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genericpuff · 2 years ago

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The Extended Mishandling of LO's S3 Midseason Finale Premiere

Alright, so I had mentioned leading up to the release of the newest LO episode that my feelings regarding LO returning were pretty "meh". Not hyped, but not completely back of mind either. Just sort of a weird calm before the storm type feeling that could go either way.

I'm glad I got to have that moment of calmness because good god, this episode was an absolute shitshow. And honestly, I'm not surprised, for several reasons:

Rachel has never been good at maintaining a buffer, even back at the start of the series she only ever had 2-3 episodes ready ahead of her schedule which is NOT an ideal buffer for an originals series.

Rachel has never been good at writing, she's very "draw first write later" and has stated as such in interviews that when she gets 'stuck' on what she's writing, she'll just start drawing and fit the pieces in later.

Four months is NOT enough time to both rest, attend massive conventions, and work on improving a project while also getting buffer episodes ready.

Because of the FP episodes remaining locked over the hiatus, technically Rachel only needed to have ONE episode ready upon return for the newest FP release, not multiple like she'd usually need like in the past during the S2 midseason hiatus or the season finale episodes which would unlock those FP releases like normal - so for all we know, she could have drawn this episode literally last week, especially when the promo material was so last minute. Frankly I think it was REALLY stupid for whoever it was who decided to keep these FP episodes locked (whether it was her or WT, it was more likely WT) but you can read all I have to say about that in my review of the midseason finale episodes.

All that's to say, no, there was never any guarantee Rachel was going to somehow "turn around" the ride we're currently on. I know that many of the critics were hoping for that to happen, but with the circumstances of the hiatus mixed with Rachel's bad habits of putting her best efforts into the procrastination projects that aren't her actual comic (ex. the few original pieces and LO sketches she put out during the hiatus) it just wasn't in the cards. This is where the comic is at and this is where it will remain until it's over.

I want to also point something out about this episode that was... really glaring to me.

As with all of these hiatus returns, LO got priority advertising in the first two banner slots and push notifications AND a popup ad within the app. This is unsurprising, Webtoons is still trying to milk this thing for what it's worth.

I know a lot of people are gonna focus on the art, or the fact that WT is continuing to shill LO, but I wanna point out the part that WT implemented specifically - "NEW SEASON".

This is literally just false. At best I'd like to think some intern just messed up and thought this was a new season, but it's literally not, the episode designation still says "S3". Note that the creators only design the banner art, the actual labels on top are put there by Webtoons.

But at worst, this feels like blatant lying to continue to hide the fact that LO is ending. Mind you, Rachel and Webtoons have still not put out official posts stating that this is the final arc. There is NOTHING from either of them to communicate to the audience that the comic is ending next year. It feels like they're trying to avoid the topic altogether out of fear of losing the fanbase they still have, rather than hyping up the comic's end for those who have stuck around to see how it all wraps up. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, considering they're now trying to funnel the fanbase into Penguin/Inklore with new marketing deals and the whole Rachel Smythe Presents thing. They're trying to make this seem like the beginning of something "new" when it's really just a quiet shifting of management (Penguin House).

But all that aside, let's actually get into the episode. It's one episode after 4 months, which is not standard for LO's hiatuses, typically FP episodes release on schedule (meaning free readers start hiatuses 3 weeks after FP readers do), the only time this has been an exception has been with the 2 week breaks because the whole point of those was to build a buffer (which you can't do if you're going ahead and releasing the FP episodes anyways). For extended hiatuses like these, usually free readers still get their FP episodes, but that wasn't the case here. That means Rachel technically only needed one episode ready for the comic's return, and it shows. It really fucking shows.

FROM HERE ON OUT THERE WILL BE FASTPASS SPOILERS REGARDING EPISODE 254. DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED !!!

As per tradition, we get a title that means nothing at all. It just says what we already know.

Our collective husband Zeus is dying, no thanks to the poison cupcake fed to him by Apollo. For those who don't remember, Apollo had tricked Zeus into eating the cupcake by making him believe it was from Hebe. We are fully aware that it was Apollo who poisoned him. Remember that for later in this review.

Right off the bat we're off to a hilarious start, both with a cryptid appearance from Apollo in the background (lmao) who is, for some reason, ALREADY returning to the scene of the crime he just committed because... who knows at this point. Apollo and Psyche know it was Apollo at this point, I might add, but I have no clue why Apollo is actually returning to the scene of the crime when he has no idea Eros and Psyche know.

Moving on from that, can we talk about this hilarious dialogue?

"We have to call a doctor! Let's call Asclepius!"

"No, we can't trust him! Gosh darn it, why are we only bothering to think of ONE doctor in this universe where we've seen more than one doctor?? Guess Zeus is just gonna die! What a horribly contrived situation this is!"

And that's literally how I can best describe most of this episode. Contrived. There is a LOT of manufactured drama in this that makes ZERO sense even on a surface level.

And what do you mean exactly, Eros? "What a terrible system!" Is this supposed to be a joke? Lampshading? We've seen Persephone go to the gynecologist. There are non-god doctors who tend to gods all the time here.

Eros just doesn't seem to be that pressed over this, he sounds like Ned Flanders and that's NOT a good way to open up a scene like this... let alone an episode people have been waiting four months for.

Anyways, after a few pointless reaction panels (again remember I have to cut a lot of what I show here for Tumblr image limitations but I promise you, I'm keeping as much important stuff as I can in this, there's just THAT MUCH filler at this point), Eros and Psyche confront Apollo and he is... good god.

There is... so much to unpack here.

First of all, remember those theories about how Rachel was clearly trying to write Apollo as this "secret twist villain" the whole time but it doesn't work because Apollo is simultaneously written as both a 'conniving villain' and a massive dumbass at the same time?

Well, I finally have a more appropriate term for him. He's your average red pill redditor - someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else when really all he does is sit on reddit all day using big words incorrectly in arguments he gets himself into with a bunch of equally-air-headed dumbasses.

"You can't possibly understand the nuances of the Olympian political system," Apollo said proudly, a man who had, ironically and obliviously, run for president in a monarchy. The union of kettle and pot is eternal.

He's the Slappable Jerk but instead of it being a painfully hilarious impression, it's just painful and hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

this is so stupid because it's 1.) Eros pointing out how obvious Apollo's plan was, despite Apollo acting smart two seconds ago with a goddess who, mind you, has been a goddess for ten years, and 2.) patricide isn't even intrinsically linked to politics, there's nothing 'political' about a guy trying to kill his dad except in, idk, a monarchy, which again, Apollo has spent ten years trying to rise to power in as a president which is a completely different form of government.

If I wanted to be really granular with this, I'd like to think Apollo is making some kind of point about the critics who call out LO's whack as fuck political system (especially in the trial arc) - as if he's saying "well you're just a stupid reader and this is fantasy where you don't understand exactly what political system we're using, so shut the fuck up you stupid twig" - but I don't think it's meant to be that deep. I think it's just Rachel trying to write a smart character and then failing at it because she, herself, is not a smart writer. And I'm really inclined to believe that more than the theory about this being some kind of meta-narrative about the critics because this entire plotline is contrived and stupid down to its core.

I did not cut anything out here, that's the pacing. Leto literally just appears out of nowhere and uh oh spaghettio's, she has Kassandra! Remember Leto? The character we were led to believe was truly "pulling the strings" until she disappeared from the story completely after she realized that Apollo and Persephone weren't a thing, even going so far as to call out her own son for being a fucking dumbass? Well, she's back and once again she's being involved as some kind of "double agent" in this whole thing, even though we literally haven't seen her since halfway through S2.

"Mm yes, you're so stupid, falling into my trap! Even though you had no reason to remember Kassandra anyways because she's literally a mortal woman you just met and you yourself have committed acts of violence against mortals without a shred of care! I'm so smart! My plan is all coming together!"

We've never seen Apollo do anything except cry and poop his pants, the closest he got to being "powerful" was his attempts to murder Daphne (who he seems to have forgotten about in this "master plan" of his) but ultimately he's literally just a piss ant baby and there's no reason to believe that he could somehow outmatch the God of Love who can literally manipulate people's emotions and states of mind with his arrows. But yeah sure go off, you're so powerful and smart.

The worst part is, I can't even buy this as the narrative trying to be like "see how manipulative and conniving he is?" because it's just silly. We've SEEN this man cry with his victim complex, we've seen him say and do the DUMBEST things that don't lend to any amount of "intelligence" he may have, it comes across less as him being "smart the whole time" and more as him trying to sound smart but ultimately sounding incredibly stupid. And I can't even immerse myself into it and buy that maybe that's the point, because it doesn't feel like the point, it just feels like inconsistent writing, he doesn't feel like a 'threat', he's just monologuing.

Bad art and Apollo literally just repeating what Leto already implied so this is a waste of the audience's time.

This is the funniest panel in the whole episode because I can't tell if Apollo is supposed to be in the background (for some reason, despite him literally being in front of Eros and Psyche two seconds ago) or if he's in the foreground and just REALLY small for some reason. This is so off-putting. And of course, it's just Apollo explaining what we're ALREADY SEEING ONSCREEN.

