#redoing season 2 episode 1 “in my time of dying

[spn-fanfic-reblog-writes]

>.>

May need to do this

Okay has anyone written a Dean fic where it’s S2E1 “In My Time of Dying” & it’s Reader by Dean’s bedside? Reader never leaves & Sam has to force them to get rest. But Reader never leaves & is obsessed with the nurses doing right by Dean and stuff. Him being out of his body sees this & finally confesses when he wakes up?? 😭❤️

[variousqueerthings]

She enjoyed that way too much.

OH NO CLARA DIED. I knew that was going to happen, I have seen it all on the tumbls. but how did she die? I genuinely couldn't remember (all I had was the toymaker going "killed by a... bird?") and yeah that's what I was thinking too. a bird? really? alright then

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 5/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 9/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 6/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 8/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 8/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 73/100 (if I can count….)

alright so we're on Big Episodes Time. technically Face The Raven is the first of three episodes but it very much stands alone in Vibe, so let us look at it

OBJECTIFICATION: seriously, we're pretty good on this by now. almost like one doesn't have to make a million jokes about women's appearances or sexually harass them to write a story

PLOT-POINT: okay first contentious rating, because the whole thing about Clara in this episode is that she figures out she is Gonna Die, which is all about her emotions isn't it?

I mean... a bit. but I think it highlights two things 1. "Maybe this is what I wanted. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is why I kept running. Maybe this is why I kept taking all those stupid risks. Kept pushing it" <- this is Clara being like "ah fuck I'm gonna die, but who knows maybe that's what my whole story and self was about" and I'm scratching my head a bit, going... was it? is that... the core of Clara? do the writers know the core of Clara? Or is this just her comforting the Doctor which is my second point 2. sooo much of this death is about Clara comforting the Doctor and telling the Doctor to not get revenge and to be okay with her dying. my love, you are about to die, why are we not getting more on you?

if this story had, say, echoed way back to early days Clara (s7) who was coming to terms with the fact that she was going to die over and over again, but then is rescued from that fate in one reality (I mean, it didn't quite nail that premise, but there's cool ideas within it), and this reality of Clara being afraid of death, but wanting to engage with the fun of life instead, to the point that maybe she forgot death was even an option... there's certainly some things you can use to read this into her, but it's not textual, it's not -- I would even say -- deliberate

Clara just kinda bounced about in the story a lot of the time, as if the writers had forgotten to do a simple character bible or something to that effect with her, so that in this moment when she dies... I'm not sure how it echoes back to how she lived. "Be brave" can mean anything, it's not a Clara-based mantra that relates to anything about her before. it doesn't relate to the idea that she's died before in a bunch of different lifetimes, or that her partner died to save her -- even though she mentions that death, but it's in the context of how she should also be brave and face it, and I'm like. no! aside from how I feel like Danny Pink's narrative was written, he at the very least canonically died so that Clara would not, it seems kind of not how that was framed to go "ah well, he could do it, so can I," he would be Upset at this idea surely???

we reach the seeming end of her life and I understand how it affects the Doctor -- hell how it affects Me and Rigsy -- more than how it affects her

I didn't rate this point lower, because I do think there's some emotional throughline in the episode itself, the problem is that it feels like it didn't relate to the entire rest of her run

COMPLEXITY: there's a Plot. who did the Plot? we don't know yet. we will find out! that's fine, this is the season finale one of three, we don't need to know everything yet

Me was hired to do the plot, and she did so in... kind of a complicated roundabout way. I kind of wish she'd targeted Clara to begin with, because why would she think Rigsy could get in contact with the Doctor? I really like Rigsy, I'm happy to see him again, and he's clearly doing well, but it's a bit ooh and then this plottwist happens, except I wasn't quite following why it needed to be twisted like that in the first place + I mean the fuckn. bit at the end when Me realises what's happened with Clara feels like it's doing so much heavy lifting "I didn't know she'd do something so stupid" really? I didn't realise it was stupid, because it's just inventing stuff as it goes along

I like a lot of the stuff around the plot, but that's another point!

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: I mean yeah, Clara dies and the Doctor is transported... sooomewhere. (actually when I was watching Heaven Sent I hadn't realised it was this transporter that sent him into the Confession Dial, it took me until now)

Me is running a safe haven -- again, a compelling idea that isn't really explored a lot -- and is working for sooomeone to fuck with the Doctor. villain

so yeah, big stuff. Confession Dial now out of the Doctor's hands

COMPANIONS MATTER: second contentious rating perhaps, but Clara makes one big decision in this episode, and it's a huuuge mistake and gets her killed -- the fact that everything around that mistake was kind of silly aside, it's kind of a symptom of one of the main things that frustrated me for a lot of Clara's run (and Amy's for that matter) which was that M*ffat couldn't seem to figure out how to make them make decisions without the Doctor holding their hand, and the second she does in this episode, she literally dies

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor goes on a bit of a murder mystery romp in this one, and that's quite fun. again, I think Clara's death was more about him and how he might react to it, than about her, but on the whole there's nothing else egregious in this

also we get the return of the flashcards, I do enjoy the flashcards!

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: Mmm there's not much in this one. obviously the Time Lords are about to arrive bit by bit, but on the whole -- apart from showing some various aliens...

“SEXINESS”: Clara mentions Jane Austen as "a great kisser" in this episode, and it's... the second? third hint? that she's not quite straight. I know it's baaaasically canon at this point, but I think generally Clara being bi was handled pretty terribly, in that it wasn't

INTERNAL WORLD: there's that secret world of aliens, which mimics a bit the Zygons outside. I kind of think this deserves more than what it gets, but it's not really about it, it's just a bit of set dressing

still, some cool concepts within it. I do wonder if I sometimes am unfair about when I think something is well-developed or not -- after all, Rings of Akhaten was also an alien culture briefly shown but not too dwelled on. I think that episode really did show bits of how that space worked, and crucially the religious festival aspect of it, whereas with this you get a sense of a kind of fucked up underlying politics, but it's not important to what's happening -- heck, we discover that Me pretended to kill someone and framed someone for that fake murder, so that she could lure the Doctor there, and it's confirmed that the law is so strict that just "assuming" someone committed that murder is enough to condemn them to death without trial or chance for defence

but we don't really understand how this affects the people in this supposedly safe haven, we don't really care about any of them, and Me's "plot" is never discovered or important to the running of this place (and the next time we meet Me is in the final episode at the very very end of the Universe so whatever this place was, it's gone now, it's just some random time she spent doing this thing)

I kind of wish there was an episode that was actually about this place

POLITICS: so we've got the refugee/secret society of aliens on earth, which is... somewhat thinly depicted. and the structure of this society is veeery not-good/vicious. but I guess it's mainly just that none of this really matters to the story of the episode

I like that we showed Rigsy again and that he has a kid and seems to be doing well for himself, I think having him specifically as a recurring character was a good choice

FULL RATING: 73/100 (if I can count….)

this is the highest-rated episode of the season actually, and I do enjoy a fair bit of it. some of this rating though comes from it being a Very Big Episode that sets up various things. I realise in structure it's got a bit in common with Utopia leading into that season's two-part finale (although of course, very different finales). straggler society that's holding on, Doctor arrives and is hoping to fix things only to get hit by a curveball in the last few minutes

I think that this is where the stuff that I do like about s9 comes up against the stuff that I knew wasn't going to land for me -- things like how Me is written into the lore feeling kind of clumsy to me, Clara not being as developed as I'd want her to be, and this season having a certain "and now suddenly something really important happens that came outta nowhere" style of writing

but it's a sweet little episode on its own, with some cool worldbuilding, and Rigsy is there!

also the post-credits Rigsy graffiti'ing the Tardis was beautiful. now we head into the. Final Episodes!

*

I'm not gonna lie -- this is not fair to the episode but oohhhh seeing Letitia Wright was transphobia jumpscare! she wasn't super transphobic and anti-vaxx back then either, it's just. yeah, jumpscare, as my friend and I call it whenever we don't expect sudden casual transphobia reminders

[rakuen9]

Yellowjackets season 2 spoilers. 

I have been seeing some comments about how unrealistic some of the elements of the show are and people aren’t buying some stuff and I want to adress a couple of them and I try to do it respectfully, but we’ll see how successul I am. 

I have to say that I don’t work in TV production but I have a few friends that do and I have been on sets and I have a personal interest in learning about how things are made, you know grain of salt but I kinda know what I am talking about. 

Take #1: That they don’t look emaciated enough and it’s not making you buy their starvation. 

The best way to get that look is for them to actually starve. And like, we know this is an insane thing to ask of someone. And before you come at me with Christian Bale or Adrien Brody or whomever has done it in the past, that was still a wild thing do to and it’s their right to transform as much as they want for a role, but like asking a lot of young actors to do that would be genuinely insane. So we’re gonna take that option off the table imediately. 

 And yes makeup exists but it does have it’s limits. It’s damn near impossible to be able to paint an optical illusion that will drastically change the shape of someone’s face to that extent and that also works in alll the lighting conditions and that also doesn’t cake the actors face to the point that it restricts their performance drastically. Also even if it were possible to do, it would take a long long time to do it and they would have to do it for everyone, every single day during the shoots, which would give them so little time to actually shoot stuff in a day. Like there is no way to sustain that sort of work in a way that you don’t mistreat your team. 

And before you say that VFX also exists, uhmm, imagine what I said but even worse. And here hilariously, I do have personal experience in the field, and I am able to do part of the process required for something like this because in truth you would need so many people working on something like this. So you would have to first take a mold the actors face (which in itself isn’t a very pleasant process, but it’s not a human rights violantion either and it’s something that is asked of actors fairly often) and you have to then scan that and clean it up and redo the details that the cleanup erased and and then retopo it and then bake it and then texture it and then animate it and then match the lighting in post. Is it doable? Sure. But will it be done perfectly so it’s looks real? Probably not. Again it’s one of those things that is not only extremely technically difficult near actually impossible, but also it would take take so much work and time and money like you would have to pay a team for years. So is it a viable thing to do? No. And is it a viable thing to do for a cast of over 10 people? Absolutely not.

 Now there is an upcoming very popular show that will face the same issue rather soon, but they only have to do it for 3 characters and like.. maybe one episode? two at the most? And I am really curious how they will adress that challenge because it is really really a hard one, like none of the options are good, there is no good option here to get that. 

And Take #2 is Nat’s dyed hair and her roots and stuff. And yes it is possible to actually dye your hair for that, or i dunno like wait for months until that happens naturally? But again not great options. And before you say wigs, those are really really expensive to be good and it’s again something that is very challenging to do, and a bad wig is even more distracting than the roots not being 100 % realistic.Also if you dye someone’s hair that often it’s really bad, and also if you wait for it to grow you have a mess in your scheduling because again it’s not possible to do that on a tv schedule. So again no good options here, and the solution they found is actually acceptable enough for most people. Which brings me to my latest point which is 

Sometimes you have to actively suspend your disbelief. I totally get that seeing those tiny cracks makes it harder to do, but clinging to them is not doing anyone any favors. And look I am not trying to say that some criticism isn’t valid or that you shouldn’t talk ill about the show that has been ticking my brain for weeks but like..  I feel like a lot of people sometimes forget that it’s a show? It’s really not reality. It was never meant to be. All forms of media or art have certain conventions, certain rules, certain strenghts. And I know it’s sort of weird to be on board with it 100 while also knowing it’s not real but.. that is kind of one of the unspoken rules of engaging with art that is exactly that. Just suspend your disbelief and watch closely and think about stuff and learn new things and just enjoy the ride?  And if those tiny details are preventing you from enjoying it, that’s fine you can just .. not engage with it anymore. Like the more you learn about how art is made the more amazed you are any of it gets made at all. So instead of focusing on small details that are almost impossible to do that they got wrong, why not focus on the almost impossible things they got right with this show? And yes you can be critical of stuff, it’s part of the process but.. Like the worst thing you can to for an art thing is to ignore it. To not give it any of your time and attention.

Anyways, thanks for reading all of this if you did, and I hope you find the sort of art you need when you needed and you enjoy the ride. 

Thanks for coming to my ted talk XD

[nauticalmyles]

January 23, 2024

Pokemon Sleep

Got a new Growlithe that had better subskills than my old one.

I remember I changed the graphics to low and fps to 30 when I first tried the game because I wanted to lighten its load when recording sleep. Realized I don't need to do that when I have the PoGo Plus+ so I set it back to max/60. Wow that makes such a difference. Even just cooking is so much faster, which is a weird thing to tie to fps.

Soda Dungeon 2

Forgot to put yesterday that I beat Dimension 7.

Beat Dimension 8 today. Sorta by accident too. Just put them on a grinding run and when I checked back they defeated the dungeon boss.

Slice & Dice

Starting to get pretty good at getting to the last boss on normal runs.

It's very much a game that is "the only health that matters is your last one." If no one is dying this turn then just reroll to go all out offensive.

Poison has been king for a lot of runs too. One in particular I got an optional blessing that gave all allies and enemies 1 poison at the start of a battle. Luckily that was a custom mode run and I had 2 healers and 2 defenders so cleanse was readily available.

Crazy combo 1: Put duel on the 10 damage death skill. Did 20 damage + res from a healer + redo skill available but won the fight before use.

Crazy combo 2: Triple shuriken on Venom + an Artificer. Venom gave a crazy amount of poison with the single uses and the left skill ended up doing 20 on the dragon.

Spoilers for Percy Jackson below.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Episode 7 - We Find Out the Truth, Sort of

Percy and friends go through a bed salesman to get to the underworld. Charon stops them and calls Cerberus on them. Grover gets eaten and Annabeth soothes Cerberus. Grover gets spit out and they fly up over the wall. In the forest beyond the wall, Annabeth gets caught up in regrets and has to pearl out. In the desert beyond the forest Grover almost gets flung into Tartarus by his flying shoes. They discover the Master Bolt is in the bag Ares gave them. They go on to confront Hades. Turns out Hades is pretty decent and after a discussion, find he's not behind this whole thing, he just wants his hat. Then after realizing Kronos wants out, Hades does want the Bolt after all. They pearl out without Percy's mother. Ares comes to fight.

Oh also there's snippets of Percy and his mom from the past. We also get a first glimpse at Poseidon.

I really liked this episode. It's always cool how differently various media depict Hades (the place. I like to think they're all correct at the same time. Hades (the god) was pretty cool too. Simultaneously can't wait for the next episode and bummed that it'll be the end of the first season.

[sonicunleash]

Outside of me gushing about cosmo though i think itd be fun to lay out all my sonic x opinions now. boom:

I think its quality verrrry much has like. a very steep rise and fall. I think season 1 is pretty consistently fun and alright-- the stakes are lower and silly but people can enjoy that kind of thing. and they also have a lot of fun with the POTENTIAL of the silliness to-- i.e. the baseball episode. also it helps that like. its a plot not based on any particular games, and its built WITH its human cast-- not around it. Like the humans are fun and enjoyable because theyre meant to be there. And i think that's why season 2 is just.... a mess.

Because while i enjoyed the sa2 arc (and i really think the new speech that chris gives hits a bit harder than the og. even if it should've been amy giving it), they rush the SHIT out of the sa1 arc (and kinda sa2), and they try to push their human characters into narratives that WEREN'T built for them. and while for some this works (mr.stewart, cause hes an agent and investigates g.u.n.), for most, it really, really doesn't.

they try to fit chris into unchanged sonic adventure plots and it just DOESNT work. because you want to include your main human character in the main plot, but you don't want to take away any characterization or fan favorite moments from the actual sonic characters. so the solution ends up being chris tagging alone for no discernable purpose, and often times being what causes things to go wrong. It definitely goes worse in the sa1 arc than 2, but the issue still stands and then there's after the adventure arcs. the sonic battle arc was GOOD but outside of that? the writing kind of.... it feels like im watching a fish dying out of water. they had to fit in sa1, sa2, and battle, but because there isn't a season-long overarching plot, when thats over, theyre at a loss on how to fill the space, and match the new tone and stakes they set with those other arcs.

and then there's the whole ending plot of season 2 that relies on chris completely redoing a revelation that he already HAD, and actually goes backwards as a character. and i think this is where chris gets the worst. because he is now just actively getting in the protagonists way of actually MOVING ON to an INTERESTING plotline and youre just watching like please man can you let sonic go.

