#last season speculations

[luniviravosshipper]

Okay okay, just two more things I want to point out before I head off to bed.

Firstly, I’ve seen people point out how Soren was shown bleeding or that he had blood on him, but why?

And why does he suddenly shift moods in the same clip?

Also, it looks like he’s looking up more in the first image and with concern.

I mean, with the background and all, this looks like it might take place at Katolis. But why would he have blood on him there? Was he in a fight with someone? Is the person he’s fighting the one he’s looking at here?? I need answers!

Secondly,

Oh my gosh. Did anyone hear that insane screaming from Claudia??

Even with the sound of the music overlapping it, her screaming was so clear and loud in the background.

It sounds gut wrenching.

Racquel was not kidding when she said she was really pushed to her limits when it came to her voice acting this season. I hope her vocal cords aren’t totally fried now.

[rey-jake-therapist]

At this point, I don't necessarily need a Haladriel kiss. What I do, though, is emotionally charged dialogue and close talking/whispering with heavy breathing.

THIS.

I understand why many of you hope for a kiss, I really do, but personnally if we get a scene as sexually charged as any of their scenes from S1, I'll be very happy already.

Oh and if Sauron touches Galadriel's hair like he did with Mirdania's, it will probably turn me into a puddle.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Buck & Eddie: Turnout Gear!

What will their married last name be?

1. Mr. & Mr. Buckley-Diaz

2. Mr. & Mr. Diaz-Buckley

3. Mr. & Mr. Diaz

[9ndreus]

September 30th October 1st

[mischiefbuckley]

yk what yeah let’s talk about why all the close up shots on Buck so far this season because again why would we constantly need to see his reaction and have us as the audience notice the close up shots on Buck (and also Eddie) so I’d like to believe that in this situation as I’ve said it before Eddie is the one that makes the first move on Buck when Buddie does go canon so we see Buck’s reaction after their first kiss

[iliveinarainbow]

ok i might be spiraling here but it’s pretty clear to me that armand was perfectly fine with the coven killing claudia and madeleine, but specifically claudia bc she was in the way.

he wasn’t powerless, he was in on it.

a common tactic with abusers is to isolate their victim so that they become emotionally dependent on them bc they’re all they have.

and also so that no one will intervene when they abuse their victim, and the latter will have no one to turn to.

claudia not only reminded armand of lestat, which is not good, but she was also incredibly protective of louis, and she was not afraid to report back whenever she felt the coven (including armand himself) had done something wrong.

she was not scared to speak her truth and be honest with louis in an attempt to wake him out of this spell his relationship with armand had seemingly put him under.

yes claudia’s existence broke the coven’s rules, but if armand had wanted to he could’ve taken them out, and yet he did not.

claudia was in the way of his fucked up relationship with louis, and madeleine sadly for her was just kinda there.

armand needed louis isolated to fully take control of his life and its narrative, and 70 something years later, we see that he succeeded.

until my pookie daniel got there and started poking holes in their “perfect marriage”, icon.

[makorragal-312]

Eddie's gonna invite Buck to a one-on-one game of basketball before he leaves, but only if he doesn't push him again and damn near break his ankle like he did last time.

Take note of the Season 3 "Just don't do it again" point.

[afterschoolcrewz]

ok so based on his actors instagram comments, brad definitely has some sort of villain arc coming up perhaps in relation to his dynamic with bobby. peter krause also teased that there were more hotshots stuff in the next few episodes, but didn’t necessarily say that it was about bobby working on the hotshots set either, and based on the “welcome back c-“ sign we saw that we now 100% know isn’t for gerrard, bobby’s going to be coming back to the 118 sooner or later. so what i’m thinking is that brad is going to become obsessed with living the authentic firefighter lifestyle, perhaps staging a bunch of accidents on set so that he can rush in and save the day kind of like jonah in s5, but when bobby leaves he no longer has has the external validation he wants so badly.

i think that he’s going to target somebody that bobby’s close to, and considering the fact that he only really saw bobby interacting with athena and buck, i feel like buck in his mind is going to be the easiest choice for him, seeing that he knows athena is a police sergeant that could easily catch onto him doing something behind the scenes if he isn’t careful around her. so after bobby leaves, he starts stalking buck and trying to figure out a way to get him in danger that he can take the credit for (this would tie into the halloween episode desc. of scary decorations) before deciding that the easiest and most glamorous way to go about it is setting his loft on fire and rushing in to save him. the only issue is that brad’s never actually been in a real fire, and this time he doesn’t have bobby around to back him up, so he messes up and in a panic he calls bobby to alert him that buck’s in danger, because i don’t think he’s the intentionally sadistic type like jonah was, i think his character is moreso likely to think he’s doing the “right thing” until it’s too late, and that’s when he panics.

this is going to end on a cliffhanger of the 118 rushing to save buck, and that’s where we have the break on the week of 10/31 as people theorize on what’s going to happen next. this would also tie in with episode title of masks, in this case one of the masks being the put together/badass facade that brad puts on.

