much more emotion out of Clementine, whilst ignoring her own signs of labor, trying to triage her father, grandfather, adoptive mother, surrogate uncle I'm pretending she is already attached to more than I'm sure she is, and other surrogate uncle who is also her best chance of saving her baby, the most important of all, if something goes wrong in delivery. ...and GDI now I gotta go find a special episode of Grey's Anatomy to get my mass tragedy fix. But I'm grateful that even at Zoo speed, they still gave me a little taste (in two flavors!) of people suffering the after-effects of injuries the serum couldn't fully fix. You're Responsible, You're the One to Blame, It's Your Fault :( to everyone being too busy hating her to notice Jamie cradling a clearly injured arm. But I love absolutely every sentence in this 7-way argument, including but not limited to Mitch's strangled "are you full term? how long was I out?!", the group-wide reveal of when exactly Mr. Duncan disappeared, Jackson's deadly-quiet anger, Jamie's valid defense of her actions, Mitch trying to take his daughter and blow this popsicle stand at a doubled-over limp, Clem taking her sweet time mentioning the quarantine, Max and Jamie's "oh" realizations about the plane, and Mitch's fabulously cranky echo and "what now" attitude. Last but far from least, the disgusted "I can't even look at you" was kind of my favorite part? I dig it when one member of an OTP is that intensely furious at the other out of hurt. (see also: Castle at the end of season 4)

A+ Comic Relief Laughing for 1 million years at Clem hopping off the exam table pantsless while all the men in the vicinity double take and look away* (except for Sam, whom Mitch hilariously whacks on the arm for his impudence, in my favorite sight gag since "Special Consultant") *the fact that Abe also does this, while understandably instinctive and appropriately respectful, is also kind of hilarious given where he just was 

Oh My Darling(s, Sam &) Clementine (who can't make a good shipmanteau to save their life) I don't have enough interest to do it myself, but it sure sounds like the story of how they met would make a pretty great YA novel plot. Anyone who doesn't actually want to spend the month trying to be a paid author need a NaNoWriMo prompt? Particularly someone who likes world-building, because this show leaves things wide open to fill in the details of U.S. society outside New York and the plane. Speaking of which! Did Clem happen to share with him the part of her backstory about being raised as an orphan basically the same way for the same reason? Because that seems like it would decently bond them. I like this parallel. Also update, I am getting a lot fonder of his face, mostly because he shut up and stayed out of the way except when I needed him to chime in to be sweet and supportive of Clementine (or side with her dad about ranking her over the baby on the priority list). He seems like he's really tried/is trying to be a good partner, and I'm impressed that he holds his ground despite a faceful of largely unwarranted hostility from her. I might actually be okay with him being the head of his family, even though up until now my head has danced with visions of Clem raising her baby under Mitch (and Jamie)'s purview and/or roof, Last Man Standing style. (although I guess there's always Reba-style, where both young parents are under that roof) (I realize I'm making a lot of assumptions about everyone's ability to stay alive and/or live a semi-normal life)

Beta Ship 2.0 / My Wonderwall** There's something immensely funny to me about the juxtaposition of Jackson being in his Brooding Cave Of Isolated Despair while Tessa is in a brightly ilt location, in the middle of the hustle and bustle and basically being like, "Buck up and stop being so melodramatic." (Jackson: The prophecies have spoken. Food turns to dust in my mouth. A great wave shall fall upon us all. // Tessa: is your plane out of groceries again?) But on a serious note, I love so much that he's thisclose to broken until she pulls him out of it that I'm not even gonna whine about him asking Tessa to do the same thing he's punishing Jamie for. Though in his defense, he did say "stop" her and not "kill her,” which is an important distinction for him. **My friend once wrote a Jim/Pam (The Office) parody of Jim/Pam stories using this title, and that is at least 50% of why I can't take this song seriously even though I actually have always loved it. 