ANYWAYS i think ive seen people make fun of or dislike season 3 for its edginess but to me it is. by far the best. They set the stakes well, get serious, and get you engaged right off the bat. chris is there still but he actually takes a backseat to whats going on. they add a new character but they give her ATTENTION and its GOOD attention and great writing and she is very deeply woven into the story. And they just keep it up throughout the whole season-- like yeah ofc some episodes are gonna be a bit of a bore but for the whole season, i was engaged.

like theres real stakes going on, villains who i find believably dangerous and a threat to sonic, with interesting goals and motives. None of the plot feels like its forcing itself to exist, like it does in season 2. It's clear the writers got the clear to write their own original plot again for the whole season and they had so much fun with it.

and the characterization... oughghggh it was good (well, with the exception of rouge. they made her so MEAN that season and shes the only one with scenes that i actually violently disagree with. Her character goes up towards the end but it never shouldve gone down that far to begin with). while unfortunately sonics character is still kinda stagnant throughout the whole anime, even HE gets a few shining character moments (moments of self-sacrifice, mostly.) and SHADOW. god it makes me miss old shadow writing so bad. he's not perfect either but he's GOOD. he's still the shadow i know and love and i miss him. okay thats enough sonic x thoughts this is so long

[shadlad24]

More Funny Little Moments #1: Season 1, Episodes 1-12

So, I decided to do this post after all. Halp. LOL Because I apparently LOVE giving myself a bunch of unnecessary work, I decided to choose two to three extra moments, per episode! SUPER halp! X’D Anyway, these are moments that didn’t make the cut for my FFLM series because: my sense of humor is a little weird, they were gonna be too much work (LOL/Siiigh), I like to highlight patterns, and I don’t like a lot of repetition. [Links to each FFLM along the bottom of the post. :)]

Let’s start with something I originally agreed with other fans on but have since changed my mind. A lot of people didn’t like this part of “Chariots of War” because it seems so ludicrous that Xena would forget her chakram anywhere. Well, let me tell you! This lady has left her weapons behind most episodes thus far. I didn’t note it every time here (and especially didn’t bother with her whip) because that’d really overrun the post buuuuut… You’ll see. XD

1.01 Sins of the Past

Xena’s shift being so much dirtier than the little boy’s clothes though she’s high up off the ground, and he lives in smoked-out rubble.

Yup. Xena forgot her sword (and later, her main saddlebag) at her mother’s tavern. Pft.

Sorry these were kinda lame, but I didn’t want to re-use any more of the original fifteen points I made about this episode... Ah well. Moving on! (heh)

1.02 Chariots of War

Xena loses her sword after the chariot crash, taking up and discarding Sphaerus’s but walking off without her own. (See her front and back and both of Argo’s sides.)

Gabrielle chewing Xena out, Xena being bummed about it, and Argo being surprised. X’D

1.03 Dreamworker

This got me good. Gabrielle does Xena’s war cry so well here that I really thought it was Xena for a few seconds. Realizing it was GabbyWabs only made me chuckle more because she apparently can’t do it when it really counts in “The Greater Good.”

Argo NOT being on Team Gabrielle. XD (Their feud is a little funny to me.)

1.04 Cradle of Hope

Xena tossing aside her sword after killing Nemos. Extras even dance and celebrate right on top of it! Wut thuh?

I decided to avoid mentioning Hope in the FFLM because Xena’s quote here is more ironic than comedic, and Gabrielle’s little face is just so sad, but I didn’t want to let it pass by entirely unremarked upon. At least GW gets to show off her oracle skills again? :’)

1.05 The Path Not Taken

So, Xena and Gabrielle walk into a bar… Heh. No, but really, they enter this tavern for the first time ever, yet the bartender not only knows what they want, he knows that they’re coming and has their drinks waiting for them too. All Xena has to do is knock on the counter and nod to get her fire-breath alcohol/oil, and Gabrielle barely has the word “cider” out of her mouth before the guy hands it to her. Xena, like me, is duly amazed.

Lucy, through Xena, making another timely anti-peanut statement. I just didn’t want to do the same thing twice back-to-back in the FFLM. X)

1.06 The Reckoning

Gabrielle thinking along the same lines Xena and I did about this poor excuse for a judge.

Me not being well-versed in ancient Greek heroes and picturing the fool who Draco killed so handily in the first episode. heh

1.07 The Titans

I’ll let Xena explain this one. …Mostly. I can’t believe Gabrielle not only sassed the Titans such that she unashamedly put Xena and Phyleus in danger too, but also kinda got this (admittedly awful) town demolished and didn’t lift a finger to actually help anyone in the temple. Tsk tsk. XP

So… Hyperion here can smash homes and businesses that were probably well-built and reinforced and all, but he can’t get his hand out of a stocks-cuff that was made in a single evening with scraps from those destroyed buildings. He also, inexplicably, has no use of his left hand or the power-breath that he used to knock Gabrielle over. Okie. XD

1.08 Prometheus

Is this really a thing? I was giggling quite a bit in disbelief that severed windpipes can heal. Like, perforated is one thing; completely bisected? Yeah, I don’t think so.

Gabrielle being incredulous upon learning that Xena has other friends, realizing what the warrior princess means, and then wondering if that could be her one day. 

   1.09 Death in Chains

Gabrielle enjoying watching Xena kill someone for the first time, then quickly realizing that fact. Whoops.

I found this moment really odd and then kind of hilarious. This poor dying old woman begs for water and goes ignored not only by the hospice workers, but also Talus and Gabrielle. Then Talus decides to be helpful. Gabrielle goes to the woman and lets her talk a lot (undoubtedly drying her mouth and throat even more), hears that Xena might be in danger, and then just… leaves. Talus goes with her, not having gotten water from the well after all. What a couple of jerks! XD

1.10 Hooves & Harlots

I really don’t know why Gabrielle kept making this face as Terreis died, but it tickled my funny bone too. So, I provided alternate subs to go with it. [Did you notice how she kind of cringes when Terreis tries to hold her hand and then just lets the Amazon flop once she’s died, flinging her hand aside like, “Ew, get it off me!”? What was that all about? X”) Hm… maybe she has an aversion to dying people, and that’s why she abandoned the old lady last episode?]

Gabrielle being a smart aleck, just like me, because Phantes’s complaint here is so ludicrous. But then you see the close-up of little hoofies in cuffs too, and, if you’re anything like me too, kinda just topple over laughing. The poor actual horse they did this to, though, man! What even?

Gosh, this episode was chockfull of hilarity, eh? Why did this happen? Gabby, take it away!

1.11 The Black Wolf

I laughed at this too. But now I wonder. Is Xerxes related to Caesar and/or connected to Rome or something? Because Xena does this twice around them too. In “When in Rome,” she jokes that the two guards lost playing tag with her, and in “A Good Day” she informs Pompey that if there were more guards hiding around their meeting space, then she would have had more helmets. heh Oh, Xenie. I think I know why Gabrielle’s turning out to be such a little punk ...or vice versa? Is Gabrielle actually a bit of a bad influence on Xena? XP

So, this fight just struck me as really odd. Xena passes her sword to Flora though she (Xena) needs to battle the big boss of the episode, and… actually, is totally right. The king throws a single wide-ass punch, waits while Xena kicks the guy behind her a few times, lets himself get kicked in the face a couple of times, and then comes at her with a little piece of chain, presumably from the restraints that were intended to keep Flora in place during her execution. Sir, you have a sword! A giant sword, right there on your hip! What are you doing? Then, when Xena kicks him a final time and sends him flying, his (supposed-to-be) metal armor is no match for the splintered wood of the axe she broke earlier. …Okie. XD XD XD   *gif below*

Xena once again leaves her chakram somewhere. …And I am now imagining this being part of Gabrielle’s maid duties: the poor kid has to go find Xena’s weapons each night and bring them back to her. I’m especially imaging the fluffball hilariously, adorably struggling to get the chakram out of things like this wall, as she did with Xena’s sword in the tree stump in “Dreamworker,” but more parallel to the floor. Cuuuute! XD

This plus this 

*pic + GIF below*:

1.12 Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

This scene too really made me wonder, though amused as well. Why is Gabrielle so surprised that the only city nearby, that they were headed to, is the one they find? Is she really being that loud? Is Xena goofing around with the bootlaces question? Why startle Gabrielle and then yank her into enemy territory screaming, when what you want is quiet? What’s with the trapdoor-spider soldiers? Xena’s pose throwing the chakram. XD Gabrielle mostly featherlight dance-y moves through the battlefield. XD XD XD Why is it that when Xena tells Gabrielle to stick right behind her, Gabrielle disappears? And what was with the bucket-sitting soldier? Gabrielle is like, “Oh; no, thank you!” when she sees him and turns tail. Then Xena ...follows her. “We’re goin’ this way! Now we’re goin’ that way!” But they still end up dead-ahead from where they burst out of the bushes. XD That was ridiculous and nonsensical, and I’m very confused but had lots of fun. heheheh  *gif below* [ETA: Darn! The original file was too big, so I had to remake the GIF and cut quite a few things out. :( Sorry]

Xena’s outta-nowhere crusade to emasculate Deiphobus coming full-circle. What was that all about?

Welp, I hope you had as much fun as I originally and then later did. Not so much in the middle with the collage-and-GIF-making and editing and redoing, but; y’know. XD Wouldn’t trade it for …Hm… Nevermind. LOL

If you missed any of the FFLMs, then please click on the corresponding number-links below. :D

#1  #2  #3  #4  #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12

[angelhummel]

Redoing my personal ranking of the six seasons, just for me ♡ ♡

6) Season Six - This is still last, big surprise. There are plenty of moments I enjoy, I love all the newbies, there’s some good songs. But the highs of the season are some of the lowest highs I could imagine. My requirement for “liking” an episode this season is just so long as it didn’t make me feel like dying for 42 minutes straight, it was a decent episode. There’s so much happening and yet nothing happening. It feels rushed and like it’s dragging at the same time. It’s just not what I want for a final season and it never will be :)

5) Season Three - The lows of this season are right down there with s6 for me. And there are way more lows than there are highs. Every one of my favorite characters goes through the ringer and for nothing, while the ones putting them there get absolutely no consequences. So many episodes are hard to watch and just not enjoyable for me. But Dance With Somebody is one of my absolute favorite episodes of all time, plus there’s the Christmas special, and lots of good music. So it’s not a total waste 

4) Season Four - This might be in the lower half but it’s still miles above the previous two. There are tons of fun episodes this season, but nothing much verging into “Iconic” territory for me, which is what keeps it down lower. Wonderful is the best episode of the season, and the only top tier one for me. But there are lots more enjoyable ones. But there are some shit episodes, some boring ones, and a lot of “meh” ones in the middle. And while there are still plenty of songs and performances I enjoy, this is really when the music started to get super heavy on Top 40 and mainstream music for iTunes sales and it shows.

3) Season Two - I think this season is overrated. It’s far from the worst but it’s not the best either. Tina and Mercedes had nothing to do and I don’t like that. The hets were absolutely bonkers, with so much cheating and lying and love hexagons. There are so many eps that are weird or bad or hard to watch. And even the episodes I like, there’s still at least two or three scenes I could skip every time. Yes I love Klaine, yes I love Sam, but this season is still so messy. Also I hope you think it’s funny that Lauren is fat and Tike are Asian bc that’s like a quarter of all the jokes that season lmao (:

2) Season Five - I know I’m in the minority here but who cares I love this season. It’s also messy but I think the highs here are better than the highs of s2. I love the cuckoo bananas episodes near the beginning. I love the stuff in NY in the back half. Honestly the only place it dips for me is right in the middle with City of Angels, 100, & New Directions. Those episodes drag for me and I don’t want them. But even the other “bad” ones at least have me laughing my ass off, so I’m almost always having a fun time

1) Season One - This one takes the cake for me. I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed it the last time I watched it all the way through. I crammed all 22 episodes into two days and I only felt like I was struggling to get through a couple of episodes. It has the most episodes in my top 10, and at least half the season would probably be in my top 40 episodes. There are a couple I dislike, a couple that are boring, and of course there are always the same problems that arise with any season of Glee. But it’s the easiest season to get through, and it’s probably the most tonally cohesive, and it’s just a fun time over all. Of course everyone has different opinions but I think this is just a killer season from start to finish

[travllingbunny]

Clarke Griffin’s memories and images in her mindspace

 In this post I will list all the drawings from Clarke's mindspace seen in season 6 of The 100 (in episodes 6x06, 6x07 and 6x10) that we have been able to spot - most of which (over 90 of them! Yes, this is gonna be a long post) we've been able to identify, with image comparisons to scenes from the show. 

First, credit where credit is due: this idea first came from @ofnailbatsandaxefives who identified many of the drawings and made a bunch of side to side comparisons last year after 6x07 aired in this post. 

I later tried to identify the rest of the drawings, with the help of a few people here and on Twitter (rewatching the show also helped), but this resulted in an endless number of reblogs. Episode 6x10 Matryoshka also had more drawings that weren't in 6x07 Nevermind, some images were misindentified, and I decided to redo all the images with better resolution screencaps. 

Big thanks to everyone who helped in identifying some of the trickier images (many of them are on Twitter and I don’t know if they have Tumblr profiles), especially (Twitter handles) SheiGarche (who identified several of these and corrected some of my mistakes), Lovestory813, BellarkeMood, taunadora, becki_travels, fabiana_vec, indreamswake, KindZouzou and my Tumblr mutual @jeanie205​ (I’m sorry if I forgot anyone).

See also my earlier post about Sets, props and costumes in 6x07 Nevermind.

As a BONUS in addition to the images on Clarke’s memory wall, I’ll also go over audio flashbacks heard at the end of 6x06, in 6x07 and 6x10 -  as a mix of voices representing Clarke’s jumbled memories. Many of them can be heard and identified in the episodes, but special thanks to (Twitter user) klarksbell for removing the background sounds from the scenes so some of the background voices could be heard clearer. 

(In a follow-up post. I’ll go over Clarke's drawings from her Shallow Valley home in season 5, which we also saw in the mindspace version of her Shallow Valley home in her happy place; and those we saw in season 5, many of which overlap as the set was re-used for 6x07. I’ve also noticed that the art department used many of these drawings for the drawings representing Clarke’s memories on her mindspace wall.)

Before I start listing the moments from Clarke’s memory wall - her mindspace version of the actual cell in Skybox she used to be locked in on the Ark - let’s compare the two different versions of this wall. The first one was seen in the very last scene of 6x06 Memento Mori - where we first learned Clarke was still alive (yeah, yeah, of course no one really bought it that she was dead ;) but it was still such a Hell yeah moment) and in 6x07 Nevermind.

But when we saw Clarke in her mindspace again in 6x10 Matryoshka, the walls were different: there were at least 3 new images that weren’t seen in 6x07, and many other images were moved around and placed in different ways. Which does make sense, as Clarke’s mindspace was reacting to her states of mind, so we should probably assume it was always changing, with different memories being more or less prominent at any given time. 

And finally here are the identified images with side-by-side comparisons. Some were obvious and taken straight from the scenes (I've been told there's a software for that), others are a bit less straightforward (and several of them were also seen as Clarke's drawings in season 5).

I'm going to do them chronologically, not by episode but by when those things happened in Clarke's life. 

Starting with the image of Clarke and Wells as children on the Ark (confirmed by Jason Rothenberg on Twitter). The closest thing in the show is the video of them Jaha watched in 1x12.

The next one was tricky as it's not a scene from the show either. It was first misidentified as Clarke watching what ALIE showed her in 3x16, nuclear plants melting on Earth, but that scene is shown in another drawing. It shows a young girl watching the Earth from the Ark.  We've decided that this is young Clarke on the Ark. I used the Octavia flashback scene from 1x06 for comparison to show this is a window on the Ark and a view from there (not because it's the same scene - which it can't be,as this wouldn’t be Clarke’s memory). But the girl looks younger and is touching the window as if yearning for Earth.

Flashbacks in 1x03, a year before the Pilot: Abby and Jake during the happy times; Jake when Clarke overheard him tell Abby that Ark was dying and he'd go public with it; Wells when Clarke told him about it.

1x01 - there are more images from the Pilot than from any other episode.

