#my dad is also annoying about how much i rewatch things but less than my sister

[livvyofthelake]

i’m really slaying movie january actually. not even actively being like I Have To Watch A Movie Every Day just like i want to watch a movie every day. and also i’m not watching any shows so that helps but whatever. i’ve watched 25 movies this year. 7 of them have been new, and 8 have been movies i haven’t watched it at least a year so they’re kind of like new… if i can continue this energy maybe i’ll finally get to a goal of watching a new movie every day… or at least most days. sorry for being a chronic rewatcher sorry for knowing what i like sorry for being able to find something new to love in each viewing. some people just don’t understand…

[theerurishipper]

This is my obligatory movie review post.

And it was fine! I enjoyed watching it, the visuals were stunning, I liked most of the songs... my time wasn't wasted. But it wasn't... great.

Let's get the good stuff out of the way first.

I like Gabriel's arc in this movie. He's clearly not an abusive asshole like he is in the show, and it's pretty clear he's distant from Adrien because of his grief, not because he's an abusive controlling jackass. It really hammers in that he's deeply regretful about what he's doing once he finds out it's his son, unlike show Gabe who beat his own son up after finding out he was Chat Noir.

Marinette was really great in this movie. I like her character here and how she's finding out who she is and what she wants to do, and is learning to be more confident in herself. It works well without the large plot points in the show.

I like the songs. This seems to be a controversial opinion for some reason. But I like them. Gabe's villain song is the best song fight me.

Again, the visuals? Beautiful. Everything looked amazing and everyone was so pretty.

The villains were entertaining.

The scenes with Marinette being embarrassed by her dad were fun. It didn't really go anywhere as a plot point, and they should have done more with it, but I liked the idea.

I like how the movie gave Tikki some more character. Her excitement about adventure and her desire for danger? Love it. She's an adrenaline junkie and I'm here for it.

Master Fu works so much better as a cryptic, mysterious old man who just pops up out of nowhere to be funny and weird than as the shitty mentor he was in the show who we were supposed to take seriously. I actually enjoy his character here.

It was nice of them to show Luka going to the same school as everyone else lol.

I love movie Nino so much you guys.

LADYNOIR

But seriously, that Ladynoir song? Love it. I'm going to rewatch it over and over. Ladynoir won this movie.

But that being said, there are plenty of flaws too.

It was so rushed. Like, super rushed. Everyone just went from 0 to 180 real quick. It started out at a nice pace, but then it all just felt like they were crossing out bullet points on their notepads without taking the time to flesh things out.

The rules for the Miraculous are so inconsistent and vague. I don't actually mind this that much, but it's still kind of annoying.

Adrien doesn't have much going for him in this movie. It's still better than the show in that he actually got to confront Gabriel and take part in the final battle, but other than that, he didn't have much of an arc. It could have been better if they showed more interactions between him and Ladybug, but he went straight from being annoyed by her to being in love with her, and a montage isn't really enough for development. His arc had a good start and a good end but very little in between, so it didn't work all that well. It's not even clear why he was chosen for the Miraculous. We also didn't actually get that much between him and Gabe, so the ending moment between them kind of fell flat for me. But it was still pretty emotional.

This is also the case for Adrienette. The way Marinette met him wasn't as impactful as in the show, and there was little to no development between them. It would have felt more realistic for Marinette to like him if we had gotten to see them interact more. They could have showed him telling her about his mother in an actual scene rather than shoving it into a montage. As it is, it feels like she just likes him for his pretty face.

They should have let Christina Vee sing the songs. The person who sings for Marinette has a lovely voice and I do think her voice works well in the songs, but it's so jarring to go from Christina's voice to hers. They aren't similar in the slightest. It was better for Adrien.

The final battle was pretty anticlimactic ngl. Part of it is because of the rushed character arcs, and that made the payoff less impactful. But other than, it was still kind of low key. I enjoyed the battle in that Carnival better.

No iconic Miraculous Ladybug! No Lucky Charm.

Plagg. Plagg. PLAGG. PLAGG. They massacred my boy. His only personality is cheese and farting. Like, he's farting constantly. His bond with Adrien was non-existent. This is easily the worst part of the movie. I hate it. I hate it so much.

They ruined Plagg.

They ruined Plagg.

...Watermelon??

They ruined Plagg.

And yeah, that's about it!

All in all, it's a good experience. It's fun and enjoyable, the characters are nice. They are pretty different from their show versions. Especially Adrien, who's more about not getting close to anyone because he lost his mom in the movie, when his show version was about breaking free from his isolation and wanting to connect with others. But obviously, this is a different canon on its own and wants to show a different interpretation of the characters. It's alright.

It definitely has a lot of flaws, but also a lot of good points. Just like the show. I wouldn't say I like the movie more than the show. It's good for what it is, but I still prefer the characters and dynamics as they were in the series. Which is not to say that no one else should like the movie better, it's just not for me. I don't think they are really comparable anyway, because a movie is very different from a series.

For me, the thing is, I really love the show. And that's why Season 5 pissed me off so much. Because I love the show and it disappointed me. I wouldn't waste my energy on it so much if I didn't like it. And I did like the movie, but it didn't really have that spark for me that brought me into the show. Even if I despise many of the writing choices that the show has made over the years, I still like a lot about it. So my preference will always be for the show. But that doesn't mean the movie is bad, and I still did enjoy it.

Also, I like show Gabe (before the Season 5 finale) as an antagonist better than movie Gabe. He's a piece of trash and a waste of oxygen but he was a pretty well written antagonist when he was allowed to do stuff. Movie Gabe suffers from the same problem of his arc being underdeveloped and rushed, even if his personality is an improvement from show Gabe.

Anyway, movie was good. The last scene with Nathalie and Emilie looks like its hinting to a sequel, but that won't be coming out anytime soon, so we'll see.

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Shrek 2

So I haven't seen this movie in years and having just rewatched it, I can safely say, this movie invented comedy. Hands down.

Seriously though, what can be said about Shrek 2 that hasn't already been said? It's iconic, in every sense of the word, maybe even more of a meme factory than the original Shrek was. And yet even aside from being one of the funniest animated movies ever made (more on that in a bit), it's also just a really good and compelling story that hits all the right spots and really continues building on this world and these characters in an excellent way.

We kick off right after the first movie, with Shrek and Fiona freshly married and heading to Far Far Away to meet Fiona's parents. Throw in some family tension, the deviously delighful (milf) that is Fairy Godmother and her little bitch boy of a son Prince Charming, the ever debonaire Puss in Boots, and you have a movie that's an all time hood classic.

The jokes in this are so raw and so damn funny. Like the union bit and the police brutality joke? This damn movie was ahead of its time oh my god. Even outside of the humor though, the story itself is really good and does a great job helping you connect even more with the characters than the first movie did. Shrek especially, I feel like this one develops him even more, and you get to see just what lengths he'd go to for Fiona. It's honestly really sweet (and human Shrek is jacked wtf).

The rest of the cast is also great. Fiona may not get as much screentime here, but she's still a lot of fun. Donkey is a bit less annoying here than he was in the first movie, and the new additions like Puss in Boots are superb, there's a reason they gave that crazy lil cat his own franchise ya'll.

You also get a pretty interesting redemption arc for Fiona's dad, King Harold, who I just realized is the frog prince??? Like am I stupid or something for never knowing that before now??? Damn. Fairy Godmother is a FANTASTIC villain who gets to headline what may be one of the most epic climaxes in any animated ever (seriously, the I Need a Hero scene is pure HYPE). Speaking of music, the soundtrack is great just like the last movie's, with I Need a Hero being the highlight because oh my god ya'll, she slays it.

The animation definately got a bit more tuned up for this one too. The character models are much stronger and less... plasticy, I suppose is the right word, and the way they move is much more natural and fluid. The world itself is also given a lot more personality. I love how Far Far Away is basically just LA. That's such a fun little inside joke I never got as a kid.

As a whole, Shrek 2 is a fantastic movie. There's this trend we're gonna notice with Dreamworks trilogies where the first movie is great, the second movie is the best thing ever, and the third movie is either still really great (HTTYD3 and Kung Fu Panda 3) or the most confusing, what the fuck happened here thing ever (Shrek the Third). But we'll get to those when we get to those. Just... pray for me ya'll. Cause I gotta watch Shark Tale next. Lord have mercy on my soul.

