#he was absent in eps 1 & 5

[corey-wh0re]

This isn't some big dick measuring contest. I've earned this. Zeke Goodman as Brian Blandsman in Cruel Intentions (2024) | Episodes 1x02: "Beta" & 1x03: "Gamma"

[axkirak]

The Curse of Cassandra [EP : V]

Read in Ao3 : here

Pairings:  Qimir x f!reader(SEA Reader)  [The Acolyte]

Content waring: a lot of blood, mind manipulation, referenced violence and murder, mention of killing killing killing and also killing

tags/themes: Alternate Universe - Dune & Star wars, Partners in Crime, Strangers to Lovers

Summary: Today is the last day of your life. That is what you have seen in your vision. You prepare yourself and accept the unchangeable fate, unaware that your destiny has already been altered. and you cannot predict what kind of fate awaits you ahead.

Status: finished writing this fic! (It will end in Episode 14)

A/N: still bummed about The Acolyte being canceled and unsure if I should continue this fic. However, Thanks to everyone who’s followed along—this fandom is amazing, and I love you all.

➡  Intro // EP : 1 // EP : 2 // EP : 3 // EP : 4 // EP : 6 // EP : 7 // EP : 8 // EP : 9 // EP : 10 // EP : 11 // EP : 12 // EP : 13 // EP : 14 (Completed)

Special OS : Phantom Thread // My mother is my enemy

[Episodes 5] When you have lived with prophecy for so long, the moment of revelation is a shock.

Everything happens for a reason.

Your mother once taught you this, speaking of how fate works from the perspective of a seer.

The words suddenly come to mind again as you follow Qimir up onto the Fallon, the ship hidden in the darkness of Tatooine's vast desert—your home planet.

"The desert is your home and your tomb," you murmur absently. A sudden realization dawns in your consciousness. It’s happening, you think with dread, your pulse racing erratically. You’ve seen this scene a hundred times before, yet it still feels surreal as it unfolds before your eyes.

Four months—precisely. No more, no less. This is the exact time Qimir has to deliver you to his employer, as stipulated in the contract.

And it might just be the last stretch of your life, along with everyone else on this ship.

A new alertness grows rapidly within you as you step forward into the unfamiliar cargo ship.  Everything is pristine, modern, and expensive. The air inside is cool, courtesy of the automated climate control system, yet you feel anything but comfortable. Partly because of the thick, heavy metal cuffs clamping down on your wrists, and partly because of the piercing gazes of the three guards, who look identical in their matching gray uniforms. They follow close behind, laser guns in hand, watching your every step without blinking. If you make even the slightest suspicious move, they won't hesitate to shoot you down instantly.

For a brief moment, your mind retreats into a temporary calm—a sense of resigned acceptance of a fate that can no longer be altered.

You shift your focus to the figure ahead—the tall, familiar man walking a short distance away. Qimir’s expression is as unreadable as a statue, devoid of any emotion. You can’t tell what he’s feeling at this moment. Perhaps he’s relieved, finally rid of the burden that is you.

A soft, cynical laugh escapes your lips. You can’t help but pity yourself.

So this is your reward for saving his life. In the end, he still sells you out for the bounty.

Before you could take another step, Qimir suddenly halted, causing you to stop as well. He turns to face you as if he had known you were watching him all along. It seems like he wants to say something, but the words never come. So, you decide to speak first.

"I should have left you to rot there," you say. The words sound harsh, but your tone lacks any trace of resentment.

A part of you wants to be angry at Qimir, but you know you deserve to be angrier at yourself. Who else could you blame? You chose this path willingly. It was your own weakness, your own foolish attachment, that led you to this pitiful end.

You notice Qimir's brow furrow, a look of surprise on his face, but you have no chance to hear his response as the barrel of a gun presses hard into your back, forcing you to move in another direction. The guard behind you roughly pushes you forward, guiding you toward the ship's holding cells, where you will await whatever fate has in store for you next.

Before you are taken away, you glance back at Qimir one last time. That was when you caught sight of the person who had hired him. The other man stepped out from the opposite door of the ship and approached Qimir with an air of authority.

The man was an elderly Neimoidian, his skin mottled in shades of gray and green, as was typical of his species. Tall and thin to the point of looking like a matchstick, he was dressed in luxurious dark silk robes with the peculiar headdress common to the Trade Federation. His large, piercing red-gold eyes, sharp as a hawk's, met yours in return, studying your deep blue irises with a hint of satisfaction before nodding to Qimir.

You didn’t know the name of this old stranger, and you were certain he didn’t know yours either. But he knew who you were and what you were capable of. That’s why he had gone to such lengths to obtain you.

Death was drawing near. You could feel it in your bones—the malevolent intent of something hidden, something that would soon be revealed.

The dark metal box was opened, revealing a collection of rare and priceless materials neatly arranged inside, their surfaces gleaming as they caught the light. Qimir picked up a Nova Crystal, inspecting it briefly before setting it back down with little interest. He had no desire for it, but he was compelled to take it as part of the reward specified in the contract.

But in truth, there was only one thing he had ever truly sought—only one object that mattered to him.

At the bottom of the box, lay a large piece of Cortosis. It had been carefully concealed, meant to be seen only by the bag’s owner and those granted permission to open it. Qimir reached for it next, examining it closely, his fingers tracing the subtle lines of the dull gold metal. It was genuine, he thought, the finest quality he had ever encountered.

The Neimoidians hadn’t exaggerated when they claimed their people could find anything in the galaxy, no matter how rare or scarce it might be.

“Is this all you wanted?” Blex, the branch manager and captain of the Fallon, asked with a hint of uncertainty. He had worked for the Trade Federation for decades, and this was the first time someone had specifically requested Cortosis. Though rare, it wasn’t particularly valuable compared to other metals, minerals, or energy sources that fetched far higher prices.

“Yes, that’s all.” Qimir nodded, carefully placing the cortosis back into the chest and locking it securely. He was well aware of the Neimoidians' curiosity regarding his unusual request. To most, Cortosis seemed like a worthless scrap, its softness making it nearly impossible to forge into weapons or armor. But Qimir knew its value far exceeded what others might assume.

“You’ve done well.” The old man wasn’t stingy with his praise. He had a particular fondness for bounty hunters who weren’t foolish and didn’t greedily demand more than they deserved. “I expect we’ll be working together often in the future.”

Qimir responded with a broad grin. For a moment, Blex felt an odd discomfort at the sight of that grin, but the feeling quickly passed. In the next instant, the human’s face returned to its usual friendly demeanor.

"I have a small question," Qimir began, his voice casual and still smiling. "You’re not planning to kill that woman, are you?"

The elderly Neimoidian let out a snort, as if he was on the verge of laughing. "Kill her? What nonsense are you spouting? Why would I kill something so useful?"

"Useful?" Qimir echoed, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "What use could she possibly have?"

Blex hesitated, realizing he had let slip something he shouldn’t have. "Nothing," he waved dismissively. "You’ve got what you came for, so be on your way. Don’t waste my time with unnecessary questions. My time is money, boy."

Normally, Blex would be quite irritated by anyone prying into his business affairs. But this time, he was in too good a mood to bother with an ill-mannered bounty hunter. The old man could hardly wait to leave this place and present that woman as a gift to the head of the Trade Federation.

This is an incredibly worthwhile investment. Blex thought gleefully, considering what he stood to gain from his superior. That woman was worth more than a hundred Nova crystals or Aurodium ingots combined.

Qimir, however, remained still, even after being told to leave. His gaze drifted out the ship’s window, where nothing but the faint glimmer of distant stars, silent and desolate. The Neimoidians were a cautious and paranoid race. They had chosen the rendezvous point carefully to ensure there were no outside witnesses and minimize the risk of any unexpected dangers.

How ironic he mused with grim amusement. A race so paranoid, and yet not a single one of them realized that the real danger wasn’t outside the ship—it was inside.

"You don’t need to answer my question." Qimir's voice suddenly turned chillingly cold, the smile vanishing as quickly as his demeanor shifted, as if he were an entirely different person. "Because I can extract the answer from your mind anyway."

He raised his hand, and with a single flick, the Neimoidian’s body seemed to be constricted by some invisible force, lifted into the air, and violently yanked toward him. Within seconds, Blex's throat was clutched in Qimir’s grip. The Neimoidian’s greenish face darkened as the grip around his throat tightened.

In that instant, Blex felt a sharp intrusion of the force, penetrating his cerebrum and dissecting his memories piece by piece. The pain was excruciating, as if a real blade were slicing into his brain.

Blex's eyes widened even further as he stared at Qimir. The realization of truth in this moment between life and death brought a mixture of surprise and terror beyond words. "Y-you... You have the force. Are you a Jedi?"

"Not exactly, but close enough," Qimir shrugged, a mocking laugh escaping his lips—a laugh that could easily send chills down anyone's spine. "If I had more time, I'd let you guess again, but unfortunately, time is money."

Blex didn’t even get the chance to beg for his life. As soon as the mind-reading process was complete, the Neimoidian merchant’s neck was snapped with swift precision. Qimir discarded the lifeless body like a piece of trash, throwing it to the ground before glancing up at the ship’s ceiling. He noticed the lights abruptly turning red, followed by the shrill blare of the alarm echoing throughout the spaceship.

Qimir began calculating in his mind.

There were about three minutes before every guards on the ship would storm his position, and it would take at least another five minutes to kill anyone who stood in his way to reach his second target, who was now securely locked in the holding cell on the lowest level of the ship.

Eight minutes is too long he thought, quickening his pace, not wasting any more time.

As he walked, his thoughts drifted to you—the somber expression on your face, your strange mannerisms and words, and those blue eyes that always seemed to carry a hidden burden, as if you were harboring a crucial secret.

Qimir had never understood you, not even a little. He always thought of you as a living enigma, a puzzle he would never be able to solve.

But now he finally understood everything.

Eight minutes.

You think as you peer through the bars, noticing the two guards stationed outside your cell—a surprisingly small number, likely because they see you as nothing more than an ordinary woman, harmless and lacking the strength to retaliate.

“I don’t see why I have to waste my time guarding her too. One of us is enough. What could she possibly do?” One of the guards, whom you’ve privately nicknamed 'Scarface' because of the large scar on his face, grumbles to his companion. Despite the distance between your cell and the guards’ station, you hear every condescending word with crystal clarity.

These men underestimated you, and it was likely that many here, except for the Neimoidian merchant, didn’t even know who you really are or what you’re capable of. Their negligence in handling your imprisonment was unforgivable—like locking your arms tightly but forgetting to gag you.

You know this is your chance, slim as it may be. But it’s better than sitting idly in your cell, awaiting death. You must seize every opportunity and struggle with every ounce of hope left.

Closing your eyes, you take a deep, controlled breath, following the calming techniques your mother taught you. You steady both your body and mind, preparing for what needs to be done.

You know what you need to do. You've trained for this situation before, but the results were often less than successful. It’s an ancient technique that's difficult to learn and even harder to execute. During your training, you failed countless times, leaving you uncertain if you could actually pull it off when it matters most.