The first scene of the show - the image on the floor in the mindspace version of Clarke's cell in Skybox is the same image she drew on the floor of her actual cell.

This portrait of Abby seems to represent the next scene where Abby told Clarke she was being sent to Earth. When the camera zoomed on it in 6x06, we heard the dialogue from that scene over it ("Clarke, I love you so much!" -  "Mom?")

When the camera zoomed on this pic of Wells on the dropship in 6x07, we heard Wells' voice saying "Welcome back" as he did in that scene. 

I've been told that the inscription from the Ark we see below is a Chinese proverb that means, more or less, "A friend in need is a friend indeed".

"We're back bitches!" twice - the second is from Clarke's POV. The first one was one of the drawings Josephine touched and we (and Josephine) heard an audio flashback of it and this, uh, memorable line. 

Mount Weather - the first time Clarke saw it, after landing. 

 I spot the same image among Clarke's drawings we saw in her Shallow Valley home in season 5, though it was really tiny in the background.

More scenes from the Pilot:

1x03

It's a pity that the plan to have Eli Goree guest star in 6x07 didn't work out, but at least we had many Wells images and even in the voice memories - I clearly heard Clarke telling him "How can you forgive me?"/"I blamed you because my father's dead and it's my mother's fault."

1x04 Finn with one of the pencils from the shelter he found, trying to impress Clarke. 

1x05 Brief time of Clarke being happy and infatuated, right before Raven arrived and her heart got broken for the first time.

There was a bit of disagreement about this Bellamy image (or images). It shows up as a part of the drawing of him torturing Lincoln in the scene from 1x07 on one of the walls, but it also appears on its own on the ceiling:

@SheiGarche believes that, since this appears as a part of the Lincoln torture scene, the Bellamy image must be from that episode. However, while the rest of the scene 100% matches the 1x07 scene, Bellamy's image doesn't match - in posture or expression - anything from that episode.   On the other hand, especially when you look at the Bellamy image on its own, as it is on the ceiling, it looks most like a drawing based on the scene from 1x02 - "I heard you have a gun''...

I think that the ceiling drawing represents season 1 Bellamy in general, and was drawn based on the 1x02 scene. OTOH, the art department made the 1x07 image from the 1x07 scene but couldn't get a good Bellamy angle so they edited in that same Bellamy image in. You decide.

https://youtu.be/Cj37TWjBwvE?t=59

A Raven portrait, which is probably not about any particular scene (some images just represent certain characters), but it most closely matches this love-triangle moment from 1x08. 

The same portrait was seen as one of Clarke's drawings in season 5.

1x09 - negotiations with Anya and the Grounders on the bridge. Also the first time Clarke has ever seen horses in real life.

1x13 

Probably some of the Grounder warriors who got burned in the Ring of Fire, but this scene clearly indicated that Clarke was thinking about closing the door on Finn and Bellamy and that they may have been burned.

2x01

This image gave us so much trouble, until it turned out it was just a random woman from Mount Weather who yelled "CONTAINMENT BREACH!" when Clarke entered the mess hall dragging Maya and saw all the people sitting there.

Another one of character portraits that are probably not important for any particular scene or moment. But going by Miller's hair and facial hair, it can only be season 2 Miller at the time he and Clarke were both in MW (this is from 2x02).

Ending of 2x02:

2x03 - Escape from Mount Weather

2x04 Anya after Clarke beat the crap out of her and managed to win their fight. "You fought well".

Now a few more character portraits. This image of Raven with a brace doesn't 100% fit a scene from the show, but it looks a lot like this promo pic of her - except for her red jacket, which she wore in 2x05 when Clarke first saw her with a leg brace.

Since Jaha has a beard and hair, it can only be from season 2 or 3, which limits it to 2x07 or 3x16, the only times he and Clarke were in the same place. I used 2x07 image of non-chipped Jaha, when he came to Camp him and argued for Arkers leaving, pitting him against Clarke,as this would’ve meant abandoning her friends to their fate in MW.

Portrait of Indra - also probably not about any particular scene, but it looks like their first meeting in 2x07. It was also among Clarke's drawings in season 5.

2x08  This image is one of the few that were not seen on the memory wall in 6x07, but appeared in 6x10.  Maybe it's because the ALIE projection said in 6x07 her most painful memories were not on the wall - and the scene of Clarke killing Finn was only seen represented in her dark place by the pole and knife. Maybe she was able to process some of those memories better by 6x10?

2x09 Raven holding Finn’s dead body

This profile of Lexa is probably not from any particular scene, but a general image of the warrior leader/ally Lexa from S2. I used the scene of her making a speech in 2x15, but there were scenes in 2x09 (like when she told Clarke that Love is weakness) that looked similar.

2x10 Well, an attack by giant mutant gorilla would be pretty memorable to anyone.

2x11 I previously thought this image of people in radiation suits (also seen among Clarke's drawings in S5) was from 4x12/13, but looking more closely, now I think these are Mount Weather Ground unit guards - specifically, are Emerson and the other Mountain Man who tried to assassinate Clarke in 2x11. The outfits, helmets, guns are the closest match.

2x12 Clarke's guilt over letting the MW missile drop on the people in Tondc was referenced not just in 6x07 when her projection of Octavia called her out on writing her off there, but also in 6x10: 

Josephine: I wasn't always like this. 

Clarke: I know the feeling. I mean, look around you.

*Josephine looks at this big image on the wall*

2x15 - breaching the Mount Weather door

I'm about 95% sure that this picture of Lexa is her betrayal in 2x15.

2x16:

 "Together" - "Together"

3x01 The most important character in the show! LOL

...seriously though, this little bunny (? who looks more like a squirrel in the drawing?) that Clarke used as a bait to catch a panther, stands for the 3 months Clarke spent in wilderness.

The only image of Niylah on the wall. It's the scene when she lied to protect Clarke when Roan and a bounty hunter came looking for her.

Another character portrait not related to a specific scene, and another one that was seen as one of Clarke's drawings hanging in her Shallow Valley home in S5. Going by the hair and beard, it's seasons 3-4 Kane, so I used the scene of his and Abby's meeting with Clarke in 3x03.

3x04

3x07 - there are 3 images of Lexa from this episode

Lexa smiling during the talk in which she asked Clarke to stay - this is the most prominent of the images of Lexa (one of the images that appear multiple times on the wall + had a flashback). Seems these softer moments are larger in Clarke's mind than warrior/leader Lexa.

The second most prominent image of Lexa (one of the pictures the camera zoomed in on in 6x06, when we also heard the dialogue among the audio memories - "Can we talk about something else?" - "We don't have to talk at all").

and Lexa right after she was shot by Titus.

3x11 What turned out to be the most important of all Clarke's memories, as it contained info on the neural mesh and how Raven was freed from ALIE and that Clarke has to remove from the wall and hide from Josephine.

3x13  Luna, refusing the Flame

3x15 When Clarke didn't break and give ALIE the password and it almost cost her her mother's life. This drawing was previously misidentified as Murphy being hanged in S1 - some thought there were two hanging scenes, but there's just one and it's clearly indoors.

3x16 - there are several scenes from the City of Light. Including the image of the COL itself. You can see even see the tiny figures of Lexa and the people she's fighting.

What ALIE showed Clarke: the Earth, full of nuclear plants melting, telling her about the upcoming Praimfaya.

Clarke pulling the kill switch and destroying COL

One of the first things Clarke saw after returning from the City of Light was Murphy is one of his most heroic moments - pumping Ontari's heart so Clarke could take the Flame.

4x01 

 This one seems a bit random: it's a moment when Indra came and hugged Kane while Octavia, Clarke, Bellamy and Abby were already there in the Grounder shrine - but I think it's important as the scene when they all discussed what to do in the situation and Clarke told them all about Praimfaya.

Roan, after agreeing to an alliance because of Praimfaya, giving a public speech in Polis to say that 'an attack against the 13th clan is an attack on all of us'.

The drawing of Arkadia is another one that was hanging in Clarke's Shallow Valley home in season 5 - and was also seen in the mindspace version of that home in 6x07. I used a scene from 4x03.

4x04 There are 3 scenes from this episode, and all of them have to do with Jasper. The first two are two of Jasper's pranks: "floating" Jaha, and the prank Jasper pulled on Clarke. But the mood of the latter got ruined because he had already found the List before Clarke came in. (Josephine touched this drawing briefly in 6x07 and we heard the audio flashback: (Monty: "Clarke, wait..." - Clarke: "Really?" )

And what happened right after, in the same scene, when Jasper started telling everyone present about the List. (Jasper's angry comments can also be heard clearly among the mix of voices at the beginning of 6x07 - more about that later)

The portrait of Emori is probably from 4x07, when they had their first major interaction. It was also one of Clarke's drawings that could be glimpsed in the background in S5.

Skip the next one if you don't want to see an image of a person dying a gruesome and painful death in a radiation chamber.

4x08 The unfortunate Grounder thief from the Rock Line clan whose name we never learned, at the moment of his death.

4x10  Octavia in the Conclave - more of a symbolic representation (with the sigils around her). This was a very prominent drawing in Clarke's sketchbook that we saw a couple of times in season 5. 

4x11 Another one of the 3 images that weren't seen in 6x07 but were in the second version of the memory wall, in 6x10 - Clarke pointing a gun at Bellamy to stop him from opening the bunker door, before she broke down and cried. The drawing even shows Clarke’s hand with a gun.

4x12 the rocket in Becca's lab

4x13  Clarke being left behind in Praimfaya and watching her friends leave while she was aligning the satellite dish so they could get to the Ring and survive. 

This was also another prominent drawing from Clarke's sketchbook we saw in season 5.

There's another scene from 4x13, but that one happens 6 years later, so I'll come back to it later...

5x01 Post-Praimfaya

Polis was Clarke's destination after she left Becca's lab - trying and failing to open the door of the bunker after the temple had collapsed on it. Then realizing she'll be alone for at least 5 years.

Then she went to Arkadia, where she only found "ghosts" - the chest with Maya's music player, Jasper's goggles and his letter to Monty (as we saw in the flashback in Clarke's "dark place", where the chest played an important role).

The bird that kind of tried to eat Clarke (?), showed Clarke where Eden was, and then got thanked, shot and eaten by Clarke.

Shallow Valley

This image is both a memory of 6 year old Madi (not the moment they met, but when Clarke was drawing her while she was fishing), of Clarke drawing her and of the drawing she made and gave Madi to make friends with her.

Madi and Clarke, but some 6 years later.  This image was prominent of at the beginning of 6x07 when we saw a flashback of it when Clarke touched it ("I'm sorry they left without you" - "If I was with them, I never would've met you").

4x13 - 2199 days after Praimfaya: Gagarin transport ship, the moment when Clarke saw it clearly and realized it wasn't the ship she was hoping for ("Never mind, I see you"), but one to be afraid of.

5x03 - Makes snse that images of Diyoza, Shaw and McCreary are all from the episode where they captured and tortured Clarke.

5x04 

Bellamy reuniting with Clarke. 

Coming out of the bunker. 

 5x06  - Madi watching Octavia practice. 

5x09 - There were quite a few changes between the memory wall in 6x07 and 6x10, and the most obvious one was seen right after Clarke woke up in her mindspace - the big image of Bellamy when Octavia arrested him and right before Clarke left him at her mercy in Polis.

5x12 - This is one of the rare drawings that doesn’t fully represent a memory correctly as Clarke saw it. But it makes sense to me that Clarke remembers it this way - seeing Madi in pain when she zapped the shock collar to stop her from leaving and going to war. But in fact, the screenshot shows Madi shocked that Clarke put a shock collar on her. Clarke closed her eyes and had her back turned to Madi, because she couldn’t watch it when she actually zapped the shock collar,  and only heard her scream.

This was another drawing Josephine touched and had a flashback of (we  heard Madi screaming and Clarke saying “I won’t let you die in this war”), commenting "Child abuse dressed up as protection!"

5x13 - Clarke pulling the lever to close the door of the Gagarin ship, after waiting until the last moment for Bellamy to come in, closing the door after Bellamy, Monty, Emori and Murphy were inside and the missiles were already hitting the Earth.

One last image. It's clearly Madi, and with the horizontal placement of the drawing, I thought it was Clarke putting Madi in cryo. But it turns out the same image - only vertical - was one of her drawings she had in Shallow Valley in season 5... so, I don't know.

There are other images that we couldn't link to anything specific or weren't sure. Mostly locations, objects and nature images.   1) A forest? 2) Waterfall/rocky shore? 3) Rubble?) 

If anyone identifies any of them or notice other images or anything else, I’ll be editing and reblogging this post.

BONUS - audio memories

ending scene of 6x06

Lines I can hear:

over the image of Abby: Abby and Clarke in 1x01: "Clarke, I love you so much!" - "Mom?" 

 "I'm scared"? - this line can be heard clearly but I don’t know who it is. It sounds like a child, but I don’t thin Madi or Charlotte ever said it.

Finn in 1x01 when they see the deer: "No animals, eh?"

Madi in 5x11: "I love you, Clarke" (the entire line was “...but we’re on the wrong side of this war”

Clarke to Wells in 1x03, after learning the truth: "How can you forgive me?"

Madi to Clarke in 5x01, during the scene by the fire: "I'm sorry they left without you."

Bellamy trying to convince Clarke not to leave in 2x16 “You don’t have to do this alone”.

Clarke to Madi in 5x12, as she puts a shock collar on her: "I will not let you die in this war!" 

over the image of Lexa in bed with Clarke - Lexa and Clarke in 3x07: "Can we talk about something else?” - We don't have to talk at all." 

over the image of Bellamy: Bellamy to Lincoln in 1x07: "You're gonna give us the antidote or you're gonna wish you had". Other lines whispered in the background:

Bellamy in 2x16: "(If you want forgiveness) I'll give that to you" 

Bellamy during his reunion with Clarke in 5x04: "Clarke, you saved us all."

 "This is how we get to peace" (sounds like Bellamy but Clarke was the one who actually said it in 5x08)

Bellamy in 1x07: "Who we are and who we have to be to survive are two different things."

opening scene of 6x07

Clarke to Wells in 1x03: “I blamed you because my father’s dead and it’s my mother’s fault” (heard while Clarke is looking at the wall with the image of her parents, among others)

 (over the image of Wells) Bellamy: “Who else knows about this?” (in 1x04, when Clarke realized one of the Delinquents had killed Wells)

(also over the image of Wells) Wells: “Welcome back!” (1x01)

 (over the image of Roan & Lexa fighting in 3x04: “It’s always something with you!” – Roan to Clarke in 4x01 

we also hear Lexa’s and Roan’s grunts during their fight

(over the two images of Madi) Madi (5x11): “I love you, Clarke” 

Madi screaming when Clarke zaps the shock collar in 5x12

Two angry lines by Jasper are overlapping as the camera slides from Lexa to Bellamy:  

as we see Lexa in focus: “Truth hurts” - Jasper in 3x11, after ALIE!Raven blamed her for the deaths of Jake, Wells, Finn & Lexa

 as we see Bellamy in focus: “I found your list. I guess we know who really matters to you” (Jasper in 4x04)

Madi in 5x12: “I’m not a child anymore, Clarke. I’m the Commander, and my people are dying”

(ETA) Jasper yelling “We are Apogee!” and Clarke, Octavia, Monty and Finn yelling happily with him, just before he gets speared in the Pilot

Clarke in 3x11: “I let her get to me.”

the flashback to Madi and Clarke by the fire in 5x01 “I’m sorry they left without you” - “If I was with them, I never would have met you” 

more of Jasper’s ranting in 3x11: “I was going to save everyone!” (talking about his plans in 2x16 to kill Cage)

flashback to the Pilot, as we see the drawing on the floor: “Prisoner 319, face the wall!”  Some of the lower volume lines in the background, which can only be identified after the background noise was removed:

Bellamy to Clarke in 3x11, after ALIE!Raven had made her lost it: “I’ll let her beat me up for a while.” 

ALIE-controlled Raven yelling “Let me go!” in 3x11, when she’s trying to find out the location and help ALIE, and everyone grabs her and subdues her

Octavia in 2x16: “I know where my loyalties lie!” 

Bellamy in 5x09, when he brought Madi to see Clarke in her cell: “Clarke, this isn’t goodbye”.