[biceratops7]

… let’s talk about “Arrival”

So I was fully intending on making a more general but thorough peruse through the new Good Omens title sequence, because my FUCK aren’t those always a gold mine. But then I thought to myself, “hey wait a minute, I can be even more unhinged and on brand.”

Something I’ve seen nobody talk about yet is that the movie that the procession is marching into is The Arrival, which is a 90’s movie that draws a pretty straightforward parallel. But I think if it doubles as a reference to 2016’s Arrival, THAT has some much more interesting implications. Either way this reference is doing some heavy lifting.

For those who haven’t seen the movie (or that one philosophy tube video about it lol), the basic plot is that a group of aliens later named heptopods arrive on earth scattered across the world, and just kind of invite humanity to check them out. Each country hires a team of linguists who are all tasked with figuring out what the visitors are here for. But the thing is, it’s only about aliens on the surface level. This is really about communicating, cooperation, and how language holds the power to alter your very fabric of reality.

Spoilers for the movie:

Two major revelations occur towards the end of the movie. The first is that an element of fluid time is revealed. Throughout the movie, the main American linguist has been having flashbacks to a daughter that passed away of an illness. But since the heptopod language has no regard for chronological order, we learn that these are actually flash-forwards when she becomes nearly fluent. In other words, learning heptopod, having a genuine curiosity and even compassion for these vastly different beings. has given her the ability to perceive reality in ways thought previously impossible.

Even before noticing the Arrival reference, I’ve been side eyeing these “flashbacks”, but this and the image above confirmed it for me. Any instance of the word “becoming” when talking about the past indicates some sort of fluid time nonsense. The past is fixed unless something ✨happens✨. I don’t think these are simply memories, I think something rather cosmic instead is afoot.

But it’s more than just “there’s probably time travel in this” though. Simply having Aziraphale as a companion has changed Crowley. It’s given him an ability that he’s not meant to be capable of as a demon. He already had it in him to be good and have mutual relationships based in trust and kindness, I’m sure all demons can if given the right nurture… but Crowley is experiencing love. In the show, something tangible to the senses and distinctly angelic. I’m very much hoping that that whole element of things is going to somehow be a driving factor in what’s occurring over all, and possibly involved in time going screwy.

The other element of Arrival’s ending that’s of import, is the heavy emphasis on the importance of cooperation. First of all, we learn at some point that not every country has the same message to decipher, they each have one piece of a whole. Some of the countries begin using games to communicate with their heptopods, and this poses a problem because it causes messages to be more easily interpreted as hostile. For example, the phrase “we brought a tool” can be easily misconstrued as “we have a weapon.” Eventually, the world gets impatient and scared, and a war is imminent. What finally leads to everyone putting down arms and cooperating, is the American linguist sending a message to the Chinese linguist saying “in war, there are no victors, only widows.”

Something noteworthy about this particular march is that the procession never splits like it does at the end of the first season’s. Not only are both angelic and demonic figures marching into the light atop a mountain as a United front, but this actually seems to be a theme this season. Heaven and Hell aren’t working together as far as we know, but they are at least working towards the same goal, which for some reason is getting Gabriel’s ass. There is also a heavy emphasis on mending broken relationships, with Crowley and Azirphale trying to fix a (probably) lesbian couple literally being the B plot.

Now this is where we bring in what’s actually on the movie screen, which is that damn box. So at this point we know basically nothing about it accept for it probably being a Mcguffin. But we DO have the imagery of three feathers, a black one, a white one, and a bluish grey one, falling into it… and it sure as fuck looks like a moving box. So back to arrival, what actually was the message? The heptopods told the linguist that they’re here to help humanity (via giving them a tool or new tech I think?) because in 3,000 years, they will need humanity’s help. So with this and the world eventually being inspired to stand down and share their pieces of the message, it’s this over arching theme of setting aside fear of the other and cooperating indefinitely for the benefit of the whole. The black feather, the white feather… and then something that is somehow both yet entirely unique.

