#she keeps the character restrained but also her inner emotions are clear on her face
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I'll go to you.
LOVE SCOUT - EPISODE 7
#love scout#kdramaedit#kdramanetwork#kdramadaily#tuservic#userpinenut#my edits#han jimin#lee junhyuk#kdrama#as i rewatched this to edit i just kept thinking: her face is soooo good#she keeps the character restrained but also her inner emotions are clear on her face#and he's like 'i'd walk 500 miles for you'
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The Legends (2019) Full Review
My review of the first 30 episodes of the drama can be found here.
This is more of a rant than a review. The drama should have wrapped up at episode 35. I was able to tolerate it up to episode 42 when the wedding was, but by episode 48 it’s a total mess.
If only this scene was as epic as the picture makes it look. But alas, this was just a dream sequence, and by this point in the finale, I was already bored and scrolling through instagram on my phone. If only they really did have a love-hate relationship. But this is an angst-free drama.
Inconsistent character arcs
The FL and ML have become incredibly weak, both in terms of abilities and personality. The changes just don’t make sense for their characters.
Zhao yao is no longer the badass she once was, and I’m actually fine with that. Moving away from her demoness persona is part of her growth. BUT, she no longer has a goal in the drama (except when she finds out that Mo Qing has an inner demon. Then, her goal becomes finding a way to expel the demon). But in the last quarter of the drama, she doesn’t really do anything of importance. She lost her sword, but she doesn’t actively go and find it. Instead, Mo Qing and Jiang Wu are the ones who took initiative to hunt it down for her. And when Lin Zi Yu got away with it, she doesn’t bother thinking about finding her sword again?? I mean girl, you lost your sword. Your only weapon. Why is that not at the top of your list of priorities? Is this the same FL who had risked it all for the Wan Jun sword?
(I miss the demoness)
Her tolerance level for things that annoy her is just so out of character. Zhao yao used to be someone who always fought back against anything she didn’t like. But when it comes to Jiang Wu, she seems to have unlimited tolerance for him. Yes, he saved her, but owing him does not mean letting him be a menace. Like when Jiang Wu sucked the life energy out of Ah Dai. All she did was try to restrain Mo Qing from attacking Jiang Wu, but she didn’t spring forward to prevent Jiang Wu from killing Ah Dai. I mean, the cause of Mo Qing’s rage was Ah Dai dying. Shouldn’t you go address the root of the problem? Instead, she just sits and stares and lets Jiang Wu kill Ah Dai instead of doing something. And then there’s the scene in the library when she’s asleep, but Mo Qing is wrestling with his inner demon, and then the Wan Jun sword kills the 2 guards on duty. She just sleeps through the entire thing. Wasn’t she once the most feared conqueror/demoness? Isn’t she a warrior? How can your senses not be alert when there’s so much ruckus around you? Someone on MDL said that she became a glorified baby sitter for the ML, and while I don’t agree that it’s as extreme as that, I can see their point. All that Zhao yao does after the wedding is try to reign in Mo Qing to prevent him from going into full-on demon mode. She holds him back, tries to calm him and soothe him, rinse and repeat.
Speaking of Mo Qing, his current personality is just rage and jealousy. At first, it was kinda endearing seeing him jealous, but soon his entire arc was just about him being consumed by jealousy. The writers try to justify it by saying that he’s always had low self-esteem and been unconfident about himself because of his upbringing, and the growing demon energy inside him is exacerbating these thoughts, making him more unlike himself, but you’re telling me that everything that he and Zhao yao had gone through together was all for naught? This would have made sense 5 years ago, but we’ve seen that he has greatly matured since becoming sect leader. During the earlier episodes, he was able to see right through Zhao yao’s mask. He teased her, flirted with her, scolded her, and basically proved he’s her equal in every way, and he did it all with easy confidence. And now suddenly, all of that growth reverses, and he’s insecure and sensitive again. This character progression just doesn’t make sense in the context of everything that’s happened. I would have loved to have seen more of the introverted and unconfident Mo Qing at the beginning of the drama. But instead, we only got a handful of scenes before that part of his character arc was cut short and we skip ahead 5 years later and then another 5 years later to when he’s the sect leader. There was honestly no purpose for Mo Qing’s suffering. He just suffered for the sake of suffering. In other xianxia dramas, characters suffered for a purpose. It was a price they had to pay in order to protect someone they love. But this suffering is just pointless. It does nothing for this character arc. And they kept replaying the same montage of him sleeping on the dragon. As if it’s not already clear from the last 20 episodes that he’s being haunted by his father’s demon.
Villains and supporting characters
I didn’t really care for the villains? Luo Mingxuan is still alive, but doesn’t do anything until the last 5 episodes. I eyeroll whenever Lin Zi Yu is onscreen. Jiang Wu is the only one who’s interesting and he serves as comedic relief.
And then there are all the unnecessary deaths. It’s like they’re killing off all the good characters one by one. What was the point of killing off the doctor? He was the only character who could scold both Zhao yao and Mo Qing. The drama felt so empty without him.
But on a good note, I really liked most of the supporting characters, from Zhiyan to Shi Qi to Ah Rong to Gu Hanguang. They were also the most consistent characters in the drama.
On a bad note, the drama spent too much time on the backstories of supporting characters. I did not care to watch Suruo mourn Luo Mingxuan and remembering how they fell in love, and this happens for pretty much all the couples in the drama. It’s because Zhao yao and Mo Qing have a very simple romantic arc that’s resolved very early on, so the writers had to throw in fillers to drag out the drama. And the consequence is that our leads end up getting not enough screen time.
The final 2 episodes
Oh boy. The last 2 episodes were a hot mess. In the final battle, everyone kept attacking and stabbing Luo Mingxuan, but he just won’t die?? He’s like Wolverine. He just comes back stronger. It just kept dragging on and on, and I completely lost interest. And I felt bad for Xu Kai. He was standing on the sidelines for most of the battle, just watching and shooting worried faces at Zhao yao. I hate to say he was useless, but it just felt like the writers did him dirty. Even Jiany Wu, who had already died by that point, was given a brief re-appearance. While Mo Qing, the ML, was forced to sit out on the action.
I’m also so over the will-he-won’t-he be evil plot. I keep saying this but I’ll say it again. It. Just. Keeps. Dragging. I’ve watching longer dramas, but this one felt to go on forever. We get it. You’re being tortured by your inner demon, but love will conquer all.
The editing is also weird? Some of the scenes aren’t in chronological order, and there’s no separation between dream sequences and reality. I also never liked the preview at the beginning of each episode. I also hate how they cut some crucial scenes from the TV version that’s on youtube, forcing me to hop onto doboku, which buffers.
Honestly, the last episode felt like a hallucinated dream sequence. In one scene, they’re all sitting around the table saying that the need to seal the Wan Jun sword before Mo Qing gets out of the control, and then it suddenly cuts to black with a title card that says 5 years later (don’t get me started on how often they overuse the “5 years later” plot device. Why is it always exactly 5 years?) We then see that Zhiyan is now the sect leader, and we’re told that Mo Qing has sealed himself away, and Zhao yao has been waiting for him to return. We don’t see them say goodbye to Mo Qing before he seals himself away. No scene showing a handover to Zhiyan. We’re just forced to go with it and imagine these scenes ourselves.
Zhao yao, with a new hairstyle and new clothes to signify the time skip, watches Zhi yan and the sect from the distance. She then goes to visit other people, like Sima Rong and Liu Cangling. Liu Cangling and Zhiyan are the only couple who were able to move on from each other, and honestly, good for them. We then see Zhao yao sitting in the cave, pouring wine onto the cave floor, and then it cuts to black again and a sword flies through the air and wedges itself on the bedrock and we hear Mo Qing say Zhao yao’s name in a voiceover. And then it cuts to a scene where they’re both in the cave wearing their clothes from 5 years and Zhao yao has her old hairstyle. You assume this is a flashback to when they sealed the sword. And then we see Mo Qing in another realm where he lowers the sword in to the water, presumably sealing it. And then it cuts to both of them on the street buying food, wearing their old clothes and hairstyles.
Does this mean he got out of the seal? When in the timeline is this street scene? How did he get out of the seal? Did he just walk out? Was Zhao yao there waiting for him, or did he go and find her? It’s typical for there to be a long period of uncertain separation in xianxia and wuxia dramas, and these dramas usually end either ambiguously where you don’t know if the couple will reunite, or they end with an emotional reunion, like in Ashes of Love, Eternal Love, Love and Destiny, and Love and Redemption, and famously in Return of the Condor Heroes. But what in the world was this ending?? The hell happened? That was so anticlimactic. If the scene on the street really was their “reunion” after he got out of the seal, does that mean Zhao yao changed her hair back to 5 years ago? Why is the costuming so confusing then?
And the last scene where they have the same actors play their kids? Um, no. That’s just plain weird. You built up the chemistry between the 2 actors, and then in the end you make them play siblings and re-enact the scene of when their parents met? For what? To make the audience reminisce about the budding romance between the leads at the beginning so that things come full circle? But, these characters are siblings?? You’re trying to make us emotional over a scene of two siblings pretending to be lovers?
There was just no point in doing that. It doesn’t tell us anything about the characters’ married life now. I don’t care about their kids. I care about the characters and what they’re doing now. What a strange and uncomfortable way to end the drama. Not satisfying at all.
It would have been better if they had left it ambiguous. The amount of times that Zhao yao came back from the dead showed that they can defy the impossible, so even if it was an ambiguous ending, you’d still be able to believe that they’ll be together again. But this mess just ruined the chemistry. Ugh. I really miss the first half of the drama.
Overall Impression
I’m mad about how chaotic the last few episodes were. While the beginning of the drama wasn’t without its flaws either, it was still very promising and intriguing. The beginning of the drama felt like they knew where they were going with the story, even if you didn’t completely like the direction that it went. So yes, I echo the other critiques saying that this drama had a strong beginning and a weak end.
When I got to episode 35, I thought, how bad can this get? When I got to episode 42, I was still holding out hope that maybe other people were just harsh and maybe I’ll actually enjoy it. But no, the final 10 episodes are really as bad as everyone says it is.
The romance, which was the only reason I stuck to the drama, also felt a little underdeveloped. I wish we got to see more scenes of them pre-episode 30.They were so cute then. Everything post-episode 30 was just them being constantly worried about each other.
At least there was no angst. And the comedy was great. So there’s that.
I give this drama a 7/10 for the characters and the premise. The plot is not worth watching due to terrible editing, pacing, and consistency, but it’s also a drama that won’t take you long to watch since you could skip most of it anyway and just go to the scenes with the leads. It’s my first drama watching Bai Lu and Xu Kai, but I’m def now interested in more of their work, like Arsenal Military Academy.
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Let’s Review || Chapter 6
Peter Parker knew that his big sister would do anything for him to be safe and happy. She’d given up everything for him twice over already and would do it again in a heartbeat. And that’s why, when the criminal mastermind Tony Stark started inextricably following him around, he didn’t say a word. Because he knew without a doubt Penny would do whatever she had to if it meant keeping Peter safe. He had to protect her, just like she always protected him. He never considered what would happen if Stark decided both Parker siblings were worth taking. Never considered who else in Stark’s inner circle would agree. He just wanted to protect her and yet somehow, they both ended up with needles in their necks.
relationship: Steve Rogers/Original Female Character/Bucky Barnes, background Peter Parker/Tony Stark rating: Explicit warnings: Dark Steve Rogers, Dark Bucky Barnes, Dark Tony Stark, Dark Avengers, kidnapping, non-con/dub-con elements, underage Peter Parker, emotional and psychological abuse, very dark. extra warnings for abduction and creepy interactions with a minor.
God, Penny had a brutal fucking headache. The light coming through the window meant that once again she’d forgotten to pull the curtains shut before passing out on the couch. She must’ve fallen asleep crying again, it would explain the serious dry mouth and pounding head.
“Peter?” She called out, groaning in pain immediately after, “augh… Peter, are you getting ready for school?”
