#i like this ep and i'm mostly just surprised people object to it so much???

[ssaalexblake]

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on the Ghost Monument. I know some people feel the stakes aren’t high enough, and that maybe if the racers were pitted against each other more it could be a more ‘interesting’ episode I guess, but I find the dynamics of the 2 guest cast to be interesting because they aren’t enemies, they’re not friends either but there’s not a desire to kill each other, because they are their out of necessity and to me that’s more then just being there out of ego or a prize. That surrounded by the history of the Stenza on the planet, it’s fascinating and one where I don’t think I’m fully across yet, so would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Honestly, I was mostly just shocked that people thought this episode was bad? It wouldn't make my favourites list but there's literally nothing wrong with it either in plot or the execution of it imo. I enjoy it in a rewatch! It builds important dynamics and sets up important arcs. The foundation for the main characters are more firmly set.

Also, like, whatever peoples feelings on the stakes in this episode, it should be noted that The Ghost Monument as an episode has a dark twin. Its name is Ascension of the Cybermen. Narratively they function as a pair and the second one is supposed to be a lot darker with more stakes that shows the development of the characters, so you can't really do that if the first one is absolutely Go Go Go GO high stakes all the whole way through? The tonal difference belays the seriousness of the second episode. The contrast shows to demonstrate both how far the fam have come in AotC and how far 13 has fallen from TGM.

Not to say the sitch they're in in TGM isn't serious, it is, but this is not super stressful to the doctor, she's not, till the very end, scared she can't return them home or that they'll die (well. anymore than the doctor apparently normally is. The monologue in Once, Upon Time was fabulous but very sad). The fam are mostly just following 13's lead to get through this all figuring it's their best chance. In the second episode, they show their own initiative. In effect TGM is their training wheel episode that allows them to survive when the stakes get high.

The links between 11x01 & 2 and 12x09 & 10 give me Life. Such brilliant arching plot threads. Great bookends to Ryan and Graham's time on the show.

And really? This is a personal opinion, but disaster apocalyptic scenarios (which this is applicable to even if our group aren't natives of the place) where everybody lives in hell but just fight and try and kill each other as well as the environment trying to off them are just Bad. And belays an absolutely twisted view of us as a species. I feel like them all banding together when it gets tough and forming a community, if a very terse one where not everybody gets along, is actually an accurate portrayal of people in general. Even whatshisface Enzo or whatever joined the group he hated for safety because he was a lousy person, yeah, but he was Not stupid. I cannot stand grimdark crap like those zombie shows where people just kill each other en masse in their warring factions or whatever like the whole of human history isn't us forming societies and working together.

But speaking of whatever his name is, I feel like his contributions to the dialogue of the episode played an important part in delivering the themes they were going for, so making them fight instead would just have damaged the episode's core aims.

Mr 'I love my mum she taught me people are awful and selfish and horrible by breaking my trust and allowing me to get badly injured' is, congrats, the first person in this era to talk about his terrible mother whom 13 Immediately says sucks (gee i wonder why they did that. he even got hurt because he fell and his mum didn't save him). This is also the first time the cycle of abuse is mentioned because uh, the loser in the mother of the year competition did it specifically so it'd perpetuate itself in her son. This is the episode the timeless child is first mentioned. Considering the cornerstone of the arc is that this child in the end Broke that chain of abuse I do not consider this a coincidence. I'd bet him and his mother would think that Tecteun made that child Strong by what they did to them. 13 did Not like this man and she wouldn't, he's a dark mirror but also the victim of a really shitty mother.

There are other things i take note of in this episode. It's the first time out of post regeneration weirdness we see 13 really hit her stride. It's the first time we see her eschew pacifism as Her Thing despite the fact that she's already demonstrated her willingness to use violence with a few bombs the ep previous. Contextual morality. Reoccurring theme. It Wasn't a good idea to use violence in the situation she was in in TGM. Still doesn't make her a pacifist though bc lol, the bomb thing. So it's Kind of the first blatant portrayal of 13's private actions contrasting ones witnessed by the fam which are used to make her look better in their eyes. This will continue all season.

The stenza are now explicitly portrayed as violent colonizers as opposed to weird guys with the universe's most messed up election system. The lady is going through a race from hell is here to buy her loved ones out of the hell of their society. It's the first time the theme Properly pops up in the era. The first of many times. 13 continues to be a support to Ryan here, deepening their relationship. She's dad-ing him. She's not mad, she's disappointed! (she's also mad). She's also supportive of him.

