#i thought it was a great creepy-comedic villain love song though Tumblr posts

[stripedtabbycat]

i've been listening to the mystery shack lookback podcast while rewatching gravity falls, which is fun because you get to see what the fandom was speculating about at the time the show was first airing as well as be reminded of how much time people had to speculate between episodes back then. i was there for the second half of season 2 and i remember but still it's easy to forget when you're able to watch them all in a row.

i just watched "the last mabelcorn" and was genuinely surprised to learn that:

this episode was written solely by alex hirsch in 2 days, after plans for a wendy-centric episode were eventually given up on. it's a shame we never got that but it sounded like the writers had trouble coming up with a plot for her that would sustain a whole episode

a lot of people didn't like this episode much and thought it showed that it was written hastily? which i don't remember at all, i think people were mostly going insane over the billford backstory reveals. i also never would have guessed it was written on such short notice, i didn't think it was any lower in quality than the rest of the season. maybe that's just the hosts' opinion. it's just the first i'm hearing about this episode having a more tepid reception

(overall i really like this podcast though, i'm learning a lot about the production history of this show)

[mdhwrites]

Jumbled Thoughts: Romantic Rivals With Spy x Family

"What do you mean you love him!? You may be best girl, the tsundere and the one who spends 90% of your screentime with him but I'm in love... With..." "You want to go get a drink as a consolation prize?" "Yes please." And then I'm going to poison her drink so he can be all mine!

A lot of good, long term romance works have what can easily be identified as the romantic rival, regardless of how actually effective those rivals are. A character essentially designed to be an obstacle between the main couple and true love. There's a lot of forms this can take and luckily, anime has given us two great examples recently with Spy x Family's Yuri and Nightfall... But first let's get a few things out of the way.

Despite my bit at the beginning, a romantic rival actually doesn't need to be a direct competitor. Quintessential Quintuplets' romantic rival is the 5 girls' father and it'd be real creepy if he was actually trying to bang him.

"SIS!"

We'll... We'll get to that. No, instead the point of a romantic rival is simply to be someone who has to lose if the main couple ends up getting together. Their happiness and desires are essentially impossible if the main couple's happiness is achieved. That's why they're a rival since there can only be one winner. The most direct way to do this is with someone else who loves one of the two MCs but it can take on a lot of forms.

Secondly: For them to be a rival, they do actually need and investment in the potential of the two MCs being together. The best rivals are likely going to relish in destroying what might have been just as much as they'll enjoy either capturing the one they love or dooming them to misery. For their role to function though, they can't be unaware of what they're doing. Otherwise, they fall more into cruel twists of fate or comedic interventions depending on the severity of the moment and the tone it's portrayed with. Like Joe from Big Time Rush moving for her work isn't because her agent is a romantic rival, whoever they are doesn't care about the romance going on, it's just business. One that tragically breaks up the head of the band and her.

We did get one hell of a song out of it though. (Yes, I loved this show as a teenager and still think their music slaps incredibly hard. Also, I'm linking this video because it portrays more what happened but I do think the 2020 acoustic version done during lockdown is better.)

Another thing necessary for the character to be a rival though is that they are inherently a bad option. While one could call all the girls in your typical harem romance rivals to each other, it's better to call them contestants. They all have a real, viable case for taking that spot of best girl/boy, both in the hearts of our MC and of the audience. You are supposed to be okay with any of them getting with the main character. They are simply a competing ensemble.

A romantic rival is a villain. Even when not explicitly portrayed as one, you're supposed to want them to lose. They VERY rarely are real people besides maybe a sob story but that's not really the point of them. Romantic rivals are meant to elevate something into soap opera levels of drama, not for a nuanced discussion of love. A way to heighten the stakes and force the cutesy, potentially eternal lovey dovey elements of a work into what will be an even more satisfying conclusion.

Or for some EXTREMELY funny jokes. Speaking of, let's get into Spy x Family.

Nightfall versus Yor.

Yuri versus Loid.

Or, er... Well, see, why these two are so useful is that we actually have an incredible romantic rival and one that mostly entirely falls flat on his face in the role and is arguably the worst element of the show to me. As such, let's start with him: Yuri. Yor's baby brother.

He is a member of the secret police, the best at what he does despite such a young age and has a sister complex. Like... 80% of his character is sister complex. 19% more of that is screaming about his sister and then 1% of him makes you remember "RIGHT! This guy actually claims to be a functional human being!" Yuri's inability to actually function as a person is one of his biggest flaws because that single minded obsession makes it hard for him to really have more than a handful of jokes, all of which just increasingly become more stale (at least for me) as the show went on. That's a real shame too because as a rival to Loid, he's actually about as good as you could ask for.

See, while I have problems with Yuri, his failure in this role actually has a lot more to do with Loid than himself. A rival is meant to push the couple out of their comfort zone, potentially make them fuck up and do something that will upset the other, or challenge some aspect of a person's love for their partner. Loid... Doesn't have any of these traits. His whole gimmick is being the man with a thousand faces. To have so many layers, you'll have cried an ocean by the time you get to the core of this onion. That also means he has no comfort zone to push him out of, only fuck ups because of himself and...

Well actually, this is the one way I think Yuri does screw up as a potential rival to Loid. He makes big declarations about whether or not Yor and Loid's love is real but his love isn't real either. He doesn't actually know his sister. He doesn't engage with her genuinely, just like Loid doesn't. He has this nostalgic, permanent image that would take literally seeing his sister kill a loyal citizen to the country in order to even crack. That's not actually more genuine than Loid using her like he does. The only difference is that one will never ask Yor of anything and want to stay by her side while the other will only stay until the job is done. It'd be much more effective, in this role, for Yuri to genuinely know his sister and be able to call things out because of the genuine care versus Loid's artificial care.

Otherwise, what Yuri really does is be a reminder of the world these characters exist in. Someone who genuinely can NEVER find out the secret between the main couple, that they're not married nor actually in love, or else Loid is a dead man and Operation Strix is over. That's because Loid is an enemy of the state so while Yuri would lock him up for the wrong reasons, he is still one of the few people who could actually cause trouble if only he knew the truth. Too bad Yuri has been a spy for like an entire decade less than Loid and so Loid can run circles around him also making this tension somewhat tenuous at best.

He is only a threat in essentially the same way anyone is. In that he cannot know the secret. That is the exact opposite of Nightfall, Yor's rival.

Nightfall is a fellow spy from Loid's agency. She actually was a pupil of Loid's and mistook being told you can't have emotions on a mission to mean she must deaden all emotions. She is also a super spy on a similar level to Loid, making her the idea working partner for him.

But that lack of emotions is also why she can never be Loid's romantic partner. Yor is a bundle of energy and a precious cinnamon roll who wears her heart on her sleeve and couldn't help but be earnest even if she tried not to be. She is exactly the sort of warm, open person that Loid needs to ever make him consider retirement. To peel back the layers so that he can one day be himself instead of one of the many faces that he has. She will only ever love Loid... Not Loid's job or codename: Twilight.

Immediately we have the reason why these two contrast and why you will never root for Nightfall. Nightfall loves Twilight. Loves the image and ideal of Loid as this unstoppable super spy who she could essentially conquer the world with. Who she could help alleviate the woes of before they both get back to work. She'd be devoted but to all the wrong needs of Twilight. We even know she has the skills with which to do it, something Yor very clearly lacks as putting her in the kitchen is a surefire way to attempt mass genocide.

Not to say Yor is incapable of challenging Nightfall in a more practical way like how Loid entirely destroys Yuri. Yor is still superhuman in her physical capabilities which is why despite how clumsy and dumb she can be, she's still a very capable assassin. It's just that being an assassin is essentially all she's good at, besides empathy that is. Yor's care runs deep, just like how deep the tennis ball she sent into God only knows where is or the ball she played with Anya with when she did her own signature shot. Since Nightfall can't convince Loid to drop Yor due to her wifely duties, she does only have this and one other tactic to use against Yor and here she fails ENTIRELY.

The other one she's a lot better at. See, in her eyes, Yor is a bad wife. Yuri thinks the same about Loid but as a bad husband. Unfortunately for our cinnamon roll, she does not have Loid's confidence or the homely skills to back that up and so questions about her capabilities, especially with a smooth motherfucker like Twilight, shake her to her core. Luckily, she has the empathy and care that helps with Anya and makes her not just a good wife but what is even more important here: A good mom.

Here is where we get Yuri's last failing. See, a good romantic rival should be like any good villain. They oppose not only the couple but the whole premise and theme of the show. Yuri and Nightfall both do actually attack the themes to some extent by asking for stagnation and pulling the two back to their past where they will be trapped in the violence they have known all their lives. This is attacking the Spy part of the title. Only one of them actually says anything about the Family part of it though.

The most disappointing moment of the entire series for me was when Yuri finally interacted with Anya, Loid and Yor's adopted daughter, and hated her. Now, admittedly, his goal of arresting and killing Loid would pretty much certainly mean Anya's death too since she was adopted by Loid. Best case scenario for Anya if Yuri wins is going back to the orphanage but... That's the same case for if the operation that brought these three together fails in anyway. He adds nothing new with this that the base premise of this being a sham family doesn't already add.

Meanwhile, Nightfall knows from go about the operation and her opposition to Yor is specifically so that she can take the place of Loid's wife for the operation. This introduces two new elements that very, VERY few other characters can so directly. The first is that if Nightfall wins, it dooms Anya. Her desire to keep Loid as Twilight, rather than as himself, means that the warmth that Yor and Anya are forcing out of him will likely shrivel back up and die so that when the operation fails, Anya will go back to an orphanage and the family will end.

You also might have noticed that I said WHEN the operation fails, not if. While we haven't gotten it in the anime directly, we know a lot of Loid's methods for getting Anya to succeed fail and Anya at least likes Loid enough to try. Yor has made monumentally better strides in getting Anya to listen, be better and try harder than Loid ever has because, well... Anya is six. She doesn't need a cold, calculating spy, she needs parents and Yor's earnest and honesty makes her a great parent who is constantly trying to do the best for her child. From the brief glimpses we get of what Nightfall would try to employ as a parent, we have good reason to assume she'd fail just as hard as Loid has and so either Anya would run away, happy to be away from a family that no longer has Yor's warmth and has a slowly deadening Loid, or she'd be sent away once the stress and pain of that environment crushed her.

It is a unique threat that quite only someone from Loid's agency can present and it's a much more interesting reason to hate Nightfall and want to see her fail than Yuri just hating Anya regardless because he sees her as an extension of the sister stealer. It makes her a genuine villain that the regular populace can't replicate. It also allows her more dynamism as she'll do whatever she has to to gain the place of Loid's wife, even act kind to Anya, until finally she no longer needs to. She's a spy after all and this is her mission.

There's one other element here though I want to give a shout out for that is actually easy to overlook for romantic rivals: I want Yor, Twilight and Nightfall to be in a polycule. For Loid and Nightfall to finally have a real conversation and fix the lesson that has poisoned Nightfall so thoroughly. For Yor's kindness to help Nightfall see herself as a real person and not a slave to her image of Twilight. Hell, I even do want to see Nightfall be able to help shore up Yor's skill weaknesses and give Loid someone who can 100% understand his worldview, even as they both fight against keeping up those barriers. Nightfall is mostly a joke, mostly played for comedy but her genuine care for Loid, and how much it devastates her to fail, makes her into a more complex, sympathetic villain who you don't want to see be splattered on the pavement.

I... Well, I won't say Yuri is such a bad character that I want him literally dead but if he got shipped over to this world's version of America for the rest of his life, I would not miss his presence. He is a creep, a man child and quite frankly the best ending for him is probably to literally never be able to see his sister again so as to grow up as a person. Even that implies I even care enough to want to see him grow though as two seasons in, I don't really care. He has ONE truly great sequence that shows his potential and even it shows his critical flaw as a romantic rival: It has literally nothing to do with Loid or Yor. He is only an interesting character outside of the context of those two.

And for a narrative role who's whole job is to complicate and add excitement to the context of the main couple, that makes him a complete failure. So for as great as yuri is in most contexts, make sure you don't write the character Yuri if you're trying to make a good romantic rival. Not unless you wish for night to fall on your story and leave it in the dark.

======+++++======

It's kind of fun how much romance anime I've watched in the like past six months. It's still only three series, Kaguya, Quintessential Quintuplets, and Spy x Family (the last of which is SO many genres) but it did help me have some actual examples when I finally sat down and wrote this. Also, I'm currently poking at theoretically going back to my roots and writing a harem story, though also keeping it PG-13 like my current stylings so honestly, have any anime recommendations for me?

Also, this is probably another Jumbled Thoughts post that goes too much into the example, even if highlighting how Nightfall is a good contrast to Yor is so important to understanding what a good romantic rival looks like.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[stillness-in-green]

Idk if anyone told you but the MVA OST leaked, with themes for both the League and the MLA. If you haven't listened to it yet, please do! And if you have, what are your thoughts? I think Mine Woman and RE-DESTRO slap for 2 characters that got shafted hard by canon so I appreciate them a lot.

