#hmm i wonder if that would work as a gifset. comparing them

[iwatoobies]

im the rh fight anon!! your mh fight mention really puts things in perspective thank u for saying that!!!!! it makes the rh fight even more dramatic omg.......ur right because haru DID say things he didnt mean in that case too.......there just wasnt any weird possession thing going on lol. but tbh i do see what they were trying to do with alberts eyes, this time haru goes through a major change in the way he approaches swimming, from "i want to swim bc its my passion and bc of my friends" to "i will give up everything including my closest affections to reach the top"......so personally i think its conveyed well......but i love seeing other ppl's perspective!!!! its fun talking with u!!!! 😊

this got pretty long, turns out i had a lot to say about this topic !! 🙃

i don't even mind the "possession" as much as the out-of-body stuff bc yeah i do agree!! the eyes changing color is a good visual shorthand to convey that what ryuuji has been saying and all the other pressure is getting to haru, and him giving in to that isolation mindset. it might a little silly in the way it's done at the end with alberts ghost there, but very effective in showing what he's going through!

but the... out-of-body projection... those visions while they're swimming have kinda the same vibe so it's not actually that out there for free! but idk. it just feels so ridiculous in a scene that's supposed to be as emotional and serious as this. and it's kind of cheap tbh? like they were scared to end the movie with haru being morally grey or whatever, so we needed to know while it was happening that he didn't really mean it. 

he said hurtful things to push rin away and made a big decision because he felt betrayed by rin and ikuya. why did we have to see him simultaneously regret that, since he did still go through with cutting everyone off? obviously he's not actually possessed, just vulnerable and hurt, so what was the point in showing his "real" feelings in such a goofy way!!!!!! especially since they are ignored right away. his reaction to rin is very realistic imo, and his decision makes sense on it’s own without the fantastical visual elements added to the process of getting there, muddying up the impact of the scene.

for me, when the drama in free! is good and i do enjoy it, it’s when it’s viceral, relatable, messy emotions. the mh fight is such a good example of this, because it’s so simple yet gut-wrenching. in this case, i didn’t need them to jump trough all these hoops to justify what haru said, he was hurt and felt like hurting rin, so he did. he's done the same before with makoto and to a lesser extent with rin too, so it's not that hard to believe. like, i get it actually thanks lol

and! it does feel intentional that haru and makoto talk about their fight right before this one, because they are meant to mirror each other. they could have even played it up a lot more, because it is such a similar situation? someone haru is relying on to be with him decides to abandon him (in his mind anyway), again?????? they did not need any of that ridiculous extra stuff because that is dramatic that is impactful that is gut-wrenching and heartbreaking all on it’s own. the two most important people in his life have both put him in a similar emotional bind now, during already stressful times. no wonder he snapped so hard. 

so play up that emotion!! let him be a bitch about it!! he can have purple eyes, it can relate to albert and his other insecurities, that’s all great! but his actions don’t need to be softened with what ever the hell that was

[castiel-kline]

can we talk about the scene where jack meets his grandparents??? please?? it breaks my heart everytime and your kline family gifset didn't help. please ramble, kitkat!!

First of all anon I think you must be psychic because watching that scene is what gave me the idea to make that post and I saved the gifs under “kline family gifset” while I was editing them. Just wild to me that you phrased it exactly the same 😂

But I would absolutely LOVE to talk about this, yes. 

Under a cut because if you specifically ask for rambles, you’re gonna get some rambling 💕

Let’s start by talking about why he went in the first place. He had to sneak out of the Bunker to do so, which he knew full well was dangerous and going to get him in trouble. When he comes back (and gets in trouble) he tells Cas that “it wasn’t a risk” which, hmm. But then he goes on to say, “I heard what you were saying, Cas, about finding out where I came from. I never knew my mother. I thought the next best thing might be for me to meet the only real family that I have left.” Presumably he’s referring to earlier in the episode when Cas told him that “the past, where you came from, that’s important. But it’s not as important as the future and where you’re going.” 

And to be honest I feel like Jack did take a pretty good message out of that. It’s just so sad to me that at this point he still thinks family is defined by blood (big ouch for Cas there too), and I think maybe that’s because even though he was born thinking Cas was his father, everybody (the boys, angels, demons, etc) told him no. Everyone was telling him that Lucifer is his father, Lucifer is his dad because Lucifer is in his DNA, and that’s just how it is. So despite his connection with Cas being stronger than Lucifer’s influence even before Jack was born, he was forcibly taught that none of that mattered by everyone’s constant worrying that he’d turn out to be evil (which… I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure evil isn’t genetic. So the whole thing is a little wild anyway). 

