#esp re: ep 7 i think it is??

[toughtink]

regarding dandadan’s creepy aliens:

saw this screenshot floating around bsky (full text below) a bit ago and had to go find it again because i keep thinking about how poignant this breakdown of dandadan’s first ep is. i keep seeing people pronounce the series “problematic” and even going so far as to say the alien probe threat was encouraging rape culture. it’s like they can’t hold the idea of something being funny and scary, sexual but not necessarily titillating, at the same time. at least, i didn’t read it as being meant to erotically excite, especially since most people seem to have just been thoroughly creeped out. there’s definitely a moment where it feels like we’ve fallen into the beginnings of some hentai, but then the action starts going and roundhouse kicks that notion right in the face. it felt like purposeful expectation setting to me: “we’re gonna have things get creepy and toe that line of sexual horror and humor, but this story is going to focus on our protagonists leveling up to defeat these creeps.” in that sense, it’s nice to see when people make the informed decision to nope out if the story or style isn’t something they can enjoy.

[full text of screenshot, a forum post by Asterite34:

“It has occurred to me that the big spooky/problematic scenes here most closely resemble adolescent sex nightmares, with all the accompanying symbolism and externalization of personal anxieties. Neither experience has the tone or visual language of "realistic" sexual assault, nor the feel of lurid monster hentai or whatever. They have that feeling of disjointed surreal unreality that makes everything scary, sure, but also just sort of confusing and maybe actually slightly funny if it wasn't by all appearances actually happening to you. They're wet dreams with a side of sleep paralysis.

Okarun has an experience going into a dark tunnel and being confronted by vague sexual advances by an old woman who chases him down an endless corridor and traumatically (yet painlessly) castrates him. This is classic fear of women and anxiety about being impotent and emasculated and isolated, which certainly tracks with him being a bullied shy nerd who just met a girl who vaguely humors his nerdy interests for the first time ever.

Momo is wandering around in an abandoned building until she's captured by vaguely-featured salarymen clones who paralyze her and go on to calmly, smilingly explain that they're going to violate her with spiked phallic instruments and harvest her banana organs. This lines up with a conflict between adolescent sexual desire in the abstract and also a fear of loss of autonomy due to social pressure, which seems to be on her mind after her dickhead boyfriend broke up with her for not putting out.

It's only when the two dreams merge that each of them starts to get over their subconscious fears, with Ken subsuming his sense of isolation and owning his curse to become a monster that righteously emasculates his once-hoped-for alien friends/stand-ins for his bullies, and Momo overcoming her fear of being ostracized to roundhouse kick the symbolic boyfriend trying to take advantage of her.

And in the end, Okarun makes a connection with someone who won't abandon him even at his most pathetic and emasculated, and Momo connects with someone who clearly desires her but treats her with implicit respect.

In summary, communication is important, especially to teenagers.”]

[pepitaluna]

Much has already been said about the Live Action adaptation, but I'm adding in my thoughts because I'm in a meeting that I don't really care at all about, and I'm on a YYH brain rot. 💖

Overall, I like it for what it is: an interesting retelling of Yuyu Hakusho. I didn't find the CGIs too distracting, the color grading feels nostalgic, the fight choreography is very on point, I immediately took to all the actors and felt that they delivered, and I could see the care in the little details like lines and sequences that they picked from the Manga and some few from the anime. The first two episodes is good and hooks you in, but the latter episodes suffered from the pacing. I'd compare it to having a 5-course meal, with the last 3 courses being fed to you in succession. And because the show was busy feeding you plot points it forgets emotional resonance. With better pacing, I think this would have been better. That said, I'd give this a 7/10.

I have other thoughts but if anyone cares, maybe it will be nice to talk about this LA or just YYH in general. 😊

MORE SPOILER HEAVY THOUGHTS UNDER THE CUT! (will be edited as more thoughts come along) 👉🏼 💥

👉🏼 I recognize that I may be an outlier here, but I feel that by combining the first four arcs, it makes the story more cohesive. It hits on the necessary plot points to get to the climax of YYH - finding out about the corruption of the spirit world. Paced appropriately this probably would have Toguro as the red herring big bad of the show but ultimately have it all lead to Sensui.

👉🏼 And also budget. And more episodes.

👉🏼 While I was sad over not having the Dark Tournament I sat with it for awhile and realized that it's fine. If granted a few more seasons, the 3 Kings Arc can have this handled (then maybe it might not feel so empty, lol)

👉🏼 The pacing really took a lot from the emotional pay-off in the last two episodes. I want more interactions! Esp between the four. Yusuke and Kuwabara really had a good rapport. It's nice to know the actors became close with each other IRL too.

👉🏼 Keiko and Yukina interacting is so endearing to me. ❤️

👉🏼 IDC what anyone says Botan's outfit is fucking beautiful. Those piercings and peep toe boots? Amazing.

👉🏼 Although I have to say that some of the outfits (esp the ones in the Casino at Ep. 1) feel weird and make it hard to place this adaptation.

👉🏼 I love that, even though we don't get a lot of interactions between Yusuke and Keiko, the Live Action highlights gets the core of their relationship. More than just Yusuke's childhood friend and voice of reason, Keiko is his moral compass and sees him for who he is.

👉🏼 MAN MEIKO KAIJI FOR ONE EPISODE CMON. 😭 But that just tells me that this adaptation might have ultimately edited certain parts or re wrote the script to cut the train arc so early because of budgetary constraints. You can't convince me that they had Lady Snowblood only to utilize her for a short time.

👉🏼 Dat Smile Bomb Easter egg really hit me in my kokoro. 💖

[ungirthed]

want to make a place for my thots of anything with no viewers if i remember to come on here. i cant believe i keep having to make these since i end up getting followers and interacting. but i'm an adult with shit to do irl and things to fight and this fandom is almost 20y old so idt i will do that. lol. just finished atla like 20y too late cos my parents hated me and my bro watching tv growing up. journaling/blogging thots!!! ugh. i wish i didnt hve adhd and dyspraxia lmao gonna split them up so i dont get overwhelmed reading my bullshit. if u stumble upon this it doesnt make sense sry

politically a lot of critique that i have to think about. character and plot wise it was pretty good and tight esp for a kids show. amazing female characters. can't wait for the bi agenda from LoK but i may take a while for that. p much i have to say these are great characters and i could talk a lot about them but i'm shocked at what i took away with regards to the romantic rships from the show and the characterization via it.

re love lines:

i wish kataang was written better in the show (MY opinion if any1 stumbles upon this). i don't ~ship~ zutara bc i am an adult and even back then no cos who cares lol but i see the appeal and am attracted to that. i do think we have to retire the trope of the "both sides but falling in love" not because it isn't possible but because post 10/7 (free palestine) i don't think it's worth it to look at it this way anymore. until someone proves themselves not worthy of death because of the resistance fighting back then they NEED TO PROVE THEMSELVES IMMEDIATELY. no more of this i'm in a concentration camp but he's a nazi bullshit. no more i'm a slave but he's the slave master's son (i mean in this case u could have been related but no1 listens to me!) it's repetitive, reductive, and untrue.

that being said: i just never care about the typical bildungsroman love story. you see the One Person bc i guess the kids tasked with saving the world have to be monk-adjacent (in aang's case quite literally) bc understandably theyre so fucked up lol. but it's always sooooo boring to me esp if it's f/m.