I Don't Know What To Do My Whole Brain is Celebrating "How do you know the name of Jamie's scorpion?" "Because my son and Jamie have, uh, very lively pillow talk."** !!!!!!!!!! NO BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

The fact that Abe pipes up despite a sucking chest wound just so he can help take the mick out of Mitch is glorious. The cranky and ineffectual "shut up" in response is THE BEST. I love that Mitch has just always blatantly refused to publicly acknowledge how he feels about Jamie, despite the fact that everyone and their mother is like,  "Oh yeah, I know Mitch. Snarky scientist, walks around with hearts in his eyes to match the one on his sleeve?" (Mitch, in the distance: I do not LOVE her, okay, I just...miss her when she's not around, think about her all the time, and I imagine us one day running towards each other in slow motion and I'm wearing a brown suede vest.) I doubly appreciate this exchange because I was wondering when the hell these people actually sleep and I was getting worried there was no recognizable place in canon that they might have both had a chance to go to bed at the same time. **This writer could not have more clearly been flagging us with a fic prompt. Max Morgan, Love Doctor My very favorite of the small moments in this ep is Max insisting that Mitch let him patch him up. I was all on board for some serious injury, but I loved the subversion of his attention being caught by the scars I thought the show had forgotten about instead. "Oh, Mitch."

That just kills me. I want to unpack their relationship right here so much more, but also, it's 7pm on the night of new Zoo. Suffice to say Mitch isn't the only parent who suffers over the thought of his kid being in pain tonight, and that's beautiful. And gosh do I love him quietly, individually, nudging Mitch and Jamie back towards each other. The promise that Mitch will understand eventually was an immediate balm upon my soul. If Max says a thing about my ship, it must be true! Mitch + Being A Mess of Emotions About His Daughter (if anyone wanted to make a gifset off of this theme I would not be opposed) Words cannot express how thrilled I am that Mitch gives zero bothers about Sam's baby daddy rights and takes up prime positioning to stroke Clementine's hair nonstop throughout the whole labor,* even stealing the requisite final "you can do this" encouragement. He also gets to be the first one to hold the baby and it's amazing.

* and makes some pretty wonderful faces over how hard it is to see her in pain and not be able to do anything about it -- and remind me I've got either some meta or a story scrap about how this is what Audra was on the front lines for all those years he selfishly hid away, telling himself it was for the best P.S. As much as I love that Mitch just falls apart in full Worried Dad mode and can't seem to process a single medical term or physical symptom as it pertains to pregnancy, you know that if Abe weren't a sex doctor and the writers weren't butts, Mitch would absolutely be whipping out the stethoscopes and telling us all about the time he delivered a baby gorilla so this is basically the same thing -- I imagine Clem would take loud offense here -- while roping in Jamie as a delivery nurse to follow his instructions to the letter (because there are some things fathers just should not do no matter how brilliant they are). Things I would like to know Why Mitch -- who apparently had a through and through -- is the only one whose gunshot wound is still bothering him Why Clementine didn't once ask where Jamie was. (at which point I'd really like to see Mitch try and explain that one.)

It is straight up ridiculous to me that 19-year-old girl in labor, surrounded by men, would not want a woman with her, particularly one she loves. This is the most "what...man...[wrote] this" moment I have ever had about TV.

Did I just miss it, or is it kinda weird that Sam doesn't bat an eye upon finding out Charles Duncan is actually a different person and his girlfriend's father? 

Leftover Thoughts

This show is so nuts, I am just now realizing I didn't even stop to wonder how the hell Abigail reanimated herself last week before now.

Mitch being a testy bitch @ Abe is a thing that just does not get old. ("You put hybrid goo in my daughter? Was that not worth a little chat?")

Aww @ Mitch's mini pep-talk about being a good parent, followed by the "OK time to go" and the sweet "I'm having this baby?" / "You are having this baby."

I also really enjoy Mitch deciding to be cranky about Sam just because he's there and he can. It's kinda like sniping at Logan, but more fun and with way better reasons. (Which I hope is exactly what Mitch says when Clementine inevitably tells him to knock it off)

"Goodbye frequent flyer miles" lmao

I love that instead of shutting down the beacon by cutting the wire, they multiplied its effect by a thousand and destroyed a city, to which the response is basically, "Whoops."

"You've been good for my son. Take care of him for me." So I LOVE THIS, but also: dammit Max that is not what "die for our ship" means.

But I love the moment where Jamie and Max, individually, hear the baby crying. The joy dawning on their faces is so pure it actually makes it worthwhile that they're not present at the birth itself.

(I know we're especially mad about Jamie. But honestly, if it means All Mitch All The Time, that's an OK trade to me.)

tl;dr if something is not mentioned please assume I loved it

COMING SOON:

(will be links shortly) Mini essays analyzing Jamie V. Jackson, Mitch/Jamie and Max's death.

In conclusion: I spent my entire night writing this, but it was worth it. Future Me is gonna love looking back.

