#inside job season 2 review

[berkcastteam]

We're back join HC, Wolf, @kingofthewilderwest, and @jayalaw as they talk season 1 part 2 of Inside Job. As always we hope you enjoy, and let us know what you think.

-Wolf

[toonstarterz]

Finished Inside Job S2.

It's clunky, and often feels gratuitous with its crude, profane humor. But I'm surprised by the show's ability to keep the stakes relatively high and heart intact in a way that I wasn't expecting.

Brett is best boi.

[itsmyfandomandilikeit]

What we actually know about the renewal of Star Trek: Prodigy

Ok so there's been some speculation going around that Prodigy is or is not being renewed. The fact is that there has been zero news on the topic, official or otherwise, and anyone claiming to know differently is wrong or lying.

That being said, there are some things we do know:

1. Netflix is of course notorious for canceling things. I am an Inside Job fan. I know. However, they almost never leave things ambiguous. They aren't shy. When things are canceled, they make a clear public statement saying that it's canceled. Usually within two weeks of airing.

2. All of the clear public statements we've gotten from Netflix and the Prodigy crew have been consistent: Netflix will decide when they get more data. Recently, Aaron Waltke said on a podcast that they will review the viewing numbers from the first six months after season 2 was released, which occurred on July 1. This lines up with Netflix's data release schedule, which collates viewing data from the first and second halves of the year.

3. They are also waiting on a few other things. Namely, Netflix still commissions Paramount to create seasons of Prodigy. The sale of things like DVDs, Blu-Rays, digital downloads, and those new ship models that are coming out this December, affect the price of a season of Prodigy. Merchandise sales and licensing pay for a portion of it, and Netflix has to cover the rest of the cost. I'm sure the new theme park ride affects this as well. The cost to commission a season of Prodigy is determined by a number that is very much, at the moment, in a state of flux because of the upcoming physical media and merchandise releases, which could do well or not.

4. It was announced that the Hagemans have been added to a LEGO Ninjago project, and there has been some speculation that they will be unable to work on Prodigy because of this. This is irrelevant. The Hagemans have stated repeatedly that they typically work on 2 or 3 projects at once. To my knowledge, Aaron Waltke was working on Transformers One during the production of Prodigy season 2. This is just normal. They're getting work because their work has done well.

5. Prodigy costs the least of any Star Trek project to produce, but it is also the only Star Trek project that Netflix has access to. If, say, Section 31 does extremely well, Netflix can't get any portion of that success except for through Prodigy. Netflix also knows that very few new users are actually signing up for Paramount+, and indeed many users are leaving the platform, so Prodigy remains a good investment for Netflix. No matter how well this season of Lower Decks does, Netflix can't buy it because it's not for sale.

6. Data from 2023 indicated that Prodigy outperformed all of the rest of Star Trek on Netflix (admittedly, the US is not counted in this). What's especially notable about this is that it was only available for one week in 2023. In the first half of 2024, Prodigy continued to do well on the Netflix platform, despite it effectively only playing reruns during that time. Netflix will not release numbers for the second half of 2024 until next year.

7. Prodigy has the budget and appeal of a children's show, but it also has an avid adult audience. Many adults are watching it just because it's Star Trek or because they want to keep up with the overall story. Anyone who wants to maintain Star Trek completion must watch Prodigy, which is only available through Netflix.

8. Marketing is typically the lion's share of the cost of any media, but no marketing was done for Prodigy. It relied on word of mouth and the Star Trek brand. This affects how expensive it is to Netflix.

9. Finally this is not about the show itself but I just don't think that the story is over because plotlines in Star Trek never really end. Watching TAS is like the Leo Dicaprio pointing meme of seeing how Discovery was designed from a ton of these episodes. Every detail of the older shows is spun into entire plotlines in NuTrek. Whether or not Prodigy is renewed, these characters and species have been added to the canon and more than likely it will never let them go. If there isn't a new season, there will be video games, books, comic books, theme park attractions, stupid hats (that I'll buy), sunglasses, t-shirts, board games, markers, branded blankets, posters, and anything else you can think of. I kinda don't know how I feel about this but it is what I think. No matter how many seasons of Prodigy there actually will be, I'm sure the characters and settings will be brought back thirty years from now for better or worse.

[todayontumblr]

Tuesday, May 16.

it's nearly 3am, for pete's sake. let that cat in!

what's the matter with you, man. let that cat in this instant!

listen, and listen well, dammit, because I won't ask twice. that itty-bitty puss has been purring, meowing, and hissing for hours now, and, though it may be the winter outside, and it is christmas, this isn't your classic december 24th scenario. there is room at this inn, and we're going to let him inside, out of the cold, as if it it were the baby jesus himself. because, in many ways, he is—and apparently there's a northern star above our house.

you've got work tomorrow, I've got work tomorrow. and you can bet your ass that all the while that little critter is out there hollering all alone, meowin into the festive abyss, with nothing for company but a christmas tree, decorative lights, and wide-angle lens, we are not going to get a moment's shut-eye. and that's not good news for you, because I know for a fact you've got your end-of-fourth quarterly all-synergy christmas review at the office tomorrow, and I know your job's on the line. you think the board are gonna be happy when you drag yourself into the office with bags around your eyes, your tie on backwards, and cups of starbucks holiday blend in each hand? it may be the season of goodwill, but that don't count for much in your line of Business—even lonesome mr. whiskers could tell you that. 

speaking of, you hear that? give it some time and that one little whine is gonna attract all the other december strays. before you know it, we'll have a gregorian chant of kitty kats decorating our front lawn, and freestyling their own carols with not a care for tune or harmony. who knows—one of them may have a little catnip on their person. and then we are really in trouble.

if reason does not persuade you, then surely you are moved by the plight of this destitute animal? listen to his lonesome cries ringing out into the depths of the night, and pinky swear me that your eyes are dry at the intensity of his despair? because I do not consider it possible for anyone of reasonable mind to withstand, in spirit, that animal's pain as expressed through this his wretched song. this may be the season of merriment and jollity, but these are distant lands to the furry friend who currently finds himself lost, adrift, and alone at our most decorative doorstep.

if you are still cold-hearted to his plight, then consider this: he was brought to our door by its luminous, festive character. this cat has seen the tree, and fairy lights wrapped in an embrace around the columns, and understood its greater significance. this cat has come to understand this as a home of compassion, charity, light, and warmth during these darkest days of the year. if we ignore the sound of his cries, we are not merely heartless, but hypocrites to the decoration that adorns our front porch.

the choice is yours. it is almost 2:30 AM. the cat remains alone, waiting, wailing into night. 

what are you going to do?

[raleighrador]

The Bear S3 - Plot and Carmen

I found Carmen's storyline in S3 simultaneously sad, funny, frustrating, and rewarding (all as a viewer). Carmen himself seems to straight up be having a terrible time.

The specific thing that stood out for me with the season's treatment of Carmen was - in a show that does a great job of show don't tell - we never get SHOWN Carmen having a win. Certainly not one that he is capable of enjoying.

What do I mean by this? We get told Carmen is a great chef but apart from the flashback to Sydney eating his fish + citrus dish (+ I guess the flashbacks where Carmen shells more peas/peels more mushrooms etc than Luca) we don't get SHOWN him being a great chef, or being acknowledged as a great chef.

Contrast this with eg Sydney making Nat an omelette in season 2, or Sydney taking over the service when Carmen is trapped in the walk in. Marcus's baked good get lots of "mmm WOW delicious yummy" scenes in earlier seasons. Even Sydney offering "obvious" improvements to Carmen's meat dish in S3E5. Sydney DEMONSTRATES exceptional cooking and cheffery on screen in a way Carmen does not.

Instead we get TOLD Carmen is an excellent chef. We get shown the various reviews and profiles that Sydney enviously reads in her empty apartment, we get Luca telling Marcus (in S2) that he could never keep up with Carmen, and finally we get Chef David (Carmen's former Executive Chef who was abusive) explicitly calling out that Carmen is an excellent chef.

This is an odd dynamic from a storytelling perspective, and I personally found it frustrating. Carmen is clearly the primary protagonist of the show and yet he never gets any visceral "wins" that we as the audience can immediately recognise and enjoy. In fact, in many ways, his achievements get a treatment more typically associated with an antagonist. Think of every bad guy who has been introduced as the 3 times world champ, or most dangerous person in MadeUpLandia, or the hottest and most popular girl in High School TM.

I think this is deliberate.

Every moment where we get told Carmen is excellent is deliberately unsatisfying because it is unsatisfying to Carmen. He repeatedly gets the affirmation that he is in fact exceptionally good at this and yet it does nothing for him.

It doesn't feel good and it doesn't quiet the voices in his head. It doesn't solve any of his issues. This is most explicitly true in the interaction with Chef David - Carmen's tormentor, the man who belittled him, who did more to destroy his self confidence than any other. Chef David loudly, clearly, explicitly gives Carmen the affirmation he always withheld... and it does nothing for Carmen. If anything it just further confuses and upsets him.

I think this will continue into the next season and ultimately whatever "ending" the show as a whole reaches. Carmen will get a star (or 2 or 3) and it will fix absolutely nothing. None of his problems (maybe the monetary ones?) will go away.

The star will fall into the black hole inside of Carmen and do nothing to fill it, just like everything else he has tried to use to plug that wound.

In fact I will go so far as to say - I think this show either ends with Carmen committing suicide or at least a suicide attempt will be a major plot point. Especially if the star does solve the money problems. One of the things that keeps Carmen going is that success will solve problems for his family - specifically, the debt Mikey left. If that goes away, it removes one of the biggest reasons to keep going.

Many people have (I think correctly) written extensively about how Sydney is Carmen's narrative foil. I think Mikey is his narrative mirror.

Mikey has from the very beginning dominated the show, and Carmen. He was why Carmen became a chef. He was why Carmen came back. He was who left Carmen picking up the pieces. It is - in my mind- all for Mikey and all because of Mikey. Carmen wanted to do this restaurant with his big brother and that will now never happen.

I think a potential path for the show to take is to contrast Sydney and Carmen to Carmen and Mikey. Sydney is able to recognise bits of herself in Carmen but also some of her own limits. She, I think, will learn and grow past Carmen and those limits.

I don't think Carmen will be so lucky. Thus far certainly he has demonstrated absolutely none of the self-awareness required to make this a plausible outcome. He has none of the language or tools required to have this realisation and then act on them (very bluntly pointed out by Richie in the "non-negotiables" argument). He doesn't have the support network to spot these things for him, and he is only becoming more isolated. He doesn't ever answer his phone. He is literally incapable of saying sorry or really having any conversation outside of the restaurant. The people around him are - for various reasons - losing patience or just have other things going on.

Nat - who has been the most uncritical and productive support for Carmen - now has a baby & the restaurant so she can't be the one maintaining a one sided relationship. Cicero has (unknown to the rest of them) money issues that mean he can't be the stable, consistent figure he wants to be. Richie and Sydney have been burned by Carmen lashing out too many times. His other industry friends don't actually know him that well because he has always been distant. They also have their own lives and bluntly Carmen is too much work for too little reward.

I thought the finale illustrated this really well - Luca and Sydney see Carmen going to confront Chef David, they know it is going to end badly, and then they do nothing about it. They, along with the rest of the Bear crew + Chef Terry + Jess go to Sydney's apartment for an after party. Carmen is notably absent.

None of them seem to notice or care. I imagine it is a "sigh *eye roll* Carmen is being Carmen" phenomenon rather than malice. It is still illustrative of Carmen's increasing isolation, and the loss of people looking out for him.

Carmen is not heading for a breakdown, he is in the midst of one. He has only gotten worse since he almost burned his apartment down while sleepwalking. I think that is what we are seeing.

Literally and figuratively Carmen is sleep walking into self-destruction.

This isolation from the people he cares about is not, however, totally agentless. That is to say - while I don't blame people like Richie and Sydney, I do think they are making choices that wind up isolating Carmen and denying him the affirmation and support he craves.

Does Carmen know that he made the best meal Sydney ever ate? I don't think so. So far as I recall she never told him. She told Marcus, but not Carmen. Does Carmen know that she specifically sought him out because of the fish & citrus dish? I don't think so. She told him she wanted to work at the Beef because it was her dad's favourite sandwich shop. Sydney has all of her own issues with Carmen and has made this choice for many reasons but ultimately she has never given Carmen the sort of affirmation I believe he craves and would actually accept from her. Her praise, I believe, would mean more than any of the rest he has received.

Instead, deliberately or not, Sydney does a lot to deny Carmen that praise and increasingly denies to herself that she even thinks it. The assertion that she can "keep up" from a skill perspective is one example, the more interesting one is how she reacts to Shapiro praising the scallop dish that is "new", that is "not Carmy". Shapiro clearly thinks and is heavily implying that this must be a Sydney dish. Sydney's response is "well it's um... it's both of us, together".

I read this scene as Adam clearly giving Sydney an opening to take credit, and Sydney response is clearly a "wink wink oh I am humble but yes".

Except it's not both of them nor is it Sydney. S3E1 ends and S3E2 begins with Carmen redoing all the dishes, including the fish dish. Sydney is very frustrated that Carmen "changed all my (her) shit".

A key, repeated, point of frustration for Sydney is that Carmen changes dishes without her input (I think this is only partially true and if so only partially problematic). Regardless of what I think SHE clearly chafes under a lack of ownership of the dishes.

So while this superficially resembles the flashback of Carmen and David futzing the fish & fennel dish, only for Carmen to deliver to Sydney the fish & citrus dish, it doesn't actually fit. This superficial parallel is actually a red herring (sorry) to our ability to read this interaction correctly.

This scene therefore demonstrates 2 (maybe 3) things brilliantly (in my mind at least): Carmen is not well known by basically anyone. Chef Adam is kind of sort of a work friend, but he clearly feels he "knows" Carmen's cooking and can recognise something that is so new and different that it can't be Carmen's. What he is totally missing is how much (and how fast) Carmen is changing and improving as a chef. It also demonstrates Sydney's unwillingness to acknowledge how good Carmen is. Again multiple angles here, but she isn't willing to let it be Carmen's dish. She also doesn't ever tell Carmen that Adam thought the food was excellent.

This echoes S1 Richie refusing to really acknowledge how much better Carmen's beef sandwich is than the old version.

So there is a pattern of Carmen not getting validation from people whose opinions he actually cares about. Instead he just gets unsatisfying praise from people who don't matter to him.

The third thing this scene potentially demonstrates is that the parallels between Carmen and Sydney's experiences are weaker than implied.

I have read a few reviews that criticise this season because not enough happens, there isn't enough character growth, and there is clunky writing that makes it a frustrating viewing experience. I don't actually disagree per se, I just think they are deliberate.

I am possibly reaching, and it is possible the writers are being more ambitious than they can deliver on. It feels, in many ways, like avant-garde cuisine. The writers are deliberately breaking rules, deliberately doing things that are almost always "bad writing" and trying to do them in a way that actually makes them good.

It's like trying to make ice cream out of squid ink, or colourless, textureless cubes that tastes like ribeye. It doesn't make sense and it isn't how cooking works. Sometime you spend hundreds of dollars on terrible, unsatisfying meals. Sometimes you eat something that breaks all the rules and defies all your expectations and blows your fucking mind.

