#she's relieved but this man of ultimate power is an enigma to her

[endlessthoughtsofafangirl]

What I want isn't a Consort Yān. What I want is peace between Great Yán and Western Yān. As long as you can stay and be at ease in the Inner Palace of Great Yán, I won't force you to do anything against your will.

[rkxsungwoon-blog]

☆ MGA5 EPISODE THREE ; JULY 11 #5008 HA SUNGWOON ; interview

once again, it feels like sungwoon barely has a chance to catch his breath after the performances before one of the mnet staff members call his name for the interviews. much like last week and the one before it, he’s ushered into prep first; the stylists on hand touch up his face and reapply the makeup that had worn off sometime during the day. they fix his carefully styled hair too (it’d gone awry during his stage with jaemin), and his favorite staff member is kind enough to compliment him on his new hair color.

sungwoon is quick to credit kenta for the success, since the last time he attempted purple was a disaster. with kenta’s help, he more or less managed to achieve the look he was going for. “no special reason for it,” he says, when the stylist teases him about wanting to look nice for a certain someone? she doesn’t believe him, but sungwoon insists that he just needed to change things up for one. “the certain someone didn’t even comment on it yet,” he adds in a stage whisper, before throwing the stylist a wink and a wave as he’s directed to the room for his post-performance interview.

it’s weird how normal this is starting to feel. the camera doesn’t faze him any longer, neither does the interviewer with her list of prepared questions. sungwoon greets her politely and asks how the cake recipe he gave her last week went over (well, apparently) before they get down to business. and business in this case means answering some difficult questions, as always, though sungwoon resolves to keep his answers brief this time.

what were your thoughts on last week’s results? did you feel the judges were being fair?

sungwoon taps his chin with a finger, deep in thought. for a predictable question, the answer to it is surprisingly hard to arrive at. “i think the eliminations made sense for the most part,” he begins slowly. “the judges’ criticisms seemed harsh, but ultimately, they know what they’re looking for. if you don’t manage to impress, then isn’t it better for them to rip the bandaid off early and let you know?”

privately, there are decisions sungwoon doesn’t agree with. moonbok’s departure, for one, still sits uneasily with him. joohyun’s elimination is a deeper, personal hurt, but one he can see the reason in even if he doesn’t like it. at the end of the day, he feels like trying to predict the judges’ decisions is a futile exercise, but trying to argue them is even more so. the best any of them can do is live with their pronouncements and do the best with what’s left.

“oh, but the top three in each category were well deserved, in my opinion. mason’s win—“ he pauses and tilts his head to the side. “can we call it that? but him being named the best rapper was no surprise. yeji has always stood out as a good dancer, so i wasn’t shocked at her being named the best in her skill either. and i’m a fan of heejin’s voice and the versatility she showed as a performer last week, so i’d have to agree with her as the best of the singers too.”

he’d hoped to hear his own name within the top three, but the fact that he didn’t only means sungwoon needs to try harder to improve and stand out. he takes it as a criticism, a note for future improvement. disappointment is an emotion only worth indulging in when you can channel it into something productive, and for sungwoon, it drives him to hone his skills further.

“and…” the elephant in the room, maybe. he made a personal vow to talk less about empty enigma during his interviews, but this seems too important not to mention. “i was relieved daniel’s gambit paid off. i thought switching from singing to rap was a risky move, but he knew what he was doing. i’m happy we get to stay in this competition together for a while longer.”

when you heard the challenge this week involved duos, was there anyone you immediately wanted to work with?

“oh man, a couple of people.” rubbing the back of his neck, sungwoon attempts to keep it brief. “obviously, i really wanted to work with minhyun or daniel. we have experience performing together and we’re attuned to one another. it’s easier to plan a stage like this when you’re used to sharing ideas and are mostly on the same wavelength.” working with either of them would’ve allowed sungwoon to skip the awkward ‘getting used to each other’ part of the week and jump straight into things.