[theclacks]

Buffy (Season 5) & Angel (Season 2) Thoughts

So, I was watching these at a pretty slow pace... and then Fool For Love happened. And I went from watching approx 1 episodes a day to 5 episodes a day.

As always thoughts below the cut. (Previous thoughts: Buffy 1 & 2, Buffy 3, Buffy 4 & Angel 1). 

Buffy - Season 5

On how it compares with past seasons...

So, season 2 is STILL my all time favorite. I did like season 5 over both season 3 AND season 4 though, which is probably because of totally because of Spike. But at the same time, I don’t think it can be disconnected from season 4. Like season 5 is really the second half of season 4. Xander finding his place in society is directly linked to his issues of being a basement bum in season 4. Giles becoming the Magic Box’s owner is directly linked to his issues with being unemployed in season 4. Riley’s issues with being Riley is... well, because he’s Riley but yeah.

On Riley...

Going to get him out of the way, so I can talk about other things. I like that their relationship fell apart naturally over the course of several episodes. And I think it was a good tie that Spike was the one who “caused” it because, like The Yoko Factor last season, it was him “causing” rifts that were really already there. (And in this case didn’t even “cause” it so much as play delivery boy.)

I’ve been reading some fanfic in between eps, and so much of it (in fics where Riley’s involved) includes lines to the general tune of “Buffy never REALLY liked Riley” or “Riley rarely ever gave Buffy orgasms” and I think that’s unfair because Riley was a nice guy. And I appreciate the writers tried her out in a relationship like that because sometimes relationships aren’t this grand life-or-death emotional cocktail. Sometimes one party’s just a little bit more in love with one side than the other. Sometimes they have miscommunication issues. Sometimes that’s enough. And sometimes it isn’t.

On Dawn...

I liked her. I thought she was going to be annoying, but I liked her. Maybe it’s the younger sister in me. I loved her buddy-buddy relationship with Spike. I liked her whole backstory and status as the key, which I had no idea/prior knowledge about going it. In fact, before I started watching, I knew Buffy eventually got a sister, but I assumed it was some divorce thing and Joyce eventually got full custody or something. Then as I started watching the show, I knew that couldn’t be the case, and for the first four seasons I was theorizing between long lost sibling, Joyce suddenly has a baby and the baby gets stuck in a time loop or demon dimension until it reaches middle school age, etc, so it was kind of cool having all of that play out.

On Anya and Giles...

I just want to give a little shout out to them because other than Dawn & Spike, theirs was my favorite unexpected relationship. I like how their development both paired and contrasted Buffy & Giles, how the writers balanced the fatherly aspect of Giles with the more short-tempered, professional boss aspect.

On Ben/Glory...

I think they could’ve done a bit more with the Ben side of Ben and Glory. I liked the development he got at the end and how he ultimately picked Glory’s side without fully picking it, and I loved how Giles tossed aside the “hero” mantra and ended him, but yeah. I just feel like there could’ve been a bit “more” even when I don’t know what that “more” is.

As for Glory, I love her. And even though I get from Glory’s end why her appearances were scattered throughout the year (being literally scatterbrained and all) but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense why Buffy waited until after Dawn had been kidnapped to try and take her out. Like, yes, Buffy was scared and had to be backed into a corner (and Willow-pep-talked out of it), but their main attack plan revolved around having the God-forged hammer and the golden orb thing. THEY HAD THE GOLDEN ORB THING THE ENTIRE TIME. THEY KNEW IT HAD GLORY-REPELLING POWERS. WHY WERE THEY LETTING THE ORB CHILL IN THE BASEMENT THIS WHOLE TIME? I mean, and considering the fact the orb only stopped her for a couple seconds, narratively, they could’ve used it earlier. I kind of wish there’d been a mid-season episode where they tried to launch a full attack with the orb and what not, and failed and almost got Dawn discovered/killed, and THEN they could’ve been like “welp, we tried a full attack and exhausted our god-repelling items, okay, NOW let’s go into avoidance mode.” IDK, this is me. Backseat writing. Because I think that was the one main issue for me this season that could’ve taken the overarching plot from good to great.

On Joyce...