katara is such a complex character and mae whitman brings a wisdom to her voice that can be frustrating to connect with for me but her character arc, her strength, her MIND, her heart, and her fists. i think ppl probs like zutara the most when shes' going batshit and no one can understand aang's perspective. but aang is one of a kind and the cutest smartest sweetest loser ever. not my fav char but i love him. he's like if i had a younger brother and not an older one lmao.

of course they're (kataang) together. they were meant to be from the moment they saw e/o and that stupid cave kiss...this is why you don't wait until 32 to watch this lol.

but nothing surprised me and it was meant to be the way it was written. that's also why i find it understandable but shocking people in the universe and apparently outside of it were surprised at aang's turmoil over ozai. like are you joking? he's a 12 year old vegetarian monk. which: i loved his vegetarianism and obviously he was going to be but very casually they put in a line that hints as to why he would be and why many of us are...so i am dedicated to it again.

so wrt that and zutara...the episode where he's with her with the dude that killed her moms and his support of her i can see why people like them. the cave ep obviously but this show is veryyyyy free with affection i noticed and there's some jealousy but they all get over that pretty quickly. i read some of the comics and i could see different rships happening and i definitely think this world lends to queerness (me personally i love monogamy but a certain type lol so not rly interested in much poly but i do like a throuple) but i could see most being bi+ or having identified as that in the past, or labeling themselves but nto limiting. that's just an aside for meee...

so like katara was being katara. i could see suki and zuko being romantic but also a deep friendship that could be deeply affectionate either affect or physically or both bc that's who these ppl are. katara is a very intense person and that's part of why she can be annoying. that's part of why they ALL can be overwhelming. theyre intense, traumatized, repressed kids and teens with mostly good hearts (or just a person so disconnected from herself but also a fascist so u know. her going nuts lol)

hmm what else oh yea. so i came away with maiko......gjpasig the show was paced and plotted well. i am a libertarian communist (anarcho-commie) so MANNNNN i wish they did better on that front but again i must remember i am 32, ancom, and the world is diff. but anyway lmao so team avatar is who i would want to spend time with but i got so interested in mai and ty lee (mailee...). that beach ep conversation was so good, that whole ep, their argument. it was extremely teenage and showed how fucked up they all are. how confused and fucking lost and pathetic. how small their lives are. how boring....so mai...

[mineonmain]

Reveal your Watch and Rewatch List! (BL Edition!!)

Thank you my love @disaster-j for tagging me - This is extremely overdue I know; I had this whole post written out almost 2 weeks ago but then right when I was getting ready to publish this 💖lovely💖 website decided to refresh and my post was lost. I was so mad that I didn't want to re-write it, but here I am anyways.

Currently Watching (I'm extending this to shows that have juuust finished too)

Kinnporsche - It's so fresh in my mind. I have way too many thoughts about this show to put down here, so i'm going to make another post similar to my Not Me Retrospective - all the things that were right and the things that were not. It may not have stuck to the book, and it may not have fully lived up to all the hype and expectations, but it's still unlike any other BL i've seen so far. Gotta commend them for that. Also it's the VegasPete show now, sorry I didn't make the rules. 7/10 (i'm sorry pls don't @me just read my retrospective later)

To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories - talented brilliant incredible amazing show-stopping spectacular...I think she deserves a separate post for herself too. Maybe when i'm not drowning under the guilt of not working on my Dissertation. There wasn't too much angst, the ending wasn't rushed, it was honestly perfect. Imperfect can be perfect too, you know. 11/10

Old Fashion Cupcake - I had low expectations for this so it kind of blew me out of the water. Great acting, incredible chemistry, and that scene in Ep 4 lives rent free in my brain. It's amazing how they (mostly) managed to tell a story in just 5 episodes and still have it feel complete and not unnecessarily rushed. A teensy bit of beef with how the finale went, but there's always something isn't there. 8.5/10

My Secret Love - Pretty mid, like the standard GMMTV sort of fare, featuring My-ponytail-is-my-personality-trait Boy, Walmart Saint Suppapong, Why RU's too-many-couples disease, mildly problematic behavior and a thin excuse of a plot. Still, it's nice to get something banal and light-hearted after all the weekend angst of KP and TMS. The latest ep was surprisingly better and less superficial than all the others so far.

Star and Sky: Sky in my Heart - The sequel to JoongDunk's Star in my Mind, this is typical lighthearted GMMTV stuff ft. P'Mek and debut actor Mark. A series of mini-series' where new couples get to flex their acting muscles a bit and test out their chemistry on the screen. I don't have much to say except it's soft and cute, nothing too groundbreaking.

Looking Forward To

Never Let Me Go (PondPhuwin)

Between Us (BounPrem)

My Only 12% (SantaEarth)

Remember Me (maybe??) (JaFirst)

Happy Ending Outside the Fence

Love in the Air (maybe??)

War of Y (maybe??) (BillySeng and more)

Moonlight Chicken (EarthMix)

Blueming S2 (let's freaking GO)

Rewatch

So. I'm not in the middle of rewatching anything at the moment, frankly I do Not have the time for full rewatches, but when I get in the mood I tend to rewatch specific moments from certain shows instead of full rewatches:

Bad Buddy Ep 5 4/4

Bad Buddy Ep 11

Literally anything from BBS who am I kidding

ATOTS Ep 6 3/4

ATOTS Ep 10 4/4

UWMA EP 2 4/4

Why RU FighterTutor Cut

LBC AePete Cut

WBL Ep 5

WBL 2

Utsukushii Kare Ep 5-6

Semantic Error

Mr. Heart

Light On Me (esp Ep 13)

Tharntype Ep 6/Ep 12

UWMA WinTeam Cut

Blueming Ep 9/Ep 11

TMS 2 Ep 4/Ep 10

OFC Ep 4

Love Is Science? MarkOuwen Cut

2gether Ep 6 3/4-4/4

My Tasty Florida

(Can you guys smell a theme hmmm I wonder🤔) Y'all I'm so sorry about this gotdamn list. It ran away from me. RIP. If anyone actually goes thru this, veterans discount for you. I could probably add more if I stopped to think more but that's where i'm gonna stop for now.

Tagging (I don't rly have friends but): @elevatormusic @whatisgodtoanonbeliever @incandescentflower @liyazaki @onstoryladders @strutforlove @billlkin @7nessasaryevils @excessivelyobssesed @milkpansa @johnnysuhsbathtowel @rythyme @piningbisexuals @ablazenqueen

[heesulovebot]

bl/gl tag game

i was tagged by the lovely @gunsatthaphan​ thank u!!!! even tho this was the hardest thing ever lol i loved it 💕

your all time favourite bl character and why.

i’m just going to ignore the lack of plurals in that question and go with my top 5 faves (i’m a libra i can’t choose just one sobs). in no particular order:

tine teepakorn - i have never related to a bisexual character more. also he is sO dumb it hurts how much i love him dsknfkjdnf

kurosawa yuichi - he is the softest man, the biggest dork, and those smile whiskers literally cured my depression. idk man i just think he’s neat :(💕

kang seojun - there’s something inherently sad about seojun but the fact that he smiles through everything.... *head in fucking hands*

cha siwon - queen dasuel really knows how to write sympathetic-pathetic charas so well lmfao like, the secondhand embarrassment i got from him and the fact that i still adored him through it all. iconic, truly. another insecure character i relate to on a deeply personal level 🤪🤙

aoki sota - insecure bisexual.... holy shit i’m sensing a pattern here. he is pure of heart, dumb of ass, and i would kill a man for him and hashimoto

what’s your one character from a bl you wanted to punt into the stratosphere (you only get one so choose wisely).

