#season 2 episode reviews

[jbuffyangel]

No Choice to Make: Arrow 2x07 Review (State v. Queen)

Is there anything better than Oliver saving Felicity? The correct answer is no.  Of course, my feminist side is screaming Felicity can take care of herself (and does in most circumstances), but my inner Gloria Steinem needs to zip it.  I want romance novel heroism and “State v. Queen” delivers on a swoon worthy level.

Let’s dig in…

Olicity

This is easily my favorite Oliver protecting Felicity moment because there are so many nuances in their two primary scenes. However, to understand those nuances we have to review a little background information.

The Count escaped from Iron Heights during the earthquake (and released the Dollmaker while he was at it). I love this explanation for returning villains because it makes total sense. Logic in Arrow is rare jewel – treasure the moment.

Moira's trial is under way, but Diggle is not feeling well. Oliver sends John home, but he collapses in the bunker.

Oliver: I heard you passed out.

Diggle: I told Felicity not to call you.

Felicity: Yeah, but before that you said ‘gaw’ and ‘thud’ so I didn’t take it very seriously.

Felicity has John's blood tested and there are trace amounts of Vertigo in his system. They try Oliver’s antidote, but it doesn’t work. Adam Donner, the lawyer prosecuting Moira, also collapses in court due to Vertigo poisoning. The Count kidnaps him and forces him to take the drug to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms. It’s broadcasted live, so everyone affected knows the only cure is Vertigo.

I feel I would make a pretty good drug lord after watching Breaking Bad, Power and Queen of the South. The key to success is return customers, so this is not a half bad plan. You have to admire the Count’s industriousness. Ghost and Walter White would definitely approve.

Oliver hoods up after Felicity tracks Adam Donner’s location through the city seal of the Starling Municipal Records Department, which is reflected in Donner’s eye. Ok, so science is not sciencing in this episode. Felicity is immediately concerned about Oliver.

Felicity: I know what you're thinking.

Oliver: No you don't. I made a choice not put an arrow in this guy and it was the right choice. There’s no more killing.

Felicity was concerned Oliver would regret allowing The Count to live, but it’s just the opposite. He’s doubling down on his vow to Tommy. Oliver is not a conflicted man. He knows he made the right call. That's called growth, my friends.

Felicity’s little assertive nod means she backs Oliver’s decision one hundred percent. In fact, I’m sure she had a whole speech prepared for why not killing The Count was the right thing to do. It’s not just Oliver who believes there is a better way – Felicity and Diggle believe it too. This is as much their mission as it is Oliver’s. They also made a vow to Tommy to do better.

Unfortunately, The Count has caught wind that The Arrow’s aim is not lethal these days. The Count holds his arms wide open – an easy shot – and taunts Oliver to kill him, while Donner is held hostage by a henchman. It’s always a bit of a pickle to determine how Oliver is going to get himself out of these situations without killing. I’m all in favor of the vow he made, but killing does have some practical applications.

Of course, Oliver always finds another way. He fires on some flammable canisters, which creates a fire in a drug factory – clearly against OSHA regulations. Oliver spins and throws a flechette into the henchman’s arm, so he drops Donner and they make their escape.

THIS SCENE IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. REMEMBER WHAT OLIVER DID.

Felicity and Diggle determine the common denominator between all those poisoned with Vertigo is a flu vaccine, but they need to be sure. Oliver is busy with his mother’s trial at the courthouse and Diggle can barely walk. Felicity decides recon is on her tonight and seeks out the vaccine distribution van.  Low and behold, there is an entire shelf of Vertigo in the van, but The Count catches Felicity as she snoops.

Oliver and Thea are waiting for their mother’s verdict, which could be coming at any moment, when he receives a call from Felicity. But it’s not Felicity. It’s The Count.

The Count: Oliver? Is it okay if I call you Oliver? Surprised to hear from me, right? Not as surprised as I was. You see, I find this… not unattractive blonde getting all up in my business. And what does she have on her?

Source:  laurelscanary 

Oliver can hear Felicity crying on the other line and closes his eyes in absolute horror when he realizes she’s being held hostage.

The Count: A Queen Consolidated ID badge. Now, I think to myself, why does that name ring a bell? Oliver Queen. He tried to buy off me last year just before the hood put me in a padded cell. Ipso facto, ARROW.

Source:  laurelscanary 

Oliver doesn’t bother to contain his rage and without a second thought leaves the courthouse. Thea calls after him, reminding him that the jury will have a verdict anytime. All Oliver can tell her is that something came up at the office, but he cannot hide shakiness in his voice.  Oliver is afraid.

Oliver arrives at Queen Consolidated, suit on but hood down. For practical purposes, he doesn’t need to conceal his identity from The Count because he already figured it out – something so many other characters have failed to do with much more information than he had.

But from a symbolical perspective, the hood down is crucially important. Oliver is not here as The Arrow. He is here as Oliver Queen. This is personal to him. So much of this series is about Oliver struggling to reconcile his two halves – the hood and the man, but Felicity is one of the few people who truly knows both sides. He doesn’t have to hide with her.

Oliver approaches very slowly. He recognizes The Count has the upper hand and he cannot afford any mistakes. Felicity is zip tied to a chair and The Count holds a gun on her while he strokes her ponytail. That action alone sends the creep factor sky high.

Source: @yet-i-remain-quiet

There is a sexual element to Felicity’s kidnapping. The Count referenced her attractiveness on the phone with Oliver. Now he’s stroking her ponytail. Oliver asks The Count what he wants and he responds, “World peace and personal satisfaction. Though not necessarily in that order.” He massages Felicity’s shoulders at “personal satisfaction” in the grossest way possible.

Source: @yet-i-remain-quiet

It’s a thinly veiled threat of sexual assault, which does not go unnoticed by Oliver.  There are few things worse than rape and it serves to amplify Felicity’s terror and Oliver’s powerlessness and rage. If the writers intended to keep Oliver and Felicity strictly platonic they would not introduce this terribly disturbing aspect into the scene.

The Count monologues for a bit longer and tells Oliver someone else hates him almost as much. This mysterious benefactor funded the Vertigo operation, so The Count could draw The Arrow out and kill him. (Spoiler alert: it was Blood).

The Count gets the drop on Oliver and fires off a couple rounds. It forces Oliver to run and dive behind a couch. It always surprised me The Count was able to get the upper hand in this moment, which points to Oliver’s fear for Felicity more than anything. He’s not thinking strategically when it’s her life in danger. He can’t.

The Count cuts the zip ties and grabs Felicity by the ponytail. He drags her to the spot where Oliver was hiding, ready to finish him off, but this time Oliver gets the drop on him. He points an arrow squarely at The Count’s chest, but he is using Felicity as a shield. The Count holds two syringes of Vertigo (a lethal dose) to Felicity’s neck. It’s important to remember Oliver’s antidote for Vertigo did not work on Diggle.

Source: @yet-i-remain-quiet

Don’t ever say to me Felicity Smoak is not a hero. She was willing to die to keep Oliver’s vow to Tommy. Felicity was ready to trade her life for Oliver’s soul. She believes in Oliver, and their mission, that much. What's madness is thinking Oliver would put the vow before her life.

The Count orders Oliver to lower his bow, which he does and tosses the arrow to the floor. Then we see him do something Oliver never does – he tries to negotiate.

Again, Oliver doesn’t bother to hide the fear in his voice which makes the negotiating sound a lot like begging.

The Count: Consider this your penalty for making me go to plan B in the first place.

The Count raises the syringes to Felicity’s neck and Oliver manages to pull not one, but three arrows in rapid succession - killing The Count. 