The Body was an amazing episode. I didn’t even realize until I was reading AV Club’s recap/review of it that there was no background music during the whole thing. And I was still riveted. I think one of my favorite bits of the entire season, perhaps the entire series, is when Willow is freaking out over her blue sweater and Anya - who’s missed the majority of the freak out - ends up sitting on it and stuffing it back into the closest drawer. It was such an understated moment, and while watching I wanted Tara or Xander to notice, or for Willow to check her drawers one last time, but then she would have her sweater and things would be okay... except they wouldn’t be because Joyce is still dead and something as small as a sweater doesn’t matter at all in the long run.

And Joyce is another reason why I’m glad that Dawn became a thing this season because it gave her more screen time. Lack of Joyce-screen time was probably one of my least favorite things about season four. I mean, it made sense because of college and independence and all of that, but I don’t care. I love Joyce. I like having her on my screen. And I will miss her.

On Spike...

HELLO NEW FAVORITE EPISODE IN THE FORM OF FOOL FOR LOVE. But before I get into that, let’s have a moment of silence for the glorious friendship that was Spike/Joyce. From shared relationship-talk over marshmallows and chocolate to geekish fangirling over the soap opera passions, they were and forever will be, my Buffy BroTP. I’m so happy that the writers gave him a small scene where he showed up with flowers for Joyce because I would’ve needed closure. (*shakes a fist angrily at Steven Moffat for writing off Amy and Rory without a filmed canon scene of saying goodbye to Rory’s dad*)

But yeah. Fool For Love aka MY DEMAND FOR A SPIKE FLASHBACK EPISODE IN SEASON THREE WAS RETROACTIVELY MET. And it was awesome. Spike as a repressed poet was amazing, and what makes it even better is that I was reading a fanfic last month and got spoiled for that detail, but the fanfic was just off enough with its dialogue and characterization and the idea of Spike as a bloody awful poet was so ridiculous that I tossed the detail aside as fluffy, silly head canon. Also did I miss/misinterpret some dialogue in season 2? Because I could’ve sworn in season 2 that Dru and Spike were vamp-siblings with Angel being their mutual sire. But I’m totally fine with it being this way too.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the Buffy/Spike relationship in this season, but I won’t because I want to wrap this up and start season 6, so I’ll just say:

- favorite bit of James Marsters acting, beyond the end of Fool For Love with him in the alley with Buffy’s cash and beyond the end of Gift with him outright sobbing, would be his bit at the end of Crush where he realizes Buffy has dis-invited him from her house; I think I rewatched that bit 3+ times because the betrayal and hurt in his eyes is just so good

- also re: the end of Crush, I love how his hurt stems not just from Buffy shutting him out, but him getting shut out from the whole Summers family because at that point he’s friends with Joyce, he’s friends with Dawn, he wants to be a part of their family... which I think really ties into the flashback bits of Fool For Love too; the night in Shanghai was the best night of his life, not just because he killed a slayer, but because he had his whole family to revel in the chaos with; saying it right here, right now, screwing being on Team Angel or Team Spike, I am firmly in TEAM GIVE SPIKE A FAMILY

- I love how in the entire season, there was only one Buffy/Spike kiss and it was a chaste one at that; I love how Spike’s development was one from conditional love (say you love me and I’ll spike Dru, say you love me or I’ll get a buffybot who HAS to love me) to unconditional love (I know you don’t love me and you won’t ever love me, but that’s okay). I think it was important that Spike not get “rewarded” for slowly changing sides

- also the buffybot, I thought it was going to be a terrible, awkward episode but it ended up being one of my favorites in the season; i mean, it was still awkward in spots (as buffy said, “gross and obscene”) but the buffybot was just too plain funny for the awkwardness to stick long; the bits where the buffybot asks Anya about her money and starts listing off insults about Angel had me bursting out in laughter; especially the Angel insults because I could just imagine with Spike and a pad of paper in his crypt, scrawling them down like, “YEAH. AND HIS HAIR. GRANDSIRE HAS STUPID, SPIKY HAIR”

- so... with Buffy (temporarily) gone, is Spike just going to hang around Sunnydale? he’s the main vamp killer, so is he going to be the vampire slayer in order to help protect Dawn (aka Buffy’s legacy)? will he and Dawn hang out because they’re still bros and they both miss Buffy and don’t have any other family? I JUST WANT SPIKE AND DAWN TO BE BROS LIKE SPIKE AND JOYCE WERE BROS. THEY CAN GO WATCH EPISODES OF PASSION TOGETHER AND LAUGH AND CRY AND BOND. THIS IS ALL I WANT FROM SEASON 6, JOSS. IT’S ALL I WANT.

