#just the last episode of season 1 really got to me but its fine

[teeny-tiny-revenge]

It's home cinema manufacturing time! 🏴‍☠️ Gonna put my pirate show on my shelf! (I'm doing an Arts and Crafts Project and I'm making it everyone's problem.)

After seeing how much they cost, I abandoned the idea of getting a Blu-ray writer for now. For the time being, good old DVDs is what it's going to be! My TV is old and not very big, so DVD resolution is gonna be fine.

It's been ages since I last burned a DVD. For the full experience, I'm gonna create nice menus and pretty sleeves for the boxes. Graphic design is my passion! Um.

Well. First needed to find a program to do stuff with. I'm a Linux guy, so I'm using Devede. (Which is free, btw. In case someone else wants to do a low cost spot of putting pirate show on the shelf.)

DVDs fit a maximum of 120 minutes of video. So, four episodes, I thought. But after a quick attempt, the program refused to do more than three (maybe because of the menu also taking up space, and four episodes cutting pretty close to the 120 min mark?). Anyway, three episodes per disc it is. It's a pretty nice runtime for watching the entire disc, IMO. An hour and a half, and then you can return to reality to realise you should probably eat something, or go to bed because it's midnight.

OFMD with its current two seasons has a total of eighteen episodes, which is divisible by three. You get the following setup:

Disc 1: Pilot, A Damned Man, The Gentleman Pirate - That's pretty good, Stede's introduction to piracy all on one disc!

Disc 2: Discomfort in a Married State, The Best Revenge is Dressing Well, The Art of Fuckery - All bangers. Great to watch together, our boys meet and shenanigans happen!

Disc 3: This is Happening, We Gull Way Back, Act of Grace - Many romantic moments, lots of great scenes, shit hits the fan at the end there. Alright!

Disc 4: Wherever you go, there you are, Impossible Birds, Red Flags - ... Pain and angst! What have I done!?! The disc of horrors. Gotta make sure to have tissues at hand when I watch this. But hey, it also has messy bun Ed! Small mercies.

Disc 5: The Innkeeper, Fun and Games, The Curse of the Seafaring Life. - Another disc with all winners. I love all these episodes so much! (You can watch this disc to recover from the trauma of the previous one!) But seriously, this one slaps.

Disc 6: Calypso's Birthday, Man on Fire, Mermen - Great combination again. Season finale! Love and excitement!

... Honestly, except for the psychological damage of putting all the most painful episodes together, this is coming out pretty cool. Says a lot about how good the show is. I actually really love all the episodes (yes even the painful angsty episodes of massive depression). Thinking about this little project really reminded me how much I love this entire show.

So, we got a tracklist, now menus, then we can burn this stuff!

I did the menu backgrounds in GIMP. Realised I have a big folder full of screenshots I took myself, screenshots someone else took and posted on Tumblr, official promo pics for the show, and I have no idea anymore where most of them are from, because I named the files according to what's on them. Which is useful for when you want to find pics (Need a picture of cursed suit Stede? I have files named that, easy peasy!), but not so great if you wanted to give credit to whoever took a given pic you used. (It's probably @sherlockig or @ofmd-ann or @blakbonnet. Please feel credited, your beautiful screens and gifs brighten my day, and some of them are now probably part of my DVD menus. Shrunk down and cropped, but, yeah.)

I originally wanted to structure my menus as having the title of an episode, then some pics from it, then the next episode, then pics from that, and so forth, but I couldn't convince the program to give me the necessary padding between the menu items, so I ended up just putting the episode images below the menu. Still like it.

Anyway, DVD menus can also play sound! Behold a crappy video of my beautiful creation (provided entirely for sound):

It plays Gnossienne N°5!

More crappy pics of my other disc menus:

Gonna make them some nice sleeves next. Some day. Gotta make sure they all work properly first. So. I'll be on my sofa, watching my DVDs. With menus! (Edit: here are!)

[starry-bi-sky]

I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

[low-budget-korra]

Comments on Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender

*spoiler alert*

First of all I'm gonna start by saying it is one of the best adaptations I've seen so far. And that's the key word, adaptation. I've seen a lot of fans and others complain about some things that honestly, doesn't make sense because some things only work in a cartoon(just as much as some things only work in a book or a video game)

And before I start to talk about some topics that I judge important, I also wanna say that the production is fantastic, from the costumes to the CGI. It all looks amazing. (A part from Yue's wig)

1. The Script

It's not easy to pick 20+ episodes and make it fit in only 8 but damn they did a hell of a good job, especially when judging what was important to show and what they could let it go. Some fans commented that since there's no fillers, the Gaang and others miss some development but I think that for the universe of the live action what we got here it worked.

I can express how much I like to see Ozai and Azula's relationship and how it is now clear that he uses the siblings against each other, manipulating them to get what he wants. But I will admit I miss the fear Azula had, since it's implied in the show and some extras that she does fear Ozai, and fears becoming like Zuko.

I hope the 41. Is just fine after the battle in the north. See all of them bowing to Zuko after discovering that Zuko was the one that saved their asses and was heavily punished by that...it was beautiful. I loved the writers did that, give names and faces to Zuko's crew and a beautiful yet sad arc when Ozai banished his son and the men who he saved.

I also loved that they put weight into things that was treated as a joke, like Katara talking about her mother. She was a little kid who saw her mom get murdered in front of her and the live action made sure to let us know that it is not okay to make jokes about something so traumatic. All of the deaths here have tons of weight in it, it's not some random person, is someone we met, someone we liked, someone who helped. The costs of the war, something the cartoon manages to show us but know in live action, with real people, the massage gets stronger.

And they didn't forget Iroh's past like the fandom does, which is great. That actor, the earthbending soldier really let it all out, that's how you use the few screentime you have.

Sokka's isn't sexist and y'all were making a storm outta a cup of water, is not like Sokka sexist didn't go away after like the 4 or 5 episode in the original show. I think the live action was able to bring more depth to him in comparison to the first season of the cartoon. We see how he feels about his father's, the absence of him and his duty as warrior who kinda doesn't want to be a warrior.

I need a Gyatso in my life, I didn't know I needed to see more of him until the live action gave us more of him. Kyoshi was the Thor coming to Wakanda from this season, WHY THE FUCK BRYKE DONT WANNA GIVE US A KYOSHI SERIES? She is absolutely a jewel of a character. Roku and Kuruk, damn poor Kuruk man, so much pain in his words but again that's what it means to be the Avatar, it's not fun and games. Zhao saying to Aang what Korra villains said to Korra😭 that the world doesn't need the Avatar anymore, it hurt.

Guys I'm gonna say it, there's no way in hell for anyone to ship Kataang here. I'm saying this because some shippers complain that the secret tunnel part was different but c'mon, look at Kiawentiio and look at Gordon, it would be so s awkward and weird and just wrong. I know they don't have a big age difference, is only like 3 years but when they filmed Gordon looked so much younger than her, maybe in the next seasons the difference won't be that big.

The pace is good, once you start you don't wanna stop.

2. The Acting

Everyone is really good at capturing the essence of it's characters and somewhat making them their own. The highlights for me were Dallas and Ian, Its like they came straight from the show. Ken Leung's Zhao was also amazing as he was way more threatening here than he was in the show.

Kiawentiio was the Katara we were looking for, she is kind yet strong, brave and caring. And Gordon was Aang, sure, he has to learn a few things since he slipped a few times in his acting but nothing that could ruin the experience, that kid is good and just needs some experience.

Elizabeth Yu was Azula. It was different but yet the same character, is like learning something new of her and I like how cleared she show emotions with her eyes. Maria Zhang had great chemistry with Ian and I can't wait to see more of Suki. Arden Cho and Yvonne Chapman as June and Avatar Kyoshi look like they came out straight from the cartoon. Daniel Dae Kim...man is Ozai, so cold, so sharp, so scary, already way better than the cartoon version. I wanna see more of Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh since the character he really starts to shine in book 2.

3. The live action doesn't have the spirit of the OG?

Yes, it does have. The thing is now that we are seeing real people, things get dark one way or another but I don't think it ruined the spirit of the show. Aang is still a kid, Sokka still making sarcastic jokes, Zuko still annoying as hell, Katara still hopeful and strong... There's everything there really.

The thing is stuff like genocide, murder, war, death and suffering are, for some people, better to watch as pixels in a cartoon than real people.

I think it's a great adaptation and I would recommend it to every fan.

[thesunoficarus1]

episode 3 being titled "no place like home" either means christopher coming home or au episode. I truly cannot think of another option. but like I feel like that is far too early for them to bring christopher home. these bitches LOVE to torment eddie why would they bail him out of the misery by episode 3?

also episode two not having a title is either very suspicious or very not suspicious depending on the way you look at it. it's either something super important that they literally cannot release without spoilers or they just don't have a name yet. but since the disasters normally go for a 2-3 episode arcs, episode 2 HAS to be important disaster wise. and maybe this is just me being a hater, but I really don't know if they're gonna make the bees the whole disaster. and I feel like "buzzkill" for episode one has to be the bee episode. so here's my thought, the bees are only the catalyst for a bigger disaster or a red herring. and I love to be delusional, so here's my two ideas of how it could go.

both arcs would likely start out the same. episode one is bees. I feel like this one is pretty obvious. end of episode one, we find out there's a bigger disaster. after this, I feel like theres two ways it could go.

1. au episode in ep 3: in episode two, something happens where someone at the 118 is injured. likely at the end of the episode. this arc would likely be similar to buck's lighting strike arc. I'm not entirely sure that they would copy an arc that closely, au episode and all, but I also didnt expect them to pull the shit they did with eddie last season. so nothing is impossible to me. anyways, someone goes unconscious or gets knocked out and it fades to black and episode 3 is an au. that could be an explanation for the 119 truck that was on set a few days ago. I feel like this could be eddie (plus buck/eddie parallels for more buddie moments if they're making them go canon in season 8) but I do think it could be another character. in my mind its more likely that it is eddie since there will likely be a focus on him already since christopher is gone.

2. christopher comes home in ep 3: similarly to option one, episode two has a bigger disaster with someone getting injured. in this situation it would definitely be eddie. christopher finds out and wants to go back home in episode three. now, do I think it would be all sunshine and rainbows if this is the case? absolutely not. I don't really know/think christopher would just forgive eddie just because he got injured. I feel like it could be more likely where he comes home, eddie is eventually fine, and then they both go home and have an "oh shit." moment because all that baggage is still there. and they have to work through that. because christopher was NOT happy with that man when he left. so yes, while he would obviously be concerned if he found out eddie was hurt, I don't think that fact alone would make him be like "yeah this makes everything that happened fine." I just don't really see it.

sorry if either of these seem ooc or too out there but I never said I was a genius.

[flower-boi16]

Hazbin Hotel Is A Show That Exists

So...after five years of waiting, Hazbin Hotel is finally out. I had very low expectations going to Hazbin - not only because of the current state of Helluva Boss (Its spin-off show) but also because of all the things I was hearing about it from people who saw the leaks - needless to say, it wasn't very positive. I was expecting this show to be a complete disaster on every single level, though deep down, I did want to be excited for this show - as I did used to briefly be a fan of Viv's work until I realized HB's MANY writing issues, so I went in with low expectations, expecting the show to be awful while deep down hoping that MAYBE It'll MAYBE end up being good. And after watching the first four episodes I can say that...

