#especially because like. all the stuff that happened in every episode? incredibly traumatic

[sleeplessvalley]

THEY TURNED UZI INTO A SYSTEM AT THE END???? WE STAY WINNING

(rambling about this more in the tags; blatant spoilers)

[physalian]

Content Warnings for Original Books

Can we please encourage content warnings for smut and other triggering topics in published literature? This needs to be a thing. Everyone bashes fanfiction for being fanfiction, but I’ve never seen a fanfic where the smut or trigger warnings weren’t tagged to high heaven somewhere in the description or in the opening author’s note.

AO3, compared to FFN, even has a specific “mature” rating just for sex—”E”—that FFN didn’t have. FFN had nervous authors throwing objectively mild content into the “M” rating (e.g. "rated M to be safe"), which meant that if you wanted to read a story that was a little bit violent, you had to turn off your filters as a kid and sift through all the smut just to find that one smut-less, but violent, fic.

When I was a kid in my early FFN days, I was probably exposed to way more stuff I shouldn’t have been reading because I had to disable the mature filter, just so I could read so-called “graphic violence” from pearl-clutching authors. I’d be looking for that one action-adventure fic that happens to have a little murder in it, and sift through fifty pure-smut summaries that ranged from vanilla to straight BDSM—of which had a high chance of being incredibly unhealthy, but you wouldn’t know that at 10, 11, 12 years old.

Fanfic authors, especially when the fanfic platform gives them the freedom to tag, are very clear to let you know just what you’re getting into.

—

I doubt I need to explain what a content warning is on Tumblr, but I will anyway. A content or trigger warning is a heads up at the beginning of a work of media that there are some elements not meant for younger audiences, or for sensitive audiences, or for people who have experienced situations depicted in traumatic ways, or for people who just don’t want to consume media with such content.

In film, this is obvious. If it’s rated R, you generally know what to expect. Generally. Because an R rated film could be R because of anything from profanity to graphic sex/assault and torture scenes. The MPAA rating system is garbage and ‘harsh language’ is not nearly on the same tier as sex in terms of what we should expose our children to.

Before streaming like Amazon as a platform to get around cable censorship rules, you had premium networks like HBO for all your adult content, and then some shows greenlit on smaller networks like AMC—never on ABC, CBS, TNT, etc. HBO wasn’t only for adult stuff, I used to watch Crashbox all the time.

That was the place you went for media that circumvented foul language, violence, and nudity rules in America. It kind of came with its own built-in content warning by virtue of being on those networks, and even then they still give warnings for shows on HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.

At the start of every episode, you either get a full screen from Starz with the little icons for profanity, nudity, violence, etc, or it would be up at the top around the episode's title. You'd know exactly what you were getting into.

—

In a fanfiction, because I’ve never seen one in an original book, much less for generic vanilla sex scenes, this is what we’re all familiar with:

A/N: Trigger warning! This story contains mentions of rape/non-con. Turn back now, don’t like don’t read.

They also tend to appear at the top of the chapter that contains said scene to double down on the warning, or will, upon completion, include which chapter or chapter section to skip in the work’s summary or opening author’s note. In the old FFN days, there might even be a 4th wall break mid-chapter. Though the terminology we use over the years shifts, we still manage to get the point across.

Like, if I turn off all the filters on AO3 trying to browse for tags and underloved characters that may be lumped in with stuff I’d rather not read, I’ll see tags like “DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT,” which was not a thing in FFN days, even if FFN had allowed things like tags.

While it’s easier to tell in movies due to that shitty-but-functional rating system, that’s not really the case with fiction books. With books, I know the genre, and I know the intended audience age group. If I pick up a book in the children’s sci-fi section, I know it’s going to be something about robots or space or the future and our characters are going to be about twelve years old.

If I pick up a YA thriller, I know I’m going to have a cast of sixteen-to-twenty-somethings and there’s going to be some violence, very vanilla cussing or the author’s own slang, and probably some murder.

Adult or new adult romance—Sex. At least one scene guaranteed.

The problem is that unlike films and TV shows, we don’t get a breakdown for books on what to expect and the nature of those scenes. There’s no little ‘R’ sticker on the back cover and there’s certainly no little insert between chapters to let you know what’s coming next. There's no "trailer" I can read to get a sense of your tone.

So if I’m in the mood for a new adult supernatural romance novel and I have to sit through a vanilla sex scene, that’s fine, that’s what I’m reading it for. But if Mr. Badboy is incredibly aggressive and dominating and being an asshole with very dubious consent, that’s different (although, objectively determining what is and isn't 'dubious' is mighty difficult).

Should I still expect that I take my fluffy or angsty romance with a fat grain of salt just in case?

What happens if it’s not a romance novel, but I get a surprise rape scene as my character’s Tragic Backstory? What if it’s an adventure novel? Spy thriller? High fantasy or historical fiction or murder mystery? If there’s no indication in the genre, summary, or by the style of the cover that I’ll have to read about two characters getting it on?

Some people don’t want to read your characters in all the nitty gritty details. They really like everything else about your book, they just don’t want to read a sex scene, and they really don’t want to be super invested, hundreds of pages and even years of series dedication in, and be massively turned off by smut.

It doesn't need to be this big to-do or hyperdetailed like fanfic. In my upcoming book, I had beta readers with personal and moral objections to some of my themes. From then on, I made sure to ask up front so I didn't trigger my betas.

ENNS is about vampires. I haven't settled on what my content warning page might look like or how exactly I want to phrase it, but it might read something like this:

Dear readers, this is a content warning for graphic violence and adult themes. This book contains mentions of assault, self-harm, and suicide. Please be warned that these themes are present and prevalent in this story and readers should take the utmost care for yourselves when approaching this book. Thank you.

Something like this, just a quick, lighthearted heads up for your novel would suffice:

Dear readers, this book ain’t for kiddies! Be prepared for some adult themes and suggestive romance between characters.

I'm definitely not in the camp of pearl-clutching suburban conservatives, but if I'm browsing for a new novel for my tweenage bookworm and I opened up a book with an intriguing summary, and saw that warning? I'd be much happier with the author for their consideration, instead of buying it blind for my kid. You have no idea why someone wouldn't want to read a sex scene. They might be prude, or they might be a survivor just trying to enjoy a new book.

Because romance and sex is taken for granted, most people are at least going to be open to the possibility of sex, but not everyone will be expecting it or wanting it or think it warranted. It’s not spoilery, it’s not revealing some surprise plot twist, it’s a kind and considerate gesture for those members of your audience who just don’t like sex scenes. And heck, maybe they don't want to read it right now, but they'll remember you and pick your book back up later because you tried.

—

TL;DR: I don’t mind smut. When done well.

There’s a reason romance such a compelling story and why it dominates fanfiction and original works leagues ahead of all other plotlines.

But it still needs a content warning, even if you think it’s obvious, or spoilery, or patronizing. Because if I’m not in the mood for it, it just drags and I want to put the book down instead of reading all your hard work to completion.

[colonel-kira-nerys]

I've wondered about this, too. With DS9 being the space-version of a major seaport or international airport, where people from all different cultural backgrounds and beliefs mix, you would think that there would be a lot more hate-based crime than the petty theft and other small stuff we see Odo so focused on. If I'm remembering correctly, most of the "attacks" among the civilians of DS9 that we see in the show are related to the fallout of the Occupation, which makes sense, with the station's proximity to Bajor.

The reason why I'm not counting Occupation-related crimes as "hate crimes," in this context, is because one could argue that it isn't bigotry that drives Bajorans to hate Cardassians, and vice versa; war crimes have happened, millions of people died, and anyone who survived the horrors of the Occupation isn't a bigot; they're a victim who is genuinely traumatized, and often seeking retroactive justice, however complicated some of that justice-seeking can be.

I realize that because Star Trek is set in the future, one would hope everyone would be a lot more accepting of differences, and so the show operates on the assumption that most futuristic cultures are not bigoted... but I think it's a missed opportunity to not address the very real issues that could come up in that international space-station environment.

Racism, or rather, species-ism is addressed relatively frequently, especially when it comes to the hatred between the Bajorans and Cardassians, but that's usually, again, related specifically to war crimes/the Occupation/religious differences, and not really related to senseless acts of bigotry (though Far Beyond the Stars is certainly a memorable episode about discrimination and hate crimes, but seeing as those crimes are occurring in an entirely different "setting" and era than DS9, it's sort of beside the point I'm trying to make).

It wasn't until the "Rejoined" episode in season 4, I think, where the threat of senseless hate-based discrimination/violence/bigotry (that is not related to religion/the Occupation) is a major plot point. When Jadzia Dax and Lenara Kahn are reunited, it's explicitly discussed by Kira that she finds the idea of anyone being persecuted for who they love unfathomable. There is a genuine fear in the episode that these two women will be persecuted by their own people, since the episode tells us that there are incredibly high stakes associated with Jadzia "reassociating" with the host of Dax's former wife. Sisko even offers to make sure Jadzia is off of the station while Lenara Kahn is there, so as to completely avoid the risk of her being a target for potential bigotry.

Anyway, I'm not sure any of my thoughts are actually being articulated well, but my point is that I think it would've been great if we'd seen more cross-cultural miscommunications (like when that Cardassian lady thinks O'Brien is flirting with her when they've been fighting non-stop) and/or episodes where the conflict of the story is driven by pure, unexpected, and inexcusable bigotry. No culture, no matter how enlightened, is free of prejudice, and I think it would've made for some great episodes if the every-day activities on the space station required mitigating cultural differences more often.

To bring it back to the original topic, I think if random civilians or tourists on DS9 discovered that the main medical doctor on the space station is a product of illegal genetic engineering/augmentation, there could've been a hell of a lot of unkind words or actions as people tried to wrap their minds around that fact, and I wish the story had "gone there" at least once, so we could see how Julian overcame that struggle.

Honestly kind of shocked by how few (if any??) hate crime garashir fics there are. Like just random people trying to kill Julian after his augment secret gets out and Garak having to covertly (or not so covertly) fuck up people’s shit. DS9 is a way-station/tourist trap, so there are weird people coming in all the time and any one of them could hear about Julian and have Strong Opinions that they feel the need to express. Actually shocked the show didn’t play with this more, either. Julian really got off almost entirely scot-free, and fics are always like, “And everyone loved him anyway,” like??? There are definitely people who did not love him anyway.

[kityana]

Please tell me your thoughts on what stede is thinking when ed thinks about leaving the ship? I want to read every single person's thoughts on all of this

okay anon i'm very glad you're interested but i just want you to know i've been trying to write a post about it for like a week now and it just doesn't come out right so this will probably sound rambly.

so like. stede and ed's relationship, right. we can very clearly see ed falling for stede in like every episode. and there are a million posts analyzing (amazingly and incredibly well) ed's thought process in his every decision, how no one ever treated him like stede, how he feels safe to be vulnerable for probably the first time in his life, stede is giving him a safe space to explore himself, and all the while stede is sending these huge mixed signals about his own feelings bc he's so oblivious and ed is confused and doubting their relationship but he's so in love he can't stay away…

and this is great. but like, put aside all the feelings stede just doesn't see. focus for a moment on what he DOES see. consider how ed's actions look from the perspective of stede bonnet, a guy who doesn't know he's sweeping ed teach off his feet. because if you think of it from stede's perspective??? ed looks flighty as hell.

don't get me wrong, stede really enjoys ed's company. i doubt stede had many friends, especially not ones as close as ed. ed doesn't tell him to shut up, ed thinks all of the weird stuff others mock stede for is cool, ed treats him with respect- this is so rare for stede. but at the same time, ed's presence is always, always precarious. he stays on the revenge because they strike a deal with an end goal in mind- if they'd stuck to it and seen the deal to an end, they'd never meet again- ed would retire and become a gentleman and stede would've stayed a pirate. in the fancy party, ed doesn't hesitate to turn on him- mocking stede makes the crowd like him, and so he does that. he only comes running back when it backfires. the very next episode ed confesses he wanted to kill him. and the next? he's talking about leaving. and the one after that he actually leaves.

their entire relationship happens at ed's whims, at his pleasure. his presence is like a carrot dangling from a stick that he can yank away at any moment. we know why this is, we know ed is processing all of these new feelings, he doesn't mean for it to come off like that, but stede doesn't know! as far as stede is concerned, ed is just hanging around until he'll get bored and then go away. he doesn't want him to go, obviously. he works very hard to make ed stay. but when ed does finally leave with calico jack, he takes just one night to get over it. nowhere near the level of spiraling out of control we see ed go through later on. and it's not like he has significantly higher self esteem than ed does. it's that stede was dependable for ed throughout the series, making his sudden 'rejection' appear so much worse. but stede never felt this betrayed because up until the whole 'you make me happy let's run away together' scene ed literally never indicated he has any intentions to stay in stede's life long term.

and to top it all off, i think this partly contributed to stede feeling… fine, i'll say, about going back home. you know, on top of being traumatized and guilt ridden and confused about everything. because what is one crazy scheme to run away to china in the face of months of seemingly itching to leave? he had no way of knowing ed will take their parting as hard as he did because ed always seemed to be on the verge of leaving him anyway.

[sepublic]

Magical Tears and Green Bile?

           Looking back at Episode 3, I noticed that the specific shade of green that Willow’s eyes turn when she does circle-less magic, seems to be different from the type of green that her spell circles are;

           This COULD be an animation error, and/or I’m overthinking this. But it’s interesting when you consider the theory that strong emotions can lead to circle-less magic, due to the bile sac’s connection to the heart. Keep in mind that we only ever see Willow pull off this circle-less magic, where her eyes glow that specific green, whenever she’s highly emotional, stressed-out, and/or aggressive.

           What’s interesting is that the specific shade for Willow’s glowing eyes also seems to match the essence that Belos drains from that poor Palisman, too;

           And we know Palismans have their own source of magic. We know that witches create palismans, so someone like Eda would definitely know where their magic comes from- And so she would’ve known about alternate means of magic, back when Luz asked her about it in the beginning of The Intruder. All of this points towards Palismans having their own source of magical bile�� And if so, then this particular Palisman’s bile has that distinct shade of green.

           Combined with the idea that Willow’s more emotional magic manifests as a similar green- And it’s possible that we have a canon, on-screen, universal depiction of Magic Bile! Specifically as a green substance… And whenever Willow is highly aggressive, her heart beats faster, tapping into her natural bile reserves; And from this more pure, unrefined source, her eyes manifest the traditional Bile green, instead of the specific color unique to her circles.

          Because we know that circle colors seem to vary among individuals, and probably don’t allude to magical skill- The Lead Demon Hunter’s circles are green, but he doesn’t handle Willow’s plants all too well and seems to be more of a Beast Keeper than anything else. Boscha’s spell circles are also pink, yet she’s in the Potions Track… And if spell circles DID allude to an innate affinity towards a particular type of magic, I feel like the Coven System would’ve seized upon this fact to permanently decide someone’s magical track as soon as they can manifest circles.

          We see toddlers who don’t align with any magical tracks, presumably because they’re too young and developing to display any particular affinity; And we see Amity and Willow as about that age, being able to cast spell circles. We know toddlers can cast spell circles, yet they aren’t immediately placed into a magic track- Which furthers the idea that circle colors don’t indicate anything about one’s skill. It’s probably just a biological trait, like different eye or hair colors.

          So the idea is that all magic comes from the traditionally-green bile… But in the process of converting it into a spell circle, that magic manifests as a color specific to the individual, and as a reflection of their specific genetics. However, if an individual draws upon emotions to cast circle-less magic, directly tapping into their unaltered bile reserves- Then the glow of that bile is shown in their eyes, having not been processed the traditional way through a witch’s limbs, avoiding that typical pathway. Possibly it’s in the eyes because the brain influences emotions, after all- And eyes are linked to the brain, after all. Regardless, the bile-magic is released in a different manner than spell-circles, apparently just from the body as a whole rather than the hand/foot.

           This may be a result of more emotional hearts pumping blood, and thus bile more intensely- And this could lead to magical bile circulating through the whole body instead of the limbs, if the heart’s pumping becomes intense enough. Spread equally and in larger quantities due to emotions, an individual can cast spells without making a circle, just by emanating it from their body- And their eyes glow that distinct bile green, displaying how raw it is. Actually, I have to wonder if a witch’s eyes act as a vital pathway to their bile sac, hence why Willow’s eyes grow the color of bile when her heart beats faster.

          Perhaps this’d explain why Belos specifically pours that Palisman’s bile into his eyes- It’s so the bile can reach the sac attached to his heart, and thus be spread out evenly through his body. AKA, Belos didn’t have any problems with his eyes, at least not specifically/exclusively. They say the Eyes are a window to the Soul, the Soul is related to emotions, emotions are connected to both the brain and heart, the former of which is directly connected to one’s eyes. This is just putting into my head, the raw image of a witch who’s so raw and emotional, their magic manifesting so powerfully, that they literally cry magic bile.

           And that’s reminding me of what Eda said about human fantasies and myths being inspired by the Boiling Isles. And how a common fantasy trope is magical tears bringing stuff to life… Are witches actually capable of magical-bile tears, under particularly intense emotions? Is this trait the source of the ‘Magical Tears’ trope, which Luz herself brings up in Sense and Insensitivity? That’d be wild… And now I’m imagining members of the Healing Coven, who specifically cast spells that intensify their emotions, so they can literally cry magical tears when it comes to particularly serious injuries. I imagine this’d be incredibly draining, of course, as it directly extracts the bile itself in a tangible, liquid form- Maybe it could even have adverse effects on the bile sac!

          At the very least, this’d make for some interesting angst… Though I imagine one would have to willingly tap into their magical reserves when crying, or else you’ve got a magical mess every time they feel emotional. Willow’s usage of circle-less magic when we first meet her seems unintentional, but we can’t say for sure- And if it was, then maybe it’s just another symptom of how potent her own natural power is. For all we know, frequently experiencing these raw emotions through her life, and the effect it had on her heart and bile sac, is what contributed to Willow’s own raw power? Now I’m just imagining an episode where Willow’s magic weakens, and she realizes it’s because she’s no longer in as much emotional turmoil, and the kind of confused feelings that could come from that…

           And it’s REALLY making me look at the Blight kids under a new lens. If Amity’s magical prowess, early in life, came from her parents’ abuse. If Odalia and Alador legit fedinto this abuse because of this idea, especially if they felt like they needed to step in and actively improve their ‘weaker’ child, since Amity apparently isn’t as talented as Emira and Edric. And for all we know, Ed and Em’s talent is a manifestation of their own trauma from their parents- A trauma they hide better than their little sister as Illusionists, but a real and genuine pain.

