#phoenix liveblogs tv

[earlgraytay]

So I know what you're thinking. Why is TGAA 2-2 worse than Turnabout Big Top? How can this be possible?

Well, the answer is simple: there's problems with this case that a good editor would have caught right away. The problems with Big Top are ... intentional. Turnabout Big Top is a simple but compelling mystery wrapped up in an overcomplicated and uncomfortable dressing.

.... TGAA 2-2/Memoirs!Kokoro has great dressing. Olive Green is one of my favourite Ace Attorney characters; Shamspeare is wonderfully punchable, it's always great to see Natsume and the Garridebs again, and Lady Quinby is one of my new favourite minor characters; I hope she comes back.

But the mystery is deeply flawed. If you've been reading my liveblog (which you don't have to to understand my point here) you'll know what I'm getting at already- I've been yelling since the first Kokoro case that the solution to What's Up With Natsume is carbon monoxide poisoning. Natsume is forgetful, jittery, and paranoid, and immediately seems to snap out of it after a few months back in Japan. Even on the witness stand, he seems a lot better! He wrote a whole book!

.... the SECOND that the gas pipes were mentioned, I knew that the solution was simple. The victim was poisoned with carbon monoxide, so no strychnine was necessary, so Natsume didn't do it. (Especially since he woke back up!) It's elegant and straightforward.

They then proceed to lampshade this fact throughout the entire case- the meterman and Lady Quinby! The whole subplot about Shamspeare stealing gas! Two people on the jury mention that gas is poisonous repeatedly! Van Zieks makes fun of us by saying we must have breathed some bad air!

-- AND THE GAME, MADDENINGLY, INSISTS THE POISON IS STRYCHNINE. There's no option to bring up that it might be the gas until the very bitter end, and so you feel like you're yelling at a character on a beloved children's TV show. "MR. NOODLE. YOUR HANDS, MR. NOODLE. THAT'S YOUR NOSE, MR. NOODLE. GODDAMMIT, MR. NOODLE."

...and then when they finally let you bring up the gas, when they finally look like they're letting you be Clever and finally FIGURE OUT THE MYSTERY...

there's poison. on the gas pipe.

there's. poison. on the pipe. that's already. full. of poison. that the murderer. was already breathing into. for pre-established convenience reasons.

GODDAMMIT, MR. NOODLE.

Like, Turnabout Big Top is loathesome, but you can follow the chain of cause and effect there, and it doesn't make you feel like Phoenix is stupid. Nobody wants to be here (including the characters!), but nobody is stupid about the events that are happening. In Memoirs of a Clouded Kokoro, it feels like Runo took a hit off the gas pipe and forgot how to lawyer. (And when Phoenix forgot how to lawyer he at least had textual amnesia.)

And the really maddening thing is that these are all problems that could have been fixed if an editor had looked at this and gone "Takumi-san, why do we need three different poisons in this case?" I have no real knowledge of how the dev on TGAA went other than what the devs have chosen to make public. But I know what writing for games is like, and I know Shu Takumi gets ... silly with his substance use when it's time to crunch. This case feels like it was either written under the influence and never edited- or drafted to just be about carbon monoxide poisoning, someone on the production team decided it needed to be more complicated, and the rewrite was never edited.

Because it would be so easy to fix this. You could even keep most of the elements in the canon case(s) -- it's not even like you need to add more assets or anything.

So here's how I'd fix it.

So 99.9999% of TGAA 1-4 /Adventure!Kokoro is fine. The Garridebs, Olive Green's near-death experience, the introduction of Natsume and the building- all just fine! It's fun! It's a lil silly! It's a good breather in between the fucking McGilded cases and the chain of logic works. The events in the chain are silly, yes, but the chain itself is logical. It leaves open a couple of very important hooks- the window tax! the "neighbours" fighting! Why Olive Green was there in the first place! - but it works as a standalone case and it ends satisfactorily enough. Our main concern at the end of the case is that Olive and Natsume are gonna be okay, and we get that resolution!