aj i love you but i wanted to punt non so bad in dbk lmfaoooo

the best music moment from a bl.

wait idk what music moment means so uhm if we’re talking theme songs i still bump to gen y’s ost to this day an absolute banger. if we’re talking music in a scene... hands down scrubbs!!! still remember how the fandom lost it @ the headphone sharing concert scene in ep. 4 and it was all JA TUM TOOK TOOK YAANG 🗣️ ever since 

what’s a popular heterosexual text that you would like to see adapted into a bl/gl?

i’ll take any 90s rom-com but make it ✨queer✨ also: any jane austen!!  

a scene from a bl that always makes you laugh.

the white lion gang— particularly any line boss had (which you just know was a gunsmile adlib) but also the scene in s2g when the cake goes on fire and boss, the freak that he is, is like “cool!” whilst everyone else is freaking out around him jsdnfjdksn also i nearly died laughing when we walk into one of the scenes and boss is telling phukong “i knew your brother when he was this big [motions fist] and now he’s this big [slides hand down fist]” idkidk it’s just gunsmile’s expressions kill me. also: all of adachi’s spastic outbursts (esp when he’s with tsuge outside his apartment and then kurosawa’s ‘eh?’... omg also tsuge and adachi’s telepathic conversation in front of kurosawa dskjfnjfdnndksdjn) and green’s “what?!?!?!” lives rent-free in my head 24/7 

biggest disappointment.

tonhon chonlatee..... i don’t wanna talk about how bad that show was 😭😭😭 (and how i even managed to finish it,,, she’s a masochist, ur honour). RIP podd’s bl career 🙏 poddearth whEN

what two random bl/gl characters would make hilarious exes?

YIHWA AND FAI!!!! we_could_of_had_it_all.mp3 sobs

who would be the funniest person to watch a bl in its entirety and which one would you make them watch.

re-watching twm with @patspran​ was a hilarious ride 10/10 would do it again. as for making someone watch a bl, if i had to make anyone watch a bl i would probs make them watch light on me because it’s pretty much a hi-teen web drama and i feel like that’d be an easy way to ease someone into bls,,, slowly make our way up to thai bls lmfao 

best wardrobe moment/or character wardrobe from a bl.

miss yihwa was killing the game back in 2017 ur faves could never 😌 also everything nunew wears in that cutie pie show he is adorable. oh, also jang jaeyoung’s all-red tracksuit. simply iconic

tagging!🌈💕✨: @patspran @billlkin @itoldsunset @tehohaews @taeminie @mrdumpling @tontawantu @rashfcrd @earthfluuke @aquynh (only if you want to!!!)

[antiloreolympus]

8 Anti LO Asks

1. what exactly is lo hades relationship to ares in comic? bc it seems negative bc at least ares doesnt like hades, but hades doesnt seem to like him either? which is like?? hades he gets you so many free slaves with the deaths war causes like why are you mad at him for.

2. im sorry im just now noticing persephone doesnt even stay the same hue of pink IN THE FRIST EPISODE?? is she a chameleon or something?

3. girl if a graphic designer formatted the print version she needs a refund NOW, it looks so messy and nonsensical. i know they'd be trying to make sense of the files given to them and obvs rachel is not going to rework or spruce up any old panels when she wont even double check the current stuff, but couldn't the designer have the original files to move the bubble around at least? it just looks like they screen-capped it from their phones and had to just get them on the page for a deadline.

4. full offense but hades looks like a major creep in those preview panels lmao. really re-enforcing he cares more about her body than herself right from the get-go. how is that romantic at all.

5. new collective AU for us to imagine: persephone realizes that her phone was the pomegranate all along, and hades has been using obfuscating magic to keep her there. she breaks free of his hold, gets a tolerable personality (her old self back, at the very least) and actually stages a revolution to get the nymphs and mortals better/less brutal treatment. her title 'bringer of death' becomes less of a shameful moniker, and more of a warning to those who mistreat the helpless. She Learns Better.

6. those book format previews are also just sad because it reminds you how lively the first couple of months of LO were, but by the end of the volume (so ep 26 i think) you start to see its shift from a unique look to the flat and static look it has now, and that's in the same volume! the style shouldn't change that much in the same book, especially when the first half at least tried to look stylishly interesting and then it ends so flatly. at least keep the style downgrade in between volumes.

7. i saw a few weeks ago you guys were talking about the font choices in LO and this book preview only proves the point the text choice was a bad idea, or at the very least should have been changed for print form. It looks fine when it's only one panel per page, but that small font in an even small, condensed form makes it near impossible to read. you have to have bigger, all caps font for print. You're going to need a magnifying glass and some whiplash medicine to read what's even happening.

8. i like the concept of the full image as the background with panels on top of it, it still makes the page look too busy, esp w/ how many panels are squished onto a page and how tiny the text looks. you can look at the creator of punderworld's instagram to see how she reworked the webtoon for print and it needed a lot of reworking to flow better visually from a scrolling format, meanwhile this formatting just seems like Rachel just copy and pasted them to fit on one page. It just looks wrong.

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

what would you say is your best method to beat writer's block? i've been writing this fic for weeks but i get blocked very often :(

okay so a few things I do:

1. don't write the fic! write when it feels fun. (this is hard, however so also when you are practicing this one, do the below:)

2. write something else! anything that does feel fun and easy. a poem, a diff fic, a drabble. a description of a blade of grass in a text to misha. whatever, etc.

3. do something creative that's not writing. draw. sing. color. cook. watch the bees. make up a dance that a butterfly would do.

4. listen to music. music ALWAYS helps me; it's why I have a playlist for every chap of my WIP. think ab songs that would be on a soundtrack for your fic. then think about songs that would be on a soundtrack for the next parts you're writing. I swear then the story will write itself.

5. watch the show. whatever mood you're trying to evoke - watch an episode w it. for ex: my chapter for Angels this week was a very Dean-centered one, so I watched: Skin, Dream a Little Dream of Me, Despair, and Inherit the Earth (I know but I had to for a scene). if you dont have time to watch an ep - read the transcript/script.

6. watch a show NOT related to your fic (Lucifer has been giving me lots of inspo lately)

7. read something. I find this lubes the brain. even a chapter of a book (or fan fic if it works for you, personally I find non-fan-fic reading is better for me when writing) or a short poem (Mary Oliver never misses, Mish ain't wrong ab her) does wonders.

8. go for a walk or a run outside. listen to music (see no. 4)

9. text misha and ask him to send you good vibes.

10. drop me an ask and ask me to send you good vibes.

11. re read the bits before. esp the ones you like. remember why you like them, and how excited you were when you started this.

12. ask the fandom for inspo!

13. close your eyes. breathe. count to 10. tell the universe you are going to write this, and its going to be fucking GREAT. repeat until you remember that you can.

bumps dont stop us, send me an ask!

