#no mention of him in last episode but his son gets his proper ceremony WITHOUT HIS DAD BEING THERE WHAT THE FUCK

[riretrograde]

I'm doing great actually wdym. I'm fine 🥲

[farmerlan]

Farmer Lan’s Rewatch Guide to The Untamed - Episode 4

CAUTION: SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERS

[We open to the opening/gift-giving ceremony, and we are introduced to fellow rabble rouser Nie Huaisang, as well as Jin Guangyao (then known as Meng Yao). He seems aware of the gossip surrounding him but Lan Xichen treats him kindly anyway.

The Wen posse interrupts the ceremony, stopping at the entrance to disfigure a disciple on the way. Lan Wangji almost interferes but holds back; Wei Wuxian does not care about consequences (what else is new) and the Jiang and Wen sects soon draw arms. Lan Xichen disarms them all with his melodious xiao playing and tells Wen Chao to watch himself, with Wen Qing stepping in to diffuse the situation.]

Differences from the novel:

You probably know what I’m about to say and I’m afraid it doesn’t get any less repetitive from here on out…but yep, this scene is not in the novel. There’s no ceremony. The flashback pretty much goes directly to lessons/the meeting of Wuxian and Wangji. With that said, I thought it was a really clever way to introduce some more of our main characters.

In the novel, Meng Yao does not show up as part of the Nie sect’s retinue at the Cloud Recesses. In fact, I am not sure where he would be in this part of the story timeline. In the novel timeline of events, Meng Yao joined the Nie sect’s cultivators during the Sunshot campaign, but prior to that had tried to visit his father at Carp Tower after the passing of his mother, only to be rejected and kicked down the stairs. However, I believe this would be even before that , so at this point he is probably still living with his mother.

As discussed in the previous episode, the Wens do not go to Cloud Recesses at all so any scenes from here on out with Wen Qing and Wen Ning are not part of the novel. Wen Chao in the novel still does most of the awful things he does in the drama, but he is not established as a villain this early on in the timeline. For Wen Qing and Wen Ning, they are only introduced after Jiang Cheng had been captured by the Wens.

[Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang arrange to go visit the back hill for shenanigans. The three of them run into Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian recounts how he fought Lan Wangji last night.

Cut to Lan Xichen, who thinks the Wen sect is up to no good and voices concerns about their involvement with the puppetry issue. Lan Qiren hesitates to jump to conclusions but note that they have been getting out of control. Meng Yao is then shown being ignored by most people except Lan Xichen, who treats him kindly and wow I didn’t really pay attention to their dynamics the first time round but I can totally see why some people ship them ha.]

Differences from the novel:

Something that the drama, especially in this episode, conveys is the lack of respect afforded to Meng Yao as illegitimate son of Jin Guangshan and a prostitute. In the novel, he grew up being bullied and even after he took the name of Jin Guangyao, he was looked down upon. Lan Xichen was one of the only people who consistently stood by his side. In Chapter 48, there is a scene where other cultivators did not want to drink the tea offered by Jin Guangyao as they believed that he was ‘unclean’ since he is the son of the prostitute. The only person who thanked him and drank the tea without hesitation was Lan Xichen.

[Wen Qing tests the wards around the back hill, Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang are shown catching fish in the stream. Wei Wuxian hears a noise and investigates, only to see Wen Qing. We learn that she’s a doctor by trade.

There’s a scene of the Jiang gang sharing dinner and we once again have a scene between Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli. The former wonders when Wei Wuxian will grow up and start thinking of the sect and Jiang Yanli once again bring up Wuxian is living up to the values of the sect, and we get our first conversation around how Jiang Fengmian favors Wei Wuxian.]

Differences from the novel:

Sorry, nope again. No such scenes in the novel since neither Wen Qing nor Jiang Yanli were at Gusu! In fact, there is not a whole lot of dialogue between Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng about favoritism – Jiang Cheng really only talks about it with Wei Wuxian directly.

Don’t worry, Wen Qing is a doctor in the novel.

[Lan Qiren is reciting the values of the Gusu sect and Wuxian and Huaisang are passing peanuts, notes, dozing off and generally being up to no good. I love how improperly Wei Wuxian is sitting right as Lan Qiren talks about having proper posture. Lan Wangji looks like he is about to have an aneurysm. Wei Wuxian gets picked on by Lan Qiren for his lack of respect. Lan Qiren asks him to get lost and as punishment, to transcribe a volume of the Gusu Lan rules 1000 times, and then asks Lan Wangji to supervise him.

Wei Wuxian goes wandering in the back hill and runs into Wen Ning, who is shown here at being good at archery but gets a few pointers from Wei Wuxian. They run into Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian guesses she’s up to something, before Lan Wangji shows up to drag him back to the Cloud Recesses for his punishment.]

Differences from the novel:

Wei Wuxian does run into Wen Ning practicing archery in the novel, but the setting in the novel was that of a flashback. In Chapter 59, As Wei Wuxian sneaks back to Yunmeng to try and find Jiang Cheng (who had been captured), he encounters Wen Ning. Wei Wuxian doesn’t quite remember him at first, but Wen Ning remembers him and was grateful that Wei Wuxian spoke up for him during an archery competition held at the Nightless City two years ago.  Essentially, Wei Wuxian had spied him practicing and given him encouragement, even after Wen Ning performed poorly in front of the audience because he was nervous. Wen Ning helps Wei Wuxian recover Jiang Cheng from the clutches of his sect.

