#i was only able to rewatch s3 before this one aired so i want to do a full series rewatch once we have The Whole Enchilada

[danishprince]

Is it just me or is this season of succession a little more "on the nose" than previous ones? Idk

agreed—i do think on the whole it's less, like, ~subtle~ writing-wise. but i personally don't think that's a bad thing! not only is it justifiable on a character level—the siblings' dad, aka the single person their lives revolve around, has died so of course they're going to bare everything and say Whatever The Fuck, grief will do that to you—but it totally makes sense on a structural level, knowing as we do this is the last season. succession is not really a plot-dominated show and never has been, but this season there's nonetheless a clear sense of spiraling downwards towards psychological destruction the finish line.

and even if the final episode ends up as open-ended as i suspect it will be...you still need a sense of, like, momentum to get there. idk. the writers have made it very obvious that things are wrapping up so i don't see them suddenly delving into Secret New Roy Sibling Psychological Hangup We've Never Seen, which was something they had time for on earlier seasons. subtle nuances rock and are one of the reasons i originally got hooked on the show, but also: let's not kid ourselves, it would be frustrating to have another season 3-type thing that's anticlimax after anticlimax and then wrap it up. (i adore s3's overall arc—i think it's so smart the way the sibling relationship and eventual convergence is structured and hidden under the business plots fizzling out—but i think individual episodes feel a little stagnant. which is not a problem i've had with s4!)

do i miss some of the subtlety? sure. but a) i don't think subtlety is the be-all end-all of "good writing" actually and b) this response isn't like a "ooooh i'm trying to make the best of it"—i do think the writers are making really strong choices here. also one thing about me i loooove a show that isn't afraid to teeter on the edge of the abyss and boy howdy that sure is happening

[amplifyme]

Episode catch up~

The Watcher and A Distant Shore: Both have their merits and demerits; but I will say I liked the cast and the creative choices the writers took (keeping The Watcher anonymous, having Joe recommend Cathy, the lady in Cali helping out after news of her friend's death, etc.) ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT-- and what an incredibly fitting context (Nan, you genius.) Father hovering around Vincent during those episodes, worried about his son (and Cathy, too) and trying to cheer him up and distract his mind (impossible.) Mouse and the shell and Vincent's dream and reaching Cathy. Overall, I liked both in their own ways and wouldn't mind rewatching. Also, Joe continues to be stellar (really grew on me), Jenn and Rita have interesting appearances. ...Although, Cathy, I do have a bone to pick with you throughout all of The Watcher.

Trial: Enjoyed all aspects of the case; and that the episode tackled the injustices and inabilities of the system, the victims, and the society at the time. But it's a start. And all the characters and Vincent's dreams of the boy and Pascal's appearance and Joe's ups and downs. And most of all, their superior was right: they needed Cathy to fight the symbolic war right up against the murderer's shark lawyer-- there's a reason this guy's their boss.

A Kingdom by the Sea: Those were actually CIA?? Baffled. Elliot's back and Cathy needed to put several breaks on the whole debacle before it escalated to Vincent having to kill, being torn up over the kiss, and feeling that Cathy's cut earlier and his stab now were signals of life. Father continuing his worried streak with no pushback and maximum support is sweet if veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery telling about his read on Vincent's emotional state. Elliot's father's death was quite the turn; and their rotten relationship definitely explains the dreams of a man who wanted to prove himself by building the biggest tower possible. Two things struck me: Cathy listened to Vincent tearing those men apart and kept traipsing away in the tunnels, not addressing it later and pretty much over it compared to Vincent; and she didn't seem to notice how deeply that affected him, addressing only his confusion and grief and hurt at her fluctuations with Elliot. And secondly, her dismissal of Elliot's contradictions-- a man who is able to live with two warring sides and not let it drag him down or back-- by saying: “How does it matter, Vincent? It’s… life"; and that is incredibly indicative of the core of their relationship. Cathy doesn't seek to understand: roses bloom out of blood sacrifices; life is beautiful; there is ugliness separate from beauty; contradictions don't mix; Elliot must be all bad or really good deep down and didn't realize it himself rather than an intriguing mix of the two; and Vincent's hands are her hands, beautiful, but the blood they shed does not (read: cannot) stain his soul. And she is very, very wrong about all of those things.

Can't wait to hear your input! :DDDDD

Squeeee, you're getting so close to the trilogy! The Hollow Men is the perfect episode to lead into it. Please tell me you plan on watching all three eps of the trilogy in the same sitting. And you must let me know before you start S3. I have things to tell you.

More below.

I really like The Watcher now. I wasn't crazy about it the first time I saw it, but there's gobs of foreshadowing in it that I didn't pick up on until after the trilogy aired and then after the show was cancelled and I did my first rewatch and had time to think hard about the series as a whole. Keep in mind we had to wait 7 months between S2 and S3. Which back then was a long time for network shows. Lots of time to go back and pick up all the threads missed the first time around. Also tons of rumors flying around that summer (some true, some not) about what was going to happen in S3, or if we'd even get one. The Classic fans had already circled the wagons and decided they hated S3 before it even aired. But I digress.

Not sure if you've noticed this or not, but other than once, after Cathy gets beat up in An Impossible Silence (where he keeps watch on her while still being as close to outside as he can get), Vincent never steps foot in her apartment. So it's significant in The Watcher that he's actually considering her invitation to come in, because that's a line he's drawn in his own mind about what's allowable behavior and what isn't.

ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT-- and what an incredibly fitting context (Nan, you genius.)

Right?? I knew you'd pick up on that right away.

Mouse and the shell and Vincent's dream and reaching Cathy.

My favorite part of A Distant Shore was V & Mouse talking at the Mirror Pool (a scene GRRM wrote in order to get the ep up to the full running time) and Vincent in his chamber holding up the shell and then scooping up the sand and taking a big ol' whiff of the Pacific Ocean. Such a Vincent thing to do. Cast and crew loved working on this one since they all got to get off the sound stage and spend a few days at the beach. I remember being so amused that V & C acted like the four days she was gone was more like four months. 🤣

...Although, Cathy, I do have a bone to pick with you throughout all of The Watcher.

Care to elaborate??

Don't have much to add about Trial, except in response to this: there's a reason this guy's their boss.

I'm shoving my fist in my mouth so I don't let anything slip out. We'll touch on this later.

It was an okay episode, but nothing really memorable.

A Kingdom by the Sea (aka The Episode That Humanizes Elliot Burch). I adore this episode! I also adore Elliot.

Those were actually CIA??

Yep.

Cathy needed to put several breaks on the whole debacle before it escalated to Vincent having to kill, being torn up over the kiss, and feeling that Cathy's cut earlier and his stab now were signals of life.

Wasn't the scene on C's balcony that opened the show wonderful? Kissing her injured finger without thought and the heat of the look they shared and C refusing to let Vincent turn away from it. Lovely.

But, yeah, again with the death and desire symbolism, and blood as a sign of life. As Vincent said to Father, "The grave is a fine, safe place. But if we live, we bleed." That'll come back to haunt him.

Father continuing his worried streak with no pushback and maximum support is sweet if veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery telling about his read on Vincent's emotional state.

Like I've said before, Father knows his son very well. He has a lot of first-hand experience, after all.

Cathy listened to Vincent tearing those men apart and kept traipsing away in the tunnels, not addressing it later and pretty much over it compared to Vincent; and she didn't seem to notice how deeply that affected him, addressing only his confusion and grief and hurt at her fluctuations with Elliot.

Quick trivia time before I get to the meat of this. GRRM wanted the scene with V and C in his chamber to end with a kiss. He wanted V to lean in after she told him she wished it was him and take that kiss. Alas, Koslow nixed it. But I love that GRRM wanted it there. His scripts are always so, so good.

And meanwhile, as they're in the tunnels Elliot is like, "What the hell is that?? What was that??" Yeah, Cathy has grown very blasé about Vincent's killings, hasn't she? And she really seems blind to the effect it has on him. She's also blind to the duality within everyone, and specifically within Elliot and Vincent. I've always felt like Vincent posing those questions to her about the duel nature of man was him asking that question in relation to how she was able to process and justify what she sees in him, not Elliot. But it just flew right over her head, because despite what she thinks she knows about V, he tends to comes at things sideways, rather than directly. She never figures that out.

“How does it matter, Vincent? It’s… life"; and that is incredibly indicative of the core of their relationship. Cathy doesn't seek to understand: roses bloom out of blood sacrifices; life is beautiful; there is ugliness separate from beauty; contradictions don't mix; Elliot must be all bad or really good deep down and didn't realize it himself rather than an intriguing mix of the two; and Vincent's hands are her hands, beautiful, but the blood they shed does not (read: cannot) stain his soul. And she is very, very wrong about all of those things.

I have nothing to add to this. You've stated it perfectly. I'm so excited for you. You have no idea what you're in for. Buckle up, baby!

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Dark Greetings this Spooky Season Ms. V. Can we get a list of your favorite Halloween movies and specials? I know you have seen *everything* and I am trying to go beyond my usual rewatches this holiday month.

V. AIMMYARROWSHIGH’S CRITERIA FOR HALLOWEEN EPISODES

Does the Halloween element combine convincingly with the usual universe of the show (ex: Lizzie McGuire 2x09 “Those Freaky McGuires” is not good as a Halloween episode because it changes the rules of the Lizzie McGuire universe, whereas Community 2x06 “Epidemiology” is a GREAT Halloween episode because it manages to logically introduce zombies to the regular Community universe)?

Does the Halloween element advance the plot of the episode/series (ex: the reason Boy Meets World 5x17 “And Then There Was Shawn” is literally the best Halloween episode ever made is that it uses the horror movie tropes it satirizes to provide a CRUCIAL turning-point to the plot of the show)?

Is the Halloween episode in the forefront enough that it’s clearly a holiday episode (ex: HAVING ONE JACK-O’LANTERN ON A DESK DOES NOT A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL MAKE, LAW & ORDER 16x03 “GHOSTS”! You gotta go ALL-IN, like Bob’s Burgers 3x02 “Full Bars”!)?

Does the Halloween theme balance well between spooky and warm-n-fuzzy (ex: Criminal Minds 11x21 “Mr. Scratch” is too fucking bleak, but Criminal Minds 12x06 “Elliott’s Pond” has a joyous/celebratory tone to the ending despite being a genuinely scary episode)?

Is it generally a well-written, acted, and designed episode of television (ex: Saved by the Bell! 3x26 “Mystery Weekend” is seriously, not exaggerating, the worst thing I’ve ever watched in my life; Psych 1x15 “Scary Sherry, Or Bianca’s Toast” is a triumph of the medium)?

THE BEST, bar none, Halloween special ever made is Boy Meets World 5x17, “And Then There Was Shawn.” Period. There can be no argument, except MAYBE Community 3x06, “Epidemiology,” but I like “And Then There Was Shawn” better because the parody and homage as less… biting? And because I think it continues and addresses the emotional core of the regular BMW season better than “Epidemiology” does for Community s3. “Epi” DOES plant the seed (…heh) for the Season 3B major plot arc of Shirley’s pregnancy and Chang Deciding To Murder, but it gets some major minus points for mocking Yvette Nicole Brown’s weight with other characters’ responses to her costume, tbh. And “And Then There Was Shawn” is just fucking iconic. It is THE Halloween episode manual, IMO, if there were to be a textbook on how to write a perfect Halloween episode for your sitcom.

HOWEVER, I also have to give major props to Bob’s Burgers and Psych, as complete series, for their CONSISTENTLY excellent Halloween episodes. A lot of series that have multiple Halloween eps really phone it in after one or two, because they don’t have any more ideas for how to incorporate Halloween pastiches while maintaining the overall feeling of the series (tbh B99, while the Halloween Heists are excellent in general, is/has been coming very close to this line, and I think that if they HADN’T had to switch out the Heist to Cinco de Mayo in s6, they would have jumped their Heist Shark [and I think they know it, too, because it was lampshaded in the episode itself]) or they just straight-up don’t have any more ideas for what or how to have the characters they’re bound to parody or pay homage to a Halloween thing after they’ve already done one or two. And let’s be real: those one or two have probably been either The Shining or Rear Window, because those are pretty much the two that every show starts with.

Bob’s manages to make every Halloween episode feel very fresh and organic to the series, which I think they do have some leeway to do because of the nature of cartoons keeping the Belchers living a kind of loop of never aging, yk, but amazingly they’ve only done the “Tina feels too old to trick or treat, maybe? Nope, she’s not 14 yet, so there’s still time!” thing in a way that felt tropey once (in 3x02 Full Bars). They’ve been able to address Tina being 13/in 8th grade, and worrying about it being almost too late for her to keep trick or treating, in ways that were in-character and added to the overall episode in 4x02 Fort Night, 5x02 Tina and the Real Ghost, and 9x04 Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street, without me rolling my eyes at the screen and going “TINA, EVERY SINGLE SHOW WITH A TWEEN IN IT HAS ALREADY DECIDED THAT THE AGE AT WHICH YOU MUST STOP TRICK OR TREATING IS FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, COME ON NOW” which… at this point, is a Feat. Because like, I’ve POSTED over a thousand Halloween episodes, right? But I’ve watched and screencapped ::checks folder:: 3,905 Halloween episodes since 2014. Which is, um, a. lot. The ACTUAL BEST Bob’s Burgers Halloween episode is 6x03, “The Hauntening,” which is just… achingly perfect television. I know I’ve posted about it before (probably a couple times tbh) but the way that it aired originally back-to-back with The Simpsons 27x04, “Halloween of Horror,” so that the evening of Sunday cartoons juxtaposed eight-year-old Louise whose family worked so hard to scare her like she wanted with nine-year-old Lisa’s family working so hard to keep her from being too scared and make sure that she felt safe… reader, I FUCKIN CRIED. Little girls being deeply loved while also Spoopy Things!!!!!! IS WHAT HALLOWEEN SPECIALS ARE!!! FUCKIN!!!!!! ABOUT!!!!!!!

