#i suppose i made it for s2/3 ish

[bohemian-nights]

love your blog <3

there's no reason for nettles to be cut. the only reason she's not in s2 is because they want to milk "daemyra" as much as possible and don't care about sacrificing the only canonically black character to make the main white couple look good.

it's bullshit. they do shit like this and then claim to be "progressive" ? including black character only to turn them into side kicks for the main white characters and mistreat them is not progressive. why are baela and rhaena sidelined for the strongs? in f&b they're more important. why is laena turned into the "unloved wife"? second to rhaenyra? why is vaemond framed as the villain for being angry that his home is being robbed by a white boy?

and now we have a shot of all of the dragonseeds - except nettles, the only important dragonseed. and when you try to complain the stans hit you with the "but there are other black characters" card. they say that "race doesn't exist in westeros" (LMAO) to excuse and justify luke being the heir and pretend like there's nothing problematic with a white person stealing a black family's home. they also use the "no race" card to justify nettles being erased or downplay her importance. the gaslighting and racist undertones are actually crazy.

thank you for calling these people out.

Thank you. I do try and try my best not to come off like a crazy person talking at a wall, but this fandom and this show are nuts and severely anti-Black.

I won’t say it’s worse than other fandoms, but admitting there is a problem is like pulling teeth.

You have people blatantly lie and pretend like their headcanons are actual canon which is extremely disturbing when it comes to the Black(ish) characters because those headcanons are made to take away their characterization.

There is only so much one can ignore without disregarding their self pride.

As far as the showrunners go I will say I don’t think they are trying to prop up that ghost ship because they wouldn’t have added choke-gate if they had any intention of turning Dumbnyra(I’m not respecting a ship populated by people who think it's fine to call Black characters the n-word) into an epic romance, but they are trying to hold off on putting Nettles on the show because she makes said self-insert look bad and they can’t have that.

Yet they know cutting her looks suspect considering their past actions.

They think diversity = having Black(ish) people there never mind lighting them on fire, sidling them, turning them into an undisputed villain, turning them into stereotypes, etc., and unfortunately they’ve emboldened an extremely racist and toxic fanbase with their (in)action(s).

Laena was deliberately made into the disposable Black girlfriend, but no one cared about that. No one cared about how that looked or how Black fans would feel with that being our representation. How it's harmful and damaging to see that play out time and time again. They cheered it on and called her slurs while doing so.

Now I’ve seen people claim to be concerned about Nettles and her being made into a mistress and yes there are problems with showing a Black woman as a mistress, but there are just as many if not more problems with showing a Black(ish) woman as someone’s second choice or showing us as undesirable. Not a peep was said about the latter.

The same people who are so concerned(I see y’all in her tag) are the same people who a couple of months ago were calling for Nettles to be cut and replaced with Baela and Rhaena or even Addam because they are all Black(ish) now. Never mind that Nettles’ story is vastly different from theirs.

That Nettles isn’t supposed to be indisputably Valyrian like the others(at least in the books her heritage is the least clear out of everyone present and in the show she still isn’t being claimed by anyone).

Never mind that she isn’t supposed to be Daemon's daughter(the dates don’t line up and I dare anyone to tell me they bathed naked with their father at 17; I dare anyone to say that someone who claimed a wild dragon with the highest body count during the sowing doesn’t know how to bathe herself).

Or that she isn’t just someone’s mistress(you don’t risk your life for a woman who is just your mistress).

That she isn’t an unloved unwanted woman despite who she is(Daemon chooses her. We can talk about how that isn’t “progressive” enough for some people although I’d argue that it’s progressive for a character like Nettles, but that’s what’s written in black and white).

That she’s saved and survives the Dance. She’s the only dragonseed that survives maybe even the last dragonrider for two hundred years. She certainly gains more than what she had(she becomes the spiritual leader of a tribe for God's sake). 

Is Nettles’ story perfect, no, but people are holding her, her arc, and her potential characterization in the show to an unhealthy standard that they would never hold a character like Rhaenyra, Daenerys, or an even Helaena to and basing whether they like her or not based on that standard.

They aren’t allowing her to be a nuanced character let alone someone with her wants and motivations who experiences love and loss alike.

Nettles' arc is as complex as every other character in this story, but people don’t want that. They don’t even want her there.

Never mind that she’s important to the narrative and there is a reason for her complexity, it’s her skin color they see. Her skin color is the only thing they see and therefore they fail to see her as someone deserving of her dynamic arc.

Instead they want the downtrodden girl. The abused girl. The poor orphan girl who is just grateful to have found a family. The girl who can easily be placed into a box and doesn’t need any analysis whatsoever.

A girl. She doesn’t need love because she’s a girl. She doesn’t need to have her own will and desires because she’s a girl. She’s a child. She’s not a nuisance. A box of gunpowder waiting to go off and change the narrative. She’s not a threat.

I’ve talked about this before(too many times), but that’s who they want.

They can’t have a Mammy that looks too obvious given the story, or Jezebel(I imagine that’s what they’ll say she is once she appears although they’ll look crazed trying to pigeon hole her into the slut category), and they know she most likely won’t be cut, so they settle for the non-threatening, sexless, naive(selectively intellectually challenged) child.

The show calls itself diverse and the fans claim themselves to be feminists, but that’s a joke and a slap in the face to Black fans who aren't self-haters (who the fandom has harassed anytime we don’t blindly agree with and call them out on their bullshit).

Black fans don’t want characters who look like us wrapped in bubble wrap with a pretty little bow on top. We want characters (in every sense of the word), but neither the showrunners nor the fans seem to get this(tale as old as time or at least it’s centuries old).

I started ranting I’m sorry anon, but Nettles tag has been a mess so I used this as an opportunity to voice my peace. It’s extremely disturbing that you have a bunch of non-Black people trying to police Black representation particularly representation for Black women, but at the end of the day what they have to say doesn’t matter.

[ineffable-mess]

I did this for school so, if it sounds weird blame me and my laziness.:

   A few weeks or so ago I Had a thought that maybe the (not ship) pairings of Beelzebub and Aziraphale, and Gabriel and Crowley are the perfect things to compare and contrast because in each pairing the two have a few things in common and a few things that aren't similar. Beginning with Gabriel and Crowley, because it is easier to explain. One of the most prominent similarities between them is how they either fell or got demoted, and how they both fell in love with an angel/demon, First, in episode six(every day) and one(the arrival) we see them both deny or question the supposed will of god leading to what happened. In Gabriel's case he refused to put another Armageddon into action, and in Crowley's case he questioned why his creations had to be destroyed. They both said in their respective episodes something along the lines of  “hey! Why are we doing this? It doesn't feel right.”. Second, Crowley fell in love with Aziraphale over 6000 years of miscommunication and Gabriel fell in love with Beelzebub over 3-ish years of strong communication. And there we have a difference between the two, the ineffable husbands(Azi and Crowley) have continuously miscommunicated and the ineffable bureaucracy( Beelzebub and Gabriel, they were the leaders of heaven amd hell) were built on communication between them. Another difference is the obvious, Crowley is a demon and Gabriel is an angel, they also hate each other for reasons(I might explain). Ending with Aziraphale and Beelzebub, I truly only have One common thing but I have a few pieces of evidence to support it.The one at least apparent similarity These two have is that they both want support from their sides (heaven and hell), Throughout the whole show and book we see Aziraphale ridiculed by his bosses, in the book it even states “Technically he was a principality but people made jokes about that these days”(pg 38 of the book at least in my copy) and in season two of the show we see Beelzebub complain about “just want someone to say what a good job your doing?”(s2), also when they chat with gabriel for the first-ish time both of them share a little bit about how their sides both asked if they could just make armageddon happen. This shows how they both just want some support from their respective sides.Now onto the opposite things; Aziraphale is a fuzzy, happy and very flamboyant angel and Beelzebub is a grumpy,goth and powerful demon, this gives us a basis of their differences which are relatively the same as the others except that they don’t hate each other. Most of the drastic differences between all of them are aesthetic based, not-so much actual plot based.

[booasaur]

If you’re fielding random gay-ish Deadloch requests, some random thoughts - the stuff with Dulcie trying to be all business while Eddie is naked and hungover made me laugh out loud, Skye's explanation she got too gay for church and Nadiyah's thing about her mom being a ho-mo-phoobe was fun too. Dulcie frantically trying to scroll away from her wife's boob shot. Also, not strictly gay but I still liked it - Dulcie in that black suit in Ep 3 looked gooood.

That show is so great though. It was so funny from the start, but it really snuck a fantastic mystery in. I still haven't a clue who did it?

And another anon:

Lol Deadloch is an anti-ship for me. I just want everyone to stop yelling and solve the crime.

Haha, yeah, we don't have no ships here, no sirree. >_> (I do have a ship, actually, but I'll expound in the next reply.)

I've filed away your requests, anon, but as always, who knows when I'll actually get around to them. Although, Dulcie in the suit--actually, Dulcie has been extremely attractive throughout this show! I haven't watched Wentworth but I've seen other random things she's in and she never really hit me quite like here. The stern rule following thing just does it for me.

