#obviously this is gonna be resolved by the end of the episode

[youngpettyqueen]

so far the de-aging episode of TNG is very enjoyable and fun but I want to give special shoutout to O'Brien who is clearly sitting there internally screaming "MY WIFE IS A FUCKING INFANT" while Keiko just tries to exist

[newtkelly]

do you really think they're gonna get back together

yes, i genuinely do, and here are a few reasons why!

every single time buck and tommy have left things unresolved, they have found their way back to each other. narratively, they are back in the same place they’ve been twice before, and for the story to be cohesively resolved, they will need to have a conversation. obviously, there are a lot of storylines on 911 (and most tv shows) that never get any resolution, so i understand why some might have a cynical take or low expectations for this story to be satisfyingly seen through. however, there are a few factors that indicate a romantic reconciliation.

think back on season eight. aside from the gerrard storyline (which had so much potential set up in buzzkill but let’s not go there rn) and the eddie’s house storyline, buck’s entire season eight arc has been about his relationship with tommy. his boyfriend taking care of him, his boyfriend dumping him, the subsequent loneliness, the baking, the hook-up. more than half of his plot has been about tommy. therefore, i think it is realistic to say it will continue to be.

very thankfully, we know that lou has been on set filming action scenes for an upcoming episode(s), and in the same filming location as oliver. they’re filming scenes together, there’s no doubt about that. okay, it could make sense to bring tommy back again to make amends and help buck “move on,” but i think it’s pretty naive to think they investing all of this plot and screen time into a recurring character is simply for buck to learn a lesson and get on with his life, searching for something from scratch again especially this far along into the series. they’re not bringing tommy back repeatedly on a whim or as filler. structurally, they have put in the groundwork for this relationship to have substance and longevity. that’s the more likely reason he would be brought back again and again and again.

by the end of 8x11, buck and tommy are not on very good terms, but by the same token, tommy has done a tremendous service to buck and buck carries no resentment. he finally has the feeling of home in his new house after a lovely night spent together. even though there’s an ease at home, there’s also an unease that is articulated and important. buck still wants to reach out and clear the air. he is extremely self-aware and knows exactly why he lashed out. this, in addition to the very many mentions of tommy in his absence, serves a purpose - to remind the audience that things are unresolved, and to keep that at the back of the collective mind.

i guess tldr is this:

• we know tommy is coming back because lou has been on set

• more than half of buck’s s8 plot has been about tommy - that is a lot of tv time invested towards giving substance to a relationship

• buck saw a side of tommy that hurt him, and yet he still felt like he should reach out and apologize. he is still thinking about him. and he can finally sleep well because of him

[cursedmagician]

so. let's talk about that episode shall we?

major ii 17 spoilers under the cut, and lots of theories. read at your own risk.

divider by strangergraphics ✮⋆˙

I have no idea what to even think about that episode. I watched this at about 8 in the morning my time, and now I am in shambles and have been for the last several hours. I'm going to dump all my theories in this one blog post.

my first topic, and the elephant in the room - THIS IS NOT THE LAST ACT. NO WAY.

I've seen people asking if this is the last act and therefore the last ever episode in the series, and to that I say... obviously not. there's still so many plot points to be resolved.

like, for example, why would they add in a scene of the prime shimmers going to the contestant grounds if they weren't going to do something for it later?

yes I know that they were already used as merely a small plot device to allow the episode to progress, but when you think of it in the grand scheme of things there must be something more to it.

also, and - I may be going crazy here - but there might possibly be some sort of parallel of when cobs tells mephone to go "home" with him. we now know that all those previous theories of mephone being made with the shimmer egg are correct, because of fan. since that is the case, I feel like it would make sense for mephone's true home to be with the prime shimmer, right?

I feel like this could be a plot point in the next act. mephone feels more at home with the prime shimmer than he does with cobs (obviously). he would meet them and realise he feels strangely connected to them, and then he figures everything out which leads up to him discovering his true family. and I hope cobs rots and dies FOREVERRR

another point to add onto this is that remember how soap and mic took that photo together in the last episode?

well, soap was going through her recently deleted.

on apple (and I'm assuming meeple as well) devices, it takes 30 days for photos in the recently deleted photo to be fully erased from the device. before that, you can restore and fully erase as many photos as you like.

at the end of this episode when everything created by melife has been erased, baxter is seen walking up to soap's phone here.

in a scene where everything is gone, don't you think this is weirdly symbolic? they didn't have any other reason to show this which leads up to the next theory.

mephone is most likely going to find a way to bring everyone back through some way, and it might be through this system. I'm not saying I know how he's gonna do it, but this will totally be some sort of factor in the next act. hopefully.

second topic - what about bow and bot?

and I know what you all are thinking. I know that bow is definitely not gone, since she obviously isn't supported by melife anymore. (I'm a little curious, bow mentioned that she can't escape the confines of purgatory mansion, but since now that's been deleted, would she be able to roam free? just a thought...)

the same could be said for bot, since they were made by fan and test tube and not by melife. but there's been some speculation going around saying that since bot was made out of materials from test tube's lab, they would be deleted too right?

I actually think that's not necessarily the case.

we have no idea if test tube's materials or her lab was made out of things generated by melife. for all we know, she could have ordered the mechanical parts from overseas. she could have dug up the space she needed for the lab herself.

all we know is that the locations made for the game itself are generated by melife. however, test tube's lab has really nothing to do with the contest because it is its own thing.

so I think this entire theory is genuinely plausible. bot might still be out there somewhere, and I'm not going to say on the invitational island because we don't know if that entire thing was deleted too or just the floor's face. they genuinely might be making their way over to the season 2 grounds right now, wondering what is going on.

which could possibly make way for a bow and bot meeting, AND they might team up too to save the day!! that definitely feels like a direction that adam would be going for, and I personally would totally stand for it.

third topic - can mephone X be avoided or stopped somehow?

here's what I'm thinking.

lightbulb actually managed to dodge mephone X here, and even though yes she did get got in the end, you can at least delay the process or maybe even outrun them altogether.

there must be a reason as to why only the person who is being targeted can see mephone X, but that's a theory for another day.

now, this part is less of a theory and more of an idea - that is supported by numerous twitter posts - but what if you are able to see mephone X with another me device thingy?

