#team nathan all the way btw

[faretheeoscar]

[annieqattheperipheral]

At 1hr 21min:

Started typing... Kept typing lol here you go, natemac interview recap:

Nate still has to go train at sid's gym

So nate makes batherson come to his gym

Vail camp: used to have them, paused for covid, better and chill, no one knows them (tried them before in toronto and montreal), not busy. Training at 9000ft. Afterwards do treatment or golf.

Attendees: mcdavid, marner, sid, skinner, hall, tysbarrie, matty tkachuk, bennett, hanifin

McDavid: i don't see him much, I've gotten to know him thru these. I'm like a kid watching him, it's just fun

Matthew Tkachuk: "and he's doing his thing 😂"

Cale's wedding: "i shouldn't say a showman but when he gets into his moods he's a fun guy. likes to dance, have a good time, when his wife's around, definitely loosens up more and it's just the boys around"

Went to Wimbledon this summer. Did not wear a top hat

Lighter recovery training both this and last summer: just trying to take miles off his body is key. Light gym days "is that it, Andy?" But feels good now

Cale: "first nhl game, aggressive and calling for pucks, to do that at 19yo is impressive. The confidence that he has. Quieter off the ice. Super sure of himself on the ice. He's special. He'll be the best defenseman ever"

A bit about why he works with his sports psychologist and will always continue working with her "we're so dialed in on our body, why is no one taking care of their mind" "the minute you think you're good, you're not"

Is offended that "ball hockey players claim nhl players can't play ball hockey. is that true?" ("I've rollerbladed my entire life!!") (I need to see fanart of that btw pls ☺️)

Idiot boys tell him it's on feet not on rollerblades (chiclets cup talk "what is the chiclets cup?")

Nate asks who the best ball hockey player in the world is. Answer: "nose face killah" "who?" "he looks 20x uglier and a big nose" and Nate responds "so he's got like my nose" they all compliment his nose😌

Nate redirects the convo to roller hockey

On sid's $8.7: in July he told him "you're not gonna sign for 8.7 are ya c'mon. and he was like ahh idk I'll see" he's taking less to be team friendly

Sid still grinding in the summers. While Nate had his recovery summer he looks like a joke in comparison to sid

The pressure of being captain for team canada for upcoming 4nations & Olympics must be part of what's driving him

"he doesn't look 37 in any way" Yandle: he doesn't have any kids. Nate: must be it! Must be the key

Landy: feels like 10yrs when he last played and lifted the cup. Misses him

Mikko: "he's shockingly big. Says he's 6'3", seems like he must be 6'5". His head is this fuckin big"

"old school. Stretches for like an hour a day. The most flexible guy"

Avs "get so many national games. Know we're not the biggest hockey market but mikko should get more recognition. Super underrated"

Cal ritchie: he did the whiffing thing at vail camp. Everyone thought he whiffed and then he did it again. Nate tried it to do it today, can't do it. Awed by what the kids can do

Nate can't do the Michigan either

His trainer has trained a lot of downhill skiers, you have to be fearless, so training in the pool relaxes your mind. Keeps mum about what he does in the pool. No he does not wear a speedo😞

Lehky's dad vs. mikko: "mikko had a 4 or 5pt game, was fired up, said that to media, then apologized to lehky like 3min later. They're really good friends"

Went to Europe this summer: no one really knows me in america, especially there. Like being off grid, wake up to no texts bc of time change, super relaxing

Was tempted to go to worlds last season (omg what!!!!) avs were out 2nd round. Sid was bugging him and schenner about it (biz: "if you go I'll go kind of thing?" 'Yea")

They were all going to go but nate pooped out "played 105 games, lost to Dallas, was devastated"

Cogs: met him thru Andy at vail. Lit up when it was brought up about trading for him in '22. He is management now. Around the rink, always in the gym, hands in his pockets, walking around, talking to guys

"isn't he good at impressions?" "Yea he's a great storyteller he's so good"

"the league is evolving really quickly right now so it's good to have a bridge" like cogs who recently played bw team and mgmt

Communication is better in the league. Players aren't terrified to talk to GM like he was as a rookie when seeing sakic. Thinks it's important for players to know where they stand. Old school players think fear can be good, yea sure, but you can't scare ppl into playing well for over 8mos, 82 games. Prefers this new way

Mitts: super comfortable, quieter, came to a team where he knows nobody, he looks great, expecting an awesome year from him

Faceoffs: lmaaooo still saying he needs to practice that. Hurts his wrist when he practices them. Needs to be around 52. Was at 46 last season

No league bonus$ for winning the Hart

MacKinnon Crunch cereal released in 2021. It was frosted flakes + he picked the flavour, he liked it! (I NEED TO TRY THIS)

Tim hortons: sidnate want to do an ad with marchy where he messes up ppls orders and they sit him down to teach him what to do (omg they're coming up with sketches lolll) "Marchy needs to be nicer on the ice to be more marketable" 💀

Bedard: hard worker, on the ice 1.5hr after everyone, ice is so snowy can't even move on it

Preseason games, re: all these preseason injuries: doesn't agree with veteran rule (how many mandatory games they have to play) but important for prospects and rookies, you need to be able to evaluate them, they can look good in practice but different story in games.

