#season 5 analysis

[cherllyio]

How Macaque died (Season 5 spoilers)

@rika1991tr tagged me, and asked what it tells us about Macaque's death/ him and Wukong's fight.

So- this is for you :D

and...

*cracks knunckles*

OH BOY

To get to the bottom of this, we have to understand one thing:

Wukong and Macaque never stopped caring for eachother. Beheind all that hate in the first three seasons, they still cared for eachother (none of them dares to show it though)

Just look at how Macaque reaches out for Wukong- (godamnit)

So... what was that "something" Wukong was going to do, that he was warning Macaque about?

Well... Wukong was going to do THIS to Macaque:

Because as my dear friend @lu-zijing (they talked about it here) mentioned to me, there is chains here in Macaque death scene:

And not only that, thoughs chains look A LOT like the chains Tripitaka and Wukong put on LBD:

SO IN OTHER WORDS:

MK AND WUKONGS FIGHT ARE A PARALELL TO MACAQUE AND WUKONG'S FIGHT.

AND ALSO THIS LINE?

Nine headed demon: How did you know that spell? Who did you make a deal with?

Macaque: What deal?

So clearly Macaque has a power, tha he got from someone else, that he CANT control.

And what do we see here in this scene?

The chains broken (again thanks to Lu-Zijing for mentioning that to me), but the shadowpowers OUT OF CONTROL.

In other words: I higely doubt Wukong acutally killed Macaque.

Yes, they got into a fight, but Wukong just wanted to trap Macaque in chains, so he could talk him out of this fight (instead of fighting who used to be his closest compainion).

But... something went wrong. Because right after that line we saw this:

Meaning that Wukong (acdently), destroyed Macaques eye, causing Macaque to PANIC, resulting in Macaque over-using his shadowpowers and then...

...

And one last thing, I would like to point out-

In that same scene Macaque was laughing, and an pretty evil laugh at that.

Almost like... his shadow powers had "taken over".

So lets do the math, yea?

Super unstable shadowpowers + super unstable monkey + the only friend he has ever had "leaving" him =

Ha ha- not to mention Wukong isnt even wearing a circlet here, meaning it didnt even take place in JTTW-!! but thats another can of worms, I will talk about another day-

(lol, did you know I acutally somehow foresaw this in a fanfic-)

[strawberrybyers]

the outfit parallels to season 1 are going to put me in a god damn coma,, if you hear nervous laughing sorry that’s just me because WHAT THE FUCK

[nabexis]

So like. Did anyone else notice that Jayce doesn't immediately shoot Viktor? He only powers his hammer on AFTER Viktor has opened his eyes. Below is Jayce's reaction to seeing Viktor (his Viktor, from his universe, not the future version of him) for the first time after walking into the dome. For the first time in months. That's like. A look of wonder. Almost reverence.

Assuming the Jinx/Rictus/Vander fight is cut to real-time after Jayce has gone into the dome, he's staring at Viktor for like. 5 minutes.

My interpretation here, of Jayce's expression just before Viktor finally opens his eyes to see Jayce in the room with him, he's committing Viktor to memory, before he has to kill him.

Edit: I almost missed it but like. HE IS SMILING For like 2 frames it's an outright smile. He leans in towards him, too. I cannot handle this.

[sirfrogthe3rd]

"If an artist falls in love with you, you can never die."

[bkdk-bylerthings]

Why I think we’ll get a Byler dance scene in season 5

While getting ready for the snowball..we have a montage of the kids getting ready for it starting with Will. Johnathan records his brother and his mom teaching Will how to dance right as Joyce spins it’s focused on her then flashes to Mike.

In film it’s always important to have details like this for example someone in a scene could be talking about ‘I need to take a shower’ the next clip is a completely different character turning on the shower, I’m pretty sure this called momentum and to have a flow in said show.

So for it to switch to Mike it’s almost like Will was/is supposed to dance with Mike. I’d also like to point out this is all from a camera pov, 1st Jonathan ‘s video recorder to Karen’s camera

These clues are all over the place, you just have to pay close attention to notice them and realized they were done on purpose.

So this scene is just waiting to be finished just like many others in this show, season 5 will resolve everything.

