#rewatching the whole show.. it feels deliberate

[ayoarticulate]

okay y’all… i finished.

spoilers but not really under the cut, more so my thoughts and feelings

i wanna start by saying this. i absolutely love the bear and its cast and its crew

this season… i’m not feeling it. it’s the bear so it’s moderately better than most shows out right now, but in comparison to the former seasons? this being the season following season TWO?? it just doesn’t hold up all together!

it feels a bit aimless to me. the episodes very loosely fit together and direct each other. last season, we could really feel how each episode came together to make the one season, but i’m just not getting that for this season. it feels slow but fast? like we’re skipping a whole lot, and it’s always been a show with flashbacks but this season it’s relying on them entirely too much

saying this from a completely non sydcarmy perspective, if you can believe it, but there’s?? hardly any convo between syd and carmy?? this season?? like on any level. it feels so out of place. we get absolutely nothing of carmy visiting sugar after having her baby, which let’s face it, she absolutely would harangue carmy to do.

and before anybody comes to me talking about the ending of the last episode, yes i understand the deliberate decision of adding the TBC. it’s supposed to feel unfinished and like there’s more to said.

that being said, it doesn’t feel unfinished because it doesn’t feel like anything got started! it feels like… there was nothing going on except for carmy being a hard ass and not really changing anything about it.

idk. i’m gonna rewatch tmr a little bit slower and try to really get into it and get the little pieces, but im simply not that… idk. i don’t feel how i thought id feel i guess

[youmakethelight]

Ever since I've started paying more deliberate attention to caryl since watching season 10 for the first time a few months ago, and now in my rewatch of the whole show, every time I look at Carol looking at Daryl I am just seeing my babygirl absolutely in love.

She looks at him in the background of every scene no joke. Beth's singing when they arrive at the prison and everyone's having a moment and what's Carol doing? Looking at Daryl. Making eggs for the whole group - who's she looking at while they eat?? DARYL. The group just found out Rick didn't tell them all what Jenner told him at the CDC - what does Carol do? LOok aT DARYL.

My girl is IN LoVe.

Her face looking at Daryl throughout season 10 is just constant pain. Platonic friends don't look at each other longingly like Carol looks at Daryl my GOODNESS. When he shows up at her cottage in season 7, she practically melts into him. Istg she was dtf I feel almost like I was intruding.

[utilitycaster]

Three other thoughts:

Finally getting around to rewatching the fight. Orym hits Laudna four times. Three are without seeing who it is (she drops Darkness after the third hit, only because she loses concentration). The fourth is after he attempts to take the sword with Grasping Vine (would not deal damage) and Laudna counterspells it. He attacks Laudna once knowingly and only after attempting an option that would not be an attack, and the main goal is disarmament.

In talking warlock comparisons I really do feel like some people do not split "I enjoy this character's choices as a character in the story being told," "I think this character is morally right in their choices," and "I understand why this character is making these choices." Like, to be clear, Fjord is my favorite character. I think if he'd unsealed Uk'otoa during Campaign 2, it would have been narratively fantastic, extremely understandable, and also like, a really bad thing to do. Similarly, this was a banger choice from Marisha to do as Laudna, and I understand where she's coming from, but yeah it's not morally defensible. My comparisons between Laudna and Fjord have always been "if you have an evil patron telling you to do bad things you have to either actively lean in or actively lean out for the story to be good," and personally I do not actually care if the character makes morally good or bad decisions. I happen to think Orym has pretty consistently been morally in the right, but a big part of why I like him is that Liam made a guy whose whole thing is Trying To Do Good By Those He Lost and so this ties in narratively as well. As I said about villain stans, I don't care if you stan villains; I start minding if you do so by trying to twist the story into a pretzel by deliberately (or through stupidity, to be fair) treating them as the good guy.

it continues to be the funniest shit when the no-brains anti-god squad sees literally any character go "I don't much care for the gods personally" and be like SEE THE BAD GUYS ARE THE VANGUARD AND IMPERIUM ONLY even though it's quite a leap from "I don't care about this group" to "they should be annihilated" and then when one of the gods sends a sign to a member of Bells Hells and is like "hi, you're doing great" they're either like well the god didn't show up to the party member I care about so this doesn't matter, or simply do not at any point address it.

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Because I just finished a Rebels rewatch on the same night I came across a few of @heyclickadee 's posts about Tech, I've been thinking about the impact of Tech's sacrifice on the Bad Batch narrative in comparison to other Star Wars character sacrifices.

(I'm not discussing the depiction of the impact of the loss on the other characters/their grief because that's a whole other essay.)

Kanan's sacrifice is deliberately shown to hold weight through the rest of the narrative in many ways, including:

The mission to halt production of the TIEs ends up being a success thanks to him (kinda poor consolation in light of his death, but still... And it even indirectly leads to the success of the mission to rout the Imperials from Lothal because Pryce becomes desperate enough that she makes critical mistakes)

Palpatine himself says there was a disturbance in the Force and the fate of Lothal was altered by Kanan's death

Drives Ezra and the team to listen to the Loth wolves, stopping Palpatine from accessing the WBW AND saving Ahsoka

Seriously, the number of times Ezra refers to lessons Kanan taught him as he navigates events between "Jedi Night" and the finale...

Influences Ezra's choice to not give in to Palpatine's temptation

Drives Ezra to sacrifice himself to defeat Thrawn and save Lothal

Fives' sacrifice (yes, I'm counting the time/effort/significant risks he took to uncover the conspiracy as a sacrifice) is deliberately credited and holds weight through the rest of the narrative and beyond by:

Cluing Rex in on the presence of the inhibitor chips

Which saves Ahsoka's and Rex's lives

Which saves Clone Force 99's lives (among others)

Now, WE know Tech's sacrifice does allow his family to live which ultimately leads to their retirement and finding peace on Pabu; however, the show itself never credits Tech for this outcome. Instead, most references to Tech in season 3 by his brothers indicate how much his absence is negatively impacting their progress in attaining this goal; Omega has one opportunity to credit Tech for teaching her the squad plans, and Phee has one opportunity to reference Tech as an individual who had actual conversations about his family.

Basically, the show doesn't end up allowing Tech's sacrifice to hold the narrative weight and impact it could easily have had, which makes it feel rather less than final. And since it doesn't feel final, I choose to interpret this as yet another indicator that, whatever may or may not have happened behind the scenes for season 3 and whatever future plans Lucasfilm may have, Tech was meant to live and there's still plenty of leeway left for him to return.

[a-couple-of-notes]

OKAY what a finale, folks! Deliberately not reading everyone else's thoughts until later (although I did chat briefly with @kshaar -- thank you for enduring my walls of Discord text), but I'm beginning my processing by writing this out.

I have a few issues with how all of this played out, as I'm sure many of you do, but I mostly really liked this finale. I'm so, so aware that it's hard to stick a landing--especially in a fandom as theory-heavy as Marvel, with the dedication of the queer fanbase on top of it. I think it's commendable how much they executed well, and how deliberately they aligned it with their vision of the show, not the one that would make everyone happy (if there is such a thing).

To the stuff I liked: unpopular opinion, but I like the order of the episodes as it is--final big boss fight first, quiet intimate flashback as the finale. Or, at least, I see the vision--I'm still iffy on whether the pacing actually feels good, but that probably needs another rewatch. This show has always been about unpacking Agatha, peeling off her masks until we get to some kind of truth, ugly or beautiful or both. Of course the ending is the truest thing we've ever gotten out of Agatha--the real story of her son and his death.

I loved everything about Nicky, Rio, and Agatha in the flashback. It is so beautifully mundane. A mother's love. A natural death. Selfishness. Grief. Anger. It's gorgeous, and the version of the ballad we got felt so, so fitting.