I think… somehow, someway, this season may culminate in Heaven and Hell reconciling. Whether it be against a common enemy, for a shared goal, or in love, there seems to be many clues both symbolic and literal that show them learning to be one again. Learning to understand eachother’s language and see new ways of being neither before could fathom.

[ambernotember]

Putting my big damn clown nose on…

We saw Hen and Karen break up in the flashback in 6x06

We saw them almost break up in Season 1

Chim and Maddie broke up/never really got started after the events of 2x13

Bobby and Athena have issues/almost break up when she doesn’t want to be seen in public with him bc it’s too soon/bc of the divorce and how she feels that will be perceived by others

They have issues again when Athena asks Bobby to move in

I mean… a breakup doesn’t have to mean forever and we’ve seen other main couples overcome big issues before!

And Tim, why say this last season and then write him off like this? Where to live could honestly have been a valid reason to break up but the scene ended up not even being about that.

At this point why didn’t you just bring back canonical gay firefighter Casey from Hen Begins, who most of the GA would have known as much as they knew Tommy?

Natalia got written off between seasons and if there was really that much of an issue with the actors/something behind the scenes/how the studio wanted to proceed, whatever it might be, I think you could have just… not done this.

Did I have a point? Mm not sure. Anyways

[ladynoirzeddison123]

Dad’s Season 7 Theory

So my dad just came back from a few weeks abroad which meant we finally binged the new season together. Anyway… as we reached the end of the last episode he had a thought that I found pretty interesting so I thought I’d share.

Runnan has been released from the coin as we know, meaning there’s still one Quasar diamond in Callum’s possession. My dad noticed that when Runnan was freed his previously occupied coin it became empty (obviously) and that Callum picked it up to look at it. Now this can easily be framed as simple curiosity, but perhaps also foreshadowing? My dad’s thought here is, since Aaravos cannot be killed, and hence needs to be trapped, will Callum end up performing the coin entrapment spell on Aaravos? Instead of doing it the dark magic way he’d use the last Quasar diamond to trap him, almost like a reverse release spell?

It seems like an interesting thought and would be a pretty rounded conclusion to Callum’s arc, he would keep his promise of not using dark magic, we would see the final diamond be used, and trapping Aaravos in a coin would parallel Viren trapping others for his own gain, while Callum would have trapped someone to not only save the world but also assure himself that he is free from the threat and influence of Aaravos (seeing as he is absolutely going to spiral once he finds out Aaravos is free and he didn’t take the real Pearl).

Yeah anyway this is why I like watching shows with him we always end up having interesting discussions.

[deluweil]

Am I the only one struggling to understand why the last minute handbags, I mean gfs, get dragged into the next season? There's no need, the moment you stapled the women last minute of the season, we know they aren't lasting.

Having Marisol dragged till episode 5, give or take, is a waste of time of 10 episodes.

Also, gotta say, buddie not going canon, which is feeling more and more likely, as I told one of my mutuals, could be fatal for this show.

Because the two main male characters not finding their one true pairing in 7 seasons, but get stapled to a new woman, again will just feel like disrespect for those characters and the fans.

Because the other og characters either started married (henren) or got together in season 2 (madney and bathena).

So I am asking, what about Buck and Eddie, these two are freaking serial monogamists, how have they not settled with anyone else?

The reason is that they did! They settled with each other! There is no room for anyone else!

At this point not declaring them spouses for life is just a waste of episodes, characters and our time.

[onceuponapuffin]

"Shades of dark grey."

"Shades of very very light grey, I rather fancy."

What if in Season 3 they have something in the cottage painted grey - a shade that they were able to agree on together.

[canonicallyobserving911]

Unpopular opinion: I don't want Eddie sitting at home moping about his life in season 8.

Why? Because he deserves to have fun and live a little. He has a whole life the SHOW NEVER FOCUSES ON. Who knew he was playing poker at an underground LAFD poker game with a chief, a captain and others? NO ONE! (Until 6x13.) Who knew Eddie had a muscle car? I DIDN'T! (Until 7x4.) Of course, everyone who watched season 3 knows he participates in Muay Thai fighting because he was involved in that illegal fight club Lena introduced him to but that's not the point. It appears, Eddie has interests that the show NEVER focuses on until it's convenient... so, it would be nice if he has the chance to do them ON-SCREEN.

There are some who want Eddie to just sit home and mope about his life while his friend dates a trashy dude who knows Buck wasn’t trying to get his attention 🙄 but I digress.