I have listened to them, and I like several of them! I feel like I need to lead with that, because I'm about to add some criticism about my previous responses to BNHA's score for context, so it's important to know that I genuinely do enjoy quite a few of these.

So, I haven't listened to a lot of Yuki Hayashi's scores, but he's definitely done work I've liked! He composed the music for several of the more recent PreCure shows, including their movies; I particularly loved his finale for the 15th anniversary film, which prominently featured a truly delightful medley of every team's opening theme. I'm also very fond of some of his pieces for Kiznaiver and Welcome to the Ballroom.

His BNHA work, though, I feel like suffers from two main problems: the tracks are too short to work up a good head, and yet, despite that short length, they sometimes feel exhaustingly over the top. (Did Shigaraki's theme really need crying children to get across the point that he's bad news?) I've long felt that the BNHA anime wants me to feel like everything is way more Epic and Stirring and Dramatic than I actually find the material to be, so curiously, the music winds up having a distancing effect rather than drawing me in. This is frequently compounded by placement choices that feel so staggeringly poor that I'm often left wondering whether the staff chose the music out of a hat! (Seriously, why does a fairly rote test of character in Nighteye's office warrant doom choirs?)

As to the MVA tracks specifically, I wish there could have been tracks that sounded a bit more fun or heroic, given that the League in MVA really are the heroes for the arc, complete with Shigaraki suddenly having access to Shonen Nakama Tropes and getting all these little comedic reaction takes. It'd be nice if the music could cue in and let the League have some aural triumph without being all doom all the time ("Oh, no! The villains are winning!" Yes, they are; let them have this for one arc, would you?)

But that said, I do rather like most of these! There are some that I do suspect will fall prey to the This Is Too Much Drama, Would You Please Ratchet Back? problem, but there are also some that I can imagine playing better in the context of the show than they do in isolation, and some that feel like they could even be exactly what I was dreaming about, if they go where I hope they will. For some individual thoughts, see below:

The Mission of the Stealth Hawks: A reasonable enough little tense atmospheric piece. Doesn't jump out at me.

Different Ability Liberation Army: I always approach the MLA as styling themselves as an army, but in reality being more of a sect--far more cult than militia-- I appreciate that if they can't have a good dramatic march despite having Army, like, right there in the title, I'm glad I could get church bells instead. On the whole, though, this is a good example of the first problem I mentioned having with Hayashi's work for BNHA--his pieces tend to be pretty short, and it takes them so long to land on a melody that by the time they find one, there's hardly any time to develop it before the song ends. Even a lot of the hero pieces are like that, and the villain songs, even more so. That said, I do like the horror strings that creep in around the 1.25 mark, blossom at 1.45, and float on through 2.10. I just wish they went on longer. Admittedly, "erratic church bells and horror strings" is still not the choice I would have made for the MLA's main theme. I really would have preferred something with a more militant air; as it is, this sort of feels like it scores a creepy prologue that plays before the opening credits kick in and then the episode proper starts. Which isn't a bad description for the way the dinner scene played in the manga, but thanks to the anime's decision to reshuffle everything, I don't think that dinner scene's going to maintain that feeling of "prologue" when we finally get to it.

My Villain Academia: Better on the melodic front; I enjoy the drama at .43, the dancing tension at 1.05, and particularly the minor strings from 1.25 that just keep climbing until everything else drops out around 2.10. I do wish it found a better place to end rather than noodling on for a further thirty seconds, but the melody will get a more central, and more bombastic, treatment in the final track, so it's probably okay for it to trail off here. (It's also apparently a reprise of a villain theme from the very first season's OST, which is rad. More on that in the Track 11 blurb.)

Second Coming: This is a bizarre one because, while I complained that Hayashi's BNHA tracks are usually short, this one is a full six and a half minutes--except that it falls clearly into movements of about a minute each, with clear lulls in between. I wish it was twelve minutes and everything was twice as long! As it is, I'm highly doubtful that we're going to hear this one played in its entirety anywhere, since I can't imagine what scenes would require this specific sequence of musical passages at this length. 0.00 - 1.01: I love that the song kicks in comparatively quickly; the first minute's passage has a great, thrumming drive that very nearly hits major key towards the end. 1.02 - 1.53: The drive picks up pace in the second minute before the chorus arrives, and for once, I am very prepared to love a BNHA choir piece. I hope this is what plays when Deika's going up in ash. 1.54 - 3.01: I love the melodic line being carried by the intentionally hard to distinguish violin and whatever brass instrument the violin's trading off with in the third minute. It's bit out of place with the rest of the track, but I like it quite a bit on its own, and it does have a similar sound as some of the "dirty" brass in RE-DESTRO and Mine Woman. It's probably too long for RD's childhood flashback, but I wonder if it'll play for an MLA character somewhere? 3.02 - 4.07: The fourth minute has some very fun drums, but otherwise doesn't jump out at me as much of the rest of the track. I'm very curious to know when this will play, though. 4.08 - 5.32: The fifth minute, god bless, has some proper march drums--I like this passage a lot, particularly when it come back in the sixth minute accompanied by the choir. I like this because the key is minor but it's not "oooo scaaaary" minor; it's more dramatic, a bit tragic, but triumphant too--pretty much perfect for Re-Destro, Spinner and Machia's moment of revelation in the crater. I wish it were longer. 5.33 - 6.36: And here for the end we're back to the driving guitar and some fun low-thrum strings and percussive chain sounds. Like the fourth passage, it's fun, but jumps out at me less, particularly as the song's finale.

Gigantomachia: This is an extremely boss kaiju song. Seriously, that brass in the opening could come right out of a Toho flick. Extremely good walking calamity number, love that distorted synth stuff towards the end. It's going to sound great when (if) it plays over Machia leaving the villa, the hand rising up through the floor behind Toga, Momo and the other students surveying the desolation left in his wake, and so on. (I know that's all Season Six material, shhhh. I hope they use this piece there.)

Mine Woman: This is so fun. And so extremely superior that that awful Christmas insert song! I'm glad Curious got this at least, and I love the moment the beat drops at the one-minute mark, and that interwoven sax. So good. It's hard to imagine the fight between Toga and Curious being paced to this song, mind, but it's real good, anyway.

TOGA's Nature: This one showcases the other problem I have with Hayashi's BNHA work, especially his stuff for the villains: it feels very on the nose in a way that tips over into being Too Much. The birdsong, I think, is on the nose but in an effective, playful way, with the natural beauty of the birds undercut by the lovely but ominous piano/synth melody. I am considerably less kindly disposed to the creepy child laughter, which just feels on the nose in a thuddingly obvious way--though I do like the way it slides in when the birdsong fades. I like, too, the sort of cloudy roaring reprise of the melodic line that kicks in around the 1.10 mark. It feels like an effective echo of Toga--cute but creepy as a young girl, and then, after she snaps, creepy in the same way but now you can't ignore it.

Symbol of Fear: The beginning doesn't do much for me, but I enjoy the howl that gives way to the organs at 1.15; while it's too action-heavy to be Tenko, the transition does still put me in mind of Tenko wandering the streets, internally crying for anyone to help him, and the person who finally does is--well. I like that the organ nurtures that howl into something considerably more dire, though you still get a return to that guttural cry periodically. While it is, again, difficult to imagine this scoring the scenes between AFO and Tenko's first meeting and Tenko being formally named Tomura--it's much too bombastic--it does still feel like an excellent representation of AFO sculpting Tomura's formless, aimless rage into something that really could tear down the world.

I Don't Kill My Friends: It would have been really nice if they'd let the most significant, unadulterated personal triumph of the arc sound actually fun. Why does the Sad Man's Parade song sound so upset?? @aysall predicts that it'll play over Twice's confrontation with Hawks and death scene, and I can see it working extremely well there, but it's a pretty weird call for the Dead Man's Parade bit, if that is indeed what this is intended to evoke. Quibbling about the title aside, I do like the way this pulses and throbs, something like an exposed wound, which is not a bad description of poor Jin's mentality. I still hope this isn't what scores his breakthrough, though. As I said previously, the villains are the heroes for just this one arc, and it'd be nice if the score could reflect that at least a little.

RE-DESTRO: I like this one a lot. I love the interwoven layers of that dirty sax and the Big and Dramatic orchestral strings + brass, but both of them undercut with that regular, machine beeping that could almost be a heart monitor, but mostly isn't--right up until the long beep at 1.52/1.53. It feels like a strong illustration of the titular character's different personas--his attempts at casual, friendly villainy (like menacing Giran or chatting with Shigaraki on the phone), him when he's thundering full-volume about the weight of his legacy at people (THE BLOOD OF DESTRO FLOWS THROUGH THESE VEINS I AM RE-DESTRO), and, beneath it all, the constant little thread of stress that Rikiya can never escape (right up until Shigaraki). I probably wouldn't love it so much in isolation, but I'm easy to win over with the right character association. XD

Paranormal Liberation Front: Very fun grubby guitar intro. It also has much the clearest melodic throughline, which inclines me towards it. What inclines me to it even more is the knowledge (per @aysall again) that it's the same main melody as the track Villains Theme from the very first season's OST. That track already having used its allotted Doom Choir quotient, this track makes do with less synth and a lot more orchestra and chunky bass backing, which is much to its benefit, I feel. I do wish it had any of the MLA's theme in it, to represent the merger, but admittedly, it'd be hard to make that very audible when the MLA theme has…next to no central melody, percussive rhythm, etc. Still, as an evolution of the League to something bigger, classier, and far more dangerous, it's real good--just long enough to develop into itself and explore its central leitmotif. Probably my favorite track simply on its own merits.

Thanks for the ask, anon! I'd listened to the tracks once driving around for work, but sitting down with them properly gave me a greater appreciation for them, and now I'll definitely have an ear out for them when we get to this material in the anime…

….whenever that winds up being. *sob*

[scoobydoominuscoobydoo]

An older ask had asked you how you would rewrite return to zombie island. How would you rewrite scoob?

Oh I’ve already put some thought into this while I was actually watching the movie simply because I was thirty minutes in and didn’t see it getting better.

The first change I would make is that I would get rid of the whole beginning scenes with them as kids. We didn’t need it and it literally added nothing to the story. You can convince your audience that the characters are close without needing to completely illustrate why.

I would definitely open the film up with them probably in mid-chase at the climax of a mystery because that’s just how you need to open up a Scooby movie. Right from the beginning this is where I would introduce the character conflict. Maybe after they’ve caught the guy and the police are commending them they wouldn’t really have anything to say to Shag and Scoob (who are probably disheveled and starving from running for their lives once again). Shaggy and Scooby have never felt bad about being cowards so I doubt this would really hurt them that much (maybe annoy them at the most). But it identifies where the story is going to focus.

We’d then move into some transitional scenes where you can watch how the gang’s dynamic works and this is where you sell their friendship. This ain’t just a Scooby and Shaggy movie, this is a whole gang movie (the central conflict just stems from Shaggy feeling under appreciated). So their relationships are an important part of getting the audience to care what happens. I would say you subtly show how Shaggy might break up little arguments or remind them to eat. Nothing in your face, more or less it would be weaved in with the gang’s standard banter.

Then we’d get to the gang talking about turning MI into a legitimate business by finding investors and stuff. I think this would be a good opportunity for a montage scene where we get to see a lot of other Scooby/HB characters without it taking too much out of the story (this is where I would show the Blue Falcon and Dyno Mutt). All of them seem to reject the proposition though. I didn’t have major issues with Simon Cowell because random celebrity cameos have always been a Scooby thing but I mean.... Why Simon Cowell of all people? I feel like there are way more suitable celebs to choose from. I feel like it would be funny if they brought in one of the actors from the 2002 live action film (playing themselves) and everyone is just like: “Who the heck is this?” And then Shaggy (who always knows who everyone is) just goes: “Um??? You uncultured swine??? That is obviously Linda Cardellini!” And then she’s the one who is finally willing to invest but says she’ll only do it if Shag is out (Scooby can stay because animal mascots are in and it doesn’t get anymore in than a talking Great Dane).

And the gang gets all offended at this and Linda (it doesn’t have to be Linda but for all intents and purposes I’m just saying it is) will just be like, “Fine, I’ll give you my money if you can tell me what he does for you. For your team.” 

And they’ll all stay silent, trying to think of something and that’s when Shaggy finally takes it personally. It’s one thing to be judged by people he hardly knows. But for his best friends to be given like the easiest ultimatum and they can’t even deliver on it? He wonders if he’s being taken for granted. He decides he is and explodes. Shaggy never explodes so it freaks the gang out.

