#putting that reveal at the beginning of the episode made that final scene so fucking funny istg

[furiosophie]

[larry-is-my-anchor1]

Hey Tim, how are you? This may be a bit forward of me, but whenever you decide to make Buddie canon can you consider the following title for the episode: “Do you feel the same? Too scared to say.”?

I just feel Buddie going cannon still may not be in the works for the second half of season eight. It shouldn’t certainly be a big aha reveal either with teaser commercials. It should be gradual and organic. Much like Bucks and Eddie’s relationship. I feel like so much care and respect have been given to them. I think for the most part for all of the characters.

But also there is still so-much work to be done with Eddie delving into his feelings. Show timeline is only three months since Christopher left. I gather much more time won’t have passed when the show returns in March. (😭). I would love to see Eddie work on himself more and repair his relationship with his son. Perhaps get him away from his stupid parents. Who truly are not helping.

I think Eddie still may realize his feelings before Buck though. But maybe Buck will realize before Ed’s. But Buck does not want to be a cliche of falling for his best friend so he won’t act on his feelings? Or maybe Buck in his own time does tell Eddie, but at first Eddie isn’t ready because although he’s finally out he’s scared. I don’t know. They both have abandonment issues, maybe neither of them won’t say anything for sometime?? Their dance is moving away from the point of you fools have always been in-love, to why aren’t you fools acting on your feelings? Buddie is clearly end game. Or should be.

We need scenes with Eddie admitting his attraction to men. Either when he was younger, maybe during his time in the army. Or maybe when he was in high school during the period when he and Shannon broke up. Perhaps the show could explore why Eddie stopped going to church. And his sexual identity was the reason. His faith has no room for homosexuality. But his family and church were still strong influences to stay with a girl. And Shannon was just the perfect person to hide with. Maybe that’s why he ran away at first to the army. He just didn’t know how he got to where he was. Marriage, a baby and being an adult. Whatever that means. They all were so overwhelming. Maybe his parents made him “behave” like the man of the house because they knew for sometime that Eddie was not heterosexual. We need to see his discovery lore and why he hid himself. The shame society and religion put on queer people. But also joy meant being selfish in most religions. To act out on joy brings negative consequences. Eddie isn’t there yet with not punishing himself.

Also been trying to figure out who would want to kidnap Maddie? The kidnapper appears female. Though again not sure. Is it a random distraught person? A serial killer? Someone out for vengeance? Why Maddie? Why does the show have to be all full throttle with drama and also torture us with, well we’re not sure yet how Buddie will go? Why though? After all the eye fucking they have done for the last seven seasons!

Season eight seems all over the place. After watching and rewatching the show a few times I’m having trouble seeing how main story lines and subplots are woven together.

Is it weird I kind of got used to Eddie’s mustache. I know it represents something negative but I like the look on Eddie. He’d actually make a good Magnum PI. Just incase Hollywood wanted a spinoff down the line.

The waiting is torture and it’s only the beginning.

[the-one-where-casey-watches-tv]

Pacing and True Blood

Considering the discourse I’d read about True Blood before watching it, which ranged from lukewarm to outraged by the show’s trajectory, I was so pleasantly surprised. And I’m starting to think some people just don’t enjoy stories that unfold over years. I read so many complaints that True Blood “ran out of compelling stories” by the final season and got “too preposterous” because “things just kept happening”.

Folks, things have to keep happening in order for a story to continue. Action is the backbone of narrative. Of course, there are effective and ineffective ways to do this, and many initially strong shows do suffer from repetition or lack of direction after tacking on last-minute plot devices to a completed story in order to milk more seasons out of them. True Blood is not one of those shows. But it seems to be perceived as one for reasons I don’t really understand. In fact, watching it felt like a master class in how not to do that- I’m blown away by the cohesiveness and forethought put into this show from start to finish.

Reflecting on it after watching the series finale, that is what stands out to me more than any one episode, scene, or character- and I consider that a good thing. It’s more than a set of individual moments that all have their own merit; seasons 1-7 are one entity, it stands collectively as a unit. Not only are plot lines thorough and foreshadowed well, but they are informed by and consistent with the rich characters of Bon Temps, Louisiana.

I’ll start from the beginning: the pilot alone sows seeds that aren’t harvested until years later. The circumstances in which Sookie meets Bill in the very first episode are both mysterious and highly specific. She’s drawn to him because of her telepathic abilities that have been a fact of her life from birth- she can’t hear his thoughts and that’s incredibly refreshing. She then rescues Bill from a hate crime attack, hurling a chain around an assailant’s neck with superhuman strength and precision. She herself is clearly surprised by this, but nothing is said about it for a very long time. The episode ends with a target now on Sookie’s back when she is attacked by the same couple seeking retribution. This time she’s rescued by Bill, who nurses her back to health with his blood.

By the time the details of these events become relevant, I had forgotten about them- this is good storytelling. Revelations should be hard-hitting because, as an audience member, you didn’t connect these dots yourself, but you could have. You had all the information and now that it’s out in the open you realize it’s been staring you in the face all this time.

Towards the end of season three, Sookie finally learns that she is part fairy. This is why she is a telepath, why vampires have made it impossible for her to lead a normal life, and why she had surprising success in a life-threatening brawl in the pilot. Sookie embodies many qualities of the damsel in distress trope, but there is a reason for it all, and this allows her to seize control and turn the trope on its head. She doesn’t just happen to be beloved by several suitors for no apparent reason; she isn’t just ‘different’ than everyone else for some quality no one can put into words.

Sookie’s fairy identity is at the very heart of the series in so many layered ways. Revealing this so late in the game in a show that has already broached shapeshifters and werewolves in addition to vampires could have had the disheartening effect of feeling like an afterthought (now there are fairies?! Come on) had it not been clearly intentioned from the start- and had the show itself not quickly acknowledged and dispensed of the potential fantasy fatigue (“I’m a fairy?! Well, isn’t that fucking lame.”). Not only has Sookie’s telepathy been well-established and normalized from the start, but it’s had a well-explored impact on who she is as a person. After a life of fatigue from hearing a bigoted town’s every thought, from running from every potential relationship after hearing men’s frightening intentions, it’s no wonder she’s so compelled by a seemingly open-minded vampire whose thoughts she can’t hear at all.

In addition to all of this, it turns out that Sookie’s fae blood has catalyzed everything we’ve seen so far without her even knowing it. A couple episodes after Sookie learns who she is, Eric drops the bombshell that Bill has known all along; in fact, Sookie drinking his blood after the brawl in the pilot was a pre-meditated move on his part to manipulate her into falling in love with him. This kind of attention to detail isn’t cooked up in retrospect, and the ramifications carry us through the rest of the series.  

The way fairies are handled in True Blood is unique, and despite its central importance to Sookie’s journey and the emotional heart of the story, it fits right in among the other happenings of Bon Temps. The revelation of Sookie’s identity struck me as a very delicate thing for the show to navigate- it certainly could have been a low, but I think it’s actually one of the series’ high points.

While there has always been cause to wonder why Sookie is a telepath and why vampires seem particularly interested in her, the fairy community is foreshadowed in earnest several episodes in advance when Sookie meets another telepath. At the time, she is thrilled because she has never met anyone with her ability before and wants to connect with this stranger. As a standalone moment, it serves to make Sookie feel less alone and othered, and the juxtaposition of this new, fearful telepath highlights Sookie’s strength and sense of self. In the bigger picture, it opens up the reality that there are others like Sookie and raises the questions who are they? Where are they? How many are there?

Consistently, happenings that were not out of place at the time- and in fact, had significant implications as a standalone incident- end up having long-lasting ramifications that allow a new chapter of the story to begin seamlessly.

Like Sookie herself, the fae are traditional in a lot of ways. They are deeply desirable woodland beings that lure people in with their irresistible beauty. Sookie even has a fairy godfather. Once again, the ‘classic’-ness of these qualities is exactly what allows them to be played with in a fun and different way. Sookie breaks the ice of the introduction of yet another supernatural being with her underwhelmed reaction upon learning her identity. It’s an endearing self-awareness of both her character and the show that allows us to accept this level of fantasy. The show is very silly; the characters are very down to earth.

In the season three finale, Sookie visits the fairy plane, a very classic fairy tale setting that seems like a wonderland, with the caveat of a mysterious and delicious fruit being forced on her. Sookie, never the fool, doesn’t eat it, and without its magic the beauty of the fae plane quickly falls apart. Within minutes, Sookie sees through the illusions, learns that the fairies are attempting to lure and trap their entire bloodline in their plane, and promptly breaks free of it. She also meets her grandfather, who has been missing all her life. Her grandfather is devastated to learn that he’s been gone for years- he could swear it’s only been a few hours. The absence of any familial figures in Sookie and Jason’s life has informed so much of who they are, and once again, there is a relevant explanation for their circumstances.

Her grandfather dies moments after bringing Sookie back to the human plane- eating the fruit makes it impossible to return. Despite having not eaten any herself, Sookie learns that the 15 minutes we spent with her there has translated to a year in Bon Temps. This time jump is maybe the most masterful piece of storytelling in the whole show.

One of my favorite things about True Blood is the sheer size of its ensemble. There is so much going on in Bon Temps, all of it intertwined. Characters and events weave in and out of each other with precise, seamless timing. While Sookie, Bill, and Eric explored vampire royalty and the existence of fairies throughout season three, the entire Bon Temps clan was being carefully set up to be in incredibly compelling positions after the one-year time jump revealed in the season finale.

