#i need to rewatch some scenes from s2 first

[daryltwdixon]

Hi! I saw your request for some drabbles and was wondering if you could do a fluff Daryl x Fem Reader set in S2 Ep7 where she comes to Daryl's defense (maybe a slap to the face 😆) after Shane's rant about how Sophia would run away if she saw him.

Daryl x Reader requested

author's notes: helloooo!! I loved this and I was cracking up rewatching the scene. Thank you for the request!!

Not much of a sweet fluff but still a fun fluff

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea's voice is insistent as Shane paces, pushing his hat harshly onto his head. The blue brim shades his angry eyes as he steels over the group. The sun beats down on all of you as you stand in front of the large dilapidated barn. Snarling echoes in the barn ahead, making your skin crawl. Glenn had been acting antsy all morning, finally announcing to the group that Hershel and his family have walkers locked in their barn like they’re just sick relatives waiting to get better.

"It ain't right," T-Dog says flippantly, crossing his arms. "Not remotely."

"Okay," Shane sighs, loud and impatient. "We either gotta go in there, we gotta make things right, or we just gotta go." He adjusts the brim of his hat as he looks at Rick. "Now, we’ve been talkin’ about Fort Banning for a long time."

You roll your eyes. Shane had been running his mouth about Fort Banning since the second you met him, and it was exhausting. He just would not shut the hell up.

"We can't go," Rick hisses, holding up a hand to silence Shane, but of course, Shane doesn’t stop.

"Why, Rick? Why?"

Carol’s small voice trembles as she steps up. "’Cause my daughter’s still out there."

Shane’s face shifts, softening into a strained mask of patience. His eyes close for a brief second, like he’s trying to summon every ounce of strength before speaking again. "Okay," he sighs, dragging a hand over his face. "Carol, I think it’s time we all start considerin’ the other possibility."

"Shane—" you bark, but Rick cuts you off.

"We’re not leavin’ Sophia behind," he says firmly, his tone brooking no argument.

Daryl, still battered from his fall down the ravine, steps forward. His voice is rough, but there’s conviction in every word. "I’m close to findin’ this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago!"

"You found her doll, Daryl, that's what you did. You found a doll." Shane says incredulously.

There’s a beat of silence before Daryl’s voice rises to a roar, his arms swinging out as if daring Shane to keep going. "Man, you don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about!"

"Look, I’m just sayin’ what needs to be said!" Shane shouts back, voice booming. "You get a good lead, it’s in the first 48 hours—after that—"

"Shane, shut up!" you shout, your frustration boiling over, the barn of walkers becoming more and more riled as voices continue to climb.

"Let me tell you somethin' else, man!" Shane barks with a humorless laugh, "If she was alive out there and she saw you comin'—all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction, man!" he says, pointing across the farm.

Rick is in between them in an instant, Daryl lunging at Shane, his arms swinging in anger, but it's your temper that gets the better of you, and no one stops you as you stalk over in front of Shane.

A loud smack rents the air, your palm stinging on impact as it hits Shane's face. Suddenly, everyone goes still and very, very quiet.

"You," you hiss, jabbing a finger into Shane’s chest. "You shut your damn mouth, asshole. If you’d done half the work Daryl’s done for that little girl, we might’ve actually found her by now. But instead, you’re worried about what, exactly? Fort Banning? Give it a rest. We’re not leavin’ without Sophia. End of. Until you’ve got something useful to say, keep your damn mouth shut."

Your seething breaths come out heavy and hot as you look at the man whose skin is hot pink where you slapped him across his face.

The barn seems quieter now, the walkers’ snarls muffled compared to the buzzing tension in the group. Shane stands dumbfounded, but there's anger and disbelief rising behind his eyes as he takes you in.

You feel a hand on your shoulder from behind you—gentle, trying to ground you—but you shove it off and turn on your heel, storming away toward the camp.

જ⁀➴

Later, you’re at the campfire, your temper still simmering like the embers in front of you. You hold a stick of spam over the flame, your grip tense. Most of the others have scattered to chores or hushed conversations, but the sound of boots crunching on dirt draws your attention.

Daryl approaches, looking uncharacteristically unsure of himself. "Hey," he mutters, his voice rough and low.

You grunt in greeting, not trusting yourself to speak yet without snapping.

For a moment, neither of you says anything. The fire crackles between you, and Daryl shifts his weight, chewing on his bottom lip as he fiddles with an arrow in his hands. You steal a glance at him—his bruised face contemplative—and something softens in your chest. You hand't really gotten to know Daryl in the past few weeks you'd come to know the rest of them. He had a temper, much like you, and wasn't necessarily the most friendly of the bunch. He kept to himself, especially since his brother went missing and you didn't want to bother him, knowing how easily he could be set off these days. But there was something about him, you had to admit to yourself when you glanced at him now. He was handsome, under all the ruggedness and sweaty dirt-smudged skin. He had a tender heart too, and that was something that surprised you most when Sophia had first gone missing. He was the leader of every search party, spent almost every day out looking for her or coming up with plans, and you felt like he deserved so much more recognition than he got. The others chalked him up to a dirty, no good redneck. But you see more than that, especially now. He’s the only one who’s been fighting as hard as you for Sophia, and it feels like no one else recognizes it.

“Didn’t have t’ do that,” he says finally, his southern accent thick as he mumbles.

“Do what?” you ask, though you already know.

He shrugs one shoulder, his eyes still locked on the flames. “Smack ‘im like that. Standin’ up for me.”

You roll your eyes. “Shane pisses me off, that’s all. Asshole thinks he runs the place.”

Daryl nods faintly, his lips twitching like he’s holding back a smile. “Still,” he says, glancing at you briefly before looking away again. “Kinda hot.”

The words catch you completely off guard. Your cheeks heat instantly, and you finally turn to face him, blinking and startled. “Hot?” you repeat, your voice incredulous.

He doesn’t look at you, his mouth tugging into a sheepish smirk as he scratches the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he mumbles. “Ain’t no one ever done somethin’ like that for me before.”

You stare at him for a moment, then let out a breathy laugh, shaking your head as you look away. “You’re unbelievable,” you mutter, though a small, embarrassed smile tugs at your lips.

Daryl shrugs again, a faint blush creeping up his neck. "Guess I owe ya."

“Nah,” you say, the grin lingering on your face despite yourself. “Just... keep doin’ what you’re doin’. That’s enough.”

He hesitates, looking down at the arrow in his hands before glancing back at you. “Come with me next time,” he offers, his voice softer now, like gravel under tires, “I’ll show ya how...to track n' all.”

Your smile widens, a shy warmth blooming between you as you nod. “Alright,” you agree, the tension easing into something lighter. 

He nods, the smallest hint of a smile playing at his lips as the two of you settle into a companionable silence by the fire.

[markantonys]

My Mom Reacts To: wheel of time season 3 episodes 1-4 (no book spoilers)

season 1 (book spoilers)

season 2 episodes 1-4 (no book spoilers)

season 2 episodes 5-8 (book spoilers)

she found her handwritten list of characters from when we watched s2 back in 2023, i couldn't believe it haha below is her summary of some of the gang as she was trying to jog her memory

lan: the one i really love mat: the one who got recast perrin: the big guy nynaeve: the healer rand and egwene: the ones who should be a couple but probably won't be

(i don't know if she meant that *she thinks* they should be a couple, as her personal opinion, or if she was just describing the general narrative framing of them as "should be together but won't be". we'll see what, if any, reaction she has to all the mess between them this season!)

ahead of s2, we rewatched all of s1 to prepare, but this time, we just watched the 20-minute recap of the first 2 seasons by unraveling the pattern. i get the sense that my mom is more lost and struggling during s3 than she has been in prior seasons, probably due to a combination of not doing a full rewatch first and to s3 just being so much more packed with Stuff than the first 2 seasons. but she knows all the main characters well and cares about them, it's mostly other stuff like plot and terminology that's hard to keep track of! and she did seem to settle in more once the hectic first episode was done and once she could focus more on the new storylines that are happening right now instead of trying to remember setup from previous seasons.

beginning of the recap: it's easy to get lost with all the different characters and terminology my mom: that's for sure!

during the recap my dad asked "is the dragon good or bad?" and i was like "that's kinda the big question of the whole series" haha

onto the episodes!

3x01

mom: didn't moiraine get banished from this city? me: yes, that's why she's hiding mom: she's not doing a very good job

me to my dad (who used to work in local government) at the beginning of the meeting of the hall: it's like town meeting dad later during all the shredding: town meeting never got QUITE this violent

mom: how did they not know there were this many bad guys lurking inside the tower? me: that's exactly what siuan is wondering too

my dad at some point during the street fighting: they need that guy who thinks he's a wolf to come and help

could perrin emerge as a fav for my dad if he was his first thought for somebody who would be useful in a situation? watch this space

mom after liandrin gets healed from double-stab out in the streets: ugh, she's unkillable!

huge gasp when ihvon died

mom when lan went to find nynaeve amid the rubble: oh yeah, they're in love right? [i will say, the recap was highly plot- and lore-focused and left out quite a lot of important info regarding interpersonal relationships!]

rand's line about "you know what prophecies are like, nothing's clear" got a chuckle

loial's line about leaving at dawn got a big chuckle!

mom: [smiling] he's one of my favorite characters me internally:😬

the girls' gossip session was instance #1 of my mom going "who's that???" about elayne because she "looks different" this season and she didn't recognize her (i suspect it's the hair throwing her off, in this scene especially it looks REALLY blonde and pale)

she definitely had some grumbling about it being stupid of the boys to go around town while so many bad guys are looking for them, though i forget exactly what it was

then later on she said "considering how many people are after them, they keep engaging in some pretty risky behaviors" (but this comment was just when mat was going to get himself a midnight drink at the inn, let him live, mom!)

mom: does rand know selene is evil? me [seeing my opportunity to get her sympathetic to rand's perspective early]: he knows she's lanfear, but she's been manipulating him hardcore, so he still thinks maybe he can fix her and help her be good again

i think it was during siuan's convo with egwene and nynaeve about being prepared to stop the dragon that my mom quietly said "...........is rand the dragon?" evidence of how overwhelmed this poor woman is with everything going on this season haha she's questioning everything she thinks she knows!

elayne delivering letters out on the street was instance #2 of going "who's that????" about her

no comments at all on any of the rand-avi, avi-elayne, or rand-elayne interactions this episode. i don't think she's particularly invested in either elayne or avi at this stage since they're newer characters compared to the OG crew, but we'll see!

moiraine: where do you really want to go? rand: where do i REALLY want to go? home mom: i was going to say, i bet all he wants is to just go home

she gets him!

rand: i was there [scaring egwene in her arches trip], wasn't i? mom: he's too smart for his own good

first time anybody has ever said that about rand dkfjgh but she's right! he's a lot more perceptive than much of show fandom gives him credit for!

mom: that guy perrin killed [bornhald], was he a bad guy? me: well, he was a whitecloak, so yes, but as whitecloaks go, he was better than some dad: a fitting description for his tombstone

mom during the inn attacks: it's so dark, i'm glad i can't see everything [because it's scary]

mom when lanaeve are saying their goodbyes: oh, why can't they just stay together?!

relatable to all of us who watched our favorite ships part ways in this episode!

"since perrin is going home, does that mean he won't be in the story anymore?" perrin wishes that was the case!

me: rand could've at least told moiraine the change of plans before she spent all that money on the boat mom: i know! it's like they think she has bottomless pockets! me: well to be fair she kinda DOES have bottomless pockets

dad after the episode: that felt like a lot more than just one episode

mom: will lan and nynaeve see each other again? me: not this season, but they should if there are more seasons mom: [sighs sadly] i just want lan to be happy

she followed this up with "this doesn't seem like an easy world to be happy in" you can say that again!

"if you counted how many times these 5 people got attacked throughout the show, i wonder how many it would be" very dangerous new WOT drinking game just dropped courtesy of my mom

the next day, she said "dad said he'll be home after [whatever time] and we can watch more then, it sounds like he really doesn't want to miss any" could've fooled me since it's never obvious that he's paying attention let alone invested, but it IS rare for him to even so much as imply that he wants us to wait for him to watch something!

3x02

me: this is elayne's mom pregnant with elayne mom: but she has two kids already me: yes, elayne has two older brothers mom: so why is elayne the one inheriting the throne? me: it's a matriarchal throne succession mom: i'm glad i have you here to explain things

huge gasp when the assassinations happened. "elayne is so nice, but her mom is so terrible!"

my dad's thought on the assassinations was "now this DID happen a lot in town meeting" lmao

as soon as they showed gaebril my mom went "i think i've seen him before", it turned out she was mixing him up with ishy since they have similar hair/beards, but i was cracking up imagining that rahvin had compelled her through the screen to remember him being in previous seasons

the music got a shoutout from her in this episode during the travel montages! there's some particularly groovy tunes in this episode's travel montages

several chuckles over galad getting made fun of in various scenes, as is only right

another chuckle at "the prophecy does not say i must enjoy the task"

elayne: that's the first time anyone's accused this room of being big mom: it looks pretty big to me!

first my mom was upset that no one was coming up to perrin to say hello when he arrived in the village, and then after finding out the whitecloaks have a bounty on him, she was upset that he was walking around out in the open and so many people had seen him arrive

she was also like "why did moiraine just let him leave and go home?" and i pointed out that moiraine's goal was to separate rand from his friends and that she really kinda only cares about rand at this point and not the other four so much, which my mom semi-accepted haha

mom after finding out min's viewing of dead aes sedai & warders wasn't referring to the 3x01 battle but was actually another battle still to come: is there ever any hope at all in this world?!

much appreciation for chiad's line about asking the lion to protect you from the bear and ending up in one belly instead of the other

perrin: i'll turn myself in mom: oh perrin, you're too good for your own good

once again my mom asked "does rand know she's evil?" about lanfear, so i took another chance to explain that rand knows objectively that she's evil but she's been careful not to do anything evil in front of him as a way of manipulating him, and that he really loved her during the months they were together so it's hard for him to just turn that off. i'm doing my best to seed in Rand Sympathy! we'll see if it pays off in the remaining episodes.

then my dad sneezed really loudly and distracted us all from the quick reveal that lanfear is disguising herself as renna to torture egwene, so i had to catch them up on that. classic dad behavior.

mom: [trying to jog her memory] was min romantically involved with anyone? me: no mom: she and mat might make a good pair me: NO they're like siblings to me!!!!