You see, in addition to this episode being contrived, it also talks down to its audience a LOT by explaining exactly what we're seeing onscreen. It's like Rachel saw the criticisms about her not including enough to depict what's actually going on in her head and so she thought the solution was to spoon feed information over pictures that are already doing the job of explaining what's going on. Rachel really doesn't know how to write and even when she tries to implement changes that reflect criticisms that have been made of her writing, she somehow makes things worse because she completely misses the point of what those criticisms are trying to get across.

Anyways, without even trying to resist (for some reason) Eros and Psyche get sentenced to horny jail.

They're now trapped in a basement that Leto somehow has in her home. How do we know that?

HAHAHA FUNNY LAMPSHADING SO FUNNNYYYYYYY

Leto claims that they shouldn't try to escape because the dungeon is "enchanted", but she doesn't even bother to explain what that means. So they literally don't bother trying. They don't try to call her bluff, they don't try to teleport out of there, they literally just go "well shoot", shrug their shoulders, and accept their fate. Just like with the whole "we can't trust the only doctor we bothered to think of" situation, Eros and Psyche are turning out to be some of the stupidest, lowest-effort characters in this comic who literally can't be bothered to try because that would require too much brain power.

Notice how much time we've spent on this and we haven't gotten back to where the cliffhanger of the last episode left off? Well buckle up because there's still more to cover.

So it turns out Hebe was still inside with her dad, in FULL VIEW of what was going on through glass which is somehow COMPLETELY soundproof, and when Apollo steps inside, she just has no idea what happened. She never bothered to even look outside to see what was going on with Eros and Psyche, she's just been sitting on the floor staring at Zeus' dead face for what was likely several minutes, unless Rachel is seriously trying to convince us that conversation and hostage negotiation from earlier only took 2 seconds. The timeline is such a mess at this point that characters basically freeze in place as soon as they're not the focus of the scene.

Apollo rushes inside, acting shocked over the situation, and when Hebe asks where Eros and Psyche are (again, she could have just looked out the window at any time), he's just like "dur idk they just left lol" which Hebe just... buys, I guess.

That's just Persephone but yellow. She's even missing her beauty mark.

See how Apollo put his hand on Zeus' chest/shoulder by the way?

Apparently, despite Mr. Smarter Than Everyone Else trying to pretend it wasn't him, he's able to discern that Zeus is dying from a toxic and rare poison just from touching him. He doesn't even really seem to use his powers, he just touches him and goes "welp he's dead i guess lol don't bother asking me how I know that".

But oh nooo remember that note from before? Well gasp Apollo's gonna use it to frame Hebe! In front of no one else at all!

Hebe of course says she didn't write it, but Apollo continues to try and frame her anyways, even though, again, there's no one else present here, and so it effectively just becomes the most absurd form of gaslighting I've ever seen.

Again, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE IN THE SCENE. He's just trying to claim she did it to absolutely no one at all, in the hopes of... what exactly? That she'll just take the fall for something she knows she didn't do? That she'll somehow be convinced? It's not like Hebe has the same thing going on as Persephone where she has a 'wrathful dark side' he could pin it on, this is just a criminal who just robbed a building pointing at the first person they see and yelling "YOU DID IT!"

All I'm saying is that Apollo would be really bad at Among Us. He'd be the type of player to kill someone, hit the report button, then claim yellow did it which, even if he DID convince the rest of the team, would still get kicked anyways as soon as yellow was proven through the eject to not be the imp and everyone would go "okay cool so yellow wasn't the imp, that means obviously it's purple self-reporting." It's a trick that doesn't even work anymore because of how old it is. Hebe isn't a child here, she's an 18 year old woman who should be fully capable of raising an eyebrow and wondering why Apollo is this quick to accuse her - almost like he's trying to hide the fact that he did it.

But Hebe can't catch onto this, just like Eros and Psyche, she has to act stupid for the sake of the plot.

At first I thought maybe Rachel was trying to do some "whodunit" scenario, but that doesn't work here because we already know who did it. And while there are stories that exist like that that pull it off (ex. Knives Out) the problem with trying to do this the way Rachel did is that the person being framed has to have this thing called motive. The reason why Knives Out and Glass Onion work so well is because the person who was murdered (or conspired against) is someone who is being targeted by multiple people who could all be the murderer. It's quite literally called out in Glass Onion as a form of smart lampshading. "It's like putting a loaded gun on the table, and turning off the lights."

But it doesn't work here because Hebe does not have motive. If you're going to attempt to frame a murder on someone, it has to be someone who would have reasonable motive to commit that murder, even if they didn't actually commit it.

And who among Zeus' children has motive?

What about the war-mongering bloodthirsty god of war who has been regularly sentenced to time in the Mortal Realm to fight in wars in which he's been regularly injured?

What about the chaos-seeking wrathful goddess who would do it to get revenge on the parental figure who cast her aside, or even just for the fun of saying she did it?

Why try and pin it on Hebe, the doting daughter of Zeus who's only had a collective of maybe 20 panels in the entire comic?

But then I realized... it's not Knives Out, it's the fucking Lion King.

Which is just as contrived - if not more - than the assumption this was gonna be some attempt to frame Hebe. It's not. He's literally just trying to keep her from assuming it was him. He could have just as easily played dumb without calling attention to the note but he intentionally went out of his way to try and be Scar from The Lion King , while completely missing the point of why that scene worked in the original movie.

Scar wasn't trying to 'frame' Simba for Mufasa's murder. He was trying to hide the murder, while also attempting to get the only heir to the throne out of the picture, so he passed the guilt of the death onto Simba - a child who, unlike Hebe, wouldn't have the ability to rationalize or realize his uncle his a scumbag - who then ran away from home because he was too terrified to face his family for what happened, assuming that it was all his fault when it wasn't.

That's not how this is panning out here. Hebe is the now 18 year old daughter of Zeus, and not one of his only children. She doesn't even fit into the whole "sons overthrowing their fathers" prophecy like Aries would. Apollo is literally just being a big idiot here by saying "well I'm gonna give you a headstart to run away, because if you stay, I might hurt you" (which btw, should be MORE of a smoking gun that Apollo did it??)

And again, it's all so contrived so that the plot can move forward. "Well I'm going to frame you for this murder, but y'know, you should just leave, I'm not gonna try and press it further lmao"

Again, Apollo is a fucking idiot here, because he just attempted to frame someone who has NO MOTIVE to harm Zeus, to absolutely NO ONE at all who would side with him, only to let her go which would leave her to question why Apollo would try to accuse and harm her in the first place before considering other options. And through ALL this he claims he's the smart one, which I can't even be bothered to "love to hate" because it's written so poorly.

And really it all comes down to how everyone else behaves in relation to Apollo that makes it so stupid and unbelievable. Apollo, you're not smart just because all the characters around you are intentionally being written to be as stupid and non-confrontation as possible. If you can only write a smart villain by making everyone else stupid, you haven't written a smart villain, you've written a dumbass whose victory only happens due to contrived plot convenience. It's not even done well like in Glass Onion, it's just bad writing, full stop.

And who does he call to report this emergency? The satyr police? His son the doctor?

No.

The media. Literally just "hello, the media?? I need your best journalist here stat!"

I need you to understand, even if he were calling a tabloid magazine like The Weekly Nark, you don't just... call a journalist to report a murder. These are not the actions of someone who's trying to absolve himself of guilt, these are the actions of a complete dumbass trying to get news coverage of his trophy kill who would be better off just playing dumb instead of trying to play smart. Even Walter White wasn't this fucking stupid despite all the times he fell on his own sword, Apollo is literally just instigating suspicion towards himself for no reason at all. He's self-reporting so hard and worst of all, you can't even take any of this seriously because of how corny it is. There's no dramatic tension, no stakes, it's just a bunch of characters performing in a really bad stage play and reducing every conflict to "well I guess Zeus is just dead now because no one's bothering to make an effort to stop Apollo or ask questions lmao"

It's truly the epitome of "this plot wouldn't exist if characters would just talk to each other."

But finally, FINALLY we mention the thing this episode is named after, the transition point to Persephone.

Just like with the midseason finale episode, there's a lot to cover here, so I'm gonna get more into it in a part two post.

That said, you can see already this is the messiest, most contrived bullshit to ever wind up in LO. It's trying so hard to be smart and it just comes across as a bunch of toddlers in the world's worst stage play rendition of Clue. None of what was done here was in any way dramatic or tense, it's just a bunch of characters infodumping shit we already know, trying to set up new plot threads that don't make any sense, and allowing one another to get away with what they're doing because they don't bother to even try.

It's completely manufactured, contrived nonsense. It's not "smart", it's not "so dumb it's brilliant", it's just dumb.

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#lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #this is the comic that bought two eisners #uh i mean *won* two eisners #... no wait i had it right the first time lmao

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sanguine-prince · 3 months ago

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so i’ve only watched sn 1 and a bit of sn 2 of the boys, but i’m really digging hughie’s pseudo coming-of-age arc, which contributes to the oedipal themes of the show as a whole. in season 1 one of hughie’s minor journeys as a character was self-actualizing into someone his father was no longer babying. he lived with his dad & robin was going to be the one who forced him to gain independence from his father by having him move in with her. then she died, and he spent the rest of the season getting mixed up with the wrong ppl but trying to become his own person. in season 2, the father from which he is trying to grow beyond and metaphorically “kill” is butcher (who quite literally refers to himself as daddy (😩) in the first ep) by asserting himself as a new sort of leader of the boys and by doing things on his own.

the other side of this oedipal coin is homelander, obviously, with his lust for a mother figure (stillwell in s1) and hatred for his father figure (vogelbaum). this doesn’t need much explanation. in the second season he is also in a fight to assert himself independently from his paternal company.

overall, this points to a consciousness of the characters’ stunted growths and their inability to self-actualize without an element of conflict. this is a commentary on human nature but moreover our current culture of toxic masculinity. i hope they carry these themes forward in some shape or form, whether that’s a continuance of the cycle or a subversion of it, with ryan and homelander + butcher!

