#like the podcast that had a running gag one episode of the bad guys wanting to go see the 2018 grinch movie made me sob Jesus Christ

[white-weasel]

Officially done with naddpod c1. Got through the last stretch without crying (though I was close) UNTIL THEY STARTED SINGING THAT SONG ABOUT ONE BIG BED AT THE END AND EVERYONE JOINED IN

[hiimsociallyawkward]

aithusia

hi bestie @lady-ofmagic-andstars it's been a while. i said i would do this episode last week but i had to wait for the destiny and chicken podcast to come out so here we are. basically, all of my thoughts while watching aithusia.

ugh the opening scene. i actually love it

ok ngl i remember that this guy is the bad guy but he's like 🥵🥵🥵 jeez

ik it's not just on tiktok but that tiktok where it goes 'but momma i'm in love with a criminal'

wow nice key bud

ok him running in the forest is just like you cannot outrun your demons and i thought that was so funny

smh he's so violent but he's so pretty :,)

ok but how old is this guy?? he say it's taken 20 years of his life. why 20? is that because that's when the 'last' dragon died out?? and at what age was he socially concious enough to recognize the implication of what it means to have a dragon? his is so dumb but probably like 15? so this guy is 35ish? idk man thoughts?

ok if he just feel off the cliff instead of being able to pull himself up we would've saved ourselves a lot of trouble i'm just saying druids.

ok this is so pretty. my thoughts are like 25% me singing show tunes, 25% thinking of actual merlin things, 50% thinking about how pretty everything is

merlin is such a light sleeper. idk why that's important but he wakes up ALL the time

✨gaius is the worst ✨

ok colin's eye looked so good in this scene

aLASFLJDFA MERLIN AND HIS SOCKS

stop i literally dress like this

i love his sleep clothes. it's such a vibe

aw merlin saying 'save the dragons is so cute' omg it reminds me of the vsco girls and saving the turtles HAHA

i love how equal merlin and kilgharrah feel here

asjflsjdasjdfl like ik this is the point but i love that merlin's inherited his father gift and he's always going to remember him. not that merlin would forget his father but idek

aw kilgharrah is like 'i beg you' ok now that i think abt it maybe it's slightly manipulative but it's also really not

ok actually i don't know how many time merlin uses this scene but i guess i'm keeping track now. but look how pretty

wow the rising sun 🤪

OH HAHA THIS IS WHERE MERLIN CARTWHEELS??

literally merlin just breaks in everywhere

merlin seems so earnest about wanting to see the dragons. i want to see the dragons too please

omg HAHA the woodworm is this episode??

WHY IS MERLIN STILL SEARCHING AFTER ARTHUR TURNS AROUND WHAT?

this is a side note but i love arthur's key holder thingy it's actually pretty.

stop right now why is merlin using his magic to PANTS arthur

ok i'm pretty sure that agravaine is only in this episode this one time, and yk it's the little victories

i'm actually embarassed for arthur and merlin here. i don't like it at all

HOW DOES MERLIN DO THE HANDSTAND?? that's the one part i like

ok my question is how is he supposed to know where the last piece of the triskeleton is??

SECOND QUESTION WHY IS HE JUST STANDING IN THE VAULT WHEN HE SHOULD BE RUNNING

lasflkajsdljsad omg the betrayal. ouch my heart

these scene are just like. it's actually art

ok how did merlin stay there all night and no one saw him?? literally camelot guards need to step up

omg no not merlin zooming

sklfja;lsdkjfasdlfs amerlin and the cup

i love how long merlin and arthur look at each other before arthur reacts

lsjfa;lksdsl woodworm omg and the fact that arthur believes that merlin is this chaotic is so funny

HAHA THIS SCENE GAIUS LITERALLY YELLING AT MERLIN

i think this is the funniest thing because gaius is like 'don't people about your magic' while YELLING ABOUT MERLIN'S MAGIC

ok that's a good point gaius we don't know what borden's intentions are

alsdjfalsd stop why didn't they wait for merlin :,(. this reminds me of when you're in highschool and you're finishing lunch and as you pack up everyone is leaving you??????

ok but i love that merlin rides in front with arthur. like- of course he does

merlin being observant 😍😍

i want to go horse riding now

STOP I DON'T LIKE THIS

THIS KNIGHT/DINNER GAG IS NOT FUNNY TO ME. NOT IN THE SLIGHTLEST. THERE'S THIS FIC by @a-small-batch-of-dragons. i literally spent like 10 minutes looking for it because i had to include it here

this scene just.. i don't like it. i never have and i never will

like- who decided that putting this scene in here would be good. no thanks

the knights sleeping in a circle and merlin sleeping on the outside. idk bro that made me a little sad

but also. i want a cloak please. i think i'm just going to say i want a cloak every episode

ok i chuckled at the interaction of 'ever herd of the word sorry?' and 'no is it a word you made up?'

dude don't ask why but i love it when people walk through waterfalls

i don't know why arthur looked so stupid when he was doing it though

i love the nature of it all

yes merlin, you start walking toward the castle first

aw i love the knights working together. like, i know they work together- they're knights, but we love to see it

merlin and his sharp eyes again :,))

why are they making camp it's literally not even dark yet 😭😭

oh great another dinner gag. please stop. i dislike this immensely

wow i love that merlin can heal them. i also think it's surprising because merlin sucks at healing things but yk.. ✨plot✨

this looks like the type of building teens would either be convinced is haunted and try to stay the night there or the type of building that all teens would go to to take pics for the #gram

ok is borden dead here or..

yes i'm putting both of these picture here. who's going to stop me

just kidding it's three

ok so not dead

ok this is not meant to be creepy but colin has nice hands

borden is a creep please go away now

merlin use your ✨magic ✨ please

YES. tell him you're the last dragonlord. i stan. YES HIM AND HIS MAGIC

you better run boy

ok how he manages to get out of the castle is astounding

HAHA there was some CGI that fell and i laughed so hard because it looked so fake

LITERALLY. THE PRETTY CASTLE SCENE IS HERE AGAIN. PRETTY CASTLE SCENE COUNTER; 3

omg merlin getting excited about the egg is actually so precious

both of their faces here are SO precious.

oasfasldfjasl idk why but whenever merlin walks across with the eggs i have this feeling he's going to faceplant and drop it for the comedic effect but i'm glad that never happens

bruh 'back where it belongs' like yes that makes sense but also that doesn't make sense

dude

it's been a full moon for like 4 days now..??????

omg i actually love aithusa

tbh, i DO NOT know how to pronounce her name

why is she actually the cutest thing ever.

AW MERLIN CRYING

i love it when merlin cries, but not in a sadistic way yk? it's more the fact that he's allowed to cry

ok i have a few dragon fics that i love but the only one i can think of right now is Returning the Favor by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle it's actually perfect

there are so many more that i love but i can't think of them but also- PLEASE REC YOUR FAVE DRAGON FAMILY DOMESTIC FICS PLEASE AND THANK YOU

anyways. i'll be back tomorrow to rant more about the darkest hr pt 2 so i'll see you then! also let me know if you want me to stop tagging you @lady-ofmagic-andstars because otherwise i will literally tag you in everything :,)

[adarkgreensoul]

Ok then, just binge listened to EOS 10 and gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting the feels there. Nope, I did not see that one coming. Under the cut, you’ll see how my mind went from “this is the closest thing to comedy in space I could find” to “remember when all our problems were about a non-stopping boner?” in four seasons. Spoilers, obviously.

Season 1

- After Wolf 359, I need more space related stuff. Please let this be light-hearted space stuff.

- Ryan is a piece of sunshine that must be protected, just saying.

- Levi? Like Attack on Titan cool badass Levi? *5 seconds later when he asks if he should take off his pants* Nope, this aint that type of Levi.

- Urvidian is not having a good time.

- The way I see it Ryan spends a week finding the alcohol Urvidian hid in the weirdest places.

- This podcast has some good soundtrack.

- Ryan just called Jane a bitch and I'm living for it. It surprised me so much I cackled in the middle of a very silent bus ride.

- “Your penis almost exploded.” and "My eyes are up here." are the running gags of this show.

- "That one's penis hurts and that one's very old." Good quote.

- *Hears Akmazian speak* Do you smell that? That smells like some romance.

- Urvidian and Ryan are gonna have a Father/son thing and I’m ok with it. 

- That is a huge jump from "explosion in the archives" to "I'm going to my father's funeral." You can’t just fricking put a transtion song in there!

Season 2

- Ryan's mom is not wasting any time, but did it have to be THIS doctor? *Ten minutes later* They had a thing and she married his best friend. Uff.

- That's a lot of kissing asmr.

- That awkward moment when you find out this little huge-foreheaded doctor is your son. When I said Father/son thing I didn’t mean literally father/son thing.

- If Levi ends up being a bad guy or something I'm gonna lose it.

- Nothing better that a sentient Ai that wants everyone dead but you.

- Doctor Who reference = chef's kiss.

- Levi and Jane trying to seduce Akmazian is the best.

- Feral cries and unedulterated profanities only on Thursdays.

Season 3

- I know I should be panicking about Akmazian not being remembered but Uber Gay is *cheff's kiss*.

- Wait, his dad is alive?! Ok, this is getting too timey wimey.

- In episode 303, I swear, when I heard Levi screaming in the background I though it was a fly.

- From cafe to gay bar. Nice.

- Levi and Jane are such a duo.

- Who is this Ben? I'm so confu- Ooooohhh. Wait, the accent! Noooo!

- Wow, learning about Jane’s past was like that one episode of How I Met Your Mother when we found out about Robin’s Canadian pop star days.

- Man with a cat. I haven’t seen any fanart of this and I am very disappointed.

- His dad?! Uff. From that one timeline? Double uff.

Season 4

- This is a strange way to start a season. Not complaining.

- Wait, David and Ryan? Nice. I miss the accent, but nice.

- David and Ryan are so adorab- sorry, Silent what?! 

- He's going full conspiracy mode. 

- Another Doctor Who reference! *intense cheff’s kiss*

- Morpheus anime cat boy confirmed.

- If Morpheus turns out to be the bad guy. *Ten minutes later* He's just a sassy naked man, never mind.

- When your sentient Ai friend is stuck inside your head. You know, the usual.

- Excuse me? Did she say evil?

- Damn. That escalated quickly. *Ryan turns full evil* THIS IS ESCALATING WAY TOO QUICKLY.

- "See the pink hair? I'm out of my mind." That's a quote.

- Jane, when did this become Avengers: Endgame?!

- All this evil is confusing.

- (During the season finale) This is a lot of feelings, man. I was promised no feelings. The golden scares thing was one thing, but this? This?! *points at sad feelings* Unacceptable.

- (After the post-credits scene) This is the Avengers. Also, damn right you are bringing him back.

Well, those 4 seasons were a hell of a ride. So, season 5? Anyone?

[simplylove101]

Influential TV Shows

Okay this is kinda random and why I prob won’t tag the shows I list cuz this is more just something I wanted to get out of my head after watching J&J’s latest podcast where they were talking about this topic. They kept it to 7 shows each and while that would certainly be interesting to try, that’s kinda hard. lol I went about grouping some of them - shows that shaped me growing up, shows that impacted me/stuck with me, comfort shows/watch with the family, taught me about fandoms, etc. And saying something about each of them. Anyway, this is stupid but here we go lol:

The Shows Growing Up:

Sailor Moon: Okay, nobody make fun of me. lol This is the first show I remember really watching as a kid that wasn't Barney or whatever, something I decided to watch by myself and it actually had an ongoing story. And ofc it took time for me to realize that this was just an English dubbed version that they would play on Cartoon Network. Looking back on it, it’s a little cringey (the voice readings, Serena being a bit of a crybaby) but seeing girls, even if it was animated, kicking ass over evil as a group made an impression on me so it’s no wonder I would watch it religiously after school and was sad when they stopped airing it. And ofc I watched all the movies too. I was a shameless fan. lmao I also eventually read the manga and appreciated it.

Hey Arnold: As a kid, I would watch Cartoon Network & Nickelodeon (& eventually Disney when I got a little bit older), and I think one of the Nickelodeon shows that really stuck with me as a kid, like Rugrats, was this one. It had a wide range of really distinct characters. It was genuinely funny. And I did love the dynamic between Arnold & Helga (who was interesting & sometimes they would let her be the protagonist of an ep instead of him, like the therapist one which is a def fave) even if her crush was kinda as stalkerish as you can get why maintaining innocence. lol And you know what? I did totally watch the recent movie they did where it tied up loose ends like getting these two together and allowing her to grow as a character. Gotta say it was rewarding after all this time. lol  

All That: I feel like I gotta put this here because I watched this show all the time as a kid. And I think it’s something that really taught me about comedy. I had seen things from Saturday Night Live growing up cuz of my parents but this was my Nickelodeon version with people that weren’t much older than me at the time so I could really get what was going on/enjoy it. It’s also the first place where we saw people like Amanda Bynes & Kenan Thompson & Kel Mitchell (which is partly why I later watched things like The Amanda Show and Kenan & Kel) What can I say? As a young person, it was just really cool seeing kids being funny. Yeah, there was some cheese but I didn’t care. It stayed with me.

Boy Meets World/Sister, Sister/Lizzie McGuire/Even Stevens: I kinda cheated here and bundled these shows because these are four of the shows I watched on Disney growing up (Disney showed reruns of Boy Meets World & Sister, Sister for the record) There were others like That’s So Raven, Suite Life, Wizards of Waverly sort of, Proud Family to name a few but these shows I picked have such iconic episodes that I still remember well and love. Like Even Stevens - musical episode hands down Idc. Boy Meets World - Scream-inspired Halloween ep for sure. Yes, there was cheesiness with all these shows. Sometimes very after-school special, but they shaped me I think. Also gotta mention, I remember thinking of Hilary Duff as my idol. lol

The Ones I Watched With the Fam:

That 70′s Show: Now the thing with my family is that we were one where for a time we would watch tv while eating dinner and my dad would have control of what channel we watched. It was always this way, which meant it would either be Law & Order or Seinfeld (the second one I was cool with and I almost included it on here cuz it’s such a staple comedy but eh,,, I appreciated it more later on. It felt more forced on me at the time) This is probably one of the only shows I can say my whole family truly agreed on watching all together tho, including my sister who generally watches trashy reality shows. This show will always remain one of my faves, because it was hilarious. It got a little weaker towards the end (We do NOT speak about Season 8) but I loved how it was a true ensemble sitcom where everyone brought something to the table and enjoyed the different dynamics between the group. The funny running gags, Jackie & Hyde still remain one of my all-time otps, and Kelso is probably the funniest & lovable dumb character I can think of (If nothing else, Ashton Kutcher was meant to play this part ok) It was nice to have something my whole family could enjoy together. It was a rarity so this show has a special place in my heart for that alone.

Joan of Arcadia: Another show that has a place in my heart, despite it only lasting 2 seasons and it ending on a bad note (major cliffhanger, still never fully making things right w/ Adam after destroying his character, ultimately S2 was problematic but still) because this is a show that I watched religiously (pun not actually intended here lol) with my mom every Friday it was on. What I loved about it was that the concept is centered around Joan talking to God yet it generally wasn’t being preachy. Joan wasn’t always willing to do what God wanted her to do, and things didn’t always turn out how she wanted. It was a kinda perfect blend for me and my mom to watch together. After this we were more willing to watch stuff as a pair cuz we were close but this started all that. I remember always being curious how God would appear to Joan cuz it was always changing, but there were some fave recurring ones like Cute Guy God, Goth God & Old Lady God to name a few. heh Joan was played wonderfully by the awesome Amber Tamblyn who could always make me cry (naturally she played my fave Tibby in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies too lol) and she had awesome friends in Adam & Grace (who were my faves) and family. I rewatched this show and you know, I’d say S1 holds up and even the first half of S2. Heck, the episode where Joan & Adam break up towards the end of it, while totally heartbreaking and PISSES me off cuz bad writing for Adam, was solid simply for the acting so there’s that. lol

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Putting this show under this category because this was a show that I mostly got into because my sister loved it growing up. I was really young when it came out so I mostly remembered bits & pieces when I later watched it when I got a little older. It stuck with me tho cuz ofc the awesome Sarah Michelle Gellar playing badass Buffy (she was my sister’s idol) and it was a genuinely funny and smart show. It also got dark too. It wasn’t always solid towards the end, but I think it mostly nailed the actual ending (why Anya had to die tho... Spike I got but ugh) Anyway, this was kinda a big deal cuz it was the only thing my sister and I really watched together that wasn’t bad reality television or me barely paying attention to Dawson’s Creek at the time lol This showed that my sister could have taste when she wanted to (lmao sorry)

The Carol Burnett Show: I had to mention this show because this is one that got me, really my family, through dealing with my mom’s dementia. We chose to care for her at home instead of putting her in a nursing home. We did this for 2 years until her death. And the one thing we (excluding my sister cuz her & old stuff don’t mix) could always count on cheering us up was this show. My dad told me that my mom loved this show growing up and that’s why we turned on for her. So luckily memory or no memory, she still had a sense of humor and she knew when to laugh. And with good reason. This show is hilarious. So iconic. Carol Burnett was/is rightfully loved dearly for this show. I wish I had more I could say, but this was truly a comfort show when I desperately needed it so I am forever grateful that it existed.