Overall Rating: 9/10

Verdict: Get some dental insurance

Previous Review (Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas)

Next Review (Shark Tale)

[jaggedwolf]

pll rewatch 1x22

get its own post for finale reasons, the show does its first hitchcock homage, and the liars become the liars

getting ezria out of the way: even as fan of vest + tie combos ezra's outfit sucks this episode, he sucks for his useless texts, aria's tantrum at the faculty party is dumb, all of this is so stupid

ok ok the other note is that my friend remarked that when one of the liars goes "who do we know that's interested in younger girls" after the creep videos, none of them even think of ezra in that vein

which is distressingly warped even as it makes sense for these girls' worldviews: spencer does not view ian negatively until A gives them the video of him possibly killing ali, she views him positively in her flashback of kissing him

Spencer is so bad for saying that Melissa's baby might be inhuman but she is so fucking funny for saying "humor is subjective" instead of apologizing. I just really enjoy it when Spencer takes a break from being tormented to be the teenage brat she was born to be

Pam takes ten fucking years to answer Emily asking if her dad is okay and that is wild to me, Pam y'all are a military family and you should know better

why did the writers come up with this Texas plotline by the way, did they ever explain that?

Emily and Samara are exchanging the blandest emails. Why do all these girls email each other so much, the only things I emailed my high school friends about was schoolwork, otherwise it was all about texts

do you think they have negative associations with texting because of A. does only Spencer get tormented via email is she special like that.

Lucas is back! And still miffed about the danceathon ploy. I completely misremembered him already knowing Caleb before he goes on this fetch quest, but no, this is solely a "Hanna should know the truth" move

anw my take on how he tracks him down is that (1) Caleb's cheap-ass bus ride has lots of delays because that is his fucking luck (2) Lucas gets Caleb's number from Hanna's phone before passing it over to Emily

Okay, I make fun of the liars a lot for being super weird about the blind girl (who they are partially responsible for blinding), but most of the time I enjoy it, because of moments like this episode's where Jenna will be like come on bro :/ I'm just a girl who raped my step-brother via threats :/ just a girl who made a mistake and regretted it :/ why you gotta be so harsh bro :/

jenna we all saw you this season still trying to creep on toby when you were back in the same house...

this episode reveals that Spencer and I have very different notions of burner phones, because she bought this

while I would have gone for a nokia brickphone. Then again I think Spencer and I have different budgetary considerations for burner phones. (717 is indeed an area code for southern pennsylvania btw)

The Ian plan is not bad but maybe would be better if they didn't all swivel to stare at him instead of staring at the phone, you know, the means you purchased to communicate with him

All of the liars leave when Mona shows up (w/o busing their trays! Emily and Aria, your parents raised you better than this! Spencer had no tray and Hanna was not raised better than that) and I know it's primarily because they need to plot, but Spencer also clearly finds Mona super fucking annoying and I respect that

Emily when accosted by a cop that she should really trust him goes wow, maybe he has a point, and indeed calls Garrett later. ACAB, Emily, ACAB. (Except Officer Barry Maple, who has never done anything wrong ever.)

Okay so the real reason they made Garrett her former neighbour is so they could pretend he was on this street to see family, when he was actually here to get in on Rosewood men's favorite hobby: underage girls

why does he take off Jenna's sunglasses before he kisses her, that seems unnecessary.

please remember that Garrett's actor was Paolo in The Lizzie Maguire Movie. swear he was less bland in that

The Hannily porch scene is very endearing, Hanna is so delighted at the notion that Emily might have a type

Toby gets Spencer to chill out before she goes off to do her convoluted plan, which is a good dynamic for them

Spencer calls him a "safe place to land", which will come up again, and says she wants him away from danger because of that

firstly, sweet sentiment Spencer, but I do not think asking him to keep Jenna busy is keeping him safe, he would rather wrestle Ian in the woods any day

secondly, thinking about who Spencer feels the need to protect like this - she is protective over all the liars and Toby, but is she more "don't let danger breathe on them" about Toby and Emily?

at no point does anyone mention the car that t-boned Spencer and Melissa or its driver like, was it a phantom car, are Rosewood PD falling down on even this

Veronica gets some good mom points in comforting Spencer and telling her the crash wasn't her fault and that Melissa knows she cares

S1!Spencer is all about guilt so she takes this as her cue to nobly walk to the church to get Melissa's phone, only to get fucking jumpscared for her trouble

I really love the sequence from when Ian shows up till when the liars find Spencer at the top of the tower. It escalates so well, the tension ramping up, there's a phone call that forces the liars to simply listen as Spencer begs for her life and Ian recites how he's going to construct Spencer's suicide (and would have anyone believed the remaining liars if he'd succeeded?)

Spencer Hastings while being violently thrown about: Uh, Alison didn't die of blunt force trauma, she died of suffocation. ILU Spence never change

And she really gets thrown about! Jeez, someone escort her to a hospital checkup after this, there's probably a fracture somewhere in there

Love the liars fussing over Spence while she clings onto that wooden post. They immediately go "do not worry about having killed Ian, you are so fucking valid" and Spencer has to be like "no, I know it sounds like a traumatized mind coming up with shit but there really was a random hoodie that showed up"

That pan down to the body swinging and that being what set off the bells....still sick

Officer Barry Maple cannot believe these teenage girls lied about a fucking body, cue the entire town going whisper whisper whisper because they're all at the goddamn church

Even Noel Kahn. My dude, don't you have dudebro things to do that are more fun than this.

you know I bet Paige isn't at the church I bet she's at home stressed out about swimming or whatever. this is going to be my take on Paige for a while: that she has minimal awareness of the plot drama the liars are enmeshed in. Bet she didn't even know they got interrogated about rat blood trophy.

I forgot they have "I'm Not Calling You A Liar" play us out. Perfect song choice, but amusing solely to me, because: it is the first credits song for Dragon Age 2, and a long time ago someone asked me for a Hanna Marin crackship and I proffered Hanna/Fenris. Imagine the Liars in Kirkwall....

Our final A message of the season: It's not over until I say it is. Sleep tight while you still can, bitches.

[aprillikesthings]

OKAY time to do more She-Ra rewatch woooooo

I mean to get started on this hours ago pffft okay at least two episodes tonight and THEN an edible (if I watch it while high I'm not going to remember a damn thing, okay)

s1 ep5!

(At this rate I am never going to finish. On weeknights I have to watch anything in the living room, where other people are, but I can't find my wired headphones, and my laptop is an old macbook that hasn't been able to find anything on bluetooth in YEARS. I need to look harder for my damn wired headphones!!)

I keep thinking someone super-nerdy has to have made a proper map of Etheria

Oh, they did! Of course they did. There's multiple fan maps out there, actually. Nice.

[EDIT: also her dad's retired? Like, okay. I get that the reason they say it that way is literally "he's not DEAD but he's not important to the plot" but like, that implies that he also no longer gives a single fuck about his kingdom or the fate of his people. Or his own daughter. Also retired where. Is there a retirement home for former Princesses]

ALSO as I was digging through old posts of Nate's on twitter I found out that when people get his published autobio comic signed (I've read it, but on Kindle) they've often taped over or crossed out his old name on the cover, and he thought it was sweet--though it doesn't bother him to see his old name.

But Netflix should still fix it. 😤

Every time someone pointed out something they needed, the music stopped and then started over--that was a nice touch lol

I feel bad for skipping the intro every time but I have to admit I do not enjoy the song much. There's nothing *wrong* with it, it's just not my thing at ALL.

Blobby creature on the left looks like a Pokemon doing a sexy dance, help

UHHHHHHHH

like I know that thing is its ...nose? mouth? and it drinks from the bottle with it right after this shot but THAT LOOKS LIKE A DILDO OKAY, like one of those smallish smooth silicone ones for people new to pegging

Too hard to capture without video but Glimmer's POV literally pans up on someone with a sexy hourglass figure and she makes a little noise, ahaha

I struggle with Sea Hawk. As a character he's great. But from my POV as a viewer he is in fact kind of annoying sometimes

"Just because Sea is in your name doesn't tell us anything about your actual qualifications" this whole scene is just lampshading the dumb names She-Ra is saddled with because of the original series in the 1980's being made to sell toys.

"It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs!"