think about it, what if taking a picture or just going through the camera app enables others to see them, therefore allowing the contestants to potentially disable mephone X for good?

assuming my theory is correct and they do come back somehow, I doubt that adam forgot about this plothole completely. there must be more significance to this in the future.

we all know how the main writing team writes. they think of everything, down to the small details, and the reference previous things that were thought to be insignificant before!! reminds me of bfdi in a way.

fourth topic - misc stuff/yapping

and well of course I had to dedicate an entire section to just my yapping alone. I know I'm still pretty new to blogging, I don't have many posts yet, but I think it's worth it to just leave my thoughts out here for people to cry over also.

firstly... OJ and paper's last conversation was an argument. lol!! XD!! also it was so funny as to how paper got so ticked off after salt said OJ is her boyfriend. I understand that he might have still felt pretty heated after everything that had been going on, + the argument they had earlier. and I know that OJ is very important to paper. but I still think it was really hilarious. some could say jealous. "he's not your boyfriend he was MINE!!"

ALSO!!! also also also THIS fucking scene...

this is gonna haunt me for the rest of my life man. what the fuck. imagine if slasher movies were like this... like jigsaw or something. if I saw this in a slasher movie I would be terrified for my LIFE (something these contestants don't have).

I really really liked the scene where paintbrush was crying over lightbulb btw. jazzy did an amazing job at that, and they said that they didn't even cry to be able to voice it!! she's a very talented va, I aspire to be like her someday...

another thing I wanted to mention is this tweet made by brian a while ago (screenshot I nabbed from me_phone4 on twitter) yes this is absolutely going to be for inanimate insanity. no questions asked. hope is on the horizon guys.

ok I think that is the end of this post. likes and reblogs are appreciated, and also reblog if you want to add onto my theories later!

for now, signing off!! - CURSED MAGICIAN

[periru3]

I feel like some Buddie shippers are out here feeling really good after that episode, and I do understand why, I get that we're living our best Abby-parallels, hurt-comforty lives and there's gonna be even more fic about Buck being profoundly emotionally unwell while living in Eddie's house and it isn't that I'm not here for that..... but also I am mostly out here feeling DEEPLY annoyed with Eddie's stupid life choices and bitchiness in a way I certainly wouldn't be if it weren't clear that the show thinks all his bad choices are good choices and Buck's the one being unreasonable.

Like, I think the show wants us to empathize with Buck. But also he's the one who ends up having to sort of just get over his issues and go be there for Eddie without Eddie ever apologizing or acknowledging that it's reasonable for Buck to feel hurt about this. Eddie only gives him the most half assed "you think I like this anymore than you do?" and "don't ask me to chose between you and my son cause you'll lose every time" when Buck has never asked him to do that and also Eddie has not done anything to show Buck that he will legitimately miss him. Cause he's allergic to displays of emotional intimacy with Buck in any form other than sharing his son with him. Like, truly it was hard for me to derive any shippy satisfaction from this episode when Eddie was just legitimately being a dick to Buck. I do deep down have to believe that Eddie is going to miss Buck a LOT, whether for gay reasons or just cause Buck is the second most important person in his life whether or not he admits it, but what was actually in this episode just felt, for once, like watching an emotionally unavailable straight guy (a thing I truly never think of Eddie as) revealing that he actually does just give less of a shit about Buck than Buck does about him and that he kind of takes Buck for granted and thinks he's being too much about how much he cares about Eddie - like, "I trust and care enough about you to write you into my will as my son's guardian if I die, but actually you're being weird by having an emotional reaction to me leaving you and not even acting sad about it." And I found that profoundly un-fun to watch.

Anyway, I think this plotline would be annoying me a hell of a lot less if the show wasn't clearly on Eddie's side. Like if he was acting this way and making these choices but people were questioning it at all like "hey are you sure you want to leave your extensive support system and life you like in LA? Are you positive that's completely necessary? Have you talked to Chris about this, and if not have you considered that that might be repeating some of the tendencies that got you in this mess? Have you considered taking some time off work and getting an Airbnb in Texas? Have you considered that Chris is 14 and giving him space is great and totally reasonable but letting him chose to fully move to Texas is maybe a bit much and not actually normal?" I might be fine with all this cause it would be forcing Eddie to confront his issues! But instead the show seems extremely determined for us to believe this IS what he has to do and what is best for himself and his family, but if they want me to believe that they really really need to show me just one single scene of Eddie actually talking to Chris about coming home and Chris telling him point blank he won't. But they haven't, so it just feels completely insane that everyone is acting like Eddie is making the obviously right call and they're all thrilled for him. What even was the point of the priest if he's gonna continue to be this way oh my god???

Anyway that episode has me so stressed and irritated with Eddie and generally with the writing of this whole plot line. Thrilled we're back, but god I am ready for this shit to be resolved, ideally in a way that involves Chris and Eddie back from Texas and actually addressing Eddie's damn issues.

[vividbeast]

ok i had to go on ther internet and Read Things about it after finishing and im so surprised folks didnt like s3?? i think i understand why people felt it was filler-y/like they cut the real s3 in half but i binged this shit in two days which i am normally never compelled to do alshdk

im definitely gonna have to watch s2 and s3 one after the other again but i honestly really liked syd coming into her own as a leader and as a professional paralelled with carmy being a wet bug eyed chihuahua barking with everyone who looks at him funny, him being stagnant and weighed down by past abuse/his neuroses while everyone around him grows at least a little bit was interesting to me, i hope they let him actually fucking learn to collaborate though (the non-negotiables list is so fucking ridiculous and "vibrant collaboration" being one of them while he point blank Refuses to listen to anyone else is really funny alsjd)

i understand why people would be frustrated with him this season but to me it never felt like anything came out of left field and it was interesting to see what exactly his failures are and speculate on how hes gonna get his shit together

