#i also got a big spoiler while looking for a reference for tobi

[vagueeyes]

very unfiltered first reactions/thoughts on STAGE/FRIGHT.

‼️ spoilers ahead‼️

first off, i wanna say that before writing this, i'd only read @somuchwatersoclosetohome's post (for purely selfish reasons bc she mentioned me & i wanted to know why), so i'm sure none of this will be original 😅

second, i'm not someone who's good with jumpscares so i will be mentioning my reactions to those a few times here 😅😅

-before seeing this, what i was vaguely aware of was: bcdr being performed, something involving a medical chair & jars, the rotating guests & the post with the pictures from the closing musical number. other than that, i'm happy i was able to avoid most major spoilers & was VERY happy to be wrong about the latter (more on that later).

-before it started, i eavesdropped on a man & a woman sat behind me - i think they were talking about steve, bc the man said, "was he in that show about that woman? alma?"

-so. many. jumpscares. which i was prepared for but the first one got me. i loved the entire theatre's reaction though!! 😂

opening story

-initial reaction was "ofc they would start with something meta!" i thumbed through the little programme while waiting for the show to start but only scanned a bit over the big programme & didn't look at A HOUSE DIVIDED, so my main impression here was...is this partially what r wishes he could do to people who annoy him in the theatre/cinema??

-v clever use of special effects to show the audience the text messages!

-i hadn't thought of it at the time but after when lying awake at 3am (lol), i realised they "seeded" toby being the understudy when he got up and left & r came on wearing similar clothes (i think??) and sat in the same seat

-the blood splatter on r's face in the end!!

addressing the audience

-man, people must've been fighting to get the F9 seat, eh?

-the second jumpscare got me as well 🤦‍♀️

bcdr

-in hindsight, knowing this story was a part of the show was fine bc it was fun to try to see if they would do anything different with it, eg tommy stopping len from doing the spit take 😅

-rubik's clube!! did not get that was a bit at all

-not to knock on r&s's ages but i think it's interesting they still aged themselves up a bit, despite them being closer to tommy & len's ages at this point? hope that makes sense??

-spotting a cheese & crackers/merch tshirt as one of the things tommy takes out of len's bag was !!

-in general i thought s was fantastic here! idk if this makes sense but he's even more lively as len on stage than he is in the ep?

-and r's voice breaking at "you nearly died, len!" and opening & reading the card at the end 🥺🥺

the kidnappers

-initial reaction was "ah they're doing A QUIET NIGHT IN! ...oh wait, they're speaking"

-the guest for this one was su pollard! and i'm happy that i have heard of her 😂 i did laugh out loud when she listed HOUSE OF GAMES as something she'd been on, bc that's literally where i know her from (and wilty subsequently too!)

-REALLY enjoyed how much s and esp r were breaking during this story - so adorable whenever r had his back to us or adjusting his mustache 😭

-so i later gathered su/whichever guest saying "you could just let me go, you know" (something like that) and r replying with "i know how to use a phone, thank you" is a part of it. but then r said "...that's not the right line either" and puts the phone down in front of her - is this something that's different every time? feel free to let me know!

-the SARDINES reference! the theatre loved that one. and i did spot the single black shoe when the wardrobe was opened again. DDD my beloveddd 🥹🥹

-iT wAs JuSt A sTiCk Of CeLeRy!! lmao r's reaction

-su wasn't able to play the trumpet! the theatre also loved her final tirade at r&s before she ascends the stairs 😂 and everybody's reaction when "she" falls back down after the gun goes off 😂😂 su was lovely and a great sport!

-it was driving me nuts why the voice & performance s was doing here was so familiar. ty @silverview for mentioning that it was barry baggs!!

the ending of bcdr just before the interval was so well done!! and here i was prepared for the jumpscare 😬

terror at (of?) the asylum

-me just before it started: there's gonna be another jumpscare isn't there. jumpscare: *happens* me: 💁‍♀️

-even though this turned out to be a "stage production", i'd like to think they did manage to do a 4th period piece

-r as hugo omg insanity!! here it felt like i got a taste of what it must've been like to watch him live on the tlog shows, if that makes sense? the physical comedy!!

-really enjoyed the effect of the head in the painting being chopped off

-during the hypnosis part, when goudron cuts hugo's forehead, a guy somewhere behind me audibly yelled out/gasped lol

-the foot sawing!! i was surprised but weirdly delighted they fit in a MOTHER'S RUIN reference?? does what r do/say here change every night as well? here iirc he says "almost done now" (or "almost there/through" aiya can't fully recall, but it got a good reaction from the theatre!). and ofc his immediate reaction post-hypnosis 😂😂😂

-s as goudron!! man it's crazy how good he is at playing authority figures who turn out to be bastards

-towards the end, just before gaby french's character comes on stage, i did briefly think "this seems a bit OTT/panto-ish, i hope it's deliberate?"

the "stage production" & self-taping

-really cool use of the camera! i tried my best to focus on what was happening on the stage but did flick up to look at the projector screen a lot

-the fakeout of miranda hennessy's character not really being dead from the drilling 😂 that was great!

-man. the entire self-taping scene. my palms were sweating throughout! i loved how it was like they brought DEAD LINE to life and we the audience get to experience it for real!

-r as marcus being a creep at the end!! that was a surprise bc the only time he's supposed to have played a character with similar traits is in PRIVATE VIEW, and even then i did NOT know that char was supposed to be a creep until i read the script. so seeing r act this out here was super interesting??

-they (r??) can't help but namedrop sheridan smith again 😬

-i think you could see the possession/death coming but the way this segment ends was fantastic. when gaby turns the camera to the audience, the first two rows of people were visibly cowering 😂😂

finale/musical number

-when they came out for the first curtain call i was like "ok..." at toby appearing. at this point i'd forgotten he appeared in the opening (hence the 3am epiphany). some people near me also stood up to clap as well 😏

-the reveal of r being dead the whole time was sooo 🤦‍♀️ (affectionate). like ofc. it's so on brand!! i did laugh out loud at s's "when i looked over i didn't see toby, i saw reece" 🤣

-then s dying too! this is where i was like, thank god my thought on those pictures is about to be proven wrong! when i saw that post, i knew it would be the ending and that it was them performing "tears of laughter". but my initial thought was: they've added to bcdr's ending by having tommy die and join len in heaven! i've never been more glad to be wrong tbh!!

-"...toby?" "no it's not fucking toby" 🤣🤣🤣

-and tying it into their irl game of whoever gets to the office first has to set something up for the other one!!!

-i loved how they changed the song as well!

-overall the other cast members were great!!! esp anna francolini!

quick addendums to last night's post:

-seeing s in his (north face?) puffer jacket & r with his messenger bag was actually v !!! irl! idk why but i like seeing r with the bag? esp seeing him use similar ones (i assume it's not the same one but wouldn't be surprised if it was tbh) in the doc & those tlog(?) stage door pics!! 😊

-@silverview took me to a wetherspoons after and we had diet pepsis. i've never been to a pub before so it was a fun experience! side note - i don't like fizzy drinks but diet pepsi is weirdly good??

final note: not proofreading tbh bc i feel like i should've been able to express this last night!! my mind was just completely blank after stage door 🙃

[joniin]

god i wish that were me,

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1017 - Initial Thoughts

Back from another break but the fondness is the same

more One Piece is good One Piece and we were left on the cliffhanger 2 Tobi Roppo down, Sanji squaring to Queen, Yamato squaring to Kaido and Tama has the floor

Now let's see how we develop

Spoilers below and Support the Official Release

A Buggy cover page today, looking like something from Cubix...who's old enough to remember Cubix?

Tama has the stage, but she also has the stage fright. Queen having a go at her isn't helping either

Finally over to Jimbei and Who's Who is using his cat harem to pick away at Jimbei too

We also cut to Franky but he's not fighting Sasaki, being chased by grunt forces makes you wonder how that went down

Inu is being outnumbered too though, because Jack is a bitch

And all the grunts and gifters have come to fight the ones who turned on Queen for him not caring about their lives

Oda really highlighting the numbers advantage huh?

Encouraged by Nami and Usopp though, Tama makes the call, the Dango Gifters are on our side now

Momo's still got his heights problem, seems to imply that they didn't drop to land, they're still on Onigashima

Luffy though is just getting the water out of his lungs, still not physically conscious so we're not getting answers about what he did anytime soon

I dunno why but 'Briscola-san Why!?' tickled me

If he can't punch you the gorilla on his hand will!

The gifters are now evening the numbers for Jimbei, Inu and I'm guessing Franky

White-eye from CP0 is sensing the shift, while Tama's getting some much deserved hugs

Sanji stops Queen from attacking her though, Monster Trio all having protected the precious child

Sanji also doesn't like that Queen keeps calling him Judge's son, turns out they were in that science team, which is apparently called MADS, which also means that Queen worked with Vegapunk

Into the hybrid form now, but with some extra cyborg claws and a sword that appeared out of nowhere, Sanji ain't fussed

OH MY GOD TINY CHOPPER!

'Baby Gramps' is a weird name, I wonder if it has to do with the formality of Chopper's speech in these scanlations. Watch the WG only see this and up his bounty to like 200 because the pet can shri-TINY TINY CHOPPER! That's it, that's his new nickname, Tiny Tiny Chopper

They've got a drug for Cactus Zoro to take, he wants it even though it'll add to his pain later, they can recover when the fight's over

Though we should probably be worried what happens to Zoro's body after this, irreparable damage is not what we want from him

Back to Who's Who though, and his big sword is ...a tiny dagger

Huh, Blade Pistol, kinda like Shigan...

Then Soru and Rankakyu...this dude knows Rokushiki, he must've been Cipher Pol

Tekkai too, and now he's in his hybrid form

Ah, a rogue CP9 agent, busting out of prison too - must've been well away from Impel Down then

A rival to Lucci as well, that's high praise and explains why they both got Carnivorous Cat Zoans, wonder how things are now though since Lucci is CP0 and CP0 are dining with him

Fang Pistol now? What's next, the Rokuogan? But joking aside I do like that Rokushiki is coming back as relevant, it was such a big deal in Water 7 not fully explored outside of Geppo, I mean Tekkai got made redundant by armament Haki and nobody talks about Kami-e so it's nice to get a variant showcase

Turns out Who's Who was arrested 12 years ago from a mistake he made

Wait, WHAT!? He was guarding the Gomu Gomu no Mi!?

This changes things

For one, it means that the Gomu Gomu no Mi is a commodity for the World Government, something they wanted kept away from people. Part of me does worry that they're gonna make it some OP thing because I think a lot of Luffy's charm is the absurdity of his powers. I have faith in Oda to know that though, perhaps an enemy of theirs had it in the Void Century and there's the potential to inherit something from it - like how Sabo refers to his flames as Ace's will. Secondly though it means that Shanks stole it, Pre-Yonko Shanks stole this from a Government Ship which screwed over Who's Who, and went to Dawn Island where Luffy ate it. We have to ask ourselves what Shanks' original intentions for the fruit were much more intently now, you don't steal from CP9 just to make some booze cash. Who's Who may be someone we'll see beyond Wano because of this Shanks connection - I wonder how that encounter went during Marineford? - maybe via CP0, it also makes sense now how he could sniff out Drake's Deception (yes I know that's an Uncharted reference), but I still want Jimbei to kick his ass and steal his cat harem.

But I did like the more setup we have with Sanji vs Queen too, more to be told from MADS but I think the main thing to wonder is when Sanji opts to use the Raid Suit again. Tiny Tiny Chopper is a highlight, kinda means his new Rumble Balls have a Gear Third limitation on them, I wonder how long it does last. And Zoro getting back in the fight could imply a stand off with King - who has been very quiet along with Marco.

With Chopper tiny it means that he will probably not fight anymore, but the heroes still outnumber the villains in terms of named characters; Usopp hasn't had his fight, Apoo has just fell off the map with Drake, Neko has had a bit of Zoro-brain in his directions and Kawamatsu and Izo are probably just chilling wherever Marco is. We do need more enemies for them to get fights, Luffy's still needing time to undo all that drowning he did, also we kinda need a status report on Sasaki because it isn't really clear what happened between him and Franky, and where's Denjiro?

Thankfully there's no break this week but damn do the questions pile up

[salty-dracon]

Liveblog of Deltarune Chapter 2, in one Tumblr post.

DELTARUNE SPOILERS

Checking out Deltarune Chapter 2.

Does time move differently in the two worlds? I hope not.