I also hear someone yelling "Octavia!", and mentions of Jasper’s and Jaha’s names.

Josephine and Clarke  in 6x07 

Josephine touching images and we hear flashbacks of scenes from 1x01 (”We’re back, bitches!), 5x12 (Madi screaming when Clarke puts a shock collar and Clarke saying “I won’t let you die in this war”) and 4x04 (”Clarke, wait...” - “Really?” when Clarke got covered in foam as Jasper pranked her). There are many other whispered lines I don't recognize.

In 6x10, however, everything was mixed up -  Clarke's and Josephine's memories were all mashed up, because the boundaries between their minds were disappearing - so it’s pretty much impossible to make out anything. But Clarke’s memories are probably the same mix as in 6x07, because I can still hear Wells saying "Welcome back". 

If anyone notices something I did not, please tell - I will edit this post with any new info!

[sheinthatfandom]

So I haven’t seen all of season 2 yet I’m only like the first 30 seconds of #7 I believe it’s eye for an eye idk I’m on a treadmill when I’m watching it and it’s hard to read anyway I have thoughts... surprising I know!!!

Hopefully the read more works on mobile but I’m tagging in case

[[MORE]]

Vanya: holy shit they really got me liking Vanya now good fucking job!!! She’s likeable relatable I fucking feel for her and don’t wanna fast forward her sections... I still do but it’s due to anxiety of her affair getting found out and as soon as I see that doesn’t happen I actually rewind to see her scenes so good fucking job everyone. Though the ending of the episode I just saw yeeesh.... shit gonna go bad. Also I’d bet money her giving breath of life to Harlan is going to be really fucking important idk if it’s end of the world important but I can see it being important to season 3 or being important by the end of the season somehow. I mean it’s vanya... this gotta go back to her somehow.

Luther: he went from worst to.... well not worst. Someone else I feel a lot for from his feelings about his father and holy shit seeing this man who idolized his father just get ripped apart was rough. Then his obsession with Allison just... again I’m really believing she rumores him into loving her cause so far her two husbands have been honest about shit and willing to walk away from her yet Luther can’t. In s1 when she’s driving in the car thinking of all the times she rumored someone and one was her rumoring someone into loving her. I really hope we find out this season if it’s Luther.

Allison: I like her this season. That’s shocking I know but I do. I think having her away from Luther and Diego helps and also not being around vanya and kinda acting all I’m seconds older and know more than you thing. I did not like the diner scene with her husband only cause I got a bad feeling all those witnesses are going to cause trouble now. Never leave witnesses I mean come on your husband was arrested for you punching out some asshole what do you think 30 racist eye witnesses to you having magic is gonna do?

Klaus:used to be my favorite but this season not really. Idk if it’s the cult thing but I’m not into it. The thing with David is.... God it’s so hard to watch. I wish he would just talk things out with Ben and then he could do shit the right way! Instead of causing David to sign up for the army over a week early. What if now David never meets Klaus? Here’s hoping #5 pulls a s1 and we get a redo of shit before this ends and Klaus can like not get David to sign up early.

Ben: Ben needs more lines and I really hope he doesn’t pull a Klaus with terrible ideas and uses his brothers body to get close to the girl he likes just.... no. Please Ben you give such good advice to Klaus don’t be the type of person who can’t take their own advice. I do appreciate that episode one finally shows him kicking ass and I hope to see more of that without everyone dying. And I wish he coulda said more to his father, also I wanna know how the mf died like yoo give a bitch a clue!

Diego: now the worst. From one of the first to the worst just wow. I appreciate his story and I appreciate the consistency to him having a hero complex and just being a fuck up. But if Doctor Who taught me anything it’s that you do not fuck with the timeline and he is actively trying to destroy it. For what I’ll never understand. In episode 1 it did say on a newspaper that it was the president declaring war so.... I’m guessing he’s the reason for this apocalypse. And wow if anything will destroy your heroic self perception faster is realizing you ended the world. Or he’ll cling to it even harder and be over bearing. I will say seeing him stutter broke me. Regnald was right but his future self is the cause of Diego’s and all the siblings mental and emotional problems and that needs to be remembered.

#5: the best wow just wow he is a joy and a delight and omg he’s a killer I mean I knew that but.... holy fuck did you SEE that!!!! First the donut shop and now this like FUUUUUUCCCKKK!!! So good!!!! I wish he would talk to his family about his plans and about the Commission but in all honesty no one ever listens to him. Except vanya but without her memory I’m not sure if she’ll be much help. I don’t like him working with the handler but I get why

Side characters

The handler: still love to hate her don’t trust her but the woman has got style the only thing that Ickes me out is that she kinda seems like she’s flirting with 5 and that’s a child’s body so eww no

Grace: She’s real??? I though she was from Reginald’s home planet or something I mean didn’t she die in bed or something in s1 and there were missiles and lights and stuff idk ohhh unless that was on earth this earth ooohhhh

Pogo: move over baby yoda I need baby pogo merch!!!!

Raymond: ya’ll better not kill this man I love him I hope he doesn’t end up fearing Allison but I need him to live

Sissy: the same

Carl: kill the fucker

The swedes: I love them I get they have to die and I certainly don’t want them to win but fuck they are enjoyable! Sad the milkman is gone but I liked his funeral music.

Lila: now this is where imma get some shit but I do not like her. I didn’t like her from the group therapy and the few times I started to like her I went right back to not liking her. Now that I know she’s the adopted daughter of the handler Nope Nope time to go.

Reginald: still hate him for what he’s GOING to do to the kids but man that scene with 5... how tf do ya’ll humanize such a monster??? Good job writers. And seeing him with grace and pogo he seems likeable but... I can’t forget what he put them through especially when the abuse is so evident in their adult selves.

And I think that’s it let’s see what the upcoming episodes show

[hellyeahomeland]

[Assuming I can count right, this is the tenth and last debrief. Thank you to everyone who participated. These questions are harder than they seem! See you all on the other side. --Sara]

Name: Sara (@carriemathison)

Answered on: various days over the last two weeks 

1. What is your idea of a perfect Homeland ending? 

It needs to feel right. I need to look back and think, “yeah, that was right.” What is “right” though?… I mean, I have no idea. I’ll know it when I see it and I’ll know when I don’t see it. How’s this for not answering a question? 

2. Which Homeland character do you most identify with? 

This is a tricky question because I don’t really relate to any character on this show. Their lives and circumstances are all so extreme. That said, I’ve spent the better part of a decade thinking about and trying to understand Carrie Mathison in all her maddening complexity, so at this point I do identify with her. 

3. What has your experience as a fan of the show been like? 

A rollercoaster, start to finish. This fandom has gone through so many iterations. It’s evolved in much the same way that the show has. I could never in 400 gagillion years imagined that after seven years we’d have amassed over 22,000 posts, five seasons’ worth of podcasts, and so many friends from all over the world. It’s been a ride. We really did have a time. 

4. What is a moment on Homeland that made you sit up out of your seat in awe or shock? 

There have been quite a few over the years. These stand out most vividly in my memory. 

Carrie going New Car Smell on Brody’s ass in “New Car Smell.” I have vivid, vivid memories of watching that in my apartment in college. This was before the days of the blog and the only place I had to discuss this show was TWoP. 

Brody dying. I remember watching that episode at my desk, in that same college apartment, and having an actual physical reaction to him being hanged. I think I started to shake. That hasn’t happened before or since. 

Strangely, the end of “Long Time Coming” really caught me by surprise. I felt that ending was actually kind of cliffhanger-y, because when the screen cut to black amid that familiar jazz music I think I stood up and screamed. It might also have been a delayed reaction to The Kiss, which was legitimately shocking at the time.

5. If you could have the writers redo one storytelling decision, what would it be and why? 

The popular answer seems to be that they should have killed Quinn in season five, which is correct. But let’s just assume they’ve already done that since we all agree they should have. 

I’m going to go with a left-field answer and say that I want a redo of the storyline with Carrie’s mother. In two straight season finales (“The Choice” and “The Star”) there are allusions to Carrie’s mother and to Carrie feeling abandoned. They set up all the right pieces in season four, a season that is largely centered around Carrie coming to terms with being a mother herself, with being a mother to this child she kept for a number of reasons that felt more and more tragic (and ill-advised) each day. 

Instead of focusing on the resolution of Carrie’s own anger and resentment toward Ellen Mathison in light of Carrie finally understanding what it means to abandon a child, they decided to make it about Carrie’s secret half-brother, her mother’s series of affairs, and the revelation that Ellen didn’t leave Frank because he was bipolar. The last, by the way, is important, but it’s framed in such a way as to provide context to her initial rejection of Quinn post-The Kiss (“I’ll just fuck it up”), and it all adds up to a jumbled, overwrought mess. We all deserved better. That scene is I think the only time while watching this show that I thought, wow Claire seems to be really struggling with this. 

6. If you could be a Homeland character, which one would you like to be?

I would like to be Carrie for... let’s say a month. It would be supremely painful and dramatic, but imagine being that fucking awesome? That smart and powerful and fearless? 

7. What is your favorite episode of Homeland? 

“Marine One” and that’s been my answer for over seven years. I think it’s my favorite episode of television ever. Beyond it spawning twin years-long sartorial obsessions, I think it is really a masterpiece. I love the structure of the episode. It starts off very quietly. Brody’s tape is haunting and then the scene where Saul visits Carrie is disgustingly heartbreaking (“But Saul…” … I will never get over that). Then it ramps up into this anxiety-filled clusterfuck. Carrie realizing what’s happening but no one will listen (yes, I know all the words in that phone call scene, what about it?) except Dana. That’s irony. The Carrie and Brody cat/mouse game continuing outside the police station, Brody just digging and digging even after Carrie cries uncle. Carrie remembering who Issa is right before they erase her memory. These are all sentence fragments because I’m bad at articulating my feelings about this episode. Except that I can basically only ever watch it on an airplane because I have nowhere else to go. I build up some episodes of this show in my head, remembering them as better than they actually are. This is one of the few that is just as good. Legendary, iconic, will never be topped.

8. What is your least favorite episode of Homeland?

There are some episodes of this show that are boring and nothing to write home about (or blog about, for that matter). Other episodes have gotten a reputation over the years as being some of the show’s worst (“Broken Hearts,” “Tower of David,” “America First” -- all of which are better than you remember). I can deal with all of those episodes well enough. In fact I’ve been quite shocked at all the “Tower of David” slander in these responses over the last few months, but now is not the time for me to defend “Tower of David.” 

In keeping with this blog’s motto for the last seven years, I’m gonna go rogue on this one and say that I absolutely hate the double whammy of “Why Is This Night Different?” and “Better Call Saul.” Those episodes suck. In all our years of podcasting, the only episode that I have outright refused to do a podcast episode for is “Better Call Saul.” (At the time I made up an excuse, but guess what I LIED because I hate that episode.) Quinn leaning pathetically on Carrie’s shoulder after he gets shot and later tying himself to a cinder block to drown himself in a river will never not be legitimately, horrifyingly terrible. The only saving grace of these episodes is HAIR IN A BUN but they had to fuck it up with that awful wig. Bad.

9. If you could bring back one character, dead or alive, from the Homeland graveyard, who would it be and why? 

David Estes. Gone too soon and we deserved to see a Carrie/David romance redux. 

10. What will be your most enduring memory of Homeland? 

I’ve met so many amazing people as a result of this show and this blog. Real and true forever friends. There are so many fantastic memories, and not-fantastic ones that will nevertheless endure. 

Of them all, I will never forget going to Chicago the weekend of the season six finale with Ashley; seeing Hamilton on Saturday night; realizing that there was not an HDMI-equipped television in the Airbnb; buying a television at Best Buy on Sunday morning; going to a Chicago White Sox game where we proceeded to get pretty tipsy on alcoholic root beer; buying lots and lots of alcohol at a liquor store, including some trademark Carrie pinot grigio, because we were having a great ol’ time; maintaining the buzz throughout the finale; whispering “oh my God they killed him” when they killed Quinn, after which Ashley reflexively replied “no, he’s not dead”; recording a drunk podcast in the immediate aftermath that is sadly lost to the sands of time; realizing that everyone was freaking out about the episode; calling it a night at 10:30pm; groggily waking up a few hours later to Ashley telling me she was leaving the Airbnb; being hungover the next day and listening to Ashley tell me about how she did some light breaking and entering the previous night; driving back to Madison while we tried to make sense of anything Rupert Friend was saying in his post-finale interviews; and keeping the aforementioned television in the back seat of my car for the next six months before I finally sold it to a friend (“only been used one time!”).

[ptw30]

So you're saying this theory about Shiro being bp in pre-production, it expanded upon s7 to s8? I thought it'd be just the scripts but there're so many inconsistecies with lion color and lines it baffles me. If they had almost two seasons ready, why would they put effort in remaking them, wouldn't that make up for a higher budget? why would DW EPs change their minds about the former version? (also, I'm sure this means there's no alt s8, just a s8 over a s8)

So which of the four people I started to explain this theory to are you? 

To clarify - no, they didn’t change the Black Paladin role from Shiro to Keith in pre-production. According to this - 

(Keith’s panel is double the size of everyone else and off-center, thus taking over Lotor’s panel.)

- the EPs changed Seasons 7 & 8 in post-production. 

The Theory: Seasons 7 & 8 were a mess because essentially, we were watching different parts of Seasons 3-6 that were re-purposed following the insertion of the clone subplot. 

After watching Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 8 and seeing how Allura and Kuron’s struggles paralleled, I realized - they don’t parallel. These struggles match. Honerva invades Kuron’s mind just like she invaded Allura’s, is connected to Kuron and Allura through some sort of mind-link, and eventually is able to override Kuron’s mind while Allura receives visions in hers.But why would the EPs and writers do the same fight over? Why would they choose to redo parts of the story, rather than advancing the plot?That got me thinking about other theories about reused episodes. Coupled with “Knights of Light” being Shiro’s paladin journey sans Shiro - it occurred to me – Seasons 7 and 8 are, in part, Seasons 3-6. And thus – here’s what I think the original order of the episodes were, heavily influenced by interviews and foreshadowing, and most likely, a bit of bias, too.

Season 3 (released as Seasons 3 & 4)

Season 3 up to “Hole in the Sky” was originally plotted and shown as is; however, we know from EP interviews that “Reunion” was originally slated after “Hole in the Sky” and “The Legend Begins” was a two-parter.

After the clone subplot was conceived, “Reunion” was pushed back, “The Legend Begins” cut to one episode (but footage reused later), and “The Journey” inserted. The reused footage of Lotor’s ships and Shiro being added after the fact (where he barely interacts with the rest of the paladins) puts most scenes from “The Road Home” and “The Way Forward” in Season 3. 

I also want to add in here –  while the EPs said they wanted Shiro to die at the end of S2, they originally said earlier that the execs told them Shiro couldn’t be out a full season. That means Shiro was slated to return – my guess within 26 episodes, a full production season, not a full release season (which is 13 episodes).

So I surmise Season 3 originally looked something like this:

Changing of the Guard

Red Paladin

The Hunted

Hole in the Sky

Reunion

Matt and Kuron’s Keith’s reunion in “Black Site” with parts of“Trailing the Comet”

The Legend Begins Part 1

The Legend Begins Part 2 (with the flashbacks we saw originally in “Knights of Light” Part 1 and 2) 

Code of Honor (switching out the scene with Kuron for a scene with Kolivan; Keith returns to save the team) and/or The Journey Within 

Fight scenes from “The Road Home” with paladins being captured/Zethrid and Ezor torture scenes/Black Site ending

The Voltron Show 

Begin the Blitz 

A New Defender

Just want to add – I wonder if originally, the five paladins stuck their bayards into their lions in “A New Defender” to give Voltron that extra punch, rather than Allura powering up Voltron with a deus ex machina. Then Lance seeing Shiro in the Void would have been the cliffhanger, not Keith almost dying. That would also explain why Keith’s near-death experience was never addressed by the team - cuz originally, it didn’t happen.

Season 4 (released as Seasons 5 & 6)

An early theory by @sol1056​ was that Keith was the second son of Zarkon, born in the rift. It makes sense, particularly since Krolia had no bearing on the plot other than birthing Keith. Sure, she found the Blue Lion on Earth, but as the Galra Empire was originally announced to be misogynistic, and thus having no female warriors other than Lotor’s generals – then Krolia was never meant to be a Galra soldier and therefore, could have not found the Blue Lion. 

