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variousqueerthings · 1 year ago

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It’s very obvious that you’ve been with him for awhile, because you are really good at the excuses

if no one else got me, I know Time Heist's got me! and, shockingly, it was co-written by M*ffat! I wonder if I should do a top ten episodes per season type list, because this is so far EASILY the best of season 8 and I imagine it'll stay there

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 9/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 8/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 4/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 10/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 7/10

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

this may be the highest M*ffat (co)-written episode so far -- the other writer is Stephen Thompson, who also did Curse Of The Black Spot (underrated) and Journey to the Centre of the Tardis (a bit of a missed opportunity, but cool Vibes)

this one is. it's good. also a pre-Bridgerton, waaay pre-Fellow Travellers Jonathan Bailey, and he's got a moment that made me go "wait, fun queercoding? M*ffat's economy???"

OBJECTIFICATION: Clara's in the objectively sexiest outfit of her entire time on this run -- a suit and thin tie. perfectly suited for the slickness of the episode, and finally giving her a bit of that lowkey bi-cred (listen, this may be contentious, but while obviously Clara is solidly considered to be bi, I don't think it's adequately confirmed on the show beyond a scant few jokes/male-gazey fanservice and Word Of God, so it's like... yes we can consider her bi, but she's not portrayed as such onscreen)

(I wonder if Big Finish have come through on that front, from what I've heard it's sooooo queer on the whole)

(Let Clara Be Bi On Big Finish (if she isn't already))

PLOT-POINT: Clara's got more Journey going on in this than the last one, which, considering what the last one was meant to be giving us (emotional exploration) and what this one is giving us (a fun Bank Heist!) is funny... M*ffat you were part of the writing of both of these???

this is one of those where they poke further at the way the Doctor just pulls Clara along in a very emotionally messed up way and she's left to be apologetic about his behaviour, but aaaaalso...

this could be subjective, but at the end the Doctor shows his true colours and the other two characters (Psi and Saibra my standouts for this season!) also very much forgive the way he's been acting for the rest of the episode, which I think makes sense

they realise the Doctor needed to do certain things (erase everyone's - including his own - memories, make-believe they're going to die, etc) in order to make sure that nobody died, and to get things to them that they'd never have been able to get otherwise, and can change their lives for the better and... it was all done to save someone

so it gives these two sides to the current Doctor as off-putting and secretive, and also someone who is trying to help everyone around him

this Doctor hasn't had so much of the latter half of this so far in this era, and it makes you think "ah yes, that's what Clara sees in him"

COMPLEXITY: ohhh an episode where the plottwists pay off? shocking, actually, genuinely

it's got some twisty-turns, but they're... they're good on the whole. it all centres on one particular concept, that this being can read thoughts and is a slave that must work for the bad guys, so everything has to be around not allowing this being to know what's going on whilst helping it out

I'm sure if I go deeper into it I'll find some holes here or there (such as "just keep your mind blank" as a valid plan for avoiding the mind reader, it's fine, I'll suspend my disbelief on that), but it's not trying to trick you, or to be overly clever for no reason, it's got a good core to the reason things are happening

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: there's not soooo much of this on the whole, it's Fun Bank Heist Time! but yeah, more stuff on the relationship between the Doctor and Clara

RIP if M*ffat had to bring characters back, why not Psi and Saibra (jk, they're mercifully great single-episode characters, we don't need to make them sexy recurring Cool Concepts)

COMPANIONS MATTER: again, this isn't much of Clara's episode on that front. she has some neat interactions with Psi that make us learn more about him and he in turn puts some thoughts in her head, and she's the reason why he sacrifices himself/teleports without knowing it

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: Yeeees this is a Doctor Machinations episode, but it's cool machinations, with a Point, and even consented to -- everyone goes into this one consensually!

and the Doctor's whole reason for doing things is... to rescue these two beings....

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there's this cool bit where Psi, being an augmented human, makes the memory-sucking being believe he's every great/dangerous/etc criminal ever and the screen flashes everyone from a member of the Slitheen family to John Hart from Torchwood... that was good fun callback!