Sometimes it's in-between and I guess S3 is more that for me than either of the former. I still think what the writers are doing is cool and innovative and I like it, even if it didn't all land perfectly.

[psychopasss4]

PPP Novel is out❣️

...just in time for the Lunar New Year Eve, Feb. 9th. 🎉

Noitamina Shop will hold Arata Shindo-kun's bday campaign and at the same time promotes the PPP novel sale 🥂🥳.

Have you already prepared dried persimmons? 🤗 You know, in ancient times people used to wind-hang outside Hoshigaki, thus the Japanese lantern shape we know about today were taken from. 📸 Google Images.

Quick Review:

During the premier of PPP movie before the Global launch, fans kept asking Dir. Shiotani about

The meaning of empty liquor bottle in Kogami's desk.

Why Kogami removed his jacket during his balcony scene

And his answer were simple. Kogami didn't know the difference of wearing it inside or outside. At first, I thought it was some kind of a funny little joke, or I didn't understand the words full well (I'm not a full-bred Japanese though I studied Nihonggo way back in grade school).

But if you read the PPP novel, you will realize Kogami isn't fully adjusted from his traumatic experiences as a mercenary overseas 🤧. So he doesn't feel how to act just as he used to when he's back.

And ofcourse, we all know he and Saiga only emptied the liquor after long hours of chatting and Tonami profiling.

2. It's interesting that the writing team have taken the pulse of the fans during the Q&A session, thus some points in PPP novel is what we might've expect after all 🤭.

3. Some may say it's nothing new. As it seems the writing team pretty much remain loyal to the movie summary. But if you read between the lines, you realize how it is a bit forgiving & fan-serving, compare to the movie itself 👍🏻.

4. The locations...last minute alterations... 😆😂.

5. And ofcourse the last time Akane spent with Saiga on his detention cell 😭. She literally blame herself for asking him to come to them on Dejima in MoFA's HQ to retrieve the Stronskaya Papers a day after. Which we all know ended tragically.

6. She pulls the trigger. She question the justice. Which quotes the same kind of line from PP3 novel when she's writing her thoughts down in an analogue typewriter. From that scene she thought of Kogami's action and how Sybil judged him for that.

But in PPP novel, no doubt she puts into consideration the life of Atsushi Shindo and how he was used as a pawn, only to be a master pawn who puppets the life of another pawn like what happened to Akira Ignatov.

Aswell as Akira Ignatov's sacrifice. He volunteered to be a puppet for the sake of the future generation. For the sake of his brother in particular 😢😓😓😢.

7. Frede-chan's holding back and being indecisive to keep the truth about the mission to Kogami. Is like keeping her phone number to her crush 😹🤭. Sure, she's just conscious how would Kou-chan would react since she knows Saiga and him are pretty close 😮‍💨.

8. The writing team did a pretty good job by staying true to their plot work. They know what they're doing. As if taken up some piece of advice from Gege Akutami 😅😂.

9. The last scene is pretty much heart-aching but well executed 😘🤌🏻❤️

10. The General was a medical AI but I wonder if the creator of Sybil also created that?... how about BiFrost? Oh hello, Season 4! We're waving at you ☺️😀!

11. Many hate Akane for trying to control Kogami, again?! Let me get this straight, SHE ISN'T CONTROLLING ANYONE!

There's a MASSIVE difference when he a.) first pulled the trigger against Makishima (out of revenge) and when he b.) pulls that against Tonami.

Akane knows it best.

a) She doesn't want him to be a person swallowed by revenge like Sasuke (Naruto).

b) She hopes Kogami is back for the better but instead he acted again with his animal instinct which indicates he can still be easily outplayed by emotions instead of not letting it get the human out of him.

Akane still looks up to Kogami. She knows he was labeled as a latent criminal by Sybil. But the way Kou acted is like proving to Sybil that their labeling of him as latent criminal was right. And if there's one thing Akane isn't fond of, that is proving Sybil right.

So it's not about Kogami. It's about her campaign against Sybil's false and unfair judgement! So don't mock her! 😖

Lastly, PPP novel is enjoyable because a lot of fans are exerting efforts to translate it to English for fans abroad. Kudos to you all❣️

Not everyone have the time, capacity and dedication you've spent. Including me, I'm not good in translation. So thank you. You are the heart of PSYCHO-PASS franchise global expansion ❤️🥰.

End of Review.

Okay, so that wasn't a quick one 😋 sorry about that. I just hope you guys have a wonderful day. Have fun and enjoy everything that you do!

🥰🤗

Meanwhile, the original crew of PP1 are in their podcast discussing how the series have been progressing so far 😋😂

Nah! It's just a trace sketch of CD Discussion Vol. 1

🤣🤣🤣

[bronx-bomber87]

Hi! just want to say really love The Rookie episode breakdown that you do.

So assuming you have watch all of them, do you have any list / ranking of best Chenford related episodes? Or can you give us your ranking of best Chenford related episodes? Really want to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you!

Hi @xiaozhen16! First off thank you for your lovely comment on my reviews. Means a lot I'm so glad you enjoy them. :) Also appreciate you wanting my thoughts on this. Let's see I have been with The Rookie since day one, actually pre-green light. I followed Nathan after Castle and his next project and saw The Rookie get its green light. So i've been with since the literal jump. Seen all eps for sure more than once haha Think I've rewatched it least 5 times since it started. Thank you for being patient while I took the time to answer this. Life is hard to fit stuff in so thank you. It'll be a long reply lol In order to answer this properly I'm going to do top 5 with an honorable mentions that could span up to 5 cause this is hard LOL Those will be in no particular order. I'll do it for each season. Except S5. I just can't choose S5 down to a top ten.

I love that entire season. But I can do 1-4. Someday I can rank S5 on its own ranking the entire season if you like but for now it'll be this. Let me know if you'd like me to do that in the comments. But for this one Each season has something different to offer for them. So it'll be easier to break it down by season but only going up to S4. Hopefully you enjoy this detailed reply. Anyone is welcome to comment and such too.

Season 1.

1x14 Plain Clothes Day

Hands down this is my favorite episode of S1 for them. It's a very telling episode for them both. Lots of growth as well. Lucy is hell bent to prove herself to Tim. She is nervous but driven to prove to Tim she is worth investing his time in. Her day is a plethora of jitters and mistakes. Tim consistently getting under her skin and rattling her cage. Then at the last minute like a phoenix rising from the ashes Lucy makes the right call. Such a clutch moment that impresses Tim more than he'll ever let on. Doesn't hesitate for one moment checking that man's garage out.

This is a huge step towards her growth as a cop and a person really. Its seminal episode for Lucy. A stepping stone to her confidence and learning to trust her instincts and not second guess herself. For Tim it's realizing as much as he loves to mess with Lucy he wants her to succeed more. He states in the very beginning of the episode how he's had 11 rookies wash out on this day. ELEVEN. He hasn't cared if his rookies have washed out 11 times. Then Lucy Chen walked into his life. Disrupted his life in the best way.

With her incredibly driven sunshine ways he REFUSES to let her be his 12th. Does everything in his ability to keep her from being fired. They have a lot of lovely moments in this episode ranging from messing with her to fiercely protecting her from that tool-bag trying to take her job. The scene outside the captain's office where he has to re-write her eval gah so very good. Overall just an amazing episode of moments and growth for them as characters and as a ship. Another step towards their rock-solid bond.

2. 1x20 Free Fall

What's not to love about this finale? It's the culmination of everything they've been through to this point in the season. We watch how Tim instantly protects Lucy from being infected. At first he's in control of the situation (or so he thinks..) Trying to keep Lucy calm while on the inside he is panicking. Attempting to keep up his tough T.O. act with her. Determined to show Lucy he's bulletproof no matter the situation. That quickly begins the devolve the longer he is in that room.

The more he has to deal with this disease alone the worse it gets. We get a front row seat into protective Lucy. The way she is losing it for Tim on the outside. Doing anything and everything to get him out of there. This is the first time we get to see Tim trust Lucy emotionally and not hesitate. Not only that but so openly. She has been knocking on the door of this all season.

The scene above is her reward for all that work. The role reversal that happens here is wonderful. Where Lucy becomes the rock. The one to comfort him while Tim is battling with his dark thoughts of suicide if this goes sideways. Trusting her enough to tell her such deep thoughts. Lucy guiding him through those emotions best she can. It's a fantastic way to end the season for them. Lots of earned moments in this one.

3. 1x11 Redwood

Our first Iconic OTP Line Episode. This is where we start to see Tim soften for Lucy. Those sharp edges dulling a bit. We get to watch how he knows exactly how to calm her when she is in a panic. Tim commands this entire episode for her. Distracting her from the moment that needle goes in to chewing out the nurse for not prioritizing her. It was our first glimpse into protective Tim and I was here for it. Excellent introduction to this side of him regarding Lucy. Does the Tim Bradford special where he tells her like it is while showing empathy.

The first time we get to see him care truly care and let her know that he's there. Has her back in a way no one really has before. Lucy is watching her career go down the drain in her eyes. Changing her life forever and is in panic city. Tim doesn't let her be a resident there for very long. This ep showcases how amazing he is at his job and how good Tim is with Lucy. Knows exactly what to do in order to keep her sane.

He spends his entire day distracting her and showing empathy in the process. Ultimately stopping her from going off the razor's edge. It's these moments she has with Tim that shift her POV of him. Why she fights for him like she does. Lucy knows the good heart this man has. That he cares about her as person. That she is more than just his rookie. It's so very good. Producing the line above. *sigh*

4. 1x07 The Ride Along

These early episode are what I like to call building block eps. The foundation that is laid in these are so important. It's Lucy showing up for Tim when he needs it most. Their relationship is in its infancy in these episodes. Being molded into what we see in the finale and honestly the future. Lucy noticing a serious wrong (Isabel taking advantage of Tim's deep loyalty) Not only noticing but not letting him throw his life/career away for it. The line above is EVERYTHING. She refuses to let Tim cross an ocean and compromise his soul for someone who wouldn't cross a puddle for him. The bravery it took for her take a stand I'll always commend her for. How scary it must've been for her to confront him like this. When he was still in his radioactive insanely damaged phase. Tim already meant more to her at this point than she expected. She couldn't stand back and watch him self-destruct for someone who didn't deserve it. Tim is not even close to being used to someone showing up for him like this at this point. It's so very foreign to him.

Not only that but someone putting him in place and knocking sense back into him. Something he comes to learn and love about Lucy. Becomes the fabric of their dynamic really. In the moment he's so angry with her but long term forever grateful she stepped in like she did. That crack in his wall starting to grow a little more. A defining moment for them early on in this season. They had me hook line and sinker after this. I was already low-key shipping them but this added to it.

5. 1x03 The Good The Bad and the Ugly

Another building block episode. A crucial one for them really. I love how their early episodes set them up beautifully for the rest of the season. If not for these episodes you wouldn't see how wonderful the growth is for them both. The episodes that'll be in my honorable mentions are the fruit of these. Because without seeing where they came from how could we deeply appreciate how far they've come? Tim is imploding at a high velocity in this episode. Doesn't care about the collateral damage either. At this point that damage radius includes Lucy.

We truly see Tim as his very worst in the beginning. The beautiful thing is Lucy see's past his hurt into who he is as a person. He is worth getting through to. Also she also see's he is a god damn dumpster fire. One that if she doesn't put him out he's going to take her down with him. You know Tim respects the hell out of her for the scene above. (Not in the moment but in the long term of it all.)

For standing up to him and showing him how selfish he was being. It's what earns her that wonderful scene in the shop afterwards. Where he opens up and tells her about Isabel and a little bit of their history. His way of thanking her for getting his head on straight. Their early stuff is so raw but so good. They're learning how to function together. Usually one of them leading the other more depending on the situation. Start of their wonderful dynamic.

~~~

Honorable mentions-Ones I wanted to include cause they're amazing but can only gif the top 5 and one mention ha So it'll be my top ten for each season. They have so many good eps.

1x18 Home Front

So much to love about this one. Lucy busting his chops the entire ep. Get our first glimpse into their playful work flirts. Her challenging him on his personal life and not work for the first time. Standing her ground in that opinion. Like she does best with him. Telling Tim he needs something other than work. Naturally is defensive at first and eventually caves in. It results in the cute paintball moment above we all know and love.

1x19-Checklist-We get another glimpse into what Tim is willing to do to keep Lucy from washing out. I love this episode and how we start to see Tim trust in her decision making skills. Like the woman with the swapped plates. She lets her go and it ends up working out for her. The final scene is the best where he logs OT for her to continue on in the program. Lucy feeling so supported with this gesture. *heart clutch* So good.

1x16 Green light- Our first look into how protective Lucy can be about Tim. Their rank be damned in her opinion. The way she protects and defends him to Detective Murphy is glorious. Not caring she's her superior officer. She is kicking him when he is already down and Lucy won't stand for it. Then Tim returns the favor when she's upset about catching Cole. ‘Grief is grief. It’s a hole that can’t be filled. But over time, it’ll shrink enough so that you won’t fall in every time you take a step.’ His growth in this line is amazing to watch unfold. How he has grown since his whole debacle with Isabel.

1x15-Man Hunt.- We see some more fruit of Lucy's impact on Tim. Him wanting to do more with his career. He decides to go for Sergeant and we all know she is part of that reason. Also we get a glimpse into Tim and his rookie days through Deacon and his 54 connection. Lucy is delighted to get a birds eye view to his past. It's the scene where they're defending the escaped prisoner that's the best. Saying how he refuses to do something he will be ashamed in the light of day. This moment being proof Lucy's impact on him from 1x07. Its beautifully full circle.

1x01 Pilot-Gotta include the pilot. It's what set the table for them. "Officer Bradford gets our hot shot." He sure does. Getting a look into them as characters and where they start off from. It's what hooked me to this show to begin with. Other than just my love for Eric and Nathan at the time lol I saw deep characters with so much potential and I've been hooked ever since.

~~~

Season 2. Has an unreal amount of good eps for them did my best to keep it to ten.

2x11 Day of Death

Naturally this iconic episode is my favorite of S2. How could it not be? This is a massively seminal moment in their history. It's where they go from border-line friends to bonded in a way no one else will ever understand. We watch Lucy fight tooth and nail to stay alive. She is so resilient because she knows Tim is on his way. He won't let her die. Won't Let Caleb win. Her immense amount of faith is beautiful. Knowing that he will get to her in time. Not a doubt in her mind.

We watch Tim race against the clock to rescue her. The pressure and anxiety mounting through out the entire episode for him. Like a weight on his soul he refuses to put down until she is back. We get to witness how much Tim has come to care about Lucy. See the depth's he will go to get her back safely. Also get to see a darker side to him. Which I wasn't totally opposed to seeing in order to get to her. (and wouldn't mind seeing again. tbh) 'Today is your day of reckoning. I am responsible for a life that is in jeopardy, and I will do whatever I have to, to save her.' *fans self* That man is on edge from the moment she goes missing till she is in his arms above.