I surmise – from Zarkon’s seemingly infiltrating Shiro’s mind in the pilot episode, to Haggar being able to hack Black and Shiro’s bond literally, and Red being on Sendak’s ship, where Shiro also spent some time – Shiro helped the Galra, perhaps inadvertently or unwillingly, to locate the Red and Blue Lions. 

Also, please note - Cosmo was originally inserted into this season, and as you know from previous posts, Cosmo most likely took the place of Shiro in the script, seeing as Cosmo and the Black Lion have the same teleporting abilities. (Yes, I believe the paladins were going to go all AtLA and get powers.)

For this season, I start to get a bit creative since the blanks are gaping here, as the clone subplot came to a head:

The Prisoner

Blood Duel (with Haggar remembering Keith)

Postmortem (if not in the last season finale, then here is where Shiro would yell to Lance and Keith wouldn’t have been in the Void, seeing as he’s not the Black Paladin OR Allura missing from the Void and Keith in Red’s position)

Kral Zera (a bit different, with Keith and Lotor going to Kral Zera; also, there would have been fallout from the team finding out Shiro may be alive)

Bloodlines (Lotor and Keith finding out they are related)

White Lion

Omega Shield (Allura having issues, not Kuron)

“The Colony” – changed as Keith doesn’t find Romelle (potential deletion all together)

Black Paladin redux but this time with the team finding Shiro’s body being drained by Lotor - Lotor and Keith fight

Knights of Lights Part 1 – team goes to find Shiro with Allura feeling for Shiro’s presence, not using the entity; minus the og!paladins flashbacks, which now aired in the third season; Keith says “you’re back to Shiro,” not Black. 

Knights of Lights Part 2 – Keith meets Zarkon surrounded by the paladins; found family trope achieved; Shiro’s history in the arena revealed or even “A Little Adventure” flashbacks

Defenders of All Universe - Voltron vs. Sincline

Please note: “Knights of Light” is a bit of anomaly. I feel it would work better as a mid-season climax - perhaps set in Season 7 - but if Shiro was to return prior by the end of the original Season 6 and Allura was having issues due to Honerva going to Oriande, then KoL would have to be in this season. 

Also, since “The Colony” was literally an eight-minute scene inserted in the middle of an episode and later, the Alteans become pawns - there’s a chance the Colony could have been deleted all together and Honerva, as Empress of the Galra Empire, still could have completed her plan. 

Season 5 (released as Season 7)

This season originally had Shiro back in Black with Lance and Keith going back to their original lions. Allura would be the one on the Atlas bridge by the end of the season, not Shiro. 

Considering this - as well as the re-purposed parts from Season 3-6 - here is where budget question comes in. Moving “Prisoner’s Dilemma” here so Shiro unlocks his bayard and seeing as Pidge should have gotten her bayard upgrade after Olkarion, the original Season 5 may have looked something like this:  

Shiro and Keith parts from “A Little Adventure” (originally written for “Across the Universe”) 

The Ruins (Shiro teleporting him and Keith)

Battle Scars

Prisoner’s Dilemma 

The Last Stand Part 1

The Last Stand Part 2

Know Your Enemy

Heart of the Lion

Trial by Fire

Lions’ Pride Part 1

Lions’ Pride Part 2

Adding in here “Monsters & Mana” and “The Feud”  - you have thirteen episodes overall, but my guess is these filler episodes were added to take the place of content that eventually was ejected from the plot - such as Lotor’s redemption and Shiro’s history, Lance and Blue getting back together, etc. 

Season 6 (released as Season 8)

I’m not even going to guess how this season originally looked, though we can assume “Genesis,” “Uncharted Regions,” “The Zenith,” and “The End is The Beginning” were all in the original rundown but with Allura in Atlas, Lotor returning to help Voltron, and the team back to its original line-up. And seeing as Allura went to Oriande and helped build Sincline, the natural progression of her storyline would have been to change Atlas on the fly in Season 7 and then in Season 8, merge Atlas and Voltron. 

But more importantly, here’s where the budget was really made up -  

Launch Date (filler)

The Grudge 

Genesis (maybe the White Lion wasn’t supposed to die originally)

Day Forty-Seven (filler)

Clear Day 

Uncharted Regions

The Zenith

The End is the Beginning 

There are only eight episodes created here - not thirteen. Coupled with using this season’s budget for “Razor’s Edge” and some of the scenes from “Bloodlines,” that brings the total to ten. By injecting the clone subplot and choosing to redo the storyline for Black Paladin!Keith, the EPs were able to cut-and-paste together the remaining episodes of this season. 

There are also short cuts in production you can see, such as leaving errors in animation and/or post-production. If the EPs and team were truly making sure VLD was the best it could be, we wouldn’t have:

Shiro calling for the MFE pilots to be ready to launch, and the Iverson doing it again less than four minutes later in “Uncharted Regions”

Atlas saying that it would cover the lions and then Keith saying they were giving Atlas a shot (A shot at what? Atlas was just supposed to help) in “The Zenith” 

Quintessence colors that aren’t uniform, considering Keith’s bayard now changes to the same color of Black’s tail when Shiro pilots (There is a gentleman whose sole job at DreamWorks is make sure the colors align.)

Luca coming back from the dead, Lance in Blue, Yellow having Red’s fire power in “The Zenith” 

Reused dialogue lines from previous seasons and perhaps even recorded dialogue with Shiro as the Black Paladin - Shiro as part of the field team in “Day Forty-Seven,” Shiro standing in for Griffin in “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” almost Shiro’s entire dialogue from “The Grudge”

Lance and Allura’s conversations with the original paladins not making any sense in “Knights of Light,” seeing as Allura isn’t overlooked. In fact, Honerva wanted to recruit her. 

Pretty much - VLD cut corners in the last seasons to make up the budget and delivered us a torn-apart story with offensive message and yet another set of ridiculous wings. 

TL;DR - Who really knows what happened with VLD, but what DreamWorks delivered wasn’t the original episode rundown, seeing as the team was supposed to be in their original lion line-up by the end of the series with Allura and Lotor being alive in Atlas and Sincline, respectively. And tbh - it hurts to see what we could have had and know there was an incredible story the EPs and DreamWorks not failed to deliver but refused to. 

[zalrb]

What, in your opinion, was the worst tvd season and why?

Season 8 because nothing made sense and it was BORING. From previous posts and highlights from all of my reviews of the eighth season: 

I would say that in the season finale a lot of things didn’t make sense. Why was Elena in a big white bed in the middle of the woods? Where is this place, why are they there? How did Enzo know to find Bonnie there and how did he bring her back to life? Is Enzo God? Stefan didn’t know Bonnie would be able to wake Elena up but he still gave Damon the cure in the off-chance that she would? Katherine pretended to be Elena, she wore Elena’s dress in the casket but had the time to dress Elena in her own clothes and put her in the school? And her hair was straight and suddenly it just became perfectly curly again? Stefan was shot and stabbed, he bled everywhere in those instances but he managed to not age rapidly but because he took a syringe of blood and gave it to Damon suddenly Damon has the cure and Stefan would start aging? Really? He could’ve called Caroline or saw Caroline, there is actually no reason why Stefan could see Elena, it’s not a logical part of the episode in terms of plot or lore, it doesn’t make sense, except that Elena had to be the last person he saw before he died. 

8x01

22. Writers, it’s too fucking late for the whole “surrounded by death, Stefan That’s what we’ve been for a hundred and some years.” nonono, you didn’t stick to that vampire lore throughout the seasons, it makes no sense to reinstate it now. In True Blood, from season 1 to season 7, it’s iterated and reiterated that vampires are death and whoever wants to sleep with them or be around them wants to die because they’re surrounding themselves with death. That isn’t a theme in TVD.

23. Nope, you can’t do hell all over again and try to back it up by going “not stone hell but real hell!” nah, y’all were lazy and just did the same shit again.

26. Stefan and Bonnie coming face to face with Damon and Enzo should’ve probably been more impactful? Like I don’t know, I don’t get the sense of complete and utter hopelessness. DO some fight club shit:

Make them gaunt and pale and red-eyed, like if they’re drones or slaves then make them as such. Because Damon is just acting like Damon, the only reason why we know he’s doing these things against his will is because of the over-exposition in the dialogue, there is actually nothing to indicate that Damon is doing this against his will other than the repetition in the words.

33. How hard are they going to hammer this shit in our heads? Damon doesn’t believe in redemption AGAIN, Damon thinks he and Elena are on different paths AGAIN only so SURPRISE he’ll be proved wrong by Elena near the end! Been there, done that.

8x03: 

6. I love how it’s become such a big deal that Sybil has mind control. “We’re dealing with something that has the power of mind control” SCARY MUSIC. Right because vampires compelling people was just ….

15. Damon describing Sybil’s hold over him is literally describing compulsion.

17. So Sybil is Rebekah and the Salvatore Mansion is the library and instead of Elena, Caroline and Stefan talking about SE and DE it’s Caroline and Bonnie talking about Damon and Enzo.

18. OK so Sybil is also Klaus who has to “Siren” obedience like how Klaus had to Sire hybrids.

19. OK so Sybil is Klaus again making Bonnie choose between Enzo and Damon like Klaus going, “So Elena, Jenna or Stefan?” Or she’s No Humanity Caroline who essentially did the same thing with Matt and Tyler. ‘Bout the most sadistic game imaginable, writers you’ve recycled this at least three times.

32. “Bonnie, I’m going to count down from 10 and then I’m going to let Damon finish what he started.” Like the clock Klaus put on Stefan biting Elena? LOL OK TVD. 

8x03:

28. So basically when Sybil got Damon’s full devotion is exactly like when Damon and Elena thought Stefan betrayed them for Klaus and the scene between Caroline and Stefan when Stefan is all “Damon is gone” “Don’t give up hope” is Stefan and Damon “Stefan is gone!” “Then we’ll let him go.” We’re redoing season 3 just terribly.

8x04

35. So a black man is the devil. EXCELLENT, TVD. JFC.

36. Also their version of the devil makes absolutely no sense. Why is Cade in hell in the first place when he literally did nothing wrong? Did he create hell for the souls that he keeps and why is he collecting souls in the first place? And they keep mentioning God, as in the Christian God, so how are you going to have a Christian God but not a Christian Hell? WHAT?

44. So Georgie goes to hell because she killed a girl in a car accident. OK so like I don’t get it does that mean Julian is in hell too? What about Mary-Louise and Nora? Are they in hell? WHO goes to this hell? Does just everyone who does a bad thing go to this hell?

8x05: 

9. You know why banging a tuning fork doesn’t come across as torture? Because it’s a weak fucking form of torture. At least have Sybil’s ears bleed, have her crying with pain, have her clutching her head, screaming STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT. Like OMG.

10. And of course Bonnie isn’t at Tyler’s funeral but so is no one else. It’s true that the Lockwoods are dead but they’re a founding family, you mean this town won’t mourn the loss of the last living member of such a family when the town is supposed to be big on tradition?

11. This episode is ridiculous. I won’t believe that Stefan wouldn’t be fast enough to stake Damon in the leg or to push him off Matt, Stefan vamp-sped and pushed Damon off Bonnie in season 1, he pushed Katherine off Jeremy in season 2. After being the only human in MF for how long, Matt should’ve picked up a few tricks on how to take down a vampire. Caroline is also a vampire with a history of beating the shit out of Damon, you mean two vampires can’t contain one? Whatever.

15. “It was awful, like Damon is desperate for us all to hate him.” But you just can’t right? For absolutely no fucking reason. I’m actually getting severely tired of Damon killing everyone, abusing everyone, making everyone’s lives worse and the show constantly protecting him with lines that distance him from taking any responsibility. It’s OK that Damon killed Tyler because he wants you all to hate him? Are you fucking serious?

20. REDEMPTIVE RIGHT NOW. Hammering it into our heads that he didn’t want to kill Tyler but he did it for Sybil, he doesn’t like that his friends hate him but he made them hate him anyway for Sybil (although legit no one looks like they hate him) and I’m fucking OVER it. Damon kills but his heart isn’t in it, so the fuck what, why the fuck do I care about that? Doesn’t MEAN anything.

21. Dude, I thought that Sybil inserted herself in Damon’s happy Elena place and then I thought she made Elena die so it was like Damon never met her. What was the point of Sybil inserting herself in Damon’s Elena Happy Place if he just does things to make her happy but doesn’t put his heart in it, he was doing that anyway before.

8x06

5. So we get to see mediocre SC sex in 8x01 but we don’t get to see mediocre BE sex in 8x06? Oh true. I see you, Julie and co.

9. WHO eats bacon that way? Seriously, who the fuck eats bacon that way? That’s not sexy, it’s weird.

13.  This writing is ridiculous. You and Sybil aren’t Cade’s missionaries, Seline, you aren’t converting people to your ways or “spreading the word”, you’re eating their flesh and giving the souls to Cade, you’re his butchers.

27. “Two of history’s most prolific killers.” LOL WHAT? People have committed GENOCIDES, TVD.

30. “I raised them” they’re THREE. And on the real, it didn’t look like or feel like you were dying when the twins were gone, Caroline.

33. “I gave Damon what he promised me an eternity of misery” HOW THO? Damon’s BEEN spending his immortal life killing people, like how is it any different that he and Stefan are doing it for a purpose now? Jfc. Also legit, guys, y’all are immortal, vampires, you’re never going to hell, the paranoia surrounding this place is ridiculous especially since they have both died as vampires and haven’t gone to Cade’s hell dimension each time.

35. Lmao why is this ending with Alaric killing Damon as if Damon is actually dead? We know he isn’t! Stefan just told us they’ll live forever serving Cade and we already know he and Sybil crash Steroline’s Christmas. LIKE? THIS ISN’T SHOCKING.

8x07:

13. “If Elena was here Damon wouldn’t be doing any of this?” Are we forgetting that he systematically killed Whitmores while they were together, that he kidnapped her brother and had Enzo suffocate him, that he killed Aaron … that a lot of the destruction Damon caused to the group was in Elena’s name? Damon didn’t change for Elena, I need the show to let that one GO.

15. There is weird tension between Caroline and Damon and it makes me uncomfortable.

18. “I know there is a future you that’s going to ask for my forgiveness one day” like when he asked for forgiveness for raping and physically and emotionally abusing you, Caroline? Oh right, that never happened.

23. Cade is basically Klaus trying to get Stefan go Dark Side. THIS IS THE EXACT CONVERSATION HE HAD WITH KLAUS.

8x08:

5. I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY NO ONE IS TRYING TO FIND LOOPHOLES AGAINST CADE. Caroline is just “cool, Stefan, go and be evil with the devil” WHAT?

15. It’s really annoying and in bad taste that the show is discussing how the Founding Families didn’t found Mystic Falls because other people were there first (witches) and we’re just ignoring the fact that there would’ve been Indigenous nations. I also like how we’re talking about history but we wouldn’t talk about enslavement even though MF is in fucking Virginia.

22. Are we really fucking doing this? Matt’s dad is angry at the Founding families because they were rich and ran the town while his family were skilled traders and looked down upon as such when Bonnie’s fucking ancestor was enslaved to Katherine??? WHEN THERE WERE ENSLAVED PEOPLES IN THIS TOWN? Matt’s dad gets a rant but we’re not talking about the racist history? Why am I even surprised by this?

8x09: 

17. Oh my GOD, we’re only 20 minutes in?

20. Why are we acting like Damon’s humanity will crush him? He was fine with killing Lexi, turning Vicki, killing Jeremy, killing Aaron, kidnapping Jeremy, trying to kill Caroline, raping and abusing Caroline, etc. Like why wouldn’t he be fine with this? Elena won’t care.

21. Why do they keep saying Matt is stupid? How is Alaric any smarter? A fucking siren was his nanny for months.

8x11:

1. So I don’t remember if this is from 8x09 or 8x10 when Sybil explains that opening the door from Cade’s world into this world will destroy everyone in this world but that is literally Buffy season 5.  Glory is a hell goddess who wants the key back into her dimension but if the key (who is Buffy’s sister) opens her world then the dimensions will bleed together and reality will cease to exist. LIKE??? Does Julie even know what an original thought is?

