#just to add some more parallel to connie there

[theivydorms]

ROSEWOOD RENAISSANCE READATHON DAY TWO (part one)

THIS IS YOUR SPOILER WARNING and yappuccino warning, im yammering on quite a bit

the way I was immediately able to relate to Lottie recognising car brands from hanging around a boy was insane from the first time I read it to now

"she was not like the other students" Eleanor not like other girls Prudence Wolfson we love you

BINAH MY FAVOURITE WALKING PILE OF BOOKS

Lottie calling Binah "tiny owl girl" then Binah's next words being "fledgling" is beyond perfection and yet another example of connie's writing prowess

the first few times I read UP I would spend ages to trying to see if I could work out what "idiopathic craniofacial erythema" meant but now I know that I will no longer understand science words since getting a C at Nat 5 physics and running from the science department like my life depended on it

if someone has drawn, is going to draw, or has seen art of the archway with the engraved copper portraits of the founder PLEASE LMK! ID LOVE TO SEE IT

I do love the prominent inclusion of twins throughout the series as a twin myself BUT THE FACT THEYRE ALL SO OFTEN LUMPED TOGETHER MAKES ME JUST A LIL ANNOYED. were Shray and Sana attached physically at the hip? why would they both have founded one thing? I dont get it but I do appreciate it cant lie and ofc the parallels to the Tompkins twins!

I for some reason just got like whiplash from Lottie introducing herself as Charlotte to Binah - I think that might be the only time she introduces / refers to herself personally as Charlotte? like the "y" sound at the end of name and the soft L sound at the start just make so much more sense for from just a oration aspect

"If she’d only known in that moment the domino effect those words would have."

QUESTION ( I know Lottie was tired and overwhelmed but) do English people genuinely think about their counties so often that they'd possibly assume someone asked if they were FROM ANOTHER COUNTY? WHILE AT AN INTERNATIONAL BOARDING SCHOOL? like im Scottish and I think about the area im from like regularly but if I thought someone asked me if I was from another county / shire / area I would be wondering why the hell they would be asking that so specifically

honestly iconic and hilarious of Binah to add "she's international" when introducing Lottie

OKAY IVE BEEN TALKING TOO LONG - chapter four and hopefully five will been in a separate part!

[soaptaculart]

I read through the case descriptions for Karmic Convictions, and I'm super interested on how cases 4 + 5 work out

also really curious on that case Fran worked on 9 years ago

Alright go on then... you got me... we've made some more progress ironing out the details in the uh (looks at the calendar) Over Six Months since I talked about it before lmao so I will give a bit more of a synopsis of the Big Plot Things(tm). 

WARNING: VERY VERY LONG POST

(For convenience's sake, first post talking about the rest of the cases here)

So. The overarching plot, the case Franziska has been on the trail of for years and is in Japanifornia to pursue, revolves around a particular poison, which I'll call poison X I guess. It's very deadly and very difficult to detect, and Franziska is working to shut down its distribution channels on the black market and try to chase it back to the people behind its production. I mentioned this before, but the GS-4 incident 9 years ago was part of this ongoing case - Franziska had tracked down a suspect, believed to be involved in the production line, but had to postpone their trial when Klaus and Constanze were kidnapped to blackmail her. Although she found them in the end, her suspect was killed in the meantime, and the kidnapper they caught also was killed before they could learn anything about who he was working for. This was the beginning of a pattern, where any suspect identified in the case seemed to be killed off as soon as they were discovered.

It's probably easiest if I lead with this, so: the big bad, the one ultimately at the head of the poison X empire, is a character actually introduced in case 2. I'll call her Lady Grace, because we don't have a surname for her yet lmfao (she's not literally a lady, that just sounds more fun than any alternative I could use). She's a very prolific actress and philanthropist in her 50s or 60s. She comes across as just a very charismatic, helpful, friendly and kind rich lady. But in reality, she has built a large part of her massive fortune through distributing poison X, and weaponised her charisma over the years to establish a wide network of very loyal accomplices. Obsessed with maintaining her good reputation and public image, she takes no chances, and is exceptionally good at manipulating people into helping her cut off any loose ends that could lead the trail back to her. With the help of her longterm collaborator, the forensic scientist I mentioned, she was also able to cover her tracks a lot of the time.

Incidentally, the victims of case 1 and case 2 were both accomplices of hers, although neither of their deaths were directly orchestrated by her. Case 1 victim was a prosecutor who helped to direct suspicion away from her and her accomplices, them dying was not part of her plan at all lol. Case 2, the victim is the curator of an art gallery that Lady Grace contributed a lot of funding to, which is why she was there as a witness - but actually, a lot of her donations were covers for transactions related to poison X, and the curator was under investigation by Franziska for black market connections. Case 3 is unrelated to Lady Grace in any way, but poison X was the murder weapon. It's All Connected Ahhhhhhh

So case 4 takes place at a fancy high society masquerade party at some rich guy's house, where the host is killed in his garden, and his daughter accused. Lady Grace reappears as a guest at this party. It comes out over the course of the case that almost everyone there was connected to the black market and the event was pretty much a cover - very underground auction vibes, for my AAI2 gang (that's not really a spoiler if you haven't played it, don't worry). Athena identifies the possibility that poison X was involved in the host's death and then the cause of death was disguised as something else, but forensic testing revealed no traces of the poison in his body, but Ema discovers something that suggests that result was wrong. It's when they go to confront the forensic scientist about that that he turns up dead in his lab, having been killed by Lady Grace before he can talk.

By case 5, the scientist's role in covering up evidence is exposed, and Lady Grace has got rid of so many of her accomplices that she's being left to do her own dirty work. With her control over everything collapsing, she starts to make mistakes - things like leaving trace evidence behind at the scene, forgetting there's nobody to cover it up for her anymore. She also kidnaps Klaus herself to blackmail Athena and Constanze, but can't stay with him since she has to be in court as a witness, so the gang are able to find and rescue him and he is able to remember and draw things he saw while captive that implicate her. Athena and Constanze are able to poke more and more holes in her armour until it all breaks down. We see the downfall of somebody so obsessed with keeping absolute control and a pristine reputation that she severs every connection she has and is left with nothing, strangling herself with her own safety net.

(In my head, the idea of reputation, expectations and perfection is a big theme in this game, particularly as it relates to Constanze's struggle. Athena is a beacon of truth, openness and trust in others who strongly believes and demonstrates that your authentic self is the most powerful thing you can be in the face of adversity, and Constanze trusting her and coming together with her and letting go of her worries about what others think of her is what lets her take down somebody who believes only in protecting themself and their image. Lady Grace is a similar person to Manfred von Karma in a way, although better at hiding how evil she is lmfao. What Franziska wants for Constanze is for her to find security in who she is, so she may never find herself on that path)

(ALSO I think it's fun to put Athena against a villain who's an actress. Such an accomplished actress that even Athena struggles to hear her true feelings, perhaps? But by the end, as she's coming apart, they shine through and Athena can see right through her? Much to think about)

THAT WAS EVEN LONGER THAN THE FIRST POST LMFAO. If you read then I hope you enjoyed :) If it wasn't obvious I think about this story uh. So much LMAO

[fuwushiguro]

oh my goodness i can go on and on about why i don’t think he is the father. it may be a bit long, but i swear it’s worth the read. some manga spoilers btw

so first, the timeframe doesn’t add up. eren wasn’t in paradis when historia would’ve gotten pregnant, but the farmer obviously was there. and there isn’t ever a 100% that a girl will get pregnant from one try, so it makes more since for the father to be the farmer since they would’ve had more time.

i truly don’t think that eren would just get historia pregnant, and then have her ask the farmer to pretend to be the father, just to ditch her right after and go to marley. at that point, eren is pushing everyone away, including mikasa and armin who are the most important people in his life. that’s not even up for debate.

when eren warned historia about the MP and told her about his plan, it’s because he needed her to keep quiet. and eren was actually against historia getting pregnant and basically becoming a breeding machine. he said to her that her only two options are 1. hide or 2. run. historia is the one who brought up the idea. and people try to say that she straight up asked if eren would have a kid with her, which she didn’t. she said “what would you think about me having a child?” now… idk if it’s just me but usually when people talk about having a kid, they usually say “us” as in “us having a kid”… but historia didn’t say that.

and no matter how much eren seems like this cruel asshole, i highly doubt he would get someone pregnant if he knows that he’s going to die. to just leave them with a fake father. having a family probably never even crossed his mind because whether he didn’t go through with the rumbling or not, eren was going to die. die young. eren never really got to live and that brings me to my next point

ik you said you don’t ship eremika, but im gonna talk about them bc it’s important. from chapter 139, we know that eren loved mikasa and wanted to be with her and didn’t wanna die. eren never got to express that to her tho. he purposely didn’t bc again, he knew he was going to die. that’s why he said those things during the table scene. he wanted her and armin to hate him so that they wouldn’t be sad when he died. if eren can say the things he said to them, beat up armin, you cannot tell me he would be willing to get a girl pregnant. especially if it’s not the girl he loved. so even if eren is the father, it wasn’t a baby made out of love and we know that.

another big thing is that the only significance of historia getting pregnant is so that she could survive. that’s it. it doesn’t matter who it was with because she just needed to survive.

the farmer is also supposedly a yeagerist ? so that makes even more sense for historia to go to him. they’re also childhood friends and there is a lot of parallels between the two. historia in a way is just like her mother, trapped in a terrible situation. that could explain why she looks so depressed going to talk to the farmer, and why the farmer looks so stressed.

also, eren literally went from calling her “the worst girl in the world”, traumatizing her by basically telling her that he’s gonna commit genocide and that she has to keep quiet. just for them to hookup? doesn’t make sense.

and let’s not forget that eren and historia can barely touch each other without seeing a whole bunch of traumatic ass memories. he literally kissed her hand and saw grisha (and himself) kill her family. people romanticize the hand kissing scene so much when literally isayama, WIT and MAPPA have made it clear that that was not a happy moment for eren. that is what caused his downfall and for him to go crazy. pretty much the beginning of the end.

and people try to use eren caring about historia as evidence. eren cares about everyone. he didn’t want historia to inherit the beast titan. and he told everyone else: jean, connie, sasha, armin, and mikasa that he doesn’t want them to inherit his titan. eren cares about everyone. yall saw him go fucking crazy while trying to save armin’s life. and mikasa activating his powers and promising to wrap the scarf around her forever and always.

and in the chapter where eren talks to zeke about mikasa… basically asking him why she is so willing to protect him, we see a panel of historia and eren from where she asked him about her having a kid. now, zeke has never even met mikasa, yet just from eren’s description of her, her immediately knew that mikasa just loved eren for eren. not because of her ackerman powers. and eren has so much self hatred (he literally said that he hates everyone who isn’t free, that includes himself and historia, but i will get into that later) that he couldn’t possibly see how someone could love him. but zeke said “she just likes so you so much that she is willing to put her life on the line to protect yours”. zeke asks eren how he will react to mikasa’s feelings for him, and then it shows the panel or eren and historia, which indicates that he is thinking about her. isayama purposely included that panel there, but not for the reasons people think. again, from ch 139, we know eren loves mikasa, so already we know it’s not because he has feelings for historia. it’s because after historia asked eren, isayama cut the dialogue out, so we never heard eren’s answer. eren then says to zeke, “what are you talking about? i have 4 years left to live at most. their lives will continue on once im dead. i just keep moving forward.” that was his answer to both zeke and historia. because mikasa’s feelings and him being with her, and historia having a kid both have something to do with the future, which is something that eren knows that he wont be apart of. so, he cant act on his feelings for mikasa, and he cant have a kid. isayama included that panel of eren and historia to show his answer to both situations.