Arlene, finally at peace with the loving Terry, discovers she’s pregnant with the late Rene’s baby and is convinced the child will be evil. Sheriff Andy has the first inklings of experimenting with V. Jason’s lustful ways have abruptly left him with the obligation to care for a backwoods, impoverished community of were-panthers. Nice guy Sam has finally snapped and shot his own brother. Tara has reached her limit and left Bon Temps in an attempt to escape her trauma along with it.

As soon as Sookie returns from the fae plane and learns how much time has passed, it struck me how deliberately every one of these plotlines have been threaded- they had all been building organically throughout the season, but they left off in a place where they will be at their most compelling one year later. Time jumps can feel abrupt and disorienting when we’re invested in the current timeline, but this timeline was crafted with the time jump in mind. One meaningful look at an evidence vial of vampire blood, and we’re ready to explore Sherriff Andy’s full-blown addiction. Now that we know Arlene is pregnant with a serial killer’s baby, we can get right to the real plot point- how she and Terry fare once he’s born. It’s all an immense trust in the audience to pay attention to detail and connect the dots on their own- and it pays off.

These long-game moves continue throughout the series: the cowboy boots gifted to Sheriff Bud at his retirement party turn out to be the fateful clue that exposes him as the center of a violent hate group; Sarah Newlin’s frantic downing of some mysterious vial during the prison revolt is only later revealed to be the cure to the fatal hep-V virus; Mrs. Fortenberry’s very in-character death proves to be a vehicle for Hoyt’s return and reunion with Jessica.

All this to say, True Blood is the most intentional show I’ve seen in a very long time. Its eventual conclusion is true to its characters and core message. At no point did I feel it had lost or gotten away from itself, and it’s all due to its foreshadowing of upcoming storylines well, well in advance in ways that are so relevant to the ‘now’ that they are remembered but not questioned.

I’ll close by briefly joining the conversation that piqued my interest in the series in the first place: I don’t at all consider True Blood’s vampires to be a queer allegory. Alan Ball, a gay man himself, has said this view is harmful and (not that it matters what I think in relation to him), I agree. Don’t get me wrong, True Blood has a rich and decisive political message, but it doesn’t hide behind its fantasy elements to express it. The blue collar, rural Louisiana setting is not a superficial choice, and everything the show has to say about race, religion, and sexuality, it says outright. The juxtaposition of high fantasy with hyper-realistic characters, setting, and dialogue is part of the show’s allure, and a big part of that is not shying away from southern culture and the political beliefs that come with it. If you really want to get to the meat of the show, we should talk about Sookie’s relationship with Christianity and pretty much everything about season 7. And I would love to! This show has been such a refreshing watch for me and I’m not ready to put it behind me, so hit me up if you have thoughts and opinions!

[fandoms-and-salt]

My thoughts on Hazbin Hotel's villains, because I think they have a problem

Valentino

Val is just. where do i even start.

His introductory scene is largely comedic and makes his freak-out over Angel just living somewhere else the butt of the joke. The same scene conveys that he is already losing control over Angel and can’t do anything about it, since Angel is ignoring his calls, and Vox convinces him that ignoring this blatant misstep is the better option. This is an okay scene (i even found it funny), but it’s a bad villain introduction. Especially a villain that we are meant to take seriously and, from the perspective of the main characters, fear.

(There’s also an inconsistency with Angel in ep1-2 feeling free to ignore Val’s calls and messages, but in ep4 he is stumbling all over himself to please Val)

His introduction had to be made from the point of view of one of his victims to set up a proper tone of menace to him, instead of making it from the point of view of his fellow overlords, who view him as a whiny dumb piss baby. This scene would be okay a lot later down the line, in my opinion, when we are already familiar with what a despicable dangerous asshole he is, and the characters (Angel Dust) begin to step up to him more. We see his facade crumble alongside the main characters to reveal who he truly is without all his power and control - a whiny sex-obsessed loser.

There's also an issue of us not really getting a scale of his power. This guy is portrayed as an extremely forward hot-tempered dumbass, who has to be verbally guided to make a better strategic move than a “just kill and rape everybody”. He freaking licks the princess of Hell, talks down to her like she is one of his porn actresses, and physically assaults a person under her care right in front of her, and she is supposed to be someone more powerful than him, and he should know that.

This guy can’t manipulate and strategize for his life, so to compensate for this (and make his rise to power more believable), he needs to have some truly impressive physical power. And tearing apart some character offscreen and wielding some guns doesn’t cut, bc basically everyone can do that in hell, what makes him special? Show off how his vaping powers can really fuck people up, poison dozens, hypnotize them, make them addicted to him! Make him so uniquely dangerous that he doesn’t even need to be smart and cordial to rise to power!! Otherwise, how the hell we should believe that he owns the whole porn industry of the Pride Ring, including legally owning his workers, if the show puts more focus on his stupidity and lack of tact than on whatever power he has?

Like he is meant to be our main antagonist and threat, alongside with his TV boyfriend, until the angels come back in the finale, don’t just waste them away on lame jokes.

Speaking of which.

Vox

I like Vox. I like his voice actor’s performance and the voice effects and filters that they give him to reflect his mood. I feel like he had a better introduction than Val (which is not a high bar to clear): it showed that he is pretty smart, strategic, and image-conscious. With this and his heavily implied power to hypnotize and stalk people through his tech, the fact that he is in power and the threat that he poses are much more believable.

Anyway, this gets completely wasted 10 minutes into the first episode he appears in, when he gets verbally floored by Alastor. And he cried about it right after. And later in the same episode we see him fail again at another one of his schemes, bc he chose the most incompetent spy ever. Once again, silly comedy shatters any kind of illusion of threat that the villains might pose. Which also leads me to..

Alastor

Who is not really a villain, and this is kind of a problem. He really could have been a great threat and an antagonist, but i really don’t believe they are going to go in that direction.

Alastor is a very OP character and is the one holding power and control in basically any interaction he is in, including the villains. And since he is an ally of Hazbin Hotel, whose goals (the details of which we are not aware of) partially align with theirs, he completely fucks over any kind of tension regarding anything that might threaten the Hotel or it’s residents. Because you can just throw Alastor at it and make it go away. Because the writers just can’t have him lose.

And we don’t have any reason to believe that he would just refuse to help, because so far? He does whatever Charlie or Vaggie ask him to do. He might be a smug dick about it, but he still does that. He even agrees to film a TV commercial (twice!) despite his vocal hate of such technology. Furthermore, he has to make a deal with Vaggie so they don’t have him do something like this again (granted, this scene might hold some additional implications in the future, but so far this is all the context we got). Why can’t he just refuse to do things that he doesn’t want to do?

Which they could have fixed if they made his power more limited. Either by reducing the scale of his power so he is at most on the same level as the villains,

OR have his presence and help be limited. Make that the characters often can’t access him for help or he just. refuses to help them. He even says that he is here to have fun and watch them suffer, so wouldn’t them struggling to, idk, get rid of Sir Pentious, for example, be entertaining for him? Or balance out his help with instances where he causes conflicts and problems on purpose. Beyond just him annoying Vaggie for comedy’s sake.

And if any of this is what they are actually going for, then you need to make it a point to the audience that yes, this guy is powerful, but don’t expect him to productively help with any of the narrative threats and problems.

And lastly,

Adam and the angels

I don’t like Adam. He is annoying as hell and his jokes are drawn out and not funny at all. The logistics of him being an angel when he is Adam and when he acts like this, give me a massive headache that is related to a whole other topic i’ll need to make a separate post about.

Despite all this, Alex Brightman is doing a great job selling how utterly insufferable he is. His song is also pretty good, one of the more memorable ones in the show. And he (and the angels by extension) is also the most menacing and competent villain on the show so far. ...Do you see my predicament here?

Granted, this is not a very high bar to clear, as established with. the other ones. For example, in contrast to the pilot, we are only told about how dangerous and deadly the exterminator-angels are. “[Sinners] never managed to kill one of us [angels]” “In the latest extermination, [angels] killed the highest 18% percent of our [sinner] population” etc etc. We don’t see the angels killing anybody on screen, we barely see the aftermath of the extermination.

What we do see is the panic and helplessness with which most of the hell population treat the exterminations, including Charlie. We see Charlie struggling to convince Adam of her plan, barely able to talk back to him, which sells Adam as the more powerful in the interaction. We see Adam not showing all his cards to Charlie, like the fact they are planning to completely wipe out the whole Hell/Pride Ring, showing that he is not completely stupid despite his whole deal (well, there’s implied to be some kind of plan here, but i’ll talk about my problem with the logic in another post).

Otherwise, we don’t have anyone else to compare with him, since Charlie is the only one who interacts with angels on-screen. But all of this so far gives a suitable illusion of how dangerous and powerful the angels are. But what will happen if angels are faced with our all powerful Tumblr Sexyman Mary Sue? Will the universe let Alastor lose and then collapse in on itself? Or the other obvious option?

Anyway, in conclusion, Hazbin’s villains are not very good so far. Their main problems are the fact that the writers can't properly establish their threat and lever of power, or they undercut this with unsuitable comedy. Also, they don't know how to use their OP main character, so they won't ruin the stakes of the story.

[alexfierroaf]

Yea, I’m convinced that the Miraculous season finale was unsatisfying on purpose.

The “happy ending” scene at the end had this surrealist lighting and slightly off-putting music in the background. It gives off major false utopia vibes. It actually makes me feel relieved, because there were two things I was worried about for this finale but the way they wrote it resolves those issues a bit.

