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an-obligatory-blog · 6 months ago

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late night infinite thoughts/hc/analysis

despite being clowned on for his Ls and "i'm not weak" scene, i don't think infinite particularly childish? or more specifically not in the specific brand of "pathetic sore loser" that's been memed on. like he doesn't feel like the type of character who would throw a tantrum/be visibly upset if he can help it (particularly in front of shadow since that's the guy he's pitted against).

it's not that i don't understand why he left that impression-- the way shadow dlc told his background would ofc lead ppl to feel that it was an overreaction for being kicked a couple of times, but the thing is, we saw how he reacted when he met shadow again and what he said after being told that the hedgehog didn't remember him.

(using screencaps of the jp script, but i'm p sure en is the same jist)

sure, infinite is gassing himself up in this scene because of his shiny new rock, but when i saw this scene, my immediate thought was "so you think you aren't someone worth remembering"? (which can also be extended to his squad mates who were also defeated and thus "weak", regardless if you think they are dead or not) he's not particularly angry in this scene-- if anything, he admits that shadow's words of him being a loser (and thus weak) is /fact/.

hence why i think that infinite hates himself more than he could ever hate shadow. he can hide it by saying "well that's just the old me, i've changed. look at my virtual reality of green hill" but that mask isn't just for show. past or present, he is still himself even if he pretends otherwise. he is insecure, that's true. it's also true that his ego is fragile and that it hangs on his ability to suppress others.

however, his ego isn't unshakable at the face of failure or incapable of self-reflection, even if he wishes it was. the denial phase doesn't last forever.

to put it in another way, he's not the type of sore loser who will go "the other guy must've cheated" or "it's not fair" and deny the other person of their achievement. he's the type of sore loser who becomes frustrated with himself, trains himself to exhaustion, maybe cheat himself if tempted (you'll have to convince him that it would be a meaningful victory if he does though, (re. his logic on relying on magic rock ok, but relying on friends is bad and fake, apparently)), and fall into despair if his efforts don't pay off. that's really what his "i'm not weak" breakdown really is to me-- falling into despair and eventually accepting that he is powerless.

with high ego, he may dismiss losses as a fluke, but that requires plausible deniability to be present to fall back on. my point is that his arrogance doesn't come across as stable, it's just that conquering 99% of the world would convince anyone that they are hot shit.

also, he's not bad at /hiding/ his insecurity. insecurity isn't an aspect that was just added to him in the dlc and thus "ruining" him-- he just hides it well when he started wearing the mask. he only showed a mote of desperation by the end of his final boss fight. before that, we had sonic and the avatar breaking out from null space in record time and while eggman was in shock, infinite just stared silently-- he retained a "mysterious" aura for most of the game despite multiple setbacks. his ability to hide his emotions without his mask is up to you, but at the very least, he would at least /try/ to cover up anything he deems "unsightly".

what i'm trying to say is, i think he'd be upset being called weak, but i don't think that specific "overreaction" he had in shadow dlc is just something that happens every time he's insulted, esp when his ego is in a more stable state.

why he's so fixated about strength and weakness is pure hc territory bc forces writing sure as hell didn't explain it, but i think it's safe to say that he wasn't stable before his encounter with shadow and no matter how many ppl think that his motives are "stupid", this was something that meant a great deal to infinite. why it took until shadow for the camel's back to be snapped, idk maybe something happened to him earlier or maybe not, but regardless, infinite appears to be someone who is very desperate to be proud of himself and he measures how much he is worthy of pride through "strength". those who are strong don't think of those weaker than them, to him. (re. him saying that it's fine that shadow didn't remember his past self, and following up with "you're nothing to me now" bc he believes that he is now stronger than him. also note his quirk in jp where he calls ppl "gomi" (in katakana)/trash, idk jp well i just think it's neat)

this "fraud" quality of infinite's is something i find appealing as his fan, and not in the "i think it's brilliant to have a joke character that parodies edgelords" kind of way (infinite isn't purposefully meant to be joke and i don't think he has to be in order to be "good" with his current backstory). to segway into a different conversation, i don't care of the take that "infinite should've been an artificial lifeform like shadow created by eggman" bc to be frank (and i apologize if this is too spicy of a take), i don't see the benefit to that other than to give infinite more "aura points" by erasing his backstory as a "fraud". (bc a villain that doesn't meet the "aura" threshold is bad, i guess.)

bc here's the thing, right-- there are a lot of things you can compare and contrast between shadow and infinite and create a meaningful analysis out of it, but remember that infinite is the main villain of sonic forces and that sonic forces... is not about shadow.

sonic forces, if anything, is the avatar's story. the avatar is infinite's primary foil.

shadow defeating infinite parallels infinite defeating the avatar (at the start of the game). infinite gains help from eggman and the phantom ruby while the avatar finds the Power of Friendship, Love, and Courage (tm) through sonic. infinite finding solace in "fake" power while the avatar finds "true" strength. infinite believing that he is the one who sees the reality as it is (re. his theme song lyrics), when it was the avatar who sees through his illusions.

and i really like that. idk if these are the right words, but i feel like they stand out because of how "human-like" and "relatable" compared to everyone else (esp the avatar bc they are literally an OC). with the exception of tails (who is instead offset by being a kid genius), the sonic cast is filled with characters that have stronger than average willpower, leaving the "outsiders", infinite and avatar, to play catch up in their quest to find strength. they are not unshakably confident like sonic or endlessly persistent like eggman-- they are, at their core, embody the insecurity and lack of confidence that the ordinary person is more likely to succumb to. infinite is like a bandit boss in a jrpg: has a reputation of being feared, has followers/lackeys, villain vibes, but at the end of the day, they are just the first boss the protagonist wipes at the tutorial. the avatar would be a background character in literally any story except forces. they both "extras" trying to take the spotlight that was meant for the leads.

that is why i genuinely think that his current backstory has more value narrative-wise than that hypothetical one and it's not just preference. i don't care if forces has bad writing-- infinite and the avatar starting off as "ordinary people" as a parallel is neat and i will die on that hill. (and imo this attribute makes infinite a unique villain in the sonic verse. like he's not explicitly sympathetic like merlina was or even overtly tragic like gerald, but he manages to have that pitiable, human-like quality, you know?)

but yeah this is really about him not showing up in sonadow gens. like don't get me wrong, i would've been very happy if had shown up and i did lowkey expect it when i saw sunset heights in the trailer, but i'm not mad that he didn't ngl. for the reasons listed above, i don't see infinite as a "shadow villain" like mephiles and black doom are.

#infinite the jackal #idk if this is a hot take but i haven't seen many bring it up #sonic forces #gadget the wolf #lowkey became an infidget post at the end lol #anyways tl;dr infinite may be a loser wet puppy but he's MY loser wet puppy and i will go to war for him!#sonic the hedgehog #sth

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xiaoddexingjiutang · 7 months ago

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03. Megatron: Megatron Is No Mere Subordinate

In this film, Megatron's character is entirely crafted as the opposite of Optimus Prime: Optimus plays dumb while Megatron provides the snarky commentary. He doesn't resemble any previous version of Megatron at all.

He gives off a vibe of having a very weak spirit. When circumstances favor him, and Optimus takes him to participate in the Iacon 5000 race, he has a great time. When he's happy, he and Optimus become like brothers—"you're good, I'm good, everyone's good." They exchange heartfelt lines and high-fives. But the moment he's asked to take on some responsibility or when things aren't going their way and they have to face adversity, he immediately starts complaining, accusing Optimus of only thinking about himself.

Personally, I feel that when making friends, one should focus on the big picture and not be petty about small matters. You enjoyed the perks of breaking the rules and had your fun, but then you start blaming others, saying, "Oh no, we're definitely going to get caught and demoted." Then why did you do it? Why befriend him in the first place? You can't deny your involvement when things go wrong, right? Even though you did help clean up the mess—that's Optimus's problem, which I'll discuss in his section next.

After learning the truth, he actually said weakly, "If only I didn't know the truth, if only I had always strictly followed the rules. Why did I have to find out? Now I don't have a cog, and I'm powerless to change anything."

Then he becomes weak and later turns extreme. After killing the first person, he immediately starts yelling at Optimus, giving him attitude—as if he suddenly grasped the secret that violence equals power.

Some people who dislike Megatron might think he's selfish, someone who only enjoys the benefits of friendship and kicks you aside when he's uncomfortable. Whatever, that's not the point. The point isn't whether he's self-serving or altruistic; his character inherently leans toward self-interest. That's really not the issue.

The issue is that he absolutely shouldn't be portrayed as someone who is both weak and critical, narrow-minded, lacking independent thought, blindly following rules, a fair-weather friend, and passive yet extreme. In all previous works, Megatron has his own charisma and character foundation; he's not just a subordinate used to elevate Optimus Prime.

Writing Megatron's character this way is just a means to pin all the blame on him. This way, issues like class, social background, and even Optimus Prime can bear less responsibility. He inherently has personality flaws, so who can you blame? Sacrifice one so we can all relax.

Moreover, it's laughable how Megatron can't compete when it comes to "background". Megatron installs the cog of Megatronus (which he took from Sentinel Prime's chest) and becomes a leader-class body, but he still can't defeat Optimus Prime, who received the Matrix of Leadership. His gun gets sliced by Optimus's axe—Optimus summons an axe, but Megatron doesn't bring out his flail; I guess we'll have to wait for the next installment. "My backing can't beat your backing, so the righteous you defeats the evil me"—utterly ridiculous.

Additionally, I suddenly realized that if Megatron were replaced with a female character, these criticisms would have a new explanation: "Oh, women are just emotional, women are just troublesome, women can't see how much men have done." All those negative personality traits—if a man has them, it's just his individual issue; if a woman displays them, then it gets blamed on her gender because "women are all like that."

Straight male writers wanting to hype up the Megatron x Optimus Prime (MegOp) pairing feel the need to eliminate female characters or feminize male ones, insisting on using traditional heterosexual models.

#transformers #tf one 2024 #tf one #transformers one #d 16 #megatronus #megatron #tf one spoilers

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thegeminisage · 8 months ago

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star trek update time. wednesday we did ds9's "wrongs darker than death or night" and "inquisition," both of which knocked my tits clean off, and thursday we did voy's "the killing game" parts i & ii, which were fucking awful.

wrongs darker than death or night (ds9):

man. man. MAN. have you ever just sat after a ds9 episode to go "holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck"

like, when i went into the tag to hunt gifs i saw some complaints about this episode which i partially agree with (more on this in a sec) but overall...jesus FUCKING christ

like you always have a good time with kira. and i think someone warned me about this episode having Dead Parent Content (thank you, whoever you are, for being a real one) and i read the summary/background information section on memory alpha ahead of time so i'd be braced, so like, i KNEW it'd be serious, but even so

ok so even though the summary says "comfort woman" i did not expect them to STRAIGHT UP SAY IN THE EPISODE. COMFORT WOMAN. this is almost as shocking as when they allowed jake to drop the n-word in far beyond the stars. jaw on the fucking ground

i also like...the way gul dukat isn't just a mass murderer, imperialist, slaver, and rapist, he is a SERIAL RAPIST with a PATTERN of predatory behavior with which he lures in his victims. do you think he did that knight in shining armor bs on leeta? on ziyal's mom? do you think they had any more choice than kira's mom has? FURTHERMORE THE FACT THAT DUKAT TRIED MULTIPLE TIMES TO GET WITH KIRA WHEN HE HAD RAPED HER MOTHER. LIKE HELLO???

and he doesn't even think of it as rape! he think he's soooo niceys and such a perfect gentlemen and that all his victims are MADLY in love with him! he is INSANE. having him go crazy was SUCH a good character move actually because it highlights his fucked up thinking which was always there yk

i love also that when kira is upset and feeling powerless the bomb is the sacred and trusty old standby. what's that molotov cocktail quote...you throw a molotov cocktail and then you have an ENTIRELY different set of problems. kira's like yeah i'm a terrorist and i'm proud of it. i'll bomb anybody. i'll bomb you, i'll bomb the cardassians, i'll bomb my own planet, i'll bomb my own space station, i'll bomb the defiant and bomb myself too since i'm on it, i'll bomb dukat, i'll bomb my own mother and she'll have it coming. kira is never truly powerless when she still has access to explosives. can't fucking cross her bc she will blow your ass to kingdom come.