          For all we know Ed and Em frequently experience panic attacks or something of that nature… And who’s to say Amity certainly doesn’t either? Then this just leads me to imagining Willow accidentally causing damage at home during an outburst, but her fathers reassure her it’s okay… Whilst Odalia and Alador just get angrier at their kids for the chaos, which just makes things worse. I wouldn’t put it past them to specifically traumatize their kids to bring out their ‘potential’, and how this could connect into the Blight ideas of needing to be ‘strong’, in both the magical and emotionally stoic sense. Strong and stoic enough to handle this constant turmoil for the sake of weaponizing it… Ugh. It’d REALLY mess someone up, and everything we’ve seen so far indicates that Amity, Emira, and Edric are pretty messed-up as is. The Twins are probably better at hiding it, but that doesn’t change what’s there- It’s equivalent to sweeping something underneath a rug.

           Of course, maybe I’m just wrong and magic bile can come in different colors, and Willow and that poor Palisman just so happen to align. But it makes you think, doesn’t it- Especially the idea that even if bile isn’t that particular green, it can still manifest and well up in one’s eyes if they’re emotional enough.

[sersi]

theory on why monica's upset with carol? literally my entire enjoyment of the show hinges on monica with the added bonus of jimmy and darcy, so when That Scene happened, it threw me off for the rest of the ep lol. i find it hard to believe that carol didn't return every so often in those 20 years tbh!

Ummmm, I don’t have super specific theories at the moment (since I feel like, while probably not explaining all of it, there’s a decent chance the show itself will reveal a bit more, at least from Monica’s end), but there are a few things that I think are likely important when both interpreting Monica’s weirdness about Carol this week + considering where things might go. (And it’s under a cut because I accidentally wrote a novel 🤡).

The biggest thing to me is that this show is taking place only three weeks after Endgame and, thus, only three weeks after Monica found out her that her mother had died three years prior. So while Monica is clearly choosing a Steve Rogers adjacent “let me throw myself into work” method of coping, she is definitely still going to be dealing with an immense amount of grief. So, depending on what exactly has or hasn’t happened with Carol, I think that, on some level, Wanda, a person divorced from Monica’s personal/family life, is probably a lot easier to talk about and focus on than Carol is.

Now, that said, I do think something happened. Given that we don’t have much to go on beyond knowing that Carol was on Earth at least long enough for Tony’s funeral and that Monica, three weeks post-Blip, doesn’t want to talk about her, there are tons of options as to what could have happened and not very much to narrow down the field. So, I’m just going to talk about the things I’ve thought about most for the last day or so.

While I chose to believe that Carol either returned to Earth between 1995 and 2018 or was met halfway by Maria and Monica via S.W.O.R.D. missions, knowing that Carol is busy throughout space, I could see a universe where Carol was not necessarily around when Maria was diagnosed with cancer and Monica consequently resenting her for that. I could also see Monica having mixed emotions about whatever happened between the Snap and Maria’s death two years later. (I assume Carol and Maria reunited after the Snap, but given how close to falling apart the world seemed to be during the five year gap and Carol’s own stated busyness during Endgame, as much as I love the idea of Carol and Maria having two years of domesticity, I don’t really think that’s what happened 😣). Finally, and I think this is probably the most likely option (potentially/probably combined with some earlier issues, either of the kind I mentioned or something else entirely): Carol and Monica reunited sometime between the Blip and the start of WandaVision and it somehow went sideways.

No matter what their relationship has been since the end of Captain Marvel, there is a lot of potential for miscommunication, mixed feelings, and potential clashes between two women at different stages of grief. Carol lost Maria three years ago. Monica lost Maria no more than twenty days before (since I assume any theoretical meeting would have taken place before Monica returned to S.W.O.R.D.). Further, Carol (and basically everyone who survived the snap) has had the trauma of living through those five years and losing numerous people they knew and loved in seconds, whereas Monica has the trauma of waking up and discovering that five years had passed and her newly cancer free mother died three years prior from returned cancer. Both of those experiences are going to be incredibly traumatic but also potentially clash in the immediate aftermath of the Blip (since to Monica the Blip itself was THE traumatic event or at least the moment she became aware of her own trauma, whereas to Carol and to everyone else who survived the Snap, it’s the moment when the universe was fixed and everyone came back). That’s a ton of stuff to work through and even with the absolute best intentions, I can so easily imagine it ending in a way that left Monica (and probably Carol as well) with a lot of messy, mixed emotions.

So basically, as someone who, like you, is emotionally invested only in Monica/watching  mostly for her, this week’s episode left me with a lot of questions and very 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬😬. It’s my hope that we find out a bit more about Monica’s emotional reaction to Maria’s death and, potentially through that, to whatever has happened/hasn’t happened with Carol, before WandaVision ends. However, I don’t really expect it to be all sorted by the end. One, because while my emotional investment is entirely in Monica, the show is unfortunately not only about her, and with only four more episode, at least two more sitcom decades to get through and a whole lot of Wanda/Vision centric questions to answer, I just don’t think there will be time to fully explore this thread. (Especially if Monica is gonna go full superpowers by the end, which I tend to think will be happening). Two, and kind of building off the previous point, I think in order to fully resolve this plot thread you need Carol to make an appearance and I don’t really see any version of the overall WandaVision plot/third act conflict where a Carol appearance seems likely. And three, because of the number of Disney+ shows set to come out between now and Captain Marvel 2′s current release date, I think there’s a lot of potential to return to this thread post-WandaVision but pre-CM2. (Aside from Ms. Marvel, where I tend to assume Carol will show up and where Monica/S.W.O.R.D. could easily show up as well, there’s also Secret Invasion, which, if it ties into CM2 at all, would be an especially logical place to have Monica and Carol show up).

And, because this was ridiculously long: 

tl;dr, I’m not panicking, I want answers, but, while I think that WandaVision may explore this thread a bit more, I don’t really expect to get all those answers/the Monica x Carol reunion hug we all deserve in WandaVision or anytime super soon.

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Ayesha Liveblogs Death Note

I’m watching this show specifically because of that text post that said, “Watch how quickly this one guy decides to be the worst person ever” and he has killed two people in the first ten minutes

Though 2 be fair he’s killing people to save people so it’s a trolley problem kind of thing for now

“In fact I’ve been waiting for you... Ryuk” ok weird flex Light but u do u

“You’re the first one to use to this extent in five days” WAIT DID HE MURDER ALL THOSE PEOPLE IN FIVE DAYS I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST LOOKING AT A LIST OH MY GOD??

“So there isn’t a price to using Death Note?” said Light, as if killing people is just a normal thing that we all do

Fhkjfhfkjb Ryuk really went ‘u used the book so we’re friends now’ 

I was wondering why the book was in English, and I guess that makes sense British and American imperialism really Did That

“I can write down the names of criminals, and slowly reduce the number of evil people” uhhhh doesn’t u being a Book Murderer also make you a criminal Light

“Human lives shouldn’t be taken so lightly” bah dum tss

Also I guess that revelation lasted about thirty seconds for you huh

Update from 15 seconds later: Even less than that

“I would create a world of earnest, kind humans” really because I don’t think places that allow the death penalty are generally nicer societies 

It’s interesting that they use English in the classes and the notebook but the conversation at Interpol takes place in Japanese (despite the implied internationality and Ryuk’s aforementioned claim about English being most common) 

Huh I won’t lie I do think it’s confusing that the main characters are L and Light, which also starts with L

“I am justice” I mean if anything this show just proves that no one should be allowed to use the death penalty on apprehended suspects in criminal justice cases ever 

OH SHIT PLOT TWIST HIS DAD’S A COP (IT WAS IN THE TEXT POST I THINK BUT I FORGOT)

Wow this show is full of mind games already I guess I can see why like, crime show fans would dig it

“But I’m going to say this as your roommate” OH MY GOD THEY WERE ROOMMATES KJHRGKJHKJHG

Interesting that someone is following Light specifically already

I mean not to poke too many holes in your plan Light but wouldn’t it clash with your plan to become God if you die at like 35 or smth 

“You’re already much more of a shinigami than they are” Ryuk said my friends are BORING I want to hang out with this MURDER TEEN

“I may not look it, but I’m pretty popular” Light is exactly the kind of guy who ends up in a true crime special where a bunch of people say he seemed like a nice, charismatic young man

Man this poor girl that Light brought on this date is going to be straight traumatized after this

I mean isn’t it MORE suspicious if someone dies around someone with direct ties to the police even if it’s not a heart attack

“You were indeed a brilliant FBI agent once, but now you’re my fiancée” kjhfkjhg WHAT FBI AGENTS CAN’T BE MARRIED 

“Once we have a family, you’ll be so busy that you’ll forget that you were an agent” I’m not a fan of Raye Penber 

What’s the point in killing Raye at all???? He told you he was part of a special investigation so clearly he’s not that suspicious of you

Light sure is bold to announce his Killing People Experiments in the middle of a busy sidewalk 

Incredible that consistently no one notices Light’s increasingly threatening declarations????

Fjkfkfhk these five cops finding out their Hail Mary is this strange little goblin man,,,, wow

This woman has really pushed Light to the brink just by giving a fake name, I admire her tenacity

Cops wearing fake IDs really did not age well oh boy

SERIOUSLY HOW DOES NO ONE EVER HEAR LIGHT SAYING SUSPICIOUS THINGS IN PUBLIC THOROUGHFARES HE LITERALLY JUST SAID “I AM KIRA” AS A DETECTIVE WALKED BY, WHILE HE WAS TALKING TO SOMEONE HE KILLED IMMEDIATELY AFTER

Wow it really took only eight episodes for L to track Light as close as one of two families

“You have a wife and daughter, right?” “I know!” I mean..... not 2 be that guy but... cops

 “To me, apples are like... Well, like cigarettes and liquor to humans” Vcvhcjhj every once in a while Ryuk says something that really tickles me

I know the word sociopath is kind of outdated but man does Light have actual interests outside of school or does he just do stuff to fill the void of his lack of interests (outside of murder)

JKHGKJHGKJHKJHG I cannot believe that this has turned into a fake classmate situation first of all 1) are you going to become friends and 2) How old are you Ryuzaki/L?

“Where is that rich kid from? And he’s even at the top of his class? What a jerk” honestly a mood

I DESPERATELY want Light’s mother or sister to overhear his evil cackling will someone finally eavesdrop on this god complex

“If I sit normally, my reasoning skills drop by 40%” weird flex but same 

Sidenote: I can’t believe how many episodes of this show I already have watched

Ngl I was VERY shook that Mr. Yagami had a heart attack. Also does Light care if his family lives or dies or is he kind of neutral on the subject? 

“If Kira is an ordinary person who gained this power, then he is a very unlucky person” Dad and L said ‘if u ARE Kira could you please stop murdering thank you <3′ 

Light really underestimated how much cops hate anyone who has killed a cop oops

OH SO IT’S NOT LIGHT I WAS WONDERING WHY HE HAD NOT MADE AN APPEARANCE THIS WHOLE EPISODE U MEAN THERE ARE TWO GUYS WITH THIS EXACT SAME IDEOLOGY AND PLAN? INCREDIBLE

Update from ten seconds later: Two people, I guess

Well this explains the girl in the short dress which serves as the Netflix thumbnail of this show I was wondering when she would show up 

Also she sounds like she’s very young? Clearly Shinigami don’t have a minimum age of informed consent when it comes to their Murder Eyes Contract 

Hahah I bet Light didn’t imagine that his petty and fucked up apple joke would bite him so quickly in the ass

Dhkjdhdkjhd Misa is so bold dropping her Death God deets in a video for anyone to see 

“The way to kill a Shinigami, is to make them fall in love with a human” does this mean that Ryuk is going to fall in love with Light or Misa? Both would make me uncomfortable

Oh wild guess Misa became a Death Note Wielder through the Power of Unreciprocated Voyeuristic Love

“Yeah, I have a girlfriend now,” said Light, after a girl contacted him through a series of anonymous video tapes implicitly vowing to be his disciple 

“No one could tell who he’s attached to if I’m with this many people” [20 seconds pass] “Found him!” HAHAHA the funniest part of this show is consistently watch Light going “got ‘em” before it immediately is revealed that he doesn’t got ‘em 

Why is Light so incredibly searchable??? I think the only way people people could find my height online is if I happened to answer it for one of those Facebook note memes in 2007 lmaoooo

“There are many places that will go and sell your personal records” ah, data breaches; a problem that has not gotten any better in the last 15 years since this anime came out

HKJHFHKJFHF Light immediately jumping into fake-dating his weird disciple in front of his mom... what is this show

“Please make me your girlfriend” OH MY GOOOOOD

This is one of the weirdest romantic dynamics I’ve seen in recent memory but you know what? Whatever, at least it’s not Anxiety and Murder

“Does that mean I’ll have to deal with her until she dies?” Light is truly exuding some Ladybird Book of Dating Energy rn: 

The fact that to kill L all Light had to do was get an obsessive girlfriend... astounding

Beautiful that it took Misa less than a week of knowing Light to ruin his whole 15 episode game plan and also life

“I think I may be Kira” Well this show keeps taking one escalation after another this is exhausting why can’t Light just be a normal person who found it, tried it out of interest in the occult, discovered he’d committed a horrible atrocity and then went to therapy for the rest of his life only to confess to Magical Murder on his deathbed while his family goes, ‘Wow, Grandpa’s crazy’

Does L not think that keeping three different people imprisoned for days on end will lead to some psychological repercussions for him

FOR WEEKS ON END????? OH MY GOD???? The fuck L, I know two of these people are murderers but there are some minimum conditions of correctional facilities and this seems a little Stanford PE

THE DRAMA OF THIS EPISODE I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE A BLANK BUT HOW FUCKED UP TO PUT EVERYONE THROUGH THIS L I THINK YOU NEED THERAPY!!!!!!! I MEAN LIGHT AND MISA ARE MURDERERS BUT FORCING A MAN TO HOLD HIS SON AT GUNPOINT AFTER IMPRISONING THEM FOR OVER A MONTH IS REALLY A REFLECTION OF A COMPLETE LACK OF EMPATHY (especially when you think that this version of Misa and Light don’t know anything!!! Oh my god!! The fuck)

“I will make arrangements so you and I are together 24 hours a day” call me crazy but I would not want to spend 24/7 with the man who imprisoned me for over a month while playing cruel psychological games all the while

“I’m one of those people who’ll accept Kira, I’d think of ways I could help him” Misa said Bimbo Rights

“I could never toy with a woman’s emotions like that” Light’s dating life and personality has gotten a LOT funnier since he forgot he was a murderer I kind of wish THIS could be the whole show 

Also: Nice to know Light USED to have standards of how to treat women

Honestly fair play to both L and Light they both deserved to be punched and it’s funny to see eighteen episodes of mind games culminate in punching and kicking each other in the face

“Matsuda’s being an idiot again” “Well, Matsuda is a natural at that” wghkjhgkj what has Matsuda done to any of you

"He’s punishing criminals as a front, and killing people for the benefit of this company” is Light unknowingly going to solve the murder chain he himself started... inspiring

“I was testing you” this is why Light is your only friend, L, Aizawa has kids and it’s a dick move to ask him to put his convictions before them

Poor Matsuda realizing he’s got the least to offer to their team... me in high school science labs 

I understand Aizawa’s moral crisis but why do NONE of these cops care about their wives or daughters they’re just kind of like, ‘I will provide for you but I have no interest in or fulfillment from being part of your life’ (ACAB)

Matsuda is truly about to die for being dumb and eager to help 😔 Rest in Pieces

“We must not allow Yotsuba to figure out that we are investigating them,” said L, just after it cut from Matsuda being obvious about investigating them. Oh Matsuda 😔 you’re so bad at your job 😔

MATSUDAAAAAAAA oh thank goodness; Bimbo Rights save the day

“I can’t go along with your idea, it’s wrong!” said Light, despite the fact it took him 15 seconds to get over murder the first couple of times he did it 

Staaaaaaaaay Good Light, I don’t want ur Deathnotesona I want this young man with moral convictions!!

The level of hubris it takes to answer a phone call during your secret Murder Meeting while people continue to talk about their Murder Plans is just out of this world

“If I die, you could probably become the successor to the ‘L‘ name,” said L, to the person he has been trying to catch for twenty episodes 

“I won’t say anything under any kind of torture” “Yes that’s true” Which he knows because he tortured her for six weeks!! You see that that’s fucked up, L, right? RIGHT??? RIIIIIIIIGHT? (LIIIIIIIGHT???)

Seriously not to beat a dead Shinigami but Light is so much better like this. He doesn’t want to throw people’s lives away for the investigation! He wants to protect Misa! He thinks Kira is wrong! Why does he have to be a murderer!!! Why can’t this show be about a nice young man!!!!

“Hey Ryuzaki, that’s messed up!” THANK YOU LIGHT AGAIN I KNOW YOU BOTH HAVE KILLED PEOPLE BUT YOU DON’T KNOW THAT RIGHT NOW SO FOR ALL MISA KNOWS HE’S JUST A GUY WHO TORTURES HER AND TELLS HER CRUSH WILL DIE IF SHE DOESN’T HELP

Wow Rem is so ride or die for Misa protecting Misa from creepy Higuchi, giving her info and telling her to trust Light, that’s love bitch

Props to Misa for getting a confession out of Higuchi after one (1) car ride 

Why do I feel like L is going to be responsible for reawakening Bad Light is it because he psychologically tortured him for six weeks? Had his dad hold him at gunpoint? Forced Misa to investigate on his behalf? Constantly and unerringly presses him on what Kira would be thinking as he’s handcuffed to him 24 hours a day? Maybe!! This is like Build-a-Bear but he’s customizing his Teen Murder Friend 

“Only Mr. Matsuda can do [the mission to lure out Higuchi!Kira]” Death Note really said the Himbos, Herbos and Thembos shall inherit the Earth 

They keep saying they don’t know how he kills but it seems pretty obvious that he writes down their names to kill, they literally saw him do it

I really don’t want any of the investigation team to die but things are not looking hot :(

“Ryuzaki, I never knew you could fly a helicopter” “It’s just intuition” what does that MEAN

“Those aren’t allowed in Japan,” said Light, about a gun, as if he had not killed probably thousands of people without one 

In spite of this fact I really do want Good Light to stay 😔 Why! Can’t! This! Show! Be! About! A! Nice! Young! Man!