For vets, you want to play hard, show a good example "played one last night, lost 6-1" and" you see the doughty laine injuries and it's like i could throw my season away for a glorified practice essentially is all it is"

"You're in your game jersey but it doesn't mean anything"

"it's a fine line, i like playing them, 1 or 2, i don't need 6"

Teams are making $1-3mil per preseason game (probably only leafs habs etc)

Listens to a lot of podcasts, likes learning (about self-help, longevity, recovery, nutrition, etc), always has since he was a kid. Liked going to Popeyes (nutrition supplements chain store, like GNC) with his dad looking at protein powders etc lmao

"idk I'm just into it. Definitely love learning, there's a lot i don't know. I feel like a dummy listening to these guys"

Asked about "policing food". He laughs. Omg the laugh is sooo lmaao. On whit saying rumours of him strangling lehky last season for eating a snickers "nooo. Stop it. Stop it. That's not true. (*laughing! laughing!🙃 *oh we are having fun!*)"

"Trying to mellow out a little bit. Definitely see some shit i get mad, try to keep it to myself. ... Eat what you want but when you're at the rink ... I just think the least you can do as a pro athletes is be in shape."

On how nhl of the past, players would be drinking pepsi in-between periods: "a little sugar during a game isn't too bad, it's all good" (i swear his voice is different at this part bc he is internally combusting😂)

4nations/team Canada: Wants McDavid & Sid 1c/2c. Doesn't think they've played wing, doesn't want them to

Himself 3c or wing. Has played wing at other national events. Doesn't love left wing. Prefers right

"should i tell sid to play wing?" Paraphrased: you're Ted Lindsay & MVP, still at his gym, you gotta get something out of this

"he could be 50yo and I'd still slide over" 😏

"nova scotia line (sid, nate, marchy) would be pretty cool at Olympics or this feb (4nations)"

Marner: "he looks awesome... You hear all this negative stuff and then you get on the ice with him you're like how could anyone be negative about this. Admire how good he is, bc ppl chirp him a lot. Him and McDavid were flying around together in Vail"

[isleofair]

9 people you'd like to get to know better

I was tagged by @realmoftenderness: thank you so much! 😍🩷 Apparently this has evolved lately, and I love this new version 😁

3 non romantic duos

1 - Pao-Lin and Nathan

AKA the Tiger & Bunny Gender Team. Their dynamic is impeccable: Pao-Lin as the kid who's trying to work with a gender that doesn't fit quite right, and Nathan as the established queer adult who shows her, even just by being there, that the possibilities of who you can be are endless. And yet, not only do they have a peer-to-peer friendship and equal respect for each other as heroes; but when Nathan, who seems so strong and solid in who they are, is actually made vulnerable by all the hurt she's experienced because of her queerness, Pao-Lin is the one who saves her, by pointing out just how wonderful Nathan is because of their different, unique identity.

I have so many feelings about them, and I wish the show had let them interact with each other and explore their shared themes and experiences way more than it did. Luckily, as you can see above, we have Ueda and Yoshida's manga firmly on our side. 💛💖

2 - Data and Geordie

Data was possibly my first main Blorbo, decades before the word Blorbo came to be. And his friendship with Geordie, while being one of the main tenets of both their characters, still, IMO, never got all the credit it deserved; particularly in regard to Geordie's feelings about the many, many time we (almost and then not almost 😭) lose Data, when other people's reactions are often put more in the forefront. Part of that was due to Geordie's status as a more secondary character, sure; but in part it was, perhaps, by virtue of their relationship's own nature. Their frendship is already established; it is more obvious and natural than the laws of physics the Enterprise keeps bending on its adventures; it simply, well, is. The other characters had to learn to understand and love Data; Geordie, apparently, simply accepted him and loved him before the very start. (Insert heavy-handed symbolism here about the blind character easily seeing past someone's surface; the show sure never shied away from it.) And this meant... a lot to me. 💛

(I have not yet seen the last season of Picard, but a glimpse of a headline makes me think I might need to say: please, no spoilers?)

3 - The Doctor and Donna

(Spoilers for the 60th Anniversary specials here, turn away if you need to. They're only one year old, after all. 😅)

You know that post that says these two are the biggest win ever for fictional queerplatonic relationships? (This one, btw.) Yeah, all of that and then more. Donna doesn't give the Doctor heart-eyes, she does not follow him blindly; she yells at him, throws things at his head, and then runs not behind him, but right at his side, with her eyes firmly wide open. The Doctor calls her the most important woman in the whole wide universe, and he means it. At one point, they become one single being, and it is glorious. They would have gone on together forever; them having to lose each other broke me (and probably them) far more than all the other separations in the show could. 💔

Imagine, then, my utter, endless delight when, after almost fourteen years, the 60th Anniversary specials not only reunited these two, but actually gave them a fully happy ending in which the Doctor (well, Tennant's version, anyway) joins Donna's amazing family, parks his TARDIS in their backyard, and just hangs out with them forever and ever, amen (shut up, time is all just wibbly-wobbly stuff, in the end). 💖💖💖

A ship that might surprise others

I'll be honest: I sat here for literally hours trying to think of a ship of mine that might be surprising (and that wasn't, like, stuff from 20 or more years ago that is really too cringe for me to want to bring it up now). I usually like pretty obvious ships, with the gamut of my tastes mostly running along the incredibly wide spectrum of "fluffy friends to lovers" to "snarky friends to lovers". 😅

So in the end I decided to go with something that has actually caused surprise to several people before, not so much because of the ship, but because I even knew about the show at all: Ray/Fraser in Due South 😂 (Apparently Canadians think that only Canadians know this show? But a) Italian TV will air almost anything, and b) the language of classic slash shows is universal. 😁)

Okay, maybe you might be surprised to know that the answer to "but which Ray, though?!?" is actually "Both". I am not a veteran of the Ray Wars; I existed in my little safe corner of "I discovered this fandom a couple of years after the show finished airing, and I just chilled at the edges of it, watching bootleg VHS tapes and reading fic on LiveJournal".

(You can't tell me that Fraser wasn't madly in love with both of them, anyway. It's just fact, as far as I'm concerned.)