the only real evidence that eren might be the father are the devil and the girl with an apple parallel. and also historia’s parallels to ymir fritz. the girl (ymir) offered the apple, which symbolizes pregnancy, to the devil and thus is what started this whole journey of titans and war between humans. ymir was a slave, just like historia. and that’s another reason why eren told historia about his plan, bc he knew that she would go along with it. throughout aot it has been a constant thing for historia to just follow orders and never truly think for herself. that was the same for ymir. that’s why eren is not the father, because what eren is trying to do is get rid of titans. he is trying to end the curse. by historia just following eren’s commands, history is bound to repeat itself. that’s why unlike ymir and the devil, eren did not accept the apple aka having a kid with historia. he wants them all to live long lives. he wants to get rid of titans. if he was the father, it would be going against literally all of that. eren has said that he hates anyone who isn’t free. this includes historia. historia is a slave, just like how ymir was.

now, the biggest thing about all of this is ymir and mikasa’s connection. mikasa loves eren, but several times it has been shown that she does not agree with his actions (more so in manga than the anime because wit did a terrible job with her character’s dialogue). that’s why she gets those headaches; it’s when she doesn’t agree with eren. and going back to eren’s self hatred and mikasa loving him. since they were kids, mikasa loved eren for eren. she saw the good in him. and despite his actions and despite the fact that she ultimately had to kill him, she still loved him.

eren said that it was mikasa who ymir was looking for all this time, not historia. people say mikasa is the slave when it is actually historia. historia couldn’t be the one to end the titans curse and free ymir because she is a slave just like ymir and because of her parallels to her. mikasa is not a slave to eren, and that was proven when she killed him. and in the panel of mikasa and eren kissing, ymir is seen smiling at them. ymir has never felt real love. she saw it once with the two people kissing, but she never experienced it. she was nothing but a slave to king fritz. so when she saw eren and mikasa, she was smiling because she knows that that is true love AND because mikasa freed her. mikasa was willing to kill eren, which led to the titan curse ending, which was what eren wanted (other than his freedom). and actually, in a way, eren did get his freedom because the scarf symbolizes his freedom. in the ending scene, the scarf becomes a bird. birds have been a constant thing in aot that symbolizes his freedom. he gives the scarf to mikasa, that symbolizes that mikasa is eren’s freedom.

people also think that ymir was supposed to be reincarnated into historia’s baby. which is just dumb. ymir has suffered 2,000 years in paths waiting for someone to free her. why would she want to be reincarnated? and if ymir was the one guiding eren this entire time, you would think that she’d show eren her being reincarnated. and if that was the case, then EREN would’ve been the one to go to historia about getting pregnant, not the other way around. another reason why the baby is just for survival and people are looking way too deep into it. and we would’ve seen way more historia if the ending did revolve around her, eren, and the baby. the baby was also supposedly born before eren died. and ymir was freed after he died, so how can she be reincarnated into a baby that’s already been born?

and to us, the farmer may be a side character, but not to historia. she has probably seen the farmer more than she has seen eren. and from the panels of him telling her to take better care of her body and him literally being in the same room while she’s in labor, praying for her obviously shows that he does care about her. so it is not just some random character.

it’s also literally been confirmed that the father is in fact the farmer. him and historia literally got married.

and when mikasa saw ymir, she said “you’re the one who has been in my head this entire time. you can rest now, ymir.” bc she freed her.

in the end, everyone lost something, but got a little bit of what they wanted except for mikasa and i think that’s truly heartbreaking. eren got rid of titans and his friends lived long lives like he wanted. but mikasa has said before that all she wants to be by eren’s side. and we see that in the extra pages too. she continuously visits his grave, and was even buried by him at the tree, still wearing the scarf. even after he died, mikasa still stayed by his side.

a lot of people just come up with headcanons and false evidence that eren is the father because they love “chad” eren, they hate mikasa, and they just want him to marry and live a long life with the small, blonde, blue eyed queen. a fetish basically.

sorry it was so long but hopefully i explained everything well. lmk what you think now!

Hiiiiii bb i got your ask!!

I read all of this and I have to agree 100%. I don't feel like I need to say anything else because you summed it all up perfectly. I may add some extra thoughts at a later date but I just wanted you to see I answered and read your thoughts. You broke this down so well and it's really well researched. There's a lot I didn't know or think about so thank you for enlightening me hehe

[my-mt-heart]

Fact #1 Connie and Daryl are not getting together. She is a break in the chain of loss and tragedy both Daryl and Carol are used to going through. Period.

Fact #2 Leah is not pregnant, at least not by Daryl. It is amazing where people's mind can take them when they indulge their thoughts too much. Leah represents someone who actually is bound to her past and can't let go, juxtapose to Carol who to her own surprise can and will. Just like Merle was the doomed Dixon brother and Daryl got a second chance. Caryllels and Parallels always.

Fact #3: Daryl has let go of Leah. Listen, that fight Caryl had at the end of Find Me? Very telling. Daryl STILL listened to Carol. She said that he needs to stop thinking that everytime someone is gone that it's his fault. Daryl is very sentimental. Objects and people have meaning for him. That knife he gave to Carol because he is listening to her like he always has. He is letting go of that perception it was his fault Leah left.

Fact #4 Even at the end of Diverged, Daryl was still waiting and listening out for Carol. Look at Seasons 2, 5, 7, 9 and 10 in particular. All of them have very overt clues that Daryl is WAITING for Carol. AK has surely rewatched episodes regarding the Caryl ship. Everything she has written so far she didn't just pull out of her thin air. Everything she writes has context. Are we going to be lazy viewers and not look for context? Go ahead. But I know me and @my-mt-heart will watch for clues and narrative context.

Fact #5 Daryl and Carol have a spinoff. No one is going to take that away. Robert Kirkman also confirmed that the Daryl and Carol spinoff production will start as they get closer to the end of season 11.

Fact #6 If you think Daryl and Carol are not going to get cozy with one another in said spinoff, that deserves all my laughs. No way a man who associates this woman with hope and love, and Carol who literally dreams of him, thinks he is the best man and looks to him when she needs comfort, are not going to cuddle, nuzzle, hug, sleep in the same bed, hold each other if the other gets sick (they ate something bad or have a cold), do some serious level flirting and take care of each other, etc.. assuming they are not canon.

Fact #7 TWD is closing up so many storylines in season 11, INCLUDING the angsty one with these two since freakin' season 4/5 so they actually have new territory to explore in their relationship and friendship for the spinoff. Seriously, that's a fact. Any halfway decent television writer knows that's what going on here.

I agree wholeheartedly. To fact #6, I’ll just add that I think it’s more likely than not they’ll shift into romantic territory by the end of S11, then maybe explore it in more depth in the spinoff. 

[wolfwhiteflowers]

I just think the angst or Daryl's plot twist-whatever, is Caryl-angst ..all about Caryl. So it's very pro Caryl to me. 💖This introduction of the dramatic plot of Leah in the past, could had gone way worse for a Caryl shipper. I mean like Kang could be talking about Leah or C0nnie more than Carol. Instead of Carol, it could be Kelly in the episode to kinda representing a D/L/C0nnie triangle. Or, Carol supporting Daryl and his lost love...with no Caryl fight and being like platonic. The Caryl fight means Caryl care a lot..and writers care a lot about them too and to add focus and plots to it. The writers even mention how they know some fans will not like this and knowing it's controversial. They know about Carylers and they still wanna respect them. IMO, I see it as they're NOT like telling Carylers that romantic-Caryl is not what they have in mind. Kang would say things that would be pretty clear if romantic-Caryl isn't what they wanted to do. IMO, Kang is kinda saying like I know it's dramatic but pls be wait till this angst arc is over. (I guess it's kinda like what Kang did when CZ happen).

So anyway...there's Caryl angst. I wish more people would analyze the fight scene and the ep because it's so crazy and angsty..and got a lot parallels..and I like to analyze lol. 🤔 My meta post here below...

Is it possible that sh-she just left?

What?

It's not an accusation.

Nah, I walked away.

You didn't walk away, Daryl.

I did. I was down by that river.

Stop thinking that every time you lose someone it's because of you, something you did wrong.

I made a mistake.

We all make mistakes. Losing Leah, that's not on you. Neither is Rick. Or Connie. ♪ ♪

Conversation was about Leah and now it's about Carol. Parallel?-they "ran" away. It's like they switch it or mirror this scene with D/L moments.

No, that's on you. 'Cause you never know when to stop.

I'm sorry for Connie. ♪ ♪ But I'm not sorry for going after the horde, and I'm not sorry for making Alpha pay for killing Henry, 'cause I was right.

And that's all that matters, you being right, huh? ♪ ♪

This isn't just about Leah. Or Connie. Or anyone else, is it? Why don't you just say what you wanna say?

You shouldn't have come.

Hunting? I wanted to help.

No, you wanted to run, so you ran.

Alexandria. What the skins did. You couldn't deal with the guilt, so you made it my problem.

Your only problem is thinking you have to save everybody. I don't need a savior, Daryl, and I don't need a martyr. I just need a friend.

Friends don't have the same damn conversation over and over again.

Oh, is that what's happening here? 'Cause this is new to me.

It's what been happening. I'm sick of it.

Well, then you should've just let me get back on the boat. ♪ ♪

I should've. I stopped you from running, and I shouldn't have. Wanna run? Run. I know where I'm supposed to be. I won't stop you this time. ♪ ♪

"Wanna run? Run." I know he's thinking about 10x01 but I think the writers/Daryl are also thinking about how Carol would run away or be away from Team Family since s4. Carol would parallel with Leah here..., or Leah paralleled Carol a bit and it hurt Daryl..that another woman like Carol, left Daryl again.

He said "I know where I'm supposed to be." His quote wasn't really about the letter to Leah, but it's pretty similar to Leah's "Where do you belong, Daryl?" It's about belonging to where and presently, he saying ASZ is where he belongs. Anyway the fight is like Daryl is re-fighting with Leah, but it's Carol. And IMO, it's like Daryl (or Caryl) are given second chance to fix their relationship for the better instead of how Daryl/Leah went. Since Caryl parallel with D/L, it's also saying to me, Caryl are gonna be viewed romantic too because D/L were.

♪ ♪ And I was right. ( Sniffles ) Our luck's run out, you and me. ( Sniffles, sighs ) It's gonna be dark soon. I'm gonna fix the door. ♪ ♪ ( Sighs ) ♪ ♪ ( Hammer banging )

Carol mentions luck which reminds me of the double acorns. And she's fixing the door like she's trying to stay and fix her relationship with Daryl.

[pookiesmcbride]

woke up early to watch the ep and cant go to sleep so i’m gonna rant all my thoughts and important notes here so *SPOILERS FOR 1018*

- the parallels alone between carol and leah make it seem to me that daleah is not endgame, they are literally the same person and if daryl was meant to be with leah they’d make her her own individual with a different story- and give her ample screentime, not half an episode. LEAHS SPEARFISHING MOMENT?? cmon. you cant even contest that.

- daryl not knowing where he wanted to be until carol said she wasn’t coming back for a while then urged him to start his own new life so to speak is significant !

- carol was absolutely beautiful this episode and i rly loved all her lines. melissas acting was stellar and their fight was so well acted honestly, the chemistry of both her and norman bouncing between them was amazing and this is the kind of angsty fight we’ve been wanting for them. the communication was actually open for once. the fight was really one sided but carols words to him just make sense to me, idk how to describe it better. like she certainly seemed in the right to me, and i love the small apology for connie- i feel like that was needed so ppl will stop fucking hating her for that.

- daryls got a stick up his butt this episode because he thinks carol came out there with him to run away from her problems(some she caused) again back at alexandria. i’m not sure if i agree with him on that or not, bc i think she has a lot to work through still in this aftermath of the whisperers, but also she’s in the process of that ?? idk it’s weird. but i can see this leading to her trying to work through that in diverged, setting down her roots possibly. i can also see her searching a lot for connie too.