Also they really are playing into this father-and-son duo I will be very sad when the dad inevitably dies as I’m sure he will 

Family side note: I’ve been wondering this since the prison ep but where do Light’s mom and sister think he IS now that he’s dropped out of first year uni to be a teen criminal investigator handcuffed to a maladjusted homebody private eye

AIZAWAAA and also the other two guys I guess there was a plot relevant reason for him to rejoin the police huh

Well what a clean ending to this Kira arc. No one died and the killer was caught! Yikes that the next ep is called ‘Revival’ tho 😔 Rest in pieces Good Light

Also a new and very threatening intro???? What happened to the Twilight Apple Hands 

BOOOO I knew Light would get his memory back but I was hoping it would at least fuck him up for a while he sorted out his two personas but I guess all roads eventually lead to Bad Light 

Full disclosure I stopped watching for a few days just after Light got his memory back and let me tell u coming back later hasn’t made it any more tolerable I am truly not built for this EUGH

“Do you really want to halve your life a second time” “Well, that can’t be helped” REALLY???? CAN’T IT BE HELPED MISA??? WHY ARE YOU AND LIGHT SO CRAZY

Oh I guess we’re back to Light saying incredibly suspicious things right near the investigators lmao what if those cameras secretly had audio or you know, L simply knew how to read lips 

“Misa, let’s make a new world together” Remember a bunch of episodes ago when Good Light was all ‘I could never toy with a woman’s emotions’?? What was the reason!!!

“Have you ever told the truth at any point in your entire life” L cutting straight to the core lmao (also the answer is obviously ‘no’)

This show has taken a jarring tonal shift why are they having a post-rain-confrontation massage and towelling each other off this is a level of intimacy I was not prepared for I NEED PEOPLE TOOK LOOK AT THIS:

OKAY OKAY OKAY I KNOW THAT IT WAS PROBABLY NOT THEIR INTENTION BUT THE ONLY WAY I CAN READ THIS SCENE IS AS “Don’t kill me Light~ 🥰 I’ll fuck you~ 🥰” 

I guess L knew he was forcing Rem’s hand to kill him if he disproved the rules written in the book?? But to what end omg how does this help anyone 

“In April 2012, Light Yagami, age 23, joins the National Police Agency” should’ve known we’d land here eventually (ACAB)

Ah, I see another person who doesn’t know how to sit, clearly they will inherit the L title next lmao

Update from the first few mins of the next ep: “Near should succeed L” told you

“There’s no way I’m letting Sayu marry a detective” ahjfkhkjf he’s a little old for her I think but it wouldn’t be the worst thing this show has done romantically lmao; maybe Sayu would get to investigate her brother

“I might’ve considered going out with you, if you were a little younger” HA GOOD FOR HER

“[...] the Japanese police are unreliable. In order to solve this case, we want you to hand over the notebook to our country.” Of all the Japanese-speaking Americans in this show, this is the most accurate jkhfkhf the US government really is Like That 

Ah, so that’s where Mello’s gone, oh how the turn tables 

Also way to sell your subordinates out immediately, NPA Director, will you give them the Kira task force’s home addresses too

The real question is if Light actually cares about his sister enough to prioritize her over the notebook

“Call me... N” Oh my good L... M(ello)... N(ear)... Oooooooooooooooo

It’s my saving grace that I only need to get through 9 more eps but as always I must wonder where this is going will Light just die and end up in Shinigami purgatory while the people who knew him after the fact go, ‘hey, that guy was fucked up’

“If things get bad, I’ll have to kill Sayu” well I guess that answers that question, my expectations of Light are so low and yet he continues to find new ways to be awful

Good for Mr. Yagami and Sayu for getting out of that alive I guess but hoo boy I think this is going to have some psychological repercussions for both of them 

Uh oh this episode is called ‘Father’ I’ve been dreading this one bc I think that means Mr. Yagami is about to die 😭😭😭

“It was an institution for brilliant children, to raise them to become L‘s successor” okay calm down Professor Xatari that’s not what children are for lmao 

Well I guess it’s a lot easier to track down info about these two guys than it was to figure out L lmao

HAHAHA Sidoh haunting Ryuk to ask for his stuff is a fun addition to this madness  

“He’s scary for a human” jkhhfjh how unhinged does Mello have to be to threaten a literal Shinigami 

I truly don’t understand the logistics of how they revealed Ryuk to the police force isn’t the second Kira notebook supposed to belong to Actual Kira, in the police force’s eyes????? I do not understand how Light can just turn up with another notebook and everyone’s like ‘sure cool’ did I miss something 

Mr. Yagami killed for being unable to take human life ugh this is the worst 

“You’re not Kira. I’m really glad.” WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS SO SAD MR. YAGAMI NOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S WHY HE RENOUNCED OWNERSHIP OF THE NOTEBOOK 

Neither Mello nor Near seem overly concerned with the lives of people around them does being a Super Genius Investigator also mean you have to be a dick (is this Benadryl Coddleswab Sherlock syndrome)

Lmaooo genuinely love how it’s constantly apparent that Light is the least smart of all of the smart people Light spent five years working on his reputation and it took Near one (1) phone call to destroy it 

Ghjkhgkhgkgjh Light outsmarted by Near yet again never think people will prioritize principles over money

Lol yeah Aizawa needn’t have given a name after he said the “Deputy Director Yagami would kill Kira and then himself” thing, you don’t do that just for anyone who was he fooling 

How does Light keep track of all the renunciations and notebooks bc I certainly can’t 

Ffhkfjhfj Mikami truly looks like the son of L and Light it’s like Light missed him and was like, “Miss u boo :( (even tho I kinda killed u) I’ll adopt An Evil 27-year-old in ur honour :)”

Is Mikami’s story really, ‘I got bullied in high school and have mommy issues so now I think people I don’t like should die’ ok Shonen Snape 

“I just want you to meet with me and hear me out” Light really proving to Aizawa that he can lie AND manipulate people’s feelings 

“The truth is, she’s not smart enough to be my partner” first of all Light I think this show has proven you’re not that smart, and Misa’s Herbo Energy is effervescent and will outlast you, and third of all go to jail

“He’ll look suspicious if he doesn’t say something soon” “Ide, have you ever been in love” Matsuda continues to be the only good part of this show

“You’re the only man I’ve ever respected and admired in my life” GET SOME THERAPY KIYOMI

“You’re going to be the goddess of the new world” so it’s not enough for Light to be a murderer he must also be a cheater

Lmao Near’s powers of perception do seem a little B/BC S/herlock because L tried for literally months to work out the possibilities and Near is just like ‘I KNOW IT NOW’

“The only thing I can deduce from this is that Light Yagami is popular with the ladies” HEAVEN KNOWS WHY (PUN NOT INTENDED)

Every moment Aizawa gets closer to proving Light is Kira is another step closer to death 😔

“This is definitely Mikami’s handwriting” Not to be a know-it-all, Near, but handwriting analysis has been proven faulty many times in multiple courts of law

This truly is a game of Cat and Cat. All these hidden plans give me a headache fkjhkfjh call me Misa-Misa and spin me sideways I don’t have the braincells to spare

Well this is definitely some kind of s*xual assault absolutely fucking hate it wow this show truly just drains the life out of you 

“Matt, I never thought you would be killed” why wouldn’t you think that at this point anyone who comes close to this investigation eventually dies (also wjkhkjhgk why is Matt special didn’t you kill all those thugs you had before -- Mello said ‘the lives of my allies are only important if they are drawn in handsome protag style’) 

As of yet I haven’t really talked about Near’s wild toymaking but hoo boy is that L finger puppet something to observe

“Everyone who knows about the existence of the notebook will die” I’m still pulling for their survival, particularly Matsuda (himbo rights!!!)

Imagine if they just shot Light Yagami on sight how ironic would that conclusion to all these mind games be 

“I’m waiting, for the one who will solve everything, to arrive” Lmao if it turns out L is alive I’ll pee laughing this show is so fucking stupid 

Take a shot every time there is a Humpty-Dumpty-in-Puss-in-Boots style explanation about how everything actually happened

“I’ve won, Near” I bet/hope what gets Light caught is his inability to hold in his hubris for one (1) minute

Although the last episode is called New World, in which case maybe he wins in a very weird ending to a very weird show

Sjkfhkjhfkhfkjhf well I guess what gets Light caught is that the person he invited to be his murderous disciple keeps calling him God

“A second ago, you said ‘I win.’ That’s as good a confession as any” HA hubris strikes again also bold of Aizawa to clap Light on the shoulder knowing he is a mass murderer

Ohhh Matsuda he’s so nice and believed the best of Light :((((((((((((

Watching Light become increasingly desperate and crazed is very uncomfortable give it up dude u’ve been beat (though I suppose there is time for everyone here to be murdered still lmao)

LMAO LIGHT SAID “IF YOU CAN’T BEAT ‘EM, CONVERT ‘EM”

Yeah I figured if one of them was gonna shoot it would be Matsuda :( :( Good for him for not killing Light tho!!

Huh I guess that’s the end of the show I thought Light would die but I did think we’d at least get to see him in Shinigami Purgatory or smth... what a wild ride. This certainly was a show.

[girl4music]

Gabrielle’s evolution - Searching for her way

Protective and defensive Gabrielle is the best Gabrielle. It was her way all along. What she was searching for was a philosophy she was already following, but she just didn’t realize it because she was caught up in the violence and blood-lust of it all. Everything she did, including the negatives were because she wanted to protect someone she loved and cared about. It was instinct for her to be a protector and defender. It just didn’t always require her to fight or kill. In the early episodes, words were her best weapon. In later episodes when she developed enough skill to do damage, killing was something she had to consider doing to ultimately stop it from happening. The problem was she confused her will to save someone’s life with the action of taking someone’s life away. She constantly denied her instincts and warrior spirit, but when it came down to it, she did what she had to do to fight for what she believed in and dealt with the consequences later. Because she knew deep down that the wrong thing to do would be to not do anything at all. She fought for the lives of her loved ones. For her village, for her family, for her friends, for her daughter (both of them), and especially for the love of her life, Xena. Sometimes she even had to go against Xena, like in the episodes ‘Ties That Bind’, ‘The Execution’ and ‘Gabrielle’s Hope’. Her way was not ‘The Warrior’. It was the ‘The Protector’ and ‘The Defender’. But she had to become a warrior to do just that. To protect and defend the innocent. To follow her way. The way she eventually coined ‘The Way of Friendship’, and WHOOSH has an interesting article about that if you want to click on the hyperlink to pop over there and read it.

There is so much Gabrielle stuff I want to talk about because her character is just so layered and complicated. There are many different sides to her personality and her lifestyle that are shown but never detailed or explained. Her evolution is immense. To begin with she is this innocent farm girl who has never really experienced any real danger or threat in her life, until Draco and his army come along to take her village, Poteidaia, and try to sell all the women as slaves. She makes a bold choice to stand up to them and sacrifice herself in return for their safety and freedom. That was the start of her way. At least from what we see of it in the first episode of the show. To protect and defend her loved ones. Offering herself up as a sacrifice or trying to do something to save them. Anything she could think of. Back then talking was her greatest weapon. 

A little later on in the show we see that peaceful and compassionate side of her tested when Callisto kills Perdicus after just marrying him. Vengeance and blood-lust shoots through her immediately. This is the first time she’s ever really dealt with what Xena deals with on a daily basis. Struggling between avenging him by killing his murderer, and being a person who vows not to kill. It scares Xena. Knowing that Gabrielle was the only one that could pull her out of that cycle of hatred and anger. She was afraid. The thoughts of “If Gabrielle can’t do it for herself, what could she do for me?” whirled around constantly in her head while watching her attack that tree with the sword. But thankfully Gabrielle was able to overcome that temptation to satiate her lust for revenge. She would not kill… not even her worst enemy. 

Things were alright for a while there, until another situation occurred where she birthed a demon baby and felt she had to go against Xena for its survival. Now here is where the “protect and defend” part of her really came through. As a maternal instinct, she fought for that baby’s life not caring whether it was evil or not. In her mind it was a baby because it looked like one. That made her go against Xena for what seemed to be the 3rd time in the show thus far. Only this time, she was the one on the other end of it instead of Xena.

So, this and several other situations caused the infamous ‘rift’ between them. It looked like their relationship was done for completely. But it was Gabrielle’s way of dealing with it that really inspired me. That made me see her in a new way. She was indeed a warrior. Not a physical one, but an emotional one. She carried emotional strength within her the likes Xena never did. She kept in control of her emotions and did not lash out at all. 

So, in the end, was it right for Gabrielle to become a physical warrior as well? Well, thinking about it. It wasn’t just right for her. It was her karma. It was an inevitability ever since the start. She thought that not succumbing to the violence at all was the right thing to do. To basically just stand there and do nothing. “Fight with love", as Eli described it. But she always knew from the very beginning that love was something you had to fight for no matter whether it was physically or not. Doing nothing was even worse than using violence to deal with the situation. It’s like seeing abuse or bullying happen to someone. Is it really the right thing to do to just do nothing? Or should you try to protect and defend them? Isn’t the ultimate act of love to sacrifice yourself, whatever you believe in, or the way you choose to follow, for the defence and protection of another? Xena even tells her later on in the show that people like her and Gabrielle exist so that innocent people who don’t know how to protect and defend themselves against danger and threat can live in peace. Gabrielle might have been useless in that regard from a couple of episodes in, when she never had any physical strength or fighting skill to even punch someone without hurting herself. But the emotional strength she carried within her and the incredible courage she had with standing up to someone who threatened her loved ones or the innocent, even if it had to be Xena, that is a true warrior! And I guess in that case… using physical ways of dealing with the situation is perfectly okay. Maybe even right. 

I guess in the end it all comes down to what the heart feels it has to do. It’s right when the heart feels it is. The mind doesn’t come into it. It’s not even a decision that has to be made. It’s a gut instinct. And only if it has an ulterior motive that is selfish and malevolent, can it ever be wrong. Gabrielle deals with that throughout the entire show, but especially in the 5th and 6th season when she has the physical strength and fighting skill to do damage, and the capability to kill easily. She already had a warrior spirit within her to begin with but “The Way of the Warrior” wasn’t entirely her way. It was for Xena, but not for her. Her way was to protect and defend her loved ones or the innocent no matter how or why. It was pure instinct. It’s what her heart told her to do in the moment. For Xena. For family. For friends. For the innocent. For anyone she felt needed protecting and defending. That was always what she did from the very beginning. 

Like I said, the character is just so layered and complicated. It seemed every dangerous situation or traumatic experience brought that warrior spirit forth. But she never truly went all the way with it, until someone was in need of defence and protection. That was her way. Doing whatever she had to, even if she hated to do it, to protect and defend her loved ones. To put them first over her own belief system and happiness for the “greater good”. Eventually she became okay with the violence she had to display to follow her way, but the killing never quite settled in her. She was always torn between doing something or doing nothing, but she was never a true pacifist like Eli. She tried to be one, but it was clear it just wasn’t in her to do nothing at all. She couldn’t be passive. Xena thought through everything. Everything was a mindful decision. Strategy, fighting, even killing. But Gabrielle… Her heart ruled her. And by the gods, did her heart speak when it was Xena in danger. She became her protector and defender. Her hero! Her warrior princess!

[that-banana-headed-bovine]

Knight Rider 2000

WARNING

This post contains spoilers for Knight Rider 2000, the 1991 film which attempts to expand on the canonical universe of Knight Rider (1982-1986).  Key word, attempts.  I know that this film came out almost 30 years ago at this point, but I also know that this fandom grows a little bit every day, and there will ALWAYS be people who haven’t seen every episode (myself included), let alone every movie!  I happened to catch it on Charge! for Hoff's birthday (yes I'm hella late posting this LOL) with my good friend @trust-doesnt-oxidize​, and boy let me tell you, it was… Something.

From here on out, I’m not holding back from sharing my impression of the film based on specific details from it, so if you want a spoiler-free viewing, go watch it and come back!!  Or… don’t, it’s kind of awful.  I can only think of one thing in canon that it may spoil, and even that appears in early Season 2 and is fairly minor, so if you are curious about it, I HIGHLY recommend watching it BEFORE reading this.  The scenes with the most impact are touching because they come as a surprise, so even if you know the general plot of the film, I would recommend watching it first.

Also this is really rambley because I have a lot of emotions about this series and, by extension, this movie.  I really don’t blame you if you click away here, but if you DO read it all the way through, I would love to hear anything you would like to add, agree or disagree!

OKAY!  Knight Rider 2000 is a movie that exists!  And I hate it!

The film sets up an interesting argument between two groups of people whose names I don’t remember because they were boring (except for Devon, I know his name at this point).  In this interpretation of the “future,” gun control has been implemented to,,, some extent, I can’t entirely tell if there have been some policies implemented across the country or if it is all localized in this one city that even the Wikipedia page for this movie doesn’t bother to mention.  And no, this city is NOT in California for once!  Usually I would be happy to see a change of setting, but considering that everything in this film felt so foreign to the Knight Rider that we know, it would have been nice to at least have a familiar setting.  Anyway, gun control stuff.  The debate between whether these gun control policies are ethical or not is very interesting.  Innocent people are dying because the wrong people have guns and the police are rendered useless when they themselves don’t have access to weapons.  This argument happens to support my perspective on the issue, so I appreciated how it took a look at that side WITHOUT it sounding like we are crazy murderer people, but I digress.  It makes sense that the ban happened in the first place, because much like how the main conflict in Pixar’s latest film Incredibles 2 revolves around society’s over-reliance on superheroes, I could see Knight Rider’s society becoming dependent on technology to save them.  It can be easy to seem like the most advanced tech in that society is present only in KITT and KIFT, and to SOME extent that is true.  However, Shawn does say that it is relatively common in this society for people to have memory chips in their brain.  That counts for something.  And the police DO have a defense mechanism according to the Wikipedia page for this movie, it’s just nonlethal.

