#ep 5 shows us enough what went on

[handfulofmuses]

I think about that "family picture" a lot and how uncomfortable J looks in this

[thoughtsonkm]

Hot spring buddies

It was a perfect balance of a fun episode but with a lot of domesticity and quirks and all around softness. Their day to day life when they finally found some free time is truly so peaceful and harmonious. They're just attuned to each other. Mischievousness and teasing is always present, they just can't get enough of having fun together.

Where?! Who?! You been where?! With who?!

JK was like: "Excuse me? You went with MY friends? Not ME? What am I chopped liver? 7 years ago you say? OK FINE

GODDAMMIT it's criminal to not do a original song together! It's criminal to not do an album together! Criminal offense! Judge lock em' up!

And Jimin lulling Jungkook to sleep..ah that angel voice 🥹

~

"This is our last moment of relaxation" - JK 😭 😭 (I know everything going on was looming on their minds obviously but their hunger to enjoy and live to the fullest until the last minute makes me emo)

~

NAH the damn haircut 😂 The way he has perfected the boba ball cut. The juxtaposition of his face/hair with his body is so funyyyy.

*Going to the hair stylist* JK: so.. I did a thing Stylist: fuck, okay let me think, I CAN FIX THIS

~

He brought his cards cause he wanted to play only with Jimin since CT. Why do they have to be so adorable about these little supposedly insignificant details 😭

~

Look at us. Look how far we've come. Who would've thought?

Okay testosterone calm down, OR DON'T (This was low-key hilarious af tho tbh)

I saw ppl hyperventilating because they were suddenly showing too much (Jimin I'm looking at you) but more than that I think it's nice that they were so relaxed and in their own world, so much so, that they didn't really think much about their every movement.

But also they need to stop with the moaning and grouting every 2 sec tho. Like I get it but? cmon

~

Sorry but I live for the little funny details like Jungkook drenching the sea urchin in soy sauce and then putting it in vegetable soup to salvage it.

~

As if you can deny this face anything??

Cause you know there's AYS stash but there's a personal stash too obviously.

Oh twin beds? Let us start our lights foreplay

Jungkook's semi romantic struggles continue. Feed yo man Jimin pls!

The whole ski part of the episode looked so fun. I'm sure they had a blast. This is officially the best activity they've tried during this series.

It was so adorable them continuously falling and getting up. Even the crew kept on falling. The snow must've been so thick.

Snow angel

~

What in the meta shit is happening next week? I'm not ready to see them react to themselves. In the last episode to the first two episodes? Oh they're out for blood. And I know they're not gonna show what we want to see (ASS SLAP) but still those 5 minutes should be fun.

I wish sapporo would last forever. Weeks passed by so quickly. Why is it only one episode left? And then we're never seeing them again until next year (at least we have hobis discharge and the bts eps)

[bogunicorn]

I think it says a lot about the shitty way queer people are treated that my reaction to the extremely obvious Cressida/Eloise chemistry this season is paranoia and suspicion rather than just seeing something with my eyes and trusting that that is, in fact, what I am seeing.

Cressida is obviously being set up to marry Debling to avoid being forced into a marriage set by her father, and characters won't stop reminding the audience that Debling is going to immediately disappear for years after the season and leave his wife to run his estate and live whatever life she wants while he's away. Violet has consciously given up trying to encourage Eloise to find a husband, and instead their conversations are about how Eloise needs a friend other than Cressida. They use the same language that the hetero couples use (Cressida calling Eloise not wanting her friendship earlier as "rejecting my suit," Eloise calling on Cressida the way a male suitor would, seeking each other out anytime they're at a shared function), and Cressida's father warning her to stay away from Eloise is straight out of the coming-of-age queer romances I read as a teenager. It's shot like a romance. If they went full Tipping the Velvet in ep 5, I wouldn't be at all surprised. The showrunner is also a gay man whom I would hope isn't stupid enough to be writing them like this "by accident."

It's also really clear this season that the writers have been listening to the show's reception and answering critiques in-universe. It can be a little obvious, but I don't think any of it is mockery or pandering. Violet is genuinely more helpful instead of pushing her kids into situations, Danbury and Charlotte talked about how the "season diamond" thing is Whistledown's terminology rather than the actual title of the role, Kanthony gets ep 1 spotlight and an actual explanation for why they're not around unlike Daphne and Simon, Eloise has been allowed to grow instead of being pigeonholed as the humorless obnoxious SJW. It would make sense to me that they would have also paid attention to the conversation about Benedict possibly being bisexual and realized that viewers would be accepting of and even enjoy Eloise being bisexual in the main text.

I'm getting into pure speculation here, but I also don't think thos production team expects to get the full 8 seasons. Netflix just doesn't produce dramas that go that long. My speculation is that they more or less have the greenlight for season 4 and MAYBE season 5. 4 is obviously going to be Benedict and Sophie, and my suspicion is that they have 5 earmarked for Francesca, since IIRC in her book she's a widow and s3 has her meeting her husband. They've done basically nothing with Sir Phillip and seemed to have put a bow on Marina's storyline in a way that I think would make it jarring to have them circle back to her and be like "she's dead now and this nothingburger husband is going to hook up with Eloise." They had chances, limited as they were, to have Philip make a memorable impression or have some foreshadowing between him and Eloise for the future and didn't even bother with lip service. I don't think THEY think they'll even get to Eloise's season.

Again, that's entirely speculation based on my gut feeling. But my point is that the show has put itself into a position where I think only the most diehard book fans would complain if Eloise's big love interest is a woman, and the show obviously gave up on catering to book accuracy ages ago.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I've been thinking about the pacing this season, and I think a lot of the issues with telling instead of showing we've been noticing come down to two big factors.

ALL the episodes this season are sticking very strictly to 30 minutes or less. Most of s1 did that, too, to be fair, but some of the most important episodes - 4, 8, and 10 - are all closer to 35 minutes. It doesn't sound like a lot but that's extra breathing room that we're not getting now, it means some things that were almost important enough to make the cut had to get chopped. We're probably missing a lot of little lines that would've rounded things out because the writers had to bank on us getting it from context.

I wouldn't be surprised if the writers went in expecting a 10 episode second season and Max hit them with cutting down to 8 eps, or they had to make the hard choice to save as much money as possible to increse the odds of getting renewed and decided to cut it to 8 themselves. Either way, I definitely think they'd planned on 10 episodes and because of that some things feel rushed; it's really starting to show in ep 7 and I think that's because they just haven't had the space to set things up they thought they'd get.

I really think that we're missing an episode here, and I'm pretty sure it would've gone between 5 and 6. That would've been the logical place to let Ed and Stede's relationship breathe a bit between their second kiss and having sex in 6, and it would've been the right spot to wrap up some lose plotlines (when did Ed get off probation? How does he feel about it? The crew seem so much more comfortable with him in 6, does that make him feel safer and more loved?) and forshadow what's coming up (literally just one line with Olu feeling bad about what happened with Zheng Yi Sao would've made that so much less jarring).

On the whole, I genuinely think the writing this season has been smart and efficient, but not to the same standard as season 1 (which, to be fair, was a very high standard, but still). And I really think the things that matter (Ed and Stede's arcs) are largely done very well.

But it has still been so obvious that they tried to make this season as cheap and palatable for Max to produce as possible. I really hope it pays off. I think it will - like I said, I think the writers always managed to keep sight of what matters, and that's Ed and Stede's story. And I'm grateful that, despite trying to make this show an easy one for Max to make the decision to renew, they didn't compromise on the queerness.

But it stings. You know any other show that's so successful and has not only such a devoted fanbase but such a deeply invested cast and crew would've been renewed a long damn time ago. I am so, so happy we got s2, and I've loved it, really I have, but I'm still a bit sad thinking about what we could've had.

[heartofbusan]

Finally.

As we hit the halfway point of AYS, I've been wondering about the overall story arc. What part of the story is the one that floats over the entire narrative? To me, it is also the story that is the most sensory one, the one thing about AYS that touches me and sets my mind off of these tangents.

I'll give you a clue:

It's them. Their interactions.

The way jikook as a pair kicked off this journey was a contentious one. We all remember the first episode and the talk they had. There are many reasons, from the editing to the self censoring jikook do in front of the camera that have led to #TheCarScene making the audience feel either uncomfortable or made them sit at the edge of their seat. Hanging off of every word (and translation). There is both a lot happening and not enough. But not many can say that scene left them unmoved. I like that! That means that the audience is engaged! It pulls us in. Especially those of us who love to observe human communication. Yet, now we long to move on from the discomfort that interaction sparked. We long for catharsis. To feel that the conversation they had isn't just hanging there balancing them on a precipice, but that it will be OK for them in the end.

Jungkook’s "Finally" went a long way to guide us to such a resolution, but to me, his relieved exclaim is just the beginning. This, to me, is what the entire show portends to be about.

How does that 'Finally' look like throughout the 8 episodes? How will we look back on that 'Finally' once we've seen them all?

Like I said, we're at the halfway point (already 😭), episode 4, and where is that on-screen relationship building towards? What kind of 'beats' does the story NEED to hit in order to come to a satisfying conclusion within the shows narrative? How does the show earn that 'Finally'?

Sure, Are You Sure is a 'travel-vlog-mukbang-buddy-cop-show', but it's also the story of two seemingly estranged best friends/lovers who've been incredibly busy and who've taken it upon themselves to carve out time to be at ease together. If we look at their busy schedules as being in the way of them being THEM, then the most important goal of AYS is to get them back to that state.