There was no reply and she couldn’t hear him shuffling around in his room, which was a bad sign. She must’ve forgotten to set her alarm and Peter had probably slept through his own. Swallowing hard, she raised her arms and dug her palms into her closed eyes.
“Peter, you gotta wake up babe,” trying to raise her head made a wave of nausea roll through her body and she clapped a hand over her mouth just in case.
She might’ve been sick, could it be food poisoning? If she was sick, Peter was probably also sick. That must’ve been why he wasn’t getting ready for school. Oh, fuck she needed to call into her job at the daycare, there was no way she’d be able to deal with screaming babies with low immune systems for six hours. Blindly reaching down over the edge of the couch, she furrowed her brow in confusion when her hand didn’t hit the floor. The couch was low and uncomfortable, she was barely off the floor at the best of times.
Prying her eyes open was going to hurt and she really, really didn’t want to invite that level of pain into her life. Assuming her sense of space was off because of her sickness, she just reached further down. And further. And further. Until she reached too far and pitched herself off the edge of the couch. Hitting the ground was bone jarring and stirred a memory just out of reach, of falling and slamming her head into the hard wood flooring. It wasn’t an usual occurrence, she fell and hit her head all the time, but the carpet she landed on was weird. Super weird, they didn’t have carpet in their apartment.
Penny’s eyes snapped open, letting in the brutal light and also the terrifying revelation that she wasn’t in her apartment. She hadn’t fallen off her couch. She’d fought with Tony Stark in her apartment and smashed her head against the ground before they stuck a needle in her neck. They, there had been a second man who’d come out of nowhere.
Immediately she forced her knees under her and pushed up to her feet. She didn’t know whether it was the blow to the head or the drugs but her entire sense of balance was off and she went careening into the wall, smashing her head for the second time in what she assumed was a single day, against a shelf. A yelp and a crash later she was on the floor again, both hands clutching the side of her head that had gone into the corner of the wood. Was she bleeding? Fuck she was probably bleeding.
“Oh sweetheart,” she hadn’t heard a door open or any footsteps but suddenly a pair of heavy arms came around her, lifting her carefully off the ground and setting her on what she now realized was a bed, “stay still, you’re bleeding. J, call Bruce, Penny might need stitches.”
“Right away, sir. He asked me to inform you he must run to the medical wing to retrieve supplies but will be in shortly. ”
Her eyes were clenched shut, against the pain and the fear, but Penny recognized Tony Stark’s voice immediately. He was sitting next to her, holding her tight to his side with a towel or something pressed to her bleeding wound. He was making a hushing sound, petting her head with his unused hand.
“Off,” she choked, squirming in his hold, “fuck—get, get off of me.”
“Calm down, Penny—”
“No!” it came out as a shriek and she curled her hands into fists, lashing out in his general direction, “get off of me you fucking bastard! Get away from me!”
One of her hits must’ve landed because he yelped abruptly, arms going slack from where they’d held her and she launched herself off the bed. Once again she realized her entire sense of equilibrium was gone and collapsed on the floor, forcing her eyes to stay open despite the nausea and started to crawl towards the only door she could see.
“Damn, Penny, that’s one hell of a left hook,” arms wrapped around her waist and hauled her up and backwards, causing her to screech in fury and indignation, “Don’t make me tie you up, sweet girl, cause I will.”
“So, I take it she’s not a docile kidnapping victim?”
Her head snapped around, eyes landing on a man now standing in the doorway in shock. He was about Stark’s age, hair graying slightly about the temples and some wrinkles on his forehead and around his eyes.
“She’s a spitfire, Brucie bear, a real shit kicker,” Tony grunted as he forcefully manipulated her onto the bed again, this time keeping her in his lap with her extremities restrained by his own, “you’re so small, where is all this force coming from—Jesus!” he ducked his head to the side swiftly, just barely avoiding the back of her skull slamming into his nose.
He brought his arms up, still holding her wrists, and tucked her head tightly between his shoulder and neck while keeping her wound exposed for Bruce to look at.
“Her head went into the corner of the shelf over there, I’d show you the spot but my hands are full at the moment.” The bastard was making jokes . She had been drugged and kidnapped and was being bodily restrained after waking up in a strange room and he was making fucking jokes .
Penny hadn’t considered ‘murder’ to be a logical solution to her Tony Stark problem but maybe it should’ve been her go to. Actually, now that she thought of it, there was still time.
“Wow, I can literally hear how badly you want to kill me right now,” Stark pressed the side of his face against hers, “what kind of expression is on her face right now Bruce? Does she look like a murder kitten?”
“She definitely doesn’t look happy Tony,” he rolled his eyes, leaning against the bed to get a better look at Penny’s scalp, “I’m sorry we’re meeting like this Penny, I’m Bruce. Any bumps and bruises around here go through me, anything serious needs to go to medical though. Other than this, how are you feeling? Dizziness, nausea?”
For a moment, Penny almost answered just based on instinct. She hadn’t been to the doctor in ages, but he gave off the same vibe as a pediatrician. Instead, Penny pressed her lips together and averted her eyes, not that she’d been able to see him well with her head pinned against Stark’s neck anyway. Bruce hadn’t been one of her kidnappers but he was obviously, painfully complicit. He knew everything and wasn’t trying to help her escape.
“Come on baby, you can tell Bruce,” Stark tucked both of her wrists in one of his hands and brought the other up to cup her face, stroking his thumb along her jaw line, “he just wants to make sure you’re okay. It looked like she was having trouble staying on her feet—J, any observations?”
“ Ms. Parker seemed to wake in acute pain, movements suggest nausea and light sensitivity. Potential for dizziness and vertigo, and a loss of balance. ”
“Hm, she might have a concussion. Tones, you said she hit her head, right?”
“Twice now, once at her apartment and just now off the shelf.”
“Let’s get her to medical, I want to run a CT scan just in case,” Bruce shifted to bring himself into Penny’s line of vision, “I’m sure you have a concussion. Usually, I wouldn’t bother with a CT scan at this point, but since you hit your head twice in such a short period of time I want to make sure there’s no bleeding in your brain. Have you ever had a CT scan before?”
A moment of silence passed before Tony sighed, pressing his thumb firmly into the joint of her jaw, “answer, Penny.”
The threat in his movement was clear and Penny swallowed heavily, “no.”
“Good girl,” a slow, victorious smile crossed Tony’s lips at her response and he moved his thumb, continuing to stroke her face softly, “J, call the soldiers, we’ll need help to transport her safely and I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to assist.”
“They’ve been pacing the living room for the last three hours, I’m sure they’ll be here in half a minute, tops.”
Soldiers. Tony Stark employed soldiers. Of course he did. He had the government and the police in his pocket, why not the fucking military too. It was all a goddamn conspiracy and holy mother of God, Penny’s head was throbbing so bad.
She must’ve made a noise or something, because Stark was back to cooing at her a moment later, turning his head to nuzzle his face against hers, “we’ll get you some medicine soon, angel, just hang on.”
Penny pressed her eyes shut tightly, wishing he’d stop with the pet names. What was it with assholes and pet names? They’d been effectively ruined for her, if she ever got out of this she’d make everyone call her Penelope forever, no exceptions.
The door to the room opened with so much force it crashed into the wall with a bang. If she hadn’t been so tightly restrained in Stark’s grip, she would’ve jumped. Instead her muscles just went rigid and she prepared to be manhandled further as they brought her to ‘medical’.
“Oh, doll,” why was that voice so familiar, why did it feel like she’d been electrocuted by a 50-volt battery, “our poor baby.”
“Just wait until she tries to beat the shit out of you, Barnes, you won’t be cooing over her then,” Stark snorted, turning Penny’s face again and tapping her nose, “she’s a Hellcat.”
“She’s tried to beat the shit out of you multiple times now, Tony, and you’re still ‘cooing’ over her,” Bruce shot back, his voice fond.
He laughed and stood up with her still clutched in his arms, causing her eyes to pop open as her equilibrium shifted for the 80 th time that day. Penny’s head lolled slightly, until her eyes caught sight of the two men moving towards her.
She wasn’t sure when the culmination of her bad luck would come, when it would all wrap up in a grisly end. Soon, hopefully, because as the blows kept coming she wondered if she was going to be able to keep up.
Bucky and Steve, from the fucking coffee shop, were apparently the soldiers Stark had summoned to assist with her transit. If she’d been rigid before, it was nothing compared to the way her muscles pulled taught at the realization. A complete, overwhelming sense of fight or flight began pulsing through her veins—it had been a setup, everything at the coffee shop had been staged.
“So, the bad news is that I think she recognizes you,” Stark���s voice was full of laughter as he felt her begin gearing up for a throw down, “the good news is I think if I let go she’d hit the floor before she managed to hit one of you.”
No, Penny thought carefully, the bad news was that she might’ve been a dumbass but she wasn’t stupid enough to try to fight four men at the same time while half incapacitated. The bad news was that Penny had been a real shit kicker when she was in high school and maybe hadn’t grown out of it quite as well as she thought. The bad news was that at some point, they were going to let their guards down.
Penny was a little ball of chaos, but every inch of her was patient. She could wait.
***
The paranoia had started setting in around noon, when Penny had stopped answering his text messages abruptly. It would’ve been one thing if she’d been at work, but Peter knew she’d called out.
She was unusually available even at work, so it was extremely weird of her not to answer when she had the day off. By 1pm he’d placated himself by deciding she must’ve been getting her nails done like she’d said earlier and couldn’t answer because her hands were busy. But it didn’t take that long to get a manicure and when another hour passed without an answer, Peter felt his chest begin to tighten.
It was their last real day together for what could be forever. She should’ve been glued to her phone the way he was, desperate to live in his pocket for just a little while longer. He wanted to tell her about the gross apple he’d bought during lunch and how the soap dispenser was out in his favourite bathroom and ask if she knew about geomagnetic reversal.
By the time school was out, he heavily considered skipping academic decathlon practice to just go straight home. He’d be shipped off to Oregon in a few days anyway, so what was the point? But he forced himself to go anyway, if only to spend a little more time with MJ and Ned. And Flash wasn’t there, since MJ had punched him so hard in the stomach earlier that the asshole puked. Peter’s cheek still twinged from where Flash had punched him over the stupid chemistry test.
Practice had stretched on half way past forever and he’d hugged both of his friends for a solid minute before literally running away. The idea of really saying goodbye to either of them made him want to throw up and he couldn’t look at them any longer without breaking down. So he’d ignored Ned’s shouting and bolted for the subway as fast as he could.
Penny’s solution to his Tony Stark problem was insane. Peter wasn’t even sure if it would work, or if Tony would somehow intervene. He had so many connections, it was like running from an entire army instead of just one man.
Peter hadn’t actually seen Tony since Penny had caught them walking near the apartment complex. He almost wondered if Tony had been scared off by someone seeing them together, as if worried about being caught. Caught. Because Peter was 17 and there was no reason for a 40-year-old man to have any interest in him unless it was creepy and Stark needed to be caught .
But he knew that Tony wouldn’t be dissuaded by something so simple. If Penny was right, and he was almost sure she was because she always was somehow, then Tony was immune from the law. That’s why they were going to such extreme measures to get out of his grasp, because there was no other way to stop him. There was no way Tony had stopped following him, had stopped watching him. He was simply doing it at a distance now.
For some reason.
Peter really didn’t want to think about what that reason was.
A bone deep chill ran down his spine as he buzzed himself into the apartment and started up the stairs. He kept his phone in his hand, still hoping it would vibrate with a text message any second now. It was almost 5 o’clock, why hadn’t she answered his texts for 5 whole hours?
All three locks were done up on the door when he arrived at his apartment, which eased his tension somewhat. Penny was either still out and about for whatever reason, or she was safely tucked away in the apartment. Maybe she’d laid down to take a nap and not set an alarm— her schedule was so irregular she could sleep for hours and hours whenever the opportunity arose.
