#shoutout our survival no judgement for those of us who don’t

[subtlesolitude-tailoredtaste]

😂📿🧿

“That’s why high school, or a crappy job, or any other restrictive circumstance can be dangerous: They make dreams too painful to bear. To avoid longing, we hunker down, wait, and resolve to just survive. Great art becomes a reminder of the art you want to be making, and of the gigantic world outside of your small, seemingly inescapable one. We hide from great things because they inspire us, and in this state, inspiration hurts.”

— One of the best articles I’ve ever read. Rookie Mag. By Spencer Tweedy. (via wildyork)

[agl03]

Hello! I just want to know what are your thoughts about the hypable article?

Anonymous said: In the hypable article, the bonus hint was “raise a glass” … are we going to have to endure another Spy’s Goodbye? And if so, who do you see leaving?

Sigh, last one of these for while….

Time is running out to save the world from Graviton (and Coulson from himself) in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 finale. Will it be “The End” for our beloved agents?

Look at your choices

The painful tug-of-war between destiny and decision has been a running theme in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5, but this idea just about explodes in the season finale. The episode, titled “The End,” has no more time to play with theory: It’s decision time for all of our agents, and the fallout is acutely consequential.

With Coulson’s life quite literally on the line, emotions are at their most painfully raw, and the team’s clashing calculations lead to some dramatic developments. Coulson himself is — finally! — back in the position of decision-maker, even as the team struggles to make decisions for him. Mack too becomes a critical actor in this regard, as does Daisy.

“The End” serves as a crucial development in Daisy’s series-long arc. Faced with a series of choices that will define the fate of the world, Daisy also confronts her own essential identity, and makes a call that will dramatically impact any stories to come.

The happy thoughts that the team would come together as a united front going into the final battle is now pretty much out of the question.   Everyone is going to have their own take on how to proceed.  Be looking at the problem from different angles.  Come to different conclusions.  And have different ‘acceptable’ outcomes.   Just like they have had all season.  

Look for some decisions and consequences within the team to happen early, even before the final battle begins.  

Coulson is FINALLY back in a position to make decisions.  One of the most important could be is if he wants to take the cure or not.   How long does he want to keep fighting and what is his take on all the information that is on the table.  

I am looking for him to make a move, on his own, regarding the cure while the others are having a ‘passionate discussion’ as to how to proceed.  

Mack and Daisy have both been pretty vocal on where they stand on things and on the actions of others.   And I think here will be no exception.  They know the end result they want and how it should happen.  

Watch especially for the Mack/Fitz and Daisy/Elena stuff to come to a head…and possibly not be repaired by the end.  

It’s been all building to this for Daisy.   Jeff has said in interviews that Daisy has a huge episode here.   She is the one who has to either talk or take Talbot down, without destroying the World.   What she does, how she reacts/treats the others on the team will most definitely impact where they all fall as the season closes out.  

Stay close

Fraught and angry though parts of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 finale may be, the episode also reinforces the profound bonds that have kept Team Coulson together through thick and thin. When the gravitonium hits the fan, S.H.I.E.L.D. almost can’t help but go into recovery mode. Whatever cruel words or painful strikes have come between them before, “The End” highlights just how enduring — and indeed, how selfless — the connection between these people truly is.

Said “passionate discussions” not only from earlier in the episode but from the season are gonna hurt both the characters and us.

However, when it all starts to really hit the fan (more than it already has) they will at least come together.  IE Daisy might be mad at and disagree with Elena but she isn’t going to let her get hurt of die if she can help it.  

They have to work together in order to win and in the end they are a family.  That family connection will be running strong throughout.  

Sacrifice play(s)

The question of sacrifice, of the value of the lives of yourself and of others, was a pressing issue in Avengers: Infinity War. It is this, more than any other connection, that truly links “The End” to that film. Preserving the once-clear line between evil and good is a vital challenge for everyone, but characters like Mack, Fitz, Daisy, and Elena struggle particularly with this weighty subject.

Oh yeah! GraviTalbot thinks about it a time or two as well.

With the fate of the world at stake from every angle, look for echoes of the debates waged by the Avengers as they contemplated Thanos. (And Thanos’ own debates, for that matter.) When catastrophe looms, what kind of losses should be justified, or rejected, or even embraced? What can you give of yourself at the literal point of no return? And what price might be exacted, that you hadn’t even known you were going to pay?

(Look, it’s the season finale people! Things get heavy.)

Can I take a HARD pass on anyone sacrificing themselves?

The team has grappled with this all season the life of few/one vs the lives of many.   And most of them have all been put in a position at some point where it was a horrible choice.   The person they loved the most vs helping the baddies.   Hurting one to save many.  

Mack its his principles:  Killing is not a solution and whatever they do has to be the fight choice.  

Fitz has made the call a few times now, is dealing with his guilt, and where he proceeds from here.  I am curious to see where he is.  Whatever solution Fitz/Fitzsimmons come up with will be met with objection, criticism, or judgement from someone on the team

Daisy has said multiple times that for her there is no question, they are going to save Coulson no matter the cost.  But now she knows the cost coupled with Coulson expressing his own wishes.

Elena has what her future self told her and what she saw.  Knowing that if they do what Daisy wants that it is supposed to be what destroys the world.

Talbot is in full on Super Villain who sees himself as a hero mode.  He thinks what he is doing is going to save the world, even if some people are hurt or killed in the process.   He will justify all of his actions…good and bad that he’s doing this all to save the world.  Look for his God Complex to grow worse….I just hope the are able to get through to him before the end.  