Last song: Nightingale by Demi Lovato.

Last film: Pretty sure it was Onward, which I watched with my siblings and enjoyed a fair bit (which was definitely helped by the fact that I did not see/recognize who was voicing Barley until the movie was over).

Currently reading: I just finished (re-)reading Kimi Ni Todoke and it's as utterly sweet and delightful as I remembered. (I do not think I got to chapter 63 on my original readthrough, though, because I did NOT remember it also shattering my heart like that. 😭)

Currently watching: The Ranma 1/2 remake.

Currently consuming: Nothing. I should probably have some dinner.

Currently craving: a lot of extra energy to work on my T&B Secret Santa and the Advent Calendar! 💪💚

I am tagging (with zero pressure, as always!) @nicoroni, @imaginatorofthings, @seaofolives, @youngerfrankenstein, @hearjessroar, @zimithrus, @saltedpin, @thekuraning, @horikoshi-secret-ao3-account, and anyone else who would like to play! 😁🩷

[tixersdotcom]

Although a lot of us have entered the "John Wick" franchise thinking that it's its own thing, a mere peek into the history of cinema will show that action-packed series owes a lot to samurai films, Westerns, and of course, action films from the days of yore. And Chad Stahelski and his incredible team are well aware of that, and they wear their inspirations on their sleeves. All the "John Wick" films are filled with references, Easter eggs, and homages to films and literature, and "John Wick: Chapter 4" is no different. Since we probably have a long way to go, let's not waste any time and get on with it. Major Spoilers Ahead Dante's Inferno "John Wick: Chapter 4" opens with lines from Dante's Inferno. When John Wick met the Bowery King for the first time, he said that John's descent into Hell had begun, thereby referencing Dante's Inferno from "Divine Comedy," which involved Dante going to Hell via nine stages of suffering with a poet of Roman descent, Virgil. John technically has been through Hell; he has almost died, and he has returned to the world of the living. Now, he's about to unleash Hell on those who've wronged him. So, maybe the repurposing of the famous poem doesn't exactly mean that John is journeying into Hell. In fact, he's becoming the personification of Hell, and everyone has to pass through him to survive. BTW, out of all the action scenes in "John Wick 4," John personally appears in a total of 9 setpieces. So, the allegory makes sense. The first one is in Morocco, the second one is on the rooftop of the Osaka Continental, the third one is in the glass panes of the Osaka Continental, the fourth one is against Killa, the fifth one is at the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the sixth one is at the Arc de Triomphe, the seventh one is in that house, the eighth one is on the Montmartre stairs, and the ninth one is the duel at the Sacré Coeur. Lawrence Of Arabia David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" match cut a close-up shot of Peter O'Toole blowing out a burning matchstick with an extremely long shot of a sunrise. After lighting up a pentagon in John Wick's training room, the Bowery King takes a deep breath and then blows out the matchstick. That's when editor Nathan Orloff cut to a shot of the sunrise. I don't think that's where the references end because the horse riders of the High Table and John Wick riding in the distance, barely recognizable due to the heat shimmer, echo the shot of Sherif Ali arriving at his well.  Ned Kelly Ned Kelly's apparent last words are brought up multiple times to comment on accepting death because Wick and Winston are not just preparing themselves to confront death, but accept it as well. But, probably more interestingly, Kelly and his gang were synonymous with a bulletproof suit that protected their chest, shoulders, back, and crotch, along with a helmet that protected their head. That was all the way back in 1879. Meanwhile, "John Wick" imagines a future where assassins can wear a three-piece bulletproof suit that can even resist bullets from a shotgun. Marquis' Father Can Be A Follower Of Martha Beck When Winston and Charon meet Marquis Vincent de Gramont, he says that his father used to tell him that how one does anything is how one should do everything. Apparently, the aforementioned quote was coined by Martha Beck, who is an author, life coach, and public speaker with various degrees from Harvard University. So, it seems like one of the writers, or Chad himself, is a fan of Beck and, hence, has decided to include her teachings in this circus of violence. Zatoichi The first name that comes to everyone's mind upon seeing Donnie Yen's Caine, a blind, cane-sword-wielding mercenary, is Zatoichi. Created by Kan Shimozawa, the character made his first appearance in a 1948 essay and eventually went on to feature in 26 films while being portrayed by Shintaro Katsu, Takeshi Kitano, Show Aikawa, and Shingo Katori. Caine's penchant for not being interested in gambling is probably a subversion of Zatoichi's habit of gamb