Psych, though, has the benefit of not really having any, like… central tone to the series? Beyond “friendship” and “having fun with joking,” tbh? So it’s able to do what a lot of series get docked “points” for in my Foolproof Halloween Special Ratings System That Is Completely Subjective To My Tastes And Mood, which is really just run full-tilt into parody and homage without really worrying about overall tonal connection to the rest of the season or series. 1x15, “Scary Sherry, or, Bianca’s Toast,” while it DOES fall victim to the way-too-common Halloween episode trap of making mental hospitals into a Scary Thing (they are a medical normality and a necessary thing for health for many people and should not be feared), is delightful Spooky Fun AND has the benefit of having Shannon Woodward in it.* We all know by now that if an episode of any show has Shannon Woodward as the guest star, it will by default end up being one of the best, if not THE best, episodes of that series. It’s just how having Shannon Woodward as your guest star rolls. I also really like, with Psych’s Halloween episodes, that quite a few of them understand the underlying thematic scope of Horror, which is “The Monstrous Feminine Is A Thing And All Horror Tropes Are Actually About Women’s Interior Lives Because Men Can’t Write Women And Fear Women Always,” yk, in a way that is neither TOO Actual Horror, which I am too afraid of to Do, or too trite and demeaning, which is the other basic trap that Halloween stuff falls into A Lot. Like, Scary Sherry is very much about women villainizing other women, avenging other women, and being in very specifically-female pain, even though Shawn & Gus are still the lens through which we solve the mystery, and so are 4x04 The Devil Is In The Details And The Upstairs Bedroom and 6x03 This Episode Sucks. But they give their Monstrous Females dignity and breadth, which is impressive, ESPECIALLY since they’re one-off guest characters. Also, 3x15 Tuesday the 17th is just plain funny and well-done, like, just give it props for the title alone.

*(Speaking of Shannon Woodward, another amazingly good Halloween episode is Raising Hope 4x07, “Murder, She Hoped,” which is among my very favorite Rear Window homage episodes and has probably the funniest gag in ANY Rear Window ep, in Martha Plimpton floating across the screen in the Grace Kelly silk nightgown and peignoir and announcing that it was on sale at Walmart, can you believe?! and honestly, yes. Perfection.)

Also excellent:

• The Addams Family (1991) + Addams Family Values (1993) • Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU WERE GAY FOR SIBELLA AS A CHILD!) • Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'RE GAY BECAUSE THE HEX GIRLS!) • Halloweentown + Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge • Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire! • Z•O•M•B•I•E•S (to a lesser extent, Z•O•M•B•I•E•S 2) • Clue (1985) • Coraline • Corpse Bride • 6teen 2x00 Dude of the Dead • Arthur 21x00 Arthur and the Haunted Treehouse • Lamb-Chop in the Haunted Studio • Arthur 8x04A Fern-kenstein's Monster • Arthur 10x02 The Squirrels • WandaVision 1x06 The All-New Halloween Spooktacular (I KNOW YOU, SPECIFICALLY, DEAR @plavoptice, HATE MCU!WANDA AND I DON'T BLAME YOU, YOUR REASONS ARE VERY VALID! But this is a good Halloween special so I'm putting it on my list In General.) • Boy Meets World 2x06 Who's Afraid of Cory Wolf? • Ghostbusters (2016) • Gravity Falls 1x12 Summerween • Leverage 4x02 Ten L'il Grifters Job • The Loud House 2x40 Tricked! • Mockingbird Lane 1x00 Unaired Pilot • It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (Classic, etc.)

I'm SURE I'm forgetting some that I'll rewatch this year myself. I'm a big Halloween Baking Championship fan, tbh, which is on Discovery+ now so I recommend that if you like mostly-relaxing nice people baking cakes that look like bats and such.

I'm also IMMENSELY INTENSELY EXCITED for The Muppets' Haunted Mansion on Disney+ next week!!!

[billiewena]

Heard we’re talkin’ SPN Pride Lore Stories for @spnprideweek so lemme tell y’all about how Sam Winchester played a fun part in my journey as Coming Out as Bisexual and (more recently) Nonbinary!

(Sidenote: if you haven’t already check out my thesis on “Why Every SPN Fan Should be a LGBT Sam Enthusiast” you should do that)

Anyways, storytime...

My journey with SPN is a weird one. I was what you’d call a “General Audience” viewer for most of the show. I started watching on-and-off around S2-S3 back when I was a preteen who watched anything the CW put in front of me (and I mean anything…Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, you name it.) But I did start getting more into and invested in SPN over time. I didn’t have internet but if I did I would’ve been a Samgirl for sure. Most of the episodes I do remember watching live were Sam-centric ones, i.e. “After School Special”. Once I got to college, I had internet and nerdy friends. Thanks to Netflix, Tumblr, and a Casgirl best friend who needed the emotional support (this was middle of S9 lol) I finally binged the show properly my freshman year.

I joke about how I’m Samcoded but I honestly always have seen a lot of myself in the character and their journey on the show. Just a couple years after After-School Special aired, I was on my way to college and completely leaving my family behind in the process. I craved independence and flourished with it, but also knew I was losing a lot by doing so. Like Sam, I got a chance to fix those relationships as an adult — but it was a struggle to be taken seriously and treated with respect.

Moving to the Midwest for school was the biggest risk I ever took (it was a part of the country I’d never even been near, a big city, and a completely different climate — at that point I’d only seen snow twice my life). But I’m glad I did it. I had to prove that I could and had to make a life of my own. Supporting myself and being surrounded by a diverse city of all races/sexualities/backgrounds, I was finally able to start educating myself and embrace who I was too.

In 2014 I came out as Pansexual. I was glad at the time to at least have a label even if it’d take a couple years before I got over my fear of the B-Word. But it was still a big step. I also started getting into cosplay and planned a few of them out (i.e. Rose from Doctor Who). In the middle of my first proper Supernatural AND SuperWhoLock phase, I naturally decided to cosplay Sam for the first time. I already had brown hair so I decided I’d just save money on a wig and just cut my hair short for the first time (Sam Season 10 short, for reference). And of course I loved it. It wasn’t a straight-up buzzcut but it was a lot more androgynous than I was before and I could easily make it feminine/masculine. In retrospect, I realized I totally got the Stereotypical Bisexual Bob too.  And I loved the idea of cosplaying a male character and Sam especially: I had the flannel, I had the floppy hair, it was fun!

I kept it short for years and dressed a mix of masculine/feminine/androgynous in college. After college, I had to let it grow it out (more for hair health reasons - I also dyed my hair a lot in college and it was FRIED). In general, I was dressing a lot more feminine - I was working in offices full-time and not in liberal art school anymore and had to dress a bit more proper, and missed dressing how I did in college.

Cut to the pandemic when I have a lot of time to think about what I like, what I want, who I am, etc. I only started coming out to people just the last couple months but getting to this point took some time. I research on trans/nonbinary/GNC identities for a couple years (at first under the guise of “writing research” but at some point it just became for me.) I’ve been been playing a nonbinary Shapeshifter in D&D for a nearly a year now to see how I feel about they/them pronouns (spoiler alert: I love ‘em.) Also during this time In I’m also rewatching/catching up on Supernatural so I can least watch the finale live. Literally the night before the finale my roommates to do some at-home haircuts and I think “why not?” and get the good ol’ Sam Floppy Hair haircut again for nostalgia’s sake (and my first undercut for good measure.)

I didn’t find out about Nonbinary and He/They Sam headcanons until after the finale when I properly rejoined the fandom during its peak chaos (I didn’t even start this sideblog until December.) But once I did, I was OBSESSED with them. An open-minded character who’s always used gender neutral pronouns with their relationships…it totally made sense for them to have that same flexibility with himself too. A lot of Sam’s journey has been about independence, autonomy and becoming their own person...I love the idea of both of us finding that sense of individuality in our gender neutrality, exploration, and presentation.

Happy Pride to all my fellow LGBT Sam fans, nonbinary individuals, and the entire SPN Family! 💛🤍💜🖤

[pluviophile-bookworm]

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Rewatch pt. 4

I really need a pick-me-up after 2x11, and I feel like 1x7 might be what I'm looking for, so here I am again with another HSMTMTS rewatch. I'm genuinely so excited for both of these episodes, so without further ado, let's jump right into

1x6: She stands for... lies, pressure and very inappropriate suggestions (coming here after 2x11 might have been a mistake, actually)

I honestly don't get why Nini's reaction to seeing Ricky in full Troy costume was so big — he actually looked pretty ok to me. Sure, the wig is a bit too much, but so what, it's cute.

Ahhh my boy Reddy is so adorable in that talking head... 'click!' Gosh, I love seeing him so cheerful! Guess he's embracing his role as part of the crew. As he should.

'I'm home'. Yes, Sebby, and you look so good, too! Gosh, I love this scene so much. I can't believe I'd forgotten about it.

Gina looks beautiful, though — I mean, she looks beautiful in anything, but I really like the Taylor look on her.

Ok, I fully understand everyone's frustration about this picture — it's genuinely so hard to get a good picture of someone jumping up in the air, and I can only imagine what it would be like with six people. A bunch of my classmates tried to do something like that ages ago and, needless to say, it didn't go very well. No good pictures were taken that day.

Ah, Portwell: the early days. Ok, but wanting something and feeling like you have to get it is far from the same thing, EJ. Honestly, these two in their early days as accomplices... this is not the first time they've been like 'X is the same thing as Y' when it's obviously not. I mean, of course, that time they became accomplices because 'we want the same thing' — which, at that point, they didn't.

Ok, but they were in such unison with that 'Not now!'... couple goals! You know, even before either of them had considered the possibility of them being a couple for real.

That's a lot of pressure that Miss Jenn is putting on dear Carlito over there. I mean, he's one of the youngest at the drama club and he has to essentially do her job for her, all while she's not even sure if she'll be able to return to her job. I just... keep reminding myself that these kids are closer in age to my little brother than they are to me (except for EJ, who is precisely in the middle), and then the pressure they're under takes on completely new proportions in my mind. None of them should have to deal with all of this. And no amount of 'trust the process' is making it better.

'Should I just live vicariously through someone else?' Oh Reddy, you should just live for yourself. I mean, the truth is I don't practice what I preach most of the time, but I really do mean this. Just go out there and live your best life. You're not Ricky's therapy dog or anything (that being said, Ricky's getting a therapy dog when?).

What part of 'a forest of boys' does Nini not get? It's simple enough. Just help Carlos do his job, how about that? I mean, he shouldn't have to do everything himself anyway.

See? He cracked. That's what happens when you put all this responsibility on a teen's shoulders and be like 'deal with it'. He was just trying his best, you guys. He did not deserve all the clapback.

Ricky's forced optimism about Miss Jenn and the show is too much even for me. Sure, I know everything turns out mostly alright at the end, but this just sounds like Ricky's on the verge of a breakdown. You know, every time someone's been too unrealistically positive on this show, it has ended in a breakdown. And that's the last thing I want.

I do agree about the simple acoustic version of the song, though. Sometimes simple is the best option.

Major props to Carlos for going up to Mr. Mazzara like that. If someone had bullied me, and especially if that someone was a teacher, I'd never have dared to call them 'Benjamin Mazarra!' to their face. Even when he's on the verge of despair, this boy is still the boldest. And we love him for that.

Is this where the 'Carlos Surname' joke started, though? I had forgotten. It was funny while it lasted.

Ricky doesn't know it yet, but he's seriously playing with Gina's feelings there. And I don't blame him because, again, he doesn't know yet, but I still feel bad for her.

'Despite the 4.3 GPA, I'm actually an idiot.' — EJ is high intelligence, low wisdom, confirmed. Not that this is news, but I really don't remember much about this season, so I'm pointing this out now.

Now forgive me if I'm not feeling for Miss Jenn after 2x11... she did some really unforgivable things there. Still, as much as I want to say a real qualified teacher would not do any of that, my personal experience suggests otherwise, quite unfortunately. Miss Jenn might not be very emotionally mature, but not having legal teaching credentials is not her biggest issue, really. It is precisely her lack of emotional maturity.

OMG, Big Red accidentally invited the entire drama club over! And that, I guess, is half of how Redlyn established themselves as the hosts of every out-of-school drama club gathering. Thanksgiving is, of course, the other half. Gosh, those two were the parents of the drama club even before they were a couple. Guess they're soulmates in that way, too.

Ok, so I didn't comment on this after 2x8 when Big Red did it to Ricky, but now that I finally notice that Seb did it to Carlos, too (I took my time, thanks), I need to talk about the knee touch thing. See, this is exactly the amount of touch I used to be comfortable with (since I'm very touch-averse) — both on the giving and on the receiving end — and it can mean so much when you feel bad. It's a subtle 'hey, I'm here, it's going to be fine', a sort of hug-without-the-hugging... I feel like this is a gesture we don't see enough of in media and it can feel just as intimate as, say, holding hands or cuddling. I don't want to talk about kissing because I don't know anything about it. But I just love how we've got the knee touch depicted by both a romantic pairing and a platonic pairing in the show. Ok, rant over. But I just really wanted to talk about this because, well, I saw myself in it.