On miscellaneousness...

- Anya is officially my favorite character on Buffy after Spike. When I whole bunch of rubble fell on her at the end of the Gift I temporarily stopped breathing because I was just like “NOT ANYA. SHE CANNOT DIE. NO, NOT ANYA. NO.”

- Joel Grey as a demon, yay emcee from Cabaret

- before I started watching Buffy, I, like the buffybot, also thought Giles’ name was pronounced with a hard-G

- so... with Giles still alive, I’m starting to get pleasantly confused. At the beginning of season three, I posted this list of stuff I got pre-spoilered for before I started watching the show. But now I’m starting to wonder if Giles actually dies. Because I thought I remembered something about him dying in season five, or like stuff about a dying scene... except now I’m thinking that the “dying scene” was actually talking about a “dying” scene. Like dying but not ACTUALLY dead. Because I think it was the one that happens at the end of the season with him impaled... which would mean Giles doesn’t die. I think I might’ve gotten a schroedinger spoiler

Angel - Season 2

On the Darla arc...

I thought I would hate this arc, and I half-did. I hated the whole start of it with Darla in his dreams and Angel distancing himself from his crew via restlessness/extensive sleeping. I loved everything after they ended up meeting in real life, from her coming to grips with her humanity to becoming a vampire again with a bit confusion, to her slipping fully back down the darkside. It helped that Dru was there. I was starting to think that Dru would only ever appear in flashbacks again. I love Dru

On the post-Darla arc...

I really kind of hated this arc. I get what the show was trying to do, showing Wesley, Gunn, and Cordelia coming into their own WITHOUT Angel (among other things), but the Angel episodes with just Angel were so borrrrrrrring. (With the exception of the Angel/Lorne episode. That was awesome. Lorne in general is awesome. He’s my favorite Angel character after Cordelia.) They’d show W/G/C fighting a fire-breathing monster or solving a murder mystery clue style for 5 minutes and it was awful because I’m like “no, stop cutting back to Angel, THAT’S the show I want to be watching right now.” And because of the short screen time, I felt there was less W/G/C teamship than there was Wesley and Gunn becoming closer bros with Cordelia getting shafted. Cordelia, I felt, got shafted a lot in this season with the except of the finale, which speaking of...

On the Pylea finale...

OH MY GOD I LOVED THESE EPISODES SO MUCH. Like they were definitely silly in spots but I LOVE silly and the whole off-world aspect reminded me of Stargate in all the best ways. I want to print these episodes off somewhere and frame them. (NUMFAR! DO THE DANCE OF JOY!). And Cordelia got so much focus that I actually got pretty dang worried towards the end that these would be her send off episodes, that she’d choose to or be forced to stay behind and be princess of a demon dimension. (Which would’ve been an awesome send off, ngl.) If Angel ends up moving in a direction more like that, I’m going to be super stoked because while a lot of this season was objectively “good”, it didn’t pull me into watching it like Buffy season 5 did.

Also the finale made me realize, just how much I want to see more of happy!Angel. His whole bits with the sunlight and the mirrors were puppy-endearing, comedy gold (”There’s some branches over in that patch of sun. I’ll get ‘em!”). :D 

On Lorne...

Lorne is my perfect man. He loves music, he’s at inner peace with himself and helps the inner peace of others, and his wardrobe is fabulous. The fakeout with his death was terrible... and then awesome as soon as his eyes popped back open. You guys have no idea how scared I was in the Pylea finale, that I might’ve been about to lose BOTH of my favorite characters.

Which, by the way, I’m starting to think that’s one of the reasons why I don’t love season 3 of Buffy quite the way that others do. Spike and Cordelia are my two favorite characters; Spike wasn’t in season 3 and Cordelia got largely shafted after Xander broke up with her.

On Lindsey...

He’s a bro. I’m hoping we see more of him... but also not because he seems to be in a good place and if he pops up again, he probably won’t be in a good place anymore.

On what I hope for going into Season 3...

- more team bonding

- more team bonding

- more team bonding

- Cordelia being awesome

- more Cordelia/Angel friendship moments because theirs is a beautiful friendship

- more team bonding

[itkmoonknight]

ITK Newsletter, no. CI: MOON & STARS - MOON FILM REVIEW! YTMCU Moon Knight Part 2

Hide-ly Ho Looner-inos!