#the boys #hughie campbell #homelander #oedipal complex #psychoanalysis #billy butcher

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lucky13cat · 3 months ago

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My dream Season 2 opener (regardless of what happens in the Season 1 finale) is for the season to open with Robby in a therapist's office about six or so months after the events of Season 1. I think it'd be a great way to have him deal with all of his trauma and maybe unlearn the habits he's had since he started (bury your feelings speech) as well as build on the rhetoric he's been preaching but not following about men and boys being told to suck it up and not cry or deal with their emotions when they should be encouraged otherwise and helped. I love how Robby is all for having young men talk out their feelings while still personally burying everything he feels so deep. The character development from this would be amazing.

Robby had the shift from hell in Season 1, yes, but there's also so many underlying issues that this shift has brought forth to the surface that finally have him dancing on a knifes edge. Having him go to therapy between seasons (whether it's mandated or something he chose after everything) would also be a great way for a bit of time to pass between seasons while exemplifying that this was in fact just one shift in the Pitt despite how much happened. Life rolls on even when you're struggling.

Another thing I think Season 2 should open with is Langdon coming back from rehab (with it either being his first shift back or fairly early on in his return) where he has to struggle with the new normal of everyone doublechecking him, the rules he has to follow, questions and tests about his sobriety, etc., and have him be forced to meet with Robby early in the shift (as a mandated sort of meeting). Show how he's trying, but there's still so much betrayal felt by his coworkers after Season 1. Rebuilding bridges should be his narrative for Season 2.

As for the rest of the crew, I think it'd be great to see a continued building on their character arcs once a little time has passed, especially for the newbies. For Whitaker, Santos, Javadi, and Mel, this was their first shift, and they're all struggling so much trying to get their bearings. Have them be slightly more settled but still figuring themselves out in Season 2 where each of them has to ask if Emergency Medicine is right for them (I'm not sure how long med students stay at hospitals so if Whitaker or Javadi wouldn't be there after a multiple month time jump, my bad). Have Whitaker on the street team, Santos growing beyond her cocky attitude, and Javadi growing into herself and how even though this path was chosen for her (by her parents) she gets to choose what she does now. I think this would parallel well with the older doctors questioning themselves (yes I know we're getting some of this in the finale, but I'd love to see the ongoing internal battle of coming back in each day next season with the younger doctors drawn out over a few episodes).

Speaking of Mel, I really hope her budding friendship with Langdon keeps growing. Have her be the one relationship he doesn't have to fully rebuild, please, with both of them being comfortable working together and watching the other grow as a doctor. She's a very bright and kind character who I hope gets to continue that narrative and have her own arc about that and her sister beyond Langdon.

And speaking as a kingdon shipper, I hope we get a slow burn with them. I'm talking he finally tucks a strand of hair behind her ear near the end of the season after some obvious want between them, and both of them nearly jump ten feet in the air because of it. Give us the guilt both of them would feel (either because Langdon is still married or because he's freshly out of rehab and separated from his wife still trying to get his life together, idc) even though it was a simple gesture.

Another development I really wish we could see is Collins exploring adoption. I know it's stereotypical for a plotline, but Collins having that plotline would be everything for me.

Also I really hope at least one of the medical cases in Season 2 is a biohazard case that'll potentially cause some flashbacks for Robby. Therapy is full of ups and downs as you go about your life, and seeing him react to the biohazard suits and such would be a good struggle for him. All in all I think his Season 2 arc should be about him practicing what he preaches about taking care of yourself and healing himself.

Overall I'm very excited for both the season finale and Season 2 with big hopes for both!

#the pitt #the pitt max

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qulizalfos · 2 months ago

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will having kali's powers speculation is this anything. i just had some thoughts

feasible with will's love for art. also thought "rainbow ship"/rainbow butterfly illusion from kali, both in season 2, was a cool detail

kali was always an outlier from the other numbers--- not just the fact that s4 showed she was literally the only one to not have el's powers (one included), s2 flashbacks show her, notably, alone with el in a vastly different looking rainbow room. and while i will never claim stranger things is a show of great continuity, it is Interesting to me that they'd alter such a significant plotline/setting for kicks. possible that they renovated the entire place after kali escaped and added security which the timeline allows for but it's still suspicious given how drastic the change was and the fact that she was so isolated

kali was also kidnapped when she was 8 (newspaper clipping) from london(???) as opposed to the other numbers whose accents are american and seem more similar to el (ie. all they've ever known is the lab).

<-re: last point: sort of leads me to suspect kali acquired her powers through a run-in with the upside down instead of having them since birth which also partially explains her hatred of hawkins lab/the government. it's really not clear if the london thing will ever be addressed, and whether there is access to the upside down there, but i'm not holding out hope so i'm just assuming she was in the wrong place at the wrong time like will

speaking of:

aligns with will's side of things more; that he hadn't demonstrated any powers and was then chased into the upside down. while will wasn't the only one by far (barb and that one time in season 1 when brenner mentioned 6 other kids had been taken) he was the only one, to our knowledge, who survived in there for a week. plus we have a very limited knowledge of what exactly happened there (yeah ik. no shit it's a mystery etc. BUT) we do know when joycehopper find him he has a vine in his throat which ik was the lead-up to will coughing up dart but i think it's plausible to assume that could have just been a side effect to the bigger thing (powers).

twelvegate 🤝 kali going missing on "saturday the 12th"??? i know. i'm tired .

also could work as a way to tie kali back into the story because that plotline was really ephemeral but left a honeycomb of plot holes in its wake so whatever. i may come back to this at a later time with more ideas but i wanted to put it out there :]

#essentially: hit netflix series “stranger things” episode 2x07 the lost sister is fucking w. me forever and ever and ever and ever and #stranger things #stranger things theory

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storiesofaot · 10 months ago

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Hello! I was hoping to have a closure for Hange in season 4 because I just feel that there are so much that she had to go through and there doesnt seem to be a lot of support for her (her shorty, unfortunately, is stuck with the monkey in the forest).

Wondering if I can send in a request for a short fic. My thoughts are below:-

1) I like to think of Hange as the Survey Corp princess who dare to challenge things. And all the big brothers in SC will just allow her to do any "nonsense" - Levi, Miche and Erwin, while still being protective over her like the little sister.

2) With this in mind, I have this thought of an oyster or mussel which either she found/ or was gifted. And there is a moment of reflection, whether is her own introspection or a dialogue with Levi, after she became commander.

3) The dialogue came to to a discovery of a pearl. And then she reflected how she was a pearl, being protected and smoothed by all the people around her (who had since dead). May include how she reflected about her own shortcomings and annoyance etc but I leave it to you.

4) This pearl/ oyster thing became a comfort for her after Eren grabbed her collar and when she had that moment of self-doubt in Season 4.

5) Bonus: if somehow Levi felt something at that moment while he is in the forest??

Thanks so much. Hope it is not a lot. I just wanted Hange in season 4 to have some comfort and support.

Thank you so much for your request, @eueuphoriaz ! An oyster as a metaphor for Hange’s development was such a beautiful and also fitting idea - I hope I did justice to it! 🥺

Rating: G ; Word Count: 1851

Title: The Pearl Within

Hange’s mind was overflowing with countless thoughts as her gaze swept over the horizon, where only a faint stripe of purple remained visible above the water’s surface. Had the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers really come with the intention of joining forces, or was this merely a setup by Marley to weaken them from within before launching their attack?

It all sounded very convincing, of course it did. Yet now it was up to her to determine if they were telling the truth or if they were trying to lead them into a trap. It might seem like a minor decision at the moment, but it could impact the entire future of Paradis Island and determine whether they would end up in a war or not.

Suddenly, she could hear some footsteps from behind, and when she turned around, she saw Levi approach her at a leisurely pace. “What are you doing here all alone?” he asked when he came to a stop next to her, eyeing her with a mix of curiosity and concern.

Hange sighed and let her gaze drift over the sea again. “Nothin. Just â€¦ thinking.” For a little while, the two of them remained standing next to each other in comfortable silence, him not pushing her to talk while she tried to sort through her thoughts.

“I am not sure if we can trust them,” Hange finally said, looking back at Levi. “What they say does make sense … but with Zeke involved, I fear they might have plans they’re not letting us in on. I mean, they practically admitted that they won’t tell us their full plan until we officially agree to work with them.”

Levi snorted with disdain, his expression growing darker. “I wouldn’t trust anything that stupid monkey says. He’s definitely the one pulling the strings, and I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to betray us, even if the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers claim to be our allies. I believe -“

He broke off when he noticed a group of Marleyans nearby, being escorted into another tent by two Scouts, their curious gazes lingering on them. “Let’s talk somewhere else,” he murmured, nodding towards the rocky beach.

