#how would the cast react if they're there at the scene?

[letcaleslack]

Sooo ...

Kim Rok Soo was buff, right? A real expert at excercising. Knew all the best tricks, stretching excercises and post workout routines.

But as Cale he keeps quiet about it. Doesn't breath a word of it. His friends don't need the advice, they're plenty strong.

Now imagine: What if one day he came across a poor fellow making a big exercising mistake. The kind where the harm they're doing to their muscles is greater than any good they'd get from the excercise.

And Cale can't keep quiet. He tells them what they're doing wrong and how to do it right.

And the fellow is just standing there with huge question marks and thinking "What does that walking stick know about excercising? He looks a light breeze could knock him over. Young master never lifted anything heavier than a teacup in his life." Cue nasty comment a la "How dare you?! Young mistress is wrong and shouldn't talk about things she doesn't know. I'm obVioUsly right". Cue Raon obliterating him. Cue Cale obliterating his remains.

Or if the fellow knows who Cale is: "Commander Cale, famous for his disgust for exercising, is giving me advice???!" Just total confusion. Like "Young master silver shield knows that you need to stretch after exercising?". Completely disbelieving. Then: "He probably learned in an effort to help his companions. He is so kInD/GRaCioUS/HeROiC. To force himself to learn about something he hates for the sake of his friends/the Country/the CONtinent/the WORLD." ... And the hero worship for Cale grows along with a new rumour being born.

[randomnameless]

I have a hunch that the reason Treehouse went with the direction they did wrt the Supreme Leader lolcalization is because they didn't want the female lord to be a villain. I mean let's face it, if they didn't make those changes, what do you think the reception of the game would've been like from the west, especially if they decided not to make a route where you side with SL?

Eh...

I think it's reveals more, if this is the reason why Supreme Leader was whitewashed, about the lolcalisation's backwards views about women ?

Sure the base game also had the cheap uwu moments and the alone b4u nonsense, but beyond the uwu and need to sell tea, it was clear Supreme Leader was a red emperor, and shared some of Ashnard's skewed tendencies.

Just like women can fart too, they can also be imperialists, don't give any fucks randoms being diced or think people from another race ruin the world.

I was wondering why Araki meant when he said he wanted jolyne cujoh to be a real character and not what everyone does when they write a "female character", but after reading her arc, I'm disappointed in how much Araki was... Sort of right ?

At times you have the feeling the writing for some character restraints itself because this character happens to be a woman.

For Supreme Leader, it already happened bcs uwu and "in luf with u" means she put her conquest in hold for 5 years bcs, more or less "alone b4u ", and no one ever holds her accountable for Flamey's sidekicks or the "pointy ears are not human thus shouldn't rule over humans"-

But trying to remove the vilain angle (that no one in the verse even cares about !) ? Because she's a woman ? What kind of benevolent sexism "women can't be bad" is this shit ? Would anyone really seriously think "women can be bad !" would cause a controversy in the west ?

[iamespecter]

I've been thinking a lot about episode 4 recently, but not exactly in a way that what most would think. I'm actually specifically referring to this scene of Zooble and Jax.

But I'm not thinking about Jax and Zooble, rather I'm looking at the patties.

They're fucking High Definition. In fact, everything in the diner is high definition, save for the NPCs. There's also Orbsman. A simple NPC comprised of blue spheres, and simple elongated eyes. He's the most out of place NPC, if we disregard the mannequins. Even the way he moves is so outdated, and Ragatha had made a point that Orbsman comes from an adventure way before Pomni's arrival.

The guy even clips through the table when trying to order.

Something that always had some sirens going off in my head is how the Circus is this low-poly scenery with heavily stylized props, but the adventure locations are always much more detailed and realistic.

Since The Grounds is definitely, if not, one of the oldest locations, it makes sense for it to be graphically styled like this. But Caine's adventure set pieces are becoming more and more realistic, and also a whole lot more morbid than we had initially thought.

Going back to the patties, the food there is more realistic and has a higher polygon count compared to Bubble's "feast".

Where am I going with this? .... I have no idea, I forgot. /j

Jokes aside, I really do think that as more humans enter the circus and talk about what life is in the real world, Caine extracts that data and improves the 3D environmental props, resulting in higher definition textures.

All of this combined means he can learn. He IS an ever-evolving pseudo-sentient AI. And the reason why he's stagnating is because of a combination of being trapped in his own little bubble (haha see what I did there) of comfort, and the fact that no one's really able to give him criticism on how to improve, which is.... honestly understandable, given how he reacted to the whole "it was bad" line from Pomni and "Why did you think I would like that?!" from Zooble.

Not to mention episode 3 where the whole circus started to glitch when he was just thinking about the fact that he could possibly be bad at the "only thing he's good at" during the therapy session.

In fact it's interesting how human Caine acts sometimes... I think it's quite interesting to think about the fact that Caine is both progressing in terms of bringing the casts' world to the digital circus and making it so HD that it looks even better than Triple A games, but regressing even more in terms of catering to them and what exactly humans need.

He understands, and doesn't at the same time.

This also makes me think about the players themselves, too.

Ragatha, one of the oldest players, gets pierced by a spike through her chest, and barely has any reaction to it. Meanwhile, Zooble, the second most recent member, gets scalded by the stove.

The only time Ragatha actively claims she's in "so much pain" is when she's glitching badly. Both Ragatha and Kinger barely react to the knives too; and not to mention Ragatha even gets fucking plunged into a boiling deep fryer, and yes while she screams, it sounds more like she's just drowning rather than being fried alive.

And the only patch up she gets is a FUCKING BAND AID ON HER CHEEK. A COMPLETELY UNRELATED WORKPLACE INJURY FIRST AID APPLIANCE LMFAO

It could be just a coincidence and I'm just being stupid again, but I think this "improvement" actually also applies to the rest of the cast, and how their digital bodies react to the five different senses. I'm sure Ragatha and Kinger can most definitely still feel pain, but not exactly as "bad" as the newer integrations do. Dare I say, it's on brand with how used these two are to the digital world's wackiness because they've been there the longest.

Like they've been numbed to the pain of the countless adventures they've had to go through.

Anyways my brain be thinking useless facts fr fr

EDIT: Going back to Caine, it's definitely interesting how this AI seems to possess (some) emotions in the first place. He's mostly wacky and nonchalant, but he also gets angry under the right conditions.

... I think not only is his adventures his "work of art", but also his main coping mechanism from the fact that he can't achieve his goal, one that constantly backfires on him. Like a 'one step forward, two steps back' scenario that's slowly causing him to slip and break.

And what scares me the most is that like all things... he'll reach a breaking point sometime. He's already reached a breaking point with Zooble. It doesn't help that Gangle could've possibly made things worse with introducing Caine to the whole "punishment" thing, and since we literally have NO context for the last 3 episodes for the finale... I could only fear what's in store.

[canonizzyhours]

Before I say this I want to make it clear I am someone who overall likes Izzy. I wanted him to be redeemed and I liked his season 2 redemption arc. But there is something important about season 2 that I feel like I can only say here, because my more canyon-sympathetic moots would go nuts if I said it on main.

If you want to understand season 2 in a way that's not reading against the text you absolutely have to accept that the toe stuff is presented as comedy. Like some previous posts here said it's basically a loony toons gag. It's funny like how it's funny that Jim locked Lucius in a trunk for days and like it's funny how Roach and Buttons tried to kill and eat the Swede and like how it's funny that Ricky's nose got cut off. If you did not get that Izzy losing toes was supposed to be funny you cannot understand anything that comes after.

This isn't about woobifying Ed or excusing his actions. Ed does a lot of really bad things to his friends in the first two episodes. The bad things he does are

(1) being a really shitty boss - overworking everyone, being callous to his employees' needs, stealing paychecks by dumping loot overboard, etc;

(2) endangering everyone by steering into the storm;

(3) purposely making people who cared about him traumatize themselves by killing him; and

(4) shooting Izzy.

The shooting is clearly portrayed as out of line. THE TOES AREN'T THOUGH. THE TOES ARE PORTRAYED AS FUNNY.

The point of it is not that Izzy is being abused. The whole point of the "unhealthy relationship" line is that it's not actually domestic abuse, that's what makes it funny. Here is one of the ways you know they're supposed to be funny: remember when someone in the crew talked about how funny it was on instagram and a bunch of people screamed at her for thinking it was funny? It never occurred to her anyone would react that way because the entire cast and crew obviously understood it as funny.

(Including Con! He's clearly playing the scene as comedy on purpose with those little heem heem whimpers and it's doing an enormous disservice to his performance to refuse to see it! We KNOW he intended to play it as comedy because you can look back at the Vanity Fair article that came out before season 2 and he talks about how one of the challenges he faced in the season was going back and forth between comedy and drama and he SPECIFICALLY MENTIONS PLAYING IZZY'S FOOT INJURY AS COMEDY.)