“for vocalists, i think heejin or yuri would’ve been my choices to work with; both have voices i personally like a lot, so getting the chance to sing with them would’ve been great.” jeonghan would’ve been another one of his choices based on skill alone, but the man himself is… not empty enigma’s biggest fan—at least, that’s the impression sungwoon gets. “as for rappers, i think everyone wants to work with mason?” if not for skill, then for the screentime alone. “but changbin or sakura would’ve been my other picks. i feel like we could’ve pulled together a good performance.” he neglects to mention any dancers since sungwoon doesn’t even know how that collaboration would pan out.

your assigned duo partner was na jaemin, however. how was it like working with him?

how honest is too honest? as much as sungwoon wants to claim things fell into place perfectly from the beginning, he knows it isn’t true, and it feels like diminishing all the hard work they put into their performance to pretend like they didn’t struggle. “i only vaguely knew of jaemin in previous rounds,” he admits finally. “and when our pairing was first announced, i was pretty anxious. i didn’t know if we’d be able to work well or not. and admittedly, some of my fears were valid—i mean, we definitely clashed in the beginning. we both have strong opinions when it comes to music and we’re stubborn enough not to back down when we feel passionately about something. so that much was… new, and something we had to work through fast.”

he pauses and bites his lip before continuing. “i think it’s a good thing to have a partner who cares as much about putting together a good performance as you do. with jaemin, i never doubted his commitment or his drive for a second. we worked out our misunderstandings pretty quickly, and from then on, it was all about our stage. he did the arrangement on top of working on the rap, you know? and not only is he just that good, but i’ve also witnessed firsthand how he never settles and strives to reach perfection. that’s amazing.”

his cheeks turn pink; sungwoon is gushing, but he wants to express his admiration for his partner as clearly as possible. “i’m proud to have shared a stage with him,” he finishes. “and he’s officially one of my top picks in this competition now. if you have taste and want to support talent, make na jaemin one of your top picks too!”

how do you think you did today?

sungwoon isn’t sure how he did, to be honest. when he was on stage, he felt like he had the world at his fingertips. off stage, the doubts began creeping in a lot earlier than they normally do. maybe because his and jaemin’s survival both hinge on their performance. if they’re lacking in any way, they’ll both be punished for it. and as the hyung in this partnership, sungwoon is required to take responsibility for their failures. “we had fun on stage, and that’s really all i can say,” he grins, ignoring the churning in his stomach. “i hope for jaemin’s sake that our intent came across in our performance. he’s a talented kid who has much more to show.”

were there any performances you liked?

“i thought jinyoung and jeonghan did very well,” sungwoon responds. the song they performed was one of his favourites, and their chemistry onstage was one of the best of the day. “sia and vernon were cute together as well. oh, and sakura and ryujin had a exciting performance, in my opinion.” he wants to mentioned heejin & daniel’s band remix, or the way kenta and taeyang absolutely killed it with their stage, but sungwoon’s working on sounding less biased.

were there any performances you didn’t like?

“unfortunately, i don’t think hyejoo and youngjae’s performance was to my taste.” sungwoon commends the effort, but it wasn’t a stage he cared for in particular. it comes down to some questionable decisions on their part for him, but he’s sure with a different song choice and stage, they would’ve done perfectly fine. “but overall, i thought the caliber of performances was pretty high this week.”

which duo do you think complemented each other the most?

“wouldn’t that be suwoong and yukhei?” he says immediately, the duo in question popping into his mind as soon as the interviewer finishes speaking. “they have similar… vibes? energy? i think they match each other really well!” they genuinely seemed to like each other, which is always nice to see. “aside from that, i thought jinyoung and jeonghan were a partnership that ended up making a ton of sense, like i could see them as an actual act. yeji and junhee were also a powerful, appropriately-matched duo.”

was there anyone you think that brought their partner down?

“i don’t think that’s for me to say.” without knowing what goes on behind the scenes in any partnership, sungwoon is reluctant to comment. “but i will say that mason and nakyung were… unexpected? not necessarily in a bad way; i just didn’t expect to see them paired together.” he’ll leave it at that for now.

is there anyone you are certain will move onto the next phase of the mgas?

