#i liked their focus eps a lot but even then i kinda took them as a once in a while novelty

[perenlop]

yeah fully agreed on how they have their bad moments even during the series where theyre at their best but the tumblr users that love team rocket despite not watching the show since they were kids would crucify me for saying they were bad during the earlier series too LMAO

HDHDHDHDHDHDHFHDFFUDJDUDD NO UR RIGHT…. i think its easier to forgive those earlier moments bc tbf, they fix my indigo league criticism by johto bc i think they instantly get put on stand duty. (also there were several reasons that league was total ass for the most part and most of it comes down to “its the first one”) i think their behavior during the kanto league was too much even for their most diehard fans at the time. but boy does it get harder and harder and harder to like them the more that happens bc that overall issue of TR hogging really took a while to die. even after they stopped being a requirement for each episode it was a straight up plague in XY

[luckyofthelawnvariety]

Hi, i just watched gem's episode (it took me almost 2 hours to watch a 50 minute video, I clicked on it the moment it appeared in my notifs. unfortunately haven't seen pearl's yet) i just wanted to rant about shinyduo stuff to someone who would care, bc none of my friends rlly watch, and i found your blog a few days ago:

gem and pearl's dynamic this session was great. i loved it so much

the red/yellow congregation getting a little more playfully bloodthirsty at pearl's remark, and then gem comparing them to her snail?? when gem's thoughts on her snail were "not deadly, if you're careful, just something to keep an eye on. and cute in its attempts to kill"

and then bigb wants a creeper egg, and what does gem want? not pufferfish, not cobwebs, not anything that's gonna win the game. just for him to say nice things about her near pearl's alliance

pearl's guy showing up and immediately going to get gem (and joel and lizzie). gem did kinda let her get cursed but a) i would also be mad if my murder camel buddy forgot some of the shenanigans we got up to and b) the curse was so cute

speaking of the curse, the voice thing was adorable. like i love being able to understand pearl, but also little aussie robo noises. and the conversation! very one sided, but gem's sheer belief in pearl still being around when gem is red, that pearl, despite being first to red in her alliance, will outlive them all. and the offer to come over, to have fun, AGAIN, when it's nothing but swords and teeth (it seems like that's when they get along best, when they have the most fun.) pearl, giving up on her voice, just desperately nodding. i sincerely hope she meant it, and that it was the one thing she wanted to make sure got across in that conversation, because that's how i'm interpreting it

gem knowing pearl's dog's name in this series instantly even tho she's mad at her...

pearl egging mumbo on/joining in on the murder attempt (not properly, she places the lava away from gem, i think. not sure if i think that's being considerate of his kill or just not wanting to kill gem.) and no reaction, whatsoever, from gem. you know, if the whole shinyduo divorce thing wasn't just forced bc gem wants ppl to think she's mad at pearl, if gem was actually mad at pearl, we wouldn't have heard the end of it. instead, i almost didn't write anything bc gem doesn't care

anyway, this got a lot longer than i meant, shinyduo divorce is made up/clickbait, gem is great, and i hope you enjoyed this episode/week's session as much as i did!

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!! I apologize for any errors I accidentally pulled an allnighter and I will be suffering the consequences of my hubris and undiagnosed ADHD today

I will ABSOLUTELY talk shiny duo with you!!!! I watched Pearls ep when it came out and I realized I no longer would be able to sleep if wild life episodes were coming out. That did lead to learning the absolute hilarity that is "Pearl checking to see if Gem is actually mad at her for something and Gem going no actually I'm just mad at you for funsies" which. ma'am. knowing the toxic yuri is on purpose just makes you more deranged.

I can also tell you that Pearl is slow to realize that she not only sounds weird but people cant understand her at ALL, but she makes it VERY CLEAR she's down for murder camel 2.0!!!

Gem is clearly having SO MUCH FUN this episode the amount of insane laughter as the server falls apart around her was CRAZY, and the focus beam on Pearl and what Pearl doin did not escape my view, even if Gem made sure to solidify other alliances in the process.

Also. PEARL KEPT SAYING SHE WANTED GEM DEAD AND THEN KEPT NOT KILLING HER. PEARL YOU DON'T KILL AND ATTACK PEOPLE BY HANGING OUT MENACINGLY. YOU DIDN'T EVEN SET THE CREEPER TRAP IN GEM'S BARN YOU WANTED TO??? WHAT WAS THAT?????

Also, someone else mentioned this and it came back into my brain with a VENGANCE, but Gem was pitting Pearl against Scott and saying "oh scott came here apologizing for you when you did nothing wrong, so you should be mad at him :)))" and I am vibrating GEM WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT SCOTT'S A GOOD ALLY DO YOU JUST WANT PEARL AS YOUR ALLY ONLY THIS TIME AROUND HUH???

I think shinyduo has entered their full situationship phase, where it is definitely not divorce but I think it might be worse in the best way???

Gem is SO GREAT (one of two dark greens left look at her go!!!) and I'm glad you also enjoyed this week's episode!! You should absolutely try to watch Pearl's if you have the time, it's a riot!!! And thank you for letting me have a little ramble :D!!!

[neopoliitan]

RWBY Evermorrow Ep.7 Director's Commentary (or something)

The newscast segment was a late addition, we decided it was best to move a scene to a later episode for a better sense of narrative. I even already animated that whole scene so we don't need to worry about it!

We were gonna use Lisa Lavender here, but decided it was better to use Cyril due to availability of existing cast members as the scene was kind of last minute. We see it as Cyril being the guy in the studio, and Lisa being the reporter in the field.

Khaki's prison number is funny if you can decipher it.

Originally this episode was a big ol scene of RWBYCRDL recounting the mission to Oz and Glynda, then the punishments being dished out, but I was having such a dull time writing it that we decided it was best to cut the recap of the immediate previous episode and hope the teams' reactions did the work. I think it was for the best, a glorified recap episode seems like it would've been a waste of production; if it wasn't fun to write it wouldn't have been fun to watch.

It was a good time to bring in Glynda as she's always been Beacon's voice of reason around Oz's more whimsical tendencies. She's to-the-point and will make no excuses, which sells the teams being reprimanded more. Plus the added questioning of what exactly Ozpin is saying to Cardin offscreen is an interesting question in the viewer's mind.

(Also our Ozpin VA was kinda unavailable but for a very good reason lol)

Let's talk Dove. You've probably noticed he's very much the reasonable one on EM CRDL at this point, which is very intentional as going in I wanted to make them more interesting than Cardin and the Cardins. CRWBY once said Dove was the most skilled of CRDL, which is an interesting angle, and Doves are a symbol of peace which inspired me to make him the """nicer""" one, albeit a bit embittered by his lot in life. This episode has a montage of the moments in ep5-6 that really lay it all out that he's a little better than the others on his team, which is why Ruby vouched for him.

There was going to be a decent focus on family in this episode, but eventually we whittled it down to just Russel's and Dove's. Being like "oh and here's a character's parent being funny and mad" worked twice, but three to eight times might have gotten old lmao

Why did I pick Bertilak for Russel's guardian? Green. Mohawk. Moody. Not a big Faunus fan.