But the mysterrrryyy, yeah. At this point, it's really wide open. I can LOOSELY rule out the kids, though I wouldn't put it past the show saying the first death was accidental by one of them, but other than that...

I've gone up and down on Skye, at first they were laying it on so thick, but now that they've focused on her this much before the ending, as if they want to exonerate her and move on, well, maybe it'll circle back to her again. Margaret seems super suspicious as well, and I know we're supposed to hate James, but that call he made was weird too, aside from how obstructive he's been.

It all gets even more complicated if there are multiple people involved, as it feels like there must be at this point, the number of deaths and the variety of victims. Why the long gap and the reveal that Sam isn't a suspect but a victim? I've been eyeing Cath, Nadiyah, Aleyna, Gez, Vanessa, Ray, and Claire as well. The only people I think truly can be ruled out are Dulcie, Abby, and Eddie. And Sven...and Sven...? Maybe not him, actually. I'd say we, the audience, have seen enough of Dulcie, Abby, and Eddie trying to investigate the case even when people aren't watching, to mostly assume they're actually trying to solve it. Though, I mean, I guess Dulcie could be covering her own tracks this whole time... I just can't believe it of Abby, and Eddie has barely been around.

I have to say, the comedy's been great, and the satire of these shows spot on and sharp, but they've done so well in creating a genuine drama on its own, these characters, the pacing, like god, the ending of the last ep? So good. Genuinely hoping that either we get more series like this from them or this gets a s2.

[samodivas]

It’s fascinating watching a show from 2007-ish because you can see how much has changed in TV since then. Case study: Prison Break (season 3 right now)

The first season was flawless, clearly written with vision, beginning to end.

In the second and third seasons you can clearly see how audience ratings are what influences character deaths. (e.g: ‘unlikeable’ characters by 2000s standards, like David, are killed off first. Meanwhile Henry is a fan-favourite because he’s a swell guy, so he survives despite making himself a bigger target than other characters who were killed for less)

in contrast, shows that come out with the full season tend to be more cohesive between episodes and care less about pandering to the general public’s idea of a likeable character

The depictions of “foreigners” and “foreign countries” have evolved drastically in popular TV. While here, nearly everyone magically speaks perfect English outside the Anglosphere, these days you might even see a show that does these sequences entirely in the “foreign” language, subtitled.

I think the depictions of South America and Eastern Europe have come a long way compared to the absurdly caricature-level racism that was greenlit in the 00’s. Considering how bad it is now, that says a lot lol

The writing gets significantly cheesier, episode by episode. Clearly the show would have been perfect in two seasons but they wanted to milk the cash cow and have viewers come back for their favourite characters (e.g: Alex obviously became a sensation in S2)

the character assassination of Lincoln is… something

the general writing around the main plot is… cringe… it’s simply cringe

Sara just… disappears?

The romance between her and Michael gradually became quite cringe too. Unfortunately S3 just fails miserably

As much as I admire Theodore’s commitment to surviving, he is just irrelevant at this point. He should have made it out to Thailand successfully and just laid low for a while tbh

putting them in ANOTHER prison so there has to be another prison BREAK is logical yet… cheesy… soap opera levels of cheesy

dialogue in shows today seems a lot more natural. Some “cool” characters that get introduced (Susan B Anthony, as she introduced herself) have very unnatural, ironic lines that make me roll my eyes

shows no longer have these montages around which you’re supposed to get commercials

the flashback sequences we get in the 2020s have improved, at least in terms of editing

also idk how I didn’t notice this before but Wentworth Miller is basically doing a Batman voice whenever he’s in character. But it feels like he’s been overdoing it this season compared to the previous seasons

[alluringlycalculated-blog]

@griefbeat​

“This idea of yours isn’t going to work.” Katherine said, locking eyes on her doppelganger. “Luring Klaus out will get us both killed.”

[kiwibirdlafayette]

starborne kingdom of dianite HC/AU aka i have constant mianite brain and need something to fill the lore void in my heart

[ID: character map of the Mianite characters as starborne. Across the top from left to right is Mianite, Mot, Dianite, Patricia, Ianite and Spark. A pink arrow points down from Dia to Jordan. Purple arrows connect Jordan (counterclockwise) to Tom, Tucker, Sonja and Waglington. To the right of Jordan is Scott, below Ianite and Spark. Below Scott is Martha the Mystic and Prince Andor. to the right of Andor is Capsize, Skipper Redbeard and Rupert the Gray together. end ID.]

hi welcome to the brainrot dump. i have a lot of stuff but I'll try to keep it as coherent as I can. I've left out some details for plot related reasons and so I don't ramble on too much, but feel free to ask if anything's confusing aaaaaaaa please be nice also

This is essentially Origins lore that frames it as a Mianite alternate universe based on Jordan's canonical lore where OSMP!Jordan is the son of "Jack"/Dianite, king of all Starborne + Ianite and Mianite are Dia's right hands, Tiem Reester is together and well, Starwizards are a thing, c!Syndisparklez is canon, Capsize is a space kraken (glow squid), and the S2 gangs all here. (also disclaimer ive only seen about 70% of S2 so those characters are very transformed)

some stuffs inspired by @ingapotejtoo artz <3 and ft. the design for the queen and the "scott son of Ianite" element by RedTriangleRich on twitter! who are both very cool and I love so much <3

ay. lets gooo. time to be the historian i made my starsona out to be

Royal Court of the Starborne

Consists of three siblings born from the first Ruler of the Stars- Mianite (the eldest, resembling an older star), Dianite, and Ianite (the youngest, resembling a new star) and their relations. Instead of the eldest being designated as the crown prince by the ruler at the time, it was designated by a red coloration shown at around 10-ish human years (time works differently on the Homeplanet), which happened to be the second born, Dianite.

Upon becoming king, Dianite designated his siblings as high class nobles, each having a jurisdiction over an element of the Starborne society- Mianite for infrastructure, and Ianite (later alongside her former mercenary- now husband Spark Conway from the moon-planet of Ruxomar (see below)) for history and the arts.

Dianite is married to Queen Khailani (name translated from this arbitrary language to the english name Petunia ) from the former kingdom of NVIDIA (now currently under the control of her EDIT: former lover who is secretly in alliance with the DMCA) who had been at war with Dianite's kingdom for years. The marriage was supposed to indicate a formal alliance between them, but most of the citizens view Pat as a traitor and still wreak havoc once in a while.

Dianite is also in a secret relationship with Mot, a Moonborne/former solider now groundskeeper cause Dia's relationship with the queen is very much open, i'm sure she's got people too wink wonk

Prince Jordan "Captain" Sparklez is the crown prince and son of Dianite (and someone not quite the queen) I don't have much lore for him since he's a canon character in Origins but I like to view him as a very insecure prince, one who is very skilled and can carry with him outward confidence but deep down is very scared, and isn't sure he's quite the guy for this job

Scott Smajor is the lost son of Ianite and Spark, currently living on the Overworld (as his canon character does). In summary, a surprise attack by NVIDIA led to him being flung into a wormhole at around 16ish Earth Years where he lived a nomadic life with a lost memory of the homeplanet before, yknow. origins During this time, he was presumed to be dead by Ianite, who went into a period of grief that led to her supernova-ing in the center of the city. Spark keeps hope, and hired Capsize and her crew to scour the galaxy to find him

Friends of The Prince

Awe yeeee tiem reester is canon baby

In this universe, they're basically the prince's group of friends who he's known since the academy (and who only stick around cause he treats them as equal, and are some of the few starbornes who don't want to be friends with him just cause he's the prince). They get into shenanigans all the time and Sonja built them a little hangout room in the castle with Jord's permission

Tom Syndicate is a member of Dianite's royal guard, a "knights of the round table" kind of designation to the guardsmen that Dia considers the most loyal and he trusts (as they tend to be in closer quarters with the royal court). he's a funky little dude who's a Moonborne (see below in factz) and takes his job as Jordan's "official-unofficial bodyguard" very seriously and they definitely kiss also

Tucker Jeriicho is Mianite's "right hand man" and former solider turned war strategist cause he's just that good at what he does >:] He's practically at Mianite's side at all times, and to some extent is treated by Mianite as the son he never had.

Because Mianite is infrastructure, he works a lot with one of Mia's chief architect Sonja Firefoxx, a Sinnochait starborne (basically meanin she's got ears and a tail made of space lava matter) She works mainly on castle expansions and room design

Sonja works hand in hand with the Fyerians, a group of specialized Starborne builders capable of reality manipulation to create blocks from star matter- basically the wizards- Matt, Tom, Phil- from FyreUK

Waglington is considered a Fyerian, but is moreso a Starwizard, a different kind of star magic user where a solar flare embedded a more powerful form of the central star’s power into their core; they are capable of stronger attacks and regenerative magic. He helps Sonja with making mockups and also does his own little magic stuff with alchemy

Moonplanet of Ruxomar

Within the solar system of the Homeplanet, there are other planets/bodies all under Dianite's jurisdiction, but ruled by lords/ladies, and Ruxomar is one of them. Ruled by Lord Helgrind (a gold colored moonborne) Ruxomar is considered a city of mercenaries and magicians, the most famous of such being the two children of Helgrind, Lady Martha and Sir Andor.

