#first watch and only on s2 so if this is answered later disregard

[strawberrywindow]

Is there like a comics/lore reason why Doctor Fate can't just...put his helmet on an android body? Instead of hijacking a persons entire life away? Like can the Justice League not just make a body specifically FOR Fate to hijack? Or let him use Amazo? 💀

[brekker-by-brekkerr]

I think it’s unfair to say that both EJ and Ricky are teenagers but that doesn’t excuse Ricky’s action yet at the same time excuse EJ by saying he just thought he misinterpreted Gina’s feelings. The first time Gina gives Ricky advice with Nini she does it unprompted at his house, second time he tries stopping Big Red multiple times before she says “no it’s okay” and gives her advice, third time she sets a boundary and he clearly respects that the rest of the season and after she doesn’t even do the exercise with him he gives her all the space. They don’t even interact that much in 2B so this actually didn’t continue for a whole season. So clearly Ricky misinterpreted that maybe Gina is okay with giving advice and just wanted her opinion as a close girl friend. Maybe he thought she was moving on and okay with it too. Not saying EJ is a terrible person for cancelling the date under the circumstances but Ricky was also receiving mixed signals from Gina which led to confusion so it’s unfair to hold that against one but not the other. EJs problem isn’t that he cancelled it’s that he didn’t even feel the need to communicate why which led to her decline in self esteem that Nini helps build up. Ricky never made her feel that she had a chance because she states “he’s so happy now with Nini” which she wouldn’t say if she thought she had a chance. In Ricky’s case she was more upset about their romantic situation so had to take a step back from their friendship as well but he was never mean to her on purpose (not that EJ was either) but his intentions weren’t malicious so I don’t think that has to be held against him forever.

Okay first of alli didn't say being a teenager only excused EJ. both EJ and Ricky are teenagers and that can inform the way we view their behavior. It doesn't excuse any actions, it just makes them a lot more understandable. Just because I didn't specify that with Ricky doesn't mean I don't think that comes into play.

And once again, these are two very different situations. If you were going on a date with someone and found out they only thought of you as a sibling, how would that make you feel? Would you want to continue that date? Or if you were going to hang out with a friend you thought of like a sibling and found out they thought you were on a date--again, how would that make you feel? How else was EJ supposed to respond? Maybe he could have talked it through with Gina. But he didn't do something awful like continuing to talk to someone about your relationship even though you know that person has feelings for you. That's what I was saying in my original answer. Not that their age excuses either of them. Both of them make decisions that make sense for their age. EJ's actions are just not on the same level as Ricky's.

I went back and rewatched the s2 r*na scenes in question. the two times gina offers him advice are because she's sort of stumbled into these situations and those in no way invite him to ask her for advice later. also, it's the way he treats her throughout the season while disregarding what he knows about how she feels and how it builds up for gina that's uncomfortable to watch. i understand ricky may have just wanted to ignore the situation because he was going through a lot but he still had to know he was hurting her. and it's that scene in the 5th episode that really gets me. like why is he going to her knowing how she feels? why does he say, "if we were dating," and put her into that scenario, when he knows how she feels?? she was only trying to be nice the other times she offered him advice and he takes it a step too far and that's what bothers me. that we don't see an apology for that. i don't think ricky is the scum of the earth or that he committed this awful crime or anything like that. some people hate him for this and i don't. i still love him a lot. i just think this is part of a pattern we see with ricky not really being a great person for Gina. Like gina was clearly struggling all those other times she saw him yet she had to be the one being there for him and his struggles and his relationship issues. he still hasn't done that much for her in return.

Also, okay, so I guess I shouldn't have said a whole season because apparently Ricky making Gina feel like crap for half a season is better? Again, still worse than a one-night case of miscommunication. In my mind, it felt like the whole season because I remember Gina being upset about/uncomfortable about it for a while.

I understand Ricky was going through a lot and I don't think he realised how much he was hurting Gina, which is why I don't hate him, and I do think him being a teenager with a lot on his plate factors into his decisions and should give him some grace (again it doesn't excuse his actions but make them more understandable). Doesn't change the fact that he knew how Gina felt, he knew she cared about him so much that she was crying last season (yes part of that had to do with leaving but it also had to do with leaving him specifically), and he still disregarded her feelings versus EJ's decision was fueled by taking what he was told were her feelings by into account

So no, I don't think we should be holding these things against ricky. it's just that he doesn't have a pattern of treating gina well and on top of that hasn't apologised and also hasn't done that much to be the one pursuing her. that's my problem.

[booasaur]

why are you done with lovecraft country? too gore? ;/

Well, kinda, and some other things. Maybe the ask right after yours might help.

And another anon:

Lovecraft country really made Tic a whole ass war criminal. Executed a woman in cold blood. Had a gun to Ji-ah’s face and didn’t even remember it when he saw her days later. Tortured and killed her best friend. I hate this. The first three eps were So good then it all went to hell. They’re doing the same harmful tropes to indigenous and Asian characters that white narratives do. Think I’m done watching tbh.

I was saving this to try to arrange my thoughts but I should probably answer it before I forget them entirely. 

I can’t disagree, all that was there and disappointing, in addition to the handling of queerness and WOC three eps in a row, but to me that all’s a symptom of why I don’t want to watch: it’s far more about themes and messages and the plot for that particular ep than it is about the characters organically playing out a story. And that’s just not for me. In the first three eps I thought I could tolerate the distance but apparently it also means this real disregard for the characters. 

It wasn’t even this ep after which I thought that, it might have been 4 or 5, I remember being kind of puzzled and telling my friend, we know less and less about these characters, this far more a characters serving the plot than the plot serving the characters kind of show. But I still watched. And the gore and body horror was a LOT but I still watched after 5. But then 6 gave me the same unpleasant feeling I got watching The Terror s2, where it’s like, we’re already in a damn war, and only now focus on these people already suffering so much, this is the only context you wanna tell this story in? I ended up pausing the ep and looking up comments to see what happened and was like, I don’t even know why I’m watching this. I don’t know or really like these characters, however much I like the actors. I hear the next ep is big for Aunjanue Ellis so I might come back for it, and to see the aftermath of the William/Christina reveal, if we get one.

[inmyarmswrappedin]

Narrative framing, Subtext and Audience Expectations

In the past week, I’ve come across a fair amount of discourse about wtFOCK, Robbe and Noor. There are some who think that Robbe is attracted to Noor and could be bisexual. Others are very resolute in their position that, because Isak used Emma and didn’t care for her as a person otherwise, wtFOCK would be missing the point if Robbe felt any sort of kinship towards Noor.

Here’s what I think: wtFOCK is not telling a story in which a male character, who has a same gender relationship in all other versions of his season, finds love with a female character. But that doesn’t mean people who think wtFOCK is doing that are dumb or wrong, because wtFOCK introduced Noor very much like shows introduce love interests.

In Skam, Isak is hanging out with his squad at a party. The boys want to know who Isak has his eyes on. After a bit of prodding, Isak describes a beautiful girl they all have noticed before, one that his friends think is out of his league. Surprisingly, that very same girl walks into the bathroom. What’s Isak to do, when he just said that’s the girl he likes? He deliberately negs her. Emma is confused because Isak keeps insulting and then complimenting her. That piques her interest, and the boys take that as their cue to leave. Isak watches the boys leave with some trepidation. When Emma twice attempts to give him a blowjob, Isak twice shakes her off. Emma leaves the bathroom and the audience sees Isak slump against the wall. The night ends when the cops break the party, and Isak is rescued by Jonas.

Nothing about the way Skam narratively frames Emma makes Emma seem cool, exciting or even a reprieve in Isak’s life.