ling. But since Yen is from Hong Kong and Zatoichi is Japanese, I am not sure if the comparison is fair. By the way, Yen has played a blind action hero before in "Rogue One." And going by the tease at the end of "John Wick 4," he'll be playing Caine for a long time now. The Menpo Mask The High Table soldiers from "John Wick 3" wore pretty generic-looking but bulletproof masks. The ones in "John Wick 4," though, wear bulletproof menpo since they are Japanese. Traditionally, the menpo was worn by samurai warriors in feudal Japan. But since this is modern Japan, you see gun-wielding soldiers wearing it, thereby keeping up with the times and staying in touch with their roots. Flash Point No, I'm not talking about the DC comic series, the DC animated film, or the upcoming "Flash" movie, which is based on "Flashpoint." I'm talking about the Hong Kong action film by Wilson Yip featuring Donnie Yen, marking the duo's second collaboration and paving the way for many future collaborations. Anyway, in a kinetic fighting scene in "Flash Point," Donnie Yen did a wind-up punch, something that's usually seen in animated fighting scenes. But he did it with such conviction that no one batted an eye, and it became instantly iconic. In "John Wick: Chapter 4," we see Yen do it again after displaying his other iconic move, i.e., the flurry of punches made famous in "Ip Man" (another film by Wilson Yip and starring Donnie Yen). Bruce Lee Although the origins of the nunchaku are iffy, if you mention that particular weapon, everyone associates it with Bruce Lee because he was the one who made it incredibly popular, at least in films. So, when John Wick starts using a nunchaku to bash anyone and everyone around him, you can feel the spirit of Bruce Lee flowing through that scene. In addition to that, Donnie Yen's black suit, white shirt, and black tie ensemble is probably an homage to Bruce Lee, something that Yen incorporated into the film to push back against the racist characterization of his role. This isn't the first time the franchise has referenced Lee because "Chapter 2" had an entire fight sequence set in a room full of mirrors, much like the one from "Enter the Dragon." Sammo Hung Scott Adkins as Killa in that purple three-piece suit is a very obvious homage to the legendary Sammo Hung's appearance in "SPL: Sha Po Lang." Guess who else was in that movie? That's right. Donnie Yen. Well, "John Wick: Chapter 4" isn't the first time that Adkins has appeared across Yen. Adkins has also worked with Yen in "Ip Man 4." Although Adkins doesn't share screen space with Marko Zaror (who plays Chidi) in this film, they've worked together before in "Undisputed III: Redemption” and "Savage Dog." By the way, if you are hearing the names of Scott Adkins and Sammo Hung, or even Donnie Yen, for the first time, there's no need to be ashamed. Just make a note of it and start watching all the incredible work they've done. I Am Klaus If the director, writers, and Keanu himself punch me for saying what I am about to say, I'll totally take it. But when Klaus kept saying, "I am Klaus," I was instantly reminded of this running gag from Craig Ferguson's era of "The Late Late Show," where he and his fellow robot skeleton, Geoff (Josh Robert Thompson), pretended to be German. Geoff dubbed himself Klaus and kept saying, "I am Klaus," at the end of every sentence. If not that, it can be a homage to Groot from "Guardians of the Galaxy," who can only say, "I am Groot." John Wick Self References The first "John Wick" film had the titular character running after Iosef in a club called the Red Circle while wading through a sea of people dancing between pulsating lights. After losing sight of him, Wick unleashed his gun-jutsu on Iosef's henchmen, and it ended with Wick being thrown off the balcony by Kirill, played by Daniel Bernhardt. Echoes of that scene are there in the fight sequence in Killa's nightclub (which is a

combo of Kraftwerk Berlin and the Alte Nationalgalerie), down to the rave, the music, and Wick's fall from a great height. There's no Bernhardt in this scene because Kirill was technically killed in "John Wick." But the actor has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo when the assassins in Paris prepare their guns because Bernhardt has a long working relationship with Keanu and Chad. Additionally, Winston repeats a line from "Parabellum" as he sees the commencement of the attack of the assassins on Jonathan. Eugène Delacroix The place where Winston meets the Marquis is filled with paintings. The ones that I noticed are "The Raft of the Medusa," "The Barque of Dante," "The Death of Sardanapalus," and "Liberty Leading the People," among many, many others. Winston says that the painting "Liberty Leading the People" represents the cost of tyranny. But, as per Delacroix, that's liberty personified, and she is leading the people to freedom. Given the context of the scene in "John Wick 4," it makes sense because John is looking to be free of the bindings of the High Table, while Winston is seeking the cessation of his exile.  When Winston begins to leave, Vincent reminds him that if Wick loses the duel, he has to die with him. Winston looks at the painting next to him, which is "The Raft of the Medusa" by Théodore Géricault, and repeats Ned Kelly's saying. I am not sure if there's any thematic significance there, but I don't think it'll be a stretch to say that there's a direct line between the painting's commentary on survival by cannibalizing one another and everything that's happening in "Chapter 4" for the sake of survival. On a side note, this scene and the conversation kind of reminded me of a similar scene set in an art museum in "Skyfall" between James Bond and his quartermaster. 'Mission: Impossible—Fallout' "John Wick 4" has a pivotal scene at the Trocadéro Square, where the location and time of the duel are decided, and an action scene at the Arc de Triomphe, where Wick is chased by a bunch of assassins. "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" had a pivotal scene at the Trocadéro Square, where Walker revealed his true intentions, and an action scene at the Arc de Triomphe, where Ethan Hunt was chased down by the French police. Given how "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" was one of the greatest action films of the past decade, it makes sense to tip one's hat to that film. Yes, it can be totally random. But given how prominent "Fallout" was, I think it was on Chad and the rest of the team's radar before going into their own film. The Matrix John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves, sits in the Mairie des Lilas subway station and waits for the train to arrive. Subway stations and trains were a big part of Neo's (also played by Keanu Reeves) journey in "The Matrix" and "The Matrix Revolutions." The connections do not end there, of course. Laurence Fishburne has played the role of Morpheus in "The Matrix" franchise, and he also portrays the Bowery King in the "John Wick" films. Chad Stahelski, the genius behind the "John Wick" franchise, has also been a part of the stunt team in "The Matrix" movies along with David Leitch. Chad doubled for Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix" films and showed up as a major character named Chad in "The Matrix Resurrections." The subway scene in "John Wick 4" has Wick standing in front of a mirror, which is an object that's used to bring someone out of the Matrix and later used to travel between locations inside the Matrix. There's a long-running fan theory that the entirety of the "John Wick" series is a simulation that Neo is in. Caravaggio During the subway scene, the painting titled "The Incredulity of Saint Thomas" by Caravaggio shows up as the Bowery King hands over Wick's newly made suit. The painting depicts Thomas the Apostle's doubts about the resurrection of Jesus Christ as he wanted to know if Christ had been really killed and then resurrected. John Wick has a lot of Christia

