#i didn't expect him to have more depth beyond the edgy guy but

[cassowary-rapture]

Holy shit this just reminded me of something

When I was a teenager, I was really into online journal sites, and through one of my Diaryland accounts, I started talking to this guy who said his name was Bryan. Nothing too in-depth; he'd just comment on my posts sometimes

I was really into movies at the time, mostly indie, foreign, or kind of fucked up ones. Ones that were hard to find in my area. The video rental places didn't really carry that sort of thing. With our dial-up internet and rickety old desktop, it took 12+ hours to download an album's worth of mp3s, so it didn't even occur to me to try to download a movie. We got Netflix eventually, but it was very new and while the selection was much better than what I could find in person, it was still pretty limited

At some point I wrote an entry complaining about how badly I wanted to see Battle Royale and how I couldn't find it anywhere. It was driving me crazy. Bryan commented saying that he owned a video store and would be happy to send me a VHS copy of it, so I gave him my address. When the package arrived and I opened it, I burst into tears. It had just hit me that it was pretty fucking stupid to give my mailing address to some random internet person and that I was half-expecting the package to contain a severed head or porn or something creepy like that

BUT IT DIDN'T. I went from crying from anxiety to crying because I was relieved and he'd been much more generous than expected. Not only had he sent me Battle Royale, he'd also thrown in two other movies -- Visitor Q and Oldboy -- and two books -- The End of Alice and Geek Love. Granted it was kind of a weird move to send a bunch of stuff about murder and incest and pedophilia to a teenage girl, but I was a very edgy, morbid 18-year-old, so it was kind of perfect

And it was very touching. I barely knew the guy. He just commented on whatever angsty bullshit I was posting and chatted about John Waters and David Lynch with me, since those were some of the few "weird" directors whose work I had access to. And yet he spent time and money assembling and mailing this little care package to me. He was just a really kind person who was very passionate about movies and excited to share that with someone who was just getting into them and starting to go beyond the sort of thing you'd see on TV or in chain video stores

I tried to look him up years later, since I still remembered his name and the name and location of the video store -- Black Lodge Video in Memphis, TN -- and came up empty-handed. But I just tried again, and THIS IS HIM. Or was, unfortunately

Bryan Hogue, co-founder of Black Lodge Video, has died

And apparently he was a million times cooler than I realized at the time, and even more obsessed with movies. What a guy. I'm sorry I'll never have the opportunity to thank him in person. But very pleased to see that Black Lodge Video is still around!! So maybe I'll get to visit someday and ramble at some random employee about what a nice thing their co-founder did for teenaged-me

icant even explain why i feel this way about it but this meme, this specific version, just makes me so emotional i love it so so much. its very heartwarming. peace n love on planet earth

[anon-exe]

I was really excited to learn there was a new brs anime and haven't caught up after episode 6 and... don't think i'm going to unless there's something really cool in the later episodes but my expectations for that are.... yeah

I have a "scale of interest" for stories that is essentially just a hope scale that goes from "The protagonists are very obviously going to beat the antagonist every time" to polar opposite "well this is fucking dismal," I'm just gonna skip other explanations and say dawnfall is on the direct opposite of having any hope

like yes. I know it's edgy. I know it's apocalyptic. I know it's dystopian. and empress says shit like "I want to save humans" but it feels so empty and lifeless and I'd say i guess maybe that's the point but even then the other 2 have memory loss kind of but still have emotions could she not be a little bit more... or it's not even her it's how its shown I guess. but mainly what I'm saying is it feels so hollow and lifeless. Like obviously there's going to be a positive outcome ending but I wouldn't feel anything about it. I don't get attached to any of the new human characters cause the immediate feeling right off the bat is that I shouldn't care about them cause they're all going to die (not that they were intriguing at all anyways ) did care about one human character but immediately knew they were gonna die and guess what. they died. wow. their death was tragic and I couldn't even cry over it cause it was not only expected but I was also, i don't know what the right word is, but essentially "god fucking damnit" emotion.