In wtFOCK, Robbe is hanging out with his squad at a party. The boys want to know who Robbe has his eyes on. Robbe demurs. He doesn’t have a type. He doesn’t have a top five. And then Noor walks in. Suddenly, as Noor is peeing, Robbe starts very specifically describing her. Dark hair, bangs, tattoos, her red dress, her small boobs. He’s challenging her, and Noor challenges him right back. She kisses Robbe… And leaves with Robbe’s joint. The next time we see them, they are making out. Since Noor left, Robbe was the one to seek her out again. The cops arrive to break the party. Robbe leans his head against Noor’s in dismay at said cops.

Aaron dumps his weed on Robbe, and Robbe protests. But then Noor takes charge of the situation. She tells Robbe where to go, not to think, and promises to see him outside. It’s not Robbe’s best friend Jens who rescues Robbe, nor does the night end there.

Robbe is having a great time. Much like Isak did with his good friend Jonas, he records his great escape with his cellphone. The guy who was clearly uncomfortable being questioned by his friends (about girls, to be clear) is now having fun and smiling.

Noor has a motorbike and a Fuck Trump helmet. She has tattoos and a piercing. She disregards traffic laws. She takes Robbe to a mysterious location, where masks and a special knock are required to be allowed entry. She still has control over the situation, as she tells Robbe to calm down. A bunch of teens are spray painting a garbage truck. Robbe has never done something like this before, but he smiles while being handed a can and a kiss, and there we go! Robbe has now participated in the defiling of the garbage truck.

Viewers are not being misled by their personal romantic and sexual interest in girls. This Is how wtFOCK frames Noor:

She is cool. She has a motorbike and a Fuck Trump helmet. She easily takes control when Robbe is afraid or nervous.

She is exciting. She steals Robbe’s joint and leaves the bathroom. She has access to secret activities taking place in the city.

She is a reprieve in Robbe’s life. She not only rescues Robbe, but Robbe is presented as having fun with her because he actually records their escape out of his own volition.

These are all the ways in which a piece of media would choose to introduce a love interest. Not the interloper and not a platonic friend. A character who comes into the character’s life like a hurricane, and immediately rescues him from the cops and his own misery, only to invite him to a secret place, so he can do something cool for the first time, is a classic romance trope.

Now, to berate a viewer who has grown up with the same kind of romance tropes as everyone else has, for correctly interpreting Noor’s narrative framing as romantic, and even worse, to suggest that they aren’t repelled by Noor because the viewers are themselves wlw who can’t help but be attracted to a character whose original version wasn’t attractive to Isak in a romantic, sexual or platonic sense, is headassery, and low key homophobic in the latter case, tbh.

If anyone is to be blamed for that reaction, it’s wtFOCK’s team for either:

Misleading viewers by introducing Noor with the classic makings of a love interest for the purpose of straight baiting viewers (which would be hilarious);

Misleading viewers by introducing Noor with the classic making of a love interest for a purpose that will become clearer at a later point.

Either way, I believe that wtFOCK has been messy for introducing Noor in this manner. Neither Skam nor the remakes introduced Emma or her expy in this manner, because this is not Isak and Emma (or their expies’) love story. It is Isak and Even’s (and their corresponding expies). It’s messy to mislead the audience, but the audience didn’t choose to headcanon Noor as cool, exciting and a source of fun for Robbe; in short, they didn’t choose to see Noor as likable. wtFOCK gave Noor those traits.

However, wtFOCK could’ve chosen to subvert Noor’s introduction through the use of subtext. For instance, Emma Covitti in SKAM Italia seemed like a perfectly cool chick initially. However, through the use of subtext, Martino is shown not to be comfortable around her or making out with her. Martino is, however, relatively comfortable with his friends, as long as the subject of girls or homosexuality doesn’t come up.

This is not so with Robbe. Robbe is shown to be plenty comfortable around Noor and making out with Noor in the first three clips. He is definitely more comfortable with Noor than with his own friends. When wtFOCK starts introducing the idea that Robbe might not be as comfortable around Noor (such as in ep 1 clip 5), there’s nothing to suggest that Robbe’s discomfort with Noor is different from the discomfort he shows around his own best friends, who Robbe often tells off and asks to leave him alone. The only reason it is unexpected is because Noor was, again, a reprieve in ep 1 clips 1-3. If anything, it makes sense that Robbe isn’t immediately comfortable opening up to Noor about his family issues, since they barely know each other.

(Note: As I’m writing this, wtFOCK is finally weaving in the idea that Robbe is not actually attracted to Noor sexually or romantically. However, it needs to be asked, shouldn’t Robbe be past this point? Isak attempted to fake a relationship with Sara. Once he realizes he can’t keep up the charade long term, he settles for picking up girls and hooking up with them. He doesn’t intend on faking another relationship with Emma. In fact, he doesn’t acknowledge her texts and tries to turn her down when she invites him to hang out. The only reason Isak is supposed to meet Emma in Mekke Øl is because Mahdi has pressured Isak into agreeing.

Compare with Matteo, a remake Isak, who attempts to have a relationship with his Emma, Sara Adamczyk. This is Matteo’s first attempt at a heterosexual relationship, and it happens in s3, not s2. Sara is Matteo’s age, and has known Matteo for a long time before they start dating. Matteo does his best to redirect her attempts at physical intimacy towards companionship, whether by watching a movie, talking about Sara’s problems or, when he runs out of options, literally fleeing her room. We know Matteo isn’t interested in Sara as a girlfriend, and barely even as a friend, because whenever Sara texts him, Matteo seems at a loss as to how to answer her in a way that doesn’t lead to further flirtation, or outright fails to text back.

Robbe already attempted to fake a heterosexual relationship in s2, with Maud. Shouldn’t Robbe know by now to either not attempt to fake a relationship long term, or, failing that, to fend Noor’s advances more successfully? Shouldn’t we as viewers have more of an insight into how Robbe feels about this relationship? Yes, we have seen that Noor tried to have sex with him in ep 1 clip 11, and Robbe was visibly uncomfortable with that. Yes, Robbe does not want to have sex with Noor, and, given the option, he would probably prefer not to make out with her either—although, once again, he looks far more comfortable making out with Noor than Isak or other remake Isaks did with their respective Emmas. But there are other other ways to show discomfort with the proceedings. We could see Robbe being disinclined to invite Noor to his housewarming party, and being pressured to do so. We could see Robbe being disinclined to meet Noor when she’s done with her shift. We are not shown these scenes. Instead, we see Robbe and Noor making out in semi-private settings, again and again. It would be a good idea to show how Robbe gets stuck in these situations when his relationship with Maud should’ve helped him come up with some strategies to avoid them. In the end, these scenes are repetitive and say nothing about Robbe or Noor as characters, whereas showing Robbe in a variety of situations in which a person with a relationship might find themselves in, would add nuance to the character.)

As I mentioned earlier, while some people feel that Robbe could be attracted to Noor based on what wtFOCK released earlier last week, other people feel wtFOCK (and other remakes) miss the point by making Robbe feel anything other than total disinterest in Noor. And this is the part where wtFOCK being a remake of Skam, and particularly a season as well-loved as Isak’s, really comes into play. There’s plenty of discourse on whether the remakes should attempt to fix whatever viewers felt was wrong with Skam, whether the remakes should copy the original storyline word for word or beat for beat, whether introducing changes to the storyline means the remake teams are implicitly agreeing with the fandom that the original needed to be fixed on those specific aspects, and more.

In this specific case, I will talk about Matteo and Sara, and Robbe and Noor. Neither Martino, nor Lucas Lallemant, nor Cris Soto felt much of anything for Emma Covitti, Chloé or Rubén, respectively. When “remakes” are accused of trying to “fix” the Isak/Emma relationship, the remakes alluded to are Druck and now wtFOCK. I don’t believe either Druck nor wtFOCK were trying to fix the Isak/Emma relationship.

