#no its just unwatchably awful

[i-dont-bite]

i don't trust sapphics when they tell me somethings good anymore

[bunnieswithknives]

What's inanimate insanity? Should I watch it?

God no. Absolutely not.

[johnbottoms]

there r certain voice acting crimes that certain actors have committed that I will just simply never forgive ever in my whole life and I have a grudge against those actors forevermore . they r christian bale as howl. and matt damon as sprit the stallion. of the cimarron

[returnofahsoka]

oh god this has got to be the cringiest trek episode. they can't get worse than this. please, i signed up for wacky adventures in space and not.... whatever the last 15 minutes of the omega glory was

[cupids-archives]

We had Yan! Sun wukong with a breeding kink, could we perhaps have Yan! Macaque with a breeding kink now? 👀

reference post…!

cw: breeding (lol!), non-con/dubious consent, unsafe sex, cockwarming, cum play, blood (mention).

The air in the room is heavy.

your white night gown feels awful on your skin, sticking to your sweat uncomfortably. It feels like it’s been days since you’ve been out in this position. Your body contorted to your captors personal likening, your poor vagina split open by his cock.

At first, you whimpered. The tears always came whenever macaque attempted to intimate with you, but despite his cocky behavior you can tell he disliked it. So you tried to save your tears until he was deep inside you and can excuse them for tears of pleasure. But this- this was torture.

The pleasure you felt by his movements were starting to mix with pain. You felt almost disgusting. Your hands scratched at his broad back, your head digging into his shoulder as he pushed himself deeper, and deeper until you. Closing his eyes and letting out deep groans as he tried to get closer to your cervix.

You attempted to move but you couldn’t, no screaming wouldn’t help either, and the tears have already reached its peak. All you could do is scratch and scratch and pray it made a difference, maybe he’d slow down, maybe you’d draw blood and he might stop. All you could do is wait as the force of his cock left smears on your already cum-stained thighs.

“macaque”.. you whispered- or more like whimpered out. You haven’t heard your voice in a while and it seemed so different. softer… raspier, “macaque please?” you barely understood what you were saying, but his thrust soon slowed, resting his heavy dick against your cervix. Before he responded he looked down and you followed his gaze to where your bodies connected, your legs resting on both sides off his toned torso.

Blood, mixed with a creamy white substance pooled below you, making a complete mess of what remained of your dress.

“Guess I went too hard, huh?” He picks a piece of your hair between his fingers and tucks it between your ear in an act of normalcy. This was the first time he’s ever made you bleed, but it didn’t even register in your tired brain yet. “I think that’s enough for tonight.” Macaque lifts your dress up with a heavy sigh. Removing it from your sweaty body. You finally relax once he slips out of you. Your body being laid out on the bed below.

“How about we just lay here for a moment?” You shakily nod as a response. Macaque, never being a truly sentimental one. Showing his undying care for you in ways that don’t show in the unwatchful eye . But when he lays next to you, tucking your naked body against his, even your cum filled brain realizes how he rubs two fingers against the tip of your pussy, scooping up the leaking cum and gently pushing it back inside you.

Unfortunately your too tired to care.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Top 10: Most Hated characters

Rules:

1. To make this interesting, I’m going to be picking characters that aren’t intended by the writers to be hated (annoying maybe, but not hated). So Villains aren’t going to be on this list since most are often supposed to be hated.

2. I will be covering Anime, manga, cartoons, and comics

3. Only content I’ve heard of (and at least somewhat have exposure to)

4. This is a VERY personal list. And If you happen to like a character I list. If it’s below the top 5, that’s fine. But if it’s above the top 5, please seek professional help.

___________________________________________

10. Z from All Grown Up!

This is supposed to be a 10 year old kid. I kid you not.

When he was first introduced, I did figure it was the simple don’t judge a book by its cover story. And yea it was mid back then. But I remember watching more episodes and realizing. Z is actually really f***ing boring and the episode about not judging would have worked if they were all 14 or 15, but Z is 10! They are all 9 to 11 years old! This show was so dumb! What parent lets their kid dye their hair and get piercings at 10?! How would he even know what punk is?

I think my main problem with Z is really the fact that it shows how he doesn’t really fit in a story of 10 year olds. Which was one of the big problems with All grown up! As a show. And personally I hate being reminded of why it fails so much as I did enjoy it as a kid.

Though out of all the characters on this list. He at least isn’t a jerk.

The other reason was I am a Tommy and Kimi supporter so…. Yea. That too.

________________________________________

9. Ronaldo- Steven Universe

Now I know he’s supposed to be annoying. But that’s not my problem with him. His obsession with keeping beach city weird is fine. It’s the entitlement he has.

Not the conspiracy theories, it’s him trying to insert himself into it, trying to be the main character. And it’s always causing trouble for Steven. But I really think what does it is just how selfish he is about it. He never learns, starts to consider other people’s feelings. For Steven Universe, a show that gives pretty much everyone a redemption arc, Ronaldo basically goes “nah I’m good as is.” That’s what really grinds my gears about it.

____________________________________________

8. Chloe Carmichael from Fairly Oddparents

Now I should stress that before her introduction. The show was already on a decline with the introduction of Poof, Foop, Sparky.

But Chloe, oh she was a different breed of ruining the show. She made it unwatchable. Like people often complain about Mary Sue characters. CHLOE is a 100% grade A Mary Sue.

She just shows up, gets partial custody of the fairies, everyone likes her, but she somehow a bit miserable so she gets to have faries? Chester is WAY more deserving.

But seriously everything around her seemed to bend to her will. And it was so bad I think they canceled the show midway through the season.

But the reason she is so low is because she was simply the last straw on the shows decline and not the root cause. And I hardly watched the season she was in to care enough.