The look on Oliver’s face when he fires the arrows, tell me two things.  First, this kill is emotional. When Oliver shoots to kill he typically only needs one arrow. The Arrow never misses. Three arrows is excessive.  It is literally overkill which means one thing – pure rage.  

Second, the act is instinctual.  The rapid succession in which he fires the arrows shows there is something programmed deep in Oliver’s bones to protect Felicity. Her life was threatened and his body simply reacted.

Felicity drops to the floor and The Count crashes through the window. Oliver closes his eyes and exhales like he’s been holding his breath the entire time. I think it is part relief and part regret. He doesn’t regret killing that bastard, but regrets he couldn’t find another way this time.   

Or was there? Upon this rewatch I noticed a couple things. First, Laurel was held hostage by the Dollmaker and Oliver did not kill him. (Sara did the honors that time). But consider the scene with Donner. Oliver threw a flechette into the henchman’s hand to free Donner. The henchman let go of Donner as a reflex to the pain. Could Oliver attempt the same with Felicity? Would a flechette in The Count’s arm free her as well?

The point is we’ll never know. Oliver made a calculated risk at the municipal when he fired on the flammable liquid and injured, but didn’t kill, The Count’s henchman. Oliver was willing to take the risk when Donner and Laurel were involved, but not Felicity.

I’ve been watching a lot of Bridgerton, so the next scene screams romance novel to me.

Source: AARONSWARNER

Oliver makes his way to Felicity who remains crouched on the floor and crying.  He gets down on one knee and tenderly touches her shoulder.

Source: AARONSWARNER

Felicity immediately flinches in fear at his touch, so Oliver in a voice so soft it’s almost a whisper, gently reassures her. She finally looks up and sees Oliver staring back at her with concern and love. She exhales with relief.

Source: AARONSWARNER

The shock wears off quickly once she hears Oliver’s voice and feels his hand on her shoulder. Oliver’s first thought is for Felicity, but her first thought is for him. SHIP COUPLES WHO WORRY ABOUT EACH OTHER FOR CLEAR SKIN.

Source: AARONSWARNER

Oliver moves his uninjured arm from Felicity’s shoulder and cups her face. The man has an actual bullet in his shoulder, but can feel no pain because Felicity Smoak is alive and safe. She is all that matters to him.

Source: AARONSWARNER

These physical moments are no small thing. Oliver keeps an extremely rigged line with Felicity that he rarely crosses. Shoulder touches are the maximum physical contact he allows and even those are on rare occasion. But she almost died tonight, so Oliver allows himself to take it one step further and touches Felicity’s face.  Oliver’s whispered reassurances in his reserved-for-Felicity-only voice unveil the real intimacy between them. He comforts her. Not in the way Oliver would like, but in the way he can allow. The line is still there, but it’s blurred at the moment.

There is no moment which better encapsulates the two sides of Oliver Queen than this scene. One moment he is a rage filled killer and the next he is a soft spoken, loving and tender man. It is not an accident the two sides merge into one for her. Darkness and light working in perfect cohesion to be the hero Felicity Smoak needed.

Source: @laurelscanary

Oliver makes his way back to the courthouse. He is so visibly shaken that Thea asks Oliver if he’s okay. She touches his injured shoulder and Oliver flinches, but it’s not the bullet that’s bothering him. He came too close to losing Felicity. Way too close.

Source: @laurelscanary

Sadly, this somewhat reinforces what Oliver said to Felicity in 2x06. There is a direct correlation between proximity to Oliver and danger, so he thinks it’s better to remain emotionally unattached. In his mind, keeping Felicity at arm’s length means keeping her safe.

But there’s what Oliver says and what he feels. He can refuse to acknowledge or act upon his feelings for Felicity, but that does not eradicate them. If Oliver is truly worried about proximity then why does he allow Felicity to be part of the team? Two reasons, Oliver needs Felicity and firmly believes they can protect her. But this was a frightening close call and Oliver’s fear is stemming from a more than friendly place. Felicity Smoak has become too important to him and it is scaring the crap out of him.

Source: FERRISBUELLER

Oliver returns to the bunker after his mother’s verdict to check on Diggle and Felicity. The way he looks Felicity up and down y’all is… a lot. Queen Consolidated is formulating a non addictive antidote for the people with Vertigo poisoning. Moira is not guilty. All’s well that ends well, so Oliver tells Diggle and Felicity to go home and rest.

But Felicity needs to get something off her chest.

Felicity: Oliver, I uh…

The way this man spins at the sound of her voice like he's a golden retriever who saw a squirrel. He is so gone for this woman.

Felicity: I just wanted to say thank you.

Oliver: (nods) Yeah.

Source: laurelscanary

He truly cannot fathom what she is apologizing for and steps much closer than necessary.

Source: laurelscanary

It seems Felicity has inherited a little bit of Oliver’s guilt complex. YOU WERE KIDNAPPED MY PRECIOUS CUPCAKE!!!

Source: laurelscanary

HE. TAKES. HER. HAND. We had a shoulder touch, tender face caressing and now holding hands. At this point, this equivalent to first base for these two. MY BRAIN SHORT CIRCUITED.

Source: laurelscanary

Earlier in the episode, Oliver and Felicity discussed not killing The Count previously and how it was the right decision. Oliver’s certainty in the rightness of the decision solidifies his commitment to his vow to Tommy. It is not something Oliver is questioning or wavering on. 

But Oliver is not qualifying what happened to Felicity in those terms. This is not about right or wrong. In fact, it wasn’t a decision at all. Oliver was not calculating the risks. Oliver was not thinking about a vow, or honoring his best friend, or the mission. His only thought was Felicity and her safety. Oliver simply reacted. All he could see was Felicity. All he could feel was the unbridled rage that came from anyone threatening her life.  It is programmed deep into Oliver’s bones to protect Felicity. There is no rational thought when it comes to her.

Nor does he care if it was right or wrong now. Oliver is not Monday morning quarterbacking the situation. Someone raised a hand to her, so that person is dead. End of discussion.

There is a war happening between Oliver’s mind and his heart. Oliver was clearly thinking with his head when he told Felicity in 2x06 that he will not allow himself to love her. But this episode was a completely different story. Sometimes life and death circumstances bring a much needed moment of clarity. Oliver may believe he has a choice whether or not he loves Felicity, but his actions show his heart knows different. There is no choice to make.

Moira Queen

The trial is not going well, so Moira is forced to testify. Laurel is lead prosecutor now that Donner is infected with Vertigo.  "Conflict of Interest" is flashing in a neon sign. On any planet in the solar system, Laurel would recuse herself. THE INSANITY GIVES ME A MIGRAINE.

Laurel also decides she’d like to get disbarred and visits Moira in prison because they are “family." Yack. Give me a break. She doesn’t want Moira to take the stand because Laurel will have to prosecute her to the best of her ability and use their smoking gun. Sure, because now she cares about legal procedure.

So, Moira comes clean to Oliver and Thea and tells them she had a one night stand with Malcolm Merlyn while married to their father.  The kids are shocked to say the least. Oliver has a solid case of the yicks. Thea is more than a little angry since she accused her mother of having an affair with Merlyn last year. Moira assures Thea it was not an affair, so technically she didn’t lie. Moira should teach Professional Gaslighting 101.

Inexplicably, Moira is found not guilty. (In my notes: Hahaha suck it Laurel)

Even Oliver is wondering what the fuck just happened. Upon release from prison, Moira is driven to a secret location to meet up with none other than MALCOLM MERLYN. His explanation for being alive is basically, “I’m a super awesome actor and faked it.” Oliver – did you check his pulse? What happened to the body? Did we miss a step Team Arrow? CLEARLY WE DID.