In the case of Druck, it was more convenient for the story they were trying to tell that Sara took on Emma’s role. First off, it’s much easier on a production to use actors who already know how the production works. Second, Matteo’s longing for companionship and general passivity led him into am unwanted relationship with Sara. Third, Sara is narratively useful because of the Leonie/David storyline (Sara’s social media and dialogue give the viewers insight into how it’s developing) and also because of the Sara/Leonie friendship (since Sara and Leonie are friends, Sara can invite Leonie to Abdi’s birthday party, and she, in turn, can invite David). By the end of the season, it’s fair to say Matteo and Sara are not friends, and their connection is through David, rather than to each other.

When it comes to wtFOCK, their goal is less clear, though I would still argue their intention is not to “fix” the original. As I’ve mentioned before, regardless of their intentions when it comes to framing Noor as a love interest, it’s messy and narratively misleading, because Noor is not the love interest. wtFOCK, also, has a bad habit of ramping up certain aspects of the original, seemingly without realizing that this creates expectations in the viewer.

For instance, wtFOCK chose to make a season-long joke of Milan having an interest in Robbe, with Zoë pointing out that Robbe is a minor and Milan making light of it. In the season finale, Milan goes to grab Robbe’s chin, which led viewers to believe he was going to kiss Robbe. Viewers expect the Eskild expy to behave a certain way, and when Milan failed to do so, other expectations were created. Namely, that Milan should apologize before a mentor relationship moved forward. Instead, it appears as if the wtFOCK team did not intend to portray Milan as predatory, as he laughs off (with some self-deprecation?) the idea that he would ever kiss Robbe.

Another instance is the wtFOCK girl squad. In the original, Eva and Noora gossip about Isak’s sexuality among themselves and to Eskild. At one point, Eva gets so drunk she can barely stand straight, and tries to kiss Isak, who pushes her off. At another point, and under the suspicion that Penetrator Chris is sexually involved with Isak, Eva decides to try and hook up with Penetrator Chris to resolve this mystery (since, in Eva’s mind, people are only straight or gay). In wtFOCK, this interaction is ramped up. Jana and Zoë tell the entire girl squad about Robbe’s possible homosexuality, and Jana resolves to sleep with Robbe to find out the answer. Jana, while sober, approaches Robbe and tries to kiss him. When he gets startled, Jana and the girls laugh at him. For her part, Zoë has an exchange with Senne in which she says that it’s weird that Robbe might be gay. Again, since these changes make Robbe a laughing stock for the girl squad, viewers expect the outcome of the storyline to be different. As of ep 2 clip 2, it looks as if all those scenes simply existed to remind the viewer that Robbe is gay, and Jana, Zoë and Luca’s obsession with Robbe’s sexuality in s2 will not be acknowledged again.

Viewers expected there to be differences in the Milan and Robbe mentor relationship, as well as for the girls to be held accountable for their actions in s2, because wtFOCK created these expectations in the viewers by introducing changes in the interactions between all these characters. For now, it appears as though there will be no changes in the Milan and Robbe relationship, nor the relationship between Robbe and Jana, Zoë or Luca. Therefore, I don’t think the wtFOCK team thought the Isak/Emma relationship needed to be “fixed,” either. While Noor has indeed been given the narrative framing of a love interest, past evidence (at least when it comes to the Robbe storyline) doesn’t point towards an interest in “fixing” Skam, but rather, an interest in raising the stakes. Perhaps in an effort to show how much harder gay teens have it (it is crucial that straight viewers don’t forget that to be gay is to live in relentless misery!). Perhaps because that is simply the way of teen shows.      

[hachibe]

thoughts on The Legend Of Korra season 3:

for the amount of ranting in this you wouldn’t believe this to be my favourite season ^.^

- oh look! it’s almost as if Korra decided to keep the portals open without thinking of the consequences.

- i’m gonna be upfront and say that i hate that 1) people now just can airbend 2) Bumi can airbend. about #1 i think is kind of stupid, there was no need for more people to be able to airbend (if you disregard Zaheer). and i have this whole rant about the air nomads being reduced to airBENDERS in tlok. and i’ll rant about it when the time comes. what really bothers me is #2. because the whole essence of Bumi’s story is that he thinks he is not good enough because he can’t bend, because he is a regular guy, so instead of giving him a story where he learns his value they decided to just give him bending! like, srly!!!? because people only have value if they can bend? and it’s almost like, did s1 even happened? yes, Amon was a hypocrite but the issue with the non benders were/is still real. but the narrative refuses to acknowledge this! they are all like “what, no! i don’t know her” to this whole issue.

- and i still don’t understand how the spirits prowling the world should fit (or not) with this modern world. that’s a freaking awesome story right there to be tell but the narrative just refuses to deal with it because look! there’s airbenders now so let’s focus all the season on that. and like we did with s1 let’s forget that whatever happened that season had any consequences whatsoever! Korra was just like “fuck this, let’s search more airbenders because fuck this city, who cares anyway?”

- (me from the future: yes, i agree that tlok did a disservice to the portrayal of spirits that we had in atla. instead of unknowable creatures beyond our comprehension we got fluffy cute little creatures who could be good or evil. in a very black and white christian reductionist take. and i should have talked about this in the s2 notes. BUT the spirits are still here, this is something that is happening in the time of s3 but the narrative refuses to deal with it. it shows the audience that the spirits are there, they did caused some disturbance, there are vines in the city and people’s lives are getting disturbed by it. but this is the maximum of what we get from this. (i haven’t started s4 yet, i think there is some talk about it there, i’ll revisit the subject if it’s necessary.) and not once the narrative spends time exploring the implications of living in this modern world, that is constantly changing, that sees technologies and innovations as monoliths of good. we don’t get to see the spirits having to deal with this world. nor the humans having to deal with the spirits and reconciling it with their new modern life. and we never see the consequences in the lives of these people, or of this nation as a whole; or the contrast of the life in this nation as opposed to the other ones. and atla did such an amazing job of showing the world entrenched in colonialism and it’s consequences, not only to one nation but every nation. we saw what colonialism did to the southern water tribe, but we also saw what it did the fire nation. but tlok just drops a bunch of ideas and story lines and then just go focus on other things)

- should i talk about Zaheer? I love Zaheer. s3 is my favourite one because of him. I know, i just spend 2 paragraphs complaining about it. But i think Zaheer is fascinating. To me, with all the writings shortcomings he is still the best villain tlok had. his potential, ma man? i live for that. 

- i want Mako’s job btw, i want to just call my boss and say “hey, so, i’m gonna go on a trip with ma friends, idk when i’ll be back, see ya. don’t forget to mail me the paychecks!!!” ALSO, Mako is such a COP™! Let’s threaten this 13 yo orphan kid that had to rely on a life of petty crime in order to survive. it’s not like Mako himself isn’t an orphan and hadn’t gone through basically the same thing.

- the writers might not have given the red lotus a deep and meaningful story  and a rewarding narrative arch but they look COOL AS FUCK! SRLY, all 4 of them are the coolest looking characters in this whole series.

- the kid runs away in BA SING fucking SE and they send 2 people to look for him. yes!, i’m wasting a comment on this.