Ralsei is so nice to us. Thank you Ralsei for your rooms made specially for us, and totally not over the course of 10 years.

Thanks Toby Fox dog for.... something.

The Internet world reminds me of Mega Man. Is this place like Web 1.0 with those giant cathode ray monitors or is it something else? The mention of Space Pinball makes me think it's the Windows XP era.

I just noticed that a sparkle flew off from us when we jumped into the new world. Was that our second uninvited guest, Rouxls?

Everything about Queen makes me want to punch her stupid face in. Good villain, I guess? Ughhhh she's so mean but in a 16 year old on a chat room kind of way.

The Werewires have such a good design.

Queen attempts to beat us at a fighting game, but with the power of friendship we got through it. "Bosom or Perish" lol.

It's not a highly emotional game without a dancing sequence by a highly irritating musician.

Yeah they're hinting at the Queen having a sidekick and him speaking in a way no one can understand. So it's probably Rouxls.

The enemies in this area look so good.

BERDLY!!! I have a voice in my head for this guy and it's Byakuya Togami, even now.

Triple trucies!

If I ever acted like Berdly towards you, I'm sorry. Also people who act like him suck. I want to draw him doing the Virgin Walk now.

Gamer's Delight of course it is.

I finally figured out the words for what Berdly is. An isekai protagonist. That's it. He's an isekai protagonist.

Hmm. Spamton. Don't like that.

Noelle's honest discussion about the city is a nice break from all the silly shit. I'm glad she could experience it. Why was she spelling out “December” on her walk, though.

I ONLY PLAY MOBILE GAMES

Wow, I didn't expect a shout-out to Kiwami Japan, aka the knife guy who makes knives out of increasingly weird stuff.

Berdly being ass at solving puzzles is giving me, who is good at solving puzzles, life. “Face it, you’re just as big a dumbass as the rest of us!” got me. The backstory for him is interesting, though. Once again, the word “December”, alongside a silhouette of Noelle. Hmm.

I knew those screams weren’t Ralsei! Lol, they were some of those giant conefaced plague doctor Phoenix Wright things!

The Tasque Manager enemy looks so cool.

Oh god. Blue checkmarks.

Is Nubert supposed to be a reference to Omori’s “Humphrey”?

I deeply adore all of the old computer references, like “Mouse Wheel” and the windows XP background behind Queen.

Thanks Toby Fox dog.

That post where it’s three versions of “has food thrown at me, inexplicably eats it all instantly” is what Susie just did. Like the “witch hitting me while i’m sitting in her cauldron: stop eating all the potatoes” one and the “woman throws a drink at me but i swallow it all perfectly” one. That’s what Susie just did.

mmmmmm battery acid and hands and logic puzzles

There’s Rouxls. He’s a pirate now.

GOD DAMMIT!!!

Noooooo poor Noelle. YESSS SUSIE COMING IN CLUTCH

amazing. pre character development noelle lent her a candy cane and susie payed it back by not picking on her. *slow, sarcastic clapping* bravo, asshole. bravo. fuck you

Noelle :’)

Wait a minute. Wait wait wait wait wait. Noelle calls her sister Dess. Noelle stayed silent when one of the words in the spelling bee was “December”. Noelle is Christmas-themed, with her being a reindeer, her name sounding like “Noel”, and mentions of Christmas songs and candy-cane pencils. Is it possible that Noelle’s sister’s name is December, and she lost December to an accident or something?

This is the funniest conversation ever, in the Ferris wheel. Aww. I hope it ends well for both of them. Ah. Berdly came to ruin it.

NOELLE????? WHAT????

This possible revelation that Noelle can strengthen the Darkness, and that a lot of this world is built on her own memories of this person named “December”, leads me to believe that actually, all of the worlds here are built from the memories of a person, in this case, this world was built from Noelle’s memories. But whose memories are the first world built from? Susie’s? Kris’s? Ralsei’s?

All of these boss themes ROCK!

Yeah as I thought, Queen is only acting to save Noelle.

What does the Knight have to do with any of this? There was a Knight in Undertale, though, I think- it was that guy lying on a wall near one of the shops. So the Knight apparently created the darkness through the power of determination, and with determination, which Lightners all possess, anyone can make more darkness. Hmm.

Epic final boss fight against Queen! I wondered what mechanic they'd bring back- turns out it was the fighting game. Despite being an asshole it seems she didn't really want anything bad to happen.

The Roaring is going to be the endgame I guess. Maybe it's the reason all the monsters are underground in Undertale?

And everything was back to normal!

At least Lancer's got a new mom now. Lancer's dad does not like her one bit.

Sans. Good to see you. Funny as ever. Cracking fourth wall breaking jokes about how goddamn long this part took to make.

There it is again. Kris's soul acting on its own- or, by the player's influence. If the last chapter suggested that Kris's soul wasn't ours to control, why did it let us do so again?

What the HELL? So Kris sometimes pulls her soul out, shuts it away, and lets it sit there while she goes out and does her own thing? That explains the connection between last chapter and this one. There's no discontinuity. We just didn't see her put her soul back into her own body.

So what Kris did just now was slash the cars tires. Why?

Oh. And there's the connection between The Knight and the events of this story. Kris, or at least her body without her soul, is the one causing these fountain of darkness to appear. That's why Kris, with her soul, is the only one who can seal them. Kris is the knight.

[theanimeview]

Review: “Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans” -  I’m Disappointed (SPOILER WARNING)

By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

It’s been (over) a month and I guess I need to talk about it.

“Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans” from the Tales of Arcadia series was a pitiful end to the franchise. I hope it’s a joke, but--let’s face it--it isn’t (probably). 

A few years ago I wrote a review of “How to Train Your Dragon” 3 and “Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans” had me feeling the same way as I did then: Disappointed. 

The Tales of Arcadia franchise has been a nice addition to my watch list for a few years now. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like the starting series of the group, “Trollhunters,” but “Wizards” and “3Below” are some of my favorite recommendations for a younger audience. The stories are pretty consistent with the kinds of messages they hold about overcoming self-doubt, making progress (even if slowly), being a good friend, and general growth of character over time is well defined. The animation is solid, and the comedy is fair (nothing that will bust your gut, but also not so cringe that you can’t sit through it as an adult while the kids watch it). 

Then the movie hit. 

I didn’t watch the initial release. I’ve always been a little behind on Netflix-watching and actually heard about the movie via some mixed YouTube reviews before sitting down a week after the pub-date to view it. 

I was surprised by the movie as much of it didn’t fit what I had seen in the franchise before. The first thing to note for me was that the primary main character, Jim Lake Jr., is a throwing a pity-party the whole movie. He’s a passive character, moping around while everyone else prepares for the major battle set to occur in the climax. In “Trollhunters,” there was a lot back and forth about his role and destiny in the early season. He wasn’t sure about himself, then he was sure, then he wasn’t, then he was again. It made sense as the responsibilities of being the Trollhunter were a lot to put on the shoulders of a teenager. Over the course of the series, that gets cleared over time and is further solidified as he works hard to fix the amulet and regain his power as the Trollhunter in “Wizards.” Even in other seasons, this back and forth of “I know who I am” and “I don’t know who I am yet” make sense. After all, the stakes change somewhat per season, and if you’ve ever been a teenager before that’s just how the puberty thing works for most people (I’m this--no, I’m not... Or am I?). 

However, by the time the conclusion comes about, Jim should have a solid hold of who he is and where he stands. In this movie, he should have been fully established as the Trollhunter and sort of was for about a minute near the end… only to immediately backtrack on that by going back in time and letting Toby pick up the amulet in his stead. Which--by the way--didn’t make any sense. I mean, thinking back on the “Trollhunter” series, the Trollhunter amulet didn’t choose Jim just because he was there, right? I’m almost 100% sure it was a “fate” thing. He heard the voice and Toby didn't, which is why he went back to pick it up in the first place after school ended. 

Also, what is he going to do with Toby as the Trollhunter? He’s got all this memory that should help, but early seasons showed Toby to be consistently unavailable either because he was at the dentist, physically not fit enough to get there fast enough, or something else. 

Moreover, it screws up his relationship with many of the trolls--including his early stand-in for a father-figure with Blinky. 

“Wizards” characters, especially Douxie, took a backseat entirely--quickly being removed for convenience sake at the end of nearly every meeting scene where the different series intersect... even though the main villains for the “Wizards” series are the big-bads of this film. 

And don’t get me started on the mess that happened with the characters from “3Below.” I’m just not referring to Steve’s pregnancy, by the way, which was strange. Steven and Eli were always supporting characters who appeared but didn’t do much in main storylines as they had their own thing going on with Creepslyers and such. I’m not sure why they decided to use this awful, awkward segway to remove them from any of the main story threads, but that aside--Aja and Krel were done dirty. Most of the time the twins were just seen flying around in this movie, and not much else until the fight at the climax which lasted a short minute out of the total run time. (And their screen time was split with the Creepslyer duo, which still doesn’t make much sense to me.) What was done with Douxie wasn’t much better as he loses his familiar half-way through and also loses common sense as a master or magic--thereby tossing all character development from “Wizards” OUT THE WINDOW. 

It was just a really disappointing and terribly written end to a fantastic franchise and honestly made me feel like most of it was written with the intention to pick up dropped storylines from the franchise that had been animated but didn’t make it into any episodes. It was choppy, not well written, terribly thought out in terms of reasoning, and--well... it was just disappointing. (Sorry to be repetitive; I’m struggling to find a better word.) This is made worse by the film being the end to not just one series, but three. 

It’s really sad.

But, on the up side, I can still show the shows to my nieces and nephews, I can still recommend it to people looking for something to play in the background, and I can still think about it as a pretty good series for kids… I’ll just tell them not to watch the movie and try to burn that ending from my memory.  :,-)

On a final note, I truly hope this doesn’t become a habit of DreamWorks. They’ve clearly got talented writers and a stunning animation team. Now they just need to figure out how to close the book without disregarding all that they’ve written. 

[feather-dancer]

Now Ghosts he left behind Chapter 3 has been out nearly a couple of weeks suppose now is an acceptable amount of time to go on about ~*themes*~ that have been cropping up in the fic so far that aren’t at all plot relevant but are still important things I want to do justice to: LGBT+ rep and mental health particularly centred around anxiety. Understandably the following will contain spoilers I can’t avoid it, sorry!

~~~

Mental health

It probably doesn’t come as too big a surprise on the latter front, after all in the second chapter of the Strickler fic I tagged for unhealthy coping mechanisms which are loosely based on my own which also happened to have a reference at the end of the second chapter in Ghost!AU showing how far he’d come since then. Now I’ve read some excellent fics on the PTSD front, a few on dysphoria regarding the change from human to half troll but in regards to anxiety many seem to fall into the trap of thinking somebody is a bit more skittish or that it just gives you a more nervous nature. As somebody who has generalised anxiety myself, I really wish it was that simple.

In this fic’s case the anxiety is being heavily tangled in the dysphoria of the change where he’s left alone to process everything while being hit with reminders of what he no longer is thus putting more fuel on the pyre as a result. In a stressful situation (Sometimes not even then!) it can get stuck in a loop of self-created belief such as here Merlin kept him away deliberately though we know this isn’t the case and will warp reality/memories to fit like how he misremembers that Merlin also said his visions are imperfect if there’s nothing to snap you out of it then those spirals often lead to panic attacks or worse a full breakdown. Here his brain is trying to make sense of the impossible, jumping to the most logical conclusion it can come up with and through bad luck has this very wrong thought process that he’s a threat to everyone else. Having been on one or two of these they really do suck! Quite often dissociation goes hand in hand whether you’re aware of it happening or not and thus far he’s had a couple bouts that he’s dubbing blackouts currently. There is also the classic ‘background’ noise variant where for no real reason your fight / flight reflex is jammed on when it feels like it though Jim as shown by the CBD techniques at the start of chapter 3 is doing his best to keep a handle on those spiking too far and Claire mentions he taught her a few to help out to show that his friends know and he is able to talk about it without feeling the need to hide in plain sight every waking moment. If you’re forced to stealth you get frighteningly good about hiding full blown panic attacks and it’s not a healthy situation to be in.

On Toby’s end he mentions a specific situation where anxiety was likely involved before Jim was diagnosed. In it when confronted with a situation option a was bad, option b was worse and there was no good outcomes because his brain got stuck on those. He also mentions being moral support helping get Jim into a position that he would be able to go home but refused to leave him alone until he was sure he was okay. It’s worth pointing out he figured the reason everything kicked off was the ‘problem’ of coming out to Barbara and her not reacting well (Which was an understandable conclusion!) and only later realised anxiety was what made the entire thing even worse and he unintentionally did the right thing to help. Barbara also mentions Jim being on medication for it, the original ones to mysteriously stop working which are implied to be while Toby was pretending to be Jim then moved onto another treatment which was brought up via Strickler’s concern about going cold turkey. As much as anxiety freaking sucks I felt it was important to show that nothing in relation to it is treated as abnormal, it is simply life with having your brain being a bit on the funky side and that sometimes makes you think illogically. It’s not your fault when it happens.