I know everyone knows that Bow and Glimmer are both bisexual but still

they're both such himbos sometimes lolol

"Last week, on She-Ra--"

I love the way they introduced Scorpia.

also how did she make it to Force Captain when she's so kind and goofy

(while going through my own old spop posts I kept mentioning that I knew Scorpia would eventually change sides, but it still took WAY longer than I would've expected given what she's like)

Catra's hatred of water (and the way she consistently reacts to Scorpia just picking her up for hugs) is great, I love it when they lean into Catra being a cat

"What are you some kinda furry" no I am a furry ally, there's a difference

...no comment

Also I get that there's all the jokes about shanties but his song actually sounds like an homage to Gaston's song in Beauty and the Beast

The way Catra's voice goes up in pitch here is hilarious.

I know this becomes a whole Thing that Adora can read it and almost nobody else can, but just noting that Mermista's palace's walls have First Ones writing all over them

So Mermista's dad was part of the Princess Alliance? I wonder if "Princess" is just the gender-neutral word on Etheria?

Voice-acting Mermista must've been so much fun. I feel like she was inspired by Daria.

This reference ages me, doesn't it lol

See, I keep forgetting stuff. But I did watch these episodes in like 2019.

If the characters were allowed to curse, Mermista would've said something like "what the fuck??"

I remember watching a thing where a few SU voice actors were talking about recording "efforts," which these little kinds of sounds for when the character is doing something physically difficult.

The problem of course, is that I'm rewatching this show so I can write a fic with explicit sex in it, and so my brain is like "heheheh are these also her sex noises"

(I'm going to headcanon that and you can't stop me)

do they ever address where he's from I forget

I...immortal? I mean obviously we know they *can* die because otherwise their world would be literally overrun by princesses (plus, y'know, the thing later) but wait how did I miss that

ALSO I can't get a good screenshot but Kyle is playing a ball-and-cup game in EVERY SCENE HE'S IN

eheheheheheheh

wait hold on

Here's a post of Daci and doing that two different times

Also it's not far off from the ASL for lesbian, which is part of why me and Daci did it

I am reminded of this post.

Like, is she insulting Adora or attempting to flirt?

(yes.)

A bunch of fics have mentioned all the scars Adora has from Catra fighting her, and this is the first time we see that during the show; but I can't help wondering if Adora didn't already have faint scars somewhere from when they played as kids? (I know she gets much worse ones later.) It's not like a childhood in the Horde is idyllic or gentle and I doubt they were discouraged from fighting/rough-housing, and I can easily imaging a child!Catra not being good at knowing how hard she was scratching someone.

EHEHEHEHEHEH

Okay, so Catra taunts her and literally injures her, and THEN Adora is able to fix the gate?

Is she motivated by spite or the adrenaline rush/complicated emotions around seeing (and being manhandled by) Catra?

(yes)

this shot is deeply hilarious

Also yayyy Mermista has joined the Alliance

Also also I had to edit this post bc it turns out you can only have thirty images per post, whoops!

One day it will take me less than two hours to make one of these posts >_<

Catra is still convinced (or pretending to be convinced) at this point that Adora's defection is temporary, huh.

[reitheist]

I'm rewatching t&b 2 in dub this time and idk if it's just me but it seems... straighter than the sub? (Caution: this a big nonsensical ramble, don't take it too seriously. I just wanna rant and not edit this for typos or flow)

Like I'm at the scene where Ruby talks about her dads paying for doctors (if I'm hearing it correctly, she says otousantachi, so I don't think it's a mistranslation), but the dub changes it so she just talks abt one dad. This is the most obvious change.

In the prev episode, we saw that red haired lady talk about her love for Anna, but the dub very conspicuously uses "like." The sub uses "suki" so it's not really a mistranslation, but either way the dub makes it feel like a more ambiguous than the Netflix subs portray it. I don't really know if this one was intentional or not and it's not major, but it stood out to me anyway.

In the same episode as Ruby's dad thing, Kotetsu is repeatedly worried abt Barnaby's leg. When Barnaby strains it in the fight, he yells out in pain. Kotetsu's reaction in the dub goes: "Bunny, go! Huh?" In the sub he just says Bunny in a concerned way. In the dub Kotetsu sound less concerned and more mildly annoyed with him, at least pre-realization. Sub Kotetsu knows there's something up immediately, because the entire episode (and entire 2nd cour) has been building up his bond with Barnaby and how he worries over him. This moment in dub feels weirdly ooc. Like, the man just screamed in pain Kotetsu! Kotetsu is oblivious in a lot of respects, but has never been oblivious to Barnaby's suffering. That's the point of the episode!

Then, Dubtetsu makes a sarcastic joke (at least that's my read?) at in the next scene about it "...thanks for dropping in the end there Bunny. *chuckle* Hey what's the deal with that leg though?" (For context, he literally fell onto the criminal.) In the sub he just says "Hey Bunny, your leg..."

I guess there's something to be said that this preserves Kotetsu's joking characterization in this scene? But it comes off to me that Kotetsu in the dub isn't all that concerned because of this random quip. Kotetsu makes jokes at his own expense, sure, but I can't recall him ever really making light of Barnaby's issues, especially when he's been shown be be worrying over Barnaby's recovery the entire second half of the season. Again, weirdly ooc imo.

A little after is the bike scene, where Kotetsu confronts him about his leg injury, sub Kotetsu brings up that Barnaby seemed off that morning too. Dub Kotetsu doesn't seem to mention this at all? He just mentions how he screamed earlier. He also says, "Level with me about your leg." as he approaches instead of "Does your leg hurt?" like in the sub. A subtle change, but this just feels too casual for how Kotetsu's feeling right now. Plus it's phrased as a command instead of a question, which really doesn't convey much worry at all. Sub Kotetsu consistently centers Barnaby's experience, but Dub Kotetsu doesn't, so it sounds more like he's annoyed with him for being injured rather than concern.

The sub rounds out the conversation with Kotetsu saying "You screamed in pain, Is it so bad that-" before he's cut off by Barnaby. Again, this centers Barnaby's suffering as Kotetsu's subject of worry.

Dubtetsu says "You don't have to hide it from me, just tell me how bad it is-" in a (no offense to the VA I'm sure he's lovely and great) really wooden tone.

In general, the cadence between Barnaby and Kotetsu's interactions between sub and dub is really different. Barnaby's side of the conversation seems the same, but dub Kotetsu just seems way more sarcastic than sub. Sub Kotetsu is occasionally sarcastic and goofy a lot of the time, but he also has very serious moments. Above all, he has a heart of gold. Dub Kotetsu comes off as incredibly jaded sometimes. We saw this a couple times in the sub of season 1 as well, but never in season 2 as far as I can recall. By season 2 Kotetsu is more mature and has learned to fully put his trust in his friends, and especially in Barnaby.

Now that I'm on a tangent, there was also a couple of weird moments in the dub finale of cour 1 between Rock Cyclone(?) and Fire Sky. Specifically where they reunite in the hospital. Nathan mimics Keith's catchphrase in the sub to cheer him up and it's very sweet, but the dub they just kinda talk? It's really weird. The sub has a joke between Antonio and Ivan where Antonio is worried abt something and pulls the 'don't ask about it" thing, Ivan takes him seriously, and Antonio complains about him not asking and they laugh abt it together. In the dub instead of "don't ask about it" he says something like "I don't really know" iirc, which kinda ruins the joke, but they laugh about it anyway? It's a very weird scene to watch in dub bc it feels like a lot of non sequiturs they're saying at each other.

Also also correct me if I'm wrong about this, but the dub seemed to have changed Kotetsu's desire to "go to dinner" with Barnaby to be consistently asking to "go out for drinks," which doesn't change much in the scheme of things but also makes it seem a little less like a date, if that makes sense? I mean either activity can or can not be a date in different circumstances, that's just my take on it. Because Kotetsu goes drinking w Antonio already, 'going to dinner' feels less like a friend activity for Kotetsu than 'grabbing drinks," if that makes sense.

Then again, there was that one scene in the elevator w Subaru and Kotetsu. The dub seem to have Kotetsu imply he thinks Subaru has a crush on Thomas, but the sub doesn't really imply this, at least to that extent. So I guess the dub doesn't straightify everything?

The changes wouldn't irritate me so much if I unilaterally disliked this dub, but I really like it! It's a shame it suffers from really strange moments like these, because I really love some of the changes the dub makes to better the flow and humor of the series. I adore the voice acting on pretty much everyone, so I believe the dub's issues are a mix between inconsistent writing/interpretation/translation and the occasional weird direction choice. Anyway, those are sort of my thoughts thus far. Might make a followup once I finish off cour 2.

