#like I'd show my dad Time Heist because I don't expect him to get into the show but I think he'd enjoy that one

[nounpolycule]

My toxic trait is like I mean Blink is good but I can't wrap my head around it being the highest rated episode of Doctor Who on IMDb. Top 30 fine but #1?

[williamaltman]

Life is Strange 2 thoughts/feelings/review

So, Life is Strange 2. I finished the game yesterday and watched the other endings today. Things are not as fresh in my mind as if I had just finished and I talked a bit about it in other places so this feels a bit hard, but I'll try to lay down all my thoughts...

First of all... All my homies love LIS2, fuck you if you don't like LIS2! Seriously though, for years I've seen people say that the game wasn't good, that the characters weren't as good as the ones from the first one, that the Sean/Daniel relationship wasn't that interesting... I kinda did suspect it was just nostalgia goggles or whatever, but now I know for sure. I don't think there's anything wrong with connecting more with LIS1 and having a deeper relationship with it, but in this case I think you shouldn't even be comparing them and expecting the game to live up to that to you in the first place.

Now, onto the actual game. God, this was so fucking heartbreaking. I think I cried in every single episode. The very core premise of the story is just so sad, so unfair, and despite the powers so rooted in reality that it left me legit feeling uncomfortable with how fucked up their whole situation was. There are good moments, sure, but honestly every single thing that happens from the moment their dad is shot is just... Not how their life should've had to be.

Sure, LIS1 and BTS had dark themes too. But here, it's like, they lose everything from the beginning. Sean doesn't get to go to his party, to hang out with Lyla, to continue his normal life in any way. Daniel loses a part of his childhood. They're both forced to grow up so much faster than they should. There's a line Sean says in episode 3, and it's just a little idle VO, but it fucking crushed me, "Stop overthinking. You're not a teenager anymore". Even though he's fucking 16... He's 16 and he has to essentially become a parent. I knew what the game was about and lowkey followed it a bit when it was releasing, knew a few spoilers, but that didn't make anything any less heartbreaking.

I thought it was beautiful how the game took the opportunity to showcase and celebrate alternate lifestyles. The "family", Away, their freedom and how they interacted with society brings so much into perspective. I'm still a bit conflicted about Karen tbh, but I'm glad that at least they did show something beautiful through her story.

My biggest problem overall is probably how they handled the Finn romance route... I knew back when the game was releasing that despite adding a male LI, they pushed the female one more onto you and gave her more content, while locking the option to kiss him with a "bad choice" (I didn't know what exactly it was). And yeah, that is still true. I still think it was a mistake to lock the kiss with accepting the heist, and while I kinda understand the writer's explanation for that, I still think it could've been handled in another way, or they could've just let him kiss you and "betray" you by doing the heist anyway, since he still does that when you're friends lol.

I see people complaining that because they moved from place to place each episode, there wasn't enough time to connect with the characters... Idk if I'd say I disagree, but it just wasn't really the case for me. I was very invested in all the relationships, in Finn, Cassidy, Jacob, Chris, Karen. Everyone at the farm was cool and everyone in Away too. Lyla. You get so many tidbits about the characters even when they're not there on screen. The only thing I have to say which is kinda related to that, is that I think the time jumps were maybe a bit too big, and that the way they handled Mushroom was... weird.

I got the Parting Ways ending, and I'm satisfied with it. I kinda planned to get it, but only in the sense that I was spoiled that you get with Finn there. I didn't know that the whole morality thing had anything to do with it, and I played the first two episodes without even knowing that there was a points system about that and about brotherhood. I just made all the choices that were high morality (besides killing the cougar and the heist) because it was what I would do, and tried to be a good brother for Daniel. I figured that choosing to cross the border would most likely give me that one, but I just couldn't accept Sean having to go to prison for 15 years for something he didn't even do. If we were able to choose between Parting Ways and Blood Brothers, then I would actually be conflicted about which I wanted.

With the way the game's system works though, where you need to have low morality to get Blood Brothers, I couldn't really do it. I can't imagine myself teaching Daniel to be selfish and not care about killing people. I actually think it's super cool to watch Daniel use his power offensively and fuck shit up, but it just wouldn't be my version of the story. It's funny because, if we just played as Daniel, I wouldn't mind going that route. But since we play as Sean, with it being our job to raise Daniel, I feel a different kind of responsability towards leading him to become a good person. I also think it's beautiful that he gets to have the rest of his childhood, teenagehood, and live a "normal" healthy life with his grandparents. He does it in the redemption one too, but as I said, that just screws up Sean too much.

So, I'm a little disappointed that they're separated (and maybe can't ever see each other again? I'm a bit confused about Daniel's situation and whether he could visit), and that it's a bit shorter than the others (at least than the redemption one), but it IS the ending my playthrough led to and in that I'm satisfied.

I think this story is just incredible. It touched me so much, and the fact that some people can't see it genuinely frustrates me. The people complaining it's too political in particular can just go fuck themselves. It might not be perfect, but like with all things I appreciate, I'm just so glad it exists.