Honorable Mention: Young & Hungry - another show that got us through that dark period, my dad actually really enjoyed this, despite seeming skeptical, and eventually started calling it the “Josh & Gaby Show” lmao Only thing is we never finished it together so oops. Not so much influential maybe but worth mentioning it felt like since it was underrated, got me thru a tough time, was hilarious and I loved that cast a lot. Emily Osment deserved to be the lead of her own show. Comedy queen.

The Ones That Brought Out the Fangirl In Me AKA The Teen Years:

The O.C/One Tree Hill/Gossip Girl/The Vampire Diaries: Another category where I’m just grouping them up together cuz ultimately it wasn’t about high art with these shows. They were the staple teen shows that everyone was watching and well, I was one of those people. lol It all started with The O.C. It was one of those ‘at the right time’ kinda things cuz I just went into the 6th grade when S1 started and it was such a big hit that everyone was always talking about it and there were even shirts involved (I never went that far lol) but this is where my need to explore YouTube came and then I was making fanvids. Gossip Girl is the one where I actually inserted myself into a fandom for the first time. My goodness the cringe that came with it but it gave me two of the longest online friendships I’ve ever had so I don’t regret it. (Shoutout to @backtothestart02 here as one of them) And well, three of these shows taught me the toxicity that can come from fandom. So I’ve been less vocal/more aware with other shows because of it. There’s problematic stuff in all of these but they were entertaining most of the time despite frustration (lol) 

Honorable Mention: Teen Wolf - Had to mention this one cuz this was a show where I had a group of friends who all watched this together and we talked about it til the end (even when we weren’t happy with it lol) I was never really vocal in the fandom cuz by this point I was wary of them (fandoms I mean), but it was nice to share a show with people who felt similarly about it. As a show, I truly loved it up to 3B. Some of my favorite episodes were the ones that almost felt standalone-ish (3x06 AKA Motel California still remains my fave to this day) Lastly, it’s because of this show I was introduced to Dylan O’Brien who I always refer to as my ‘always & forever’ guy so yeah lol

Maybe Superhero Shows Are Worth Watching lol:

The Flash/Daredevil/Cloak & Dagger/Runaways: So I’m someone who growing up, beyond Spider-Man and Batman, never really jumped at superhero movies. I still don’t to an extent but I’m more willing to watch stuff now. I think because when it comes to TV, I’m willing to check out at least an ep. I got into The Flash because my friend Lauren was really into it (and still very much is now) and wanted me to check it out so I did. I sorta watched Arrow before it until a point so I’d seen Barry’s appearances on it and remembered thinking he was precious so I wasn’t surprised that I liked him as a main character. I do think these later seasons have lost some quality but I think the earlier ones were very solid and Grant is perfect in the role. Daredevil... R.I.P. That show was so high quality so the fact that Netflix cancelled it is just rude. Now... Cloak & Dagger has been one of those surprises for me cuz it was such a slow burn that when it really got going it left me wanting more. That S1 finale was so solid. Cannot wait for S2. Love the dynamic between Ty & Tandy. Now Runaways isn’t perfect but it’s my biggest fandom right now and I’m proud of that fact. It’s a show that highlights diversity with 4 PoC leads & 4 kickass ladies (Nico & Gert are my bb girls), healthy ships including an LGBTQ couple currently as the main one (tho it is Gertchase that owns my heart), and overall a pretty great cast that meshes well like the thrown together family they portray. It even got me back into writing fanfic again. A miracle tbh. lol

Overall Just Amazing:

This Is Us: I just think that this show pulled me in the second they revealed that first plot twist in the pilot. It surprised me and then they kept doing that a bit after. Now it’s more about how it has the ability to make me cry every ep and feel things. It doesn’t always touch me the same it did in that first season (it was an emotional year for me tbh) but it does have a class act cast who can always pull at my heart strings.

Boardwalk Empire: This technically could have went under something I sort of watched with my dad, but it is kinda a weird show to share I guess. We didn’t usually watch it together (saved some awkward convos sometimes lol) but always talked about each episode weekly and it was kinda fun cuz it was usually in-depth. My dad still quotes things from it to this day. He also once said that he considers S1 the best TV season he’s ever watched. I agree that it was great. For me, the first 3 seasons are solid while the last 2 felt different but still pretty good. There was such quality to it. Great acting headed by Steve Buscemi. What can I say? I have a thing for gangster stories. I could say more but I’ll stop. lol

Stranger Things: The show that really turned me into a binge-watcher. I had just gotten Netflix and what show did I decide to watch on my birthday? This show. I had seen things in the media about the kids from it and I was like, they’re adorable!! And ofc I got hooked when I actually watched the show. It just has everything in it that I like: mystery, thrills, humor, hint of romance, awesome acting, music moments, nostalgia. This was my obsession for a while until I got into some other things but if you don’t think I’m totally pumped for S3, then you best believe I’m watching it all in a day if I can. lol

Community: This is a show that reminded me how a show can think totally outside of the box and still have a lot of heart with its comedy. I love situations where a group of misfits come together and become a family. I love that this show celebrates being different. Troy Barnes remains one of my favorite TV characters ever (& omg his friendship with Abed is pure goals!!) and Donald Glover played him perfectly. And Alison Brie is just adorable as Annie. Love this group of weirdos. The quality was different after S3 but I still adore it.

Into the Badlands: Have to mention this show because what it has been doing action-wise is just incredible. The fighting sequences are out of this world. I’m always excited to see how they top it. Also, an Asian male lead? Go dude! The whole cast is wonderful and everything is just high quality, ok? Also, that cinematography!! Can’t believe it’s ending when it comes back. Sadness.

One Day at a Time: This is more of a recent discovery for me (had friends who watched it and knew it was good but only decided to check it out not too long ago) but it’s already made its impact on me. This show has so much heart to it. The writers put so much care into their work when they bring up these controversial issues in the episodes. All while being totally hilarious (but also trust me, I manage to cry at least 1 or twice an ep lol) A show centered on a Cuban family, plenty of good rep for LGBTQ/non-binary people while also handling things like depression/anxiety, addiction, immigration, etc. It’s definitely making its mark on TV. Also, Rita Moreno is a living legend who I adore. I love this cast so much.

12 Monkeys: I. loved. this. show! I still think it had the best series finale that I have seen in a while. It wrapped up things so well that I was smiling for a while after watching it. I couldn’t believe that of all shows this one gave me a happy ending. lol Casserole remains one of my all-time ships because they were truly epic and pulled at my heart strings so many times. Jennifer Goines was my queen. But seriously, a show about time travel that managed to make sense? So impressed. And the visuals? gahhh

Friday Night Lights: Last, but most definitely not least, this show is just up there as one of the all-time bests IDC. The fact that at first glance the show seems centered only about football and it got me to keep watching definitely says something. lol This show had so much heart, the cast was excellent, an ending that was pretty much perfect. Coach & Tami Taylor were relationship goals. Honestly one of the best portrayals of a married couple I’ve ever seen because they were very much a team (while yes there was the occasional bickering that you gotta love) and it just felt real, you know? Also, it’s a show that proved that you can come back from a sophomore slump (yeah S2 was the worst season) and continue to be great.I can’t decide if it’s my favorite show of all-time but it’s certainly one of the first ones to come to mind. So glad I decided to give it a chance.

There’s probably a couple other shows I could list here but some I haven’t finished yet and don’t feel ready to put them on here yet. This is just what I could come up with.

[douxreviews]

Manifest - ‘Crosswinds’ Review

By Baby M 

 "This is gonna sound crazy." "I think our operational baseline is ten points up from crazy." "Yeah, well this is gonna turn it up to eleven."

It's ten days after the events of the previous episode. Marko and the other people rescued from the secret underground laboratory are still in a catatonic state from the effects of the electroshock experiments.  They're being tended to by Fiona, Saanvi, and Autumn in an architecturally stunning seaside mansion (which I shall hereafter refer to as the Impossibly Cool Beach House, or ICBH for short).  Meanwhile, Ben and Michaela are living in an apartment, and Jared is out of the hospital and returning to work.

Oh, one more thing – nobody has had a calling in ten days, either.

No one has had a calling, that is, until Michaela, on a visit to the ICBH, has a super-lucid first-person hallucination of stumbling through a snowstorm while a voice whispers "Find her."  At that precise moment, one of the experimental subjects, an attorney named Paul, wakes up.

Paul doesn't remember who he is, or how he got on Flight 828, or much of anything about himself.  He'd ended up in the experiment because he was one of the ones who had no one come to the hangar to pick him up.  His wife Helen not only didn't come to the hangar, she seems to have dropped off the grid completely.  (He doesn't remember her, either.)  From this, Michaela interprets the snowstorm vision as a direction to find Helen.

Fiona and Saanvi convene a meeting at the ICBH of passengers who returned to the plane to watch it blow up.  All of them are having a hard time adjusting.  Flight attendant Bethany complains that the "Believers," the 828 groupies who first appeared a few episodes ago – officially "Believers" with a capital B according to the closed captions – were waiting for her outside the courthouse when she was released.  (She's not the only one having Believer issues, either.)  Another passenger, Andre, complains that he was an "entrepreneur wunderkind" before the plane disappeared, and wants his life back.

When Fiona suggests that maybe it was her destiny to be on 828 to act as "as an interpreter" of the "shared consciousness" experience, the pilot, Captain Deal, stalks off.  He suggests to Ben that Flight 828 might have been Fiona's "twisted science experiment."  One might say he's a bit on the paranoid side.  Of course, as the saying goes, just because you're paranoid....

Michaela and Jared go to Helen's house, where they find piles of unopened mail and a milk carton left out on the counter which has an early November expiration date.  They eventually trace her to a motel, where she is hiding from her abusive husband.  "Paul coming back was like this wrecking ball smashing into everything I built."

Upon returning to the police station, Michaela tells Jared she doesn't want to work with him any more because she doesn't want to be "a giant wrecking ball smashing into everything in your life."  She then goes back to the ICBH and gives Paul a good hard verbal napalming for abusing his wife.

Ben, meanwhile, has gone down another metaphorical rabbit hole of inquiry, where he meets Aaron Glover, a freelance journalist who runs a podcast called 828-Gate. From Aaron, and Autumn, and Director Vance's right-hand man Powell, Ben learns enough to deduce that that the mysterious "Major" is a woman, and she's running a black-budget investigation into Flight 828 in search of what she calls "the Holy Grail."

Grace is spiraling into depression again, and Olive (who has seen this movie before) decides to do something about it by inviting Danny over for a visit.  This does not go over well with Grace, and it gets even more uncomfortable when Ben, responding to a text from Cal, arrives in mid-argument – and comes to realize that his return was a metaphorical wrecking ball with respect to Grace and Danny.  (That metaphor sure gets a workout this week.)

As this is going on, Jared shows up at Michaela's apartment and declares his love for her, leading to some rather improper physical activity IYKWIMAITTYD.

I should also mention that Autumn, having seen what the experiments did to her fellow passengers, decides to stop spying on Ben.  However, The Major is not the sort of employer who calmly accepts an agent's two-week notice.

At the very end of the episode, Cal has the same first-person snowstorm vision as his aunt did, complete with whispered voice message.  However, Cal's vision goes on for a second or two more, and we see that whoever is stumbling through the snow is carrying a picture of Michaela.

"828" Watch

Lots of "828" sightings this week!

Romans 8:28 is referenced in the inscription on Karen's headstone.

Ben and Michaela's apartment number is 414, which is half of 828.

Helen's house number is 1829½, probably symbolic of her "moving on" after Flight 828 disappeared

Her motel room is room 28 – but it's not at a Super 8 motel.  (That would have been a really clever little gag.)

The Believers have "828" all over their signs.

Also on the manifest...

According to government statistics, domestic violence is (unfortunately) common enough that if the 192 individuals on Flight 828 (191 on the manifest plus Thomas the stowaway) are a representative sample of the general population, there would be at least one abuser among them – and more than one victim of abuse.

If Paul really has permanently lost his memory as a result of the electroshock experiments, is he still morally responsible for his past abuse of Helen?  There was a very powerful episode of Babylon 5 which explored this theme: "Passing Through Gethsemane."

One scene takes place at Director Vance's memorial service, where the speaker makes mention of the Director's wife and kids.  Guess he's really, for-sure, permanently dead.  I'm going to miss that guy.

There's a short scene where one of the Believers asks Andre, the former "entrepreneur wunderkind," to let her touch him.  You can almost see the wheels turning in Andre's head, figuring out how he could perhaps make a living as an object of worship.

While teenager Olive is very good at reading her mother and recognizing that she's spiraling into depression again, she's not mature enough to anticipate just how badly pulling Danny back into the mix could (and did) backfire.  That's very believable.

This week's gold stars for acting go to:

Melissa Roxburgh (Michaela) for the scene in the cemetery where she's talking to her mother.

J.R. Ramirez (Jared) for the wordless scene where he comes home from Michaela's apartment and sees his sleeping wife Lourdes.

Jack Messina (Cal), for perfectly portraying a little boy who can't understand why his parents are separated.

The picture of Michaela we see at the very end in Cal's snowstorm vision looks to be a page out of an article in a celebrity fluff magazine like the ones you see in the grocery store checkout line.  I tried freeze-framing it, but I couldn't make out any of the print.

If I've figured the in-universe timeline correctly, it should be mid- to late December by now.  Yet, we've seen no Christmas trees or decorations, even if only in the background.

With all the repeated use of the phrase "Holy Grail," I kept waiting for someone to reference Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Unless I missed it, there were no Python references, not so much as an unladen swallow's worth, anywhere in the episode.

While that was disappointing, the showrunners are to be commended for resisting any compulsion they may have felt to use "Torn Between Two Lovers" (Mary MacGregor, 1976) or "Wrecking Ball" (Miley Cyrus, 2013) as licensed music in this episode.  Unfortunately, the record company back catalogs are brimming with thousands of other equally dreadful pop songs that could be (mis)used in future episodes.  Stay strong, showrunners!

Quotes

Michaela, to her mother's headstone: "'All good things.'  What I would do to hear you say that one more time.  I wouldn't say I don't believe.  I would say that I want to because there has got to be a reason this is happening to us."

Olive: "Frozen waffles.  This is bad." Cal: "They still taste good." Olive: "She's in a dark place." Cal: "She misses Dad."

Captain Deal: "You weren't in that cockpit.  No one is blaming you for what happened to MA 828."  So who is blaming him?  Or is he blaming himself?

Ben: "Podcast.  That's still a thing?"

Conclusion

This was overall a pretty good episode.  I found it far too neat that everyone came to the immediate conclusion that "Holy Grail" was a codename and not just a metaphor (or a Monty Python reference), and as in previous episodes, Ben's investigation developed at a little too fast a pace.  On the other hand, the "Enoch Arden" scenario involving Ben and Grace and Danny and Olive was realistically developed and very well acted, as was the rapidly-evolving Jared-Michaela-Lourdes triangle.  It will also be interesting to see what develops with Autumn.

Three out of four metaphorical wrecking balls.

Baby M has been in a couple of wrecks, but none of them involved a wrecking ball.

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Carnage vs. Lucy

WARNING: The following review contains descriptions and screenshots of extreme blood and gore. Viewer discretion is advised.

So, according to commentary, this matchup was decided by the crew, and not by fan votes. They supposedly had a hard time determining a good Carnage opponent, and this was the best one with the most connections.

This is the Third (technically fourth) Comic Book vs. Manga/Anime fight since Captain Marvel vs. Android 18, and both Goku vs. Superman episodes.

Carnage′s Preview.

Carnage’s Origin Story is gone over, and the hosts comment about it. We know how this works by now. Cletus was a bad kid, and he really needed to be put into a higher-security prison to make his actual imprisonment effective.

(What’s with murderous psychopaths and having teddy bears?- First Bane, now Cletus. It’s getting weird).

So, Cletus’ Symbiote is given their own stat sheet, and is given a quick rundown.

(I’m going to guess that the 360 perception doesn’t really count if the thing he’s trying to attack is invisible to his own eyes).

(Sorry about the poor quality of the screenshot. I was in a bit of a rush to get this done since… Uh, blood. This episode features a lot of blood).

And apparently, Carnage traded his sound weakness to a weakness to that Chthonic Magic, so sound isn’t much of a thing that can hurt him anymore. I guess Songbird and Black Bolt ought to watch out for this guy if Carnage ever shows up at their front door.

Kinda of a meek end line, considering that this is Carnage we’re talking about.

Lucy′s Preview.

Seriously. Turn back now. Lucy’s rundown contains a lot of blood and gore. I did my best to not include any gratuitous blood, but it’s still there. If you’re reading this while watching the episode, turn back now if you don’t want to be grossed out.

Only warning indeed.

So, Lucy’s origin includes the stuff on the Dicloni, and how she was captured and why she needed to be captured, and it’s really dark. As an aside, who here thinks that Lucy would be welcomed by the X-Men, on account that she’s got a superpower, and all that?- Well, her less murder-y side, anyways.

(I doubt that healing factor would make a difference).

So, Kaede seems like a nice girl and all, until she was pushed to a breaking point. Yeesh, what is up with these psychopaths and being pushed to a breaking point?