Okay so that's only part of it. Russel has been consistently portrayed as a bit of a doormat in EM, following Cardin's orders or deferring to the next biggest fish if he's not around. His actions around Bertilak imply that the latter is the source of all that behaviour.

Dove offers Ruby an "Olive Branch". I don't know if I can get more unsubtle than this.

Don't ship them they literally feel nothing about each other. That's canon.

Why did I pick Shopkeep for Dove's grandpa? Closed eyes, and Shopkeep is everywhere. That's literally the joke.

Pyke Rite from The Grimm Campaign.

There were a few characters I really wanted to get involved sooner. Can you believe it took us till Ep7 for Ren or Nora to say anything? It felt good to have all of JNPR and OP(A)L fully animated in the same scene, and was fun to set up dynamics like Oscar being a fanboy, Alyx being a little shit and the two teams generally getting along.

In comparison to 6 this episode was a lot calmer and a lot more talk-y, but hopefully we managed to make it fun. The animators and VAs did amazing as always (the former has basically eclipsed my efforts at this point), and I'm looking forward to ep8 very much! Bigger and better!

If you have extra questions about this ep you can shoot me an ask, I'm always down to self-indulge lmao

[eriexplosion]

I never let myself really believe they'd bring Tech back (because Occam's razor, or whatever). And I'm so used to weird/bad writing choices from other works that I'm mostly able to shrug my shoulders and go "aw rats, disappointment again :\" about TBB's ending.

... But I still feel kinda hollowed-out, post-finale. I'm not autistic (I think), but my sibling is, so it meant something to my old withered heart that a Star Wars show about family would have a confirmedly-ND character among their cast (though, somewhat tangentially, I agree with your post about all of the Bad Batch being arguably ND-coded). I was delighted that he was well-written, and that he'd eclipsed the stock "smart guy" trope he'd started out as in TCW.

And, I dunno. I feel like a sucker, having hoped for a brief moment that the writers wouldn't throw all that away. And for what? People on reddit were saying for months on end that "his sacrifice is meaningful and shouldn't be wasted", but I can't agree. I think it would've been more meaningful had he lived.

I feel disappointed with the trajectory the back half of S3 took, and I don't think that's unreasonable. Even beyond the disappointment of "dang, they really did that?", S3 after the first handful of eps (imo) felt kind of... rushed? Underexplored? Like there should've been a season 4 (for pacing/development's sake) and various changes to the plot, but there weren't.

Told myself several years ago that I'd reserve judgment for the writing until the series was over and done with. And now that it's all just wrapped up, I suppose I'm stewing with my thoughts, a little. The character arcs all feel like they fell short of their potential payoff, to me -- and maybe I'll change my mind in a few months, but right now? Eh.

Crosshair's got PTSD/trauma that makes his hand shake? Cut off the hand. Omega's got potential force sensitivity/a decision to make concerning what to do going forward? Who cares about that. Tech's getting a decent (and suspicious, in hindsight) amount of character development? Better kill him off so the audience really feels the sting. Cid, Phee, CX-2, Echo, Scorch? Who cares about them; they can show up when their skills are needed and fuck off without halfway-decent closure when they aren't. The familial/sibling themes that were open to being explored? Eh; let's focus predominantly on this one father-child bond. Omega doesn't even need to say goodbye to Crosshair and Wrecker, lol. Foreshadowing and setup? What foreshadowing and setup.

... I'm realizing that I'm actually Quite disappointed lmao. In a lackluster "I don't know what I expected" kind of way. Time to read so many fix-its

There's just a lot that was set up that never came to fruition and it's frustrating when the show has been so good up until that point. And the thing is that Tech being CX-2 would have resolved at least some of it! The CX-2 plot obviously but also, Crosshair's guilt and trauma being helped by being able to fix at least one of his mistakes? Omega's guilt over putting her family in danger being relieved because she finally has them all back?

It didn't even need to be fleshed out, I wouldn't have cared. The only thing I wanted this whole show was the family to be together and complete. And not only did we not get Tech back but yeah Echo was basically just not counted as part of that and Phee was ignored in the end.

This season feels like it needed another editing pass to work as a whole, even though I'd liked everything up to the finale it didn't really end up coming together for me. I'd even have accepted Tech being gone if they had put actual mourning in the first half, instead of stringing it along with little mentions and the CX-2 stuff. I'd be frustrated and mad, but at least it would have felt like they respected him as a character.

Really the only good things I have to say is I think Nala Se blowing up the databanks was a fantastic end to her character that didn't really redeem everything she's done but did bring her to an interesting stopping point. And I am glad everyone else made it out alive. I'm glad that Crosshair especially did after everything he's been through, he's still my boy after all this time even if the Tech stuff has overshadowed a lot of his growth in my head.

[bish-plz-haha]

I haven't seen any posts about this so I wanna make it; bare with me as I'm not sure my thoughts will be entirely coherent and understandable (this Pennsylvania summer heat got my brain melting, no joke).

So I rewatched the Lightning strike ep and the coma ep, and I found something quite interesting on my watch-through (as well as watching some edits of buddie on tiktok). So I've been thinking: why was everyone else in Buck's coma dream but Eddie. Eddie is one of the closest people to Buck. So why wasn't he there?

I'm not sure if this will make any sense, but the coma ep is basically Buck living out a dream where everything was fine and he grew up with his brother and parents and sister.

Now almost everyone except Eddie and Athena were in his dream. All completely different people: Bobby was an alcoholic and drug addict (at least that seemed my take from the ep), Maddie was still playing happy wife to dickbag, Chim and Hen were friends and firefighters but they had NO CLUE who he was, his parents were actually kinda nice and supportive of him (kill me now. That's nice and all but I hate them so much). And even Chris was there at the end of the ep, though he didn't particularly recognise Buck. He sounded lost, and like he was asking a stranger for help, not his best friend.

Now when 'Daniel' tells Buck when he wakes up, "Next time you go up a ladder, have someone there to spot you." And, as we know, Buck replied with, "I did," we get kinda a quick flashback to the ep previously to kinda remind the audience what happened. We kinda see a quick flash of Eddie hooking him up and hear his voice saying "go get em cowboy" (the implication of that is another thing in and of itself if we're being honest).

Now, why would Eddie not be in Buck's coma dream?

Honestly, with Buck being able to 'remember' he went up the ladder with a spot (AKA Eddie), I don't think he really had a reason to hold on to him. He already remembered him as he was- in uniform, doing his job, and having Buck's back ("You can have my back any day").

He has all these people in his dream because he's trying to hold on to them. To remember who they are, not necessarily how they are, just who. His central nervous system had a jolt and he was clinically dead for 3 minutes (and 17 seconds, courtesy of Eddie counting the time it took for them to get him down and start compressions: you cannot convince me that that man didn't mentally count each passing second from the moment he realised Buck had been struck and was dangling from his safety line to the time he got Buck down and placed onto the stretcher). That's a lot for someone's system to take. His brain lost a lot of oxygen in that time: and, speaking generally, when the heart stops for a good amount of time (being about 2 and a half minutes or more since the brain can take only about 5 minutes without oxygen before permanent brain damage without CPR), the chemical makeup starts to change because your brain is basically sending signals to the body that it may be dying and it might be time to shut down the body too. To go into a permanent slumber (hence the "superpowers," which is a real thing. Though a lot of people, including myself (it's my fun fact about myself: surprise! I've died), develop a "sixth sense" if you will).