Untilllllll... we flash back to Memoirs, and after another ~!brilliant!~ deduction by Sholmes, we've put Natsume back in jail. The opening to Memoirs - basically everything until we get into court - is fine! If you cut down on the foreshadowing of the gas- leave one or two mentions maybe, but don't go nearly as hard on it- it works to set everything up.

Day one of the case focuses on proving that the tea couldn't have been poisoned (and therefore that Shamspeare is stealing his gas), and most of the elements of that still work too- there just needs to be a little more textual focus on the fact that step one of any court case is proving the prosecution's opening argument wrong. before we are allowed to prove that something else occurred, we have to prove that things couldn't have gone down the way Van Zieks says they did.

it's once we've done that that everything starts to fall apart in the canon case-- the canon case tries to set up poison on the gas pipes, but we can do better. First rule of mystery writing is don't hang a gun on the wall you don't shoot, right? We've hung so many miles of gas pipe in these walls, it's a crime not to use them.

In the investigation interlude between days 1 and 2, we should get two pieces of information before we go back to the Garridebs:

Natsume explains that he's almost died of carbon monoxide poisoning once, when the pilot light on his stove died. He thinks that this is the curse, of course, but it's obvious that something's wrong with the building.

Olive Green is getting discharged from the hospital, and plans to go home and end her life. We stop her from doing so, but she's too rattled to tell us why.

We then go back to the Garridebs, and pointedly ask Mr. Garrideb about the maintenance and upkeep of the gas; is it really in such good condition that he can use it to spy on people? He's said the pipes are leaky. He bitches, at length, about how he's had to replace most of the piping after a tenant died. We get the story of Duncan Ross (and get it repeated if we investigate Shamspeare's place and show Olive the photograph).

We investigate Shamspeare's place, get the stuff he stashed under the floor, discover that he's been getting really familiar with the wall under the gas pipe (and I would have them make a joke about the Romeo and Juliet showdown being, uh, lewd), and discover the letter Olive sent him. We also get the Selden case file from Gregson.

Day two in court is where things really start to change. In canon, it's a mess of proving that there's poison on the gas pipe- but there's poison in the gas pipes already. It's dumb. You've been listening to me yell about this for several thousand words now. So instead:

Day two is about proving that someone else could have entered the flat. Day three is about proving that something else could have entered the flat.

Day two, we get the results from Scotland Yard that there was no poison in the tea. When we examined Shamspeare's apartment, we found the letter from Olive Green; she's our next lead, and besides, the gang is a little worried about her all things considered. Unfortunately, the only way to check up on her is to accuse her of attempted murder. This is an Ace Attorney case, and we're obligated to be in court today. If we can't go to her, we'll bring her to us. Ryunosuke is pretty sure she didn't try to kill anyone- look at her! She's so wet! - but he is pretty sure she was in the apartment when she shouldn't have been, and if she could have gotten in there, who's to say someone else couldn't have?

So, in an attempt to find the real killer, he accuses Olive. In the cross-examination, it becomes clear that:m

Olive initially thought that her boyfriend was cheating on her with someone in the building- obviously not the elderly maid, she clearly had a thing for the landlord!, but that only left Shamspeare.

(wow, he's bisexual! I didn't know that gif goes here.)

Olive was furious with Shamspeare- especially since her boyfriend was found dead shortly after he moved in. She was convinced that Shamspeare killed him in a crime of passion, and wanted revenge.

Her plan was to use strychnine to poison some food in the apartment. Unfortunately, as we've established previously, there's no food in the apartment.

Furthermore, on her way in, she gets caught by Mrs. Garrideb-- who assumes she's there to see Mr. Garrideb, and who gets Incredibly Jealous. Olive gets turned away, but no matter- she waits til the shouting starts, and sneaks back in. It's easy enough to get into the crappy apartment with the broken locks, and easier still to find Shamspeare's not so secret hiding place.

She goes in and finds nothing to poison, and decides that, while she's here, she's going to try to find some evidence that this man killed her fiance. Or, at the very least, if she can't murder him, she can steal something he values.

She finds nothing linking Shamspeare to Duncan. Instead, she finds information linking Shamspeare to Selden, and she recognizes the name from the papers. She steals the evidence, and decides that Scotland Yard should prbably have this- even if it implicates her in a crime.