Merlyn bought the jury and Moira’s freedom (Ummm thanks I guess?) so he can deliver the second bomb. He ran a DNA test and knows he’s Thea’s father. PLOT TWIST! Honestly, this makes a lot of sense. I wasn't that surprised. Thea looks more like Tommy than she does Oliver.

Wait, this means Thea kissed her brother. Are we just going to Star Wars this and never talk about it again? Works for me.

Stray Thoughts

Oh shut up Laurel. Quit your bitching - me every time she opens her mouth lately.

Ivo is looking for the hosen because it contains coordinates to a sub that sunk in WWII. Whatever is on the sub can save the world. Shado and Oliver hope it can save Slade, so Team Island is going on a submarine field trip!

Slade has burns on half his body and yet he can still move. The man is not human.

"I have this thing about needles, all pointy things, which is ironic given who we work for.” I just love her so much.

David Ramsey is so enormous he doesn’t fit on the table. The mind cannot conceive of all that muscle.

 “Mom secrets are what put you into this situation. Secrets and lies. And now is the time to give truth its day.” Oh the irony, Oliver.

Donner took drugs on live television. Re-election is going to be a real bitch for the DA.

I like the Thea’s boxing moment with Roy. Nice foreshadowing. Girl is going to have a lot of rage to work through.

Laurel did make a good point about Walter and Merlyn. See? I can be positive about her.

OLIVER. STOP. ASKING. LAUREL. IF. SHE. IS. OK. Her whole “how can you possibly forgive me” speech was also nauseating and not believable. I like her better drunk.

“I’m pretty sure they aren’t interested in Buddhism.” Slade is burned over half his body but he jokes.

30-30-175-12 I’m sure that has something to do with the comics but I don’t care.

Some guy named Cyrus survived Blood’s Frankenstein experiment. So that’s not good.

Listen to the Watchover podcast reaction to 2x07!!!

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[milk-ducts]

doc sesimic is the literal personification of a cat oh mggdodd.

doc sesmic after suffering several hemorrhages:

[askhezureviews]

Okay so judging by these screenshots for Episode 10. It looks the episode was thankfully rewritten, so that would mean the Millie S-Word scene was scrapped, what do you think?

I held off on answering this yet, and FYI I have not watched this episode yet. However, from my understand and Viv’s confirmation, they have indeed changed this episode. THANK GOD. Like seriously THANK YOU. When I first read those leaks I actually felt sick. I’m so glad someone on the team realized this wasn’t a good idea. I’d say my respect had risen, I am genuinely, genuinely relieved at this. However, it does feel like I’m giving credit for them doing the bare minimum morally correct thing to really do in this situation.

Anyone who tried to defend millie trying to kill herself because she’s a bad wife to moxie - sorry there is no such thing as being a bad wife. (Unless you cheat I guess)

You’re married to someone, you share assets and live together. Any preconceived notions about not being a good “wife” to your husband ? You’re not soft or sweet enough, you don’t clean or cook enough? That’s not an insecurity. That’s internalized misogyny, people.

What’s unusual is Viv’s manipulative way of confirming the leaks are no longer viable, she claimed the leaks were for an “episode that they weren’t making anymore” but what she means to say is that , those leaks were an old draft they decided to change/fix for this current episode. Acting as Vivziepop’s PR manager here to fix this blunder:

“Those leaks are no longer canon. They were early rough drafts for the episode and we decided to change them.”

Or better yet: “Those leaks were early rough drafts, and we decided to change them for several reasons. In the early concept, millie, along with the rest of the cast, is manipulated into almost killing themselves due to their insecurities overwhelming them. We realized that Millie’s insecurity did not make sense due to the fact that her backstory episode has yet to release, on top of it lacking any context or sense based off what was shown of her character thus far. It left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, so we knew we needed to rewrite this.”

I feel like I’m a teacher grading papers everytime I see one of Viv’s catty twitter posts asdfghjkl again if she had a PR that she’d listen to that would help her convey her words in the right way, she would not have so many haters and would save so much face in terms of her reputation!!!

Again, have not watched this episode yet but from what I hear, it’s possible really good things. Like Millie’s backstory maybe.

Brandon Rogers apparently came back to write this episode. There was an Instagram post where he said it was an “honor” to write this episode, when he was involved in writing most of season 1. That just implies he was indeed kicked off the writing team by Viv. I’m telling you guys, if I watch this episode and it’s actually good like I’m hearing, it’s because of Brandon.

This is Brandon’s show, he was the one carrying it until Viv flicked him off, and that’s one of the reasons why season 2 is in shambles as it is.

Regardless, I’m excited and grateful to see him come back. My opinion on the recent episode will be pending until I have the time to watch it.

[thisonlyguy-49]

Helluva Boss Season 2 Ep. 3: “Exes and Oohs” In A Nutshell

Moxxie deserves a hug.

[btr-rewatch]

The boys in every episode: "Big Time Crib"

[flowerandblood]

I love the scene between Mysaria and Rhaenyra, the fact that both she and Daemon have betrayed each other in a way, which opens up a new avenue for what will happen when they meet again. I love that Madam betrays Aemond and the Greens, because why would she care about them? I love the scene between Aemond and Alicent, his look so longing for her closeness, his hand tightening on her wrist only to finally push her away. I love that Aegon told Aemond that he didn't remember anything because he was simply afraid of him. I love that Larys is a whore. I love that Aemond is stupid and short-tempered but still recognized his grandfather as the best Hand he could ever have. I love that Alys isn't a ghost and that she killed poor Lord Tully.

I really liked this episode.

[therossgarden]

Personal review regarding what if…? season 2 episode 8 (spoilers)

No ok, I must admit, the episode was good in some aspects.

Wanda was majestic. Loki and Scott were hilarious and I loved every single moment with them.

Thor was amazing, dark and serious out of loss but still enjoyable, and the crumbs of his relationship with Hela were very nice.

I’ve actually liked Tony for the very first time in my life, probably because I tend to like him a lot more in AUs and fanfictions than I do in the normal timeline.

And then… there were those two.

I will never comprehend why marvel wants Steve to be so dependent on Peggy. And I will never comprehend why, to make him interact with her, they have to destroy or sideline every other relationship he has built, or make his character flat.

Bucky being friends with Scott was amazing, but the fact that him and Steve interacted like two times was extremely disappointing. You’d expect “best friends in every universe”, if you dislike the romantic pairing so much, to acknowledge themselves for more than a few scenes, in only one of which they’re in frame together (Bucky was literally 😐 while his best friend disappeared, come on now).

And the storyline about Peggy coming from another world to save the universe was just… Mbah. It could’ve been executed in another way without including her and it still would have made sense. It really feels like a Y/N insert.

Seeing literally any other character was so good, so fun, and they had to ruin it this way, making Peggy once again the self insert and girlboss she didn’t need to be.

Plus, forgive my constant complaining, but it’s extremely infuriating how all of Steve’s friends were eliminated to put the focus solely on Peggy. Where’s Sam? Where’s Nat? Where’s Clint? It’s not an underrated friendship we’re talking about, a big chunk of the fandom loves the cap quartet or team cap, and after civil war it would have been nice to see them interact, especially after its popularity and popular demand. Outlaw team cap would have been glorious, a good chance to bring back many characters who aren’t here anymore in the right way, and involve characters that are rarely involved in What if in the storyline, for a change.

The treatment of Sam in this series particularly angers me, and even more so in this episode. I understand not involving him in other storylines, but Sam was a big part of CATWS and he wasn’t even in the episode centered on that film. What, because Steve met him while running he can’t be introduced in any other way? And oh, there’s no excuse for this episode. If there was one episode they could have placed Sam in, it was this one. Sam was there in infinity war, where the mess happened, and he should have been with the other avengers in this one.