In the brief moment of calm, you focus your thoughts, replaying memories of your mother’s teachings. Her voice played in your mind, reminding you of the details you had once studied so intently.

Words, tone, and thought must align as one. For it is the forceful will, distilled from the vocal cords and heart, that becomes a command no one can resist.

You suddenly open your eyes, your thoughts halting as your heightened senses catch the presence of death creeping in from above, gradually drawing nearer.

There's no time left.

The realization sends a tremor through your body. You quickly leap to the bars and shout, "Let me out, now!"

Both guards turn to look at you, puzzled at first, before breaking into loud laughter. “You must be crazy if you think you can command me,” Scarface sneers.

You grit your teeth, knowing you have failed. Your panic made you pitch your voice too high; those men would feel nothing.

You refocus, breathing in rhythm as you had practiced. Your blue eyes gleam with intensity as you fix them on Scarface. This time, your voice rings out clear and unwavering, reverberating through the air—a blend of sharpness and depth that fills the room.

“Take your gun and shoot your friend. Then, release me and kill yourself, you bastard.”

The scarface jolts, his expression suddenly turning to one of impassivity, his eyes empty and emotionless. At that moment, you know you've succeeded. 

You wait calmly for the outcome as the scarface turns his laser gun to shoot his own colleague, walks over to unlock the cell door and handcuffs, then lifts the gun to shoot himself in front of you.

It’s as difficult as it is easy you think. An inexplicable feeling takes shape inside you. You're unsure whether it's the sorrow of killing someone for the first time or the thrill of manipulating someone's mind for the first time.

You clench your fists, your palms sweaty, trying to suppress the strange feeling before stepping over the bodies with distaste and quickly moving on to find a way to escape.

However, as soon as you climb up to the top, everything in front of you turns into a nightmare you’ve seen before.

The ship is bathed in red from the emergency lights, and the blood is scattered across the floor and up the walls of the corridor. The more steps you take forward, the more you see corpses strewn across the floor. You smell the blood clearly and hear the moans and cries growing louder after the alarm has ceased. It indicates that some are still alive, but not for long. You've seen it in your dreams. These people will all die, and soon it will be you—the last one alive here.

For a moment, you consider retreating back to the cell, locking yourself away from the outside world, and hiding quietly behind bars until everything is over. But you know that the cell won't help. It will only make you an easy target. You need to get out of this ship before it finds you.

Suddenly, your determined thoughts abruptly stop as you feel a chill run through your entire body. 

It’s coming. You can feel it. 

Not from the front, but from behind.

Fearful instinct freezes your body like a deer in front of a lion, but curiosity compels you to slowly turn around, just to see it with your own eyes. 

What you see leaves you confused rather than scared.

"Qimir," 

You utter it in bewilderment, addressing the man standing there, the one you always thought you knew well. But today, everything is different. His face is cold, and blood was smeared all over his body and face, making it difficult to determine if it was from his own injuries or those of others.

Your eyes widen in disbelief as you look at Qimir, both fearful and astonished.

It can’t be.

You remember the vision vividly. The one who should have appeared here and killed everyone, including you, was the mysterious Sith with the cracked metal helmet. But in reality, Qimir is here, and he is the one who has killed everyone instead of that Sith. This has never appeared in your visions before, not even once.

You and Qimir lock eyes, frozen as if time itself has paused. But finally, it's Qimir who makes the first move. He begins to take a step toward you, but suddenly, you shout, your voice firm and echoing through the air, "Stop. Don't move."

At first, Qimir thinks you’re speaking to him. But as he observes more closely, he notices that your gaze isn’t on him at all but focused somewhere behind him instead. When Qimir turns around, he sees one of the security guards aiming a laser gun at him at a distance close enough to be fatal. Yet, the guard doesn’t pull the trigger. He just stands there, motionless like a statue, except for his eyes, which dart back and forth in terror.

Qimir swiftly raises his knife and slashes the guard's throat, the blade cutting through the major artery with ease.

As the guard's body collapses, you also fall to the ground, blood gushing from your nose down to your chin. You can feel your strength ebbing away, replaced by a sharp pain. It’s the side effect of using your power so abruptly, damaging part of yourself in the process.

You wipe the blood from your face, smearing it across your skin, then slowly force yourself to stand just as Qimir reaches you. He grips your arm, helping you to your feet. You want to pull away, but you have no strength left. Standing on your own is a struggle in itself.

You look up at him, countless questions on the tip of your tongue, but the only words that escape your lips are a faint whisper, "Why?"

Qimir remains silent, and suddenly, he raises his hand. You flinch, the image of being choked by that Sith in your dream flashing through your mind.

But Qimir doesn’t do that. Instead, he gently places his hand on your cheek, his thumb tenderly wiping away tears you hadn't even realized were falling.

In that moment, something deep within you sends a warning, alerting you to the significance of what's happening—a twist in the thread of fate, altered by an unknown variable, changing the course of events at the last possible moment.

You’re unsure and unable to comprehend what is happening until Qimir leans in, so close that your foreheads touch, and answers all your unspoken questions with a kiss.

As your lips meet, breath merging with breath, tongue with tongue, and soul with soul, intertwining and becoming one, you understand. Qimir is everything to you—whether it be the beginning...or your inevitable end.

[julietsbb]

So I saw fans on twitter saying they were disappointed we didn’t get the aftermath of the soft phumpeem kiss from last week (which, valid and same), but then I also saw some say that phumpeem were acting as if it had never happened in this ep. This I vehemently disagreed with and ended up doing like 20 tweets about why >.>

I figured I would share my thoughts here too, because might as well, my phumpeem brainrot is pretty strong and tumblr deserves phumpeem thoughts too!

I do Not think they are acting like it didn’t happen. Peem is acting much more ‘engaged’ with Phum this episode.

1) he doesn’t seem annoyed with him seriously at any point

2) despite hurrying off when he sees Phum show up, he still opens conversation with him by asking if he wants to come on the first ride with him. They have a mutual back and fourth during the ep, Peem is much more willing to engage, also seen when

3) Peem *texts Phum first* and says he’s gonna show up at his place. Like we SEE how surprised Phum is about this. DEVELOPMENT.

4) the *flirting banter at the café* is on a new level. It’s much more mutually aware that there’s something more between them! The Phum before last week’s ep could tease him about ‘oh are you looking at me because I’m handsome?’ but could not, in my personal opinion, have said ‘oh so you’re saying I’m not special to you? 😏’ - the way they’re both leaning in over the counter really says it all - they’re much more ‘meeting in the middle’ with their interactions/flirtations than before, where, until the kiss, (and please correct me if I’m wrong here), it was much more only Phum who initiated and Peem who responded in one way or another.

5) we also see this meeting in the middle thing when Peem has been teasing him about joining the amusement park rides (btw me 🤝 Phum about those fr), where he teases him into joining, and is ENJOYING phum’s reactions, because they both have fun fucking with each other, but he also knows not to take it too far. Like how Phum’s orders were douchebaggy in nature first, but turned teasing/pigtail pulling/‘I just want your atteeenttionnnn~~~’ later.

tl;dr they’re both much more aware of where they stand and the dance they’re doing after the last ep and it’s NOT as if the second kiss didn’t happen, there’s been a noticeable shift in how they interact.

But if they know this, have become more self-aware, why aren’t they just boyfriends already, you might ask?

WELL, I believe there’s character reasons for this.

We know Peem is in the process of figuring out exactly what his feelings for Phum are, so even if he’s more open to it, is enjoying exploring it, he hasn’t settled on his ‘final answer’ yet. Also, as he mentions to Q, they had an atypical beginning to their acquaintance, so to speak. Also I’m sure there’s many parts of Phum he’s struggling to understand. He’s often visibly confused by who he is/his character, so he probably doesn’t feel ‘certain’ about him yet. Also I bet Peem has personal reasons to maybe not wanting to let someone too close, which I hope later episodes will delve into.

As for Phum, he’s very aware that he’s extremely drawn to Peem and likes him a lot, he’s just a doofus who really doesn’t know how to be open with his emotions, probably to anyone other than Fang. We know he’s only (often alone in his flat, mentions Peem is introducing him to social experiences he hasn’t had before, only beer & fang would play with him etc.) plus it seems like he has had extremely absent parents and has a very strained relationship with his father especially. He probably has 0 frame of reference for what a relationship looks like AND was never taught how to communicate his emotions. That’s why his default setting to ‘new people’ was poser-ish probably; my guess is that’s probably what he saw his parents doing. He’s only starting to open up re: his emotions *because of* meeting Peem, who refuses to take his shit and refuses to let him get away with hurtful nonsense and whom Phum suddenly realises he doesn’t want mad at him and he doesn’t want to hurt.

We see him struggle to navigate this as well. He doesn’t know when or how to apologise, asks his friends for advice because he’s struggling to even *see* how he fucked up at all.Phum was probably treated like that by his parents and his parents acted like that was okay and didn’t apologise, so why should he?

Phum literally says “i don’t know how to make you less angry” and suggests Peem keeps the stuff he bought because maybe his parents had tried to placate him with material gifts? Beer’s advice is to apologise and he does it 3 times because he literally has no idea what else to do.

tl;dr 2: Peem is confused and uncertain in parts still + potential other stuff and phum does not know how to constructively and productively talk about and act on his emotions or express what he wants based on that. Emotional needs & wants? What are those, how do I detect them & like, asking for help to have them met? Is that something you can even do? <- Phum probably

[dismounts soapbox]

[kandadze]

FoF rewatch ep 5: or, Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This (gifs and loose thoughts) ... part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Y'allll, I ended up with nearly 300 gifs for this...

There's so much juxtaposition in this ep. The contrast between the nightmares Ran Yi created for PSJ and WX and the dreams he gave the brides and Miss Qi.

PSJ and WX need to die in their nightmare to wake up - the brides fall into a happy dream never to wake up again.

Ran Yi killing people for a specific purpose - Master Qi killing people just to vent his anger; the former was to face death or a thousand years of imprisonment, the latter... we never find out what DHB was going to do to punish him?

ZYC's big brother taking away his nightmares with a help of a demon, and ZYZ creating a waking nightmare for ZYC by taking his brother away.

A demon dreaming of being with a human vs apparent inability to fit in the human world.

Miss Qi wanting to escape her prison vs Ran Yi willingly confining himself to her fish tank to be with her (ahhhh Qing Geng parallels!)...

And of course the usual (and our favorite), dreams and memories vs reality. Or is it reality? Poor Bai Jiu lol

Anyhow, back to the beginning...

We get a first glimpse into PSJ's inner world and boy is it depressing... this is her little brother. That she draws her bow at. And calls him "unforgivable." And-

She shoots him. Her live reaction to her own deed:

It's like a freefall from a skyscraper, the finality of what you've just done hits you way before the ground does, and harder.

Meanwhile, ZYC has to deal with his own bad dream personified...

Thankfully they don't waste much time on foreplay their bickering, and get down to business by powering up that bad boy miraculous sword...