CHRISTOPHER STORER WHAT IS YOUR HOME ADDRESS I JUST WANT TO TALK

[raisinchallah]

contemplating xenas place in tv evolution or whatever like xena and gabrielles relationship is such a unique time capsule in a few ways like it obviously inherently owes a debt to plenty of other like buddy shows that came before it a tried and true television formula of like a two hander about characters who do everything together which has of course been kind of homoerotic from the get go and more explicitly romantic as more shows dabble in the buddy format with a man and a woman but they are also in some ways stuck between eras of the end of episode reset and the long form relationship storytelling that there is a very coherent arc for xena and gabrielles characters and their relationship from season 1 to season 4 but on an episode by episode basis there is not necessarily a clear sense of escalation or obvious connective tissue leading to back to back episodes the modern viewer sometimes struggles with when watching in order that like they follow up gabrielles rosemarys baby experience with a new crazy xena backstory and then hit you with three back to back comedy episodes for levity that leave some viewers heads spinning its also interesting in the landscape of long form television romance so predicated on the will they wont they that also what is perhaps so unique and gratifying about xena and gabrielles relationship is its always they will from episode one they may make attempts on each others lives betray each other in ways you might think they could never recover from the show deftly switches genres that make them suddenly a comedy duo or in a broadway musical where suddenly such impossible odds are not so impossible to overcome they remain forever within the framework of the buddy show

theres a level of stability generated by that genre because everyone watching knows that gabrielle isnt gonna up and leave xena one day and the show loves to play with that never taunting the possibility of gabrielle leaving in a cheap way but instead asking if she wants to leave what terrible events must occur to keep her here next week oh shes gonna get married and return home no this is about her awakening awareness to violence which further binds her to xena does she want to give up her life of violence and start a hospice with najara? no najara is evil but also gabrielle knowing she may very well die side by side with xena by seasons end has decided clear eyed that come what may that is where she wants to be genre convention and realities of television turned into character and relationship building this also places it in contrast to the recurring problem of long form television romance that once the will they wont they is resolved what next can generate tension the relationship can feel stale the moment it begins this was also often the tension toyed with in a lot of iconic queerbaits that there remains a stone unturned but for xena and gabrielle there is no real beginning no real end the nature of the buddy show means that theyre bound together and best friends from day one but also due to the episodic nature there is not necessarily a linear progression of relationship development one week theyre sobbing over the others dead body and the next theyre fighting about if they should go fishing or sight seeing the death totally forgotten let alone the use of one episode love interests but again xena and gabrielle deliver on the central desire behind shipping of buddy characters that of seeing romance as part of a larger complex relationship that is not just cordoned off into very specific roles as dictated by television convention and misogyny and by never actually declaring themselves a romance they are also shorn of the necessity of laying out each piece and let the viewer instead fill in the blanks focusing instead on the moments of the highest drama if other relationships feel bogged down in the realities of tv romance and their associated tropes xena constructs a story that would remain almost entirely unchanged if the characters were explicitly stated to be in a romantic relationship compared to something like the x files that lived in a level of paralyzing fear of what the level of character and relationship development of an explicit mulder/scully romance would do to the show so they remain in many ways trapped in the early tentative stages of romance for nearly a decade while xena and gabrielle have gone thru every stage from puppy love to honeymoon breakup cheating widowed dying side by side comedy tragedy fated lovers and more and also they do not remain hampered by the need for any particular structure of building tension climax denouement in some ways freed to tell the most interesting stories they want to tell by nature of plausible deniability and the needs of genre television and the buddy show and they harness that freedom for some of the most compelling relationship writing on television

[murd3rouscrow]

Tiny spoilers for the three gabels ahead. You have been warned.

Anyways, so we all agree there's no way that this is gonna end well? Like obviously the case will get solved, but it won't end well for our 221 trio. Cause John has said he didn't want to do more cases for a bit. He has asked Mariana to turn off the mic, which she didn't do.

So I'm gonna make a tiny prediction. I think we'll get a smaller fight around the end of part 2, cause either Mariana or Sherlock is in more trouble and they need John's help. And we all know John cares about his friends more than he cares about his own wellbeing, so he has a small row with Mariana/Sherlock (whichever isn't in danger at the moment) and it moves into part 3.

Now here, I mostly assume it'll be Mariana in danger cause I think the podcast will want to go back to Sherlock and John at least for one episode. Although some John and Mariana is also appreciated.

Anyways, so by the end of part three, probably after the case has been solved, John blows up on the other two, about how he's tired and how he specifically asked for no cases and to turn the mic off. And I don't want the fight to be resolved. Let it end with:

Sherlock: John... We are incredibly sorry...

Mariana: yeah John, we really didn't mean for you to get caught up and...

John: don't... Sorry doesn't just fix things... I just- I need some time...

[mdconfession-blog]

Ok, I know this is gonna be a stupid rant and it's completely fine if this doesnt get posted, but can people who hate Jessa just learn to not talk about it? Or at least censor the shipname so it doesnt pop up everywhere? Ever since Jessa got popular, I've seen such an obnoxious amount of people complaining about it. Primarily on Twitter. And it's just... Why waste time indulging in your hatred for something when you could just be doing something actually enjoyable for yourself?

A few days ago I saw a tweet that was talking about how "most Jessa shippers mischaracterize both J and Tessa" and it's like... How can you mischaracterize characters who barely have a personality to begin with? Yes, they have basic character traits to follow but other than that, they're basically blank slates. I don't think it's IMPOSSIBLE to mischaracterize them, but it just really depends on how and why you may be characterizing them one way. And I would love for someone to explain how Jessa shippers do that? Jessa is one of the only few pairings that make sense in canon, romantically or platonically. J and Tessa were a duo in episode 5 for a reason, they were obviously closer than the others.

Just because in fanart J may act uncharacteristically sappy doesn't mean it's mischaracterization, we don't actually know how either J or Tessa act when flustered or in love. It's not fair to accuse people of mischaracterizing J and Tessa just because people like to draw them sappy, in real life people do things you wouldn't expect them to do because they're in love with someone. Yes, it's true! When you're in love, you tend to say things you wouldn't let anyone else hear!

Plus, a lot of Jessa works are intended to expand on Tessa's character. Tessa is even more of a blank slate than J and it's FUN to try fleshing her out, and what do you know? Fleshing out Tessa does end up fleshing out J as well because they're a canonical duo! We don't know what Tessa would be like in modern day and we only get a glimpse of how she is in episode 5, there are so many layers to her we are missing and a lot of Jessa fanwork dives into that.