___________________________________________

7. Hiruzan Sarutobi - Naruto Shippuden

Now for those of you who watched only the first part of Naruto you are probably VERY confused on why this old man is on the list.

For those of you who have watched part 2. You know EXACTLY why he is on this list.

This man’s inability to stop ANY of the awful crap that resulted in the events of the story.

-He let the Uchiha extermination happen

-He let Danzo basically do whatever he wanted

-He didn’t stop Orochimaru who ended up attacking his village years later (and resulting in his death)

-Never told Naruto about his parents, and Litterally just gave the orphan money and dipped out.

-Didn’t stop the village from ostracizing Naruto

And the list goes on.

Like for some things, I get. The uchiha were planning a Coup and it could have gotten ugly but for f***s sake he could have done a better job in negotiations! Also why would he ever trust Danzo?

The rest is on him. Konohamaru is better off having Naruto as his mentor than that old bastard.

___________________________________________

6. Chris Thorndike - Sonic X

I hate this f***ing kid so much.

Oh people complain that Amy is so focused on sonic. Nah man, this kid only ever thought about sonic. This kid even tried trapping Sonic in his world because he didn’t want to say goodbye.

“But he’s lonely without his parents.”

WTF you talking about. His parents see him pretty often despite their careers and both clearly love him. He also has a maid and butler that both watch over and care for him. Not to mention uncle Chuck that is watching over him. Plus he has a group of friends his own age (all of which are more interesting characters than him).

I can’t even begin to describe how much of a jerk he can be. I will say the only reason he isn’t higher is because Chris actually TRIES to be useful in the matarex arc.

____________________________________________

5. Velma Dinkley - Velma

Or should I say Mindy kaling wearing Velma like a skin suit.

I hate when people turn beloved characters into self inserts and this entire show was this. Now I could go on about how they ruin Velma’s character. But this, this isn’t Velma. This isn’t even Scooby doo. It’s just using its name. And that’s all I can say. I’ve only watched enough clips to justify putting this on the list. This character and the show are both awful, so at least she isn’t ruining the show. And she does die, so at least there is some satisfaction. Which is why she is only this low on the list.

____________________________________________

4. Jared Shapiro - Powerpuff girls 2016

I don’t care what the interviews say. No one can convince me this kid isn’t a self insert of one of the writers.

An out of nowhere love interest for the main character.

While not as bad as the case of Velma, this one is much more personal having grown up with the OG powerpuff girls. So this makes me want to gag.

He’s such a bland and weird character. It’s just so creepy. I can’t even begin to describe how creeped out this character makes me feel. It does not feel like him and blossom are the same age either. It just ain’t right.

___________________________________________

3. Caillou from Caillou

I happen to like kids. Kids are creative and fun little gremlins. But whenever I see Caillou, the visceral urge to punt this child is intense.

He is the WORST child character in all of fiction. If the show never existed I’m 100% sure the world would be a better place.

He is a brat that NEVER learns. He says he does but he doesn’t. He is always the exact same little turd he’s always been. The only redeeming quality about that show is that the theme can be remixed into a bop.

___________________________________________

2. Paul Jeremiah Rabin from Amazing Spider-man

This man is probably the most hated man in all of spider-man comics.

Zeb Wells really s*** the bed so hard when he created this guy. Making a character that basically kidnapped Mary Jane, gave her super powers, made her get into a relationship with him, and basically ruined Spider-Man’s personal life.

You want to know how bad you messed up when in the issues where spiderman was possessed by the green goblin’s evil and he wanted to kill Paul, PEOPLE WERE CHEERING.

I do not think exists a single person that Likes Paul as a character. It’s actually kind of amazing.

But he is only number 2, because the ultimate spider man run is helping us forget the TRAVESTY that is Paul.

__________________________________________

1. Dave from Total Drama Pahkitew Island

He was the worst part of the worst season of total drama.

He started off as a whiny less then fun version of Noah and ended up as a clingy, psychotic toad that deserved to get ripped apart by bears.

Now with previous entrees I can kind of understand if there is someone that could like the character. Maybe…

But Dave?

If you actually like Dave and the person he became, we can not be friends. I would recommend a psych evaluation.

The boy is vindictive, controlling, condescending, and overall PATHETIC! And his label was Normal. The normal boy?! Nothing about that ‘Nice guy tm’ is normal. He was a piece of garbage.

Every action he takes is in his own self interest and I don’t see a SINGLE redeeming quality about him.

We are supposed to Want him to get together with Sky?

Him dating the Communal toilet would be a disservice to the toilet.

And that’s all I got to say on that matter.

[twig-tea]

Love Senior: Final Thoughts

I've been putting off making a post about this because I don't like trashing things that are small efforts and especially not GL because we don't get enough of it to begin with. But I was enjoying Love Senior through episode 7. The leads were lovely, they had chemistry, their characters were both interesting, and one of them had casual sex with someone else before they got together and it was fine! They even talked about it! And they were thirsty! I love it when women get to have sexual desire in shows.

After episodes 8-9, the narrative took a serious turn and I broke and wrote a content warning post because of how gross the turn in the plot was. With one episode left, I watched to see whether it would undo any of the damage it had done, but instead it doubled down on awfulness.

The last episode is truly a smorgasbord of some of my least favourite tropes all rolled up into one miserable finale, and makes the show truly unwatchable even though it delivers a "happy ending". It didn't make sense, it wasn't good characterization, it served nothing but unnecessary angst, and it meant we didn't even get satisfying reconciliation or dealing with the issues laid out in 8-9. After this ending, I was extremely unconvinced these two would last, or that they should.