[wifegideonnav]

well i… finished act 5 act 2. gonna have to rewatch cascade a bunch of times and probably read the act summary on the wiki but i have officially reached the end of the act

still enjoying it a lot but it’s getting harder and harder to read. summing up a rant i gave my friend, i’m not super in love with the sense of predestined futility - or more accurately, i don’t feel that the narrative has properly addressed that yet and justified why i should be reading about these characters who were like 100x doomed from the start.

there are so many characters and so much happening that nothing is lingered upon, which is nice pacing-wise but not so nice emotional-impact-wise. i also think the “everybody dies a bajillion times and it’s fine until all of a sudden it’s not” thing works against it in a sense, especially when the narrative doesn’t stop to mourn anyone who’s actually dead, bc by the time you realize hey wait maybe like. vriska or dad or feferi/nepeta/equius etc are dead for real it’s been like 200+ pages and you’re like well ok. what do i do here exactly.

and i know that that’s an intentional choice hussie made for how he wanted to craft his narrative - im wishing for things that he deliberately chose not to give. im not trying to say that these choices are flaws in his writing, just that as an audience member i tend to prefer the tlt method of dealing with death, where one main character dies and then the entire next book is about another ripping herself apart because of it.

im not giving up by any means, or even saying that this is what’s dominating my reading experience. like i said im still enjoying myself and appreciate most of the creative decisions that hussie is making. it can just feel very draining i suppose, watching these characters i’ve come to care about - almost all of whom are literal children - fighting so hard so futilely, and so far, imo the narrative hasn’t paid that off. however, with that out of the way, here are (some of, bc this shit was long as hell) my thoughts on the act, more or less in order:

i have literally no interest in johnkat. probably partially bc my friend is so into davekat that ive been conditioned to just wait for that to happen but also bc they have no chemistry. sorry to any johnkat shippers out there but idc it’s boring

i have slightly more but still negligible interest in john/vriska. probably bc i… don’t really care about john. sorry to any john stans out there but idc he’s boring

karkat and terezi sharing a keyboard to argue my beloved

rose my beloved. but also. sweetie :/

vriska my beloved. but also. SWEETIE :/

kanaya my beloved. you’re doing great no notes

oh yeah dave and terezi manipulated the stock market. still don’t 100% understand that but whatever good for them

yeah ok the dream bubbles. christ. like ok i GET it but they’re still annoying

i love jade’s dynamic with karkat she really goes from “teehee im just a silly little girl haha” to “im going to eviscerate this motherfucker”

bec prototyping himself was genuinely such a good reveal

is it just me or is john's power like. way lamer than the other kids' lmao. like it's still cool, def better than nothing, but come on

not too much to say abt the exiles but i love them

also with all the fucking timeline bullshit that's going on i literally can't wait to reach the end and reread with the uhsc mod that lets you follow a specific person's timeline. i canNOT keep track of what's happening when for who

it is literally so funny that vriska has been the cause of jade's narcolepsy this entire time. like wow girl you really took the opportunity to be a massive dick to her huh

LET'S BE SANTA

frogs. ok sure. why not.

fuck doc scratch all my homies hate doc scratch. i will say though. he is a fantastic character.

holy shit eridan and gamzee snapping and killing like everyone. that was buckwild what the fuck. not gonna lie idc that equius is dead, and nepeta, feferi, and tavros were never my faves. but got damn it sucks that they're dead. (ostensibly. still not one thousand percent convinced)

sad karkat :(

murderous kanaya :D

WV "DRIVING" AHHHH

oh god the ancestors. sorry but i simply do not care about that shit. like i know that they're actually relevant but. :/

also i don't like the trope of chains of events being echoed across generations. like damn get your own plot. also it ties into that determinism and futility that i'm grappling with

i will say though. mindfang mentally thanking redglare for taking her arm because then her battle against his honorable tyranny because it made it "a fair fight"? hot. i'm brave enough to say it.

aradia is cool as fuck. i wish we got more of her/her personality

aradia's ancestor is also cool as fuck. sucks that literally nothing she did to resist her fate worked or mattered

the scratch stuff is genuinely interesting narratively/in terms of a plot device. again it still sucks that the beta kids aren't actually going to get to win the game themselves. like i assume they'll be talking to/guiding the alpha kids but like. god it's so unfairrr i bet there'll be angst about this

rose going grimdark is so fun. also LMAO john trying to chat with her in that flash game portion

TEREZI god i love her. sucks that she killed vriska tho bc i love her and also i ship them. oh well murder is not necessarily a roadblock to them getting together. troll romance sure is weird. i have hope in my heart.

vriska isn't dead forever bc no she isnt <3

the betty crocker shit. is funny. and also stupid as hell.

SAD KARKAT :((

ok i guess the stuff about karkat's ancestor and the history of the troll race is kinda interesting. whatever.

everyone's in love/hate with gamzee all of a sudden?? literally why. troll romance sure is FUCKING confusing

that was a pretty anticlimactic climax to the gamzee situation, gotta say

cascade was confusing as fuck i don't have thoughts on it yet

so yeah that's it! if you're still reading, why? let me know what your thoughts on act 5 act 2 were when you read it, or your thoughts on my thoughts lol. just pls no spoilers for anything past cascade!!

[thecubes]

hi! absolutely thrilled to find another rahd fan on this site...any randall and hopkirk deceased hcs? :) 🦇

Hey there anon :D me too!! It seems like the fandom on here has dissipated so finding anyone out here is soo exciting!!

oh god I have ENDLESS headcanons and I tend to post about them as they come to me and then I sort of forget til I rewatch episodes haha... but off the top of my head:

My random personal headcanon for Jeff is that he was brought up by his grandparents (no real reason for it other than the show never bringing up his family or background)

and my random personal headcanon for Marty is that he has a strong aversion to alcohol because he has; told Jeff he is drinking too much, moved Jeff's glass away from him, and (before they realize his drinking was useful to them) tried to convince Bream not to drink anymore. And when he was alive, he asked for tomato juice at the obligatory "would you like a drink" instead of any spirit as is usually requested (and expected based on the slight reaction it gets)

I also had a headcanon that there is some kind of rift in Marty's family because the funeral crowd seemed quite small, Marty was annoyed that his Aunt didn't come to his funeral, and also just again the vibe of the three of them being sort of... alone. I know shows don't necessarily bring family into the cast but there is usually some mention of "Oh when I was a kid my mum/dad would--" but there isn't.. Jeannie only half recognizes Marty's Aunt and it takes her a while to fully recognize her. Jeff has never even heard of her... and she (Aunt) seems only mildly upset at her nephew's untimely murder. She didn't even know that he had died.

^ I realize that like 90% of that is down to ITC's limited attention on R&H and maybe budget. But still.

Not necessarily a headcanon but I like shipping any and all combos of the three haha and, also just appreciating their canon relationships too :-) I wish that the writers/directors weren't so terrified of showing two men being close and affectionate friends (as Mike and Ken actually were) but it was kind of a Thing at the time I guess

OH I also have the headcanon that Marty and Bugsy continue to hang out in the astral realm and Bugsy is teaching Marty how to manifest himself to people other than Jeff so that he can one day say hi to Jeannie again :) (LESS of this "oh it'll scare her poor fragile woman heart" nonsense. that episode was kind of a mess...)

ok I am stopping now because that is already a lot LOL but nice to meet u anon enjoy my rambling

[zalrb]

SKINS REWATCH

An anon a while ago asked me to do a Skins (first gen) rewatch, so I’m doing series 1 right now. Pilot aka “Tony” -- who i hate (BUT NOT AS MUCH AS FUCKING MICHELLE)

1. I always loved the opening theme

2. The grown ass woman putting on a show for Tony by purposefully undressing by the window ... yeah, Skins would be crucified today. Although the age of consent in the UK is 16 so maybe not?

3. Ha, just clocked the 8 1/2 Fellini poster on Tony’s wall, of fucking course Tony like Fellini.

4. And he’s reading Sartre, specifically Nausea, while he plays petty pranks on his dad. Lmao. Everything you need to know about Tony in the first 3 minutes and guess what, NO voiceover.

5. EVERY FUCKING MORNING.

6. The juxtaposition between Sid’s room and Tony’s is so great.

7. Jal is the only one of the friend group that I just don’t see how that happened, I guess we’re supposed to believe that it’s because she was friends with Michelle but I believe that even less.