n imagery. John Wick kind of looks like the most popular depiction of Jesus Christ. He technically dies in "Chapter 3" and is resurrected in "John Wick 4." I don't think anyone casts doubt on his return. But there's this underlying theme that if Wick manages to beat Caine and Vincent at the duel, he'll become a "sect," which is exactly what happened when Christ returned from the dead. So maybe that's the parallel that is being drawn here. 'The Warriors' This one is pretty simple. Walter Hill's "The Warriors" had a radio announcer updating the progress of the protagonists as they make their way through New York City while being attacked by the antagonists. The final act of "John Wick: Chapter 4" features Wick going all the way from the 7th arrondissement to the Sacré-Cur, while a radio jockey updates the assassins about Wick's location and plays songs like "Nowhere to Run" and "Marie Douceur, Marie Colère" to set the mood. It's kind of hilarious that the radio channel is named WUXIA, which is the genre that films like "14 Blades," "House of Flying Daggers," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Hero," and "Shadow" belong to. 'Constantine' Dragon's Breath! I can't believe that tons of people claim that they love Keanu Reeves' "Constantine" and that they want a sequel. And yet, when Dragon's Breath showed up, and Wick used it to shoot up a bunch of assassins, not a lot of people noticed the "Constantine" reference. Anyway, Dragon's Breath is a rare piece of weaponry that was given to John Constantine to fight off literal demons. Yes, both of those characters, played by Keanu Reeves, are named John. Both of those characters are associated with Christian imagery. And both of them have now used a firearm called "Dragon's Breath." Is John Wick secretly John Constantine? No, but you are free to use your imagination. 'Door,' 'Hotline Miami,' Or 'Malignant' After the bike chase and before climbing up the stairs, John Wick has to fight a bunch of assassins in an abandoned apartment. It's a single-take or one-take sequence. But instead of doing it the traditional way, with the camera following the character from behind and then inserting cuts whenever something crosses the frame, Chad and his team go for a top-down angle, likely with the help of a drone camera. Hence, we get an eagle's-eye view of the whole scene. There are similar scenes in the 1988 film "Door" by Banmei Takahashi and the 2021 James Wan film, "Malignant." At least, these are the two films that come to mind. In addition to that, there are tons of top-down shooter games, but the one that makes heavy use of a shotgun is "Hotline Miami." It can be either of them or none of them, but there's no doubt about the fact that it's a fantastic action sequence. 'Amélie' As per Letterboxd, Chad Stahelski loves "Amélie." That's what brought him to the Sacré-Cur. But during that process, he discovered the side steps leading up to the location. And that's why we got that painful but hugely enjoyable fight sequence on the Montmartre stairs. The Pencil John Wick is famous for using a pencil to kill people. We saw him actually do it in "Chapter 2." But in "Chapter 4," it's actually Donnie Yen's Caine who puts a pencil through Chidi's hand. Given Caine and John Wick's friendship, it's possible that Wick acquired the ability to use a pencil like a knife from Caine. 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly' Well, there are several references to "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," directed by one of the most prolific filmmakers, Sergio Leone. John Wick having echoes of the Man with No Name, played by Clint Eastwood, is as clear as day. Then there's Shamier Anderson's Mr. Nobody, who is literally a man without a name. Blondie, or The Man with No Name, possesses a pocket watch that plays music when opened. Caine possesses a similar pocket watch, which has a photo of his daughter in it. And then there's the duel between Caine and Wick, complete with Western-esque music mixed with Wic

k's theme. Conclusion These are just some of the references, Easter Eggs, and homages in "John Wick 4." Some of them have been purposefully inserted into the film by the makers, and the rest are parallels that I have observed. They can be correct, or they can be wrong. Either way, it greatly impacted my viewing experience. That said, if you notice any inspirations, hat tips, or details other than the aforementioned ones, please feel free to share them with "John Wick" fans.

[jesslockwood]

Photo Opportunities

Word Count: 2.7k

Pairing(s): Tom Holland x Actress!Reader

Warnings: FLUFF with a slightly (barely) suggestive sentence towards the end 

A/n: damn I can't write anything except actress reader? smh but this is for @londonspidey ‘s sit-com Writing challenge (ik I'm early lol) but I was so excited I wrote the whole thing in one go lmao the prompt is bolded!

Calling yourself a fan was an understatement. You were obsessed with anything and everything marvel. And oddly enough, you could after today say you were in the club. It wasn’t a public fact yet, until later that day actually, at the Marvel panel at comic con that you were being announced as the actress for the character, Felica Hardy and no one else knew except for the people who cast you and your best friend who signed an NDA. You were technically still a known actress for your roles on television mainly as Thalia on the PJO Disney + series and a couple of still decently sized films. 

You were currently wrapping up signing autographs for fans of yours for today. Your team had planned it out so it wasn’t suspicious that you were at the con with a few of your castmates scattered doing other junkets and press so people wouldn’t guess who they were acting as the cast for new marvel projects. 

You had been planning to go meet your best friend, who wasn’t in the industry before getting a text that she bought you both a photo-op with someone and she wouldn’t tell you who. You couldn’t only assume it was a marvel actor that you would indeed, freak out. 

Y/b/n: btw I brought you a mask. I get the wig lol.

You: please tell me it doesn’t cover my full face. Also, how are we posing?

Y/b/n: I bought as many photo ops as I could so a lot of different ones, And if I tell you the poses it’ll spoil it.

You: is this with the money I pay you to be my assistant with? Lol fine I’m omw with security

Y/b/n: maybe… 

Y/b/n: and they’ll need more backup security for who we’re getting a photo op with than you do for your hellfire.