- (i saw someone implying that Mako and Bolin’s grandma is that girl Zuko went on a date once. do we know that for sure? note to self: remember to check that later)

- ok, so before we meet Suyin i think i need to talk about why i don’t like this “you’re an airbender, you’re an airbender, everybody is an airbender now” story line. the only real reason for it that i see is that the narrative needs Zaheer to be a airbender. and i get it, they really need it. i guess you can’t explain why only one guy can now suddenly airbend, so a bunch of other people now can too. so i think my issue is not that opening the portals brought back airbending to the world. is more on the fact that so far the narrative acts like airbending is the essence of being an air nomad. Tenzin has lived his whole life with this HUGE burden, trying to hold the single torch of an entire culture, god knows if he only ditched Lin to be with Pema because Pema could get him kids so he had a chance of passing his blood and bending skills to a next generation.  but this is kind of stupid, man! Tenzin is the only of Aang’s kids who can airbend but Kya and Bumi still carry airbending (and air nomads) genes! Idk how genetics in the avatar world works but i think is not that different from our world. Kya and Bumi’s kids could still be air benders. Kya and Bumi are still half air nomads, in the same way that Tenzin is half air nomad. and in tlok is like the whole air nomad culture is reduced to air bending.

- like, take the water tribes for example. Sokka didn’t bend, his parents and the rest of his family aside from Katara didn’t bend. that didn’t make them less water tribe. being a water tribe was not only about water bending. Toph’s parents couldn’t earthbend either, that didn’t made them less influential citizens of the earth kingdom. Mai’s parents all normal people, still powerful fire nation politicians. each nation had their own culture and that wasn’t reduced to their specific bending. so why it is not the same with the air nomads?

- Aang had being collecting “fans” since one of the first comics (i don’t remember which one). actually, i might say he’s being collecting those fans (that later became the air acolytes) since Kyoshi’s Island episode back in atla s1. and we see in the comics how he had being teaching them the air nomads philosophies and life style. and i understand that bending is important and that air bending is in a brink of extinction but i don’t understand how all these other people (the air acolytes) can’t be considered air nomads. let’s say, i move to australia, learn the local language, eat the local food, have kids and raise them in australia, we all have the same costumes as any other australians, why can’t i be consider australian as well?

- and sure, they are not the “real” air nomads, but i wouldn’t be picky if you are all facing extinction. and to be honest Tenzin is not “real” air nomad either because he is MIXED! he is still half water tribe, he didn’t born out of Aang’s forehead! Tenzin’s kids? All not “real” air nomads either, if we are going to ignore Tenzin if half air nomad, we still need to assume Pema is earth kingdom (or is she fire nation? since her eyes are golden. her eyes are golden, right?) And not only Aang could have had his two other kids be good leaders for the air nomads, could have taught them their history, life style, culture. instead of leaving all the burden on Tenzin’s shoulder. why couldn’t Aang have choose good leaders from the air acolytes? instead all we get from them is stupid servants. Pema included. i refuse to believe that anyone who was ever interested in air nomad culture and seeked Air Temple Island (and whatever other places) were all simpletons who never had any critical thoughts on their heads. they were all taught in air nomad culture and history (we see one of them answering all of Tenzin’s questions) but they are treated as servants. as a matter of fact we see Tenzin treat them as inferiors. and i guess this is the whole non benders issue from s1 back again. 

- (me from the future here: i just watched a video essay on youtube about genetics and bending in the avatar world and they said that is mentioned that all air nomads were air benders, the reason being that they were all more connected to their spiritual side. and OKAY, but i still think that most of my points still stand. if you are breeding sky bisons for a while now and you have a bunch of people willing to connect to their spiritual side and follow air nomad culture and life style, why can’t you have them learn air bending from the original air benders, the sky bisons, again? why did it have to be given for free like that? it’s so reducing! and poor! and if you wanted Zaheer to be able to air bend have him learn from the sky bisons! have him be an air acolyte who took the teachings of a air bender Guru to an extreme)

- idk what to say man. I will admit that all this don't piss me off as much as Suyin's story line, that’s for sure.

- so let's focus on Zaheer pretending to be an innocent new airbender seeking knowledge. He is a natural! And why it is that? Because that's a guy who is interested, who learned, who likes and admires and tries to live by air nomad philosophy. a lot of people critique this season because they thought it was stupid to have this guy who never bended before be so good ans skilled in airbending. and okay sure, but it always made so much sense to me because he is a guy who admires the life and teachings of the air nomads. that’s a guy who studied, and not just studied but lives his life according to those teachings. and that makes him a beautiful foil to Tenzin, who is this nerd bookish man, who is a scholar, who knows the teachings but don’t really live by them. ii don’t want to minimize Tenzin or call him a bad air bender (or air nomad. at this point what’s the difference?). but i love to see this contrast of this guy who struggles every step of the way and this other guy, who is a natural but will never be consider a master. their fight gives me the chills.

- I can't even talk about this because Suyin is getting in the way and this whole story just makes me. 

- i don’t resent her existence. in my head she is Sokka’s child, no one can convince me otherwise. but the way they wrote her is just awful. 

- did she just said that the idea of having an Earth Queen is outdated? While she rules a city of her own? AS THEIR QUEEN? and she's harbouring Varrick! "Sure he made a few mistakes in the past but that doesn't mean he should pay for it the rest of his life" sure let's not address the fact that he is only in her house doing business with her because he has business to do (if Varrick was a poor fellow who committed a crime and escaped prison he for sure wouldn’t have the same treatment. and i’m flabbergasted that Lin didn’t arrested him right there). Let's bring in the maglev and forgive the crimes he committed and lives that were lost because of him. Capitalism don't exist in the world of Avatar. Who da fack wrote this? (Oh this particular episode was Michael Dante DiMartino, so there's that)

- i’m not even gonna talk about the disrespect that this whole story does to Lin. This woman don't deserve this . FOR REAL!

- look, I get it, I agree people shouldn't be paying for mistakes or crimes they committed and have being repenting for 30 years. But the thing is, instead of apologising to Lin for what she did she just says "oh you should get over yourself, it's been 30 years, that's why you're an old bitter lady, no wonder Tenzin broke up with you!" and everyone treats Lin like she’s in the wrong. BITCH WTF!!!!????? (Suyin later apologises but not for the right things, she says “sorry i gave you grief when we were young” and honey, that’s not it!)

- and then Lin is like "cured" having kale juice and wearing those silly Zaofu clothes. Honestly! WHO DA FACK WROTE THIS?

- the fight scenes are all bloody impressive tho. the red lotus knows how to work together and they are all amazing.

- and P'Li? I would die for that woman.

- Ming-hua and Ghazan naming the constellations and coming up with stories about the guards ❤️ Also, 2 out of 3! so which one we think is the wrong one? Of course the unspoken attraction between the two is true. So that leaves us with ‘raised by sister’ and ‘had moustache by age of 10′. Place your bets fellas!

- that thing with the Earth Queen? That thing shook people. We were shooked™️ with the s1 finale and we were unearthed when she died. I still can't hardly believe.

- wait a minute, are you telling me that Tonraq, Korra's father, fought together with Zuko and Sokka and managed to imprison all 4 members of the red lotus but never learned what they were called? You are telling me that Guru Laghima fanboy Zaheer that can't shut up about it never dropped his spiel about caos is the natural order of the world? He never mentioned to every single guard who went to feed him that they are called the red lotus? And that this never reached the ears of Tonraq?

- fuck Zaheer but I'm different

- I find it very homophobic that even uncle Iroh we get to see several times, but Sokka only once in a flashback :(

- this fight with the cloudbabies and the red lotus? I get chills every single time. And Tenzin never stopping? Never giving up? 😭

- let go of your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind.

- did you think that the Earth Queen's death was horrible? I present to you P'Li’s.

- i do love the fight scene at the end. i love and it breaks my heart that Korra fights every single second of it, with the poison and with Zaheer. and in the end she remains broken. 

- i love the moment when Tenzin decides that the new air nomads will be roaming the earth trying to bring balance. even if we can later debate the morality of it, i love that he takes this decision out of his own desire to help. he finds a meaning for his people based on the needs of the world right now and not trough a guideline he learned from his father. i really love Tenzin in that moment, and Jinora’s ceremony may or may not have brought tears to my eyes.

