#he is even more unhinged after his scar from last episode

[demigirl-demigod]

I’m obsessed with Howard. He has one solution to everything and that solution is violence.

[the-badger-mole]

A Kya lived (but with some serious burns) AU.

Katara's relationship with the other characters?

In what way would this also affect Sokka?

Aang accidentally burning Katara?

Yon-Rha being alive or not,and Zuko and Katara hunting him down.

Depending on what ripple effect Kya being alive has on the series, what other changes do you think would impact things going forward?

Do you think kat*anng would still happen or zutara?

To answer your last question first, Kataang shouldn't have happened in general, so, no they absolutely don't happen here.

This would've been an extremely traumatic event for Kya, and I think she would become very protective of Katara. Sokka would have a complicated relationship with it because on the one hand, he'd get it, and he'd be very protective of Katara too (even more than he was in the show). On the other hand, I think it would very much read as favoritism to him, and he'd probably pull some very dangerous and stupid stunts in order to get his mother to fear for his life like she does for Katara's. I think instead of being sent off with well wishes, Katara would have to sneak away, and Sokka would come with her to protect her.

I think Zuko seeing the burns that Kya suffered would give him pause. He would still try to go in with all his bluster and bravado, but it would be a sight that would startle him. I think it would change the dynamic when he confronted Katara (does Katara get Kya's necklace here? I don't know. I could see it go either way). He might appeal to her desire to end the war instead, promising that once he got home and took back his rightful place, he'd make ending the war his priority so no one would have to suffer like Kya. His arc would then be centered on trying to reconcile what he knows of his father with his own hopes for how the war would end. I don't know if they still go after Yon Rah. I don't think it would have the same impact, to be honest. I think Katara's mother would be what bridges the gap between them still, but I think instead of focusing on their mutual loss, Katara would find out explicitly how Zuko got his scar and why. They would still connect over maternal sacrifices, but also the scars.

Katara, I think, would be the biggest change. I think she'd be a less maternal figure and less inclined to play caregiver to the people around her (which is part of the reason I don't think Kataang would happen). Her anger would be a lot more apparent because not only did her mother sacrifice herself for Katara, she treated her like she was too vulnerable to be let out into the world on her own (this version of Katara would probably have an easier time connecting with Toph, tbh). I think any attempts of people trying to protect her or tell her she can't do something would be met with much more force. Her fight with Pakku would've been much more feral and unhinged because I think she'd actually be out for blood. Like for real, for real. And her stint as the Painted Lady would probably end with a few dead soldiers. I see Zutara not only happening in this version of the story, but happening way sooner because Katara's anger would be easier for Zuko to see and understand, and then connect with. I think her pain and anger would hurt him for her sake, too. Getting to know her would make him finally understand everything Iroh was trying to do for him, and he would in turn try to be that for Katara. In the end, they'd both wind up helping each other find peace.

Also, as for what happened when Aang burned Katara? He'd have gotten a double barrel of anger from the siblings. Sokka would possibly lay hands on him, and Katara would resent him for not taking any of his learning opportunities seriously. I think Katara in this version would be much more militant (a reason why I don't think Aang would have a crush on her in this scenario to begin with). This episode would see him getting thee crap scared out of him, and possibly set him down the path of understanding just how badly the war needs to be ended.

[trashformha]

Since this episode will inevitably stir up bad todofam discourse and I'm a clown who hopes to convince ppl to look at Touya's situation more critically let's look into it, shall we?

First off: Endeavor married Rei for her quirk not out of love.He had children with her because he wanted a successor and not children. This in itself already established that Endeavor is not going to be a good dad.

I mean sure in the first few years he wasn't abusive and things seemed alright. Rei was ok with the situation, Fuyumi was happy and Touya seemed really excited to train with his father but then Touya's quirk started hurting him.

Of course the most reasonable approach here was stop training him. This was not the problem. The problem was that Endeavor neglected him.

There is a reason we are shown this specific scene. Endeavor has a day off and instead of spending it with his family he is heading out. He didn't need to train with him but he could have at least tried to convinced him to do smth else together.

The reason Touya liked training was because he could spend time with his father, so the moment Enji stopped training him he also stopped spending time with his son.

So even if Touya's quirk wasn't harming him think about it: Touya might have surpassed his father but could he really surpass All Might? What would happen if he didn't manage to surpass him? Would Endeavor just start avoiding him? Would he really deal with the situation in a healthy/good way? How would Touya feel about his inability to surpass All Might after his father spend his whole life intoxicating Touya into this role? At the end of the day Enji would have doomed this family one way or another.

Back to the topic at hand. Touya could not be trained. As a result Endeavor had Natsuo and Shoto. This is an even WORSE slap to the face towards Touya. Because Touya might be a child but he is not stupid. His father stops spending time with him and now he has 2 new siblings? Even though their father doesn't bother to spend his free time with the 2 children he already has? Touya KNOWS he's being repalced. And for a child that's still so young and developing this gotta leave psychological scars. What Enji did was cruel towards Touya and it's why he ends up lashing out at Shoto.

Another problem was that Endeavor's attempts at stopping Touya from hurting himself were half-assed. He did not want to face the problem.

Every instance of him talking to touya is him saying to stop because he's hurting himself and to find smth else. He never bothered to sit down and talk through this issue with Touya because then he'd have to admit to himself how awful his behavior has been so far. How he spend years avoiding Touya and didn't spend a single second of his time with Natsuo and Fuyumi either. Natsuo literally describes Endeavor as a stranger despite having lived with the man in a house his whole life.

Eventually everything escalated when Touya makes one last plea to his father to watch him at Sekoto Peak and the later never arrived.

Endeavor was probably never physically violent to Touya in the way he was to Rei and Shoto but that doesn't change the fact that his treatment of Touya was cruel and that he had never been a good father towards him in any way.Touya wasn't born unhinged and evil and his accident at Sekoto Peak is a direct result of Endeavor's actions.

[dotthings]

So this is it. Last episode of Gotham Knights.

Thank you to James Stoteraux and Chad Fiveash for a fantastic finale. And to all the writers and cast and crew who made this beautiful DC series.

Season one gave us a taste of all the places this could go and what this show could be and it was SO GOOD I'm sorry there won't be more of it. There's only a few DC live action TV series that have worked for me over the years, Gotham Knights is among them.

"Batman chose well. Gotham needs its Robin." I LOVE this. Carrie's mom trusting her to look after herself, to stay alive, having seen her daughter in action as Robin, and asking her daughter to go save lives and trusting her to survive in return.

Commissioner Soto!! Knew!!! So...maybe she was the Gordon analogue in this continuity. All this time.

What finally made Harvey give himself over to the Two Face personality, what finally made him fully snap -- HE DID IT TO SAVE HIS DAUGHTER AND THOUSANDS OF LIVES IN GOTHAM. This is a really brilliant re-imagining.

With Turner's parents, I got that there was more to the story. Batman was defending himself from assassins. I didn't expect this version to have Batman actually have killed them, because the Batman doesn't kill idea is so seminal in most continuities including this one--this Batman also had the do not kill code.

He's a precise highly trained fighter, who has a strong code about not killing. So in that fight, something went wrong, he was in deadly peril, or, in defending himself, did something he didn't intend to be a kill, but wound up killing them.

Misha Collins and Olivia Rose-Keegan are hitting it out of the park in all their scenes. Duela with Harvey, Duela with Two Face, two very different dynamics and both riveting.

Misha getting to play Harvey as a regretful father who wants to save his daughter and thousands of lives and make amends and then Misha getting to play completely unhinged scarred, murderous Two Face and Misha floors it in both directions.

GIVE HIM AWARDS I'M NOT KIDDING HE DESERVES NOMINATIONS.

Sadly, because it's the CW network and a superhero show, the critical awards people won't even look at it. But I'm betting industry folks will take note anyway. Bravo, Misha.

I didn't expect Turner to actually be dead, and that tactical team had French accents so I expected Henri Ducard. Still enjoyed that reveal at the end. Guessing they're going with the comics background as inspiration (and would put their own twists on it--and not Nolanverse.) Henri Ducard trained Bruce Wayne. He's not a good guy, but he helped Bruce. I like how this show's plan was to have him train his son too.

And Turner, who wants to live up to his father's legacy, becomes a legacy and inspiration for his friends, to Duela, to keep fighting for Gotham, like Bruce did, like Turner wanted.

I can only guess what the S2 plans were. It's hinting Turner becoming a new kind of Batman eventually, not sure by S2.

The Knights are going to be pissed he didn't tell them he's alive.

The Two Face and Duela stories I'm sure would be riveting.

Steph/Harper and Duela/Turner getting more development and drama. Harper enrolling at Gotham Academy. Cullen would get a boyfriend.

Beyond that, it's a wild card. Two Face likely as a significant villain, but perhaps one who goes after other villains, who ultimately acts to preserve Gotham. Maybe some Owl remnants would be in play?

As it stands, I'm grateful. I got to have this, as a DC fan. I didn't go into this solely as a Misha fan. The bulk of my perspective of this show was as a DC fan, and it was good and I am going to keep saying it was good.

I love the team, I love its beautiful, candle-lit, aged, gothic, old stones and hidden dark corners and dirigibles and pre-war towers Gotham style. It gave, in my opinion, what is the best filmed take on Harvey Dent I've ever seen. The most nuanced and compassionate and unhinged and heartwrenching and frightening and gloriously fun to watch.

And it gave me this amazing and wonderful version of Carrie Kelley's Robin and I think I will miss her most of all.

[onomatopagu-et-cie]

The Killing Vote (ep. 8 notes, part 3)

(SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 8!!!!)

Part 1

General impressions on the episode Official character profiles Lee Minsu’s tattoo Three pictures missing in Kwon Seokju’s house Choi Jinsu, Min Jiyoung and Lee Minsu « If I were Gaetal… » and a triangulation orchestrated by Kwon Seokju and Lee Minsu

Part 2

Jihoon and Gaetal Jihoon’s name Joohyun, Kim Muchan, Kwon Seokju and the Killing Vote « The moment you perfectly understand… » The Gaetal Kwon Seokju’s departure

Part 3 (right here!)

Joohyun and Gaetal More on Joohyun’s scar and expressions Joomin and the ‘firecracker smell’ Kim Muchan and Gaetal What’s still not addressed (yet) The ‘witness’, chronology of some key events, where the story is going:

Chronology of key events

Kim Muchan’s nightmare

Kwon Seokju’s conversation with Jihoon’s grandmother

‘Kim Muchan knows…’

Choi Dohee’s personal investigation and Kim Muchan’s endeavors

Gaetal

More on 당신

A potential secret communication in the main cast ① The news article on Kim Muchan and Gaetal ② The reverse Prison Break and ‘The 13th one is heard/tells [the signal]’ ③ Joohyun and the letters ④ The rabbit, the paperknife and the ointment cream ⑤ « Exactly 22 minutes. » ⑥ An IP address? ⑦ « Kim Muchan knows… » and the first letters

Wild guesses

♦ Joohyun & Gaetal

THE LOOK JOOHYUN GAVE KMC C’MON! She swallowed right after lmao:

Note: KMC only said « Gaetal is No. 1 Fan and No. 1 Fan is LMS. » in front of KSJ once he cut his phone call with Joohyun. She looked genuinely shocked it was one of KMC’s current leads. And she also drew the line earlier in this episode as she spoke to KMC (as I said in Part 1!).

And after discovering KMC is the next target, she drags LMS out enraged and threatens him with a gun.

The Gaetal are supposed not to know anything about each other as a rule, that's what this episode showed ; if Joohyun took part in the TKV because she sympathized with No. 1’s rage (it's about No. 1, not No. 1 Fan/LMS she seemed to know nothing about!) and plans but now realizes the mastermind might be LMS, its literal antithesis who actually uses people’s rage to fuel his twisted game, what would her reaction be with this new piece of information… ?

(The very first picture parallels what her sister Joomin said to her schoolmates before she got injured, ‘You think this is a game?’!)

Worth mentioning that while KMC’s team is panicking because their colleagues start judging KMC and voting, Joohyun and LMS keep staring at each other as you can see in the last picture above.

(Of course anyone would go batshit crazy in front of this scumbag’s behavior and given the urgency because the vote could be executed at any moment from now, but that still sounded reeeeeeeeaaaaally extreme nonetheless: threatening an individual with another officer’s gun she’s not even permitted to have and shooting at the ceiling… ?)

This bit on the pictures below felt even more suspicious, like she’s aware LMS has in his possession the means to stop the broadcasting, thus privy to how it was organized in the first place:

The moment she turned around to smoothly borrow Yoonji’s gun was pretty unhinged too (first set of pictures below)! The motion looked totally natural to her, done in cold-blood (could she also be used to shoot even though her work doesn't require nor highly likely permit it?):

In the second set of pictures, you can see this was an adrenaline moment done in the heat of the moment, she looks like she gradually regained her composure, realizing she was out of her mind as she looks around.

Note: a kr account on Twitter also noticed Joohyun spiraled even more once she saw this man on the screen (first set of pictures below):

The user theorized he could be the drunk driver that killed Joohyun’s family and LMS bribed him to fabricate this testimony (more on it later in the final part of the post!).

That’d be some other level of wickedness from LMS lmao… ! But dude was ready from the get-go so it wouldn’t surprise me he thought that far given his hatred for KMC.

And it’s true Joomin also said she knew where he lived, that he was faring well in life and led a ‘happy life’ after murdering her family: he could’ve bought himself a ‘new’ life with that money.

On the subject of that car crash, going back to Joohyun's profile (see Part 1 for more context!):

There was only one police officer (I wonder who that is… ? c:) who bothered listening to her and that’s why she decided to join the police.

I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning it, but in ep. 2, we see KMC go back to Narae & KSJ’s cases: as he stumbles upon the picture of KSJ on his way to prison as he watches, the camera also focuses on Joohyun on the left side but KMC doesn’t seem to react to it at all.

-> Either it was only a hint directed at the audience (‘oh, look! the three were there on the same day, perhaps there’s more to it than that?’) and KMC didn’t notice her on the picture (perhaps he would later?) ;

-> Or he didn’t bat an eye because he already recognized her somehow eg. we’re not shown in the flashback if they spoke later to each other (when Joohyun was protesting and Muchan was parting with KSJ) and we don’t know if they met before (eg. through Joohyun’s family car crash or Gaetal).

However KMC reacted to the pictures of Joohyun’s parents in ep. 4 (in the second set of pictures above) like he recalled something while his lips part (though it could be from pure sympathy only!)!

If so, the possibility that Joohyun might've recognized him along the way could further explain her ‘the votes made sense this far but not with the Superintendent!’ in addition to their companionship/friendship built through this investigation!

(I’ll talk about Joohyun's past further in the final points!)

Also, if she’s part of Gaetal, she perhaps realized through her analyses (eg. Gaetal’s speech mannerism, other details) that KSJ was really involved with TKV and sympathized even more with him.

What she might’ve not been aware of was No. 1 Fan’s identity she was still trying to figure out while KMC had an inkling it was LMS (and in addition to that, it’s interesting that he withheld the story behind the ‘No. 1 Fan’ up to this episode!).

She also lashed out at KSJ (first set of pictures below) when she realized he discarded the first letter, and it might just be my imagination but that sounded pretty emotionally loaded, like she felt betrayed (especially the trembling and tense ‘LMS’s first letter is missing.’).

She looks mad MAD, there were only a few scenes she reacted this strongly unlike KMC for example, and the best example only happened in this episode with LMS:

And she probably didn’t even inform KMC she was visiting KSJ to confront him (in the last pictures, she pretty much looks like she was interrupted by the call ; KSJ also looks embarrassed).

KSJ's expressions in the second set of pictures are also pretty interesting, when KMC called and when he was about to leave Joohyun behind!

Not to mention the exchange she had with Jihoon on what sets an accessory apart from an accomplice: it could be foreshadowing of not only Jihoon being part of Gaetal but also Jihoon and Joohyun working together (be it knowingly or not), with KSJ.

And Jihoon saying to her in the end « I’m your partner and not an accomplice, right? » is interesting in regard to what Choi Jinsu said on vigilantism: « Robin Hood didn’t think he was a thief either. »

An accomplice is a partner with the right intentions in the culprit's mind ; a murder becomes well-deserved vengeance ; a motive to murder in retaliation devils that were deemed innocent by the failing Rule of Law becomes a justification for preemptive assault, and so on!

It also brings into question this scene with Jihoon: indeed, how did the video ‘test’ even happen to be sent in Joomin’s laptop… ?

Recapping what we saw in the drama,

— KSJ didn’t seem to know its existence at all when Joohyun mentioned it to him ;

— Jihoon was shocked someone (Joomin) was able to find it ;

— KMC looked overcome with emotion when Joohyun showed him the video in the first episode, whatever this will mean later (① below) ; his reaction when Joohyun says one thing didn’t change between the video test & the broadcast (②) and when Joohyun finally mentions KSJ (③):

Note: I supposed in one of the previous posts the person might’ve sent the video test on Joomin’s laptop to alert Joohyun (or for another purpose) through her sister knowing she’s part of the Cyber team. Joohyun became well-known in the workforce as the whistleblower, and KMC seemed well-aware of it! Also Joohyun modified the video test’s title: it’s not Lrae090915 but only ‘test video’ …

— For what it’s worth, here was Jodan’s reaction to the video test by the way and his reaction when Joohyun first mentioned KMC:

♦ More on Joohyun’s scar & expressions

In episode 4, when Joohyun confides in KMC her habit of playing with her scar, she says: « Whenever I’m stressed out, it starts burning. »

She uses 신경쓰다 in this sentence (‘to mind/care/bother, pay attention mindfully/get on one’s nerves’ ; 신경 means nerve anatomically and fig. feeling/sense/thought about sth).

According to her profile, her scar became the stigma reminding her of the injustice she suffered.

Since ep. 8 cast some doubt on Joohyun in some scenes to me, I tried to rewatch the scenes she exhibited that habit to see if there were some interesting things to note!

→ She scratched her scar in this specific moment in ep. 2, when they were searching for the LAN cable at BGC’s ‘hideout’ (since Gaetal used a computer or remote server to air the test run for the Killing Vote there) and she also inserted the USB drive she carries around.

I’m not at all knowledgeable about this, but a random window popped up only a few seconds on top of the log history… ? And she coincidentally scratched her scar only after this particular moment.

She initially asked Jodan to check the log history but she’s the one who did it in the end.

She then said she was collecting all volatile data to analyze them later (I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt haha, maybe that’s why that random window showed up?). But I believe we never heard from it again, right… ? And on the pictures above, she seemed a bit on edge when she told KMC she’d analyze the data back at the office, with a little forced smile.

It's interesting to note that she arrived first at the scene with Jodan, who then asked her: « By the way, didn’t you tell Team Leader too? », and… Joohyun never answered lmao????

And given CJS’s reaction when he arrived, the answer must have been no: « What’s going on here? Are you toying with us? », Jodan covered Joohyun by saying « We followed the lead and ended up here. »

She looked puzzled at Jodan's question somehow then a bit surprised once KMC and Choi Jinsu arrived, and finally turned around panicked/annoyed as she’s blurred in the foreground.

… Reciprocally, KMC didn’t inform the Cyber team they were going there while their expertise would’ve definitely helped???? Because he perhaps knew everything already... ? (more on that later!)

Other moments where she scratched her scar:

→ As she was running an algorithm based on keywords related to KSJ & Gaetal and the words ‘Kwon Seokju’, ‘Kwon Narae’, ’Seohyun University’, ‘murder’ & ‘revenge murder’ were displayed (ep. 2).

→ When she interviewed KSJ for the first time, and seeing this habit made KSJ swallow for some reason (ep. 2), and it’s interesting to note their confrontation was shot in a pretty unusual way in the drama, literally face-to-face like they’re on equal footing: it was not even done between LMS & KMC nor KSJ & KMC!

The only other pair that was shot like this was KMC & JJW in ep. 6 (the second set of pictures). And Lee Yunseong alone (not KMC) was shot in this way as he was interviewed by KMC in ep. 7. Is this to symbolize the character in question know everything, something along those lines... ?

→ When she’s nervously waiting for KSJ with KMC in ep. 3.

She thinks to herself:

« We’ve found traces of Gaetal in BGC’s hideout and KSJ’s house. These two places. If there’s no record of anyone logging onto the internet from either location while the voting took place, Gaetal must have a hideout elsewhere. Even so, they wouldn’t have gone that far. If we look for places that used more electricity than usual around the voting periods or housed a larger server in the vicinity of these two places… »

Note: indeed, in ep. 8, Min Jiyoung/LMS’s house used an unusual amount of electricity for example!

The two sentences in bold were said as she scratched her scar, KMC even stopped her in the end! KMC’s expressions were also interesting in this moment (eg. averting his gaze, shutting his lips more tightly).

And KMC says: « Fussing over it won’t change anything. Don’t underestimate KSJ. Don’t show him anything he could use to read you. » (and indeed, you could read more into Joohyun’s behavior than KSJ’s in this whole scene!)

What followed was also really interesting, the moment was very short but once KMC asked if KSJ was Gaetal, Joohyun’s eyes were darting everywhere! And KSJ’s reaction too haha:

Note: I never noticed until I took those screenshots the melancholic/worried/soft look on KMC’s face!

→ Joohyun scratched her scar once KSJ gave an explanation on the tag ; she also did it when she first watched the video test when the ‘devils deemed innocent’ came about! KSJ’s ‘That’s probably what it means.’ was superposed to a full focus on Joohyun’s habit while KMC noticed it (① below):

Note: KSJ has a lopsided smile as he says he just realized it himself (it was about the intriguing 13th stab... more on that at the end of the post!) so he doesn’t know who he could’ve told that to + KMC’s expression was not shown on screen at that time!

→ Joohyun scratched her scar after KMC asked her to take KSJ outside to Gaetal, for her to be his messenger (more on that at the end of the post!) and eventually find out why he hid the letters and asked for a special pardon.

→ Also on the way to the Police Agency with KSJ in ep. 5, after KMC checked on them and assured him she would keep a close eye on him, which KSJ noticed.