if she makes any kind of shippy comment during the CPR i'm going to pull out the "rand's the one who gave him CPR in the books, would you have considered THAT romantic too?" card hahaha

after gaebril told elayne about the trouble in andor, my mom was all "why would the queen leave the country if there's trouble?" "why is she leaving all her advisors behind at the tower if there's trouble?" she was starting to pick up on Something Fishy Going On Here

the scene of siuan taking the horn from mat was a big hit, naturally!

elayne: i learned from the best [morgase] mom: i don't know, i don't think SHE would ever kill her rivals dad: *i* think she would

mom about elaida: is she evil? dad: no one in this show is fully evil or fully good, they're all some of both

continuing his tradition of remaining mostly quiet and seeming not to pay much attention and then coming out with completely accurate takes

3x03

at first when my mom saw "gaebril" skulking around she was laughing because she thought morgase accidentally forgot him at the tower and left him behind, i was dying and am going to think about that every time i watch this scene forevermore

at the reveal that he's evil: "ugh! of COURSE!"

then i was explaining that he's not just evil, he's a forsaken, and explaining more about how he planted fake memories, and also giving her the list of all the forsaken we've met so far to add to her notes. we did pause for most of this, but sadly sammael's rug line got talked over so they missed that one, alas!

while nynaeve and elayne were walking through the streets my mom said she thought she saw somebody lurking around - it must have been the gray man, i was impressed! i hadn't caught him myself!

mom after hearing elaida's plan to cage rand: [unhappily] there are so many different groups of bad guys, and only one of good guys

she remembered the tuatha'an well from s1! she said she remembers s1 better than s2 since she'd watched it twice (and also said that s1 was the easiest one to follow since it was only about the main small group of characters)

we both keep fretting about wanting to know exactly how much time has passed, so in the scene with laila's tree we were like "well i guess however long it takes for a tree to grow that tall is how much time has passed" (and then in the later scene when perrin was like "don't you remember what happened at bel tine?" my mom was going "five years ago? last year?" trying to prompt him to specify haha)

she thinks it's very foolish for nynaeve and elayne to go off to tanchico on their own with so much danger afoot

"they're like paris fashion models" about liandrin & co's new getup in tanchico djkjfg

"i've never seen someone try to turn themselves in and fail" was a big hit!

though later my mom wondered if faile might be lanfear in disguise, which i accidentally shot down because first she just asked "is that lanfear?" and i said "no, it's a new character" thinking she was just mixing them up, not that she was suspicious lanfear might be in disguise as faile

mom about galad and gawyn: they remind me of, we used to call them "big men on campus", pompous and arrogant but also popular

mat: LIANDRIN?! nynaeve: keep your voice down! mom: he's always shouting about things that should be kept secret!

mom: i don't think elayne will be happy if mat kills her brothers me: he's not going to KILL them

3x04

mom while moiraine is watching lan and rand spar: why is she just sitting around? me: there's not a whole lot else to do in the desert

over the course of this episode, aviendha progressed from "that girl" to "aviendra" she's getting there!

me: [mentions something about the car'a'carn] dad: speaking of, were you able to find a parking space for the car'a'carn at the dentist earlier?

rand: tell me you won't try to stop me or use me moiraine: i will do nothing to hinder you from fulfilling your destiny mom: [disapprovingly] that's not what he asked

whether she'll understand rand's perspective in his upcoming conflict with egwene remains to be seen, but she does seem to understand his perspective in his conflict with moiraine! and kinda always has, i think, i remember her expressing distrust of moiraine in the prior seasons too.

"rand sure has a lot he needs to get done before he goes mad" WOT: A Summary

the first sight of the dragon tattoo with rhuarc got a "that looks cool" stamp of approval

earlier in the day she'd asked whether everything in the show was from the books or if some stuff was made up and i'd said the show made up/altered some stuff, and here i gave an example of how in the books mat is part of the waste trip and he's the one to go to rhuidean with rand and to get the moment of pulling a bunch of different knives out of unlikely places and my mom said "ha! i can see mat doing that. more than i can see moiraine doing it." i agree!! [cries in Mat Being Yoinked Out Of The Waste And His Silly Character Quirk Moment Given To Another]

[shot of rand's broad shoulders from behind as he's walking] "he looks like he's gotten a lot more muscles since the first season"

as rand is stepping into the columns: "i bet he's wishing he could just go home to his farm"

i gave a rundown of what to expect for the visions, with rand seeing real events from the past through the eyes of his biological ancestors starting with the most recent and getting further back and with moiraine seeing many possible but not definite paths for the future, because i feared she might get confused otherwise and i thought she would appreciate the experience more if i clarified this firmly ahead of time

and she did appreciate it! not much commentary (aside from "he should get an award for playing all these different characters" and "it's like they were on drugs when they wrote this episode" djkjfgkh but i think this was Complimentary rather than Derogatory), she was mostly just quiet and taking it all in

although she was very indignant about moiraine "stealing something from the tree" haha she was like "that can't be allowed!" and i said "moiraine doesn't really care about what's allowed"

and of course she was horrified by the future vision of lan dying and hastened to seek assurance that these are not definite futures

rand: [collapses in exhaustion after all the visions are done] dad: i agree

aviendha: as you wish, wetlander mom: [chuckles] like the princess bride me: [silently giggling in avirand]

i don't know if this episode struck either of them as particularly noteworthy or standout the way so many WOT fans feel about rhuidean, but if they make any additional comments on it later, i will be sure to note them!

[craziertogether]

mike’s behavior shift & byler endgame confirmation

little yap moment (long rant):

just to start, i wanna say that i was a m*leven lover from s1-s2. given i was young asl, it was a wonderful ship for kids, but as i’ve grown and gotten more into analyses for media it has become clearer to me why my dislike of mike wheeler’s character despite my love for him originally, actually came from a lack of understanding.

so yeah, i truly think the moment i started developing my own byler agenda was in season 3. i had always known that will was queer, season 1 episode 1 with joyce and episode 4 with troy, it was just so clear to me. but i never saw it actually developing into a love story, i actually saw it as a little bit of queerbait when i saw the “crazy together” scene (ik crazy to say but i was also literally 11). but season 3, was like a huge smack in the face that oh mike is 100% the queer one WITH some kind of feelings towards will. i love how we as bylers joke about it? but truly will’s feelings for mike were so masked it’s insane to me.

back to my rant, i was a little caught off guard by mike’s CRAZY behavior switch from likable friend and leader to el’s personal make-out buddy and actual hater of his own best friends (mind you mike was always my favorite character originally, he was the protagonist that was a little unlikable but that’s my favorite kind of character). it wasn’t until my rewatch recently that i totally clicked for me again that mike was so in love with will, i can’t remember who mentioned it but mike inviting will to his house after el dumped him was absolutely unnecessary, lucas was needed but mike just had will there because of his genuine need for will to be there. rain fight outburst and post breakup crawling back to will was so clear that mike valued will on a level unbeknownst to anyone else around him. even beyond the el breakup, mike is lowkey such an ass to everyone else 😭. he needed to be guided by everyone else to apologize to el, lucas, and dustin. but will was like air to mike, he breathes will, the second he hurts will, he immediately crawls back to him because he knows at the minimum that will’s feelings are greater than his own arrogance.

and now season 4? there are so many wonderful analyses out there regarding mikes straight up queer behavior, but i really feel like this season is what fully converted me. btw i was still afraid of this possibility of queerbaiting, i had a strong feeling that maybe i was still reading into it too much but when will’s feeling were CONFIRMED in the first like minute, i knew in that moment that byler endgame was real. like i said above the way will’s queerness was clear to me was no shock, but seeing it be visually shown that he was IN LOVE with mike i was truly convinced in that moment that this was it, they were setting them up to be THE endgame couple. (ps i had NOT interacted with any byler content until very recently, i just had this instinct). and after now having read the analyses and rewatch the season again, i literally felt like my eyes were opened and like the show was spelling it out for us. the california plot line being the MOST boring without byler development, the fights and apologies, the heart to hearts, and van scene all just either fed my confirmation bias or proved to all audiences that this is what we need to be looking at. it is insane that season 4 has like 6 incredibly byler focused deep moments and there’s still byler doubt in my opinion. anyways yeah back to my original point the complete decline in mike’s character development the last two seasons completely confirmed it for me in my most recent rewatch. there was no reason to absolutely nerf his character like that, and if they do set up m*leven endgame, i actually will have lost respect for the duffers but also for my favorite character. but i have full faith that this show would not destroy everything it spent the last decade building up to.

TLDR: byler endgame is imminent and as a once byler skeptic and even m*levin fan, i cannot wait to see this story wrap up in season 5. i need the trailer, actually the whole season but the trailer will do for now.

[butterflydm]

Rewatching 3x01 & 3x08 together (for fic purposes)

Spoilers for the whole season and some general spoilers for the books through, idk, I'll say Winter's Heart.

It really does feel like 3x01 set up some strong conflicts that were resolved in 3x08 -- Egwene's misgivings about Rand being about the madness as opposed to only about ~cheating~ comes across much more successfully if you only watch the first and last episodes of the season, lol.

I do personally feel like dragging Randgwene out for so long muddled the narrative that they were going for with them (from my own feelings and a sampling of what other people said -- some people picked up on them being mis-aligned but a lot of people basically attributed it all to Rand being A Bad Cheater Boyfriend, with Egwene essentially only being a passive victim instead of an active part of the relationship), because the themes that I've seen Rafe, Josha, and Maddy talk about in interviews (about Randgwene being about nostalgia and trying to keep in place a relationship that really doesn't exist anymore) feels like it comes across a lot more strongly without any of the intervening episodes between 3x01 and 3x08.

imo, 3x01 is also really the only episode where we get to see that Egwene is still ambitious, I think, and even then, it's only during her 3x01 Arches viewing (where mad!Rand tells her that she got 'what she always wanted' by becoming the Amyrlin, and so was potentially dismissed by viewers simply because it came out of Rand's mouth). And she never talks about it to anyone! It's all couched in her protecting Rand or being devoted to the Light (or protecting herself, once she realizes that there's an actual living person messing with her dreams). She never admits to any ambition in herself in s3, and she's never called out on it by anyone that the narrative tells us should be trusted on the matter (aka someone other than Rand).

What we needed was something like the scene with Elayne in early s2, where Elayne calls Egwene out on her jealousy of Nynaeve and it's obvious in Egwene's reaction that she hit on a sore spot and that Elayne is reading her accurately. Though, minor sidebar, now I kinda want to go back and see if Egwene ever admits to any faults, because it could be that that is supposed to be one of Egwene's flaws in the show -- we know from what was said in 1x07 that the pattern of the Randgwene pre-canon relationship was that if they had a fight, Rand (and only Rand) would apologize and that would 'fix' the fight, so Egwene never admitting to any faults or mistakes seems true for pre-canon Egwene; and when Randgwene 'resolve' their 1x07 fight, iirc Egwene never admits to there being any reason that Rand might doubt her devotion to Mat, a character who she has NEVER had a one-on-one conversation with on-screen and who she, in fact, did openly doubt when it came to his moral character. But it could be that I'm forgetting some lines that show!Egwene has had that would contradict this theory?

(I just went back and watched that Egwene & Elayne scene and Egwene never actually admits that Elayne was right and that she was feeling jealous; she straight-up denies it, in fact, just like she constantly denies in s3 that she's worried Rand might go mad -- it's just obvious in her reactions that what Elayne is saying is the truth. Plus it being about a friendship and not about a romance also helps un-cloud the issue, imo. As we also see in how Nynaeve gets more sympathy for wanting to 'save' Liandrin from the Shadow than Rand gets for wanting to 'save' Lanfear. So, yeah, that makes me lean towards 'this is an intentional flaw in Egwene's character' but I do feel like we needed something more in s3 to make that clear to viewers)

That is actually something that Mat could have potentially done if he'd gone into the Waste storyline the way that he does in the books -- been a contrast against/sounding board for Egwene. There's a bit of distance there, because he's one of Rand's best friends, but also a level of trust, because he's from the Two Rivers. I really do feel like we needed more of Egwene actually expressing her own feelings over the course of s3, because after 3x01, basically everything is other people telling Egwene how she feels while she either loudly denies it or looks off into the distance and says nothing. But according to the interviews, everyone else was right about Egwene's feelings and she was just in denial the whole time, but we never get anything validating that on-screen, imo. She just stays silent. So I really hope that we do get some conversations in s4 where Egwene expresses her own feelings instead of other people doing it for her.

Rewatching these two episodes so closely together also (as @markantonys recently talked about) really shows the contrast between the mad!Rand or the euphoric!Rand that we see in 3x01 vs the determined Rand that we see in 3x08, but we can also see that Egwene seems to feel like these are the same Rand, which means that she's not seeing him clearly. All that intervening space and the way that the Randfear relationship intersects with the relationship throughline makes it easier to go along with Egwene's viewpoint in 3x08, imo, and it's not as clear as it could be that she's not seeing the actual Rand who is standing in front of her but is instead seeing him through the lens of Arches!Rand who is screaming at her to bow to him. Everyone else is witnessing a prophecy coming to life, while Egwene is re-living one of her worst fears that she was forced to confront.

I feel like a conversation, or maybe more just showing us that Egwene is being affected by her visions, would have been good. Because it feels like Nynaeve's conversation about how deeply the Arches visions affects a person could be used to show that it's supposed to affecting Egwene too, even if she never talks about it but a) Elayne's visions aren't even shown on-screen and don't appear to have affected her at all and b) Nynaeve's talk sets up how her final vision in the Arches powers her own arc this season, so it's easy to mentally go "well, that's true for Nynaeve but it doesn't appear to be true for Elayne or Egwene".

So yeah, my general feeling is still that we either should have had Randgwene have their final relationship talk in 3x01 and had the rest of the season them resolving into a complex exes situation, or cut out some of the Liandrin backstory from 3x03 in order to put in some kind of Egwene scene where we can see how clearly she's seeing mad!Rand in the not-mad!Rand who is standing in front of her. Because it really feels like the way the narrative was played out disguises any issues that Egwene was bringing to the table in s3, and makes it look like the dissolution of their relationship was entirely Rand's fault. Especially since when Egwene talks about their 'relationship' to Elayne & Nynaeve, she says, "it's just as it was back home, like nothing's changed" while Rand says to Mat & Perrin, "we haven't really talked about [whether or not we're back in a relationship]" and we never get any kind of open and honest read from Egwene's perspective the entire season.

But, again, just watching 3x01 vs 3x08 does make the change in the relationship clear (even if Egwene still won't admit to Aviendha in 3x08 that they are no longer in a relationship! which is so wild to me!), and shows that Rand and Egwene have strongly conflicting points of view on how Rand needs to approach being the Dragon (especially now that Rand has fully embraced Moiraine's perspective, which contrasts sharply against Egwene's) and that this is, at this point in time, an irreconcilable difference in them that means that their relationship will never again be what it once was.