- overall i do love this season, mostly because of Zaheer and the red lotus. the writers made a huge mistake in making Zaheer and his philosophy so hypocritical. the same happened with Amon. in order to make them the villains the writers wrote them so hypocritical that it invalidates what they were fighting for. the non benders and benders issue is still big and present, the story just refuses to talk about it. the tirany and the corruption of the systems of government are still very real and still very there in Korra’s world, but the narrative don’t discuss it, or when it does it gives the most bland simplistic take. I do love Zaheer tho, as a character, and what he represents to air nomads and air benders culture, and the role he plays in Tenzin’s arch (even if it’s in a more covert way). i also think that by the standdars of his philosophy he was justified in trying to it makes sense for him to try and kill Korra, she is somehow a world leader and afterall an authority figure. i do resent that the writers made him a bad anarchist. for all the talk he had of freeing the earth kingdom people of their tiranic ruler he did fail in giving the people the means of taking over the government. you don’t simply dismantle a system by killing a monarch. that is a very simplistic view of anarchism and social revolutions for that matter.

- (little note in the finale, that i just realised now: wasn’t the poison made of platinum or something? a metal metalbenders can’t bend? how come Suyin can just bend it out of Korra’s body? is this going on the list of countless things Suyin can do because she is PeRfEcT ? also, the guy putting the poison in Korra’s body, wasn’t him bending the poison? is he just a nameless dude who miraculously can bend a metal no one else can? or is he a waterbender and was only able to bend the poison on Korra’s body because it’s a liquid? if so, why was it Suyin the one to take the poison out and not Kya, a waterbender AND someone versed in healing bending? make it make sense tlok!!!)

[kiss-my-freckle]

Tom Dominoes.

My 7x15 rewatch post. Forewarning, this is a lengthy post. 

Second memory manipulation, Keenler, and Keenler baby. 

"A ghost. Life’s full of ’em." 

Disappearing before Red's eyes.

"I learned that from you, how to prey on the emotions of those that love you most."

"You’re just like your husband. You’re exactly like him. Like all the sick, psychopathic animals we lock up."

They just ran full parallel right through Ilya for Liz's second memory manipulation. Extraction to flashback, extraction to flashback.

Red: All you need to do is take care of yourself. And stay safe.

Red: I have an appointment. This is a war that must be fought on many fronts. You have yours. I have mine. Be safe.

Cooper: Listen to me. I know we've looked the other way or even helped blur the lines from time to time in the interest of justice. But going after a legal shipment because you personally believe it deserves to be stopped is over the line, and I won't allow it. Red: Well, how are you going to do that? By sending me to my room without supper?

Bounce back to The Deer Hunter, pulling in Tom's murder of the harbormaster and falls in parallel with Alina Park's 7x14 Anchorage storyline. Mentioning this due to my opening lines of dialogue regarding Liz. 

Liz: Are you scolding me? Red: Yes. Yes, I’m scolding you. That was foolish, Lizzy. You could have been - Liz: Killed. Red: Exactly that. Killed. Liz: What are you gonna do? Ground me? Take away my phone privileges?

Cooper: By stopping you. Red: Touché.

Bounce back to Liz in 1x19.

Liz: Finding you, stopping you. You’d think I’d be happy you’re gonna spend the rest of your life in prison. You’d think I’d get some satisfaction out of that, but I don’t.

Red kicks on his record player, which taps us back to S6 with Red's record player, and S5 - S6 with Tom's record player. I'm talking about Fowler's murder and my Tom domino for that. I believe Red framed Tom for her murder at the time in which he murdered her as a result of the Fokin frame. Soundtrack, "Who We Are" by Welshly Arms. Red's murder of Kemp plays out a bit like Fowler's. I may have to compare those scenes at some point. 

"Ever since that woman broke into our apartment and dragged him off and tried to access his memories... I mean, whatever they did to his..." - Linda

Blue Malibu to Blue Mustang.

Ilya: The blue car is back.

Ilya: The blue car. It was back. It was right there.

Dembe: Is he having another episode? Red: Yes. Blue Chevy again.

Ilya: I know what I saw ... Raymond. She's watching.

Tom and his blue Ford Mustang and that deer blood on the windshield comment in 2x22 for Liz's second memory manipulation. Ilya suffering flashbacks while suffering the blue Chevy Malibu. The blue Chevy, the blue Chevy. Yeah... that second memory manipulation is coming. 

Doesn't matter Liz's position with Ressler, I suspect she'll have flashbacks that coincide with the 2x22 fake boat sex with Tom, and they should parallel Ilya's flashes in these scenes. Taking note, he flashes to the Belgrade explosion in this scene. This should parallel the Orea bombing because I believe Keenler had sex that night rather than the night of her birthday dinner.

More for Liz’s memory manipulation.

Ilya: Dembe. I know what I saw, Dembe. Wife: You're tired. You should lie down.

Liz waking on Tom’s boat. She "saw" what Tom wanted her to "see" just like Rostov saw what Katarina wanted him to see. Illusions tricking the senses. Dr. Krilov back to Stenhil.

lya: You know I'm not making this up. I know what I saw.

Ressler: Everyone seeing what I'm seeing?

Liz: I've got eyes on Carly.

Liz: She's a wreck. He'd have to be blind not to see it.

Red: I’m not sure I’d associate a high-security containment cell with my girlfriend, but I guess love is blind.

Red: The idea that a whole world that I couldn't see had suddenly revealed itself and been brought into focus... felt like a miracle. Cassandra: Because it was, given how often we miss what's right in front of us. Red: What I see right in front of me is someone I misjudged.

Who's in front of Liz in 6x22? Ressler in the box. Romeo & Juliet.

Cooper: The hell with the heat. I'm asking if you think Kemp is guilty Ressler: Yeah. Cooper: Then take him. But do it quietly.

Bounce back to Liz on the run in S3. Ressler let her go.

Laurel: Do you believe she’s innocent? Ressler: My job isn’t to determine her guilt or innocence. Laurel: You didn’t answer my question. Ressler: My job is to apprehend Ms. Keen, and I have no problem doing that. Laurel: I am not asking about your job. I’m asking what you believe. Ressler: Elizabeth Keen is not a terrorist. Laurel: So you believe she’s innocent? Ressler: Yes, I do. And I believe that if she is given a fair trial by a jury of her peers, there aren’t 12 people in America who wouldn’t agree with me.

Cooper: We're done here. Mr. Kemp's attorney just secured a hearing on his arrest. Kemp: Is this a great country, or what?

Sounds like Solomon in S3.

Ressler: You know of the damage you’ve done? That your organization has done to this country, to my friends? Solomon: I don’t care about your friends, and I hate this country. Well, “Hate’s” a strong word. I like the part where I make bail and catch the next plane to France.

Linda: Things in our life were normal and quiet and ordinary before you came back. And I know the two of you share a past I can't even begin to imagine, but Frank and I had a life too. Together. Our life was good. It's his life with you that's troubled. Ilya: Is it fair to blame Raymond? Red: Listen to your wife.

Linda’s dialogue fits several of Liz’s throughout the series. Like these two.

“I had it all figured out. I was gonna have a baby. And a husband. And then he showed up.”

"I had a very simple life. A husband I loved, a dog. It was my first day on the job. And suddenly, I was flying over restricted airspace."

When Linda speaks of their history, it reminds me of the many dialogues where everyone talks about Red and Liz and their connection because they have a shared history.

Connolly: All this talk about some personal connection between Reddington and Keen, why he chose her, some shared history - what if Reddington doesn’t care about Agent Keen and it’s all been a manipulation?