So as you can see, I am very interested in the conflict this world sets up.  I sure hope they expand on these conflicting ideologies throughout the film, giving us a clearer idea of why the bans were set in place AND giving us insight into what exactly has caused some revolt against it.  That subject is seemingly timeless, and with how decently the introduction tackled it, I have some confidence that this film could pull it off in a tasteful way.  Wouldn’t that be amazing?   It’s some of the most serious subject matter Knight Rider has ever tackled.  It’s so interesting!

Yeah they pretty much abandon that plot in place of a very, very bad copy of the original show’s “Hearts of Stone” (season 1, episode 14).  Illegal guns exist and are bad, but we don’t really know why.  I may know a little better if I had been listening closer, but I was trying to not get so bored that I missed Kitt’s parts!

At some point during this sequence, we are introduced to Shawn, a happy police officer who is happy to have a family on a happy birthday.  And then she gets shot!  Due to head force trauma rendering her unconscious, she’s sent to the hospital.  She goes in for a risky operation that miraculously saves her life against all odds.

Then, Michael wakes up with Garthe Knight’s face and hears a great story about how one man CAN make a difference!… I mean what?  

Jokes aside, it’s kind of amazing how much this very Michael-esque sequence comes across very differently.  It’s almost the perfect example of why I don’t like this movie.  The surgery is weirdly realistic for a Knight Rider entity.  There’s blood and screens and surgeons and a sterile white room for operations.  Michael woke up in a Medieval castle with one doctor and two random people he’d never met at his side.  Shawn’s situation clearly makes more sense, but is it half as fun and whimsical?  No, no it’s not.  This whole film comes across as depressing to me, and it’s only worsened by what’s to come.  Apparently, she had KITT’s CPU/Microprocessor/something sciencey implanted into her brain.  That’s especially strange since all that I saw was a yellow liquid being injected directly into her skull!  That’s a lovely image, and definitely gave me the idea that there was a full computer chip going in there???  (It may have actually been explained more clearly, and I just looked away because eek weirdly bloody operation scene)  This caused her personality to do a full 180.  So, Shawn is going to be fun, snarky, and full of personality like KITT is because they share memories now!  Right?  Right???

I think they tried to do that, but it came across flat.  So flat.  She speaks in a purposefully monotone, robotic voice and delivers downright mean comments that leave Michael and KITT scratching their heads.  She seems to lack basic empathy until her own memories start flooding back, and at that point, the emotions she show seem so foreign to the character we see that it’s not remotely believable.  You want me to believe that this robotic woman with -10 personality points started nearly crying after one string of memories, albeit a very traumatic one, entered her mind?  This would have been believable if she was entirely changed afterwards, coming across as far more human, but that was only the case sometimes.  It also would have been believable if the film had the same energy that the original Knight Rider show does, where suspending one’s disbelief is necessary to make it past the opening credits.  However, this movie tries to be so grounded that the kind of dramatic beats that would work in the original seem forced here.

Shawn is not the only character who I take issue with, though.  Let’s start with the most potentially problematic change from the usual canon in the entire film: KITT’s personality.  I have very mixed feelings on how he is portrayed.  If you’ve seen as much as a spattering of quotes from this movie, you probably could sense that KITT was… off.  When KITT first comes on screen, he slams Michael with a wave of insults, and none of them come off as their normal joking around.  However, I don’t necessarily have a problem with that because he has the proper motivation to be very, very upset.  He is sitting on a desk as a heap of loosely connected parts that have just enough power to make the signature red scanner whir and make an oddly terrifying red light eyeball thing (Hal???) move.  The first thing he hears is Devon nonchalantly saying something along the lines of, “I’m afraid he was recycled” to explain why KITT has been deactivated for OVER A DECADE and is not currently in anything that moves (my Charge! stream thing lagged at this point but @trust-doesnt-oxidize​ has since told me that Devon DID appear upset about KITT's being sold, but KITT likely wouldn't have heard that and what Devon said seemed to be moreso directed at HOW the chip was sold and not the fact that it was sold in the first place).  KITT is justifiably mad, and if they had kept KITT’s actions in character while his emotions said otherwise, I would have no problem with it at all.

However, once KITT’s CPU is somehow implanted into Michael’s Chevrolet, KITT does not act in character.  Shawn drives, not Michael, so it stands to reason that he would not necessarily listen to her.  She stole his CPU, his life for over a decade.  KITT does tend to listen to human companions, regardless of whether he is programmed to or not, but I can see where this would be an exception.  However, Michael soon intercedes and essentially tells him to cut it out.  Based on everything that the original Knight Rider told us, KITT no longer has a choice of whether to listen or not.  Michael is ultimately the one who calls the shots because of KITT’s very programming.  And yet, in this scene, KITT doesn’t listen to Michael and apparently gets so angry that he downright stops functioning.  Because that happens all the time in the original series!

And if you’re wondering where I got the conclusion that KITT frustrated his circuits to the point where they could no longer work, he said that.  KITT.  Admitted to having feelings.  In fact, he did not just admit to being angry in the moment.  He told Michael that, while it may seem like he is an emotionless robot, he does have a “feelings chip.”  A FEELINGS CHIP-

I am for recognizing KITT’s obvious emotions as much as the next guy.  I think they are often overlooked when discussing his character.  While I don’t think that real artificial intelligence will ever reach the level of human consciousness, the entire energy of Knight Rider comes from playing with this concept by portraying an AI character who clearly emotes interacting with a human who doesn’t seem to know that.  But the thing that makes this show feel so sincere is that neither character plays too heavily into that trope.  While not always knowing how much KITT feels and by extension hurting those feelings alarmingly often, Michael recognizes it enough to work in concert with KITT, apologize for his more major flubs, and consider KITT a friend.  And KITT subverts the trope by never recognizing that he has feelings to begin with.  He will say that he cannot feel sadness but, in the next breath, say that something upset him.  He will say he cannot hold a grudge only to immediately rattle off a string of insults directed at the person he clearly has a grudge on.  The show is magic in how these two characters display a subtle chemistry that always has room to grow because both characters are slowly coming to see each other for who they truly are and supporting one another along the way.  From what I can tell, the original show never fully concludes that arc, and it may even start regressing after Season 1.  However, we can feasibly see how Michael could slowly come to understand that KITT really does feel things just as much as he does.  And we can imagine the relief KITT would feel knowing that Michael was never bothered by that possibility.

So, you can see where I have a big problem with KITT spelling it out so plainly.  The audience gets full confirmation about what has been displayed to us through nuanced hints throughout the series, which sounds a lot more satisfying than it really ends up being in this film.  But worse than an underwhelming conclusion to a thrilling story, Michael knows it plain as day.  There is very little buildup to KITT admitting this.  He barely even sounds moved.  Instead, in this movie, the “feelings chip” is a fact of life that does not need to be covered up in the slightest.  Michael himself doesn’t really… react.  He just kind of nods along, as if he’s saying, “Huh, makes sense, alright.”  After everything these two have been through, if there really was such a simple explanation for why KITT is the way he is… why arguments went south, why the mere mention of a Chevrolet was enough to get a seemingly jealous response, why inconsequential things like music taste and gambling were subjects of debate, why KITT had always acted so exaggeratedly dismissive when topics of emotional significance struck a chord, why every little sarcastic banter had a hint of happiness until it didn’t… don’t you think Michael would do something?  Whether that something would be a gentle, “I always knew that, pal”; a shocked, “Why didn’tchya tell me sooner?!”; or even a sarcastic, disbelieving, “Yeah, right” is up to interpretation.  But there would be something.

And yet, even that concept is flawed.  We learn a lot from KARR’s inclusion in the original series, and what I take away from it boils down to a simple sentiment.  FLAG never meant for their AIs to be human.  I do realize that directly contradicts what Devon says within this film, but I see that as another way for the film to steer the plot in this direction, not as a tie in to the original.  When Wilton says that one man CAN make a difference, he means that.  He isn’t considering that KITT is just as much a person as Michael.  He’s not seeing that, at the end of the day, teamwork is what makes the show work, even if Michael is the glue that holds it together.  So, I think that to say that there is a “feelings chip” is to disregard the entire point of the original, that in this world life finds a way of inserting itself and that KITT’s (and KARR’s for that matter) humanity is an anomaly, not the rule.  At the end of the day, KITT’s humanity can’t be explained away with science.  And really, I don’t think it should be explained away at all.  The show has had an amazing trend of showing us how KITT feels, in all its unorthodox glory, alongside private moments that had me sobbing like a baby.  The movie should just be like a longer, more complex episode of Knight Rider… Although I cannot pinpoint exactly how it should be done in the context of this film, I know there are ways that Michael could have been shown that KITT feels rather than being told.

One last complaint, albeit a more minor one, is the idea that he has to listen to what Shawn says over Michael's authority.  I have spent a decent amount of time thinking about this one point, which has caused a lot of the delay in posting this.  There's multiple reasons why this flies right in the face of what is canon in the original series.  Perhaps the most obvious of these problems is the fact that, in the original pilot episode, it's made very clear that KITT can't assume control of the Knight 2000 without Michael's express permission unless Michael is unconcious.  Devon makes it quite clear in this episode that KITT is programmed specifically to listen to Michael, not just anyone who happens to be piloting the vehicle at the time.  In case there was any doubt about this, KITT ejects two people who are attempting to steal him later in the episode (well, ok, later in the two-parter, I don't know if it was the same episode or not).  The show isn't SUPER strict about this in future episodes, but it does at least acknowledge Michael's authority in a few pivotal moments throughout Season 1 (I can't comment on episodes that I haven't seen yet, but I suspect that this pattern continues).  Of all the rules set up throughout the series, it actually seems to be the most loyal to this one.  One moment that stands out to me is in Trust Doesn't Rust when KITT attempts to stop Michael from causing a head-on collision with KARR, but Michael then overrides him and the climax unfolds.  If one of the most iconic moments in the series is caused by this one bit of programming, to throw it out in the film is to disrespect the basis of the original series.

Speaking of KARR, he provides yet another reason niglecting this detail is such a big problem.  From what we can tell, KARR isn't programmed to one specific driver (at least, not anymore[?]), and so he can override anyone in the pilot's seat.  This is something they seem to highlight in TDR as well, although not so plainly as the previous point.  KARR ends up ditching Tony to gain speed and get an upper hand in the chase with Michael and KITT (although a scene they deleted would have made this a mUCH MORE SENSIBLE ACTION THAT R E A L L Y ISN'T A BETRAYAL but y'know what this post isn't about that) whereas KITT has to listen to Michael even to his own detriment.  If this one feature is indeed one of the major things that separates KITT from KARR, the idea that Shawn can override all of that cheapens the original conflict between KITT and KARR.

...Well okay, let's be real, KARR was never that compelling as an antagonist to begin with because he's a LOYAL SWEETIEPIE-- I'll stop.

And finally, we have the biggest, most bizarre reason that this is a problem:

If Shawn can override Michael's authority, that means KITT can override Michael's authority.

Why?  This would be the first time (outside of episodes where some sort of reprogramming or mind control was involved) in the series that KITT had not only listened to another human instead of Michael, but also listened to that person OVER Michael.  The only difference I can see between Shawn and quite literally anyone else in the show's history is that Shawn has KITT's chip implant thing.  If that's the reason her opinion has more credence than Michael's, then wouldn't that mean KITT's own opinion has that authority?  If that is the case, literally every example I've gone through in the last couple of paragraphs is not just challenged but rather negated entirely.

The most frustrating thing about this scene is that it simply didn't have to happen.  Michael could have gone along with KITT's plan, showing him (and us) that he does trust his former partner even after all these years.  Shawn could have convinced Michael to go along with it using her... feelings chip.  Blegh.  Or we could have had a stubborn Michael force this scene to be delayed, likely improving the pacing overall.  Maybe we could have even seen a frustrated and emotionally exhausted Shawn wait until Michael is not in the car and then plead KITT to give her the truth, no matter what Michael says.  We have seen KITT control his actions without Michael's input plenty of times, and we could have seen some more of his humanity show through if he could relate to Shawn's struggles... after all, he too has missing memories because she has his chip.  They're both going through a bit of an identity crisis.  I'm sure that he could find some workaround in his programming to help her if Michael wasn't there insisting that he does not take this course of action.

But even after all of that fussing over what has been done wrong with KITT, I can’t deny that he is the heart and soul of this film.  There was only one scene in this film that brought me near tears.  I got more of an emotional impact from this one clip than I have from a lot of movies that are undeniably much better.  Michael’s old-fashioned Chevrolet does not hold up in the year 2000, and it is clear that the usual car chase sequence won’t work as police vehicles quickly creep up on them.  I was personally very curious what they would do here.  I figured that KITT would find some way to outsmart the drivers of the police cars, maybe by ending up on an elevated mountain road that trips up the other drivers and causes them to waste time turning around and hopping on that same path.  Or, maybe, KITT would access a road that’s too narrow for the relatively bulky police cars.  However, it quickly becomes clear that this city is made up of wide roads on the ground.  As KITT veers off the road and tells Michael to trust him, the I found myself having to trust him.  This isn’t the way Knight Rider chases usually go, and with all these odds stacked against him, the only thing we can do is hold our breath.  The way this scene is staged to send us into this just as blind as Michael is, frankly, genius.  Water slowly creeps into the frame as a feeling of dread builds at the thought of what KITT might do.

Surely, we are led to think, he will knock into some boxes and turn right back around.  Right?  We’re reminded of the fact that this is not the Knight 2000, that there is no chance of this car floating.  That if KITT does what he really seems to be doing, there’s no chance… but he wouldn’t, would he?  This is the only action sequence in the film that had me at the edge of my seat, staring wide eyed at the screen.  And then, the turn that you want so badly to come doesn’t, and you have to wonder what’s about to happen.  What was KITT thinking?  Won’t Michael and Shawn drown?  And, most prominently in my mind, won’t KITT drown?

For a moment, this scene plays us into believing that, because magic FLAG science that is pretty par for the course, everything is fine.  KITT explains that they have an airtight cab and over 20 minutes of oxygen.  Everyone lets out a collective breath of relief.  We see it in Michael and Shawn, and I know I felt myself relax.

And then there’s a flicker in the screen, and that pit in the bottom of my stomach came right back.  Michael is confused, and KITT explains what we should have realized was inevitable.  This is KITT sacrificing himself.  He even goes as far as to let Shawn know that she can use any of his computer chips that she may need.  This comes off as strange at first, but it goes to show that KITT is, at his core, the same kind soul we always knew.  He acts angry because he feels betrayed, but given the choice, he will chose another person’s life over his own, always.  Even the microprocessor that he is most frustrated over, the thing that seems to drive a wedge between him and Shawn, is just how he is expressing his hurt.  Now, thinking it is the end, he offers it up freely, and Shawn doesn’t seem to know how to respond.  KITT is calm as he says his final goodbyes.  And this is the first place in the film that we get to hear the amazingly nuanced  voice acting that William Daniels is so great at.  KITT sounds collected and at peace with what is to come, but there are also subtle hints that he is at least a bit nervous, a bit sad.  “I know.  I guess this is goodbye.”  He doesn���t want to leave his friends, but he knows that he has to for them to be safe.  Even if the pacing of the film seems to actively try to undermine this moment, it stands out to me as an amazing scene, even if the reaction from Michael is underwhelming at best and the reaction from Shawn is… as much as can be expected from Shawn, but that’s not saying much.  As far as KITT knows in that moment, these are his last words: “Michael, take care of yourself.”  Down to the last moment, Michael is everything to him.

IjustwannamakeitclearquicklythatIthinktheirrelationshipisentirelyplatonicokthankyou

And I felt sad, big time sad.  The movie up until that point was unbelievably boring to me, and this wasn’t a turning point where the movie suddenly became great.  It was a moment so darn good that I almost don’t think the movie deserved for it to have as big of an impact as it did.  But that shows just how powerful this universe is, how wonderfully honest these characters are.  Even after being butchered practically beyond recognition, one scene in-character can still bring you to tears because you have connected with them so deeply throughout the TV series.

AND THEN DEVON DIED IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS :D

I don’t like Devon.

Devon was actually more tolerable in this movie than normal, and I can see where people who don’t hate him could be sad that he died  I just,,, he has hurt or talked down to KITT and KARR so many times that I actually could not sympathize.  What’s even more frustrating about that is that Devon’s death is the one that Michael got all sad over when KITT sacrificed his life for him and Devon got kidnapped randomly but okay go off movie you can’t ruin that scene for me.  I knew going in that Devon died, but I was expecting them to spend a lot more time setting it up and making it as dramatic as possible.  Nope, he just got a shot to the old air tanks I guess?  My view of it is nothing more than that it’s a thing that happened.

OH AND DEVON DID PULL ONE HEINOUS ACT.  He said that KIFT was better than KITT in every way other than that KITT has humanity.  SINCE WHEN HAS DEVON GIVEN ONE SINGULAR HOOT ABOUT THE AI’S BEING ALIVE???  TELL KARR THAT???  HECK, TELL DEACTIVATED KITT THAT YOU WERE JUST FINE SELLING OFF AT AUCTION THAT?!?!  Also also, KIFT DOES NOT C O M P A R E TO KITT.  We are coming back to KIFT in a moment, don’t you worry.  For now, I just.  Low blow, Devon, low blow.

Michael was fine too, he played a weirdly small part and that felt off but everything he said seemed pretty in character.  The most out of character parts were when he said nothing at all.  OH AND WHERE HE WAS REPLACING BONNIE but that’s besides the point, no Bonnie OR April… no Bonnie OR April… I’m fine…

…

It feels like this movie wants you to forget that Michael exists because Shawn is here she’s more interesting, right?  Right???

She’s really not.

So back to KIFT.  My favorite part of KIFT is that pronouncing KIFT in your head sounds funny.  It’s like “gift” but if the gift were actually an underwhelming villain of sorts that is overtaken in a garage, parked, by Michael either removing his microprocessor entirely or moving it to a Chevrolet.