Now, I’m convinced that Jack has always fully loved and trusted Cas, but I think the nature v. nurture mindset -of, you know, everyone- complicated things a bit at the start. Fortunately, though, nobody could take away or undermine his connection with Kelly in a similar way because they ARE biologically related, so a lot of the time in season 13 I feel like Jack was basing his actions on whether or not Kelly would approve. If I’m remembering correctly, the whole reason he gave Lucifer a chance in the first place (besides his natural curiosity) was because Kelly told him in the video she left for him that no one would blame him if he went looking for Lucifer one day. He’s CONSTANTLY thinking about Kelly. He loves her so much.

So here we are in the beginning of season 14, and Jack has no idea what he’s supposed to be doing. He feels useless, and because of that he’s doubting what his place is (unfortunately this is a very Castiel thing to do). So, as usual, he looks to his mother for guidance. But since he can’t ask her directly, and Cas was the only other person who actually knew Kelly (I feel like Jack’s the type of kid to avoid “bothering” dad when he’s busy), Jack somehow found his grandparents. Logical conclusion, not even gonna lie.

I really wonder how he even did that. How did he find out about them? Did Cas know they were still around? Where do they live? How did Jack get there, since he couldn’t drive yet and he couldn’t fly at the time? I guess those things aren’t that important in the long run. But he gets there, and UGH does this scene break me inside.

The simple fact that he sought them out hurts me and melts my heart simultaneously, but just… 

The look on his face when he opens the door is too much for me. It’s like this mix of refined fear (probably of rejection) and this open wonder because this woman is his grandmother. And he knows he can’t tell her that. And then when he introduces himself and Jack Sr. comes over like “My name is Jack too!” all excited, and Jack’s expression switches from something sad to more of that wonder and he just goes “I know.” AHHHH. I think he’s probably very proud to have something that connects him to Kelly and Kelly’s direct family even further.

The entire scene definitely gave off visiting the grandparents vibes, though. Jack Sr. is just a kindly old man, and I’m pretty sure Grandma Kline (wiki says her name is Helen?) actually handed him a glass of lemonade. And this lil exchange KILLS me:

“How did you know our Kelly? Through work?”

“She… basically gave me my start.” BABY. I’M EMOTIONAL.

And then he goes for the photo album and he’s so damn happy to see pictures of Kelly. The only ones he has is the video and the picture on his nightstand, right? Whatever Cas can tell him about her (admittedly not much, because they were the sweetest of friends but they didn’t know each other that long) really isn’t going to compare to actually seeing the things that make her real.

AND THEN the real punch of the scene comes when Mrs. Kline asks him about Kelly’s pregnancy. You can tell he wants to tell them SO BAD, but he doesn’t. He just says “she had the baby,” with the purest smile on his face. And he tells them it’s a boy, and they get so excited about having a grandson and Jack’s just sitting there, unable to tell them that HE is their grandson. And it breaks my heart.

“In the time I spent with her, she was an amazing mother. Her son loves her very much.” 

Cue ugly sobbing, yeah? And he just… keeps going. He talks about what he remembers about her before he was born, and he’s smiling but his expression changes to looking like he’s about to cry when he says “she made him feel safe and wanted.” And that is just too much for me because I’m sure he feels safe with Cas, and obviously he’s wanted and loved there. But Cas isn’t Kelly and can never fill that space. And Jack has spent so much of his life feeling like he’s an unwanted burden, and he hasn't had a lot of real bonding time with Cas yet. And sure, his relationship with Sam was good at this point, but sadly I think Jack never really feels like he’s fully accepted there because he doubts his place. He doesn’t with Cas, and he’s going to get opportunities to build on that. He doesn’t have to doubt it with Kelly either, but the memory of that feeling is literally all he has. And all the times he worried he wasn’t enough before this point, I’m sure he was holding on to that memory with everything that he had.

AND THEN Mrs. Kline says that Jack looks like Kelly… and this child gets so emotional. I feel like he’s honored. But he pulls himself together and says “I don’t know, but I hope someday to have a little of her courage and purpose.” And that hits HARD for many reasons, but knowing that Jack is constantly struggling to feel useful? I’m sobbing and screaming now.

He gets up to leave looking like he’s about to break down crying, and he’s just going “I didn’t mean to intrude” (because this is a boy with manners!!!) but it’s his little “I just had to meet you” that gets me. And then he gets to shake his grandpa’s hand and hug his grandma and say he misses Kelly too. It’s SUCH a fantastic scene.

And I think it really did help him a lot, too. He confirms that it did when Cas directly asks him about in the midst of his scolding about sneaking out. And then Cas confirms that Jack looks like Kelly, which melts my poor heart even further. What Jack says to Cas there, about how he wanted to tell them that he was their grandson… it hurts. It all hurts, actually, but it’s kind of a good hurt because spn actually managed to treat Kelly and Jack’s relationship with the respect and gravitas that it deserves. And the scene with his grandparents and his scenes with Cas, both the one building up to it and the one after, are the highlights of this episode in my opinion. 