Egwene: "We could have kept you (Nynaeve) safe." vs Rand: "Safe's not possible anymore."

Egwene is trying to keep Rand 'safe' (from others? from himself?) all season but safety is not possible. But that might be what lies inside Egwene's refusal to commit to a break-up, even in 3x08? Because she believes that Rand 'needs' her in order to have the strength to pull himself back from the madness? idk she never talks about it! if that's the case, then maybe Rand not listening to her at the end of 3x08 means that she'll finally admit that they're not in a relationship anymore. We can only hope!

I do think that in the context of Egwene believing that she might need to 'stop' Rand, then her reaction to Aviendha asking if Rand ~deserves~ her strength is more interesting, because Rand's 'worthiness' is beside the point, if it's not about romance but instead potentially needing her strength to stop a 'mad!Rand' situation.

Rand absolutely is trying for a soft break-up in 3x01, though, with his assumption that Egwene is going to stay at the White Tower with Nynaeve and Mat, and she is not having any of it. And they're kinda stuck there until 3x06 though, again, it's wild that even in 3x08, Egwene will not verbally commit to no longer being in a relationship with Rand! (but Rand does, and it feels like the scene in 3x06 was clear enough to make the viewers feels that they're 'broken up enough' too, even if Egwene still won't say the words).

But by those same standards (was the 3x01 conflict resolved in 3x08?) -- it feels like Mat didn't go much of anywhere this season. He had some fan favorite scenes but the conflict that appears to be set up in his opening scenes -- not being able to help his friends because he's caught up in his own struggles -- remains the situation that he's in at the end of the season. Instead of being able to help Elayne or Nynaeve against the Black Ajah, he's caught up in his own struggles and taken out of the picture. He's struggling with memories in 3x01 and is now struggling with memories in the opposite direction in 3x08 (lost memories instead of new memories). He moved laterally but didn't actually resolve anything.

...that does line up with how Nynaeve's struggle with her block was essentially 'on hold' during s2 and then tee'd up to get knocked out in s3, so it could be that Mat was put on hold so that he can get the resolution to his current character struggle in s4 (fingers crossed for renewal, as always).

Taking Mat out of the Waste kinda feels like being put 'on hold' for Mat's own storyline but it has a MASSIVE impact on Rand's storyline.

Because everyone else who was already inclined to treat Rand like a person and also not be personally hurt by his relationship with Lanfear were already naturally leaving his plotline (Perrin, Elayne, and Nynaeve) so deliberately removing Mat -- who is the person who has been set up by the show to be the MOST sympathetic to Rand's concerns, as someone who a) has committed a similar 'crime' of abandonment that Rand did (1x06 Waygate abandonment vs 1x08 pretending to be dead), b) worried for weeks in s1 that he himself was the Dragon and was going mad, c) has already shown himself willing to support and uplift Rand (amateur therapy session in s2), d) has no reason to feel personally betrayed by Rand having feelings for Lanfear -- feeds into them wanting to play into Rand being more vulnerable to Lanfear when he's isolated.

And then that implies that bringing (some of) those people back into Rand's storyline in s4 would naturally/narratively give us a chance to get the other side of the story. Lanfear, the person who was trying to convince Rand that no one (but her) could genuinely care about him if they knew who he truly was, is now out of his life in a romantic way, and we are now free to bring back in the people who prove that she's wrong, because part of the point of s3 was to show us a Rand that would make the audience genuinely worry that he might pick Lanfear over the Light (but ultimately, I feel like the show would want to make it clear that Lanfear isn't actually correct and people are capable of loving and caring for all of who Rand is).

So it might have all been intentionally done to put us into Egwene's perspective to worry over Rand's mental state only to then bring in some characters in s4 who will be able to show us that part of that reaction was Egwene writing her own fears and worries onto Rand even though those fears aren't actually present (yet) in Rand's behavior.

It felt so significant to me that there was no Rand & Lanfear scene in the premiere and that really did play out throughout the season - Lanfear's primary dynamic this season, the one that mattered the most, was the one with Moiraine. Rand mentions Selene to Perrin and Mat -- that's the woman that he misses, the woman that he wanted. A woman who never existed. Moiraine is the one dealing with the woman who actually exists -- Lanfear. Just as it's Moiraine and Lan who deal with Lanfear in the season premiere, they are the ones who deal with her in the finale, while Rand has moved on from his ex and is dealing with things that matter more to him than holding on to a dead relationship with a cruel and manipulative woman.

The Randfear relationship is really well done on its own, but yeah I do feel like pulling the Randgwene relationship out so long kinda dilutes the power of what we see with Randfear, where Lanfear spends so long manipulating Rand and trying to convince him that no one but her can truly love him, only for Rand to go through the same realization that Lews Therin went through with her -- where she did something that accidentally revealed her cruelty and malice to him, and it make him realize the truth about her as a person. Because Egwene is mixed up in it, it gets dismissed as ~cheating~ instead of the abuse and manipulation of Rand that it is (otoh, it's entirely possible that even if Egwene weren't mixed up in it, it would still get dismissed the same way that the Mat-Tylin abusive dynamic is dismissed by some book!fans -- because some people genuinely believe that it's impossible for women to abuse men).

Randfear only have four (and a half, if you count Charn and Mierin) scenes together this season but each scene moves the story of their relationship's downfall forward in a powerful way -- we have the baseline of 3x02, which establishes that Lanfear is trying to tempt Rand and telling him that no one but her is capable of loving him because he's secretly just as awful as she is (peak abusive manipulation); we have 3x03, where Lanfear does her best to play on Rand's heartstrings and make him want to save her; we have 3x04, where Rand is given his hope that maybe Lanfear CAN be saved (and it's key that his hope comes from something that Lanfear herself had no way to manipulate); we have 3x05, where he momentarily gives in to temptation because he thinks there's a chance that 'Selene' really was a real version of Lanfear; and then we have 3x08, where Rand has learned who Lanfear really is and takes control of their relationship in order to finally end it. That is very economical and efficient storytelling! And the body language is all the Randfear scenes is just... excellently done. You can see the whole story just in the way they react to each other, without needing the words.

I will say, it feels very much like a warning sign that Moiraine and Lanfear agree that Rand's friends are 'holding him back' from 'the man that he must become' and then Rand comes around to agreeing with Moiraine (and, by extension, Lanfear) in the finale, and no longer objects to their methods (of hurting his friends to try to drive them away). Lanfear is maybe not the person that we should be agreeing with when it comes to how Rand's mental state should be handled.

That being said, the two parallel scenes of Rand and Moiraine's conversations in 3x01 vs 3x08 are very good -- we get them completely unable to connect and agree in 3x01, and when Moiraine crouches down to Rand's level, it feels like she's treating him like a child. While the 3x08 scene is both of them being willing to meet in the middle -- Moiraine admits she was wrong to try to force Rand to go to Tear, while otoh Rand has come fully to terms with the idea of embracing Moiraine's (unhealthy) policy of cutting himself off from his loved ones in order to embrace being the Dragon. And when Rand gets on her level in that second scene, it marks them seeing each other with vulnerability and mutual honesty, and they stand up together to fight their separate (yet linked) battles.

It cracks me up that Elayne gets kicked out of the ~serious conversation~ about the danger that Rand poses to the people he loves that Siuan wants to have with Egwene and Nynaeve... only to go talk to Rand and actually be the one person who has the greatest impact on him this entire season, by setting in motion his choice to go to the Aiel Waste and becoming the Car'a'carn to earn the Aiel as an army. Her advice here saves Rand's life (per what the Wise Ones told Moiraine in 3x03) and is key to him fulfilling the prophecies and the only people who know about it are her and Rand.

But that really does point out that Elayne gets left out of all of the "oh no, Rand is super-dangerous and is going to go mad" conversations that Egwene gets hammered with this season, so she's not bringing that with her everywhere she goes the way that Egwene is. But, yeah, this is another scene where Egwene has this instant denial and push-back against the idea that she might need to 'stop' Rand but apparently (from what was said in interviews and actually also the synopsis for the season that was put out) -- worrying about needing to 'stop' Rand was part of Egwene's struggle this season! I know I've mentioned it before but I really really feel like it needed some more attention and I feel like we could have sacrificed some of Liandrin's backstory in order to put a spotlight on this struggle of Egwene's.

Again, if you only watch 3x01 and 3x08 back to back, then I think that theme does come through successfully, but when you have all those intervening episodes, I feel like it gets kinda lost, especially since it's something that Egwene is never willing to admit out loud.

"Rand isn't used to having power. Command doesn't sit easily on his shoulders. But he will learn his duties and responsibilities to your people." Much like Elayne sets Rand's journey into motion, we see here that she has faith in his ability to become the Aiel's Car'a'carn. When Egwene is with Rand, she is always trying to see the boy that she once knew (the way that Lanfear is always trying to see Lews Therin? the way that Rand is trying to see Selene?), but Elayne sees the person that Rand actually is -- his challenges and his struggles included.

So I'm really hoping that we're going to see that when Elayne comes back into s4 and hopefully gets back into Rand's storyline relatively quickly -- Egwene will now be looking at Rand through the lens of mad!Rand from the Arches since she's decided he's not the boy that she used to know, while Elayne looks at him and sees the person that's really there.

Plus we see that Elayne is fully willing to wield dangerous power for the sake of the Light when she grabs the balefire rod from Jeaine and murders her with it without even the slightest bit of hesitation. So that's another place where it seems like she can understand the position that Rand is in.

There is also a very subtle and in-the-background Randlayne hug in the 3x01 goodbye scene. They definitely kept the Randlayne vibes low-key but present -- she's incredibly important to his story this season but not in a way that trips 'cheating' bells the way that his interactions with Lanfear did. The subtitles also say that Rand is telling Elayne "Thank you" here! It is VERY quiet though, because that's right when the music is kicking up. But I can hear it when I turn the sound up. So yeah, Elayne goes from saying goodbye to Aviendha right to saying goodbye to Rand.

(and the ta'veren boys goodbye hug is also very nice, even if I remain sad that pretty much all Cauthor got stripped out of one of the biggest Cauthor books in the series)

Aviendha's "My duty is to you, as yours is to your people." really does reinforce the point that Elayne made to Rand about how even if Aviendha is grumpy over Rand being the Car'a'carn, she does still stick by him. And that plays out in 3x08 as well, even though I do wish they'd actually gotten their own scene together, instead of Aviendha's single one-on-one conversation being with Egwene.

The White Tower scenes in 3x01 vs 3x08 go full-circle so hard and so painfully. That what Siuan tries to do to Liandrin here -- denounce her as a Darkfriend -- comes around on her in the end. Tried, stilled, interrogated, and executed. That was the plan for Liandrin, before her Black Ajah allies in the Hall came to rescue her. And, of course, Elaida made sure to send away Siuan's allies before moving forward with her coup.

So out of the Black Ajah that are revealed here, Liandrin is the only survivor that we see on-screen at the end of the season. We also get a foretaste of vengeful Leane here, who will see likely see in full force in s4, with that need for revenge turned against Elaida. Leane doesn't interact with Egwene in this episode, but she is there to witness Egwene repudiating Siuan's authority and leaving immediately after her Accepted Test (and so is Alviarin, who becomes Leane's counterpart at the end of the season).

We have the contrast of helpless!Nynaeve in 3x01 (because she's blocked) and then she gets unblocked in 3x08... but too late to do anything except save her own life. That's something that I've been turning over in my head. Nynaeve doesn't get to 'protect the kids'. She doesn't make it in time when Egwene needs to be saved in s2 and Egwene has to rescue herself; she isn't the one to heal Rand when he gets his dagger injury; she's not the one to save Mat's life in 3x08 even though she promises to help him in 3x01.

Maybe something about Nynaeve learning how to put on her own life vest before helping with anyone else's? I really am curious if Nynaeve is going to be able to help any of the kids in s4, now that her block is broken and she's no longer afraid of/hating her own power anymore.

[constantfragmentation]

Arcane S2 Thoughts

I've had a week to digest this season and well, I guess I have the unpopular opinion of being very disappointed. After the initial flash of gorgeous animation and some ooo's and awe's.... I was left with a bitter aftertaste. I can rewatch S1 loads of time. I don't think I can watch S2 again.

I'm happy for the fans that loved it and got what they wanted or the shippers that got what they wanted. I'm happy for you. Do your thing.

Me? Not so much. Even as a Silco fan (and I admit to squeeing for any footage of him at first), I'm not pleased. Yeah, my young Silco is a nerd, man-bun hottie, but that's where it ended for me. His entire characterization was nothing like the character I fell head over heels for in S1.

Vander's Flashback: I honestly don't find Felicia's inclusion necessary at all. In fact, I think it waters down everything between Silco and Vander. Their knowing her and the kids creates more questions, plotholes, and problems than it supposedly solves.

Why is Vander only in those memories with the kids? It's before the fallout with Silco. Why don't the kids know or remember nice Silco? Why do they only fear him (obv that's from Vander and Benzo, yes?)?

Why doesn't Silco seem to know Powder at Vander's dead body? Why would he kill Felicia's kids? None of it makes any fucking sense if he cared about Felicia. He hates Vander so much, he hates the kids too because he adopted them?

How the hell does S2 Young Silco turn into S1 Silco? Riot really messed this one up. Vander's attempted murder didn't change his entire personality.

It was a rebellion battle. People were going to get hurt and killed. They had to know this. So, whether Silco accidentally killed Felicia (as some fans are debating) or she died, is so damn dumb for Vander to solely blame Silco. Takes the kids, becomes a pacifist FIRST and then decides to (shave and grow younger) kill his brother for the greater good. Doesn't make one lick of sense narratively.

The narrative, characterization and animation inconsistencies don't help from S1 either. The drowning scene doesn't fit the S2 explanation. They're too young. Vander had a beard and appears much older on the bridge. Hell, S2 Young!Silco looks older than S1 Young!Silco. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. If people want to kiss Riot's ass, fine, but there was too much that was straight up lazy writing.

Silco's death is just glossed over considering how important he is. Silco did what Vander couldn't. Even without Shimmer, the Underground was thriving. Cait's mother's death/burial/statue gets more screen time and Silco gets dumped in the river. No one seems to question his death or what happened? Yeah, ok.

I'll use this moment to complain about the excessive music video montages this season too. I watched S1 again and the writing and use of music worked in unison and enhanced scenes. S2 felt like scenes in between music videos and it was irritating.