I also think that 13 totally running out of ideas and thinking they're all gonna die at the end when the others disappear and the tardis does Not appear sets up something interesting. The fam, the ones who have been sceptical about her ability to save them this ep but still figure her as their best chance Immediately bolster her confidence and try and prop her up. They continue with the 'you've got this doc, we have faith in you!!' for a while after that, i assume they think she needs the morale boost? But I think it just leaves her with this terrifying pressure in the end?

She tries to let them know later on that this travelling is Dangerous and that they could get hurt but i think they have kind of started to buy into their own hype about her by then and aren't as worried as they should be. They think tim shaw is the worst of the worst the whole of s11 and 13 doesn't barely deign to acknowledge him bc he's so beneath her. So by the time the real bad guys pop out of the woodwork that Actually scare her the fam are overconfident in her ability to save them, which in turn eventually leaves them in the AOTC situation where they have to save themselves because she Cannot save them herself. She gave them an out before then and they didn't take it because they were not worried. I think the journey to that overconfidence starts right here.

I guess if i had to gripe it'd be that the scene where the two racers decide to take the prize together was Way too easy and more of a footnote in the story? There wasn't really another way this was going to end, but still. That seemed a little weakly done to me. I'd like a little bit more time devoted to it because it's not like i can't think of a few different scenarios to get here, it's just they'd have taken more screen time. In the end, I think that the episode had more important plot threads to go into so they just rushed it a bit. Maybe that's where people wanted more conflict? I don't want more conflict as much as a deeper discussion. They Didn't have a gripe with each other beyond that they were competing against each other and wanted to win and it didn't seem to occur to them that they could just share. But also, i've not watched this for a while. Maybe i'm misremembering, but i remember it feeling short to me.

idk, in the end it reminds me, weirdly, of Jurassic park where they're working their way across the park to the guest centre when all the dinos are escaped. Yes they're in danger and at times it's severe, but they have time to talk and bond and work together using their own skills as a group. The stakes Are high, there be monsters out to kill them and they want to go home, but it's also not 100% dire at all times. It hits the same mood for me.

This episode wasn't grim but it wasn't trying to be either so i guess if you Like grim it'd be a disappointment, but it did what it wanted to pretty well with setting stuff up and having a reasonable compelling episode plot.

Also... It's Super pretty. The bright sun. Glorious.

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

I don't think Layover did great tbh. Terrible on YouTube (including all his MVs, Tiny Desk, and music show performances), underperformed in the biggest music markets, did poorly on k-charts (that debut was abysmal compared to the other members), predicted for less first week albums in the US than D-Day despite an extra version (but waiting on chart). Here’s a chart I’ve seen floating around Twitter that gives a good idea. Probably need to verify some of it, but I think it’s mostly accurate...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F6LDbz4bYAADB7M?format=jpg&name=medium

His fanbases started working really hard on his first week Spotify streams when they realized he wasn’t doing great anywhere else, so he ended up with higher first week streams than FACE and LC, but barely, and most of his streams came from SEA (which isn’t a big deal or anything, but a lot of it was definitely from mass streaming farms). He also had a massive day 8 drop and allegedly way lower than day 8 for FACE. And let’s note that Layover has one extra song instead of an interlude too. He’s also higher on some official album charts, but that’s only because FACE wasn’t eligible because it’s an EP. He had much bigger overall album sales, but we were expecting that with vbar. I think they bought like 840k? So over 1/3 of his sales.

Unless I’m missing some achievements or got something wrong (I haven’t kept up with everything), I think it was a pretty meh debut considering all the promo he did and the fact that he’s “the most popular member”. They only have those first week streams, pretty sure. LMA has had good longevity though, so I guess we'll see. And BTW, they’re saying his hot100 performance was hurt because of DC2 sales being gone, which, sure, but he had 50k Slow Dancing CDs to compensate, way more than LC, and they couldn't even completely sell them out. I think his stans were using VPN to buy on iTunes in the US too because a few days in he went from 1 to 44 on iTunes chart with no explanation and never recovered. Curious what his final sales end up being. I'm not saying he did bad, but I don't think it's really anything to brag about either... I haven't seen a ton of objective people talking about it though so idk for sure.