First, I was worried that they were going to try to wrap up everything perfectly within the span of this two episode special. There was no way they were going to be able to give all the different plot points and character arcs the closure they needed within that time frame. by leaving us with an open ending, It gives itself room to properly develop and deal with the fallout from this mess slowly over time.

And then, arguably the bigger issue, was Miraculous’ future after season 5. I kept thinking to myself, what are they going to have to do to keep Miraculous interesting after this? Sure we’ve got Lila, or Cerise, or whatever her name is, but everything we’ve been following this series for since the beginning was about to be resolved. Monarch gone. The Agreste arc over. Adrienette canon. What is Miraculous’ sense of identity after this? Do they hit the reset button and retell the story Disney sequel style? Do they force a breakup between Adrienette to keep the romance plot alive? What’s the point of this still VERY fresh reveal of senti-Adrien if Gabriel and his influence is nothing but a distant memory?

But because of the way things went down, none of those things we thought would be resolved actually are. Monarch fucking won. He got what he wanted, and now everyone is living in a world of his image. He’s remembered as a goddamn hero, which is fucking infuriating! And Adrien doesn’t know! Doesn’t know that his dad was a supervillain and terrorist, doesn’t know that he’s a sentimonster, doesn’t fully accept that he’s been abused. And Marinette is keeping all that from him! Probably because she doesn’t want to inflict unnecessary pain on him, but when he finds out he’s going to be an absolute MESS.

Which means the Agreste plot, the family drama, the relationship antics that we’ve been following for all these years will continue as a throughline in the show. It means that there are natural reasons to continue existing conflicts and keep the show running without it feeling contrived. Because none of this is ok, and it’s going to take a lot of time to resolve. A lot of pain, a lot of drama, and a lot of conflict. I wouldn’t be surprised if Adrien and Marinette have major relationship problems over the secrets that she’s keeping from him. The Ladynoir angst from season 4 is back at full force. And you KNOW Cerise is going to zero in on that shit like a moth to a flame. Before this I was fearing a ultra-contrived break up to keep the audience invested in their story, but now I would be totally satisfied with a temporary break up as Marinette’s secrets become too much to keep hidden.

So yea, I was angry at the season 5 finale. The Gabriel statue made me gag. And I REALLY wanted to see Adrien stick it to his father. But then again, he did in his own way. He pulled one over his father by tricking him into muting his mics, which gave him a chance to strategize with Plagg. He’s the one who decided to play the long game and wait patiently while Plagg found a new holder to defeat Monarch with -- as opposed to rushing in with brute force, which shows significant character growth for him, by the way. I’m proud of him. And I can’t wait to see where his arc goes from here as he continues to explore his own agency and his relationships with people around him.

As for Marinette, I was very satisfied with her face-off against Monarch/Gabriel. The moment he realized his archnemesis was her was priceless. And that piano? God. That was glorious. She was a total badass. And she demonstrated her growth, too. She acted with a lot more maturity than we’ve seen at other points in her story by putting aside her personal vendetta towards Gabriel and Monarch to focus on creating a peaceful solution -- even if it did come back to bite her in the ass hard.

So the manipulator won. Fitting, because I feel kind of manipulated too. I would’ve never guessed in a million years that Gabriel would actually be able to make his wish in the permanent timeline, or that Miraculous would go down such an unsettling and unsatisfying route (at least in the short term). I’ve gotta respect them for that. All these years we thought we knew how this conflict was going to resolve -- all those dramatic reveals in the Agreste basement, the final battle between Adrien and his piece of shit dad, Adrien breaking out of his control in one decisive and cathartic swoop. Instead, we got something much more sinister, something much more insidious. Whatever is lurking around the corner is bound to have MAJOR repercussions going forward.

So I’m content to wait and see what happens next. There’s no point in complaining about how a story went when it isn’t even resolved yet. Was it perfect? Nope. Will it be done perfectly in the future? Also no. And that’s ok. Because it never will be perfect, and what we saw here made sense. It was impactful. It creates new opportunities for the characters and their story arcs that didn’t exist before this finale. We are in a new era of Miraculous, and I will be waiting on the edge of my seat to find out what the hell this beautifully unpredictable series is going to evolve into next.

[buthowboutno]

ONE YEAR OF "AND THEY WERE LAB PARTNERS" ✨✨✨

Thank you to everyone who participated in the one year anniversary poll!! I still maintain that it would be funny as /fuck/ to just delete “And They Were Lab Partners” in a memento mori fashion, but alas; Only one person voted for it.

Cowards /j

In any case, the majority voted for the behind the scenes stuff, so here we are! The tidbits of how ATWLP turned into the fucking beast it is.

I would like to personally blame @morning-sun-brah , @hitechlatte, and @ordin-arily for being such big inspirations in this corner of the fandom. You guys are amazing and I probably wouldn't be where I am today without your works.

Shout out to all my losers in the backrooms for keeping me going and being such terrible influences. You are all responsible for the horrors that have been unleashed. A solid third of my content exists because of your sins /aff. 

@beckerboopin is the best beta anyone could ask for and has only brought this story up to the next level. I would die for you becks <3

Also @betyoudidntcthatcoming-blog is the love of my life that I only met ‘cause of this fic or whatever. They’re pretty neat. I guess. :p

ANYWAYS, /CONTENT/

(Major Spoilers Ahead Pre-Chapter 23)

—

I would like to remind everyone that ATWLP was only supposed to be 50k words. You can still witness my naivety in the notes of “Pudge ‘Preciation.” 

How… simple those times were. 

How I so firmly believed the idiots would be kissing by chapter 16. How a projected word count of 150k words seemed unfathomable for a single work, much less a work with multiple published and planned companion pieces.

Crazy. (I was crazy once.)

There was a lot of ATWLP that ended up getting scrapped as I got further into the story. The idiots had a lot of opinions and tugged at me a few different ways as I got to know them better. (aka they wouldn’t listen to me when I told them to fucking kiss already.)

Anyways, some of the few major structural changes:

Casey was originally supposed to reveal that he knew Sweet’s in the bad timeline during the “Intro to Sparring” chapter. That chapter was also originally slotted to happen /before/ the kidnapping debacle, but it just so happened to fit in better later

The stage kiss from “Hit the Club” was going to be in the Nerd Prom chapter. It felt too corny at the time (and lowkey still feels corny) so I put that in my pocket for later. For as much as y’all yelled at me for it, it barely made the final cut lmao.

The way the idiots are going to confess to each other is a COMPLETE 180 from how I planned the story from the beginning, which was already entirely different from the first idea for this fic. I wrote a whole ass chapter about an accidental kiss being the tipping point of them positively macking on each other, which I did end up cutting into convenient pieces for other stuff. (I PUT A PART OF IT DOWN BELOW)

Sweets was going to be kidnapped twice and the whole Purple Dragons debacle was going to be drawn out more. There was a lot more action planned than slice of life content at ATWLP’s conception. For better or for worse, this is where the story led us.

Donnie’s mating season wasn’t going to be as involved in the story, if in it at all. I grew to be hornier and less ashamed. You’re welcome.

The first title for this fic was “Lab Rat: a Story of Nerds Falling in Love.” For the life of me I cannot remember what compelled me to change it, but holy shit am I glad I did.

I was going to use (y/n) in this fic. No hate to those who do, but stylistically I’m pretty happy with not doing that.

And because I have no control over the idiots, quick rundown of the chapters that weren’t supposed to happen.

Kart Conflict

The Christmas Issue

The Recovery: Day Two 

Valentine’s Day Episode

Hit the Club

Aquarium? Hardly Know ‘Em

****Pool Excursion

****Beach Episodes

****honestly just like the entire endgame of this fic

All the ficlets/ alternate POV’s

All the smut! I still have it written down in my original notes that ATWLP was gonna be completely PG lmao. Once again y’all have @morning-sun-brah and her fucking fabulous fics to blame for that

The Valentines’ and aquarium chapters are COMPLETELY different than how I had originally planned, even with being forced to include them in my chart. The Valentine’s day plans that the brothers had “ditched” with Sweets was the og plot for the chapter. The aquarium chapter was supposed to be a rooftop picnic with feels~~, no aquarium even fucking mentioned in my outline.

I don’t have much control over what happens tbh. I am praying that the 37 planned chapters will be the final chapters. 

We’ll…. we’ll just have to see how that turns out.

The scrapped plots as a little treat for y’all <3 ~~~

Cut Stage Kiss (after the lift in Nerd Prom)

You leaned closer to Donnie’s face, intent on screeching in his ear for pulling that stunt.

“Kiss them already!” May yelled from the inner edge of the crowd. You turned bright red, blinking at her. You shook your head at her, but the crowd started to catch onto the idea. 

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Donnie laughed, a little incredulous. He leaned in close to your ear, whispering, “Theatre kid protocol?”

You nodded in agreement, allowing him to put a hand to your face. He leans into your mouth, making the crowd go wild. You giggle against the thumb separating your lips, smiling against it. Donnie pulled away from you with a dramatic ‘mwah’. You threw your head back, fully laughing as Donnie lifted you up from the dip. 

First Valentine’s Day Outline

The final four move to the living room

Sweets: “We’re making friendship bracelets while we watch the most romantic movie of all time.”

Raph: “Shrek 2!”

Donnie: “This is ridiculous”

Sweets: “This holiday is ridiculous, now pick out your five favourite colors of embroidery floss”

Donnie: “....Fine."