also, kira was in the past for WEEKS...imagine how horrible it was to be back under the cardassian occupation for that long!!! like no wonder she reverted to old behaviors and old thinking yk

i did see some complaints that it's sexist. and like, yes, obviously, but that is kind of the point? i think it misses the larger problem with this episode, which is that kira went back and forth on whether or not her mother is a collaborator when her mother DID NOT HAVE A CHOICE. she didn't have a choice in whether or not to be taken from her family - it wasn't like she could ask to be sent back. she'd just get thrown in the ore processing. she couldn't stop dukat from fucking her, but if she smiled about it instead of "kicking and biting" as she put it, her kids got medical care and food

there is also a delicious irony by the way that BECAUSE dukat chose kira's mom as his comfort woman, BECAUSE he had food sent to her children, kira grew up to be the terrorist stalking the hills of dahkur province making his life hell. he had that coming so bad.

but like back to kira's mom at no point in any of that did she have a choice, except in how well she accepted her circumstances. screaming and crying = a life of misery for her and her family and playing nice = a life of luxury for her, yes, and not her family, but they do still get food and medical care. they live. you know? it's not like meru was giving them rebellion intelligence or helping them make weapons or anything. she was letting dukat fuck her, and believe me, he'd have found someone to fuck anyway. so the central question the episode asks, which is it "can we/kira forgive meru for collaborating?" is a flawed one, because she was a victim, not a collaborator. i think we could have beefed up the issue by having her do something actually bad vs "didn't kick dukat when he raped me" OR by having the central question be "did meru have a choice in what happened to her?" and have the reveal that she didn't come only at the very end, before the bomb went off. and i get sexism in the writing room is potentially at the heart of that problem, but like...aside from that small plot change, how can i complain? every scene was crackling with tension, we pulled zero punches (they SAID the words COMFORT WOMAN), the kira lore was incredible, and nana visitor always knocks it out of the park. mwah

inquisition (ds9):

I FIGURED OUT THE PLOT TWIST. i figured it out early!!! not that early. i figured it out when he got beamed to weyoun's ship. like i knew within like a minute that he had been holodecked. delighted

this episode...whew. it's so good because all the facts add up to make julian look bad, and they dredged up every past episode they could to paint that picture

and for a second even i almost fell for it! i do have to admit that would have been fucking amazing. but i just Knew he was not a spy hence the ship cannot be real

julian was great in this episode, but i wished garak had been there. he could have coached julian on not FLUBBING the interrogation but of course he wasn't there because it wasn't REAL

i'll note that this is twice now he's been kidnapped and menaced when he simply wanted to leave for a few days to go to a medical conference or whatever...if i was him i'd start getting way more paranoid about traveling alone or just traveling in general. wow maybe big bad garak could be his escort <3

i love also what a discourse there is around section 31...like, i usually think that shit is stupid but i totally get it! like, is roddenberry's idea of utopia flawed? absolutely. he was a white guy in the 60s and to all reports maybe super horrible to women. BUT it was also an idea way way WAY ahead of its time, which is what made it so special. and i think it says something about humans beings, something damning, that we CANNOT accept utopia at face value. we immediately begin looking for the catch, the ugly underside, the child of omelas in the hole. it's not that i hated the addition of section 31, because that was a fucking banger of an episode and i think that a true utopia makes for boring tv (hence why ds9 deconstructing it makes for such great tv), but the fact that we can't leave well enough alone says more about humanity itself than any one episode of star trek, i think.

the killing game, parts i & ii (voy):

god, you wanna talk sexism...these episodes sucked so bad

i know tos also did a nazi episode. i don't forgive them either. but dear god

i think no one ever is allowed to put a swastika on any screen ever again without pitching their idea and getting a special signature of approval from at least 100 separate people who either 1. lived through ww2 and did not aid abet or agree with hitler 2. are jewish. world war 2 media is so tired but it's also so OFFENSIVE when you just...put it in star trek. like you're gonna use this as SET DRESSING for your HOLODECK EPISODE? this is almost as bad as when they used the confederate war. reading comprehension quiz for star trek writers do you remember why those wars were fought and which groups were at the greatest disadvantage during them? first person that answers the confederates is getting eaten. absolutely livid

worse: b'elanna being knocked up by some random nazi...like they were there for weeks. i assume she showed up in the simulation already pregnant but were they implying she fucked him during those 19 days too??

making seven sing. evil. worse: having everyone be suspicious of her, AGAIN. this is OLD NEWS seven is NOT A BAD GUY. i'm going to kill the next person who says or does anything mean to seven.

the klingon makeup was also pretty offensive. it usually is.

half of this whole plot involved a fake ww2 plot that didn't even fucking matter.................like, it was a plot that could have been interesting in, say, a ww2 movie. if i wanted to watch a ww2 movie you know what i would have done? TURNED OFF STAR TREK TO WATCH A WW2 MOVIE. this is why i hate holodeck shit

there were two and ONLY two points of merit in this episode. the first was that chakotay got to do something with his hair other than the usual nonsense. i swear he is SO fucking handsome when they aren't actively putting him in shitty uniforms and fucking up his hair. second point of merit was the tuvok and seven moment when he was like "girl SING it is LOGICAL" when she was about to get shot for not singing and she said "LOGIC IS IRRELEVANT" and also told the hirogen they would get assimilated one day <3 that was a fantastic moment in an otherwise totally horrible set of episodes.

TONIGHT: voy's "vis a vis" which BETTER be good we've had so many voyager duds lately and "in the pale moonlight" which i have heard a lot about and am v excited for

#personal #star trek blogging #ds9 lb #voy lb

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lostmagic · 10 months ago

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no ok the more I’m reading through the hotd tag the more pissed off I’m getting bc what do you mean the blood and cheese scene was underwhelming???????? I understand that it was extremely different from the source material and that people had high expectations for the screen adaptation, but the way most of y’all are complaining about it has me sick to be honest.

The main complaint I’m seeing (and willing to argue against bc there are some other gripes that I refuse to entertain) is that it was “less impactful” and that it “doesn’t do Helaena’s character justice”. I’m seeing people say that the horror of the situation was lost without Helaena’s pleading and offering herself in their place to save her children, and that her descent into madness will make less sense now without her Sophie’s Choice backfiring on her and being forced to live with the guilt of sentencing one son to die only for the other to be killed instead. I think this response of pleading and begging and offering oneself in place of a loved one (especially a child) is easy to understand and I believe we all would like to think that it would be our response in an unimaginable situation such as the one Helaena is faced with, but when it comes down to the actual trauma response, no one knows until they’re in it.

Some background on trauma responses: when faced with trauma, a person’s response tends to fall into one of four categories. Most people associate the term with the more commonly known responses of fight or flight, but the other two lesser known responses are freeze or fawn. Freeze is rather self explanatory with the person essentially going into shock and failing to react at all. Fawn is probably the least commonly known response with the person essentially resorting to people pleasing and appeasing in order to avoid further harm.

Where book!Helaena’s response was fight, show!Helaena’s response was fawn (and arguably freeze with what appeared to be disassociation). That doesn’t make her wrong or a bad mother as some of you are suggesting. She was experiencing an extremely traumatic event with a knife to her throat and two sleeping children only feet away from her with her only options being to surrender her son or risk losing them both as well as her own life. Trauma responses aren’t something we control, and blaming her for hers is greatly misunderstanding the nuance of it all. Showing that there ARE multiple ways to respond in traumatic situations made sense with this version of Helaena’s character with all of her other reactions we have seen throughout the show so far.

I get that people are also mad that Alicent wasn’t there for the situation and especially that she was instead fucking Cole, but I honestly think that that is a different horror of its own. Book!Alicent shared in Helaena’s trauma of being forced to choose between her children and is helpless, but show!Alicent doesn’t even know that there is danger. She doesn’t know that their security was breeched (partially due to the fact that she is fucking the HEAD of security at the moment) and she doesn’t know that her daughter has just had to make the impossible decision to surrender her son to save her daughter, knowing that her daughter is “of lesser value” and that SHE will be blamed for the heir to the throne being assassinated in front of her while she was powerless to stop it. Alicent will feel the guilt of not knowing that her daughter needed help and she will feel the guilt that while it was happening she was “sinning against the gods” with a man she knows she shouldn’t be. Holier than thou Alicent was caught in the worst possible way and I doubt she will forgive herself.

I can understand being annoyed when an adaptation strays from the source material, but being upset that this particular event was “watered down” or “sanitized for television” has me questioning why you wanted to see a pure translation of the scene in the first place. The shows have diverted from the books for better and for worse in the past and while I understand and agree with book purists on some storylines or scenes being changed, this is one I firmly believe was justified.

#hotd #house of the dragon #blood and cheese #helaena targaryen #alicent hightower #criston cole #*steps off of soap box*#some of you need help

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mdhwrites · 1 year ago

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Is Amity a Good Person?

This is not if she's a well written character. A judgement of that is a part of this but the bigger point is just: Is Amity a 'good' person? Does she appear to actually care about others? Does she choose selflessness over selfishness? Etc. etc.

And part of this is going to be subjective. To some people, not being mean is enough to make someone nice. Other people will ask for a bit more, especially out of a fictional character. Hell, you can even see it with most fictional parties. The lancer character who is meant to contrast against the hero is usually a pretty dickish person but you might still call them good because even if they're cursing while doing it, they are still putting their life at risk in order to save a town or the like. Meanwhile, you probably wouldn't call Vegeta a nice person, even by the time of Dragon Ball Super because he is still mostly selfish, even once he's explicitly no longer trying t get stronger regardless of the consequences to others.

So what does Amity do that is actually nice?

...

........

Oh, were you expecting me to start listing things she does? Because I have bad news for you.

See, one hang up I have with going "Amity always wanted to be a good person and so even if she loses her drive, motivation, etc. she gains the personality of a good person," is that Amity doesn't do fucking anything to earn that. She isn't unpleasant. After S1, she isn't trying to murder people or actively bullying people but like... Cool, you upgraded from Mega Bitch to Background character. Why do you claim that's a new personality instead of the death of one?

Because being a 'good person' is actually more complicated than just not being an asshole. Being nice to your friends? Of course you're nice to your friends. You care about them (put a pin in it). Noticing when your partner is in pain and wanting to help them? You supposedly love that person, much like why you might be nice to family, so OF COURSE, you put in a little extra effort.

A good person, at least in a narrative, doesn't need the excuse. They help because it is the right thing to do and then their personality dictates how they go about doing so. Maybe they write wiki pages to share their knowledge in a free way so people can benefit from it. Maybe they help out at a soup kitchen because it gives them a chance to be more directly kind and they have the time for it. Or maybe it's just that when they see someone who is potentially having problems, they risk whatever it may lead to be asking this complete stranger if they're okay.

Amity doesn't do this. In fact, as far as actually giving a shit about anyone other than Luz, she's AWFUL at it. Hunter is her kindest moment to a theoretical stranger in the series but it is still characterized by her being suspicious, judgemental and not giving him a chance until the dude is suicidal and has drawn a dozen parallels between them. Even then, she does it as part of mimicking Luz, at least with the joke she immediately makes of how 'this always works for Luz'. Then you have poor fucking Willow. This is a girl that Amity abused, especially for her powerlessness and helplessness, for YEARS. Amity even knows explicitly why Willow should hate her. What her crimes are. But... Then 'good person' Amity, showing 'care' for her friend, treats her as powerless after having thought she didn't need to do shit to be allowed to come to Willow for advice (Labyrinth Runner and Falls and Follies respectively). That is TOTALLY someone who always just wanted to be a good person and is dedicating themselves to that instead of any of their old dreams and desires.

The only person or thing she puts any effort into post S1 is Luz. She doesn't care about anyone else besides that. Belittle Eda for not focusing on taking of Luz in a tangible way during Eclipse Lake? Check. Feel justified to give marching orders to literally everyone in the house just because she's Luz's girlfriend during that same episode? Check. Including Willow, who she has done NOTHING to make up for at this point? Check. Hell, even further: Not give a fuck about stopping Boscha while Luz could just step out of the splash zone around Willow during Winging it Like Witches? OF COURSE NOT. She only gets involved once Boscha's only focus is going to be on Luz.