Lucy’s Vectors, much like the Symbiote Cletus wears, is given its own rundown. And it seems like my initial claim that Lucy wouldn’t have any access to fire is incorrect. I am willing to admit my mistake, and acknowledge that I was underinformed for Lucy’s powerset. So with this, I have a feeling that Lucy has an immediate edge.

And given the multiple personalities that she has, it’s likely that she’s… messed up. Poor girl, she’s been through a lot.

(Note to self: Try to see if I can’t get Nyu’s personality out more).

Boomstick’s voice telling her to kill them before they hurt puppies is both adorable and hilarious. Boomstick’s clearly a dog fan. Makes me dread if they ever bring in Iggy from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, considering the little guy uh… dies.

So Lucy’s Vector movement is faster than Venom’s top recorded speed, and since it’s reasonable to scale Carnage to Venom, it’s likely that Carnage isn’t going to move fast enough to dodge all of those Vectors at once. Speaking of Vectors, why not Medusa from Soul Eater?

And Lucy’s feats… Yeah, they blow Carnage’s out of the Klyntar-infested water.

(Blocking SLAM missiles?- That’s badass).

They thankfully go over some weaknesses, so it’s clear that she’s not invincible. Blows to the head, or cutting off one of her horns will nullify her vectors, and she can apparently melt.

Yeah, warning, I’m about to show you guys the screenshot. Because if I have to suffer in seeing it, then so do you!

(I said blood, not gore).

And they even go over her redemption, and how it wasn’t so hopeless after all……… Before cutting away to her just flat-out murdering a bunch of other people in lieu of an end line. The music just makes it really creepy and hilarious at the same time.

The Battle Itself.

Zack, Kervin, Luis, and Jerky are tackling this animation project. Danielle McRae is voicing Lucy, while Christopher Guerreo is voicing Carnage. Brandon Yates is doing the music on this. Kokkinos has sound.

So the story for this one is basically just Nyu waiting for a train, and Carnage killing everyone aboard because he’s Carnage. I guess Lucy took over to protect Nyu.

The music does a really great job at setting the mood, it’s called Chorus of Carnage, and it’s really good and has such a poetic title. I know what I’m listening to on Halloween.

Props to the animators for making Carnage’s sprite work well with Lucy’s invisible Vectors. It feels reminiscent of Jotaro’s fight with Kenshiro before Kenshiro used Toki to sense SP.

And Lucy’s initial and go-to attack don’t really do much against Carnage’s healing factor. So, the battle rages on with Carnage struggling to land a hit on the Diclonius Queen. It takes a while, and a lot of effort, but he lands some cuts on the girl.

So, after Lucy manages to slam Carnage into the train, he starts a taunt. It’s… Pretty dark.

Finishing Blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Lucy’s Vectors are just starting to get to the higher frequencies, and, she delivers a pretty damn good one-liner.

“Does it hurt yet?- Don’t worry. I’ll put you out of your misery.”

And props to Carnage for not going out like a bitch. He just says “I hate you.” and then he blows up.

Even the clouds clear as sunlight comes in to brighten the day. One less serial killer to worry about… Until I revive him for story purposes.

Verdict + Explanation.

So, apparently that explosion was certainly enough to kill Carnage. And Boomstick rejoices at the fact that there’s one less dog-killer out there.

And while Carnage could land some cuts, it was primarily through projectiles, as Lucy’s Vectors would just be too much for a melee attack. So, possession was off the table.

But that’s not to say that Carnage was helpless. His healing abilities gave him the durability, but Lucy fighting as a puddle meant that Carnage’s punishment wouldn’t be enough to incapacitate her unless he landed a blow to her horns. Which, given that Lucy is likely aware of this weakness, she would be careful to not let it happen.

In terms of strength, Carnage overpowered several opponents that had massive advantages in that category, but Lucy’s own demonstrated feats of strength overwhelm Carnage’s scaled and demonstrated strength.

Really though, the battle did come down to who could land a fatal blow first. Similar to another Marvel character who fought a non-DC opponent. The overall question is muddled a bit thanks to Carnage’s healing, but it gets less muddled thanks to Lucy’s explosive Vectors that got compared to Nuclear Fusion. And since there’s no evidence to suggest that Carnage could survive such a massive amount of heat, it’s entirely possible that Lucy could totally incinerate Carnage if given the chance.

And given that Carnage isn’t likely to power through Lucy’s Vectors anytime soon (Thanks to the latter’s speed and strength), Lucy had more opportune moments to kill Carnage. It’s even pointed out in a notecard.

Really though, Boomstick’s end line didn’t really have a good Lied-in.

Overall impression.

Really though, I know that October is slated for Battle 100, but I feel that this would have worked better then. Two Psychopathic murderers going at each other with deadly force, and the chilling music makes it all the more eerie. It feels like a slight missed opportunity, and there’s no notecard explaining why Carnage tagging Nova wasn’t mentioned. Perhaps during the podcast, but it would have been nice to have heard or read why it didn’t count in the actual episode.

Aside from that, the music and animation is really good, but it feels like there could have been a tad more effort put into Lucy’s sprite. It felt odd seeing a minimalist looking sprite interacting with a detailed sprite like the one Carnage got. I get that Elfin Lied is a bit obscure, and that there wouldn’t be many good sprites to use, but Lucy looks her best when we get a close-up of her hand-drawn face.

That being said, the explanation is really good, but once Lucy’s explosive Vectors are mentioned, it becomes a foregone conclusion. Lucy just needs to land that once to finish the fight, and we just saw her move her Vector hands into space. She could fight at a distance, and keep Carnge away from her.

7.0/10 The fight’s good, and the music is really awesome, but it’s not exactly an “up in the air” fight. Overall, the moment the Nuclear Fusion hands get mentioned, you know it’s leaning towards Lucy, and that sort of lack of suspense makes it hard to enjoy. It’s not even something like Flash vs. Quicksilver, in which you know who’s going to win, but the setting and reasoning for the fight is unique and interesting. Maybe if Lucy had gotten on the train, and they had fought there, it would have been more unique, but it doesn’t really have a unique edge. And the lighting is weird, which makes it harder to track Carnage. While this might have been the intent, it’s odd that both Symbiote fights involve a lot of dark lighting.

But the result is well-justified, and the parts that can be seen are really great. So, I’d say that the score is fair.

Next Time…

It’s been a while since we last had a Transformer, and it’s about time that we did get one. Though, I won’t really cry if Prime loses. It’s a running gag that he dies a lot at this point.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

The second giant robot fight we’ve had.

[fictionerd]

GOOD. TO. SEE. YOU. FRIENDS!!!

Here we are! The first post of Summer Season 2018 and we’ll be covering Planet With. This series is released on Sundays and can be watched on Crunchyroll. 

Okay, so let’s cover what we learn from the first two episodes of Planet With.

In episode one we’re introduced to Souya, a young amnesiac who dreams of horrifying giant draconic creature attacking a city and some one flying off to confront it. See it’s shit like this that causes dragons to have a bad reputation. Seriously I can’t believe these assholes who go around burning whatever the hell they want just because they can breath fire. If it weren’t for them dimensional travel wouldn’t be such a daunting prospect for me. I never know when some one is going to have a traumatic flashback and attack me all because some scaley clown got it into their head to “burninate” something.

Sorry, I’m digressing again. After waking up from his ptsdream Souya prepares to have a normal breakfast with his perfectly normal housemates of a large cat-person and green-haired maid. 

Oh wait... My bad. See I’m used to hanging out with a Teddy-Bear whisperer with the ability to access the life’s memory of a version of herself in any given universe, an elf who ONLY exists in the metaverse of the Akashic Record, and most recently a shadow-monster who spent three months pretending to be Swole-Bear. There was also that time I tried to hang out with a copy of a video game character, but we’re not considering that canon anymore. At least not entirely for legal reasons. Oh! There’s also the British man who tears holes in dimensions to fight against “unfair fates” who I’m apparently hosting a podcast with now? My point being that to me the above image is perfectly normal. To most anyone else this is probably at least a three on the Sir Memery WTF chart.

After finishing his veggie breakfast Souya sets off for school complaining about wanting to eat some meat where he bumps into his class rep whose name he has forgotten. You’d think this is just an excuse to set up Tsundere vibes with her, but no it’s far FAR worse than that. See her name is: Kagaratamaha? [wrong buzzer] Hakatamagara? [wrong buzzer] Ta-ka-ma-ga-ha-ra? [Correct Tone] 

So Nickname Pending is worried about Souya and how he doesn’t make friends at his new school. This is because she knows what it’s like to be the new kid, and has apparently never watched an anime in her life so she doesn’t quite grasp the concept of “Leave the mysterious blue-haired transfer alone”.

Side Note: This character’s introduction marks the first time I’ve ever gotten a Japanese pun without some one explaining it to me. So allow me to ruin it for you all by explaining it. She offers Souya some of her Hamburger Steak to which he replies with tears of join “Megane-sama” which she mishears as “Megami-sama” and sheepishly replies that she doesn’t think she’s a goddess before immediately realizing what he’d actually said. This leads into the reveal of her actual name which I refuse to ever use the entirety of again because I honestly don’t think the joke is that funny.

Later that day Souya’s shounen receptors begin to tingle as he picks up on the impending conflict of the story. A UFO is sighted offshore headed towards the city. When the air-force is deployed to deal with the object (Picture in header) they find themselves the victim of some strange joyous delusion and leave the object alone. it’s only when seven strange people, apparently psychics of some kind, utilize their powers to confront it is it stopped. We see one of these people enter the object through a “Weak Point” and have his own delusion.

See, his mother was killed in a fire when he was a little boy causing him to become a firefighter. The UFO hits his brain with a delusion of child him being held back from the blaze by a firefighter only for that firefighter to turn out to be adult him. Adult Firefighter Psychic dude runs into the fire, saves his mom, and the two of them walk through the cherry blossoms as he sorts through all the pent up regrets he has about not being able to save her when he was a kid. Only after we’ve conveniently gotten to know this character’s defining trauma does his squad get through to him and break the delusion, then he uses his Psychic Golem Powers to wreck the hell out of the UFO causing it and copies of it that had appeared around the world to disappear all at once. The same can be said for the Psychics who all blast off to separate places to avoid the fate of E.T. one presumes

While all this was going on Souya got a call from Ginko (That’s green-haired maid lady for those not following the series who also don’t care about spoilers). She tells Souya that he has to defeat “it”, but contrary to what everyone in the audience thinks it turns out that “it” refers to one of the Psychics and not the UFO thing. After Ex-Firefighter current world-saver exits the bushes onto a highway he encounters Souya the cat-man and Ginko. Souya is sporting a mask and being basically lead by the nose at the behest of Catman and Ginko. Now hold onto your seats because this is where shit gets REALLY weird. 

Catman swallows Souya turning into a mech in the process that Souya is now piloting. They get into a fight with Firefighter dude who summons up his psychic golem thing. After fumbling around at Ginko’s direction Souya manages to pilot the Catmech to victory over Psychic Fireman and retrieves a vial of star-shaped dust that is the “source of his power”. At which point I’m lead to believe that Souya recovered his memories because he shouts at Firefighter to tell his friends that Souya is going to kick their collective asses. This is presumably because he believes them to be behind his ptsdream.

After the credits roll we see a scene where a guy I can only describe a scruffy Alder from Pokemon Gen 5 says ominously that Firefighter dude had been taken out.

So, before even watching episode two I can already hands-down predict that this guy is the Draconic asshole from Souya’s ptsdream. Not sure how everything fits together but my working theory is that Souya’s from another planet that Earth governments or some shadowy organization somehow invaded and stole something from. Souya is a sleeper agent and the “Peas” balloon things are meant to lure out those in possession of the Stolen Macguffin or whatever.

There we have Episode One. Please excuse me now while I go watch Episode Two. Well... I mean you can just keep reading by the time this goes up but... BRB!

[Approximately 30min later]

Well my theory from about two paragraphs ago is up in smoke as soon as the opening scenes of this episode roll in and further dashed upon the rocks by Ginko later in the episode. All things in their proper order.

So Torai (That’s firefighter-guy’s name btw) makes his report to dragon-man about his encounter with Soya and company. The other six Psychic warriors all make jabs at him as though he died even when he’s sitting right there in an example of a gag that is legit funny unlike Tara’s name from last episode. While we’re talking about the exposition meeting may I just say that I feel BETRAYED!

See Dragon CEO guy is as nerdy as I AM! He’s the one who found out that the enemy force is called Nebula. He called the giant abominations “Nebula Weapons” gives Soya and Company the name Nebula Soldiers, and what does he call the Psychic Golems his crew uses to fight? Psychokinetic Mega-God Photon Armor. If I didn’t know better I’d think my pops made him from the same mold as me no less. Oh, and their little world-saving club? It’s the Citizens' Safety Center Special Defense Section: "Grand Paladin". I’m in tears, people, this is a Draconid after my own heart.

So, the “Grand Paladin” peeps implement the buddy system in case they run into Soya again. Meanwhile Soya’s having a sulk because apparently Ginko and “Sensei” dragged him to Earth to be their soldier. He goes out on a walk in Iron Clogs (I’m guessing this is a joke I’m not getting). On the run he meets up with Torai who just happens to have purchased a bunch of meat buns from a convenience store. They have a conversation because Torai is a nice guy (that’s a legit nice guy not the version that’s been turned into a derogatory term by certain groups online). See Torai, while out looking for his attacker couldn’t help noticing what he thought was a middle-schooler sitting on a random bench crying and came over to see if there was anything he could do to help.

He gives Soya a bun they chat for a bit with Soya desperately trying both not to give away who he really is as well as to eat the bun because dammit he just wants some MEAT for once! All of a sudden the evacuation alarm is sounded because this wonderful abomination has appeared off shore.

Nebula really needs to consult a different artist about their designs. I personally recommend @dashfox1artwork. 

Robin: Shamelessly plugging your internet friends are we dragon-boy? 

Fic: If you’re not going to show up and fight keep your mouth shut Shadow-bear. I’m just doing my part to show that not all Dragons are assholes. Robin: Whatever you say.

So, the six remaining Psycho-God pilots attack the Ugly Bacon Idol and the pink-haired girl of the team, Miu, is the one to enter the core. The hallucination she sees is of her beating her friend Harumi (Pilot of the Bear-armor) at apparently a Judo competition. We find out that Miu has always just wanted to be strong, and we also learn that she IS strong being able to break through the illusion of the Nebula Weapon with relative ease and destroy the thing. It’s at this point that I should mention that a message has flashed before each of the characters who take one of these things out. In Miu’s case the message was “It’s okay to be weak”. For Torai in episode one the message was “I forgive you” presumably preying on his regrets about his mom.

After Piggy McHideous is dispatched the group separates into its pairs and as we expected Soya and Co target the pair with a member who just fought a battle, but let’s back up for a second because there’s some exposition from Ginko during the fight with the Baconator that needs addressing.

She reveals to Soya that Nebula is indeed the name of the group they work for, but there are multiple faction. Ginko and “Sensei” are with the “Pacifist Faction” whereas the Monuments to terrible design sense that have been popping up in the harbor belong to the “Sealing Faction”. Basically think of this as political parties. One wants to prevent humanity from rising up against them one day by brutally suppressing their ability to advance and keep them in a state of complacency, while the other just wants to take away any dangerous toys that humanity might come up with and hope that they can “guide” humanity onto the path of “Love” rather than “Power”.

Hmmm one group bent on maintaining their personal status quo at the cost of anyone else and another that wants to control precisely what power the general populace has access to in order to “guide” them on the “right path”? I wonder where I’ve heard that one before?

Sorry about that. The Writer is coming through me a little strongly there. Point is that Ginko is using Soya to enact social and ideological control... I MEAN to take away the magical stardust that allows the Psycho-God Pilots to do their thing... yeah. Back to the proper progress of the episode: Soya once again pilots his cat-mecha-sensei to fight against Miu and Harumi. It is a pretty fun fight, but all things must go as has been foretold. So after being on the ropes for most of the conflict Soya turns everything around at the last second with a miracle uppercut against the Bunny-god armor. As Miu is falling back to Earth Ginko appears and grabs the stardust vial away from her. Apparently Ginko can just Mary Poppins herself to wherever she pleases? They all land and Ginko’s like “That’s all for today”, but Soya’s having none of it. He’s ready to take the fight to Bear-mech too when all the other Psycho-Pilots show up including CEO Dragonface to say “Checkmate”, and that’s where our story concludes for now.

Y’know I’m coming more and more around to the opinion that we should be routing for “Grand Paladin” here rather than the lady influencing Soya or the massive, faceless organization that wants to turn us all into Proles from 1984. I mean, yeah, they do have the snake-eyed dude. They meet in what appears to be some sort of board room, and the writing seems to indicate that they’re the “Antagonists” if not the villains, but so far they don’t seem to be anything but a collection of well-intentioned if somewhat zany people. Even the big CEO-type with the intimidating presence, as was discussed earlier, is a lovable and hammy goofball. 

I love any series that makes its antagonists human. Granted cartoonish villainy and even edgelordiness has its place in stories, but when you can make your antagonists and especially your villains feel human and relatable it just rings home that nobody is the villain in their own story. Everyone has reasons for what they do. They may not have excuses or justifications, but they all have reasons.