Anyway, I don't want him to do that because he's already done it. He carried his entire family on his back starting at the age of 10 after his dad told him "To be the man of the house" and he has been ever since. He became a husband and a father right out of high school and he’s been working to provide for his own family. Since he blew up his life and the showrunner let his parents take Chris away from him, he should be able to go out and have fun with some of his friends like Linda, Chimney, Captain Mehta, Lena, Karen and maybe some of the people he served with in the Army. Or here's a thought... HOW ABOUT LET EDDIE TALK TO HIS SISTERS! HE HAS TWO BUT NOT ONCE HAVE WE AS THE AUDIENCE SEEN HIM TALK TO OR SPEND TIME WITH THEM. It's been 6 going on 7 years and Eddie has the largest family of every main on the show so could he please spend time with his abuela, his sisters and his cousins ON-SCREEN?

Listen... some want to see Eddie pine and be jealous of whack ass T*mmy but he’s been petty for years regarding the people Buck's ended up with which means it has been done several times before. (Hello season 5 with the first T.K. when Buck took her to Eddie’s for dinner in 5x11 and when she was in his house for his welcome home party in 4x14 🙄.) Therefore, IMO, it's time for Eddie to finally live for Eddie!

Please understand, I only ship Buddie but I think it will be good for him to find a hobby he enjoys and spend time with friends because it seems like he never had the chance to do any of that. Also, him getting spiritual guidance regarding his past from the priest is one thing but the majority of people don’t live at church so he should spend time figuring out what he likes and doesn't like. He said he's a nester so he can do that while staying busy. Maybe he can take a class or do something extreme that's legal. (No fight clubbing or anything that's going to put his life or his job in danger because some parts of the fandom already villainize him but they don't hold other mains to the same standard. He's been called angry once and that was a character assassination all on its own and it's NOT TRUE!) There are lots of things he can do other than sit home.

Just thoughts.

#FreeEddieAndLetHimLiveHisLife!

#EddieDeservesToBeHappy!

[returquoise]

ATLALA, aka Avatar the Last Airbender Live Action

Sooooo, I finished the first season and had thoughts (just like everyone else lol). First context, non-spoilery thoughts, and then spoilers under the cut, yadda-yadda.

Why context? Because for a lot of people OG ATLA was their childhood, and they have super strong feelings about it and about any adaptation that exists. I'm not one of those people.

The first time I watched OG ATLA I was over 20 years old, which means I was an adult and had adult viewpoints about the story – worldbuilding, character writing, etc. It was never the hallowed most perfect show ever for me. It was and still is a fucking good show with some amazing writing and worldbuilding but I did have some gripes.

So when ATLALA was announced I remained neutral – I've seen the movie that shall not be named and din't really like it but shitty adaptations have always existed. When we started getting photos and trailers and news pieces, I was feeling pretty positive about the visuals, but neither news pieces or trailers actually tell you shit about what the writing or worldbuilding is like. However, I was about 70% optimistic.

Because what indications I did get about visuals, writing etc, were very reminiscent of another adaptation that had come out recently, about a series that was actually a bit more important to me on an emotional than ATLA. I'm talking about One Piece, and OPLA which came out last August. I've been a fan of that for 10 years longer than ATLA, and while they did a lot of changes, the spirit of the story was there.

So I copied my optimism and good feelings from that, going into ATLALA.

Now, the thoughts.

Visuals are pretty good. There are moments when I can tell they left some visuals out due to trickiness/budget (the "is Zuko's ship real?" review after the premiere). Some things look fake or plasticy, some stuff is too clean. Bending looks a lot better than in the movie that shall not be named.

Writing has issues. Some of it is very expositiony which makes it wooden and the shots uninteresting (there were so many badly framed shots with characters just awkwardly standing and talking). There are some lovely bits of dialogue that gave me feelings, but those moments were in the minority. And some writing choices were also quite childish, even for an adaptation of a kids' cartoon, so I'm a bit confused about the intended age demographic – except there are some really violent bits in there, which leave me even more confused.

Pacing was either frantic or okay-ish. The writers clearly had trouble paring down the OG series, and then ended up cramming stuff together. I could keep up with it (knowing what certain characters roughly meant for the plot, even if they were at a different place and time), but I'm not quite sure if someone uninitiated in the OG series could. The last 2 episodes had probably the best pacing and even then there were some things that made me go "hmmm."

Some actors have issues emoting – main and extras. I agree that the Gaang has lost some of their flaws compared to the OG series. Maybe some of them will make more of an appearance in season two when everyone's more experienced at acting? Especially considering that they'll likely have stuff more spaced out there – there are some episodes I'm pretty sure they'll outright skip, just based on the choices in this season. But we'll see. There were some fun and interesting bonding moments between different characters.