I was surprised how not bad KIFT looked.  I had seen stills from the movie that looked really uninteresting compared to the regular designs, and while I still agree to some extent, it was a lot more epic than I would have thought.  Something about how the paint shines on it is captivating.  I was genuinely happy when KITT was moved to the snazzy red vehicle, although a big part of that could have been how disgusting mint green looks with red.  Seriously, including the red scanner on that bizarre seafoamy-bluey car (and yes, I do think it is a very pretty car by itself) was like when people say movies were “inspired” but in the opposite direction.  And the scanner looked weirdly small?  Was it just me?

Am I the only one who feels w e i r d just looking at this??

I think this is the most normal thing to be categorized as being in uncanny valley but there we go, I did it.  It’s not right.

Anyway, as neat as KIFT looks, it is no comparison to the classic Knight 2000 or even Season 3 KARR.  Red can be striking, but not when the classic scanner is also red.  No contrast!

KIFT is absurdly easy to forget, and I don’t think that the car’s design has anything to do with it.  KITT spends most of the movie piloting that car, and while it is not what we are used to, it doesn’t come across as super lame to me, either…or at least, not because of the design.  The biggest problem with KIFT is, I think, simply his voice.  His voice feels so out of place in the movie, and it’s so strange to me considering that Daniels’ voice is integrated just fine.  The recording sounds too crisp, too clean.  KITT’s voice always has a great deal of character, a very Earthy-sounding voice for an AI character.  I actually think that this incongruity is purposeful, and it’s a very clever concept.  We are supposed to recognize that KIFT isn’t human like KITT is.  KIFT sounds out of place in the real world among real people; he’s too neat around the edges.  It’s especially obvious when KITT and KIFT talk to each other.  This is also mirrored by how KITT occupies a well-loved Chevrolet that has little imperfections that make it feel real whereas KIFT is in this red… whatever it is that feels like it comes out of a sci-fi film.  This effect would have really worked if we had enough time with KIFT to understand his personality–or, more aptly, his lack of personality.  What makes this not work is the fact that we spend practically no time with KIFT.  We don’t get to hear what he feels he is programmed to do, we don’t get to hear him deliver the sort of lifeless lines that Shawn did that made her so unlikable, and we don’t even get to hear his voice more than 4-5 times.  Every time comes as a shock, taking us out of the moment of the film.  We could have gotten used to his crisp sound if he had spoken more, and we may have seen the actual plot significance of it.  Instead, it pulls you right out of the movie.

Oh yeah, and the only line(s?) that KIFT delivers to KITT are full-on taunting… that’s not very lifeless of you KIFT.

Alright, just one last thing to really hammer home a point from earlier and conclude this whole thing.  You know what I was saying about this movie lacking the whimsical nature of the TV show?  Well, the final chase puts the icing on this oddly sullen crab cake.

Yes, crab cake. 

Because the pinchy crab that is Shawn makes it quite painful to get this particular cake and icing doesn’t even belong on it anyway.

KITT is racing down the street in this bright red car that I just explained is thematically wrong for him to be driving tbh but whatever, he’s racing in it and comes up to a barricade of randomly stacked up cars.

Oh Yeah, we all know what is coming.

The music swells.  Michael looks at the upcoming barricade with furrowed eyebrows and quietly asks KITT what the heck they’re going to do now.

OH YEAH, we definitely know what is coming.

And at last, for the first time in the film…

KITT veers off to the right and they drive on water.  “It’s really sink or swim with you, isn’t it?” Michael asks, pretending that’s funny as if I am not still emotionally raw from that scene that happened an hour ago.

Apparently, KIFT had that one obscure feature from “Return to Cadiz,” the Season 2 episode where April forces KITT to follow KARR into the ocean on the hopes that waterproof wheels might work maybe, directly ignoring his many attempts to get out of it.  Yay.  I love references to That Episode.  That Episode which baited me with an opening that looked like KARR could have been discovered underwater only to show me that not only was there no KARR, but KITT was going to be bullied into repeating what his brother did when he died.  Wholesome.  Lovely.  Fantastic.  And how did KITT know for sure that would work?  KITT clearly still has some technical hiccups in his own CPU from Michael tampering with it, that was an awful lot of confidence to place in a maybe.

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY…

THIS MOVIE DID NOT HAVE A TURBO BOOST

A TURBO BOOST

I cannot believe that a movie based around Knight Rider did not have a turbo boost (or for that matter, the THEMESONG???).  Like I am honestly still surprised by it.  Almost every episode of the original show had at least one turbo boost, and there is a reason.  The idea of a talking car jumping in midair, sometimes with Michael “WOO!”-ing like a girl, is so fantastically fun that nobody even tries to question how impossible it is.  I think we all know how impossible it is, and that doesn’t matter, it is yet another thing that embodies the heart of this show.

And… not even one.

…

So yeah, that just happened.  I think this is technically a small novel.  Wow.

  I know that I'm still missing a lot... I have a lot of thoughts about this movie, and if you for some reason want more please ask!  I would also love to hear your thoughts on this!  Do you agree with my analysis?  Do you disagree entirely?  Did you notice something that I failed to mention entirely?  Pleasepleaseplease send ideas, I would love to hear them!  Also know that, no matter how much I was disappointed by the movie itself, I am fully open to hearing your ideas about how to improve or expand upon it.  I truly believe that this film introduced some great concepts, and I would absolutely adore seeing them reworked in a way that's more true to the original.  Thank you for reading! :D

[fandomlit]

we only see each other at weddings and funerals (ben hargreeves x reader)

requested by anon “I’m so happy you write for TUA! Can I have a one-shot with Ben (AU where he’s alive!) based on the title of episode 1, “We Only See Each Other At Weddings and Funerals”? Just like her interacting with the siblings at Reginald’s funeral and stuff. Thank youu!”

summary reginald hargreeves has finally passed away, and his “kids” are returning home for the funeral. ben takes you with him, assuming it was just a simple catch up and funeral. neither of you expected the chaos that ensued.

a/n love this request btw + this is kinda long but hey i love ben

gif cred belongs to @diegchargreeves

you and ben stood before the academy in the rain, hand in hand. you were ready to go in, face the past you hadn’t lived. but he stayed put. 

“hey,” you spoke softly and he turned to you. the sight of your calm expression even through the raging storm outside brought him out of his memories. “he’s gone, okay? that’s why we’re here.”

he nodded slowly, then surely, looking back to the academy. “yeah. it just... i was hoping this whole place would go with him.” you barked out a laugh.

“we don’t all get what we want, honey,” you said, reaching up your free hand to rub his arm. he smiled down at you. you nodded toward the mansion, “let’s go in, okay?”

he sighed, “okay.”

you had expected it to be pogo at the door with a polite greeting, but instead you were met with a cheerful klaus. “my favorite lovebirds!”

you laughed as he pulled you both into a tight hug. he smelled faintly of alcohol, but that wasn’t surprising at all.

“it’s been so long,” he said emotionally when he pulled away, one hand on your shoulder and the other on ben’s.

“we saw you two weeks ago,” ben said, shaking his head.

“that’s two weeks too long!” he exclaimed. you grinned, exchanging a look with ben. “anyway, you two are freezing! let’s get you warm.” klaus wedged himself between you two, slinging his arms around your shoulders and guiding you to the kitchen and beginning to babble about anything and everything.

“y/n?” a voice called out quietly. you turned your head and saw vanya standing away to your right. you grinned.

“i’ll be right back, klaus, okay?” you hummed.

“oh sure, sure,” he waved off as you slipped out of his grasp, continuing to talk ben’s hear off. said boy gave you a look.

“i’ll be right back,” you mouthed before turning and jogging to your best friend. you two immediately hugged tightly with bright smiles.

“how have you been?” you asked softly when you pulled away, sliding your hands down to grip her arms.

she shrugged, “the man who’s haunted my life just died, my siblings all hate me because of a book i wrote about my awful childhood...” she took a breath. “let’s just say it’s way better now that you’re here.”

you gave her a sympathetic grin. “it’ll get better, hun. now that reginald’s gone so much will be put to rest.”

she nodded, “yeah. but enough about me. how have you been?”

“dandy,” you said, your smile widening. “im gonna get you a boyfriend soon, because having someone is the best thing ever. it’s amazing to wake up to someone you love every day of your life.”

“im so incredibly happy for you both,” she said honestly. “you both deserve it.”

“thank you,” you breathed. “wanna come to the kitchen? i think ben may be getting a headache by now.”

she chuckled, moving to wrap an around around your waist. you did the same as she said, “so do you get telepathic powers after marriage or what?”

you laughed. “it feels that way sometimes.”

ben was sitting at the counter, looking tired already, but still attentive as klaus was turned around, making some kind of hot drink for you two. he was still talking.

you slid next to ben and he was quick to put his arm around your shoulder and whisper into your ear, “i thought you’d never come back.”

you giggled quietly as vanya went to help klaus, which he attempted to reject. “now this isn’t so bad, is it? your brother may be a little tipsy, but he’s still here and excited to see you. and vanya’s a little iffy on being here, but she’s doing alright.”

he shook his head with a sigh. “just wait until the service. diego and luther will find something to fight about. i know it.”

you rolled your eyes. 

as you all conversed at the table with your drinks, you caught a glance of a certain knife thrower that made you jump up. “diego!”

the man stopped and turned to you, giving you a polite smile, “hello, y/n,” he waved to ben as you came running up, “ben.” ben returned the small wave as you pulled the taller male into a hug, and he gave you a kiss on the cheek as you pulled away.

they couldn’t hear what you were talking about, but you both seemed happy.

“remember when diego liked her?” klaus piped up. ben chuckled and vanya snorted. “never took you as the jealous type, benny.”

ben rolled his eyes. “i was not jealous.”

vanya laughed as klaus exclaimed, “you’re kidding me! that was the week i realized you had more than one monster in you, ben.” ben have him a confused look. “a big, fat green one that yelled, ‘mine!’ every time diego made her laugh.” vanya laughed harder and ben reached over and hit klaus on the shoulder as you came back over.

“what’d i miss?” you breathed as you sat down, lifting up your mug. but ben tilted your chin towards him and kissed you before you could take a sip.

“aw,” klaus cooed. “where’s my kiss, benny? i am the one who got you two together, after all.”

ben shook his head, pulling you into his side. “we don’t talk about that.”

and then five came back.

you probably weren’t in as much shock as you should’ve been. but it was a while before he even acknowledged you.

“y/n?” he questioned, almost unbelieving. you were standing between klaus and ben, significantly shorter than the two.

you smiled, chuckling, “so you do remember me! i was scared you didn’t and that’s why you didn’t say anything.”

he scoffed. “how could i forget the girl next door?”

you smiled. “pretty easily, i’d say. but im honored.”

pogo gave you a polite smile when he found you before you all went out to the courtyard.

“it’s so lovely to see you again, miss y/n,” he said.

“you too, pogo,” you smiled. “im so sorry about reginald.”

“it’s quite alright,” he sighed. “it was bound to happen eventually. im just happy everyone came.”

you nodded as ben hooked his arm in yours and said, “ready?”

“are you?” you asked.

he shrugged. “as i’ll ever be.”

pogo gave his speech when everyone else refused to speak up, and then diego interrupted him, and then luther interrupted him, and then ben gave you a knowing look, and the cycle went on.

“remember what he did to klaus?!” diego yelled over luther’s cracking composure. “remember how he locked him in that mausoleum for hours at a time?! remember what he did to ben?! how he made him use his power, even though it was traumatizing?!”

“stop!” luther yelled.

you scooted closer into ben’s side as he took a breath. “worst part was, he didn’t even come to my wedding,” he joked tensely. you rolled your eyes as luther stopped what he was about to say and turned to the both of you.

“you’re married?” he breathed.

“you didn’t know?” ben scoffed. “i thought you got news up there in space. it was all over the headlines for a week. ‘academy freak gets hitched.’”

“that’s not what it said,” you sighed. 

“but it’s what they thought,” he muttered.

“so ben got the girl?” five asked. klaus nodded brightly. “nice one.”

“why wasn’t i invited?” luther asked lowly. 

“you were,” ben said. “but i guess dad never sent your invitation up. im guessing the same for allison.”

“ben,” you warned gently as allison took a deep breath.

“no, this has to be said, y/n,” he said to you before looking back at his siblings. you rested your head on his shoulder and closed your eyes. “thank you to the three that showed up, and five gets a damn good excuse for not coming, and i guess luther, too, but allison?” they all turned to her. “i thought out of everyone here, you’d come. especially since you still had a husband at the time.”

“ben,” you said sternly and he breathed out harshly. a tense silence ensued.

“how long have you two been together?” luther asked you later. ben had gone out to clear his head after the disaster that was the service. he had found you sitting alone in the kitchen and asked to join.

“eight years,” you smiled. his eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up. “yeah,” you laughed, “the day i graduated from college, a couple of friends and i went out after the party, and he popped the question there. best day of my life.”

he sighed. “i am so, so sorry.”

you shook your head. “it’s not your fault, luther.” you put a hand on his. “i know that, and ben knows that. yeah, we were both hurt that you didn’t come, but now we know why. that clarity is better than any wedding gift, okay?”

he nodded. “okay.” you pulled your hand back. “so how was it? what was it like?”

“beautiful. magical,” you chuckled. “klaus was ben’s best man and diego was a groomsman. vanya was my maid of honor, and allison was supposed to be a bridesmaid, but we all know how that worked out.”

luther nodded.

“but it was still amazing,” you reassured. “it was in a lovely garden we had found, and all of our amazing friends were there, and most importantly, we were happy. sure, you and allison had us down, but we weren’t gonna let some family drama get in the way of our big day. it was our moment, not the family’s.”

luther nodded again. “i am so happy for the both of you. so, so happy.”

you smiled gently. “thank you, luther.” you stood up and stretched. “im gonna hit it. thanks for the chat.”

“anytime,” he said.

you gave him a kiss on the cheek. “good night, dearest brother-in-law.”

“night.”

you had been sitting in ben’s room, reading a book you had found earlier, when he came back in.

you put the book down and made your way over to him. “you okay?”

he nodded silently before pulling you into a hug. “let’s go home.”

“okay,” you hummed. “but should we come back tomorrow? five’s back, after all.”

“yeah,” he sighed. “it’s just so.. weird.”

“what is?”

“coming back. we’re hargreeves. we only see each other at weddings and funerals.”

[countessofbiscuit]

For ask meme, H, M & R : )

(^▽^)

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Tough one! I’ve gone fannish over content in every form of media—and indeed, in many genres, not just fiction (I started out on tumblr in the Age of Sail fandom, which is equal parts fiction and non-fiction geekery). I suppose I’ve historically been most actively fannish around TV shows and found them most inspiring for creating content. The timespans and episodic nature appeal to my instinct to “fill in the gaps.” It’s great when TV shows are complemented by books, because they generally inform what writing style I adopt and deepen the richness of the story’s world. But while I often revere book canon more than visual canon, I rarely read fic in solely book-based fandoms because I’m so sensitive about style. I tend to read more movie-based fic than anything. 

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Last time I went with Ahsoka, and honestly, she still wins out. I guess I’d like to be friends with the Organas, too, because they are such genuine people and holidays on Alderaan must be swish :p

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Anakin and Obi-Wan. I still get bowled over by feelings for them: how interdependent their relationship is and how their growth and trajectory as characters are so intertwined. They have a profound impact on one another for decades; and while I think the original sin of Star Wars is separating Anakin from his mother, Anakin’s ensuing relationship with Obi-Wan is what makes it a tragedy. 

For me, the poignancy is entirely captured in a line from the RotS novelization:

“This was not Sith against Jedi. This was not light against dark or good against evil; it had nothing to do with duty or philosophy, religion or morals. It was Anakin against Obi-Wan. Personally. Just the two of them, and the damage they had done to each other.”

I love that “damage they had done to each other”; it smacks not only of deep miscommunication and misunderstanding, but also something much more insidious: resentment. 

Admittedly, I’ve not read Master & Apprentice, and I don’t know how close Obi-Wan actually came to winding up in the AgriCorps. But between the prequel novelizations, TCW, and what I can infer from skimming ancillary Obi-Wan material, there’s this incredibly juicy timing implication re: Obi-Wan’s mission to Mandalore and the arrival of Anakin Skywalker on the scene. 

Namely: Obi-Wan, truly believing that he’s not-up-to-scratch as a Jedi and painfully aware of his attachment struggles, gets fobbed off by a Master who is more interested in this puzzling slave child in front of the Council; and in the full flush of feelings of shame and rejection, he might have thought to himself, right, I am going to walk away and go back to Mandalore.

But then Naboo happens, and instead of the clean break Obi-Wan wants, he gets saddled with this kid and a promise to a dead, beloved Master who’d sidelined him. 

And now, all eyes are on Obi-Wan: he has to do a complete 180, bury the dream of finding new purpose with Satine, and try harder than ever to be the Model Jedi for Anakin’s sake. 

And Obi-Wan is just … holding himself up to Qui-Gon’s memory, the Council’s scrutiny, and Anakin’s intense regard, and he can’t be the open-hearted parental figure that a traumatized kid needs, because dammit, this is the Chosen One! Obi-Wan cannot fail to make him a model Jedi, too. Obi-Wan has no time to mourn, either Qui-Gon or the loss of his self-determination. 

And I don’t think insecure Obi-Wan ever stops feeling unworthy of Anakin’s child-like hero-worship; equally, I don’t think Anakin—who’s like a megawatt empathy receiver—ever forgets those initial slippery ~feelings~ he got radiating off this new Master, who is wizard but who was clearly underwhelmed by and overwhelmed with Anakin from Day 1. Neither one chooses the other; they get stuck with each other, bury their grief, and try to jolly the other one along because they are both fundamentally good … but they needed a lot more help than the other could give.  

Anakin and Obi-Wan better each other by trying to live up to the expectations of the other. And while externally this makes them absolutely unstoppable, a tour de force of teamwork, I think inside, they are both slowly eaten up. Every time they can’t be perfect for the other—especially when the other one brushes it off—their insecurities still make them resentful. There’s a profound lack of true honesty that permeates their friendship, not helped by Anakin’s fear and fatalism that he burns himself out trying to overcome, or by Obi-Wan’s lingering disbelief in himself, his defensive sarcasm, and his inability to admit his own attachment to Anakin until it’s too late. Of course, none of this is helped by misunderstandings with the Council, the war, Sidious, etc. etc. OR, again diving into a bit of plausible headcanon, the fact that Anakin gets his secret romance, tries to have his cake and eat it too, while Obi-Wan had to ~abandon~ Satine when nine-year-old Anakin got stuffed into his arms. 

