#guess who started rewatching series of unfortunate events

[h0dge-p0dge]

if count olaf and mr burns met they would either kill each other or fuck nasty methinks

[self-loving-vampire]

I can't remember what the very first anime I watched was at all but I do know that during my childhood - before I even started going online to find stuff and relied on whatever was on Salvadoran TV - I saw at least a couple of episodes of the following.

Dragon Ball (original, Z, and GT).

I didn't like DBZ nearly as much as everyone else in Latin America seemed to. A lot of the fights felt not only slow but also kind of mechanically uninteresting.

Cardcaptor Sakura.

I surprise myself by feeling this nostalgic over such a cute and soft show. It's very different from what I normally like. I guess even I have a softer side sometimes (@thirteen-jades this is not an invitation to forcefem me).

Corrector Yui.

I have very few memories of this show. It was about an internet magical girl or something? I want to rewatch it sometime.

Ranma 1/2.

My parents explicitly forbid me from watching this, so of course I did it anyway when they were not around. They really didn't like the idea of a character who could transform like that. I only watched this one pretty early on before scheduling made it difficult to even find so I had only vague memories of it prior to a rewatch I started with my girlfriend.

Pokemon.

I got into Pokemon before anyone at my school knew what that was. I remember that much. I was more of a casual fan (could not play the games for the longest time since my parents thought games Encouraged Vice) and only watched the anime for a while before falling off eventually.

She was great, though:

Sailor Moon.

I have memory gaps about this one as well. Pretty sure I watched less than 10 episodes total, out of order. I think it was on a channel I didn't really know the schedule of, and at the very least I'm pretty sure it wasn't the same one that had most of the other shows on this list.

Digimon (all series up to and including Frontier).

I know they're not really comparable but I think I preferred the designs in Digimon over the ones in Pokemon. Also, I distinctly remember that this scene in particular poked at my ryona and defeat kink before I even knew what sex was:

Monster Rancher.

What the hell even happens in this show? I remember some of the monsters but absolutely nothing about the events of even a single episode. All my memories of it are just gone.

Yu Yu Hakusho.

Felt way more interesting and varied than DBZ to me, and I also found the characters to be more appealing in lots of ways. Still only remember it vaguely, though.

Rurouni Kenshin (oof).

In hindsight the fact that Soujiro was my favorite character makes me eventually becoming a Kohaku kin kind of predictable. Anyway, I think this was one of my favorites and also a good source of fuel for my growing ryona kink. Love shows where attractive men injure each other so viscerally (one of them even gets a chunk of his shoulder bitten off in a major fight).

Unfortunately, the creator completely sucks in such a way that also makes parts of the show feel hollow now.

Mon Colle Knights.

Only vague memories of this one too. It was decently cute, I guess?

Saint Seiya.

The Latin American dub of this is actually so much better than either the English dub or the European Spanish dub it almost feels unfair. Even the opening sounds about as good as the original, and I say this as someone who generally thinks Spanish is an ugly language with bad vibes. No wonder it seems way more popular in Latin America relative to the US.

Cyborg 009.

It was okay, I think? Not really into that older style of cyborg design. I can barely remember much else.

Yu-Gi-Oh! (only the original series at that time).

Like with Pokemon, I was into this before it became big in my area. I haven't forgotten nearly as much about it as I have with many of the other things on this list either. Especially where the first season is concerned I'd say I remember everything reasonably well (obviously not the turn-by-turn details of every duel or anything but yeah).

I notice that with a lot of the shows on here the main draw for me really was just seeing all the cool monsters, but I did come to enjoy the game and just the sincere insanity of the setting too. I also now associate this with master and Past Me.

Duel Masters.

Mimi was kind of cute. I liked her outfit. The show itself was... kind of weird, to be honest. It's one of those shows where the dub was basically a joke (more so in English, though).

Captain Tsubasa.

Those guys can get really intense about football. Can't remember much other than an episode where a guy is trying to overcome a fear of being hit by the ball or something? Pretty sure I only watched this one when I was stuck somewhere where I could not watch or do much else.

Plus some others I am also failing to remember. Genuinely kind of distressing how hazy my memories of these things are.

[addictedtostorytelling]

hi aj! i finished my rewatch, finally 😭 ended with 9.10. something i noticed: in 9.08 grissom goes to that old fashioned gambling place and the guys at the poker table tell them they haven’t seen him in 2 years. then he tells catherine he didn’t even remember the last time he played. my headcanon is that he basically accidentally stopped going once he and sara started maybe living together? idk if that works with the timeline of the show so i wondered if you had any thoughts over that poker thing. 9.10 is my happy ending btw. i don’t care what happened afterwards 🥹💘 hope you’re having a good week!

hi, rewatch anon!

good to hear from you again! and congratulations on finishing your rewatch.

re: your question:

obviously, within the universe of the show, we get very little information to go on when it comes to grissom's involvement with sheriff montgomery's poker games.

while the audience is introduced to the fact that grissom was once a semiprofessional poker player early on in the series (specifically in episode 03x01 "revenge is best served cold," when he speaks of using his poker winnings to finance a body farm in college), prior to episode 09x08 "young man with a horn," his days as a player are always something spoken of in the past tense—i.e., as an activity he participated in in his youth but hasn't pursued much since ("well, poker's not a game of interaction. it's a game of observation. i used to study people, and then i guess i, uh, got bored. now i study evidence").

though in episode 04x15 "early rollout," he mentions watching the world series of poker, we are given no indication at any time throughout s1-s8 that grissom is ever involved in currently playing poker, much less that he is in the habit of doing so semiregularly or regularly with a bunch of vegas old timers.

that information comes only in episode 09x08 "young man with a horn"—and even then, retroactively, with the indication being that grissom used to be involved in sheriff montgomery's games, enough so for the waitstaff at the gambling hall to know him and for him to be welcomed by the other players, even after a two-year absence from the game.

what form grissom's participation in sheriff montgomery's games took back then isn't specified—was he a weekly player? a monthly player? someone who turned up occasionally, schedule permitting? who played only once or twice but left a significant impression during his brief "career"? and when he played, how did he fare? how often did he win or lose? how did the other players regard him? what kind of reputation did he have?—so we can't really speak to that context.

unfortunately, trying to pin down the "when?" of it all is only somewhat more doable.

since we have grissom telling warrick in s3 that after college, he gave poker up due to disinterest, we can say he most likely isn't involved in the games during s1-s3.

however, when and why he supposedly becomes involved with them after that point, we can't really say.

all we know is that he (seemingly) sometime after s3 becomes a presence at sheriff montgomery's table, only to then give up playing again roughly two years prior to the events of episode 09x08 "young man with a horn."

within the universe of the show, episode 09x08 "young man with a horn" takes place in december '08—regrettably, i do not have an exact calendar day for the episode, though i can say it probably happens closer to the end of the month than the beginning—so two years prior would fall in 2006.

if we go very literal, exactly two years prior would be near the end of december '06, which canonically falls in-between the events of episodes 07x10 "loco motives" (12.06.6-12.08.06) and 07x11 "leaving las vegas" (01.04.07)—i.e., circa the time when grissom is preparing to go on his sabbatical from the lab to teach at williams college in massachusetts.

so looking for a reason why grissom stops playing poker, we could potentially ascribe him giving up the game (for the second time) either to the emotional/professional/social burnout he experiences throughout the beginning half of s7 and/or to him getting out of the habit when he goes to williams college (and just never picking back up again, even after his return to vegas).

and, of course, his relationship with sara could definitely factor into such a scenario—like maybe once grissom finally gets back to vegas after those five long weeks spent away, his inclination in the immediate aftermath of his return is just to spend every waking moment when he isn't at work with her (given how intensely he missed her while he was gone), and so he doesn't immediately resume attending the games, and then things get rolling with the miniature killer investigation again, and before you know it, sara's been abducted, and then he's nursing her back to health at home for four and a half months, and one thing leads to another, and pretty soon, two years have passed, and he hasn't played cards all the while.

that said, if we allow for some slippage with sheriff montgomery's "two years" quip, plus six or eight months or so—because, after all, people often truncate—then our possibilities open up a bit more.

while of course we don't know exactly when grissom and sara first get a place together, "sometime just prior to or during s6" seems like a pretty safe bet.

the first half of s6 takes place during 2005, the second during 2006 (with the divider episode being episode 06x11 "werewolves," which takes place within the universe of the show on 01.03.06).

so if by that measure we include the back half of s6 within our "realm of possibility" for when grissom plays his last poker game with the sheriff, then that period would therefore most likely coincide with when he and sara are living together (as there is fairly strong evidence to suggest that they are indeed living together by the time the events of episode 06x24 "way to go" take place, if not much earlier).

that so, i would say your "maybe grissom stops going to poker games with the fellas because he's settled down with sara" theory is definitely a real possibility.

plausibility, even.

of course, all of the above said, the idea of grissom playing regular poker games at any point during the early seasons of the show, even before he moves in with sara, is one that is somewhat hard to believe and feels like something of an inelegant contrivance on the parts of the writers for the sake of making the plot of episode 09x08 "young man with a horn" work.

first of all, just on a logistical level, the games most likely take place either during grissom's regular sleeping or night shift hours—as grissom tells the sheriff in episode 09x08 "young man with a horn," he is technically on the clock when he shows up to the gambling hall—so when would he find time to play (particularly workaholic that he is)?

secondly, from a characterization perspective, while grissom is a skilled poker player and used to play semiprofessionally while he was younger, he wasn't ever really a recreational player; rather, he played with the express purpose of winning money to finance his romantic relationship with his college girlfriend and his body farm, meaning he had a goal he was working toward; a utilitarian reason to take those monetary risks.

no doubt that poker is in some ways fun for him—and god knows he's good enough at concealing his emotions that he probably runs the table playing, more often than not—but still: it's hard to imagine someone as pragmatic as he is involving himself in a game with a $500 buy-in just for shits and giggles on an even semiregular basis.

as warrick points out in episode 03x01 "revenge is best served cold," poker is a game of skill more than a game of chance.

all the same, it isn't without its hazards.

a bad hand is a bad hand, you know?

grissom's skill notwithstanding—he does easily win the game in episode 09x08 "young man with a horn"—the vegas old timers at sheriff montgomery's table are not unskilled themselves, meaning he is definitely not guaranteed to win every time.

would grissom, who is a generally careful and methodical person, really risk losing $500 (or more) on the regular, and particularly when he no longer had any kind of financial motivation to engage in such risky behavior, like he did in college?

while a twentysomething grissom trying to woo his girlfriend and foot the startup costs on a body farm had good reason to try his hand that way (and particularly if he was playing against other college students and/or more inexperienced gamblers, whom he could easily fleece), would a forty- or fiftysomething, more established grissom really choose to go out on that particular limb week after week, especially against seasoned opponents?

the man isn't a compulsive gambler like warrick, so it's not as if he wouldn't be able to keep himself away.

i dunno, maybe it's just a me thing, but i just have a hard time picturing him sitting down to those games more than once every other blue moon or so, and especially since, as he indicates in s3, he has long since lost interest in studying the human element of the game, meaning playing no longer serves any purpose to him, either financial or "scientific."

to me, what we have here is a situation where the writers put in a throwaway line that doesn't really hold up upon scrutiny.

anyway, my quibbles with the idea of regular poker player grissom aside, as for my impressions of the poker scene more generally, the thing that has always stuck out to me is when the old timers are reminiscing about the women at the château rouge and mention how they all had "cute little ponytails."

though we don't get to see a reaction shot of grissom's face in response to that line, i can't help but imagine he's thinking of his own cute girl with a ponytail at that moment himself, remembering the first time he met her.

since the episode already contains more than a little gsr subtext (particularly in grissom and catherine's conversation at the end of the episode, with re: to grissom finding "the right girl"), i can't help but view that line as a very intentional kind of cue, a hint that grissom is thinking about "upping the ante" in his pursuit of sara.

—aaaand that's what i've got.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another one any time.

[thehamletdiaries]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

3 Ships You Like: HamletxHoratio (obviously), SiriusxRemus....I'm trying to think if there are any I like that aren't canon (Tragic Danish Boyfriends and Wolfstar are canon and I will not hear otherwise) but I think I just tend towards canon ships to be honest, so I'll say WillowxTara.

First Ship Ever: I want to say The Doctor x Rose but I'm trying to think if I ever really shipped anyone from the animes I watched as a kid...I don't really think I did...oh, though, I guess Laurie x Amy from Little Women probably came before the Doctor Who revival.

Last Song You Heard: Apex Predator from the original broadway Mean Girls recording.

Favorite Childhood Book: Depends what part of childhood we are talking...I liked The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a lot.

Currently Reading: Robinson Crusoe, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Studies on the Moksopaya.

Currently watching: ....nothing actually. I should pick up a show (or finally start rewatching A Series of Unfortunate Events since I've been saying I'll do that for about six months at this point).

Currently consuming: Black coffee.

Currently craving: Rest.

Tagging anyone who wants to do it!

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

I never get tagged in things how fun! Thank you to @gosiksmallspace for the tag!!!!!!!!

3 Ships You Like: WangXian, WenZhou and JWDS. Like? More like obsessed will continue screaming into the night about.

First Ship Ever: Probably like Lucas and Peyton from OTH lol, I am an old bitch and truly they are transfemmextransmasc coded.

Last Song You Heard: I wake up most days with music stuck in my head and today I didn't so I had to play some, I was bumping some EXO in the shower.

Favorite Childhood Book: I tried soooooo hard to remember but I cant

Currently Reading: Fanfiction. lol but I am currently on a nonfiction kick as well so I am working my way through an essay collection by Toni Morrison

Currently watching: Doctor Slump, constantly rewatching Love for Love's Sake and She Love to Cook She Loves to Eat, i live for these hoes

Currently consuming: Avocado toast with bacon and hot sauce

Currently craving: Cake, in any form but preferably red velvet cheesecake or cupcake!