[jim-bones-spock]

I want to write a big essay on community season 6 and how deeply meta it is and how Jeff and Abed, as usual, perfectly mirror each other.

Jeff is slowly realizing he’s truly in a tv show and freaking out about it because it’s season 6 and most of his original friends are gone and he’s stuck in the show (“Even Pierce got to die!” and “I’m gonna be the last one here!” “But Abed… Six seasons and a movie?”)

Abed is slowly detaching himself from the show, having accepted that change is sometimes a good thing and stepping into “real life” (leaving for university - “Jeff, I know it comforts you to see the world through that meta lense, but this is reality”)

How Frankie represents the studios wanting a less goofy show, transforming Greendale into a more respectable school (tv show) and slowly chipping away what made Community truly weird and only when they “save” Greendale is when they end the series because it’s not our Community anymore.

It’s Community, sure, but through season 6 they keep asking to tone down the bits and the bizarre stuff (shutting down paintball, because they’re just not that kind of school anymore). The Dean being treated like a baby (which he is. Babygirl Dean) and being removed from his position of authority meaning we are not in charge anymore. Frankie, beautiful, headstrong Frankie is, a new era has come.

And that’s okay. Almost everyone left. Britta, the Dean… Everyone is happy. People grow and change and that’s okay. After school ends, you don’t keep in touch with everyone. You lose track of people who saw you grow, saw you become a better person. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re still that good person.

You still drive your friends to the airport and hug your first friend you made almost seven years ago twice before you watch him leave for a better future.

Everybody moves on.

Even Pierce got to die.

[miraculous-floconfettis]

"The baker girl".

This is how people like Chloé or Gabriel have been referring to Marinette in a mean and mocking way throughout the seasons, as if this was something she should be ashamed of.

The fact that her Lucky Charm turned out to be a baker's peel and she used it to beat the crap out of Monarch is so symbolic and powerful.

[menacetomany]

jon sims is not the antichrist he's actually a jesus figure

i've been doing a lot of research into revelation for writing stuff and martin is very incorrect when he calls himself the antichrist's plus one. that's melanie. and here's why

1) the antichrist is a figure that stems from the book of Revelation, the bible's apocalypse book. But the antichrist actually had nothing ot do with the apocalypse start, and actually doesnt even show up till like 19 chapters in its insane. He's just some random dude who starts a cult, and has a False Prophet hyping him up, so the antichrist is actually georgie and the false prophet is melanie. 2) the person who actually starts the apocalypse is 'the lamb with seven horns and seven eyes, that looked like it'd been slaughtered,' which is a metaphorical representation of jesus. (Funnily enough, if you look through revelation, its actually angels doing most of the tormenting, not demons!) 3) He has literally died and woken up before, and then some time later he dies for real, just like actual jesus. Not to mention him descending into the buried--literally being buried in a cave, just like jesus was on the cross, before emerging after 3 days. Peter even explicitly calls him a 'grubby jesus'. 4) Jesus as a character is all about self-sacrifice and needless suffering to bring about a better world. Wonder What That Reminds Me Of! Even his 3-day descent into the buried is explicitly a self-sacrifical, semi-suicidal act. And on a more literal level, Jon suffering on every level possible was what was necessary to bring about the Change, and then the expulsion of the Fears from this universe (and dooming a bunch of other universes, but just as the bible doesnt spare a thought for all the people trapped in hell for eternity when describing the post-apocalyptic utopia, we're not thinking about the other worlds rn. just this one.) 5) the amount of jon fanart i've seen mistaken for jesus is truly ridiculous

[consultingfujoshi]

some thoughts wrt the two established "romances" in severance so far (burt/irving and helly/mark) inspired by @figmentof who pointed out how irving had to find out mark and helly kissed from the corporate video in s2 e1 and how he must have felt seeing his co-workers' love affair like portrayed like that, and how it ties into the queer narrative at play here which uses workplace dynamics and policies as very clear analogues for real-life prejudice against queer couples. I mean, just look at this:

it's not just documented, but celebrated. used as propaganda for how the conditions on the severance floor have improved. proof that the severed workers are happy. and how even though he is unaware of the sociopolitical meaning of all this, lumon is very not-subtly telling him that what he had with burt is inherently lower and less valuable than this.