Man! I just eat it up with a spoon in each hand! I love the Accidental Parenthood trope, especially when it happens to unprepared, emotionally-stunted men! Anakin and Obi-Wan’s innocent handshake in TPM kills me dead every time! Oh, the incredible journey you two will take together, and what acute devastation awaits you at the end ;___;

[sternbilder]

Camille Has Many KDrama Thoughts

As some of you have possibly noticed, I have recently fallen into a KDrama hole and I can’t get up, and I have just finished my 10th drama, which seems like less of an accomplishment than I thought now that I say it out loud, but anyway,

As a checkpoint/thinly veiled plug of some shows I love very much, here is a very long post with some of my thoughts on all the KDramas I’ve seen so far, as well as what’s next on my list, in case you too were interested in joining me in nonexistent fandom hell!

So firstly, all of the dramas I have watched to completion, in the order of how much I like them. First, my top five:

1. Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010). My #1 favorite drama to date. I’ve probably watched it in full 4-5 times, and it’s still an absolute treat every time. Is it the best drama I’ve ever seen? Probably not. But it’s so fun and charming that it’s just gotta be at the top of my list. 

The best way I can describe this drama is Ouran High School Host Club, except in Joseon era Korea, and instead of flirting with girls the main characters learn about Confucianism and solve mysteries and play sports (twice) and end up accidentally involved in a complicated political scandal. Also, that one text post about how Shang from Mulan is bi because he falls for Mulan while he thinks she’s a man...This drama has that, except actually canon. And while I won’t pretend this is show is a shining beacon of representation, there are multiple main characters who are explicitly not heterosexual and several others with very plausible queer readings, which earns it a very special place in my heart.

As for the actual premise of the show, it’s basically about a wonderfully determined and kind and clever but lower-class girl whose writing skills catch the eye of the most stubbornly strait-laced but idealistic aspiring politician-type on the planet. She ends up getting a one-way ticket to the most prestigious school in the country, except she has to pretend to be a man the entire time because women aren’t allowed to be educated at this time. 

It’s a bit of a silly, cheesy show, and here are many wacky shenanigans, but the main cast is full of incredibly highly endearing and multifaceted characters, there is a lot of sexual confusion, the slowburn roommate romance has an incredible payoff, and it’s also full of deeply moving social commentary about class, privilege, and gender roles. This drama is a blast and I could go on and on about what I love about it, I absolutely adore it to pieces.

2. Six Flying Dragons (2015-2016). I debated between this and Tree With Deep Roots (next on my list, to which SFD is a prequel) as my #2 but I do think I want to place SFD higher just because it's the drama that I keep thinking about even after finishing it. of course, it has the dual advantages of 1) being released chronologically later (and having better production value, etc., because of this) and 2) being twice as long, but there’s just so much stuff to unpack with SFD that it makes me want to keep coming back to it. 

The show is about the founding of the Joseon dynasty, and six individuals (half of whom are based on real historical figures and half fictional) whose lives are closely tied to the fall of the old regime and the revolution that brought in the new. It has an intricate, intensely political plotline based on the actual events that happened during this time, and though this may sound kind of boring if you’re like me and not super into history (admittedly, the pacing in the beginning is a tiny bit slow), it quickly picks up and becomes this dense web of character relations and political maneuvering. Though none of the major events should come as a surprise if you’ve seen TWDR or if you happen to already know the history it was based on, the show adds such a depth of humanity and emotion to every event and character that nothing ever feels boring or predictable. As a matter of fact, there are several events that were alluded to in TWDR that, when they actually happened in SFD, left me breathless--because although I 100% knew these were foregone conclusions that were coming up at some point, I still had a visceral moment of, “oh no, so that’s how that came to happen.” 

But though I really enjoyed following the story of SFD and learning about the history behind it, the highlight of the show for me is definitely the great character arcs. I loved TWDR’s characters, too (especially Yi Do, So Yi, and obviously Moo Hyul), but with double the episode count SFD just has so much time for rich, dynamic character development, and I absolutely loved seeing how these characters grew and changed over time when their ideologies and fates collided in this turbulent and violent age: How young and ambitious Yi Bang Won eventually spiraled into a ruthless tyrant, how the naive and kind-hearted Moo Hyul struggled to retain his humanity in a bloody revolution that challenged his values and loyalties to the core, how the fiercely determined and idealistic Boon Yi grew into a pragmatic and capable leader who comes to realize what politics and power mean for her and her loved ones. 

SFD was also everything I wanted as a prequel to TWDR--I loved seeing the contrasts between some of the TWDR characters and their younger selves in the SFD timeline: The hardened and ruthless Bang Won as a passionate and righteous adolescent, the cynical and resigned Bang Ji as a cowardly boy who grows into a traumatized and bitter young man, and my personal favorite character, the comically serious bodyguard Moo Hyul as the very model of the dopey, lovable himbo archetype. And though the ending was controversial among fans (particularly those who watched SFD first), I loved how it closed all the loops and tied it back to the events of TWDR, both providing that transition I wanted but also recontextualizing and adding new meaning to the original work. I think it's still a very good drama on its own, but this hand-off is what really sealed the deal for me personally, because it was not only super emotionally satisfying to watch how the stories connected, but it elevated TWDR to something even greater (suggesting that Yi Do and the events of TWDR was the culmination of everything the six dragons fought so long and hard for), which is exactly what I expect from a good prequel. 

I’ve already talked so much about this drama but I also do need to mention that the soundtrack to SFD is A+, and the sword fights are sick as hell. There is also some romance, though it’s not really a focus--and all the pairings that do exist are extremely tragic, which is exactly up my alley. Overall, this is a hell of a historical drama, coming of age, villain origin story, and martial arts film in one, and I highly recommend it.

3. Tree With Deep Roots (2011). The sequel to SFD, though it aired first chronologically. Although this show isn’t one of those shows that I could rewatch once a year like SKKS or keep ruminating on like SFD, TWDR (much like Les Mis, or Fata Morgana) is thematically the kind of story that just makes my heart sing.

The story centers around the creation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet, by Yi Do (a.k.a., King Sejong the Great, who is the son and successor of Yi Bang Won, the main character of SFD) as well as two fictional childhood friends whose backstories and ambitions become central to the story of how and why this alphabet came to exist. Not only is the actual process of creating this alphabet absolutely fascinating from a linguistic and scientific POV, but the show dramatizes Yi Do’s motivations in a way that’s so incredibly touching and human--portraying the king as a soft-hearted and extremely charismatic yet fundamentally flawed and conflicted figure who tries so desperately to do right by his people. 

The show explores both a number of personal themes like redemption, atonement, and vengeance, as well as broader societal themes such as the ethics of authority, the democratization of knowledge, and the power of language and literacy. Though the show never forgets to remind the audience of the bitter reality of actual history, it’s still a deeply idealistic show whose musings on social change and how to use privilege and power to make the world better are both elegant and poignant. 

Romance definitely takes a backseat in TWDR, even more so than SFD, though this isn’t something I personally mind. There are, however, a lot of interesting politics surrounding the promulgation of the alphabet, including a string of high-profile assassinations--if SFD is historical/political-thriller-meets-action-film, then TWDR is historical/political-thriller-meets-murder-mystery, and it’s an incredibly tightly written and satisfying story whose pieces fall into place perfectly. Though not the sprawling epic that SFD is, TWDR is an emotional journey and an extremely well-written story with a TON of goodies if you’re as excited about linguistics as I am. 

4. White Christmas (2011). My first non-sageuk on this list! White Christmas is, in a lot of ways, an odd drama. It’s an 8-episode special, and featured largely (at the time) new talent. it’s also neither a historical work nor romance-focused, but instead a short but intense psychological thriller/murder mystery. 

The premise is this: Seven students at a super elite boarding school tucked away in the mountains receive mysterious black letters that compel them to remain on campus during the one vacation of the year. The letters describe various “sins” that the author accuses the students of committing, as well as the threat of a “curse” as well as an impending death. The students quickly find that they’re stranded alone at the school with a murderer in their midst, as they are forced to confront their shared histories and individual traumas to figure out 1) why they’ve been sent the letters, and 2) how to make it out alive. At the center of the survival game the characters find themselves in is a recurring question: “Are monsters born, or can they be made?”

If you’ve been following me for a while, it’s easy to see why I was drawn to this drama. In terms of setup and tone, it’s Zero Escape. In theme, it’s Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. It’s Lord of the Flies meets Dead Poets Society. or as one of my mutuals swyrs@ put it, Breakfast Club meets Agatha Christie. The story is flawlessly paced with not a scene wasted. There’s so much good foreshadowing and use of symbolic imagery, and though I’ve watched it at least 3-4 times, I always find interesting new details to analyze. The plot twists (though not so meta-breaking as ZE) are absolutely nuts, and aside from the somewhat questionable ending, the story is just really masterfully written.

Above all, though, WC is excellent for its character studies. Though I typically tend to stay away from shows that center around teenagers because I don’t find their struggles and experiences particularly relatable, WC does such an excellent job of picking apart every character psychologically, showing their traumas, their desires, their fears, and their insecurities. We see these kids at their most violent and cruel, but also their most vulnerable and honest. Their stories and motivations are so profoundly human that I found even the worst and most despicable characters painfully sympathetic at times, as cowardly and hypocritical and unhinged as they became. 

Like I said, it’s only 8 episodes long with probably the best rewatch value on this list. My only complaints about it are its ending, as well as its relative lack of female characters, but otherwise I would absolutely recommend.

5. Signal (2016). Okay, this might be the recency bias talking because I just finished this series but I'm sure but I'm still reeling at the mind-screw of an ending and I feel like it deserves a place on this spot just for that.

Signal is a crime thriller based on a number of real-life incidents that happened in Korea in the last 30 or so years. In short, a young profiler from the year 2015, who has a grudge against the police after witnessing their incompetence and corruption twice as a child, happens to find a mysterious walkie-talkie that seems to be able to send and receive messages from the past. on the other end is an older detective from 2000 who tells him that he’s about to start receiving messages from his younger self, back in 1989. Through the seemingly sporadic radio communications, the two men work together to solve a series of cold cases, which begin to change the past and alter the timeline.

As they solve these cases, expose corruption within the police department, and correct past injustices, the two men (along with a third, female detective who has connections to both of them) also begin to unravel the mysteries of their pasts, as well as why and how they came to share this connection.

Like WC, the story and pacing of this drama were flawless, reminding me of an extended movie rather than a TV series. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and the 16-episode run went by in no time at all. I always love timeline shenanigans and explorations of causality and fate and the consequences of changing the past, and this show has oodles of that peppered with the heartbreakingly tragic human connections and stories that the main characters share. The main pairing has great chemistry and gave me exactly the pain I crave from a doomed timeline romance, and the cinematography and soundtrack were also beautiful, which also contributed to the polished, cinema-like feel.

My only complaint is that I wish that the ending felt more like an ending, such that the drama could stand on its own. I do realize this is because there’s a second season coming, but right now the show feels somewhat incomplete, ending on a huge, ambiguous cliffhanger/sequel hook and with several loose ends. I obviously can’t give a final verdict until the entire thing airs (and I typically don’t like multi-season shows, so I will wait for the next season to come out both reluctantly and begrudgingly), but even where the show leaves off I still did enjoy it immensely.

...And now, some brief thoughts on the other 5 shows I’ve watched, because I ran out of steam and have less to say about these:

6. Healer (2014-2015). It’s been a few years since I’ve seen this show, but I remember being really impressed by this drama at the time, especially the storyline. Unfortunately though I don’t remember too much about the drama itself, which is a shame. It’s a mystery/thriller, I think, and there is hacking and crimes involved? The main character is a very cute and sweet tabloid writer and she falls in love with a mysterious and cool action boy who helps her uncover the truth behind a tragic incident that relates to her past, or something. Judging from my liveblog it seems like this was an extremely emotional journey, and I enjoyed the main couple (who are both very attractive) a lot, and it was just overall a cathartic and feel-good experience. I feel like I should rewatch this drama at some point?

7. Rooftop Prince (2012). It’s also been forever since I watched this show but I remember thinking it was hilarious and delightful and I definitely cried a lot though I do not remember why (probably something something time travel, something something reincarnation/fated lovers??). I do remember that the premise is that a Joseon-era prince and several of his servants accidentally time travel into modern-day Seoul and end up meeting the main character who is the future reincarnation of his love (?) and he is hilariously anachronistic and also insufferably pretentious, which the MC absolutely does not cut him any slack for, and they have an extremely good dynamic.

8. Coffee Prince (2007). I watched this around the same time as Rooftop Prince and I remember really enjoying it! it’s basically just SKKS, but the modern cafe AU, and I mean that in the best way possible? It definitely shares a lot of the same tropes--crossdressing/tomboy female lead, sexually questioning male lead who falls in love with her despite being “straight,” very good chemistry and also extremely charming secondary characters.

9. Shut Up Flower Boy Band (2012). This show...Was just OK. I enjoyed it at the time, but I can’t say I found it particularly memorable. As I said, I don’t typically find stories about high school students particularly relatable, and the battle of the bands-type plot was interesting enough at the time but didn’t really leave a lasting impression. As expected, the music was pretty good. I kind of watched this mostly to hear Sung Joon sing tbh?

10. Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People (2017). I wanted to like this show. I really did. I wouldn’t say it was bad, but the beginning was painfully slow, and I only really enjoyed the last 10 episodes or so, when the vive la révolution arc finally started kicking off. The pacing was challenging--the pre-timeskip dragged on about twice as long as it needed to, and I just wasn’t really interested in the Amogae/Yiquari storyline very much. I also really, really disliked all the romances in the show, especially the main pairing, since I didn’t particularly love either the male or the female leads until pretty late in the show. Overall I think I would have enjoyed the show more if the first 2/3 of it was about half as long, and it either developed the romance better or cut it out altogether.

What I’m thinking of watching next:

1. Chuno (2010). Mostly because the soundtrack to this show is so goddamn good, but also because I’m craving more historical dramas with good sword fights after SFD. I was kind of hoping Rebel would fill that need but I was a little disappointed tbh?

2. Warrior Baek Dong Soo (2011). Same reasons as above, honestly. also has a very good soundtrack, and Ji Chang Wook, who is a known nice face-haver, doing many very cool sword fights.

3. Mr. Sunshine (2018). Late Joseon era is something I’ve never really seen before in media so I’m pretty intrigued? Also Byun Yo Han was one of my favorites from SFD and I definitely want to see him in more things.

4. Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung (2019). A coworker recommended this to me and the trailer looks delightful. first of all it’s a sageuk with the gorgeous and talented Shin Se Kyoung in it playing a smart and plucky female lead, which have historically been extremely good to me, but also it gives me massive SKKS vibes, so how could I not.

5. My Country: The New Age (2019). This caught my attention because it’s based on the same historical events as SFD, so it features some of the same characters. I am very very interested in Jang Hyuk’s take on Yi Bang Won, even if he is less of a main character here compared to SFD, and he’s already an adult so he’ll already be well on his way to bastardhood. I also hear it’s very heartbreaking, which is instant eyes emoji for me?

6. Chicago Typewriter (2017). It’s about freedom fighters from the colonization era, which I’m very intrigued by after The Handmaiden and Pachinko, plus a reincarnation romance. I am very predictable in my choice of tropes. Also, Yoo Ah In is in it.

7. Arthdal Chronicles (2019-). Ok, it’s a gorgeous-looking historical fantasy set in Korea written by the same writers as TWDR and SFD, plus it has not just one but TWO Song Joong Ki characters, one of which is a pure, doe-eyed soft boy and the other an evil long-haired fae prince looking asshole who I hear is a complete and utter Unhinged Bastard Supreme. Nothing has ever been more Camille Bait than this, but unfortunately this show hasn’t finished airing, which does pain me deeply. speaking of,

8. Kingdom (2019-). It’s a fantasy sageuk with zombies, is about the extent I know about this show. The fact that it also hasn’t finished airing turns me off a bit but it looks absolutely gorgeous and I also just found out it was written by the same writer as Signal, so,,,,,,,,,

9. Gunman in Joseon (2014). I honestly don’t expect too much from this drama but I just enjoy its premise a lot? From what I understand it’s just Percy from Critical Role, but make it Joseon era.......Like, they just straight up took a Shadow the Hedgehog, “let’s make a sageuk, but guns,” approach, and I kind of unironically love that. Also the soundtrack kicks ass, which like...you can really see where my priorities lie here, huh,

10. Misaeng (2014). I don’t remember at this point why this is on my list but I found it in the Keep note I have of all the media I want to watch?? I have no idea what this show is about, except that it takes place in an office. Apparently Byun Yo Han is also in this one? I’m sorry this is the only non-sageuk or sageuk-adjacent show in this list, I know what I’m about, and it’s fancy old-timey costumes and cool braids.

[dotthings]

Well that flayed my emotions as much as I hoped and in some encouraging ways YES PAIN WITH PURPOSE THANK YOU. There’s a lot here, as is usual with Bobo eps and I’m going to have to take this one at a time especially since I really really need to break down what happened with Dean and Cas in this ep, at length. Yep I am going to go on a bit about Dean and Cas. As you do.

I’ve posted quite a bit of meta about how the rift was a combination of things. It’s years of unaddressed issues. Dean’s abandonment issues vs Cas’s tendency to be taken away, or die, or leave. Years of that. Then on top of it, when Cas couldn’t stand with Dean about Jack, and when he kept some crucial information from Dean that he shouldn’t have due to Jack. Let me restate something I’ve said before: Dean wasn’t wrong to express his hurt and anger. He loves Cas, and Cas is imperfect. No Cas isn’t always the screw up and Dean I already knew regretted that and didn’t believe that (see? I told you) nor does Dean ever want Cas dead. But Cas is imperfect and Cas has hurt Dean, as Dean has hurt Cas. Then there’s Cas’s fears about not being needed/wanted, his doubts about his place in this family, and in Dean’s heart vs. the complicated mess that is involved in being adopted into the Winchester clan as deeply as Cas was. So their insecurities have been their own worst enemies for years, and then the Jack and Mary thing happened. And then ON TOP OF ALL THAT, Chuck and Dean’s wondering what’s real what isn’t. I was pretty sure at least some of that might make it overtly into the prayer. But no none of that.