The lesson scene with Lan Qiren is in the book, although it is somewhat modified. In the book, Wei Wuxian actually receives punishment four times in both the novel and drama, but for different reasons:

After Lan Qiren tries to test him and he mentions demonic cultivation in the classroom (this scene), Lan Qiren tells him to get lost (and Wei Wuxian being who he is, just takes this as an opportunity to straight up leaves the class, pissing Lan Qiren off even more lol). Afterwards, Jiang Cheng finds him and tells him Lan Qiren has ordered him to copy two volumes of the Gusu sect rules three times (when we’re talking volumes, we’re talking TOMES given how dense the material is). Nie Huaisang actually volunteers to do this for him as long as he helps Nie Huaisang cheat by passing notes during the next test in return. This does not happen in the drama – it was replaced by the scene where he gets punished after he gets caught by Lan Wangji while trying to sneak in to the Cloud Recesses.

Lan Wangji catches them cheating during the test and tells Lan Qiren. The subsequent hilarious interactions between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian during his punishment happens in Chapter 15 and is covered in Episode 5.

Wei Wuxian later on attempts to smuggle alcohol in AGAIN in Chapter 18 and ends up getting both himself and Lan Wangji punished – although there is a difference in terms of how this happens between the novel and the drama (Episode 6).

Finally, our boy also gets punished for his fight with Jin Zixuan, which DOES closely follow the novel according to my memory (although I have to check Episode 7 against Chapter 18 to confirm).

Overall Thoughts

As of right now, we’re still around Chapter 13/14 of the novel and it’s definitely been interesting seeing how the drama writers had to adapt the flashback-heavy plot to something more palatable for a drama. It’s actually really cool seeing how our feelings towards characters develop the same way as they do in the novel, just through a different series of events than what was portrayed.

For example, the show had to cut out a fair amount of dialogue for Nie Huaisang compared to what was in the novel, which cuts down on his character development. However, the writers were still able to show his character as that of a mischievous,(adorable) bumbling idiot, only, they effectively did this through the back hill scene while simultaneously building on the exposition for Wen Qing as well through her interaction with Wei Wuxian in that same scene. The novel has the luxury of breaking these interactions with side characters out into more prolonged scenes, but the writers do an incredible job of condensing everything while still having the plot make sense.

[obsidianarchives]

Game of Thrones Recap: S8E4 - "The Last of the Starks"

Didn’t we almost have it all? At the moment I’m not sure I’m talking about the episode, this season, or (if you really want to get spicy) the first four seasons of the series, but this show started off SO WELL and then devolved into an unfounded attack on everything I love and believe in. We’re back to split locations this week so let’s get into it, and trust we’ll be discussing that ending. TW: There is brief discussion about the use of rape as a narrative tactic in the “Winterfell” section.

Winterfell

The episode picks up right where we left off last week as the survivors of the Great War bid farewell to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for loss. As much as I’ve never seen it for either of them, Daenerys’s sadness over Jorah — her first friend and a man (for all his MANY faults) who was a constant throughout her adult life — and Sansa tearfully placing a Stark pin on Theon’s corpse were touching and earned conclusions of their character journeys. But there’s still no country for slave traders and child murderers so, bye!

Leading the ceremony, Jon puts some bass in his voice, does his best Captain America impression, and delivers the most impassioned and leaderly speech we’ve heard from him yet as he modifies the Night’s Watch farewell to begin lighting the pyres of fallen heroes outside the castle. Ramin Djawadi put his foot all the way in the score on this scene as we see just how much the fight took out of the survivors. All of our main characters are bruised and bloody, poor Ghost lost an ear, and Rhaegal has holes in his wings and is still too weak to fly without a bit of a hook. Everyone needs a drink.

And what an after party it is! Gendry suffers through awkward dinner conversations with his girlfriend’s father (we’ll get there) the Hound while he awaits Arya who’s a no-show at the feast. Daenerys sees him and takes the opportunity to note that he’s the unknown bastard son of a King. For a moment, I thought she was trying to make a point to Jon about the validity or lack thereof about his claim to the throne, but she instead legitimizes Gendry and proclaims him Lord of the Baratheon’s old seat of Storm’s End. By raising up the former blacksmith she not only installs a Lord Paramount of the Stormlands forever loyal to her, creating allies she desperately needs, she also buries another potential claimant against her crown.

For some reason Sansa is confused and disgusted by this and Tyrion clocks it but says nothing. As the drinking continues, Dany realizes how isolated she truly is as she listens to Jon be toasted by Tormund, a Kobe stan during a LeBron James championship parade. Instead of being a proud aunt towards her baby dragon riding nephew, Queen Daenerys sees how little she is loved by the Westorosi, an awakening that began with her witnessing Lord Royce and Theon’s admiration for Sansa earlier this season. Lurking dramatically behind her and observing all of this is, of course, Varys because he stays in the mess.

Ser Brienne, Podrick, and the Lannister brothers are playing Tyrion’s drinking game where they guess facts about each other, which is fun until the lord imp surmises that the newest knight from Tarth is a virgin. Brienne leaves in anger and shame while Jaime follows after her, leaving Tormund to finally realize where he stands as the third wheel, crying to the Hound. After Clegane chases him off into the arms of a willing Northern girl, Sansa and the Hound share their first conversation since season two and the Battle of Blackwater. When he acknowledges that the “little bird” has grown and changed as much as Arya, she tells him that without the horrors she’s had to endure she wouldn’t be the person she is today. There’s been a great deal of frustration with that line, as the notion that rape can be a tool to make a woman stronger, or that she owes her growth to the men in her life, is demonstrably false. I didn’t initially read the scene that way simply because the theme of terrible things and regrets forming people into who they are has been a repeated one this season (with Jaime, Bran, Theon, etc.), but it is a mark of poor and male-centric writing to not recognize the difference between intentional actions the male characters chose themselves and cruelty done to a character against their will that they’ve had to survive. But this wouldn’t be the last time the writers failed to understand context.

