#seriously i rewatch this show several times every year

[abzania]

Thinking about these two today.

[sskk-manifesto]

Atsushi's back in the game!!! ۶( ˆ o ˆ )

[ladybracknellssherry]

Good Omens Deep Dive Ahead! **I have edited and added to this several times now, but "ma point" has stayed the same. Probably every single reblog has a different version of this. It has turned into an absolute BEAST. You might be able to watch both seasons faster than read this at this point 😂😭

---------------------- Okay so I am rewatching S2 right now and golly. I've just noticed something. I'm sure it has already been noticed by plenty of other people so feel free to let me know, link me to some metas, please.

A lot of us have painstakingly analyzed every single frame, statue, clock tick, facial expression, and breath of the final 15. Good. Now we're going to look at the scene in S2E4/The Hitchhiker/1941 when Aziraphale and Crowley are in the bookshop doing their little pre-magic show warm-up roleplay foreplay bit. They're being surveilled by a bunch of half-witted nazi zombie spies. Aziraphale is trying to impress Crowley with his * m a g i c * Crowley is trying really hard to support his Angel.

The Blocking!

Keep in mind the camera angles are not quite the same between these scenes, the dimensions look a bit off because the lighting is completely different and therefore camera settings are different, and some of the furniture has moved a little bit in 90 years (but not much because Aziraphale)

1941 Crowley positions himself approximately / very nearly exactly in the same spot in the bookshop where present-day Crowley stops in the final 15 of S2E6 when Aziraphale says "Crowley, come back." The spot where shortly thereafter Crowley says the awful words that make us cry.

gif by stars-bean

gif by yellenabelova

1941 Azirphale with his little coins is standing in or very nearly in his same relative spot as in that scene, when present-day Aziraphale says "I need you," and "I don't think you understand what I'm offering you." And where shortly thereafter he says the awful words that make us cry.

gif by wearecrowley

gif by mabellous

Then Aziraphale gets a touch insecure when Crowley suggests they go to the magic shop because it is "for professional conjurors," and Crowley responds with his "My Nefertiti Fooling Fellow" line of support and encouragement and believing in Aziraphale. And in that moment Crowley stands and walks towards Aziraphale. And they are mere inches away from one another either fully in or very nearly exactly where they stood or rather will stand during the kiss. I'm not gonna post a kiss gif we have all seen it ten bajillion times and I do not need to cry tonight it is a Wednesday.

gif by gigew

gif by ajcrowleys

(I’m getting ahead of myself for a second but seriously, c’mon, just look at this fluff muffin's genuine smile above and tell me if it looks anything like that strained nightmare on his face in the gif below.)

gif by dykefaggotry

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE. And take from this what you will. That happy little 1941 West End Girl with his vanished farthing basking in the glow of what he now knows is his Demon's adoration. Rotate our duo 180° around the bookshop and Az is now primed to move into the position where he gives his frantic The Metatron's not so bad of a dude and Heaven are the Good Guys and Crowley is one of the Bad Guys nonsense ridiculousness that totally walks back on Aziraphale's entire character growth over 2 seasons. Could it possibly visually represent that our favorite little white-winged stim-city cinnamon roll found himself in the final 15 in a situation at a complete 180° from that moment in 1941 when he was so happy and being genuinely sincerely himself and he was about to do something that he really actually genuinely wanted so badly to do and it was GOOD and it was RIGHT. Crowley's confession is obviously such a wildcard. At this point in 1941 Crowley is supporting and encouraging and working with Aziraphale and in the final 15 he is doing exactly not that.

And even more. In both the 1941 scene and the final 15, Crowley has just entered, respectively, a church and Heaven to save Aziraphale in the middle of the blitz/a demon army almost war battle. A massive atmospheric difference is that 1941 happens at night and the final 15 happens in the morning. We'll work on figuring out what that might represent.

And then we have some seriously upsetting parallel Angel/Demon on the shoulder blocking/framing moments.

gif by i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky

gif by inhonoredglory

and

gif by inhonoredglory

And several more of such occur between the two scenes but I simply cannot.

And here's the part where I ramble and try to make sense of this in terms of the theories and fail miserably.

Get up, stretch your legs, have a glass of water, and take several deep breaths in.....and out..... You good? Let's go.

I've said it many times before and I stand by it that Aziraphale was lying through his teeth to Crowley in the final 15. Not because he wanted to lie to Crowley to convince him to come or to try to push him away - but because he was putting on a show for the Metatron. I think that just like the nazi zombies in 1941, the Metatron in S2E6 was absolutely watching Az's every move in the bookshop. And Az knew it. The first few times I watched it I thought Aziraphale's nervous glances to his left during his weird speech and the divorce were just nervous glances. Then I noticed that after he turned to face the other direction, his nervous glances went in the same direction, to his right side now, all the while to the window. It's alarming the frequency, several times a minute (but you were already acutely aware of the window glances you ineffably clever little shits.) I believe the whole final scene between our babies was an attempt at a sleight of hand by Aziraphale to subversively communicate with Crowley without letting on to the Metatron. How fitting that the parallel scene in 1941 revolved around supporting one another and planning and rehearsing for a performance that required for them to trust each other implicitly. And while I believe the act is for the Metatron, he is acting at Crowley - but expected him to catch on and act with him using coded language, movements, expressions, etc. that he expected/hoped Crowley would be able to read. However, both Crowley and Aziraphale in the final 15 were very clearly genuinely distraught for their own reasons. Crowley is about to finally verbally profess his love - and Aziraphale, I quite think, is terrified about his conversation with the Metatron and what's about to happen and is trying to come up with a tactic on the spot. It seems very likely to me that the intensity of their respective emotions in this moment absolutely doomed their communication.

How this all fits in with the leading theories.

I don't buy into the coffee theory. I think that was a metaphor or an allusion or symbolic of a very real "either accept my offer (which is not something you even want because everyone knows Aziraphale doesn't drink coffee) or suffer some dire consequences." I can't imagine Aziraphale would have ever thought the Metatron's offer was genuine and given out of merit. Surely he knew that he was in trouble. He'd thwarted the apocalypse, quit his job, stopped hiding that his person is a Demon, set off alarm bells in heaven twice in one week, blew up his halo and almost started a war, and hid an archangel on the lam. “You’re honest.” Bbgygrl bold face lied to the archangels for a week and the Metatron knows and Az knows he knows.

I'm not really for the body swap theory. Not really at all.

I’m not really for Angel!Crowley’s memory was wiped. How then would he remember the passwords? Crowley’s personality is very “that bitch” so I think all of his no-idea-who-tf-you-are interactions is just him being catty.

The time stop theory seems the most intriguing, I'm listening, but not yet sold. How prominently the ticking of the clock can be heard at all times in the bookshop feels important. I find myself flummoxed by the "missing minutes" / "continuity error" with that prominent clock in a show where the attention to detail is, “as you might say, a miracle,” that is propelling whole droves of human beings to the brink of discorporation. Here's an excellent breakdown of the timeline/examination of the clock in S2 by thesherrinfordfacility

I am, at this current moment in time, in the camp that believes Az likely attempted to convince Crowley to stop time so that he could explain the situation to him. To explain the threat - either implied, inferred, or direct - from the Metatron. To try to formulate a plan together. Check out this analysis from ineffableigh and take another look at Aziraphale babbling out his Heaven propaganda. Apparently the lip-reading theory that Az was mouthing about "time" has been debunked, but I stand by what looks like Aziraphale making the "time-out" hand gesture. And that damned clock loudly ticking its heart out all season must be important. Mustn't it??

Still, I'm not entirely convinced that any time stopping actually happened, not sure when it would have happened. Crowley was so emotional in a way we have never seen him. I think its highly possible that in the heat of that moment he wasn't catching Aziraphale's signals. I think that Crowley after the talk with Maggie and Nina was so caught up in saying what he was really thinking that it used up any possible bandwidth for LISTENING. But damn those tells seem like they would be/should be giant flashing neon warning signs to Crowley.

I mean, come on, the "C"lues in Aziraphale's ramble that he is spinning a wild-ass tale with coded language that would only make sense to Crowley are pretty obvious to me. If Az was really trying to convince Crowley to do something the last thing he would say is that it would be "nice(r)." And there is no way that at that point Aziraphale could have truly still considered Crowley to be a part of Hell and therefore one of the "bad guys." Seriously? 2 whole seasons and thousands of years spent learning about shades of grey and watching the Demon, who he loves, prove in a million little ways that he loves him back, watching that Demon do the right thing over and over, and TEACHING him, the Angel, the right thing. “Nothing lasts forever.” ?? My son is talking about his BOOKS. He is talking about THEM. They are IMMORTAL. They know what Eternity means. THEY last forever. If Aziraphale wanted to convince Crowley to come back and be an Angel, he would not have used that phrase/reasoning in his argument knowing full well that when Angel!Crowley became aware that his creation would be intentionally shut down, from Aziraphale's own mouth, mind, that was the triggering event that eventually led to Crowley's fall. Further, it would never have occurred to Aziraphale to try to use hurtful language to attempt to push Crowley away at this point because it has already been proven that that doesn’t work. S1E3 “I don’t even like you! “You do!” I think his erraticism in this scene was being totally caught off guard by Crowley's confession and trying to reconcile how to process and handle that while also trying to stick to his tactic of trying to get Crowley to read him. Az is brilliant, but Crowley is the one who usually can problem solve on his feet.

Az is clever enough to discern that he wasn't being offered the position in Heaven by the Metatron - Az was being forced back to Heaven. He wouldn't be happy or excited to make a difference in Heaven because he thought it was "the side of truth, of light, of good." No. There was no longer any freedom from Heaven, no safety for Aziraphale, which meant there was no longer any safety for Crowley. And if there was one motivator for Aziraphale above all other things it would be to keep Crowley safe. He had no choice but to go back to Heaven, so its not a matter of we can make a difference. It is a matter of we have to.

While I believe all of his word horror batshit disaster monologue was a bunch of old tosh, once present-day Aziraphale turns around from that 180° position to follow Crowley, into that final configuration matching that of 1941, he starts losing it. I think he's realizing that he failed in his attempt to get Crowley to understand. He did not expect to have to keep up this act so long. Crowley is walking away. It has all gone so wrong. He is cracking and the honest words start flooding past the lies. "Work with me!" (come on, catch up, please!) "We can be together"...(reluctantly, barely even trying anymore "...angels." And then it just breaks. "I need you!" "You don't understand!" While that would seem to be the case for Az, it really, at least on the surface, does not seem to have applied for Crowley.

The parallels between the final 15 and 1941 suggest to me, at least on the surface, an inverse. In 1941 we saw joy and excitement and wonder and cooperation and communication and trust. Furfur came to take Crowley back to Hell after catching our beloveds working together. And Aziraphale, the world's not best magician, performed a magic trick that may well have saved their existences, and "got it right the time that mattered." The final 15 is, again, on the surface and ostensibly, an abject disharmony. The Metatron came to take Aziraphale back to Heaven, and made a serious effort (no, not that kind, kids) to point out how very much the Ineffables "partnership" is "irregular" and implying, I'm sure, that they would only be permitted to be together as Angels in Heaven (which is a load of steaming celestial garbage.) (We're going to see more of the Az/Metatron conversation in S3, I just know it, there is some seriously important information missing.) But, as far as we were shown, at least on the surface, all of their getting to know one another and trusting one another and being able to read one another - failed to serve them the time that mattered.