For instance, I have a reason for breaking my own rules here by reading my political views into the story.

[pauses for dramatic effect]

Yes, yes I’m sure you’re all very shocked at this revelation. I mean I was so subtle about it (/s). My reason is that when I went back and really thought about what the “Sealing” and “Pacifist” factions of Nebula stood for I (and this is really the nerd behind The Nerd speaking) couldn’t help but see parallels to some of the more distasteful extremes of Conservative and Liberal politics at work. Both sides seek to impose their morality upon others. While one does so by attempting to keep people complacent with the status quo, the other does it by appealing to the rebellious nature inherent in people and channeling it into “causes”.They use guilt and peer pressure to convince people that their way of thinking is correct and I absolutely cannot stand seeing it happen. Especially when they prey upon others using causes that need legitimate champions! 

The goals of the “Pacifist” faction are arguably “good”. They are part of a group that has watched humanity evolve and they only want the best for us. They “keep their involvement to a minimum”, but at the end of the day they’re doing the same thing that the “Sealing” faction is doing. They’re enforcing their own will on humanity by taking away humanity’s means to fight against them, or anyone for that matter.

In the anime this is likely because the “Pacifist” faction is short-sighted and hasn’t stopped to consider what will happen to humanity when they take away the only weapon they have against the “Sealing” faction, but in reality? In reality groups like the “Pacifist” Faction either are themselves or contain an element that wants the people they’re disarming to become reliant upon them for what they need. They take away that person’s own weapons and replace them with their own. They dictate the rules of battle and push you to come to them for aid and defense. They accrue personal power and influence at the cost of their followers’ freedom of thought.

These are important things to think about and be on the lookout for, and it’s an issue that is very prevalent in my own life and dealings online. So those are my reasons for why I read political allegory into the factions of Planet With. Now am I justified for doing this when I so often decry others for “reading shit that isn’t there into stories”? No, of course I’m not. Or rather I’m not justified using that argument against people who dropped a show as a result of what they read into it. 

I’m not going to lie. I’m inexperienced with expressing views on creative work online, and am overly sensitive to certain things. I’m just as flawed as anybody else. It’s hard for me to understand when people see “bullshit” in something that I didn’t see. It’s hard for me to accept some one calling a show (particularly one I like) “Garbage” when really it’s just not clicking with them. I know that I’ve been guilty of calling a show “Garbage” in my time, but it’s a term I hope to avoid moving forward. I want to live up to my professed belief that there is good to be found in all fiction, even the “bad” fiction. Part of that is accepting the responsibility I tell others they need to accept. To practice what I preach.

If I’m determined that the Audience has just as important a role in creating art as the Authors then I need to learn to accept the interpretations of my fellow audience members, and to feel free to express my own interpretations of things.

[stops to take a break and slide back into character]

Wow... That ended up being a lot heavier than I imagined. What a way to kick off the summer season! There’s more to come but for now I need a break, and the writer could probably use a nap.

Until next post keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon

[intergalactic-zoo]

I decided, apropos of nothing, to put on Joss Whedon's Zack Snyder's "Justice League" while doing some work today. I discussed the movie when it came out eleventy billion years ago, and thought it was fine. It's not good, but grading on the curve of every DCEU movie up to that point, it was a solid B-. Sitting in 2021, I remember bits and pieces of it—Steppenwolf looking like he stepped out of an XBox 360 cutscene, the decent cell phone video of Superman that was marred by the terrible attempt to CGI out Cavill's moustache, all the characters sounding like their rough counterparts in "The Avengers"—but not a lot of details.

Obviously the intervening years have altered my perspective on the film, both through the revelations about the behind-the-scenes racism and abuse and through the fanatical and also frequently abusive behavior of the fans clamoring for this version of the film, which absolutely definitely existed and was finished years ago and also needed an additional $70 million dollars and reshoots to complete. 

That perspective has not been altered for the better. 

Against my better judgment, I'm going to watch the Snyder Cut sometime, probably this weekend, so I figured it'd be good to see how it deviates from the theatrical release, like I did for the Lester and Donner cuts of "Superman II" so very long ago. I don't expect to enjoy either one; my feelings on the superhero movies of Zack Snyder are well-documented, and even under the best circumstances, four hours is too @#%*$! long for a superhero movie. But four hours of nihilistic spite dressed up in cinematic deepities and CGI with a sepia-toned overlay is unlikely to be the best of circumstances. 

Will it be better than two hours of the extremely generic re-skinned "Avengers: Age of Ultron" that got released to theaters? There's only one way to find out!

Boy, the New 52-ass character designs in the DC logo opening sure didn't age well. When was Rebirth, like, the year before?

Pretty neat that it's got Mogo and Jessica Cruz in there, though. 

That cell phone scene was a lot better in my memory. Like, the kids with a podcast are kind of charming, but I remembered it being a good Superman moment, when it's really just kind of nothing. Certainly not enough to justify the extremely bad CGI. And is the negative space on the S-shield supposed to look so gray?

Gotham City looks like the background of a Robert Rodriguez movie, but I actually like it here. It feels grimy and a little uncanny, the way Gotham should. A big building with "JANUS" on it in glowing letters and big coal chimneys out of Victorian London are what I want to see in Gotham, along with copious brooding gargoyles and enormous iron statues of Greek gods that you could drive a car on. 

A building that is continually being robbed by either Two-Face or Maxie Zeus

"Batman Forever," for comparison

Ben Affleck's Batman rasp is at least as silly as Christian Bale's. Batman can just talk in a voice, my dudes. I watched bits of "Batman & Robin" and "Batman Forever" to track down the right screenshots, and it's so much better when Batman is a guy with a deep voice rather than a guy who sounds like he's gargling gravel and sand. 

The crook asking "where does that leave us?" because Superman's dead is a little weird given that Superman was a public figure in this universe for literally a year and a half. In 2021, it's a bit like asking how we could go on if Billie Eilish died, except Billie Eilish hasn't, to my knowledge, ever been involved in a fight that leveled a major city.

The maudlin mourning sequence probably should have come before Batman backflipped over a snarling Kirby monster and "Mindhunter's" Holt McCallany hopped around on a rooftop, because I laughed out loud at the unhoused person's "I Tried" sign and I do not think that was the intended reaction. 

And then the Leonard Cohen cover gives way to the Danny Elfman score, and it sounds like "Batman" '89 again. God, this movie really is a mess. 

I appreciate Wonder Woman explaining her powers like she's in a Chris Claremont comic. How long until we get a superhero movie with a proper reference caption? I just want to see a box in "Into the Spider-Verse 2" that says "*It happened in Spectacular Spider-Man #206, True Believers!"

I really wish superhero movies could stop having the scene where superheroes talk about how stupid superheroes are. It feels so self-conscious. Just embrace the concept without being ashamed of it, please.

I also wish we could have dialogue less on the nose than everything Henry Allen says. He talks exclusively in clichés about movement—"running in circles," "standing still," "find your own path." We get it, he's talking to the Flash.  

I keep forgetting that this movie is a fetch quest. It could have worked if we'd seen more than Themyscira before. This could be like that sequence in "Avengers: Endgame" where we go on a little memory tour of the previous films, but instead it's a return to Paradise Island, our first brief, boring glimpse of Atlantis, and a nuclear plant cooling tower. This is one of the problems with setting the "let's get the team together" movie before you've met most of the team or established most of the set pieces. 

The boom tube effect is pretty good. It's a shame Steppenwolf looks so much like a character from a Zemeckis film. I do appreciate that Joss had enough restraint to avoid dropping "Magic Carpet Ride" or something when he showed up. 

Fus roh dah!

Also, I realize the ship has largely sailed on this, but the Amazons are supposed to be an incredibly advanced society; maybe we could stop depicting them as exclusively armed with bronze-age weaponry. 

You know, it's hard to see Lois Lane so...despondent? Demoralized? Even in the wake of Clark's death. Like, Lois was pretty weepy for a few issues of the comics after Superman died, but within two months she was accosting cops and breaking into Cadmus in a wetsuit and punching dudes in the teeth. Lois Lane is a stone cold badass, and the only film in this erstwhile trilogy that came close to understanding that was "Man of Steel."

The frustrating thing about the dialogue is just how obvious it is that Joss knows how to write exactly as many characters as are on the Avengers. Batman just sounds like Tony Stark, Wonder Woman banters like Black Widow until she needs to exposit like Thor, it's just so lazy. 

And so is the backstory of the Mother Boxes. I actually really like the "all the races of man joined together with the gods and the Green Lanterns to repel Steppenwolf" angle, because it makes this idea of uniting as a League into a theme that you could build a movie around (that movie was "The Fellowship of the Ring"). Unfortunately, they do it by stripping the Mother Boxes of anything that made them interesting as a concept and turning Steppenwolf into a low-rent Thanos. Thanos is supposed to be a low-rent Darkseid, get it right. 

I was going to rag on Bruce for comparing Flash's suit to "the space shuttle" in the present tense, when the space shuttle program ended six years before this movie came out, but I suppose Bruce Wayne is a cranky old guy in this movie, so it kind of works. 

Man, poor Ray Fisher, in addition to everything else, having to read this warmed-over Bruce Banner dialogue. 

Not gonna lie, hearing the Elfman Batman theme is pretty great. It's nice that Batman and Wonder Woman have really solid, recognizable motifs in the score, even if they had to reach back 30 years to find one for Batman. It's a shame the other characters don't get anything so clear and distinctive. 

Casting J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon was a pretty good move.

Our first full glimpse of Cyborg is a bit uncomfortable. Up until this point, we've seen him in sweats, so seeing him without clothes...it's like that bit in "Cats" where Idris Elba takes off his coat and even though he's covered in CGI, you can't help but think "okay, he's naked now," a thought you only have because he was wearing clothes before. 

Batman does his "disappear while Gordon has his back turned" bit, and it becomes a gag because only Flash is left behind. Except that we've seen that Flash perceives things at a higher speed than others, so why would he be caught off-guard? Wouldn't their disappearance have happened in basically slow-motion to him? Why did Wonder Woman and Cyborg disappear when Batman did? How did they know to do that? The only reason Flash is left behind is for the gag, because he's the comic relief character right now, but it would make more sense for literally either of the others to be the one in that position. It feels like a "kill your darlings" moment. Like, they decided that this gag was more important than making sense, when they could easily have done a different gag—like Flash noticing that Batman was leaving and stopping him in the middle. 

The Nightcrawler is a bad idea. It doesn't really make sense as the thing Batman would bring to this fight with Steppenwolf, and it's loaded up with guns, which...come on, guys. It doesn't even get a clear enough spotlight to be properly toyetic. 

If you needed any confirmation that Joss saw how much better Quicksilver was in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" than in "Age of Ultron," the Flash is here in this battle to make it obvious. 

God, the "Flash is awkward about being on top of Wonder Woman" gag feels like it lasts a thousand years. It's like something out of a "Big Bang Theory" episode.

It physically pained me to hear crappy Steppenwolf quoting New Gods #1. 

I know there's pathos to Cyborg's character, but, like, is this really the version that they thought people wanted to see? Is this just the Brooding League? I thought a part of the reason for bumping Cyborg up to the big League was to bring in people who love the version on "Teen Titans," but there's nothing of that character here. 

On the other hand, they've sidestepped the modern problem of making Barry Allen act like Wally West by instead making Barry Allen act like Bart Allen with a head injury. 

I really like Bruce Wayne in a vest. 

There's so many things that would have made this movie better, but honestly? I think Superman should've stayed dead. Obviously I love the character, and I even love Cavill's performance, but a movie about  a superhero community coming together and being inspired by Superman's example to be better—you know, the thing Batman says at the end of "Dawn of Justice"—would have been a lot better than a movie where two characters we just met dig up Superman's grave to MacGuffin him back to life. It still wouldn't make that much sense that Superman would have such a massive impact after just a year and a half of public superheroing (come on, Snyder, if you're going to do the Christ allegory, why not give him three years?), but it would have been a better way to showcase what the character means to this universe and to these characters. 

This runs into something I said way back when I first saw "Man of Steel": You shouldn't make General Zod your first-movie villain. I've been comparing this film to "Age of Ultron" a lot, but I'm starting to realize that the entire DCEU—with the possible exception of "Wonder Woman"—is made up of the second movie in each character's respective franchises. Zod should have been the villain Superman faced after he was established, to raise doubts about the character's allegiances and present him with a seemingly impossible threat. Batman should have fought Superman after a movie where we established what Batman's deal is, how he got to be so angry and bitter. The Justice League should have faced an enemy too big to fight without Superman after the movie where a threat and Superman's legacy inspired them to unite together. Heck, even "Suicide Squad" would've been better if they'd saved the "one of our own is a traitor" plot for a sequel, where we might have some emotional attachment to some of the characters. 

Boy, Barry Allen attempting a fist bump with Cyborg and then laughing off the rejection with the phrase "racially charged" hits real bad in the wake of Ray Fisher's discussion about the environment on-set. 

One thing to appreciate about Cavill's Superman is how much he exemplifies the hairy-chested, dimple-chinned version that Dan Jurgens draws. 

And Elfman works the John Williams theme into the score. The motif works well the first time, less so the second when he's trying to kill the Flash. Hitting it in a more minor key would have been nice. Again, it's a shame they had to go literally forty years back in time to find a recognizable Superman theme when there were two Superman movies leading up to this. 

This fight between Superman and the League is bad and unnecessary, but the bit where Superman reacts to Flash in super-speed is well-done, marred only by the incredibly doofy look on Flash's face. 

God, Cavill doing the gravel-voice, asking "Do you bleed?" might be the worst part of this movie. Although Lois Lane entering the plot for the first time in an hour so she can say "the sun's gettin' real low" to Superman is a close second. Why isn't she involved in the formation of the League? Why wasn't she a major character in this?

Batman's "something's definitely bleeding" comedy bit feels like something out of a View Askew movie, and not only because it's Ben Affleck. 

Clark's discussion with Lois, "it's itchy," it's yet another jarring tone shift from what we saw immediately before. And the greenscreen work on the farm (reshoots, I expect) is somehow worse than the moustache removal. 

The bit with Aquaman baring his soul because he's sitting on the Lasso of Truth is the closest one of the comedy bits in this has come to actually working for me. 

And then, adding to the "Age of Ultron" comparisons, we're back to fighting an enemy in a small Eastern European nation. The red skies are a nice touch. The Batmobile's 50-caliber cannon and chainguns, less so.

Did...did the Flash just say "oh snap"? 

And Aquaman saying "my man" to Cyborg with the exact same inflection as Bradley Cooper in "Get Out" is another one of those real uncomfortable moments. 

And then Batman gets a laser gun, because why not? 

Superman asking "how can I help" and then rushing off to save civilians is maybe the best moment for the character in the entire DCEU. It's also nice that Superman gets a moment to help more or less each character with their individual missions. 

And then Wonder Woman drops the "I work with children" line, which is the best line Black Widow gets in this movie. 

Cyborg gets his "booyah" moment, which feels forced but at least makes some sense with his character arc. Flash gets his fistbump. Not-Sokovia gets to be the setting for a Jeff Vandermeer novel, and the team gets their triumphant moment in the sun. 

We're on to denouement, and Lois gets the closing narration, which is mostly fine. It would work better if she weren't basically a cameo in the movie. I do like that it ends on "look, up in the sky," and that Cavill finally gets a chance to do the shirt pull. 

Except that's not the end. First we get the beginning-of-credits scene with the Superman/Flash race, which is cute but unnecessary. And then a truly awful cover of "Come Together" before the post-credits sequence where Lex Luthor meets up with Deathstroke and his truly ridiculous dye job. 

In summary, Joss Whedon's Zack Snyder's "Justice League" is a bad movie. In fact, it's several bad movies stitched together into a shambling bad movie Frankenstein. And tomorrow I'm going to watch Zack Snyder's Zack Snyder's "Justice League: The Snyder Cut," which is getting surprisingly positive reviews. I do not expect to enjoy it, because I really don't think my problems with this movie will be fixed by making it broodier and longer, and my track record with enjoying Snyder's films is basically nonexistent. But I'm watching it, because I'm a glutton for punishment, and at least if I do it while I'm still on vacation from Twitter, I won't be tempted to join in the undoubtedly toxic discourse. 

[some-triangles]

OH RIGHT

I enjoyed a lot of podcasts this year 

1. The Bugle

The joy of the Bugle this year was discovering who did and didn’t work in the rotating cohost spot; happily I feel like the best of the new folks are significantly better at the job of managing/coping with a pun-based satirical podcast led by Your Wacky Dad than John Oliver was, and also happily made my podcast feed less straight, white, and male, which is sorely needed at this point.  The stories Anuvab Pal brings in from India alone make him a strong MVP candidate.  (I think he’s also the best pure comic they have.)  In the end though I have to give the nod to Alice Fraser, who does what nobody else can: she’s capable of breaking Zaltzman’s momentum.  It’s a thing of beauty that this invulnerably pointless man has met his match in an extremely rude Australian woman who will happily match him pun for pun.  