“last week’s psychic predictions did really well, so i bought myself a lottery ticket on my way home.” sungwoon chuckles as he thinks (with some pride) how his picks all moved on in the competition. “oh, but i didn’t win the lottery though, so i’m not quite on that level yet.” it gets tougher and tougher to be certain about who will advance with every week, and even his self-proclaimed sixth sense/third eye won’t give him any hints. sungwoon feels like his picks are a shot in the dark. “daniel and heejin,” he says finally. “heejin was named best singer last week, and she and daniel did a unique arrangement, so i would be… surprised if they didn’t immediately advance.”

is there anyone you are certain will be eliminated today?

i just hope it’s not us, he wants to say. instead, sungwoon shrugs. “anything can happen in this point of the competition.”

with that, sungwoon thanks the interviewer and the cameraman for their time before returning to his seat. not for the first time, he wishes he could reach over and grasp one of his friends’ hands so they can ride out the upcoming eliminations together but—

nothing like a duo round to drive home the fact that ultimately, sungwoon’s fighting alone here.

[miniatureclover]

Faraway Wanderers Reading Blog: Chapters 06-10

I AM BACK! Maybe I’ll be able to finish this live blog series before the live action comes out? Hopefully?

Chapter 6: The Beauty

Gu Xiang and Zhou Zishu are way too much together, ha. They also make a good team, surprisingly, even with Zhou Zishu having to bow out of the fight part way (throwing the same “poor fragile me” excuse Gu Xiang used right back at her…except he actually means it since the fool is literally dying a slow death by nails). He’s also a good teacher, and her a good student, and this really isn’t helping him lay low but ah well, I guess that flew out of the window once this whole mess started.

The fight scenes are pretty good, too. Gu Xiang is young and confident, but absolutely brutal and not afraid to use hidden weapons. She has good reflexes and instincts, though she is still young, and that’s reflected in her panic when she loses her weapon and getting overconfident. Contrast that with Zhou Zishu who is very observant and picks up some stones to help her out when he has to rest, and you can see the clear difference between them as people with two different experience levels. It’s really neat how the narrative manages to mix the characters’ life experiences, personality, and age into the way they fight without giving it away explicitly.

She blinked in astonishment — this ragged man’s ramblings worth diddlysquat, but his execution in battle was one of the cleanest and cruelest she had ever seen. It really made one wonder who he was.

Really throwing that image out the window. Guess it’s lucky he was nerfed by the nails, huh. And it turns out that our main character is also a rather brutal fighter, when he can fight without collapsing.

And here enters Wen Kexing, finally with a proper name! What an entrance. He’s already kind of a creep with no sense of personal boundaries, ha. He’s also really, really perceptive though. In a creepy way (who says “your shoulder blades are beautiful, therefore your face must also be beautiful”?? he’s such a ridiculous flirt).

Alas, we are left wondering whether Wen Kexing is really blinded by good looks or just very perceptive after Gu Xiang says that he has a tendency to exaggerate.

Chapter 7: Setting Off

Oh gosh, this poor boy. Protect him, he is precious. I’m talking about Zhang Chengling of course, who starts the chapter off crying because he has seen a lot of stuff go down, like his entire family dying to start things off, followed by people coming to kill him and a seemingly random beggar agreeing to deliver him somewhere safe? But, alas, might as well cry yourself a river while you’re at it, kid. It’s going to be a rough ride now that he’s stuck with this ragtag group.

Wen Kexing is such a clown. He has his wits about him, but he is such a clown with a punchable face. Zhou Zishu isn’t actually much better in terms of acting like a normal human being interacting with smaller human beings. At least Zhang Chengling is resilient. He bounces back quickly and continues to pester Zhou Zishu to become his teacher. He does still have nightmares, which makes sense after all he’s been through.

But he seems to remind Zhou Zishu of someone from his past, which is interesting.

Back to why Zhang Chengling is a precious bun and must be protected: after having nightmares and believing he’s woken his savior up, he says things like “I can…I can stop sleeping if it’s a problem?” That is not actually a legitimate solution to the problem, believe it or not.