So back to my main point; why Eddie wasn't in the coma dream.

Buck's subconscious already remembered Eddie. He may not have remembered his face or anything, but he most definitely remembers him. He remembers key things about him. There's no need for Buck's brain to conjure up a version of Eddie because he's already significant enough. He is the only one we hear and see that Buck actually remembers being there for him. The shot they replayed as his memory was solely of Eddie and himself. Yes, Chim was in the background but he wasn't the focus of the shot. He was barely visible. And, again, we only hear Eddie's voice.

Idk maybe I'm crazy thinking about this but I'm at work, I'm bored. And it's been on my mind for a few days now.

[stripysockstumb]

TMP EP 1

.Gewn, Alice, Lena (boss), teddy (just got another job), colin (IT), and sam

.FREDY, search engine for looking for incidents

.Already mentioned ‘dolls watching’ and ‘dolls, human skin’ the Stranger????

.The universe that the entities got pulled through to??

.MARTIN VOICE/Alex (NORIS)

.FREDY started reading out certain statements in different voices around a year ago

.There are 3 voices

.Alice has named them NORRIS, CHESTER, AUGUSTUS

.NORIS and CHESTER are the most common

.Assuming this is the statement format

.Statement 1: checking in red by NORIS

.Statement reading less robotic voice, more Martin

.Could be the Burried?? Cemetery mentioned

.The Stranger? Dead dude skin/ voice

.Defo the stranger

.Taken over the dead husbands body, ‘it’

.Statement ends

.The enitites sound the same

.Partial reanimation crossreference

.Gewn seems to have a LOT of experience, sus

.Gwen and Lena in office

.Audio interference and different audio quality

.Interference by the eye???????

.Giving Elias

.Manipulation 10000

.Gwen wants Lenas job

.Lena warning Gwen about trying to take her job because of what it ‘entailes’ sus

.Colin is defo hiding something, kinda a scary dude, could be an avatar, he is trying to fix the system eg.FREDY

.Is this recorded through security cameras????? The audio keeps being different

.Also recorded by the pc cameras??

.No one realy likes colin

.Alice and Sam know eachother from uni, she got him the job

.Introducing the idea that everyone who works there has had an ‘encounter’ which leads them there

.JONNNNNN/john/ CHESTER

.YES YES YES YES YES I MISSED HIS ANOYING VOICE OMG

.Statement, Magnus Institute Ruins

.Statement made on April 10th 2022 3.31pm

.Manchester???? Not our version of the institute

.No pictures of it suprise suprise

.‘Realy weird place’ yeah no shit honey

.No pictures are uploading (just like the ‘real’ statements, they wouldnt be able to be uploaded onto the computer), she is realy paranoid after going there

.Was a fire about 20 years ago (so in 2000 ish)

.‘Got a realy cool vibe’ offices, old furnishings, the feeling that ‘doors would randomly shut even through most of the doorframes are empty’ ALRIGHT HELEN CHILL

.No old papers????? All files gone????? SUSPICIOUS Old graffiti???

.Symbols on the walls, stains, from a ritual??? Could be an alternate universe Institute where the Desolation managed to complete their ritual??

.The photos have disappeared off her phone

.She found an empty box with symbols on it, picture wont upload or format

.‘Photographic distortion’

.Getting threats from random people on the internet about the box she took

.Anonymous dms coming in

.‘Image removed by moderator’ she finally managed to upload a photo of the symbols at 2.01am but it was taken down

.‘Canaries should stay above ground’ the mod of the chat is incredibly sus

.People saying the picture was ‘gross’ before it was taken down????

.‘Are those eyes’

.Was potentially a gore pic about eyes

.She was banned from the chat room

.She real dead

.The thread was then locked by the moderator

.Statement ended

.No one has heard of the Magnus Institute except maybe Sam?

.Listening through a phone??

.Sam is thankful for the job, something to focus on? What happened to him

.Gwen is his ex?? Or Alice??

.Alice doesn't believe the cases are real, apparently the pay is good

.‘To new beginnings’

.Colin trying to ‘find’ someone???? He knows something, he could be talking about the voices in the server??

Overall an amazing start to the new show, so many mysteries already and im so so so exited to hear the third voice and see if its Jonah/Elias, also to find out which universe we are in and the timelines matching up with og Magnus Archives!!

[hvenart]

While I personally don’t like hand-held camera work in shows, I think it works really well in the eighth sense. I can see the vision. It gives it a more raw and more earnest portrayal which fits really well with the tone of the story.

There are extreme close ups which makes the scene more intense and filled with more tension and emotion (shower scene/kiss scene)

I’ve noticed they let things stay out of focus a lot of time and sometimes only show one person while two people are talking to each other. Interesting choice.

I also love how it’s a show don’t tell kinda series. It doesn’t think the audience is stupid and it lets you yourself fill in the blanks:

They don’t say that Jae Won remembers the kiss but it’s clear.

They don’t let you know immediately whether Ji hyun is meeting up with Ae ri or with Jae Won in ep 3. It isn’t even clear if Jae Won and Ji hyun intentionally met until later in the scene.

Ji hyun is not from the city and you can tell by the way he didn’t realise the implications of asking someone to eat ramen together.

Ae ri tells Ji hyun that she knew that their was something between him and Jae Won during the surfing trip and I think you can tell by the photos she took were some of them were purely focusing on the two.

Personally it feels a little reminiscent to European queer shows. It reminds me of shows like Skam, young royals and wtFOCK. From the shaky camera work to the more melancholy and quieter feel of the show. It isn’t this bright, quick and cartoon-ish show, it’s a show that lets the characters breath and take their time to do stuff and has interesting camera shots (the first therapy session) that set the tone of the show beautifully.

[straykittenidk]

MY FAVORITE RCP EPISODES AND WHY

(MY OPINION!!)

1- "Save Helly" The best episode in my opinion. We had worried rescue team + ANGST AND FLUFF + POLI??? I loved Poli in this episode a lot. He's not really my favorite but he gave me strong older brother vibes especially when he was helping Helly. Considering that the show is for preschoolers, this episode was genuinely so good? Tbh I just wish Jin would have showed up more. I would've loved to see her more worried for Helly since she's always yelling at him and stuff, but I'm still happy with what we got.

2- "Thank you, Roy". THIS EPISODE. I LOVED ROY HERE SO MUCH. THE ANGST, THE FLUFF, THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I'M OBSESSED. This is why the rescue team focused episodes are the best, because there are so many things you can do with them and their dynamic. I love the lesson it gives to kids, aka that you should always take care of yourself and stuff. And I also love how it sort of showed that the rescue team aren't all indestructible and can get hurt on the job. I don't really have much to say on it other than the fact that it was amazing and made me love Roy as a character even more.