There was so much screentime wasted that could have been good dialogue heavy scenes that S1 was great at. Instead, time wasted on poorly executed plotlines that needed way more time to flesh out (Mel, Ekko and Viktor) and we have slowmo music videos and MCU fight scenes. Hermie's guitar song and Mission Impossible jokster crap was laughable and not in a good way.

Riot tried to pack too much into one season, and it was a mess. This season felt like watching a Marvel movie. Cool action sequences with little to no substance. All the nuance and grit from last season were gone in favor of the 'good vs. bad' trope. All the political-societal issues in S1 were abandoned that were far more fascinating to explore.

Mel has superpowers now? It feels all out of place. Her, Ambessa, and the Black Rose plot have zero time to make it interesting and plausible. She was introduced as this master manipulator/politician and her sage persona feels so forced.

Jesus Demigod Viktor was too much. I was excited for the Machine Herald and the psychedelic Arcane magical multiverse took me out. Making him to be the big baddie and timeloop it around to Jayce felt like a big cop out. Viktor deserved better. Hell, Jayce deserved better.

So much was sacrificed to make the whole Arcane magic THE point of the series when it was one of the least interesting aspects of the show. Hextech for weapons and the continuing problems between Piltover and Zaun was RIPE for storytelling. It seems each act needed several episodes to cover.

Ekko sure as fuck deserved better than that half assed time warp with Hermie. The AU really bothered me. Everything felt wrong. EVERYTHING. Nothing was explained well at all. It felt like complete fan service at the expense of the characters. Before people rip me saying "well duh! It was an AU!". You don't assassinate characters and plot to have a happy ending that insults your viewers.

They turned Zaun (its own cool character) into the bargain basement of Piltover. How is it sunny and pretty? Really? Mirror tricks? Everyone just forgave Piltover after years of oppression?

You're telling me Vi's death saved humanity? Fuck that shit right now. Piltover just stopped because a kid died? Suddenly everything became better? What happened to Jayce? Viktor? Hell, Hermie after decades didn't give two shits about Zaun, so what changed with the Council? Where's Singed? I don't buy it.

I don't buy Jinx/Powder being super normal smart girl. I LOVE JInx, but I believe she had mental issues prior breaking into Jayce's apartment. I don't think Vi's death made that go away (as I don't believe Silco's death did either). As someone who battles with mental health, this is insulting to me as a viewer.

I hated AU Silco. There. I said it. He just forgave Vander? Really? Bullshit. The reason Vander tried to kill him is stupid. A simple letter changed Silco? That fluffy-haired softy is not Silco. I can't imagine that Silco being the one who fought a rebellion. He probably would not have become a mob boss peddling drugs but this AU softboi dad feels so wrong. I never would have stanned AU Silco. Not in a million years.

S1 Silco's traits didn't magically appear because Vander betrayed him. The young S1 Silco had to be similar in many ways to older S1 Silco. Drive, ambition, ruthlessness, willing to die for a cause. I don't see Felicia's death changing that. I certainly don't see Vi's death changing that.

If Vander needed to kill Silco to stop the violence, etc, it's because he saw Silco as a threat to him or society as a whole. S1 Vander is known as The Hound. So, he seems to be violent as well. He takes credit for building the Underground when Felicia credits both 'bozos' for it. So Vander being upset she died and blaming Silco to the point of murder is a slap in the face to fans' intelligence.

I do hate that by Vi's death, everything is magically better. I can't express how much I hate that. AU Powder was irritating and was nothing like my Jinx that I love. Again so much wasted time that could have been better spent on good character driven scenes that actually advance the plot.

Pointless characters. Introduce Isha (who I adored). Make her seem important to Jinx. Kill her and never mention her again. So what was the point of her inclusion this season? Just to make Jinx suicidal? I hated that also. Again WASTED SCREENTIME.

Oh, and Caitvi was a disgrace. I think shippers deserved better here, too. Caitlyn goes crazy dictator because of guilt over her mom. Granted, Caitvi only knew each other for a week-ish? Not a lot of time to make their relationship serious past an infatuation. Cait turns from all her good points last season to Ambessa's padawan.

Don't get me started on that side piece Maddie. Really? Cait you were that hard up? And that long awaited sex scene was a big eye roll. Vi goes to her sister, and shit goes to hell, and a few minutes later, she's fucking Cait in the same cell. Vi was reduced to shit this season.

I mean, these characters just got shafted in every way for a high speed train wreck ending that we've seen a million times in Disneyfied stories. Action sequences were more important than actual character development and plot.

You can't make me believe that one speech from Jayce 'seeing a possible future' suddenly got Zaun to work with and dress up as Piltover soldiers? Really?

I had high hopes for Sevika, and the girl got shit nothing to do except in two episodes. Her seat on the Council feels like a last-minute decision and not worthy enough to expand on.

What made S1 so great was the class divide between Zaun and Piltover and how it affected the characters. S2 decided to scrap that and go with the easy good vs evil trope instead. Even the parallels didn't have the same hit as last season.

I did like Jinx talking to her 'ghost' Silco in the jail cell. He was calming to her in contrast to Milo/Claggor except the implication that she should die (that's what I got out of that).

We didn't even get much from Singed. Yeah, he got his daughter back (in some form) but his story was so blah. We didn't get nearly enough of him and Warwick and what made Warwick.

I guessed a few years ago it was going to be Vander but I didn't like how it was handled.

Too many plotlines all rushed together without getting any decent screentime and explanations that don't confuse or insult viewers intelligence. OR you have to be a LOL fan/player to understand. I never played LOL before S1 and wasn't confused as to the main plot.

I loved all the characters in S1 and felt they were pretty much watered down or assassinated in S2 for an apocalyptical Demigod villain vs humanity battle done to death finale.

The Zaun/Piltover political-societal problems, parallels, corruption, science going wrong, pathway to hell paved with good intentions themes from S1 was so much better in every single aspect.

I'm still a fan of S1 and the characters and frankly, I'm going to ignore 95% of S2.

[thewolflings]

almost finished with s3 of my rewatch of the bear.

the good:

this show deeply respects sydney as a character & goes out of its way to create a narrative that affirms her worth & talent outside of carmy. like! obviously i guess but not so obviously given how often shows fuck up black characters. her attempted poaching is SO good, both on a narrative/plot level and as a cue to the audience that she's desirable & good even if carmy is taking her for granted (he is okay he is!). similar with her bringing lovely food to nat, pete, & the baby. we just didn't need that scene at all (coulda been other instances for pete to discuss the contract) but it seems primarily there to signal her thoughtfulness and deep caring. the show's careful not to deify her, or to mammify her ("i'm not your fucking babysitter") while also unequivocally showing that carmy is massively fumbling the play.

carmy's downfall! g-d! it's believable and sad! trauma-brained sad boy unconsciously recreating the most toxic and harmful practices from kitchens past because he's so deeply mired in shame. it's self-sabotage. it's self-harm (deeply ironic next to his attempt to quit smoking). he's only at peace when he's not as peace. his disrespect & neglect of syd KILLS me (especially after s2 -- i wanted him to be punished more in this season for it, but like, lol, he's punishing himself by further and further alienating himself from her).

in general this show has a deep respect for all of its characters which is so fucking lovely and beautiful and refreshing. i love that it's not afraid to slow down and zero in on, for example, marcus. (tho i did lowkey hate the tina episode i'm sorry i'm so sorry).

the bad

GIRL (gender neutral). what is this show's obsession with claire???? like! to devote a whole subplot to the faks going to the hospital to visit her??? i'm so bored. she bores me. her relationship with carmy bores me. all the flashbacks of claire bored me. i can't help but think the show is gearing up toward her/carmy endgame. he's thinkig about her everyday and it seems to be framed in a because he loves and cares about her way not in a guilt way. ??? i think that's there, too but idk. i'd like to believe otherwise but that's not what the show is giving me.

there's a lot of stuff that's just very muddy for me with the claire stuff. like i can't tell if i'm crazy or if the narrative is sending mixed signals. richie & tiff's convo about claire in which it's somehow implied that what carmy did is out of donna's playbook and i'm like??? first of all, he didn't blame claire at any point. he blamed himself. (like even if he DID know she was listening and that was just his fucked up breakup speech!!! like he does NOT blame her; absolutely puts it all on himself). i can see how claire coulda gotten that twisted in her head listening and repeated it wrong based on her own feelings. but i'm just not sure if that's what the show is going for or if they agree with this bunk as narrative? why is everybody talking about it? why are richie and tiff having a convo about this???

IDK. after my first watch (a mere two-ish weeks ago. i am new to this fandom), i felt really underwhelmed and disappointed (a common response?). kinda hated it.

this watch-through, though, i can't really justify that feeling. it's well done, imo? i can only guess it has to do with the show's obsession with claire? but even then, like, we have that moment where sydney tells carmy he should reach out to apologise, and he assumes she means to claire, and syd says, somewhat annoyed (in my reading), "i wasn't talking about claire." so there is some textual support for the argument that claire's prominence is problematic, not just in Carmy's head but in the faks', nat's, and richie's, too. but the narrative seems SO into it at times, framing her as this inherently good thing that carmy fucked up. so idk idk!!!!!

i think the writers have made it clear sydcarmy won't be a thing (fine! it's their show! they're wrong okay but fine!!) the claire stuff, tho, is just so goofy to me and i can't swallow it. maybe it's purposeful and all will be revealed s4 but i have zero trust in that outcome.

[chiibinomonodamon]

WHO WANTS TO HEAR ME RAMBLE ABOUT GAY FURRY DEMON SEX? XD

(damn, there's a sentence I never thought I'd say....)

Okay...so I see some Stolitz confusion and bashing online and I need to type up a defense here because I won't be able to sleep otherwise lol

I consider myself to be a Ship Critic and someone who takes shipping rather seriously.

What I mean by this is, I like to analyze and break down romantic relationships between fictional characters because it's just interesting to write for me. I especially take delight in friendly debating with opinions that I strongly do *not* agree with.

Let me start off by saying I am NOT a "this ship is awesome because gay furry sex lol" type of girl.

FAR from it. I'm generally more passionate about hetero ships between human characters (because I can relate to them more) among other reasons. So if you wanna dismiss my defense as "shallow fangirlism", you can forget about that lame excuse.

I fell in love with Hazbin Hotel when it was finally released in February and suffered waiting for each new two-parts per week. During that time, I decided to watch Helluva Boss as well, after a friend showed me a particularly soul-crushing clip (Moxxie's childhood trauma about his mother).

Yes, I like funny sex jokes as much as the next goofy adult but scenes like this, scenes that carry a very heavy emotional weight are what really get me in the end, even moreso when VERY little dialogue is exchanged. I knew I had to watch the entire episode run after seeing that the creators had a talent for this.

I saw people asking:

"How did Stolas go from using Blitz as a sex toy to being painfully in love with him?"

Oh I can tell you. I can tell you the EXACT moment this is revealed. But it's not spoon-fed to you; it's quite subtle actually and this is why lots of people miss it.

See, one of the strongest talents Vivenne has shown me is that she REALLY knows how to get her characters to communicate their feelings to the viewers JUST from their expressions and body language. These can be 'blink-and-miss-it' teeny little scenes and it may require a couple rewatches.

But since people demand time stamps for all information others post here, I'll rewatch a few scenes from S1 E7 'Ozzie's' as I'm typing this.

'Ozzie's' remains to be not just my favorite episode of HB...but probably my favorite episode of any adult-targeted animated show outside of Japan (aside from S2 E7's Mid-Season Special)

It has this huge reveal for both Blitzo and Stolas.

We'll first address Blitzo's irrational, stalkerish behavior of Moxxie and Millie.

He's obsessed with them. He finds both of them very attractive, fantasizes about threesomes with them and is constantly inserting himself into their personal lives.

Why?

Because they have everything that he badly badly wants for himself.

They have the perfect marriage and he is trying to live THROUGH them.

This was hilarious to me at the beginnning of the show but it's slowly revealed that it's one of the most tragic and depressing things I've ever seen. And it's scarily realistic too.

But you know this already so let's move on...

Blitzo follows the couple to Ozzie's but he can't get in without a date. So he calls up Stolas and yes, this is very low but he doesn't realize how much this means to Stolas (hell, I'm not sure even Stolas realizes it himself!) but the owl man is giddy with joy, he rushes over and they enter Ozzie's.

When Ozzie and Fizz mock Moxxie for being so sappy towards his wife, this strikes a chord with Blitzo (because they're his IDEAL relationship) and he speaks up to defend them.

NOW PAY CLOSE ATTENTION; THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART:

Fizz, still holding onto his past grudge turns on Blitzo to humilate him:

"Some nerve you got commenting on a relationship"

Time Stamp: 11:37

As Fizz says "-ship", Blitzo VERY QUICKLY makes eye contact with Stolas who has a look of panic on his face. Blitzo is seeking VALIDATION from Stolas in this sharp, subtle second of screentime, as if to ask

"Well, ARE we in one?"

And then what happens next...Stolas remains silent, Blitzo's ex joins in to announce how selfish Blitzo was in bed with her, tearing him down further. Stolas stands up like he's going to put a stop to it but then Ozzie notices him and interrogates him about sleeping with Blitzo.

Blitzo looks incredibly ashamed and guilty as Stolas blushes with similar feelings...and hides his face behind his menu; HIS BIGGEST MISTAKE IN THE SERIES SO FAR.

Time Stamp: 12:24

The look on Blitzo's face as he grits his teeth and darts his eyes away basically says

"Yeah, I should have known...boy am I an idiot for trusting him to stand up for me".

(look how SHOCKED he is...wow, this hurts fr ;_;)

This is a silent betrayal on Stolas's part. Afterall, his reputation is on the line, so if he were to defend Blitzo, it confirms they are in fact, dating. He chose his pride over Blitzo and Blitzo is crushed by this betrayal.

Moxxie finishes his song and kisses his wife tenderly. Stolas watches this and also wants to have an affectionate moment with Blitzo (who is rightfully glaring daggers at him) and tries to reach for his hand.

Blitzo rejects his touch and suggests they leave. As they do, Blitzo still looks furious and hurt. Stolas is now realizing how badly he screwed up with a "What have I done?" face (13:41)

He even looks disappointed with himself.

After Blitzo drops Stolas off, he thanks him and tries to smooth over the awkwardness with sweet talk but Blitzo just rolls his eyes in disgust and pulls on his face like "I don't want to hear this bullshit".

He responds coldly and curtly, "Yeah." Stolas makes more suggestions to spend time with him, which just makes him even angrier and he snaps

"I'm not fucking you tonight, okay!

I'm really just..." (14:28)

he pauses to wipe a tear because at this point he can barely hold it together (top notch voice acting and animation directing btw)

"...not in the mood, Stolas."

