#last year it was Barbara and that was a hoot too

[erb23]

I just love it when companies actually put effort into marketing.

[bookishreflects]

Blog Post #1: Reading "childish" Books

I love reading YA (Young Adult) and Adult novels as much as the next guy. I’m a nineteen year old girl who’s been reading practically every book I could get my hands on since the age of four. I was one of those kids who read above their reading level and I still remember a lot of the books I read back when I was in elementary school, books that would be considered below my reading level now as a college student. Now, everyone expects me to always be reading YA and Adult books or really advanced nonfiction books or whatever. I love reading those kinds of books, but every now and then, I miss reading simple books that don’t contain mature themes like sex, violence, political issues, trauma, etc.

It can be really refreshing to indulge in children’s books or middle grade fiction as a teen/young adult. I’ve met people my age who have told me that they’re too embarrassed to reread a book they loved back in elementary school, and I’ve told them that they shouldn’t be! If anything, I’ve heard that it can actually be pretty healthy to read easier books as a way to relax your brain while also exercising it enough (look it up)! 

Two years ago, I actually started a tradition of rereading a book from my childhood every summer. That first year I read “Rules” by Cynthia Lord, a book about a twelve year old girl living with her autistic little brother. This book is considered middle grade fiction, though Goodreads also considers it as young adult. I read this book when I was in 4th grade and understood it well, so I think the book is more for elementary and middle school kids, especially since the protagonist is twelve. Personally, this book was very relatable since I have an autistic sibling who acts very similar to the little brother. It was nice to see a character go through similar situations as me almost everyday.

Last year, I read “Walk Two Moons” by Sharon Creech. This one’s about a thirteen year old girl who tells her grandparents a story (very similar to her own) while on a road trip. I read this in 8th grade and reread it last year while on a road trip with my family, how fitting! It was interesting to see how my view on the book changed from the last time I read it. I think I understood some things more and took more words to heart. It was very nostalgic to read.

This year, I think I’ll read “Holes” by Louis Sachar. This book is about a boy in Texas with a family curse who’s sent to a detention camp to dig holes and “build character.” I read this in 5th grade, and it was really fun to read. I loved the spin off sequel to it, “Small Steps,” too. This would probably be a good summer read considering that the scorching Texas heat is a very descriptive setting in this book. 

Other books I want to reread in the future are: 

“Small Steps” and “The Card Turner” both by Louis Sachar

“Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” by Judy Blume

“Runaway Ralph" by Beverly Cleary

“The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster

“Hoot” by Carl Hiaasen

“Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures” by Kate DiCamillo

The Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park 

The Dork Diaries Series by Rachel Renee Russell 

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. 

I reread “The Tale of Despereaux” by Kate DiCamillo as a way to relax my brain after final exams in the winter, and I fell in love with it all over again. I think it may be my favorite children's/middle grade fiction book! 

To end this post, I recommend reading an easier book this summer, maybe start with one of the many books I mentioned above! Maybe reread a book from your childhood! Maybe I should read a children’s book not from my childhood. Maybe leave a comment on what your favorite childhood books were? This is a lot of maybes for a post ending, but maybe that’s ok. Just like how it’s ok to read children’s books as an adult!

(photo of some copies of books that I kept from childhood)

[silence-burns]

Please Hate Me //part 47

Fandom: Marvel

Summary: Based on: “Imagine having a love/hate relationship with Loki.” by @thefandomimagine​ Who would have thought that babysitting a god could be so much fun?

Genre: slow-burn, enemies to lovers, banter

There are few things better suited to following a great summoning ritual than stalking a kindergartener and, quite literally, taking the candy out of his chubby little hand.

"Hey, that's mine!" the brat, Timmy, screamed, but had to watch Loki unwrap the popsicle and munch on it.

"Oh, Timmy," you sighed. "I thought a tough kid like you would handle this better."

"Who the hell even are you weirdos?" Timmy considered ending his question with a kick to the shins of one of you, but decided otherwise under the unnerving gaze of the strange man in a green suit. There was something off about him, that much was certain, but little Timmy couldn't wrap his mind around how otherworldly he actually felt.

He looked around, but none of his friends were around yet, and neither were any adults. 

You smiled your beautiful, wicked smile. "Don't fret, Timmy. We've heard all about your deeds, and boy, did we actually love them."

Timmy frowned. His chubby cheeks puffed up just in case it was time to scream. You didn't look like parents of whatever kid he might've recently offended. The pocket money he was getting ;ately from his schoolmates was nothing to worry about. A few bucks here and there weren't a reason for such a direct approach. Okay, those glitter pens he took from that girl last week might cause some bigger stirrup, but she certainly had a different set of parents last time he saw her.

"The hell are you talking about?" the boy settled on a safe approach.

Loki chuckled and leaned down to look him in the eyes. The features of his face started to blur. Timmy frowned, but blinking didn't clear it up. The harder he looked, the more they melted, and molded, and reformed-

"We know what you've been doing, child," the creature's horns grew and curled, just as more and more sets of eyes popped open. "We have our eyes on you."

The shadows deepened, and the world turned colder and eerily quiet. It was the absolute stillness of something deeply unnatural moving right past you.

But Timmy, despite what his teachers might say, was a smart kid. Being a bully and a petty little thief for years without facing actual repercussions of his actions could not be achieved if one didn't know when was the time to run. Timmy knew that time had come and didn't wait for things to unravel any further. His short legs took him surprisingly far in just a few seconds. Loki and you could only watch him go.

"Do you think it'll be enough?" you asked, taking the lollipop from Loki. It was the strawberry flavor. "I certainly wouldn't want to fail our first commission."

"I guess we'll see," Loki shrugged off the spell. "But I'm pretty sure we gave him something to think about. I can send one of the shadows after him to make sure he doesn't pick on our 'client' at school tomorrow. It'll be awhile before they disperse after summoning, so we can make use of them."

"Will they still lead us to the stolen pin though?"

"Without any problem."

And that closed the case. It was a little satisfying, Loki had to admit. 

He was still unsure about the pin, though. There was something off about the type of magic he sensed in the box. Faint as it was, the tang of death and rot was still unmistakable and didn't fit in the mental image of SHIELD's safehouse it was supposed to be stored in. It made the chase after the truth more thrilling.

Loki fixed his suit. It was not the type of fashion he usually preferred, but the way you looked at him in it made it worth it. There was nothing as confidence-boosting as being aware that you’re the eye candy for anyone lucky enough to pass.

"Shall we?" Loki offered you his elbow as the shadows gathered and formed a rough doorway. Beyond it, only darkness swelled. 

Stepping through it was a fight against condensed mist, but at least it had none of the flesh-shredding quality of Bifrost. 

The shadows Loki had called followed the invisible trail of magic the pin left behind after it was stolen. There was little chance of them being wrong or simply misled, Loki had assured you earlier. As beings stuck in a state of half-existence, there was not in the physical realm so often that it could affect their judgement and cover the tracks. Still, even Loki had a moment of doubt when he took in the place the two of you had been led to.

"I think we should've used that chicken," you said, looking around what was unmistakably a forest. A thick, dark, and very old forest. Definitely the type of forest unwelcome to unannounced travelers. 

It did not mean you were scared. You were just aware of a certain, thick atmosphere hanging low in the cold, winter air. Somehow, it was darker than it should've been at that hour. The trees loomed over you, their branches twisted and hanging low enough to strangle. 

Loki kept on patting your arm while your terror grew, and despite ignoring him for a while, you finally decided to turn.

A thick wall of a hedge, painted in a rotting green and sprinkled with half-melted snow, stood tall and guarded whatever was behind it. The branches were woven too tightly together to take even a peek between them.

"Is that a house? In the middle of a forest?" You asked, but no answer came. There was no road leading to the house. The trees encircled the hedge, but didn't interrupt its space, as if that particular spot had been chopped out of the forest. As if the usual rules of logic and nature didn't apply there.

"Strange," Loki muttered to himself as he walked closer. The hedge ran far in both directions, and from the point you approached it, no gateway could be seen. High above your heads, thin swirls of smoke rose into the air. 

"We should walk around and see how to get in." You gestured to the left.

Loki looked up. The hedge loomed a few heads above him. Even if Loki jumped, he wouldn't see above it. He jumped anyway.

And was swallowed by the hedge.

You knew there was something wrong with that forest, and the strange house especially, even before the branches shot out and wrapped around Loki. He only managed a yelp of surprise before he was pulled in towards the impenetrable depth of the bushes. As much as it was reassuring to know that your senses and intuition were as sharp as ever, the time to brag would come later. Using the ace up your sleeve, or rather sword in your pocket, you made quick work of all the choppable branches. 

Loki dropped to the ground. 

"You could've cut off my hand!" He looked in horror at the cleanly cut piece of his sleeve. It had been a close call indeed.

"Couldn't you regrow it?"

Loki stopped shaking off the twigs for a moment. "I'd prefer not to find out, honestly."

The hedge, despite your trimming, was as impenetrable as before. The only thing that changed was the distance you kept away from it. After not a long discussion, you decided to look for a way in.

The little gate looked suspiciously ordinary. The metal rusted in a few spots, mercilessly beaten by years of rain and humidity. The path beyond it winded between neat rows of herbs and vegetables and occasionally flowers you couldn't name. The scent of fresh soil hung in the air as you walked through them. The house itself was neither big or new, but was most definitely haunted. There was no doubt about it. It was obvious in the way the windows watched you approach. In the way the smoke curled lazily through a draft you couldn't feel. In the doorknob in a shape of a hissing bat.