Martha is a Sinnochait (like Sonj) and a Starwizard and is known as a famous writer of starmagics, whose works Wag has been a longtime reader of. Due to of the rarity of Starwizards, she is the only other one he knows of. Andor, on the other hand is a feathered starborne and a very well trained archer. He's had his eyes on the royals for years, a little mystery ye for why

Space Pirates/Former DMCA agents

The current enemies of Dianite's kingdom is DMCA Agency, a kingdom with close proximity to NVIDIA. However, due to the nature of the DMCA, many starborne/citizens defect- and most famously of them are Capsize and her brother Skipper Redbeard.

After having served in the DMCA's agency for years, Capsize led a revolution against the leaders and was permanently damaged while fighting against her ex-fellow guards, and has a scar that allowed the spirit of a space kraken (the space version of a glow squid) to enter her core during the clearing of the species from the kingdom. It basically became a part of her that she can basically 'summon". pretty fitting when she became a full time pirate for hire, and useful. Jordan finds it annoying though that the kraken lives on in her when they spent so long eradicating the species

Redbeard is a corrupted starborne; the particles flowing off the side of his face are alike to the tail of a comet- also a side effect from their altercation with guards.

Wears an eyepatch because he quite literally has no eye there anymore. Rupert wears an eyepatch in solidarity, and because the person they purchased it from was only selling it as a pair 

Rupert the Grey is a pirate friend they met along the way and is made up of asteroids; could perhaps be considered a “Astroborne”; isn’t really the origin of a starborne as the others are 

Random Starborne Factz (bonus for fun)

The Homeplanet is a nebulous; but solid planet like structure that encircles a Central Star, which gives the Starborne their power

When starborne are born, or after a temp death/supernova, energy from that central star (replicated by stars in the sky from origins canon) emits an energy force that uses a pseudo-type of gravity that holds their solid forms together (the stability of balance for the human-like appearance combined with the star matter)- This is what starwizards can manipulate for healing

Because of this, in the event of eclipses or solar flares, it effects that stability/the way of using that star energy. Eclipses result in a Moonborne (who are less stable in varying levels depending on the stage of the eclipse; more susceptible to damage) and solar flares are how Starwizards are born

any way thats it. wowza

[antiloreolympus]

5 Anti LO Asks

1. i love how rachel literally wrote in a retconned part of hades apparently being thanatos' father figure (w no hint to this ever) and instead of using it as a chance to show hades is a caring person and someone perfect to be a father she instead just made hades make a literal child his servant and neglected the poor kid until hes an adult, where he belittles, threatens, and abuses him on the regular. way to reinforce he should never have kids, rachel.

2. is rachel like legit deranged? because how is hades making a child his servant and then abusing him as his boss when that child is an adult in the workplace at ALL the same as hades being a pushover and bending over backwards for persephone? with that same neglected child being called a hypocrite for calling out she gets all the benefits? i get rachel cant write her version of hxp not being the bestest thing ever, but this is legit insane. its almost parody in a way in how stupid it is.

From OP: I’d avoid calling her deranged. There’s kind of an ongoing theme in RS’ story though: Not thinking about the implications of her writing.

3. wait so thanatos cucked his foster dad??? is that what youre telling me rachel

4. I don't think the Lore Olympus fandom understands what narcissistic parenting is. They keep trying to make Demeter out to be this abusive, narcissistic mother just because she was a helicopter mom trying to protect her daughter from men with power complexes. Honestly, if she is meant to be narcissistic, then Smythe has done a horrible job writing her that way.

I've seen one person try to argue in the Webtoon comments that Demeter is not a narcissist, and they got like, 40 dislikes and a horde of LO fans crying -

"My mom is exactly like Demeter! How dare you suggest that she isn't bad that's offensive to me and my experiences!"

Like holy shit LO fans really are just projecting their mommy issues onto Demeter while lusting over a rich, capitalist tyrant. No wonder Persephone has no real personality and can't do any wrong - I'm convinced that she's supposed to be a self-insert.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

5. fp// we got more of a time skip in one dragged out trial (two whole days! wow!) than we have in nearly 4 years of publishing. seriously even the gap of time between events of s1 finale and the s2 premiere was maybe a few minutes at most, and then i took what, two-ish months of eps until they found persephone, which was maybe an hour or two in the timeline? i dont think rachel knows what pacing is, tbh.

[dreamylyfe-x]

God your ask responses are so good. The one about Debbie is super interesting. In a lot of ways she has signs of the person she becomes early on but I do think she changes a lot too. From the beginning of season 3 to the end of season 4 - less than a year in the show - it's like she's two different people. The difference in her concern for Frank, from 3x01 to "he's been dying for years", is so extreme. She also goes from being hyper-responsible and not all that concerned (at least outwardly) that she has no friends in s2 to making seriously, seriously awful decisions in the pursuit of finding connections with people outside her family, especially romantic partners. (Then again, maybe that was always there... I hope aunt ginger is doing well) Do you think those two big shifts are related? Is it just puberty? What do you think changed to make Debbie become the kind of girl who made the all wrong decisions Fiona was so sure she'd avoid?

Hey! First of all -- that you so much. That's really nice to hear.

Secondly, I'm sorry this took me a few days, but I was giving it some thought because I wanted to answer it with some real idea of what is going on with Debbie. I also went and watched the episodes you referenced. ☺️

I do think some of the changes with Debbie are straight up developmental. 4x01 starts with a montage that outlines for us that Debbie is now a teenager and is mirroring Fiona getting ready in the morning. This is clearly a shift that we're supposed to think happened between seasons and to that end, I'm cool with it. (I am not cool with, like, how time works in season 4 -- but we just have to accept that it takes place in a vortex where six months can go by, but it's always February.)

When my Netflix rests on Shameless it always plays the same clip -- Debbie making worried noises because Frank is missing, followed by the kids all going out to look for him. I remember watching the episode for the first time and thinking the divide between Debbie -- scared and upset -- and Ian, Lip and Fiona was something the show got right. Because part of growing up with one or more crappy parents is getting to the point where the switch flips and you realize that everything that's happening with them is complete bullshit, you can't count on them, and you've been worrying about them and caring about them far more than they've been worrying and caring about you. So inevitably, we were going to see each kid have their moment where they go from loving Frank the way kids love their dads to just shutting the door on it.

To get a little bit personal -- I come from a blended family and there's a whole mix of different parental figures in this situation, and not everyone is living their best parenting life. So I've experienced, and watched, several people go from being the kid who is anxious when their dad isn't where he's supposed to be, to becoming someone who will tell their dad to go fuck himself over breakfast. In my experience that shift happens really fast. Because the evidence of their parent being terrible has always been there, and it's like they just have to get to point where they review the evidence and once they have... they're angry.

Debbie shows up angry in season 4 and one thing I find REALLY interesting is that, in her first scene, she's angry about two things. First, the suggestion that she might forget that she's supposed to watch Liam (because Debbie is responsible, damnit) and then the fact that no one knows where Ian is and Fiona won't call the police. Puberty has clearly hit between seasons, but Lip and Ian have also moved out. AND Frank is gone, just like always. She goes to see Mandy -- who was helping her pick out first-day-of-school clothes in season 3 and that conversation ends with Debbie getting a door slammed in her face. You can definitely see how she might have gotten jaded about not just her father, but her whole family.

It's interesting to me that Debbie spends a day with Lip mid-season looking for Ian. That the desire to find one brother, and spend time with another is definitely present. And they find him. And he's frightening. Doesn't make sense, isn't acting like himself, doesn't want to go home with them. Developmentally it's natural for Debbie to start looking outside her family for connection, but also -- her family is getting more and more scattered and looking less and less like the reasonably cohesive people she grew up with.

Debbie does so many infuriating things, and so many of them make her look monstrous because she stomps all over people to make them happen. And that's where she gets Frank-ish, because she's always very "by any means necessary" and she doesn't seem to assume willing help very often -- she assumes she's going to have to trick people. I think part of the reason Debbie decides to get pregnant is because, at a very young age, she feels her older siblings pulling away, she understands her parents are never going to be there for her, and she wants something for herself. Looking at the stuff that is going on with Debbie in season 4, 5 and 6... she's finding herself alone and abandoned a whole lot. Fiona is ruling with an iron fist and won't support Debbie's desire to have a baby. Lip is gone to college and then dealing with alcoholism. Ian is struggling with mental health issues, but has also directed most of his focus on his boyfriend, and their makeshift family. Shelia leaves. Even SAMMI, who originally gossips with her about boys ends up sending turning Ian in to the MP. Debbie just spends season after season not being anyone's priority and not getting what she wants -- which is primarily love and attention. It does make sense that, eventually, she would become someone who just takes, because how else is she ever going to get anything? And when it comes to going after things, she is impulsive and has this almost child-like grasp on consequence -- but I think that might be because the hurt kid is the one in charge. All that too-young maturity and sacrifice to help everyone else left her feeling bitter and abandoned and like she has a right to something. And that's never a place where good ideas flourish.