I know this isn't the worst there is in the world of QL. I've watched a lot of stuff. I used to just stay quiet if I didn't like something, but honestly, I want folks looking for info about this show to know what to expect, and I also want folks creating content to know that audiences expect better these days. I don't want people to think GL flops because nobody wants to watch it. We're so desperate for good, or even half-decent content (the viewing numbers for GAP should have made that obvious)! But things need to hold together at least somewhat, and this very much did not.

Most of the cast in this show is in a girl group together, so you can support them, continue past the cut if you want details on what makes this finale suck (I've kept it vague but obviously there will be spoilers), and I hope this is taken as it's intended--to help inform the watching decisions of us who love GL and want more of it, and to give information to those making it.

[I'm just going to note also that this show was by StarHunter Entertainment which is not known for its queer rep or good treatment of its people, so I don't feel like I owe this production company any loyalty].

Details about the last episode under the cut.

In episode 10, the following happens:

we get told the SA that I warned about in my 8-9 post was just staged for the purposes of blackmail/breaking up the leads

[the show doesn't acknowledge that the characters were still left in a position that they could have still been sexually assaulted, and that they were put in that position by someone they trusted]

Someone gets hit by a car

One of the leads falls into a coma, and on waking, gets amnesia

Her friends and family conspire to lie to her, not just erasing her girlfriend from their picture of her life, but saying that one of her other friends who has a crush on her is her boyfriend. They all go along with this lie for months

On finding out that her girlfriend had been told that she's actually dating some other guy, her girlfriend decides to noble idiocy and disappear from her life

More time passes, and they see one another at the amnesia girl's graduation, and hug for a happy ending.

THE END.

No conversation. No reconciliation beyond acknowledgment that they still have feelings. No mention of their breakup before the coma. Nothing that convinces me this couple will actually last at all, or reason (in the form of character growth, or narrative purpose) for why they've gone through this. Nothing about the main character being lied to by all of her friends and family for months. This ending says 'everything is fine as long as the two people you want to be in a relationship are in a relationship at the end of the story', and that doesn't fly with me.

[lacewise]

You’d think a documentary about a real life “The Truman Show” with elements of explicitly profiting off of human trafficking and torture (to the point where my mind immediately maps this onto Unit 731) with the victim seeing literally no benefit and the orchestrators stealing massive amounts of unpaid labor (publishing his writings during confinement and keeping the money) and taking literally all associated royalties would go viral but instead there’s surprisingly little fanfare. (I’ve seen maybe half a dozen curated or interviews conversations but no wider discussion.)

The Contestant is about a man who was dehumanized and treated somewhere between a tamagotchi and clipart. (He is kept in a suspended state of unreality deliberately for over a year.) The people behind these actions, which would otherwise be considered serious crimes, have experienced no consequences. And with content like Mr. Beast’s self-confinement still being created and receiving tens of millions of views, it’s pretty clear reality television and its relatives are held to no real ethics or laws, to this day. (Although, the bare minimum of paying people is at least met in Mr. Beast.) So there weren’t societal consequences either. The only lasting impact this seems to have had is creating the eggplant emoji and meaning.

This raises so many questions about social experiments, informed consent (which is vital to any real social experiment) torture disguised as entertainment, the blurring of fiction and reality, the hidden power dynamics in entertainment, parasocial relationships that dehumanize the person at the center, the degradation of working conditions with the undermining or disappearance of unions, dehumanization for the sake of storytelling, and the financial exploitation of all of this. Are people not talking about this because you guys don’t want to know the answer?

Or because you feel reality television show stars and content creators had it coming? Or maybe that entertainment being awful is a foregone conclusion, so there’s nothing to gain via examination?

Why are we letting programs like this happen continuously as if they’re real social experiments and not just torture since they’re so often missing that vital piece of informed consent? Why aren’t we pushing back on showrunners, producers, and hosts imagining themselves as scientists when they see basic scientific ethics as an obstacle? Why aren’t we questioning the fiction we’re sold as the audience, whether we choose to watch or not? Dismissing it all as the same unwatchable trash is only legitimizing the labor exploitation. It’s acting as if the exploitation is an unchangeable premise.

This is a really good article on the documentary and the initial story (tw for in-depth discussions of food, torture, and abuse):

[laurenkmyers]

you’re so sweet. thank you so much!! i’ve watched love in the air. i know boss but i didn’t know his partners name. i’ve also watched:

dead friend forever (it was so fun; tan was right and he should’ve been able to kill all of em. except my sweet sunshine bby white who didn’t deserve anything bad to happen to him ever)

two worlds (loved it)

cutie pie 1&2 (eh),

naughty babe (loved but i think i love the pairing),

not me (chefs kiss),

kinnporsche (the volume in which i screamed cousin fuckers and then sung sweet home alabama, 10/10 would recommend to a friend),

the sign (so ridiculous but like in a great fun way; i like police procedurals and i like fantasy)

only friends (i wish i had a toxic dramatic friend group :/),

between us (that jaw thing mr blond did was oddly attractive; can’t wait to see the pair in the vampire show!),

last twilight (my heart ached and baked and was made into a cake. that means i loved it),

kiseki: dear to me (ai di owns my heart forever; i like his big puppy chen yi too. i couldn’t get into the main pairing tbh),

together with me 1&2 (it was okay)

love in translation (cuuute)

do you have any more recs???

First of all can, this list is immaculate (bar cutie pie, did not vibe with that one bit)

Secondly, I see you with your insane taste in ships. Maxnat from Two Worlds/Naughty Babe? This is top tier shit. I found Naughty Babe awful and mostly unwatchable (I'm not domundi's- the company who produced naughty babe and cutie pie- biggest fan) but MAXNAT??? That pairing have me wrapped round their fingers. Especially Max. Goddamn.