"Do we… knock?" you whispered. For reasons you couldn't explain, you had a feeling the house was listening to every word.

"That's usually how it goes," Loki's reply was equally quiet. He made no move to knock, though.

A hollow hooting was the only warning before a dark shape swooped by your heads and landed over the door. The owl was big, even once it settled and closed the wings. The feathers, in various shades of grey and muddy brown, hid it almost perfectly against the wooden planks of the house.

It was a nice owl, one might think without looking closely. Because under further scrutiny, one would notice the deep gash only partially hidden by the puffed up feathers, and the bones peeking out underneath them. 

You stared at the dead owl and it stared back.

It hooted.

"I know, I said I'm coming!" the voice from inside the house shouted. The footsteps neared. Loki and you braced against whatever you'd have to face.

The door creaked open. 

Many thoughts had passed through your mind, but one thing you didn't expect to see was a spotty-faced, alarmingly skinny young man in jeans and a cloud of smoke surrounding him. You got a facefull of an aroma that reminded you of college dorms. You wondered if Loki thought he’d met the wrong end of a skunk. 

"Listen," he said, gesticulating wildly. "I know that y'all always want shit, but my grandma is still on her vacation, and I'm currently busy. She'll surely contact you once she's done, but nothing has changed since last time, and I still don't know when she'll be back."

The owl descended majestically and sat on his still raised hand. The man blinked in mild confusion. 

"I fed you already, don't give me that look, Barbara."

Loki looked at you. You looked at Loki. The owl turned her head backward and noticed both.

"I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is the first time we're meeting," Loki forced himself to say after your not-so-subtle nudge to his ribs. "Could we bother you for just a moment?"

"I'm busy, I've got a shift tomorrow and—"

Loki barged in anyway, not interested much in whatever the man had to say. 

The little house turned out to be more of a cottage. Even though some work had been done to restore it and make use of modern inventions, the very core of the cottage stayed the same as it possibly had been for decades, if not longer. 

The herbs hanging from the ceiling to dry filled the air with a pleasant, if a little heavy smell that clung to skin and clothes alike. The huge chimney was full of wooden planks and blasting enough heat from the other end of the large working space to make you regret wearing winter clothing. Whatever was boiling in the huge iron pot hanging over the blazing fire was unlikely to be edible judging by the consistency and color. Or at least you hoped it was not supposed to be edible.

The owl flew in and perched on a chair. 

"Listen, I'd really appreciate it if you could leave me alone," the man groaned, following you. 

He took another drag and exhaled a cloud of smoke, eyes red-rimmed. The owl hissed and moved over the chimney, where she sat with as close to an angry expression as a half-dead owl was capable of. 

To your left, a rather familiar and highly surprising uniform laid along with medical equipment. 

"We'll leave as soon as we get the answers we need," you promised. "And our first question is - who the hell are you, exactly?"

The man blinked. "Are you joking? I thought you were clients."

"What would you sell if we were?"

"I mean," he gestured around. "It's my grandma who deals with potions, but I suppose I could give you a medical check up if you need one? And don't worry if you're dying, that's even better, I've got that covered too. Just make sure to come to me before the decay starts, and I'll put you back on your feet in no time."

"Wait, I'm confused," Loki frowned. "Are you a doctor or a necromancer?"

"My dude, I have no idea where you've been the past few decades, but if you think med staff is capable of making a living from just one job, you honestly should get a reality check. Look around - I literally still live with my grandma and don't even get me started on how much debt I still have to pay off with those stupid side jobs."

"You mean, resurrecting pets?" You looked at the owl. Barbara was not blinking.

"Listen, I'm at the point of my life where I don't ask questions. I just need the money. I want to move out. Have you any idea what it is like to live with your 260 year old grandma who has a better social life than you?"

The silence was a little awkward. 

"Precisely."

Loki wanted to take a deep, steadying breath, but whatever the young man had been smoking didn't sit well with Loki's lungs.

"I must ask though, are you raising the dead because you're such a terrible doctor, or is—"

"Paperwork."

Loki blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Have you any idea how much paperwork follows every death? I'd rather bite off my hand than do any more extra unpaid time than I absolutely have to." The man sat at the table and produced a stash of pot from somewhere. With slow, precise movements he started to roll another blunt. You bent your knees to see under the table, but couldn't find any hidden drawers.

Loki nodded at the man’s comment, although he was nowhere near possessing that kind of knowledge. Deaths that he usually participated in involved little to no paperwork.

"Was this involved in one of your recent side-jobs?" Loki put the little wooden box on the table.

The man shook it before opening. Only after sniffing it did the look on his face change to recognition. "Yeah, I think it was. I was paid to get a pin from it. I don't know what happened to it afterward, though. The client just paid and disappeared."

"How did you get it?"

"Mice."

"What?" Loki asked. You looked around, just in case. 

"No one cares about mice, especially in huge warehouses. That makes them perfect for the job, especially if they're controlled properly."

The dead owl hooted in agreement. Loki had an idea how the mice had been initially caught.

"That complicates our case," he whispered to you.

"Who paid you?" you asked, hoping that the answer wouldn't be...

"I don't know," the young man shrugged. "Some guy in a trenchcoat and lots of shiny money. My favorite kind of a client."

The man suddenly had a few golden coins out and in his hand. You hadn’t even seen his hands go under the table that time. The coins were heavy and most definitely not fake, although you didn't recognize any of the symbols they bore.

Loki did. 

"Do you think that agent of yours will cover any extraterrestrial expenses?" he asked, watching the reflexes shine on the golden surface.

"Where are we going?"

"To the biggest black-market-turned-casino-turned-complete-mess of a planet in the universe."

"How lovely," you said.

Barbara agreed, hooting happily as she hopped off the chimney and landed on Loki's shoulder. 

"Take her." The young necromancer yawned sleepily. "She hates me anyway. Just remember not to give her any pickles. She's got terrible gas."

[books-in-media]

Masterlist of books mentioned & read by Reese Witherspoon

—A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, Laura Taylor Namey (2020) (X)

—A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)

—A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle (1962)

—Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps, Kelly Williams Brown (2013)

—All Is Not Forgotten, Wendy Walker (2016)

—American Like Me, America Ferrera (2018)

—Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery (1908)

—Becoming, Cindy Crawford (2015)

—Becoming, Michelle Obama (2018)

—Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty (2014) (X), (X)

—Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone, Brené Brown (2017) (X), (X)

—Conviction, Denise Mina (2019)

—Dad Is Fat, Jim Gaffigan (2013)

—Daisy Jones & The Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid (2019) (X) 

—Decorating Is Fun!: How to Be Your Own Decorator, Dorothy Draper (1939)

—Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman (2017) (X) 

—Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal (2017) (X)

—Everything Inside, Edwidge Danticat (2019) (X)

—Fable, Adrienne Young (2020) (X)

—Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (And More Life to Live), Eve Rodsky (2019)

—Firekeeper’s Daughter, Angeline Boulley (2021)

—First Comes Love, Emily Giffin (2016)

—From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home, Tembi Locke (2019)

—Furia, Yamile Saied Méndez (2020) (X)

—Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life, Christie Tate (2020) (X)

—Happiness: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After, Heather Harpham (2017) (X) 

—Heart of the Matter, Emily Giffin (2010)

—His Only Wife, Peace Adzo Medie (2020) (X)

—I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown (2018) (X), (X), (X) 

—In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware (2015)

—Infinite Country, Patricia Engel (2021)

—Insight Guides New Zealand, Insight Guides (2012)

—It's All Easy: Delicious Weekday Recipes for the Super-Busy Home Cook,   Gwyneth Paltrow, Thea Baumann   (2016)

—Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris (2013)

—Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng (2017)  (X), (X), (X)

—Little Hoot, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (2007)

—Little Oink, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (2009)

—Little Pea, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (2005)

—Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1868)

—Love The One You’re With, Emily Giffin (2008)

—Luckiest Girl Alive, Jessica Knoll (2015)

—Me Before You, Jojo Moyes (2012)

—My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem (2015)

—Next Year in Havana, Chanel Cleeton (2018) (X)

—Northern Spy, Flynn Berry (2021)

—Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned", Lena Dunham (2014) (X)

—One Day in December, Josie Silver (2018) (X), (X)

—Outlawed, Anna North (2021)

—Permission to Parent: How to Raise Your Child with Love and Limits, Robin Berman (2014) (X)

—Radical Beauty: How to Transform Yourself from the Inside Out, Deepak Chopra (2016)

—Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen (1811)

—Something Blue, Emily Giffin (2005)

—Something in the Water, Catherine Steadman (2018)  (X), (X)

—Spoon, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (2009)

—Still Lives, Maria Hummel (2018) (X) 

—Stirring Up Fun with Food: Over 100 Amazing and Easy Food Crafting Projects, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Gia Russo (2017)

—Such A Fun Age, Kiley Reid (2019) (X), (X)

—The Alice Network, Kate Quinn (2017)

—The Art Forger, Barbara A. Shapiro (2012)

—The Cactus, Sarah Haywood (2018)

—The Chicken Sisters, K.J. Dell'Antonia (2020) (X)