Another reassurance came when he saw her purse and keys sitting on the table just inside the doorway. She was home safe, her phone was probably just in her purse and she’d forgotten about it. It would bother him if she just hadn’t answered, but at least she’d be okay.
“Pen?” He called out, dropping his backpack onto the floor under the table and quickly digging into her purse, “are you awake?”
No phone in her purse, Peter sucked his lip into his mouth and worried it with his teeth. She must’ve fallen asleep on the couch and her phone was on the floor charging. He stepped swiftly down the hall and into the living room, crossing the hardwood floor quickly and peered over the back of the couch. Panic began to shoot through him when she wasn’t there. She might’ve been in the bathroom, maybe, or she could’ve laid down in his bed to rest instead—
“You lied to me, baby.”
Icy terror dripped down Peter’s spine, every hair on his body rising in unison. He wasn’t sure if it was the statement itself, or the tone, or the implication. Half a dozen apologies stuck to the roof of his mouth, spicy like cinnamon. Suddenly, a single thought began to race through his brain on repeat: Where is Penny?
“You told me you lived alone, off of an inheritance. Made me think you were all alone. Did you want me to think you were vulnerable, Peter? Did you think it would make keeping my attention easier? Because if you just wanted more attention, you should’ve told me baby boy,” the swish of fabric betrayed Stark’s otherwise silent movements as he shifted around in the kitchen, directly behind Peter.
“I… I told you I moved here after my aunt died, with money from family.”
“Do you really want to argue lies of omission with me, baby? I’m really good at arguing,” he was much closer now, Peter could almost feel the taller man’s body heat against his back.
“M-Mr. Stark, where is—”
“Penelope?” Stark cut him off before he could even ask, sending another nauseating spike of terror through his entire body, “does she prefer Penny or is that just what everyone calls her? She seems pretty averse to sweetheart.”
“Where—”
“She asks a lot of questions too, Petey,” his arms wrapped around Peter’s torso and pulled him back against his chest, carefully running his palm over the teenager’s sternum, “like ‘how did you get into my apartment?’ and ‘why won’t you leave my brother alone?’ That last one threw me for sure, baby. She was so scared but would hardly say anything but ‘please leave him alone’ half the time.”
“What did you do with her?” He could barely breathe, there was ice in his lungs, was he having an asthma attack?
“Nothing you need to worry about, baby boy. Why don’t you explain why you didn’t tell me about Penelope Parker, big sister extraordinaire?”
“P-please, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, j-just tell me she’s okay first,” tears were welling in Peter’s eyes, threatening to spill out at any second accompanied by loud sobbing.
“It’s cute you think you’re in a position to negotiate, precious. You’ve already earned yourself a punishment for lying, are you going to dig this hole deeper by being naughty? Answer me, now.”
Fuck, fuck he’d alluded to punishments and rules before but it had never seemed real. It all seemed like a bad dream most of the time, something that gave him nightmares but hadn’t actually happened. Wouldn’t ever lead to anything happening.
“I didn’t want to you know about her,” he whispered after a moment.
“Why Peter?”
Another hesitation, swiftly brought to an end by Tony’s teeth near his ear, “a-at first because she’d just… she’d just been hurt really bad and I didn’t want anyone near her. But later—later it was because I didn’t want you to have any leverage over me. Any more than you al.. already did.”
“Leverage, huh?” The man hummed quietly, both still very close to Peter’s ear, “You think I would’ve, what? Threatened to hurt her if you didn’t do what I said, threatened to kill her if you told?”
Peter nodded, a few tears escaping over his lash line to run down his cheeks. He’d been right too, Tony had taken advantage of Penny’s existence to hurt him. Where ever Penny was, she was there because of Peter. Whether she was hurt or scared or please not dead it was Peter’s fault because Tony Stark should’ve never been in their lives to begin with.
“Well naughty boy, you’ve earned yourself at least one and a half punishments, by my calculations. Silly thing, thinking I would hurt the person who took such good care of you for me. Now it’s my turn to take care of you, baby boy.”
“Please, where is she?” Peter sobbed, curling over the arm around his waist slightly, “is she okay?”
“Penny hit her head pretty hard, so she’s getting a CT scan right now and some medicine to help her sleep it off,” Tony’s unused hand began carding through Peter’s hair, tickling the back of his neck carefully, “You can see her sometime tomorrow, if she’s up for visitors. Cap might get over protective, we’ll have to wait and see.”
“W-Who is Cap, why can’t I see her now—”
“Uh, uh, uh, baby,” long fingers suddenly grew uncomfortably tight against Peter’s scalp, pulling his head back in one slow drag, “no more questions from you. It’s time for your punishments, and the only words I better hear from you are ‘thank you, sir’.”
#steve rogers x oc x bucky barnes#bucky barnes x oc#steve rogers x oc#dark!steve rogers#dark!bucky barnes#dark!tony stark#dark!mcu#let's review#let's review chapter 6
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S01E01: Limbic Resonance.
Kalagang analyses per episode.
In the first episode of the show, we don’t get to see Wolfgang and Kala interacting yet, but we still gain a huge amount of details regarding their psychology and a pretty solid foundation for their character arcs. These retrospective, episode-by-episode analyses will not be only focused on their connection, but also on the individual transformation and path that both of them will face and overcome thanks to it. Full episode analysis is under the cut.
First of all, I want to begin with a bit of an introduction 1. by analyzing their names, the meaning behind them and what they suggest about the characters and 2. by pointing out their bond with water and what it represents to them.
Wolfgang: traditional German name made up of the words “wolf” (wolf) and “gang” (path, journey). It can be linked to the meaning “advancing at a stealthy pace” and to the image of a lone wolf preparing to storm into battle. Superficially, it refers to the closed, introverted nature of the character and the violent and dangerous environment he grew up in, which always forced him to conduct a solitary lifestyle. The “journey” he has to face is to learn how to have faith in himself and then open up and rely on others thanks to that. Kala is symbolically fundamental in making him understand that it’s not true that he “doesn’t need anyone” (2x05) and that he is unworthy of being loved. On a deeper level, though, it’s interesting to notice that the animal of the wolf has always been deeply misunderstood in cultural mythologies and depicted as a feral predator because of fear and superstitions, while in the totem tradition it actually symbolically embodies the traits of cordiality and generosity. This duality speaks also about the character very precisely: Wolfgang always gets easily judged solely regarding his external, apparent brutality, whereas his vulnerable and selfless inner nature always ends up being ignored or not acknowledged at all. Except for Kala, who can clearly see that he has “something good and beautiful” hidden inside of him that always becomes evident when they are together (2x01).
Kala: traditional Hindi name that possesses three different layers of interpretation fitting with the nature of the character. Its first meaning is “fine arts, lady, princess” and it obviously refers to the superficial display of Kala’s behavior and how she is commonly perceived by others. She has been taught her all life to behave nicely and pleasantly in order to evolve in a fine and proper Indian woman, even though this cultural indoctrination doesn’t provide her any happiness and undermines her self-worth. She constantly has to hide her true nature and conduct a life of fakeness by constructing the untrue image of an apparently perfect and socially-praiseworthy lady. “Fine arts” also gives the idea of her role in Wolfgang’s growth and gain of self-awareness: she becomes his emotional Muse. This concept is linked with the second meaning of her name: “sunlight”. Kala is often shown to be fundamental in restoring Wolfgang’s hope and appreciation for life. She enlightens his perspective and provides new colors and shades to his obscure and frightening world. In many occasions we can see her actively bringing him into the light, both physically (2x06; 2x10) and metaphorically (1x07). This lighthearted nature of her contrasts with what we learn with the third meaning, which is “dark blue, black”. Deep down, Kala doesn’t see herself as the kind of woman she pretends to be in public and has “something dark and wicked” hidden inside of her that can be freely and comfortably exposed only with Wolfgang (2x01).
Both Wolfgang and Kala also share a deep connection with water since their first breath. Water constantly brings them together. And since this trait of their connection is always present in their bond and recurring in many of their scenes in both seasons, I thought about giving a general explanation of what this element means to them at the very beginning of these analyses (so here) and then pointing out references every time water is involved in the future. This should save time and prevent unneeded repetitions from happening.
Water perfectly encapsulate the dualistic nature of their characters. It’s a transformative element that can be both clean, pure and soothing and dirty, destructive and devastating at the same time. It mirrors Kala and Wolfgang’s inner and outer personalities and reflects the contrast of “light” (limpidity: Kala’s outer and Wolfgang’s inner selves) and “dark” (turbidity: Kala’s inner and Wolfgang’s outer selves) that aesthetically and metaphorically concerns them throughout both seasons.
Water washes out the fake constructions and imperfections and reveals the true nature of things. It’s the source of a purification and healing process. Both Kala and Wolfgang are able to evoke their true essences only around each other; by triggering their connections, water symbolically leaves them naked of all their walls (cultural ones for Kala and emotional ones for Wolfgang) and destroys those fences with an uncontrolled flow. Water lets them create an intimate, genuine bond by connecting them while purified and exposed. It testifies the clean and transparent nature of their relationship.
Water is religiously associated to the gain of knowledge and wisdom. Both Kala and Wolfgang need each other in order to reach a new level of self-awareness because each of them provides the other of what they are lacking to evolve as people and characters. On many occasions they are shown to be thirsty of each other’s presence and of its empowering and enriching effect on them.
Water in many traditions symbolizes the moon. Both the water and the moon share a double face (always one side of the moon is illuminated and the other one is obscured). This is also interesting because the moon doesn’t have her own source of light but reflects the sun’s one. Which means that: the sun provides light to one side of the moon, and that side of the moon is the one that is traditionally believed to attract the howls of the wolves. The moon (water) acts as a mediator between the “sunlight” (Kala) and the howling “wolf” (Wolfgang) who develops a deep attraction to its bright side.
Water is also connected to fluidity and sexuality. This is very clear in a lot of interactions between Wolfgang and Kala where water is present in the form of sweat, snow or rain. They visit each other in the most intimate places and moments. They were both birthed in a water-filled environment and finally joined their bodies together in the same way. Also, as water, being a malleable element, can be prevented from flowing freely and be imprisoned by banks or canals, in the same way sexuality can be restrained by the nature of self or channeled in a precise direction. Kala’s demisexual nature provided a metaphorical drain through which water (sexual attraction) could be channeled towards Wolfgang only thanks to their connection.
Water grants eventually the access to a deep and mysterious underworld. The unknown and unconquerable nature of the ocean resembles Wolfgang and Kala’s impossibility of legitimately acting on their love. Their feelings are denied exposure and are conceived as a secret to be hidden in the abyss; their connection goes very deep and the more it escapes the surface, the more powerful and overwhelming it becomes, just as marine currents.
All that said, let’s finally dive into the episode (no pun intended).
We are firstly introduced to Kala when she is at her father’s restaurant. She briefly connects with Wolfgang and experiences thunder and rain. Their affinity to water is already established in this moment and will keep coming back in a lot of episodes. In Kala’s case, the actual external storm coming from Wolfgang’s sensations mirrors her internal struggle and unfavorable feelings regarding marrying a man she doesn’t love. Since, even if we don’t know that yet, she already unwillingly accepted Rajan’s hand, that storm becomes a metaphor for her emotional turmoil and the fear of letting her parents down on her hesitancy. So, Wolfgang’s physical rainy environment is symbolically conceived to have a deep access to Kala’s interiority and provide an accurate representation of her concealed, real thoughts about the marriage. From the very first moment, their connection is already intimate and self-revealing.