→ Also in the same episode, as Joohyun showed the pictures of BGC’s wife to KSJ and said: « But there’s a case that seems to be an outlier for Gaetal, so it makes me uncertain. »

So how does Joohyun factor in all this?

→ Choi Jinsu said something interesting about her in the first episode (② above, 'How would she know the killer?').

→ And in ep. 3 (③ above), you get the superposition of KMC’s line (‘Gaetal is very close to [KSJ].’) with this shot including the two, Joohyun at the center and KMC exiting the picture! KSJ, the object of the sentence implied in this line from the context, is omitted, so the sentence could also literally mean 'Gaetal is very close.'!!!!

→ For what it’s worth, Joohyun was the one who led KMC to investigate KSJ: she suggested to KMC the link between ‘Devils deemed innocent’ and KSJ first and it became a lead in his investigation (ep. 1) ; she reported to KMC BGC’s isolation thanks to KSJ’s testimony, which made her finally meet him ; she’s the one who first theorized ‘Gaetal = No. 1 Fan’ in front of KMC as she analyzed the letters!

It was also Joohyun that claimed ‘devils deemed innocent’ was not a quote KSJ got from someone else.

It’d be really interesting if it was Joohyun who tried to deceive/manipulate KMC from the sidelines (of course, not necessarily with bad intentions in mind!) while the drama showed how KMC seemingly assumed an advising/supporting position to Joohyun. The drama also highlighted how KMC was the one who needed these advices the most!

→ There’s also that moment that seemed out of place as she faces the camera straight in ep. 3 (right in front of the TV news, presented by Choi Dohee, showing KMC caught in the explosion) and asks: « Do you still think Gaetal is right? »

(Once again Joohyun's expression is blurred on the second set of pictures!)

While the question form (~니 was used ; it’s an informal marker for questions) and the context make it seem like she addresses her younger sister, her grave look and the close-up of the camera could show something else and cast some doubt.

Yes, in her next lines, she speaks like it was about her sister (eg. by mentioning her classmates) but this moment puzzled her sister who saw how serious she looked. Joohyun only relaxed once Joomin asked her ‘What?’ in shock.

Was the question directed at someone she knows (younger or the same age eg. Choi Dohee, Jodan, Jihoon ; the ~니 could also mean nothing since she was speaking to her sister at the same time)? Or herself?

Note: they’re talking about a betrayer in ep. 8, so if she worked with Gaetal/someone in Gaetal (like KSJ), she perhaps realized something was going wrong with the way the one who laid out the plans did things (eg. harm an innocent person, and KMC at that) only along the way.

While 'Do you still think Gaetal is right?' could naturally mean she totally condemns Gaetal (as in the group) and their deeds at first glance, it could also mean she condemns someone among that group and not necessarily the group as a whole, for example the mastermind who was giving out the plans in advance and that Joohyun knew nothing about until the investigation began!

If it was about Choi Dohee, we (and also Joohyun) know how she manipulates the truth for ulterior motives (she first appears as an admirable justice warrior in the first episodes but we discover it’s far from the truth behind the scenes) and she had communicated with Gaetal, was Joohyun aware of her plans?

When CDH asks who the votes served in the end, you can see Joohyun reacting.

Joohyun continues: « You said that your classmates likened Gaetal to Batman. A hero. You should all wake up. That bastard is a criminal. Someone who wouldn’t hesitate to kill cops and even people like you and me. A dangerous scoundrel. »

If I’m hearing right, she used for ‘지독한 낙 진범.’

진범 = real culprit, which might suggest even more that she separates Gaetal the group and the mastermind (but how does she know all that... ?)!

지독하다 = spiteful, venomous (ie. mind or personality having a very cold or harsh quality), terrible, awful, dreadful, cruel, harsh, inhuman or violent, sharp, intense, bitter, heavy, tenacious, persistent (ie. having a strong will)

That’s the adjective KSJ used to describe that ‘terrible rage’ KMC also felt when he got in the car ; it was specifically KSJ’s wording, while Joohyun only used 분노 (rage/fury/wrath) without that adjective when she spoke!

In ep. 6, she never made KMC listen to this specific part though btw! And we don’t know what she did when she went upstairs as KSJ was down, we only have her word!

-> On that subject, she lied a little to KSJ in ep. 6 about where she found Gaetal’s video test, saying it was ‘on a zombie PC when she was investigating a cybercrime case before this one.’ ????

And she sounded nervous, avoiding eye contact with him when she answered.

She scanned what was under her gaze and changed the subject to Narae’s drawing KSJ was holding.

Why though?

Was it because it was simply an unnecessary detail to disclose to KSJ?

Was it because she already realized something really involved KSJ to the video?

Was it because she didn’t want to involve her younger sister since it was found on her laptop?

Was it because KSJ would understand something from the true answer?

And in ep. 4, she gave another version to KMC: « I was using [Joomin's] computer when I first found Gaetal’s test video. I forgot to erase it afterward, so she and her friend found the video and analyzed it. », which does not say AT ALL it the video test was specifically destined to Joomin’s computer only (the entire PC bang and accounts were infected but no video was found there except through Joomin’s laptop) as we discover it in Joohyun's separate investigation in ep. 2!

The only person she shared with how things really happened was Jodan (ep. 1 & 2).

What gives???? It’s similar to KMC is withholding the story behind ‘No. 1 Fan’ and his relationship to KSJ!

………….. And once again, how did KMC end up finding that IP address/that it was at BGC’s hideout without Joohyun nor (supposedly) Jodan’s help?

(See the last point where I overthink lol about KMC, Joohyun and KSJ's cryptic communication, some points above will be brought up again!)

→ In ep. 6, this scene was interrupted by Joomin. You can definitely see a hint of a smile/relief on Jihoon’s lips and under his eyes, his voice also is breathed out and trembling but Joohyun also seemed absorbed in their conversation until Joomin rushed in worried:

♦ Joomin, the ‘smell’, Kim Muchan & Joohyun

In ep. 3, when JJW (was it him though?) fled, I didn’t notice the gunshot that you can hear (around 50’) ; from the angle, it doesn’t look like it’s JJW himself who shot, he only stumbled when Joomin blocked his way and his arm, he looked empty-handed. He would’ve used it earlier if he had a firearm on him, but he only used what came in handy as a weapon (a golf club) like KMC did with the paperknife!

Note: ep. 8 showed Joohyun could fire a gun even though she was a special recruit in the Cyber Team. In ep. 3, she trailed after KMC and 'that man' ; also, it’s likely KMC didn’t bring a firearm on him since he switched clothes with Choi Jinsu and in a hurry at that (and made a point to take that paperknife with him as he went upstairs).

But if there was a gunshot (that sounded really close), where was the detonation seen (yes, it depends on the weapon but it’d produce at least a little flash because it was really dark out there)? Either it was shot from far away (Joohyun and KMC rushed few seconds after) or there was no gunshot in the first place... ?

The only thing that shined was Joomin’s phone in her hand… ? That she seemed to tinker with (she turned it on when she bumped into JJW then turned it off as soon as she fell) … ?

And a few minutes ago, she showed Jihoon an app on her phone imitating sirens and whatnot … (last picture above) ? Could she have generated a gunshot sound with her phone … ? Was it to scare him off or some other reason?

In any case, the fact there wasn’t any gunshot doesn’t mean she couldn’t have sensed the firecrackers/gunpowder/metal smell though eg. that person already had that smell on them for whatever reason.

Here’s Joohyun’s reaction when Joomin remembered the person smelled like firecrackers (and that dumbfounded look on KMC?!):

Note that:

→ That lead on the smell was never brought up again interestingly!

→ The whole exchange unfolds under the premise the person was a man, Joomin kept mentioning « 그 남자 » (that man)

→ We don’t know what happened to KMC nor Joohyun in the gap between the moment the person exited KSJ’s house and they ran after them after the gate.

→ KMC and Joohyun were really close to the car exploding a few days ago so their skin could still smell metal/combustion!

→ KMC changed into Choi Jinsu’s clothes (it could be the source of the smell: even though CJS was far from the bombing, his clothes could smell something else, like gunshot powder).

→ KMC wore REALLY similar clothes to that person (black cap, vest, t-shirt and pants) except for the black mask that person wore when they knocked Joohyun (and Joohyun is seen putting a black mask on KSJ in ep. 5).

Was this incident a pure sleight of hand staged by whoever needed it to happen (I include everyone present in this haha)? If there was someone to deceive, who was supposed to be the audience... ?

→ The next day, Choi Jinsu said the person who fled « must know the area well. He sneaked out through blind spots. One camera caught their face, but it’s hard to identify someone in a mask. »

Cue KMC’s reaction on the pictures below ; he also wanted to see Jihoon to ‘ask him something.’

Note: KMC never got to see Jihoon that day because he went to the hospital ; he was only interviewed at the Police Agency in ep. 7 but by KMC’s colleague, not him. Ep. 7 shows KMC paying close attention to CCTVs around KSJ’s neighborhood as he investigates Narae’s murder! It’s also obviously the case for LMS when he was young! Jodan also said in ep. 8: « You can easily learn how to avoid CCTV cameras online. There are a lot of online communities where those with criminal records share cops’ plate numbers and schedules of crackdown. » ➾ this could mean anybody could have found a way to bypass the CCTVs, eg. from Jihoon to KMC/LMS, the Cyber Team to KMC’s team and on MJY’s side too.

Another interaction between KMC and Jihoon was in ep. 6, as he looked at him quite worried/perplexed!

♦ Kim Muchan & Gaetal

① There was a puzzling scene from the first episode, when KMC took the time to pull over once he received the announcement BGC was voted to be executed. This specific scene also happened just BEFORE BGC was murdered.

② The first episode also made visual parallels between KMC and KSJ!

③ Ep. 2's scene was also weird, in ep2 KMC wasn’t even pretending to be dead, so he wasn’t working with the journalist (yet), why did he look this absent-minded then startled, brought back to the investigation at hand once Joohyun talked?

Note: He also seemed completely focused on what Joohyun was doing on her laptop ; even if Jodan’s moment was some comic relief (when he mistakenly pointed his flashlight to him as he argued with Choi Jinsu), it broke whatever absorbed trance he was into.

There’s also this scene in the conference room where the journalist seems to be pretty sure she’ll directly get information (and her show) from Gaetal in person. This never got addressed again later!

This gets even weirder now that the journalist dropped this bomb in front of Min Jiyoung (though it could be a bluff since they were challenging and literally lambasting each other lmao) in ep. 8: « I learned about their identity from a reliable source. And the police promised me a scoop on it. There wasn’t a hint of you at all in any intel I obtained. »

Like… what is actually happening right now???? I guess she somehow figured Gaetal’s identity only through said ‘hints’ and is not 100% sure of it.

(This also explains her determination to get information from her previous source and to keep it exclusively to herself!)

The question she asked him and the glances they exchanged also felt curiously emphasized in ep. 4 (the next pictures of ③).

KMC did taekwondo like his colleague Yoonji, he was 1st dan in taekwondo (you can see it when Joohyun searches for his profile in the first episode) but it’s never brought up even though it was a hint to Gaetal’s identity at the time.

Note: of course, 1st dan must be nowhere near the level of a national athlete (her profile says she even won an Olympic gold medal!) but it’s still a black belt! For comparison, it’s revealed in ep. 6 that JJW practiced hapkido (3rd dan), special martial arts (특공무술, 3rd dan ; I believe it’s taught in the military and the police force) and bodyguard martial arts (경호무술, 2nd dan, taught to protect VIPs).

There’s also this bit that’s not been explained (yet): in ep. 1, KMC negotiates a promotion to the HQ Investigation Team in exchange of handling TKV’s case because « there’s a case he must investigate while he travels nationwide. »

We still don’t know why KMC is determined to obtain it, but given the last episode, is it about his mother?

But for him to need to travel ‘nationwide’ and a higher position than he already has, the case must have a pretty large scale eg. branching in different regions and perhaps even cases, national authorities etc.

KMC’s auspicious nightmare also stood out in this week’s episode (more on it by the end of the post!).

I wonder how this will foreshadow the story: after witnessing Joohyun threaten LMS in front of his mother, he dreams Joohyun replaces her mother, bleeding out.

(Please let this not be her death flag, the still cuts for this episode were already enough ;;)

Also this might be reeeeeeeally far fetched, but when KMC arrived in front of Jihoon and Joomin and asked how long Joohyun has been in KSJ’s house, Jihoon says it’s been exactly « 22 minutes. » ???? … KSJ supposedly stabbed BWT 22 times to avenge Narae?

♦ What’s still not addressed (yet)

As the drama progresses, we still don’t have any flashback between the moment KSJ decided to murder BWT and the moment KMC catches up to him in the rain:

— KSJ must’ve contacted/left a message to KMC beforehand. This conversation is missing and we don't know how KMC knew he had to rush in the neighborhood ;

— We only get KMC’s recount of the events in the present: « [KSJ] abandoned everything that he had and chose to be a murderer. ‘devils who were deemed innocent’ is the phrase that he used to express his feelings at the time. ». It's only recently that we saw a glimpse of Jihoon's recollection of the events! It seems like the reveal will be vital and saved for the end.

— This series of events might be pretty important for it to be revealed in the second part of the drama while the outcome was hinted at since the first episode ; doing so would mainly be for the storytelling to be more engaging and dramatic with no specific reveal in mind, but it could also be to prepare for a potential plot twist ;

— If it’s that important, maybe there’s something that could significantly change our point of view of the whole situation or on one of the characters involved eg. KSJ or KMC. Idem for the key moment KMC fabricated the evidence, we only see a shot of him parked right in front of the building where Narae was found and hallucinate a smiling LYS!

— (crack theory that I still hold onto in a corner of my brain) what if it was KMC and not KSJ that murdered BWT?

The drama also still didn’t address two other really important elements in KSJ, KMC & LMS’s past: KSJ & KMC’s first meeting (is it linked to the latter’s mother?) nor LMS confessing to murdering Narae (or the complete truth behind the case: he’s 100% involved, but to what extent?).

LMS left KMC’s question unanswered (‘You’re the one who killed Narae, right?’) and the drama keeps hinting at LMS’s dangerousness with all the suspicions piling up.

The tragedy behind Joohyun’s family also remains completely untouched! I guess the conversation between Jihoon and Joomin about her family’s murderer will soon factor in since Jihoon is now completely revealed involved in TKV!

Like at this point all these elements seem like one big elephant in the room, I expect this to explode in our faces by the end of the drama haha

Also Jodan… ! Dude got his hands on the wiretapping device in Narae’s room ever since ep. 3 but we’ve heard nothing from it so far (perhaps analyses take lots of time since it’s really old and Gaetal’s case is all over the place, but still!)????

♦ The ‘witness’, chronology of some key events, where the story is going

I put this part in the end because it’s based on (too) many hints I mentioned in the notes and I tried to make sense of it all haha

A kr user found that the murderer of KMC’s mother suspiciously looked like said witness (I can’t unsee it now haha):

Here’s what the witness said:

« He framed me for all kinds of crimes and ruined my life. My life was so tough and I made one mistake. Then, he lied about victims who never existed, fabricated the evidence, and framed me for something I didn’t do. So I was in prison for 10 YEARS. Because of KMC, my son grew up without his father. »

Chronology of key events

It made me think of how the key events unfolded in the drama:

→ 2008: KSJ began teaching at KNPU, KMC promised he’d be his ’No. 1 Fan’ (which might suggest their relationship went back an even longer way)

→ December 27, 2013 (you can see it written on Joohyun’s protest cardboard): Joohyun’s family hit-and-run car crash, the ‘repeated drunk driver’ escaped repeated DUI because of a ‘lack of evidence’ (and was only arrested for drowsy driving, the cardboard says he received 1 year and 6 months only). Only one police officer believed her story, which made her want to join the police. Meanwhile, the SAME YEAR, the witness for KMC’s vote (organized by LMS, not the ‘real’ Gaetal) was supposedly arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison because of KMC’s abusive investigation.

→ Around 2015: when Jihoon met KSJ and Narae and KSJ wished to adopt him

→ 2015: Min Jiyoung was a new assemblywoman, prepared her campaign (presumably to run for presidency) and wanted KSJ to join her team. Narae’s murder (she disappeared on September 15). BWT is acquitted (because of the confusion of the plush toys KMC and the lawyer used & the extorsion BWT’s confession under police violence revealed during the trial ; there could be other underlying reasons), then murdered by KSJ in retaliation.

Note: we definitely saw KMC beating BWT because he was enraged but we also saw how Min Jiyoung and her husband literally stepped on him ; the bruises might have been mixed (or Min Jiyoung might’ve added to the bruises deliberately), Min Jiyoung coerced BWT into showing how hurt he was at the trial (in front of official authorities so this could not be denied) and KMC was discredited. It means nobody was held responsible for Narae’s death.

BWT’s parents died, it was classified (but most likely written off) as suicide. It was KMC who received the news through his phone call with CJS. KSJ didn’t seem to know it as he was being sent to prison (ep. 5, but it could be a lie). LYS fled the country soon after ; he only came back in 2022 and became a teacher at Seorae High School (its foundation is run by Min Jiyoung’s relatives). During Narae & KSJ’s cases, the Police Commissionner, KMC’s superior and Min Jiyoung met and something is linking them three to KMC and KSJ. Joohyun is seen protesting for her family’s case while KMC sees KSJ off.

→ May 2018: Lieutenant Im (a nurse officer), JJW’s fiancée, hanged herself after all the sexual abuse she went through. JJW threatened Cpt. Oh with an illegal weapon and as a result his death was faked by the military, was given a new identity and was discharged. Ever since, he worked in security services.

Note: On December 10, 2018, he worked as a Senate security agent. July 18, 2019, at a demolition company. 2019.12.01 - 2022.09.30, at Saehyeon Hospital, Cpt. Oh and Jihoon’s grandmother’s working place.

→ September 15, 2018 (same date Narae disappeared!!!!): KSJ received No. 1 Fan’s letter and was sent to solitary confinement for the first and last time. For 5 years he’d receive letters on a monthly basis.

→ 2021: Joohyun collected evidence to arrest Min Jiyoung because she ordered an illegal DDoS attack on the National Election Committee, but her aide took the blame. She found the hacker as she herself hacked the server of MJY’s family/political account. Someone else, MJY’s aide, took the blame. As a whistleblower (whose identity was forcefully revealed by Choi Dohee which was not per their deal) Joohyun got a special promotion but at the same time marginalized at her workplace: she revealed her team’s investigation to Choi Dohee and got her team leader fired (as he tried to delete the evidence right before they were meant to arrest Min Jiyoung).

→ 2023: the Killing Vote begins. KSJ, KMC and Joohyun (and the rest of the cast) are brought back together by this event.

And here are the events that still aren’t labelled with a date:

→ The tragic story behind Jihoon’s parents and how his grandmother came to raise him ; and it might have something to do with the death row inmate they planned to poison among others in the fourth vote.

→ The deal between BWT’s parents and Min Jiyoung (ie. likely for BWT to become the scapegoat for whatever LYS did)

→ The murder of KMC’s mother, her culprit fled the scene: what’s important to know is if it happened after Narae’s case or a long time before that (eg. when he first met KSJ). In that flashback, it seems KMC was wearing the Academy’s/Police uniform for his graduation or a promotion (see here for comparison) was holding a diploma/promotion certificate that fell in the pool of blood.

Looking at his epaulette, he had the rank of 경위/inspector at that time (one Rose of Sharon/mugunghwa is seen ; which is the first rank you get once you graduate from the Police Academy or University, there are five grades included) and when he held Gaetal’s Special Team press conference in ep. 1 he had the high rank of (chief) superintendent (three Roses).

→ Gaetal’s video test, which was probably titled after Narae’s disappearance

→ When Jodan got arrested for hacking and joined the police.

Kim Muchan's nightmare

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

KMC’s sinking feeling that unsettled him was maybe a subconscious association with what he experienced in the past:

(1) This nightmare seemed to happen on occasional occurrences whenever KMC felt something was off, but enough for Choi Jinsu to comment on it.

(2) Joohyun threatened LMS and Min Jiyoung tried to get back at her in retaliation (in the same way she said to KMC after BWT’s trial: ‘Don’t mess with my son ; I won’t let this pass if you do it again.’), KMC intervened:

→ Joohyun replacing his mother in his nightmare could mean that both of them were in a position of a 3rd person’s imminent threat in retaliation to whatever KMC did to them (eg. arrest a culprit with strong connections).

→ It could mean whatever got his mother killed was linked to his promotion at the time.

(3) His mother was murdered by a man who looked like the witness involved in the Killing Vote that LMS organized. Said man got a very mild sentence for what he did to Joohyun’s family but he claimed (without any proof to back it up, the video was shot mainly for shock value) he was sentenced to 10 years of prison because of KMC.

(4) If his mother was murdered by the ‘witness’ who was involved in the case of Joohyun’s parents, he was probably someone’s henchman/bribed and/or blackmailed by someone to do this.

Note: Min Jiyoung grew connections with businessmen and politicians through her husband’s fortune and her parents/siblings’ connections (no name was mentioned though) ; his husband is a CEO of a construction/steel production company (‘Samdo Steel’, it’s described as a chaebol company). AND LMS said in ep. 6 « My family isn’t really on good terms with the police. 8 years ago, I was even suspected of being a murderer. »: the ‘even’ suggests Narae’s case might not have been the starting point of his family’s bad blood with the police. (Jihoon’s grandmother also advised him not to get involved with Joohyun… ? Was it because she feared they might get caught as Gaetal? Are they both related to MJY’s family? Does she fear the police for entirely different reasons eg. involvement with the disparition of Jihoon’s parents?) Note 2: Min Jiyoung’s profile highlights the fact she treasures her son but he’s also her weakness like ‘children always become a mother’s weakness’. The profile mentions she was judged because it was her husband’s second marriage (the two older sons were born in his first marriage) even though he’s a chaebol, but it doesn’t say if she was married before nor who was LMS’s father (not the chaebol, since they got married when Narae disappeared).

(5) Did the murder happen before or after Joohyun’s case in 2013? If that was before and KMC was that police officer who listened to her, was it because he believed her from his own experience?