—The Early Stories of Truman Capote, Truman Capote (2015)

—The Engagements, J. Courtney Sullivan (2013)

—The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes (2019) (X) 

—The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

—The Guest List, Lucy Foley (2020) (X), (X)

—The Henna Artist, Alka Joshi (2020) (X), (X), (X)

—The Jetsetters, Amanda Eyre Ward  (2020) (X), (X) 

—The Last Black Unicorn, Tiffany Haddish (2017)

—The Last House Guest, Megan Miranda (2019)

—The Last Mrs. Parrish, Liv Constantine (2017)

—The Last Story of Mina Lee, Nancy Jooyoun Kim (2020) (X) 

—The Library Book, Susan Orlean (2018)  (X)

—The Light in Hidden Places, Sharon Cameron (2020) (X)

—The Light We Lost, Jill Santopolo (2017) (X), (X), (X) 

—The Lying Game, Ruth Ware (2017)

—The Measure of Our Success: Letter to My Children and Yours, Marian Wright Edelman (1992)

—The Night Tiger, Yangsze Choo (2019) 

—The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah (2015)

—The One & Only, Emily Giffin (2014)

—The Other Woman, Sandie Jones (2018) (X)

—The Proposal, Jasmine Guillory (2018) (X)

—The Rules of Magic, Alice Hoffman (2017)

—The Sanatorium, Sarah Pearse (2021)

—The Scent Keeper, Erica Bauermeister (2019) (X), (X), (X) 

—The Secrets We Kept, Lara Prescott (2019) 

—The Sprinkles Baking Book: 100 Secret Recipes from Candace's Kitchen, Candace Nelson (2016)

—The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations, Oprah Winfrey (2017)

—The Woman I Wanted To Be, Diane Von Furstenberg (2014)

—These Precious Days: Essays, Ann Patchett (2021)

—Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, Cheryl Strayed (2012)

—This Is How It Always Is, Laurie Frankel (2017) (X)  

—This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett (2011) (X)

—Untamed, Glennon Doyle (2020) (X), (X), (X)��

—Where The Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens (2018)  (X), (X), (X)

—Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits, Reese Witherspoon (2018) (X), (X), (X) 

—Wildflower, Drew Barrymore (2015)

—Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes (2015)

—Yes Please, Amy Poehler (2014)

—You Have A Match, Emma Lord (2021)

—You Should See Me In A Crown, Leah Johnson (2020) (X)

—You Think It, I’ll Say It, Curtis Sittenfeld (2017) (X) 

—You’ll Grow Out Of It, Jessi Klein (2016)

[gothamloveforever]

May 3, 2019 Great article about how the Gotham cast wants to reprise their roles!

In closing out its final season, Gotham launched viewers to the point in Gotham City's future when Bruce Wayne finally returned to his crime-ridden home turf in full Dark Knight glory. Of course, the episode held its focus on all the other colorful and iconic characters that have populated Gotham throughout its five seasons, granting Jim Gordon, Barbara Kean, Oswald Cobblepot, Ed Nygma and others a fond comic-book-infused farewell. But could these characters return in our future one day?

The #1 hope, of course, is for another network or studio to hurry up and pick up where Gotham left off, but even if it takes time, there are feasible ways to jump back into Gotham's story. It's not likely that every single cast member would be able to pick back up where their characters left off, but CinemaBlend asked a handful of stars, including Cameron Monaghan, if they would be down to return. Let's run through their answers.

Cameron Monaghan - Jeremiah / J / The Joker

Of all the elements that made Gotham such a blazing romp, its greatest weapon was the sporadically utilized Cameron Monaghan, who inspired increasingly Joker-esque pandemonium as both Jerome and Jeremiah Valeska, as well as the finale's Mr. J. Oker. (Not the actual character name, but wouldn't that be a hoot.) Thinking about Gotham returning in the future without Monaghan's sadistic villain – or even just his laugh – is a bummer, so it's a good thing we don't need to do that.

CinemaBlend spoke with Cameron Monaghan for this year's Television Critics Association winter press tour, which took place ahead of the finale's airing, but after the principal photography was shot. The actor was very pumped for fans to get a load of Jeremiah's final turn, and I had to ask if he would be interested in reprising Gotham's version of The Joker in the future. His response:

“Yeah, maybe. I think that it just depends on the context that it's within. I think that this specific version probably wouldn't be used if I was to return to it. It would be in a different capacity. It's like one of those things, because The Joker, to me, is like the most distilled version of an antagonist ever, and he is the counterpoint to whatever he's in a scene against. And he needs to shift depending on the context around him. So if I was to return back with these characters, he would probably be different, and reinvented again, you know? It's one of those things where he has to be completely tailor-made to the tone and the story of whatever it is he's a part of. So I would be willing to go back if the story was good and it made sense, but it would probably be different.”

 The last time we got to see Cameron Monaghan's Joker was in his first face-off against Bruce Wayne's Batman, although it was a severely short-lived one. The scarred-up J took a Batarang through the hand, and then one to the top of the dome, which knocked him clean out, though it definitely didn't kill him.

Considering the finale was viewers's big introduction to the post-Arkham Jeremiah, it would make total sense for his next appearance to head down a different creative route. Assuming the next Gotham project would get to feature more of Batman, that would automatically change the writers' approach to weaving a Joker storyline into it. And I'd love to see it, if someone can just make it happen. Someone?

Ben McKenzie - Commissioner Jim Gordon

If there was a load-bearing character on Gotham, it would definitely be Ben McKenzie's Jim Gordon, as close to a working-class superhero as there is. The fact that the finale even hinted at him trying to quit the GCPD was surprising, given the character's legacy, but the story obviously worked itself out in Gotham City's favor. Even if he had to shave to make it happen.

I also got to talk to Ben McKenzie during TCA, where we talked about him facing fellow former teen hunk Shane West as Bane. McKenzie is a pragmatic actor who loved his time on Gotham, even if he didn't flip out with excitement over Batman's arrival. But would he return to play Jim Gordon again someday? His answer:

 Sure. Possibly. I mean I think that, in the right context, sure. I think this, for what we were doing here, we really bookended it in a way that feels true and honest to the characters that have been fleshed out here. So this feels like a real ending. But if in the future, it were to come back around again in some way, yeah of course, I'd always be open to thinking about and talking about that, and doing it possibly. I mean, I've mainly played three characters in 15 years, you know? Three different shows, and each of them kind of stick with you a little bit, and it's fun to re-explore and think about again, if you haven't thought about them a lot.

 Three different shows that might seemingly have three very different fan demographics, too. Ben McKenzie starred in both the teen drama The O.C. and the non-comic cop drama Southland before hanging his hat in Gotham City, and I've no doubt that fans of both of those shows would love to see them get revived in some form or fashion.

 Regardless of any of that, though, Ben McKenzie sounds like he'd be willing to slick his hair back anew to lead the GCPD against whatever dangerous threats lie over the horizon. Just imagine if the newest recruit on the squad was his Southland character Ben Sherman, and if Joker's newest henchman was The O.C.'s Ryan Atwell.

 Robin Lord Taylor - Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin

After five seasons of watching Robin Lord Taylor committing some Penguin-lite acts as Oswald Cobblepot, Gotham fans were introduced to the most genuine iteration of The Penguin that TV has seen since Burgess Meredith waddled around for the 60's Batman series. The penultimate episode injured his eye to set up the monocle, and a rough decade in Arkham Asylum led to his weight gain and heightened levels of frustrated anger.

I got to talk to Robin Lord Taylor on the phone just ahead of the finale's airing, and he seemed to still be riding that one-of-a-kind Gotham high, championing the work he got to do alongside Cory Michael Smith as Ed Nygma. When I asked Taylor if he would ever want to get uncomfortable in The Penguin's signature garb again in the future, he was down, but only if his co-stars were making the return with him.

“Absolutely. I totally would. It would have to be the right circumstances. I don't think I could do it...in fact, I know I couldn't do it unless the actors I worked with on Gotham came back as well. It's like, there's no way I could be in a scene with a different Riddler. I couldn't do it. It wouldn't be justice. It would be blasphemous to what we had done before. So again, if the circumstances were right, in a heartbeat I would be there.”

 As great as Oswald and Ed were in Gotham's first 99 episodes, seeing them in pure Penguin 'n' Riddler glory was a gloriously batty punctuation mark on the series' run. (A question mark, of course.) Any follow-up version of Gotham would be severely lacking if Taylor's Oswald and Smith's Ed were absent. However, Robin Lord Taylor wouldn't begrudge another team picking up where the Fox drama left off. In his words:

 “You never know. All I put out there is that whoever takes up the mantle of the Dark Knight or any of the amazing characters that we got to put in Gotham, that they have as beautiful a crew and cast as we have. Because that's really the success of the show. It was built on the backs of many. No one takes full credit for being successful in this show. We all came together in this spectacular moment, and I feel like we just made something really amazing, and I'm just so proud of it.”

 Again, it should be stated that any future Gotham-y project that doesn't have Robin Lord Taylor's Penguin and Cory Michael Smith's Riddler is not the ideal iteration of that project. So other decisions should probably be made. Soon.