In this scene it’s also already clear that Kala loves her father so much that, in order for him to be really happy (since it’s clarified that this union to him is more satisfying and important than her work and studies), she’s willing to sacrifice her own happiness and keep this as a secret to him. This gesture creates a complicated dynamic in their relationship that will persist for all the two seasons. Kala behaves as it is expected from a “fine” Indian girl; by fulfilling a duty she doesn’t really desire just to provide happiness and pride to her family, she basically condemns herself to conduct a future life where her relationship with her parents will only be based on lies and dishonesty. This is why she ultimately finds comfort in visiting the Ganesha temple, because in this moment the Indian god is “the only one she can talk to”. This will be replaced in S2, where Kala won’t be able to access to the temple anymore and this role will be definitely taken by Wolfgang, “the only person she ever felt she could say anything to” (2x04). Kala’s fate, by accepting this unwanted marriage, is living a life where she constantly has to lie to everyone she physically knows. Wolfgang’s future sensate presence in her intimacy will be the only thing able to give her stability and the opportunity to give vent to her real feelings and free her real self from the chains of cultural indoctrination. In this moment, though, all she feels is that she is trapped and overtaken by both an actual and metaphorical storm.
In the next scene, we are introduced to Wolfgang, who is in the middle of a downpour. The funeral moment already highlights the contrasting essence of his bond with Kala. While she is willing to commit herself to huge sacrifices in order to ensure her dad’s happiness, he is shown to have had a horrible relationship with his own father, to the point that he has a pee on his grave. The look on his face in that moment is one of determination, fulfilment and challenge. What’s important to understand about Wolfgang is that he is living a kind of lifestyle he didn’t choose for himself. He needs to find a purpose capable of making him feel worthy and important, because he has been treated badly his entire life and therefore thinks he doesn’t deserve anything. He’s lost and trapped in a directionless and self-undermining life environment he can’t gain any happiness and satisfaction from. Kala will be the one finally providing him a purpose and a reason to truly appreciate life (this is why he will always treat her like the most important thing in the world, because to him she really is). But for now, the only thing he can do to prove himself that he has value and is not worthless is mastering what his father wasn’t able to accomplish. He wants to constantly show and testify that he is “not as stupid as my father” (1x05). This is why he feels the need to crack the same safe (S&D) his father couldn’t open on his own: 1. to remind himself that he didn’t turn out to be like him, but a better version and 2. in order for this brief success to fill the void of his pointless everyday life and make him feel as if he matters and his life has a meaning. He craves self-appreciation and proud because he was literally raised to believe he will never be enough or worth considering at all. It’s his coping mechanism.
The last Kala’s scene of the episode is set in the Ganesha temple. As I said before, it’s the only place where she can truly be herself, and this is why in S1 she will be seen here a lot. Ganesha, by being this silent and listening presence, provides her of assurance and understanding. It’s interesting to notice that, since the god himself clearly can’t answer and his statue is a projection of the character’s faith, Kala turns out to be not only her own moral persecutor, but also her own pressure valve. The process of conversing with Ganesha provides her the same venting, healing effect of writing on a secret diary. It’s her coping mechanism. Here she says that she is about to marry a very important man who everyone in her society thinks of as the perfect Indian husband, but that she actually doesn’t love. “How could I say no?” she asks nearly in tears, thinking about her parents “dancing around the house”. She develops an internal moral struggle that will be the source of her character’s essence for two seasons. She is not about to enter an arranged marriage, because the man who proposed to her wasn’t specifically chosen by her parents. This conscious decision on her (which is what led her family consider this as a “love union”, despite not being such) is not the result of an imposed coercion from the outside, but of an internal sacrifice that she experiences as a necessary burden thanks to the mentality she inherited from her culture. She is putting societal expectations and her parents’ happiness above her own because she believes that this is the kind of behavior that is excepted from her in order to be appreciated and judged as “proper” and “adequate”. It’s a matter of cultural indoctrination. She is consciously making a choice that she knows will only satisfy others. In this moment Kala is truly suffering and almost ends up crying: this is not a choice she’s making for herself. She is suffocating her real self and building a superficial, fake image of a lady she doesn’t feel comfortable being just because in her societal environment there’s only room for that lady.
The last Wolfgang’s scene of the episode features him performing a robbery. The really important moment here happens when he takes a break from trying to crack the S&D safe and turns on the tv. Despite knowing how uncomfortable he feels singing in public, he states that watching music competitions actually relaxes him (probably because, as we discover in the finale episode, he used to sing a lot with his mother when he was young, which likely was the only distraction they had from the violence of his father). Here, though, the singing competition becomes a metaphor for how Wolfgang feels internally, as suggested by the comparison between the girl’s performance and his own flashback. In this memory a young Wolfgang is shown being unable to perform on stage because of his father’s general presence ― that scares him, since he was constantly abused by him — and particular attitude in that moment — that makes him feel worthless and nullified. Felix’s comment about the girl being unable to win the competition not because of her singing talent but because of her physical aspect (i.e. something irrelevant to a fair and objective judgement) mirrors young Wolfgang’s feeling of being unable to sing not because of stage fright or failure worries (he actually enjoys singing) but because of the terror of being constantly ridiculed and put down by his father. He was traumatized. The fact that the girl in tv actually ends up losing the competition is a testament of Wolfgang’s permanent inability of recovering from his internalized childhood traumas that still torment him nowadays. This finale recognition is what ultimately forces him to fulfil the need of “cracking the uncrackable” and definitely release himself from his father’s mockeries. The satisfied look on his face, once he finally opens the safe, steams not only from the concrete opportunity of collecting the diamonds, but especially from the abstract gain of a new self-worth and praise that discredit what his father always accustomed him to think about himself. He finally proved his father wrong.
That’s all for the pilot. We’ll see in the next episode, where things start to get really interesting for Kalagang.
#sense8#limbic resonance#kalagang#wolfgang bogdanow#kala dandekar#otp: thank god for gravity#analysis#long post
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[SW:TLJ] Trailer musings
Ordinarily I try to avoid the Star Wars fandom, as I’m already in enough toxic fandoms as it is. However, this new trailer is blowing my mind and I have to write my thoughts about it or I’ll probably implode.
Spoilers for the new Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer abound. For the sake of those who might be uncomfortable with viewpoints like mine and for those who’d like to avoid spoilers, I’ll be placing this bad boy under a cut. For everyone else, well, enter the dragon’s lair if you dare. Mua. Ha. Ha. *ahem*
(Word of warning: I wrote this puppy at 3AM, so it’s most likely completely incoherent. Sorry in advance lol.)
Kylo’s Trajectory
This trailer was undeniably Kylo’s. It’s clearly preparing the audience for his character journey, probably because the general audience isn’t prepared for it. As far as I can tell, he’s going to begin his trajectory trying to maintain his dark side fealty.
We don’t know the exact order of the shots, but my suspicions right now are that at the beginning of the film the FO has located Leia’s new base of operations. Kylo and co. are dispatched to take Leia down. Kylo of course can’t take his mom down, and he fails the mission. This leads to disciplinary action by Snoke. Where his temper tantrum with his mask takes place could be either before or after the Leia scene.
If it takes place before, then he’s probably tearing down his mask because his self-loathing is getting the better of him and he is angry at himself for not doing what he thinks he should be capable of doing now that he’s killed his own father.
But I just don’t get that sense from the shot. He looks like he’s frustrated with himself and perhaps is rejecting himself based on his own actions. Honestly, this to me seems like it comes after the Leia failure. He breaks his own mask because he wants to destroy Kylo Ren, but he doesn’t know who to be next. He may also be disenchanted with his own admiration of Vader, and he might be searching for something different.
This might actually cue him hunting Rey down. Rather than revenge, it may be that he merely wants to talk to her. He wants her help, or at least he wants to rekindle that connection he felt with her. It may be entirely instinctual on his part.
If he deserts the FO, that would mean he arrives on Ach-to alone, and the FO arrives to take him back rather than to attack Luke and Rey, which might be kind of interesting.
There is a shot of him walking with the storm troopers at the Crait location, but this might be after he’s forcibly (or willingly) brought back and Snoke gives him a good dressing down and convinces him to be a good boy again. He may have multiple potential snapping points throughout the film--first Leia, then hesitation after meeting Rey again, then the choice Snoke gives him to prove he’s loyal by sacrificing Rey at the end.
Either way, it’s not possible for him to kill his mom. He’s a mommy’s boy--you can see it in his face during the piloting shots. Adam manages to wonderfully express a child’s emotions, and that’s exactly what Kylo’s going through when he’s contemplating shooting down his mother. The kid’s not going to be able to go through with it. He’s cracking big time.
On another note, it’s wonderful that Kylo’s healing the scar on his face throughout the film, but won’t remove it entirely. His bb Rey marked him and he’s staying marked for her. ;P Love it.
Kylo’s Monologue
Kylo’s voice over monologue is interesting. His voice is tender and thoughtful. He must be speaking to someone, and I’d say chances are high it’s Rey. He sounds like he’s giving advice, but not in a malicious way. His “kill it” seems metaphorical to me, and perhaps is more about how moving forward requires sacrificing your past, which in his case would be his Kylo Ren days as well as his heritage, and for Rey would be her family as well as her new connections. This might be a truly great “animus integration” scene for Rey--what she learns from Kylo will help chart the course of her character.
Rey and Luke
There is a lot to unpack in all the Rey and Luke moments.
From what I can tell, it looks like Luke initially agrees to train Rey after she proves herself. But as he gets a better grip on her power, he grows fearful of her and perhaps rejects her entirely.
It’s clear Rey’s searching for answers for herself. She can’t understand what’s going on (and honestly, if she does have a force bond with Kylo, she’s probably in a massive state of confusion), and she’s hoping Luke as a wise older person will guide her.
But Luke is probably hung up on his own failures with Kylo. His line about not taking someone’s power seriously and regretting it is most likely about Kylo, but I’ll grant it could be a misdirection and perhaps is pointing to something related to Rey’s past. I prefer it to be about Kylo, as it cements how similar Rey and Kylo are.
I’m also starting to think that Kylo may not have intentionally killed all the Jedi padawan--it’s quite possible that his power was out of control and killed them by accident. Or perhaps it’s more nuanced, where Kylo got into a fight with the students due to him being the “favorite” and tried to scare them a bit but went too far with his power and couldn’t pull back in time. Luke might have rejected him at this time, leaving him nowhere to go but Snoke, who had already prepared a place for him.
But Star Wars is fairly simplistic, so it might be that Kylo really did kill the jedi padawan for “reasons.” Luke’s reaction to Rey seems a bit odd if Kylo turned evil by deliberation though--then Luke should be afraid of intentions, not ability, and Rey clearly has no ill will toward anyone other than Kylo lol. But with Luke seeming to fear raw ability, that implies Kylo may not have had much control over himself and his raw destructive abilities and Luke’s inability to help him find inner peace made Luke paranoid about young, powerful talents.
Rey’s trajectory with Luke appears the most tragic. She clearly starts trying to do her best to meet his expectations--this weird hermit she doesn’t even know but admires anyway. Yet the more he learns about her, the more he rejects her.
Her expression in the shot above is truly heart breaking. She’s looking for acceptance and a home, and it’s nowhere to be found with Luke.
Now, I’m of split minds on how Rey’s going to get off Ach-to. On the one hand, I think she might leave after Kylo does (assuming the FO comes to pick him up lol) or when he does (if they leave together), and Luke may reconsider how he treated her and determine to do better this time and go after her.
It’s also possible that she and Luke will come to an understanding and he’ll accept her and they’ll leave Ach-to together. But given how she and Kylo seem to be connecting at some point in the film, and given that she gets captured by Snoke, I just don’t think Luke accepts her in time to keep her from ending up in the hands of the dark side. It probably works better if he rejects her, she leaves after being influenced by Kylo, and Luke regrets his rejection and decides to take action.
This is just speculation, but it’s also possible Kylo gets taken away by force and Rey runs to Leia to get help because Luke won’t. This means Rey might be going to Crait in order to meet Leia/find a way to get Kylo back. (Oh wouldn’t that be interesting lol.) This might explain too why she ends up in Snoke’s hands--she’s going to retrieve what’s hers and finds Snoke’s got his claws back into Kylo again. Just random thoughts lol, assuming she even meets Kylo on Ach-to and they bond then.
Snoke, Rey, and Kylo
No pictures here ‘cause I don’t like torture. (I also don’t like ugly things and Snoke is ugly.)