- another possible thing i could see happening in s11 that we had originally predicted is that carol finds that she doesn’t know where she belongs anymore and decides to leave with negan. to save maggie the trouble, and to maybe get out of daryls hair so he can start a new life with either connie or leah. i have this weird background thought that leah may show up and they’ll let her assimilate into alexandria and she’s gonna be with daryl for a little while. perhaps this will happen while carols gone away with negan, and daryl doesn’t go after her bc that’s what he said he’d do in this ep. (i’m now wondering if that was foreshadowing) but i think this life with leah is gonna make him realize that carol was the one. that him and leah don’t really mesh well bc he doesn’t know her as well as carol(which fits well with our original ideas about him being a one and done type). he’s gonna realize carol’s the one his heart belongs to, and maybe leah will notice this too. daryls gonna reminisce on their plans for new mexico and i could see him having a big breakdown over letting carol leave, and he’ll go after her full force knowing exactly what he wants. but unfortunately this daryl leah thing seems extremely possible in s11, if only briefly- and i just hope it leads to his realization of his true love.

-cant think of anything more to add, other than im excited to see carol in diverged to see where her story might be going. and also for carol dog content. i think caryls gonna be awkward for a while, idk how long, perhaps a little bit into s11, but i think towards the middle and end of s11 we’re gonna get some rly juicy stuff for them. overall i’m relatively positive after this episode, just mad we’re gonna have to have awkward caryl for a bit.

[borkthemork]

In Dreams - Steven’s Dream Analysis

The episodes have taken out my kneecaps, so it’s now time for another symbolism analysis post!

Of course, I’ve been waiting for a long time for an episode such as this so I’m gladly jumping it; however, what we should keep noting is how dream interpretation will always branch out when it comes to connotations. So when we discuss “In Dreams”, any interpretation could be plausible since the elements found in the reveries could be viewed in differing ways depending on the angle of perspective.

I’ll be jumping around a lot since this won’t be the casual essay type of thing with transitions, it’ll more so be different portions where I bring my own interpretations into the mix and feel free to add onto it!

Anyway, let us begin!

Dream One (The Beginning)

For dreams, we usually have an intention or metaphorical usage found in different ways actions or scenes are being portrayed. The first dream is able to encapsulate a great deal of what Steven wants: the ability to live his life without feeling like his purpose of being present could only be done in the circumstances of heroism.

You see this play out with how Steven arrives at his own home, a place of familiarity. What is being shown is the ideal situation, what Steven wants to attain in the conscious world; it even shows the feeling of comfort or homeliness in the characters found inside of the building too!

Most of the people found inside are perceived by Steven to be enjoying luxury or a path of success. Lars definitely emphasizes this if we go back to how Steven, no matter how composed he had to be for Lars’s departure, still has a harm time coping with the fact that Lars is out there with his own objectives and goals — something new to pursue without Steven in the picture.

This opportunity of entry disappears from him. In dream interpretation, this is actually seen as a lack of entry towards a goal or objective and how one sees their ability to get to it.

The cookie cat has a chock full of content when it comes tothe placement of where it is in the dream. For one, there’s always the consideration of size difference, which always perpetuated the emphasis towards control, stability, the amount of domination in the situation.

What we’re seeing here is cookie cat looming down on him, while he’s very small compared to it, a classic showing of lack of control, the inability to feel dominant in a situation.

Secondly, the cookie cat is a specific symbol because if we could connect this to Steven, this could be seen in a few ways: his childhood innocence or his past.

“Steven, no one needs your help. So why are you still here?”

Cookie cats were always some form of correlation to a younger time, a childhood where it wasn’t tainted by the responsibilities towards the Crystal Gem motto, and since it’s been told numerous times by people that cookie cat has a backstory that parallels Pink Diamond (seen in the lyrics of leaving his family behind and the visual division of cookie cat’s colors) it is akin to seeing the past come back to tell him that he’s not allowed, that he doesn’t deserve, the opportunity of being happy with his friends and family.

That the only way for him to be happy with them is to be useful, helpful, and seeing the cookie cat — being very domineering and controlling of this principle — remove him from any access to that opportunity goes to show what Steven is internally feeling at the moment.

And then there’s the falling.

Falling in dreams always came back to the feeling of control in one’s situation, and Steven doesn’t feel that way (no shit).

He’s been told by his childhood paradigm that he can’t be happy, that people won’t be with him now that he’s perceived worthless in their eyes, and having him fall into an endless abyss away from his source of happiness and opportunity shows that feeling of helplessness so well.

Dreams 2-5 (CPH Dreams)

Now, there’s a post that explains the second dream a lot more for the potential dream symbolism of the Diamonds appearing. I’ll link it in the reblogs just so we can get it out of the way.

However, there’s a lot of significance in a few key pieces of imagery being seen that point to the fact that the past is coming back, and repression won’t help him now that it’s slipping into the conscious.

For psychology, repression and suppression are always an interesting topic to discuss because there’s always discussion on the idea of how even if someone attempts to cope and push away the origins of one’s anxieties into the unconscious, there’s always a way for them to slip into the forefront. What we’re seeing here is that: Steven finding the sources of his pain (or events he never had full closure over) being brought up again into remembrance.

What I also find interesting is that even though the montage shows such a comedic viewpoint, there’s an underlined grizzly context to many of the other occurrences found throughout it. 

The use ofDogcopter (another piece from Steven’s childhood) as a form of visual symbolism of separation, especially when it’s integrated into the shape of his three main caretakers (who influenced his Atlas complex heavily), continues the underlying fear that Steven still believes that he will be alone — that overall his childhood is disappearing and his connections are assumed to follow suit in that matter.

The imagery of baby Steven brings up an interesting tidbit about Carl Jung’s view of children when it comes to adulthood and care, especially if it seeps out of one’s subconscious into the conscious mind.

In every adult there lurks a child — an eternal child, something that is always becoming, is never completed, and calls for unceasing care, attention, and education. That is the part of the personality which wants to develop and become whole. -Carl Jung (Vol X. No. 10)

In other words, there’s a potential for yearning for care that hasn’t been fully given ever since childhood or that there’s a wanting for development, for something that can fulfill one’s character to its full completion until we can go into the next cycle of our life.

We could also interpret symbols to the state of hopelessness, lack of control, etcetera, so there are many more ways to view this when it comes to Steven and his current storyline. However, for the sake of keeping it short, I’ll bring the sources to the reblogs.

Dream 6 (The End)

Prior to the beginning of dream six, the fear of Steven’s usefulness to Peridot becomes a major concern for him as the episode goes on. He doesn’t want to lose another friend or become distant to them, and sadly, it shows a lot with this last dream shown.

However, before we can do that, let’s talk about Connie.

Now, I could joke that this is dream symbolism for Steven wanting to be stepped on, but there are a few ways to interpret this fully.

For one, this is another example of size difference being used as a form of dichotomy between control and lack thereof. For the first interpretation, since Connie is imprinted into the face of Obsidian, we could see this as another concern in Steven’s mind: that Connie has a handle on her life and what she plans to do while Steven feels helpless to what he even plans to enjoy or partake in now that his main task of Crystal Gem recovery has now been completed.

One could also say that this is another form of anxiety wrapped in another source of concern when we remember that Steven and his family got stepped on in CYM before Sunstone could save them. That was another moment where he almost died so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the idea of it getting placed into his subconscious as well, even if it’s very unlikely for me to interpret it as such.

Now let’s go to Peridot.

Before the introduction of her dream self, use of childhood imagery comes back once again with Steven’s old bedroom. Waking up in it could be seen as one harboring thoughts or a mindset that still permeates in the past and the prior, something that still hangs in one’s thoughts even in adulthood.

For Peridot’s dream self, even though the static is from real Peridot’s attempts to disconnect Steven from the dream, this plays once again to the imagery of vision and the soul in Steven Universe’s world. The disconnect to one’s person (soul and mindset), the feeling of being unable to reach out to a person, is there. He’s afraid; this is what he feared: Peridot is going to leave him now that he has failed, that he didn’t play the part for what she wanted him to do — he’s scared shitless of another person leaving him behind to pick up the pieces.

He believes that she has the opportunity to go forward into the future, to her own life, while there’s him, his opportunities closed off, unable to climb them from how arduous they are in scale.

Unable to touch her, to be able to keep close contact.

Unable to stop her from leaving.

But these are all fears, assumptions, and anxieties.

It doesn’t have to be like that. It doesn’t have to define you.

[angelthefirst1]

Diverged 2021, and converging.

We are getting very close to Beth, the symbolism in Diverged is extremely exciting.

What are we watching? A combination of many things... 1. Mostly Beth's missing funeral story (symbolically) 2. Repeats from 510 Them, 506 Consumed, Grady and many more... 3. A recap of Carol's past including her constant desire over the years to run away... Beth as Jesus = Light, salt, water symbolically, remember that as we go. And also Leah's knife = Beth. The previously on clip is showing the past and future at once. It's a play on Carol at Terminus saving the group while covered in walker slim, her family took her back in then, because of what she did to save everyone at Terminus, even though she was banished for killing Karen and David.

But...Carol here is also a Beth repeat and Lydia becomes Daryl. Daryl will do something to stop Beth's body being eaten/killed after Grady/The tower (which was the hospital) He will put/pull her somewhere safe just as Lydia does here with Carol, stopping her from dying.

Carol then talks about food being scarce, and Maggie's people returning, so there are more mouths to feed. Repeating season 5 when Carol first comes across Maggie's new group (Abraham and co)

Terminus had just been destroyed and the group had no supplies. Its also repeating the second time Maggie's people return...to the church after the failed trip to Washington because Eugene lied. Not long after returning with her people the second time, Maggie finds out Beth is alive.

Carol talks about the decisions she's made being all to protect them. Repeating her season 4 self killing Karen and David to "protect the group".

Back then Rick banished her effectively separating Daryl and Carol, which is re-done here in Diverged, because she “killed” Connie. Carol leaves Rick in a car with a "I love my dog" sticker...

Repeating her-this time leaving with actual Dog... As I mentioned in my previous post on Diverged, Carol leaving at the crossroads with Dog is also a representation of Beth and Carol both ending up at Grady.

They are combining and converging every scene where Carol/Daryl, Beth/Daryl go in different directions... The opening scene shows Carol and Daryl walking together, Carol struggling to open her water bottle. Daryl offers to help, but Carol won't let him, just like this scene below from season 5, after Terminus.

Daryl offers to help carry the water, he even spills water on the ground, which he repeats when he gives Dog a drink.

Daryl then offers "Leah's" (Beth's) knife to Carol to help get into the water bottle, inverting Carol giving Daryl, Beth's knife in 510.

This scene is a combination of Carol following Daryl when looking for water in 510, giving him the knife and then leaving. In 510 Carol asks to come looking for water, Daryl says no but Carol says "You gonna stop me" repeating her jumping on the back of his bike in "Find me" even though he didn't want her to come...

He didn't stop her then or now, and we see them exchange knives and Carol go a different way, while Daryl wants to stay out longer to look. Just like 510, when they don't find water Carol says " We should head back" Daryl says "nah, I'll stay out a little longer" and then the knife exchange happens, it's reversed.

All this, is about repeating and converging the events leading up to Beth's Death, inverted they will lead to Beth alive... Past, present and future combined = infinity When Carol first gets back to Alexandria she comes across this scarf... 

This scarf is a call back to her head scarf in 304, the episode Rick (Daryl) loses his wife (Future wife Beth). Carol lost this head scarf while in the tombs...

Carol and T-(dog) get stuck together while in the tombs where Carol loses her head scarf, which Daryl eventually finds and throws away on the floor.

Carol finds it on the floor and eventually puts it in the trash, at the end of this episode... Carol and T-(dog) in the tombs with her head scarf is also repeating Beth and Noah at Grady trying to escape.

Surrounded by walkers Carol/Beth shoot at them in the dark. The lights go on and off, but the opposite happens in that Beth doesn't escape Grady just like T-(Dog) while Carol/Noah do. The lost head scarf will eventually become Beth's, in that it will be used to wrap her head wound after Grady, but she then gets "lost in the tombs" or goes missing for all these years...