If they don't hide well enough, if they remain unsafe like Liz did in S2, this could become a problem later in the season or series.

Linda: You're sick, Frank. Something is wrong. And we need to get you help. Red: She's right. You need help. There are people I know who... Linda: Raymond. You don't understand. We need to do this on our own.

Bounce back to Liz in 2x22.

Red: Andropov - do you have a lead? Liz: I do, and I’ll handle it on my own because that’s what I’m capable of.

I keep thinking about Naomi Hyland.

Dembe: There's someone in the driver's seat. Red: You know what the hell this means.

Back to 7x2, and I will be putting this to gif.

Liz: My question is, what the hell happened? Red: You did. You and Agent Ressler.

Keen2 in S2.

Cooper: You've seen the video. Carly Ambers is 24. A pawn being used by her boyfriend - a two time felon. She was visibly nervous. She was paying in cash, a classic indiction of an illigitimate purchase.

Liz being an unwed mother.

Liz: I was nobody to him. The illegitimate daughter of a childhood friend.

Woman: His arrest is all over the press. This is outrageous.

Man: What's outrageous, is Mr. Kemp's disregard for reality. Your honor, you know what happened here. Carly Ambers didn't wake up one morning and suddenly decide to collect 60 identical guns over the span of four months. That is unreasonable to believe.

They are all over this memory wipe of Liz's. Like Liz waking up one morning and deciding to shoot the AG. "You've seen the video. Carly Ambers is 24. A pawn being used by her boyfriend - a two time felon. She was visibly nervous. She was paying in cash, a classic indication of an illigitimate purchase." Again with illigitimate. Liz, Tom's pawn so he could help get a bullet in Red's chest just like that cashier. Illigitimate purchase, meet illigitimate child...Agnes. "Who's the father?" This run of dialogue falls in with The Corsican in S6, and you can throwback to Glen last week with his Eye of the Tiger mantra.

Red: Do you like magic? I love magic. Card tricks, coin tricks, close-up magic. Even those guys with the tigers. I heard they trained their cubs by masturbating them. Is that even conceivable? I’m sure it’s just a vicious rumor. But talk about a commitment to one’s craft. A tiger? Quite a handful. Moreau: What are you talking about? Red: You. You’re the tiger. A wild creature someone is trying to stroke. A magic trick is a con, and you’re the mark in the middle of a very complicated one. And the only reason I’m still alive is because you know it. You could have tracked me down anywhere. In a dark alley, in the bathtub. Instead, you came here, to a public place. Why? Because you know you’re being had.

Dembe's scene with Liz's PI parallels the homeless girl in S6, but it also parallels Tom and Liz in 1x22 when Red told her they can't leave him alive.

“You better not leave. I’ll kill you.”

Liz: You lied to me.

Sounds like Liz when she showed Red that DNA report in 4x22. A test taken by Cooper himself. Playing opposites now because Ressler will be the one with the DNA report this season to play opposite Tom.

Liz: When you told me I'd be carrying the guns. You knew you were sending them with Ressler. Cooper: Yes. Liz: That whole conversation was fake. Put on for my benefit, so that I'd think I had the guns. You don't trust me. Cooper: I'm sorry, you're actually angry at me? You betrayed us. You told Reddington which truck to hit. I was right not to trust you. You chose them over us, over your job. Over the law. Liz: Some laws deserve to be broken. Cooper: Not by you. Not while you're carrying a badge. Liz: You knew I would tell him. Cooper: I thought you might. And I couldn't take that chance. I'm angry at you, Elizabeth. And disappointed. But most of all, I'm worried. With Reddington, we blur the lines so often, it's sometimes hard to see, for all of us. What worries me, is that - at times, it can be especially hard for you. Liz: Because I have dark impulses. Cooper: Yeah. And today, you gave into them. Liz: So, what now? Cooper: I just delivered 6,000 guns to a man I believe have no moral compass. God knows how many people may die as a result. Today was a terrible day. Andi t might be more than I can handle if I thought you and I couldn't forgive each other.

This conversation also taps back to Liz's conversations with Dr. Fulton and Red's dialogue to Liz when she was searching for Tom's killer. Also to note, Cooper's plan played out like the conversation Red and Liz put on for Kirk's benefit back in S4. Because they're now playing who's the mommy instead of who's the daddy. Here are those dialogues.

Cooper: Wait a minute. You two have been working together on this? Liz: Yes. Our public disagreement was staged for Kirk’s benefit. Aram: You think he’s got a tap into the Post Office? Red: I know it. René Le Bron’s death was proof. Ressler: You sicced us on Le Bron as a test. You knew that if Kirk was listening and he heard that we were going after Le Bron, he’d try to get to him first. Red: We set the bait. He took it. Cooper: A human sacrifice. Red: I prefer the term “tethered goat.”

Tethered goat, meet the lamb they chose to take to slaughter - the woman from Paris.

Dr. Fulton: Anger is not an unhealthy emotion. It generates passion, risk, the desire to paint outside the lines. I’m drawn to that. And my guess is that you are too.

Liz: Unsolved cases. I fixate on them. How unfair they are. That people get away with murder. I-I know it sounds corny, but I, um - I obsess over the need for justice. Dr. Fulton: Even if it means painting outside the lines - or the law. Liz: Yes.

Dr. Fulton: In our sessions, you were everything I could’ve hoped for - comfortable with your darker impulses.

Red: I’ve cautioned you that in your pursuit of Tom’s killer, you need to restrain your darker impulses. Liz: Which I’ve done, mostly - more or less.

Liz: Cooper says we blur the line between right and wrong so often, we can't see it clearly anymore. I know, I can't. Red: I disagree. I find you increasingly clear-eyed. I'm sorry that the task force had to take sides today, but it meant a great deal to me to know you were on mine.

Red: Any news? Dembe: The woman in the blue Malibu. She's a private eye, Raymond. Hired to learn what she can about Ilya. It was Elizabeth. She hired her. She knows you're not Ilya, and she's been keeping it from you. Red: I understand. Liz: Is everything alright? Red: To being on the same side. (Red toasts) Liz: At long last.

"Same side" bounces back to Minister D and Ruin.

You pay no mind the truth If it ain't on your side Well who's on your side? Who is on your side now? While I lived the fall From your letting down Did you mine your ruin? You can't blame it all On the set of your ways You can raise your walls And protect what you've lain But you're cracking your roof

Red's "Any news?" goes back to S5, which also plays into S3 & S4.

Red: Tell me you have news. Dembe: I was able to trace the suitcase to a bus station in Columbia Heights. But it’s gone. No witnesses, no surveillance.

Tom: God, I missed you. I have some news. Liz: You’ve got news? I’ve got news. It’s about Reddington.

Ressler: We understand your reservations, but - the fact is, the last time we met, we were just doing our jobs. 

Back to Tom in 2x21 with this one.

Tom: Look, I know things are complicated. I know you’re going through a bad breakup. But from what I heard, the guy’s a total loser. Couldn’t cook, made crappy pancakes. So, I wanted to see if you would join me for dinner - tomorrow. Uh, I made a reservation at 7:00 at this great little place on the corner of 32nd and M.

Tom: I was doing my job.

Tom: I told you that I was in love with her because that is exactly what I am supposed to be. That - is my job.

Not only was Dr. Krilov and Tom reintroduced, but so was Brimley - the very person who handed us a double unicorn foreshadow in S6.

Brimley: You'd be surprised. The real breakthrough actually happened during Oregon Trail. And then, there was such a great feeling of comfort and familiarity with Chutes and Ladders. A real sense of nostalgia. Dembe: Did she tell you who hired her to watch Ilya? Brimley: Not yet. But I think you're gonna be very surprised with the level of detail we're going to get with Scrabble.

