#me when i fix atlus’s plot holes

[miitokii]

ok so imagine if joker killed someone and the guilt stained his hands with blood forever

so he understands why akechi wears gloves all the time lol

btw i traced the hands from an anime called Beyond the Boundary (just search anime bloody hands and it’s like the first result), i wanted to focus more on the effect and the expression

also have some drawings of akechi i did with a different fit. imagine if joker had a dream with akechi in it with phantom thief outfit before akechi revealed his persona to the thieves lol

ALSO if you want more context for the joker killing someone idea, and an edit i did with these drawings to please the instagram algorithm, please see under the cut

ok so i was thinking about the PT’s plan against Akechi, and a common gripe i see is how the cognitions don’t die like that in other palaces, they just dissipate into black smoke. BUT ALSO other palace rulers don’t really see people as actual people unlike Sae.

so Kamoshida sees people as nothing more than dolls/slaves he can use how he wants, hence cognitive Ann just dissipates when sliced (a puppet with cut strings is useless). Okumura sees people as robots so cognitive Haru explodes because she’s a robot. Kaneshiro sees people as ATMs so they just malfunction and break down.

i imagine the cognitions in Madarame’s palace are kinda just like… 3D living statues, just there to admire Madarame’s work, so if they were killed they’d probably dissipate or crumble like Kamoshida’s. and obviously there are no cognitions in Futaba’s palace (apart from Wakaba, who has a whole boss) because she’s a shut in.

anyway, the PT would notice that cognitions have different behaviour even in death depending on the palace ruler, so to confirm the plan would work, they would have to kill a cognition to see what happens in Sae’s palace. Makoto is probably sure her sister still sees people as people so it would work, but she also knows it’s vital they check this. in a way it would ease her too, since it would be confirmation.

and of course Joker being the leader he is would volunteer to do the ‘deed’. so he kills an innocent, harmless, cognitive person, watches them beg for their life as he holds a gun to their head and fires. he knows it’s just a cognition so it’s irrational, but the guilt he feels is all the same, especially as he watches the cognition slump to the floor just like a real corpse and bleed out onto the floor. Unlike other cognitions in other palaces it doesn’t dissipate after a while, it stays there, because Sae, how distorted she may be, still sees people as people, in life or death.

ALSO even when cognitive Ren and the guard dissipate after a while, it’s not because they’re cognitions, it’s because Sae has by then found out the whole thing was a ploy. she now knows both Ren and the guard are very much alive - so then of course the corpses would disappear

leave out the Joker kills a cognition bit (let’s say they were confident enough in their reasoning) and it could basically be canon

lol anyway yeah i wrote that in a fic and wanted to draw it in a sort of quick sketch lol

anyway here’s the edit lol

[twilightknight17]

Today on Royal: Pain! :’D

He’s eating the map and I’m getting steadily more weirded out by all of this the longer it goes on.

I’m definitely worried now. Where the fuck is the Velvet Room. How is he powerful enough to override the Velvet Room?

So he wants me to see “his reality”. Which means going out and seeing how happy all of Akira’s friends are. And they are happy! ...but not happy enough that a few well-placed dialogue choices can’t start poking holes in the story they’ve been fed. Maruki’s not perfect at this. And honestly, he’s taken Akira’s friends, not given him anything. We went from everyone wanting to spend time with Akira to everyone having other things to do. Ryuji doesn’t even know why they’re friends. Thinking about how they met is what starts to crack his illusion.

While I was looking for my friends, I ran across this couch outside the furniture store in Kichijoji.

Examining it yields only this:

So now I gotta go back to Kichijoji after it frees me from the plot so I can see what’s up with this conspicuously Velvet blue couch.

(I will say, if I have one complaint about this part, is that it’s six days of the same thing. Wake up, locate Friend, see how they’re doing, return home, spend evening in bed contemplating whether this is a good thing because Friend is happy. You can’t do anything else, see how any of your other confidants are doing... What does Iwai’s ideal world look like? Takemi’s? Hifumi’s?)

I think out of everyone I feel the most bad for Morgana.

I mean, he spends half the game as it is worrying that he’s some sort of monster instead of a human. And now that he’s human and I’ve gone and jabbed a hole in his dream, he’s spending a week growing more and more afraid as he realizes that something isn’t right about himself. That’s just straight-up existential terror.

Goro didn’t really find a lot during his week of investigating. Mostly just that Maruki’s been doing cognitive psience stuff since college, and that Okumura and Wakaba are...actually alive.

Does that mean if we end the dream, we’re murdering them?

Not taking the Misericorde with me feels like a betrayal of my role as heir to the title of Trickster, but I can’t really turn down an extra thirty points of attack. X’‘‘D Especially since Goro and I are going into the Palace alone.

Other than the weird security cameras, this place really is beautiful. And apparently the music that I like so much is called “Gentle Madman”. Stop hitting all these fucking tropes I like, Maruki. It’s not fair.

Oh heck, wait, are we doing this now? This is an actual question? I assumed that was for the endgame. Well, if I’m here... The safe room was right downstairs...

Let me be selfish. Just for one moment. Please.

Please.

.....no, wait, this hurts.

This hurts a lot.

Because they deserve this. They all deserve this happiness. I’ve never heard Goro sound that genuinely happy as he did in this ending. But the only way to give them this is to leave them trapped under the will of a dictator. And they deserve better than that.

From the Den:

They’re looking at you. Judging you for the sin of the choice you made.