[mlobsters]

okay now i am benefiting from something that will hopefully at least make my anxiety a little more chill, maybe this will go better. literally 2 seconds after resuming the episode:

DEAN How long?! BOBBY All year. DEAN Oh, you got to be kidding me. BOBBY And I'd do it again.

DEAN Why?!

BOBBY Because you got out, Dean! You walked away from the life. And I was so damn grateful, you got no idea.

my realtime reaction: "BULL FUCKING SHIT!" but it didn't make my stomach hurt like when i stopped watching this bullshit earlier. just more mad. not even mad at bobby, mad at the fucking writing choices. what the fuck.

DEAN That woman and that kid -- I went to them because you asked me to. BOBBY Good. DEAN Good for who? I showed up on their doorstep half out of my head with grief. God knows why they even let me in. I drank too much. I had nightmares. I looked everywhere. I collected hundreds of books, trying to find anything to bust you out. SAM You promised you'd leave it alone. DEAN Of course I didn't leave it alone! Sue me! A damn year? You couldn't put me out of my misery?

BOBBY Look, I get it wasn't easy. But that's life!

trying not to yell while watching. this does not making any fucking sense for bobby to actually think this. how the fuck is dean supposed to reconcile this? sam (we will eventually learn) has an excuse but bobby doesn't! no excuse for this. unfuckingbelievable and it wasn't just dean's life that got fucked with, this poor woman and even worse, her kid.

DEAN I was a wreck half the time. LISA Yeah, well, the guy that basically just saved the world shows up at your door, you expect him to have a couple of issues. And you're always so amazing with Ben. You know what I wanted, more than anything was a guy that Ben could look up to like a dad. So, you're saying it's all bad, Dean? 'Cause it was the best year of my life.

WHAT. best year of her life. why did you make her say this

i guess we're having the nosy heist style group rifling through dean's house like brutish assholes trying to embarrass him scene. eyeroll. grandpa skinner is being an asshole too. ugh

now i'm praying for cas just so that we can have someone who might be on dean's side of things here, jfc. but where has he been the last year, wouldn't he have know about sam too and told dean? too busy in whatever heaven politics?

and why are these djinn so vastly different from the original in their show, why not just have them be some other monster. you know i have grown weary and emotionally disconnected when i start nitpicking monsters.

now i'm halfway wanting the ✨but it was all a hallucination✨ at least then there would be a reason for everyone to be so out of character. because that sure seems like it would be one of dean's worst nightmares.

is grandpa evil now too? i had enough bad grandpa in teen wolf, thanks.

achieving mutton chop status, 61%

SAM I hear you. I guess I just, wish you were coming, that's all. DEAN Why? SAM Don't be stupid. DEAN No, I mean it. I mean, you know plenty of good hunters. I'm rusty. I did something seriously stupid going out there. I almost got us both killed. SAM And that's exactly why I want you. DEAN What are you talking about? SAM You just went. You didn't hesitate. Because you care, and that's who you are. Me? I wouldn't even think to try. DEAN Yes, you would. SAM No, Dean. I'm telling you, it's just better with you around. That's all.

what the fuck is happening right now.

in summary,

this does not bode well.

i watched arrival again. and the day the earth stood still because i couldn't easily watch contact. let's see if it filled enough cracks caused by s5e22 to get through this.

supernatural s6e1 exile on main st. (w. sera gamble)

"you okay?" "yeah, i'm good :)" then immediately🙁also, hello licensed music, old friend. beautiful loser, ouch. you realize you just can't have it all, indeed. montage of all the pale replacements for life with sam. heavy sigh.

now i feel bad for always ragging on the score, i feel like i need to pay more attention. is this interesting? is it creative?

is someone sending him on wild goose chase slash scavenger hunt

this jacket, his hair being a little swooped to the side different. who are you? so my question will be, once he's back in business, does the hair revert as well as the clothes? sammy gets to change his hair up, let dean live a little.

this is a lot of dean. lying to lisa now too. oh how i wonder how her character is handled when he leaves. i'm guessing not well!

SAM You finally had what you wanted, Dean. DEAN I wanted my brother, alive!

gather this is the dreaded (by me, specifically) robosam. this is awful! he's also occasionally sounding like a frat boy/stoner/skater i dunno what the white boy youth sounds like anymore.

parker lewis can't lose (1990-93) corin nemec as parker lewis

🎶 i do not want this 🎶 (two feet below the surface I can still make out your wavy face and if I could just reach you maybe I could leave this place)

well i went ahead and read the wiki to see when the soullessness gets discovered and fixed and ugh this is a lot of episodes with him like that. were the red flags not flying with i dunno, the year he refused to contact dean, his very chill reunion with dean, literally everything about the way he's acting. dean's a smart cookie, he knows that man inside and out, like he's not going to be majorly concerned day 1 (after a minute to get over the shock of it all).

i feel the base level suspiciousness and paranoia to live in their universe with his life experience is gonna outweigh his blind desperation slash theoretical happiness that getting sam back may cause. i call shenanigans! though we'll see what sera is up to, she catches me out sometimes.

what did i say about this show (and by extension us, the audience) being merely a vessel for dean's pain? oh yeah, bobby knew too, for a year.

fuck that noise.