irving doesn't even know homophobia exists and yet he is still affected by it, it still seeps into every corner of the way his and burt's romance progresses. burt is positioned as an unacceptable love interest from the jump. irv is actively discouraged at every turn from pursuing it. their friendship is viewed with disgust and apprehension from their coworkers. burt working in a different department that's hated by MDR. dylan himself not being homophobic in the sense he opposes their relationship because they're both men but his attempts to keep them apart still has a parallel sort of prejudice behind it and still ultimately has the same effect as if it WERE driven by homophobia. irving is made to feel perverse for wanting contact with burt. he's told this is for his own good.

and then, just as they manage to overcome that immediate resistance from their peers and escape to a place where they can explore this blossoming romance on their own terms, burt retires. for all it matters to irv, he's dead. and then irving is given the option to live the rest of his life with grief that will never heal, or kill himself too, because there is no reality where they get to be together. that's just the way things are. of course they wouldn't get to be together. he was unreasonable and childish for ever hoping that could happen. this is just the way it goes for innies. he's told to get ahold of himself and not make a scene.

but the thing is, the standards are not the same for all. a heterosexual romance gets upheld as the shining example of success and fulfilment for the severed employees, whilst a homosexual romance is ridiculed and invalidated, and written off as something that was simply never meant to be. and even more importantly to irving, a heterosexual romance is APPROVED OF by lumon, and by extension, by kier. irv held back from allowing himself to even call his and burt's relationship a romance, because his god had told him it was wrong, he followed the handbook, thinking this was what kier wanted, and then finding out after suffering the worst heartbreak imaginable because of it, that this WASN'T EVEN TRUE. it's simply just that someone like HIM doesn't get to have something like this. his love is not the kind of love god wants. he does not approve of irv's love. cynical and manipulative though that approval may be (even within the context of the corporate video, the helly/mark romance is only being celebrated to further the narrative that lumon care for their workers, but the point still remains that it was THEIR romance specifically used to suit this end), when your entire life has been in pursuit of that approval, it must be devastating to learn it was never on the cards for you.

he and burt even used the fact kier met and fell in love with his wife in the same circumstances as them to justify this to each other - and they were RIGHT, god does approve of falling in love with your coworkers - this simply just doesn't apply to them specifically. and if irving needed any more proof that he no longer has a place at lumon, that he's better off not existing at all than existing with this pain that cannot be remedied, pain that won't even be acknowledged for what it is, a symptom of a sickness which plagues the entire severance system, pain that he is simply expected to choke down and get over - this is that proof.

and that's the POINT. they're TELLING us that this is unjust, and there's a double standard. they're using the ways the innies experience romance and the difference in lumon's reaction (lumon being the collective of all the management we've seen, lumon as a singular entity) to burt/irving vs helly/mark to comment on how queer people are not afforded the same level of respect or validation IN REAL LIFE, for their attachments, their love, their pain, their suffering. it is NOT just incidental that irving's romance is with a man. it would not WORK if his love interest was a woman. the POINT is that they are both men and how that puts them at a disadvantage, even if they aren't aware of the prejudices of the outside world, even if they don't TECHNICALLY apply on the severance floor, there are very clear analogues which still end up oppressing them in equivalent ways that they would be suffering if this were a normal workplace in the outside world.

it genuinely sickens me to my stomach that even in a world so divorced from reality and the sensibilities of regular society, a queer couple is still made to suffer and feel inferior in a way that perfectly mirrors their real-life counterparts. how they will never, EVER be allowed to exist in a world where their love could thrive freely and uninhibited - they never get to taste the joy our world has to offer people like them, but they are still somehow subjected to all the pain it has to offer them regardless. it's such horrifically devastating writing. it makes my skin crawl. I can't stop thinking about it

[waywardwhispersblaze]

Thinking back on The Plan to save Vander from Ambessa in ep 6.