Hange agreed, and together they climbed down the stony incline until they stood on smaller pebbles not far from the water, where they were safe from curious ears. “But I wonder,” she continued, “if they might be our only chance to reach the same level of technological advancement as the rest of the world. We’re significantly behind in that regard, and I’m not sure we’d find anyone else willing to help us with that.”

Levi tilted his head, seeming to ponder her words. Eventually, he broke the silence. Eventually, he broke the silence. “Advancements are great, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking they solve everything. Even if we know how to use their stuff, they might still use it against us. I doubt they are willing to share all their information with us.”

They continued their discussion for a while, but all they ended up with were numerous arguments for and against an alliance. Once again, Hange felt fear and frustration tightening around her chest, and as night fell, she sensed that a shadow had also fallen over the hope she had once held.

“I’m not sure if Erwin chose the right person to be commander,” she said bitterly. “What if I make the wrong decision, and instead of making things better I put us in an even more dangerous position?”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself; even Erwin would have struggled with the decision,” Levi said, his voice unusually soft. “You’ve learned a lot from him and from the past, and he trusted you for a reason. You’ve got the grit and the brains to make the right call; he wouldn’t have made you commander if he didn’t believe you were capable of it.”

Hange bit her lip, reflecting on what Levi had just said. He was right in a way - Erwin had significantly influenced her approach to problems and her thinking in general. They had first met as cadets, and their camaraderie had continued when he became Section Commander. It had evolved into a friendship when she had followed him, and persisted when he was promoted to Commander. Throughout all these stages, Erwin had always supported and encouraged her. Of course, he had had his doubts and concerns about her sometimes unconventional ideas, but if she could convince him that something felt right, he would relent and let her take the lead. No, she knew she wouldn’t have come this far without his guidance, nor without the support of her other fellow comrades who, simply with their presence, had allowed her to develop and grow into the woman she was today.

A sudden warmth flushed through her as she remembered all the people who had been by her side throughout her life, and she hoped that wherever they were now, they could feel her gratitude for having met them.

She had been silent for quite a while, but when Levi suddenly moved beside her, it was as if she was abruptly pulled from a dream back into reality. Levi pulled something from his jacket pocket that Hange couldn’t immediately identify. It was oval-shaped, with a muted greyish tone and a slight sheen, but it wasn’t until he held it out to her that she realised what it was: an oyster shell.

Almost instinctively, she reached for it and gently weighed it in her hand, intrigued by the small object. She had never actually held one before and only had seen pictures of them. “Where did you find this?”

“At this beach,” Levi replied. “This morning, while I was on watch and doing my rounds, I found it lying among the stones. I suppose it must have been washed ashore.”

“You know it’s extremely rare for oysters to be found onshore? Normally, you’d have to go out to sea to catch them - you must’ve been very, very lucky!” Hange tried to return the oyster, but he shook his head.

“No, I didn’t know that. But that’s why I’m not supposed to keep things like this - I’d never appreciate them properly,” Levi replied with a shrug.

“Oh … thank you!” Hange smiled, feeling a soft flutter in her chest at his kind gesture. But once again, Levi just made a dismissive gesture, as if it were no big deal.

“Don’t stay out here for too long; it’s getting pretty chilly,” he finally said after a brief pause, turning to leave. Hange grinned to herself; that was the Levi she knew. Always retreating when things got a bit too cosy for his liking.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back before frostbite kicks in,” she teased, very pleased to see him roll his eyes - one of her favourite reactions from him. “Oh, and by the way, could you send some of that luck my way? I think I could really use it in the near future.”

“Sure, I'll pack it into a little package, with a ribbon and everything, and leave it on your desk.” To anyone else, his voice might have sounded as serious as always, but Hange could detect the faintest hint of playful irony in it, and it delighted her. Giving her one final nod, Levi turned around completely and disappeared.

She remained standing at the beach for a while, absentmindedly playing with the oyster. It was slightly cracked open, and when she tried to peek inside, she glimpsed a hint of the nacre, shimmering white with pale blue highlights. Curiously, she ran her finger over the opening and then tapped lightly on its shell - and to her surprise, she could hear a faint sound, as if something was moving inside. A surprised gasp escaped her lips. Could it be that there was actually a pearl inside? The chances were slim, yet she couldn’t resist the urge to find out.

Carefully, she attempted to pry the two halves of the shell apart, her fingers working gently to create a small, widening gap without breaking it. Once the gap was large enough, she turned the shell around and, to her astonishment, she felt something small fall into the palm of her hand. With delight, she gazed at the smooth, creamy-beige pearl, holding it between two fingers before letting it fall back into her palm again.

What wonders Mother Nature worked. A foreign object entered the oyster’s shell, triggering the production of nacre as the oyster protected itself. Over months or years, it built up layer after layer around the irritant until a pearl was fully formed.

For some reason, Hange felt a connection with this process: her journey had begun with her own internal struggles and challenges. She had always had a clear vision of what she wanted, but often people didn’t take her seriously and sometimes even laughed at her. However, over time, the influence and support from her comrades - especially Erwin and Levi - their wisdom, experience, and guidance, had enveloped her, smoothing her rough edges and shaping her into the person and leader she was now. Of course, her insecurities remained; deep down, she was still the same. But she had acquired the means to handle them and tackle difficult situations, and it was only then that she realised how much those she had left behind continued to live within her.

“I’ll do my best, Erwin,” she whispered, her gaze fixed on the pearl. “I don’t know if I’ll succeed, but I’ll at least try.”

◇

Over the next few years, she always kept the oyster with the pearl in her jacket pocket, as a kind of good luck charm, but also as a comforting reminder of all the people she had to leave behind, who had such a profound impact on her life.

When her heart ached from having to arrest Floch and his followers, dealing with their radical ideologies, and she felt like everything around her was starting to crumble amidst the growing division and dissatisfaction, she reached into her pocket and began to fumble with the oyster shell, thinking about Levi and the fortunate day he had found it and hoping that some of his luck would rub off on her.

And when she broke down in front of the cellar door after her confrontation with Eren, feeling a growing sense of desperation because, although his methods were undeniably wrong, she could understand the source of his strong feelings, she reached into her pocket and clenched the pearl in her fist, hiding it within her closed fingers, its pressure against her palm a reminder that, amidst the chaos she was enduring, there were traces of Erwin within her that she just needed to find.

Little did she know that, some distance away in the forest, Levi was thinking about her, as if he sensed her struggle and wished he could do more than just silently support her. Although she was unaware of it, she felt a small spark of comfort igniting within her at that moment. And it was enough to keep her going.

#levihan #levi ackerman #hange zoe #attack on titan #levihan fic #aot #hanji zoe #my fic #mystoriesofaot #thank you so much for your request!

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ofdinosanddais1 · 1 year ago

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Heartbreak High Season 2 Spoilers

So... lots of shit happened in the finale.

1): I like that they're setting up a redemption for Sasha and Spider. Both have done such horrible things on complete opposite ends of the spectrum but it's nice to see they could have a path to growth.

2): For Spider, I'm hoping to see more of his home life. I am thinking his father abused both him and his mom and his mom had a traumatic response which made her fear men including her own son. I think she pushed him away when she should've helped him because that's her kid and he reacted in his own way. And that does not absolve him of his wrongdoings, it means he has to sort through this shit in order to grow and prevent further harm to others. I would love to see more discussion on that in the third season. I would love for Spider to have a retribution and closure arc not for his own wellbeing (although it's a factor) but because there are boys watching this show who might have experienced things like him who might want to know it's okay to feel emotions and to see the damage that his actions did to show that it's not a healthy thing to do and it hurts a lot of people. I said redemption arc because that's probably what the show is setting up for but I think "redemption" should be left ambiguously like he's trying to be better but his actions have lasting consequences on the people he's hurt and he will always be making up for that. Changing for other people is not about being seen as the good guy but doing your best to prevent further harm. It's a complicated thing to deal with but I think showing that complexity like they have before is so important for kids watching this show.

3): I would fucking adore to see a Sasha redemption arc mostly for my own experience with other people who behaved like her who never learned from their mistakes for treating me differently because I'm autistic. Some of y'all might not want a redemption arc for her but like, I would fucking love to see her apologize and acknowledge what she did wrong and show change. Even if it's hard to do at first because no one will be perfect on the first try. After the lack of a genuine apology from Sia and her actions to the autistic community and how she continues to victimize herself, I just really want an allistic person to apologize and do better and I think the set-up for that in season 3 is PERFECT. Hopefully, there's a way for Quinni to still be school captain with Sasha as her co-captain because I think a message of uplifting people in communities you are not a part of is an EXCELLENT message. Sasha could step back with being the leading voice in this and allow Quinni to be a voice in her life as being autistic. Then this could expand to Sasha stepping back and uplifting other people's voices and learn that activism is about bringing people together and allowing space to share ideas and not trying to call out every single action she thinks is wrong. Overall though, I don't want them back in a relationship. I think the captain/vice-captain friendship could be fucking GREAT.