[hoochy-coo]

ive seen so many people say that HBO should have released all of s2 of euphoria at once, and i absolutely disagree. selfishly I enjoy the suspense of week to week //

The pacing of this show is nuts and they almost always fit at least 3 plots into an episode, so you definitely need time to digest //

I think Euphoria is the closest thing HBO has to replicating the "cultural interest" that Game of Thrones had. And the weekly release and giving people time to discuss each episode was such a big part of what made GoT so successful and impactful in pop culture.

Euphoria, as a show, occupies such an odd space in our current social climate. Like it’s far from being appropriate for teens DESPITE it being about teens of this generation and what youth and growing up means in this day and age, but at the same time, it’s not FOR adults either? These high school characters are played by grown adult actors and said characters partake in tons of activities that almost seem grown-ish at times, but then they constantly remind the audience with the way they talk amongst themselves and make decisions that these are 17-18 year old kids. Further to that, the nudity and sex is very in your face and yeah, we know that a crucial part of many people’s teenage years is learning and experiencing sexual activities, but for it to be played out in such explicit manner through what are supposed to be high school students should make us very uncomfortable…

[miss-musings]

So who is Red, really? (pre-8.22 theories)

Since this is perhaps our last opportunity to discuss who Red really is, and because I've been rewatching clips from The Blacklist S1-4, I wanted to look back over a few things before we (or hopefully Liz at least) find out Red's true identity in 8.22.

I'm going to make a series of statements, and then list on a scale of 1-10 how likely I think each statement is (with 10 being the most likely). And then I'll give a brief explanation for each.

Red lost his family before he took on the 'Raymond Reddington' identity.

10 / 10 - Red has stated multiple times that there are truths that he needs Liz's help to uncover. The truth about what happened to his family, which was brought up several times in Season 1, seems to be foremost among them. We know that Red suffered a great tragedy, which sent him down a path of revenge. Maybe this was part of the reason why he took on the 'Raymond Reddington' identity. It could also be that, like Katarina, his wife was someone he was told to marry to maintain his cover, so he didn't really love her (as he doesn't seem to talk about her or remember her at all). But, he truly loved and adored his daughter (bubble girl), and both of them were killed before he became 'Raymond Reddington.'

Red knew/knows Katarina Rostova personally.

9 / 10 - While he's seemingly gone back and forth on whether he believes Katarina was really dead, which I will attribute to retcons by TPTB, he knows a lot of things about Katarina that most people wouldn't know. For instance, when Liz finds out she’s pregnant, Red recounts how Katarina dreaded having a child and almost aborted it. That's something no one would know unless Katarina told them. He likely knew her before the Night of the Fire, because he told Kate that he was not as unfamiliar as she expected when he recruits her in S4's "Requiem." Ultimately, based on 8.21, it seems that -- barring Redarina being true (ugh) -- that Katarina recruited Red to take on the 'Raymond Reddington' identity. So, that's likely when she gave him all the information he would need to keep Masha/Liz safe and successfully impersonate the real Reddington.

Red knew the real Reddington personally.

7 / 10 - This one still seems likely, in my mind, but it's not a guarantee. It's possible that whenever KR recruited Red to take over the 'Raymond Reddington' persona, she gave him all the information he would need to be successful. Then again, Red has been impersonating him for 30-ish years; he knew of and briefly interacted with Reddington's family in Carla/Naomi and Jennifer. So, it's a strong possibility, but not a certainty. Perhaps he was acquainted with Reddington, but wasn't close with him like he seemingly was/is with KR.

Red knew Sam Milhoan personally.

6 / 10 - After rewatching 1.08, I'm unsure whether Sam knew Red was an imposter. Maybe when he said that he needed to tell Liz the truth, he was referring to the truth that 'Raymond Reddington' was Liz's dad. And, Red, being an imposter, couldn't let Sam do that. But, then again, Sam definitely knew the real Reddington. And we know he and Red were in touch in S4's "Requiem," when Red asks Sam to help him recruit Mr. Kaplan. You'd think that if Sam knew Reddington well enough that Reddington AND KR both trusted him, that he'd be able to spot Red as an imposter. So, it seems likely that Sam knew Red is an imposter and not the real Reddington, Sam's late friend. But, did Red know Sam before he took on the 'Raymond Reddington' persona? It seems likely based on how they talked in 1.08, but again, not a guarantee. It definitely seems like he was at least in touch with Sam on a regular basis after Sam adopted Liz.

Red was an American agent who spied on the Russians.

3 / 10 - Red does tell a lot of personal stories that are set in the United States. But, as I've speculated recently, perhaps he's only using American place names / people names so as to impersonate the real Reddington, but then the details are based on his childhood elsewhere (presumably Russia).

And then we do have the very first line in the show where Mr. Gray says, "Must be good to be home again, sir." So, as I've said before, this line is very confusing because we know Red has been coming and going from the United States for decades. So, Mr. Gray isn't referring to the United States in general. Maybe he means DC specifically. Could be. Maybe Red hasn't been in DC much since he became a criminal, but that seems unlikely given how much crime and intelligence is based in this show's version of DC. So, maybe Mr. Gray meant the FBI building specifically??? Not sure, especially because I'm unsure whether Mr. Gray knew Red was an imposter.

Ultimately, though, maybe Red was an FBI agent who worked with Reddington and infiltrated the Russians. Maybe he has a Russian background. Maybe his mother and/or father was Russian, but immigrated to the United States. So, the FBI or Navy or whoever decided he would be useful because he knew the language, the culture, etc., and they could use his family connections to help him get in and out of Russia without much thought.

But, if Red was an American agent who was spying on the Russians, you'd think the U.S. intelligence network would know more about KR. Red was clearly very close with her, and if he was there the Night of the Fire, it meant she trusted him. So, either Red was a really bad American agent OR he was a double-agent, which doesn't fit with Red's tenet of loyalty.

Red was a Russian agent who spied on the Americans.

5 / 10 - I give this a slightly higher chance than the reverse, because Red seems to know a lot of Russians that even most Russians don't know. He knows/knew Katarina, Dom, Ilya, Katarina's handler (whose name escapes me), and Tatiana (aka Fake KR). After all, Red said that KR was a ghost and most in the intelligence community -- whether U.S. or Russian -- didn't know what she looked like, hence why Dom and Ilya tried to use Tatiana as a fake KR.

Of course, maybe he only met these people after KR sought him out. Who knows? But, then again, it seems a little more likely that he’s Russian-born rather than American-born. After all, he did have a lot of Russian things in his Bethesda apartment in S2, and that was his private hideaway that no one knew about, where he could presumably be himself and not 'Raymond Reddington.'

Red was a Cabal agent who spied on the Russians and the Americans.

7 / 10 - While I'm not sure whether Red grew up in the U.S. or the Soviet Union, I ultimately think he worked for the Cabal. It would explain how he knew KR and Ilya. It would also explain why he was presumably there the Night of the Fire (as he has the burn scars on his back) -- because KR trusted him to help her get the Fulcrum back. It also explains what happened to his family. Think about it: the Cabal knows that valuable information was compromised by KR and is now in the hands of Raymond Reddington, both of whom are either deceased or in hiding. So, they had to take revenge on someone. So, assuming Red was an associate of KR's and was unable to find the Fulcrum, perhaps they blamed him or at least wanted to make an example of him. So, his family is killed, and KR finds out someone she trusts has a reason to hate the Cabal as much as she does. So, she recruits Red to become 'Raymond Reddington' as a way to take revenge on the Cabal and protect Liz from suffering the same fate his family did.

Red is responsible for Katarina's death.

6.5 / 10 - Based on his "just a nice gesture" monologue, Red feels that he has taken something away from Liz. And thanks to "Cape May," we know he had to make a choice whether to save KR or Liz/Masha. We figured that was during the Night of the Fire, but KR didn't die in the fire or at Cape May. So, based on 8.21, everything is accounted for. Liz killed her own father, so Red didn't take him away from her; and KR was still alive when Liz was placed with Sam and eventually created 'Raymond Reddington.' Presumably, either during or after KR and Red created 'Raymond Reddington,' something happened, KR died, and Red felt responsible. But, then that conflicts with Red's S3 line about how he's unsure what happened to KR, even if he later tells Liz that her mother is dead. Plus, Dembe did say something about "what (Red) did to Katarina." So, while there have been retcons, I do think KR is dead and that Red (feels he) is somehow responsible for that.

TLDR: who do I think Red really is?