And yet. Crowley still lingered in the end and stood so poised and stoic next to the Bentley watching Az step into the Hellevator...It kind of gave a feel that maybe Crowley figured something out. Maybe he had a cool down after storming out and realized something felt very off about that conversation. Maybe he just braced himself and remembered to trust Aziraphale. Maybe as he stormed out he saw the Metatron staring daggers into the bookshop window and it clicked. Maybe in Az's furtive glance back that very last time he once again mouthed "trust me." Some version of Az's message must have finally gotten through to Crowley. Somewhere along the way. It had to have. I can't believe it didn't. All season we were shown Crowley specifically can read Aziraphale. "You have three reasons for calling me" / "tone of voice," the "trust me" lip-reading at the 1941 magic show / Crowley has seen first hand how Az acts when he lies to Heaven in the Job mini-sode. And really. Crowley knows the second coming is on the agenda after his trip to Heaven. These two put the force of their entire existence into thwarting the Apocalypse once. Would he truly believe Aziraphale would want to help bring about the second coming? Sounds unlikely.

So, perhaps, the final 15 isn't in its entirety opposed to 1941. Maybe it's just a few symbolic nods. 1941 Crowley said the magic act they need to perform together needs to be "bigger" more "dramatic." Is there something bigger and more dramatic happening? Are they performing together? Did Crowley catch on? Did they stop time? Or is there a trick, like the photo swap, so surreptitious that it's almost invisible? Perhaps there is just a metaphor in there. Maybe now Crowley has to be the one to catch the metaphorical bullet and Az has to be the one to figuratively shoot? (That's terrifying.)

And then there's still the matter of that damned clock!

Also, let's face it, Alpha Centauri was never a plan. "They'll be shutting this all down in 6000 years.” “All.” As in "the universe.” As in Alpha Centauri included. They were going to have to take some sort of action eventually. I don't think Crowley ever wanted to go. He just wanted Aziraphale to say yes. Yeah, ouch.

Last point I promise is this video from @sendarya

Here, Nightingale Sang in its entirety is lined up with the 13 seconds in which it played in the Bentley and it ends exactly at the final frames of Crowley and Aziraphale. Some have speculated that Crowley had Nightingale queued up to play on the pair's way to breakfast at the Ritz. But that doesn't make sense. Wouldn't one have a song start at the beginning? AND Crowley had yet to have his chat with Maggie and Nina. I'm not so sure that the Crowley we know would have gotten it into his head/summoned up the confidence on his own to ready THAT song. Maybe the often tone-deaf Bentley was trying to comfort Crowley by playing Nightingale? But what I think is that when Aziraphale glanced back, he made the tiniest of little Angel nudge waves to convince the Bentley to play that song. From this vantage point, Michael Aziraphale's creepy smile in the final frame conveys an entirely different sentiment. It makes him look certain. It makes him look like an Angel with a plan. If I'm right in this part, I think that would have been exactly what was needed to finally get his message, intentions, and feelings across to Crowley in a way he could understand.

Come at me hive mind!

Also still new to tumblr and think I royally fudged it on adding those gifs so I'll work on that.

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 1.4

Oh, John. It's hard because I'm like “fame was not good for that man” but I'm also like “he would've gone crazy with self-loathing if he didn't have the fame.”

John and Paul start to answer a question at the same time. John: no, go on, you can say it. They're seriously so married. 

John's schoolboy flirting is cute, but what's more noteworthy to me is a) how happy Paul is to be shoved and b) how he instantly leans back into John. It's like they're bungeed together or something. 

John gets me. Look how much he loves Paul bringing out the forced confidence shield to protect him. He's so in love. So turned on. 

Here's my question about the death threats. Did the other Beatles actually receive them and tell Brian about them and keep them from John? Because that would be incredibly sweet and noble of them, but also, in that case, surely John received death threats too. Meaning he just didn't care about his own life and assumed the others were being left out of it because they hadn't actually said they were bigger than Jesus. Or did they have people filtering all their mail by that point? And Brian had been keeping the death threats from all of them? Because that could be interpreted as both protective and selfish of him. Does anyone know?

Again. I just love how Paul goes to bat for John over and over during this tour. Batting his eyes and playing with his hair and shouting down any and all criticism of John speaking his mind.

This moment is so telling to me. An interviewer who was up front at several concerts points out the looks and smiles between John and Paul which you can only see from the front and asks, “is it really that much fun every time?” The easy answer is, “Yeah. We like what we do. It's fun!” But Paul gets cagey. “Oh well the thing is you know with things like that it's probably…” and he makes up a bullshit story about messing up on a song they haven't performed in a year. Why do that if you don't have something to hide? (Even if you're subconsciously hiding) That right there is a tip-off for me that they're not normal about each other. 

Interviewer: are you guys breaking up? John, immediately and emphatically: No. Paul: "Depends what you mean by breaking up, you know . . . Because we can't go on forever like this, so we've got to think now and prepare for, you know, if it did happen. The time has come for us to break up, but we've realized the possibility . . . Of breaking up as a natural progression." Literally shut the fuck up right now, you're going to give John an aneurysm.

I understand. I know. I don't relate to Paul much but I do relate to his hyperactivity and his avoidant attachment. I make sure constantly that I'll be okay when all my relationships end. But you don't talk about that in front of the other person. Especially someone like John whose worst fear is being left. Come on. Think. 

See, now look what you did, Paul. Here's John's answer the next time they're asked about breaking up. 

And yeah, the klan being the ones to “stand up against the Beatles blasphemy” really proves my point from the last post I think. It's just masked racism. 

It actually seems like Paul's more vocally political at this point in time than John is. I wonder what happened to change that? Was it just the influence of their respective wives? Was it just easier for them to play up the roles they'd been assigned for the most part?

Okay on this round of “are you breaking up” they look at each other first before they answer and then Paul goes “all together probably.” I wonder if they talked about their previous answers together and admitted – however cautiously or however veiled – that hearing the other say they might leave hadn't been fun. Who knows, honestly.  

Paul and John often talk about making a radio show together apparently. Gosh if only they could've done that now. I'd make them my token white boy podcast. It'd be great. They'd be so lame and so adorable and they'd talk about recipes and politics and they'd gossip and rank other people's music. But anyway, what really gets me is the often bit. So they really did plan their post-beatle future together. Enough that it was a frequent topic of discussion between them. They planned to be together forever. 

Ugh it always guts me that Paul brought a girlfriend to Paris with him to meet up with John.

Okay my tin hat is glued to my head for this but. But. Hear me out alright? So John starts filming on 09/19/66. He's there for 6 &½ weeks. Putting the end at the beginning of November, right when Paul goes in disguise and alone to Paris. Do we have tabs on John for those dates? John just talked about going around Paris in disguise. What if  they met up by themselves and in secret? What then?

 No fucking wonder John was exhausted with him. Damn. He takes a month and a half to write strawberry fields, shows it to Paul, then...

Interviewer: the songwriting team will keep going whatever happens will it? John: yeah, we'll probably carry on writing music Forever. It's just so ‘Obviously. Might as well ask me if the sun's going to come up tomorrow.’

His friend – try dangerous drugs with and take home to daddy type “friend” – just died brutally and suddenly two days ago, and this is what he looks like and talks like and he's going in to work like it's nothing. I just. Compare that to John talking about Brian's death? Obviously two very different relationships but still… Paul's upbringing really fucked him up so hard. He thinks he's not allowed to be human. What can I say? It's a drag.

AKA the happiest 6 months of John and Paul's lives. 

I find it fascinating that Paul alone is asked to compose and record what would eventually become the carnival of light and that he just went ahead and included everyone in that. Really makes me wonder if he got a vibe off John that him doing the family way alone was hurtful or if they maybe even talked about it? Or maybe he just didn't like doing the family way without John.

Actually quite a lovely, forward-thinking, humble speech. Imagine being John, though. Watching that from home like “why the fuck is he philosophizing to the world without me?” Because you know John shares all those sentiments and might even have got there first. It would be infuriating.

“A lucky man who made the grade” is an interesting way to describe Tara and I can't help but wonder if it has anything to do with Tara being cool enough for Paul to associate with him. And Paul is many things but stupid is not one of them. He's going to at the very least wonder if this verse is about John laughing at his friend's death. Right? Like I know Paul's the repression CEO but seriously I don't think even he is that good. 

Maybe that Leopold and Leob quote isn't just about tearing people down verbally. Maybe Wooler genuinely got a vibe of a sense of superiority and therefore lack of empathy with Lennon/McCartney.

I mean he really does sound like he's describing sex though, doesn't he? Emotional, loving, romantic sex. Followed immediately by Paul's “I'd love to turn you on” lyrics and the “down with pants” and “sword swallower” pins. Alrighty then. 

What I would call my Beatles bio after watching this. "They Touched Dicks: The Only Logical Conclusion."

[pinkprimrose05]

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED YUGIOH ARC-V

So yesterday I decided to start rewatching ARC-V (for the second time, at the behest of a friend who just got into the show), and, well... shit.

There is a hint of foreshadowing I missed, and it's in Episode fucking One to boot.

Unfortunately, this hint is entirely lost in the English dub (edit: I stand corrected, it's still there, just not as explicitly obvious), and I can't seem to find any source for the Japanese dialogue of the episode (not that it'd help much, in the end; I can't read Japanese for shit and am mostly going off the romanization of structures I only barely understand). But why is this relevant here, you ask?

Well, allow me to explain.

There are several ways of referring to oneself (or one's possessions) in Japanese. You're probably already familiar with first person pronouns 私 (Watashi), 僕 (Boku), and 俺 (Ore), all of which mean "I" in English, and each of which is used by different sorts of people in different sorts of situations.

In the context of ARC-V, Yuuya normally uses Ore when referring to himself, and Ore no for possessions. But being the expert performer he is, he puts on a faux-formal persona for Entertainment Duels, so in addition to giving extra flair to...literally everything he says, he switches to the more polite Watashi and Watashi no for a more, ah, charming impression.

(In comparison, Yuzu already uses Watashi, as it is also the most common pronoun for girls. Gongenzaka defaults to the "manly" Ore, and Sora uses the softer male pronoun Boku and its derivative).

Now the kicker here is that, from the moment Yuuya acquires Pendulum until the end of his Duel with Ishijima, he uses none of the aforementioned pronoun sets. Instead, he switches to the first person pronoun 我 (Ware) and possessive pronoun 我が (Waga), which are now considered a stiff, archaic, and outdated way to refer to oneself, mainly used in fiction by characters with a strong sense of dramatic flair.

But Pink, isn't that basically Yuuya getting really into the entertainer persona?

... well yes, but actually no. I would have written this off as another flashy quirk of his, had it not occured to me that:

1) This is not a one-off occasion, and it only repeats in specific situations. I mean, we don't see this particular pronoun switch making another appearance until the tail end of Episode 39... when Yuuya goes into the Awakened state for the "first" time.

He doesn't talk much when he's like that (which, yeah, fair enough; I can't focus on talking and doing full combo at the same time either), but you may notice that his Pendulum summoning chant changes from "Appear now, my monsters!" (Arawareyo, ore no monsuta-tachi!) to "Come out, my monster servants!" (Ideyo, waga shimobe no monsuta-tachi yo!)

And guess what? The same happens in Episode 1, when he does the very first Pendulum summon.

2) The personal pronoun Ware is not only used by melodramatic characters, but also by those that view themselves as distant from, and/or superior to everyone else. Ancient spirits, magical entities, you get what I mean here...

And it sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it?

An egotistic crackhead with a strong superiority complex, who still strives for drama and entertainment despite his twisted ways. You know him. I know him. Everyone knows him.

He's been trying to hijack Christmas for six years now, after all.

...God fucking dammit.

Yes, Zarc is the only character with enough theatre kid energy to use Ware as his default personal pronoun. And yes, Yuuya copies that aspect every time magical Pendulum fuckery is involved... which, admittedly, would not register as foreshadowing until you have context for what it's supposed to be foreshadowing in the first place.

.. And it still flew over my head entirely in the first rewatch. So much for a resident theorist, lmao.