If marvel wanted to involve someone from another universe so bad, it should have been a Captain America Sam from another universe. Can you imagine the poetry of seeing Steve and Nat again after endgame? Can you imagine having closure with them both, and having fun in the process? It would have been so great.

Another great storyline without involving characters from other universes would have been one where Steve, who touched the time stone, accidentally brought everyone in the past, and he was the only one to remember it. And to go back and prevent everyone’s distraction, he had to recruit the avengers, who don’t know him and don’t trust him but that in the end become his friends and companions. It would have been so interesting to see the original avengers involved in something different from being some side characters or extras in the one woman show that seems to be What if, constantly centered around the same bland, one dimensional reimagined side character. Peggy’s blandness is so obvious in these episodes (aside for some random remarks that made me smile) that literally everyone who’s involved directly with her must be bland like her, otherwise risking to overshadow her.

I don’t think I was supposed to cringe and look away as much as I did during Steggy’s forced scenes, but I did. If they had to force Steggy and Peggy down our throats, at least they could have done something different from the same bland and boring storyline as always. I wouldn’t be as mad as I am now if Peggy and Steve’s relationship wasn’t as bland. I would have preferred an enemies to lovers type of twist or change, where Steve doesn’t trust Peggy and struggles with her because he sees in her a different version of the Peggy that died in that universe. But noooo, god forbid, let’s go with the same old song.

An episode five or ten minutes longer with a better, avengers-centric or Steve-centric storyline would have been much better than what we got.

And given that this was my most anticipated episode, I was very disappointed by it. I hope for the next seasons, if there’s other ones, Marvel will listen to the general complaint regarding Peggy and will give her a break. I don’t think any of the original avengers or relevant MCU characters made as much appearances as Peggy, and being a main focus in four episodes out of nine is ridiculous.

[blackcat419]

Hotd S2 E1 A Son for a Son review

It's here. Two years weight and I'm more disappointed than a vegan at Outback Stake House. Lets get into this then.

Predictions for Season 2 and if they came true

My predictions for the reactions towards Blood and Cheese were pretty damn on. People justify Jaehaery's death, missing the irony of an eye for an eye, a son for a son, when Aemond didn't get Luke's eye and Jaehaerys isn't Aemonds son, Alicent being blamed for it.

Blood and Cheese was an accident, meant to go in for Aemond, stumbled upon Helaena, and just got told who the son is, at least they didn't accidentally trip and stab Jaehaerys.

White walkers are alluded to even though we now know they're so easy to take care of, just need one episode and POOF!

No Dyana mention so we'll see if she shows up.

Where we left each character and where they are now

For TB its very consistent. Rhaenyra is mourning Luke, Daemon is pushing for war, Rhaenys is pushing for no war, and Corlys is pushing to be relevant.

For TG its all over the place. Our consistent characters include Otto pushing for war and control, Alicent pushing for control but less war, and Larys pushing to hold the most secrets any person can. Our characters that have changed are Aegon now wanting to be king and trying to prepare Jaehaerys, Aemond deciding he totally did mean to kill Luke, Alicent changing from rule follower to now rule breaker, and Cole deciding he does like sex actually.

Aegon and Aemond's transitions make sense, they were set up in last season and it works for them. Alicent and Cristin are in a full-blown sexual relationship that's been going on long enough for them to feel comfortable doing it in mid-day. That was not set up. We miss an entire character arc for both where they 1. decide they don't want to follow the rules society tells them to and 2. decide they want to bone. This was not set up in season 1, it comes out of nowhere, there is no explanation for why these two are boning now, how they justify it to themselves, if they justify it to themselves, nothing. So instead of an interesting character arc where we see change, we just get the end with no idea how they go here. Thanks, I hate it.

Conflicts

Again, for TB the conflict is consistent from season 1 and makes sense. Rhaenyra is being pulled by her duty to the realm for peace but by her grief for war. Daemon is pushing for war, Rhaenys is pushing to not start the fight, and Corlys is there too.

But for TG it's all over the place. We still have the dumb conflict between Alicent and Otto over how much war we'll have. Not between peace and war but just, should we have more or less? it's not even really about involving the dragons as that's Aegon and Aemond's position. Overall, Alicent and Otto's conflict is poorly thought out and their positions hold so little difference that it borders on meaningless.

The conflict between the two groups is who will strike the first blow. We already have one kid dead and a blockade but we are still waiting for someone to act. wow, so intense much drama.

Adaptation from the Book

The main parts of the book being adapted are Jace's visits to the Vale, the sisterlands, White Harbor, and his stay in the north. Rhaenyrs finds out about Luke's death, and blood and Cheese.

The only part done well is Rhaenyra's grief over Luke's death. It is so powerful and Rhaenys saying that she can't properly grieve until she knows Luke is dead is very powerful. Jace has an amazing trying to talk while he cries scene, the funeral pyre is so emotional, and very well done in showing how much losing Luke affects these characters.

I am very disappointed that Jace's whole storyline going north is turned into exposition about Stark customs and the wall being so sexy and cool. No Jace and Cregan being friends, no Jace trying to convert Cregan, not even Jace hooking up with Cregan or Sara Snow. just nothing.

Blood and Cheese has to be the worst thing I've seen in a while. We have Daemon telling them to kill Aemond but it is ~ ambiguous ~ whether he said to kill Jaehaerys. We have Rhaenyra saying she wants Aemond dead but it is ~ ambiguous ~ if she knows Daemon is doing this. Blood and Cheese literally walk past Aegon in the throne room? No secret passageways into the queen's chambers, no plan, no nothing! they just happen to find Helaena. We also lose the character development of Helaena where in the books she offers up herself to be killed and only after Blood and Cheese say they'll rape Jaehaera and kill all of them, does she give in and choose Maelor to die. We don't get their cruelty of telling Maelor his mom wants him dead and then killing Jaehaerys. No, Helaena just offers up her necklace, they take it, then AFTER she knows they're going to kill her son (one of them says they need a head and a son for a son), she just walks out and runs into Alicent riding Cristin? Why? Where is the tension of Helaena being forced to choose a child to die only for that child to know their mom chose them, the drama of Helaena offering up herself to try and save her kids, the horror at what these monsters are willing to do for coin? Nothing. It was emotionless, I only felt shock at how poorly it was done.

Overall Enjoyment

I did not enjoy myself. This was not fun or interesting to watch. The showrunners are scribbling over a beautiful sketch with crayons.

What I hope for the next episode

NO MORE ACCIDENTS! I swear this show is the house of accidental war crimes.

I want to see Nettles, Daeron, and Maelor.

I want actual character development instead of character teleportation.

I predict that Alicent's character will continue to be massacred and put in scenes where Ryan Condal can see Olivia Cooke naked.

[plant-dragon]

Season 2 Episode 1 Hello Neighbor

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

You guys ready? Allllllllright

*cutely crushes bullys with shelf*

OH SHIT THEIR DEAD

oh NVM their alive

DROP HIM! NOW!

Oh shit he fell. oopsie.

Murderous kids 10/10

OH SHIT LIGHT

oh yeah this kid's back now. Delroy or whatever I'll forget his name.

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Wait guys I was joking dont fight-

049 ESCAPED CONTAINMENT!!!!!!

OoOOOoOooOOoooO spooky Nicky

BIRD MAN!!!!

GET CROWED!

ohhhhhhhhhh shit thats not good

LANKMAN! Also what do you mean "Lets just call it" What the hell are you even planing?

CAW

OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT-

DONt EAT THE FUCKING COOKIE GET HER INSULIN!