The show isn't awful nor is it that good. It's just...PAINFULLY average. In this post I'm going to give my current thoughts on HH based on the first four episodes that are currently released. Note that these are only my current thoughts on the show - there's a chance that MAYBE the show will improve in the second half of season 1. But for now, here are my current thoughts on the show:

1. The Animation & Visuals

The animation is...fine. The characters definitely look very rigged at times, but the animation is at least pleasant to look at. An issue I have is the camera work - sometimes the camera work can be VERY off at times. The show would constantly cut to different perspectives in some of the scenes and it becomes a headache to look at. It's especially bad at the beginning of the Happy Day In Hell song - where the camera looks like it's having a stroke during the sequence as it constantly cuts to different perspectives a LOT.

That being said - the camera work is mostly fine throughout the rest of the show so it's not too bad. So overall, the animation looks fine. I don't love it, but I don't hate it.

2. The Comedy

The show's comedy is...actually pretty ok. There were a few jokes that got a good laugh out of me, especially in episode 3, the episode that isn't written by Viv, so it therefore is the funniest episode of the show so far. I am surprised by the lack of sex jokes in the show which is at least a plus. That being said, a lot of the jokes in the show don't really land - mainly the ones that Angel Dust makes. So really, the comedy is OK. I don't hate it, but I also don't love it either.

3. Worldbuilding & Plot

So now let's talk about the main plot of the show as well as its world-building. Ok so the main conflict for the show is that due to someone killing an Angel during the last extermination - the exterminations are going to happen twice as fast now (6 months instead of one year). The mystery of what happened to the angel...lasts for about two episodes before we're given an answer in episode 3, and then it's just resolved like that.

Aside from that the series mostly revolves around its premise so far which is good. Alright, now lets talk about the lore and worldbuilding - basically Lucifer used to be an angel in Hevean but was seen as a trouble maker and Adam demanded that Lilith fuck him (or something Idk Idr) and Lucifer and Lilith fell in love blah blah blah Lucifer gave an apple to his new lover Eve blah blah blah the apple was cursed blah blah blah the apple created hell blah blah blah It sent evil to the world and Hevean was pissed about that so they banished them to hell blah blah blah Lucifer became sad blah blah blah Lilith didn't blah blah blah Hevean started doing exterminations because they were afraid of Hell's power.

(Semi-accurate description of the opening exposition dump). Ok so a few things; 1) I already asked this in another post but why did Hell never choose to fight back against Heaven when Heaven shouldn't have any power over hell because Hell was a realm created by Lucifer? Also, why does Heaven even have any power over Hell to begin with? and 2) So Heaven is eeeevil now and is going to kill all of Hell. Like I already said, it would have been more interesting if Heaven wasn't evil, and it also would've been better than this Hevean v Hell war we're probably going to get in the finale.

They even changed the reasoning to why Heaven started doing the exterminations, instead of it being because of an overpopulation problem now it's because Heaven was afraid of Hell's power...

...which contradicts the pilot which is canon to the series. But then the show just goes back to the overpopulation problem as the reason for the exterminations???? Like??? Which is it, is it because Heaven is evil or because of an overpopulation problem??? PICK ONE!!!

Hell is also kinda boring of a setting, it's just our world except red. That's it. So the lore and worldbuilding is kinda eh, Heaven is just evil cuz ofc it is and the lore has some problems. Its funny to how one of the lyrics of Adam's big villain song is "its all black and white", and since Adam is the bad guy and Charlie's goal is to redeem sinners, the show is trying to go for a "it's NOT black and white" message, but that's kinda ironic considering that this Heaven/Hell conflict is very black and white in it of itself; Hell good Heaven evil. That's it. Not saying black-and-white conflicts with a good guy and a bad guy are bad, most shows can make them work and be interesting, but Heaven would have been more interesting if it wasn't evil, at least IMO.

4. The Voice Actors

A lot of the discourse surrounding Hazbin until its release was the new voice actors. Let me just say I don't dislike the voice actors here; I think they are fine and they fit the characters decently well. Their singing is also decent as well. So I don't dislike any of the voices, they are fine for the most part and fit decently well with the characters.

5. The Songs

The songs so far are...fine. If there was one thing that HB consistently got right, it was the songs. Even if I dislike HB, the songs are actually pretty good (for the most part...). Hazbin's songs are...decent. There aren't any songs that I can say are bad, though I have some issues with the show's music; mainly the fact that the show sometimes shoves in songs...for the sake of having a song.

If you want to make a musical with songs you need to make sure each song has a distinct purpose for the story; take "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. Before this song, it's pretty easy to infer that Ariel has an interest in the surface world - with her collecting human stuff and all. But the song further shows us her desire to see the surface - to see what it's like above water. It shows her desire to see the surface in the form of a song - it has a purpose within the story because it tells you something about the character.

Hazbin Hotel meanwhile sometimes has a problem when it comes to shoving in songs for the sake of meeting the song quota; the two biggest examples are "Hell is Forever" and "Respectless", as well as "Whatever It Takes". These songs are all completely unnecessary and they give us information that could have been communicated through simple dialogue rather than characters bursting out singing.

"Respectless" in particular feels less like a song and more like the characters just...singing a conversation with each other. The song is completely unnecessary and is just there to fill the song quota per episode. None of the songs I've mentioned are necessarily bad, but they suffer from being unneeded (HB also sometimes has this problem in season 2 mainly in episodes 3, 4, and 7).

Aside from that issue - the songs are...fine. None of them are bad but some of them are kinda useless and don't serve much of a purpose. I at least liked Happy Day in Hell and Poison, aside from that most of the songs are...ok. I just don't find most of them that memorable.

6. The Characters

Now, let's talk about the characters. First I'll talk about the main cast then the villains.

Charlie - I think Charlie's...fine. I always like overly positive and happy characters for protagonists so I was going to like Charlie anyway. She's fine; she's easy to root for and she's likable enough.

Vaggie - Vaggie's also fine. I do like her snark in episode 3, but aside from that there isn't much that interesting about her.

Nifty - Nifty's cute. Nifty's funny. I like Nifty.

Angel Dust - sigh Ok so I didn't like Angel Dust in episode 1 because of the fact he was another character whose one character trait is being excessively horny. And I also find all his jokes painfully unfunny. I'm not really in a position to judge how well his abuse from Val was handled so since I held a poll asking SA victim's thoughts on episode 4 and most of them voted no I'll just say that they didn't handle it very well and move on. So ya don't care for Angel Dust.

Alastor - Ah yes the creepy radio demon. He's also fine, I like his whole style and stuff.

Husk - Husk's whole purpose in the first three episodes is pretty much just to be pissed off at stuff, I kinda liked the scene where he talked to Angel Dust in episode 4 but aside from that, Husk is kinda just..fine...like everyone in this main cast.

Now let's talk about the villains so far!

Adam - Don't care for him. Sigh look Adam could be an entertaining villain but so far his dialogue and jokes are just painfully unfunny and I don't care for him as a villain. I could talk about his sidekick whose name I forgot but she's gotten so little screen time I can't form an opinion on her yet.

Also isn't it funny how HH was meant to be a female-focused show yet the males get more focus so far (As I've already talked about)? Ya, I thought so too. Anyways, the characters are...fine. I don't hate any of them, but I also don't really love any of them either. None of them are that interesting so far to me.

That's pretty much what I can say about everything in this show so far; I don't hate the animation but I don't love it either, I don't hate the comedy but I don't love it either, I don't hate the songs but I don't love them either, I don't hate any of the characters but I don't love them either.

7. Conclusion

So, that's my current thoughts on HH based on the first four episodes. Well...it's certainly a show that I watched. It's amazing to me how a show could be so consistently painfully average in pretty much EVERYTHING, from the animation to the songs to the comedy to the characters, to the episodes themselves, Hazbin Hotel is the most painfully average show I've watched so far. It's not bad so far, but it isn't good either. Again, maybe the show will improve when the latter half of season 1 comes out...

...or it will just get worse. I'm expecting the latter unfortunately due to the trailers making it look like there's going to be a Heaven/Hell war which means the show is probably going to abandon its premise like its spin-off (...that came before the main show was released). But ya, Hazbin Hotel is painfully average so far, probably a 6/10 so far, expecting the show to probably get worse, goodbye.

[bluginkgo]

On today's Ginkgo rambles we have: the teaser, yet again. What? I really liked it.

Spoilers, duh

Instead of dissecting it again, which many smarter people have already done, I kinda wanna ramble about how well the teaser was well... a tease. It's titled The Beginning of the End. A bit cliche, but it works here both in the context of the end of this season, and hopefully the beginning of the second.

The beginning of the end that is called Season 1. And the beginning of the true end, that is the universe of Murder Drones- be it Copper 9 or the actual story.

Not to mention, this beginning of the end theme keeps up in the entire teaser. I guess you can say I'm a sucker for being nostalgic and seeing how far the show has come.

It starts with Uzi's Booting up// Exposition: "We are worker drones." Closely followed by what is happening to her as of Dead End. So much for the innocent worker drones, am I right? "It's not like we revolted and killed all humans or anything, mostly because they handled that just fine all by themselves." At this point, and especially in the teaser, it's heavily implied that maybe the humans didn't actually do that. Sure, they were probably the ones that caused it. But seeing as we get a shot of Tessa closing Nori's room/locker and then the core collapse from the pilot... eh, I don't know about you, but I think she's got something to do with it.

Then, we have N. His cute little introduction and his killings in the pilot, followed by Dead End's scenes. A disassembly drone- a demon that has been depicted so many times by other worker drones, one of THE murder drones of the series, reduced to nothing but a scrap of metal by sentinels. Not to mention the only person from his past, V, also in grave danger. We hear him call out to her just like in Dead End throughout the entire teaser. I also wouldn't be surprised if his last desperate call for V that we hear right before we get the actual scenes for eps 7 and 8, to be used as the trio fall down in the elevator at the beginning of ep 7.

Closely followed by V's first words. "And yet, I still feel nothing." Then we see her sacrifice at Dead End. From a simple and mindless murder machine to a friend and an ally who was willing to give herself up so the rest of the group would be safe. (D*mmit, V, come back queen😭)

Now as for something I don't quite understand/see. So please, feel free to point it out.

BUT WHERE DO PEOLE SEE THAT HER VISOR IS CRACKED? All I see is that her visor must be turned off, because the floor is reflecting in it.

Another thing I kinda wanna touch on briefly, is Uzi's hand.

As many people have already mentioned this, Uzi's hand lights are yellow. Of course, so far, this teaser has been for both episodes 7 and 8. So we can't confidently say what scene is from where. But this constant switching in Uzi's lights might lose its meaning. Of course, these might be the only times that Uzi's lights actually change. But if it isn't... the anxiety and fear that ought to come with seeing Uzi's purple lights turn yellow, might be less severe. Unlike in Dead End, it was both anxiety inducing and cool to see Uzi be posessed by Absolute Solver. Eh, it might be just me, though. Of course, teaser is just that. A tease. So there isn't much to go off of.