an apocalypse isn't exactly going to be a hopeful place at all but like. wtf am I rooting for then in your story. only rooted against the villains cause they were literally fucking vile and repulsive on every level with no fucking depth, and even then I'm still barely rooting for the heroes cause it's just like "yeah...go... maybe like... not die or something. whatever." Like in the story who cares about the greater good? the army guy I guess does but is so cold and asshole that I don't care about him, the boy and girl characters would give me hope if they were more unique or even like lasted a little longer but they didn't, that other adult(?) girl doesn't really care, dead master only 'cares' for the same reason other girl does, strength cares but (tries not to?) express it and brs/empress is the main one who does but is represented like an actual robot even tho the other memory loss girls aren't which isn't a great combo in this souless world

and also the very bad innapropriate mention under uh the thing that thing

sexual assault / necrophilia mention warning

why is there so much rape shit mentioned. well not only mentioned i'm only forgetting cause i try to PURGE IT FROM MY FUCKING MINDSCAPE AS MUCH AS I CAN COUGH HORRID SMILEY SAGA COUGH but like off the bat. there's the army guy threatening the guy that looks like a teen kid to. dead corpse. nasty. i want to avoid saying it correctly. and then there's uh hacker. girl. who acts very creepy i dont want to fact check what she said and then dead fast literally saying she wanted to kill and then defile empress. and then all of the fucking YUCK saga that's. way too much what the fuck. that's fucking weird. Like I'm very open minded but that's a bit too much stretching to say the previous was not fucking weird. but smiley is all beyond that WHO THE ACTUAL FUCK THOUGHT THAT. THAT. *GESTURING* THAT WAS A FUCKING GOOD IDEA. If i wanted to talk about it I would rant but as i mentioned HRRGRGGGNNNNNGH. Smiley in the least repulsed way i can describe him and the decision to him is "The best way to get someone to stop watching your show and want to run it over with a fucking car, truck even, if you will,"

anyways to conclude my whyisthisanessaylengthanimepost ; once the series is over someone upload a video of literally just every scene strength is in cause they are literally all I care about in that show. got dam.

[starry-mist]

"We've got a surveillance team in place." That's great. Will you remember this in a few hours? Will they, even? Why were they so "discreet" as to let Eva near Charlie's laptop when they knew she shouldn't be on it?

And the lapses in judgment just keep coming.

Sarah is not jealous AT ALL. Nope. Not picking up anything.

Such a mess.

Like, how can I not pin this on the whole team?

Every. Single. One. Every one of them fucked up in this episode.

I know they call Eva a libertarian, I see her more as an edgy wannabe anarchist.

And then he gives her his phone too. Forget Sarah, why didn't Jesse burst into the house?

I would like a word with this writer.

I can't decide if he was thinking "I'm so screwed" or "I wonder if Sarah is watching".

I don’t think he was thinking. At least not with his brain.

This is the only slightly disapproving look I can find. I mean, given the circumstances, she could have said something.

Seriously, screenwriter (I think it’s Jennifer Kassabian,) I just wanna talk…

I... have questions. Like, where did the paramedics go? Did she make them abandon the ambulance? And was that before or after she tied Rex to the stretcher? This scene was executed sloppily.

So very sloppily.

I relate to Eva’s description of the fog of depression. It’s been a rough year for me in that regard.

Eva: “According to what your laws allow?”

Me: Oh STFU, you live in a society.

The more they show that cliff, the more confident I become that Rex would have survived it and Charlie wouldn't.

Random, but I’m pretty sure I drove past that cliff when I was in Newfoundland. (Yeah I know it has a lot of cliffs but I swear it looked familiar.)

Poor Charlie. He's definitely not okay. I wish they'd written something deeper about what's wrong with him.

I wholeheartedly agree.

And they all made mistakes. I still don't know where to pin the surveillance failure, there were two people in the van. They should have intervened in two separate instances, one to take the laptop away from Eva and one to intercept the masked guy who also might have strolled right next to the van. Am I to presume that they put cameras inside the house and not outside? Where they suspecting Eva more than they suspected someone would show up to kill her? In both cases, they failed.