[bardicindignation]

Get To Know Me!

thanks for the tag, @s1utspeare and @jockvillagersonly! 🥰🥰 name: Joy (at least on tumblr :) ) pronouns: she/her star sign: Taurus (ayyy Sierra!) height: 5'7″ : tallest woman who's related to me by blood on my mom's die of the fam lol time: 4:54 pm

Birthday: May 1st, aka Saturday!

nationality: American

fave bands/groups/solo artists: this question is just mean, ugh. Like, how am I supposed to choose? Off the top of my head, I'll go with...hmm...the Amazing Devil, Celtic Thunder (specifically the Take Me Home album) the Oh Hello's, Queen, Panic! at the Disco, Imagine Dragons and I'm gonna just stop there before I wind up with enough to need to put most of this under a cut 😅

song stuck in your head: In a really odd turn of events, none! Which is hardly ever the case lol, I perpetually have a song stuck in my head

last movie you watched: 4 Weddings and a Funeral, just the first half or so. I was really enjoying it though, so I'll probably watch the rest later!

last show you binged: well, I'm more or less being forced to watch the rest of it at a normal pace (*shakes fist* curse you Vicki uploading times!!) but the first, like, 16 or so eps of Word of Honor

when you created your blog: 2020

the last thing you googled: a recipe for carrot ginger soup! that I haven't made (yet) bc we have a bunch of carrots and ginger rn

other blogs: none! I bring all of my inconsistency to the same place lol

why i chose my url: bc I wanted smth different from my ao3 username (middleschool me was not the best at naming stuff) and it's also and inside joke with myself :)

how many people are you following: 158

how many followers do you have: 55 :)

average hours of sleep: eh, it ranges from, like, 6 or 7 to 10 depending on how sucked into fanfics i get while I'm supposed to be sleeping lol

lucky numbers: I'm not sure about lucky, but my favorite number is 12!

instruments: piano, a little bit. I had brief dalliances with the violin, french horn, and the ukulele, and I want to learn how to play my guitar

what i'm currently wearing: A red, long sleeved...lounge top? I guess? black leggings and purple and white striped socks

dream job: being a full time novelist would be awesome, but also recently I've been thinking about becoming a kindergarten teacher! (incorporates a lot of different stuff I really like to do, plus time during the summer for writing!)

dream trip: Ireland, again, (It was so fun, I want to go back and explore more so much) or Istanbul so I can see the Hagia Sophia and the Basilica Cistern

fave food: hmm, well, right now I'm craving a cajun turkey burger or Irish stew, so we'll go with that!

top three fictional universe you'd like to live in: oh god, umm...I guess Star Wars when there's not, yk, a war on, Middle Earth would be pretty cool, esp the Shire (give me ALL the second breakfasts please) or...idk, one where I get to have magic powers but also don't almost die/get murdered every three seconds

Part II

last song: Take Me to Church by Hozier

last stream: um, if this is about livestreams, i...don't lol

currently reading: currently rereading deadcatwithaflamethrower's Re-Entry series, which is long and excellent while ignoring the pile of books that want my attention

currently watching: Word of Honor! I love this dumb assholes so much! Also, just started on Shadow and Bone, which I'm looking forward to getting more into :))

what is antipoetry to you: I'm...not sure? I'd never seen the term before, so I'd have to spend more time thinking about this one

currently craving: ice cream. always. No pressure tags for anyone in the dmbj game who haven't been already, @rhea-imagined, @flaim-ita, and anyone else who wants to!!!

[randomidiocyncrazies]

2.43 ep 7 thoughts

Chika and Mimura are set up as foils to examine the theme of “volleyball is a team sport; it cannot be played alone, no matter how skilled you are” 

they’re both volleyball prodigies, the most valuable players on their team with the most experience with actual competitions, and an essential presence of their respective teams. however, Mimura gets along well with his teammates and has an almost parental(?) protectiveness of his team, while Chika is bad at social skills and the parental protectiveness mostly comes from the 3rd years (esp Oda).

through their contrasting personalities and back story, we see that although Chika is overly blunt and gives off a lone-wolf vibe, he actually really desires a team he can trust and take part in bigger, better competitions with them. 

in this ep we get more confirmation of Chika learning to share his burdens and be a unit with Yuni -- Chika actually talks to Yuni about his anxieties, and the other team members know that Yuni’s got Chika’s back 

(it's also really sweet when Yuni was all “we can’t let Oda-senpai and Aoki-senpai retire before January!” even though just two episodes ago he was like “yeah it sucks the seniors might not be able to play in the Spring Tournaments, but I’m not going to clear up what happened” lol)

with Mimura, he pretty much already has all that, but (unlike Chika imo), he takes it all on himself: “I’ll take everyone who’s counting on me to the center court at nationals. Our upperclassmen who didn’t make it, our team, their families, you and the coach.”

the emphasis on him having to take them there isn’t Mimura being a braggart, but it’s clear that the personal responsibility he feels stems from the expectation others have for him due to his overwhelming talent and potential in the sport. however, he might be in danger of taking on too much, especially with his knee injuries. it’s clearly something Ochi worries about too:

the emotional stakes re: the reserve drama is also pretty good imo. we’ve mostly seen Chika and Oda on the same side so to speak, especially in the anime where they’ve cut out the escalation of the team suspension scene, and they obviously respect each other (they both recognize their love for volleyball in the other), so seeing Chika advise Oda to stay on reserves hits pretty hard. 

(gotta say, Chika using Oda’s own words against him was pretty brutal, though it’s clear he’s doing this out of consideration for the good of the team and not out of disrespect towards Oda. That boy don’t sugarcoat anything haha!) 

i also like that, despite my love for Oda and his fierce love for volleyball, he has to face disadvantages that cannot simply be overcome by passion and dedication to the sport. he’s obviously a skilled player, but when he has to play against other strong players who are in possession of both athleticism and height, he can’t fully compensate for his short stature and gets left behind. 

(maybe it’s a little sad to come to that realization, but it’s pretty realistic too. passion just isn’t enough sometimes.)

i’m touched that Oda considers Chika’s question seriously without getting defensive over the personal remark on Oda’s character, since Chika’s phrasing is pretty provocative by implying that Oda is a gloryhound/doesn’t care about what’s good for the team in pursuit of his own enjoyment. in the book Oda constantly struggles with what he sees as his own “selfishness” (wanting to play competitive volleyball for as long as possible, clinging to his position of regular wing spiker, having Aoki’s support during club activities despite it cutting into Aoki’s study time for one of the top universities etc), so having him say “I want to think seriously about this” to Chika is really nice??? because it’s not just for the match against Fukuho, but potentially about his future in volleyball too*

it’s also super sweet to see the rest of the team rallying around Oda, to say that even if he’s not the strongest player on the court, he’s still vital to the team -- his effect on his teammates is similar to Mimura’s, despite the difference in raw ability/skill between them. 

i’ve said in my thoughts on ep 6 that Mimura and Oda are both fantastic captains to their teams in different ways. Mimura’s skills and his confidence in them makes his teammates confident too, and they trust him to bring them to the center court; meanwhile, Oda’s charisma is his pure passion, as well as his ability to have the whole team believe in the same goal and strive for it together.