I think he’d call them out for not considering his constant submission into being the bait as a contribution - despite the fact that he always states that he’ll never do it again. But of course they wouldn’t count that because they’re always too focused in on the details to miss the big picture in front of them. Because, ultimately, that is what Shag adds to the team. Daphne, Fred, and Velma tend to get so wrapped up in the small factors that they sometimes miss the obvious. And that’s when Shaggy will point out the big thing that they’re missing. Shag has always been big picture over nuts and bolts so of course he’s the one to bring up the primary detail missed. This has been an element in almost every single show so I feel like it’s funny that it’s never been spelled out.

Velma is a little hot-head who doesn’t love being demoralized by anyone so she might say something uncalled for and that’s when Shaggy walks out and Scoob follows suit. That’s a pretty major conflict to take up the runtime so there you go. 

Shag and Scoob being pissed at the gang makes a little more sense now and can be further elaborated and expand into Shag’s self-confidence issues. It’s at this point that the two of them can get kidnapped by an unrevealed villain because why the heck would I take the mystery out of it? 

It wouldn’t be by a group of semi-sentient robots because this the 70′s or 80′s and technology wouldn’t be that advanced. Instead, I’d shoot for classic, masked henchmen (maybe disguised as horrifying Greek gods or something) who swipe Shag and Scoob from the bowling alley without even giving them a chance at a comedic chase scene because the audience is supposed to feel unnerved.

We’d cut back to the gang, 1/3 of them a little steamed and the majority feeling bad for selling their best friend short. It’s revealed that they didn’t take the investment offer because there’s no way they would further exclude Shaggy from anything. They decide that they should let everyone cool down before they go and talk things out and while that’s happening Daphne is trying put together a list of all the things Shag and Scoob add to the team. She gets even more upset with herself because this is their best friend and this shouldn’t be that hard. 

In the background, Fred and Velma start arguing and it would act as a kind of callback to the beginning where we see Shag break up their bickering. But since he’s not here the fight begins to escalate and it’s only when they start yelling that Daphne comes between them. Then her face lights up and she gingerly adds that to the list. 

As the movies cuts back and forth between Shag and Scoob’s perspective and the gang’s perspective the list gets longer.

Speaking of, Shag and Scoob are being kept prisoner at the abandoned carnival because that’s always an interesting set-piece that just so happened to be totally pointless in the actual movie. At some point the two of them are split up and this is when it’s hinted that the kidnappers where originally aiming for just Scooby but Shag was also there so they just rolled with it. But because Shaggy isn’t important to them, nobody is really guarding him anymore (they were originally guarding him because Scooby was with him). 

Scooby being taken is the motivation he needs to try and escape and save his dog (in his head he’s pretty sure these whackos are gonna freaking sacrifice his dog to the powerful god of all things creepy). His escape attempts would be interspersed between scenes of the gang looking for him, and Scooby being intimidated by the masked big bad (who is of course explaining the plan in great detail). The gang’s hunt for their guys would be a lot more difficult since they can’t just Life 360 up where he is. It would rely more on visual clues, eyewitness testimonies and choppy security footage, which is overall more engaging and gives the gang an actual thing to do.

While Shaggy is formulating an escape he’s able to pick up bits and pieces of what the crazy people want to do with Scooby and this acts as him getting closer to finishing a puzzle. But he doesn’t analyze the puzzle pieces he gets and tries to guess what the puzzle will look like, that’s not his area or his goal at the moment.

In a big triumphant moment, Shaggy escaping and the gang figuring out where he is happen at the same time. This gets the spirits high before things go wrong again.

And when I say wrong - I mean the gang get capture by the villain. Shaggy isn’t aware of this as he’s sneaking around the carnival grounds trying to figure out where someone would keep the actually important prisoner. I feel like a comically large circus tent would be a cool location for the climax of a movie Scooby’s probably in there. But when Shag gets there he’s quick to hide (like under the seats or something) and this is how he’s able to finally see the whole puzzle put together.

The gang escapes rather quickly because say what you will about Danger Prone Daphne but she’s just as good at getting out of tough situations as she is at getting into them. And so begins the epic journey to find their boys (they escape and Velma just instantly goes, “It’s obviously the huge circus tent.”). And at this point it’s like a One Piece arc and all you want is the whole gang to be reunited again. But first we need a fun scene of the VFD trio trying to evade the henchmen to like a Smash Mouth song or something because remember this is Scooby-Doo.

Shaggy realizes he has to do something fast otherwise his dog is going to be used to open the Underworld. He runs out of the shadows without any real plan with just the goal of taking down the bad guy. But he doesn’t get there in time and the whole tent like erupts into green and blue flames as Cerberus stomps out of the gates and Shaggy is just frozen in place. The masked guy seems a tad surprised to run into Cerberus so fast but is quick to gain control of the beast. He orders the monster to start wreaking havoc on a nearby town something, he doesn’t care so long as he can enter the Underworld without distraction.

But before he can do that, he gets jumped by Shaggy who’s really only trying to keep him pinned down while he comes up with a step two. But Mr. Mask has some fight in him so it becomes this epic struggle between Shaggy, Scooby, and the bad guy while the place is still on fire and we have an epic orchestral score playing in the background.

Right when it seems like the villain has the upper hand, Daphne comes in and like roundhouse kicks him in the head, and he’s out cold. And before Shag and Scoob can react they’re dogpiled by the other three and it’s very heartwarming.

Fred eagerly ties the perp up and then we get our unmasking and it’s Scrappy-Doo!!! Just kidding that’d be stupid. I’m really not sure who would be the best surprise villain but if anyone has a good idea for one please let me know!

When the bad guy comes to, Velma starts shaking him to tell them how to get Cerberus back into the Underworld and how to close the gate. He reveals that all you need to do is whistle and he’ll go home (Cerberus is Hades’ domesticated puppy so obvi that would work). Maybe we get a gag where someone tries to whistle but it’s too hot in the tent for it to work and they’re like: “Does anyone have like some water?” And then Shaggy just rolls his eyes and whistles and boom, big angry puppy comes home. 

Daphne smiles and says, “I’m gonna have to add that to the list.” And Shag is like, “Like, the list of what?” And she explains that the gang has been putting together a list of all the things he brings to the team and it makes him happy that they’re putting in the effort.

We cut back to Velma torturing the info out of our mask on how to close the gates and he just evilly laughs and only a dog or dog’s best friend can close the gate. But, unfortunately, the gate will take them back down to the Underworld. The gang just sits in shock because there is no better option there.

But without missing a beat, Scooby decides he’s gonna do it and runs for the lock. He’s about to put his paw on the thingy when Shaggy beats him to it and nobody even gets a second to process before he’s sucked in and the gate vanishes.

The whole gang run to the spot where the gate used to be and Daphne falls to her knees crying, Scooby is digging at the ground trying to get to the gate and Fred has to get him to stop.

“I never even got to give him the list...” And Daph pulls it out and just drops it on the ground. Velma is on the verge of tears as she adds, “I still owe him an apology. I owe him a lot of apologies...” And as Fred is comforting Scooby he says, “We all do...” The scene ends with the gang all hugging Scooby and the list bursts into flames and disappears.

Then we cut to Shag in the Underworld and he’s just leaning against the gate and crying because what else is he gonna do? “At least I was finally useful to them...” He thinks and slowly begins to walk around and is surprised to see that the Underworld is prettier than he expected. 

“Thank my wife. She’s always looking for ways to brighten this place up so I don’t feel so miserable when she’s gone. “

Shag screams bloody murder and jumps like a ten feet before turning around and seeing a dude in a chiton. Surprise surprise, it’s Hades (Who can also be a celebrity cameo whatever). We get some nice banter before Hades holds up something and asks, “Is this yours?” 

Shaggy looks down and sees that it’s a piece of paper, he shakes his head.

“Really? Because it mentions you an awful lot.”

Evidently it got snagged on the way down and ended up in Hades’ lap - he’s certain he wouldn’t have even noticed that Shaggy was there if it weren’t for that. And then Shag’s face lights up and he realizes it must be the list, as he reads it we cut to all of the times Daphne thought to write these down on their trip. Finally he believes that he’s useful to the team, that he is a valuable part of the gang. 

Hades looks at him and just says, “How do they survive without you?” 

And Shag just shrugs and goes, “Believe me, like, I have no idea.”

Hades smiles and replies, “Then you best not keep them waiting.” Before snapping his fingers and poofing Shaggy back home.

When he gets there, the gang are slowly making their way out of the tent so they don’t see him. So Shag takes the opportunity to say, “I read y’all’s list.” And everyone instantly makes a 180 turn with their eyes super wide and he continues, “You know I think you missed a few but it’s the thought that counts.” And then we get dogpile number two of the movie.

The final scene is the gang opening up Mystery Inc. and them asking Shag where the entertainment is and he’s just like, “I asked our surprise investors to put something together for us...” And then we get the Hex Girls performance we deserve and I can totally buy them investing in Mystery Inc. because they freaking love Shaggy and Scooby so.

We get an ending shot of the gang going off to solve their first monetized mystery (we could have like a soft instrumental version of the first theme song playing) and then we fade to the end credits where we get the What’s New Scooby-Doo theme.

[ungodlyobsessions]

Black Friday thoughts!

I saw Black Friday last night and HOO BOY LEMME TELL YA THAT SHOW IS A HOOT, SO STRAP IN FOR A LONG POST

⚠️ THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BLACK FRIDAY THE MUSICAL ⚠️

In-show thoughts:

We got to see Jeff as Tom Houston! Sad to know it was because Dylan was out sick, but it was a special experience nonetheless

Robert fucking dies yet again :(

Uhhhh holy shit Jon can BELT, I could hear him over everyone despite them all having a mic

Kim literally got right in my face and stared me in the eyes, it was fantastic

I thought I was gonna get kicked by Robert and James (though, I wouldn't have minded one bit lol)

Nick Lang was also at the show, possibly noting? He was really sweet and it was nice to see him again

ANGELA IS A BEAST AND HER VOICE IS FUCKING AWESOME, I hope to see her in future Starkid shows!

Kendall was so incredible! Her voice is so beautiful and it's so cool to see someone so young be such a great performer

Curt came dangerously close to running into my feet/legs during portions of the show

Most of the actors ended up getting around 5 or more inches away from me at times

The choreography in this show is honestly on another level, like the formations and little dance solos were just perfection! Hats off to James Tolbert man

The fight choreo in this show is also insane, like it was genuinely worrying watching some of the brawling that was going on lol

There was a moment in the show where our fave dancers (Lauren, Robert, and now James!) got to have their own little time in the spotlight

Jaime is super funny as Sherman Young

There were several leitmotifs and callbacks to stuff from TGWDLM!

There was this really cool set design moment where President Goodman is talking to Wiggly! So basically, the top level of the set has garland on it that fans downwards; Robert held up two large lamps above it to represent eyes, and coupled with the garland it forms the little green bastard's face. Some of the girls were under the garland, shaking it when Wiggly was talking

Curt is like...batshit crazy at some points in this show when he's a mallgoer

Joey is very creepy in this show,, he had an apple throughout the first act that he took one bite out of then handed to a random audience member, not to mention the fact that one of his costumes is all-denim

Lauren is a GORGEOUS villain, like I love Linda Monroe so much, but she is also very good at remaining comedic in the role

I overheard that unfortunately, due to Lauren being sick, she had to cut her solo titled "Adore Me"

PAULKINS PAULKINS PAULKINS!!!!! Also I love the fact that according to Paul they are "very intimate" but not close enough for Emma to label themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend lol

Tom was a very raw and wonderful character, and I actually hope this isn't the last we see of him

It was so refreshing seeing Jeff in a more serious role, and he is honestly such a legend for stepping up so suddenly in addition to his existing roles and writing all of the incredible songs

Getting some insight on how the death of Emma's sister, Jane, affected Emma and the Houstons was really interesting, and with the release of the filmed version I'm hoping there will be more to discover about it that I missed

Kim has such an angelic voice! She sounded beautiful during her duet with Jeff

Corey was killing it, he was so entertaining and captivating during his songs, he's a king

General McNamara reappears! I was so happy to see that man again :,) too bad he fucking dies though!!!

Hot Chocolate Boy, Charlotte, Ted, and Bill all reappear in the end number, and lemme tell you I was ECSTATIC, I missed them all so much

Also, Ted was holding Charlotte's shoulders at the end....👀

Curt was dressed as a guy in a hoodie that was holding lil' Peanut the Hatchetfield Squirrel!