That. Is not. A good person. Not if the only people who matter are those she deems are worthy of mattering. Changing from actively crushing those other people to just being entirely indifferent to them and their plights is not as a big of a deal as you all seem to think it is, not for it to become the only defining trait of a character's personalities and motivations.

Are they evil? Bad? No. But anything beyond nice is giving such a character a LOT of credit. A rogue isn't Robin Hood just because they only steal from the rich. If they're still lining only their pockets and the pockets of their friends with their thievery, they're still selfish and self centered, they just have code. That's called Lawful Neutral, or Lawful Evil, in D&D for a reason. Not any form of good.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #amity

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stereogeekspodcast · 6 months ago

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[Transcript] Season 5, Episode 6. Agatha All Along Spoiler Review

Down, down, down the road, down the Witches' Road we go! The Stereo Geeks were surprised and awed by Agatha All Along, the spin-off of WandaVision. What did Ron and Mon love about the show? What would they have liked to see? Who were their favourite witches? Tune in to this spoiler-filled review as we travel through many miles of tricks and trials.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

Intro

Mon: Hello and welcome to a witchy episode of Stereo Geeks. We’re reviewing Marvel’s Agatha All Along. I’m Mon.

Ron: And I’m Ron.

Ron: This episode is full of spoilers. So, please, watch Agatha All Along and come back to listen to our episode.

Mon: We’ll also break up this episode in two parts. The main section is about the first 7 episodes. And then we’ll dig into the two-part finale.

Background

Ron: Agatha All Along is the 2024 spin-off of Marvel’s hit Disney+ show, WandaVision. Agatha Harkness, played by Kathryn Hahn, was introduced in WandaVision as Wanda and Vision’s quirky neighbour, Agnes. Near the end of the series, Agnes was revealed to be Agatha Harkness, a powerful witch and custodian of the only other copy of the Darkhold. Full disclosure, I had to do some quick research to figure out the Darkhold stuff because I remember we encountered it in the Ghost Rider season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Anyhoo! Back to Agatha. To our immense surprise, the song ‘Agatha All Along’ got so popular that Marvel announced a spin-off series soon after.

Mon: I was shocked and surprised that people were calling for an Agatha show. Partly because I’m not all that into witches and occult lore. But also, I couldn’t figure out what the Agatha show could be about. A prequel set before WandaVision could turn her into a one-dimensional villain. One set after? She’s depowered, what’s the point of that?

I was sceptical about this interest. And even more so when Marvel announced the show was definitely happening. I was least interested in watching Agatha All Along. But, this is Marvel, so I was definitely going to check it out.

Ron: I was listening to something which reminded me that it’s been three years since the show’s announcement. Honestly, I forgot it was even going to happen. The turmoil at Marvel and Disney? Seeing so many promising projects cancelled for no reason? There was no reason to think this show was going to get a chance. Especially not if it was set to focus on female characters.

Mon: Yeah. It fell off my radar, as well. And then I heard about the 2024 Fan Expo Canada surprise panel about Agatha All Along. Followed by an invite from the Disney PR team to attend the activation at the event.

Ron and I have written about how meh the activation was over at WWAC. That didn’t enthuse me to the show, but I began to feel that familiar pull of intrigue and excitement. Listen, this is the MCU – this is our childhood dream come true. Superheroes every year, every week? You know I’m down for it. So, my spidey-senses were tingling well before we attended the panel.

The Agatha All Along panel recap is also at WWAC. It was at the panel that my interest was piqued.

Ron: Agreed. The activation at Fan Expo didn’t really excite me. It was three outfits and we could barely see them because of the dark lighting. The witchy volunteer who surprised us was the most fun part of it. But the panel started to change my mind. Jac Schaeffer and Kathryn Hahn talked about the othering of witches by the patriarchy and how Agatha All Along will see the coven reclaim witchiness. Feminism. Witches? I was definitely intrigued.

Expectations

Ron: Agatha All Along picks up three years after the events of WandaVision which left Agatha powerless and living out a fantasy in Westview. The pilot episode of the show sees Agatha living out a true crime parody of Mare of Easttown. Agatha is able to break out of the fantasy with the help of Teen, played by Joe Locke. He’s not actually called Teen, but his identity is hidden by a sigil so nobody can hear him say his name.

Ron: Teen wants to travel the Witches Road to get power and guess who else doesn’t have power? Agatha! They team up to access the road, they’ll need a coven with specific witchy abilities. Agatha is the powerless Spirit Witch. Among her reluctant recruits are the Divination Witch Lilia, played by Broadway legend Patti LuPone. Then there’s Powerless Potions Witch, Jennifer Kale, played by Sasheer Zamata. Next, Protection Witch, Alice Wu-Gulliver, played by Ali Ahn. And randomly Mrs Sharon Davis, aka Mrs Hart, played once again by Debra Jo Rupp. Mrs Davis is recruited as the Green Witch, although she is not a witch, but a regular Westview citizen.

Ron: That’s an amazing cast. And it’s rounded off by Aubrey Plaza’s Rio Vidal, the actual Green Witch of the coven, who has a ton of history with Agatha. That history is romantic and bloody. Teen also gets to go as part of the coven but not as a witch. He accesses the road as Agatha’s familiar. This is how I find out humans can be familiars. How fascinating.

Mon: I know nothing about witchy terminology. So I’m fascinated by everything.

Ron: I had no idea what to expect from Agatha All Along and I really wasn’t as invested in this show as so many Marvel fans. But that first episode was so entertaining, I was instantly in love. Though I am a bit sad that the first episode confirms that Wanda Maximoff is dead. Boo to Multiverse of Madness for killing Wanda like that.

Mon: Ufff, do not talk to me about Multiverse of Madness! As mentioned, I was not sure about the show at all. But that first episode was like… what am I in? Because I love it and I want more. I love that Agatha All Along continues the same theme of WandaVision – each episode is a different genre of television. I didn’t expect that on Agatha, but it’s a great way to tie the two properties together. And showrunner Jac Schaeffer makes the genre changes on both shows make sense.

Ron: The best thing about getting different genres every episode is that we also get different sets, different costumes, and a whole new vibe.

Mon: This show looks so good. The sets and costumes, my word. Love, love, love the look of this show. After all the boring CGI Marvel’s been throwing at us, Agatha All Along is a nice change of scenery.

Ron: Not to mention, this show was basically an adventure-of-the-week show. I don’t know why we don’t have stories like that on our screen anymore. I love adventure stories. Between Agatha All Along and the new Tomb Raider show on Netflix, I finally felt like someone had got the memo that adventure stories are the best.

Mon: See, this is what I like about Agatha, and it was a huge reason why we all loved WandaVision. These are serialized stories, but told in an episodic fashion. So you get that half-hour of fun, while knowing there’s more to be revealed later.

Mon: And, I want to point out that one thing I loved about Agatha was how each episode stuck the landing. You ended on a high. This has become a huge problem in today’s streaming age. Studios want tv to be one long movie, so they don’t know how to make short-form stories that have an ending or a cliffhanger. Disney is particularly guilty of this. Like, I love The Acolyte – best Star Wars show out there, in my opinion – but that show has to be watched all at once, not weekly.

Agatha, on the other hand, even if the episode had some slower moments, it knew how to get you excited while the credits rolled. What do you mean Agatha doesn’t know who Sharon is? Wait, is the whole coven dead? Is Teen a witch? You’re left asking so many questions. And you’re pumped. That’s how you end an episode – or seven.

Ron: You’ve hit the nail on the head. WandaVision and Agatha All Along know they’re TV shows. Each episode needs to tell an entire story while also giving you teasers for future stories and arcs to come. We got cliffhangers every week and that made me desperate for every Wednesday. And with every episode, I was satisfied and exhilarated.

Disappointments

Mon: My one big disappointment in Agatha is that I wish the show had been more obvious and direct about why women have been condemned and cast out as witches. Now, in the universe of the show, witches are real. But, keeping that in mind, why were they hunted, mistreated, killed? Jac Schaeffer had hinted the real-life vendettas against women declared to be witches informs the show. It’s there in the show, but doesn’t play a big part.

After all, women who have broken the so-called norms of society have always been punished. The coven in Agatha has as well. I wanted to see more of a through-line between reality and fiction.

Ron: I agree with you. And I think I know why we didn’t get to see these backstories of the witches. The show is only nine episodes long. If it was a 22-episode series, we could have delved deep into the coven’s lives before this show. We could have seen how they were wronged by their societies, communities, and the patriarchy. But in nine episodes? There just isn’t time.

Mon: That being said, I’m glad they didn’t show us a ton of violence against the ladies. We didn’t need that to understand what they’d been through.

Ron: Yes. Just listening to Jennifer Kale talk about how her powers were taken by a man she’d trusted as her mentor? That was enough to make me squeamish.

Favourite moments

Mon: There were so many great moments in this series but what are our favourites?

Ron: Am I going to sound insane for saying I loved watching the witches fly on broomsticks.

Mon: Not going to lie, despite the janky CGI during the flying scene, I loved that moment of profound joy the ladies were having.

Ron: The coven was being rather disparaging about having to ride sticks but that shot of them flying across the moon on their brooms warmed my heart. For the witches in the MCU, that’s become a derogatory image because witches have been so maligned. But they get to reclaim the power of flight and pay homage to their true witchy selves. It was quite an empowering moment. Also, I really need to see someone, anyone, reclaim the witches from that TERF in the UK.

Mon: Absolutely!

Ron: Also, I really loved the part of episode six where we see Teen’s point of view of his meeting with Agatha. It was so funny.

Mon: So dang good. Like, this is what I love about the show – it’s unpredictable, but so perfectly acted. And executed. Black hearts everywhere.

Ron: Also, so eminently rewatchable. I already can’t wait to rewatch this show because of episodes 1 and 6, but also episode 7, and all the easter eggs that we have most definitely not clocked.

Mon: Oh, Agatha demands a rewatch.

Ron: There were also some characters moments that I can’t stop thinking about. Like Jennifer shoving everyone out of the way to escape the first trial. Every witch for themselves!

Mon: Oh, Jennifer’s so much fun to watch. That woman’s a survivor for a reason. Get out of her way.

Jennifer also gets some really funny lines. Like in Episode 7 when Lilia goes, ‘we are not cool, teenager’ and Jennifer retorts ‘ooo, using the full name’—the dialogue delivery, the expression, the line. Jennifer’s memorable.

Ron: And, this shouldn’t be a funny moment, but when Teen announces that Sharon Davis is dead, Agatha’s only comment is ‘who’s Sharon’? That was hilarious! It’s supposed to be a sad moment. We’ve lost a coven member and someone that Wanda meanly tortured for no reason. But Agatha just has to be Agatha and straight up forgets Sharon’s name. The entire coven calls Sharon Mrs Hart for so long. I love a good running gag and this one worked for me.

Mon: Oh, Agatha. You are the worst. We love you.

Mephisto

Ron: I feel like we need to talk about Easter eggs. But there are so many we’ve missed. We need to rewatch it. Obviously, the biggest one is Mephisto. I don’t know what the obsession is with Mephisto but MCU fans have been predicting Mephisto’s appearance for years. So many people thought he’d be the big bad in WandaVision. People were greatly disappointed and are now very excited that Agatha All Along has confirmed his presence. I don’t really care about Mephisto but he’s apparently such a big deal to fans that I had to mention him.

Mon: This Mephisto thing is so annoying. I get it; he’s an integral part of the boys’ history. But these shows and stories about female superheroes – like WandaVision, She-Hulk and Agatha All Along – they aren’t just vehicles to introduce dude characters from the comics. It frustrates me that people will tune into watch these amazing ladies and their fabulous stories, just to find out which man is going to swoop in to steal the show.

Of course, I’m about to eat my words, aren’t I? I want to be mad at all the people invested in Agatha All Along because of Joe Locke’s addition and the identity of his character. The show was much more than that, but they were right.