I find it interesting that while Akira and Goro are clearly looking at you with full knowledge of what you did, the game itself doesn’t seem particularly judgemental. I got the “view the ending” trophy and the option to save clear data, which to me implies that it’s...obviously the wrong choice, but a valid choice regardless. I never got the “Good” Ending in vanilla P5, so I don’t know if that offered the same level of legitimacy. This was treated as a real ending.

[reloading save data]

Of course we can’t accept this reality, why would he even think we would do that? X’‘D

Sumire is throwing a fit because she still wants to be Kasumi, and is getting ready to fight us. Shit. Still, she’s inexperienced, and both of us are strong enough to han--

Goro: I could deal with this, but I’m assuming you want her to leave here alive, right?

It’s sweet of you to take what I want into consideration, but yeah, I’d really rather not kill her, so just tone it dow-- Aaaaand he’s walking away and leaving me to fight her alone. Thanks, honey.

Shoutout to using the same strategy as the battle arena and just equipping something that repels physical. She took her own swords dance to the face and got knocked out.

......what the fuck are you doing? This just looks like torture.

I know for a fact that that’s not Nyarlathotep because I’m pretty sure I’d have had people beating down my door to point it out already. Because crucifixion pose by itself? Common imagery. Tentacles? ...coincidence, probably. But if this had been Nyar puppeteering Maruki or something? I’m one step away from being Super Duper Valid. I already feel pretty valid anyway.

HELLO, Persona 3! Nice(?) to see an out of control persona again. I wonder how close her persona was to reverting to a shadow? Sumire feels like more of a “dungeon” sort of person. Since she’s suppressing something.

But...what was Maruki’s goal here? Beating us into submission? He’s just letting Sumire’s emotional torment go out of control; hell, he’s literally feeding into it with the Biyarkis. He’s using her to fight us, and that’s...disgusting, honestly. You want everyone to be happy, but you’re going to let her throw herself at us over and over? Really?

Why do I feel like all of this “I want you to understand, we can talk, you’ll see things my way”, all of this asking for consent, is bullshit? Does he really want us to see things his way? Or can he actually not alter our reality without consent?

Thank god for the cavalry because this battle was clearly impossible from the first round. I love that the other Thieves have no idea what the fuck is going on, but their leader is in danger so they’re gonna Fight.

I think there’s not. We don’t want to talk. Fuck off. And also stop swiping tropes I like. You’re not Rubicante; you’re not earning my respect by refusing to fight me when I’m tired.

Goro, I know you’re Done with everything, but that’s really not helping.

The Phantom Thieves are momentarily baffled, because it’s clear that we have to change Maruki’s heart, but they’re getting thrown off by the fact that he’s not “evil”. Yeah, he’s not. He has good intentions. But he’s doing bad things to accomplish those intentions. Doing bad things for good reasons is still bad.

...if he wasn’t like this... maybe it would be okay. If he could make everyone happy, erase their trauma, make the world better...without rewriting memories or being a brainwashing dictator... That might not be wrong. But he’s made it pretty clear that he’s on a power trip and doesn’t want dissent, which is no better than Yaldabaoth.

What we did to Futaba and what he’s doing are vastly different things.

...Morgana calls her “Lady Lavenza” and that’s really cute, actually. I’m realizing I portray Lavenza as more of a child than the game does, but I like both.

Oh so now we can press Morgana for what’s wrong. Learned from your prior mistakes, huh, ‘Kira? XD

.....I love her.

It’s extremely weird to have the whole squad interacting with the Velvet attendant and addressing her by name. That’s so strange in comparison to how it usually is. But these are strange times, and once again, it’s unnerving how much power Maruki has.

He’s strong enough that he’s suppressing the Velvet Room. That’s horrifying. I wonder if he knows they exist; I could see him considering them a threat to his ideal world. Normally I’d be sure that Igor and Lavenza could kick his ass if he tried anything, but... I genuinely don’t know anymore. Igor is still recovering from being imprisoned, and Lavenza is barely able to manifest to talk to us.

Meanwhile, Maruki is using a persona.

Normally I’d be fussed about him summoning in reality, but apparently reality is still half-fused with Mementos, which in the greater scope of Persona lore feels like something similar to what was happening in P1 and P2. The collective unconscious is very close to the surface. I’d be curious whether or not the kids could summon outside of the Palace with a bit of practice, but I’m sure the game won’t go into that.

...although, that doesn’t explain him being able to use his powers in reality before the beginning of the year. Mementos only started fusing with reality in December.

I’m looking directly at you, Atlus. You made a human villain stronger than what I imagined for the strongest persona-user?

......oh, Mona, I’ve got like 3 different notes documents for you to read about why that can be allowed. X’D

*cracks knuckles*  Not to take Goro’s side, but...we already killed one god, didn’t we?

But...this is our fault, and we have to fix it. I don’t completely understand how Maruki granting the Thieves’ wishes transferred the belief of the masses to him, but... This can’t go on. If Mementos completely fuses, this becomes permanent, and there will be no way out. Time to go.

I really do appreciate that Goro was invited as one of the Phantom Thieves. And Ryuji asked for his input on whether we’re going after Maruki.

...you all said it. He’s one of you now. No take-backs.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Looking back on the anime am I the only one who doesn't find Ann and Makoto's friendship compelling (also add Makoto/Haru)? The anime tries to develop their friendship but the problem is that its almost exclusively through meaningless montages full of still frames that don't go into any detail of what happened. When P3/P4 in comparison showed in in detail what he characters where talking about and feeling. Though Makoto's relationships with people as a whole always felt shallow and empty to me.