The one Carol finds even has a "gun shot hole",and she wants to "Fix it" because somebody (Daryl) loved it!

She finds the head scarf which someone dropped during "The evacuation" basically repeating Carol "evacuating"-running into the tombs from the past and in the future it will come off Beth's head when she "evacuates" or leaves her "tomb" because of walkers-around the time of her funeral. Carol offers to make soup (so around the time Beth's funeral/body is lost, someone tries to make food for the group) Stone soup is a story about strangers convincing a village to share their food to make soup for everyone. 

Part of me thinks this will possibly come into play after Grady at the White houses, possibly with Chase, who was seen filming at the houses. Strangers will want some of the supplies the group found at the food bank before Coda and I have a feeling they will probably "pirate" the food, not so much "share it"-like the stone soup story depicts.

More like the book Carol picks up, mid way through making the soup would suggest...

So... we have: 1. A lost head scarf/bandage 2. An offer to prepare food. Possibly by a stranger. (Stone soup story) 3. A "rat" causing a... 4. Lack of food. 5. And Carol/Beth going missing into the "tombs" Beth like Carol will lose her "head scarf" or bandage as she "disappeared" into the dark "tombs" after her "funeral". Opposite to Carol

It’s during the time Carol is in the tombs, that Rick hallucinates Lori, the three stories combined (Carol, Sofia and Lori) will lead to Beth

Carol offers to make the soup with mushrooms...

Which could be what leads to Daryl hallucinating. As I talked about in Find me 2018, when Daryl was hallucinating Merle during his search for Sofia, Merle accused him of eating special mushrooms, which made him "see" the Chupacabra a blood sucking dog ("Walker" Beth after her funeral).

Daryl in the episode Chupacabra is looking for Sofia so it's fitting that this is repeated with his search for Beth (Sofia 2.0) If this "Rat"/"Stranger" convinced the group to let them make food for everyone, they could have "spiked" the food with special mushrooms. Leaving the group especially Daryl in a vulnerable state, unable to fight back and making it easy to steal their supplies and leave. Meanwhile Beth gets out of her "resting place" whether that's in a car or coffin and she leaves or gets taken away. (I'll explain this more soon)

Daryl then sees what he thinks is "Walker Beth" the blood sucking dog or Chupacabra fulfilling season 2 episode 5.

This delusion could also be in part the reason for the episode we now know as 2018 Find me. If he is somewhat intoxicated with some form of poisoning and then tries to find Beth, it could make some sense of 2018. Jerry says to Carol

Which is symbolic of Beth the "Light of the world" being broken or gone. Biblically it represents Jesus and his followers “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” Carol later in the episode fixes the lights with the solar panel using Leah's knife (Beth) but it ends up flashing on and off again too, when the rat gets away. Which would also = Beth leaving, because the two are connected, which I will go through soon...

Carol adds salt to the soup, and she uses "Beth's" knife to get into it just like the water bottle.

Jesus who we all know Beth's story is paralleling, is not only called the light of the world and the living water that wells up to eternal life...but his followers are called the salt of the earth. Jesus said: You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men. Salt is used as a preservative to save meat and food from spoiling, as Jesus saves and is the cure to mans soul being separated from God for sinning and falling from grace. This is why Beth is going to bring a cure at some point, because just as Jesus provides a cure to mankind, she will too... Beth the (knife, salt and light) is in the same location as the food and Carol. Carol adds salt to the soup but also throws salt over her shoulder which is something done as a superstition after a funeral, to keep away bad spirits.

Depicting this is about Beth's funeral. Carol then hears dog (Daryl) going crazy in the next room he is destroying the room trying to find the "rat". When Carol goes to check on Daryl the dog she leaves the knife (Beth) with the food. It's while Both Carol and Daryl are not around that the rat runs into where Beth and the food are kept. Someone in those 3 missing weeks is a "Rat" that compromised Beth and the group, leading to her going missing... This theme was backed up by Father G saying that they sacrificed one of their own, referring to the aftermath of events with Beth.

As Carol is trying to settle dog (Daryl) Carol picks up The Golden Age Of Piracy, a book about:

Whomever they come across during Beth's "funeral" and while food is being prepared will be a "pirate" or thief. But it's also referring to 509 when Ty on the radio hallucinates hearing about inhabitants of coastal towns being plundered and attacked. This will come into play again when Beth is back but a version of it would have happened back then too. Carol is telling Daryl the "dog" off, for going crazy because of this "rat".

The rat has chewed through or compromised Daryl's lamp or "light" (Beth) and Daryl the dog is not happy...

Dog then runs after the rat and in the process the little food Carol had gets destroyed...

Sirius reference is always about Beth, but it also now links Beth to the “missing” food.

I’m thinking that the car Beth will be left in will also have the groups supplies in it and the rat will take off with both.

The rat gets away, Carol banishes Dog (Daryl) and Carol tires to catch the rat so she makes a trap using Leah's knife (Beth), but then she needs butterfly pliers to finish it, so she goes and gets a set in Daryl's room.

The funny thing is that Daryl is doing the exact same thing on his mission, because the tubing on his vehicle has been “Chewed through” just like the lamp.

Carol then lays the trap for the rat and says:

Daryl repeats and inverts this later on when he kills the soldier walker... linking the "rat" to these "soldiers" So Daryl goes looking for this "soldier/rat" and finds it stuck in "a trap"... He looks for this soldier rat on foot because his ride is not working, and he doesn't have the knife (Beth) which he panics over losing...

He kills the "soldier" and takes back what the soldier/Rat "stole"... Food, ammo and a set of butterfly pliers...which is what Carol needed to finish the trap.

And again, along the way he sees "walker Beth" the Chupacabra...

Which he doesn’t put down...

They are repeating and inverting this, going one way with Carol and another way with Daryl, but Daryl and Carol's stories here are the same. Prior to this we see Daryl is out in his own and his main mission is to get his broken down ride (motorbike) going...

He is searching high and low through cars for a replacement tube. As i said before the tube has also been "chewed" from the looks of it, just like the lamp wire, by the rat.

His search though cars is not only repeating he search for the car with the white cross that took Beth originally, but it seems Daryl after Grady, will repeat this search for Beth who gets taken in a second car. 

This bottom picture is from 509, while the top two are from 1021

The "Rat" not only drugs them and steals their supplies and Beth’s body, but also stops them following by "chewing" through or messing with their vehicle so it doesn't work... Again linking the "rat" to the problem's with Daryl’s vehicle... Daryl can't find Leah's knife (Beth), because he left it with Carol...

Carol does catch the rat, in her trap for a time, but it gets away, and runs into the hole in the wall which she then blocks up with the scarf...

So Carol may well have this rat trapped but lets it get away, leading to the events above and Daryl trying to follow and kill the rat to get Beth and the supplies back.

The hole in the wall = Beth's bullet wound which gets covered with the scarf... Symbolically I believe the wall with hole/scarf and the rat hiding behind it, is Beth in a car possibly being driven away and used as a “shied” by the rat...

So Daryl hunts the rat and sees the Beth walker at a distance but can’t get to her. Once he has killed the solider rat (there ends up being 3 of them) and gets the tools he needs, he starts fixing his bike.

This takes all night and while he works we hear wolves howling in the distance. A good sign that Beth is close considering she is the Wolf that will come home.

And a call back to 509 where Michonne stands in front of the Wolves not far sign. Carol and dog share a bed for the night and it's telling future Beth/Daryl romantic story, but also Daryl with Beth's “body” wanting to be close to her and possibly kissing her, because "the fights gone out of her"...

It's also depicting Beth and Carol at Grady with Dawn. Dawn talks about Noah coming back, because they always come back...

Obviously it’s a callback to Beth saying “you miss him don’t you” to Daryl regarding Merle.

And...Carol leaving the group after Terminus, Daryl comes along to stop her leaving and that's what leads to them taking off after the car with the cross and finding Beth.

Which is then depicted in the very next scene as Daryl gets his bike going and takes off along this road repeating this...

Carol and Dog (Daryl) then go down stairs with flashlights and look for the hole in the wall with the scarf (Beth) and the rat. Repeating but reversing Daryl and Carol back in Consumed looking for Beth when they sleep at an emergency accommodation at a place that Carol had been before.

Carol fighting through the wall, will be inverted with Beth fighting to get out of a car or coffin and that's why we see through it from the other side.

It's will also be what causes Beth's head scarf covering her bullet hole to get caught and left behind.

Carol sits down exhausted after trying to get through the wall and dog comes and sits next to her...

Repeating Carol being found in the tombs by Daryl, exhausted but alive-but not wearing her scarf.

Carol tells Jerry she had a bad day and Jerry figures out its because she didn't come back with Daryl, repeating Carol being taken to Grady and not coming back with Daryl. Jerry says 2+2 = Eureka

2+2 episode 22?

Let's hope! Carol tries to give Daryl Leah's knife back (Beth) But it stays with her because Beth the knife and Carol are symbolically both at Grady.

In the future we may see Daryl try to return Beth's real knife to her. Daryl and Carol end the way they began by going separate ways, but this time it's with doors closing.

Daryl and dog (Carol) go one way and Carol (Beth) the other. Carol goes into the “Car” garage, repeating Beth getting in to the car on the way to Grady. All why the music plays "Oh oh oh" (oh moment)

In the future we will see Daryl and Beth together and Carol go a different way. One last thing I want to talk about is this drawing in Daryl's room. While it's "Dog" front on, it's also a side portrait of 2 creatures touching noses or kissing...

Aw....

[waynedunlaptheorgandonor]

can you please give some reasons why you don’t think Caryl is done after this? Don’t see how it can happen now unfortunately.

not to invalidate your feelings, but are we even watching the same show, my dude?? 

there has never, in ten years, one decade, 87,600 hours, been a more caryl heavy season of twd

i’ve done several in-depth analysis posts, and i gotta get to bed soon, so here are the highlights just to ease your silly lil’ mind (under the cut bc it ended up being a stream-of-conscious novel):

first and foremost, we have a new showrunner, who is a woman, which is always a plus for our female characters bc we have someone who will make sure they’re three-dimensional people, and that was a big problem with caryl for a while. gimple put carol into a “i was abused but i got strong but now i’m sad bc i killed ppl :(((” corner and let her collect dust, and tbf, he also put daryl in the “i was abused but i got strong but now i must wallow in my Man Pain in silence” corner, and then he kind of just forgot about how they had an amazing chemistry and focused more on his three season-long dick jerking contest between Rapey Man #3 and Main Lead Male Grappling With Loss and Morality. so that helps us out a lot!

now in terms of the actual show, i’m just gonna like, list things without giving analysis or clarifying bc i’m tired and have already explained a lot of it, but if you need me to explain again you can just message me and i’ll answer it when i’m awake:

caryl’s storyline has been set up to sail since the start of s9

carol and zeke were always going to breakup, and she only married him for henry and escapism bc she’s never dealt with any of her trauma ever in her entire life and there is a lot of it

the title cards indicated as such

carol’s wardrobe change between the time jump in s9, and between “the calm before” and “the storm” indicated as such

carol’s wardrobe this season also indicates where her mindset is rn

kang is rewriting carol’s storyline, and in effect, rewriting caryl’s storyline, in order to right the wrongs done before, and that’s why it’s taking so long, bc she wants to tell it properly instead of just having them smash in the middle of a field with no build-up

not that we’d be against it, but i personally prefer it this way

carol trusts daryl as a father figure more than zeke. see: her asking him to watch over henry bc zeke is too idealistic, and “so what if i dream about you being my husband and henry’s dad sometimes? shut up”

carol went to visit daryl in the woods to escape her marriage that she didn’t actually want to be in anyway

carol got daryl to stop isolating himself

daryl then proceeded to do all his therapy homework and has settled down and is like “cool, time to finally get with carol!”