Then some enemies arrive with a superpowered guqin/zither, which is hilarious no matter how many novels or dramas I encounter considering traditional guqin with silk strings aren’t very loud instruments (the description from the first sentence of the next chapter is right in that it’s more of a “thin” sound than other instruments).

Chapter 8: Moonshade

Wen Kexing is indeed an enigma, the perfect match for Zhou Zishu who is undoubtedly one himself. In between his moments of eccentricity, he provides a lot of insight to the martial arts world, the way he conveys the harshness of life in it striking a rather eerie note (Wen Kexing’s voice was gentle, “Even if he’s still alive, all of his meridians have been broken; he’s useless now. Death would be a happier fate for him.”) and slides right out of it a moment later.

This match also speaks to Zhou Zishu’s capabilities: injured, he managed to beat Qin Song who is apparently well-known for his ability to kill people with that zither, and with a crudely constructed flute at that.

He felt a particular aura from this man that suggested they might be birds of a feather, the other would definitely not do something if it didn’t benefit him. […] After lots of thoughts without any solid conclusions, he scoffed at himself — old habits died hard.

You two are indeed birds of a feather, glad you noticed. I do like how he slips back into old habits, after all, he only recently stepped away from his former life as a spymaster, it’d be difficult to put a stop to all of his old tendencies.

They even proceed to exchange a few moves, presumably to figure each other out, until the pesky nails driven into Zhou Zishu’s torso act up, which gives Wen Kexing an opportunity to be a creep and touch his face. Half of it makes sense, since he’s convinced Zhou Zishu is “a beauty” and hiding it somehow, but he seems the type to have done such a thing even without that reason.

This exchange is hilarious though:

-What’s my face made of? -Human skin. -It feels like it’s one with your body… -Well, I was born with it, so.

…I should hope so. These two are a comedy duo in their own right.

Gu Xiang continues to be a delight, in any case. She has no reserve about making smart comments as soon as Wen Kexing’s back is turned, probably knowing he can still hear her at a distance.

Finally, three days later, their little party manages to make it to Zhang Chengling’s father’s friend, but we’re only on chapter 8, which means there’s much more chaos to be had in their future. For now, Zhou Zishu is relieved he finished his self-imposed mission and gained some “merits”, but muses on how it’s exhausting to be good person, haha. Indeed, the world doesn’t make it easy sometimes, especially not the crazy martial arts world they live in.

Chapter 9: In the Woods

Name info-dump, I guarantee I will remember none of them. It does fill out the world and fits with Zhou Zishu’s character, since his job required him to know all the nitty-gritty details of the major players in the martial arts world.

Ultimately, the exposition serves to let us know why he decides stay in the manor for a bit, as he’s well aware that Zhao Jing and the rest of the people grouping up at his place aren’t as glamorous and gallant as they seem. Also, he’s already weak to Zhang Chengling’s puppy eyes, apparently.

Zhao Jing is catching onto the glaringly obvious hints at Zhou Zishu being far more than a random beggar, and his manipulation of Zhang Chengling’s eager to please nature might be a bad sign of what’s to come. Zhou Zishu is more than prepared for a little investigating into his real identity, and the deception runs deep enough that he has a whole fake history and job to go along with his name.

Zhou Zishu endures a round of social BS-ing, aka attempts to dig for information on him, which is explained in a really succinct manner: although the greetings and false praise are absolute bullshit and not genuine in the least, they do serve a purpose, which is to sort out who has relations with who, and who is an outsider to be wary of. It’s a good point. The boot-licking is a standard in the genre that emphasizes the importance of saving face and social relations. The author summed it up well.

After sitting through all that, Zhou Zishu decides he has stayed long enough and departs under the cover of night, except he can’t shake Wen Kexing off his tail, much to his annoyance.