Snoke’s voice over at the beginning of the trailer is interesting because it’s deliberately cut to be referring to either Rey or Kylo. However, I think it’s delivered to Kylo and is a reminder of his “place” and what he owes Snoke--Snoke “discovered” him and is the only one who thought he was “special.” Ego stroking is a manipulator tactic, and an effective one.
Since we know Snoke is a groomer, I don’t think he’s interested in Rey, surprisingly. The reason I don’t think he’s interested in Rey is that he’s willing to torture her, and his MO seems to be seduction rather than torture for the things he wants to keep around. While the torture may have worked on someone like Kylo, that’s hardly going to make Rey switch loyalties. The torture seems to be for Kylo’s benefit instead--a test to see if he can sacrifice Rey for the “greater good” (or bad in this case lol).
My current speculation is that Kylo probably disappoints Snoke early on in the film when he fails to kill Leia. Snoke probably decides to quarantine him or demote him or something, which maybe triggers Kylo running to Rey on Ach-to (unless Kylo runs to Ach-to in order to redeem himself in Snoke’s eyes by capturing Rey/Luke). While on Ach-to, Kylo bonds with Rey instead, and perhaps gets forcibly taken away by the FO or escapes with Rey.
Whatever happens on Crait happens, and somehow Kylo and Rey end up back with Snoke. At this point, Snoke probably tortures Rey in order to prove a point to Kylo. Perhaps this is where the dialogue from the beginning of the trailer takes place. So the reason he’d be torturing Rey would be more because Rey is making Kylo weak. But this is likely Kylo’s snapping point (Kylo may even be restrained somehow at this point and is forced to watch Rey’s torture until she breaks herself and him free).
Since we can safely assume Kylo and Rey fight the Praetorian guard together, that makes it likely they’re escaping after this torture scene. When this happens in the film and what comes of it are likely huge spoilery things, so I won’t speculate too much right now. But this trajectory seems to make the most sense to me at the moment. Until more information arrives. We know so little at this point, lol.
Leia
There’s not a lot to say about Leia other than I love all her damn outfits and she’s looking wonderful and motherly. It’s such a shame about Carrie. I have no idea what they’re going to do with Leia in the film, but I hope she at least gets to have a reunion with her son before it all goes to the devil.
Finn
Might I irreverently say that Finn is looking fine in dem First Order duds. The FO uniform agrees with him quite well! He looks so manly and imposing! Too bad the resistance doesn’t have style the way the FO does lol. Baddies always get the best clothes. =P At least Finn gets to wear them when he infiltrates.
Otherwise, not enough Finn. Hopefully the next trailer will focus on his storyline. I was disappointed how little of him and Rose we got. I’ve been looking forward to their interactions ever since I saw a little snippet of an interview they gave together. They’re too freaking cute.
“The” Scene
The highlight of the trailer is undeniably the end. Maybe this wasn’t the impression others got, but I certainly had this incredible sensation of “I was waiting forever for this moment.” The trailer leading up to these two connecting was everything I had never known I’d wanted. It felt just like TFA did the first time Kylo and Rey’s trajectories intersected--this sensation of “oh I didn’t even know I’d wanted that but I’d wanted it all along.” I cannot express how much I appreciate this wonderful quirk in this story--I’ve never had any other story do this to me, set up a subconscious expectation that I don’t even realize I have until the moment arrives to reveal it to me. Truly wonderful.
Anyway, I’m going to start with my initial impressions of the scene, then I’ll break down all the buzz about whether it’s a misdirection or not and whether or not I think misdirection even matters.
So my initial impulse was that the scene was a cohesive whole, not a spliced scene. My reason for this multi-fold, but most of the scenes throughout the trailer that had film dialogue (rather than VO) were clearly spliced from the same scenes, which should lead a viewer to assuming the same is true from the final scene. Case in point: the Finn/Phasma section is also three shots clearly from the same continuous scene, including a line from Finn. Going by this trailer’s “logic”, the three final “Reylo” shots should all be from the same scene. If not, this makes the trailer rather illogical because it misdirects on some scenes but not others. I think only a poor editor would do this, but perhaps Lucasfilm’s got a hiring crunch these days. ;P
One could argue that the Kylo/Leia scenes might be different scenes spliced together, and I agree, but there’s no direct dialogue in those scenes, only voice over, so they fit the “logic” of just random scenes being spliced together underneath voice over. Basically, my point is, all the scenes that are pulled from the film with present action dialogue appear to be linear in nature for the brief time they’re on screen. I might be wrong (I haven’t edited a film in a while), but filmmakers want to convey a message and they want to avoid confusion (who wants to see a film they’re confused by). Random scenes spliced under disembodied voice over are fine for this, but once you start matching dialogue with film, the viewer has a different expectation.
The reason I like the scene being all one scene is because of the implications. If the scene is all one scene, Rey has decided who she wants to guide her in the new world she’s found herself in, and that person is not Luke. She herself has made the decision through careful consideration, and she has made her choice. For me, Reylo is all about agency, and Rey choosing Kylo to train her after careful consideration continues that truly important theme between them.
Something else that’s really interesting in this shot is how womanly Rey looks. In TFA they did their best to infantilize her in all her shots. She doesn’t get to grow as a woman via visuals until she encounters Kylo in TFA. They’re continuing that here; her make up and lighting give her a more wordly appearance, fitting for her taking her destiny into her own hands and making her own choices.
Assuming this scene is one cohesive moment, Kylo’s response is appropriate here. He looks at her like she’s bestowed upon him the biggest favor a goddess can bestow, and offers his hand to her. The gesture is gentle and open, not demanding. She has called, and Kylo is answering her call. His hand shakes a little, and who knows why, but there’s clearly a lot of unspoken emotion going on here. His offer this time isn’t his idea--it’s hers, and that’s what makes all the difference.
Now, assuming this scene is a cohesive whole, it must take place during the Ach-to section of the film. This is admittedly more limiting, and would make this scene more about Rey and Kylo connecting as two powerful force users who are lost and abandoned. At this point Kylo hasn’t rejected the dark side, nor has Rey chosen a side.
It might actually be better if the scenes aren’t sequential. This gives us more scope for what unfolds. If Rey’s initial scene is separate from the Kylo hand extension scene, that means a few things:
The filmmakers want us to understand on a meta/thematic level that the person who will answer Rey’s call is Kylo, not Luke, even though he won’t answer it until late in the film.
Rey’s moment of vulnerability might be with Luke, or it might be with Chewbacca, but either way neither of them are the answer for her.
The Kylo scene being separated from Rey’s question opens up some options for why Kylo is extending his hand. He doesn’t seem to be bending down, so he’s not helping her up after a fight. His mouth isn’t moving, so this offer isn’t something he’s verbally making. It seems likely that she’s asked him for something, and his answer is to extend his hand to her. No matter how the scene goes down, she’s probably still the one making the choice, and her choice is still going to be him.
If the Kylo portion of the scene occurs later in the film, then it’s going to be a huge reveal of some kind that they’re carefully trying to hide from the audience right now. This shot could even be the final shot of the film, where Kylo saves Rey from Snoke and they both decide to go rogue together after being abandoned by both their teachers. It could also be that his extended hand is the end of the film, and we will be left in suspense for two years as to whether she takes it or not.
If this scene isn’t at the very end of the film, it means Rey and Kylo will team up earlier than expected. Perhaps this might feed into why Snoke ends up capturing Rey--she’s interfering with Kylo’s development and has to be nipped in the bud now. This may prompt Kylo to making his choice about Snoke--will he stay with him and destroy his last chance at redemption or will he leave all he knows and enter new territory?
I don’t think there’s any question that the hand is Kylo’s and the person he’s extending it to will be Rey. Men don’t look at their mommies like that unless they have Oedipus complexes. =P Adam’s really careful to make more boyish expressions for Leia, whereas with Rey he has love interest expressions. We’ve clearly got the latter going on in his scene here at the end.
No matter how things play out, if it’s a misdirect or not, I think the intention is clear that Kylo is Rey’s match and they’re going to keep crashing into each other until they light up the galaxy. They’re both unstoppable forces who are incomplete without each other. They are the belonging each other seeks. There may even be a much deeper understanding between them by the time the film comes to a close.
I am a little concerned now that they might try to make it look like Kylo dies toward the end (we still have that scene where it looks like he’s at the rebel base that isn’t accounted for). That would be quite the shock, having Kylo begin his redemption arc only to fall.
Cute Things and Music!
OMG all the animals in this film! The porgs and the space horse and these fox wolf things! I cannot wait for all the damn plushies! GIVE THEM TO ME!
Also, the music is to DIE for. I LOVE the strings at the beginning of the trailer. If this shit doesn’t make it into the actual soundtrack, I will be furious. I love Rey’s and Kylo’s themes intertwining, and the Force theme rising at the end. I cannot wait to hear what’s in store for them as far as duo themes go. Not expecting a romance theme yet, but a pairing theme would be just fine with me. XD Hopefully some wonderful enterprising soul on youtube will upload a cover of the trailer theme without audio for me. *sad puppy dog eyes*
*ahem* I’ve rambled enough for one night I think. This probably isn’t even coherent anymore. I’m sure I’ve got most everything wrong, but hey, I enjoyed myself and these are just my impressions and speculations from the trailer. If anyone made it all the way to the end, congratulations, but this dragon has no money in her coffers to give you. =P Times are tough even for hoarding dragons!
#reylo#otp: you need a teacher#otp: i choose you#otp: force bond#otp: the woman wears the pants#OMG THE REYLO IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE#star wars spoilers#tlj spoilers#tlj#star wars#star wars the last jedi#star wars: the last jedi#the last jedi
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RWBY Character Analysis Part 2: Weiss Schnee
So in the first part of this series of analyses I talked about Ruby and her arc. This time I’m going to tackle Weiss “Protect Her!” Schnee. Spoilers below the cut obs.
Weiss’ arc this volume is all about her escape from her abusive and/or neglectful family, and how that abuse and neglect has shaped her view not only of herself but the world around her. Let me be clear, it’s about her escape from the conditioning of her family, not, as many in the FNDM wanted, about her using her fighting skills in a daring escape to free herself from the prison her home has become/has always been.
Don’t get me wrong, a world in which that’s the story that happened I would be fine with. But this is a series about what actually happened in the canon, not what could have been (though I may break this a bit when we get to Yang). With this in mind let’s go through where Weiss was at the start of the volume and carry it through to the end of the volume.
We see Weiss in her first appearances this volume be quiet and dare I say it, meek. This isn’t the Weiss from volume one that was haughty and precise, that Weiss projected the illusion of confidence to hide her own insecurities that were placed there by her abusive father. In volumes 2-3 we see Weiss become her own person, and we see she’s not cold at all, that she has deep wells of feeling and can light up a room with her joy. So to see her at the start of volume 4 with her head downcast, doing as she’s told, and be so passive in her own life and choices… It’s jarring. And that’s on purpose.
Remember this is animation, every move is deliberate, every gesture is crafted by hand to be that way. Jacques (Weiss’ father) asks Weiss to sing at a charity concert for the victims of the attack on Vale. Weiss is surprised to hear her father want to do that, until he reveals that it’s motivated not by empathy, but rather that he wants to use it to further his own goals. But she doesn’t feel safe/comfortable voicing her own views so agrees to sing at the concert, it’s clear she’s doing it because she cares about the people of Vale, whom she had grown close to during her time at Beacon.
We see her true feelings at the after party, where Jacques attempts to keep her close and even initially physically restrains her from leaving his side. After Weiss tells Henry (aka shitty Neptune) to leave because he doesn’t give a damn about the tragedy in Vale, we hear one of the other guests be even worse. Blaming Vale’s small military for it’s failure to defend itself (never mind that Ironwood had brought a large part of the Atlas military with him and it did more harm than good).
This leads to Jacques trying to reign her in, only to make her more upset (she’s way past being infantilized) and summon a Boarbatusk. Unfortunately Weiss summoned it in a fit of anger and has no control over it, thankfully Ironwood is there to destroy it before it harms anyone.