(I would probably make Selden a much more notorious criminal for this to work- maybe some serial murders on top of the burglaries, maybe stole something belonging to the Crown.)

On her way out, she turns to go down Briar Road... and is promptly hit on the back by the knife falling from the window above, and rushed to the hospital. No one searches her pockets beyond looking for her name, and she's out of commission for several days.

This is also where she puts together for us that she's had an absolutely rotten several months, she's so depressed that she decided to kill herself, but she has enough of a spine and a conscience to want to see justice for Duncan - one way or another! - before she met her end.

We prove all of this... but that doesn't answer the question of who poisoned Shamspeare. There's a very annoying moment where Van Zieks convinces the jury that Olive is perjuring herself and poisoned something anyway, even though we've proven there wasn't anything to poison- but we talk them around. Thoughtcrimes are not crimes, and while Olive's (probably) going to get tried for theft (haha spoilers), it's clear by the end of the day that this lead is going nowhere.

So if the poison wasn't in the tea and the poison wasn't brought in by someone else, it had to already have been in the apartment. Day three is dedicated to figuring out where it could have come from and what the killer's motive was. And there's one really obvious source...

It's the gas. Instead of bringing back Bruce fucking Fairplay, I'd make the foreman of the jury a doctor. Not a hack surgeon- a Broad Street doctor, comfortably middle-aged and rich and not prone to nonsense. He's well aware of what gas poisoning looks like, and by day three of watching us cross-examine Shamspeare and Natsume, he can't help but step in. Both of these men are clearly suffering from chronic carbon monoxide poisoning.

Van Zieks- to his deep and profound displeasure- can't disagree, and has a frustrated rant about wasting the court's time on an accident. That, of course, he blames us for. Ryunosuke goes, "Ah, but it was no accident", and we call Mr. Garrideb as a witness.

This is fairly short, but Mr. Garrideb just replaced the pipes. (He has reciepts! He bitches about it at length! But not too much length because we have a lot to get through today and Quinby Altamonte threatens him with her umbrella. She's not a maid so he's not interested.)

Speaking of Quinby Altamonte, she contributes information about the process of installing certified Altamonte pipes and meters, and specifically, about how you can blow into a pipe (and turn off all gas flames in the rest of the house) to check the gas flow.

The piece that looks most important right now is that we have Mr. Garrideb's record of payment and the Altamont records of certification- the pipes are less than three months old and have no leaks. .

The workman on the jury corroborates this, as he's worked on the house- and he points out that you have to be exceptionally careful in tenements like this, because the tenants use their gas stoves for heat. You have to leave it on all night, so you don't freeze to death in the cold London winter, and you wouldn't want to risk poisoning someone by blowing out the pilot light on their stove.

We now have all the pieces. Or, almost all. We can prove now that the killer could have blown into the pipes to turn off all the flame in the building. This wouldn't affect the Garridebs upstairs, as they use a fireplace for heat and go to bed early, turning off all their lights... but Natsume stays up all night reading, and has complained that the pilot light on his stove has turned itself off before.

If Shamspeare wanted to kill Natsume, he could have blown out the lights- and gotten a mouthful of gas if he wasn't careful doing it. After all, he isn't a trained technician- he's an out of work actor.

"My learned Japanese friend- SURELY you aren't suggesting that this - ugh- upstanding young actor is the murderer and not the victim."

Yes, Mr. Van Zieks. That's exactly what we're suggesting.

The prosecution pitches a hissy fit, drinks heavily, and insists that we need a motive. We've got most of it, but we need one final piece- it's contained in the evidence against Olive Green, which we had to coax dear Gregsy into giving us before we got to court today.

The law of conservation of characters suggests that if you bring up a master criminal who "died" three months ago, and bring up an out of work actor who appeared from the void ... three months ago... they're the same fucking person. I thought that this was where the case was going, and I thought the writers were so clever for setting this up- obviously the prancing git with exaggerated mannerisms was hiding his true identity! But they made him his cellmate and that's ... workable, I guess, but not as fun.