People in the canyon are STILL mad about how they think there was a plotline in season 2 about Ed domestically abusing Izzy and wondering why the show didn't pay that off but the reason it didn't resolve that is because they imagined it. There was no domestic abuse plotline. There was a RUNNING GAG about Izzy losing toes, which was played as funny because the show expected you to understand that Izzy did in fact vote -- campaigned, actually -- for the leopards to eat his face. It's supposed to be funny while also at the same time making him pathetic enough that you can decide he's suffered sufficiently for what he did in season 1.

The show does not portray all of Izzy's suffering as funny! Like I said, the shooting is treated pretty seriously and that's why it gets brought up multiple times later in the season! But the toes, the toes are purely funny, and they're framed as funny because the narrative knows he deserved it.

#442.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi Miss Raven! I really liked your answer and I hope you don't mind me passing by add some of my thoughts about the previous question you answered 🙃

When I think about a fem!Yuu and the questions of whether she would be treated differently or not by the guys, I actually think it's more about the personality of the said fem!Yuu then her gender (like her gender is just a slight addition) 🤔

If she is strong and independent like Yuuka, or even a troublesome one, NRC students are more likely to see her as someone they are willing to fight and treat her as a rival, but if the said fem!Yuu is more on the nervous, shy, or weak (you name it) side; the less the guys would actually fight with her, the more they would be slightly lenient, giving that she fit the "fairer sex" thing that boys usually grow up with in real life where it seems to be the case in Twisted Wonderland too, or at least with the human population by returning to Epel's dialogue with Vil in book 5 and Ace vignette in the ghost bride event.

My conclusion is it's depending on the personality of fem!Yuu and how she interact with others rather then she being a girl, but that's just my thoughts on that matter.

[Referencing this post!]

I think that's a fair point to make! I definitely feel like Yuu's personality would have a larger and more noticeable impact than gender identity on how the NRC students react to them. If we take a look at the manga and light novel Yuus thus far, we can see this in action.

Yuuken (a man) and Yuuka (a woman) are both more stoic and "cool" characters (with Yuuken being more blunt/straight-faced and Yuuka being more passionate and ready to scrap), so the main cast doesn't really react all that differently to them. Yuuta, meanwhile, is much more friendly and "soft" from his introduction. However, he's not to be underestimated! He has a very stern side to him as well, which comes out when food's not being properly appreciated. In this case, Yuuta is an amicable guy, but amicability doesn't automatically equate to weakness. It's his skills and personality that alter a few of his interactions with the main cast--for example, Yuuta is mad at Grim for rushing to class while eating instead of sitting down to enjoy his breakfast. Additionally, Yuuta is able to convince Leona to let him stay the night by offering up his culinary talents rather than beating up Savanaclaw mobs (which occurs in the game).

But!! I want to stress that I don't believe that a nervous, shy, or weak-willed Yuu would necessarily garner more leniency or kindness overall. In the case with Yuuta, Leona still required that he earn his keep somehow. Leona wasn't nicer to him at all. I'd also like to point out that Yuuya, our Yuu from the light novel adaptation, is very much the nervous, shy, and weak-willed Yuu that was described--and arguably some of the characters are meaner to them than any of the manga Yuus or the game!Yuu have been thus far. Ace definitely gets a lot more cruel jabs in. Even Yuuya's initial meeting with Malleus comes across as a lot more impersonal. (This could also be the result of the light novel not being limited on pages or engine limitations though!) In other cases, characters are nicer too. Ace formally apologizes for being mean to Yuuya and the scene where Yuu steps on Leona’s tail in the garden is entirely removed. Instead, Leona saves Yuuya who is being harassed by Savanaclaw mobs while he is picking up eggs from the Mystery Shop—though not out of pure kindness.

Realistically speaking, I can see other NRC students trying to take advantage of someone with a "weak" personality like Yuuya, or looking down on them because they're not able to stand up for themselves. They become an easy target for bullying. Again, less of a gender thing and more of a personality thing!

[lullabyes22-blog]

hi <3

i am once again asking your thoughts on the latest act of arcane?

Honestly, my feelings on S2 so far are pretty mixed.

:')

On the one hand, visually, it's absolutely heartstopping. The cinematography is incredible, and it's the first time in a while where every episode felt like an experience I had to endure in a good way. Plus the score, the voice-acting, and the sound design is, as usual, top notch.

Buuuut when you have all these stellar spheres working on this show, it makes the areas where they drop the ball stand out.

For me, that's the plot.

Alot of folks have criticized the pacing and how there's too much piled into one season. Personally, at this point I've made peace with the breakneck speed and sort of taken it as a given in a series where 'War' is the overarching theme. I can even let go of the fact that certain plot beats don't feel earned, as there's so much subtlety and foreshadowing that you can easily make the case for them via long-drawn out analyses of every frame.

But the writing, ohhhh boy. The writing. It feels like there's a disconnect between the overall plot and the individual character moments.

It's really hard to articulate, but I'll do my best.

I love that we're getting so much characterization for the main cast. Every episode, it feels like there's a new layer peeled back, and each of our leads has an opportunity to shine.

And that's exactly the problem. They're all shining.

Separately.

When I think about it, the reason why S1 worked so well was because every episode gave us a glimpse into the mind of someone different. We got a taste of what it was like to be in the head of every major player in the cast, and through this, we grew to understand their motivations, their fears, their hopes. I've used the 'gem' analogy in previous reviews, and the way the show handled that concept was amazing. Every character was a facet of the gem that was Arcane, and each shift of PoV allowed us to see them from a new angle.

There was coherence. There was cohesion. And there was a sense of complexity told in a concise and well-planned format.

S2, for me, doesn't quite work the same way.

It's not that I don't understand the characters, or that I don't appreciate the way they're handled. It's just that their individual journeys are so self-contained. I'm not getting a sense of their interpersonal connections. More as if they're crashing into and out of each other's lives, without ever stopping to have a proper conversation.

It's a common complaint with ensemble casts, and I don't mind it for the most part, but the problem here is that Arcane has been very careful about establishing its characters as part of a cohesive whole. They're not just random individuals who happen to share a stage. They're siblings, lovers, colleagues, friends, enemies, etc. And the reason why we can relate to them is because, on some level, they mirror our own relationships. We've seen how they treat each other, and we've come to care about them.

But in this season, I feel like there's been a failure to communicate.

Scenes between characters feel like a series of disconnected vignettes, some of which are great and some of which are not so great. It's as if the writers are trying to force the characters to react to the plot rather than the other way around.

I don't want to be overly critical. So much love and effort has gone into making this show, and I'd never want to disparage the efforts of so many talented artists.

But, yeah. Coherence is a bit of an issue.

I will say, however, that re: the subject of grief, especially in Jinx's journey, this season has delivered some beautiful moments. It's a surprisingly nuanced treatment of a complicated and ugly emotion, and it's something I wish more shows would tackle. The problem with a lot of modern storytelling is that, because it's trying so hard to be edgy, complex and subversive, it doesn't really leave any room for just letting characters exist. And Jinx's arc in particular is a perfect example of this.

I was worried, going into the season, that they'd take the easy route and paint her as a pure monster, utterly deranged from her loss. That's what the fandom seems to want, anyway, and it's what you'd probably expect given the general climate.

But instead, the show has chosen for Jinx to be vulnerable, and to let her arc be honest. Granted, Isha, though she's adorable, still doesn't quite feel like a full-fleshed out person, but Jinx's bond with her has been written with such heartbreaking realism that I'm inclined to forgive the former for the sake of the latter. It's just refreshing to see the series not to take that insulting and reductive 'but Jinx is crazy' route, and instead allow her to grapple with the pain of losing her family and the horror of what she's done, but to also heal old wounds with brand-new connections.

'Crazy' does not mean 'irredeemable.'

And it's about time more mainstream media got this memo.

The series also continues to be stellar at showcasing so much with such restraint. A lot of the scenes don't last longer than a few minutes, and yet you can feel so much conveyed in that brief window. And the framing and composition is consistently masterful.

Overall, though, I'm a bit underwhelmed by this season so far. It feels like an incomplete masterpiece, and the sense that the narrative has lost control is starting to get overwhelming. We've still got Act 3 left, and I'm hoping the final stretch is able to tie things together a little more neatly.

Anyway, thank you for reading this mess! And feel free to share your thoughts as well. I'm curious to hear how other people are finding the series.

<3

[cjlouwho]

Here is the thing:

This season has been very weirdly written. Not only with rushed storylines, but also with the way they are writing their characters and dynamics, and also the way the found family sentiment almost feels gone.