Tagging (ZERO pressure): @the-cimmerians @onlyifyoubadd @anxioussquirrel @fridayvelvet @guzhu-furen @katierosefun @untouchedsoap @sugarbabywenkexing @pangzi

[aprilblossomgirl]

After episode 6, I feel like I need to talk about color symbolism in the series. Usually, I am not one to pick up on any symbolism reading, but in this case, it is just too visible that I couldn't ignore it anymore. To start, I am just going to say, that this post will focus on color symbolism specifically in Thailand. Please let me know if you find any of what I write here is incorrect since I am not a Thai and I could not double-check this open-source-based information.

The color symbolism in Thailand:

(1) The country's flag colors. The flag uses three colors to represent the main concepts of Thailand: red, white, and blue. Red represents the nation, the people, and the blood of the people. White represents the purity of Buddhism as the main religion in the country. Blue represents the king and the monarchy. I think it's worth mentioning that the flag is consistently shown in almost if not all episodes as one of the establishing shots. Also, in the special episode, Neo (who plays Kan's character) said. "The Eclipse talks about a whole country minimized in a form of a school". So, if we took the flag as the representation of the country, I guess we could think that the series will somehow have all three symbolisms as part of its elements.

(2) Colors and political statements. Red is the color linked to the democracy supporters, while yellow is the color linked to the monarchy supporters. However, this doesn't mean that these colors are always off-limits beyond political protests. For example, people wear yellow on Father’s Day as the color linked to the King while they wear light blue on Mother’s Day as the color is linked to the Queen.

(3) Colors and religious influence. Red, the color of vermilion used in temples, represents the power of love, desire, passion, and energy. Orange, or saffron, the color of robes used by monks, represents spiritual ascension, radiance, and enlightenment. Parts of the robes may have brown color.

(4) For a visually obvious reason, I need to mention black. Black is the color of sorrow and mourning, usually worn in the event of an unfortunate monarch’s death.

(5) There is also a discussion about colors in everyday life (i.e., lucky vs. unlucky color of each day in a week). But I will not talk about this as I haven't found its relevance in the series thus far.

Now, here's the color symbolism in The Eclipse based on the colors mentioned above (*I only rely on my memories without doing any rewatch, so I might miss some details*):

(1) Red, as in blood red, is mainly used as the color of outfits. The most visible is Teacher Waree with her dress in episode 4. Other uses are the 'blood' curse and the color of one of the food stalls during the scene of Wat and Teacher Sani in episode 6.

(2) White is also mainly used as the color of outfits; both Teacher Waree and Teacher Sani once wore the color for their dress and suits respectively. Also, white is part of the color of the school uniform (i.e., the shirts and the socks), as well as the color of the undershirt/t-shirt used by some students. As for other uses, this might be irrelevant, but the scene of Kan and Thua working at Kan's place, and then Kan bringing them two glasses of milk, screamed 'white' to me.

(3) Blue is used as the color of the school authorities' uniforms and students' tracksuits, as well as the color of Suppalo's logo. We've seen the principal, Teacher Chadok, Teacher Waree (although in a flashback), Teacher Sani, Teacher Dika (also in a flashback), and one other teacher-whose-name-I-don't-know who's present during Teacher Sani's interview (also in a flashback).

(4) Yellow, as in bright yellow, is the color of one of Teacher Waree's dresses, while light blue is the color of one of Teacher Sani's suits.

(5) Orange and brown are the colors used on a wall and an announcement board in the Student Welfare Department's office. Orange/saffron/brown is also the color of Akk's tops in that last scene of episode 6.

(6) Black is the color of uniforms of the students and the teachers in general. It is also the color of Ayan's jacket.

And here's the complementary still set because I am just too lazy to analyze.

[jonathanrook]

legally i have to give you intern 2

em you have awoken an ungodly beast inside me so i need to warn everyone that this post is. incomprehensible. but so is mymusic so i guess we're all used to it.

How I feel about this character:

i watched mymusic as it was airing/running/coming out specifically bc i'm a jack stannie, and as a kid melvin was my second favorite character (w scene being in first, obvs) for mostly that reason. he basically hovered around this ranking until my most recent rewatch in the summer of 2020, which was actually spurred by some events in my personal life that vaguely reminded me of scene's season two arc w jeff, and i thought it'd been a funny/nostalgic way to get my mind off things.

(i want to side note here that -- i know you didn't ask, but -- i love jeff. i have since i was a kid. like, obviously not as a person but i think he's honestly the best written character in the series, w indie close in second. idk what it says about the f*nes that their most interesting and well rounded characters are the villains, but i digress. to this day i'm salty that jeff never got added to the theme song and wasn't really included in promotional merch.)

however, in said rewatch, certain things about how he was written started to really get under my skin, and certain moments in particular have really stuck out to me in a negative way. like, for the entirety of season one and a good chunk of season two he's one person, and then he leaves mymusic and we have an entirely different person, but not in a nuanced character building sort of way.

i've said a few of these points before but i'll repeat them here regardless. at the risk of sounding like i've put on a tin-foil hat, it's my sneaking suspicion that scindie was supposed to be endgame, but since fan reception to it was pretty neutral, and scenechart stans were, at the very least, more vocal, changes were made to the intended finale, which is why in the last scene he's basically just. indie. like, if everything about the show was exactly the same but indie was the one who had ended up w scene in the end that would have made so much more sense since a) scene had a crush on indie that he/everyone knew about and b) indie was kind of a dick despite the half-assed attempts at redemption, so both combined make it slightly less weird/out-of-nowhere that he kisses her w/o her consent (since, even though like. implied consent is not real at worst and a fuzzy subject at best but you could argue that scene would want indie to kiss her); and this isn't even taking into consideration that c) melvin is heavily queer-coded in both seasons, with his friendship with nerdcore being, dare i say, homoerotic at times, and his arc about leaving the company and changing his name mirroring nerdcore's almost perfectly (with nerdcore being a character who b*nny [at least] has all but confirmed is actually gay).

i've also been on the fence about melvin's behavior in that final scene making more sense for indie's character being an intentional decision as a way of shoe-horning in a theme about the lasting effects of abuse/cycles of abuse/the corruption of power but i also don't think the f*nes are smart enough for that. however, for the sake of defending my straw theory, i also point to the scene where indie comes to visit the acid factory after melvin told him to shut up, and we see melvin use reggie as a foot-stool, going as far as to say that it feels good to do so (which, in all honesty, i think is a bit that was entirely improvised, since the f*nes were "notorious for never saying cut" [paraphrased from a bts video], but work w me here). he's also given a seltzer mug that perfectly resembles indie's kombucha mug. in these moment melvin is directly emulating the behavior of his previous abuser, purposefully or not, literal moments after being promoted to an equal position of authority, which was totally just included as a joke, but could also be argued is meant to show that he's becoming indie; or, if we acknowledge that the f*nes have no fucking clue what they're doing and were just directing like chickens with their heads cut off, it at least shows that melvin's new position of power is leading him to understand where indie was coming from, which is supported by their conversation in the finale.

the following contains a couple brief mentions of irl sexual assault so if that's something you'd like to avoid skip to the next section!

HOWEVER, that alone isn't what i have a problem with, since i think melvin is completely justified in being a dick to indie (and also reggie enthusiastically consents to being used as an ottoman so good for him i guess). the issue comes completely in how he treats scene in the scenes where the f*nes clearly thought what they were writing was super romantic. like, the fact that the only thing he's got hung on his cubicle wall is a single picture of scene taken from the fucking opening credits (like. how hard would it have been to have. literally any other photo[s] esp since there's an abundance of cute bts pics of the cast in costume that could have been put there) and him scrolling through her twitter at work really creep me out (and at the risk of oversharing the weird, like, social media stalking angle really fucks w me bc that may or may not have been the exact fucking thing i was trying to escape in rewatching mymusic in the first place). also, having him sexually assault scene as a means of comforting her after she had just been sexually assaulted in the same way by someone else was... a choice (which is also, uh, personally familiar).

again, i recognize that demonizing melvin wasn't what the f*nes were trying to do here, and i perhaps seem hypocritical for opening liking jeff, but what makes jeff work is he's intentionally "the bad guy." having melvin do the same things as indie and jeff uncritically only proves further that the f*nes can't write for shit, and ruins his character which had, up until he quit mymusic, been unironically good. like, it's obviously not beneficial that the exact asshole things he does are personally triggering, but the character would still be a mess and i would still dislike him regardless.

i want to say though that jack delivers a surprisingly great performance despite how shoddily his character is constructed and how little experience he has as an actor. like, it's clear he was having a lot of fun on set and i would love to see him in something, like, good; i think he could pull off even like, guest television roles, which is a lot more than can be said for other youtubers.

-----

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

nerdchart should have been canon i'm sorry. i know that close, nonromantic male friendships are valuable, esp between queer men, but also gd wouldn't it have been baller to have a canon interracial mlm ship. like. c'mon. and they could have been such a good friends to lovers story! we already got to see how melvin was the only person nerdcore could really be himself around so it would have been so cool if melvin's self-advocacy arc/flowchart arc had revolved more around nerdcore with a little role-reversal! and then they kiss! like god intended!

also i ship him and indie bc i'm a grubby little gremlin man ohoho. enemies w weird sexual tension? sign me up. not even enemies to lovers i'm not saying this one should have been canon i just love the vibes. do you think melvin and indie ever explored each other's bod-- *gunshot*

-----

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

i wish him and scene had just been bros. god remember in season one when they were just bros that was the life.

alternatively, i wish we'd seen more bonding w him and metal, as a means of reconciling that. uh. moment from season one. along similar lines i would have loved to see him get closer w rayna in a similar way to how she bonded w nerdcore in season two. i think that could have also worked to show how she'd grown between the two seasons.

-----

My unpopular opinion about this character:

HIM. AND. SCENE. SHOULD. HAVE. JUST. BEEN. BROS. (though i think my general dislike of him is pretty unpopular, lmao).

when the show was coming out i don't think it's unfair to say that scenechart/scenetern 2 was the most popular ship (aside from potentially techstep whatever) but luckily we're all gay and have better taste now. unfortunately i totally fell into this camp and scenechart was even my otp for years (until it was arguably more unfortunately usurped by reddie in 2019) and i didn't even realise that it's a hot mess until, again, the summer of 2020.

when actually watching the show the choices the f*nes made in regards to how the ship actually became canon are so odd and out of place, too? okay, so, on one hand everyone just shipped scenechart bc it was the whitest hettiest ship in the show (esp in season two when idol left) aside from scindie (and we already discussed what's wrong w that). but, on the other hand, lainey and jack clearly also just got along? and i suspect that lainey probably also admired jack's work and was happy to be working with him bc we have so many shots throughout even the first season when the ship wasn't the intended endgame of lainey scene looking really fondly at jack melvin at times when it doesn't make much sense at all, esp since she's smitten w indie? this trend continues into the second season which arguably works but it still seems really out of place for him to be the one to ultimately make the first move on her since it's clear she was the one crushing this whole time and also he's gay! this bitch is gay what the fuck!!

-----

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon:

at this point i'm struggling to think of anything i haven't covered yet. oops.

i've talked at length before about how he should have been a woman/lesbian, but the tl;dr is that it would have solved a lot of the queer-coding "problems" that just didn't get resolved in the show. if he'd been a lesbian then not only would the friendship w nerdcore still made sense, but scenechart would have as well (not even mentioning that both of scene's other relationships w men make a lot of sense as comphet anyway).

[maxwellrat]

Thank you raeva beloved!

Last song: outside of the themes that I hear when playing KH I’ve been listening to ‘I’ve had enough of you!’ From Billie Bust Up, which I suggest checking out cause it’s sooooo good man!

Fav Colour: (Yes colour is spelled that way cause it’s the correct way /silly) I love most pastel colours but especially pastel blue and green!

Last movie: Who Framed Roger Rabbit! It’s a really good movie and I just rewatched it today while working on some drawings, I love Roger and Jessica!

Last show: Good Omens Season 2! It made me cry so much at the end but in such a good way, the story is amazing and I love the characters and the representation with queer characters is so good!

Currently watching: Nothing really at the moment, I don’t always like starting new shows or series cause I get worried they may end of like a very specific one (fucking v*ltron /silly) but I’ve been watching a playthrough of the various KH games while I play some myself, the games are pretty cool and I love making the constant jokes with people about how the darkness is homophobia and the destiny trio are all gay/queer in some way cause there’s no way they’re not <3 (also I just really like roxas and Ventus they’re my favourites)

Currently Reading: I haven’t had the time to read a book in while honestly and I have a hard time getting into them cause so many have like surprise Hetero relationships halfway through and it annoys me, I always have my have preferred reading books that are interactive or make you think like CLUE, Goosebumps or Series Of Unfortunate Events, all are so good!

Salty, sweet or savoury: probably salty I guess? Honestly I prefer sour things! Sweet stuff is okay occasionally but not too much, otherwise, bleh

Craving: something with sour cream honestly, weather it be chips or a taco or a wrap.

Coffee or Tea: honestly neither, I don’t like coffee OR tea, never have! The two times I tried different teas I couldnt stand the taste and the same goes for coffee cause it lingers. I prefer things like slushie drinks!

you know what, I never do these things, but actually I’ve decided I would like to get to know people better! I would like to partake of the mortifying ordeal! I would like to talk about myself for a bit!

ok for the next…let’s say five days I will answer any of these things that people tag me in, or any random personal questions you plop in my ask box. I don’t have an ask meme on hand but just….pick one you’ve seen recently, or make up questions of your own, and I’ll answer. (the answer might be ‘nope that’s private’ but I will answer.) (@ the anon who asked for book recs - I see you, I’ve been thinking of books all day, I’m going to give you SUCH a long answer, I hope you don’t regret your choices bc it WILL be full of gushing)

alright, let’s go!