I think Red has a Russian background -- either he's from the Soviet Union or his parents were. I think he was supposed to be spying on the Americans for the Russians -- so he, his wife and daughter lived in the United States -- but he ultimately worked for the Cabal. He likely worked very closely with KR, was acquainted with the real Reddington and probably met Sam at some point pre-Night of the Fire. When KR's team didn't recover the Fulcrum, Red was blamed / made an example of because KR and Reddington had disappeared. So, his family is killed and KR uses his desire for revenge to recruit him to become 'Raymond Reddington.' She gives him all the information he might need and asks him to help her protect Liz, which he agrees to because he doesn't want another innocent to suffer like his family did. At some point, KR dies and Red feels responsible, so he doubles-down on looking after Liz because he feels that he took something away from her.

[sansascully]

dark-the-show thoughts post s1 : there are SO MANY characters wow i’m not even going to make an attempt to organize this.

hannah IS gaslight gatekeep girlboss ! horrible <333

jonas kiddo... highlights include screaming monologue to ines about his screwed up incesty family drama and the color yellow

regina and aleksander/boris legends for having a functional marriage and the BEST meet-cute pulling a gun on your hs bullies ish

ines and mikkel <33 Mom and Son duos

tronte and all his different actors look nothing alike and therefore i hate him :)  jana is also on thin ice but the dark wig single gray curl i DO respect 

not a ton of nielsen thoughts i simply don’t care that much. i liked the martha magnus sibling scene and the whole play messiness. OH and that ulrich unlike his parents has by FAR the best casting continuity

claudia gatekeep girlboss TWO! (doggy!<3)

charlotte and family i want to know more but i do appreciate a tortured grown-up weirdgirl. also franziska elisabeth i love sisters <3. hopefully peter gets less cliche

the doris agnes hand touch 0-60 romance made me scream laugh but i AM a fan

others...exist. as for the plot i don’t even think i should comment on it til at least s2 since it seems very of-a-piece. A+ aesthetic though! anyway going into this i’m almost fully un-spoiled for once which is nerve-wracking but fun. i’m a bit worried my almost total apathy for the jonas martha romance is going to be a problem but there’s still time to be swayed whichever direction i suppose

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2020 Reviews: brought to you by quarantine

aw shit look who’s got the time to do some of these again yeah that’s right it’s me

22/7

For 11/12 of its runtime this was an astonishingly forced exercise in hacky tragic backstory that thoroughly answers the question of what happens when assembly line jobbers jump on the already rickety KyoAni bandwagon. So I was ready to give it a well deserved meme score of 3.14/10. Then it remembered it actually had a gimmick and managed to completely fail at that as well, with one of the most thematically misguided endings I can think of. Oh well, if nothing else I laughed. 2/10

Asteroid in Love

Well, it’s competent and inoffensive. What else can I say? I guess it’s pretty amusing how blatant the gay marriage implications get by the end, but that’s not really, you know, quality all by its own (and Harukana Receive does it better). It’s also weird how its first season clearly ends at episode 9 and it just quickly does a second one in the time it has left. Apart from that it’s a slightly above-average Kiraralike with good character moments but a real drought of content (note: dropping exposition on your topic isn’t content) in the middle. Fun enough, but really doesn’t leave me wanting more. 6/10

Dorohedoro

This had much potential to suck but then it didn’t. The biggest surprise was that Dorohedoro is a comedy; a splatter comedy with a core story worth taking seriously, yes, but this is not horror, or mystery, or even action, even if it has all those elements at points. And it manages to be consistently funny. The other big surprise is that the nonsense really does start to come together and is meaningful where it counts, so it has much better worldbuilding than most. Looks really good too - you might take exception to the CG, but it allowed MAPPA to make the rest look great so it’s overall still a plus. Definitely needs a sequel though, because the plot seems to just get started and then it ends like there’s an episode next week. 8/10

ID: INVADED

Ei Aoki’s Inception fanfic turned out very nice, with neat visuals, cool characters and a story that comes together in the end. I mean, come on, it’s an anime where Kenjiro Tsuda literally talks people to death, how can I not like it. It’s not perfect; it’s stuck with some pacing problems, strangely superfluous side characters and ultimately less ambition than it could (maybe even should) have. But it’s also weird in a good way and moderately thoughtful without being pretentious about it. 8/10

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die

Romantic comedy? Eh, maybe not quite. Funny riffing on wota dumbassery without being mean-spirited about it? Yep. Oshibudo gets the tone (the critical aspect in a show like this) right and it actually ranks fairly high simply as an idol show when that’s not even the point, which is really surprising. It’s just very charming, even if a little simple. 8/10

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

So everyone’s losing their shit over how great Eizouken is and I’m just like nah, man. Not that it’s truly bad, it certainly has its fun moments and undeniably cool animation at times. But it really says a lot when in a show supposedly all about how amazing creativity is, the no-fun-allowed producer is the only character I like - Kanamori is indeed great, shame about Nerdlinger and Plot Device though. And it’s full of the kind of standard boomer animation bromides that just make me think “well, if Ghibli is supposed to be so great, why am I watching this instead of the real thing?” It also has notably poor and uncreative use of background music, which wouldn’t irk me as much if it wasn’t lecturing on the topic. At this point I’m fairly certain that I simply don’t like Yuasa’s style much, no matter what he does. 6/10

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story

So I’m watching the “final” episode of this and I realize that I care about this random, poorly explained fanservice fight between Mami and Sayaka much more than I care about any of the characters this show is ostensibly about. And that’s pretty much Magireco in a nutshell: It has very little of its own, what it does have is split among way too many video game characters, and it’s at its best when it’s just being dumb and bombastic or lazily replicating the style of Madoka. It’s definitely not good (and the things it does to the Madoka lore are double ungood), but as long as you keep in mind that it’s just meaningless Madoka-ish things, it’s barely entertaining enough. 5/10

Natsunagu!

Natsunagu turned out to be a pleasant (if very cheap) short film that’s severely compromised by broken up into weekly 3-minute chunks. Episodes that short can work, but not for material that depends on atmosphere and character engagement. I can only assume I’d like it more if I watched it all in one go. 5/10

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It

This one started out as a one-note romantic comedy with the rare novel note, which then got more and more tired as it went on, and the introduction of decidedly less novel characters didn’t help. But by the end it recovered somewhat from not being much good at comedy anymore by being actually pretty good at paying off a romance, which is maybe even rarer. Remove bear though, what the hell. 6/10

Somali and the Forest Spirit

Somali just kept doing its thing (which is dadfeels/protect the blob). Still can’t think of another show so intensely laser-focused on that one thing, to the point they’re constructing an entire fantasy universe around it. I liked the fluffy/introspective parts a lot more so than the grimdark/”let’s get Somali into some danger so dad can rescue her” ones, but at least the former ones are more common overall, and I understand that both are important for the other one to work. So yeah, good show, even if I wish it used the big guns less often. 7/10

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

I wasn’t too hot on this one at first (apart from the looks, which were always really cool), but I have to say it has won me over by the end. It has likeable and occasionally funny characters, some meat to its setting and a mildly interesting streak of intrigue running though it. Of course it also doesn’t really answer anything, but I’m satisfied. 7/10

Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki S2

Peer pressure presents: the other tourism short of the season, ft. material that fits the format. While it’s still not really good, it’s an improvement over S1. Mainly because it stops trying to extract humor from the characters themselves and gets back to dropping the hot #nagoyatruths, which are the thing I’m here for. 6/10

[norgestan]

Rank the most visually appealing Skam España clips

anon i’m SO sorry that this has been sitting on my askbox for like... two months. i’m the worst i knowwww.

just to make this easier on myself i won’t include anything from s1 - generally i’m not a bit fan of the s1 coloring and they’ve come a long way since then. so it’s mostly s3 and some s2 clips that i’ll be choosing, based VERY subjectively on my takes on the cinematography/colors/lothing, my experience as a skam españa gif maker and my own “oh scene pretty” thoughts.

10. Reencuentro (s3, ep 1, clip 6)

scenery pretty. don’t really have a lot to say, i just REALLY love the aesthetic of the nora/miquel dates - and as some sort of attempt of a meta, i really like the contrast of the huge gestures that miquel does that take nora out of the ordinary and end up being some of the gorgest shots in eskam.

9. Walk of shame (s3, ep 6, clip 8)

if i still defend the existence of this clip is because it looks REALLY good. like it’s just really nice to look at. and i love how downright messy nora looks, and the cold tones that appear as nora steps out of her home, listens to miquel’s voice message and curves alejandro.

8. No te enfades (s3, ep 7, clip 5)

this is probably my favorite location of s3, it’s such a pretty place. i love that nora is just a splash of red on the muted background, and i really like how she put on her red armor for one last time before miquel really started to be the shittiest person in the entire world. and overall it’s just really nice to look at.

7. Yo no noto nada (s2, ep 1, clip 2)

i famously never liked the s2 coloring because i find the purple/blue hues super annoying but here (and other night shots) it works SUPER well. i just love that the club is so charged with colors and then cris steps out where joana is and everything is a nice, pastel-like purple/blue shade (bi rights). it’s very soft and suits their first encounter very well, and the scenes with chino and the pills have good camera work - the club looks really good inside, too. you can’t lose with this one.