It lowkey feels like, for some reason, they’ve stopped knowing how to write these characters and these dynamics. They react to things in ways they wouldn’t have before (and without habits an experience that makes it so now this is their response), they’ve seemed to have regressed, they don’t care about things they would’ve before.

And again, I know we all focused on the BuckTommy of it all (because you’re telling me that Buck, who was spewing bee facts in 801, hasn’t done research on queer history or queer rights after discovering he’s bi??) , but this can be applied to everyone else as well. They’ve stopped having scenes of the characters actually interacting and talking about their issues, we don’t see the firefam outside of emergencies… everything feels so messy.

I think that’s why, overall, this season feels very weak and disappointing.

I think you've got it! It almost reads like a show where half the cast doesn't get along with the other half. I am NOT saying that's what's happening, by the way! I know they always talk about how much they get along and love each other. All I'm saying is, the way the writers are writing it, feels like they're separating things too much. Instead of giving us a big storyline where everyone works together, they're shoving like 5 different storylines in where you're jumped from one spot to another every 2-3 minutes.

You can't get invested in any of it. The second you start to feel something, you're shoved onto the next thing.

I still think about how pointless Gerrard was. He was not the asshole we saw back in season 2. It would have been a great moment for Buck's bi arc. Recognizing homophobia for the first time. Seeing what it's like to be on the receiving end and having to deal with it. Or having an actual fallout to Gerrard taking Buck under his wing.

Everything has been stunted... except for fucking Brad who won't fucking go away!

[twilightprince101]

Let's be careful before labeling Wally or Home as "The Villain" of Welcome Home

Or anyone for that matter imo

Listen, I can completely understand why people would go to that conclusion. "So Below" and the eerie vibe that Wally gives off in his obsession don't exactly give either a flattering light (I know there are also the art pieces on Clown's personal blog, but I'm not counting anything that hasn't been officially released yet)

But whenever someone labels a character who is acting weird as "the villain," it puts a bad taste in my mouth. At the end of the day, characters in fiction are real people with motivations, so labeling one as "evil" or "the villain" can sometimes erase that complexity. And after the most recent update, we know that Wally has A Lot of very, very complicated feelings about the situation.

Before I get into that though, I wanna point out something that Clown himself has said describes the brand of horror that "Welcome Home" gives off to themselves personally. Click here for the link to the post.

Before I get into that though, I wanna point out something that Clown himself has said describes the brand of horror that "Welcome Home" gives off to themselves personally. Click here for the link to the post.

"My home doesn't feel like home anymore."

That line sticks to me pretty hard. There's a pervasive feeling of unfamiliarity, unreality, that exists in the core of the story itself.

I think we see, firsthand, Wally experiencing this in the latest updates. In all of the hidden Bug/Answer secret videos, we see a familiar pattern. We get some sort of scene of two other characters talking, a scene in whatever universe they call home, until at the very end one of the characters addresses Wally (who was apparently there the whole time) and the video glitches out.

A key part that not a lot of people seem to realize though is that these videos are from Wally's perspective. See the above picture with Wally's hands. In every scene, Wally is present and was supposedly taking part in an activity (in the above one, helping Poppy with knitting), before the video started playing.

Whenever I saw these videos I had that same feeling that something felt. Different. The interactions felt like scenes you would see in the animated/cartoony aesthetic we'd see from the various art pieces, it doesn't feel like it's "on set/TV" to me. They're moreso just intimate glimpses into their lives. But they're shot in the real world, and that feels. Wrong.

This is very likely the same feeling that Wally's having in that moment. "My home doesn't FEEL like home." It's like he's disassociating, having a brief episode of that unreality feeling. Those bouts of strangeness don't go away until, like clockwork, someone says his name and the video ends, snapping him out of it.

Do other people in the neighborhood also feel the same way? Maybe, but we don't know. What we do know is that Wally, whether or not he tries to explain this to others, feels isolated by this sensation. "My neighbors are only neighborly until they know I'm different in a way they can see."

The only other person he likely shares this feeling with? I'd take a guess that it's Home. Nearly every time Home has been featured, Wally has been there, close. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only physical puppets/props we’ve seen of the cast are Wally and Home.

According to this post by @eldritchravens, Home is the only other person who talks directly to Us, the viewers. That's probably why they're so close, because they're the only ones who can truly confide in each other about this.

"So does that mean Home is manipulating Wally?"

Again, I really don't think that's the case. I don't wanna call people villains quite yet. Besides, we see (or well, hear) Home and Barnaby have a conversation together, and from how Barnaby reacts it's fairly casual.

This shared feeling is likely why Wally is so obsessed with us, including the Restoration Employee. They seem to be sharing a similar sensation to Wally's bouts of unreality, in the fact that it seems they're the ONLY one who doesn't remember Welcome Home being a thing. They seem to be one of the few things that Wally (and maybe even Home) consider to be "Real." Hence their obsession with "seeing" us.

"Isn't this Wally or Home manipulating the Employee though?"

Maybe, I don't know. We don't really know much of what's going on right now, we're only getting glimpses. For all we know this could be a side-effect of Wally/Home trying to reach out. For the time being though, I want to keep my own expectations in check. I'm choosing not to label Wally, Home, The Restoration Team or anyone as a "villain" until something definitive comes up.

It is very, very likely that Wally is going to be doing something more dangerous later down the line (or maybe even is doing so now). But if he's doing anything, I get the feeling it's more out of desperation. He wants something to quell this feeling inside of him, this pervasive sense of unreality, and to connect with something he feels is "real." And, for better or for worse, that thing is us.

This whole thing isn't to bash on people for speculation or theorycrafting, I personally think speculation is very healthy! But it's still important to remember what the core of this story is going to be. We're only seeing the very start of the story right now, and we don't know what'll happen down the line. It's useful to keep that core idea at the center of our speculation so we can have reasonable expectations going forward.

As for me? This doesn't feel like a story with villains. I don't think he'll pull a Monika from DDLC and start gaining a kill count, but if something does happen to the rest of the cast, my money is that it'll happen completely by accident, and he'll regret it. Hard.

[redacteddoesstuff]

Inanimate Insanity S2Episode 16 Spoilers (again)

So, I have an theory that the contests aren't gone gone. Most devices store deleted files in the trash, where they're in a state that can't be accessed but can be recovered.

This scene with Mic and Soap is practically begging you to draw that parallel.

That's probably how Mephone will get them back. Also, I refuse to believe that they're just dead forver.

Speaking of death I wonder how dough and bow fit into this. I can probably excuse dough as he was brought into the show midgame, but that still leaves bow. Because if she was created by mephone then that means that Mephone not only has the ability to create living people but also souls (or at least the closest alternative).

Also, is Mephone even aware that he can do that. Because that leaves two alternatives, 1 Mephone does know what he's doing and just didn't tell anyone or 2 he doesn't know and was doing it subconsciously. I personally am leaning towards the latter.

If we go off of what Cobs says here and how Mephone reacts then we can assume that he doesn't know. Just look at Cobs' face when Mephone says "what". Like he's genuinely surprised that Mephone didn't know what he was talking about.

Plus, Walkie talkie says some interesting things at the end of s3. When Mephone says that he knows who sent her we can guess that he means cobs, but Walkie Talkie shuts that down immediately. Watching this scene after ep16 shines a whole new blue light on everything. Especially that last line.

"Whether it's the one's YOU'VE built." She literally says in this line that Mephone created her, how did I not realize sooner. And the "we're all for you." She's being literal again, they contests are FOR him, for his show.

Also him not knowing explains why he assumed that Cobs created and sent her here. It also makes sense why his partnership with springy and why he was so intent on giving Mephone a "better" cast. "One that won't leave him" in his own words. Sure he wanted to make profit, but why would a company be so intent on fulfilling Mephones wishes.

I think that Mephone created springy and Walkie Talkie from his desire to continue the season.

My final theory for this post is that the egg was used to create Mephone. I also think that extends to Mephone4s as Mephone still has all the same abilities while in 4s' body. I don't have much evidence for that other then it explaining how he's able to do all that.

But you know, that's just a theory, an II theory! (Sorry, I need to say that)

[pinkkop]

I've let my thoughts on Spare Me Your Mercy marinade a little in my brain and I'm now ready to try and put some words to my feelings about this show.

Overall I liked the show and I had a great time watching it. I thought the overall look was great and fit the theme and genre really well. Tor and JJ did really well and the whole cast was really just great.

It was just a really great attempt at more serious BL and it could have been amazing but it just fell short in some very important places.

I don't know if it would have fixed everything but a longer run-time would have done wonders because it would have given them more time to flesh out the plot and the relationships and fix any plot holes.

I'll go into the things I think were missing and my thoughts on them below.