Sokka, Zuko, and Suki were the standouts from the younger cast. Suki is considerably different from the OG but it was acted and written well, and is an interesting choice. Sokka's quips, while not as numerous as in the OG, were fun. Physical comedy is obviously more toned down because real bodies can't do the same shit as cartoons. More about his arc choices later. Zuko was a bit toned down from the OG but IMO also the closest to it. And as someone who's almost finished with a Zuko AU fanfic, I was positively cackling due to the fact that some of the choices made for the character are similar to something I've done in my fic.

As for the rest of the main kids, there'll be more in the spoiler bits, BUT, they're different, and feel less experienced in acting. They're not bad but some choices were definitely different than in the show and they offer interesting opportunities. We'll see how they pan out, but be prepared for some speculation from me.

Fight scenes sometimes had IMO slow moments in the choreo, and they could have been better. Some were excellent, some a bit ehhh.

On the whole, I think this is about 7 out of 10. Some moments were 8 out of 10. It's a passable adaptation

Spoilery thoughts waaaay down.

Whoo boy. Where to start here?

Let's start with the cramming. As far as I can tell from my notes, the episodes are roughly divided like so:

EP1: 3,5 and bits (Boy in the Iceberg, Avatar Returns, Southern Air Temple, half of the Storm, bits of Avatar and the Fire Lord)

EP2: 1 and bits (Warriors of Kyoshi, part of Waterbending Scroll)

EP3: 3 halves (King of Omashu, Jet, Northern Air Temple)

EP4: 1, 4 halves and bits (King of Omashu, Jet, Northern Air Temple, Cave of Two Lovers, half of Winter Solstice P1, bits of the Avatar Day,)

EP5: 2 halves and pieces of 3 (half of Winter Solstice P1, half of Bato of the Water Tribe, part of Southern Raiders, part of the Library, part of Siege of the North) AND timeskip mention of the Great Divide and the pirates from Waterbending Scroll

EP6: 2, two halves and bits (Winter Solstice P2, Blue Spirit, half of Bato of the Water Tribe half of the Storm, part of Siege of the North)

EP7: 2 (Waterbending Master, Siege of the North)

EP8: 2 and pieces (Siege of the North, Return to Omashu, bits of Northern Air Temple, part of the Library)

Waterbending Scroll is a bit of throughline because you see moments of training in pretty much all of the episodes.

Episode 1 was very full, and felt rushed at times. There were a few places where they could have shortened some parts (like the earthbender spy scene at the start) to give more time for other stuff. Biggest gripes are the convenience of timing – Aang going off to clear his head only for everyone to die that very night. HOWEVER, me and my friends talked about it being likely Spirit shenanigans going "fuck, Air Nomads are gonna die now, we need to deepfreeze the Avatar for storage." We also concluded that the sudden current of Sokka and Katara finding Aang was either physics we don't understand, or Spirit shenanigans. Also the thing about all the Air Nomads coming over for the Great Comet festival? And then having so few of them on screen? Sorry, but I ain't buying it. Having such a sparse population in one temple I could have bought (with caveats) but adding in the gathering, nah.

Episode 2, Sokka-Suki was beautiful. I think it works even with the removed downplaying of girls capabilities (this change also brought some other stuff to Sokka I absolutely adored in later episodes but I'll talk about that when I start ranting about the characters). This was pretty close to the OG episode in many ways and I really don't have other problems with it, besides the somewhat childish end discussion about hope and shit with Aang and Suki's mom (Suki having a badass mom is fun). Manifesting Avatars and being able to talk to them only at their shrines will be an interesting take on stuff. Because that will affect some stuff on later seasons and I'm not sure how.

(And considering how scared Aang is of the Avatar State this early on, we might end up skipping the Avatar State in the next season. At least partially. Because we did get a lot of info now.)

That's a very full itinerary and it was hardest to follow at eps 3-4 because there were so many things going on. Jet's and the Mechanist's conflicting storylines made for an interesting drama (though, again, hard to follow) and gave Sokka and Katara something to do – which they didn't really have in the OG Omashu episode, which was what Aang was mostly dealing with here. In my opinion these two episodes didn't get a proper handling, because they're one of the few instances were we get people from the Earth Kingdom doing questionable shit, but we don't really discuss it. And while everyone know marketing is a mistake (it makes no one happy), considering that this series was trying to sell itself as a more mature take, that feeling is left kinda lacking in regards to Jet and the Mechanist. I do appreciate Bumi being fucking bitter, like Yass, you go king, as well as the bit with the Earth Kingdom soldiers speaking of grief and mistreating Iroh. That complexity is what was left lacking with Jet and the Mechanist, and how Katara and Sokka dealt with that emotionally. Also loved Zuko getting hit by a broom and Iroh taking the fall for him. The Zuko-Zhao alliance was an interesting angle to take (after messing it up pfft) and establishing early that Azula is a master infiltrator? I liked that move, also the fact that there are Fire Nation rebels. Although I fucking loved the quick fake marriage.