It's another week of glorious Khonshu goodness and what do we have for you!...Wait, is that a question?...or is it a statement?...Not a good way to kick off...

ANYWAY - this week if you look up into the night sky and see the wondrous eye that is Khonshu's, you'll note that it be full and like a dish...or an orb...or a stencilled bit of blue cheese. Yes, it's a full moon which means we'll be talking about films in our segment of MOON & STARS - 

PHASE OF THE MOON: FULL MOON

MOON KNIGHT, CHAPTER 2 (YTMCU)

Joining me on this zany adventure will be two special guests, hailing all the way from the east side of the United States of America - the director, writer, actor Alex Looman, as well as one of the cast from the featured fan film, Dalton Gould.

We'll have a chat about the fan film, the experiences making it and where Alex and the gang see themselves being taken on their next project...should be a fun chat!

DISCUSSION THREAD

I'll post up a thread on our ITK community platforms and will link Alex's fan film for you to peruse and to let us know your thoughts! Please note that the YTMCU films are fan films and are made for the love of the characters...I've got to give Alex and his crew massive respect for the hard work they put in into producing a fully blown piece of cinema...It would be great to hear what you think, but please don't be overly critical or rude in any way...

If you DON'T want your comments broadcast, please just add, "(DNB)" at the end of your comment, and we'll be sure not to broadcast it. We'll pick a few comments from here and discuss on the show!

If you aren't really a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram person, you can always reach us on any of the other platforms below - 

Email: itkmoonknight@gmail.com

Podcast Page: http://intotheknight.libsyn.com

Facebook Page: Into the Knight - A Moon Knight Podcast

Facebook Group: Into the Knight - A Moon Knight Fan Base

Twitter: @ITKmoonknight

Discord ITK Server: ITK Server

We love hearing from you and typically your comments generate thought provoking discussion on the show and allows us to dive deeper into the issues - don't hesitate to give it a go!

THE HUNT FOR KHONSHU'S GOLDEN SCEPTRE 

  Further to our chat with YTMCU, we'll also have a little production of our own to tout...

Yes, it's back! I've finally finished editing Episode 4 (i.e Part Quatrieme) for our ITK Serial and look forward to dropping it into our next show!

This episode titled, 'CHAD'S HEAVENLY DELIGHTS', we take a look at The Power of Chad who has been sent off into the Othervoid yet again to see if he can track down Khonshu's Golden Sceptre. Needless to say, he doesn't find it, but he does run across some very heavenly creatures who give him some information which could crack this whole serial wide open!

If you need a refresher on the story so far, please don't hesitate to re-listen to our Parts Un, Deuxieme and Trois readily available on all podcast catchers.

As always, a little bit later (around Thursday) I'll drop the Serial episode as a stand alone podcast episode, so you can listen and re-listen...or create a playlist with all the episodes so far and listen to it in one big chunk! There's a long way to go with the story yet, but the intent is to create one full length feature which will our communities first effort at a full on story production!

GUEST APPEARANCES

Apart from Into the Knight, I'll also be jumping around to a few other shows to spread the good word of Khonshu -

This Friday, I'll be on the Quantum Zone (YAYYYY! A dream of mine...) to chat all things Quasar with Phil, Will and Matt...We'll be looking at What If..? Vol. 2 #25 as well, and we'll also be doing a voice over reading of the comic, so it should be fun! The episode itself should drop in a couple of weeks...will let you know when it does..

As a response to Phil's ambushing of our show last week, I also managed to drop into their show impromptu-like on their Capes & Lunatics - Pennyworth Episode 3 review with little Finn... keep an eye out yet - it should drop on Thursday!

This Sunday Dave Finn and I will also be returning to talk Predator in Part 2 of the Retrospective of 20th Century Geek. The episode will drop in a couple of weeks after that, but you can still catch Part 1 on the 20th Century Geek Podcast out now...

As mentioned last week, I also make an appearance on the Signal of Doom Podcast Ep 126...it was heaps of fun, and I urge you to check it out as Dave and I throw caution to the wind and let fly!

  ITK MERCHANDISE TO SPRUCE AROUND...

Finally, don't forget our limited edition print! You can find that design and our standard ITK logo print at,

ITK Store Front @ TeePublic

That's about it for this week! Hope you have a good rest of the week and as always...

  May Khonshu Watch Over the Denizens of the (K)Night,

Rey

Proud Member of The Collective

  Check out this episode!