You crazy for making it through that entire useless rant. Have a cookie. ^_^

[destinygoldenstar]

☀️Everyone In The Final Four Has Cold Blood☀️ - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 1 Episode 12 “Trials & Trip-ulations ”

Heyo!

Y'all probably thought I dropped the show after last episode.

No. I was just busy with life. That's why this took awhile to come out.

Final Four. Home Stretch.

I think I only like one of the four. XD

But that's usually how it is with Total Drama. That's why I'm never really bothered with none of my favs being here. The only time I was actually bothered with it was in Total Drama Action, but like, the reason there was because Harold and Lindsay genuinely would've made for well written finalists, while all the other options were ASS. Beth was a very unlikeable floater who did nothing all season, Courtney was a ruthless villain so it was obvious she wouldn't win, Owen was a finalist last season and was only there to be a mole, and Duncan was... well, Duncan. I like Duncan as a character, but not as a finalist. At least with how it was handled in that season.

So I fully expect the villains of these things to make it far, and the messy characters to make it far because... it's Total DRAMA. It's not Total FRIENDSHIP. This ain't My Little Pony.

I CAME HERE FOR DRAMA, DAMMIT.

As long as I can understand what the writers are going for with their Final Fours, I don't really care about Elimination Order. That's not a factor of 'bad writing', at least for me. I only hate it when it's blatantly obvious the writers didn't know what they were doing with their choices.

I don't think that's the case here. I called Ellie. I called Fiore. I predicted that. Alec and Miriam are a SHOCK. I thought Alec was gonna be an early boot. And Miriam completely went under my radar. But I DEFINITELY do not hate that she's still here.

So yeah, I think Elimination Order is a pretty overrated criticism for Total Drama. That’s just my opinion.

So yeah... let's see what happens in this Penultimate Episode.

WAIT.

OMG.

LOOK.

THERE'S A HEART CARVING ON THE WALL❤️😭

Guys.

Guys.

Episode 10 is not canon. Okay? That was some leftover recycled content from the Beta that OddNations accidentally put in that playlist. That's Beta content. The remake is canon. That episode is not canon. It is not official. Tom and Jake are FINE. They're FINE. THEY WORKED THINGS OUT. THEY'RE OKAY. THEY'RE HAPPY TOGETHER AND WORKING THROUGH THEIR ISSUES TOGETHER. NOTHING HAPPENED BETWEEN THEM. THEY'RE AT THE MOTEL RIGHT NOW CUDDLING AND BEING HAPPY AND ORDERING CHINESE FOOD.

THEY ARE FINE. NOTHING HAPPENED. ALRIGHT?!?!?!?!

Goddammit, they're not even here anymore. What am I even saying?

But I swear to god, whether it's this season or Season 3. It better end with Jake and Tom getting that Chinese Date.

I will FLIP OUT if that's actually what happens.

"Is it food?"

"No, better, it's letters from home!"

"Oh. Eh."

XD

Honestly, I'm not surprised she had that reaction.

Whoever Fiore's parents are, um... they should be in jail. That's all I'll say.

MIRIAM IS A CAT PERSON?!

10/10. Best character. She better win.

Its probably not plausible, but you know, I can hope.

Oh...

Oh that's sad...

Her son has a pride pin. Wow. No wonder her and Jake got along.

"I got a letter from my dad saying how proud he is. And... three unpaid bills. If my father's letter didn't motivate me to win, this definitely will."

GIRL.

You ALMOST make me feel bad for you.

ALMOST. I'm still mad about the death threat you gave Jake.

"Wow. You're faster than I thought."

"I mostly skimmed it. Don't act like you don't do it too when you find a book boring."

Damn.

Her family life is THAT bad.

"You really hate them, don't you?"

"No, I'm just not interested. I'm sure it's from my parents, blaming themselves for my behaviors like there's really something wrong with me. Anyway, I don't care. In a few days I'll be a millionaire and I'll have several slaves to do whatever I want."

UM-

Um... I don't want to be THAT person Fiore, but...

There IS something wrong with you.

I'm sorry, but age doesn't convince me of anything. You are an awful, psychopathic human being, and you should be put behind bars.

"She opened her feelings about us... it turns out that maybe, by trying so many times to stay together, I've only been hurting her."

"I hate to say I told you so."

I mean that was always gonna happen, right?

I mean Alec isn't a character that interests ME personally, and that's a complete me thing. But from what we've heard, he MIGHT be a shit family guy.

Not as bad as Peter Griffin, but you know what I mean.

"Regardless of whether I win or not, I'll move when I get back. Away from my wife. I now realize that the love in our marriage was lost a long time ago."

That's probably a good idea.

I mean, I'm a lot younger than this man. I'm not married. And my current relationship is actually WONDERFUL THANK YOU VERY MUCH. So, I can't really comment on this cause I can't relate to it.

Good for him though... I guess...

"You know, if you want to pay those bills, we have to vote Alec out."

THANK YOU.

HOW MANY EPISODES DID THAT TAKE FOR YOU TO REALIZE THAT ALEC CAN'T BE TRUSTED?!

"Don't worry, no matter what, I'm not voting for you tonight."

That's gotta be a lie.

Miriam, you gotta avenge Tom and Jake. You can't spare her.

"We can try to flip Fiore to our side."

HOW 'BOUT NO?!

I JUST REALIZED MIRIAM'S THE ONLY TEAL TEAM CHARACTER LEFT.

The Merge started with, what, FIVE of them, and now in the Final Four there's only ONE?! THAT'S CRAZY

I mean Ellie swapped to Teal that one episode, but you know what I mean. She originated from Purple, so whether or not she counts is debatable.

"Today's challenge will be played in pairs."

Oh how lovely.

Miriam is screwed.

"The teams will be random."

Oh boy. Here we go.

WELL DAMN. MIRIAM IS SCREWED.

Goodbye to all the nice characters. Nice knowing all of ya.

A villain is winning this season.

"I'm stuck working with Alec... again."

At least you're FORCED to this time. I can accept that.

"You guys gotta cliff dive into the area below!"

TOTAL DRAMA REFERENCE.

THE MOST ICONIC FIRST CHALLENGE OF THAT SHOW EVER.

*Gets a... suggestive ad*

Okay. YouTube. Why? I-I can't even talk about that without getting flagged. Stop it.

An ad like that is allowed on YouTube, and yet people get demonetized for saying the F word.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnddd you both are gonna feel that in the morning.

Not as bad as what happened to Harold though.

AIN'T NO WAY

OH MY GOD

AIN'T NO WAY

That's awesome.

10/10 reference. Love that.

Oh come on Miriam. I thought you had good aim.

Imagine if there were sharks here like in the Total Drama one.

"This is the only time in my life I will gladly commit child murder."

I DID give Miriam slay pass, so you know, she's just using it.

Blame ME for the child abuse in this episode. I'm the one who gave her the slay pass.

Technically I gave it to Jake, but he's not here anymore and HE gave it to Miriam, so...

"UGH, how I hate that *BLEEP*"

Oh god...

I WILL say, the swearing is inconsistent in this show.

In Total Drama, ALL swearing is censored.

With the exception of the 'uncensored' version of the show, the version I watch, where they can say 'shut up' or 'crap' or 'boobies', which I would argue are not even that bad. ALL severe swearing of Total Drama is censored.

In this show, it's NOT all censored. They've said stuff like 'asshole' 'shit' 'goddamn' 'bitch' and even 'fuck' a couple times. Very casually mind you. And like, anyone who's been in middle school can get used to that language so it doesn't mind me. (I actually don't use that language out loud in real life, it's just text that I have no problem using it.) But then you have Grett's F bomb censored in her elimination, and you have this being censored.

I get it, YouTube, pain in the ass regulations. But it's because of that a moment like this does not hit NEARLY as hard as, say, Lindsay cussing out Heather.

Yes her swearing is censored, but that's also what makes it catch you off guard, it's funnier, and it's EASILY one of the most iconic moments of the entire show.

I'm just saying, if you're gonna swear, SWEAR.

If you're not gonna swear, at least make the censorship consistent.

(Digital Circus is a WONDERFUL example of how to do this right)

OH GOD THAT WAS A HEAD SLAM

I want to say I feel bad for the six year old getting abused, but...

I don't.

"I'm not saying I called it, but Trevor, you owe me five dollars."

That's ANOTHER Total Drama reference.

In their penultimate episode of the first season, Chris and Chef made a bet on who would barf first from the dares the campers were doing.

That's a smaller detail people probably don't remember. But I DID.

I'm not a Total Drama expert. I don't know everything about this show. BUT. I DARE YOU to tell me with a straight face, brutally honest, that you legit found THIS reference to TD on your first viewing of this episode.

YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T.

I AM AN ACE AT THE TOTAL DRAMA KNOWLEDGE TEST.

YES I AM CURRENTLY BRAGGING, WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!

*Patreons*

We're not even halfway through the episode, holy shit we are in for it with this one.

Oh the cafeteria is built! Wow!

They're definitely using this in Season 2.

(You guys want me to watch Season 2? Cause I can do that)

"Do you think she could be persuaded?"

Uh, how do I put that? You betrayed her, say, THREE TIMES?

That's a no.

"Of course. It'd be easier to beat a little girl like you than Miriam in the finale."

"TCH. THANKS DUDE. THAT REALLY MAKES ME FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF."

Fiore, you're worse than an old lady, how does that feel?

"Ellie, you have to stop winning these challenges."

"Uh... thanks, I'll just throw I guess."

"If you win, you'll go straight to the final with Alec. Think about your chances of winning against him versus with me or Fiore."

Yeah, that's a really good point...

Miriam's still gonna beat your ass in the finale, but still.

She's gonna slay Ellie SO HARD and it's gonna be SO EMBARASSING.

"I don't think she wants to go to the final with Alec knowing that she will lose."

Yeah.

I'm telling you, Fiore does not give a SHIT about Alec. She'll ditch him in a heartbeat.

I say that like I didn't see last episode...

Maybe she does care. But she'll still ditch him.

"I promise."

*Oreo ad*

I guess they're sharing Oreos with this promise.

W-what?

What am I watching right now??

"No Trevor that's not dancing you're having a seizure."

XD

"But dancing is a great way to relieve some stress and to have some fun, according to my horoscope it's the best way to express your feelings!"

Honestly, facts, as someone who uses Just Dance to workout.

That won Trevor some points for me.

"We spent years trying to have our own reality show and now our dream is finally a-a reality haha, see what I did there?"

Is this trying to make me care about these hosts?

It's too little too late, but I'll take it.

"No more wildlife so we can film in different areas without the activists getting all up in a bunch."

YOU ARE MURDERERS. I DO NOT FORGIVE YOU.

Even CHIRS MCLEAN, THE FATHER OF ALL SOCIOPATHIC HOSTS, ISN'T A MURDERER.