Donnie is actually terrible at making bracelets lmao while mikey has wristfuls of them

Donnie: “I don’t understand! I’m following the blueprints exactly!”

Mikey: “The... instructions?”

Donnie: “Whatever! How are you making those so fast? You don’t even have that many friends!”

Mikey: “Physical therapy is a hell of a time, my brother.”

Sweets: “Is Donnie being ableist again?”

Mikey: “I do believe he is.”

Donnie: “I am autistic!”

Sweets: “Bless you.”

ORIGINAL CONFESSION

And it all starts like most things in your life do: a silly mistake.

“Donnie,” you whined. You were working on your physics homework at his desk while he was soldering a new motherboard for the Turtle Tank’s controls.

“Little pest,” he mimicked your tone without looking up. He kept on soldering as you stared at him, not a care in the world. 

“Would you be so kind as to look over my work for this problem? I’m following the steps but I’m not getting the right answer.”

“Mmm,” Donnie said. At that moment, a spark flew from his project and caught his exposed cheek. He flinched back, dropping his wire and soldering rod on the table and rubbing his face. You batted your eyes at him while he scowled. 

“I don’t know how, but I blame you for that.”

“I would *never*,” you teased. You pushed your chair to the side a bit so Donnie could stand next to you. 

He moved his goggles to his head and put his left arm over the back of your chair, leaning over you. He parsed through your work for a minute and tilted his head down to tell you what you needed to fix.

It just so happened that you tilted your head up to ask him a question at the same time, the two of you meeting in the middle with a kiss. 

Well, it wasn’t so much of a kiss as it was the two of you accidentally brushing your lips together for a moment. Seconds, almost nothing at all. 

But the way that Donnie looked at you when the two of you jumped apart…

That…that wasn’t nothing. 

You could almost laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation. You could’ve cracked a joke, played up your ridiculous game of pet names and intellectual bravado. 

(To be honest, you almost did.)

But then you thought about the way Donnie’s lips felt against yours. You thought about the way you’d dream of that moment and then proceed to do everything in your power to banish those thoughts away. Your mouth hung open slightly as you looked up at him, trying to will yourself to do anything, anything at all.

Donnie ended up making that decision for you. That oh, so familiar churring started emanating from his chest. He took your face in his hands, looking into your eyes for just a hint of confirmation before leaning in for a real kiss.

Oh.

*Oh*.

(Yeah, you could get used to this.)

There was nothing more you could do than press yourself against him, against his touch. You felt him smiling into the kiss, pressing you down into the chair. 

Donnie was *everywhere*, like he was trying to encompass you. His hand moved to your hair, the other to your hip. You smiled when you remembered his adoration for your love-handles all that time ago. You traced along his plastron, making nonsense shapes and mapping out every scar.

He was so responsive. The chirring increased tenfold for every touch to his chest, every soft bite you gave his lips. You recalled all the times he would make noises from you touching along his shell. You pressed your hands fully against him, doing your best to draw out more and more of those sounds.

What Donnie lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. He followed your lead, matching your pace every step of the way. You licked along the seam of his lips, gasping as his mouth opened for you. Donnie’s tongue against yours was tentative, shy even. You did everything in your power to ease Donnie into deepening the kiss. 

When he moved from your lips and started kissing down your throat, your soul could have left your body right there. He was so…*gentle*. 

Donnie always has been. From when he was slinging his arms around you to kicking your ass in sparring, Donnie has never failed to treat you with care and reverence. 

You feel it now, with every soft bite he gives you, every gentle peck behind your ear.

Donnie pulled away from you after what felt like decades. (Never enough, it would never be enough.) You leaned forward after him, trying to close the space he was creating. He looked bashful.

“This might be the proper time to tell you that I have a massive crush on you,” Donnie said. His face was fraught with nervous determination. 

“Yeah, no fucking shit,” you said. You stood up from the chair and used your body to push Donnie against the desk. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, pulling him down to your height.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for forever, can we get on with it?” you said, looking into his eyes. Donnie turned bright red.

“But– you? Do you?” Donnie stammered a bit.

“Donnie,” you deadpanned, crowding into his space, “I’ve had a crush on you for a year, thanks for noticing. Will you *please* lean your face down a bit so I can reach it?” 

Donnie looked at you a bit incredulously, like you were a problem he didn’t know how to solve yet. He made quite a picture, all red faced and calculating with a dumb half-smile while he looked at you. But, giving in, he put his arms around you and leaned in to kiss you again.

“Aye, aye, captain.”

You smiled into the kiss, humming with contentment.

He likes you.

He likes you.

—

Aaaaand some random headcanons because I love you guys and I am truly so thankful to this kickass community <3 I truly do not know where I would be without the support y’all have given me.

Donnie has a hella oral fixation

NOT IN A KINKY WAY (most of the time) But as an autist, Donnie do be biting

One of his biggest shows of trust if he bites you while just chilling

Like if donnie is big spoon, he just nom on a shoulder and stay there chillin

Or if reader is body pillow, he’ll lean around and bite their bicep

Good sensations

Donnie draws on eyebrows every day, he for sure would be very good at doing intricate makeup on reader

Gently holds their chin up, concentrated as hell while reader blushes like mad

Donnie keeps getting banned off of roblox

Didn’t matter tbh, he knew how to hack into it to get his account reinstated

Also makes money off of roblox??

never explains to Sweets, very suspicious

Sweets likes to kiss along donnie’s neck/where his battle shell usually sits

The word here is reverence

Donnie is egotistical, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have insecurities about being a mutant turtle and you being a human

Lots of tracing along his arms, his face, his shell

Donnie likes his coffee to be half coffee, half milk to cut down on bitterness. Sweets is a tea drinker normally, but opts for coffee when they can’t focus (which ends up being most of the semester).

Sweets drinks black coffee when they’re on the struggle bus

To quote them, “Black coffee can’t hurt me more than Calc II already has”

But they prefer two creamers and two sugars when they have it in their dorm.

That’s all, congrats on making it to the bottom of this long ass post lmao <3

[chaifootsteps]

I've been thinking about the angel dust SA scene

"It's an ugly thing, as it should be!"

I'm not really sure based on what is currently available that it is being depicted as 'ugly'. Which is the crux of the issue.

Yeah, obviously Angel is being abused by Val, and I don't think Vivz is stupid enough to shy away from the horrors of that, clearly its meant to be something bad that the audience will celebrate Angel escaping from. Which is great!

But why show the details of that abuse during a music bit where Angel is dressed up in leather and dancing in what is supposed to be a sexually appealing way? Angel dancing in a sexually appealing way isn't ugly, so why is it here when this really important ugly sexual assault is being shown?

Perhaps it's the tonal dissonance that's the point, that in order for Hell to get these porn videos of Angel, this abuse has to happen. With the tonal dissonance of the two scenes flashing between each other meant to act as a way to highlight to the audience how bad the abuse is.

I can see an artistic merit in the direction, but it's ultimately incredibly sloppy on something that should have not been sloppy.

Because in the end result, you still have video of Angel dancing sexually, so sexy that you're supposed to 'cum' to it according to viz, while he's also being abused on screen. It's confusing!

If you want to tell a story about the horrors of sexual assault and overcoming it: you cannot fucking sexualize the abuse under any circumstance.

You can still create the tonal dissonance effect by revealing the abuse brutally and immediately after Toxic concludes. Like, it's a simple trick but first you get the audience hyped up on your sexy song and in a good mood, and you drop the shoe on your audience on the horrible acts it took for that sexy video they where just enjoying to exist to begin with.

But - and I understand the abuse is brutally revealed before Toxic, but by showing the abuse while Toxic is playing just...........glamorizes the abuse. The tonal dissonance effect that is meant to highlight how bad the abuse is actually ended up backfiring and kinda doing the reverse.

IDK. My opinion is subject to change when the episode is finally released. But, yeah.

Extremely well said.

I think ultimately, this thing was made by Viv and Raph, both of whom are very into power imbalances and men being raped, and it shows. Maybe they tried to put their fetishes on the shelf beforehand, maybe not, but it shows.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

season 1 episode 13 thoughts

A SCULLY EPISODE!!!! i was overjoyed and then i felt deep and immeasurable grief as the minutes went by.

she wants to leave her christmas tree up all year <3 she's a good cook <3 her dad calls her starbuck <3

but her dad is being avoidant! he didn't even say i love you when he left!

! dana scully lore reveal ! her dad lowkey sucks!!!

and then he IMMEDIATELY DIED right after! that is sick and twisted. why do they make my girl endure such pain.

the next note i made for the episode was "omg windows you have to crank!" which was a brief moment of levity among the Sorrow. except even the guy doing the said window cranking was kidnapped right after. still, the novelty of it all!

when scully came into work even though her dad had just died... we see mulder call her "dana" for the first time... she was visibly taken aback by this... and mumbled her name back to herself... my heart was melting out of my body

and when i thought i was going to already collapse from the "dana" moment, he tells her she should take some time for herself and then. softly cups her cheek. and strokes it with his thumb. holy fuck i nearly sobbed. it was the softest thing i have ever seen. what the hell man.

he has this instinctive need to touch her. to use his touch to keep her safe or bring her comfort. it will be psychoanalyzed at a later date from me but for now, know i am noticing the motifs.