8.  And there is such a comedic, light, chaotic energy to Skins from the moment it starts, which is why it always annoyed the fuck out of me when anons insisted on comparing Euphoria to it just because both shows deal with teens and partying and drug use. Obviously Skins isn’t always a comedy, there are moments that are super poignant like when Chris’ mother literally abandons him and they present (rather than explore I would say) serious topics like Cassie’s eating disorder but what makes those moments poignant is that not every single moment of every single episode is trying to say something about the teen generation, there isn’t a soap box on Skins.

9. Michelle and Tony is like ........ series 2 is always confusing to me when it concerns them, like it’s a mess because Michelle’s guilt and anger and sadness about the whole thing is wrapped up in Tony’s inability to get hard and then she’s angry at the fact that he isn’t the manipulative and emotionally abusive ass WHO NEVER EVEN MADE HER COME - SID did that - he was in season 1 and I was just like, OK girl.

10. “... Do they have tap dancing in Death of a Salesman?” “They need a number, I’ve always said that.” Aww, Maxxie.

11. Sid couldn’t even hang up before he started jerking off? Lol OK.

12. I’ve always wondered how awkward it is filming scenes like this. Like when Sid jerks off to a picture of Michelle and Tony walks in, I would find that more embarrassing as April Pearson (who plays Michelle) than just doing a sex scene. Like hey let’s use this photo for Mike to simulate masturbating to! WEIRD. But I’m not an actor, so. It does remind me of The Inbetweeners when James Buckley talked about his character, Jay, and how he had to ask an old woman if she wanted to suck him off and how it was the most mortifying scene he ever had to do and was like, she was this nice, sweet old lady!

13. Tony describing getting a girl so high to lower her standards to sleep with Sid is fucking creepy.

14. Michelle and Tony are so gross to me.

15. It’s just funny to me that Tony is supposed to be the epitome of teen boy hotness.

16. I momentarily forgot that Nicholas Hoult is in The Great.

17. “It’s a literary reference.” “What, like Shakespeare?” “Dawson’s Creek.” “I don’t know what that is.” Chris! My heart!

18. “It was strip poker, what did you want me to do?” “You weren’t even playing, you wanker!” They do have good chemistry as friends, the dialogue flows well and they look like they have fun together even though I don’t quite buy Jal as belonging to the group, I know there’s always the ‘responsible’ one or the ‘together’ one and I’ll go with it because they all work together but character-wise, I need more of a reason.

19. “I’VE UNEXPECTEDLY COME HOME BY ACCIDENT.” LOL.

20. Angie should be fired. Even before Chris she was wildly unprofessional lmao. Get your shit together.

21. I also like how many interactions Jal and Chris have in this episode too.

22. And I will ALWAYS FUCKING MAINTAIN that the film version of Luna Lovegood should’ve been like Cassie. Especially series 1 Cassie.

23. Michelle is a terrible friend.

24. “Everyone, this is Tony and his friends, Tony, this is Sara, Josh, Sara, Maddy, Alessia, Hugo, Sebastian, Sara, Sam and Sara.” I love it because you know everything you need to know by their names and how they look lmao.

25. I love that he is the DJ for the rich white party

26. I love that Michelle walks onto the dancefloor like I’ma show these rich bitches how it’s done and she’s AS terrible.

27. Sid is such a prick to Cassie.

28. “Where’re you going?” “To find that party!” “Nah.” “Look, it’s posh kids, all the boys are gay!” “Really?” *nods* “Are the girls gay too?” “Look, everyone’s gay!” Chris would do well on tumblr. 

29.

30. “What would you do if everything was just so fucked up and you didn’t know what to do?” She has an eating disorder, Sid, that she was institutionalized for. SHE JUST GOT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL.

31. Euphoria was never like this

Like the only Euphoria episode that actually matches THIS level of chaotic energy is the carnival episode. Rue running all through the city and outing Cassie and Nate didn’t have the same type of energy.

32. Lol, this is what friendship looks like

33. None of this would’ve happened if Jal had been there, lol

[kinetic-elaboration]

September 15: Beetlejuice (1988)

Rewatched Beetlejuice for the first time in a couple years I guess, interesting to do right after watching the sequel. I think I am glad I didn’t do it the other way around, although that would make more sense. I don’t know that I would enjoy the second one less if the first one was as readily available to my memory, but maybe. Not even because the first one is so much better than I remember it but just because I would be making more direct comparisons.

Some things I forgot about the original, in no particular order:

Just how little Betelgeuse there is in it and how late he appears. Like he isn’t properly seen, other than little clips like his ‘commercial’ until over halfway through, and he doesn’t even dominate the second half. I’d sort of remembered this but I think the extent to which he’s a little extra flavoring to a movie that’s really not at all about him was something I’d forgotten. Like, the plot of this movie is the ghosts of a very normal small town couple try to get a family of obnoxious New Yorkers out of their house, but they can’t because they’re not good at haunting/are perceived as cool rather than scary. Betelgeuse is more like an extra element in this, honestly, even with the big finale being what it is.

How little of the afterlife there is. Those sections are so striking that I think they live larger in my head. Honestly there isn’t that much afterlife in the second one either versus what I was expecting/what I’d read, but at the same time, the sequel has just a larger palette in general.

The focus on the house. There’s fairly little of Winter River, fairly little, as I said, of the afterlife. Again, this is mostly noticeable versus the sequel, which has significant scenes in other locations and long sequences of Winter River Scenery Porn.

That Charles is actually really terrible. I think because he doesn’t make as strong an impression as Delia, and because he’s sort of a lowkey normal dad in the animated show (iirc—I actually watched that show a lot as a kid but I don’t remember that much), and because in the sequel he’s like generally sort of bumbling and extremely defined by bird watching, but I completely forgot that he was a “shark” in his prior, NYC life. Like he’s coming to the suburbs to “RELAX” following some sort of stress-induced nervous breakdown but he absolutely is there to exploit Winter River and he spends about .02 seconds on birds before he starts seeing money signs instead. He’s honestly worse than Delia, who just wants to make her creepy art in her creepy house.

How Lydia is basically just a nice, sweet kid who wears a lot of black. Like, she’s strange and unusual but really that just means goth. She has a few barbs for her stepmother but compare her to Astrid, and she’s not mean. And she is so immediately kind and protective of the Maitlands. I also forgot just how sweet that relationship was, how quickly they just adopt her as their daughter. The most wholesome thing about this movie is how she’s being raised at the end by four adults in some kind of weird but functional bespoke family. Makes me more annoyed that the sequel didn’t have anything similar.

On a related note… I really wish the Maitlands had more clearly ‘haunted’ the sequel. They did more than I realized: not just their model, or the significant shot of the bridge, but even their music taste, Day-O at Charles’s funeral and so on. They were Lydia’s second parents!! This movie is in part about her losing her father. Like, there should be a better reason for the Maitlands’ absence and it should somehow matter more.

How fast and loose the ‘rules’ are in this world and how little is explained. Why do the Maitlands appear in their house with just a handbook? How did all the people in the waiting room get there? Why do they have to wait 125 years to move on? Where exactly did Betelgeuse come from—the backstory isn’t really consistent and neither is it clear what he was doing right before he targeted Adam and Barbara, though in some ways I don’t hate this because it’s kind of in keeping with his whole mythic thing. Why does he need to get married and to do what? I took it that if he got married to a living person he’d get to live permanently in the real world but how? Would he be alive again? I’m fine with much of him being unexplained but the wedding is like the climax of the whole thing and it seems really, really arbitrary. Not that I care that much that it was arbitrary but I mean, it definitely was.

Also, I did in fact remember correctly that the Maitlands put their house back together at the end of the movie, so I’m curious about the decisions made in the sequel. The silhouette of the house looks like the original, before Delia’s additions. But the inside is very dark, not really like the inside of Tim Burton’s mind that Delia created but also decidedly not like the Maitlands’ house, like a secret third thing. Of course it’s been 35 years, people can redecorate. It just, you know, wasn’t explained. Honestly, I sort of thought that the Deetzes hadn’t been living in Winter River for a while at the time Charles died, that that was sort of like a beloved home but not a main home, but I might have just been inferring that erroneously.

Anyway, that was fun. Gotta rewatch Beetlejuice every couple of years, it’s just a required thing.

[electricprincess96]

Ep 2 of Season 2 of HOTD was.... disjointed. It felt like just as I was getting into a scene it changed.