First actual relaxing breath he takes the entire ep. You see how his body slumps against her in relief as he holds her. How deeply worried he was and won't let her out of his sight afterwards. We all know that man slept at the hospital all night and didn't take his eyes off her until she woke up. To make sure he was the first face she saw. That final scene in the hospital a beautiful look into the deep bond they've formed at this point. I love them sfm. Where we get our next Iconic OTP Line. 'You know me so well. Too Well.' Amongst a flurry of heart eyes and emotions.

2. 2x12 Now and Then

What I love the most about this episode is how Tim steps back. Let's her get taken care of by someone other than himself. Control Freak Tim Bradford hands the reins over. Because her recovering is more important than his ego. The growth I can not. He see's a blind spot within himself that he can not help out with. So he heeds Nyla's words when she approaches him about taking her on. He watches anxiously from afar wanting not to over step the entire episode.

Lucy is hurt he doesn't let her ride with him right away. She is confused and her emotions are all over the place in this episode. Rightfully so. We get to see once again how much Tim cares about her. The way he's asking everyone around her how she is. Even asks Nolan how she is really doing. You know that was hard for him to do. We get to the end of the episode and this glorious scene above. Tim sharing a piece of his past to heal her present.

You can tell he so desperately wants to take on some of her pain. That if he could he would. Still shouldering the weight of her being taken being on him. Trying to give her some hard won perspective. This is his way of saying he's so proud of her, he misses her, hoping him sharing his past brings her back to him. Brings Lucy back to being his sunshine human. Not the angry resentful one he see's in front of him. It's a beautiful scene for the both of them. The sweet smiles when he tosses back the ring. My damn heart.

3. 2x13 Follow Up Day

Another Iconic moment in S2. This season is full of them. Ground breaking moments that drive them forward as a ship. He's passed his Sergeants exam. Hooray. Lucy is SO DAMN PROUD when they get the news. It's the thing he's been working toward since the beginning of S2. He's offered a Hollywood post. One that he can have quickly. A prominent position for him right out the gate and yet he hesitates. Why you ask? Well he's a little too attached to his current rookie that he pretends he isn't attached to. (While dating her best friend might I add. Something I would forget regularly in this season)

Lucy reminds him why he wants to stay around and not leave yet. She challenges him, supports him and believes in Tim in a way he's never had before. Has unwavering faith in him. He says he's not done training her yet. When really he's not ready to let go of the influence she's had on his life. Heart eyes galore. She is more important than moving up atm. I love it.

4. 2x02 The Night General

The beginning of Tim's quest to study for being a Sergeant. It starts off as Tim torturing Lucy with reading his out of print book to him. What starts out as him enjoying making her read it turns into so much more. Lucy quickly turns it around on him. Because well Lucy. Decides on specific segments to have him recite back. Quickly annoying him and he loses this game fairly quickly. It's during this studying we find out Tim learns a certain way. That he must be in motion to absorb the material. (Me too love) He doesn't take this news in stride very well because it's Tim.

Lucy goes above and beyond to apologize for upsetting him. She spends what I assume is any free time between shifts recording the book for him. Not only does she do this she reassures him that it's ok to learn this way. There is no shame in it even compliments him because of it. Telling him its why he excels at being a cop. I

I just adore this moment so much because she builds him up and encourages him. Never once letting him feel shame for how he learns. Lucy taking care of him in ways Tim can't even comprehend atm. He is overwhelmed by her support and empathy. Can only muster a really loaded 'Thanks.' Such a lovely building block for them. Also welcome to the sweaty gun show above *fans self*

5. 2x08 Clean Cut

Ahh the protective Lucy episode. We get to see how far Tim will go for Lucy in this season. The audience also gets to see how far Lucy is willing to go to protect and defend Tim. Just like in 1x16 she charges head long at a superior to defend Tim. Refusing to let anyone sully his name or character. From the moment their shop hits that woman's car she goes into 'Protect Tim mode.' at all costs.

Hell raining down on anyone who gets in the way of her clearing his name. Eating anyone trying to stop her from righting this wrong she KNOWS is a wrong against him. Tim is so defeated and resigned after it happens. He's not going to defend himself so Lucy takes it on herself to do this. The ferocity is noticed by Tim. Why he lets her lead the questioning against the shady BF.

Lucy breathes life back into him that they could overturn this. That unshakeable faith she has in him. Refusing to let him give up on himself. It's the way she builds him up and won't let him think any less of himself I adore so much. After it's reversed and he gets his award she's a proud wifey. Even throwing back his own words at him when he thanks her. Eyes full of love. It's fantastic full circle moment for them.

~~~

Honorable Mentions

2x19-Q Word

As I've said earlier S2 is chock full of goodies. Tim learning the place he still holds in Lucy's life. He is her GO TO. A place he thought he had lost in 2x11. He gave up having that spot in her life because he no longer felt worthy of it. That he was given his shot and he blew it. Lucy not for one damn second thought he forfeited that. She was more upset he wasn't engaging with her about this than anything else.

Lucy does her best to relieve him of his burden. Of the guilt he continues to feel. To let him know it was NOT his fault. That his opinion is one of most value to her. The very opposite of what Tim thought of his place in her world. It's a good episode. One of the best parts above. Lucy applying some salve to his guilty soul.

2x06 Fallout

Lots to love in this ep. Tim trying and failing at 'being nice' to Lucy while she goes through her emotions about her ex. To him tapping into his actual soft side for her. The genuine side. Them facing a bomb threat and Lucy getting to unleash all her anger about her ex's wedding Such a good scene.. With a little of Lucy throwing his words back like no one else can. Lastly ending with them deciding to spend their last moments on earth together drinking booze. Damn good ep.

2x10-The Dark Side

Ahhh the pre-DOD episode. Where Tim spends the entire episode being over protective of Lucy and not sure why he is. All he knows is he doesn't like this guy sniffing around her. His cop gut screaming at him with a mixture of jealously and actual worry. The whole episode is one giant foreshadowing for the following episode.

2x14 Casualties

Tim background eps are always my jam. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this man and learning of his history. Getting a little look into his life in the service with Mitch. Also the intro of their fur-baby Kojo and how very unready Lucy is to care for him. We get our next Iconic OTP line 'Some things matter more.' A moment which is such a prominent scene for them. Good precursor to the moment they share in 2x19 as well.

2x01 impact

The premiere got some real good stuff. We see how Tim reacts so very poorly to Lucy protecting him. Regressing them both with his flour bomb moment. HIs anger coming out in everything he does with her in this episode. Lucy taking it at first then reaches her boiling point towards the end. Basically hands him his ass in a way only Lucy Chen can. It's glorious. Turns him around so much he brags on her to Grey later on about her jump after a suspect. 'Of course she did. I trained her.'

~~~

Season 3

3x09 Amber

Ahh my fav ep of the season. This episode has so many good moments. Lucy with her list for a 'healthy parting.' How she is determined to make her last day a big deal with Tim. Where as Tim is also determined, just in the opposite direction. Because if he talks about it he's going to have to face her leaving. Which we all know he does not want to do. Fights her on it most of the episode. Until something serious happens. Then Tim finally gives in to distract Lucy from the stressful baby scenario they're currently in.

Takes care of her by letting her do the bloody list he's trying to avoid. They have a lovely moment of reminiscing over Plain Clothes Day. How far Lucy has come since that moment. The amount of confidence she had gained. Learning to trust her instincts fully. Something Tim saw in her day one and wanted her to hone in on. Lucy then brings up UC and Tim saying she doesn't have what it takes. it leads into the most iconic moment of the episode. Where she "pretends" to have feelings for Tim.

Sending Tim into an ABSOLUTE panic till she can't take it anymore and breaks into pure laughter. Wounding his pride severely in the process of proving her point. We get two epic moments in this episode. The parking garage scene is lovely. A culmination of the last year of so. How far they've both come. His last eval being one that brings them full circle. Lucy's flour bomb finishing off the nostalgia. The heart eyes galore in this scene and its topped off with them calling each other by their first names. Starting a new chapter with this wonderful moment.

2. 3x14 Threshold

I LOVE this episode so much. It's why it's number 2. This episode is the culmination of Lucy's fast track UC training with Harper. Lucy chomping at the bit to prove herself. A VERY anxious Tim observing from the outside. The flirty flirt we get in the car makes me squee every time. Little bit of Tim and Lucy truly coming out in that moment. The touching is everything as she communicates silently with him about what's going on.

Then we get this moment above. Where they are blatantly flirting and checking each other out. Especially Tim. Man could not be more transparent in his attraction to Lucy at this point. The elevator gaze before they even talk. *fans self* Shameless flirting, praise from Tim and to top it off Tim is the one to ask Lucy to save him a dance. I remember going out of my mind with excitement when I saw this episode. Look at them above. My god the UST in immense and I love it so very much.

3. 3x06 Revelations

The episode where Lucy begins her interest in UC. It's a ROUGH episode for Tim for a lot of reasons. From his PTSD about Isabel with Mack showing up to seeing Lucy put in harms way. We see the protective side come out fiercely in this one. He doesn't even try to tamp it down. Especially in front of others. i.e. the entire OP room LOL Tim battling past demons and losing terribly. Seeing his favorite human put at risk isn't sitting well with him. His panic at losing her or possibly getting hurt making him lose his mind.

Lucy just wanting him to be proud of her. For showing an interest outside of patrol. To be excited she got put on an OP because she kicked ass on the fly. Impressed Harper enough to green light her. His approval and opinion meaning the entire world to her. When he doesn't she is so very discouraged. That's what makes the moment above so important and amazing. Tim putting aside those demons and letting her have that approval and praise she earned ten times over. Because at the end of the day this OP was about her and not him. So he puts her first with the lovely moment above.

4. 3x11 New Blood

Where we see Lucy be utterly CONSUMED by jealously and insecurities. Tim gets his new rookie and Lucy is excited at first. Then see's Tim isn't treating her anywhere near how she was treated in the beginning. He's being nice, letting her drive, buying her coffee, being soft and empathetic. All things she had to drag out of him kicking and screaming. I've said this before but Tim was her first real 'puppy' with massive success. It was a lot of work though for her to have the relationship she has with him now.

Then this Katie Barnes comes in and gets it all in one shift. Lucy is losing her damn mind most of the ep. Watching from afar with massive jealously. Poor Jackson has to listen to it most of his shift LOL Comes with the bestie territory though. By the end of the episode she see's Tim filling out her paperwork and lets Tim have it. What I love is he doesn't get mad at her for it.

Doesn't reprimand her just quell's her insecurities. Explaining why he was training Barnes the way he was. Then seals the scene with the lovely line above. Lucy is absolutely beaming when he walks away. Full of so much joy and happiness she can't contain herself. He thinks she is one of the best rookie's he's trained and lets her know it. Saying maybe one day Katie could be as good as her. *sigh* So good.

5. 3x01 Consequences

Their first marriage episode of the season. Where Lucy is on Tim like white on rice. Her confidence and self esteem shines through out this season and this is the starter episode of it all. The way they go through Nolan's house together is fantastic. She challenges Tim the entire time with her own cop gut. It's so fun to watch the back and forth.

They go from cute banter to Tim being a fierce protector when they have to go see Rosalind. Tim tries to prevent her from going in. Wanting to shield her from this monster. Lucy refuses says she can handle it. Rosalind just see's someone she can play with. Tim attempts to hold back. Not interfere and tries to keep Lucy steady. Then loses it when she taunts Lucy with her barrel song. The official title of 'Fierce protector.' is born in this moment. Such a good episode for them beginning to end.

~~~

Honorable Mentions

3x02 In-Justice

I adore this ep because it is one giant flirting session. The scene above alone is proof of that. Tim just sitting back and enjoying the Lucy show. Setting up a game he knows she is going to absolutely crush. (and does) They're legit flirting in front of their call for like two minutes before they disengage and Lucy works her magic. Also we get to see how soft Tim is for Lucy and gone for her with her car. Telling her to get over until Caleb PTSD in brought into the picture. It's then he caves instantly. Also the introduction of their pseudo daughter Tamara. Lucy's 'puppy.'

3x04-Sabotage

The fruit of the last couple eps coming to fruition. Lucy having Tim revisit something he did on her first shift. Confronting him about how he treated those gardeners. Not only that but the impact he had on them through his actions. This brings Tim's defenses immediately up and he snaps at her. Trying to defend his actions because he is feeling defensive. He does a poor job of it and shuts down completely. Reason being he's ashamed of who he was then and Lucy bringing it up hurts in a way he wasn't expecting.

We get to see our boy go through some serious growth. MASSIVE growth really. I could not be prouder of him for it. For not shutting down for the rest of the day. Letting Lucy know he was wrong and what he can do so it never happens again. Love this ep for the Tim growth, Lucy calling him out and letting him know how proud she is of him. It's such a good moment/ep for them.

3x07 True Crime

I personally LOVE the documentary episodes so much. The reason being their banter is the best part. Their chemistry is on full display for all to see. Lucy owns Tim's ass in this one. Shoots down all his cocky comments. He is also all heart eyes whenever she isn't crushing him with her words ahha. Light hearted fun ep for them.

3x08 Bad Blood

Good ep for Tim telling her like it is when he's trying to avoid it like the plague haha Emmett breaking up with her over text. Lucy doesn't handle it well. She self destructs till Tim does what he does best and gives her some solid perspective. Helping her finally solve the 'Why' behind her break up.

3x05 Lockdown

Tim and Lucy being a united front against Doug is the absolute best. How Tim comes tearing into the station after Stanton and Lucy has to stop him. Then Stanton is an extra ass and Tim then has to prevent Lucy from hurting him. The way they have each other's backs always gets to me. They spend the entire episode this kick ass duo determined to protect Jackson. I love it sfm.

~~~~

Season 4 another super hard one for me but top ten helped.

4x09 Breakdown

I'm sure some of you thought I would choose 4x22. It follows this one pretty closely but I ADORE this episode. It's my favorite for so many reasons. Lucy has a day off and how does she spend it? With Tim and his sister redoing his childhood home. Totally normal 'Friend' status there. Nothing soulmate level about that at all....Then they spend the episode chasing down his father's sordid past. This is due to a gun they find in the wall. Not only that but how heavily Tim leans on Lucy during the process.

Let's her take the lead and trusts her to handle portions of it for him. Like interrogating his dad's former mistress. Then we get this GLORIOUS scene above. Hands down my favorite hug of their's. Tim confronting his father and walking out feeling nuclear in his emotions. He is radioactive from that interaction and so very hurt. He explains what his father did to Lucy. He's so disgusted and hurt.

Then he is NEEDING Lucy to know he isn't his father. That the Tim tests don't make him like his dad. He is on the verge of tears as he says this to her. The most vulnerable we have ever seen Tim in general but especially with her. Lucy jumping into action and gathering him up in her arms. Comforting him, letting him know he is NOTHING like him. Tim sinks into the hug. Wraps himself entirely around her. Letting her hold him up emotionally. It's here we see the last of his wall crumble to the ground never to be rebuilt again. This was the ep I knew we were headed towards them getting together. All time fav ep.

2. 4x22 Day in The Hole

So much to love in this episode. From their daughter getting her ‘first’ car to finding Tim's bizzaro world double 'Dim' LOL Also the introduction of Juicy aha It's so good I can not. Lucy getting beyond excited to get Tim all dressed up for his UC mission. Especially with the tattoo's. Then when Juicy gets involved so does Lucy. It's AU Tim and Lucy and I was dying. Lucy breaks his brain in more ways than one above. The way she stuns him with her UC background for their characters LMAO He stumbles on his words and shifts like his pants are getting little tight for him heh. They haven't even kissed yet.