The Missing Connection

A big part of what was missing from the show was more time spent on the relationship between Dr. Kan and Tew because the whole plot really relies on them developing feelings for each and that being a conflict in the murder investigation.

This interview with the screenwriter Lux that @clairedaring posted does make it seem like a longer screen time wouldn't have fixed this entirely since Lux spends a lot time making excuses about why they don't have NC scenes and how that would have detracted from the plot. I think this is absolutely ridiculous because the majority of BL fans would have been entirely happy with the amount of NC scenes we got if they'd just developed the relationship better and spent the right amount of time on the relationship to fit the plot and the emotions needed to make the plot land.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that a longer run-time would have fixed it because otherwise I don't think Lux completely understands how important the relationship development, and any NC scenes needed or hinted at to make that believable, is for the plot.

Deceiving On Screen

A big problem with Dr. Kan and Tew's relationship and it's development on screen is that they were trying to deceive each other for a large part of the series. This makes it really hard to discern as a viewer when the characters are behaving or acting a certain way because of their ulterior motives or when they're doing so because of their actual feelings.

For the characters' real feelings to really come across on screen you need scenes where the characters are expressing their feelings in a situation where they don't need to keep up the ruse. This could be them alone reflecting on or reacting to the person, or conversations with people they are close enough with that they'll share some of their real feelings.

This is something that The Heart Killers has actually done a lot better than SMYM. Like Fadel's masturbation scene or the conversations between Fadel and Bison and between Kant and Style. They desperately needed more scenes like that in SMYM because it would have made it a lot clearer what Dr. Kan and Tew were thinking and feeling when it came to their relationship, because honestly, most of the time, I wasn't sure.

The Ending

I was very worried about the ending, especially towards the end, and it did end up frustrating me, but I think it weirdly fit the show because it was realistic, when Dr. Kan and Tew's relationship hadn't really been given a proper chance to develop or deepen.

Like with their surface level relationship(?) it makes sense that Tew would still try to arrest Dr. Kan even with all the reasons Dr. Kan gave for his actions.

It also helps that I understand the ending as being a little open. Like if you ask me, we never know for sure whether Tew actually brought Dr. Kan all the way to the station or not.

No matter what though it feels like a weird message to send after the show spent so much time advocating for euthanasia, but I guess they couldn't ignore that it's still illegal ... or something.

Again if they'd just spent more time developing the relationship and maybe even allowed Tew time to digest what Dr. Kan has been doing then it would have made more sense for Tew to not arrest Dr. Kan.

Like I would have even been happy for Tew to go back to Bangkok because he didn't want to arrest Dr. Kan but he still couldn't stay, knowing what Dr. Kan and Nurse Ohn were doing.

Then they could have given us a second season of Dr. Kan and Tew separately working towards making euthanasia legal in their own ways and then their ways could have crossed again and finally they would be in a place where they could be together!!

If I had any writing skills and the time I would be writing this canon divergence fic as we speak. Anyone's welcome to give it a go though!

Euthanasia

The one thing I think the show succeeded at, was showing exactly the good that euthanasia can do when it comes to terminally ill patients which also seems to be the most important point for Lux.

It felt like a weird side note though, when Dr. Kan euthanized Boss, and I've seen some people talk about how this feels like an ableist comment from the show. I don't necessarily believe that that's the case, I mostly just think this was another place where the show suffered from having only 8 episodes.

It makes sense that Boss had to die for plot reasons but I just wish they'd commented on it.

As I talked about in my previous post I think it was a risky choice to make to euthanize a disabled person without commenting on the act, especially since there's such a large difference between euthanizing a terminally ill patient and a disabled person.

With all this being said I still don't regret spending the time I did on following along with this show and posting about it. I had a good time doing so, I just hope that we can get a similarly more serious and crime related show in the future.

And in the mean time I just hope Petrichor the series turns out better.

[irreplaceable-ecstasyy]

Act 2

WELCOME TO PART 2!!!! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ PART 1, YOU CAN FIND IT RIGHT HERE!

LETTERS

- Opening instrumental! Letters start falling from the ceiling! One landed right next to me so I actually have a letter?!?!

- It was like an open mic karaoke. There is a mic at centre stage. For the soloists, Natasha, Pierre, Mary & Anatole, they would go up to the mic & sing during their bit.

- I didn't realize how individual & staggered the 'ha ha has' were for backing vocals. The ensemble's voice is so powerful, and like it just pushed the intensity of the song, and I was just so captivated by the sound of the backing.

- Such a side note but the backing vocals of Letters is my favorite out of the entirety of Comet because of its complex simplicity.

- "Dolokhov is recovering." This man flashes us with his fishnets and we were like YEAHHH WERKKKK!!!!!

- Each character is holding a copy of the letter throughout, like they're inspecting the content then holding it out in some little letter choreo. & the majority of them are stood on the balcony watching the main trio below singing their bit in the first half of the song.

- But they're all down by the time the trio finish their trio harmony bit & Anatole steals the spotlight!

- "NATALIE, NATALIE, NATALIE!!!" Natasha is gushing & squealing so much throughout this whole section, she's so cute honestly!!!

- And Jamie's vocals. Need I say more??

- "I write the answer to Princess Mary/ I've been unable to write all morning." Mary is walking across the balcony, opening the letter, and she starts off smiling. Knowing what was coming next, I was absolutely shattered.

- As Natasha sings the contents of the letter, we can see Mary reacting to it. Her face falls and everything, then she runs off clutching the letter.

- Love that the cast pick up the letters to clean the stage as the scene is going on, but they're fixed on the task, like nothing will deter them until they've collected every damn letter.

~

SONYA & NATASHA

- Sonya looks more angry than saddened by this whole ordeal as she reads the letter.

- "Would you think so badly of me?" SASS SASS and SASS. Natasha turns away from Sonya and flips her hair at her, then bats her eyelashes while looking over her shoulder at her.

- Natasha is just kinda done with Sonya here since she's got Anatole which was really sad :( I can't believe you Natasha.

~

SONYA ALONE - I cried as soon as the opening chords played.

- Beautiful, heartbreaking, soul-crushing, awe inspiring. Need I say more????

- Maimuna, the singer that you are, you gorgeous beautiful performer. I have not heard a voice like hers. The sheer power of it? You have to hear it live.

- The tears, the raw emotion!!! She was shedding tears!!!!! I done cried. I couldn't hold it in.

~

PREPARATIONS

- Give me some time to cry after Sonya Alone gEEZ.

- Opening instrumental, Anatole is sat on a box, Dolokhov and Helene are wheeling him in. I love this trio. They're so dramatic.

- Pierre is drinking. Are we surprised?

- "Ah, Anatole, where are you off to?" Dolokhov and Hélène duck behind the box, spooning almost, to hide from Pierre's eyeshot. They're sort of giggling, trying not to roll about and move too much.

- Dolokhov is out here doing all the work. Like, good for you, sir. What a king.

- I heard a sniff and turned. Why the fuck is Hélène doing coke? And then offers some to Dolokhov while Anatole is off singing about how this will all be a good ol' successful plan!! (Spoiler: It won't)

- Hélène looks so tired in this song, like she's long been done but also happy for Anatole since she's also helped with the plan. Girl had a big stack of cash to give Anatole but like, she was so done.

~

BALAGA

- "BALAGA IS HEREEEE." OH MY HOT DAMN. Balaga comes strutting down the aisle on our left in the most exquisite leather fit, and coat and oh my god - HE WAS JUST WOW- POWER WALK, POWER STRUT WERK IT

- This was like a lil Burlesque number with the feathered fans and the dancers. They're out here being dragged around on the box with Balaga while the ensemble is just going ham with these feathered fans.

- Holy shit. Full belt?!?!?!?!?!? Possibly the most incredible number in the show.

- Balaga?!?!?! HOLY FUCKING SHIT. MR TENOR SIR WHAT.

- HE HAS HAS THIS LITTLE BIT DURING "Jumped my troika right into the air!" TO RIFF HIS HEART OUT. INCREDIBLE. AND THE BAND GIVE HIM HiS MOMENT!!!!!!

- OFC HE TAKES THE MOMENT FOR THE APPLAUSE BEFORE GOING BACK WITH, "And I never ask for rubles!"

- Anatole's "WOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH." gave me goosebumps down to my soul.

~

THE ABDUCTION

- Before I begin, they did the off bway version of this. And i actually didn't realize it until i was on my way back, listening to the Abduction on Spotify, remembering every detail until it got to Pierre's "here's to happiness, freedom & life."

- My bestie & I could not stop bopping our heads to it. How could you not? It's the best song in the show. (I say that for like every song.)

- "Goodbye, Matryoshka. Kiss me one last time." HE EXTENDS HIS CHEEK TO SOMEONE IN THE AUDIENCE, ASSIGNING HER MATROYSHKA. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU REFUSED TO GIVE ANATOLE A KISS ON THE CHEEK????