Are You Sure is jikook's safe heaven.

If we were to look at all episodes as a way to work towards that hypothetical goal (Jikook back on the same wavelength) then the story beats per episode look a little like this.

Ep. 1: Two friends embark on road-trip, they've missed eo and want to do fun things together. Lot's of eating.

Ep. 2: Even short term illness can't keep them from sightseeing and eating, more warming up together: spanking in bed edition

Ep. 3: Surprise guest! Cut the camera's: the duo take a pause on domesticity and play games as a trio.

Ep. 4: The duo is the core of the story, pick up where they left off: re-kindling. They make beautiful moments together.

Ep. 5: I expect another conversation about their desire to spend meaningful time together 'Deep talk phase 01'. New location?

Ep. 6: New location but treasured memories pop-up from their first Tokyo trip. What does the future for this duo look like (the military service talk?) aka 'Deep talk phase 02'.

Ep. 7: Level-up: fun snow time activities?!

Ep. 8: More deep talk, 'Phase 03' that cements this duo as utterly and completely besotted with eo. They either talk about their joint enlistment or about traveling after MS...maybe both.

How do you think the next episodes will play out if we think of each episode as building towards a satisfying conclusion?

[telomeke]

4 MINUTES – WILD ASS THEORY INCOMING

OK, there are so many theories about 4 Minutes floating around (including a couple of my own already out there). And now I'm adding another one to the mix, just for good measure. 🤣

But I really think there's something in this. Please bear with me...

This train of thought was sparked by the ending of Ep.4, when we saw Dome recovering fully in the hospital, cheerfully taking a taxi back home, and then (when he arrived) calling out to Ton Kla, who heard him.

But Dome then disappeared. And we were shown his cremation ashes instead.

OK listen, hear me out.

That was Dome all right, but it was his ghost that we saw returning home from the hospital, wearing white and blissfully unaware that he was already dead.

I think what 4 Minutes has been showing us thus far is an interplay, not so much of different timelines, but rather the different experiences of the living, the dead and those still in the Four-Minute Zone (who are caught between these two worlds in the four minutes from corporeal death to cessation of brain activity).

And we're not always being shown their experiences in chronological order, hence the confusing storylines for different characters that don't quite gel with each other's.

Anyway, that's why they're making such a big deal about the black and white:

When we see characters wearing white (as Dome was in his happy Ep.4 taxi ride home) there's a high chance that they're actually ghosts, re-living past experiences and re-visiting the what-ifs in their past lives had they chosen their paths (or had their paths been chosen for them) differently.

They don't know they're dead; they just know that reality has changed into a multi-pronged set of choices that they get to re-visit.

The people in black are most likely those who are in the Four-Minute Zone between life and death. And the people in normal clothing (prints, other colors) are those still in the realm of the living.

The ghosts (an idea also suggested by the 13:13 on Manee's hospital clock in Ep.1, see this write-up linked here) aren't usually visible in the real world, but they are visible to those in the Four-Minute Zone and can interact with them.

This is supported by Den's interviewee in Ep.1, who said she was surrounded by people in white during her own experience of consciousness after cardiac arrest.

As the ghosts aren't aware that they're dead, everything seems real enough to them. But then they also get to visit different realities and different outcomes (including being thrust four minutes back into the past to re-do things – and you probably know where this is going).

OK, so this also means (sadly) that:

Great is already dead (and so is his mom) – Great is always in white, and his mom was too at their Ep.5 shootout. The re-living past experiences and experimenting with different outcomes is something the ghosts get to do, and we see Great doing this all the time in 4 Minutes.

Korn is sometimes in white – this is his ghost re-living experiences after he was killed by Ton Kla (c'mon, you know death by Ton Kla was always going to be on the cards for him). He's also sometimes in black – that would be him when he was in the Four-Minute Zone, prior to his death and entry into the spirit world.

Lukwa is already dead; she's been recounting her experiences with the four-minute rewind to Den. This is also why she could meet Great in the Four-Minute Waiting Room for spirits (while both were dressed in white, BTW).

Win is also dead; when he went to stay with Ton Kla to "protect" him in Ep.4 (who does that?) he was wearing white, and this was probably just his ghost seeking out Ton Kla, as he did when he was still alive. Win was also in black in a couple of scenes, which were probably him re-living past memories in the Four-Minute Zone. I guess he really was killed by Ton Kla.

Tyme is still in the Four-Minute Zone, re-treading his tracks, and interacting with Great in spirit. Tyme is probably going to get sent back (which is what the corridor and the light-filled doorway of the trailer is signaling) while Great cannot, because he's already passed into the spirit realm. So it's Tyme who's using his four minutes to review his life up until the moment he was shot, and also to interact with Great one last time. And that four-minute countdown Great keeps seeing is simply a marker of the interlude that he gets to spend with Tyme before they are separated again.

Sweet-faced Ton Kla ("I've seen many murders" – girl, what were you doing at the devil's sacrament?) is a serial killer of some sort, and he probably killed Title and Win, just as he did his cat. And Korn is in his sights as well.

Ton Kla is one of the few living souls who can sense the dead (he sensed Dome's ghost in Ep.4, and he also saw the ghost of his dead black cat in Ep.1). So it's possible he was actually humping Win's ghost in Ep.4 (though I'd rather think it was just Win's ghost re-imagining another scenario).

Den is probably another human soul (unless he's also dead) who can not only sense the departed but also interact with them – his nonplussed reaction to Lukwa when she came in for an interview in Ep.1 wasn't just because of her beauty (she is so pretty isn't she? I have a bit of a crush going on) but because he could also tell she was a ghost, not a living human.

There you go. Have I taken it too far with my theories again? I'm hoping against hope that I'm wrong, and that Great and Tyme will have a happy ending after all.

But I'm not counting on it... 😥

P.S. This may be just a coincidence, but the broadcast schedule of 4 Minutes (26 July 2024 to 13 September 2024) very neatly encapsulates the Thai-Chinese Ghost Festival (wan saat jeen/วันสารทจีน) that runs during the seventh lunar month from 4 August to 2 September this year. In Chinese belief, ghosts are given free rein to roam the world of the living throughout this month, and I'm thinking that (if my theory holds true) 4 Minutes must have timed its release to coincide specifically for the additional spook factor. 😵

P.P.S. There are other visual and cultural hints embedded within 4 Minutes that align with the theory above – my write-up is linked here, if you'd like to read more:

‌

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - A Lot Ended, Quite Bit Started, I got things to say about it all

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Nov 2023 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) 3 of 8 - This is just a great BL. So fun with few frills and paced nicely. Thai talent + Korean story is proving very harmonious for narrative flow. I’m delighted. I love that they don’t shy away from letting Tew be an actual violent criminal who is just gone and mushy for this one geeky cutie. Also I appreciate it when a show hangs a lantern on its own plot failing. In this case, the main character being drunk as a plot devise 2x in subsequent eps.

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 2 of 10 - Love it. Love Spite and his chronic guilt over his younger brother, the golden child. Love that he is driven to repair for a past that no longer exists. Evil mom who cares more for what her son can do than that son, let alone his brother. The volleyball well…. erm. I played varsity (setter) so this is amusing to me but I’m not mad about it. 

I agree that this Not Me just sports and pulp. 

Last Twilight (Fri YT) 1 of 12 - JimmySea are back and is this... good? Do I like this? I don't have faith, GMMTV has been doing us dirty lately. But I think I like it! Why The Little Prince AGAIN? Ugh. 

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI 1 of 8 - Domundi giving us an office comedy hyung romance staring TutorYim (Cutie Pie) with NetJames (Bed Friend) and LeoTai (Friend Forever) providing support. Lets hope they stick to only 8 eps. Buckle up, I got shit talking to type.

I warned ya out the gate that this is a Cheewin comedy, so tonally it could be very OFF, and boy howdy is it EVER off. There's a place this kind of show goes where it's so cringe it's visually rotten and this one went there out that gate. Also, I'm gonna say it because no one else has, Yim is not good in this role. Comedy is HARD to do and Cheewin isn't doing this green actor any favors. He's chewing the scenery like a woodchuck after a diet.

To be fair, Tutor isn't great either, but he's been given less rope to hang himself with. Mai is currently suffering from seme obscurity: the love interest's defining characterization being = tall and handsome. (Which is not characterization... agony... glares at Cdramas.) We will see if he gets a personality, but based on past work form this director and this writer, don't bank on it.

Frankly? I'm not convinced either of them are mature enough as a pair or as actors to carry something this abrasive and to stand up to Cheewin's visual abuse of our eyeballs. I think this is going to be a rocky ride. HOWEVER, because it has tropes I'm good with (as opposed to SCOY) I'm sticking with it for now but this is gonna be ROUGH going for everyone.

Backstory: This used to be a JimmyTommy vehicle before the pair split (also prev title Middle Love). Adapted from a Y-novel. I can actually see Tommy in this role very clearly and I suspect he may have been bettern(and I am more a TutorYim fan as a pair). Also I will likely be referencing SCOY a lot while watching this because SCOY is peak Cheewin nonsense comedy but with an incredibly strong lead pair, so comparisons will be drawn.