All of them. I blame all of them.

But I remember from the first moment this episode came out, reading about how he was in a position of power. And in that scene, to me, he always comes off as... powerless. Lost.

I was one of the ones who made one of those comments and my rationale is face value: white male cop, in position of responsibility for the security of this vulnerable (at least we’re led to think so at the time) woman. Did she initiate? Yes. Should he have stopped it? Yes, absolutely and so should Jesse and Sarah but as previously established, none of them were at their finest in this episode. Now, looking at the situation, was Charlie actually the vulnerable one who was taken advantage of? Absolutely. My face value commentary is just about the surface level power dynamics at play that is the main reason this episode gives me the ick.

In this one we do see Charlie visibly upset. I'd have liked to see the rest of the team more worried about him or even frustrated and not understanding his predicament. I'd have liked friction more than getting a mention in the finale. There was something there worth exploring.

Yes to all of this. But apparently we are expecting too much from this show beyond the surface level stuff they give us. We’re the ones who will always want them to go deeper, and I don’t think the writers necessarily get to or perhaps want to explore that depth as much as we would like. Because at its heart the show is supposed to be about super doggo, and not so much the humans’ feelings. But as s4 and s5 have proven, they can do both. And sometimes they do it well.

Okay I made it through. The rest of the season I can mostly stomach.

Hudson and Rex S04E07 - A Stab in the Dark Web Part B

"We've got a surveillance team in place." That's great. Will you remember this in a few hours? Will they, even? Why were they so "discreet" as to let Eva near Charlie's laptop when they knew she shouldn't be on it?

Sarah is not jealous AT ALL. Nope. Not picking up anything.

"I'm so going to take advantage of this information."

Like, how can I not pin this on the whole team? Joe suggested that Charlie's place was the best place for Eva to be in, when they already thought that they were compromised, which meant that they should have assumed their home addresses were compromised as well. Charlie leaves Eva alone at his house so that Rex can go pee instead of calling either Sarah or Jesse to take him out, which would leave one cop in the van and one guarding Eva, instead of having two in the van (which helps at nothing) and zero in the house. Then we have the house which is supposedly under surveillance by Jesse and Sarah, supposedly watching, but they don't alert Charlie to the fact that Eva touched his laptop. Once Charlie realizes that she's done that, he takes her explanation at face value and doesn't ask Jesse to check his laptop.

The graphic for the disappearing chat messages on the dark web is fun.

I've had some contact with libertarians over the years, more than I'd personally like. All the talk about revolutions and whatnot, and their fondness for the dark web are indeed real. When crypto had first risen, lots of them were salivating at the idea of an unregulated and anonymous form of currency, and even more when they discovered private cryptocurrencies (which supposedly offer an extra layer of anonymity). It's funny, though, that they thought even for a bit that governments and banks would let them do that. Anyway, what I want to say is that Joe wouldn't know how to talk to that person at all. But let's disregard that.

"I can't believe that I left her with a laptop and she opened it! I said no electronics!"

And then he gives her his phone too. Forget Sarah, why didn't Jesse burst into the house?

It's true that the way some drugs are regulated actually hinders some people who could benefit from them, instead of helping. Still, in that moment, Eva is pretty much selling a sob story to Charlie, which isn't even the whole truth since she also needed those drugs for herself, to try to get him on her side.

This is a very appropriate distance.

Sarah looks like she'd fallen asleep and just woke up for the good part. Which would actually make more sense than whatever they were doing in the van with Jesse.

First time I watched this I was like, eh, let the guy kiss someone if it's not Sarah. I hadn't realized he was entering his slut era. Also, yeah, Sarah, they are, this is a very astute observation.

And Jesse is entering his pervert era.

I can't decide if he was thinking "I'm so screwed" or "I wonder if Sarah is watching".

I love that Rex is thoroughly disappointed by that development. Rex was all of us in S4.