Gendry finally finds Arya in the castle working on her archery instead of reveling in the feast (Big Introvert Energy) and tells her that not only is he the son of a King, he’s now a proper lord himself. Kissing her, he gets down on one knee and tells her it doesn’t mean a thing without her by his side and proposes. Maisie Williams sells the scene with just her eyes, as she kisses Gendry back onto his feet, but has to let him down gently that being a lady is just not her. It calls back to what she constantly told Ned in season one, and the realization she had in her reunion with Nymeria last season.

Jaime channels his inner Drake and brings a flagon of wine to Brienne thee Stallion’s room, reminding her that she hasn’t finished the game. Brienne keeps her room nice and hot, so the Kingslayer starts to take off all his clothes, while probing her interest in Tormund. Always one to keep her guard up, Brienne finally realizes what’s about to happen and helps him take his shirt off as she joins him in disrobing and they finally consummate the years-long dance around and to each other’s hearts.

Daenerys and Jon finally have a heart to heart where Rhaegar’s son reiterates that he has no desire for the throne and is pledged to her. She then begs him to not tell anyone else (specifically Sansa and Arya) and to swear Samwell and Bran to secrecy lest the truth of a rival with a stronger claim gets out and threatens her position. So of course, Jon does the opposite and, forcing Sansa and Arya to promise to keep the secret in the family, has Bran divulge that he’s actually Aegon Targaryen. The scene cuts to black before we get to see their reactions to the news, but hold that thought.

With the demise of the Night King (who we’ll have to wait on the books which shall never be written to learn more about) and his army of the dead, Daenerys finally begins drawing up battle plans to take King’s Landing. As is her wont, the Dragon Queen wants ALL of the smoke and is ready to take Cersei out, whatever it takes. Ever the idealistic pacifist, Tyrion urges the long game of a siege to turn the people against her by starving the Lannisters out. Jon, who at this point doesn’t want to be in the middle of any other squabbles, concedes the feasibility of the plan but then in comes the maester of checking people in public, Lady Sansa. She councils a bit of patience on Dany’s part since her troops are dead tired from fighting zombies, one of her dragons is flying with a limp, and she really has no plan other than “I want the throne.” Admittedly, I’ve been #SansaHive for a while now, but the show seems intent on driving this division between the two matriarchs for no other reason than to manufacture tension and rush towards this narrative that Dany is the Mad Queen that has not been justified. Trying to get back in her good graces (or her bed), Jon however pulls rank and reminds the room that the North is pledged to Daenerys and will follow her to whatever end.

Ser Bronn finally arrives in Winterfell and displays the level-headed pragmatism that I’ve said more than once will put him on the Iron Throne. Rather than outright killing the Lannister men as Cersei wanted, he negotiates. While we finally discover the Queen offered him Riverrun and presumably reign of the Riverlands, Tyrion counters with Highgarden and the seat of the Reach. Less out of an affinity for the brothers and more because he’s seen what dragons can do to an army, he accepts the side he thinks is more likely to win, but promises his bill will come due once the war is over. Another thing this episode has done is remind us just how many Great Houses have fallen in Westeros. Daenerys mentions the support of a new, unnamed Prince in Dorne, and Edmure Tully is possibly still alive in a dungeon somewhere or hiding in oblivion with young Robin Arryn, but almost all of the ruling southern houses have been wiped out.

On the road from Winterfell, the Hound is riding south alone until he’s joined by Arya, and it seems they both have unfinished business back in the capital. If they’re pump faking us and we don’t get Cleganebowl, somebody has to square up. For now, the best buddy duo is back on the road again and neither have plans on coming back alive. Sansa, on the other hand, almost immediately tells Tyrion the ONE thing she promised not to and confides Jon’s secret identity. That’s how we know he wasn’t Ned’s son. Eddard managed to take decades of hate from his own wife to protect his nephew, Jon couldn’t even last a damn week.

The goodbyes continue as Tormund finally takes the wildlings back home to the REAL north to settle down and repopulate now that the threat of the White Walkers is gone. The show, choosing to emphasize his embrace of his Targaryen roots (and that he’s probably going to die soon) has Jon send Ghost north of the Wall as well, since a direwolf has no place in the South and would be happier. This is where the disrespect began and we should have seen the okey doke coming. The relationship between Jon and Ghost is one the show has always underplayed but my man would never! He didn’t even give his beloved companion a goodbye hug, simply looking on as Ghost whines for his friend. We also find out Gilly is pregnant with Sam’s baby for real this time, and if it’s a boy they’ll name him Jon. Yeah, he’s definitely going to die.

Hearing what went down at Dragonstone, Jaime, after knocking the sheen off of Brienne’s starry sapphire again for good measure, leaves in the middle of the night bound for King’s Landing. She runs out in her housecoat and slippers begging an ain’t shit man to come back into her life after just 24 hours; men are a curse. Jaime reads through the litany of things he’s done in the name of his love for Cersei and insists he’s not the good man Brienne thinks he is. It seems clear he’s going back to try to stop her this time (and possibly fulfill the prediction of the valonqar), but he doesn’t tell that to his new boo, who very uncharacteristically breaks down in tears.

Dragonstone

With her fleet preparing to invade King’s Landing and take back the throne, Daenerys and crew set sail to her birthplace on Dragonstone. Tyrion couldn’t even wait to make it to shore and immediately tells the news of Jon’s true parentage to the Benita Buttrell of Westeros in Varys, but he ain't one to gossip, so you ain't heard it from him. As the ships drop anchor in the port however, Drogon and Rhaegal are attacked by Euron Greyjoy’s suspiciously sneaky Iron Fleet now outfitted with improved Scorpions which catch Rhaegal unaware, killing yet another dragon. Gotta pour one out for the homie as we’re now down to one and I am inconsolable. Daenerys in a rage is tempted to fly Drogon straight on to light them all up, but facing another round of fire is forced to flee. Euron being the trash panda he is then targets the ships themselves, sinking most of them and forcing the Unsullied to swim to shore. A distraught Grey Worm is left to panic as he screams for Missandei, who was not among those who washed up on the beach.