Seriously though, I think this is pretty brilliant. Sure, it's a niche linguistic detail that requires prior knowledge of the ending to understand, but it hints towards a great mystery behind the origins of Pendulum summoning, which is very damn cool, if I do say so myself.

It's worth mentioning that I also watched Episode 2, which doubles down with the more obvious, but no less neat hint of placing Yuuya on the "antagonist" side of the Duel screen against Yuzu in their exhibition match thingy.

See, this is why I love ARC-V so much. One of the greatest joys of watching this show is finding all the hidden puzzle pieces and going "Oh, so THAT'S what they meant when they did this!", and it never fails to amaze me every time.

This has been Volume 1 of Pink's ARC-V Highlights™, and I'll definitely be back with more... whenever I find another dumb tidbit to hyperfixate on.

'Till then, my Duelist friends!

[skayafair]

Scared Vi

The thing I was finally able to put into a thought and into words after staring at gifs for 2 hours straight: throughout all the post-timeskip Arcane Vi is fucking scared of everything that's going on around her. AND she's on the brink of losing it pretty often. I need to rewatch (no idea when I'll be brave enough to ride this rollercoaster again) but I didn't notice it while watching, because, WELL, there was already TOO MUCH to take in, so some more subtle details escaped me. I've caught that Vi is very vulnerable in her honesty, openness and straightforwardness, but that wasn't all to it, and it bothered me! Because all three don't ooze the vulnerability 24/7 and that's what Vi looks like to me nearly all the time!

So I was wondering.

And here's the answer. She's been suddenly released out of her cell into the world that is now completely unknown to her. Yes the air of freedom is great, and she enjoys it, but at the same time there's always this frightened undertone.

She's constantly on the edge.

Not in the least because when things that used to be familiar, like your home, ones you used to know like the back of your hand, change but not completely, it's the worst trap of all, the most confusing and anxiety inducing. How much of what you remember is still the same? How much changed? Can you trust its exterior even if it looks the same? Or would it betray you in the worst possible moment? How do new things work? How do they work WITH the old things? I've experienced it once coming back to my former workplace that changed quite a lot but no one bothered to fill me in so I was piecing together the information for a YEAR. And I might not be the brightest but I'm not dumb either. I'm pretty good with systems. It was BAD.

So I can't imagine how much worse and disoriented Vi must have felt. And Caitlyn took her out of jail to SHOW HER AROUND. Having no idea how the world Vi used to know so well changed just in several years. So she's on a look out all the time. And her eyes, her expression betrays her put up exterior of confidence and maybe even arrogance, leaking this anxiety and straight up fear almost all the time.

She looks like a frightened, lost little girl. And when she doesn't, she looks like a desperate teenage girl who tries to punch her way out of every problem because she's backed into a corner and that's the only way she knows, even if it never helps. (No seriously, the only time it helped was against Silco's thugs and EVEN THEN they weren't completely dealt with and kept causing problems straight up to the bridge fighting scene. Vi's fists kept her alive and safer but they never SOLVED anything.)  

I think the way she looks just SCREAMS fear and anxiety when she and Powder/Jinx fight back to back after the torch scene. Jinx looks like she's completely in her element, she knows these guys, she's been in situations like this time after time. It's habitual. She's very confident and almost careless there, moves freely, she knows what she's doing. She might even enjoy it. Vi, on the opposite... Vi, who's all about loose body language, free movement and such - nearly curls up into a ball against Jinx's back, keeping her fists and elbows close to herself. Vi NEVER looked like this again, I think. I... believe she was the most thrown off kilter back then. She finally found her most treasured and the only remaining piece of her past - her sister, and sure, lil Powpow changed, she had to survive, but she's still Vi's little sister!

Right?..

Wrong. Powder-Jinx back then is the quintessence of the trap Zaun is to Vi now: familiar pieces are all there, they're recognizable even if a bit changed, but you never know what lurks under the surface.

And gods does Jinx just demolish every last bit of the ground Vi was standing on. It's not even when Jinx goes full on unhinged, it's when she simply starts blasting bullets all around. When she fights and she's confident in what she does. Vi doesn't know this girl. Vi doesn't know this gang flying around. I bet she doesn't even know this TECHNOLOGY because the world made a whole leap technologically while she was stuck in her cell isolated from pretty much everything. It's like a literal time skip for her. And she doesn't know what to trust, so she can't trust anything no matter how much she wants to. And she HAS to want it, because she looked genuinely hopeful fresh out of Stillwater. Before she saw what her home turned into. Silco really did bring the monster out of it, not just himself or Jinx or shimmer junkies. The whole city. So Vi looks small, and frightened, and I think she's even panicking back in that scene.

She's ready to snap at any moment.

It's very interesting to me, because she looks tough and very mentally healthy on the surface but boooy are there mountains hidden underneath.

Vi does snap, actually. Several times. Her voice cracks as she's trying to convince Ekko she's THE Vi, same she used to be. She charges at Sevika TWICE. I think second time was much worse btw. She literally downs a drink IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT - I don't think it was out of mental stability. And, well, the cry in the end. She won, and it helped nothing again. Even her mental state. Another fragile moment with Vi is the way she looks around her sister. Vi is confident and action-charged by nature, she's energetic and isn't shy to take up space. So she never looks small... except when she's around Jinx. She's drowning in guilt, and this guilt is spilling out.

Interestingly enough, scenes when Vi DOESN'T have this scared/guilty/anxious/desperate look is around Cait. She's either playful, or actually confident, or even RELAXED. Which is... wow, all things considered. Part of it is a put up facade, of course, but only in the beginning. The ship sails itself huh...

A lot of people pointed out Caitlyn is about future in Vi's life centered around the past, but I think what's more important is that Cait is about the present. Plus, she's a familiar - an enforcer, a topside - turned unfamiliar in a GOOD way.

Gods once again I'm baffled at the level Arcane is thought through. These are subtle, small details, expressions that aren't exposed or accentuated like many other ones. They are underlying, but once you notice them it's a whole new tapestry unfolding right before your eyes.

As you can see, I'm very normal about Arcane and Vi in particular, yup, totally cool 😌👌✨

[oswlld]

oswlld's monthly wrap up: march

note: i am trying something a bit different this year, so bear with me as i figure out how i want to format this. i wanted to spend more time sharing what i consume, beyond what i rb, and put my thoughts in one place. these posts are okay to rb

--

When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut [started 02/24, finished 03/14] What an outstanding example of blurring the lines between fiction and reality. I am content in never knowing what’s real and imaginary in the lives of these people. May we never forget that for every new idea challenged, there is a real person with real emotions and motivations behind it. 4.25⭐️ in storygraph. — No Stopping Us Now: A History of Older Women in America, Gail Collins [started 03/03, finished 03/30] This book makes some strong points, but comes off weak in its execution. By having it be told decade by decade, it becomes hard to follow along when so many names and events are being tossed around. Without a firm thread tying all the themes together, the achievements ended up feeling lackluster when it should leave you feeling a sense of pride and hopefulness. 3.25⭐️ in storygraph (I rounded up, but it feels more like a 3.15)

23.5 Degrees, GMMTV [started: 03/08, ongoing] What a breath of fresh air!! With my busy schedule, I managed to catch the first two eps and I’ve loved every minute of it. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, while still keeping a tight grip on its sense of identity. The series soaks up every aspect of its space theme like a sponge. Content specifically made for me, tysm! As much as I have tried refraining from consuming more high school settings, I couldn’t help but be enamored by what I have seen so far. I have paused this series for now, but hopefully I’ll be caught up before the end of April. I should be able to watch it live on Fridays in May. Until then, I will miss them dearly! — Always a Witch, Netflix [started 03/28, in progress] At this time, I have only seen episodes 1-5. So far, it’s a very straight-forward series. I am restraining myself from calling it predictable, because there are one or two things that really turns some tropes/themes on its head. But all-in-all, I am still waiting for this show to grab me. For a show that checks all the boxes that really makes a core jessi show, a series with time travel, magical realism, and found family, it has yet to completely sweep me away. Time really got away from me this month, but I will finish this series sometime in the next two weeks. We shall see if the latter half gets better.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) [watched 03/15 thru 03/18] I have seen this live and did see the original film in theaters last year, so this experience was more of a rewatch. This time around, my parents wanted to watch some of it with me so we made a whole evening of it on 3/15 so that was really neat. I will be traveling a lot in April and will be taking an audio copy of this to keep me entertained. — Oscar Nomination Season [started 02/17, ended 03/24] All of my initial reactions of what I managed to cover this Oscar season is in this post. Some of the strongest categories I have had the pleasure of covering this year were the Best Documentary (feature), Best Production Design, Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary (short), and Best Animated Film. I have several more films to tackle later this year, but my overall impression this Oscar season was just alright. One or two films have hit an extremely high note for me, but no worst of the worst.

BEYONCÉ, Beyoncé [relistening] During the pandemic, I really got into waching YT reaction channels reacting to full albums. One of my favorites is HTHaze and he is only beginning his listening journey through Beyoncé’s discography (yes, for the first time!) His reaction to Beyoncé’s self-titled made me want to relisten to it in full for the first time in years. I tend to only revisit a few songs through the years, but I do love going back to albums after time has past to recontextualize everything all over again. I’ve had my longtime faves from my 20’s but in my mid-30’s, the songs that hit harder now are: Pretty Hurts, Haunted, and Jealous. — Bewitched, Laufey [first time listening] The same YT channel got me to listen to this album. I am guilty in having my first listen be through his video first before diving into her album properly. With that said, the brain rot went FULL ROT. I love LOVE her compositions. Having learned from her Tiny Desk that getting a grand piano influenced the way she wrote her songs makes the whole conception so much grander. Her voice is soooo, it’s SOOOOO !!!!!!! I read a comment somewhere that her dream is to rejuvenate jazz the same way Taylor Swift did with country for a younger generation and that really spoke to me. I truly believe she is heading in the right direction in achieving that. My favorite run of songs goes from: Haunted, Must Be Love, While You Were Sleeping, Lovesick, California and Me, Nocturne (Interlude), and Promise. Those seven songs in that succession is so GOOD, ahH! — Once the Musical [relistening] Every spring, I fall into a Once spiral and it just gets deeper and deeper. This time though, I only tackled the core faves on YT rather than committing to the full audio (w/ Arthur Darvill and Joanna Christie). Although Arthur Darvill’s Leave will forever solidify his Guy as my Guy, Declan Bennett is The Guy of Guys for me. My mandatory relistening experience always goes: Arthur’s Leave, Arthur’s Say It To Me Now, Declan’s Say It To Me Now, Declan’s When Your Mind’s Made Up, Zrinka's If You Want Me, Once’s Spotify Jam Session. And it would all be on a loop lol. — Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé [first time listening] This is still fresh in my mind, having only listened to it in its entirety once through. My first impression is that it’s one of her most cohesive albums to date. Having had the first taste of what she would eventually achieve all the way back with Lemonade and The Gift, Cowboy Carter feels like a natural progression in her discography. I don’t have a top songs list to provide at this time, as I would need more time with the album. Fav songs come with time. Although, I did listen to 16 CARRIAGES when it was released several weeks ago and I knew then it would be a spectacular album. What a phenomenal single to lead a phenomenal homecoming.

Where’d You Go Bernadette, written by Maria Semple and narrated by Kathleen Wilhoite [started 03/22, finished 03/29] I… I didn’t like this. And that’s alright. Even if I didn’t like the premise or the characters, I did enjoy the format of the narrative and the narrator (especially her singing!!). But in the end, this was just not meant for me.

—

As it is still March when I am writing this, I wanted to endcap Women’s Month with a special shoutout to two women in my life that have been working with me to improve my overall well-being: Wendy (personal trainer) and Sofia (life coach). I am in a better headspace because of the work and trust they have in me to build a life I want. I cannot wait to see what I am capable of this time next year.