11. “Look at Damon, humanity on and he’s a new person!” HE IS EXACTLY THE SAME. DAMON ALWAYS REMAINS EXACTLY THE SAME. MAGNUM IS THE SAME LOOK AS BLUE STEEL. OH MY FUCKING GOD.

13. So Matt can say that it’s still Stefan who tried to get him to destroy the entire town but he can say that Damon turning and effectively killing Vicki is a long time ago, him murdering Tyler wasn’t him. OK true. Not transparent at all TVD.

18. Why is Damon giving him pancakes and not blood? Is Stefan not a vampire? Is he drying Stefan out? What’s the point of this?

21. Oh my God, I am literally only 10 minutes in.

38. 21 minutes and 41 seconds.

42. Talking talking talking talking

43. This is the final season though?

52. I don’t care for Bonenzo but seriously Julie taking away Bonnie’s happiness at every turn is a blatant hatred of her character, I don’t give a shit if she says she gets an unexpected happy ending, the unexpected happy ending will probably be her and Enzo reunited in death or something.

8x13:

1. Seriously, Cade seems like a really petty devil though. “Kill 100 people or your brother’s girl” like … why? Don’t you have some world domination plans going on or…? Like why the interest in Stefan and Damon, what about either of them are particularly special to the devil? It doesn’t make sense to me. At least with Supernatural, everything from season 1 was leading up to Dean and Sam being vessels for Michael and Lucifer, like every season, every plot point fed into that so it made sense, this is just fucking random.

2. I’m legit taking this opportunity to tell people to watch Goblin because it is so much more intriguing than whatever the hell TVD has become. You can watch it on: Drama Fever, Box Asian, Drama 4 U Viki, like so many sites, guys. I mean, I’m just saying, if you want a show that’ll make you cry and keep you in suspense and make you fall in love with characters then that’s it.

5. “Stefan, thank God” sound even less enthused, Caroline.

9. “I don’t think this is just colonial bling” did they seriously make Dorian say that? UGH. Also who says bling anymore? Are we in the early 00s?

11. Why is Damon acting like he didn’t kill Tyler? I find this actually unbelievably fascinating. He can stand there and lecture Caroline about how Bonnie wouldn’t answer her calls when he killed Tyler who was supposed to be Caroline’s first love and her childhood friend? LIKE THIS WRITING. 

12. I don’t understand this, Stefan is human so he can’t be immortal anymore and therefore is out of the contract so Cade will kill him? Can’t he just make Stefan an immortal human? Like why does he have to be a vampire? He can kill people without biting them, there’s always good old fashioned weaponry. Like what powers does Cade actually have?

20. Like there are no side effects to turning human? You’re just human and that’s it. You don’t feel slower, weaker, you can just operate normally?

25. Lol Caroline and Stefan are so bad at being together.

31. “Sirened to ring the bell” it’s just compulsion.

40. And seriously he’s not even going to STAY with her? The supposed love of her life died and no one is going to just BE with her? Remember when I said she would grieve alone?

8x14:

2. I think it’s funny that Cade is talking about how Damon is in limbo, “the space between spaces” because my guy, that is JUST the Other Side.

3. No, see, the entire plot line with Cade and the Salvatores irritates me because it’s so conveniently linked to Damon and Stefan. He is the devil or the devil’s right hand man (since Katherine is the Queen of Hell for some reason, right?) I don’t understand why he can’t just find the weapon himself or get someone else to do it for him, there’s no reason that it has to be Damon and it’s the problem when a villain keeps making threats “Or I’ll drag you back to hell”, so then do it. At least with Supernatural when Zachariah wanted Dean to do something and Dean was like nah, Zachariah was like OK so what if I give Sam stage 4 stomach cancer? Or hey, how about if I take away his lungs? And we see him inflict these tortures on Sam while Dean watches. Or Dean starts off the season coming out of hell and we get flashbacks to what hell was like for him and we find out how much it fucked him up so when Uriel and Castiel threaten to throw him back into hell, it’s an actual real threat because we’ve seen the effects and why he would be scared. This whole thing with Damon is like … every time Cade says he’ll send Damon to hell I’m like motherfucker, no you’re not or you would’ve DONE did it by now, stop.

5. Bonnie being able to see Enzo is like Jeremy being able to see Bonnie and Elena hallucinating Damon. I’m bored.

14. Also where are the twins if neither she nor Alaric are watching them in this scene? Like if they’re setting shit on fire because of temper tantrums and are literally prone to blowing each other up now, I would be around them all the time.

17. I like how Stefan has, like, an actual plan to kill Cade but if you’re going to kill him, will you not slash his arm and punch him and make witty remarks, can you just stab him?

18. Because you see what happens, Alaric’s cell phone rings and he stops ringing the all important bell.

24. *SPOILERS FOR OUTLANDER* So there’s this show/book called Outlander about many things but at the centre of it, there’s a love story between Jamie and Claire and throughout the series, Jamie makes these declarations of love to Claire and says he’ll do anything for her, that he’ll be her shield, he’ll die for her etc. and there’s this villain called Jack Randall who is a sexual sadist and he has a particular interest in Jamie who he nearly flogged to death years earlier, basically Randall gets a hold of Claire and is going to kill her in front of Jamie so Jamie offers up his body to Randall in exchange for Claire’s safety and in that scene Randall nails Jamie’s hand to a table and kisses him while Claire has to watch and then Claire is forced to leave Randall and Jamie alone and in the next part we basically see the rape and torture that Randall inflicts on Jamie over and over. A lot of people had issues with that and asked the author why she felt the need to show the brutal rape of Jamie and her response was this:

“So, OK.  Throughout the book, we’ve seen that love has a real cost.  Jamie and Claire have built a relationship through honest struggle, a relationship that’s _worth_ what it’s cost them.  This is the final challenge, and Jamie’s willing to pay what will apparently be the ultimate cost.

  Why would I throw that away?  To have him escape rape and torture (he–and we–_know_ what’s coming) by the skin of his teeth would be to undercut his sacrifice, to make it of little moment.  (It would be like someone turning up in Gethsemane and telling Christ, “Hey, buddy, you don’t _really_ have to do this.  Come with me, I got a secret way outta here…”)”

And this is what TVD fails to do with DE. It’s one thing for Damon to be willing to go to hell for both Stefan and Elena but Bonnie shows up and actually saves him from having to undergo that threat and it undercuts his sacrifice because he didn’t actually have to sacrifice anything, he just had to be willing and it’s not impactful. So I’m not even a little moved by what Damon did because he didn’t do anything first of all, second of all after everything he’s done throughout 8 seasons why wouldn’t he choose himself, I mean, it’s the least he can do.

25. “Bonnie, wake up”, Stefan can you check her pulse?

26. “That little psychic blast must’ve blew me into my body” that literally makes no sense.

27. Damon and Stefan sitting on Damon’s car, drinking is basically just Sam and Dean. Stop it.

29. “Someone who can create a safe, supportive and loving space for kids … someone like you” is that Caroline, though? I’m sorry but she doesn’t seem like any of those  things to Josie and Lizzie, she’s shrill and just tells them to stop doing things, like I don’t know why she didn’t actually ask Josie and Lizzie how they felt when their magic was going haywire, like we don’t actually see her BE with them, she just scolds.

33. Finally, what anons kept asking me about, Katherine Pierce being the Queen of hell. I am going to admit something, I think the show and the characters gas Katherine way too much, she isn’t the baddest bitch of all, I don’t think the characters are toast because she’s running hell, I don’t even think she deserves to run Hell, she’s petty, it’s not like she has master plans that completely destroy lives, she just makes things inconvenient for the core group like *ugh* I mean I guess I gotta go fix Elena because she has venom in her system, like what were the major consequences of what she did in 5x15 to Elena? Elena didn’t see Damon for an entire episode and couldn’t sleep with him immediately. Getting Jenna to stab herself was rude but the major consequence of that is Stefan and Elena breaking up. She outted the Klaroline sex and it just fractured an already fractured relationship with Tyler. The worst thing she did was cause Jeremy’s death and that wasn’t even intentional, it was just like oh well … yeah, my bad, bye. Like she’s a mean girl on steroids, that’s kind of it, she isn’t like this Badass Villain that no one can top and OMG SHE RUNS HELL. I mean Rebekah caused just as much damage as Katherine did because they’re both petty.

8x15:

2. I like how opening the door to Cade’s world will only destroy everything for “miles”, like that’s such a small scale, shouldn’t it be the end of the world if the devil is walking among us? Or is he not the devil, is Katherine the devil? I’m confused about the Hell hierarchy, you see.

5. Sorry, pausing because my cat is being extremely affectionate and I would rather play with her for a little than watch what trash this episode is going to be.

6. But now she’s on my keyboard. It’s like she’s trying to spare me.

14. “That was a lifetime ago, things have changed since then” that should just replace the title of TVD. “Didn’t Damon kill your sister?” “That was a long time ago.” “Didn’t Damon kill your brother” “That was a long time ago.” And now apparently abandoning your family because of man pain and cowardice and immaturity is “a lifetime ago” too but oh no, Stefan was a ripper a literal century ago and we need to harp on it forever.

16. Why would Dorian agreeing to help them on how to get rid of the “Queen of Hell” be misconstrued as him being “cool” with Stefan though? Isn’t getting rid of someone who is supposed to be the devil Plus be in everyone’s best interest? Like whatever, it was just another chance to take a shot at Stefan. Transparent as fuck.

21. I mean, I don’t blame Bonnie for hating Stefan but Damon was responsible for killing Jeremy and kidnapping Jeremy, Enzo was responsible for suffocating Jeremy and she’s cool with both of them, hell she fell in love with one of them so I’m just like girl, I guess. The writers are ridiculous because it just feels like they don’t know the web they’ve created with these characters and understand that they’ve turned pretty much everyone into a hyprocrite. 

24. I don’t even know why Damon needs to tell Stefan that what happened to Enzo will haunt him like Stefan isn’t new to guilt. Why are they making it seem like this is Stefan’s first rodeo?

37. “I hope I get to see this one day with you and Elena” lol the FLATTEST delivery ever. Like do you even mean it? Do you REALLY? Think hard, Stefan.

54. LMFAO SO WHO ISN’T IN HELL? Vicki was in hell, Kelly was in hell, so like ERRBODY GOES TO HELL THEN? WHAT CRITERIA IS THERE? Like if I run a stop light do I go to hell because it’s against the law? What if I jaywalk or accidentally step on an ant or something? BECAUSE SERIOUSLY.

55. STEFAN WHY DON’T YOU EVER CHECK ANYONE’S PULSE?

and you already saw my thoughts on 8x16

[fountainpenguin]

 How Fairy Aging Works In My FOP Fanfics

So, remember when I said that I apparently dreamed telling you guys about this and went frantic trying to pull it up again to no avail? Well, I put off “redoing” this post for awhile, but considering what’s coming up, I want to go over it “again.”

Previously:

I determined 11,250 years = 1 year of human aging in my headcanon

I speculated on magic, immortality, and how magic affects aging

Overview:

Fairy children mature rapidly until they hit the mental age of 10. Poof is mentally about 5 through most of Season 6, and mentally 7 throughout Season 7. From “Love Triangle” on, he’s mentally 10 or 11.

Anti-Fairy babies mature sooner than Fairy ones. No surprise there. Foop was born mentally 6 years old, but also with advanced vocabulary automatically imprinted in his brain 

Anti-Cosmo had a wing injury that never properly healed, and sometimes this gets mentioned in my works. He “limps”. Foop mentally inherited the injury, even though his wing is perfectly fine. Foop behaves as though he’s limping, when there’s nothing wrong with him. His alternate personality, Hiccup, does not limp because there’s no physical injury there. If you confronted Foop about this, he would be confused. He can’t help himself. It’s something he inherited. That’s just how Anti-Fairy babies work. Sometimes you get lucky and inherit advanced vocabulary, sometimes you get unlucky and you inherit weird injuries and behaviors.

So, here’s a breakdown of how aging works:

Birth: A baby is very young. They can fly and understand speech, but have little to no control over their magic. Fairy babies have to drink milk to receive its nutrients and hormones, including several involved in the ability to use magic. Without the proper hormones in the milk, the baby won’t be able to use magic or fly. This state is called “tomte”.

Also, the Fairy baby physically cannot digest anything besides milk. They will throw up anything else, and literally die without some sort of milk. Anti-Fairy babies will be healthier if they drink milk, but they won’t starve without it, as they cannot die so long as their Fairy counterpart lives.

Changeling children are a thing because the need for milk is so extreme, but that’s gone out of fashion lately. Sammy Sweetsparkle is still 100% a changeling as far as I’m concerned. There’s very little reason for this. But I was not joking when I told you his changeling family I am completely serious just watch me.

Fairy babies can only say “Poof poof” until they experience pooferty, as we saw in “School of Crock”. However, Anti-Fairy babies are born in a more advanced state, perhaps because they need to be capable of caring for themselves due to the frequency of neglectful parents in Anti-Fairy World.

A Fairy or pixie baby is properly called a nymph. An Anti-Fairy baby is called a pup. They’re... babies. That’s about it.

1: Fairy babies wean between eight months of age and two years old. The vast majority wean around the time of their first birthday. Sometime close to their weaning, they shed their exoskeletons; Fairies stop being round, Anti-Fairies stop being cubes, and pixies stop being hexagonal. They get “real bodies” at this time, and look like little Fairies and Anti-Fairies.

Poof and Foop’s shedding was especially delayed due to the frozen timestream, as we learned in “Timmy’s Secret Wish”. Foop is synced up to him, so Foop stayed a box until the timestream was unfrozen and Poof began to properly age again. Poof and Foop shed towards the end of Season 10. We’ll be getting a Prompt called “Evolution Hopeful” soon that covers this event.

2: At some point during their second year, a Fairy baby goes through the Terrible Twos, and an Anti-Fairy experiences the Terrific Twos, as we saw in the Season 9 episode, “The Terrible Twosome”. If you read my fanfic Origin of the Pixies, you saw in “Spoonful of Sugar” that pixies become super emo during this time.

45 - 55: Because they mature rapidly, young Fairies and Anti-Fairies need constant stimulation. Between the ages of 45 and 55, they attend school with the rest of their cohort, as I discussed in THIS post.

Around this time, many Anti-Fairies engage in a rite of passage called a canetis, as we’ll see soon in Frayed Knots, which is a hunting ritual involving the use of echolocation. After their canetis, an Anti-Fairy is no longer referred to as a pup. They’re called a juvenile. Similarly, once they turn 50 / start attending school, a Fairy is called a juvenile instead of nymph.

55 ~ 140,000+: The juvenile years! As you can see, not a ton changes during this time period. Alllllll of this seems super slow. Depending on the child’s individual maturity level, they may seem anywhere between 8 and 13; they will probably be closer to 8 in the beginning and gradually mature to 13 towards the end. You could refer to this time period as adolescence, or the teenage years.

I believe I’ve mentioned that Poof grew up always comparing himself to humans. He had a really rough time in his youth because he didn’t seem to be aging like his parents’ human godkids. He was stuck at 10 forever. That was good fun, and he played with some godkids, but he always had to watch them mature, and he always felt stuck, and like he was being left behind. Lots of self-esteem issues.

~140,000 - 180,000+: At some point between these years, Fairies and Anti-Fairies experience puberty. As you can see, this is a 40,000-year period. It’s different for everyone. Experiencing puberty is also known as “getting your adult wings”, due to the fact that Fairies literally moult their wings (Anti-Fairies don’t).

The proper term for a Fairy or Anti-Fairy at this age is “adult”, even though they may be mentally a teen. A Fairy or Anti-Fairy stops growing when they get their adult wings. This is also when they reach sexual maturity.

From this point on, you can divide the age of a fairy by 11,250 to get their age in human years. They will now continue aging 1 human year for every 11,250 years, where up until now you couldn’t calculate that with perfect accuracy.

Anti-Fairies are legally considered adults at the age 150,000 (Mentally 13), regardless of whether or not they have their adult wings. Anything that involves legal adulthood, they can do starting at 150,000- including going to adult jail.