Stolas still tries to talk him into doing couple things unrelated to sex.

Blitzo's face switches back to anger and frustration because Stolas isn't getting the message so he goes for the blunt tactic;

"Stolas, don't act like what we have is anything but YOU wanting ME to fuck you, okay?"

(14:42)

"You make that really clear all the time."

(again his voice sounds like he's about to break down)

"But I-I just can't do it tonight, okay?"

(Finally meets his eye)

"...I'm sorry."

I believe this is code for "I'm sorry we're even in this situation and how your reputation got damaged. " Or, more painfully, "I'm sorry I'm such an embarrassment to you".

Stolas replies "Okay" and takes a deep breath to compose himself. They say goodnight and depart.

An important note here is that Stolas calls him "Blitzo" instead of "Blitzy" to show more respect.

As Blitzo zooms away coldly, Stolas looks up at the sky with tears in his eyes, surprised at how much it hurts.

He then sits down with his head in his hands in anguish...because he's getting that

"Oh...no. These feelings are real" epiphany.

And as if this wasn't enough angst, Blitzo collapses onto his couch at home, goes through the memories on his phone and starts sobbing.

I'm going to be real with you; this is the most heart-breaking shit I have ever seen in an adult show of this type. It's also the first time a show of this type got me to cry.

The last six minutes have revealed so much information without spoonfeeding it to the audience because the show RESPECTS its audience.

To recap:

*Blitzo takes Stolas on a first official date to use him

*Stolas is extremely happy about it

*Blitzo gets humilated and looks to Stolas for validation

*Stolas betrays him and breaks his heart

*Blitzo snaps that their relationship is nothing more than lust-driven sex

*Stolas realizes he's actually in love with Blitzo and it's a huge problem because (he believes) that it's unrequited.

*Blitzo breaks down because the ONE person whom he thought would protect him didn't do so.

So these two are convinced that neither one loves the other...while the irony is, it's quite the opposite.

Because if Blitzo REALLY didn't feel anything towards Stolas, he would not have gotten this emotional.

Yes, they are both lonely...but I really don't think that's all there is between them.

So..........we know WHEN they started falling...now the question is why;

I think the answer's quite simple; single-target affection.

It was mentioned in S2 that Stolas and Stella did sleep together ONE TIME...but Stolas didn't enjoy it at all. He is stuck with a wife who hates him so much that she put a HIT on him...and a daughter who thinks he's a loser. Blitzo is pretty much the one person in his life who is able to make him happy. That one small, bright spot. He enjoys the sex with him but he also simply enjoys his company, as shown in Ozzie's episode. He is thrilled to simply talk to him about his day...and do anything else that couples do. They're complete opposites. Stolas is an intellectual but naive and sheltered. Blitzo is poorly educated but cynical and street-smart. Opposites attract...though this is likely more from Stolas's POV than Blitzo's.

In other words, Stolas is into bad boys xD lmao

In Blitzo's case, Stolas is the only character who shows him physical affection which he desperately craves. He's pretty tsundere about it most of the time...but I think he actually does enjoy that attention...especially when he's always getting disrespected by Moxxie and Loona..and quite a lot of people around him. BUT he's too scared to get serious with anyone because of past trauma and he also believes that no one could possibly love him as a person. :(

Reasons I Think This Love is Real

Aside from what I pointed out in the Ozzie's episode...there's quite a lot of evidence, esp from Stolas's POV.

After he realizes he's in love, he goes to Asomodeous for an ALTERNATIVE method for Blitzo to use so they will no longer sleep together. He wants to set Blitzo free. Which means he DOES truly love him because love is about being generous to the other person. He COULD be totally selfish about it but he isn't.

Asomodeous mentions how against love potions he is and Stolas agrees. He thinks that's out of the question.

'Look My Way' music video. Lol I don't have to say anything more.

In S2 E6 OOPS

This exchange at 16:57

Fizz: Seems your taste has gotten more 'regal', lately?

Blitz: Yeah, well unlike you, I fuck who I want WHEN I want. I'm not gonna be tied down to some big blue-blood asshole.

Fizz: You coulda fooled me the way Prince was cozying up to you at Ozzie's.

Blitz (gets very defensive) HEY! Stolas only cares about have a rugged peasant raw-dog him into his mattress, okay!

It's nothing...(gets hesistant and looks away)...you know...

(Fizz gives him a 'bitch please' look xD)

"it's nothing else."

Fizz: Then why were you even there?

Blitz: OTHER very important reasons of course.

Fizz: Whatever. I don't actually care.

Blitz: Stolas is just a loud, thirsty BITCH!

(Fizz is rolling his eyes again)

Blitz: He loves feeling the thrill of getting dicked by the lower class.

It's a novelty to him.

Fizz: LITERALLY just said I don't care!

Blitz: And then he'll call me and try to see how my day was!

And he'll pretend to care about me and comment on my photos laugh at my jokes...

Fizz: (Smirking) OH! That's definitely your clue right there that it's all bullshit!

Blitz: I KNOW, RIGHT??

Fizz: (Making a 'What in idiot' expression, shaking his head)

Blitz: HE'S JUST A FAKE, PRIVELEDGED ASSHOLE...

Fizz: Sounds like you just hate him for being a prince!

No one (laughs) and I mean NO ONE pretends to care that much just for a cheap lay.

All right. IF ANYONE knows what real love is like, it's Fizzaroli...who is in a very HEALTHY relationship with Asomodeous. He recognizes the signs because he's IN that place. He sees it...and he's annoyed that Blitzo keeps denying it and brushing it off...yet clearly can NOT stop talking about Stolas (amusing irony)

To sum up (this freaking essay lol) 'Stolitz' ABSOLUTELY has the potential to be pure and true...these two just need to communicate...or Stolas has to PROVE to Blitzo that he's serious about his feelings in another way.

There is no doubt that this ship is 100% endgame and is a case of the 'Earn Your Happy Ending' Trope. I look forward to the rest of the journey. Ron is putting my feelings about Stolitz in a perfect phrase:

[cdramastuff]

would you share your top 3/top 5 dramas based on your personal enjoyment?

When it comes to cdramas, 2024 was absolutely magical for me since it gave me 2 absolute (and very different) faves at once. Before that, cdramas usually left me traumatised and / or disappointed.

First of all - Blossoms in Adversity. A show that is actually centered around the heroine and her choices (including her choice of a man). I honestly felt high from the fact that it was a female-lead drama from beginning to end. The main girl was never reduced to the position of someone who needs to be saved by a man. And her being feminine af while also badass af felt extremely genuine. I rewatch bits of this drama all the time, the romance is very cute, and the music is great as well (excluding the cringe ending that one can easily skip). The only downside is that I didn't enjoy the fight scenes as much, but that wasn't the main point of the series.

Secondly, Fangs of Fortune. I don't even know what to say here. The show was a fever dream that I still haven't recovered from. It owned and still owns my ass. The number of gifs I made for this series speaks for itself. The most beautiful shit I have ever seen. People who get my obsession with it are my kind of people.

Now for the older shows that stuck with me through the years.

Sound of the Desert (2014). In retrospective, main couple's relationship does have several not-so-comfortable moments, and yet, the two are my huge faves. Their bickering is life. Eddie Peng as the general who comes back from battles covered in blood, sweat and dirt, is the hottest a cdrama male lead could look, ever. It doesn't even bother me that his wig line is very visible now that the show is available in hd. Also, despite multiple rewatches, I still haven't seen the finale. I'd rather leave on a happy note. I don't even know if the ending is truly sad. In my heart, the two are living happily ever after.

Perfect Couple (2014). Another case of a series where I absolutely adore the cast. As someone who's seen just about everything with Wallace Huo, where he plays all sorts of jerks with all sorts of haircuts, this is the one role I keep coming back to. The ending song is one of my favest tunes and also one of the reasons I keep rewatching the drama. The main couple is yet again one that bickers 24/7, and that is obviously what I'm into. Occasionally, I feel guilty for not having posted any screenshots or gifs from this show to this day. Maybe I will.

Now that I mentioned all the stuff that I genuinely loved, I need to mention the cdramas that traumatized me, destroyed my soul and made me feel the rage of a thousand suns. I think about them a lot and can never forget them. That's the hatred that secretly borders on love, I guess.

The Journey of Flower (2015). I lovingly call it "A thousand swords show". No matter how horribly any male lead mistreats and tortures his girl, he can never top this shit. Ever. The things this drama did to it's main girl are unrivaled. I sometimes rewatch the cursed torture episode to keep myself in check. The short description of the thousand swords fiasco is here.

Investiture of the Gods (2019). Holy shit. I have no words for this. Watching the main girl destroy herself and her pet demon beyond repair worse and worse with each episode was one hell of an experience. Peak toxic shit. I feel like I should rewatch it now that some time has passed and see whether it will hit me as hard as it did the first time. I guess I love pain.

Princess Agents (2017). I'm pretty sure anyone who's heard of this show also heard that the production company did both the leads and the plot dirty in hopes to leave a possibility for s2. The only words I have to say about this are: Ice Lake. The show that made me swear to never watch an ongoing cdrama again. And yet, here I am, years later, watching all those ongoing shows, but dropping them the moment I feel they're not heading the way I want them to. Also, unlike the two shows mentioned before, I suspect rewatch value of Princess Agents is around 0. I'm pretty sure, in 2025 I wouldn't be able to sit even through one ep of this shit. I hoped that The Legend of Shen Li would make up for everything, but I guess I'll just have to live with this bitterness.

Honorable mention - Chinese Paladin 5 (2016). One of my first cdramas, one that gave me Elvis Han with violet hair. And also made me want to be taken to hell by the demon king so I can stay there forever. Lots of questionable stuff there, but man, was it an experience. I wish I could rewatch this drama for the first time again.

[mcbride]

Daryl Dixon Rewatch S1E06 - Coming Home

it's the first ep with an English title and the last of the season. overall, i wanna say i was actually surprised how much i did enjoy watching. the complete focus on Daryl without all the background noise/storylines/characters, the way he still means what he says, but he's actually using his words and lots of sass instead of the typical nodding and grunting. good job!

but i gotta confess that if i hadn't known beforehand that Carol was going to be a part of this show, i probably wouldn't have bothered 🤷‍♀️. the fact Carol's not only back on screen, but she is such a great part of the whole vibe of the show, was actually unexpected. this show is straight up showing us Carol is the driving force in Daryl's relentless journey to get back home.

whoever tries to convince you Daryl is conflicted about where he belongs and where he wants to be is lying to you (pointing at you, Z!!). he literally spends 6 whole episodes reminding everybody he's got a home, people who love him waiting, a promise to keep, and a need to get back asap.

it doesn't mean Daryl does not form connections while on that journey. because he does - the strongest with Laurent, obviously, however, none strong enough to hold him back from his ultimate goal, which is going home to keep his promise to CAROL!

anyways, let's get to the season 1 finale:

the super!walkers fighting scene in the arena is pretty epic: from Daryl's super cool kill with the French flag to that Daryl/Quinn team up! the cherry on top being Daryl throwing that walker head at Genet. Loved IT!

Quinn eventually does help Daryl escape, and later, unfortunately, almost kills Isa, who is once again totally helpless against any kind of threat (killer nun, my ass!). in a scene eerie similar to the one in Daryl's underwater premonition a couple of eps ago, Daryl prompts Laurent to kill walker!Quinn with a "God will forgive you."

Laurent says something that sounds like it will be the whole point of Caryl's French adventure. "Sometimes you have to do horrible things, and no matter how bad you feel, if there is no other choice, God will forgive you." this feels like the key to breaking out of the cycle Carol has been stuck to since she was banished by Rick. (i'll probably post my s2 spec and theories next week!)

next, we see Daryl watching lovebirds Sylvie and Emile saying goodbye, they have to separate (i see what you did there, Z!), and reassures Sylvie that Emile will be alright before she asks him if he's ever been in love. BOY, has he ever!! Daryl's non response is quite telling. he knows what it feels like to say goodbye to the one you love without knowing if you'll ever see them again. and he's not alright, he's all the way in a whole different continent, separated by the Atlantic ffs.

we get some new insight into Daryl's origins when he and Isa share stories about their fathers. Daryl believes that his grandpa never returning home from war ruined their family for future generations and worries the cycle might repeat itself. has Daryl been reading about generational trauma? sharing this with her will bite him in the ass, later!

Isa's confession of her lie about the drawing gets absolutely no reaction from Daryl because it had zero influence on what happened next. Daryl didn't stay cause he believed in a new Messiah, he stayed because the kid was about to get in trouble, when Codron attacked his home; he stayed because it was a way of finding help getting him closer to a radio or boat to actually get him home; he stayed so he could take the kid to a place where he would be safe, and Daryl could finally leave without feeling guilty.

the great Daryl and Isa exchange looks compilation is trying too hard to show us, yes, Daryl has made a connection to these people, and is fairly content at the Nest with Laurent and the most mundane activities like peeling potatoes. they are showing us Daryl could stay here, make this his new home. why not? HE MADE A PROMISE! no matter what he could never be happy here, this is not his HOME.

Losang gives him a way out, but also tries to convince him to stay. "Sometimes, when a person leaves home, he comes to find he belongs someplace else." and it's true, if Daryl didn't know where, with whom he belonged. and it's not with Laurent and Isa.

it's really embarrassing how Isa tries to manipulate and guilt trip Daryl into staying with them using Laurent and Daryl's history. it has been like 2 months tops, and they acting like Daryl himself gave birth to Laurent, and wants to abandon his kid. bitch please, he has kids he actually raised and a wife back home!!

Daryl resents his grandpa for abandoning the family to fight in someone else’s war, and that's exactly what he would be doing if he chose to stay in France. that's what Isa will never understand - he had a whole full life with people who looked up to him, relied on him, loved him, before he even met her and Laurent. he wasn't lost. the connection he found with the people there isn't new to him, he has Judith and RJ, he has Connie and Zeke. but most importantly, he has a HOME (Carol!!!).

there's this beautiful emotional moment of Daryl quietly saying goodbye to a sleeping Laurent, and it's clear this kid means a lot to him. however, not nearly enough to make him stay. he still chooses to LEAVE. so many people trying to convince him he belongs with them, and he is still 10000000% sure he has to go back. there truly is ZERO hesitation.

i lost count how many times Daryl actually tried to leave, but it was always the kid's safety that kept him around again and again. he is so close to getting on that boat, literally fiercely fighting walkers to get to the beach, to get closer to HOME, and the same happens AGAIN. biggest FML moment for Daryl. Laurent, who is surrounded by walkers, is calling his name! FUCK ME!

and finally, we get to the highlight of this finale, Carol's badass entry. the way she's so absolutely calm with a big dude pointing a gun at her, PLEASE. she knows he's fucked around and is about to find out. no one takes Daryl's belongings and gets away with it.