Thirdly, did you like love in the air? Thoughts on the second half of the show in particular? Because the other main couple (fort and peat) are my precious fucking baby angels and I would die for them. And if you liked them then my first recommedation is the currently airing Love Sea the series, because they're tearing me limb from limb. Every week they do something that thrills, excites, and terrifies me all in equal standing.

In terms of other recs, I can definitely give you a few I enjoyed, because your list is very good already and I'm seeing that we have quite similar taste.

I want to throw the show Manner of Death at you. You've seen Together With Me, and if you liked our boys Max and Tul and managed to wade your way through that show plus it's sequel, based on their chemistry alone, then Manner Of Death will be refeshing change for you. Because their chemistry is even better and the story line actually has a very clever and exciting narrative. Plus, its a lot more mature than your average highschool drama bl.

Tale of 1000 Stars is another show I really enjoyed. Its bl pairing is Earth and Mix, they have fantastic chemistry and the show has a really interesting plot that kept me hooked. It's a bit more typical thai bl in certain aspects, and the intimate nc scenes are next to none, but their relationship is one I was hooked on and I enjoyed the story a lot.

I have also enjoyed: 4 Minutes is only one episode in, but I can already tell it's going to be a favourite, which says a lot. But I am also very biased towards the lead male, Bible Wichapas aka Vegas from Kinnporsche. Man Suang is a movie, not series, but its on Netflix and its Mileapo from Kinnporsche. It's historical, gritty, heart-hitting, and just generally very fucking well produced. Moonlight Chicken (the side couple had me hooked immediately) Ingredients (cute af mini series with a Jeff Satur-Kim from KP) My Stand-In (I endjoyed it for what it was, it was a bit ridiculous) Vice-Versa (If you liked JimmySea you'll probably enjoy this) Bad Buddy (Great chemistry between the main characters) And a Taiwanese bl I liked was: History 3: Trapped.

(Your kinnporsche review is EVERYTHING. No notes.

The Mr Blonde jaw thing had me chuckling. I too, very much enjoyed the jaw thing. Hope the vampire show is directed well. Bounprem deserve it.

Tan absolutely should have slain them all. Apart from bb White. Agreed. Wholeheartedly.

Ai Di x Chen Yi were the only reason I was watching that show. For real.

Last Twilight was fantastic. I just didn't vibe with the ending. If it had ended on that rock cliff? Perfection. Stunning. Show-stopping.)

I hope you enjoy some of these! Sorry this got SO LONG.

[kunosoura]

top 5 ships

I'm not a huge nerd for like sailing/space flight/etc so when we're talking ships the ones I like the most are more for what they Represent. So in no particular order:

The S.S. Stormborn from Naddpod, I just love the story beat of an orphan learning about his parents and taking up his father's place on the helm of his old ship

The Bebop (and every scifi ship that's like "this is a piece of shit like fishing/shipping/industrial ship converted for use as both a home and a workhorse for a group of grey market mercenaries trying to eke out a living in the stars)

Arsenal Gear from MGS2. There's something about that completely impractical and overblown sort of scifi maximalism prompting people to make impractically huge floating fortresses that I simply adore.

In what is I guess the complete opposite of the last example, The Lookfar from Earthsea. One boat that can comfortably fit maybe two people and the endless potential of the seas stretching in every direction.

That one flying ship from pokemon the movie 2000 no thematic notes here I just thought it was sick as fuck as a kid

You're probably actually asking about my favorite fictional relationships (canon or theoretical), I don't do fandom type shipping stuff that much but here's what I got for you. Maybe not top five, no particular order, but I think about these a lot.

Madohomu. You might have seen this coming. Girl with something wrong with her x girl with something wrong with her. Aloof facade hiding mountains of pain x emotions worn on the sleeve in the face of incomprehensible horror. Incompatible self sacrifice complexes. No possible happy ending.

Narusasu. You probably also saw this one coming. It's a perfect tragedy. Naruto really was the only person who understood Sasuke's pain, and he used that influence to win him back to subservience to liberalism and away from in any meaningful way changing the system that had forced them both to endure isolation and nightmares as children. Then they fucked off to the least happy heterosexual marriages in the world. Sublime.

Franklin and Charlie from Merrily We Roll Along. You know that old saying about how some men ruin the lives of every woman they love because their soulmate is a man? Franklin Shepard is the gay Sondheim character, NOT Bobby (who I will go to my grave saying is and has always been intended as a straight man). He got caught in a raid on a Greenwich village and had to get counseling in the 60s ffs like that's like textual!!! When his first wife is brought up he's a little bitter in the easy ough bitch ex wife taking all my money way but apparently bringing Charlie up after their alienation is a surefire way to get him in a horrible mood. The story is to me all but textually about a man driving himself further and further into the closet so he can succeed in Hollywood.

aw man you guys can't make fun of me for this one you have to promise but I still find monica/chandler cute. Like yeah largely nowadays I consider friends to be an extremely dated show that is all but unwatchable because of how much it relies on a style of tv storytelling that has all but died out and how it stretched the few decent things it had over way too many seasons and also its shitty politics. But I still like the monica/chandler relationship. It's cute and they're sweet.

I don't know if I'd say this is an all timer for me but lately I've been really sort of savoring the dynamic between Ssrin and Anna from Exordia. There's so much sensuality between them whenever they're on the page together. Really saves that book from the endless mire of drama between those two gay ass cops.

[volcanicflowers]

live blogging the fallout show under here. episode 1. im a hater by nature btw but its not all negative dw

is this guy like the vault tec ceo or spokesperson or something? NO WAY HE IS NAMED MR HOWARD...... todd howard's self insert the vault tec ceo.

i think todd saw the "did you know vault boy is actually holding up his thumb to check the size of the mushroom cloud" thing on reddit and was like "oh shit... thats a good idea. we should use that"

no way they have time for this conversation AND GETTING ON THE FUCKING HORSE???? GIRL THE HORSE?? NOT THE CAR??? GIRL??????????? RIDING THE HORSE DOWN THE STREET?? HELLO? actually i understand. save the horse. bringing my horse into the vault.