Also, be real for 2 seconds. Every ship that is not canon is mischaracterization. You HAVE to mischaracterize your favorites to some degree to make a ship you like work, regardless if it's a toxic or sweet pairing. The same people saying Jessa is a bad ship are people who ship J and Uzi or even Cyn and J. I like all 3 of these pairings by the way, so I'm not calling any of them bad. But I just think it's moronic and hypocritical to dunk on Jessa shippers and then do the same exact shit?

We are also most likely never gonna get anything from Liam himself about either of these characters, whether it's individually or as a pair, I think it's FINE to want to expand upon them? A lot of people in this fandom have a weird complex when it comes to ships and you guys really need to take it down a notch, some of you are TOO sensitive for your own good and probably need to step away from the internet. It says a lot when just a few months ago, Jessa was being called a problematic pairing because of it being interspecies even though robot x human has been a thing for longer than some Murder Drones fans have been alive. Also just in case this hasn't been resolved yet, there's no power imbalance because Tessa treats the drones with the same respect as an actual person... BECAUSE SHE SEES THEM AS PEOPLE.

Dislike and hate whatever you want, but please stop treating people like they're weird for just liking something. It's disheartening to see the amount of people in this fandom who shut others out because of something as stupid as a ship. As long as the pairing isn't genuinely harmful, I don't see why it has to be a problem. There's always going to be bad eggs but I just don't understand why this has to cause a rift between the fandom. I understand being uncomfortable with a ship, even if it's not problematic, and that's completely fair. You have every right to dislike something or be uncomfortable with it, but that doesn't give you a pass to be rude to others over it.

Learn to block and move on, not everything needs your input. If you really need to talk about something that's bothering you, just rant in your friend's DMs!

⠀

[iguessitsjustme]

The Boy Next World Ep 10 Thoughts

I am still not feeling great and I'm stressed out the wazoo about approximately 27 million things. So it's the perfect time to watch this show. It can only help. Right? Right? Under the cut:

MDL is saying this is only 10 episodes. So is this the last episode? For real? What the fuck am I supposed to do when it ends? What am I to liveblog on Sundays now? If this is over then I'm only watching 2 shows. Who have I become?

Phu continues to communicate well.

Yes yes. Let's get the pain out of the way right now so then we can work on the not pain. I would like the not pain to be 90% of the episode please.

This theme song still slaps and I will be listening to it on my own.

I can't keep all these Phus and Cirs straight (hah) anymore. I'm guessing this is dark Cir now?

Oh a dream. How could this show do this. Does it not know how confused I am all of the time about everything.

I am not gonna say whether or not this soundtrack is good because I genuinely can't tell. But what I can tell you is that I vibe with it. It is working for me. (So much more than the Love Sea soundtrack. Which I can say was definitively bad. I don't know what they were doing over there but they weren't even trying. They put all their effort into this show and it shows)

This is the funniest possible resolution to the Wim not believing Jin thing. Cir is like "he's not lying" and Wim is like "i beg your pardon???????"

Listen. I know absolutely nothing about Jin's mind reading story makes any lick of sense. But I don't care. I'm just vibin. And I like Wim and Jin. I wish they were given the story and screen time they deserved. They could have been fascinating. But I'll take what I can get.

Ask a fella first would you?

This is not asking first my guy.

Listen. Listen. If a hot man was standing outside my apartment when it was raining and handed me an umbrella, I would take it. No matter how pissed I was. Ignore that obviously I would already be holding an umbrella in my hand. I would simply add the new umbrella to my collection.

I need someone to explain the constant presence of screaming children on Sundays when I watch this show. And I am not consistent with the time I watch this show. Doesn't matter. The screaming children will start screaming.

This video is cute. Kind of wish this wasn't a video. But I'm not expecting this show to be the best.

Tears actually have the opposite effect on me and now I like Cir less (I still love him please do not misunderstand). Every time I see someone cry, I just emotionally shut down…I should probably figure out why that is. Dear god something is wrong with me. Cir's tears still annoy me though. Go to him Phu. Go to him to make the tears stop.

AH HE'S SINGING. GO BACK TO CRYING GO BACK TO CRYING.

Why is this going on so long. Is this show designed to torture me? The fuck?

Just @ me next time damn.

Can you not call him?

I love him. Give him merman show. He falls in love with merman. Yes? Yes.

Oh he's me.

I don't see how saying this in front of Cir's mother solves anything with her.

What if they didn't make the mother cartoonishly evil? What if…

Boy this is how you die. Also no way in hell Cir allows this. If he does then he loses all of the respect I had for him.

Why are the screaming children back? Where are their parents?

Why the fuck are we negotiating for people? Stab her? Like gun? I don't understand. Why are they entertaining her need for control like this? She doesn't get to just…trade people? What. The fuck?

They just fucking left Wim there????

GO GET WIM AND OZONE????

You're gonna fuck? Ozone just threw himself to the wolves (hopefully with a knife in his pocket) and y'all are gonna fuck???

So this is definitely one of my favorite offerings from MAME. It ended cute but the fuck?

Save Ozone.

Honestly? I think this show needed at least one more episode so they could have properly resolved everything. But I'll take it. It's not bad. It's not particularly good either. It simply is. I loved all the characters. I was vibin. I'm betting Ozone actually has a plan to deal with his mom and isn't just trading himself with no idea what he's doing. That woman is gonna end up dead and it's gonna look like an accident. At least. That's how that ends in my head.

Anyway, what should I liveblog next? Anyone got anything for me? I could finally start my liveblog of The Lovely Pin. Or I could do a currently airing show since I'm only watching 2 right now. If you have read these liveblogs and enjoyed them, thank you I appreciate you. I'm gonna go take a nap now I think.

[verboselocket38]

I need to make something clear or else the fans might attack me and send me threats, I like this show and was kinda scared to post this but I gotta say it........

.......Anyways, Im just rant about some excuses for Helluva Boss that are just not good excuses when fans defend the wrighting.

1. "If you dont like it dont watch it 🙄"

So this excuse I hear a lot when fans are backed into a corner and cant protect the critisisms from the show (Sorry I am tired, so my spelling might not be that good) And even if people deny it they use this excuse anyways without giving a good argument to why whatever critism the show gets is wrong.

Also I told this to someone before, but by the logic of this excuse, that means anyone who watches and said they openly hate a show like Velma or High Gaurdian Spice secretly likes it.