Undercut cause it’s long

Haven’t seen past Kamo’s arc with the anime (I thought they messed it up and since that was the only arc I really liked…..yeah ;w;), but……I don’t think I can buy a MakoAnne friendship (let alone a ship) even if the anime attempted to improve on it (def couldn’t buy it in the game, didn’t help I was kinda looking forward to maybe some headbutting). I dunno but I found Anne/MC/Ryu had a more compelling friendship in the game, even if they didn’t agree with each other. In all honesty, Anne/MC/Ryu (and Mona) and Haru/Mona are the only friendships I can really buy in P5 at all. (actually I think I can also buy MC/Haru friendship if tweaked a little, but not a MC/Futaba one….then again….I have issues with…her CoOp….and then the MC being totally cool with the fact she bugged the place….and I don’t think the bug ever got removed….wait doesn’t that create a plot hole for cheating tho? anyway I’m getting off topic I know focus on Makoto, but I figured I’d thrown out I have issues with other friendships too). There’s also the whole 3rd arc and…..I dunno I think it was a miracle they even apologized, I wouldn’t have been able to befriend Makoto tho. (more issues involving that, but I want to check if it legally could’ve been done, if so then ooooooo boy I have a lot more issues with Makoto and it’s amazing Anne didn’t kill her)

Haru/Makoto? Haru already suffers from not getting a lot of time to bond with anyone. Again only going off the game, I felt like Makoto had more scenes with Anne (which weren’t a lot) than with Haru…..Hell she didn’t even know Haru…..Anne is the one who found her (tbh considering how similar Anne and Haru are, I’m more surprised they don’t bond more, they are def the more “atmosphere readers” and empathetic people of the group, esp with how they both notice changes in Mona. Ngl I hunger more for a Haru/Anne friendship, either as two nice girls like P5 has or as a fix-it fic where Haru is the opposite and a pragmatic asshole who learns to become more empathetic and butts heads with Anne but both end up caring for each other). And yeah Haru/Mona have the biggest bond for her, mostly cause it’s like a student/teacher one (which was confirmed/backed up with their trophy in P5D). 

Futaba/Mako (since we’re on the topic of, shallow, friendships with Makoto) friendship feels odd as all hell imo, esp since Anne was technically the one who appeals to her emotionally (and can even relate to her seeing a love one attempt suicide in front of her eyes), but for some reason the game attempts to put Makoto in Futaba’s “big sis” role when…..she didn’t really do anything. Like if Mako had to work for that relationship, I’d get it, but no….Mako isn’t really the reason Futaba was helped and then suddenly they feel more big sis/lil sis? 

P3/4 I had an easier time buying into friendships (esp P4, kinda obvie why, they all see the worse and have the utmost trust in each other cause they had each other’s back at literally their worst/lowest time)….well….I did have a slight issue with some MaleMC/SEES guy friendships (outside the anime/manga, aka at least the developed a MC/Shinji and MC/Ken bond sorta in the movie) and a whole team bond, FeMC (and the manga/anime as well) help because they are more focused on helping develop relationships with everyone (FeMC thanks to SLs, manga/anime thanks to cutting other SLs to make room for a team only bond XD)

Tbh I think P5 did the worse with bonding….but I mean, considering they are CoOps and not SLs (and tbh a lot don’t start off…..like a real bond, and I can’t even buy a genuine bond outside the teammates/main cast tbh). And the fact the freaking final powerup isn’t even from bonds (tho they try to act like it is with showing off your CoOps don’t give me that BS Atlus), it’s cause of a cognition power up completely unrelated to bonds. Hell you don’t even get a persona tied to maxing  EVERY CoOp or story wise involved being summoned cause of bonds, INO for P4 and Orpheus Telos for P3. INO is cause of the MC’s bonds for the story, OT is only after you get every single SL. Satanael? Nope, just got a bunch o’ randos cheering for you and thanks to the world’s BS rules it gives him a temporary powerup.

I got off topic sorry about that. ;w;

[callie-the-snarky-geek-blog]

RvB16 Episode 14 Review: Lights Out

(Old Post Review)

Well guys, two episodes to go. To say that last week was heavy would be putting it lightly. So then with all that’s happened so far… what next? Well… it’s no kinder than it was last week, I can tell you that!

Overview

We start with Tucker on the same balcony that Atlas was in Episode 11, clearly thinking to himself. Sister comes in to check on him, commenting on how he left the door open and Tucker commenting on how thoughtless he is. He then proceeds to apologize to Sister for calling her frigid. Sister accepts this, even explaining about how when a teenager she was chubby… and still is but she was insecure about it back then, especially with everyone around her banging around. She feels better about herself now (which chubby Kai is canon baby!) but the word brought her back to that place. Also she mentions that she went to Wailuku High, which Wailuku is in Hawaii so we now have canon conformation in-show that Grif and Sister are from Hawaii! Whoo!

Tucker proceeds to apologize for how he acted in general, knowing that he acted on his feelings in the wrong way. Sister forgive shim, even apologizing for how she snapped (but not about what she said, which is good) but makes it clear that any feelings that she had for Tucler are snuffed. Tucker just accepts that as another hting that he fucked up. He fucked over Sister, he fucked over England, and worst he fucked over Wash. He describes how it felt when he watched Wash get shot and how he blames himself for it and now the resulting consequences. Sister points out that it wans’t his job to babysit Wash, but does remind him that he’s got two option. He can either do nothing and keep the pity party going, or he can try to save Wash by… going back in time… no… no no nooooo.