~~~

LGBT+

When I began writing this fic one thing I wanted from the get go is that characters who are LGBT+ are not forced into a scenario created by the plot to out them to the reader/someone else nor signposted in a cheap way to score points because even when you’re with friends who know you’re not saying it every two seconds and even more so when in a stressful circumstance where your son/best friend is currently missing. With this thought in mind, Jim has always been written as Trans but prior to Chapter 3 I simply had no way to bring it up because right now he’s too busy freaking out about being a half troll to notice if anything is different and on this same coin, Claire is Bi while Toby is Pan with a bonus order of trying to figure himself out. There’s others too! Sadly much like confirming Jim is also Bi I’ve not had a way to naturally bring it up as yet if I will at all but they are being written with it in mind.

Jim was a trickier one to bring up because he’s not about to vouch for himself so it was a much easier route to instead hint drop and hope one if not all of them clicked with a reader who he is without any of them being done in a way that could come across as dickish. Barbara got the first two with mentioning Jim should know better about using a given name in regards to Not!Enrique and a second one in regards to another form of medication he’s taking but because she didn’t know if Strickler knew (Incidentally he does) thus she deliberately phrased it vaguely and was ready for the possibility of upset without outing her son because she’s a good parent!! Toby is who gets the rest through a roundabout way mentioning how bad his pre-medicated anxiety could be when he came out as mentioned in the previous section and a second time where he says he didn’t care what he looked like because Jim is always Jim to him. The final important note was how he specifically said that he would not second party exactly what happened because it’s Jim’s choice if he tells her or not. We love and support good friends in this house.

Then there was the inclusion of the river troll Trisantona who is marked as non-binary by calling themselves the child of and the kids think absolutely nothing of it and are more annoyed with their attitude than anything else. Personally I see many trolls and changelings particularly very eh about gender and wanted a little implication they are far from the first troll they’ve encountered who doesn’t fit a human binary so it doesn’t even register as unusual. 

In Claire’s case she had two hints, the first bring a straight joke because it might be low hanging fruit but it’s hilarious I can’t help it while the second was her commentary on Toby’s reactions to name drops because she couldn’t resist teasing him. Small but both very deliberate.

Toby in the meanwhile has been having hint drops since chapter 2 which has only continued in how he keeps comparing reactions Claire is causing to what Jim does to him then you get him openly telling Claire about how it feels like his heart is a bunch of apartments and can the world stop having so many good-looking people in it. That ties in with the two mentions of doing research for a word he hasn’t quite got yet but he’s mostly been sidetracked by everything going on right now.

Homophobia, biphobia and particularly transphobia is rife and only increasing in this country where it feels like every week it’s only getting worse. While in the grand scheme of things it’s probably inconsequential it is important to be the change you want to see in the world. Mine? Even in this mess of an angst fic I want to showcase LGBT+ peeps who are treated as they should be with love and support by friends, family and strangers alike. Being Trans, Bi or whichever label that particular character uses it is simply part of who they are and not a character trait slapped on afterwards for easy points plus if I see one more fic where a Trans character gets outted to others without their consent because the author figured that’s the only way you can do it I’ll go feral.

In a completely unrelated note Douxie is non-binary Panromatic Ace in everything I write and anybody who doesn’t like that can suck it.

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

Toby Stephens and Luke Arnold on Black Sails Season Two

“Black Sails” returns for its second season on Starz on Saturday, January 24. Picking up right where the first season left off, Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and John Silver (Luke Arnold) are stranded with their crew on an island. I’ve seen the first two new episodes and got to speak with Arnold and Stephens when they were at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

Some light spoilers for season two follow, as it entails Flint and Silver boarding another ship, battling with other boats in their quest for gold. The action is only going to get bigger, the actors say, but we’ll never quite know whether to trust Flint or Silver, names you’ll also recognize from Treasure Island.

ComingSoon.net: Are Flint and Silver pretty inseparable now?

Toby Stephens: Yeah.

Luke Arnold: Yeah, we do. Season one, we had little bits to do with each other, but especially second season, we got to spend a lot of time together and luckily we don’t hate each other.

Stephens: You were sick of me by the end of the season.

Arnold: No, it’s been pretty nice. It is one of the great things in the show for me is to work with this guy.

Stephens: Mine as well.

Arnold: A big highlight of the season.

Stephens: It’s a lot of fun, because they’re such a mismatch. It’s a great relationship between the two of them stuck together. Circumstances have thrown them together. They don’t trust one another, they don’t like one another and yet they need one another. That’s kind of a cool dynamic.

CS: Is there less duplicity now that both of their agendas are right out in the open?

Arnold: It definitely begins that way. Without saying too much, I think that’s where they start. They’re very much on the same page. They go, “Well, we both want the same thing so let’s team up.” But I think their alliance is very dependent on that remaining true or remaining the same as the season goes on. So yeah, I think it constantly changes. From moment to moment they can be honest with each other and then you see maybe one of them. They’re never sure who’s going to cross whom.

Stephens: It’s also trying to work out what the other one’s bigger game is, because they’re both people who think ten steps ahead of the next person. It’s the reason that they kind of actually are similar. They’re chess players, but it’s trying to work out where are your ten steps ahead compared to where my ten steps ahead are. They’re both trying to figure out, okay, when you get this gold, what are you going to do with the gold? Do you really intend to get the gold? Where are we going with this? So they’re constantly trying to second guess each other. It’s not that they’re lying to one another. It’s just that we’re very economic with the truth.

Arnold: And it’s quite strange because Silver knows as much as anyone, if not more so, what this man is capable of and what happens to the men who are close to him. So he knows he has to be on his guard the whole time because he was in the room when Gates got choked out. So he’s very aware not to put too much trust in this man’s world.

CS: Do you catch up at all to Treasure Island this season?

Arnold: I think the shadows of Treasure Island start to hang over “Black Sails” much more in this series, which to me is my favorite thing about it. Plotting that chart for Silver between this young kid we see at the beginning of season one and the man we know he has to become. That’s both with Flint as well. You only hear about Flint in the book. Definitely the ghost of him is so strong.

Stephens: There are more references to the book, but what’s great is that it doesn’t become tied down by it as well. I was saying earlier, it’s like Robert Louis Stevenson saw “Treasure Island” from this vantage. We’re looking at it from this vantage. So it’s the same story, they’re the same characters but perceived in a totally different way. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote it in this kind of romanticized children’s almost naive point of view. We’re looking at it from a very 21st century adult way. It’s the same kind of thing but from a different angle.

CS: Speaking of literature, did you have a preference for Captain Flint or Rochester in Jayne Eyre?

Stephens: That’s really hard to say because they’re such different characters. Rochester is a literary archetype. He really is. I was very nervous when I played him because it was like am I going to be able to do Rochester right for all of these women out there who are totally obsessed by this character in fiction? But it was a very satisfying part to play and I loved doing it. In a way, Flint, we’re creating a character totally because he’s not in “Treasure Island.” He’s talked about. He’s referred to. We don’t know who this guy is so I’m starting afresh with the writers. That’s what’s really cool is creating this character. I’m not trying to avoid the question. It’s just really hard to compare the two because they’re satisfying in totally different ways. I would say they’re equally satisfying.

CS: How is the fencing training going?

Arnold: Training kind of adapts as we go. It really kicked off with our boot camp and got our basic sword skills under our belt. After that point, much more happens really fight by fight. There isn’t a time. Unfortunately there isn’t the time to keep getting us in the stunt room just for general training. We are in the gym pretty much every day but the fight training really comes a month or however long we can before the scene.

Stephens: Getting you in, choreographing the fight so that on the day… The problem was at the end of last season, the schedule got so constant that there was no time. There was absolutely no time, and it ends with this epic sequence which I won’t get into, but it’s a really epic sequence at the end of the season with loads of various fights with me and Zach McGowan fighting…

Arnold: Don’t say too much, man, come on.

Stephens: I’m not, and we had no time, so it was kind of like on the day, okay, this happens, this happens, then you do this and then we go to that. It’s all a bit last minute but that was kind of fun. It kind of added an edge to it that perhaps wouldn’t have been there.

Arnold: Like everything, it always happens in shooting. You’d always love more time with the training and preparation, but once the wheels start turning, that rehearsal and training time starts to disappear.

CS: The season starts out with a big naval battle, so does the pace keep up action-wise?

Arnold: Absolutely. There was plenty of action in season one but that is dwarfed time and time again in season two. While it is still the focus of “Black Sails” being a character-driven drama, there is so much action in the second season and the scale of it just gets bigger and bigger. If people want a bit more action, you definitely get it served up in the second season.

Stephens: The thing is, you’ve got to ration out. If you just have sea battle after sea battle, it’s boring. It’s like oh, another sea battle, they blow the sh*t out of each other, there’s a load of cannons coming. But there are all kinds of different action sequences that you can have within the context of this show. So it’s not necessarily just about ships. And I love the fact that we go back to London 15 years before. We reveal this whole other kind of world. Really, the kind of center of that world because that’s where it all comes from. All of the power comes from England. The reason that they’re there comes from England, so it’s cool that that takes us there and that opens up a whole other world for us.

Arnold: What I love about the first episode, and it’s where the writers are getting inventive in a great way is that we see a ship takeover in a completely different way, your and my little mission. There’s a really inventive, interesting, tense way to take over a ship rather than blasting it with cannons and throwing the hooks over and doing that thing. I think lots more of that where we start to see pirate action in not the cliche way you’ve come to expect.

CS: You’ve already got a third season.

Arnold: We’re in the middle of it.

CS: This whole time have you shot seasons back to back?

Stephens: We have a five month hiatus between where they have to write them. They start writing them.

Arnold: And also because the visual effects are so huge, that’s why we have to be over a year ahead. Even though we’re shooting season three now, they’ve only just put finishing touches on the end of season two ready to air. The post-production is so massive we have to be ahead of the game.

CS: What are Flint’s and Silver’s most redeeming qualities?

Arnold: I think Silver’s honesty about his intentions. I think even though he can be so duplicitous and can lie and has the gift of the gab, he’s also really able to just say, “Don’t trust me. Don’t rely on me for anything more than what I’m telling you. I’m only teaming up with you because we both want this. As soon as we get it, I’ll see you later.” And I think that clarity of his intentions is actually a really redeeming feature.

Stephens: I think Flint is that he’s brilliant at what he does. He’s an incredibly good seaman. As we find out, he was in the Navy so he’s properly trained. He is a really good captain and generally his decision making is sound. It’s just that it isn’t particularly perhaps the choices that his crew would want him to make. But his judgment is very, very good and rational. I think that’s his saving grace. 

- ComingSoon.net

[the-desolated-quill]

Amy’s Choice - Doctor Who blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Simon Nye. Now there’s someone I never thought I’d see writing for Doctor Who. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad he did. I just didn’t think this would be his thing.

For those of you who don’t know, Simon Nye is most well known for writing sitcoms. Most notably Men Behaving Badly, Is It Legal?, Hardware, and the criminally underrated Beast. Recently he’s received critical acclaim for The Durrells, a comedy drama series based on Gerald Durrell’s Corfu Trilogy and starring Keeley Hawes. So I was a bit surprised at the time to see his name pop up in the opening credits of Amy’s Choice. This couldn’t be the same Simon Nye, surely. And then I heard this line:

Dream Lord: (to the Doctor)“If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a tawdry quirk shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first year fashion student…I’m surprised you don’t have a little purple space dog, just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are.”

Yep. This is definitely a Simon Nye script.

As a result, Amy’s Choice has got to be the funniest episode so far this series. It’s absolutely jam packed with zingers and one liners. Too many to count. A few of my favourites include the Doctor reacting to Amy’s pregnancy (”You’ve swallowed a planet!”), the Dream Lord bluntly telling Rory what happens if they die in reality (”You die, stupid. That’s why it’s called ‘reality’”), and Rory’s reaction to an old man throwing him across a field (”He used to slip me the odd free toffee... Did I not say thank you?!”).