5 and 6, despite being about as full if not fuller, were weaven together really well in my opinion. My biggest gripe with that two episode storyline was how the Fire Sage Shyu-Aang team-up was done – not that it was any better in the OG to be fair but it is more jarring in live action. I just about died at the 41st twist because holy shit that's an amazing angst take and I appreciate it so much. And while we do get Aang planting an acorn, it feels like a really small moment and I think the Hei Bai issue should have got a bit more attention as the episode was resolved. Koh was fucking terrifying and the appearance of Wan Shi Tong – and in the last two episodes the appearance of the celestial objects calendar machine, as well as the fact that Zhao got his dirt on Tui and La from a Fire Sage – leads me to believe we won't be getting the Library episode next season.

(The only way I can see Return to Omashu happening is if it's remixed with Imprisoned which was totally left out of this season, or we get the important info aka neutral Jing info all from the Swamp, or from a letter Bumi sent. I personally think Return to Omashu-Imprisoned remix is more likely, just so we can prep Teo and the Mechanist for the Day of the Black Sun which we saw flashing by on the celestial objects machine just before we finally got the confirmation that Sozin's Comet is still a thing. Although The Avatar State could also be remixed into this in a sort of "yes, Earth Kingdom needs to free Bumi etc but I can't do it in Avatar State, we need to be smart.")

Episodes 7 and 8 were pretty chill in pacing issues. I thought Yue was a bit too quick in warming up to Sokka but considering how it was explained I can accept it. Also, the fact that Tui and La are intelligent enough to not be fish 24/7/365 is a change that makes sense although the whole Ice Moon (is it the local Halloween?) thing was very out of left field. Women joining the fight was a wild update and definitely more of a modern take than an early 2000s take. Do I have other thoughts? Sure, but I don't want to write bajillion essays and I just want a general overview in one post.

Zuko is, like I said, a standout. Absolutely love his conspiracy board, and as someone who writes a fic with a more scholarly inclined Zuko, I loved him being able to draw, being the foremost Avatar expert in the world (you can't tell me there can be more than one or two people out there who know more than Zuko at this point, look at his research), and having opinions about calligraphy brushes. Ugh, my heart. There's some absolutely wonderful acting happening and he does action really well. Is he a bit less explosive than in the OG? Sure, but one must remember, that adaptations are just licensed fanfics. His abuse background is in the performance, and my biggest question is the Agni Kai. There was a certain desperation in his face, so he must have wanted to make an impression on Ozai, and maybe felt a bit more like he had the right to it – as this show made it clear he had been invited in the War Council and did not needle his way in. Also the 41st twist oh holy smokes I just about screamed. His flaw is still anger and trouble thinking plans through.

Azula (her bangs in the flashback crack me up, was that her emo phase?) is more obviously affected by Ozai's games in this. I know OG Azula has loads of fans and there are loads of deep dives into her character and abuse and etc, but this is actually the first time her writing has made it obvious to me. She's still cold and calculating, but she's affected by more things and that makes her into a more approachable character for me. I know many fans got this from the OG portrayal so I know this is a me thing.

Sokka is another standout. I saw an interview where the actor was like "I tried to interject and ad lib humour where I could" and I appreciate it, because a lot of them made me cackle. There was some really good humour there. As for his arc and conflict; I think it's really interesting that he tries to live up to his dad's image of a warrior, and doing it very much out of duty. It isn't so much that he wants to be a warrior, but he wants to be good enough and I think that came through wonderfully. He can be a warrior, but it ain't his passion. It also offers very interesting bonding possibilities and parallels with Zuko. My heart broke at that ice-dodging scene in episode 5, as well as his heart-to-heart with Katara in episode 4 (fucking SIBLING LOVE TRIUMPHS). Also absolutely loved the fact that he supported Katara being a warrior in the North. His flaws in the OG are self-esteem issues (nailed here), and a certain level of arrogance, that affected his attitude towards girls at times. The latter has been removed but considering it only lasted until episode 4 in the OG series anyway, I don't see it as a terribly big deal. We can still get his "it'll totally work out this way" arrogant moment at pretty much any point in the story in the future.