Though he has attempted multiple times.

"Dude, we've already lost three cameramen to the grizzly bears alone."

Is there REALLY no other solution to your problem?

FENCES? ZOOS? Anything??

"WE don't need to do it. Jensen will."

OH THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

Oh fire making. That's a Survivor thing, right?

I'm surprised Total Drama didn't do this.

I guess this sabotage is allowed. Okay.

I've seen worse cases in Total Drama, I guess.

Fiore just keeps getting SLAMMED.

And I do not feel bad for her AT ALL.

SHE JUST THROWS THE CHILD XD

Miriam, you are AWESOME.

"That hurt!"

"We won!"

Miriam is cold blooded, OMG

EVERYONE in this Final Four is cold blooded.

Oh it's that sound effect...

Should I put the 'Keep Reading' label here then????

I'm gonna do it.

"You and I can also work together to become the final two after that."

GODDAMN. MIRIAM, YOU'RE COLD.

Okay, this is DEFINATELY a Survivor thing.

"You cannot grab the top with your hands and your feet must be on the line."

Oh. Okay. I was gonna say 'just wrap your feet around the pole' but you can't do that.

"Sounds easy."

"For you, yes, cause you're small."

But she's a child, wouldn't that make her less capable of endurance than Ellie and Alec?

How are you already slipping? We just started!

I say that like I would do better. I probably wouldn't.

NO MIRIAM

"You're much lighter than me. Do you think you can last longer?"

Oh you're not slipping and trusting Ellie, are you?

You're a dumbass.

"But unfortunately, I can't have us winning this."

YOU DUMBASS.

Does Ellie have my forgiveness for this???

Um...

That's a debate. First you apologize for the death threat. THEN we'll talk.

"What if they can't agree?"

"In that case, you and Ellie would go to one last challenge to decide who gets eliminated."

Oh really?

Is that what we're gonna do?

...or is Fiore gonna ditch Alec's ass? Did I call it?

"I choose Ellie. And I won't change my mind."

Okay.

"Well... I..."

Moment of truth.

She's gonna ditch him.

"Alec... I really liked you, and that's dangerous, because feelings are for weak people."

OH.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH.

"I vote to take Ellie to the final."

I. FUCKING. CALLED IT.

😂

GET FUCKED, ALEC!!!!! GET! FUCKED!!!!!

"But after all I've done?! I protected you this whole game! I helped you win the zombie apocalypse challenge, saved your life in the cave, covered up your plans so no one would suspect you're a PSYCHOPATH, and you STILL eliminate me?!"

THAT'S ON YOU, YOU DUMBASS.

WHY WOULD YOU TRUST HER?!?! SHE'S A PSYCHOPATH! YOU KNEW THIS. YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN IT COMING.

"Yes, thanks for all that, but I don't need you anymore."

👏😂👏

SHE DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU.

WHAT DID I SAY?!

Yeah, she cares about literally nobody.

She WILL ditch these guys on the bus the moment she has the chance.

And she's gonna show no remorse doing it.

And when that happens I'm gonna be HOWLING.

WELL HERE I AM.

SHE DITCHED HIM, NO REMORSE, AND I AM HOWLING.

AWOOOOOOOOOOOO

I CALLED THIS.

"Oh come on Alec, out of everybody, you're the last one who should be talking about feeling betrayed."

GET. HIS. ASS.

"This doesn't concern you. Keep it to yourself, Ellie."

You betrayed her three times. She DOES get a right to say that!

See, THIS is a good moment of Ellie ROASTING someone who fucking DESERVES IT.

"Your parents were right about you. You are a mistake."

"Oh. I know. And I don't care. Oh, and I bet you'd know a lot about making mistakes."

AWOOOOOOOOOOOO

I do not feel bad for Alec at all. Let's be real. HE DESERVED THIS.

YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE PUT YOUR FATE IN THE HANDS OF THIS PSYCHOPATHIC CHILD. THAT IS ON YOU.

GOODBYE, SIR.

🎉FINAL THREE!!!🎉

We're really going the TD Reboot route with this, huh?

It's an ALL WOMEN finale, too! That is a TREAT.

Total Drama never had an all women finale. They had ONE finale with both finalists being boys, i.e Revenge of the Island. But NO all women finale.

Okay, that was the episode.

GOOD LORD, THAT ENDING FELT GOOD.

I'm sorry, but after FOUR eliminations with three of them being my favs and the previous two eliminations BREAKING ME and DEPRESSING ME respectively, I NEEDED THIS.

I NEEDED A BOOT THAT WAS STRAIGHT UP SATISFYING.

I don't hate Alec or anything, he's just not one of my favs. I feel like I've reacted to his scenes the least of the Merge characters.

I think my take on his is Objective vs Subjective.

Objective he's a good character with a somewhat compelling character motive of his family, and a nice dynamic with Fiore. Plus he's one of the few characters to not be so overdramatic. So I can see how that would appeal to some people. (Idk how many Alec Stans there are)

Subjectively I just don't find him as interesting as some of the others. One reason being I can't relate to his story and struggles, which is completely personal as I've never been through any of that. Second, I'm just personally more invested in characters with more emotional range to them. In Total Drama, I expect characters to be, well, full of drama. So the messier more dramatic characters catch my eye more than someone who stays away from a lot of the drama.

But I can also see how people who hate the drama would like Alec. (Why you watching Total DRAMA if you hate drama then? Not shaming, just asking)

He's a nice character. But for me, he's a dirty backstabber, he's an assistant to a psychopath, he's implied to be horrible to his family, so yeah, FUCK HIM, GOODBYE.

Next episode is the finale, so we're almost done with the season! Yay!

Ellie and Fiore, I called as finalists since the Merge.

Fiore's the villain, so of course she'd be a threat in the finale.

I would maybe have considered the idea of her being fourth like what the TD Reboot did. BUT the TD Reboot had another character that was willing to play dirty in Julia's place, and Alec's got NOTHING on Bowie, sorry not sorry. (Bowie's my favorite TD Reboot character)

Ellie, I called since the Merge. Compelling motive to want to win. She had Gwen energy. Well, Gwen energy but much dirtier with some of her tactics. Some tactics I hate, but that's subjective. I can see her winning, honestly. I said this before. She screams 'winner' energy.

Miriam is a SHOCK. I... WOW.

I never hated Miriam, but she definitely grew on me after Episode 5. I see Ellie winning but I'm personally on Miriam's side. She's just a sweet, sassy, capable, and wholesome lady with some great dynamics with other characters.

Idk why, but Miriam never screamed 'finalist' for me. She was always under my radar in terms of the thought of 'who could win this'.

BUT, I will say, I DEFINATELY DO NOT HATE THIS.

Miriam is a good finalist choice.

Anyway, idk if this will get any attention because of the Season 3 finale, but hey, I can continue these if you guys seem interested and entertained by them.

[bi-bard]

Fine - Joel Miller Imagine [HBO's The Last of Us]

Title: Fine

Pairing: Joel Miller X Reader

Word Count: 1,050 words

Warning(s): Spoilers for episode 3, grief, mention of death

Summary: [Season 1, Episode 3] Joel, (Y/n), and Ellie make it to Bill and Frank's home in the hopes of getting some help. What they walk into is enough for (Y/n) to feel like they're falling apart. And beg for more from Joel than a plan for the next step.

Author's Note: Because I needed a fucking hug after that episode, and I didn't get one.

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

I knew something was wrong when we saw the fence around Bill and Frank's place.

I wasn't sure that Joel saw the same thing as me until we looked at each other. There was an air of uneasiness around us as he walked up to unlock the gate.

I grabbed Ellie's arm before she could touch the fence. I pointed to the high-voltage sign.

"Oh," she muttered. I nodded.

Joel held the gate open for us.

That uneasy feeling only got worse as we got closer to the house. Something was wrong. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. After what happened with Tess, I wasn't sure that I could handle what could have possibly happened to Bill and Frank.

The wooden gate was squeaking as it swung back and forth on its hinges.

The front door was unlocked.

It was all out of character for them. They kept the house in good shape. For their safety.

The creaking of the floor against the complete silence didn't soothe me at all. I could see the dust forming on some of the tables and shelves.

Joel called out to Bill and Frank.

When there was no response, he decided to go looking for them.

"Stay with her," Joel said to me, pointing to Ellie. I nodded.

Joel went down the hall. Ellie went to the sitting room while I peeked in the dining room. There were dishes sitting on the table. The food had flies gathering around it and it was going bad. I furrowed my eyebrows.

This was wrong. So, so wrong.

Ellie came in a minute later. She sat in one of the dining room chairs.

"I found a letter," she held up the paper for me to see. "'To whomever but probably Joel'."

"Let me," I held out my hand. She sighed and placed it in my hand.

I shouldn't have done that. I should have just left it to Ellie.

She dropped the key on the table as I opened the letter.

"What happened," she asked as I read the letter.

I didn't have a good response. Maybe it was the shock or the sadness. Maybe I did have a way to explain it, but I just didn't want to because if I said it out loud, then all of it was real. It didn't really matter. All that mattered was that I couldn't explain it to Ellie.

I dropped the letter on the table and stepped out without answering her. "Joel!"

He turned to look at me. His hand was resting on the doorknob.

"Don't," I said, nodding down at his hand.

His eyebrows furrowed but he still pulled his hand away.

When we both made it back to the dining room, Ellie was reading over the letter.

The first time I read it, I was able to hold back tears and hold myself together. Hearing it read out loud, I didn't have anything to focus on. I didn't have that choice.

I blinked a few times and tilted my head back, trying to keep myself from sobbing in front of Ellie.

I heard Joel tell her to stay put as he swiped the key and walked out.

I looked at his back for a second before turning to Ellie. I held a finger to tell her to wait there before I went to follow Joel outside.

"Joel."

"Go inside and watch Ellie."

"No, Joel," I shook my head.

"(Y/n), I am not fighting about this right now," he muttered as he stopped. "Just go. I'll be right back."

"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

The air shifted. It tensed. I was never one to yell. I was rarely known to cuss. I think Joel had some understanding then that I needed to be properly heard.

"For the love of God, please don't pull the drill sergeant act on me," I begged. "You may be able to compartmentalize all of this and keep moving, but I can't do that right now. We just lost our friends, Joel. Three people that we trusted and we cared for. You have your brother out there to keep you going, but I... I don't have anything other than you."

He didn't move.

"I... I can't deal with that like you can," I muttered. "Please... just... stop... just for a moment."

Joel took a deep breath before turning around. I saw his face shift. Like he hadn't realized that I had started crying until that moment. I closed my eyes and turned my head down.

A sob escaped me as soon as he pulled me into his arms. My face ended up buried in his shoulder as I hugged him as tight as I could. I felt his arms tighten around me as a shaky breath escaped him.

"I love you," I mumbled.

"(Y/n)-"

"Shut the hell up and listen to me," I stopped him. "Like it or not, I care about you and I love you. I... I need you to know that. To hear it."

"I love you too," he replied, voice closer to a grumble than anything.

I squeezed my arms around him one more time before stepping back. I grinned at him before wiping away what I could of the tears that had fallen.