4): My heart fucking hurts for Cash. During that whole episode where he was on that boat with Chook, I was so fucking scared it was gonna be a jumping out situation but I fucking hope Chook doesn't mess with Cash or Harper anymore. He fucking had a deal and I don't want any redemption for Chook whatsoever. Crime and recidivism reduction is a special interest of mine and I fucking hated that Cash was in that situation to begin with and it's a perfect example of how vulnerable people join gangs. I am so fucking elated that this show is doing a great job of representing crime, recidivism, and police brutality. I'll have to research the prison system in Australia because I wanna see the similarities between Australia and the US's prison system. But YES. NAIL ON HEAD. A lot of teenagers and children join gangs because they are vulnerable whether that be an abusive home life such as Cash being in a group home then in Chook's gang before his grandma brought him to her home. How your family, your friends, your loved ones are all in danger when you are trying to leave a gang. I'm so fucking relieved that hopefully Cash can be free. I don't trust Chook's word though and that stuff always haunts people who often have no choice. I just want him to be safe and loved and cared for. He deserves so much better.

5): Kinda disappointed that Harper and Amerie didn't have a conversation on how Harper treated her but I think I still like their arc. I don't think that they're in anyway on the best terms they could be but I think it's because that Amerie views relationships transactionally in the way that she thinks she has to give every cent of her self to make other people accept her and I wanna see more of Amerie's story. For one, we know she has a sorta strict mom. For two, I've never seen anything about her dad. I'm wondering if there was an incident in her peer group in the earlier days or a situation in her home life where she feels like she constantly has to give 200% just to feel like she deserves even 5% of something. I really want the showrunners to tackle that kind of stuff in the third season. I want Harper and Amerie to have some kind of realization that their friendship is more complicated and I want Amerie to just have a god damn break for once. Have like a filler episode or gods just a fucking nap. I want Amerie to get like a cold where Harper or Darren or someone just helps her out while a bunch of crazy shit happens at school. Give my girl a break.

6): I fucking hate Rowan. He's manipulative but also traumatized. BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW GREAT SAM RECHNER DID PORTRAYING HIM??? It's like he woke up one day as Rowan like his acting was fucking PHENOMENAL. If Rowan is in the third season, I'm not going to be mad because I fucking love Sam Rechner's portrayal of a teenager that is aggressive and touchy and just... how tf do I put this... a sort of trauma-touched angry that is not the typical portrayal of "I'm angry because I'm traumatized" but just representative of people who are like him if that makes any fucking sense??? Idk how to describe his attitude and mannerisms because there us definitely trauma laced with his actions but you can also tell through his backstory that this shit didn't start with his trauma or at least not the one we saw in the beginning. It's kinda like the signs of a serial killer but (hopefully) those signs are recognized and he is placed in a treatment that can focus on protecting himself and others. I don't think his behaviors will go away and I would not be surprised if he's not in the second season because he was institutionalized because that seems like a natural progression.

It's weird to talk about Rowan because there are signs that his trauma has influence on his behavior but is not the sole cause of his behavior. I don't want to put some kind of diagnostic label on him and I encourage everyone else to also not put a diagnostic label on him because I think most people watching (including myself) have the psychological knowledge to put a label on him without demonizing other mental illnesses because I see a lot of behaviors that can be attributed to some psychological problems but I'm not educated enough to talk about that without demonizing people with those mental illnesses who act so far from his other behaviors. So, I don't recommend other people putting a label on him because, even with good intentions, there are people who would want to use Rowan as a reason to demonize real life mentally ill people. But, I do not fucking like him as a person. I love the characterization. But fuck him to the sun, man. He was manipulative of Amerie and he was trying to forget Amerie but his thoughts did result in harmful actions and I think the best retribution would be deep psychiatric help but knowing the mental health industry, the kind of help he needs does not currently exist and that fucking sucks. If he is in the next season, I'm not going to complain because holy fuck I loved the character in the realm of his writing like the writer room for Heartbreak High deserves a fucking award.

Overall, my thoughts on the season were that I love how complicated everyone is. The characters feel like actual people that exist in real life. They feel loved and cared for and I hope netflix greenlights a third season. I've seen a LOT of people recently who hadn't watched the first season come out but got a netflix account specifically to watch Heartbreak High and that kind of thing is what netflix WANTS so I'm a little more hopeful that a third season might get greenlit. I'm excited to see what the showrunners do next.

Again, gonna say that, whatever behaviors that Rowan has that can be attributed to certain mental health disorders, let's just consider what fuel we're adding to the fire.

And because some people did this, remember that the actors are not the characters. A lot of people bullied Gemma for Sasha's actions but Gemma is the actor playing Sasha, she is not actually Sasha. She did a fantastic job so it might be confusing but she is not Sasha and does not deserve the hate she gets for her wonderful portrayal. This goes for EVERY actor.

#god i fucking love this show #heartbreak high #heartbreak high spoilers #heartbreak high season 2 spoilers #heartbreak high season 2 #phenomenal fucking job

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thegeminisage · 1 year ago

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okay WHEW it's star trek update time. last night* we watched tng's "interface" and ds9's "the siege." *i'm typing this at fuck o clock and scheduling it to go up tomorrow when i'm not here <3

interface (tng):

i don't want to talk about it

actually wait no yes i do but mostly i just want to complain. i wish there was perhaps some sort of skip/watch list with the dead parent episodes labeled. for star trek. i mean i know i'm making one but not that one i can't use that until it's too late. i can't crowdsource EVERY dead parent episode of star trek through my tumblr followers. though i will say whoever warned me about 4.02 of ds9 (i forgot which person it was, i'm so sorry 🙏) has my deepest gratitude. ok. complaint lodged.

what else...um, geordi and data. emptiness. Yeah

yeah. that's all. sorry. my spidey senses started tingling about halfway through the episode and i googled whether or not his mom really was dead and upon receiving my answer we stopped the episode to go directly to ds9.

the siege (ds9)

LOVED this one. where do i even begin

well i will begin at the obvious: women! kira and dax in the shuttle. mwah

what i loved most about kira and dax in the shuttle wasn't even the homoeroticism, though i did - of course - deeply enjoy the homoeroticism. what i loved MOST was that they seemed to have invented a personality for dax at last! i have no idea what was going on in this episode or who this dax was or where she was during s1 but i REALLY liked her. it's shocking bc i almost gave her LAST PLACE in the character rankings, but she was so fun here?? and also kind of like...airheaded and weird. "i might keep the nose." seems like they really DIDN'T know what to do with her in s1, but better late than never. i will continue to try and forgive her really terrible hair even though it makes her head look soooo weird and offputting

big spider bad. actually it was too stupid looking to be scary but i still didn't like it

quark and odo's gay little goodbye <3

julian FUCKING bashir pretending he was hot shit when he held those guys up. KING.

actually all of the action sequences in this episode were great. all three of season 2's episodes have been really funny even as they're also very serious at the same time, i fucking love it

love also the little nod to o'brien's service record on the cardassian front in the way of wartime rations. not only is it funny but it is, again, a great reminder of his cardassian trauma, and why he might feel obligated to stay behind

SPEAKING OF. everyone in ops, down to the last person, agreeing to stay at ds9, even though some of them have families like o'brien does. i'm SO glad they didn't forget his family, that they actually showed him and keiko arguing about it, but he STILL felt morally that he had to stay - that it was more important than his own life, and the risk of his family having to continue on without him.

PLUS the fact that not a single person wanted to leave, even after sisko assured them that they SHOULD think of their families...girl he is literally the best captain or commander or whatever. that's stone cold loyalty. they all trust him or love him or both.

i was a little ambivalent on li nalas as a concept but he actually was used finally...i think "off the hook" was a great way to take care of that arc neatly, because making him live the lie would have felt cruel, but him just ghosting would have made him look like an asshole, no matter how justified. i hope there's a bajoran afterlife he can chill out in

did we get set up for season-long villains with winn and jaro? that would be fun. the concept of "storylines" feels so foreign in a star trek show but there it is........

TONIGHT: tng's "gambit part i" and ds9's "invasive procedures," which with any luck will hopefully be about subjects besides dead parents 🤞

#personal #star trek blogging #tng lb #ds9 lb #i did go back and finish the episode later on like 2x speed during the nonimportant bits. only second or third tng ep ever to make me cry #that riker and geordi scene................

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justanotherpersonsuniverse · 2 years ago

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hey cap! just wanted to say: last week was CRAZY so i only just got around to rereading panthera (500 pages in babyy), however i have a couple of notes! and a photo.

these are now pantheras gloves to me sozzles.

onto the notes from the top of my head!

absolutely love how fucking stupid rose was about being in love with juleka. like she really just. didn't notice for so damn long.

i like how you foreshadow events! like i know they are coming because yknow. read this damn thing about 5 times now. but i notice new things each time damnit!

you would not believe how vivid that scene from guitar villain of panthera going so hard is for me, like that is genuinely one of the images that comes up for me when i think about this fic

once again. foreshadowing. i actually didn't notice the first few times that Lilas mum says "the city of love" and then teases her about a romantic relationship, and the way Lila reacts?? excellent. love noticing new details

i actually fucking love anarka so much frfr, you got her character down so nicely, like she's not 'important' but she is and it comes through (also i will always always lose it over you using scottish slang, sometimes you use it in such a strange way and i love it)

onto the questions!

ok so people joke about it in the asks but will we be seeing Rose with a miraculous? i think the dynamic between juleka and Rose as she is transformed would be absolutely hysterical, but also seeing Julekas thoughts on Rose being in danger would be fascinating. (along with knowign which miraculous she would be getting)

is Marinette ever going to figure out who Panthera is? and to extend that question; what are tikkis motivations for identities being kept so secret whereas plagg doesn't care as much? or is it simply to stay true to some of the show?