The spreadsheet is killing me hahahs #dedication. I would like to know the missing numbers and positions, tho! Still, thank you.

I knew about kcharts, youtube, albums, and first week on spotify for the album. I saw some number that I assume included his prereleases, and it really is nothing major considering the first tracks released, and the fact that it had one more song than face. Just five minutes ago I saw that on their 8th day, like crazy (combined) had the same number of streams as Taehyung's entire album??

Sidenote: if there's one thing I was forced to learn this year, is how much difference combined versions of a song can make.

I don't think he had that much of international promo, or at least I didn't see it. I know he's been to A LOTTT of korean shows, and also his promo for pre-releases was already longer than Jimin's, but I think he just comes across as a really uninteresting person so I don't know if people would actually tune in to his music, no matter how many times they see him on TV. He definitely got more than Jimin, that's 1000% for sure, even if we consider the MVs alone; he got the same thing Jimin was denied.

I knew he'd get more albums sales, because past experience. And I knew they'd try hard to stream to break some "records", even if it won't hold up for too long. I also knew he doesn't really have many fans in the US, (I still think Jimin's the most popular member there). I've also been saying since the day I opened this blog that his "popularity" is overrated and he's never really been in the same league as Jimin when it comes to music. I blew off so many people here who would come up to me and try to convince me he was competition to Jimin or better than him in some way.

I guess the only thing I'm surprised with is youtube. I got his tiny desk video on my homepage today (saved it to watch later) and it has less than 300k views.......... It's kinda crazy. I wonder if part of the reason he got his visual album was because his youtube numbers were usually better than everyone else's combined and they believed he'd do good.

Oh, and the songs credits. It's unbelievable to me that he did NOTHING on it. People who work on songs get credits even for writing two words, so I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that he didn't do anything at all.

I'm also curious if they would've restocked the digital CD had it been sold out, but my gut tells me they wouldn't have, or it would've been just one more, and a smaller batch.

[tasty-littl-snack]

Dang, Eugene apparently hated the job?? That’s insane but oh so funny. He really just said “see ya hoes. I’m finally free.” They all seem so fake and forced tbh. Watcher seems so genuine in everything they do, it’s why I love them so much.

Now I'm gonna put a disclaimer that my only knowledge of him not liking this is the impression I got from his goodbye video, multiple comments from fans on reddit that he's not been in their content for more than a year and that it came as no surprise to the fanbase. That's what I gather from people being genuine fans of that channel, and the annoucement video and Eugene's are the only two videos (not counting the phoning it in ep with shane but I didn't watch anything else) are the only content I watched from the try guys aside from one "rise and fall of the try guys" video from a commentary youtuber last year to understand what the drama was back then.

My impression from his video was "what the fuck were you doing in that channel for that long you are very talented individual I wish you the best".

I genuinely am not the person to judge if people are fake or not or what's more real or genuine. All I know about him is that he was a fan favorite and the only non-white try guy from the main four. With this consideration, firing him and telling the news outlets that "It was neccessary for Eugene to leave for us to progress" and making a joke about him being dead in the announcement video feels very fucking racist to me, especially because the video is headlined by two white men who are almost indistinguishable. That video feels fake to me as a non-fan (now hater) of the try guys, feels very cynical and a cashgrab. It did not make me want to subscribe and I am the most objective person to judge this just like many commentary channels who didn't know who watcher was before all this.

Now I heard that "this announcement was geared towards the fans" and the joke about Eugene being dead is kind of an inside one for the fanbase that I couldn't get being a bystander. That's fine, okay not for me. What I don't like is that the announcement video of watcher was also geared towards their greatest fans who have half a braincell to not be entitled. To me "goodbye youtube" is a cinematic masterpiece and I feel robbed of not being able to appreciate it fully because we had the racist virtoil spew on watcher for uhhh daring to leave youtube and say fuck the alghorytm. That's apparently bad when 2/3 of the cofounders are not white, but when 2/3 cofounder ceos are white and let go of the only non white one that's great and superb and what people want.

Like when you are parting ways with a man of color and hiring mostly white cast members and want your fans to pay money that's fine. If watcher wants to keep employing people (most of them who are people of color) and keep making content on the same level it was now and improve? Very bad because their video wasn't funny or something.