(I am gonna bring these shows up a lot to use them as examples. Should probably mention now that I dont like either Velma or HGS, but Helluva Boss has SOME THINGS in common, not ALL THINGS, but SOME)

2. "The Series isnt finished, you should wait for it to be done"

Now to an extent this one is ok. Like for example: If Aang from ATLA were going on a journey to learn how to Waterbend, Earthbend, and Firebend to defeat the Firelord, then obviously its gonna take awhile and shouldnt be like "wHy DoEsNt He BeAt HiM NOW!!!". BUT that does not mean you cant critisize the episodes where Aang might get out of character, Katara does something that will leave a bad taste in your mouth, or anything that might not be good writing.

Yes Helluva Boss isnt finished, but thats still a bad excuse for defending the writing. You should still put effort into the writing. Like the fight between Blitzø and Stolas was resolved in A TEXT MESSAGE AND PEOPLE SAY ITS GOOD WRITING. IT ISNT!!! Like if your most emotion point in your show is going to be resolved in something we dont see happen, then there is no growth to the characters. (Saying this is an easter egg is just another excuse for bad writing.) People say that later on it might get resolved and that we should be patient I call bull crap. In S2E2 Stolas and Blitzø are not even akward around eachother, so I highly doubt future episodes will talk about this.

Also, I just thought, shouldnt shows like Velma also go for its excuse? Like its getting a Season 2, so we shouldnt judge the show until its finished right? I dont wanna hear "Its because Velma ruined Scooby Doo!" Or "Velma is an acception since it can make my eyes role" Nope!!! We gotta wait till Velma is over to fully critisize it.

2.5 "You shouldnt be comparing VELMA to HELLUVA BOSS!!!"

Gonna bring this up since SOMEONE WILL. But I do NOT like Velma, I think its crap. I like Helluva Boss, not a fan of the stans and a lot of things Viv says and does. They can not take Critisism. She says she can but accually doesnt. And I kinda realize that there are some things Velma does that people role their eyes at, but when Helluva Boss does it, they get praised for it. Again, I 👏DO 👏NOT 👏LIKE 👏 VELMA. Im treating it equal to other shows, when Velma does something everyone hates it. When Helluva Boss does it everyone likes it. For example, the Swearing and Sex jokes. When Velma does it, people say that they swear and do sex jokes for no reason and it ruins the mood. But when Helluva Boss does it (Which keep in mind, 90% of the dialoug is sex and swearing.) It gets praised. Just wanted to point it out.

3. "Its Hell, what do you expect? 🤡"

I saved the best for last. Yall probably heard this one before lol. So, Im just gonna say that yes the characters do live in hell and that can lead to their bad behavior and cruel humor. The issue that I have is that will be used to defend bad writing. Yes they live in hell, but that doesnt mean 90% of the dialoug should be sex, swearing, and angst. Yknow the end of Unhappy Campers where Moxxie and Millie dressed as siblings and had sex on stage infront of minors? "But its hell!" Yes, BUT its out of character for Moxxie and Millie. MOXXIE ESPECIALLY!!!! ITS ALSO GROSS LIKE HOW IS THIS FUNNY?????

There are also double standards. For example when Stella turns out to be a abusive bish, we are made to suppose to hate her. But when Loona was abusive to her adoptive father who took her in and gave her love, we are suppose to laugh??? Also, dont say "But he threatened to replace her!" No, Loona brought it up AFTER she was attacking Blitzø and he roled along with it.

"But its Hell!!!" my butt. If Stella is abusive to make Stolas look like a justified character and her unlikeable, then why should I like Loona? And no, trauma is not an excuse. She is 22 and she has control of her own self.

And like??? If I were to write a story of some unlikeable guy in New York City who killed people for no reason, should my excuse be "Its society, what do you expect? This is life, get over it."

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you accually want to defend the writing of your horny demon show, then find accual critisms. Again, I👏 Like👏This👏Show. But when Fans and Viv shield any critisms and just see it as blind hate, it makes me upset. Most people who critisize this show like it. The thing is, if we praise or ignore something that needs to be critiqued, then the writing wont get any better. If we critisize it, then there is a chance that Viv will realize she needs to put effort into her wrighting.

I like this show, it inspired me, but Season 2 is such a downgrade from the previous season.

[rileythemilipede]

tpot spoilers, shoo shoo go watch it

THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD EPISODE???

the challenge being to wake your teammate up from a nightmare is really cool and a unique idea!

and not to mention, the nightmares themselfs... omgosh

winners nightmare was all loser themed, statues, museums being loser themed, etc... i also love the whole scene with winner explaining what happened with loser and them to theyre teammates. (im still poed that loser would abandon them like that for fame >:(). and then them and clock making up like-

JUST KISS ALREADY- /hj /silly

AND BLACK HOLES NIGHTMARE. OH MY DAYS. /pos

first off, seeing fanny with a mouth is weird, also seeing normal tree, but also...

black holes nightmare was so good.

to give context, black holes nightmare was two giving them the challenge to kill everyone. including his teammates.

obviously, this is more than a nightmare to bh, we all know how obsessed he is with the pact.

but in the nightmare, he starts to like it. he destroys everything in his way, and kills the people who show up in his dream.

tree and fanny try to escape, and also i like how the forest from bfdia shows up, very cool ref :D

but the one part i love about this, is near the end of his nightmare.

the part where he sucks up everything, even the universe, and its all pure white. him and fanny are the only living things. he then says these words to fanny.

"thats whats gonna happen if i betray the pact. there will be nothing. absolutely nothing."

CHILLS. ACTUAL. CHILLS. THIS SCENE... WAS SO GOOD. not only was the voice acting good, but just the scene its self... oh my days.

and him and fanny resolve some stuff, which theyre argument and everything was good too, but that part.... it stuck with me.

and i also like books dream, the call back to bfb was awesome, and i liked how book and price tag became good friends, it was sweet :3

(and im prob gonna ship them more....)

anyways, AMAZING EP!!! everything about it was perfect, and theres alot more i didnt talk about. PLEASE WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!!! trust me, its amazing.

[waterlilyvioletfog]

Okay, just watched ep. 23 of Jiu Chong Zi/Blossom, the episode where [spoiler] dies and I have some thoughts! Caveats: I have only seen up to episode 23, and I am not familiar with the original IP the show is based on, so I will be treating the show’s writers as creative decision-makers although I AM AWARE that this may be a simplistic or erroneous view.