HOORAY no vault incest 🥳🥳🥳

GIRL WHY DID THEY HAVE TO MENTION THAT SHE'S BEEN "DOING COUSIN STUFF" FOR 10 YEARS AFTER ESTABLISHING THAT THEY DON'T DO INCEST IN THE VAULTS????? i hate it here.

i will say the room in the vault that looks like an outdoor farm goes hard i am a very big fan of that

DEAD WIFE BACKSTORY COUNTER: 1!! LETS GO PEOPLE!!!!!

NOT MORE OF THE COUSIN INCEST.. I FUCKING HATE IT HERE.

her dad is either going to super die or be evil

husband guy isnt even going to call her platinum in the sack? or pussy cat? what about her charlies? literally unwatchable.

my husband is taking a very big gulp of water, i think hes a serial killer?

"you're from the surface" girl how else do you think he got there from the other vault

i feel like this is a lot of effort for these raiders to go through to take over a vault but i guess they were there for the party

she'll be fine just start spamming stimpaks

okay her dad survived the raider attack which means hes definitely going to turn out to be evil later

i like maximus he seems fun i hope he leaves the brotherhood and i hope hes kinda a loser

oh so new vegas exploded but not the prydwen which i blew up personally?

aw maximus not anger issues cmon

"we've never opened the vault door" how were you getting people from the other vaults for this arranged marriage thing???? if it actually is secret tunnels why werent they just sharing the vaults from the get-go why was the cousin incest necessary

loving lucy's cringefail brother btw i hope he shows up more

YESSSS CRINGEFAIL BROTHER COMING ALONG!!

NOOO hes staying behind :( why tease me like this

cmon maximus couldve been a fun loser why we doing this. throw him off the prydwen I Guess

ghoul moment. i have to go to bed now

[ploppythespaceship]

Arrowverse - 2014-2015 Season

I am now officially alternating between multiple shows at once. Let the chaos begin.

This post will cover:

Arrow - Season 3

The Flash - Season 1

Crossover Event - Flash vs. Arrow

Arrow - Season 3

Wow. This season is a hot mess.

Right off the bat, the decision to fridge Sara is infuriating. She's a great character and deserves better to be unceremoniously killed off. (I know she comes back and is a part of Legends of Tomorrow, but that's besides that point for this season.)

The rest of the arc is absolute nonsense. Malcolm's motivations make no sense. Ra's is even worse, and undermines himself constantly by simply doing something stupid. Not to mention him being woefully miscast -- a White Australian guy in the part is certainly a Choice -- and the fact that everyone flip-flops on how to pronounce his name.

The pacing of this season is also pretty bad. It feels like we spend just a little bit too long on every individual part. Things clearly happen just to fill some runtime and stretch out the tension. Then the finale rushes through everything at a breakneck pace. It all just feels off.

But hands down the worst part of this season is how none of the characters have learned a damn thing about keeping secrets from each other. I recognize that this is a theme, that it's meant to be part of people's character arcs, but that doesn't change how infuriating it is to watch. The show has become an endless cycle of characters keeping secrets, dealing with the fallout when the secret is revealed, resolving not to keep secrets anymore, then immediately deciding that actually they're gonna keep secrets. It's agonizing.

Also, Laurel is awful. She is the worst character on this show by far. She doesn't listen to anyone, she makes objectively stupid decisions against everyone's advice, she never learns a single thing... I have to wonder when the writers will just cut their losses and write her out altogether. She fundamentally is not working.

Roy also feels like an afterthought, like he always has. But this season gave him a little more to do and wrote him out in a satisfying way, so I can't complain as much.

Meanwhile, the flashbacks in this season are really strange. It feels like they need to one-up what Oliver was doing during his five years, even if it doesn't really make sense. Waller has no real reason to recruit Oliver, and the whole plot isn't terribly engaging -- especially when the non-flashback scenes reveal everything important that happened already. We know the Alpha/Omega is going to be released, we know Akio is going to die, we know Maseo is going to abandon Tatsu, but the show still acts like these are huge revelations.

Despite my many complaints, there are still some things here that work. The primary one being Ray Palmer. God, what a breath of fresh air he is. Brandon Routh is so charming and contrasts so well with the other characters. He isn't meshed with the rest of the season well, at all, but he's so fun that I don't really care.

Overall, the season wasn't unwatchable by any means, but it was easily the worst of the show so far. And it doesn't help that I'm watching it alongside its sister show that's doing everything better.

The Flash - Season 1

(Full confession, this is not my first time watching this season. But I'd forgotten a lot.)

This show hit the ground running -- pun absolutely intended. Everything here just works. Every single member of the cast is phenomenal, and the characters have excellent chemistry. They seem to have learned from Arrow and set up a clear Team Flash from the get-go, with each character having a clear role in that dynamic.

The show also has a much lighter tone than Arrow, which I feel suits the story more naturally. It doesn't go to dark places nearly as often. The show settles into an easy formula that's just nice to settle into.

The Flash also does something I adore, which is emphasizing strong platonic relationships. Barry and Joe's father/son dynamic is everything to me. Cisco and Caitlin have a great friendship, as do Caitlin and Barry. And I truly appreciate that for 90% of the season, Barry and Iris are mature adults despite Barry's feelings for her. Barry doesn't try to get between her and Eddie (apart from one instance that was a misunderstanding) -- he values her friendship over everything else and prioritizes that.