Everything about Jen! That unbinding spell...whoo. Sasheer Zamata knocked it out of the goddamn park with her performance--the joy, the sorrow, the agony of relief. Man. Even if the rest of the finale flopped on its belly (which it didn't), that alone would have been worth the price of admission. (Also ALSO: Agatha hate-flirting with Jen over confession of horrible traumatic action that fucked up Jen's whole shit! The Jen/Agatha truthers win!)

Alice. Alice my beloved. Ali Ahn, you do so much with the little screen time you have and I applaud you for it. I'm very grateful their cap on her arc was "I could make my life mean something/you're a protection witch. You died protecting someone" and not "you get to see your mother again" because, as I pointed out in the tags of one of my previous posts, that's the real tragedy of Alice. Her life, her freedom, her potential.

To the things I'm mixed on: that final battle, man. I think they did an admirable job of focusing what could have been a generic Marvel magic-blast-y slugfest into distinct character beats, but there was a lot going on in that fight. And compared to previous Rio and Agatha interactions, their big climactic one felt a little...weightless. Those factors make it much less clear why Agatha and Rio are fighting--like, on an emotional level; I understand intellectually why--which means that what also feels unclear is...

...The not-a-sacrifice. I like 90% of this. I like that Billy is finally able to communicate with Agatha via mind powers, because he's started to accept how alike they are. I like that Nicky is once again Agatha's turning point. I even can get behind the sacrifice as the creators' intention--not what I would have preferred, but a solid narrative choice nonetheless. Still, I am super unclear what, exactly, Agatha is thinking when she turns around. Is she just remembering Nicky himself--how much Billy is like him and how ashamed she would be if she left? If so, it feels odd that Agatha's version of sacrifice is kissing Rio so honestly. Later, we learn that Agatha was taking a risk to become a ghost. So when Billy asks how Nicky died, is Agatha remembering how Rio gave him time--the kiss as a fucked-up version of recognition, the risk being Agatha relying on Death's special treatment once again? That would be a better end to Agatha and Rio's arc, but there's no expository line, no echoing "I can only offer time." And Agatha and Rio. DON'T. TALK. IN PRESENT-DAY EPISODE 9.

This is my main gripe. I am aware I am griping with Megalopolis and FFC, not the show or its creators. But goddamn if more Aubrey Plaza would have fixed almost everything in that finale--and I mean this in a narrative sense, not just because I love Aubrey Plaza. It would have clarified where Agatha is ending re: her relationship with Rio (and Nicky), and it would have bookended the first episode so well (the three-player drama returns!) I am actually irritated about this.

Ghost Agatha looks so goofy. Like, I understand the vision here--the parallels to her mother, and of course Agatha would find a way to piss off Rio in her own domain. It's iconic. Still. There's something about Ghost!Agatha that's so much harder to buy into on a gut level, a kind of emotional distance created in such an emotional, tactile show.

Billy. Oh, Billy. I like your arc. I like its execution, while heaving a grudging sigh of "yeah, that makes sense for this story but I'm still kind of disappointed" re: the creation of the Witches' Road. I love the idea that Billy's ultimate arc was to accept the darkness in himself, and all the things he's capable of. But I really, really wish Agatha had had one more conversation with...not you. (Agatha naturally falls into a mentor-type role for Billy, which isn't necessarily bad or not part of her arc, but does at least lead to me feeling like we don't get an endpoint for Agatha in present day that's entirely her own.)

And I suppose that's the crux of my mixed feelings: the show began with Agatha asking who she was, before Billy even came into the picture. The viewers get to see a glimpse into Agatha's real self in the Ep. 9 flashback. But at the end of episode 9, Agatha is still running from it. She's barely touched her own grief (yes, yes, insert joke about Rio here), and we don't see her making that choice. I emphasize that because I am not categorically opposed to Agatha not completing her grief arc; god knows 9 episodes would have struggled to do that. I'm fine that they left some threads hanging. It's just that something in between Agatha (not-)sacrificing and Agatha coming back as affably-evil Casper is missing, and it feels like a gaping omission.

Other notes: Billy dramatically charging up the hex to create a memorial was great--another way the finale lets us into the beauty of the mundane. It's not to bring everyone back, or go down the Road again. But it's important, this act of remembering.

Though I'm disappointed we didn't get found family coven true, I'm at peace with how that thread wound up. This was a show about Agatha; the coven as individuals act as foils and reflections of her. They break and succeed in similar ways as Agatha. And they were a coven--a messed-up, broken coven who tried their best. It wasn't enough to save them, but it was enough for them to grow closer to the people they wanted to be. Agatha using something from every witch in her coven--Alice's protection spell, Lilia's divination, Jen's healing--in the fight was truly poignant, and tells me she'll remember them and carry them forward. (Also, the contrast against the flashback! "I cannot heal, I cannot protect you from what's coming, and I cannot divine when she'll come for you." Agatha needed them to be her coven! And they were. And they were.)

Final thoughts: (This is a misnomer; I'm still digesting.) Agatha All Along became a more complex, difficult show than I thought it would be pre-Episode 5. Occasionally this meant it disappointed me, had places where its budget, scheduling, Marvel-ness, and decisions regarding exposition struggled to connect things, but overall, it's a damn good show. And I would rather see a funny, challenging, ambitious show made with love for the craft than a safe, big-budget, chopped-up Marvel movie in a blender. And hey, it was super gay! (Please don't come near me with the "Bury Your Gays" stuff. Please. It's not that, I promise you.)

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 38 part one

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)  (whole thing on AO3)  

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!  

OK But Why?

This tale-within-a-tale is excruciating, yeah? So let's start off by considering why it even exists. Yi City feels like, if not a fully separate story, a pretty complete arc that can play as its own little movie. And it's incredibly sad, in every direction. While it may have begun life, in its originally-written form, as a different story exploring some of the same themes, MXTX placed it in the novel deliberately, and the producers of CQL included it deliberately. Why? Other than the, you know, catharsis of a well-wrought tragedy?

I think the answer is that it tells a set of parallel stories, alternate versions of the stories our main characters inhabit, with different outcomes driven by the character's choices. There's an obvious parallel between Lan Wangji's grief and Song Lan's, and another clear one between Wei Wuxian's core donation and Xiao Xingchen's eyeball donation. 

And there's an important comparison to be made between Xue Yang and Wei Wuxian, two demonic cultivators. They share some formative experiences, but have followed radically different paths, shaped, at a key moment, by another person's choice. 

Overall, the Yi City story illustrates how choices made in a moment affect not just an individual life, but ripple outward into other lives. So be prepared for me to point out parallels even more than usual, as we go through these episodes.

Empathy

We start off learning about Empathy and how it’s sooper dangerous, which means of course Wei Wuxian is totally down for it and probably invented it.  He gathers the kids around and assigns Jin Ling to be the person in charge of supervising and deciding when to pull him out of the matrix link. 

Jin Ling is surprised and reluctant so teacher’s pet Sizhui jumps forward and volunteers. 

Wei Wuxian asks Jin Ling for his Jiang clarity bell, which is on a tassel that used to be Jiang Yanli’s. 

(more behind the cut!)

Once the bell/tassel is out of Jin Ling’s hand, however, he changes his mind and snatches it, and the responsibility, back. 

It seems like Sizhui might recognize this tassel? 

It’s like the one Jiang Yanli gave Wei Wuxian when they met up before her wedding, which means Wei Wuxian would have had it with him during their year in the burial mounds. 

Jingyi disapproves of Jin Ling’s mind-changing, which is a little unfair since JL didn’t actually say “no” prior to Sizhui putting in his oar. (Sizhui is entirely loveable, but he is also a pushy brown-noser just like Lan Wangji was at his age. He just does it so sweetly that nobody minds.)