*in the latest arc (next 4 years; serializing on shueisha) we get confirmation that Oda still plays competitive volleyball as a wing spiker, though he’s in a lower division/league (Ch 1.2)

[tellywoodtrash]

immj2 30+31.12.20 lbs

30.12.20

lmao ep starts off itself with vansh and kabir ka staring match.

vansh steady in first place, not having blinked for................ like 3 minutes now? this dude a fucking freak.

while riddhima gazes adoringly at him thinking bhagwaan ne mujhe itnaaaaaaaaaa achcha pati diya hai. pft. idk what the hell sins you did in your last life riddhima, to get a husband like this one in this life, but it had to be something reallllllllllll bad. like stealing from little orphans and kicking puppies or some shit.

thankfully dadi is here to put an end to this chutiyaapa.

countdown blah blah, no1 currrrrrrrrr.

itna pheeeeeeeeeenka happy new year. bhai-behen ho kya???

now we talking.

he just says some trite shit like new kahaani that will be remembered for ages blah blah and gives creepy looks. dude why can’t you be normal on oneeeee bloody day?

ahaana also giving random creepy looks seeing vansh/riddhima hugging. and she goes and............

i think i watch this show and rrahul a little too closely ki i instantly knew this isn’t his hand and thus it’s not vansh’s hand she’s holding.

yupppppppppp. bola tha na.

damn they make a hotass couple of shady bitches.

ok wow i’m really feeling it. wish kabir wasn’t a sociopath who is incapable of feeling attachment (“love” is too strong a word) for anyone but his mother.

lmao his reaction when ahaana tells him ki riddhima didn’t believe any of the pattiii she padaofied her about vansh.

ok but how do these two know each other??? matlab yeh le aaya hai issko? i thought vansh le aaya hoga?!!?

mereko kya kaunsa manhoos le aaya? i’m just here for the attractive ppl pressing their bodies up against each other. keep on keeping on, #KaHana

he’s warning her against ever double-crossing him and dude the angry/hate-sex vibes here are *~~~ExQuISiTe*~~~~

the way she’s confidently gazing at him all sexy tells me she’s a much more seasoned player than riddhima and i already love her more than the damn lead of the show.

damn. that’s a gnarly period you got riddhima. that’s an unusual amount of flow. go see a doctor about it, sis.

i’ve heard about ppl making art with menstrual blood and all, but this is fucking ridiculous.

anyway of course the dumbass goes investigating it. and got fucking attacked in the storeroom and SOMEONE HUNG HER UP. LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THIS MESSED UP HOUSE DUDE????/ WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU STILLL LIVE HERE????

Chehra Appreciation Break

asadkjasldjlaskdjlsakjdlas the way he’s yelling for everyone and interrogating them of their whereabouts coz riddhima’s missing.

lmao ishani and ahaana’s reactions at this temper tantrum are fucking amazing.

dang what’s with the suuuuuper orange lower half of his face???? ugh. the foundation woes are back now that the beard’s growing back in.

anyway he went barrelling off to find her after some more chabaaya hua dhamkis at his fam. ahaana already regretting moving into this pagaal khaana.

this scene is so fucking disturbing to watch that i don’t even wanna fucking cap it. but she was legit getting HANGED and he managed to get there in the nick of time and save her.

how, you ask? BY SHOOTING AT THE ROPE, INSTEAD OF JUST.......... DOING SOMETHING NORMAL LIKE RUNNING AND PUTTING THE STOOL BACK UNDER HER FEET TO STABILIZE HER. THIS SHOW IS JUST FUCKING BATSHIT INSANE, MY LORD.

this poor girl, my god. i don’t think i’ve ever watched a tellywood FL be tortured to the extent that this one is on a daily basis. it’s fucking ridiculous. there’s no redemption for any of the raisinghanias at this point. she just needs to fucking leave (and file several domestic violence cases against each and every one of them, except dadi.)

anyway she tells him whatever went down today, starting from the period blood fiasco onwards and he’s........ vibrating in anger. cool i guess.

some promises and shit about how who ever did this will pay, time for “humaara khel” and .......... dude. you say this shit every single time. and nothing changes. i don’t give a fuck anymore about your stupid promises. move the fuck outta this hellhole with your wife if you really mean it.

seedha jaake ahaana ke sar pe bandook taan di. based on what evidence? only the Good Lord above knows, coz vansh and the writers sure don’t.

no literally based on what is he accusing her and pulling the trigger??????? idgi??????

almost shot her and is saying “riddhima pe kharonchh nahi aani chahiye, baat ishq aur vishwaas ki hai” and ahaana is giggling and literally what the fuck is going on i’m so confused.

ahaana saying wowwwww, you want revenge also, and she shouldn’t get hurt also.

MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE’S THE ONE WHO BROUGHT AHAANA IN!!!!!!!!!!!!

literally what the fuck is this dude on???? badla chahiye, par dard nahi hona chahiye. bhai, kya phoonk ke aaye ho, humein bhi toh thoda de do.

ok this is tooooo fucking convoluted a game. riddhima thinks kabir is the one attacking her. but it’s kabir + ahaana. kabir thinks ahaana is on his side and brought her into VR mansion, but ahaana is double agent who was actually planted in kabir’s nazar by vansh to fuck over BOTH kabir and riddhima. i think?????????

ahaana be like re devaaaaaa, what fucking madness have i gotten myself into????????????? the things i have to do for health insurance coverage during a pandemic.

———————————————————————

31.12.20

first 5 minutes is some new year ka naach gaana bs. fwding.

ok this fucker is a legit motherflipping crazy. he just wants to keep torturing riddhima for god knows how long.

even ahaana is alarmed.

did he do absolutely noooooo research after the cliff chhalaang? like....... this revenge shit is so dumb at this point, when he knows she brought in vihaan to stop kabir from ruining the family, and took a second fucking bullet for him?!?!?!?!?!?! they shouldn’t have written the second gunshot plot point, coz now he looks like a reallllllllll unappreciative fucker for whom literally no good deed is enough.

WHAT PYAAR AND VISHWAAS, FUCKER???????? LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?????? YOU’VE PLAYED THESE GAMES WITH HER FROM THE VERY START OF YOUR MARRIAGE AND MAYBE TOOK A BREAK FOR A WEEK OR TWO IN BETWEEN - WHEN SHE GOT SHOT THE FIRST TIME AND DURING ISHANI’S WEDDING. THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT??????/ LIKE.......... THIS MAKES NO BLOODY SENSE. THIS CHARACTER IS JUST SUCH A SUPREME DOUCHEBAG, MY GOD. THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO REDEEMING HIM WHATSOEVER.

also can’t say rrahul’s extra chabaaaaa chabaaaaaaa ke bolna is making this enjoyable to watch at all.

all i wanna know is what ahaana has on him that he’s indebted to her and thought her worthy enough to join forces with. SPILL SPILL SPILL SPILL!!!!!!!!!!!! what does ahaana get outta all this?!!?!?!!!!!!

riddhima on the other hand running around wondering whom vansh is gonna murder. SIS YOU JUST GOT STRANGULATED CAN YOU SIT DOWN FOR A HOT SEC AND REST?!?!!?!?

ahaana is like bro you gonna ruin riddhima’s life, and he’s like yeah, that’s what i want. jesus christ, dude. just divorce her then. why prolong this shit out like this????? truly psychopathic.

riddhima hears his voice and heads to the pool area..........

............. isn’t that his shoulder there behind the tree? is she fucking blind???????? HOW CAN SHE NOT SEE HIS 7 FOOT TALL HULKING ASS BEHIND THAT PATLA SA JHAADI?????? HE’S LITERALLY THERE LIKE........