Lex and Hannah's sibling relationship was so touching

Lex's solo, "Black Friday," was stunning, and I'll definitely be learning it once the soundtrack is released

I honestly hate the way Ethan dresses himself lmao, but he's really sweet to Hannah and is a pretty supportive boyfriend

In one of the numbers, I believe titled "Wiggle" or something similar, there's a lot of very good suggestive hip swiveling going on

JEFF BLIM SAID FUCK CAPITALISM

I'm begging for a full-length version of Santa Claus Goes to High School (well not really, Black Friday is enough of a blessing, but the thought is glorious)

Teenage Kris Kringle is actually Robert's best role, don't @ me 😤 Professor Hidgens? Don't know her

The number that I believe is titled "What Do You Say?" is so fucking funny but also awkward and adorable

Jon Matteson as Gary, a lawyer, was super entertaining

I wasn't expecting a cult plot, but you know, I'm not surprised

Out-of-show thoughts:

We sat in the front row, house left

Curt and Kim both said hi to people, but they left quickly and didn't stagedoor due to sickness

Lauren, Corey, James, and Joey all did not stagedoor or even appear afterwards, given their sickness

I showed the members I'd met at Homecoming (Jon, Jeff, and Jaime) the pictures from the day I saw them, and they all said they remembered me! Jon and Jeff both commented that they looked younger in the picture, and Jeff pointed out his makeup lol

I asked Jaime if Mariah ever saw my Greenpeace costume, and she said she showed her a picture of me in it!

I got stickers, the Black Friday pin, a Wiggly doll, and some unused prop stickers that were meant to go on the bags in the show

I talked to Robert a little more after stagedoor and told him I'd watched some of Fanshaw and Crudnut to hear his voice acting, and he said "Oh my God, that's a deep cut haha" but was ultimately grateful for the extra support for his work

There were these two girls in the front with us that were dressed as Alice and Deb as a couple's costume, they were so cute and so sweet

I got to chat with Matt Dahan, and he was talking about how good the music in the show is and how talented he thinks all of his friends are :,)

When Jon came out, people were going "Paul's a-comin'," so the Alice and Deb girls and I all brought up "Steve's a-comin'," and Matt went "Oh God, you guys know about 'Steve's a-comin''??" lmao

The show confirms that Black Friday isn't really a continuation or prequel to TGWDLM, but rather an alternate dimension/timeline

At the end of the show, during bows, the cast gestured to Jeff in the middle, and we all gave him a roaring standing ovation that nearly brought him to tears

During the show, you could tell which of the cast members were sick because they were coughing onstage (though they were definitely being as discreet as possible) and it's just unbelievable how passionate and dedicated these people are.

I'm so honored to have experienced this! I'm eagerly awaiting the YouTube release and soundtrack, and I'm so ready to see what Starkid will do next 🌟

[briangroth27]

Ready or Not Review

I really liked Ready or Not! It’s a very entertaining horror adventure with a healthy dose of comedy and a great lead in Samara Weaving. The supporting cast is on point too and everyone involved more than capably delivers a really fun thrill ride!

Full Spoilers...

Weaving's Grace is hoping to find a family once she marries her fiancé, Alex (Mark O’Brien), but everything goes wrong when his family tradition of playing a game each wedding night leaves her running for her life. Weaving imbues Grace with a winning way that makes her easy to root for, which is very important since we don't learn much about her interests or aspirations outside the family here. Her interactions with and reactions to the members of the Le Domas clan (along with her struggle to survive) give us a good grasp of who she is as a person (and that's just as if not more important as her biography), but I would've liked to know what she wanted out of life beyond a family and a solid home. Given no one in the movie really gets those details, however, it doesn't feel like she was slighted or underwritten. Her drive to have a family after living through foster homes was strong enough to give her a relatable goal and to fuel the tragedy that what she wants demands her death. The movie sends her through the ringer and Weaving absolutely sold Grace's growing confidence and grit in the face of so many would-be killers. She wasn't ever helpless or short of the ability to defend herself, but carving out an independent life apart from what she wanted was handled really well as the metaphorical component to her literal struggle to survive. I really liked that her most deliberate murder was the one that also eliminated any chance of a happy marriage to Alex, since she kills his mom Becky (Andie MacDowell), whom he loved her more than his new wife.

The script and direction did a great job of balancing Alex’s wish that he was different from his family with the dawning truths that he really did believe as they did and that he would choose them over Grace. The very act of putting her in a situation that could lead to her death without telling her—even if the Hide & Seek card hadn't been drawn in 30 years—was a huge red flag and I'm glad they followed through to the conclusion of that plot point. The romantic music swelling when he told Grace he'd proposed to her because she'd leave him otherwise didn't convince me that he was a good guy (he would have explained why they couldn’t get married or just let her go rather than risk her life if he really loved her), so I was happy the movie used the romantic music as a trick instead of a true emotional beat. There were other small hints at his turn along the way, so his was a nicely-constructed and acted arc too.

Alex’s brother Daniel (Adam Brody) was initially drawn as sleazy and unlikable, so I wasn’t expecting either of the moments where he helps Grace escape. I definitely didn’t think he’d turn out to be the best of his clan, particularly given his role in the last Hide & Seek game they played. However, I fully bought his turn after Brody and the movie showed the toll his choice back then had taken on him and how exhausted with everything about his family he was. Most of the Le Domas family were pretty affable on the surface (accounting for niceties at a wedding), and the actors and writers crafted a nice blend of reasons for them to stick with the family as well as some very entertaining comic relief within the group. Like Grace, we don’t hear a lot about their goals or dreams, but through the writing and performances it was easy to see who these people were from their actions and interactions alone. I did believe that they were truly hoping the Hide & Seek card wasn’t pulled and not just because they knew they’d all be terrible at hunting a person. That obviously doesn’t excuse any of their actions—they still put Grace in that position and immediately went through with trying to kill her to save themselves and the family business—but I liked that the movie took the step of giving them a bit of humanity before carrying out their ritual. That actually made them scarier, since people who do evil, selfish things are still people and pretending that only inhuman monsters are murderers (or racists, sexists, white supremacists, etc.) is dangerous.

There are some solid foils set up for Grace amongst the women of the Le Domas family. Becky is who Grace might want to be: the outsider welcomed into the family so that she can build a large one of her own and in doing so, find a stable home. They have the closest bond, come from similar lower class backgrounds, and the movie makes note of them both being smokers, providing another small connection between them (even if Grace lies about it to impress Becky). The ironically-named Charity (Elyse Levesque) is the cliché reflection of Grace (and possibly how we’d expect a wealthy family to see someone joining them from the lower classes): she’s literally there for the money and security that being part of this family provides. Emilie (Melanie Scrofano) is Grace without her grit (and what Grace hopes the family doesn’t see her as): a screw-up in over her head who has no idea what she’s doing, but who’s desperate to impress the family. Aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni), on the other hand, is who Grace could be if she were all grit and devotion to the family. Looking at them this way had me wondering if the men in the Le Domas clan are foils for Alex as well. Daniel is set up as the red herring evil brother and their trajectories are opposites: Alex left but never really “left” the family while Daniel stayed, but that only allowed him to stew in how terrible they all are. Fitch (Kristian Bruun) does bring up cutting and running once, but ultimately he’s fully willing to go along with the ritual and between Alex fleeing the family and Daniel drinking himself into snark, before Alex’s turn Fitch is kind of the best son Tony (Henry Czerny) has (even if he’s a son-in-law, ensuring he’ll never be treated like blood). Tony’s devoted to the ritual and will absolutely kill to protect his family, though he wishes he didn’t have to. He’s what Alex probably would have become had Grace pulled a different card. Emilie and Fitch’s sons Georgie (Liam MacDonald) and Gabe (Ethan Tavares) also mirror Daniel and Alex, with one of them being hidden for most of the movie and the other taking part in the family’s ritual “because everyone else was doing it.” 

Since I saw the first trailer, I was hoping Mr. Le Bael would be a real demon, so I absolutely loved that he actually was mystically sustaining this family’s fortune in exchange for this ritual! Just before that reveal, when it seemed nothing would happen to the family for not killing Grace before dawn, the family’s awkward “well shoot…what do we do now?” moment was played perfectly, so that was a bit of the best of both worlds. I thought Grace was going to have to fight off the whole family at once somehow, since they’d still have to kill her to get away with it. However, the parade of exploding devil worshipers that followed instead was a fitting end to these terrible people: they’re all brought down by the thing they thought would make their dreams come true (which is a nice parallel to Grace’s biggest dream turning into a nightmare). I thought Mr. Le Bael might offer Grace a deal of her own for surviving the night, but I’m glad he just gave her a nod of approval instead.

The violence throughout the film expertly walks the same cartoony/serious line that the tone of the whole movie does. That’s very hard to do while still keeping the stakes high, but this movie completely and consistently pulls it off. There’s a lot of gore (though not too gross-out graphic IMO) that’s used well to comedic effect, until Grace starts getting injured and it takes a turn to decidedly not comedic; then they play the seriousness and pain of those injuries just as effectively. While the accidental deaths are comical, I wish they weren’t solely reserved for women (Hanneke Talbot, Celine Tsai, and Daniela Barbosa, who play the Le Dormas maids), though I suppose that’s the comment on these villains: this rich family didn’t care about their value beyond bemoaning how well they’d served them.

Criticisms of the upper class like that are effectively deployed throughout the film, from joining/maintaining a ridiculously wealthy family being the only way several characters think they can have a good/secure life, to the only non-white people associated with the family being among their hired and quickly-forgotten help, to their fortune being built on games rather than socially-helpful endeavors (not that diversions aren’t important) as if they’ve never had to take anything but this ritual seriously (not to mention the literal deal with the devil alleviating any hard work they might’ve had to do to make said fortune), to the flimsy “this is just how I was raised” excuse Alex and Georgie give. Given that the butler Stevens (John Ralston), Tony, and Helene are the most effective/vicious hunters, there’s also a vibe that the old white people are the ones fighting hardest to maintain their traditions (sometimes even if they know they don’t make sense anymore) and way of life by using the younger generation as expendable pawns and targets. Even when outside authority figures are trying to be helpful, they’re ultimately playing into the Le Domas family’s interests instead of the common person’s, like when Grace explains that she’s being hunted and the family car’s security agent Justin (Nat Faxon) turns the car off (since it’s been reported stolen) while offering half-meant hopes (and prayers?) that she makes it out alive. 

The score is fun (and the Hide & Seek song is very creepy!), while the production design of the Le Domas mansion and the movie in general feels perfectly fitting for this kind of story (as others online have pointed out). The pacing is excellent, giving us enough time to get to know Grace and her new family in the first act before everything goes crazy, which also gives her a glimpse of the life she wants before ripping it away and lets them play some relatable “dealing with the in-laws” gags. Once the game begins, the comedy and thrills don’t stop until the end!

Ready or Not continues the steady build of solid horror movies heading into the Halloween season this year! I can’t wait to pick it up on Blu-ray. It’s definitely a blast and it’s more than worth a trip to the theater to see it!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!  

[totaldramafan-lauri]

Here we are in the future, and it could be better

I have....mixed feelings about these two episodes, but the good outweighs the not-as-good to me.

Bluebird: This episode was.....a thing? I don’t wanna call it a BAD episode, but I’d say it’s the weakest one so far. At least, to ME it is. I can see why fans of Aquamarine and/or Eyeball and wanted to see them again would like this episode. They had good moments, both fused and apart. So, there’s that....but, to me, it just fell kinda flat. There’s not one specific thing holding it back, but a few small things: I found the plot very predictable and I found the pacing a bit too quick - especially those quick scenes of “OMG Bluebird’s doing something bad, oh wait no she isn’t”, those went by so fast that it felt like Steven warmed up to her WAY too quickly, and she didn’t do anything to EARN that. The transition from “Bluebird is bad news” to “Maybe she isn’t so bad” and then to “She was bad after all” didn’t really sit right with me....I felt like the time limit really killed this episode. My last complaint is that the ending was really anticlimactic. All it took was one attack from Alexandrite and then Aqua and Eyeball just decide they’re done and fly off? What? I guess they don’t wanna get hurt, but STILL, at least force them to leave! It just felt like they were giving up! But at LEAST they said they’d be back.

There were good things about this episode too. I like how the episode doesn’t end with a redemption, that’s the big saving grace to me. I also liked seeing my girl Peridot again, even though she didn’t have a major role. I liked Pearl’s deadpan response to Steven not wanting to trust Bluebird. And finally, I do like Bluebird Azurite in concept - I like soft-spoken but secretly dangerous characters (y’know, like Spinel) and I love playful villains who are still serious threats (y’know, like Spinel), but I feel like Bluebird kinda dropped the ball on the last one. I feel like she COULD be a threat, because she DID try to kill Greg, but the fact that she was stopped by one attack kinda lowers her danger level. Also, the fact that she’s half Eyeball means that she doesn’t have the intelligence I love in my villains (y’know, like Spinel). I do think that a fusion of Aquamarine and Navy would’ve been more up my ally in that regard...But I do think she has potential! In particular, I like how Aqua and Eyeball have this kinda Team Rocket dynamic going on, as well as how their personalities contrast and how the ONLY thing they can bond over is hating Steven. XD That’s pretty good. So, as a comedic-level threat who’s just out to ruin Steven’s day, I’d be glad to see more of those two and their fusion! I think it’d be fun! (Also, finally, in true SU fusion tradition, their weapon/powers were fun to see in action).