'Her past is a little bit sketchy'... I see, Ash has already started writing Truth, Justice and Songs in Our Key, even if she doesn't know it quite yet.

Miss Jenn finding out Mike is Ricky's dad is just as awkward as it should be. Whatever they had going on should have ended right then and there.

'... people in the dramatic arts are insane' — 'Thank you.' — Umm, Miss Jenn, you are not really helping your case there. Quite frankly, you're lucky you've got the allegiance of the entire drama club. I don't think they'd have your back as much after 2x11, though.

Ok, but... Big Red wearing a longcoat just to take it off for the dramatic flair of it all? An icon if I've ever seen one. Also, mad props to Larry for apparently learning this number in record time after Dara got injured.

Oh, and... mad props to all the kids in-universe for writing, rehearsing, and learning this entire number in one night.

So both Seb and Natalie have solo lines in the song... and Seb was promoted to main in s2. So does this mean Natalie will get the same treatment in s3? I mean, that will probably mean they'll try to stick her in some sort of romantic plot, and I really don't need that, but I really, really want her to be a main character.

Also, let's not forget we had our first Redlyn moment in this number... seeing them dance together makes my heart jump with joy!

I won't lie, though, the entire dance number and everything was just a little bit uncomfortable to watch after 2x11... these kids do so much for Miss Jenn, and what does she do? Put insane amounts of pressure on some of them, shuts others down at every attempt to put in a word, favours yet others despite their abysmal performance at the audition, and then has the audacity to tell that same person to jump off of something high, with all the implications attached? Not that I'm naming any names, of course. Ok, this has taken a sudden and uncalled for turn for the dark, so I guess I'll just move right along to the next episode now.

1x7: A world where 'That was terrible!' and 'I'm so happy!' can both be true at the same time

My girl Ash is doing the recap! And she's a pun queen, too. 'Miss Jenn was in hot water, Carlos was a hot mess...' — not pleasant, but so true. But wbk. Ashlyn is the best.

And... Ricky and Nini's on and off chemistry is back on. Good for them, because after season 2, I really needed to see a good rehearsal. But I'm thinking EJ's joy at the end-of-school bell had little to do with Thanksgiving...

That look Reddy gave Ashlyn as she was walking out... might be me digging for breadcrumbs, but I think I just saw the exact moment my boy fell, and he fell hard. Ok, I realise now after I've said this that 'fall' probably isn't the best choice of words, but you know what I mean. Fell for Ashlyn. Not like... oh, never mind.

'So meek, so mild, sword!' I can't really explain it, but I love this line. And I feel like it describes Ash so perfectly: like, she might be meek and mild, but if you cross her, she's armed. Gosh, I love her!

Not the Caswell parents leaving their children alone over two holiday breaks! No wonder these two are the way they are. But they're about to get a beautiful Thanksgiving celebration. [Fun personal fact: the year I was born, my birthday fell on Thanksgiving day. That doesn't mean much in Bulgaria, but my dad works with a lot of Americans so my parents knew about it and I've known this and that about this holiday I've never celebrated since I was very young. I have no idea why I'm telling you this, but Thanksgiving has always reminded me of my birthday for this reason, so... ok, moving on.]

So I know she kind of suggested it, but... why does Carlos think it's his place to invite people over to Ashlyn's? I mean, this was part 2 of Redlyn establishing themselves as the hosts for any out-of-school gathering, but... oh well, it led to a beautiful party with everyone, so... I'll allow it.

I really liked Nini's talk with her grandma. It was really nice, and a very fitting way to remind everyone what Thanksgiving is originally about. I feel like people often forget that when it comes to... literally every major commercialised holiday.

Wow, EJ really is that person where once the tap is open, it can't stop spilling. And I kind of like that look on him. It's a transitional stage between EJ 1.0 and EJ 2.0, and I appreciate it for what it is.

Ahhhh it's Redlyn's first proper 1-on-1 conversation! I mean, it got kind of really awkward really quickly because of — surprise, surprise — Nini and Ricky (and EJ), but those two are so adorable! No more breadcrumbs — we're about to get an entire five-course meal here! Which goes really well with the Thanksgiving setting, now that I think of it.

Gosh, they've never really talked and my boy whips out the 'the only thing I'd ever throw at your face is a brighter spotlight' line right off the bat? Boy is whipped! But like, he is the master of grand gestures where Ashlyn is concerned. Still, in this first moment they shared, he really was like, go big or go home, and home isn't really an option here. But I should have known, it's in his name after all. Gosh, I love both of those two so much! Especially when they're together.

Ok, so... this is a really bad way to meet your mother's new boyfriend. Poor Ricky. As if ringing his mum wasn't hard enough already.

See, when I rewatch season 1, I get where the Rina stans are coming from, but then again, remember when I used to say I wanted Gina and EJ to just be friends? Yeah, that's changed too. Not that I ever shipped Rina romantically — I rarely ever ship a pairing unless they're explicitly stated to have something going on, just because I can't see that sort of stuff very clearly — but I really, really want them (Ricky and Gina, I mean) to be really good friends. Once they get past the awkwardness of their sort of history, I mean.

I miss the good old days when Nini was a nice person... I mean, we kind of (really) had a glimpse of that in 2x11 (I'm guessing she was making up for Miss Jenn's very inappropriate slip-up), but I miss the days before she was this big internet-famous songwriter and actually had to be convinced by Ashlyn that she should write songs for herself... wait, now that I think of it... Ashlyn might have helped create a monster there. Oh well. Still love her so much!

You know, I love the Choosical, but it's all a bit sad, if you stop to think about it for a sec. Just picture little single-digit-aged Carlito making this whole thing up in an attempt to participate in his favourite thing... only to not have anyone to play with for the next ten years. Great, I just made myself cry. The thing is, I relate to that story a bit too much. I remember in preschool, when the rest of the children would play together, I'd sit in a corner by myself and read the only book that was there... over and over, day after day. I don't even remember a single thing about that little book right now, but back then I clung to it like it was everything. And I couldn't very much share the experience with any of my peers, seeing as I was the only kid there who could actually read (my grandma used to be a preschool teacher and she taught me to read when I was 4). So yeah. I went off on a rather personal tangent there. Thing is, I know how little Carlos felt and I'm so happy that he finally gets to share this thing he made with a loving and supportive group of friends. Everything has its time and place, I guess.

'Look, I'm not following Big Red just because he paid me a compliment' — of course not, dear, you know your own worth and we love that for you — but see, when he said that thing that you're referring to as a compliment, he did not lie! You really are the brightest star and deserve the brightest spotlight. See, the thing I love most about Redlyn's compliments to each other is that they're so sincere and state nothing but the absolute truth. Those two just see each other for what they are, and love each other as they are. And I think that is beautiful.

It's so funny to me every time someone gets something wrong and Carlos just walks past them out of nowhere and corrects them without missing a beat. I kind of relate to that side of him, too. Except it's usually about grammar and language in my case, not HSM trivia.

If I were Nini in this scene, and was suddenly put face to face with Emily on the spot like that, I would not have been able to handle it. So props to Nini for handling it.

Yeah, sorry to break it to you, Emily dear, but whatever you're doing is not a Cockney accent. I don't claim to be an accent expert, but I know first-hand what Cockney sounds like and... that's just not it. Even Dick Van Dyke was closer to a Cockney accent in Mary Poppins, and that's saying something. (See, I feel bad criticising any aspect of Emily because her actress is no longer with us, but... I have no idea who let them get away with passing this off as Cockney).

Is this the beginning of Jennzara there? I am loving this.

Of course Carlos was obsessed with Glee as a kid... but wasn't he a bit too young for it when it aired? I know I was, and I'm older than those kids. I mean, I waited until I was emotionally mature enough to watch Glee, and that wasn't until 3 years ago, when I was 18 going on 19. Ok, I'm thinking too much into this. Moving on.

Ahhhhh, Redlyn! Just... all of their moments. But screaming the lyrics of What I've Been Looking For on top of their lungs while looking right at each other... was so beautiful to watch. Give me more of that!

EJ: 'That was terrible.' Seb: 'I'm so happy!' — Moods, both of them. Those two are real-life emojis, aren't they? And we love them for that.

'... without laughing... or killing each other.' — I feel like that last specification was needed given that it's Ricky and EJ we're talking about, and especially what happened last time they had to do a one-on-one exercise during rehearsal. The ensuing scene, however, is the most hilarious thing!

Root beer, huh? Is that the HSMTMTS code for 'awkward' now? I mean, Nini and Gina had a nice talk there, all things considered. I really want the two of them to put the Ricky thing past them and be friends... but we'll see.

Gina is trying to make the sleepover thing look like 'it's not a big deal' despite how big of a deal it obviously is to her... to which I say, good for you, girl, but I wouldn't know. The only sleepovers I've ever had have been with my little cousin who is 9 years younger than me and also insists on sleeping with a very bright nightlight on, which means I can't sleep at all. So yeah, I wouldn't know. But I'm happy that Gina is feeling included.

So this is the exact moment when it becomes clear that Big Red is not telling us the complete truth when it comes to his HSM knowledge... '14 and 10'? Even I didn't know that. I knew 14, but... for someone who allegedly 'hates musicals', my boy has very detailed knowledge of one certain musical movie... I love how it got him a certain girl's attention, though. Not that she wasn't already paying attention to him, if you catch my drift.

Ok, but this hits even harder now than it did the first time — just when Gina has finally managed to make friends, to feel included in their group, her mum has to move her away again. This is straight-up tragic. I'll say it now, and I'll probably say it again when it comes up in the rewatch — Ashlyn is an absolute queen for taking Gina in for the next semester.

'That's sort of what you always do, huh? Take care of everyone else' — yeah, Ash, and you do the same. You two just need someone to do for you what you do for other people. See, guys, this is what I mean. This is why they're soulmates. Because in a world that has more or less forced both of them to put others first, they put each other first. They each get to be the most important person to each other after they've been stepping back for others all the time. And if that isn't beautiful, I don't know what is. I know I'm repeating myself over and over saying this, but... they own my heart and soul and I'm not for sale.

Ok, but Ashlyn's little run after Big Red left was so cute! Girl is... I don't know why I keep using that word, but... falling.

Unpopular opinion: Out of the Old is the best Nini solo to come out of this series to date. Maybe I feel that way just because I relate to it most, but hey, that is a valid reason to like something.

Oof, EJ's losing followers. Oh well, if they're unfollowing him for being too honest, they didn't like the real him to begin with. So good riddance to them.

Yikes... Jennzara fell asleep with flammable stuff left unattended... we all know how that ended, but just the fact that they felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in each other's presence... speaks volumes. So I guess... well, I don't know what exactly I'm saying regarding the fire they caused, but I loved this big little moment they had.

So this is it. That was 1x6 and 7 and, well, they were beautiful, but there are some parts I can't look at in the same way anymore after 2x11. Guess that's the risk of a rewatch. The Redlyn scenes, though — still the best part of both of these episodes. That and a couple of other things for which I don't need to pretend like I haven't seen season 2.

[litwitlady]

Hi there! I hope you're good! I stopped watching RNM last season so a bit out of the loop but I was wondering how you separate a ship from the actors involved when you dislike one of the actors? I had a similar experience before and it completely turned me off the ship too because of having to see that person etc etc. I think it's so cool that it hasn't turned you off and I guess just curious about if that's something active you have to work at or something you've been able to separate naturally?

(Not wanting to start anything by asking this so if you don't want to post I totally get it - just wanted to share that I think it's fairly unique fandom experience!)

I don't mind answering, nonnie! It's a great question.

When the show is not airing, I find it pretty easy to separate the actors from the ship. Because I don't have to regularly see anyone's face I don't want to. I have TB's name blocked and filtered everywhere I can have TB's name blocked and filtered. I also don't follow people who reblog TB's thirst posts. And everyone I talk to tends to have the same opinions about TB as me, or at least isn't a TB stan. This allows me to live in the happy fan works space where I can make Malex whoever I want to make them in my head.

(Also, I only follow RNM actors on social media for the bts content. I'm not, and never have been, someone who gets obsessed with actors so I think that also helps with separation.)

I was super worried going into S3 that I wouldn't be able to hold onto that separation having to see TB's face. And it was made much harder because Tyler's aesthetic has bled so much into Alex's that there are scenes I do not rewatch. I think what personally got me through is the extreme level of hyperfixation I experienced and the near obsessive desire I had to see them get back together (as my fic content proves, lol).

S4 presents another problem because my hyperfixation isn't nearly as strong at the moment. But TB might actually end up not being in the season much at all so we'll see what happens.

Overall, I really think that being a writer and having both Michael and Alex live mostly in my own head really, really helps. I'm not sure I would have continued watching otherwise. I've quit shows for much less.

[allthevmff]

Find Afrocurl’s work // AO3 // LJ  interview from vmfictitious // originally posted Mar. 20th, 2011

How did you get into Veronica Mars fandom?

Somewhere in the middle of S2, a friend of mine from high school started to talk about this show and how much I’d like it. At the general description of a high school detective, I borrowed her S1 DVDs and devoured the show in three days.  After that I started to discover fandom, mostly because I used Inigo’s transcripts to keep myself up with what the show was doing before I could watch live.

Shortly after starting the show, I had this job where I spent too much time in an office and was easily bored. I used a bunch of downtime to read fic and post in a message board (FanForum for anyone curious.)  When that job ended (thankfully) I had all of this spare time and just sort of fell into writing.