........... she left. god. she’s really really REALLY stupid. like pretty sure these crimes against her count as extraaaaaaaaa bad....... like, pick on someone with your own brain capacity, vansh? leave the simple minded sis alone!

the only gift that’s acceptable from you rn sir, is divorce papers. and a self-filed restraining order promising to stay 3 whole districts away.

yikes, that beard is notttttt growing in well.

“tum mujhe apne saare stress de do.” BITCH YOU’RE HER BIGGEST STRESS. ASSHOLE. I HATE YOU SO MUCH.

“tumse door jaake jaaonga kahaan? abhi toh bohut kuch baaki hai.” fucking dieeee, you psychopath.

lmaoooooooooooooooo her face when she doesn’t understand wtf this gift is supposed to be. i’ve been there sis. trying to fake enthusiasm for some reallllll bad gifts from men is truly painful.

also she’s so dang cute when they let her use her face properly!!!!!! har waqt bechaari ko bass rulaate rehte hain iss show mein.

one ainvayiiii gift ke bahaane some random cuteness.

sis gazing at him some more thinking omg he loves me soooooooo much.

she remembered ahaana’s warning, and is like no she was lying to me!!!!!!!!! stupid stupid stupiddddddd. no matter whoever planted her, you should believe that sister over your haraami misters. motive jo bhi ho, bol toh behen sach hi rahi thi.

yuck that looks ugly af. why the hell would you want that on your bedroom wall? esp. when your bedroom is already so goddamn fugly.

anyway he’s gaslighting her some more about ahaana blah blah.

riddhima like i’ll prove it. le, iska jee nahi bharaa. she wants to do more jasoosi and go get stuck in random traps that try to kill her.

vansh promising he’ll throw ahaana and her partners out if she can prove it. meaning you’ll........... throw yourself out?????

whatever man, idk and idc anymore what this fucker does. i’m just here for the faces.

threatening notes planted in all these ppl’s rooms. everyone instantly like OMG VANSHHHHHHHHHHH DID THISSSSS. lol coz who else does this chutiyaapa of leaving random messages around like this.

but nope. chachi saw riddhima’s earring lying there and knows it’s her.

isko bhi mila.

lmao kabir rueing the day he set eyes on riddhima coz jeena haraam kar rakha hai ladki ne.

riddhima like mwahahahahhaha they must have got my notes and now they’ll come attack me! behen, woh toh note ke bina bhi roz karte aaye hain...............

there. promptly got jumped.

surprise, surprise.

lol attitude toh dekho behen ka. wish she was the lead of the show instead of riddhima.

[trashexplorer]

A comprehensive? list of guitars used in 2gether The Series:

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about guitars and I’ve only gathered the details included here from reviews of the mentioned guitars. I just really like investigating things that do not and will not benefit my life in any way. Also, I have not and might never read the novel, so I’m not sure if they mentioned the specific models there. These are all my rough guesses, so if you know what these really are, feel free to correct me. The guitars in this list are the ones that actually belong to Tine and Wat, so I didn’t include the guitars that were borrowed from the music club.

1. Westone WE5400 a.k.a Sarawat’s electric guitar

Availability: Discontinued (all the 5400′s in re-selling sites are sold out)

Original Price: 550 USD or around 27000 PHP

Songs Played: Together (ep 1)

Details: Westone, as a guitar manufacturing brand, has been discontinued for a while now. 5400's are supposed to only come in Black, Lime Green, Metallic Blue, Ultra Violet (as seen above), and Yellow, so I’ve never actually seen another 5400 that looks exactly like Sarawat’s. However, Sarawat’s guitar might be customized, but who knows? As for quality, it shouldn’t sound that much different from other guitars it's type. Rare as it may be now that it's discontinued, that does not automatically mean that it's special. 🤷‍♀️ Bright uses a different electric, so this might not be his. It looked like a red Les Paul, but I’ve never had a bigger view of it, so I don’t even know what brand it was.

2. Morris W35 a.k.a Sarawat’s acoustic guitar no.1

Availability: Retired

Original Price: 35000 JPY or 16000 PHP

Songs Played: Click (ep 5), This Person (ep 7), and To You (ep 8)

Details: This model in particular is vintage, so its value might be significantly higher today. Also, you don’t find Morris guitars with the vertical logo anymore, which is why I think Sarawat’s W35 is an original 1979 model (and you can clearly see that it has been worn out to some degree). Where are they getting these guitars??? As for quality, Sarawat’s W35 in particular sounds pretty normal to me when Tine played it on Episode 2. I have seen numerous conflicting accounts about the quality of the W-series and Morris guitars in general, so I cannot, in good faith, judge its quality without hearing the real deal. I do like how it sounded esp during This Person, but they were in a bathroom, so it might have contributed to the sound.

3. Takamine Santa Fe 45C a.k.a Sarawat's acoustic guitar no. 2 and Tine's acoustic guitar

Availability: Retired

Original Price: 1,500 USD or around 75000 PHP

Songs Played: Close (ep 3 Sarawat), Click (ep 5 pt 1= Tine & pt 2= Sarawat), This Person (ep 5 Sarawat), Wish (ep 9 Tine), Your Smile (ep 11 Sarawat), So, It Was All in My Head? (ep 13 Sarawat)

Details: Jesus! That’s one expensive guitar! This sells at around 2000 USD or  120000 PHP now! I’ve only ever heard good reviews about this guitar and Takamine in general, but I’ve got to say that it really does live up to its hype. I mean, if you heard Sarawat play Close and Click on that thing, you’d see how clear it is. Tine better be taking good care of that guitar because our man Sarawat must’ve paid a fortune for that. Even Sarawat’s own guitars are cheaper! This is also the guitar they used in the promotion poster for the series, so it is safe to say that this is THE guitar of the series (and the most expensive jfc). Isn’t it funny that even though it’s technically Tine’s guitar now, the one who plays it the most is Sarawat? I mean, Tine’s gonna give it back to him in 12, but. It also is the most played guitar of the series. How the heck do they carry that around on set like it was nothing???

4. Taylor 214CE a.k.a Sarawat’s acoustic guitar no. 3 and Bright’s personal guitar no. 1

Availability: Available

Original Price: 1199 USD or around 60000 PHP

Songs Played: Everything (ep 6)

Details: When I saw that this one was a newer guitar, I knew that this had to be the guitar Bright uses in his IG videos. Well, you know how Taylor guitars are. I’m actually planning on buying this one myself once I’ve saved up the coin.

Bonus Guitar!!!

Yamaha F340 a.k.a the OST guitar and Bright’s personal acoustic guitar no. 2

Availability: Retired

Original Price: 200 USD or around 10000 PHP

Songs Played: Kan Goo & So, It Was All in My Head?

Details: I’m actually torn between the F310 and F340, but since the F310 doesn’t come in this color, the F340 might be the closest to Bright’s Yamaha. Bright also used this guitar when he played and sung Kan Goo with Win. I think this really is his guitar because those videos of him singing (not playing) solo in Songs of After Six was taken before 2gether The Series even aired (2018), so he had no reason to bring that guitar there. However, it might just be GMMTV’s prop guitar, but why the heck would they need a prop guitar in the first place??? 😂  

Should I make another list for the products they advertise next??? 😂

[beca-mitchell]

Love Life anon here.

I'd actually like to know how involved AK was in Love Life, creatively speaking. Because I'm not too sure but I believe EPs are mostly just limited to financial support. Besides, for all her talk of diversity, I'm fairly sure AK would've pushed to have her character be something more than just a boring heterosexual.