Sizhui, also like his Lan dad, has made it his life’s mission to manage a loudmouth hothead’s temper for him. 

Heading into empathy with A-Qing, we get flashes of bits of the story that we're about to see in depth. Then we jump to "ten years ago" which, given the way this series does math, probably means seven years ago.

Side note: A-Qing has managed to keep her hair looking pretty cute despite being 90% dead. 

Splish Splash

This particular section of the Wuxia River of Sadness is reserved for people who are contemplating the total mess they have made of their lives (gifset here), but A-Qing didn't get that memo, so she's having a nice time splashing joyfully without a care in the world.

A-Qing isn't about drama or being depressed, even when things are pretty difficult. She has found a big rock to sit on and is having a nice day hanging out on it.  

Then she goes skipping along singing "la la la la" (which is the same sound in Chinese as we make in English when we're singing and don't know the words, incidentally). Ok, show, we get it, she's happy and carefree. I sure hope she doesn't get involved in any weird relationships.

Grifting

She sees a couple of women walking on the path and she starts pretending to be blind. In the book, this pretense was facilitated by her having completely white eyes, but in the show she has normal brown eyes, until she actually is blinded by Xue Yang. So her entire pretense of being blind is to unfocus her eyes a bit and wave her hands around...

...with frequent intervals where she thinks no-one is watching her, and she acts 100% like she can see. Somehow she is almost never busted for this. 

The ladies give her a steamed bun and whisper loudly to each other about how pitiful she is. 

Then she heads into town for a little grifting, picking a wealthy douchebag as a mark. She bumps into him and steals his money bag, which he doesn't notice because he's too busy creeping on her. 

She's annoyed and disappointed that he doesn't have a lot of money.

Hey Pretty, Don’t You Want To Take a Ride With Me

Next she bumps into (and robs) Xiao Xingchen, who is actually blind, so he doesn’t notice her noticing how extremely pretty he is. 

He does notice that she has robbed him, however. 

Did you know if you have your eyes removed or even just damaged so you can't see any more, your eye sockets and/or tear ducts will bleed pretty much forever? Yeah, me neither. 

Xiao Xingchen immediately takes charge of A-Qing, telling her to walk more slowly and then telling her - kindly - to return his money purse. Before she can answer him, the rich douchebag comes back to yell at her and try to hit her. Xiao Xingchen stops him and smooths over the situation, and then lectures Ah Qing about stealing and how it's bad. But he tells her to keep his money, so - mixed messages, bro. 

She calls him gege and says that since he's blind and she's blind, she's going to follow him forever. He’s like, okey dokey, and they walk off together. Is she really the first person (since Song Lan) who’s had this idea about him? He is *very* pretty, after all.

It's unclear to me if she's calling him gege in the sense of “orphan girl who wants a family,” or in the sense of “mostly-grown-up woman who would like to Hit That.” Xiao Xingchen appears to take it as the former; he is too gay virtuous for the other option.

Two seconds after they decide to stay together, they encounter Xue Yang lying injured by the side of the road. A-Qing pretends she didn’t see him, and almost successfully wangles a piggyback ride out of Xiao Xingchen. 

But then he hears Xue Yang and immediately decides to rescue him, like the do-gooder Xue Yang despises him for being.

Xue Yang gets the romance-tropey piggyback ride that A-Qing was hoping for. Girl, the time to stop trying to seduce your gay male friend is 5 minutes before you started, ok?  

So...why was Xue Yang lying by the side of the road with a stab wound? Who gave it to him? If Jin Guangyao was sick of him, he would have stabbed him 100% fatally, and he wouldn't have let him hang on to Tiger Seal 2.0. And presumably Xue Yang wouldn’t think of him as a friend any more. It’s a mystery.

The new throuple decide to go to the creepiest abandoned walled city that has ever existed, and head past all the regular houses to set up camp in the morgue, for some reason. Not even inside one of the buildings; just out in the courtyard with a bunch of possibly-occupied coffins. Xiao Xingchen is so fucking weird. 

Each Unhappy Family is Unhappy in its Own Way

Xiao Xingchen gets to work patching Xue Yang up, and Xue Yang wakes up and recognizes him. A-Qing explains that they are blind and tells him not to be rude about it.

Xue Yang takes a second to process the situation, and then decided he’s going to hide his identity and make nice with Xiao Xingchen. Proving that found family can also have hideous toxic dynamics.

Xue Yang is very careful to keep XXC from touching his hand, since that would give away his identity. He has a...prosthetic finger? He wears a black glove and keeps his pinky finger straight so we know it's a replacement, or injured, or something. 

I think this is a concession to Wang Haoxuan having ten functional fingers and the show having a limited CGI budget. In a real sword-based society, missing a finger is probably not particularly uncommon, and he would probably just rock the nine-fingered look without having a special glove.

At this point, the complex interactions of the trio get rolling. Xiao Xingchen is honestly kind, Xue Yang is fake-kind, A-Qing is fake-unaware with Xue Yang and is unable to make Xiao Xingchen understand the problem, and Xiao Xingchen is genuinely unaware of everything. 

We spend a fairly large amount of time with Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen playing happy families. As part of his false persona, Xue Yang adopts a coy and whiny tone when talking to his pet white-clad cultivator, remarkably like another demonic cultivator we know.

I’m pretty sure Wei Wuxian has never managed to cop a feel while his sweetie climbs up a ladder, however. 

Then again, neither Lan Wangji nor Wei Wuxian has ever needed a ladder to get onto a roof, so maybe it’s just a lack of opportunity. 

This relationship, on the surface, is cute and sweet, which just makes the reality of it more disturbing. It’s super uncomfortable to watch, but there’s more than manipulation happening in these interactions. As Xue Yang flits around doing domestic tasks like patching the roof of the crappy outdoor shelter that they absolutely do not need to be using, he tells Xiao Xingchen various true things about his early life, and we begin to see what shaped him. 

Xue Yang (like OP) is obsessed with candy. In Xue Yang’s case, he was a hungry street kid who loved candy but couldn’t usually have it because of poverty. We learn that he has skills in patching up inadequate housing because he did it growing up. 

And we learn that he was beaten a lot. 

So he and Wei Wuxian have these things in common - except now Wei Wuxian gets his sugar from alcohol, not from candy. And Wei Wuxian’s handyman skills are used to make a home for his former enemies in the burial grounds, while Xue Yang’s are used - also in a cemetery, of sorts - to manipulate and trap his enemy. 

I Want Candy

In classic predator form, Xue Yang uses candy to lure A-Qing into coming within stabbing range, because he thinks she’s faking her blindness and wants to test her.  

I find him super attractive right here in spite of his evilness. I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s offering candy. (OP goes and gets a jolly rancher out of her purse). 

After calling her over, he draws his sword with a super-loud "sshshk" noise that she inexplicably doesn't notice, and she bravely walks up to, and nearly on to, the point of the sword. 

This shocks him and convinces him that she's really blind. He sits her down with apparently sincere gentleness, and gives her candy, while quizzing her about her hot gege.

A-Qing tries to warn Xiao Xingchen about Xue Yang being a bad guy, pointing out that he's a cultivator and won't tell them his name. (She can’t say “also he tried to stab me” because she’d have to come clean about being able to see.) Xiao Xingchen, because he is a condescending prick--albeit a very sweet one--pats her on the fucking head and laughs off her extremely useful warning. 

Xiao Xingchen came out into the wider world with a set of ideals that he lives by, apparently without examining them. He’s humble, kind, frugal, and wants to eradicate evil. He also believes that the majority of people are good like him, and that detecting evil is simple--as simple as following his sword toward it. He doesn’t allow A-Qing, who is experienced in the wider world, to teach him anything, preferring to keep his ideals untarnished.