I reached over and did the same for him. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone, so you can hold onto your tough-guy act."

A chuckle escaped him. "You're an ass."

"Yeah, so are you," I shrugged. "Get back soon, alright? Don't do anything stupid."

"Do I ever?"

"You don't want a real answer to that."

He glared at me for a moment. I just grinned a little wider at him.

I watched him walk away from the house. I turned and walked inside. Ellie was standing next to the window. She had watched the whole thing.

"Bill and Frank had a working shower last time I was here," I said. "Maybe you should go see if it's still working."

She slowly nodded. "Are... Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm fine."

She didn't seem to believe me.

"Go," I nodded toward the staircase.

She held her hands up and went up the stairs.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Fine. That was good enough.

I was okay with fine.

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

Navigation Guide

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

[realchemistry]

Everything that went right and wrong with 9-1-1 season 7 (according to me, duh!)

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the season a lot, but that doesn't mean that it was flawless and I thought the finale didn't deliver. So, this is me pointing out what I did and didn't like and why, and how I wish it'd happened instead.

Also: it's a short and somewhat rushed season due to the writers' strike, this I know. You know who else knew? TPTB. So, nope, it’s not a valid excuse for any of its shortcomings. If they tried to bite off more than they could chew, that's on them.

Everyone knows that having a three-episode arc for the honeymoon was a bad choice, it was clear because the episodes dragged due to it and the Bathena drama made no sense. Let's say they had to keep up with the tradition and that it's a huge budget deal to build those sets so they had to milk them for all they were worth. Fine. It could've still been made more interesting, but wrong choices were made. I didn't appreciate the whole pirates taking over thing, and the season ended with the cartel, which... why do you want to have POCs being the bad guys so badly?

So, let's go by the assumption that having a three episode arc for Bathena's honeymoon was the only choice possible, fine... but didn't Madney deserve a lot of attention as well considering they got freaking married? Why was that not a two-parter? Why not have a first part with cases and some fun bachelor/bachelorette shenanigans, and have Chim disappearing be the cliffhanger? Why not dedicate a big chunk of the second part to that, like they did, and then actually give the wedding some breathing room? Sure, it mirrored their kiss after the whole Doug debacle but these are two main characters who got married. It's a drama show but the drama gets old if there are no bright moments in between.

The inclusion of Amir was interesting because of what it brought up in Bobby. Plus, the actor was clearly great and he was such a big deal that he, well, he was given A LOT of screentime. This made me mad because the show, as previously mentioned, was short on time as it was. Having a new character come in and have such a huge role would make sense if we were talking about a full season. As it was, his presence meant that some of our regulars were pushed to the background. Their storylines suffered for it, and while the show usually does this, it's sorta okay when screentime is divvied up between the regular cast. When it's an outsider... well, I have some issues with that. Like, we literally know more about Amir than we do about Ravi at this point. Also: Amir was clearly an amazing person and he was wronged time and time again. Athena got to play solo-cop as it's her thing, and we're supposed to think she was being heroic instead of downright wrong and abusing her power? If I were Amir, I'd sue her and I'd burn their house down for real (not really, but you know what I mean). They put this man through hell. Sure, Bobby saved him... which felt such a white savior redemption thing. And I know the show and the character said otherwise, but it still felt awful and then it just got worse. In any case, they could’ve made this story play out with more nuances instead of devoting so much of a short season to it to the detriment of our stable cast. 

Buck had an amazing start of the season, finding himself and his truth and sharing it with his family. The fact that they had him entering the dating scene with a character like T*mmy... I didn't like that. Any random person would've been better. But, also, I don't wanna be that person but this is my blog so I'm gonna be: Oliver clearly hasn't been enjoying the latest interactions between these characters to the point where their scenes, few as they are, are actually hard to watch. The last one was literally the most cringe inducing moment of TV I've ever witnessed. Instead of Buck exploring himself, we have him reacting to the odd, negative and out of place comments that T*mmy keeps throwing his way. It's just weird and not at all the happy story Oliver was hoping for, so I get him. I hope this gets better next season, with BT being bones and Buck being able to thrive instead of falling back into a revamped awful dating life.

On the other hand, this season was the Buddiest of them all. Well, I mean, it had the most hints of it actually happening at some point. When Buck talked about there being underlying sexual tension in the premiere, it was just ashslgjñhjsdñgjsñdg. They were comparing Chris's interactions with girl friends and boy friends but we all know that wasn't all that was. We had Eddie talking about how much growth Buck had done from being a playboy, which funnily enough he never got to meet, to the person he's today. Another great indicator were the whole 100th/101st episodes, with Buck clearly wanting to get Eddie's attention due to jealousy, which everybody could see, and the ~reveal that the episode was from Buck’s POV which was also incredible because that man is so in love it’s just insane. But, even most importantly maybe, was Maddie's scene with Buck... It was a mirror of her calling him out on his guy crush on Eddie from season 2, with the circled with a heart around it, but the next episode it got real. To me, her words and her face spoke volumes: first she couldn’t believe Buck was with Eddie’s friend, then she told him he might not be sure of his own feelings and finally that if there’s something he needs to tell Eddie, he will, just in his own time. That was NOT about Buck being bisexual, it was Maddie reading right what Buck was reading wrong: how Buck had been jealous because of the way he feels about Eddie and how he was putting his feelings for Eddie into somebody else. Someone safe for the time being, all things considered. That's a thread waiting to be pulled when the right time comes if I ever saw one! I've been giddy just thinking about it ever since, tbh. We also had a Buddie scene in pretty much every episode, and I absolutely adored them in the bachelor party because they were so in sync, as they were all season long actually. The parallel of Eddie asking for Buck’s help at the end was nice as just that, but the story... I’ll rant about it later. I love that Oliver has been pushing the Buddie agenda harder than ever, so I'm hoping he's talking Ryan's ear off about it and that they'll demand it from Tim soon enough.

Onto Eddie, the problem with the whole Kim thing actually starts because they killed Shannon in the first place. They should've never done that, I've always thought this way. She was a great character and seeing Eddie co-parent with his ex would've been great storytelling, he could've still had a breakdown due to divorcing her or even her dating again or whatever. Besides the insanity of Kim going back to his house after learning the truth, the fact that Eddie broke down and caved in was understandable. I actually thought that was pretty well done. The problem was all that followed. We don't care about Marisol because the show never made us care about her, so her part in all of this is completely irrelevant.

As for Chris, I honestly have SO many issues with his reaction. Him being confused would only be right, but being that mad with Eddie? I honestly feel like I'm missing something because the two of them have developed such a strong relationship that it feels like Chris's reaction was totally OOC. Why wouldn't Chris want to know Eddie's side of the story? Why would he want to leave his dad and his house? Why would he want to leave the state? Why would he want to go live with his grandparents? Sure, he has a good relationship with them at this point, but we can only gather that by... imagining it, for the most part. How long since they been around? Why not mention that they were visiting or that Chris was with them when he was away to set the stage? It honestly feels like it was all improvised and they wanted to leave Eddie without Chris and this was all they could come up with. There were other ways that could've actually made more sense to get to this place, but they chose to do it in a way that's both hurtful to the characters and to their progression throughout the seasons. Make it make sense!!! There's also the fact that the finale script was all written under the assumption that Eddie and Kim were kissing when Chris showed up. That didn't actually make the cut. This is clearly a consequence of rushed scripts and filming schedules, and while we can interpret every scene saying they kissed as an exaggeration or simply a wrong interpretation of the situation, it actually made me very mad. Having characters rehash what happened the episode before so the people who missed it can catch up is normal but I hate it with my whole heart. Those people can go to hell, but if they're gonna spend time of the finale doing that, the least they could do is make the facts fact. Sure, Eddie was going insane and he said it was hard to explain but everyone in-show very much believed that Eddie kissed Kim. This is upsetting because of the exact reason why that kiss was cut, as said by Ryan in an interview this week.

On top of this, Chris is 13 years old. Eddie letting him go is not it. Eddie has every right to tell him he's staying whether he likes it or not because he's his father and he gets to decide where he lives. The show tried to make the whole thing come out as noble but I thought it was bullshit. From what we know about Eddie, he wouldn't just let him go: he would either tell Chris to stay put or go with him. The fact that, again, they clearly wanted to have Eddie alone for whatever reason, and they couldn't find a better way to pull it off... that's just bad on TPTB's part.

Hen and Karen were put through hell once more for no reason. Why can't the big obstacle for them be simply getting through Mara? Why do they have to get to a good place only for it to be ripped away? Don't say it's drama tv, I don't care, people on screen deserve happiness, damn it! They most of all, tbh, and the fact that Denny was so upset just made it 5464641636469 worse. Then we had Madney helping out, which was lovely but completely unrealistic from a legal pov and also... why can't HenRen just get what they want without a het couple's intervention? So Ortiz has enough power to get Mara away from them but she didn't know that the people wanting to foster her were part of the 118 even though she had something to do with Gerrard being reinstated? I know this is what Tim implied on his socials to explain why someone as shitty as Gerrard would be taken back by the firehouse... which, I don't know if that even makes sense? Does she have the kind of power to do any of this?

A lot of questions now:

Why was a random woman given so many precious minutes of the finale just so Athena could have a car to go after an innocent man? Why does she keep getting away with asking for personal favors, recklessly involving Maddie too? Why wouldn't the editor of the episode give us a frame at least of Buddie by Bobbie's hospital bed? This made me particularly mad because it actually looked like Oliver and Ryan were not there filming (though we knew they were), and that's why they kept showing their backs. Maybe they had lines, maybe not, but a few seconds while Chim, Hen and Maddie talked would've been nice... since it clearly seemed like nobody was particularly perturbed by Bobbie's state. I'm sorry but I can't fear for his life when his wife is away trying to get revenge and his team are just... there. Also, why are him, Athena, the aforementioned neighbor and Amir allowed to just walk into a house that suffered that much fire damage? Wouldn't the structure be compromised? Plus, Athena and Bobbie kinda were awful to Amir, first killing his wife and then accusing him and all, so why would he want to talk about anything with Bobbie, nevermind say he's earned his family? He was wronged so badly, he didn't owe them a thing, it's honestly ridiculous. Then Bobby came back so fast... but he had quit before and forgot about it? The Gerrard reveal was actually not something I hated because I love a good shake up. I bet he'll last three episodes at most. We know this isn't gonna be good exactly, and it makes zero sense, but a change in dynamics is always refreshing and could put some things into perspective. I hated when Buddie weren't partnered, but I ADORED the way Hen was weirded the fuck out by the closeness she is not used to having with Chim while on the field, so I can't wait for some of it.

Things I wanna see:

More May, more Ravi, Eddie’s sisters. More Buddie. No dating people to fill up time for either of them. Eddie’s gay/demi awakening (I swear, if this is not where his story is going, it will all feel like such a waste, much like during his previous breakdown). Chris and Mara going back home soon. Gerrard and Ortiz getting what they deserve.

This is so long it's insane, if you've read it, I thank you. If I think of anything I forgot, I'll add it later. If you have anything to contribute, please do. I'm around and I'd love to discuss this show and all its intricacies.