I've noticed that Juleka sometimes has bouts of confidence (eg. horrificator) and acts more 'like panthera' but i have been curious on whether she would start to be more talkative in general, not that she has / should be but i've just been curious about that since i first started reading if i'm honest with you. (i find that panthera is similar to masking and how i view that so Juleka would probably be increibdly socially exhausted if she did so) i also ask because it would be really funny to see her casually flirt with friends really smoothly without the cat ears

will we be seeing more of Rose noticing Juleka and Marinette havign some sort of bond? before she realised her feelings it was explicitly stated (i think in numerical? replacement for reflecta.) that she felt jelous over their interactions and i am interested to see if that would continue (though i may be forgetting details! i am only 500 pages into a 1700 roundabout document)

On a bit of a time crunch rn and may appear again so thats all for now!

notes on the two 'new' chapters coming soon!

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Great to read your notes again! As for your questions...

We will eventually! In Season 4! She'll still be Pigella, because I love Pigella, but I'll be doing my best to keep it refreshing!

2. Eventually. I'll hold my tongue on saying whether she'll learn post canon or in the fic, I can't wait to show you all how my plans play out. As for Tikki- I'd like to imagine many of her ladybugs died because they let their identities leak. She's a bit traumatized.

3. 'Panthera' as an identity is very much Juleka's way of masking! I'm glad you picked up on that. At first i wrote it as a funny instinct but as I kept going the idea of Juleka literally taking that identity to mask well, yeah! It got depressing in Prince Shining but now that Juleka is more in tune with herself- I hope to play more around with the running gag of her being 'Panthera' when she's supposed to be 'Juleka.'

4. I apologize that it was a little plot thread that never got as explored as I had originally intended to so many years ago but!! Rose's thoughts on Marinette and Juleka's relationship will eventually make a return!

Happy reading!! Stay tuned for more!!

#panthera noire au #sneak a cat

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queenofthearchipelago · 2 years ago

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I read your post about the 1941 flashback, which is the only one, that is a continuation of a s1 flashback. So, you do think we’ll get another 1941 flashback in s3? I hope so!

You know, when I wrote that little ficlet, I wasn't actually 100% sold on the idea that we Absolutely Would get another 1941 flashback in season 3. I was thinking it would be a coin toss, maybe we would get it maybe we wouldn't. But this ask made me really Think about it. And, I've changed my mind.

I do think we're getting another 1941 flashback scene.

(Edit from future me who just finished writing this, prepare for a meta and my theory for what the next flashback scene might be like)

See, originally, in my mind, I was only certain that we would get some sort of continuation. I didn't know if that would be in 1941 or maybe present day season 3. Because there are indeed a lot of loose ends with that story. The gun in the bookshop and the zombies still being out there, just two examples.

But the more I think of it, the less my "present day season 3" theory makes sense. Those zombies were created SPECIFICALLY to find out whether Aziraphale and Crowley were fraternizing. And now they're free to roam the Earth, killing at least one person per day so that they can survive. I can't imagine either Aziraphale nor Crowley being okay with the idea of that, especially not for 80 years. And especially with season 3 being about the Second Coming, I doubt there's gonna be time to deal with Nazi Zombies (though Neil can do what he wants, he always does lol)

I think it makes much more sense if something were to happen soon after that romantic dinner in 1941. Come walk with me now because I have an idea...

What if that first flashback in season 1 was just the prologue? And now this bit in season 2 was part 1 of a two part story? (That was a lot of ones and twos in one sentence... and I'm doing it again)

Here's what we know:

In season 3 we will be dealing with the Second Coming, and though we don't know how that will play out, we can assume that Crowley and Aziraphale will have to trust each other. Much like the bullet catch.

There's a gun in the bookshop.

Demons aren't allowed to kill humans (or potentially zombies with a contract with Hell that allows them to be immortal) (Reference: Crowley tells Shax this in episode 5, and it's one of the only things he says to her that he clearly isn't making up because she nods like she knows and then she has her line about how humans can be casualties when fighting angels)

What if, in that next flashback scene in 1941, Aziraphale and Crowley come face to face with the Nazi Zombies again. Only this time, angel and demon have decided that they really have to get rid of the Nazis for good this time. This would make it the first time in their existence they decided to kill someone.

And the situation unfolds into... another bullet catch?

Aziraphale has the gun, he aims it for a zombie, and Crowley is in the way. He can't use a miracle to kill someone, he just can't. He has to do this the human way or not at all. He aims, he fires, he... aims true.

He's killed someone. Nazi zombies who were planning on killing innocents and hurting himself and Crowley. But he killed them, his actions did that.

He tells Heaven that he was thwarting Hell's plans, so he gets away with it. He was just returning Hell's souls back where they came from so they'd stop doing harm.

And all this could still lead into my little ficlet here.

And the implications of that moving forward, that Crowley trusts Aziraphale with his life in the exact same way the angel trusted him. That Aziraphale IS capable of killing (and maybe this is why Crowley suggested Aziraphale kill the anti-christ, because he knows the angel won't like it, but he can). The implications to that could parallel whatever is going on present day with the Second Coming in season 3.

Regardless of if I'm right or not, I do think something has to come up again with those zombies and the gun. They might not even end up serving the same plot line, but in the meantime, it's certainly fun to think about.

#thanks for the ask!#good omens #good omens meta #good omens theories #good omens 1941 #aziraphale #crowley #the bullet catch #asks #thoughtsfromthequeen

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serendertothesquad · 9 months ago

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Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "Club 37" Episode Followup, Part 2

...I'm doing this for all of you reading these followups, and I hope you realize that.

Let's go below the break as I pray that this episode gets better.

Okay, I'll have to assume that this girl is "Oh-Oh", even though Ozzie pronounces her name as "Uh-Oh".

Either way, she's way too chipper for someone going completely against the grind.

"We solve oddness. We don't cause it."

"But some people want their cases unsolved."

THAT IS THE SAME EXACT FUCKING THING. BY UNSOLVING YOU ARE, IN ESSENCE, CAUSING ODDNESS. THIS IS NOT STEPHEN HAWKING LOGIC WE ARE RUNNING ON FOR FUCK'S SAKE.

AND THEN THEY TRY TO FUCKING JUSTIFY IT BY MAKING THE VICTIMS WANT THEIR ODDITIES REAPPLIED?????? ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE.

Y'know...at least when people wanted odd stuff to happen to them, it was funny. It wasn't a common thing. It was a joke, a one-off gag. And I was fine with that, because those people were outliers, whether they were clients or villains.

The existence of Oh-Oh implies that this happens on a regular fucking basis and we're just supposed to take this as part of the franchise lore.

I don't know about you guys, but I am not, in fact, taking this as part of the franchise lore.

I don't know if I can give a bigger "fuck you" than the "fuck you" I'm giving right now. Not at work, not while driving, not at this goddamn franchise.

I would probably like this girl more if she wasn't in this episode and wasn't in the business of undoing the hard work of the other employees of the organization she works for.

And I would probably like this math lesson more if it wasn't in this VERY STUPID-ASS MOTHERFUCKING EPISODE.

*sigh so hard it cracked a rib bone*

The songs are bangers, though. But they are not this episode's saving grace by a fucking long shot.

...No, actually, I lied. I listened to the lyrics. This version is not a banger, and fuck you.

Good. Good on Orwell and his superb Security access system. Good for him. Proud of him. Proud of him for having sense and reason.

Too bad he's at the whim of Omar and these two will get in there anyway.

So...so cases are sorted by indivi- I can't. No. I fucking can't. There are four minutes left of this episode and I have never been more ready to shove it into a cannon, shoost it to the moon, and put it out of its fucking misery.

When Season 3 had lore, at least a lot of it was consistent. And they could bend the rules because they were visiting different precincts that had different rules and regulations depending on where they were. Things were fine, and aside from the writing and...well, several other non-lore criticisms, I was generally happy.

This episode? Gives a "fuck you" to the lore of the last 10 years and just laughs and says "forget about all that, here's some new nonsensical lore". And you can't do that to a decade-old franchise! There are rules! There are laws! There are established things! We already struggle with continuity and the timeline, stop making it worse!

God...it's really a shame I'm writing this at night, because otherwise I would go and take a walk and scream in the park and then walk back and regret my life decisions again.

Ozzie is such a hardcore brony that he's willing to skydive with a unicorn that may or may not have self-levitating abilities.

And a pair of wings.

"I need Phillip the unicorn!"

"No, no. What you need are some My Little Ponies."

"I...what?"

"Toy brand? Been around since at least the 80s."

"...Oh my God..."

"I'm taking you to the toy store later."

Recognition doth not this episode's infernal sinfulness undo, OMAR.

"Ozzie...karma...is...a bitch. A...stupid...bitch."

YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES. HELP THE DAMN MAN. HE TAKES PRIORITY OVER SEEING SOME GODDAMN NON-MLP UNICORN WHAT IN GOD'S BUTT'S NAME ARE YOU D O I N G .

And once again, OMAR...RECOGNITION DOTH NOT AN INFERNAL SINFUL EPISODE UNDO.

YESSSSSSSSSSSS MY GIRL ORLI GOT SOME PRIORITIES MHM. BLESS HER FOR DEVELOPING A BRAIN IN THE FINAL FEW MINUTES.