So, overall, not completely bad.

A Very Special Episode: This. Episode. Was. GREAT. It more than made up for the previous one’s shortcomings. It isn’t a particularly thought-provoking episode, but it’s just plain entertaining! And SOOOO funny! Onion was so good, being the same creepy problem child (who can still be cute) that we all know and love! And Garnet was also in top form here. I think she’s the one who made me laugh the most. Garnet is my favorite of the main characters because not only is she cool, not only is she wise, but she’s also really funny! And she had NO chill this episode. Her chill was completely broken. “I’m going to tell you all the ways you can get hit by a car”, “These are all things that have happened to you in alternate timelines”, GEEZ! And then you have things like...Steven’s great expressions throughout the episode, Rainbow 2.0 saying “Crack jokes, not cookie jars!” (I adore Rainbow 2.0 BTW, I’m happy we got more of them), Amethyst butting in at the very end because she hasn’t seen Steven in “almost 11 minutes”, Garnet’s monotone “nooooo” at Steven collapsing, and Sunstone completely DESTROYING the fourth wall. This was just a very fun time. I enjoyed every second of it!

It....DOES make me worried for poor Steven’s mental health, though. XD

(Also, first song of the season! Yeeee!)

[sharksfood]

spoilers for Ralph Breaks the Internet (Wreck-It Ralph 2)

SO i was going to wait to record my thoughts on Ralph Breaks the Internet until after i finished my homework but i cant stop thinking about it!!!

anyways, I saw RBTI on Tuesday night in 3D and it was AMAZING!! i mean, both the movie by itself and how it looked in 3D. i loved that they put in a nod to those movies that took 3D to the fullest potential with stuff coming at you from the screen, when Ralph was throwing the football into the air.

BESIDES THAT i LOVED this movie!!!! i’m no negative nancy when it comes to sequels and i had been wanting a WIR followup since the first one came out!

but to get the biggest aspect out of the way, i was not always on board with the plot of Ralph and Vanellope going into the Internet. when I first heard the movie announcement and the whole Internet aspect it didn’t totally make sense to me. I mean, I originally thought the gang going into online games was a good mix between Internet and video games (since WIR revolves around video games). However I quickly changed my mind, especially since they WOULD be going into online/mobile games.

My initial reaction to the movie as a whole was EXTREMELY POSITIVE!!! I loved how the animation looked, the fact that we got an introduction on what Ralph, Vanellope, Felix, and Tammy (Calhoun) had been up to since the last movie, and that everything including the arcade had changed in basically real time. That last part was a bit sad too, especially with how few games were left in the arcade and that it seems business was not as good for Mr. Litwak as it used to be. BUT this movie, especially the beginning, was like catching up with an old friend after a long time apart! WIR means so much to me and I was so glad Disney took the time to connect to those who’d seen and loved the first movie.

I’ll admit I was a little nervous with how they’d handle the Internet, especially for a fictional universe thats based on the real one, like WIR. I knew they’d have to create fake websites and video games and what not to fit the plot and because of licensing rights. I’m also glad they did this because if Yesss were the algorithm for actual BuzzFeed or YouTube I don’t think they’d let anyone forget that. plus that would be too 4th wall breaking in my opinion. and this movie did A LOT or meta/4th wall stuff. I dont think any of the references or hints or real-world tie ins were annoying or over the top, it was the right amount for me. they could have made everything fictional, but that would fail to hook people. it was the right amount of fiction and real-life.

that being said, I do think some of the things Ralph, Vanellope, and Yesss accomplished couldn’t work in the real world. What bothered me is that any video of Ralph showed him as 3D, like how he looks in Sugar Rush or in the Game Central Station. Yes, that is how he looks “inside” the games and from other video game character’s perspective, but does that work for humans? Maybe it wasn’t explained very well, thats all. WIR is at times a little hard to wrap my head around. But then again, not everything needs to be explained or completely realistic, since, you know, video game characters are not able to coexist in each other’s games or buy stuff from Ebay.

the new characters was SO GOOD especially Yesss, Shank, and Knowsmore (to me anyways). I would have liked if the new characters had interacted with each other on screen more (like Yesss and Shank are friends but you wouldn’t know that without each of them saying so). also the Disney Princesses were adorable and actually more plot-related than i thought they’d be!

the biggest surprise for me is how much importance the movie gave to Vanellope for being a princess, i mean, she got a song and everything! To me she never gave her princessship much mind, since she only wanted to be a racer. by the end of the movie she was farther from being a princess than before. but i think this was intentional and why we got the scene with the other princesses in the first place, Disney wanted to show that there’s no one way to be a princess. obviously Pixar addressed this with Merida, and I think Moana is a good example, too, but Vanellope really is the least-princessy princess. I’m also glad that they didn’t make her song or voice too cute/pretty, it fit with her character, personality, and dream!

the part of this movie that my most impactful for me was the message and eventually plot structure of how Ralph and Vanellope’s friendship was addressed. WIR means a lot to me is many ways, but the fact that romance or blood family isnt the main relationship dynamic is huge.  I mean, I can’t think of many Disney/Pixar movies that do this, and even those that do, friendship is just a subplot. Ralph and Vanellope becoming friends, protecting one another, even in the face of their differences is one of the main messages of WIR (the other being self-acceptance and following your heart). RBTI took this further with the message of how friends can grow, drift apart, have difference dreams, become too attached, and build negative friendships based on anxieties. I’ve NEVER seen this in an animated movie, and it hit me pretty hard.

so with anxiety in mind, I really liked how Vanellope’s glitching was utilized, i mean since she now has a general control on it, she doesn’t glitch out as much. the only time she does in RBTI is when she wants to or when she’s super anxious. its almost like a physical symptom of her having a panic attack. (on a personal note, Vanellope’s glitching was the main thing that helped me get over my fear of glitch, so that relation to anxiety and fear is very meaningful to me) but Vanellope’s anxieties were very different from Ralph’s, which is good! they both struggled with being accepted within their games in the past, and part of that still lingers, though now, especially for Ralph, it manifests in anxiety over their friendship. I really like the direction that Disney/Pixar has taken with some of their movies recently in that the main antagonist is not a villain, but rather an emotion or conflict anthropomorphized.

as for the characters, Ralph and Vanellope were PERFECT. Vanellope is my favorite and she was just amazing. Their characters were the right amount of the same from the first movie and different, since there’s been 6 years for them to grow. I’m also really happy that Felix and Tammy were in RBTI, though I wish they were in it more. I mean, this was Ralph and Vanellope’s movie, but most of Tammy’s appearances were just for comedic affect, in my opinion. They also seemed way different, but I guess that’s marriage? It’s as if their character-specific dialogue and quirks were toned down. Maybe after a second viewing it’ll make more sense to me.

My only other complaints are that when Ralph accidentally finds the comment section of BuzzTube, his reaction and that whole scene didn’t add much to the story. I think it was important, especially given Ralph’s past, but it was so short. Ralph seemed to have forgotten all about it after the scene ended. The comments and toxic parts of the Internet play a much bigger role than that, so I wish it was addressed better. I also thought it was weird that we didn’t get any clear context as to why Mr. Litwak got Wifi in the first place. I mean, I assumed it was to get an online presence for the Arcade, but i don’t think that was actually addressed. Of course thats a minor thing compared to my previous comment. 

The last thing I noticed is that the main conflict of the movie, the steering wheel of Sugar Rush breaking and how they’d need to buy a new one or Sugar Rush would be gone for good, was introduced too soon. I think this was done because there was so much content to get through within 2 hours, and I know that the main premise was involving the Internet, so staying in the Arcade would defeat this purpose. It’s just that to me it all sort of fell into place a little too easy and fast. Also, Vanellope feeling trapped in a boring loop of her game and other feelings from the characters in the beginning were told rather than shown. I know already mentioned that I thought certain things weren’t “explained” well enough, but I mean that like, both visually and through dialogue. With the emotional parts of the movie’s conflicts, I think those developed well once Ralph and Vanellope got into the Internet, but it seemed “presented” almost at first. Again, I only saw it once and its not totally fresh in my mind anymore, so maybe after seeing it again it’ll clear this up.

okay so as for the aesthetic and animation of RBTI it was GORGEOUS!!! I love how Disney/Pixar can take things like the Internet or your brain (like in Inside Out) and turn them into working cities/structures that are creative and make sense! I really like that Pop Ups are maneuvered by sentient beings like street salespeople, since the feeling of online popups and ads is the same! Also, the Dark Web being the underbelly of the Internet “city” and all the avatars are dressed like theyre in Incognito mode is amazing. i also LOVED the viruses, since they looked like gross, scary, creepy fictional bugs or visual germs (they reminded me of Osmosis Jones in a way). How the viruses functioned, at least the Insecurity Virus, made sense for how I think most people imagine computer viruses to act. I honestly don’t know how that stuff happens, and I bet Disney knew most of their audiences dont either, so they took some artistic liberties with that in mind. But the virus was a clever plot device because it literally detected insecurities, both in that Ralph/Vanellope were insecure about their friendship, and neither of them “belonged” in the Internet.

ANOTHER THING is when Shank and her crew had to fight the Slaughter Race players, the distinction between player and NPC was clear and funny. It felt very GTA to me. How they handled Slaughter Race in general was great, since it was obviously a violent video game, but they didn’t tone it down too much to loose that feeling. I think it would’ve been cool to see cars and buildings “update” like they do in some games, too. OH the way that the Virus Ralphs joined together to make the Giant Ralph and that they kept moving to make the entire thing kinetic was SO CREEPY BUT COOL!!! that must have taken forever to animate.  I also noticed that on the Giant Ralph the little virus dudes were like laying down or posed a certain way to give the impression of different textures or colors on Giant Ralph, which is amazing!!! the filmmakers and animators paid so much care to the look and feel of this movie and it really paid off.

okay last few things before I forget: all of the main characters were great examples of positive and negative personality aspects that real people could reflect on. Ralph felt so much more openly emotional and body positive than in the first, which for a dude character is great!!  Vanellope has always been a great example of a girl who likes “tomboy” or “masculine” stuff but still likes cute and “girly” stuff (i mean she obviously wasn’t into the whole princess thing but she found her own way around it!). Felix and Tammy in RBTI were obviously an example on how married couples can still love each other just like the day they met! Did i mention how much I love Yesss? I love her SO MUCH!!! she wore a different outfit/hairstyle every time we saw her, she was fun and smart and over the course of the movie grows to actually care about Ralph and Vanellope beyond their Internet fame. the MUSIC was fantastic as always, and I love Imagine Dragon’s song and the Julia Michaels rendition of Vanellope’s song on Slaughter Race.

Just like the first one, this movie was funny, heartwarming, emotional, and really fun!! I hope it gets all the recognition and love it deserves. I can’t accurately say if I like this one of the previous better, since I’ve only seen it once. HOWEVER I ma really glad that Disney has made a lot of merch for RBTI since the first one got barely anything. All in all, I loved Ralph Breaks the Internet!!!!

P.S. Did yall see the after credits scene?

[tumblunni]

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Man i was just thinking again about that idea i had for a cliche gijinka app card game where the gijinkas are all Interesting Bugs instead of weird sexy anime george washington.

I've kinda got quite attatched to my idea for a leech gijinka as a super cuddly white mage who just happens to look emo and scary. And they'd be a great opportunity for nonbinary representation cos in real life leeches don't have binary sexes anyway. But i cant decide between whether i want them to look like a full plague doctor mask thing or a more cliche cutesy nurse but theyre like super tall and look like the monster girl from the ring so they get sad that people always run away before they can help them! So then i was thinking "hey, alternate skins!" Not like in the other games ive played where there's always one canon skin and all the others require hours of grinding and/or real money to buy. But just that there's like three or so randomized versions of the base character with all the same stats but a different costume. Just to spice up the pool of options a bit! Or maybe it could even be more than just the costume and you can get entirely different reinterpretations of that job class? Like the medusa jellyfish could be either a young kid or a grandpa!

Oh and i'm not really sure how to name this or anything? Cos its not really a clear category of animals, its not all insects or all worms or whatever. More like just..all the animals that are unfairly hated but have Cool Biology Facts that i can babble at u to maybe make u like them more. So i dunno.. Pests? Creepy crawlies? Some entirely made up fantasy term for them?

Also i think the setting will definately be jrpg fantasy! Just a world where all these critters are actually funky people on a comedically bad D&D quest. I wonder who the villains could be tho? Maybe theyre gijinkas of more commonly loved cute animals? Or like.. Not gijinkas but monsterfied versions? Hilariously over the top evil fluffums! hamsters are this setting's dragons! And i dunno maybe the ultimate dark lord is a dog with a cat for a royal vizier or something, cos theyre the kings of popularity.