The flashback to their conversation about it is absolutely hilarious, and has been giffed before. Here is the recent set :)

In that same flashback, ZYZ gets to fuck with Bai Jiu's head just a little by making him doubt whether he's awake or no, and I love how promptly Bai Jiu freaks out... XD

Back to PSJ. (She'll be absent for most of this ep and the whole of 6, so I'm putting more of her here.)

WX doesn't seem to react to the sword though, so ZYZ goes inside her dream to help. Here's a gifset of that whole sequence, let me just linger for a moment on his face right afterwards...

... and then when she mentions her other nightmares. This is not the same guy who waltzed into DHB in ep 1... the cracks are really starting to show.

Also look at ZYC not quite sure what's going on between WX and ZYZ in that moment but sensing that something's off... you'll get your own private trauma moment with the demon real soon, not to worry, babygirl.

Girlfriends!

Boyfriends? XD

Everyone in competition to make sure PSJ is well taken care of (and stays put):

Look at her, all cozy in the Leomund's Tiny Hut demonic dome of protection, looking at the word WX wrote on her palm...

Aaaand I've reached the image limit. I'll see you in part 2 I guess XD

[synthient]

Doctor Who: Matrix Pastiches Reviewed

Because it turns out DW has a lot of them! The three categories I'm considering will be: 1) Visual engagement with The Matrix, 2) Thematic engagement with The Matrix, and 3) Quality of the overall episode vs quality of its Matrix pastiche

Contestant #1: The Long Game/Bad Wolf

(I'll be bundling our two Station Five episodes together, even if they aren't technically arranged as a "two-parter")

Visual engagement with The Matrix

Right off the bat, we get probably the best-looking Matrix imagery that was possible on a BBC budget circa 2005. A lot of other media going for a "Matrix aesthetic" stops at either the cyberspace visual language, bullet time, or the costuming, so I think it's actually pretty fun and novel that the Station 5 eps go for the pod people instead. Through the labor-zombies (still puppeteered by their jacks in death), and the Controller (conscious, aware, had a brief normal childhood before being sold into instrumentality), we push the horror in some fun new directions.

Thematic engagement with The Matrix

Does manage to at least gesture toward labor exploitation and state propaganda. Draws a nice if underbaked connection between news media fearmongering and anti-migrant policies. Gets a little incoherent and borderline reactionary with its conspiratorial angle (not that that's completely absent from the matrix proper). Featuring a "philosophical debate" that dips a bit more into parody. And we do manage to presage Resurrections via Don't Be A Tech Guy Who Sucks.

Quality of the overall episode vs quality of its Matrix pastiche

The Station Five eps are both a little mid, to me. Adam just isn't compelling, even in a love-to-hate way. Weirdly victim-blaming and misanthropic about the game show contestants. Each episode's parodying of the BBC is a bit too buffoonish to work, and leans a bit too hard on The Alien Behind The Curtain to have any teeth in regards to the real BBC. But I do kind of love Scary Capitalist Snow Hell feat. Simon Pegg. And the Matrix bits, imo, are some of the most charming moments. Decent episode, good Matrix pastiche.

Contestant #2: New Earth

Visual engagement with The Matrix

We get some very direct riffs on both the shot where Neo absorbs the full horror of how many pods there are, and the There Is No Spoon elevator cable sequence. It Green.

Thematic engagement with The Matrix

"Something something Catholicism" is, in fact, a core theme of The Matrix, and I'd say catgirl nuns are solidly in the spirit. "Don't be an evil vapid bimbo who surgically alters her body"? Well, no. (Granted, the most charitable read is that the ep is basically ambivalent on bodymodding - Cassandra's deal is gross, "evolution" and "mutation" are good, and turning yourself into a cat woman is neutral as long as you don't give people every disease in the world). "Don't give people every disease in the world"? Well, sure man, I guess.

We get some nods toward not buying into "human purity" (coded as class purity, and maybe vaguely racial?), and some lines about "we're part of the machine, so we know how to destroy the machine" that make sense as part of the Matrix pastiche and make much less sense in the context of the actual episode. Meanwhile, the NYPD are the heroes of the hour, here to bust all the bad guys and shepherd our shellshocked pod escapees off to some brighter future that we don't have to think too hard about the logistics of.

Quality of the overall episode vs quality of its Matrix pastiche

Gotta be honest: I did not enjoy New Earth very much. It has some fun ideas, and we get pretty visceral with the pod-based body horror again. But the sexism of how it handles Cassandra and Rose just makes the whole thing sort of unpleasant. And this also may have been one of the episodes he was looking back on re: "we didn't have 14 regenerate in 13's clothes because I didn't want it to look like we were making fun of gender nonconformity."

The Matrix pastiche itself is, like, fine? Just kind of shallow and mostly confined to iconography (while the themes of the rest of the episode sometimes tip into anti-thesis). Bad episode, decent Matrix pastiche.

Contestant #3: The End of Time

Visual engagement with The Matrix

If you're asking "wait, End of Time is a Matrix pastiche? In what way?" - it's because the whole Master storyline is riffing on the Reloaded/Revolutions version of Smith. Accordingly, the extended visual gag of the Master turning everyone in the world into himself is straight from the Smith playbook. And the effect looks bad, as a subtle homage to the fact The Matrix's agent possession effect also looks bad.

Thematic engagement with The Matrix

As a Matrix scholar with a Smith concentration: End of Time really, really gets Smith. It gets that he's an evil gay guy trying to excel to the extreme at his fascist upbringing, even though the authority figures he wants to impress will always see him as fundamentally "diseased." It gets the mommy and/or daddy issues that drive him. It gets that he's the shadow self. It gets that he's a Looney Tunes character. It gets that his public breakdown is as much self-harm as other-people-harm, and emphasizes that via the Doctor as concerned friend. They even put that guy on a dog leash (sexual style).

The "Master race" joke is kind of tasteless, but does get at something essential about Smith's machine-supremacy-as-cope and repulsion/fascination with Morpheus (and it's not like mixed-bag racial politics aren't a Matrix quality). "Is the Master in drag making fun of gender nonconformity?" well kind of, but it also slays

Quality of the overall episode vs quality of its Matrix pastiche

Maybe a controversial take, but I really liked End of Time. It's got the homoeroticism, it's got the Gallifrey Sucks reveal, it's got funny strobe light skeletor running around eating people. The Doctor's Got A Gun. Wilf's there. The "billionaire who evilly...loves his daughter? and they're the only people of color in sight besides Cannibalism Victim #2 and Barack Obama?" subplot does kind of flop. But overall, a good blend of the thematically compelling and the sillyfunny. Much like The Matrix itself in that way... Good episode, good Matrix pastiche

Contestant #4: Extremis

Visual engagement with The Matrix

Little-to-none. We're doing The Matrix almost purely as premise, not aesthetic. 12 wears sunglasses, I guess? But he'd been doing that for a minute

Thematic engagement with The Matrix

Return of "something something Catholicism" - this time, our take is roughly "kind of sucks that the pope is homophobic. But I'd still help that guy out if he were in trouble. On account of once upon a time, the pope was a hot lady and we had sex."

[gets blinded] [turns out to be reversible as soon as they actually want to do more stories with this guy] ? That did happen to my buddy Neo.

"Have you guys heard about the allegory of the cave?" ✅

Killing Yourself, is, in fact, a theme of the Matrix movies. I do have to give them that.

Quality of the overall episode vs quality of its Matrix pastiche

The thing about Extremis is that for the most part, it's perfectly watchable and entertaining, even at its most baffling. Still has fun dialog and solid characterization. Still has Mackie and Capaldi doing their best with the material. It just climaxes with such a stupid twist that it kind of kills the whole thing. And that twist is the very fact that it's doing Matrix pastiche at all. Decent episode, bad Matrix pastiche.

Winners of the Matrix Pastiche Awards:

Worst visual engagement with The Matrix:

n/a: everyone's either doing their best with 5 bucks and a ball of lint, or not really visually going for The Matrix at all

Best visual engagement with The Matrix:

The Long Game/Bad Wolf

Worst thematic engagement with The Matrix:

Neck-and-neck between New Earth and Extremis. But I think NE's anti-thesis and aesthetics-without-theme narrowly beats Extremis's "relevant themes but done clumsy and bad"

Best thematic engagement with The Matrix:

The End of Time

Best Matrix pastiche sans rest of the episode:

The Long Game/Bad Wolf

Best episode sans Matrix pastiche:

The End of Time, but Extremis is shockingly close

Most Memeable Moment:

"Super Mario would kill himself"

[willtheweaver]

OC most likely tag

Thanks for the tag @paeliae-occasionally @the-golden-comet @mk-writes-stuff this looks like fun

Rules: Answer with which of your OCs are most likely to do the statement, then give new statements to the next person

1. Most likely to arrive ridiculously early

Fen for sure. He does not like being late.

2. Most likely to be in a relationship for less than a week

Lord Halley. He can be a bit oblivious to others, not to mention, all the boasting and bragging would get old really fast.

3. Most likely to secretly be really good at music, but just not tell anyone

Reed. He doesn’t think his work is good enough for others to hear (eps. Dirge).

4. Most likely to burn something while cooking

Rail. He can be a bit absent-minded, as well as cursed with being a child and thus get bored easily.

5. Most likely to stop a robbery if it takes place

Well, most of them to be honest, but Playa would 100% make the robber regret their decision.

6. Most likely to not tell people they are sick until they really need help

Sorrel. I have it in my notes that she would have to be restrained or given official instructions to rest. Otherwise the only thing that will stop her is if she gets so sick she cannot get out of bed.

7. Most likely to flip a table after losing a game

Captain Hesper. He is a sore loser.

8. Most likely to steal a candy bar from a gas station

Quill. But only if he is hungry and 100% sure that no one will notice.

9. Most likely to write an anonymous get-well card

Opal 100%

Tagging @kaylinalexanderbooks @leahnardo-da-veggie @honeybewrites @indecentpause @illarian-rambling

@whatwewrotepodcast @moltenwrites @sleepy-night-child @pluppsauthor @fourwingedwriter

@frostedlemonwriter @rivenantiqnerd and open tag

Your statements are:

1. Most likely to embarrass their friends in public

2. Most likely to get drunk/hungover

3. Most likely to get kicked out of summer camp

[deltaqueen184]

my thoughts on monsters at season 2 ep 1-5

episode 1

i like that we see Tylor family more and just be outside of monster inc more

it nice that val hang out tylor family

tylor why are you complaining to a child also i love that kid was "dude i'm like 6 and i have coloring to in the morning" i hope tylor doesn't have kids

i grad fritz, cutter and duncan are still around i was kinda worried their forgotten

clair what happened to brock did johnny kill him probably not

i was kinda surprise jack and jill were conjoin honestly

idk man i like johnny and clair kids okay there funny

nice parallels man

episode 2

i like roger man he to care more about mift than tylor

good to know how the monsters world treats alternative fuel bad

does anyone else think the guy in the hamster wheel is one of tylor old design kinda what they did back in season 1

honestly if a kid screams and laughter in a giant can make a big explosive and in mu a group of adults could cause a disrupt power in make me think that mixing adults screams and laughter will be nuclear

episode 3

i can't tell if johnny is being stupid and smart while talking to tylor probably the latter

i can't believe this show is woke or something/ joking honestly i find it funny that the reason there at the restaurant tylor is at is cultural appropriation than the place being closed or something

why are so many songs about screams

good job cutting back on the soda fritz also sorry for not getting promote duncan

i can't tylor left his deceased grandfather suit in the closet

roze why are you kissing the waiter did something happend between you and gary did they break up are they i open relationship would they fake dating just to get mike under skin

oh sully i don't think johnny change at all

episode 4

wow fear co is really big

god i love joy so much her design remind me of dragapult from pokemon

chet bubby i don't think johnny love you man

like the chat between rosie and tylor like yeah not everyone can a jokster i guess

i how val or just more to monsters inc treating the kids as kids then a energy source also val could make parent honestly

episode 5

sick burn sully

everyone thinking the stoop is for sale is funny

i ready like old monster lady and her alive scarf thing

tylor had to let go of the past

detective duncan is best duncan also absent father which fuels my theory that duncan and declan parents are divorce and with their respected parent

duncan being into gilf ha i really want draw him simping for Tylor grandma

man tylor family is really poor hope they get their big break

also tylor grandma being a former scarcer is awesome

that all for now i'm gonna to draw now

[dreams-ji]

We Go Up [2018]

MASTERLIST | ASK

An overview of Jinnie during We Go Up era...

⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ── ERA OVERVIEW ─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅

Jinnie's first introduction to the fandom

Got a LOT of hate because she looks like Mark's lover in the mv and the reason he "leaves" the group.

Also broke the internet due to unit photos with Mark.

People did find her pretty though!!

A good chunk of people recognized her from her modeling projects too!!

A lot of cezinnies become confused of her role within the group because as they promote the song, she is not present with them but is still in some of the content they released this era.

Is formally introduced to the fandom when she helps "host" their comeback countdown V-Live.

All in all a very calm era when it comes to Jinnie

⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ── MV MOMENTS ─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅

⋆ .⺌ ⟡ Scene 1

When the mv starts she can be seen walking into the room and the rest of the Dreamies look a little sad she arrived.

Mark welcomes her with a hug and then they all proceed to hangout and have fun.

She has a solo shot of her blowing bubbles.

Can be seen play rock, paper, scissors with Chenle in the background.

⋆ .⺌ ⟡ Scene 2

With her hair down and arms out, a lot of nctzens say her sitting on the car is her best shot.

In the group scenes where Mark is absent, there would be a quick cut to him and Jinnie while the girl driving to the members.

Jinnie and Mark end up pulling up in the car they end up washing.

⋆ .⺌ ⟡ Scene 3

Just like any typical car wash sequence.

We see her laughing, running around, and screaming with boys as they "wash the car".

Can also be seen in the background just smiling fondly as she watches the boys be boys.

⋆ .⺌ ⟡ Scene 4

***Same outfit as in scene 1

As Mark is remembering his time with the boys, Jinnie ends up walking in and taking the blazer from Mark.

She gives him a comforting smile and walks with him out of frame.

⋆ .⺌ ⟡ Scene 5

***Same outfit as scene 2

She is seen as the last one running.

She stops to catch her breath while looking at the boys being carefree.

Jaemin turns around and beckons her to catch up.

with a wider grin adorning her face she quick stats sprinting after the boys.

⋆ .⺌ ⟡ Scene 6

** Same outfit as scene 1

There is a post credit scene where we can see Jinnie putting on Marks old blazer while fixing her hair in the mirror.

She looks over towards an hour glass and flips it over letting the sand start to fall.

When then cut to her standing in front of a door, raising her hand as if she is going to knock before the screen cuts to black.

⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ── CONTENT ─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅

Dream V Dream (w/ Jeno) | JCC ep. 1 | Dream Challenge: Chenle | How To Survive Neo |

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TAG LIST

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Just comment or send an ask to be added to the tag list !

@e-forgettable | @multi-lenea

[girlbossblackbeard]

s2 ep3 delirious ramblings in honor of eps 4 and 5 coming soon!!

you already KNOW wtf goin on !!!

-the red flag fleet pig tails absolutely slay every single time

-Zheng Yi Sao putting her arm out to shield Olu from the dying guy that just got stabbed has me feeling some typa way (falling in love with her)

-stede just pushing his little bar and charcuterie cart around im obsessed

-Zheng Yi Sao's customer service voice when she says "Hi! I'm Zheng Yi Sao, you're...John?" like she's cold-calling someone is absolutely top tier, I would give her all my money if she were calling to scam me

-"champers?" stede you absolute doofus i love him far too much

-Zheng Yi Sao being all coy with her "ohh...forget it...;)" stop!!!!! im already in love with you please stop this madness!!!!!! i can't take much more of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-OLU'S OFFENDED FACE WHEN STEDE JUST PLOPS THE TOWELS DOWN ON ZHENG YI SAO'S DESK LMAO

-okay. we have to talk about stede hearing "the revenge" and his mind going completely blank aside from the one thought of "Ed" replaying over and over and over again to the point that all sense of self-preservation flies completely out the window (as he flies over the side of the ship) because the ONLY thing that matters to him in that moment is seeing Ed again. i can only imagine the looming sense of doom he must've felt as he realized Ed was noticeably absent from the rest of the crew when he found them, and then the cagey way they all spoke about where Ed went. i wonder if seeing Ed's body lying on that table gave him any sense of relief in the way that getting confirmation of something you'd feared was coming finally arrives

-also!!! let's talk about what must have started running through Olu's mind when he realized it was their ship!! did he immediately think of Jim? was he worried about them? did he assume they would've escaped blackbeard's clutches by now and gone on to bigger and better things?

-"she's returned to us...mostly" i wonder how sad buttons must have felt seeing the revenge in such a dire state :((

-"maybe she's gone through that triangle thing by bermuda" wee john my beloved

-I TOLD Y'ALL WHEN THAT MF GNOSSIENNE NO. 5 HITS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS GONNA BE THE DEATH OF ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND IT VERY NEARLY WAS BITCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-oh holy fuck the way the look of excitement on stede's face morphs into a look of horror as he takes in just how wrecked the revenge got in the storm is extremely upsetting

-someone smarter than me needs to do a deeper analysis on the use of gnossienne no.5 as stede is climbing the ladder of the revenge, no doubt with thoughts of a beautiful and loving reunion with ed because surely he'll be there waiting for him, just as overjoyed to see stede as stede is to see him, only for the song and that fantasy to abruptly get cut off once stede realizes how dire the situation on the revenge has gotten

-hey fam do we think there's any significance of the crew being found desecrating that seagull in the captain's quarters or was that just a plot convenience thing bc obviously stede would check the captain's cabin for ed first

-"just thought you'd be taller...mu-muscly, you know...charismatic" bruh ain't NO way Certain People had been either 1) talking about stede in such a high regard it put him up on a massive pedestal or 2) ahem....sobbing so loudly the entire god damn ship can hear it every single night for literal months...that archie fully thought stede MUST have been basically a god amongst mortals to make ed be so downbad it drove him to violent insanity

-"why can't i get a straight answer from any of you" because they're all gay bitch!!!!! you knew this when you first hired them!!!!!!

-OBSESSED with how Izzy is fully down an entire leg and Stede could NOT give less of a shit about it. Literally telling him "Piss off Izzy, I don't wanna hear from you" as if there isn't the biggest possible elephant on the deck basically screaming to be talked about

-side note: for the love of GOD con o'neill looks so stupidly hot in his reaction shot to stede telling izzy to piss off it's actually gonna give me heart palpitations. this is my formal petition to make con o'neill look permanently just a little bit damp and a little bit sad

-"when you get old, if you don't wanna work anymore you can just give up i guess" frenchie my beloved

-love love love love love the parallels between buttons and auntie being the actual paragon of first mates with almost preternatural senses for mutiny a'brewin or the sea shifting

-hey fam do we think izzy actually stabbed stede's painting or was it really ed and izzy was...sparing stede's feelings???? but why??? is it because he's intimately aware of how it feels to lose ed and even though he hates stede (or used to) he still wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone??

-SORRY I GOTTA TOOT MY OWN HORN FOR A SECOND BECAUSE I CALLED IT FROM THE MOMENT THE TEASER DROPPED THAT THE RAG MAN WAS GONNA BE HORNIGOLD'S GHOST MANIFESTING AS THE PARTS OF ED HE HATED THE MOST

>>>it turned out to be all parts of himself which did me quite a big ouchie but im still riding the high of having sussed that out so early on im LITERALLY destined to be a writer on this show. djenks get at me i know ur reading this

-i have absolutely no idea what the pig is supposed to symbolize in ed's fever dream someone who has a functioning brain should figure it out and let me know pls & thx

-don't know if this is significant symbolism or not, but: ed is wearing the cravat, his chains, and the pearl necklace in the storm. he is NOT wearing the cravat or the chains in the fever dream, but he IS still wearing the pearls. the best analysis i can do around that rn is that the cravat symbolizes stede and this journey he's about to go on needs to be about Ed and Ed alone, but also Ed *feeling* and *thinking* he's genuinely alone, which is supported by the conversation he has with hornigold later when he reveals he's worried there's no one waiting for him in the real world. the chains im thinking could symbolize his blackbeard persona in a way - presumably he got the gold chains when plundering and gaining/maintaining his reputation for being ruthless and the chains are a physical reminder of that persona and reputation. in the fever dream, ed is stripped down to his most vulnerable state (which is interesting considering his hair and beard aren't in line with the s1 symbolism of his vulnerability - almost as if his heartbreak over stede has become so all-encompassing he's no longer able to hide it behind a beard or face-shielding long hair) so the chains would disappear just as his blackbeard reputation would disappear in order for him to get to the core of who he really is, which brings us to: the pearl necklace. we could literally talk for hours about the nuances of everything the pearl necklace represents regarding ed's fears, desires, identities, hopes and dreams for the future, childhood trauma, etc. etc. etc. but ultimately it represents the parts of ed he holds the closest to his chest and THAT is why he's still wearing it in the fever dream: because it's a representation of who he truly is, stripped down, at his core. and THAT is the person who needed to go on this journey in order to start to heal, without the influence of anyone or anything else making him feel the need to perform or be anything other than his 100% authentic, vulnerable self.

-the way i reacted to seeing how beautiful ed is as he's waking up in hornigold's hut is undeniable proof that i need to be put down

-"what did you do to me...while i was out...anything weird?" edward teach my beloved of all time. we will not be taking this incredibly funny and perfectly performed line delivery and making it sad by thinking about the implications of what past behaviors ed may have experienced from other shipmates when waking up after a night of blacking out

-sorry but the way ed holds his breath so he doesn't eat the soup is so hilarious and adorable to me

-auntie recounting all the details of the mutiny right down to ed's height and silver hair based off of looking at the deck and licking some gun powder is sooooooo sherlock holmes coded but like. if he fucked y'know?