Ozzie, you bitch-ass bastard, any sane brony would have zapped the portal already. You have AN ENTIRE FRANCHISE THAT REDEFINED MAGICAL HORSES in Britain. Go watch some of that ancillary media.

OH WELL NOW YOU DEVELOP A BRAIN TOO HUH. JESUS F U C K.

*snaps fingers* KARMA'S A BITCH ISN'T IT. A SMART-ASS BITCH.

But of course. They're the main characters. We got half a season yet. Wouldn't be right if the focus shifted to all the side characters when these two got fired.

(Though honestly? I might like that better.)

"But I think we need to find a different way to reward the agents."

Mm...hmm...well, I dunno, this might be a dumb idea, but...a pizza party for every X amount of cases solved? Or maybe just the first 100?

Already sounds more sane to me, and it was executed better two seasons ago!

*deep sigh*

It was going so well...it was such a beautiful hope spot...

And then Opie decided to rip out that hope spot, stomp on it, run it over with an industrial steamroller, and feed it to the people at Alcatraz.

I mean okay, maybe this precinct doesn't have an Agent of the Month award. Fine. I can live with that. But this seems to be implying that this is an entirely new idea, when it was already brought up and used in the first two seasons twice over.

Yeah, there's a Captain's Club. But it's for Management agents only.

And that, folks, is where you can slip in a line reference to Ozzie's past to. Riiiight in there.

"There's a unicorn!"

But it's a My Little Pony unicorn. That is the difference.

And like an angel, in the wind, with a weird sea euphemism...she's gone.

Can't sea her anymore.

*sips Pepsi* Oldie but a goodie.

"Now, how can we make this unicorn so distinct, such a bootleg, even, that Hasbro can't sue us?"

"Put big eyes on it. Cartoonishly big. Like one you'd find in a 3D cartoon."

"...Perfect! I love it! Send it to editing!"

(Also, hi, bootleg Rainbow Dash unicorn. Nice to see you too. And nice to see my joke from forever and a half ago still holds up.)

Congratulations to Rainbow Dash for her successful gender transition and her eye surgery, done in the same scene. Best of luck!

Is that...is that a fucking cutie mark on its flank?

Is that a FUCKING CUTIE MARK or am I trippin'?

...I'm looking it up, that's Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark from Generation 1. She's got white in her mane...but there was no Rainbow Dash in G1; she came in G3 and had a rainbow mane. (Her counterpart from G1 is Firefly, who shares some colors but looks nothing like this unicorn.)

Because they're too scared to make an actual reference, the fucking bastards.

So essentially, it's bootleg Rainbow Dash with the white from G1 Twilight's mane (or perhaps the coat of Rarity from G4) and her cutie mark from that generation. A mix-and-match, if you will. (Or, likewise, the very-fanon Super Rainbow Dash, where her fur is, in fact, white.)

You didn't have to include the cutie mark. You chose to add that. And then you half-assed the rest of it. Could have made the unicorn have G1 Twilight's colors and that's it, but God forbid, Hasbro's gonna hunt them down for money, oooooooh scawy.

0/10. See me after class.

And your credits for this episode. My guess is that Ashleigh Ball refused to be credited as the voice of "Phillip". And I completely understand.

---------------------------------------

So overall, that was...huh. It was...well, first off, it was an awful episode. I think my rage pretty much speaks for itself. The Rainbow Dash/Twilight mashup bootleg unicorn, nor the songs, were not saving graces for this episode at all -- if anything, they were the cherries on top of an already-existing shitstorm. Awful pretty much across the entire board. If I want something leagues better, I'll go watch something like "Rookie Night", with a similar exclusivity premise, or "The Jackies", with a similar "solve X amount of cases" premise. Both are equally good episodes.

I need to...destress, lol. So next on the chopping block will be "Odd Way Round", which is Orli-centric and will probably feature lots of new stupid lore for me to nitpick at like an old-fart sod.

Seren out!

#seren's studies #odd squad #odd squad pbs kids #odd squad uk

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swanimagines · 5 months ago

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im half asleep right now (staying up late scrolling when i rlly should be sleeping 😅) but i just was overcome with appreciation for your blog and i really want to let you know that your posts always bring a smile to my face. it makes me so happy to see you feeling comfortable enough to return to tumblr!!! (and i also wanna say please dont be too hard on yourself, youre doing amazing things and seriously appreciate your presence on this website so much ((but would also be on your side in a heartbeat if you ever decided to change platforms again, because at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that youre enjoying yourself and are in a space you feel safe in!!)))

i have my own fanfic blog, that i notably made like the day of a new film releasing, so i think within like that first month i got like ~200 requests that i still havent answered all of- my point being that seeinf you persevere through all your requests makes me feel like i have the strength in me too to complete my own. it just makes me feel like im not alone/its okay to be human and go at my own pace

anyway im so sorry if this is rambly or clunky or makes no sense. im typing this with clumsy fingers on mobile tumblr so everythings really janky 😭 so ill just wrap this up before i fall asleep with my phone fallen ontop of my face and just say, thank you. thank you for doing what you do & making me feel less alone

(and, ofcourse, a huge thank you for all the amazing fics youve posted over the years, im still making mt way through your masterlists and every new fic i read brings me so much joy)

sending so many positive vibes your way. i hope life (and people on tumblr) treats you super well, you deserve it!!! 💞💞💞

PHOTO TEXT: "same rambly overtired anon from a second ago- i also just wanted to say your commitment to always returning to writing even when you burn out or take long breaks also really resonates with me. it reminds me that im not some sort of failure just because i cant write all the time, and its like a light at the end of the tunnel reminding me i can always come back no matter how long its been

okay, thats all for real this time!!! im holding myself accountable and saying ill got to sleep as soon as i send this ask 😅😅 (i need energy so i can have a blast writing tomorrow after all!! 😄)"

ANONNNNNN YOU MADE ME SMILE SO WIIIIDE!! It cheered me up a lot, even though I'm very cheery anyway right now because of next week (!!!!), but you made my day even better!

Honestly I still do have fleeting moments when I wonder why did I come back because there are some rude/weird people who pop into my inbox/messages once in a while, but people like you are exactly one reason why I decided to come back to post!!

Just a while ago, someone splatted multiple very long and detailed smut scenarios with extreme kinks to me through IM's and was like "I'm not asking you to write these but what do you think of these ideas?" and when I told them that it makes me really uncomfortable and I can't even finish reading that first message, they were like "oh, ok. But what do you think of them?" and yeah I was pretty creeped out, in the end I had to block that person because it felt like they pressured me to finish reading those.

But overall, the feeling of being here has been healthier than when I left? I'm kinda scared of The Sandman season 2 though 😅 (Last time S1 was one of the culprits that made me leave, people just wouldn't understand why I don't write smut for it when everyone else does, there was a huge beef about it and yeah, browsing through Morpheus tag is still very much smut sooo mmh, S2 scares me + I'm also scared of whether there's going to be the same kind of drama that was with Harry Potter/me writing for Harry Potter when JKR started clowning around, which drove me away and ultimately completely made me lose interest to write for it/return to write for it. I just hope people won't attack us who will continue writing for The Sandman despite what Neil Gaiman has been doing)

But on the other hand, seeing that a lot of people in the community have left because of pressuring/guilt-tripping/toxic people, it may have contributed in how people are more polite, or at least attempting to be more polite? Most people who I've asked to send in their "machine request" again with a hello/please/thank you have done so and usually with an apology too. In 2022, such people either told me to fuck off or alternatively told me to fuck off + blocked me, so this is an improvement and it makes me have hope for the future of this community!

And yeah haha, glad to know there are people who understand the way my to-do list is packed. There have been a few people who requested and pulled their request off when they learned that it won't be coming out next because they've been used to writers who write their request within a week max from after they send it in, and I understand why people find my way confusing, why I just don't close requests. But like SOMEHOW those people who don't see any of the "requests are closed" signs always seem to send me the most amazing requests that hurt to turn down because my requests were closed 😅 So that + because the DRAMA was unbelieveable every time my requests closed, I made a decision to open my request box for good. People request and virtually sign an agreement to wait patiently, but they also have the right to pull their request out if they get tired of waiting and want to send their idea to someone else.

Also I'm proud of myself for having succeeded in keeping up a steady pace of posting for these first few months (currently my active queue is running until April 11, and hopefully beyond that) after being extremely slow for so long and I want to give some credit to supportive people like you for that!

(Also 200 requests during the first month?? 😳 You must be a brilliant writer if so many people found you in such a short time, even if that film is a massive success (which I assume it was)!)

Have a good day, week, year, decade writing sweet nonny and thank you so much for sending this message 💕

#anon #asks #feedback

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orionsangel86 · 2 years ago

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I'm not in the Good Omens fandom, so maybe I've got this wrong, but I suspect why everyone on my dash seems to be clamoring for an immediate fix-it besides obvious fandom impatience. I think a lot of people are convinced that basically nothing is coming back from the strikes. Tbh I kind of am myself. I've just accepted that we're never going to see Sandman s2 or GO s3 because Amazon and Netflix are shit. At least with Sandman we have the books?