 David Mazouz - Bruce Wayne / The Dark Knight

David Mazouz's potential to return to Gotham's universe would a little trickier than what would happen for the others. As viewers witnessed – or didn't witness, as it were – Mazouz's Bruce Wayne was completely absent from the series finale, which wasn't announced ahead of time like Camren Bicondova's absence was. (She was replaced as Selina by Lily Simmons.) That was, of course, due to the actor's young age not exactly matching up with Bruce's for the finale's flash-forward.

As such, I didn't directly ask him about reprising Bruce Wayne for a future Gotham project, I did ask if he'd be down to play Batman on the big screen. His answer did not take long to formulate.

“Oh, absolutely. I think I would need to be a little bit older, a little bit taller.”

"I know there's a new Bruce that's going to be cast soon. I'm sure whoever they cast is going to do an incredible job. All I can say is that it's my philosophy that if you're going to do something, do it well. There's no point in doing something a half-assed. That's kind of always how I've functioned. So I feel because of what I've taken on, I sometimes decline challenges because I say to myself, 'I know I'm not going to be able to do my best on that.' And that's not acceptable to me. If I do something, I'm going to do my best. And I think this job was no exception, and it's pushed me to some limits and it's challenged me in ways that I'm forever grateful for. I feel like this role has changed me in so many ways, and this experience has changed me in so many ways, and all for the better. And I know it sounds so cliche and like, you've heard it a million times, but I'm just so grateful. It really comes down to that.”

 All that said, David Mazouz spoke so highly of his experience on Gotham, especially in the final season, that he would very likely return for more small screen vigilantism should anyone come calling. Now, someone, start calling!

Gotham is over on Fox now, but there's always the hope for more in the future. While waiting for Season 5 to hit streaming, you can watch the first four seasons on Netflix, while Hulu is still hosting the final five episodes of the series.

[lizartgurl]

Suited Up (Young Justice Outsiders, OCs)

Willow Lance returns to high society, now with her girlfriend, and tries to get her parents to talk to each other. Bruce Wayne, however, may throw a huge damper on her night.

Word Count: 3132 

“Diggle,”

“Miss Lance. Welcome back,” The ex-navy seal-turned-bodyguard for Queen Industries smiled warmly as he opened the door, holding it wide open as I stepped out of the backseat, and then as I helped Serene out of the car.

For a moment, the cameras stopped flashing as the paparazzi scrambled to recognize either of us. They returned in full force, screaming my way. With Serene’s arm in mine, I ignored them, making my stride quick and purposeful as I led her into the venue.

The glass geometric dome was bordered with gardens, plants cleverly hiding the speakers for music and raffle announcements. On the far side of the room were tables, piled high with every rich delicacy you could think of, next to the bar, which led to the kitchen (and bathrooms).

The entrance, where we stood, was a grand staircase, which led down to the dance floor that made up the majority of the venue.

Much like the paparazzi outside, many people stopped what they were doing, eyes on us in silent wonder.

I could feel Serene’s grip on my arm tightening.

“You ready?” I asked her.

“So long as you are,” She laughed lightly.

By the time we’d reached the floor, the live orchestra had started back up again, and all the donors had gone back to their own business, except for the two middle-aged blondes who hurried to greet us.

“Willow,” Dinah gasped, hugging me tightly.

“You look stunning,” I told her. Dinah’s hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail, and her slim, midnight-blue dress sparkled with a thousand glittery stars.

She smiled, wiping something from the corner of her eye with care not to smudge her eyeliner. “You too.”

“Hey chickadee,” Oliver hugged me too, “Glad you could make it.”

He glanced at Serene, “That you both could.”

I smiled at my girlfriend, sliding my arm around her. “Mom, Dad, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Serene. Serene, my parents, Dinah and Oliver.”

Dinah grasped Serene’s hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Serene.”

“You as well, Mrs. Lance.”

“Call me Dinah,” She insisted.

“How’s Olivia?” I asked.

“With Will and Lian for the evening,” Oliver grinned, “Why? Were you hoping to get away with babysitting duties? After that entrance?”

“Maybe,” I teased right back.

I could see it in their blue eyes, in their aching smiles. They had millions of questions pressing at their polite appearance, but I couldn’t get away with explaining everything now. It would have to wait for a quieter time, where we weren’t surrounded by the well-to-do of society.

“If you’ll excuse us for a moment,” I led Serene over to Emma, watching me with a huge smile to go with her brother’s trollish grin.

“Wow,” Emma couldn’t stop smiling, looking me up and down, “Just...Wow!”

“You like it?” Serene lifted my arm to give me a spin.

“I think you rock a suit better than any guy,” Emma shook her head.

“Even me?” Rick begged.

“Especially you, Mister Fashion Disaster,” Emma hummed in satisfaction.

“Why, if it isn’t Little Miss Willow!”

I winced, vaguely recognizing the creaky voices of Gretchen “Granny” Goode, of Goode World Studios, the same studios that produced the Logan twins’ show, and once upon a time, M’gann’s ancient favorite: “Hello Megan!”

“Good to see you, Mrs. Goode.”

She gave a hoot of laughter, “As if I haven’t heard that one before. And call me Granny, Willow. And that goes for all of you as well,” She pointedly eyed Richard, Emma, and Serene. Funny, I don’t recall giving her permission to call me by my first name.

“How’s the fundraising going, Granny?” Emma asked, handing Granny a glass from a passing waiter’s tray.

“Oh just wonderful! I only wish Bruce could be here, he always brings in such a haul,” Granny sighed melodramatically.

“He’ll be here. You know Bruce, fashionably late as always,” Rick promised her.

“As if any entrance he made could top Willow’s!” Granny held out her arms, as if she expected a hug from me.

“Thank you,” I nodded awkwardly, holding out my hand to Serene instead.

“Would you care to dance, my love?”

She smiled softly, eyes glittering and reflecting the lights, the bubbles from the champagne, everything in the room all at once. It felt like the whole world was contained in her eyes.

“I would love to.”

I swept her up with the swell of the music, both of us floating across the floor, lost in each other’s arms. And that’s how most of the evening was spent, dancing with my girlfriend to avoid awkward rich people who tried to claim some sort of connection with me in an effort to rebound off the attention I received from entering with Serene. We finally managed to catch Emma and Rick by the appetizer buffet after they’d successfully ditched Miss Goode, loudly laughing at inside jokes to drive away any intruders.

“Bruce is gonna kill me for being so rude,” Emma snorted into her small plate of shrimp.

“Nah, he’ll think it’s hilarious,” Rick said, now on the lookout for anyone making a beeline for our table.

“Dinah’ll be mad, but she won’t go as far as grounding.”

Serene shrugged, “My dad would be the one hiding from everybody.”

We all fell into laughter again, and I waved over the waiter for another flute of champagne.

“This is definitely the most fun I’ve ever had at a gala,” Emma sighed happily.

“Even more than when Mara, Livvy, and Stephanie stole all the cream puffs?”

“I was panicking for half the evening wondering where they were before we found them. Under the bar of all things.”

Richard shrugged. “Miss Serene, would you mind to terribly if I asked you to dance?”

“Oo, watch out, Will, Rick’s gonna steal your girl.”

“As long as you understand that I am taken,” Mister Richard,” Serene giggled, taking his offered hand.

Emma shrugged, the two of us alone at the table with four empty plates, and Carmine Falcone heading straight for us.

“Wanna dance?”

“Thought you’d never ask.” We ducked into the crowd, leaving Falcone scratching his head in our wake so that we were almost laughing too hard to joined in the foxtrot they were playing.

“You look so much happier nowadays,” Emma observed.

I nodded, “Serene says I’m even better now that I’ve started talking to you guys again.”

Emma tilted her head back and forth, “Well that, and you look so much better in a suit than you ever did in a dress.”

I snorted softly, “You sure?”

“Well, it could be a combination of that and you don’t look nearly half as awkward dancing with Serene as you did with Kaldur.

“That was seven years ago! And he was your boyfriend!” Emma giggled as I spun her.

“Are you happy with him?” My tone serious as Emma came back to land in my arms again.

Her face serious, but with a smile slowly etching into the corners of her mouth, Emma nodded. “I love him, Willow. And he loves me too. I see it every day.

“We’re thinking of getting married.”

“Married?” My voice squeaked, too late to stop us from running into six-foot-four Bruce Wayne, immovable and unfazed.

“Bruce,” Emma gave him a quick hug, “How is everything?”

“It’s all well, Emma, Barbara has things well in hand.”

His gaze looked up from his adopted daughter, focusing in on me now. “Miss Lance.”

“Mr. Wayne,” I folded my arms across my chest, as if he were Superman with the x-ray vision and could see right through me.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your dance, Emma, but I need to speak to Willow.”

“Alright,” I shrugged, and leaned back on my right leg.

“Alone, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“I do,” I growled, following him back by the bar. I glanced back over my shoulder, seeing Richard and Serene stopped by Emma, watching me retreat after Bruce.

“Two bourbons, please,” Bruce asked the bartender, taking a seat at the end of the bar, away from the gossiping drunks. A Batman-esque glare was enough to drive anyone else away.

My drink came, but I refused to drink it, watching Bruce drink his first.

“What do you want, Wayne?” I asked.

Bruce downed the last of his glass, but when he went to put it down, he winced and nursed an area by his ribs momentarily.

“Where have you been, Willow?” He asked with a grunt, struggling to breathe evenly.

“STAR Detroit. I’m surprised you don’t know that.” I huffed.