I suspect Liz will find Ressler “familiar” when the two share their scenes in her apartment in the Brothers episode, all pertaining to her second memory manipulation. 

Red's plan vs Cooper's. Red's looks a lot like Park's truck ride in Twamie's episode. Cooper's looks like Red's duck hunting plan when they faked Liz's death in S3 as well as Sutton Ross's with the vans when he took Red in 5x22.

Cooper: Thank you, Mr. Reddington. It's a pleasure doing business.

Family.Business.

Alter Ego marks.

Ressler: So this guy really is the luckiest half-wit in history. Samar: Or the biggest mark.

Liz: What’s the catch? Red: No catch. A bet. On yourself. A dance with Lady Luck.

This one bounces back to 2x21.

Tom: I just want to apologize because I should have done it a long time ago. Liz: What’s the catch? Tom: There’s no catch. It’s just a little hope. Liz: Hope? That what, we’ll just work through this screwed-up situation we’re in and go back to playing house?

"Three-card Monte" - "Find the Lady" - "Find the Queen"

Dembe: We'll have to guess and get lucky. Red: Lucky? There's no luck in Three-card Monte. It's a sucker's game. I play sucker's games, and I don't like to guess.

Three cards - three identical vans

The Ressler - Liz - Tom love triangle.

“I assume Tom is the father.”

A confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money, on the "assumption" that they can find the "money card" among three face-down playing cards.

Eye on the lotto sign while Red talks to Glen on the phone. Not just any lotto. West Virginia. Pete and Lena from S5. Virgina is for lovers tshirt. Dumb luck of a gambler. Lady Luck. This taps back to Glen, blowing up balloons and betting on red in 7x8. King and Queen cards in the background during that scene. 

"Find the Queen"

Glen: Save it, Chief. Another time. If I can get to the Eagles Club now, I can still make it in time for a little roulette and a cup of Trudy’s raspberry sherbet party punch. Wish me luck. Red: Roulette - that’s your game? Glen: Of course, baby. And you know I always bet on Red.

Glen calling Red Chief like Tom did in S5. 

Tom: Nice work, Chief.

Turning back time. 

Red: Yes, it's right up the street from Cher's hotel. Yeah. We get the ice, pick up the diva, and in a half-hour, she's serenading Trudy with "If I Could Turn Back Time." Best retirement party ever. Yeah. No, Glen.

Yes. "You should be looking forward, not back." The Blacklist about to turn back time for Liz.

"She'd just been accepted to college. The girl, Sophia. Had her whole life ahead of her. All the good and all the bad. The triumphs, the mistakes - gone. Like a story, erased."

Liz's story with Ressler, erased by Dr. Krilov. Back to what Red said to Cassandra about a whole world that he couldn't see suddenly revealing itself.

Kemp: What consequences? Red: The wrath of men like me. I object to what you're doing, and I don't need to convince any court to agree with me. In my world, if I think you're guilty... I just execute sentence. Kemp: Please. Please, don't do this. Red: I heard... heard someone else beg at the point of one of your guns. She said "please" too. And then she was murdered. Now, I understand it can be hard to see tragedy for what it is until that tragedy befalls you or a loved one. Well, I'm here to tell you that's happening to you. About an hour ago, a violent criminal bought one of your FineCal 9s on the street for $100, and now that criminal is going to shoot you with it. Tragic.

Kemp sounds like Alistair Pitt.

Pitt: Please. Don’t. Don’t do this.

Red's wrath. His conversation with Kemp is a lot like his conversation with Liz in S6.

Red: But in my world, there are no laws to hide behind. You can act in bad faith as long as you're willing to face the consequences.

Liz: Are you upset? Red: Conflicted. Liz: About what? Red: I live and work by a very strict code built on loyalty, justice, trust. I survive because I eliminate those who betray it. Up until now, no one has been spared, not even my closest associates. Not even Kate Kaplan. Liz: So that’s what you’re conflicted about? Whether or not to kill me because I betrayed some “code”? Red: You can mock it because you live in a world with institutionalized codes, where order has already been imposed by powerful forces outside of yourself, where there are laws and rules for everything. I live in a world with no laws, no rules, and certainly no order. So I have to impose my own. I’m not conflicted about killing you. I’m conflicted because I can’t. Because I can neither kill nor trust nor forgive.

"The wrath of men like me" bounces back to Dembe in The Mombasa Cartel.

Red: You see that, Geoff? That is what a good man does. That is what separates men like him from men like you - and me.

$100. That's how much Jennifer paid the homeless girl in S6 to get Red arrested.

Dembe and Brimley with the board games reminds me of Red receiving the record player in prison. Scrabble and Parcheesi. Oregon Trail. Scrabble bounces off The Endling. Oregon Trail bounces off Garvey Conclusion.

Dembe: “Two of your oxen have died. One round of play without an oxen card, and everyone in your party has died.” Red: I have oxen. “You have died of dysentery.” Damn it!

Red: The guns they make are the tools of my trade. In the right hand, that's exactly what they are. A proper tool.

A bit like Red's conversation with Jennifer.

Red: You haven’t asked any real questions yet. You’ve expressed curiosity about the tricks of my trade - a pedestrian form of legerdemain mastered by any number of experienced outlaws.  

They bring up "red flags" in the gun purchase.

"I got a few red flags. She bought 30 FineCals a few months ago, and she wants 30 more."

"The dealer knew there were red flags. He warned Mr. Kemp that she might be a straw purchaser."

Ressler in 2x17, both on screen and in deleted scene.

"You know, not everyone’s so anxious to leave. Put a flag on Tom, all his known aliases - he hasn’t left.”

"Looks like Tom's in a little bit of trouble and he's gonna bring that trouble to you. So... be careful.”

Red: This is a moment that woman will never forget. We should buy her something to celebrate.

Ressler: What you’re doing here, is celebrating your birthday, with me.

Liz: It was Cooper. He checked me. Red: You seem put out by it. Don't be. Take it as a compliment. Liz: That he doesn't trust me? Red: That he knows you're a person of conviction and principle. Liz: A lot of good my principle did. Kemp got all of his guns. Red: Yes. He got his. Liz: What'd you do? Red: I acted on my conviction and principle.

This bounces back to S2 & S3.

Liz: Am I a good person? I’m not so sure anymore. Red: I’m sure.

Principle.

Cooper: Guess my principles aren’t what they used to be. Neither are yours. Connolly: That’s where you’re wrong, buddy. I never had any principles. That’s why I’m on a rocket to the top.

Ressler: My father was a cop. He died because he wouldn’t go on the take. Was set up by his own partner, Tommy Markin. You know, I spent all these years wanting to believe that he died for the right thing. I’m not so sure now. Tom: Principles are a bitch, man. I avoid them at all cost.

Red & Liz without Wing Yee's and moon eyes.

Red: Edward's gonna make a run to this restaurant he loves... China Moonlight... for some of that tea-smoked duck. You should look at the menu. If everything goes as planned, we'll be in and out by dusk and have dinner on the flight home.

Almost bottomless bottom. "Yeah, but I saved your butt." Fake boat sex, 2x22.

Red: How proud Sam was when you got into the FBI academy.

Red: Happy birthday, Lizzy. You’ve become everything Sam dreamed you would and more.

Red: Share it with someone special.

Ressler: It's Special Agent.

Wear it for someone special.

Red: Write down the relevant details and, please, gift wrap one bottle of Rossi No. 1.

Ressler & Liz on opposite sides in S3.

Red: To being on the same side. Liz: At long last.

Saram to Keenler, now on the same side. 

♪ At last... my love has come along... My lonely days are over... and life is like a song ♪

Red: How proud Sam was when you got into the FBI academy. How proud you'll be.