Contrast this with Lan Wangji, who also starts his journey into the wider world with a set of ideals (codified as rules), but does not make the mistake of assuming that other people shares his beliefs. Once he’s away from the Cloud Recesses, he follows Wei Wuxian’s lead when dealing with new people, rather than insisting on doing things the way he did back home. In general, he is open to having his beliefs challenged, even when it makes him upset or uncomfortable. As a result, he grows into a righteous man, not a naïve one, and he’s fully capable of identifying enemies even when they appear to be friends.

Bonus: 

In this brief long-distance shot we learn that A-Qing sleeps in a coffin, which is some next level goth girl shit. 

Soundtrack: 1. Hey Pretty by Poe 2. I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow 3. Cheap Thrills by Sia

[billpottsismygf]

There's so much to process that I don't even know where to start. Just off the bat, it was a very fun and very campy episode. I imagine there will be a lot of people annoyed at some of the goofier elements (eg. lava erupting just under the streets, then knitting right back together), but I don't mind a bit of goofiness and it felt enjoyable the whole way through.

All the moments between Donna and the Doctor were so great. I love how much Donna is still just Donna at heart, even if she's forgotten things. The little quiet moment after she says she wanted to "be like him" was especially effective.

Rose is great, too. I love that her first instinct was to hide and help the Meep. I also love that her transness is important to her character, and that the show isn't shying away from unapologetically depicting a trans teenager. I do think some of the stuff that comes later is a little clumsy, however.

Onto that, I'm fine with the idea that Donna having a child has diluted the metacrisis enough for them both to survive a little longer with it. The weird parts were:

1) The suggestion that it works because the DoctorDonna is binary (a man and a woman), while Rose is non-binary. Is that suggesting that she's trans because of the metacrisis? That the metacrisis is only safe because she's trans? Both of those seem weird. Why is gender at all relevant to how safe/balanced the metacrisis is? I need to rewatch it and see if it's more coherent on second view, but on first viewing it just seemed like a dumb way to make Donna's "binary binary binary" breakdown have more meaning than it does.

2) The whole bit about them being able to just let the metacrisis go. How come they can just let it go? Again, why the focus on the Doctor being "male presenting"? Why the bit about only women knowing how to let things go?

I want to be really clear that I very much appreciate RTD putting trans themes so front and centre in Doctor Who, and I will be vehemently defending it against anyone who tries to be transphobic about it. Unfortunately, I just think it's a little clumsy in parts of this episode.

Small things:

Beep the Meep was adorable, and then adorably evil. We love the Meep.

Shirley's weapons-firing wheelchair was amazing, and I like her character so far. Is she Osgood's replacement? She feels like the deliberate antithesis of Osgood, who was such a fangirl of the Doctor, while Shirley pointedly doesn't care. I do actually love Osgood, so I'll be sad if she's not around anymore, but hey ho.

I like that Donna is in such a stable and loving relationship with Shaun. After all her troubles with men in previous series, it's nice seeing her loved and appreciated.

What the hell was going on with the sonic this episode? I don't like the sonic being too overpowered generally, and suddenly the Doctor is capable of creating bullet proof shields out of thin air with it? And crumbling brick walls in seconds? It's not a magic wand!

That new TARDIS interior is absolutely huge. I love the classic design, but I'm not sure that such a stark look works when it's so enormous. If it's going to be that big, I'd rather it had a little more going on. I do like the colour-changing lights, though!

Meep said they were going to tell "the Boss", which immediately made me think of the Toymaker, which then immediately made me realise that Rose is also a toymaker. Is that going to be relevant? It's definitely deliberate. (Sidenote, her cyberman and ood are adorable and I would absolutely buy them.)

[dhmis-autism]

what’s the biggest mischaracterisation of each character that you feel like you ‘suffer’ from the most? obviously no disrespect to ppl who do characterise them in certain ways! :] this is just out of curiosity…your thoughts are so intriguing:]

I am so sorry I am about to get so unbelievably bitchy and prissy and fussy. I have thought SO much about this question and I have also SEEN so many interpretations of my boys that I completely disagreed with.  Like you said though, clearly, no disrespect to people who characterize them this way! I know I am a very picky, persnickety bitch.

Anyways. Best boy up first.

 Duck mischaracterizations that I hate:

- him being super effeminate and given like an hourglass figure and human woman legs. like what.

- him being feminine being like, his whole personality. I loathe when people just start writing him like a super twinky, aave spitting gay. It’s really fucking weird can you all be normal about him wearing a dress ONE time please. LIKE HES JUST A NORMAL GUY. OK. GOD

- written as a bitchy or abusive mother/parental figure ( specifically towards YG. why.)

- him being super loud and just constantly spouting verbal/physical abuse at the other two (girl he is much quieter than you remember and he insults them like. twice. in 6 episodes. get real.)

- I hate hate hate when people act like RG is his whole world and have him ignore YG/act like he doesnt exist

- him being written as deliberately manipulating the other two, sometimes even like. physically self-harming in order to do so?? like oh my god. he would NOT fucking do that.

- him being written as totally HATING yellow guy and just constantly acting like hes a burden (I’ll actually kill over this one. how dare you. biting)

- weird thing I’ve noticed where people will make him refer to himself as 'the smart/intelligent one' of the group (something he's never done) but then like. the narrative/author will legitimately treat him like he IS very smart. like. no he is not.

- having him take YGs batteries out of sheer malice / ( ABLEISM(??)) and like. hate.  and somehow forgetting how hard he was freaking out that his friend was different earlier in the episode???????

- him being in a nuclear family situation with red with YG as their "son" . like 1. he is NOT a good dad and would not be a good one. 2. he SAID how he feels about that boy if you cant accept dad dog duo as a dad dog duo you do not deserve them

- writing him as CONSTANTLY ANGRY/PISSED OFF oh it makes me wanna shake people by the shoulders and SCREAM like!! Rewatch the show!! Baker Terry did not give us that bizarre and soft and joyous performance for you to write him like Squidward in a yaoi!!!! I’ll KILL YOU!!!!!!! HE IS AN UPBEAT PESSIMIST!!! A CHEERY DEFEATIST!!!!! I’LL GNAW YOUR BONES TO DUST!!!!

- when people make him skinny. How dare you. How DARE YOU. HOW DARE Y

- when people make him taller than YG. I would be less upset if “the smallest one” wasn’t literally something he was called IN THE SHOW

YG mischaracterizations I hate:

-Him being portrayed as GENUINELY stupid. Yes I know the crew call him that, yes I know other characters call him that, I think it’s obvious they’re exaggerating a bit.

-Him being the only one of the three that’s written as incredibly childish (imo, all three of them are a bit childish- but if you write just YG that way, I roll my eyes)

-Him being incredibly passive and soft and nice and conflict avoidant and a huge big pushover crybaby who never fights back or says anything mean.

-When people make it out like he’s really bad at art/draws like a child- really ticks me off because we are EXPLICITLY SHOWN IN EPISODE 1 OF THE WEBSERIES THAT HE’S GOOD AT ART

-I actually hate when people discount a lot of his talents, ppl acting like he wouldn’t be good at music or art when we KNOW HE IS!!!! WE KNOW HE IS!! WHAteever

-Him being socially inept/inadequate ! He is imo the most socially adept out of the 3 of them and the one most likely to thrive among a new friend group

-When people act like. YG with fresh batteries and YG without them are two separate people/have separate personalities??? They are literally the same dude (my good friend Am has a great post on this actually. Here. Read.learn.)

RG mischaracterizations I hate:

-The idea that he is nice. LOL I’m almost joking, but not really. Verbally, he’s very barby and I WISH more people would remember that genuinely.

-When he’s written as the ONLY voice of reason/ smartest guy in the room. He is not. God help him he is so fucking stupid and goofy and canonically loves Smash Mouth and thinks MAGIC is real.