Okay, there’s a lot going on here. Last volume we saw that summoning is to Weiss a sort of ultimate challenge for her, a last step she needs to take before becoming a full Schnee (note that Jacques married into the name). It wasn’t until the end of last volume that she even summoned an arm and sword, let alone a full corporeal ally like the Boarbatusk. So clearly she’s not simply been sitting idle in her room, she’s been practicing, enough to be able to summon, even if it wasn’t intentional.
Also this is Weiss’ tipping point, the part of her arc where she won’t stand for her father’s bullshit anymore. We see this continue into her next scenes as Jacques continues to try and control her, and failing that, remove what he believes is her power, money, by way of disinheriting her of the Schnee Dust Company (and giving it to Whitley). He’s very, very, wrong about what her power is. Her real power isn’t even her fighting ability, it’s her inner strength. The strength to keep talking back to her abusive father even after being hit by him in the face.
Back to summoning, we see Weiss working on summoning the full knight from the white trailer. And when she does, it’s not in anger like she tried to do in volume 3, she has a look of complete peace. She’s calm and in control, she’s fueled by her emotions yes, but they aren’t controlling her, she’s controlling them.
Before I move on I want to shout out to Klein for being a awesome dad this volume, he might not be her father, but he’s her dad for sure. (Yes I took that from Guardians of the Galaxy 2, fight me)
What I find interesting about Weiss’ escape is that it’s done without violence. This could have easily turned into a story where Weiss used her summoning to fight her way out, smashing stuff and possibly even her own father In the mayhem. But instead we get a story about a young woman just getting the fuck out of a toxic situation. She doesn’t plot revenge, or even have a plan to take being the heir to the Schnee Dust Company back from Whitley. She just leaves.
That might not seem “powerful” to some people, but I’ve read enough about abuse victims to know that this is a difficult thing to do. To be angry, to not forgive, but nevertheless move on? That takes incredible courage and strength. Weiss Schnee’s story this volume is important, and I, personally am glad that it’s not just another story where an abused woman uses violence to get revenge/justice on her abuser(s). While that has merit and can be quite inspiring to some, this story is also important and should be told.
Up next it’s Blake and her arc!
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I like "The Fairly OddParents" and "Danny Phantom" for their potential for angst. In the former, you have Timmy's miserable life, Vicky's potentially traumatic childhood and Timmy's despair at the fact that Cosmo and Wanda must leave him eventually. In the latter, you have Danny risking his life, being horribly injured and fearing what his parents might do to him if they knew what he really was. Just out of interest, where's the potential for angst in "Bunsen is a Beast"?
Oh my gosh, you’ve got my heart racing. Where do I even start?
I guess we start with our title character. We all know how Butch loves the fantastic racism trope (which is one thing I love about his work so much- his use of these things as serious worldbuilding details, and not merely as “one and done” plot points), and it’s a huge part of Fairy and Anti-Fairy culture.
Fantastic racism is a thing in BIaB too. Here you’ve got this little Beast boy who speaks and reads only limited English. Although he doesn’t have huge talons, he does have horns, a spiny tail, and a lot of scary-looking teeth. As soon as he steps out of his car and starts towards the school, he is hounded by news crews:
He manages to shake them off and head inside, but as she’s introducing him to the class, the teacher says, “I hope this whole co-mingling thing works out, because if not, man and beast will be in a struggle for dominance until one side drives the other into extinction.”
Aw, snap! So you have this show about this twelve-year-old kid with the weight of two species resting on his shoulders. And he knows. That’s what I love here- he knows. Instantly when Miss Flap reminds him of this, Bunsen deflates from his happy mood (Bonus: As you continue through the series, it becomes more obvious that his natural personality is to be reserved rather than social, and that he’s way outside his comfort zone here in trying to make a good first impression and win over new friends).
There’s just so much here that’s interesting! Bunsen is clearly very aware that if he proves Beasts can successfully integrate into human society, it means a better life for his people. But if he screws up badly enough, he might have to watch his family and friends be slaughtered, on top of fearing for his own life. And if he screws up the other way, he might see humans killed as his people revolt and take over.
Now, obviously, with the fate of these races resting on him, so many politics can be dragged into this. It’s my headcanon that after petitioning for years, Beasts were finally given the okay to allow a single Beast to attend a school in a very small human town, as a test. Now, who are they going to pick? Bunsen is very fluffy and cute, so he’s a good candidate to promote the idea that Beasts aren’t dangerous and should be granted rights. Although his English is still stilted and he can read only a very small amount of it at this point, he knows enough to be verbally fluent.
So the question is, how long ago did they decide to send HIM? Has he been groomed for this position his entire life? Just think of all that pressure, those years of studying, that fear of failure drilled into his entire being since he was a kid… And that’s not even bringing up the question of whether this fight to get Beasts a human education has been going on for decades, and if he was specifically bred for his cuteness and gentle disposition. And, what if he didn’t want to be “the chosen one” in the first place? Delicious inner turmoil.
Really, it’s a show about a minority constantly struggling with thoughts of, “Should I leave all my culture behind and embrace a new one?” and “But my culture is a huge part of my identity and I don’t want to lose it.” And he shouldn’t have to lose it. So, he’s working to find a balance that makes him feel good about himself, while dealing with his fears that humans are going to look down on or even hate him for it.
If anyone was wondering, I personally feel that if Bunsen were human, his ethnicity would be one of mixed Asian origins. If I’m remembering correctly, it’s a stereotype that Chinese people are good at ping-pong, and he has a relative (possibly his mom’s brother b/c octopus tentacles) who is a ping-pong master.
That, and it looks like he has a large extended family staying in Muckledunk with him, suggesting closer ties than I, your average white American girl, see in my own family, even though everyone on my dad’s side of the family lives in this area, and almost everyone on my mom’s side does too. Thus, the fact that he’s eating spaghetti with forks in the theme song is just kind of amusing to me. I wonder what kind of eating utensils exist in Beast society.
So, those are a few culture-related angst topics about Bunsen. Others are certainly the fact that he’s moved to a new place and has regular jitters about that, and that one of his classmates is constantly attempting to gather evidence that he’s a danger to society and should be cast out of the school and the town. Said classmate also has a rich and influential father, and it’s been made clear that some people will be unfair to Bunsen purely not to get on her father’s bad side.
And I forgot to mention all the hints that Bunsen is a pacifist (or at least that he dislikes confrontation), so his default reaction to having mean words thrown at him is to withdraw into himself and believe them.
Whether it’s because of his inborn personality or because of all the pressure resting on him, he never fights back physically, and rarely argues verbally. The closest he gets is the occasional sassy comment. Although he’s more relaxed when alone with Mikey, Bunsen seems to have somewhat low self-esteem.
Perhaps because he’s an introvert, Bunsen is very perceptive. I might argue that he picks up on subtleties better than Mikey does- so if your words or body language suggest that you don’t like him, he will know. Mikey was willing to ignore Jerry’s emotional instability in “Mikey Is a Beast” because he saw Jerry as his hero, but Bunsen picked up on it and was very nervous at the thought of hanging around him. Throughout that episode, Bunsen continues making nervous faces even when the main focus of the scene isn’t on him- such as when Jerry shouted for Mikey to stop crying over Bunsen’s head:
I greatly appreciate whoever includes these things in the storyboards! These characters are just constantly in character even in the background.
Ooh, then there’s the piece of his character that solidifies Bunsen as a lawful neutral- his utter devotion to following rules, even when he doesn’t like them (For example, wanting to touch things in the museum, but restraining himself when he sees ‘Do not touch’ signs). He’s extremely committed to a set of values known as the Beast Code. This code outlines good etiquette such as “Beasts are always polite”, but sometimes it pins Bunsen into corners.
For example, in “Handsome Beast”, Amanda asked Bunsen out to the girls’ choice dance. Even though he dislikes her, it’s apparently “against the Beast Code to decline an invitation”, so Bunsen was thoroughly convinced that he has to not only go to the dance, but “follow the rigid steps of the Beast wooing procedure” too. He feels more stressed out by the thought of disobeying the Code than by the action of taking someone he doesn’t like on a date.
Beasts appear to have super unstable genetics, because when they have allergic reactions, they take on characteristics of the thing that upset their body systems. Here, Bunsen evidently had a reaction to the body spray Mikey was using in the hopes of attracting girls. He’s also confirmed to be allergic to bee stings and Swiss fondue.
Let’s see, what else… Bunsen obviously has a very close and understanding relationship with his parents, considering that even after everything their whole family sacrificed to move to Muckledunk - stability, friendships, money, possibly years of special educational programs depending on how long ago he was selected as the Beasts’ representative - they were completely willing to move back to the underground Beast World after Bunsen confessed to them that he was terrified of thunder, and couldn’t handle the sound of it anymore.
(These nerds even have matching pictures of each other)
There’s a lot of angst potential there, because up and leaving Muckledunk like that could not have been an easy thing for his entire extended family to agree to do. Or an easy decision for Bunsen to even make and consider talking to them about. He’s Beast World’s champion. Their saving grace. As much as he hates thunder, I’m sure he felt absolutely awful to know he was disappointing his entire race. This is the only time thus far, I think, that he truly puts himself before thoughts of duty and honor. These showing and not telling details really drive home how terrified of thunder the poor guy is.
So, Bunsen! I could name a couple of shows about a kid with an animal (or Beast) friend, but of these friends, Bunsen is my favorite. Cartoons like this generally involve one character who doesn’t caremuch about consequences dragging the other into zany schemes. But this is a show about a kid who is honestly curious about the world, and has strong morals that keep him out of trouble. I’m huge on following rules myself, so having a show with characters who are aware that their actions have consequences (Bunsen moreso than Mikey) and who don’t intentionally bend the law means a lot to me.
From a writer’s perspective, Bunsen is a very well-balanced character: he’s very reactive, so he acts as a nice foil to active Mikey. However, he can be plenty active too, such as when he’s introducing Mikey to his home or talking about his culture and biology. And it’s not out of character for him to be this way. It’s all dependent on his comfort level in a particular situation; by default Bunsen is reserved, but he starts opening up and being more active as he gets to know you. He’s very, very balanced and well-written, I think.
Oh. Also, his best friend has a morbid sense of humor, and even cracks jokes about taxidermy when Bunsen sees his uncle on display at a museum.
And BOY HOWDY, we haven’t even gotten to Mikey yet!
I. Love. Mikey. In fact, he’s probably the character I relate to more than anyone in any show I’ve ever watched. I’ve heard that some people don’t like BIaB because Mikey is just “a boring, regular kid”, but I don’t know what show they’re watching, because I could go on and on about how cool this boy is. In fact, calling it now, the Mikey section of this post will likely be unfairly longer than Bunsen’s.
Where to start, where to start… Well, you wanted angst, so let’s start with this. Remember how in “Abra-Catastrophe”, we found out that until he was eight, Timmy’s parents used to obsess over and record every second of his day on video cameras? Mikey’s childhood resembles that a little bit… except it never stopped.
Mikey has helicopter parents in both senses of the word. They obviously love him, but thus far in the show, they have only interacted with him through this drone. I wouldn’t be surprised if never seeing them in person is a running gag in the series, the same way not revealing the names of Timmy’s parents is a gag in FOP. The implication here is that they’re out of town a lot- meaning that he’s been left at home to raise himself-
-surrounded by security cameras and microphones, of course. Major props to whoever designed Mikey’s yard and drew this storyboard, because I love how none of the characters ever call any attention to the cameras or anything. They’re just. There. Watching. Details like this make me happy.
Y’know, when you’ve got a SMALL TOWN CHILD whose parents install SECURITY SYSTEMS, you can’t help but wonder if said child has any problems disabling the security systems on any building in said small town. Problems physically, or morally. I wonder…
I’m really curious to know when his parents got this drone. Mikey hasn’t revealed anything about a babysitter. Did his parents start leaving him at home alone once they got it and could watch out for him? Or did they leave him home alone to fend for himself even before that?