~180,000+: Continued adulthood. You’ve finished puberty, you’ve got your adult wings, and you are totally an adult. Cosmo, Wanda, and the majority of Fairies and Anti-Fairies we see in the show are at this stage of development. 

Fairies are legally considered adults at the age of 200,000. Getting your adult wings basically means reaching the age of 16 in America, when you can drive, or the age of 18, when you can legally sign paperwork. 200,000 is legal drinking age, as well as the age you have to be to legally adopt someone, et cetera.

Age of majority for pixies is 250,000, because H.P. freaks out at the thought of his pixies wanting to leave him at the age of 200,000, so he legally boosted age of majority during a court case called Whimsifinado v. Caudwell. However, he looks the other way where sugar is concerned. Honestly, you can have sugar under the age of 200,000 and he won’t care. He loves his soda.

As I said, sexual maturity is reached with the adult wings. “Teenage pregnancy” would occur if a Fairy became pregnant after getting their adult wings but before the age of 200,000. It’s impossible to get pregnant during the juvenile years. A Fairy’s body simply isn’t developed yet.

Teenage pregnancy isn’t much of a thing in Anti-Fairy society; Anti-Fairies physically can’t get pregnant unless their counterpart is, which has led to their culture being very loose. It’s common / expected for Anti-Fairies to engage in intimacy... basically any time after getting their adult wings. It’s considered bizarre for an Anti-Fairy to get their adult wings and remain a virgin for more than a few centuries, unless they’re waiting for their special someone to come into maturity. But if you’re in a relationship and you’re both mature virgins... Why??? It’s just the way their culture is. Very casual, not a lot of consequences.

Average of 800,000 years: At some point in late adulthood, a Fairy and Anti-Fairy will experience another stage of the life cycle. It’s called the senescent stage. This is the stage H.P. is in when we see him in the show. He’s genetically identical to all the other pixies. However, he looks a little different because he’s in another stage of development. It’s the “wearing down” stage, when a Fairy or Anti-Fairy is older and beyond their prime. They can’t heal as well as they used to; a Fairy or pixie who badly tears their senescent wings will never be able to fly again. Their wings just won’t heal. Stuff like that.

A Fairy in their senescent stage is capable of dying from an illness, whereas in their juvenile or adult years, that’s extremely rare because Fairies have powerful immune systems and healing abilities.

The time a Fairy reaches this stage depends on many factors (Anti-Fairies only reach this stage if their Fairy counterpart does). Using magic speeds up aging. Being more conservative with your magic usage will let you age more slowly, though you can’t stop it completely. Other factors, such as physical health and how near or far you live from the Big Wand, play into this too.

By Anti-Fairy law, a reigning High Count / High Countess must step down if they reach the senescent stage of their life cycle. These Anti-Fairies are still greatly respected in Anti-Fairy culture; it’s just a warning that hey, you’re getting old, and you should definitely let your heir take the reins if you haven’t yet, and be a guide to help them along.

Foop was born when Anti-Cosmo was about 381,444 years old, and Anti-Wanda was 394,777 (These are the ages I’ve written down, but I have never once checked to see if they fit my Fairy zodiac because I don’t like math. Just go with it). So, if his parents were to hold onto their positions until they hit their senescent stages, Foop would take the High Count seat around the age of 30. 

This is based off the assumption that Anti-Wanda would reach the senescent stage first (Maybe around the age 730,000, which would be 335,000 years from now), and Anti-Cosmo would simply step down at the same time.

That’s how aging works in my fanfics.

[jbuffyangel]

Tether: Arrow 5x16 Review (Checkmate)

I had two wishes for tonight's episode.  First, that Oliver and Snoozan break up because, as you all know, I'm super done with her.  Second, that Prometheus not suck because, as you all know, I've been super unimpressed so far. @fanmommer​ can confirm these wishes.

Alright, so I didn't get wish #1 (just a matter of time kids), but Oliver delivered fantastic Snoozan shade,  so I am satisfied. Wish #2 came true however.  The Big Bad does not suck. He's awesome. 

That and a subtle, but meaningful Olicity scene means I am one happy camper.

Let's dig in...

Prometheus and Oliver Queen

I have made no secret over my concerns with Arrow's Season 5 Big Bad (re: 5x09 review). Prometheus has failed to impress. He felt like a caricature rather than a real menace. I haven't been invested in any of the big bad he's committed against Oliver and crew (Sorry Billy). 

The season long mystery of "Who is Prometheus?" concluded like a deflating balloon (re: 5x15 review). 

We can debate whether Arrow's main focus is romance and Olicity, but the Big Bad is not debatable. The Big Bad is a main focus and, more often than not, is the linchpin. A season can live or die by their villain and Arrow's Season 5 was dying a hard and fast death with Prometheus. We were getting The Initiative when we needed Angelus. I was very worried. Until tonight.

In my 5x15 review I highlighted a potential silver lining with unmasking Prometheus.

“It leaves me to wonder, perhaps the Prometheus reveal isn’t the pay off. Maybe his identity isn’t the big surprise. Perhaps, there’s still another shoe waiting to drop. The pay off may not be in who Prometheus is, but rather in what he does.”

I still maintain 16 episodes is too far into the season to really start cooking on the Big Bad, 

but at this point my elation over Josh Seggara's performance eclipses my annoyance. Prometheus' mask created a wall between him and the audience. I haven't been able to connect to Prometheus the same way I connected to Malcolm, Slade, Ra's Al Ghul and Damien Darhk. Well, the gloves, or rather mask , is off and Josh Seggara brought it tonight.

Adrian Chase be crazy.

But it's not campy crazy, which is an extremely good thing. To take the villain seriously, we need to feel like they are a real threat. Too much camp and they become a joke. 

What's wonderful about Josh's performance is he walks the precarious line between complete control versus utter lunacy. It creates what I like to call "the switch effect." At any moment, Adrian Chase can flip the switch and go full out One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, much like he did towards the end of the episode.

However, the remainder of the time Chase is in complete control. He is every bit the chess champion, coolly and calmly putting Oliver Queen in checkmate. Yet, like any good chess player, Chase revels in the knowledge his opponent is finished 10 moves before Oliver comes to the same conclusion. It creates an edge-of-your-seat feel, which is just... fun. It's nice to feel suspense again on Arrow.

***That's the end of the chess analogies because I don't play chess and Nick isn't home for me to scream questions at so I can make quippy comparisons in my review.

Arrow lowers the boom with a climb up a mountain.  

Ugh... mountains. My heart's scar tissue is still fresh from Oliver's last scamper up to high altitude, so if it's all the same pumpkin let's exit the way you came - on foot, without a sword in your chest. Cool? Cool. 

Oliver is paying a visit to Talia because he wants to know why Prometheus is the new teacher's pet.  In the twist everyone except Oliver saw coming, the two have a great deal in common.

Oliver killed Adrian's father and Talia's.

As burns go that is a pretty savage one. Slay girl slay.

Yeah, Oliver. Talia is Talia Al Ghul. LAST NAMES ARE A THING. It never occured to you to ask the mysterious woman, who seems to know everything about you, her last name? Lord, boy it's amazing you've survived this long. It reminds me of a line from You've Got Mail.

"Joe"? "Just call me Joe"? As if you were one of those stupid 22-year old girls with no last name? "Hi, I'm Kimberly!" "Hi, I'm Janice!" Don't they know you're supposed to have a last name? It's like they're an entire generation of cocktail waitresses." - Kathleen Kelly

Talia is not a cocktail waitress Oliver.  She's a super ninja. Next time, get a last name.

I think I read one too many awesome specs about Talia Al Ghul working with Prometheus, so this "shocker" was more "Sure, makes sense" for me. I am getting serious Dark Knight Rises feels from this particular storyline though.

Prometheus  = Bane

Talia = Talia (Subtle is never Arrow's thing. We know this.)

It's fine, certainly not the first time Arrow has "borrowed" from Batman. Good news is Bane seriously sucked. I couldn’t understand a damn word he said, so there's ample room for improvement too. Have at it Arrow.

Thankfully, Prometheus isn't just the muscle like Bane was. His endgame is more diabolical. The cat and mouse game Adrian and Oliver engage in during "Checkmate" is the most fun I've had in a long time on Arrow because we're in on the game. We know what Adrian and Oliver know. We know he's Prometheus. We know he has Oliver over a barrel. Oliver can't come after Chase as Mayor, because Adrian is the District Attorney. He's a trusted public figure like Oliver is. Oliver needs proof or nobody will believe the DA is the Throwing Star Killer. In a way, Chase has adopted Oliver's game, but he's better at playing it.

Felicity makes a deal with the devil (Helix) and gets Oliver the evidence he needs to expose the Adrian Chase alias (his real name is Simon Morrison). But Chase stabs the police captain before he has a chance to investigate the lead. Once again, Oliver Queen is between a rock and a hard place.

Nor can Oliver come after Prometheus as the Green Arrow. Prometheus has Susan, so the Green Arrow can't kill him. Is Chase dies, then Susan dies. Nobody actually cares Prometheus has Susan, but that's just details. #TeamPrommy

Luckily for me, Adrian is a details man! It's almost like he sensed my indifference to the predicament. I cannot possibly imagine how. I'm so quiet about it. 

So, Prometheus brings the Green Arrow down another way. Adrian makes it look like the Green Arrow went after the District Attorney's wife. Mayor Queen has to issue a "shoot on sight" order in a televised press conference. Wherever Roy Harper is he's gotta be pissed. He didn't give Thea up for this shit.

I love it. 

Don't get me wrong, this is bad... poor Oliver, but from an audience perspective? FUN.  The layers in the scenes between Oliver and Chase are like a triffle. Each one better than the next.

Adrian spends the first half of the episode taunting Oliver and his team. 

A+ shade. Extra points for calling Rene "dog."

However, it's the confrontation in Pike's hospital room where we get into the psychology of Prometheus.

Adrian: Life’s just so fragile, isn’t it? Decades of hopes and dreams, and in one moment, one little mistake, and it all just goes away.

It's another taunt at Oliver. He gave Pike the USB drive with Felicity's evidence. Prometheus is telling Oliver it's his mistake that put Pike in a hospital bed. Once again, Oliver destroys a life.

However, this particular dialogue goes deeper than just a taunt. I believe Adrian is also speaking about his father. Remember, Oliver is the villain of Simon Morrison's story. The Hood killed his father. In Simon's mind, his father made one mistake and paid with his life. Decades of hopes and dreams, his father's and Simon's, gone in an instant. Yet, Oliver Queen has the nerve to stand in front of him and call it justice.

Simon wants Oliver to feel his pain the way Slade needed Oliver to feel pain. Unlike Slade, Simon isn't interested in revenge. This game isn't about killing Oliver, which can make Prometheus even more diabolical than Slade.

In a lot of ways the Green Arrow has been in search of his Joker. The Joker never wants to kill Batman. He just wants the game to go on. 

Adrian has a slightly tighter grasp on his sanity than that, not by much, but his endgame seems somewhat similar to the Joker's. This isn't about death. This is about destruction. This makes Prometheus different than Merlyn, Damien, Ra's Ahl Ghul, and yes, even Slade. Slade wanted to take the person Oliver loved the most, but he had every intention of killing Oliver after his revenge. I think Prometheus' game goes deeper than that.  This is about more than revenge. Prometheus doesn't want to kill Oliver because death would be a release from torment.

The fires of hell never consume. They just go on burning. There is no end to the misery. No end to the pain. Prometheus doesn't want to end Oliver's life. He knows his opponent well. He knows Oliver doesn't fear death. What Prometheus wants is to send Oliver to hell. So what's a hell Oliver can never escape from? 

One of his making.

So, this war instantly becomes more psychological than physical. 

Mom is a low blow Adrian. Chase names off all the names of those Oliver has lost - his mother, Shado, Laurel. Deaths we know Oliver blames himself for. Deaths Oliver believes he caused. 

"Let’s find out how much more loss you can take because I don’t think it’s much.”

Obviously, Snoozan isn't the loss that leads to Oliver's destruction. 

Prometheus, like the Joker, is a showman. Snoozan is just the opening act. She's the tease to get Oliver in the game. She's also the bait, so Prometheus and Talia can kidnap Oliver.  

She's a mere domino among hundreds of dominoes. Nothing more and nothing less. Prometheus is saving that important "one loss" until the final act.

Is this just a redo of the "person you love the most?" Perhaps, but I don't think Prometheus is driving Oliver towards a choice. He's driving Oliver towards a truth. A truth about who he is. About the kind of man he is.

Adrian: Do you have any idea how impotent you sound?

Impotent. It’s an interesting choice of words. It means helpless, powerless and unable to take action.  There’s also a sexual definition -  a man’s inability to achieve an erection. Adrian could have called Oliver helpless or powerless, as many great villains have done in so many stories, and then manically laugh. Instead, Adrian chooses a word with sexual connotations because he's calling Oliver's manhood into question. Who is Oliver Queen? What kind of man is he? To Prometheus, not much of one, but the goal is for Oliver to believe that.

Slade: You are not a hero or a brother or a friend. You are nothing.

In Season 2, Episode 9, Oliver saw three ghosts and one of them was Slade. Slade told him this charade wasn't about atoning for his father's sins. Oliver is atoning for his own sins. Slade was just a hallucination. He was Oliver's darkest fears psychologically manifested in the form of a ghost. Slade was saying what Oliver believed.

Prometheus is the opposite. He's no ghost. He's flesh and blood. He's the physical manifestation of Oliver's darkness the way Slade was a psychological manifestation in 2x09. The creation of these two foes represent the schism in Oliver Queen. Oliver Queen chose Sara, condemning Shado, thereby setting Slade on his path for revenge. 

Prometheus is created from The Hood's killing. The Hood killed Justin Claybourne, thereby setting Prometheus on his path for destruction.

But what is the hood to Oliver? 

The hood is the darkness the five years away from home created. Talia gave Oliver the hood as an outlet for the monster inside. Oliver believes if he can use this darkness as a force of good then it won't consume him.

Although... secretly I wonder if that too is a lie Oliver tells himself. I think Oliver's biggest fear isn't of what the five years away created. I think he's afraid of what those five years away revealed. I think Oliver is afraid this darkness was always inside of him, even before the Island, but that's another point  for another time.

Oliver thought if he could separate himself from the darkness, give it a name, something tangible outside of his every day persona, then he could live with it. Yet, he continues to operate in the schism. As Anatoly, shockingly of all people, rightly points out-  there is no separation from the darkness. If it's in you, then it's in you. Oliver has GOT to deal with that. Every season, he fails to fully grasp the full picture, which is why a villain like Prometheus is so necessary.

Oliver could put on the hood and fight Malcolm, Slade, Ra's and Damien. He could continue to disassociate himself from the darkness inside via this other persona. However, Oliver can't do that with Prometheus because he is a villain created from the hood. There is no dissociation. It's like staring into a mirror every time the Green Arrow faces him.  

We can see this in the way Prometheus and the Green Arrow fight. They are evenly matched. We can barely distinguish one man from the other. It's almost like Oliver is fighting a reflection.

We've seen Oliver fight his reflection before. In Season 3. That time The Arrow fought Oliver Queen. 

Then, we watched Oliver lose himself inside the hood. 

He thought the only way to save the city was to become the mask entirely, and leave the man by the wayside. 

By the end of the season, he left the mask behind and embraced only the man. 

In Season 4, Oliver realized just being Oliver Queen was an incomplete picture as well (with some serious nudging from Felicity). 

Yet, he was unable to balance both sides.

And around and around and around we go.

Oliver begins to question things again we thought he already found the answer to. 

He challenges Diggle on the growth both men have fought for. Oliver fears all the trust, optimism and love he's opened himself up to has left him vulnerable. Instead of building a family, and a life, he's simply set up targets for his enemies to take down one by one. Targets. I remember a time when Oliver used that same word. 

See? This is what happens when you are separated from Felicity for too long Oliver.  We backslide into this nonsense again.

With Susan in danger, Oliver wonders aloud if he gave up the right to be with anyone when he put on the hood. Great. Didn’t we beat this topic to death enough in Season 3?

Diggle very clearly tells Oliver his connections are not targets. They are his humanity. 

