#please please please please be doomed by the narrative

[tikitania]

Did anyone see the Paris Opera Ballet’s Swan Lake on IMAX this weekend?

Nureyev’s libretto….lots to unpack. Rothbart is such a central character in this version pulling the narrative strings in overt and dark ways both inside the court and on the mystical lake. He’s not just evil wizard who has trapped Odette, he’s a dark force within the very halls of power who seems to have everyone hoodwinked — this fully registers with me after the recent US election.

It seems the capture of Odette and turning her into a swan was some sort of long game to destroy Siegfried, who stands in the way of power. But Rothbart also seems to have some masochistic, sexual feelings for the young prince, too. The homoeroticism was off the charts — I’ve never seen the crossbow gifted to the price so seductively! One interpretation could be that this version of Swan Lake is about doomed sexual longing because it’s Siegfried who dies in the end. Odette is forever trapped as a swan, and Rothbart’s dominance is complete.

In the sequel, Rothbart marries the Queen and rules with total power because she’s lost in grief after the death of her only son. Odile is his mistress. But the Prince’s Friends with the help of the swans come to the rescue and defeat Rothbart, returning the balance of power of good over evil. You’re welcome!

Park delightfully surprised me. I had never seen her dance before beyond short clips online. She exceeded my expectations, especially as Odile. Marque is really exquisite. He’s an expressive dancer with beautiful jumps and soft landings. But Pablo Lagasa, as Rothbart, stole the show with his technical prowess and smoldering deep-set eyes.

Seeing this in IMAX is incredible. Would love more of these, please! Love the bird’s eye views of the corps….I don’t care for a lot of Nureyev’s choreographic choices, but I did love seeing the corps formations, especially in Act 3. Normally, I like the set design and costumes at the POB, but the Easter egg hues for the court scenes didn’t work for me. The fuchsia gowns for the brides with those tiny fans were downright garish.

[rainyinautumn]

right. let's talk about team BEST, team TIES, and where bdubs fits into all of this mess.

now, we all know that team TIES is remarkably similar to team BEST. 75% of the members are the same—the only difference is bdubs has been swapped out for impulse. team BEST was, in the later stages of last life, a complete disaster... almost entirely because of bdubs boogey killing tango, which was a betrayal so bad it made the group dysfunctional. it's important to remember that bdubs didn't have anything against tango—he killed him out of pure necessity. tango, understandably, didn't see things the same way. etho was firmly on bdubs' side, and skizz played peacemaker between them all (only to get left behind in a fight and be the first of them to go red/die for good but that's a story for another time).

team TIES is, so far, a fairly stable alliance. not only is bdubs (the guy who can be blamed for first putting a rift in team BEST) missing from it this time, but the group has an active grudge against him due to the fact that he killed skizz early on. this is most prevalent leading up to the showdown between them in episode two, where team TIES agrees to an alliance with the clockers with the specific caveat that they can't make any real promise of bdubs' safety.

if you've seen etho's limlife episode two (go watch it if you haven't), then you've seen the "dead weight" conversation between him and bdubs where bdubs reveals that he knows team TIES has been talking trash about him and takes offense, threatening etho. if you think about it, team TIES is pretty much bdubs' worst nightmare. everyone from team BEST is together again, but without him, and they've filled his place with the guy who was literally his soulmate during the last game. they seem to be functioning and they seem to be happy and they don't like him. despite his actions as a boogey in last life, bdubs did value his alliance with every member of team BEST. bdubs being disliked by team TIES is pretty much his own personal hell.

it's important that bdubs has that conversation with etho specifically, because he's the only one from last life that was definitively on his side after he turned on tango. he's also the only member of team TIES that bdubs has never killed. interestingly, etho holds his team at more at arm's length than anyone else does, being the first to move out of the bunker in order to work (solo) on his mob farm. in short, etho is the one with the least reason to talk bad about bdubs... which is why it hurts so much that he's the one bdubs confronts about it.

not all hope is lost, though! bdubs makes up with skizz after their fight and they walk away as allies. bdubs wronged skizz, and now those scales have been balanced. however, there are still two more members of team TIES with uneven scales against bdubs. tango came very close to killing bdubs in last life but never did, which indicates he would likely not pass up an opportunity to do it in limited life. bdubs killed impulse way back in 3rd life, and he's still carrying that grudge. I'm convinced that him giving bdubs a clock was just to lull him into a false sense of security, and that he actively plans to kill him once he's yellow or red.

once again, etho is the odd man out here. the rest of team TIES is a custom-built machine to make bdubs atone for his mistakes, each representing a grudge from a different season... with the exception of double life.

that's where etho comes in.

from the very beginning, etho wanted to ally with bdubs. he dropped hints and asked about his soulbound all throughout the season, but bdubs never reciprocated the offers. unlike impulse, tango, and skizz, etho doesn't want bdubs dead. he very much wants him alive.

etho's scale is the one it will hurt bdubs the most to balance. he doesn't need to die in order to balance it. he's done that—he went out in last life calling desperately for etho to fulfill his promise to give him a life, which he still hasn't done. it's etho who owes bdubs a life, not the other way around.

if bdubs really wants to sort out all the debts between him and team TIES, he doesn't just need to die to skizz, tango, and impulse. he also needs to kill etho.

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

A phone call between brothers (takes place AFTER this incident and Fiddleford's phone call)

Sorry if this is OOC!

[what-am-i-doing-in-this-fandom]

sweet child, you didn't even stand a chance

[anna-scribbles]

they should've been at the club(infertility treatment centers)

[theellipelli]

planning for the future

[heyitslucky]

local transgirl can't stop taking L's

[fun-esta]

[wolfienation]

if you could retell the tale

wouldn't you want to tell it kinder?

wouldn't you want to give them peace,

even love, where you could?

quote from here

[turrondeluxe]

Mikey, waking up from his slumber with a start: Something Just Happened.

Leo on the kitchen floor immediately after eating cheese from the fridge at 4am:

Based on this post where followers and me end up deducing Leo is lactose intolerant.

[salthien]

bugs. gay ones, even

[sepiamestus]

red string of fate

[adhd-merlin]

[jannacalendar]

I understand why it wasn't possible, but it's such a shame we couldn't get Jenny back for The Wish. She and Giles fighting a losing battle side by side and being hardened from it, but remaining each other's solace. Them piecing together the puzzle Cordelia presents to them and having faith in a world better than this, only for Anyanka to try and throw them by hinting at Jenny's death should they return. Giles faltering at the thought of losing her and Jenny, once again, sacrificing herself and destroying the necklace. The way she sees it: she'll either be dead by The Master's hand or by her own, and only one of those inevitabilities gives the man she loves a chance of survival. She kisses him as she plunges herself into the abyss, wanting the last thing she experiences to be his love.

Giles waking up the following morning, the pang in his heart he always feels whenever he remembers Jenny accompanied by a newfound feeling of emptiness, and he's not quite sure why.

[machineheraldbabe]

no turning back moments.

[corvidaeconundrum]

FINALLY FINISHED!!

I didn’t tween it. Realized I dont know how and also I finishes painting both drawings before remembering that I should have separated the layers, so whoopsie. Still cool though.

Link to the actual tiktok with the song is here, but also the plain drawings below 👇