🌻 Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Tagged by @booksandchainmail​

Last Song: I’m currently listening to “Falcon in the Dive” from the Scarlet Pimpernel musical on loop. I watched one or two Scarlet Pimpernel movies when I was just barely too young to fully get what was going on, and the story’s held an odd but deep-seated place in my heart ever since. A few years ago I found out there’s a musical and most of the songs are pretty stellar (go listen to “Madame Guillotine” if you like big ensemble broadway numbers, it’s a banger, the bit where he cries out for God has been running through my mind on and off for a few days now haha not like that’s topical or anything), so every once in a while I spend a few days listening to them a lot.

Sometime last year I read the actual book, and got super into the whole concept of the Scarlet Pimpernel for a while. I plotted out Pimpernel aus for several fandoms, I read the entire wikipedia article, and I went looking for bootlegs of the musical. I didn’t find one, but I did find a full radioplay-style recording of the script, complete with full musical numbers, and listened to it like a podcast.

Reader, I was so disappointed. The play adds some scenes, bc a lot of the dramatic tension of the novel comes from internal conflict and that doesn’t stage super well, and the very first scene of this play – a play written in the NINETIES – features our dashing hero rescuing some aristocrats from a French prison, and then saying to the person in the next cell, who begs for rescue but is not an aristocrat, “We have enough of your kind in England.”

Enough! of your KIND! What in the merry frickety HECK my dudes!! The book has some rather unfortunate™ takes but it is from 1905, it’s regrettable but sadly to be expected. This play is from 1997. It has NO excuse. This scene wasn’t even in the book! What! the heck!

I was so disheartened that I lost my excitement for the play, and a couple songs later I stopped listening. It occurred to me just a few days ago that you could actually stage that ironically, with the person in the cell giving the audience a “can you believe this” look, and then the rest of the play could feature assorted non-aristocratic ensemble members constantly looking at the audience like they’re on The Office. And hey, maybe that’s what they did, or something similar – maybe that was never meant to be taken as a cleanly heroic stance, and the play deals with it in a complex way. It’s possible. I wouldn’t know. Kinda doubt it though, based on song lyrics.

Favorite Color: red, probably

Last Movie: I watched that new lesbian christmas movie with my family for christmas, the one with kirsten stewart and the guy from schitt’s creek. it’s very sweet and good and kinda sad, and I really enjoyed it. it also incidentally has the best gay best friend trope in probably anything ever, bc it’s not a trope (I didn’t realize until several hours after watching that it technically fits), it’s just a guy who is the protagonist’s best friend, and they’re just all gay, and then when he Gives Relationship Advice as a gay best friend always does, it’s advice about how to deal with your partner’s hangups around coming out.

actually every part of the gay best friend trope becomes better when they’re just best friends who are both gay. the big dramatic gestures (in this case, driving some ungodly distance in the snow on no notice) go from “haha how kooky” to “queer man will do anything he needs to to rescue his queer friend from an isolating & potentially triggering situation”. the relationship advice isn’t “honey you deserve some self-respect, treat yourself”, it’s a deeply sincere reminder of the vulnerability that is shared across almost everyone’s queer experience, and look I could ramble about this for a long time before reaching a coherent point but I’m INTO IT, okay? I’m into it.

Last Show: you want me to remember what show I last finished???? impossible, cannot be done, it was a long time ago and the adhd has eaten everything that happened before last week. here, instead I’ll tell you about another movie I watched, late at night with my mom in cozy companionship just a couple days ago. it’s called Quigley Down Under and it’s about a cowboy who goes to Australia and kills a bunch of racists, 10/10 would watch again. it’s from 1990 but it feels much older, with the music choices and the cinematography of a 70s Western. the cowboy is great, honorable and fearless and kind, but the breakaway star of this movie for me is the woman who attaches herself to his side and refuses to leave. her name is Cora, and she’s crazy, in the sense that she’s not altogether tethered to reality, but this never for a second diminishes her agency. she’s fierce and clever and compassionate, and she basically never does anything she doesn’t want to in the whole movie. her arc is about overcoming trauma by taking charge of her own fear and facing it head-on, she is never belittled or dismissed by the narrative or the protagonist, and look she’s just so cool. I love her. she’s so vibrantly alive. her story could probably have been handled with a bit more nuance, but honestly for the 90s it’s pretty great. I’m no expert, but I found nothing objectionable in it, just a bit of heavy-handedness.

anyway the theme of the movie is that racism is evil and racists deserve to be shot, and this too could have been handled better (not a single aboriginal character speaks a single line of english in this movie), but it follows through on that message in every way, while still being a fun kinda campy cowboy movie. overall a very good time.

Currently Watching: started showing my sister Hilda the other day, and she’s liking it! I love that show, it’s so incredibly cute. can’t wait to see season 2

Currently Reading: lmao I wish. lately the brain has firmly rejected all attempts to read anything of any length. currently pending, bc I was halfway through them when my brain stalled out, are tano’s fic What Does Kill You Can Make You Stronger, Too, a Toby Daye book - I think it was The Brightest Fell, I got like half a chapter in and haven’t picked it up in over a month, the Locked Tomb series, and probably a few other things too. ooh! also a book called Making Sex by thomas laqueur, which is my fancy academic reading that I’ve been doing in short bursts for the past year or two when I feel fancy and academic. it’s about the development of the concept of biological sex and of gender in Western society, and it’s fascinating. has among other things introduced me to the idea that until quite recently, fathers were a matter of faith. the mother? yeah, you can watch the baby pop out, we all know who the mother is. but the father? how can you know? how can you really know? we have paternity tests these days, but for all of human history up until now, we’ve just had to take fatherhood on faith. (not to mention we didn’t even know what fathers were contributing to the production of a fetus. clearly it was something, since you can’t get pregnant without a penis getting involved, but we have literally not known what until the past few decades. and that is wild. it has colored ALL of human history, all of our conceptions of society and family and kinship and gender, all of it, and it hadn’t even occurred to me until it was spelled out for me in this book, and it’s just……wow.

Salty, sweet or savory: for christmas my sister and I made seven different types of cookie, most of them involving chocolate somehow.

Craving: no bc I ate so many cookies. unless sleep counts. or maybe pringles, it’s been many moons since last I had a potato chip and I miss them.

Coffee or Tea: no thank you

Tagging: @coloursisee, @krchy-tuna, @sam-j-squirrel, @xzienne, @mirandatam, @viciousmaukeries, @sepulchritude, @elidyce, and @navigatorsnorth bc it’s been a while since we’ve talked, and I’m super hyped that you’re married now. v happy for you!

[carriagelamp]

Book Review - Summer Summary 2020

I didn’t get around to doing an individual post for the books I read in June/July/August, so I decided to choose a dozen that I read over the summer... I’d separate the wheat from the chaff for you so to speak. Though like you’re about to find out, that doesn’t necessarily mean they were all good by any means...

Crave

My girlfriend got this for me to “tide me over until Midnight Sun”. Between you and me, I think she was taking the piss. Anyway, Crave is very... standard fare paranormal YA school romance with the added flare of being written by an adult erotica writer, meaning the rhythm and tone of this novel is fucking bonkers. If you want to read the novel without reading the novel, just take Twilight and the entire Vampire Academy series, shove them in a blend, and force down the sludge you get from that. Normal Average Girl Goes To Secret School In Alaska For Vampire, Werewolves and Dragons. That’s this book. It is so big and so so so bad. I finished it out of spite, please don’t do that to yourself. Unless you are really craving (hurr hurr) some top tier trashy paranormal romance, in which case... no judgment.

The Last Firehawk

The Last Firehawk is a Scholastic “Branches” series, written for beginning readers (grade 1-3ish, depending on the child’s reading level). It has short stories, big text, and awesome pictures on every page. Guys. I unironically am adoring this series. It’s simple and is introducing children to a number of classic elements in the fantasy quest genre, but it is so charming. Friends Tag and Skyla discover a firehawk egg, and species that is supposed to have disappeared long ago. When Blaze hatches from it, the three are tasked with going out and finding the magical ember stone which was hidden long ago by the firehawks and which could be used to defeat the evil vulture Thorn and his dark magic... I read the first two books to second graders who ate it up and read the next four books because I personally wanted to continue the series. If you have young readers in your life (or just want a fun kid adventure) then please try these they’re the literary equivalent of nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie.

Lupin III: World’s Most Wanted #3

All the kind people that still follow my tumblr and haven’t tried to murder me because of my Lupin obsession are not going to be surprised by this one. I finally read one of the manga for this series and honestly I’m delighted. Somehow even hornier than the show, but hilariously funny. I felt like I was reading a more adult version of Spy Vs Spy. It’s a bunch of short, individual bits/adventures with lots of visual gags and an artstyle that is really different and delightful.

River of Teeth / Taste of Marrow (American Hippo series)

I’ve talked about River of Teeth before, but I finally finished the American Hippo duology and need to sing its praise. This is an alternate history series composed of two novellas that explore the question What would have happened if the States had decided to import hippos as livestock...? Anyways, my pitch for you: queer hippo cowboys. That’s all it took for me to read it. You have a gay gunslinger who loves his hippo to death, a nonbinary explosives-expert / poisoner who is the main love interest, a fat con artist who spoils her hippo and is the only voice of reason in this entire series, and a latina mother-to-be who is the scariest assassin in the entire series and is obviously scheming. The four of them are brought together on a job to deal with the Mississippi’s feral hippo problem.

IT’S A QUEER HIPPO COWBOY HEIST NOVEL GUYS I DON’T KNOW WHY I’M STILL TALKING AND YOU HAVEN’T JUST GONE TO READ THIS YET.

Petals to the Metal (The Adventure Zone series)

The graphic novel adaptation to the McElroy family’s DND podcast The Adventure Zone. Most of you are probably aware of this? It’s a great adaptation, it hits all the important beats, shows off the characters really well, and still gets lots of good gags in even while condensing entire arcs into single book stories. This one is probably my favourite so far just because Petals to the Metal was one of my favourite arcs in the show... but you can also see how the art has improved and the chaos of the race is fun to see drawn out.

If you like The Adventure Zone but haven’t tried the graphic novels yet -- would recommend! If you’ve always wanted to listen to The Adventure Zone but don’t have time for such a long series or struggle to focus on podcasts then pick up the first book of this series (Here There Be Gerblins) and try reading it! It really is an enjoyable adaptation.

Pony to the Rescue (Pony Pals series)

I continued my April/May theme of reading old-school chapter book series to combat Covid Brain Fry, so I picked up a few Pony Pals books. I read these as a kid and always enjoy them -- there’s just something so appealing to a child about having a horse. It gives your child characters a level of independence and ability to explore that you wouldn’t get otherwise. These books definitely read young, but they were nostalgic to revisit.

Small Spaces

A really cool middle grade horror novel I picked up. Maybe it’s because I live around a lot of corn fields, but farm/scarecrow themed horror absolutely does it for me. One evening, after seeing a woman try to destroy a strange, old book, eleven year old Ollie doesn’t stop to think, instead stealing the book and running. That’s how she becomes wrapped up in the strange, sinister story of a cursed family and creature called the Smiling Man that seems to live out in the foggy fields. While unsettling, Ollie tries to remind herself that it’s just a story... but this becomes more challenging when her school bus breaks down one day out their own set of fields, and a fog is rolling in...

“Avoid large spaces. Stick to small.”

Snot Girl #1 - #2

A Canadian graphic novel series by the creator of the Scott Pilgrim series! I love his work so I decided to give Snotgirl a try, even though it’s not generally my genre. I’m glad I did! First book took a while for me to get into, but by the time I hit the second I was really wrapped up in the mystery and character development. Snotgirl is about Lottie, a self-consumed fashion blogger whose biggest struggles are dealing with her allergies, frustration with her fellow-blogger friends, and how entirely her self-esteem is tied to her “beauty” and how people view her. But everything shifts in strange and horrifying ways when Lottie starts taking a new allergy medication, meets a new friend... and then witnesses that girl’s death. Or does she?

Seriously, or does she? I have no idea, I need to read the third book. This book is full of intrigue, complicated relationships, murder (or not?), and a healthy dose of magical realism to keep you guessing. If you like slice-of-life, crime, and abstract reality then this series is world a try. Plus the art is gorgeous.

Summer Wars #1 - #2

I recently rewatched Summer Wars (still one of my favourite movies) and decided to read the two-book manga adaptation. It was a really neat little adaptation. The creator of the movie gave the writer free range to tweak things to fit better in a manga format, which means some movie elements were allowed to fade into the background, whereas other aspects were fulled into the forefront and fleshed out to a greater degree. It was very cool, it kept the same story but gave you new things to think about which I wasn’t expecting. Reading this as a stand alone works just fine, but honestly if you’ve never watched the movie Summer Wars you should give it a try! It’s a great mix of slice-of-life, sprawling family dynamics that I relate to a little too well, cyber adventures, and fantasy. Super feel good.

This One Summer

Okay, last graphic novel, I swear. This One Summer was... weird and intense. It’s a coming-of-age Canadian graphic novel that follows a pair of pre-teens who meet up like they do every year at their family’s summer cottages. You see them both in the awkward phases between childhood and growing up to become teenagers, as they’re confronted with things like maturity, friendship, self-esteem, family problems, and sexuality. A beautiful read, but probably the heaviest out of all the books on my list.