Teen

Ron: We should probably talk about Teen’s real identity. In a way, we all knew Teen would turn out to be Billy Maximoff because of the amount of speculation online. Sometimes I wish people would share their theories with their friends’ groups instead. Literally the moment Joe Locke was cast, everyone was screaming he was Billy. It probably doesn’t help that there are so few gay characters in Marvel that casting an out gay actor was a dead giveaway. But having said that, until Teen’s spotlight episode, I was still unsure. He could’ve been Nicolas Scratch, Agatha’s son. But Rio was pretty categorical when she told Agatha that Teen wasn’t hers.

Mon: Yeah, they set up the mystery of his identity well, but all the speculation ruined it. It’s a no-win situation. If you make a story assuming everyone knows who he is, you’ve lost a sense of mystique around Teen’s appearance. But, they went with all mystery, and well, so much for that.

Mon: Despite the lack of a surprise, I must say, Joe Locke has been impressive. His performance is superb—he’s the right amount of campy, adorable, and emotional.

It’s rare to see a film or show with a bunch of adult and older ladies with one young dude, so I was intrigued by how Agatha All Along would work that dynamic. Unlike a property where the genders are reversed, there is no ewwww or creepy factor to Billy being a young man amidst a bunch of ladies. He’s also not automatically mothered by the ladies — he has a different relationship with all of them.

I have genuinely enjoyed watching Locke on the show. Which is a relief because it’s obvious that Marvel is setting up the formation of the Young Avengers.

We have a solid group of characters played by a mostly great cast of actors. Now, if they can strike the right balance of introducing a young generation of characters without alienating us older fans, that would be amazing.

Let’s talk about Agatha

Mon: So, the grande dame herself. What do we think of Agatha Harkness?

Ron: She’s a bad guy. And she’s the best! I cannot believe how much I’m loving Agatha. Hahn was fun as Agnes in WandaVision but in this show, incredible. Agatha is mean and she isn’t afraid to lean into the meanness. The way she refuses to call Sharon by her name but the fake Mrs Hart name she got used to in Wanda’s hex. And she’s dripping with sarcasm, which I’m pretty sure is her way of hiding her vulnerability. That scene in episode two when she’s hallucinating her child’s cradle. There’s deep pain and loss and trauma in Agatha. And she’s hiding it all under layers of sarcasm and caustic wit. Just shows you how tough the witches of the MCU have to be, I guess.

Mon: I’ll start with one big criticism—what’s up with Marvel screen adaptations turning old, white-haired ladies into younger brunettes? I said this about Madame Web, and Cassandra Nova in Deadpool & Wolverine, and now I need to say it again about Agatha. Don’t get me wrong, Kathryn Hahn is amazing, but I wish Hollywood would cast older women in roles that are literally made for them. Notice how the ‘comic-accurate’ crowd never complain when a younger, hot lady is cast in the place of an old woman? Oh, but try and make comics more inclusive, and everyone loses their minds!

Ron: Yes. That’s a good point. Agatha in the comics is much older. She’s also kinda stoic which is not like the MCU Agatha, who is hilarious. That’s what you get when you cast a seasoned comedic actor like Hahn. The expressions. The comedic timing. You get everything with Agatha. And she’s delightfully queer! Now that Marvel has cast a younger Agatha, that just means we should be getting more Agatha stories till Hahn is 90.

Mon: I agree. We could definitely do with more of Hahn’s Agatha. I genuinely never thought I’d be saying that. She was fun on WandaVision, but Hahn gets to flex her evil side here on Agatha All Along. What I love about Agatha is that she’s good with being bad. She’s mean, and nasty. But she’s not cruel. Agatha is looking out for herself, which is what all the witches in the coven are doing. I found her compelling to watch; especially because she’s a baddie.

Best episode

Ron: Let’s talk about favourite episodes. What’s my favourite? Can I say all of them? How can you make me choose? Oh wait, I’m the one making us choose.

Mon: You’re so dramatic! Oddly enough, the episode that confounded me the most is also my favourite – it’s got to be Episode 7, “Death's Hand in Mine”.

Ron: I love Lilia’s episode. I might cry. It was so beautiful.

Mon: Yes, it was the one episode that made me super emotional. The melancholia of losing oneself, of trying to find oneself. And Patti LuPone is a legend for a reason. She carries that discombobulation so well. The way the episode was edited and structured, we feel lost like Lilia, but we also feel rewarded for having gone on this journey with her.

Ron: I mentioned this to you while watching Lilia’s episode but it made me think of the first season of Castle Rock. The seventh episode of that season gave viewers the point of view of a character with dementia. And the episode fills in all the moments that the character had been losing through the show. It was heartbreakingly beautiful. Sissy Spacek got a lot of accolades for her performance and I hope Patti Lupone gets the same. She was so stunning in Agatha but Lilia’s spotlight episode was everything.

Mon: Episode 7 there too?

Ron: What a coincidence, right? I must check whether there’s a connection between these two shows. I learned that the reason Agatha All Along’s first episode was a parody of Mare of Easttown was because the showrunners of the two shows are good friends. And they both have an Evan Peters connection.

Mon: Interesting. I was reminded of the fifth episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor. In that episode we also follow a character losing time and place. And we experience a similar sense of melancholy and loss as we do with Lilia.

Ron: Also, I don’t know much about Tarot, but the way Lilia’s episode leaned into tarot was really interesting. I love the way the Tarot deck tied up so many plot threads from earlier episodes. What a treat. Lilia stole my heart in that episode. But who is your favourite witch?

Favourite witch

Mon: ALICE! I love her so much. I’m so predictable, eh? Give me a silent, brooding morally-ambiguous protagonist with a bleeding heart and heart-breaking backstory, and she’s my queen. I’m still angry at Agatha for killing Alice. And Ali Ahn portrays Alice with so much pathos – I couldn’t stop watching her. Plus, Alice is the only one in the coven who’s looking out for someone else. Alice is protective of Teen, but not in the usual maternal way. She’s a kind person; she’s been burned before. She’s been a cop, and she’s literally the Protection witch. Of all the coven, Alice seemed the least selfish. The friendship she and Teen formed was adorable. I could have watched more of that. New fav. Unlocked.

Ron: I really loved Jennifer Kale. Maybe I’m biased because I’ve been listening to Sasheer Zamata for a while on the Best Friends podcast she does with Nicole Byer. But I was pretty hyperfocused on Jennifer in this show. She’s sarcastic, she doesn’t take Agatha’s nonsense. She’s on this quest for herself but she takes the time to warn Teen about how dangerous Agatha can be. Zamata has such a wonderfully expressive face. I loved watching her react to Agatha and the coven’s general weirdness. So fun.

Horror

Ron: Nobody warned us this show would be scary. Like, hoo boy, jump cuts, unnaturally-moving characters, straight up demons and demonic possessions. What a ride! I love that this show had just the right level of terrifying. Enough to make you recoil in fear but not enough to keep you up at night. Though, now that I think about it, I don’t think our parents would be able to watch it? They don’t like horror and the scary moments in Agatha are pretty scary.

Mon: There are definitely a few ‘keep the lights on at night’ jump scares in this show. And it starts from the first episode. I love that. I wish we had more of it.

Queerness

Ron: I don’t know when this happened, but Aubrey Plaza is incredibly hot and queer. I used to find her too quirky but I loved her in Happiest Season. I still think Kristen Stewart’s character should have ended up with Plaza’s character in that film.

Mon: Not gonna lie, Aubrey Plaza in Happiest Season is super hot. I still can’t get over it. And in Agatha All Along, sizzle!!!! Loved her here. Needed more of her.

Ron: In Agatha All Along, Plaza is deliciously queer and hot. It was obvious from the trailer that she would be naughty and fun, but I really loved her in this. And her chemistry with Hahn is insane. I was screaming ‘kiss already’ everytime they were in the same frame. Also, nothing like queer longing and betrayal to get one excited, eh?

Mon: The MCU began in 2008, but Agatha All Along is the first property where we have multiple out gay protagonists. It’s the first one where two women are very obviously into each other and, at least in the first seven episodes, go in for an aborted kiss. It’s only the second MCU property where we have a gay romance between two gay lads. It’s 2024, nearly two decades after the franchise started. And we’re only now catching up with the fact that gay people exist! I mean, poor Valkyrie is dying to be her bi self in the Thor movies, but Marvel didn’t let her. An absolute shame.

Mon: Now, alongside The Eternals, the Netflix Marvel shows did have gay characters, romance and kisses. But aside from Daredevil, I don’t know if those shows are part of the MCU or not. So,some of those firsts still stand.

Ron: What’s canon and what isn’t? It’s all a mystery. But here’s the thing, is Agatha All Along going to be considered pure MCU? Since it’s a TV show? Are we getting into discourse? Okay. Let’s get into discourse.

Discourse

Ron: Have you heard all the discourse online? Particularly the discourse around who Billy should have wanted to bring back?

Mon: Eh? Agatha discourse has completely passed me by, mate. Enlighten me.

Ron: First up, I completely missed all the hate the show was getting from dudebros. They can go suck it. But there was some weird talk online about when Billy comes to life, and why was he looking for Tommy? A lot of people were wondering why Billy wouldn’t first want Wanda back. Now look, we love Wanda. I don’t think anyone who watches Marvel films dislikes her. MCU-Wanda is universally loved in a way comics-Wanda has never been allowed to. I get the disappointment of losing Wanda in Doctor Strange 2. I hate it, as well. I want Wanda back. I’ve loved her in the comics, I love her in the MCU.

Ron: Having said all that, people saying Billy should have wanted his mother back before Tommy shows a fundamental misunderstanding of these two characters and Wanda and Pietro. I haven’t read much of Billy and Tommy, but whenever I’ve encountered them, it’s obvious that they’re very close twins, like their mom and uncle. The Wanda, Pietro and Vision trifecta is basically recreated in the next generation with Billy, Tommy, and Billy’s boyfriend, Hulkling. How can anybody expect Billy to find life and not immediately go looking for his twin?

Mon: Wait a ruddy second here. You’re telling me people are confused that Billy wants Tommy back and not Wanda? Have they met any twins in their life? Do they not understand story and characterization? Billy and Tommy are two halves of the same coin. They’re inseparable whenever we’ve seen them in the MCU. Of course, Billy wants Tommy back.

But, aside from that, from a narrative standpoint, Tommy as Speed needs to enter the MCU to kickstart the next phase of the franchise. The Young Avengers aren’t coming; they’re here. We’re waiting for them to fill in the blanks now. People have absolutely no media literacy. Thank goodness I didn’t read this silliness.

Finale

Mon: Ok. So the two-part finale. The show takes a complete turn here. The last trial looks very different from the others. And Jenn discovers that Agatha was the one who bound her and left her powerless — though, and it’s not clear — Agatha may have done so on the behest of the patriarchy. It’s all a convenient ploy to give Jenn her power back.

Then we move onto Billy who asks Agatha for help to find Tommy. Or rather, they need to find a newly dead boy who can become Tommy. In the end, Agatha is left to grow life in a dead space and that’s how she accomplishes the trial.

Ron: Except, Agatha’s trial has only just begun. We learnt in the previous episode that Rio was actually Death. Agatha makes a deal to give up Billy to save herself. But Billy has to be willing to do it. Because if he dies otherwise, he can just reincarnate and the next time, Death won’t be able to find him.

Mon: Yeah. And Agatha is clever. She almost succeeds in her plan to sacrifice Billy. But then he reminds her of her son and Agatha makes the sacrifice play instead. Sealing the deal with a pretty hot kiss with Rio. Took them long enough.

Ron: Can’t deny that I was waiting with bated breath for the finale. But Marvel did its Marvel thing and didn’t quite stick the landing. The two part finale was a great length but way too much exposition. And I also didn’t feel the performances were as layered as previous episodes. Like the almost-kiss scene had me thinking the best of Agatha. But in this episode, things just happen and there’s no sleight of hand to keep you on your toes.

Mon: It’s really weird how the show stuck the landing throughout the first 7 episodes and then completely fell away in the two-part finale.

Mon: Tonally the two finales were different from the rest of the show. And you could feel them changing the protagonist — from Agatha to Billy.

Ron: Technically it wasn’t Agatha all along. More like Billy all along, eh?