“When you left, you said you needed space. I decided to give you that, so long as you didn’t go crazy and burn down Lexcorp headquarters in Metropolis.”

I was surprised that he’d actually managed to stay in his own business for two years, but annoyed that he thought so little of me. Then again, my tantrums over the teams first few years didn’t give him much reason to.

“So, still in STAR Detroit. I assume with Doctor Silas Stone?”

I glared at him.

“He is the leading expert on alien technology, two fields you are uniquely familiar with. And after all, you are here with his daughter.”

“I thought you said you stayed out of my business.”

“I did, but I make it a point to background check anyone who the league trusts with alien technology such as a Father Box.”

I froze, hand around my glass.

“It was only decided last night. When Jeff returned from deep space after what happened on Rann over the summer, he brought with him a Box Diana and her team had captured from a fleet of parademons they’d fought.”

He held up his phone, showing me security footage one of the Leaguer’s off in space had recorded of a dark Father Box healing a parademon’s half-missing limb and repair the staff he was holding. I felt a surge of pride in my chest noting Doctor Adam Strange in the background, having master his jetpack and his laser gun as he fought alongside Alanna, daughter of his scientist friend.

Bruce only played the clip once, on silent, before hiding it back in his pocket. “When Steel and the Lanterns couldn’t figure out how to make it work, Kaldur decreed that it would go to STAR to be studied. Of course, with Strange in space and Dorado now managing the metahuman youth center, that leaves Doctor Stone. And you, as his brilliant underpaid internist.”

I sighed. “What do you want, Bruce?” I emphasized again. “How do you even know all this? Emma says you quit the League, and so did Ollie.”

“I had a hand in creating every piece of technology that the League uses. I modified everything on the Watchtower myself.

“But this isn’t just for me, Willow, it’s for the League, for Richard and Emma’s team, for all of us still trying to make the world a better place. We don’t know Stone like we know Strange, and we know he’s a little...irrational at times. Rationalizes too much, loses himself in his work. We need you to keep him on track, to keep him from using the Father Box in the wrong way, or at all.”

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do since I became his intern?” I snapped suddenly.

“Excuse me-” I spun about to tell whoever was interrupting us to buzz off, when I saw Ollie smiling at me.

“I’m sure you won’t begrudge me the opportunity to dance with my own daughter, Bruce. Would you?”

Bruce sighed heavily. “Think about it, Willow.” Without gracing Ollie with an answer, he left a sizable tip for the barkeep and disappeared into the crowd.

“What was that all about?” Oliver asked, offering his arm.

“Just Bruce being Bruce,” I sighed.

Oliver chuckled, bringing us into dance position for a waltz, “Figures.”

“Anyone else I should be worried about running into?” I asked, trying to remember the lady’s steps instead of the gentleman’s this time around.

“Well, Granny insisted on inviting Luthor, but he declined, insisting that his focus was needed on the UN’s efforts to eradicate meta-human trafficking.”

The short bark of laughter that painfully tore itself from my chest drew the attention of several other dancing couples for a second.

“You look happy, Willow.”

“I am happy.” I told him.

“I’m glad,” He smiled beneath his dopey goatee, eyes crinkled sadly.

“What about you? Are you and Dinah happy?” I asked.

“That...” He sighed, spinning me around. “That’s a tough question to answer, Willow.”

“Why’d you leave?” I asked, a sudden edge to my voice, “I could’ve told you and Bruce years ago that Luthor was going to make things harder for the League. The people love him too much, you’ve seen it.”

He nodded stoically. “But that doesn’t mean we stop trying, chickadee. When we told you and the team to stay behind in the cave, did you guys listen?”

“No,” I said. I stared down at my feet to make sure I was putting them in the right spots.

He smiled again. “You have a heart for good, and a smart head on your shoulders. You’re going to do whatever you need to make sure that people get the help that they need, in whatever way that may be.

“With the League, we were able to keep reaching people on a wider range, at least for a while. That tsunami in Rhelasia was the last straw for me, personally, and when Bruce offered a way to keep reaching those people, I had to take it.”

“So why didn’t you tell Mom?” I begged, “Olivia called me the night you left the League. She saw Dinah drinking, and she’s terrified that you two are going to get a divorce.”

Oliver’s face was slightly pale in the already white lightning of the dome.

“I’m not sure, chickadee,” Ollie sighed. “I love your mother, I always have. I don’t want to leave her, but she cares about you guys so much, I couldn’t ask her to betray Kaldur. At least until it was too late.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Bruce seems to think you’re still working with the League,” I glared over at the bar, my face hot.

Oliver chuckled, “Bruce thinks a lot of things, not all of them true.”

I sighed, resting my head on his chest.

“What are you thinking now, chickadee?”

I pressed my lips together. “I’m just glad to have a dad again.”

The dance ended, and Oliver kissed my forehead. “I’d love another dance with you, but I think your gal pal is a little anxious to talk to you.” He attempted to grin, and gave me a little push toward Serene, who waited at a table with a glass of champagne and one solitary cream puff.

“May I?” I asked.

She slid the plate towards me with a giggle.

“I spoke with your mom, you know,” She nodded over my shoulder, and saw that Ollie had headed in Dinah’s direction. She stood on the edge of the dance floor, surveying everything while swirling her glass, which had a potent lipstick stain on the rim.

“Did she interrogate you or anything?” I asked.

Serene chuckled, “No, no, she was very nice. In fact, she told me a very fun story?”

“Oh?” I raised my eyebrow at her.

She nodded, smiling slyly. “It had Emma in it too, I think, about the time that she got sick and you tried to make her a pot of soup to make her feel better?”

I shoved the cream puff back her way, hungry no longer. “She swore she would never tell that story.”

Emma and Richard, having a drop too much to drink, danced past us, twirling elegantly. “She comes bearing soup!” Emma laughed.

“You’re all awful and you know I can cook much better now.”

“Yes, but can you make soup?” Richard wiggled his eyebrows before dancing off with his sister again.

Serene giggled, “Is that why you never make soup?”

“Come on,” I took her hand, “Let’s dance over there, there’s more room.” Serene laughed as I led her across the dance floor, and sure enough Emma and Richard followed us, but fortunately for me, not another word was spoken of soup for the rest of the evening.

-------

“She’s very happy,” Oliver said as he approached Dinah.

“I can tell,” Dinah said stiffly.

Oliver gently lifted the glass from her hand, letting a waiter take it away, before bringing his wife onto the dance floor. Though she didn’t resist, she seemed determined to stare at the floor, at the ceiling, at the bar, anywhere but at his face.

“I spoke to Serene. She’s a brilliant woman, and she loves Willow very much.”

“Dinah, we’ve been married for almost ten years now. When are we going to talk to each other?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Dinah quipped.

“Dinah,” his hand left her back, coming up to hold her cheek, “I couldn’t ask you to leave the kids.”

“You could have told me what you were planning.”

“I could have, and I should have.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

It was Ollie’s turn to look away. Across the room, Willow and Serene were spinning around, and emma was probably recording it on her phone.

“It was Bruce’s idea, of course.”

“Since when do you listen to Bruce?” Dinah huffed.

“He had some pretty good reasons. He was asking each of his potential recruits one on one, and he didn’t want them to join just because of peer pressure. And he never said it outright, but I don’t think he wanted Kaldur to get wind of it either.”

“Why not? We don’t have the power to keep people from leaving the League.”

Oliver shrugged. “And this one’s more personal, but I didn’t want you knowing that I was leaving to drive us apart so soon.”

“Some good that did,” Oliver spun Dinah around, bringing her back around to land in his arms.

They stopped dancing.

Dinah gripped his lapels. “I...I know that you look out for the little guy. You always have. That’s why I fell for you in the first place.”

She held up one finger to keep him from interrupting, “I can’t leave the League. You’re right. I won’t abandon Kaldur when so much has already gone south for us.”

She glanced over at Willow and the others, “And second, you need to talk to me. No matter what, if we really love each other, we can’t be keeping things like this from each other.”

“Deal. Anything else you’d like to get off your chest, Pretty Bird?”

A wicked grin etched itself into Dinah’s mouth. “Oh, I can think of a few things, Mr. Green.”

[douxreviews]

Gotham - ‘Pena Dura’ Review

Eduardo: "You left the army for this city?" Jim: "It grows on you."

How right Jim is here. And while 'Pena Dura' is actually a pretty outstanding follow-up to last week's episode, it also bears a disheartening feature often found in Michael Crichton novels; it builds up some thrilling concepts for the first two-thirds, but the actual executions of said concepts in the last third are quite lackluster.

Still pursuing the unknown culprit behind Haven's detonation, Jim Gordon and Bullock follow a lead given by Barbara on a dealer of RPG's. Unfortunately, the confrontation with the dealer himself is cut short when a battalion called Delta Force drops in and axes off Gordon's only lead. As it turns out, Delta Force is led by Eduardo Dorrance (Shane West), a former comrade of Gordon's when he was still in the army. And right away, I marked Eduardo as a character drafted to inevitably betray Gordon at some point down the line, because even if Gotham chose to keep West's eventual transformation into Bane confidential, he still reeks of someone you could just all too easily see double-crossing our protagonists; he's enthusiastic, he's chummy right from the get-go with Gordon, he gets a lot of the zingy one-liners once in action, in fact, he's too much of all these things. It's as if he's almost too eager to be here in Gotham City mowing down its costumed gangsters one by one, because he's got some kind of clandestine government cabal pulling his strings. But now I'm just getting ahead of myself here...