Wild Thornberrys Novelization

I rewatched The Wild Thornberrys movie with my girlfriend earlier this year, and decided I wanted to hunt down the chapter book novelization because I’m kind of a sucker for novelizations. Honestly, this was about what you would expect from the era. 90s/00s novelizations, especially young novelizations, are generally just a transcript of the movie without much thought or effort put into them to make them anything but. That’s what this was. It was fine, and it really let me revisualize the entire movie, but honestly you’re probably better off just rewatching the movie unless you also really deeply love The Wild Thornberrys.

The Willoughbys

I saw that Netflix had done a funky looking adaptation of The Willoughbys and I decided I needed to read the book first before watching the movie. This was a little bizarre, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Over all, I think it was a net-positive experience. It’s an obvious satire on classic children’s novels, especially the likes of Mary Poppins (real Mary Poppins, not the Disney version) and while a little heavy-handed, it does a Series of Unfortunate Events vibe that redeems it. The story is about a group of horrible children (The Ruthless Willoughbys) who decide they are sick of their parents and would rather become Worth Orphans... and to do that, they’re going to have to dispose of their inconvenient parents, obviously. Conveniently their parents are also sick of having children and decide to do away with them as well. The Willoughbys sets up three (or four?) different subplots that are gradually woven together through a series of schemes and exploits. It’s definitely more ruthless (hurr hurr) than the Netflix version, which tried to make the children more sympathetic, and in some ways I think that’s a definite point in the novel’s favour. I’m not sure I would go out of my way to recommend it, but it was a fun romp if you want something short and off the wall (and a lot more fleshed out than the Netflix version).

[fulokis]

Thoughts on Wandavision

Spoilers duh.

I started this out as a boredom watch as in eh why not. I was not really invested until Evan Peters showed up. Evan Peters aka the guy who played quicksilver in the X-men fox universe. With DoFP being my favorite partially because of quicksilver. So naturally I became way more invested in the show, not only that but I became hyper-fixated on X-men as a result.

So marvel brings in this actor and all the fans of the X-men are like yeah duh that makes sense, especially considering Wanda is heavily involved with MoM, the movie about the freakin multiverse. So fans of X-men and doctor strange (of which I am both) become exited for the possibilities that this opens up. Excitement builds and as a result people end up watching more content on Disney+ whether it be the movies shows ect.

And then they go and say nope it’s not. And even if they do retcon it it’s still a really crappy thing to have done. And what do I mean, this is part of marvel trying to surprise fans through subverting expectations. And yes sometimes it’s nice, but other times you end up with a mess that leaves more questions than answers.

Take Endgame and Infinity war. Now I knew that Thanos was going to win in infinity war. It was a matter of how he would win. But part of my issue with infinity war is that it felt like it barely spent time exploring how the different characters would interact with each other because there were too many and it would have blocked the narrative from moving forward. Endgame had a similar issue but on top of that they were so focused on keeping everything locked up that it didn’t exactly feel like a cohesive movie. And as a result the character interactions and relationships fell quite short. Not only that but some of them made no sense, but taking a look at endgames flaws has happened enough.

So taking a look at wandavision I’m not upset that my therory is incorrect. I’m upset that one they literally did this to subvert expectations because they hate when their shows are predictable, and two people are rubbing it in our faces that we were wrong and we shouldn’t be upset because it was a theory. And what’s more is that they had an example of fans being correct and it was still surprising.

My mouth still dropped at the reveal that it was Agatha. I still was surprised even though I knew it was coming. I know a lot of people were. And I can say it was because of the fact that we got it right that we knew where it was going and it was executed in a way that still made it feel like a big reveal. So why then are they trying to surprise the fans with well it was Ralph duh haha got you.

Because for some reason marvel hates when people can predict something. Which makes me wonder why they went with the infinity war storyline and are seemingly going with the Skrull storyline if they don’t want fans to predict what’s happening? Why are they going with well known storylines from the comics if they don’t want anyone to guess what is happening? Especially if the fans know the storylines and end up becoming disappointed if you don’t include this one specific moment.

And this is an issue because it sets up fans to know how something will play out, then turning around to subvert expectations ending up with something that doesn’t quite make sense with the narrative they had set up and teased and the characters. It doesn’t work to take pre established stories and adapt them to the screen while trying to subvert expectations. You need to pick one or the other, you simply can not do both.

There’s a reason that people are so finicky when adaptations of books are brought to the screen. It’s because they enjoy those stories and they want to see it as close up on the screen as possible. They want to see how they imagine it. And yes it’s tricky because people imagine it many different ways, but with comics honestly you have a story board right there. And yes you will need to change certain things especially to fit in the budget and physics of real life. Not to mention erase some of the problematic social injustices found in the earlier comics.

And yes wandavision isn’t based on one comic story line. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have to be predictable. Take a look at some other examples that I can think of that either were predictable and good or subverted expectations in a positive way that didn’t confuse people.

Mandalorian: Luke Skywalker being brought in was a surprise. We knew that a Jedi might come, in fact it seemed quite likely that a Jedi would come to train Grogu. But the thing was we didn’t know who, we didn’t know if it would be Luke or another Jedi. Potentially it could have been one we hadn’t met, but we knew that one was coming and that still didn’t stop us from being surprised. And if it wasn’t Luke people wouldn’t have been mad because they left it ambiguous who the Jedi was until he was onscreen (unlike deliberately casting an actor that is known for a role then saying nope not him).

Mandalorian: This one is short but it’s a way to do both predictability and subverting expectations. The first episode of the second season was legitimately the plot from the 2003 game Knights of the Old Republic or Kotor for short. Fans of the game knew exactly how it would turn out, or at least how they would attempt to kill the dragon. They did do that, but unlike expected it didn’t work. So they tried a different tactic that paid off. As a kotor fan I expected this, I also expected the pearl at the end of the episode, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it, and honestly I rather enjoyed it and it was fun. And I think most kotor fans would agree.

A series of Unfortunate Events: The Netflix show not the movie. In the books Olaf’s bench people get killed off, in the show they made it so that these people survive. I didn’t expect that, and it was good. The writers were still able to make something that fans of the book knew exactly what was going to happen and the general way that things were going to happen. But they adjusted things so that there were some surprises to viewers who read the books. And none of the changes were done specifically to subvert expectations they were done to enhance the story in certain ways. And they do even if they weren’t completely expected. And it still allows me to enjoy the show.

Kotor: yes I’m talking about the game and yes I’m still obsessed with it despite it being so old but also spoilers for it follow so skip if you don’t wish to know.

Kotor follows the story of a human being, they discover slowly that they were once feared across the galaxy known as the Sith Lord Darth Revan. Now can you figure out the twist through context clues absolutely. But it was not only revolutionary for the time but also knowing it still doesn’t take away the surprise feeling for a lot of players (I’m still surprised pikachu face no matter how many times I play or rewatch the cut scene).

There are many more examples but these are the ones off the top of my head.

I’m not angry at the fact that they were trying to make it surprising. I’m angry at the fact that marvel knowingly did this, and there’s no resolution at all. It’s a throwaway scene for a throwaway character played by a known actor who is known for his role as quicksilver. If it was someone else and they did this it would not be as upsetting. But the fact that marvel did this and knew exactly who they were casting to just mislead the fans is inexcusable. And maybe this isn’t the end of the storyline, but right now it is. 12 hours after the finale it absolutely seems like the end of the storyline. And that’s why people are upset because it was such a clear this is what is happening, then they develop it into just this dude. They led on it was quicksilver and we don’t even get to see the rest of the conversation that Monica has with him. We get no resolution whatsoever. And that’s what hurts the most, if they had explained hey Agatha did this and managed to somehow do X Y or Z to have this random person have powers and these memories. Now it would be cheep and people would still be upset but not as much with the incomplete explanation and the throwing it in there because they had to.

If they really wanted to subvert expectations they one shouldn’t have brought Evan Peters in to play a quicksilver (I hate saying this because I was so exited). Two shouldn’t have gone with anything to do with Agatha or even Mephisto. And a lot of people would probably wonder who they could have gone with and Tbh I don’t remember who I saw said it but Mojo would make sense. Or hell they could have brought in Evan Peters and an alternate version of Wanda who is causing this to happen and stir the pot. Either way the way they executed it was extremely poorly done and that’s why people are upset.

So please consider that for people this would have made a huge statement for. X-men fans are drawn to the X-men for many reasons. And I would say that some of those reasons are that they belong to a minority group and feel represented in the X-men. Me I’m LGBT+ and despite having grown up in a very progressive area, there are people I interact with where I don’t feel like I can be myself or even feel comfortable coming out to. And that’s why I personally am attached to the X-men. And I’ve seen other people say similar things.

For people the X-men and mutants aren’t just characters. They’re characters that marginalized groups can relate to. They’re characters that they can see themselves in. This goes much more deep than my fan theory wasn’t correct. It’s a combination of crappy writing and Marvel attempting to be surprising and the fact that they had the perfect opportunity to introduce a cast of characters that represent struggles of marginalized communities and recognize that yes the world isn’t just filled with hero’s that are cis straight abled men and women. And even if it was people from another universe it still was a step in the right direction.

So please if you’re fine with this and took the time to read this don’t make fun of the people who are quite upset with the developments of the episode. A lot of us are upset for a deeper reason and seeing people go “haha you’re wrong you idiots.” Makes this feel that much more upsetting.

[sailorbadger]

Robin Hood episode ranking part 1 (39-33)

I recently finished a rewatch of BBC’s Robin Hood. I’ve seen the show all the way through about three times now, though I’ve watched a lot of season 1 and 2 separately as well. This time I was watching with someone who had never seen the show. On top of that, we watched it in a non-chronological order, which made me view many of the episodes in a different light. So, I (with my friend) decided to rank all 39 episodes from worst to best.

I’ll be splitting this ranking into 5 parts, because the whole thing ended up being 14 pages long. We tried to take into account how good the episodes are objectively from a narrative point of view, but ultimately in many places our own enjoyment determined the final placements. Feel free to agree or disagree with me. I’d also like to add that when I say an episode is “bad”, I mean it in the context of the show. I’ve seen a lot worse things on TV than anything on this show. Nothing in this show is so bad it’s unwatchable. Anyway, here’s part 1 with places 39–33.

39. 3x1 – Total Eclipse

This episode just… isn’t that good. The plot feels messy and even though it’s supposed to emotionally rely on the events of the season 2 finale, it ends up feeling hollow and empty. Robin and Gisborne have some classic Man Pain angst revolving around Marian’s death, but she’s just reduced to someone they both loved. It’s not like she was an actual person who had other qualities beyond being the love interest. It doesn’t help that this is really the only season 3 episode where her death is properly addressed. Overall, Gisborne and Robin are both even more annoying than usual in this episode. The other outlaws are just given something to pass the time while Robin wallows in his own angst, and I didn’t care about anything going on in the episode. Tuck is an alright character, but he’s better later on in the season. In this episode he just does things to advance the plot, and I didn’t find him that interesting. For some reason, the aesthetic for this episode also seemed to be “let’s make everyone look like drowned dogs”. There might be some positive aspects to this episode, but I honestly don’t remember them, which is why it’s at the bottom of this list. I have no real interest in rewatching this episode any time soon.

 38. 3x5 – Let the Games Commence

I had honestly forgotten how bad this episode is. The A and B plotlines have nothing to do with each other, and both are bad. Why is there a lion? What did the circus plot add to the story? Isabella’s introduction is the only positive thing in this episode, but even that could have been done in a more interesting way. I also do have to add that they did a good job casting Isabella, since my friend guessed that she is Gisborne’s sister before it was even revealed. Overall, this episode could be skipped if not for the fact that it introduces Isabella. The plot feels useless and it doesn’t even have the fun sense of adventure that many episodes in season 2 had.

 37. 3x7 – Too Hot to Handle

Why was this episode so sexual? The “romance” felt incredibly forced. Robin and Isabella’s relationship moves too fast, and I do not enjoy watching it. Kate’s jealousy doesn’t help either. The plot is stupid, and the characters make equally stupid decisions. Robin is almost as annoying in this episode as he is in 3x1, but since the plot is at least a little bit more interesting, this episode is above it in the ranking.

 36. 3x9 – A Dangerous Deal

What is it with this season and trying to pair off teenage girls (or at least characters that are written as such) with fully grown men? Meg had so much potential, which was then wasted by throwing her into a one-episode “romance” with Gisborne. The two of them could have made a completely platonic connection to advance the plot in a similar way, there was no need to make it romantic. Another pairing I hate in this episode was Robin and Kate. I felt my spine crack into small pieces every time I had to watch the two of them have a moment together. Robin talks to Kate like she is a child (and since she is written as if she’s a teenager, I don’t blame him for it), yet for some reason I’m supposed to believe that the two of them like each other romantically? Thanks, but no thanks. Isabella’s husband is a character that fills me with rage, and this episode would have been improved if he had gotten stabbed in the eye within the first five minutes. I like that Isabella got to be the one to kill him and that she didn’t need to be saved by someone else. Unfortunately, the show then gets hypocritical and frames this as a bad thing. Robin has spent the show killing people left and right, but when Isabella kills her abusive husband – during a time when divorce was not an option and she had no protection against him – it’s suddenly much worse than anything Robin has ever done? Isabella, like Meg and Kate, had so much potential, but the show decided to make her into a villain by painting her as “the crazy bitch” for no good reason. I remembered this episode to be better than what it was, and I was disappointed when I rewatched it.