Mikey’s parents are very nice people - probably better than Timmy’s parents - but they’re not there in the way he needs emotionally. They try to compensate for this by stalking him with the drone whenever they can spare the time. The ability of the drone to find him is interesting too… Perhaps they track him using the location of his phone. Surely they wouldn’t actually GPS chip their child.
Children need safety (physical and emotional) for healthy development. Given the security cameras and the presumed reputation of his parents, we can assume he has the former. But violating his privacy “without probable cause” the way they do can be psychologically damaging and lead to trust issues. Especially because he’s asked his parents to stop, and they haven’t.
Previously, I’ve mentioned my theory that Mikey has an older sister, which would explain why he had the dress, sandals, ribbon, and make-up on hand (and might answer our question about who watched over Mikey pre-drone):
I think she might have disappointed their parents in some way (such as having a baby while an unmarried teen, or stealing money and the family car), and so she took off for the hills. I like this idea because it helps “justify” why Mikey’s parents are so obsessed with monitoring him. They don’t stalk him constantly, but when he gets older, I feel like he’ll have at least one parent on his case at almost all times while the other is installing security systems. One Munroe kid going sour is bad enough for their reputation. Small town. People talk!
Additionally, his voice actor (Ben Giroux) revealed that he used to “terrorize his sister” with the Mikey voice when they were kids. Imagine Mikey doing the same thing to his sister once upon a time, pfft.
This sister theory is just a headcanon, but it’ll be interesting to see what hints about his home life and family are dropped in future episodes. And did I mention that Mikey occasionally visits his uncle in prison, possibly because this is the only family member he has who can’t run away? I love him.
That was Mikey in the past. Now, what about Mikey in the present?
Let me say it again: I. Love. This. Kid.
I’m majoring in psychology, and when I started watching this show, I quickly ended up leaning back in my seat with a knuckle in my mouth, grinning at the ceiling. Mikey is a textbook case for narcissistic personality disorder, with the bonus joke thrown in of, I have no idea if Butch and the writers meant to do this or not (at least, they may not have realized they’ve been checking off all the diagnostic criteria as we go along). Either way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a narcissistic cartoon character pulled off so subtly and so well- and without the cliché stereotype of being obsessed with his looks to boot!
People with this personality disorder are typically characterized as being “arrogant” (Check), “self-centered” (Check), “manipulative” (Check), “concentrating on grandiose fantasies [such as their own success or brilliance]” (Check), and as having “a need for admiration” (Check), “a lack of empathy for other people” (Check), and they “may be convinced that they deserve special treatment” (CHECK- Did you see “Beast of Friends” and “Astro-Nots”?). Such narcissists might “have difficulty tolerating criticism or defeat and may be left feeling humiliated or empty” when their pride is injured. That sure sounds like Mikey to me!
(Technically, since he’s young, we can’t officially diagnose him until he’s acted this way for a year, but if he continues in this pattern then he should fit the bill!)
What a personality disorder means is, this is his personality. You could maybe tone him down by reinforcing certain behaviors, but there’s nothing you can do to “fix” him permanently. There’s no medicine that will change him. It’s just the way he is, and it’s not really his fault. Mikey just loves being the center of attention. And I’m sure it doesn’t help his ego that he’s lived a life with cameras focused on him, and he’s possibly the second child and baby of his family.
He just constantly refocuses the spotlight on himself, like in this scene here where he expresses no sympathy for Darcy being alone all day (or even acknowledges her statement whatsoever), and changes the subject to him:
“Outside, when you were very close to my face, you said something about… helping me?”
Translation: “I’m only here for my benefit. Are we actually doing this, or are you just wasting my time?”
His narcissism is especially prominent throughout “Beast of Friends”. Not only does he interrupt Bunsen once he hears Bunsen has a friend who’s a wish-granting fairy, but when he meets Timmy Turner, all Mikey wants to do is make wishes. Timmy even asks him nicely to stop, and Mikey agrees by making comments like, “I totally hear you. Just let me make one more wish”.
Spoiler: He doesn’t stop at one more. And when Timmy is tripping over himself, struggling to cover up hints of magic and fairies from his dad, he begs Mikey to back him up. Mikey cheerfully says, “Timmy’s totally right”, and immediately turns his attention back to Wanda and - you guessed it - makes more wishes. He’s completely blind to the fact that he’s causing Timmy distress. He hardly seems to register Timmy’s presence, because he’s so focused on the fact that Timmy has fairy godparents. Mikey even assumes they’ll grant his wishes, and never asks Timmy for permission first. This also happens to be the only episode thus far where Mikey realizes he got a little carried away, and apologizes for it. It took the threat of Bunsen’s death to get him to this point.
He also just honestly forgets to think about others a lot of the time. I think the best example I could pull up is that scene where Bunsen congratulates Amanda on winning “hide and go freak”, to which Mikey responds-
He forgot Amanda. As soon as he saw Bunsen’s game room, all bets were off. He just naturally assumed that if he wasn’t playing, the game was over. It didn’t even cross his mind to tell Amanda he wanted to play ping-pong instead. And he’s like this throughout the show. All. The. Time.
Of course, apart from his narcissism, Mikey has another fair reason to be distractible: there are heavy hints that he has ADHD, not the least of which is that he seems to be canonically dyslexic:
(“Go”)
(“Doomed”)
(Here he’s struggling to spell “cat”)
Dyslexia isn’t an actual diagnosis in the DSM-5, but he would have a specific learning disorder for writing - aka spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity (refer to the script he wrote above) - but he has no impairment in the reading department (fluency, comprehension), which is why he can read perfectly fine.
ADHD and dyslexia typically go hand in hand. On top of that - and this is SUPER fascinating to me - he’s actually animated as having an inability to sit still. He’s constantly out of his seat, or in his seat and changing position.
I actually had a different example in mind but it was too long and wouldn’t loop
When I first heard of this show, I naturally assumed Bunsen was going to be the wild one, and Mikey would be your average, plain kid along for the ride. It just seemed the cliché default. But then comes this huge plot twist in my mind: Bunsen is playful, but a bit reserved, and Mikey is the extremely peppy and hyperactive child. So, I think that’s really cool and lots of fun. Mikey is the first time I’ve ever watched a show and selected a lead to be my favorite character, so obviously something’s going right here!
ADHD also has some angst potential along with it. Aside from the obvious examples of struggling in class, he’s confirmed to be the head of the school welcoming committee. So, when it comes to designing posters, that can’t be the easiest job to do!
Oh, did you think that was all? NOPE! It’s been hinted numerous times that Mikey has an interest in psychology (and I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent hours poring over childcare books when he was younger as he tried to figure out if the way his parents were raising him was right or wrong).
And, whether he started doing this intentionally or not, he’s turned into a massive guilt-tripper. He cries, people give him what he wants, he stops.
To be fair, Mikey doesn’t seem to realize that what he’s doing is wrong in any way. He’s sensitive in general- that part certainly isn’t faked, nor is he trying to be mean. Simply, this guilt-tripping behavior has been reinforced.
Repeatedly.
As of “Astro-Nots”, he has yet to come up against anyone in the show who says no to big sad eyes (and he seems to have, perhaps unconsciously, taught this guilt-tripping behavior to Bunsen by this point). Since Mikey hasn’t tried to guilt-trip Amanda onscreen, it’s possible he’s tried in the past, but wasn’t reinforced and so unhappily gave up. He’s just savage to her with his words.
Now, I have that GIF above of Mikey guilt-tripping even Bunsen, his best friend, to do something he really didn’t want to do. I wouldn’t call their relationship abusive at all, especially with Mikey not seeming to realize what he’s doing is wrong. They’re good, close friends and get along awesomely. A time or two of guilt-tripping shouldn’t be reason to end their friendship. Really, what Bunsen did when agreeing to be Jerry’s mascot was a favor. Although being a mascot wasn’t something Bunsen wanted to do, he did want to make Mikey happy, and he did willingly agree to this- as a favor to a friend.
But for angst purposes, he didn’t want to do it. Like I said, I don’t consider their friendship abusive or anything like that, but it might be a tad strained at times. Think of it like, your college roommate might have really irritating quirks, but they’re probably not abusive. Only if Mikey’s manipulating got out of hand to the point where Bunsen was in distress and wanted this to stop - and Mikey refused - would this become a big problem. But, everyone has character flaws and their own struggles in relationships, and for now, this is just one of Mikey’s.
Don’t get me wrong. Mikey’s a really nice person, and he’s proved it multiple times (One of my favorite lines of his is, “Help me help you”). This is the thing: he always wants to get his way. If his way happens to be, “I want to make you happy”, then you’re in luck! But if you’re opposed to his views… he’s not going to make life easy on you. Mikey’s the sort of person who only says sorry out of sympathy- not when you insist he’s made a mistake. Not easily, anyway. He’s a narcissist who reads about psychology- he hates admitting that he’s wrong.
Heh heh. He’ll totally be there if you directlytell him what you need. But he can be a little blind to the feelings of others. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
On top of ALL of this, Mikey has to put up with his rival being attracted to him:
She invades his personal space constantly and forces physical contact like this on him, and it obviously makes him super uncomfortable. I can relate. In my ninth grade math class, I had to sit next to a couple of jerks who - not an exaggeration, because they told me this - had grade point averages of 1.9 (out of 4.0). I didn’t show any interest in them, except once when one of them was bugging me about what my name was, I finally reinforced him by revealing it. This did not go well for me. And for whatever reason, the girl who sat in front of me thought I had a crush on this annoying kid. No clue why, because he was awful. So, she told him to come up behind me and rub my back.
Okay. So, no. I was out of my seat so fast, grabbing my thick, heavy school binder and whirling around, ready to smack him upside the head, but the bell rang just then so he got off scot-free. Keep in mind that I’m not even five feet tall as a college student, so I was even smaller back then. But BOY, did that kid have the face of someone who thought he was going to die.
Gosh, why is Mikey so relatable…
Then there’s more angst to be found within Amanda, Beverly- and of COURSE, Commander Cone… I could talk about them for a while still, but this post has gotten pretty long, so I’ll settle for just discussing our leading boys.
Mostly, the angst in BIaB is that sort of subtle emotional angst that’s obvious if you’re an adult paying attention to the show, but that’s easy to miss if you’re younger. It’s similar to “Fairly OddParents” in that respect (which is a show I personally favor to “Danny Phantom”, even though there are several things I could name about DP that appeal to me too).
Huh. Come to think of it, I wonder if that’s why DP has always been so popular- the younger generation caught onto its angst potential because it was more physical and obvious than the emotional angst present in cartoons like FOP. Plus he’s like a superhero and kids like superheroes. I tend to favor subtleties myself… I suppose because it feels more like I’m in on the joke than like I’m being force-fed.
Anyhow, “Bunsen Is a Beast” is not a cartoon that requires angst to move it along. And yet it’s sprinkled in there anyway; it never feels forced to me. Along with its super-expressive characters, that’s one thing that attracts me to the show- Holding my breath in anticipation to see if I can catch the subtleties.
For example, all throughout “Body and the Beast”, Mikey refuses to say “school picture day” because he’s convinced something bad will happen to him if he does. That’s a hint that he may be superstitious, and adds a fascinating layer to his character since he’s our man of psychology and science.
Isn’t that neat? Depending on how deep this runs, he might even struggle with thought-action fusion: the belief that thinking something is the same (aka, as “sinful”) as actually doing it- and there is so much angst tied up with that.
And OH MAN, we didn’t even get to the part about Mikey “mysteriously” going bald two years prior the show’s beginning. Pardon me, but what is a ten-year-old narcissist who isn’t getting the emotional affection he desires from his parents going to do to himself for attention? Thaaaaaaaat’s right.
(Or if you want bonus angst potential… ever heard of trichotillomania?)
The clip where Mikey refuses to mention picture day and goes straight into talking about how he went bald two years ago was only a few seconds long, but it reveals so much! See? There’s so much fun here for someone like me! But like… It’s left up to me to choose if I want to see these characters as the sum of their parts, or if I want to enjoy this show while merely scraping the surface: Bunsen being cheerful and Mikey being his happy friend.