Were you an experienced writer when you started writing for VM?  If so, what kind of writing had you done, and/or what fandoms had you written for?   If not, was it really intimidating to post your first story?

I’m a little fuzzy on these details right now, but I wasn’t that experienced when I started writing in VM. I think I had a story or two written in The OC before I posted here, but I had some great support from a few friends (sarah_p //  Sarah's Crack ) for one was a big support) when I did post my first story.

What was it about Veronica Mars that interested you?  Why did you feel compelled to write for this particular show?

I really fell for the characters when I started to watch. Veronica was such a compelling character, and as I kept watching I fell more in love with Logan, too. I felt compelled in that post-S2 summer to see the relationship between Logan and Veronica explored (as so many other people did.)

Are you creative in other media for fandom (vidding, icons, etc.)?

I pick up making icons here and there, but I don’t think I have the same skill as many other people do. It’s a different creative medium, and one that I think stretches a different part of my brain.

What was the best moment for you, in fandom?  (Not necessarily a moment in the show, but fandom itself.)

I think it was the moment when I found myself in a position to go to all of these events around LA and San Diego. I found that people around LJ were interested as a result because there was something for people to enjoy that I had been able to capture.

If you had a magic wand, and could change VM fandom in any way, past or present, what would you do?

I wish S3 hadn’t been so divisive—it’s spoiled so many people on the show, and when you still love parts of it, but not all of it, it’s hard to stay positive around other people.

Of your accomplishments in fandom/cyberspace, which are you most proud of?

Weirdly, I think it’s little things I’ve done that bring a smile to my face. Sharing my time with the cast with others in any way. That’s not just the picspams when I went to an event, but these moments where I could get autographs or phone calls to other people. At different times, I’ve been able to make a friend’s birthday just a little brighter with a message from the cast (Sarah and another friend M.)

What’s your favorite VM episode and why?

I go back and forth on this answer all of the time, but I think it’s Ain’t No Magic Mountain High Enough. In part because it was the first episode I remember watching live, and also because I’m a sucker for banter between Logan and Veronica. That whole episode is filled with it, even if they aren’t together as a couple.

What’s your least favorite episode and why?

Blast from the Past—I just can’t get behind the mystery of the week, or what Jackie does to Veronica as a way to keep Wallace to herself.

How do you feel about season 3?

I’m a mixed bag on the subject. I think that the first arc has promise, though it didn’t do much to satisfy my need for Logan and Veronica in a healthy relationship. I’m not a fan of how Piz was introduced, or what his purpose was in the long run.

The Dean O’Dell arc lacks heart (and the Hearst rapist does too when I look at it), and the last five are just all over the place.

In total, I haven’t brought myself to rewatch the whole season since it aired, but I made a promise to myself at some point I would (I plan to live-blog all of the episodes, but I only managed to finish the first three.)

If you met Rob Thomas, what would you say to him?  (Assume that you have taken magical drugs that enable you to not be tongue-tied and you can completely speak your mind.)

I briefly met him and talked to him during season three, but if I could have a longer conversation, I’d really want to understand what his motives were for Logan and Veronica in that season. It seemed that the show always had Logan and Veronica together off screen so that the audience had no real reason to understand those later break-ups.

If you could talk to the writing staff, what question(s) would you have for them?

I’m always interested in some of the specifics of the room—are there any writers who cater to writing for certain characters? What characters do you like to write more than others? I think I’m just interested in their process more than anything else.

Writing

Which story of yours is your favorite, and why?

I’m really a fan of “The Black Hole” because I think it was a different sort of writing exercise for me. I also think I was really into the moment when I wrote it, and it shows. I can’t remember how long it took me to write, but I think it was a pretty quick write once I had the idea solidified in my head.

Are there any stories of yours that are (to your surprise) fan favorites?

Not really a surprise, but I love the reaction I had to Rational Thought. My Piz issues just got one big escape in that piece and everyone who read it had a similar reaction.

Do you (or did you at first) feel uncomfortable posting R or NC17 rated stories?

I think I was a bit apprehensive the first time (especially since it was my first fic in the fandom), but as I’ve written more and more of those fics, I’m more comfortable with the ways of writing it. I also love all of my betas who help me through the mechanics of writing it.

If you could start over and rewrite any of your stories (assume unlimited time and you would be paid for your efforts, because this is a fantasy), which story would you choose, and what changes would you make?

I’m not proud of Compulsion as it was written in the end, so I’d work there and really craft the narrative more than it is now. It’s not that it’s not beta-ed, but that it wasn’t really planned or structured beyond what is written. I think there was promise in the beginning and it floundered.

Do you write for any other fandoms?

I write here and there in a few other fandoms, but most of my work is in VM.  Some of the other shows are harder to get a feel for, so much that I don’t know if I have the character voices down.

Do you write any original works, and if so, can we see any of them?  Have you ever taken any writing classes?  Have you ever published anything? Won any competitions?

I wrote a few pieces of original fic, which are at my writing community. I haven’t been one to take a writing course, but in high school I had an award-winning poem at the local county fair.

That piece, I wrote was in my junior year of high school, spring semester (so let’s call is March 2000.) We had to write an emulation of Langston Hughes’s “I Am”, and I went all out—confused kid to the max. My teacher ate most of it up, and had me submit it to the Fair.  It went on to win the best poem for high schoolers, the best high school piece and Best in Show for all student work. I have three lovely ribbons, a paper weight to show for it.

What other VM author influenced you the most?  Do you have a favorite VM story (by another author)?

I spent most of my time reading things from Loveathons and Fic From Mars when I was reading, so I guess any of those authors. I really love dark_roast’s ( dark_roast) style. I think mutiousmuse and truemyth (TrueMyth) each have some amazing pieces, too. What’s great about being part of fandom is learning how much else you have in common with authors you love. I’m still friends with Musey and Truemyth after I met them at Comic Con in 2006.

Overall, I think my favorite story is Finite Erasure (TW), which puts me in the camp of loving angst. I worked with Trixx (Trixx) as she wrote it and I think I fell for the story she was telling and how much it hurt along the way.

What fanfic do you wish you’d had the idea for and written yourself?

If I had a mind for her particular brand of crazy, I’d have love to have written One True Pair, because the creativity and perspective amaze me.

Who are your favorite traditional authors?  Do you have a favorite book or series?

I love Oscar Wilde’s wit; I love Fitzgerald’s use of flawed characters. When I was in college I became a huge fan of Isaac Bashevis Singer. Sadly I’m not a huge book fan, though I do love words and compelling stories. Persuasion is one of my favorite stories, along with The Alchemist. I found myself more easily distracted by television as a kid and when I do get a book, I tend to read some fluffy chick-lit.

 Getting to Know You

To which character in VM do you feel you are the most similar, or what situation in VM reminds you of your own life?

Even though I don’t write her enough, I feel like I’m a slightly less tech-savvy version of Mac. I wasn’t one to have boyfriends in high school, and I think that just influences my outlook now.

Share a fun memory with us, something related to fandom.

This moment at an event in San Diego where my friends and I spent a good five minutes trying to remember the Eleanor Roosevelt quote from Logan’s voicemail.

Or the time I had Jason write a message to my journal without him really knowing where it was going.

Dog person, cat person, neither or both?

Cat person! My cat Auric loves everyone he meets, and wants to keep me from my computer when I leave it open in his presence. He really loves to sit on my keyboard when I’m not around.

What was the happiest day in your life (that you can share with us)?

December 12, 2000—the day I got into college. I’m pretty lame most of the time.

The apocalypse is on us.  You’ve got five minutes to gather your stuff before you flee (assume that your loved ones are already safe).  What do you take?

This is going to be pretty typical, but my laptop, and external hard drives, so I’m not without my pictures. Maybe a few of my autographs and old-school photos too.

What don’t we know about you, that we should know?

I’m not nearly as interesting as I sound on the internet. ;)

 The Nuts and Bolts of Writing

Do you consider yourself a stickler for grammar, or do you prefer a more casual approach?  Specifically, serial comma: for or against?

I’m weirdly a stickler for grammar when I’m not the one writing. I’m usually for the serial comma, which I blame on years of it being grilled into my head from school.

What grammar issue do you constantly have to struggle with?

 Spelling—I’m horrible at it most of the time.

 Do you have any writing reference books you can’t live without?

 I have a few copies of writing guides tucked away in my garage, but I don’t regularly look at them when I’m writing.

Are you a plotter or a “pantser”? (Do you outline your stories or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?)

It really depends on the story. I have some basic idea of a fic when I start to write it, but there are times when I only know that general outline and other times when I have a better plan.

There’s one story that’s been buried on my computer that’s plotted more than anything else I write. There are notes on how each chapter should work, but I only did that because it was a true multi-chapter fic.

My other fics that have turned into WIPs are not as plotted as they should be.

 What’s your favorite point-of-view to write?

 I love third-person more than anything else. It gives you the flexibility to talk about more than one person in the context of the story.

What type of writing is your favorite to write (dialogue, plot, action, interior monologue, description, sex scene, etc.)?  Your least favorite?

Dialogue—no questions. I love banter as much as anyone else.

My least favorite—probably sex scenes. They’re awkward to figure out, positions, how clinical but not too clinical.

Do you listen to music while you write?  Do you listen to different music depending on what you’re writing?

I do, unless I’m watching TV. My music doesn’t change depending on what I write, though maybe it should. My poor iTunes has been known to be demonic when I read fic, though it doesn’t do that as often when I’m writing.

What inspires you to write?

 I like motivational moments that can drive a point home—so I tend to write shorter pieces that are about emotions instead of plot driven.

What blocks you from writing?

Lack of time. The inability to express what I’m looking for.

 Specifically for Afrocurl!

What surprised you the most about Jason Dohring in person (that you can share with us)?

He’s a genuinely sweet person who adores his fans and what they do for him. I’d never had too many experiences with actors before I met him and he set the stage for being kind to fans.

How is he like Logan?  How is he not like Logan?  Did he do anything that freaked you out after watching him on TV so much?

I think he has Logan’s physical ticks—hair rakes and the like.

 He’s not as precise with language as Logan. In person he’s sort of like any other California guy I’ve met.

Which story of yours would it appall you the most to find out that Jason had read?

The Weevil and Logan story. I think he’d blush and be shocked at the subject more than anything.

Which of your celebrity encounters thrilled you to death, but the rest of world could care less?

The girl who loves politics was thrilled by meeting Justice Scalia at my college. Though I’m sure I’m the only one who can appreciate it now.

We know you do a lot for charities.  Do you have anything coming up that we should know about, that you’d like us to support?

Since Sweet Charity has ended, I haven’t done much work for charity recently. I’ve been a little too busy with the rest of life to help out with the Queensland floods and the like.

What’s your dream job?

Working at a high school teaching either Government or US History, maybe AP if that’s an option.

Your life seems to be going through a lot of changes right now.  How do you see yourself ten years from now?...family, job, hobbies, etc., anything you want to share with us.

I’d love to have a stable job, with friends and family nearby for support. I can’t hope for much else than that right now.

 Find Afrocurl’s work // AO3 // LJ

Source: X

reposted from vmfictitious // originally published on Mar. 20th, 2011

[fantasy-pens]

from the posts on your blog I know you're more of a lukanette fan, so i wanted to ask what your take was on the new york special as a whole. And also on the smol lukanette scene in there. Was it satisfactory? I want to know what you think.

Ooo that is really an interesting question! I’m so glad you asked!

So yes, that’s true I’m a Lukanette fan, and a relatively newer one to be honest! I mean, I always have been in support of the ship since Silencer aired (before that, I was a hardcore LS shipper, and actually hated Luka!), and season 3 just gave me more and more reasons to ship it, especially with the finale. Secondly, I know I say this a lot, but Marinette’s dilemma is something I feel on a personal level. Unrequited feelings suck for real, especially when the person you love is oblivious as hell (mine asked me opinions on a girl he wished to pursue, a girl who hated my guts, so double fun, haha!)

I ship Lukanette ‘cause in my honest opinion, at the moment it is one of those ships that actually give Marinette a room to breathe. Like, with the responsibilities of not only a class of approximately 15 students (I don’t remember the exact number in Ms. Bustier’s class) but also an entire freaking city and a bunch of magical beings on her shoulders, Marinette is just… squashed. Like, I absolutely feel like fainting when I barely manage to juggle with (prior) school stuff, domestic chores and projects and hobbies and teenage life, and this girl does that all PLUS saving a city at odd hours. I just… can’t even imagine what burden she is facing.

Luka is someone who actually loves her right now, who understands her feelings and most importantly, is NOT pushing her to pursue her feelings. He wants her to be calm, to be relaxed, to go with the flow. He doesn’t know about her double life, but he sees the frenzy she’s in, and does his absolute best to support her in every way possible. This is something that Chat does for Ladybug too, but then again, Chat is a bit persuasive (according to s3) about his romantic feelings, which pulls him down by a notch and Luka simply wins.

That’s why I ship. Cause I see myself in Marinette. And I basically feel like being with Luka is going to be a lot calming on her. Having someone who understands you, platonically or romantically, can do wonders to your life. (My mom is one such person, and thanks to her I’m actually able to deal with all the teenage drama in her life, she’s my real pillar <3) I’ve never been in an actual relationship, but the values I place an ideal relationship on is what I see in Lukanette: trust, harmony, mutual understanding. It’s like Luka is the calm Marinette’s frenzy really needs right now.