 35. 3x3 – Lost in Translation

The one thing I remember the best from watching this episode is that after we were done, we read the Wikipedia article on the history of Bible translations. The actual plot of the episode doesn’t tie into anything, and nothing relevant happens. The priest or whoever annoyed us, as did Tuck. The characters, in true season 3 manner, made stupid decisions. This is one of the most skippable episodes in the whole series. The plot of the episode is bad, but not as terrible as the negative aspects of the previous episodes on this list, which is why it’s ranked higher.

 34. 3x2 – Cause and Effect

This episode goes into the same category as 3x3 in terms of being very forgettable. The guest characters are alright, but they don’t add that much to the story to lift this episode any higher. The only thing in this episode that has anything to do with the rest of the reason is the introduction of Kate. It’s not her best episode, but it’s also not the worst. The episode was slightly more interesting than 3x3, but other than that, I barely remember either of these episodes.

 33. 1x10 – Peace? Off!

If I wasn’t at least a little bit reasonable, this episode would be at the bottom of the list. I am, however, also spiteful, which is why this is ranked so low. Why? I hate the ninja women with a burning passion. Nothing in this show makes me as irrationally angry as they do. It pains me to even think about this episode because I am then forced to think about the ninja women. Other than them, I feel like this episode suffers from having too many smaller themes in one episode. At first the episode felt a bit confusing, since there was so much going on. The one great thing about this episode is Much. His scenes are amazing, and if the episode consisted of only them, this might easily have ended up in the top 10. Unfortunately, rather than focusing on Much and Harold working through their trauma, they decided to shove in the ninja women, and for that this episode must be punished.

This part ended up being quite negative, but we had to start somewhere. If you feel as disappointed by season 3 as I do, you should read through my “Kate should have been the new Nightwatchman” rant [link]. In part 2 of the ranking we’ll go through places 32–26. All the parts will eventually be under the #rh-episode-ranking tag [link].

[amachja-moved]

TAGGED BY: @primasolaris & @onyxium​ (ty both smooches on you <3)

TAGGING: anyone who has not done it yet.

ONE ( ALIAS / NAME ): cha.

TWO ( BIRTHDAY ): december 1st.

THREE ( ZODIAC SIGN ): sagittarius.

FOUR ( HEIGHT ): between 180cm and 182cm, bump-your-head-against-the-low-ceiling-in-the-staircase-height.

FIVE ( HOBBIES ): writing, drawing, video games, films, hiking.

SIX ( FAVOURITE BOOKS ):  Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers), Life of Galileo (Bertolt Brecht), Faust (Goethe), all of Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot (Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie), Writings About Cinema (Henri Langlois)…

SEVEN ( LAST SONG LISTENED TO ): Guren No Yumiya, but as bass cover because I thought it would be a cool one to learn. Until I watched the cover and realised it’s possibly one of the hardest songs to cover on the bass I’ve ever seen. Seriously, look at this guy go. 

EIGHT ( LAST SHOW WATCHED ): A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I’m rewatching with my housemate. Ouran High School Host Club, which is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my entire life.

NINE ( INSPIRATION FOR MUSE ): I rely quite heavily on canon material (manga and anime) and like to dissect every single tiny detail and extrapolate on them, so I guess that’s my main source of inspiration. For more aesthetic inpiration or general themes pertaining to Sasha, anything nature-related is always a big yes, looking into 19th-20th century European history too. I like looking at Sylvia Plath’s poetry, some stuff from Virginia Woolf, Jack Kerouac, Bertolt Brecht and Hannah Arendt for more literary and philosophical inspiration. And Doctor Who. Always.

TEN ( MEANING BEHIND YOUR URL ): sasha’s url ‘jaegeriin’ is just the German word for ‘huntress’ with an addition ‘i’ for aesthetic because i was coming quite short on inspiration. i am considering changing now because ‘Jaeger/Yaeger’ is obviously Eren’s surname, and ‘Jaegerist’ is a whole thing as well. my current preferred option would be ‘machja’ or ‘amachja’, the Corsican word for ‘maquis’. Maquis refers to a specific type of forest and vegetation in the mountains of Corsica (which I have started drawing a lot of inspiration from for Dauper and Sasha’s culture), and the expression ‘prendre le maquis’, translating to ‘taking to the maquis’, refers to fleeing into these specific forests to avoid the law or retaliation from enemies, finding refuge from imminent harm - and in the context of WW2, pertinent to AoT, ‘prendre le maquis’ also means joining the Resistance against the Nazis in Corsica. All thematics I think would fit Sasha quite nicely, I just need to find the mental fortitude to actually do it :) eld’s url ‘seggr’ is Old Norse for ‘hero’, fitting for a Survey Corps member, and Old Norse because ‘Eld’ is Old Norse for ‘fire’. marcel’s url ‘oncejaw’ is pretty self-explanatory and refers to his titan and the fact that he is, at least in canon, a past holder of the Jaw titan rather than the current one.

[odanurr87]

My thoughts on... Scripting Your Destiny

Release date: March 16, 2021

Episodes: 10

Available on: Viki

Summary: Every human is born with a book that records each moment of their life and that we call destiny. Shin Ho Yoon is one of the many deities in charge of writing those books, known among the gods for his meticulous approach to his work. For his latest project, the destiny of the mortal Jeong Ba Reum, he intends to write a masterpiece, a perfect destiny, pairing him with his first love, Go Che Gyeong, a scriptwriter for successful, if over-the-top, makjangs like Marriage Pact and Sky Cash. However, when Che Gyeong doesn't fall for the fateful encounter that he wrote, he decides to take matters into his own hands and bluntly approaches her to find out how to get her to fall in love. As the two begin to develop feelings for each other, the perfect destiny envisioned for Ba Reum threatens to disappear and a new destiny between a god and a mortal begins to emerge. But can a god of destiny write his own fate?

Rewatch meter: Medium

WARNING: Spoilers beyond this point.

Characters

From left to right: Park Sang Nam as Shin Myeong; Ki Do Hoon as Shin Ho Yoon; Jeon So Nee as Go Che Gyeong; Kim Woo Seok as Jeong Ba Reum; and Gal So Won as Samshin.

Overall, I liked the leads and most of the supporting characters. As far as the leads are concerned, I think Ki Do Hoon was able to deliver a good performance of what a god of destiny might, or perhaps should, be like: standoffish, emotionless, uninterested in the mortal realm beyond the scope of his duties. As such, Shin Ho Yoon feels the more godly of the different deities in the show, what is curious considering he's probably one of the youngest gods of destiny, what is explained through his cycle of rebirth. I wish the writer and the actor had made full use of this cycle by having the character of Shin Ho Yoon grow more emotionless as a result, what would explain why he's different from other gods. Perhaps this was intended, but if so, the results are mixed. You can see he was more impulsive in the beginning of his cycle as a god of destiny than he was, say, at the beginning of the show. However, the last incarnation we're shown of Ho Yoon, in Episode 10, appears to be more upbeat than any of his previous ones, a fact that could've been used to feed into the notion that something has changed (more on that later) and that's why he's having fun at the expense of the "newbies."

Jeon So Nee as Go Che Gyeong was very good throughout, standing out from her male counterpart, perhaps due to the nature of her character that allowed her to show more range. I never found her to be over-the-top, and she was able to pull off the comedic and emotional scenes very well. She also passed off as a high-schooler better than Ki Do Hoon, despite the fact that she's five years his senior, but I guess that's the power of female hairstyles! My only complaint about her character is that I wish she had been a little more creative writing her own fate. I mean, she is a talented scriptwriter that even a god stole from.

Park Sang Nam's Shin Myeong had good chemistry with Ki Do Hoon's Shin Ho Yoon, echoing the Goblin-Reaper duo from Goblin, what should come as no surprise as writer Kim Eun Sook is a producer for this show. They even paid homage to that iconic walking scene in the first episode. Unlike Ho Yoon, Myeong comes across as less devoted to his duties and more lazy. He himself admits to a disapproving Samshin that he copy-pastes destinies, but also makes an interesting point about only writing main events so that humans can fill in the gaps themselves. I'll let you decide whether this is really his intention or just an attempt to placate Samshin's anger. Consequently, his transition from a somewhat lazy god to a more serious one towards the end of the show was unexpected, but I guess it stands to reason given his worries about Ho Yoon, plus one shouldn't forget he's actually the older god. I do believe the show wasted an incredible opportunity to have Shin Myeong be the linchpin of our story.

Ho Yoon shields precious Samshin from Myeong's words on how to passionately express love.

As for the characters of Jeong Ba Reum and Samshin, I can say the former was functional to the plot and gets immediately sidelined once that function is completed, while the latter definitely stole every scene she was in (and she's 14!). I would've loved to have seen more of her, even though I feel her arc was a little disconnected from the overall storyline and could've been tied better if the last episode had gone in a different direction.

Execution

What if that something are meteorites?

The show has a lot of fun making fun of kdrama tropes, either through Che Gyeong's job as a scriptwriter or through the gods of destiny themselves, who take turns between being writers and viewers when coming up with the destinies of mortals. When Ho Yoon is having trouble understanding "the depth within humans which is beyond divine comprehension" (aka love), Myeong steps in to give him some advice on how "For love to happen you need to isolate them," stranding the pair in an island somewhere and having them stay in an inn with only one room available. Other gems from Shin Myeong include, "They got rained on, they're cold, their clothes are soaked. If they start a fire, we're 90% there." and "A woman always falls for a man who takes care of her when she's sick. Under one condition. He has to be good-looking." If you ask me, I think Myeong has been watching too many kdramas. Unfortunately for him, so has Che Gyeong, who makes her living writing them.

Are they gods or kdrama fans?

As you can see, there's a lot of comedy to be found in the gods' numerous, and failed, attempts to get Ba Reum and Che Gyeong together. However, as I mentioned before, the character of Ba Reum is mostly functional. We learn little to nothing of who he is, how his life has been, what his dreams are, what is a bit off considering he's supposed to be Ho Yoon's "masterpiece." With Ho Yoon and Che Gyeong slowly starting to get closer, as the former tries his best to understand the nebulous concept of love, Ba Reum falls into the background, what isn't really much of a shame as he doesn't contribute a whole lot in the second half of the show, to the point he could've been taken out completely with slight rewrites here and there.

The writing is similarly flimsy when it comes to the rules of the universe. For instance, early on it is stated that whatever gets written on a fate book cannot be erased, and yet when a character accidentally spills coffee on his fate book the ink on the page vanishes as if it were Voldemort's diary (there is also another instance of writing mysteriously vanishing that isn't explained). In another case, it is stated that anyone who knew a certain character got their memories of that character erased, yet one (very secondary) character still seems to be able to recall everything. These sort of plot contrivances are odd in that they are unnecessary and could've been worked around with relative ease.

It means we have a problem, that's what it means.

Another, more important, mystery that doesn't get explained is how Ho Yoon is able to "resurrect" multiple times. One of the rules of the universe states that any god who interferes with mortals, beyond the scope of their duties, and develops feelings for them, gets the Thanos treatment. However, it is eventually revealed that Shin Ho Yoon got the boot several times for this and yet was able to return every single time, with his memories erased. No explanation is provided for this and, instead, the show suggests, in the last scene of the last episode, that this is the case for all gods, as we see a couple of them return from extinction.

Personally, I feel there was a lot of potential left untapped here and this relates directly to my comment on how Shin Myeong should've been the linchpin of the entire story. If you'll recall the web drama One More Time, the reason why the male lead was stuck in a time loop was because of a contradiction that arose in the terms of the contract made between the female lead and the Grim Reaper. In a similar vein, I think the show could've suggested that Myeong first met Ho Yoon as a human kid and maybe wrote for him a fate that implied him falling in love or something similar. However, the human Ho Yoon died before that fate could occur and so became the god of destiny Shin Ho Yoon, destined to continuously "resurrect" until he could embrace his fate. A loophole such as this one could've neatly explained Ho Yoon's rebirth cycle.

The ending itself was a little underwhelming and it's easy to understand why, as it it suggested that Ho Yoon and Che Gyeong are stuck in an endless loop of the former falling in love with the latter and vanishing, with Che Gyeong being the only one able to remember all of their interactions. As fates go, it's rather depressing so it doesn't really jibe well when the show's upbeat main theme starts playing at the end. When I did my episode recaps for the show I suggested that, with some rewrites, we could've made Episode 9 the series finale and the show would've been better for it. How?

Imagine at some point in the show both characters remember everything, perhaps at that wind/lamb farm where Che Gyeong desperately calls out for Ho Yoon who, instead of running to her, walks away out of fear of vanishing for good this time. I would've planted seeds throughout the show suggesting Ho Yoon is developing emotions yet isn't vanishing from some inexplicable reason, and there are already some seeds of this in place. Perhaps he has a talk with Myeong about how strange that is and decides to see how far he can take it. The show would end as Episode 9 did, with Ho Yoon returning to Che Gyeong and asking for a caramel macchiato, the most expensive item. They both smile at the reference to their past encounter and we cut to credits with the main theme playing in the background. Ho Yoon's actions could serve to inspire other gods of destiny to try and write their own fates, like how Samshin (even though she's not a god of destiny) follows in his footsteps and decides to attend school.

Music

If you've read any of my reviews, you know that, usually, all of my recommended shows are accompanied by a soundtrack that not only has good music in it but that is used at the right time. This show has some very good tracks that stand out from their more atmospheric counterparts, such as Lee So Jung's "Skyline" (the show's main theme), Jeong Sewoon's "Time Machine," and Yongmin Ryu's "Chaotic." As far as instrumentals tracks are concerned, the obvious standout bar none is "The Deity of Fate." Other instrumental tracks aren't bad but they just can't hold a candle to this magical piece by Yongmin Ryu that has traces of Hotel del Luna's excellent soundtrack.