And then the ninjas attacked. I'm assuming our surveillance is too busy watching the Charlie Hudson show to see the guy approaching the house?

Dude had knives everywhere. Charlie was lucky he wasn't hit (and I was unlucky).

"I'm having a really bad day. Thank you for letting me get off some steam."

This is the only slightly disapproving look I can find. I mean, given the circumstances, she could have said something.

What a plot twist! She lied and she used you, Charlie. Also, again, where were the rest of you when she was using Charlie's laptop?

More bad news.

I... have questions. Like, where did the paramedics go? Did she make them abandon the ambulance? And was that before or after she tied Rex to the stretcher? This scene was executed sloppily.

Congratulations, you finally figured out why he wouldn't leave Eva's side. I think that played a part in Charlie trusting Eva.

Their brilliant ideas to subdue an angry guard dog is: pet behind the ears, put jazz music... Are you kidding me? At least Jesse thought of food.

I feel like they should have made Mercurius seem more scary and money-hungry or even power-hungry.

In which season?

Sorry, that's just funny. I really don't think he's ever made the first move.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Oh god, he still doesn't get it. Because it was easier for her to manipulate you when you didn't have all the facts!

Bold of you to assume that Charlie would follow, but he's definitely not at his best. This is actually using Rex as Charlie's weakness, unlike the previous episode. Although I don't think Charlie should risk that jump regardless. Also, really, a dog wouldn't have made it? I find that hard to believe, they seem like better jumpers than humans. And have more legs.

Yeah, even at his worst, he will do the right thing.

Oh, yeah, we forgot all the hitmen that might come for her. Whoops.

The more they show that cliff, the more confident I become that Rex would have survived it and Charlie wouldn't.

Angst.

Joe: "There's nothing you or any of us could have done." Except for your jobs, but better?

Poor Charlie. He's definitely not okay. I wish they'd written something deeper about what's wrong with him.

And this is Eva letting Charlie know that she made it and even had time to hack the app to let him know that she's okay.

I like this episode but it always makes me think of what it could have been if it was another show, another production and another network involved.

Once again, I'd like to focus on the fact that after a certain point in the episode where it becomes clear that Charlie's head is not in the game, no one says anything about it. No one pulls him back, no one asks if he's okay or even what the fuck he's doing. I guess they keep all the second-guessing for the last episode of the season. Charlie tried to do his job until the very end but I think the distractions were just too much for him and they're indicative of his state of mind.

And they all made mistakes. I still don't know where to pin the surveillance failure, there were two people in the van. They should have intervened in two separate instances, one to take the laptop away from Eva and one to intercept the masked guy who also might have strolled right next to the van. Am I to presume that they put cameras inside the house and not outside? Where they suspecting Eva more than they suspected someone would show up to kill her? In both cases, they failed.

Again, this less than stellar performance from our characters is a great reason for Adele to show up and say that they need more oversight. But some part of this would have to make it to the reports for that to happen.

I've written thoughts on this episode before. I'd pointed out that Eva notices some sort of kinship and attraction between her and Charlie and she tries to use them to her advantage. Which is why the morality of their kiss is more complex than it seems at first glance. At first glance it might seem like he's the one taking advantage. He's not. Is it still wrong that he let her kiss him, and from the way the scene is shot, for several seconds too? Yes. But I remember from the first moment this episode came out, reading about how he was in a position of power. And in that scene, to me, he always comes off as... powerless. Lost.

I understand the contradictory opinions this episode causes. Personally, I like the episodes where there is an upset. We have too many episodes where everything feels like another day on the job, and it doesn't seem to affect them in either way and the repercussions begin and end in that episode. In this one we do see Charlie visibly upset. I'd have liked to see the rest of the team more worried about him or even frustrated and not understanding his predicament. I'd have liked friction more than getting a mention in the finale. There was something there worth exploring.

I'll say again that it would have been a much better storyline to write something about depression or PTSD for Charlie rather than heartbreak throughout the season. Or a combination. He has been through a lot. Maybe I'm asking again too much of this show and this belongs to fanfictions.