It will forever crack me up his reaction. Also the hilarious lead up to the kiss. How nervous and awkward they are. 'Well that's romantic....I wasn't trying to be romantic.' LMFAO. Clearly Timothy.... Eric and Melissa's chemistry on full display in this moment. Then the way Lucy just grabs his face and the kiss above happens. How they instantly melt into each other. Like why haven't we been doing this the entire time? You can see Tim ready to seriously deepen the kiss above. The pre-tongue action going on. Hot damn. I remember having to rewind it making sure what I was seeing was real.

The hilarity that ensures when Tamara walks in is so so funny. Never not cackle at this. Lucy's 'Oh!' and Tim is stumbling over himself to get out of there. Makes me laugh just writing it. The awkward 'Good jobs' and pointing. I'm dying. Tim's epiphany in the hallway is the best. Can no longer run from how he feels anymore. That kiss unlocking why he's felt the way he does. The awkward way they interact at the station. Both hiding in their vehicles waiting to find the courage to come out. Gah such a good finale leading to an incredible season 5.

3. 4x12 The Knock

Another episode on the road to them ending up together. They are at soulmate level territory in the scene above alone. The entire episode is fantastic. 'Personal space I don't know her' is the theme of this episode for them. From this 'date' to their case. Where Tim lets her take the lead. They're right on top of each other in that hallway scene when Tim is asking her POV on what they should do.

The beach date is one of the best parts. I don't know how both Ashley and Chris didn't just get up and leave. It's so obvious Tim and Lucy are the ones on a date. Chris and Ashley just happen to be there. The way they flirt the entire time, the inside jokes, the way they know each other so deeply. Their intimate connection on full display.

It's the lack of space I adore so much. That magnetic pull of their's. Never be over Gerald the goat. The way they lovingly stare at each other after he's told the story. The only ones laughing are them. To think either of them (Chris and Ashley) actually thought they had a chance against their bond. Such fools. I would've been highly threatened after that display. Something so intimate about knowing someone on an emotional level like they do. Height of their soulmate moments in this one.

4. 4x18-Backstabbers

Gah this episode be still my damn shipper heart. Lucy getting annoyed she isn't getting any recognition as Tim's aide. Naturally at first Tim pushes against it. Gives her crap for asking for it. Little bit of Old school Tim coming out in this scenario. But we see by the end of the episode him cracking for her. Like he always does. Tim cashing in on the dance he owed her from 3x14. How these two don't know they're in love at this point I couldn't tell you. Blows my damn mind.

The fact that he gives up recognition for her to have it. To further her career and telling her he wants her to be successful? Gah not to mention the heart eyes in this moment. Lucy is beaming brightly like a Christmas tree at this gesture. Tim is so so gone for her by this point it's oozing out of him. If you watched these two above with no context you'd think they were together. Everything about them says how in love they are. The entire scene is one giant I love you/in love with you moment. Tim I don't do weddings Bradford tearing up the dance floor with his girl. Gah I can not.

5. 4x01-Life and Death

The premiere is so very very good. Tim offering her a safe space the moment they get some time alone. Especially after hearing how heartbroken she is. How she can't go back to her apt without Jackson right now. The way he gives her a safe place to crash land into. I love it sfm. Then we get the gloriously intimate and beautiful hug above. The one that sparks the flame between them. One they've been trying to keep at a low flame roaring into an inferno. Their emotions and closeness ramping it up to a level neither is ready for.

The chemistry in this moment is out of this world good. Both being smacked in the face with the growing UST between them. Lucy going for it but it being shot down by Wesley's call. Gah such a good way to start an amazing season. Then Lucy spends the rest of the episode worrying about him from the other side of the world. Letting him know that worry until he makes it back. Such a good premiere.

Honorable Mentions

4x07 Fire Fight

This scene alone is why it's my first honorable mention. Phew lord. The fiery UST in this scene. HOT DAMN. The brazen way they're both looking at each other. This is totally platonic friendship right here....The intense gaze gets me in my shipper feels. Then Tim gets his wits about him a bit before sassing her. Telling her the mic is too high. Her ripping it right off and his face LOL They're so married it kills me. I do love the way she bosses him around in this scene and afterwards when he's in the car. She's projecting jealously entire time.

4x06 Poetic Justice

Oh you know just another episode where all they do is compete and flirt. Not caring about anyone else around them while they do so. Because they can't handle their emotions yet. So they intensely channel it into flirting and competitive things instead. I love these idiots so much.

4x08 -Hit and Run

I LOVE this episode for the Tim background alone. We get the introduction of his sister Genny. Who I love sfm. Lucy of course eats up her being there. She THRIVES on any morsel of info she can get on his background. Lucy is enjoying herself till his dark childhood is brought up. His sister is there to sell their childhood home and he doesn't want to be apart of it. ""Wha-what do you want? Some other family to just cuddle up under the broken plaster where dad slammed my head against the wall?" Ugh my heart. My boy. But it's such a good episode in full for Tim. Also for Lucy getting to meet his sister.

4x14-The Long Shot

This is a great episode for Lucy. We get to see more about her background as well. Finally finding out why her mother is the way she is with her. Her deep digging revealing her father isn't her real father. How much she struggles in this episode emotionally. We get to see how natural it is for Tim to be there for her. Not an ounce of fight left in him to stay out of her personal life. This is just part of who they are now and it's such growth I can not stand it.

4x16-Real Crime

Another gem for the documentary series. If you think they were married in this last one they double down on this one. The amount of cuteness, sass and marriage moments is primo in this one. 'Can I be interviewed alone?' LMAO The epitome of Grumpy x Sunshine. Lucy having the time of her life while Tim is a grumpsaurous. Their dynamic gives me life haha I adore this entire episode for them.

S5 I adore all it's own. If you want a ranking from 1-22 I can do that but I can not choose. Hurts me too much to do that LOL but here are my picks for 1-4. Once again thank you for being so patient on my reply. This was a hefty ask to answer thank you for asking me :) I hope you enjoy the answer.

[pyjamaart]

I never needed such help / This is my SOS

(Content warning: self harm) (If you don't have a problem with that, huge Drillman essay under the read more lol)

When I said that I wanted to draw Drillman some more, this really wasn't what I had in mind.

This week, I've been shopping for music on various second hand sites, which made me realize I don't physically own one of my all time favorite albums: "Squaring The Circle" by Sneaker Pimps. I had to change that immediately. (As well as buying like 15 other CDs and vinyls, lol.) As I was listening to it once again, I realized just how much the song "SOS" reminded me of Drillman and his struggles.

If you don't want to look it up, here are some of the lyrics:

"I look much smaller seen from inside out/Far too small to see myself/Down on reflection, cast in hate and in doubt/Flawed and flaws I add myself"

"Oh mirror mirror hanging on the wall/Please just show me someone else/My hopes were low and I got so much so less/Nothing left to save myself"

Listen, this dude got some major problems with his self esteem. He feels like an embarrassment because he was forced into a life he never wanted by his father. Now he seeks revenge on the company that bought his families business, along with him and apparently his bodily autonomy. Think about that for a minute. How fucked would it be if your parents wanted you to be a doctor, but a requirement for that would be to have your hand surgically removed and replaced with a scalpel. That's the exact situation Drillman found himself in.

Now a lot of people probably think "Well why doesn't he just ask Dr. Light to give him a new pair of hands then, if he's this miserable?" This is where we get to one of Drillmans biggest problems: the refusal to ask for help in any way. And even after the finale of the season, why would he go to the Lights for help in the first place? Wasn't it Aki who thought the best way to help him through his problems was hypnotism? And in the process embarrassing him in front of the whole city, ruining the last bit of reputation he may have had? (For real though, that episode is so hard for me to watch. I just feel so so bad for him, since I really struggle with social anxiety myself.)

As the guys from the Youtube channel "The D-Pad" (who reviewed all of the MMFC episodes) fittingly commented: "This would be like fucking Vietnam for him." And they were right. Obviously, Drillman is horrified that Aki would humiliate him like this and lashes out, solidifying his opinion that asking for help is a bad idea.

In that episode, there's this one moment that really stuck with me. At around the 8 minute mark, while Drillman is having a breakdown over the terrible "music" Aki made him perform, there's this one shot where he takes a moment to look at the drills that replaced his hands in frustration. The camera perspective makes it seem as if we are experiencing this brief scene through his eyes. It's actually quite upsetting. (A link to the moment I'm talking about: youtu.be/OC_jdhoeTrE?si=ZPzAXu…)

This is also a perfect moment for me to gush over the voice acting for this scene. Andrew McNee did such a fantastic job of conveying Drillmans distress and anger through his voice. That reminds me, giving him a British accent was honestly such a good decision.

The reason he doesn't talk at all throughout most of his first appearance is probably because the writers wanted to surprise their audience a little. As in, you see this big, imposing construction robot and think "Oh man, what a brute. He probably has a pretty deep voice." And then he actually starts to speak and it's this sophisticated, well-articulated British voice instead. Quite the whiplash.

To get back to the original topic, I'm honestly still upset that they didn't give Drillman a redemption arc at the end of the show. This probably would have happened in season 2, as Mega Man even says at some point "I know deep down your inner bits are good", proving to me that the writers definitely had something in mind regarding Drillmans character arc.

And now that all of that is out of the way, we can finally get into headcanon territory.

You might have seen this image while browsing the tags and asked yourself, "Why is this Mega Man Fully Charged artwork littered with content warnings?" And well, now that you're here and reading this, you probably know why. I can't say I've ever made myself sick with a drawing before. That's a first for me.

My headcanon is, that after the finale of the show, Drillman is just utterly lost. Lord Obsidian, who sought him out specifically because he knew of Drillmans problems and offered him a place to stay and a way to get revenge on the people he thought responsible for his predicament, turned out to be a horribly racist human who was just using him to achieve his own devious goals. After getting his ass kicked by the Lights, the same people who had not only humiliated him in front of the whole city, but who had also left him stuck to his abusive father for an entire day (I bet that ride to the police station was horrible for all the people involved, most of all the police bots who had to hear the Drillmen yell at each other the whole time), Sgt. Night is detained by the police. We don't actually see what happens after that, because that's where the show ends.

I'd like to think that the Lights actually try to talk to the robot masters once everything is over, telling them all the horrible things their so-called "leader" has said and done. And most importantly, what he thinks of robots: That they're nothing but tools to him. That once they had gotten him his Mega key, he would have wiped their minds and turned them into mindless machines.  

I'm guessing none of the robot masters would take these news well, but most of all Drillman. I think that after he ran away from Skyraisers Inc. and fought Mega Man for the first time, he was really relieved to have some place to stay and a new goal, maybe even a robot to look up to. That being Lord Obsidian of course. Who knows what lies he told Drillman and the others? Kinda sad that we never really got to see what the robot masters who stayed with Lord Obsidian did the entire day. When they weren't causing havoc in the city, that is.

None of them seemed really friendly with each other in the finale, now that I think about it. I guess "Obsidians robot sanctuary" wasn't really a great place to stay at after all. But still better than being homeless, like that one maniac living in the forest all by himself. Speaking of Woodman, in my AU, he and Drillman already knew each other at this point. This also reminds me of something I forgot to mention in my last post. While I'd love to see them interact in any way, because they're both my favorite characters, I don't ship them in any way whatsoever. I'd also like to think that Woodman and Drillmans father were schoolmates back in the day, maybe even friends? (I'm still holding onto those 30 years).

Anyway, after all the former robot comrades part ways, now without a leader, what was Drillman supposed to do? Once again betrayed by a trusted figure, feeling useless and without purpose, still with these stupid drills mounted to his body... Still too ashamed to ask for help. After all that has happened in the past few hours he begins spiraling, which ultimately leads him to make a very unfortunate decision. Trying to get at least some of the freedom in his life back, he attempts to get rid of the drills making up his body on his own, using the same tools that have haunted him all this time to finally rid himself of this burden.

He regrets this just seconds after, when he's left with an unresponsive limb, metal and wires exposed and oil splattered all over his orange plating. All he can do is stare at the stained drill in front of him in horror.

"I never needed such help/This is my SOS"

Jesus Christ that got dark. Sorry. I mentioned in my last post that Drillman possibly has really bad body dysmorphia, which I'm also trying to convey here. Don't worry, he really gets his hands back after this. Maybe the Lights find him after that and the good Doctor offers to fix him up. By which I mean not only his arm. Because apparently, Dr. Light also doubles as robot psychologist. I just really need Drillman to get his happy ending. He really really deserves it after everything he had to go trough over the course of the show. 

I also need him to have a DJing redemption, besides the normal redemption. I've seen people headcanon that he exclusively likes classical music, but I personally don't believe that. He'd be the kind of music nerd who would say stuff like "I listen to everything" and then you look at his playlists and he actually listens to everything. Maybe not experimental noise rock, though. I can just imagine Aki and Suna helping him put on an actual show, this time without any hypnotizing bullshit, as a way for Aki to apologize for the dread he's caused Drillman during that incident. Drillman would be highly suspicious at first, but actually goes along with it in the end. Maybe they'd also take Fireman along, who Dr. Light also blessed with a brand new pair of hands. The punchline at the end would be that Drillman would have so much anxiety about embarrassing himself again, that he forgets to make an actual set list for the gig. In the end, he exclusively plays Lady Gaga songs, which no one complains about.

Alright then, enough yapping from me. I've really been writing this essay since 8pm. And now it's 2am. My god. I just have a lot of feelings about Drillman.

But now I really gotta go to bed. Stay safe peeps. I hope you actually read the content warnings. Jenny out.

[wawamouse]

Oz Rewatch 3: S6E01: Dead Man Talking

Plotlines

Jeffrey Keane guest narrating

McManus creates his gay and stupid meditative maze after attending a “new age seminar”; McManus opens a box left behind by Augustus, discovering his book and sharing it with Said and Redding

Pancamo comes out of the hospital an regroups with Morales

Redding has been in mourning over Hill; Said tells him to get it together

Solitary case review day; Omar falls ill in Solitary and is hospitalised; Miguel is recommended to be let out; McManus forces Miguel and Chico to make up

Rebadow is still depressed about little Alex; McManus transfer him to a library job; Stella arrives as the new librarian

Kirk arrives on Death Row; Mukada returns to Oz and initially refuses see Kirk; Kirk wants an exorcism, angering Mukada further. Monsignor comes to see Mukada about SA accusations by Kirk and Mukada is temporarily suspended from the priesthood

Suzanne is putting on Macbeth;

Shupe flashback; Ryan threatens Shupe about giving testimony to Cyril’s lawyer but Shupe isn’t a credible witness

Peter Schibetta accuses Ryan of killing his father; he goes to see his wife; Schibetta comes to join the play and says some stuff about the Evil Eye; Meehan talks to Ryan about becoming a better person; Meehan dies in the middle of the night

Beecher is now in Unit J for his safety until his parole hearing; Schillinger is released from Solitary and returned to Unit B; Winthrop wants to move up from prag status by killing Beecher’s father; Mr Beecher visits Beecher and then Keller to help with his case; Winthrop kills him as he is leaving

Mayor Loewen arrives at Oz amidst chaos outside and inside; SORT discovers Mr Beecher’s body

Sister: Did his brother die yet? It’s been six months since last season apparently… Me: You think they’re not going to milk that out?