Really cool VFX

There are some damn cool VFX shots in “The End.” Shoutout to you, Mark Kolpack!

Ending and mending

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 finale may be titled “The End,” but we’re only saying goodbye for a little more than a year, when the show returns for 13 episodes next summer. (I know, it’s a long wait, but it’s better than nothing!)

But the season finale is prepped and ready to be a farewell tour for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which means that there are a couple of things to look out for. The poignant nostalgia for days past, a proud herald back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. that once was — that’s all to be expected. Sweet moments of (occasionally romantic) resolution and sad farewells — yes, “The End” has those too.

But while the end of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 finale contains within it much resolution, it is not, as such, a hard conclusion. That means that there will be plenty to animate the fan imagination over the long hiatus before season 6, as… let’s call them possibilities… flourish in the wake of significant events.

We will be reminded, more than once of where we came from, with fun call backs to past seasons.   

For the proud herald look for one heck of a scene with the Shield theme blaring in the background (Bear is gonna end us too).  

Sweet moments of resolution will be fences, at least starting, to get mended.  

Shipper moments for all the Ships, its Jed and Mo…I’m expecting a pretty decent Fitzsimmons something and a final resolution with Philinda one way or another.   Mackelena….I’m not sure, I can see it ending with them going separate ways if they both survive.  

Farewells don’t have to mean death.   I do think there will be some of those but I am once again leaning back to at least some of the team leave Shield in the end and us as fans would have had proper closer should this had been the end.  

Whedon: I mean, we can’t really say without spoiling it, but I will say that I think we are happy with how the season has been tied up and that there’s good rewards for people who have been with us the whole season and for people who have been with us the whole run. Obviously, there’s a little bit of something for everybody.

There is just enough teases in there…perhaps a bit of a cliffhanger….as to what will be in store for Season 6.  A hint at the baddies, where the team will start from, or if there is some sort of crazy time and location jump again.  AKA there is enough to kill my ask box

Bonus hint: Raise a glass.

There are not many things I can’t take again and Spy’s Goodbye is one of them.  I have not cried THAT HARD at a TV show in a long time.  Also reminds me of Radcliffe’s send off, which was pretty epic in its own right.

As always remember these bonus hints are often something small.  Last weeks teased the team’s decision, the week before Papa Kasius.  So here is my list.

The team splits up to some degree and hello Spy’s Goodbye Round 2 and I’ll be a sobbing mess.

Toasting the fallen, perhaps Talbot because I don’t see him making it out, as well as those we’ve lost over the last 5 seasons.

Toasting the end of Shield as we know it…again.

Toasting a new beginning.

Philinda bust out the Haig…again…for reals this time.

Potential Season 6 Baddie

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

some Bangers above!! i'm hopping on all those trains (i have not read RUBY VEIL and AMBERLOUGH, but i trust ur judgement here).

i, too, went through All My Goodreads Ratings, all the way back to when i started using GR (in, uh. 2017). from most- to least-recent reads, here’s my favorite niche SFF:

BUTCHER OF THE FOREST by Premee Mohamed (2,238 ratings) haunting!! exactly a perfect little book for me!! this one’s newer so i’ll excuse the low number of ratings. for NOW. our protag has been pressed into rescuing a tyrant’s kids from an otherworldly forest—delightful horror of a fairy tale.

FLIGHT AND ANCHOR by Nicole Kornher-Stace (138 ratings—criminal?!?!) this is the perfect mix of heart crimes and hilarious and i had a great time, plus it’s a shortie (fits in the universe of FIREBREAK!). think box car children but in a hypercapitalism dystopic high-tech future with supersoldier children marketed as action figures.

NOTHING BUT THE RAIN by Naomi Salman (2,737 ratings) PTERODACTYL SCREECHING what a hilarious deeply fucked up weird book!! yes queen explain NOTHING, give me an ENTIRE NOVELLA of GASLIGHTING by the RAIN and [REDACTED], this has been living rent free in my head since I finished it (there is both animal and child death though, be advised)

WALKING PRACTICE by Dolki Min (2,335 ratings) MUMU, MY BELOVED, I'M STILL THINKING ABOUT YOU, what another gr8 deeply fucked up funny lonely tragic queer little book. this one’s about an alien who crash landed on earth trying to survive, and everyone’s gotta eat, right?? (also wow check the content warnings)

DRIFTWOOD by Marie Brennan (855 ratings—HOW?!?!) this is SUCH a melancholic apocalyptic fantasy with multiverse vibes by the same author of THE MEMOIRS OF LADY TRENT about where worlds go to die, gosh please go read this, it’s lyrical and lovely and heart wrenching

THE REFRIGERATOR MONOLOGUES by Catherynne M. Valente (3,966 ratings) shoutout to all the fridged women in comic books, i rated this one 4 stars (i love valente) but i'm surprised it hasn’t broken 4k ratings yet?? what is going on

ALL THOSE EXPLOSIONS WERE SOMEONE ELSE’S FAULT by James Alan Gardner (1,212 ratings). superheroes! ridiculous! funny!! i read this a long time ago, so i don’t remember many specifics except that i had a great time.

honorable mention to LEECH by Hiron Ennes, too—it’s at 8,285 ratings, which is more than 5k BUT less than 10k and it needs MORE READERS (winter chateau gothic horror Agency: The Book, featuring POV fuckery!, one of my All Time Faves!! i'll be rereading this in the fall)

What's your favorite niche SFF book? Something that doesn't have a fandom, but still matters a lot to you? (Lets say, less than 5000 ratings on GR?)