"if you're lying, i won't be back." and she rides off on Daryl's bike. ICONIC. LEGENDARY. EPIC.

21 days left until the premiere of THE BOOK OF CAROL!!!!!

[sapphosclown]

i plan on rewatching the show now that the second season is fully out but i keep thinking ab it so im gonna say some thoughts. warning this is long and rambly—mostly personal opinions and criticisms (not hate)

season one was a fantastic adaptation of the game. the main thing they did right with it was using the most important moments from the game and focusing on that—AND the changes that were made served a purpose to the story or to the world building in general and/or the message the audience is supposed to take away. since it’s a show the gaming aspect of constant enemies and killing doesn’t work the same, it needs to be tactful.

in a s1 interview or episode recap (i can’t recall which) the show creators talked about how they wanted to display violence carefully as to not desensitize viewers. the reason they did this is because in the apocalypse humanity is the last thing we as people have. in a game it’s fun to shoot and find new weapons and whatnot, but in a show your main goal is for viewers to be able to empathize with characters and their actions.

that being said, i think that’s what went wrong in season 2.

first of all, i feel like they did not focus enough on the distinct aspects of the game in the second season. as a show, it felt like the episodes blurred together and nothing really stood out, major moments became minor and they changed some things without there being a clear reason as to why that choice needed made. ex. jesse saving ellie and dina last minute—it would have been more compelling to have ellie showcase her abilities against most of the infected and maybe jesse shows up to kill one suprise stalker. this would show a) ellie’s skills b) how she fights alone (dina being in a safe spot makes sense to me because) c) dina seeing a different side to ellie, more rage, more power (show her feeling both scared and maybe even more attracted to her).

ellie’s game time in the first season has plenty of material that I think could have made a compelling narrative. ep. 1 and 2, generally, were very good with minor complaints. seattle days 1,2,3 are lost on me because it doesn’t feel like very much happened. the joel/ellie flashback episode was super well done imo and i obviously think it’s important to the story—but i do wonder if it’s place is right. i know there were mixed opinions about the porch scene being changed and being so early in the show and i don���t have a solid take on that but i am interested in that decision to move it.

secondly, the violence in s2 did not need to match that of s1 because the circumstances are different. they can still evoke an emotional response from viewers with ellie killing people. i made a post a few years back talking about the music choice when joel kills all the fireflies (x) and i feel like they could have made similar choices. the same way joel killing everyone in that hospital is pivitol to the plot, truthfully ellie is a very similar story.

i don’t think it would be like the game because there’s A Lot of killing enemies in the game, in the show they could’ve built up to it. from a few soldiers to a few more to a group and then she gets to nora. they could imply that ellie is so far removed from killing people in so many ways, and then after what happens with nora—the real violence and rage finally bursts through—the scene with dina cleaning her up would hit so much more, because at this point she has killed so many people and the cognitive dissonance didn’t hit until she finally hurt one of them, someone important, someone who deserved it (or did they?) (side note i did not like dina’s lack of comfort to ellie in the show but diff rant perhaps)

violence doesn’t need to be gory and there’s so many storytelling elements that can be utilized to evoke the emotion you want from viewers. i dont think they made the right choices because while the important scenes (joel’s death, nora, ellie’s bday, abby/ellie confrontation at the end) were done very well, too much of the in between got changed and it’s hard to understand why.

a few random things, ellie and dina should have been trapped together w all the weed, i had hope for whoever slow burn vision they had but again it just felt unclear why they wanted to slow burn it, dina’s character wasn’t given that much more agency or detail than in the game which is the only reason i can think of, but they didn’t do it. the pregnancy reveal into hook up is a bit strange when i think about it—if they wanted to change ellie’s reaction to the news i think that could still work, i think they should have maybe had their relationship established already and could have ellie be shocked and scared and curious and then excited (since pregnancy is a motif almost, kinda life/death kind of thing, also another rant). i personally liked ellie’s “im gonna be a dad” i don’t think it would’ve been as corny if they had don’t everything surrounding it differently.

bc i think it shows ellie is still the silly and loving girl we met in s1, she has someone she cares about again, and something she can look forward to. she never would have expected to responsibility over a child but if it’s with this girl she’s been obsessed with for years then yeah, i think she’d be excited. after she was a bitch to dina in the game she still came around yk? anyway

final part of my rant is the change to jesse where suddenly he’s super mean and doesn’t side with ellie is weird considering we know how his story ends. it’s not a good move to take a character who is important to the plot (friends w ellie and dina, father of dina’s child, works with on the counsel, close with tommy, cares enough to go to seattle for ellie/tommy) be mean and unlikable to audiences. in the game the reason his death hurts is because he is kind, of all people he did not deserve that. just because in the show jesse makes “the right choices” does not make him kind, it makes him arrogant and annoying.

the last episode should have been spent binding ellie and jesse together rather than pushing them apart. then it’s more impactful that ellie chooses to find abby instead of joel, and it emphasizes ellie’s actions directly resulting in the death of someone she cares so much for that had no horse in this race. it feels like bad storytelling to spend an episode of jesse pissing us off and then half making up just to kill him a second later, that is an example of needless violence—exactly what the writers previously said they wanted to avoid.

anyway, i don’t think everything they did was bad, but it is disappointing from the perspective of a tv show. i didn’t want it to be exactly like the game, but i don’t think how they chose to share the second part of this story narratively fit and im disappointed in it myself. i wish a lot of things were done differently. again, i want to watch it again to see if i feel the same so when i do that ill put these biases aside and maybe ill stand by this, maybe i wont. ig we’ll see

[sugdendingle]

You want to know one of the ways I know most B/T stans are here first and foremost for T*mmy and Lou more than Buck and Oliver or anyone else?

Look at the way they talk about their ship. Most of it is them parroting stuff Lou or T*mmy has said.

They call Buck Evan.

They constantly say B/T are thriving (because Lou said it in that one video).

They say T*mmy had a difficult childhood because Lou headcanoned that.

They defend how T*mmy treated Hen and Chim in s2. They even say that Hen and T*mmy are besties now when there is no evidence of that.

They never see any faults in anything T*mmy does. Not a single thing he did in season 7 was wrong in their eyes. Yet they don’t shy away from pointing out the faults they see in other characters including Buck and especially Eddie.

They talk about how much the show needs T*mmy. Needs to make him a main. Needs to give him a begins episode while some of them haven’t even seen any season before s7. They make posts about how much more deserving of being a main character T*mmy is than Ravi or Karen who have been there for years.

Most of the posts about B/T are either sexual (likely because T*mmy constantly makes everything sexual) or them headcanoning them as a way more serious relationship than what’s presented on screen. They constantly talk about how in love B/T are when no one has even said the word boyfriend yet. This in my opinion comes in large part from Lou’s cameos where he continually used language that made the relationship seem more important.

They talk about how much Buck needs T*mmy and a lot of their posts make Buck the damsel in distress trope. Which just goes along with how much T*mmy patronizes Buck. Calling him Kid, calling him Evan (even though everyone else calls him Buck), dismissive of his feelings when he gets upset like an adult to a kid (like at the bachelor party), the daddy kink joke when Buck was trying to be vulnerable about his real father figure almost dying. Making decisions for Buck without talking to him (again like you would a child) like when T*mmy just abruptly told Buck he wasn’t ready and left him at the restaurant.

They say that Buck’s season 7 journey would be meaningless if B/T ends in season 8. They accuse us of making Buck’s coming out about Buddie but they have definitely made Buck’s coming out about T*mmy. They have said without T*mmy Buck wouldn’t have even realized he’s bi. Yet we know from Oliver he was attracted to Eddie in season 2.

They talk about how much T*mmy cares about Buck and how much he understands him but we've had so many examples of the opposite being true. At Buck's first date with a guy T*mmy didn't seem to have the patience for Buck's nervousness and left him at the restaurant with little explanation. The bachelor party T*mmy chose not to dress up and didn't seem to care even though the party meant a lot to Buck. The medal ceremony Buck was excited and T*mmy's response was "enjoy it while it lasts". In the deleted scene with Henren T*mmy seemed blase about his relationship with Buck. At the dinner Buck was opening up to T*mmy and T*mmy changed the subject to sex.

Also I rewatched a bunch of Lou’s cameos (pray for my soul 🤢) and in them he often will confirm whatever they ask him. This is why they continued to spend money on them because it was like an echo chamber with a “celebrity”. They’d headcanon something T*mmy was doing or thinking ask Lou and he would confirm it even though there was little to nothing to indicate that in the scene or script. His motivation I’m sure was to keep his little sycophants around and sending him 100/200 bucks a pop for his videos. But the main thing it did was create a monster of a mini fandom that believes everything they were told is the gospel according to Lou F*rrigno Jr.

They believe that not only is what they've seen on screen canon but so is everything Lou told them and they use that as a way to feel superior in the 911 fandom. Us looking at the many many years of Buddie's history seeing the depth of their relationship and seeing the logical place their relationship will go just makes us look desperate and delusional to them. Even though some of them used to be Buddie shippers. It's like they got lobotomized and removed the Buddie part of their brains.

They believe that not only are Lou and Oliver (he supposedly doesn't post on ig about Lou or B/T to protect them😒) on their side they also believe they have Tim on their side as well. They wholeheartedly believe that Tim is invested in B/T (despite all the evidence in s7 to the contrary) and that he can't stand the Buddie fandom and that he wants to punish us by never making them a canon couple. Nevermind the fact that since Tim has returned to showrunner Buck and Eddie have been together more than ever and in really important scenes that deepened their relationship no less.

I really can't help but wonder what they are all going to do when it dawns on them that their ship isn't going to last because Buddie or no Buddie I don't see B/T lasting beyond season 8. They have built this ship up to be some amazing love story when nothing in canon has given the impression that T*mmy is supposed to be anything other than the first guy Buck dates. In fact the relationship is like a lot of Buck's other relationships with women. Buck is still with someone who doesn't really get him. He only thinks it's different this time because T*mmy is a guy and there's been all that excitement that comes from exploring your sexuality for the first time. When that newness starts to fade Buck will have to look at his relationship with T*mmy and he'll realize he's been trying to be a version of himself to fit the relationship. Just like he did with Taylor. Buck wants someone who will love him to the core of who he is. Someone who he won't have to contort himself into a different version of so they will stay and love him. Soon he'll realize he's had that person in his life already for a long long time in Eddie.

[markantonys]

3x01 cold open!!!!! between rafe and everyone hyping up this scene for a long time now and people from the brazil con reporting descriptions of it, we knew how it was going to go down, so no huge surprises for me, but so exciting to watch it for myself! it definitely lives up to the hype!

a few quick thoughts

what do liandrin, sharon gilham, lorne balfe, and the vfx team have in common? they're all slaying in this opening sequence! i'm not someone who's at all knowledgeable about or sensitive to production value, but even i can tell they've stepped it up yet another notch this season. it looks decadent! epic! i can see why everyone involved has been boasting about this sequence so much! what a way to start the season.

it's also fantastic setup for all the tensions and weak points within the tower, because we see our inter-ajah mistrust, we see doubt in siuan's leadership, and of course we see the black ajah. that faceoff outside the hall between red sisters and others was really great - it shows that not all reds are like liandrin and some of them are light-serving, that non-reds can be black ajah, and that light-serving enemy ajahs will have to figure out how to trust each other and work together if they want to be strong enough to fight the shadow. this sequence does a good job establishing that the tower isn't split into just good guys vs. darkfriends, but that the good guys themselves are fractured and opposing each other.

i'd thrown out a wild speculation of diem camille as a surprise tuon since nothing was known about what character she might be playing, but we see her here as a light-serving red sister! i was wishing for the x-ray feature of the normal episodes here to see if any of the new aes sedai have names we might recognize, or if they're just randoms.

i'd have to rewatch closely to take a tally, but we seem to have representation from just about every ajah in liandrin's group: liandrin for red, nyomi for brown (sob!), joiya for gray, the green sister who was glad her warders died, the yellow sister who healed liandrin, and i think i saw a blue sister as well. there might have been a couple others besides these ones too!

in s2 we had a few scraps between channelers, but i think this is the first extended multi-person channeling battle we've seen. it's so exciting!! and awesome to see the gloves come off for our usually-composed and regal siuan, and see what she's capable of. we also see her doing a tricksy evasion of liandrin's accusations about what happened in cairhien, since everything liandrin said is true and siuan can't deny it, so siuan is definitely set up to be in some hot water.

leane also killed it! loved that moment of her beating someone up with her staff - a good visual demonstration of the oaths placing no restriction on non-channeling violence (though i'm sure this would've counted as "the last defense of her life/the life of another sister" anyway). wild theory i'm by no means subscribing to without rewatching to check for it, but just throwing it out there: could leane have been stilled during the battle and that's why she's doing physical fighting here? just thinking about the CV leak that named lelaine as the keeper of the chronicles; that could make sense if leane was stilled here and needs to be replaced. but it's also entirely possible that CV leak was inaccurate or that lelaine is slated to become future keeper in salidar but not yet in s3, and there wasn't any moment calling attention to leane being stilled or anything like that, so probably not.

we got a time-check as well: it's been 1 month since the cairhien events of 2x07, and therefore since falme too since i think that battle takes place basically the next day. that feels like a reasonable timeskip to me. enough time for the gang to gather their wits and come up with the best way to handle the truth bomb of liandrin being a darkfriend (and for rand to grow out his hair a little haha) but not so long that it feels like they've been sitting on their asses when there's stuff to get done.

correct me if i missed her, but i don't think we saw ryma in this sequence, but she is reported to be in s3. so, either we'll see her in the tower later on, or she's still with the seanchan and maybe we'll see her in tanchico (at which time hopefully our gang will free her!). i would most expect her to be relevant to the story via nynaeve again this season, whether that be a tanchico encounter where nynaeve frees her or early-season lessons in the tower if she's already free (we see a reminder of nynaeve's block during the battle, with our poor girl once again failing to channel when she really needs to).

people have pointed out that that shot of joiya sitting on the floor in the trailer looks like it might be the angreal storeroom, so the theory is that she gets captured and taken prisoner in this battle. that would track with the books, where the wondergirls take her prisoner and eventually get out of her that tanchico is the place to go for their hunt.

speaking of the storeroom, people have spotted what looks like a redstone doorway in it!! i've brightened it up to see better:

this is VERY intriguing, as my current theory had been that mat would find it in tanchico towards the end of the season. but i do stand by that his neck doesn't look injured in the tanchico still from ep6, nor is he wearing a medallion (which we can feel pretty confident is coming this season since he has it on the poster), so it could be that this white tower doorway is only an easter egg and the ones that people actually go through are located elsewhere, or it could be that mat does take two trips after all and he gets his answers in the white tower doorway in the early season (perhaps his motivation for going to tanchico instead of joining rand or perrin?) and his items & hanging in a tanchico doorway at the end of the season. but there would also have to be one in rhuidean for moiraine and lanfear to go through, right? so could there be 3 doorways in showverse? tar valon, tanchico, and rhuidean? i don't think there would be any problem with that.

okay, i think that's all the thoughts i had off the top of my head! this is a sequence that happens offscreen in the books, and bringing it onscreen was such a smart choice. it makes great use of our established aes sedai players, sets up the huge tensions brewing in the tower just in time for elaida coming on the scene, and really drives home for the audience that ANYONE can be black ajah/a darkfriend, so we'll be feeling that paranoia and mistrust right alongside the aes sedai.

and this is only the first scene of the season! i can't wait to see everything else that's to come!!