If I was writing this, Shamspeare is Selden, putting an antic disposition on to cover his tracks while he tries to get his treasure back. He thought it would be easy- move back into his old apartment, no one wants to live there anyway, and it wouldn't be suspicious to have someone come out of nowhere and leave much the same way in a few months. No one lives in the Garridebs' building for long. But noooo, someone had to move into his apartment and someone had no intention of leaving until he was happily married in a few years.

So on top of whatever other crimes Selden- I mean Shamspeare- committed, he had to get the other lodger out of the way. And he figured out how to do it without being detected- using the gas pipe to blow out the pilot light on the stove upstairs. He killed Olive's boyfriend, and planned to swap apartments- but he wasn't allowed to, due to the pipe replacement. In the meantime, Natsume signed a lease, and as soon as work was completed, he moved in.

Shamspeare had to get rid of him, and figured the same trick would work twice. No one noticed the first time. The pipe replacement was a kink in the plans, but you can always blame a tired workman, a faulty installation, or a careless foreigner not understanding how a gas stove works. He's been trying for months, now, but he has to leave the apartment sometimes-- and Natsume, not sleeping at night and getting increasingly paranoid, keeps turning off the gas before he goes to bed.

The asshole just doesn't have the decency to die!

So Natsume has been slowly getting poisoned for weeks, but it's not to the point where it's even remotely lethal- it's just enough to make him incredibly twitchy, paranoid, and depressed. Great! Even better when he gets accused of murdering Olive- and gets taken out of the apartment and thrown in jail for several nights. Shamspeare at first assumes that this is his cue- he's on trial for murder at the Old Bailey against the Reaper! He's not coming back!

But Natsume doesn't have the fucking decency to die! He's acquitted thanks to us-- and Shamspeare decides he's had enough. One way or another, Natsume is going to die the night he comes home.

And then Natsume has the gall to try to be friendly.

Without the treasure that's stashed in Natsume's room, Shamspeare has no money. His plan to invite Natsume over for a meal (to poison him) falls through before it can begin because he can't buy food. Then Natsume brings his own tea- and of course would notice if it tasted wrong; he can't even put soap in it. (If I were writing this, "eating soap" would be a proper running gag, and this would be the ultimate payoff.)

Okay, time for plan B. Exhaust Natsume, make him go home and go to bed, and try the gas thing again. One very interesting literary-themed seduction-slash-argument later, this seems like it's succeeding. Until, when Shamspeare (in his own exhaustion) screws up the routine he's been doing for months and accidentally breathes in a mouthful of gas.

But Shamspeare gets an idea. Natsume's already been accused of murder once. The guy looks shifty as hell. (Mostly because of the gas poisoning, but that's neither here nor there.) If he gets acquitted of a murder and then a day later gets accused of another murder, surely the Reaper will get him this time, right? The Reaper's probably already mad that one of his victims has gone free-- he'll relish the chance to put an end to this properly.

(Van Zieks, in the background, is deeply offended at the idea of being used as a murder weapon.)

So Shamspeare fakes his own murder. He just barely manages to stage the crime scene before he passes out, and figures that either he'll wake up in a few hours (this has happened before while he was figuring this method out), or they'll both fucking die, one way or another.

But thanks to us- and Olive Green's little theft- not only does he get exposed as a murderer, his identity as Selden is also uncovered. He's going to go to trial very shortly, for 1) attempted murder of Soseki Natsume, 2) murder of Duncan Ross, 3) So Much Gas Fraud, 4) escaping prison, 5) perjury, because we feel like it.

Soseki Natsume is NOT GUILTY!

(he's also fed up with England, the English judicial system, English racism, and gas heating. He's going back to Japan, perhaps also to the seaside, for his health.)

Gregson tells us that they're granting Olive clemency because she provided evidence to the Crown. She gets to go free. We have one last conversation with her where we give her the letter we found at Garrideb's place- which got entered into the Court Record. It's a love letter from Duncan. We don't ever actually use it in court- but we use it now. She gets her closure that Duncan wasn't cheating on her - and she's satisfied with Von Zieks taking over her quest for revenge.