(also, when he finally left his office, we see that he kept the hat from the alien obsessed guy in episode 10... good to know this is a man who takes souvenirs. take him to the zoo and see what he comes back with)

so then we cutscene to her dad's funeral and we learn that her father was in the navy- perhaps this is why he is unduly harsh. and then we got ANOTHER scene that beat my heart into a pulp: scully turning to her mom and asking "was he proud of me?" her mom waits for a beat and says "he was your father". HEY! THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER!!!!!!!!!

(who wouldn't be proud of scully? i'm taking names. write them down)

when interrogating the death row psychic mulder once again said "i want to believe" and i once again wrote in my episode notes "HE SAID THE LINE!"

interesting that this is an episode where scully believes and mulder doesn't, almost immediately from the beginning of the episode. but the psychic says stuff her dad would say and therefore she gets emotionally invested even though mulder says it's nonsense, and that this guy is setting them a trap because mulder got him put on death row. and when she listens to the psychic's clue and find evidence at an abandoned warehouse, mulder yells at her for putting herself in danger. to which she said:

"i thought you'd be pleased i opened myself to extreme possibilities"

scully i am REACHING through the screen and telling you i'm proud of you in case no one ever did that before

(and MAYBE mulder yelling at her for putting herself in danger because he thinks he needs to protect her WAS deeply satisfying but still. read the room my king)

(also revealed in this scene: mulder is a jimi hendrix fan. i am tucking this knowledge in my pocket and storing it safely)

then the psychic decided to reveal some of her personal memories and we learn she stole a cigarette when she was 14 and she thought it was disgusting but she wanting to do something they would disapprove of. and she was so scared but so excited. are you kidding me? are you absolutely kidding me. the need to rebel from an assigned role in which she feels she MUST be perfect has haunted her from a young age, and when she finally did something her parents really disprove of- joined the FBI instead of working as a doctor- she's met with rejection. so now we know she's had this terrible need to do what pleases those she loves and to break that is a rush from its inherent moral Wrongness. the isolation of being the Good Child who does what She's Told vs. the isolation of being the Less Good Child who loses their parent's approval. that terrible ache of knowing you once pleased them and now you don't. the conditional nature of affection. ohhhhh good lord.

later mulder gets shot and scully thinks the psychic lured him into a trap which leads to her screaming at him (like SERIOUSLY screaming) that if mulder dies, she'll kill the psychic herself. now this was especially crazy because we have only at this point seen her yell once before which was in episode 8, but this was 10x that intensity. also wild for revealing that she will kill anyone who hurts mulder. once again i say holy FUCK.

mulder is wheeled in to the hospital and still telling her not to believe him, says that he's luring her into another trap. at this point i was yelling "TELL MULDER HE KNEW ABOUT YOUR DAD!" but she was too deep in the grief to bring it up

(throughout the entire episode she is hallucinating her dad in places he isn't, which is arguably far more impactful than just seeing her cry)

when the psychic reveals the location of the murderer and they go to check it out, scully straight up shoots the suspect. she is NOT playing around, y'all. i think this is the first time we see her shoot someone, which is already a lot to unpack. but then she doesn't follow the killer because the psychic had warned her against it and in this way he saves her life.

then she says thank you to the psychic, who says "come to my execution and i'll give your father's message to you" and she DOESN'T GO. mulder asks her why, because now he seems to think that psychic dude really WAS telling the truth, and she no longer does:

"why can't you believe?" "because i'm scared"

she's scared!! she's scared to believe. she's scared to know what is out there and she seemed scared to know what her father had to say. isn't there enough uncertainty in this world ruled by facts and science? what could the possibilities be like beyond that? why believe in what you cannot control? she says she knew what he would say because "he's my father". is that enough for her? or was she too frightened to hear that he wasn't proud of her?

overall i've said "holy fuck" like a LOT during this recap and i truly feel that those are the only words i have for the situation. getting to see more scully lore was EXACTLY what i was hoping for and i'm so pleased but also so so so sad. like she keeps her christmas tree up and she's a good cook and she has this terrible need for her father's approval that he won't give and then he goes and dies. i need about 10 beach episodes to make up for the sadness here. chris carter i'm in ur walls.

[swallowtailed]

HELLO. PALISADE 29

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

the tension. the drama. the acting. the sheer fucking bravado. can we get a round of applause for ali’s work in this downtime!!!!!!!!!

actually, shouts to the entire cast, there was not a minute of that episode that was not incredible. TTRPGS!!!

after the (genuinely gripping) debate about what moves to use, the actual fight between brnine and dahlia ended up being really grounded in a way i loved—no auto-win, no huge move to pull out, just a series of attacks. great tension.

speaking of tension, this episode felt like the real refresh after the stellar combustor arc. one big victory, a clean escape, and then time to run a few downtime scenes afterward and fully reset. also exactly the kind of wild win i wanted post-combustor, lol. (notably the same sort of double-impact midseason finale as in partizan lmao.)

oh my god, and the MUSIC. this new track absolutely bangs. i think ali said the moment of killing dahlia was “uncool”, which was very funny given that the soundtrack made it actually the coolest scene ever put to audio.

figure managing to summon brnine back was amazing. (they can cry again!) and that they did it with the tapes of valence and gur—the memory of valence felt very present in brnine’s scenes in this downtime, even without brnine ever saying their name. grief’s a funny thing. (similarly: brnine nearly telling thisbe to check in with phrygian. and “phrygian made the best cereal box mazes”, a line that i will be remembering literally forever.)

and like, the scene with gucci. god. something very compelling about gucci saying “i don’t know what to do with the way i feel about you so i’m going to ask you: what do we do” and then framing a different set of bare little hopes and a different huge frightening future that has suddenly opened up. what do you do when it turns out you actually get a chance to live. same question. you know.

i’m not entirely sure what’s going on with divines and their relationships with mortals right now, but i think something is starting to shift. thisbe and the cadent—this strange method of communication—brnine’s adopted gods—the afflictions and the delegates and partial palisade himself—the reveal that the branched are posthuman and postdivine; dahlia following a similar path—something is changing. post-combustor, something could change. maybe it’s no one thing, but an expansion, out of the confines of the divine principality. that in itself would be a victory. 

also noticing that any divine brnine meets becomes a dog to them—asepsis, integrity, commitment. still don’t know where to even begin with this. (… insert HOUNDS joke here)

so much happened in this episode. what the fuck. incredible work all around. excited for next week????????????

[inmyhorrorsera]

S5E9 & S5E10 thoughts

Well, I liked it!

The biggest loser here is Episode 9 because all my thoughts are so occupied by the finale that I can't say much about the previous episode which wasn't even bad. So just three quick things:

Finally I get some good fucking food (The Guide content).

"I'm… going…to kill you… Guillermo" gave me CHILLS.

Guidja real.

Now, to Episode 10:

Didn't notice the previous episode how feral Nandor was filmed, his face all darkened except for a beam of light on his furious eyes, good and classic vampire shit!

Nadja Detective Policeman visiting Guillermo in that outfit😩

Wow, Guillermo treating Derek bad after all he did for him really make the point across that he's a shitty person.

There's something so 😙👌 about Nandor going back to Panera, always love a full circle moment.

I don't care about Patton Oswald as a comedian or person due some disgusting shit he pulled years ago, so sadly I couldn't enjoy his scenes with Nandor that much. I loved that after the whole conversation he still killed him tho. I read someone in the tags paralleling this scene to Guillermo and Meg in S3E2, and I fully agree with that interpretation.

Laszlo helping Guillermo and apologizing…😭 He loves him! I would love to see more of how Laszlo feels about his "frustrations" (his innability to help Guillermo, the impotency of seeing Colin grow up and not remember him). That's something that should be explored better next season imo.

Him trying to have a serious conversation but keep getting distracted by the porn is me trying to watch this show as a dumb comedy but getting distracted by the nandermo of it all.

All the vampires visiting him with dumb excuses was so cute. I wish I never see those creatures ever again tho.

Ahhhh Nandor calling Guillermo from his mother in law mom's house was some psycho shit. Also it remind me a bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Spike visits Buffy's mom just to taunt her. Imagine Nandor pulling this shit:

(Silvia immediately stakes him of course).

"My friend, Patton Oswalt, he passed away". The solemn way he says it as if he wasn't the culprit 😭.

The moment of Guillermo putting the stake on Nandor's neck was an explicit sex scene for me and for everyone with good taste.

On the opposite side, Nandor helping Guillermo with the red cape is SO SOFT, it's all about being equals this time.

The Djinn… oof… as someone who was begging for his appearance since the beginning of the season, this stunt left me cold… sorry but everything that starts with "it happened off screen" it's bad writing. It's giving "Daenerys kind of forgot…" level of bad.

Didn't like that suddenly Nandor is smarter than the others (specially if we come from an episode when Laszlo called him 'a fuckin idiot' for not getting the Guide reveal).

I already mentioned this in a post I made last night, but I'll repeat it verbatim here, because I stand by it:

I don't believe FOR A SECOND that Laszlo didn't try to feed Guillermo human blood 🤔 Remember when Nadja on s1 went on an entire mission to help Jenna to complete her transformation? (hey everybody, remember Jenna?) How Guillermo 'all my life I dreamed of being a vampire' did not know that piece of lore??

"Guillermo can't kill people" Umm whoever decided to go on this direction, I recommend them this show on FX called What we do in the shadows it's very good! (when consistent).

I…. don't trust that "Guillermo is not cut to be a vampire" stuff… sounds like retcon… BUT! I love the "Guillermo is not cut to be a vampire YET, specially if he isnt sired by Nandor" interpretation.