Dou Ming’s death is a very obvious boundary marker within the show, launching us, I think I’d argue, into the show’s third act, after the second act moved lots of pieces around and swept a few off the board. I’m gonna use the death of Song Mo’s mother and the resultant fight between him and his dad as the turning point for Act 1, for reference.

First, there’s the karmic aspect of Dou Ming’s death, which I’d say is consistent with the show’s overall themes. I think there’s a very direct parallel to be made between Dou Ming’s death and Dou Zhao’s mother’s death. Both are sympathetic relatives of Dou Zhao who are killed due to the Dou family’s dysfunction. They both die because of Wang Yingxue’s actions. Within the larger narrative, their deaths are clearly meant to be lessons for their loved ones, punishments for those who most wronged them (although obviously neither character held that kind of malice). Dou Zhao’s mother’s death is a punishment for Dou Zhao’s dad, and Dou Ming’s death is a punishment for her mother (this is very obvious). Additionally, Dou Ming herself highlights the karmic nature of her death when she is dying, reminding Wei Tingyu of the oath he’d sworn to only paint her upon pain of sword to the heart, saying that her death is the answer and the resolution of that oath. He has been a terrible husband and the consequence is an unjust death for his wife that could have been prevented by him just not sucking so bad.

Dou Ming’s death also resolves the initial story conflict. In Dou Zhao’s first life, her enemies were her husband, her sister, and her stepmother. I could be wrong about what the story holds in the future, but I don’t expect to see much more out of either WTY or WYX, unless either one goes on a redemption arc (unlikely), or goes full supernova supervillain. This is still more unlikely for me. WTY and WYX are consistent parts of Dou Zhao’s rogue’s gallery, but they aren’t smart enough to really be threats, as Act Two has repeatedly proven. Dou Ming’s death is knelling out the end of their status as important antagonists, cutting them off at the knees in time to introduce the actual villains of the show.

In addition to moving minor villains out of the way so Dou Zhao &co can more directly fight the Evil Brigade, the bandit plot effectively introduces the Evil Brigade’s qualifications for being major antagonists. Dou Ming’s death is the final proof of this. Although the principal goals of the bandit plot (kill Dou Zhao, get Song Mo killed or in trouble) ultimately failed, Dou Ming died, which proves to a watching audience that a) these are the BAD bad guys, because anyone whose actions kill off one of the few likable characters not already in the Song Mo-Dou Zhao camp is clearly not great, and b) even if they were foiled this time, they might have better luck next time, and they’ve already killed off a major secondary character and nerfed two more through their actions. The stakes have been raised! Dou Ming’s death particularly highlights the villainy of Evil Uncle Dou (I cannot. For the life of me. Keeps his and the dad’s names straight. And for like the first half of the show they were both in the bad guys corner so it didn’t matter to me anyways). He’s been terrible the entire time, but Dou Ming has done nothing wrong to anyone ever in this life and he’s like 🤷‍♂️ about it. It is GALLING to see him react so calmly to his niece’s death, placing all the blame for everything squarely on his sister-in-law, when we the audience know that he orchestrated the bandits getting in, resulting in Dou Ming’s death!!! Well. He wanted his niece dead and he got a niece dead!!

And I want to elaborate a little further on the stakes-raising bit. Killing off a sympathetic character to raise the stakes prior to the third act is a classic writing choice. For instance, in Blood of Youth, Li Xinze’s character (he plays WTY in jcz) is killed off at the end of the second act which I fucking hated but like it was a thing that happened. But unfortunately no one would care if his character died atp in Blossom because WTY sucks! So it’s gotta be someone the audience cares about, a character set that’s fairly thin on the ground. Song Mo already lost Lu Zhen at the end of act 1/start of act 2, so you couuuuulllldddd theoretically kill off one of the advisor guys or one of the maids for like, symmetry, but this lacks any narrative thrust. Dou Ming’s death, on the other hand, is suitably tragic for an act turn, affects a maximum portion of the cast, and carries thematic weight, making her an ideal candidate from a story perspective.

Overall, rip Dou Ming. You wronged no one! Everyone in your life disappointed you! In a kinder story you’d have gotten a nice divorce and lived with your dad or your jiejie in peace 💜

[my-little-pony-theories]

Over A Barrel rewrite

I haven't thought about this episode in like, a decade, but I saw a really funny post by @thiscatdraws that reminded me of how unintentionally problematic that episode was, specifically the ending.

So for fun, I decided to think about what went wrong and how it could be easily fixed. 

What Went Wrong In the Episode Itself? 

The main issue, in my opinion, is the ending. Aka how the conflict was resolved. It was really stupid. 

Short recap of the conflict of the episode:

The Appleloosa ponies and Buffalo herd are at war.

The Buffalo are first seen attacking the pony train containing an apple tree. Applejack is bringing the tree to be planted in her cousin's apple orchard. When the main characters get to the town, Applejack’s cousin Braeburn establishes that the town needs the apple trees for their entire economy. 

The Buffaloes take the tree. Later in the episode, the Buffaloes explain to Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike why they took the tree: they only wanted the tree to prevent the settler ponies from expanding their orchard, which was planted atop the tribe's traditional stampeding grounds without their permission. The ponies then meet Chief Thunderhooves, who affirms the tradition and heritage of running the path each year. 

So the land that the apple orchard was planted by the ponies originally belonged to the Buffalo. This conflict is supposed to be a kid-friendly version of the real-life conflict between the British settlers and Native Americans, where the British stole the Native American’s land and slaughtered/relocated a good amount of them. This is the kid-friendly version of that, so obviously they're not gonna show something like that, but the land still belongs to the Buffalo, that's the main point.

The episode ends with the Buffaloes and Appleloosans getting into a kid-friendly war, with the Appleloosans using pies as weapons. Chief Thunderhooves is hit in the face by a stray pie. When a piece of pie drips onto his tongue, he is impressed by the taste and declares that he has an alternative idea to fighting.

Per Chief Thunderhooves' idea, the settler ponies keep the land in return for sharing their apple pies with the buffalo and creating a path through the orchard so the herd can continue their traditional stampede.

You see the issue? The ponies, despite stealing the land belonging to the Buffaloes, get to keep it. In exchange for pies, which are made from the very thing that took the Buffalo's land.