She's not sure she has the heart to go back to art school- so many of her happy memories with Duncan are there- but she says she wants to do her best. Susato suggests that with her passion for justice, she'd make an excellent judicial assistant. Perhaps even an attorney in her own right? Are women allowed to do that in England? Well, Olive Green has enough guts and heart to do it even if she isn't technically allowed- it's not like she was allowed to burgle Shamspeare's apartment either.

The case ends with another art student becoming a law student thanks to a doomed lost love! Happy endings all around. Tune in in two to five business years for the spinoff game, Olive Green: Ace Attorney. (She defends a lot of people who are technically guilty of a crime, but not THAT crime, or not under THOSE circumstances, or The Fucker Had It Coming, You See.)

So yeah, that's how I'd rework the case. @raymondshields - eat well.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "An Inside Man"

The beginning of my endless stressed paranoia about Thrawn, also obvious reveal is obvious.

I expect this recap to be pretty breezy, I've already liveblogged this episode once.

Hoo boy I cannot tell you the amount of tension there was before this episode. The TV adverts were packaging the footage from both this and "Visions And Voices" together in order to hype up the midseason closer, before the show went on break for the winter.

So you know, the hype was real.

Let's get into it.

[EDIT: Oh screw you, Tumblr, that was a whole forty minutes of work that you just ate, this is ridiculous.]

Right, so that's not subtle at all.

In addition to leaning heavily into the "Axis-occupied territory in WWII" aesthetic, the smog around Capital City is so much thicker, practically a new ozone layer, ammonia yellow in color. That is not sunset that is the city lights bouncing off the cloud of pollution wafting through their streets.

I haven't mentioned it before but Taylor Gray sometimes has this way of pronouncing the word "my" that gives Ezra just a little bit more of a "folksy" drawl, fitting for an Outer Rim farming planet. I do love how you can kind of "geolocate" where different characters come from by how they talk. High British or Imperial British accent? Core World. Southern American drawl? Outer Rim.

Now imagine Pryce with an accent like Ezra's and remember that every time she speaks she's totally faking her Core World accent. XD

Looks a bit like downtown LA, frankly. Minus the skyscrapers.

Yeah no, still love this shot Ezra pulls off while balancing precariously on the speeder engine. Such skill. Much badass.

The Kanan-Ezra tag team against the walker is great too.

Oh! Just noticed the non-fanfare titlecard has a bit of the dark male chorus from Thrawn's theme. Nice.

Something nice to note, the show does multiple chase sequences on this highway and none of them feel identical to each other. They're all uniquely staged.

I rewatched a couple times and the second speeder was actually taken out by debris from the first, bouncing forward and ricocheting off something.

Fitting right in with the WWII theme, internal saboteurs at the Imperial factories is very French Resistance. I honestly didn't expect to see the Sumars again so this was a pleasant surprise. Also a bit sad now, considering what happens.

*whispers* They paralleled Mr. Sumar's first conversation with Ezra.

This attack on Lothal's factories has been in the planning for a while now, since Season Two at least I think. Even though we were driven off Lothal, it's never been far from mind, and we've been constantly trying to get back there to liberate it. To Phoenix Cell and the Alliance it's a matter of strategy, of crippling or slowing down the Empire's war machine, but for the Spectres, for Ezra, it's personal, and it's been their focus from the very beginning. (Mostly. Ezra does get sidetracked with his obsession of personally destroying the Sith. More to meta ramble about that later when we get to "Twin Suns".)

Ha ha I remember when we all thought that the "new type of weapon" being referenced here was the Death Star. And personally, as I've said before, I still think Lothal was heavily involved in the Death Star's construction, that process was spread out across multiple Outer Rim worlds, resources and materials gathered from all over the place to keep it secret.

But once they introduced Thrawn they kind of had to give him a personal connection to Lothal, too. His rivalry with Hera wouldn't have cut it, that can play out anywhere, in any theater. (Hera's own stake in Lothal is also tenuous, generic, halfway between Ezra's personal drive and the Alliance's practical strategic considerations.) His being there at Pryce's bequest to help quell the Rebellion there offers no personal incentive outside of serving the Empire. But putting him in charge of the TIE Defender's development is perfect, in-character and easy to fit into what had already been established about Lothal, that it was a primary location where new TIEs were being produced.