(6) If KMC is part of Gaetal, and/or is aware someone else might be (eg. Joohyun, LMS or KSJ), could this nightmare have another meaning?

Kwon Seokju's conversation with Jihoon’s grandmother

I talked about that conversation in ep. 6 (thinking how Jihoon’s grandmother behaved like Min Jiyoung) but it now looks COMPLETELY different given ep. 8 haha:

« — But when it comes to sharing, kids these days seem even worse. My grandson never shares anything with me, and it frustrates me so much. A few days ago, he almost got seriously hurt, and I didn’t know because he didn’t tell me. — So he’s not hurt badly? — It’s just a scratch. It seems he’s pretty shocked. He’s always been quiet, but he’s quieter than usual. It hurts me to see him like that. He’s still a kid, AFTER ALL. — When I’m released, I’ll make sure to visit your hospital. It’ll be more effective to keep receiving treatments from you. — I guess I can’t retire until then, Inmate 0512. »

KSJ sounds like he’s keeping up to date with Jihoon’s well-being through his grandmother, even though they probably don’t meet in person (Jihoon’s desperate reaction as he saw him in ep. 6 would make sense if he barely met him for all those years).

Jihoon’s actual address is not registered, nobody knows where he lives. It's highly likely Gaetal's hideout.

And given the preview, KSJ is probably taken to that place and this exchange was probably the moment he planned to escape there (with code words eg. ‘when I’m released’ for his escape ; ‘visit your hospital’ for where she lives with Jihoon ; ‘I can’t retire until then’ ie. work with him as Gaetal No. 2 ; ‘He’s still a kid, after all’ hinting Jihoon’s involvement with Gaetal).

‘Kim Muchan knows…’

So according to KSJ, KMC knows that terrible rage from losing loved ones and the intense desire to kill the culprit. As I supposed in a previous post, it must be for both Narae and his mother, and KSJ seems to know that. KSJ also says ‘If you understand Gaetal for the reason I believe, I feel… deeply for you.’

In KSJ’s eyes, ‘For the reason I believe’ might not only refer to the rage Joohyun defined, but also to how Min Jiyoung might be behind all this. After all, he also checked Joohyun's background, he could've put two and two together and as for KMC, he must've learned it from the man himself.

Choi Dohee’s personal investigation and Kim Muchan's endeavors

In retrospect, Choi Dohee is no newbie to dropping bangers lmao

In the first episode, you see her debate on BGC’s controversial case with Min Jiyoung.

She then changes subject:

« And now, let’s take a look at examples of mitigation cases that have been controversial.

I heard a rumor about you running for presidency. You didn’t need to compete for your nomination, but running for presidency is… I’m worried the investigative hearings will end up just hurting you. »

And Min Jiyoung abruptly cut her off. Here’s the screen and said cases on the picture to the left:

→ Child sexual assault by Jo Daeseung. The culprit indiscriminately assaulted a 10 year-old grade schooler girl ; his sentence was reduced to 12 years of prison labor because he was in a state of mental and physical weakness (thus the mens rea was not fully qualified) while he was actually drunk.

Note: I can only talk from my country’s standpoint, but being drunk is an aggravating factor in many infractions, such as SA, and not a mitigating one!

→ DUI leading to the death of a 40 year-old mother and her two children by Jeong Gyuwon. The culprit got their sentence reduced to 4 years of prison labor because they reflected on their crime, they admitted to committing the offense and was a first-time offender.

→ Kidnapping of a minor causing their death by neglect by Choi Yuseon, the director of a daycare center. She inflicted continuous abuse and violence on a 4 year-old child. The sentence was reduced to 6 years of prison labor for family neglect (meaning the family of the victim also neglected them).

This is absolutely no coincidence, and she definitely wanted to mess with her! We weren’t given any clues at the beginning about the cast’s past so this bit felt out of place (why would this make Min Jiyoung react this sourly, after all?) but in retrospect these cases’ circumstances are a disturbing recall to:

→ Narae’s case

→ Joohyun’s family’s case (though it’s a unisex name, the culprit in the case quoted by CDH could even be the man who killed Joohyun’s parents!)

→ Narae’s case once more because it also involved kidnapping and allegations of domestic abuse, but it could be about someone else!

In ep. 1 (the picture to the right), you can see a news article (the second on the picture) reporting how hard-working KMC was in solving gang and drug traffic cases but also hit-and-run cases???? In 3 years, 48 cases out of 50 were resolved according to the Nambu Police Agency. He was seemingly responsible in raising the arrest rate by 100%.

The article quoted KMC: « [We] will also catch, without fail, the culprits involved in hit-and-run cases [that were overlooked/remained unsolved] over the past several years. » (more on the phrasing just after!) and something along the lines of « We will endeavor [in handling] serious/great [crimes] that destroyed families. » (this second quote is too blurry and cut so I tried to guess from the missing parts in the brackets!)

???????????????????

In ep. 8, Choi Dohee also hints a lot how « she works so hard even though she doesn’t have to, which makes her pretty unique » suggesting that even though she's privileged with her connections, she still pulls a lot of (illegal) strings to perhaps hide something ugly underneath.

And what she does in ep. 8 before Min Jiyoung joins her definitely looks linked to whatever investigation she leads on her: she took a picture of one of Min Jiyoung’s campaign pledges, a project to empower the underprivileged (among redevelopment projects and a children hospital project).

Gaetal

It’s possible some members know each other’s identity for some reason (eg. Jihoon and his grandmother seem to communicate with KSJ pretty knowingly) while some don’t since it’s a rule between them.

Which means it could be possible and not that farfetched that if there’s more than 6 Gaetal (and there are actually 7 for example, matching the number of the desks) Joohyun, LMS, KSJ and/or KSJ worked together interchangeably without even knowing it. They could have realized it along the way and knowing LMS was a part changed the way to operate whatever plan they initially had in mind.

Since Gaetal is a group of people trying (but perhaps failing) to uphold each member’s anonymity, the misunderstanding is naturally introduced as « Gaetal » doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing from one Gaetal to another.

Eg. a wild guess but since there’s a great great (highkey great haha) chance he’s No. 3 (see Part 2!), when KMC says ‘If I were Gaetal, he would’ve been my first target.’ it’s because to him it’s true: he’s not the one who planned all the votes (most likely it is No. 1), he’s No. 3 but not the mastermind (it's highly likely Fan No. 1 then Gaetal No. 1, and KSJ factored in somewhere). And when KSJ asked if he meant it, it might also be because there’s doubt on what each meant by « Gaetal ». So he speaks of Gaetal as though it is separate from himself because that holds some truth to him. But when he felt KSJ might be Gaetal, he crammed Gaetal, No. 1 Fan and LMS together into the same identity.

Eg. When Joohyun says « Do you still think Gaetal is right? » she perhaps meant ‘Gaetal’ as in the mastermind laying out the plans (No. 1 Fan), not necessarily the whole group altogether! She perhaps addressed her question to someone she knows also works with Gaetal (eg. KSJ, their conversations sound even more cryptic than with KMC haha) who initially disagreed with her on the plans feeling wrong because they didn’t doubt anything (it could make sense for KSJ to believe that because of the letters and he was surprised to hear KMC was involved in the bombing of the car)

Eg. Joohyun & KMC’s scenes in ep. 8 also felt like Joohyun was trying to convince him that No. 1 Fan is LMS and the betrayer among Gaetal, and that he acts separately from them.

Eg. If KSJ and KMC know that they both are part of/involved with Gaetal, ‘JJW must not be the only one willing to sacrifice oneself’ could sound like KSJ is announcing he will escape his cell and draw the public’s attention on him so that the initial Gaetal won’t go down on its own while LMS flees and shifts all the blame on them

Eg. When LMS says KMC « is a really funny guy », could this also mean he caught up on his involvement with Gaetal?

Each Gaetal might also have different agendas eg. KMC would perhaps want to collect decisive evidence to catch LMS and MJY (and maybe even shift all Gaetal’s plans on him, who knows?), he might’ve been chasing after No. 1 Fan/LMS once he learned about the letters. He might even change his plans along the way if he realized KSJ is really involved with Gaetal. Joohyun might be looking for No. 1 Fan on her own too.

There’s an interesting parallel between what’s happening now and 8 years ago when it comes to videos, here’s what KSJ said about the video that smeared his reputation in ep. 7: « Whoever it was that made the video, it got the entire country hoping that I’m the murderer. Maybe the last thing I can do for Narae is to admit that I did it. That way, no one will talk about her anymore, and perhaps that’s all I can do. »

Replace Narae with KMC in this and this could be what's actually happening in the present aaaaaaaaaaa

To which KMC answers they have to catch the culprit: « I don’t believe you did it. Never. You’re the only person I trust… And look up to. Have you forgotten? I said I’d be your No. 1 Fan. » Back to the present, KSJ confessed he wished KMC were Gaetal.

More on 당신

(See more context on the pronoun in this post!)

In addition to what I said about Gaetal and KMC’s speech patterns in ‘The Gaetals’, KMC also uses the pronoun 당신 in ep. 4 when addressing Gaetal. It’s also the title for ep.3: « 당신, 영웅 아니야 » (« You’re not a hero. »).

An interesting detail is he addresses Gaetal by ‘너’ right before when he says ‘Also… You and the Killing Vote. Don’t be mistaken.’ and after as he adds: ‘You’re clearly a murderer, and your method is wrong. I’m going to catch you no matter what.’

He addresses the one across the cameras and in a confrontational tone too. The ‘너’ before and after 당신 reinforce that impression but could also suggest he’s identifying someone/it is personal (eg. he knows who’s behind the mask).

➾ Is he talking to two separate individuals/groups (eg. 당신 → KSJ/Gaetal & 너 → LMS)?

➾ (wild take) but could this mean he intends to catch LMS but not KSJ/Gaetal... ?

Another detail: in ep. 7, KMC also addresses LMS with ‘너’ and informally.

Of course, LMS is 10+ years younger and you wouldn’t say their relationship was amicable ; the way they’re both sitting & behaving in front of each other is not your average respectful conduct either haha!

It contrasts with LYS’s interview by KMC 8 years ago too!

→ The mention of ‘hero’ in KMC's lines might be a personal reference to the flashback we saw in the next episode, as Narae says in the recording ‘You’re my hero, Dad. Because you always keep me safe. I love you, Dad.’ in front of the ‘My Daddy My Hero’ neon.

→ While the adjective/verb for ‘to be wrong’ (틀리다) is really common, both KMC and the person who tagged Narae’s wall used it (‘Your method is wrong.’ & ‘The 13th was wrong’). KMC says this AFTER going to KSJ’s house and witnessing the tag, it could be a reference (does he know what ’13th’ means?).

And KMC swiped the tablet to get to the picture of the tagged wall right after he asked KSJ if he was Gaetal, and reiterates once the picture is displayed: « Should I ask you again? Mr. Kwon Seokju. Do you know anything about Gaetal and the Killing Vote? ».

It’s as though the tag (besides being in Narae’s room) pointed to something and KMC knew that ; because yes, the video test was shot in Narae’s room which is suspicious enough, but the tag is quite obscure and the articles were only about Narae and KSJ.

(See ② of 'A potential secret communication' right below for more about the tag and the number '13'!)

A potential secret communication in the main cast

① The news article on Kim Muchan and Gaetal

As a reminder,

Gaetal in the video test: « Just you wait. I’m coming for you. » / « 기다려. 내가 너 잡으로 간다. » KMC to Gaetal: « I’m going to catch you no matter what. » / « 내가 너 반드시 잡는다. »

‘잡다’ broadly means to catch, hold, grab but in this context it’s to arrest/catch a culprit

‘반드시’ means without fail, certainly

The news article Joohyun saw on KMC and his strive in hit-and-run cases in ep. 1 also had a similar wording:

« 수년이 지난 뺑소니 사고도 반드시 잡는다. » ‘[We] will also catch, without fail, the culprits involved in hit-and-run cases over the past several years.’

‘수년’ means a certain number of years, and I didn’t know that it’s several years ‘that do not precisely exceed 10 years’! 10 years, like the (potentially fictional) sentence of the 'witness'... ?

We don’t know when that article was written, but I’m pretty sure it’s a reference to Joohyun’s case: all these articles were written when KMC climbed the ladder all the way up so it'd make sense!

② The reverse Prison Break and ‘The 13th one is heard/tells [the signal]’

'The 13th was wrong.' was what was seemingly tagged on the wall in Narae's room.

But… 틀리다 (틀렸어) can also become a paronym of 들리다 (들렸어) because their pronunciation in the past tense becomes almost identical. 들리다 can mean: — tell something, have something heard ie. have someone listen to something — be heard/audible ie. for a sound to be heard and recognized through one’s ears — become sick or possessed — be held or lifted

… In ep. 8, Mozart’s Requiem is specifically heard!!!! And that’s exactly the same part Joohyun played in ep. 3 LMAO

JJW halts and tilts when he hears the tune, as if he recognizes some sort of signal… ? It seems it came from the truck that broke the wall and made KSJ escape! We also weren’t shown the truck driver’s face!

KSJ and a third person (this might include KMC, Joohyun, Jodan and JJW) helping him from the outside were the ones the message was destined to, and it was delivered by Joohyun and/or KMC.

Note: For the '13th' part, it could be a reference to the Requiem, XIII: Agnus Dei but I don't believe it was that part we heard in both episodes, I feel it was I: Introitus, though I could be wrong (if someone has the answer please tell me haha)! However the point still stands, as it could be a synechdoche (a literary device using a part of something to describe a whole and vice versa because they're bound by a logical link/a relation of inclusion ; it's a type of metonymy) ie. the 13th points to the Requiem being played. Or the wrong part is deliberately played on screen so as not to make it obvious? I don't know, I'll get back to that later if I find answers! AND: on Agnus Dei, God's 'Lamb' is 하느님의 어린 양 in Korean!!!! 'Lamb' is 양 in Korean, and... Jihoon's grandmother, a member of Gaetal, is called YANG Hyejin lmao + the company delivering bottled water to the death row inmates (and also to the Police Agency it seems from the last minutes) is said to be 'partly supported by us through a private organization', which might be Yang Hyejin's. Finally I believe we see KSJ reuniting with Jihoon and his grandmother in the preview: the tag could've been an indication of where to go next?

After KSJ thanks her because it was nice to 'listen to it' (reconfirming he understood the message?), Joohyun then brings up the tag once again: « Gaetal may have scribbled on your wall a bit, but they didn’t make a huge mess. It had good natural lighting. It was a very nice house. »

Was KMC privy to this message? Did they work together? He looks like he noticed something as he listened, he squinted his eyes a bit. In ep. 5, he specifically said KSJ wanted her to be his messenger, but who knows if he was let in on in too.

But one thing did feel suspicious:

In KSJ’s cell at the Police Agency, KMC thoroughly checked the camera angles beforehand (maybe to prepare for what he wanted to whisper to KSJ so that he wouldn’t be caught) AND the windows that the truck crashed into in ep. 8.

KSJ did the same when he first arrived, then literally faced the wall (on which the papers were coincidentally taped) and windows in question in ep. 5 with KMC looking at him. The papers coincidentally stopped being taped around where the truck would collide, as if it was someone’s way (whoever it was) to pointedly demarcate it and signal it to KSJ.

The first thing KMC asked KSJ to do in the investigation was to search through the letters he received, his acquaintances, and everyone who attended the final trial to find out who is Gaetal.

And curiously, the only shot that shows KMC pointing to the papers on the wall is when he directed KSJ’s attention to the final trial attendance list, and coincidentally… it’s the one that was taped at the far end, right next to the point of collision… !

If I’m hearing things right, he introduced said list with the adverb ‘특히’ (especially): « Go through all the letters you received, your acquaintances and [especially] everyone who was at the final trial, and pick out those who may be Gaetal. »

And cue KSJ’s reaction: to find a lead in this case, you would normally look for the next targets, not the culprit, to which KMC answers it’s better to divide work for efficiency, « finding the culprit is our top priority. »

Also an interesting shot in ep. 5: the emergency exit sign points in the direction of KSJ’s cell as you can see on the last picture lmao

And ironically, KSJ was checking the wall when Jodan and KMC were saying this:

« — There are CCTV cameras outside of the room as well, so we can watch your every move in real time . So there won’t be any blind spots. Should you wish to leave this room, you must be accompanied by at least one guard or detective.  — KMC: The most important thing is that no one can know you’re here. The moment people find out, the special pardon will be cancelled. »

In ep. 8, it was Jodan who mentioned a ‘reverse Prison Break’ while they were debriefing about how Gaetal would target death row inmates, be it foreshadowing for the real escape in the end of the episode or Jodan’s potential involvement in all this.

In ep. 8, KSJ also asked Jodan: « Could you ask Park Cheolmin to bring me a book? »

That’s maybe how they communicated together with the warden? Is this really about a book?

AND in the same episode, the janitor was not by KSJ’s side (when he ultimately fled) because he got an ‘urgent call’ from the warden MMMMMMMH + in ep. 4, KSJ hinted to the warden there’s no way he might ‘threaten’ him should the need arise, but… ‘they’re not in that situation yet.’

③ Joohyun and the letters

In the same interview in ep. 4, Joohyun hands over to KSJ a few letters out of the stack, her index turning white by the pressure she applies on the first one (is she indicating him which ‘letter’ to read?). KSJ opens it but we don’t see its content (the first set of pictures below):

Who’s to say there weren’t some specific instructions printed on said ‘letter’?

And when KSJ seemingly accused her of violating the Privacy Act, and « Given the severity, you could even get a prison sentence. » (the 'Killing Vote' actually is actually called 'national death punishment vote' in Korean, so is he requesting information on the Killing Vote and its future plans... ?), Joohyun specifically says she found the letters in the prison trash can..........

(Could there be another message/item waiting for him there? A prison trash can could be a place that both an inmate and a visitor have access to!)

Insisting on maintaining eye contact, she hands him once more the same stack but her thumb points out to the second one (second set of pictures above!).

What was likely staged as Joohyun handing KSJ his letters back because she stole them was perhaps her giving him next instructions without raising suspicions.

Note: What she says next is: « These letters Gaetal sent under the alias ‘No. 1 Fan’ describe in detail how the victims of the Killing Vote would be executed (she only maintains eye contact with him the moment she put emphasis on the word 방식, ’specified method or form’ ; 방 also means room hence the emphasis maybe, perhaps as a reference to his future cell?). But some pages are missing. I’m suspecting the targets were written on them. You were just playing innocent, right? You actually know Gaetal’s next target, don’t you? (I believe this part was actually her really wanting to know the truth because she wasn’t aware there were letters premeditating TKV and wanted to know where the missing pages went) »

KSJ then negotiates his special pardon but Joohyun seemed genuinely surprised.

-> Either KMC deceived her along the way: he instructed her to do everything mentioned but the content of said ‘letter’ was only known of KMC (while Joohyun truly thought they were the letters). However, this didn’t go exactly as planned for KMC either, he smashes the desk in frustration.

-> What she communicated to KSJ was something entirely different than the special pardon: she also expected something out of this meeting.

Speaking of ‘method’, in ep. 4, KMC said in front of the cameras: « Your methods are wrong/[???]. » (‘네 방법은 틀렸어/들렸어.’)

But once again… You can replace ‘wrong’ by any of the following paronyms: tell something, have something heard ie. have someone listen to something ; be heard/audible ; become sick or possessed ; be held or lifted.

AND he uses the word 방법 for method which is used to describe a reliable/effective/scientific method of data analysis.

④ The rabbit, the paperknife and the ointment cream

What else did Joohyun (or somebody else) do that was related to KSJ?

THE STUFFED BUNNY

In ep. 3's interview, KSJ halted in front of the picture of Narae’s stuffed rabbit probably because he knows this wasn’t the specific place he last left it before he murdered BWT: it was on the living room’s sofa! The bunny was also recorded on the video test.

And he might've caught on that the one who did that was pretty much aware of the great sentimental value the bunny held in KSJ and Narae's eyes (KMC or Jihoon), which means that they might've done that with a particular reason in mind.

KSJ says: « The rabbit is all worn out. » (‘토끼가 많이 바랬네요.’) but 바랬네 can come from both 바래다 (fade/lose color ie. for a color to become less clear or turn yellowish from being exposed to sunlight or humidity, by ext. being worn out) and 바라다 (want/hope/wish).

And KMC uses that meaning of 바라다 in ep. 4 (KSJ did too when he said ‘I wished you were Gaetal’), as you can see in the last two pictures.

Was there something inside the stuffed bunny or in the shelf that’s underneath?

Note: It could even be 바래다 (see sb off ie. going with someone who is leaving to a certain point or to see them off, eg. taking them home)! Also, like in many Asian countries, the rabbit is also strongly associated to the moon and the lunar calendar/months (Gaetal?). Also as I said on ep. 7's post, 탈 (mask), 딸 (daughter) and 달 (month, moon and rabbit by association) are paronyms: there must be something hidden under all this message!

These moments also looked interesting:

THE PAPERKNIFE (first set of pictures)

I rechecked out of curiosity and the paperknife KMC threw was still there in ep. 3 when his team investigated the house.

But it’s gone from the frame in ep. 5. Which could mean:

-> Most probably the forensics took it

-> Someone else did after they left with an ulterior motive in mind eg. Yoonji herself/someone in the investigation team or somebody else who came while they were investigation or after!

THE BOMBING SPRAY AND JOOHYUN KNOCKED OUT (second set of pictures)

Speaking of the scene in ep. 3, KMC stumbles upon a knocked out Joohyun and there seems to be the bombing spray right beside her:

Was the point of this showing the tag to KMC so that he’d understand something (it's the first thing she did once she regained consciousness)?

Were her injuries and the third person’s escape fake and was she trying to stage the scene? Joohyun claimed in front of KSJ she was hit pretty severely then, but her injury remained concealed under her hair and was not shown like for the rest of the cast:

Her own scar from the car crash ;

KMC's burns, injured forehead and bandaged hand ;

His team's bruises after they fought with the passerby ;

Jihoon's injured arm from the thrown chair and the cut on his neck from being taken hostage in ep. 6 ;

JJW had the scar on his ear and the burn scar on his neck ;

LMS has the scar left from his surgery ;

KSJ had the scar highly likely left from his pneumothorax surgery given its position on the side of his ribs.