3- "Amber's training". THIS EPISODE HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL. I love Amber sm she's my comfort character, my mother, my pookie bear, and I love episodes where she's the main focus. I loved how we got to see her vulnerable side and more of her personality and struggles in this episode. SHE JUST WANTED TO BE AS STRONG AS THE OTHERS AND PUSHED HERSELF TOO MUCH AAAAA. And I also loved the angst at the beginning and when she fell off that cliff and how she got hurt, and Jin and the others were worried, however the next part of the episode was kinda disappointing. She just got up like nothing happened and went to look at some infected trees. I really wanted her to get a more serious injury, so the others would need to take care of the doctor instead of the other way around and it would be such a cute plot. It would teach kids that you don't need to push yourself just because you don't succeed the first time, everyone learns on their own pace and Amber should've just trained slowly and not stress too much since she just ended up hurting herself badly, and honestly I'm so mad they didn't add that. (But fanfiction exists, maybe I should rewrite this ep with this plot?)

4- "Let's be honest" MORE HELLY ANGST. I loved how Roy went in to save Helly when he was in that fire and he was so worried and FUCKK ROY WAS SUCH AN OLDER BROTHER HERE AND HE TOOK THE BLAME WHEN JIN WAS MAD And then Helly got overwhelmed with all the fighting and flew away... So yeah it was a bit angsty and I love that.

5- "Helly's Birthday". Yet another Helly angst. This was definitely my favorite S1 episode. The plot was simple but really cute, I felt so bad for Helly, like imagine the people you care about the most forgetting your birthday, especially since Helly is most definitely a kid, or at least way younger than the others. THOSE ARE HIS PARENTS‼️But I can also sort of understand the rescue team. Considering all the shit the town puts them through, they were probably stressed and busy, especially Jin, so they just forgot. Still they apologized and all ended well (although I would've loved more angst)

6- "Poli's secret" I loved this episode because we learned something more about Poli and it's his FEAR! I love that he's afraid of caterpillars, giving him a silly fear like that was a good move and it gave the character more personality. Also the way the others teased him at the end was fun, I love how they're so comfortable with each other to joke around and tease each other too.

7- "Bicycle safety (traffic safety with Poli)" alright pls hear me out on this one... The traffic safety series is my guilty pleasure, like it's not good but I still enjoy it for some reason, (not as much as daily life safety with amber but I still like it) and this episode was super cute to me. Like we have this girl who can't ride a bike and Poli sees her struggling, stops patrolling and just teaches her how to ride a bike. she didn't even ask him to, he just decided to help her out of his own free will and I thought it was so cute and fluffy. Poli was so dad here. I really wish we could see more children like this instead of always seeing Kevin and doughy (or whatever his name is) since tbh I tolerated them at first but I don't really like them...

[piganatur]

THE EIGHTH SENSE EP 2

I have to start with the scenes after the intro. In the first ep Jaewon sat with his back to the fish tank

this shot feels so oppressive. First, the focus is on the fish swimming in the tank, then it shifts to the therapist lady meanwhile Jaewon remains out of focus with his back to the viewer, blocked in by both sides. The lights in this shot are insane, it’s like the different sides of a coin.

Fast forward to the second ep

Now Jaewon faces the camera but he won’t look up and he is shown through the fish tank. It’s like he’s in the deep now, up until the moment he stands and leaves, kind of scaring the fishes that scatter for a moment. Once again, note the reflection of the lights.

Episode two is just as solid as the first one. Finally a drama where the extreme close ups are incorporated into the story for a reason and not just to be aesthetic (which ofc they still are) (I’m totally not side eyeing Nevertheless,) Could the shower scene be that insane without the extreme close ups? Nope.

There’s so much to unpack here. Like Jaewon being so soft around Jihuyn. I mean it only took them one (1) bus ride to the sea to act like bffs yet the moment Jihyun wakes up Jaewon has the nerve to pretend he doesn’t know what his name is and ask him again….boy you’re such an unbothered chill sunbae *cackles* Never have I witnessed such a tragedy going down over the assignment of rooms. The sheer disappointment of not sharing a room with the freshman you’ve only just (presumably) learned the name of... Jaewon really had to pause like that before (and after) reading Jihyun’s name, huh? pls chill

Can we take a hot second to appreciate that in Free Bird’s promo shots and posters (so in the past when Eunji and Jaewon were presumably together) Eunji is always seen wearing a blue wetsuit while Jaewon wears black. And when Jaewon takes Jihyun to the shop, he deliberately chooses two identical black wetsuits for them so they would have that couple look match. Aaand Eunji also wears a black wetsuit now (trying to match with Jaewon) but it’s one she chooses herself not like the one Jihyun wears that Jaewon chose for him.

I’m completely normal about the dressing scene just like I was completely normal about the phone strapping scene in The crossing. (Although I have to mention that Jaewon is still so soft around Jihyun it kinda hurts, all heart eyed and shit)

Jaewon taking care of Jihyun, telling him he must be cold so warm up like Jaewon himself wasn’t in the same sea and couldn’t possibly feel cold. At this point, he’s still taking care of Jihyun like a good sunbae but he’s doing all that multiplied by 10000. He’s running the extra mile every given time and I’m not sure he’s even aware of it. Sometimes it’s a conscious decision but other times it’s just his curiosity and attraction to Jihyun. Like when they play the ‘I like you’ drinking game, Jaewon stops clapping the second he utters Jihyun’s name. Unlike the others, he doesn’t stop because Jihyun won’t continue the line and the game stalls, he turns to Jihyun, waiting for his reaction and his system crashes. It crashes a lot around Jihyun.

Jihyun is such a complex little bean, not enough people talk about him. He says he’s afraid of a lot of things but that never stops him. When he talked with his boss about the places people coming to live in Seoul visit he said he only went to the Gangnam station area once. His boss lady asked 'Have you ever gone on subway line 2?' and Jihyun said he didn’t. They talked about the Han river parks and the next time Jihyun visited a park by taking subway line 2.

He joins the surf club even though his roommate and hometown friend can’t understand his reasons for joining (and, even though he can’t swim which made me go BOI the things you do for a hot dude) Although he acts like he wants to spend time away his roommate and messes up by visiting the Han river park an hour away from their university, he still calls his roommate, sends a text to his mum, keeping in touch with the familiar people in his life. He also does that on the beach like an anchor in times he’s in need not to feel scared and that’s so precious. He does things his own way, going through the process of trial and error, constantly trying not to be scared.

I’m still loving Yoonwon to bits. Besides Jaewon, she’s the only member of the club genuinely happy that kwiyomi has joined. She welcomes him and keeps being nice to him. Her singing at the bonfire healed my soul and I don’t even like singing in films but she’s magical.

Yo, the confrontation scene between Eunji and Jaewon? The fact that after Jaewon tells her he has zero feelings for her (neither good nor bad) a club member comes out and passes between them saying 'It’s cold, so cold'. That’s how you put down the groundwork for a scene. I think Eunji is so pissed because she knows something’s up. But then Jaewon says 'Let’s give each other that basic courtesy.' He means it both ways. He won’t tell others about why they broke up (from an outside perspective, it would be Eunji’s fault). In turn, Eunji should back off and not question the inner workings behind their breakup. But then she does, and Jaewon literally logs out of that conversation, and it is ridiculously in-your-face. He rather chooses to go to Jihyun than speak with his ex for another second. In that scene, before Eunji leaves, her looking at Jaewon looking at Jihyun is so powerful. Her eyes tell that she knows.