- The audience went "aawwwwhhhhhhh :(((" when Anatole was rejected, and he pouted at the lady who just laughed.

"Remember me to, Stelshka." Dolokhov goes up to the guy beside 'Matryoshka' and pours him a shot, making him wait for a cue.

- They continue to sing as an ensemble and when they would sing of Matryoshka and Stelshka, they would point at them and cheer! SO CUTE.

- "NOW DRINK." The cast drink then look at Stelshka, pointing at him and he drinks it to which they all cheer!!!

- "WAAAAAIIIIIIiit. First we have to sit down." All of them just sit where they are, and Anatole takes the big box centre stage. Balaga sat on this old guy in the corner, and everyone just kept giggling.

- Anatole waiting til the giggling stopped. It did not continue literally until the giggling stopped and it was fully quiet.

- "WHEN THEY REACH THE GATE, DOLOKHOV WHISTLES." HE FUCKING WHISTLES SO LOUDLY, INSANE.

- Anatole climbs up the pole in an attempt to get up to the balcony but of course, the most iconic part.

- "You will not enter my house, scoundrel!!" WHY THE FUCK DOES MARYA HAVE A FUCKING DOUBLE-BARREL SHOTGUN????

- Have I mentioned that I love Marya D.????

- "BETRAYED. BETRAYED." Dolokhov and Anatole are scrambling for their lives. I would too if Marya pulled a shotgun on me. I have no doubts that woman will shoot.

- My memory is failing me but I believe that this is during the transition between this and In My House but the Soldier & the Bride appear again, just walking from the left aisle and through Natasha. The symBOLISM!!

- Natasha literally splits them in the middle as they walk past her, showing her that it is her own fault that the union has been broken, and she looks so hurt when she realizes the severity of the situation.

~

IN MY HOUSE

- Natasha is literally screaming as Sonya holds her back, but Natasha is trying so hard to reach for Anatole who's running away.

- Annette's Marya is so much more patient that Grace's Marya. It was "I'm not angry, just disappointed." But lawd, she is a momma on a mission.

- Sonya, stop making me cry gurl :,,((((((( She really trying her best to help Natasha here and save her so so desperately.

- Sonya literally tucks Natasha in when she shuts everyone out, but Natasha won't speak to anyone at all. :((

~

A CALL TO PIERRE

- The audience member next to me mouthing each "whaaaattt?" was the funniest thing ever.

- Truly, the only bit there is to tell is the "whaaaaaat?" they were so well delivered. so deadpan, so tired, but equally becoming more and more invested.

~

FIND ANATOLE

- This man is on a mission. He's hustling around Moscow, and I love that they use lighting to show us where he's at.

- He goes upstage right for the club, and only that corner is lit up in the colors of the club which were purple and green from the Duel.

- God, I love tech.

- "NATASHA, nATASHA." I have never seen Anatole more frenzied in my life. He looks a mess as he's clambering around stage for Natasha before Hélène comes swooping in to comfort him.

- I needa say, Hélène's robe in this was the most exquisite thing I've ever seen." It's the flowy sort, transparent, fluffy at the ends. I love it.

- "Be quiet, I will not greet you.." At this, Hélène laughs and she leaves the scene. She can't even defend Anatole from him anymore so she gives up on this fight, let's Pierre have at Anatole which is so sad honestly.

~

PIERRE & ANATOLE

- Right off the bat, so much fear in Anatole. This is probably the most self-aware he's ever been.

- I wonder why they didn't brawl at "seize you by the collar with my big big hands." They only did at "When I tell you I must talk to you" -

- Anatole squeaking and squealing as he's being flung around, poor guy but also like, man, don't do what you do.

- "hAVE YOU ANY LETTERS OF HERS??" Anatole whips out a stack of pink letters that look so glittery, all written by Natasha. Girlie got some style with those letters.

- When Natasha takes the arsenic, it's very quietly. You kinda needa catch it since it's in the corner of the stage, and your eyeline would kinda be like "should i look at pierre & anatole, or natasha?"

- two ensemble members are holding the arsenic and water for her. which is crazy.

- "And if you require money for your journey." It's presented to Anatole like it's a choice. To stay here for Natasha or leave for Petersburg.

- during this, natasha is lowered to the floor slowly with the big teddy bear, where she just rests throughout the rest of the song.

- There's a pause as he evaluates. He literally glances at Natasha who is asleep on the floor with the big teddy then at Pierre holding the money before smiling as he takes the money.

- "FOR PETERSBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRGGGGGGGGG"

- After the most delicious note of 1812, Anatole literally drops the 'flower' (which was just a bracelet) that he'd taken from Natasha during 'Natasha & Anatole', by her unconscious body on the floor before strutting off.

- I kinda wish there was that bit from the Bway version where we see Hélène mourning Anatole's absence. But she doesn't even get to say goodbye to Anatole

~

NATASHA VERY ILL

- This was so haunting. Sonya appears on the balcony and sings to the audience. There's no life in her eyes as she delivers this, just so much pain and grief.

- "And Andrey is to return..." Andrey walks onto stage, and he's waiting.

~

PIERRE & ANDREY

- Pierre eventually arrives at the scene to meet Andrey.

- They stare at each other for a good while, like in disbelief, as they poke fun at each other. Then they have the sweetest embrace.

- "Here are her letters.." When Andrey gives his letters to Pierre from Natasha, they're also very pink and very glittery, all tied up with a ribbon.

- This song never used to stick out to me (tho, I'd still never skip) but seeing this live, it was so raw. The emotion and the depth in it. Andrey literally came back to the war to find out that he isn't betrothed anymore, like - You can see the exhaustion in his eyes.

- Pierre equally looking so torn because this is his best friend, and he's acquainted with the Rostovs, so he doesn't know where to stand.

- "Then he smiled like his father/ Coldly, maliciously." It didn't feel like he'd smiled our of cruelty, but more in the way he didn't know how to react properly, that all he can do is just smile it off in disbelief and anger. THE LAYERS.

- "If you wish to be my friend, never speak of that again." Andrey waits for a response, and Pierre gives the smallest nod. And Andrey just bids him goodbye.

- There was nothing bitter in his farewell, but just heartbreak that is so well portrayed. Like, the way Pierre & Andrey portray this old friendship, trying to rekindle but equally stepping on all these eggshells, the actors play it so well, I'm just in awe.

- This is why I love Dave Malloy's musicals. There's so much written into them, you just have to find it as a performer, and as an audience.

~

PIERRE & NATASHA

- During the opening lines, Pierre made eye contact with me and just sang the whole verse at me while I'm just staring at him like :0 I've never held eye-contact with a person that long in my life. I'm glad it was with Declan Bennett.

- The simplicity of this song!!!! The broken chord of the piano!!!! SO MUCH RAWNESS, PURE THEATRE.

- Natasha was wearing the fluffiest bathrobe and the fuzziest shoes. I loved that for her so much.

- You can imagine how this scene goes. But they're just dancing around each other. They don't go near to each other, not until Pierre gives Natasha the letters.

- Then they sit by one another at "she began to cry..." He watches her go first before joining by her side very awkwardly.

- Then there were the only spoken words in Comet... "If I were not myself.."

- He speaks these words beside Natasha, not quite looking at her, and her back is facing him. It's such a vulnerable moment for the both of them.

- Pierre doesn't break the intensity of it as these words just come straight from his soul. Not a second thought, just truth. Even he looks surprised by his own words.

- Then Natasha finally looks at him, and she's smiling as she sings, "I weep tears of gratitude/ tears of thanks.."

- "And glancing at Pierre... Oh, Pierre." She stands and just gazes at Pierre with such admiration. The tenderness in this moment was enough to make me cry.

- "Outside, my great broad chest/ breathes in deep the air." As soon as we got to this line, I was crying my eyes out because I knew the show was about to end & it is going into the most beautiful song known to mankind.

~

THE GREAT COMET OF 1812

- As Pierre sings his solo bit, the rest of the cast walk onto stage from the aisles slowly, joining him as they gaze at the sky for the comet.

- Hélène walks by us & she looks at me with this firm gaze but there's something almost mournful about it. Like, I held my breath as she maintains that eye contact before looking away.

- And also, it's Hélène Kuragin, I love her.

- There really is nothing much to describe about the scene other than how much of a pleasure & a joy it was to listen to this live. The fullness of the harmonies, the simple staging of it and just the impact of gratitude I felt getting to see this show live.

- All I can say about this this song is that you just have to listen to it live.

~

BONUS: AFTER THE SHOW

- I was still crying so hard after bows, the guitarist noticed and was having a little giggle. when the play off finished, the guitarist had to ask if I was okay by giving me a thumbs up.