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 7 of 12 - Sigh. Linguistic negotiation but for sad reasons? It fascinating but it hurts. Look, the cast is very good I just don’t like the premise.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) The Camp Fire ep 12 of 24 - Well that was extremely odd. I’m not sure how I feel about it. If it hadn’t had the strange framework and horror component and been just a simple BL story I probably would’ve enjoyed it. Why do the pulps always  squander their best pairs? 5/10 New installment (Friends Forever) looks terrible and not BL.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) qp 1 of 8 - House of Stars meets Boyband. I am not impressed. Thailand just needs to leave everything music related to Korea. I’m enacting a ban. The framework on this is truly awful. The talent is not talented in acting let alone dance or song. I thought about sticking with it a few more eps but i putting in on hold. It’s too wooden even for me.

@heretherebedork I depend on you to report back. This is the kind of thing only you can watch. It’s like Cupid 2023. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

A Breeze of Love (Korea iQIYI) 1-2 of 8 - previously know as Weather Forecast Love this one popped up in MDL's currently airing, and I was like, what what? Basically: Tsundere insomniac grump and his sunshine jock ex bestie (human sleeping pill) who now hates him. Basketball is involved and I love it.

It ended, are we sad? REVIEWS

Kiseki: Dear to Me (Taiwan Viki & Gaga)

Yes, we sad! Ai Di and his dumb oversized sweaters and flappy flappy sleeves are EVERYTHING.

Final ep? Nice that the elder gays got screen time, more of this please? Sides dominated this finale, matched outfits and all. Also I’m living for the Bless this Mess shirt. Finally Taiwan gave us lots of biting and a counter lift. It’s like they know me!

Quick pitch for KDTM?  

The plot is totally ridiculous and slightly unhinged, but that’s normal for Taiwan. It involves all the tropes under a very casual framework of gay mafia gangs + food = love. Absolutely every character is queer. There’s a gum-ball machine of cameos, elder gay rep, great chemistry from all pairs, and a KILLER side couple. As a result Kiseki is a poster child for Taiwanese BL, and I happen to love Taiwanese BL. Bonus? They also managed to END IT WELL, which we cannot expect from Taiwan. 9/10 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 

Triggers for knife play, child abuse, lingering trauma. I found both platforms did not do a great job on subs, but I will give the edge to Viki for pure usability.

You Are Mine (Taiwan Viki & Gaga)

We are more disappointed than sad.

Far be it from me to extend this show, but we should’ve had 2 episodes of quality supportive boyfriends coping with family drama before the mom-confrontation climax and defense of the ESTABLISHED relationship. Baby's little speach had no power or impact coming where it did in this narrative, even though it was sweet. And while the make-out scenes were charming it mostly jsut felt like we'd squandered this pair. This last ep was good and rewatchable, but a series cannot be judged on its last ep alone.

Finally... could have used some side dishes. My vote? Lesbian secretaries!

Conclusion 

I am sorry Taiwan, you know I love you, but I have to say it: this show was a mess of terrible pacing. And not a hot mess, sadly. I should have liked everything about this: it’s an office drama, it’s mature characters, it’s grumpy/sunshine, it’s a strong power dynamic, and it’s Taiwan - which means good chemistry. YAM was all those things and yet… something went horribly wrong with the narrative structure. You tried dears, but not hard enough. 7/10 

Bump Up Business (Korea Gaga)

Well, poop. Don’t have them speak English. Also no playing drunk. Meanwhile, all the manipulative gay drama. No kiss of course.

How do I summate this?

An idol group did the best they could with a script tailored to idols but which they were not allowed to fully realize because they are active idols in the same group. Ultimately it felt a bit like OnlyOneOf were just doing one of those Kpop skits for a variety show were two of of them dresses in drag/gay/BL and "ha ha isn't it funny?" I don’t know, it was fine? 6/10

stop wasting my time, Korea

Mr Cinderella 2 (Vietnam YT)

DNF on the advice of several of my BL spies I will not be finishing this. Apparently it pretty much ends sad. Here's an explanation.

It's Airing But...

I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan Tues Netflix-Japan & ????) 8 eps - in classic JBL fashion, I Cannot Reach You could not be reached. I will try it when I have some time and access to my home computer.

One Room Angel (Japan Gaga) 6 eps - adaptation of Harada’s manga (which I did not like) about a clerk who's stabbed, nearly dies, and returns home to find an angel waiting for him. With only 5 eps and a good chance this won’t end happy, I'm gonna wait and let you tell me how it goes.

WAITING FOR VERDICT OR TO BINGE

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until it completes its run.

SHADOW (Thai Gaga) 14eps - this is a horror BL with ghosts & paranormal elements in a boarding school setting. I'm not wild about Thai horror (or horror at all). It features Singto (who did paranormal BL He's Coming to Me) opposite Fluke N (who's done a couple horror's before). Also Fiat. Dan suffers from sleep paralysis, and in his dreams he sees a shadow that suffocates him. It gets worse when he transfers schools. I'm holding off on this one and if told it's good I'll binge watch.

Next Week Looks Like This

11/15 Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo (Japan Gaga) - this BL movie is coming to Gaga.

11/16 PLAYBOYY (Thurs ????) 10 eps - trailer here, high heat and it's helmed by Cheewin (shudder) with screenplay by Den (Only Friends) under Copy A Bangkok. It's gonna be a shizz show people. It's predicting Thai style "dark" (War of Y) one of my least favorites. Apparently there is a "plot" but when has Cheewin ever bothered with plot? A university kid who was involved with escorts, sex-trade, porn, online hook-ups, drugs, prostitution, blackmail, revenge, and so forth goes missing. His twin (sigh) and two friends look for him.

11/17 Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 1 of 14 - high heat teaser here, based on alittlebixth's omegaverse novel #พิษเบ๊บ’ set in the world of car racing (author says show will not be omegaverse). Charlie (fresh face), a young hot nerd, approaches his driver idol (Pavel "my love" 2 Moons 2) to borrow a racing car and win one for the team. Production house is new to BL but behind the Club Friday stuff. Show stars many known actors: Nut (Oxygen), Pop (Ram in La Cuisine), Pon (Phai in Gen Y, we LOVE him), Benz (twins in En of Love: This Is Love Story).

Thailand bring the November heat, I guess?

Upcoming November BL

11/19 Bake Me Please (Sun Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - trailer here, stars Ohm (of OhmFluke) opposite Guide (bestie from IFYLITA) and possibly also Poom (well known, but not for BL). This looks like an actually gay version of Antique Bakery (play it again, BL). Still, I'm intrigued, it looks HELLA pretty.

11/22 7 Days Before Valentine (Weds ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk. Adapted from y-novel of the same name, directed by Tu (180 Degree) stars Jet (Why You… Y Me?). When you want your old love again, but fate sends you a reaper instead. All he can do for you is kill people. I'll likely give this a pass and wait to binge if safe.

11/25 The Sign (Sat ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk, but with a suspense and adult characters. Special investigators who loved each other in previous lives reunite in new bodies. Stars Billy Patchanon (BillySeng) & Babe Tanatat (new). Includes other SCOY favorites as a special investigation team. I may give this a try because I'm into the non-horror bits.

11/26 The Whisperer (Sun ????) 1 of 10 - trailer here. Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). He has dimples (My Ride) but I don't think even that gives me the will. Maybe a binge for me.

11/26 Cooking Crush (Sun YT) 1 of 12 - OffGun are back, trailer here. Adapted from the novel “Love Course! เสื้อกาวน์รุกเสื้อกุ๊กรับ” by iJune4S this is about Prem who runs a not-so-popular restaurant with 2 friends. About to go on a cooking competition with a huge reward, Prem gets involved with Ten, a stressed-out med student who wants Prem to teach him to cook.

11/30 For Him (Thurs ????) ep 1 of 10 - high heat trailer, I suspect iQIYI will scoop this one up. From the people who brought us Unforgotten Night (please no) based on a y-novel, man nursing a heartbreak has a one-night stand, but the other boy didn't want it to end. It looks terribly trashy so I'm in! Maybe I'll do a trash watch?

VIP Only (Taiwan) - may be delayed/canceled

Wuju Bakery AKA Space Bakery (Korea) - this one may be DOA

A Breeze of Love (Korea) - I know less than nothing about this.

Nov 2023 line up with screen caps here. Not kept updated.

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

This is in the intro card of My Dear Gangster Oppa, I'm just amusing myself.

Thank you Keseki for givign this to us twice!

Also the tears! So pretty crying.

And, of course, my favorite the biting!

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Taiwanese BL?