On the verge of losing everything, Daenerys is understandably tired of being checked by her advisors and is finally ready to burn the Red Keep to the ground if she can sit on the ashes. In a private conversation, Tyrion keeps trying to push the obvious solution that Jon and Dany, who are in love as it is, should just get married, solving all their problems. As infuriating as it may be that the simplest answer is the one that will never happen, even he realizes the futility of hoping for logic to win out. Varys stops short of admitting he’s putting a hit out on Dany, but the Spider, going back to his defense of the realm, is obviously ready to move on to a new leader and leaves Tyrion to drink.

King’s Landing

Meanwhile, back in the capital Cersei has been opening the Red Keep to the common folk in an attempt to call Dany’s bluff that she wouldn’t burn the city with so many people inside the castle walls. Congratulating walking STD Euron on his successful mission Cersei tells him she’s carrying his child (as Qyburn confirms), and hides her disgust as Greyjoy is overwhelmed with new daddy glee.

The writers then lose the plot entirely as they cut to Missandei, back in shackles, Cersei’s prisoner as the queen remarks “so much for the breaker of chains.” We’ll get to it soon but it goes without saying that seeing a Black woman, the ONLY Black woman on the show, placed back into bondage when her story arc has been one of rising above her enslavement is reprehensible. That said, this is a show about reprehensible people doing reprehensible things. It hurts no less, but what used to elevate the series was that these actions were grounded in an internal logic and narrative fullness that resonated with character motivation and agency for both sides. This was simply done for shock value, both in-universe for Daenerys and out of it for the viewers.

Outside the Red Keep, the walls of which we see have also been outfitted with Scorpions, the two Hands of the Queen meet to discuss terms, and when it’s clear that Cersei will not be surrendering, Tyrion tries to speak directly to his sister and beg for her better nature to avoid bloodshed, insisting that she’s not a monster. WHAT WOMAN DOES HE THINK HE’S BEEN DEALING WITH FOR ALL THIS TIME? Of course that nonsense doesn’t work and Tyrion’s inability to recognize that villainy is possible even under the guise of white womanhood is what should get him killed. Instead it’s Missandei who is caught in the crosshairs of the 53% as she utters her last words, “Dracarys,” before being beheaded by the Mountain.

My personal affinity for Missandei should be well known, so you can imagine how I reacted to seeing this mess. To clarify, it's not just that she died that was so galling. If you read the episode two review we called that happening, and I’d assume most of you weren’t shocked either, even though it doesn’t hurt any less. It’s the how and why that was so poorly handled that added insult to injury of the pain that's inherent when you have so few people of color in the cast in general, but Black women specifically. Had she had the agency to choose her own end and her death come as the result of her story arc, so be it. This is a show of terrors and loved characters die everyday, B. Had she died in the crypts of Winterfell fighting for her life and the Queen she believed in, and Daenerys and Grey Worm had gotten to mourn her the way they gave tired, rockface Jorah his final respects it would have been better. Had her Dracarys command gotten Drogon to start the roast of the city? We outchea! But for it to be simply the impetus to justify razing King’s Landing, and as a pawn in a war of aggression between two white women while she’s placed back in bondage, was a perfect storm of disrespect, to the character and the audience. We've established for seven seasons that that city is a rathole, filled with people we haven't seen in years. I don't care about Dany burning the castle to the ground, but NOW? I need Thanos to show up because I want nothing left but ashes. For a blog whose motto is MORE Black Girls MORE Dragons, this episode was always going to be particularly painful, but the fact that there was no greater narrative purpose for it makes it even worse.

[djinmer4]

The Draco (Demon General AU)

“Now is the perfect time to attack.” declared Azazel.  “The dimensional walls are weak.  Your half-brothers and nephews have grown into their powers.  Genosha has been attacked and its defenses are down.  We will tear apart this prison by invading the material plane and claim our rightful ownership of the world!”  With that, the red demon hoisted a glass in celebration.  His generals, from blind Ginniyeh to unusually quiet Seir followed suit.

They spent their last night in either preparation (Yidrazel checked over the troops and weaponry one last time) or revelry (Jillian and Seir had one last tryst and she tried to draw him into an orgy but he declined).  As the evening wore on and things quieted down, Ginniyeh drew Seir aside.  “Tomorrow, we will try and make the invasion as quick and bloodless as possible.  But it has been thousands of years since the troops have had a chance to indulge their bloodlust, and there will be casualties.

I know you have grown fond of some of the leaders on that island.  So I’m giving you tonight to go ahead and claim whoever you want and spirit them away.  Bring them back here, drop them off into the cells below and I swear that I will allow none to harm them.”  He hesitated, but she continued talking.  “You’ll never get a better chance to save them.”

Seir bowed his head to his older sister.  “Thank you, Ginniyeh.  I won’t forget this.”

She smiled.  “Just remember that you owe me a favor later.”

“I will.”

“Kitty!  Katzchen!”

Shadowcat whirled around.  “Seir?” she hissed.  “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you.  What are you doing out in the foothills around Hammer Bay and not asleep in the city?”

“Following Nils.”  She pointed over, where he could see a large number of mutants dancing around a bonfire.  (Not a bonfire, he knew better.  The incipient portal shone and capered like a fire but was much more dangerous.)  “He’s been having episodes of sleepwalking that we’ve been trying to control.  He asked that I follow him tonight to see where he’s been going.”

Seir cursed to himself in ancient Sumerian.  He knew that Azazel had already called his progeny to open up the portal, but he hadn’t realized they were already that close.