[lorelaiislatte]

Do you think there's a chance a streaming service will pick ncis:h? I've signed the petition but do we dare to hope? I'm tired of this happening all the time. I just dont understand. It was doing fine in ratings and it's a part of a franchise that keeps getting more spin offs? How that makes sense? Do you know the ratings compared with the others ncis shows? Sorry im asking you but im not from usa and i have no idea how american netwoks work. So sad rn.

okay SO i am also not from the us but have done this dance before sooooo:

1) from what i’ve heard, they were planning to move either another ncis show (i think sydney?) or another cbs show to paramount plus - which they now are no longer doing. in theory yes, this opens up the possibility for ncishi to move over there; in practice, i’m not holding my breath, as typically that negotiation would happen before a cancellation announcement

2) how does it make sense? the honest answer is that it doesn’t. like, it really doesn’t. it’s been holding steady at sixth of 14 cbs shows in the ratings (which is a brilliant number, ensures it’s profitable, and is also impressive for a procedural that’s still relatively new). it’s been beating a LOT of other crime procedurals in viewership and viewer retention, and reviewers have been singing its praises. i think this is why it feels so much as if it’s because they just view this show as less valuable (socially and economically) than their usual white guy cop shows; it’s very difficult to argue that your profitable, successful show is too expensive when you’re flying cast and crews across - or, potentially, internationally to - australia, to continue a less-highly-rated show with no issue.

3) as far as ratings go - ncis hawai’i episodes were pulling in as many as 10 million viewers last year (s2 e10 came in with 10.5 mil, as per variety telecast viewership reports) which has it going toe to toe with the core ncis (seems to pull approx. 8-10mil per episode, via hollywood reporter). for the 18-49 demographic across us series, ncis hawaii is ranking at #13 of #21 as per tvseriesfinale.com - this is significantly above ncis sydney (renewed, #15), and elsbeth (#19, renewed), two other cbs shows, one of which in particular is incredibly expensive. crucially, ncishi has actually increased its viewership, which is VERY difficult to do on a year to year basis. its up by 4.18% among 18 to 49 year olds - for comparison the core NCIS is down 0.83% and fbi international - a competing show - is down by 3.73%. bear in mind that even a single percentage point represents hundreds of thousands of viewers.

i also want to point out that ranking at #13 isn’t strictly representative of viewer numbers, it’s about percentage of viewers that are within that core age bracket. the neighbourhood is ranking at #6, but only pulling in 4.8 million viewers - ncishi is at #13, and pulling in 5.2 million. ncishi pulls in over half a million more viewers than four shows ranked above it in that chart.

so essentially - it doesn’t make sense. from any perspective. it doesn’t make sense from a business perspective (ncis sydney is more expensive to produce and brings in approx. 200k less viewers than ncishi, and ncishi crew had already agreed to a shortened, budget-restrained final season), it doesn’t make sense for a ratings perspective (it continues to outperform many of cbs’ own shows, including ones that have been renewed), it doesn’t make sense from a social perspective (people are loving it, even outside of our fandom spaces).

objectively, it’s a really, really bad move by cbs. i also thought being part of a franchise would be a kind of safety net - fool me once, i guess. all the evidence suggests that they just don’t care enough about ncishi, especially when they’ve got their bullshit white guy ncis origins show, a young sheldon spinoff (?? who asked?) and a plethora of other cookie-cutter shows they can just keep going with. and we can make a pretty educated guess as to why, when the main things that set ncishi apart from the other ncis shows are its diversity and character dynamics

(edit: it was pointed out that people aren’t being flown to sydney from the us, which is true, and bad phrasing on my part - but many are flown across australia at seemingly similar costs to mainland us/hawai’i flights, and i believe not all of the leads are based in australia either, so i’ve updated that bit for clarity. apologies!)

[jugheadvarchoni]

Ranking every Riverdale Season (from worst to best)

Reminder: this is just MY opinion. Feel free to share your own!

7. Season 5

With the exception of the first 3 episodes (which I just consider to be part of 4), this season was just a huge nothingburger disappointment. The idea of a time jump was cool, and it even started out okay. Then it quickly went off the rails and not only fell back into repeat territory but the jump itself was just executed so poorly… I was beyond done with Hiram villain stuff atp. The Mothmen were fine, just nowhere near as good as the Gargoyle King or Black Hood for me. Too many characters are written TOO awfully (especially the queer characters) and sometimes it feels like they tried to cram way too much into it. It just leaves the season feeling bloated and incoherent. Best parts by far were Toni getting a big role and the introduction of Tabitha.

Still, those weren’t enough to save the season imo. Overall S5 felt the least like Riverdale to me & it was lowkey boring a lot, so it gets last place. Boo. 🍅

6. Season 4

I’m actually so serious when I say I really love this season. S5 is probably the only one I dislike, the rest of these can change at the drop of a hat lol.

The main reason I’m putting S4 here is that it was very hit or miss with my enjoyment of the storylines. Jughead’s stuff at Stonewall was okay. Cheryl got another unhinged story when she should’ve been getting therapy, Archie’s story was mind-numbing, The Auteur was creepy and great until it was revealed to be Jellybean (wah-wah-wah). Maybe it has to do with COVID throwing things off, but the whole season was just a little lackluster and disjointed. Also, TICKLE-PORN?????

The tribute to Luke Perry was beautiful tho. Miss him. 💔

5. Season 1

ALRIGHT. Before you pull out those pitchforks, just hear me out. It’s an incredible season, it’s the most well-written, the tone was amazing, and it set everything up perfectly.

But I do think that because it’s only the first season, and because it’s so short, a lot of the dynamics I personally love just don’t exist. Toni isn’t on the show yet. And I feel like part of what made Riverdale stand out, WAS the craziness and the willingness to do literally anything remotely cuckoo, which S1 just didn’t have. I’m just personally very attracted to wackiness of the other seasons. It’s a little overrated.

But again, this still season is INCREDIBLE and I’m still obsessed with its’ vibes.

4. Season 7

Don’t hurt me. 😭

But buckle up, because I have a lot to say here.

I REALLY had such a good time with this season… I mean, the Choni of it all is really want gets me obsessively thinking about this season on a daily basis. The way they were treated in the first half is everything I wished for them back in the earlier seasons. If this were a ranking based on Choni throughout the seasons, S7 would be #1. Kevin also got a ton of great stuff. S7 was so kind to the queer characters… Other than them, I just love how they got to have FUN. They took us back in time and basically just put the characters into an old-timey Archie Comic. Ridiculous but entertaining side plots that actually kept me interested and put the characters in a totally new environment. And despite the fact that people seem to want to ignore this, they ARE still the characters we’ve known and loved since S1, they just didn’t remember. But the memories are still there, and still inform all of their decisions and relationships.

Unfortunately, my biggest gripe with S7 is the way it feels disconnected to the rest of the show overall. They really let the comet story flop hard. Even if we decided to stay in the 50s in the end, we should’ve had way more time with our characters with their memories. They should’ve had conversations that were long overdue, that circle back and bring things to a close, the way final seasons should. I would’ve preferred they go back to the present, but in an altered timeline due to all the changes made to their lives. Tabitha was WASTED and thrown away and it makes me so mad tbh. They chickened out with the Varchie vs Barchie thing and instead we got that dumbass polycule and everyone dating everyone only for literally no one to end up with anyone (except Choni & Clevin uwu). The later half is especially a letdown, because that’s when we should’ve been ramping up to the end with their memories and certain people coming back together. Instead, we just got a lot of randomness. Which, while fun, doesn’t make for a good final season imo.

I think this season would’ve been ranked in my top 3 had it NOT been the final one…

It’s such a polarizing season for me and that’s why it’s smack dab in the middle!

3. Season 2

What a lot of people consider the glory days lol.

Everything that was well-established in S1 was built on and just made even better. The dynamics between the core four and each one of their storylines was spot on and interesting. Black Hood is probably the most interesting mystery villain we ever had on the show and delving deeper into the Cooper family was great. The slasher horror movie vibes with Black Hood’s story & his victims were just elite.

The season was darker and full of lots of twists and turns, which I always appreciate to keep my on my toes. We got introduced to Toni and Choni was born!

It did have some meh stuff tho, the Archie vs Hiram wasn’t all that interesting to me in this season, even though I DO like Hiram a lot. He’s always been an intriguing character to me, I just think he was severely overused. I also don’t like Bughead lol. The Chic stuff is hit or miss. It was bordering on crazy, but not quite at that sweet spot yet.

Overall this season was more exciting and deeper than even the likes of S1. And this is, of course, where we started getting into the Southside Serpents and the gang wars, which I think is such an iconic aspect of the show. Just a fun, deeper, more interesting season for me!

2. Season 6

I’m a sucker for witches and magic and time travel shenanigans, so this season was RIGHT up my alley. Rivervale, Sabrina, the spookiness, Cheryl’s witch arc, Percival was great, Tabitha getting to shine, I loved SO much of this season. Having one villain, that they all focus on I think did wonders for the cohesiveness of the season. Almost everyone got involved in it, there weren’t as many tangential storylines, and the buildup to the comet was so much fun. It was the perfect blend of camp and wackadoodleness and serious life/death stuff.

The worst part for me, is the ships. Tangs being a plague on society and them making Toni’s whole storyline about being a mother (a bad, awful one ugh). Fangs was never a standout to me, but they just made him insufferable this season. The custody battle was insanely stupid and a waste of time. “Baby Anthony” sucked (Dale FTW). Barchie has always bored me. Cheryl/Heather just felt like besties lol. The ships suffered hard in this season lol.

Still, we got Choni confirmed soulmates and Thabigail + Jughead/Tabitha were cute. So that aspect wasn’t ALL bad.

Tonally, it’s soooo different from the other seasons but I think they strike a better balance between mystery villainous plot and campiness than the other seasons. I ate up the supernatural and horror stuff, the plot is one of the most consistent in the whole show, there’s good character development and I just loved the craziness. They easily redeemed themselves after that abysmal S5. 🙏

1. Season 3

Ahhh PEAK insanity. Wild, compelling, dark but also silly af sometimes. The show went off the rails in the best way and I have a blast every time I watch it. A true fever dream. They embraced the crazy and I think that’s what sets it apart from all the other seasons. Imo, there isn’t a single “bad” episode here. They were still in high school, giving us that teenage drama/those dynamics that made Riverdale what it is. My fav ships were together (not without their drama), there was an intriguing mystery with the Gargoyle King. The flashback episode with the parents was amazinggggg and I loved everything about the Gryphon’s and Gargoyle’s storyline and how it trickled down to affect so many people. The atmosphere of the season, the main cast that got focus and actually got to have screentime together, Heathers heing probably their strongest musical. I love it SO MUCH.

There are some weaker points tho. There is a lot that happens this season, like A LOT. But I enjoyed it so much that I lowkey give it a pass for being so convoluted. Dilton was wasted and killed off after not getting much in general. Bughead & Veggie suck. I wish the G&G and Cult stuff had been intertwined better.