I’ll admit, these two characters don’t draw me in quite as much as some of priest’s other protagonists, but their dialogue is a goldmine:

-“Escorting the young master Zhang is purely for gathering merits, so that I won’t have to endure any tortures in the Underworld after death. -“Correct, Brother Zhou truly shares the same mind with me; and as only beautiful people can do that, it is clear-” -“See, my dear soulmate, another chance for merit gathering has appeared.”

They continue bickering until they find a corpse in the forest, aaand this is where our plot kicks off!

Chapter 10: Netherworld

“Someone killed the Lord of Duan Jian Manor, and I’m a charitable person who wants to gather merits, so why not. And I’m bored anyway.”

Ha. And Zhou Zishu catches onto his BS right away, suggesting he might want to chase after Sun Ding because he’s the most powerful of the culprits who ran off. It’s hilarious how well-matched these two are, and how they just roll with each other’s ridiculous commentary.

Despite not wanting to get involved, Zhou Zishu can’t help it. His detective senses are tingling and he figures there’s nothing to lose since he’s a dead man walking.

However, their pursuit leads them to another dead body, and they take off after the person fleeing the crime scene until they reach a cemetery. Of course it’s a cemetery, haha. The person they were pursuing also disappears mysteriously. The whole scene is fit for a horror movie, complete with laughing animals.

Now, to be fair, and I’m not sure if this applies to owls, but some animals like foxes have truly terrifying vocalizations (one variation sounds like a screaming woman, for one). It’s no wonder people used to think demons and spirits existed. Unlike western depictions of the owl as a symbol of wisdom, among other things, in Chinese culture they’re apparently bad omens, at most used to ward off evil spirits.

Wen Kexing is so random and dramatic and loves to talk, haha. He tells a short story about owls being omens of death, then about locust trees being considered the door to the underworld. They really do find an underground cavern and river beneath the tombstone.

So! We have met our two main characters, become well-acquainted with their propensity to hide their true identities and incessant bickering when they’re together, and set the stage for solving a murder mystery. Decent progression for 10/78 chapters. I really love priest’s writing, which is always a delightful balance of pleasant and poetic description between good, distinctive dialogue and forward action to progress the story.

[aeroknot]

@yellowflasher​ said: tell me abt this show bc i have been thinking of watching it

ahhhhh!! i’m so glad you asked me to talk about this show!! haha

as usual I’m a fucking insufferable, over-talkative spaz!!!

ummmmm ok!! it’s kinda like... Jessica Jones mixed with Tombstone mixed with Grimm?? and X-files as far as Monster of the Week and agents who pine for each other goes? & i’ve seen peeps compare it to Supernatural but I never watched that so... SHRUG. 

so the premise is that our wonderfully complex anti-hero chick wynonna earp returns to her hometown of Purgatory (somewhere in the U.S. near Canada; I personally think Montana because it’s the most western state bordering Canada (in the first ep Wynonna asks a fellow bus passenger “your first time out west?”) that’s not Washington or Idaho, bc neither of those seem like its setting esp. since Idaho is just a sliver of the whole border, tho it could be North Dakota or Minnesota I guess?--  EH it’s kind of not been touched on as far as I know and anyway it doesn’t matter shut up aero just---). she is the great-great grandaughter of wyatt earp, the righteous 19th century wild west u.s. marshal raining down hellfire on USDA grade A Assholes. but then he’s cursed!! and his kills are actually cursed in hellfire!! even if they’re killed, they resurrect from hell the next time a new heir turns 27 if not all of them have been defeated, and they’re demons trapped within the borders of Purgatory (har har go figure), or in the show’s terms, also called Revenants. earp had a renown 77 kills, and the only way to break the curse is for his heirs to hunt down and shoot all 77 kills before the heir dies-- the heirs have the power to wield his mystical gun Peacemaker which sends Revenants back to hell. wynonna is our fantastically loveable resistant heroine because she was never meant to be the heir-- her older sister, the firstborn, was supposed to be, but shit went down (which got her ostracized and locked up in psychological institutions) and now she is the heir. and I’ll move on from synopsis to opinions because I don’t want to start spoiling anything and the show should just speak for itself!

reasons I’ve enjoyed it!!!:

Wynonna Fucking Earp. early on I described her as a “slightly perkier” Jessica Jones. That was wrong-- in the SLIGHTEST part. she is a WAY WAY PERKIER Jessica Jones. and I fucking cannot get enough of it. Like... Dark-haired leather-jacket-wearing harrowed-past-having orphaned-and-outcasted-as-children anti-heroes are mostly typically supposed to be deadpan, snarky, grumpy, sexily standoffish, and often secretive and hard to read, and only rarely invested in others. And she is that, often, yet SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT. She is: GOOFY!! CRASS!! EMBARRASSING!! PLAYFUL!!!! She smiles a lot!!! She celebrates victories! She cracks jokes! She expresses her desires upfront and unabashedly, and without games! She is emotionally vulnerable with loved ones and friends and grows even more in this throughout! She actually asks people for support and comfort!! & She busts balls endearingly! She’s courageous and helpful! She’s brash and brazen--and yeah, this gets her scolded by others, but rarely does it feel like she’s punished for her impulsive heroics by her writers, as I often feel (male) writers of female heroes (or usually side-heroes) tend to do (probably she’s not punished because mostly women are writing this story, gee isn’t that weird? hah). There’s consequences, yeah, but it usually works out and she’s still the hero ultimately. She’s basically the plucky hero wrapped in anti-hero fodder, and I have completely fallen for her. She makes me laugh so much with her dialogue and makes me feel represented with how WEIRD she ultimately gets to be. Plus, she is emotionally vulnerable almost every episode, and her sister even succinctly chides her with “for a lone wolf, you sure are needy.”

getting to that, HER SISTER!!! Waverly is amazeballs. I think she even used the term amazeballs in an episode, recently-- she’s that amazeballs. She’s still growing a lot, but she’s definitely quintessential underdog baby sister, and I’m here for it, because she’s also reinforced as an integral part of the story and gets her own romance even before Wynonna and it’s so wonderful. Waverly constantly has a new skill or tidbit of information up her sleeve-- she’s inventive, thorough, super super damn nerdy, and also social and kind and popular. Plus, she’s with Nicole Haught (and I just cannot get over the playfulness of some of these names in the story, lmao) and they’re just fantastic together and I’m so happy to see them together every time. So far it’s good lesbian content. My face honest to god always cracks into a smile when they’re together. also um!! i want her entire wardrobe!! 

The Earp Sisters are just... Their sisterhood is so rich and complex and SATISFYING. Like I actually feel like I’m watching REAL SISTERS. They are gross and raunchy with each other, and I laugh so hard. They are sweet and supportive to each other and I cry. They are competitive and jealous and conflicted with each other, and I’m relieved to see this-- to see all these layers to them. It’s great writing and acting for a sister bond and I’m just excited to see sisterhood being such an integral theme for a t.v. show. 

the SYFY effects are sometimes silly but I still enjoy it. the ENTIRE CONCEPT is actually pretty silly and sometimes goes cheesy, even, but I still am endeared by its approach just the same. The storyline itself is... often confusing me, and I LIKE that, believe it or not. I don’t mean “confusing” as in the plot doesn’t make sense-- it does-- I mean “confusing” in the sense that it’s, hm, how should I say... I guess kind of disjointed? There’s always a Random Revelation thrown in suddenly, or weird Twist that literally had NO foreshadowing, and often it seems like the story progresses with big chunks of time in between episodes which can be hard to place and pace the action and relationship developments... Usually I’d probably nitpick all this, but actually, it keeps me very transfixed because usually I can completely predict what will happen next due to a show’s use of foreshadowing, but this show often completely bypasses such a dance with the audience, and though I sometimes question if that’s effective storytelling, I honestly think I’m really starting to respect this method, and so I want to stick around for it. I could probably go into way more detail with this, but then I might start spoiling things, so I’ll leave it at that. Someone who constantly predicts the “reveals” in a show, even at an episode-by-episode pace, gives this a seal of approval!! Nothing “revealed” is particularly earthshattering and it’s often given away in such a matter-of-fact tone, but it propels the story in interesting ways without a ton of hoopla in trying to ever pull one over its audience, and I like and respect that. They’re like “oh fuck! This weird idea we had is A Thing now. Let’s explore that more together, viewers!!”