(Last week)

[xaldalneir]

Spoilers for Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Episode 12

Hi Tumblr! So, I’m breaking, like, a FIVE YEAR bout of silence and shit, but I can’t just sit quiet about this one. Witch from Mercury has been one of the best Gundam Series I’ve had the pleasure of watching. Today, the last episode of this cour ended on a heavy note. Now the majority of takes that I’ve seen have been saying that Suletta was either totally cavalier in what she did to Nameless Grunt Number 5 or that Prospera activated her somehow with her typical ‘move forward, gain two’ line. So, mainly to fight the opinion that Suletta is now just suddenly a murderous psychopath, I’d like to point out a few things. I’ll be laying out evidence from the series, from the Prologue story, Cradle Planet, and my own observations. So, first and foremost, Suletta has shown to act very impulsively whenever Miorine is in any sort of danger (slapping Guel in episode 1, her confrontation with Shaddiq in episode 9). She trusts Miorine implicitly and after last episode, after having been separated from her after a really tender moment, she’s undoubtedly panicking about whether or not she’s okay. Even Prospera can see that, because she makes sure to namedrop Miorine when she tells Suletta that if she gets in Aerial she can save everyone.  The GUND-bits told her that the transport and Earth House is safe. She activates what I assume is Permet Score 6 (same tetrahedron shield as ep. 9, along with Prospera telling Delling in ep. 11 that that’s as high as Aerial’s PS went during the Grassley duel), and is able to locate Miorine. I find it hard to believe that she didn’t also see Delling and Nameless Grunt Number 5 (because I’m guessing that the bits identified them via their personal Permet ID). She came into that room hard and fast, and Aerial immediately adopted a combat stance. That wasn’t the entrance of someone who knew the danger was over and was going to enter through a proper airlock or hanger. Then, of course, we get to the slap. I’ve seen people talk about how she could’ve just blocked or captured Nameless Grunt Number 5, but he had just overcome his shock at Aerial’s arrival and leveled his gun to finish Miorine and Delling. He was about to kill them. Suletta didn’t have time to think ‘Oh I can solve this nonviolently’. With everything we’ve seen from her so far, I’d be shocked if her first and only thought, and the one that she and Aerial acted on, wasn’t ‘Miorine is in danger I need to stop him’. Then, she gets out of Aerial. There’s blood everywhere, she trips and falls. Suletta, who we’ve never seen properly navigate any kind of social interaction ever. Suletta, who just minutes ago was in shock, nearly shut down over her mother having killed Nameless Grunts 1-4. Suletta, who just watched Nameless Grunt Number 5 try to kill Miorine, does not have the emotional capacity to deal with all of this. So she does what she’s had working for her so far with Earth House. She plays it off as clumsy, as silly. Suletta Forgetta indeed. A brief side bar on those who think the motto ‘run, lose one, move forward, gain two’ is some kind of trigger phrase, the Prequel story Cradle Planet shows us that Suletta has been using that since the age of nine to get over things she’s afraid of. She comes to Aerial one night because the elders at the Mercury colony don’t respect or trust her. She’s in tears. She climbs into Aerial’s cockpit, and she repeats that phrase until she’s brave enough to face the world again. Flash forward, she’s 17 now (last age given in the story was 15, but with context clues we can assume this next part is right before ep. 1). Prospera’s putting her plan into action, Miorine is being married off to whoever claims the title of Holder at Asticassia. Suletta comes to Aerial again. She tells her about what’s happening (Aerial knows already, Prospera told her the night before. Aerial doesn’t want Suletta to go, doesn’t want her to be used for revenge). She starts to panic, she’s anxious. Then she tells herself, ‘If you run, gain one. Move forward, gain two. Right, Aerial?’. She uses the words to propel herself forward once again. Just as she has done before, and just as we see her do so many times throughout the series. Suletta is clearly coded as neurodivergent. Whyever that is and whatever she’s specifically coded to be, I’m not going to speculate on, but she doesn’t understand social graces. She doesn’t always know the right way to respond. She defaults to a lot of reactions (hiding, playing it off) because those are what have worked for her. She’s not some manic psychopath suddenly and gleefully happy to kill, and she’s not the Winter Soldier waiting to be activated (that might be Aerial, if the red eye stickers in the Gunpla kit are any indication). She’s just doing her best. And that’s not always going to be the right thing to do, as we saw. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[hooked-on-elvis]

"How Great Thou Art" (Live, April 1972)

"Elvis On Tour" unreleased footage + a little something about Elvis' Blue Nail jumpsuit.

April 9 1972. Elvis Presley performing at the Hampton Roads Coliseum, Hampton Roads, VA (8:30pm), wearing the Blue Nail jumpsuit with White Fireworks suit belt.

I LOVE IT! I love it, I love it, I love it!

But I have a one thing going on my mind on why they kept this performance out of the final film. This is a different song but the vibe (even the scene) is very similar to the religious song that was performed by the Stamps Quartet on the same concert, a Gospel song that actually made it to the final cut, "Sweet, Sweet Spirit". The similarity between both performances (in scene and energy) is what makes me believe they had to choose between one of them. Elvis shows his appreciation for Gospel music in both performances - with that characteristic reverential shiny look on his face. We do have a better glimpse of the depth of E's love for God with both songs performed live so I believe the decision for one of the songs was based on little details on Elvis' behavior. For example, with "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" we see him gently shushing a fan that threatened to keep screaming during the Stamps performance... that little detail adds another layer to the scene, unarguably. We can connect better with E's feelings when we watch him just listening to the song instead of performing it himself, IMHO. Besides, the film already had Elvis singing gospels during rehearsal scenes. Those are just my thoughts... I have no info on what went on inside the editing room but knowing Martin Scorsese was there - and the actor he is - I believe he was sensitive enough to guide the movie's editing decisions based on such assertive and thoughtful consideration between those two great performances of religious music.

What are your thoughts?

--

JSYK: ELVIS ON TOUR: THE BLUE NAIL SUIT WORN WITH TWO DIFFERENT BELTS.

For two concerts filmed for the Elvis On Tour documentary, Elvis wears the Blue Nail jumpsuit but with different belts. Those concerts were on April 9 and 16, 1972. For the April 9 concert Elvis wore the Blue Nail suit with the White Fireworks belt, which originally belongs to the White Fireworks suit - first worn by El in 1971. Picture 1 above is from the April 9, 1972 concert (screenshot from the film) while the picture 2 is a cropped image that shows the Elvis wearing the White Fireworks belt on it's original costume. For April 16, 1972 concert Elvis wears the Blue Nail suit again but this time with its original belt, performing at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida (8:30 pm). The footage from April 9, 1972 was the one mainly used on Elvis On Tour, concerning the Blue Nail suit, to show Elvis' performance onstage itself, while the footage from April 16, 1972 was used in specific scenes with no singing involved. The first time the April 16th performance appears onscreen (as far as I noticed) is by the mid section of the film, with Elvis doing karate moves onstage while fans talk about their feelings for him. By the end of the movie, when we see EP wearing the Blue Nail suit again, the performance is, once more, from the April 9th concert. Below there's a screenshot from the film (3) and a picture taken of Elvis on stage (4), both images from the April 16th 1972 concert: The Blue Nail jumpsuit with the original belt.

The final scene of EOT (Elvis leaving the venue) is composed by a combination of images from the concerts on April 9th ​​and 16th. When he runs off the stage and goes backstage it is footage from April 16th (original belt, photo 5 - screenshot from the film); when EP is running down the hallway, rushing to get into the car waiting for him outside, it's footage from April 9th ​​(White Fireworks belt, photos 6-7).

That all leave us wondering... There definitely is more footage of Elvis On Tour, in good-enough quality and great performances, yet to be released... So why is taking so long? *~*

[tinarannosaurus]

just got caught up with bob's burgers, and so far I'm enjoying season 14 much more than I expected to!

not to say I went into these new episodes assuming I wouldn't like them, but certainly the past few seasons (10–12 for sure) have fallen into a rut where like, there's a handful of episodes that are pretty solid, there's one or two that annoy me enough to skip over on any rewatch, and the majority are deeply neutral. the plots are just okay, the jokes are a little lacking, but the fundamental dynamics are still there, and I like those enough that bob's remains one of my go-to shows to have on in the background, even if I don't feel inspired or compelled enough to engage with the show the way I used to

but season 14 has been an unexpected departure (and actually, I think the back half of 13 as well) — it's funny, because I don't actually think the show is as funny as it used to be, but they're taking bigger swings with the plots in a way that's very rewarding to watch! I don't mind that there are fewer jokes, because I'm invested in the more emotional turns the show is taking

like—holy shit, "the amazing rudy"? a standout from start to finish. and I think a great example of what this season is doing in terms of its emotional arcs, and what I'm glad it's leaning into

I've felt very neutral toward bob's the past couple years, because it's felt so staid. there's an accepted level of consistency that bob's or any other animated sitcom maintains, and I get that, but I think the show really really struggled in its recent seasons with honoring that consistency, roughly maintaining the status quo, while also creating plots that were—and this sounds bad to say—but, plots that were interesting. there were a lot of low stakes, anticlimactic resolutions, unexciting premises—situations where there's not a lot of room for the writing to go, and not a lot for the characters to play off

but what I think this latest season is doing so well is leaning into its history, taking advantage of all the episodes of relationships and interactions and story they've developed to create setups that really fucking land! "the amazing rudy" is a phenomenal episode, but would it have hit as well in season 4 or 5, when we've only met rudy a handful of times? maybe, but I think it's so much more rewarding as this late series entry, when it can pay off all the previous mentions of rudy's home life, his relationship with his dad, his relationship with his—until this ep—unseen mom, his hobbies, his anxieties, his friendship with louise, the role the belchers play in his life—it's so good!!

this season is a couple eps shorter from the strike, but really hoping that the rest of the 14 and what's to come in 15 follows the trend, because it feels like the show is finally starting to figure out its voice and its footing again

[its-magical-here]

Bridgerton part 2 thoughts...

With part 1, I watched all 4 episodes in a row and felt a bit odd about it. But then I went and rewatched just the Polin parts and enjoyed it.

Same with part 2. All 4 episodes on Thursday and felt odd.

In the finale, there wasn't much Polin time in the beginning and found myself instantly wanting to fast-forward.

Then yesterday, I rewatched the Polin bits from part 2 and felt like it was a better watch.

Ultimately, in my rewatch of Polin scenes part 2, I actually liked episodes 5 & 6 even though episode 6 could've had much more of Polin.