Coming to the main question, season 3 and NYC special were an absolute delight for me! Given I still have to rewatch the special once more thanks to my bad internet, I still got the gist and I must say, the work done on the storyline is commendable. I basically seek after ML not for the ships, but for the feelings they involve. Like for me, season 1 and season 2 paled a bit even if they had more Adrinette and LS moments -- the feelings sometimes didn’t hit me. Season 3 showed me what I wanted to see -- Marinette feeling the burden of being a superhero, someone actually being there to listen to her, Marinette’s feeling of betrayal when her friends sought after Lila and then Chat Blanc… Do I even need to say anything about it? Chat Blanc just kills me everytime I watch it.

The NYC special has its small Lukanette moment, and sure, a little part of me was disappointed at first that Marinette still was pining after Adrien. But then I realised, my girl is doing her work. She’s trying to move on with her feelings and she’s doing her best at it. As Adrien said, “The heart wants what it wants.” And I totally agree. I love the special from Adrien’s story arc-- it made me totally emotional. I loved it from Marinette’s arc -- the way she’s trying to move on yet being pulled back by her feelings, the way she feels her trust being betrayed by Chat but then realises his importance and as an ML fan, I absolutely support it.

And I love the Lukanette scene too, no matter how small. Luka’s care for Marinette, how he puts his feelings aside and wants her to “get clarity in her feelings”, it’s just… so heart warming and heart wrenching at the same time. My boi’s doing his best and I love it.

Honestly, I won’t be much dejected if Lukanette is not endgame. I mean… all Marinette needs is someone to care for her and to listen to her. She needs someone not to guide her how to do things, but to lead her about the same, to be the constant pillar of support whether she succeeds or fails (Heart Hunter ending) and right now, Luka presents as the best option. Even if they give each other a chance and part on amicable terms, I would be simply satisfied. After all, all I want is that all the characters remain happy in the show, even if they are not together as they are fated to be.

I hope I answered your question, anon! And so much love for dropping this wonderful ask in my inbox and going through my posts!! I hope you have an extremely nice day and future!

[korra-the-red-lion]

Let’s Talk About Cartoons.

Hey people, Korra is back with yet another long post, so be prepared.

Recently, I’ve found myself watching more cartoons again. So I just wanted to talk about some stuff on cartoons. So, the one thing I need you to keep in mind while reading this post is that these shows made be enjoyed by all audiences, the targeted age range is children. Children between the ages of 8-12 most of the time. So yeah, keep that thought.

I love Avatar, Korra (my username sake lol) Voltron, She-Ra and so many others. I would say these shows are some of the ones aimed at a bit of an older audience. But I also enjoy the Owl House, W.I.T.C.H., Ben 10, the Loud House, and others. I would say these shows are roughly aimed at that 8-10 range. What is it about these shows that I love? Hmm, there are many different reasons for as to why. But there are a few things that come to mind. Good representation, dark topics dealt with in a mature way, funny and lovable characters, silly buffer episodes, and endings that fit the show.

Voltron Legendary Defender had its issues, but I’m not focusing on that just yet. What the show did well is having a group of diverse characters. Lance, Hunk, Shiro, Allura are all PoC. Most of the characters in the show are in fact PoC, which is really awesome to see. The show dealt with themes of loneliness, war, colonization, loss, and found family. I think for the most part, everything was well done. Was the queer rep done pretty poorly? Yup, I think it’s fair to say it was. But it doesn’t outweigh the other things the show dealt with in a great way. Keith saying “I love you” to Shiro in a completely platonic way was SO IMPORTANT. Men saying I love you and crying and hugging and being able to be emotional and still considered strong is something that still needs to be normalized. It’s still one of the few shows I’ve seen this happen, and since the show is considered to be aimed at “boys” makes it even more important to me.

I could go on for days about how amazing the queer rep in She-Ra is. Adora and Catra was teased and I was worried for a little there that it was going to happen, but then IT DID. THEY KISSED. But not only that, we saw Scorpia have a crush on Catra, Mermista had a crush on She-Ra, Perfuma showed interest in both Bow and Scorpia. Seahawk is such a bi disaster. Double Trouble was one of the first non-binary characters I’ve seen on not just kid’s tv, but in all of tv. Queerness was the norm for She-Ra, it was more strange that Hordak was straight. Now, She-Ra also dealt with themes of identity, abuse, war, love, loss, and more. She-Ra isn’t perfect, but damn it is one of my favourite shows I’ve watched in a while. It’s really amazing.

There’s a reason why Avatar and Korra have a legacy. ATLA holds up. I just finished my rewatch and it still holds up. Are there some stinkers in s1? Yeah, haha. The Great Divide is a pretty rough episode to get through. But these two shows were things I watched growing up. I was the targeted age when Avatar first aired. The themes of abuse, colonization, genocide of a culture, misogyny, and like a billion other topics are addressed in such a mature way, but in a way that kids can understand without it being spoon-fed to them. Master Pakku is such jerk and it’s clear that people know this. The show doesn’t shy away from the damage caused by the Fire Nation. The Legend of Korra has a bit more of darker tone and mature themes, and I feel like they’re dealt with really well. And let’s not forgot that all characters are PoC and and Korrasami was a canon couple, the first of the time. Also, please remember that Korrasami was a BREAKTHROUGH FOR LGBTQA diversity for kid’s television. Respect, big respect.

Kipo and Owl House are two new shows I just started and I’m really enjoying them a lot. The Owl House s1 was so good and I loved all those goofballs. I think I would die for Eda, and Amity is such a dork. Kipo has been really fun and it’s got a great diverse cast of characters, hope it gets a s3! I’m enjoying the Dragon Prince as well, though I do find myself not enjoying it as much as some others are.

Now, after all that has been said. It’s okay to dislike an aspect of a show, or point out the flaws. But at the end of the day, it is aimed at kids. I’ve had people say to me “it’s aimed at kids but they know the audience are adults” and “kids aren’t watching this stuff, they’ve got other stuff to watch.” Yo, that attitude needs to stop please. Kids are watching this stuff. My younger siblings watched all those shows mentioned above, most of them before I even heard of them. My youngest sister LOVES Kipo, she thinks it’s amazing. All media has flaws. It’s silly to think that it doesn’t. Even ATLA has it’s issues, but they’re not large enough to take away from the show. We as the older audience need to stop gatekeeping and acting as if children aren’t watching, because they are. So remember when pointing out the flaw or tearing into something for whatever reason, maybe take a step back for a minute. Shows aimed at kids, regardless, have more constrictions. There are jerks out there who think kids shouldn’t have LGBTQA characters, people who think shows shouldn’t deal with heavy topics, that silly buffer episodes ruin the show for them.

You love these shows, but remember that kids out there do too. Themes that we are used to seeing are so much more nuanced and mature, because they have to be able to showcase it in a way that a kid may understand it, but not in a horrific Game of Thrones style gorefest. Themes that kids should see. I can’t imagine the emotional impact Catra and Adora finally leaving their abuser had. Or Zuko standing up to his father. Or Luz’s mother not understanding her quirkiness. Or so. much. more.

So yeah, I love cartoons. So do my siblings. Love them for everything they are, and be critical of them for sure, but don’t ruin it for the ones that it’s aimed at. Those kids are going to grow up and be amazing humans, and they’re going to create even more awesome things they wished they had when they were young. Remember that.

[klarolinedrabbles]

What are some of the tvd to fandoms greatest hits so to speak... I was only in it for a short time and then jumped out because I couldn't stand to

Oh, well allow me to be your guide. This will be under a read more because I already know, I’m gonna write a whole essay. Shout out to my ride or die @hellsbellschime.

I don’t think any overtly crazy happened during the good!TVD years. No wait, I’m lying.

The year the spin-off got announced, I believe it was tvguide, that posted an article with like info tidbits for currently airing shows. And one of them, was that Hayley was pregnant with Klaus’ kid. I remember this shit so clearly, man. Everyone was so confused. And then they were like SURPRISE, APRIL FOOLS. Because it was in fact April 1st. So ha-ha we all had a laugh, great. Fastforward to what, late April? Episode 4x20 airs, and it’s exactly what happened???

That whole day btw, the day the backdoor pilot for TO aired was just insanity. I’ll say that about a lot of days in this answer, but that day was really just something else. Like we were delirious, that’s the only way I can explain what happened on here. It was a nightmare but also one of the funniest night’s I’ve ever spent on here. I gotta go back for old time’s sake and reblog some of the shit from that night because we all snapped. And not in the good way. 

The TVD 100th. Now, we knew Joseph was coming back for that episode so they hype was real. Because up until that point, we’d gotten a huge load of nothing in regards to Klaroline. They released a trailer, a short one, that’s still in my favorites folder on youtube to this day. I rewatch it all the time because it’s iconic. And there was literally .002 seconds of Klaroline. It’s Caroline standing and then Klaus says “hello, caroline” and everyone lost their shit so much when it dropped that ‘hello caroline’ trended ww on twitter. 

THE DAY THE NETWORK THAT AIRED TVD IN AUSTRALIA AIRED A PROMO WITH THE KLAROLINE KISS IN 5X11. ICONIC. I literally woke up, logged on at around 11 AM my time, and my dashboard was on fire. It was the BEST. We didn’t know wtf to do, it was amazing. 

Paleyfest. Ohhhh buddy, lemme tell ya. So TVD/TO got chosen to have the CW panel’s at Paleyfest that year. Everyone was on a bit of edge because TO to that point was what, almost done with S1 and Klaroline had been given the mega cold-shoulder despite being the very thing other than the Mikaelson’s that got used to lure people in? After the pregnancy plot from hell, everyone was ready to peace tf out, but we got halted because it was a ‘ohh of course it’s gonna continue’ then they tried to nip Klaroline in the bud with 5x11 and no one was having it. So Paleyfest was where we were gonna get some ANSWERS, DAMMIT. I live on the east coast and the festival was held in the west coast so I wasn’t awake when it was happening. I remember making a post about how ‘going to sleep, and hoping when I woke up the answers were good.’. So I went to sleep, woke up a few hours later like 2-3 AM my time, and checked my blog and the first message I had was ‘don’t wake up stephanie, everything is a mess, stay asleep where everything’s fine’ I—

The gist of that was, they basically set JoMo up to be the bad-cop in shutting down Klaroline. He gave this long answer that made absolutely zero sense. The girl who asked the question about Klaroline, who was like 13 at the time, got called a bully for even asking a question at an event she paid to be at. A mess. And JP was like NO CROSSOVERS, ORGANIC, BLAH BLAH. And Paul was sitting next to her going “why can’t the show’s just intersect”, he was right and he said it. 

I can’t remember if this was S1 or S2, but somebody tweeted something and Carina replied ‘when you’re found dead in your basement with klaroline written on you this is why’ or something like that, that was a ~fun~ night. And then like half an hour later she was like “I’m sorry, I’ll never tweet about Klaroline again just leave me alone” if you’ve ever seen this fandom refer to ourselves as basement dwellers, this night is why. 

NARDUCCI. Can’t forget him. Talk about a man who just didn’t get it. And I don’t mean Klaroline, he just didn’t get anything, nothing in his head has ever clicked, I’m convinced. He used to pick fights on twitter repeatedly. Admitted once that he missed his flight because he was on twitter…arguing with a fan. AND ONE DAY, he decided to just—snap. Went on this hours long tirade against the Klaroline fandom, essentially calling everyone stupid because no one was appreciating the ‘art’ of the show. So when I say it lasted hours, I mean that. Now, you’d think, that he would be done, right? WELL, apparently that wasn’t enough, so the next day, he continued. I remember because I was in this gc on whatsapp, and I remember Erika sending a message to the gc going “omg, Narducci vs KCers round 2″ when I tell you I screamed. The man went on a two-day rampage against this fandom and it was insane. 

S6/S2 of TVD/TO was not a fun time. I can genuinely say it was borderline a chore to come on here during that time. It wasn’t fun, every day someone was in argument with someone from production on twitter. Truly the worst year of the fandom, imo. So S7/S3 rolls around and that’s where shit went nuclear. 

Hillary and I, are minding our own damn business, when someone come’s to us with information regarding the new seasons. This was post-SDCC, so it’s like the lull of September, waiting for the seasons to start in October. And we get approached with information, talkin bout how Caroline’s gonna be pregnant with Alaric’s twins in S7. When I tell you we didn’t know wtf to do. And we had to like wait on confirmation about it but then we found out it was legit and we were pissed. Literally ask us if we wanted to be in the spoiler game, the answer is no tf we did not. And she and I basically spent two days complaining. LIKE UGHHHH WE DON’T WANNA DO THIS, BUT ALSO THIS IS DISGUSTING, WE CAN’T JUST LET THEM SPRING THIS ON EVERYONE, BUT AGHH WHY US. So we chose collectively, as a duo, because das my other half yo, to blab. 

That went over as best as anyone could hope for it to go. Now, flashforward yet again, this time to around late Novemeber/December. I had been sent word that something was going down. TVD/TO lost their Thursday slots and got bumped to Friday’s, so a plan was going on, and they made one. We’d heard that they were rearranging something mid-season because they were gonna make a crossover work, publicly we found out it would be Paul and JoMo that crossover back-to-back. THEN ONE NIGHT—I call it black friday bc  that day was a fucking mess—, a friend of mine was friends with an SCer, I wanna say, and she was hearing word that the crossover did have Klaus and Caroline interact via phone call, but that it was very definitively an ending. Because they spoke about Camille and Stefan, etc, etc. Like a closing of the book type thing. So okay, we were like devastated, everyone on twitter was losing their shit. Everyone was pissed, and @-ing the writers all these crazy, sad things, we were a wreck. Ask Hillary about this night because she, I remember, describes it as ‘logging on and reading what everyone else had and not understanding why tf everyone was mad about it’. It was the first and last time that our roles were reversed, and bless her for it. 