This could also make it actually make sense why the Clione character could be a beserker like in real life! Cos theyre the most un-hated rare sea slug for looking cute, but their actual personality is big scary predator. But in this universe being seen as cute by humans = evil, so the Clione's fighty doom personality would make perfect sense! Im not sure if i should make them like a tormented Shadow esque antihero or a paladin-looking knight who has a dark streak or maybe even a viking? Cos in videogames theyre like the epitome of 'loves fighting but is still a nice hugs guy'. And it'd be neat to have a chubby buff clione instead of the more cliche bishie gijinka. But then i mean theyre literally nicknamed 'sea angels' or 'sea fairies' depending on country so yeah? Oh or maybe that could mean i make them an elf or an angel but theyre still mega buff! Viking guy with lil chibi wings and halo!

Also randomly i think that Slug will be the other nonbinary character along with Leech. Cos well there's a lot of bugs who dont fit the human gender binary but i'd probably be a bit too obnoxious if i had like 90% enbies and noone else. I always think about like 'if this is my first game project i need to go at a small and reasonable pace with all the Big LGBT Feels', yknow? But then every idea i do is always my first game project cos ive never completed any of them yet XD

Anyway i think Slug would be a more fashionable bishie kind of androgenous character, while Leech is a relateable cuddly socially awkward one who wears a mask. But definately also looks stylish in their own way, and i'm sure Slug is always complimenting them and trying to bolster their spirits! Aside from being super fashionable i also think maybe Slug would be a wandering bard? Cos somehow slow animal -> lazy human -> free spirited instead to be less cliche -> bard. Also the whole 'bard rolls to seduce every boss' meme, lol! So Slug is a very nyeheheh tricksy flirty adventuring song person who aint take nobody's shit. Instead of being sleepy they sleep on the concept of low self confidence! Full and powerful pride at all times!!! Goal in life is to be beautiful AF and handsome AF and make everyone swoon at your feet and also recite an epic poetry so cool that your enemies straight up die from the sick burn. Tho i mean i don't think anyone could actually ACHIEVE that, lol! It might be obnoxious if i actually have a character who's basically 'enby people are literally perfect in all ways'. So i just think Slug is a big ol dork who's like the Gaston archetype of the comically overconfident flirt, but like a good and heroic version who actually respects when people say no to their advances. And is also a great BFF to Leech and tries to help them get out of their shell, because well of course Slug is out of theirs XD

Also actually i dunno whether they should all just be named after the animal or have thier own names but the animal is mentioned on their profile as a job class name or something? Cos it might get awkward once we get to more specific obscure bugs with longer names or ones who only really have a scientific genus name. I'd feel like i'd have to make them all wizards cos their names sound like spells! Oh MAYBE THEYRE SPELLS!! Like each character could chant their own scientific name when they use their ultimate attack??

Oh and maybe Slug and Leech could be just based on the species in general but have their alternate costumes themed after more specific rare subspecies? Like Slug could have nudibranch themed costumes cos the vibrant colours would fit such an elegant fashioniste~ And leech could just be an opportunity to talk about how there's subspecies of leech that dont drink blood, though this character is based on the ones that do because otherwise they wouldnt really have a unique job class, lol. Maybe their rarest alt costume is a fashionable orange ensemble that symbolizes both Slug taking them out for a night on the town in their finest to feel more comfortabke in their self confidence, and also just the fact there's an orange tropical leech. Its kinda funny cos there isnt such a huge range of different colours for leeches, its mostly just different barely visible patterns and a spectrum from greenish brown to brownish black, lol. And then suddenly a bunch of wildly different red and orange ones! And nothing in between! Really does seem like a surprise makeover from your bestie, yknow?

Oh and then when i was thinking about other potential relationships between different magic bug people, i thought of Daddy Longlegs! Cos thats a name confusingly given to multiple bugs of wildly different species who're all mistaken for spiders when they really arent. And this mythical nonexistant daddy longlegs spider also has the myth of having 'the strongest poison but its fangs are too short to bite you' which is COMPLETE nonsense based on nothibg cos how would it even survive in the wild if it cant hunt? But its a real cool myth so it could be an awesome excuse to make them have a move that gambles on either an instant kill or a self debuff. ALSO THEY ARE MARRIED

I was thinking they could be a duo of fabulous zorro-looking assassin dudes who were sent to assassinate each other but instead fell in love and quit the business for good. Like 'you made me want to live again, and the only reason i threw my life away on this job was cos i wanted to die'. And to atone for all the bad mercenary stuff theyd done in the past, now theyre robin hood esque mercenaries who take jobs with world-saving hero groups like our protagonists. And they work for free as long as the cause is just! And they wish they could settle down someday and dream about having children of their own, but they feel like they dont deserve it after all that theyve done. They'd be a rare goofy bugmans that actually have a real emotional backstory! So anyway they're fancy fencing guys who're both the same class but maybe slightly different variants with different stat builds or abilities? More specialized and all. Like maybe one is speedy but weaker and one is slower but stronger? Or one relies more on luck based attacks and one is a consistant damage dealer but has a lower max damage cap? Or even one is status effects and one is attack and really even though they have the same job name theyre wildly different interpretations of it. Fitting for the entomology mistake husbands! I want them to be balanced so that they have special bonuses together but are still viable to use separately if your party setup only requires one of them. Also randomly i think their names would be Albedo and Rubedo? I was originally gonna make Rubedo the name of the leech cos i mean alchemy words and plague masks and all. But then it doesnt really SOUND like an alchemy word, it sounds like a fancy handsome dancer name. And then i started thinking about the cute once-sad-now-happy young assassin dads fighting together so well that it looks like one big dance between them, rather than a battle. And i got REAL EMOTIONAL over goddamn bug gijinkas! Man my heart is made of paper and mush!! Oh and maybe they have combo attacks together but also with all of the party members that are younger? Like special dad instinct combo! A built in ability that they automatically shield the kids from enemy attacks. YOU HIRED A MERCENARY BUT YOU RECEIVED A NICE MARRIED COUPLE WHO PROMPTLY ADOPT YOU. Oh and maybe their alternate costumes could just be each other's costumes? Like they'd already be wearing matching red and white versions of the same thing, but then albino dad wears ginger dad's version and vice versa. Or maybe their alt costumes are different complimentary colour pairs like black and gold or blue and pink? And maybe their ultra rare special costume is Big Cute Dorky Argyle Dad Sweaters! It must be capitalized cos it is IMPORTANT!

Oh and then i was also thinking about the idea i had before of bugs with a queen hive structure being like the workers are the common unit and the breeders and queens and such are rarer variants? But the workers are the only ones actually good in a fight, the others are just for collectables sake. Rare but useless, just like how the real queen bee is so big that she cant leave the hive, and never figjts a day in her life unless the kingdom has already fallen. So maybe queen bee is still unlockable as a rare character but she's just a support that makes worker bee stronger? Like you get a lil event of worker's boss coming to honor her with a knighthood for her good service, allowing her to upgrade her job class. Tho i think she still fights with construction work equipment, now its just like a golden jewelled shovel XD

[hanahinatahana]

I held out as long as I could on watching the last moments. Which turned out to be 2 hours from the series finale lol. Life though, made it a little hard to find the time to put together my post about the show.

Before the finale, I was looking for a few issues to resolved. Each one was wrapped up nicely, if briefly. That being said, there is a lot to love about SWDBS and a lot that makes it worth watching. It features:

Two positive romantic prospects for the leading lady. At the beginning it’s not clear, as usual, who will be the main lead because everything I read about the show was touting both Hyung Shik and Ji Soo as the main. But once the show starts it became pretty obvious who she was going to end up with, but how was the show going to create a clear worthy partner for our leading lady without turning Gook Du into a villian, was my question. I’m happy that everything was resolved for this triangle without making Gook Du pathetic, petty or underhanded. This is the first time, since I learned to either like the lead or leave, that a drama has convinced me that there are two prospects that are worthy of female leads time. I actually teared up a little when Gook Du realized that he had missed out on confessing. Also, the fact that Min Hyuk wasn’t some sort of money hording ass bucket was refreshing.

A healthy female friendship. Bong Soon and Kyung Shim were great together. They partied together, shared secrets with each other, slept  in the same bed and encouraged each other. Not to mention that Bong Soon ends up saving Kyung Shim more than once from harm. I wish there would have been more time for them to do things together throughout the series, but Kyung Shim was always travelling from her town to Bong Soon’s so that they could hang out. It’s sad that it can be hard to list dramas that feature solid relationships between women, but at least this is one of them.

A sweet and patient male lead. Bong Soon had her heart set on Gook Du since high school, but Min Hyuk didn’t let that stop him. He didn’t try to wine and dine Bong Soon in the traditional sense by taking her shopping or to fancy restaurants. Nope, not our guy. He found out her aspirations and did everything he could to help her reach her goals. She wants to fight bad guys? He takes her through different exercises that teach her how to manage her immense strength. She want to create a video game that’s semi autobiographical? He’s the president of a company that makes video games. Even when he lets her into the company he didn’t just hand over the opportunity. He used their closer proximity to get to know Bong Soon better to teach her the skills she would need to create the game she had been dreaming about.

He may have been at times scared or awed by Bong Soon’s strength, but Min Hyuk was never upset or jealous of it. He never needed to put her down in order to make himself feel like a man. Also, their first kiss was late, by current kdrama standards. If this were any other show, I probably would have been upset, but in this case it just made sense for them to wait because Bong Soon wasn’t ready. There are just so many good things about Min Hyuk and it all stems from his patience. We’ve all seen surprise kisses or the terrible forced kiss, both of which are used as a mechanism to shake up the one leads heart and get the other to consider the one that did the kissing. These tricks have been used by both males and females, but I was so happy that it wasn’t used this time. As I’ve said before Min Hyuk wanted Bong Soon, not her capitulation, as if loving him was just the only option left. He waited for her heart and mind to change before he tried engaging her intimately on physical level.

If there is a major flaw with Min Hyuk as a character, it’s that he needs emotional reassurance because of his family background, and it caused some hurt feelings along the way. But I was willing to hop through the computer and take him if Bong Soon said ‘no thanks’ lol

An unexpected criminal to catch. I watched the first original trailer for this drama and I could have sworn it didn’t mention anything about a super creepy creeper that would terrorize the neighborhood. When I looked back at it just a few moments ago, there were little clues there would have a scary masked man doing bad things. *shrug* That just shows you how much I was paying attention when I watched that trailer 2 months ago. But seriously, I was surprised at how crazy the villain was, especially for a lighthearted comedy, but it definitely provided Bong Soon with a reason to go kick ass.

Parents that don’t actively try to break up the main couple. No matter what you thought of the dynamic between Bong Soon’s parents,  there’s no denying that they gave Bong Soon the right to choose which man she would be with, and once she chose, they didn’t give her or Min Hyuk a hard time. The opposite, in Bong Soon’s mother’s case, actually. I do wish we had seen more of Min Hyuk’s family, but I suppose the point was that they really didn’t care about him, and were, therefore, unimportant. However, Min Hyuk’s father did find Bong Soon funny. I was just glad he didn’t give the ‘but we’re rich, you can’t date a middle class girl’ speech.

And of course our strong woman. I skipped out of watching ‘Oh My Ghostess’, so I haven’t seen Bo Young since I watched ‘Werewolf Boy’ with Joong Ki, so I was blown away by how much she’s grown as an actress since then. Our girl had her own theme song, and it seriously get stuck in my head sometimes. I couldn’t help but think of some similarities between Bong Soon and Kim Bok Joo since they are both young and strong, but I liked that that is basically where the similarities ended.

But I digress. Bong Soon is really is like a video game hero. She went through the phase where she tried denying her destiny, but when she couldn’t hold back anymore, she found her sensei (Min Hyuk) and went through extensive training, if extensive is defined by trying to not to make holes in punching bags with your fist lol

I was honestly scared that this drama wouldn’t let Bong Soon face off with the bad guys she encountered, but we never see Bong Soon back down from a confrontation that needs to be resolved. And in the end, she saves the day, gets the guy and turns into a roof hoping hero!

Overall, I loved watching this show. There isn’t one episode that I would drop in order to save time telling the story. I haven’t watched a drama that made me actually literally roll with laughter throughout the entire run of the show since ‘Never Give Up Dodo’. I read that some people didn’t like the side story with the gangsters, but those scenes were just as funny to me as everything else, and kept the promise of comedy alive when things were just too serious for Bong Soon and Min Hyuk. There are so few shows that live up to their comedy genre because at some point life tries to take away your laughter, but I love that this drama didn’t give the laughs away, because no matter how bad things are, there’s ALWAYS another joke to enjoy. I really started watching this series thinking it was going to be cute but nothing special, that I might even only watch a few episodes before finding something else to get into. I’m so happy I was wrong. SWDBS is now on my list of favorites. It’s sad to say goodbye, I don’t know what I’ll watch in order to fill the comedic void. *le sigh* drama addict problems....