“I think I recognize some of those people,” Kitty continued talking.  “They’ve been part of the recent refugee influx, now that Wanda’s reopened the borders.”

“You’re right.”  Kitty jumped, startled, but Seir had heard the other man sneaking up on them.  “For some reason, Genosha’s been infiltrated by a group of mutants.  Ones who look very similar to your friend Seir here.”

The man was taller than either of them and very muscular.  Not to mention covered in more tattoos than even the Demon General.  He shifted around and held out a card to Kitty while giving Seir a suspicious look from yellow and black eyes.  “Marcus Skarr, aka Kiwi Black.  A private investigator from New Zealand.  A couple asked me to find their runaway son.  I traced him to Genosha and was about to call them when I found him doing this.”  A quick jerk of his chin towards the gathering.  “What is this, some sort of cult?”

“No,” said Seir grimly.  “It’s an invasion.”

The other two turned to look at him.

“Katzchen, you remember how we first met?  With the Dire Wraiths and Belasco?”  One slow nod.  “The same situation all over again.”

“Is this your fault?” accused Kiwi, getting straight to the heart of the problem.

“No this plan was in the works before I was even born.”  Before Seir could explain, there was another interruption.  A reporter and her crew had just shown up and was filming the ceremony.  The reporter closed in on the apparent leader, a dark-skinned man with a red bandana and a black beard, and began questioning him on the ritual being conducted.  “And for what purpose are you conducting this ceremony?  All across the island people are watching right now, wondering the same question.”

“This rite will draw the true rulers of this world back from the Hell the Cheyarafim banished them too.  Be prepared to bow before your proper masters, peons!”

“She’s doing this live?” Kitty was aghast.  “Seriously, does no one sleep on this island?”

“That fire’s getting bigger.” muttered the Maori.  “How?  I don’t see them adding any fuel.”

Seir gave up on being discreet.  Forget alerting everyone and getting the troops in position, he’d just have to hope everyone was still on guard and would act accordingly.  Teleporting in, he shoved his sword through the herald’s back, straight through his heart.  The man turned and saw who had stabbed him.  He had just enough time to gasp, “Traitor!”, then Seir beheaded him with another sword.

“Citizens of Genosha,” he addressed the frozen camera crew.  “This ritual is just the beginning of an interdimensional invasion.  All around Hammer Bay there should be many other gatherings like this.  Attack the participants!  Break up the circles!  Otherwise monstrous troops will come pouring in to destroy your city!”  He followed his words by turning and hacking at the mutants who made up the circle.  Most died silently or had already been drained of their life force, but the last one looked up with confused eyes.  “Ssseir?” slurred Nils Styger.

The Demon General froze for a moment.  Still, the shimmer in the air had died and all the other members of this gathering were deceased as well.  He could probably spare this half-brother.  “Nils, hold very still.  I need to cut you free from the others.”  Seir slashed downwards, freeing Abyss’s hands from the dead bodies that had melted together.  Not giving the younger man a chance to recover, he teleported them both back to Kitty.

Kitty’s watch was flashing and she was speaking into it.  Giving directions to someone on the other end of the communicator, he realized.  Pushing Nils towards her, he turned away.  “There must be several dozen of these gatherings on the island.  We’ll have to go to destroy each one.”

“And who the hell are you to be giving orders?” challenged Kiwi Black.  Kitty was too busy helping Nils to take charge.

“The one who planned out this invasion,” said Seir and teleported away.

Wolverine stabbed the lion-faced hulk in the back of the head, taking care to twist the claws in so that whatever brains this thing had were scrambled.  Kitty’s message had been short but combined with that cosplayer’s live transmission, it had given the X-Men the gist of what they needed to know.

As the brute came down, Wolverine jumped away.  He didn’t relax his guard until a hex bolt shot down from the air and incinerated the body.  Twisting his head up, he called up to Princess (Queen?) Wanda, “You’re lucky the X-Men were here to help with the rebuilding.”

“I’ll thank you later,” said Wanda absently, more focussed on trying to knock out enough of the cultists to close the portal.  “But right now we’ve got an invasion to get through!”

“I haven’t had the chance to torture any of you Cheyarafim in thousands of years,” the black-winged demon held Angel down and tore out another handful of feathers.  “I suppose I should make this last, but why bother?  I can spend the next hundred years hunting down every last one of your kind.”  A sharp punch broke more bones and the blonde mutant screamed.

Before Yidrazil could enact more punishment, a glowing blue tomahawk came down and decapitated him.  The body was shoved off of him, and Angel found a broad hand held out.  He gladly grasped the hand and allowed the other, more muscular man to help him up.  “Kiwi Black,” the man introduced himself.  “I was with Shadowcat when she first got wind of the invasion.”

“Angel of the X-Men.  And very grateful for the rescue.”  He looked around.  All the cultists were either dead or knocked out, difficult to tell in the dark.  This Kiwi must have used the leader’s distraction to close the portal.  it might have led to a few minutes more of torture, but Angel couldn’t fault his reasoning.  “Will you be able to fight?” asked the broader man, bringing his thoughts to the present.

Angel tried to move a wing and cringed.  The pain was unbelievable.  “Not a chance.  I can’t fly either, but I can walk.”  The older man nodded.  He got an arm around the X-Men’s waist and let the other lean on him as they made their way back to the city.  “I think that was the last gathering outside the city.  And I know Kitty ordered that med tents be set up all around.  I’ll get you to one of those tents before I go searching again.”

Angel would have sagged in relief if he hadn’t already been sagging in pain.  “Thank you.”

Ginniyeh tried to scream, but she didn’t have enough moisture in her body left even for that.  As the world faded away, all she could think was “That damned traitor!”

After all the portals had been closed, Seir found Jillian on the shore at the edge of the city.  Her wings were shredded and all her limbs broken.  It looked that she had fallen from the air.  Without immediate attention, she wasn’t going to make it.