From the beginning I had this hunch that Guillermo's longing for a family and community (I'm not saying he dislikes his bio family, but obviously he grow up distant from them, probably for being queer and feeling like "an outsider") was a reason for being so desperate to become a vampire. Now that he has the family (bio AND chosen) and the community, it's his time to think if he STILL wants to be vampire or not (and he said at the fake ceremony that he still wants it 😌).

Lmao Guillermo's beard... that thing... didn't look like it was growing from Harvey's face.

🗣️HE 🗣️KEPT 🗣️THE 🗣️GLASSES!!!

More Derek! And with better make up than that ashy talcum powder nightmare from Episode 1!! WTF they got rid of another character of color again??!! Benedict Wong what are you doing here???!!! Yay??????

I really like that Topher is a "functional" zombie in comparison with his state in S2E1, it makes sense with the zombies we saw on the original movie.

Still weird that we end the episode and season here, with Derek happy ending?

HOT take but I like that it didn't end on a cliffhanger, considering that we don't know the state of the show post strikes yet AND after s4 I don't trust this people with cliffhangers ever again lol.

Now that the season is finished I came to realize Nadja's entire arc AGAIN was a big 'ol nothing, huh? The hex, her Antipaxos found family, the little stunt as a teacher, literal "throw at the wall and see what it sticks". I'm sorry but I'll repeat: WWDITS learn how to write women challenge.

Excited to see how Guillermo and Nandor's relationship will develop from now on, I know some people are frustrated but as someone who is used to slow burns being SLOW this is my shit. I joke a lot about the pairing but also I understand that this is the shit&farts show first, nandermo nation second (unlike some people that appears they only consume and rate media depending on how much kissy kissy is on the screen).

From 1 to 10, I'll give this season a 7. Not that good as my god tier seasons (S2 is a 9, S3 is a 10), but not so bad as S4.

What I want next season:

Guillermo NEEDS to be a Bad Bitch again: slaying vampires like the Van Helsing he is, being gay af, not being scared to sass out Nandor, etc.

Laszlo and Colin NEED to have a real talk.

Consistency.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEARN HOW TO WRITE FOR NADJA I'M ON MY KNEES AT THIS POINT!!!

[parisofpeoplez]

Binged on this week's QoT episodes in one sitting and I have thoughts!

I know the cool rich auntie was one of the good ones! She has literally shown more motherly love to Haein than her own mother.

Speaking of, I understand that she was grieving the loss of her son, but how is it fair to put the blame of his death on her daughter??!!! Yes her son died saving his sister, but it's not like Haein wanted that to happen. Like Haein said, it was an accident. I'm assuming they will reveal more of what exactly happened in the later episodes. And I also feel like that was no accident, someone wanted to kill Haein as a way to harm her grandfather, but her brother died instead. The whole incident is a bit fishy but we shall see.

I'm glad that Hyun woo finally came to the realisation that he still cares about Haein and does not want her to die. Up until ep 4 I was literally going, Baek Hyun woo do better! Thank God he listened.

I love how he got the hospital to treat her! Like don't you dare mess with my wife because I will sue the shit out of you and make sure that I win the case!! Damn that was hot of him haha!

Haein talking about dying was just too depressing like this precious baby deserves to live, unlike those four evil people that are out to destroy her and Hyun woo's happiness!

Speaking of, I have so many theories about them! The sister in law and the Hercyna guy might be siblings, but all that DNA test talk made me sus. What if they are lovers and the kid is actually theirs and no Soo-cheol's? Damn I would love that twist haha. I don't know how I feel about Soo-cheol yet to decide if I pity him or not. The grandfather's girlfriend has been sus from the beginning and that background info that Beom ja got is also very shady. What if the mystery son that she gave birth to is actually the Hercyna guy? What is happening here?

And this masseuse lady...what the fuck is her deal? What does he want? I hate her damn face she's so fucking annoying. Bitch die.

Also all these family scenes get kinda boring sometimes. Sometimes i just don't care about the family dynamics, especially Hyun woo's family. Up until now I feel like they haven't really contributed much to the plot. I hope that changes soon given the amount of screwn time they're getting in every episode.

Coming back to our couple, the juxtaposition of the four leaf clovers lying on the ground and Hae-in's world literally falling apart....it was heartbreaking.

But I'm glad that this secret came out now. I was loving all of their cute moments but dreading Haein finding out about the divorce. Now that that's out, they will hopefully both deal with this revelation early on and build their relationship again without any secrets. I didn't want them to fall in love again just for this to come out in the later episodes. Because honestly healing from that would have been difficult to sell to the audience later on compared to now when it's early days in finding their way back to each other.

[coredrill]

perhaps my most insane collection of brvn thots yet

do we think lulu is from the moon. i think this for three reasons. one: when she told superbia she was going to ride him the moon was quite large and prominent in the shot. symbolism. two: when she got her fancy hairdo, she had two little buns that looked like moons. three: “lulu” could come from “luna” the same way it could come from the first syllable of smith’s name. why would she become spanish? don’t worry abt it. also if she’s from there then maybe the “final battle” which obari allegedly said would take place in an unexpected location will indeed be on the moon (pls dont ask for a source on this bc i don’t think i could find it again but it was one of the like. EARLY early interviews iirc. or it was just a rumor. this part of the post is a joke anyways LMAO). however this IS a super robot show so i feel like the moon in general is actually a more expected location for me than like. idk. cleveland

everyone pointing out the animation differences maybe indicating different timelines is so funny to me cause like. if it’s NOT intentional, the fans are putting together a list of fixes to make for the bluray on a silver platter LMAO. also god i hope we get a western bluray release, i honestly am considering getting the jp one if it somehow winds up w eng subs though just cause i know it’s such a long shot for CRUNCHYROLL of all motherfuckers to put one together 🥲 discotek ur our only hope………………

i keep thinking abt the like. pacing of the previous fight scenes being reused in ep9 in such a smart way…………like with smith/lulu v superbia - isami/bravern v cupiridas AND with smith/lulu v knuth - isami/bravern v pessimism/vanitas they kept doing the quick jumps between each of the two fights in a way that made it clear that isami and smith were in conversation even if they were doing completely different shit, and then bringing that completely to the forefront this ep while isami is asking smith why he died and at the same time smith is refusing to die bc of his promise with isami. BLEW MY FUCKIN MIND to see the pattern reused like that, i swear to GOD everyone talks about how fun and hype this show is but it’s so damn GOOD too 😭😭 and then after that the fuckin. symmetrical docking ass cut and then later the gattai which has been held off for SO long bc they are no longer separate conversations. JESUS

called my shots too early tho w smith not melting ppl’s minds in a kaworu manner where they convolute the story x1000 to try to make him seem straight 😭 congrats white boy, your days are numbered until ppl start saying you love isami like he’s your pet dog……….also in a related fashion the giant naked smith fanarts are taking me out LMAO

you can tell idk shit abt fuck when it comes to time travel fuckery cause i rly am just here like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ atp LMAO, the serious theorizing is GONE. i trust the show to finish out in a satisfying manner and also in a way that my pea brain can understand and i’m rly looking forward to savouring these last 3 episodes :] and then rewatching the whole thing from the beginning once the remaining twists have been revealed and i Know :3 like not to get way too sentimental w 3 whole episodes left but we are so lucky to be following this story in real time you guys 😭 like i’m just gonna put the same post i made back after episode ONE here cause it’s true but times a million with what we’ve seen so far, truly this is such a special experience to have and i’m so glad this show waited until i got into mecha to get made so that i could like. Understand it yknow. anyways good for january 14 2024 version of me, you are so excited andyet still have NO idea the kind of treat you are in for 😭

“lewis” jumpscare tho omg. i forgot it took me like a week to figure out what the hell was goin on with all the characters first and last names LMAO. anyways everybody go look at sumiisa sekiha love love tenkyouken right now i am no longer asking

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S1E13: Milk Run

An almost perfect episode with an ending that guts like a fish knife.

Milk Run is the episode that Little Prince wanted to be, and it's super weird to me that they're back to back. It's better written, better paced, and commits much more strongly to its message, so it feels a bit like you watch the rough draft of an idea and then the final draft right in a row.

It's also significantly more fun than Little Prince, which both makes it more enjoyable to watch, and makes the tragedy that much more painful. The first half of the episode is played very light-- jokes and smiles and sunshine-- and then by the final quarter you're left with the cold, sinking feeling that something terrible is going to happen and it's going to fuck everyone up forever.

(it does)

The episode opens with Sonny creeping on a lady who bends over at the airport, and Rico walking (crotch first) into his line of view and giving him a serious Sitcom Wife look. It's hard to shake the sense that this is a "Rico shoots his shot and Sonny straight up doesn't notice" episode; the smile he gives Sonny when he tells Sloane they're partners is shy and flirty as all get out, he literally grabs Sonny and walks with him arm and arm as they cross the street, he brushes his fingers against Sonny's and pivots around him a centimeter away as they lean on the hotel counter. Sonny ever so slightly leans into him after that, like there's some recognition of their closeness, and then they see Eddie and Sonny spends the rest of the episode freaking out about Justice(TM).

This is the episode where Rico reveals he is a vegetarian, and Sonny kind of brushes it off like "that's simply impossible, no such thing."

Tubbs says a bunch of stuff about a Colombian god who originated in Nigeria and seems to be surprisingly knowledgeable about folk religion, and then in the next scene he and Sonny have a conversation about Santeria that's so far removed from anything anyone has ever known about Santeria that you begin to wonder if he just made this "Colombian god" up to sound smart.