I didn't like the lack of communication in episodes 7 & 8.

I totally get how Colin was so angry in episode 7 after the LW reveal, especially at the beginning. But he should've communicated with Pen sooner.

Yes, Penelope has been ignored and had to endure cruelty from her mother, sisters, and society her whole life.

But even in previous seasons, it felt like even in Penelope's friendships with Colin and Eloise, they were a bit one-sided. It was more about Colin and Eloise than her.

It's no wonder Penelope tried to save Eloise from being framed through her Whistledown column than actually talk to her.

It's no wonder Penelope tried to save Colin from a disastrous marriage with Marina through Whistledown instead of talking to him.

So in episodes 7 & 8, I was hoping for more communication between Colin and Penelope. For him to listen to her side of the story, let her explain herself, as she has always listened to him. After he had some time to cool down, that is. And before their wedding too.

Because Pen's love language is words of affirmation. So I think they needed to communicate vocally more in the last 2 eps. With the compassion that life-long friends and now lovers have for each other.

And there needed to be an epilogue scene with just Pen and Colin that wasn't just a sex scene, but them talking and joking with each other. As an aspiring writer, I like full-circle stories, so a scene like this would've been nice to show that they are still best friends within their loving marriage.

So yeah, I liked some of part 2, the sweet bits. Episodes 7 & 8 were a bit too dark and painful, but maybe that's what the showrunners intended - for us to experience the same anguish Colin and Pen were feeling.

Also, I definitely wished we had more Colin & Pen scenes. Even whenever they danced together at all the balls in part 2, they cut mid-scene to other characters talking or dancing. It felt like they weren't in their own season enough.

I remember the same criticism of season 2 with Kanthony. If they do release deleted or even extended scenes for this season, I'll welcome it.

But I still liked most of the Polin we got in the first 6 episodes. And I liked some of the side storylines:

Kanthony.

Portia and Penelope healing their relationship.

Eloise learning to listen and be more compassionate with Penelope and for them to be friends again.

Fran & Ben & Gregory & Hyacinth.

But ultimately, it feels like 8 hour-long episodes are too short for such a big cast.

The actors were great. I love the cast. The acting was fantastic. Same with the costume department, music department, sound, lighting, etc. But maybe the editing department can allow for longer episodes.

For Nicola and Luke's long press tour to come to an abrupt halt where we got doses of their lovely friendship, for part 2 to drop with an ending that needed some extra scenes, and to hear the next season won't be until 2026 all on the same day - was challenging to digest. Interestingly, I do feel some sadness, similarly to how I felt when Game of Thrones ended.

So yeah, I loved Polin and I loved big parts of this season. I still love this show because I love the characters, even if I wished the season had ended differently. But the season just needed more Polin. I look forward to rewatching their scenes together.

Okay, rant over =)

[moongazeonastarfillednight]

The Terror: When, How, Where... (PART 1)

See part 2 for the end of my sanity (ep 6 through 9. Wasn't enough characters left on the post for ep 10)

See part 3 (and episode 10)

As I am writing the fic, I was getting frustrated at trying to figure out the timeline of the expedition. More specifically, what happens after they dropped the Victory Point Note.

Therefore, in order to organize my ideas, and also because it might be of interests to some of you, I will document here what I got.

Episode 1 through 5 for now.

Methodology

If we agree that the showrunners (and Dan Simmons to an extent) made their research, we should be able to match some of the event of the story with notable point of interests where artefacts and/or remains were found over the numerous searches made to ascertain the fate of the Franklin Expedition

I also tried to take note of all indications of time passing so that I might document their speed travel and the dates when they are not mentioned.

... And the death count. (Departing Beechey Island with 24 officers and 102 men)

Finally, I also used the following website to keep track of sunrises and sunsets: https://www.timeanddate.com/

1927 Admiralty Map

I may be an amateur in this kind of research but I find myself frustrated that the most complete map I've been able to find showing all that was found between 1850 and 1926 is shown on this map from 1927

To be noted, we now know that the Skeleton of H. Peglar was more probably W. Gibson or T. Armitage

The Skeleton of Lt. Le Vesconte has also been reevaluated and is now believed to be that of Harry Goodsir ( :( )

Also, as it happens, if we compare to 2024 maps, we can say that this is not the actual shape of KWI (close enough!).

Therefore, for my own sanity, I recreated with modern maps. Is it accurate? Well, I wouldn't publish it but I think it gives a good enough view of where they went and where they were going:

Where the Ships had drifted to in June 1847 (According to G. Gore's coordinates left on the Victory point note)

Where the Ships had drifted with the Pack by April 1848 (Victory Point Note)

Victory Point

McClintock's Boat Place (proposed to be same location as NgLJ-1)

Camp with Many skeletons

From D. Simmons' The Terror - The Hospital Camp

Peglar Skeleton

Starvation Cove

A Bunch of cairns in the area

Harry Goodsir

Gjoa Haven (Netsilik Settlement)

Fort Resolution (Dear God... look at how far they wanted to walk/Canoe/make portage...)

Matching the Show

Episode 1 - Go for Broke

Location 1 - David Young's grave (71.22, -96.60)

Date: September 5th 1846

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 14h 57 min

Twilight - 9h 03 min

Sunset: 7:51 PM - Sunrise: 4:55 AM

David Young was buried 7 days before they were beset in the ice (see point 3 on the map below).

During the dinner in which we were regaled by the tale of Mr. Fitzjames' Holes, Franklin discuss that they were approaching a bigger channel, which is now know as the McClintock Channel (see point 1 on the map below), meaning that at the time, they were still in the Franklin Strait.

On the day after his death, Franklin discuss their next course and assure that they must be 'nearly in sight of KW Land'. Crozier suggests it might take them weeks to actually make it to KWI. This would confirm what was infer above.

As we can see the two ships fitting in a cozy little cove while the grave is being dug, I would like to propose Point 4 on the map below as Ficitonal David Young's final resting place, on Tasmania Islands

Location 2 - Ships September 1846 (70.25, -98.00)

Date: September 12th 1846

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 13h 45 min

Twilight - 10h 15 min

Sunset: 7:19 PM - Sunrise: 5:34 AM

Well, for this one, we need to use the extrapolation provided by the 1927's Admiralty map by tracing the line from where the ships were known to be in 1847 and 1848 (Point 5 and 6). (see point 3)

For Future Reference:

Travel Time between Loc 1 and Loc 2 - 7 days

Distance between Loc 1 and Loc 2 :70 NM / 80 Miles / 130 km

Average Travel Speed - 11.4 miles a day

Travel Condition - Ice breaking

DEATH COUNT: 2 + 3 (Total 5)

24 Officers and 100 Men remaining

Episode 2 - Gore

Location 3 - The Ships in 1847 (70.15, -98.30)

Date: May 24th 1847

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 24h min

Twilight - None

Sunset: N/A - Sunrise: N/A

Coordinates and Date From the Victory Point Note (see Point 1)

Location 4 - The Cairn (69.66, -98.27)

Date: May 28th 1847

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 24h min

Twilight - None

Sunset: N/A - Sunrise: N/A

From the ships, Gore lead his party to James Clark Ross' Cairn.

Now, in the Show, they found JCR's Cairn without an issue. In reality, while Gore had found the Cairn just fine, Crozier and Fitzjames did not. One of the reason for it is that JCR had, apparently, made a miscalculation in reporting where he had erected the Cairn by several miles. Honestly, the way that Fitzjames had written the words was so confusing, I appreciate that the show made the whole thing so much simpler, ahah. So let's say that it matches what we know now as Victory Point. Easy Peasy! (see Point 2)

To be Noted, we know the dates of departure from ships and arrival at cairn from the Victory Point Note.

Location 5 - The Ice Camp (69.665, -98.32)

Date: May 28th 1847

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 24h min

Twilight - None

Sunset: N/A - Sunrise: N/A

The Camp was raised just beyond the ice ridge that blocked the way form the shore and the Cairn was only a mile or so away. (see Point 3... hidden between point 2)

Of Note: That hail storm's cloud coverage was intense to say the least... So dark :')

Back to Loc 3 (70.15, -98.30)

Date: June 2nd 1847

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 24h min

Twilight - None

Sunset: N/A - Sunrise: N/A

Wednesday is a good day to drink with the Captain :D which makes it the Wednesday following May 28th 1847! So it's June 2nd!

For Future Reference:

Loc 2 to Loc 3

Travel time - 8 months, 12 days or 254 days

Travel Distance: 8.6 NM / 10 miles / 16 km

Average Travel Speed - 0.04 miles a day

Travel Condition - Pack drifting

Loc 3 to Loc 4/5

Travel time - 5 days

Travel Distance: 29 NM / 33.5 miles / 54 km

Average Travel Speed - 6.7 miles a day

Travel Condition - 6 Men hauling Sledge on Ice

Loc 4/5 Back to Loc 3

Travel time - 4 days

Travel Distance: 29 NM / 33.5 miles / 54 km

Average Travel Speed - 8.4 miles a day

Travel Condition - 6 Men hauling ASS and Sledge on Ice

DEATH COUNT: 1 (Total: 6)

23 Officers and 100 Men remaining

Episode 3 - The Ladder

This one is fun because, well... they're not moving! I could point out where Silna ends up but it looks like she remain close enough to the ships that it doesn't matter all that much. So, let's just make note of the date and events:

Location 3 - Ships in June 1847 (70.15, -98.30)

For the duration of the episode:

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 24h min

Twilight - None

Sunset: N/A - Sunrise: N/A

Date: between June 2nd and June 10th 1847

- Silna makes her igloo a few miles away from the Ships

Date: June 11th 1847

- Franklin Dies

- Crozier drafts his resignation letter

Date: June 12th 1847

- Franklin's leg is buried :')

- Lieutenant Fairholme is sent to KWI.