If this season has one flaw, I think it played its hand with Wells way, way too early. They reveal that something's up with him in the first episode, reveal that he's the Reverse-Flash in the mid-season finale, and have the rest of the cast catch onto this a few episodes later. I think they robbed themselves of a truly spectacular twist moment, where the penny drops and everyone realizes they've been played. It makes the end of the season lose a lot of its punch as a result.

But overall, it's still an excellent first season, and I completely understand why The Flash sort of took over as the Arrowverse's flagship.

Crossover - Flash vs. Arrow

The pattern of crossovers is made pretty clear -- some light overlap, where they will reference or lightly feature characters from the other show, plus one big crossover event multi-parter that requires tuning in to both shows for that week. It's simple, but works fairly well... for the most part. The crossovers don't actually line up perfectly and require you to rearrange events in your head. In fact, Oliver's appearance on The Flash's penultimate episode implies that at some point he slipped away from Ra's al Ghul's tight watch, not to speak with his friends and inform him of his plans, but to beat up Harrison Wells as a favor for Barry. And that's hilarious, honestly.

The actual crossover is solid. It's very clear that Barry was set up to contrast Oliver, and these episodes work with that excellently. Their styles and personalities clash in all the right ways, making for excellent drama and letting them learn from one another.

They also manage to use the different tones of the two shows to great effect, emphasizing the contrast and how the two cities shape each of the heroes' styles. It's exactly what a good crossover should be, really.

[orionsangel86]

Good Omens Season 2 - Overall Review

You know every now and then its nice to step outside of the echo chamber and get a fresh perspective on things. I've been looking at some negative reviews for GOS2 this evening after some critical comments came across my dash which was a surprise at first because my dash has otherwise been filled with GOS2 love and adoration (if perhaps also some odd theories floating around).

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it made me really consider mine, so I decided to write it down. I know I still have episode reviews for eps 2-6 to write up, which I will get to, but I needed to get this off my chest first. This is generally just a reaction post outlining all the things I liked and didn't like about GOS2. Under a cut because looooong.

I hadn't read the Good Omens book before I watched Season 1. I watched that show completely blind and my main reason for watching at the time was because

a) I'm always going to be a little bit in love with David Tennant and so watch absolutely everything he is in always no matter how horrible (Des was a particularly hard watch)

b) I had heard that GO was partially some of the original inspiration for Supernatural and I'll be a Supernatural slut til the end of time.

c) I love all things fantasy and it genuinely looked like a great show.

Whilst I loved the first season, the thing I loved about it, was Aziraphale and Crowley. I also very much enjoyed the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Angels and Demons, and Anathama and Madam Tracey as characters.

I hated the kids. They were bloody awful and on every rewatch I have done in the past few years I have had to skip over their scenes. I find them completely unwatchable. I found Newt to be boring and Shadwell a pain in the ass. I don't find that particular brand of misogyny funny so his scenes are also just painful for me. I loathed the fact that he ended up with Madam Tracey in the end, AND that she changed who she was completely for him. What the FUCK was that all about?

Anyway, now that that is off my chest, the point I am making is that the only thing I really enjoyed about Good Omens was Crowley and Aziraphales love story plus a few of the awesome female characters they had helping them. I also enjoyed the quirky narration by God which I think had a distinctly Douglas Adam's feel to it (which I believe was the vibe Terry and Neil were going for at the time).

I have always been of the opinion that it was GOs faithfullness to the book which let it down. I read the book after watching the show and whilst it was a good book, it dragged on in parts, spent too long focusing on the kids, and Aziraphale and Crowley weren't quite as lovable in book format as they were brought to life by DT and MS. To me, the book was a 6/10, the show a 7/10. I was a fan of AziraCrow and their love story. I did not, and have not ever, believed they were "canon" in season 1 (though i was loathed to admit this due to the rabidity of the fandoms insistence that they were - which was spurred on by Gaiman much to his own detriment).

So when GOS2 came around I had no expectations that it would kick off with AziraCrow being all lovey dovey and shacked up - having confessed their love and living together as life partners - as I genuinely believe some GO fans expected to be the case - after all these are the fans that insisted it was canon in season 1! Surely that means they'll be together in season 2 right?

Well obviously that wasn't the case. First mistake for Neil Gaiman - maybe don't spend 4 years trying to convince your fanbase that these characters are already together and in love if you are going to write a whole second season revolving around the fact that they still aren't together.

I was also really worried when GOS2 was announced that they'd bring back the bloody kids, and Shadwell, and the other season 1 characters. I was very much relieved when I heard that wasn't the case. As much as I enjoyed Madam Tracey, she was ruined at the end of S1, and as much as I liked Anathama, I was very aware that her story was over the moment she burned the new prophecy book.

So going into Season 2, I was expecting and hoping for a few things:

The romantic development of AziraCrow from friends to lovers

More time with the angels and demons

A fun lesbian side story

Technically, I got all three things.

I am aware that GOS2 has its flaws. It's pacings a bit dodgy, and I do find some of the dialogue a bit jarring particularly in the Maggie and Nina scenes. The entire season has this slightly saccharine quality to it where I feel like if I watch it too many times too quickly I'll get sick from the sweetness. There needed to be a little bit more gruesomeness and angst to counteract all that sugar - Zombie Nazi's notwithstanding.

The Maggie and Nina mirrors to Aziraphale and Crowley were more heavy handed than in a season 8 MOTW episode of Supernatural. I've made that joke before, but it still stands. I wish that Neil had been a bit more subtle with it. As much as I like Maggie and Nina, they could have used a bit more development and a bit of distance from Zira and Crowley. I did find the scene where they sit down with Crowley at the end to basically tell him to get his shit together and tell Zira how he feels like something out of a fangirls dream. Does anyone remember that really OTT gay Hallmark style Christmas movie that came out last year? Single All The Way? Gods, when I first watched that movie I thought it was sweet, but it was so obviously taken from fanfiction that I couldn't take it seriously (I say this as someone who adores fanfiction and has huge respect for fanfiction writers - but we all start somewhere, and its usually as a teenager writing really sappy YAOI and that's what I feel inspired Single All The Way - side note: Trixie and Katya's review of Single All The Way is one of the funniest things I've ever watched, nothing like watching two drag queens absolutely destroy queer media that was absolutely NOT written with gay men in mind)). Anyway, I mention SATW because there is a scene towards the end of the movie where two teenage girls sit the protagonist down and tell him that he's an idiot who is clearly in love with his best friend and he should go confess his love before its too late.