[apocalypse-boogie]

CASTLEVANIA: NOCTURNE SHIT THAT I LIKED WHILE WATCHING THROUGH S2 (SPOILERS)

- this is technically my live commentary as I was watching each episode, though there are some edits that I made after my first watch and some general commentary sprinkled throughout.

- there’s also some things I didn’t like in here, but there’s less of those opinions overall

- also featuring my heavy Drolta bias.

No vampire on this show seems to be able to handle the loss of a loved one normally (except for maybe Olrox, but that’s debatable considering his relationship with Mizrak; and I mean this from a Mizrak lashes out at Olrox a lot and an Olrox fell for him very hard in a short amount of time perspective, not from the viewpoint of me personally disliking Mizrak). They’re either carrying around their spouse’s rotted dismembered head or carrying their entire corpse around; none of these people can let go. Erzsebet had every right not to though, don’t get me wrong; I too would’ve been too devastated to go on without Drolta.

Love the horror strings taking over the background music when Drolta is finished being brought back to “life” but hasn’t yet come out of the forgemaster machine.

Yes I absolutely did rewatch her walking out of the machine and her scene right after multiple times.

Drolta’s got inches, just the curls on her corpse were long as hell. I need my hair like that in the next five years🤞🏾.

I love Drolta’s new design about as much as her old one, except for the wings. They're fine enough, their roundness just mildly vexes me. And I do mean mildly.

Drolta backstory!

Human Drolta! Her being dedicated enough to go to war for Sekhmet. I liked being able to see the circumstances that broke Drolta, that led her away from the path of a healer and corrupted her compassion and ceaseless dedication into bloodthirsty hate and misled obsession.

The first six minutes alone of “Angel of Death” S2E2, period.

The sequence where Drolta takes flight over the water and tests out her new body in front of Erzsebet. Erzsebet clapping for her, feeding off her elation because that’s her WIFE (EDIT: little does Erzsebet know she as a person is barely a passing fad to Drolta though).

Drolta saying “it is delightful” in response to feeling the sun for the first time without pain in centuries. The little smile on her face. That was cute, I love her.

I actually like Richter more this season. Not that I disliked him in season one though.

Him and Annette buzzing uncertainly around each other is cute too.

Whatever weird ass beef Drolta and Olrox have going on now (it was there in season one too, but now the tension feels heightened).

EDIT: And the fact that it’s Drolta who continues to question Olrox and poke holes in his stories instead of Erzsebet (who calls him “my dragon” and who acts like he’s more loyal than he is) really makes me think that Erzsebet would’ve ended up back confined if Drolta wasn’t such a good backbone for her. How much she predominantly only cares about killing and bringing about suffering for little reason other than she can and thinks she has a right to blinds her — and made her pretty un-intimidating to me as a result. She’s a big physical threat but it’s like she’s got nothing beyond that desire to hurt ruling her and it makes her sloppy and unimpressive whenever she tries to be intimidating (especially whenever Drolta’s not there).

The shot of Drolta rising up before Olrox to proclaim that hunting the French military during the day would be more fun than waiting to do it at night.

The entirety of Drolta tearing apart the soldiers and clearly basking in it. She is serving absolute looks while going on a bloodthirsty demenated binge and I love her all the more for it. Why shouldn’t she be allowed to tear off the top of a man’s skull if she wants to, yk?

Olrox stopping Mizrak from trying to fight Drolta essentially one on one was sweet (even if I don’t necessarily like Mizrak).

The continued stressing of the fact that Drolta is more of an abomination, even more unnatural than before, since being resurrected and going through the machine.

THEORY (I’m currently on “Angel of Death” S2Ep2 as I write this bit): I think Drolta knows more than she’s letting on about resurrecting Sekhmet and that she’s planning to bring her back to life in the only way she can, with Erzsebet’s body. I think possession and full bodily transformation is the endgame, and I don’t think Erzsebet’s figured that out yet. It’s highly possible that she loves Drolta more than Drolta even cares for her as a person; Drolta only cares for her body insofar as it’s capabilities to successfully contain a goddess’s soul. Though this may be my general distaste for Erzsebet (and need for Drolta to be better than giving the soul of an Egyptian goddess to the palest white woman she could find) poking its head out so idk.

OH MY GOD DROLTA'S SWORD PROOF?!?!?!??!!!!!

I mean she was proven to be bullet proof, yeah, but that has less oomph than her brushing off a sword attack.

Ahhhhh, and she’s fucking huge compared to humans!!! How delightful!! *giggles uncontrollably for a few seconds*

Olrox liking Mizrak enough to hold him while he cries for the people Drolta is slaughtering en mass is good shit. Him holding on to Olrox for dear life as he breaks down whilst he’s soothed as much as he can be is also good shit.

Drolta literally squeezing the life out of the revolutionary army’s captain and popping her like a stress toy. Go off Queen.

“For every suffering, a wisdom is gained.” *end of episode; cut to black* OMG?!!!

Drolta’s voice lines being performed so well every time? Glorious, end of discussion.

Why is Olrox so invested in Mizrak? Every interaction he’s had with that man has ended with Olrox upset. Like, he’s literally not fucking worth it.

Drolta just letting Alucard lead her to Sekhmet’s mummy. Why work hard, you know? Especially when she’s clearly been carrying Erzsebet’s entire plan.

Drolta saying “I was born three times. The second time a vampire, and the third…a new and glorious thing,” and then pressing a kiss to the forehead of the newest female night creature. Like, bitch, I want that to be me.

Oh yeah, Edouard is going to start an uprising. Erzsebet and Drolta Them are fucked. When that army turns on them that’s gonna be the end.

I know Olrox is mad about that brand, and shit, I’m mad for him. That would’ve drove me insane. I wouldn’t want to cede that much of myself to Erzsebet either (especially since she’s not even actually Sekhmet yet). But just in general it sucks that he was branded both against his will by Drolta and for a cause that he doesn’t believe in or want to follow.

Alright Maria, embrace your darkness! And then mellow out a bit, that step is crucial here. She’s got the spirit though, and that wolf is beautiful.

Maria going “who are you” completely baffled when Juste shows up and attacks Tera is killing me. I’m laughing too hard, I had to pause it for a minute.

Tera’s control is immaculate for such a new vampire.

This is probably bad, but good for Maria. A coming of rage might be good for her. Sometimes you just want to kill your shitty harmfully delusional father; no, that wasn’t kind of cathartic for me at all /s.

Drolta being the one to turn Erzsebet. Truly all the power that woman ever gained after being confined was because of Drolta. That’s…something.

You know what? As Drolta started to fight Alucard I immediately realized that I really do not want to see Drolta die again. I know she probably will, all things considered, but still.

I understand that Tera left because she personally sees that she’s a bad influence on Maria, and she wants to protect her daughter from that side of herself until she has her own darker impulses under control. But how tf was she so sure that abandoning her child wouldn’t’ve pushed Maria right over the edge? Honestly I’ve never liked when parents do shit like run away from their kids “for their own good” unless they’re literally turning into uncontrollable monsters; like, you know what’ll really go great with this trauma sandwich? A nice tall glass of trauma lemonade with a special shot of abandonment issues mixed in! 🙄

Not Olrox offering to take that man with him. Omg. I bet you Olrox will come back and risk his life for Mizrak, and maybe even be killed doing it. At least let him be the one to kill Drolta (I have to accept her inevitable death atp, and at least let it be at the hands of the man she branded so that he can go out with a win and so that they can have a good ass fight beforehand).

EDIT: Okay, so I lost that bet but I’m super okay with that. And like, I get the Mizrox relationship I guess, but it’s just not for me.

I think the nicest thing Mizrak ever said to Olrox without immediately following his words up by calling Olrox a disgusting soulless monster was after Olrox said he was leaving for good. Don’t switch up now bitch, I just hope by the time someone else comes around you're done with this ‘lashing out, existential crisis’ shit.

The spirits overwhelming Annette was a nice touch, but I can tell the spirit world stuff will make me uncomfortable so I’m going to stop watching as it is now night.

Richter being so attuned to Annette whenever she’s in distress (even when it’s silent) and rushing to make sure she’s okay every time. He’s not always correct when he makes an assumption about why she might be disturbed when he’s reassuring her, but that’s mostly just because he doesn’t have all the information.

Annette being attuned to Richter enough to pinpoint when he’s feeling insecure and then assuage his feelings. Annette constantly using reason to defuse any possible tension between Alucard and Richter, and being just as fully prepared to call Richter out when he screws up as she is to come to his defense.

Them coming to mutually understand and respect both of their circumstances and the trauma they experienced growing up.

“Mephisto” is unsettling imo, but Olrox’s interaction with him was interesting. Olrox just has such a calm demeanor even when he’s technically outmatched or upset, and it’s very engaging.

Drolta kicking Alucard into the river. Just her kicking with her hoofs in general, she does it a lot throughout the season and I love it every time. The move is just such a finisher that I can’t help but find it appealing. It’s a competence thing, I really can’t help myself.

ABOVE THIS TEXT IS MY COMMENTARY FOR EPISODES 1-5 & BELOW IT IS EPISODES 6-8

Annette, girl, every bit of your story is riveting! Like, there’s legitimately so much here and that feels crazy. I love it! I shall cherish this fictional black woman being allowed to have negative traits (s1) without being demonized for it and then being given actual time and dedication in her personal story and the show’s overall story.

Just— ALL OF EPISODE SIX. The whole thing’s going on the list.

Alucard teasing Richter about his affections for Annette.

Richter moving the cushioning into place for Annette to sit on when she stopped hovering.

Fuck, is Sekhmet going to be the one to kill Drolta? I hope it brings her peace before she dies at least (even if she is a villian, yes).

Fuck, Olrox hasn’t left yet. Sorry, that’s more commentary than anything but I am legitimately scared for what he’s going to do.

Alright, magical girl transformation! Not, Sekhmet being ready to come for Erzsebet. I’m not going to argue.

Hold on is episode seven the first time Edouard's face hands lift? It’s not right? Am I tripping?

Edouard's singing in episode seven. It’s probably the most effective his spontaneous singing has been, and adds to the scene and themes with a lot of purpose.

Drolta looking like a spider at 05:30 in episode seven when she decides to fight Alucard.

Maria falling right into Richter as she lands and her and him hugging.

Omg, Maria tamed the dragon thing. Beautiful. I knew all she needed after the fall was to mellow back out and the power up speaks for itself.

Drolta’s nails turning into a fucking SWORD! EDIT: SWORDS!!???!!!

The insanity of Drolta’s laughing after Alucard cuts her “living” hair. I’m in pain for her, and she’s laughing that shit off?

Richter making an ice claw to keep from blowing away during his fight with Erzsebet (who’s got the two souls of Sekhmet by now).

Drolta headbutting Alucard.

OLROX!!!! Holy shit! He came back, and he’s helping Alucard!

Awwww, Richter using his ice magic to cool Annette (and thus Sekhmet’s third soul) down after realizing that she was literally burning up after collapsing. King.

I’ll never undermine the merits of getting to see Erzsebet essentially curb stomped by the majority of the gang.

Shit, Mizrak just got hit badly and I think he’s dying. Now are they gonna let him die or is Olrox going to turn him? I don’t like his ass, but if him dying will upset Olrox too much then I suppose I’ll deal without being too pissy.

Annette’s fight directly correlating to Sekhmet’s third soul’s ability to retrieve the rest of her souls.

Maria, Juste, and Richter team up. That’s all.

Richter rushing to take the brunt of Erzsebet’s attack on Annette.

Oh shit, Mizrak isn’t dead! Good for him.

Erzsebet getting tore the fuck up!

Sekhmet full scale telling Erzsebet she wasn’t ever shit. And then Drolta telling her the same thing before killing Erzsebet is crazy. No hate fr, but no love lost either (not even a little).

Drolta’s little monologue before she kills Erzsebet. A beautiful performance with beautiful animation.

Oh boy, not Drolta losing her shit too. Goddamnit. This isn’t going to end well at all. Fuck!

Third Drolta form though! That’s exciting, now she’s larger and a cross between her vampire form and her night creature form (with obvious feline features). And this time she’s been called an obscenity! And by Sekhmet’s third soul no less. She’s like a Pokémon kind of.

How is she still so pretty!!!!???!!!!!!😍😍😍 *squeals*

Drolta kicking Erzsebet. Hehehe.

Anyway, she only just got any amount of Sekhmet in her and can already pause Richter and Alucard mid strike and grow back the hand Richter so smartly cut off (it was a smart move, I’m not being sarcastic). All I’m saying is that she might be unhinged, and she might need to get her ass beat, but she’s still more powerful than Erzsebet despite having had far less time with any power that wasn’t mortal in some manner. Once again: Queen.

“Unclean thing”. Yet another insult lobbed onto Drolta. I’m just collecting them atp.

I like Sekhmet and Drolta having a conversation. Drolta crying does pain me though.

Richter letting Annette go 😭🙃. Him respecting what Annette agreed to (or did she agree?).

Drolta’s scream of anguish and rage and who knows what else. Fucking amazing. Elarica Johnson did not miss once this whole season (EDIT: and she didn’t last season either, don’t fret). Also it’s crazy that I actually recognize Drolta’s VA from the one episode of P-Valley I ever watched.

Drolta being able to stab Alucard with his sword was nice. I don’t know why she didn’t just cut and run though, I guess she’d been unmoored enough to not care anymore and just be lashing out but idk. Don’t know if I like that character beat for her, but yeah.

Jesus, they split my woman in half. Fucking hell.

Olrox came back for that last hit on Drolta. I don’t know why, but he did. He deserved that one though, I can’t be mad.