Yeah, the ponies cut down some trees to make a path for the Buffaloes to run through, but the fact of the matter is that the ponies still stole the land that didn't belong to them, and suffered no consequences from it. And they get to keep it (the majority of it, anyway).

It also paints the idea that both the Appleloosans and the Buffalo were equally in the wrong, when that's just not true (obviously). Yes, the Buffaloes did start attacking the trains and put the innocent passengers inside in danger instead of trying to talk to the ponies about their issue, that was their mistake. Maybe the conflict would've been resolved much sooner and in a more peaceful way if they did that. But, the ponies were still the ones mostly in the wrong, and who started the conflict.

Easy Way to Fix It

The lesson of the episode is to teach children to share, right? That's a good lesson. Unfortunately, because of the way the conflict was written, it's more like “if someone steals something from you because they need it just as much, or more so, than you, than if you don't want to share it with them then you're just as bad as they are” which is… so wrong 😅

The episode could've ended like this: 

During the kid-friendly war, Chief Thunderhooves is hit in the face by a stray pie. The Appleloosans at this moment realize that this entire conflict could've been resolved if they didn't steal the Buffalo's land and refuse to give it back. And the Buffaloes could've realized that they should've tried to talk it out before immediately attacking their trains (I'm assuming that's what happened).

The Appleloosans apologize to the Buffalo for stealing their land, and promise to move their trees. The Buffaloes apologize for body slamming their trains.

The lesson is that taking something that doesn't belong to you, even if you might need it just as much or more, is still wrong, and that you should always ask first. And if the other person says “no”, then just try to find another one. And if they say “yes”, then… sweet. Also you should try to talk your problems out instead of going into attack-mode.

That second lesson is assuming that the Buffaloes didn't try talking it out first in-universe.