Once again we are robbed of girl dad Daemon Targaryen because the show seems to believe he is not allowed to have even one redeeming quality. Baela Targaryen of all people having daddy issues is just wild to me I'm sorry but who are these characters cause they aren't the Daemon and Baela I know. And yes I know Fire and Blood is not a reliable narrator but when all the sources in that book seem to agree that Daemon for all his many faults was at least a decent father to Baela (if not both his daughters) then I don't see why that can't be adapted in the show. Daemon can be all the other horrible things that he is but removing this one trait from him making him so much less interesting.

I don't like how.... weak Rhaenyra seems to be. Also she can't seem to decide if she's sad, vengeful, level headed. Like I do not have a grasp of who this Rhaenyra is the way I did in Season 1.

I see everyone in Team Black minus Jace have already forgotten Luke. 10/11 days of mourning is all you get my sweet boy.

Otto Hightower was the star of this episode (and honestly i liked him in the last one too). Like yes is this whole entire situation almost entirely his fault? Yes. But it was fun watching him realise his family are all idiots and he's unable to control their stupidity. Like Otto was one second away from sailing to Dragonstone and begging Rhaenyra to be Queen that's how much Aegon and Alicent annoyed the crap out of him in this episode. Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised of we don't see much or any of him for the rest of the season and dare I say that's kinds sad. The collective IQ in the Red Keep has plummeted.

Aegon's pain and mourning was believable and very well portrayed. The issue is they really want me to feel bad for Aegon but these are the same writers that made him a rapist, child molester and fan of watching children fighting in pits (some of them his own bastard children) so like..... I would feel sympathy for him except you've made him a colossal piece of shit and no I won't forget.

Helaena has been able to portray a lot of emotions despite the script giving her very little to do. I thought the funeral scene would be more than it was honestly. Aegon not even speaking to her on the staircase was cold but I think fit the characters well.

Crispy Cole.... if hypocrisy had a face. Him gaslighting Sir Arryk into going to try and kill Rhaenyra to cover up COLE'S mistake of not doing his job cause he was too busy doing Alicent was oh so scummy. Also do we really need to keep ending episodes on Cole and Alicent fucking?

.... I won't talk too much about the Daemon and Rhaenyra scene cause I just don't think it was very good. Like these two can absolutely fight after what Daemon did with Blood and Cheese but it felt like the writer of this episode wanted to retcon their entire relationship into being "oh she never really believed in him or trusted him" which makes the whole scheme last season to get Laenor out the way and allow her to marry Daemon seem really fucking stupid right now and makes Rhaenyra seem incapable of making good decisions regarding her allies if she claims she never even trusted her own King Consort. Like Rhaenyra KNEW who Daemon was before all this, her acting like she didn't somewhat sign up for this when she chose to marry him is dumb. I don't want perfect angel Rhaenyra who does no wrong, Rhaenyra is a Targaryen but she's lacking the fire recently. Like yeah she shouldn't be happy about this but to act like she doesn't hold some responsibility is nonsense. Making both Lucerys' death and now Jaehaeyr's deaths down to "accidents" or miscommunications is merely robbing so many characters of agency in a desire to make them sympathetic and marketable.

But yeah I didn't really like this episode, maybe upon rewatches I'll appreciate it more but overall it wasn't great. Neither ep1 or ep2 have really reached the heights of Season 1 for me so far.

[elliesgaymachete]

1, 3, 8, 12 for Yang and 12, 17, 23, 25 for Qrow for the ask game!

Yang:

1. Why do you like or dislike this character? - there are so many reasons I love her, she’s such a good big sister but also cares so much about her whole team. She’s so funny and cocky but as time goes on she also shows a much softer side and I love seeing her growth so much

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character? - ooh idk if there’s any canon thing I don’t like about her? I guess I thought it was weird when it was confirmed that Yang didn’t necessarily know she was gay before Blake? She literally tells someone to call her sir in her intro short 😂 I think I only get it if I see it more as not that she thought she was straight or didn’t know she was gay, but she spent so much of her life focused on others (helping her dad, taking care of ruby, etc.) that she just didn’t have the time to think about herself or any romantic prospect. So Blake wasn’t necessarily a gay awakening but just the first person she’s ever fallen for

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise? - she can be made into kind of a two dimensional funny himbo in fic and that makes it a little annoying to read some fic 😅 (not all! There are lots of good fics out there)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? - YANG DOES NOT HAVE ABS YANG HAS A SOFT TUMMY

Qrow:

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character? - ok listen less a headcanon more a theory but I think raven and summer teleported to qrow and qrow knows something about what happened to summer and that’s why he has a drinking problem and why he’s so focused on keeping yang and ruby safe

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with? - i don’t actively ship him with anybody but i don’t mind qrow and clover or qrow and robyn!

23. Favorite picture of this character? - i apologize if i’ve given any indication that i have a favorite picture of a male character. I tried looking through my blog and literally don’t even have any posts tagged with him 😂

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now? - i will be honest here I couldn’t stand qrow at first. His intro scene of his fight with winter is literally one of my least favorite scenes in the entire show, and I’ve skipped it in a few of my rewatches. I thought he was annoying, cocky, unprofessional, i thought it was stupid that he provoked winter into a fight and got off scot free from the whole thing. Everything about that one scene painted him as all of my least favorite qualities in a male character. I have warmed up to him a little bit, he is a great uncle for ruby and yang and those scenes are my favorites of his. I like that he has had some growth and stopped drinking. He’s still not one of my favs but i like him a little bit more than I used to

[sxfik]

let's talk about episode 16 and why it confirms solhwi endgame

back to masterlist

a/n: as always, this is just my opinion and what i interpreted from episode 16! some of this might be a stretch (or wishful thinking lol) but ya know, feel free to start discussions etc.

just through my time scrolling here on tumblr and on twitter, i've seen many viewers be disappointed with the last episode and it's lack of confirmation for solhwi (and also like understandably so, we'd all love to see a more "firm" confirmation). but i genuinely think that this whole episode was a confirmation of their feelings for each other, that there was something there.

the most important thing to remember about this show is that it is not a romance. the main plot is centered around the mystery but also these students learning how to navigate the law and trying to show the different sides of the law (ways the law can be used to help vs. ways the law can be used to harm). we, of course, also get to explore the relationships of the group with their family, their professors and with each other. so overall, i think we can all agree that we weren't going to get an "explicit" confirmation of their feelings for each other.

i think one of the things law school does really well as a show is that it doesn't give a "perfect" ending to every story. for example, in many shows, we see every plot line resolve in the show with no open endings and in general, it ends up all resolving with in the span of two episodes. but with episode 16, especially the ending scenes, we see that not everything is resolved. we don't get an answer for every single mystery, such as seung-jae's story line or the full extent of professor seo and assemblyman koi's relationship. what we do get instead is a "set-up" to show or hint at how the relationship might develop in the future. this also applies to the relationships within the story: for example, we don't really get a full ending for kang sol B's issues with her family. rather, we see that they are going to therapy and working it out together. we don't get a true ending to the court case with ji ho's dad. even with kang dan and her story, we don't get to see a "full" resolution to it, but we do get a hint/a sense that everything is on track to be resolved. many people might argue that this is a sign of bad writing but i disagree. i believe that this is realistic writing, because the issues that are faced by the students in the show is not resolvable in one year and neither are their relationships.

with that in mind, i would apply the same logic to solhwi. like i said, i didn't think we'd get a kiss scene or anything similar to that in their 1L year. through this season, we are tracking joon hwi and sol A's relationship as it grows from classmates to acquaintances to friends to in like to in love (especially for han joon hwi). if you go through and rewatch the show, you can see that as the episodes go on, we see han joon hwi and sol's relationship develop into something that is based on trust, care, appreciation and communication.

i've seen many people say that we've over hyped their relationship in the last couple episodes but i don't believe that's true. i believe that the show is trying to display that both of them are falling for each other, they're both seeing each other in a "new light." for joon hwi, that moment came much quicker; like i said in this post, joon hwi is realizing the extent of his feelings towards her when he says that he owes her. and this last episode proves it! this whole episode we see the camera focus on han joon hwi's reactions and his love for sol, except he's actually aware of himself. earlier, the reactions came out without him realizing or being aware that he's in love with her. but this episode? he is aware of his feelings for her. throughout this episode we watch as his admiration for her grows louder and louder, from smirks and soft smiles at her to appreciation for her knowledge and talents. we see the hint of defensiveness cross his face when ji ho insults kang sol (which by the way definetly felt more like ji ho was taunting joon hwi that he was actually insulting kang sol). even sol B knows when she asks to start but he makes her wait for sol A.

and in the end, we see that sol is realizing her feelings too. i believe for her, the change came through ye-seul's trial. some part of her always loved his company and his friendship but after the trial, and their friends teasing their jealousy, i think sol definitely took more note of joon hwi. i think it's evident in their 1L year in this episode, the looks of appreciation she gives him, the way her eyes seem to always land on him in the end. and ESPECIALLY the courtroom scene where sol and joon hwi were practicing her argument, we can see her feel the tension and his presence as he grows closer to her, we can see her getting flustered and nervous around him in a the way you would with someone who's position is your life is graduating from friends to a crush. the beginnings of this episode definitely show that solhwi is starting to full on fall for each other.