THE OINTMENT CREAM (third set of pictures)

Joohyun gave KSJ the ointment cream and what looks like a bandaid (there could be something inserted inside).

KSJ thanks her for ‘everything’: he puts the emphasis on ‘everything’ by saying « 고마워요… 다. ». It’d be casually said « 다 고마워요. »: it could be because of the emotion of the moment of course but perhaps he’s referring to an ‘everything’ only Joohyun and him could understand. She looks naturally moved but she also touches her scar in reaction (!!!!).

WHATEVER SHE DID IN 'NARAE's ROOM' (fourth set of pictures)

As I said previously, we also don’t know what she did in Narae’s room or wherever she went upstairs.

As soon as she mentioned checking the photos on the wall (사진), she looks in the direction of the frames hung next to the stairs (was there something inside/behind?).

⑤ « Exactly 22 minutes. »

Also for Jihoon’s « Exactly 22 minutes. » (정확하게 22분 있네요.)

분 can mean several things: — the counting marker for minutes — the honorific address of a person or the honorific counting marker for number of people — … powder (the smell of powder… ?) — anger, wrath, like 분노 (rage) KSJ used in his conversation with Joohyun

⑥ An IP address?

This is beyond Reach Land lmao but in ep. 3, KSJ says:

« My daughter Narae was stabbed with a knife 22 times. I did the same thing to her murderer. Seven. Eight. Nine. He was already dead, but I couldn’t stop. He was the bastard who dared to lay his hands on my daughter. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. And then the 13th thrust… The knife slipped in the rain, so the 13th stab wound was different from the one my daughter sustained. That’s probably what it means. The 13th one was subtly but clearly different. And wrong. »

➾ Was he trying to convey a combination of the numbers he mentioned? It could be an IP address if you remove the 3 of 13 (because the 13th was ‘slightly wrong’) and reverse the order: Not 78910111213 but 121.110.198.7 Note: The IP address Joohyun found in ep. 2 was 260.215.195.7.

⑦ « Kim Muchan knows… » and the first letters

Joohyun reads some letters from No. 1 Fan at the end of the episode.

The No. 1 Fan’s letter on June, 4, 2019 was… romantic lmao (you can see an excerpt when Joohyun checks it at the end of the episode) and it sounds eerily familiar to what LMS said to KSJ: in the letter, the Fan said he received flowers from a friend, the birth flower for June 1st, the Great Maiden’s Blush.

He told KSJ its flower language, « You’re the only one who knows my heart » (« 나의 마음 그대만이 아네 », the word used for heart is 마음, it can mean someone’s mind, mood, feelings and also heart ie. affection or interest ; 알다 means to know).

He said he thought of the Professor when he looked at the flowers: just as he alone understands KSJ, it’s nice to know the only person who understands him is the Professor (for understand he used 이해하다).

Which is also an interesting call-back to Joohyun trying to decipher KSJ’s words in ep. 6: « If you understand Gaetal for the reason I believe, I feel… deeply for you. (…) You said Team Leader Kim didn’t notice, but I don’t think so. I’m sure he did. That terrible rage. He knows what it’s like. »

The last line said is « 잘 알고라고요 » (I said [he] knows [it] well): the object is once again omitted because KSJ spoke about the ‘terrible rage’, but it could also be in reference to something else, and this letter is now shown in the drama!

Also later in that episode, Joohyun puts the emphasis on the verb ‘knowing’, as though she’s found an intriguing keyword in KSJ’s lines:

« 김무찬도 안다. 그런 마음을 안다. 김무찬은 안다. 김무찬도 애틋하다? »

Sentence by sentence:

« Kim Muchan knows [it, whatever it is] too OR I know Kim Muchan too. »

« [He or I, subject implied] know(s) such a feeling. »

« Kim Muchan knows. » [no doubt on KMC being the subject of the sentence here ; but whatever is its object, eg. heart/feelings/rage, is totally unknown but privy to both of them]

« Kim Muchan also feels deeply/loves [for who? Who knows c:] OR [I] feel deeply for/love Kim Muchan too. »

The thing is, ~도 is a particle that can replace BOTH subject particles (~는/은) AND the object particles (~를/을) so the first and last sentences can be translated both ways (hence the 'or')!

And as I said for ep. 6, 애틋하다 can both mean you sympathize with someone’s pain (anxious, regrettable ie. one’s heart going to someone or something out of regret or sympathy) AND that you feel affectionate for someone (ie. having deep affection and love for someone).

And… the 애 in 애틋하다 can be two homonyms: 애 as in anxiety, worry AND as in 愛, the hanja for love…

This really gives me the impression that LMS read KMC and KSJ’s correspondence and tried to mimick it to take KMC’s place, why would he speak of ‘embarrassing love letters’ otherwise, emphasis on embarrassing (meaning he stumbled upon something he found really interesting)… ?

Not to mention that he said to KSJ when he met him: « I was worried you might hate me, but you showed you completely understood me (he used 이해하다, same as in his letter). It meant we were finally communicating properly, which reassured me. »

With that same logic, KSJ's « I feel deeply for/love you. » (당신이 많이 애틋합니다.) could 1) mean love ; 2) be a reference to the letter ; 3) the 당신 truly addressed KMC at the same time KSJ was respecting Joohyun’s pain. And 4) KMC understood it.

Has KMC been communicating with KSJ like that through the years? Was he the one who planned out KSJ's escape? My brain is exploding from too much possibilities 8D

Wild guesses

We still lack A LOT of context but maybe:

-> KMC’s grand-scale investigation aims all the tragedies gathering the cast together (Joohyun, KSJ, Jihoon and his grandmother, JJW, …). He needs enough authority on a national scale to take down Min Jiyoung, her son and others involved (eg. the Commissionner, the 'witness'), especially since she’s now running for presidency. He’s been communicating with Choi Dohee to try to look into some events, poke at Min Jiyoung and find evidence. Perhaps he’s even the Gaetal who tipped her off and the one she’s having a privileged communication with.

Maybe KMC expected Min Jiyoung to covet the Killing Vote (to win the presidential elections) and dirty her hands by making it hers: he wanted to lay that strong of a trap to be able to expose her tentacular influence and (re)open all the cases that were insidiously tampered with by her and force his way through all potential cover-ups and corruption by national authorities (we know the Commissioner himself isn’t in the clear at all for example) because he’d then gain the country’s trust and support.

For that, he needed to be himself a part of Gaetal to collect enough evidence to indict her and make sure she has no way out by promising to Choi Dohee a scoop on Gaetal’s identity when the time comes.

Note: time is ticking because once she’s elected as the next president, she’ll be granted presidential immunity from criminal prosecution: if so, she needs to be successfully impeached for her to face charges. She’d highly likely escape KMC’s trap because she seems to have deep ties in politics, corruption might be unavoidable then.

The ideal moment to expose MJY would be during her investigative hearing (that's broadcasted publicly if I'm not mistaken) where a well-crafted rebuttal in advance would prove difficult, and Choi Dohee indeed hinted at this event in ep. 1.

I just checked and impeachment in SK must be voted by the two thirds of the National Assembly, which means 201 votes or more in favor. The majority of the Constitutional Court must then vote to uphold the impeachment motion and remove the president from the office. Which might considerably reduce the chances to zero because the long and complex procedure would introduce too many unknown and uncontrollable parameters to successfully tip the scales in favor of KMC’s plans.

-> Making Joohyun a whistleblower in 2021 by Choi Dohee was perhaps even part of the plan unbeknownst to her, to make her a voice legitimate enough for the country to listen to her when the time comes.

-> KMC was the Gaetal in the ‘video test’, but it’s possible the initial objective was totally different from what it actually is now. He asked Jodan and/or Jihoon’s help to reach Joohyun, known to be a whistleblower, by hacking her sister’s computer. It was never supposed to be a video test. He needed to give Joohyun strong reasons to believe Gaetal was an imminent threat for her to look into it without her suspecting they specifically wanted to reach her (eg. by turning into zombie PCs every computer of the PC bang her sister used to play games at) and eventually understand it was maybe a hidden message (to further communicate between each other).

Joohyun also seems unrelated to KSJ so any communication between both of them would not be under suspicions nor scrutiny, unlike KMC (which is probably why he never went to visit him... according to the warden, but KSJ's secret 'labor' outings could be linked though).

-> LMS learned about the Killing Vote before it began and decided to mess with KMC’s plan by laying out the votes for the future Gaetal that would be led by KSJ he’d coax through the letters (by impersonating KMC based on his knowledge of their intimate relationship he got by wiretapping them and from CJS for ex.). That way, he’d drag both KMC and KSJ’s names in the mud, they’d have no way out of the game he made his. One of his objectives was getting KMC murdered as a target of the Killing Vote once people’s support and trust would be completely gained. Somehow, he doesn’t have much time left, probably due to his heart disease, so he decided to take part in TKV and enjoy it to the fullest.

Min Jiyoung's 'children hospital project' might also be connected to LMS eg. to save him in time.

-> KMC didn’t expect the letters at all and never wanted KSJ to get himself involved in the Killing Vote. This might’ve drastically changed his initial plans. He now has no other choice than to catch Min Jiyoung/LMS through Gaetal (eg. by making them the scapegoats).

-> KSJ believed KMC was Gaetal because of the No. 1 Fan letters, and he deliberately got himself involved at first because the letters asked him to and later (when he realized LMS was the sender) so that KMC wouldn’t take the blame alone (perhaps he even settled on becoming the scapegoat alone).

-> The first letter might not have been written by LMS. For example, it could’ve been KMC confessing his initial plans to him and that he’d finally be able to atone for his past mistakes. The plan was suggesting he’d be doing everything on his own without involving KSJ (perhaps he even made his farewells in case things wouldn’t go as planned), which made him go mad because he couldn’t bear to watch him going down alone helplessly. But he never went into detail as to how the plan would be carried out. That’s why he believed the other letters that were sent from this point on were a change of heart and truly came from KMC who now wanted to involve him. LMS perhaps intercepted the first letter through his mother’s connections (because he kept a close eye on KSJ as he was still obsessed by him) and decided to impersonate KMC and involve KSJ in his Killing Vote. Doing so, he gets to thwart KMC’s plans from the inside to save his mother in a purely entertaining way and enjoy the intimate relationship he felt entitled to from the beginning.

-> How Gaetal’s cast was recruited in the beginning remains a complete mystery, whether they were gathered by KMC, KSJ or LMS in the beginning, how they were recruited in anonymity, …

-> KMC nor KSJ never meant to involve Jihoon in the plan but he insisted on joining them because he couldn’t stand it too.

-> While investigating on their own, KMC and Joohyun each realized along the way the other was part of Gaetal through subtle details. Joohyun might be taking a bigger part in it than expected and her communication with KSJ seems really hazy too. Each also realized in their own way LMS was part of Gaetal.

-> KSJ, Joohyun and KMC bonded through the Killing Vote and now try to protect each other without the other necessarily knowing it. Joohyun also realized KMC was the police officer who believed her story during her parents’ case and is now determined to protect both KMC and KSJ.

-> KMC was promoted in the past because he cracked down a huge case involving Min Jiyoung’s connections or herself, even before Narae’s case ; his mother got killed in retaliation.

Et voilà! Again have a nice week and enjoy episode 9 💚

[sparxwrites]

Sort of angst warning- OBSESSED with how the editing between Scar’s and Grian’s POV of DL (at least to me) changes the tone between the two. From Grian’s POV, Scar has been disinterested in his soulmate from the start, refusing to prioritize their safety and is using the jellies as an excuse while Grian is working to keep them both alive. Scar obviously doesn’t want this, so why should Grian? From Scar’s POV, he’s just tired of the game, just wanting the jellies to bring Grian happiness like they do him. Grian seems so anxious to Win, but Scars just exhausted, and obviously not welcome here, not anymore. Not like he used to be.

oh that is such an interesting read!! not quite mine, but hmm, i'm gonna have to mull that over bc... possibilities possibilities...

see my read is that, yes, there are wild tonal differences between grian and scar's episodes, and as always it's fascinating to see what they (and everyone else) choose to keep versus hide/discard.

grian has had- almost no reference to scar? not even in irritation. he spends all of the first episode trailing after him, promising to protect him, joking and exasperated... and then second episode, sends him out to collect wood, and that's. about it, other than a handful of clips of him complaining at scar about the pandas or scar saying something funny. it's almost a 180, from stalking to complete disinterest, capped off with him setting up to seduce bigb at the end of the episode. he's keeping everything with scar desperately proffesional, arm's-length, almost hermitcraft-y in the way he's chivvying scar along and ordering him about and bullying him - forgetting (or ignoring, or playing a long game with) the fact that life smp scar is very different to hermitcraft scar. life smp scar has teeth. and also a flint and steel. and he's not afraid to use them. but grian is insistent on keeping up this facade of almost aggressive disinterest and indifference, and i really have no idea why he's doing it. bewildering.

scar, though. scar has gone from "haha i don't need a soulmate!" to "i'm going to punish him and torture him" so fucking fast that it's just confirmed my theory that first episode he was absolutely putting on the whole i didn't know grian was my soulmate tee hee thing. he is a man angry. he is a man scorned. he is a man who was always going to be A Problem for grian, even before the panda disagreement. he's gone through all five stages of grief over his weird fucked up history and current relationship with grian, and he's moved straight onto what he does best - distracting himself, through wilful violence, with the fun side-effect of punishing grian simultaneously (both through the soulbond's shared pain, and through forcing grian to abandon his own plans to come and protect scar). he desperately wants grian's affection and attention, but is incapable of asking for that and also pissed off with the rejection, and so now he's going to make that literally everyone's problem. he went fully evil and unhinged this episode, similar to the stuff we saw from him on red in last life, and it's just... chef's kiss. it's so good. i can't wait to see more.

[myundeadgayson]

my favorite flower husbands moments of 3rd LifeSMP (part 3) (includes spoilers up to the finale):

the entire concept of Scott building them a bunker and only giving those he trusts a chest with potions. basically any time Scott shows how much he genuinely trusts people and puts in the effort for them makes my heart warm. Jimmy, of course, at the top of that trust chain tho and it’s sweet.

again, me imagining Scott as this kind of lone elf pre-everything that lived his life mostly alone, but now he’s opened up his new home in this world that’s rapidly turning more dangerous by the day to someone else. him being so trusting of others bc for one, he knows he can handle himself if worst comes to worst. for two, he has no reason not to trust others. some would find it naive, but he’s simply just a realist that happens to be optimistic sometimes about people.

i’m mentioning all that bc i think it makes it more special knowing he trusts and cares about people, but he is incredibly realistic about how bad things can happen, but it all comes down to the fact that as long as he and Jimmy can live happily with their home safe, then he’s fine with everyone else. and i think it’s adorable imagining how Jimmy probably realizes all this and thinks it’s so nice. his catboy tax benefits husband is very sweet:)

Jimmy scaring the fuck out of Scott by shouting any time he needs him.

Scott pranking Jimmy with a cake of all things and Jimmy just “can you please taste it for me:(“

focusing in on the cake, Jimmy’s become so nervous about hidden traps killing him that he can’t even trust a cake of all things. and the double-edge of Scott pranking him with the cake to scare him, but also reminding Jimmy that he doesn’t have to fear everything. always be safe, but also Scott wouldn’t willingly put him at risk like that.

Jimmy: “i’ll run with you! let’s do some skipping together.”

the fact Jimmy’s solution to making Scott eat the cake ever included running around WITH Scott in case the fact that Scott wouldn’t be alone would make Scott more willing to do it. it’s Dogboy energy innit.

the way Jimmy instantly goes from being nervous to “awwwww :D” when he finds out Scott made the cake for him

any moment Jimmy pops up randomly, but it’s during a peaceful moment and surprises Scott. i can’t explain it. there’s just domestic husbands randomly visiting each other energy here.

any time Scott and Jimmy show up somewhere together. power couple energy enters the chat, but in the shape of a fancy elf man and his zombie husband following at his heels like a lost puppy.

Scott calling Jimmy his ride or die

the mirror dynamic of Scar and Grian, a red-life and green-life that have been active in the fighting and know the terrors of not being able to trust anyone, versus Scott and Jimmy, a red and green life that have tried to live a mostly peaceful life. the fact Scar and Grian learned they have to constantly be on guard, watch their back, always have a trap ready, etc. the fact they live together more for their own safety as allies rather than Scott and Jimmy, who agreed bc they enjoy each other’s company.

honestly there’s so much in those parallels to talk about, but i just needed to mention how much i love that this exists and you constantly see those parallels seeing as the two pairs are allies.

it’s the hostile zombie man and his human companion dynamics for me, but one pair is hardened and cautious from the ongoing wars and the other pranks each other with cake.

Grian: “i don’t trust anyone. i’ve invested so much gunpowder into this project that i’ll take down everyone with me included if i have to.”

Scott, casually standing with his full trust in various people: cool, i’m in 👍

Grian telling Scar “i can’t let you go like that” and Scott following up with “yeah, and i can’t trust Jimmy to pull a lever so—“

Scott losing a life, Jimmy, and all his shit all in the span of five seconds, then proceeding to accidentally drink poison bc he’s so frazzled from everything. it’s a purely Jimmy move and you know Jimmy would be yelling at him about it, but now Scott’s alone and doesn’t yet know how to process their one braincell being his officially.

upon losing Jimmy, Scott instantly turning to revenge, murder, and arson. the fact this was him basically deciding to give up peaceful life entirely to maintain a life of war bc his husband that essentially represented that hope for a better life is now gone. he’s alone, single, and a bit unhinged.

also, Scott becoming untrusting of majority of people upon losing a life and Jimmy. hardened widow of the war turned badass archer moment.

i’m crying in the club. i miss Jimmy.

i’m on the last episode of the series now, and i’m absolutely crying over the missing zombie man. his husband misses him and i do too.

i’m never going to get over the fact that after Jimmy died, Scott immediately turned from peaceful and trusting to “i have a husband to avenge and i’m going to take down as many people to blame for it as possible”

mans showing that he does know how to kill and has many tricks up his sleeve on how to kill people. him being peaceful from the start was the safest option for everyone else, not him.

he was simply out for blood. i love that for him<3

i’m now crying.

they’re together again tho,,, but i’m in Tears,,,

[theepisceswriter]

hiiii friend🥺🤍🤍🤍 I love ur blog so much it was an automatic follow when i found out u were a black writer too!!! for the event can i request Toji w/ hair bands & sunglasses if that’s ok<3 have a beautiful day xoxo

STALLION’S 600 MILESTONE EVENT

♡ Hair bands: Breeding

♡ Sunglasses: Over protective/Yandere

TW: whew Toji is a trigger warning in his own, not proofread so if you see something that doesn’t make sense shhhh, Yandere themes obviously, toxic relationship themes, jealousy, breeding, manipulation kinda, MINORS DNI!

WC: 1.9k

You should have known better than to even glance in another man’s direction, let alone give him the attention and blessing of being in your presence that Toji had made clear was reserved for him and only him. That was always stressed with hisses, tugs on your arms in the opposite direction, and threats of violence coming their way whenever he felt someone was becoming too close to what was his. 

His love for you was intoxicating to the point where it was a toxic bitterness with just a side of sweetness. A day never going by where you weren’t put on a pedestal and treated like a queen, him even going as far to literally kiss the floor you walked upon one day. So much love coming your way reserved exclusively for you was foreign to your body, so instead of leaving you clinged on to every overpowering gesture of affection sent your way. Ignoring the antics of your overly possessive boyfriend if it meant you would be loved a little longer. 

Toji never liked that slimy blue eyed man that always came around. A sneer always on his scarred lips whenever Gojo was around. Even the overly flirtatious tone of his voice got the hittman in an uproar, ready to grab his flimsy lanky body by the neck and fling it across the room whenever he cheekily let pet names for you seep from his pathetic lips. And if it wasn’t for you stepping in to calm Toji down when he was on the brink of violence then Gojo very well could’ve been extinct from this earth already. No matter how powerful he was, Toji's want to have you to himself was stronger. 

Still, their prior negative interactions with each other didn’t stop you from holding and entertaining a conversation with the white haired man when he called out to you and stopped you in your tracks of approaching the door of the apartment you shared with your beloved. 

Your heart was just too pure and sweet, always faithful for your Toji in return of his undying love, that you didn’t see anything wrong with the interactions. Expecting the conversation to last no longer than 4 minutes in fear of what would happen if your lover overheard you two talking outside the door. But no matter how many times you tried to dismiss yourself Gojo was just so adamant that you listened to the extended story of his and Geto’s latest wild antics. 

You didn’t even notice the presence of Toji until the low rumbling of a growl sounded from behind you warranting your eyes to move in that direction, only to be met with the sight of your angered significant other: chest heaving with anger, eyes low with vengeance, and muscles flexing ready to pounce and attack. 

“I’ll deal with you later, Satoru,” each word that left him was laced with a deep venom, “I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you.”

That was the only verbal warning given to him before you felt the force of strong fingers gripping at your neck dragging you in the direction of your apartment, your breath hitched in a throat and at a loss of words. Silently anticipating what was awaiting you the minute you would step in the threshold of your home. 

“Do you not love me?” The click of the door closing and locking is the only sound bringing you away from the maze that was your mind currently, the deep feeling in your gut letting you know that you had really messed up. “Is that why you continue to speak with that filth? It’s because you hate me right?”

“Toji–” The grip of his fingers tightening around the flesh of your neck cuts your sentence premature. 

“No, that must be it. You must be thinking of him fucking you right now. You want him to take you away from me, don’t you?” He continues on, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes threatening to spill on to his cheeks. “If I hadn’t come outside when I did he would’ve stolen my precious y/n away from me because he’s a fucking piece of scum like that!” His insecurities dare to pierce through his words as he screams them at the top of his longs, startling you at just how unhinged he was becoming right in front of you.