“SEXINESS”: can you believe this episode features just a host of the most attractive actors (JLC, Jonathan Bailey, Pippa Bennett-Warner!!!) and there's no stupid sexiness????? AND they were like "oooh what if Psi was an augmented human with a sexy haircut and plugs in his cranium, and Saibra was a shapeshifter who could take anyone's form with a touch and they were both dressed in lowkey cyberpunk coolness" and still resisted any stupid fucking Nonsense

this is hands down the sexiest episode of M*ffat's entire run, and it's purely on the strength of great characters, hot actors with neat character Types, cool AF costuming, and a plot with heart

INTERNAL WORLD: it's a big bank! it works. also the woman who runs it has clones of herself running every bank, which, I'm guessing this is during a time period where clones have no rights, so she can just "dispose" of them whenever they let her down

there's another neat concept in this about clone rights, but I'll let it slide, because this episode is already doing Many Things

there's also the suggestion of some hypercapitalist prison state outside of this, where families of potential bank robbers are incarcerated, again, great potential future concept, this episode is firmly, and correctly, centred on One Location

POLITICS: there's some stuff here -- clone rights, hypercapitalistic prison state, augmented human rights, and the mind-reader which is kept as a slave being the whole point of the story

I think what I like about this episode is that it's very much advocating against everything the bad guy stands for (see the above), and for kindness, support for one another, and respect for many ways of being. it's very scifi, but its core is in the right place

FULL RATING: 77/100 (if I can count….)

could this be the winner of the season?

the more I think about it the more it !!!!!!! it's not rated higher, because it is in the end a single episode concept, and that's not a point against it, it's just the limitation of this ratings system

if I were to say one thing it's wanting Clara to be incorporated more, but that's an issue for her entire run, much like Amy before her. M*ffat really struggles to write companions Doing Things In An Episode

still, Psi and Saibra, my besties, rocketed up to my top ten of single-episode characters (ooh, should do a list of that for nu!who) -- also Psi had this Moooment of shaking the Doctor's hand for a long time and inviting him on another bank heist...

Psi: If you ever need help with another uh… bank-heist

after which Clara hugs Psi goodbye and says in his ear: It’s not really his area

listen... listen I cannot say if this was what it was. but it certainly was more than I've ever seen in M*ffat's era of dull heterosexuality, walking gay jokes without names, and sexy lesbians in leather -- if that's what it was going for, I found it incredibly charming actually

although Clara, you've never met the Master or you wouldn't be saying that (also have we re-asexualised the Doctor? I think so mr M*ffat)

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #episode time heist #the measurement

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joy-returns-in-the-morning · 3 years ago

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For yakuza questionnaire, if it's not too overwhelming, ALL the subjective questions? Thanks !!

Thanks for asking! ^_^

What was the most infuriating moment?

At the end of Kiwami 2 when they have that quicktime event. And if you don't hit that 2 second window YOU LOSE THE GAME!!! >:O

Absolutely infuriating. My brother had to redo that fight like three times and the last time it was pure chance, he just picked a button at random. XD And actually that whole fight was a little silly. Like Kiryu already beat Ryuji once but then they have to fight again some reason? You know, instead of leaving because there's A BOMB?? But they're like "well, we're shirtless and on the top of a high tower, so I guess we GOTTA fight" This happens every game and it's so frustrating haha. Do you really though? Do you REALLY have to fight? 🤣

Also, that whole substory with the girl who needs the visa? And Kiryu gets her pizza instead? Easily one of the funniest substories in the game. But the ending is atrocious. Girl, don't marry that creep! You can do better! Drives me bonkers.

Which game had the worst plotline?

They are all bad in their own special way <3

Which character(s) deserved better?

Too many. 😭 Lately I've been thinking about Nishikiyama's sister Yuko. It's just so sad that we never even get to see her. Was her life really that unimportant? She lived and she died so briefly, and we never even saw her. What was the point of it? Why was she even born? Surely it wasn't meaningless. I really want to write a fanfiction about her (though who knows if I'll get around to it). She deserves better than a few offhand mentions and a death offscreen.

Which character would you like to see as a protagonist?

Strawberry Maya (she's a minor character from one of Akiyama's substories in Yakuza 5 lol). The Strawberry Kingdom is real and it's time for her to save the day!