Mon: You’re not wrong. I was concerned the show was just a vehicle for Billy to enter the MCU. But, the first 7 episodes kept proving me wrong. And I was like, yes, we have a show with all these awesome ladies in it. Yay. And then the finales happened, and yup, the show was indeed just a vehicle for Billy. You cottoned on pretty quick during the finale that Billy reality-warped the whole witches’ road.

Ron: It never even occurred to me that Billy’s presence in this show would be a distraction from Agatha. And the first seven episodes, it wasn’t. I think some of my disappointment about this finale is that the show was basically an illusion. Not exactly Lost levels of “it was a dream”, but close enough. Having said that, I did like the twist that Billy created the Witches Road purely from his desire to get his brother back. It’s a great callback to Wanda creating the hex on Westview to have a family.

Ron: I wonder now, wouldn’t it have been interesting to swap the finales? Have us see Agatha’s journey with Nicholas and then see her make the sacrifice play to save Billy.

Mon: So, the whole Agatha and Nicholas thing — I think they went too hard on that. The overreliance on the maternal aspect of female characters in the MCU is a problem. I thought WandaVision handled it well before Multiverse of Madness made it an obsession. And we see that here in Agatha as well. She can have a dark past with a dead child without that having to be the only humanizing aspect to her. Actually, why does she need to be humanized? Let her be evil.

Ron: Yep. I agree wholeheartedly. Do we need such a long part of the episode dedicated to a mother’s love? It would have been more interesting to see why she enjoyed killing witches despite having so much love for her son.

Mon: Like, seriously. In the final episode, we see Agatha and Nicholas’s life together. And honestly, it’s a drag. I thought the con artist part was interesting but the mother-son connection wasn’t strong at all. She was using Nicholas.

Ron: We should have seen the other cons Agatha made Nicholas do with her. I like the con artist-witch angle.

Mon: And their only bond was singing iterations of what would become the Witches’ Road song. That’s not layered storytelling.

Ron: Question: did Nicholas make up that witches road song on his own? Or was that an existing melody he co-opted? Because it starts off as wandering road and then becomes winding road, before finally landing on witches road, aka Agatha’s centuries’ long opportunity to scam and kill witches. That I liked. A lot!

Mon: See, the problem with the finales is this — everything that’s special about these ladies is the boys in this story. And the bad stuff is the ladies fighting each other. The finales totally undermine everything that was awesome about the previous episodes.

Ron: That’s a bit harsh.

Mon: I know. But I’m disappointed.

Ron: I think Agatha and Rio were connected by more than just Nicolas and his death.

Mon: Was that on screen? No.

At the very least, I would rather have known why Agatha kills witches and steals their power. What does she get out of it?

Ron: Nicholas even asks her to stop doing it and she just brushes it off. Lean into that. Agatha being a grieving mother isn’t new or unusual. Her insistence on taking lives is!

Ron: Of course, I would have loved to see how Rio and Agatha got together. Rio is literal death and she falls so deeply in love with Agatha? Where was that story?

Mon: Totally! Where was the romance between these two?

Ron: I had really enjoyed the queer yearning, mostly from Rio in the earlier episodes. But by the finale, it was just hate from Agatha. Is Rio’s love for her purely because Agatha keeps her in business with all those witches she kills?

Mon: The layers and depth to the characters disappeared in the finales. I think that’s what I’m struggling with the most.

Ron: Yes, and I’m feeling that lack of a 22-episode season even more. We get a short scene of Alice being taken by Death and she really doesn’t want to go. But what does it mean for her? Does she get to be with her mother? Did she really live in fear of a curse her whole life just to die for a boy and coven she met a few days ago?

Mon: So many questions. You’re right to ask them because we’re never going to get these answers. The story has moved on from the coven. It’s on to the Young Avengers now. Agatha is a ghost with white hair and she’s a bit player again. She’s Billy’s guide. He’s running the show.

Ron: This is such an issue with the Marvel shows. There are all these nuggets but then it’s all wrapped up with an untidy bow. We’re never going to see more of Jake Lockley from Moon Knight and now I’m not sure where Jenn Kale’s life is going to go. I’m glad she got her happy ending. Jenn going ballistic at Agatha for binding her. Agatha really is the worst. But that’s why we’ve grown to love her!

Mon: Ok, so in the end, Agatha and the coven were simply the catalyst for Billy to become a witch. Is that the takeaway from the show then?

Ron: I want to say that’s reductive. Because it wasn’t just about Billy. This show was about Jenn getting her power back from the patriarchy and an agent of that patriarchy, aka Agatha. Lilia also got a happy-ish ending. She got the answer as to why she lived her life out of order and she got to save her coven in the process. And it was about Agatha finding the kindness in her own black heart to give her life instead of taking lives. Why Sharon and Alice had to die, I can’t tell you.

Mon: You are kinder than I am. They should have closed the loop with Alice and said she’s going to be with her mom. Missed opportunity there. And Sharon — yeah, that was bad luck, I guess.

Mon: Overall feelings about Agatha All Along?

Ron: I loved disappearing into this show every week. It definitely had the energy and intrigue of WandaVision and was just as unpredictable. I loved the characters. The witches were all so layered and had incredible backstories that I would have loved to explore.

Mon: The first seven episodes were a blast and I want to rewatch them. Even when some of the moments slowed, I was invested in this group of complicated and flamboyant witches. I loved a lot of the production design and the character dynamics. More than anything, I’m so glad we finally have more out and proud queer characters in the MCU.

Ron: As much as I don’t like that this show ended up being a tool to introduce Billy to the MCU, he’s also a fascinating character that I’m feeling quite invested in. I want to see where he goes and I desperately want him to find Tommy.

Mon: Agreed. At least Joe Locke is compelling to watch and Billy is already a conflicted character. That’s something to look forward to with the Young Avengers.

Ron: Onwards to the Young Avengers indeed. But until then, we’re going to be singing the Witches Road song so much.

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marvelstars · 2 years ago

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While I absolutely love Satine and Obi-Wan debate over peace, war, peacekeepers and diplomatic agreetments, Satine short talk with Anakin holds a special place for me.

Obi-Wan presents Anakin as "General Skywalker" and Anakin, who already noticed the tension between Obi-Wan and Satine, just says

Anakin: I am your servant, my lady. Satine: I remember a time when Jedi were not generals but peace keepers. So far Satine has keep her debate with Obi-Wan and here she just seems to be trying to see Anakin´s take in the Jedi´s new role in the war. Anakin: We are protectors, Highness. Yours at the moment, we fight for peace. Satine: What an amusing contradiction.

Anakin stays silent after this and looks at Obi-Wan as if asking him what´s her problem and Obi-Wan adds Obi-Wan: What Master Skywalker means is that we are acting at the behest of your highness to protect you. Satine says she didn´t ask for protection and Obi-Wan answers but your court did.

Anakin is very uncomfortable around Satine , he just knows his mission here is to protect her as she´s the leader of thousand of neutral worlds, so he keeps cold proffesionalism and respect while talking with her and when asked for his reason for supporting the war, he answers "We fight for peace" which is actually very in character for him, all his life the one time he has seen positive changes was with the help of an army, be it Naboo´s invasion, Geonosis or his own dream of freeing the slaves by becoming a Jedi in the sense of becoming a powerful warrior.

Satine believes this is a contradiction, something Anakin tells to himself to be able to play his role in the war as a Jedi but she doesn´t know Anakin isn´t a traditional Jedi and that he´s being serious about protecting by attacking to get peace and it´s something he deeply cares about because he knows very well how´s to be powerless and how hard is to get peace by peaceful means from that position.

Then when Anakin notices Satine and Obi-Wan obvious care for each other despite their bitter words his face is priceless. He understands there´s a lot of story he doesn´t know about them and that they care for each other deeply so he gets curious about her story and asks obi-wan.

Obi-Wan tells him he and Qui-Gon were given the mission to keep her safe and for a year they stayed protecting Satine from bounty hunters and grow close during that time. Anakin´s face authomatically changes as he pictures as teenager Satine dealing with ruling a world in ruins on her own and asks Obi-Wan why he didn´t stay to help her, Obi-Wan answers he had to leave for another mission but admits he feels regret over it.

At the end of their conversation Anakin offers to go and see their troops to give Obi-Wan more time with Satine.

So Anakin understands where Satine is coming from and feels empatetic to the burden she had to keep from a young age, he likes to tease Obi-Wan over his love/crush on her but actually only feels deep respect and understanding for Satine.

Anakin´s final words to Obi-Wan about her are that she´s a very "remarkable woman" and feels happy Obi-Wan has someone like her in his life.

Satine and Anakin are coming from very different backgrounds, so their point of view seems to be opposite to each other but just like Satine knows for a fact sometimes you can´t just argue your way out of a conflict, Anakin actually respects Satine pacifism and isn´t so affected by her observations about the Jedi Order because his idea of what a peacekeeper isn´t just the diplomatic one, he comes from a world in which words just were not useful to survive, so Anakin is always ready to protect using violence back, he´s a warrior at heart, that´s the meaning of his name actually but this doesn´t mean he doesn´t see the beauty of peace, the effort and strenght it takes to try to make lasting change by peaceful means and the kind of character someone has to develop to make that a reality, especially for a world like Mandalore that was so hurt by a Civil War.

#anakin skywalker #satine kryze #obi wan kenobi #star wars #clone wars #mandalore #mandalorians #Anakin Skywalker #Anakin meta #Star Wars meta #sw meta #jedi order

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bengiyo · 2 years ago

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I Told Sunset About You Rewatch Ep 3 Stray Thoughts

It's time for the tension episode. This is where things come to a head. Let's just go.

This boy really liked Oh-aew so much that it rewired his sense of smell. It's really incredible how much Billkin was willing to be unattractive in this show. This team understood that to be truly beautiful, there needs to be a little ugly.

I'm really glad they took time for us to see Teh thank Hoon for the plane ticket.

I forgot we started with Oh-aew in the tub. The girlies were not ready.

Of course Teh is up at 4 am for Oh, but he wouldn't get up for Tarn. That poor girl. Look at Tuty in the background watching this gay shit go down.

Teh asking Tarn to go off with his friends while they all watch silently from behind the screen is still one of the best scenes in the e fire show. Will also never get over PP making Billkin cry for accidentally hitting him too hard during the horseplay.

See, even Tarn knows that Teh is making exceptions for Oh he wouldn't make for her.

They just love letting Billkin play Teh being awkward. The cut to Oh falling behind Bas? Incredible. Bas always knew what was going on and was so powerless to do anything about it.

Teh is actively flirting and confusing everyone!

"I'll be with Bas, then," but looks directly at Teh? Both of these boys need to stop using Tarn and Bas as a way to one-up each other.

This going back and forth between them, Oh-aew? Heart wrenching.

Truly, how much money have PP and Billkin made from Lays because of this scene on the deck?

Poor Bas. Puts his heart out there and gets crushed. Oh knew what agreeing to that New Year's date would mean. At least be has enough class to let Bad down.

This couch scene is great because it almost feels like it could be from a multi-cam sitcom.

Hammock scene my beloved. Oh-aew is so brave. He breaks the subtext of all of their interactions and pushes Teh directly. Lets him know as they're literally on top of each other that Teh is the source of his confusion about Bas. He asks Teh the question in a way that doesn't let him deny it. Teh knows it's coming and pretends like he doesn't. "I think you know. You really don't? But I think you do. Or you really don't? But I do think you know?" Teh can't help but ask, "Since when?" And can only answer "I don't know." And admit his desire for closeness when Oh leans forward and pushes.

And now Skyline. It's out in the open now. They may not have moved much, but everything shifted.

Oh, Tarn. I need you and Bas to get a scene like Lennier and Vir in Babylon 5 where they commiserate about Delenn and Londo.

Oh shit Teh is wearing the shirt. It's about to go down.

I get it, Teh. Oh-aew is just so alluring. This man is on the floor inhaling the paper. Mess of his face. He is so gone.

Skyline really is undefeated. The amount of control Oh exerts over Teh with just his presence is just so incredible to watch even still three years later.

"Why do you have to think so hard about it? Forget about it. Do whatever you feel like. There's no need for an answer, if there's no answer." This is what I'm saying!! We get so caught up in the warring over labels. They're just tools to help us think about ourselves. Oh knows intrinsically that these two are drawn to each other and it's stronger than what he's ever felt for Bas. That feeling is what matters. He offers Teh the time and patience of "secret" to let him figure it out. You can see Teh instantly relax at that and try to fall back into the flirtatious studying they've been doing.