except kang is telling carol’s storyline properly

which means that carol is in CrazyTown rn, bc she has 1. been in an abusive marriage 2. seen her daughter walk out of a barn as a walker and then get shot in the head 3. seen a small girl stand over her dead sister while wielding a bloody knife and smiling like a maniac 3b. after having promised her late father she’d protect her 4. had to shoot said maniac girl in the head 4b. after having promised her late father she’d protect her 5. made a connection with a small boy against all efforts to the contrary and then he got eaten 6. finally saved a child and thought she finally broke her curse and got into a rly boring weird fantasy marriage in order to protect him only to see his reanimated head chilling out on a pike among a line of all of her dead friends

AND SHE REALLY NEEDS TO DEAL WITH THOSE THINGS, OK?

so she has #cracked and is spiraling, and daryl’s entire storyline this season has been “shit carol is trying to smuggle guns to rendezvous with the enemy,  wait shit lydia is getting beat up let me help her, wait shit carol is kidnapping whisperers and torturing them in the basement, wait shit lydia ran away, wait shit...” etc

SO HE HAS A REASON TO BE KIND OF TIRED RN 

but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care, it just means that all this tension is leading up to something INTENSE between the two of them. it’s going to come to a head Big Time, and i am v v v hype

anyway back to random things that have been pro-caryl this season

they keep juxtaposing zeke and con with carol and daryl, and caryl pick each other every time

carol’s choice of weapon suddenly being a bow

flower symbolism

boat symbolism

new mexico

acorns and bracelets and their subsequent #meanings

THE FUCKING DREAM WHY ARE WE NOT STILL OBSESSING OVER THAT DREAM THAT DREAM WAS SO IMPORTANT???

she. literally. dreamt. she. was. married. to. daryl. dixon. in. literal. canon. and. stated. it. wasn’t. the. first. time. and. that. she. thinks. the. dreams. are. good. like wtfffff

daryl does not have feelings for con and is very explicit about it

the fact that it keeps coming up is delicious tho

“follow my voice” vs “follow my light”

“i’m the one you talk to”

the repetitive use of we/us

“if i only knew what you told me i wouldn’t know shit”

“i NEED you to stay”

alpha/beta foils and parallels

repetitive reminders of both carol and daryl’s past abuse

did i mention the dream where she dreamt that she was married to daryl bc i feel like that might have been important

carol having sex with zeke

yes that’s a good thing

yes i’m entertained by it and totally chill

we are at the very top of the roller coaster, lads, we are tying up all the strings, we are making sure carol and zeke have closure, we’re gonna get (probably in an irritating murder way) closure with connie, and Then There Were Two

10.14 is called “look at the flowers” for christsake

“i could never hate you” ok fanfic trope number 6 billion

all of it

literally all of it

this has been a crazy romantic, tumultuous season, and some really meticulous and purposeful and beautiful storytelling and it is about to pay tf off

until i am given E X P L I C I T reason not to:

I WILL STAN KANG

and also, just to add, there are characters and plotlines that exist outside of caryl, and the writers have to incorporate all of them. there are gonna be scenes with them, there are gonna be things that happen that seem negative but that make sense when you look at them on a larger scale. you cannot, CANNOT, look at each individual thing and take it at face value. we have a showrunner who knows how to write now, so little things mean bigger things, and not always the things you expect

i know this is not the proper use of bullet points

it is past my bedtime

but anyway caryl is coming ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

stay hype, stan kang, and get daryl to call carol sweetheart 2k20

the end

-diz

p.s. remember that dream? wild huh

[monsterdoodles]

Thoughts on Steven Universe Future 3-13-2020

Together Forever: This episode was a lot less about Steven and Connie, and more about just Steven than expected.

Connie has some plans for college, but we don’t quite get to know what her career goals are exactly. She’s planning on getting into politics, but I’m not sure at what level or what branch. Not that that matters to the episode too much or anything. The University of Jayhawk is all the across the country from Delmarva. This is a distance that Steven cannot emotionally handle right now. Upon this realization, he sinks down into his bed, part of his “floating” powers.

It is good to see that he and Connie keep in touch at least over video calls. On a slightly more concerning note, Steven has memorized Connie’s schedule down to the minute.

Garnet says at the end of the episode, that there was no future in which Steven wouldn’t propose to Connie. I’m guessing had he talked to Garnet instead, he would have proposed to her out of spite or in an effort to prove Garnet wrong.

Instead of Garnet, we do get Ruby and Sapphire this episode. Steven doesn’t seem too surprised by their appearance in this episode, so I imagine that they have been teaching these classes for a while. Ruby is doing some kind of nature scout class, did she make those badges herself, or are they part of a nationally recognized scout organization? Either way she’s teaching some gems and Onion about the beauty of nature. Steven tells her about how Connie seems to really have her life together and knows what she is doing.

I can see a parallel here with Ruby and Sapphire, and Steven and Connie. In this particular case, Steven is Ruby. He doesn’t have the foresight that Connie does right now. He, in a way, lacks future vision.

Ruby, either lacking the knowledge of what might be socially acceptable or being too excited about prospect of Steven expressing his love, tells Steven that he should propose to her. Ruby’s logic here is that it worked for her. She ignores the fact that she and Sapphire had been together for over 5000 years and that they are adults.

Steven visits Sapphire as well, she is teaching a class on alternate timelines. I wonder what that entails exactly. I suppose that they do all of those equations that she explained to Steven, but with the understanding that the future still isn’t as predictable as one might think. She also encourages Steven to propose to Connie despite the fact that she is aware of the sociological implications of this, but she’s a hopeless romantic about it anyways.

Steven declare to the gems, that this will be his last day as Steven Cutie-Pie Demayo Diamond Quartz Universe. Interesting that that interaction with Garnet from almost 4 years ago left that impression on him. That is the same day that he learned about future vision, so I suppose that just stuck in his mind. Also, was he planning to take Connie’s last name or add Maheswaran to his plethora of middle names (that he thinks belongs on official documents for some reason).

He makes his plan. He gets jam, glow sticks and cake. On top of the world, he dresses his best and asks her out from outside her window. He says they’ll be back in 15 minutes (this reminds of an episode of How I Met Your Mother, but the season and name escape me).

At the beach, in the same place they first met, Steven has a picnic set up. Had this just be a romantic gesture or a proposal to date, not marriage, things probably would have gone a lot better for him. Connie responds well to all this. She has been shown to have romantic feelings for Steven in the past, she attempted to kiss him in An Indirect Kiss and she successfully kissed him on the cheek in the movie. Steven sings his song with the sentiment of “I want to be me with you”. The lyrics of which, like many love songs in my opinion, have a codependent quality to them. Steven doesn’t know his future, so he wants someone else to be his future, to be someone else.

Connie, very sensibly, says no. They are young, have never discussed this, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t even an item. She also tells him, “It’s a not now” because there is plenty of time. Steven is in his unending quest for stability, and he still hasn’t found it.  Throughout this conversation Connie and Steven occupy opposite spaces on screen. They are in different places in their lives right now, sure and unsure, stable and unstable.

I think if Steven were around more teens his age, he might not be feeling this way, so much at least. He would realize how many people don’t have their lives figured out at this age. Many people his age just want to graduate high school. He really needs to talk to Greg about this. Greg wanted to be a musician, but he was also a community college drop out. He didn’t have everything figured out. (I’m pretty sure this will be part of next week’s episodes in some way)

Connie is willing to stick around when her alarm goes off. Steven tells her to go, probably because he doesn’t want to burden her and because he won’t be holding it together for long. As soon as she leaves, he lies back and creates a crater. The shockwaves ruining the picnic. He lies there until dark.

When he gets up, Garnet is there. She explains to him the inevitability of this situation. She tells him that the hole he is trying to fill won’t be filled by Connie or Stevonnie. Connie is not his “missing piece”. In this scene, Garnet is towering and Steven feels almost as small as his younger self. I think this accentuates how young and foolish Steven was this episode. He holds a frustrated look during this conversation. He says he blames Garnet for making this all look so easy. Reminds me of Cry for Help/Friendship. Pearl had felt the same way about Ruby and Sapphire/Garnet. Steven and Pearl craved that perceived perfection.

Steven then eats his feelings.

Growing Pains: I was wrong in my prediction that Steven would either be stuck in pink mode or have a human ailment.

The episode opens with a scene from the newest instalment of dogcopter. In the movie, Dogcopter proposes to a dog named Drew. Steven laments the fact that “everyone else is getting married”. He continues to eat his feelings like at the ending of last episode, and then his body starts getting out of control. He keeps growing sporadically. He mostly ignores it because it doesn’t hurt him physically.

He wants to reach out to someone who isn’t Connie right now. He can’t reach the gems, so he calls Greg, who is on tour with Sadie and Shep right now. Greg is having a great time, and Steven won’t rain on that parade, even when Greg offers to call him back. He almost wants to call Connie, but she calls him instead. His shapeshifting forces him to answer her call.

He can no longer hide what’s going on with him, since it is manifesting physically. Connie suggests that he should see a doctor. He doesn’t want to bother anyone even when he is physically unwell. He even describes it as a waste of time. Connie persuades him.

Steven pays Doctor Maheswaran a visit, Connie escorts him in. As soon as Connie leaves the room for them to conduct tests, she calls Greg.

This episode really explores how both human and gem Steven really is. He has a human body and it is effected like a human body is. But he is also a gem, it makes his body react unusually and if he’s fractured skeleton is any indication, it is keeping him alive.

Dr. Maheswaran finds out about Steven’s physical traumas through his x-ray. She asks him if he had any particularly traumatic experiences. Steven basically recalls the entire show. Dr. Maheswaran goes on to describe the physical aspects of trauma and the way the body reacts in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen in any piece of fictional media. Steven’s body is trying to protect him from danger that isn’t there anymore. Minor stress to him is now the equivalent to major stress. To make things worse, he feels as though his support system is gone.

When he thinks back to the proposal, things go haywire. As his body continues to grow in size, he takes up more and more of the room. He is almost too big to fit. There is nowhere left for him to hide. He yells “I can’t be around you right now” much in the way he yelled “I just want to fix it” back in Volleyball. His yell shatters the windows.

Greg finally arrives, revealing that Connie had called him. Connie still very much cares about Steven. He explains to Greg that everything feels like the end of the world to him now.

Receiving understanding and support from Greg is what gets Steven to go back to his normal size. At home he continues to explain his fears and worries. All of which, as Greg explains, are normal. Steven now knows what his problem is, or at least one aspect of it, but I don’t think his problems are solved just yet. From the way he “swells up” in response to stress in this episode, I think something big is about to happen in the show. Something so big, that for his body to protect him from it, he will grow into the giant monster from the opening theme song.

Predictions for next week:

Discussion of leaks ahead

Mr. Universe: Still no episode description for this one, but I imagine this is where Steven crashes the van. Steven is still not in a great place right now, and while he seems more willing to talk about things, his body is still reacting in a way that is unsafe for him and others. I believe that this will lead to the van crashing. As others have pointed out, this episode may involve Pearl because she played a big part in the episode Mr. Greg. I still somehow think this episode will be the story of how Rose decided to have Steven, if not it will be about how Greg made the decision to drop out of college and take on the rockstar persona Mr. Universe.

Fragments: This is where that first leak came from, the “leave me alone I need space one”. I’m still not 100% sure what “fragments” is in reference to. Others I have discussed with have suggested memories. I am not entirely sure the direction of this.

[tiny-smallest]

STEVEN UNIVERSE FINALE THOUGHTS: SPOILERS ABOUND

My criticisms mostly lie in how short it was. This whole epilogue season needed to be longer. More episodes, or longer episodes. I'd lean more towards longer personally because as much as I'd love to revisit old friends who didn't get any time in SUF (FUCKING. NEPHRITE.), I'd rather the stuff that exists were fleshed out more. If I had my way we’d have more episodes (maybe 30-40, and not all of them painful; some more like Why So Blue or Guidance- ones that hint at his escalating mental illness but aren’t a sheer punch of pain) as well as longer episodes when needed (some of these were perfect for their length; others could’ve used a longer run time to really flesh things out) but if I had to pick one, I’d pick longer episodes over more episodes.