SO WE’RE SITTING THERE, it’s Saturday, and we kept getting more information and we were like…something isn’t right here. So we did a bit of digging, spoke to a few people and waited it out. LO AND BEHOLD, everything we’d heard about the phone call was false. There was a phone call but the CKers and SCers were so mad about what was actually said in it, that a few of em, ring leaders of the feeble minded, made up a version and passed it around their fandoms as legit till it eventually worked it’s way over to us. So we all jumped the gun on fake information, lmfskdnknsks. Rumor has it, you can still hear Hillary yelling ‘I told you so’ at me through our group chat. 

So all was well, I couldn’t tell everyone why not to panic, just that they didn’t need to. Until, this account popped up called tvdspoiler or something on twitter, also saying false information about the phone call. Sending everyone into a panic yet again. I remember this because I was at  kmart with my mom, and the kmart by my house was in a basement so I had no cell service. I was able to send like a couple of messages, and was basically like ‘tell everyone to chill, I’ll clear it up when I get home’ did that in like a couple of hours cause then I had to leave to the midnight showing of the force awakens with my friends. So that day was chaotic, but fun. It was the first time I reached 99+ messages on my inbox, lmao. 

So that all happened like a good while before we actually saw the episode. But cut to a few weeks later. I woke up at 1 AM my time to drink water, was on tumblr trying to go back to sleep. I checked my inbox and there was this bizarre message talking about ‘got some scoop’ and they were like ‘Finn dies in 3x17, Aurora gets put into some weird sleeping spell in 3x18, Camille and Davina die in 3x19, Lucien dies in 3x20′ and I quite literally laughed??? Literally who wouldn’t. Like who tf would ever believe TO had the balls to do all of that when they never killed anyone off. AND, WHO WOULD BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE WOULD JUST STOP BY, SHARE IT AND LEAVE. So I sent a screenshot to Hillary and was like ‘yo did you get this because wtf’. We often got duplicate messages. And we often got messages of people who were pissed about the two previous times we, from the klaroline fandom of all places, had legit info that wound up being true, that they were just waiting for us to fuck up. So we used to get messages of people pretending they were sharing info, and it was just antis trying to make us look stupid. 

SO, Hillary says ‘just answer it because it’s obviously fake’ top ten moments before disaster. I answer it and am like oh haha, and where did that info come from. And they came back like a minute later, saying ‘I have a source’ THEN THEY ELABORATED. They mentioned that Lucien drags Freya and Vincent to Mystic Falls to do this spell with some bullet and etc. So at that point we were like fUCK because that same day we’d found out was in 3x16, which ended with Lucien and this white-oak bullet, having kidnapped Freya. And that’s when we knew, that someone showed up in the middle of the night, spoiled the whole back-half of TO S3—and then left.

The back-half of S3 was so fun??? Every week the info just kept coming true. On the wikia everyone hated me, probably the most anti messages I ever had was during that time, honestly it was great, 10/10 would recommend. 

THEN, at some point in our blog history, Hillary had been getting quite a few messages about PT. And she had this fucking line in one of the messages about Phoebe’s pronunciation with her accent for the show, or lack thereof. And she said “weeches and woves will always have a place in my heart” SO THEM PHOEBE TWEETED IT. THAT EXACT LINE, and we were like was she...? So we shrugged off okay. A few days later, she tweeted “hellsbellschime enough, there’s plenty of other things to watch on tv, I hear mad men’s great.” And I—

THIS WAS ON SOME RANDOM ASS SUNDAY. Like I was lounging around, waiting for the new episode of game of thrones and then WHAM, chaos. AND AS IF THAT WASNT ENOUGH, Leah joined in too. Putting a target on my friends back...about her blog that no one was making them read. You can’t make that shit up. And Jenn actually replied to Phoebe’s tweet and got a reply back, and she was all “you’re right, I’m sorry” and then deleted the original tweet, which I still have a screenshot of btw. And then Leah showed up in Hillary’s inbox with this ridiculous three part ask about how she shouldn’t criticize women in the acting industry because of how hard it is for women in that industry which is true, but it doesn’t make you exempt from criticism??? So not sure where she meant to go with that one.

SO THERE WE HAVE IT, our fandom’s greatest hits. I’m sure I can elaborate and insert more, but I’ve been typing for a good 40 minutes. 

Told ya, I wrote a whole dissertation, lmaooo.

[vrainsrewatch]

episode 9 thoughts

revolver vs playmaker round 1 hype! i somehow took another 19 screenshots this episode, even though it was mostly dueling. i guess these are just getting longer as the plot picks up, lol. 

so first off:

this line, plus the little montage that follows it, i love. i love how they demonstrate what is going on in his head without telling us straight up yet. i love the air of mystery vrains managed to keep for it’s first season. we didn’t learn about our protag’s backstory until episode 20 or so. that’s so cool! 

but yeah, yeah, mr. emissary of revenge.

i’ll talk a bit more about yusaku later. this is our first full episode with revolver, so he’ll be what i talk a lot about for this one. first off,

this line makes me laugh so much now that i know what’s to come. yeah, you didn’t care who he was at first, but later on you care so much that you risk eeeeeeeverything because of it, you absolute fool. i love you.

he also brings up the ignis, to yusaku’s surprise.

more so he acquired it and gave up trying to figure out what it is. again, i love the mystery here. how this line gets you questioning what is it? what do you know? and for me, originally, it also had me wondering are you really the bad guy here? 

i love that shit. arc v has some amazing foreshadowing, but i feel like nobody really talks about how vrains actually had some and some really cool set ups, too. i don’t think it tops a5′s, no matter how... ridiculous, we’ll say, it got at the end, but this sets up the 43 reveal really nicely, because he doesn’t really explain anything else other than ignis bad here lol.

this also sets up revolver as a character pretty well, and also i did kind of laugh bc it sets up the rest of vrains, as well. everything in this show is so high stakes lol. a lot of people complained that it made some of the death scenes feel cheap, because every fuckin duel was life or death, and while i agree to an extent, it also is kinda cool when you think about how yusaku’s perspective on dueling was only challenged once, and that happened in the first 10 episodes lmao. dueling really is life or death in vrains, and i like that it doesn’t try and prove yusaku wrong for the most part on that.

moving onto everyone’s favorite meme speech:

i know people meme this to death, but i think it’s a good look at who revolver is, and sparks the beginnings of why part of the fandom thinks him an anti hero. because what he’s saying isn’t... it isn’t an evil thing to say, he’s even saying he wants people to wake up so they don’t destroy themselves and the world they’ve built, but i digress on the anti hero thing.

for another thing, though, we don’t really know right now that AI can have free will. i talked about it in my episode 1 thoughts, but vrains is a series that asks a lot of questions regarding free will, and what it means to be a human -- or to be real. revolver talks about breathing and having a heartbeat, but does that mean you don’t have emotions? your own thoughts and feelings? does that mean you can’t connect to others? revolver thinks yes, because he’s been conditioned to think of the ignis as evil and world destroying. had ai not gone off the deep end after s2, i think he would’ve come to accept that free will means that you can choose for yourself whether you’re good or bad, or whether you want to do good or bad things.

the other thing that’s interesting here is him referencing fake bonds. i think he’s talking about the KOH lackeys that they utilize throughout this season. they don’t really understand, they don’t believe in his cause, they just think he’s cool or they’re doing something cool or whatever. it’s a fairly thoughtless existence, and revolver recognizes it for what it is.

it also calls to question his relationship with his father -- the internet world is fiction. yes, the KOH were able to recreate his father’s brain into LV. but he’s essentially a dead man in the real world. he obviously understands this well, considering he’s the one that takes care of his father irl. i wonder if he holds some resentment, since it really seemed like he didn’t get to spend much time with his father until he was recreated in LV.

also, he apologizes here. you could not think much of it, but because i’m me, and clearly i like thinking way too much about everyone in this show, i’m going to do just that.

this is a stark contrast from the finale of s2, where revolver has completely lost himself and doesn’t care about anything else but fulfilling his father’s wish. it’s also a stark contrast to how he thinks of playmaker after he says his three things speech and revolver starts putting the pieces together on his identity. 

he’s enjoying himself a little here,

but ultimately, he doesn’t care who he’s dueling. he himself doesn’t ever go after anyone he deems unnecessary -- hence the amount of lackeys. watching him lose himself this season all over again is going to be fun, lmao.

anyways, though,

honestly, much as i loved s3, i missed ai’s little quips like this lol. vrains has such a serious tone to it, which i love, but i also love these quick little moments of fun.

as a filthy shipper, i could go on and on about this, but i won’t. all i’ll say is i love how they are two sides of the same coin, and i love how vrains paints that picture here for us.

all we really know about yusaku so far is 

1) he’s awful with people/doesn’t care about making friends 2) he’s got a strong, but self centered, sense of justice and 3) he will fulfill his mission at all costs

the reason all the revolver vs playmaker duels were so enjoyable for me, at least, was because of how determined they both were. i love a5, it was my second fave series for a long time, but reiji vs yuya never felt like this. i haven’t watched zexal yet (i know, shame me), but in 5ds, jack vs yusei had a bit of this, but they were friends at their core. best friends. and gx was a mess with the rivalries, lol, so we won’t go there. anyways, my point here is that i really, really missed that. these two felt like actual rivals.

anyways, though, then we get this:

to which ai asks how long have you been able to do this? and after a quick shot of yusaku during the lost incident, he says:

this is the biggest thing i wish they hadn’t dropped or just starting ignoring for the most part in vrains. was this why yusaku was the sixth child??? i know takeru doesn’t really have this, or at least not that i remember, but do any of the other children? spectre could sense when earth was erased -- is that because earth was born from him, or is it because of link sense to some degree? or is the LI why yusaku developed link sense? if that’s the case, what made him different? ryoken’s interference?

and speaking of ryoken when it comes to link sense,

is that where his ability to control datastorms comes from??? i know he does one single thing with the storms in s2, but is that like, it? do we ever get to hear about why he can do this? i don’t remember oof. you’d think for how much i write about him, i would know this off hand lol. but seriously, i wonder if his influence in the LI caused yusaku to gain his link sense, and if it somehow effected him, too. that would’ve been so cool to see as a mini arc, or plot point, in s2, but kmoney had to shill a certain deck LOL (i kid i love takeru a lot)

moving on again, though,

if this was how this card worked in the TCG i’d actually still have it in my rokket deck, probs LOL

i love how vrains uses the link summoning chants as a way to get into character’s heads. not as hype as other summoning chants from other series or even vrains, but i really like them.

this is obviously a reference to stardust road. it’s subtle, but it’s there, and that’s so nifty. i didn’t even realize until i was rewatching this episode today that it was a reference to stardust road, or could at least be taken that way.

also,

this. this is so funny to me. ai is so offended that revolver somehow ripped this program. also, does this imply that windy, too, ripped ai’s program? or that he gave it to windy, back before he went all corrupt-y?

then there’s more duel stuff, but this is getting really long again, so i’ll stop myself there lol. i’ll probably watch another episode or two later since it looks my tentative plans have been cancelled lol. that’s fine by me tho, i’m sleepy, and there’s nothing more relaxing then getting to watch my favorite show~