Sister: What, he can’t hear that screaming?

Sister: Jesus, lady, is no time sacred?!

Sister: He looks like he's been getting facials. Me: W-what? Sister: Chico’s skin looks better this season, and his hair is nicer looking. They both seem younger this season, too. Less greasy overall. Miguel finally can afford sleeves. Ooh, fancy. Cotton~ Impressive.

Sister: Hate makes one bald. Me: Did you say ‘hate makes one bald’? Sister: Yeah, he shouldn’t do that. He’s going to stress and lose all his hair. Just let them be… Don't try and get in their way!!

Sister: She definitely got fired from her last job.

Sister: Back from Jurassic Park…

Sister: Didn’t they already have this conversation last season? …Do you think they’ve been doing this same song and dance every night for the last six months? 'Cause, I mean, surely the Father prays every night… Me: I like to imagine that whenever there are time jumps in this show, they all just stand there in spooky stasis and nothing actually happens.

Sister: (drumming on knees eagerly) Let’s see that wife! I wanna see the wife! Is it Shannon? Me: Girl, Shannon is not in this place. Sister: (booing because there’s no Shannon) (booing because Schibetta’s wife never gets a close up)

Sister: Put him in the play. Handsome Man. Handsome Man #2.

Sister: (snorting deeply) I don’t know what he’s talking about. [Ryan] has the same poopy face with everyone.

Sister: (tutting) No wonder Shannon left him…

Sister: Who shall be his roommate now? Schibetta? Me: (wistful sigh)

Sister: Didn’t that guy used to have hair?

Stray thoughts

I wonder who told Peter about Ryan killing Nino

We rewinded to investigate the color of Meehan’s shitty underwear because Sister could’ve sworn it was red so she thought it was another eating glass story line

We also rewinded to check out Peter’s wife

Sister: The priest storyline and the mayor storyline are very topical… disgraced mayor Eric Adams… the Archdiocese (of Los Angeles) announced they were paying that billion dollar settlement for sexual abuse…

Torres is played by an MMA fighter named Frank Shamrock??

Sister says she’s willing to take on guardian angel duties for Schibetta but she’s still on the fence because she’s “not sure he’s learned his lesson” and she “can’t be representing losers—what will that do to my reputation”?

Final Thoughts

Sister: Cyril’s got a very strong demon voice now… Probably because he’s rooming next to Satan.

Sister: I’m surprised [Howell] hasn’t gotten an STD yet

Sister: I didn’t get to see [Schibetta]’s wife’s face fully, which made me sad. Although she kinda looked more like his mom from what I could see…

Sister: Someone was trying to be crafty with that [scene where all the Solitary inmates say their little piece at the window]. Like Chicago… Did they announce before this season that it would be the last? Me: Oh, huh. I'm pretty sure they knew. Sister: Because I feel like they’re trying to be more cinematic… And they got like a higher budget or something. Like Chico and Miguel both have better clothes. And Chico looks better. Me: So based on this episode, do you have any predictions on where the storylines will go? Sister: I mean, I don’t know it can go where it shouldn’t have gone in the six months that supposedly passed… They didn’t really have anything for Said this episode… He was just doing his spiritual thing… And [Redding] was still grieving six months later, which was juxtaposed with Rebadow and his budding romance this season to carry on his family name, haha. I don’t know, did that librarian seem hostile to you? I feel like it was supposed to be romantic tension, but she kind of seemed like she was planning on killing him. Me: Any thoughts on Kirk and Mukada and the Satan thing? Sister: I’m just surprised that they haven’t found the Reverend yet. And he even mentioned the dude disappearing this episode but there still wasn’t any follow up like “yeah, where did he vanish to?” Also, when they were doing the Solitary voting thing, I feel like someone wasn’t voting very seriously. Like only Sister Pete was a dissenting vote against Schillinger getting out? McManus didn’t vote against him? Me: Any thoughts on the play? Sister: I wanna see what their budget it is. Because they had a really large background and paint is expensive… And they were doing props? Me: Well, they were probably using tempera paint… And those big school tubs are probably like $20. Sister: Yeah, but they have multiple colors… I guess we’ll have to see what other props they get… (gasp) What if the skull is real?! Me: (for the nth time in our viewing conversation) They’re not doing Hamlet!!

[she-karev]

Pregnancy Reveal (Andrew DeLuca x Alex Karev’s Sister)

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: One of One

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Andrew DeLuca x Amber Karev (Alex Karev’s Sister)

Canon Episode: Season 18 episode 19

AN: Hey guys I know I’ve been posting less and that’s because I started Fall classes so I’m super busy. I’ll try to post one shots for holidays and major events so here you go. Like and reblog below and let me know what you think.

Summary: Andrew and Amber get through the day they are supposed to donate blood as the residency program is reviewed. Before she donates Amber realizes she’s late and takes a pregnancy test.

Words: 3772

March 7th, 2022

Amber drives the car into the parking spot with her husband Andrew DeLuca in the passenger side yawning. She shares his exhaustion as they were both up late last night trying to get pregnant. At first the dates were fun and playful but then they both settled for plain quickies as their schedules have gotten crazier with the accreditation council review of the residency program pending. Having your job possibly taken away from you by a bunch of suits makes Amber want good news as soon as possible.

Andrew rubs his eyes, “Are you nervous?”

Amber blows a raspberry at that, “Well I might get fired from the job I have worked my whole life to get fair and square, there’s a nationwide physician shortage not to mention a blood shortage. On a scale of one to ten I’d say I’m at a 12 on the stress scale.”

Andrew holds her hand kissing her knuckles to comfort her, “There are other programs in Seattle or maybe we can look for some out of town. I’m an attending I can get any job I want, it’s the one perk to a physician shortage. Maybe NYU has some openings, it is your alma mater and your Cousin Jen lives there.”

Amber gags in disgust, “I hate New York. It’s stuffy, it’s filthy, the coffee is always burned, and we’ll be lucky to get a 2 bedroom that’s as large as our walk-in closet. It’s not a great place to raise a family. Trust me my cousin would agree with me.”

“Boston?” Andrew offers again, “Avery is running the foundation, and he loves you as much as Alex maybe he can call in a favor for both of us.”

“Right now, I just want to donate blood and not think about what happens if I lose my job. Also, I want to hang out with my good friends I haven’t seen in over a year, that’ll be a plus. It’s not a plus that he’s visiting because his mother’s cancer is back but I’m trying to find silver linings.”

“Better late than never.” Andrew jokes with a grin, “Well hey maybe after we donate blood, we can scurry off to the on-call room and try to get pregnant again.”

“If I have enough energy once I eat my cookie and orange juice, I’ll think about it. Maybe some coffee before will make me eager to try again. We should head inside before we’re late or Bailey is gonna kill us.”

“Yeah I’ll see you inside.”

Andrew and Amber exit the car and go their separate ways to their respective lounges with both tired due to not drinking coffee so they can donate blood. Link sees Andrew and walks by his side pushing his son Scout forward in his stroller.

“Morning.”

“Morning.” Andrew says tiredly.

“Wow you look wrecked, I guess you skipped coffee to donate too.” Andrew nods confirming, “Do you want to go to Vivace after and have expresso for brunch?”

“Oh, that sounds amazing.” Andrew says longing his caffeine, “I’m gonna need at least four shots, minimum and so is Amber.”

“Bad night of sleep for you guys?”

“No, we’re just still trying to get pregnant, it is exhausting.”

“Oh.” Link says sarcastically, “Well poor you having constant sex with your gorgeous wife. You should take a day off, take a break.”

Andrew chuckles lightly, “Okay fair enough but it turns out the fun of trying to have a baby diminishes with every attempt. I mean don’t get me wrong the sex is adequate it’s just the romance dies and all you want to do is just show up and get it over with.”

“So basically, you guys are already turning into parents?”

“Basically.” Andrew confirms before they go through the entrance.

Later

Amber walks down the hall to head to the resident’s lounge until a familiar voice calls out to her.

“Amber!” She turns to find the happy greeting coming from April Kepner who smiles at her before approaching her.

“Hey, wow look at you.” Amber is referring to April’s slight bump over her blouse showing off that she’s three months pregnant with her and Jackson’s third baby, “Is it cliché if I say your glowing?”

“I’ve only heard it about five times since I landed in the airstrip but if you have any other compliments I will take it.”

“Uh your well rounded with child.” April chuckles with her before they hug and pull apart after a moment, “Where’s the rest of the Avery Clan?”

“Jackson is with his mom and so is Harriet. Catherine wants to hear his eulogy for her funeral even though she is still kicking.”

“It sounds fun.” Amber says with a grin, “How’s the baby?”

April rubs her small bump, “He’s good, ultrasound is great, he’s extremely healthy on all the tests which to me is a god given miracle. If only I’d have another miracle and not experience the morning sickness and the tiredness and the crankiness that came with my last pregnancies.”

“Oof.” Amber exhales in sympathy, “I cannot imagine how I am gonna be for those nine months. I’d probably be an inspiration for the next horror film and Andrew would need a riot shield.”

“Any luck?”

“No not yet, we’re still in the conception phase.”

April grins mischievously, “Well it is the most romantic and fun phase.”

“Yeah not really.” Amber admits bluntly, “I mean don’t get me wrong he’s great and he takes care of me after it’s just that after a while the romance dies and I can’t stand to be around my husband.”

April snickers, “Your out of the honeymoon phase and you’re like every married couple I know. I gotta say it was about damn time because you two in eternal bliss was getting annoying especially to me.”

“I am gonna chalk that up to the hormones.” Amber checks the clock, “I’m sorry I really gotta get going, we’ll catch up later?”

“Yeah of course, maybe we can double date tonight, triple if Alex and Jo are in.”

“I’ll check with them and get back to you, bye.” Amber walks away from Jo and heads to the residency lounge to get ready for the day to donate blood before she hears about the fate of her career.

Later

Amber and Dahlia Qadri are standing in the corner of the pit filling out forms to donate blood. Both residents are stressed about the accreditation council visiting them and feel the task of donating might lessen it.

“You know a few months ago I would find donating blood a little bit scary.” Dahlia confesses as she writes down, “I mean it’s not the blood that scares me it’s the needle in my arm I’m afraid will pierce a nerve or an artery. I read this story 2 years ago about this woman who couldn’t feel her arm after donating blood. Apparently, the phlebotomist hit a major vein instead of the artery and now a 19-year-old can’t use one of her arms.”

“So what changed your mind?” Amber asks, busy filling out her form.

“Blood shortage from covid, and physician shortage not to mention the outdated guidelines that can easily be overruled allowing more people to donate but they can’t, so I have to step in. Plus, I might not need an arm to pick up a scalpel if the council shuts us down.”

Amber chuckles, “Wow and I thought I was dark. On the bright side if your vein is stabbed you might get more cookies and juice.”

“How are you so calm? I mean out of the two of us you would be the one to get strung out about losing their job. I’m not insulting it’s just from years of knowing you.”

“Yeah, and I would go over every scenario in my head of what the outcome of today will be but I’ve learned from years of therapy not to let my anxieties overcome me. Plus, I’m pretty busy in my personal life to focus on my professional. It turns out trying to have a baby is a great distraction from the turmoil of your life.”

Dahlia chuckles at that with Amber raising an eyebrow, “I’m sorry I am still trying to process the fact that you eagerly want to have kids. I mean intern year you could barely hold a baby without making it cry and you always referred to those tiny humans as Chestbursters like you were in some alien horror flick. But now your every kid’s favorite aunt, you declared peds a specialty and to top it off you actually want to get pregnant by choice. I mean you know what happens right?”

Amber rolls her eyes as her friend continues, “Theres the swollen ankles, no more six pack abs or beer, pickle cravings and you know what happens to your vagina at the nine-month mark right?”

Amber smiles at that, “Okay one I can get my six pack back, two I love pickles and three yes I know what happens during childbirth my friend and I will be there for it every step of the way. I have a strong pain threshold so I think I can handle birthing a child.”

“I’ll tell the residents to steer clear of your room, or as it will be called, the house of horrors.”

Amber chuckles before walking away with the clipboard to go to her husband who is leaning with his back at the wall out in the hallway. She sees him yawning as he writes down his information on the clipboard to donate.

She grins at him leaning back next to him against the wall, “Wow and I thought I was in rough shape.”

“Yeah, this is the longest I’ve ever gone without my coffee. I am eager for the needle in my arm because it’s less painful than how I feel right now.”

Amber pouts rubbing Andrew’s arm, “Well just think about your private reward in the on-call room right after, I have been told by many guys I am the best remedy.”

“What guys? How many are we talking?”

Amber chuckles at Andrew’s jealous tone, “Relax I just wanted to get your heartrate up so you don’t faint on me. How about I write down your information? I can read it a lot faster than you.”

Andrew knows this to be true due to Amber developing speed reading from her years hanging out at the public library. It’s a skill he wishes he had but for now is grateful that she does as he eagerly hands her his clipboard.

“Baby you are a godsend.”

“I know.” Amber smiles flattered taking the paper, she reads it and something catches her off guard, “Wait that’s the date? I thought it was the 2nd.”

“Nope it’s the 7th, you were working in the hospital for three days straight and went into a mini coma three days after.” He sees her eyes widen at that clicking her pen that he knows is her nervous tic, “Hey, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“…I’m late.”

“Late for what?” Amber glares at him making a quizzical you-know-what look that makes his eyes widen as he realizes she is talking about her period, “…Oh.”

Andrew is surprised at this sudden development standing there in the hallway looking at his wife whose glare turns to staring. Amber gulps at this news standing there with her husband who looks shocked as well, neither of them not knowing what to do at this very moment.

Later

“Okay I got a test and don’t worry nobody saw me.” Andrew tells Amber who is in the resident’s lounge sitting on the bench drinking her water bottle. He pulls the box out of his coat, “I figured you wanted this to be private until we get confirmation or not. It’s better to know before donating blood and harming the baby without knowing it.”

Amber nods and sips her water bottle with a stern face that Andrew knows too well, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Amber chuckles darkly, “Uh let’s see there’s a blood shortage, a physician shortage, we’re hardly home because the backlogs insane, not to mention I might be out of a job. And that’s just off the top of my head of what is wrong.”

Andrew understands her argument but knows he needs to mend it, “We both agreed there’s never gonna be a good time to have a baby especially now but we decided to get pregnant anyway because we wanted a family.”

“I know.” Amber stands up and sighs, “I know we decided to have a baby and I do want one with you it’s just that the timing and everything. Curse the timing!”

“Everything is gonna be fine.” Andrew says soothing holding Amber by her shoulders as she keeps a frown, “The program is still being reviewed, as long as everything goes well your job is safe.”

“That is not reassuring me at all.” Amber retorts due to the hospitals bad luck, “Do you have any idea how expensive kids are? The diapers, the toys, the furniture, they practically come with their own economy crisis. If I lose my job we lose money for that and my kid will be just as nurtured as I was and that should freak you out!”