Recall that Thrawn is not opposed to the Empire's tyrannical authoritarianism but he does think it's often ineffective. Advocating for the development of superior starfighters is right up his alley. If Thrawn had had his way or Palpatine had listened to him more, the resources, materials, and labor pooled into the showy but money-guzzling Death Star would have gone instead to bolstering the Empire's naval superiority, into better faster starfighters, more Inderdictors, and more capital ships like the Super Star Destroyers. Things to counteract the Alliance's flashbang hit and run tactics.

And the Rebellion probably would have lost.

So yeah, giving Thrawn a pet project specialized TIE fighter to be developed and constructed on Lothal was the perfect narrative decision.

...I went way off into the weeds there didn't l? Lol. Where was I?

Right, infiltrating the factory.

Love when Mr. Sumar asks Ezra if has any manufacturing experience and when he admits no, Ryder laughs and says he'll fit right in. Commie-style forced labor gang-pressing yaaaaaay!

Once again, the imagery is very deliberate and not at all subtle.

Ezra grew up on Lothal and he doesn't know who Pryce is on sight. This bitch been shirking her planetary governing duties for literal years, busy trying to be "hip and in with the cool kids" as it were, the perfect Imperial suck-up and sycophant.

A large part of Thrawn's effectiveness as a villain in Rebels is that you never quite know just how much he knows at any given time. Was his coming to the factories to inspect them just an unlucky coincidence or did he know Kanan and Ezra were going to be there? Is he just Dangerously Genre Savvy? How does he keep turning up in places right when the Rebels have made their move? It stressed me the crap out when I was originally watching, gave me hella Paranoia Fuel, and made his presence in every scene just that much more uncomfortable.

Like right here, with this scene where they linger just long enough on Thrawn observing the disguised Ezra to make you nervous, and the feeling lingers even though he steps away, because you almost think he picks Sumar out of the line-up because Ezra's there, targeting him for execution (basically) in order to flush Ezra out.

Also, btw, love the menacing cellos that accompany Thrawn's footsteps into frame.

The absolute slow dread and dramatic irony of this whole scene. D: It just builds and builds and then explodes (literally and figuratively), Thrawn's theme coming in full strength to emphasize the horror of the moment.

See, Thrawn's not above Make An Example Of Them when he thinks it's effective. (See also having Rukh behead that one officer in Legends canon.)

Lyste, you really should start questioning when Imperial astromech droids act crazy randomly around you lol.

It's a smidge distractingly fortuitous that there's always a convenient Scout Trooper around for Ezra to steal the armor off of.

This scene between Pryce, Kallus, and Thrawn is like some kind soothing British ASMR, everyone's voices are just so calm and smooth.

Ooof, Thrawn's rare displays of emotion are always a big deal, I flinched just from this tiny flash of anger.

Something else effective about Thrawn's presence is just how much more competent other Imperials start acting when he's around. Not officers like Lyste or Konstantine but the low-level grunts always seem more keen to cop on to things, just a bit smarter and more ruthless, when Thrawn's in an episode, like he brings them up to more rigorous standards of performance just by being there.

Probably why Pryce immediately falls apart and makes stupid impulsive decisions as soon as he's more than thirty feet away from her lol.

So there's Sabine's wall graffiti, already pulled off the building, I think that painting is from TCW, there's Ezra cadet picture, the mosaic from the Syndulla house, and a bunch of ancient Loth-cave scribblings.

I suspect Thrawn grabbed the retaining wall for the starbird (incidentally getting the Loth-cat drawing he'd later use to identify Sabine's work on Ezra's helmet in "Through Imperial Eyes"), and the cave paintings, obviously, because ancient Lothal culture.

Once again, Thrawn's deductions are razor sharp, but not OP. He's noticed the Phoenix cell has a particular attachment to Lothal, thus they will inevitably try to return to it.