Spoiler alert.

I kinda hated the whole thing with Magnus, and only liked Part II of that cuz she left him. I honestly don't understand how her marrying him even made sense for the story or the character as it was at that point. I get that what she learned or whatever was valuable, but it didn't make sense to me that Darby would say yes, especially after the events of that episode.

The highlights of the story for me were the episode with the mother (7 I think), the one with Sara (and that whole plotline really), and Darby as a mom.

I also liked that they made "the person" be someone she'd never met before. Better that than to have him be someone who'd been there all along as is usually the case in rom-coms.

Mostly tho, what I liked in the end was the fact that although the show is called Love Life they really didn't just focus on romantic love.

re: EPs, it’s not one set thing. Yes, sometimes they just serve as making sure there’s enough money to go through the whole project, but if you know anything about EPs, it actually depends on the project.

Based on what AK has said about what she wants for her career, I think she’s trying to be more creatively involved. If you’ve watched any interview, esp. with Love Life and Dummy where she served as EP, she has a lot of thoughts about the projects themselves. And she can push, sure, but these are her first big projects lol I 100% would play it safe too especially if I’m trying to get a good name in a new role/position. My only counter to that would be that I too think she should have pushed a little harder but maybe she didn’t care to change the story and maybe she felt boring heterosexuality would have worked better (it didn’t imo but i’m not the ep lmao).

I suppose I understand hating the Magnus storyline, but I don’t know if it’s fair to say that it “just didn’t make sense.” People do a lot of dumb things when they’re in love and they do a lot of questionable things when they’re emotionally compromised. Leading up to Magnus, I thought Darby had already shown she had a propensity to do somewhat silly things like embarrassing herself at her ex-boss/bf’s father’s wake because she felt insecure. Maybe it was the way the story unfolded and how we learn about her high school issues along with her mommy issues in the same vein as the Magnus story, but it kind of makes sense to me.

I don’t think there’s any one way that somebody is expected to cope with their insecurities and hers just manifested in this idealization of what she wanted her life to be. I thought her therapist pointed it out fairly well—that Darby didn’t think she deserved to be loved at some level.

I liked that the show didn’t just focus on romantic love too.

[storytime-writings]

OTP Tag

Tagged by @sonyarebecchi thanks :)

Pick 10 of your otps from different fandoms without reading the questions and then answer them. Then tag 10 other people to do the same.

Captain Swan (OUAT)

Elizabeth/Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)

Merthur (Merlin)

Philinda (Agents of SHIELD)

Malec (Shadowhunters books)

Feyrand (ACOTAR)

Kaz/Inej (Six of Crows)

Everlark (The Hunger Games)

Emrey (Scream MTV)

Clexa (The 100)

Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

Umm probably towards the end of the first book, I think even though Rhysand’s true nature was only hinted at, it was also quite clear where things were going to go.

Have you ever read a fic about 2?

Sooo many!!!!

Has a picture of 4 ever been your screensaver/profile pic/tumblr?

Yup! A few!

If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

I mean they’re not technically together, but I would be super sad if the author went in a different direction, but I mean I think it’s quite clear they like each other canonically.

Why is 1 so important?

Character development wise they both benefited from caring about each other and being with each other...they were kinda their best selves together which is the most important thing.

Which one has the strongest bond?

That’s a tough one because most of them have been through some pretty rough stuff and survived (or not but the bond is still there yknow?)

How many times have you read/watched 10′s fandom?

I mean I got up to the death episode and refused to watch any further, s1 and s2 eps I watched a couple of times, and defs re-watched their scenes a lot.

Which ship has lasted the longest?

Which have I shipped the longest or canonically which ship has been together longest? If the first, definitely Elizabeth/Darcy, if the latter, probably Merthur coz reincarnation and immortality and all.

How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

Not since they got together.

If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive: 2 or 8?

Everlark...they’ve been through a lot of killing shit, they have skills and experience.

Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

I don’t think so?

Is 4 still together?

I think one is technically dead atm? I’m not sure, I’m like 2 seasons behind and need to catch up before the final season comes out at the end of the month.

Is 10 canon?

Briefly-ish? Like not officially together but obviously moving towards it and then one died, I mean no-one on tumblr could have possibly missed that bury your gays moment.

If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

I mean Everlark has experience so they’d be up there. Half the others have magic, and most of the rest have mad skills or experience with lots of people trying to kill them. I fear Elizabeth/Darcy would die first because they have none of that!

Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5?

Probably.

Do you spend hours a day going through 3′s tumblr tag?

No, but occasionaly, esp around Christmas, I’ll go on a reblogging spree.

If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break forever or else she’d break them all up, which ship would you SINK?

Refuse!!!! Also they’d all fight for each other, so...

Tagging: @thosefinelines, @righteousnerd, @i-believe-in-melinda-may, @loved-the-stars-too-fondly, @bluethefeeling, @heroesofmyheart and anyone else interested!

[roominthecastle]

@imyourplusone replied to your post:

This is a great summation. Without a doubt Agnes was conceived after the gratuitous boat sex of 2.22 but I’m unclear regarding Red’s confusion. If he and Lizzy were on the run, isolated and bam! made a baby followed by enough time passing that he sees the signs of her pregnancy then why would he doubt his paternity. Who else would he suspect considering he was with Liz everyday?

The timeline established by the episodes in S3A gets obliterated by the pregnancy reveal (*) but generally speaking, in this period (starting w/ 304) Liz and Tom are in contact. Red doesn’t seem to (want to) know specifics but he knows Liz and her pathological inability to stay away from him. After Aram blurts out that Tom’s back, Red asks Liz not to reach out. She promises she won’t but they both know she is lying. bc she is. She reaches out to him behind Red’s back 3 seconds later.

They are also staying close to the PO team during most of these episodes (304-307), and Cooper keeps meeting w/ Tom, so Tom is around somewhere as well. So Liz wouldn’t have to be away for too long if they decided to hook up for a quickie (or Tom could come to her and knowing him, the deed would take like a minute or 2, tops) - Red should be aware of this, too. And these eps show that Red isn’t necessarily around her 24/7. In 304, they get separated when the Djinn grabs Liz. In 305, Red goes to meet Ressler while Liz stays in the theater. In 307, he is away interrogating and torturing for what feels like a day. There could have been other instances that we weren’t shown where - for whatever reason - he had to leave Liz alone for a while, which created an opportunity to sneak off. We know she didn’t bc they clearly establish that the first time Tom and Liz see each other since 222 is ep 307 (by making Tom remark that he barely recognized her due to her new look, so he hadn’t seen her since she went on the run) and Liz is captured the next day. But again, Red doesn’t know this for sure (imo).

And there are several reaction shots and pointed moments featuring Red getting riled up whenever the topic of Tom comes up. He knows Tom’s close-ish, he knows Liz is more than capable of going behind his back to get to him (S2 is a testament to this), and when she tells him Tom wants to meet in 307, it doesn’t come as a big surprise to Red, he doesn’t even try to talk her out of it anymore. He just throws her a “that’s not a good idea”, then leaves to tend to some business alone. He just ditches her right there and then.

So I really just went with Red’s and Liz’s behavior here, re: uncertainty. He’s jealous but does nothing to prevent Liz from seeing Tom, he doesn’t track her movements (and he’s not always w/ her), so - as far as he knows - they could have hooked up while she was on the run, and that’s a seed of doubt that’s plenty enough, imo. And it only grows right after Liz gets exonerated and immediately goes back to Tom.