Yeah, Tucker takes the latter option. To be fair, he does have some reasoning behind it. Donut took the Hammer, so they can’t reinforce the prison and Chrovos is likely gonna be freed anyways. So sine they can’t stop it and have the guns still why not use them and take the risk for Wash Carolina agrees, even pointing out that both no consequences have presented themselves and since Loco was able to make a time machine, someone else probably can and it’ll happen all over anyways. Wash got hurt. They have a way to prevent it and save him. So why not take the risk?

Everyone agrees, but Grif is silent. He earlier commented on having deja vu about the current conversation, but whether he means that it feels like they just talked about time travel or something else iDK. But ultimately he agrees as Wash would d the same for them. Unfortunately, Huggins heard hima nd she’s angry that they’re going to allow the universe to topple over. Grif apologizes and legitimately feels bad, but he says that it’s for their friend. He even accepts that Huggins has no choice but to tell Atlus and that he’s going to be pissed. Huggins leaves and the Reds and Blues go as well, Grif just staring at the spot one more time before saying bye. BTW, Geoff’s delivery here is the most serious I think he’s ever been with Grif… aND IT MADE ME CRY! THANKS A LOT GEOFF YOU ASSHOLE!

Before Huggins can get to Atlus, she’s stopped by Genkins, who gets after her for speeding in the halls. She explains what happened, but Genkins tells her to not inform Atlus. Why? IDK, but as Huggins is confused, the bastard pulls out what I guess is a black hole generator. He fires it at Huggins and sucks her into it. Well… Atlus DID mention in Episode 5 about the possibility of a traitor. Guess that we can confirm that Genkins told the truth and it was indeed him. He goes back to the other Gods, whoa re making final preparations for armor and such for the Reds and Blues for when they agree to the task.

Unfortunately, Muggins comes in and confirms that not only are the Reds and Blues gone, but Huggins is seemingly dead as he can no longer sense her. Atlus is NOT happy as Kalirama tells Muggins that she’s sorry for his loss. Muggins proceeds to give a monologue about how often, we realize how much we care about our friends when it’s already too late and how often, they’re the ones we hurt the most. It’s a very well written and well delivered piece, I liked it. As Muggins talks, we see that Wash seemingly went back to Chorus (I think) and is simply walking the streets alone. The others appear to be back on Iris, preparing to go back to the gunfight in S15 Episode 17 to prevent Wash from getting shot.

Atlus has claimed down, saying that all that can really be done is hope that by some miracle, the Reds and Blues succeed. But at that moment, the Fates mentioned in Epsiode 5 appear. They don’t have good news. Also I love the way that the Fates are presented. Destiny, the leader, speaks in cryptic riddles in an almost emotionless tone as the other two sing/echo her. It is eerie as Hell and I LOVE it. To put it simply, the have seen the future and it looks like the end. If the Reds and Blues succeed, then the universe is as good as dead.

Review

I knew ever since this seasons tarted that by the time we got near the end, it was going to go from silly time traveling hijinks to something far mroe serious. It’s kind of a pattern since Season 7 acted the same way for the second half of Recollection, and Season 11 started that way for The Chorus Trilogy. I can safely say that it looks like that is indeed the direction that Joe is heading for, and it hurts. Don’t get me wrong, this was a very well done episode. The intense atmosphere was spot on, especially with the ending and it looks like we are heading into one Hell of a finale. It’s also a complicated dilemma, either risk a Time God being free or use what you have to save your friend. Clearly the wrong decision was made, but you can understand why. Still, man it… it hurt. A lot.

Lets talk Tucker and Sister. I really liked their scene. It’s the first time we’ve seen them actually been civil since Episode 4. I’m glad that Tucker admitted that how he acted was wrong and calling Sister frigid was wrong. I know a lot feel that he regressed, but I think that he simply got carried away with everything and lost sight of what was important until Sister’s verbal beatdown and when the news about Wash hit. Regardless of how you feel about it, it is good that he admitted that he was wrong and I’m glad that Sister ultimately forgave him. I also like that she still isn’t interested in him because she has every right to and that she didn’t apologize for what she said. She apologized for getting heated, but not about her argument, which is good because she was absolutely justified. Still, it’s good to see them talk like actual adults and even get some backstory drop about Sister’s time in high school. This is very much a character driven season, not a plot driven one, and I really like that.

I also really feel for Tucker. We all know that what happened to Wash was not his fault. Tucker was even trying to get him away from the crossfire, but it just happened. Tucker feels like a screw up and like no matter how hard he tries to be better or not act that way, he ultimately does act like a jerk and something bad happens due to it. He can recognize his fault and accept it, but it feels like he doesn’t know how to change it and due to it, just repeats the same mistakes. Which is how it is for a lot of people, many of us know our fault and we try to fix them, but it takes time and we do repeat the same mistakes. Now I don’t think that them going back to save Wash is going to end well. At all. Honestly, I worry that all they’re gonna do is cause it to being with. I also don’t think that present Wash is going to be happy about it, but we’ll just have to see.