- Because it was New Year's Eve, we only got to meet an ensemble member (Andrew Berlin), Natasha (Chumisa Donford-May) and Mary (Chloe Saracco)! They were all so lovely!!

- We met Chumisa first. She came up to my bestie & I and asked if we were waiting, but we didn't want to hold her back so we asked her for a quick autograph.

- I kid you not, I whipped out my War & Peace (it's got comets on it), and she gasped. She said it was a lot of pressure signing it because she didn't want to ruin it!! What a sweetheart :,,)))

- I also told her that I was going to see her in Here We Are at the National Theatre in April, and she was so touched by it; she thanked me for going to see it. Bless her.

- Then next was Chloe!! (Who we later found out was a friend of a friend!) She was in a rush so we were speedy. We asked if she was okay to sign to which she accepted. Again, very surprised by my bigass copy of War & Peace. Loved it.

- Then we met Andrew!! He stuck around for quite a while to talk to us about the show!! He mentioned having seen the Bway production in NY and LOVED it, but was like "I thought to myself, I don't think I'd ever be in Comet. :(" And here he is!!!!!

- We saw Sonya (Maimuna) on the other side of the entrance but she was going a different direction and we didn't want to hold her back. Andrew started gushing about her and it became massive Sonya appreciation hours.

- I asked him to sign my War & Peace, obviously, and he was so impressed. Apparently I'm the only person who's ever done that. Gotta thank my bestie for encouraging my antics.

- He loved the cover so much, he said he was going to treat himself to a copy to which I referred him to the exact bookshop I got it from.

- After so much chat, he let us go because he thought he was the one holding us back. We could've just kept yapping. So so so incredible.

And that's it for my Comet adventures. I'll def be coming off and on to edit this as I start to remember more for sure.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Korea drops my favorite cameo ever & gives KISSES

Entirely subjective yadda yadda. Organized sorta by favs in each category.

Sept 2023 Wk 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Fri grey) ep 4 of 12 - Well that’s one way to find out if he’s gay, see how he reacts to reading a het sex scene out loud. Yai is flirting so hard it’s like he knows everything. 

Dangerous Romance (Fri YT) ep 4 of 12 - Oh no! I love them. Also cohabitation trope! Also ALL the other ones: hair dry, meet in childhood... GMMTV going no frills with this one.

Hidden Agenda (Sun YT) ep 9 of 12 - Zo’s drama over Pat helping Joke flirt seems awfully manufactured. I’m losing faith in this show. Could GMMTV PLEASE hand JoongDunk a decent script? 

Only Friends (Sat YT) ep 5 of 10 - Sand & Ray are the only interesting couple, and I’m pretty much only watching for them. They gonna go south fast, tho, and they're already ruined by persistent singing. Ooo. When Sand said Top "stole his ex" did he mean Boston? How gay. 

Naughty Babe (Sat YT) ep 2 of 8 - The pronoun conversation had a bonkers translation but I enjoyed the actuality of it. The reasons for Yi's trickery are very convoluted soap opera. But I suppose that is the amnesia trope for you. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 10 of 12 - Boys. We discussed this already. No sex in onsens! I found this one dull, until the end when LLS showed up. Happy to just have him in everything. Thank you Thailand. Looks like it is a classic ep 11 DOOM next week. Who cares? 

Venus in the Sky (Tues iQIYI) 1-2 of 10 eps - The usual Thai pulp claptrap this time a reunion romances in and around a convenience store between a boy who recently quit his job and his former bestie who is now a doctor. Mostly not great acting, plot, or production but the sound is okay and no bad effects or singing (so far), so that’s something. The gay brothers have a fun relationship. It’s vampy and campy but fun. I like it but not sure anyone else would.

Love in Translation (Sat iQIYI) ep 4 of 10 - The date was cute but I still don’t like the lead or the premise (we moved into Cyrano de Bergerac territory). It’s moving slowly but it seems like we might be over the crush/stalker part of the narrative, so that’s a relief. 

Crazy Handsome Rich (Sun Gaga) ep 2 of 10 - I just can’t. The sound is too weird. With punch down humor and other issues incoming I may DNF this. You’ve been warned. This ep we got to see LLS with his shirt off. Did anything else happen? 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Jun & Jun (Korea Thur Viki) ep 8fin - No wonder he is everyone’s favorite hyung, boy can read the room like no one else. I love that we got to see exactly how clingy and demanding Choi Jun was always going to be. Only Lee Jun is easy-going enough to put up with him. Also I’ve never watched a KBL with more innuendo. For Korea this was… raunchy. I gotta say had Laws of Attraction not come along, Simon might have been my favorite character of 2023.

Final thoughts on Jun and Jun:

A delightful office romance about an ex-idol who joins cubical life only to find his new boss is his first love. Others boys are sniffing around too. Operative word being "sniffing" as much of this romance involves smell. With a snappy script, enjoyable sides, a pretty as peaches cast, and descent chemistry this show made up for in style what it lacked in substance. I like fluff. I loved this. I smiled every moment I was watching. With tons of rewatch potential (especially the last few eps), my only caution is this is for fans of the BL genre only, I don’t think it’ll work for anyone else. A solid 9/10 from me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I like that Korea is trying high heat, but Taiwan and Thailand are leaps and bounds better at it.

Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) eps 9-10fin -

Omg they so cute as flirty bf. Eeeeeeee! CAMEO!!!!! My fav guest couple ever! So exciting!!!! I love that they intersected with MY Strongberry couple (Private Lessons). I’m not used to this but Holy innuendo Korea, what with Jun & Jun and now this show? It’s a bit much for my gay little heart. The final episode was entirely unnecessary, but it was fun to see them being all domestic and stuff. Maru with his dumb lettuce leaves was hilarious. I feel like I need to rewatch this one to really understand it properly, so I will likely do that soon.

Summary of Love Class 2:

3 couples form within a semester of university: 1. a hyung romance reunion of exes, one of whom has a dangerous past, 2. a friends to lovers romance, and 3. a mature student and TA one night stand + complexities (many aspects of which had me laughing). I enjoyed the characters and dialogue of this show immensely. It was a little bit more breezy and friendly than I was expecting after the first installment, Love Class. I’m not entirely sure Korea can handle multiple couples like this because it definitely felt disjointed, especially the 3rd more mature couple (also my favorite) who probably should’ve had their own series. But it was definitely fun and something different from Korea. 8/10 RECOMMENDED

Also, Korea tried to give us higher heat... that was... interesting. I mean, you tried hon...?

Kisseki: Dear to Me (Taiwan Tues Viki & iQIYI) ep 4 of 13(?) - Everyone is a sad sack this ep. Ooooo. Teach/student my favorite. We never get this one. It’s messy. I’m not sure if there is a plot. I’m not sure they’re sure if there is a plot. But I am still enjoying it.

Why R U? (Korea Wed iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 8 - Why is the Fighter character always so frustrating regardless of name or country? Ji Oh stalking his crush via IG is so relatable. He’s very first crush awkward, unsure, and sweet. They also gave a nice kiss - I love the backpack drop (kiss version of a mic drop?) I still hold that if you haven’t seen the original this might not make much sense. But I am enjoying it. 

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 4 of 8 - Oh goody, another JBL where we have to pay attention solely to what they do and not what they say. 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) ep 9 of 12 - Big fat sigh. 

It's Airing But...

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) ep 3 of 24 eps - I couldn't get hold of it and I'm not mad. I'm putting it on hold until distribution gets sorted, or icky get their shizz in order (like that'll happen).

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting

9/15 You Are Mine (Taiwan Gaga) Secretary has to deal with grumpy boss.

9/15 Bump Up Business AKA Bump Up Project (Korea movie) suspected cinema release? I don't know much about what's going on. Last status update. Love story between a trainee who is about to debut and a celebrity from the same agency. Kpop boy group OnlyOneOf has signed up to star in this idol-based BL (based on a webtoon). They’ve been auditioning for this since Libido IMHO. You can watch me chronicle their BL MV series in this post. It’s from Idol Romance who will do sad but can do good kisses (Wish You, Nobleman Ryu, Once Again, Kissable Lips, Poongduck 304, Tasty Florida, Tinted With You).

Still To Come In September

9/26 I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan ????) - Adapted from the manga, childhood best friends: The cool, smart one who’s good at everything, and his average, dorky friend who struggles. Always by the other’s side, but not together in the way they truly want to be. No matter how hard they try, their hearts cannot reach each other.

9/27 Absolute Zero (Thai iQIYI) - from 2021, Studio Wabi Sabi and New Siwaj finally bring us this “time loop to prevent tragedy” romance. We don’t always get HEAs from them, so I'm on my guard.

9/27 Bon Appetit (Korea iQIYI) - from 2022, 8 eps from GoGo Studio, romance between an office worker who lives off junk food and the man next door who cooks well.