Katara has trouble emoting. I don't know how much experience her actor has with acting, but I hope she gets better with practice. There are some very nice bonding moments she has with Sokka and Aang that bring emotion out, but she's very stone faced a lot of the time. One could read it as a symptom of seeing her mother being literally burned alive but that depends on how her arc is written in future seasons, and how it's acted. I really like the parallel with Sokka, of him trying to be a warrior out of duty, while Katara wants to be that and has trouble getting the opportunity to do so. This came out really well in episode 4. The fact that she was made a fucking commander of sorts at North was amazing moment of proving to her that she can be, that she is, a warrior. I'm kinda sad her temper has been left out of the writing, because with her being a self-taught water bender (which I'm okay with because we see her practising every fucking episode) there's a threat of her sliding into so-called Mary Sue territory. Hopefully Toph's inclusion brings her temper out next season. She's also missing some of her naiveté, although having a crush on the first good looking outsider (with fucking mirrored shots) just like her brother is hilarious.

Aang is... to mature. He gets a lot of really good and morally and ethically right speeches, and while he expresses that he's scared and doesn't know what he's doing, it still feels too mature. He also doesn't have that many dumbass child moments (what was that episode he just went "oops" in, that was funny and felt childlike, and then there was the water fight he had with Katara). It could be because we're going through stuff so fast but it'll be hard to fix later. I kinda like how his connection with Katara is being the last of their kind and loss – and then the small really good acting in ep7 when Katara says stewed sea prunes taste like home, and you can just see him go "oh, there's still someplace she can belong to, unlike me." I loved his calligraphy brush discussion with Zuko, because there was the beginnings of a bond there. As a friend said, it's nice they removed the Disney princess like love at first sight thing from the OG. If this turns into a romance (I have thoughts on that... later) I feel like it has a better chance to grow organically. No, I never shipped Kataang, please refer to the context part of this post.

Suki had a fun isolated, but curious, and socially awkward vibe to her. She's obviously different from the OG, but it's a fun and interesting difference, as the most characterisation we ever got for her was badass. Yue was interesting, more assertive and playful, which I liked. I also liked the fact that she had obvious duties and was expected to be the next chief. Even if the Northern Water Tribe sexism was kept, this felt like it added some dimension to it. June flirting with Iroh was hilarious, enough said. Mai and Ty Lee are blanks of wood. Their writing, and the direction they were given was horrible, and they're a prime example of that awkward standing and bad framing issue I mentioned way earlier. Ty Lee could have at least been bending herself into a pretzel, and Mai could have been using a knife to dig stuff from under her nails or something. I hope they get better writing and direction in the future.

Iroh was honestly pretty enjoyable. There were some moments of skilled evasive answering, but I was left missing him saying that Zuko was like a son to him. They do have really good chemistry though and you can see the care between the characters. I hated the long monologue at the end of episode 6, that felt very much beneath whatever target audience they were aiming for, and failed show not tell. Not perfect but can improve. Also, that one part where they played Leaves on the Vine, I almost died.

Ozai being a manipulative, abusive game addict is different but offers him some agency and motivation besides megalomania, which I appreciate. He had a peculiar expression when he burned Zuko, and that smells like hidden lore to me.

That's probably every character I feel like addressing at this point. However, I did mention romance in Aang's section, and I have to agree with the other whispers on the net. The fucking scarf scene. At this point, it's more likely for this show to be Zutara than Kataang IMO. BUT before people go and blow up about it, some points; cartoons offer more leeway in visual age differences, I feel like they would need to extend ATLALA plot line to last several years (instead of like, 9 months it's in the OG) to make it visually make sense. The Fortuneteller (as well as Katara's obsession with love?), and Aang's love at first sight have all been written out. Cave of Two Lovers was used for sibling love on the first season, and we ain't visiting that location again, not with how efficiently we did pretty much all of the Omashu stuff this season. Most of the Kataang iconic moments have been left out deliberately. Does this mean we'll get Zutara? Of course not, but due to the scarf scene, as well as that rivals thing they have going (we literally have two fights between Zuko and Katara this season, and the water sprout she used to thwart his fireball in episode one, and if that isn't a traditional beginning of a rivalry, nothing is), it's certainly more likely at this point than Kataang.

But we'll see, just like with everything else. It's an okay start, it's far from perfect, but it does offer new viewpoints that I find fascinating.

What's in the future.