We know that the timeline goes like this:

Caitlyn and Vi meet again, Vi tells her about Vander, they make a plan to save him

the plan needs the right timing to work; they agree to meet again at the right time and part ways; Vi goes back to the commune and tells Jinx everything (at which point Jinx absolutely calls out Vi for the risky plan and insta folding the minute she saw Caitlyn ;))

Jinx has Isha steal back her gun and they get into position

Jinx calls Vi a sentimental ex con, I'm still laughing at that. This is definitively a dig at Vi for being willing to (partially) trust Caitlyn again so quickly

Caitlyn and Singed enter, Jinx points her gun at them, waiting to see what happens

What is Jinx thinking at this point? Jinx's opinion of Caitlyn is not high. From her point of view, Cait's not only the Commander responsible for letting Noxus run all over Zaun and unleashing police brutality everywhere in the last few months, she's also the girl who broke Vi's heart.

I think she's half hoping for an excuse to shoot her, half hoping that Caitlyn doesn't break Vi's heart again.

And then Caitlyn strangles Singed. She follows the plan! She's actually helping Vi! During the sequence we see this quick shot of Jinx's face:

To me, this reads a bit like "ugh, fine. she's on our side after all"

Half relieved, half disappointed.

But she still jumps in to save Caitlyn's life from Rictus (she didn't have to! she could've let him kill her and then intervene to save Vander!), because even if she doesn't like it, she knows Vi would want her to. She now understands what Vi and Caitlyn mean to each other.

And then everything goes to shit and Jinx and Caitlyn end up with a gravely injured Vi on their hands, both freaking out. Jinx gets to see Caitlyn worried, probably even ignoring her because Vi's life is more important.

It's no wonder Jinx later tells Vi "you deserve to be with her"

[generalluxun]

I'm glad someone tackled the 'you didn't have to write it this way' for CB/E argument already, but I want to add one more on that vein.

Writing it that way explicitly sets up a finalé where Adrien *is* there. Those two seeds: once to introduce an idea, a second time to reinforce the idea, are the exact setup for a proper narrative subversion (not the twist Nonsense luke Kagami is a senti)

Let me elaborate:

In each instance what is the key element of the moment of akumatization? Adrien is alone. We get the golf swing into the Eiffel tower in CB, then just plain isolation in Ephemeral (the escalation here reinforces the point)

Now you have all the room in between those episodes and the finale. You have CN supporting LB in strike back. You have CN saving Marinette from being akumatized, you have Adrien supporting Marinette through her relationship fears. All that growth.

It's the perfect setup for a Gabe reveal where the difference is: Marinette.

This is where you show how much they've grown. This is where you show yin and yang. This is where you show partners. This is where she supports *him* in the crisis and *together* they are stronger. *Together* they overcome the narrative crisis and the knight saves the princess not by slaying the dragon, but by giving her the strength to face the dragon that has held her(him) prisoner.

That

is how you write a satisfying narrative conclusion to the Agreste arc that *still* emphasizes Marinette and the difference she makes in people's lives.

And all the pieces were right there to use. It's obvious, it's perfectly thematic for ML. It doesn't take the spotlight off Marinette. It took me about five minutes before I even had my coffee to weave it together.

The only reason a whole writing team couldn't manage it is they didn't *want* to. They're still so desperately hidebound by their 'reverse fairy tale' gimmick that perfectly preserves the concept of binary unequal gender roles, thinking that simply flipping them is so *brilliantly* progressive.

20 yrs ago called and wants it's 'enlightenment' back.

'Omg it was so vile to keep Adrien away from the final fight against hawkmoth. Can't believe they did this'

YALL WHAT DO YOU THINK THE POINT OF CHAT BLANC AND EPHEMERAL WERE!?!?!?

Adrien cannot fight his father. He can't do it. Not only because he's a fucking sentimonster, bit because Gabriel can take advantage of him so easily when he reveals its all for his mother.

'But he fought his father in Representation' but he wasn't being faced between the prospect of betraying his only family or betraying the love of his life then. He was just an angry teenager who had been pulled from his home. No moral dilemma just anger.

Adrien is not emotionally intelligent enough to chose between his mother and Marinette.

If Adrien was there, they would have fucking lost. THAT was the point of Chat Blanc and Ephemeral.