THEN during their 3L year, we can see how they're full blown gone for each other. i genuinely think that at this point, they are in a relationship with each other and here is why.

one: the moment sol sees joon hwi walk by, she calls out his name asking him what he's up to. then when he responds "i want to wind down" she follows him. when they get out of the elevator, she says "you said you wanted to wind down?" and he lets out a teasing laugh at that. i definetly think that she was talking about/expecting something completely different when he said he wanted to wind down, because as he explains that he wants to wind down by "watching the trial," you can watch the gears turning in her head before answering "right, i should wind down too" in an embarrassed way, with joon hwi teasingly smiling at her (obviously he knows where her mind went to). and then after stretching, sol makes her classic "you're so annoying/you're so frustrating" face at him.

two: as kang sol and joon hwi provides counsel to the old man, we see joon hwi once again watch kang sol but the expression on his face this time, is a lot different to the expressions that we've had previously. before, the reactions and expressions were more distant, more "in admiration" and in amazement (about her and his feelings for her). but in his reactions this time around, we see it's more firm, it's more confident. it's a completely different expression of love than what we've seen before. it's a lot more similar to one that a boyfriend or a husband gives their significant other than the expression a boy gives to his crush. it's a lot less amazement and enamorment and more content, proud expression.

(honestly it's kinda hard to describe how different the expressions are in words, but if you watch the moment around 1:00:00, you'll see what i mean)

here's the thing: the concepts and issues that law school is showing us are not resolvable issues in one year, and they are not "easily" resolvable issues either. that is what this show has been trying to show us: that the law is complex and it's application in the real world is even more complicated. so it would not make sense for this show to wrap everything up in a neat bow and present it to us in the final episode. moreover, solhwi has forged a friendship through the pressures of law school as well as the overarching mystery and plot of the show. this season was centered around watching them develop a relationship together and this show hints and shows that solhwi are soulmates, their relationship will not be an epic love story where there are grand gestures or confessions of love. it is a gradual change from friend to lovers, while having independent development and maintaining their own goals in life. the very ending, we see them reach their goals as lawyer and prosecutor but they still come together. if they were to have a confession scene in the very end of the show i believe that it would have been too rushed without enough development on both sides. i think that law school ended in the best way for both characters without reversing or skipping their development while leaving room and hinting at the possibilities for the future.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

re: your tags abt wwx increasing the danger for the wen targets w his shooting: he did an insane trickshot he knew he could hit so no one else would try to follow up, and no one did. if he shot their bindings or whatever their situation wouldn't actually have improved cuz there's no way they could've escaped even if they were set free.. it's a stupid scene either way but there is a logic behind wwx showing off here

This ask is from ages ago, but anon makes a VERY good point and it made me go back and rewatch the scene!

It is still an extremely dumb scene, but they DO establish that Wei Wuxian’s archery flex is a direct result of his overt anger at what he sees--foremost by having Jiang Cheng shoot him an urgent “oh my god what are you about to do” look from up on the dais.

I wish the vibe overall was less "boo Jin warcrimes but wow would ya LOOK at how cool our protag is!" and more "Wei Wuxian can do amazing things and will use those skills to help people.” It wouldn't take much--a meaningful nod at the prisoners once he removes the blindfold, exchanged looks, something to show that he sees them as people. It’d also clarify that his forthcoming decision to go into exile with the Wen remnants is a matter of principle, and not just the result of his personal debt to Wen Qing.

So! I’m not annoyed at Wei Wuxian anymore. Wei Wuxian is fine, in fact. You know who I am annoyed with, though?

LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE

Because they all just sit there! The prisoners are led out, and ominous music plays as we get reaction shots of the “good” characters all looking troubled. And that’s it! That’s all any of these overpowered warrior princes does! Nobody goes “hey, Jin-zongzhu, what the fuck?” Jin Guangyao clearly anticipated someone objecting, because he’s like “having people in front of the targets makes it more challenging :)” but no objection actually arises.

I get that the Jin sect is the strongest by far, and that getting up in Jin Guangshan’s face the way Wei Wuxian later does would be politically unwise. But... nothing? No polite “is this necessary?” or “this is different than what I anticipated” from Jin Zixuan, who’s probably the most secure person there besides his dad, but who nonetheless opts to fire an arrow before Wei Wuxian does? No terse questions from Nie Mingjue or Lan Xichen, both of whom were personally assured by Jin Guangshan back at Nightless City that the Wen civilians would be sequestered but treated humanely?

(sidenote #1: Does Lan Wangji just... not tell his brother about Jin Zixun using civilians as target practice? Because as far as I remember, we never hear Lan Xichen mention it, even though he was the one who most strongly spoke out against harming civilians and should probably care.)

I cut Jiang Cheng some slack, because he’s like 17 and his sect is the most at risk. But like... man, for being soooo appalled by the Jin clan’s power grabs, they sure aren’t inclined to do much about it.

(sidenote #2: Oh man, oh MAN! It would take some of the focus away from Wei Wuxian, but this would’ve been SUCH a great opportunity to build up the tension between the Jins and Nie Mingjue. IMAGINE: Nie Mingjue objects, and Jin Guangyao’s like “but da-ge :) didn’t you initially want to execute everyone? :) these people will be fine if everyone aims well, so surely there is no objection here :) unless you are implying that our young masters are poor shots? :)” and Nie Mingjue just seethes until Wei Wuxian does his trick shot.)

[tuiyla]

I'm pretty sure anyone who thinks S1 Quinn's plot is well done actually just means that Dianna is really, really beautiful when she's sad. Cause she is ALL that is holding that mess together. So much of it is just deeply uncomfortable...the lack of follow-through over her being literally disowned. The way she is 100% reliant on two boyfriends who she knows don't really want her. The ONLY adult in her life offering any kind of guidance is Terri, ffs. One thing I think of constantly is what if Quinn's dad hadn't cheated? Was Quinn just NEVER going to go home? This girl is 16 and there is no one trying to find her a legal guardian, no one having her talk to adoption agencies, no one saying "maybe we need a better plan than handing your baby off to this random woman stalking you in the hospital?" Cause you're right...nothing about this plot was really about Quinn. It was there to delay Finchel hooking up, and to give both Will and Finn justification for being cheaters. And so from that perspective, I guess I get why Ryan Murphy was so annoyed with Dianna making people feel like Quinn was a person from time to time.

Oh Anon you reminded me that I need to respond to that ask about the infamous Rolling Stone interview. Have patience other anon, we'll get there.

The most common opinion on Quinn's season 1 arc that I see is that she had the best and most consistent character development there and then it was all downhill. And though I think season 1 is where Quinn is most integral to the show overall, unfortunately she's not centered in her own story. What she does get is, for lack of a more accurate term, trauma porn designed to serve others' plot and humble her. And hey, maybe it was because Dianna Agron is really really beautiful when she's sad lol.

When she reveals she's pregnant, it's immediately about Finn and Will bonding, then it's about Puck wanting to step up, then it's about Terri using her, all that. There's this one scene, fuck if I know which episode (here's where I'd check my rewatch notes but if I leave tumblr I'll never finish this reply) but the point is, it's Fuinn going to a doctor's appointment and the focus is on FINN and talking with Will, not Quinn who is actually carrying this baby. We explore more of Puck's feelings about Beth than we ever do Quinn's and the drama lies less with Quinn literally getting disowned and more with the adults and the problems it causes in the love dodecahedron. I also just don't think the writers thought through how big a deal a teen pregnancy was but more on that when I get to that other Quinn ask.