(I will say some of the deaths are not as effective as I think they could be because of the above evaluation of the approach to plot/pacing/twists/reveals, but I’m still interested in those choices. brings me to a legit critique tho: they should uh... stop killing so many Cool Women right after immediately introducing them. It’s starting to worry me. :\ but also...? I’m trusting? I think? still? anywho!)

I’m a Tombstone-loving Fuck and Doc Holliday is one of my favorite real-person enigmas of history and this Doc Holliday incarnation is supremely gratifying. He is consistently entertaining and intriguing!

I was initially all in for Holliday and THEN FUCKING DEPUTY MARSHAL XAVIER DOLLS CAME FOR MY WHOLE HEART. Go! Look at his special eyes! Look at his HEART EYES at my DAUGHTER WYNONNA. He has my whole approval. I’ll buy the ring for him. I’ll plan the proposal. DO IT.

-- ok aside from my shipping bullshittery also Dolls is just. An amazing guy. I love him. He’s a boss in so many senses of the word, and he constantly surprises me. I feel like he’s... A Capital-A Adult? You know? He’s mature, and methodical, and clever, and talented, and confident. It’s funny to me that he’s called “the stick in the mud” and yet through small tidbits we see he’s really not (he can be playful or perverted, too), he’s just Grown. A Man. Focused, with an Agenda and a Goal. It’s lovely to see him come out of his shell a bit and be cheeky and then at the end of S1 just like... OPENLY ADORE the people he’s around. But it’s also a breath of fresh air somehow to see An Adult Man. I don’t know, maybe it’s what the actors bring, too, because both Doc and Dolls really just strike me as assured individuals, each of them just really secure in their sense of identity, which makes them GREAT foils to Wynonna, and it’s just fabulous, really. I like adulthood being given this reverence and care. It makes someone like me, hedging out of her twenties, feel a little bit more like there’s still a space in media and storytelling for people over 35. lmao. (and admittedly 35 is still fucking young, but Hollywood would have us believe it’s time to go out to pasture at this age)

and on that note DOC HOLLIDAY AND DOLLS TOGETHER. I JUST. *clenches fist* THEY’RE SO GREAT. AND WITH WYNONNA I JUST. It IS A LOVE TRIANGLE, in the barest evaluation, yes. And I prefer Dolls with Wynonna, yes, and usually I, yes, Fucking Can’t Stand Triangles, but the way these writers are approaching this has me fucking bowing down to them. I am really enjoying the way they’re taking this so far. I laughed to myself the other day because the realization suddenly dawned on me like “oh.... Fucking Anciently Old Immortal Pale Guy + Mystically Endowed Outcast Brunette Girl + Man of Color With a Secretive Monster Backstory” is fucking..... Twilight. This is Twilight. If it had a Wild West spin and was written, you know, WELL, and the characters were a thousand times more interesting. Is Emily Andras trying to come for Stephanie Meyers? MAYHAPS. 

I’m gonna give some rapid fire thoughts to wind down: GREAT MUSIC SELECTIONS, fun shootouts!!, LESBIANS!!! <33333, mostly interesting villains, good cinematography, action!, mystery!, HUMOR!!! THAT DIALOGUE!!!! WRITE ALL MY LIFE AND INTERACTIONS W/ OTHERS W.EARP WRITERS!! 

I could go on and on which is in my fucking nature I’m so goddamn sorry look at this pit you’ve opened but ultimately my answer is: It is so fucking fun. It is a Delight! A DELIGHT I TELL YOU. I get joy from this; I laugh, I’m entertained, my brain thinks hard but not too hard, the characters have infiltrated my heart so damn quickly. DELIGHT. I’m so sad I’ve caught up but also I fucking bought a Season Pass on Amazon prime for s2 so even though I don’t live with cable anymore, I’MMA BE ON THIS.