I’m having such a ride. Can’t wait for next week.

[thefreshchannel]

about to start the last two eps but here are some thoughts and criticisms also s2 finalist/winner spoiler (again i havent watched the finale so thoughts not final)

The concept of priyaleb was cute but. It really did take the whole season….like. Its not even a fun will they wont they kinda watch anymore its like when tda hyperfocused on gwent and duncney, like sure u got things going on in the background like the mkulia alliance that was happening and damien finding his edge, but it all feels so minimal compared to the screen time priyaleb gets in my opinion. In contrast, when in tdwt aleheather was the main focus, they shared a lot of their screentime with other things going on in the background or even took the backseat to give other (not so good) plot lines a shot.

Maybe it’s just the 13 ep format instead of the 26 eps the old seasons had, but in here it feels like you want to see more of everyone else so much. Damien and nichelle found an edge, but were pushed to the very back or written out early so not a lot was explored. Ripper and axel got together and nothing else happened with them, sure they can a funny watch but when they realized they didnt want to do anything w them anymore they just sent them out.

I’m on ep 11 rn and raj JUST got kicked out. Theres 2 eps of the season, we barely have enough time to make him learn to be independent from raj??? I feel??? I dont know i dont feel he did much of ANYTHING to guarantee him a spot in the final 3, let alone winning the season. I am just not connecting w him. Like sure he is nice but when i think of him i just see him only as raj’s buddy. We dont know much about him other than he likes hockey, he’s supportive of his friend, he’s nice, he’s not very smart. But nothing in him screams finalist/winner to me? He was just very much in the background until now.

Maybe i’m being too judgy and could change my mind in the next two eps, we’ll see lol

[b1rdbra1ned]

Oh no I hate Fan too. Fan was not a good character in season 2 and he didn't actually face any consequences for his actions. Paintbrush was like the closest we got to Fan being criticised and people considered PB to be the one overreacting. Paintbrush is done so dirty because the fandom put their own belief about the bright lights being family even though Paintbrush never actually got along with them. They talked to tt like once, bickered with lb until the last ep they were in and then there's. Fan..

Also I think I hate fantube a little more after the theyrebasicallycanon polls put enstars against ii. Glad rinniki won they deserve the win against fantube imo.

Sorry I was tired of being critical of ii so I don't like it anymore 😔

But hiiii we haven't talked much in a while ik :(( I'm on holiday rn but feel free to talk to me if you want!

ALLLL OF THIS

Paintbrush was in every way in the right to yell at fan, he constantly bothered and nagged at them and the stuff about marshmallow was definitely the final straw

i only ever liked the whole bright lights family thing because honestly it could’ve worked imo!!! but they just never took that chance they never really developed the brights lights AT ALL most season (beside from marshmallow) the bright light felt more like the comical team (not really but can’t think of a better way to describe them) compared to the grand slams who definitely got way more focus and development

it’s shitty because i think the brights lights could’ve had potential but they were just casted aside until the last few episodes where “oh hey look development!! :] oh wait nvm they’re eliminated now <3” like ????

paintbrush definitely got the short end of the stick here. literally having what was supposed to be their episode mainly centred around tt and lb and having their feelings about marsh being completely casted aside. i wish more was done w/ marshmallow and them vs them and lb

looking back a lot of their scenes w lb just felt kinda off??? i don’t think can articulate this probably rn but paintbrush deserved better

but at the same time i wish the team got more time w/ each other in general, they have so many great opportunities to do it like in the maze episodes but again they’re kinda just cast aside as just comedy

and w/ s3 oh boy i hate what they did with paintbrush and their “arc” in the last few episodes. they quite literally and figuratively took away their edges, i miss sassy, sarcastic confident paintbrush they feel so dulled down in iii and it’s like no one in the writing team understands them at all. it’s like they didn’t even write s2 (but hey back to the point i mentions last post that show writers really ought to stop listening to fans sometimes because this is how fanon seeps in </3)

i hate how the a lot of the fans view paintbrush especially if it’s only ever in the context of lightbrush or shipping (another thing that pisses me off btw is how they’re always treated as irrational and or just plain out abusive FUCK PEOPLE WHO PORTRAY PAINTBRUSH LIKE THIS)

they’re such a great character who gets absolutely fucked over by the writing and fandom (not all of the fandom of course, i love seeing ppls takes and discussions on them but it’s just some fans who just </3)

i don’t like discouraging ships, if ppl are mature and respectful and don’t put other ppl down then that’s all great and stuff but my problem is that i really wish paintbrush was just seen as more than their ships yknow

Fan is.. the more i think about canon him the more im like yeaaa… uh no thanks…. (mainly w/ him and paintbrush and cabby)

idk if im even allowed to say they changed tt this season because.. she didn’t honestly have a lot of screentime last season compared to a whole lot of other characters, but in iii she feels off?? honestly all of them do even the new contestants later on during the season

idk if i have the words to describe why s3’s characterisation is so off and at time frustrating, their arcs too, was going to point out some characters but honestly i could make a case for nearly ALL the contestants the ones who weren’t voted out early at least

that’s the end of my ramble tho, sorry ik i talked a lot about paintbrush, i want to talk about the others too but they’re the one i still even think about. hopefully this isn’t a bit hard to read, ik im not that organised w my rambles sometimes

[eliza1911o1]

The possibilities that have just opened up from Din being captured has me REELING

On one hand, and by unpopular chance as it should be, we might even Din rescued this season. We might have to wait for whatever machinations Favreau and Filoni are getting up to, maybe drawing out interactions with Boba and Fennec or them not being able to find or get to Din (similar to how Din rescuing Grogu in s2 took a few episodes). It’s unlikely, but the thought is unsettling enough that I have to give it credit

On a different level, the parallels this draws between him and Grogu is so emotional. We really haven’t gotten a lot of father-son interactions this season and it was a smart move to give us their chaos earlier in the episode because it made their separation all the more painful. These two characters have been taken from each other in an assortment of ways over the past two seasons and yet have come together no matter the forced pulling them apart. But the forces are stilling pulling apart and all I can say is they just deserve a break. Din was so upset and vengeful when Grogu was taken before (alsoby Moff Gideon, no less) and him having to watch the same of Din is heartbreaking. And interesting. Because Grogu has been given a lot of independence this season, even from episode where he gets Bo to save Din, so him finally saving his father with his own —excuse me, IG-12’s — hands is kinda beautiful. No, it does not mean the trauma is worth is, especially when they already showed us how tragic Grogu’s backstory was and how so many people have been killed and taken right in front of him, but Grogu being able to finally save someone feels like it could be a really empowering and poetic choice

There’s also the option of Din going absolute badass and busts his way out like one of our favorite episodes The Prisoner from s1. As much as I love clumsy Din, I personally feel there hasn’t been enough action from him, especially scenes where he shows his impressive combat and problem-solving skills. Din is smart, Din is talented, this isn’t just my mantra it’s been proven by the show and some of the coolest scenes have been him absolutely throwing down in his clever way in fights. I think the way he has to focus more on outwitting others to make up for lack of grace (as opposed to Bo, though she is also smart) is part of what makes his fight scenes intriguing, too. That’s why, for the mess it as, I still liked ep 6; it showed the way Din utilizes his knowledge (when he talks to the Ugnaughts) and himbo-ness (when he straight up just starts kicking droids). While I believe Grogu and maybe Boba/Fennec and Bo will end up saving himC Din busting his way out would be so fun to watch and I’d be willing to condone the narrative choice is they gave him a semi-logical way of escaping. They’ve really just had him falling and beaten down so much with this season with very rare moments of action spotlight (not supporting moves), so a chance to see the slick bounty hunter we saw s1 and s2 would be appreciated

And last is the most dreaded possibility, most soul-crushing choice the writers would make: Din’s helmet is forcibly removed. Even writing this, there are so many implications from this scenario that it’s going to have to be its own post. It’s cinema.