2. Crime In Sports 

This is a true crime podcast where two basic white dude comedians you’ve never heard of tell the life stories of professional athletes who end up in jail - stories which inevitably bring up issues of race, class and mental illness - and I will tell you that they do okay with that stuff, not perfect, but okay,  and that exceeded my expectations to the point where I ended up listening to enough of it to start to care about these mooks and their in-jokes and their running gags, and again, I seem to have a soft spot for dumb guys who are doing their best, and I probably got more laughs out of this thing than any other podcast I listened to this year.  Your mileage will probably vary.

3. Nancy

WNYC’s Gay Podcast, hosted by two Asian urban millennials who in their cohosting rapport demonstrate and embody WLW/MLM solidarity at all times. It’s exactingly correct about things and is what I listen to after Crime in Sports to detox.   It’s also pretty good journalism, if you’re a fan of/can stomach the studiedly casual bespectacled “umm”-ing modern NPR vibe which has become de rigeur with this kind of thing.   The episode where a younger butch woman finds the older butch woman who gave her her “ring of keys” moment and tells her what she meant to her will make your heart explode.

4. The Adam Buxton Podcast 

OK, Zaltzman isn’t really your wacky dad - he’s more your weird uncle.  Adam Buxton is absolutely 100% your wacky dad, and he’s trying his best.   He’s the middle aged guy who asks dumb questions about race and gender because he genuinely wants to understand - the aging hipster who took being right on for granted and is gamely trying to keep up as the world shifts around him.   He’s kind of like Marc Maron in that respect, and in a number of others; the podcast follows the same basic format as WTF, and Buxton is the same kind of insecure overcompensating former cool kid that Maron is, except replace the aggression and Jewish neurosis with the deeply repressed performative childishness of an English public schoolboy.  Reading back I have failed entirely to make this seem enticing, so let me highlight the bit of this that works; Buxton starts every podcast with a walk through the countryside with his dog, who he talks to sometimes.  Buxton is cozy.  If you like the Maron idea but don’t like all the personal abrasiveness, this one may be for you.

5. Killing the Town with Storm and Cyrus

To explain this podcast I am going to have to tell you a story.

The first thing that you have to know is that Calgary is generally considered to be the capital of Canadian professional wrestling, because the Hart family is from there, and Bret Hart is the most famous Canadian wrestler of all time.  But: earlier this year a tweet made its way around wrestling social media suggesting that Winnipeg should actually be considered the wrestling heart of Canada, because while Calgary might have given us Bret and Owen and Lance Storm,  Winnipeg gave us Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and Cyrus.

To which even hardcore wrestling fans might reply: who the hell is Cyrus?

It turns out that Don “Cyrus” Callis, AKA the Jackyl, was a) responsible for the tweet and b) a complete nobody who was on TV for a cup of coffee in the late 90s and hadn’t been seen since.  The closest he came to mainstream success was as the manager of a justly-forgotten WWF heel faction called the Truth Commission, a group of pro-Apartheid afrikaaner militiamen.  (1996 was a very, very bad year for professional wrestling.) He almost became the manager of a group called the Acolytes, who were at least kind of a big deal during the attitude era, but after his first TV appearance with them (in which he got on the mic and shouted “VIOLENCE TURNS ME ON”) he was fired.  He bounced around ECW and TNA and that was it.

Cyrus had also just started a podcast with Lance Storm, on which he claimed to the best talker the business had ever seen, among other things.   It became clear to listeners that while he may not ever have caught the brass ring, he was a wrestler to his core - i.e., a bullshit artist, a carny and a fraud - and that he had paid his dues working shit matches in the middle of nowhere Canada when he was a kid, and was now happy to spend a seedy retirement bullshitting with his friend Lance and pretending to be a forgotten legend.  

Except things kept happening for Cyrus.  Piggybacking on that tweet and the imaginary Calgary/Winnipeg feud, he became a public champion of Kenny Omega, the hottest name in pro wresting outside of WWE, and a man who didn’t have a lot of supporters among the old guard.   Omega met up with Cyrus because of this (it turns out Cyrus’ old manager the Golden Shiek was Kenny’s uncle!), and put in a good word with his bosses at New Japan - and suddenly Cyrus became one half of NJPW’s English commentary team.  (This improved their commentary immensely, to the point where the wrestlers complained when NJPW used Jim Ross for their American special.)  Callis then used his position to broker the hottest wrestling angle of the latter half of 2017 - he approached Chris Jericho with the idea of wrestling Omega in Japan, Jericho’s first match outside of WWE in decades - and managed to get himself in the ring when the angle played out, getting laid out by Jericho as he tried to defend Omega, his friend and meal ticket.

It was then announced that Cyrus had been hired to be a new Vice President of TNA/Impact Wrestling (in its umpteenth rebranding and reshuffle of the year.) In this capacity he will be co-booker for the whole promotion.  As of this writing he has yet to be forced out.

So: in a way this podcast itself is the wrestling story of the year.  It’s also pretty entertaining, albeit absolutely saturated with ads, as one might expect from a pair of born grifters.  Lance Storm is a smart dude with mostly good opinions and fun delivery and Cyrus is a lovable scumbag.  They do their share of complaining about how young wrestlers these days don’t know how to throw a punch but because Cyrus is obligated to defend Omega at every turn they can’t drop too far into old coot territory, and because Storm trained several of the current new crop of wrestling women he is at pains to put over women’s wrestling whenever he can, even as Cyrus is a poop about it.  They get people on to interview who you’ve never heard of but who were allegedly legendary to someone at some point in some territory or other and who all have insane stories, some of which might even be true.   It’s a fine time, and if current trends continue Cyrus will be WWE head of developmental by this time next year, so stay tuned.

[bangyourheadnotyourheart]

LUCIFER S03E02 RECAP: THE ONE WITH THE BABY CARROT

When I first saw the title for episode two of season three, I really thought it has to do something with vegetables or even rabbits (didn’t read the episode description though, my bad). Well, there were vegetables (aka tomatoes) and no rabbit, but oh boy not the one I was thinking of.

Lucifer’s wanting to have some sexy time when his wings ‘unfurled’ during foreplay. I really thought the girl would freak out at this sight but no, she thought the Lucifer was cosplaying and that she could dress up as the devil. Losing interest, he told the girl to leave as he is about to cut off his wings yet again. Ugh. Can’t imagine the physical pain that he has to go through. And mentally.

Lucifer told Linda that his wings grew back and that he cut them off again. Linda told him she’s worried because he is harming himself. But Lucifer doesn’t want to hear it because, with wings back but no devil face, he doesn’t want to be someone he’s not. Linda asked him if he knew who did that to him but he only knew little. Lucifer also told her that not only did the Sinnerman took his face, it also took away his schtick (giving out favors). Linda felt pain during their session and Lucifer asked if she truly was okay. I’m kinda worried about Linda. She kinda looked okay but still. Oh my little doctor.

At the precinct, Chloe told Lucifer that they got the person who killed Sam (the guy who kidnapped Lucifer in episode one). But Lucifer isn’t convinced that the guy they got was the Sinnerman but he could be working for him. Pierce overheard the two talking about the Sinnerman but Chloe told him they weren’t talking about anything (Chloe thinks that Lucifer’s obsession about the Sinnerman is another of his family drama). Lucifer asked her why she stopped him telling Pierce about it but Chloe just told him that the Sinnerman is just a myth. But she told him that if he can bring even a little proof of the Sinnerman’s existence, she’ll be the first to look into it.

The case for the episode is a dead guy (JD) who was a struggling comedian. Chloe said that the deceased could’ve made someone angry with his jokes which Dan said that it’s an angle worth exploring. Lucifer said that Dan has good insight in the case because Dan and JD were kindred spirits, since, you know, Dan does Improv. But Dan educated Lucifer that Improv and Stand Up are two different things. Chloe asked why she didn’t know about Dan doing Improv and how come Lucifer knows it. Lucifer was willing to tell the whole story but Dan called Ella to put an end to the conversation.  

Can I call Ella, Lucifer, Chloe and Dan the Fab Four? Will call them that! Ella said that JD made news couple of days ago claiming that Bobby Lowe (a famous and more successful comedian) stole his jokes. Now Lucifer can finally relate to the victim (life’s work stolen by someone more successful), and since he can’t get his own justice, he will get one for JD. Unbeknownst to them, Pierce was watching and listening to their conversation. Tsk, tsk. What is this Pierce?

Back in the precinct, the team watched the video posted by JD days before he died, claiming that he has evidence that can prove that Bobby stole his works. Ella told Lucifer and Chloe that the Bobby Show is authentic and personal, there’s no way anyone could fake it. Lucifer is more convinced that Bobby Lowe did stole it. When Ella learned that Chloe and Lucifer are going to talk to Bobby Lowe, she convinced them to take her with them, to you know, gather evidence. Sure, Ella.

At Lux, Linda called Amenadiel to thank him for saving her life. After telling him that she feels fine, she asked him about his powers returning. He told her that it didn’t come back apart from that day. He also told her that he is being tested and he is ready. Linda asked him what the test is and that she will help him, as a thanks to saving her life. He took her to the penthouse with Lucifer’s severed wings.

Dan approached Pierce in his office, wanting to start right by him, saying he’s a good cop. But Pierce just asked him for the intel he gathered on Lucifer.

Chloe, Lucifer and Ella arrived in the studio and went to Bobby Lowe despite that protest of the PA. Chloe asked Bobby where he was during the night of the murder but instead of answering her, he told them that people accuse others of stealing ideas because those people were failures. Lucifer didn’t like that very much. Since the show is starting taping, the trio were invited to watch it, much to Ella’s glee. Lucifer interrupted the taping, unimpressed and mad that not only was the story stolen, it was turned into joke (get it?). Lucifer rummaged through the hand puppets and put one on his hand (since in the story, Bobby Lowe talks only to his imaginary friends – mascots and puppets). Bobby repeatedly asked Lucifer to put the puppet down but he wouldn’t. Turns out, there was a gun in the puppet and Lucifer accidentally shoots Bobby in the arm.

Bobby admitted that the hidden gun was his but it wasn’t the one used in the murder. Lucifer does his magic on Bobby to know what he really wants. Bobby admitted that he wanted out of his hell (the show) and that he did steal JD’s acts. Sheila, the warm up comedian for his show, walked out with his admission and Ella is devastated. Ahw, Ella. Never meet your heroes, huh? Chloe asked Bobby why he never left if he wanted out of the job. Bobby said he’ll lose all the money if he leaves. And the reason why he had a gun hidden in one of the puppets was because he was getting death threats from someone claiming the jokes he used were about him.

The wings are already in the garbage bags back in the penthouse. Linda wondered how painful it must be to cut-off a part of you over and over. She asked Amenadiel what test he was talking about and he answered that he has to disposed something that he desperately wants. Linda asked him if this was someone’s idea of a cruel joke but Amenadiel is sure that it is their Father’s plan and it wouldn’t be a test if it were easy.

Chloe and Lucifer were going over the death threat emails and discussed how they stopped at the same time with JD’s podcast. Lucifer wondered what joke made the suspect so angry about, was it about the imaginary friends? But Chloe told him that the show before was edgier, since it’s about a guy dealing with his insecurities. With Lucifer pressing on, Chloe finally told him that the guy’s insecurities were about his micropenis.

Lucifer returned to his penthouse, talking to Maze about the Sinnerman. And would you look at that, Pierce paid Lucifer a visit and we’re still in episode two. Boy, Pierce is a no nonsense man and works quickly. Pierce told Lucifer that he figured out who he is. But the purpose of Pierce’s visit was about the Sinnerman. Lucifer mistakenly thought that Pierce thinks he is the Sinnerman but Pierce said he never once thought Lucifer to be the Sinnerman since the Sinnerman is smart and calculating while Lucifer is an idiot. Pierce said he came to warn Lucifer off the case of the Sinnerman. That he is dangerous and not a name that just can be thrown around. He admitted to Lucifer that he faced with him back when he was still in Chicago and he ran away in Los Angeles and that he lost someone close to him because of the Sinnerman. He doesn’t want what happened to him would happen to anyone even Lucifer that’s why he wanted him to be careful. Lucifer’s not having it because the Sinnerman stole from him. He doesn’t care if the Lieutenant would just bury his head about it but Lucifer will face the Sinnerman.

Linda and Amenadiel disposed of the wings (aka burning it). Finally tried of faking it, Amenadiel snapped at Linda that he’s not even sure what the test is or if there even is one. He felt like every little thing Lucifer does is to hurt him. Linda finally illuminated him that maybe that is the test. Lucifer is Amenadiel’s test, always has been.

The next day, Lucifer told Chloe that he talked with Pierce (I love that they never keep secrets from each other except for the very obvious one). Chloe was quick to judge if Lucifer said something (maybe that would embarrass her). Lucifer was about to tell her that Pierce also knew about the Sinnerman but Dan interrupted them and told them that they traced the IP address of the emails at a comedy bar. Chloe stated that maybe one of the comedians or a fan could’ve sent the emails. They want to flush the sender out by having someone on stage to piss him off.

And Dan is doing stand up comedy! Which he really sucked at, even managed to hit himself with the microphone. The audience were not amused until Lucifer called out Dan that his jokes are hurtful (it has been a running gag all throughout the show that every time they go undercover, Lucifer always manages to mess it up, but getting successful results.) Enjoying himself and Dan’s discomfort, he even went to tell the audience that maybe it was Dan who’s the one with the baby carrot (title of the episode – ding ding ding!!!). Lucifer even threw tomatoes at Dan, which the audience cheered at.

The ruse worked though as one man from the audience approached them after, thanking Lucifer for standing up to Dan. He was brought to the precinct to be questioned. He admitted to sending the emails but denied to the murder. He mentioned that JD told him that a warm-up comedian wanted to meet with him about some gig.

Chloe and Lucifer went back to set to get Sheila, the warm-up comedian referred to by mircropenis guy. Lucifer didn’t pass up the chance to scare Chloe with a mask. This angered her and told him to stay while she goes to Sheila. Chloe found a wounded Bobby Lowe instead. He said that he told Sheila he’s quitting. He said the Sheila freaked out and hit him with the butt of her gun. Upon learning this, Chloe shouted to Lucifer that Sheila was armed.

Lucifer found Sheila as she was making her escape. She pointed the gun at him, demanding him to let her go. Lucifer said that he’ll gladly let her go if she’ll answer his questions. Why she tortured and killed JD when he was a fellow comedian. Sheila said that she doesn’t care if the jokes or acts were stolen as long as she’s benefitting from it. Lucifer saw below from where they’re standing that Chloe is unraveling some rope so he let Sheila talk for more. A sandbag fell behind Sheila, distracting her. Lucifer punched her unconscious.

Lucifer arrived at the precinct believing that Dan texted him to come but it was Pierce who sent the text. Dan grudgingly left the two (ahw, Dan, are you jealous?). Pierce told Lucifer that the Sinnerman is indeed in LA and he’s counting on that Lucifer will not heed his warning. Pierce brought back Alonso, the guy who killed Sam. Since he couldn’t get anything from him, he thought Lucifer might. Lucifer asked him if he’s already passing the baton to him and ran off to somewhere else but Pierce said he’s seeing it through. But he wanted Lucifer to shut up about the Sinnerman, even keeping it from Chloe. I loved that Lucifer even wanted to tell Chloe (since he doesn’t lie to her). But Pierce said that Chloe has a daughter. Lucifer acquiesced to this.

Lucifer interrogated Alonso. But Alonso only killed Sam because he was sleeping with his girlfriend. Even with the trick, Alonso doesn’t know about the Sinnerman. Lucifer talked with Linda the next day that Alonso was telling the truth, that he knows nothing about the Sinnerman. But Linda wants to talk about Lucifer’s wings. She told him he can’t keep doing it (cutting his wings off) and that he should just accept that he has wings, for now. He was enlightened as he remembered what Sheila told him that it isn’t about the idea being stolen but it is in the execution. He doesn’t care now about his wings or someone stealing his schtick. He thinks it’s time to be back in the game.

And cut to a long line in Lux, with Lucifer asking people what their desires are.

WHO SAID THE EPISODE TITLE?

The tally so far:

Season One (13 episodes – episode 1 was untitled):

Lucifer – 7 (E02-E04, E07-E09, E13)

Diego (The Latino King) – 1 (E05 – Sweet Kicks)

Linda – 1 (E06 – Favorite Son)

Restaurant Hostess – 1 (E10 - Pops)

Chloe – 1 (St. Lucifer)

Malcolm – 1 (#TeamLucifer)

Season Two (18 episodes):

Lucifer – 15 (E01-E06, E08-E15, E17)

John Decker – 1 (E07 - My Little Monkey)

Dan – 1 (E16 – God Johnson)

Linda – 1 (E18 – The Good, the Bad and the Crispy)

Season Three:

Lucifer – 2 (E01-02)

QUOTES AND REACTIONS:

-          My apologies. And for the record, I don’t usually suffer from premature unfurling.

-          I’m worried about you. What you’re describing is self-mutilation. (That it is Lucifer!)

-          And there’s nothing I can do to help? *Yes. You can let me get back to you.* Oh, if you insist. (I love these two. Lucifer always makes it about himself but when it comes to people who matters, like Linda, he can be giving. Even for a second.)