[ezras-left-thumb]

PART 2 - FLASH STRIKE (TBB SEASON 3) (SPOILERS)

Emerie walked in. Of course she did. The way my jaw D R O P P E D when the two made the dreaded Eye Contact. Oh, Echo. The 501st were never good at lying.

And Emerie's lil eyebrow raise has me worried.

"Echo." WHAT THE FUUUUUCK. "I-I was doing my job."

STOP. REDEMPTION ARC? EMERIE YOU'RE MAKING IT VERY VERY HARD TO HATE YOU.

wait stop his ears were such a jumpscare why didn't i think of that

Oh my god Emerie yesyesyes come to the liiiight.

Oh my stars. Unless we're getting a surprise part 2 I don't know how or what the hell the production team is gonna put us through. We have half an hour (potentially 1.25 hours from what I've heard) to wrap up this ENTIRE show.

So many things have been left unanswered. Is Wrecker alright? Did the Batch make it inside OK? Do Emerie and Echo find Omega and the others? Where is CX-2? What happened to him? Who will die in the finale, because it's Star Wars and we never get a happy ending?

and is tech really dead, or is he coming back?

[jbuffyangel]

Shame: Arrow 2x04 Review (Crucible)

The bomb of bombs is dropped....

SPOILERS!!!

SARA LANCE IS ALIVE! The many lies of Oliver Queen begin to unravel and even Diggle and Felicity have difficulty understanding his motivations behind this whopper.  

Let’s dig in...

Olicity (and Diggle)

Oliver, per usual, is running late for a Queen Consolidated party due to a previous engagement with some gang members. Felicity makes excuses for him to Isabel Rochev as she listens on comms to the melodic sounds of gunfire and Oliver kicking ass.

The best part however is when he shows up at the party in a tux (SWOON) and Isobel notices he has blood on his face.

Source: @yet-i-remain-quiet

Felicity wipes the blood off his face, which is SOOOO MARRIED and why are they so perfect? This is classic "in a relationship" behavior before they're actually in a relationship.

Laurel is attending the party with Blood because… I honestly don’t know why. The party is to attract investors so why the district attorney and ADA is there beats me. Oliver, per usual, asks Laurel if she’s okay as she tosses back a glass a champagne like it’s water. In Oliver’s defense, she was kidnapped by the Dollmaker last episode so there is some cause for concern.

Why am I slotting this scene in the Olicity section? There is a shot of Felicity watching Oliver and Laurel and her expression is one of curiosity, concern… maybe jealousy?

Source: emilybettrickardslove:

It’s difficult to read, which is unusual since Felicity always wears her heart on her sleeve. Perhaps she is simply wondering the same thing the audience – where do Oliver and Laurel stand? Is he just a concerned friend? (Yes). Is there anything romantic in Oliver’s concern? (Nope).

Felicity interrupts them due to urgent Arrow business.

Source: @smoakmonster

It’s rare that Laurel and Felicity’s paths cross and there is an undercurrent of competitiveness between the two characters. I don’t know if that’s written intentionally but it’s certainly not warm between them. What I love is that Felicity asserts herself more than she did their first meeting in Season 1 and holds her ground and patiently waits for Laurel to leave.

The icy stare from Laurel Lance could freeze molten lava. I don’t know why Katie Cassidy chose to play the scene like this, but this is not the first time she’s looked at Felicity Smoak like an insect to be crushed, so forgive me if I don’t see these two going shopping together any time soon. Maybe it’s an actor’s choice or maybe she was instructed by the director to play the scene this way, but regardless if you are cold and unwelcoming to the universally liked character on the show, it does nothing to endear you to the audience.

It turns out my reasons above are not necessarily why Felicity was staring at Oliver and Laurel. Not the primary reason that is. She was staring at Laurel because Felicity finally pieced a mystery together.

Felicity: What if our masked friend that keeps showing up everywhere you go, you know her? What if we’ve been going about this the wrong way? We thought she was obsessed with you. I mean, she showed up in the DA’s office when you were there.  And in the chemical plant the Dollmaker was holed up in. But who else was at both those places? What if our masked friend isn’t following you?

Oliver: She’s following Laurel.

Oliver heeds Felicity’s advice and stakeouts Laurel’s apartment. The Lady in Black shows up as Felicity predicted and Oliver is able to capture her in some pretty nifty trick arrows. Felicity has also developed some tech to counteract the sonic thing.

Oliver: Why are you following Laurel Lance?

Lady in Black: I could ask the same thing of you. But I guess some things never change. You and her, always and forever.

This is an oddly personal remark from someone who is supposed to be a complete stranger. But she’s not a stranger.

The Lady in Black is Sara Lance. 

In all seriousness, this was one of Arrow’s bigger bombs dropped, but I honestly can’t remember if I was shocked to discover Sara was alive when I watched it live. The Arrow writers used Caity Lotz’s recast to their advantage. She looks completely different from the actress in the pilot. Now that her identity is revealed, they reshot the pilot scene of Oliver and Sara on The Gambit.

I do remember my heart sank when I found out Sara was alive. Why? I always felt the biggest obstacle between Laurel and Oliver reuniting romantically was A) he cheated on Laurel with her sister and B) Sara died because of that betrayal. Bringing Sara back felt like the writers were trying to fix the past to clear the way for Oliver and Laurel to be together. Particularly because they discussed in the premiere how much they wished they could go back.  

Yeah guys, I’m gonna be straight with you. I was wrong a lot in Season 2 when I watched it live. The writers did a number on me this season – they twisted me every direction possible.

Oliver has to tell Felicity and Diggle that Sara is alive, which means he’s been lying about how she died all along.

Felicity: Sara Lance? Laurel’s sister? The detective’s other daughter, the one that you took on the Gambit with you even though you were dating Laurel, which we never talked about – I’m sorry, it’s just isn’t she dead? You told everyone that she died with The Gambit went down. That she drowned.

Source: Paige

Oliver Queen has many secrets, so many things he does not talk about, and to a certain extent Diggle and Felicity have accepted he needs to reveal those traumas in his own time. But this lie? This lie is a gut punch. This lie is not only difficult to accept it is difficult to understand. Felicity and Diggle's anger is palpable.

It puts a lot of other things that are never discussed on the table for Felicity. Her rambling feelings tumble out as she processes the truth, which is quite similar to what the audience was experiencing and feeling. I know it was for me. She brings up Oliver and Sara cheating on Laurel – another topic in a long list of things Oliver will not discuss.  It’s a glimpse into Felicity’s frustration with Oliver – there’s so many questions, so many things he doesn’t say, so many things she wants to understand. As close as Oliver is to Felicity (and Diggle) there is still an almost impenetrable wall.  This lie is not only a betrayal to the Lance family; it is a betrayal to Diggle and Felicity who have put so much trust in Oliver. Felicity is angry and rightfully so.

Sara’s arrival in Starling City forces the confession from Oliver, whether he likes it or not.

Oliver: When The Gambit capsized, Sara was pulled under. It was so dark and cold. And I thought she drowned.  About a year later, I saw her.

Diggle: You saw her where, on the island? She drifted to the Island too?

Oliver: Not exactly.

Felicity: Why didn’t you tell the Lances that she didn’t die in that boat? Laurel and Mr. Lance, they blame you.

Oliver: It was my fault. What happened was my fault.

Felicity clearly cares about Oliver and cannot understand why he would allow himself to be blamed for Sara’s death when in fact she did not die in the way everyone thought. Even in her anger and confusion, Felicity is protective of Oliver.

The answer for why Oliver never discusses the cheating, how Sara really “died” or why he’s allowed himself to be hated by the Lance family is so very simple. Oliver is ashamed.  Shame is powerful. It can make a person hate themselves. It can make a person lie to the people they trust and love most. It can be more difficult to confess our sins to those we love because we want them to see us as a good person. We want to be worthy in their eyes, even though shame makes us feel anything but worthy.