But of course there’s more to a story than just being funny, and thankfully Nye brings a lot to the table.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory encounter the Dream Lord, played wonderfully by Toby Jones, who has trapped the protagonists in two versions of reality. One in the TARDIS and one back in Leadworth where Amy is pregnant and she and Rory have long since stopped travelling with the Doctor. In each reality there’s a deadly danger, except one is real and the other is fake, and they have to decide which is the dream and which is the real world. An interesting premise, but it’s undermined sadly because the Leadworth reality is so obviously the dream. The constant references to how peaceful and tranquil it is, plus the fact that the entire world seems to cater to the things Rory wants in life were all a bit of a giveaway. So it’s a bit hard to be invested in this so called difficult choice they’ve got to make because to an intelligent audience it’s a no-brainer surely. It also ruins the emotional impact of Rory’s death because any lingering doubts you may have had about which is real are instantly evaporated because you know Rory can’t possibly be dead. I didn’t however consider the possibility that both worlds were fake. I thought that was a good twist. In the heat of the moment, you forget that if the Dream Lord has no physical form, he can’t possibly manipulate the real world, so how is the TARDIS in danger? Also it’s a clever bit of misdirection. Cold stars being fake seems really obvious in hindsight because we know that physics doesn’t actually work like that, but because Doctor Who has a bit of a reputation for twisting the rules of science around for the purposes of entertainment, we’re actually prepared to buy into it. For all we know, there could be such things as stars that burn cold in the Whoniverse.

Some people have criticised this episode because the monsters aren’t very scary. And yeah. Aliens disguised as old people aren’t remotely scary. It’s actually quite daft. The sight of old people shambling across a field like zombies and attacking Amy and Rory’s house with gardening tools has got to be one of the most surreal images I’ve ever seen in Doctor Who. It’s like Night Of The Living Dead. Or Nearly Dead in this case. (If I said that I found the scene where Rory hits an old lady on the head with a plank of wood hysterically funny, does that make me a bad person?). But if you’re only criteria for what makes a good Doctor Who episode is whether or not the monsters are scary, you must live a pretty sad life frankly. With a series as flexible as Doctor Who’s, do we have to keep going back to the same boring old monster of the week format? That’s why I love Amy’s Choice so much. It’s something different. It uses imaginative sci-fi concepts to explore the characters in greater depth.

At the end it’s revealed that the Dream Lord is actually the dark side of the Doctor’s psyche manifested, which completely changes your perspective of the episode in repeat viewings. Toby Jones does an impressive job with this darkly comic material, taunting Amy and Rory and spitting barbs at the Doctor, but once you realise who the Dream Lord really is, it all becomes clear what Jones and Nye are trying to achieve. The Dream Lord highlights all of the flaws in the Doctor’s character. The self loathing is evident, but we also see other, unsavoury traits highlighted by the Dream Lord’s costume changes. We see him dressed as an upper class aristocrat, which of course is to do with the Doctor being a Time Lord, but also to highlight the Doctor’s arrogance. We see him dressed as a doctor, which is obviously to display his intellect and his desire to help others, but this is where the Dream Lord explains the rules of his game, so it could also symbolise the Doctor’s power and influence over human life. Later we see the Dream Lord dressed as a butcher, which represents the Doctor’s capacity for violence and warmongering. He also mentions the Doctor’s brief stint as a vegetarian during the classic series, which could hint at the Doctor’s inability to commit. We see him dressed in a silk dressing gown and bare chested to represent the Doctor’s lust and attraction toward Amy (we’ll come back to that later). Finally we see the Dream Lord dressed as a racing driver, which represents the Doctor’s spirit of adventure, but can also represent a desire to recapture one’s youth. This is supported by the Doctor’s current incarnation as a young man (the youngest man ever to play the role in fact) and the Doctor’s tendency to pick attractive, young women as his companions.

Dream Lord: “An old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?”

The two worlds are also an extension of the Doctor’s personality and representative of his fears and desires. The TARDIS seems much more tantalising because that’s the life the Doctor enjoys. New discoveries, imminent danger and only one man to save the day. Leadworth, on the other hand, represents everything the Doctor hates and fears. Everything is slow. Peaceful. Boring. Even the aliens disguised as old people play into this. You could argue that they represent the Doctor’s fear of staying in one place, growing old and becoming irrelevant. Also they’re ancient alien refugees whose homeworld was destroyed and they leave death and destruction in their wake. Sound familiar?

But as interesting as all of this is, this episode isn’t really about the Doctor. It’s about Amy. But before I go into that, I have just one minor complaint to make:

Rory: “You ran away with another man on the night before our wedding.”

Amy: “Not in that way.”

Er... YES in the way! Absolutely in that way! I’m sorry, are we just going to ignore the ending to Flesh And Stone?! (I know it’s tempting, but...). Hello! Earth to Moffat! Trying to have sex with another man on the night before your wedding is not what normal people do in a healthy relationship! It’s kind of a big deal!

In the end, it all comes down to Amy’s choice. But she’s not just having to choose between dream and reality. She’s having to choose between two lives. Adventures with the Doctor or married life with Rory. And this is where we see the Doctor at his ugliest.

The two realities are not just manifestations of the Doctor’s fears and desires. They’re also meant to skew the odds in his favour when Amy makes the choice. It’s been hinted at previously, but the Dream Lord makes it crystal clear. The Doctor cannot understand how Amy could possibly be attracted to someone as unimpressive as Rory, and so the Dream Lord tries to entice her. He can tell Amy finds the Doctor attractive, and the scene where he’s in the silk dressing gown implies the feeling is mutual. But it’s not as simple as that. As much as the Dream Lord wants to entice her, there’s a hint of cruelty in there too. As much as the Doctor is possibly attracted to Amy, the Dream Lord makes it incredibly clear that she’s not his equal and will always be beneath him. Up until now, Amy has borderline hero worshipped the Doctor, and while the Doctor will never admit it, the Dream Lord shows that he does actually enjoy this feeling of superiority over her. So at this point the choice becomes either living a life with a mundane man that will love her and respect her or living a life with an exciting adventurer who will never fully trust her or treat her as an equal.

Ultimately Amy chooses Rory. Not just because she realises what a jerk she’s been to him all this time, but also because she finally realises that the Doctor is not the perfect hero she imagined him to be. And while Rory may be more mundane compared to him, he’s a better man than the Doctor.

I have to say Karen Gillan really shines in this episode. I’m not sure if I’d go as far to say that I like Amy now, but at least we’re addressing these issues and I really like the emotional journey she goes on. And after his wooden performance in The Vampires of Venice, Arthur Darvill has improved dramatically. The scene where he’s carried Amy up into the baby’s room and is looking at the cot and silently worrying about his wife’s safety was incredibly powerful. Matt Smith was good too of course, but it’s Gillan and Darvill who are the stars of this episode I feel.

Amy’s Choice is, in my opinion, the strongest episode of the series so far, using an imaginative premise to show us the Doctor’s more sinister side and explore how his companions react to this. It’s intelligent, entertaining and creative in equal measure, and I really hope Simon Nye will get the chance to write another Doctor Who episode in the future.

[terramythos]

Review: HIVESWAP ACT 1 by Whatpumpkin Studios (2017)

Genre/Tags: Atmospheric, Puzzle, Adventure, Parallel Worlds, Multiple Protagonists, Female Protagonist, LGBT Protagonist, Humor, Science Fiction, Lore Heavy, Multi-Part, 2D.

Warnings: Genocide and emotional abuse/neglect are both pretty heavily referenced. They’re both called out for being awful.

Playthrough Notes: I’m told stuff you do affects future acts as well as the parallel game. But I have absolutely no idea what notable things I’ve really done at this point, so… lol?

My Rating: 4 / 5 (Recommended)

**Minor Spoilers and My Thoughts Follow**

Xefros, I am going to do my absolute best to raise your standard of friendship to the point where having your name remembered is not the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you. -Joey

My Summary: While this is takes place in the same universe/continuity as Homestuck, it’s its own distinctive side-story. Evidently this game will be published in four acts with a sequel/parallel game called Hauntswitch, also comprised of four acts. Which I guess makes for eight games total? That’s crazy.

You play primarily as JOEY CLAIRE, who is playing outside with her brother JUDE HARLEY when they are attacked by some weird monsters. As a result, Jude holes himself up in their treehouse while Joey flees into their weird expansive mansion and hides in her room. The two of them put their heads together to navigate the now hostile homestead and solve puzzles in relatively straightforward point-and-click. You learn about Joey’s generally absentee adventurer father and her now deceased mother, and her thoughts and attitudes on a variety of things. Joey eventually escapes to the attic and uses an ancient family heirloom from her late mother to unlock a weird alien relic.

As soon as she does, however, she is thrown through a portal onto a strange alien world known as Alternia, trading places with someone from that world. Once again solving a variety of point-and-click puzzles, she explores this alien world and befriends an alien “troll” named Xefros.. She has to team up him to help with that world’s conflict and find a way home. Meanwhile, a troll named Dammek has been sent to Earth in her place, and the consequences of this are not yet known. 

The Good:

This game is visually quite nice. The backgrounds are hand-drawn with an immense amount of detail, and the character animations and cutscenes look very fluid. It’s good they went for the 2D approach and scrapped the 3D models, because this looks much nicer. The amount of detail in the backgrounds went a long way in making the world feel genuine and real.

Once you reach the actual “swap” part of the adventure, things really pick up in terms of story and character. I was worried because the Earth part seemed to drag a little bit, but the overarching conflict and level of world detail is appealing once you get there. That’s not to say the Earth part isn’t interesting, but the stakes are relatively minor.

The minigames were quite cool; there’s the turn-based (ish) “STRIFE” sequences which nod to the comic, and a version of SNAKE used to open doors. They’re well-animated and worked quite well. I thought it was pretty cool that they bothered to include minigames at all for a rather short and simple adventure game.

In true classic adventure game fashion, the number of interactions between items you pick up and various objects in the environment is frankly insane. I want to know who was capable of writing dozens of unique dialogues about using a jar of spice or a pigeon on every item in the game world without it falling flat. These also lead to some interesting bits of information (and amusing achievements).

The writing in general was solid with a good sense of humor. I laughed at the official title.

Unsurprisingly, the soundtrack (composed by Toby Fox and James Roach) is very good and brought the game to life. Some of my favorites were Snake Escape, That’s How I Beat Snake, Rustblood, and Wish You Were Here. Those are links if you’d like to listen. 

The game feels true to some of the best aspects of Homestuck; nostalgia and the sudden emergence of surprisingly deep/complex lore. Joey’s room, for example, really brought me back to my own childhood. And, of course, most fans of Homestuck will probably be thrilled how much this game expands on troll culture and Alternia in general.  

Homestuck fans will probably enjoy the references to the comic; it’s obvious who Joey and Jude’s father is, who their babysitter is, the design of the portal, etc. There’s also smaller references in dialogue and some of the objects you interact with. At the same time if you haven’t read it, these things won’t really bother you; they’re extraneous details.

I liked the characters! Joey got the most screentime. Xefros and her definitely felt the most well-rounded, but you get a glimpse of the other characters through dialogue of the main two. Probably the most interesting thing was the character relationships. The only one who feels a bit underutilized is Jude, but you do get details about him and he will be one of the stars in Hauntswitch so… make of that what you will? 

The Mediocre:

For being an adventure game, there really isn’t much in the way of puzzles as of this act (with one major exception). There’s some minor “use x item on x thing” parts but that’s about it. This appears to be intentional, as the game lampshades this by setting up big puzzles that get solved rather easily and calling attention to it. Overall the game seems more concerned with telling a story as you navigate various setpieces, which may or may not be your thing. I was fine with it as that’s pretty true to the premise of mspaintadventures.

It’s hard to say, as someone who read Hometuck, whether or not this is as approachable to someone unfamiliar with the source material. My thought is yes-- it’s an independent story. But there are a lot of references, and newcomers may be confused by some aspects of, say, troll culture. This might be a good starting point for people looking to get into the series because I feel like a lot of references would work well in reverse as you discover them in the comic.

I am told that this game Has Bugs, some of which are gamebreaking. I do not deduct on this because I did not personally encounter any, but it’s something to keep in mind. Save often.

The Bad:

There are some parts where it’s just really difficult to tell what the game wants you to do, which can be frustrating. It’s less puzzle solving and more mashing everything until something works. I consider that a pretty major flaw of adventure games in general.