[myheartbelongstothefandom]

about the movie, i have ... a lot of mixed feelings, and its been a very long time since i even used this blog, but i need to ramble into the void about it.

first of all, i am actually really happy that there is new material, and i cried when i knew it was on the cinemas in my country and i cried non stop for a very long time, and i was happy while watching the movie, but it was lacking, to say the least, it was a bad movie. so its a bit infuriating to see so much praise going to it, when ...

first of all, its really frustrating that after four year all we get is one movie that doesnt even reaches 90 minutes (i do not know how it went i didnt read anything about the production or whatever went backstage, and tbh i dont think i care, 4 years is a lot of time, considering that the first three seasons were released one year apart from each other, and the fourth season even though it took them 3 years there was covid and ... there were in total 24 or 25 episodes. not 86 minutes)

i know im gonna say something that has already been said, but its very odd that it was a movie and not one full season?? theres no argument that would make it make sense to me why, for the love of god, they decided to make this arc a movie. theres so much to be said about it idek where to begin

if im correct, this game goes from the chpater 249 to 322 (i did not read the manga), and i do not like being the nerd but... all the four seasons, in total, are 85 episodes, meaning they adapted 249chapters to create those 85 episodes. so the 73 (from 249 to 322) chapters couldve been adapted into a whole season of 24 episodes !! its really odd that they chose to do a movie when there was so much material that couldve, and shouldve, been adapted.

this is a game that was awaited since the first season, it was the second practice match karasuno had, and it was a goal since the beginning, to play against nakome in a national tournament. the fact that they spent the time that would be like 4 episodes on this is mind blowing. the game against shiratorizawa was 10 episodes, the game agains (the game in the first season again dateko goes on for 2 episodes!!!) THE FIRST GAME AGAINST AOBA JOHSAI STARTS SOMEWHERE ON THE 19 EPISODE AND GOES ON UNTIL 24 !!!!!!!! BE FOR REAL BE FOR REAL PLS YES IT WAS AN IMPORTANT GAME BUT THERES NO COMPARASION

the flashbacks were interesting and i was rll glad i saw them but bc everything was so rushed, it just felt like chunks that they had to put there somewhere in the middle of the game. and while throughout the series it was works wonderfully and its really fluid, in the movie every time i was about to get inti the game there was a flashback....

one of the reasons why i love haikyuu is because they dont focus just on one character or one team (one of my favorite episodes is even winners and losers, season 1, ep 16): in this anime, because its volleyball, theres no need to have a villain, the motivation is always to win, and maybe the character has a reason or maybe it doesn't, but that doesnt matter. and they could paint the other teams as villains, but that would be cheap and tbh overdone, they are not the big bad wolves trying to takee away the victory of the main character, they are just highschool students that want to play and to win to keep on playing. so the fact that they only focused on kenma, and kuroo ig, really took away some of the charm of haikyuu.

there were very few memorable moments, sure the final kenma pov was cool af, the shot of kenma and hinata with a knife was amazing, and the animation of kenma putting hinata on a cage was also cool. and i did like the way kenma looked kinda... sad?? when hinata started to be down, but ..... it just wasn't enough.

it wasn't enough to the overall quality haikyuu as as a whole, and tbh i dont even think it was a good movie

[grumpybreakfastfriend]

One thing really weird to me is the accusations that Bell only agreed to do QOS because "they whitewashed his allegations", there's a LOT to criticise about the way QOS set all of these interviews up, they misled a fair amount of people on what this doc was about and it's... the end result is very sensationalistic and it does make money off the backs of other people's trauma, but it also started a good conversation.

But the thing about like "they whitewashed his allegations"... Like I agree it's something people should talk about but the documentary was about nick and abuse allegations on the set of nick shows with child actors and nothing in any of his allegations have to do with any other former child actors, other survivors should have a chance to speak and talk about their experiences but.... I hardly think that the thing about him only agreeing to do it because "whitewashing of his allegations"

They had been in contact with him many times over a few years and he kept refusing because he wasn't ready to publicly talk about what happened to him, he had also rejected to speak on "An Open Secret" in 2014, long before allegations against him ever came to light, so I think the narrative is honestly, not to be mean sounding, but BS. but people say it like it's a confirmed thing or they have "insider information" on that whole situation.

Speaking of, how do you feel about QOS and what Alexa Nikolas is saying (suddenly) about how QOS is opportunistic and using trauma for their own gain because she recently appeared on a news segment or whatever talking about Drake Bell's trauma, so I... that feels a little hypocritical if I'm honest because isn't she doing the same thing? I can understand Lee Bolleau (All That, Amanda Show) being upset about being left in the dark about major reveals in the series that she had thought was just about workplace toxicity, not p*dophilia and SA. And she says she was super close with Drake when they were on Amanda Show so imagine how horrifying it was for her to find that out. I don't want to paint the creators of QOS in a bad light but there's some stuff that's 100% wrong with QOS and should be criticised... They -seemed- like they had good intentions but keeping people in the dark and lying to others and then kinda editing the scenes to be a shockumentary and also the complete lack of focus the entire doc seems to have, it goes from "Dan Schnider has a horrible work ethic" several times to "Convicted SO Brian Peck" and then skips to talking about Amanda Bynes without her consent and... idk, i don't know how to feel about it too much, I know every documentary does this, I know that An Open Secret did this as well, but it's just... I dunno.

Bolleau says that she was misled on the subject of the doc for over a year, and Marc Summers had dropped out of the project because they lied to him about what it was about and he was like "I don't know anything about whatever happened here wtf", add to that the fact that Drake consistently answers vaguely about what abuse he experienced and they plaster it all over the screen anyway, and then the fact that they took out some of what Alexa even talked about in her interview, like Alexa is a little easier to criticise on this because she seems like she's flip flopping on supporting the doc based on not being invited to the LA panel talk or being asked to come back for ep 5, but I believe her when she says that they had a narrative to paint, mostly about Dan but they didn't have enough so they just cobbled together whatever allegations and rumors they could find which is so skeevy.

and to give Alexa some grace, she does talk about how she went in with a little more information on the subject and background about the doc because of her Eat Predators movement, but finding out that other people were misled and lied to she feels regretful that she sat down with them, so maybe she's -not- flip flopping, but a lot of people don't like her and criticise her for things like this.