[cherllyio]

I want Pigsy's Noodles to be destroyed - a very angsty theory

(Spoilers)

I theorize this can happen, because if MK really does go apeshit, that would be the final trigger.

Because that little noodle shop, is the most comfortning place for MK.

Its the place he got a place to call home.

Its the place his dad is.

Its the place where he can seek comfort.

Therefore the best way to break MK, would be to take that away.

And then imagine if Pigsy was in the building when it got destroyed-

[everbyers]

We could be getting something on Will's birthday

This is just a theory, and I don't have any proper evidence for it, just pure speculation!!

Even though all the dates stuff are announced are random (expect st day), I think that a possibility of getting something like the teaser/trailer or even announcement dates is very possible on Will's birthday. Hear me out:

It's gonna set birthdaygate in stone even further.

Since It's an important announcement, the GA will have the date memorised and will be like "wait, this date is familiar"

It would make sense between the gap of the release and the dates announcement. The days between the dates announcements and releases are around 100-200 days. So, I calculated it.

If I'm right, the earliest release is June 30th and the latest is October 8th.

I personally believe that we are getting the teaser very soon and that we didn't get it because of the elections on st day. Possibly around December/Christmas?

[featherstorm2004]

Macaque is born from chaos

LMK SPOILERS FOR S5!!!

Ok so it's basically confirmed Macaque is going to be important for the next season considering dear Nine gave him so much attention, especially when you consider the ending shot is him noticing the chaos magic on the staff.

As for why he is important it's basically been confirmed that Mac's shadow magic is strange and in the finally we see it turn into chaos magic. Now, it's implied by Nine that Macaque would have needed to make a deal for this power, but Macaque has no clue what he's talking about which leads me to two theories.

And no I don't think it was the LBD's doing as he's had these powers long before her so no, I think either Mac was born in the chaos realm and somehow made it to this reality OR and this is my personal headcanon, Macaque was made by the "he" Nine referenced before departing in the finally. As to who this being is I have no idea but he is likely a figure of either equal or greater power to Nuwa, who then made Macaque to fulfill a purpose, similarly to how MK and Sun Wukong were.

As for what that purpose is who knows maybe it was to be his eyes and ears in this reality considering in the book Macaque had the ability to hear the past and future, or maybe it was to kill Wukong and Mk since they were Nuwa's sacrifices, we have no idea as this being is likely a creature of chaos so perhaps he had no reason and just wanted to see what would happen, but it's likely going to play a big part next season.

[atomicradiogirl]

i find it a very interesting choice that house md ends on enjoy yourself rather than you can’t always get what you want or maybe even the actual lyrical version of teardrop by massive attack.

enjoy yourself is the most optimistic of the songs and i’ve seen people complain that it kind of comes from nowhere and the actual meaning of the song especially considering that post-canon, wilson will die and house is dead figuratively (and will probably die literally with wilson), the song is not only a call to the viewer to live their lives to the fullest but asks house and wilson to enjoy the time they have left as they drive away from us, their stories are fundamentally over.

enjoy yourself is only referenced one other time in the show when hallucination amber sings it to house at a restaurant just before the hallucination finale of season 5. this presentation of enjoy yourself by “ghost” amber, someone who haunts house from his guilt over her death and near destruction of his relationship with wilson as a result is also a callback to her death in the first place. house is so scared by hallucination amber singing this song to him he begs wilson over the phone to pick him up, the exact request that killed amber. the optimistic song about living out your life to the fullest sung by the manifestation of his guilt, someone who died too soon also coupled with kutner dying 3 episodes prior to this, just makes the final use of this song so fascinating. the house writers obviously called back to this moment because it was house’s fear of death and change that made the initial scene scary. meanwhile house accepts wilson’s death and his death in the finale after healing and growing. this is why i think enjoy yourself is the perfect finale song. the house writers are telling us that they accept that their time is up and we should too, even though death is horrible and tragic and scary at the same time, everybody dies.

[2manyfandoms2count]

The flower symbolism in this shot... *chef's kiss*

Wisteria: good luck, kindness, love, longevity

Pink roses: admiration, happiness, love

Red tulips: perfect or deep love