Diggle: Where has she been all these years Oliver?

Oliver:  I don’t know! Diggle, I swear to God. I was sure she was dead.

Source: bratvaolicity

Felicity’s anger is fading more quickly than Diggle’s. She’s truly not trying to make light of the situation. This question is deep with genuine empathy. The more Felicity learns about Oliver’s past the worse it gets. It’s not terribly difficult to understand why he does not want to talk about it. Despite her anger and frustration, Felicity can see that Oliver is a traumatized man in pain.

Diggle: Alright, so just to make sure I understand this correctly, after not drowning when The Gambit went down Sara didn’t exactly make it to the island with you where you would see her die yet again. Feel free to fill in the blanks.

Oliver: Not right now.

Diggle: You mean not ever.  Don’t you Oliver?

Felicity: Don’t you think her family had a right to know she made it to the island too?

Felicity and Diggle rarely push Oliver to speak about his years on the island, but they are pushing hard now because they feel they are owed answers. They feel the Lance family is owed answers. They are right. They do deserve the truth and Oliver feels their fair and understandable questions pushing up against his secret shame.  But it won’t make the wall come down. At the end of the day, Oliver is a traumatized man and when experiencing trauma the body has one of two reactions – fight or flight. For Oliver Queen, it’s always fight and he pushes right back.

Felicity gets the answer to her question. No, Oliver Queen does not have any happy stories. He bore witness to horrors and whatever hate or recrimination he must bear is preferable to truth. 

Oliver: And they were better off not knowing.

Angel: Some lies are necessary...

Buffy Summers: For what?

Angel: Sometimes the truth is worse. You live long enough, you find that out.

Source: @andjustforthismoment

We see Felicity’s forgiveness in this moment. There is nothing but empathy in her eyes.  She may not understand why Oliver lied. She may be angry and frustrated with his lack of trust in her and Diggle. But Felicity clearly understands Oliver is a man who has suffered greatly and at the end of the day she has nothing but unconditional love for him. 

Unfortunately, Oliver does not understand the only way out is through. The only way to heal from trauma is to share it with those we trust. We have to accept help. Human beings are not built to bear suffering alone. We need to share out pain with each other.

But Oliver is not ready to do that. In order to accept unconditional love, he must understand he is deserving of it first. But shame and guilt is all Oliver can feel right now.

This revelation does not stop Team Arrow from fighting crime. A local gang lord who calls himself the Mayor has military grade weapons that he is selling in Starling City. Every gun crate has a GPS, but the Mayor deactivated it. After Lyla provides Diggle with a similar GPS, Felicity is able to track down where it’s made – none other than Queen Consolidated.

Well she's certainly not too mad to flirt with him!

Source: @andjustforthismoment

Felicity determines how to turn the beacon back on and delivers the location of the guns.

Felicity: I believe you ordered a crate of stolen milatary weapons, Mr. Queen

Felicity calls Oliver “Mr. Queen" and he likes it. A lot. COMMENCE ALL THE EYE SEX.  The chemistry is INSANE.

Felicity and Diggle don’t push the Sara issue anymore. Their silent resignation is their acceptance that Oliver is not ready yet. But it doesn’t mean they aren’t getting through to him. We will see their impact with Oliver’s interactions with Sara.

Sara and Laurel Lance

If it’s possible, I would say Sara is even more traumatized than Oliver. We may not know everything that happened to Oliver the five years away, but he did make the choice to return home. He told his family he was alive. Sara may be in Starling City, but she has not come home.

She is equally as vague with Oliver as to her whereabouts the last five years. Other than a disquieting remark about Slade, she is fairly mum on the details of her past as well. What we do know is this:

A year ago Sara heard about a man in the green hood and knew it was Oliver. She previously thought he was dead.

Sara learned to fight AFTER the island.

She came back to Starling City after the earthquake to make sure her family was safe.

Sara’s primary reason for not wanting her family to know that she’s alive is because she is changed. She is not the Sara they will remember. But as Oliver points out, Sara hasn’t left Starling City yet. In fact, she’s come up with vigilante persona of her own.

This is how she met Sin – she saved her from being attacked by a group of men. These are not the actions of someone who’s ready to leave town. Instead she’s been living in the shadows and watching her family through windows. Clearly, she wants to come home but she doesn’t know how.

The other Lance daughter is not doing much better. I’m sure Detective Lance never thought he’d be asking Oliver Queen for help with Laurel, but after she is pulled over for a DUI he’s ready to ask anyone who can get through to her. Lance is convinced Laurel has inherited more than his sense of justice. She’s also inherited his drinking problem.

In the immortal words of Cordelia Chase, Laurel is “campaigning for bitch of the year” and lashes out at Oliver as soon as he broaches the subject of her drinking. She fills him in on all the dirty details of Detective Lance’s alcoholism and insists it’s his problem and not hers. But by episode end, Laurel has added pills to diet of booze and we’re officially in a full blown addiction storyline.

Oddly enough, it’s Blood who gives Oliver some insight into the Lance women.

Blood: Sooner or later we all go through a crucible. I’m guessing yours was that island. Most believe there are two types of people who go into a crucible. The ones who grow stronger from the experience and survive it and the ones who die. But there’s a third type. The ones who learn to love the fire. They choose to stay in their crucible because it’s easier to embrace the pain when it’s all you know anymore.

Clearly, Sara is the third type. We can reserve judgment on Laurel’s crucible for now since it’s just getting started. Oliver straddles the line between surviving the fire and remaining in it. The key in pushing Oliver over that line is his ability to open up to those he loves and share his pain. He has Diggle and Felicity begging him this episode to do exactly that.

Sara: We’re both ghosts. We died on that island.

Oliver: No we didn’t. We both lived.

It’s interesting Oliver used the term “lived.” Typically he uses “survive.” Seeing his own shame and pain reflected in Sara brings about some self realization. Oliver doesn’t have to stay in the fire anymore than Sara does. There are so many sins Oliver cannot fix. There are so many losses he can never get back. He knows the Lance family will hate him for lying about how Sara died, but what he wants more than anything is to bring Sara home. It’s not just for her benefit. It’s for Oliver’s as well. This is one wrong he can make right. He all but begs Sara and finally she relents. They take a step out of the fire together and walk towards the living.

But Laurel is consumed by her shame and continues to burn.

Stray Thoughts

Does Oliver shower between the hood and tux change?

 Diggle makes sure Lyla knows he’s single. It’s so slutty and I love it.

Oliver’s cash for guns reveals a cash flow problem, but I think Isobel is cheap and he’s more multi millionaire versus billionaire these days, which doesn’t feel like a real problem.

The DA was totally hitting on Laurel and she rejects him. GOOD. We aren’t moving on from Tommy any time soon. IT’S WHAT HE DESERVES.

So glad they are not going the love triangle route with Roy, Thea and Sin. Rather enjoy this little trio.

“Living is not for the week.” Anatoly is here! HURRAH!

Sara is wearing a Starling City baseball cap, so her mother was right about that photo.

Do I need to care more about the bones the island bad guys are looking for? I feel like I should care more about the bones.

Hey there Sara is on the freighter!

Blood is a villain. Not surprising. Anyone standing on that much moral superiority has to be evil.

The serum Blood use on the mayor ultimately fails and kills him. So, we have wacky evil science on top of the deeply disturbing hood.

Listen to the Watchover podcast reaction to 2x04!!!

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me!