“Seir?” she asked as he pulled her into his lap.

“Yes, Jillian?”

“We failed, didn’t we?”

“Yes, we did.”

“Did anyone else escape?”  She coughed, blood spilling from her mouth.

“I saw Father get pulled back into the Brimstone Dimension.  Not sure about anyone else.”

“That’s okay.  Father can try again in twenty to thirty years.  He’ll just have to choose a different weak point in the barrier.  Genosha was-”  A hacking bark that did nothing to clear her lungs of blood.  “Genosha was much better defended than you told us.”

He stayed silent.  No reason to hurt her when she’d be gone in a few minutes. 

“You’ll do a better job next time, right?”

“I will.”  There wouldn’t be a next time.

“Seir?  Please kiss me one last time.”

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply.  He wasn’t bothered by the taste of blood.  When he pulled back her eyes were already glazing over and she had ceased to breathe.  He held her for a little longer to be certain that her heart had stopped too.

When he looked up, Senyaka and Melloncamp were both there.  Letting his sister slip from his arms, he discarded his weapons and put his hands on his head.

“They’re not waking up,” whispered Nils.

“No, they’re not.  Aside from you, none of them are recovering.”  Kitty was equally quiet.  “The doctors don’t know what to do.  We’ve got them on IVs and tried everything from electroshock to psychic screaming.  But Jean says that when she scans them, it’s like there’s nothing there.”

“Is there no hope then?”

“I don’t know.”  The silence was broken by another bed flatlining.

“I hope you understand why I’m doing this.”

“Ja, ja.  Despite going out of my way to save your city, you still can’t trust me.”

“You passed on critical information about our infrastructure and defenses to a hostile party.  You changed your mind at the last minute to help us, but that doesn’t wash out your actions from before.”  Wanda stepped up and clasped the inhibitor collar around Seir’s throat.  “Hopefully you won’t have to stay here too long.  Just a few weeks, no more than a month.  Long enough for Genosha to recover a bit.  Then I’ll call the full council together to make a decision on your fate.  We’ll take into account everything you’ve done for and to us.  With a bit of luck, the council will issue you a full pardon.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

Wanda activated the collar then stepped outside the cell.  Senyaka locked the door and activated the barrier, before standing guard with Mercury.  They were taking no chances with this prisoner.

Far away a woman watched a replay of the recent events on Genosha.  Every time she reached the end of the transmission she started it over again.

“He’ll pay for this with his life,” she promised herself.

[recentanimenews]

Memoirs Most Charming, Part 1

I’ve read a handful of charming memoirs lately, and more are on the way!

I’m a Lucky Guy by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. This was a reader suggestion from Anne!

Here, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. (writing without sister Ernestine, his sometime collaborator) recounts various happenings and misadventures from his early adulthood, beginning in 1929 when he’s headed off to college and ending somewhere around 1946, when he has returned from serving in the Navy and resumed his career as a newspaperman. These include things like going out for football whilst scrawny, being mistaken for a gun-toting gangster whilst attempting to hide booze (prohibition was still on) from the cops, pranking an odious professor (and, later, an odious superior officer), and repeatedly failing to live up to the standards of a demanding admiral to whom he has been assigned as aide.

On the whole, I found all of these stories entertaining, though the sole moment that made me laugh out loud was when Frank’s soon-to-be wife and mother-in-law completely excused the lascivious behavior of his friend, which a moment before had scandalized them, upon learning he was Methodist (their preferred denomination).

“You don’t think he’s a Ten Commandment breaker?” I asked. “Why, I’d trust him any place,” Liz said indignantly. “So would I,” said her mother. “I’ve always said that people shouldn’t be judged by circumstantial evidence.” “You’re so right,” I assured her. “Probably,” she continued, fishing around for a likely excuse, “probably—well, probably the doctor sent that girl over to your apartment to change the boy’s bandage, again, before he went to bed.” I was tempted to break into a high-pitched giggle, but I looked at Liz and caught a warning. “That’s probably just the way it happened,” I nodded gravely.

Unfortunately, it does seem Frank shares a little of the antipathy toward overweight people that his sister possesses. I don’t mind when he accurately describes a person’s physical characteristics—if a bosom is ample and an abdomen abundant, there’s really no getting around that—but when he makes comments about fellow student Sallye—whom he later proclaims to be “a real friend”—like no “male student in his right mind” would give her their fraternity pen, it’s just unnecessarily mean. True, Sallye has a tendency to be loud and overbearing, and I’m fairly sure that’s part of what he meant, but not the whole of it.

That criticism aside, I did enjoy this book and I’m glad I read it. Thanks, Anne!

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle Initially, although it was an enjoyable read, I wouldn’t have classified this “sortabiography” from the Monty Python co-founder as charming. Idle recounts his childhood, school days, introduction to the world of comedy, the formation of Monty Python, the run of the original series, and the Python movies without a tremendous amount of detail. He does elaborate more about his independent endeavors, and I especially appreciated learning more about the creation of The Rutles. Using the song “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” as a sort of framework, Idle chronicles the various circumstances after The Life of Brian where he was called upon to sing it, ranging from Graham Chapman’s funeral to the Royal Variety Performance to the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

As is common for a book of this type, there is a lot of name-dropping, but in this case a lot of the names were people I genuinely like, like Harry Nilsson, George Harrison, David Bowie, Stephen Fry, Peter Cook, Robin Williams, and Eddie Izzard. And, too, Idle toots his own horn rather frequently, which is admittedly justified when you’ve accomplished as much as he has, and makes sure readers know there were times in his life when he was having loads of sex.