We all have darkness inside, so what makes us human? Empathy, compassion, trust, forgiveness and love. These are the tethers that separate the light from the dark. No one can survive alone. At some point, at some time, we all need someone. We all need to love and be loved in return.

The five years Oliver was away he continually lost his tethers. Every time he tried to hold onto someone he lost them. When he lost a tether, Oliver didn't reach for a new one. Oliver cut himself off. Slowly, we are seeing the emergence of The Machine in the flashbacks.

Who would Oliver Queen be without John Diggle? 

Who would Oliver Queen be without Felicity Smoak? 

What separates Prometheus and the Green Arrow? 

The reason Simon Morrison is so angry with The Hood is because The Hood took his tether. Justin Claybourne may have been a bad man, but he was loved by someone. Simon loved his father. Talia Al Ghul loved her father. Just like Oliver Queen loved his.

Prometheus believes he's driving Oliver towards a truth.  This truth will consume Oliver like hell fire. It will never stop burning. It's what Prometheus wants more than anything else... even more than his own wife. When Diggle brings Doris to Adrian, we see the control break. For the first time, we see how deep the crazy crevice goes. We saw it coming. We knew Adrian was going to kill his wife. Yet, it's the act itself, the moment when he drives the dagger into her chest, that you realize this is a man who willingly cuts the tethers from his life, so he's free to be a monster.

I think whatever "truth" Prometheus is driving Oliver towards, is one Oliver has secretly feared for years.  We've seen this fear manifested in different ways and by different villains, but it all comes back to this one singular idea: Oliver fears the mask isn't The Green Arrow or The Arrow or The Hood. He's afraid the mask is Oliver Queen.

Adrian: If you kill me you’ll only really be killing yourself.

Every once and awhile, Arrow delivers an exceptional line. This line has so much meaning and encapsulates the final arc Oliver is evolving along. On the surface, Prometheus is speaking about Susan. If Oliver kills Prometheus, then Susan dies, and Oliver is destroyed. Susan will be one loss too many.

Give me a break. Prometheus knows Oliver Queen. He knows Susan's death isn't the key. Even Oliver can't rank Susan above Diggle, Felicity and William.

 "Checkmate" is an episode filled with double meaning dialogue, so what is Arrow really saying when Prometheus issues Oliver this warning?

If Prometheus is created from killing, then I don't believe the solution is for Oliver to kill Simon Morrison. Prometheus represents Oliver’s darkness. By killing Prometheus, Oliver will only be killing himself and this isn't about eradicating one side. This is about acceptance. The mask doesn’t have to be a manifestation of Oliver’s darkness. The mask can be the manifestation of Oliver’s goodness and light. But that only happens when Oliver stops fearing Oliver Queen. The only way to stop fearing Oliver Queen is to face the darkness. 

Yoda knows wassup.

But Oliver needs the strength to do it. 

The only way balance both sides, Oliver Queen and The Green Arrow, the only way to balance the light and the dark, is the tethers that hold him even and steady to the ground. It's these tethers that bridge the schism. It's these tethers that are Oliver's strength... and that's the difference between a villain and a superhero. A villain cannot even grasp the concept, 

while a superhero becomes the embodiment of it.

Olicity

Some may argue romance isn't part of superhero stories. I argue it's one of the most fundamental aspects of the genre. First, heroism is an act of love. It is unconditional, selfless, inspiring love. Second, a hero's journey requires belief. We have to believe in the hero for the story to have value.  Therefore, we have to understand who this person is. There is no better way to understand who someone is than to witness how they love. It's why in almost any iteration of the hero's journey there is a great love. The heart of the hero is revealed, so we can believe in the hero.

Oliver Queen loves Felicity Smoak. She is Oliver’s great love. Felicity Smoak loves Oliver Queen. He is Felicity’s great love. I believe this is a core tenet of the show. Arrow is always their most truthful, their most authentic, when they are keeping this tenet. These two heroes are their best selves when they are loving each other. They challenge and inspire one another, and in return, challenge and inspire us.

It's difficult to accept any other love interest because it flies in the face of this central tenet. Inevitably, other love interests are meant to reinforce Olicity. Some better than others. I think on some basic level Arrow knows this.  When the Arrow writers aren't invested in a character it's reflected in the writing. When we look at characters like Laurel, Whatshername, Billy and Snoozan, it's clear the writers aren't invested n them. The effort simply isn't there. It's almost impossible to ask your audience to exert more effort and investment in characters than the writers have. So, my level of investment in Snoozan is at the same level as the writers - which is next to nothing. I accept her as filler and rather enjoy snarking away at her any chance I get. Snark is its own form of entertainment.

What is so enjoyable about the Olicity scene in "Checkmate" is the return to a level of authenticity. I certainly appreciate the optimism Oliver had while attempting to find love again after Felicity. It showed growth and that's always a hard fought battle with Oliver Queen. However, these steps Oliver made don't move him any further from the truth, which is he loves Felicity. He loved her before Snoozan, he loved her while dating Snoozan, and he will love her after Snoozan. Yes, Oliver may care for Snoozan, but he will never care about her as much as he does for Felicity. Arrow acknowledges this singular truth in the scene between Oliver and Felicity and, for the first time in weeks, I can recognize Oliver again.

Felicity is MIA during the Snoozan kidnapping because she's getting the tour of Helix. After a dozen emergency texts from Curtis, she arrives in the bunker.

Oliver has said this twice and neither time has led to sex. So, I expect that to be remedied in Season 6.

Felicity is certain Oliver is angry. She is certain Oliver is going to yell, but he doesn't. Instead, Oliver calmly states she doesn't work for him. Oliver doesn't view Felicity as employee. He hasn't for years. 

Felicity his partner.  Oliver needs her. He depends on her. He misses Felicity when she's gone.  The team is less without her, and so is he, but Oliver fully recognizes Felicity is part of Team Arrow by choice. It's her decision to stand by him, but only she can determine what that looks like. It's a small, but gentle moment and a striking contrast to the jealous temper tantrum we saw only few years ago. There's a maturity in Oliver's response and an acknowledgment of Felicity's free will. THY NAME IS CHARACTER GROWTH.

Instead, Oliver tells Felicity he's worried. Oliver hasn't been oblivious to what's been going on with Felicity. Nor is this the first time he's tried to address it. It is, however, the first time he's tried to address it this way.

Felicity immediately assumes he's talking about Snoozan, because... why wouldn't he be? Snoozan is his girlfriend and she's been kidnapped. When Felicity addresses Oliver's worry as Snoozan, he casually brushes said girlfriend aside. Kidnapped girlfriend isn't on his radar, but it's true love!

Of course, Oliver wants to get Snoozan back. Of course, he's concerned about her safety, but the more pressing concern for him in this moment is what's going on with Felicity. Felicity is what he needs to talk about. Snoozan's life may be hanging in the balance, but it's Felicity who can't wait. Not anymore. He's already waited too long as it is.

Oliver gives a slight headshake like it's unfathomable that he could be talking about Susan right now. This is the Oliver I know. This is the real Oliver. This is the man who can only see Felicity. The man who's future is focused on her. The man who puts Felicity first. This is the hero I know. This is the hero I believe in.

Oliver firmly explains he's worried about her and a soft "oh" escapes from Felicity's mouth. 

It is both heartbreaking and overwhelming. It's a crack in the tough facade she's built up since Billy's death... since Havenrock... since her paralysis... since her father... since Oliver's lie...

Diggle tried talking to Felicity. Curtis tried talking to Felicity and yes, Oliver has tried talking to Felicity. Nothing has quite hit the mark like, "I'm worried about you." She's touched Oliver is worried. Felicity is touched Oliver thinks about her... still.

The heartbreaking part is she sounds a little surprised. Felicity is surprised Oliver still thinks about her. She's a little surprised he worries about her because it feels like all evidence to the contrary. They both agreed to move on. While her attempt to move on is six feet under, Oliver's is alive and well. At least for now. There was a time Felicity Smoak knew she was Oliver's first thought and priority, but now she actually believes Susan comes first. As inauthentic as his relationship with Susan is, Felicity buys it. Even though we closed the distance a little we still have a ways to go.

"I'm worried about you."

There's an intimacy to those words. Four words and the distance between them is closed a little more. It's not a casual statement, but it's not a lecture either. It's Oliver reaching out with an open hand, asking Felicity to reach back.

Instead of talking around it by saying she's better than him, instead of quizzical little looks, but no words, Oliver lays it out for Felicity. He knows something is going on with her. He knows she's into something she's not telling him. He knows.

Oliver finally stops dancing around it, but also acknowledges he might be the only one out of the loop. It couldn't have been easy for Oliver to acknowledge he might be the only one Felicity isn't telling. Since, he can recognize the possibility then I believe Oliver can also understand why that may be. The why is something he's earned. Oliver wasn't honest with Felicity.  He broke the trust first. This distance between them is one he created.

It's why his remark about honesty is so pointed. Oliver and Felicity are emotional wreckage from the crash that was William. It was a lie so big it broke them and they couldn't see their way back together (not yet). Oliver understands the cost of lies perhaps better than anyone else. He lost the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. The price for lying to Felicity is too high, which is why Oliver promised to never lie to her again.

Except... Felicity didn't make the same promise to Oliver. She didn't promise to never lie. Felicity may not view Helix as a lie, but rather an omission. Oliver played the game last year with William too. William was a lie of omission. Same difference from my standpoint. A lie is lie.  The point is, the wreckage from a lie, no matter the reason and no matter who does the lying, will always been the same between them. The cost will always be too high.

Granted, the situations are not apples to apples. Oliver and Felicity are not engaged. They aren't even together. 

As Felicity explained to Curtis, she's a grown woman who can live her life how she wants. 

Whether Felicity owes Oliver the truth about Helix the way he owed her the truth about William is debatable. However, their lives are not completely independent. They are still crime fighting partners and this arrangement with Helix impacts the team. So, in that sense, yes Felicity does owe Oliver the truth.

But there's something more basic here that Oliver is driving at with "I'm worried about you." What happens to Felicity impacts him. Whether they are together or not, engaged or not, married or not... Oliver cares about Felicity. He worries about her. HE LOVES HER. Oliver not only wants to know... he needs to know. That's what love is. This tether between them can never be severed. If the distance between them, that makes working together bearable , means he can't know then Oliver wants no part of that. It's enough to push him towards Felicity. It's enough for Oliver to make the attempt to bridge the gap.

Oliver may be reaching for Felicity, but she's not ready to reach back. Not yet... and that's okay. This road Felicity is on is one she has to travel alone for awhile. She needs to spiral deeper. Is Felicity being a hypocrite? I don't think it makes her a hypocrite to withhold trust and truth from Oliver when he refused to give those things to her first.  There's only so many times Felicity can give and not receive. This is what the wreckage of a big lie looks like. Putting the pieces together isn't always clean. Walking in each other's shoes isn't always a gentle path.

But they are walking in each other's shoes. Oliver is feeling what it's like to be shut out,  lied to, and isolated from the person you love most in the world. Felicity isn't ready to tell Oliver the truth, and for the first time, he knows what it feels like not to be completely trusted by her. Whatever her reasons are, refusing to tell Oliver the truth is an issue of trust. Just like William was an issue of trust. Felicity doesn't believe Oliver will understand about Helix. The same way Oliver didn't believe Felicity would understand about William.

As for Felicity, she's able to rationalize this lie the same way Oliver was able to rationalize William. Oliver thought he was serving the greater good - ensuring a relationship with his son and keeping him safe (yeah that reason still makes me want to pull my hair out.) Felicity's deeper spiral into Helix isn't born out of revenge, but compassion. She thinks she's serving the greater good. Felicity agrees to quid pro quo to save her ex fiancé's soon to be ex girlfriend. ACTUAL ANGEL. Felicity's empathy is her real superpower. Her good heart leads her into deeper water with Helix.

And it will lead her in deeper still. Now that Prometheus has Oliver, Felicity will go to the ends of the earth for him. There is no hell she won't walk through to save the man she loves. 

Felicity isn’t being played by Helix. She’s simply not asking the question, because she doesn’t want to know the answer. Felicity will rationalize the ends justify the means, just like Oliver did with William. She is ignoring the potential looming consequences because she believes Helix is necessary. Just like Oliver believed lying about William was necessary, while ignoring the looming consequences. This doesn’t excuse Oliver’s behavior anymore than it does Felicity’s, but rather gives Felicity a bettering understand of Oliver’s choices. Understanding doesn't excuse behavior, but it can lead to empathy, which opens the door to forgiveness.

Something, extraordinatory happens at the end of their conversation. Felicity asks Oliver to trust her... and he says okay. Oliver gives trust when he’s not receiving any back. Oliver is the one who bends. Their roles are so beautifully reversed.

Trust is all she ever asked of him. 

And bit by bit, Oliver is understanding the reality of what that word really means.

When Oliver rescues Susan it's such a stark difference from the times he's rescued Felicity. It’s Chanel versus Walmart in any circumstance when comparing Felicity and Snoozan 

When Oliver rescued Felicity he couldn't leave her side. 

Oliver needed to hold Felicity, 

to feel her breath against his skin, 

and know for certain she was alive. 

That's what love is. It's the need to hold on and never let go. 

After the obligatory, "Are you okay?" Oliver barely glances at Susan. 

Refrigerators have opened their arms to me with warmer greetings than Oliver gave Snoozan in that elevator.  Finally, it felt like an honest reaction to Susan from Oliver. I cackled. Glorious.

There is no reason for Oliver to be so cold and aloof. Susan knows he's the Green Arrow.  Perhaps, Oliver is already shutting down and pushing away those "targets" he'd opened his heart to. That's the thing though...  you can't shut down love. You can't push it away.

You always come back.

The connection is always there 

because you need it.

It's the air you breathe. 

It gives you peace.

It challenges you to be better.

It makes you dream.

It gives you strength.

It helps you hold on in moments of despair.

It’s the light in the dark.

It's what makes you human.  

Oliver can let Snoozan go because he can’t hold on to what was never there. It’s Felicity. She’s the one Oliver can’t let go of. Felicity is the tether Oliver can't cut loose.

Times by Tenth Avenue North

I hear You say, My love is over It's underneath It's inside It's in between The times you doubt Me, when you can't feel The times that you question, Is this for real? The times you're broken The times that you mend The times that you hate Me, and the times that you bend Well, My love is over, it's underneath It's inside, it's in between These times you're healing, and when your heart breaks The times that you feel like you're falling from grace The times you're hurting The times that you heal The times you go hungry, and are tempted to steal The times of confusion, in chaos and pain I'm there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame I'm there through your heartache I'm there in the storm My love I will keep you, by My pow'r alone I don't care where you fall, where you have been I'll never forsake you, My love never ends It never ends

Stray Thoughts

Nobody told me we were calling her Snoozan. Ya gotta tell me this stuff guys. I could have been snarky about her name for weeks now. 

 “I don’t know what I was thinking dating Susan.” We’ve only been screaming that at you Oliver for 10 episodes, but happy to have you on board.

Anatoly must be protected at all costs.

Seriously. All costs.

Dinah calling Rene "Lassie" wins everything.

Were we supposed to take a shot every time Quentin said, “Son of a bitch”?

“Susan’s fine by the way.” Ha! Even Chase knows Oliver really doesn't give a crap about Snoozan.

Oliver fears he destroys lives, so he destroys stuff. A little subtly wouldn’t kill you Arrow. Let’s try new things! Btw, that looked like a really nice TV Oliver. Calm down bro.

Curtis' T-spheres are more helpful than Mr. Terrific. So, can we just send the T-spheres with Dinah and Curtis can stay in the bunker? Or better yet go back to Palmer Tech?

This is how not chill Arrow is about Olicity’s endgame. The writers can’t stop themselves from inserting Felicity into flashbacks because ENDGAME and CONTINUITY and DESTINY and all those other words that are like crack to a writer. They want Oliver’s flashback journey to be leading to Felicity like his present day journey. (Sorry L*urel. Cue awkwardness). This was the plan with L*urel but then she was awful and Felicity was AMAZING, so TA DA. They’d like us to pretend that Olicity was the Plan A couple all along (L*uriver was just a bad dream) and that’s fine by me! Continue lack of chill.

Oliver is tied up in chains and shirtless next week. This is "Back to Basics" I can support.

I wonder if Prometheus needs someone to throw water on Oliver.