[immortals-malec]

ok talk about why clac.e didn't work pls -deamaia

Oof rant here we go. let’s hope it all makes sense because i ramble a lot when i rant. For me it’s the damn writing for them is why c!ace didn’t work, (the chemistry is another one but the writing drives me nuts) So in s1, c!ace was developed as a somewhat high school/your basic white YA novel couple and they stay like this for the rest of the series, they never grew out of it. Until like their last damn scene in 3x22Most of their writing always fell flat in s1, the moments were either down right creepy or just look like they wanted to bang the entire time, they were supposed to have like romantic stepping stones for their relationship and yet, there was none, nothing felt romantic (this can fall on the no chemistry thing as well but I felt like it was the writing as well). But there was some moments you could be like okay cute, but you can realize everytime they had that ‘oh cute’ moment damn Ruelle was playing in the background so we can just thank her for that. Like in 1x11 they had like this moment about what happened in the TWI universe, they’re talking about how this is real and shit I’m like you are trying to tell me that what they said in the AU world is what they felt? Sh!Jace was there for like two seconds and got stabbed! And sh!Clary legit faded out of existence for awhile there, how did she know how that Clary felt??? I was so confused it was supposed to be a romantic moment and yet it confuses the fuck out of me.  S2 things just get worse because of siblings plot shit and the fact is they still try to move them along as a couple but just ended up making them have a brotherly-sisterly bond, and the fact is they probably could’ve ended the plot sooner but choose not to and show us Clary moving on with Simon and Jace sleeping with people to forget he’s in love with his sister. Tbh they forgot about c!ace until 2x14 and they suddenly remembered that they were endgame and rushed to get them back together, which some of their moments during that time was yeah sorta okay I still didn’t feel anything romantic going on for them, that fucking glow-y scene in 2x19 is scarred into my brain, that’s like supposed to be romantic-bonding for 2.0 of their relationship is just what the fuck. Without the special effects I would’ve hated to be a cast member watching them hold onto each other while a fan blows air, I would’ve walked off or just cried from how bad it was. And than we have the oh so famous c!ace scenes in 2x20, I still honestly can’t remember feeling for them here, like yeah he’s dead but hes gonna come back in like two seconds. And that damn “i love you” scene that should’ve been cut, one never addressed it, didn’t make any sense (was just there because someone was a little upset that Malec was gonna get a whole I can’t live without you scene) and two because I feel like because is might have been the road to that damn stupid ass shit Jamie gives them and therefore the other writers who actually have brains had to.So now s3 which is the start of everybody is tired of the unearned crap c!ace is given. Because here is when they start trying to build up c!ace (and s!zzy too) as this epic in love, meant to be couple, which is a lot of my eyerolls in 3a come from. You really don’t see it in the first episode but boy in the ones after it you do. The whole talk in 3x02? Like what the fuck where did that come from because I sure as fuck don’t feel like you have given those emotions off before and I don’t remember you looking like this in the s1/s2 writing where was that and also this is basically Magnus’s fucking lines from 2x07! I don’t remember what the fuck happens in 3x03 other than Izzy wearing that dress and the Malec/Maryse dinner.  But 3x04 is just a fucking mess and it’s by our favorite writer Jamie!! Who wrote those incesty lines in 2x04! But she’s here writing lines out for c!ace that don’t make any fucking sense and it’s just for c!ace fans. like the whole “My love for clary is stronger than your magic” bullshit, just what the hell, that whole episode is basically telling me that they love each other, but they aren’t showing me because that’s how storytelling works, you gotta do both, Malec has it, it’s not that hard. And also I totally almost forgot that half of s3 was spent with Jace forcing Clary not to tell anyone about the wish, ooo couple goals, not. Than 3x05 happens, tbh I forgot most, other than the Malec drama with the stupid timeline which effects the whole damn show and the angel getting his heart punched out by Lilith and Jace getting spelled.But yeah that stupid ass two month timeline that effects the whole show because Alec and Magnus really began their relationship in s1, they just didn’t make it official to the whole world in s2. It really hurts c!ace and their epic love story they try to give us. Because how did they fall in love to the point where Lilith had to get Magnus to spell Jace, because he’s so in love with her that it’s stronger than the Queen of Hell’s magic???? Unless they’re trying to tell me that they either fell in love in s1 or during the time they thought they were siblings.Which is really fucking bad, so when did they fall in love?! They never showed me in the episodes’ writing. Anyways moving on, c!ace gets some more toxic moments and that another “I love you” scene which just had me on the ground because why Jesus. Do they do this to me. And than we have Izzy talking about how much Jace has changed since they met Clary which has me like this????? ‘Cause hm, well ever since Jace met Clary, he’s treated his siblings like shit and became even more of an asshole, and that’s stayed the same over the past three seasons? Where is the change? Here you see that they’re trying to make them seem like Alec and Magnus, who’ve actually changed since they met each other, c!ace? That’s nowhere in their writing. Then we have the whole 3x08 thing where he’s killing clary in his mind, which i have no words for that since i only watched it once. 3x10, good episode, no c!ace moments other than that fake ass cry and ‘cLAEEERY’ yell. And now 3b is where we get to see all of the book!c-lace moments that either don’t make any sense or are just plain toxic. 3x11 I basically skip all of the Jace-c!ace related moments mainly because i can’t stand his face and i watch this episode right before i go to bed so yeah. But it’s a good episode.  3x12, oh the famous shitty reunion that falls under bad writing and bad chemistry, I can’t tell if it was the writing or the chemistry for that one, the reunion should’ve been nice ass top tier but yet- we get weird ass smiles, barely any emotion because I know they do write like ‘the character feels happy’ some crap like that, because I remember the 2x20 script having something like that- but with c!ace nothing- just nothing. Just about how Jace wanted to take her to Paris, lol where in the fuck did that come from because he’s never mentioned that, nEVER. Than we got 3x13- lol my favorite episode (not) this episode was just a shitty filler, but the c!ace moments make me wanna sleep and gag which was all of the action I felt during one of their scenes.  So in this one they are back together and trying to figure out how to get the rune off of Clary, because first she really doesn’t want to have s-ex with Jace, ‘it’s never gonna be just me and you, it’s him too.’-  which they end up forgetting. Than we get the shittiest build up to a first time scene ever, because this just comes out of nowhere really I guess if you count the previous episodes as build up, but there’s no  build up in this one, it just comes out of no where really. One minute she’s like I wANT THE RUNE OFF  before I get the d to- i mean it’s YOLO, give me that d. Like????? WHERE. But here’s where we get a book-quote that doesn’t make any damn sense but we gotta do it. “I will love you until I die, and even after then” some shit like that, I can’t remember. Does she even say I love you back? But honestly here did that even come from, the writing makes me wanna go hide. And we also get the shittiest written/filmed worse chemistry after first time scene ever. Like it’s supposed to be romantic??? But the way its filmed and written is just so damn bad, all I did was gag my first watch and rewatch of it. Not to forget the whole it’s basically a incest three thing, because her brother decides to send her a message afterwards.And 3x14 which is just ughh, most of the c!ace ones were with her brother, and the fact is the little ice skating thing was meant to be cute, I guess but I really didn’t feel shit, they were barely in the next episode. 3x16, also known as the dumb and dumber part for them, because lets summon Lilith-, but also the whole Jace is able to bring her out of becoming evil works on paper, made me have a headache because how was he able to be the one to pull her back??? Like that trope is amazing but for c!ace doesn’t make sense, because they haven’t shown me that they are in love that much, or care that much. 3x17-3x18, I just remember him being there, that stupid wings shit and her knocking the shit out of him when she turned dark clary. Oh but the next one- me hate. We got Jamie once again proving that she’s a shit writer, because we got c!ace and drugs! And don’t forget the whole she’s gonna force herself on him, but don;t worry he can push her away, even though he’s about to pass out. (And never once address this) Barely of them in the next one, because we got another return of the “Until I die” quote that still doesn’t make sense. That I rolling my eyes again, now in 3x21/3x22 they didn’t actually piss me off or make me roll my eyes, because somehow the writing was finally somewhat good for them. But they had to throw the “Loving cells” quote and comparing themselves to Malec, which writers you aren’t trying to hide at this point you were trying to make them out to be next to the Main couple, when I was like I could like them. Their last scene is so damn good! Like punch in the gut. WHERE WAS THAT THE WHOLE TIME. Shorter story with the writing: C!ace suffered from tell us all about it but we won’t ever show you/unearned development. All because Todd and co were chickens who didn’t want to change the endgame relationships and didn’t write them good.Mainly in the end you can tell that like I said before because they fucked around with them, they had to give them the unearned writing, so they could match up with Malec. Because just like go through gif sets of them, most of what c!ace got is what Malec had before, except better writing and better chemistry. The chemistry is another reason-  but I believe the writing is the bigger one in the end. 

[thenerdyunhealthybrit]

So in my House of Anubis rewatch, I’m about a quarter of the way through of the second season. When it aired, I lost interest and never finished the second season.

So going back to it, so far - I’m really enjoying it, I can’t remember why I dropped interest.

One thing though I still dislike and I think might have been a factor in dropping the show when it aired was the Nina/Fabian/Joy stuff - I remember watching Joy trick Fabian into kissing her because he thought it was Nina. And I think I dropped it because the triangle was a bit of a drag and I didn’t like the rivalry between the two women. I don’t know, I kind of wanted to see a more frenemy dynamic? I think if the triangle was wrapped up sooner or Nina stayed on in S3 and we saw a friendship develop out of it, then it wouldn’t bother me so much.

However, watching the triangle unfold now, it’s still awkward as hell with some clunky writing in some parts (IMO) but it doesn’t bother me as much. I think it’s because since I last watched it, love triangles have become the norm and I’ve become a whore for angst.

I’m also enjoying the mystery more than I did last time.

One thing that I don’t like is the omission of Jerome from Sibuna. I think when S2 aired, it didn’t bother me as much because I think I thought that most of the students knew about the mystery it became less of a secret club and I loved the sneaking around as well as the balance of the supernatural mystery and the teen drama. But considering how much Jerome wanted to be in Sibuna last season, he wanted in. I found it not only odd that he wasn’t included in the Sibuna reunion feast and when they reformed later on, but also that he didn’t suspect anything. I know he had his own issues with his sister and dad, but with Alfie going off - he must know something was up. Couldn’t they have had a scene establishing that he knew something was going on but him stating he doesn’t want to be in because of self-preservation (considering the Zeno drama from last season). Like Jerome is a smart guy that was able to figure out that Alfie was up to something last season, but not this season?

Same with Joy to an extent. I mean I understand her not wanting to be in Sibuna because of what happened last season with her. But she knows it’s existence, surely she’d figure something was up, especially once Patricia got involved again. Like I’m surprised that she didn’t try to find a way to get involved because her best friend is in it as well as her crush, Fabian and Sibuna is one of the things that connects Fabina in a way that no one else could.

Like I think I get the reasoning for not having too many people involved, since it’s meant to be a secret club and you don’t want everyone in danger. Not to mention that you want that balance of teen drama and then the mystery - that’s what made it successful. But I just found it odd that we never got an explanation for Jerome and Joy not being involved in Sibuna. Especially since they knew everything the season before, especially Jerome who pushed to be in the group, to not be left out.

[rocinawanda]

the end of an era

game of thrones finale. spoilers of course

I loved the finale. I cried multiple times. The first half of the episode moved a little slowly but after Dany died it picked up and got to where I thought it would be.

I feel like this post needs to be really long to convey all my emotions regarding this show like how hearing the theme song at the end continued to bring me to tears. So i’ll just go character to character to make this easier.

Daenerys. I still love her. I loved her all the way through the series and that hasn’t changed. She needed to die and I was not surprised that it happened I started suspecting it two years ago. Because I saw it coming I didn’t feel much sadness when Jon initally killed her but when Drogon came up and started nudging her with its nose I started bawling. I’m still hurt I felt Drogon’s grief and him burning the iron throne was amazing and so poetic agh I cannot. I am so glad they didn’t kill him because I was wondering before the episode what would happen to him after she died. My theory was that they would “set him free” and I guess it pretty much came true he took her body and flew off east. Probably towards Valyria or something I don’t know but I’m glad he’s alive and away from Westeros.

Jon. I’m sad. I kept saying “it’s not fair!” but it is. Sending him to the wall, bringing it full circle. I’m sad for him that he’ll never marry or have children and ffs he gave his life for the nights watch once just to end up there again its bittersweet justice. However, seeing him reunite with Ghost I SQUEALED AND HIT EVERYTHING HE GOT HIS GOOD BOY PATS and riding off with Tormund and the Free Folk almost felt right for Jon like there was no other ending that would suffice. Like they could’ve made him king simply because he was the heir but this felt right for the end.

Sansa. or should i say QUEEN SANSA QUEEN IN THE NORTH LADY OF WINTERFELL OMG. I’m still yelling. I was wondering why she was hesistent to Aye Bran becoming king but yes I remembered she wants the north to be independent and I can agree with that. and HOLY FUCK IT FELT SO GOOD. DID YOU SEE HER MY QUEEN. Whenever I think about it I start yelling. She got the ending she deserved. She has been shown to be the best ruler the North could have like lets be serious. I’m so happy for her. Its also very funny like a Stark is King of the Six Kingdoms and the last kingdom is also ruled by a Stark aka HOUSE STARK FTW.

Arya. When she started the “what’s west of Westeros” line I started sobbing I knew instantly that she was going to go find it. I can see that is where she would want her life to be. Because honestly, I didn’t know what Arya would want to be I couldn’t come up with any theory because I had no idea, I know she didn’t want to be a lady, I was sure she didn’t want to be a killer/assassin anymore. But an explorer? I can fuck with that. Sad about Gendry I was hoping the shots around the boat would show him beside her but that would be pure fanservice he is Lord of Storms End now and I need to accept it lol.

Bran. All hail the king. UNEXPECTED. He was probably the last person I would expect to become king but damn they made it make sense. He will be a good king. I don’t know if he can be helpful strategically but hey the last king after a war was Robert Baratheon and he was only good at war and was a terrible king so I think Westeros could benefit from one that is very smart, wise and can recall all of the mistakes their ancestors have made in little time. Also his comment at the end that he may be able to find Drogon made me think he was gonna try to Warg him but like from how far away lol. Also when Tyrion said ‘Bran the Broken’ I did start crying because idk I felt it, like damn he really is the king and that is his title.

Tyrion. GLAD he didn’t die. Being hand of the king is his position lol that last small council scene was brilliant although I am still surprised they actually gave Lord of Highgarden to Bronn the whole scene was hilarious. Gold. But damn Tyrion, he’s been hand of the king twice now and hand of the queen. Also Glad Davos is a lord now and on the small council he deserves it.

Grey worm. I was worried what he would do in the end but I’m glad he accepted it and him and the unsullied are going to Naath.

Game of Thrones. I have loved this show. I have watched since season 4 aired so around 5 years now. I will miss this show so much. My blog name is literally thronesense for game of thrones and sense8, two shows which have now ended. I don’t know if i’ll eventually end up changing it, probably. Nevertheless, I have loved watching the world of this show grow and the characters grow with it. So many twists and turns that I have enjoyed SO MUCH. I will allow it to live on for me through me rewatching it over the years and the fanfiction i’m sure people are already writing lol.