-Super Hyper Sexy Man with vacuum-sealed abs and a COMPLETELY new personality

I have nothing else for him I don’t think of him often.

[sorrygotthesesacks]

Just watched Apology Tour and I have some thoughts. Not very well formed as I'm fresh from having watched it, and I will need to rewatch as well, so this is more my initial impression and whether it lived up to what I'd hoped for.

Spoiler: yes and no

But for real, spoilers under the cut.

I'd seen a lot of that in the trailer for the rest of S2, but in context, the whole thing with Blitz saying he didn't want to be this way anymore? Did not see that as being said to Verosika.

It was obvious that she was the dumpee because otherwise why have the party? Stolas was right on the mark with that, telling Blitz right, you're so difficult to love that there's a whole ass party of broken hearted exes and it's held EVERY YEAR.

I was glad to see Blitz's eyes opened. I legit had tears in my eyes when his eyes got all shiny during Stolas' song. I'm glad Stolas finally laid it out for Blitz. I'm glad he used his fucking WORDS and left nothing to the imagination.

I'm glad Blitz slipped up and mentioned the first time Striker tried to kill him. I'm glad Stolas reacted as he did.

The way that Blitz started to reach out to touch Stolas, only to pull his hand back - yeah, I see the similarities with that episode of Ozzie's, even if Stolas' reaction wasn't to deliberately pull away, I think he would have. I am so happy he told Blitz what he wanted, after laying out the big grand rom com moment he wanted.*

Which I mean. That's what he was hoping for in Full Moon. We all know that.

I'm glad he was asked to dance. I'm glad he had someone show interest in him just because they enjoyed Stolas' song, and understood Stolas' heartbreak. I'm glad he got to dance with someone, no strings attached.

I'm glad Blitz was jealous. So so glad.

And Verosika is right, the best thing is to say "good for him; hope he gets laid" because as much as it kills me, Stolas has only been with Stella and Blitz ever in his life. Blitz has been fucking around all over the place while in this Thing with Stolas.

But I also kind of hoped for a grand gesture, even though I knew it would be the wrong thing to do, in the wrong time, where he jumped down there to announce his feelings for Stolas, in front of everyone.

I know it was better that he didn't, because he is too emotionally fragile in this moment, and Stolas deserves his time to see what life is like without Blitz.

*But I do hope Stolas gets his declaration in the rain. It doesn't have to be at the train station, but it has to be in the rain, damn it!

Blitz realizing what he lost is important.

That all said.

I hope when he does come back to Stolas, expressing that he wants there to be a THEM, that Stolas recognizes that maybe he was a little bit hasty in not giving Blitz a chance to talk. Whether at Stolas' place or at Verosika's party or whatever, just that he tells Blitz that he's had time to realize that maybe he was expecting a little too much.

I'm saying this all poorly. I'd love for Stolas to realize / recognize that he was being unrealistic with his expectations - and giving Blitz the perfect opening to give him exactly that.

Maybe a beautiful declaration at the train station, where he says his feelings and whatever, and then some ridiculous thing goes wrong. But he said the words Stolas needed to hear, and while Blitz is fucking pissed it didn't work out, it was perfect to Stolas, because it wasn't about the rain or the train station (again, Stolas still deserves that) - it was about Blitz trying to give Stolas what he wanted.

I would also like to see Stolas enjoying being a bachelor and all - (and of course we know there's still that whole thing with Octavia from the trailer about not loving Stella and loving Blitz instead) - but I do want him to see that the casual sex life is still not what he wants.

Should he date someone else? I think where he is, he shouldn't. Or at least, dating is fine, but not a relationship. He's not in a place where one would work, and I don't want this whole "what doesn't break us makes us stronger" bullshit for them.

Blitz sees that someone else finds Stolas hot, someone else can make Stolas blush.

Once again, Stolas is controlling the narrative and not giving Blitz a real chance to respond in a meaningful way.

Yeah yeah, when Blitz came back to talk to Stolas the next day, but ... it's still ... everything is still very fresh for both of them.

The party was amazing, and I am loving seeing Blitz's emotional journey, even if the ride is bumpy and those bumps hurt like a bitch.

(Side note: yay for the crystal working and for Blitz using it. You know that every time he touches that thing, he can't not think of Stolas. Wants to feel like he earned it... uh huh. I see you, Blitz, and that wounded heart you keep buried in your chest.)

[anoddlookingqueer]

Doctor Who ruined Donna Noble's arc. Let me explain:

When we first meet Donna she is a deliberately annoying, infuriating character, who's only goal is to be married to someone with more money than her. She has nothing going for her - she's in her thirties living with her mother who constantly puts her down, and making her feel like nothing.

As she spends time traveling with The Doctor, and seeing the injustices and pains around the universe, she becomes so much more assertive in a very meaningful way. She stands up for the people she believes are being mistreated, and won't let people treat her as "just a Human" when she is with the legendary last of the Time Lords.

By the end of our time with Donna she has become so much more than the "unimportant", man wanting, gossiping woman we first met, and she finally knows she is more than that. That is why it's so heartbreaking when she is forced to forget everything.

When Donna absorbs some of The Doctor's mind and finally feels like she is worthy. It's not because she sees The Doctor as worthy, and now he's part of her, but because it finally allows her to see herself as she is - an intelligent, brilliant, strong, capable woman.

The Doctor's mind is killing her though, and it's time for her to say goodbye to all her experiences with The Doctor, and in turn her character arc. She is sobbing and begging not to have him removed from her mind, she can't go back to how she was, she can't do it, she can't go back to that life, she can't go back to that mind, she can't be who she was. But she has to. She's back to the "unimportant", man wanting, gossiping woman we met, who will die if she ever remembers who she was or what she did, and it's heart wrenching, and arguably the most painful companion departure ever.

Fast forward to The End Of Time where Donna does remember The Doctor, but she's fine, she just passes out. This definitely takes away the impact of her departure "If she ever remembers me her mind will burn and she will die" only it doesn't, and she doesn't die? A better way to have her and her family back in an episode would be to have her actually die in the episode, or have her sleep through the whole invasion from The Master.

We don't see Donna again until the 60th anniversary specials, and I think, although a great money making plan to get 2000s fans back watching the show, was an awful story plan. Don't get me wrong, I love Donna, but it just irks me. I mean we have a whole episode pretty much of her not knowing what's going on and somehow not remembering, and then a scene where she remembers with so little impact, because it's so clear she's going to be okay, and then she just "lets it go"?? So you're telling me after all that pain and torment she's just okay and living with the doctor in the end??

Rewatching her original departure after knowing all that just makes it seem over dramatic not important or impactful. It's a real big shame, because her story was so heart wrenching and perfect, and now she's just okay and happy. Sure it's lovely for the character, Donna deserves the world, but it's just boring for the story.

[zoe-oneesama]

Congrats on finishing the penultimate final episode of SL’s Season 5!!! And now for the season finale: What do you think of Audrey, her akuma, and Style Queen’s plot once you rewatch the episode?

The episode is...fine? On it's own? Like, I kinda just like it.

Well, as a character intro, it's pretty perfect. You know everything about Audrey in so little time:

Style Queen Magazine Fashion Critic

Harshest Fashion Critic in the World

Fires People at the Drop of the Hat, even the ones who don't work for her

Chloe mimics all her mannerisms and phrases -> Chloe sees Audrey as a role model to emulate -> Audrey is adult Chloe

Audrey sees no value in remaining in Paris despite her whole ass family living there -> Audrey doesn't give a single fuck about her family

Reinforced by her getting her husband and own daughter's names incorrect several times (she calls her CASSEROLE at one point!) though at least she has the good grace to look embarrassed for a second when she does and at least she corrects herself with the correct name.