This bounces back to 4x9 and 3x14.

Tom: Hey, here’s Daddy wondering how much damage we’ve done to our sweet little girl. Liz: Well, it’ll make for an intriguing college essay.

Liz: I know, the whole idea that Mozart will improve cognitive skills is a myth, but they say babies start learning in the womb, so on the off chance it’ll get him into Harvard...

Liz: She's a wreck. He'd have to be blind not to see it.

lmfao!! Sounds just like Liz. A wreck. I think perhaps a car wreck is coming, given they've placed both Agnes and Liz in the rearview mirror.

Final note: Cooper and Ressler seem to be switching S3 positions with each other, which is interesting. 

Cooper: Given what we’re up against, I’m willing to - Tom: Throw out the rulebook. Cooper: Bend the bindings a little.

Ressler [To Tom]: You are a lying scumbag, and I don’t trust you. Ressler [To Cooper]: If you do, you’re a fool.

Cooper couldn't trust Tom, but went with it anyway to save Liz. Now he can't trust Liz because she's become more like her dead husband. But, Cooper's getting ready to look like an ass. Spent a great deal blaming Red for the danger Liz has been in. Trusted Tom enough to marry them. I can't wait for him to find out Tom wiped Liz's memory as they switch Ressler over to the other side...

Red: I don't know. My hunch is - Harold put the shipment with the badass in the bunch. I think I think it may be you.

... you knew you were sending them with Ressler.

[hachibe]

Thoughts on The Legend of Korra season 2:

- I forgot to say in s1: i appreciate how they used the past avatars bending their elements in the opening. We get to see Kyoshi-earth, Roku-fire, Aang-air and Korra-water. In atla it was so random, we got Pakku-water, some dude for earth (I think it was Roku’s earthbending master, i don’t remember his name), Azula-fire, Aang for air and Roku in the end when Katara starts talking about the Avatar.

- srly! episode one didn’t even started yet and i’m nervous laughing because i remember Mako started dating Korra without ever breaking up with Asami. Maybe he thought that by saying to Asami that he did care for her it would be clear that they were breaking up.

- i need to confess, I LOVE BUMI, i really do. you are not gonna see me say a bad word about him ever.

- i don’t like Korra’s dad. i don’t know/remember why yet. but i’ll elaborate later.

- ok, i think now i know why i don’t like him. everyone in tlok is a remarkable bender. that’s why. Mako and Bolin? they are so good they are fighting in pro-bending matches at the age of 16 (or whatever it was their ages in s1, i think Mako was 18 or something). Korra is a prodigy, bending 3 elements at the age of 3. Tenzin? Masterbender. Lin? Perfect, never done anything wrong in her life. Tenzin’s kids? all good benders. Korra’s dad? Not only he is a great bender (we see him doing more cool stuff as the seasons progresses) he is also the leader of all of the Southern Water Tribe (and he is an immigrant, he isn’t even southern tribe). With the major characters we have here, only Asami and Bumi are non benders and even that don’t last long. While in atla every other character was a non bender (Sokka, Suki, all of the Kyoshi warriors, Jet and all of the freedom fighters, Ty Lee, Mai, the Mechanist and all of the people who where living there with them, Hakoda and Bantou, basically every single character the Gaang met in their travels) and not just that, but we see all of the major characters start small and grow with time. Zuko, even being amazing the way he is, is constantly called a failure and is highly poor skilled in comparison to his sister. He is constantly training to be better. Katara we see struggle through all of season 1. Aang has to learn every single one of the elements , and he is a genius, but we see him train and try to improve himself. Sokka sucks at first but he learns from all types of sources and improves himself with time. The only ones that can never fail are Toph and Azula. What’s my point? Well, idk, my point is, why did Korra’s dad had to be this flawless powerful guy? 

- and hey, this whole rant is not me saying that Korra ruined the avatar legacy or that Korra is a Mary Sue (if anyone is a Mary Sue is Suyin), like a lot of people do. I really don’t believe that. Korra may not struggle with her bending like Aang did but she struggles in every other aspect of being an avatar. And i find it fascinating to see that. I think it was a really clever choice to make her so different of Aang. However, i don’t see how every other character has to be a powerful bender as well.  (me at some point in the end of the season: maybe this is the consequece of the end of the 100 years war. after the fire nation stopped targeting and killing every bender, there was finally room and appropriate enviroment for benders to prosper)

- oh look at me, comparing atla and tlok again

- i had written a whole thing about the cloudbabies and Aang being a shit parent but then i had to reassess my thoughts on it. the way the accusations flow from Kya’s and Bumi’s mouth make it seems like Aang didn’t even look at his older kids. and i can be kind and say that is only because Kya and Bumi are hurt and resentful, they paint the situation a little worst than it actually was. in my mind Aang didn’t straight up neglect his kids, he loved them all, he just made mistakes along his life, bad parenting choices in his eager pursuit of populating the world with airbenders. and i can go on with that, mostly because i really like this story line of Bumi never thinking he was good enough. but i can also admit that this whole story goes well in line with all the other disregards to atla that tlok does, like forgetting about Suki, don’t caring about Katara, making Toph a cop, etc. so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

- LMAO Mako telling Bolin “just break up with her” WTF!

- I'm only on episode 4 and this season biggest flaw is clearly the lack of Lin Beifong. (me at the end of the season: too little Lin, and the little we saw of her was her being a shit cop)

- ok, so Varrick is the plan guy (coming back here a couple of episodes later: totally forgot Varrick was a villian)

- tears in my eyes with this photo. look at them!!!

- first words out of Lin's mouth this season are "Welcome home Avatar, thanks for starting a war" whsjwjsjsjsjsjsnanshahajahajajajajajsjsjshshs how you do not love this woman?

- was this thing with Bolin and women supposed to be funny? Because, it wasn't funny when I first watched and still isn't funny.

- one thing s2 has for itself is the Wann's episodes ❤️

- interesting to notice that Wann's firebending is very firebending-y. And I mean is clearly Shaolin kung fu style. Zuko and Azula’s style, not Mako’s style.

- thinking again and like, before i thought that one of the biggest flaw of tlok was that Korra never learn, that we never see Korra grow and change and improve herself. She keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. but now idk, i’m starting to think that the narrative just has no mercy for her. it just drops shit after shit over her for the sake of idk grim dark plotlines because that’s all that people know how to write these days. like srly, the girl already has problem learning shit, because she can never listen, so instead of writing a story where she learns and grow from this we cut her connection to her past lives, whom before always were there for their reincarnations and thaught them things. let’s just eliminate that since she hardly ever talks to them anyways! 

- i don’t mean that like “oh look at Korra, the worst avatar ever! she destroyed the avatar legacy blablabla”. But i mean, was it really necessary? did we really need this plotline (matter of fact, this whole season)? what’s the whole message here? that you are not your past lives? that you’re your own person and you can fight on your own? idk maybe. (me after the end of the season: is exactly that) because if the answer is just to pave way for s3 and whatever happens with airbenders i’m gonna call bullshit because that story line is even worst.

- i don’t care for Bolin being turned into a dumbhead but i do love this brotherly friendship he has with Asami, i’m all here for this.

- Asami, still a saint

- I FACKING LOVE Bumi charming the shit out of the spirits by playing music to them. And then destroying the whole camp kind of by accident. This is the Aangiest thing ever. Bumi, in the end, is the most like his father from all of his siblings.

- the music is beautiful tho. and i mean, the soundtrack, not specifically the one Bumi plays to the spirits.

- i don’t understand exactly what happened with Jinora there but i think i’m gonna let this past because is too much to unpack.

 - and i don’t know what to think about leaving the portals to the spirit world opened. like, WHY? it feels a little like, once again, Korra not thinking things through