I admit its a tough situation to be in. I guess for me, I am trying to have hope that the streamers will eventually see sense, because otherwise their business models are gonna fail and they are going to lose revenue anyway. Eventually some sort of deal will be made and the work will start again, I just hope beyond hope that the deal is everything the WGA and SAGAFTRA want.

I have more hope for a GOS3 than I do for a Sandman tbh. Simply because making films and TV isn't Amazon's main source of income so they can be a bit more flexible with their choices. They have renewed far less popular shows for far longer. It seems almost like the entertainment division is more a hobby or pet project for Amazon than its main focal point so IDK, I'm just not all that worried about Amazon Prime. I genuinely think Amazon is very proud of GO and they won't let go of it anytime soon. It's also one of their most popular shows so I'd be really surprised if they cancel it (though, then again, with the strikes anything can happen). We also still have the BBC backing it up I believe? Though I doubt they'd ever have the budget to take over fully if Amazon decided not to continue with it, but perhaps its possible the BBC could look for a new partner in that unlikely scenario? I dunno I'm not a media expert here by any means.

Sandman though is a different story. Extremely expensive, and on a streaming service notorious for cancelling shows mid season. With the strikes, I can see them changing their minds and cancelling Season 2 even though it started filming in some bitter attempt to get back at strikers and claim tax breaks where they can. I don't trust them at all. I loathe the Netflix execs because they have been cancelling, making excuses, and screwing over creatives for years now. They are the ones that started it all, and the other streamers simply took their ideas and ran with them. I wish Sandman had been on a different streamer. I feel like it would have been safer on Amazon Prime. Even if we do manage to get through to season 2 of Sandman, I have absolutely zero faith that we'll make it through to the end of the story on Netflix.

Though at least with Sandman, I believe (though correct me if I'm wrong) that Neil still holds all the rights, and if Netflix cancels it, he can put the option out to other networks/streamers to pick it up again? So even if Netflix does what Netflix always does, there is every possibility that it'll just jump to a different network to finish the story.

I hope that is the case, because in all honesty if I had to put money down on a bet on whether or not Netflix will follow through with Sandman right through to the Wake, I'll be betting against them. I just don't see it happening. Netflix are too flakey and well, evil, to care about stories to do it justice.

To your first point, I can understand the fear and do sympathise with fans being hurt and upset that GOS2 ended on such a grim cliffhanger, I just don't think the hate and denial and screams of "out of character!" are the way to handle that fear. But diving straight into fanfiction is a totally acceptable and encouraged way to manage the feelings anyone may have over the ending! That's totally fine! Keep the fix-its to fanfiction, but please stop clamouring for reasons why the ending was wrong and bad and stupid and worth sending Neil Gaiman inbox hate over. You're all better than that.

#Good Omens #Good Omens Season 2 #good omens season 2 spoilers #the sandman #fuck the streamers #neil gaiman #anti netflix #less anti amazon prime but they are still awful #fandom discourse #asks

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ncisfranchise-source · 3 months ago

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Gibbs and Lala were so close to having it all in the NCIS: Origins season 1 finale. While we were prepared for the duo's tragic ending, no one saw it coming quite this soon. And, despite the nature of Gibbs' tale, there was always a flicker of hope that, maybe, things would turn out okay. However, nothing was okay about that final shot of Lala bleeding out in an overturned car, with Gibbs professing his love through Mark Harmon's narration.

So what does this mean for NCIS: Origins season 2 (which has officially been renewed by CBS)? Regardless of Lala's fate, creators and showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal confirm that Mariel Molino's character will continue to have a profound impact on Gibbs' life. The duo remain tight-lipped about her future, but since she hasn't been pronounced dead, it's possible that Lala will survive the accident when the show returns.

ScreenRant interviews showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal about that major cliffhanger, Lala and Gibbs' almost-kiss, and exploring Frank's relationship with his brother in NCIS: Origins season 2.

Fans Will Have To Wait Until NCIS: Origins Season 2 To Find Out Lala's Fate

"We told them that this was going to be a show that we were going to take chances."

ScreenRant: Let's start with the obvious question. Is Lala really dead?

Gina Lucita Monreal: We need you to come back for season 2 and find out. David J. North: I've been waiting on Gina to tell me. Gina Lucita Monreal: I'm not even going to tell David. Return for season 2, please, and find out the fate of Lala.

So she may be alive. It's not a definitive death?

David J. North: We talked so much about it is the truth of this. And going into this, we knew we wanted to do this show a little different—take big swings. We were doing it as more streaming for broadcast. Amy Reisenbach, the head of the network, has been so supportive of that. And Mariel knew, and the rest of the cast, we told them this was going to be a show that we were going to take chances. And so Gina and I put a lot of thought into it. In season 2, we thought this was the most truthful way for the characters and what we saw, and we want to just leave that open and come back in season 2 and see what happens.

Gibbs says again at the end of the episode that this is the story of Lala. Does that mean that season 2 is going to focus more heavily on her origins?

David J. North: As far as Lala's character, I definitely know that she's going to continue to be a presence in Gibb's life just solely from what's already just happened. And we just heard Mark Harmon, the older Gibbs say, "I loved her. I still do." So she'll remain a presence regardless of what her fate was that night. Gina Lucita Monreal: Right, because she's clearly had an effect on him this entire season.

The Writers Debated Over Whether Gibbs And Lala Should Kiss In The Finale

"If he had gone through with the kiss, it sort of would've been disingenuous because he had this huge news to tell her."

He says he loved Lala, and he's always loved Lala. Was there a moment when you pictured a shift from friendship to more?

Gina Lucita Monreal: For me, it's been a gradual progression of their relationship. That's always what we planned on doing when they first meet in that burnt out house. It's in the prose of the script. It was like, "She's the storm that you crave and fear." And I think, for Gibbs, she just kind of came into his life like a storm, and they weren't sure how to approach each other or what to think about each other in the beginning, and slowly grew to trust each other, which was a big step for both of them. So I hope that the audience has really seen the progression of their relationship throughout the season all the way up until they're in that pool scene. Hopefully, that moment between them felt really earned because that was something we worked really hard toward.

They almost kiss in the pool before Gibbs tells her that he gave up the weapon. Did you ever consider them actually having the kiss, or did you always want it to be an "almost"?

Gina Lucita Monreal: We spoke a lot about that moment in the writers' room. There was much debate about whether it should be a kiss or not. In the end, we decided to have it be a near-kiss. They both really wanted to go there, but Gibbs needed to tell her the truth about what he had just done with Macy. And if he had gone through with the kiss, it sort of would've been disingenuous because he had this huge news to tell her. And to us, that was in line with Gibbs' character to hold back in that moment. So he does hold back.

I love that it was an almost. It actually made the ending feel even more tragic.

David J. North: I agree. I totally agree. When I read what Gina had written, because to be honest, I wasn't sure till I got the script, and I totally agree. I know a lot of people are going to be like, "Dammit, they were so close!" But it was honest, it was true, and it makes the ending even more powerful for me. So I'm glad you said that.

So where might we pick up in season 2? Will we see what happens right after the accident? Is there a time jump?

David J. North: We're still having those discussions, obviously, but leaving like that, that moment's going to send shockwaves through the team. So yes, we won't waste much time before finding out Lala's fate.

NCIS: Origins Season 2 Will Explore Franks' Relationship With His Brother

"We see that there is some sort of wall that has been put up between them over what happened in Vietnam."

One of the last conversations that Franks had with Lala was him accusing her of selling out Gibbs. Since she put herself on the line to save him, how is Franks going to feel after this?

Gina Lucita Monreal: Like David said, I think that this event, no matter what Lala's fate ends up being, will send shockwaves through the team, including Franks. I think this is something that is so relatable. A major event happens in one moment, and in the blink of an eye, everything is different. And you go back, and you think about the last thing you said to someone, you think about the last thing you did before this event happened, and you stew on that. And it has an effect on who you are moving forward. And I think that will be true for all of our characters. David J. North: She means so much to him, to Franks. The fact she pushes back on him and his criticisms of her, if he had to be in a foxhole with anyone on Earth, it's her. She just means the world to him. He just has a very Franky way of showing it sometimes.

Randy is finally looped in about everything, but he wants to do more desk work. What is his storyline going to look like in season 2?

Gina Lucita Monreal: We love Randy. He is such an integral part of the team, the energy he brings, just who he is, and who Caleb is as a human being and an actor. There will be no shortage of Randy in season 2, but we're excited to explore this sort of different kind of storyline for him where he is questioning his place in the field, but he will still be present in season 2 in all of our episodes. David J. North: Gina and I are constantly revising and picking apart these stories we want to tell. And the one thing that's never been said is, "You know, there was too much Randy in that episode." We adore him, and he's going to remain a big presence like Gina said.

And then, of course, Franks gets that call at the end of the episode from his brother...

Gina Lucita Monreal: So his relationship with his brother, we saw the beginnings of it in those flashback episodes. We saw how close they were. I think that a lot of our audience may have thought that Mason died in Vietnam because of Franks' reaction to talking about his brother after that, but we find out in the finale that Mason is actually alive and well. Franks knew that all along, and now Mason wants to reconnect in some way. We see that there is some sort of wall that has been put up between them over what happened in Vietnam. So there definitely are plans for us to tell that story of what happened in Vietnam and also a story about what is going on in present day because of what happened in their past. So we're looking forward to exploring that dynamic with Franks and his brother present day, as well.

#ncis origins #interview

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