Um, but for a more serious answer, let's see… Daigo! What does he do all day? I think it would be fun to be the head of a criminal empire. :) The whole thing would be a management game or something. Let's give the poor man a chance to show his competence for once.

My brother was saying a while back that Jingu should get his own game, but I don't know about that haha. Does anybody like Jingu? My brother just liked his evil laugh I think. I'll give him that, the man does have a good evil laugh. I suppose a story about a man falling into corruption could be interesting. Apparently he WAS nice once right? Yeah, it could actually be an interesting story. But, I think, not one that absolutely needs be told through the medium of video games.

Which character would you like to see as an antagonist?

This one's tough… I'm not sure. Maybe Kazama. A prequel fic where he ends up as captain. You play as another guy fighting for the captain spot… but you lose! idk, can't really think of anything. 😅

If you could revive any deceased character, who would it be and why?

Rikiya. Why? Because it's Rikiya. It's self-evident.

Which character should have died but didn’t? (If that’s too harsh, who deserves to rot in prison?)

Hm… maybe Dojima Sohei? I mean, he is a character that famously dies. But he should have died in Yakuza 0. Obviously he COULDN'T for story reasons, but I feel like Majima should have killed him. Then maybe Nishiki wouldn't have died… :/

Also Kume from Yakuza 7 lol. The character we all love to hate. XD I don't necessarily want him to die, but it would definetely be cathartic to see him rot in prison haha. Hows THAT for a gray zone, loser! >:)

What was the worst plot twist?

The rubber bullets? XD

Okay that's too easy. There was also this twist in Yakuza 4 I found really funny where that cop guy turns out to actually be a yakuza all along lol. And then, what do you know, the yakuza guy actually turns out to have been a COP all along??!! No waaay! I thought that was hilarious. But also it's a terrible twist because it makes Akiyama look like SUCH an idiot. Like he was trusting in Arai this whole time, right? But it turns out he had a completely wrong idea of the man. Uggh, I nearly died of second-hand embarrassment. If I were him I could never recover. That's cringe man.

There is probably more that could be said about Yakuza 4's terrible twists but I'm afraid I have already forgotten all of them. I'm probably more familiar with Yakuza 5 which also has it's own terrible plottwists. What frustrates me about THOSE twists is that they COULD have been good if only they had been set up better. Like at the end yakuza 5, they're all like AHA! AIZAWA was the final villain all along!! Bet you didn't see THAT coming! And I'm like: NOO?? OF COURSE NOT?!!??? Sorry but there was literally no way anyone could have seen that coming. There were so many twists that they just added in for the sake of having a twist - like Majima is Mirei's wife?? It seriously feels like they just picked a name from a hat. But after thinking about it for some time I was like, yeah okay, I guess I could see it… It could be interesting. There is a lot of potential for an interesting story in those twists! They just failed to set them up properly which makes it extra frustrating. :/

Okay but my absolute favourite twist is still that scene in Yakuza 2 where Date is chasing after Kazuki and they go on to the roof and there are TWO Kazuki's??!! WHAaaAAaaAT?? And it turns out the original had been replaced FOR SEVERAL MONTHS by an identical korean body double??!! And it's never brought up again and barely has any impact on the plot. XD XD XD XD

I won't even bring up the scene with the castle.

What was the most emotional scene in the series?

I love Ichiban's speech at the end of Yakuza 7. Like he's really just speaking his heart out there. The tears in his eyes, the raw emotion in his voice…!! Oooh it was great. 🥺🥺 I wish someone had given a speech like that to Nishiki at the end of Yakuza 1.

Which game do you think should get a remake?

They should remake Yakuza 5 so the plot twists actually make sense…. 😩 And expand Okudera's section while we're at it haha 😂

Which character has the best taste in clothing? Who has the worst?

Shinada's shrimp outfit. the best AND the worst.

Whose voice do you enjoy hearing the most?

Hmm… I like Masato Arakawa's english voice. It's kinda hot…

Which sworn brothers worked best?