[philhoffman]

In lieu of a Monday Philm post tonight, I wanted to tell y'all about the long weekend I had in Western New York. I took a very special trip up to Phil's hometown of Rochester, NY, for a special 35mm screening of Owning Mahowny—which ended up being one of the best nights of my life. TL;DR I met his family and got to tell them how much he is loved ❤️

As some of you might know, the Eastman Museum in Rochester is now the permanent home of PSH's statue, and to celebrate, the museum's Dryden Theatre is showing his films all year long. I've been dying to see Phil's hometown and especially the statue since it was unveiled last year and finally made it (many hours and several hundred miles in the rain) up to WNY for a couple days. Y'all I can't even tell you how excited I was just to be in Rochester, like geeking over everything. We visited Fairport, where Phil grew up, and went to a restaurant with a burger named after him (yum), and got his fave kind of donuts at the Wegmans where he worked as a cashier in high school (I told you, geeking HARD). It's such a nice, friendly city and so many little things about Phil clicked just being there.

We went to the Eastman Museum first thing Saturday morning to see his statue and it's so perfect. Yes I cried a little bit as soon as I walked up to it! I don't need to tell y'all how much Phil means to me and finally seeing this public tribute to him, which looks so good and is so approachable and huggable and real and lovely, was amazing. Passed it four times going in and out of the museum and made my mom take my photo with him every time :-)

That night was the 35mm screening of Owning Mahowny. Already one of my favorite PSH films, I recently finished the book it's based on—No Limit: The Incredible Obsession of Brian Molony by Gary Ross—which is just as engrossing and made me even more excited to rewatch the film on the big screen. We were the first people to the theater bc I was so anxious to be there lmao.

I recognized Phil's mother, Marilyn, and his older sister, Jill, who arrived about 20 minutes before the film and sat a few seats away. My anxiety was through the ROOF—I am very shy in person, but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't say anything and since this was a PSH-related event I figured they probably wouldn't mind if I brought him up. Thanks to Phil I have a hundred times more confidence than I did just a few years ago, so I worked up my courage and went over to introduce myself, tell them my name and how far I came just to see the statue and the film, how much I admire Phil and his work.

Y'all I'm tearing up again just typing this because they were the nicest people I have ever met in my life, seriously. His mom and his sister were immediately so kind that my nerves melted away, it was like talking to friends. They were touched that I'd come so far, they thanked ME for coming over to say hello. I shook their hands and we had a whole conversation for several minutes—I got to tell them that Phil changed my life, how I've seen all of his films, the ways he's inspired me to make my own art. I can't even believe I am writing this because it was so surreal and incredible. They asked me so much about my trip and myself, which is cute because I've heard so many stories about how Phil always asked people about themselves, their lives, their families, their work. His mom asked if I'd seen the statue (of course!!!) and told me to make sure I took a selfie with him :''''') so obviously I took another one when we left <3

Jill and I talked about Owning Mahowny and gambling while my mom talked to Phil's mom (like how is it even real that I'm saying that?), then Marilyn told a funny, sweet story about when Phil was filming Mahowny in Toronto in 2002. One day he called and asked to come home for a while, then drove down and spent the day with her watching hours of dailies of the same exact shot, scrutinizing each take and laboriously trying to decide on the best one—and his mom was like, "Phil, what are we searching for, these all look the same to me" LMAO 😭

The film itself was obviously amazing, no need for a full review here. Equally wonderful to share it with a big audience laughing, cringing, gasping, crying, smiling. The 35mm print looked beautiful. As we were leaving, Phil's sister made a point to catch my eye and thank me again for stopping to say hello! We said goodbye to her and Marilyn and they wished us a great rest of our trip to Niagara Falls the next day—it was so sweet they remembered I'd even mentioned it.

I hardly slept that night I was so excited lol. It's been two days and it still feels surreal. I'm repeating myself but I can't get over how warm and kind they both were, how we were all kind of moved almost to the point of tears talking about their beautiful son and brother, my hero, the artist and man who saved my life and brought us all together. I'm so so so grateful for the opportunity to tell them what Phil means to me. Since then I've had a million thoughts like "oh I wish I'd said this or that," but really it would be impossible to sum up in words, even if we had all the time in the world, everything I want to say. I said it before but it's easy to understand how Phil turned out to be such an amazing person, coming from a family like that.

One of the simplest yet most meaningful couple of days in my whole life. It was better than I could've hoped for. Mostly joy—and while there was some grieving and missing him, too, I know it all came from love. I feel closer to Phil than ever. Thank you for making me feel so welcome in your home, Phil. Words are never enough but I love you so much, we're all so proud of you.

[alistairian]

Just started season 7 of our Doctor Who rewatch (the last season I watched the first time around) I'm remembering again why I sorta fell out with the show at this point. I genuinely like Matt Smith's doctor but oh my god they seriously try to tease The Doctor's death every goddamn episode of season 6, every episode the companions go through some of the most insane horrible shit and by the end of the episode it's all magically undone and forgotten. And it's not like I'm not mad that it's episodic, I'm a star trek fan for christs sakes, there's actually just 0 stakes.

Oh, now Rory's a plastic robotic centurian who was present for 2000 years of history and is older than the doctor and basically immortal? I sure hope they don't completely forget about that 2 episodes later and do nothing with it... Amy has a storyline where she's pregnant? Wait. Not pregnant. Nope, pregnant again. Pregnant, but this time we don't see it at all. Huh, turns out Amy wasn't even there for the past several episodes she was in a pregnancy tube? Are they gonna explain how that works? No? Aw, and now she can't get pregnant and it's the worst thing ever ):

Also the misogyny?? I thought maybe it was exagerated in my memory from internet discourse and being a teenager but no that shit is so blatant. The over-the-top Shock at the suggestion that a completely alien entity might consider a woman to be stronger than a man, and the reason? Women can make babies. Not her spirit, not her love or resilience, no. She has a womb. All of the "I hate my wife" jokes and the "women, amiright?" punchlines. I remember last time around I really wasn't a fan of Amy at all and this time around I wanted to give her a second chance but she just doesn't have a personality, I've got nothing to work with. She had no family or friends, she basically never mentions having a life outside the doctor, her entire schtick is being obsessed with the doctor and making her husband feel like trash over and over again. A lot of the time she just does things for no reason but luckily it always works out plotwise. Oh but she's pretty, when she does have a life on earth she becomes a model so that's something I guess. Also she can't have kids and it's very bad ): like sorry but idk why we got almost 2 and a half seasons with her, cuz it sure didn't feel that long with Rose.

And even though I haven't seen most of Clara's episodes from what I remember I worry it's probably the same with her. Another blank canvas who'll do anything for The Doctor...

Idk man, big rant. My partner's been watching all of this for the first time and has had 0 exposure to fandom and they're seeing all the same things I do so I know I'm not just being an unreasonable fan lol

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

I JUST FINISHED EPISODE EIGHT AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I

AM

NOT

OKAY

Y'all I teared up a lot but no tears have been shed yet lol. That's really because it hasn't sunk in yet xD.

Also, that's a lie, I finished the episode hours ago lol. I have since looked at hsmtmts posts and tiktoks, read a fanfic, and rewatched several scenes (mainly in the finale) xd. I was too in shock but I need to start this lol

First of all, I just- that was the perfect finale. Plenty of the show (looking at you season 2 /lh), satisfying ends for the couples (barely on Jetney but you know we take what we can get lol), amazing music, and everyone's staying together :'). I can't express how much this show means to me <3. I'll have a separate post where I'm SUPER sentimental, but right now I can have some too :'). Anyway, I loved the episode so so SO much <3333.

Nini - we missed you :'). You were the beginning, and you had an end that makes me tear up every time. I'm sure she's off doing the best of things - and hey, she asked Ricky to give them all their cards :')). I'm so proud of her, and so happy for her <33. You're the best, Nini :')) ❤️❤️😭🥰. I love her so much <3.

Emmy! She slayed as Taylor :'DD. And I'm just so happy she gets to continue to learn from Miss Jenn <333. And start to be an older sister as well, not just a younger one :'). She's going to be a leader in the drama department <3. And like Gina said, she's going to take over the world :'DD. I love her 😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰.

Did Jet ever actually tell Kourtney xD. I don't know, but they seem to kinda have a Thing lol, so whatever <33 🥰. I'm proud of him either way :'D. And I'm so glad he's finally found a place where he's happy, where he has a family 😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰. He deserves it so much :'))). Also, he slayed as Chad :'DD! Anyway, yeah, I'm just really glad he's at East High now :')). And yeah, he could give Gina a run for money for intimidation x'D. I love him <3333.

BIG RED MIGHT HAVE A THING WITH ANTOINE???!?!!!?? HELLO?!?!!!? JUMPSCARE SHIP!!! BUT NOT IN A BAD WAY JUST T O T A L L Y WILD XDDD. Anyway, why was this man in curtain call lol??? I do not care, as he should be XDD. Also I'm glad he got to be the one to tell Seblos they deserved the trip - show there's not issues there :). Anyway! Still not over jow wild that Antoine reveal was xD. Mans isn't even French!! Anyway lol. Gina described Big Red perfectly - he loves people unconditionally :'). We've always seen that with Ricky, and it's just amazing <33. Like that scene with Ricky this episode (it demonstrates that but yes it as also amazing lol) 😭😭❤️🥰. That scene was so sweet :'DDD. LIKE THEY SAID I LOVE YOU TO EACH OTHER!!! I love them so much :')). Anyway, yeah, he was great <33. I love him 🥰🥰🥰❤️😭❤️❤️.

EJ GOT TO BE ON STAGE :'DDDD!!! WHOOOO 😭😭😭🥳🥳🥰❤️❤️❤️!!! I'm not okay :'D. He totally deserved that, and he did great :'D. Ayy he can have this next bit now!! He slayed playing Coach Bolton 🥰! :'DD Anyway, I'm so happy for him :'). Also Carlos calling him EJ with the pretty eyes was so correct actually xD. Unrelated lol but eh. ALSO THE FACT THAT EJ CARVED ASH AND MADDOX INTO THAT TREE TRUNK??!?!?? OH MY GOSH 😭😭❤️ XD. That is so iconic <3. And I loved his conversation with Miss Jenn - even if it hurt me to hear her tell him to call her Jenn 😭💔, it makes sense :'). He's an adult now <3. It's wild and it hurts me xd, but he is. Anyway, I think he gave some really great advice :')). AND AAAHHHHHHH Y'ALL OUR DREAMS CAME TRUE!!!! POSSIBLE EJ AS EAST HIGH DRAMA TEACHER REFERENCE!!! WHAT WE'VE ALL BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS :DDDD XDD!!! I love that for us LOL 🥰🥰🥰❤️. But seriously, I think he does at least become an assistant director in the future :'). And when Miss Jenn retires, he takes over <3333. I mean, it's even practically what Gina said about him x'd - he taught her about herself :'). I love him so much <333 😭❤️❤️❤️🥰.

Maddox being sad over Ashlyn is my personal death y'all 😭. Also the fact that they mutually confessed and then were just like "well, I guess the only option now is. . . to stay friends 😬😌😐👉👉" - you idiots xDD. And AAAHHHHHH MADISON SENDING THE BALLOONS FOR MADDOX TO GIVE TO ASHLYN 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️!!! OH MY GOSH I'M SO NOT OKAY <3333. Also I'm glad her and Madison are on good terms :')). ALSO THE HAND KISS!!! OH MY GOSH 😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️. I love them <3333. Anyway, Maddox is just. Amazing :'). I'm so glad she was here this season <3. I love her :'DD ❤️❤️🥰🥰.