[shiro-s2e2-erukinzu]

WE ARE FINALLY BACK Y'ALL WITH SEASON 2 EPISODE 1 (or episode 26) of the Spy X Family anime!! 😆

AND WHAT AN AMAZING EPISODE IT WAS!! 😆 I'm so happy to finally see the date chapter (or Extra Mission 2) animated after all this time, it was totally worth the wait...!! 😁 I mean, everyone finally got to see Agent Anya in action!! 😎

I'm so glad that CloverWorks and WIT STUDIOS decided to save this chapter and adapt it for season 2's first episode because it's definitely the perfect place to start things back up...!! 😊

I could probably gush about how good this episode is all day, but I don't always have that kind of time, so on to the difference, changes and additions that I noticed...!! 😁

There was quite a few awesome additions, but my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE ONE has to THIS:

You see, when Extra Mission 2 originally released, Bond was not introduced or apart of the family yet, so fact that they added a scene in the anime with him makes me SO HAPPY!! 😄 (Even if it was just a small scene...!! 😊)

Some other additions include a visual of all of Loid's date plans coming together and then falling apart...:

As well as adding Franky and Anya to the different locations in the date montage!! 😁

And speaking of the date montage, the only location that was cut from it in the anime was the bookstore:

Another small difference that I noticed was that Anya's trench coat didn't have the lines on them like in the manga:

But, I guess that one doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things...! 😅 I just like showing the differences that I can remember off the top of my head to anyone who might be curious about it...!! 😁

Lastly, I don't think this is a change per se, but in the manga, the explosion of Anya's peanut bomb looked a lot more... DEADLY, in my opinion...!!: 😵

But anyway, the was episode 26 of the anime!! Next episode has the scene I've been waiting for to be adapted, so I hope it is done amazingly...!! 😏

I'll see you all next week (depending when I watch the episode because usually do errands for the house on Saturdays) with another episode review!! 😆 So until then, take care, be safe out there and be kind one another!! 💗😊💗 LATER!! 👋😁

Edit:

I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE AMAZING NEW ENDING WE GOT!

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL AND SUPER CUTE...!💗

Okay, now I'm done...!! 😁 Bye for real this time!! 👋😄

[natsuki208]

BB: Public School Arc Episode 2 Review 🖤 🏫

Not much to say this time around but I’ll try my best:

• First… I DID NOT EXPECT MAURICE TO SOUND LIKE THAT!! I died of laughter! 🤣

• (But now I do see some similarities to Alois)

• I’m not really sure what to think of Edward’s design here, unlike how he appeared in BOA, he looks… softer.

• When I first heard Joanne, I thought he sounded like Hannah at first, only younger (and more sensitive) and I already love him. ^^

• Cannot wait to see the little fruity b*tch get his comeuppance after making poor Ciel look like a fool. Oh, and…

• 🎵 MAKE WAAAAY FOR PRINCE SOMAAA!! SAY HEEEEY, IT’S PRINCE SOMAAA!! 🎵

[flowerandblood]

Review from the Vatican

House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1

AGHHHH!!!!! I LOVED IT. I LOVED ITTTTT. I don't care what others think, I had tears in my eyes throughout the entire episode! I couldn't imagine a better season opener, really. It was fantastic first episode, better than the one from season one in my opinion.

Below are my spoiler thoughts and my husband's impressions – beware, comments section is not spoiler free.

Alicent x Criston???? Honestly, that's the only spoiler I got, but it was still worth it, lol! Their relationship is very interesting! I like the idea that Alicent kind of get what she always envied Rhaenyra. Scene in the Sept with her burning candles made me very emotional. And her trying to justify Aemond and Aegon? Her sending apologize letter to Rhaenyra? Heartbreaking!

Aegon trying to be a dad who cares and a good king in his weird, boorish way? Helaena saying that she is afraid and his response, that there's nothing to afraid of – then when she says that she is afraid of rats he looks around the chamber as if thinking that there are really rats there. When he nor the servants sees none he is going back into joking mood, not knowing what to do with her words. I love, loooove that we get a scene between them!

Helaena giving away her boy not knowing what to do? Helaena running away with her daughter? Helaena in complete shock, entering her mother's chamber, not even caring what is going on there?

I really like the change that they wanted them to kill Aemond, not Helaena's children. It has a lot, lot more sense for the plot for me (I know that some Team Green people will complain that they make them "look better" – I'm not any team and for me it just look more logical that you want son for a son that actually KILLED YOUR BABY.

Rhaenyra finding Luke's body and grieving? Jace talking to Cregan on the wall? Aemond being Aemond?

AMAZING

As to the Aemond: Aegon calling him a hound, but like, in some tender way, like: my brother will fucking destroy our enemies and protect our family. I love the feeling that Aemond deep down, as Otto said, want to PROVE himself, because he FUCKED UP so much.

And him teasing Criston Cole? My fucking God that was hilarious.

I loved Alicent × Otto conversation a lot too.

My husband really enjoyed the entire episode. Overall, I'm proud of him for understanding what was going on so well and we both laughed during the scene in the Throne Room with Aegon and Otto. He was surprised that Helaena gave up her son so easily and didn't really believe she did it: in my opinion, she just knew that if she didn't do it, they would kill her and her daughter too.

The next episode looks completely crazy. We'll see what happens in the brothel, aghhhh.

FUCKING JUSTICE FOR THE DOG. 🤬🤬🤬🤬

If you want, write about your thoughts, but please take into account that I will simply delete and block messages/comments that insult other fans or me. I invite you to a joyful and pleasant discussion!!!!!

[never-knows-best-yo]

I hadn't seen past the 1st season of Magia Record: PMMM Side Story until 2 days ago. I played Magia Record a shitload back before it got pulled from NA (guess who my favorite character was). I also started to watch the show with a very close friend, but while waiting for season 2 we grew apart and although I still see him it's only once every two years. It looks like it'll be a long time before I see him again, if I ever do at all. To comfort myself I decided to start marathoning the show, and I'm on S3 E3. And holy shit everything is so fucked. I have to quit watching now because it's late and tomorrow is the start of my work week, but just got a lot of big revelations and Touka and Nemu are definitely waaay worse than I originally thought, and Mifuyu and Momoko pulling that power play at the end was super unexpected and sad. Continuing on with episode 3 tomorrow night, and honestly I have no idea what to expect, but I still can't wait to see how this all plays out.

[kaythefloppa]

New S7 WK Eps - [Spoiler Free] Review + Predictions/Thoughts:

New Wild Kratts Season 7 episodes are on the premises after a 4-month hiatus. The episodes were found on https://metadatabank.pbs.org by a few Twitter users, with premises to boot.

Two of the episodes were uploaded on the TVO Kids' YouTube Channel. For anyone who doesn't know, full episodes of PBS Kids shows are uploaded on that channel and are only accessible directly to Canadian viewers. The only way U.S. viewers can access them is through a VPN.

To prevent heavy spoilers, especially for those who don't have a VPN/want to wait until the episodes come out in America, I won't provide any links. I have watched the first two episodes of the new batch, and I will be doing a [spoiler-free] review of them below the cut, again, because I know that not everyone is going to/is able to immediately hop onto a VPN and watch the eps months before they air on television. The other 2 episodes are yet to be televised or uploaded, so anything I say about them will be pure speculation until the U.S. airdate.

This is not a 100% spoiler-free thread. If you have seen the episodes on the VPN and intend on reblogging with spoilers, use the spoiler tag/cut appropriately; Spoilery comments in the thread are prohibited overall because there's no way to loop around that, so bear in mind:

Backpack the Camel:

The gang travels to the Gobi Desert to discover the last remaining wild camels in the world. They experience the harshness of the desert landscape and are rescued from it only by the wild Bactrian camels and their amazing survival skills.