Anyway if you made it down to the bottom of this post, through all my rambling, thanks hehe :)

[jayykesley]

can I ask for all of the oc questions for both of my sons

absolutely you can;

1. what do they look like?

Derick’s about 5’9, with slightlytanned skin, golden blond curly hair, and blue eyes

Roswell is a tall, lanky, 17-yearold with ridiculous dark hair and big round grey eyes

2. describe their personality inthree words:

Derick: Nervous, shameful, and sweet

Roswell: Excited, enthusiastic,empathetic

3. how tall are they?

Derick’s 5’9, and Roswell’s about 5’11

4. favorite foods?

Derick loves anything sweet – cookies,brownies, cake, coffee with more sugar than actual coffee

Roswell will eat anything andeverything, he’s a growing kid

5. any allergies?

Not that I know of

6. what is their build?

When the gang first meets Derick,he’s real real skinny because he can’t afford to eat a lot. After they get himsome real food, he still somewhat skinny, but a little more filled out?

Roswell’s just lanky like a noodle

7. do they have curly, wavy, orstraight hair?

Derick’s got super curly hair thatsticks up everywhere and gets in his eyes

Roswell has straight hair that lookslike he stuck a fork in a socket

8. do they like books? if so, howoften do they read?

Derick doesn’t read a lot – not alot of good reading material in Cirsca, it’s mostly just manuals and journals.Roswell’s kind of the same way, he doesn’t mind them but reading’s not his ideaof fun.

9. what are their talents?

Derick’s not half bad at drawing,though he usually only draws Ragsy.

Roswell: Talking absolutely non-stop

10. two or more other fictionalcharacters they’re similar to?

Shoshanna from Inglorious Basterdswas the inspiration for Derick, though I guess the two aren’t wildly similar interms of personality. Maybe Cress from Lunar Chronicles? Or Noah from RavenCycle? I’m actually not sure…

For Roswell, definitely Dick Graysonfrom the Lego Batman Movie

11. what is one strange hobby/talentthey have?

Derick’s freaky good atcommunicating with animals. Like, “Disney Princess” good.

I actually don’t know one forRoswell…and here I thought I knew my ocs….

12. five songs that fit them:

For Derick, here’s three:

“The Letter That Never Came” –Thomas Newman (yeah its instrumental, but its just so sad at the beginning thatI think of Derick every time)

“Beauty and the Beast” – BATB OTS(the original with angela Lansbury – technically derick/Rosalyn but still)

“I Went TooFar” – Aurora          

I swear I have more, I just can’tthink of them atm

And Shut Up and Dance definitelyreminds me of Roswell

13. who do you think could play themin a live-action rendition?

Evan Peters, who is also myface-claim for Derick.

A young Nicholas Hoult is my faceclaim for Roswell too..

14. do they just want to rest?

YES oh my gosh yes that’s all Derickwants. Roswell’s the opposite; there’s too much to do!!

15. which OC did not sign up forthis?

Derick, for sure

16. who’s their favorite person?

It takes him a while to warm up toher, but overall I think Rosalyn is his favorite person. He also really enjoyshanging out with Carson and Lorelei, because they’re like the siblings he neverhad.

Funny enough, Rosalyn is alsoRoswell’s favorite person, right next to Dr. Anaya Gatling! Gatling’s like amentor to him, so he loves her so much too.

17. who do you ship them with?

ROSALYN with Derick, and Roswell’sperfectly fine on his own

18. have they experienced the deathof a loved one?

Derick hasn’t, Roswell has (he and Rosalynused to have an older brother)

19. have they ever been tortured?

For Derick, doesmental/emotional/physical abuse count? For Roswell, no, not yet (?)

20. what’s the worst thing you’vedone to them without spoiling anything?

Gave Derick to parents who mentallyand emotionally abused him then abandoned him, so now he genuinely doesn’trecognize real love when he’s shown it.

For Roswell, killing his big brotherreally sucks so…

21. any mental illnesses?

Derick probably does, but he hasn’tbeen diagnosed. Roswell’s mental health is great, so no.

22. what’s their favorite animal?

Derick’s is cats, Roswell’s is dogs.

23. what are their flaws?

Derick’s kind of a coward, veryabsorbed in his own mind, overthinks everything.

Roswell can be too trusting and tooeager to see the best in everyone. Also could accidentally share secret infowhile rambling.

24. what’s their favorite color?

Derick likes green, and Roswelllikes purple and yellow and blue and red and….

25. pet peeves?

Derick dislikes people who just gogo go!Roswell dislikes grumpy, pessimistic people.

26. bad habits?

Derick’s always chewing on his nailswhen he’s nervous. Roswell’s is obviously his oversharing.

27. an OC they hate:

Derick hates Rosalyn when he firstmeets her, Carson kinda too.

Roswell really only hates Chief Knoxfor killing his brother.

28. random fact about them:

Afternoons at Marni’s shop are someof the only happy childhood memories Derick has.

It’s safe to assume that, at anygiven moment, Roswell’s wearing at least one brightly colored bandage for anynumber of minor injuries

29. family members?

Derick just had a mother and afather, nobody else.

Roswell only has Rosalyn now, but heconsiders the rest of the unground dwellers his family.

30. Hogwarts house?

Hufflepuff and Gryffindor (?)

31. what makes them happy?

Derick: Ragsy, coolmornings/evenings in the Burjeok forest, watching the stars and moon at night

Roswell: Lots of things! Warmsunshine, new flowers in spring, talking to anybody, going to town, pettinganimals, etc.

32. middle and last names (ifthey’re established)?

No middle names, Denmeyer is Derick’slast name and Tate is Roswell’s.

33. introvert, ambivert, orextrovert?

Derick’s heavily introverted andRoswell’s heavily extroverted

34. how old are they?

Derick’s 22 and Roswell’s 17 (he’sthe dancing queen)

35. strange quirks they have:

Does Derick’s nail-chewing count?

36. any unhealthy obsessions?

Why did mom and dad leave, why wasn’t I enough?

For Roswell, nothing really. He’spretty healthy overall

37. looks like they could kill butis actually a cinnamon roll, looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually killyou, looks like a cinnamon roll and is actually a cinnamon roll, looks likethey could kill you and could actually kill you, or sinnamon roll

Both are totally pure cinnamon rolls

38. how smart are they?

Derick’s actually fairly smart. He’sgot a lot of practical knowledge from several years on his own.

Roswell’s fairly smart. He’s still ateen, so he’s got a lot to learn, but he’s intelligent!

39. master planner or masterimproviser?

Improviser, and about half-and-half

40. species/race?

Both human, both white

41. cat or dog person?

Derick loves both with all his heart

Roswell prefers dogs because they’remore open and obvious with their love and affection

42. where are they from?

Both are from Cirsca!

43. moral alignment? 

Derick’s Lawful neutral, and Roswell’sNeutral Good

44. what is their dominant hand?

Both are right-handed

45. do you have headcanons for them?

Plenty

46. can they sing?

Derick’s not terrible, but he wouldnever draw that much attention to himself. Roswell probably shouldn’t

47. what horror-movie characterstereotype are they?

Derick would be the one that refusesto investigate the creepy noises, gets left in the living room by himself,probably winds up dying then.

Roswell is one of the first to die,he was probably the one that went to check out the creepy noises

48. how well can they worktechnology?

Derick’s better than most of thegang, since he worked in the capital city. Roswell doesn’t have a lot ofexperience with technology, so he probably wouldn’t be very good

49. which Marvel or DCsuperhero/villain would they be?

Both would actually fit CharlesXavier pretty well. Just with his whole “I don’t want to fight, I just want tobe accepted” thing?

50. how well do they develop overthe course of the story?

I want to say pretty well? I’mhoping to have Derick go from “coward who would rather stay home thanpotentially help others and stand up for his beliefs” to “scared guy who bravely facesdanger anyways for the sake of his friends and what’s right”

Roswell gets his own development,but you know, spoilers.

51. are they more humble or moreegotistical?

Humble, definitely

52. who would they be in a Disneymovie?

Derick would be snow White, justhappily traipsing through the woods with a flock of animals

Roswell would be the comedic sidekickor loyal animal companion

53. how many languages can theyspeak?

Just english

54. early-bird or night-owl?

Derick’s a night owl, and Roswell isboth since he never sleeps

55. how meme-y are they?

Derick would probably know more memesthan he’d like, because Carson and Lorelei would share them all with him.Roswell would be one of the meme-iest

56. how close are they to theirfamily?

Biological family? Derick’s not atall close, and Roswell is very close to Rosalyn.

57. do they have suicidal thoughtsor actions?

Derick kinda does but not like another oc of mine andRoswell doesn’t – he’s doing well

58. what is their preferred weapon?

Both can work a gun, but neitherlikes to fight (except I think I’m gonna give Derick a shield instead)

Thanks!!

[buffystylez-blog]

Unaired Pilot - FOR REAL

It’s still Buffy’s birthday, so there’s another gift in store for Slayerettes:

THE UNAIRED BUFFY PILOT IS ON YOUTUBE.

Link is here.

So I thought I’d try a more tradish style recap. Get ready for some low quality screenshots!

Also there is a disclaimer that the episode is not for broadcast because the music used was not cleared. I don’t think they could afford it at the time.

Could do with a shirt.

It’s very similar to the opening of the first episode in that a young boy and girl break into Sunnydale High School after hours and just when you think the boy is going to take advantage of the girl, the girl is a vampire and kills him real good. Pretty sure it’s a different actor. For the guy. Not Darla. That’s definitely still Julie Benz.

It’s a substantially different costume for Darla. This is the first time I’ll wonder if the actors styled themselves. I love the brogues. Darla was wearing these waaaaay before they were cool. Perhaps she killed a Charleston dancer and then waited until 1994 to kill a girl for her dress.

Will this unrealistic stage set return? Probably!

I almost think the vampire make-up is better in this than the first season.

This was probably done by an intern. I hope it was. Because if it were it was definitely free.

Who could it be wearing these cute high heel canvas shoes? I had these. I loved them. Chunky heels for all.

It’s Buffy Summers! Or Bunny, as Principal Flutie keeps calling her. She is more peppy, which I will discuss in more detail later. Or soon. And you should bloody see who played Flutie in the pilot.

STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY. If you’re unfamiliar with this gentleman, give this a go.

Let’s talk about Buffy’s school outfit. She’s in a miniskirt and top combo with a short-sleeve button up over the top. It’s... ok. It’s more casual. Everyone is more casual in the pilot. This outfit speaks to the perkier Buffy. She’s walking a line between LA Buffy and post-season premiere Buffy. I think this is the vibe Whedon wanted for the film. It... did not translate. For reasons beyond Whedon’s control, I would wager. It both works and does not work, for reasons I will probably go into.

The outfit is cute. It lacks the polish that sets her a little apart from her schoolmates in Welcome to the Hellmouth. I do prefer her hair here, I think. It’s been straightened. Or more likely blow-dried straight.

Before straighteners, blowdrying curly or wavy hair straight was a mission. I remember a how-to in Dolly or Cosmo or Girlfriend or Cleo. It involved sectioning your hair in four bits, and juggling a big round brush and hairdryer. Like the hairdressers do really well and I do very badly. Is she sans fringe? I think she’s sans fringe.

New Willow. Who dis?

Now this does make the ‘softer side of Sears’ burn make a LOT more sense. Obviously they decided to replace this actress. It may have been because they sensed Alyson Hannigan’s ability to wear wacky colours and textures. This actress is ok. But she doesn’t really fit the dynamics of the Scooby Gang that well. As you’ll see, the friend chemistry between these versions of Buffy and Xander are much more interesting than Xander or Willow, or even Willow and Buffy.

Cordelia’s outfit here is soooooo much better. Charisma Carpenter is so beautiful. She’s the perfect antagonist for Buffy’s high school life - making Homecoming in season 3 feel like a long time coming. Blonde versus Brunette, city girl versus Queen Bee. They’re very evenly matched. I want this cropped shirt. 

Though you can’t see her too clearly, the girl on the right is Nicole Bilderback, aka Whitney from Bring It On. She’s also the girl who wants to sleep with someone to get back at a boyfriend in Can’t Hardly Wait. Girl played supporting teen girl parts for a while in the 1990s. And of course that’s Harmony. This show kept a lot of its supporting cast from the pilot, which is nice.

Buffy meets Xander who directs her to the library, and she leaves behind her stake. The library is of course the place this tall drink of hot tea is waiting for her.

As in Welcome to the Hellmouth he produces that creepy book and Buffy wigs and leaves. Giles is confused as hell.

Better shot of Buffy and Willow’s outfit. There’s some nice banter here. This pilot shows of Whedon’s skill with comedic dialogue much better than the film. Some of it is even more lol than Welcome to the Hellmouth or the Harvest.