“Okay babe I need to remind you that this kid is not a daughter of a neglectful schizophrenic and abusive addict. She is ours, and regardless of what is happening we will be fine. We have savings and if you need to you will find a new job. The one upside to a physician shortage is that everyone is hiring doctors. No matter what happens if we are pregnant, we will give this baby a better childhood than the one you got. I promise okay?”

Amber inhales slowly feeling better after this speech knowing that its true. Even if the residency program shuts down her baby will still be better off than Amber ever was. She looks at the box in Andrew’s hands before taking it.

“Do you always have to be so perfect?”

Andrew chuckles lightly at that, “You call it perfect; I call it being a husband. So pee on the stick so we can get an answer once and for all.” Amber chugs her water before going to the bathroom to do as suggested.

The next five minutes pass by slowly for the couple who are still in the lounge waiting for the results. Amber is pacing the room back and forth tapping her phone nervously while Andrew is sitting at the bench looking at her in worry as a dark question blooms in his head that he blurts out.

“Are you having second thoughts?”

Amber pauses and faces her husband with a conflicted look, “I’ve convinced myself for years that I wasn’t or ever will be mom material. I mean you met my family so you saw how that environment made me scared I would repeat their mistakes…but you convinced me that we are not our parents. And if history serves you’ve been right on most occasions and hopefully on this one too.”

Andrew nods feeling better before Amber says something else, “But I am still terrified of what happens if that stick is positive.”

Andrew nods at that, “I share the same feeling trust me. I mean my father didn’t exactly give me any pointers on how to raise a family either.”

“Okay I’ll give you that one.” Amber inhales and exhales before shifting into peacemaker mode so Andrew can feel better, “But we’ll figure it out.”

“We will figure it out.” Andrew repeats just as the timer beeps in Amber’s hands. The couple look at each other nervous knowing what that means, “Results are in.”

Amber goes to the bathroom where she left the pregnancy test on the counter. She closes her eyes and takes a deep inhale before opening them. The two sticks on the test catch her off guard as she is aware of what this means. She picks up the stick and numbly walks over to Andrew who is sitting on the bench anxious looking up at her holding the stick up.

“I’m pregnant.”

Her husband looks frozen in shock for a moment before standing up and grabbing the stick to confirm it in front of his eyes. He looks at her with wide eyes that she shares as the news is still daunting to her.

A grin starts to form on his face as the shock dies and joy enters, “We’re having a baby?”

Amber begins to grin as well. A part of her was worried she would feel regret once she was positive but instead she feels happy to finally have a family with the man she loves. She is finally overcoming her fear and being the mother she never had.

“We’re having a baby.” Amber confirms with a smile that Andrew shares before hugging her tightly laughing in joy. Amber laughs at his reaction hugging him back, “Okay as adorable as this is I don’t have to tell you squeezing me isn’t good for my current state.”

“Right sorry.” He immediately pulls back still holding her by her hips, “I’m just…overjoyed. I mean to do this with you, it’s everything I never knew I wanted.”

Amber grins tenderly at him gripping his shoulder, “Me too.”

That Night

“Kids are playing, I promised them if they behaved, they would each get two scoops of ice cream so I hope your packing.” April tells the gang in Alex and Jo’s kitchen where they are eating from a charcuterie board and drinking wine.

Alex and Jo are sitting at the table across from Amber and Andrew with the young resident reeling from the news that the residency program was shut down effective immediately. Maya Bishop and her wife Carina DeLuca are also in the room sitting on the barstools by the counter after Andrew invites them over to celebrate once news of Carina’s citizenship came through.

Alex answers April, “We got enough ice cream to feed a party so I think we’re good. As long as your husband got us some of his expensive whiskey.”

“It’s scotch actually.”

Jackson is by the counter untying himself feeling suffocated in the suit before pouring himself a glass of whiskey he brought from Boston feeling like they would have a reason to drink. He upcaps the bottle sniffing the rich aroma from the cap.

“Ah notes of baked apple, oak and despair. Perfect.” He pours himself a glass before pouring two glasses and hands them to the Bishop-DeLuca’s who gladly take them.

“Congrats on the green card, news like that deserves good scotch so this is my gift to you.”

Maya chuckles looking at the drink skeptical, “There’s good scotch?”

“With Avery there is because unlike the rest of us mortals he can afford it.” Amber answers with a mocking grin.

“I missed you too buddy.” Jackson responds back to his good friend before sipping his drink, “And sorry that I couldn’t save the program. I would have gotten you a whole case of expensive whiskey of your choice but even I have a budget.”

Amber sighs, “You know what it’s fine, I’m healthy, I’m alive and the world didn’t blow up. Despite what happened I would call that a win.”

April looks at her friend sympathetic, “Well don’t worry Jackson is gonna help with restarting the program, same with Meredith and Bailey when she gets back from sabbatical.”

“And I’ll help too.” Alex states, “This program deserves better than to be shut down by someone who spent only one day observing it.”

“Amen.” Jackson agrees as he feels fond of his residential years, “So what are you gonna do with yourself until then? Maybe I can pull strings and get you into Seattle Pres.”

“Or you can join me and Carina in OB.” Jo offers as well with a grin, “I know it’s not ideal, but it might just bring you some joy like it brought me joy too.”

Amber grins at them trying to cheer her up, “Um I don’t know I’m still debating whether I should volunteer at the stations clinic tomorrow or go to one of those places where you pay to smash stuff with a hammer.”

“I tried that it doesn’t work.” April states causing the Karev’s to look at her startled that a sweet person like her would go to a rage room, “What? You’re not the only ones who feel unbridled fury at the world and it’s broken systems.”

“Remind me not to piss you off again.” Alex jokes before turning to Maya and Carina, “Congratulations on being an official citizen of this messed up country. At least one good thing happened today.”

“Thank you.” Maya says sipping her drink with Carina, “It would be better if the pregnancy test was positive but at least my wife can stay in this country long enough for us to try again.”

Andrew and Amber hold hands at this news knowing how much Maya and Carina want a baby. They also cherish the little life that is now growing inside Amber hoping that being aunts will fill the void of longing parenthood for the couple somehow.

“That’s right.” Carina sips her drink as well taken back by the rich liquor, “Wow that is good.”

“Yep.” Jackson pours another glass and holds it out to Amber who is sitting at the booth next to Andrew, “Here it’s the perfect drink for celebrating becoming legal citizens and dwelling on unemployment come on.”

Amber immediately shakes her head, “Nope I can’t.”

“Come on it’s your favorite, if there’s one thing, I’m good for it’s expensive alcohol I think we both agree to that.”

“I can’t drink because I am pregnant.” Amber confesses with a smile while Andrew grins behind her at the shocked faces of the others. Soon they are met with smiles and joyful laughs especially from Maya and Carina who congratulate them along with Alex and Jo. April hugs Amber congratulating her sharing the feeling as she is also pregnant with Jackson’s child.

Jackson chuckles delighted by this news shaking Andrew’s hand and kissing Amber’s cheek happy that his best friend is pregnant like she wanted. He turns back to April kissing her and caressing her 3 month pregnant belly that she welcomes holding his hand while he does.

Amber and Andrew are sitting at the table flattered by the attention as they hold hands and enjoy this moment excited to start this next chapter in their lives.

[tumblydovereviews]

The Sign: Bluey's Magnum Opus

This was originally scheduled to be a four-part review but I have something even bigger coming up and, ultimately, I found myself with more ideas for a sole post on what is now one of my favorite episodes of the series and wanted to do a much deeper dive into it.

Magnum opus. Defined as the greatest achievement of a particular person or work, while a magnum opus isn't always the best in quality, it more often than not represents an amazing feat in the series' history. And, the Bluey 28-minute special "The Sign," is no different. With praise and acclaim from both critics and casual viewers, and currently holding the highest rating of any Bluey episode on IMDb, it's safe to say that this episode is one of, if not the best that Bluey has ever had to offer.

Bluey's array into long-form content didn't start from this special, though. In 2020, a new play titled, appropriately, Bluey's Big Play, was released to audiences with positive reviews from all demographics. Needless to say, Bluey long-form content was desired more than ever, and The Sign only delivered in that aspect.

The Sign focuses on Bluey and Bingo learning about their family's plans to move out of Brisbane and into the city, where Bandit has received a new job. Bluey is heartbroken, while Bingo takes the news oddly well. At the same time, the Heelers are also preparing for Frisky and Radley's wedding, which will be hosted at the house before the big move. The Heeler girls, along with Muffin and Socks, derive a plan to get Frisky to move the big "FOR SALE," sign out of the driveway so nobody will buy the house, but plans are changed with Frisky ends up in an argument with Rad and calls the wedding off, leaving Chilli and the Heeler cousins on a road trip to find her, save the wedding, and (possibly), the house as well.

Despite being four times longer than the average episode, The Sign's pacing didn't feel slowed down compared to a regular episode; instead, enough plot has been packed inside of the special to account for the longer runtime. Not once did I feel like the special was dragging on or moving too fast. The pacing was perfect. The animation was great, and the lighting in certain scenes was amazing, especially during the dance party at the reception.

Bluey's growth as a character also stood out tremendously. This Reddit post sums everything up amazingly. Bluey is getting older; she can sit in the front seat, she can listen in to conversations she'd initially be ushered out of for being 'too young,' and she spends more time hanging out with Chili and Frisky during the search than with her sister and cousins. By now in the series, enough time has passed for Brandy to be noticeably pregnant and for Rad and Frisky to develop their relationship, so Bluey is at least 7.5 years old now. Seeing such noticeable growth in her character is a wonderful thing.

The small details in the special as well are amazing! Seeing Grandpa Bob again, Frisky's family, and Brandy finally getting pregnant! Honey gets her first speaking role since Season 2! Pretzel has two mums! Socks is speaking in full sentences and has her biggest role in possibly the whole series!

But, perhaps the best part of The Sign was it's use of the butterfly effect, a reaction in which something seemingly mundane has a much larger impact and leads to a chain reaction. Each event has a purpose, whether we see its need immediately or not. Muffin jams the coin in the wrong spot of the binoculars, but the coin is used by the sheepdogs to discover Winton's house for sale and decide to move there over to the Heelers' house instead, which ends up being the final straw in Bandit's decision to keep the home. The motif of the Ulysses butterfly, first seen in Slide, as a reference to good luck only fuels the butterfly effect in the special.

My favorite scene in this special would have to be the ending, featuring Lazarus Drug in the background. The sheer anger on Bandit's face as he throws the sign onto the grass. Chilli diving onto him and sobbing, her shoulders shaking with the weight of her emotions. The girls running towards their parents, elated on the revelation. The Heelers, enjoying a dinner of fish and chips, the house almost completely empty as we pan up to the sky and the end of the special. This scene struck a chord with me that I had only felt during Bluey's saddest moments, and I had to admit, I shed a few small, but significant tears.

Bluey's The Sign not only teaches us about the sheer impact of the decisions we make everyday, but it also shows us how, even when life takes us in directions that we can barely respect, everything will always work out in our favor. Life gives us enough bad things to anticipate, that maybe anticipating isn't the best thing after all. Maybe, we should just say, "We'll see," and hope for the ultimate best.

This is why I believe that The Sign is not only one of Bluey's best episodes, but its magnum opus, Joe Brumm and Ludo Studios' greatest achievement to date. Not many preschool shows can expand to thirty minutes while still keeping audiences of all demographics engaged. Not many pieces of media in general can be both realistic and fun like Bluey can. Not many shows can show to us, the audience, the little moments in life that leave to big lessons as well as Bluey is able to. The Sign not only encapsulates the show's mission but goes well beyond of the barriers that children's TV is forced to be in the best way possible.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Reunion

Today's episode is a special one, as it teaches kids about toxic people in online message boards. Hey, Astruc? Do you remember that saying about glass houses and throwing stones? Asking for a friend.

Let's get into the eighth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Reunion

We start off at the Louvre, where Marinette and Alya are looking through the paintings to find more symbols of the Order of the Guardians, something previously established in “Feast”. Marinette ponders the idea of past Miraculous holders falling in love with each other, to which Alya gives one of the most contradicting responses I've ever heard.

Marinette: Miraculous holders are always pictured solo, but there had to have been some love stories between some of them. A Ladybug and a Cat Noir in love, it must've happened at some point, right?

Alya: Or maybe they just focused on the job and kept their lovey-dovey stuff out of their superhero lives, like you should. Preferably with a boy you've been in love with for a long time who's finally interested in you? Does a certain Adrien ring any bells?

Wow, not even a minute in, and I already have something to bitch and moan about.

First off, it's really rich for Alya to act like superheroes can't fall in love when she was dating Nino with the knowledge that they were both superheroes, and willingly blew her cover as Rena Furtive because she didn't want to break up with her idiot boyfriend, and ended up costing Ladybug the Fox Miraculous. It'd be one thing if it was like a “Don't make the same mistakes I made!” thing, but in the very next sentence, she tries to encourage Marinette to keep pursuing Adrien. Alya, you do know that even if Marinette starts dating Adrien, she'll still have to deal with her superhero life, right? It's a classic superhero trope that a hero's secret identity gets in the way of their love life, something this show did three different times last season (Truth, Lies, Rocketear). Cat Noir or Adrien, Marinette's love life will be complicated by her superhero life, and Alya basically said “Superheroes shouldn't date! Now, you should really think about asking Adrien out.”

Marinette tries to ask Tikki for advice, but Tikki casually drops another retco—more worldbuilding. Yeah, that's it. It's more worldbuilding, and nothing the writers threw in this season without thinking about how it could have been used in earlier episodes.

See, back in Season 2's “Befana”, Tikki gave Marinette a magical jewel called a Kwagatama, something all past Ladybug wielders have. For the most part, nothing came of it for about five years and three seasons. So naturally, the writers came up with something that makes no sense to introduce now. The true purpose of the Guardian seals is for the Kwagatama to be used for Reunion, a way to contact the spirits of the past Miraculous holders, albeit so only the user can see them, sort of like Al from Quantum Leap.

My problem here is that IT MAKES NO SENSE TO INTRODUCE THIS NOW WHEN TIKKI SEEMED TO ABOUT THIS THE WHOLE TIME! Think about a huge chunk of Marinette's angst last season stemmed from the fact that she has absolutely no guidance as Guardian, and had to learn from trial and error. If Marinette had a way to talk with any of the past Ladybug holders, why the hell didn't Tikki suggest it when she really needed it in the first place?!

Before Marinette can give the Reunion a test run, some Unfunny Marinette Slapstick happens, so she accidentally knocks over a painting, revealing a letter inside for Alix's father Alim. Turns out Alix left some photos detailing her adventures in a letter and hid it inside the painting, National Treasure style. Adrien tells Gabriel and Nathalie about this, and after he leaves, the two share an evil smirk.

Because I guess now they're on good terms again?

The letter reveals that Alix has been jumping around from time to time, meeting various historical figures, potentially screwing with history, and completely ignoring the secret identity rule since everyone in her class is reading this letter. Alix's older brother, Jalil, isn't happy.

Jalil: How could you let her go?!

Alim: Jalil, enough already!