“Gojo isn’t even my type,” you begin to reassure him, choosing your words carefully, “I could never leave you, Toji. No one has ever loved me as much as you have.” You wish there was a more clear way to relay this to him without having to repeat every other week whenever he decided to have an episode over yet another man that wiggled their way into your life. His accusations were baseless and both of you knew it, but still his words sent a sting to your heart that had tears of your own threatening to spill from your eyes. 

It was like nothing you could do would ever be enough for him to feel loved securely and that alone put a knife through your heart. 

“You’re lying to me, you’re just telling me what I want to hear! I’m not stupid!” Without warning his fingers wiggle their way in between the rough material of your denim jeans to run a single finger over the damp fabric of your panties, sneer only growing at the realization of your wetness. “Is this for him or me? I can’t tell anymore when it comes to you.”

“For you.” You let out a soft pant when he moves your panties to the side and his bare roughed thumb makes contact with your clit. And in all honesty it was for him. There was something about watching him go absolutely feral over something as simple as another man having a conversation that made you feel appreciated; your toxic interpretation of affection. 

“It’s all for you. I don’t love anyone else but you.” It was the extra arousal that accumulated around his fingers that let him know you were telling the truth and even without it he would know you were telling the truth. Your body reacted to his touch and his touch only, conditioned by him to perform how he wanted it too at his will. Your body was meant just for him. 

“Kneel for me, darling.’

And so you did exactly just that, obeying his orders the moment he removed his hands from your pants. Not even bother to speak up about how you thought you should leave the corridor of your home and move to the bedroom. Your request would fall on deaf ears anyway.

Sinking to your knees you worked immediately on getting the string holding his white pants together undone, hand going to palm his bulge while you spent your precious time removing his boxers from his hips.

“Hurry up,” He hissed out in annoyance and eagerness. And just like minutes ago you obeyed his command, pulling down his boxers until his cock was springing free and slapping against the lower abs of his stomach.

The impatient traits in him had you grabbing your hair to gain control of you, not allowing your throat time to adjust or get ready for his size before he was lowering your mouth onto his dick. The sudden fullness leaving you gagging around his shaft that only sent shivers up his spine, grunts leaving his lips with each bob of your head he made you do.

The tears that were already brimming your eyes began falling down your cheek when Toji quickened up the thrusts of his hips into your mouth practically fucking it. Drool spilled from the corner of your mouth only lubricating it more and allowing him to move at a quicker pace than before and fit more of his fat cock down your throat, a slight stinging sensation making your throat sore with each thrust. 

Even through blurry teary eyes you could see his lower abs begin to construct signaling that he was close to his orgasm already, but instead of shooting his load down your throat and watching as your pretty face got messed up with it, he had different plans in mind. Pulling out of your mouth completely he allowed you a well deserved break to breathe and relax your jaw.

“Say you’re mine.” He commanded from above. 

Without a skip your lips moved to say, “I’m yours, Toji. Always and forever.”

Your answer worked in both of your favor because the sneer on his face finally changed into something of a smile at your words. 

Leaning down he gropes your breast through the restraint of your shirt before roughly lifting your shirt up and pulling down your bra to release them, a gentle smack landing on both of them soon after.

“Get up and face the wall.” Another command that you obey in seconds, gulping as you anxiously awaited his next move with nervous fingers gripping at the drywall. 

Your whole body was suddenly violently jerked from the motion of Toji practically ripping your jeans off of you with his strong hands, not even bothering to remove them from around your ankles but instead using them to keep your mobility limited slightly. 

“Mine, only mine.” He mumbles against your neck as he places kisses, sliding your underwear to the side with his index and middle finger to allow his cock access to your hole. Sliding into you until he was at the hilt with a moan that was borderline a groan, precum already dripping into the confinement of your walls.

“Gojo would never be able to fuck me as good as you do.” You pump his head full with a superiority complex knowing it would only make him perform better than he already was and you were correct because immediately he began thrusting up into you at a speed that left your walls contracting around his slick cock and his orgasm from minutes ago already catching up again. 

The snaps of his hips were quick, rough, and sloppy but the curvature of his dick against your g spot made any style of thrusting feel amazing to you. The pleasure barely allowed you to stand without your knees buckling in on you, the tight hold Toji had around your waist keeping you from falling on to the floor.

He hammered into you from behind while periodically squeezing the soft flesh of your breast, something he often found comfort in doing. Each lewd gasp that escaped your pretty plump lips only encouraged him to move quicker until he had profanities spilling from underneath his breath.

“Maybe I should know you up,” he suggests, “Make it so you’ll always be tied to me no matter what. Make your belly plump with my offspring. You’d be such a pretty momma and have the most gorgeous post pregnancy body. I wouldn’t be able to resist you.” Whimpers and moans sounded from the both of you at his words. The image he painted turning the two of you on in different ways that met in the middle. 

“Gonna get you nice and pregnant so no one else will mess with you again and you won't betray me again.” And with one final thrust he sent long spurts of his warm seed into your pussy. Only pulling away to watch his masterpiece with a smile as cum dripped from your hole and made a mess all over the insides of your thighs. 

The same smile adorned his lips as he walked hand in hand with you through the corridor of your apartments months later with your belly protruding and beginning to form a consistent ball while you waddled by his side, so dependent for him for almost everything you did due to the side effects of your pregnancy. 

[sporksaber]

Ok, I love the role swap concept with zuko and azula, but I feel like they switch their abilities and personalities a bit too and I think itd be more fun without that. Where Azula is an antisocial and unstable genius who wants to gain power and zuko still struggles with being the less powerful and extremely empathetic sibling. So here's how I'd do it.

(Note, this is just for fun. I'm not saying anyone else's version is bad. But I've though about this so much and need it out of my head before I go off cuz make a whole comic and I do not have the time, i need to work.)

First off, Azula wouldn't call out in concern for the men like how zuko did. In my version she's allowed into the meeting because of the aptitude for strategy shes shown. She speaks up because it's an inefficient plan that uses up too many resources when there are other options. This enrages her father and leads to the agni kai. Azula is terrified and feels betrayed but has no idea how to handle any of it. She fights back during the agni kai, but in her panic she sets off a bolt of lightning. Ozai finishes the match and severely burns on her lower back. Azula is banished for her use of lightning on the fire lord (bc ozai fears she will no longer be easy to manipulate and might plot his death) and is forced to leave the next morning.

Some things to note: azula is eleven at this point. I changed the placement of the scar bc I think zuko's is very symbolic in a way that doesnt suit azula. Zuko's scar being over his eye and close to the light chakra shows the way his view of the fire nation and honour obscures his vision and how he is unaware of the truth of the world under fire nation rule. I set azula's over her spine because that chakra is based on survival and blocked by fear. It also represents trust which will fit into her arc with the gaang. Finally, she doesnt have Iroh to guide her. One of the things that bothered me was Iroh writing her off as evil despite her being a mentally unstable child. She did have to be defeated, but the way he talked about it was too dismissive. (Personally I think he was projecting his views of his brother and his perceived failures with him onto her.) Azula isnt sent to capture the avatar so she isnt given soldiers. She's completely alone without an advisor to look to or keep her calm.

Azula is given a manned ship with a disgraced soldier and an attendant when she leaves. The way I see it the soldiers zuko had were probably more irohs than his. The soldier is relieved to not be executed but hates being demoted to playing babysitter to a child at sea. The attendant views it as a punishment and hates Azula for it. Eventually the attendant will betray her and be killed for it. Azula never trusted the soldier and he eventually leaves to start a family in an earth kingdom colony. Azula doesnt miss him, he was no longer useful. The loneliness does get to her though.

Azula is obsessed with getting the underhand, so she had been successfully building connections and planting spies where needed.

(Zuko has been acting as a respectable crowned prince. He holds a zealous loyalty to his nation and father. He still faulters as Iroh tries to steer him from tyranny, but his sights are set on his father's approval and that alone. Afterall, if his prodigy could be discarded who's to say what would happen to him if he failed?)

This brings us to the start of the series. Like Zuko Azula witnesses the trap on the old fire nation battle ship go off. She investigates and finds that an air bending avatar is living at the south pole village. She decides she wants to speak with him.

Azula didn't believe the avatar existed before this point. Hiding didnt add up to her knowledge of the morality of airbenders, so she assumed the air nation avatar from the start of the war would be dead. She would know if one had appeared in the water tribe, as the south had all its benders killed and the north was compacted so close together it would be impossible to hide. Earth would be harder, but they were most likely to fight back and out act. And if in ba sing se they'd be used as a weapon or gotten rid of to preserve the peace of the city. Once the culcle progressed to the fire nation it would either be used to take over the other nations or enf the cycle for good. After all, there hasn't been an air bender for a hundred years even if the rumors of some acolytes surviving were truthful.

Azula kidnaps aang with far more ease than she should of been able to. Once he stops struggling she calmly offers him tea and promises to release him once their discussion is finished. He takes the tea and drinks it without question and besides a wary glare shows no more hostility. She thought him a fool, the tea could have easily been poisoned and promised are nothing but words. His naivete makes her job easier though.

She finds out that he was suspended frozen in the avatar state the last 100 years. And so, Azula informs him of the war and the fire nations crimes, advising him to master the elements if he wants to prevent all his new friends and the avatar cycle from certain destruction. Aang is conflicted, he never asked for any of this. Azula just gives a bitter smile. "The hands of fate were never designed to take requests, they move without regard to any life dependent on it. Dont waste your breath when there is nothing you can do."

Azula wants to see Ozai fail. If helping the avatar is what it takes then so be it. When his friends appear to save him she let's them leave without a fight. Theyll be useful in the future.

As the gaang's travels kick off she sets out to find out if the rumours about the acolytes are true. In this she finds a traveling circus. The youngest daughter and an old friend of hers was eager to escape and found Azula's life exciting. She didn't hesitate after being invited along, insisting that traveling would be easy for her and that she'd pull her own weight.

She encounters the gaang a few times as time goes by. The relationship is reluctant on the water tribe siblings part, they dont trust her and hold a decent amount of fear towards her. Her cold and calculating demeanor was unsettling, but the unhinged way she fought was terrifying. Her form was perfect and her attacks were precise, but the bigger the fight the more lost she became as she laughed and shrieked and occasionally snapped at someone who didnt seem to be there. The only worse reaction was when she zeroed in on one opponent, picking them apart both mentally and physically as she drove them to the ground. )

Things that'll happen as I move through an episode list:

Azula doesn't have her ship attacked do she diesnt run into zhao while doing repairs, instead going straight to ty lee.

Azula learns that the gaang is on kyoshi island and heads ther after them. She has been keeping track of the avatar as they move. Ty lee gets along well with the kyoshi warriors while azula buts heads with them. They dont want her there and azula hates it when people get in the way. Zhao appears to try to capture aang and Azula dips at the same time as the gaang. She tells ty lee she can stay but she insists on sticking with azula. This puts her on edge.

Ty lee gets captured by earth benders, when she escapes on her own she cements her usefulness to Azula.

They run into zhao trying to capture the avatar and azula tells him she'll capture him first. They both attack aang during the solstice, though azula's attacks are all purposefully set to miss and trip up zhao as much as possible. Aang is the best way to prove her father wrong and she's not going to lose that.

They rob the pirates that try to capture the avatar. Azula needs the resources and it gives her leverage over the gaang.

After almost killing ty lee for scaring her by popping up behind her Azula tells her why she was banished. (In more of a "my own mother thought I was a monster" way than an opening up about trauma way.)

Azula learns that zhao has captured aang and frees him. She then sets to reworking her information network as not all of them are scared enough of her to not fail her. She remedies it quickly.

Azula learns that zhao is plotting her assassination and decides it's the perfect moment to fake her death.

Azula enters the north pole to defeat zhao and gain any information she can. Ty lee rades a library during the confrontation. Zhao is surprised and infuriated to see her alive, Azula smiles as she sends him to his death knowing that she is not only helping the avatar but also that he gave her a perfect way to hide from the fire nation. (When news of his sisters death reaches hum, Zuko doesnt know what to think. She was always cruel to him, but she was still his little sister.)

The crown prince of the fire nation is sent to capture the avatar. Azula follows him as he begins his search. (Zuko begins to think he's going insane as he keeps catching glimpses of his recently deceased sister out of the corner of his eye.)

Ty lee keeps running into a girl she slowly befriends. She's gloomy and sarcastic and ty lee thinks Azula would like her. (Zuko's fiance Mai tells him that she thinks his sister is still alive.)

As Azula notices ty lee become more and more distracted as she absorbed herself into the cultures that surround them she decides it's best for them to split up. Ty lee diesnt agree, but Azula leaves anyway. She has work to do.

While traveling alone Azula cant escape the thoughts of her mother. Of her fathers betrayal. Of the life she lost because the idiot elders had no grip on proper strategy that even a child could create. She meets a boy that reminds her far too much of zuko with a mother far to similar to theirs. When she sends the bandits controlling the town running she knows it's more than just controlling a territory that compelled her. But at the same time she doubts not following through on the whim would have bothered her.

Ty lee meets toph and chat for a bit. Ty lee tells her about azula and how she left. When toph tells her she should forget her she insists that azula didnt really ditch her and that they're still friends. They talk about their friends and childhood.

Ty lee finds Azula and immidiently jumps at her, which she does not enjoy. Ty lee insists that she still wants to travel with her and Axula sighs as she let's her tag along to the next location, ba sing se.

Azula slips through guards and protocols as she tries to gain any information she can to help her once they reach the city. Ty lee befriends a guy named jet and his group, the freedom fighters. When he tries to get more than friendship she turns him down and it becomes much more awkward.

Ty lee becomes a street performer and chames everyone she meets as Azula researches the dai lee and how they keep control. After lashing out in frustration ty lee drags her out to enjoy the city's night life.

Azula learns of the presence of the avatar and location of appa. She frees him and sets to work taking control of the dai lee. She let's herself be briefly captured but her plan shifts when katara is thrown in with her. Katara is pissed just being around her and azula plays up a cool kind of annoyance. Katara briefly catches sight of the burns on Azula's back and offers to heal her, only for Azula to freak out and yell at her to stay away, backing against a far wall in a fighting stance. They are saved by the rest if the gaang and ty lee shortly after.

Azula goes back to try and salvage her plan only to be caught off guard by the appearance of her brother and his offer to return to the fire nation. Not willing to lose all possible advantages, she agrees. They battle the gaang, and when they are almost captured azula sends a bolt of lightning at aang, causing them to retreat. Katara can heal him more easily than she can maneuver them out of an execution.

Azula returns to the fire nation with her brother, mai and ty lee, starting the beginning of a large power play between her and her father. They are sent to lo and li beach house. The relationship between the siblings is tense, zuko has always been the child born with nothing who gained everything when his blessed at birth sister lost it all. Azula has always been cruel, but he cant help but let his heart catch on the moments when she's not. ("My own mother thought I was a monster, My father thought i was too difficult to keep around" "Don't let their words blind you, you need to be more careful, zuzu." "I learned the hard way to never turn your back to anyone, and the scars will always be there as a reminder if I need it." )

Azula runs into iroh, who is very disapproving of her presence. He warns her to stay away from zuko and to watch herself while at the palace. Later, zuko comes to her asking about their great grandfather. Upon being pressed he admits that he was sent a mysterious letter. He thought she was going to burn it when he handed it to her but instead the heat from the fire revealed a hidden ink. "Honestly brother, did you ever pay attention at all during lessons?" They find a autobiographical scroll of their great grandfathers life and the secret that their other great grandfather was roku. Azula scoffed at the idea of bloodlines deciding fate and quickly left. But Zuko remained conflicted.

During the day of the black sun Azula confronts Ozai. As iroh and Zuko fight the avatar. She learns that her mother left for zuko's sake and that she was never going to be fire lord. Azula tells him she'll be somthing even better and leaves the palace.

Azula and ty lee follow the gaang to the western air temple. Katara immidprntly attacks but is quickly rendered unable to bend by ty lee. Azula tells them that the only way for them to of gotten out was for Aang to be incapacitated, and she knew katara could heal him. Aang decides they can stay but have to stay distanced from everyone else.

Azula tries to teach aang fire bending but is slowly growing sick while aang is barely able to produce a puff of smoke. Unable to sleep and constantly on edge, it soon affects her bending, sending her spiraling as she loses control on the only consistent power she's ever had. Her and aang journey to find the true source of fire bending to try to help their conditions.

Still sick, Azula is itching to do anything away from the temple. Finding sokka trying to reach the boiling rock to find his father, she decides to go with him as she knows the prison well. Sokka declines but she goes anyway. They dont find his father, but they do find suki. Azula formulates a plan but they postpone when sokka's father arrives.

Azula comes up with a new plan, now reluctant to include sokka. He tells her to trust him but she insists she has no reason to. Her sickness has been getting worse and he tells her she needs to trust him, making her angry. Only when he catches her while they're escaping dies she finally begin to accept trusting him, if only slightly.

(While they're away ty lee tries to convince

Azula goes with Katara to find the man who killed her mother. Azula has no concept of why katara is so upset, which causes her to get angry. But azula tracks the man anyway.

Ember island players- azulas character has the scar across her chest. She's absolutely insane and "not entirely inaccurate, but I'd never come up with such a dumb plan." Shes also heavily implied to be more than close to ty lee, which azula has no reaction to even as the others freak out.

I havent decided the ending, zuko will probably turn to the gaang's side. I'll add more later and maybe write or illustrate a bit.

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Zombie Apocalypse AU Masterpost 2 Electric Boogaloo

Previous Post: https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/618314308275863552/zombie-apocalypse-au-masterpost

-Bdubs is slowly going feral because he has the virus, it just doesn't show itself physically.

-Cub was tempted to purposefully get the virus to try and help find a cure, (they probably don't have lab rats given the circumstances,) by Scar talked him out of it.

-The timeline of events with DocM is that he started in the NHO group, they ended up dispersing (Etho turned and then left to ensure the safety of his friends, Beef ended up going separate due to Doc and Bdubs' constant fighting and Bdubs stormed off after an argument.) He ends up getting taken in by TFC, (he's the first to arrive,) and eventually captures Rendog.

-Stressmonster and Iskall originally lived in a cabin in the mountains. After Iskall got swept away in a snow storm and Joe and Cleo stopped by, Stress had no idea there was a Zombie outbreak.

-Hypnotizd and XB ended up trespassing in Jevin's property and Jevin shot Hypno. XB pleaded to Jevin that they weren't zombies and to not hurt them further and Jevin begrudgingly went, 'okay, fine. You aren't taking my food though.'

-Impulse's weapon of choice was a shovel.

-Grian can't fly in this AU. Let's be real, if he could, it would be pretty OP.

-Keralis most definetly gave a larger share of his rations to Xisuma while he was sick.

-TangoTek entirely blames himself for Impulse leaving and Zedaph getting bit. He feels especially conflicted because he wants to leave because he's convinced they both hate him and blame him but he can't because 'what if they go looking for him?' 'What if someone worse comes from that?'

-The location of Etho's bite is right on the front of the neck. He actually passed out from blood loss initially and he very nearly died. (Luckily for him the zombie didn't pull away, ripping out anything important (like a windpipe of an oesophagus,) giving Doc time to carefully unhinge the zombie's jaw and save Etho.) Nobody was quite sure how Etho was even alive with a big chunk out of his neck until he started displaying some strange behaviour.

-False is usually the one who stays up late to stand guard and protect her group.

-Mumbo accidentally caught Hypno in one of his traps at one point but let him go.

-Hay here’s a dumb idea, The reason ren is immune to the zombie virus is because he has like an anti-zombie virus in his body it behaves just like a normal zombie virus but it doesn’t turn you into a zombie, so how the hermits turn the zombie hermits human again is by making ren bite them.

-I have an angst ending and a no-angst ending so first here's the not-angst one: Doc and Ren team up with Cub and Scar to make a cure (so Ren doesn't have to bite everyone personally). They travel around finding every bitten survivor and salvageable zombie they can, using the weapons and resources from the NHO for protection. They find ways of producing and distributing enough cure for everyone, and during that process all of the Hermits decide to stay friends and in touch afterward.

-For the Zombie AU, if Scar doesn't already have like a different role in this au, he could've possibly been the first human infected because *someone's* pet cat ate a weird looking mouse and bit their owner.

-This is very angsty and gory, so fair warning: How fast does the virus spread through the body from the bite? If slow, you can cut the bitten part off before it spreads out through the body. To doc having a robot arm, what if he got bit and out of fear, they amputated his arm to stop the spread. I know y'all probably don't wanna go with body horror, but that's something to consider in this AU.

-Lowkey I feel zombie Etho doesnt do justice to his epic PVP skillz, but!! I do see Etho to be something SIMILAR to it! Idk if you've ever played Telltale's The Walking Dead game, but Etho could a zombie whisperer, a human who wears zombie skin and lives amongst the zombies for protection. So when Etho got bit, they THOUGHt he turned but actually just decided, hey I live here now and just vibin.

-You know how ren being a werewolf is popular in the fandom(from what I've seen) maybe that's why is immune to being a zombie and getting bitten by him if your infected cures it because the zombie infection and werewolf infection cancel eachother out.

-A more jokey Zombie!Au thing: The first episode of Llamas with hats but it's Zombie!Etho and Beef.

-I feel like if Wels could get to some of his friends he would try his hardest to protect them and if he ever managed to get bit it would be to save someone else.

-There is just always so much angst potential in any scenario or AU where it involves the possibility of Wels sacrificing himself in some way to protect his friends from something poor bb 😔

-Would infected hermits be able to like recognize people after the infection zombified them or whatever it is? Because if so oh my god imagine the angst.

(All those above in red are from our community's lovely anons!)

-About the anti-zombie Ren bite thing: Doc has the idea suddenly in the middle of an argument so the conversation goes a little like this:

Ren: "So what I'm trying to say, my dude, is that would never work because -"

Doc: "Ren. Bite me."

Ren: "Oh yeah, real mature way to end a disagreement there -"

Doc: *facepalming* "No, Ren, I mean actually.... Just do it, I'll explain later."

-Angst ending: They could never produce enough cure to stem the tide of undeath. They all choose to band together and take shelter underground, hoping to wait it out. They use X's tunnel, but that many people that close together smells irresistible to a horde. The zombies flood after them into the tunnel. X says he'll buy them some time, even though he is terrified. He collapses the tunnel on himself and the zombies so the others can escape. His last thought: At least I get to die as myself.