I already explained my Return to Omashu-Imprisoned-Avatar State mash-up idea above, and that we'll likely miss the Library. I also think Avatar Day will be left out. I do however think, that we'll get the Deserter next season. We also need a way for Aang to learn about the Comet coming again and if Library is out (and probably also the Desert), best chances are IMO the Swamp or the Fortuneteller (remixing those two together is also possible). Or maybe Yeong Yeong has spies and they tell him about the Comet and he tells the Gaang. I also think they'll be foreshadowing/setting up White Lotus a bit more than we got in the OG.

I don't quite have my thought together enough to make any other guesses, but we will get Toph, Ba Sing Se, and Azula's Mean Girls Squad, but no clue yet how they'll be remixed. Season 2 has a much clearer timeline structure, whereas season 1 had a lot of episodic stuff that doesn't timeline wise offer too many roadblocks for remixes, as we saw with what they did with Omashu.

I think that's about everything I can think off. If you have comments, please be nice. This was mostly rambling, and tin foil hat baiting.

[mischiefbuckley]

so in Jinx we have Eddie not believing into the superstitions that the team holds regarding the q word and he’s making fun of them for believing in that stuff and then we have the scene of them after responding to one of the many crazy calls they have had that day alone and while they are in the fire truck ready to leave a live power pole falls on the engine so they have to wait for another fire station to arrive and help them out and even while waiting for help time and time again eddie keeps denying this jinx and I viewed it as this can get paralleled to him internally denying himself his true identity to fit into this narrative that was instilled on him growing up with his Mexican Catholic upbringing and how even after he makes the mistake of getting his current girlfriend at the time pregnant he gets married because of this religious upbringing that’s instilled in him and how he must fit this narrative to be seen as worthy as a man because that’s what a good Catholic man would do at this point but Eddie was like what supposed to be 19/20 when he got Shannon pregnant and married like that’s still a young guy figuring himself out, but because of this constant pressure he finds himself in a marriage at this age and him joining the military and going halfway across the world to again avoid his current situation that he found himself in

and we see Eddie time and time again doing what he thinks is best for others and how to fit into society but never himself like we have never seen him put himself first because even after Shannon passes away his coping mechanisms aren’t healthy he resorts to cycle of closing himself off to feel what he should feel because prior to Shannon passing away they were going to get a divorce like that was something that would have legally finalized him away from Shannon, but it didn’t happen and we have Eddie as a widow and a single father

then we have Buck tell Eddie in this same scene while they are in the engine waiting for help to arrive “it’s like the universe is screaming at you and you refuse to listen” and I like thinking about this in the way how since day one after the ambulance call Buck has had Eddie’s back and how he’s always been in his corner and when Eddie says “the universe does not scream” and we are reminded again that they are stuck in the engine that that’s a metaphor for the way how Eddie has constantly stuck himself in these relationships with woman to fit the societal norms that were presented to him growing up and how he doesn’t want to see what’s in front of him because he’s scared of believing that he is worthy of being happy while not fitting any societal norms and being selfish for once and bam again this in same episode we are hit with the Bobby and Eddie duo of Bobby giving this man advice yet again and Bobby tells Eddie, “they’re so focused on what they don’t have that they miss the chance to have something else, something real. sometimes you gotta move on” and they talk about how Eddie can’t seem to move on after Shannon passes away and this again is in turn because he can’t be honest with himself on why he felt the need to marry her like yes he loved her but was he was not in love with her like their marriage wasn’t perfect and totally understandable that every relationship has it’s problems but in Eddie’s marriage he was more away than he was together with Shannon and even when she was pregnant he spent that time away in the military and yes it was seen as patriotic and heroic for him to do this but again why did he run at the first chance he got halfway across the world

and then later on in the episode Eddie talks to the guy on the walkie when he steals the 118 engine and says this interesting quote about “but you can’t let yourself get stuck. all you can do is let go, move on. sounds scary, but i know you can do it” and at the end of the episode we do see Eddie and Ana go out for breakfast, but I think again the wording and irony of Eddie saying that because he doesn’t move on from Shannon because at the end of the day that is the root problem of why Eddie can’t seem to move on or Eddie can’t seem to be honest with himself so I am hoping for season 8 that we can finally see him now for the first time that he is alone work through finally being able to let go of Shannon and his marriage and figure out what makes Eddie, Eddie in a way if that makes sense like what makes Eddie our Eddie Diaz and be able to work on himself and with talks of episode 6 being an important episode for Wddie I really do hope we can see this play out in a true testament to Eddie’s character and it finally click on why he kept trying to not make himself happy and him constantly trying to fit into this box of a little perfect family because he wanted to make his son happy not himself