Act 1 is short; my total play time was 3 hours. On one hand, this isn’t bad because I kickstarted this game and will be getting copies of the subsequent acts. But $7.99 for a 3 hour game is a bit excessive for people who don’t already own it. It might be better to wait for a full release.

Final Thoughts:

To be completely honest with you, after the development hell this game went through I expected it to blow chunks. I was surprised by how nice the game looks and feels. The story is interesting enough that it doesn’t just feel like fanservice, which was another concern of mine. It takes place in the same continuity as Homestuck, yes, but it’s very much its own thing, which makes it a good fit for fans and newcomers alike.

The concept itself is quite interesting and makes sense for the universe. I greatly enjoyed the level of detail to be found in the environment of each area. The artists working on the project really outdid themselves. And it’s always a good sign when at the end of a first “part”, I feel the desire to continue the story and see what happens to the characters.

Of course, the gameplay is also pretty good. It’s not mindblowing or anything, but other than the occasional small clickbox it plays pretty smoothly. As mentioned earlier, it feels more like a story than a game, which may or may not appeal to you.

Again, though, I think it’s priced too high for what you currently get. I assume they will release subsequent parts and bundle them for a better deal. But if I wasn’t already a fan and didn’t already pay for the game five years ago, I probably would skip on it until there was more bang for my buck. Catdeer. Whatever.

“WISH YOU WERE HERE”

[natlovetheauthor]

Mr. CAvAnAugh is  A.D (Updated Theory)

If you haven’t already please read my last theories about Mr. Cavanaugh so you can catch up! I promise everything comes in full circle and your questions will be answered! I was going to do a huge edit to make everything fit, but I decided to leave my other theories, and to update this one.

PLEASE READ OR ELSE IT WILL NOT MAKE SENSE, AND YOU WILL HAVE TOO MANY QUESTIONS……

   1.       https://prettylittleobsessednatalie.tumblr.com/post/159816157736/mr-cavanaugh-is-big-bad

   2.       https://prettylittleobsessednatalie.tumblr.com/post/159816162046/prettylittleobsessednatalie-winter-chill-recap

   3.       https://prettylittleobsessednatalie.tumblr.com/post/159816067786/spoiler-alert-i-cant-get-over-how

   4.       https://prettylittleobsessednatalie.tumblr.com/post/159816169151/prettylittleobsessednatalie-in-season-7-episode

   5.       https://prettylittleobsessednatalie.tumblr.com/post/159816108756/i-was-getting-upset-because-my-phone-wont-let-me

Okay so let me begin……

After reading the book Winter Chill, I have came to the conclusion that the person behind the mask will not only be somebodies parents, but will also be A man. I have been thinking that A is Mr. Cavanaugh since the beginning, and I have a lot of reasoning behind it. I have used Bethany in a lot of my old theories so for now let’s pretend that Charlotte is the new Bethany.

   1.   LOLITA is the first book theory I have conducted. A lot of people       think Lolita was just about the Aria/Ezra or Alison/Ezra       relationship, but I honestly think it was deeper than that. Lolita is       about a 40 something year old man that had a relationship with a 12       year old girl. Although both Alison and Aria were young and having       relations with Ezra, Ezra was never considered old enough to be       Humbert. (Please read my Mr. C theory to know where I am going with       that one.

   2.   We have NEVER met Toby’s father (Mr. Cavanaugh) nor have we ever met       Jenna’s mother. They are one family that I believe should have been       seen by now especially since all these “accidents” have happened to       both Jenna and Toby. When asked if we have seen A.D before, Tyler       Blackburn claims “You’ve never met them. You kind of have. When you       see it, you’ll understand what I am saying.” What a perfect way to       sneak in a parent that has been mentioned but no seen. Another factor       comes from the book “Winter Chill” where the parents, ultimately the       father was the corrupt at the end of the book. It would work PERFECT!    3.   Spencer was asked the join the –A team a couple of times. If you       think about it, Toby, Spencer and Charlotte were all on the –A team.       This team could have been formed for the safety of the A team.       Whoever A.D. is, is making sure that the –A team is safe, which is       why he/she is so upset that Charlotte was killed.    4.   Charlotte sang “Lord help the mister who comes between me and my       sister.” I still think that Charlotte knew exactly who her mother is       no matter what, simply because she used the last name “Drake.” If she       knew that Mary was her mother, I would not doubt that she knew that       Spencer was her sister ESPECIALLY if she and Melissa really had a       conversation “that night.” I believe she was going after Toby when       she sang this, but I don’t think that Toby is the villain. I think       the show is showing a lot of sketchy things about both Toby and Jenna       but it could be aimed towards the parents (step) of these two.    5.   In an “A” text that was sent before the Charles/Charlotte reveal       there was a text sent to Spencer that said “We’re all related Spence.       Some more than others.” Charlotte knows the entire game too, and       someone on the “good” side knew and killed her.    6.   Toby made a comment about never leaving Rosewood. Is he here to       protect his father?    7.   Keegan Allen (Toby) made a comment about how he couldn’t sleep after       watching the reveal of A.D. is this because it had something to do       with him?

      Mr. C is A.D.

      I believe Mr. Daniel Cavanaugh has been around the beginning. Alison       was the hit of the town and Toby’s father may have taken a “Lolita”       liking to her. She always talked about being with older men and may       have strung Mr. Cavanaugh along and used him, or he could have simply       been infatuated with her. He would fit the perfect age for a Humbert       character.  We see Jenna’s family moving into the Cavanaugh house       shortly after Mrs. Cavanaugh’s death. We have never seen Jenna’s       mother or step father which I think is totally sketchy because both       Jenna and Toby’s parents are mentioned. Toby mentioned wanting to get       away from his “screwed up family” 3x05. When Ali claimed to see Toby       spying on the girls while they were getting dressed, I received       strange Mr. Cavanaugh vibes. We have no idea what he looks like, and       in Wikia it claims that Mr. Daniel Cavanaugh looks similar to Toby.       This screams NAT club to me, and I’ll get to that later. Along the       lines of Toby’s screwed up family we are aware that Toby’s mother had       a mental illness (just like the mother in WINTER CHILL). In LOLITA,       Charlotte, Humbert’s wife finds out about his obsession with his       daughter and nymphets in general from his diary. She confronts him,       tells him she is leaving, runs in front of a car, and gets killed.       Although Marion’s death was supposedly done by Bethany, I believe       that she could have found out about Mr. Cavanaugh’s NAT obsession by       watching his videotapes. She had to go because she knew too much.       Mr. Cavanaugh also is mentioned in 4x16 after Peter Hastings plans on       shutting down Radley, then decides against it.(I believe he thought       twice about it, or was threatened with the truth being exposed about       Spencer being a Radley baby.) Mr. Cavanaugh and Toby were given a       settlement for his mother’s death, but told not to speak about the       situation again. Spencer voices that she thinks that Mr. Cavanaugh       should not be involved with the process until they know everything       about Marion’s murder, but Toby tells Spencer that “I want to do       this, I NEED to.”With the settlement money, Mr. Cavanaugh would have       been able to build a dollhouse comfortably. We are still unaware       about what Mr. Cavanaugh does for a living, but I am sure Toby hasn’t       got his handy work from just anyone.       It is very possible that Charlotte and Jenna could have been friends.       Charlotte knew how much Jenna hated the liars and could have let her       in on the plan to a certain extent. We know that Jenna now knows who       A.D. is and she seems very comfortable with who it is, almost as if       she knows that she is “safe.” Who could keep her safe more than       anybody? A parent most definitely. Charlotte and Jenna have been       playing for the same team since it started. I believe Charlotte was       just a pawn just like Mona was. In this episode right after a news       report on Bethany Young was mentioned, the Cavanaugh house blew up.       This could be WINTER CHILL foreshadowing. After the death of a child       the inner monster was created in the book. In 4x16 A.Cavanaugh was       seen in 4x16 which can be literally mean A. Cavanaugh or Daniel       Cavanaugh. The cabin in 4x16 showed two boys in a photo, which is       supposed to be Ezra’s cabin. I’ve mentioned twins before but this       very well could have been Toby and Charles as young boys. 5x15 “Fresh       Meat” Toby finds his old Family knife with blood on it in the woods.       When Spencer asks how he knows it’s his he tells her “my dad popped a       top off the jar with it when I was 8.” Toby also says “When I saw it       I froze, a million things went through my head and for a minute I       forgot I was a cop and left it.” Or did he really know that his dad       very well could have been the one to actually USE this weapon? Toby       also tells Spencer and Caleb “that knife could be the murder weapon.”       Spencer was under the impression that they were being framed for       Mona’s murder, but I believe Toby may have figured everything out at       this point in PLL. In regards to Jenna, not too many people have       noticed that the games did not start until she moved in with the       Cavanaugh’s. When Jenna came, Ali disappeared soon after. Ali was       mean, and snooty to Jenna, and then blinded her with a firecracker.       All the reason for a parent to absolutely hate Ali, seek revenge, and       cause chaos to her entire family, just like she did to the Cavanaugh       family.       I believe that Mr. Cavanaugh may have inserted himself into the game       more fiercely after his house was blown up. According to Marlene,       Charlotte is the one that blew up his house, but the reasoning is       unknown. Maybe Charlotte was actually trying to help the liars, and       this is the reason she was forced onto the A team. Charlotte was       definitely a pawn, and this is why her story made absolutely zero       since. She was told to fake it, and made the decision to kill her       ‘family’ to end everything. She may have known exactly how the game       would end.       As far as Melissa, she knows all and I truly do think that she has       been protecting Spencer all along. I think Melissa knows everything       about the NAT Club, the affairs, the secret kids, Mary and whatever       else everyone is hiding, and to protect her family she is playing       along with A.D. It definitely makes sense that she would be       considered A.D. Melissa stays out of the way a lot and I believe this       is to protect herself. When she does play along, it is for the safety       of spencer and her parents.       In 2x13, as Hanna and Aria were walking through the woods, a person       in a mask popped out and scared them, and when it did it touched       Aria. Could HE be the one that Alison fears the most? Could that have       been Mr. Cavanaugh?       Sara Harvey (RIP) claimed that every year on Septemeber 7th, HE would       bring her a red, white and blue cupcake. The liars blinded Jenna       around the 4th of July, and next to their mailbox was a small       American flag (red, white, and blue). Also, in a recent episode 7x07       when   Jenna tried kissing Toby (WIERDO) they were out on the lake on       the Fourth of July with fireworks going. All of the 4th of July       references with the Cavanaugh family cannot be a coincidence.       Mona definitely knows everything, I’ve said this a thousand times and       will say it a thousand more. She is working to keep the liars safe,       probably from guilt because of what she has started, but she is smart       enough to keep herself safer.       NAT CLUB.       The NAT club, the biggest clue yet! I believe the ultimate villain       will be the one behind the scenes of the club! Mr. Cavanaugh. Because       Alison ‘caught’ someone staring at the girls through the window, and       Ian was recording Alison in a provocative way, I will assume that the       NAT club was more than just secrets about everyone, it may have been       a little raunchy. (Quilty from LOLITA). I could see Mr. Cavanaugh       having his pawns recording for his pleaure, but also collecting and       having dirt on everyone in the NAT club, so that no one had the urge       to spill his secret. It is no coincidence that EVERYONE from the NAT       club is dead EXCEPT for Jason, and I really think this is why he       stays away from Rosewood just like Melissa. He knows a lot but his       years of partying could have made him forget a lot as well. Quilty       from LOLITA had a secret pornographic business going on, which       reminds me of Wilden’s stash that was found in 4x07. Wilden       definitely was apart of the club and could have been worried about       people finding out about his past which made him desperate to shut       Ali and whoever else needed it up.

      I noticed that Toby had a couple parallel’s this season. One was the       similarity he had to A.D. with his glasses on. Antoher was the fact       that he is now a widower just like his father. He has stated many       times about how he can’t leave Rosewood…..

Thanks for reading! M. Natalie Love May 12, 2017

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 989 - Initial Thoughts

And we are back from yet another break as One Piece looks to ease into the big battle Hopefully we’re past most the breaks and can get a steady flow of new chapters

Spoilers for Chapter 989 - support the official release as well

We will start as we mostly do with Pound, and he’s got the most tightest of receipts to prove his parentage, will they believe it? Possibly not, depends if they remember how Big Mom looked young

Also, I keep on forgetting that young Big Mom could get it and why she has so many kids...