-Thinking about Etho's bite location (you said it was on his neck): Most bites are on the shoulder or leg (bit from behind while running away) or on the arm (bit while raised to defend). To be bitten on the neck he would have to have his arms and shoulders lowered. Etho, being a good fighter, would have only done this if it was absolutely necessary. Conclusion: he was bitten with his arms stretched out to protect someone behind him, and he knew the consequence that his choice would have.

-(@shadeswiftdraws.)

-The NHO are all strangely dressed (Etho is kakashi, Doc is green, Bdubs has a bandana,) because they were all at a cosplay convention. (-@tomcatacaphe.)

-When Etho left The nHo, he brings a Journal with him. Every Night he'll write a Journal entry. He'll write just about anything, there even some random lyrics and some pretty flowers he pick up along his travels. But as the Journal goes on, the words slowly became wobbly. Inconsistent. until finally, Unreadable chicken skrach. His final (at least readable) entry is: "-I hoPE yoU GUyZ ArE DoInG bETThEr ThAn I Am" As some point in time, Etho lost his Journal and Joe hills found it.

-Speaking of Joe Hill, he made it his personal mission to collect every literature and entertament media he can possibly carry on him. From Dnd Book, poetry, Documentary DVD's, to random journal He think would be usefull. Stress is happy to help Joe but Cleo is a little annoyed because it's will only slow them down, but Joe Argued that "If there's no knowledge left, then what will the future be? Just staying alive and surviving?" Cleo begrudgingly agrees.

-I can totally see Joe and Cleo Rocking an actual Sword and Dnd Cosplay (Joe got is a gift while Cleo Commissions her's after seeing Joe whip out his sword one time in a one shot DnD session) they keep the swords, but they ditch the Costume pretty early on tho.

-Mumbo's next Job Interview would be schedule at Concorp. But then the Zombie apocalypse happened on his way there.

(-@tearosepedall.)

-I don’t want this au to end but here’s my take: most of them get to the bunker where they don’t develop a cure, but do create a vaccine. Occasionally they will venture out to hand out the vaccine to survivors. Still, they all decide to stay into stay together. But because they were unable to develop a cure, even though they really try, there are some how have been lost such as etho, zed, and mumbo. Still the rest of them morn and try their best to survive without modern society. (-@lookitsspacekween.)

https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/618587883366957056/tw-very-brief-mention-of-vomit-general-warnings (-@carpe-shovelem.)

-Funny/happy ending to the Zombie AU: The hermits set up a zombie funneling system where the ones that didn't die from infection get bit by Ren to get turned back and they return the dead and give them proper burials. (-@my-cat-is-a-bastard.)

-I just remembered the thought post with Tuartis sleeping through things, Bdubs sleeping through the apocalypse, but now we've got Wels on the sleep team too! Wonder if he'd have slept through the apocalypse as well... (-@853dragons.)

TW: Mentions of dead animals:

I've got one last bit for the zombie au, it ties into my parasite one: With the rumors that the outbreak started in the Convex cancer research facility, and Scar feeling guilt because he Should Have Been Able To Stop This... It really was their fault. As a company. It wasn't intentional, of course, but Convex created the parasite. It was during research into a cure for certain conditions that are notoriously risky/impossible to perform surgery on, like brain tumors or lukemia-type cancer. The hope was to utilize the parasites as something that could harmlessly go in, eat or destroy all the cancerous cells, then die off, leaving a perfectly healthy human. The research project was abandoned after a several years, when every single attempt ended with either dead or, in later years, extremely sickly rats. Although the final round seemed promising, the rats weren't showing obvious signs of a decline in health after two weeks, Convex was convinced to just give it up and that the utilization of parasitic worms was asking for more trouble than it was worth. Plus, PETA was getting dangerous with their choices in protest against the tests, which was the main reason it was called off. Cub and the board of directors didn't want to risk bodily harm to their researchers, and it truly was getting so beyond ridiculous that a few bodyguards weren't enough protection.

Some researchers took some of the test rats home as pets, including our Patient Zero, because they really were quite cute. Patient Zero got bit by his rat, and nobody really thought anything of it for a couple weeks until his behavior took a bad turn. He was picking fights and throwing verbal abuse, and no amount of warnings and write-ups were giving any hint of stopping him. It all finally resulted in him viciously biting fellow labworkers, which sent two of them and himself to the ER. Upon arrival he had to be restrained and isolated lest he bite more people. He was fired from the company, his bodyguards pulled, but Scar had been friends and continued to visit him regularly, wondering where the change had come from, and saddened by his old friend's obvious decline in health. Nurses told him he was refusing to eat or drink, and too violent to reason with nor release to anywhere but the police or psychiatric hospital. Soon, there were more reports of uncharacteristicly aggressive actions from PZ's victims. And from there.... Well, it's your choice where the story goes, but it didn't take long for Scar to put the puzzle together.

-(@basaltdragon.)

More to be added!

[cerberus253]

Okay so like I know that this question I'm about to ask is a bit triggering to some, but how would Drago cope with being cheated on?

My knee-jerk answer: Punishment to the cheater, death by fire to the opposition; If you mess with a dragon, ya get burned.

Real Talk: A bit of a tricky question because, up until now, I’ve been answering with the assumption of the s/o Drago is in love with to be the right person for him. One of the “qualities“ for this “right person“ would have to be romantic loyalty because someone who is there for him emotionally is what he NEEDS (whether he knows it or not is up for debate).

Anyhow, coping mechanisms would surely be unhinged physical violence to whoever and whatever gets in his way; people and things smashed and burned until there’s nothing left, mainly towards the person the s/o cheated on him with. He would not want to talk to anyone, see anyone, nor even be in the general area of others. Pure destruction, is what Drago would do, but that’s just what everyone sees.

If you want to know what else I think might happen that may seem out of character but makes sense because he’s a unique individual with thoughts and feelings just like everyone else, read further:

This may just be me romanticizing (in the traditional sense) Drago, but because this situation is more of a heart-to-heart pain and not the usual pride pain, he might have “sad spells.“ What I mean is, although he would still be furious, his energy will deplete, he’ll collapse on the ground, and just... wallow in pain, by himself, in an isolated area. His body will grow tired, but his heart and mind would still be active. Along with that sickening and heavy feeling one gets in the heart after such a devastating blow, his mind would be racing in trying to find ways to blame the s/o, the opposition, and/or anything and everything besides himself, but every so often he would think for a split second that he did something wrong. He WANTS to blame everyone else, but deep down he believes he was the screw up. He’s a screw up to his dad, he’s a screw up to the Ice Crew, he’s a screw up to the whole demon race, and now he’s a screw up to the only person he ever felt normal and accepted by without needing to prove himself towards (ouch; I wanna hug him now, the poor baby green bean ;^;).

Let’s note on the real juicy bit: Crying. To get to the point, I don’t think Drago would ever cry unless something really really, absolutely terrible happened, like, oh I don’t know, he fell in love with someone who loved him for who he was, not for what he is, what his title is, nor how much power he held, and he opened his magma encrusted heart to expose a soft tenderness that would normally get himself killed in demon culture, but this person did the opposite and cared for it, nurtured it, and showed that his flaws are not weaknesses... and then that said person was like, “Yeah, nevermind; you mean nothing to me“ and just stabs him and his vulnerability like a serial killer’s paradise.

Drago has built a strong enough defense against shedding tears because, well, demon’s don’t cry; they make others cry. But, like I said, I think he might cave, at least ever so slightly, from this heartbreak. He would try so damn hard not to cry; he’d push this ultimate feeling of defeat back so much it would give him physical pain, like headaches, chest and really overall body pain, and difficulty with summoning his fire (I say this about his fire because all this suffering depleted his energy to even muster it up, let alone the pure feeling of sorrow, which is the opposite of the feelings flame is suppose to encourage and originate from).

When he does finally tear up and cry [ever so slightly], well ... I honestly have no idea how to describe it in words. Like, this very moment in his life is so foreign and traumatizing that it could have long lasting effects on him mentally and probably physically (because I believe he is part human and we all know how terrifying the human mind can be). He’d close himself off even more, he’d hate himself and everything around him even more than it just being a “demon thing,“ and he’d be more miserable to the point his misery is obvious and not just speculation on something hidden. Hell, he’d get so traumatized his demeanor would change from this active, fiery hotdog to this lukewarm, soggy slice of bread. I guess basically his soul will shatter because of how detrimental this betrayal and ultimate first breakup would be, is what I’m saying.

This reminds me of how his character slightly changed from his debut episode in Season 4 to his normalcy in Season 5. At first, he was happy and enjoying his life, being loyal to his father and carrying himself with such good posture and movement. Then in Season 5, he gave up on his dad for selfish reasons and began walking around hunched over like a skulking animal in addition to his more not-so-graceful-but-once-was style of fighting and jumping around everywhere. Then again, I might just be over speculating and the real reason he changed that way was because of just to give him more character.

Bonus descriptions that I was going to put in, but I felt I had no need to, but I still want to put it in for reasons:

However, theoretically if this “right“ person were to cheat on him, he would be absolutely devastated and heartbroken. Like, words cannot describe how I think he would feel because of how much of a deep, personal, traumatizing laceration to his heart it would give him.

Being IN LOVE with someone, especially if the lover is extremely protective about their emotions and (unconsciously) terrified of the damage it could do to themselves, and having the lovee absolutely annihilate that vulnerability... Honestly, only pictures could really express the magnitude of the fury of emotions going on inside.

The picture I imagine is of an all black canvas with an exploding, frenzied fire coming fourth from the middle and scratching towards the edges of said canvas. At the origin point of that eruption is a small drawing of a person, on their knees, head in their hands, and their face to the floor, all the while they scream; they scream so much so loudly their throat tears and blood spurts out, but they don’t stop because all this emotion-- all this torment, is too much to bear in silence.

With the addition of Drago, that picture probably would come to reality; just, an explosion of fire from the emotional intensity and NOT the “physical strength“ side (to which he gathers his flame powers up from normally). Because it stems from his out of control human feelings mixed with the power of a demon (and a dragon, no less), it would be a flame of chaos that would annihilate the surrounding diameter.

I’m not saying all this stuff in a, “oh imagine this!“ I’m saying this as in legitimate thoughts and theories on how something so absolutely mentally and emotionally shattering would have effects on someone like him. He has no control over his emotions to begin with and this experience is just going to make him worse. Or I’m just (over)romanticizing things in the traditional sense

For a different relationship bonus, if he were just casually in a romantic relationship with infatuation or for power, he would not react that drastically. Yes, he would be angry and personally hurt, but because of how the relationship is set up and functions, and he probably goes through this stuff on a normal basis, it would not be as scarring. Drago would most likely be the one to dump the individual because said person isn’t worth his time anymore and already expressed their lack of use for his own  He’ll never forgive, never forget, but he may be convinced back in if they prove their worth and loyalty enough.

Like I said in the QnA that started all this Drago Chat days ago, you have opened a can of chatty worms

[bellamygateoldblog]

THE 100 7X07 LIVEBLOG

Warning: Long. I’m sorry. I was excited.

• First thought, I'm being forced to watch without subtitles & and it might just be me but these actors are impossible to understand on the first listen.

• "The shepherd teaches us that winning the last war brings upon the final evolution of a species" so....aliens? ALIE? Ascending into a 'higher' form of existence meaning either life after death (ALIE style) or these people want to become Gods?

• They "believe in transcendence" so i must be on the right lines.

• Bardo have "different plans" for the two killers. Void!Echo might be cominggggg.

• "Death is life" / "may we meet again" / "death is not the end" — "winning the last war brings upon the final evolution of a species"???? I’ve connected the dots.

• I'm sorry but all this hyper-focus on Clarke and being "The Key to everything" is kinda embarassing me, like 😳 it's just so odd. That this alien cult from another part of the galaxy/universe is fixated on this random teenager born on a space station around Earth. I know, I know it's to do with Becca's tech, but it's still very much sounding like the "super important special protagonist" trope which I hate and until that detail about the code/tech is revealed it will continue to make me rme. LMAO.

• "Rise and shine errand boy" OK MA.

• Indra is out looking for their friends which confirms LGBT wrath squad literally told nobody they were leaving, and since Gaia was kidnapped, there's no news from them at all.

• Emori trying desperately to help Murphy stay out of hell. At first I thought she was reassuring him, but she was explaining why he needs to do these “errands,” because she believes in his ‘vision’ of hell last season.

• "besides [Murphy's] worshipped me for years."

• Memori is the inverse of Bellarke. There, I said it.

• "You don't know me very well-" / "i know you went into that tavern to save a child at great risk to yourself..." is the pretty much the exact same scene as Murphy's with Luna in s4: "you don't know me very well" / "I know you stole medicine to save [a child]..."

• Luna's spirit followed them across the galaxy/universe this season.

• I don't know anything about chess but the fear on Murphy's face when Slim Sheidy moved his Queen makes me think Emori is in danger this season for as long as he's still alive.

• Echo indirectly preaching "love is strength"

• "You don't talk about yourself much and you're a shapeshifter"

• Dude maybe Echo really is getting an arc this season.

• "Bellamy this isn't real" implies she's had to shut “this” down before, and that there's been something between them for a while. And Bellamy literally shut her up with a kiss, telling her and us that she’s being silly. Also, Echo was the one putting it off.

• Tall girlfriend short boyfriend rights!

• The shot of the ring becoming Echo's eye. Oh my GOD.

• "I know you're in pain Echo, I feel it" what a dumb fuck thing to say LMAO what gave it away?????? The way I'm crying right now in front of you??????

• "I'm the monster from Hope's bedtime stories"

• Octavia:

• WE'RE VOCALISING THE PARALLEL NOW HUH?!

• Octavia is telling EVERYONE else what we already knew. The parallel was NEVER to Finn. It was to Octavia. After Lincoln died. TELL EM.

• "I wish I hugged him instead"

• Octecho Murphamy parallel oh jesus.

• Octavia is like "no Murphy Echo! I'm not letting you go until you admit you're not useless! it's not your fault!"

• Octavia telling Echo love is the answer, love is what she needs, not death or violence. Love is strength. Here we go bitches.

• "YOU'RE MY FAMILY TOO"

• !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “YOU’RE ONE OF THE HUNDRED”

• Am i actually right with all these Echo theories i’ve had? I’m feeling so validated.

• It’s a shame none of these scenes will be edited and made into gifsets by fandom the way other Clarke/bellarke/anti-Echo-centred ones have been them with their none-existent Finn ‘parallel’ lmaooooo, because nobody cares for Echo and Octavia.

• Everyone is yelling for Echo. I feel that.

• Diyoza is checking her nails. I feel that too.

• "THAT'S DISHES YOUNG LADY" ajaksjajsjskasjsjdkskdjdj

• I'm so sad we're back in Sanctum😔😔😔

• Emori is fr pregnant.

• Are we really doing a sexism thing, here with Shiedheda and Murphy? I thought those things didn't exist anymore?🤔

• "how you respond to the loss of your Queen will tell me which you are (a leader or a follower)" — I'm going to be unhappy if Emori dies just so Murphy can become a "leader" by the end. Don’t. Especially not after this conversation about “not liking women very much.”

• Well there goes that theory of Hope favouring Murphy from the stories because she was told he was similar to her father. Sigh.

• "I like you John, you amuse me" is a pretty good way of summarising how his character has been used this season.

• "Everyone I ever loved was killed fighting in wars. Some that didn't need to be fought"

• "I LIKE OUR CHANCES" callback.

• Men who?

• "Violence and rage will only destroy your soul"

• “Revenge is a game with no winners” motherly advice vs “They loved people too. Where does it end?” / “it doesn’t end here. I don’t believe in karma” motherly advice.

• These quotes are making me nervous about void!Echo. I hope she gets brought back from the dark eventually. Or makes the dark her bitch.

• This Diyoza-Hope scene looks paralleled to the Octecho one! Thus Echo also wants to "go back to the way things were."

• "They took my mommy away" — Like ‘they’ took Octavia's and Echo's. Two other warrior women in the same group. Clarke dealt with the loss of hers. Madi with the loss of hers. There’s Gaia and Indra’s strained relationship. Emori + being cast out by her parents. The child sacrifices. Murphy + Sheidheda’s mother throwing him in the conclave meaning he doesn’t like women. Is this season about mommy issues?

• A little confused why he’s talking about Lexa as if she directly stole his legacy. Wasn’t he in power when Indra was a child?

• Octavia is laying there staring at a blank book.

• I'm dying at Octavia monologing, completely oblivious to Echo cutting her face with broken glass behind her. LMAO. She's become so accustomed to Echo's whimpering she's not even phased anymore.

• Dying again at Echo out of nowhere just going DO YOU KNOW WHY AZGEDA WARRIORS SCAR THEIR OWN FACES?

• Octavia, again:

• "We do it to symbolize that the pain is over. The wound is healed."

• That's such a good explanation. And here begins Echo's healing journey. As her wounds heal over the next few episodes so will she. And by the end her scars will symbolise that journey.

• Here Echo goes again being the smartest person in the room, always. "We're not prisoners, we're recruits."

• Tasya is making me super uncomfortable with the jittery, eery way Echo is moving around. I love it.

• The way Echo casually saunters out of the fucking room with not a single care in the world oh she knowsssss. AJDKSHFJSF

• Echo leading again!!! Making the decisions. Octavia following after her (literally) and backing her.

• "This is how my people show they're ready to go to war" — making everyone extremely uncomfortable and I love that for her. Also, "my people."

• Embracing her Azgeda-ness.

• Octavia understanding and jumping in to aid Echo's plan combined with the close-up of Echo's determined abliet slightly unhinged expression makes me believe Echo is leaning into her "spy" along with her Azgeda and going undercover, making them believe she's on their side when she's not. But there's still a part of me thinking Echo is spiraling and is going to war out of habit and because she feels she has nowhere else to go/ "no home." Aka, the detail to finish off the S7 O/E parallels: "this is who I am" / "I'm here for the war."

• Furthermore, her scarring herself could be a callback to Octavia telling Ilian to help her feel something.

• I love this season a lot.

• Back in Sanctum again😒

• How does a chess game take all fucking DAY?

• OH 🙂 That's how.

• Yeah it makes absolutely no sense Raven would ask about Octavia before Echo.

• Raven looking at Clarke when finding out Bellamy's dead as if she isn't the only one there who's his actual family, who spent 6 entire years with him + more. Raven Clarke-Prop Reyes strikes again.

• Clarke's like *sad confusion*

• The scene of Clarke finding out about Bellamy's death didn't feel so much about her as it did "well what does this mean for them now?"

• "From the ashes we will rise" becomes "from the ashes, through the bridge, the shepherd will rise" Gotta say, not as catchy.

• "please call me Bill" - No. No Bill. Only Cadogan.

• We're going back to Earth this season aren't we?

[wellntruly]

BABYLON BERLIN | Season 3, Episode 3 Recap

Me, Feb 22, 2019, detailing my Weimar Period Wish List for Season 3: “I need more cafés, man, bohemian cafés! Katelbach encamped in one, full of people reading all the Berlin newspapers…”

This episode of Babylon Berlin: You ready to lose your mind, sugar

All this, and more!!! In:

Season 3, Episode Three

In case we had begun to wonder if it had been just a surreal figment of our imagination, this opener is only too happy to remind us that Gereon is indeed spending his nights regularly receiving underground therapy from a doctor/relation who, frankly, we don’t fucking know. Who is this man? These are just some of our questions.

@memory-for-trifles​: Is Dr. Schmanno the Phantom of the Psychotherapie? Scarred face, tunnels, hypnotic voice... wellntruly: Phantoms EVERYWHERE this season!

What we can know is that you spreading your hand over the back of his neck to steer him is  r e a l  chill, bro.

Topside, in the pale light of morning, Gereon drifts sickly on the couch, arms out along the back as if searching for anchor, cryptic shit about ‘suffering’ and ‘invulnerability’ echoing through his mind.

Helga walks in on…*this*. Oh no.

She asks him where he’s been all night, he doesn’t say anything. She asks him to talk to her, he doesn’t say anything. (He doesn’t lie; he doesn’t say anything.)

What’s actually really remarkable here and what I can’t help but focus on, is that Helga already had the bags and Moritz all packed up and ready to go in the foyer. The woman was fully prepared to follow through on her Speak Or I’ll Go ultimatum, and does, just like that. Honestly I’m proud of her, that was an impressive move.

Meanwhile, at the Tempo newspaper offices: KatelBACK, bitches!

Love him, love this for us, love these framed caricatures the editor has behind his desk:

Adorbs

“Have you had breakfast, gentlemen?” the editor calls out after he gets off a rapid phone call, and then just starts slinging hardboiled eggs at people. Katelbach slips and drops his onto the uncleaned carpet; no one gives a shit. This unhinged newsroom energy,,…..extremely accurate. I’m hearteyes.

Alright so we’re gonna be covering a good deal of info in this scene, which they have handily handed to fast-talking journalist types. Let’s begin! Katelbach is working on a story that appears to be the big political kerfuffle Gereon was investigating last year: the German military’s secret illegal rearmament (Treaty of Versaille, blah blah blah look into it). But without ein Foto of this clandestine airfield Lufthansa is allegedly supplying, the editor is not gonna let Katelbach’s piece take the front page place of his prime story, the rip-roaring tale of the death of starlet Betty Winter, the kind of salacious scoop that is currently flying his paper off the newsstands. The lead on said Betty Winter angle is the high-foreheaded glasses man who had earlier called over to Gräf for deets outside the studio—calling him ‘Reinhold’ in the process, which, let’s not get too familiar, buddy. But we can call him: Jacoby. Describing, if you can believe it, his true crime story: “It’s about the inner turmoil of modern man, ignes fatui between archaic blood sausage and high sophistication,” Jacoby relays as he trips lightly down the stairs behind the editor, somehow not tripping over that pitch in the process.