-also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the little sprinkle of what i believe was maori thrown in between auntie and fang!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i need more of that IMMEDIATELY

-"i'm burnin up here" SICK jobros reference frenchie

-frenchie stopping himself from saying "oh fuck" and instead going with "oh shit tits" i love this man an unhealthy amount

-"it's called you-cal-lip-eh-tusses. you-calamitous." good god i would due for olu in a heartbeat

-okay so. my thoughts on the olu/zheng/jim/archie situation. i never posted this here when the trailer dropped bc i thought i was just going crazy but when i saw the olu/jim shoulder bump i immediately knew it was giving "exes who are still friends and are being supportive of the other person when they admit they've found someone new" vibes. THAT BEING SAID - i can see this whole thing being resolved in 2 ways: either they have jim and olu talk it out and officially decide to split to pursue their respective new flames while remaining best friends/family, or - and this is where i think we all hope this is going - we get a 4-way polycule. im 50/50 on whether the studio would greenlight that given they've already pushed the envelope with having a nonbinary character and basically everyone is gay, but at the same time i would hope the studio would recognize that the show was wildly successful due in large part to those key elements and would be in favor of pushing the envelope even further (in their eyes). i think jim and archie are gonna see zheng being an absolute badass and fall in love with her and zheng is gonna see jim and archie being absolute badasses and fall in love with them while already being in love with olu specifically because he's NOT a badass and olu's gonna admit he's still in love with jim and they're all gonna live happily ever after completely dominating the seas and killing colonizing dipshits :)

-OLU WHIPPING HIS HEAD AROUND TO LOOK BACK AT JIM WHEN THEY TELL HIM THEY SAW ARCHIE'S BOOBS LMAO

-hi it's me again here to say that it is STILL SO EXTREMELY FUCKED UP AND EVIL OF DAVID JENKINS AND CO. TO BE PLAYING GNOSSIENNE NO.5 WHILE STEDE LOOKS DESPONDENTLY AT THE RUINED REMAINS OF HIS CAPTAINS QUARTERS WHERE HE AND ED CONNECTED FOR THE FIRST TIME AND FELT LIKE SOMEONE FINALLY UNDERSTOOD THEM

-how the fuck did izzy on a crutch and a pegleg sneak up on stede in the captain's quarters lil homie HAS to be sounding like mr. krabs at this point

-"i think the knives really help bring the place together" he literally cannot physically bring himself to not be a bitch around izzy even when he's wallowing in his lost love i am so so so obsessed with him you have no idea

-i know we're all still reeling from the confirmation that stede has ALWAYS known ed - past the rose-colored glasses of falling in love with just the idea of someone - and how his mind works when he asks izzy point blank what they did to ed but. i cannot stop thinking about s1 ed not being able to look stede in the eye as he says "you were always gonna realize what i am" before leaving with calico jack because he was so terrified of the judgement he'd see in stede's eyes. he revealed a less-than-ideal (but comparatively pretty benign) part of himself to the person whose opinion he cares about the most and was too afraid to stick around to see if/when stede would finally reject him for not living up to the standards that ed thinks stede deserves. and yet. we now know with actual proof that stede not only never judged ed for his past and just kinda glossed over any erratic behavior/violent reactions during their time together in favor of keeping an idealized image of ed in his mind, stede understood ed on a deeper level than practically anyone else in the whole world, with the exception of izzy, ever did. stede was so intimately aware of the exact kind of person ed was and what his thoughts and behavioral patterns were that he knew without a shadow of a doubt that there were only two fates for ed if stede didn't reach him in time: he was either gonna watch the world burn or die trying.

-feeling BIG emotions over the almost-sigh that stede does when izzy tells him how ed took his leg for merely mentioning stede's name. the way he looks away and swallows down his guilt and grief and shame.

-"you sent him to doggy heaven" ohhhh my god i wanna know if stede was bracing himself for the heartbreak or the relief (or both!!) of hearing izzy say yes. as i mentioned above, stede had to have had a cloud of impending doom looming over him all these months wondering where ed is and worrying if he'll ever find him again, and that cloud must have only gotten infinitely darker when he found the crew on the revenge only to realize that ed wasn't with them. stede isn't stupid, he proved as much when he told izzy he knew ed was going to destroy everything around him or die in the process, and with ed being very noticeably absent it would only make sense for stede to jump to the worst-case-scenario of the crew having to kill ed before he killed all of them. i think he had probably been emotionally preparing himself for that outcome the second he noticed the crew being shifty about ed's whereabouts, so to get confirmation of it would obviously be genuinely heartbreaking but also an end to the sense of doom that had been hanging around him for a while.

-the way stede whips his head around to look at izzy when izzy tells him no, they didn't send ed to doggy heaven is so! heartbreaking! because you can see the instant flame of hope light up his face for a split second before he reads the profound sadness of izzy's expression as he tells stede they deserted him on a beach and left nature to do the rest. interestingly enough, stede doesn't seem at all reassured or renewed in his hope by this, and im wondering if he knows izzy is lying to him at that point to spare his feelings

-"yeah i was there. that cabin boy's name was felix. he was a really nice guy" i love that we're not only getting a crumb of lore about ed's past on hornigold's ship (that isn't frat-bro posturing with calico jack) but that the crumb we do get highlights ed's humanity. not only does he remember the name of a "lowly" cabin boy, but he remembers that the cabin boy was really nice and is angry that he died so senselessly and hornigold doesn't even seem to care

>>>>>hmmmm now im thinking about how hornigold is a representation of the parts of ed that he hates, so is hornigold's story an allegory for how ed hates how he's shut off his emotions/shown little to no remorse for the hurt and suffering he's caused during his breakup era?

-okay there are SO many mentions of soup this season already someone figure out wtf it's supposed to mean

-THE WAY MY FRIENDS AND I ACTUALLY SCREAMED WHEN ZHENG SAYS "Girl, how are you :(" TO STEDE LIKE THIS SHOW IS 100% CONFIRMED WRITTEN FOR THE GIRLS (gn) AND THE GAYS AND EVERY LINE IS PERFECT

-DAVID JENKINS. WHY. ARE YOU PLAYING. GNOSSIENNE NO.5. WHILE STEDE TELLS ZHENG. ABOUT HOW HE FEELS LIKE HE LET ED DOWN. AND THAT HE'S THE CAUSE OF A LOT OF THIS. AND HOW HE SHOULD'VE JUST TOLD ED HOW HE FEELS. BUT HE WAS SCARED. AND NOW HERE WE ARE. i want you psychologically evaluated because i do believe there is a dark evil inside of you

-PLEASE stede's reaction of basically "ya got me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" to Zheng saying the guys on wanted posters are hot makes my brain fizz

-im not ashamed to say i literally get tears in my eyes from how divine ed looks when he's talking to hornigold about selling handmade shoes like what the fuck did the hair and makeup artists DO to make him even more stunning than before when they had already broken the scale in s1???????????? i feel like i should send them a thank-you care package for the gift they've given us

-"im actually just a very simple man" my sweet precious baby darling eddie boy. you are the most complex character i have ever become obsessed with in my entire life, and i was DEEP in the Castiel trenches at the height of SuperWhoLock tumblr from 2012 - 2014 as an unmedicated teenager still developing her prefrontal cortex.

-"like a jailer, but all the prisoners like you and they can go whenever they want" so what im hearing is ed likes having control over other people but also desperately wants them to like him AND choose to stay with him of their own free will and not because they have to. or it's just a funny simile for an inn like he said :)

-the jeff's inn by the sea roleplay scene makes me so insane i actually can't talk about it rn other than to say it's peak comedy and i want it permanently etched into my brain. also ed's little corsage makes me [feral shrieking]

-GODDD the way this season is so expertly slicing in clips from s1 as a quick flash of an image before coming back to the present is so extremely satisfying and also a direct punch to the solar plexis every time

-"grown man covered in tattoos, eh? with daddy issues?" no comment just screaming

-"we've been living second-to-second for a while now. it's actually kinda nice to have a deadline" this!!! this is what im talking about with the looming sense of impending doom hanging over you for so long that once you get confirmation that it's going to be over soon, even if it's because of a very permanent ending, there's a lot of relief that can be wrapped up in that

-"go on, bonnet. gimme your worst" i feel like i don't have the brain capacity rn to break that interaction down and tease out what izzy would've been expecting stede to do or say and what stede would've been thinking in that moment that was too overwhelming to actually voice but maybe someday i'll get to it

-"okay well i feel like im gonna choose...i feel like im supposed to choose...live" bbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooo the intentional writing of ed to say "gonna" at first and then switching it to "supposed to" is sooooooooo insane dude holy shit. i need to know what factors caused him to change his wording. what was he going to say he was gonna do. who or what is pressuring him to make him feel like he's supposed to choose to live. are those two choices - what he was gonna do vs. what he feels like he's supposed to do - at war with each other or is the conflict brewing from the different motivations behind wanting to live vs. feeling like you're supposed to live. the writing is just too good

-godddd someone needs to make a post on hornigold telling ed they're in a judgement-free zone which is basically ed reminding himself that his mind is a safe space for his thoughts and how unbelievably sad it is that ed would even need to remind himself of that in the first place. he's so used to scrutiny and judgement (and it's one of his biggest fears when it comes to the people he cares about the most) that he doesn't even think he's free from it in his own head

-im just gonna say it. ed talking about warmth and intercourse and orgasms is foreshadowing

-"i don't think anyone's waiting for me" i'll actually go lie in the middle of the road right now i swear to god

-it's so interesting how ed gets angry that his fear that no one is waiting for him fucks his pros up

-i don't understand how olu didn't immediately clock that zheng was flirting with him when he's in her office like buddy if i see a very beautiful woman with a very sharp sword and she's pointing it in my direction? that's a marriage proposal

-HOKAYYYY FOLKS WE GOTTA TALK ABOUT OUR FIRST TRUE COMPETENT!STEDE SIGHTING IN THIS EP. he not only devises an escape plan ALL BY HIMSELF, he has the knowledge and foresight to . and guess what? IT ACTUALLY. WORKED. in fact, it was a SWEEPING success where he got EVERYONE safely off the red flag ship and onto his own!!!! this wasn't just some raid won with brute force or a fuckery accomplished due to loony tunes rules, this was an honest-to-god escape plan that required learning the shifts of the guards on deck and at the entrance to the brig to ensure those spaces would be as empty as possible, knowledge of the sleepy-time effects of chamomile in concentrated forms, knowledge of the layout of the ship he's been on for, what? a few days? maybe a week?, knowledge of where they store their weapons and then figuring out how to use the crossbow as a zipline AND remembering to have someone cut the line to prevent any red flag crew from boarding the revenge, figuring out how they can use towels to use said zipline, remembering that the revenge no longer has a wheel and utilizing wee john's strength to secure them a new one while disabling the red flag ship thus greatly increasing their chances of a successful escape. i guess now we know what the hell is going on in towels (it's scheming and plotting)

-jim grabbing archie's hand has they leave the brig

-stede's little hand gesture and "sss" noise he makes to communicate to lucius and black pete they're gonna move forward now even though they're all physically so close it literally would've been quieter if he just whispered his directions to them

-the person at the wheel looking longingly up into the sky. how much do we wanna bet she was thinking about zheng