No Name Dream:

Martin has a dream that he's forgotten to name some baby animals and awakens in a sweat. Aviva tries to reassure him that he named them all, but Koki, after checking the data base, confirms that Martin's right! The Wild Kratts' mission is to go back and name all the ,unnamed, and along the way, learn more about their creaturenality and share some wow facts about their animal friends!

Fish Out of Water:

After a Creature Power Disc mishap, the bros become marooned in the world of a mudskipper, a fish that can walk on land. They must find their discs within a foreign world of intense competition, with unexpected dangers at every turn

Our Blue and Green World: Parts 1 & 2:

While doing their annual Laundry Day, the Kratt Brothers disagree on what's better; blue oceans or green forests. Can the gang get Martin and Chris back in synch in time to save Planet Earth from Zach and Paisley's villainous plans?

Again, no confirmed airdates, so we know what we're in for, but we'll just have to wait. But I'll post my disjointed thoughts and predictions on each episode in this big-ass compiled post bc I'm too lazy for separate posts:

—————————————————————————————————

Backpack the Camel - REVIEW

How the fuck did it take us 12.5 years to get a camel episode? There was literally a live-action opener featuring camels and llamas which segwayed into a fucking Koala episode? I know it doesn't really matter, but it's so jarring

The episode's humor is..... not that good. It feels like they were trying too hard to make it "meme" material with a recurring facial gag but it gets old really quickly. Luckily it's not present throughout the episode, and compared to previous scenes in the show (ex. that awful dabbing and floss scene from the ant episode), it's pretty tame.

The camels in this episode are beautifully animated. I swear to god, you could clearly tell that they wanted the camels to look as detailed as possible but still retaining that WK-style look.

The Camel Power Suit, I thought it was going to be awful and at first I hated, but it actually turned out to be pretty good. It gets right what a the more recent quadrupedal power suits get wrong. Though I’m fairly certain that this is going to be an unpopular opinion once the episode comes out.

Wild Kratts has a pretty good track record for debunking animal myths so if you're frustrated with how the mainstream media misrepresents camels or how many myths and misconceptions about them are spread, then this episode is definitely for you.

Ranking: 7/10

No Name Dream - REVIEW

We started off the season with Chris angst and now we’ve got Martin angst. I can’t comment too much on the dream sequence but… let’s just say that the animators were having a lot of fun with it. It’s giving Zooboomafoo vibes if anything.

I feel like MK IRL realized that there were some unnamed baby animals, and decided to write this episode as a meta ref to that. Overall, it feels like the most self-insert-y episode of the show to date (even moreso than Liturgusa Krattorum)

This episode highlights what Wild Kratts does better than most shows nowadays. It knows how to do fanservice correctly. Mainly in the form of callbacks to inventions/locations, power suits, and animals that we haven’t seen in years. The reason they do this correctly is because they don’t do it for the sake of it, there’s a very intriguing plot around it that gives it a point/purpose and it overall makes sense. The crew goes around naming unnamed baby animals from past adventures. That’s something I have wanted to see in years (I even made up my own fan-names for some baby animals that didn’t get a name, though one of them is rendered non-canon in the ep.)

In fact, the modern seasons of the show do this pretty damn well, what with the return of Aviva’s rollerblades in the S6 finale, the tellurium crystal cameo in the raven episode, giving Paisley Paver a solo role in this season, and this episode, where we get a lot of cool callbacks to the earlier seasons when the crew travels around the world to name the unnamed. I think the reason they do this is because they know that after 10 years, people are going to get nostalgic - That and because PBS Kids’ horrible scheduling that forces viewers at home to wait months or even years for new episodes to come out, makes the show runners try and work their way around it through the episode’s quality, so that if it’s great, or hell, even if it’s good, that would compensate for the episode’s wait. It’s one of the many things that gives me hope for Season 7.

I kid you not, there is one scene in this episode that made me scream at my iPad when I first watched it. It’s clearly fanservice, but in the best degree. I’m not going to give ANY hints because it’s too spoilery, but let’s just say, as someone who is a longtime viewer of the show since S1, and has been begging for years for untapped stuff in the earlier episodes to make a comeback, this certain scene in this episode felt like an extremely detailed love-letter to my childhood, if not a very clever witty response to my brainrotting on the blog. This scene is kinda why I’m very adamant about the “no spoilers” thing; The majority of the fandom needs to see this scene televised.

The baby animal’s names vary. Some are cringe, (I guess,) some are okay, and then some are actually alright. Also, cute baby animals!!!!!

Ranking: 8/10

Fish Out of Water - Predictions/Thoughts:

Again, almost 13 years to give us a mudskipper episode? If it wasn’t for that one episode of Octonaughts, I wouldn’t have even known what a mudskipper was if you showed it to me. Side-note, mudskippers are cool.

Ok but a Creature Power Disc mishap? Even after getting disc-holders, these mf still loose these damn discs 😭

Going back to the “WK magazines show Creature Powers of future episodes,” there was a page of a mudskipper shown in a magazine from 2019 that I cannot for the life of me find.

Mudskippers live in Borneo. I hope this implies that we’ll see more animals/Creature Powers of that location since we haven’t gotten it since S4 (more than 5 years ago).

Here’s a Wow Fact about Mudskippers: Their eyes bulge out of their heads unlike other fish and can move independently from each other (not unlike chameleons). They can also live on land apparently and, well… they skip pretty well. I’m expecting the name of a mudskipper to be something like “Skippy” or “Skipper” or something along those lines.

Oh, these motherfuckers can also CLIMB.

Our Blue and Green Earth - Predictions/Thoughts:

This episode was hyped during the premiere marathon week of S7, where Martin originally called the special “Blue and Green: The Living Earth” and listed the animals we’d be seeing in the new special.

Honestly, am I the only one who’s kinda bummed that this is the 8th/9th episode of the season? I mean, didn’t the article that first disclosed this special say that S7 would be breaking the 200 episode milestone? I feel like a huge one-hour special with an aesthetic title like that would be a good contender for Episode 200. Unless this was 200th episode of the show to be produced, but the network fucked up and broadcasted this special early and had another one in its place… it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done that though.

I’ve gone on about a Paisley/Donita team up, but Zach and Paisley also fit too. Both have a grey aesthetic, have alliterative names, are executive CEOs who are both implied to get away from the law via nepotism/capitalism. And both villains have engaged in logging and habitat destruction. Whilst Donita and Paisley have an “opposites attract” thing going on with them when you put them together (which is one of the million reasons why I hardcore ship them), Zach and Paisley are like two peas in a pod.

I guess this is another “disagree” episode, like in Fireflies, Bass Class, or Wolf Hawks. Don’t know how they can drag it out for 40 minutes but let’s see how they do it.

I think they may be planning this as an Earth Day special. Blue and Green, whilst associated with the Kratt Bros, are also associated with the Planet Earth, so it makes sense to air this on Earth Day. Additionally, the 100th episode, Animals Who Live to Be 100 Years Old, had aired as an Earth Day special, as part of a week-long Earth Day marathon of S4 episodes (including Spirit Bear, Paisley’s debut episode). So I think it would be thematically appropriate to air this episode on Earth Day.

I think it’d be like, really funny if the double-episode had the “blue” as one part, written by Martin, and the “green” as another part, written by Chris.

I predict that the climax of the episode will involve the brothers having to defend the opposite climate of their preference. Like, Chris using Blue Whale Powers to defend the ocean animals from the Zachbots, and Martin using Indri Powers to rescue the forests from the Pavers. This is what brings them back in synch after realizing that blue and green are equally important and can rightfully co-exist… just like them (awww).

If there is not a Blue Whale Suit, I might actually cry.

Let’s hope that these episodes air on TV at the end of the year because this hiatus is killing me.