Ignoring the fact that it was in line with the last two making watcher episodes, and they had a very nice narrative of presenting the streamer in the watcher weekly + set with mood lights and as a nod to their first ever watcher photoshoot. They are sentimental guys! That was the point of that video, it was end of an era and I saw some of the choices for Eugene's parting video it was equally sentimental and genuine besides that one jab at sad couch video. Like fuck, maybe it is to you to me it's an expression of who they are and I think that Watcher really loves their fans they are just worse at PR and people will swallow everything if it's presented nicely and by two white men.

[idleorbitals]

OF ep 2 watch through part 1

ok! ok. ok. goddamnit this show has me wrapped around it's pinky. this got long so I am cutting it in hopefully only two

come relive with me let's talk about this beast

#1 this scene does so much so fast to establish:

mew again as someone with his own agency...the way he talks about top is like surprisingly? healthy? idk I'm glad they're making these characters so smart and nuanced you know they're feeding us well

ray's feelings for mew as (again, surprising to me) relatively pure seeming. he's going to suffer but he's not going to take it out on mew he's probably going to take it out mostly on himself and secondarily on people he doesn't think matter to him (*cough* sa– *gunshot noises*) also ray starting this scene day drinking alone 💀

the power play is so loud in this laser tag arena. why do I feel like top is going to get hurt and they're going to make me care. I don't want to care

side note but very distracting to me personally isn't anyone going to fix mew's one squished up ear? bookie that's not uncomfy??

same ray. god they're both going to get hurt so bad

ok we're in the club now. can't believe the one frame of ray smiling at the dancer is the only moment he's acting to hide from sand and not trying to crawl out of the scene. they were really playing us with that trailer huh. also ray being so polite to everyone there even though they're all just in his way hashtag not as much of an asshole as he'd like to think

lots to say about bostonnick but more importantly about mark pakin eating this pose for breakfast

boston is a rich boy too? did we know this? he's definitely a terrible person playing with nick's insecurities "if you weren't cute I wouldn't sleep with you a second time" boston shut tf up. lmao I'm sorry but atp I love neo in this role so much I'm just enjoying it

not sand this invested in what ray thinks of his wine and ray this flattered by him calling him someone with good taste. now sand likes ray's music too, or at least his dead mom's music. "how and when did your mother die?" sand back off a little baby

okay the cut from the bottle and glass next to her body to him drinking? yikes. I bet we're going to learn more about this and I'm ready and already torn up about it. was it an accident? was it intentional? or mirror on the secret third thing where ray is self-sabotaging himself into oblivion because wealth and privelege don't make you happy but do give you the tools to feed your worst tendencies

not to detract but on the first watch I was so hyped up and fully did not get that was supposed to be baby ray and was like: murder suspect? no it was the maid???

sand noticing he introduced too many feelings and going to lighten the mood: cute. correct

sand starting his forecasted "sugar daddy" storyline by saying very loudly that he doesn't want to call ray sugar daddy but also, you know, he would, you know, if he had too, but only if he really /had to/, you know

this totally-uninvested-gaze lasts for so many frames my screencapping fingers got lazy

okay we're at the water now. some people are shirtless and some people look hotter than they should in rash guards (*cough* khaotung *cough* nonnie wtf)

this devastated me I had to pause and add precious seconds to my live watch to recover

ray is really one of those people crashing through life taking psychic damage at every turn huh. I'm sorry I am so weak for characters that think they are terrible people

april and namcheum interactions so cute. april unfortunately looks and is styled so much like my ex in these scenes that I'm having trouble seeing objectively

this is so intriguing god damnit. boston is playing aggressor but top is into it? a little? swear he's smiling in this scene. but also not engaging. does he want it a little but not as much as he wants to not wreck things with mew? did something else happen in that photo booth? how does he like it

...top secretly loves to bottom and boston's going to woo his seme-acting ass by seeing through to the real him

jk jk.

or? 👀

yeah same top honestly. I don't trust either of y'all

📣 multiple types of queer sex on screen 📣 p'jojo we love you!