ASHLYN FINALLY KISSED MADDOX OH MY GOSH!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH :'DDDDD!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰!!!!! I'M NOT OKAY :DDDDD!!! They're so cute oh my gosh 😭😭😭❤️❤️. AND THE TREE TRUNK!!!!! AAAAHHHHHHHH OH MY GOSH ❤️😭😭😭❤️🥰. I'm not okay y'all <333. I love them so much :')). Also Ashlyn's reaction to Maddox leaving 😭😭😭💔❤️. I'm so glad she doesn't have to <3333 :')). I'm so happy for them :')) :'DD. Anyway :'). Ashlyn slayed playing Kelsi :'D! And what Gina said about her :'D - yeah :'). Ashlyn truly is the queen of changing her identity (I mean that in a good way lol), but also still being sure of her identity in between those times :')). I love her so much <333.

MR. MAZZARA AND MISS JENN ARE FINALLY TOGETHER :'DDDD!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥳🥳🥳🥳 WHOOOOOO!!!!! WHOOHOOO FINALLY :'DDDDD!!!!! My babeys 🥰🥰.

And about them separately lol, MR. MAZZARA GETS TO GO BACK TO NEW ZEALAND AND TRY AGAIN :'DDD!! I'm so happy for him :')). And while he slayed playing Coach Bolton, he slayed doing sound too :')). Also him being like "yeah I'm totally not doing so much right now" was great LOL. Honestly kind of a mood xD, though luckily that didn't happen to much to me on lights lol. Anyway, I'm just glad he was there supporting everyone and being amazing this episode :')). Always right there, helping them through it 😭😭❤️🥰. Also how he didn't HESITATE to rip up the letter lol xD. Iconic 😌. As always :'). I love him so much <3333.

MISS JENN'S STAYING!!!! WHOOOO :'DDD!!! She would've been amazing, but I'm so glad she's staying 😭❤️❤️. She's here for Emmy, and Jet and Maddox, and all of the Juniors who were OGs :')). And the second semester for the Seniors too!! She can keep being amazing for them <333 :'DD. Just like Gina said - she gets to be that mom for all of them, and teach them it's about creating something you love :') 😭😭😭❤️. And I just love that :'). She slayed playing Ms. Darbus :'DD. I love her so much <3333.

KOURTNEY AND MO!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH OH MY GOSH THE COMBO I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED!!!! That talk was EXACTLY what Kourtney needed 😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰. Also AAHHHH Kourtney's talk with Jet :'DDD. It was so amazing and sweet 🥰🥰. And AAHHHHH she felt happy at Lewis :'DDD!!! And it came to her mind immediately :'))). I'm so happy for her and proud of her <333. She really is one of, if not the, bravest people in the show <333. What she's done is no easy feat, it's DIFFICULT, with anxiety and without, and again, I'm just so proud of her :'))). Her anxiety storyline means so much to me and I loved it 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️. And yeah - she is the best fashionista xD. She slayed playing Sharpay 🥰🥰🥰🥰 :DD!! I love her so much <3333 ❤️❤️❤️😭🥰.

RICKYYYY HE SAID IT!!! HE DID IT!!! HE SANG THE THING 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰 :'DDD!! HE TOLD GINA HE LOVES HER :'DDDDDD!!!! I'm so proud of him :')). And AAAHHHHH one last "Am I too late?" :')). As it should be <33. Also, his speech to all of the was just- 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️💔 I'm not okay. I know that feels. Theatre is just like :'). And it makes me so emotional but it's just so accurate, and wonderful <33. Also, he slayed playing Troy :'D. AND AAAHHH THE RUN AND THE GUITAR!! AND THAT SONG WAS BEAUTIFUL 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️. I'm so glad he got the chance :')). And Y E S I'm glad Ricky was the one to suggest where they go :'D - one more season 1 parallel :'). And just, what Gina said about him <33. It's so beautiful in a Rina sense 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️, obviously, but it extends beyond that. He's been the one to welcome, and include, and encourage, since pretty much the beginning :')). And I love that so much <333. Anyway, his reaction to not getting to tell Gina he loved her before the press conference hurt 😭😭. And YESSS Gina's mom finally approving :'D. He doesn't need it, but I'm glad he got it <333. Also, again, his scene with Big Red was amazing <333. Besties since the beginning :')). And continuing on <33. And of course, I loved how he was practicing saying I love you more to people :')). I'm so happy for him <333. I love him so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰😭.

GINA'S FILMING THE MOVIE IN SALT LAKE!!!!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :'DDDD!!! I'M SO GLAD :'DDD 🥰🥰🥰😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️!! ALSO OVOEANOCMPW THE HAT????!!?! OH MY GOSH GIRL 😭😭❤️ XD. She slayed playing Gabriella 🥰🥰🥰. And oh my gosh, her SPEECHES 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️💔💔💔💔🥰🥰. I've already talked about what she said to everyone, but they were just all so so SO amazing. And I've heard some of that stuff said like that at senior speeches before, so it's definitely accurate xdd. But seriously, it was so emotional 😭😭. I know the cast was obviously SUPER emotional as well xd, but nonetheless, the acting was amazing <333. Superb :')). Gina has come so far, and learned so much, and I am just so, so proud of her, and happy for her <333. And I'm so glad she's staying at East High :'DDD. AND getting to do the movie still :')!! And again, the love song was BEAUTIFUL 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰. And she slayed at that press conference lol. I love her so much <333.

Now, hey, I'm allowed to put Seblos last if I want to xDD. It's my finale post :')).

SEB'S DAD KNEW THE WHOLE TIME SLFKFHDKGS!!!! That's so amazing lol <333. Amazing as in it's funny and it's a good thing xD. But seriously that was so funny lol. I am disappointed we didn't get Seb on stage, like acting lol, but I'm glad he was there for curtain call :'DDD 🥰. Even if him and Big Red had no reason this-show-wise to be up there XDD. I'm just happy that he was :')). Also his run up to Carlos after talking about his dad and holding him was so cute 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰 stop I'm not okay <333. And AAAHHHHHH they get to go on their trip 🥰🥰. And again, I loved that their wasn't any animosity towards Big Red :'). But seriously that moment was so cute 😭❤️❤️. And honestly I loved what Gina said about him, especially after the cheating plot this season. Because he really is an angel, he is like a dog in human form lol xD, and he still sees the world pretty pure :')) 🥰. And I just think it shows that even though he made mistakes, he still is and does those things. He's still Seb <3333 😭❤️❤️🥰. And I think that was really needed for all of us :')). Also he went OFF in the limo LOL xD. He really said "step aside" with that belt xD. He slayed, so hard <333 🥰🥰. I love him so much <3333 🥰🥰❤️❤️.

CARLOS HAPPY AGAIN IS MY REWARD FOR THE FIRST SIX EPISODES!!!! XDD!! It keeps randomly hitting me that this is the Last Season, that although luckily we got happy Seblos at the end this is genuinely the last we're gonna see of them and I just- oh gosh that hurts 😭😭😭❤️. But again, their moment after the show (and the ones during curtain call 😭!!!) was SO CUTE AND AMAZING 😭😭😭❤️. Carlos slayed playing Ryan :'DD 🥰🥰🥰❤️. And he really is so funny x'DDD. It also makes me so happy that Gina talked about being co-choreographers with him :')) - something that started way back in season 2, but honestly season 1 unofficially <333. They've always had dance as a connection, and I'm just so happy they have that in each other :')). And I believe something similar to "we just kept dancing" was said at the Quinceñero, which :')))) 😭😭😭😭❤️🥰❤️❤️❤️. That kills me <3. Their friendship just means so much to me :')) :'D <333. Anyway :')). I love how he was kinda the one to set Miss Jenn and Benjamin (he deserves for me to call him by his first name at least once LOL xD) up xDD :'D <33. Like, he was the one who brought up the plane tickets and stuff :')). I mean, they were already pretty close to becoming a thing, but he showed us the audience the official moment of it lol, so I'm grateful for that xD. But that it was him, the one who was by Miss Jenn's side from day one :'), and even used to be enemies with Mr. Mazzara? Was the reason, or at least was half the subject of that scene lol, we met Mr. Mazzara :'DD? Perfect <333. Full circle :')). But yeah <3. I love him so much :'DD <33 ❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰.

And a bit of specifically Seblos :'D. After everything they've been through this season, I'm so glad we got two episodes of them being adorable and mostly happy 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰. I mean, we had to deal with the Seb's dad stuff, but it was pretty good (like easy wise ish I guess? Like not too bad) and they were adorable :'D. AND THEY GET TO GO ON THEIR TRIP 🥰🥰🥰!!! I'm so excited for them :'D. Especially after they lived it LOL. Anyway, their moments during curtain call were amazing <333. And LOL SLFKGHJS their kiss going viral xDD. As it should 😌😌. Slay for them lol xD. Also, them running out of the school together 😭❤️❤️. I'm pretty sure they're holding hands in the first shot <3333. Also I love the lines they sing in Born to Be Brave :')). And AAAHHHHHH THEM BEING THE FIRST ONES TO START SINGING BESIDES RINA DURING LOVE YOU FOREVER 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰. AKCIEHSODNWP I LOVE THEM SO MUCH <33333.

Now, group moments :'))). CONGRATS ON A GREAT SHOW EVERYONEEE!!!! YOU ALL SLAYED INCLUDING MY ENSEMBLE AND BACKGROUND CHARACTER LOVELIES :'DDDDD <3333. What a great last curtain call :')).

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THAT RUN OUT TO GO SUPPORT GINA :'DDDDD!!! I LOVED IT SOOOO MUCH 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰!!!! IT WAS SO EPIC :'DDDD!!!!

And oh my gosh 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰. ALL OF THEM SINGING LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!! I!! AM!! NOT!! OKAY!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰 I LOVE ALL OF THEM FOREVER <333333!!!!! It was so beautiful, the song and the scene and both our together :'DD. And all of them coming forward- oh my gosh 😭😭😭❤️🥰.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE RUN OUT OF THE SCHOOL :'DDDD 😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰!!!! Once again, an epic and iconic moment 😭😭😭😭❤️🥰. I love them all so much :'D.

Y'all it is the way I was screaming (saying but the emotion was screaming) "DENNY'S!! GO TO DENNY'S!!!!"

AND

THEY

DID!!!!!!!!!!!

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰 THAT WAS LITERALLY THE PERFECT ENDING 😭😭❤️❤️❤️💔🥰🥰🥰🥰 <333333 :'DDDD!!!!

And it wasn't just perfect as a nod to theatre kids, but it was a reference/parallel to Season 1, when Nini said: "Usually the theatre kids cry and then we go to Denny's." :'))). I love them all so much 😭😭❤️.

And don't even talk to me about Born to Be Brave :'DDD. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! THE PERFECT SONG TO END THE SERIES ON :'DDDDD 😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰 <333333!!

And y'all 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️💔💔🥰

FOR GOOD??!?!!!?!?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I'm pretty sure that was just the cast, not the characters, and I just- it was so, so amazing 😭😭😭😭❤️💔🥰🥰. And goshdarnit it made me feel things xdd. As of this entire episode didn't have me as a wreck lol 🙄 xd xD. But seriously, it was SO GOOD, and it reminded me of the Beauty and The Beast announcement, as well as You Are The Music In Me from after Season 2 :'))). I just love this cast so freaking much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️😭😭😭😭💔💔🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰.

The music this episode was P H E N O M E N A L!!!!! It was all SO amazing and all so emotional too 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️. The cast are all such wonderful singers and the songs are all so well put together and beautifully written :')). I am so grateful for all of the amazing music of this show <3333. Don't even talk to me about any of the songs this episode, I'm still not okay over them :')). Special shout out to For Good for being most likely from the cast :')). And being one last reference, as it relates to Miss Jenn's offer <3. The meta show gets one more meta moment :'))) <3333.