Look I'm sure we've all had that fantasy. I know I did when it came to Destiel for years. Nothing better than picturing myself standing in the bunker shaking Dean Winchester by the shoulders yelling at him to go kiss Castiel because goddammit that angel needs to know he's loved!

It's a great fantasy. But I DO NOT want to EVER see it played out for real in ANY media. When I realised that this was exactly what was happening in GOS2 I curled up into a ball and screamed into my hands, and not in a good way. That was... bad. Someone slap Neil on the wrist for that terrible decision. There were a dozen better ways they could have explained the AziraCrow miscommunication issue.

Having said all this, everything else about GOS2 I adored. There is criticism about the minisodes. Sure, they are totally expansions on the popularity of Season 1's episode 3 opener, and are rather self indulgent and not really connected to the main Gabriel mystery, but they are each of them an absolute blast. They dig deeper into AziraCrow's relationship and help to understand a bit more of their dynamic and the underlying issues that they have been facing for their entire friendship.

I totally understand where people may criticise the Gabriel/Beelzebub romance coming out of left field as well. It was totally unexpected and yeah, sure, Gabriel was basically the villain of season 1, so I can understand the irritation and him getting to have a happy ever after love story when he has never even apologised to Zira. But I gotta be honest, I don't really care. I thought it was hilarious and a fun twist as well as well as a much more subtle narrative mirror to AziraCrow than Maggie and Nina were. You can accuse Neil of taking that idea from fans if you want, its totally possible that he came across some ineffable beurocracy fanart and thought huh, that could be fun. But I don't care if he did, or if it did come to him completely separately to the fans. I never shipped them, but I find it hilarious in the same way I find the Dean/Crowley ship in SPN hilarious. That went canon too, much to the horror of the entire SPN fandom. NO ONE ASKED FOR DROWLEY and yet they inflicted it on us anyway... I'll never quite get over that fact.

As for Aziraphale's characterisations. I disagree with everyone who says he was out of character. I love that he's still struggling with the idea of not being part of heaven. I love that he is still dealing with the millennia of abuse and brainwashing and manipulation. I love that he still hasn't quite grasped the tyranny and institutional corruption at Heaven's heart. I found the end of season 1 to be very satisfying in a lot of ways (other than the lack of handholding in the Ritz) but when I really think about it, Season 1 really doesn't resolve Zira's issues with Heaven. He get's discorporated, decides he doesn't want to fight, goes back to Earth and then he's dealing with the apocalypse and he never actually has any communication with Heaven again after that, because it's Crowley who goes to Heaven in his place and witnesses just how cruel they are (at least Hell gave Crowley a trial).

Nothing happens at the end of season 1 that could be enough to break him away from 6000 years of cult-like indoctrination. He still puts it down to a few bad angels. He never actually talks to God, and whilst the Metatron disappoints him, its very easy to believe that Zira would change his mind after receiving a few kind words, and the promise of restoring Crowley to full angelhood.

Crowley was perfect throughout the entire season. 10/10. No notes. Absolutely utter perfection. Outstanding performance from DT, I laughed, I cried, I wept, I desperately want to hug Crowley and let him cry on my shoulder for an entire night.

Other things I adored about the season include the entirety of episode 5 The Ball. My fave episode. It was so silly and adorable and funny. The entire "Seamstress" conversation had me rolling with laughter. Shout out to Donna Preston (Our girl Despair) who absolutely stole every scene she was in. Miranda Richardson shines as Shax (an excellent choice to recast her as a new character after the butchering of Madam Tracey's character at the end of S1). I think Muriel was a bit underutilised but still loved their wide eyed innocence and naivity.

The biggest thing I think was missing was Francis McDormand's narration as God. They brought her back for episode 2 for a very minor role, I don't understand why Neil couldn't have just had God narrate it again, with more Douglas Adams crossed with Monty Python style sequences of explanation (the angels dancing on the head of a pin is one of my absolute favourite moments in all of season 1). I presume that God's narration in S1 was to ensure the books more abstract explanations got faithfully adapted, but I wish Neil could have at least tried to recreate that for S2.

Finally, the AziraCrow romance was almost exactly what I hoped for. All the way through the season they built on it and built on it, whilst also shedding light on the fundamental issues at their core. They are still so opposite even though they want nothing more than to be together. It's heartbreaking, it's shippy AF, its all romance tropes and fanservice sure - but I don't consider fanservice to be a dirty word. The kiss is heartbreaking. You can feel the desperation oozing off of Crowley in that moment. The heartbreaking cliffhanger is exactly what's needed at the end of act 2 of a 3 act structure. If we had been given the episodes week by week, i fully believe by week 6 we would have been more prepared for it, because after rewatching a few times now, its built in rather seemlessly imo. It was always gonna end that way.

When I consider everything, I can honestly say hand on heart that I preferred this season to the first. Though that's only because season 1 doesn't have enough AziraCrow in it and I'm ultimately here for them. This season was made for the AziraCrow fans, so it makes sense that I'd prefer it, whereas I suppose for book lovers and people who prefer the story of book 1 to the relationship between Az and Crow then yeah, for sure I can see why perhaps you wouldn't be too happy with this season. Perhaps Season 3 will be a better blend for all GO fans.