Man, what is it about Teh? If Teh tells him he can't quit, Oh always finds a way to dig deeper.

Jesus, Skyline remains undefeated.

"As promised." It gets me every time.

I tell ya. It's always queer boys and their moms.

I don't know what went wrong with the original translation scene or the final scene from this episode when they were in post, but what we got was so good from the reshoots that I legit never want to see the discarded takes.

I still can't believe they filmed this while surrounded by tourists. The translation scene is still my favorite confession in BL. Oh knew what was happening. He knows Teh is flirting through these Chinese lessons. It's absolutely incredible. It's just so much. Teh connected the series that helped him find his purpose to his feelings for Oh. Just omg.

That's right, Tuty! Regulate!! You can smell the sexual energy! Don't let nothing gay happen on your watch!!!

Notice that the leg touching begins as soon as Tuty leaves? She lost focus and now look at us.

Oh is so careful, he mentions being tired from walking before touching Teh's leg. He's giving Teh another way to ease in by framing it as normal help. But the score knows. Oh's hand on the inside of his thigh knows.

Oh's shirt literally says sunset, and Teh is wearing the branded shirt. They wanted us to know how this was really the climactic moment of the show. That's where his head is still at.

JFC Teh pushing Oh's face to say he's not ready for that. Look. I need to pause for this one. So many of my young encounters did not begin with or ever involve kissing. It's just too much. We can rub each other's legs and grope all night, but there's something about kissing when you're in the closet that makes it too much. Oh made it clear it's what he wanted, Teh couldn't give it to him, but they can still touch.

"What if there are two male protagonists?" I was holding my breath at this point in 2020.

It's the way Teh can't stop moving as he pulls Oh onto his chest. He just can't stop touching. The breathing gets heavy. We know where this is going. And then he stops at Oh's chest and the spell is broken.

The hot, bothered, and devastated look on Oh's face is the most impressive single expression I've seen in all of BL.

The silence at the end is deafening, and then we go into PP singing Skyline? I remember this week breaking us.

What an incredible episode. All of the games. All of the rituals. All of the safety valves. All of the blinders. All of it just to have Teh bail in the moment because he faced the physical reality that Oh wasn't a woman. He once again made Oh think he wasn't enough after pouring it on thick all episode. Goddamn.

#i told sunset about you #thai bl #bl series #itsay meta #Ben watches

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ecargmura · 2 years ago

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My Happy Marriage Episode 1 Review: Taisho Era Cinderella Story

Ah yes, the classic Cinderella story. We get a girl being mistreated by her family after her father gets remarried and then she meets the rich man who will save her from her hell. As cliche as the trope gets, I actually like the trope. I like seeing the lead character be super withdrawn and having that one special person come into their life and make them open up and change them for the better.

However, there are some interesting things that differs My Happy Marriage from the usual Cinderella story. First off, Miyo, our main character, has her father who got remarried. After the birth of her half-sister Kaya, both her biological father and her stepmother mistreat her and her younger sister looks down on her.

The entire first episode is just making Miyo be in the worst situation possible. Miyo’s daily life is just cleaning. Her childhood sweetheart gets engaged to her younger sister and she gets sent off to be married into another family. You just can’t help but feel bad for Miyo.

Miyo is just a miserable character for now. I feel bad for her. She’s been so emotionally abused that all her personality got sucked out and she’s only a shell for now. I just hope that Kiyoka can bring in some personality into her.

Oh boy, Miyo’s family sucks balls. I did mention that her BIOLOGICAL father neglected her after his remarriage. Her stepmother is also terrible. It sucks that the two only care about Kaya and not Miyo. The only “good” thing her father did for her was buying her a nice kimono for the marriage interview. If you look at the things she had packed, she only had two pairs of clothes. That means her father has never bought her clothes until now. On top of that, he makes Miyo go to her arranged partner’s house ON HER OWN! WITHOUT AN ESCORT! He’s certainly not winning any Father of the Year awards ever. Her stepmother is just awful. She doesn’t care about her stepdaughter at all and it shows. She belittles her whenever she can. Kaya is also a bitch. She just looks down on her and sneers at her whenever she can. Like, the way she looked at Miyo as she was getting engaged to Koji made me want to punch her so bad. She just seems like an entitled bitch. Don’t tell me she’s going to go after Kiyoka when she learns that he’s a better catch?

Miyo’s childhood friend Koji seems like the only one who’s genuinely nice to her, but not even he can stand up to his family. It sucks that the only light in Miyo’s life has to be taken away. It seems that his family is quite powerful because he cannot choose who to marry and such. It sucks that society back then was like this. It just feels heartbreaking to know how many bonds have been broken due to arranged marriages and the powerlessness to prevent them.

I’m also curious to why they arranged her to meet Kiyoka. Did they request her? I don’t think this was ever explained. Her father was like “Here, go to this man’s house. Get married. Bye,” and refuses to elaborate. Who set this up?

My opinion on Kiyoka is nothing right now; he just appeared towards the end of the episode. How am I supposed to make an opinion about that? I just hope he’s a nice guy. Miyo needs some good people in her life.

The anime is super pretty, though! I love the background details like the cherry blossom tree, the water and the trains. Given that Western clothes existed and there are trains, I’m assuming this show takes place during the Taisho era? Because I get reminded of Demon Slayer since that show’s setting takes place in the Taisho era too.

The voice acting is great! Reina Ueda voices Miyo and she does a great job with the soft-spoken tone. Ayane Sakura voicing Kaya was good too. Sakura is a versatile voice actress. She can be the sweetest thing ever or she can dish out the haughty bitch voice with relative ease. Kana Ueda voices Miyo’s stepmom and I’m not used to her voicing an adult since I’m always more familiar with her cutesy roles. I think that the biggest mindblowing role is Kaito Ishikawa in his 5 minute screen time. I’m usually familiar with Ishikawa playing loud, brash and hot-blooded characters so for him to voice a stoic, stern man like Kiyoka is going to take some time for me to get used to.

Overall, Miyo deserves a happy life. I do wonder when the supernatural elements will be implemented into the story since the first episode is just showcasing how bad Miyo’s life is and that she gets sent off to marriage. This is an adaptation of a rather popular light novel series. Maybe I should give it a read when I get the chance.

#my happy marriage #review #anime #anime review #Miyo saimori #Kiyoka kudou #kaya saimori #koji tatsuishi #supernatural #romance #ecargmura #arum journal

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adamwatchesmovies · 2 years ago

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Hereditary (2018)

Keen viewers will foresee the ending of Hereditary fairly early on. Having seen the film three times now, I’ve realized that's not a bug; it's a feature. The point is that you see the train coming but you can't move out of its way. With a superb performance by Toni Collette at its center, terrific, inventive cinematography and impeccable direction by Ari Aster (his feature-film debut), it's a joy to examine the filmmaking at work. It also happens to be horrifying.

Following the death of her estranged mother, Annie Graham (Toni Collette) attends a loss support group to try and cope. She’s been sleepwalking again and can't shake the feeling that something's... not right at home.

In class, Annie’s son, Peter (Alex Wolff) isn’t paying attention to his teacher's lesson, but he should be. The students are asked whether it’s more tragic for a hero to know they're doomed but be unable to change their fate, or be unaware of the misfortune awaiting them. This idea is what makes the ending of "Hereditary" work. There’s something about watching people slowly inching their way towards annihilation unsettling. With every passing second, you can feel the walls of their cage tightening. You’re an outsider, powerless to react and when the danger is as intense as it is in Hereditary, you’re glad to be nothing but an onlooker. In the most intense scenes, nothing could be more frightening than the characters turning towards you for help. Of course you would if you could. Annie, Steve (Gabriel Byrne), Peter and Charlie (Milly Shapiro) go through so much you don’t want them to suffer but your curiosity has also gotten the better of you. What’s coming will surely make your skin crawl and your hairs stand on end but you want to see just to be sure. Maybe things will go a different way. Or maybe they’ll go exactly how you expect they will.

Key images in the film fill me with dread just thinking about them. It makes me want to claw my eyes out so I don’t have to see them anymore, which makes me admire the filmmaking even more. The longer you look at this movie, the more things you notice. In many scenes there are symbols hidden in the background, there are things standing in the darkness, recurring images and foreshadowing telling you what’s incoming. It all ties back to that question posed to Peter. The more you see, the more you wonder whether you want the characters to know what you do or if you’d rather they stay ignorant of the doom that awaits them. The recurring theme of decapitation is on its own more than enough to give you the willies.

The performance by Toni Colette turns something you would normally passively watch into a reality you’re forced to confront. Her wails as she cries pierce your chest and wrap their fingers around your heart. Her panic as she pieces together what’s actually going on is palpable even if you don’t quite understand all of the “rules”. This film is quite good at giving you the minimum amount of information required and leaving the rest for your mind to fill in the blanks. If you're the king of person that won’t be able to sleep until you know everything that happened, don't worry. There are a few scenes that spell it out for you. Our lead is so good you’re likely to overlook how well everyone else does with their roles. Milly Shapiro, for instance. You’d never guess A) she was 15 at the time and B) that she’s a perfectly normal teenaged girl. Obviously they used prosthetics to make her look the way she does but she so subtly off you just don’t know what to make of her.

There are certain aspects of the film you could criticize. Hereditary is essentially a modern update on a couple of well-known horror films and a scene during the beginning makes it very easy for you to know this story’s final destination. This may detract from some of the fun but it certainly won’t take away the scares. In fact, it gets more intense, more terrifying upon rewatches because your eyes can focus less on what’s happening in the foreground and more on the stuff hidden in the margins. There’s a brilliant scene with a rolling ball every aspiring horror filmmaker needs to take note of. It's just one example of the many scenes ready to conjure up some recurring nightmares. (March 20, 2020)

#Hereditary #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #horror movies #horror films #Ari Aster #Toni Collette #Alex Wolff #Milly Shapiro #Ann Dowd #Gabriel Byrne #2018 movies #2018 films

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salamanderinspace · 2 years ago

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Saving a small section from a book I finished. The book was pretty disappointing overall but this was an interesting description of this sort of emotional state. This protagonist has been ghosted by a guy she went on two dates with (though their parents were intensely pressuring them to marry, so there were expectations) and is processing the rejection. A few more comments below the break:

...I do find it interesting that she doesn't want help, doesn't want to talk about it, because she knows her family will make this worse. The narrative ultimately proves this to be poor/false judgement on her part, which IMO is a big reason why the book is disappointing---in real life, if people are vicious bullies in chapters 1-30, they will continue to be vicious bullies in chapter 31 after you stand up to them and "love yourself" or whatever. The way her mother is constantly putting her through it for not being married seems very much like bullying to me.

Anyway. Here she is, this very high strung girl with a very very different cultural background from me, working through a traumatic heartbreak after not being texted back for one week.

"Everything okay, Leila?" my mother asked me at the breakfast table the next morning.

"I'm fine," I said, pushing my eggs from one end of the plate to the other. I had no idea if my mother knew that I had seen Zain again, but I didn't want to risk giving her more access to my life than she already had.

"You haven't eaten anything. Can I make you something else?"

"No. No, Ammi, I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, I said, getting up.

"You can always talk to me if something is wrong," my mother said softly.

I nodded and walked back into my room. I knew she could sense I was upset, but she was the last person I wanted to talk to about Zain. If I so much as mentioned his name, she would immediately call Yasmeen aunty, and I couldn't deal with any more humiliation. If my mother had never forced me to go to that lunch, I never would have met him, and I never would have gotten my heart broken. I knew it was unfair to hold her solely responsible for what happened between the two of us, but I couldn't help but feel that she shared at least some portion of the blame.

In an attempt to protect my fragile emotions, I decided to avoid my mother for the next week and tried everything I could to get over Zain on my own. I even pushed myself to go on a few more dates-and some second and third dates; however, my self-esteem had been so rattled, I just couldn't think clearly. Zain remained in the back of my mind like an unwanted guest.