So unsurprisingly, Kaido’s men fear the wrath of BM after Franky put a wheel in her face, all the while Nami sucks up to Franky in gratitude

Look at Franky’s face though, looking away like ‘only Robin is allowed to stroke my face’, also Carrot in the background

Meanwhile as I noted last time, Yamato declaring themselves as Oden to Momo (and Shinobu) does not go down well. Luffy uses ‘she’ in this text but I feel like that may just be a fan mistranslation

Oda really likes drawing BM as creepy as he can doesn’t he?

I guess there’s a positive in this that Kaido’s inhibited men are no match for the alliance and samurai, but there is the worry that there’s only the challenging lot left, I don’t feel confident for Hyou against the Tobi Roppo (where did Ulti disappear to, she was fighting Yamato)

I also keep forgetting that BM has only met a fraction of Luffy’s crew, meeting Franky does fall in line with her interest in different races, but Franky has no time to flirt like Brook once did

The balls on Franky (when they’re not in Robin’s purse or her Grab) to aim right at BM though, he fears no yonko!

The Numbers crash in though, before I mention them BM looked like she was gonna pull up a meat shield with that Homie there

The Numbers do look a lot like Oars, turns out they’re ‘failed’ recreations? Given their laughs Go, Ja and Ji I’m guessing they laugh in their number value

Strange though, BM seemed completely unfazed by the fact that Kaido got ‘Failed’ Ancient Giants from Punk Hazard, which means they likely came from Ceasar, who was researching Gigantification...for Big Mom...I feel like we’re missing something in between here

Alas poor Usopp and Chopper, Usopp’s showdown with the giants looks like it’ll have to wait

I do feel like we may’ve overestimated the Numbers’ threat though, we’ve seen about half of them and so far one has just been destroyed by Franky’s Radical Beam. What happened to Apoo as well?

WHAT KIND OF GAINS IS JIMBEI ON? He just reverse judo flipped a Yonko 3-4 times his size mid-air!

And finally something for Robin, that’s a long-ass Delphinium to keep BM busy and dizzy...though if she were still Miss All Sunday the end point would be in the ocean for sure

Usopp’s in a bad way, until Fusion entices him back to life XD Luffy would too if he were there, I wonder how Yamato would react though given how Oda has often split the fusion’s reaction between genders

Sometimes I have to wonder about Queen you know? Here he is, standing on an empty execution platform, Luffy pops up and it turns out, Zoro’s been next to him all this time XD

Zoro doesn’t want the commanders though he wants a slice of that Dragon for himself!

Queen does soon get their act together, it must’ve been an impressive catch too since Luffy was using his Rocket

Is it me though, or did anyone else find it odd that Queen had Zoro and Luffy in his mouth, took one look at King and his army of flying SMILEs and decided to spit them out? Like you could’ve bit them in half, or just kept them trapped, that feels like either it’s intentional or a strategic mishap

Unsurprisingly, Sanji’s Raid Suit saved him from fatal damage against King, though it doesn’t look like they’ll renew things just yet

Hyou giving us some death flags though, looks like the Samurai plan to support the crew in the tower climb

But we get our full crew ‘Hero Shot’ (as the gif is a reference to), Sanji jumped out of that raid suit quickly didn’t he? And now seeing Robin’s full outfit I just...trust me, I have 0 problems with Robin’s thighs but if that kimono was any shorter it’d be a jacket, same with Nami’s really

Of course the hero shot is only the current Straw Hat crew too, Carrot seems to have shuffled away from the spotlight, another time maybe, we know she’s still fighting with the crew and not the minks

But looks like the whole crew do plan on confronting Kaido, they just have to get through King, Queen, 2 Numbers and the flying SMILEs

So the tower climb will begin. Interestingly we still are missing the visual of Inu and Neko’s Su Long transformation, the longer they wait it out the more worrisome it feels that the Minks are gonna be crushed. I do feel that a lot of people will be upset by Big Mom’s treatment again, but I think it makes sense a bit, the crew are not heavily damaging her after all, they’re basically keeping her at a distance so they’re not caught in her attacks. Her angered presence also made it handy to dispose of the fodder among Kaido’s ranks. What most intrigued me though was the characters that quickly went missing from last chapter. I know I keep track of the characters yet to appear (how will BM’s delphinium bode when Marco and Perospero arrive?) but this one is very strange; Zeus and Prometheus disappeared from that one attack, we only saw Napoleon, likewise Ulti just up and disappeared too, is she chasing Yamato down? I hope so but of course there are still those other players in the game, does Hyou encounter a Tobi Roppo I wonder? or will that fall mainly on Yamato, Shinobu and Momo.  As for the crew I’m happy to hear that taking Kaido is at least planned to be a group effort, we’ll see how it goes in practice without another week break this time around

[jess511]

“The Six Thatchers” thoughts!

THIS POST CONTAINS MANY AND MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR “THE SIX THATCHERS” IN DETAIL.

IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED DO NO LOOK ANY FURTHER!!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Okay. As I’m starting this it’s been nearly 24 hours since the end of the first episode of series 4 of Sherlock. In that time I’ve had quite a few discussions and watched little bits again and I’ve just done a full re-watch for the first time and I watched with my dad who was watching for the first time. I made some notes while I watched. A lot of these are things I've gathered from around the fandom but some are my own - or at least ideas i haven’t seen anywhere else yet!

Part of this is to join in the discussion. Part of it is just to get it all out of my head!

This is mostly in chronological order of events in the episode though I do jump around a bit when I get things like are linked together.

(Also i haven’t proof read this because effort so apologies for any inconvenience).

I want to actually just start with my thoughts on the John cheating plot-line as this seems to be the thing that has caused the most discussion (and rightly so. I think reactions to this particular thing are very different and often personal to each viewer).

·         I believe/know that Little Miss Bus Stop (Tor I stole your name sorry...i love it) or “E” or “Elizabeth” as she will be known, will be back. I am hoping this will elaborate on the story-line and we will see things clearly. I suspect she has been sent in to get to John/Sherlock but this still doesn’t mean John had to do what he did.

Purely based on what we have been led to believe so far here are my thoughts:

·         I believe the implications were it went no further than texting such as “it was nice getting to know you a little”.

·         I think it is one of the many debates in the world as to whether this counts as cheating. Example, my dad who just watched it with me was like hmm *shrug*, whereas I would say it does. It is as least an emotional affair. The intent behind it seems to be there.

·         Contrary to some believes I do not think it was particularly out of character for John based on what we have seen from him in the previous series’.

o   See the “addicted to a certain lifestyle” scene in HLV, he has Sherlock Holmes as a best friend and an assassin as a wife. “Because you chose her” “he’s right, it’s what you like”.

o   The man has never been perfect. He missed being in the war he is absolutely addicted to risk taking on whatever scale – hence his happiness around Sherlock and backed up by the fact he was happily storming a drug den for something interesting to do 1 month into married life.

o   The man is the biggest flirt on the planet and never seemed to be a particularly good boyfriend.

o   I admit I do believe we have been shown he is loyal. This is the one trait that I thought got a kick in the teeth and I am very much aware that it is very different being a bit of a flirt when you’re single or just started dating than being married with a child so I understand that.

o   He does have “trust issues” though. Maybe the lying from Mary set that off. Who knows? He trusts Sherlock though. Usually.

·         “I always liked Mary” “Me too…I used to”. I’m interested in what he meant by this and when he decided he wasn’t so keen.

·         John is one angry man with a lot of issues and flaws. I adore him though he clearly can be a bit of a twat, and I believe he is generally a good man. Not unlike another main character of our show. Sherlock also being one of the reasons I just cannot hate John. Sherlock loves him so much.

ANYWAY where was I?

·         I’m going to need more of Sherlock and Rosie in the future. That was ADORABLE.

·         I thought the car seat case was amazing! Really clever albeit brief. I’ve actually just been having conversations about theories with a friend – I love this fandom – and we were talking about Lestrade using the word “Strasse” (German for ‘street’) when saying “right up your Strasse”. Odd choice of word. Though could just be Lestrade having a bit of fun and just putting the word in there and nothing more. This led to conversations about further references to Germany like the conversation about ‘Ostalgie’ (the German phrase from, if I remember correctly from my German A Level days watching “Goodbye! Lenin” that describes nostalgia from when Germany was split into East and West. After the wall fell there was nostalgia (nostalgie) for how it used to be in East (Ost) Germany. Actual Germans or historians or just people generally may correct me on that. This led to (it’s coming back round I promise) my saying that it is probably a complete coincidence because I don’t think this is famous or common knowledge, but we were once told by my German teacher that someone successfully escaped across the Berlin wall by sewing themselves into a car seat. I kept thinking about that during this case! Maybe Mark Gatiss just likes the Cold War or that time period. Wasn’t “Cold War” the title of a recent Doctor Who episode of his? Plus he wrote “Hounds” which had a few Thatcher references…something you want to tell us Mark?

·         John’s wink when he hung up the phone with Mary – lols you dawggg

·         “Giles” has to be my new favourite Lestrade name.

·          Enjoyed the Thatcher bashing personally. Probably a product of growing up with my father who agreed with Sherlock and said “yes I’d have smashed everything up”.

·         The past catching up with you and consequences of your actions seem to be a very strong theme in this series. It’s been hinted at by Mofftiss before it even aired but we can see it’s definitely the case so far! Especially with the Merchant in Baghdad/Sumarra story (fun little canon reference when Mycroft said Sherlock wrote his own version where the merchant went to Sumatra. “The Giant Rat of Sumatra” is a Conan Doyle story). Excited to see what else awaits us.

·         Mycroft looking at babies related to me on many levels. No seriously I love babies they’re adorable but it was super amusing. I love that Sherlock is showing her off. He’s such a part of that little family.

·         Sherlock with dogs is my new favourite thing. He’s so cute. He loves them!! Apparently Toby the dog was from the original story of “Sign of Four” where we were introduced to Mary. May have just been a fun addition to the episode; may have been some other link to Redbeard? *wavy arms* who knows?

·         Speaking of the dog – I’m willing to bet a lot on the fact that, that scene where they discussed how little he is moving was just written in on the day because the dog was, in fact, not moving. Dog-cam also amused me very much!

·         Also just had a small conversation about angel/devil references throughout this episode. He told us what he thinks of God when asked to be godparent.  There was a discussion about Rosie being the devil/antichrist (I know in a light-hearted way) and I’ve seen some link the name “Gabriel” from AGRA to Angel Gabriel. Though now! Clever people of the fandom have come across another Gabrielle (unless it’s pronounced differently). Gabrielle Ashdown is apparently a character from Mofftiss favourite “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”. This was used as one of Mary’s aliases when she was travelling.

·         Also heard one or two things about rose necklaces. I didn’t notice Elizabeth’s but apparently she had one. Did Mary have some on her necklace too? I could be completely making that up I’ll have to look back.

·         I was so on the ball with “who’s texting John?” As soon as we saw him getting the text in bed it was at the back of my mind until we found out.

·         The fight scene in the swimming pool. Sherlock should not be allowed near swimming pools. It doesn’t seem to go well for him. From a shallow point of view it was absolutely beautiful. Sherlock doing those awesome moves and then getting soaked. Woof. But also, similar (sort of) to the scene where Sherlock is shot in HLV, it is a testament to the quality of the show that I can be 100% certain Sherlock will not be killed but I’m still sat there going “OH MY GOD SHERLOCK PLEASE BE OKAY OH NO OH NO” and freaking out. So good. You’d think someone in the house might have heard the noise. Maybe that’s where the police came from. Or maybe the house was just too big and the bedrooms were on the other side.

·         The reveal of the AGRA memory stick in the bust was...amazing! I gasped out loud! The mood changed dramatically right from that moment for the rest of the episode! Dad was pointing out all sorts of holes about the memory sticks as a form of protection. What happened to the other two members of AGRA if at least one of them got caught? Did they have their memory sticks on them? Did they hide them? Surely keeping hold of them ensures that if one of you is captured then everything is exposed? Haha. I don’t know, dad thinks about these things more than I do. I don’t think we’re supposed to think too hard about that one. I was also super slow at working out what her “R” stood for. John had to tell me.