So far the biggest things that bug me are Connie's speech and White's breakdown. 

Connie's speech only because she started it. In a show that kind of finally called the adults out for how much Steven had to give to them, it's a different child who rallies them to a clear head so they can figure out what to do. I'd much rather Greg have started the speech and Connie then interject. And then Garnet comes up with the actual plan? That'd have been perfect. They got so close to that too, since Greg is the only adult not falling apart instead of focusing on what Steven needs; he admits his faults and is obviously super upset about it, but his statement is a declaration of action: that this time he’s not running to let the magic people deal with this, he’s going to be there too. THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO THAT MOMENT BEING ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AUGH.

White's breakdown. I get what they were going for here, I really do: we’ve all seen The Big Bad be dealt with by stabbing them real good a lot and rarely is there ever any nuance applied to the concept of toppling a tyrant and where that would leave people, and the show is BUILT on the idea of what happens when you try that (or... fake the succeeding of it), so I get why they decided not to straight up kill her. But you also built White up to be like... Mother Gothel meets Frollo and then SHOWCASED IT IN ACTION and I'm forever gonna have a hard time swallowing the concept that she could ever be so utterly repentant of her crimes, I guess, both on a personal and universal level? I’d have almost rather she remained toxic and kept at a distance?

Add-ons to this are not a word about humanizing Pink/Rose in Steven's viewpoint and not a word about what White did to Steven-- which is possibly the most traumatic thing that happened to him.

That being said, corrupted Steven was a fucking HELL YES. And they USED THE WORD CORRUPTED SO HATERS CAN SUCK IT. I thought the corruption was solved a little too... easily and quickly? If other corrupted gems weren’t reachable just by talking to them Steven shouldn’t have been either even with being half human, and I would have loved if they’d had to go into his mind in order to reach him with their words--which would’ve been an interesting parallel to Change Your Mind, actually. But this is an example of what I mean about wishing episodes were longer. For this to be a thing the episode would’ve needed to be longer. As it was, it was fine. The emotion of it still got through. Everyone got to say their piece and that was important. It teetered a little dangerously close to ‘Connie fixes Steven’ but since everyone else did talk and said some really important stuff it’s more like Connie just happened to go last and not that her words in particular were important above everyone else’s.

Steven hanging up the poster from the song Mr. Universe also is like- another mild criticism in that the implications there could use A WHOLE EPISODE OF THEIR OWN (he has accepted he is a Universe, he has accepted his father; there may or may not have been a talk about Greg’s decisions and why he made them) but the implications are there nonetheless and I love it. 

STEVEN. HAS. A THERAPIST. THEY SAID THE WORDS ON CAMERA.

STEVEN'S COOKING AGAIN!! 

A final conversation between him and his father and it was of a decent length yes thank you god. 

He said goodbye to all the Crystal Gems not just the three he lives with YAY

CONVERSE KISS. AT LAST. Sure, it didn’t get to be the big dramatic moment we were hoping for, but it was sweet and THERE.

A CONFIRMATION OF A TIMESKIP which is good because he'd really need a stable place for those first few months following something that awful. 

I'm glad they established there had been time between that and his road trip. I’m also glad they made sure to establish that his support system is going to be in contact with him constantly. My mom instincts are screaming that he’s still too young and too sick to be on the road alone and I’d rather that have happened in a year or two, but since he’s gonna be in constant contact, can, go home at any time, and is probably 1-2 months away from being eighteen at the time he sets out, I can accept that.

The implication that Steven might return is a deeply appreciated one, because I’d rather this ended where it did last time-- a family together on a beach. But Steven needs time to grow and learn and he can’t do that in Beach City right now which is a thing I get- but the fact that he’s just as likely to return as he is to settle elsewhere means that after he’s seen all he’s wanted to see he can always return to his family and find a new adventure waiting in Beach City. (Personally I’d like to think he opens a restaurant.) And for those who’d rather he settle elsewhere, they get to have that, too! 

It’s a way to leave it open-ended without feeling cheap, because the whole season has been building up to him needing to get away at least for awhile, and I appreciate that.

I realize that Being Human was sung in pieces by (I believe) Sugar over the course of the season in the way that Love Like You was to hide that the speaker is Steven the way it was previously done to hide that the speaker was Rose, but man, my final criticism: I wish Steven had sung the song as he was leaving. Just. A short version of it maybe as he drove off. If the lack of Steven being musical this season was supposed to be a nod to his worsening mental spiral then it would make sense for him to sing one final song as he’s healing, a sign of hope, and to leave the viewers with one last goodbye from the boy himself. 

(And also so our only Steven song isn’t the incredibly sad I’d Rather Be Me With You.)

But all in all? It was a good finale. A solid finale. I adored it and it made me Feel Things. It was amazing to see some theories come to fruition. It was amazing to tackle the wounds that the original series would have left on a child’s soul. It was an amazing experience overall and while I feel some things could have been done better, I am so, so glad I binged my way through the original series to experience Future as it happened. I regret not keeping up with the original series as it aired and I am so, so glad for the experience of getting to do that with this series’ last hurrah. It kind of hurts; I’ll be mourning this show’s loss for a long time. But in an internet littered with cartoons killed before their time, I am incredibly grateful this show got to come to a proper close, got to tell its story through to the end.

In this world of people there really is no one like you, Steven. We will always be your family, and each other’s. Thanks for the ride. 

[moonlightstars16]

Flexibility, Agility And Teasing

30 Days Connverse Challenge

Day 7 ~ Exercising

Summer days are hot enough as it is. Especially when you're living near or literally on the beach. Add some body workouts and a huge icebox filled with cold water bottles; then you got yourself a full day of intensity.

Hours prior in the morning as the suns rays were shining through. Connie was already wide awake. Wearing a purple yoga outfit and a soothing pattern mat to match. Taking deep breaths to ease herself into the routine. Hair back in a braid, and earbuds connecting to her calming playlist. Beginning with some basic stretches she went through her entire routine.

Her legs crossed into a lotus position. Eyes closed as she listened to the music and cleared her mind. Similar to what Garnet had taught her about those horrible thought fluttering in her mind. In fact, that was the reason why she took up yoga. While not needed a therapist like Steven or anyone else who went to one. She did need to find ways to not overthink or get to stressed because of her studies. This seemed to do the trick.

Her breathing was deep and consistent. After a few minutes she changed her position from sitting to standing. The 'tree pose' so to speak. Bringing her arms from above her head to over her chest with both hands pressed together. Today she was able to keep that stance for at least a minute and a half. Longer than her previous record.

Then she lowered her leg back and went into her favorite pose, 'The Warrior'. Switching off side to side. Moving her arms down to her lower calves. Both hands to one leg, pausing, then moving to the other to do the same. slowly reaching down till her hands reached the mad. Legs spread to the sides as wide as she could get it. Wrapping her arms around her ankles.

Sliding her feet all the way down till she did the split. Breathing as she adjusted herself in that position. Breathing a bit more heavier than normal. Trying her best to regain that steady feeling before swinging her legs together behind her. Hands on the floor as she went from upward to downward facing dog. Then pulling her knees under to her chest as her arms reached forward parallel and her head down. All while laying on the mat.

After a bit she moved back into other different poses before going to her original one. Laying on her back, arms and legs fully straight. Opening her eyes from the breathing cool down and gasping as her gaze landed on Steven. Whom was sitting, in his own workout running gear, on the couch. Elbow on his knee, head in his hand and a gazing upon her.

"How long have you been watching me?"

"About five minutes since you started." Getting up he extended his hand for hers as she accepted and got up, adjusting her top a bit whilst rubbing the back of her neck. "I love seeing every curve in your body." He teased as she slapped his arm with her lips pursed in a line. Doing nothing as he chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her close.

"I wish I could hold my tree pose more." Admitting sadly whilst rested her head in his shoulder as he held on tighter.

"You'll get there one day sweetie. Now how about we start our morning jog?"

"I have to get my shoes on dummy." She replied with a giggle and began to walk away upstairs. He followed suit and sort of raced her to the top. Smirking as he beat her too it.

"Man you're slacking Ms Knight."

"Shut up, you know I don't have the proper foot ware one right now."

"Whatever you want to think." That deserved another slap on the arm as he groaned and rubbed against where she hit.

Thirty minutes later, they were standing near the far end of the beach. Racing the entire perimeter of the temple, the cliff, around Beach City and back to the start. Loser gives the winner a massage. They did this sort of competitions at least once to twice a month. This time the gems were at different points of their path to be the check points. Pearl was near Beach City, Garnet was by the bottom of the cliffs and Amethyst was right there at the beginning. Even Lion was overlooking everything at the top. Well because he wanted to that is.

"Are you ready to get down and run the race of your life?!" She yelled in a sort of goofy fashion. Both Connie and Steven rolled their eyes while suppressing laughter. "I can't hear you!"

"YES!" They both shouted at the same time.

"Then on your mark, get set, GO!" With the wave of a small red flag, they were off.

Connie pulled ahead instantly. Having a bit more flexibility when it came to the sand. Steven rushed through taking deep breathes as his stomach bounced slightly. That was natural and normal for him. Still he wore sandals his entire life, not being used to these running shoes of his. But he managed all the same. What he struggled with more was keeping his powers away from the race. Knowing full well it was cheating if he used even a small bit of it.

Connie passed by Garnet with a high five and sliding around the rocks before adjusting herself. However it was in that moment that Steven had pulled ahead of her. Groaning she shook her head and picked up her pace again. Within twenty minutes Steven had reached Pearl first, Connie not to far behind him.

"GO-! Wait! your shoelace Steven!"

"Huh?"

Looking down he groaned and slid to a stop. Kneeling over and quickly tying his laces back up. Connie had slowed her pace passed him. Giving him a fair chance but getting back from earlier. Then quickly retaining speed as she heard him move again.

"Why?" He asked catching up with her, being neck and neck at this thing.

"Because I'm nice."

"Ah you would throw the race for me?"

"hm...nah!"

With a burst of laughter she pulled ahead a few seconds ahead, just in time to win the race. Both slowed to a stop as Amethyst blew her whistle and waved her flag.

"We have a winner! Connie!!!"

With a double fist bump in the air she fell down on the sand. Steven collapsing right next to her. Neither expecting a huge gallon of water poured over them. Laughter and squeals escaped them as the rest of the gems arrived on Lions back. Hours later, after a cooling dip in the ocean, Steven had Connie lay on her stomach across the couch cushions. Massaging her sore back, arms, neck and pretty much all over.

"This feels so good. ....mmm..."

"Maybe you should give me one after." He teased while sliding to her lower back. Releasing any tension from before.

"Yeah... maybe...." She groaned enjoying every second of his fingers rubbing into her skin. Through her clothes that is. Suddenly she gasped as she felt his hands gently massage her bum, sliding to her legs and back again. "Okay... I will- oh!" She moaned as he smirked and moved his hands back to her neck.

"I'll hold you do that." He, getting lower to whisper teasingly in her ear.

"Easy tiger I'm still recovering from the run." She groaned with a hidden smile. Feeling him turn her around so she was laying on her back. Leaning forward to kiss her lips. Arms slipped around her waist as she wrapped her legs around his. Arms linked behind her neck.

"I will be, don't you worry about a thing." He whispered before squeezing her bum and another squeal mixed in with her moans erupted from her.

"Tease!"

"You love me"

"I do" She smirked and dug her fingernails into his skin. Smirking against his lips as he moaned as well. Payback never tasted so sweet.

[arlingtonpark]

SNK 126 Review

TFW you know you’re going to die. 

Just…where to even start.

God damn this chapter.