While Crockett speaks to the "Santeria Priestess" (a teenage punk who works at a movie theater and is absolutely not a Santeria Priestess), a bald woman behind him sports what appears to be leather bondage gear

A young Eric Bogosian roughs up Tubbs; later in the episode he says that Pepe Moya is "a freak" who "gets off on weeeeiiiiaaaahhhhd stuff." Okay, Worcester boy. Sure. That's how everyone in Massachusetts Miami talks.

The transition from Rico leaping into the car to the boxing gym, overlaid with Hit Me With Your Best Shot is just an absolute joy, A+ fun, silly, wholesome sequence.

Castillo asks Crockett to put surveillance in place and Sonny says he's already put "Mann and Terranova" on it. While I believe wholeheartedly that Miami Vice and Wiseguy take place in the same universe, it's a but strange to get your creator to do surveillance for you.

Tubbs makes the obligatory S1 "you will be sexually assaulted in prison" threat this episode, which is highly out of character and, as far as I can recall, never happens again. Sonny just screams at the kid.

Eddie tells Sonny that he can't speak to the police because his lawyer told him "you're just gonna use me."

Well.

Considering the ending.

It's almost

Like you shouldn't

Speak to the police

Without your lawyer

I think it's important to point out that Eddie, who is tragically killed in a way Sonny does not expect and cannot really have prevented (but feels like it could have been preventable to him), doesn't just share his first name with Sonny's prior partner. His last name is also Rivers-- too close to Riviera to be a coincidence. One of the themes of Vice is the cyclical and repetitive nature of tragedy for anyone who is involved in either criminality or the justice system (Mann generally posits these two things as mirror images or inexorably linked halves of one whole; see Heat). Eddie Riviera was a cop, thematically framed as an innocent, and Sonny couldn't save him, and Eddie Rivers was a criminal, thematically framed as an innocent, and Sonny couldn't save him. The only people who make it out are ones like Caroline, who divest themselves completely from that world. Anyone on either side of the law is equally damned.

From the time we see Eddie's body rolled away to the credits rolling is two full minutes of a 48 minute runtime; Sonny is sitting on the floor, mostly facing the camera, for the entirety of that two minutes. The amount of time from when the other characters leave and Rico sits down next to him to is itself a full minute, and the last 40 seconds of that minute are wordless. I don't think it can be overstated how endless a minute of hollow-eyed silence is in a television show feels.

[his-mother-is-lightning]

EPISODE 5: Scooby and the Gang meet Dracula the Straw Hats versus Dracule aka 'new trauma boy has entered the chat'

my episode 4 coverage

Luffy's childhood pirate flag was better than the one he made last episode

Also it's so weird to show Luffy and Garp together when Luffy is young bc we just saw him free range childhood-ing at that bar. Where was Garp then??

Koby saving Helmeppo = the start of a beautiful friendship

"youre his first mate" now that I know that was never confirmed in canon, this line is 1000% funnier

Ok does Luffy know how navigation works? That scene with Garp implies he might have had some training, but I wouldn't put it past him to only have food-motivated navigational skills

Sanji's introduction is as good as Zoro's. The added bonus of them having tuned down his horrific flirting to something far more palatable is just *chef's kiss*

Everyone teasing Nami about Sanji's flirting (well, Luffy laughs along but clearly has no idea what's going on) is iconic

Mihawk. Dracule Mihawk. Is it a complete waste to have Don Krieg there as canon fodder? Absolutely. But you cannot deny how fucking badass Mihawk is. Note that he refers to Don Krieg's gun thing as a "final gambit" implies that everyone in this world thinks in terms of finishing moves.

"little eggplant" is such an adorable nickname for Sanji. Zeff & Sanji's relationship is so dysfunctional - I want to love it, but they're just so fucked up, I can't judge

Poor Koby, learning that the world is full of hypocrites. Soft boy. Helmeppo just wants to pat his head and hide him from the mean mean world

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I love Sanji's accent. I like that it separates him from everyone around him, but doesn't go the stereotypical 'chefs are French' route

I'm sad we don't get real Gin. He was a very cool, very complicated. Both me and Sanji are sad about his loss

Also Zoro clearly spews bullshit about Nami so she'll contradict him, revealing more than she would have told him otherwise. Like Nami, you are being played. Zoro isn't even particularly good at it, you're just not at your best right now

Zoro's "I had one friend" - dude, you and Kuina were friends for less than 24hrs.

Between Garp and Luffy, it's clear who got all the cunning in the family. Also Garp's "I want the freedom to handle things how I like" is suuuuuch a douchebag line. Suuuch scum. I take back everything I've said about liking Garp, he is clearly just a 'doesnt play by the rules' cop from a TV drama.

I like that Zoro meets Mihawk super early on in the story. Like, we need to see him be totally wrecked. Zoro needs to experience being totally unprepared for what it's going to really take to achieve his goal. Poor Zoro is here thinking "it's too soon. I didn't think I would meet him so soon" and we get to see he has the potential for greatness, but is clearly still at the beginning of his journey. Did you really think you'd be the greatest swordsman before you hit 20?

Also Zoro's "you said it yourself, you don't have any friends" to Nami is such a dick move? But also a well deserved 'fuck you' to Nami for trying to play aloof rather than accepting the vulnerability that comes with actual friendship. I get why she's conflicted and upset, but I can't help but disagree with her attitude in this part of the series. Like I love her, but she's just enough of a hypocrite to piss me off

Of course Mihawk likes the hat, Luffy. His weird friend/rival/ex-husband had a hat just like that

I love sword fights a lot, but the one between Mihawk and Zoro is painful to watch. It's the fight with Kuina again, and one again Zoro refuses to see that he doesn't have to be the best right now

However I love how Mihawk looks at Zoro though - like a prey animal surveying a particularly interesting bug.

Aaaand when it comes down to it, Luffy never even considered the possibility that Zoro would lose. And Zoro sounds like such a child for once when he makes his vow. Gah. What an ending

Immediately to the next episode

[kariachi]

Yeah sorry still a bit on In Charm's Way.

This episode was honestly wasted in a lot of ways. We have-

A returning villain

Who takes advantage of Kevin's issues

In a manner that highlights a flaw in Gwen's character and actions

And could have served as a catalyst to give her character growth and Kevin a degree of healing

Leaving them and their relationship stronger in the long run

And just nothing was done with that shit. Instead we get Kevin being betrayed and mindcontrolled by someone he thought he could trust, made to turn against one of the people he cares about most, and it being turned into a 'poor saintly Gwen, Kevin did her so wrong' situation. (Sorry, sticks in my craw that an episode where Kevin goes through so much shit and in the end his story is about how he should have just 'known' what Gwen was up to and he's a bad boyfriend for not (Here's a hint, kids, if somebody tells you you should have just known what was going on with somebody else without being told anything, it's bullshit. You can't read minds and neither can the people around you, use your words.))

Like, just- This shit could have filled a multi-episode arc all on it's own.

Picture for me- an earlier episode establishes Kevin making a new friend. WoG is that In Charm's Way takes place over months, so you can put it towards the beginning of the season. Maybe Kevin shows up to pick Ben up for something and has this new chick with him, 'oh this is a new friend of mine, she needed a lift to X and it's on our way so-'. Also take a bit of time out of the same episode or a close one to establish that Gwen isn't spending as much time with Kevin as she normally would, brushing off date offers she would normally go for with vague excuses, and that it really isn't helping Kevin's worries about her leaving him. Really set shit up early. Over the next several episodes give us some more references to this new friend, as well as an episode where we the audience learn what Gwen has going on. Maybe she brings it up to Ben, or maybe Ben already knows and brings the topic up himself, trying to get her to take some time off like he does in original episode. The point is, for the purposes of this thought experiment, setting the scene early, making sure it's established that this is what's going on and it's been going on for a while.

Finally, we reach where things come to a head. A two-parter. The first part focuses on Kevin, this new friendship, the reveal of Charmcaster and her deception, the mind control. You build this up, and if you did the set-up right you should have audiences tense as hell when things between Kev and the new chick ramp up- because they know what's going on but they also know Kevin doesn't know and how it's been effecting him- and get a physical reaction at the kiss. Only to then fucking blindside them with the mindcontrol and the reveal that it was Charmcaster the entire damn time. Make it all hit like a fucking truck. End it off with the Tennysons discovering that Charmcaster has him under her control to act against them.

The next episode you start off with the Tennyson's trying and managing to break Kevin free of Charmcaster's control. He's very blatantly in an even worse place than he was at the start of the season, after spending it slowly improving in part due to this new friendship, but he manages to tell them what the fuck happened. He doesn't join in on the final fight with Charmcaster because he's had a fucking Time and nobody wants Charmcaster near him- he'll get his back come Hit 'Em Where They Live- but the others do go and Gwen kicks her ass. Make it a good fight though, drawn out, you want plenty of action yes but also you want to give Charmcaster time to wave Gwen's part in all this over her head. To taunt her with that kiss, with Kevin's doubts, with how Gwen's actions hurt him and made him an even easier target than his issues already did.

Because I'm sorry, you don't spend months building a fake friendship with somebody's partner, then try to move it into a romance, then mindcontrol them to start shit for you, unless you're actively trying to make it as emotionally painful as possible for your primary target.