Then lets talk about Grif because OMG IT HURTS. First, there’s his comments about deja vu. I really don’t know if it’s anything to worry about, but I saw someone’s theory about Grif being stuck in a timeloop. I think that wouldn’t make sense unless his memory got wiped before all of this and now it’s coming back, which raises the question on how he got in a loop to begin with. It would be interesting and at this point, I could see Joe do it. But… IDK, it seems too complicated right now. But we’ll see what happens cause I do think that Grif is more or less the main protagonist of this arc, so chances are whatever happens, he’s gonna be the one tasked with fixing it. I could be wrong though.

Everything with him and Huggins though, OMG. I’ve made it no secret that Grif and Huggins’ friendship is probably my favorite thing to come out of this season. It was cute, it made sense, and it was nice to see Grif have someone to confide in. It legitimately seemed to help him improve himself as up to now, he was much happier, was taking things seriously, and actually focusing on the problem. Huggins has a very positive influence on him, and you can tell just form his tone that he feels horrible for turning his back on her. Seriously, Geoff’s delivery was absolutely flawless. I don’t think I’ve heard him be that solemn when performing Grif, not even last season. but you can feel how bad Grif feels, but he also wants to help his other friends, including Wash. Again, it is such an emotional dilemma. We know that going back i time isn’t going to end well, but what other choices do they have? They’re screwed anyways and Wash doesn’t deserve this. They can risk it just to help their friend, right?

But yeah, that entire moment hurt. Like Grif’s little ‘bye’ legit made me tear up. I feel horrible for Huggins too because from her point of view, Grif just lied to her the whole time and nothing that she said, as well as the friendship that they formed, ultimately meant nothing. We know that isn’t true, but I can’t blame Huggins at all for being upset. Also… there is no way that she is dead. For one, now she knows that Genkins is the traitor and likely this is just setup for her to call him out eventually. But whenever a ‘death’ is made so sudden like that and it isn’t a villain/someone random, is is almost always a fake-out. IDK what exactly happened to her, maybe she’s on the other end of the universe or something, but I expect her to come back and for her and Grif to hopefully make-up eventually. I hope so at least…

So this was our penultimate episode, and has setup the finale well. The Reds and Blues are going to attempt to go back to the gunfight in S15 and try to save Wash. I think they’re either going to fail or even worst, cause it since we never saw who hit Wash and therefore Joe can easily make one of the guy misfire and hit him themselves. I’d say maybe it’s gonna be Tucker and the reveal that he shot Flowers was foreshadowing, but IDK. I do wonder what present Wash is going to do or what the Cosmic Powers are gonna do since Destiny made it pretty clear that this si going to end badly.

What I am speculating about hat’s going to happen happen is that, however it happens, Wash still gets shot. But the Reds and Blues going back and trying to interfere removes the final brick to the jenga tower so to speak. The reason no one’s seen any consequences is because all that’s happened is time has been pulled apart brick by brick. The tower is unstable, but it hasn’t toppled over yet, so the universe is still okay. This is going to remove the crucial brick that kept everything standing, allowing Chrovos to break free and sparking the end of the universe and creating a paradox. Then next season, the Reds and Blues (or what’s left of them) have a buffer period and they are going to have to fix it while dealing with Chrovos and potentially some angry Cosmic Powers. Either way, I think it’s safe to say that this season is going to end with a bang.

Final Thoughts

This episode did everything that I was hoping for. Tucker admitted that he was wrong and he and Sister have an actual civil chat about everything. The decision to go back in time again isn’t a good one, but is understandable form the guys POV. It was feelsy as Hell and provides a perfect setup for the finale. Speaking of, well guys… one episode to go. Joe said that this one was going to be ‘the double stuffed Oreo’s’ a couple of weeks ago, so it’s gonna be something big. IDK if I’m ready, but… well I’ve made it this far. I’m gonna see how this all ends, and I couldn’t be more terrified if I tried.

[calliecat93]

RvB16 Episode 14 Review: Lights Out

Well guys, two episodes to go. To say that last week was heavy would be putting it lightly. So then with all that’s happened so far... what next? Well... it’s no kinder than it was last week, I can tell you that!

Overview

We start with Tucker on the same balcony that Atlas was in Episode 11, clearly thinking to himself. Sister comes in to check on him, commenting on how he left the door open and Tucker commenting on how thoughtless he is. He then proceeds to apologize to Sister for calling her frigid. Sister accepts this, even explaining about how when a teenager she was chubby... and still is but she was insecure about it back then, especially with everyone around her banging around. SHe feels better about herself now (which chubby Kai is canon baby!) but the word brought her back to that place. Also she mentions that she went to Wailuku High, which Wailuku is in Hawaii so we now have canon conformation in-show that Grif and Sister are from Hawaii! Whoo!

Tucker proceeds to apologize for how he acted in general, knowing that he acted on his feelings in the wrong way. Sister forgive shim, even apologizing for how she snapped (but not about what she said, which is good) but makes it clear that any feelings that she had for Tucler are snuffed. Tucker just accepts that as another hting that he fucked up. He fucked over Sister, he fucked over England, and worst he fucked over Wash. He describes how it felt when he watched Wash get shot and how he blames himself for it and now the resulting consequences. Sister points out that it wans’t his job to babysit Wash, but does remind him that he’s got two option. He can either do nothing and keep the pity party going, or he can try to save Wash by... going back in time... no... no no nooooo.

Yeah, Tucker takes the latter option. To be fair, he does have some reasoning behind it. Donut took the Hammer, so they can’t reinforce the prison and Chrovos is likely gonna be freed anyways. So sine they can’t stop it and have the guns still why not use them and take the risk for Wash Carolina agrees, even pointing out that both no consequences have presented themselves and since Loco was able to make a time machine, someone else probably can and it’ll happen all over anyways. Wash got hurt. They have a way to prevent it and save him. So why not take the risk?