Bolleau and Nikolas say that the producers pressured them in the interviews even when they voiced hesitation, which lines up with Drake being pushed to talk about explicit details of the abuse, Bolleau and Nikolas also say that they were harassed by endless attempts of contact during pre-production.

And then of course the 5th episode drops and it's so weirdly out of tone and touch with the rest of the series and though it was a good "idea" i guess in theory to follow up with the people, it felt so rushed and like they were cashing in, Schwarts and Robertson, the two who created the doc were defacto interviewers off screen in the first four episodes but out of nowhere Soledad O'Brian is the one asking questions to people regarding this stuff, and of course she brings up Amanda Bynes to Drake over zoom even though he looked very uncomfortable being asked about her life and there's a moment O'Brian says something like "What happened there, what happened to people like Amanda Bynes" and it's clear she's trying to get a very specific answer to that question.

With all these criticisms and then episode 5 it really paints this picture of them using these stories for the salaciousness factor and the ratings, even though it DID start a good conversation about abuse in these places, but they claim that 5th episode was for talking about where the industry can go from here, and offered absolutely NO discussion on that theme.

Nikolas was talking about how they edited the like, intro sizzle reel to the 5th episode, taking the sexually suggestive clips and putting them in a montage, stripping them entirely of context and kinda turning it into… like, idk, like how those true crime youtubers sensationalize the hell out of the cases they talk about.

And they take Lee Bolleau's words on an amanda show sketch out of context, kinda editing it to make it seem like something else.

Lee and Nikolas were just not invited to the LA panel at all probably because the doc producers didn't like their talking back about the misleading and lies…. and I do feel for Lee, and maybe more so than Nikolas because although I know a lot of people try to question or judge her trauma and I am 100% not doing that here, I just feel like she wants to hitch herself onto the backs of the other kids and what they went through, specifically Drake, it's weird that she's speaking on his trauma after HE bared his soul for the documentary.

And again, the interviewers / creators pushing for certain details of their guests when they knew it was making them uncomfortable... Its just weird, I know that Brian's charges are public record but they seemed to want to get shock value out of Drake's answers.... it didn't sit right with me.

I guess I'll just parrot people saying "two things can be true" because this did start an impactful discussion not only for the industry but for abuse and SA victims who have not come out yet and felt inspired to do so after hearing these stories, and it DID shine a light on Brian Peck who has been living pretttyy damn easy since being arrested and before this doc he was able to lay low and attend horror conventions and I'm just not sure that's super possible for him right now because everyone knows his face, and it did shine a light on many many many industry professionals backing a convicted p*dophile, but at the end of the day the more stuff that QOS and it's team does afterwards feels super super exploitative.

It's just a lot to think about, sorry for the long message!

I appreciate the message! I'm going to try and respond to the overall theme, since I don't think I can hit every point covered.

I agree that objectively, the documentary isn't that good. It's very disjointed and sensationalized. It felt like I was watching an old YouTube compilation of "creepy Dan Schneider feet scenes" that have been around for years with no actual new information, a bit about workplace harassment, almost conspiracy-esque speculations about Amanda which have been around for years, and then an extremely moving and harrowing story from Drake.

I've found a lot of his follow-up podcasts to be even more compelling and haven't gone back much to the documentary itself. We can have a larger conversation about how kids are vulnerable in entertainment, but their focus on Schneider as the Big Bad, when the Brian Peck abuse had nothing to do with him just didn't hit right for me.

I think the doc is still a net good and I am glad it is shining a light on these issues and gave Drake a platform to tell his story. I was talking to an older coworker who didn't grow up with these shows, and she found the doc to be a powerful watch, so I'm glad that it is still having that impact on people.

If it's not evident from my dozens of Drake Asks, I was really moved by his story. Quite frankly, I am not very invested in whatever is going on with Alexa. I hadn't heard of her before this, and I feel like I would have to spend too long watching all of her content to come up with an informed opinion, when I would rather spend that time checking out Drake's discography. It's a shame she's getting dogpiled for supporting Drake now, even if I do not know all of her motivations or issues.

[justbringtherain]

Ted Lasso finale, my very late and random and long thoughts

I saw the episode and then it took me like 5 years to write this post but I'd like to post it anyway. Some stuff problably won't be accurate bc I've not re-watched it.

Also I'm ignoring the reddit thingy for Brendan Hunt. It's my brain and I'll cover my ears and tra-la-la around if I want to.

Also, a lot of thought abt Roy and Jaime and Keely as an ot3, as Roy/Keeley, as Roy&Jaime and as the characters in general.

I don't know how to put stuff under read more, I'm so so sorry.

So I've decided that the part from when Beard leaves to when Ted opens his eyes on the plane is a dream of a possible, probable future for everybody.

I'm ok with most of the stuff shown but even some of those are too rushed and/or too optimistic and/or too over-simplyfied. Like many ppl have already said the season suffered from too many plots who obvs did not get developed properly due to not having the time.

The one thing I fully refuse is the Jane/Beard wedding. I won't speak of the Jaime-and-James stuff bc for many different and personal reasons I just can't. The other thing I'm not really ok with is Rebecca/Dutch Guy bc I thought we established that Rebecca had finally found her family and it wasn't what she expected but it was right for her and then the dude appears and it kind of cheapens that. I loved the Dutch Guy in the Amsterdam ep. but I think that plot should have ended there.

Everything else I can see happening the same or very similar. It's just a matter of when it happens related to Ted's departure.

Re: Jaime/Keeley/Roy stuff.

I was a ride or die Keeley/Roy shipper untill I saw 3x11. Then I was hooked by the ot3 and now I will die on this hill. But talking abt Roy/Keeley: already in 3x10 after K/R hooked up it seemed very clear that Keeley had doubts abt getting back together with Roy and the next ep proved they didn't which I was fine with. They needed at least to have a much bigger convo abt what lead Roy to break up with her and the fact that he asked who the sex tape was for needed to be addressed imo bc he had absolutely no right to do it. Also Keeley can definetly use some time on her own and focus on KJPR/KBPR (we can keep the name change).

Jaime&Roy. ooooh boy do I want to write a way longer post abt these 2 starting from s2 and maybe one day I will. But to keep it short their fight was bullshit. It especially sucked the way Roy asked Jaime out like for a night between buddies and started the convo talking abt how proud he was of Jaime and then he just told him to back off from Keeley so that he could get back together with her. Yeah Roy no need to talk to Keeley -who said she wanted them to be just friends- abt that. Honestly I'm glad Jaime pushed back bc one thing is to learn to be a team player, another is to be a push over. Jaime hadn't addressed still having feelings for Keeley since 2x07 and for all we know he could have just been waiting for the right time to ask her to give it another try. Back to Roy: the way he acted kinda cheapened the moment between him and Jaime and like I said it sucks. Jaime seemed so touched and then Roy fucked it. Woah I'm being harsh on Roy.... They were both idiots (thank God they aknowledged right away) both to fight physically and then to think they had this genius idea to let Keeley choose. Like... bitches??? It was always going to be her choice!!!! At least they understand right away (kinda) that what they did was bullshit and finish the night off going for a bite togther. I understand that this was their "closure" as it was the finale, I'll leave the conversation they should have had to the fanfics.