6. Esquivar la bala (s3, ep 2, clip 7)

they had ONE shot at filming on this iconic skam easter egg and they made the most of it. this is one of my favorite s3 clips, too: it’s a good character building moment for miquel, it has a really chill atmosphere that shows how these two can really get along, and the dialogue it’s just great - but like, that’s mostly storytelling wise. aesthetically wise, this clip is just a delight to look at. again i love that nora is a human shaped red splash on some clips, and this is no exception. bonus because there’s a cat on this clip and i love the song that plays at the end.

5. Cobarde (s2, ep 8, clip 3)

can i just say... this is the best eskam clip acting wise? the girls really knocked it out of the park in this one. is that how you say it.

anyways, this location is very beautiful!!!!!! i love the greenery - love that joana chose it because it reminded her of their literature work, she’s such a romantic. i really love that cris is blending so easily on the scenery, even wearing the damn camo pants, while joana is just purple and rage, and looks and feels out of place. like if you REALLY believed that joana was somehow being herself here (looking at you, cris) the cinematography makes a huge point about how this isn’t supposed to feel right.

4. Nuestro momento (s3, ep 9, clip 7)

i’ve gone on and on about my Feelings about norandro’s ending so i won’t say anything about them here... except that, yet again, i love the contrast between miquel taking and sometimes forcing nora into these beautiful, epic-looking locations, and then there’s alejandro meeting nora in the cafeteria and bringing her near a lake. it’s such a simple, humble place but it’s still so beautiful. i also love the whole metaphor of nora bringing back her read coat and lipstick, but also with the water in front of her in almost literally every shot it’s like a baptism, a rebirth: she’s definitely not the same nora she was before. which is also a point that the clip makes with alejandro re-introducing himself, and then both of them accepting that this relationship will have to wait so they’re back to the start. it’s such a nice conclusion to their romance/relationship in s3!!

3. Vértigo (s3, ep 3, clip 3)

i’m sad that i’ve limited myself to only two images per clip because every bit of this clip looks SO beautiful. i do like this moment as a sort of bait for nora and miquel’s relationship: everything about miquel giving nora exactly what she “wants”. the grand gesture, the vertigo, yadda yadda. this clip feels so epic and it feels right. even at that moment in the show where i obviously knew miquel was the Bad Guy (duh), i felt like mourning because this is such a great setup for an epic romance. but then again, gotta thank eskam for calling out noorhelm on being epic and all but having very little substance underneath - and even while brushing off most of william’s toxicity, i truly believe there’s NO way noorhelm would be an endgame in any way, not with some major changes (norandro says hi). but anyways, scenery pretty.

2. Yo no puedo con esto (s2, ep 10, clip 2)

this is SUCH an underrated eskam clip :’( but easily one of my favorites in the show. i love... mostly everything dialogue wise, it feels like a real conversation that i could have with my friends or my sister. but going back to the cinematography, the coloring of this clip feels so earned after the first clip at school, where everything looks cold and yellow-ish and so artificial. i really wish i had more to say about this but it’s mostly that the aesthetic complements the content of the clip SO well: it feels soft and like a warm hug, which is exactly what cris needed before facing joana one last time.

1. Te da miedo el agua? (s2, e4, clip 6)

this is another case where i wish i could include every shot in this clip because it’s SO beautiful. this clip is downright gorgeous imo, i absolutely love the softness inside the bar and then that epic scene where they run away, and then the pool scene - which is kinda hard to make look good as i’ve seen while watching other remakes, but here it looks VERY beautiful, probably even more than og’s version. i’m repeating the same words again and again i am SORRY. but anyways, this is as epic as s2 got and it was beautiful!!! i can’t get enough of this clip.

honorable mentions:

the s2 trailer (doesn’t really fit here </3)

iftar

tu imagen para siempre

fuckboy

[sonatanotwo]

Well... I barely slept. 😂 Least I’ve got coffee... Gonna try to fumble out some words... (Spoilers ahoy!)

I didn’t quite expect the emotional roller coaster this has turned into... and not entirely cause of the episode itself. 😂 It’s feeling ever so bitter sweet... mostly in that experiencing something so emotional without a lot of the people that made up this sorta... fandom home? that it was to me. All the friends I love and care about. It’s... been feeling kinda lonely... Even though I’m not alone of course, but... yeah. It’s hard to explain. 😂 And then with this looking like the end (...though I kinda doubt ITV is gonna shelve the franchise for another 10+ years... least I sure hope not. That’d seem VERY dumb to me. But what will they do with it? That’s the real big question, ain’t it? XD I was a bit agape after attaching ‘Season’ to every time they spoke of ending that today they finally changed their tune and was like THE END. What the ever loving heck, ITV. Seriously. 😂 BUT I digress...) ...IDK if any of that feeling will ever come back now. Shit changes... god, do I ever know it does... but I guess... I just wasn’t ready for it yet. ;A;

...And boy is my body telling me that. 😂 Anxiety is such an asshole.

ANYHOO.

SO.

This ep.

As I mentioned when I gif’d it (opening my gif making stuff was first thing I did XD) that HUG man. That old hug art I did, the original version (the one you see commonly around now is the tweaked one) was one of my first finished (ish) TAG piece (only few rough doodles and half coloured things were before that lol) that I posted June 10th 2015.... so long ago. (My first post that was some sketches was June 2nd XD Yeah, I’ve been around a long while now, blimey. Not quite the VERY very start, but nearly!)

BUT YEAH. I was wanting this hug for a VERY, VERY long time. XDDD Just, back then, didn’t think it’d involve their Dad too. lol

And then, gosh... Scott in this ep... Last ep was def more Scott heavy... to balance he was stepped back a bit, but... it did make sense? Scott just seems quietly basking in the feeling of having his Dad back. Him hanging back from the hug for a moment having that exchange with his Dad feels a bit like a... passing back the torch? Here they are Dad. I took good care of them. :Db Does that make sense??? IDK. I’m so tired you guys. 😂 But it didn’t feel like Scott needed to say anything. It was written all over his face. He must have been so happy... and relieved. It’s pretty overwhelming in all the best way to hear from someone you haven’t in awhile... so... in this case, it must be turned up to like... an 11. ^^a

Man, I don’t think I can go through this in order so, bear with me if I bounce around.

There’s been so much wondering what this version of Jeff would be like all these years... and in such a short time, we definitely got a LOT to go off of. He’s a Dad who definitely doesn’t hesitate to hug his sons. :3 Fears Grandma as much as the boys, lolololol HUGS HIS ENGINEER. I actually really just... LOVED that scene with Brains. That casual, ‘Hi Brains.’ And then just calling him PARTNER and going right in for a hug... and lol Brains’ lil happy sound. Jeff and Brains were certainly friends in TOS, but there was still a kinda distance between them in that Brains is working for Jeff, but that was definitely laid out to be much different in TAG. I’m not surprised by it, cause Brains is def part of the family, but it was lovely they took the time to show it.

ALSO just how he picked up Virgil was dwelling on something... we don’t really get a window into what exactly... but after all those years, he just... picks right up on Virgil’s in some turmoil. (As said in a tag... MAYBE MOM RELATED? He seems to think Virgil’s worried if he’ll really be okay, which is why I wonder... GONNA DEF WRITE SOME FIC THOUGH. XDb) Like. GOSH. I’m sad we aren’t likely to see more of this Jeff, cause with this single ep, he was absolutely sold on me. And I love he was a total presence... but he did sit back quietly and other than dealing with ‘Brains’ and largely just *watched*. Scott was still in charge here.

So as for the end and what role Jeff is gonna play... WELL... I mean. To be fair here at the end, John is probably changing and heading to the elevator... and I mean, we’ve seen Grandma fill in several times for John... he can’t be awake CONSTANTLY, so I’d always felt a bit like maybe they’d gradually gel into a team with just... one more member. And that seems more likely now that we’ve seen he didn’t just... jump to take command. He sat back and let them do their thing.  

And now we can see Jeff is def a bit younger... and as kinda already implied, is definitely one to get his hands dirty, so sometimes (once he’s recovered a bunch) maybe he’ll even go out with the boys. That’d be my guess. ^^a I mean, might be a little kinda jostling at first to settle into a new routine... but while he certainly has a strong presence... he’s also did kinda feel... a bit gentle too? He’s not nearly as stern as TOS!Jeff. It felt like a good balance??? IDK. I’m rambling up a storm. XDDD (...and making walls of text... I should... break these up more lol...)

OKAY ALSO...

WAIIIIT wait. WAIT. This looks familiar. V E R Y familiar... Bridge... rockety thing at bottom... explody warning? Two people inside... *squints* DAY OF DISASTER? IS THAT YOU?