·         For fans of the score there were lots of little repeated bits of music especially from series 3. When Sherlock did that huge fake deduction about the man’s wife we could hear “How It Was Done” from the start of TEH. There were quite a few little bits and bobs surrounding Mycroft as well, just general sort of Reichenbach-y foreboding bits of score. But during Mary and Sherlock meeting in that secret room & him telling her he would keep her safe (LOVED that part by the way...Sherlock I love you. See also “is that sentiment talking?” “No it’s me” Sherlock. How do you perfect) they played music the same as or very similar to “The Lie in Leinster Gardens” from series 3. Makes sense, as that is when we learn about Mary’s past and the situations fit together. Gut wrenching piece of music that one though. 2:33 in the TLILG track is when John is revealed to have been sitting at the end of the corridor and it tears my heart to pieces every time I hear it. Also when John and Mary were chatting after they followed her and she said she wanted to keep them safe, it played their sort of theme. There are quite a few variations on that theme. You can hear it right at the end of “Addicted to a Certain Lifestyle” as a slightly sad and warped version. The nice happy version is the one Sherlock plays for their first dance.

·         Have I already mentioned about Vow’s being a big theme in this episode??? Sherlock often stresses about having made his vow to protect John, Mary and Rosie and takes this very seriously. Saying it to Mary and to Mycroft. When John directs his anger at him towards the end saying “you made a vow” it’s a very genius moment because in a way it could be seen as John’s guilt for his sneaky situations coming through and him saying those words to himself – referring to his marriage vows which he has not been very good with as we know.

·         THE REDBEARD DREAM. What is this about?! They could have shown him dreaming about anything if they wanted it to be random, they didn’t have to show it at all, what does it mean! I think it’s hinting towards his childhood. This theme about things from the past catching up with him (also Sherrinford? No idea what they are going to do with that name but maybe it could be connected?) is very strong indeed. Maybe something happened when he was a child? We had Redbeard brought up when he was “losing” John to marriage. And Mycroft had it written down in his little notebook. It clearly affected him somehow. We’ve seen his love of dogs and in HLV he found Redbeard in his mind palace to calm down. I hope we see more of Redbeard – I really want to know more! Plus he’s a beautiful dog. Speaking of this dream, when Sherlock is with Ella (therapist) at the end she mentions a recurring dream. I wonder if this is the dream we saw. There were thoughts floating around that maybe after losing Mary, it was the first time Sherlock had really experienced a huge loss since his dog. But then why would he have this dream before she died? Curious!

·         Now would be a good time to bring up the Sherlock family theme that I picked up on my re-watch. So we’ve had hints at his childhood and we’ve had hints and Redbeard and we’ve had hints at Sherrinford (again, no idea what they’re going to do with that but historically – though not canonically by ACD – he has been said to be another brother of Mycroft and Sherlock. This is backed up a little by Mycroft’s “you know what happened to the other one”) plus they gave Sherrinford as a clue when it came to the 3 episodes “Thatcher, Smith, Sherrinford”. The fact they’ve shoved it in our face makes me think it won’t be what we expect. When is it with this show? But anyway, Sherlock made a few references to family I picked up. He said “families fall out” to Mary when she described AGRA as such. He was playing “happy families” with the young man when Mary came across him and he seemed to be having trouble with the game “maybe because I don’t understand the concept of happy families”. Later, though this could be me just looking too hard, when Sherlock is deducing Norbury she mentions she is widowed and has cats. If she had been divorced she may have found another partner but widowed meant she had gone for cats as “pets fill the void, so I’ve heard” (paraphrasing). I wonder if Redbeard was to fill a void.

·         Speaking of travelling Mary! I found her American persona on the plane totally random. I wonder if that actually came from anywhere. I don’t know whether I missed some kind of reason for her acting the way she did or whether that was just part of her character. ALSO some very clever people have looked into this “roll of the dice” method Mary used for travelling and at one point she goes to Norway. Now apparently, in reference to the post credits scene “Go to Hell Sherlock”, there is a village in Norway called Hell. What a fun place to live that must be. Connected? Let’s hope so. (Also I was momentarily confused because we saw her being random with the dice but she came across a hiding place of some of her fake documents at one point? Though maybe it was just part of the montage that at some point she went to that place and it wasn’t necessarily the place they had referenced like Norway or such).

·         That “Go to Hell Sherlock” moment has sparked some conversations for me too. Not at any point did I believe she was saying it as a form of “piss off” or harsh word. I took it initially to mean he may have to go to hell and back to save John, as per her case. We’re not meant to know right now, that much is clear.

·         I also had a conversation about whether Sherlock had seen that moment. It was compared to Moriarty’s “Miss Me” message from the end of HLV. After the credits there was a more ‘real’ version of it that only we saw. However, I do not think that “go to hell Sherlock” was just for us. I am personally quite sure it was part of her message that Sherlock watched and we were just shown it after the credits as a little tease and something to make us think before the next episodes.

·         Mary does a lot of telling John he’s perfect and that he’s a good man and that she doesn’t deserve him. I think these moments were put in to hit home that we’ve seen now that John certainly is not all sunshine and daisies when it comes to the two of them and you can see his guilt is a problem for him. At least he did feel guilty. What is rough for him is that he was going to tell Mary about it just before they went to the aquarium and now (unless we hear otherwise in future episodes that she knew all about it or something) he’s not going to get closure on that situation. Which is rough, but he does deserve to have a hard time for that really.

·         Now I don’t know Latin but I felt very pleased with myself for remembering the “love” codename once Mycroft started translating for us. Then I was on their wavelength with Lady Smallwood. I wonder who the other names were for. Pawlock seems to make sense at being Sherlock doesn’t it? (Another dog/pet reference?) There was also “Antarctica” and another I can’t remember. I wonder if Mycroft “ice man” Holmes is Antarctica.

·         Also once they had been proved wrong and Sherlock had the penny-drop moment on the bridge a fly on the wall well have heard me exclaim “*GASP* VIVIENNE! VIVIENNE AND HER ICE LOLLIES!!” I love getting involved with the plot. I did have a similar thought to my dad briefly that it was the ambassador in Georgia but I guess not!

·         The cheating stuff, well I mentioned all that at the top. I was giggling at the seemingly innocent moment on the bus but then there was lots of shaking my head and going “come on John you’re better than this”. Also, this is probably an absolute coincidence but after John gets Elizabeth’s number and we see him look at his phone just before he nearly throws it away, the shot angle is very similar to the scene in “Scandal in Belgravia” where we see Moriarty texting Mycroft in front of Big Ben and blowing a raspberry as he sends it. There is even a tall building behind John. Fun!

·         Anyone spot the poster of Toby Jones on the bus stop when John got off to see Elizabeth sat there? I feel like this might have been a hint to suggest the two are related in one way or another as she will be back for episode two. Also we didn’t see what happened when he got off the bus having sent the “this isn’t a good idea” text. Did they leave it? Did they talk? Maybe we’ll find out.

·         Mary’s death. It’s amazing when something manages to be such a surprise and almost not at the same time. Mary dies in the canon stories so we assumed it would happen eventually. I thought it was quite possible it could happen this series. But in the ACD stories she dies randomly in a hiatus and we don’t hear much about what happened other than she died. When they were in the aquarium vs Vivienne I briefly thought she might shoot Mary, then as the bullet was flying at Sherlock I thought Mary may do what she did. But even with these thoughts in my mind I was absolutely shocked and heartbroken when it happened. Many sobs.

·         John’s reaction. Martin Freeman you absolutely destroy me.  In my re-watch today I was doing okay without crying up until Mary said “you were my whole world” and he looked up in pain. Then the tears came again. I know there were some amused conversations about his reaction noises (I think Martin does grief noises in an interesting way haha see The Hobbit for another example) but honestly I found them absolutely heart-shattering. So powerful and raw. Really hit me hard again even on my re-watch.

·         Poor Sherlock at this point going to comfort John and then getting quite a lot of (possibly partially misdirected) anger. He couldn’t have stopped Mary saving him and he was so upset too. He clearly feels crap about it. He maybe could have not pissed off Vivienne enough to make her try and surprise him, but John wasn’t there for that part. I think the anger reaction is our John all over though; he’s a very angry man. Sherlock understands John at this stage I think. He’s not storming round demanding John see sense. In HLV when John was angry at Mary’s reveal Sherlock was encouraging him to stay calm. He gets him. I’m sure they’ll be okay again soon.

·         Speaking of Sherlock feeling bad, that conversation with Mrs Hudson was heart-breaking about using the word Norbury to remind him what being too big-headed and sure of himself can lead to. I’ve not read them but I’m told apparently this is a reference to the canon story of The Yellow Face. Where Sherlock asks, possibly, Watson to use this word to remind him of his failures.

·         Also the deflated John balloon that’s still in the flat at this point is kind of heart-breaking and symbolic.

·         I love the idea that Mycroft has like 12 take-out menus on his fridge. Maybe he can’t cook. Maybe he has no time to shop. What does “13th” mean?! He was being put through to “Sherrinford”. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? I NEED TO KNOW NOW!

·         Hopefully we’ll see what John has written on that note Molly gave to Sherlock in the next episode. I hope it’s not something really nasty. Poor Sherlock and poor Molly for having to deliver the message. “Anyone but you” John, your twatness is showing. Stop it.

·         “SAVE JOHN WATSON”. Interested to learn more about this. But it gave me fuzzy feels that this show really is massively about these two boys and their friendship. Moments like this make me happy and I give Mofftiss a metaphorical hug. Go and save John, Sherlock! Mary says it will be very difficult. I guess she knew that if she died it would cause a lot of issues for him.

·         Final point, I saw a few theories floating around about the fact that when we’ve seen the same scenes twice for one reason or another throughout this episode, things were slightly different like dialogue or inflection of speech. Personally I would just put this down to a continuity think but I really did notice it in the two instances we heard Mary say “when I’m gone, if I’m gone”. The first time was quite straight forward in her video. The second time we heard it as Sherlock was walking and she sounded much more upset. It could be absolutely nothing but I’ll keep it at the back of my mind! You never know with this darn show!

Shout-out to Sherlock who is pretty much perfect in this episode. He is such an understanding and kind a pure and beautiful and precious human being he’s come so far from that sociopath act. Though the big-headed deductions that managed to piss off Norbury weren’t very good. But poor man, he lost a friend too. He didn’t ask Mary to save him.

Also shout-out to Benedict who had to learn two really long fast complicated bits of dialogue that both turned out to be pointless lies! Poor boy.

Double finally, my updated thoughts on Rosie.

Before series 4 started the one thing I couldn’t get my head around was WHY BRING IN A NON-CANON BABY? My reasons I could think of up until that point were:

-          To make the “sign of three” pun (that would be stretching it)

-          To make John not leave Mary after shooting Sherlock (they didn’t make it about her baby so I think they could have done that anyway)

-          Other

Also, what would they do with it? Since it is non-canon:

-          Would Mary die and leave John and Sherlock with a baby – how would that even work out? (turns out...this has happened so I’m even more confused)

-          Would Mofftiss be so cruel as to bring in the baby just to kill her off? Bit much?

-          The baby could be not John’s but Mary shot Sherlock to keep John from leaving her so I doubt she had a casual cheat (unless it turns out she did and john was getting revenge this whole time!.....i doubt it…)

Basically I’m still not sure why they brought the baby in. Maybe the reasons are yet to be unveiled. But some new ones I was trying to think of having seen TST:

-          Making the Rosamund name thing more meaningful? Again, could have found out her real name without it being linked to the baby

-          To have a reason for both Mary and John not to be somewhere (aquarium) at the same time? (Though Mary could have still jumped in front of Sherlock with John there maybe?)

-          Somehow adding something to this cheating plot-line? I’m clutching at straws there though.

Other ideas welcome!

I don’t usually do the whole big theorising thing but this was a fun post! I think i needed to get all the thoughts out of my head mostly haha!

[briangroth27]

Halloween (2018) Review

This was great! They accomplished an awesome, iconic fall/Halloween feel to Haddonfield in the look and tone of the movie and I couldn’t ask for more on that front. This was scary, just the right amount of funny, very well-acted, and overall an absolute blast. This was the first Halloween that I saw in theatres and it did not disappoint! I can’t wait to watch this again when it comes out on blu-ray this week!

Full Spoilers…

A while back I read a comment online stating that Halloween had accidentally become the Choose Your Own Adventure of horror franchises, and that’s very true and pretty cool. Don’t like where one storyline has taken you? Go back and pick a new thread (there are five so far: Halloween 1978, 2, & 4-6, Halloween 78, 2, H20 & Resurrection, Halloween 3, Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1-2, and now Halloween 78 & Halloween 2018. Before seeing this, my preferred continuity was Halloween 78, Halloween 2, & H20—those three make for a really solid Laurie arc—but I think Halloween 78 & 18 has become my favorite. We lost nothing by making Michael (James Jude Courtney, Nick Castle) and Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) unrelated with the exclusion of Halloween 2 from the new canon IMO. It’s more mythical if he's only fixated on her because she happened to come by his house one day, as if dropping off the keys to the Myers house was her being sent into a dragon’s lair. Laurie happening to invade his territory, thereby incurring his wrath, is more in line with the neighborhood kids’ tales about the house being haunted and Michael being the boogeyman too.  Also, "he needs to kill the women in his family" is a motive begging for explanation, and I’d rather not know why he does what he does. Michael just being evil without any rhyme or reason is much better and scarier.