Quite surprisingly, I expected Gotham to drag out Gordon learning that Nygma was the one behind Haven's detonation by at least one more episode, but in fact, the pace doesn't drag too much after Eduardo steps in, and he and Gordon learn from the RPG dealer's logbook that Nygma was his most recent client. Gordon and Delta Force try to arrest Nygma at his safehouse, but Nygma is able to make his getaway by activating an IED below Eduardo's feet that will go off if Nygma is shot down. I must confess that this scene alone gave Nygma the essence of The Riddler more so than anything Season 4 did for his character. He's got his massive ego back, he's rigged his safehouse with booby traps, and of course, it takes the solving of a riddle too to deactivate the IED. As Gordon appropriately puts it - "there's always a puzzle with Nygma."

It's becoming a bit muddled though as to who exactly is in control of Nygma's body now. At the beginning of Season 5, it seemed that it was the Riddler trying to retrace his steps and learn what Ed has been doing during the blackouts, but in 'Pena Dura', the geeky CSI Ed is now the one the focus is on. What's more, Gotham seems to be doing a bit of retooling to the Ed personality as well; he's suddenly aghast to learn he was behind the bombing of Haven and the deaths of hundreds of civilians, yet he had no issue with making a name for himself as a feared criminal mastermind back in Season 3 by mercilessly stabbing a stage performer.

With Nygma on the run, Gordon puts the word out around the city that Nygma's the most likely culprit behind the attack on Haven. As a result, it isn't long before Nygma is captured and bound by a group of stereotypes, evidently intent on avenging their dog that was killed in the attack, and tortured through electroshock administration. In the process, buried memories start rising to Nygma's conscious, most prominently, a vision of Oswald promising to 'fix' Nygma. Believing Oswald to be the one behind his constant blackouts, Nygma engineers another escape and confronts Oswald, in a much-anticipated reunion for many of the show's viewers. Regardless of whether or not there's meant to be some sexual undertones in the conversations between these two, there's no denying that their bickering and their scene-chewing is always a welcome highlight. I got a kick out of how Oswald basically admitted too that only because he shot Butch last year did Nygma by default fill the slot of being his 'best friend'.

I've also grown fond of the increasing competitiveness between these two over the last year. I don't think they'll ever be able to return to the relationship they once held back in the beginning of Season 3, but they at least now retain a mutual respect for the other. They'd never go out of their way to kill the other, but they also definitely would not hesitate now to throw them under the bus if it meant saving their own skin, as Oswald does moments later when Delta Force shows up on his doorstep. Oswald tells Gordon that Nygma's going after Hugo Strange next, since Strange was the one Oswald ordered to 'fix' Nygma. I also haven't forgotten that Oswald also asked Strange to 'fix' Lee Thompkins, but the show seems to have, so let's move on.

Strange, greeting Nygma with an impeccable George Takei imitation, admits he is also unaware that Nygma has been blacking out, but confesses to having installed some sort of microchip that is subject to remote control in Nygma's head while he was in the process of being resurrected. Yet Strange oddly enough is also not the one who has been controlling Nygma. In a twist of events that now makes the twists of How I Met Your Mother's finale look rather superb, it turns out Delta Force and their shadowy government-affiliated leader Walker have been controlling Nygma the entire time. But here's the darnedest thing - the eyeroll and exhale this reveal got out of me wasn't a result of the twist being obvious - it's just that I feel Gotham has earned its place as being a series that should have shelved plot points like this. If Gotham remained in the confines of the grounded cop drama it was attempting to be way back in Season 1, then a reveal like this would have felt more accommodated to the show's nature. But Gotham is well past that point, what with their featuring of laughing gas, serial killers with pig masks, shapeshifters and countless resurrections, I know it can do more than just the evil-government-conspiracy that wants to clean house shtick.

Meanwhile, at the Sirens' club, Selina is being celebrated for killing the clearly not-dead Jeremiah Valeska. Funny how Bruce and Selina are always attempting to alleviate the other in Barbara's club, and this felt like a nice parallel to their encounter back in Season 4's 'Pieces of a Broken Mirror'. As much as Bruce wants though to convince Selina she's not a cold-blooded killer, Selina's only form of rebuttal is by trying to - once again, no less - demonstrate to Bruce that she doesn't give a hoot about anyone else except herself. This blather doesn't strike me as genuine though, as much as it more feels like Selina's just trying to save face. I also trust in Bruce to know Selina well enough to see through her jibber-jabber. Jeremiah himself turns out to have survived Selina's stabbings through the use of some nifty body armor. As commonplace as that solution does sound, we finally get a laugh out of Jeremiah by the episode's end. Something else I haven't seen others comment on is how it sounds almost as if Cameron Monaghan is evolving his Jeremiah voice with every episode. By now, he's done a phenomenal job at distinguishing his performance as Jeremiah in every aspect from his performance as Jerome.

To capitalize on my earlier metaphor, 'Pena Dura' has a first-rate setup that's unfortunately dampened in the end by its anti-climatic resolutions - our big baddie for the final season looks to be our own government, Nygma's been reduced essentially to a murder-bot hitman, and Jeremiah survives a stab wound to the chest (he even mentions that one Selina's attacks missed the armor) merely because the story needs him to. Not to mention that the cat-and-mouse game of pursuing Nygma and Strange could have been trimmed down by ten minutes.

Other Thoughts: • I don't consider myself much of a dog person, but if something ever happens to Oswald's bulldog, Gotham's showrunners will be receiving a vent-heavy letter penned by yours truly.

• I thought I heard Eduardo misspeak at first, and refer to Walker as 'Waller', leading me to suspect that Gotham was actually in the midst of introducing to us Amanda Waller and conceiving their own lineup of the Suicide Squad.

Aaron Studer loves spending his time reading, writing and defending the existence of cryptids because they can’t do it themselves.

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Early October, Gotham City

Early October. Sunday morning.

It happens a few times a year, mostly in the summer and fall. He’ll send Clark out to patrol in his place and go to bed early so he can wake up in the morning, ready to go.

“You’ve taken in a baseball team,” Barry once commented, years ago. “I don’t know why you don’t take advantage of that.”

So he started to.

He doesn’t bother showering. He pulls on a pair of faded blue jeans and a t-shirt, and the black hoodie Damian had given him as a birthday gift that year.

“This is for days off, Father,” his son had ordered. “Do not take this undercover.”

Sometimes Bruce listens to his children.

Sometimes.

Amongst the dozens of pairs of shoes in his closet, amidst the soft leather and suede, are a pair of old cleats. He grabs them and pulls them on,

“Good morning, Master Bruce,” Alfred says as he steps into the room. “Up already, I see.”

Bruce grins. “It’s baseball day.”

Alfred chuckles. “Quite, sir. I have the car loaded up, and Damian and Duke are ready to leave.”

When he gets downstairs, he finds the boys standing by the door, wolfing down breakfast sandwiches and thermoses full of coffee or tea, and Alfred hands him one of his own.

“Ready?”

“I will crush them all this year,” Damian answers.

“You don’t even know whose team you’ll be on yet,” Duke points out as they head out the door to the car.

“Irelivent.”

Bruce chuckles softly as they pile into the car and head to a small, quiet neighborhood in the city.

It’s starting to warm up a little, and when they reach the baseball field, it’s to find half of their players hanging out on the rusted bleachers, chatting and drinking coffee.

Bruce helps Alfred and the boys grab the equipment from the trunk and when he gets to the group, Dick smiles.

“Beautiful day for a baseball game.”

“You say that every year,” Jason complains, but Bruce knows he’s not actually too annoyed.

If he were annoyed, he wouldn’t actually be here.

Kate smirks, adjusting the red ballcap she’s wearing so it’s backwards. “You ready to get your ass kicked, Bruce?” she asks.

“No, actually,” Bruce replies, grinning. “But I hope you are.”

The kids around them all hoot and “oooo” and nudge each other.

“We’re not even all here yet,” Barbara points out. “You can’t start shittalking until everybody is here.”

Bruce chuckles and sips his coffee. Everyone talks and laughs and little by little, the rest of the group shows up. Tim and Cassandra and Stephanie, Helena and Jean-Paul.

“So who are our ringers this year?” Tim asks.

While there are enough of them for one baseball team, there aren’t enough for two. Last year’s additions were Conner Kent, Big Barda, Roy Harper and John Stewart.

“Can we have Barda again?” Jason asks. “She crushed the blue team last year. It was amazing.”

Bruce grimaces. Barda broke a couple of bats, hit a grand slam and ensured his team lost last year.

“She had kind of an unfair advantage,” Dick points out.

“You had Superboy!” Jason cries.

“Big. Barda.”

“She was mad, too, Steph points out. “Like super mad.”

Two cars and a motorcycle pull up, and Bruce squints to take a look. Both team captains get to choose a ringer, and so do both unofficial assistant captains (Dick and Barbara).

Dinah Lance hops off the motorcycle. Barbara’s pick, no doubt.

Zatanna Zatarra steps out of one of the cars. She’s Bruce’s ringer, and he grins and waves a little.

The other car produces Renee Montoya, looking like she might actually be a pro ball player with her own expensive pair of cleats and dusty jeans.