I HAVE A FEELING... If so... //CHEF KISS//  VERY NICE. A+ XD

OKAY. WHAT ELSE. Uh. Glad they did end up using Fuse’s (or I guess I could say Clarence’s :D) mixed feelings, which was good and gave Grandma a heck of a moment of awesome. They also served to give some action for Kayo, Penelope and Parker which was good else I suppose they’d have been standing around worriedly. lol Which isn’t really suited to their characters. XD YEAH just lotta nice moments, especially with Kayo and Grandma. ANd just. YEAH. GRANDMA MAN. YOU TELL HIM. and also OMG she was a doctor?! THAT sure explains some things. XD And that’s awesome, gosh.

ALSO the number of HUGS in this ep were A+ Getting a moment with Jeff and Grandma was lovely. :D

LIKE REALLY. LOOK HOW HUG HAPPY THIS DAD IS. I AM PLEASED. A+

And just lol... ‘I don’t even have a car yet.’  ‘You have a rocket.’ ‘...oh yeah. That’s true.’ LOLOL SUCH ALAN. He is too cute.

...AND yeah. IDK. I feel like I’m forgetting things. I’ll ramble them into another post if I think of things. I gotta pop out for a bit. 😂

BUT YEAH. Yeah, there’s few things they didn’t get to addressing, but there were hugs and emotions which was what was really the important thing, right? :Da I don’t really feel like nit picking when had all that. XDDD

(It is kinda interesting how in a way the ending reminded me of Legacy’s a bit with a ...Oh we got an emergency. It’s a good note to leave off of... but goes to show when maybe S1 was written, it was largely on the assumption that it could be the only season... but then were able to hint of S2 in an additional scene. But if S2 hadn’t been commissioned, it was sorta ready to be a finale if it had to. In a way S2 was the same, though with bit more hints of S3 were there so... Just kinda interesting. =Oa But also nice that Rob has left it in a way that NEVER SAY NEVER (to quote Rob) is definitely open. ^^)

ANYHOO. That’s all my rambling for now. ^^

[almondbiscotti]

Top 10 Netflix Watches in 2020

A roundup of my favourites from what I’ve watched this year on Netflix.

 1.       Alice in Borderland

I only recently finished this (in like 2 days) and it is the best thing I watched this year. 10/10 will recommend, will pine for season 2, will attempt the webtoon even to keep my obsession at bay.

If you have not heard of AIB, you must be living under a rock. Or don’t have Netflix which is close to the same thing. The premise of AIB is that 3 friends suddenly find themselves in an alternate Tokyo where all the residents have mysteriously disappeared. They quickly realise they have to play pretty sadistic games to in order to survive and lives are dispensable. It has elements of Battle Royale (hey, also Japanese! The Japanese have some serious issues.) but I found AIB more engaging and suspenseful than Battle Royale because unlike Battle Royale which can be thought of as one long killing game, AIB is a series of many, extremely stressful but shorter games that aren’t just about killing each other.

What works so wonderful for AIB is the storytelling. It has AMAZING storytelling. How the characters progress from stage to stage and the mystery behind this “country” they’re in is kind of slowly revealed, how there are parallels with Alice in Wonderland, the playing cards, the excellently fleshed out characters. *Chef’s kiss* Chishiya is my favourite character. LONG LIVE CHISHIYA! I don’t care if everyone else dies but CHISHIYA MUST LIVE.

There are things I didn’t like about it, but it’s less to do with the show and more to do with Japanese acting/dramas in general. I find it very unnatural when the characters give very dramatic outbursts or attempt to act gangster-ish but I find this is very common in most Japanese shows. So I like to believe it’s a cultural thing. I also didn’t like the pointless skin showing and sex. I mean, we get an entire scene where a girl in a bikini fights a katana wielding mad man. But I think it might be more because it was adapted from a webtoon and it’s just adapting the anime style? And EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER has a depressing backstory, like every single one has some weird ass issue. (Tell me it doesn’t sound like Battle Royale.)

But overall, AIB’s winning combination of great world building, excellent storytelling and likeable characters, makes it my favourite in 2020.

 2.       Kim’s Convenience

I’ve talked about Kim’s Convenience before so I shall not go too much into it. It’s great, just watch it. If only for Appa. Just watch it for Appa. Appa is best. I love Appa.

 3.       Kingdom (S2)

I started on Kingdom quite a lot later than most people. Mostly because I’m a coward and horror is well, horrifying. So I watched Season 1 about 1-2 weeks before Season 2 was released. Must say I’m glad I did cos hello cliff hanger much?!?!

S2 was great too. Has all the elements I loved in S1. Excellent storytelling, the suspense, the build up, NO ROMANCE (makes it a frickin unicorn in Korealand), believable villains but the thing I enjoyed the most about Kingdom is the relationship between characters. SO PURE. SO REAL. SO AMAZING. MUST PROTECT.

The one thing I didn’t like was how the damn characters like to do this thing where they’d just freeze and AIIIISIH FFFFFFUUUUCCCCKKKKK and draw out the suspense when a literal tonne of zombies are coming for them. Like dude, RUN. But no. They will pose there like fucking idiots for like 2 minutes while the zombies come closer and closer till FINALLY, someone goes “RUN, YOU FOOLS” before they move a muscle. It’s nonsensical, it’s frustrating but it happens in every damn Korean show so… I’ll give it a pass. It’s not the show, it’s Korea.

No news if there will be a season 3 but there is a special episode being released next year, a side sequel of sorts. So… yay?

Still, IS GREAT. WATCH IT. LOVE IT. DESPAIR WHEN IT’S OVER.

 4.       Queen’s Gambit

This baby made chess sexy. How it did it, I have no idea. But 10/10 will recommend. It made chess so alluring, I downloaded a damn app and played 2 games and remembered how much I sucked at chess and promptly deleted the app again.

Anya Taylor-Joy is beautiful. Will recommend just for her face alone. And the beautiful cinematography. Beautiful, the whole thing is just beautiful.

I didn’t like the guy that played Benny though. Seriously what a weird casting choice. Dude is supposed to play some devil may care gangster but he looks like he’d fall over if breeze came by.

I think what makes Queen’s Gambit so appealing is that you see Beth succeed and rise up, then falls dramatically down but she comes back and triumphs over her chess opponents and her own issues. It’s essentially a story of overcoming adversary, of triumph. Gives you hope. Gave me hope. Made me want to play chess. Made me watch entire Youtube videos explaining the chess games featured in it. I’ll say that’s a win.

 5.       Sweet Home

My (and apparently the rest of the world’s) latest obsession. Well, my obsession is actually less the show, more just one character/actor.

CHA HYUN SOO IS A PRECIOUS BEAN THAT MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS. So frickin precious, with his broomstick spear and mismatched socks. I. LOVE.

But honestly, it is a pretty good show, my obsession with Song Kang (the actor) aside. The world building in Sweet Home was pretty well done, characters were compelling though as with Kingdom, characters do the same thing where they just stand there and freeze when danger is about to descend on them. Seriously, I lost count of the times I yelled HELLO FOOL RUN!??! at the screen. If the Spanish have magical dicks, then Koreans have idiotic legs.

I think the director/writer made a deliberate decision not to explain how the infection (if it’s even an infection) occurs, how monsters can be defeated or if they can even be defeated, and how the monsters’ abilities/traits are determined. And I enjoyed the mystery of not knowing and could understand the characters’ despair better because they were just as bewildered as me. (Me being me of course went to read a bit and it is explained more in the webtoon the show is adapted from but, I like to think the two are different.)

I find myself comparing it to Alice In Borderland quite a bit. Might be because I watched them one after another but also, the main characters share such similar traits, they even look similar. And with that comparison, AIB won. AIB has better storytelling and pacing. But Sweet Home has more characters you feel for and more deaths you care about. I cried a FUCK TON watching Sweet Home.

It’s good. Would recommend. If only to stare at Song Kang’s perfect face. 😊 Oh oh oh and the Soundtrack is also 10/10.

 6.       Derry Girls

I did not expect to like Derry Girls as much as I did. This was supposed to be a mindless Circuit Breaker watch for me but it was SO FUNNY! I related so hard to the characters because I was from an all girls catholic school in my youth.

Each episode is a bit of a standalone so you don’t even have to watch the episodes in chronological order. But they are all SO DAMN FRICKIN FUNNY. That’s what I loved the most about Derry Girls. It’s just funny. Watch it if you want something to make yourself happier.

Also, Irish accents are LOVE. That alone is worth the A grade.  

 7.       Criminal United Kingdom S2

Depressing as fuck but so engrossing. It’s literally watching a mystery unfold. The acting is also 10/10. Though the episode with Kunal Nayyar (Raj from BBT) made me very uncomfortable because I couldn’t unsee Raj.

What makes Criminal even more amazing is that there is only one set, an interrogation room. So the show can only rely on the writing and acting to be good. And it is really really very good. Not light watching but feed your soul with the excellent artistry.

(S1 is just as good as S2. 100% will recommend the entire Criminal Series TBH. France, Germany and Spain all are good.)