“I want an article about the colorful world of film and its abysses, without a theoretical overhang,” the editor cajoles hilariously. Now if you’ll excuse him he has to go meet with the lawyer Hans Litten, who has been coming up a lot in conversation so far this season, though yet to be seen.

Speaking of seeing, Katelbach grumbles to Jacoby about this demand for pictures pictures pictures, since when has it been pics or it didn’t happen? “We used to have readers, now we have lookers. If people want to see pictures, they should go to the cinema. Goodbye.” And he’s just OUT, not even waiting for a rejoinder, god I laughed.

Jacoby to himself: can I offer you an egg in these exciting times?

Also Jacoby: why that would be lovely!

Over at police headquarters, Gereon broods distractedly in his office, Ulrich bobs around excitedly informing tired people he’s going to analyze the ballistics evidence in the death of the lighting tech, and distantly in the background Czerwinski struggles to fold an umbrella for about a minute.

Someone who is starting to show up more and more is a pale, long-faced Berlin PD man whom we can assume did take Wendt’s offer to join him, for all the good these en plein air business lunches are doing to make him look more alive. He has currently betaken his spectral form to an orphanage, where like some sort of bureaucratic grim reaper, he informs a kindly old nun and/or nurse that Councilor Wendt is taking over custody of the infant child of Greta Overbeck. Uh oh, looks like that little kid is going to become collateral :(

EXTERIOR: BABELSBERG FILM STUDIO. Distantly, we hear (or see, in my case) someone greet an approaching car with “Hello, Mrs. Kasabian.”

!!!!!!!!

Esther & Edgar KASABIAN. EDGAR OCTOPUS’S REAL SURNAME IS KASABIAN. Friends when I tell you I’ve been waiting 18 episodes!!!

And fuck would you LOOK at Esther Kasabian!! She’s wearing a whole raven.

“He’ll kill me, your husband,” Bellman says wretchedly as he pours her a drink. “Or his wannabe.” Lol. Jo the man stabbed you.

Esther just casually reassures him Edgar’s not gonna kill him, clam down. And when Bellman continues urging her to “rescue me from this beast” (!), she says, still calmly but a little more firmly: “Stop that.” He’s her Beast of Berlin, and reminds Bellman that when he had been begging around for money for his film, it was Esther—and Edgar—who had come through for him.

“The Beast made it possible. You knew who he was when you took his money.” God I love that. Bellman just nods; he did.

But the thing is: Esther knew who Bellman was, too, when she convinced Edgar to invest in his movie. Jo Bellman is the producer who once, when faced with a production crisis, had replaced an entire orchestra with a theremin. God bless. Oh fucking bless. And of course, Esther also reminds him, Bellman knows who she is as well: it was her idea back on their project in Vienna of how to change the libretto, that had made using a theremin possible. Just let her look over the material they’ve shot so far, and she’ll talk to her husband, and they’ll get this figured out. Oh this mediating, this artistic managing.

memory-for-trifles: I’m obsessed with Esther, her aesthetique....is everything wellntruly: Esther seems to be the Weimar Gwen Verdon and I am extraordinarily pro that

EXTRAORDINARILY PRO THAT

Back with the Polizei, Gennat, who apparently fully lives in his office, is shaving in front of a little mirror-fronted piece of furniture as Gereon updates him on what he learned from Felix Krempin, truncated as their conversation may have been, by Murder. “He was ready to spill the beans,” is the phrase Gereon surely doesn’t actually ruefully say in the original German??!

Gennat’s just like well it is what is, who can we turn to next? the husband? Oh please yes.

The amount of ambiguity packed into that sentence + image, delicious.

Finished with his morning ablutions, Gennat then, in a gesture of charming avuncular caretaking and complete insanity, cuts and hands Gereon a slice of cake as big as he is. OH what! Sir?? So let me get this straight: Gereon’s two bosses partake in breakfasts of BOOZE and CAKE, respectively. Well this bodes well for the longevity of the Berlin homicide department.

Trying to figure out what ties these two murders together, Gereon observes that the manner of the electrician’s death points to more of an organized structure behind this than something simple like another performer being jealous of Betty Winter. Around a forkful of chocolate and whipped cream, Gennat directs Gereon to a stack of papers on his desk.

I’M FUCKING CRYING. I literally just flapped my hands, tears in my eyes!! His still Buster Keaton face, with “CRIME TELEPATHY” just across his forehead like a fucking MEME or something, hoooooo my god I keep breaking down laughing---

Whewwww, okay, okay: what Gennat actually wanted to point him to was his motives record, where he keeps track of all the crimes & why. Then he folds up his HIDDEN FILING CABINET MURPHY BED (🙌this king), and bustles Gereon off to the press conference where he is in fact delivering his annual report of these particular findings.

Gennat has structured his categories around the Seven Deadly Sins, which is smart, memorable. Greed and Revenge are highest, followed by Jealousy and Lust, that last making a surge as of late. At this, Henning sculpts a little paperclip dick & balls and waggles it jovially. Czerwinski snorts and grins up to Lotte behind them to share in the joke (CUTE, teammates, they love her!), and Lotte snorts too and looks to Gereon to keep passing along the fun, only to be met with him minutely shaking his head at all of them (memory-for-trifles: doing *this* with his eyebrows). Hahaa wonderful. Gereon Rath is such a good illustration of how just because someone sleeps around doesn’t mean they’re not a prude.

“And as you can see—” Gennat concludes, with a proud tap to his belly with both hands, “Gluttony is the only deadly sin which doesn’t bear any weight for our department.” A double joke! Everyone laughs appreciably, as they should. Hopefully their goodwill toward him for that quote will carry him through then refusing to answer any Betty Winter questions to the ensuing melee of eager journalists.

The real takeaway from all this of course is that at one point Gennat said “sehr sehr”, possibly my favorite German phrase to hear someone say. WHY DO I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Across town, Helga has taken Moritz to the hotel room held under her maiden name. “Fancy pad,” Moritz pronounces. “This works.” A sudden relief breaking over her, Helga starts giggling, and her kid follows suit. Okay this move is already better for her! We’ll deal with the Nyssen of it all LATER.

Though speaking of him: following his employer’s suspicions about the current stock craze, Wegener obtains a list of investors from somewhere or other, and goes around conducting a survey. What he is in fact doing is: conducting a survey. It’s a one-to-one upfront ruse. And his distressing discovery is that so many people from all walks of life, from bakers to retirees to that prissy fellow inspector in Gereon’s department, have invested thousands, tens of thousands of reichsmarks, that none of them had—they all took the sum on loan from the banks.

Wegener’s collection of increasingly “oh fuck!” faces

Over at the prison, Wendt has arrived to strong-arm Greta into changing her testimony. Alone in the visitor room, he urges her to come over by the window and step into the sun for a moment. Wendt keeps trying to offer people sunlight this season, as if they’re all Victorian Londoners choked with smog or something. Of course the “sunlight” he keeps doling out is actually as poisoned as those clouds, as Greta opens her eyes to see that down in the yard stands that tall thin man with a nurse, holding her chubby little baby. “Nein,” Greta cries. It’s very upsetting!

Down in his room at the bottom of the stairs, Ulrich is sifting through ballistics patterns, and suddenly there it is: a perfect match to the gun that killed the electrician. Elated, he rushes upstairs, and when Gereon is not in his office, barges straight into a meeting Gennat is holding in his office. This does not go over well!! Sternly, Gennat reminds him that they follow the chain of command for a reason, so please report your findings to the detective in charge of the case and stop interrupting the Head of Homicide with things that aren’t emergencies.

Ulrich is like: [offended] Ulrich is like, icily: “I beg your pardon.”

Walking back downstairs, he sees a massive stag horn beetle squirming on its back on the tiles, and picks it up. In the next shot he’s peering at the beetle now dead on a pin. WELL there’s a lot of information about Ulrich in that little packet! He asks his assistant if he believes in coincidence, and the kid says no, he believes in “the system.” “That’s why you work with me,” Ulrich praises him, as he quietly tucks the ballistics evidence into his bag. Well well WELL well well.

I wish I could include an audio sample or something to express the sound I made, both arms flung up straight in the air, at the reveal of Katelbach taking coffee in the Café Romanche surrounded by all the newspapers.

Do you ever wish something so precisely and then it happens and you feel like you’ve momentarily broken through into a world of magic? Me at this!!!

And what’s more, he’s there to pull off a clandestine document drop!! SPYCRAFT, in the café, I’m gonna die. Here’s the move: Katelbach requests to read a paper that’s already in the hands of another patron, and when the waiter brings it over, on its wooden reading frame thing (!!! ahh outmoded old timey objects), inside the pages is slipped some secret blueprints of his illegal airfield. And he and the other gentleman just slyly nod at each other like

Halp me

LOCATION: BABELSBERG. Gereon and Charlotte pull up to the studio right as Bellman is walking down the line of Betty Winter hopefuls and making the first cut, all Yes, No, No, Sure, and “For crying out loud, can you at least pretend to make an effort? That’s not even Betty’s hair color! Get out!” Jeez, chill, Tyra.

But he won’t just yet, because someone ELSE is also arriving on set right now. Finally, finally, Tristan Rot makes his goth ass entrance.

Here he is dramatically shielding himself from the producers anxiously rushing up to him, and also MY JOYOUS HOOTLING.

memory-for-trifles: OMG TrIStan! What kind of My Chemical Romance nonsense 😂 wellntruly: THIS FUCKING HAIR, his HEIGHT, he looks so much like Conrad Veidt in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari IT IS PERFECT.

AAAAHHAahahaha, I’m hopping up and down !

As Tristan melodramatically hisses that they’re inhuman to ask him to pick a replacement for his wife the day after her death, Gereon pops up all Police, Questions, and as this is evidently a more desirable prospect for him than what his producers want him to do, Tristan ignores their protestations and goes off with Gereon quite nicely. This is actually kind of reminding me of a story I heard from a sound engineer who once worked with Eddie Izzard. He reported that Izzard was a dick to his own producers, who were clearly annoying him, but was super sweet to the sound guys, whom he seemed to consider Not Part Of This Problem and just trying to do their job.

Anyway while Cesare over here leads Gereon side stage, Charlotte recognizes one of the Bettys—as do we, it’s Vera! She breaks into this big smile once she recognizes “Lottchen”, and very cutely is like ooh yeah I heard you’re a cop now! Literally Vera in whispered glee upon seeing Lotte’s badge: “Whee!”

With a sly finger to her lips, Lotte asks her to keep her working girl past secret, and Vera just smiles “Gotcha,” all but winking conspiratorially, and bids her little detective friend adieu as she goes to poke around. Well wow Vera turns out to be just a total sparkle dove when she’s with her gal pals and not blokes like Walter!

Elsewhere, this lion painting:

Roawr

I think this man is just straight up an insurance adjuster? And he’s informing Edgar, seated quietly, and Walter, looming by a lit fireplace, that the policy they took out on this film is absolutely not gonna cover Acts of Geist.

It is not Edgar nor the lion painting who is going to be the beast this afternoon, but Walter, who suddenly shoves the desk the insurance man is sitting at back toward the wall. “WALTER,” Edgar warns, and he reluctantly lets him go. Banker Brother-in-Law, also there, stares wide-eyed, and silently follows his shaken associate out.

Edgar: Walter, babe, you’re at a 9 right now and I need you to be down at around a 6 Walter: WELL YOU USED TO BE A STRAIGHT 10 BUT THEN I COME BACK FROM PRISON AND YOUR EMPIRE IS CRUMBLING SO WHAT GIVES Edgar: ….??

It is at this moment that the phone rings. That he’s receiving a call in this room should have been my second clue that we’re at Edgar’s right now, the grand lion painting the first, but in fact I wouldn’t put it together until they rush outside to have an intimate moment in the courtyard. First though, the context for that!

On the line is Bellman, alerting Edgar that the police are at the film studio. He asks who. It’s Detective Rath.

Typical.

memory-for-trifles: AHAHAHAHAHA poor Edgar wellntruly: When Edgar finds out that once again he’s got a Gereon on his plate I was howling at the moon like a happy wolf.

At this news, Edgar just crisply turns his back on Walter and walks out the door to go see just what the fuck Gereon is up to now. Startled, Walter runs hatless after him going “Edgar, what the hell—?” (actual dialogue) and gets abruptly sucker punched for his trouble. Whoa! The chauffeur standing near the car is like okayyy just gonna casually look away and mind my own business… (Great Job to this actor.)

Edgar crouches down over Walter, actually astraddle over one of his open legs if you want to get technical, and looks closely into his face. “There cannot be a single seed of dissension between us,” he begins.

They then continue their apparent shared aphorism in emotional unison.

This is when I had a thought.

So Walter Weintraub and Edgar Kasabian would not seem to be brothers, having different last names. And they would not seem to be strictly business associates, given that they live in the same home and have very intent partnership moments like this, underlining their personal bond with one another. And Walter is sleeping with Esther. And Edgar is the King of the Underground. It’s Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. IT’S GANGLAND CAMELOT.

I’d had very many drinks by the time I thought of this that first night but it makes me feel like I’m still drunk just thinking about it now, SO. Gonna follow that high!!

Over at the film set, Tristan admits to Gereon that he didn’t really know Felix Krempin, although: “We had some… [brushing his hair carefully *not* quite out of his eyes] common interests.”

Gereon: “Namely?” Gereon…..

“This world is just one side of the mirror,” Tristan answers. “The other side.. is another world.” Oh you know actually I’m starting to get the impression that maybe he doesn’t just mean “we gay.”

Then Gereon shows him Tilly’s Ringwraith drawing and Tristan loses his mind.

At this moment, Assistant Detective Ritter is poking around, like she said she was gonna, when the Phantom casually comes out of a dressing room in front of her and just walks off down the hall. Charlotte is like what the fuck?!? and sneaks on after him, only to end up in….Tristan Rot’s dressing room, OHH it’s a costume from THIS MOVIE. Gereon and Tristan tumble in behind her with the same revelation, as this “Phantom” is revealed to be just another actor, here for a fitting with the costume designer. Clearly not one to miss a moment, Tristan collapses moaning about murder into the arms of this equally tall, angular young man, who sets about cuddling him, and Gereon asks “Who are you?” Gereon…… ….

Turns out there are two sets of this costume, for Tristan’s character and his double, and turns out further that the browbeaten costume assistant had been helping Felix out by slipping him things like this neat ass geometrical cloaked getup to creep around in causing mischief, as his saboteur benefactors were paying well enough for him to take her out to “such fancy places, they even served Champagne.” ~Luxe~ But eventually he hit his limit, she reports tearfully, and had left the set hours before the light fell. This matches what Krempin had told Gereon himself in the car, and the second costume is still missing. Shit guys I think we got TWO Phantoms. Ein Doppelgeist!

We also learn that Tristan’s stand-in stands on a wooden leg. Will this be relevant? Who knows at this point, but it does afford us this cute clue glance between our favorite crime couple:

“Hm.” “Hmm”

Meanwhile, they’re getting ready to shoot screen tests with the Bettys New. Tilly Brooks is up first, and greets an instantly dazzled Tristan Rot in her flirty English. “Pleased to meet you,” Vera echos off-stage.

Lol Vera. Lol all these ladies. Let’s hang.

And add to the list of things “bitte” can mean: Action! Lotte is having a really fun day on the job, getting to watch a real film shoot from backstage. Gereon is like, okay.

Something I really do adore about Gereon and Charlotte is how often they visually check in with each other, like above and also like here, when Walter Weintraub walks up and asks to speak to Gereon privately, and Lotte catches his eye like he’s a girl at a bar being approached by a strange man. Like, “you good?” Fantastic. Someone’s gotta, honestly. Because the person Gereon now walks outside to talk to can’t always be around to keep an eye on him.

Canon German dialogue:

Edgar: “Mister Detective.” Gereon: “What’s up.”

I’m so happy. These two make me SO HAPPY. I was way too drunk for this.

“As you know,” Edgar begins, “my partner and I have made a range of different investments around the city.” I think a big part of what kills me about Edgar is that his actual lines sounds like sentences I would make up to josh him. “There are very concrete points of overlap between your activities and mine,” he continues.

Gereon lights a cigarette. “Let’s start with you telling me who would be interesting in harming you.”

“I was hoping you could answer that for me,” Edgar admits.

Oh my god. Oh my god are they going to——

Edgar: “I think we should join forces.”

At this point I screamed at such a high pitch that I suddenly remembered I have neighbors.

And his reasoning why?? Because of DR. SCHMIDT. Because of their SHARED TRAUMA. Because they were both shellshocked drug addicted wrecks left behind in the proverbial mud after the war, until a hypnotic-voiced experimental therapist plucked them up and helped them. But because “The healing has a price, and you have to be prepared to pay that price.” Because Anno Schmidt saved them, and now they’ve gotten bound up together in what they owe him. And because frankly, this chemistry is undeniable. We’re hilarious together, little Inspector.

memory-for-trifles: HoHO, my dreams are coming truuuuue! Dr. Schmanno’s Home for Traumatized Miscreants! wellntruly: Dream Plots, HOLY fuck. THIS SEASON’S GONNA TREAT US GOOD I JUST KNOW IT.

Anyway, let’s not forget: we’re still shooting a movie. Walter, who has reclined himself I believe on Bellman’s seat at the production table, announces that tests are for nerds. Tilly gets cast, being the only Betty they’ve seen, and after getting brushed off by Walter, poor Vera ends up just dutifully hugging her sighing “You’ll be okay Tilly” when she scampers into their dressing room all excited and nervous. Too nervous in fact, and when Tilly runs to the sink with an attack of nausea, Vera considers how it’s a hard luck world out there, and maybe she can make a bit of her own. Jealousy, Motive No. 3! With an endearing grimace, she locks Tilly in the dressing room.

Pic of that because Vera Lohman and her faces are absolutely sending me this episode

Vera then scoots back to the set, where she is perfectly positioned to be walking by looking hot and dramatic right when the production team is like WHERE the hell is our Fake Betty, we gotta shoot now. Walter gestures at Vera like, there’s a girl.

He actually looks genuinely chuffed that he was able to get this role for her after all.

And she looks great out there!!! 

Crew member: “The girl has pizzazz.” Another: “But she can’t sing.”

Wellll what are ya gonna do. (Laugh about it, if you’re me right now)

And in a predictably well-cut interlaid sequence of dance and MURDER—very good very noir—poor weeping Tilly wheels around to see her ghost far too close, right as the song reaches the noose drop choreography. Aw, RIP babe, you were ridiculous. Newly Knifey Phantom then unexpectedly fireman slides out the window down a pole that is there, cloak billowing in the night, and races off out of the courtyard—under Assistant Lotte’s wide eyes. Second ghost, worse than the first!!

— • — • —

Season 3 Recaps - Episode 1, Episode 2

Seasons 1 & 2 MASTERPOST

All everything, past & future: #Babylon Berlin Blogging

[bookburnt]

a primer course on T.MA for my mutuals who followed me from other blogs and would like to know what the fuck i’m talking about!  (hi, guys.  love you.)  GONNA BE SPOILER-HEAVY IN HERE.

First off, big ups to the T.MA wiki, which you can consult on anything here, but this post is intended to serve as a very basic overview of the concepts relevant to this blog without forcing y'all to go into wiki levels of detail.  The first part of this post is some general TMA terms and concepts, and the second part is some characters who have been relevant to Gerry's story specifically.  If you're here for a better understanding of Gerry’s arc and don't care so much about the worldbuilding, scroll down to where I start talking about “who’s...?” and that should help you out.

what’s a “Leitner?”  A Leitner is a book but spooky.  They make bad things happen and, optionally, give you weird powers.  They're usually tied to one of the fourteen(ish) Entities, which I will get into in a bit.  Gerard hates these goddamn books, and has a knack for finding them and destroying them.  His mother, Mary Keay, ran an antique bookstore that did serious business in them.

what’s an “avatar?” An avatar is a (former?) human working closely with one of the Entities. Over time, the influence of their Entity changes them, often granting them certain powers in exchange for a psychological and physiological need to serve their Entity.

what are these “Entities?” / what’s this “Hunt?”  Put as simply as possible, the Entities are, like... fear elementals.  There are roughly 14 different entities, though the boundaries between them aren’t clearly drawn in all circumstances.  As follows, a quick overview:

The Eye. Fear of being surveiled.  The need to know the answers to questions that may destroy you.  The Eye is tied to the Magnus Institute. Its avatars can have the ability to magically Know things, understand all languages, and compel others to answer any questions they ask.  Gerry was tied to the Eye and had some capacity for Knowing stuff, but wasn’t fully its avatar - or if he was, he refused to feed it, which must have hastened his death.

The Desolation.  Fire, but without the warm fuzzy bits.  Pure unhinged destruction.  Desolation avatars can and will set you on fire with their minds.  Gerry’s extensive burn scars are the result of fucking around with a Desolation cultist and finding out.   (The cultist also fucked around with Gerry and found out.  He’s not around anymore.)  

The Hunt.  Being tracked by something that won't stop until it kills you.  The thrill of the chase.  Hunt avatars are capable of killing other avatars, even those who would otherwise be unkillable.  The possibility of Gerry being tied to the Hunt is never discussed in canon, but I’ve got my theories.  (That last phrase is a link to a post discussing those theories, it just isn't showing up like a link on desktop for some reason.)

The End.  Death and dying.  Manifestations of the End often involve disruptions of the natural processes of life and death.  For instance, the fucked-up necromancy book that Gerry got trapped in after dying was an outcropping of the End.

The Corruption.  Bugs, disease, rot, etc.  The Corruption's avatars may spread disease wherever they go, or they might just be chock full of worms.  Potential of controlling a worm army.

The Flesh.  The inherent weirdness of existing in a body.  Cannibalism. Flesh avatars may be hulking, twisted parodies of the human form.  They might steal your bones, turn you inside out, eat you, or all of the above.

The Distortion.  The inherent weirdness of existing in a mind.  Doors that shouldn't be there.  Getting lost.  Being unable to trust your own thoughts.  Distortion avatars look, well, distorted when seen in reflections or through glass.  Will probably try to get you to go through a door that wasn't there before.  You won't like what's on the other side.