An organ harvesting cult led by Chad Michael Murray? Archie fighting a bear? Mass seizures? Babies thrown into a fire and then levitating? Veronica opening a speakeasy as a teenager? Choni cat burglars? Archie in juvie? Bunker sex? Speakeasy sex? Fizzle rocks? Killer DnD? THE EPIC HIGHS AND LOWS OF HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL?

I-C-O-N-I-C. Riverdale is at its best for me when it doesn’t care about being a normal gritty teen show. Maybe this season was a little messier, but I think the sheer fun and craziness more than makes up for that. Everytime I rewatch this season, I enjoy the crap out of it and am reminded why I love these characters and this silly little show so much. ♥️

So to recap:

S3 > S6 > S2 > S7 > S1 > S4 > S5

P.S: if there’s a major typo or I put something in the wrong season, lemme know. I just regurgitated this all from memory when I woke up so my thoughts were hella jumbled…

[coraniaid]

Brainstorming Different Endings To Doppelgangland

Inspired by this post (and the reply from @secretlyasummers), here are some ways that Doppelgangland could have ended that don't necessarily involve the gang cheerfully sending a soulless vampire back to her own world because she misses killing and torturing people. Would these have been any better than the canon version? No, but they'd all have annoyed me in a slightly different way.

1) Vampire!Willow doesn’t come back to the Bronze after being captured in the library.  The gang debate about what to do with her, with Willow being keen that she get to live (just as she is in canon), but when they get back to the library they discover she’s managed to break free.  Last shot of the episode is her heading out of town.  She may or may not be coming back.

1A) As in (1) but we actually get to see that our Willow deliberately left her something to help her escape (much like Xander’s Lie, this can be something she hides from the others and which seems like it should be really important but that the show only ever half-heartedly follows up on once and only in its final season)

1B) As in (1) but – tying up the episode, which began with the Mayor telling Faith he was going to have Willow killed – while heading out of town vamp!Willow runs into Faith and is staked

1C) As in (1) but – remembering who the vamps she recruited originally worked for – vamp!Willow tries to kill the Mayor to take over as Big Bad, finds out he is invincible and is (again) staked

2) Rather than kill her, our Willow offers to try to cast a spell to give her a soul.  Vamp!Willow is so disgusted by the thought of being like her dimension’s version of Angel (or, really, any universe’s version of Angel) that she stakes herself instead

2A) As in (2) but rather than kill her, our Willow casts a spell that she promises Buffy will render vamp!Willow harmless until they can figure out what to do with her.  Good news: rat!Amy now has a new friend!  (She is prone to biting but that just means she’s friendly.)

2B) As in (2) but rather than offer to give her a soul, Willow just does it without worrying about any question of  permission or consent.  (This doesn’t change the plot much, but it’s arguably much more in character.)

3) The episode’s plot plays out more or less the same but at some point Anya drops the exposition that, because the spell she and Willow carried out wasn’t done properly, in a few hours after being brought to this world vamp!Willow is going to return to her own dimension anyway.  The audience gets to hear this but the Scooby Gang doesn't  Just as Buffy and Willow are arguing about what to do with vamp!Willow, she vanishes.  Cut to her being staked by Wishverse!Oz just as in canon.

3A) As in (3) but we don’t see what happens to vamp!Willow in her own dimension, freeing up the possibility of her returning to the show again. 

4) The episode just plays out exactly as it does in canon, but we don’t get the (slightly cowardly) reveal that what the Gang did is actually fine because vamp!Willow got staked immediately anyway.  This (rightly) makes fans of the show a bit more uneasy about what the Gang chose to do. (This also makes the return of vamp!Willow in later episodes possible.)

5) Anticipating Season 4, the episode ends with D’Hoffryn showing up and saying how delighted he is by all the chaos and devastation caused by Willow’s spell.  He lets her know – much to Anya’s chagrin – that a vacancy for the post of vengeance demon has recently opened up and suggests she might be interested.  Willow is horrified and turns him down, but vampire!Willow accepts in her place and they both disappear before Anya or anyone else can do a thing about it.

6) The episode plays out exactly as it does in canon.  However, sometime in Season 4 we get another Wishverse crossover episode, this time with the Wishverse’s version of Kendra traveling to our world for some reason.  Willow cheerfully asks how the other Willow is getting on, and a horrified Kendra asks her if she’s really admitting to sending a vampire back to terrorize the population of Sunnydale (she then turns to Buffy, looks disappointed, and shakes her head: “no wonder you died”).

7) Vampire!Willow doesn’t come back to the Bronze after being captured in the library.  The gang debate about what to do with her, with Willow being keen that she get to live (just as she is in canon), but the Gang’s deliberations are interrupted by the arrival of the Wishverse version of Jesse, battle-scarred and wearing an eyepatch, who delivers a long speech about how much time and effort he has spent studying magic to bring her back to his dimension to face justice.  (Xander is conveniently out of the room for this whole thing, while it becomes obvious as the speech progresses that Buffy cannot remember who Jesse was.) After Jesse and Vampire!Willow vanish, this scene is never explained or commented on again by anyone.

[psychicsolanum]

TUA S4 SPOILERS

I have so many thoughts after finishing it.

yet I feel so empty lmao.

I'm gonna put my disorganised rambles under a read more if anyone is interested and/or wants to scream with me about it

umbrella academy is one of, if not, my favourite show ever made for its storytelling and unique art direction yes, but mainly its characters and their dynamic, like everyone who loves this show.

i love the fluffy sibling relationships and how their trauma affects how they live and behave with one another. everything is built off of the characters!! it's never revolved around love interests unless it made sense and I really loved that. patch (mostly), dave, ray, lila and even Delores tied into the main cast's arcs and pushed the plot forward in a way that I thought was really satisfying and didn't take away too much from the family dynamics that the show focuses on.

so why did they choose these random romantic relationships this season to focus on? I thought the twist about Ben's death was actually great and unexpected personally, (and i loved seeing the kids go out on a mission; i always wanted more flashbacks to their childhood) but to boil it down to a virus that made him fall in love with someone he just met? that's so boring and so unlike anything they've done before imo!

also what happened to sloane lmao. I know basically nothing about behind the scenes stuff but what was the point of having her and Luther get together last season if they had no plans, I'm guessing they must have and the actress didn't come back?

and I feel like hargreeves' grand plan that caused everything in this show to happen feels so anticlimactic now. I mean I guess it literally meant nothing now. this feels like life is strange all over again but worse lol.

Klaus! thank god he exists in this series. what a breath of fresh air any time he was on screen. i never thought i'd be so relieved they threw him into another side quest lmao thank god he wasnt burdened by the main plot too much. I don't mean to say I'm completely happy with what they did with him, they started this arc of like, not letting his powers define him and finish his transformation that he's been continuously going through since s1, but because the show ends with everyone killing themselves it just kind of fizzles out? still love him and his careless whimsy, i thought the way he got his powers back and the scene following it was really good. as always wish they explored it moreeeeeee ughhhhh. Omg they never did anything more with the void or God either. I loved that stuff :(((((((((((

I cant even think about the five and lila stuff without getting mad so I'm just gonna say: fuck you for that. what the fuck were you thinking. why. why. why. in my head five is aroace and moves on with his life, maybe takes up golfing idk. who cares. anything else. HE LITERALLY SAID "I WANNA FUCKING KILL HIM" ABOUT DIEGO IN THE LAST EPISODE?!?!?!?!? and he hid the way home to her children from her for months???? I like the very end of the plotline where it explained founder five, very Loki, but that could have been accomplished without the 7 year romance...............

I think the 6 year time jump reallllyyyyy did not help this season at all. it just led to all the conflict with Allison being resolved instantly and her only story being the one klaus is living with. also wtf was going on with her powers why did they just give her telekinesis thats way more boring than her rumours! I like the tiny bits we got with klaus and allison but it was so short! with the time jump we missed so much development, most of them feel like completely different characters for no real reason. the only thing we know about luther is that he became a stripper, and viktor owns a bar in canada i guess??? these guys were most of the main plot in season 1 and they were so one dimentional this season. i feel like we barely got to get to know Claire or Diego and lilas kids which would be fine if the rest of the plot going on with the other characters was good and engaging, which i felt it wasn't. I don't even know the kids names apart from Grace, which is very cute ill give them that.

The show ended with the main cast doing a group suicide. ceasing to exist. none of them getting to heal.

I'm sorry I don't want to be a hater and I really do hope that some people loved this season but im just so sad lol. i liked the first couple eps and I really love these characters, judging by twitter I'm not alone in my disappointment though lmao. what was the potential s5 gonna look like?!?!?

I loved klaus and Allison a lot and we got little snippets of greatness, I want a spinoff of them now!!!!!!!

I'm excited to hear other people's opinions, maybe I'll see other perspectives and feel a little better haha.

klaus 4ever 🖤☂️🖤

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

WHATISUPEVERYBODY you know it wasn’t my intention to watch literally one episode every two weeks but here we are i guess ITS TIME FOR ANOTHER KNOX REACTS TODAY ITS MONKIE KID SEASON 5 EPISODE 4 LESGET IIIIIT

The ssssstorm within, alright, alright, something to do with Mk and blowing up maybe? who knows, perhaps we shall find out MWAHAHA! Well, i mean obviously we’ll find out we’re watching the episode—listen i just woke up i can’t be held responsible for my incoherent ramblings LETS MOVE ON

Face in hands bro i miss flying Bark. BRUTAL DUDE (gotta say it at least once every episode sorry bois :pensive_emoji:)

Sniffs, just plow straight through the underbrush its fine—

Monkey King and Mei face down… okay…. this is…. a very fun frame i will admit…. who wants matching icons—/j/jj/

PREGUFFINGLKJA;DSF WE’RE REALLY RIDING THOSE MCGUFFIN JOKESLKGMSDF

sniffs

scratches head. okay so we’re just using sandy yelling as a gag now… cool cool cool okay sure sure, not like Sandy never raising his voice made the emotional beat of him yelling when contention happened devastating and startling. I guess the whole overwhelming Mk with WE GOT THIS!! talk would be an inevitable one, it always worked before. I mean, except for during the season 2 special. And… any other time hype up hasn’t really… worked… Listen I’m just overanalyzing probably but some of the choices in this season with the characters just feels off to me. Ngl with every episode I watch, the less it feels like monkie kid to me. The last one wasn’t so bad, and hey, we’re only a minute 25 into this one so that might change but that’s my gut reaction right now. Makes me a bit sad! I’ve been watching Dragons Rising (ninjago) with my buddy and been having the time of my life, the animation is gorgeous and it feels like the new peeps really understand the characters and its honestly so much fun, and then I’m kinda sitting here with monkie kid and puzzle pieces that don’t really fit and I’m not sure what to do with it! I know like, it’s the same writers but it just does not feel like it to me. Could be how rushed they always are, they’re doing their best, like—oNCE AGAIN TO BE CLEAR, when I criticize anything or say it feels off, this is NOT me saying bad writers bad people bad bad bad, I’m just saying how it feels to me! It feels almost like they’re trying to bring the comedic lightness of season 1 back but like… it feels kinda plastic and wrong! WORDS FAIL ME, PLS DON’T QOUTE ME I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT LETS MOVE ON

the kneeling down is kinda cute good for them

Sandy hype man!