Rushed. Rushed. Rushed. Rushed. Rushed. Everything about this chapter was rushed. I don’t know what Isayama’s final destination is, but he sure pulled out all the stops to get there as fast as possible. Every possible chance Isayama could cut a corner, he took it. In every possible way.

People are speculating that we’ll get flashbacks that’ll sooth the sting of this chapter. I doubt it.

Attack on Titan has been pretty flashback heavy this past arc, but that was an artistic decision that served the story.

There was a three year time skip and that time needed to be filled out. We jumped ahead three years and suddenly Eren is AWOL and working with Zeke.

Showing events unfolding on Paradis interspersed with flashbacks to key moments during the time skip was a storytelling device.

Firstly, it allowed Isayama to control how much we knew about our character’s motivations.

Stuff happened in those three years, and those events have shaped the character’s actions in the present. Through strategically placed flashbacks, Isayama was able to slowly reveal new, relevant information about everyone’s motivations.

Secondly, flashbacks also allowed Isayama to build suspense. Again, flashbacks are strategically placed to reveal only what’s relevant.

When it seemed Eren was working with Zeke, we only saw stuff that made it seem like he was working with Zeke. Now that we know Eren was always working against Zeke, we’re seeing stuff that more directly deals with his true motivations.

And finally, having flashbacks helped keep things interesting. There’s a lot of political maneuvering during the post-Marley Arc chapters, and while well told, it could easily have been boring. Cutting between past and present was a way to break up these sequences of people mostly just talking with each other with something most would find interesting.

Having flashbacks actively improved the story.

Now think about chapter 126. What purpose would flashbacks serve here?

The answer is none. No artistic purpose, anyway. There probably will be flashbacks, but that’d be damage control, not artistry.

My hunch is that the gaps in the story are more due to rushed pacing, or even worse, Isayama just not caring. I think this becomes clear when you look at the totality of…whatever this chapter is.

True, we don’t see when Hange and co. made contact with Armin and co. and when they hooked up with Jean and Mikasa.

And it’s true we also didn’t see important beats like why Annie decided to join up, or why Magath and Pieck joined, too.

But we also didn’t see a lot of smaller stuff that we, nevertheless, *should* have seen.

Falco said he heard Connie mention Ragako Village while they were camped out. That didn’t happen on screen, but Connie was shown talking out loud, briefly. We are apparently supposed to take it as a given he mentioned Ragako, too. At some point.

When Armin and Gabi confront Connie in Ragako, they ride in on horseback and stop when Connie threatens Falco. But towards the end of the scene, we see that Armin and Gabi are standing on the ground. At some prior point, they dismounted their horses off screen.

Falco loved his brother. Then Colt died and Falco had a role in that. He died in Falco’s transformation. Hugging him. Crying for him. Falco never knew before now. His brother was dead and he never even realized. Now he learns it.

Off. Fucking. Screen.

He’s crying with Gabi and at first it seemed he was just overwhelmed by what happened.

Then I saw his speech bubble.

Falco [sobbing]: Colt.

Are you fucking kidding me. 

Things reach peak IDGAF during Onyankopon’s execution scene. In one panel, Jean is standing to Onyankopon’s back right. Next panel, he’s teleported to the back left. Then Jean points his gun at Onyankopon, and he’s on the back right again! When Jean pulls the trigger, he’s back to being on the left.

I doubt there’ll be flashbacks to any of this shit. These moments were obviously skipped because Isayama dropped the ball.

Maybe the homebuilder will go back and add that much needed support beam, but considering they seemingly forgot to fireproof the chimney, they probably aren’t.

I call it the Principle of Brown M&Ms. Whenever Van Halen played a concert, they stipulated in their contract that their dressing room be furnished with a bowl of m&ms, no brown ones.

If there really was a bowl with no brown m&ms, they could be sure that venue management was diligent and on their game. If they cared to fulfill a small detail like that, they could be trusted to care about crew safety, etc.

Van Halen should trash Isayama’s house I will crowd fund the money.

I have little trust in Isayama to do this right. Looking at the totality of the chapter, it’s clear these are mistakes rather than decisions.

The through line of this chapter is suicide.

They’re all going to die. All of them. And they know it.

Just look at their faces in the final shot. Expressions range from stone-faced (Armin) to shitting the bed (Gabi). They all know this means death.

No one is doing this because they think they can win, except maybe Annie.

Connie’s logic was that he wanted to be a soldier his mom would be proud of. Fighting Eren is where this logic takes him. No plan for actually winning is brought up, he just decides fighting the good fight is what makes a mom proud.

Hange is doing this for the sake of not running away. They consider doing what Shadis rejected: living the rest of their days shitting on a mountain. The reason they’re not currently doing that is just what Levi said: they don’t stop.

Magath admitted last chapter that they couldn’t win, but that informing the world of the apocalypse was better than waiting to die. Fighting Eren against all hope isn’t far from that, so that’s probably their primary motivation as well.

I’m willing to bet Armin is similarly motivated. There’s a very revealing parallel between Armin and Connie in this chapter, though an underdeveloped one.

Connie wants to be a soldier his mom could be proud of. But, of course, Erwin is Armin’s idea of a soldier to be proud of. Erwin was charismatic, smart, and kept calm under fire.

Connie and Armin strive for essentially the same ideal. Being a good soldier. That means slightly different things to each of them, but broadly, it’s the same.

Mind you, Armin’s idea of Erwin is significantly more sanitized than the real Erwin was, but that’s not the point. For all his flaws, Erwin genuinely was someone to look up to. He showed true leadership, intelligence, and empathy. He was a good person all around.

Armin didn’t even want to think about fighting Eren; he had given up hope on that. Would Erwin have done that?

My guess is that Armin thinks taking down Eren is how he can truly become like Erwin Smith. Erwin never lost sight of the main objective, even if it meant long odds. Save humanity. That meant getting to that basement, so they went to that basement. 

Right now, saving humanity means stopping Eren.

Chances are slim, too, but that never stopped Erwin, either. Armin knows that. Once a goal was set on, Erwin never wavered. He pushed towards it. 

So you’ve got humanity’s fate on the line and an impossible obstacle to fight if victory is to achieved. Sounds like a classic survey corps mission. No wonder Armin is doing this.

Jean is doing this because of his conscious. Floch tempted him with a chance to peace out. Instead, he chose to peace out and kill Eren. 

He could have lived a quiet life. Not just a life he wanted before, but arguably the life he deserves after all the misery he’s endured. He said no.

He let Marco infect his brain and now he can’t not be good.

This is what happens when you huff ashes.

Levi is doing this because he made a promise to Erwin and he stands by that. Killing Zeke was the last order Erwin gave him. Levi promised he’d carry it out. If he fails, he fails Erwin. I don’t think Levi’s ever contemplated failing, but honestly, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t take that shame to his grave.

Gabi’s already resolved to fight Eren, so she’s just sticking to what she’s already planned.

No idea why Annie is doing this, so don’t ask. >.>

They’re doing this because they refuse to roll over. They can’t respect themselves if they do. Not Hange, not Connie, not Jean.

They can’t take pride in themselves otherwise.

So they’ll march to their deaths, and they don’t care if there’s no hope. They’re throwing their lives away, but they know it’s the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, most of this, admittedly pretty cool, character work happens off screen.

God damn this chapter.

So. Much. Of this chapter was mishandled.

Connie’s subplot resolution was the most blatant example.

I already mentioned Falco hearing stuff from Connie off screen. And Armin and Gabi dismounting their horses…at some point. The BS continues afterwards.

Armin pleads for Falco’s life, but Connie claims Armin is telling him to give up on his mom, and Armin is totally shut down by this.

LOL.

This is the exact same objection Connie raised the last time they spoke. What stopping Connie would mean for his mom was specifically on Armin’s mind when he set out with Gabi.

Like, Armin, bruh, you really had nothing to say to that?

He really, really didn’t think to come up with a response. Armin. The guy who tends to overthink things.

Fine, whatever. So Connie’s objection causes Armin to spiral into self-loathing despair.

The stakes are dizzyingly high.

A child taken hostage.

A deranged man threatens to kill him.

The boy’s girlfriend is there. She’s smart, but still just a kid. And she doesn’t know this man. She doesn’t know how to talk to him, she doesn’t understand his motives, she’s not very emotionally mature herself.

But she’s desperate. Desperate.

Armin is the only one who’s kept his head. It has to be him.

He needs to calm the madman down, convince him killing the kid isn’t the right way, and maybe assure him an alternative solution exists.

Erwin probably could’ve done it. He was charismatic, smart, and calm under fire.

Armin…was not that here. It was genuinely stupid of him to not have come prepared. Like, at even a basic level.

He failed.

So fuck it, at least if the mommy titan ate him, Falco will live, the mom will be back, and Gabi can have her boyfriend.

So Armin throws himself at the titan, and it was only happenstance that everything worked out.

That’s the logic of this scene, but it’s all muddled. The stupidity Armin displayed dampened the drama. 

The speed with which he falls into despair was unnatural. Armin’s badly insecure about living up to Erwin’s image, but it’s never been shown to be this bad.

There’s no believable progression to Armin’s feelings. He tried to be a hero, he face-planted, now he wants to die. They sort of skipped a couple of beats here.

Then Connie says maybe the stupidest thing he’s ever said in the manga: that inheriting the Colossal Titan would only have made his mom suffer.

???

So giving her the Colossal Titan would be bad, but not the Jaw?

I just assumed Connie thought turning his mom into a titan was worth it in the end. Did he just now realize how bad that would have been?

The series can’t just not address this. Connie named killing Falco and Armin as the bad things he did. Is he really not going to grapple with almost turning his mom into a titan, which he only implicitly admits was a bad thing?

Next scene is Louise and Mikasa.

Louise is a very devoted person. She cares deeply for Mikasa because Mikasa saved her life, and inspired her to devote her heart. She enlisted in the military, risked her life for her country, and now she’s on her deathbed, mortally wounded in battle. Not many people would speak ill of her like I would.

…

Is there anyone in this manga as pathetic as Louise?

Really, is there anyone?

Louise was saved from a titan by Mikasa. This inspired her to fight for her country.

Ok, that’s good.

She admires Mikasa and dreams of fighting by her side.

Yeah, that’s fine. We all wish we could hang with our heroes.

Then she took the scarf Mikasa threw away for herself. Because she thought it’d bring her closer to her.

Like how a stalker rifles through their victim’s trash for keepsakes.

That’s. pathetic.

It is pathetic how much Louise pines for Mikasa.

Compare Louise x Mikasa to Mikasa x Eren all you like, it’s not the same thing.

Mikasa and Eren were family. Their love is at minimum familial. Mikasa pines for Eren, which she very annoyingly never addressed, but there’s a sense to it.

When Mikasa lost her family, she was a helpless kid who had nothing. The Jeagers, and especially Eren, helped her rebuild her life. They took her into their home and accepted her as a family member.

The scarf matters, but only because it represents the humanity Mikasa was shown when she needed it most. She is endlessly grateful for that.

So of course she’d break the law for Eren, many family members would. Her willingness to do anything to save Eren bordered on derangement, but she’s gotten better at that. And she’s reevaluating her image of Eren in light of recent…happenings, which is good.

Louise is just a goddamn fangirl.

She doesn’t know Mikasa. She doesn’t pal around with her. She just stalks her like a creep.

Maybe they could have been friends. If Louise had just approached her, explained her story, and tried to befriend her, they could’ve become good friends. Certainly, Mikasa would have been flattered to see she inspired someone so much.

But that’s not what happened. Louise chose to be a stalker instead of a friend. I don’t think she was ever really interested in Mikasa as a person, though.

This is the likely last time she and Mikasa will interact, and Mikasa was so cold to her. Louise didn’t care. She got to fight alongside her hero for a time and that was enough. That’s so childish.

She looked up to Mikasa, but never seemed to want to befriend her. She just wanted to fight alongside her. I don’t think I’ll ever understand people like Louise.

If you respect someone so much, why wouldn’t you want to get to know them?