While I think it is definitely good that Dean expressed himself so openly and did it in a prayer he definitely had reasons to believe Cas would hear and it is really really good Cas HEARD HIM OH MY GOD THANK YOU CAS HEARD ALL THAT. It’s also not such good news that what comes out here is that this is all about Dean’s anger issues and he “can’t stop it.” And I’m not deciding here whether this is authorial eye or Dean’s. It certainly makes sense that Dean would pull guilt onto himself (rather than authorial blaming Dean). But Dean pulling all the guilt into himself, crying and apologizing and there being very little in the ep to address the other side of this--the Cas pov, and how Cas has hurt Dean--is just more cyclical unhealthiness.

Maybe this prayer was cathartic. Maybe this will help Dean going forward, letting go of that anger, that guilt. 

So that dynamic therefore is actually really unhealthy. Lashing out at your best friend, who you love, that severely because you just can’t help it when a crisis happens and the pressure is on, even if said best friend hurt you? It’s not a problem that Dean expressed his hurt and anger, it’s that he went too far. And he couldn’t help it. And it wasn’t Chuck existential crisis or even about Mary, it’s just that when under pressure Dean lashes out at those he loves and can’t stop it. While that is a valid issue...that kind of takes the entire burden and puts it onto Dean. Full stop. It’s all Dean’s fault. Dean, how dare you get angry and hurt when you best friend does stuff that actually...hurts you. This is, IMO, canon putting the kind of pressure on Dean that fandom does. Only express positive feelings, Dean, otherwise shut up. Regardless of intent, that’s kind of what this scene validated.

So on top of years of issues Dean and Cas haven’t dealt with, chronic issues, about each other. On top of reasons here Dean might think the bond was manufactured by Chuck, but all right, that last point doesn’t seem to be presenting itself unless I reach pretty down deep into subtext. Maybe we can say it’s fueling Dean’s anxieties and made everything worse, ramped everything up.

But I think given how this unfolded, Dean and Cas having some time apart isn’t a bad idea. That this turned out to actually be “Dean lashes out when he’s panicked and he can’t stop himself” and hurt Cas so much with it is worrying and I get it’s supposed to be worrying. But I’m not exactly vomiting rainbows. I  WANT THEM TO FIX IT.  I’m incredibly uncomfortable with how the story (whether authorial view or not) places it all on Dean. 

This is, frankly, going to feed the Dean hate and I’m just so tired of it, it’s unfair, it’s a twisted stanning view of the character, it lacks empathy, and I’m sorry that this episode did something that validated people who literally needed Dean LITERALLY ON HIS KEES CRYING AND APOLOGIZING before they might believe Dean isn’t an uncaring asshole. Some of us didn’t need that to know, while it is good that Dean said what was deepest in his heart. Yet there’s still going to be stans who keep bashing him and saying he doesn’t care about Cas. I really wish they would just stop and they never will so I will ignore it best I can.

After what I just witnesses in this ep, I am beyond FLOORED if there would be ANYONE LEFT IN THIS FANDOM WHO COULD THINK THAT. I get thinking they need couples therapy or maybe they need space. I’m thinking it. But to actually keep flogging the idea that Dean doesn’t care about Cas, that was already egregious before this ep, now it’s REALLY really egregious to keep flogging that.

So I’m uneasy, for what this means for Dean and Cas--not that they can’t or won’t fix this. OBVIOUSLY THEY WILL FIX THIS. They want to fix this. The arc isn’t over--and for what it means for Dean.

On the one hand, I’m glad to see things dig so deeply into Dean’s issues. Because it’s not Dean hate to say, yeah he’s got some anger issues and needs to examine that. But on the other hand, Dean crying and apologizing on his knees is NOT THE FIX FOR THE RELATIONSHIP. Because there’s unaddressed stuff from Cas’s side. And I’m sure a lot of people are going to breeze right by that. Because in this fandom you have to choose Dean or Cas, and one or the other is being dragged as being an uncaring assholes. 

The good news, this ep was exactly what I thought and hoped it would be for Dean and Cas otherwise, in terms of getting them past that early season freeze. 

Oh that revisiting of Purgatory was effing beautiful, structurally and emotionally. Cas refused to split up this time. Cas waited at the portal. Cas went through the portal with Dean. There is healing in this ep, they went through a similar situation only with a different outcome. Cas isn’t voluntarily staying in Purgatory to wear a hair shirt this time. This time, Cas didn’t run off and leave Dean just to protect Dean, they only got separated after they were overpowered. Cas waited and waited by that portal and Dean looked and looked. That was no really, that was beautiful (whatever issues I have about the prayer itself).

This was the thaw. This was the beginning of the next phase for Dean and Cas, and no it’s not intended as a fix. The door’s been opened, the ice has broken, the walls have crumbled, so that they can fix it and hopefully to an even better, stronger relationship that all they’ve been before, which is really strong already but damn they have so many issues. While Dean and Cas have mostly been a comforting relationship for me on SPN (health for relative values of healthy) and it is mostly a positive relationship...yeah. Issues. 

JFC I just really hope Cas is going to get to voice how he feels about hurting Dean as he has and it does an incredible disservice to the characters and their story to skip over that, not just because I’m defensive of Dean, but for Cas’s sake, for the sake of his character and pov. I feel like Cas’s pov is incomplete. He’s not getting to express himself the way I really really hope he will and I think he needs to. Hell, can I have Cas on his knees in tears pouring his heart out about Dean, it wouldn’t be a prayer or actual tears probably, since he’s an angel, but give me something.

Howe even did things get to the point where it’s Dean carrying most of the Destiel and expressing most of the feelings and bleeding out emotionally again and again in canon and yet so many people act like CAS is the one doing all the pining, as if Dean is the uncaring asshole, while we have such gaps in Cas expressing his pov on Dean. It’s absolutely WILD. It’s beyond wild. 

The other good news is despite my discomfort with the speech, I am reeling a bit at just how expressive it was. I do think as the one who said the harsh things, Dean would be the one who needed to take the first sledgehammer to the ice wall and he did it. It’s not that I agree all the blame is on him. But yes Dean opened the door and that’s a good thing. Dean falling to his knees, weeping because he’s scared he is losing his best friend again. To PURGATORY AGAIN NO LESS *screaming internally* and with all the times since he’s lost Cas. It wasn’t an angry emotional rant. It was a vulnerable, sad, quiet pleading prayer directly to his best friend. I am a bit shook that the Dean and Cas feelings weren’t nested in with some other bigger plot thing eating at Dean, where Cas is one of a list, or it’s something else breaking Dean and losing Cas is just too much on top of that. No, it’s just a guy falling to his knees because he’s scared he’s losing his best friend who he loves in every sense of the word yet again and it’s just them and their feelings.

The last time we saw something this overt from Dean, tear-filled, raw, laying it all out there, Cas was dead and in The Empty and Cas couldn’t hear it.

Ohhh and remember how I pointed out in S14 Cas hearing in Dean’s trauma memories the scream Dean let out when he lost Cas and I wasn’t sure if Cas knew that was for him or not, just that it was traumatic.

BUT THIS TIME CAS HEARD IT. HE HEARD THE PRAYER. HE KNEW DEAN CRIED. HE HEARD ALL OF DEAN’S ANGUISH ABOUT LOSING HIM. (Hopefully Cas will get an actual clue now, I hope).

[toujoursmiraculous]

Ladybug Reaction/Thoughts!

Fair warning, this is a very long post! I absolutely love, love, love that we get to see that flashback of him actually making the lucky charm bracelet, wondering if it’s good enough to give Marinette, actually getting Plagg’s and Nathalie’s opinion. He’s just that worried about making sure it’s good enough for her. Wow I love my sunshine boy. Adrien was literally going to talk about how amazing Marinette is to his father before he cut him off. He was actually starting to do it! Ahhh that makes my heart so happy. “Please father! Marinette deserves to have all her friends there.” Just the fact that he begged him so he could go see her on her special day. sniffs I’m not crying tears of joy! ;~; Oh wow, we never thought about Lila possibly being there in Befana but yikes. “I thought you were supposed to be protecting Adrien from Marinette. The one you said was a bad influence.” Okay, so the disgusting part where Hawk Moth is using this and Marinette to chaos havoc aside, it sounds like Gabriel doesn’t actually believe that Marinette’s a bad influence on Adrien. Which I really appreciate and hope it means something later.

Lila: “Will you keep your promise if I succeed?”

Literally the only reason she gets to model with Adrien at the end. And remember, Adrien can’t refuse to work with her as his father arranged it, so he’s pretty much stuck with this.

Ms. Bustier: “Today someone placed an anonymous note in my mailbox, claiming that you’d stolen the exam answers. And it looks the anonymous person was right.”

Notice even Chloe is just outright shocked?

Yes Alya and Adrien standing up for her! And Rose too. At least at first.

Okay, really, if she fell down that massive flight of stairs, she’d have worse than a injured knee. Just saying. She’d be taken away in an ambulance and instructed not to move in case of neck injuries. C’mon adults, isn’t this a bit suspicious happening at once at this point?

“My daughter is not a thief!”

Just watched Rogercop the other day with a friend, it’s sad and interesting this line is being used again.

Wow. Framed for stealing Lila’s necklace and having it exposed to the entire class. That sucks so much. How embarrassing to have to be in such a situation. Accused of 3 crimes in one day? Psh, overplaying it Lila.

Alix: Angry

Mylene: Disappointed

Alya: Shocked

Sabine: Crying

Adrien: Sad because he knows exactly what’s going on and knows she’s innocent.

“You know I’m innocent, don’t you, Adrien?”

The look of anger on his face as he looks at Lila after she says this. Oh how I love this so much. If this must be done at all, this is what I want to come from it.

You know, it’s really sick. It’s really sick that this sweet boy goes and tells his father about how wonderful his friend is, how her friends love and care about her, and that he cares so much about too, and he uses her, ultimately hurting him, to get what he wants. Adrien’s essentially fueling Hawk Moth without even knowing. How utterly disgusting. My poor baby’s being used in the worst way by his own father.

Chloe protecting Sabrina instead of pushing her in front as a shield to protect herself shows so much character growth, I’m very proud of her.

Verity Queen. Princess Justice.

Does this confirm later their akumatizations? Because oof I’m afraid of Marinette getting akumatized. Especially after she was going to take off her earrings to give to Hawk Moth, had Nathalie not suddenly fallen into a coughing fit!

Okay, I’m going to say this: This today was a good example of why they should know about their identities. Had Adrien known, he would’ve more likely been able to keep her calm enough from being akumatized at all, or if not that, prevent her from giving him the earrings.

I still feel that way right now, the cons of them knowing outweigh the pros, but that is definitely a pro!

Alya being on Marinette’s side, even though it looks bleak and she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to prove her innocence. That’s all I ask is that she believes.

I seriously can’t believe her parents are like, until we find another school for you to go to, you have to work here at the bakery, starting right now.

That’s pretty much believing their daughter was guilty of everything she’s been accused of and that’s so horribly wrong. Okay, she’s not able to go to school right now. That’s out of their control. But you’re going to punish her, too, and prevent her from getting to the bottom of what happened so she’s allowed back at school?

“I want to help you.” “Never at that cost. Never at that cost again.” This just raises the question again at why Emilie wore the Miraculous in the first place, and why she wore it to the point that it put her in the state she’s in now. If Gabriel’s first use of the Butterfly was the Stoneheart episodes, she was using it only on her own. But what is this Miraculous capable of that she was so desperate to use it for, and why was she? Lol @ detective Alya. Too bad the lockers just so happened to be clean right before she got there. :/ True love right there, that Nathalie would very easily give up her life for Gabriel’s (and Adrien’s) happiness. Why can’t she just love someone else? Dx I know she said in Stormy Weather 2 she wonders if she shouldn’t have taken the job, and she’s right. She’s not even allowed to answer her own phone because she’s being punished for something she didn’t even do? Again, wow. “Don’t tell me. We have to go and help your Lady.” I love how Plagg’s annoyed at going to help Ladybug, and Adrien’s response is, “She and I are on the same team, Plagg. We’ll help Marinette.” as if Plagg likes and prefers Marinette over Ladybug. I already figured that, but I like how Adrien was reassuring Plagg he was going to help her. x3 “Chat Noir, I don’t feel so good.” LOL I can’t believe they put this in. XD “There’s something wrong,” HIS VOICE QUIVERED. MY HEART IS NOT OKAY. That’s NOT OKAY. “we’re supposed to be nearly invulnerable.” Wow. So I know that Mayura’s making Sentimonster Ladybug say these things, but two things: One, I feel like this is exactly what Ladybug feels about Chat. “I’ve always gone out of my way to hide my feelings for you.” Bingo! Chat: “I thought you said you loved somebody else?“ Did you guys see that look of shock on Nathalie’s face? Oh gosh. Oh no oh no oh no. Oh no. Oh heck no! Because now, she will give this information to Gabriel, and they’re going to try to figure out who Ladybug does love! And that would be Adrien! asdkjflg this is going to get real. “Your feelings haven’t changed, but mine are growing stronger every day. I can’t keep pretending anymore.” I really do think she’s pretending she doesn’t have any feelings for him, to keep them and everyone else safe. I also get the feeling that some of what Mayura’s saying can be applied to herself and Gabriel too? Okay, Chat was scarily close to having his Miraculous taken. But oh my gosh at Ladybug hurling them apart with that brute force. XD Sentimonster: Listen to your heart! Ladybug: Listen to your brain! Chat wanted to listen to his heart and believe that she really loved him. Oh ugh why must they hurt me so? “OHHH I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU FELL FOR THAT!” Totally laughing, but he wants to believe so much that you love him. :c “I’m sorry, Kitty, but you should have known. I’m nowhere near as perfect as her.” Ouch. “I love you just the way you are, m’lady.” Awwwwww. How could anyone not love these two? Sentimonster Ladybug may in their opinion be perfect, but he’d take imperfect yet authentic Ladybug any day. Sentimonster: gets a massive gun of destruction Ladybug: gets a fork “Okay, you’re definitely the real one!” XD Gabriel: Nooroo, why didn’t you wake me up?! Nooroo: I couldn’t bring myself to, Master, you were sleeping so peacefully! Lol first humor scene with them I think? I like that Ladybug gave the sentimonster her freedom and asked if she could help them. That’s so sad that she got destroyed by Mayura, but her disappearing would’ve been inevitable anyway. Dx Chat just saw some version of Ladybug being taken away from him. Again. And reacts with rage. He’s clearly been traumatized from Desperada and Party Crasher. Whoa dang, Hawk Moth vs Chat Noir. Was not prepared for this. :O “Getting sentimental on a sentimonster?” “You’re the real monster!” “Oh, that. You’ll find out very soon.” Yikes. Chat calling his own dad Grandpa. XD I can’t. I just can’t. Hawk Moth just throwing his own son off a building so cruelly like that. Doesn’t matter that he knows or not, he knows they’re kids. So Ladybug has Mayura in her hands. She could easily have just taken her Miraculous anyway, but there was no way she was going to let her kitty be harmed. “You had Mayura right where you wanted her. I could’ve managed by myself, why’d you do that?!” “Because we’re Ladybug and Chat Noir. Ladybug by itself doesn’t sound half as cool.” “You shouldn’t say things like that to me.” OOF. Then he puckers up, and she puts a finger on his lips and says, “But the real Ladybug’s heart still belongs to someone else.” “Ha, I should have guessed that too.” I love how they’re both smiling throughout the scene. No bad feelings or animosity. And I also love that not once, has she never said “I don’t like you�� to Chat. It’s always been “I like someone else.” This really means something! I feel like this episode is really foreshadowing Ladynoir stuff. I also find it sweet and sad they’re both attached to Bugette. xD “Your idea was brilliant, but you don’t need a Miraculous to help me.” she sure doesn’t oh no. What’s she going to do next? “There was something else you needed Mayura for. To find the Guardian.“ “I’m not so sure anymore.” Not sure I like where this is going :/ Wait, his name is Giuseppe? I thought it was Vincent! :O Gotta make a note to change some fanfics later..... “Your papa’s new muse is incredible.” THEY’RE GOING TO BE MODELING A LOT TOGETHER OH NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. DISGUSTING! I can’t believe he’s allowing such a thing! “She’s Italian, just like me!” I have Italian ancestors, why does that matter Giuseppe? She’s a disgrace to all Italians everywhere. Adrien: “Would you mind leaving us alone for a second?” in his normal Adrien voice. As he walks over to the chair, did you hear him grunt out of frustration? Then he just sits down and doesn’t even look at her. Which reminds me of his father. Adrien: “I warned you once already, Lila, but you didn’t listen. You hurt my friend Marinette, and that’s not okay." he says in a deep, angry voice. Yesssss! I’ve wanted this for so long! STAND UP FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE. Also, he warned her not to hurt the people he loves. So he’s pretty much admitting he loves her without saying so. Ahahaha I don’t care if he thinks it’s only as friends, he loves her. x3 “I don’t know how to prove you lied Lila, because you’re good at it. So you’ll have to come up with another lie just as convincing. Only this time it’s going to prove Marinette’s innocent.” “Why would I do that?” “Because we’re friends, aren’t we?” Okay, Angry Adrien’s a bit scary but I’m so here for it! I’ve never heard him sounding so cold. You don’t hurt his Marinette. You harm her, you’ll have him to answer to. Again, really disgusted with Marinette’s parents sympathizing and caring about Lila. My mom would’ve seen past her lies and been on my side the entire time. I just don’t see how parents like hers that have always thought so highly of their daughter and know her so well would buy into this. But I suppose that goes to show the kind of power Lila has over everyone. Also is sad that after all this, Marinette is still nice towards Lila. She’s just too good. “As you said. Things aren’t always as they seem to be at first sight.” Hmmmm well this certainly is going to mean some things later. That disgusted look on Marinette’s face when she saw Lila and Adrien’s photos on TV. XD Like she can’t even believe how things keep turning out with this girl. But the way this episode ended, this was so not the end of all of this. As this was supposed to be the last episode before the 2 season finale episodes, I’d bet that it’ll continue then. If not, beginning of S4. Oh my, are we even ready for this?