She sure does get Gabriel's name right though, suggesting she holds him in better (or at least higher) regard than her own family. Maybe this is where Chloe got her Bourgeois Family Rule No. 148: You Need a Guy Best Friend to "Wrap Around Your Finger". This also suggests that her career ties are more important to her than her family ties.

Also it's interesting that she remembers Marinette's name when it comes up again...

In the two minutes they have Audrey talking in the opening, you know everything about her, and all signs point to her being a total asshole. And we all thought it was just Andre spoiling Chloe rotten that made her that way...

So I guess I'll just go chronologically for the set up to the akuma:

Liked: Marinette's imposter syndrome was depicted very well and is in line with her character. This was a pretty good use of Marinette's anxiety for the sake of exposition - her being tightly wound and going over her hat again and again so many times it makes her late, late enough to catch Audrey arriving so she can panic over that, and her getting to hear Audrey's interview with Nadja and panicking over that. All this set up helps the audience realize there's actually a stake here, since theoretically Audrey's opinion could make or break Marinette's dreams of being a designer.

Liked: Chloe trying to insult Marinette but ends up just doing a speed-run intro, pointing her out as a designer to Audrey and even showing off the detailing of her stitched signature. Maybe if Chloe hadn't gone out of her way to point these things out, Audrey wouldn't have taken an interest in Marinette in the first place, lol. Though obviously you'd only know that if you also watch "Queen Wasp".

Liked: This teeny tiny hint that Adrien isn't that into modeling, or at least not into modeling his dad's clothes, since he bemoans that he feels awkward. I liked that Adrien saw right through Marinette's imposter syndrome moment and actually cheered her up, and I like that Marinette complimenting his strut got him out of his funk in return without her even realizing it.

Liked: Oh c'mon we all liked it when Nathalie put Audrey in her place. It would be the dead pan snarky one that reminds Audrey that she doesn't work for her. The fact that Nathalie even smiles at Marinette when she presents the now vacant seat just sealed in that, on top of it being deliberate for Gabriel's plan, Nathalie enjoyed it. And so did I, Nathalie.

God, please don't look directly at me.

I'll stop going chronologically here. The akuma is pretty good, though just like Audrey herself, better at a distance (her faaaaace, what is happening?!) and idk the back of her head is crazy. I think they were going for a Statue of Liberty Crown shape with her hair, but the back is just...cut off and flat.

At least now I know where she kept the rose...?

As far as the fight goes, it's just Ladybug getting her ass beat even AFTER figuring out a way to slow Style Queen down with just her Lucky Charm, so I guess this IS Hawkmoth's "masterpiece". Though that does make her being so easily beaten in "Optygami" kinda weak. I guess all Ladybug really needed was help.

And obviously we were all robbed of Bee!Alya.

And obviously Plagg was MVP.

Chloe was also pretty good in this episode (in the way I think she's good, as a complete brat). She would bluff her way into signing up to be her mom's assistant, and while it was momentarily sweet of her to be worried about Adrien, you can still tell she's her asshole self when she starts down the stairs with her mom and talking about how AWESOME THEIR TEAM-UP WAS.

I know she was just leading up to suggesting she go to New York to be with her mother, but going on about how GREAT it was to "fire incompetents" together kinda puts into question just how much you were bluffing there, Chlo.

And of course Audrey calls the idea of Chloe going to New York with her ridiculous, but follows it up with "first I need to get back to Gabriel's fashion show", so there's a few ways to interpret that.

Is the idea of taking Chloe with her at all ridiculous?

Or Is it ridiculous to take Chloe to New York right now because the Fashion Show is still on? As in, that's not the order of things, or it's ridiculous because Audrey's not even going back to New York right away?

If it were any other character, I'd say she obviously meant the idea of Chloe going with her at all, but it's Audrey. Petty, career focused, only looking two steps ahead Audrey.

Then again, I'm probably just trying to make this more difficult and deeper than it is. It's probably just the former, she rejected Chloe flat out, especially when we know what's coming in "Queen Wasp". Idk who I'm defending here, it's a lost cause.

I guess what I'm getting at is that Audrey is fascinating as a character study in all these little ways that I'm not fully sure the show intended. Like her looking guilty when she screws up Chloe's name, even as an akuma. Or instead of listing the reasons why Chloe going to New York is ridiculous by tearing Chloe down, she instead is pointing out that they have somewhere else to be first. Where she comes across as not so much trying to be intentionally malicious but instead thoughtlessly cruel.

Don't get it twisted, though, she's still an asshole.

[been-around-seen-things]

CW: discussion of suicide

I’ve been mulling over a number of thoughts after eps 1-3 about Ed’s storyline, and I want to get them down before the new episodes come out, so here goes.

I’ve seen so many folks hard hit by Ed’s suicidality, needing to mind their mental health before rewatching, and—yeah. Folks who know me as a fic writer and who have read A Bug to Remember can glean some idea of where this topic has touched me. My own lowest time was literally two decades ago, so for me it’s not so much about that.

I just keep thinking about the okayness Ed performs in ep 2, which obviously isn’t entirely convincing, but nevertheless covers up that he’s already made his decision.

Which makes me think about someone I mentored and who died by suicide in 2019. Her name was Katie. I’m going to speak her name here because talking about her and thinking about her keeps her present for me.

Katie was deeply complicated, but, well, so is Ed, obviously. Ep 2 reminded me so vividly of her performance of okayness. She was professionally successful, organized, seemed to have it all together. I know others who also loved her have had the very natural “I should have known” reaction, but I don’t necessarily feel that way. For people like me whom she saw as mentors, she very deliberately hid the cracks, the pain, the suffering. Looking back on it now, I can see how our closeness was more about how much she made me feel comfortable sharing myself, while she remained pretty thoroughly walled off.

All of this makes me think about all the lies, the terrible lies our brains tell us. I talked in sort of a jumbled way on Twitter about the stories Ed tells and tries to tell about himself. The stories we tell and believe about ourselves are so fundamental to our very existence, and Ed has so much trouble believing any positive story about himself.

We first see him trapped in the narrative of Blackbeard, in which he is a “ghost.” He imagines himself as Stede Bonnet, but that’s a violent story with an intended murderous end. Jeff the Accountant is a story that’s fun at first, but the fallout just ends up hitting him where he’s most sensitive, his deepest feelings of unworthiness.

The most believable story for him is the Kraken. Clearly he wants something else, but it feels like literally the only option.

He tries to imagine himself as Jeff the Innkeeper, but he can’t keep from being a dick to himself long enough to even fully imagine how that story could play out.

His only positive stories, of course, are with Stede: first, playfully imagining himself as a chef, someone who can do anything. That one ends happily, albeit only temporarily—the brief dream of being co-captains. And then the possibility of running off to China together—but that’s an option that means Ed leaving his whole identity behind. It’s a running away, not an integration of the stories he carries. And then losing the possibility of that story—well, we know what happens.

And so. Here we are. Ed is alive, and he needs a new story that doesn’t cause himself and everyone else around him so much suffering. Ngl I had a real hard time on my first watch with how much pain there was all around. But that’s because, as always, this show is emotionally truthful even as the events are sometimes preposterous. I’m excited to see what other story possibilities are there for Ed. What he can find himself able to believe.

[glamaphonic]

Just curious, because I love your Richonne takes.....so beside the obvious ptsd angle, do you think Rick dove into the whole Jessie situation because she was the easier choice. I mean yes she came with baggage lol but in my mind she was safer in that maybe he didn't WANT to acknowledge his growing feelings for Michonne because 1. He wasn't sure she felt the same way or convinced himself she didn't. And 2. He didn't want to jeopardize her relationship with his Carl whose happiness was most important to him always....?