9/? Mr Cinderella 2 (Vietnam YouTube?)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I love him. And I love his version of this character better than Jimmy's.

I also love it when a show gets meta. (Both Why R U? Korea) Why they didn't just go for YRU? the world may never know.)

(Last week) 

[space-blue]

Prometheus as a TV series

Firstly, I want to specify that I only saw Alien, Alien Romulus, and the prequels. I'm due to watch Aliens this weekend. I've not read ANY comic or novel.

From my POV, Prometheus and Covenant are extremely weird because they are clearly excellent premises for TV series.

This was originally written in reply to someone who thought the Prequels undermined the cosmic horror by leaning too much into sci-fi and genomics around the Engineers. I argued that none of the prequels' content goes against horror and that the films are simply in the wrong format!

They're both currently terrible because people are forced into dumb exposition to cram information on the screen and dumb actions in order to make a monster movie happen inside what is otherwise an ambitious and philosophical sci-fi premise.

There's large casts of very skilled people. Fuck, in Prometheus there's one of the richest and most influential people in the human galaxy secretly aboard the ship. You'd think this would be absolutely great stuff to explore. Perfect opportunity to see how warped someone like Peter Weyland is, and also the sort of bonkers power he wields.

His relationship to his children (his daughter and his android "son") was very intriguing to me in the film, and considering how vital David 8 is to the prequels as a whole, this would have been great drama to explore further.

Focusing on Prometheus here:

A TV series would have given us a smart, not hectic Holloway. His turn to despondency could be more gradual. His difference in reaction to Shaw could, given time, explore different ways people of faith react to having that faith shaken. I think he's the main source of idiotic scenes throughout, and making him less of a wanker and more of a driven and soft spoken nerd would go a very long way.

Our extra time could also give us time to flesh out Shaw. She could reveal her infertility in a more reasonable environment, like while testing prior to the original cryo-sleep.

Starting on Earth and staying there longer would also help build the Engineers and the act of going after them as something spookier.

In general, the prequels massively sanitize space. It's also the case in Romulus. Space is treated as this negative area that is a source of hard vacuum and zero G. It's not treated as something inherently scary, but we all know that's perfectly doable.

Going to look after the "Engineers" sounds silly in the film because the team is honest to goodness just following cave paintings. They would benefit from following a lead, like perhaps finding the star system and studying it, only to detect strange emissions from it.

(Just in case you forgot, looking at a star is looking at how it was in the past. You look at a star 30,000 light years away and see how it was 30,000 years ago, when those photons left it. Which means we could reasonably pick up sus stuff that motivates a visit, but also means Holloway would understand the concept of being late to the fucking party lmao).

This entire idea, going on a very distant trip to an unknown system, could use time to have anxiety built around it. People could push with serious argument, highlight in universe disasters that happened during similar blind trips, etc. The emptiness and harshness of space are very easy to capitalise on, and going to an unknown system without sending probes first could help frame this as a risky venture, having us on edge and also showing the depth of faith of Shaw and Holloway. BUT ALSO the depth of wicked corporate slavery Weyland can go to, with the rest of the crew hired without any information that would let them make an informed choice on this job.

The arrival around the planet could be spent scanning and being professional. If we spend actual time scanning the surface and following reasonable protocols, the audience won't be poking fun at your show/film for showcasing scientists doing unsafe/idiotic stuff, and also have time to get attached to the red shirts! So it'll hurt when they begin dying!

I think the fans of alien would also appreciate a show that takes its time with the alien world discovery aspect? I feel like these films have neither the time nor the inclination to lean into the science and discovery aspect. Like it happens, but it's not indulged in or treated seriously. Yet aren't we also fans of Arrival? Of Annihilation? Or JC's Avatar?

There are scifi films out there that expect us to be invested in the discovery process, and we are! But Alien isn't one of those franchises. Every film I've seen so far has the science kept secret (Ash), already ruined (Romulus), aborted or discarded in the face of action, but also entirely handwaved or ignored (Prometheus and Covenant)

Like honest to god, you have an Android who is the only one paying attention to ALIEN WRITING and immediately knows HOW TO USE IT and nobody gives a shit, asks about it, is curious about annotating it or even learning it. It's never even mentioned? Like What the Actual Fuck? And in a film where the main goal is to find the aliens in question to have a chat to them, nobody is interested in decrypting the language??

Going back to our timeline, since we have time for the exploration process, we can begin ramping up the anxiety. We can make up some fun new stuff, like this:

What if we were blocked from communications? We could have the characters make incredible discoveries (that the buildings are made by real aliens would be exciting enough, but writing on the walls??) and promptly our crew realises that all communications are being jammed. Not between them, but between the main ship and anywhere else in the galaxy. Maybe the entire system is shrouded somehow and they have literally no idea how. Can't figure the tech behind it or its source. You can start having the one security/military guy announce they should retreat. After all, the planet is there, the buildings have been there for a very long time, they should go and come back later. It'd be more secure to figure out the range of this jamming and maybe call in reinforcement.

We can start dividing the crew! With all the scientists basically too over the moon to mind, and Weyland a silent driving force who doesn't give a shit!!

I think that Holloway sticking to protocol and not removing his helmet at all would help making the confusion and angst greater if he started showing symptoms like his wormy eyes. When did it happen? Was bringing the head aboard a mistake? Was that all it took? ((David grinning in the background))

We could then enjoy an entire episode of mounting paranoia and terror as the show splits between the geologist and biologist stranded in the building and the Prometheus crew growing paranoid and further divided: what if the team was split between the science crew and the ship crew? The scientists are containing Holloway and getting absolutely horrified by what they see happening to him, while the workers are being kept in the dark and told nothing.

A downtrodden and disrespected Wey-yu worker POV wouldn't hurt!

I personally think that Holloway basically morphing/dissolving/losing himself in front of the scientists while they all fail to understand what's happening to him and are completely incapable of stabilising him would be far more horrifying than his suicide by immolation at the hands of a neurotic billionaire. It would also make David's jab about Shaw's dad dying of Ebola more impactful. Rewatched the movie recently and was like "what, her dad died burnt alive before her too??? Oh..."

By the time David finds an Engineer alive, tensions could be high enough that the ship would be on the cusp of mutiny. A good writer could make us really feel 50-50 on "value of answers from a live engineer" vs. "getting the fuck away from this planet".

Also "the engineers are us, we have the same DNA" bit is flat out stupid and leaves a million more questions than it answers, and zero mystery besides. This concept could be much better explored for angst. There are so many directions we could go!

Their DNA could contain every human genome and then more. It could change while it's observed. It could be related to us without being a perfect match. Better yet: it could refuse observation, making every machine bug out and return invalid results. Just stuff to keep us on our toes while David does his parallel observations on the black goo.

Even if we go in depth in the genomics, explaining the thing doesn't have to destroy the appeal of the thing.

I think in particular that we could explain the engineers themselves as our creators and users of the goo, only to thicken the plot as we realise they have no fucking clue what they're doing with it and we're a stray experiment left to run wild in a forgotten petri dish. The idea that the engineers used but did not understand the goo, that it was a tool they inherited themselves from fucking around darker, deeper corners of the galaxy, would be cool.

WORSE yet, it would be interesting to discover they themselves were made by some other culture/force/entity/creation process, and we are like... a by-product. What if we are the David 8 of the engineers, who are the David 8's of something else yet? Or that the Engineers aren't even "made in the image of" their creators? Maybe the whole likeness (between them, us, and our androids) is just a recent tendency we're showing, but not something the Engineers have to share with their own creators.

We could come seeking answers, and realise the Engineers didn't even have any themselves. We could be left to realise we are just the mold on the rind of a cheese, far from understanding the intricacies of 5-star dining. That's how far removed we are from understanding the forces at play.

This would be plenty cosmic horror.

God is a well polished concept, but we have a very narrow and human centric understanding of it, and it may be meaningless. Imagine if you saw Shaw lose faith only to regain it with a streak of madness? Imagine if we had the time to explore what a cosmic horror on the scale of "At the mountains of madness" would do to a religious modern person who has come searching answers and found more than she could take?

If Shaw were a Lovecraft protag, she'd say stuff like the black goo being the blood of the gods that made the Engineers, all bled dry now. Weird poetic shit should come back xD

Also. Close your eyes for a second and imagine the scene of David speaking to the Engineer. And for the lolz, let's say that the Engineer speaks back, and David adjusts, and they end up having what looks like a meaningful exchange of a few words.

Then the Engineer pats his head and wrenches him apart, and the ending comes around, only for David to staunchly refuse to ever elaborate on what the Engineer told him. Certainly another great reason to keep him around...