DEATH COUNT: 2 (Total: 8)

22 Officers and 99 Men remaining

Episode 4 - Punished, As a Boy

Another fun bottle Episode!

Location 3 - Ships in same approx position as June 1847 (70.15, -98.30)

Date: November 23rd 1847

Nighttime - 12h 35 min

Daylight - None

Twilight - 11h 25min

Sunset: 11:47 am - Sunrise: 10:51 am

- William Strong's birthday :)

- We know because it's the last sunrise of the year!

- Evans and Strong die :(

They searched for a long time if it was just before 4 pm when they got the alarm and then they came back in time for last sunrise at 11 am...

Date: November 24th 1847 to November 25th 1847

Nighttime - 12h 35 min

Daylight - None

Twilight - 11h 25min

Sunset: N/A - Sunrise: N/A

- Hickey has a communion with Tuunbaq (supposedly next day or so)

- Then Hickey gets evily booped.

DEATH COUNT: 2 + Hickey's postern (Total: 10)

22 Officers and 97 Men remaining

Episode 5 - First Shot the Winner, Lads

More fun in a bottle. These boys are not going far...

Honestly, for this one, the trouble was figuring out how much time had passed. For one, we know it's not yet Christmas because Christmas is, in fact, mentioned in Episode 6 (And Lady Jane's Christmas Pudding, hear hear) as part of the meeting between the officer and there was not yet a cooperation between the Terror Lts and Fitzjames for counting the supplies.

ALSO! That scene where Mr. Wentzell got killed dead over his nail... well, it gave me the feeling that either the review of the crew is not daily or that they've been on Erebus for a short time because 1) Fitzjames doesn't know their names and 2) He has to repeat the instructions about cleanliness... Perhaps they sent the Terrors in waves and not all 50 of them at once.

Other details to be mentionned:

Hickey is not recovered yet and Goodsir suspects he might reopen his wounds from working.

Goodsir has had time to be quite good at speaking inuktitut. Now, he could have had a continuous learning experience from Dr. McDonald since June 47 and before but considering that Dr. McDonald is stationed in Terror and Goodsir in Erebus, I suspect they did not have much time to have a class together...

Finally. Crozier suggests that he would be 2, perhaps, perhaps more... sick from sobering up. He got up just in time for First sunrise (Jan 17th).

So! We can infer that the episode might have spanned over 1 or 2 days (what's with the movement between the ships and the whole Rat Wedding).

My best guess is that the dates for this whole episode would be:

Date: December 14th 1847 to December 18th 1847

Nighttime - 13h 32 min

Daylight - None

Twilight - 11h 28min

Sunset: N/A - Sunrise: N/A

Why December 14th? Because it would be Edward Little's Birthday and I feel like it is appropriate for his character to have his boss send him back to the killing cold for more booze :') (December 16th to December 20th seems more likely but...)

This would give Crozier a full month to recover from sobering up and 22 days for Goodsir to learn inuktitut (impressive!), for Hickey backside to feel better and for Fitzjames to NOT learn the name of his new Terrors.

DEATH COUNT: 3 + Blanky's leg (Total: 13)

22 Officers and 94 Men remaining

That's it for now. I'll do the last 5 episodes soonish...

Conclusion to the first sets of episode: Sunsets and Sunrises were whacky in June 1847 but, so far, distance and travel times make good sense. If the accuracy holds up until episode 10, we might be able to have a pretty good idea of what, when and where everything happened in episodes 6 through 10.

[co-mixed]

X-Men '97: Beyond Expectations

Let’s be honest, who was ready for this? 

Personally, I didn’t have many expectations. I knew it was X-men and I knew I’d love it probably no matter what. I had a fear it might be a little too clean and knowing full well what the comics are, making it child-appropriate wasn’t an ideal option. Should I even say the words “pleasantly surprised” at this point? They don’t cover it. 

X-Men ‘97 did something that’s been missing ever since the MCU started. It built the X-men fan community back up, brought in new fans, encouraged people to take a look at the X-titles again. We finally get to namedrop our favorite mutants, share ridiculous facts from their past, and yes, remember things like X-Men Evolution and Wolverine and the X-men. But then the show also showed us how heavily emotional and deep cartoons can be. 

Okay, enough vague statements, and no more avoiding spoilers.

The show really relies on the previously established lore with Charles being taken off-world to Shi’ar and the X-men left under Scott’s leadership. Or so he thinks. Right off the bat in the first episode, we get an epic X-fight like we’ve never seen and a cliffhanger with Magneto showing up. Not much of a shocker and yet, we’ve never seen the movies dare to do that (or anything that strays too far from Phoenix). Whenever that happens, Magneto trying to abandon his murdery radical ways, it always comes down to his clash with Charles. They really manage to make their decades-long disagreement everybody else’s problem. X-men usually pay the price. 

This time though, you finally see the creators working with the comics. We get so many storylines adapted in the span of 10 episodes, it’s unbelievable. That actually does follow the tradition set up by TAS. Only it’s been years, hence more stories and newer, harsher ones. 

To be honest, I never even imagined Genosha being adapted. Not just because it’s a heavy arc but because it’s just so obvious: when you mention Genosha you state the fact. We know what their goal is. It’s removing any ambiguity and allowing no misinterpretations of what the X-men are really and have always been about. So it’s a statement for sure. And I couldn’t be happier they finally made it. Correction, I could be happier if they hadn’t killed off Gambit. We’ll get back to that. 

So yeah, we got Genosha, OZT, Inferno, and Lifedeath (aside from minor elements and arcs I can’t particularly point out at the moment). So this show went to the depth of what makes X-men X-men, they took the personal arcs like Lifedeath or Inferno, the ones that focused on character journeys, and really showed us who the people are behind these stories. That’s mostly  Claremont’s legacy since both stories were from his era and it was his thing to take mutants through their personal hell. Bot arcs were compressed, of course, but the essence remained the same. Which, again is the only goal of an adaptation anyway. So some metaphors had to be sacrificed but ultimately, they just give you a chance to relive it through comics if you’re into it.

But then they hit us with big events like Genosha and OZT. They absolutely go as epic as any movie, because remember how you felt after ep.5? If you’re anything like me, you were devastated and if you’re a Gambit fan, you were shocked too. And this is one of the things that they didn’t just put aside and ignore, something that movies never focused on: the emotions. Throughout the show, the characters say several times that they’re a family. But we actually see that in the friendship between Storm and Jean (which come on, it’s been a long freaking time coming!), or Morph and Wolverine (that one resembles Wolverine’s friendship with Nightcrawler in the comics). But then in the love and drama between Scott and Jean (and Madelyne! And Logan! And probably Emma one day!), Storm and Forge, or Rogue and Gambit (and Magneto!).

Love and friendship - the genuine connections that make you care about the characters and how someone’s death or disappearance or even inner turmoil affects you. We see these things through their reactions, so for them to feel true, we have to see those connections. And here we finally do. Just like we do in the comics. I hope the eventual movie screenwriters keep that in mind because that’s the only way to build an X-men story, brick by brick. 

Look at the way Roro and Jean are cheering each other on, with mind and weather, and then when Phoenix shows up. 

X-men are a superhero soap opera and we all know that. And ffs let’s never again pretend like it isn’t. 

The politics. Now if you’re one of those “keep the politics away from my comics/movies/cartoons” types, X-men are not for you. X-men ‘97 even more so, because this show is all politics. I mean hello, Genosha? OZT? Bastion, sentinels, hate groups? We are even finally calling out Shi’ar! Which I love. We’ve been looking at them through ally glasses since more often than not they play on the side of the X-men. But really, in terms of intergalactic politics, they are no better than Kree or Skrulls (not the cozy ones from the MCU). They can get pretty mean. In one of his finer moments, mainly because it allowed him to rest comfortably on his high horse, Charles points that out. Even explains the short and easy-to-understand version of what being an empire means. But as he does that, unfortunately, Genosha is under attack. 

We give him shit for ditching his family like that but really, he just relied on his pal Magneto to keep it together. And he would’ve too, had his gloved hand not been forced by the likes of Val, Trask, and the evil droid that is Bastion. 

Here’s where X-men ‘97 do the absolute most – they mix and match stories, piling them on to absolutely overwhelm the heroes. To keep everyone preoccupied and focused on their piece of the drama cake to sneak in a shuttering final forte chord. 

And Genosha ain’t even that. 

Let me be corny for a moment there, but it’s probably one of THE moments for every fan, when after episode 5 we were warned that the best is yet to come. And we kept asking how? How do you top that? And we saw today (5.15.) because holy shit, this show raised the bar. 

We got teamwork. Really, one of the perfect elements of this show is the characters’ powers. The limitless force with which they jump into a battle. We knew it at “Give them the forecast” really. Because we’ve never before seen Storm at the height of her power, with all she can and has done in the comics. Right then and there we knew what we were in for. But then, the rest of that, or any other fight sequence was everything you could hope for. There wasn’t a single one you would wanna miss. Powers depicted as they were always meant to and amazing teamwork. That was one of the best elements borrowed from the recent comics. Recent because while they’ve been working as a team since forever, it was Krakoa that really emphasized how powerful mutant circuits can be.