You roll your eyes before taking your stuff and exiting the booth, before heading out the backways with staff security and your detailed security for the day. You only had security because you wanted to explore the con when you weren’t needed.

Your best friend had also been your assistant for the con weekend, but you didn’t want her to be confined to you the whole three days so when she could, you would let her explore it, at least she could experience it as a fan, right?

When you made it to that part of the building, you wanted to wait in line with her, which your security didn’t agree to so she texted you when there were about five people ahead of her. She was one of the last in line, with you asking her to be kind, so others would get their chance to be first with whomever it was. 

When she texted you and your detailed exit, getting a few stares and others taking their phones out to either take photos or tweet, you wave at them before joining your best friend in line.

“Here,” she says before handing you none other than a black cat mask before she puts on a red wig. 

You glare at her slightly trying to not make a scene, before putting it on. 

“I’m assuming you're Mary Jane?” you laugh figuring out that it had to be someone from Spider-Man.

“How’d you- never mind.” She laughs with you.

She then explains how she’s going to pose for your five photo ops, joking in between how she should “get a raise for this”.

You catch sight of him before sucking in your breath. This was either going to go down amazingly or terribly, there was no in-between with you. 

“Excuse Me, are you Y/n Y/l/n?”

You turn around and are met by some fans who were standing in line behind you.

“I am! How’s your con going?” you ask politely to the two of them.

“It's going amazing! We love you as Thalia! Could we maybe get a picture? Only if it’s okay?”

“Of course! Thank you for supporting me!” your best friend grabs their phone to take the photo, before you take off the mask, and stand between the two fans, and your best friend snaps a few photos. 

“Thank you so much! And Are you fans of Tom?”

You start slowly walking back to catch up to the line. 

“Yeah, I love him as Spiderman, but I also enjoy his other roles. He's very talented, I'd love to work with him one day!” 

“Have you seen him in Uncharted?  We love Him as Nathan drake!”

“I have, he was amazing per usual! How are you two posing with him?”

They show you their innovative pose. You laugh and tell them it's great before you have to wish them goodbye before heading up for your turn for the photo op. 

“How do we want to pose- hang on, I recognize you!”

You freeze slightly before your friend mouths for you to flirt. You look down at the mask in your hand before getting into character and saying “Of course you do Spidey, I'm always causing you trouble.” you put on the mask and wink. 

He seems slightly stunned, laughing, feeling like he’s seen you somewhere, not only because he found you extremely gorgeous, while in his peripheral vision he sees his brother/ assistant, Harry waving like a madman on the side. 

Your friend directs you both through the poses, first, one both him putting “webs” onto you as she looks over his shoulder, the second one, both of you kissing his cheeks, the third, all jumping in the air in your best superhero poses, the fourth one she gets a photo op alone and the last one she gives to you,

“Seriously, who are you?”

“Your Wildest dreams, baby,” you say, taking off the mask. 

Your best friend yells “freestyle” from the sidelines before Tom dips you, gently, with you shocked, holding the mask out with your free arm and the photo captures that moment. 

 He gently helps you stand back up fully, not before you drop the mask.

“Nice moves Spider-Man.”

“Not so bad yourself, Black Cat.”

You laugh before, taking off with your best friend, well more her dragging you to the printing station leaving the mask behind. Tom picks it up before shoving it in his back pocket to hopefully give back if he could find you. 

-

`You were sitting in the green room, trending on Twitter before you were actually supposed to be trending on Twitter, and god knows where else.  

Someone had snuck a video of you and Tom, up till him dipping you, and a video of you interacting with the fans in the line.

Your Y/b/n was currently reading off some tweets out loud

“‘A kind queen we stan.’  I agree, I also agree with ‘Date her if you can't date me tom!!!’.

‘THALIA AND PETER PARKER??? My two fandoms have collided.’ same, same. Oo this one says, ‘if she ain’t playing black cat I will sue marvel.’ I'm dying at the reply ‘She needs to post the photos or I'll sue her!’. This one’s funny, ‘she could squash him like a bug in heels but he liked his queen like that.’.”

She pauses watching you texting.

“Y/n? Y/n?”

“What? Sorry I was only half listening. I was texting my publicist. She said to stay on the DL until tonight. 

“Well we should get food, you haven't eaten since this morning.”

“By the way, your show has shot to number one on Disney +. Also, you have like three times the followers you had before, probably cause you're trending on every platform, even Tumblr!”

“Wow you should just become my social media manager now.” you joke trying to ease the joy yet weirded out feeling in your stomach.

“Does that come with a raise? Because after today I've spent way too much of what I'm paid.” she jokes back.

-

After finishing his photo ops Tom asked Harry who she was and to find out. By the time he finished autographs for the day, Tom and Harry walked to the panel room in the back for announcements, one that included him for the new Avengers movie, while Harry gave him the rundown.

“So she’s an actress, she plays Thalia on Disney plus’ Percy Jackson series, and that's her most known project. The other girl with her is her assistant best friend, and now she's trending everywhere. People dug up some old photos of her being a marvel/Spider-Man fan, so there's that. And she's here at the con for the rest of the weekend. She's doing photo ops tomorrow at one, and yes she's single from what I gather since you were looking at her like this.” he makes a weird face before tom smacks him.

“And plus you have time in your schedule to get a photo op with her, that is if you eat lunch quickly.”

That gave Tom an idea. 

“Harry I’m going to need you to book me one, oh and help me find a Spider-Man costume!” He says, before leaving harry to do ‘assistant’ work. entering the green room for the announcements, watching them announce a new movie.