-          Lucifer, you didn’t invent the idea of giving out favors. *Lucifer just stares* Yep, I forgot who I was talking too. (hahaha Linda. Was it easier when you thought he was talking in metaphors?)

-          Who? The missing link? The proof of human-rodent copulation?

-          Because the Sinnerman is an urban myth. He doesn’t exist. He’s a bogeyman that criminals used to hide their bad behavior. ‘Oh the Sinnerman made me do it’. *Yet another thing he has stolen from me, being blamed for the bad deeds of men. He can keep that one actually.* (Oh, someone’s finally fed for getting bad rap of the misdeeds of human.)

-          There are a lot of comic insults out there and not everybody enjoys being mocked. *Dan pointedly looks at Lucifer* (Dan, Lucifer won’t know if you don’t tell it to his face.)

-          He does stand up. I do Improv. They’re completely different things. Improv is all about ‘Yes  and?’. Stand up, well it’s about telling- *I regret starting this conversation.* (Backfired!)

-          Maybe I should go with you. To…you know…collect the evidence. (Ella, your fangirl is showing.)

-          Thanks for meeting me, Amenadiel. Is there a shorter version than that? Does anyone ever call you Amen? (I have been wondering the same! I’ve been tempted to shorten his name to Amen. Amenadiel is so wordy, especially typing.)

-          Oh, severed angel wings in the closet. Of course, totally handlelable. (I love all of Linda’s reactions when she bites more than she can chew with these divine problems.)

-          Why would I have any intel on Lucifer? *Because when he first started working with Decker you were still married to her. I’m guessing you broke the rules and dug up everything you could on him.* I didn’t… I mean… yeah, I did. (Oh, Dan. But that was Season 01 Dan and you’ve proven yourself in season 02, Daniel.)

-          You know why people accuse others of stealing material? *Because the others are thieves?* Because they’re failures. And instead of facing that, they blame successful people like me. *How dare you?!* (Calm yo wings, Luci.)

-          Hey, mind your own business Doctor Who! (Cool shout out! Joe said that this was a shout out to the rumors that Tom Ellis was in the running for the new Doctor. Tom Ellis as the new Doctor…hhhhmmmmm)

-          This must be so painful. Cutting off a piece of yourself over and over. Lucifer made it seem like no big deal.

-          We all have pain that we hide, Linda. That we’re just not ready to show with the world. (Wise words Amenadiel. Now, I’m 100% sure Linda’s not fine because right after Amenadiel said this, she looked at her bandaged hand.)

-          How do you know it’s a test? *Because I am faced with having to dispose of the one thing that I still desperately want back.*

-          He killed someone. Close to me. Really damn close. (When I first watch this, I really thought that maybe Pierce lost his daughter or son. But the second time watching it, maybe he lost his girlfriend or wife? Because he did admit to Lucifer in episode one that he never had kissed someone for a long time.)

-          I didn’t choose this test. I don’t even know if this really is a test. Maybe I’m just torturing myself here. But if Lucifer wants to treat his wings like trash then trash they shall be even if it pains me in my very soul. *I don’t think Lucifer knows how much this hurts you.* He never does. And even though he doesn’t realize it, every thing he does seems designed to hurt me. *To test you.* Wow, you’re right. It’s been right in front my face all along. My test is Lucifer. It’s always been Lucifer.

-          There’s a term for that? Oh, I should get a term. Devil bunnies. Oh no. Lucifans. (Hey, how about the shout out!!)

-          Lucifer, she’s here! She’s armed! (I really loved the way Chloe – Lauren – shouted this. She realized that she left Lucifer alone and defenseless against an armed woman who has already killed one person. The way she shouted it, it was like she was out of breath, like she was panicking inside and she’s far away to save him. It was a very short second but I felt her fear and helplessness. Bravo, Lauren.)

-          You’re not here to throw a tomato at me, are you? *Come now Daniel, I only did that for the good of the case. Also, I ran out. But more importantly, did you text me to come here? I didn’t recognize the number so I assumed it was you.* You didn’t save my number?

-          It’s easy to let external factors define us. Especially the traumatic ones. But only if we let them. (Linda the wise. So please follow your advise and seek help. Like asap.)

-          Hello. So tell me. What is it that you truly desire? (This line will never die. Also, I think this will backfire on Lucifer. But please no.)

THOUGHTS

Can I just say that I love the colors and lighting in this episode! I don’t know what changed but it was really a colorful episode. Even in the scene where Lucifer was confronting Sheila. Only a portion of his face was lighted and it made him even more menacing!

I kind of like that the next episode was one of the stand alone because I needed a breather from the Sinnerman. I’m scared for Lucifer. He’s clearly playing into the hands of the Sinnerman and that’s going to tick him more. I know there are theories that the Sinnerman is maybe someone taking over hell that’s why he’s stealing Lucifer’s face and all but I also think that maybe is ultimate goal is for Lucifer to finally snap and lose it? It’s pretty far fetched and I know I am wrong but I just needed to air it out. What if the ultimate goal is not really for Lucifer to become an angel again but for him to be the devil that he is. But anyways, I’m scared for him. Especially now that he has a lot of people he cares about.

I like Pierce better in episode two. I like that he’s a clear cut guy. He follows rules and is honest and a straight-forward kind of guy.  I said in the previous recap that maybe he came to LA because of the Sinnerman and Lucifer. He did come to LA because of the Sinnerman, but to ran away. And I love that they didn’t drag Pierce’s agenda for too long. It’s pretty clear that the introduction of Pierce in the show was because of the Sinnerman. He thought he ran away but he ran into the heart of it. But now he’s more than determined to face the Sinnerman. Maybe because he found someone who will fight beside him (though with very different agenda). Maybe the reason he ran away, other than because he is grieving the loss of someone close to him (ugh, who is it???), but because no one believed him. But now in LA, someone does. And he needs all the help that he can get. Though I won’t like him once he starts coming between DeckerStar. I’m all for Pierce teaming up with Lucifer (what will they be called? Lucifierce? Sorry Douchifer) but if you come between my OTP, we have a serious problem, Pierce.

Speaking of Douchifer, Lucifer is no longer calling Dan, Detective Douche. Did you notice? He’s been calling him Daniel. When did that start? I know Lucifer started respecting Dan’s strength when he fought off the temptation of Azrael’s blade but Lucifer’s been teasing him non-stop. When was Dan upgraded to Daniel from being Det. Douche? And we know that Lucifer calling people by their first names is a big deal. And Dan, oh poor baby, still not getting the respect he deserves. But don’t worry Dan, you will have your moment, I can feel it.

Ella is the ultimate fangirl and nerd and I totally feel her when she defended her idol. Fangirls could become blind when it comes to their idols. I know because I am one. That’s why it hurts to see her devastated when she found out that her idol was a fraud and a liar (and also a dick). Ella is the representation of all fangirls out there. Speaking of, how cool was it when they gave a shoutout to the show’s fans? Even giving out a shout out to Doctor Who.

Chloe, oh my girl. I know that you think that Lucifer might be treating life as a joke but maybe listen to him once in a while? Thought I can’t blame her. Lucifer disappointed her more than enough, he doesn’t have a good track record with her. But you can see that she cares a lot. So my shipping heart, don’t break yet. There’s hope for them. And us.

What about that Linda and Amenadiel pairing? In season 1, Amenadiel used Linda to get to Lucifer and she didn’t like that. In season 2, she somewhat became the de facto therapist for all the divine beings, so the friendship broken in season 1 what somewhat repaired in season 2. But in this episode, their friendship even went deeper. Amenadiel trusted Linda with his pain and helped him through it. Linda has been very helpful in this episode and I hope she really gets help in this season because clearly she is hurting. Even in all of Rachael Harris’s interviews, she said that Linda’s hurting and she’ll be seeking help from unlikely character. Did she mean Amenadiel? Will he be helping her like she did him?

Still no Trixie and Maze but the next episode is all about Maze so it’s going to be a-Maze-ing. I know, I can’t help it.  

[reactingtosomething]

Reacting to The Good Place: “Dance Dance Resolution”

Eleanor’s Moral Continuity

The Setup: Find our reaction to the season 2 premiere of The Good Place here.

SPOILERS for episode 203 below!

KRIS: 

Well, that escalated quickly. (Said the guy who’s never seen Anchorman.) In The Good Place’s Chapter 16 — written by noted pun enthusiast Megan Amram (also on Tumblr) and directed by executive producer Drew Goddard (a Lost alum and excellent writer in his own right, who ran the first half of the first season of Daredevil and wrote the screen adaptation of The Martian) — Adam’s prediction about an alliance proves largely correct, Liz’s and my theory that Eleanor was actually retaining her ethical/spiritual growth proves (sadly) incorrect, and Eleanor and Chidi are confirmed as soulmates, even if Michael didn’t know it. PLUS: the returns of lava demon Todd, the Medium Place, and — thank you, universe — Janet’s reset button!

“Is that possible, Janet? Can you just chill out a little?”

“Dance Dance Resolution” goes Groundhog Day (I haven’t seen that, either, but I have seen the terrific Edge of Tomorrow) with an accelerated/abbreviated chronicling of Michael’s hundreds of attempts to engineer a perpetual torture machine that Eleanor won’t far-too-quickly outsmart. He hits rock bottom when the epically stupid Jason solves it first (“Yeah, this one hurts”). Eventually, when all the other demons go on strike and Vicky (f.k.a. Real Eleanor) brings him a list of their demands, Michael finds himself reduced to seeking advice from a man who died because he locked himself in a safe and thought he could still breathe because he brought a snorkel.

Meanwhile, in what might actually be the episode’s B-story (how did the rest of you read it?), Eleanor and Chidi overhear the truth from some of the striking demons on a smoke break, and flee to the Medium Place, where Mindy St. Claire is really tired of Eleanor and Janet showing up on her doorstep with various combinations of the other doomed souls. We get good gags out of Mindy being the only one who remembers any of the 14 previous visits, and hear a few of Eleanor and Co.’s failed plans to outmaneuver Michael. But this episode’s emotional power comes from Mindy’s revelation that Eleanor and Chidi have not only slept together several times, but once even confessed their love to each other. (“It’s like anti-porn.”) Shaken, Eleanor — who has just been really mean to Chidi, even for her — rallies the team for the 700-somethingth time (we see some versions where Michael gives up after just a few seconds) and delivers an ultimatum to Michael… but thanks to that aforementioned advice from Jason, he’s (still) one step ahead of them. He wants to team up. This seems to mean that Tiya Sircar’s Vicky has just become our season villain, which is a pretty glorious reversal of the dynamic she originally had with “Fake Eleanor.”

Surprising no one, I’m now even more invested in learning more about Janet, who is clearly so essential to the operation of afterlife neighborhoods that even through 801 resets Michael could never fully control her. (Does this mean that in “Tahani Al-Jamil,” Janet’s wild personality swings were also to some degree unintentional? I’d love that. They weren’t essential to making Chidi despair over the awfulness of his book and pushing him out of his comfort zone.)

Anyone have hopes, fears, favorite moments (I think I can guess one of Liz’s), or a lead on some coke for poor Mindy St. Claire? As a former fledgling Nietzsche scholar, I’m pretty happy that William Jackson Harper delivers what I’m convinced is only the third or fourth time an American TV show has correctly pronounced “Nietzsche.”

Click through for sports analogies from Adam, a philosophy digression from Kris, and a quality Twitter recommendation from Miri:

MIRI:

Well I’m officially done trying to predict The Good Place. (This is a lie, and I’m not even sorry. Feel free to mock me for how wrong I am in future.) We knew they would twist us again soon, but not this big this quickly. Damn, Schur & co. Just damn.

I have questions about Janet’s level of self-awareness. Or I guess accumulation/memory of previous resets? Her conversation with Michael as he’s about to reset her suggests she knows somewhat what has happened in the past. That may be due to him explaining it to her over the course of that attempt, but I’m not sure. Does Janet have the capacity to retain change even if she loses memories? Clearly Eleanor and co can, but Janet is not human. But is she a being? Does she have the ability to grow? (Sidebar: Perpetually in love with D’Arcy Carden’s performance. That sequence of falls!)

I genuinely love The Good Place’s relationship to absurdity. When you run 800+ scenarios, you’re going to get to some weird places and a two second farm reality joke is exactly what I never knew I needed from a tv show. They have a damn clam chowder fountain, which is insane but they play it as if it isn’t and that is what works so beautifully. Everything they’re doing is bonkers, but if enough people do the same bonkers thing with a straight face, it’s very hard to question it. That’s what worked in the demons’ favor in the first season, and I think what will work in Eleanor, Michael, etc.’s favor this time around. (I told you I was lying about the no predictions thing.)

Jumping back to the chowder fountain for a moment: Manhattan clam chowder would be more demonic to have around than New England clam chowder in general, but a (proper) dairy based chowder is more horrifying to have in a public fountain, so I believe they made the right call on that.

A few smaller thoughts to wrap up:

JUST realized that Mike Schur and Michael the demon have the same name and I don’t know what that says about Schur or about what Shur thinks of himself. It’s a good name in general, though.

I’m quite excited to see more from Vicky. She’s a really volatile mixture of blind enthusiasm and legitimate shrewdness, plus Sircar is just a joy to watch. 

How high is the demon to bad person ratio, y’all? Is it really this skewed or is this a gross misallocation of resources?

Highly recommend this delightful twitter

ADAM: 

A slight disclaimer: I have been a little busy with the move and without internet living like some early 90s sap. I'm currently at my local Starbucks writing this (Spectrum hooks everything up later today). Now back to the show.

It's hard God Damn work being this right all the time! I mean I figured that the team up storyline would happen later, but well played Mike Schur for just getting to the point (more on that in a minute). I watched the episode at a Holiday Inn Express in Kingman, AZ and I'm pretty sure Kris could hear me patting myself on the back from his apartment in Hollywood. It is a good feeling when you just nail a plot development or future storyline. I mean some could liken my figuring out the plot twist to Jason figuring out that everyone is was in the bad place. Okay, enough of the gloating time for more serious talks because I've got great news for everyone, especially Mindy St. Claire, I didn't forget the cocaine!

I will say that even though I called the team up angle, I did not expect it to happen at the end of episode two. The Michael storyline of nothing working and being blackmailed by fake Eleanor (or whatever you want to call her) did have a mid-season or end of the season storyline to it. After letting everything settle in now, however, it makes sense that Schur would pull something like this-this early on. If you look back to the end of season 6, and all of season 7, of Parks and Recreation he takes massive time jumps. Leslie had triplets and we never saw them except for short moments. He essentially did the same thing with “Dance Dance Resolution.” He showed that we can keep doing the same thing over and over again (ala case of the week) seeing how everyone figures it out. In a recent podcast interview he did with Andy Greenwald, he explained how he likes to dig himself a hole and figure a way out. This episode shows that he's crazy like a fox and like "The Good/Bad Place" anything is possible to happen. I like the fact that with this Groundhog Day kind of episode that Schur and Co. are saying that no matter the different variables that the outcome is the same. Ergo, even though these might be bad people they can still learn and grow to be good. Which then leads to the question of: What really makes a bad/good person? Kris, since you are the philosopher I look to you to answer that question. I will say that with the team up now happening that Eleanor and Co. will grow attached to Michael and vice versa (a bit of a stretch).  

Disclaimer: This portion is going to be heavy with sports analogies.

Eleanor, Chidi, and Janet have some very funny moments in this episode showing that they are getting more freedom to handle more of the comedy on their own (I touched on this last episode). The episode, however, truly belonged to Michael. “Dance Dance Resolution” felt like Ted Danson was playing iso ball. We never really truly got to see him shine, except only during last season's finale. This was his moment and he did not disappoint. He was essentially LeBron barreling down the lane where no one is going to stop him. His ability to set others up (his interactions with Janet and then Jason in particular) so they get their moment is great. How he can work in the scene is great and his comedic timing is on point that it just seems so effortless. I am curious to know how much direction is given to Ted Danson or if it's just give him the ball and get the hell out of his way.

I would say to Kris and Liz that you are both correct that Eleanor keeps her ethical and spiritual growth. The reason is that even though yes she does lose her memory every time there is a reset, if you look at every reset she still does the same thing. She seeks out Chidi for spiritual/ethical growth. While she may not remember what happens she always tries to do the responsible or ethical thing. The question may be that instead of wondering what Janet retains with every reset, we might want to start asking what Eleanor and Co. retain with every reset. The characters’ memories are wiped, but how much are they truly retaining? Even when Eleanor and Chidi visit Mindy St. Claire for the 50th or whatever time, she explains to Eleanor that that is the first time Eleanor has told Chidi that she loves him. Even though they have had sex dozens of times before she never said told Chidi that she loved him. That would mean that even though their memories keep being erased their connection continues to grow stronger. This is going to be a storyline that Eleanor and Chidi are going to continue to grapple with throughout the show because with them trying to fool everyone Eleanor and/or Chidi is going to get jealous (or try to make the other jealous) while they are with their "soulmates." I mean let's be real it will be Eleanor trying to make Chidi jealous by hooking up with her "soulmate" and Chidi trying to get back at her, but failing in a miserable yet funny way. I really hope they stay away from a Will They Won't They sexual tension between Chidi and Eleanor.