Altogether I can say that my favourite seasons of game of thrones in order from my most to least favourite go S4, S3, S6, S8, S1, S7, S5, S2. I can say this now after rewatching and seeing all of season 8. Each season had parts I enjoyed and parts I didn’t it was just that some like season two had more parts that I didn’t find interesting than ones I did. Altogether they make up an incredible tv show that I won’t ever forget.

[mittensmorgul]

Today’s entire TNT loop in one post, because I’m tired and there’s only three episodes:

3.14, Long Distance Call. This is what happens when you mess with the phone company, dillweed!

I've written a bunch in the past about how this episode relates to communication and keeping secrets, which is still relevant:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/159234156395/314-lies-and-secrets-and-its-deans-turn-to

and

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/171381786235/not-meta-just-interesting-im-rewatching-314

But because the voice on the phone when Dean starts getting Calls From The Beyond (which aren't from the beyond but a manipulation by a creature who wants to lure Dean in to eat his soul) is John, providing words of comfort, encouragement, and instruction to Dean at a time where he feels like he's running out of time and options, Dean is led down a completely wrong path. "John" tells him he can get out of his deal and save himself from Hell by trapping a specific demon, but of course it's just the crocatta luring him to his death (but of course Dean figures that out before that can happen).

But Sam, meanwhile, THINKS he's told Dean what the monster actually is, but that information never reached Dean, leaving him confronting the crocatta by himself... RIP Stewie. Sam calls Dean and gets his voicemail (This is Herman Munster, leave a message), but his whole previous call with Dean wasn't even really a call with Dean...

SAM: What are you doing? CLARK: I'm killing your brother. Or maybe I'm killing another guy. We'll just have to see how it goes.

and most terrifying:

CLARK: Well once I made you two as hunters, it was easy. I found Dean's number, then your number, then your father's numbers. Then emails, voicemails, everything. You see, people think that stuff just gets erased, but it doesn't. You'd be surprised how much of yourself is just floating out there, waiting to be plucked. SAM: Dean's not going to fall for this. He's not going to kill that guy. CLARK: Then the guy kills him.

The crocatta was a monster who preyed on human communication, twisting words to his own benefit and manipulating people into believing what he needed to lure them to him. He had Dean convinced killing this innocent man would save him from Hell, but the other man was convinced that Dean was the man who'd killed his own daughter. It was all a distraction to keep Dean from learning what was really going on-- that Sam had effectively figured out what the monster was, and that it was the monster luring Sam to his lair, using Stewie as bait.

At the end of the story, everyone lost. Dean lost hope that they'd find a way to save him from Hell. Which drives Sam to pull a bit of a manipulation of his own...

in 3.15, Time Is On My Side.

This is Sam's last stand, his last hope to save Dean. Not by defeating the demon that holds his contract, but by gaming the system. His logic-- if Dean's can't die, he can't go to Hell. But the way Sam wants to make Dean immortal is... horrific at best. And something tells me the hellhounds wouldn't care if someone scienced their physical body into effective immortality, and would've collected Dean's soul anyway. But Sam needed to believe in something, as is his wont. When he loses hope, he loses it hard. Look at mid s13 for a reminder of that, specifically in an episode with a heavy thematic and tonal comparison to this one-- 13.11 Breakdown.

Meanwhile, Dean goes in a different direction, getting a lead on Bela and hoping to get the Colt back:

DEAN: You're not helping! You forget that if I welch on this deal, you die. Guess what, living forever is welching. SAM: Fine! Then, whatever the magic pill is, I'll take it too! DEAN: Oh, what is this? Sid and Nancy? No. It's just like Bobby's been saying. We kill the demon who owns the contract and this whole damn thing wipes clean. That's our best shot. SAM: Even if you had the Colt, Dean, who are you gonna shoot? We have no idea who holds the ticket. DEAN: Well, I'll shoot the hellhounds then before they slash me up. Now, you coming or not?

Sam decided... not. He stayed to try and figure out Benton's immortality formula. He does find it, but Dean doesn't want to live like that:

SAM: Dean, don't you want to live? DEAN: What he is isn't living. Look, this is simple. SAM: Simple? DEAN: To me it is, okay. Black or white; human, not human. (DEAN walks back to stand in front of DOC BENTON) See, what the Doc is is a freakin' monster. I can't do it. I would rather go to hell.

Well, heck, we know Dean doesn't really see anything as "black and white," and the real issue isn't "human or not human" anymore. But he does have a line he will not cross, and whatever Benton is is way too far across that line for Dean. And thank heck... Preserving life at all costs that way? At the cost of his own essential humanity? Yeah, that's horrific.

We meet Rufus, who eventually does provide Dean the lead to find Bela, but he also echoes Dean's attitude we've seen over and over again:

RUFUS: I know ain't no peashooter gonna save you. DEAN: What makes you so sure? RUFUS: Cause that's the job, kid. Even if you manage to scrape out of this one, there's just gonna be something else down the road. Folks like us...there ain't no happy ending. We all got it coming. DEAN: Well, ain't you a bucket of sunshine? RUFUS: I'm what you've got to look forward to if you survive. (Smirking and raising his glass again) But you won't.

Survive this round, just wait for the next one, because there's always a next one... Thanks, Rufus!

But of course Bela doesn't have the Colt anymore. Dean does learn that she sold her soul and her deal is about to come due. She's in the same boat he's been in all along...

DEAN: Is that why you stole the Colt, huh? Try to wiggle out of your deal, our gun for your soul? BELA: Yes. DEAN: But stealing the Colt wasn't quite enough, I'm guessing. BELA: They changed the deal. They wanted me to kill Sam. DEAN: Really! Wow, demons untrustworthy. Shocker.

Because no matter what, the demons were NEVER going to let Dean out of his deal. No matter how many demons they killed, no matter who they bargained with, no matter what, they needed him to die and go to Hell to fulfil their prophecy and break the first seal on the Apocalypse. And that's what s3 boiled down to in the end...

This was the long con that s4 would do to freaking perfection, but s3, with all it's structural deficiencies for having been 6 episodes shortened because of the writer's strike, manages the same...

So that brings us to 3.16, No Rest for the Wicked.

The one where they think they finally gained the upper hand on catching the Big Bad Demon who holds Dean's contract, and don't yet know the entire setup was a trap laid just for them. The fact the payoff on this information doesn't come until the end of s4, with other little hints along the way-- like Dean learning what Sam's been up to while he was in Hell, like learning about angels and the breaking seals of the apocalypse, like being given the runaround as heaven and hell both use Sam's desire to get revenge on Lilith for perceived wrongs against them and is willing to turn himself into a monster to achieve that end... when all along it was exactly what the angels and demons both wanted them to do...

S4 will become the template for Cosmic Manipulation of the Winchesters as part of the Grand Story of the Universe. But all the seeds for it were already planted in s3.

Well, except for Cas. He's the wild card, and isn't that the wildest thing ever?

I wonder how Chuck accounted for him? Bring on Team Free Will, breaking Chuck's story again and again until they'll finally force him to drop the curtain in 14.20...

ETA, because I always do this... I’ve written some about Ruby’s manipulation before, like in this post from May 2018, after the s13 finale aired:

https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/174230167715/since-your-anons-are-on-the-subject-there-is

SAM: And you decided to tell me this just now? RUBY: Um... demon. Manipulative's kinda in the job description. Fact is, is that you would have never considered it. Not until you were – SAM: Desperate enough?

and when Sam has doubts, and he’s so close to wanting to trust Ruby out of desperation?

DEAN: Don't you see a pattern here? Dad's deal, my deal, now this? I mean every time one of us is – is – is up the creek the other is begging to sell their soul. That's all this is, man. Ruby's just jerking your chain down the road. You know what it's paved with and you know where it's going.

And yep, that’s exactly it. The Winchester Family Sacrifice-Go-Round. All in the name of keeping Chuck entertained.

ETA FOR THE SECOND TIME: Lilith. Pretending to be a seriously twisted little girl, controlling this entire family for her own horrific idea of “fun.” Kinda similar to Chuck’s own MO, always playing a persona-- Chuck the trashy novel author, Chuck the prophet of the lord who doesn’t want to be, Chuck the super cute guy who was delightfully enamored by humanity enough to want to be human himself, at least for a little while... But all of it is part of his own incredibly long game, thinking he’s got the Winchesters exactly where he wants them, being on the scene to watch his plan play out, only for it to all go sideways.

ugh and yet another ETA: Dean, only when he is very close to death, a side effect of that is that he can literally see things he wasn’t able to before:

DEAN: I could see its face. Its real face under that one. SAM: So what, now you're seeing demons? DEAN: I've seen all kinds of things lately but... nothing like this. BOBBY: Actually it's not all that crazy. DEAN: How's it not that crazy? BOBBY: Well you've got, just over five hours to go? You're piercing the veil, Dean. You're glimpsing the B side. DEAN: A little less new age-y please. BOBBY: You're almost hell's bitch. So, you can see hell's other bitches. 

What a strange way to finally see through the illusions to the truth, you know? Dean got all the way through Chuck’s endless parade of misery in s14-- losing hope against Michael only to lose hope for Jack, and himself-- to that final moment where he was able to glimpse the B side, as it were.

ugh again... this is what I get for posting stuff before the episode is over...

How close to killing an innocent little girl did Sam come here? While her own mother begged him to do it, because as far as they knew, the girl was still possessed. But Dean saw the truth, the demon was gone.

Sam’s ready to do whatever “Ruby” wants him to to save Dean, but it’s already too late. Ruby isn’t even Ruby anymore. Dean hadn’t noticed the switch until it was too late, again. Always too late. All part of the long manipulation.

[animaechanthoughts]

ATTACK ON TITAN S3 Part 2 E7

I'll just be making a few notes here as I edit my reaction video. I want to focus on editing though, so the notes may be short. 

- At first I wasn't sure about that dream Armin had, but I remembered that the memories get transferred to the person who "claims" the titan powers by eating the previous shifter. I wonder how much of Bertholdt's memories Armin will be able to recall. Eren didn't remember things consciously, it was more like he unconsciously understood some things about how to use his titan. So maybe Armin might not know much either and will only get short flashes of certain memories like Eren used to get/still gets? 

- the moment Eren runs to Armin and hugs him is so fvcking precious uwu 

- in the reaction, I asked "how must that feel though?" when thinking about how Armin must feel after being chosen over Erwin. I'd like to share a message sent to me by Ángel Kuhn (a patron). He sent this to me after Armin's death, BEFORE we knew he was still clinging to life. Even though Armin ended up being saved, I still think this is a brilliant way to look at his character: 

"Armin is my favorite character of ANY show for one reason. The way Isayama explores his psychology is absolutely masterful. [...] Armin is the kind of depressive person with “learned helplessness”, a really complex matter in psychology. [He has] lot of suicidal thoughts during previous seasons. [He is] emotionally ultra-dependent, with a really low self-esteem - someone struggles a lot during the whole series to gain confidence and accepting himself, even in this last arc. The saddest thing here is that when he finally overcomes his learned helplessness and [attains] the self-acceptance that he was looking for (subconsciously) during his entire life, he used that confidence and courage to sacrifice himself and save humanity. In my opinion, Armin has the saddest character development that I’ve ever seen in any show. That’s why his death was so devastating to me. His death was extremely cruel, not just because of the burning, but mainly because of how his character was written since the beginning. Armin is a highly multidimensional character that I never expected to find in a shonen."

I think this is a beautiful way to look at Armin's character development and I want to point out that the fact that he was saved does not take anything "away" from his growth (at all!). Armin was (essentially) burned alive. He was literally scorched. Could this be symbolic of his transformation? Not only as a titan, but as a character. He's starting to (or will entirely in the coming seasons, I believe) let go of the uncertain, self-depreciating person he used to be. He has big shoes to fill, and I strongly believe he will fill them and lead the other characters to many victories in the future. Will they come at a cost? In war, most victories do. But I for one am looking forward to see Armin, who has risen from the ashes of his old self, lead his friends into a better world. 

- in one of the flashbacks Eren has of looking at the trap door to the basement, his mother has really short hair. So that had to be quite a long time ago, probably before Mikasa even started living with them. 

- a link to my tweet about what I thought could be in the basement, tweeted a couple of days before the episode aired: https://twitter.com/animaechan/status/1136654997427347462

- curious about whether any foreshadowing or hints are given in the flashbacks we see of their town and when they were kids, as Eren and Mikasa is walking towards back to their old home... Even if there were, there's no way an anime only watcher would know, until we rewatch the series at a later point... in one scene you see their shadows pass by a single, white flower. I would like to know what kind of flower this is and the symbolic meaning attached to it. any theories? 

- in another flashback, they see Hannes, and he points to Eren's mom, walking in another direction, her back towards them... Here she has very long hair and is steadily walking back to their home, when they start running after her. the scenes keep switching from the present, to various memories. I think it's beautifully done. 

"Maybe I will [show you what's in the basement], when you discover the thing that is most important to you." - Grisha to young Eren

I feel like this quote contrasts beautifully with Kenny's final words to Levi - about everyone being a slave to something. Being a slave to something obviously sets a very negative tone. But this way of saying a similar thing "when you discover the thing that is most important to you", is so hopeful. I can't help but think, maybe not everyone has to be a slave to something. When you can find something or someone that you sincerely love with all of your heart, maybe instead of it enslaving you - maybe that love sets you free, or leads you to the truth... about the meaning of life. Why are we here on this earth? Forced to live in this cruel, yet beautiful world? Is it to be slaves of something or someone? Or are we here to discover what is important to each of us, as individuals? 

- the airship was invented in 1852 (in our world).