I like having this depth. I like having subtleties. With DP, “Star”, and “Gravity Falls”, every episode tasted very, “Meh, that went the way I expected it to” in my mouth. I guess you could say that that the subtle details I like in BIaB are very “inside joke” in nature. With those other three, everyone who watches the show is going to catch angsty things. It doesn’t take the coolness out of them, but it takes that excitement of discovery away from me a bit, I suppose?
Could be. I don’t like being spoon-fed emotions. That’s why you don’t normally find me shipping characters (and when I do, I often tend towards background couples). I’m just not a very emotional person. I don’t tear up at anything less sad than Radio’s death in “Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue”, so you can guess how often that happens, because hoooooly wow, that death scene.
See, there are very few things that bug me about “Star vs. The Forces of Evil”, but the fact that I’m expected to feel bad for Star when Marco starts dating the girl of his dreams is one of them. The ending of “Just Friends” bothered me, with the way that Star lashed out and destroyed the stadium billboard like she was five. Ick. I guess the show put a little too much faith in the idea that people watch shows for ships. Yes, lots of people do- but I’m not one of them. I don’t ship two people just because they’re there, so I have a very hard time sympathizing with Star’s refusal to let Marco be happy with Jackie.
In my mind, she’s an exchange student. They live together. They’re foster siblings. So when you don’t pity her, Star just looks like a selfish brat throughout the end of Season 2. Good glory, I so do not want Starco to be the endgame couple… I know it’s extremely unlikely to happen, but I’d love for her to end up with Oskar. Just. The potential of freaking Oskar being Mewni’s king. I need this so badly. Plus, they just feel so natural.
Awesome show. But I don’t really go for the idea of, “She had to leave him, and it was so sad because she was in love!!!” What is this, a nuzlocke? I’m much happier fawning over Ludo and his story, like the way he once said, “Are you proud of me?” and then when he was complimented, he hesitated and asked, “Can you say proud?” That tells you everything.
I did really enjoy the twist in “Danny Phantom” that Danny doesn’t need to keep his identity secret from his enemies, but from his family- not to protect his family, but because his family are ghost hunters, and they’re liable to hurt him. But, like… I would have enjoyed some filler episodes, actually. Episodes where Danny didn’t even fight ghosts. Episodes that gave him more character traits. Because who is Danny without his ghost powers? He’s a shy kid who enjoys learning about outer space and wants to get with the cool crowd, but has only two close friends. Mostly, he only does poorly in school because he never has the chance to sleep or study, or when he does have free time, he’s distracted by video games.
I wanted to see that Danny a little more, and not just when Danny gave up his ghost powers in “Phantom Planet”. I wanted THAT Danny to have angst. The problem with Season 3 was, in Season 1, Danny was learning to control his powers for the first time. In Season 3, he’d mastered them. He didn’t struggle anymore. He lacked good weaknesses. His weakness became exhausting himself to the point where he slipped back into human form. Aka, the removal of powers: kryptonite. His angst was about fighting ghosts. It was very plot-based. And that worked really well until suddenly it didn’t. Fans of the show have rounded his character out some more, but canon!Danny was left flailing for weaknesses in Season 3, or so I think.
I didn’t mean to go off about shows that you didn’t even ask about in your question. Sorry! This is the first time I’ve tried putting into words my thoughts about why those shows are neat to watch, yet I don’t consider myself part of their respective fandoms.
What I enjoy about BIaB is, the fantastic racism element is definitely there, but it’s not the main focus of every single episode (Geez, that would get annoying fast). It’s a show about, well… fitting in. Making new friends. Struggling with a bully who hurts people emotionally instead of physically. Culture shock. It’s about two kids caring for one another, accepting who they are and who the other is, making mistakes, and learning to be better people in the process. Y’know. With plenty of angst sprinkled on top. The type of angst that fleshes characters out and builds up solid worlds. The kind of angst that I enjoy a lot.
So, DP, GF, and “Star” are generally well-done and awesome, but for whatever reason, I just appreciate them in a different way than I do FOP and BIaB. Anyone who’s been around my blog for awhile knows which of the shows I watch I actually produce fanwork for.
I think it’s interesting that people enjoy different things, don’t you?
#Bunsen Is a Beast#asks#Anon#Beasty such a beaut#Fluffy blue transfer student#Official human buddy TM#Distant helicopter parents#Savage spittle queen#screenshots#GIFs#'ChalkZone' is another very nice 'subtle-angst' show you may enjoy#Going Ghost!#Dimensional scissor show#99% true as far as we remember
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short essay on k-dramas
Crash Landing on You, originally aired on the South Korean television network tvN and made available to an American audience in 2020 on Netflix, is one of my favorite romantic K-Dramas, and it serves a superlative point of reference for the metafictional, postmodern, and reflexive tendencies that have developed in the genre over the past two decades.
In the beginning of the second episode of Crash Landing, the viewer is placed in medias res, with the two romantic leads, Ri Jeong-hyeok and Yoon Se-ri, gazing into each other’s eyes in a dramatic and unexpected encounter. Se-ri, a South Korean woman who finds herself stranded on the wrong side of the DMZ after a freak tornado-induced paragliding accident, had previously attempted to run away from Jeong-hyeok but now realizes that she has stumbled upon his house. Jeong-hyeok, who is wary of Se-ri’s presence, contemplates killing her. Se-ri hilariously mistakes his gaze as desirous, as her inner monologue reveals that she thinks Jeong-hyeok finds her attractive. This moment, in which the inner thoughts of both romantic lead characters are dubbed over the scene, borrows its main formal device from romantic novels, which will often utilize free indirect discourse to a similar effect. In sum, dramatic and comedic irony builds from the disjunction between Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok’s perception of the situation that is revealed to the viewer through a narrative voiceover.
To understand the weight of this scene, it is important to understand how this trope has been employed more generally. In most conventional romantic novels, free indirect discourse is used to reveal the heroine protagonist’s fear of the hero’s rugged masculinity: although she wants to trust the hero’s intentions, she feels weak and powerless against his manhood. Then, the free indirect style of the novel allows the reader to see into the man’s first-person experiences as well, which invariably reveal his love and tender care for the female love interest. This revelation then allows the audience to continue reading without the fear that the male hero might hurt the heroine. The trope of free indirect discourse revealing and elaborating the conflicting emotions of two main love interests has been analyzed at length in critical studies of romance novels, like Janice Radway’s influential 1984 text Reading the Romance. In Crash Landing, however, the trope is updated from the merely textual to the voiceover narrative form: the montage slows down time to allow each character’s thoughts to be revealed along with close-up shots of their faces. Crash Landing also comically refuses convention in the content of the scene: instead of fearing Jeong-hyeok’s powerful arms that restrain her movement, the overconfident Se-ri mistakenly takes aggression as flirtation. The typical dynamics of power that were present in older romance novels are then turned on their head for a new viewership. This is just one example of how Crash Landingmasterfully modifies the form and content of the romance genre to reimagine new narrative possibilities.
The setting of the show in North Korea is significant, and there has been considerable academic study devoted to the accuracy of the show’s representation, with scholars questioning which stereotypes the show reproduces and which it unpacks. Personally, I am less interested in the historical or political material present in the show’s depiction of North Korean life, and I am more interested in considering the function that the North serves in the viewer’s own self-imagination. Even though I am not Korean, and my knowledge of Korean history is cursory at best, the construction of the North in the show allows for a kind of alternative cultural identification for the viewer to transiently experience for themselves. The setting of romance films in a far-away place (i.e. Westerns) or a long-ago time (i.e. period dramas) is not a new phenomenon, but Crash Landing allows for new cross-cultural imaginative possibilities in its careful attention to the construction of Korean-ness itself. As anthropologist Deborah Root has commented in her popular essay “White Indians,” the process of identifying with another culture can sometimes give us “the imaginary space that can save us from ourselves” (232). While this cross-cultural imagination is often imbricated with power and can at times cross over into outright appropriation, Crash Landing gives insight into North Korean life that helps the audience imagine themselves otherwise. When Jeong-hyeok is preparing dinner for Se-ri, he shows off his Northern kimchi cellar, where he keeps all of his chili pastes and fermented foods. In the second half of the season, Jeong-hyeok follows Se-ri to the South, and his comrades marvel at the amount of chicken that they can eat at a chimaek restaurant. Regardless of how “real” this representation is, or which stereotypes it exploits, the crossing of borders in the show builds on this process of cultural representation that can act dually as a window into another world and as a mirror for the self. As the characters reimagine themselves in different contexts, in different nation-states, the viewer is invited on this generative and reparative journey as well.
Crash Landing on You is incredibly inventive, against all critics of K-Dramas who might malign the genre as formulaic. As I mentioned previously, there is a distinctive metafictional quality of the show that draws explicit attention to the constructedness of its narrative. Kim Ju-meok, one of the soldiers that Se-ri encounters on her trip to the North, is obsessed with old K-Dramas from the 90s, and constantly compares the events of his own life to the overly-dramatic plot lines from his favorite programs. The character of Ju-meok effectively takes the mask off the naturalistic realism of the show, underlining every scene with a wink to the viewer. In episode two, a carefully timed cut jumps between a scene where Jeong-hyeok is facing his enemies in Pyongyang and a scene where Ju-meok demands to know what happens next in an old K-drama. This knowing satire of the dramatic edits that are all too common in K-dramas adds comedic relief while also building a reflexive commentary on the incredible influence that K-drama tropes have. Even though K-dramas are banned in North Korea, Ju-meok still is able to get access to those choice dramas that have been smuggled across the border. This attests to the power of K-dramas and their international success while also underwriting Crash Landing’s own success. The show’s sappy tropes are simultaneously ironic and sincere: the viewer can choose to roll their eyes along with Ju-meok or cry along with Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok.
Crash Landing also contains a careful reflexive critique of the commercial media practices that K-dramas themselves undeniably benefit from. As Fredric Jameson has commented in his piece “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture,” Crash Landing is an example of mass culture that “remains implicitly, and no matter how faintly, negative and critical of the social order from which, as a product and a commodity, it springs” (144). Se-ri is a successful businesswoman from the South, and her character serves both as a kind of controlled fantastical wish-fulfillment for the viewer (Se-ri embodies the Korean dream of rags to riches, she is the Miracle on the Han incarnate), while also providing a commentary on the emptiness and alienation felt in the commodity-driven culture of the South. In the second episode, Se-ri dreams that she is back in her comfortable, luxurious Gangnam apartment, and walks around the scene, doting on each commodity in her house as she passes it. She hugs her candle and caresses her fancy porcelain bathtub. As the books on her shelves (she has many) sit there untouched, she is comfortable in simply possessing them, in knowing that they exist for her. Soon, however, her dream world begins to fade away, each object melting out of vision until she finds herself back in Jeong-hyeok’s tiny village in the North. Despite the fact that Se-ri longs for the material wealth of her Southern life, it becomes clear through this scene that the happiness she finds in her possessions is only transient. Later in the series, we learn that Se-ri attempted to euthanize herself in a care facility in Switzerland, and that she suffered from serious depression despite her privileged upbringing. In this way, the show remains critical of a commercial mindset that is unable to reconstitute Se-ri’s desperate need for affection. Despite the fact that the show is critical of commercialism, it ironically prescribes itself as the antidote as well: through re-watching K-Drama after K-Drama, you too can experience the melodramatic rise and fall of the characters. In this way, a paranoid critic might claim Crash Landing’s critique is shallow and toothless. On the other hand, I choose to view the show as performing what the critic Maggie Nelson has called “work[ing] the trap that one is inevitably in” (29). While Crash Landing might not be able to save its viewers from the ills of capitalism, or the trauma of the North-South divide, or the failures of their own romantic lives, it doesn’t have to. In the end, the show is perfect at simply being a shoulder to lean on, offering a laugh and a hug to the viewer—and that is why I appreciate it so much.
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