Jalil: Alix was brainwashed by Ladybug! She forced her on a crusade without us and all you're doing is... nothing!

Alim: Your sister wasn't forced. She went into hiding in time so that Monarch couldn't take over the Miraculous of the Rabbit.

Marinette: Alix is helping Ladybug and Cat Noir restore peace!

Jalil: How could she help them if she's not even here? Can't you see this makes zero sense? Wake up, dad!

Alim: I was there when Ladybug gave her the Miraculous. Alix agreed to the whole thing. She was proud she could help.

“Oh my God, Jalil. Your little sister is just choosing to travel through time and stay away from home with little means of contacting the outside world. Don't be such a baby about it.”

Seriously, I get why they wouldn't want Monarch to get the Rabbit Miraculous, but you know what isn't helping keep Alix safe? TELLING HER ENTIRE CLASS THAT SHE HAS THE GODDAMN RABBIT MIRACULOUS! It says a lot that this is something I agree with Jalil on, and his first spotlight episode had him attempt to perform an ancient Egyptian ritual to revive Queen Nefertiti. But rather than focus on the family drama stemming from the absence of the youngest Kubdel, the true conflict of the episode happens.

Alim: Where are you hearing this ridiculous theory?

Jalil: Everybody's talking! Listen! (takes out his Alliance)

Alliance Lila: Akuma88 said: “We trusted Ladybug too blindly and she only made things worse when she let Monarch steal the Miraculous.” Antilady asks: “Who is Ladybug anyway? Why does she wear a mask? If she has nothing to hide, she wouldn't hide anything.” ChloeB says: “Ladybug is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous”.

You know, it's sad how the only positive thing I can say about the conflict is that at least they didn't make a flat-earther joke with these conspiracy theories.

Either way, this is something I had previously talked about during my review of “Illusion”. Rather than show Marinette dealing with the backlash to her losing all the other Miraculous last season, it's clear all the writers are willing to do is have a bunch of strawmen criticize her so the audience can't take their arguments seriously. Yes, most of Paris doesn't know what really happened, so the citizens are obviously misinformed, but that first guy made a decent point about letting Ladybug do all the work instead of the proper authorities. The whole reason Chloe was even namedropped was because the audience knows from earlier episodes that she has a bias against Ladybug, so lumping her together with anyone else who has a problem with her is an easy way to say “If the bad character agrees with these views, that means their arguments are invalid”. And once again, it's pretty hilarious that the lesson the episode is going for about online message boards when the creator of the show is well-known for his poor behavior online, to the point where this very blog was created to chronicle some of the things he's said.

After dodging Adrien's latest attempt to ask her out, Marinette decides to try out the Reunion, selecting Joan of Arc because that's the only character model the animators can reuse. But hey, if you're not a fan of overused character models, how about overused knight cliches?

Joan: Good morrow. What is your name, you clumsy young holder?

Marinette: Um, uh... M-Marinette.

Alya: What's the matter with you, girl, hearing voices or something?

Joan: They used to direct similar inquiries to me as well. You shalt become accustomed to it.

GET IT? She's a knight, so that means she has to talk like she's from a Monty Python movie. If you're somehow not laughing at this totally original joke, buckle up, because this is what all of her dialogue is like for the episode. Marinette tries to ask Joan for advice, but is quickly rebuffed because even though she supposedly fell in love with a past Cat Miraculous holder, and even though this was Tikki's idea in the first place, Joan isn't willing to help Marinette out. What, was she in the middle of a poker game with Oda Nobunaga, Shaka Zulu, and Dwight Eisenhower she really needed to get back to?

Back with Jalil, we see that he's so desperate that he willingly attracts an Akuma, offering to help Monarch if it means getting his sister back. Putting up his book, Monarch akumatizes him into the Pharaoh again.

The Pharaoh has a pretty sleek design. I like the gold parts and the interchangeable masks, even if they mean his powers are about as historically accurate as an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!.

After the Pharaoh empowers his book with the powers of Maat, the Egyptian Goddess who represents the concepts of truth and justice, Monarch gives him the Turtle Miraculous' Shelter to protect the Maat book from being destroyed. Because as we saw with Manipula in “Determination”, simply being invulnerable to being destroyed automatically means victory. Oh right, she lost because the heroes outsmarted her. But I doubt that exact same thing will happen this episode, right?

Back with Marinette, Joan still refuses to talk with her because I guess being dead means she has a tight schedule and can't even bother to help out her successor. Before Joan can even end the Reunion, the Louvre is trapped in a giant pyramid where we see that the Pharaoh is using his powers to quiz people on the truth. Oh my God, the Pharaoh now has the powers of Kamen Rider Quiz. Run, you fools! Kamen Rider Zi-O is the only show in existence with more wasted potential than yours!

Marinette and Adrien transform into Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively, albeit still separated. When asked a question about who was the King of France on March 15th, 1423, Ladybug and Alya attempt to look up the answer online, only to get no signal. Thankfully, because the question just so happens to be set during the time when Joan was alive, she's able to give an answer: there was no king that day thanks to outside circumstances preventing a ruler from being properly recognized. Alya gets to safety, and Ladybug meets up with Cat Noir, who is struggling to answer another one of the Pharaoh's questions: What will the weather be like on July 14th, 200 years from now? It turns out that the Pharaoh was banking on that, as it's something only Bunnix would know.

Ladybug summons her Lucky Charm, a fountain pen, and takes a page from Doc Brown's book, writing a letter to Alix in the future so she can tell them the weather for that day by leaving her own letter in the past. After Cat Noir Cataclysms the Shelter barrier, the Pharaoh just creates a new one. Ladybug then comes up with another question: Is she really a hero, and did Alix leave of her own free will? The book obviously answers yes, and once again, the Pharaoh rejects the Akuma with ease.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma, uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix the damage, shows Jalil another letter from Alix, and never learns Jalil willingly got himself akumatized in the first place.

Joan talks with Marinette and tells her about her past, where she fell in love with a Cat Miraculous holder from England, and the conflict with France forced them to give up their Miraculous and go into hiding. It's a simple backstory, but the artwork and narration tells a lot without going too into detail about things, keeping what happened after Joan and her lover gave up their Miraculous vague for a reason.

Marinette: And then you lived happily ever after?

Joan: I hope so, Marinette. I hope so.

Marinette: Huh?

Tikki: That's not the real Joan, Marinette. It's just her memory as a holder. She can't know what she did after she gave up her Miraculous.

Translation: "We don't want to tell the kids watching what really happened to Joan of Arc." So the episode ends with Marinette wondering if starting a relationship with Cat Noir is possible after all, even if it means she has to give up her Miraculous. Oh yeah, and Plagg gives Adrien a Kwagatama too, but it's not really that important.

That's a good way to describe this episode: it just... happened. Outside of the Reunion lore, not much really happened here, which has been a problem I've had with the last few episodes of Season 5 as a whole. Not much was enough to get me really angry, but at the same time, the writing was just mediocre in my opinion. Pharaoh's new power was just Truth again, and they tried to make him look smart, but all he asked were obscure trivia questions, not something that would really test how honest someone is. For an Akuma who already had it out for Ladybug from the start, the return of the Pharaoh was pretty underwhelming. It didn't help that the other lesson about avoiding misinformation didn't really work that well because it took a magical lie detector to resolve Jalil's trust issues towards Ladybug. Also, it's really weird how nonchalant everyone is about Alix being away from home and traveling through time with no guarantee of when she'll return, while Jalil's somewhat understandable concern about Ladybug possibly manipulating his little sister (who he didn't even get to say goodbye to) was just brushed off for that lesson about conspiracy theories and misinformation.

Even though the idea of Joan of Arc being a superhero sounds really interesting, not much is done with Joan as a character, and I think that stems from the fact that it's obvious that a show that airs on Disney Channel can't talk about the two things everyone knows about her: The supposed messages from God, and that she was burned at the stake. Without those key aspects of her life story, all the writers really had to work with was that Joan was a female knight. This is especially harsh, because even without that, you could have told a story about how Joan was in a similar situation to Marinette, being trusted with the Ladybug Miraculous at a young age (Historians believe Joan was seventeen when she first went to the battlefield, and the flashback in this episode implies she only became a soldier after getting her Miraculous), and how she dealt with the newfound responsibilities, especially in a tense time like the middle ages. Instead, all we got was more Love Square pandering that didn't even make sense for Joan to be dismissive of because she was a massive hypocrite, not only for dismissing Marinette's initial question when she had the answer for it, but also for essentially body shaming Cat Noir by calling him “Puny”. Because how dare that teenage boy not be as jacked as a battle-hardened knight.

Overall, there's not much I can really say about this episode. I doubt the Reunion will ever be plot-relevant again, so what's the point? The most I can say is that it was certainly an episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... JOAN OF ARC

While I have grievances with the things Alya, Tikki, and Alim all said and did, for the most part, that's connected to bigger issues with the season as a whole. The purpose of the Biggest Idiot Award was to judge a character's actions in the context of the episode itself. So while Joan of Arc was never officially knighted, it is my honor to present this show's take on her with the award. Joan was unnecessarily rude to Marinette, assumed she knew how to end the Reunion when it was pretty clear this was her first time using it, went on a long tangent while answering a question while Ladybug didn't have a lot of time to give the answer, and talked trash about Cat Noir for not being as buff as the knights she led into battle. She also didn't offer to give any advice in battle even though she knew she wasn't able to interact with the physical world, when the whole purpose of the Reunion is to impart wisdom onto the next generation.

[cutepastelstarsalior]

Helluva boss review part 5

Helluva boss short

So this short is about Millie and her sister, Sally Mae. It’s only 5 minutes long. So very short indeed. The little montage of Sally and Millie being in the spa, dressing up shopping, and being at the arcade and club was cute. Thought I did notice that the short is very quiet? There’s not a lot of talking and when Millie and Sally were beating up the creep, there was lots of sound effect, but no talking or music. It was a bit weird..

Oh, so Sally is upset that Millie doesn’t visit home as much. She worries that Millie enjoys Imp City in comparison to home, where there’s not a lot to do. She explains that since Millie left, Sally had to take care of so much. Millie says she’s sorry that she doesn’t visit as much, and will try to. She also tells Sally that since their younger brothers are older and can help out, Sally can also come visit too.

The episode ends with the sister play wrestling then going to Millie’s apartment and watching a movie.

I think this short is very sweet. It gives inside to Millie’s and her Sally’s relationship, and their home. In the 2 season, we didn’t know anything about Sally or Millie’s family. So this little short is nice.

Trailer

Ok, so there going to be 5 new episodes. Cool. So this is going to be 3 season then?

The trailer is only 2 minutes long. In it, we see a weird cult, the gang has to go on the run, and business is peaking. 👀 ohhhh snap the cherubs are going to work with the government guys! I was wonder when those 2 groups would come back..

The gang also is going to get involved with a hotel dealing with ghosts, Stolas is questing his relationship with Blitzo. And there a council of birds…also a new prince?? Maybe it’s wrath?? Also Octavia is still questing if her dad loves her or Blitzo. And Blitzo doesn’t want to be a bad/toxic friend anymore..

The shows schedule for the new episodes

Final thoughts

Ok!! It took 2 days but I’m finally done with this series. I think I’m going to watch the 5 new episodes..I heard that this is going to be the show’s last season?? If it is, that’s fine by me, but I wonder how will they wrap everything up satisfying in 5 episodes?

Out of Vivzepop’s 2 shows, Hazbin Hotel, and Helluva Boss. I prefer this one much, much, more. The problem with Hazbin is that it gets to point A then to point B to fast. Like in the first episode they say that the angel extermination was in 6? 9? Months, but then in like episode 2, the show will have a time skip of a month or a week and nothing has happen. Characters just appear and disappears, characters don’t have any development or are just use in the background. When the final episode happen and the Big Fight™️ and the Big Musical™️ moments happen I literally didn’t care. Why should I cheer and wish these people happiness when I don’t even know them besides the basic surface knowledge?

That’s we’re Helluva is different. You can actually see and notice when people are changing. You can go from the first episode to the last and see the difference in people’s personalities. Any show, even if it’s an indie project or has little time, can give characters depth and make people want to keep watching.

But that where the negatives come in.

In the first season, it was about 3 imp with their hellhound assistant. There was also a demon bird, and his family, that’s it. By season 2, so many characters are introduced, that the show kind of just drops characters. Season 1 was about a group of assassins doing their job and getting into situations, it was a dark comedy. But by season 2, and especially the ending, that dark comedy turn into a drama. Only 1 episodes in season two did they have the assassins do their job. The rest of the time they, and it’s mostly Blitzo, are bodyguards to a high Nobel family.

The relationship of this show is what change the show. More specifically, Stolas x Blitso. In the pilot and in episode 1, Stolas just use blitzo for sex. Their dynamic was seen a a funny comedy. But as the season grew, it stopped being a comedy and turn into a romance. The plot of the show about assassins then becomes a show about a nobleman wanting to be in a relationship with someone from a lower class. And how the nobleman cheating on his wife, and how he and his wife are now going through a divorce.

The only time we see any dynamic outside that ship, is with Blitzo and Frizz, Blitzo and Moxxie, and Moxxie and Millie, or Moxxie and Blitzo vs Striker. I wish there was an episode where Moxxie and Loona had to spend the day together. Or Millie and Blitzo. I want to see this little group of imps together. There only 3 of them, and many times when they are together their dynamic feels off. It feels like something is missing. They are friendly with each other, but nothing more. They just act like co-workers. When you add Lonna and Octavia into the mix, that’s makes things more messy.

Octavia is a child who is watching her family go though a divorce. She feels like her dad doesn’t love her, only his new partner. I wish we can an episode about that. What are her thought on Blitzo? What does he think of her? What is Octavia’s relationship with her mom? Stella is abusive and hates Stolas, does she hate her daughter? What does Lonna think of Blitzo, who adopted her a month before she age out of the system. How does she feel about Millie or Moxxie? These dynamic dynamics strengths the show, instead of making the show loose it plot and have it be about a couple and their issues.

The gang having issues is fine, I like it. It gives insight to characters. Millie has a good relationship with her parents and sister. Moxxie has an abusive dad and he use to work in the mafia. Blitzo though, he’s the one with the most backstory and depth. As the start of the show he’s a jerk who curses, stalks his co-workers, and just had fun killing. As the series goes on, he starts to have conflicts thought on Stolas, and even rekindle an old friendship. He slowly changing.

Some of the other thoughts I have: the show curses a lot. But in the end episodes of season 2, it feels like the show is slowly starting to to turn that down. I don’t know if it’s because of YouTube or not, but I like that. Not every scene in a minute needs cursing. Also while the colors in this show are beautiful, and I love how each prince of sin has their own color. The show sometimes has the imp in a different skin tone. They are very pale in some scenes or even has a color warmer shade. It’s very noticeable. And while I do love the fights scenes, when a character is by themselves, the area feels slowly and empty.

The whole world feels empty too. There not many species in hell, so it makes the emptiness more noticeable. There imps, sharks, goats, birds, hellhounds, and a few other aqua animals. But that it. For only 6 species, this show is very small. Sidewalks and roads feel small, if this show is supposed to be overpopulated, why aren’t the crowd full of people or the roads with cars?