The Slaughter.  War.  Violence.  Man's inhumanity to man.  The Slaughter often manifests in groups as well as in individuals, so you could get an episode of mass hysteria where an entire small town turns to butchering one another, or you could get an office assistant who just aches to do murder.

The Web.  Spiders.  Being controlled by external forces.  Can operate in extremely subtle ways.  Can also just be an unkillable spider who wants you to have a bad time.

The Vast.  Really big things.  Heights.  Your own terrifying insignificance on the cosmic scale.

The Buried.  Claustrophobia.  Being buried alive.

The Lonely.  Being completely alone.  Like, completely alone, and never coming back.

The Dark. What it says on the tin.

The Stranger.  Something that's not quite right.  A joke that you're not in on.  Clowns and/or mannequins that might kill you and take your skin.

BONUS: The Extinction. While the other 14 fears have been established for a while (the most recent is the Flesh, which only really came into its own with the advent of mass meat farming), the Extinction is a nascent entity born of anxiety around the idea of the human race destroying itself, and/or being replaced by something else. The boundaries of what constitutes an Extinction manifestation, rather than just a warping of one of the other fears, are unclear.

what’s a “ritual?”  Rituals are ways the Entities’ followers and avatars try to influence the world, usually with the end goal of making our world somewhere their Entity can live and feast full-time instead of just sporadically popping in.

what’s the “fearpocalypse?”  The only successful ritual to date, as of the end of S4.  Possibly the only successful ritual ever, given that it ended the world as we know it and let all 14 fears fully through the gate to fuck everything all the way up.  The sky is full of eyeballs now and that's not even the biggest problem.  This happened a while after Gerry’s death, but I have a verse where, due to his previous ties to the End and the general befuckening, Gerry is brought back to have a bad time with everyone else.

who’s Mary Keay?  Gerard's mother, founder and proprietor of Pinhole Books.  Had ambitions of starting a dynasty of supernatural power, starting with her only son Gerard, who ended up having other ideas.  Flayed herself in a ritual to make herself “beyond death” via the fucked-up necromancy book mentioned earlier.  Gerard was primed to take the fall for her seeming murder, but was let go after the book disappeared from evidence and several key witnesses retracted their testimony.  Despite the ritual being incomplete, Mary remained tethered to the world of the living for five years before Gertrude Robinson finally wrapped that up.

who’s Gertrude Robinson?  Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, and a stone-cold BAMF with a habit of sacrificing those close to her for (her idea of) the greater good.  The late Eric Delano asked her to look after his son Gerry, so naturally she let him live in torment with his abuser’s revenant for five fucking years, then swooped in when he was truly desperate.  She got rid of Mary Keay for good, and got Gerard to travel the world with her attempting to prevent various apocalyptic rituals.  The two would often pose as mother and son to strangers.         Being tied to the Eye, Gertrude seemed to be aware of Gerard’s impending death.  After he passed away, she bound him into that fucked-up necromancy book and left him behind.  (More on that here.) Gertrude was shot to death about a year later while trying to burn the Magnus Institute down and thereby prevent its head, Elias Bouchard, from doing anything apocalyptic.  (Tragically, she did not succeed.  SEE:  “fearpocalypse.”)

who’s Eric Delano?  Gerry’s father.  Died too early to ever really get to know Gerry, despite the sacrifices he made to restructure his life for fatherhood.  (We don’t need to go into the why of it here, but he did have to gouge his eyes out to try to be a stay-at-home dad.  And he did it.  We stan.)  Unfortunately, he’d fallen in love with Mary Keay, who used him to produce an heir for her planned empire, then murdered him with a pair of garden shears and bound him into that fucked-up necromancy book.  She later passed his page off to Gertrude Robinson, who spoke with him.  In that conversation, he asked her to look after Gerry and begged her to burn his page, as being bound into the book was a world of suffering. 

who’s Jurgen Leitner?  A rich, reclusive Norwegian who thought it would be cool and smart to start a library explicitly for corralling forces beyond human comprehension.  (He was wrong, and also stupid.)  Collected spooky books and put his name in them, giving them their common name.  Gerard hates this guy, associating him with the books that dominated his mother’s mind and indirectly ruined his life.  He hunted Leitner down and nearly beat him to death for personal reasons.  Upon meeting Leitner, he came away with the impression that this was just a scared old man, and couldn’t possibly be actually responsible for Jurgen Leitner’s library.  Ultimately, he chose to spare Leitner's life.  Unless we're talking about my canon-divergent Hunter!Gerry au, in which case he did not.

        Anyways, hope this has been helpful.  There's... a lot going on in TMA, but hopefully I've hit the parts that are most relevant to my writing here.  If you have any questions about canon, please feel free to ask!

[emissary-of-stuff]

League of Villains - What I think about them

I really like the League of Villains in BNHA because they’re all outcasts, and also I like villains in general. But all of them are well written, have good reasons to be villains (not sure why Compress is one). All of them experienced backlash or hate from the hero society due to who they are or their quirks.

      Honestly, I wanted to make this so I could compile some of my favorite screenshots of the League members and talk about them such as why I like them and other things. Warning, this will contain spoilers for the bnha manga, up to the current chapter. Do not read if you are not caught up on the manga, that being chapter 227 as of this day.

Shigaraki Tomura also known as Simura Tenko!  His quirk, decay. It can be used for bad and good. I mean, he uses it to hurt people, but if he were a hero it would be very useful in search and rescue. His quirk could destroy obstacles blocking or crushing civilians. He uses his quirk very methodically when he wants to, such as dissolving the skin and tissue of Aizawa’s elbow and having the decay creep up Overhauls arms. I find this to be very cool, as his quirk also has different rates of decay. Some objects he touches decay rapidly while others act very slowly. I don’t know if it’s because he wills it to, or if the quirk is acting off of his emotions. An example of that being if Shigaraki is calm, the decay would take longer to spread. 

     Also, his personality. Yeah, Shigaraki acted like a brat in the beginning but he has grown. Plus I love his use of video game references such as “game over” “final boss” and such. Shigaraki now is more mature, he looks after his team. He cares about their input and wants them to be happy and I really like that. Plus, he has shown to trust them by taking them to wherever he lived, this being after AFO was defeated, and even opening up to them about his past. Hell, when Magne got killed by Overhaul, Shigaraki rushed to kill him. He massively cares about his team as they are no longer like pawns, but like a family to him.    Another reason I like him is that he honestly can be redeemed in a sense. From an early age, his family was killed, his memories of them were suppressed, and All for One basically groomed him into becoming a villain. He never really got the chance to know that what he is doing is wrong.

 Himiko Toga.  First of all, I am honestly a big fan of characters who are somewhat unhinged. And holy crap does Himiko fit that. Also, I find her design very appealing and cute. The pointed teeth, messy hair buns, gleaming eyes, I find those to be really cool! And her quirk, honestly I find it to be fascinating. The fact that she can become someone by drinking their blood and how much depends on how long the transformation lasts. That is truly amazing. Up until the current chapter, we have seen Himiko Toga use her quirk three or maybe four times.       The reason I say maybe three or four is because in the sports festival she was disguised as Ochako but then that disguise slipped off to reveal Camie, another disguise.  She also used the only container of Izuku’s blood that she had to help the heroes in the Overhaul Arc by leading Ochako and Tsuyu to where the battle was. And honestly, I find that to be very kind of her. Izuku is a person she absolutely admires and wants to be, so having his blood is like having something priceless and invaluable. And she used it. She used it to help Izuku, to get help.   And currently in the manga’s arc she transformed into Ochako and somehow actually used Ochako’s quirk. I honestly believed Doctor Tsubasa somehow boosted their quirks. But I’m getting off track here.  Himiko admires and normalises knives and blood with her quirk, and I honestly like that. As mentioned by Curios-san in the recent manga arc, blood and admiration don’t go well together.  Also we found out that Himiko is the eldest of her family, and that she has siblings. I found this to be very interesting as her parents treated her and her quirk as something abnormal, meaning their quirks are not like hers. It’s possible someone in the family tree had a quirk involving blood and Himiko got the genetics of that, but we’re not sure since this is all speculation. But I really want to know what her siblings' quirks are.   And as I mentioned earlier, I find her quirk to be fascinating. She can copy the appearance, but can’t use the quirk. She only targets people with quirks that she can fake or get by without using, such as Camie and Ochako, thus why she picked Camie out in the sports festival. Regarding her quirk, she could transform into Sero but just wouldn’t be able to use the tape since Sero’s quirk is an emitter and his elbows just help with that and are not a mutant quirk.  I’m probably going to post a separate thing about me ranting and discussing about characters quirks since this portion is getting long.

Compress aka Atsuhiro Sako!  So, he has a passion for theatrics which I absolutely love. His outfit, his speech, this guy has a thing for showbizz and magic.     I honestly love his outfit, even though some may call it a disaster, but like. The dude has this long trenchcoat, top hat, and 6 or so masks. Yes, I’ve tried counting how many masks this guy has. His outfit is as extravagant and over the top as he is and I honestly like that a lot. Heck, the Leagues outfits say a lot about their characters.  So when Magne was killed and Shigaraki down, Compress wasted no time in trying to apprehend Overhaul which led to the loss of his arm. Compress cares about his team, that much is shown. Also he gives advice to Toga about the yakuza and criminal underworld.  His age is unknown but he does call himself “old man” when giving Toga the advice mentioned above. When I read that I felt bad for him because, c’mon man, you’re cool!   His quirk is honestly really amazing as he can just stash something into a marble, be it a truck or a person. I don’t know if there is a size limit to what his quirk can hold, or how he even gets the marbles for it, but I find it to be pretty cool. Heck, he freaking blasted Overhaul’s arm off using his quirk! That was epic. Also, I think he killed Snatch, not Dabi. Yes, Dabi caused the fire but Compress put him in a marble. At least, that’s what it seemed like since there was something in the marble. 

Dabi Oh boy, so I might go one a lot with this. Not sure if it will be as long as Himiko’s but let’s find out.   Ok, so I like Dabi for a multitude of reasons. His quirk, his real identity, his motives, and all the potential.  But as much as I like him as a character, he’s done some bad shit. I mean, the guy burned criminals alive in an alleyway, tried to kill/injure Aizawa and Vlad, even though he knew he would lose. Also a good thing he did was like, the guy didn’t attack Aoyama when he saw him. He left him alone. Something else I like is his boldness and seemingly uncaring attitude. I mean, the dude took some Noumu to fight Endeavor, knew he didn’t stand a chance, but still tried anyways.  And like, what is he even thinking by recruiting the number 2 hero? I mean, Dabi isn’t that oblivious. Most likely he knows Hawks is a spy or something.   Also his scars are pretty cool, not to mention that the dude wears what looks to be a leather jacket. 

Twice aka Jin Bubigawara!!  Ok, I abosolutely love Twice’s character. The guy reminds me of Deadpool with his costume, antics and such. His internal struggle within himself that is the two contradictory personalities. He’ll say something is fine, then say it’s horrible. And while we treat this as funny, in my eyes, it’s honestly sad.   Seeing Jin in his apartment argueing with the voice, struggling to get his mask on. It makes me sad. Jin is a victim to his own quirk. Not to mention he saw clones of himself kill eachother, which has got to be traumatic. Heck, he doesn’t even know if he’s the original and I find that to be so sad.  Not even knowing if you’re even...you.  And Twice is honestly a pretty supportive person, he yells at Overhaul for getting Magne’s gender wrong, expresses concern over Toga, hangs out with them. I just, I really like Twice you guys.  And then there’s the whole thing going down in the current arc, with that Liberation Army guy using their quirk to make Twice see clones of himself all around him.  Like, the guy just saw Toga bleeding and cold, is extremely concerned and worried for his friend, and now he’s practically going into a tramumatic episode. Heck, when he saw the clones his mind flashed to that day. Just, I want to help him. He doesn’t deserve this.

SPINNER! Ok, so I really like Spinner you guys. His character, his design, his motives, his backstory.  He stopped Magne from attacking Izuku because Stain deemed Izuku worthy. This guy practically cosplays Stain. Heck, his weapon is a bunch of swords and blades chained together.  I like to think upon him finding out Stain uses blades, he didn’t know which kind so he just got literally all of them. This guy is a dork. Heck, one of my favorite panels is him swerving the van and yelling “GRAND THEFT AUTO!!”  Spinner questions the Leagues motives, wondering if attacking police is really going to change the society he lives in. Say what you want, but I honestly think he can be redeemed.   Also, his compassion. The dude’s face when he heard Shigaraki’s past. His eyes were full of shock, concern, and just, he looked worried.  And in the short battle against the Mutant Exclusionist people, I forget what they were exactly called, he reveals he’s been bullied due to his appearance and the fact that he’s a mutant.  And honestly, I can relate, albeit only a tiny bit. Being bullied over something you can’t control, it sucks. It makes you despise yourself, start to wonder if something is wrong with you, and no one should have to go through that. Sorry for the super long post, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out. If anyone even bothered to read this, thank you. Because that means a lot to me. To know that some of you out here like or enjoy my little discussions and thoughts, it makes me happy.  So, thank you.   

[justgotham]

In my experience, Gotham is a polarizing TV series. Any superhero-themed program is sure to bring its critics, but Batman is a character near and dear to the American heart—as he is the last universally beloved billionaire—and it was certainly a risk going with a prepubescent Bruce Wayne. I’m a big fan of Gotham, and even I’ll admit that I’m not completely sold on its interpretation of the franchise’s main character. But that’s OK, because Gotham isn’t about Batman. It’s about the villains. And they’re almost all great. This was not an easy list to compile.

Gotham just feels like Batman, and it’s in large part thanks to the carefully crafted, over-the-top performances in some marquee roles, so without further ado, let’s get to the best Gotham villains.

I should also note that it would be impossible to do this properly without some spoilers. I’ll avoid any spoilers from the last few episodes of this season, but if you’re not caught up on this season of the show, some of this will definitely get you up to speed on where everything stands as of the Season Four finale.

15. Captain Nathaniel Barnes Played by: Michael Chiklis Michael Chiklis just looks like a cop, and that alone qualified him for the role of Jim Gordon’s boss. And his evolution from hardened lawman to judge, jury and executioner in the face of the future Commissioner Gordon’s heroics provided this political science major with a stark analogy for the tradeoff between idealism and pragmatism out in the real world. Every conflict of Barnes vs. Gordon centered around the way things should be versus the way things are, and the finale of Chiklis’ arc (for now, no one in this show is ever truly gone) raised good questions about where the line between the vigilante justice of Batman and The Executioner really stands.

14. Ra’s al Ghul Played by: Alexander Siddig The spiritual father of the proceedings carries a heavy burden. Not only must he justify the spiritual aspect of the rise of Batman (and the Joker), but Siddig also has to pull off whatever a 2,000+ year old man looks like. It’s a difficult ask, and he’s not had enough screen time for Ra’s al Ghul to seem like anything more than a narrator guide from a video game, but he’s given plenty of major moments, and he hasn’t come up short yet.

13. Butch Gilzean Played by: Drew Powell What Powell does with a character limited to being the main muscle on the show is the embodiment of the saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” He is one of the chief figures of strength on Gotham (and that was before he fell in a swamp filled with goop from Indian Hill), but his moments of vulnerability are what bring life to the character. His romance with a woman farther up on this list than he is reflects Butch’s limits, but perhaps new frontiers will be unlocked with his evolution into the famed Solomon Grundy from the comics.

12. Commissioner Gillian Loeb Played by: Peter Scolari Scolari brought a new face to this eternal foil of Batman and Jim Gordon, as the comics’ brusque blackmailer in the pocket of Carmine Falcone has been replaced with a shadowy figure in the pocket of Carmine Falcone. Scolari’s semi-detached performance is a fitting reflection of where our political reality currently resides, and he is very much a figure emblematic of the times.

11. Ivy Pepper Played by: Clare Foley, Maggie Geha and Peyton List Poison Ivy is still in development on the show—as evidenced by the three actors who’ve played her—but all three did well building a foundation for what should be a future supervillain the likes of which Gotham has never seen before. Both adult actors have provided the sex appeal intrinsic to the character’s strategy to exploit the stupid part of straight men’s brains, but it’s the child-in-an-adult’s-body aspect that makes this version of a hall-of-fame Batman character so compelling. After falling in dirty water (superhero origin stories would lead you to believe that the healthiest thing you can do is shower in uranium), Ivy Pepper’s accelerated womanhood might’ve been a missed opportunity for more comic relief, but her relationship with Selena is always engaging. Without it, neither of these characters would have the humanizing characteristics necessary to make their time on Gotham worthwhile.

10. Theo Galavan Played by: James Frain James Frain’s arc on the show was an original storyline, one that began with a plot to kill Bruce Wayne, then elevated him to Mayor, and culminated with him assuming the character Azrael from the comics. Frain’s smooth performance is underlined by an intense focus on a mission that all just feels Batman-y, even though this arc is not found in the comics.

9. Tabitha Galavan Played by: Jessica Lucas Theo was powerful, but his sister got the larger share of the badass genes in the family. Like her brother, Tabitha is an original creation of the show, and even though we’ve since lost Theo (granted, death is far from final in this universe), it’s difficult to envision Gotham without Tabitha at this point. Her romance with Butch is the only one on the show that’s convincing at all (a major new one is still TBD), and she was clearly placed in this universe to provide a positive role model for Catwoman—who did not make this list because she’s still stuck at the kids table with Bruce Wayne. Of all the major muscle on this show, Tabitha is the muscle-iest.

8. Hugo Strange Played by: BD Wong BD Wong has played so many doctors by now that part of me actually believes he is a doctor. Of all the doctors he’s played, my favorite by far is Strange. The main reason why no one on this show will ever die, Wong does a wonderful job of straddling the line between madman and genius—nailing the image of what Gotham’s mad scientist should look like.

7. Barbara Kean Played by: Erin Richards The NBA has a most-improved player of the year award, and Barbara Kean would have won Gotham’s MIP award the last two years. Initially, I lamented Richards’ on-screen demise as she was cast as the generic wet blanket to Jim Gordon’s hero (Kean was Gordon’s wife in the comics). Gotham almost lost me early on with their romance—as I just cannot take network TV’s portrayal of relationships seriously—but this new “take whatever she wants with a freaking glowing hand” version of Kean has unchained Richards, and her talents shine through in every scene. Gothamis right to structure a central narrative around her.

6. Mayor Aubrey James Played by: Richard Kind I’ll admit I’m biased on this one. I’m a politics writer here at Paste, and Kind’s performance as America’s bumbling mayor is a little too real to consider given the madness that America’s former mayor, Rudy Guiliani, is displaying every day on cable news. His portrayal of the character is the perfect summation of every empty-suit politician who ever lived, and it really resonates in a country overflowing with these vessels for the superrich. The mayor’s cowardice behind the scenes when contrasted to his stern public statements is just…*kisses fingers*

5. Victor Zsasz Played by: Anthony Carrigan The infamous hitman is a perfectly sardonic bit of comic relief, as Carrigan always finds the right kind of oomph behind his “Hey, boss, so when should I kill these guys?” salvos. A hyper-competent, semi-powerful character is a difficult needle to thread, as there must be a reason why Zsasz has yet to rise to the level of other A-list Batman villains, and it’s simply because Zsasz loves his job as an assassin-for-hire. It’s not about the power he could gain through his proclivity for mass murder, but the pure, utter nirvana that he derives from of every shootout.

4. The Penguin Played by: Robin Lord Taylor Oswald Cobblepot is not just an awesome name, but a fitting vessel for a character whose only real lasting public face is Danny de Vito’s snarling performance in Batman Returns. Robin Lord Taylor has brought a more refined air to the ringleader of Gotham’s underworld, and The Penguin serves as the yin to Jim Gordon’s yang. The universe of Batman is based on the premise that crime is a major industry in America—oftentimes involving our political leaders, as Mayor James demonstrates. Cobblepot likes to present himself a pragmatic choice in a chaotic world, and when the Gotham City Police Department finds itself with its back against the wall, some of the moral choices he presents are inescapably compelling. If crime is going to exist, why not try to bring some order to it? The GCPD can’t do that, but The Penguin can.

3. The Riddler Played by: Cory Michael Smith When arguing sports, I typically argue that numerical rankings should be eschewed for tiers. It’s difficult to compare a lot of similar folks, and drawing lines in between good, very good, and great is a far simpler task. I bring this up because this is where the top tier begins. Cory Michael Smith’s depiction of what I have always believed to be an underrated villain belongs in the Batman hall-of-fame—and frankly, it’s better than Jim Carrey’s semi-unhinged version (which I also enjoyed). It’s clear whether Smith is playing Edward Nygma or The Riddler simply from his posture and facial expression, which makes the Jekyll and Hyde-ian battle raging inside of him all the more engrossing. (Photo: Michael Lavine/FOX)

2. The Joker Played by: Cameron Monaghan Technically, we’re not allowed to call this character with a high-pitched laugh, a thirst for chaos and a bizarre love of Bruce Wayne (and now a purple jacket!) “The Joker,” as Monaghan revealed on Twitter. You know, copyrights, branding and all. TV stuff. Monaghan’s portrayal of The Joker would make fans of The Dark Knight proud. The choice to literally sew a new face on to Jerome evokes the same uncomfortable madness as Heath Ledger’s scars, and the amount of emotion that Monaghan is able to communicate through that mess with simply his face deserves some kind of award. “Jerome” is a delightful madman who brings an unbridled sense of joy to his criminality. I’m excited to watch this new, more serious iteration of this classic character, but I will desperately miss his home run performance as Gotham’s signature weirdo.

1. Fish Mooney Played by: Jada Pinkett Smith Stick this character in any gangster TV show or movie, and tweak the surrealism depending on context, and she’ll fit—that’s just how good Jada Pinkett Smith is. Fish Mooney did not originate in the comics, and the creators of Gotham should be universally commended for springing such a Gotham-y character to life out of the ether. Granted, Mooney likely wouldn’t be as engrossing if not for Smith’s electric performance. The woman completely owns every single scene she inhabits. Fish Mooney gives this show a good excuse to ignore the rules of death, because why would anyone want to take that out? Screw death and copyright law. Fish Mooney deserves to live on for eternity.