Basically the major point is that the episode should've ended with the ponies giving the Buffalo their land back. That’s it.

~~~

Maybe Hasbro wouldn't allow an episode to end with both sides of a conflict not being 109% happy and satisfied, so the writers couldn't come up with a better ending. Or maybe the writers themselves were just tripping with that episode. Either way, the original ending is so dumb and it could've easily been something that made more sense. 

I honestly have no idea why colonialism and "let's civilize the savages" is a reoccurring theme in this show. I think in the writer's minds, they were using the non-pony creatures as an example for the children on how not to act. I imagine the thought process was "hey kids, if everyone in our society rejected friendship and kindness, our society will be just like the Griffon Kingdom, or Dragon Kingdom, or Changeling Kingdom, or Yak Kingdom, etc etc".

But because the non-pony creatures are more often than not used as representations for people from other countries (ESPECIALLY in the School of Friendship era of the show, which is garbage for multiple reasons), it's incredibly problematic.

Of course, as the show went on they showed that not all members from the different species were like this (Ember, Thorax, Gabby, the baby yak that helped Pinkie Pie, etc etc) and that the only reason the majority of them acted rude and brutish is because they're just products of their less magically privileged societies...

The ponies started off in the exact same way the other creatures did, where they were rude and their society was less advanced. It was only when they discovered the Fire of Friendship that their society improved.

I think the implication is that the other creatures didn't discover their own Fire of Friendship yet, or... something.

This is all too confusing for me.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I understand the writer's thought process, but it is SO unintentionally problematic, it's one of the show's main flaws.

It also hurts because there are a lot of people who watch the show who are a fan of the non-pony characters. People are interested in learning about their history, their society, how it differs from each other, and the characters themselves. But almost every single time a new non-pony species is introduced, they have to be portrayed in such a negative way just to make the ponies look superior by default. And the franchise is called My Little Pony, so I can see how they got there and they shouldn't focus on the other creatures too much, but why did they have to make it so problematic 😅

I think the storyline of season 8 was maybe the writers trying to undo the damage they caused, but they ended up making it 10000009 times more worse.

If the writers really wanted to properly undo the damage, then they should've emphasized in season 8 that ponies started off exactly like the other creatures, and it wasn't until they discovered the Fire of Friendship that their society turned around. The plot line for season 8 could've been the other creatures discovering their own Fire of Friendship without too much help from the ponies because it would still be kinda white saviory, and while most ponies are happy about it, ponies like Chancellor Neighsay are intimidated at the idea of the other kingdoms being on the same level as them.

Idk, anything would've been better than the School of Friendship crap. In their attempt to undo the problematic portrayal of the other creatures, they ended up taking something that was mostly vaguely implied and made it 2000000 more intentional and 376788865 times worse!!!

I remember when G5 was first new, one thing that people really wanted for G5 to do was respect the non-pony creatures, since it's one of the major problems with G4. I was hoping for that too.

Well... the non-pony creatures besides the dragons didn't even appear in G5. And the dragons were so much less interesting in G5.

And G5 sucks anyway. So that was another disappointment.

[foundfam2754]

S17e10 (finale!) live reactions!

Spoilers…obviously

- AHHH this is it!! finally! here. we. go.

- yeah they better not hurt my kiddos thank you very much

-I’m telling you NOW. this is all about Elias. He’s the center of the conspiracy. that’s been my theory since e1. if he didn’t say anything about GS, none of this would have started

- of course, Emily’s kidnapped again. That HAS be in Paget’s contract or something

- where are JJ and Luke?? boyf and bff up to no good again

- what did Emily do?? what’s she being judged for?

- I KNEW IT. THEY WERE GONNA DO FLASHBACKS AGAIN

- tbh this has to be the least scary time that’s she’s been “abducted and interrogated” lol

- I KNEW IT. My “Emily abduction count” was 4

- this is the “dramatic and cry-y” outfit for Pen!!

- I think my theory is right!! if you have been reading my reaction posts every week you’ll know I have a theory about this season:

that the underlying conspiracy of the season being that they’re (BAU and the gold stars) doing everything Elias wants them to do - and it was all to get him out of jail and to screw over the BAU, and it all started with Bailey’s “gold star” in 16x10. especially because the only way they can resolve it is by confiding in voit. because he knows everything and how everyone really feels. and everyone’s priorities

- lol elias’ cell looks like a college dorm

- I KNEW IT I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE CONSPIRACY. - ELIAS. IS. THE. CENTER OF IT!!! I’m just so proud of myself

- OMG that’s not a spin I saw coming

- wait wait wait did I forget or did they JUST tell us about Emily’s sister

- aw man doug bailey’s such a good egg

- chaotic voit is so fucking funny

- also that’s a cool shot

- god doug bailey is *so* cute

- oh god - voit knew if bailey ended up on that wall, pete would fall into deeper into the conspiracy!! 🤯🤯

- BIT THROUGH HER TONGUE?

- how does emily end up being cool and such a bitch badass even when she’s in that much pain!??

- “Jenny?” ew

- “we can smell you later” HAHA

- haha I fucking love Tyler “thought experiment”

- “hey, Ty-Ty” “Lucas” I FUCKING LOVE CHAOTIC ELIAS

- oh my god Penelope, stay safe

- PEN PROTECTING TYLER!!! it actually threw him off, you could see his face, it’s the eye contact specifically that threw him off

- oh my god that’s horrifying

- this whole episode is the bau trying to throw Elias of and v/v

- oh god I forgot about emily

- is she about to say that she loved him? pls, I kinda liked them together

- also a lil inconsistency that bugs me; in 15x4, they said that you can never talk down a conspiracy theorist, a targeted individual - they just have to let them believe what they believe - so why is Em trying to convince them so hard, shouldn’t she profile them? idk

- wait I don’t get it, how does the board relate to the team coming?? wouldn’t they have booby trapped it either way? why does Luke dancing in a towel after his shower have anything to do with it??😂

- omg Luke

- OMG dave this is so smart

- Jade’s gonna do something isn’t she??

- I KNEW IT

- when is pen going to cry? im so unsure what kirsten’s insta post was about bc the ep is almost over

- “discretion is the better part of valor” - interesting

- wait are we getting profilers back?? now that she has more money

- Penelope’s house!!

- but also no more greencia pls

- pen and luke pls?? pls? pls. :(

- wuoh elias…

GREAT SEASON!!! but we deserved garvez

looking forward to 2026, when I can do these again :)

more to come as I reflect on the season, but thanks for sticking w me as I did these reactions!!

[revcnqe]

SPOILERS for The Boys Season 4

I'm still processing the final episode but here are some of my random thoughts, in no particular order. It was a wild ride and I enjoyed it for the most part. The season had its lows for sure and I'll never forgive the writers for how they treated Hughie. I'm still fucking mad about everything they did to him after episode 5. I also felt like they wasted a lot of potential with Annie's arc. She's been through a lot after season 3 and I loved the idea of her having an identity crisis but it was just so poorly executed. It all felt messy and as if the writers had no conclusion in mind for both her and Hughie's plotlines. Unfortunately I couldn't find myself caring a lot about Frenchie's and Kimiko's subplots which is sad because I love these two. I was hoping they get to kill that bitch Little Nina and Kimiko getting her revenge on the SLLA. Both could have happened this season before they got separated in the end. Instead we've been put on hold to wait if these plots get resolved at all. Firecracker and Sage were great additions, I loved to hate Firecracker and Sage gives off endboss vibes for me. I still feel like she's gonna betray Homelander in the end. Can't wait for "phase two". A-Train's arc was great, he truly redeemed himself and him showing up at the flat iron to save the others was proof enough for me how serious he was about doing the right thing. I liked all of his scenes with MM, too. I loved Ashley this season, I hope she gains some badass powers and kicks everyone's ass. I've seen some complaints about Homelander being nerfed - are we watching the same show? He is fucking unhinged and more terrifying than ever. He is basically god by the end of the season and can (and will) do whatever the fuck he wants with no one in his way. Someone telling me that's not scary?! He is and always will be one of the best villains in tv history. Poor kid Ryan, he deserved better. How is he ever supposed to feel safe around Homelander and Butcher phrasing it that way was downright evil and manipulative towards the boy because he knew it would make Ryan feel insecure and cornered. Him pushing and killing Grace was in self-defense. His reaction afterwards however is concerning and I guess ambiguous for interpretation on purpose. I still don't get how some people in the fandom could hate on a 12 year old child so much, leave the kid alone.

Where do I start when it comes to Butcher? I have many thoughts and this text is already long but I'll give it a shot anyway. Obviously I'm biased because I love this man and will defend him to the very end. I think his arc was one of the better aspects, he is still one of the best written characters on the show. What I always loved about him was him being truly morally grey and the ambiguity in his words and actions. He cannot be trusted. I don't know if it's me but Karl's performance makes him actually a lot more likeable than he deserves. He is a bad person and I don't think this is negotiable. I have thought about this so many times in made-up scenarios and I stick with my opinion that there's no fixing him and there never was. I have tried to stay away from fandom discourse as much as I could for my own well-being but I don't get how people act surprised and as a result hate over his behavior and decisions. I think most were true to his character and also him killing Neuman made perfect sense and was a well-deserved payoff narratively. Not that I'm not mad at him for doing so! I loved Vicky and she was such an interesting character. But his final words in season 3 were "that bitch has to go" and one of his main goals across the whole season was to get that virus to kill her. He was absolutely clear about it and worked towards this goal on his own terms, not even under the influence of Kessler. Certainly Kessler pushed him to commit some of his atrocities but it matched with what he wanted himself. He drew the line when it came to supe genocide and was conflicted about it initially but one of his core themes is doing whatever it takes and losing his humanity on his chosen path. Since he is highly intelligent he knows very well what's wrong with him what emphasises even more that he actively chooses to do bad things rather than being impulsive and regretful afterwards. I personally loved his turn at the end and I am eager to see his villain arc. What's not to love about evil daddy?! I could go on about some of the dynamics between him and Kessler but I'll do that in another post maybe.

[ahomoeroticopening]

Ok so obviously the last episode was incredible… I’m going to do a deep dive into every reference I can find at some point but it’s gonna take time because literally everything is a reference. But the crux wasn’t resolved in my mind of Steve and Reece falling out. Like Steve loses the job opportunity so they will keep “plodding along” but Steve basically says they’re not even friends anymore and it never gets straightened out. I was waiting for them to watch the montage together, as best mates but it still felt like they were at odds. Did anyone else feel massively sorry for “Reece” at the end of this episode? (The quotation marks are there because as meta as this was, I know they’re still playing characters, even if it’s themselves)