She said she’d die with no regrets because of this.

No regrets over never befriending her hero. No regrets over Floch, who lead her movement, putting people against the wall. No self-reflection. Nothing.

What a sad life to have lived.

She never questioned herself or what she felt. Just stunningly unself-aware.

…Maybe Daz would be more pathetic, but he’s more of a caricature of a pitiable person, so he doesn’t count.

Louise was a perfect fit for the Yeagerists. Louise, Floch, Eren. These people think with their hearts instead of their brains. They act on their feelings with no thought. It’s animalistic.

Eren loves his country, so now he’s off killing everyone else. Floch feels righteous indignation, so now he’s fucking over everyone who opposes him. Louise feels admiration for Mikasa, so now she’s dead.

Floch is holding his Trump rally, and declaring ultimate victory. i swear, Floch talks like a politician giving a stump speech. It’s the same prepared remarks with the same talking points over and over and over again.

“We are persecuted. All hail Eren the Liberator. He will set us free. Make me King of Ape Mountain.”

You can just tell Floch isn’t a very creative person. He’s repetitive as hell, a real one-man act. 

Then one of the dumbest moments in the chapter happens.

Mikasa is watching Floch’s speech for some reason. Then Some Guy approaches her, and casually asks if she wants to help lead Paradis.

Who is this guy?

Why is he asking her this?

Why is this guy pointing out Jean for no reason?

Clearly the point is to establish Mikasa’s stance on helping the Jeagerists, and to hint at Jean’s coming betrayal, but, jeeeeeez, was this badly telegraphed.

Isayama’s never been all that subtle, but this is just bad. It reads like the first draft of a story than a finished product. 

Next dumb scene.

Connie, Armin, and the kids are eating their way to Reiner, and they just bump into Annie, and even though she admits she’s committed awful crimes, Connie just starts paling around with her.

Huh?

His friends betraying him and killing other friends was, like, a thing with Connie. He had major beef with Eren for this exact reason. He specifically named Annie as an example of this.

Eren, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie. He trusted these people; they betrayed that trust and he was tired of it. Good people were killed by that betrayal. Including Sasha, whom he cared for more than anyone. 

Now it’s all good?

This is terrible character writing. Connie’s character was totally shat on by this chapter. 

I doubt we’ve seen the last of Hitch. That line about not finishing the pie alone is obvious set up for her searching Annie out and helping take down Eren.

Finishing off a pie is a group effort; the more the better. Also finishing off the zombie savior thing Eren’s become. That, too.

I’ve already talked about Jean, but wow, he’s such a good kid now.

The plan was for the Cart Titan to grab Yelena, Onyankopon, and Jean, and get out. They couldn’t have accounted for everything, though, like Floch happening to be in danger of being crushed as the Cart did her thing.

Floch and Jean do not get along. They’re enemies, politically and personally.

Jean still pushed him out of the way.

That was nice, but it was a critical blunder.

If Jean had held Floch close instead, they both would have been taken. Floch could have been their prisoner along with Yelena.

But, nope, Floch will continue to solidify his power and even if everyone survives, they won’t be able to oppose him.

The future looks super bleak no matter what happens. Eren will destroy the world and Floch will rule the Earth, or Eren will be stopped and the world will destroy Paradis in retaliation.

There is no way this is some gambit by Eren to unite the world. That makes no sense.

The world hates Eldians because they fear the Wall Titans will crush them.

The exact thing Eren’s doing now.

Eren will unite the world, but only in hatred of Eldians. If Eren is stopped, the world will be more committed to eliminating Paradis than ever before.

…Did the dialogue seem worse this time around?

“Titan doctor Hange.”

“We’ll listen before we shoot.”

“You just told me not to say a word, so I’ll show you with my actions.”

“Those burned bones would never forgive me.”

Who wrote that?

This chapter in general suffers from what you could call Season 3-itis. The anime adaptation of the Uprising Arc, in season 3, had a similar problem with rushing important moments. In season 3, part 1 important stuff happens and the characters engage with these events like real people. They react to what’s happening.

In the anime, stuff just happens. There are plot beats to get through, so the characters perform their beats and then it’s off to the next beat. The characters don’t react to what’s happening, they perform the story beat given to their character. It’s a robotic form of storytelling with no humanity behind it.

There is no gravitas.

So it is here. The fast pace of this chapter is unnatural. It breaks immersion and makes the story seem unrealistic.

This chapter was so inexplicable. Isayama just…stopped caring. Some other explanation would be nice, but in a vacuum, this is the likeliest one. He just stopped caring.

Never forget, this is Attack on Titan. A story about everything good in the world getting ruined. Up to and including the quality of the story itself.

So will they succeed?

Eren is apparently doing this to protect them, so if they just stood in a line in front of him, and dared him to kill them…

It might give him pause.

……They’re dead.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Walking Dead: The Tower (10x15)

It looks like the finale of The Walking Dead has been postponed because of COVID-19, so this is where we will be leaving these characters for a while. How does this episode hold up as a finale? Let's dive in!

Cons:

I think Daryl and Judith are adorable and I always like seeing them together, but their scenes in this particular episode didn't really work for me the way I think they were supposed to. Far too sentimental, if I'm being honest. It just felt like Daryl was making a declaration that "I'll never leave you... but I can't promise because we don't know what's going to happen," specifically so people can be scared he's going to die. Now, I don't think they'll kill Daryl off. I think he's one of the last things holding this show together, honestly. But that whole moment with Judith seemed designed specifically to tease the potential of him getting hurt or dying or disappearing soon. I hate that kind of plodding, heavy-handed foreshadowing. And Judith was a little bit too "kid on TV" for me this week, with her pathetic little voice saying she doesn't want Daryl to leave her like Michonne did.

Also... Negan telling Lydia that he tied her up to keep her safe is such malarkey. It makes no sense that Lydia was ever tied up in the first place; it was so clearly just done to fool the audience about Negan's loyalties.

Pros:

One thing I did kind of appreciate about Judith and Daryl was that moment when Judith admits that Michonne is going off to help some people that she met, but she doesn't mention Rick. It's interesting to me that she kept that information back, even as I was dying to know what Daryl's reaction to the news would have been.

I liked Kelly and Carol spending some time together. You'd expect Kelly to hate Carol for her role in Connie's very-probable death, but in fact, Kelly says she understands Carol. She knows that she's always been the person who needs to handle things in her own way. And she gets being in denial about the right thing to do. I also loved how Kelly talked about sign language. As she has started to lose her hearing, she's been scared about what that means - but her Deafness is actually her super-power, as everyone around her starts to learn some ASL to be able to communicate with her. That's such an incredible and empowering message, and now I'm really hoping that knowing sign language is going to be a key skill in a vital moment. Maybe the gang can pass messages to each other discreetly without alerting Beta and the others? We'll have to see!

Beta has completely lost it, and it is honestly kind of fascinating to see. He has taken control of the Whisperers, but he bristles at the implication that he's the new Alpha. He remains Beta, and woe be to anyone who says otherwise. As the episode ends, we see the hoard closing in on our gang of intrepid heroes, leaving us on one hell of a cliffhanger. I want to be annoyed about this, because Alpha's death didn't actually really change much in terms of the Whisperers being a threat... but also, I think Beta is going more for an all-or-nothing strategy, while Alpha might have taken her time and tried something a bit more nuanced and clever. Also, we weren't meant to be left with this cliffhanger for long, and I can't exactly blame the show runners for the real-life pandemic that has put a temporary halt to the fake one in The Walking Dead.

My favorite part of this episode was the story with Princess! At first, I kept wondering if we were going to find out somehow that Princess was the person who had been talking to Eugene, luring him here in need of companionship, but that's not the route we went here. Princess really is just a loner trying to survive in a crazy world. Her isolation has clearly started to affect her mind. When Yumiko, Ezekiel, and Eugene meet Princess, she seems erratic at best, insane at worst. She scares away their horses with gunfire, and seems not at all self-conscious about the creepy Walker tableaux she has set up through town.

But she also wants to help. So even as Eugene is anxious to move on and reach the rendezvous, they follow Princess in search of promised vehicles. She leads them into a mine field, apparently just an accidental detour, but at the end of the day her loneliness and despair really endear her to the gang, and Yumiko, the most suspicious and cold from the start, extends her an invitation to join them on their journey.

I love Princess. She is an instantly invigorating presence on the show. She's funny, she's erratic to the point where you can't ever feel quite safe with her, which adds an interesting element. I loved the parallel between Princess and Eugene, as well. He too has lied to people just to keep them around. That's how we met him on the show, when he was pretending to have government information so Abraham and Rosita would keep him safe.

I liked that this whole plot thread sort of felt like a wacky detour, but also introduced a new character, who could be quite interesting, either in the short-term or as a more permanent addition to the cast. I'm also desperately wishing I could see Eugene meet his radio friend now... I can't believe we have to wait to find out more!

So there you have it. This episode was obviously not intended as a finale when it was written and shot, but I think it works pretty well nevertheless. We'll see how long we have to wait before we see the conclusion, and Maggie's return!

8/10

[bigsteeb]

ok here are some quick thoughts about "in dreams" & "bismuth casual" & how both peri & bis treated steven.

ok so "in dreams." the final dream had steven with the crt tv feed behind him & peri & it was... nuts, & peri saw all of it. she saw steven's struggle over his fear of being left behind & how tired he was with trying to find something/someone to help so he can stay friends with people. watching all of that hurt, & I'm pretty sure it hurt peri too. she turned his tv off & immediately woke him up from that nightmare, reassuring him it's over & then immediately comforted him. peridot I love you so much.

& now "bismuth casual." steven feeling awkward & oversharing around connie's friends was painfully relatable, & him struggling to keep his balance on his skates was relatable too. steven was a fat mood in that episode sjdjsjfa. anyway his talk with bis off the rink was, in short, fucking beautiful. bis giving him that pep talk was lovely, & her just saying "yea you're weird you're a crystal gem & connie knows that, that doesn't change what she thinks about you" to him was... amazing. making a point that being "weird" is completely valid & there's nothing inherently wrong with it, I love it. this pep talk along side the one she gave him in the movie just... bismuth I love you so much.

I'm gonna add a few things for lapis here. the whole day out in "why so blue?" just showing her relationship with steven being very sibling like & her growth as a character & the parallels with both her & steven being called pitiful & then immediately proving that they're, in fact, not pitiful was perfect, lapis is one of my favourites so that episode was a treat for me. the reason I'm adding stuff for lapis is because with those 2 episodes the other night I wholeheartedly believe the b-team are more aware of steven's hidden feelings than the core 3 gems, the gems who raised steven.

sure amethyst has made several attempts before & at the end of "prickly pair" pearl seemed to finally catch on, but it's too late isn't it? I mean with the teaser & pearl's face towards steven when his gem made that wall because it felt like steven was being threatened by them being pushy about him not being honest. garnet, amethyst & pearl do care about steven they do, but they're going at it the wrong way. where as the b-team don't go to the root of the issue, they de-weed the issue first. they reassure him & comfort him in that exact moment so he can carry on feeling ok, & these episodes both ending with steven actually enjoying himself for once proves this.

[agreasyonion]

Just some little things I want to say:

The episode "I Am My Monster" is paralleled to "I Am My Mom."

The house in Steven's dream in "In Dreams" could be a metaphor of contentedness, purpose or growth.

"Now look at this nightmare!" *Steven's nightmare plays on the TV*

The Cookie Cat half yellow half pink could represent Steven's split identity between human and gem. Also, it has eyes similar to Pink Diamonds.

Some of the crew are in Bismuth Casual

The Camp Pining Hearts Reboot is basically Steven Universe Future

Steven has a mug behind is bed that says "World's Best Stephen."

TV static in dreams often can mean that the person dreaming is reluctant to hear the truth (Steven was also covering his ears.)

The socks Steven and Connie are wearing are like the socks representing Ruby and Sapphire in Keeping It Together

I might add more later on