“Your girlfriend?” Bruce asks Kate.

“You brought in your almost-ex,” Kate snaps. “Don’t even try it.”

“That’s only because Mama Selina doesn’t play sportsball,” Jason teases.

“She is not our mother,” Damian snaps.

“Where’s the other ringer?” Duke asks, ignoring the bickering next to him.

Dick sighs heavily, and Barbara looks amused, but also sympathetic.

“You didn’t.”

“He was all mad last year cause I asked Roy and not him!” Dick cries. “I had to!”

“Him who?” Cass asks, tilting her head.

A blur of red produces Wally West.

“Me!”

Jason groans. “Augh. You.”

“What’s wrong with Wally?” Tim asks.

“He’s annooooyyiiiiiiing!” Jason complains.

“You mean like you, Todd?” Damian asks. “You should look in a mirror on occasion.”

Bruce clears his throat and gets to his feet, standing in front of the group. “Now that we’re all here, Kate and I can pick teams.”

“Excuse you.”

He turns around, and Selina steps up, looking flawless in a pair of black skinny jeans and a cute, dark purple baseball t-shirt.

Bruce leans in for a kiss, but is avoided.

“If you think you’re getting a good morning kiss after nearly starting without me here, you’re insane.”

Bruce can’t help grinning. He loves a good challenge. “Alright. Now that we are all here.” He nods to Kate, who hops down to stand next to him.

“You’re going down, Cousin Bruce,” Kate says, poking him in the chest.

“In your dreams, Cousin Kate,” Bruce responds, nudging her good-naturedly.

Selina pulls a coin from her purse, and Bruce raises an eyebrow. It’s a double-sided coin, with one side scratched on.

She shrugs delicately. “What? If Harvey is going to leave his toy lying around when I come to dinner, he deserves to have it stolen.”

“Just flip the coin, please,”  Kate grouses.

Selina flips it into the air.

“Scratchy side!” Kate cries, as the coin comes down, and when it lands in Selina’s palm, she lifts it to show them the pristine side of the coin.

Kate groans. “Damn!”

Bruce grins. “Jean-Paul.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Dick cries. “Everything frickin year!”

“At this point, he’s just doing it because it’s funny,” Tim says. “Calm down.”

“Or maybe I’m just a better ballplayer than you are, Dick,” Jean-Paul grins.

Duck grumbles. “I’ll show you a better ballplayer, you-”

“Steph!” Kate calls.

“Aw, yeah,” Steph laughs as she hops over to stand with Kate.

“Duke,” Bruce calls out, and Dick’s mouth opens wide again.

“What the-”

“Cassandra,” Kate yells out.

“Jason,” Bruce says, and Jason laughs before joining Bruce and Duke and Jean-Paul.

Barbara laughs and nudges Dick. “C’mon, Shortpants, they’re just pulling your leg.”

Dick grumbles again.

“Tim!” Kate yells.

Tim grins and stretches as he stands, wandering down to join Steph and Cass. “Hey guys. Nice day for some baseball.”

Steph glowers at him. “I swear to god, Timmers, if you spend all your at bats fishing, I’m going to-”

“Dick,” Bruce grins.

“No,” Dick snaps. “I don’t wanna play on your team anymore. You picked Jean-Paul and Jason before me.”

“Somebody’s scaly panties are in a twist,” Jason mutters loud enough for everyone to hear.

Bruce shakes his head and grins just a little. “Okay. Barbara.”

“She’s not playing for you either, in solidarity,” Dick snaps.

Barbara snorts. “Eff that. Jason and I are an unbeatable Pitcher/Catcher combo.”

“Is that dirty?” Steph asks as Barbara high-fives Jason. “I feel like that might be dirty.”

Cassandra frowns deeply. “Is it?”

“Huh.”

“C’mon over, Dick, let me put you out of your misery,” Kate smiles.

Dick trudges over, still pouting slightly.

“Damian, come on,” Bruce says, and Damian steps over.

“I was wondering when you would get around to me, Father.”

Bruce pats his shoulder as Kate calls for Helena to head over.

Helena steps down and grins at them. “Ladies. Tim.”

“Yes, you’re very funny,” Dick drawls out. “Har har har.”

“Harper,” Bruce calls.

“WINNER!” Harper cries. “What’s up, boss, you ready to kick some butt?”

Kate smirks. “Luke, let’s go.”

“Finally,” Luke huffs. “You guys know I’m a genius, right?”

Tim wrinkles his nose, but says nothing.

Steph smirks. “That’s Timmy for ‘I’m also a genius, and I’m judging you, because you are a horrifically terrible baseball player.’”

“Hey!”  

“Alright, everyone,” Alfred calls. “We’re now onto the ringers. Your choices are Renee Montoya, Dinah Lance, Zatanna Zatara and Wally West. Since Master Bruce won the general coin toss, Miss Kate, you can go first.”

Kate points at Renee, and then crooks her finger.

Renee smirks and walks over. “Hi, babe.”

Kate kisses her cheek. “Hi. Thanks for coming.”

“And miss a chance to watch Billionaire Bruce Wayne whiff? Never.”

Bruce nods a little. “Zatanna?”

Zatanna grins and walks over. “Hey.”

“Morning.”

“This should be fun, right?” Zatanna grins.

“West, come on over,” Kate grins. “Us gingers gotta stick together.”

“I resent that,” Barbara pouts slightly.

“I do, too, but I can’t remember why,” Jason adds.

“Dinah, you’re with us,” Bruce nods.

Dinah smirks and steps over. “This is gonna be hilarious. I’m gonna kick the crap out of all of them.”

“Alright, children,” Selina says, getting to her feet. “The teams as they stand right now are as follows: On the blue team, we have Bruce, Jean-Paul, Duke, Barbara, Jason, Harper, Damian, Zatanna and Dinah. On the red team, Kate, Stephanie, Cassandra, Tim, Dick, Helena, Luke, Renee and Wally.”

“Since Master Bruce won the coin toss, they’re first up at bat,” Alfred tells them. “You’ll have ten minutes to chat about your line-ups and starting positions. Spit-spot.”

They get to work, making the most of their ten minutes, and then it’s game-on.

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #365: Barb Wire (1996) - dir. David Hogan

If you have ever watched Casablanca and thought, “I would enjoy this so much more if it were set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future and featured a Razzie-winning performance from an occasionally naked Pamela Anderson, plus appearances by Temuera Morrison, Clint Howard and a bald-headed Udo Kier,” then Barb Wire is definitely for you. CriminalElement.com’s Angie Barry does a great job at boiling down the reasons why the movie is so much fun: “It’s not for everyone, obviously, but for those of us who love over-the-top ridiculous B-movies, this turkey is a delicious Butterball. The Casablanca plot rip-off only makes it more amazing. Somebody decided that what the world really needed was a movie where Pam Anderson played Rick, Kiwi hunk Temuera Morrison played Ilsa, and Xander Berkley was Captain Renault. I can’t help but love a movie that’s unafraid to gender-swap that story AND make Pam ‘Playboy Bunny’ Anderson the Bogey character.” Indeed.

I never could have guessed that Barb Wire would be the 365th film in my 365 Day Movie Challenge, but it seems like perfect timing since the story takes place in the year 2017. In a world even more messed up than the one we currently inhabit, bounty hunter Barbara Kopetski (Pamela Anderson) - that’s “Barb Wire” to us mere mortals - runs the Hammerhead nightclub in Steel Harbor, the last “free” city left standing after America’s Second Civil War. Like another notoriously silly cyberpunk movie from the mid-90s that I saw recently, Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Barb Wire has weird ideas about what kind of technology we would have available in the second decade of the 21st century (a lot of stuff related to eyeball scanners, naturally) and, of course, everyone wears way too much leather. It’s probably not a coincidence that Udo Kier is in both films, although at least he’s sympathetic here, playing “Curly,” the amusingly hairless counterpart of S.Z. Sakall’s kindly headwaiter from Casablanca.

Barb spends her nights prowling the streets of Steel Harbor, moonlighting as a prostitute and using her ability to get into men’s apartments to gain access to criminals that she has tracked down. Although she usually does these types of jobs for both sides - the authorities and the opposition - she is convinced by an ex-lover, Axel (Temuera Morrison), to help him and his wife, a military doctor/scientist known as Cora D (Victoria Rowell), escape to Canada and spread the word about her firsthand knowledge of the American government's crimes against its own people. Mayhem and explosions ensue.

Barb Wire is exactly as dated and silly as you would expect, but it’s still a hoot. There’s not much to be said in favor of Pamela Anderson’s acting, but she looks great in all the S&M-lite costumes (despite wearing an excessive amount of 90s-tastic eyeshadow and lipstick), and anyway I doubt that viewers would seriously watch Barb Wire with the assumption that it stands alongside The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire and Sling Blade as one of the most prestigious American film projects of 1996. I suppose you can’t ask for much more than that out of a film whose opening credits consist of Pam Anderson writhing around topless, drenched by a hose, while Gun’s cover of “Word Up!” plays for four solid minutes. Trust me, it’s an experience.