Buffy is swept away by Cordelia’s gang and just awkwardly leaves Willow. Doesn’t really establish much of a rapport between Will and B.

Xander catches up to Buffy to return her stake and together they identify the relevant social groups at Sunnydale. It’s probably my favourite scene.

I keep forgetting Xander has a skateboard. God, I hate skateboards.

Aphrodesia and whoever discover Darla’s last meal. Willow and Cordelia break the news to Buffy, but in my opinion in this exchange Buffy’s not weird enough for Cordelia to begin to doubt inviting her into her version of the Plastics.

As in Welcome to the Hellmouth Buffy checks the body for bite marks and confronts Giles, revealing her status as The Chosen One to all other patrons of the library. I guess both Buffy and Giles assume that teens don’t use libraries. And to be fair it is just Xander. I LOVED the library as a teen. I was cool. NO I WAS.

The layout is different and allows Buffy to jump off the stairs instead of use them. Because Giles uses the stairs and we discover how fucking awkward spiral staircases are. My favourite Spiral Staircase is the Kings of Leon song.

Did they keep the skylight?

The Bronze! With little to no discussion! But look at this little morsel saved for later:

There’s a line about their prowess in this episode I could swear Oz uses in season 2. Whedon and his writers are good at saving their gold. Like leprechauns?

Here’s Buffy in another outfit!

She’s already wearing practical footwear for slaying. Miley bless this creature. Is this Jonathan? The quality is so low.

Can’t tell.

I’m so sorry SMG. I did not realise how bad this screenshot was for you. Hair is high ponytail. Always up for slayage. It’s curled, which is fun. Depending on where you grew up these little strands at the front may have been called ‘slut straps.’

Jacket is... PVC? It’s... I probably would have liked it.

Again, Xander and Buffy already seem like great friends. Willow is again inconsequential, almost. As in Welcome to the Hellmouth, Willow is in danger. And where is she in danger? You guessed it, the stage for a drama performance constructed by no teen drama club I’ve ever seen.

He looks like if James Marsters was the lead singer of an 80s New Wave band.

Is that such a bad thing? Probably is for Willow.

He may also be a character from a Bret Easton Ellis novel. So he obviously has a lot of respect for women.

Buffy is wearing a shiny shirt and what appears to be a PVC jacket. It’s not a good combo. Neither is the purse. It looks like a lunch bag. 

I would also like to point out that Xander is much better dressed here than in the series.

After a very slow run toward the villain she delivers this wonderful high kick.

Darla is back! Along with a vampire who looks like he was murdered while audtioning for a role as Gaston in Beauty and the Best.

Buffy fights some vampires and Willow and Xander help a bit. Hooray!

FYInformaysh this is how the vampires die in the pilot. Slowly.

So slowly.

This is Willow and Xander helping. They burned Darla to death, I think. Not sure.

Everyone looks flawless here. Not a lot of stretchy fabric going on, but still items I would definitely want.

They’re discussing how weird Buffy, Willow and Xander are.

Get it? Get it? Vampires. Art Imitating Life or whatever.

Apart from talking to a teacher and actually enjoying it they look cool as hell. Not sure what Cordy etc are talking about.

The hair is excellent. I had this shirt about ten years ago or similar. It’s purple and white and I wore it to a festival and almost instantly regretted it. Should’ve just stuck with the black dress and Chuck Taylors. Not all vintage is cool or wearable, guys.

She’s wearing almost the same thing as the day before - miniskirt, sneakers, t-shirts, button up shirt as jacket. I like the shirt from the first outfit better. But I might like the skirt better?

I definitely would have worn this. Actually, I did. I had a Roxy (or was it just Billabong?) dark blue corduroy miniskirt that I wore with a blue camouflage patterned t-shirt. I remember wearing it on a trip to Gunnedah to visit my grandfather on my mum’s side of the family. I would wear one of his flat caps with it. He would let me wear it but wouldn’t let me keep it. And then he would give me other stuff, like all of these vintage ties he owned so I could make a skirt out of them. I didn’t end up doing that, but I still have them all. I’ll never get rid of them.

Gunnedah, NSW, is also the hometown of Miranda Kerr and Erica Baxter. I do not know either young lady. But once Miranda Kerr laughed at my nephew. He had ice cream on his face. He was a toddler at the time. That was a fun story.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is so cute. Always was, always will be. She’s already the fun, peppy Buffy that will take a little longer to bring out in the series proper. She is so perfectly cast as Buffy.

That seemed like a long way away. That was incredibly dangerous. Why would she do that? Buffy is very careless when it comes to her stakes.

And that’s it! Comes in at a respectable 25 minutes and some change. The smaller run time means it’s much more about establishing Buffy as a slayer and the fun element of the premise. No Angel, so no love interest at this stage. Though I wonder if Xander and Buffy’s easy chemistry was meant to take a romantic turn?

They would rewrite it, make it longer, introduce the Big Bad, and Angel. They would also throw in the genius play of making the first two episodes a two-parter. And they would kill off a character that seemed meant to be a regular - it was a pretty good twist. They also introduce similar things from the pilot in a maybe more organic way. For example, in Welcome to the Hellmouth Buffy sneaks into the girls locker room to check the body. In this, she just flat out asks the Principal if she can. AND HE LETS HER.

Buffy’s realisation she will be doomed to being an outcast if she accepts her Slayer duties is much more expertly handled in Welcome to the Hellmouth. It’s like the pilot episode of Sherlock compared to the first episode - the extra time gives them room to breathe. They don’t have to fly through introducing characters and setting up the premise of the first series.

It’s a lot of fun, and there’s some trademark Whedon dialogue, but I daresay if this pilot had been broadcast the show may not have lasted. This plays like a fun high school sitcom with some supernatural elements. I feel like it might be trying to replicate the silly ‘monster of the week’ vibe of the film. And Whedon seems to have decided quite quickly that the series would be a different beast, so to speak. I think the slight change of direction was the best decision. Instead of a Buffy picking up almost where she left off, he introduces some real world consequences for her actions in LA instead. 

It is her first day in a new school after being kicked out of school and packed off to a small town with her newly divorced mother, after all. She’s hoping to start fresh but soon learns she can’t. The entire series really examines the idea that it’s fucking hard to grow up and accept responsibility and though you can mostly handle it with grace and humour sometimes there’ll be days you just can’t. Growing up is hard and Buffy always learns this the hard way. It’s ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ but with more vampires. And great hair.

And what if Buffy had never worn those brown leather knee high boots? I don’t even want to think about a Buffy the Vampire Slayer without them.

Happy birthday, B. You’ll always be one of my personal heroes. You got me through some stuff, you know.

Coming up next on the blog, a rarity: I’ll praise Xander’s wardrobe.

Until next time, Slayerettes.

[pessimisticpleasure]

Sherlock, The Lying Detective, 10/10

Fair warning, this review will contain major spoilers as well as likely be fairly incoherent because I am still so blown away and this is my way of processing. Apologies.

How did the quality of Sherlock suddenly skyrocket? I thought for sure last week was a nail in the coffin and this week I was simply blown away by how much better the episode was. I’d been dreading it in the lead up, not wanting to watch one of my favourite shows be chipped away at any more but watching it everything seemed to click. Everything was just right in this episode, there were twists abound, the dialogue was so improved from last week, even Mary’s, and it seemed like new Sherlock I could really get behind, action with the crime solving and great characters we’ve loved since series one. 

I’m not going to do good and bad because I think I’d struggle to find anything about this episode I disliked and I’m enjoying this rare spurt of positivity, so instead I think I’ll just explore some of the elements that I liked

TWISTS - I love twists in a show as much as I love a key change at the end of a song. I like having my expectations subverted. and my perception of events challenged and Sherlock definitely delivered on that tonight. A clever show should be able to surprise the audience and this definitely did. I was, for want of any better terms, snatched bald when the therapist was actually most of the women we’ve seen this season, it was oddly creepy and so perfectly done and being fairly ignorant I hadn’t even noticed some of them looked similar. I may never trust the show again but it was probably worth it for the gag. of the reveal. I actually did call the ‘the other Holmes sibling is a girl’ way back when the first mention happened (I made up a whole character, in my head her name was Euphemia which is a weird coincidence considering her actual name is also Greek and starts with the letter ‘E’ but I digress), weirdly a lot of people wrote it off as a male sibling for whatever reason (my sister said it was because of ‘Sherringford’ but people started this thrid brother thing way back last series, didn’t they? Also I didn’t clock that was a name I assumed it was a place because I though A) it seemed like a silly name and b) it seemed unlikely to have two kids whose names began with ‘Sh’ in the same house). I did not however see her showing up within the last ten minutes of episode two being some crazy gun-wielding shapeshifter (okay I know she didn’t shapeshift but I swear they all looked really different!) It was so good, I’m not over how good it was in the slightest.

THE CASE - I was on the edge of my seat watching the case unfold this week. A serial killer is just more compelling than someone smashing some statues of a terrible former prime minister. I thought who had actually come to Sherlock’s flat was going to be the Big Question next week and I’m really glad they didn’t do it that way. I was also convinced that the father had killed Faith and employed a decoy which, while interesting, would not have had the same impact on a viewer. It’s good to watch Sherlock being fooled, he is human after all and a drug fuelled brain really isn’t going to work well at solving cases and I like that this episode was realistic about that.

MRS HUDSON - Please can we all take a moment to appreciate what a gift Mrs Hudosn is to all us all? I swear most of her lines in this episode needed a mic drop at the end. Also she drives an amazing sports car, called Mycroft a reptile and her lipstick was on point.  She’s slaying the game! I’d like to see her get a nice toyboy at some point to complete her all round awesomeness, just to be casually ushering out some Chris Hemsworth look-alike when John arrives one morning.

MARY - Last week I said I was glad Mary was gone because she seemed to be the root of the problems in the show, and I maintain that, alive Mary is an issue. Dead Mary who still whips her boys into shape from beyond the grave and is the sarcastic voice of reason however is an entity I am 500% behind. Dead characters if they return to shows are usually given the cheesiest dialogue and irritatingly forced emotional moments but Mary was spot on, and her presence really captured what they did well this episode. 

EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER - Watching people fake grieving is physically painful for me, I hate how over the top it goes because most of the time, somebody dying doesn’t elicit huge bursts of sobbing from people and throwing things, I would say grief is a more quiet anger and sadness which lies dormant until prompted to explode in outbursts which are never as dramatic or frequent as they are so often displayed in Hollywood. Tonight, Sherlock and John were both realistic in their grief, John’s especially was incredibly compelling, and yes, I know having the dead wife come back and talk to her husband from beyond the grave is incredibly cliched, but even the way that was portrayed felt nuanced, true to the show, and genuinely heartfelt rather than something trying to provoke emotion from the viewer. Kudos for that Steven Moffat (maybe he’s just a better writer than Mark Gatiss and he should just stick to being Mycroft? He wrote a terrible poem for the Guardian last week about how he hadn’t ruined Sherlock, I know I’m getting off track again but it really was awful...)

A DARK EPISODE - Sherlock is a pretty dark show because in the end, Sherlock is a very dark man. This is a man who consistently interacts with murderers, is a self-confessed sociopath, and who has deep rooted substance abuse problems. That’s not really happy stuff, and Sherlock works best when the comedic moments are interspersed with genuinely dark tones throughout the episodes that are true to that more honest side of Sherlock. Last week with the voice over and the ominous sharks and the assassin rubbish it was trying to hard to achieve this same dark tone. This episode went about it effortlessly and achieved it in a far better way. 

VILLAIN - Villains make heroes, and Sherlock episodes without a compelling villain often fall flat. The writers probably should have kept Moriarty around a while longer, but in his absence, Toby Jones was great in this episode. They’ve tried going creepy with the villains before with Magnussen last series but he never seemed to quite get off the ground, somehow managing to be both too obvious and too subtle at different points. Toby Jones struck a great note with his portrayal of Culverton Smith which was likeable at times, disturbing at others, and always really genuinely brilliantly acted and with the introduction of Euros it looks like we’re hopefully going to have a similarly compelling villain next episode. Also congratulations for making literally everybody in the world think Smith would be the main villain this series, we were all fooled (well I was). I think I might be too trusting to watch this show...

IRENE ADLER - John knows she’s alive. She texts Sherlock. He sometimes texts her back. Her ringtone is still amazing. She was mentioned and I’m just so happy. I know it means nothing and she won’t come back in the next episode no matter how much that would make my life and the three year wait worth it even more but please if that happens oh my god, I will actually cry.

FINAL THOUGHTS... All round incredible, completely turned my opinion of this new series round. If they were going to do action they should have started out with this, because honestly it just makes last week look even worse in comparison. Please don’t let this be where this series of Sherlock peaks. I would love nothing more than to have to come back next week and lower the rating of this episode because the next one’s somehow managed to blow it out of the water completely. Don’t let the standard slip, this is what I need in my life!