-"just breathe into it black pe-" WHY ARE THEY SHUSHING MY BOY BUTTONS HE'S RIGHT

-"oy, ya cockeyed -" STOP SILENCING HIM

-"aye look at that, see that black pete -" LET HIM SPEAK

-IZZY PUSHING BUTTONS'S HAND DOWN AS HE'S TELLING BLACK PETE TO OBSERVE ARCHIE'S SHOOTING FORM IS EVERYTHING TO ME

-wee john profusely apologizing to the person he knocked unconscious before knocking them unconscious and then again after stealing their wheel. he is so dear to me

-i genuinely love how buttons wastes NO time in assuming his first mate duties again and directing frenchie and roach to start preparing the ship for sailing. it's just a nice reminder that stede chose him as his first mate for a reason beyond his propensity to attract a motley crew of unique characters - buttons is a genuinely highly skilled, highly competent, and extremely dedicated and hard working sea farer. who may or may not actually be a sea witch that has taken on the form of a humble man

-i actually am very charmed by olu still trying to persuade zheng to spare the lives of his friends while they're making out

-ooooohhhhh the fact that olu had to choose between zheng and jim was such a delightful mini conflict to see him go through. i might wind up making a post about his thoughts and motivations in that moment later on because it's so quick but so profound

-okay 1) the raw emotions in zheng's yell when she sees olu escaping on the revenge literally gave me goosebumps. 2) the look of absolute betrayal on her face in that closing shot gave me even MORE goosebumps. 3) ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR SLIGHTLY SUPERNATURAL FIRST MATE Y'ALL THEY ALWAYS KNOW WHAT'S UP

-i can't wait to see how this betrayal plays out in terms of the red flag fleet being an enemy to the revenge, even though we know it's temporary since we've seen Zheng Yi Sao and her fleet fighting alongside ed and stede in the s2 trailer and in the promotional materials for upcoming episodes

-UHHHH STEDE'S HEARTBROKEN FACE AS THEY'RE LEAVING HELLO?????????????????????????????????

-izzy trying to genuinely thank stede is so. Character Arc.

-also archie and jim training/fake sword fighting in the background

-"clarity? you've made your choice" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-ed realizing that he really just hates himself is going to be MY villain origin story

-what the HELL was up with hornigold doing that howl. hated that

-"i'm not loveable" "and you're scared to do anything about it" i swan to john im gonna start chewing on the steel cables that hold up suspension bridges you literally cannot do this to me right now

-hey so fun fact when kate bush's song kicked in i actually desperately wished someone would've given me one of those neat chamomile towels that makes you pass out instantly because :) i am wholly unequipped :) to hear that song :) in the context of this next scene :))))

-seriously if you haven't read the lyrics to that song yet, first contact your local veterinarian's office and schedule and appointment to be put down whenever their next available time is, then look up the lyrics

-stede calling him a nut again i literally

-UGH the CONFLICT you can see on stede's face when deciding whether or not to remove the fabric covering ed's head or not. does he want to remove the fabric so he can say one final goodbye, face to face? or does he want to leave the fabric on so his last image of ed in his memory will be when he's alive and excited at the prospect of running away with stede?

-the fact that stede is literally pulling the wool from over ed's eyes and waking him back up both physically and spiritually(???)

-like ed, who was resigned to his fate and at peace with his choice to sink into the depths and never wake up again, INSTANTLY finds the motivation to live the SECOND stede interacts with him and he starts fighting as hard as he can to return to the surface, and just when he thinks he's not strong enough and he'll succumb to the darkness anyway, a light appears to pull him back from the brink. stede's voice comes through begging ed to wake up, to come back to him, don't die please don't die, he's here now. and ed's face as he's hearing stede talk to him is so full of love and amusement and admiration and then a little confusion as mermaid!stede appears but goes right back into his fully smitten expression and longing gaze and i just. don't know how we were ever expected to recover from this.

-THEY WERE ACTUALLY SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CRAZY TO JUST THROW THE GOD DAMN GENTLEBEARD/BLACKBONNET SEASON 1 BEST MOMENTS MONTAGE AT US LIKE THAT WITH NO WARNING DURING AN ALREADY EXTREMELY EMOTIONALLY TAXING SCENE

-anyway i am both irreparably broken inside and also reborn from this episode. thank you alyssa lane and alex sherman and also i will never forgive you for this

[siaslash]

Thinking about how Lucifer is indicated to be an absent father, but what we see is him very loving toward his daughter and is geniunly happy and excited to see her and hear her voice. However, we know that Charlie told him all about the hotel in ep 1. So what's the difference between ep 1 and ep 5?

My theory is that when he's focused on a project, nothing else exists. When we see him in ep 5, he has just finished his last masterpiece, so he can now focus on other things. In ep 1, perhaps he asked Charlie to meet with the angels because he was so hyperfocused on his project that there was no room for anything else.

To me, it makes sense. It could also add to one of the reasons why Lilith left. Because he was hiding his pain and loss of falling in all his projects instead.

[glasskey]

THT Tokens Part 1 - Vengeance Tokens

Today I’m going to be discussing the use of tokens on THT. I’ll be doing this in 2 parts - Vengeance tokens and Love tokens, so make sure you stay tuned for part 2.

So what exactly is a token? Tokens are objects that are used to quickly remind the audience of significant plot lines, a short hand in some respects. Tokens are usually something precious; an object either gifted or collected. These objects embody soul, as such they carry an individuals spirit within them.

A token that we’ve seen consistently throughout the seasons is June’s ear tag. It reminds us of Gilead and June’s imprisonment there. It’s been consistently present throughout the seasons but in season 5 it was conspicuously absent. Why? No Fred.

A vengeance token symbolizes a moral debt that one character owes another and most likely comes in the form of what has been taken from them. A classic example might be a memento from an innocent victim that the protagonist carries as they wreak revenge on those responsible.

A vengeance token from season 5 was Fred’s ring finger…..yep, gross. Tokens will often tell you something about the nature of the relationship shared by these two individuals. Rings and ring fingers signify commitment and when June sends Serena Fred's finger, it symbolizes the absolute severing of any connection between them. Sending body parts to your enemy is meant to instill mortal fear and communicate proof of death. When Fred's finger arrived on Serena's doorstep, she understood exactly how brutal and bloody Fred’s death actually was. June had personally taken the time to tear him “limb from limb”. Serena is rightfully terrified.

The severing of Fred's finger was a call back to the removal of Serena’s finger and payback for June’s broken family, a lost connection. The removal of Serena’s finger created a gulf between Fred and Serena that was never truly crossed. Her finger was referenced in shots throughout the seasons to emphasize her resentment and punctuate her grief. Given what Fred had done to Serena, I would have understood if she’d sent June a fruit basket, but no such luck.

Serena’s mother fashioned her a faux finger to cover up Freds act of violence and told Serena to suck it up, go home and play the silent, dutiful wife. June simply won’t allow it, his deeds must be answered for.

As Serena stands next to Nick and June under those giant angel wings in Ep 6 S3, she senses their connection. When Fred steps up to stand next to June the camera closes in on the hand with her missing finger. She’s pissed, her husbands lopping off her fingers meanwhile her husbands obsessed and Nicks travelled miles just to see June, what’s to be done? How about a nasty rant about how Nick was in the Sons of Jacob and well golly gee, didn’t June know about that?

In S5 June gleefully boasts to Luke that she sent Serena Fred’s finger, a proud admission of her act of revenge. His response is extremely telling, he is horrified, not only that but he is angry. “You are obsessed with her……How does that help our family?” he asks. He knows that this is payment for their broken family.

In season 1 we saw Luke reluctantly trade his ring to the boatman for safe passage into Canada. In myth “The Boatman” is a figure that transports one across the river Styx between the land of the living and the dead. It’s folklore that the boatman must be paid a fare and so previously pennies were placed on the eyes of the dead to ensure that souls reached their final destinations. Gilead is truly the land of the dead and Luke’s choice to pay the Boatman with his ring gives us pause for thought, what exactly did he give up in order to win his freedom?

June hasn’t worn her wedding ring since she hit the shores of Canada, however we did of course see Nick wearing one. He’s worn one before and it’s ended in tragedy, in fact wedding rings seem more cursed than blessed on THT and Nicks not much happier second time around. This makes me wonder, with all this talk of losing fingers and rings symbolizing losing a connection with another individual; what can we expect with Nicks marriage in S6?

Next time, we’ll be talking about the Osblaine and Lurv tokens :D

Glasskey

[live-love-boruto]

Ep. 17 | Run, Sarada!

Rating: 11 / 25 | Skip

Plot: 1 / 5

Characterization: 4 / 5

Visuals: 3 / 5

Importance: 1 / 5

Entertainment: 2 / 5

Such a nothing episode, but it was still fun to watch Sarada run around on a wild goose chase. If you love Sarada, you'll love this episode. It gives her good characterization before her arc; she's a good student who doesn't quite understand practical theory yet and puts up a sassy attitude, but she is proud of her reputation, humble when others have sacrificed for her, and kind to those in need.

Her friendship with ChoCho is adorable, and it's sweet that they're so supportive of each other. Her relationship to Boruto and the boys is also pretty funny, and their B-plot of catching Sarada in embarrassing situations was pretty funny.

This episode really goes out of its way to paint Sasuke as an absent father and husband, though. The C-plot with Sakura reminiscing about a 2-minute date that she assumes Sasuke has already forgotten about was really sad, and so was Sarada literally asking for her mother to bring home her dad, even if she said it in a sassy way. The fact he doesn't even write is pretty telling.

[semi-imaginary-place]

I watched the first 4 episodes of Heike Monogatari, it's really good. It's a historical drama about the Heike. What's interesting is that I vaguely know the history so every second is like that conspiracy board meme I am connecting so many dots the taira rebellion, etc. If I'm reading the kanji right it's hei as in peace and ke as in family. The hei is also the same as in heian and hei-kyo. Lot of camelia flowers dropping for people dying. The timeline is messy in my head but it'a got to be like 10 years since ep 1 what's notable is that everyone in the cast has grown up but biwa looks exactly the same. And then there's the interspersed narration by what I presume is an older future biwa with white hair and feminine dress as opposed to current biwa who dresses masculinity. A lot of Heiki Monogatari centers the narratives of women who in the usual telling of this history are sidelined. Tokuko sold off for political gain, her difficult pregnancy and birth all while her husband is conspicuously absent and with his son and ah what was her name. Then there's gio and the other dancer both their careers and fortunes decided by the whims of the same powerful man who find a space for themselves in leaving society for becoming monks and in this way they gain agency for themselves. There's the other woman shigemori's sister moved around as a political pawn. All these interlocking political relationships where if one thing moves all the other strings are tugged. I do like political dramas.

5-7 Koremori's got so many death flags I expected him to have died like 3 episodes ago. Well thats what you get when you have hereditary power structures instead of those bases on competence. And there was a good scene were the celebration and carefree singing of kiyomori was contrasted with all the dead and wounded soldiers. Tokuko gives so much more to that emperor guy (takura?) and what has he done for her? Nothing. Guuurl he doesn't deserve your loyalty.