Roy. I've been such a bitch to him but in the end he does the right thing and asks for help. And his admission to the Diamond Dogs was fucking heartbreaking bc he was so disappointed in himself. He really thought he had changed for the best and then he makes the same mistakes all over again. Which is of course perfectly normal but also not the easiest thing to understand. Both getting better and bettering ourselves are not linear and we're going to fuck up. Which is actually what also happened between Roy and Jaime bc they fell back to getting aggressive and violent with each other even though they were at a point where they could have talked it out. They regressed but it happens. And now this paragraph sort of negates what I've written above but not really. Their fight was bullshit bc they could have been able to avoid it but it can also make sense that they didn't bc they are humans. Emotions were running high and Keely is a bit of a sore topic for them. Back to Roy, but really to Brett. Kudos to the man bc Roy might be aggressive but he never made me unconfortable until the sex tape episode. When he asks Keely who was it for and then repeats the question when she goes "What?" his whole demeanor was fucking scary to me. Cold, calm but u can see it's a farcade. And it's the same demeanor we see when he tells Jaime to leave Keeley alone. And I'm probably wrong but it felt like a conscious choice, as if to say "ur feeling uncomfortable bc u're supposed to be". Who knows.

Final Roy/Keely/Jaime scene. Like I've said, I'm taking most of that scene as a "this might happen". Regarding these 3, I'm fine with it. We don't know who's with who and that I'm cool with that. But we know they're in a good place with each others and that's all that matters.

Other stuff:

Colin/Michael: no need to say anything except fuck yeah it happened! Colin just wanted to kiss his fella and he did!!! I wonder if it means he's out or if no photographer caught it so it's just something Colin finally managed/felt ready to do. And both scenarios are fine! They kissed! I screamed! I had already teared up for everything else and it got worst!

Wait if Sam actually (hopefully!) goes to play for Nigeria it's only for national games right??? The rest of the year he's still with Richmond right??? I don't want any of them to leave!!! Richmond 'till they die!!!

Last thoughts: I know I might have been kinda negative here, but I honestly liked how it ended. I smiled, I laughed, I screamed, I teared up and downright cried. Mostly, I feel like the season needed a couple more episode to expand on some stuff, but you cannot have perfection. I'm satisfied. I understand how Ted's choice can feel so disappointing and I do wish he could have stayed and maybe have Henry move to England but I also understand why the writers decided to have him move back to the US. I don't think it cancel all of his development. He needed Richmond to become a better dad and he went back feeling ready to be it.

[kiawren]

kiawren things that may add some plot to our relationship: (becuz to me we both like each other too much and are so perfect for each other we already know we're in love and get together so early like I Know it's not realistic but really I don't see how it'd drag out becuz I'm not stupid and I'd realise he likes me becuz he's not exactly good at hiding it so it wouldn't even be mutual pining for long lol)

– wren confessed his crush first (very in character of me becuz I get infatuated too easily), and kia/we says sorry he doesn't like them and has responsibilities to focus on, but they stay good friends. And then he falls for wren

– if we continue with the above, kia/we later asks wren if they view him still as a crush or a friend, and wren replies friend but he actually still adores kia/we, but kia/wes like ok he doesnt like me. And doesn't confess (he would've if wren said he still likes him)

– but then again im not that oblivious I feel like I can easily tell if kia/we likes me 😭 so thats fun to think about but it's not how the relationship 'canonly' mainly goes

– trans guy kia/we who wasn't sure that he was gay (didn't even like anyone legitimately till wren), when he transitioned he just took on an assumed transhet identity. and was conflicted when he starts to like wren whos nonbinary transmasc but doesn't really pass so he was worried he doesnt see wren as the boy they identify as!

– if kia/we already knows he likes guys/masculine aligned people, then wren was worried he wasn't enough of a boy for kia/we to reciprocate (actual thing that I thought of alot when I had an infatuation for a cis gay irl)

– over a vacation wren went back to whatever region they came from (idk poke/mon well enough outside of gen 7 my bad💀💀) and both of them were thinking whether it's a crush that'll pass over the month or two. (spoiler it didn't)

– well on the gender and sexuality thing maybe kia/we thought wren as someone who understands him in that aspect very well (since they're both transmasc, just to different extents) so he confused himself over whether it was like a special bond of solidarity and understanding or like. An actual crush (reminder he has not liked anyone so bad before. Or anyone for that matter. I still haven't really decided on that. I feel like he knows what love is cuz his parents are in love but never really had time to think abt it)

– wren isnt from alo/la right. He's there to study on conservation (my irl dream) and kia/we doesnt trust foreigners as seen in the first few eps. So he treats wren in a stern and a bit mean. kinda way. This is kinda important becuz if he didn't, wren would immediately be infatuated with him within like max 5 days. So to drag out the time they take to like each other kia/we has to warm up to wren and wren has to see him as actually not intimidating.

– it'll also be interesting if there were foreign students before and they did not care for alo/la's natural world as their academic intentions made them seem to. So kia/we had bad impressions of ppl coming to alo/la to help the region becuz he doesn't trust that they truly care for it. But wren really does and kia/we needs a bit of time to realise that. So he was initially really mean to wren lol, and unlike the shift in the canon show where kia/we quickly became a silly guy and wasn't mean anymore, here it was more gradual and so wren didnt like him that early on

– they were on the topic of dating before and wren said they didn't really like the idea of dating a schoolmate (once again, me irl, schoolmates suck) but that mostly applied for his school back home, not the smaller and more bonded class he was part of here in alola. And kia/we was like yeah I have lots of commitments too like my family, my training,... So they were both like yeah I don't think I'd date. So they were apprehensive on confessing to each other becuz they thought the other's answer was pretty much definitive. (but it completely changed later on solely becuz they really liked each other..!!)

Some other points of personality conflicts so they're not actually as perfect as I say they are lol

– I posted this before but wren (me irl) is kind of a germaphobe when it comes to their bedroom and some other routines in their life and kia/we is much less hygienic like basic hygiene ofc but he stays on a farm and sweats a lot and he sometimes lays down on his bed in between, or like before he sleeps he trains but he doesnt shower idfk in the games his bed literally smells like sweat. But anyway the point is wren got thrown off by kia/we like idk not washing his hands that much etc etc it's hard to say becuz I freak over 'germs' in specific places and circumstances only... but ajsksjkd I'm literally getting nowhere with this. I'm just saying they have to get used to each other here

– kiawe has 100 discipline responsibility commitment. wren has like 2. If we were to keep it realistic kia/we wouldn't be like head over heels for wren cuz he's really not perfect lol, all this comes to kia/we so naturally and. I kinda want to say he'd be annoyed that wren isn't like that but he also doesn't get annoyed at people's flaws. He understands them and helps them achieve their goals regardless.. but I still think it'd be tiring for him.. so I guess he'd want to help wren as more of a friend and it'd take a while to see them for their other strengths aside from yknow their work ethic that takes up a lot of what you see in someone and infer about them. What I mean is that I'm so non-committal but if someone were to like me. I guess it'd be more of the artistic and intellectual aspect? I hope........