Alucard and Juste’s conversation. Uncle Alucard!

Annette’s fight in the “spirit world” was good, but I didn’t really comment about it because it didn’t really have any different beats to highlight.

I’m going to be honest, as much as I like these characters I know for a fact my interest in the show going forward will wane without Drolta, but the journeys of the other characters are still nice to see.

OKAY so I didn’t call exactly how Drolta would turn against Erzsebet, but that’s alright.

Well Mizrak is a vampire now. So long as Olrox is happy I guess. *big sigh* More angst to come though, so that’s (maybe) fun.

EDIT: And no hate to the Mizrox shippers, all of this shit is my opinion, I haven’t seriously cared about policing what other people ship in a decade.

Apparently “Mephisto” and Tera are in cahoots. I don’t know what’s going on there. Also, “Mephisto’s” shadow form occasionally having teeth is wild imagery.

Overall as a Drolta fan I’m pretty satisfied.

[badwolfwho1]

Notes I jotted down while rewatching the Harvest. Good pair of episodes I liked them when I first watched them I still like them now. Definitely wouldn't say my favourite episodes even of s1 but they made me a fan of the show and I still enjoy them the second go around. Buffy's definitely the stand out character, she's fully realised (aside from I guess some technical stuff in what the Slayer is particualarly capable of but that's not so important) in a way nobody else really is yet but you can see the road for everyone I think. Well besides Angel who is really just not Angel at all yet honestly.

Forgot to mention it yesterday but I really missed that guitar riff in the intro I think its only there until the end of s2 but honestly it makes it so much better for me.

"Oh I need to sit down" "You are sitting down" "Oh good for me" strong gag

I don't think anyone's ever claimed Luke is a particularly memorable or good villain. And I'm certainly not going to. But that scene with the Master I think they play decently well off of each other. Certainly not the best person the Master plays off but he brings the best out of Luke. Specifically that touch of him remembering 1893 Madrid as the last time he didn't win a fight, "He caught me sleeping," It just kinda gets me. I actually looked it up out of curiosity if I could headcanon that was Holtz but alas cannot be done, Holtz was in play a century earlier. And it's not a particular indicative scene of what Darla will become (not that anything really is in these two episodes) but the Master really shows off a lot of his charisma here that'll serve s1 well.

Very interested to see when exactly Angel becomes that plank of awkward wood we all (well I certainly do) love, is it as late as s2?

She's not quite Harmony yet but it is nice to see her, you can see the throughline to the Harmony we'll all know and love but she's not there yet. Also of note in this scene I'm assuming that older looking person in the background of this scene is the IT teacher and that would suggest Jenny's not here yet. I forget if there's any indication that she's new in her introduction but I'll keep an eye out for it. It'd certainly track for her.

I don't think we ever find out exactly what the deal was with the Master getting trapped down there besides what we learn this episode. I remember reading one theory that the Mayor was involved and I could certainly buy it, he probably wouldn't want the competition. But at the risk of endorsing "The Hellmouth must always have a guardian" sentiment along with that "It's been too long since you faced a Slayer," line from the Master, makes me want to headcanon a Slayer was involved in the whole affair. He'd have killed her I'm sure given the (not unwarranted) confidence he has but she must've thrown enough of a wrench in the works to get him sealed away. And I like thinking about previous Slayers, the show certainly doesn't for the most part.

Shout out to "Hellmouth?" written on the whiteboard.

"They have cars," "I have to have the most expensive thing not because it's expensive but because it costs more," "Hello? Miss Motor-Mouth?" Banger after banger after banger from Cordelia she cannot be stopped

The Luke feeding cutting to back and forth to the Master is real goofy

The Sunrise - is in about nine hours really got me. Again. I was thinking it can't be sunrise yet surely and I must've thought that the first time as well. All Windows Must Die Origins

[pepstarvanmoon]

I really wonder what GAs think about Mike’s overall storyline in S3 and how it extended into S4.

When I first started S3 (I didn’t start shipping Byler until the rain fight and didn’t go deeper into the fandom until after finishing S4), I didn’t really care about what Mike had going on.

He was being a typical teen with their frustrating and dismissive ways, but I wasn’t really bothered by it? I didn’t really care until it started to feel sort of shoved in my face? Like being late to the theater, ditching Dustin on his first day back, everything with Hopper tbh, lying to El, advice from Lucas, not playing DnD to look for gifts at the mall, the break up, not playing DnD (again) to wallow in self-pity and to be gross boys lol (part of that scene is just so El and Will can react to Mike being gross like why).

By the time we got to “they’re conspiring against me!” I started rolling my eyes every time Microbial’s relationship issues became the focus of a scene. It was starting to piss off other characters, too, so I felt kinda justified in how little I cared.

Then the store scene where they’re patching up El’s leg and Mike struggles (badly) not to SAY “I love you” to her face, but to somehow get her to say it for him? (Like some weird school lesson trying to get students to find the answer without outright saying it like it’s a curse or something. This show has never needed I love you’s to convey that a couple is in love, so this whole thing felt unnecessary to me my first watch). I remember sitting there wondering why I should gaf about this plotline at all. It was so drawn out for what felt like no reason, and it didn’t seem to be going anywhere? “I know that I…” Are you sure you know, Mike? Like say it or move on.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it really had no impact until they force you to remember it during the move out scene where El says she loves him too (weird btw seeing as we got the “I love her and I can’t lose her again!” BEFORE the “you’ve never heard that term…?” I guess it was to have a ‘funny’ scene after that first encounter with ther meat flayer? Idk maybe I need to rewatch S3)

I guess they left it open ended after that uncomfortable kiss scene because it’s clearly still an issue in S4, but in my initial watch, more than it not making sense to me, I just sort of found it boring? It might’ve just been my bias because I started to enjoy Will and El’s characters more than Mike’s at the time, and Madraosis’ constant (and minuscule) problems were making them both miserable. To have it pick up again in S4 annoyed me because the S3 finale made it seem like their relationship was okay, but… did they really resolve anything?

Honestly, my biggest gripe was it being included at all. It felt unnecessary and boring at the time, but if they’re gonna keep pushing Mike’s inability to say “I love you” and function normally while in a relationship after all that bs in S3, it better be for a decent reason. It was no longer as cut and dry as I thought when I watched S4, and it’s difficult to grasp that a lot of people watching the show still think this way.

I mean, just imagine Nancy spending a whole chunk of S2 trying to convince/tell Steve she loves him and treating Jonathan like an afterthought before they get together that SAME season (like a romantic and less traumatizing spin on what happened with Barb (RIP), where they clearly demonstrated how bad it was that Nancy was getting swept up in her relationship with Steve).

Nancy getting back with Steve at the end of S1 was annoying for a lot of people, but more of an “eh, whatever” until they started having problems again in S2. Why is it literally the same storyline?? It’s pretty blatant, too. I hardly see any GA really questioning it, and if they do it’s always chalked up to bad writing (which… yeah). If it’s not because Mike and El are having legitimate problems, or about Will’s confirmed feelings, then what do the Duffer’s want me to think?

(first post but I've been lurking here so long it doesn't feel like it.)

[borntolurk]

OKAY SO I have a theory about the Aziraphale/Crowley relationship progression but it is going to have some pretty significant SPOILERS for E1-2 of Good Omens S2 so be warned!

By significant spoilers I mean that I will be describing some specific moments across both episodes (which I saw at the NYC screening).

Theory is below the line-

Alright, so as most people already know- I think from an interview- in the opening scene where Crowley and Aziraphale are both angels, Aziraphale notices Crowley before Crowley notices Aziraphale, and Aziraphale is clearly struck by Crowley. I don't know that I'd say "in love" but I think that it's somewhere in a range from "admiring" to "infatuated."

There are a lot of people theorizing about how that could possibly mesh with the S1 truism that Crowley fell fast for Aziraphale and Aziraphale kind of ignored him but I actually think it works perfectly well if you look at it this way:

Aziraphale fell for (for lack of a better term lol) the angel Crowley had been before.

So when he’d have seen Crowley in Eden, Crowley would recognize him as he looks exactly the same and really it's only been seven days, but Aziraphale would see a demon who COULDN’T POSSIBLY BE THE SAME BEING HE FELL FOR!

On rewatching the Eden scene, I think that Aziraphale does recognize Crowley as the angel who fell- he just doesn’t know his new name- and while obviously this is basically just me projecting back on performances that didn’t have ANY of this in mind, he seems very on edge when talking to Crowley. It’s like he knows EXACTLY what led Crowley to fall (asking questions and criticizing God), Crowley’s doing more of it now, seemingly to tempt Aziraphale into falling (especially now that he’s a demon and that’s what demons do, it’s what Crowley just did to Eve), and so Aziraphale is trying to be very careful. It’s why Aziraphale is so freaked out when Crowley points out that maybe he shouldn’t have given away the flaming sword, and that it wouldn’t be good if actually Aziraphale did do the bad thing and Crowley did the good.

Aziraphale needs to have done the good thing so that he doesn't fall and end up like Crowley, the angel who he fell for (figuratively....) and who has met this fate and turned into a totally different being! He’s seen exactly what happens when you’re a powerful and well meaning angel who just has some questions about god’s plans! I believe strongly that Aziraphale had believed that Crowley AS AN ANGEL was good and worth falling in love with, but that Crowley AS A DEMON is a different being who cannot be seen in the same way.

Then at the ark, its Aziraphale’s side that is doing the atrocity so it’s the typical defensiveness, continuing with the whole “well he’s a demon and even if I kind of agree with him he can’t be GOOD the way he was when he was an angel, and that means he must be bad and wrong even if his points make sense.” Crowley is a demon now, and demons are bad, even when they FEEL right- and if Aziraphale goes after his natural inclination which agrees with Crowley, especially if part of that is because he remembers what he felt about that angel of years ago, it just means that he's being tempted by a demon...

AND THEN we get to the Job minisode. I loved the minisode and so I'm hesitant to really spoil it but basically Crowley yo yos back and forth- first he seems very happy to do terrible things to Job, then it turns out he's been partially defying that order (which incidentally means going against God's plan, which is a VERY big problem for Aziraphale!), then he concocts a plan that requires Aziraphale, for good reason, to lie to the other angels, including some archangels, thereby counteracting God's plan. Afterward Aziraphale freaks out because he thinks that lying in order to trick Heaven and God means he’s fallen, and Crowley has to explain that that’s not how it works and comforts him.

Aziraphale is conflicted, of course, because Crowley is confusing and can't really win- on the one hand, it's bad if Crowley listens to God and kills Job's kids, but on the other hand it's bad if Crowley DOESN'T listen to God and DOESN'T kill Job's kids! So Aziraphale is expecting much more than Crowley is ever able to live up to- he's muddled about his purpose, and Aziraphale doesn't know how to interpret that.

I feel like this would kind of put the tin lid on it. Crowley is a different being now, one who may still have merciful qualities that Aziraphale likes and agrees with (and may remind Aziraphale of that angel of long ago) but is still a demon and against everything that Aziraphale is meant to stand for. And while the minisode ends with Aziraphale understanding that he's not quite like the other angels, he is still very clear- he is an angel and Crowley is a demon. They aren't just enemies, they are incompatible. The Crowley in front of him and the Crowley (or whatever his name was) that he remembers from heaven are different and he can't trust the one in front of him.

Because it feels like that's the main barrier here- Aziraphale can't trust Crowley. Crowley is a demon and his object is to tempt humanity to its downfall, even if Crowley himself isn't always so into that. Aziraphale may like Crowley, but it's against his better judgment- every bone in his body tells him not to trust him. He can't trust that Crowley's intentions are genuine- also in the minisode, Crowley tempts Aziraphale to try food (or as Gabriel would call it "gross matter") for the first time, and Aziraphale is somewhat disturbed by this in part because he knows that he is susceptible to Crowley's temptations! How can he trust after this that anything that Crowley does for him or says to him is done with good intentions rather than to bring him down from where he thinks he should be?

It's the Arrangement that ends up changing this. Having an agreement where they each do things for each other, each against their own better judgment, slowly but surely encourages Aziraphale to trust Crowley and his intentions. And it's during the Blitz, when Crowley puts himself in danger to help Aziraphale (danger that is specifically caused by the fact that Crowley IS a demon- otherwise the church would hold no danger), that Aziraphale really realizes that Crowley does have good intentions. He put himself at risk, which is the furthest thing from trying to get something for himself. This allows Aziraphale to trust Crowley that he really does need the holy water for a good reason, among other things later.

As you can tell, I don't actually think that Aziraphale has ever been oblivious to Crowley. He sees everything, but interprets it through his own mental lens. (The parallel that came to mind for me, weirdly, and you can ignore this if you've never seen the sitcom Frasier, but Daphne would have to be wearing massive blinkers not to know that Niles is into her- it's just that she doesn't recognize what kind of feelings he has because in her mind they are in two different worlds and so the idea that he could be genuinely interested is out of her comprehension.) To Aziraphale, Crowley is intriguing and kind and he's thought so since the beginning, but he's also dangerous. In fact that's what makes him dangerous!

Crowley is dangerous because there is so much about him to love, but he is a demon and therefore, in Aziraphale's worldview, unlovable. A demon can't love and be loved! And so Aziraphale is really also not just not trusting Crowley, but also not trusting HIMSELF. He has all these feelings about Crowley but he keeps saying that they're just Crowley tempting him or just residual feelings from the version of Crowley it WAS permissible to love, the angelic one.

I think that Crowley may genuinely be oblivious to anything Aziraphale is feeling, because in the opening scene he isn’t paying a tremendous amount of attention to Aziraphale, but I think he does grasp that Aziraphale doesn’t trust him and that’s what he’s working to change. He knows it's an uphill battle and the most important thing to do in order not just to change their relationship but to get Aziraphale out of his funk.

Now that they're both "on their own side," Aziraphale has a lot more understanding. He sees that just because Crowley is a demon it doesn't mean he is untrustworthy, and he realizes that each of them independently needs to make themselves worthy of trust and Crowley has done that again and again. And so it's almost natural for him to go back to those feelings that he had for that original angelic Crowley, but reinforced by everything he's learned since then- millennia of Crowley proving his ultimate goodness.

As a character in one of my favorite novels, Dorothy L Sayers's Gaudy Night, said of another character (paraphrased), "if I should once give way to him, I would go up like straw." And indeed she does. Aziraphale does too- once he opens himself to fully trust Crowley he can feel that sense of peace and security between them, and fall right into it, in a way that Crowley, who's been working so hard to establish it up until then, can't really. Crowley's been on edge for so long that he can't take anything for granted; Aziraphale can.