This episode was so amazing. It was, quite possibly, the perfect finale <333. Obviously, I have things I wish happened, in this episode and in the season and show as a whole. But it told the story. And it told it well :')). It gave these characters an immensely satisfying ending, and, more importantly in this case? A happy one :'). They deserved that <333. And we deserved to be shown that we can. Especially theatre kids <33 ❤️. And still, amongst all these emotions, they still managed to make this episode HILARIOUS :'DDD. I can't with them, this show is too good xD. I LOVED THIS EPISODE SO, SO, SO, SO MUCH <33333 ❤️❤️❤️😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰!!!!!!

It's been over 12 hours since I finished the episode. It's hit me a couple of times that this was it, but it hasn't truly sunk in yet xd. I don't know if it ever will lol. But, for this being it? It was an amazing way to go <333 ❤️.

This show means so much to me. I've been emotional and sentimental this whole time x'd, and as I've said, I'll make a separate post about this, but I have to say it here. I will never get over HSMTMTS. And frankly? I never want to :'). Thank you to everyone who made this show possible <333 - I am truly, truly grateful ❤️❤️❤️. Possibly more than you'll ever know :').

And thank you to this fandom. Whenever I think it's too crazy, or I'm not involved, you guys are there to remind me :'). Thanks for being my Wildcat family throughout all of this <3. It means so much to me ❤️.

What team?

Wildcats :').

What team?

Wildcats :'D.

Wildcats.

Getcha head in the game <3.

What an amazing season guys :')) <3 ❤️. I loved it :'D.

And that is the end of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

I loved it <3

[waheelawhisperer]

Okay gonna go ahead and watch the entirety of Volume 9 now that the whole thing's been released. I'll share my impressions of each episode. Half this post is out of date because I originally started writing it when the premier came out and then decided I didn't care enough about RWBY to either continue watching it or continue writing about it midway through, so it will probably be a little disjointed. Further episode reviews will probably be a bit more coherent.

Gonna put everything under the cut because honestly I was not impressed with this episode at all. While there were some things I liked, the tone of this post is going to be very critical in general, so I'm putting that warning out there right now so the people who want nothing to do with that can skip over this post and go on with their day.

Before we begin, I'd like to make it explicitly clear that these are my initial impressions based on my first viewing and that I'm well aware that later episodes might reveal information that changes how I feel about choices made earlier on in the Volume. Given the typical pattern that occurs when I watch RWBY, I fully expect that when I rewatch episodes or watch later episodes or see someone else's takes on the show, I will make connections that I didn't before or find that specific writing choices bother me more or less than they did in the initial moment, so I'm not going to waste time saying "maybe seeing what they do with this later will make it feel better to me" every single time I express a negative opinion. Just assume that I'm doing my best to keep an open mind and remain cognizant of the possibility that things I don't like at first can be recontextualized based on subsequent information.

I should also note that there will be several other factors coloring my analysis. I have listed them below:

Volume 8 sucked ass and did likely-irreparable damage to my opinion of the series

It's been two years since the last Volume released, which means we've had time to build up hopes and expectations. There are things that frustrate me now that may well play better if I watch the prior Volumes and then watch Volume 9 in its entirety immediately after.

Between Volumes 8 and 9, we learned that Rooster Teeth hadn't actually improved like they promised and instead did things like not pay their workers, fire their animation department, and call employees coded slurs on camera. On top of that, I personally learned about some of the stuff Miles Luna has said in the past that is just... ugh, so I don't have a lot of faith that a show controlled and written by this awful fucking company founded on dudebro humor will be a) good and b) willing to tackle any kind of sensitive topic with the tact and seriousness it deserves.

I'm working long hours right now, which means I'm stressed, exhausted, and overall not in a good headspace. My temper is frayed, my memory's slipping, and I'm having trouble gathering and expressing my thoughts. Things that bother me are bothering me more than they normally would, and things that normally make me happy are not making me happy right now. This is unlikely to change prior to the end of Volume 9.

All of this together means I'm much less willing to give Volume 9 the benefit of the doubt than I would've been a few years ago, or even six months ago. That's something to keep in mind as I progress through this post.

That said, I actually really like the opening. The first-person perspective was an interesting change compared to what we usually get, and I really like the way it showed how damn fast Yang went over the edge. I've talked about it before, but the way they chose to portray Yang's fall in slow motion, while suitably dramatic, definitely didn't make it clear that the characters had very little time to react. I think we needed to see Yang get knocked off the ledge in real time and then see Blake fail to save her in dramatic slow motion (side note: Blake was booking it when she saw Yang fall)

I also gotta say I love how Neo was totally willing to throw hands with a teenager in midair. Like, she's just been betrayed by her employer and is possibly falling to her death and the first thing in her head is that she's gonna get her revenge if it's the last thing she does. It's so gloriously self-destructive. I think this is a good character moment for Neo.

After a start that I personally felt was pretty strong, the quality... kinda dips a little. I don't like what happens once we start focusing on Ruby. Her initial response feels very dull to me, and it raises a lot of questions. The first is, like... why isn't she freaking out? Why didn't she vocalize any thoughts? Why is the first thing she actually does vocalize frustration, but specifically frustration played for comedy? Why doesn't she go through the basic wilderness survival checklist a Huntress would presumably have learned (if her schooling didn't teach her, I imagine Qrow would've, and it would've been a nice little callback to the way he mentored her if she had remembered receiving that sort of advice and then acted on it)? Why does she not care that her weapon is missing? Why does she just walk off into the woods like she doesn't give a fuck about anything, including her teammates? Is there a reasonable explanation for her behavior? Is she in shock or something? Is it a good decision on the part of the writers if the answer to the previous two questions is yes (i.e. would it have been better to make Ruby react in some other way)?

I don't like the way we just see Ruby get mad that she's perpetually looping through the forest vs. really grappling with all the events of Volume 8. My guess is that she's doing her usual "crush it all down and put up a front and just never acknowledge any fear or insecurity" thing she likes to do, but it feels to me like it would've been a better choice to get something more out of her, even if it's just a little bit of concern about her teammates. I think they're trying for a slow buildup toward Ruby's breakdown, but we've been waiting for two years and I don't feel like this episode gave us much in general. I'm thinking this might be one of those things where I'd feel better about it if I watched all the relevant episodes in a short timeframe, but it is definitely frustrating now.

This is gonna be a complaint about the episode in general, but I really do not like the decision to go for such a comedic tone. After the tragedy of Volume 8, it just feels jarring. I developed a theory or two about why the writers made this choice as I watched the episode, but neither of them makes it a good one. RWBY should not be trying to be funny right now. A Kingdom fell. Penny died. The girls were traumatized. Why is the first thing we get a bird mocking Ruby and a one-mouse comedy show? This is the wrong choice of tone, and unless the show does something truly phenomenal with it (it won't), I am prepared to die on this hill.

Little's conception of name as purpose is interesting. I have a feeling that identity and purpose and self-perception are going to be prevalent themes throughout this Volume, and I think there's a lot of interesting exploration of those ideas that can be done with all four of our mains, especially Ruby.

WHY DID WE MISS THE BLAKE/WEISS REUNION????? It feels like this episode tries to speedrun the reunification of Team RWBY and there’s no tension to it. That said, I'm glad someone finally acknowledged that weapons other than Crescent Rose have names. That feels like a big part of RWBY's identity and a major element of its themes of self-expression that's really gone underutilized throughout the show's run.

The dialogue here feels a little stilted honestly, would've been nice to see a hug or something (kind of like it would've been nice to see the actual reunion). Really wish that there was more of a sense of urgency when they decide they should try to find the others. Blake was losing her shit when she thought Yang died, I kind of figured she'd be desperate to make sure Yang's okay (and that Weiss, who fought Cinder to the last with her teammate's weapon in her hands and tears running down her cheeks, would have some sort of overt interest in finding anyone that goes beyond "maybe we should look for them, idk").

I like the way Weiss doesn't want to talk about the battle. Feels like it's actually emotionally affected her.

And of course she goes straight from that to comic relief. At least the choice of tone is consistently bad.

We find Gambol Shroud almost immediately. Once again there is no tension or urgency to the search. It's starting to feel like this episode is just speedrunning the Team RWBY reunion so the show can get to whatever the hell it actually wants to do this Volume.

This whole vine trap sequence just annoys me. Why the hell is Weiss cheerleading like Blake is a high school quarterback about to throw a touchdown pass? Why the hell is this show trying to be funny in-universe moments after a Kingdom fell and all four of our mains nearly died? Why the hell are these fucking vines even an obstacle? Blake, you can literally double-jump. I have literally seen you jump higher than this and wall run like a fucking Naruto character without explicitly using your powers. Just pull some Jackie Chan shit and get your weapon back. Pretend, for once, that you are useful in a situation that does not involve either looking cute or pining over Yang. Weiss, you can also literally double-jump. You can help other people double-jump. Stop trying out for the cheerleading squad and do something useful. You could literally make Blake a ladder if you wanted to. For fuck's sake.

When I first watched the episode, I was thinking that maybe the Ever After prevented Semblance use or something, or maybe that it dulled the mental processes of "intruders" like Team RWBY and that was why the characters suddenly had zero brain cells, but after everything else I've learned about this Volume, I'm pretty sure the writers are just incompetent.

There's no tension to them being captured either. Blake, you have a Semblance. Why are these fucking vines even an impediment to you? This episode has thus far failed to set any kind of stakes or establish any kind of threat at all. I don't feel scared for Monochrome here because their captors are a bunch of fucking mice. Blake could free herself with a thought and literally stomp the mice like cockroaches.

Not that it would matter if I did feel anything but annoyance about this scene anyway because Ruby arrives to solve the problem immediately, thus ruining any chance of the show managing to establish any kind of stakes here. Little starts off by... sleeping. What does this character do? Very useful.

The mice, all of them, are fucking annoying. I don't know why they set this trap to begin with or how they knew to bait it with Gambol Shroud and I don't really care. Maybe this'll be one of those things the Volume expands upon later, idk, but right now I'm just waiting for Monochrome to be freed so we can go somewhere else and do something interesting.

Blake, why are you okay with being referred to as a cat? Isn't your whole arc about how Faunus aren't animals and shouldn't be treated as such? Or did you forget that when you also forgot how to fight? Really not doing a great job defending yourself against the years-long accusations of character regression, hon (most of those accusations are stupid but the fact that she did fuck-all besides stare longingly at Yang and wait to be rescued during the Atlas arc lends them some credence, and this is still not a great look regardless).

Interesting that Blake describes Yang as not scary. Very interesting.

Also interesting that Weiss says Yang could be scary if she wanted to. You're not beating the bottom/sub allegations anytime soon, girlie.

Okay, we finally get our first hint that Ruby has an actual plan instead of aimless wandering. Would've been nice if this was indicated in any way earlier, but at least it's something, and that's more than I expect from this episode at this point.

Eat the mouse, Blake. You know you want to. If you're not going to defend yourself against the catgirl profiling, at least live up to it and make this episode more tolerable. I don't know how I feel about her freaking out about Little climbing on her. I think the show is trying too hard to be funny again.

So glad no one gives a fuck about reuniting with Ruby either. Very moving, very emotional. What a close-knit band of friends, what a wonderful found family. RWBY's always had a problem selling the idea that the characters care about each other and are close to each other in the way the narrative wants us to believe they are (because the show doesn't have enough runtime to build those relationships properly and organically and refuses to adjust its scope to fit its resources) and it's getting noticeably worse this episode.

Little fell asleep again. "I can be your trusty guide" -> immediately fails to do anything useful. I don't like this character.