…..

Is he just trying to get them all out of there so Mk can have some breathing roomGML;SMADF Cause otherwise splitting up is a terrible idea

Special Sandy training!!!

Mk smashing rocks together, okay that was cute h;LGKAJWOEF

Sandy so excited about meditation

sniffs

I FEEL LIKE MK COMPLAINS A LOT MORE THAN USUAL. Why is he so whiny?? Was he this whiny before? Am i losing my mind???? I’ve never wanted Mk to talk less before what is going on

Mystic Monkey meditatiNGN;LAKSDF WHY IS HIS FAKE BEARD ORANGELKMGSDF oh he’s impersonating sandy. SANDY AND WUKONG HAVE SIMILAR COLOURED HAIR I THOUGHT HE WAS USING MONKEY KINGS HAIR COLOUR DON’T LOOK AT ME HGLKAJSDF

The crackity cracks are backity back

“I see you” WELL THATS METAL DOPE

I WILLL ADMIT, THIS IS GREAT, BRO REALLY NEEDS THIS BIG ITME

….me fr pretend to meditate so true==

Storm within that’s funny

SANDY’S A GREAT PERSON TO TALK TO ABOUT THIS

LIL SNEK

I GOT SOMEONE TO FIGHT TAT’S NOT JUST MY THOUGHTSLKMGOWIEFMSDF

MK PLS

ooop next—SECRET TUNNELLLL SECRET TUNNEELLLLL THROUGH THE MOUNTAINNNNNNNNNNN

Just got led to it np that’s funny

Mk’s opening secret access swishy gold thing is fun

Bro’s really assaulting a rock

Owaaaa big ol turtle…. with cracks!

HELPGLKAM;WOEF

Classic

Ah yes meditation, who could have seen this coming

gGKASDF BRAVADO KILLED

I know he’s complaining as a deflection but :T man Mk whining so much is getting old really fast. Like its for the gag and you could say its for the deflection but MAN. Every four seconds he’s got his whiny voice on, bro?? I’m hoping they get all the humour they want out of that gag in this episode :(

I SWEAR I’M NOT TRYING TO BE NEGATIVE THIS IS JUST DOING A NUMBER ON ME OUGH

HEY GET OFF MY SANDY OI

RELEASE MY MAN

COME ON TURTLE

Bro literally has to face his trauma to save his friend what the heck turtle that’s so rude—

OKAY WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO WATCH THIS? I’ve tried two separate types of headphones (one stolen from my brother) a friend’s tv and just my computer’s speakers and the audio volume difference in the voices vs the music is STILL jarring. Like???? I have it turned up so much just to HEAR the voices and TRY to understand them and then the music kicks in and its bLARING and AGGRESSIVE and NOT IN A CINEMATIC WAY. dear gods its like they made monkie kid as unfriendly to watch as possible for me what is going on I’M TRYING TO ENJOY MY MONKIE SHOW STOP JARRING ME OUT OF IT [SHAKES LEGO UNTIL THEY FALL TO PIECES] I’M TRYING TO ENJOY MK HAVING TO FACE HIS TRAUMA SOMETHING I’VE HIGH KEY WANTED TO WATCH SINCE SEASON 1 WAILS

Acknowledging the “okay, i want to push that away, but i’m not going to” is really neat i like that

Hello disembodied voice

Okay, i may not be vibin with the audio, the animation, or the jokes in this ep, but my GODS does Ashe know how to write brutal dialogue. The reason Mk being so afraid of his monkey powers is because he likes it?? Oh yeah, I’m down with that i am SO down for that, I have been clawing at that concept for AGES, I am SO DOWN

So who’s going to be trying to control mk this season? Snake guy?? Newbie?? The choosing yourself and making your own path is really heavy handed so far hL;GJKASDF

Sandy’s advice?? GOD TIER. We love that. I love actual good advice in cartoons thank you

Conversations with self!!! OHHH OHH I LIKE THE EXHALE

TAT WAS NICE

OKAY SO THE HWOLE MIND SEQUENCE I’M A HUGE FAN OF

TERES MY BOY

Sandy’s trigger word is Worthy huh he dont’ like thatLKGMA;OWEFWHEEZE

nah we are so glad Mk has Sandy here actually that is so good I’VE BEEN WANTING SANDY MOMENTS FOR SO LONG AND WE GOTTEM THANK YOUUUUUUUUUU like, the rest of what i said still stands but the emotional beats still hit really nicely and I’m very grateful we still have that!

Yeah that car is gonna get smashed by mei or pigsy and tang yeah yup there we go

oH WOW-oh nvm there it goes

well ! Wonder what mei found! That felt like a little bit of a clunky ending bit for some reason i can’t explain but! Big fan of the Sandy and Mk content I love them, totally deserved, been wanting Sandy talk like that for AAAAGES BLESS

Okayokay, always ending on positive note so lets go over one more time: Mk’s talk with himself? BANGER. Once he got talking, I really liked the dialogue and I really liked the vibe of the whole thing, Loved his exhale, loved the admittance of that all being part of him and that he chooses to work on other parts of him that is AWESOME and super cool to see depicted the way it was all cinematic and cool we love that. Love diving into a little bit of the complexities of our man Sandy! Love him opening up a bit to Mk so he can see he’s not alone in his struggles! That Sandy’s got something like that too and he’s still one of the most wonderful kind people Mk knows! The people who Mk has surrounding him are all exactly what he needs and that’s really cool!!! Ough okay welp, maybe I will be thinking about Sandy and Mk’s dyname for the rest of all time RAAAAAAA I REALLY enjoyed how they wrote them there.

Thanks for reading! Sorry I’m still a bit all over the place with my reactions, i feel like I keep repeating the same things but by GOSH the audio is THROWING ME. But yeah that was a nice way of addressing some of Mk’s trauma, even if it was only for like three minutes, its well done and I enjoyed it! very excited to see they can still nail those emotional bits. HOPE Y’ALL HAVE A SPECTACULAR DAY AND GOOD VIBES HUNT YOU DOWN RELENTLESSLY. KNOX OUT

[the-sun-and-the-sea]

umbrella academy season 4 spoilers :(

This show meant a lot to me in 2020-2022 and even though I’m not as into it now i was still really excited for season 4. I was enjoying the first episode or two even though it felt really different than the other seasons but as it went along i just started to feel more and more like tua has been over for a long time already :(

I did like a few things about s4. I enjoyed the Klaus and Allison dynamic a lot and how their relationship was developed. I liked seeing another flashback from their childhood and finally learning how Ben died (although…idk what that even was). And it was satisfying that Viktor got to say his piece to Reginald.

Here are some other thoughts:

I kept expecting Sloane to show up but no. She just disappeared at the end of last season and we never figured out where she went??

Apparently Ray and Allison are no longer together but we never find out why or when or how or any of that. Where is Ray?

I would have loved for Viktor to be able to reach out to Ben at the end, paralleling their scene together at the end of season 2 where Ben saved Viktor. I really thought that’s where they were going with that.

Ok Five and Lila. Just going to leave that there.

No but since when does Five (who survived 40 years in the apocalypse, killed the Commission’s board, and worked tirelessly for weeks to save the world so that his family would be safe) just decide to leave and let his family die?? What

We did not need romantic love between Five and Lila. Not necessary.

Also I’m sort of confused, why did ghost Ben never tell klaus that Reginald killed him?

Why was Jennifer in the squid

I don’t understand anything about Jennifer actually

I’m also confused about what Reginald and Abigail were doing can someone explain

I used to think i had a strong understanding of this show despite its complexity sometimes but not i don’t think that lol

I think the ending is fine, but i wish Ben was there with them. I was so excited to see that this would be a Ben-centric season…that’s not exactly what i meant

I love ben and he deserved better

Also five said something in one of the earlier episodes like “this is why i never got married” like what about Dolores??

I wish Allison’s actions in season 3 had been addressed more. That was a really contentious season for her and i would have loved for the siblings to work through some of that. But no. Six year time skip

When i think of tua i’m always going to think of seasons 1 and 2. There’s so much interesting stuff to work with that I’ve loved writing/reading about these past four years. I don’t think I’m going to be spending a lot of time with seasons 3 and 4, but i might continue writing about the earlier seasons. That’s about all i have, lmk if you have tua thoughts!

[unearthlytraveller]

Babylon 5 Rewatch: TKO

Today, I have done something I literally have not done in two decades: watched B5 in airdate order, not JMS's recommended order. If I were to do the latter, the next episode after Signs and Portents would be Grail, and TKO wouldn't come until nearly the end of the season.

The recommended ordering doesn't make a lot of difference, especially for this episode. We have a couple of pieces of foreshadowing for the season finale, but they can go anywhere. The big issue in season 1 comes with Legacies, which aired before Babylon Squared but really has to come after it. It does do a slightly better job of spreading out the good episodes, however. By airing order, we get four mid-tier episodes before A Voice in the Wilderness and Babylon Squared, then one more before the season finale. With the recommended ordering, we would have two before then three after. But on the positive side, we've got this episode out of the way; watching it is now in the past, not hanging over us like the Sword of Damocles.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of this one. B5 has never been great at depicting hand-to-hand combat, and while the fights here were not as bad as I remembered, they still aren't good. As if that wasn't enough to write off half the episode, I really don't like our main guest character spewing slurs, even if they are fictional ones.

These were criticisms I remembered from my last viewing, but I found some more this time. The Muta-Do looks perpetually bored. If even he is uninterested, why should I be? The sports news section looked shockingly cheap; it actually surprised me. And the final question is: if its so important that humans don't take part in the Mutai, how the hell has it been on B5, a human station, for several years? That would mean they basically uprooted to the station as soon as it came online!

The whole "humans should not interfere in our special alien customs" thing feels thematically related to western cultural dominance and appropriation. This is awkward in story, because Earth is a relative upstart and weak on the galactic scale. It also makes the "actually. humans are just fine in the Mutai" conclusion a bit ehh. I mean, yes, Smith got in by respecting the customs and traditions of the event, but I feel that there wasn't time to handle this with appropriate depth and subtelty in one of two plots in a filler episode.

One final thing about this side of the episode: this is Walker Smith's story. Except, we'll never see him again. Now, I could to some extent forgive that if it was good, but see above. Among our main cast, only Garibaldi is involved, and what do we learn about him? Not a lot. There's another reference to his alcoholism; we see that he doesn't watch his back; and... that's about it. So, we can't even justify this with character development.

So, let's go on to other plot. This one is at least about one of our main characters, and Ivanova definitely benefits from the attention. There are even a couple of nice scenes between her and Sinclair. It's a shame, then, that this plot deteriotes into predictable melodrama.

OK, so I've just written 7 mostly negative paragraphs about TKO. So I want to say, I don't actually hate this episode. It's just... there. I sat, I watched it, it's over, at least the next episode has a guest appearance from David Warner.