For me, personally, Rick comes right up to the point of bringing his feelings for Michonne to consciousness in 5x16, then pulls back again (at her perceived rejection imo!) and doesn't let himself go there again until they're all safe and the world stops screaming in his face (as Gimple once put it).

So, honestly, no, while I think it's a valid enough reading and I understand why people lean towards it given how they fumbled the Jessie storyline (esp in 6A). I mostly think it was just the PTSD.

The Jessie thing, from the moment they meet, is so inextricably connected to this mental breakdown that he's actively having for the entire length of their acquaintance that suggesting that he's deliberately choosing to pursue her as a safer option v Michonne is almost giving it too much intention for me? Bcs like, I'm not particularly convinced he was ever actively pursuing a relationship with her at all. Everything he does wrt her is so completely consumed by this weird miserable guilt and PTSD driven almost fugue state that it becomes difficult to divine any specific intentions towards her at all.

He fixates on her because she reminds him of Lori and she and her kids are in danger. He seems to feel some sort of obligation/responsibility to them after Pete is dead. But does he have any actual plans there? Does he intend to have an actual relationship with her? Were they gonna date? Was he going to move her and her kids in with him, Michonne, and his kids? Or was he just sad and working through some shit?

Not a fair comparison, though it's one that Rick implies himself, but we see how he goes about pursuing a relationship with Michonne. We see the absolute crystal clear intention and commitment from moment one. And obviously Rick and Michonne's relationship is the actual love story whereas his relationship with Jessie is a plot device. But the Jessie thing exists in this strange weightless way in the narrative and part of that is the extremely compacted timeframe (he knew her for legit two weeks lol) and part of it is definitely owed to the writing failing at adapting something that no longer really worked in the narrative that the show had already committed to so they just quarantined it away from everything else, and especially away from Michonne and Rick's relationship with her, and hoped no one would notice.

Anyway, I'm rambling at this point and I'd have to do a rewatch of those eps to form a more coherent argument here. But yeah, in short, I think, largely by the specific design of the writers, Michonne didn't really have much of anything to do with the Jessie thing at all. It would've made more sense on every level if she did, and the fact that she doesn't is both comically contrived and heavily contributes to the Jessie storyline amounting to nothing but a weird and incoherent blip that no one ever thinks about again. But it is what it is!

[bestworstcase]

Hi again. I've continued to read through... well, whatever the almighty algorithim feels like suggesting (searching here is hard even when you have an idea where to start, which I don't), and my mental state can be best represented by this little gem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZWK5IBuVMM&t=298s (Is this necessary? No. Do I think it's funny and worth sharing? Yes, and to an extent that's kinda what this site is all about)

Anyway, a pretty common thread I've noticed in your theories is "Summer is an up-to-now-offscreen agent of Salem by choice." While you definitely make a good case even from the limited amount I've seen, I have to ask: when and where did these thoughts originate from in the first place? I mean, I can *kinda* see where you connected some of the dots, but it's still a huge leap compared to the initially perfectly sensible conclusion of her being dead or otherwise incapacitated.

(Oh, and if this could be answered similarly to my last question, then I can at least say that I have loose plans for a thorough notepad-and-magnifying-glass rewatch of the whole series over the imminent summer after a warmup with Spirited Away, so we'll see how that goes. Maybe I'll look back at myself a few months from now and laugh at my relatively foolish ways; wouldn't be the first time, anyway)

i’d joke that it’s about the Vibes TM but what it comes down to really is the way rwby handles foreshadowing. as for the "when and where" part i couldn’t remember so i went looking.

let me take you on a little journey

these messages on 7/27 are my first direct reference to the idea of summer joining salem but i think (based on my phrasing) that i must have had it in mind for a while prior, which given that this was eight whole days after i’d finished watching the show at all. well. if i had to guess i’d say i probably went "okay so yes but also no" after ruby went "that’s what happened to mom" in 8.11

and the reason for that is pretty simple:

there is a lot of build up in v1-8 to summer’s fate being a Big Fucking Deal; this, in combination with the careful phrasing the narrative always uses regarding her disappearance—she "never came back” or she was "taken," it’s never said that she died—means she’s still alive.

salem met summer rose 12-14 years ago. the hound is a novelty to everyone, including salem’s own inner circle, and salem herself describes him as an "experiment." ruby jumps to a conclusion that doesn’t add up with information the audience knows that she doesn’t.

but, it’s unlikely that ruby is entirely wrong: think about tyrian waxing poetic about his "goddess" and ruby with no hesitation saying "cinder." she was both incorrect (his "goddess" is salem) but partially right (cinder is salem’s protégée and tyrian is here at all because cinder asked salem to deal with ruby).

in v4 we get a look at salem’s evil boardroom (there are two seats conspicuously left empty) and then see salem receiving a seer call from someone stationed at beacon, after it’s been firmly established that none of the agents we know about is there. we don’t see who is on the other end of this call, and we only hear salem’s side (note the incongruity with how seer calls are depicted in every other case; the identity of the beacon agent is withheld from the audience deliberately).

in v5 raven is so scornful of summer rose that she decides "you sound just like your mother" deserves an immediate fireball from cinder fall to the face. in v9 she was big goofy grins at summer. SOMETHING REALLY BAD HAPPENED. and i don’t think this dramatic change is explicable by raven simply watching summer fail and die or be captured; else she’d just be calling summer a fool the same way she does qrow and tai. that says betrayal.

so we know that summer met salem. we know that she did not die and cannot have been made into a hound-like creature (because he’s a new experiment). summer being alive probably rules out her being a ‘failed’ experiment, since that would undoubtedly have been fatal. ruby’s assumption that summer was twisted into a grimm-thrall by salem is incorrect but likely not too far off from the truth, and we know SOMETHING happened during that last mission that shattered raven’s trust in summer, and the simplest answer there is that summer is with salem but willingly.

and salem has a Mystery Lieutenant who’s been stationed at beacon since it fell. math! to my mind the only real questions are why and if summer might have been partially grimmed a la cinder, because in v8 the narrative starts telegraphing "summer is with salem in some not-enslaved-or-imprisoned capacity" without any subtlety at all.

now if we add in to the mix certain things v9 did ("an invincible monster who took your mother!" OH BOY) ("she lied, she left with raven! why would she–?" OH BOY!!!), there’s a clear narrative trajectory developing in the direction of summer rose not having been the Perfect Martyred Fairytale Paragon that everyone has put on a pedestal for the last 12-14 years; like anyone else she was a real person with flaws, and narratively the strongest way to drive that point home is to present to us (and to the characters who’ve been mythologizing summer as a flawless hero for more than a decade) a summer rose who decided that siding with salem was the right thing to do and then exploring why she did it.

summer being with salem of her own volition also makes it a lot easier to get to the narrative turning point of negotiating with salem; summer is the bridge, someone who has people she cares about on both sides. it is much harder to form a truce with salem if she tortured two of the main characters’ mother to death and/or enslaved and/or imprisoned her (because then you need to have an arc about saving the mother and that pushes further down the dead-end road of trying to defeat salem, who can’t be meaningfully defeated). but if summer chose to side with salem she can open that door to "maybe we can reason with salem."

so thinking about it just from a writer perspective… if i were the one writing this story and making these creative decisions with regard to the summer rose mystery, the reason i would set things up in this specific way is to develop toward a twist that summer freely chose to join salem with the intention that this precipitates the negotiation. that was true in v1-8 and then v9 ticked off literally every box on my mental checklist of things i would expect v9 to do if this was the direction they were headed—another hint about salem "taking" summer in conjunction with a reminder that salem is "invincible," surfacing ruby’s self-identification with The Idea of summer rose and how very harmful this is, a peek through the looking glass at The Person summer rose who is flawed in ways that shock and distress ruby, and an explicitly-stated "who knows why?" in reference to summer’s flaws and her final mission.

shrug. it’s just the explanation that makes the most sense taking into account all the clues that we have.

as a further point of interest, neither summer nor tai have an obvious ozian allusion (in contrast to qrow and raven who are the scareqrow and the woggle bug respectively)… which by process of elimination with the cast of marvelous land of oz, probably makes them general jinjur and jellia jamb. jinjur conquers the emerald city and occupies it for most of the story; jellia is a serving girl in the emerald city’s palace who remains with jinjur until very near the end when she gets roped into mombi’s schemes. which tracks with the idea that summer is holding beacon on salem’s behalf and tai is…there.

and i am kicking myself for not clocking tai-as-jellia until B4 dropped because it’s so. obvious. in hindsight. lol

(bonus first time reaction to 7.2

because it made me snort)

[haunting-hufflepuffs-basement]

Oh my gosh. OH MY FUCKING GOSH YOU GUYS!