Thanks to that, we got to see a showcase of creative use of abilities. Beast using his knowledge to his advantage, Morph using their power to turn into everyone who’s anyone - I mean they gave us so many little fun cameos, even though every time you had to take a double look and ask wait, Warren’s here? Psylocke showed up? Or ehhh Hulk? That’s very X-men. The characters have fun with their powers too, with the team landing in the first episode or Ororo flying around when she got her powers back (this ain’t about Forge :D). And then there are devastating displays of power like Gambit charging the Wild Sentinel (still not over it) or Magneto turning off the lights. Of course, in any battle you have to keep things interesting, which is why they don’t just let the heroes use their ultimate ability from the get-go and be done with the whole thing. The baddies also have to surprise you with being harder and harder to defeat.

Speaking of surprises, the fact that all the stories have been stitched together like a quilt makes every turn unexpected. I mean you can predict some things and chances are, the better you remember the comics, the more things you can get right. But what’s the fun in that? They don’t simply adapt arcs, they add and remove crucial elements that make it into something new. And that new is always unpredictable. Like take Genosha - Bastion was behind it instead of Cassandra. While Charles was in space, she wasn’t after him, the Shi’ar politicians, however, were. Or the whole ordeal with Maddie - Scott didn’t stand a chance there. Really, no matter how you spin that story, he can’t get out of it looking good. But they did their best and it worked. 

Then again, these are the things that make adaptations work and this is what the MCU is so good with. Civil War was hella different from the comics and it’s still a fan favorite. 

And as if all that was somehow not enough, the show is so quotable. It has all those little callbacks to previous episodes or TAS or even the movies, clever writing, and beautiful lines that stay with you for weeks and probably even forever. All the things about chosen family – tell me you didn’t tear up or straight up cry because that’s pretty much what I did. And yeah the first time you’re watching to find out what happens. The second — you really live through all the emotions. Along with the characters because they so do live them.  

There is so much X-men lore. You can read them like obsessed (which I often do) and still have so many stories to go through. Anyway, X-Men ‘97 finally flipped the page from the stories we know well and picked a new evil, building a new arc with him at the center. 

And then, the details in general. How well the animation is done and how tiny elements you notice help them build the narrative. I’ve been thinking about it since the first episode when I saw the look between Storm and Rogue before the team landed. In that one look, they agreed on a landing strategy they probably trained time and time again in the Danger Room. Similarly, the sneaky sideyes and looks, just pay attention to them when you rewatch (and I know you will), cause the details just make the whole experience even better. All reactions are awesome in this show like Ororo hearing about Forge’s disastrous neutralizer technology and calling an epic thunder. That’s pretty much how the characters stop being 2d even when all they are meant to be is 2d.

Did I mention the soundtrack? Pretty much a masterpiece, right? It feels epic and grandiose and in many ways, it’s because of the music. It’s obvious things it’s still so easy to simply forget to mention it. You pay attention to the story and the visuals but they are tied together by the sound. And it’s most noticeable in the Wolverine/Nightcrawler fight with Prime Sentinels or when Ororo flies around, or when Cable, Jean, and Scott jump into that epic family fight. Breathtaking. 

A big part of this show is about family. The kind that supports you and stands by you. You know, the opposite of Nina DaCosta! It’s always touching too because no other team is like that. You don’t get this benefit of the doubt with the Avengers and FF are actually related. You only get that with the X-Men if you’re willing to share the dream. 

I’m not going into the dream though, been there, done that. But I do want to talk about the finale. 

As many have predicted, we did get a cliffhanger. As if we wouldn’t have come back, pah-lease! But we’re obviously back to Apocalypse and this time he’s gonna mess up with several timelines at once. Now what exactly are we getting - I wouldn’t dare theorize. All I can think about right now is… okay, we’re probably getting some resurrections, some Stryfe, and once again, I’m hoping for New Mutants (even though the only new face I spotted was Dust and she’s from an entirely different team.)

Also, we see a wider universe: Cap and Iron Man, Black Panther (where again did Storm end up ;)), Cloak and Dagger, Daredevil, Strange, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man. If we ever have crossovers… 

Still, it’s been amazing and it’s now forever with us. 

I might be biased, no, I am most certainly biased but it’s the best animated show I have ever seen and I am ecstatic that it’s about the team I’ve loved my entire life.

[syrena-del-mar]

Interlocking Narratives: Exploring The Chains of Kim and Porchay

I've been rewatching KinnPorsche in the last couple of weeks and even on the second watch, I'm still so intrigued by the relationship between Kim and Porchay (which is only reinforced by @daeyeol4you's Chay deep dives stemming from every episode). It's the irony of what appears to be the sweetest interactions and relationship of the show ending up with unfinished business. I love character deep dives and KinnPorsche is one of those shows that really allows the audience to partake in it. I hadn't realized it on my first watch but @lilitblaukatz is absolutely right, Kim and Chay are using similar necklaces.

There's already so many metas surrounding the type of jewelry that Kim wears, @wildelydawn's dive into Kim's necklaces comes into mind, but I definitely neglected looking more into the necklaces that Chay wears.

Porchay and his Cuban chain necklace with a carabiner pendant

I'll be honest, at first I wasn't sure what the pendant on Chay's necklace was when I first looked at it. I'm pretty sure it took me about 10 rewatches of this scene to even consider that it's a carabiner.

Interestingly enough, during ep. 5 when Chay goes to his first tutor session with Kim, this the only time that Chay wears such a thick chain, specifically what looks to be a Cuban chain (probably a 6 mm at that), outside of the time that he goes to the club and gets drunk. Cuban chains are nothing short of iconic because of their tight, twisted, interlocking links. Popularized in the 70s/80s by hip hop legends, the Cuban chains became a status symbol to impress because it looks classy and expensive. So I can't help but think that just maybe Chay specifically chose this chain to dress himself up for his idol-turned-tutor.

The interlocking links of the Cuban chain are important in creating and influencing the cohesive, elegant look of the necklace. And just as each link is dependent on the other, Chay is heavily influenced by his own life experiences. He's an orphaned child that was raised by his older brother, he's well aware of the sacrifices that Porsche has had to make in order to provide for him, and he's grown up being hounded by the aggressive debt-collectors that his "Uncle's" gambling habits bring. It's why he loves and appreciates Porsche so much, why he believes himself to be unlucky, and why he's as gutsy and straightforward as he is. He's been shaped by the tragedy that has surrounded his upbringing along with the undying love that his brother has given him.

Another prominent feature of the Cuban chain is the alternating large and small links, a duality that is specific to this style chain. Meanwhile Chay navigates, being the quiet and agreeable little brother that he is for Porsche, while also being his own being who knows how to work for what he wants. He's bold and outspoken when it comes to Wik, he needs to be if he wants to grasp at any chance. He plays around with who he is and what is expected of him; it shows in his personality and how carries himself with Kim versus how he is with Porsche.

Not to mention the sheer tightness of the interlocking links provides a strength and resilience that other delicate chains do not, it's almost symbolic of Chay's own strength and resilience. If there's one thing about Chay is that he's endured a lot of pain, he even believes that his whole life has been filled with bad luck, but even with that he's the one character that shows a steadfast resolve and endures multiple betrayals. He sticks to his guns and his decisions, he knows the love he deserves. He was willing to give Kim a chance, he went to him first to explain, he likely would have forgiven the lies if Kim had said that he cared about him and the feelings weren't all a façade. Kim didn't give him that and Chay blocked him out of his life.

Now moving onto the carabiner portion of the necklace. It seems like we see Chay in TWO different carabiner necklaces. The one he wore on his first tutoring session with Kim and the one he has on when he finds out the truth about Kim from Tankhun. A carabiner is synonymous to strength and fortification, a physical form of security that keeps objects together and secures elements. Similarly, Chay clings tenaciously to what he wants, he takes the chance to ask Kim to tutor him, he finds out where Kim lives, he tells him that he loves him. It's his steadfast determination that intrigues Kim, that sets him apart. Chay may be young, but just as carabiner's are used for adventures and exploration, Chay is the one that dares to tread uncharted territories with Kim. Chay is bold and has a willingness to hold fast until his goals are achieved. He's experienced several trials and tribulations in his lifetime and he still holds on, navigating through the challenges while still staying securely true to himself and his wants. Arguably, he's the one with the strongest mental fortitude when it comes to decisions with his love interest. He knows when to let go and when to hold on, even if letting go means hurting a bit more; it's a strength to come to terms and to then stick to his guns.

Kim and the ball chain necklace with a safety pin pendant

First things first, if we look at the history of safety pin jewelry, it's often associated with the notion of it being a sign of rebellion. This sentiment originally become popularized by the punk rock movement and then was again brought into the spotlight after it started being used as a symbol of standing against the xenophobia attacks around 2016 when Brexit occurred.

The safety pin is often used as a tool for quick fixes and connections, it's a resourceful solution to keep things attached, albeit unconventional. It's a tool to keep fabrics together, and it very literally breaks through a barrier to serve its function. Kim, out of the three, is the only one that initially attempts to rebel against his father. He's the one that tries to get out, even if he's ultimately dragged back in. He creates a life outside of the shady dealings of his father and the mafia as a whole. He has to be resourceful to investigate, to get information about what is happening with his family while still maintaining a distance from the direct dealings with the mafia.