I could go into more detail on how we can tell who the pregnancy storyline is really about but I think you also get what I mean when I say it's sure as hell not Quinn. She just goes through it during the season and learns to embrace her club of losers because she has to. Sure, she develops, and I wouldn't want to take that away from her because god knows season 2 is gonna anyway. But it's trauma upon trauma and this uncomfy feeling I get about her needing to learn humility or whatever, as if there aren't other ways to do that. It's the way her frustrations rarely get acknowledged and when they do like in Bad Reputation it's really lackluster. Even the found family aspect doesn't work because the Glee club's support focuses more on Finn, again. The arc is supposed to be Quinn learning to rely on people she previously thought were losers and actively bullied but because we never fucking center her, it falls flat. You know the one point where it works? With Mercedes. Both in Home and later in, I wanna say, Funk? That works really well. But it's one member and we all know they just drop that friendship come season 2 because of course we can't have nice things. Shame because Quinncedes is the only thing holding this arc for Quinn together. Like a prev anon said, adding Kurt into the mix could have really strengthened this. Or you know, anything. But they were too busy for Quinn because Finchel drama, I guess.

Quinn's story in season 1 isn't all that great, it's just throwing everything at her and humbling her without putting the work of exploring her character in. The few moments of reflection are too little too late and Dianna has to put her all into it to make it work. The only thing that does work is Quinncedes but Glee hates three things: girls, friendships, and everything nice. So we can't have that followed up on, of course. People who think this was the best she was written just like that she got nicer by the end. But my god, at what cost. And who cares when she reverts back to Alpha Bitch anyway lol.

And god, anon, it's so fucking depressing to think Terri fucking Schuester was the person most involved with Quinn lmao. What's more, she's Terri's teenage parallel! I just wanna talk to RM about his feelings on blondes, is all. But you're right, we never follow up on the huge deal of her getting disowned because the story doesn't care. It doesn't care that she's 16 and essentially homeless, incredibly vulnerable, and her relationship with her family ruined for good. I wrote about her and Judy here, and fuck I have a three-month-old ask about Russell. But suffice to say, it's an actual story that would need to be explored but then we wouldn't have the screentime for the 40th Rachel solo and Finchel's latest breakup. Bitter, me? Never.

I swear, despite how much I go on about her, I don't even go that hard for Quinn but it drives me insane how poorly she was handled as a character. This show was on television! It was the biggest fucking thing of its time! People gave these writers A Lot of money to write these scripts! Insanity.

[brlankinney]

✨a long awaited michael hate list✨

last year during the first lockdown i decided to rewatch queer as folk again after a few years break from the show. michael has always been one of my least favourite characters and i just needed to rant about how annoying he is, so i have compiled a list of his worst moments. you’re welcome. i wrote all these in my notes app while watching and you will get them without any editing whatsoever. in chronological order: 

s01e03 when justin turns up at woodys to find brian and michael yells at brian because he doesn’t want to babysit. while justin is talking to debbie!!! justin is just a young gay teen trying to fit in and michael is go angy? fuck off you piece of shit 

s01e04 “this is about brian’s one night stand!” / “not just one” / “don’t bet on it”...... my dude.... my good dude michael..... i am pretty sure justin knows more about his own sex life than you do

s01e04 “unfortunately not this one” referring to justin when they were talking about the high suicide rates with gay teens.... michael was so jealous of a guy who had sex with brian that he was annoyed that he wasn’t feeling suicidal? cant relate 

s01e10 when justin moved in at debbie’s place, getting michael’s old bedroom. why was he so annoyed? you’re a grown man, just turned 30 and that bedroom still has all your childhood things in it? grow the fuck up you childish man baby!!!!! 

s01e17? when david and michael held the fundraiser for that senator and michael purposely didn’t invite any of his friends/family because he found them “embarrassing”, then porceeded to yell at his mum when they showed up anyway. the entire storyline of him feeling like he was sooo much better than all of them because he had been to france and got expensive stuff from david? horrible horrible man 

s02e06 saying the only reason brian spends time with justin is because he feels guilty that justin was attacked. it’s almost like he doesn’t know his best friend? what a surprise!!! 

s02e12? getting angry that brian and ben fucked at the white party long before michael even knew ben? brian had sex with everybody how did michael expect to find someone who hadnt fucked brian already? and why are you angry over your partner’s sexual history from before you even knew them? 

s03e01 getting angry at justin for breaking up with brian (which is what he wanted to happen since fucking day 1) and then telling him that he isn’t part of the friendgroup anymore, as if they only tolerated him as long as he was with brian. fuck youuuuuu!!!!! honestly just the ENTIRE episode? upset that justin came to mel and lindsay’s party and that he brought ethan? it’s not your party! you don’t decide who is invited! SAYING BRIAN SHOULD HAVE LEFT JUSTIN DYING ON THE GROUND? literally just scum of the earth!! even if it was just because he was upset on brian’s behalf that should have never even crossed his mind!!!! 

s03e04, he knew what kind of father brian was to gus so why was he so angry at the way melanie and lindsay wanted him to be a father to their next child? he would be the sperm donor and the child’s dad but he wouldn’t be part of the kid’s life more than brian was in gus’ life? how is that so hard to get? it’s not YOUR child? get your own if you want to be an actual dad???? 

s03e07? getting so pissed that ben didn’t want to include him in his HIV-positive life that he “threatened” to infect himself? show some support for your boyfriend instead maybe? what kind of weird move is it to almost stab yourself with a used needle? i totally get what he was trying to do but it’s a fucked up way of going about it 

s03e08, while i dont completely agree with ben taking in hunter from the start and letting him spend the night (which probably has more to do with me being a woman who would have trouble defending herself in case anything should happen), the way michael acted as if hunter didn’t deserve any compassion was.. really bad? he even rolled his eyes when ben gave hunter money and a contact number for them that he could keep. hunter was a CHILD on the street, selling his body for money!!! how are you not more concerned!!!

bouncing off of that s03e10 why is michael getting angry that ben wants to care for this child!! he was in the fucking hospital and i get that now it’s a money problem but you are not listening to your partner? you are talking over him and not trying to come up with another solution to help care for this child!!!! i am FURIOUS 

s04e08 convincing justin that they shouldnt mention to brian that they were aware that he had cancer and had the sugery, but then breaking down the first chance he gets and crying to brian about it? first of, this is NOT about you michael so sit your ass down!! and second of, i get that he was scared of losing brian but at least give justin a heads up that he told brian?? that’s the absolute least he could have done 

THE ENTIRE FIFTH SEASON!!!! michael needed to SHUT UP about melanie and lindsay’s relationship problems in relation to jr because guess what? you’re not the primary parent, this doesn’t concern you! you were the sperm donor who was lucky enough to still be called the dad and be part of jr’s life!!!! shut up about how the baby lives in a broken home and how you want the baby? she’s not yours!!!!!! what is your PROBLEM!!! i will fist fight you

both him and debbie kept saying “whatever goes on between you [mel and linds] it doesn’t matter, the baby comes first”. don’t you think parents living seperately are better than parents living together but fighing all the time? the entire thing makes me so ANGRY 

i MEAN the way michael thinks he is entitled to all information about lindsay and melanie’s relationship just because he was the sperm donor to their baby? insanity 

“why won’t you let me have her?” GOD SHUT THE FUCK UP MICHAEL 

s05e04 i get that michael might have been embarassed at the “housewarming” gift that brian got them and also at the word choices that brian makes but come on? monty and whoever started out by insulting not only the way brian chooses to live his own life but also his business? it’s a civil conversation and yeah brian could have used less harsh words but brian’s lifestyle isn’t new to other people? not even people outside of his small social group? let him live his own life and also let him defend his choices

e05e07 like i get it okay? brian came in late at night and shouted and blamed michael for his and justin’s breakup so of course michael would be annoyed but the way he said “he [justin] left because of YOU. who wouldn’t?” was completely uncalled for? it just really fucking bugs me? this is your best friend who is CLEARLY going through a bad breakup so maybe choose your words more carefully? MAYBE have some compassion just maybe? 

when hunter left in season 5 and michael said “who else would have taken him in? made him family?” WHY WOULD YOU EVER SAY THAT ABOUT YOUR CHILD!!! WHY ARE YOU SUCH A PIECE OF SHIT michael really thinks he is the absolute shit and deserves the world for doing the smallest thing? 

going through the show again really just fleshed out how fucking bad of a person he could be from time to time wow whats YOUR worst michael moment????