Kiryu and Nishikiyama I guess. Their bond actually makes sense, whereas I can't help but feel that Saejima was randomly inserted into yakuza 4 solely to give Majima a more interesting backstory. Like yeah okay, Majima has a sworn brother now. Cool. But why? How did they meet? I mean, that doesn't really matter, you can extrapolate things. But overall their relationship just doesn't… make sense to me? Like okay - in Yakuza 0 Majima claims to be doing everything he's doing for Saejima's sake and I just can't understand why!! Maybe I'm missing something but I just don't get it!! Saejima is on death row! He's not coming back?? (and sure, Saejima DOES, but… why would you expect that?) So why is Majima going to such great lengths to rejoin the yakuza? Maybe there's another reason but why bring up Saejima at all? And then in Yakuza 3 he just forgets about it all anyways and throws the yakuza to the wind to join a construction company. (there is something to be said for the historical ties between the construction industry and the yakuza but it's still a little odd). And I don't even get why they tortured Majima in the first place. Just because he wanted to help his brother? Again maybe I'm missing something here. But like, wouldn't it be considered honourable to want to help your sworn brother? They don't just swear these oaths for a joke right? And presumably they have to be approved by their bosses, right? These are highly formal and ritualistic things. So why should anybody be suprised when they act on their oaths? Obviously there must be deeper political machinations at play. So really, it's nothing to do with their ACTUAL relationship. I think on a personal level it's a nice little thing they've got going. I like their personal interactions and there's lots of interesting things that can be explored in their relationship. I just find some of the actions around it confusing. Kiryu and Nishiki make sense though. They grew up with each other. They know each other. Their relationship defines each other and it's central to the plot. In Yakuza 0 you see them actually hanging out and having fun and it's great and it makes the tragedy in the first game all the more poignant. 😭 Also as far as sworn brothers go I think that Watase and Aoyama are an interesting pair just because they seem to low-key hate each other. Underrated kyodai relationship.

What dynamic would you like to see more of?

I wish we could have seen more of Majima and Saejima and Yasuko. Like what's their deal. How did they meet? What did they do everyday? And why did Majima never talk to Yasuko again?

On a somewhat similar vein, I'd love to see more Saejima and Majima and Kiryu interactions. I think this could be really fascinating because Saejima and Kiryu both have these deep bonds with Majima, but without any real overlap. That is, they met Majima at very different periods of his life. So they have these two completely different versions of Majima, and by interacting they'd learn more about him. I want them to exchange embarrassing stories about Majima haha. XD And I'm curious which sort of version of himself Majima would present when he's with both of them. How would he negotiate himself between both of them?

Actually in general I'd just like to see more of Majima's dynamic with everybody. He's just such an interesting guy. I want to observe him beneath a microscope. How does anyone interact with him? How does he interact with Daigo? With the other Tojo Clan officers? Majima and Nishikiyama is also a dynamic that apparently doesn't seem to exist in the game but I think could have been interesting. They have a lot in common (sworn brothers in jail… is that a lot? haha) and I think that maybe a friendship between them could have really helped each other. I'm curious if they ever did interact in those 10 years Kiryu was in jail.

I'd also love to see more of the dynamics within the orphanage kids, I bet that could be really interesting. Nine kids are a lot! I bet there are unimaginable dramas taking place there everyday.

Who has the most tragic story?

Man, who doesn't have a tragic story? I feel like all you need to do for this question is list all the female characters. :// Even small tragedies are tragic in their own ways, I suppose the most tragic characters would be the ones who had miserable lives and miserable deaths. Someone like Yasuko, who endured a harsh and difficult life and then died without seeing any real resolution. Or even Reina, who spend so long pining over Nishikiyama only to die. Or Yuko, who lived and died offscreen. It's so sad….

Actually, Kiryu's story is pretty tragic too when you think about it. The poor man just never wins. I would be so emotionally devestated if I was him. He keeps trying to protect people and then they die. After a while you kinda gotta wonder if the problem is you. It's so weird because he's protrayed as this super cool protagonist who is this mega awesome legendary hero but like… has he really done anything to justify that? He's pretty much a failure. Poor Kiryu. :(( This whole series is a tragedy.

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And that's all the questions! Thank you very much. :)

Yakuza ask meme by @kulemii

#yakuza ask meme #long post

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