It was a joy. Fanservice? Yes. A bit like fanfiction? Also yes. Are either of these things bad? Not at all. It was extremely queer, fun, silly, romantic, and heartbreaking. The lack of overarching domineering plot was a good thing tbh. Some of my favourite shows focus more on character development than plot, look at WWDITS, which has never had a proper plot in a single episode of its 5 season run. Yet it is hugely successful and critically acclaimed. Half the time in Supernatural the plot was the absolute worst thing about it. You ignored the plot as much as possible and instead focused on the subtext because that's where all the fun was! So yeah, the lack of overarching plot doesn't bother me in the slightest.

I will leave it there. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, though I do wish that anyone who is particularly critical of GOS2 would please tag it as such, because now I've done my dive into the critique of it, I'd like to avoid and blacklist all such critique going forward. I want to remain in my little GOS2 happy bubble for a while longer - before I inevitably revert back into deep meta analysis of the much darker, and sometimes depressing story of The Sandman.

:)

[rxttenfish]

ive been listening to an actual play of a delta green campaign lately and they arent particularly good but are at least very watchable when i just need human voices in the background, and for context this campaign is very long with a lot of detail and takes place over several decades, plus the players have taken multi-month breaks in between seasons of the campaign.

but the dm is doing the really annoying thing of, when a player cannot remember something but their character would know it, just not telling them what it is nor reminding them. inadvertently punishing them for a very easy mistake to make in a campaign with so many tiny obtuse details like this. making it uncomfortable to unwatchable to actually have to sit through because its just not fun to see information constantly be dangled in front of your face and know you recognize it but not being allowed to know in detail any of it.

and honestly i just dont even know why dms do this. why anyone does this actually. like i understand the urge to preserve the mystery and encourage people to figure it out on their own but you can also just say "do you want me to tell you this or no", especially when theyre already positioning it from an out of character perspective of "my character should know this, please help". like ive been going through the entire campaign in all of two weeks and I dont remember this shit.

its one of those things where i just dont understand the benefit of. what benefit is there to frustrating your players and just denying them random shit because you personally feel like they should earn it. its not fun to listen to. i dont want to sit here and watch the dm get more and more high and mighty over this shit. plus its just not considering your audience, which is a thing you DO now have to consider if youre recording your games and putting them online in a fairly large production that makes you cash, and if you didnt want that then you shouldnt have recorded it in the first place. even moreso when some of these "puzzles" are actually fucking god awful and contextless and things that you would NEVER figure out on your own if you werent just told it already.

that and so many of this dms rulings are just bullshit too. like its hard to talk about them without giving specific examples, but it really feels like a perfect embodiment of people viewing the dm and the players as competing against each other when they arent and ruining the game for it.

[epictay]

teirlist of all the ii cast and episodes

all the characters, now imma try and keep this very brief but tissues is my favourite character no I'm not kidding I love this man so much yes I voted for him in 2021 yes I screamed and cried at his death no I won't say why I love him so much that's lore for later, the characters that are just like me fr fr should just tell you who i am as a person fan is literally just me im autistic and brain has said that he is at this point hell I have a replie from him years ago that says so, mephone 4... that's personal but his protrale really makes me think, apple is me fr fr to because I'm awful at spelling, same reason I like fan is the same for lightbulb and the floor, goo is just me all the time, bot is just me so badly, the characters I adore I still love these guys they just aren't me sadly rip 4s I cried when he appearing in the finally of season 3, no I'm still not over his death ii crew bring him back please I'm on my hands and nees the rest are self explanatory I've never really liked marshmallow she's fine I don't like oj no I'm not explaining why he knows what he did... never liked cabby and fuck silver spoon I hate him so much he gets his own teir because no words can describe how much i hate him when he appeared in episodec 17 I screamed fuck em

NOW here me out, some of seaosn 1 is ok in my books the first half is awful unwatchable for frame of reference I first watched ii at 3am 4 years ago, would not recommend it is a trip in a half episode 12 is a weird favourite of mine.. don't ask why same with 14 now season 2 there is no questioning what's the best like you would have to be insane to not put anything after 10 high, episode 8 is a personal favourite it makes me laugh so hard it's the funniest to me and it always will, episode 11 will never be topped in my opinion it is legendary and that elimation, its just chefs kiss like they can never top it again season 3, most of the episodes I hate have silver as the main focus, may I say more I've made my views on him very clear, episode 3 is my absolute favourite it's so funny and yall are sleeping on it it's the funniest thing ever made for ii anyways for the recorder these are my opinions and ye (: goodnight

[churchofthecomet]

pov you're 13 or 14 years old, and you just tore through the sherlock holmes stories, when you watch the pilot of this cool modernized adaptation with benedict cumberbatch and martin freeman in it. congratulations, you've found your first Modern Media Obsession. you voraciously consume fanfiction of this television show in between watching episodes, which you pay for with weirdly sketchy mechanisms because you don't really have your own money yet + you don't know that piracy exists.

this is the Greatest TV Show Ever for the first two seasons, you are fucking high on it. you're 14 and you don't know any better. start of the third season... hmm, this power dynamic seems a little fucked up, time to retreat into fanfiction and feel conflicted about canon -- haha, too late! you have already internalized awful messages from this piece of media, which remain embedded in your brain! you watch as your favorite show devolves and unravels before your very eyes, the desperate fix-its and "what if the show was good" fanworks, and very gradually come to the conclusion that it was actually mid to bad the whole time. but you cannot unwatch the show. it has Changed you.

also inexplicably you started watching the show in late 2017 but had a strong no-spoilers mindset which meant that you didn't notice the dumpster fire of a fandom until it was too late??

anyway this happened to my buddy eric one time, who is definitely not me