#sorry macaque got caught in the crossfire i promise i love him too

[liliavalley]

whats ur hot take currently?

the beginning of s4 e5 tried to set up something with Pigsy and MK and their family dynamic by doing that little "Pigsy's my dad!" "Uh, kid? I'm not exactly your-uhh.." funny haha line about meeting their (jttw/biological) ancestors and Mei thinking MK and SWK are bio related therefore he would see SWK in the scroll. Logically, I'm 99% sure I know what the joke was trying to do. MK says Pigsy's his dad because he was getting annoyed with Mei for calling SWK his dad, and because the context of the scene is jttw/bio ancestors, Pigsy most likely responds the way he does because clearly, he and MK are not bio related and would not have the same ancestor. I don't know why Pigsy would have misinterpreted MK as calling them bio related, but the show jumps between MK acting a little dumb and actually being a little dumb, so other characters can get in their comical "MK.... what a dummy" groan. But here's the thing. To me on first, second, and third watch, it just came off as an "adopted = not your real dad" joke. (Which is really unfortunate, because s4 e4 ended with Pigsy regaining his conscience through a flash flood of memories, all including MK.) And if I'm meant to take it that way, coupled with something Pigsy says at the end of the season, (which I will Get To.) then am I expected to believe that Pigsy -- who the lmk crew in s3 made a point of showing that he gave MK his jacket off-screen because his sweater got ruined -- would have cold feet about calling MK his son? "that's my boy!!" Pigsy? s2 finale "What could have been so important that you leave MK alone to face that-that thing? You're supposed to be his mentor!" Pigsy? pilot episode MK-death-fakeout, "I could have- I SHOULD have protected MK!" Pigsy?

I'll die for them but I think the show was trying to set up some depth for their dynamic through the topic of family, and that is something that they did not have the groundwork for, simply because they decided to wait until season 4 to actually confirm that Pigsy took MK in and raised him as his own. Which, in fairness, may have very well been why they did this set up in the first place! To bring in that depth that they didn't cover before. But, because they couldn't commit early, they didn't have any time left to set anything up properly.

And the thing is, they didn't even really do anything with it either. The joke was just a joke for the audience. MK didn't react to it negatively, he didn't react to it at all. You'd think it would cause a bit of tension. Maybe even result in an tearful argument between the two, maybe MK would wonder aloud if Pigsy ever thought of him as his son. But Pigsy's hesitance is merely foreshadowing to MK finding out he was born from the stone and therefore doesn't have a "real family" (ancestral lineage). And he has a breakdown later, but it's just a secondary issue to his main problem, that being born from the stone means it's one more thing that makes him like SWK, means it's one more thing that could mean he'll make all of SWK's past mistakes/cause even more damage than he did. Despite MK yelling out "I don't have a family", it wasn't really about him and Pigsy. It clearly cuts Pigsy deep, but it's not brought up again until the brief reunion hug they have after retreating from Azure. Which... oh boy.

Pigsy calls MK his son, and emphasizes it heavily. There are two ways to interpret this. Number one is positive, that we were always supposed to have seen Pigsy and MK as father and son, and that it's just a special reassurance because he knows MK was going through it earlier? To make sure he knows he's not alone despite his worries. That is logical. That is safe.

Number two, is... Well, if we're to go off of the beginning of s4 e5, take Pigsy's hesitance to heart, are we supposed to believe it's possibly Pigsy's first time calling MK his son? Because the latter seems to be what quite a few people took from that scene, and if that's the case then it just feels so completely inconsistent with the rest of the show (See again: paragraph 2 examples)

hope all that wasn't completely incoherent but yeah current hot take is that I think lmk writers fumbled the ball trying to give my favourite family dynamic some depth though something that may or may not have been a Not Your Real Dad moment and then never properly talking about it because episodes are only 10 minutes long and they desperately needed to include a macaque version of that tutorial game episode. Hopefully s5 let's the character backstories shine but considering it's an action show, it's so fast paced, and the things that are yet to come, I doubt much more will be done with them so soon.

my real hot take is that they shouldn't have made him embarrassed about his stomach being out. s4 e4 was literally his hottest look i can't believe they took that from me.