Slowed down and replayed Kallus revealing himself a couple times just to look at this fight, Kanan starts by elbowing Kallus straight in the collar. Kallus reflexively throws a punch which gets pushed aside by Ezra. Kallus almost kitten bats the two of them before Kanan pins him to the wall.

Still LOVE how utterly flabbergasted Kanan and Ezra are at the reveal and how much grief they continue to give him after it lol.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Kallus gives his very slight double-take at Kanan when Kanan pulls off his helmet, like he's surprised to see the scarring across his eyes.

Living for how much Ezra just casually bullies Kallus here. <3

"Or perhaps... an expected one." Lol nope, I can safely assure you, Thrawn, they did NOT expect Kallus to be Fulcrum.

Case in point about Thrawn's mere presence making everyone else more competent, the AT-AT pilots immediately question the AT-DP's presence.

This was really clever, having Ezra drive the chicken walker behind the AT-AT and use it for cover. I may have mentioned but it bears repeating.

MONEY SHOT.

Back when the show was airing and people were speculating about eventual defeats for Thrawn I think I was one of the very small number of people rooting for Marida Sumar to get to shoot him in the face.

Still want that AU.

TIE Defenders be no joke, people. They are fast, agile, shielded, and they have hyperdrives. They would have shredded the best the Alliance had.

Still love Zeb's chagrined grimace in the background there.

Ngl, once again, the ambiguity of "Just how much does Thrawn know?" is scarily effective. Thrawn's addressing Kallus seems deliberately calculated, like he's making some kind of subtle threat.

And whew!

After the shaky quality of the last episode this return to form is quite a relief. The tension is tightly wound and palpable throughout, and there's a genuine sense of danger. Thrawn is placidly competent. We suffer an actual loss. Everything is pretty much excellent this episode, even without the benefit of seeing Kallus's turn we believe it.

Love rewatching this one. <3

[blackberryandpeppermint]

I’m watching the ace attorney live action movie so you’re gonna have to hear my unhinged thoughts. Liveblog under the cut

God they made the whole spirit channeling sequence look horrifying. I heard that the movie was directed by a horror director and I can definitely see it. Also I love the detail that Mia and Maya were there it just makes it that much sadder. And the implication that Gregory intentionally lied to protect Miles ooof.

Love the parallels between Miles’s and Phoenix’s trials with miles being calm and collected and Phoenix being a hot mess. Also the Dee Vasquez cameo and the turnabout samurai reference. Also the trash confetti lol

I love that Von Karma randomly has a horse skull. Also the foreshadowing of him rubbing his shoulder.

Ooh I like getting to see Mia investigate dl6

Steel samurai jumpscare + Phoenix and Larry friendship

Phoenix why on earth would you pick up the murder weapon with your bare hands. Also Gumshoe!

The childhood flashback my heart 🥹🥹

Damn they really emphasize how grim the three day trial system is. Also von karma in the gallery is a nice touch

I know that the projector dropping was supposed to be dramatic but it was so over the top it made me laugh

What the fuck did they do to my boi red white. They made him emo😭😭. Also making him a reporter instead of a ceo is an interesting choice but clearly they wanted to simplify the case so the could focus on dl6

I love that dystopian future projector ™️ is apparently controlled by dramatic finger snaps and desk slams

And now he has a megaphone because reasons.

Phoenix screaming and tossing papers everywhere seems very in character

The project also comes with trumpet effects and virtual and real confetti good to know. Also maya sitting there deadpan with the confetti is way funnier than it should be

How did they manage to make the blue badger more terrifying

Damn Maya braking down and yelling at white was heart wrenching. Let Maya be angry 2k16

Ooh Phoenix and Maya deciding to investigate dl6 for Mia’s sake is the good shit.

The evidence room? The weapon a piece of evidence? Interesting. Wonder why they changed it since the circumstances of dl6 are so vital to the aa universe. Maybe they wanted to add suspense for longtime fans?

Also damn that cut to yogi and edgeworth

Of course the blue badger has a matching umbrella also him holding it for gumshoe lol

Also what is going on with Maya’s scarf

Lotta’s bedazzled camera. Love hippie lotta

Von karma and Phoenix awkwardly shaking hands

Edgeworth’s face when lotta said she wanted to be a witness

Nessie… well it is gourd lake… Gourdy!!!