Finally, I would have to disagree with the notion of Janet knowing and or retaining information. I think that Janet is just an actual computer trying to understand how the world works. I think that with every reboot I would compare it to a hard reset if someone formatted their computer. In the season one finale Michael says they stole a good Janet and reprogrammed her. She may have a backup drive that Michael does not even know about, which then, said backup drive will eventually be used against him by Shawn to retire Michael. I would also like to see Tahani get some more run. She hasn't had as much space to play as the rest of the co-stars. She has mainly just been involved in the B, sometimes C plot or the occasional runner.

KRIS: 

Since now two of you have asked, my leanings as a former-almost-philosopher are Aristotelian, which is to say that A) I’m generally more interested in character traits — virtues and vices — than in hard universal rules or in what you could call the “moral math” of utilitarianism/consequentialism; and B) I tend to think one’s character is shaped by one’s actions (as Chidi has explained to Eleanor), and that therefore one’s moral sense can be — indeed, must be — trained. As my existentialism professor Iain Thomson once phrased this view, “Aretē is a technē. Virtue is a skill.” (The Greek root of the word “technology” is “technē,” which can translate roughly to “skill,” but also to “science,” or even to “art” in the sense that (an) art is a practice. Which is why the website name Ars Technica is a little strange.)

Virtue ethics, then, may be the main ethic of The Good Place as a show. It’s worth nothing, though, that in “Dance Dance Resolution,” Chidi for the first time identifies himself as a specialist not in virtue ethics but in deontology, i.e., ethics based on rules and duties. (This explains his interest in contractualism and Scanlon’s What We Owe to Each Other, and also why he was so excited to have meals with Immanuel Kant.)

Appropriate response to a Kant superfan I’M KIDDING (mostly)

I’m not yet totally sold on Adam’s read of what I’m going to call Eleanor’s moral continuity, but I like it. (I literally applauded alone in my studio apartment when Adam’s prediction came true.) This brings me to my biggest… I don’t know if “concern” is the right word? But like I said last week, I’ll miss watching Eleanor grapple with her past dirtbaggery, which wasn’t just hilarious but often moving, and often a mirror. Think of when Eleanor’s boyfriend wanted to boycott that coffee shop. Dirtbag-Eleanor decided that because perfectly aligning all of one’s actions with one’s principles is impossible, we shouldn’t bother trying. As a specific scenario, this is something we all struggle with. And in general, the theme of “How Do I Be(come) a Good Person?” is creepy-targeted-Facebook-ads-level Pandering to Kris.

Vox’s Caroline Framke observed that this season reminds her of how Community changed a lot in its second season, shifting from a show “about college” to something supremely strange and toweringly ambitious, all for the better. I definitely don’t object to The Good Place undergoing a similar change, as seems to be the case not only in this episode’s structural ambition but in the increased focus on Danson/Michael. But while I do love Danson (who is everything Adam says he is), maybe because this is actually the first thing I’ve seen him in, I’m less invested in TGP as a Danson Delivery Mechanism than I was in its being — by circumstance if not by design — a show about women and people of color trying to find (or make) their place in the universe.

More importantly, the increased Michael focus is also what signals that TGP is no longer primarily about being a good person — though the team-up suggests it may still be about building a good community. And that’s a Schurian theme I love, partly because it’s an antidote to the distinctly American ethos of radical individualism: Americans like to believe in superheroes, in the Great Man theory of history, in “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” as the answer to everything, in the power of a single person to change the world through sheer will. But that’s not how the world works. It takes a village. This is indeed the point of Aristotle’s ethics, and of Aristotle’s Ethics, by which I mean the book Nicomachean Ethics, whose last chapter all but explicitly sets up his Politics, a work about how we organize communities to serve the ends of human happiness. An old classmate thought it was insane that political theory students read the Politics without necessarily reading the Ethics, and something like the reverse is also true: the goals established in the Ethics cannot be achieved without politics.

In The Good Place, Eleanor can’t become better if the world around her doesn’t provide conditions that make striving for goodness feasible. A key idea in philosophical ethics is that “ought implies can.” If a moral framework is going to make sense as a human project, and as something that can be enforced, following it has to actually be possible. In life this is what discouraged Eleanor from even trying to be conscientious about how she spent her money, and in afterlife it’s what Chidi agonizes over when Mindy reveals they’ve all been here before: “We are experiencing karma, but we can't learn from our mistakes, because our memories keep getting erased. It’s an epistemological nightmare!”

(For a much cleaner, sharper take on where this may all be going in a larger thematic sense, read Todd VanDerWerff on how he sees The Good Place as a self-conscious repudiation of Parks and Recreation’s optimism.)

ADAM: 

I think TGP is still about being a good person though. While yes there is a team up there still is the suggestion about what characters, mainly Eleanor, will do to figure out how they are good. Everything Schur has created deals with the optimism within not just people, but a community as a whole. This optimism is then brought forth by a conduit (Leslie Knope in Parks and Rec, Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine) that shows everyone around them that they can either make a difference or can learn to be less selfish. 

Do you think that because Eleanor might retain some sort of "Goodness" that she then tries to make the neighborhood good? Do you think the Eleanor does retain some of the goodness that she has learned from all the resets (hence my theory on her telling Chidi that she loves him for the first time) that she, in fact, will help both Michael and the rest of the neighborhood become good? I don't see TGP as a repudiation to Parks and Rec's optimism, I see it as the optimism shining through the chaos within. Not to belabor the point, but even after all the 800+ resets Eleanor always seeks Chidi out to learn ethics/morality, as she feels guilty that she is not supposed to be in the "Good Place." She never deviates or goes down a different path. Couldn't you say that even in the chaos as a whole Eleanor and Co. still show resolve and that good can still shine through all through the chaos?

KRIS:

I'd like Lemon and/or Miri to take a crack at these questions, and I'll maybe come back to Eleanor when I close this out tomorrow morning, but I'll venture briefly that there's a distinction between the optimism of Parks -- Change for the better is inevitable, we're on the winning side of history -- and the specific, America-in-2017 brand of hope (or maybe that's not even the right word, but something hope-adjacent) that can be read into TGP, in which you try to change things for the better without assuming that you're going to succeed. In the case of Eleanor and Co., it's not like it can get any worse; there's nowhere to go but up, and thus nothing to lose by fighting even an unwinnable battle, but there is a toll on the conscience for giving up.

MIRI:

Point of clarification (because it matters to the questions Adam brought up, not just because I'm a pedantic ass)—I'm pretty sure this was not the time Eleanor said she loved Chidi. Mindy was showing her tape of another time. They overheard the striking demons only a few days into this reset, so they barely know each other this time. Which is why Eleanor was horrified to learn of the love—she doesn't feel that way about Chidi. Yet. And I think that goes to an important point—Eleanor's progress is not a straight line. She's evolved as a person overall, but she's still somewhat who she used to be and has her old memories. The circumstances of each reboot affect how she reacts somewhat. And that's realistic—no path to self improvement is simple or linear. She's going to have backslides and incremental progress. (Also I'd argue that she goes to Janet for help staying under the radar for her own safety and Janet brings her to Chidi. Eleanor doesn't go directly to him out of love or guilt. BUT she does find her way to him and is willing to learn from him over and over and over, which is what matters to me.)

I think that Eleanor's character has improved and that she retains some of that, but that the job is far from done—and that is the most important part. Each time she must choose to do better (not for the best reason to start, but still) and then work at it. Being good in a vacuum is easy and not particularly worthy of commendation. Eleanor is still on her climb out of dirtbaggery, she's just a bit farther along than in the first season.

Also: IT DID NOT OCCUR TO ME until Kris pointed it out that literally none of the non-demon protagonists are white dudes. That's amazing. I have come to expect Fremulon shows to actually look like the world (women, people of color, many things are garbage but not ALL things, etc). But damn, that is worth taking a moment to appreciate.

Also also, I would like to [again] direct you all to the twitter @nocontexttgp because it is a damn delight on my twitter feed and we all deserve that.

KRIS:

I wonder how much we should consider the question of Eleanor's moral continuity in the light of the sitcom "law" that your characters can't really change. Mike Schur and his collaborators (Dan Goor on B99, Greg Daniels on Parks) have pushed this law to its limits, but have they ever really broken it? Jake Peralta has grown up enough to be a worthy partner to Amy Santiago, but he's still definitely recognizably the Peralta of the pilot. Even the increasingly Woke Peralta is seen in season 1, when he punches out guest star Stacy Keach's old school detective for being homophobic. Leslie Knope started out kind of as a hapless Michael Scott clone, but she was never as outright awful a human being, and Poehler's sunniness lent itself to a different direction, so that Leslie became a hypercompetent moral authority, but she also retained her Too Much-ness and her blind love for and faith in her friends.

From the beginning Schur has been clear that The Good Place is intended as a heavily serialized show, so Miri's observation that Eleanor and Chidi seem to flee to the Medium Place relatively early into version 802 gets at a big question I have that this week's inevitable twist will probably prove I'm overthinking BUT STILL: Are we supposed to assume that Eleanor v802 has had roughly the same amount of moral maturation as version 1, that she’s had roughly similar experiences to what we saw last year? It seems like we have to say no, right? And if that's the case, this is on one level a pretty interesting commentary about network sitcoms: in a way it really doesn’t matter what happens to these people week-to-week, as it really didn't matter exactly who Joey was dating or exactly what Monica was yelling about on any given episode of Friends. But more specifically to the serialization of The Good Place, who/what exactly are we rooting for, if not for the Eleanor whose trials we followed last season? This reminds me, weirdly, of one of the big problems of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, in which the lead character was a repeatedly reset blank slate and we spent far too long knowing much more about her world than she did. (Echo actually figured out the truth by the end of the original pilot, but Fox wanted more weekly sexploitation, and forced the show into a procedural rut which eventually saw Eliza Dushku in bondage gear for like 30 seconds, apparently just for the hell of it.)

If Adam is right, then Eleanor's situation is something like "10 steps forward, 9 steps back" in every reset, and maybe last season did "matter" in-universe. But if Adam is wrong, then I guess what we're rooting for has to be in Eleanor's nature rather in her nurture -- maybe her fierce insistence on setting her own course, driven home as a fundamental drive with last season's revelation that Eleanor emancipated herself from her parents as a teenager -- and/or the very notion of moral perfectibility itself. Not perfection, but the potential for it. That is, we're rooting for Eleanor not because she becomes better but because deep down she wants to. I could live with that.

This isn’t relevant to my point, I just really wanted to include it

Lastly: I mentioned last week that I’m a little down on twist-driven storytelling as a concept or approach, but part of the reason it works so well here is that by going to the team-up so early — despite, as Adam said, having the feel of mid-season significance — the show is telling us it’s not “really” about the twist. Whereas something like Westworld builds really slowly and deliberately to a revelation that’s supposed to be earth-shattering, here the twist seems to be a means to a character-driven end, rather than the end in itself.

We’ll try to keep this up all season!

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Kevin Smith's Movies, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes | ScreenRant

Kevin Smith might not be the most revered director in Hollywood, but he has a dedicated cult fan base that loves what he does. He was also responsible for one of the first cinematic universes, dubbed the View Askewniverse.

Smith was tying together movies and their sequels with other movies and their sequels before anyone had even heard of Iron Man. He’s predominantly a director of comedies, but he’s also given us horror films and episodes of superhero shows. Some of Smith’s movies have been acclaimed by critics, while others have been viewed less favorably. So, here are Kevin Smith’s Movies, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes.

12 Cop Out (18%)

This is the first and last time that Kevin Smith has directed a movie that he didn’t write. It’s a buddy cop action comedy (scarce on both action and comedy) starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as a couple of detectives on the trail of a rare baseball card.

RELATED: The 10 Best Characters Kevin Smith Created, Ranked

Smith and Willis famously clashed on the set, which resulted in a movie that felt very disjointed. On top of that, the script wasn’t very inspired. The characters didn’t feel like real people, the plot plodded along, and it didn’t end with a satisfying conclusion. The movie was a disaster from start to finish, on-screen and off.

11 Yoga Hosers (22%)

The second installment in what Kevin Smith is calling his “True North trilogy” (three vaguely connected horror-comedies set in Canada) is even zanier than the first – and the first involved a guy getting turned into a walrus!

Yoga Hosers stars Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith and Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose Depp as a pair of convenience store clerks (both named Colleen) who have to fend off a horde of Nazi sausages. The movie was panned by critics, who felt that Smith’s downfall was self-indulgence and laziness, but let’s face it: a movie about Nazi sausages is never going to be boring.

10 Jersey Girl (42%)

This was Kevin Smith’s attempt to pivot his career towards more audience-friendly material. He’d built up a niche fan base with comedies that were crass, crude, and filled with expletives. Jersey Girl was an attempt at a heartwarming Hollywood romcom.

RELATED: MCWho? 10 Shared Cinematic Universes You Forgot About

It stars Ben Affleck as a widowed single father who reluctantly dips his toe back in the dating pool when he meets an “it” girl played by Liv Tyler. The movie has its heart in the right place, but unfortunately, the most notable thing about Jersey Girl is that it was the first major motion picture to contain a joke about 9/11.

9 Tusk (45%)

One of the only movies to be adapted from a podcast episode, Tusk stars Justin Long as a podcaster who goes out to interview a crazy old man, played by Michael Parks, who wants to turn him into a walrus.

This was based on an episode of Kevin Smith’s podcast SModcast, in which he and co-host Scott Mosier discussed a Gumtree ad where a man had offered a room at his place rent-free to anyone who’d be willing to dress up in a walrus costume. The movie is as weird as it sounds, but unfortunately, that weirdness becomes excessive at a certain point.

8 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (52%)

Jay and Silent Bob are sort of the R2-D2 and C-3PO of the View Askewniverse. They appear in every movie to provide lovable support. But there’s a reason why R2-D2 and C-3PO have never been given their own movie (well, not yet – give Disney some time and they’ll get there).

RELATED: Every Single Kevin Smith/View Askewniverse Movie (In Chronological Order)

They’re better party guests than they are hosts. The same goes for Jay and Silent Bob. They’re fun in small doses, but a little tiresome when they take center stage. Having said that, the upcoming Jay and Silent Bob Reboot does look like it’s going to be a lot of fun.

7 Mallrats (55%)

Kevin Smith’s sophomore effort failed to drum up the same critical acclaim as his directorial debut. Where Clerks was about a bunch of people talking in a convenience store, Mallrats was about a bunch of people talking in a mall. In theory, anyone who liked Clerks should like Mallrats.

It doesn’t have the rawness of Clerks as there’s a lot more wackiness, while the larger studio budget allowed by Clerks’ success actually became its successor’s downfall. However, it has the same zany New Jerseyan characters with New Jerseyan dialogue, as well as a hilarious Stan Lee cameo, so it’s not all bad.

6 Red State (60%)

The first non-comedy directed by Kevin Smith, Red State is a thriller with horror elements about a trio of high school students who are lured into a house with the promise of sex and end up getting captured to be sacrificed by a sadistic religious cult. As a firefight breaks out between the cult and the police, these kids struggle to escape.

It’s an exciting movie with a strong hook and plenty of action. It’s not perfect by any means – its climax is resolved disappointingly quickly and the stakes escalate rapidly at the start and stay at the same place for the rest of the movie – but it is an enjoyable thriller.

5 Clerks II (63%)

The sequel to Kevin Smith’s directorial debut swapped the black-and-white film for color and swapped the convenience store setting for a fast-food restaurant. It begins with the store from the first one burning down and Dante and Randall taking jobs at a fast food place called Mooby’s.

RELATED: 10 Funniest Quotes From Clerks

This time around, even worse things happen to the poor guys, but it leads them to even greater emotional resolutions than the first one, too. Sadly, it looks as though Clerks III has been called off for good and we’ll never get to see the Clerks trilogy concluded, but at least this one left the characters in a good place.

4 Zack and Miri Make a Porno (65%)

Kevin Smith hoped that Zack and Miri Make a Porno would be his first big box office hit because it had a high-concept premise and two members of the Apatow company of actors – Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks – in the lead roles.

Alas, thanks to a reserved marketing campaign and the fact that most theaters couldn’t even name the movie, it performed as well as Smith’s other movies (a middling response; not a bomb, but not a smash hit by any means). It’s a shame because the movie found the perfect balance between mainstream Hollywood comedy and idiosyncratic Kevin Smith romp for the first time in the director’s career.

3 Dogma (67%)

A passion project of sorts for Kevin Smith, who was raised a devout Catholic, Dogma tells the tale of two fallen angels who try to get back into Heaven based on a loophole in God’s rules, but since such a loophole would prove that God is fallible, their success could undo the history of all creation.

RELATED: The 6 Best And 5 Worst Kevin Smith/View Askewniverse Movies (According To IMDb)

The film inspired protests from Christian groups (some of which Smith attended in disguise as a joke). It takes on the subject of religion in a comical, but ultimately respectful way. Everyone in the ensemble cast – from George Carlin to Alan Rickman to Alanis Morrisette as God – is fantastic.

2 Chasing Amy (87%)

The premise of Chasing Amy makes it sound like a crass, juvenile, high-concept romantic comedy. It’s about a comic book artist who falls in love with a girl, only to be devastated when he finds out she’s a lesbian. However, in the hands of Kevin Smith, this is actually a poignant reflection on sexual identity and human relationships.