A couple of examples that prove how these tracks are expertly used include the end of Episode 7, that shows us how Ho Yoon and Che Gyeong first met through a flashback, with "The Deity of Fate" followed by "Skyline," and another scene in Episode 9, where Ho Yoon recalls his past and we see a quick transition between different days at Che Gyeong's coffee shop as she serves him a caramel macchiato, with "Time Machine" playing in the background. However, in the same way Ho Yoon conjures up a magenta pink moon to distract Che Gyeong, I do believe the show sometimes relies on such scenes to divert your attention from some of its plot holes or inconsistencies, hoping their beauty and poetic nature will thwart any deeper analysis that it might not withstand. It's up to you to decide whether you can let it slide or not.

Conclusions

In short, Scripting your Destiny is a fun show that doesn't take itself too seriously and that successfully creates a universe and characters I'd love to see more of, while trying to convey a timeless love story that has elements of One More Time, Goblin, and Angel's Last Mission: Love. I don't believe it succeeds in this respect, certainly nowhere close to the OTPs in any of those shows, in no small part because Shin Ho Yoon never makes that transition from deity to boyfriend that is present in shows like Goblin and Angel's Last Mission: Love. The romance between Shin Ho Yoon and Go Che Gyeong is one that looks good on paper and should've translated better to the screen. Having said that, their interactions are quite fun to watch and one could certainly envision a future where the two become a couple, provided Ho Yoon somehow manages to stop getting lobotomized. It's a shame but the series finale makes it lose several points as it doesn't make the most of the show's premise or message.

Would I recommend it? If you've watched and enjoyed the other shows I mentioned, yes, absolutely. Despite its flaws, which can be considered relatively minor to an extent (this is a web drama after all), Scripting your Destiny is still a much better investment than many kdramas and at a fraction of their time, and the comedy value of seeing how it makes fun of kdrama tropes again and again cannot be discounted. You're bound to have a good laugh for sure. Additionally, it features some gorgeous and creative (look at that last picture!) VFX-enhanced sets that rival fantasy dramas like Tale of the Nine-Tailed, which definitely had a larger budget and tried to recapture some of that Goblin magic but couldn't. And if you haven't watched the shows I mentioned watch this one anyway so we can have more good web or mini dramas (Handmade Love is an excellent one that runs the length of a movie) that give kdramas a run for their money. Until the next one!

[oh-lali-lali-lali-lalipop]

@mysteriousdbzgt: Hi oh-lali-lali-lali-lalipop! Thank you for your ask. First of all, thanks for asking this question here on my personal (and also for the follow over on t&bftw, welcome aboard! :D) I think you can probably tell from here, that I’m a huge supporter of them becoming romantically involved lol I don’t shy about that here, but I like to present a more neutral stance over on my news dedicated blog, to not influence others of my personal opinions. With regards to the new season, as much as I would be supportive of it, I unfortunately highly doubt that they would become “official” in S2 or anything in the future, but will remain extremely dedicated and attentive to one another, regardless of their constant bickering. The creators of the show are more than aware of the popularity of the “couple”, being constantly popular at doujinshi events and the continuous amounts of merchandise that they bring out, which regularly focuses on the main duo rather than all of the Heroes all the time. The fandom is primarily dominated by women, when originally the show was supposed to target men and “salarymen”, but attracted a completely different demographic that they hadn’t anticipated. I can only think that’s mainly because of the appeal of K&B. Also not helped by some of the staff’s, let’s just say, “unfiltered” thoughts when they discuss about K & B in older interviews, centering around “love” and other similar notions. I think they still want to keep this series aimed towards a male demographic, even if the results don’t line up as they expect. But highly ironically, it’s what makes the show successful, so I doubt they would want to change how they portray Kotetsu and Barnaby’s relationship. Personally I would be absolutely over the moon if they did become “official”, because they’re just perfect for one another (hehe) and it could just break so many standard conventions/boundaries on how media portrays same-sex relationships, if done appropriately, and not be labelled with any genre tags like “BL”, “yaoi” or anything similar, and still simply just be a “drama”, “superhero” tale, with the two main males eventually getting together but not make a big song and dance about it. If we want to normalise LGBT relationships within our media and what we consume, then we need to drop these tags and portray them in a healthy manner, which I think the show does well between them both. I believe that the staff have the talent to pull it off, they just need to be cautious on how they do it. Like you said, how FE is presented in the show which such great self confidence about themselves and who they are, really shows that they can write this. Also T&B’s spiritual successor show, Double Decker (who had a lot of the same staff) tackles some LGBT themes pretty well, so they could absolutely do it. But yeah, I don’t think they’ll become “official” unfortunately. But if anything, I anticipate that KxB will most likely be working even closer together in S2, so they’ll be more in tune with one another, and possibly open up even more to each other than they did before. Hopefully they’ll be over the huge feuds and split apart phase, which The Rising focused on (they’ll still bicker all the time, but that’s just how they are), so we can see just how far their relationship has come and changed for the better. Anyway this is probably way too long (sorry), but always interested to hear your thoughts too! :)  

Heya! Before I start I just wanna say thank you so much for taking the time to give me such a thorough reply, it is incredibly well thought out and written! I also want to say I am so freaking sorry you had to type out my monstrosity of a name (seriously didn’t think about that when making the joke lol). Oh, and I’m equally sorry for the formatting of the reply... really had no clue how to go about it, so I just defaulted to going about it the roleplayer way haha. Anyways, for starters, I think I should say that I actually agree with you a lot. You see, logically I think it feels highly unlikely they’d make them “official” in the new season. I’m not sure if I feel like it’s unlikely because I, someone who’s in the LGBTQ community, am a pessimist (aka, I’m negative regardless of proof) who is use to companies not delivering on it/assume companies won’t deliver on it.... or if I’m genuinely, but unconsciously, picking up on Sunrise’s stance of “not gonna happen”. Despite all that I still feel stupidly hopeful about it (y’know, heart louder than the mind and all that jazz)... and I guess for the sake of the discussion I’ll break down why! lol So, I got into the fandom.... around the time of The Rising, I think, so anywhere from 2014 to 2015. I instantly fell in love with it all, but I did end up falling out of the loop for awhile (being a teenager and all that). Recently (recently being that I finished S1 on Friday, watched The Rising on Sunday, and now I’m here lol) I got back into it and.... wow, a lot of it is the same, and.... at the same time it felt like I had so much more to process. It’s still as amazing as ever, if not even more so, and just like with everything else I love with my entire being I started to analyze it and read into it (maybe a little bit too much so lol).  In all honesty, KxB seriously stood out even more so than it did last time for me (I don’t know if it’s because I’m now accepting of my sexuality or what) and while it’s not actually the best part of the series to me (God, Barnaby’s arc means so much to me what with me struggling with cPTSD, but that story is best left on my RP blog) I do have to admit that the pairing is... incredibly meaningful, and beautiful. Moving for me, really.  I guess the following observations, and hopeful thinking that came after it, could be deduced to me just wearing shipper goggles, but considering my habit of over analyzing and breaking things down... I do try to make predictions and opinions logically, and with that in mind it’s why I’m so stuck on the “hopeful thinking”, since a tiny bit of logical thinking is fueling it. Tiger & Bunny is about human relationships, really. For a show focusing on NEXTs... it’s really about humanity, corruption, society, relationships... and KxB all along the first season is written as an undertone, like a slow burn (which is entirely fitting, and seriously makes any relationship better), which fits because the first season is, in actuality, not focused on that (the plot being bigger than we can see and all that). In the end, having rewatched it, I also noticed how, really, the undertone is written in such a way that.... it feels like Barnaby is the one with the “crush” (or is the first one to realize it) which... kinda fits with the old statements from the crew. Kotetsu the forever oblivious one who hasn’t had an epiphany yet (although if I’m being honest, The Rising seems to have this “side-plot” feeling of Kotetsu having the epiphany when he realizes what he’s lost, which is what I meant by the flow of the series somewhat feels like it’s building towards it)...  .... There’s also the whole “leaving it to interpretation thing” they said back then. Which, I have to agree with some other people that it feels like it’s just a way of saying “it’s romantic but we don’t want to take that risk”.... and that was back around 2011. It’ll have been decade since then when S2 is released, and, while a decade is just a decade, a lot has changed on a societal basis since then. Even during this decade long gap Sunrise has become more bold with their representation, whether it be Double Decker! or The Rising.... almost like they’re testing the waters...  and what better way to champion representation than to make two main characters the representation? This franchise is... so human in it’s story, and the meaning doing such a thing would have for so many people... in a way, I think out ways some of the risks. I feel like the build up is there, the want is there (tbh seeing posts on tumblr of people talking about how they hope they’ll get a kiss in S2 or something “official” like that also fueled this)... it just depends on whether they’ll feel afraid or not. Which is, really, why I asked for your opinion. You do such good work at trying to bridge the gap between the Japanese fandom/Sunrise and the English speaking community (which, btw, you are amazing at, I can’t thank you enough for the work you do), and I knew you’d be more informed on Sunrise’s attitude and statements, as well as the general opinions and depositions of the Japanese fans. In the end, I can “read into” things all I want, but it won’t matter if you can’t understand the one who pulls the strings... and because of that I wanted to know your opinion.  I’m so so sorry this got so long!! I’m really horrible at summarizing myself, so this turned into a major ramble.... I’m gonna wrap it up now before this turns into a novel haha. Again, thank you so much for responding to my question and for being open to discussing it, it means so much! I truly respect your opinion, since it helps me clear my own thoughts, as well as gives me a dose of reality so I don’t get my hopes up too much... I guess in the end though, a part of me is going to continue to think that they just might have the heart to do it, irregardless lol. I look forwards to seeing what you have to say about what I’ve written here!

[ppatpranss]

GAYA SA PELIKULA EP. 02 Review: Let’s talk about that dinner scene.

“May nahanap ka na bang mauuwian?”

I always have this kind of fear over a series that I already liked in the first episode: a fear that the second one will not live up to it, and so will the rest. But Gaya Sa Pelikula on its second episode did not disappoint, and instead set a whole new pace that further strengthens the story it wants to tell. In this episode, you get easy banters, hilarious make-believe and intriguing fantasies, heartwarming softness, a piercing tension at every turn, that very subtle buildup of romance, and of course, that wonderful conversation on the dining table.

Early warning that I have been gushing about the dinner scene since last night, so it will take up a lot of space in this review/discussion.

[WATCH EPISODE 02 HERE]

What sets Gaya apart

Every time I watch an episode of this show and would rewatch it, I am always overwhelmed with the amount of observations I am able to write down. There are a lot of elements that make this such a good watching experience, and all of those elements just naturally come together. By this, I mean that it does not rely solely on, say, just directing or writing or acting. All of these come together, and I appreciate that you can clearly see how well-thought out everything is.

Episode 02 is a lot more free-flowing and non-structured in my opinion. Transitions feel a lot smoother this time compared to the more scene-after-scene approach of the (no less incredible) pilot episode. Because of this, I actually feel like this point is the real beginning of the story – that this sets the tone for a lot of the future events that could possibly happen between Karl and Vlad, and the people in their lives.

Personally, this is what sets Gaya apart not just among the BL series, but also in Philippine TV in general. For the longest time, we got used to stagnant or repetitive conflicts. Sometimes all the drama are injected to overwhelm the audience. But this one takes its time well. This is a show that wants to bring its audience along its every journey.

Parallels, heartbreaks, buildups

The opening scene picks up where we left off, with Ate Judit now writing a check for Karl’s rent because Vlad will stay over. She reminds Karl that while she’s a cool sister, she won’t stand for her brother getting hurt again. With this, she specifically mentioned “a boy too sweet to swat a fly” who broke his brother’s heart before.

First of all, I’m getting a sudden whiplash whenever this is brought up because I know exactly who it is. Given the first encounter of Karl with Vlad, where he saw him drunkenly dancing to a song about intense heartbreak (again, stream tyl by kakie!), it must have been something truly painful. It doesn’t help as well that there is an obvious parallel going on here with the fact that the description also fits Karl. At one point, Vlad also tells him that he does not need to worry because he looks like someone who does not have a power to hurt him anyway. They are really setting us up as early as now for the heartache, no?

In the same way, I appreciate how this show inserts the sexual attraction also forming between the two of them. Sexual attraction is a part of romance. Gaya normalizes it and emphasizes that it is just natural. The couch scene was particularly genius because of the double meanings of Karl and Vlad’s exchange. But more than that, I like how it also unapologetically shows the physical component of that attraction by having Karl and Vlad sit close together. Vlad even has his arm around Karl. Even the fact that Karl stared at Vlad when he got out of the bathroom was a nice touch.

While the One More Chance dream fantasy was all sorts of hilarious and sexy, it is a testament to how Karl’s subconscious is already telling him something that he keeps on denying. I also like the nice touch there when Karl woke up, he was just disoriented that he had a dirty dream, but not disgusted by it (there are some series and dramas that do this). He is attracted to Vlad. However, for Karl to accept his feelings, it also means that he needs to accept his sexuality. A point which was discussed primarily in the scene before this – the conversation at the dining table.

The phenomenal dinner scene

I wish I am able to give justice to this scene through words, and I’ll try because we need to talk about it (or I need to talk about it). As a fan of films and TV series, I feel like conversations are the most difficult to bring to the surface. You need to keep the audience’s attention while also making sure that the depth is there. For me, what I always look for in conversation scenes are three things: (1) how normal these conversations would sound like as if you are overhearing them from the table next to you; (2) how a director captures the rawness of the exchange between the two actors; and (3) how natural would the delivery be of each line. I think the third point is very important. Some actors have this tendency to talk in a certain kind of perky tone that makes it sound superficial. Thank goodness, both Ian and Pao were really great in this scene.