What’s going on with Redd white lol. Why is he so edgy

“My cravat does not flutter” everyone collapses in shock

I appreciate that the high tech projects can be used as projectiles

Did yogi keep Polly in a fucking locker

The fucking tv in the flashback

How did they make dl6 even more convoluted

Phoenix talking very slowly to draw out the verdict is once again very in character

The empty husk of the blue badger inexplicably showing up to stop the verdict is the scariest thing I’ve seen in a long time

Polly shitting on the floor and demanding food while Phoenix tries to question her

The look on his face when Polly climbs on him

Damn I feel so bad for Yogi he didn’t deserve all that

Also the scene where he burned off his fingerprints was brutal

Also him training Polly the bird to say I love you so he could pretend his wife was still there was heartbreaking

Love Maya dramatically playing piano in the background

Phoenix shitting himself at Mia’s appearance

Von karmas motives make a lot less sense without the penalty

Larry crouching in anticipation lol

Paper stack ex machina

God damn that’s convoluted

Man is there anything that the future projected can’t do. Now it has bullet analyzing lasers

Also the gun firing because it bounced of yogis back is so stupid and so fucking funny

What the fuck is going on with those camera cuts with Von karma’s breakdown

Larry playing with the confetti is cute

I love the detail of the poor workers that have to sweep up the confetti

Phoenix wanting to take on yogis defense is really sweet and such a good characterization choice

Music swells on the worlds most homosexual handshake

Them yelling at Larry lol

Mayas suitcase is cute :)

Gay eye contact

Jamming ninja and engarde cameo at the very end

And one final objection to round us out

Overall I enjoyed it it was a fun time. Definitely super over the top but it’s ace attorney so it comes with the name. There was some things I didn’t like like the changing of the circumstances of dl6 and the lack of development with phoenix and Maya’s friendship but overall it was enjoyable

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I love Clark just floating next to his dad on a ladder, helping him paint the barn

it's made a million times better by the fact he's in a tshirt and jeans, not his supersuit.

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Clark accidentally forgot to put his glasses back on after swapping back out of his supersuit, and his little gesture of realization is adorable

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the tables turned, and Emily is the one doing the teaching, telling Adam and Murph some stuff they didn't know about female anatomy. At one point, Adam suggested calling in an expert, like he often does. Emily did this:

“How’s this for an expert?��

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Lois: How'd you catch him?

Clark, realizing he can't just say he threw a tire at the guy with enough force and accuracy to trap him in it from at least fifty feet away: He got, uh. Tired.

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hey so this isn't quite what you described, but Pushing Daisies has a protagonist solving murders by temporarily bringing the victims back to life and asking them who done it.

I'm two episodes in and quite enjoying it, though I usually don't like murder mysteries.

we’ve got tv shows about people who pretend to be psychic but are just really observant. I want a tv show about someone who’s actually psychic but has to pretend to just be really observant.

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Perry White, having just been yoinked off the sidewalk at a very high speed by Superman, currently in his arms several feet above the ground: Superman, did you just save me from something?

Supes: Uh-huh.

Perry: Do I want to know what it was?

Supes: ... Nah.

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I really like the addition of satchels/canteens/whatever those are in the new red blood cells’ uniforms.

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IDK yet who/what this cell is yet but their outfit is very nice

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I'm rewatching Milo Murphy's Law, and really enjoying the brief comedic cutaways.

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episode was an allegory for gun violence, but replace guns with bunnies

bun dealer, wiggling his butt in the air: We have the right to bare buns!

Yakko: Not here. This is a children's show.

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NA DTHEN ZOMBIFIED

I just started watching Transformers: Prime bc giant robots and now I'm upset because Cliff got MURDERED

Yeah it's like, Hello! Welcome to our show! This is your new friend Cliffjumper! Oops, we killed him. ;3

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Yakko: Dot, I appoint you minister of girly things that I don't understand.

Dot: That covers a lot of ground.