Everyone agrees, but Grif is silent. He earlier commented on having deja vu about the current conversation, but whether he means that it feels like they just talked about time travel or something else iDK. But ultimately he agrees as Wash would d the same for them. Unfortunately, Huggins heard hima nd she’s angry that they’re going to allow the universe to topple over. Grif apologizes and legitimately feels bad, but he says that it’s for their friend. He even accepts that Huggins has no choice but to tell Atlus and that he’s going to be pissed. Huggins leaves and the Reds and Blues go as well, Grif just staring at the spot one more time before saying bye. BTW, Geoff’s delivery here is the most serious I think he’s ever been with Grif... aND IT MADE ME CRY! THANKS A LOT GEOFF YOU ASSHOLE!

Before Huggins can get to Atlus, she’s stopped by Genkins, who gets after her for speeding in the halls. She explains what happened, but Genkins tells her to not inform Atlus. Why? IDK, but as Huggins is confused, the bastard pulls out what I guess is a black hole generator. He fires it at Huggins and sucks her into it. Well... Atlus DID mention in Episode 5 about the possibility of a traitor. Guess that we can confirm that Genkins told the truth and it was indeed him. He goes back to the other Gods, whoa re making final preparations for armor and such for the Reds and Blues for when they agree to the task.

Unfortunately, Muggins comes in and confirms that not only are the Reds and Blues gone, but Huggins is seemingly dead as he can no longer sense her. Atlus is NOT happy as Kalirama tells Muggins that she’s sorry for his loss. Muggins proceeds to give a monologue about how often, we realize how much we care about our friends when it’s already too late and how often, they’re the ones we hurt the most. It’s a very well written and well delivered piece, I liked it. As Muggins talks, we see that Wash seemingly went back to Chorus (I think) and is simply walking the streets alone. The others appear to be back on Iris, preparing to go back to the gunfight in S15 Episode 17 to prevent Wash from getting shot. 

Atlus has claimed down, saying that all that can really be done is hope that by some miracle, the Reds and Blues succeed. But at that moment, the Fates mentioned in Epsiode 5 appear. They don’t have good news. Also I love the way that the Fates are presented. Destiny, the leader, speaks in cryptic riddles in an almost emotionless tone as the other two sing/echo her. It is eerie as Hell and I LOVE it. To put it simply, the have seen the future and it looks like the end. If the Reds and Blues succeed, then the universe is as good as dead.

Review

I knew ever since this seasons tarted that by the time we got near the end, it was going to go from silly time traveling hijinks to something far mroe serious. It’s kind of a pattern since Season 7 acted the same way for the second half of Recollection, and Season 11 started that way for The Chorus Trilogy. I can safely say that it looks like that is indeed the direction that Joe is heading for, and it hurts. Don't get me wrong, this was a very well done episode. The intense atmosphere was spot on, especially with the ending and it looks like we are heading into one Hell of a finale. It’s also a complicated dilemma, either risk a Time God being free or use what you have to save your friend. Clearly the wrong decision was made, but you can understand why. Still, man it... it hurt. A lot.

Lets talk Tucker and Sister. I really liked their scene. It’s the first time we’ve seen them actually been civil since Episode 4. I’m glad that Tucker admitted that how he acted was wrong and calling Sister frigid was wrong. I know a lot feel that he regressed, but I think that he simply got carried away with everything and lost sight of what was important until Sister’s verbal beatdown and when the news about Wash hit. Regardless of how you feel about it, it is good that he admitted that he was wrong and I’m glad that Sister ultimately forgave him. I also like that she still isn’t interested in him because she has every right to and that she didn’t apologize for what she said. She apologized for getting heated, but not about her argument, which is good because she was absolutely justified. Still, it’s good to see them talk like actual adults and even get some backstory drop about Sister’s time in high school. This is very much a character driven season, not a plot driven one, and I really like that.

I also really feel for Tucker. We all know that what happened to Wash was not his fault. Tucker was even trying to get him away from the crossfire, but it just happened. Tucker feels like a screw up and like no matter how hard he tries to be better or not act that way, he ultimately does act like a jerk and something bad happens due to it. He can recognize his fault and accept it, but it feels like he doesn’t know how to change it and due to it, just repeats the same mistakes. Which is how it is for a lot of people, many of us know our fault and we try to fix them, but it takes time and we do repeat the same mistakes. Now I don’t think that them going back to save Wash is going to end well. At all. Honestly, I worry that all they’re gonna do is cause it to being with. I also don’t think that present Wash is going to be happy about it, but we’ll just have to see.

Then lets talk about Grif because OMG IT HURTS. First, there’s his comments about deja vu. I really don’t know if it’s anything to worry about, but I saw someone’s theory about Grif being stuck in a timeloop. I think that wouldn’t make sense unless his memory got wiped before all of this and now it’s coming back, which raises the question on how he got in a loop to begin with. It would be interesting and at this point, I could see Joe do it. But... IDK, it seems too complicated right now. But we’ll see what happens cause I do think that Grif is more or less the main protagonist of this arc, so chances are whatever happens, he’s gonna be the one tasked with fixing it. I could be wrong though.