Add that with the fine ball chain that attaches the safety pin, it adds to the idea that Kim is adaptable. His changes occur as necessary to reflect the situations that he finds himself in. Kim adapts who he is as an individuals depending of the people that surround him. He fluidly maneuvers through his life in a way that sees fit to get the information that he needs. He can be idol!Wik, tutor!Kim, mafia!Kim, or distant brother!Wik, at the drop of a dime depending on what version of him the situation calls for. Similar to how @hamliet clocked that Kim's painting of himself does not have any discernable features, symbolic of his ability to hide behind masks, it's the same here.

The fact that Kim's necklace is a simple, and rather thin, ball chain with a sturdy safety pin attached hints at Kim's hidden strength. Just by stature alone, he's the smallest of the three Theerapanyakul brothers. He's also the youngest and seemingly the one that is less involved with the mafia. The chain almost seems to serve as a potent remind that appearances can be deceiving. Like the guards first told Porsche, while Kim might seem to be the most normal of the three, he's the most dangerous. The safety pin adorning a delicate ball chain seems to serve as a profound dichotomy that mirrors who Kim really is.

Final Thoughts

The two necklaces seem to be an intentional parallel and paradox of each other. Much like Kim and Chay's position in the story, as Kinn and Porsche's younger brothers that are seemingly uninvolved with the mafia, they're parallels to each other but they're also each other's literary foils.

I really find it interesting that they chose to put both of them in necklaces that have some type of clip contraption on them. Maybe I'm reading (watching?) too into it, but I can't help but believe that the specific designs that the costumers decided to put them it, especially with accessories, goes beyond the simple aesthetics that fit Kim and Chay. Rather it seems like the necklaces are acting as a mirror that reflect their core aspirations, identities and the interactions that they have with each other and the other characters in the show. They're wearing simple accessories that can get overlooked in the moment, but I really think they provide a deeper look into what drives them as characters and gives us a deeper appreciation for both of them.

[fallenangelofsalt]

I realized I messed up the timeline in Purple Gold

This is what I get for not checking the dates first

Canonically, Purple had already been in Minecraft in 2018, and Gold died in 2020 according to the wiki. I'm not changing it though so now Gold gets to die(?) way earlier :)

(Not a lot of lore here, this is mostly just me straightening out the timeline and getting my thoughts in order since its easier for me to do that while writing and I might as well post it yk)

@styck-figure @whirld-of-color in case you guys are interested on the nitpicky stuff.

I thought about the accident being before the OG AvM but I think that would have been way too early, and it was mostly because then I could give Herobrine some fun implications, but in the end I think it fits better to place him in the time between OG and ep1, so I also get to play with how the updates affect Purple's world. I think that the experience of being inside of a game while it updates is a very underrated sort of horror when it comes to sentient videogame characters, and I'm looking foward to making Purple experience it :) though the fact they know its a game, and probably also how updates work, takes off some of the horror.

Purple's first appearance is in ep9 and I can't find any frames where the date is shown(the only full screens we get are in Purple's mac and it only says it's a wednesday), but in ep8 the date is 5/18/2018 and... none of the next episodes in season1 have a date. Or the first ep in s2. Ok, time to ask the wiki and they only have the airing date but whatever. 6/18/2018.

Anyways, that means the only updates that would have happened before he meets the others are Combat, Frostburn, Exploration and Color. That's kind of disappointing since I was looking foward to having Drowned play a major role in Purple's second death but I can make it work without it. Just needs some tweaking.

The Combat Update is overall just way too subtle to effectively work as horror, the main changes are just mechanics and added end stuff. Basically just not a lot of stuff Purple would notice or pay attention to, especially since the End isn't going to be somewhere they would visit right off the bat. At most they would notice some new enchantments.

The Frostburn Update is already a bit more interesting, it adds 3 mobs (polar bears, Strays and Husks), adds magma blocks, fossils, increases Magma Cube spawn rates and lets Enderman spawn in the Nether. Overall enough changes to be a bit jarring, but I'm honestly just not vibing with it.

Exploration adds the Woodland Mansion and all the fun stuff that comes with it, but its so rare that its sudden appearence isn't going to be all that shocking because Purple probably never went wherever it is before it showed up.

World of color adds some new blocks but none of them naturally generated. The most horror potential it has are the parrots. ...Actually, they have a lot of horror potential with their sound copying. I might use that.

I'll probably have to wait a while for any update-related horror.

So, the accident happens midway through the Combat Update, and maybe that's why it happens in the first place. Gold gets unlucky enough to be playing right when the update gets released, and since stickfigures interact with our programs differently, it makes sense their tech would too. Instead of waiting for the player to close the game before updating, it decides to update with Gold still inside. :)

Purple shows up a while after the Frostburn Update is done since it happens so soon after Combat and I want Gold to have some time to get used to his new existence and learn about players.

All the while, King is having a lot more roadblocks than he's supposed to have. I'll have to throw some stuff at him to justify how long it takes for him to reach his canon position, considering in canon it takes like 18 months AT MOST. It probably is somewhere closer to one year.

Here Gold dies in early 2016, so that means King needs to be five times slower than in canon. ...He's going to need a lot of roadblocks.

One of those roadblocks is pretty much just taking that video off the internet also mostly because how the frick did it even get there??? THEYRE IN THE FREAKING NETHER THEY MINED OUT OF THE SCREEN HOW IS ANYTHING RECORDING THEM RIGHT NOW????

[love-is-a-pearl]

Watching Pokemon mezamas for the first time because I can't binge DP rn orz

If you wanna see me ranting and reacting, I'll leave things under the readmore >w<)b

Starting with ep 1 and 2! Cause I dont have as much free time as I wish I had so I'm doing 2 episodes per day till friday.

Winds of Beginning! The Endless Road!!

It's just me or the music at the beggining was Alola music? If yes.. That's just the cutest. Alola music as Ash's music QAQ

The best part of the episode was the 5 minutes we spent with Ash and Pikachu before the stupid Latias appeared. Add that one to the pokemon I now hate because of the anime..

Man, I'm still bitter those 10 episodes weren't focused on Ash and his Pokemon only. It would've been the absolute best way to use those 10 episodes (and still reach the same conclusion Mezamas as it is reached), why couldn't Ash ever be alone with his mons? He can be enjoyable if the writers tried. Sigh

At least Buizel is here ♥ Also it was adorable to see Noivern and Sceptile in security duty while everyone else slept! Babies! However I'm sad Buizel and Donphan didn't go to cuddle with AshPika and Latias ù3ú

What was the point of all the drama about "Ash's pokemon not being able to attack TR because it could hurt him" when... Pikachu just went and... did just that? (also, Noivern going there and breaking the glass would've hurt Ash less??????) I get they needed "Ash suicidal tendencies make him likeable" moment but gosh, it could've been done better, for sure.

And you know, mandatory Dawn mention, but it's kinda poetic that both Ash and Dawn got done dirty in their final moments because of some stupid legendaries. They're trully one and the same. Even in shitty writing decisions from anipoke staff LMAO

Satoshi VS Kasumi! Seaside One-on-One!!

I know that Misty's metaphor about how her and Clauncher are meant to be is an obvious Pokeshipping hint, of course it is! I know that! but...

Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist but the fact Pikachu ignored Psyduck for Misty, and Clauncher didn't seem at all to reciprocate Misty's feelings is... interesting... Added to that how Ash just replaced her lure with Cilan's is.. Almost like adding to her own metaphor, that while Misty still has feelings for Ash and believes that they're meant to be, because of fate, because she is the "OG twerpette" like TR called her, Ash himself is like.. Pikachu to Psyduck and Clauncher to her. Neutral at most, and with someone else having their favoritism.

And y´know, it's even more interesting that at the beggining of Sinnoh Ash still had her lure (and was protective of it) and immediately after Sinnoh he changed her lure for Cilan's. I sure wonder what happened between those events for him- It's Dawn! its Dawn that happened!

Dont judge me I can make anything be about pearlshipping if I try hard enough.

Shipping aside, I adore seeing episodes with the general same plot but with different characters. Compare this to the Buneary catch and it's really interesting to see just how different Ash acts with Misty and Dawn about the same thing. Him and Misty have a battle about who is gonna get it, which does makes sense, they will resolve all their arguments with battles instead of actual talking and I adore that trait of their relationship~

And even Misty's disappointment at the end, that Clauncher still likes hanging with Corphish is very different than Dawn bringing up her closeness with Ash to win Buneary over. I love those sort of similar episodes, it's great to understand how each character thinks.

Gosh, even comparing to Totodile's catch shows how Misty and Ash themselves have become closer and more understanding of eachother! In here they make rules about how to catch Clauncher instead of fighting the whole time, it's a nice showcase of how they've grown! I'm just sad that Totodile was in this episode and no one mentioned the similarities :T

Also I will never get tired of Pikachu's "Pikachupi"! Ikue Otani does it in the cutest voice and I just want to squeeze the rat's cheeks every time he says it!!!

Speaking of Pikachu, I love that at the very least in those 10 episodes he went back to having some hint of a personality since he hadn't shown much of it for... a long time before it (and remembered the names of the people he cares for. I was so angry at the lack of "Pikapi" in Alola).

Same goes for TR, is nice to see their motto being animated instead of some re-used footage. One of the things that made their apparitions enjoyable in OG-DP was that they always added some personality to it. That was fun to see again.

---

And that's it for today.