[youtubeimaginationstation]

It Was The 4th Of  July

Pairing: Burnie Burns/Joel Heyman Rating: G Word Count: 1659 Read it on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11536866

Burnie was known throughout the company as two things. One was the “Boss” despite not truly being the boss at Rooster Teeth in years. The second thing was being the “Party King”, a title that he proudly held and maintained. He loved people and he loved celebrating so naturally those two things came together at every holiday and opportunity he could take advantage of. These parties were always stocked fully with more beer and liquor than anyone could reasonably drink and tons of local food that he’d get catered. A recent favorite had been Tiny Pies because, c’mon like they’re tiny pies! The fourth of the July was coming up, which was a perfect opportunity for him to throw the mother of all backyard barbeques. He recruited the help of Gavin and Meg for decorating and generally drinking before the party even started that day. One because Meg had a much better eye for décor than he did, and two because Gavin was British and there was nothing funnier to him than a Brit taking part of the Fourth of July, the most American holiday in the world.

By the time the party was roughly slated to start, around 6 PM, Meg had strung up lights and red, white, and blue garland across the backyard. There were cups and plates that matched and a basket of small American flags, obnoxious foam hats, and those weird printed sunglasses with American Flags printed over the lenses for extra flare. They’d helped him set up a solid snack table and a refreshment bar inside. Also over the course of six hours, between the three of them, they’d almost gone through a 30 rack of Fat Tires. Needless to say Burnie was feeling a buzz and people were starting to arrive. He was going to wait a little while to fire up the grill, so he started by mingling by the snacks and chatting with whoever came in. From the get go he knew it was going to be a great party. No one in the company, well maybe aside from Gus, could say no to free food and free booze with fireworks at the end. Burnie never did the fireworks though; he always left that up to Matt and Gavin to handle. The two of them loved to set up wild fireworks displays for the party so he just let them handle it. Meant he could drink more without feeling nervous about accidentally blowing his hand off.

It seemed like the whole company was there about an hour and a half in, his house was teeming with employees all chatting and drinking away. At some point someone, he assumed Meg, had turned on music and a few people were dancing in between the groups. Alcohol truly was a funny thing. He decided around then was a good time to start cooking, so he fired up the grill and went inside to grab the burgers and hot dogs, an American classic. They also had pulled pork chilling in a crockpot that would be brought outside soon and another with bubbling queso. As he bee-lined to the fridge Joel stepped into his path. He had two beers in his hands and immediately handed one over to Burnie.

“You. Drink that now.” He demanded, and Burnie laughed but took a swig. It was a darker beer, much hoppier than he would have expected, but rolled with it and bumped Joel’s shoulder.

“Thanks, man.” Burnie said, continuing his trek to the fridge. Joel followed behind him, taking sips of his beer and looking at him expectantly. Burnie turned on his heel before he opened the door and found Joel very close to him. His cheeks flushed as he looked up at his tall friend. He’d known Joel for years, too many years, and still the man looked as good as when they met. He wasn’t really sure how Joel had escaped the passage of time, but he always admired it, if not always in a friendly way. Burnie liked to think that he too had gotten better with age, only because he took way better care of himself than he’d done in the past. He took another drink of his beer. “Do you need something?” He asked Joel, trying to bring his thoughts back to earth.

“Yeah, make sure to save me a seat for the fireworks.” He said, clinking his bottle against Burnies before sauntering back off into the party. Needless to say Burnie was definitely confused, but grabbed the meats out of the fridge and made his way back outside.

The evening went on without a hitch, he cooked and people ate and he kept drinking away. He did a few shots when he was finished at the grill, mostly because Gavin and Michael roped him into it. He had a few more beers, a random mixed drink that he thought Barbara gave him, and he swore he saw Gus with a bottle of Tito’s that he believe had been offered to him. Burnie thought he took a drink straight from him, but the night was getting away from him. The entire time he found himself searching the crowd for the tall man who’d cornered him earlier. It wasn’t unlike Joel to make that kind of a request, he’d want a good seat for the show, but how close he had gotten had sent Burnie’s heart racing and a few of the guests had noted that he seemed a little distracted.

Fireworks were to start at 11, and it was 10:45. People moved into the front yard, it was safer to shoot them off in the street with concrete, especially in the heat of Texas. Blankets were produced and everyone picked a spot on or around the lawn. After checking to make sure no one was left in the house Burnie wandered out as well. Joel had picked a seat closer to the house, and patted the blanket he was on when Burnie approached.

“I thought I was supposed to save you a seat.” Burnie commented, trying not to slur his words.

“You were too slow. Is this good?” He asked, and Burnie just nodded. Joel produced two more beers from what seemed like thin air to Burnie’s drunk mind and they opened them, the fizz buzzing through the night air in symphony with the cicadas and employee chatter. Gavin and Matt were pretty much done setting things up, and they lit up the first set with no warning. Their announcement was the whiz of the fireworks shooting off and the boom as they burst and showered down gold glitter in the sky. A few people hooted, others just cheered. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and Burnie relaxed, leaning against Joel. It was a lot more contact that he normally would have pushed with his old friend but it was hot and he’d been drinking since one in the afternoon and Joel felt nice. If the other had any problem with it he didn’t say, and the two stayed that way throughout the rest of the show.

The finale was brilliant, reds and blues and golds cascading across the sky like a  Technicolor dream. Burnie’s head was practically on Joel’s shoulder at this point, and as the last of the colors faded in the sky he was reluctant to get up. The party was by no means over, it was just one of the points where people could chose to stay and keep drinking and crash on his floor or head on home. Normally Joel was one to leave with this group, but when they got off the ground he stuck around. The remainder returned to the backyard, and the atmosphere chilled out a little more. Those who were drunk got drunker and now the snacks really came out to play. Tiny pies, queso, and all kinds of other treats were brought out from the kitchen and so did the bar as there were less people to accidentally knock it over now.

Burnie mingled but Joel was never far away. A few people had ended up around the firepit, despite it being too hot to be lit, and were talking among themselves. Burnie took a seat rather close next to Joel on a bench a little aways from the area.

“Are you having a good time?” Burnie asked and Joel smiled, it was a small mischievous smile that normally came out to play on nights like these.

“Absolutely, but y’know it could be better.” He replied, and Burnie’s heart dropped. What had he missed that could have made the party better? His mind was racing, but those thoughts were interrupted by Joel’s mouth. Now it wasn’t just his mouth, it was his lips. On his own lips. And damn if that wasn’t the best feeling in the world. Suddenly Burnie didn’t care about the party or the fact that about 20 of his employees were still just hanging out in his yard, all he cared about was the way Joel’s lips were moving against his. They turned enough to better the angle and languidly made out in the middle of this party. He tasted like dark beer and queso, and it was weirdly perfect. In the back of his mind Burnie was wondering how the hell he’d never done this before. It could have been seconds or minutes or hours that they kissed, he’d never really know or care, but when Joel pulled away it was just too short.

“Now it’s been the best time.” Joel said simply and Burnie rolled his eyes, going in for another one, not in the mood to listen to Joel’s banter but definitely in the mood to keep this going. He knew that night that Joel wouldn’t be calling an uber and he would not be sleeping on the couch. Nope, he had better plans, and for once he wanted the party to end.

[burnouts3s3]

The Lego Batman Movie

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously. Just the facts, cause you're in a hurry. Ticket price: Will Vary Theater to Theater     How much I paid: 12.85 USD Rated:  Rated PG for rude humor and some action Length: 104 Minutes (1 Hour and 44 Minutes) 3-D: Available but I didn't see it 3-D Post or Mid-Credits Sequences: Some fun Mid-Credits songs and sequences. No Post credits scenes My Verdict: Lego Batman is a triumph. It's not only funny, but witty and manages to deconstruct the vast and expansive history of the caped crusader after dominating mass media for 75 years. Will Arnet's Batman not only manages to have some of the best lines this year, but also has real depth and pathos in a movie that's all about ripping on the Dark Knight. A must-see. The Lego Batman Movie

Batman has near dominated the comic book world, movie theaters and video games for the near last half century. Bruce Wayne's transformation into the Dark Knight has enraptured fans young and old as well as made Warner Brothers a lot of money. But, has the world had enough of the Dark Knight? Are people sick and tired of Bruce Wayne? Does he need to lighten up and risk the same backlash Joel Schumacher received? Let's find out in the Lego Batman movie! During a mission to prevent Joker (Zach Galifianakis) from destroying Gotham City, Batman (Will Arnett) hurts his arch-rival's feelings by telling him he is not as important in his life as Superman. Lego Batman is just plain fun. It not adds some much needed ribbing against Batman, but it also manages to be quotable and subversive at the same time. The movie would've already gotten a hard pass just by teasing Batman's angst and brood and wealth, but it also manages to pay a lot of respect to the character. The next day, he attends the city's winter gala to celebrate the retirement of Commissioner Gordon (Héctor Elizondo) and his daughter Barbara (Rosario Dawson) taking over as the Gotham City Police Department's Police commissioner. Barbara announces her plan to restructure Gotham Police without the need of Batman, which infuriates him. To give anything more would be a disservice. This movie needs to be seen immediately. Not only does it manage to parody Batman, but it also swipes at the Superhero Genre, Geek Culture and what it means to be a hero. But it does so by paying respect to the fans, not insulting them. Bottom line, the Lego Batman movie is a hoot. Whether you're a batfan or think Batman should be taken down a peg or two, this is a must-see. It's a wonder that the team up of Lord and Miller still manages to be this fresh. But if it is, the Lego movie franchise is something to look forward to for years to come.