We have a gap - a couple of days - btw Liz’s exoneration (310) and her return to work (311) which she likely spends with Tom, and Red likely knows this bc when she shows up at his safe house for a meet in 311, Mr. Kaplan warns her that Red’s in a bad mood - and he really is. 311 is S3A jealousy: continued. He’s distant and testy (the complete opposite of how he behaved at the end of 310). He’s worried that Tom’s pulling Liz away again and that she seems so willing to go w/ him, which can easily nurture that seed of doubt about paternity: if it’s Tom’s, if there’s no doubt about it in her mind -- and there isn’t seem to be any he can pick up on (and he would) -- then a) they did hook up and b) Liz will be even less willing to stay w/ him now. Mr. Kaplan assures him that he’s not gonna lose her no matter what happens, but now we all know where Mr. Kaplan really stood on this issue (so Tom’s continued presence was playing into her hand).

Liz seems sure about paternity and no matter how good an observer you are, you cannot exactly date time of conception based on pregnancy symptoms alone (you can be weeks off, easy), so Red really has no grounds to question her unless he wants to add insult to injury here and he is smarter than that.

+

If they slept together, they used protection which reduces the chances of conception. Red just strikes me as the kind of person who would insist on it (Tom doesn’t), but no protection is 100% effective, esp in scripted shows, so a small chance is always there and enough to feed a bit of doubt.

if the morning after Red reacted as pleasantly as he reacted to her saving him, i.e. w/ a massive wave of self-loathing and a tortured “we can never do this again” or as he reacted to her “I love you” (=silence and pretending it never happened) or a combination of the two, then he can’t even really blame her for gravitating back towards someone who is vocal about wanting her and more than willing to “do it again” while Red is stuck in this impossible, never-ending battle that grinds up any hope of raising a child regardless of whose it is.

So in 311 he just suffers semi-guardedly as usual, and despite the whole “the world’s elite crime lords are about to vote on my execution for betraying them”, it’s clear what bothers him the most:

and this tense behavior seamlessly carries over into 312 and culminates in that “I assume Tom is the father.” Red can’t even look her in the eye after that as he is trying to process it. While he may have some doubts (no protection is 100%, her symptoms emerged “within range” of their coupling) but Liz is undoubtedly back on her Tom bullshit, so Red has no other choice but to assume she hooked up w/ Tom not too long after their time together.

He keeps telling her how much she reminds him of her mother and we could see that Katarina was in the same position when she got pregnant - stuck between two men under insane pressure and (understandably) choosing to go w/ the one who had at least a chance at offering her baby a sense of normalcy and relative safety. In the present, that’s not our Red, no matter how much he wants to be a dad to that baby.

(*) eps 301-310 actually take place over ~ 10 days (continuity links them up nicely), so I don’t think they wrote those w/ any pregnancy in mind. But something changed in 311 and from 311 onward a timeline was established retroactively (stretching these 10 days on the run into 3 months, giving us lots of narrative blank space) that completely excludes Tom as the father.  There had to be some major revision happening in the background but to what end, I am not sure. Red fits in w/ this revised timeline. Tom doesn’t fit in w/ any version and I have tried them all.

[obstinaterixatrix]

spop s2 thoughts

for me, ep 7 was def the highlight of the season. I love bow’s two dads and I love histories being super amped about their extremely niche expertise. was extremely distraught at the collateral damage during the fight. THEY’VE SPENT THEIR LIVES CAREFULLY CURATING THEIR COLLECTION OF HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT (OR INSIGNIFICANT BUT STILL OLD) ARTIFACTS AND THEIR SHIT GETS WRECKED... THAT’S TERRIBLE.

overall, the writing seemed a lot weaker than s1, & it turns out noelle was involved with writing with basically every ep on s1, and... isn’t credited for any of the s2 eps? which I thought was a bit strange. one of the writing weaknesses, I think, stems from netflix’s model of short seasons, fast releases; there’s not a lot of room to establish characters & dynamics, which means the ensuing developments are harder to land.

this is esp noticeable in the first ep with how frosta’s characterization does a full 180, and we’re just supposed to accept it + the subsequent one episode conflict + resolution. this could definitely be justified by the reasons given in-show (re: frosta not having a lot of friends bc she ascended to the throne at a v young age) but we’re mostly thrown into it without acknowledgement of that change. a pal was saying that the transition could be maybe a little smoother if One Person mentioned ‘man frosta’s first impression doesn’t match this Punch Child we have now’. by s2e1 this has already been established for the characters, but not for the audience. and since there’s so little time to set up characters, revealing different sides of those characters can feel more like a deviation from that character than an extension of that character.

I feel like longer seasons would leave more room for character establishment/consistency, and would also leave the writers room to set up multi-episode relationship development that goes beyond the single episode conflict/resolution... when the conflict is so episodic sometimes it feels manufactured, or a little rehashed... right now spop is super episodic within the overarching war... there’s also ‘shera stuff’ (which I, honestly didn’t remember, and I was, super clueless when adora’s whole ‘I can’t mess up like mara did’ thing came up) + ‘horde politics’ (which I find pretty interesting for catra, I feel like she gets a lot of the more subtle + longform nuance) (I really like scorpia but I’m not really digging the move from ‘goofy & affable & a little in her own world’ to ‘pretty desperate to have catra acknowledge Their Friendship)... the thing where all the princesses power up when they’re Really Feeling The Friendship has potential, but there wasn’t a lot of inter-princess dynamic stuff other than the frosta-glimmer conflict. oh also there’s entrapta’s deal, though I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t really follow up on ‘entrapta thought she was abandoned’.

[guccifloralsuits]

tbh that’s also what I don’t like about steaming services dropping entire seasons at once, esp with shows og to that site. like ik that’s literally Netflix’s whole bit but I feel like binge watching takes away from tv show experience, and then it’s such a prolonged wait for the next season (whereas they would start filming while the current season is running) which just gives fans wayyy to much room to speculate about what’ll happen. combined with how social media connects fans to the writers producers directors etc of a show leads to weirdos expecting that the show will cater to what they want to see, it’s really not a pretty mix. lowkey miss the days of tuning like Wednesdays at 7 for a new episode and back to school also meaning the return of shows and not knowing anything about the people behind shows and everything having to be a direct moral reflection of the creators of a character or plot or whatever. but also I’m a movie girl more than a tv girl so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so maybe that’s the real issue at heart here lmao

On binge-TV I actually respectfully disagree. I think some shows are made more to be consumed in small doses/weekly episodes (think: friends-type shows, crime procedurals etc) where others often only really work for a casual viewer if it’s in a in a binge format (Arrested Development is a perfect example of this. One reason it didn’t get the viewership it deserved when airing despite critical acclaim was because it was TV made to binge before TV-streaming made binge TV possible). Like there are some shows where you sort of need to watch eps one after the other in order to catch pertinent but small details you’d otherwise miss if left to your own devices between viewing without the option to re-watch.

But on fan speculation, the danger of between the too-long hiatus, and social-media relationships I completely agree. My ideal format is the way HBO airs Succession—with the option to stream/binge former seasons, but with new seasons releasing an ep every week at the specified weekday/time. I totally feel you on the nostalgia tune-in for streaming tv, that takes me back to my teen wolf stan days 😭