 8.       Teenage Bounty Hunters

CRACK. 10/10 SOLID CRACK. The show is as ridiculous as the title suggests. But I enjoyed it because it was so engaging! Storytelling was great, characters were great and IT WAS SO FUNNY. Great light watching. 😊

 9.       Dirty Money

ALSO DEPRESSING AS FUUUUUUUUCK. But I learned so much from it. Will not recommend watching it all at one go but it was hella educational. I feel like it opened my eyes to many things.

 10.   Dr Jason Leong Hashtag Blessed

SO FUCKING FUNNY. Nuff said.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 10x14: Look at the Flowers - Character Journeys

All right, so after watching this episode like three times, I started to notice patterns in the different character arcs. Each of them is on a similar journey in this episode, and while they’re all different, they all parallel one another.

The characters are Carol, Beta, Ezekiel, Daryl, Negan, and then Eugene/Yumiko/Ezekiel. The reason I put those last three together is that their “journey” is physical. It’s them journeying to meet Stephanie. For the other characters, the journey is internal.

So I’ll try to go through this quickly. I just want you to notice the pattern here. This is the journey of these characters to make a decision that will affect things moving forward. And it’s important to understand what that journey is so we know where their arcs are going and how they will react to things. By the end of the episode, they’ve made their decisions and are ready for action.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 10x14. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

Phase 1: each journey starts out with a negative, destructive mindset.

Carol – listening to Alpha (herself) who is telling her how terrible she is, how it’s her fault each of the kids died, etc. Very negative mindset.

Ezekiel – he’s down on himself for not saving the kids and is being more negative than positive about his future. Probably because he believes he doesn’t have one.

Beta – we see him find that Alpha is dead, kill one of the Whisperers, and then destroy his room in the western saloon.

Daryl – For Daryl, it’s about him not believing Negan. He’s mad at Carol, but he also doesn’t trust Negan or believe they’re on the same side, now. It’s understandable, but he’s just not having much “faith in people.”

Negan – His is more subtle but he’s trying to convince Daryl he’s a friend and is obviously terrified that Daryl is going to kill him at any moment. Which he’s probably right about.

Phase 2: The negativity culminates in some sort of disaster or major event that forces them to make a decision about their future.

Carol – the boat falls on her, and she’s faced with whether she’ll fight to live or just let the walker bite her.

Ezekiel – his horse dies, and he wants to turn back because he’s afraid his lack of stamina might put Yumiko and Eugene in danger.

Beta – I’m convinced he contemplates suicide by walker a few times. The big event is when all the walkers come toward him and he has to decide what he wants to do next.

Daryl – Taken captive by the Whisperers, when they bow to Negan.

Negan – Same thing. Not a disaster for him, but he’s given the opportunity to go back to his old, Negan-ish ways, and he has to decide whether to do that or continue to ally himself with Daryl and the Alexandrians.

Phase 3 – They make a decisions to either slide back into old, negative patterns, or move forward with faith and hope.

Carol – kills the walker, decides to live and return to Alexandria, rather than running away.

Ezekiel – convinced by Yumiko to continue on toward the city. And that’s super important because him going there will probably ultimately save his life. So, deciding to move forward with faith and hope will allow him to live.

Beta – he’s the only one that doesn’t exactly move forward with positivity. You could argue that he doesn’t go the route of death by walker, so he chooses to live. But he also wears Alpha’s face and leads the horde to make war on Alexandria, so…

Daryl – For him, I believe it’s deciding to believe Negan. At first, he didn’t believe him. Then he had to trust Negan to kill the Whisperers and be on his side. And he makes a point of saying he still doesn’t like Negan, but I don’t think Daryl will go out of his way to kill Negan moving forward either. And his acceptance will go a long way toward others in the community accepting Negan as well. Probably far more than Carol’s acceptance of him would.

Negan – He chooses not to return to his negative, dictator-like ways, which earns Daryl’s trust and gets him back to Alexandria, which is what he wants.

So none of these are super TD or Beth-ish in nature, though we certainly see plenty of signs and symbols of her along the way. But I think the point is that all of them moving forward with positivity will affect their arcs moving forward.

And it also mirrors Eugene’s journey to find Stephanie. We certainly didn’t reach the end of that journey, but I noticed that right after Carol says, “It’s never too late,” the next shot we see is of them arriving at the city with triumphant music. So that’s purposeful.

Eugene says their on a journey to the hope and future of mankind. Makes us think we’ll see a cure arc here and this journey of Eugene’s is going to change everything. So, it mirrors what these individual characters are going through, because their choices here will change everything moving forward.

How do I think they’ll change things? 

As I’ve already said, I think Ezekiel will live, rather than die of his cancer. For Carol, though I think Zeke’s death fake out will send her into a tailspin, I also think that, like Daryl, Maggie, and Michonne, she’ll have to choose to be positive and move forward before she’s “worthy” to get Ezekiel back and find happiness. She basically chose that here. 

So while obviously thinking he’s dead will greatly affect her, I think her choice here will help her keep from sliding into hermetic, homicidal existence when it does happen.

Beta? Yeah, I don’t have much in the way of details to offer, but he’ll probably die eventually. But then, he didn’t exactly choose the most positive path. Many of us got Phantom of the Opera vibes with his “new” mask. 

You know, the story of a monster with a mask who kidnaps a beautiful, young, singer? And the phantom has an amazing singing voice as well? Now, I don’t know if that’s what they’re going for. But I gotta say, Ryan did talk on TTD about how Alpha’s ghost will very much remain with Beta moving forward. The opera ghost is a big part of the Phantom tale.

And yes, I totally have a head canon about Beta kidnapping Beth and Beth choosing Daryl instead. But we’ll leave that in head canon land for now. ;D

For Negan, the obvious thing is that maybe he’ll get to live at Alexandria and be one of the good guys, now. But I really like this Negan thing in terms of Daryl. I still think Negan will figure in Beth’s return in some way, and maybe he needs to be part of Alexandria (not just as a prisoner) to make that happen. So I like to think that, much as with Dwight, Daryl’s mercy will aid in bringing Beth back to him. But I’m not exactly objective on that count. ;D

So yeah, just wanted you guys to see this so we can refer back to it as we get farther on in the story.  

Another thing? I was originally going to discuss the lyrics of the songs we her in tomorrow’s Details post. But then I realized I need to put them here.

So here’s the thing. We saw three different scenes in which Beta is playing music. In the first scene, he’s playing Emily’s The Turtle and the Monkey song. In the second one, a different song is playing that I haven’t identified yet. And then in the third one, her song is playing again. I’ve typed out the lyrics below.

Even before I realized that the song in 2 out of 3 scenes was Emily’s, I looked at the lyrics and realized they represented the three phases. 1 – Negativity, 2 – Imprisonment 3 – Staying the course and, kind of, being in love? The first set of lyrics sounds really self-deprecating. The second set of lyrics starts out, “Cuz if I knew they’d lock me up…” Yeah. Imprisonment. And in the third we get sticking to the path (i.e. making the right choice), talk of love, and staring into one another’s eyes.

Check them out for yourself:

First Scene:

“I’m a miser when I’m rich

But a gambler if I’m broke

And if we’re gonna be laughin’

I would wanna be in on the joke.

Sometimes I think You show me the scabs

Just to temp me to tear ‘em away

Makin’ me draw blood

Will never make me want to stay.

Second Scene:

‘Cause if I knew they’d lock me up

Then I would surely run

Killed so many in your name, girl

That I’d never see the sun

Was invited down to hell

Drank from the glass, it felt just fine

I asked him, “Where’s that girl of mine?”

The Devil just smiled and left me behind

I smiled back and finished my bear

and said adios. I didn’t shed a tear

Joy descended with the flames all around

‘Cause the Devil, he sure likes to gamble

I tried to stand tall

And knock down that big old wall

I tried to stand strong

But suppose I guessed all wrong.

I tried to stand tall

And knock down that big old wall

I tried to stand strong

But supposed I guessed all wrong.

Third Scene:

Just sticking to the path

Your like a monkey in the trees

Jumpin from branch to branch

I love the way you move

You love the way I rock ‘n’ roll

But if our worlds collide it’s bound to take its toll

Oh, oh it’s sad but true

Love is never enough

And after just a few months, we’re not immune

Oh, we used to stay up late

Starin’ in each other’s eyes

So, I didn’t realize it was Emily’s song because I’ve only listened to her Turtle and the Monkey song a few times and am not that familiar with the tune. In my defense, I did google and figured if it was one of her songs it would come up. It totally didn’t. But I think I know why. The first few lines in Beta’s song are different than in Emily’s song. And those are the only ones I Googled (eye roll). So that’s why it didn’t pop up for me.

But I gotta say, it being her song, and especially the fact that she’s in the first and third scenes, is awesome! Think about what I said last week about the 15 season arc. Beth was in the first 5 season (S2-S5), but not in the middle 5 (6-10) but we’re thinking she’ll return for 11-whenever. The songs…kind of reflect that.

Thoughts?