I was not expecting this to become a scene breakdown, but I hope you enjoyed my ramblings! I am always happy to cry over Jack and Kelly in an overly verbose way.

[woozapooza]

Game of Thrones: The Verdict

I really liked it

The last season…sucked

I’m now a little less fed up with the comparisons of Black Sails to GOT. Obviously Black Sails is superior to GOT and also every other show in the world, but the reason they get compared isn’t just that they’re both dark-’n’-edgy shows with lots of sex set in an old-timey world. Well, maybe that is the main reason people compare them, but it’s not the only reason to compare them. They actually have a lot of the same themes. How do you change society? Is it even possible? How much bloodshed is acceptable in the service of a good cause? How does injustice get upheld? How and why does society vilify inconvenient people? What’s the point of stories? I kinda want to do some comparison gifsets one day…

More on this later probably, but I feel like the terrible writing of Daenerys’ arc mirrors the terrible writing of Morgana’s arc on Merlin.

I’m positively reeling from how many main characters were killed off in the last season. I would guess that the first seven seasons averaged maybe…four main character deaths per season? Five? But in the six episodes of season eight, we lose nine main characters: Jaime, Cersei, Daenerys, Jorah, Missandei, Varys, Theon, Melisandre, and the Hound. It’s like the writers had too many characters to deal with and figured the easiest way to deal with having to wrap up so many characters’ arcs was to kill as many as possible.

Watching the finale was super interesting because I had actually seen it already. I watched it when it first aired, despite not having seen the rest of the show except the first couple episodes back in 2011. The thing that stood out to me most the first time was that the finale was a lot happier than I expected. Which I still think is great! It’s great to end on a not-entirely-bleak note! It’s nice that almost every main character who survives gets some kind of comfort in the end. (Basically everyone but Grey Worm. Which is not a great look.) But it doesn’t feel very satisfying when it comes at the end of so much that sucked. Sam announcing that the chronicle of the wars is called “A Song of Ice and Fire”? Taken by itself, that’s cute and fun! But in context, I see why some people rolled their eyes. It only worked in LOTR because all three LOTR movies were actually good. In GOT, it’s an attempt at fanservice that fails because it wasn’t earned.

(You know what attempt fanservice didn’t fail? Podrick becoming a knight. THAT was earned.)

I think the thing is that despite the superficial happiness of most of the surviving characters…it’s just that. Superficial. Thematically, the show is pretty bleak, what with all the characters who don’t get to rise above their struggles and forge their own story (Jaime, Grey Worm, Daenerys, the Hound). How are we supposed to break the wheel if we can’t even break out of our own worst tendencies? :/

Oh, the other thing that stood out to me about the finale when I first watched it was that Bran won the game of thrones when I had assumed he died long ago because I never heard fandom talk about him. It was honestly pretty hilarious to hear Tyrion say that Bran had the best story out of everybody when I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d heard about that story after the first season. I wondered what Tyrion was referring to…and now, having watched the whole show, I’m still wondering. I mean, I know Tyrion was referring to Bran being the Three-Eyed Raven, but…that’s so BORING! Bran, by his own admission, isn’t Bran anymore! Why should I care about a magical seer more than characters who are actually interesting as people? What kind of leadership skills has the 3ER shown, anyway? The thing is, I really liked Bran back when he was himself! But I don’t know him anymore :(

(Also, what on earth was the point of christening him “Bran the Broken”?! If Bran himself used that name, I would get it. It would go back to the advice Tyrion gave Jon back in s1: proudly claim the aspect of your identity that society disparages, such as being a bastard or a dwarf. But, uh, Bran never called himself broken. It’s like D&D wrote the finale and then were like “hmm, this isn’t offensive enough.)

On the positive side, I’ve never seen a show or movie that does battle scenes as well as GOT. Battle scenes can get boring once the excitement of people hacking at each other wears off, but the GOT episodes that were all or mostly battle sequences, like Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards, were some of the most compelling episodes of the show. They didn’t just provide action, they provided plot.

Favorite Character: Jon, followed closely by Sansa. I love characters who are extremely angsty and always want to do the right thing but have a lot of regrets because they live in a world where it’s often nearly impossible to determine what’s right.

Best performance: Alfie Allen, who invented acting in the scene in I think s4 where “Reek” has to “pretend” to be “Theon.”

Overall grade: Yeah there were a lot of things that sucked, but like, still, A-. I know that looks weird given all the negativity in this post, but it’s easier to explain what I disliked than what I liked.