Where he really shines, though, is penning touching tributes to friends who are no longer with us. My husband and I listened to Idle read the unabridged audiobook version together, and by the end of the chapter entitled “George,” we were both in tears. The chapter about Robin Williams is no less lovely. I cannot stress enough how wonderful these two chapters are; they alone are worth the price of admission. It does make one wonder why he doesn’t delve so deeply into the character of his comedy partners, and only makes a few mentions of Terry Jones’ dementia, but perhaps it is because they were all still living in 2018, when the book was published. I shall have to find out whether Idle penned any tributes to Jones on the sad occasion of his passing last year.

Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson I’d heard such good things about these books, but my reaction to Life Among the Savages wasn’t what I expected. True, some of the “lightly fictionalized” anecdotes Jackson relates are somewhat amusing, like the family’s struggle to find a house to rent in Vermont, or insisting to the hospital intake person that her occupation is “writer” as opposed to “housewife,” or her son’s fascination with all the gory details after he gets hit by a car. But the vast majority of the stories involve her children behaving badly, and I had very little patience with these at all.

I imagine that other mothers sympathize with these episodes. Perhaps they see their own experience reflected, and so they laugh but also feel all warm inside, in a loving, maternal way. Not so me, I’m afraid. No, whenever the son showed arrogant condescension toward his mother, or her daughter became intolerably fixated on proper decorum, or one kid or the other was insolent and disrespectful, it just made me angry. In fact, I might have said “Shut the fuck up!” aloud a time or two. This is why it is probably a very good thing that I am not a parent.

Thankfully, Raising Demons contains less of that sort of thing (though significantly more than none). I really loved the section in which Jackson waxes nostalgic about her adolescent obsession with making clothespin dolls and her snarky description of life as a faculty wife (who is expected to have “hemming dishtowels” among her hobbies). The story of how she got a new refrigerator was a highlight, as well.

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar Having seen and adored whimsical clips from The Amber Ruffin Show, I was very excited to see that Amber Ruffin and her older sister Lacey Lamar had written a book together. Although the topic is racist incidents the sisters have endured (mostly Lacey, who lives and works in Omaha), the approach at least attempts to be light-hearted. These aren’t stories where someone gets hurt or dies; instead, they elucidate the kind of crap Black people are just expected to swallow or forget.

I did laugh a few times, particularly at Ruffin’s effervescent line delivery—I listened to the unabridged audiobook read by the authors—but after a while, the unrelenting wave of absolutely flagrant ignorance and hate becomes overwhelming. The commentary on the stories is funny, but the situations themselves are stressful and horrible and eye-opening in the most abject, despair-inducing kind of way. I have never been one to deny that racism exists, but I admit to being surprised and horrified by a lot of these stories, espcially the awful things done to kids. A beautiful drawing torn to shreds, a group of teens accused of stealing car keys when none of them is old enough to drive, kids threatened at gunpoint by a crazy neighbor but nobody calls the cops because who will the cops believe… I also feel terribly naive for being surprised.

I’m glad I read this.

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay and Nuts in May by Cornelia Otis Skinner Note: The former was co-written with Emily Kimbrough.

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay recounts the three months in the early 1920s that two young American women spend abroad in Europe, written when they are older (“Emily and I have now reached the time in life when not only do we lie about our ages, we forget what we’ve said they are.”) and nostalgic for more innocent days. It’s written in Cornelia’s voice, though Emily provides many of the details, and tells of the time their ship ran aground, the time Cornelia caught the measles and evaded quarantine, the time they met H. G. Wells and Emily made an embarrassing first impression, the time they mistook a brothel for a boarding house, the time bedbugs gave Cornelia a swollen lip “shining like a polished tomato,” the time their dogs piddled in a swanky Parisian restaurant, etc. For the most part, it’s quite amusing, but there are a few comments that expose the girls’ ignorant attitudes regarding people of other races and sexual preferences.

Rather than focusing on one particular adventure, Nuts in May is a collection of humorous yet unrelated anecdotes Skinner wrote for publications like The New Yorker. Topics include but are not limited to: actors being asked to lend their talents in aid of charitable organizations, a Protestant family’s audience with the Pope, people who laugh at anything, dizzying real estate transactions, and being interviewed by Dr. Kinsey. Occasionally, the tone turns more domestic and reminds me some of Shirley Jackson, such as in “Bag of Bones,” when Skinner’s son insists that the bones they find on a Colorado trail belong to a dinosaur, or “Those Friends of His,” about her son’s reticence on the origins of his friends who come to visit. The latter also makes reference to a car “teeming with hamsters,” which is a phrase and a visual that I adore. Indeed, there were quite a few giggles to be had, and I reckon I might seek out more of Skinner’s work in the future.

By: Michelle Smith

[artsy-alice]

TREMONTAINE Season 3, Episode 4 Reaction + Review

This episode is mostly an episode to set up things to come, but that doesn’t mean that there was no tension present. The focus is more on our younger characters this time, and how they are starting to grow into their own roles and take charge of their actions. All in all, more good development stuff.

Tremontaine S3 E4 is out NOW in the Serial Box website! New to the series? The pilot episode is available online for free!

Spoilers under the cut!

It’s like yesterday I was reading about Rafe and Kaab getting stupid drunk together while Micah cringes at them... Now they’re all grown up: having normal conversations with a guy without seducing him... yelling at trespassers... and holding family meetings to plan on how to avoid the entire clan’s downfall... Yes, my children are grown.

Before delving into my usual character-focused reviews, I just gotta say it was interesting to see the Night of the Flames festival as some kind of Halloween thing in the Riverside universe. I think the “caught your ghost” thing is their version of Trick or Treat? I live in the Philippines where Trick or Treat has never really been a thing (until recently, and mostly exclusive for kids in the upper middle class and above who live in more well-off neighborhoods) so the vague idea for me was that.