Blake finally shows some urgency. This should've come several minutes ago, but better late than never, I guess. Would be nice if anyone else showed concern for Yang, but I'm not convinced the writers realize there's a spectrum of goal alignment between "unified hivemind" and "only one character is allowed to want or care about any given thing". I still feel no tension around the search for Yang in the slightest. There is nothing in this world to indicate that she won't be totally fine unless she got caught in another stupid vine trap and eaten by mice.

Nice to see Ruby showing interest in the situation. Finally. Also nice to see someone besides Blake showing concern for Yang, muted as it may be. I like the way Weiss is clearly uncomfortable talking about what happened on Rainbow Road. I hope they actually do something with this, but I don't expect it. I don't have enough faith in RWBY's writing for that at this point.

The Jabberwalker is cool. Really freaky. Unfortunately, my torrent didn't have subtitles, so I have no idea what it's saying, which is really annoying.

The mouse goes from useless to active liability. Love it.

Ruby realizes, apparently for the first time, that she doesn't have her weapon. I want to assume that finding it will be a priority, but none of our current main three seem to have any actual priorities at this point, or at least none they care about enough to show any urgency about fulfilling.

Yang, unsurprisingly, is the best part of the episode, not that this is a difficult achievement in the slightest. She demonstrates her absurd (and sexy) physical strength by carrying a rock, this episode, and the weight of her massive balls all at once despite having one arm. You go, girlboss.

Paying attention during the flanking scene, there's a very visible gap in the formation where Ruby's supposed to go. I bet that not being able to participate in combat is not exactly doing great things to her mental state.

The Jabberwalker runs away pretty quick. It feels more like a warning system, or maybe a white blood cell, than a major threat (or maybe trained and Aura/Semblance-empowered Huntresses are just super powerful in comparison to the Ever After). I bet it'll be a recurring problem in this Volume, maybe getting stronger or smarter with every encounter.

I liked that Ruby was running up to Yang and getting ready to greet her until Yang reacted negatively, and I really like that Yang wasn't happy to see Ruby and her other teammates. First Yang thought she died, then she saw Ruby and the others and thought she'd died for nothing. It makes perfect sense that she's not happy right now.

(Side note: I think the Yang Curse Count is up to 3? all under extreme emotional duress. Still not on board with fanworks that portray her as swearing like a sailor. She'd be a better example for her little sister, I guarantee it)

"If you thought we wouldn't come for you, then you must have forgotten who raised me" Ruby what the fuck are you talking about? Were you just going to yeet yourself into the void if you'd won the battle? There was no possible reason for them to think Yang is even alive. They don't know they're the protagonists of a web cartoon. They don't know they have plot armor. To them, Yang was fucking dead. What could following her on purpose even have accomplished besides introducing them to whatever's at the bottom of the abyss at terminal velocity?

That said, I do like the acknowledgement that Yang raised Ruby. That's very important to both characters and I'm really glad someone finally said it out loud. Maybe this'll finally put the "Yang is a bad sister" allegations to rest (jk the people who believe that could be confronted with all the evidence in the world and it wouldn't change a thing).

The Bumbleby reunion feels kinda weird, I was expecting a bit more than a tackle-hug, but it's sweet overall and I at least dislike it less than the rest of the episode. I took a screenshot here for the sake of making a stupid meme but I don't like this show enough to post it anymore.

Would be real nice to know how Yang got from where she started to where she is now and I think we’ll see some of that, but given how rushed the reunion feels, I’m not confident.

Love the way Yang thinks she’s dead and is still ready to throw hands, really shows us who she is and that she can’t be broken. Truly the Woman Of All Time.

Would be interesting to explore the ramifications of this but I honestly doubt we will.

Weiss is still the one most visibly affected by the battle on Rainbow Road, I like the way this has been very consistently a point of emotional turmoil for her over the course of this episode. Would love to see that continue throughout the rest of the Volume.

Ruby's fainting is interesting. It's nice to see her have an actual emotional response now and just kind of shut down. I've seen debate about whether her team cared for her properly. Some people say that the team did what they should have and put her in the recovery position, but I think they're missing the point a bit. Even assuming I trust the writers to know what should be done for someone who faints (which I don't), that isn't knowledge the general audience can reasonably be assumed to have, so they needed to find a more obvious way to convey that WBY were concerned about Ruby and took steps to make her safe and comfortable. Either have a scene somewhere earlier in the show (maybe back at Beacon, or somewhere in Volume 7) where the team learns first aid or convey the fact that they're taking care of Ruby more effectively.

Notably, it’s Yang who’s right next to her and who shows concern - she immediately asks if Ruby's all right once Ruby starts speaking. Bad sister tho amirite?

Doesn't really help that they start discussing the situation before Ruby wakes up. I can see why people say WBY don't care about her or her input here, but I think this is just clunky pacing more than anything. The fact that the conversation continues while Ruby’s asleep means we don’t see how anyone else reacts to Penny’s death or the events in the liminal zone, which is kind of annoying. This is starting to feel like another "only one character gets to react to things" event like we had with Pyrrha's death almost exclusively affecting Jaune.

Still hate Penny’s death but it seems the narrative wants us to believe that Penny made the right choice and there was no better option.

Like how Blake takes charge, this is a huge bit of development for her, though I worry that seeing Blake essentially usurp her role is going to hurt Ruby when she's already fragile. NGL when I saw that sunbeam hit Blake I thought they'd fucked up the lighting lol.

Blake saying she thinks we’re in a fairy tale would hit better if the Ever After wasn’t based on an Earth fairy tale and also if we knew more about Remnant’s fairy tales. Yes, the spinoff thing exists, but I don’t want to have to do fucking homework to understand a fundamental aspect of the show.

(I've actually heard that this fairy tale isn't even in the fucking spinoff, which means it got introduced last Volume with like 1 fucking conversation that told us nothing useful. This isn't setup, MKEK. Build this element into the story properly if you want to use it, especially if this Volume was supposedly "planned from the beginning" or whatever the fuck.)

OP is mediocre by RWBY standards which means it's decent but not particularly good by other standards. Say what you will about this series, but the music always slaps.

Overall this episode kind of sucks and in fact made me not want to watch the rest of the Volume until I got fed up with seeing spoilers I had no context for on my dash. This is the first time I can remember that I've watched a RWBY season premiere and not wanted more. That's how bad it was. Can't believe we waited two years for this.

Overall rating: ASS/10

[tomatoluvr69]

My Robert Mitchum story time.

So in the mid-to-late 00s I was a child with extremely limited internet access. YouTube was in its extremely nascent years. Hits such as The Mysterious Ticking Noise and Charlie The Unicorn got passed around word of mouth style. You’d go to someone’s house and they’d show you on their family computer. The creators behind Charlie The Unicorn, a channel called FilmCow, were putting out a ton of equally weird videos, many of which are now removed or unlisted. You might have seen their other super famous one, Llamas with Hats. But my parents had YouTube blocked on our computer, along with almost every other single website. But I had iTunes. These were also the nascent years of podcasts on there, and there were tons of video podcasts. FilmCow also released almost all of their videos as podcasts, meaning you could download them to iPods and watch them w/ like 30 whole pixels, thus secretly circumventing my parents’ draconian internet restrictions. My favorite video (other than the 20 min live action time travel adventure called World Of Dentists) that me & my friends quoted and sang from all the time was called The Cloak, featuring a grim reaper-like figure who’s a private investigator.

It also featured as its second main character the severed head of Robert Mitchum, who floats along dripping blood. His best moment is singing a song about a chalupa value meal. And to this day I cannot ever take anything featuring or mentioning Robert Mitchum seriously because I’m picturing him. Link is here but I haven’t seen it in probably over 10 years and even though I can quote long stretches of it verbatim, I want to take an edible before I do a rewatch for maximum enjoyment lol

[aposemetric]

hi! i'm kinda bored these days because i've just been rewatching shows but i've got an itch to start some new ones and expand my media palate; i was told to ask you because a friend of mine said you had really good taste in anime ^_^ any recs? just list off your favorites! thanks and have a happy new year!

OH... ANON <3 you speak words that sound like birdsong to me. happy new year to you, too!

i'll list the ones i find the very best in no particular order, and i'll attempt to give a "short" description of why they might be worth your time! it'll obviously depend on several things like your own tastes and whether you've ever actually seen any anime etc., but it should cover a range of themes/genres at least :)

Hunter x Hunter (2011) 148 eps

hxh is an action-adventure story that starts out deceptively simple, but is structured in a way where each 'arc' has a wildly different theme/genre influences, meaning you really would never guess where it goes from its somewhat slow start. incredible character writing with emotional highpoints that feel like fantastic pay-off. a real journey, and one that pretty much everyone who's ever touched this show (and There Are Many) will vouch for! best of its genre, hands down.

Cardcaptor Sakura (1998) 70 eps + two films

if you're looking for something very sweet and relaxing, then this is the best pick! css is an episodic type of show you'd most enjoy taking slowly; it's a look into the seemingly idyllic daily life of this lovely cast of characters who are dealing with magic and mystery. this show feels like marshmallows, and with its intrigue captures the feeling of childlike wonder supremely well. a great take on light fantasy set in the modern world, with beautiful animation to boot!

Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988) 110 eps + two films

if i could force people to watch anything ever, it would be this show. logh is a brilliant epic (in the literary sense) (also in the gamer sense) space opera that at a surface level seems to be about politics and spaceship battles, when it really has character-driven appeal at its core. if you just love wondering why that general looked at his right hand man like that when that other admiral made that clearly philosophically-dubious remark... well. it's genuinely a masterpiece, poses interesting political & philosophical questions about systems of rulership and domestic life and our roles in society, is funny, and has what maybe is the best character of all time. i could not recommend this more!

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (2011)

chances are you know of jjba! it's unlike any other anime in presentation and style, for which it is super well-known. jjba has the rather unique appeal of consisting of 'parts', with different casts & settings for each part, while still being a story that ultimately follows one bloodline. this means you start off enjoying a shakespearean tragedy set in 1880s england at some point, and a mafia storyline set in italy in the 2000s at another. jjba does very ridiculous and flashy things, but does them so convincingly and takes itself so seriously that you end up buying every strange twist it throws at you! jjba is just super fun.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006) 28 eps + 'The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya' film

haruhi is an eccentric show with an equally eccentric cast, refusing loyalty to any genre despite an overfamiliar setting. it's... seriously hard to describe what exactly is going on in this show. it plays into the meta of certain anime tropes, and presents characters as being prime examples of those tropes... before you learn they're acting the part knowingly. it dabbles in philosophy, drama, and sci-fi, and yet saying that doesn't represent its appeal accurately at all. it's very non-traditional, yet very easy to get into. it has the best anime film of all time. this is one where you really should check out the first episode, or a trailer, because words aren't going to do it any justice!

Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) 39 eps + 'Adolescence' film

ourgh... this story. rgu seems like it's going to be a fun story about sword-duels, before hitting you with a genuinely harrowing examination of (gender) roles we're forced to play, systems of control and oppression, and so much dense symbolism you could write fifteen essays after one watch. it's flowery and artistic, and the type of show that requires active input from the viewer in the form of analysis and interpretation. it has a greek chorus! it's not at all hard to care for the (very mentally ill) cast of characters, and you might find yourself fundamentally changed as a person after watching this. especially if you're queer, this show will likely poke hard into your soul.

Berserk (1997) 25 eps

many recommend skipping ep1 for spoiler reasons. i recommend skipping it because it's not interesting. we r not the same. it is a story set in horses-and-knights-and-such era europe, which i generally despise, but this show is SO beautifully atmospheric in its dreamy colours and out-of-this-world soundtrack that it ends up feeling like a hazy and hope-filled memory by the time berserk reveals itself to be... a tragedy. a story that fundamentally is about two people who long for connection with the other so badly, but whose formative experiences were always irrevocably going to contort their fate. additional shout-out to the soundtrack for being completely unlike anything else, and certainly not what you imagine a show set in that era to sound like!

Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) 26 eps + 'End of Evangelion' film

another very famous show, nge is all about the psychological profiles of some very disturbed characters! they have SO many issues and the show loves to make them go on introspective little journeys of suffering. packed full with symbolism (again), nge loves invoking biblical themes/symbols especially. this story is about the Human Condition and about the pain of trying to get closer to others, all wrapped up alongside some good old action.

91 Days (2016) 12 eps

finally, this is a relatively underground choice here! a very easy show to enjoy, especially for those who haven't watched anime before, 91 days offers a relatively short but well-bounded mafia revenge story. what this show sets out to do, it does quite perfectly, and so it's probably the most straightforward entry in this list. it nails its narrative well, has a fun setting (1920s america), and is really good at sticking the landing when it comes to delivering on emotions and storylines that build throughout the show!

if anyone reads this far, have a great day/evening! :)

[rukbat3]

Babylon 5 Rewatch - By Any Means Necessary

This is a post I originally wrote several years ago for Mark Oshiro’s Mark Watches blog. I don’t really plan to edit them before posting, so there may be some references that don’t make sense. If you see words that look like gibberish, they are actually rot13, which was our way of discussing spoilers. There are plugins you can install to decode the text (Cryptext is the one I use), or you can copy/paste to rot13.com, or just ignore it.

I love this episode so much! Just, everything about it is great. The glimpse into a side of B5 we don’t normally get to see, Londo and G’Kar sniping at each other, the showcase of how good a problem-solver Sinclair is, everything. There may be other episodes I would rank higher, but only because of the quality of the show in general. And I think it’s cool that this episode was written by JMS’s wife. [books] Fur nyfb jebgr zl snibevgr O5 abiry, Gb Qernz va gur Pvgl bs Fbeebjf. Fcrnxvat bs juvpu jr ernyyl arrq gb znxr fher Znex ernqf gung bar fbzrgvzr nsgre vg vf ab ybatre n fcbvyre!

Let’s start with the ‘B’ plot. You may have noticed in “Parliament of Dreams” that we don’t get any glimpse into Narn’s dominant belief system. I wonder if that’s because they knew they’d be dealing with the topic here, or whether Kathleen Drennan realized the omission and decided to do something with it.

In any case, this episode is a great showcase of the personal animosity between Londo and G’Kar, and their petty vindictiveness towards each other. Vg jvyy trg jbefr orsber vg trgf orggre. It’s also an interesting glimpse (once again) into a side of G’Kar we haven't seen before. We find out that he has a strong personal faith (despite what Londo seems to think). I like the scene where he asks Na’Toth what she believes. It doesn’t really contribute to the overall plot, but it’s a really nice character moment, and G’Kar gets to demonstrate a bit of a philosophical bent when he tells Na’Toth, “We all believe in something greater than ourselves.” [season 5] Vg’f na rneyl uvag bs T’Xne’f uvqqra qrcguf juvpu jvyy or ba shyy qvfcynl ol gur gvzr frnfba svir ebyyf nebhaq.

And now, on to the meat of the episode.

I just love Neeoma Connelly so much, guys. Even in such a short time, she feels like such a fully fleshed-out character. And Katy Boyer does an amazing job with her. She’s just the right combination of hard-nosed and conciliatory. Delvientos has a smaller role, but I still believe him as a character. You can tell he takes his responsibility for the dockers seriously and he’s good at his job, but his grief for his brother is making him lash out in ways he probably wouldn’t normally. But he’s in the right, and the audience knows it.

Orin Zento, on the other hand … wow, that guy is so smarmy. From the first second he’s on screen, he oozes smarm from every pore. [season 1] Ur’f nyzbfg nf onq nf Zbeqra. Be znlor ur’f jbefr orpnhfr ur’f yrff fhogyr nobhg vg. :) It’s actually the one thing about this episode that bugs me a bit. I don’t understand how this guy can be Earth’s top negotiator. He makes zero effort to listen to the dockers’ grievances or achieve any sort of compromise. He just tells them how it’s going to be and expects them to fall in line (all while being super smug about the whole thing). That’s not negotiating! Then again, maybe that’s what Earth likes about him, and everyone else has been intimidated enough to fall in line. Whoops, looks like I’ve just figured it out.

[mild expectations] Qvq nalbar ryfr abgvpr gur rkphfr Mragb tvirf sbe jul O5 arrqf gur zvyvgnel ohqtrg vapernfr, ohg abg gur znvagranapr ohqtrg vapernfr? Gurl’er fheebhaqrq ol “ubfgvyr nyvra tbireazragf.” Ur whfg fnlf vg yvxr n fgngrzrag bs snpg, yvxr vg’f pbzzba xabjyrqtr. Ohg jr’ir frra nofbyhgryl ab rivqrapr bs guvf. Vg’f n terng (/qvfgheovat) rknzcyr bs cbyvgvpny eurgbevp.

But Sinclair is the real superstar of this episode. Notice how he constantly plays the role of the conciliator. He treats the problem as valid, thinks about it, does some research, and comes up with a workable solution. He keeps trying to tell people about his solution, but they are too entrenched in their own biases to listen—until he is suddenly given the power, both to implement his solution and to make them listen.

And we see the exact same characteristics in his solution to the dispute between Londo and G’Kar: he analyses the problem, arrives at a clever solution which involves thinking outside the box, and brokers a compromise which satisfies both parties (although notice that he doesn’t tell G’Kar about the sunlight until after Londo leaves the room). [season 3] Naq gura T’Xne gryyf Fvapynve, “Lbh ner n sne zber fcvevghny zna guna V tnir lbh perqvg sbe.” YBY, lbh qba’g xabj gur unys bs vg!

Favorite scene: I have to go with the climax of the episode here. Sinclair defuses the situation by basically giving the dockers exactly what they wanted—and he’s been empowered to do that by the very mechanism that’s been held over their heads as a threat for the whole episode. This scene is great, not just because it’s a giant “take that” to Zento, whom we thoroughly despise by this point, but because we all (except for Zento) realize that we should have been listening to Sinclair all along. But mostly it’s the “take that.” *grin*

[brunhielda]

Because this is now that account:

I just rewatched through “Super 8.”

I will never get over how good that film is.

1) It is an amazing monster movie.

It creates suspense by hiding the monster from you, when it finally shows up it is suitably horrific looking. The things it can do are horrifying. The things it CHOOSES to do are horrifying. And then… they make you care about it. Even as you are sure the main characters are about to die you are also crying for the monster. They built sympathy for one of the least human looking creatures I have ever seen. It is impeccable.

2) It is a great “kid adventure” film.

The middle schoolers feel like middle schoolers. They do dumb crap, and they fall into personality types you definetly remember from when you were 13. Every single one of them is heroic and lovable in a different way. I adore them.

The emotional drama in every scene is centered around all the things 13 year olds running around getting into trouble care about, the dumb and the rawly emotional, which draws you more and more into the monster plot as the teens are forced to pay more and more attention to it.

Even at the height of the action, they never drop their personalities, even as more complex character traits emerge, and they are still dealing with emotional beats while trying not to die, because those emotions get them through the danger rather than put them in it.

This movie was absolutely part of the pipeline from Goonies to Stranger Things, in all the best ways.

3) It is a great “movie making” film.

The main characters spend most of the film working on an amateur zombie flick for an upcoming competition. The thing that blows my mind, is EVERY TIME they introduce an aspect of storytelling or movie making, the ACTUAL FILM uses that aspect or technique within the next 5 min.

I’m talking special effects, audio, makeup. I am talking storytelling beats used to create emotion in an otherwise monster action flick.

It is a love letter to years spent as kids making junk films so that they could grow into men that make academy award winners, and it SHOWS.

Finally- even if you ignore/don’t know anything about that- if you know nothing about techniques or the history of cinema or kid adventures- it’s just a really good story.

They manage to weave several different stories about grief and how you move on to living day to day- and how that grief lashes out at all the people around you who care- and twisted it up into an action packed monster flick, where nothing is as it seems and the heroes are many but the damage is great, and people are being EATEN but only the kids have any idea what’s going on… and… just seriously, go watch it.

If you like Stranger Things, if you like Goonies, if you like Iron Giant, if you like beautiful films- you should see Super 8.

[kinetic-elaboration]

December 27: Some Daria Thoughts

I’m trying to slow down with my Daria rewatch because I’m too obsessed and have too few episodes left, and I’ve been mainlining it too hard. But I am really enjoying it. I think taking several years off from my formerly regular rewatches helped. But I also… don’t want to leave the universe of it, I guess. I’ve been toying around with some fic ideas, nothing that I would share but just something fun for me. Also I feel like I could use some ‘seriously this can be bad it’s just for me’ writing, to help loosen up.

Anyway, I’ve gotten almost to the end of S4, or the Tom Troubles Storyline. I definitely just let this story wash over me when I watched as a teenager and enjoyed the sort of sordidness of it but it’s different to watch as an adult. He’s so fucking annoying. It’s so unforgivable to cheat on your girlfriend with her best friend AND be so sanctimonious about it AND then to totally get away with it! I think making out with one’s best friend’s boyfriend is also unforgivable but in Daria’s case it’s more of a she-can’t-help-it-she’s-drawn-that-way scenario, or in other words, I don’t really think that’s in character for her and to the extent that it is OOC that’s a writing mistake, something to be annoyed at on a meta level. And even if you can kind of make that work—people make mistakes, 17-year-olds make lots of mistakes, this is an area far out of her comfort zone or expertise, sometimes we want to tell certain stories and that means stretching the limits of believable characterizations especially in long-form, serial narratives—she shouldn’t have stayed with him for a year! A year! That piece of toast!

The thing is that I do get why they did it. The show was getting pretty weird in S3, perhaps a little bored with itself, and after 3 full seasons I think it was also ready to grow, and ready for its characters to grow. I think bringing in Tom was an attempt to give Daria specifically, the character, room to grow: first by separating her from Jane and thus forcing her to explore other relationships or even just herself in solitude, and second by laying the groundwork for Tom/Daria in S5. I understand the desire to give the main character a boyfriend, especially at that point in the show. But it’s hard to imagine where Daria would find someone to date: first off it would have to be a new character, because there are no viable men in the existing cast and almost every character at this point in the show exists to be skewered, and second because her friendship with Jane is so intense and codependent. There might be one-off new characters like Ted (gay, btw), but for Daria to really want to date someone she’d have to get quite close to him and to get close to someone she’d need to detach herself at least a little bit from Jane.

Jane, yeah, one could imagine her dating someone: she’s always been more into men than Daria, she’s always been more willing to go out on her own, she’s always been less socially awkward and less dependent. And once she becomes serious with someone, that person is in Daria’s orbit and she can plausibly gain an interest in him that she wouldn’t have the chance to gain in anyone else. I mean, lol, even the safely unattainable Trent is Jane’s older brother.

That said, Tom plays a pretty minor role in S4. Mostly he exists to pull Jane away from Daria, as I said, although every time he and Daria do interact, they get along better than she wants them to. (And he’s also totally inappropriate with her! She doesn’t know how to flirt but he damn sure does! Looking at you I Loathe a Parade.) A lot of the story line that makes IIFY possible comes in those two episode right at the end of S4, the ones I haven’t gotten to yet in this rewatch. My feeling is… it might be worth using Tom to test the Daria and Jane friendship but Daria and Tom should have broken up either in the movie or by early S5. The only issue is that I think all of these earlier plot points exist NOT to test the Daria and Jane friendship or to help Daria become less co-dependent but to set her up for a S5 boyfriend the only way they knew how. And I can’t really argue that there aren’t many paths to ‘Daria dates in high school’ that AREN’T ‘Daria poaches Jane’s boyfriend,’ annoying as that is.