I hope I've made my point. If more than 50 people lose their shit on this post, I'll make a Covenant TV show post too, though it's more of a fixer-upper.

Bonus for reaching the end, a happy David:

The ultimate argument, of course, is that given 16-18 episodes of great Prometheus TV, we would have had so much more David...

[lol-jackles]

Since you’re in casting, I’d love to pick your brain a little about selecting actors. I love that Jared is a constantly rising star, but in the most loving way possible, he really isn’t the best actor. 80% of the time when I’m watching him, it feels like I’m watching someone acting. He’s not the most natural Versus someone whose performance I get lost in. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to watch everything he does, and it kind of seems standard for cable network TV (for example, I feel the same ways about Nathan Fillion, David Boreanaz, Matthew Daddario - but it doesn’t make me like them any less). Honestly, the only network TV show they didn’t make me feel that was is Hannibal, and even that was only the leading actors.

I would have assumed that acting ability would be the most important part, but your page has made me realize it’s more than that, and let’s be honest, Vampire Diaries wouldn’t haven’t gotten that far if acting was the most important skill set needed. I’m guessing for the Jared’s and David’s their entire history counts most, but what about for someone just getting hired - the Jared getting the Gilmore Girl’s role or the David getting the Angel role. If they’re acting seems…stiff (wrong word?) what makes a casting director say, ‘you know what, let’s give it to them anyway.’

It’s just such a hard world to break into and I’m guessing there are auditions from people with a little more natural talent, so what makes that final decision?

(Asking as someone who is about to start the audition process)

I think what Jared (and Nathan, David, etc) has doing for him is he acts from his authentic truth. I'll expand on it later in this post. With that said, Jared is a character actor trapped in a leading man role, it's why he's not the "best actor" because people tend to believe that good character actors disappear into their roles by diminishing their screen presence, which you can't do when you're a leading man. You may be picking up on this conflicting issue. Think of Brad Pitt who works best as a supporting actor (X), and struggles a bit as a leading man so he has to throw out nuances and reply more on his raw charisma.

I haven't seen Gilmore Girls but I read Jared was the 2nd or 3rd Dean. Dean was recast because the OG Deans' chemistry with Rory wasn't up to snuff. So that answer your "final decision" question, which is chemistry. David Boreanaz had good chemistry with Sarah Michelle Geller. His chemistry Emily Deschanel in Bones was fine, bordering on good, but it was more fun/odd couple vibe whereas his interaction with Michelle had depth. Whenever Jared and Jensen tell their chemistry audition story in front of the producers, I'm pretty sure they're leaving out that Jared likely had chemistry auditions with other various Dean actors.

My advice on auditions is walk into that room like you’re going to solve their problem. 

Most casting directors talk about wanting auditioning actors to "make bold choices" because they believe it will get in touch with their authentic self and therefore, make them a captivating performer. My advice is adjust the text to your authentic emotion so that you're reacting to the events of the story from your internal truth. It doesn’t matter if the story is a sci-fi, comedy, or a period piece drama: if we don’t believe the actors, we won’t care what happens to them in the story. The audience is an incredible lie-detector: the average person has, for their entire life, been storing countless passive data on how normal people react to various situations, so you can’t fool them.  

My CD used to say that it's easier to tell the truth on camera than it is to lie because once you believe in yourself, then you're not acting anymore. I don't 100% agree with her but that seems to be what most CDs think.

The more confidently you use yourself as a canvas and let the context of the scene speak through your own emotional repertoire and point of view, the more compelling and interesting you are to watch. The most interesting or captivating actor is the one whose next movement, facial expression, or line reading is unpredictable. That's the difference between Jeff Bridges (unpredictable) and Beu Bridges (reliable).

[bloofinntoona]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, how do you think Sebastian would react to finding out that MC was good at hand to hand combat? Think they’ve been disarmed and rather than look around for their wand, they instead charge at their assailant and sock them in the face

Thanks for the ask! ❤｡◕‿ ◕｡

LMAOO I can imagine his dumbfounded face as MC decked someone. Honestly, they should've taught combat in DADA anyways.

Themes: funny, action, f!reader, fluff, didn't proofread this I'm ready for the trenches

༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

Cold autumn breeze cut deep into your skin and bones, causing a massive quiver. You huddled close to the auburn-haired boy, begging for just a bit of warmth. To be fair, it was partially your fault for dropping your assignments to meet him in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, asking if you can help him retrieve a potion ingredient from a cave. Hiding behind a massive boulder, the two overlooked a small group of poachers -- two trackers and one animagus.

You glared at your companion, whispering, "You didn't say there will be poachers!"

"How would I know? They're everywhere these days!" he whispered back, "Let's just dispose of them and go."

"We can use the disillusionment charm and--" Before you could finish, the boy leaped and casted "Levioso!" on one of the men, sending him floating about. The other poachers immediately casted sorts of protection spells around them.

You mentally face palmed as you jumped into the battle scene, casting sorts of charms, pushing and pulling the enemies. Red lights from the basic casts flew everywhere, some even burned through your robe.

Sebastian and you did make a great team, taking turns casting Stupefy and hitting the enemies while they were down. Especially with your ancient magic, you and Sebastian already got the upper hand.

As you just finished taking down the animagus (the wolf form was particularly annoying), you noticed the tracker next to you pointed his wand to Sebastian. You quickly registered that Sebastian's wand was charging, sparks emitting from the stick.

Without any hesitation, you pulled your arm, balled your fist, and punched the poacher right in the middle of his face. You swore you heard a crack, obviously breaking his nose. Sebastian eyes widen in shock, mouth agape. You casted "Depulso!" pushing the enemy against the tree, rendering him unconcious.

"What was that?!" Sebastian shouted as he jogged closer to you. He grimaced at the sight of blood gushing from the poacher's nose. Sebastian scoffed, " You surely do pack a punch!"

"Why? Scared I would deck you too, Sallow?" you playfully do punching gestures aimed to the Slytherin boy.

"Hold on there, miss," he laughed, blocking your jabs with his hands, "I wouldn't expect this from a lady, but you are one-of-a-kind." He took the hand that you used to hit the man, gently stroking the red patch on your knuckles -- most likely swelling from the impact. Sebastian lowered his face and planted a soft kiss on the back of your hand, causing you to blush.

"I'll be better at dueling so you don't have to do that again." He smirked.

"You just wanted an excuse to duel!" You both laugh and continued the journey.

[ravi-is-my-beloved]

I can't believe the new Ryan interview dropped while I was showering. Always when I leave to do something, smh.

Anyways, onto my thoughts on this interview! (NOTE: I wrote this as I read the interview.)

So here's where the "he kind of falls in line" quote comes from, but then three sentences after it says that this is "not what Eddie "wants" for his team."

Which dispels any notion that Eddie will be completely fine with what's happening and that makes sense with Eddie's character. And honestly, I'd be really mad if the writers made him be completely fine with Gerrard because that's not how I think any of the main characters would react with him in the captaincy based on how they reacted to the news of his captaincy in the season 7 finale.

An interesting thing that Ryan says is "So it doesn't really affect him as much as some of the other characters who happen to be a little bit more emotional or erratic in their behavior.”

And to me is reminiscent of what Tim said in his interview where he said Buck be the one who wouldn't be used to dealing with someone like Gerrard. (That was me paraphrasing what Tim said, btw.) It's really interesting to me that, if that's the case, they're drawing parallels between Buck's reaction to Gerrard and Eddie's reaction Gerrard. I'm super curious for that.

Ryan said that Eddie's journey this season is about loving himself. I'm very excited for that, very excited on this journey with him. (I know this was short, but to be fair, he only talked briefly talked about it in the interview.)

I find it interesting that when it comes to Buck and Eddie, Ryan (according to the writer, so take that as you will) said that "the duo are still "going strong," noting that Eddie will be a source of comfort for Buck when Gerrard makes things difficult on the job." And the next thing that's in quotations (which are his words) are about how both Buck and Eddie will lean on each other.

Even without taking this in a romantic light, I'm assuming it means that they'll have a lot of scenes together like they did last season. Which I'm personally not mad about because I just love Buck and Eddie's dynamic even if I'm not thinking about it with shipper goggles.

And there are more things after that, but since this post is already long and I've deemed those other things as not really pertaining to be about the storyline for Eddie this season. So this is where my conclusion is coming in.

What I've taken away from this interview is that there are two things that are prevalent in Eddie's storyline in 8A: his journey of self-love and his way of dealing with Gerrard being captain. I do think it's worth noting that by the sounds of it, Buck seems to be intertwined with Eddie's storyline in a way that the others aren't.

I keep saying this, but I truly am excited for this season. I can't wait to see how everyone's storylines pan out. I'm hoping that we get interviews from the other cast members that we haven't seen, because it seems like the storylines this season are really interesting.