This installment takes the best parts of H2 (Michael stalking the streets on Halloween in classic fashion) and combines them with Laurie becoming a fighter like in H20, which were exactly the elements I wanted out of this. Jamie Lee Curtis was fantastic! I do wish we'd gotten more about Laurie herself rather than just how her choices affected her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak)—H20 may’ve been slightly better about getting her to open up on that front—but I was satisfied with what we saw. I was sad Laurie’s life was so consumed by her fear of Michael (the moment where she has a nightmare of the Shape returning was a perfect encapsulation of that), but after watching H20 again it’s apparent she was never going to have a rosy life after what she went through in the original. Still, I'm glad this one showed her at least trying to have happiness and you could tell she did find some with Allyson whenever she could get into her life. I also feel like if you were to watch H20 you’d get a glimpse at how Laurie raised Karen before losing custody. It was also so cool to see Laurie truly ready for Michael’s return! I loved how Laurie's plans and preparation come together and watching the Strode women fend off Michael as a family was perfect.

I liked Karen, even though she was so against Laurie (and therefore automatically wrong, given the genre and franchise). It was nice to see Judy Greer get more to do than just be the mom, and her big moment at the end of the movie did not disappoint at all. What a cool way to prove that she was still her mother’s daughter! Her husband Ray (Toby Huss) was also very entertaining and very ‘dad.’ Both of them played off of Curtis and Matichak really well.

Allyson was very likable as well and a great lead for the younger cast. I liked that she was capable and level-headed, though I think it might have been better if the podcast investigation into Michael had been her project: an attempt to bring Michael out of the shadows to explain him, thus freeing Laurie from her fear of unknowable evil while simultaneously getting to know her grandmother’s most guarded side better. That would've continued the theme of the Strode women protecting each other nicely, and would’ve made sense with the much warmer relationship Allyson and Laurie had vs. Karen and Laurie’s more standoffish one.

I liked most of Allyson’s friends and they all felt like real teens. Vicky (Virginia Gardner) working as a babysitter was a nice tie back to the first movie and she was truly likable despite only being in a few scenes; I was sorry to see her go. Dave (Miles Robbins) brought an entirely different vibe to his character than anyone else and it worked really well. Oscar (Drew Scheid), was the classic "nice guy" (with all associated negatives attached) and got some funny lines. I’m glad they had Allyson ditch him when it became clear he wasn’t just being her friend. Cameron (Dylan Arnold) turning out to be a jerk like the rest of his family really surprised me and I wondered why they needed that at first. I think it's supposed to create the idea that you are your family, paralleling Allyson being a fighter in the end, just like Karen and Jamie. On that level, the seemingly dropped plotline of Allyson’s love life works really well. No review of the young cast would be complete without mentioning Julian (Jibrail Nantambu), who was absolutely hilarious and played off of Vicky perfectly. My whole theater was cracking up at him!

The podcast journalists (Jefferson Hall, Rhian Rees) were likeable in their short roles (mainly serving to get us up to speed on Michael), but the movie might’ve been tighter without them. It’s not hurt for their presence at all, but like I said above maybe their podcast would’ve been a stronger element as Allyson’s project. I did like that their goal of understanding Michael was scoffed at by almost everyone. I’m with Laurie: there isn’t anything deeper to understand about him (that’s what’s so scary!). Will Patton was good as Haddonfield’s Sheriff and I liked how they wove him into the events of the first movie. His attempt to just kill Michael and not arrest him here made all the sense in the world. Dr. Ranbir Sartain (Haluk Bilginer), the "new Loomis," didn't seem necessary at first, but he didn't hurt the movie for me. I liked him as an example of how warped you could get by staring into the eyes of evil for too long and trying to understand it rather than eliminate it. I didn’t expect him to be so crazy at all, but the twist that he wanted to help Michael worked for me. There’s a classic horror vibe to Sartain: the Lovecraftian idea that if you stare true unknowable evil in the face you’ll lose your mind (or you’ll die, like the podcasters), and I liked that he added to Michael’s Boogeyman mythos in that way.

Michael himself was an extremely intimidating force, even stripped of (most) of his supernatural trappings (he still appears stronger than a normal human). I liked that the movie brought up how unimpressive Michael's kill count was now that none of the sequels are in continuity. Letting us see that most people didn’t think much of him as a boogeyman anymore was a great way not only to make it so people would underestimate him, but so that Laurie’s fears would seem even more unfounded. Still, they definitely made up for the loss of all his victims here and having only killed a few people in the first one didn't make him any less scary! I always like Michael's moments of creatively arranging the bodies (someone online referred to it as Michael’s ‘crafting’ and I love that). I do wish there’d been more of that, but what we got was good: the jack o’ lantern was really clever and the ghost was a nice call back to the original. When this was first announced, I wanted them to really dive into the Samhain connection, but now I much prefer not knowing anything about Michael or why he does what he does.

The movie does have a lot of elements of the first, fourth, and seventh movies, but it never felt like a retread and always felt fresh. Shout-outs to the rest of the franchise felt like bonuses, not moments that derailed everything to stop and look back. The tone is perfectly tense and scary, and the genuinely funny moments are great tension breakers rather than tension-shattering missteps. The updated score was great: it was different enough to feel modern and new, but similar enough to feel like coming home.

I think the biggest drawback here is the lack of a definite ending. Don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely satisfied with this movie, but I wish we’d gotten confirmation that Michael had indeed been killed instead of another missing body and hearing his breathing over the credits. I don’t really have any interest in Michael continuing from this point and I wanted to see Laurie win for real. I hope they don't make a sequel with Myers; more Laurie aside, the one thing I really wanted was to see their battle and get true closure to his character. I wish they’d the courage to really end him in this film instead of leaving the door open for a sequel, box office be damned. If the next movie just features Myers returning again (and likely killing Laurie again), that’s about the least exciting thing I can think of for these films. However, if they want to pull the trigger on making someone related to Laurie evil like Michael—which they almost did in 4/5 but backed out—I'd be interested. After all, Allyson still gripping the knife at the end was certainly foreboding (and would’ve been even moreso if she’d been the one trying to understand Michael through the podcast, just like Sartain lost his mind doing the same). If there’s a virulent element to Michael’s purest evil, I’d be down for it. As much as I loved the Strode women taking on Michael, it would be awesome if the next Halloween was about Laurie fighting for Allyson’s soul as she started to go down an evil path.

Watching this, I couldn’t help but imagine what Blumhouse could do to revitalize another classic slasher franchise. I’d love to see them reunite Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp for a new Nightmare on Elm Street, following the original series of films. Nancy did die, but what if she became a Dream being too and returned to look out for the next generation? She is a fighter who’s “into survival” after all, and she was able to drag so many things in and out of dreams in the first movie that it’s a fairly short path to letting her achieve the same semi-immortal status Freddy has. I feel like an arc of her leaving Heaven (or however they want to characterize the afterlife) to fight her way into the dream realm to defend Elm Street’s current kids and finally face off against Freddy on equal footing would be a fantastic hook and just as satisfying as Laurie and Michael’s face-off. It would be sad to lose Dream Warriors, but what if the gotcha! ending of the first film was Nancy and Co. being trapped in the Dream Realm, but she fought her way out? That’d be an easy way to rewrite anything you wanted in the sequels.

Anyway, Halloween is an exceptional slasher and easily the second-best entry into the franchise; I’d say it might even rival the first film given how active and awesome it lets Laurie be. Even though I didn’t get everything I wanted out of the Michael/Laurie face-off and I think the podcast subplot could’ve been more tightly bonded to the Strodes, I loved this movie and I’m excited to see it again. If you’re a Halloween fan you’ll love this and even if you aren’t familiar with this particular franchise, you should definitely check this out!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!  

[mcnieves]

This Is Us Season 1 Episode 14

“I Call Marriage” (SPOILER ALERT)   We travel back not only to Jack and Rebecca’s City Hall marriage, but also to years later, when the Big Three are teenagers and life wasn’t easy as it was for the two newlyweds. The Big Three in present day show marriages at different junctures, experiencing their own bumps, just like Miguel references when he explains to Jack why he is splitting up with his wife. Each of these junctures reflect a part of what Rebecca and Jack are going through. Marriage isn’t easy, and I appreciate that This Is Us reflects that beyond the sitcom simplicity. On the whole, this wasn’t the most compelling episode of the series and it mined some territory that I’ve seen before — how does a couple deal with the divorce of people they thought were similar to themselves? — without breaking much ground, but it’s still a solid episode. There’s two lines that really struck me during this episode that I thought rang really true. The first came in that scene where Miguel and Jack talk about the dissolution of his marriage. “We stopped noticing each other,” Miguel says to Jack. That’s counteracted by the other line that occurs during Jack’s vows: “Our love has always been worth it.” It stopped being worth it to Miguel and his wife, while Rebecca reminds her bandmate why it’s still worth it to her. That worth may come in the form of a presence at her son’s football games or a glass of water by her bedside table, but it’s still worth it, despite the hardships that come along with that worth.  Kevin’s relationship with Sophia did not seem worth it at one point, as Kevin explains to the older couple whose table he’d like to move so he can sit in the exact right booth and get the exact right lava fries (which I had never heard of but now would like to eat, please and thank you). The distance between New York and Los Angeles got to them, and they couldn’t sustain their marriage. What the next episodes will decide is whether it’s worth or it or not later as they progress on their version 2.0 of their relationship. I’m not really sure how I feel about Kevin and Sophie’s time together if only because “I Call Marriage” was very much a setup episode for them; their reunion was inevitable, so while it was nice that Kevin could reflect his father by saying that one of the best days of his life was meeting this woman, and it was equally nice that Sophie could show up at just the right time, it didn’t mean much happened.This was also a setup episode for Randall in a lot of ways as well. His professional life is beginning to show cracks, just as Beth starts to prepare for William’s death in a way that Randall isn’t ready to do yet. It seems that Randall’s tremors are the dramatic twist to watch out for the in future, but that’s for next week, so let’s focus on this one. I loved Beth’s idea of “calling marriage” for the night. She needed her partner and she got him. I know I’ve always favored Randall’s storylines, and part of that is because of the relationship he has with Beth. It’s funny and endearing, but also reflects that Parenthood ideal of feeling just real enough. While Jack and Rebecca’s storyline reiterates this idea of the importance of a strong marriage, Randall’s — and really by extension Beth’s — storylines prove that may not be enough sometimes. I hope this exploration, and really preparation, for grief and loss becomes a part of Randall’s storyline. It’s an interesting idea, especially considering how alive William seemed in the previous episode.  And then there’s Kate. I’ve made reference to the idea before that Rebecca gets a harsher portrayal than the saintly Jack, but I think that gender treatment also can extend to Kate and Toby as well. The King of the Grand Gestures has never been met on the same terms by Kate who is generally only seen pushing him away. That’s acknowledged in this episode more than in others. But I have a beef with Toby as well: He let her go. After major surgery and almost dying, he let her leave without saying, “Hey, I just had major surgery and almost died and I need you to stay with me in this city where I don’t know anyone and be with me.” But it’s Kate that looks like the bad guy.   Look, these are quibbles and Toby’s passive aggression can be chalked up to reality; like he said, Toby didn’t want to get in the way of her progress again. My one big problem with this episode began in the last one, Duke. Toby and Kate’s actions can be explained away, but this character has no motivation to be a dick — both in the way he treats the other campers and his insistence on breaking up Kate’s relationship — other than it makes for a story. The central problem with Duke can be found when he says to Kate: “It’s a hell of a lot of easier to accept who you are in all of your damaged glory than be someone you’re not. It’s also a hell of a lot more fun too.” Here’s the issue: He works at a place where accepting who you are goes against its central mission. There is nothing about this character that makes any sense to me. I don’t think there’s any twist out there that could possibly remedy what this character is actually trying to do and why he’s trying to do it other than to create some sort of false drama between Kate and Toby. Considering that Kate and Toby met and got engaged within a short period of time, perhaps they can let their own problems arise, rather than throw in one that feels so disingenuous.