I expected a bit more mayhem from this chapter because it IS the Night of the Flames so it was surprising that it was as... relatively peaceful as it turned out to be. The mayhem was still there, I suppose, but the focus turned to the more subdued moments and it’s still effective.

Let’s do RAFE first because consequence-wise I feel Rafe was the most chill this episode.

Our boy takes a stroll around the City lamenting about his school. Yes, he’s got a goal now but he still feels Will’s loss deeply. What is the point in his school, a dream he shared with Will, if Will was not there to witness it happen?

Luckily, he gets a distraction in the form of our favorite Chartil Ambassador, who entertains him with interesting conversation for the meantime. It was amusing to witness Rafe’s train of thought as they started engaging one another in pure friendly conversation and he realized that he didn’t want to jump the Beautiful Unicorn Prince Charming Ambassador in front of him.

There were “having an almost offensively civil conversation" hahahah RAFE MY BOY WE’RE PROUD OF YOU.

Then there’s Florian. Ugh go away, Florian. Rafe is making a nice friend. Go away, don’t flirt with Reza either. Ew.

Reza thinks Rafe is interesting too, and recognizes loss in him as well. And it’s like some recurring theme now that everyone but Rafe knows that Rafe can do better than Florian.

If the haunted young man didn’t have the sense to keep better company than the popinjay who had spirited him away, however, then no matter how much room he had in him, nothing of any worth would fill it.

Even Reza, who was just at most a passing acquaintance at this point, knows. I thought this would go on for a while, but as it turns out, Rafe does find that sense in him not long after!

I guess the promise of enlightening conversation is more enticing than whatever Florian had in mind (we all know what he had in mind).

YES RAFE JUST LEAVE THAT MAN AND HIS DIRTY ALLEYS. PLATONIC CREAM PUFFS WITH THE AMBASSADOR IS BETTER. A++ WOULD RECOMMEND.

Again. Proud of you, son. Keep it up!

.

Now, for TESS. I said in my previous episode review that the siege’s conclusion would have an aftermath and we see the beginnings of it here.

Tess feels the guilt of having made the decisions she (and her “council”) made last time. Which is... yeah, I guess she should. It was a pretty nasty thing. While Shade might have deserved it, it wasn’t the nicest message of solidarity, wasn’t it?

Yes, Riverside would stick with you, as long as you’re willing to die for Riverside too. Otherwise, you have no friends here. It’s all for Riverside in the end, even above your family or lover. It’s a pretty clear-cut but cruel ultimatum.

I also mentioned her reputation most probably getting a boost because of the Salamander openly displaying a form of allegiance with her, and we see that this episode too.

She prevents a gang of street urchins from getting them all in trouble, but still sends them off with a more ‘harmless’ plan, and puts a more responsible and sensible leader in charge. I want to see more of Charlotte! And they do succeed, and her message was received. Now they’ll have to wait for how the rest of the City replies.

While Tess’ loyalty to her home and her people is admirable, and it is one of the things I adore about her, I do think she is still being very extreme about her views here. It’s becoming clearer that for her, it’s almost a black-and-white situation. Riverside Against the World. She might have to reconsider this because I feel like this unchanging stance of hers might not be useful when she needs to make choices on the gray areas.

On a side-note, I live for Tess and Reza’s little friendship thing. Reza asking if he could visit from time to time is pure. <3

.

MICAH is still precious. She continues to be precious. That is why IF SOMEONE HURTS A HAIR ON THIS CHILD’S HEAD I WILL RIOT.

I love that Micah is simply happy to be herself. I loved that she admitted that she once wanted to be like everyone else, but then quickly thought what if that someone else didn’t love Math? Nope. Micah without Math is not Micah.

SHE IS A PRECIOUS. MY DAUGHTER. I WANT TO HUG HER (BUT ONLY IF SHE WANTS ME TO).

And again. I do truly love Diane and Micah’s relationship. Micah comes up with a revelation and she had to tell Diane. She goes to visit Diane’s bedroom, doesn’t find her there, and climbs up to Diane’s... room at the top of the house (what is it called again? HELP).

Diane sets aside her work to listen to Micah as she tells her about her latest project. I do think it speaks volumes about their relationship with the whole conversation about how nobles are always faking their interactions and yes, Diane knew it was horrible and yes, Diane doesn’t really always enjoy these parties as well. And Micah is now allowed to call her just Diane!

It was endearing, and reading from Diane’s bit near the end, she truly does think Micah is delightful company, so far.

And then someone breaks and enters and SCARES MICAH.

Davenant, I SWEAR, I WILL END YOUR GOONS AND THEN YOU.

.

Finally, on KAAB’s side, the pressure is on.

I can only imagine how hard it was for Kaab to reel in her emotions while they held a Kinwiinik funeral ceremony for Saabim. And then, in the family meeting that followed, she is faced with more pressure with the tough decisions to be made.

Kaab, who has always made her decisions using her heart, now trying her best to evaluate her past actions and make the proper choices. She said it determinedly last time - No posturing. Only results. But what if posturing is needed for the results? What if the posturing needed for the results goes directly against age old tradition and the memory of your late mentor who you’re trying to do good by?

“If our little bee wants to destroy this family with her impetuous behavior, that is her right.”

In the end, I think Kaab still does follow her heart, but this time with a dignity and determination supported by logic, which showed much growth in her part.

“If this family is willing to pour out joy to welcome a man—whoever he is—while we still mourn the loss of our mother in this land,” she said, slowly, deliberately, “then perhaps it ought to be destroyed.” 

The choices were Impress The Batab With Our Family’s Strength vs. Show the Batab How Much We Value Tradition. And maybe she did, in her way, manage to choose both.

But that was only the beginning, and the inspector had said as much - he was still not satisfied. Kaab has to do her best now because more trials are coming, and I am rooting for our girl.

Okay, now off to make Challenge #4!