“We are so excited to announce to the Marvel Universe, and spider-verse-” that perked tom’s ears, “-directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and today we are announcing our amazing Miss Felicia Hardy, please give a warm welcome to the stage, Your Black Cat!”

You suddenly emerged in an aisle way, dressed in all black with a leather jacket, black ankle boots, and of course black sunglasses indoors.

The music is marvel music until it suddenly changes after a recorded laugh from you into “I can’t be tamed by Miley Cyrus”.

You start owning the music while saying hi and touching fans’ hands. You decide to take off your sunglasses and throwing them to a fan, for them to keep, before getting on stage.

“What a Performance from the one the only Y/n Y/l/n!”

You laugh, being met with the loudest applause you had heard all con before being handed a Mic. 

“Thank you but I'm a terrible dancer.” You Joke.

Tom was staring at the screen stunned. You had been the black cat all along. You were in the marvel universe and spidey one,  so he'd definitely be seeing more of you. The hard part is that you seemed so genuine when you talked, interacted with fans and was no doubt, stunning. 

“Better close your mouth or the flies will get in.” Tom turns around to find the voice of none other than his friend slash bully, Sebastian Stan, along with Anthony Mackie.

“Looks like the kid has a crush!” Anthony laughs, pointing to the screen you were on.

“I-I don’t! I don’t even know her!” Tom tries to come to his own defense, hopelessly.

“She’s got you whipped already don’t even deny it.” Harry comes in, joining the teasing of one, Tom Holland.

“Maybe we can invite her out for drinks tonight, then fanboy over here can meet her, and then probably scare her off!” Anthony mentions.

“You haven’t looked on the internet? They’ve already met.” Seb says, before showing Anthony twitter. 

Anthony stands there slightly shocked before bursting into laughter.

“Well, she’s damn well a keeper for Tom since she obviously likes him.”

A staff member peaks their head in the green room to tell Tom he’s up next.

“Well, that’s my cue to leave you two!”

On the other hand, you were on an adrenaline high from being on stage, and seeing all the fans. You knew tomorrow was going to be crazy, as you expected people to book your photo op left and right since the announcement. 

You had decided to decline an offer from your fellow marvel universe castmates, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie, which they so graciously told you that whenever you’re free, the offer still stood. 

You had gotten to your hotel room seeing your phone blowing up on the social media apps for the second time that day. 

You responded to the important stuff, before heading to bed, knowing it was going to be hectic.

-

You had been right, it was absolutely insane, the number of people who showed up. You had fully booked all your time slots for photo ops. You had seen so many people dressed up in marvel cosplay, ranging from Loki to Ironman, even some people dressed up as your character, which was wildly insane to see.

You had been nearing the end of the line and had enjoyed every moment with the fans, and you couldn’t wait for your autographing session later that day, to truly get a chance to talk to the fans and connect with them and how they felt about you being their beloved Black Cat. 

After a few more photos, posing how they wanted, you see a fully dressed, head to toe, mask and all, Spider-Man. You had seen some spider-mans but most took off their masks to snap a picture. The person was the last in line. 

“Hey Black Cat.” The southern American accented voice tells you, seeming very familiar. 

“Hey, Spider, what poses do you have up your sleeve?” you ask kindly.

“I bought a few, Cat.” they laugh.

“Okay, You can do whatever a spider can right?” you pull out a line out of the comics jokingly.

“I can do flips if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Is that some kind of nerd pick-up line? Because it’s only kind of working.” you laugh. 

“I really can, but this is one.”

He gets down on one knee, holding a black cat mask instead of a ring. The photographer captures the shocked expression on your face.

“I- Don’t- What- Spider I-” 

“Ow My feelings…” Suddenly their voice changes into a British accent before they pull off the mask to reveal-

“Tom?”

“I guess you don’t have a spidey sense darling?” The photographer captures the moment without warning eating the moment up. 

You laugh at that. 

“I guess you found out my true identity Spider. And it’s nice to officially meet you, Tom.”

He laughs, just as nervous as you, he notices he has gotten closer to you and a strand of hair loosely is blowing in your face, so naturally, he pushes it behind your ear. Another snap of the camera can be heard. 

“NOW KISS!” a voice belonging to your best friend yells from the side, mid-eating a churro.

You both laugh really hard at that.

The both of you calm down, slowly leaning lost in the moment. The camera snaps again. You both look at the photographer weirded out, and they just shrug.

“Wait can you actually do a flip?” you ask, pulling away, not wanting prying eyes aka the photographer, to pry in your business. 

“I can, though I’d show you later, maybe in the greenroom?”

“That sounds naughty, but, sure.” you joke around. 

He laughs before, you both take off from the area going to grab the photos.

-

After spending most of the day together when you could, you get Tom’s number, before heading back to your hotel room. He texts you as soon as you get back. 

Spider: I had fun today, minus finding our assistants making out.

You: we should ‘snog’ too, it’ll gross them out ;)

You: I had fun too btw. Are you leaving tomorrow?

Spider: lol we should. And yeah an early flight, 6 am to be exact. Hbu?

You: Yeah me too... another day another dollar lol

Spider: ill miss you, Cat.

You: stop talking like we’ll never see each other again lol. As a matter of fact, come to my room, we’re watching a movie!

Spider: alright, I’ll order snacks. 

  You sigh smiling at your phone. You haven’t felt this giddy in a long time.

Your phone pings with a few Instagram notifications.

Tomholland2013 has started following you.

Tomholland2013 has tagged you in a photo.

You open Instagram to find the photo of him “proposing” to you posted.

“Ow, my leg, my- feelings...Welcome to the Universe, Cat.” the photo is captioned. You decide to post, the photo of him dipping you.