8-11 end. What a great series. Narrative arcs marked by death first by Shigemori and the end of peace, then conquest and war and kiyomori leads the heike, and with kiyomori's death the heiki are left with incompetent leadership and face military defeat after defeat.

I'm starting to think that there's a japanese magical realism genre that evolved independently of the european realismo magico movement in that both blend the magical and the realistic but the japanese genre has little to do with the western one in terms of tropes or structure. In Heiki Monogatari it's like a living mythology where the old folk tales are true but the actual history is also true. Prayer and superstition are real.

Throughout the series Biwa is a lot like the audience, knowing what will happen but being about to change anything. There's the additional layer of white haired future biwa looking back on the story just like how the modern audience looks back on history. And throughout the audience, current Biwa, and future Biwa all seem to share in being audience members. Which it why it's so important that Biwa breaks from the narrative to become an active character at the end. The Tale of the Heika ended up being Toluko's tale, she's one of the first characters introduced and she's the only major Heike to survive, she closes out the epilogue too. And throughout the story Tokuko is defined by her self enforced helplessness she sees herself as like a log in a river going where life takes her resigned to not having any agency in her life. She takes no action to change anything or shape the future only praying and forgiving those around her. She life is a lot like other noblewomen moved around as pawns for political power and for these women they only gain power over their lives and agency in 2 ways. First is the death of their husband as with as what was her name the one who inherited a lot of property, and more importantly Kiyomori's wife who was able to exert influence on the clan in the power vacuum. The second which is related is through childbirth and particularly male heirs. The only thing Tokuko had power over or did anything about was her son and because of that she restructured her whole life so that she lived for the baby emperor. This loops around to the epilogue of the series where Tokuko and Biwa enforced that nothing can be done about life the only thing you can do it pray which is very vedic in general, certain parts of hinduism and buddhism both have a mindset of nothing can be done about the suffering in the world. Which brings me to my final point, suicide is a recurring theme in the series, various characters seeks an end to their suffering first in prayer then in death, and the story ends with the taira soldiers choosing suicide over surrender. But Biwa doesn't let Tokuko die in the only real action they take in the series (besides looking for their mother), Biwa pulls Tokuko out even as she begs for them to let her drown.

Recurring symbols for the Taira are camellia and butterflies (their clan symbol). Also I'm once again grateful modern medicine exists.

I don't see people talking about it but pretty sure Biwa becomes blind in that final battle sequence. Biwa's eyes both end up looking a cloudy light blue with pink just like their mother's instead of he medium blue they are the rest of the series, Biwa's blindness would also parallel how both their mother and father were blind as well as the supposed original author of Heiki Monogatari was a blind monk.

[paxesoterica]

Some Thoughts on Episode 13 (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury)

(spoilers & long)

*Most of the new footage included in the Season 2 trailer seems to have been taken from this episode, so you could think of the trailer as effectively a preview.

*There’s a few ways in which this episode hearkens back to Ep. 01, the first being an establishing shot of Asticassia from a descending elevator; Elan Ceres (aka No. 5) then starts narrating about Suletta fighting a serial duel, due to the special arrangements Shaddiq had previously made to delay challengers to Suletta’s title while Aerial was being repaired.

*Due to Guel's disappearance, Lauda's promotion to CEO, and Shaddiq's father forbidding him from being involved with dueling, there's a new Dueling Committee roster:

“Elan Ceres” (Enhanced Person No.5) - Peil House

Sabina Fardin - Grassley House

Renee Costa - Grassley House

Felsi Rollo - Jeturk House

Secelia Dote - Burion House

Rouji Chante - Burion House

*For those not familiar with Revolutionary Girl Utena, there was a similar shakeup of the Student Council from the first arc, with a couple members absent, and a new member declaring herself the next president, so this was a development I was anticipating and am pretty happy with since it looks like it will highlight some of the supporting cast.

*I am curious if Renee and Felsi are estranged half-siblings or cousins, or if they just happen to be two people with similar appearances and mannerisms who despise each other as a running gag; either way, between them and No. 5′s jaunty manner, the new Committee is shaping up to be a lively bunch.

*We learn from Rouji’s Haro that there is a rule that ”the Holder must accept a duel once every two weeks”, which is probably something that should have been mentioned earlier but does add a bit of nuance to two past events.

There was a brief exchange between Lauda and Guel in Ep. 01, when Lauda questioned why Guel accepted Suletta’s challenge, since he could have ignored her for 2 weeks at that point. However, given the Holder rule and Guel’s impulsive nature, it makes sense that he would rather deal with an annoyance now than be challenged again later (coupled with the loss of face in front of his flunkies and the fact that Suletta likely seemed to be a new ally for Miorine to use against him).

There was also the convoluted way that No. 4 challenged Suletta, which likely means that Ep. 5 took place less than 2 weeks after Ep. 3, or else No. 4 could have simply challenged her directly, and she wouldn’t have been allowed to refuse.

*Another thing that hearkens back to Ep. 01 is that Suletta absolutely thrashes her 5 consecutive opponents without breaking a sweat; at least two of them seemed to be girls, which means we have another low-key queer moment, which I always appreciate.

* We have a new opening, set to “Slash” by Yama. There’s a lot of shots of major characters, peppered with symbolism and foreshadowing that I’m going to wait on analyzing until a few more episodes are out, with two exceptions:

1) There’s an opening shot with Suletta and Miorine staring at the sky, at a distance from each other; there are ruins on Suletta’s side and trees on Miorine’s side. Towards the end, Suletta runs toward Miorine, who smiles at her (Suletta continues to be the source of 90% of Miorine’s smiles), and the two stand together looking toward the sky. This seems likely to be foreshadowing that Suletta will abandon the dark path her mother is trying to set her on, and instead rejoin Miorine (hopefully sooner rather than later).

2) Aside from Miorine and a group picture of the Earth House kids, nobody else (except Sophie Pulone) is smiling in the opening, which is understandable for Guel in particular, but is odd for Shaddiq and No. 5, since, presumably their plans are going well, so this is likely foreshadowing future troubles for them.

*Despite the smiles above, Earth House has been having a rough time since Plant Quetta, with several visibly flinching while watching Suletta’s duels. The Benerit Group has issued a cover-up, declaring what happened at the Plant to be an accident and threatening expulsion to any student who says otherwise, which effectively means none of them can talk about their experience with professional therapists (assuming any are even available). Chuchu is pissed off, especially with the terrorists (which greatly undermines any theories that she’d ever consider joining Dawn of Fold), Nika is quietly withdrawn due to guilt, and Ojelo and Lilique are huddled on the ground, seeming to be the most visibly distressed. I sigh once again at my inability to offer fictional characters hot cocoa, headpats, and therapist recommendations. Suletta, at least, seems in oddly high spirits (which is remarked upon by others) and tries to be encouraging.

*Fortunately, there’s an upcoming open campus event which might help distract Earth House, which also technically makes this a school festival episode (but with giant robots and, as we’ll see, attempted murder, since this is Gundam).

*There’s a short scene with Miorine, who is absent from school and at the Benerit Front, looking after her father during his recovery. She’s wearing a dark business dress and apparently hasn’t been sleeping properly, poor girl.

*Meanwhile the Benerit Group is investigating the Plant Quetta incident, with Sarius and Shaddiq seemingly in charge, because of course they are. They’re avoiding outright war (for now), and instead sending a small fleet to Earth to punish any terrorists (real or otherwise) they can find. Of course, anybody familiar with the real world history of the U.S.’s so-called War on Terror is likely horrified right now at the potential atrocities that are likely to occur, made worse by the fact that Benerit’s media blackout will ensure most Earthians don’t even know *why* they’re being punished. 

*”I wouldn’t lie to you, Father,” lies Shaddiq.

*Shaddiq seems intent on continuing to cause chaos for the Benerit Group, summoning Sophie & Norea to infiltrate Asticassia as students.

*Suletta wonders if she did the right thing at Plant Quetta and her mom reassures her that she was right. Prospera continues to be a very effective manipulator, since she cleaves to technicalities; she’s *technically* correct that Miorine and Delling could have been killed, and realistically, killing the terrorist was probably the best way to protect them, but acting like killing at all is unambiguously good, instead of a necessary evil, and the fact that Prospera coerced her daughter into that position in the first place, instead of using her own piloting skills to help people, undermines any claims Prospera makes to being morally justified.

*Curiously, Prospera seems to be investigating the source of something that’s not explicitly stated; the only current possibility that comes to mind is that Prospera doesn’t know where Lfrith Thorn and Ur came from, and since there was previously speculation that Prospera herself was the source, if true, it raises some interesting questions.

*Suletta to Nika: “You’re a precious friend to me”, aww. While Suletta and Miorine are unquestionably my favorite characters, I also enjoy seeing their friendships with the other characters; Nika in particular, is the second person Suletta met at Asticassia, and since then has helped Suletta join Earth House, and led the mechaincs who have repaired Aerial several times. Recent events have prevented them from interacting much, so it’s great to see them have a friendship moment.

*Suletta describes her mother as “a gentle magician”, which is accurate, but I kind of hate it.

*Sophie and Norea arrive, and join Earth House.

*Sophie and Norea are *tiny* compared to Suletta, on par with Miorine.

*Big Sister Suletta!

*There’s was zero need for me to include the picture above, I just think Suletta’s facial expression is hilarious and adorable (also it somehow matched my expression with the return of this show).

*To anyone who, somehow, thinks Suletta’s bond with Miorine is ‘sisterly’, this episode is an excellent example of how Suletta interacts with someone she explicitly regards as a sister; it is notably not even slightly the same.

*Nika is less than pleased at the latest additions to Earth House, since she knows too well who they really are. She questions Norea in private, who threatens Nika with a knife (yup, just like the trailer) and tells her not to expose them. We also learn that Nika has long wanted to act as bridge between Earthians and Spacians, which is probably why she put her father in contact with Shaddiq, only to find out later that this was a terrible idea, and has been regretting it since; if Nika survives everything, hopefully she can pursue her original dream with the help of Suletta and Miorine.

*There’s a montage of Sophie and Suletta having fun at the open campus festival, with Sophie acting like a little gremlin all the while. Despite being on an undercover mission, Sophie genuinely seems to enjoy spending time with Suletta, though how much of that is genuine affection and how much is excitement with someone new and shiny (until she gets bored), is currently anybody’s guess.

*Hey, No. 5? Stop trying to take advantage of Suletta’s inexperience with sexual harrassment (due to her isolated upbringing) and pressuring her into dating you, go jump out the nearest airlock instead, kthnxdie.

*Fortunately Sophie rescues Suletta, and instead Elan encounters Norea, who has some bleak drawings, says vaguely sinister things, and steals No. 5′s datapad. No. 5 seems intrigued by her, and on the one hand, an alliance between the two would be a match made in hell and probably terrible for anyone around them, but on the other hand, it might get him to stop creeping on Suletta, so, possibly worth it.