oh god the friends with benefits vs fuck buddies talk. Nick's going to get so screwed. does he already know this? he sort of knows, right

the problem is that even though they are clearly winning the most-uneven-investment contest I am enjoying both these characters more than top and mew atp. maybe just because I enjoy a trajectory I can visualize a bit even if it's fucked up who knows

alright we're back at the bar and ray is trying to pick up a girl with his plant line. this is relatively wholesome but ray is not watching the show he's in. buddy you only get to sleep with people if at least one person is going to be fucked up about it

(part 2) (all ofts watch throughs)

[kindafooey]

Okay I calmed down a little so here's a hastily made list of reasons why everyone (who can stomach a show like this) should watch Psycho-Pass:

In a nutshell, it's a futuristic, dystopian cop show with an extremely critical outlook on law enforcement as part of a justice system that claims to be as objectively fair as possible, but is actually anything but

I can't even begin to sell the real brilliance of the setting without spoiling too much, but trust me when I say it goes deep. And it's topical as fuck, perhaps even more so now than when it first aired in 2014

The most philosophically coherent piece of popular media I've ever seen. I actually did my philosophy proseminar thesis on a comparison of Psycho-Pass and 1984. Both classical and contemporary social philosophers are regularly discussed in the show, and what's even better, the setting gives even some fairly challenging questions a practical context that makes them easy to understand

At this point I would like to present the fact that Psycho-Pass was written by none other than Gen Urobuchi, and it shows

By which I mean the characters are brilliantly written, fleshed out, relatable, multifaceted individuals with excellent chemistry and complex relationships

The protagonist, a rookie inspector called Akane Tsunemori, deserves a special mention because you rarely see female characters given such depth, respect and integrity

Also!!!! There's a male and female protagonist and they have NO ROMANTIC TENSION WHATSOEVER. I cannot stretch enough how amazing their relationship is. It's like. *clenches fist* the most precious depiction of a slowly developing friendship built on trust and mutual understanding

Interestingly enough, if my memory doesn't fail me, there are zero established heterosexual relationships in the entire show. Instead there's a variety of gay relationships that are relevant to the plot (there's one homicidal lesbian, but it's not as tasteless as it sounds and there's actual commentary on the objectification of women involved)

...which brings me to this: Psycho-Pass is the perfect example of how even somewhat clichey tropes can be done well. And I mean really, really well. But with Gen "genre reconstructor" Urobuchi being involved, this shouldn't really surprise anyone

One of the most important things: yes, the themes are dark as hell, there's some pretty graphic violence from time to time, and the dystopian setting is horrifyingly relevant to our own time. However, as a self-respecting work of social philosophy, the show maintains a profoundly humane and hopeful tone through all the grit. I can't go into details, but this is a core element of the story, and precisely what makes it worth your time. There's one quote near the end of the show that really says it all, but I'm nor sure if I should... actually, fuck it, here it is:

"The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law."

IT'S A FUCKING AMAZING LINE and you'll appreciate it even more with context. Trust me.

Uhh I was supposed to keep this short but here's just a couple more practical things:

Psycho-Pass aired originally in 26 regular 23-min episodes and was later released as an "extended version" that combined those into 13 57-min eps. Each extended episode has an added scene that ties the combined parts together. I strongly recommend the extended version solely because of these added scenes. They're mostly inner monologues filled to the brim with thematical substance, and they are Very Very Good.

The English dub is excellent, among the best I've heard tbh - though sadly they dubbed the show before the extended version was out, so you'll miss the goodness of the added scenes if you decide to go with the dub.

Very important: stay away from anything beyond Season 1. The show was fairly successful back when it first aired, so naturally it was turned into a cash cow. Season 2 is complete shit. The movie was a little bit better but still trash. I hear there's even a third season and a second movie but I don't go there. The first season is all you need.

Asddhsvsgdgfh it's just really really good I promise. I gotta go to sleep now but I just wanted to get this out of my system. (Plot-relevant pun totally intended.) Peace out and uhh go watch Psycho-Pass in this year of existential dread or something

Shit shit shit shit everyone go watch Psycho-Pass right now I mean this is the third time I've seen episode 11 and my pulse is at like two hundred and my hands are fucking shaking that's how intense it is I swear to god it's just

...okay I think I need to write a proper rec post but for real this is one of the best anime - actually, scratch that, one of the best TV shows in general - that I've ever seen, for multiple reasons. I promise to elaborate later, but for now I just wanted to tell yall that I'm physically trembling from the intensity of this brilliant goddamn show. Heck.