Of course, the most well-known example for a good conversation scene is the entire Before trilogy – it remains the gold standard for exhibiting the power and the magic of conversations, of an entire film with just these two people talking and forming connections. While this dinner scene isn’t exactly a Before levels type of perfection, to me it was a perfect scene in the face of BL series and the Philippines TV landscape in general.

𝗚𝗮𝘆. 𝗕𝗮𝗸𝗹𝗮. 𝗕𝗮𝘆𝗼𝘁. 𝗕𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁. 𝗜𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗲𝘂𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗺. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁.

One of the things best highlighted in this scene is when Karl did the gesture with his hand. That is unfortunately common in the Philippines, with people literally doing it to your face when they ask you. Or some of them done behind your back with matching giggling and knowing looks. I should know because I’ve seen it among my relatives when they try to refer to or describe a cousin or an uncle who is gay or might be gay. Karl was conditioned to think this way, and it’s no surprise that he would struggle to ask the question and get the word out. Meanwhile, Vlad is confident in his own skin. He doesn’t miss a beat and tries to get Karl to say the words in a way that both lectures him and encourages him.

This is what makes the scene purely amazing. It is confrontational, but it is not dramatic. It isn’t even preachy at all. It’s just a seemingly ordinary conversation between two people over a meal, trying to get to know and understand each other. You really got to hand it to Severo for constructing a dialogue this way because it also brings out both of Karl and Vlad’s current disposition. Moreover, this topic is a big deal and there are a lot of conversations that need to be had around it. But this scene easily summed it up around that one simple gesture. In less than a minute, it was able to tell you that being called gay, bakla, bayot, bading is not an insult. No grand monologue was needed.

Aside from that iconic exchange, I also loved the second part of it. It’s not going around much on Twitter so I can see some people reacting to the earlier exchange as if Karl was really just insulting Vlad. But the deal here is, Karl is also in the process of unlearning his bias and conditioning. He grew up in a household where his Dad would take digs against his gay uncle, Tito Santi. There’s even a hint of Tito Santi being physically hurt by his father if he’s “babakla-bakla” (basically another insulting way of saying lalambot-lambot). You can just imagine how difficult it must have been for him to grow up and feel like he needs to follow a certain path that his parents see for him.

Hence, when confronted by Vlad with the question, “Ikaw ba, bakla ka?” he was defensive. His tone shot up much higher than normal and was almost panicked. You can literally feel all of his guard come up. Vlad asked him why he was acting like he just accused him of a crime, and to his credit, Karl immediately apologized. But again, I just really understand Karl and I can’t wait for him to really see himself and get to know himself. There is so much about him that I am interested to learn and for him to learn as well about himself. I always see him as like a kid learning to take his first steps – he stumbles but tries to stand again even for just the sake of himself. His many mess-ups in life make his character compelling… and I guess this is just me on my #ProtectKarlAgenda.

Interestingly, as per Direk JP, above scene references an iconic scene from Jose Javier Reyes’ 1993 rom-com film MAY MINAMAHAL which, coincidentally, I just watched last month when I found its restored version on iWant. Amazing as well that the specific scene of them having a meal together was really my favourite from the film because it was a turning point for Carlitos (Aga Muhlach) and Monica (Aiko Melendez). It was when they finally start to get to know each other because for the longest time, they would just flirt in the cafeteria. It was a fitting reference because for Karl and Vlad, they are already starting to get to know each other by sharing even a small part of themselves. I also find it adorable watching Karl watch Vlad messily eat his food. I live for those small soft moments because it just seems so pure and innocent.

All in all, the dinner scene truly delivered. It was iconic and powerful. Major props to Gege and Direk JP, but also to both Ian and Pao. I loved how Pao was able to capture Karl’s reluctance and embarrassment, and Ian just exudes the confidence you need to see in Vlad. How can I describe this connection? Magnetic, I guess? They can easily throw these lines at each other, sustain the tension, and kind of just get lost in it. At every turn, Vlad has the power in this scene as he tries to pull Karl towards him, but also Karl stands on his own ground despite being unsure. I appreciate that about Karl – his life can be a mess, but he never really loses his sense of self and principles.

Finding a home

Aside from everything that happened in this episode, one of the things that I definitely loved is its subtle hint of these two people finding a home in each other. The most striking line for me, really, was when Karl asked Vlad, may nahanap ka na bang mauuwian? I like that this can translate to have you found a place to stay in? and have you found a place to go home to? The episode had such a great run in double meanings, and this one takes the cake more than anything. Karl was starting to feel guilty about kicking out Vlad, and it also happens that over his phone call with Tito Santi, he told him to always find a way to repay kindness with paying it forward to another person or to the community. Luckily, Vlad went back to his apartment to use the restroom.

When Vlad was about to leave, Karl called him back and asked, “Nag-dinner ka na ba?”

Vlad stayed for dinner.

When Vlad was done with dinner and was about to leave again, Karl stopped him and said, “Dito ka na lang matulog.”

Vlad stayed the night.

When Vlad was about to leave to come live with his ex-boyfriend after cooking breakfast as a thank-you, Karl offered him a place to stay, “Will you be my housemate?”

Vlad said yes and stayed.

Epilogue

In today’s epilogue, Karl is still seated on his side of the couch, but Vlad this time was standing at the back of the other side, leaning forward. A stuffed whale occupies the space beside Karl. Every now and then, the two of them would look at each other but it is Karl who would often glance back at Vlad – as to what his eyes are telling him, I don’t know. But if I am allowed to guess, perhaps he was trying to get him to sit beside him? Perhaps, as the closing note goes, there is always a space for Vlad there.

Comments; Ramblings

It’s only the second episode but Gaya is already sparking conversations and it does it in such an engaging way for its many fans. For me, this one really sets the foundation for what is yet to come for the story of Karl and Vlad. If anything, this episode emphasizes that struggle will always be a part of queer love, at least in our current socio-political climate. It isn’t just in regard to identity, but also with everything that comes with the acceptance of who you are by yourself and the Other.

For the pilot episode discussion, I talked about how there seems to be a running theme in this show about seeing – of looking at yourself, the other, or a beloved. This episode shows us Karl seeing Vlad; closely and slowly starting to unravel what it was about him that compels him. For Vlad’s part, I’m pretty sure he’s starting to see who Karl is, too. I feel like him feeling comfortable enough with the idea of staying in Karl’s place and actually living with him over the sem break is an indication of strangely feeling at ease (home?) with someone he just met.

The concept of persons as homes takes me back to a post from a Facebook page called Bibliophile, which was lifted from a poem written by Warsan Shire called ‘For Women Who Are Difficult to Love’: “You can’t make homes out of human beings. Someone should have already told you that.” This episode made me think a lot about that. On one hand, it feels romantic and uplifting to know that you have someone you can call your home, someone you can always return to as Yiu-fai put it in HAPPY TOGETHER [1997]. On the other hand, it feels scary because people change and if today the door and the windows are open, it might not be the same the next day. But I suppose I can feel hopeful for both Karl and Vlad. Perhaps, the door to Karl’s apartment will always be open for Vlad and the space beside the couch will always be reserved for him.

--

Gaya Sa Pelikula airs new episodes every Friday 8PM (Manila time) on Globe Studios’ Youtube channel.

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GAYA SA PELIKULA Ep 01 Review [x]

[kristallioness]

2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019

*arrives a month late*... Happy 2021 to all of you, my dear followers! *raises a glass* It seems that my tendency to finish my artwork or personal posts on time has only gotten worse over time (I blame work *lol*). Oh well, better late than never, since there are things I would still like to take with me from this extraordinary year of 2020.

It is cringeworthy that I have two huge red X-s this year. But after I'd put these puzzle pieces together, I remembered far too well what was going on in my (work) life at the time, so it's completely understandable why I didn't have the time nor the energy to draw at all during those two months.

What were those typical statistics that I wrote about again to compare the years? *goes to read last year's post*.. Oh, right! In 2020, I managed to finish 3 full digital drawings (from the months of April, July and December) as well as work on several sketches. I wrote 28,154 words worth of fanfiction (oohh, that's a lot better than previous year), plus 3,126 words in English (I dare say I wrote an equal amount in Estonian) for the prompts I got during UYLD (making the total 31,280 words, which is quite impressive!).

I finished reading the 1st Kyoshi novel in the evening of the 20th and slightly past midnight on the 21st December (barely before the holidays, but I set this goal for myself and I did it!). Am already looking forward to starting with the 2nd part some time this year. Besides that, I ordered and received all the other new Avatar books that came out (3rd part of "Ruins of the Empire", "Katara and the Pirate's Silver", "Legacy of the Fire Nation") as well as BOTH Avatar series DVD sets (I still can't believe I found these on sale on some random online store in Estonia, but these are now among my most prized possessions!).

I finally started my Avatar rewatch last January, but merely got to the Ba Sing Se episodes in Book 2 (I need to continue with "The Earth King") and now it's been 5 YEARS since I last saw Korra. Reading through my journal personal posts from last year, I know far too well that it's not about rushing through it as fast as possible. Instead, I should enjoy the ride and continue watching the episodes when I'm well rested and in the right mood. That way I'll end up feeling much more at peace.

As for the entire year as a whole? I don't think anyone in this world of ours was prepared for the way this decade would begin - with an uncontrollable pandemic, the virus of which is randomly attacking and threatening to wipe out the weakest amongst us. If any of you (or even if you know someone who) have lost a loved one to this plague, there is not much else I can offer but my sincerest condolences! Me, my family, friends and colleagues seem to have managed to avoid catching it so far. *spits 3 x over her shoulder*

I had such high hopes for this year in so many ways. Event-wise I was looking forward to watching the Eurovision Song Contest in May (where Uku Suviste was supposed to represent Estonia for the 1st time ever after so many unfortunate failures to get selected as the winner of our local competition), the European Football Championships in June (asking my colleagues which countries they support, perhaps make fun bets / guesses with them to see whose team would win the matches), the Tokyo Olympic Games in July-August, the President of Estonia (Mrs. Kersti Kaljulaid) coming to visit my hometown to celebrate our Victory Day by taking part in the parade together with the Defence Forces (after 15 years *sigh*)...

I will always remember my last big event, which took place when life used to be "normal", so to say. It was the 102nd anniversary of Estonia on the 24th of February, when I took part of all the most important celebrations in Tallinn on our Independence Day, FULL-TIME (whenever I scroll through my Facebook timeline, I see the photos I uploaded of that day, my heart melts and I smile fondly). But the day after that.. utter hell broke loose. We had our first infected person in the country.

I will also remember the last day I went to work in "normal" conditions. Friday, the 13th of March (typically my lucky day-number combination): I missed the tram I wanted to get on in the morning, at work my team received great news that one of our colleague's family had grown bigger by a new tiny member the day before, we had our last team lunch together, we discussed the safety measures that we should take and joked about what might happen next week, I took the bus home instead of the tram (as the tram's route came from the airport and that place was considered to be more dangerous and with a higher risk of catching this virus).. It was another 2.5 weeks later by then (since the 25th of February) - Estonia (along with the rest of Europe) went into full lockdown.

The beginning was frightening and people were on edge, nobody really knew what to do nor what was gonna happen next. But in time, things began to shake into place and everybody developed a comfortable routine for remote work, including figuring out how to get everyday things done (such as grocery shopping). I found solace in taking photographs of various beautiful bird species, who began to fly around and serenaded me during spring, visiting the trees around my "nest" i.e. rented apartment (with a pair of them ACTUALLY building a nest in the chestnut tree right beside my window, thus turning me into a protective godmother of their chicks).

To be honest, I was awestruck by the positive / surprising aftermath of this lockdown: how the world / environment began to heal itself from the pollution that was normally caused by humans. I was taken aback by how dead silent our usually loud capital became in my neighbourhood (I could only hear trams passing by my house according to their schedules, practically no cars whatsoever, streets were empty of people.. absolute silence).

By May-June, things started to look up in Estonia (as well as the rest of Europe) and people were allowed to start travelling / moving around more freely. During my vacation in July, I managed to go to my last (open air) event (for the rest of the year) under these new "corona" conditions and ended up having a blast at the Open Farm Days in my home county for the first time.

Our country's shining moment came during the first week of September, when we hosted the first ever Rally Estonia of the World Rally Championship (WRC), where our very own Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja won. The event was so well organized and successful that nobody caught the virus nor did the spectators / participants spread it to others, which surely must've helped in ensuring us a spot in the WRC calendar for 2021 as well.

The remainder of the year was rather dull, with the exception of the US Presidential elections in November, when we were all holding our breaths that Joe Biden would win (congratulations, my American friends!). This eventually led to the painful downfall of THE WORST government the Republic of Estonia has ever had, and to the rise of our first female Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas (both happening in January 2021, I couldn't believe it all spiralled so soon, ha-ha!).

Anyways, during the last 4 months, work was very stressful and driving me nuts, so badly that when I eventually went on vacation before Christmas, I had a slight anxiety disorder that wouldn't let me relax for several days (luckily it went away just as quickly once I began to take it easy and managed to get some proper rest / sleep).

In hindsight, I kind of get this weird feeling as if I saw this whole thing coming, given how actively I was living my life throughout 2019. My final year of the 2010's was so full of important events and personal achievements. It's almost as if something mysterious inside was driving me, telling me to visit all the places and do all the things I wanted to do, cause I wouldn't have this sort of a chance again for a very long time.

This must be the main reason why I am thankful for 2020 for going the way it did. Sure, I'm disappointed that a lot of events were cancelled, that so many people have had to leave this world so soon due to this unpredictable disease.. But I think there are so many lessons to take from what came out of all of this. I believe the world needed some sort of a restart or break, given in what direction we were headed (politically, economically, environmentally, socially etc.). I'm just sorry it's had to come with such a high price of innocent lives.