*In another nod to the earlier episodes, Felsi & Petra get a scene! They bluster and threaten to take Suletta down during the Rumble Ring, a mobile suit mock-battle royale held at the end of the open campus event, which the Holder is required to participate in. So it looks like we’ll finally see Felsi get to pilot a suit, and might see the return of some or all of the Grassley girls as pilots, and hopefully Chuchu as well. Poor Suletta, girl does not get a break (and yes, despite her recent confidence boost, Suletta still hides behind other people sometimes).

*This is such a small, but sweet, character moment. Ojelo usually gets comedy bits, which is fine I guess, and here he’s seemingly back to his normal self, talking about money, but then makes it clear he’s doing his best to act normal to try cheer up Lilique, whom you’ll recall was displaying distress similar to Ojelo at the start of the episode, and I just...I did not expect to get attached to Earth House kids like I have, but they’re such a good-hearted bunch, who, despite the occasional disagreement, try their best to care for each other, even now after one of the scariest situations they’ve been involved in, and this is yet another example of that. I truly hope they all manage to survive the series, but I also worry.

*Speaking of worry, I legitimately thought that Nika was going to die when she confronted Norea & Sophie while they were trying to steal the Pharact. It’d be shocking for a character death like hers so soon, but the endings of Ep. 06 & 12 made it very clear that it’s a possibility, and it’s actually something I really like from a craft of writing perspective, even though it makes me squirm, about Witch from Mercury’s precise, surgical use of violence in its narrative thus far; having many, relatively light-hearted moments occasionally and unexpectedly punctuated by violence creates tension and dread at the first sign of possible conflict that constant and continual depictions of violence could never achieve.

*But Suletta arrives to save the day, speeding on a scooter, and then using its momentum to kick off into a powerslide, grabbing Nika just before the Pharact stepped on her, and then princess-carrying her to safety.

*Suletta Mercury is a character with a lot of nuance: she’s an anxious mess, an adorkable goofball, and a terrifying killer. But beside all that, one should never forget (despite the fact that it hasn’t been directly mentioned in the show, unfortunately) that she is someone who trained since her pre-teens as a rescue pilot in one of the most hostile environments in the entire solar system; to many, despite everything, she is a hero, and I 100% agree with this post that refers to her as ‘strong and gallant’.

*Before Norea guns her down, Suletta quietly apologizes to Miorine in absentia, and challenges Norea & Sophie to a duel; Sophie accepts, disagrees with Suletta’s belief that GUND technology’s purpose is to save lives, and promises to prove to Suletta that Gundams are nothing more than killing machines.

*I’ve seen some folks concerned over Suletta losing this next duel, and while possible, I don’t think it will be in a way that would cause her to lose Holder status. Consider the following:

The nature of duels in The Witch from Mercury are largely inspired by the duels from Utena, in which they were actual fights, yes, but also character studies of the participants, something that Witch has continued, using them to flesh out Guel, Elan, Shaddiq, and now Norea & Sophie as well. In this sense, the threat of loss is mostly unnecessary, with the protagonist of Utena losing only 2 of the 23 duels she fought during the TV series and movie combined. In other words, it’s not the threat of failure that makes the duels interesting, it’s what we learn about Suletta and her opponents.

...

There’s also the matter of the technical stakes versus the actual stakes of the upcoming duel. If Suletta loses the duel conventionally, then Nika would likely be killed, which I doubt will happen next episode since if she was going to die soon, it would have been this episode, and either Sophie or Norea (or both?) would end up as the new Holder and Miorine’s groom(s), which would make for a funny omake but doesn’t really feel like it would mesh with the story’s current direction. Aside from that, it also ignores the actual stakes: the clashing ideologies of Gundams as life-saving vs. Gundams as killing machines, and Norea & Sophie don’t need to technically win to achieve the victory they desire; all they need to do is put Suletta in a position where she is either forced to kill someone or let them kill someone. This is complicated by the fact that, despite Suletta’s stated beliefs, she has killed, and I suspect this duel may act as a catalyst that forces her to actually think about her actions at Plant Quetta, and just how far she’s willing to go to protect people she cares about, which may lead to the first step for Suletta in a painful but necessary journey to reconsider her mother’s role in her life, and that’s a far more interesting outcome than her losing Holder status.

*I also appreciate the parallel between Suletta squishing a man to death with her Gundam last episode, and now being on the opposite end and saving Nika from a similar fate; it’s another reason why I expect her duel with Norea & Sophie to have an impact on her character development. The Earth Witches are also shaping up to be interesting foils to Suletta, and I kinda hope they survive the conflict to see where that goes.

*There’s a new outro, featuring the song “Red:birthmark” by Aina the End, and I am currently obsessed with it.

*UTENA!

*Ahem. Witch from Mercury continues to show off its Revolutionary Girl Utena influences, while putting its own spin on them, and it’s great, and I love it. The scene above is a visual reference to one of the characters magically pulling a sword out of another’s chest for the latter to use, and given the imagery that follows, it seems to be an allegory for Aerial pulling Suletta free of Prospera’s influence and allowing her to transform into her own person.

*You should honestly just watch the video, but Suletta looks very stylish with her hair down, both as a witch in a black dress dancing with her GUND-bits, and as a dancing partner for Miorine.

*Miorine looks a bit uncertain about Suletta, but ultimately follows her lead, and it makes sense that she’s nervous since it’s a perspective of Suletta she’s never seen before (although, I personally think there’s also a tiny bit of Miorine feeling really, really gay while looking at Suletta).

*Speaking of Miorine, there’s an after-credits scene featuring her and Prospera.

*While it seems Miorine hasn’t been answering Suletta’s e-mails, she’s definitely been contemplating that dorky keychain Suletta got her.

*Miorine’s already figured out that Prospera manipulated Suletta, and Prospera responds with her typical gaslight/gatekeep/girlboss routine, pointing out that Suletta did it to save Miorine, admitting that Suletta went too far (which is very much *not* what Prospera said to Suletta), and then correctly guessing that Miorine wasn’t planning on abandoning Suletta despite this (while Prospera phrases it as ‘remaining friends’, I’ve heard this was an inaccuracy of the sub, similar to another one back in Ep. 10 that incorrectly inserted the word ‘friends’, so I’m going to trust that Prospera wasn’t being homophobic here and that the dub will be more accurate).

*Prospera then mentions to Miorine that, with Delling inactive, she wants Miorine to help her with the Quiet Zero project, which will supposedly create a world without war.

*And so the battle of wits between Miorine and Prospera begins; Miorine knows Prospera can’t be trusted, and in normal circumstances, I’m sure she would turn her down. But Miorine also knows that Prospera has some sort of influence on Suletta, and is clearly plotting something, and unfortunately the best way to find out and save her groom will involve walking straight into the spider’s parlor and accepting the offer. Miorine has repeatedly demonstrated she’s one of the smartest characters in the show, but so has Prospera, and despite being suspicious of Prospera, Miorine is also vulnerable due to her recent trauma, and her worries over both her groom and her father. If she loses, Prospera will likely either kill her or worse, but Miorine has little choice if she wants to be with Suletta (and the show makes it pretty clear that she does).

*Whew! What a way to come back from hiatus; thanks for reading, and I hope you’re enjoying the show as much as I am.

[silviakundera]

Manner of Death rewatch continues

Ep 5

I have some vague memory that something sexy happens in #5 so lets goooooo

Bun trying to feel Tan up to check if he's carrying the gun and being INCREDIBLY FAKE ABOUT IT ("you had lint") im fuvking crying. baby. The man moved you in to SEX YOU UP. Just bump up against that ass while clutching his waist and nothing will even seem off.

never get tired of Tan turning from charming smile to cold-faced, practical movements the moment he's alone. when he pulls the gun from his ankle holder. 👌

lbr this drama is mostly a delightful fever dream but they really delivered on the sinister love interest that the audience wants to trust but can't be certain about until the end.

We learned that Bun realized ACAB back in Bangkok. Which makes his incredibly friendly reception of the detectives in ep 1 play quite strange. It struck me as a bit odd in my rewatch, considering how I remembered them at odds. But I forgot it's clarified here that he moved back to his hometown and was optimistic that things would be different. 🙃

The sacred privacy of the autopsy report makes it thru about 15 seconds of Tan's face looking like that.

Tan (mentally calculating how many people he can bribe & pistol whip) : don't worry, I'll protect you now

Bun: who do you think u are? superman?

and then: flirtaeous gardening

Bun absent-mindedly muses, ah but I'd love a house that has many trees and plants. Tan: taking intense notes

I love how low-rent, small time the thai mob is in this drama. Just small town corruption and the dirty buisness of drugs, trafficking, and money. No glitz, no glamour. Some big houses, mid-range nice cars. Bought off cops and in bed with local judges.

Tan is just a henchman with 1 teen to run his orders. hi That! 👋

LMAOOOOO Bun warning Tan away from bad influence That, The Teenage Hooligan, known associate of.... Tan's mob nickname. "Let me take this risk for you" asdfghjk IM DYING.

idk what part of that was funnier but I'm leaning on the idea of That being dangerous to anyone.

sadly then we're onto the trafficking case material which is neither humorous or sexy.

Annoying for-the-clicks journalist stops by to drop facts that Pued may have sold his gf for social cred with the powerful. Tan authentically looks to me like he is considering having the dude disappeared (like this may imo be the most dangerous we've seen him). The only person allowed to shade his brother is Tan himself.

Then authentically sexy moment with real tension. I KNEW WE GOT SOMETHING IN EP 5 !!! Bun overtly making fuck me eyes and saucily pretending he's not putting Tan THROUGH IT as they speak. He's so fucking smug asdfghjk with his light kiss and swerve off the couch.

Bun: finally it's MY TIME to have the upper hand

Tan:

(can u believe that Tan had to go join the man in BED after that. strongest soldier in town i stg 💀)

oh right, the annoying journalist did some incompetent spying on the wrong people and got his ass shot up. Do I care? not really.

[kirbtual]

hello ardie 🩷 i was wondering if u have any fav gose episodes ???

HELLO YES IM SO GLAD U ASKED!!1!! i have so many.

i can talk abt gose all day so…😭

1. Best Friends parts 1&2!!!!! a skit where they are all meeting each other for the first time as high school students & play games u wld play in school,, really really shows each of their personalities..great if ur just starting out watching gose! (the only bad thing about these eps is that junhui and minghao are absent)

2. Wonwoo’s Diary. i love when they play outrageous characters and i think they also love itjsjsjs. they adlib all the dialogue and try to make each other break character it’s amazing (dino starring as picheolin..he should win an oscar for this performance i’m so serious)

3. Boo Seungkwan’s Past Life Destiny. i really don’t even know how to summarize this one..they choose partners and test their chemistry by playing party games lol

4. Let’s Go Seventeen. the gose crew rents a huge inflatable obstacle course. woozi hosts as they split into teams and race each other 😭😭

5. Kickball. pretty self explanatory they just play kickball but have silly penalties. it gets pretty competitive of course

6. SVT Playground. they literally play on a playground……..again playing games you wld often play at recess during the school day

and a special shout-out to the Don’t Lie series, TTT episodes, and Insomnia Zero <3