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Steve Yurko

  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

  Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

  My next guest in this series is Steve Yurko, co-host of The One Piece Podcast, a podcast with a subject you can probably guess. He's also a former storyboard artist for Rick & Morty and is currently working for Netflix Animation. As a ride-or-die Sanji fan, Steve chose the Baratie Arc, where Luffy and the gang run into an East Blue restaurant with a cool chef that loves to cook and kick.

  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Baratie arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Arlong Park arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

    Dan Dockery: So a friend tells you, "I'm done with the Syrup Village arc and I'm not sure if I want to watch this next one. I think I might be tapped out on this whole One Piece thing. In one sentence, how do you get them to stay and watch the Baratie arc?

  Steve Yurko: The Baratie arc laid down the foundation and created the formula of the One Piece arc as we know it.

  That's pretty good!

  Yeah, I’d say that, when I first started it, One Piece was my third favorite. I was more of a fan of series like Shaman King and Naruto, but after Baratie, things shifted. It was a turning point for me. I would hope that it would do the same for anyone who’s, say, previously apathetic towards the series.

    How old were you when you first read it? Or watched it?

  It feels weird to say this, but my introduction to One Piece was Chapter 1. Like Dragon Ball Z, the first episode I can remember watching was, like, Yamcha training on King Kai’s planet, and I’d get Goku and Yamcha confused and stuff, because I had just dived in. So for me to start a story like One Piece from the beginning is kind of rare. I was 15, I think.

  So, we're jumping into Baratie, and we first see the guy with the brass knuckles, Fullbody. He's trying to act cool on a date and he's being mean to everyone else. And then we have Sanji being typical Cool Sanji and Fullbody acts up and Sanji just tears through him. How did you react? Did you know immediately that you'd like this waiter?

  Well, I don't want to alarm you here, but my first thought was “Sanji’s cool!” I’d seen images of him before, and I saw his black suit and blond hair and I figured, “Oh, another crew member, probably. Looks distinct enough.” So I often have to look back and wonder “Did I like him because of his edgy coolness?” but I think now it’s because there were more layers to him. Like, he definitely stands out from the other Straw Hats, but he also has this distinct fighting style with cool reasoning. He’s a cook and he doesn’t want to bust up his hands trying to punch people in the face, so he uses his feet. So, he does like these cool capoeira kicks, which only gets better as they go along because I feel like so many anime characters, the stronger they get, the more they start to fight the same with fast volleys of punches and laser blasts. So Sanji’s kicks are a great way to differentiate himself from the main cast and other anime heroes. 

  So, then we have Luffy, he shows up by damaging the Baratie. Enter: Zeff. Full disclosure: In my infinite naivete when I first watched One Piece, I thought Zeff was going to be the new crew member. And then I thought Gin was going to join the Straw Hat crew. And then when Sanji finally joined, I was like, "This guy? Really? Dark horse candidate over here."

  You didn’t know yet?

    I guess I hadn't watched the first ED yet — when the crew slowly shows up and stands beside one another.

  You saw Usopp’s silhouette appear and thought, “Eh, I’ve seen enough.”

  "That must be all of them."

  It happens.

  So, you meet Zeff, and you learn about Sanji and Zeff's relationship, and we get a big One Piece flashback. What do you think of that? Because it would become a staple of the series to kinda pause, see what happened to an important guy, and then come back.

  Such an incredible story and so gruesome and terrifying. Sanji’s original flashback is so underrated because it could happen to anyone! Like, you’d have to go out of your way to get stranded on an island, but going days and weeks without food or any real comfort? I think people underestimate how traumatizing that would be. And then Zeff losing his leg because he hacked it off for food, it’s brutal. Just thinkin’ about that, I feel it in my shins. Because that almost happened to me with a minor injury. I let a minor injury get infected, and I could’ve been close to losing a leg.

    Wait, what? Gahd.

  I was doing box jumps at a gym, and my shin hit the corner of this wooden crate.

  Yeah, those things have no give in them.

  Absolutely. And at the time, I thought it was just this dark spot on my shin. And I figured it was, ya know a bruise. So I let it be. And then I picked at the scab and I realized “Wow, that’s a little deeper than I thought. I guess I’ll go to the doctor if it gets worse.” And I kept going to the gym, wearing pants over like this open wound. And my left leg is so swollen. So I went to two different doctors, as the first one did tests and then sent me to another one. And when this doctor saw me, the look on her face said “Oh, this is bad.” So I laughed out loud about how dumb I was and the doctor turned to me and said “This isn’t funny. This IS SERIOUS.” It had gotten infected with bacteria and it was spreading, and she just took a sharpie and drew around the infected area, and gave me antibiotics and was like “You have to keep this elevated, and if the redness goes outside of this line, go to the hospital.” But luckily, I recovered, even though the doctors were like “Honestly, we thought you’d go to the hospital.” So when Zeff severs his foot with a rock, how does anyone not feel that? 

  Do you think that's one of the reasons Luffy is fascinated by Sanji at first? His mentor, Shanks, lost his arm and was cool about it. Zeff lost his leg and was cool about it. Basically twins.

  That’d be an interesting conversation that we never got to see. Just two dudes talking about how weird it is that both their father figures did that, with only Luffy thinking it’s cool. 

    Don Krieg's ship gets blown in half by an incomprehensibly cool character, Mihawk, the first Warlord to appear in the show. You see Mihawk arrive — what is your reaction to him? Because it's not a case of "The villain of the villain is my friend," but rather "Oh, he did that to the villain? I hope he does not do that to us, as that would suck."

  It’s almost like the good guys meeting the bad guys, and then a tornado comes in. But here’s the thing: I missed the issue of Jump where Zoro fought Mihawk. So I assumed that Zoro had just won. The greatest swordsman in the world shows up and Zoro beats him. Boom. The climax of his character arc has been achieved. Nothing left for Zoro. 

  He just did it.

  I didn’t find out until so much later that Zoro lost. I wasn’t quite aware of what made for a captivating story yet. At that time, an obstacle appears, an obstacle gets taken out, ya move on. I almost want to apologize to Mihawk. 

  I love how One Piece does this though. They do it with Smoker and Aokiji and the like. It reminds me of The Witcher III when you go off the path a little bit, and you're at a Level 4 and then a Level 39 Gryphon swoops down and decapitates you. It keeps the "power levels" interesting.

  Luffy starts up Breath of the Wild and goes right for Calamity Ganon. But Mihawk is like the analogy for the Grand Line. He represents it, without revealing too much. Mihawk is like a Pizza Hut demo disc of danger.

  I really like that. And no one knows, to this day, exactly how powerful he is. Over 20 years later, and we're still wondering how he matches up against Shanks or Blackbeard or whatever. One Piece has so many characters where Oda hasn't shown his full hand in regards to them, yet we're totally emotionally invested in them. That's good storytelling.

  He’s doing something right. And I love that Mihawk has a little character arc here, too, where he shows up nonchalantly slicing up Krieg’s ships, probably doesn’t expect much, and then he’s taken aback by Zoro’s gusto, because he hasn’t seen anyone like that in a while. And he slices Zoro down. But he respects him, when in the beginning, he clearly didn’t respect anyone around. Mihawk wants to see him be better and try to take him down one day. For him to willingly build someone up like that is rare. Like Frieza wouldn’t do that.

    So, Don Krieg — what were your opinions of him at the time? Because he's a really bad guy surrounded by more morally grey guys like Mihawk and Gin.

  What I like about the East Blue saga is that every main villain is an antithesis of Luffy and what makes Luffy a truly great captain. Buggy is all about treasure. Kuro is about ambition and the fortitude to be a pirate. Krieg is about might and strength, and Krieg thinks he has both of those because of his weapons and armor. But Luffy has willpower and ambition and doesn’t let the world change his views. Luffy is incorruptible whereas Krieg is willing to poison his own crew when stuff starts going south. Krieg isn’t fondly remembered, but he really serves his purpose in the story.

  So, after Krieg is defeated, Sanji turns down Luffy's offer to join the Straw Hat crew. Now, he knows this is a bad idea. He's not gonna find the All Blue floating around on the Baratie. Why doesn't he go immediately?

  Well, he knows it’s a bad idea but he’s completely misinterpreting Zeff’s sacrifice. He feels that since Zeff sacrificed his leg, he has to repay him by working for him indefinitely. But the reason that Zeff did that was because he wants Sanji to live on and chase his dream. That’s why Zeff took pity on him in the first place. He’s an older, worn-down man now, and he stopped chasing his dream. And now he wants to see Sanji or someone get a win. It lifts his spirit to see Sanji and live kinda vicariously through him. 

  So, the second time I ever cried over One Piece was during Sanji's goodbye and Zeff's "Don't catch a cold." The first time was when that little dog was trying to protect his dead owner's shop in Orange Town, but that's a different story. But this shot of Sanji on his knees thanking Zeff with all the cooks surrounding them is so iconic, and Sanji's acting like it's a gift that Zeff gave him that Sanji could never repay, while as you said, Zeff just wants Sanji to be happy. What did you get out of that? I assume that you're a human with human emotions.

  I cry every time I watch that. When I first saw it, I was like “How? How is a series this good?” And there’s so much to that ending sequence. Because the Baratie is built on this rough, angry masculinity. Just these dudes being mean and fighting each other and customers all the time. There’s never a time or a place for lending a shoulder to someone else. No emotional embraces of any kind. Just everyone berating everyone. No one can open up — just stupid man babies. And then you get to this moment where Sanji is leaving and they’re all trying to be cool while playing it off. Especially Zeff, who can’t give a legitimate goodbye, but rather a “Don’t catch a cold.” But there’s so much to that statement and the facade crumbles. All these grown men start bawling. 

    I've never thought about it that way. There's all these little hints of kindness, like feeding the bad guys, and it's a masculinity powder keg. And then Sanji, in an ultimate display of putting his heart out there, bows to the man who saved him and the keg explodes. That's really cool.

  ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

  Favorite One Piece character?

  Sanji

  Favorite One Piece villain?

  Enel

  Favorite One Piece moment?

  March to Arlong Park

  Favorite Straw Hat Crew pairing?

  Luffy and Zoro

  Favorite moment of the new Wano anime arc?

  Soba Mask’s debut

  If you could eat one Devil Fruit, what would it be?

  Whatever Kanjuro’s fruit is

  Moment that made you cry the hardest?

  Sanji leaving the Baratie

  Moment that made you cheer the loudest?

  Straw Hats at the Tower of Justice standing across from Robin

  One Piece location that you'd like to live in?

  Whole Cake Island. Ya eat well, ya know, you can survive Big Mom

  Favorite fight scene?

  Sanji vs Mr. 2, of course

      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with Botchamania creator Maffew about his favorite One Piece arc: Alabasta!!

        Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

An Explanation of Why Louis and Violet are Both Terrific Love Interests [3/5]

+Why both romantic routes are not only amazing but better than other games I’ve personally played in the past.

+Why some people are idiots and get off on picking stupid fights.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

[a new frontier and forced romances]

You have to romance me otherwise the plot makes no sense also I’ll throw a tantrum like a small child.

Do I even need to explain this one?

It’s Kate. 

I’m talking about Kate.

The romance with her is forced and I don’t like it. 

I hate to be blunt because I’m sure there are people out there who like Kate and like the relationship between her and Javier, and I don’t want to step on any toes and say your ship is invalid because it’s not. 

However, as someone who didn’t romance Kate the first three times I played the game for a number of reasons, I hated how the game constantly forced her on you while giving the illusion that it’s a choice. 

Because that’s the issue: Illusion of choice. 

No matter what you do, Javier has romantic chemistry with Kate [apparently] as told by everyone Javi talks to. Tripp mentions it, Eleanor mentions it, Clementine mentions it, and even David says something about how Kate only sees Javi now. 

You can literally be an asshole to Kate and turn her down every single chance you get, and she’ll still come to you like “Hey, we’re a thing, right? Things have been pretty intense with us in the past so we should totally give this a shot, yeah? Fuck David, let’s be together!” 

This would make sense for her say if you returned her affections whenever possible, but it makes her look clingy and in denial if you repeatedly turn her down. 

When it comes to whether or not you want to pursue that relationship with her, you have two choices: Say you feel the same way and have to story make sense, or say no and not only will she pout like a small child, but suddenly so many things don’t fucking work. 

You turn her down and David still freaks the fuck out because Kate’s all “I can’t believe I loved either of you!” and takes Gabe away which leads to the final choice which leads to the ending. 

If the story wanted to be forceful with Kate, then y’know what? Fine, but go all the way with it. None of this illusion of choice shit, just tell us that Kate and Javier are a couple now and give us the choice of what kind of boyfriend we want to be. Don’t say “Here’s Kate, you can smooch her if you want” and then proceed to have everyone and their mother tell me to smooch her even though I don’t want to. 

Also, did you know that Javier Garcia is a bisexual protagonist, as well? 

Yes, it’s true! It’s never mentioned or shown outside of ONE flirtatious dialogue choice with Jesus in the last ten minutes of the game, but it’s true!

I honestly don’t know why they didn’t either give us a choice between two love interests or decide to keep the focus off romance in general. Instead, we got Kate and a mess of a plot when you don’t pick the “correct” choices.

Give me a REAL love interest! One that I can get behind!

...Wait, of course!

Hey, don’t you look at me like that! It could work!

Francine’s dead, therefore Conrad’s single! And so what if he held Gabe at gunpoint and threatened to shoot Javi in the face?? All couples have their fights, c’mon! 

...Alright, fine, but I’m putting a pin in such a potential ship and saving it for later.

ANYWAY, we were talking about Kate. 

Compare Kate to Louis and Violet. 

You don’t have to romance either of them and if you don’t, it doesn’t fuck over the plot. 

If you don’t romance Louis, he doesn’t turn into mister pouty pants and slap Lilly and confess to loving Clem during a dangerous situation which results in an even more dangerous situation because he’s butthurt. 

If you don’t romance Violet, the plot suddenly doesn’t make sense because the game was steering you to make the “correct” choices that give you the “correct” ending and now everyone’s confused because they assumed you were smoochin’.

No, you can just be friends with them and it’s fine! Sure, you miss out on the cute date scenes, but y’know what? You miss out on stuff if you DO romance them, too! 

You get different dialogue and scenes that work with the story you’re creating! Just because you didn’t smooch them, doesn’t mean they suddenly don’t have any interest or care in you! It’s just platonic!

If the writers took a page out of ANF’s book, then we would’ve had a mess with Louis and Violet. They would’ve forced Louis on you and then let you have one line of flirty dialogue with Violet! Or everyone would be constantly telling you how much chemistry you and Violet have despite you rejecting her every chance you get! 

In conclusion: Louis and Violet are important characters, but you are not pressured into having a relationship with them if you don’t want to. You can friendzone them and they will still love you. 

[king’s quest and likable but inconsequential love interests]

Romance me or her, it doesn’t really matter we look identical when we’re old and our children suspiciously look the same regardless so just pick one

King’s Quest is a game that came out in 2015. It’s an episodic reboot to the classic games of the same name and follows the life story of King Graham told by himself to his granddaughter, Gwendalyn. 

I love this game. It made me cry and I loved every minute of it. Graham is one of my favorite protagonists that I’ve ever played, and this game has something wonderful about it, aside from purple badgers and Whisper: Romance. 

Surprising, I know. 

In Chapter 3 of this game, King Graham decides that he’s ready to meet the love of his life, so he turns to his magic mirror, which shows him a tower that holds his future bride. Ecstatic about this, Graham travels to this tower and climbs in to meet the love of his life. 

He’s then greeted with these two. 

These lovely ladies are Vee and Neese, and they will be your potential love interests for the evening. 

Vee is the more serious of the two, taking a liking to puzzles and archery, but she also has a knack for puns. 

Neese is the sillier of the two, loving music and animals, while also having excitable outbursts. 

These two are likable in their own different ways, and both get the same amount of screen time throughout the episode, it all just depends on which one you prefer more and who you think Graham has more chemistry with. 

That being said, it doesn’t really matter who you pick. Nothing drastic changes in the story if you pick Neese over Vee or vise versa. 

The story happens the same way: Graham marries the one you pick, their son gets kidnapped by Manny, they grow older with their daughter, their son comes back, they go on vacation, and it turns out the one you didn’t marry is now Icebella and dies at the end of Chapter 4. 

Really, the only difference is the color palettes they wear and dialogue options to signify which one you chose. 

I mean, pick Vee or Neese, but they’ll both reveal that their real name is Valanice and your children look the same regardless. 

So, why is this a problem? Well, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you consider that Vee and Neese are actually based off of Valanice from the original games, hence why they’re both named after her. And they’re both incredibly likable, so that’s not the issue, either.

For me, when I learned that it really didn’t matter all that much who I picked, it made the choice feel less impactful. In Chapter 3, they’re clearly two different characters with their own personalities, and while they’re similar to their CH3 counterparts in future episodes, they mush together despite the small differences. 

Thinking back to the two times I’ve finished King’s Quest, I can’t even tell them apart. I know that I prefer Vee for Graham in Chapter 3, but other than that, it’s inconsequential, it really doesn’t matter as much as some of your other choices throughout the game. 

When it comes to TWDG, it matters and makes a big difference depending on if you pick Louis or Violet and HOW you pick them. 

You can romance and save them, or you can romance and betray them, or you can do everything right and devote yourself to them only to decide you don’t trust AJ in the end. Each route plays out differently and has obvious, drastic, and memorable consequences.

You romance Louis then save Violet? Well, now your boyfriend doesn’t have a tongue anymore leaving him completely traumatized for life. You now have to live with that for the rest of your life. 

You romance Violet but then decide not to trust AJ? You now have to watch your girlfriend get eaten alive by a herd of walkers because she stayed behind to save Tenn’s life. 

You play your cards right and romance, save, and keep Louis/Violet alive until the end? You get to be happy and in love with them at the cost of your friend’s tongue/eyes and Tenn’s life. 

Do you see what I mean?

Yes, if you marry Vee, then Neese dies. That’s impactful but not nearly to the degree that a choice like this is presented in TFS. 

In conclusion: Vee and Neese are likable but inconsequential. Louis and Violet are lovable, memorable, impactful, and they change the outcome of the story drastically. 

Continued in Part 4