Everything with him and Huggins though, OMG. I’ve mad eit no secret that Grif and Huggins’ friendship is probably my favorite thing to come out of this season. It was cute, it made sense, and it was nice to see Grif have someone to confide in. It legitimately seemed to help him improve himself as up to now, he was much happier, was taking things seriously, and actually focusing on the problem. Huggins has a very positive influence on him, and you can tell just form his tone that he feels horrible for turning his back on her. Seriously, Geoff’s delivery was absolutely flawless. I don’t think I’ve heard him be that solemn when performing Grif, not even last season. but you can feel how bad Grif feels, but he also wants to help his other friends, including Wash. Again, it is such an emotional dilemma. We know that going back i time isn’t going to end well, but what other choices do they have? They’re screwed anyways and Wash doesn't deserve this. They can risk it just to help their friend, right?

But yeah, that entire moment hurt. Like Grif’s little ‘bye’ legit made me tear up. I feel horrible for Huggins too because from her point of view, Grif just lied to her the whole time and nothing that she said, as well as the friendship that they formed, ultimately meant nothing. We know that isn’t true, but I can’t blame Huggins at all for being upset. Also... there is no way that she is dead. For one, now she knows that Genkins is the traitor and likely this is just setup for her to call him out eventually. But whenever a ‘death’ is made so sudden like that and it isn’t a villain/someone random, is is almost always a fake-out. IDK what exactly happened to her, maybe she’s on the other end of the universe or something, but I expect her to come back and for her and Grif to hopefully make-up eventually. I hope so at least...

So this was our penultimate episode, and has setup the finale well. The Reds and Blues are going to attempt to go back to the gunfight in S15 and try to save Wash. I think they’re either going to fail or even worst, cause it since we never saw who hit Wash and therefore Joe can easily make one of the guy misfire and hit him themselves. I’d say maybe it’s gonna be Tucker and the reveal that he shot Flowers was foreshadowing, but IDK. I do wonder what present Wash is going to do or what the Cosmic Powers are gonna do since Destiny made it pretty clear that this si going to end badly.

What I am speculating about hat’s going to happen happen is that, however it happens, Wash still gets shot. But the Reds and Blues going back and trying to interfere removes the final brick to the jenga tower so to speak. The reason no one’s seen any consequences is because all that’s happened is time has been pulled apart brick by brick. The tower is unstable, but it hasn’t toppled over yet, so the universe is still okay. This is going to remove the crucial brick that kept everything standing, allowing Chrovos to break free and sparking the end of the universe and creating a paradox. Then next season, the Reds and Blues (or what’s left of them) have a buffer period and they are going to have to fix it while dealing with Chrovos and potentially some angry Cosmic Powers. Either way, I think it’s safe to say that this season is going to end with a bang.

Final Thoughts

This episode did everything that I was hoping for. Tucker admitted that he was wrong and he and Sister have an actual civil chat about everything. The decision to go back in time again isn’t a good one, but is understandable form the guys POV. It was feelsy as Hell and provides a perfect setup for the finale. Speaking of, well guys... one episode to go. Joe said that this one was going to be ‘the double stuffed Oreo’s’ a couple of weeks ago, so it’s gonna be something big. IDK if I’m ready, but... well I’ve made it this far. I’m gonna see how this all ends, and I couldn't be more terrified if I tried.

[calliecat93]

RvB16 Episode 12 Review: Docudrama

Earlier in the week, Joe confirmed that the season’s final episode count would be 15 total. This will make it the series’ shortest season, though Joe has said that the final runtime is the same as S12. My point is, we are in the final stretch my friends. So last week had some mixed responses regarding Tucker... and IDC cause Grif got n Energy Sword! WHOO!!! But now, after ten straight episodes of our heroes being separate, it’s time to bring them back together.

Overview

This episode has a rather interesting premise. You know how movies have those behind the scenes documentaries/features? Well this episode is shot as one, beginning with the actors for Wash and Carolina... having sex... while the two real ones look. Jax wanted sex appeal... though he apparently plans on making a Grimmons scene so you know what? Add all the sex appeal Jax! Also hope you all can tolerate shaky came cause haha... we get light eight straight minutes of it... be afraid people.

So Sister, Tucker, and Grif have just arrived, so at last the gang is back together! We even have Grif showing off the new sword to Simmons and them proceeding to come up with sword puns, all while Simmons is in awe. Ah I missed these two being together so much. Donut also appears to joint he party! Grif isn’t happy about this considered that... you know, Donut’s with the bad guys. But Donut apologizes for getting everyone into the mess to begin with and wants to help get them out of it. This seems to satisfy everyone for now, but... yeah don’t fall for it viewers.

Grif reveals the deal to meet with the Cosmic Powers and tries to get everyone on board with it. The Freelancers have concerns however and Sarge isn’t willing to give up the gun yet. But Grif, as well as Sister and Tucker, explain about the shield protecting them and Grif trusts Huggins enough that he thinks it’ll be safe. Carolina worries that this is a trap, while Wash is just happy to be back in the usual ‘get involved in shit with the others’ groove. Before a final decision can be made, Jax wants to know more about if time travel is a bad thing or not once Tucker explains about the time line being damaged. As such, Jax wants to interview everyone and create a timeline based off everyone’s travels in order to see if there are any true consequences to all of it.

So the interviews are conducted, where it’s implied that Sister shot JFK and Grif may have killed Ceaser. Oops. Caboose also discovered Chinese finger traps. The most interesting though is Donut talking about how Chrovous saved his life and has been nothing but respectful towards him. The Reds and Blues on the other hand, well... yeah... anyways, onto the results! Jax concludes that while the Reds and Blues have failed in fixing any past mistakes or losses, there so far haven;t been any actual consequences to their shenanigains. He would know since, as it turns out, he’s been using Sarge’s gun to do some time traveling of his own. More on that later. The unified time line... well... it’s a dock. No seriously, it is an actual drawing of a dick. Science is mean man.