When I used to go out, I was mainly concerned with how much I would like my date. Now, I was petrified that he wouldn't like me. These feelings of self- doubt consumed me entirely, and I resented Zain for that. Each time I met a potential suitor, I felt like I had to try extra hard to come off as smart and witty because I desperately needed validation. I needed to prove somehow that Zain had made a mistake. But even when a date would express interest, I instantly assumed there was something wrong: if I wasn't good enough for Zain, then anyone who did think I was good enough must be substandard. I knew my thinking made no sense, but nothing made sense anymore. My life had been reduced to mere contradictions. I hated Zain, but I also secretly wished he would call me so everything could go back to the way it was that night at the jazz club. With each day that passed, though, the silence on his end eventually started causing me to hate myself. I hated that I felt so powerless over the situation. I hated how crappy I felt all the time. But most of all, I hated that I had allowed myself to yearn for the one guy I couldn't have.

#rejection #the marriage clock #zara raheem #what im reading #love #romance

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beanea04 · 24 days ago

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Burst

"Oh man, I'm wasting my time on you," Natsu says as he and Vela continue to stare down Zalty.

"You're right, I've been so blinded by this guy that I've lost focus of the bigger picture."

"Let's finish this right now, sis."

Vela nods in agreement, but before they can even move two flying orbs come out and attack. "Look out!" Vela manages to doge but only just barely as she had almost lost her balance off of the ledge. Unfortunately, Natsu wasn't as lucky as he got hit straight in the temple.

"Ready when you two are go ahead and do your worst, Salamander and Asteria." The orbs continue to fly around the room in rapid zigzag patterns.

"Why you!" Natsu grunts. As the two orbs come flying back towards them. The two counter them by punching the orbs head on with flames and light. They shatter but they don't remain in that state for long as Zalty holds out one of his hands and the orbs are exactly how they were before. It's as if they had never been broken in the first place.

Caught off guard the dragon slayers are left wide open with orbs striking both of them in the gut which causes them to let out grunts of pain. It's just like before. These things are what mut have kept me from getting back up down there, Vela thinks.

"But we broke it, right?" Natsu groans uncertain.

"I have the ability to control an object's time. Meaning I can take the crystal back in time before it was broken."

"What kind of magic gives you that power?" Natsu asks. If it's the kind of magic I suspect it is then we're in big trouble. Vela begins to sweat at the thought of her theory being true.

"I practice one of the lost magics called the Arc of Time. it's extremely rare and quite powerful. Would you like to see what happens when I throw these crystal balls into the future?"

The orbs are sent soaring back at the two, but their speed seems to have increased tenfold. They seem to be coming from everywhere at once causing Natsu and Vela feel as if they were being attacked from all directions. Vela can barely keep track of them as she struggles to land a single hit.

She calms her breathing to focus and lets out a loud grunt as she takes out both of the orbs with a single punch. This is still pointless as both orbs repair themselves immediately. One goes to knock Natsu in the back of the head while the other aims for Vela's back.

"You're light and fire won't help you!"

"Oh yeah!" Natsu responds outraged. He goes to take a swing at one the orbs, but it stops right before his fist can meet it. "It stopped in midair."

"Yes, I also have the ability to freeze an object in time."

"Nice, trick but I'd be more impressed if it worked on people," Natsu taunts.

"It's because he can't," Vela responds. "If he was able to then there would be no need for the Moon Drip ceremony."

"An astute but correct observation Asteria. It is in fact powerless on living things. Since Ur turned herself into the ice that encases Deliora I cannot simply turn the time on that ice to its pre-frozen state. Hence the use of Moon Drip."

"Let me ask you something. Why are you guys doing this?" Natsu can understand why Lyon wishes to revive Deliora but what does this guy gain from it all. In the background Deliora can be heard trying to remove himself from the ice. "It seems to me like you're working hard trying to revive this demon just so Lyon can kill it to boost his ego. That's great for him and all, but what do you get out of it."

"He's right. What do you all gain by unleashing this monster onto the rest of the world?"

"I can't say. I've only recently joined them, so I don't know enough to speak on the others behaves."

"And yourself? What's your objective?" Vela inquires.

"You both certainly know how to get straight to the point." Zalty starts to laugh again which is really starting to piss Vela off. "The Cold Emperor Lyon is an arrogant twit. He doesn't stand a chance against Deliora. That's where I come in."

"If we can't kill him we're in major trouble," Natsu says mostly to Vela who nods in agreement. He turns his attention back to Zalty. "Unless you're gonna defeat it yourself."

"Don't be ridiculous I want to control the demon." Natsu's and Vela's eyes grow wide at this revelation. It's just like with Erigor and Lullaby. When are these lunatics gonna learn that they're not gods? Vela's hands clench at her sides.

"You see there are spells that give the caster power over a mortal monster like this one here. With a single spell I'd become the most powerful man in the world because I'd have a demon at my beck and call."

"Talk about a lame answer. I'm sorry I even asked. That's what you're after?" Natsu complains.

Vela decides to add in her two cents. "I was half expecting an answer of revenge, but you're just like all the other dark wizards who want to 'rule the world'. Always so predictable." She crosses her arms in disappointment.

"You think just having a monster's gonna make you tough? No way."

"I suppose you're both too young to understand right now. But one day you'll realize how important it is to have power on your side."

"We don't need any more power," Vela starts as Natsu ignites his hands while she Vela summons her Full Moon spell and draws her bow. Thankfully since the Moon Drip is using a minimal amount to light Vela has some of her magic power back. Which means she can use her arrows again.

"That's cause all our friends in Fairy Tail have got our back."

"If you let your cockiness get the best of you," Zalty then conjures a large black magic circle above him. "You will fall exactly like the ceiling above you."

"That trick won't work on us again." Vela shoots a multitude of arrows which causes the ceiling debris to crack into even tinier pieces and be scattered around them instead of on top of.

"I've had enough of you and your buddies screwing things up for the people on this island. It's time I put a stop to it!"

"You don't seriously believe you could stop my Arc of Time with your puny flames do you."

"He may not be able to stop it, but I can certainly slow it down." Vela prepares more arrows that are glowing even more brightly than the last. "Now Natsu!"

"We don't give a crap about your stupid magic!" As Vela fires off her arrows Natsu jumps off the rock their standing on and sends a wave flames much larger than the ones from before towards a multitude of crystal balls. "I just want you off this island!"

With the combined power of Natsu's flames and Vela's arrows the orbs all shatter at once. And due to the property of the arrows they aren't able to repair themselves in time to come back to Zalty's aid. In the cloud of smoke Natsu emerges with a flaming fist heading straight towards Zalty's face. "I may not be able to control time, but I can see the future. And I see me kicking your butt and sending you flying!"

As Natsu's fist meets Zalty's cheek the man is sent flying down below into a small rock structure. But the two don't have time to celebrate their victory as the ice has completely melted into the ocean.

Deliora lets out the biggest roar yet which shakes the entire island. Natsu, Vela and now Gray, who has finished off Lyon, stare in absolute horror at what has been unleashed. Gray standing waist deep in water collects some of it into his palm. "Thank you," he whispers into the air hoping his master can hear him from wherever she is.

At Gray's whisper the two in front take note of his presence. "Gray!" Vela calls out. The two rush over to him with Vela once again checking him over for any major injuries.

"Hey! what are you doing here?" Natsu asks.

"Natsu, Vela," Gray sighs out.

"There's only one thing we can do now! We gotta take that thing down!"

"And we have to hurry before it has a chance to reach the villagers," Vela adds with urgency.

Crawling on his arms is Lyon who is still deluded by his fantasy of defeating Deliora even in the condition he's in. "None of you are strong enough, but I am. I will defeat it."

Gray can only sadly gaze at what his old friend had become. "Lyon..."

"I'm going to surpass Ur, finally." He trails off in mad laughter.

"You can't fight. You can't even get up off the floor," Natsu protests.

Vela may not like the guy, but she doesn't want to see anyone else get hurt tonight. "You'll only end up getting yourself killed."

Deliora lets out another yell which only fuels Lyon's ideas of grandeur further. "I've waited so long for this moment." Lyon has brought himself to a kneel but still looks as if a light breeze would knock him over. "She was strong, but not strong enough to kill that demon. I'm going to do the one thing Ur never could."

"Finally, my dream will be fulfilled!"

With a quick chop to the back of the next Gray sends Lyon into another bout of unconsciousness. "You've caused enough trouble." He starts a slow trek towards Deliora filled with determination. "I'll clean up the mess you made."

Vela's eyes widen as Gray positions himself in a stance that is unfamiliar to her. That's not the usual motion he does for his maker magic. Just what exactly is he planning. It's his next words that has her start to shake in fear. "I'll seal the demon myself."

"Iced Shell!" Just like before a tornado of wind and cold begins to surround Gray as the large magic circle beneath he starts to illuminate the room.

"Don't do it Gray! Do you have any idea how long it took me to melt that ice?!" Gray ignores the injured man. "Sealing it away isn't going to stop me! I will not rest until I've finally defeated Deliora!"

"I can't worry about the future! I have to do this to keep it from killing us all right now!" But before the spell can really take affect, he feels a pair of arms tightly cling around himself and sees a flash of pink and white stand to block his view. "Vela, Natsu?!"

"Why don't you let me handle this?" Natsu boldly asks.

"Don't be stupid you two! Just get out of my way!" Even though he says this Gray does nothing to push Vela off of him.

"If I didn't let you do it before why would I let you do it now? And good luck trying to shake Vela off. Now that she's here there's no way she'll let you go through with it." Her arms tighten and her face is buried deeper into his back at the mention of her presence.

"We're not gonna let you go out like that!"

"He's right! If we're gonna take down Deliora and die trying, then we'll do it together! No sacrifices!" Vela cries.

"Go ahead and cast the spell but I'm not moving," Natsu resolves.

"And I'm not letting you go."

"You guys," Gray whispers to himself while trying to look back at the girl's face. Deliora lets out a final roar that can be heard all throughout the temple. It rears back its gigantic fist and aims at the first thing it sees, Natsu. "Natsu!"

"I'm not giving up til the bitter end!" As Natsu's flames meet Deliora's fist a shockwave of fire and green light shines throughout the cave. Natsu pushes with all his might until finally everyone hears a crack.

It starts throughout Deliora's hand until eventually they start to form all around his body. Lyon stares up from the ground while Gray, partially shielding Vela, watches in astonishment as the demon starts to crumble right before their eyes. "What the?" Natsu looks down at his hand. "I'm stronger than I thought."

"I don't think that's what happened little brother," Vela sighs breathlessly.

"What? No way," Lyon gasps. "But that can't be!" Fragments of Deliora's corpse crumble into the waters below. "Deliora was already dead." The overflow in water starts to pour out from cracks in the temple walls. "For ten years, Ur has gradually depleted the demon's life force. And what we saw was nothing more than its last dying breaths."

Lyon slams his fists into the ground as he cries tears of pent-up sorrow and frustration. "My dream is dead. There's no hope now. I will never surpass Ur."

"Wow, she did all of that," Vela breathes.

"Man, your teacher was pretty awesome," Natsu praises.

At the realization that his teacher had saved him one last time Gray begins to sob. "You saved my life again. Thank you, Ur." Upon hearing his cries Vela keeps her arms around him and squeezes. Natsu can only smile at the two as everything has finally come to a close.

The ice that was once Ur, melted and became water that flowed into the open sea. Lucy and Happy join the rest with the cat flinging himself into his best friend's arms. Even though she's not physically with us. Natsu's joy is short-lived as he notices the angry redhead standing right behind him. He tries to flee, but her tight grip on his scarf stops him from doing so. Gray says she's still alive. Vela is too relieved to care that she's even here as she runs to give Lucy a great big hug which the blonde happily returns.

Not too far away Gray is helping Lyon back to his feet so that they can all finally leave such a decrepit and cursed place. And I think he's right. From the sea she'll be able to watch over her beloved students forever. I can almost hear her saying, please don't fight anymore.

As the temple begins to settle everyone makes it outside to the beach. Natsu and Happy throw their arms up into the air in celebration of their victory. "Oh yeah! That's right, we won!" Natsu sings.

"Aye, sir!"