The singing numbers are bad. Literally only 1 song has gotten stuck in my head and that’s Ozzie’s. I’m feel like of the songs were shorter or even gone or use sparingly, it would help the show a lot. Most of the time a song is there just to show off the VA singing skills. The songs also don’t have depth more of the time, and I feel are use to run up space.

Also why are the imps lower class? Why is an imp and a nobleman, or an imp and a prince of sin being in a relationship a bad thing? What are the actual consequences of this? You can just keep telling us that imps are lower class and not tell us why.

TLDR: The show is decent, not sure amazing where I would recommend it, but ok. the show needs to explore other relationships besides stoles x blitzo. The background emptiness and the colors of the imp need to improve. Get rid of the songs. Wish there was more silly situations and less drama.

[kuwdora]

January Posting Meme

January 2 - What was the first vid you made? What drew you to vid it, do you still follow the fandom, etc. -@colls

Happy birthday colls!

Vid nostalgia time, thank you for this prompt.

My very first vid - Ameno - 2007. Stargate Atlantis.

I made my first vid in 2007 with iMovie. Stargate Atlantis, an ensemble vid about the Ancients. It’s titled “Ameno” by eRa and has chanty vocals that made me think of the Ancients/Lanteans in the Pegasus Galaxy. We were about… what 3 seasons into SGA at that time? Stargate SG-1 was my first internet fandom and SGA fandom in its heyday was certainly an Experience so I was in deep. I voraciously read all the fic back then, participated in the communities, wrote some crossover SGA/SG1 fic here and there. So once I started playing around with iMovie and got an external hard drive it seemed pretty natural for me to try and make a Stargate Atlantis vid.

Several years prior I remember my friend thelinz had sent me a bunch of SG-1 fanvids on CD-ROM that I became obsessed with. I knew I wanted to make Stargate vids. Of course I just had to go and use a song without discernible lyrics and try to tell a story about the Ancients/Lanteans. A people who were almost always featured subtextually and mostly as their tech being a macguffin of sorts for the protagonists to deal with. In my head a Narrative made a lot more sense while I was making it but I was still left rather unsatisfied by the end. But I am very proud of it—especially as a first vid. It’s very interesting to see how my eye for kinetic movement works with the musicality of the song as my first vid. And how I refined that over the years.

As for still following the fandom? It’s in my bones, it’s always there. So many of my fandom friends and I started there. Sometimes I go back and reread old SGA flashfic entries.

I do follow a few Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis tags on tumblr which has been an interesting time observing that. Mostly on account of folks remarking on Jack and Daniel’s ages (they are too Old). Or how some people have said that Rodney McKay would have Done Numbers on tumblr if the show was airing now and that people should really watch SGA for him. Which just is, you know. Makes me want to pull out that Aslan meme “I was there” old magics etc, since Rodney McKay Was Everywhere, fanon ran with wild abandon and then some while others did slow laps in their own slash and rare-pair niches. But this is part of growing older in fandom, you were there for that history (and all the various wank, which is what it was called and not Discourse).

Anyway. I was never quite satisfied with Ameno. But I went on to make dozen more vids after it with iMovie until I got a Final Cut Edit license. And I came across a song during a summer job and realized the vibe+lyrics…that song was the Ancient Vid I was trying to make the first time around but didn’t manage. And listening to the song I realized I didn’t have the vidding skills yet to pull it together. Very overwhelmed by the idea. I spent 5 years listening and mentally putting it together in my head while casually rewatching here and there. Which is how I managed to make High Voltage - one of the vids I’m most proud of for narrative, structural and thematic reasons.

High Voltage which someone actually made a Fanlore entry about it!

High Voltage which was selected at Vividcon 2011 for In Depth Vid Review where people spent a good chunk of time discussing it in an in-person group setting. Folks who had never seen Stargate Atlantis or SG-1 or Stargate Universe even said they were very impressed and intrigued with the vid because it looked like nothing they’ve ever seen from Stargate vids before. And those who knew the shows inside and out, who knew the fic, who had meta discussions about it every week, everyone there when another surface-level, shoddily executed storyline rolled out. They saw my vid, too, they saw it and got it. It was really, really incredible experience to get that kind of feedback and realize that so many picked up what I was laying down.

Beatrice Otter wrote a lovely fancake rec for it in 2022 — 11 years after it premiered! A rec I have screencapped and saved in my happy folder to look at when I’m feeling down.

I elaborated a little more about my vidding process and reception of the vid on tumblr

So Ameno is my very first vid that I was VERY proud of but still wanted to go and “do over”/“do again” because it didn’t feel quite right. That foundation and growth lead to High Voltage. :)

I highly recommend anyone who wants to make a fix-it to an old fanwork of theirs to do go ahead and do it and see how it feels. You never know where it might lead.

January Posting Meme - claim a date! Send me any kind of prompt!

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Season 2 Episode 6 Review

- Suletta needs to learn proper coping techniques fast. Just ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away. All that does is let it build up inside you until you snap. However, since the very beginning, Suletta has acted as a doormat, letting people walk all over her without speaking up for herself. She deserves to be sad, she deserves to be angry. Being a people-pleaser will only just tear her apart more. Luckily, both Chuchu and Eri realized this, and while Chuchu went about it the healthier way, it was good of Eri to finally cut off Suletta. She needs to establish a life outside of being Aerial’s pilot. It might have been what she was made for, but fuck destiny and parental expectations! Live your own life tanuki!

- Earth House claiming the best supporting character spots simply by recognizing what’s wrong with Suletta and actually acting on it, especially Chuchu. She pushes Suletta to express her true feelings and makes the plan to go see Miorine so she can explain herself. She’s grown up from the violent little doggy she was before. She uses her anger to push her forward, but she isn’t letting it take over her like Norea

- Poor Lauda is projecting his insecurities onto Suletta (though he isn’t really wrong.) He’s dedicated his life and self worth into supporting his brother, much like Suletta with Aerial, and now that Miorine’s the one by his side, he feels empty. He needs to come into his own as person and separate himself from his brother. I can only hope his adorable girlfriend Petra can help him through these times.

- Lauda and Felsi thanking Chuchu made me weak. They’re so honorable. But what shot me in the heart was Felsi’s smile and look back at Chuchu before she ran off. She loves that poofy girl so much. I’d love to see the two go to Earth and fight together

- I feel so bad for Martin. He did the right thing in reporting Nika because she never explained herself despite him giving her multiple chances, and he wanted to protect the rest of his friends. Dude’s carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders, but his little therapy session just made it worse.

- WHAT THE FUCK SECELIA!

- Girl created a whole catholic confession booth on the school to figure out the student’s dirty secrets. Interesting thing though, is that it’s Rouji’s Haro instead of the normal ones. The normal Haro’s are connected to the authorities and report everything but since Rouji’s is custom, it probably doesn’t have that feature. And is Secelia doing this just because she likes gossip or because she’s now taking her job seriously and wants to weed out any dangerous individuals? Or is the Burion House sort of like a secret police that monitors everyone?

- Shaddiq ONCE AGAIN is a total snake, but he’s definitely bit off more than he could chew by meeting with Prospera. If Shaddiq is two steps ahead of our main cast, Prospera is at the top of the stairs ready to push him down

- Peil House is the worst group of people I’ve ever seen in my life. They literally just let a computer decide the fates of orphaned children and pick out which ones they’ll experiment on. Elan Prime was lucky. He could have ended up another Enhanced Person if fate decided to be a dick. Which probably only makes El5n even more pissed. Like, he could have been the special one, but instead some computer decided he wasn’t important enough

- Speaking of El5n, my beloved, tight lips my ass. Bro just spilled the whole tea on Peil to two random fugitives. Shows just how much he hates them. But poor Nika wasn’t expecting to have to deal with all that and now she’s floundering. Maybe she’ll start working on Gundams that don’t kill people. Also El5n calling out Norea and pointing out the similarities between each other all while she’s trying to stab him is hot and I ship them so hard. Nika should ask Sabina for a separate room or she’ll be witness to their hatefucking

- Finally we see the Schwarzette! There’s been so much discussion about this suit, what it was or who would pilot it, and now we get to see it in all its glory. We’ll have to see if the AI will take on the Permet strain or if it’ll hurt the pilot.

- If this anime wasn’t political already, then we’re about to get sooooo political. Miorine is gonna have a hard time connecting with the rioters considering her position and personality. Maybe Guel will be able to help her navigate, and maybe even use his Dawn of Fold connections. Personally, if they want to help, I think setting up field hospitals would be the first best step but that’s just me

- The swole chad Kenanji has now joined the group and I’m so excited. Bro was hyped up in the prologue and then dropped off the face of the earth. But considering he’s on the same spaceship as Prospera, I don’t think he’ll be getting out of it alive

- Eri’s a savage. She allowed Suletta to come to her just to tell her she’s ditching her. Like, I know she’s trying to help, but she could have been gentler. And activating the Permet really didn’t help either.

- Prospera actually does something nice and stops using Suletta for her revenge. But she still doesn’t explain anything and this leaves Suletta a sobbing broken mess out in space. Truly the mother of the year. But the way she defers to Eri shows that ultimately, she’s a broken woman who just wants her daughter back. Everything she’s done is all so she can be with Eri again, ignoring the thousands of people she’s trampled

Next episode is gonna be painful as well. I don’t expect good things to happen on Earth, especially not since karma magnet Guel and warcrime MILF Prospera are there. Also since Shaddiq was the title vocalist, maybe we’ll get more of his backstory?

[these-modern-times]

Thoughts On Leverage: Redemption

I finally got around to watching Leverage: Redemption. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! I had such a great time watching the cast all back together and all the character growth. 

At first I was worried how the show was going to be without Nate since he was really the engine of the group. It was weird watching Redemption for like the first two eps and then I was totally fine with Nate not being around. I really like where all the characters are now, especially Parker, and I think if Nate had been in the show all the characters would’ve snapped to and gone back to being their old selves in certain ways. I think they would have been more reserved if Nate was still around (but they definitely would’ve called out his shit real fast). Parker has let her freak flag fly and I do not think she would have been that way with Nate back in the picture. Still miss Nate a bit but the crew is so awesome without him. 

I was also worried about how the show was going to be without Aldis Hodge being a regular but, again, it was fine. I loved when he came back but the show and characters were so good that I didn’t miss him as much as I thought I would. All the Parker and Hardison scenes were great. 

Parker will forever be my girl. Beth Riesgraf continues to just be amazing playing Parker (I want to know how she managed to keep a straight face with some of her scenes and lines or how anyone else did for that matter). I read someone’s review here on tumblr that the writers did Parker dirty. I don’t think the writers did Parker dirty at all, if anything they made her more fun and they really let Parker be herself. Think about all the times she almost started going off the rails with being really goofy (the pinata she dumped on the table in front of Eliot, the chocolate convention, the Ghostbusters scene/line, etc) and then she was pulled back. Parker is the leader now and Hardison and Eliot are used to her antics, they just let her go. I think Parker has always known when it’s time to have fun and when it’s time to be serious when it comes to being a thief and running a con. 

Sophie, for me, became a good character to watch. Gina Bellman always nailed the hell out of playing Sophie and I don’t think she ever gets the credit she deserves for playing the character. I loved how Parker, Hardison, and Eliot knew they had to see her and help pull her out of her deep grief. They gave her no choice and she went along with it. Sophie always looked like she had a great time on jobs in the original series and that fun was still there. I adored her friendship with Harry (”our Mr. Wilson,” a sweet, and very British, addition to her character). I’m glad there was an outside person for her to speak to and to ground her. She even said the team saw her as Sophie Deveraux they didn’t see her in the way he saw her as an outsider. There’s a lot of respect between Sophie and Harry and I enjoyed that a lot. 

Eliot was Eliot, the same hard ass with a very soft inside. He was grumpier and punchier then ever. He’s still the same big brother to Parker and Hardison keeping them in line. Eliot and Sophie have always had a very interesting relationship and dynamic and it was still good to see they had that in this series as well. 

Breanna is a great addition to the crew. Parker being her (reluctant) mentor was fun. Her line about college being a scam in 2nd season hit me right in the soul. 

Harry was a good addition. He brought the law side to the team and gave them a different angle to their cons. He’s also just a total goofball who had no choice but to join the family and just had a good time. As I mentioned, I like his relationship with Sophie. He was the other grown up in the family who balanced things out for not only Sophie but for the whole team. 

The throw backs to the original series through the new 2 seasons were perfection. Some of them were slight and some of them were super obvious. All of them gave me so much joy. Parker with the horse painting in the first episode made me laugh way too hard. 

There are so many good moments throughout the 2 seasons. Parker and Hardison’s scenes will always be a favorite. The team going to Sophie in the first episode is precious. Do not even get me started on Sophie’s line to Harry about Hardison, “He is his father’s son.” My soft interior definitely shed a slight a tear and a little heart rip happened hearing that line. In the first ep you can see Parker, Hardison, and Eliot were still grieving over Nate too and they needed their “mom.” The ending of The Paranormal Hacktivity Job made my day when I watched it. Hurley coming back was a great throwback and touch. Parker loving Christmas will never get old. Harry freaking out in the vents with Parker was hilarious. Parker pretending to be pregnant was probably one of the funniest moments of this series because she found it fun to hide stuff on her that way. Possibly the best thing was the team being afraid of the Canadian Mounties. These idiots have taken down the worst kinds of people and yet they’re all afraid of the Mounties. I can’t handle them. 

Just like the original series I love the stories that revolve around museums and the museum and art worlds. I have a BA in Art History and a MA in Museum Collections Management. I currently work in the museum field. The show majorly glamorizes museums and especially their security systems (maybe the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre can afford something close to what the museums in Leverage and Redemption use) but it’s fun to see what could be done if money wasn’t an object for museums. The last two eps of season 2 made me nuts with the air vents being so big and so close to the art works but it’s a TV show. My new dream job would be as a museum consultant for Leverage: Redemption, haha. I cracked up when Parker said she’s stolen three Rembrandts, a hat trick. 

My one and only complaint about Leverage: Redemption was the backstory eps for Sophie and Eliot. One of the reasons I absolutely love Leverage is because they never revealed too much about the characters. I love not knowing Parker’s full name and complete background. The fact that no one knows Sophie’s real name after all these years is brilliant. Even Hardison doesn’t have a super in depth backstory. The writing for the show has always been satisfying and great that I never felt the need or want to know more about the characters. Leverage is literally one of the only shows I don’t have an issue with in any way with character development and story writing. I just found Sophie and Eliot’s back stories to be a little dull. At least Sophie’s was about cons and grifters which fits into the overall show. I am praying if this show comes back for a 3rd season that they do NOT in any way really dive into Parker’s background. Keep her elusive and just Parker. 

I think Leverage: Redemption is a lot of fun because it is different. I’m so happy the show is still the same in a lot of ways but it’s not, it’s its own thing. I can still see the same characters from the first episode of Leverage, they’ve all grown but the people we were first introduced to are still there. The show made me laugh and it made me happy in a lot of ways from the writing to the acting to the stories to the complete silliness of so many lines and scenes. I am so hoping for a 3rd season of Leverage: Redemption, I’m fully ready for more fun adventures with this group of crazies.