I have even higher hopes for 2021, given how amazingly January has already passed for me and my country, and what is to come in my hometown in February. Let's take the lessons learned from 2020 with us and keep on heading back towards the "normal" lifestyle we used to know. Except this time, let's improve our ways, put all the hatred behind us, be more considerate, keep a distance, stay safe, but still try to make the world a better place for everyone. Thank you so much for reading, for remaining by my side, and for your support and love throughout the years, my friends! I hope to see you all alive and healthy at the end of the white metal ox year of 2021! *virtual hugs*

[tomeandflickcorner]

Umbrella Academy Rewatch 1x04

1x01 1x02 1x03

Before I start the rewatch for this episode, there’s something I need to comment on.  Vanya’s pills.  It seems that she doesn’t have a set schedule for taking them.  She just whips them out whenever something has upset her.  In my experience, prescription pills are something you have to take at set intervals.  But in the case of Vanya, there doesn’t appear to be any set interval.  They just show us her taking them at random, as if to remind us that she takes these pills.  While there will probably be some narrative reason for this, realistically it makes it look as if Klaus isn’t the only one with a drug addiction.

So, we kick off this episode with the story behind Luther’s ape body.  Seven years prior, Luther was the only one still living at the Umbrella Academy mansion.  As such, he was the only one among his siblings who was still under Reginald’s thumb.  One evening, he was sent out on a mission involving some sort of dangerous chemical substance.  When he went out to deal with it, he had a serious accident that nearly killed him.  In a desperate attempt to save his life, Reginald injected Luther with a serum.  And it was that serum that gave Luther the ape body.

Flash forward to the present day.  Luther and Allison find Grace’s shut down body.  But they seem to think Hazel and Cha-Cha were the ones who shut her down.  They don’t seem to realize Diego did it.  Allison also tries to reach out to Luther over the discovery of his ape body, but he shuts her down, as he doesn’t want to discuss it.

Elsewhere, Vanya has just woken up at Leonard’s place, where she appears to have spent the night.  Leonard brings her some coffee and offers to walk her to her violin rehearsal.  Briefly, Vanya has a brief moment of panic, realizing that she’s out of her pills, since she hadn’t realized that she was going to stay over and forgot to grab her refill from her apartment.  She explains that she takes the pills for her nerves (which I guess explains why she takes them so randomly), but Leonard assures her that she should be fine without them for one day.  In any event, they proceed to walk to the concert hall together.  Along the way, they discuss their childhoods, with Vanya admitting she often felt like she had to apologize for merely existing.  Leonard, in turn, tells her that he can relate, as his own father never seemed to forgive him for being born, and his mother wasn’t around.  Before they part, Leonard again invites Vanya out on a dinner date, and she accepts.

Back at their motel room, Hazel and Cha-Cha are trying to torture Klaus for information about Number 5.  But their efforts seem to be in vain, as Klaus seems completely immune to whatever form of torture they try.  Klaus proceeds to mock them for picking him to interrogate, saying that nobody ever tells him anything, and it’s doubtful anyone will even notice he’s gone.  Which is...actually really heartbreaking when you think about it.

Diego ends up seeking out Detective Patch, who discusses the series of cases she’s been dealing with, from the incident at Griddy’s Donuts, to the case of the dead tow truck driver and finally the department store shootout.  She goes on to say she discovered the dead tow truck driver didn’t have any family, meaning the little boy who Agnes saw him with wasn’t his kid.  Diego, not seeming to make the connection between the mysterious little boy and Number 5, informs Detective Patch that his mother died last night, which leads to Detective Patch offering her sympathies, as she remembered Diego was particularly close to his mother.  Diego then tells Detective Patch that the two masked people she’s looking for had been in at his house that night and tried to kill his family, as they were looking for Number 5.  Which prompted him to try and follow them, but he apparently failed to track them down.  Detective Patch urges Diego to not try to go after them again, as he’s not equipped to handle this.  But Diego doesn’t listen, once again asking Detective Patch to try things his way for once.  Detective Patch insists that she can’t.  And so, they part ways, acknowledging that perhaps it was inevitable that their relationship didn’t last.

Over at Vanya’s apartment, Allison stops by, trying to look for her sister.  But of course, she’s not home, as she’s still at rehersal.  However, she notices someone lurking around the apartment.  Thinking it’s a burglar or something worse, she’s quick to jump him, but then sees it’s Leonard.  Understandably, Allison asks him what he was doing there.  Leonard says he was dropping off Vanya’s keys, as she left them at his place, but stuck around because he had to use the bathroom.  But then, Leonard turns it around and questions why Allison was at Vanya’s place, stating that she didn’t seem to want anything to do with Vanya the night before.  Which, I must say, seems completely out of line.  Allison seems to take personal offense to this, stating her reasons for seeking out Vanya are none of his business.  She then insists that Leonard give her Vanya’s keys so she can return them herself.

Allison then makes it down to the concert hall and waits outside for Vanya.  When Vanya comes out after the rehersal lets out, she is surprised to see Allison there.  Allison, after returning Vanya’s keys, informs her that Grace is gone, stating Hazel and Cha-Cha were the ones who did it.  Allison then tries to apologize for what she said last night, when she made it sound as if she didn’t want her around, but Vanya waves the apology away.  However, she does agree to go get a drink with Allison.  They head off to a bar, where Allison tells Vanya how Leonard had been lurking around her apartment, even though he’d told her that he had been heading off to work.  However, even though Allison is pointing out some pretty major red flags about Leonard, Vanya still admits to liking him, as he was the first person who made her feel special.  Allison admits she knows how that feels, though she states she hadn’t experienced a feeling like that since they were kids.

Which leads to the first real indication that... there might have been something going on between Luther and Allison in the past.  Something that went beyond a normal sibling relationship.  And I just have to say that is just unbelievably creepy.  And before anyone can say something, no.  It does not matter that Luther and Allison are not actually blood relatives.  They were still raised as brother and sister.  Therefore, they’e talking about incest, and I am not okay with it.

Anyway, the sisterly bonding time continues with Allison and Vanya returning to Vanya’s apartment.  It looks like they’re gearing up for a sister sleepover or something.  But before they could get to it, Vanya discovers that Leonard left a bouquet of flowers for her.  She gives him a call to thank him, but this leads to the viewing audience learning that Leonard had actually made off with her pills when he’d broken into her apartment earlier.  And he proceeds to pour them down the drain.

So what’s Number 5 up to during this time?  Well, he’s still trying to track down the owner of the glass eye.  This time, he teleports right into Mr. Biggs’ car and directly threatens him with a knife, demanding to know exactly what goes on in those prosthetic limb labs.  Mr. Biggs admits that it’s possible the glass eye might have already been manufactured and distributed on the down-low, so Number 5 orders him to drive down to his office so they can study his files again.

Unfortunately, Number 5 and Mr. Biggs arrive back at the lab too late.  It turns out Klaus’ drug-induced high started to wear off while he was being held hostage in Hazel and Cha-Cha’s motel room, so he’s beginning to see ghost again.  Specifically the ghost of a woman speaking in rapid Russian. (More on that later).  Anyway, that’s when Hazel and Cha-Cha figured out Klaus’ weakness.  They found a whole mess of pills in the pockets of his coat and proceeded to destroy the pills in front of him.  This ended up getting Klaus to break, as he’s addicted to those pills.  Not to mention he’ll need them to block out the voices of the dead, which all seem to flock to him.  As such, he let slip that, while he doesn’t know where Number 5 is, he does know that he’s been hunting down the owner of the glass eye to try and stop the end of the world.  Armed with this information, Hazel and Cha-Cha made it down to the lab and proceed to set everything on fire, effectively destroying everything inside the prosthetic limb factory, which blows up right when Number 5 was returning with Mr. Biggs. 

We then cut back to Diego, who returns to the Umbrella Academy mansion in time to find Luther searching Number 5′s room, in the hopes of finding out where he is so they could warn him that the mansion was attacked last night.  Of course, this leads to another fight breaking out between Luther and Diego.  Thankfully, Pogo steps in, effectively shaming them for their behavior while reminding them what’s at stake.  With them successfully put in their place, Luther and Diego call a temporary truce and begin looking for Number 5.  They manage to locate his possibly stolen plumber’s van.  And, by searching it, Diego finds a lead- a copy of Vanya’s autobiography that features a logo stamp from the Argyle Public Library.   So they proceed to the library in question,  While they’re looking around, they start to further discuss the source of their feud.  Luther accuses Diego of leaving because he couldn’t handle the fact that Luther was in charge.  Diego disagrees, saying he left because that’s what you do when you’re 17.  You leave home and become your own person.  He goes on to say that everyone else left, and only Luther stayed behind.  Luther argues that he stayed because the world still needed him.  To this, Diego retorts that Luther stayed because he couldn’t accept that things could never go back to how they used to be.  Before more could be said, however, they overhear a slight commotion nearby.  Upon investigating, they find Number 5, passed out drunk with Delores tucked under his arm.  They end up carrying Number 5 to the gym where Diego works, with Number 5 waking up just enough to inform his brothers the identities of the people who attacked the mansion last night.  Diego tries to tell Number 5 to let them protect him, but Number 5 insists that he doesn’t need their protection.

After destroying the factory, Hazel and Cha-Cha head back to Griddy’s Donuts, where they start to come down from their high.  (They unknowingly ate some of Klaus’ cannabis-infused chocolate.)  Hazel starts to contemplate that, according to what they learned from Klaus, the apocalypse is coming, and that nobody in the doughnut shop has any idea.  Cha-Cha instantly realizes that they weren’t sent after Number 5 because he broke his contract.  They were sent after Number 5 because he’s trying to change the timeline.  And if they continue with the mission, they will be ensuring the end of the world will come.  They decide to return to the motel, where Klaus had been stashed in the closet until they returned.  And, because the maid has her headphones on, she can’t hear Klaus’ shouting for help.

Meanwhile, Detective Patch and her squad are called down to the remains of the prosthetic limb lab, where they determine it was arson.  As she looks around, Detective Patch notices Number 5′s van sitting nearby.  The words ‘Your brother says hi’ have been written onto the dusty windshield, with a matchbook from the motel tucked behind one of the wipers.  Hazel and Cha-Cha left that message for Number 5, thinking that it would get Number 5 to come looking for Klaus.  Of course, Detective Patch doesn’t realize this, but she remembers Diego saying his brother has been missing for a while and naturally concludes that the two masked people she’s been looking for have abducted Number 5 and are holding him hostage.  (Right idea, wrong brother.)  She proceeds down to the motel by herself to investigate the matter. Upon her arrival, the desk clerk won’t let her look around, stating the guests at the motel are entitled to their privacy, and she can’t overrule that right without a warrent.  When he leaves, Detective Patch decides to try to call Diego.  But since he’s not at the gym yet , she has to leave a message with his boss, Al.

While this is going on, Hazel and Cha-Cha are lying in wait in their motel room, expecting Number 5 to show up to rescue Klaus.  While they’re waiting, we get a flashback to a time when Klaus was still a little boy.  Reginald apparently once shut him up in a mausoleum somewhere to force Young Klaus to overcome his fear of the dead, refusing to let him out until he’s gotten over that fear and turning a deaf ear to Young Klaus’ pleas to be allowed to go home.  (I don’t care how you try to justify this.  This was pretty clearly a form of child abuse, and a further example of Reginald's cruelty.)  Anyway, when the flashback ends, Klaus, with the help of Ben’s ghost, figures out the other ghosts he’s been seeing in the motel room are Hazel and Cha-Cha’s past victims.   This enables Klaus to get some ammunition against his captors.  While talking to each victim in turn, Klaus determines that Hazel is not as ruthless as he lets on, as it’s revealed that Hazel once ended up sparing the wife of one of the victims, despite his previous claims that he’d killed her, too.  Upon realizing this, Cha-Cha drags Hazel aside to reprimand him, reminding him that he can’t afford to get distracted.

Unfortunately, this is when Detective Patch ends up deciding not to wait for Diego to show up and proceeds to check out the rooms at the motel without backup.  Klaus, seeing her walk past the window, alerts her of his presence by banging his head against the table.  But after she helps free Klaus, Cha-Cha gets the jump on her, shooting her in the back.  During the commotion, however, Klaus manages to get away by crawling through the air ducts.  But he also makes off with the briefcase Hazel stashed away in there.   And, when Klaus tries to open the briefcase on a bus in the hopes that it contained something valuable, he and the briefcase vanish in a flash of blue light.  While a woman notices this, she doesn’t have much of a reaction to it.

In the episode’s final moments, Luther and Diego bring Number 5 to the boiler room so the drunk Number 5 can sleep it off.  Shortly after their arrival, Al comes down to the boiler rooms to pass on Detective Patch’s message.  They’re momentarily confused by the notion that Detective Patch found their brother as Number 5 is accounted for, but they quickly realize it must be Klaus.  So Diego heads of while Luther stays with Number 5.  Unfortunately, Diego arrives at the motel too late and only finds Detective Patch’s lifeless body, a sight that visibly devastates him.  But he has to leave the scene when he hears approaching police sirens.

Final Notes/Observations

Well, that was a sad turn of events.  And Detective Patch was a pretty good character.  I appreciated how she was very by-the-book, refusing to go all rouge cop the way Diego was urging her to for the past few episodes.  Figures that the one time she does go against the rules, she pays with her life.

Leonard is officially creepy boyfriend material.  The fact that he clearly stole Vanya’s pills and threw them out does not bode well

I am liking the sisterly relationship Allison and Vanya are trying to form.  Too bad their brothers are not following their example