"You know I was kinda worried for a while there," Lucy comments. Gray and Vela lean contently on a nearby rock as they listen to the younger girl. "But it all worked out thanks to your amazing teacher."

Natsu begins to jump with joy. "We totally finished an S-class quest all by ourselves!" This ticks Vela off a little. I was there too and I'm S-class. Did this moron just completely forget that? She begins to pout, but Gray takes notice of this which leads him to quietly chuckle to himself at seeing the girl act so childish. He gently pats her on the head in reassurance that he remembers she was there.

Lucy has sparkles surrounding her as she begins to imagination what this could mean. "Do you think Master Makarov will let us on the second floor?"

It seems they had forgotten about who was here as she sends them all an icy glare that means nothing good. This causes all of them to halt in their joy as its instead replace with an overwhelming sense of dread. Yeah, we're all done for. I can only hope that Master and Erza go a little easier on me since I'm still S-class. I can only hope it stays that way once we get back.

Lucy grabs her face in terror. "Oh no! You're still gonna punish us huh?"

"Isn't there something that you're all forgetting about?" Erza rhetorically asks. Lucy's too busy shaking to form an answer anyways. "You came to the island to help the villagers. The request was for you to return them to their original form. You still haven't completed your S-class quest yet."

"But I don't understand. The curse should be lifted now that Deliora's dead," Lucy answers.

"Wrong," Erza refutes. "This curse you keep talking about never had anything to do with the demon. The villagers have been affected by the intense magic energy released from the Moon Drip spell. In other words, Deliora's death isn't going to change their current situation whatsoever."

"Wha-? Oh no!" Lucy gasps.

"But since Deliora's dead there's no need for the Moon Drip to be performed anymore. So over time shouldn't they return to normal?" Vela asks with her hand held to her chin.

"Possibly, but they hired you all to resolve this issue now. We don't have the time or the luxury to wait it out," Erza answers.

"Well, then we'd better go and change them back," Natsu cheers with his hand out for a high five.

"Aye, sir!" Happy reciprocates Natsu's high five.

"Yeah, but we don't know how," Gray argues. But he remembers how someone here had been staying on this island for over three years. "Lyon, do you know?"

Said man is currently sitting against a large rock stewing in his defeat. But still he answers. "To be quite honest I don't have a clue."

"You don't know?" Natsu sasses.

Happy follows suit with a "What?"

"But they told us the curse started about the same time you guys got here," Lucy reasons.

"When we first arrived three years ago, we were aware that there was a village somewhere on this island. But we had absolutely no reason to communicate with the villagers, so we left them alone. And they never came to the temple to see what we were up to."

"In three years, you never once met?" Erza inquires.

"I don't understand. The light from the Moon Drip is so bright you can see it from practically anywhere on the island. it's kinda weird that they saw it every night and never went to investigate," Lucy comments.

"The villagers weren't transformed by the Moon Drip. It doesn't affect the human body."

"What?" Vela gasps.

"Yeah, right," Natsu says sarcastically. "You're just saying that so you and your lackeys will be off the hook.

"Just think about it. I've been exposed to it as long as they have, and my appearance hasn't changed one bit."

"Oh yeah, that's true," Lucy agrees.

"I wouldn't trust them. Those villagers are hiding something. But I'm sure you guild wizards can handle it."

"We're not done with you," Natsu starts. "You destroyed the village and uhmp" However, he's interrupted by an armored hand smushing his cheeks together.

"That's quite enough Natsu." Erza then relays the information she had gotten from Toby. Turns out himself and all the others were victims of Deliora's past rampages and were seeking revenge. Lyon convinced them all that he was the only one that would be able to kill it and be rid of it for good. "They were only doing what they believed to be right. So there's no need to criticize him for it. Let's go."

Erza begins leading the way back to the villagers. "But what are we gonna do to lift the curse?" Natsu wonders.

"I have no idea," Erza responds truthfully.

"Oh great," Lucy sighs.

As the rest go to follow the redhead Gray takes one last look at Lyon. "What are you looking at?"

He leaves him with some parting advice. "I know you don't want to hear it, but you really should join a guild. You'll make new friends, meet new rivals, and maybe even find a new dream to live for."

"Whatever," Lyon mutters. "Just get out of here."

"Hey Gray! Are you coming or what?" Vela calls back.

Gray smiles and responds, "Yeah, I'm coming." As he catches up to her, she gives him a gentle smile which catches him off guard. "What’s that look for?"

"Nothing it’s just…" Vela trails off. "You've really matured from all this huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when we first found out about Lyon you were dead set on beating him into the ground. But now look at you, encouraging him to find a new path in life and a better purpose."

"Yeah, well," he takes a small peek at the shorter girl next to him. "I didn't want him to lose himself to that darkness."

Vela's smile brightens. She then grabs onto Gray's arm to pull him towards the others. "Come on let's catch up with the others. We'll never hear the end of it if we get left behind, and I don't wanna dig myself further into Erza's bad graces." She gives off the slightest shiver at that thought.

Gray chuckles at the look of slight fear on her face. "Alright, alright I'm coming."

The group have made it back to the storage area where the villagers were all meant to be. Except there's nobody there to greet them. "That's weird where is everybody?" Happy asks.

"Are you sure they came here?" Natsu questions skeptically.

"Yeah, this has been their camp," Lucy answers. "I wonder where they could have gone."

"HELLO!" Happy yells.

Gray starts to head into a nearby tent. "Since we're here, I'm gonna grab bandages and some medicine."

Footsteps can be heard quickly approaching them all from behind. It's one of the villagers who has now completely transformed into a scaly green lizard monster. "You finally made it back. There's something you need to see. Please follow me to the village."

It turns out the villager has been completely restored back to its original state. "Woah are you kidding me?" Lucy says as she continues to gaze in wonder at the newly fixed villager.

Happy can't tear his eyes away from the mysterious sight either. "Yesterday it was a total mess, but now it looks perfect."

Natsu starts to bang away on one of the nearby houses. "What's going on here? Everything's back to how it was. It's like the village went back in time."

"Back in time huh?" Vela murmurs to herself. It couldn't be though...right? But even if it was what was the reason?

"Now that it's fixed you probably shouldn't touch anything, kay Natsu?" Lucy sweatdrops.

"Are you saying I destroy everything I touch?!"

"That's exactly what she's saying, so pipe down and behave yourself ok?" Vela starts to pull on one of his ears.

"Owowow! Ok, let go already sis!"

Natsu's brain finally starts to process what he had said, and he begins to think of Zalty. "Was it him?" he whispers to himself. "Nah, couldn't be. Unless he had a change of heart." But seeing as how he had already beat that guy Natsu doesn't really want to put anymore thought into it. So, he turns around and starts to walk around the village. "Ah who cares?"

"Not me," Happy says as he begins to hover over Natsu's shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asks. She feels Vela put her hand on her shoulder.

"It's nothing important right now, Lucy so don't worry about it." Vela gives off an easygoing smile even though this whole ordeal has totally perturbed her. There's no way that guy had a change of heart. There has to be some ulterior motive. "Hey, why don't you and I go grab our stuff before we forget hm?"

While the rest of the village could be seen rejoicing over their restored homes, Chief Moka remained kneeled in front of his son's grave. Lucy spots him on her way to grab their supplies which stops her in her tracks. Bobo's grave is back. I'm so glad, and I'm sure the Chief must be relieved.

She and Vela walk over to the old man. At the sound of their footsteps, he turns and says to them, "You and your friends used magic to restore our village, didn't you?"

"Not exactly," Vela murmurs. But it was too quiet for the Chief to hear.

Over hearing this question Lucy struggles to give a response as she's just about as clueless as they are on how the village became restored. "Uh well sir, that's not-"

Chief Moka stands interrupting her. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. However, I must know, when are you wizards finally going to destroy the moon for us? Well?!"

His sudden outburst causes Lucy to start shaking in nervousness and Vela to sweatdrop at his pushing. Upon hearing this Erza walks over to the group. "Destroying the moon is a simple task sir."

"Say what?" Vela asks incredulous. She can't be serious right now, right?

"What the? Did she just say that with a straight face?" Gray asks the flying cat.

"Aye. Maybe she's gone crazy."

Erza ignores her teammates' ramblings and continues to address the Chief. "But before I do that, I need to ask you all of few questions. Would you be so kind as to call everyone together for a meeting?"

The Chief does as he's asked. Now every villager is gathered round to listen to what the wizards have to say. "Let me make sure I have my facts straight," Erza starts. "The first time everybody in the village took on these demonic forms is when the moon began to turn purple. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Chief Moka confirms. "During the day we're fine, but when the moon comes out we transform into what you see now."

Erza begins to pace back and forth. "And the moon first turned purple three years ago, right?"

"Wow, has it really been that long?" one of the villagers says.

"Yeah," another confirms.

"We've learned that the Moon Drip Ceremony has been performed on this island every night for the last three years. And every night it produces a stream of light so brilliant you couldn't possibly have missed it." Erza pauses and beckons Vela over. The younger girl adheres and goes to stand next to the redhead.

"Vela since your magic is uniquely tied to the moon you have to pay close attention to it. In the last three years had the moon ever appeared different to you?"

"No, I suppose it hasn't. But there is definitely something off about it here. I've been feeling funny ever since we got to this island."

As Erza starts to walk again Vela follows, but all of a sudden, the swordswoman missteps and falls into Lucy's pit trap which had also been restored. Unfortunately, due to the sudden tumble Erza had tries to grab onto the nearest thing to catch herself which just so happened to be Vela. The two are sent falling into the hole while letting out very girlish shrieks.

This isn't surprising for Vela as they've heard that same shriek every time she spotted a bug at the guildhall. It was probably what Natsu heard the most when they used to travel together. But for Erza this was surprising as the noise she made didn't exactly align with her regal knight image.

"Woah even Lucy's pitfall is back," Happy comments.

"She screamed like a girl," Natsu whispers incredulous in reference to Erza.

"It was actually kinda a cute," Gray adds. He doesn't specifically say a name, but no one really has to take guess seeing as how his eyes haven't left the purple haired girl as she crawls out of the hole in embarrassment.

Lucy doesn't focus on that as she instead starts to sweat about Erza's reaction when she finds out it was her trap. "I am so gonna be dead meat when she gets out!"

Having climbed out of the hole, Vela goes to stand next to her friends once more but this time with a completely red face. Gray snickers at this, but it only leads to him getting elbowed in the gut. Erza, on the other hand, nonchalantly pulls herself up and continues as if nothing happened. "Seriously, didn't you ever wonder where that light was coming from?"

"She got up like nothing happened," one of the villagers whispers.

"She must be pretty tough," another responds.

"I don't understand. Why didn't anyone investigate?" Erza continues. The villagers all look at one another in embarrassment at this accusation.

"Well," Chief Moka begins. "We would've looked into it but according to village law our people must never go near that temple."

"But who cares about village lore when your own people are dying?" Lucy reasons. "You obviously knew there was a problem cause you contacted the magic guilds."

"Oh, well..." but Chief Moka trails off.

Erza fed up with these nonanswers and going in circles demands, "Why don't you tell us what's really going on here?"

"To be honest, we don't even know that ourselves. Allow me to explain. We've tried to investigate the light many times. We take up weapons we've never had to use, I trim and style my sideburns, and then we venture into the jungle towards the temple. But we could never get near it. We'd get close enough that we could see it through the trees, and then suddenly we'd find ourselves back at the village gates."

"But how's that possible?" Lucy wonders.

"We got into the temple without any problem at all," Natsu says. "How weird."

"We didn't say anything to you earlier cause we were worried that you wouldn't believe us," a villager reasons.

"We're telling you the truth. We've tried to go back to the temple many times, but not a single villager has ever been able to get inside," another adds.

"I get it, but to confirm my suspicions I only have one last question. Vela," Erza suddenly turns towards said girl. "Have you ever used your magic around the villagers?"

"Yeah, I have, but the one time I did they all seemed to..." Vela's eyes widen in realization.

Erza nods at her in confirmation. She then starts walking towards the center of the village while requipping into a different set of armor. "Natsu, come with me. I'll need your help to destroy the moon."

#fairy tail #fairy tail fanfiction #fairy tail x oc #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #gray fullbuster #gray x oc #gray fullbuster x oc #writing

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