With that out of the way, Grif again presses everyone to meet with the Cosmic Powers. Wash still has concerns though... namely in how this is supposed to help find Church. To say that everyone is confused would be an understatement. What Wash is refereeing to is Chuch’s message last season... which IDT he ever did get told that it was just a past recording. Carolina tries to pass it off as him fooling around and while t looks like Wash realized that he lapsed again, it very clearly troubled him. But anymore discussions bout that will have to wait as the Reds and Blues take the guns and head for the Cosmic Gods. Oh and what did Jax do during his time travel you asked? He got actors like Tommy Wiseau and The Dude form Big Lebowski and cast them as the leads. Wow... wow... oh and the studio doesn’t like it, so they cut the funding and with the Reds and Blues gone, Jax can’t fix it. So much for no consequences, haha...

The Reds and Blues arrive at what we can now refer to as Starseat, the base of the Cosmic Powers. Although Jax briefly pops in via the open portal to convince them to help get funding back. It ends when Atlus throws his weapon into Jax and knocks him back into his own time. Oh and we also learnt hat Kalirama is Atlus’ wife... and sister... did I ever mention how fucked up mythology can be?! We also find out who Golfing Guy is. So there’s been a popular theory around that he is Jenkins, who was the ‘camera man’ for Blood Gulch and was in one of the S5 alternate endings. And... it is indeed Jenkins... well Genkins to be exact. He also says that the pink one is going to steal the hammer, HMM... so once intros are done, Carolina asks to hear everything form the beginning. Atlus begins to talk... and because Joe is a jerk, the episode ends there. JERK!

Review

Lets get the annoying out of the way first. SO the documentary style? I liked it! I think Joe mentioned last year that he’d wanted to o an Office-style episode in S15, but simply didn’t have the time. This was a nice place to revisit the idea. but... Joe honey, why did there have to be shaky cam? Okay I know why. It’s documentary style, and those have plenty of shaky cam. It annoys the people watching so Joe got that down... the problem is it annoys the audience. I definitely think that he should have had maybe some int he beginning, and left it after that to make it more bearable to watch. Still credit where it’s due, he got the desired emotion out of me. I’m also kind of annoyed that Tucker is back to being his usual self after the last episode, though he is acting more like regular Tucker so I guess we’ll see what happens.

So the Reds and Blues are finally together again and let me tell you, THANK GOD. I did not realize how much I missed everyone being together until this episode. I lied that it wasn’t overplayed and everything just... went into place. Grif and Simmons joking around, Sister getting referred to by her actual name, Tucker and Wash’s little ‘hey’.s to each other, it was just nice. I also liked how they discuss the issue. There’s the irony of Grif trying to get everyone to follow the plot now, the Freelaners asking questions, the Grif SIbs and Tucker explaining what they found out. Like it’s not over the top... I mean there’s plenty of humor like Grif knowing that he was gonna have to lie to Sarge to make him cooperate. But as much as I’ve enjoyed the crazy time shenanigans, it was nice to have a more calm episode of everyone just discussing what the next step is for them. IDK why I liked just seeing everyone talking so much, but I do.

There was just a lot that I loved. Like the shipping joke in the beginning, Grif still trusting Huggins, both Donut’s return and his interview bit (that hurt...), Simmons trusting Grif’s word and siding with him over seeing the Cosmic Powers, Caboose and the finger trap, the Reds and Blues trying to give themselves epic titles, it was all just great. Even with the heavier moments like Wash having another memory lapse and Carolina still trying to hide it were nice to see... and also hurt, but still well done. Everyone was just, for the most part, happy. I missed the happy.

So time travel stuff. Honestly IDK if this is a Closed Loop anymore or not due to Jax taking actors... though tbf aside form John Wayne IDT any of them are dead in the current time. So what we can conclude with the info that we have is that with the current brand of time travel, you cannot change the past. If you got your men killed or betrayed someone? You can’t change it. You feel bad about your sex life? Can’t change it. You lose a penny? Can’t change it. Now the whole ‘pizza doesn’t exist’ thing is still a huge hole... but we COULD attest that as damage to the timeline. It’s a consequence of the time travel. As we just saw with Jax’s movie losing funding, there are consequences to making changes and we saw that with Sarge where recruiting the new Reds ultimately did nothing for him.

There’s still a lot unclear about time travel, and with three episodes left IDK how Joe is going to explain it all. Maybe he won’t and we’ll have to see if he does next season. Now it looks like we’re finally getting some exposition which I think is sorely needed at this point. My guess is we’re going to learn about how Chrovous got locked away and hopefully just why tie travel is as dangerous as it is. But there’s also Genkin’s comment about ‘the pink one steals the hammer’. It seems to hint that whatever Donut is going to do, next episode he’s going to do it. IDK where that’ll lead, but I imagine that it won’t be good for our heroes...

Final Thoughts

This is probably my shortest review so far, but even so I loved this episode. The shaky cam was annoying as Hell, but it had a lot of fun moments that makes it forgivable. Plus it was just so good to have everyone back together again after so long. We have three epsodes of S16 left to go, and honestly I have no idea what to expect at this point. All I know is that whatever happens, we’re not ready for it.