I just, for the third time, rewatched Puffs the Play. I need every single Harry Potter fan (especially those of you who are Hufflepuffs like me) to know about this amazing AMAZING show and go watch it PLEASE.

Puffs the Play is a tongue-and-cheek irreverent adaptation of Harry Potter that covers what the hell the Hufflepuffs were doing during Harry's time at Hogwarts. The main characters are:

Wayne Hopkins, a kid whose parents were murdered on the same night as Harry's and who was sent to live with his well-meaning but super weird and oblivious redneck uncle in New Mexico. He grows up as a completely normal muggle child until he gets his letter, at which point his uncle realizes "We gotta talk more" and he gets thrust into Hogwarts. Wayne believes that he's destined for something great and very much wants to be important and save the wizarding world. Unfortunately, Harry is also there.

Oliver Rivers, an American math savant who just moved to England with his family to attend Oxford's mathematics program. Oliver is very VERY salty about Hogwarts not having a math class and has a lot of struggles adjusting to the absolute insanity that is wizard school

And Megan Jones, a girl whose family is known for being "the Puff family. Like the Puffiest of the Puffs." All except her mother Xavia, who was an infamous and dangerous Death Eat---no wait, sorry, Death BUDDY, who is currently in wizard prison. Megan strives to be just like her mother.

These dorks, along with several other background Puffs from the books (Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, etc.) navigate 7 of the craziest years at the most dangerous wizarding school guided under their amazing mentor Cedric. . .at least for a while . . . As Puffs, the most beaten up, looked down on, and "worthless" house.

Now, this play is absolutely amazing you guys. It's hilarious, for starters, and takes a lot of liberties with the books. Every single person there is a cloud-cukoolander who is full of adorkable charm and ridiculous sass towards canon. Common catchphrases include:

"HI!" with a signature adorkable little wave.

"We're WIZARDS!"

"We are not a threat! Please be our friend!"

"Oh. My. Wizard. God!"

It's a filmed play that is deliberately low-budget to help with the comedy. Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Godric Gryffindor are all played by hand puppets. Harry is there, played by the same (female) actress as Susie Bones and is an absolutely hilarious oblivious sweetheart, but Ron and Hermoine are a pair of mops dragged around by other cast members. The cast is a total of, like, 10 people who just continually switch roles. The narrator won't stop taking pot-shots at both the canon Harry Potter story and the story of Puffs, and keeps breaking the fourth wall. Some of my other favorite quotes include but aren't limited too:

"HI CEDRIC! Love your bones" -Harry Potter

"J-Finch is imaginary!?!? J-FINCH CAN GO WHEREVER HE WANTS!"

"AVIA FORMES!" (Chucks bird at person)

"If it makes you feel any better, he's ugly, and he'll probably stay that way forever!" (Said about Neville by the way)

"Someone said the snake monster only goes after pretty girls so I shouldn't have to oh I get it they were bullying me."

"JESUS CHRIST YOU ALL ARE 13!"

"Students who are Brave! Students who are Smart! Students who talk like they're about to throw a glass of white wine in your face! And the Puffs!"

It's really funny you guys.

But it is also incredibly heartwarming and can be sad and serious at times. It's a story of unbreakabke friendship. It's a story about how to keep on going when the going gets rough. It's a story that says it doesn't matter if everyone else thinks you're a bit of an idiot or if you're socially awkward or if you fail a whole lot. As long as you keep trying and keep working hard, something good will be there for you (even if it's not the something you wanted). It's a story about embracing your true self.

It's a story that says "I'm a Puff. And I'm staying."

It has also permanently affected the way I read the Harry Potter books, as I project the Puffs personalities (and frequently looks) onto all the Hufflepuffs when they show up in the books, even if a lot of them don't really match.

Everyone, please go watch Puffs the Play, and understand why I have some strange headcanons about the background Hufflepuffs from the class of '98.

[anthurak]

I like your theory about the Helluva Boss timeline and I agree with it, I think

But how do you think it relates to Hazbin Hotel? Do you think it's happening at the same time, before, or after?

Mostly because of that one line where Cletus lies about being exterminators. If no one in Heaven is supposed to know about the exterminators, how does Cletus know about them as of Full Moon? This would mean that Helluva happens after the rest of Heaven finds out about the exterminators (so after Hazbin season 1)

(( I know that in the pilot Loona is shown watching Charlie's program for *her* pilot, which leads you to think they happen at the same time but that can either be that she's rewatching a recording of it rather than watching it live because it already happened before or that the pilots need to be ignored here ))

Thanks! :D

And yeah, the when's and how's of Helluva and Hazbin taking place relative to one another has always been rather hard to pin down. And I imagine that's been largely deliberate, ie; these shows are being made largely independent of one another so coordinating any kind of crossover would be a pretty massive hassle. Not to mention animation lead-time and the fact that Hazbin only just released earlier this year. So I imagine both teams have been deliberately keeping the shows largely independent.

That being said, we have started seeing what seems to be a bit more of Hazbin creeping into the recent episodes of Helluva. We've got the cherubs bringing up the Exorcists as you mentioned, as well as all the environmental eyeballs that been popping up in the background ever since the Millie-Sallie short, which REALLY feels like it's meant to foreshadow something in Hazbin (Roo, possibly?) So maybe the Helluva team had at least a good idea when Hazbin would be releasing and planned more overt references and possible cross-over in upcoming episodes/seasons.

I will say, I do think it's safe to assume that much of Helluva Boss is meant to take place BEFORE Hazbin. Or at least everything that's happened in Helluva Boss so far.

To your point about the cherub's mentioning the exorcists in The Full Moon, I am PRETTY sure that it was specifically the yearly extermination of sinners that much of Heaven didn't know about, NOT the existence of the Exorcists as a whole.

Really it's when we compare the overall tone and 'narrative goals' if you will of each show, I think it just makes more sense for HB to come before Hazbin.

Consider that Helluva Boss is largely a show about the day-to-day goings-on in Hell and the lives of the demons who live there. Like how the main characters of the show are specifically demons on the low-levels of Hell society, while it's also been established that Stolas and the rest of the Goetia are really middle management at best.

Meanwhile, Hazbin Hotel has already set itself up as a show about the big picture and big changes. A story about the big, important power-players of Hell and Heaven. Like how just the first season of Hazbin showed the yearly extermination that has been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years being finally STOPPED, with the death of Adam himself.

Basically, Helluva Boss is a show about exploring a status quo, while Hazbin Hotel is a show about BREAKING a status quo. So I feel like it just makes sense that the former would be set before the latter.

Though again, given that Hazbin has actually released, that MAY be subject to change going forward. Like how the upcoming episodes Mastermind and Sinsmas might have an excuse for a cameo by Charlie and/or Lucifer.

Also speaking personally, I'm still really hoping that at some point Helluva will show us an Extermination from from the hellborn perspective.