Holden and Alyssa are a proxy for any pair where one person wants to be with the other, but due to uncontrollable circumstances, they just can’t be. Chasing Amy introduced audiences to some key players in the View Askewniverse, not to mention some cult icons of the ‘90s.

1 Clerks (88%)

The movie that made Kevin Smith’s career remains his best-reviewed work. It’s a comedy set over the course of one really bad day in a convenience store clerk’s life, and the story behind the film’s production is almost as interesting as the film itself.

Smith maxed out ten credit cards to shoot it; he shot it on black-and-white film because it was cheaper than color; he used the convenience store he was working in as a location, and since he was working there all day, he could only shoot at night (hence a running gag about the shutter being stuck all day)

It premiered at Sundance to instant acclaim and made Smith a household name.

NEXT: Peter Jackson's Movies, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes

source https://screenrant.com/kevin-smiths-movies-ranked-rotten-tomatoes/

[gleereviewpodcast]

Marie’s Lists

So I needed to leave the Rachel podcast early, and therefore I didn’t get to give you guys my lists! Therefore, I’m going to post them here for anyone interested. Under the cut. 

What are your 15 (Ranked or Unranked) Worse Songs ?

All of mine are unranked BTW

Smile (the Lily Allen one): I felt like Lea was putting on a weird accent during this one. Maybe it was just the production? Regardless, this was a weird one to me.

Next to Me: We’ve covered it before, but this song was absolutely wrong for Lea’s voice. And Idina’s. It hurts me to say, but true. Should’ve been a Naya/Amber duet. 

A Change Would Do You Good: Ok, first of all, I’m just not a fan of the song. Second, even though I’m not nearly anti-Brody’s voice as Emily, it is pretty clear on this one that he’s not nearly as good as Lea. Not her fault, but still don’t like it.

All That Jazz: Glee can’t do Chicago justice. Watch the movie, people, and you will feel my pain.

A Thousand Miles: Samchel must die. 

Time After Time: STOP RUINING SONGS I LIKE SAMCHEL!

The Way You Look Tonight/You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile: The Way You Look Tonight is a genuinely fantastic standard Frank Sinatra song I adore. If I ever get married, you can bet it’ll be at my wedding. This mash-up RUINED the song for me. I’m not a huge Annie fan, but it ruined this song too. If they had just picked one, I would’ve been good with it. 

Firework: Lea Michele is too good to sing Katy Perry.

Big Girls Don’t Cry: I have never liked this song. I think she sounded better on it than Kurt or Blaine, but this song must die. It’s so annoying.

My Man: Sorry Emily and David. I snooze through it.

Who Are You Now: Why the everloving fuck is Sue singing on this?

Break Free: You guys know, Arianna Grande annoys the crap out of me. And I don’t think this is Lea’s style. 

I’ll Never Fall in Love Again: Yup, the other Samchel song, is also awful.

Barracuda: We all agree on this one. I actually like the original, but whereas they can sometimes give Lea rock songs and I end up loving them (see Creep), this one did not work for me at all. Maybe if they were more creative with the arangement, I could’ve dug it, but this was a miss for me.

I’m the Greatest Star: I just hate this song. 

Which is the worst of them? If we’re talking Lea on it, for me it’s Next to Me. If we’re talking in general, A Thousand Miles. If I could get a Lea only version of it though, that would’ve been ok. I think a lot of my hate is also thinking of the plot around it which makes me want to gag and vomit and die. 

What are your 15 (Ranked or Unranked) Best Songs ?

Don’t Rain On My Parade:  This was Rachel’s hail-Mary moment and if Make You Feel My Love didn’t exist, this would be my favorite Rachel solo. She comes out there with great power in her voice, and makes this song her bitch. I love it. 

O Holy Night: Ok, as much as I hate her winning Winter Showcase with no competition, I have to admit, this is gorgeous. And I hate Christmas music, and the religious songs especially normally do nothing for me. In terms of showing off her vocal power, this song is one of the best for showing it. Claps for this one.

Make You Feel My Love: I sob and cry every time I hear it. It’s another one where she just sounds lovely. 

I Feel Pretty/Unpretty: I basically get a vocal orgasm when I hear them sing on this together. It’s beautiful. I still listen to this one a lot. 

This Time: The only song in Dreams Come True I liked! It’s a little cheesey, but as far as original songs go, it’s one of the few that’s pretty good. And I just think Lea sounded good on it, and as a song, it was a good one to wrap up Rachel. 

Rolling in the Deep: the arrangement and her singing with Jon Groff does things to me. 

Mama Mia: Is this an odd choice? Maybe. But if I don’t dance and sing to it loudly (let’s be real I shout to it) I’ll be damned. 

Poker Face: Because I’m a sucker for different arrangements and Idina Menzel.

Listen to Your Heart: Ok, my embarrassing backstory for this song. When I was a young high schooler, I lacked gaydar. I had a crush on a guy who was so gay. He did come out to me as bisexual, and he had a boyfriend, but I had deluded myself into thinking he’d dump his BF and fall in love with me. I’d cry to this song about how i should tell him my feelings (I did eventually and it was awkward as hell). So I like the song in general for that reason. As far as in the show, it reminds me of the giddiness I felt when she got a relationship that didn’t suck.

Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Love: Gah, more Jon/Leagasming.

The Rose: I actually found this song beautiful. It will show up later in a bad way, but here, it’s in a good way. I think the reason it shows up later in a bad way is because it made me sad because I felt like it would’ve been a good song about her relationship with Finn and it was a shitty audition number.

Defying Gravity: Wicked is magical. 

To Love You More: So I know Emily isn’t a fan. I think it sounds pretty.

Brave: This is mostly because I needed a Pezberry number. Gosh, they sound sexy together. 

Faithfully: Now it’s sad. 

Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart: I just love the original and it’s cute. 

Yesterday: It’s a different arrangement I love. And it makes me sad too. And Yesterday is one of my favorite Beatles’s songs of all time.

What are your 5 (Ranked or Unranked) Worse Performances ?

My Man (Plus every time she’s boring on a stage): This is more of a type of song that she did. . .a lot. She would sing emotionally on a stage, maybe making some faces, but otherwise just walking around and being boring. I obviously don’t expect crazy dancing during this, but just something not boring.

A Thousand Miles: It looked tacky and green screened. It also was my worst nightmare in that it lead to one of the most utterly disgusting moments Glee has ever given me of Sam and Rachel kissing. Ugh.  

The Rose: This is actually a fantastic song, and I recommend you guys looking up the lyrics if you haven’t. This could’ve been an incredibly meaningful song for Rachel. INSTEAD, it was her auditioning for the stupid TV show (ugh) in a goofy way. Ugh.

I’m the Greatest Star: It felt underwhelming after all the build-up to Rachel on Broadway. Also, again, I’m spoiled by Tatiana Maslany. It felt like Lea being over-the-top instead of Rachel playing a character.

It’s All Coming Back to Me: 100% context on this one. Rachel shouldn’t have gotten into NYADA because of this.

What are your 5 (Ranked or Unranked) Best Performances ?

Make you feel my love: Self-explanitory

DROMP: Lea Michele commanded that stage.

Hello 12: The Jon/Lea chemistry was amazing.

Don’t You Want Me Baby: She’s wearing an absurd outfit and drunk and flirting with Blaine. It’s great.

Run Joey Run: This was just hilarious.

Worst 5 Episodes of the series ?

Props: I don’t think I need to go into this one.

Untitled Rachel Berry Project: At this point, we’re meant to be happy she goes to this awful TV show. Nope.

Frenemies: You guys know how I feel about her towards Santana here

Back-Up Plan: My dreams came true! Now I don’t care about it, one month later! Let me abandon everything, right now.

Trio: Just more of the awfulness with her and Santana. And I felt bad for Kurt and Elliot for getting dragged into it all.

Best 5 Episodes of the series ?

Quarterback: Not going to lie, this is all Lea for me. I cry.

Loser Like Me: This was basically Rachel’s redemption for me.

The Break-Up: Her break-up scene with Finn still stands out to me as one of Lea’s better dramatic acting scenes.

Pilot: This was a great set-up, for what should’ve been dealt with more in the show, about her insecurities.

Theatricality: She handles the Shelby stuff very maturely, and I do feel bad for her in this one.

[daleisgreat]

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three

-Welcome to the continuing chronicles of my seasonal recaps of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). Today I am highlighting season three of the BluRay set (trailer), and from what I have gathered from countless interviews it is the breakthrough season with a strong majority of good-to-great episodes and where this Enterprise’s cast was embraced and accepted by Trekkies around the globe. To catch up on entries on my first two seasons, click here! I wish I can crank these out faster than every five months that I have been averaging, but I have settled into a weekly routine where after I finish the last shift of my 60-hour work week I kick back and relax with a cup of rich gas station hot cocoa and a few savory turkey sausage links while watching the next episode of TNG and it is, no lie, one of the favorite parts of my week! -I once again want to get things started with addressing some new cast changes/removals and other new constants that start to become apparent with this season. The most noticeable change is the return of Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) and the removal of Dr. Pulaski (Diana Muldaur). Crusher explains she is back from her assignment at teaching recruits at Starfleet and other than one or two quick references of Pulaski this season, she is not seen at all in season three. Q (John deLancie) returns for his annual hijinx in ‘DeJa Q’ in a fun episode that sees his powers stripped away and begging for acceptance by taking any spot on board the Enterprise. Whoopi Goldberg returns as the all-knowing, mystical bartender ‘Guinan’ in a handful of episodes. Whoopie shines in this role that is perfect for her and I absolutely adore the few times we are treated to her this season and she plays a pivotal role in some of the most iconic episodes of the series this season.

There are now established constants by the third season of TNG that may have appeared once or twice before, but are now more frequent or a new standard all together. The third season debuted the new uniforms for the cast and replaced the one-piece spandex-based costumes the cast detested in interviews over the years with more comfortable looking fleece/sweater-esque two-piece outfits for the rest of the series. They are an obvious improvement and still retain the spirit of the originals, but look more professional and less ‘gymnastic-y’ than the previous uniforms. The poker game makes its return for a handful of episodes this season, and I always enjoy the levity and relaxed beats whenever a friendly round of cards transpires. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is now a regular tea drinker in season three after dabbling with coffee last season. I wrote in all caps in my notes ‘FIRST RED ALERT SOUND EFFECT’ early on in season three, and it remained a constant every few episodes as the Enterprise more semi-regularly started to engage in brief dogfight skirmishes and engagements throughout the season. It was not every episode, maybe seven or eight at most, but it was starting to transition into becoming the new normal I originally associated TNG with from the episodes I caught in my childhood. I paused the episode and took a picture with my phone and included it here that I believe saw our first cliché ‘red-shirt death’ this season. To my surprise, it was the only one I noticed in season three and I am fully expecting to see more gratuitous over-ambitious non-credited red-shirts meet their early demise next season! Finally, I was delighted to see Dr. Crusher return to her being awful at her profession. She once again did not succeed to keep patients alive at the table this season and failed at her attempt at the ‘Pulaski Method’ of trying to erase memories. I did however very much enjoy her bitch-slapping Wesley (Wil Wheaton).

-Speaking of Wesley, he got a step up in duties and rank this season which felt well-earned and I found myself accepting him as one of the regular mainstays in the cast which is coming a long way from how grating he was in the first season. Another first season character I had issues with was Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis). Other than two or three episodes this season where she is the focus of the primary narrative, her role is dialed back mysteriously more than it was in season two with her having only a line or two an episode. It does not help that Troi’s featured episodes are the rare clunker episodes this season that sees the yearly visit from her eccentric mother that winds up with them both being kidnapped and Troi falling for a guest negotiator that yields one of the most bizarre scenes of the series. The only other qualm I had with this season were weaker Holo-deck scenes compared to season two. One crew-member uses it for his own exaggerated fantasies by hitting it off with Crusher and Trois and successfully dueling the guys and the other is more ridiculously exaggerated takes on recreating scenes that lead to William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) being accused of murder. If there is any redemption for those scenes it is because they fall into the ‘so-bad-its good’ variety.

-Last season I referenced how contemporary TNG-homage The Orville is filled with countless parallels and tributes to TNG scenes and episodes. I spotted another one in season three that saw how Picard accidentally violated the Prime Directive and exposed himself to an uncivilized world that was the impetus for that society worshiping Picard as a god. The exact same thing happens earlier this year in a season two episode of The Orville. To repeat myself again from last season’s recap, The Orville took a noticeable leap in quality in its second season and is a terrific modern take on TNG. Do not miss it! -The weak Troi episodes and subpar Holo-deck scenes are my only nitpicks for season three. All around this is easily the best season of TNG thus far. New recurring Enterprise crew member Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) is introduced in a powerful episode that saw Geordi (LeVar Burton) overcoming his original annoyances with Barclay and connecting with him upon learning of Barclay’s Social Anxiety Disorder in a moving scene. In a fun lighthearted episode Picard is forced to go on vacation, and while on a resort stumbles into his own swashbuckling, Indiana Jones-esque adventure.

A couple other favorite episodes of mine this season saw Data kidnapped and turned into a collector’s showpiece. Watching it unfold and how the resolution came to be when Data outsmarted his captor was surprisingly gripping material in what looked like was going to be a yawn of an episode going in. ‘Yesterdays Enterprise has received a ton of critical acclaim as one of the best episodes in the series. It sees the Enterprise get exposed to a time-shift and crosses paths with an alternate universe Enterprise that causes the return of Tasha (Denise Crosby) and an ambitious performance by a young Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald). It is a darker episode as everything is not how it is suppose to be, and seeing the pair of Enterprises restore the proper timelines was an engaging ride the entire journey with a nonstop barrage of touching exchanges and movie-quality dogfights. I agree with the critics on that one with high marks for ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’. I would be remiss if I were not to touch the other most talked episodes in TNG history with season three’s ‘Best of Both Worlds, part one.’ This season-finale sees the devastating return of the Borg and more is revealed of their nature and purpose when they kidnap and assimilate Picard to end this breakthrough season in one of TV’s most monumental cliffhangers. I can see why this episode got all the acclaim it did, especially when watching the bonus interviews afterwards when the writer wrote this episode without an ending in mind because he thought he was not coming back to the series. An obvious way to tell this two-part special of TNG is truly outstanding is because they were the only episodes in the entire run to receive their standalone physical release outside of all the other season sets.

-For newer readers to my TNG recaps, this is my obligatory paragraph giving props to the stunning work done by the HD transfer team for the BluRay to make TNG hold up far better in HD than anyone could have imagined. I also give regular season props here to the awesome hosts, Matt and Andrew of Star Trek: The Next Conversation podcast. Their detailed work at breaking down each episode scene-by-scene is informative and entertaining and helps me get the absolute most out of every episode! -Like last season there is a boatload of extra features (just over four hours worth!) and I will try to highlight a few of my favorites once again. Four episodic commentaries are available on three episodes, two of which for ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ that were fascinating to take in how much the writers and other crew reflect back the importance of that imperative episode. Past DVD bonuses return, along with a few new BluRay extras. A few separate extras detail how important ’Yesterday’s Enterprise’ and ‘Best of Both Worlds, part one’ are to TNG history and how Jonathan Frakes started breaking in directing episodes this season. There is another well-produced gag reel with the highlight being a young Wil Wheaton having quite a sailor’s mouth.

There are two standout extras of the pack. Resistance Is Futile: Assimilating Star Trek TNG is a three part, 90 minute look at the writing process for TNG and how the writer’s scripts were constantly shuffled about and how some were miraculously stumbled upon for some landmark episodes. It is a fascinate look into what it takes for a script to get green-lit into production. Inside the Writer’s Room is a stellar 70 minute discussion moderated by Seth McFarlane as he interviews several TNG writers about how they got brought on board the show and their best and worst memories working on TNG in a highly entertaining watch. Some key takeaways from that panel include dealing with Gene’s TNG utopia, not realizing the success of season three at the time and using a ‘Techno-Babble Generator’ given to them as a joke for future techno-babble dialogue in later episodes. I would not be surprised to see Seth take notes for ideas from this to use a couple years later when he started up The Orville. -If you cannot tell by now, season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation is where the show becomes must-see nearly every episode. They were well on their way in that direction by the end of season two, but season three was when they started gelling nearly the entire season. I would still give the nudge to start watching the show off with season two, but for the time-deprived season three will do you no wrong with a ridiculous amount of classic moments and episodes to consume! For those interested in physical media and not just quick-binging on Netflix I highly recommend the BluRays for a tremendous HD-upgrade in picture quality, and over four hours of bonus content with most of it being must-see in its own way too. -Thank you all once again for joining me in of re-watching all of TNG! See you in a few months with my recap for season four! Past TV/Web Series Blogs 2013-14 TV Season Recap 2014-15 TV Season Recap 2015-16 TV Season Recap 2016-17 TV Season Recap 2017-18 TV Season Recap 2018-19 TV Season Recap Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series Baseball: A Ken Burns series Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2 OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13 Roseanne – Seasons 1-9 Seinfeld Final Season Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Superheroes: Pioneers of Television The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5