She brings up the sudden drop in time spent with Kevin, Gwen counters with an 'I've been trying to help him', and only for Charm to visibly blindside her with a 'he doesn't know that, he thinks you're abandoning him'. And it has to have a visible effect on Gwen, we're going for character growth we didn't get in canon and I want to see the realizations hitting her.

She wins the fight, kicks Charmcaster's ass six ways to Sunday, the day is saved. They return to where they left Kevin, still visibly upset in the moment before he notices their return and tries to throw on a facade of being fine, and Gwen immediately gets him in a bear hug.

(For bonus points here, spend the prior episodes making explicit the WoG that in his matter chimera form Kevin is 90% sharp angles and just tears up everything he touches. Gwen's reassurances aren't just words his brain can twist back against him, this is real, tangible proof that his condition will not stop her.)

Kevin goes to apologize only to, to his confusion, be cut off by Gwen apologizing, and explaining what it is she's been up to. Admit that she should have told him, she'd known how worried he was already, but she hadn't wanted to give him false hope in case she can't find anything. He's visibly relieved, apologizes for doubting her. She promises to work on keeping him in the loop, he promises to try to have more faith in her, Ben cuts in to tease Kevin about when did he become such a sap. Kevin makes a comment about 'man, you've seen the books I read'. Cut to credits with the trio laughing, end of episode, the day is saved, Kevin and Gwen's relationship has been moved in a stronger direction, both of them have promised to work on themselves in their own way with their own shit that needs worked on, everything's good.

And like, I know that we never would've gotten something on that level, the show isn't about their relationship and they would have never dedicated that much time and effort to it, but you see what I mean? There's much potential for character and growth and hitting home and nothing is really done with it. Nobody comes out of the episode better, we don't really learn anything about anybody, all it really does is reintroduce Charmcaster at both Kevin and Gwen's expense- Gwen because it gives her a flaw the show refuses to acknowledge (one of many) and Kevin because it throws his issues into the forefront and puts him through the wringer, just to essentially go 'Kevin is bad and needs to be better'.

Fuck, even if they had just cut out the whole 'Charmcaster builds a fake relationship with Kevin' thing and instead just have her show up and mindcontrol him without it. Have the first chunk of the episode show that Kevin and Gwen are on a downward slope- Kevin's mental health is in the shitter, not helped by Gwen spending less time with him for reasons she won't tell him even after he's asked, and Gwen hates how things are going but can't stand the thought of disappointing him if she tells him what she's up to but fails to find a solution, is clinging to a her own insistence that she will figure something out soon and that will fix everything. In the middle chunk the team encounter Charmcaster, and as part of the fight she mindcontrols Kevin. At first she's pitting him against Ben, but once she starts losing the fight against Gwen she retreats and takes him with her. The Tennysons have to track them down, worried as hell the whole time, and that takes us into the final portion. Charmcaster pits Kevin against Gwen this time, it'll hurt Gwen more anyway for him to do the job. They fight, but Kevin is vicious and has nothing holding him back while Gwen is reluctant to go all out because she loves him and it's not him doing this.

He's winning, Ben is occupied, she's doing everything she can to try to snap him out of it. 'I know you're in there somewhere's, declarations of her affection, apologies for past transgressions, begging. Finally, if this is it she's at least going out or losing him with a clear conscience and anyway she's desperate, she hugs him and apologizes for not telling him that she's only been distant because she's been trying to help him. Again, we look to the WoG, she's tearing herself up, while the show won't do blood you can see when he shakes her off, rounds on her and

The mindcontrol breaks. It's magic, blood spilled with intention can do some shit even if you don't show it.

Kevin immediately falls apart with apologies, conscious of everything but having had no control, and she's full of reassurances, holding onto him, leaning their foreheads together, still visibly tearing herself up but as before this is a moment of driving home that his condition will not stop her loving him. She cups his cheek, goes 'wait here, babe, you've had a long day', turns around, and proceeds to storm over and kick Charmcaster's ass six ways to Sunday.

The episode ends with the day saved, things cleared up between Gwen and Kevin, and the promise that things are going to heal and go smoother as time goes by. Ben ends the episode with a quip about fighting Kevin having gotten old years ago, maybe. It's all good.

Just.. So much potential...

[thirdwifeofriversong]

going back through some old notes on my phone and found my unfiltered original reactions to volumes 1 & 2 of stranger things 4… (spoilers below the break)

VOL 1

- HOLY FUCK EPISODE SEVEN

- did NOT see that reveal coming

- The ends of eps 4 and 7 are fucking amazing

- NANCY!!! Not sure how she’ll fare, not looking good obvs, (and I did originally think she’d die, but I hope not ofc) but I love the callback to the pool and Barb

- This is Dustin’s season lol

- Joyce Hop and Murray better fucking get out of that prison- their reunion was heartbreaking, but I also was like RUN don’t do another bob

- About Vecna/001/Creel son… so his powers/the killings weren’t related to the upside down until El imprisoned him there… so the upside down existed already but El opened the gate to put 001 through and that was the beginning of the contact with our world?… also how did Brenner try to replicate 001? Heard some disturbing theories about sperm donation but that’s super fucked up so I’m not sure how but I hope they explain? Also how did he get his powers in the first place? Finally what amazing casting

- Never thought I’d be rooting for Steve and Nancy lol but I guess maturity happens

- Erica is the fucking best

- The 001 reveal was fantastic. Jaw on the floor.

- Why does 001 care for 011 more than the others? Seen theories that she’s his kid but???

- Relationship between 001 and the mind flayer?

- MAX omg that scene was AMAZING on all levels and her ACTING

- Also why was Brenner using 001 as a guard?? Doesn’t make sense?

- Cool how they synced Nancy and El understanding 001’s story

- I only want good things for Hopper

- Also Murray’s karate is 10/10. Comic gold

- I’m a bit done with the torture. I like my characters problems to be fictional thanks.

- Look forward to seeing the CA gang appear again

- Also Joyce and Murray have no fucking idea what’s going on… and like Joyce just leaves her kids?

- Okay El needs nice things and WHAT THE FUCK OWENS WORKING WITH BRENNER REALLY?!! El didn’t need that. She needs so much love and friends and therapy and trauma informed everything bc OMG.

- Not a fan of Archie and the jock vigilantes

- Rude to prey on people with trauma. Guess Vecna is just a psychopath?

- AHHHHHH

- again how did the kids get their powers and how did they take it from 001 and how did 001 get it in the first place?

- Nice that 001 and the mind flayer got along so well

- Also can will get some fucking character development? Please? Like I know he has a crush on mike but more than that pls because it’s been since s2 that he had a true arc (except that great acting scene in s3)

- Suzie is everyone’s Queen. Bow before her

- Eddie and argyle are great new characters

- El needs so much love

- You can’t let anything happen to Hop or Joyce or Murray

- Wait also I forgot about the time travel thing

- WAIT A SECOND the painting Will’s painting it’s got to be of Mike because he LOVES HIM

VOL 2

- ALDHRKWHDLDHAKDHSJSJHSJAJAH

- My BABY EDDIE NOOOOO

- MAX?!?!?!!! No MAX !!!!!! Like I assume they would’ve just killed her if she wasn’t going to come back, but she seems brain dead and the duffers said she was? So? I hope they do bring her back bc it would’ve made sense to fully kill her if she wasn’t? Also El has fucking Lazarus powers too?! Damn girl

- My BABY GAY WILL you need a HUG and I’m so glad you got one but you also need to talk about shit and just say it out loud

- Good job Jonathan you aren’t completely useless

- WHAT A FUCKING ENDING

- EL AND HOP MY HEART

- DAMN that was a good ending- saw it coming but they did it really well

- And they really did seem like they’d just kill off everyone for a minute

- Murray, Yuri, and Antonov?? My bois? Where they at?

- Still gotta resolve Owens

- Also the fucking Russian and US governments are looking for them wtf

- Not looking good

- BUT AT LEAST THEYRE TOGETHER

- love the Hawkins at the center of it all

- FOUR GATES HOLY FUCK

- the vecna el max scene holy SHIT

- also did we not finish the Jason plot line?! Wtf happened after that? Somebody gotta keep this man in line bc he went full murder there (edit apparently he did die whoops I was distracted)

- And poor Lucas!! My baby is gonna have so much trauma!!

- And Dustin… sweet little confident dude gonna be so sad

- Fucking will ending the season touching the back of his neck I CAN FEEL HIM of course you fucking can will

- The LINE

- Hop and Joyce!!! Finally!!!

- Also like please let Karen be an actual character with agency she’s been here for four seasons on the sidelines but like please… my dude…. Please write her some character development… and fuck Ted

- The fucking love triangle with Nancy isn’t resolved

- We love Steve (in general)

- Robin and band girl seem nice…. Like a z plot but at least she might get a nice thing? Would be nice if we knew more about band girl

- Want to know if Henry/vecna is El’s father? More about that connection? Also how he got his powers to begin with? Is the upside down just an accidental bump into our universe bc El or is it related to the powers? Would it have kept going?

- Also fucking Odyssey with Henry

- the FUCKING METAL CONCERT WITH THE DEMOBATS THAT WAS THE BEST SHIT EVER

- and hop with the sword?!

- The soviets rlly did just go this seems like a good idea let’s BREED FUCKING DEMOGORGONS fuckers

- Glad they’re out of the ussr

- That ending shot wow

- I CRIED with Dustin and mr munson omg that was so fucking sad

- Also where was max’s mom in the hospital??

- Max omg baby needs nice things

- Aghhhhh

- The CAPTIONS