“So what do you say, Spider? Wanna help me pull off the Heist of the Heist of the Century?” you caption it, Before getting comfortable to watch a movie. 

What an opportunity ;)

Tags:

@lolooo22 @webmeupspiderdaddy @harryhollandsgirlfriend @spideyspeaches @greenorangevioletgrass @queenofthepouges @sheranatic111 @keithseabrook27

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

hey, you seem to know your stuff, and I don't. What would have to happen for Shoma to get gold or silver over both/either Yuzuru and Nathan? Would the other two have to make mistakes or is it possible for him to get silver/gold even if they're clean? From his max possible scores in the FS it looks like he's closer to Nathan than even Yuzu (but I know Shoma isn't as consistent or gets scored as highly)... just wondering!

The maximum score from Shoma is indeed not that far away from Nathan and theoretically that means that he would be able to beat Nathan. But maximum scores are ofc something that won't happen at all. And realistically there is a difference in the way Nathan and Shoma are scored.

Shoma has a disadvantage in GOEs and PCS against Nathan and Yuzu even Yuma if we look at how the season was scored. But the possibility of higher PCS and GOEs is there. A clean skate is impressive and would certainly boost his PCS at least and GOEs at most. We saw what happened in the Team Event SP that he almost reached the calculated best score though he got a level 3 for his spin and steps. So an improvement in GOEs is definitely possible, but he doesn't get them for granted like Nathan or Yuzu/Yuma. (it's debatable whether it's right or wrongly awarded but that's not the point here) Another point against Shoma is obviously that he hasn't skated his free skate clean yet. Wouldn't it be the perfect time to do it now Shoma? 😜 And that he hasn't scored close to what Yuzu and Nathan already scored in this/past seasons.

I'd say a clean Nathan is unbeatable, just simply because his BV is super high and gives him a slight cussion over all his rivals. His GOEs and PCS are always very good unless he makes obvious mistakes. A clean Yuzu would also be hard to reach, but Shoma has an advantage in the BV that's why there is a chance he might place above him - at least in the free - when Shoma is clean and gets some better GOEs/PCS which depends on the judging panel. Though I still think a clean Yuzu and Nathan will likely place 1 and 2 and Shoma 3rd.

Of course mistakes may lead Shoma even to the win. The thing is it is a high stake competition and nerves will fly high. Completely clean was no male skater at the last Olympics in both segments, neither at the Olympics 2014. We all remember Nathan's SP disaster in 2018...can Nathan really skate clean two times? He hasn't so far this season. Neither has Shoma or Yuma. So in the end it will matter who makes less costly mistakes, though I would say Nathan is the one who could maybe even allow a mistake and still win. And overall it depends also a lot on the judges and technical panel. Some judges are more lenient towards some skaters than to others, so it also depends a lot on what judges prefer and what politics play a part behind the scene. And we should not forget that Nathan is a 3time world champion who only lost once im 4 years. Yuzu is the double Olympic champion and reigning National champion, this all can have influence in the scoring. It obviously should not have influence but it does.

In the end my predictions just give an impression of what scores are possible and who is able to fight for the medals.

A lot talking...😅 To answer your question in short if all skaters are clean a Silver medal for Shoma can happen depending on the judges GOEs/PCS in both segments. A Gold medal is imo impossible without mistakes from Nathan. A Bronze for Shoma should be granted barring a major breakdown.

Btw I think Nathan, Shoma and Yuzu should be close to each other, much closer than Nathan's scores atm imply. BV wise Shoma and Nathan have an edge over Yuzu, but Yuzu should receive the better PCS and GOEs and not only by little, but bigger margin because of his undenied quality. But that's sadly not how it is as USA made very sure to crown their champion sorry not sorry

If it were me judging I would have Yuzu, Shoma, Nathan as order...😊

[ziracona]

Oh BTW what are some things, if any from history/mythology that you wish FGO included?

I would like more diversity in general, but also they make a lot of religious figures and gods heroic spirits for other religions, but the closest they’ve done for Buddhism was Sanzang and I want equality there. Too late for Normal Armor for All means it’s time for Skimpy Armor for All equality is equality. We haven’t had much Norse either despite a whole Lostbelt, but we have had so many gods and suped up spirits tbh I am unsure if I want that, like, the most compelling recent addition was Antonio Salieri. Maybe it’s time to focus on the way personal belief in a spirit affects them instead of 8 divine spirit combo characters. I’d like to see a lot more about characters with Innocent Monster too, and ones who are fictional have had very little story outside of Kojiro’s aside in UBW about how much that fucks you up, and I’d love to hear more. I’d like to see a lot of relationships develop too. I’d like to see Nightingale and Dantes more, see Emiya, Ishtar, and Cú on a team, see Alter Emiya stuck with Ishtar somewhere, see more of Outlaw Squad, see Karna and Arjuna given an arc that’s not the same one as always, see Medea taken seriously like in UBW instead of a joke, see David given ANY screen time to deal with Romani like wtf why didn’t he get major billing in arc one??? See David and Sheba interact, see more of Antonio and Amadeus, Fran and Moriarty. Love to hear more about Hessian Lobo like he was easily one of the coolest characters??? Literally never getting over how this random beheaded hessian soldier’s ghost was tied in death by an outside force to the legend of a wolf who hated humans for killing his mate, and they were trapped together as a phantom spirit and had no reason to be anything but bitter and angry, but when you’re beating the wolf to a pulp the headless corpse of a man scrambles off it and tries without a face or a voice to beg you to leave it alone and not finish it off. How an adopted stray left it’s owner to find him and curl up with him while he bled out. Like holy shit. Uhhhh, I like the kind of emotional ones too: Voyager, Van Gogh. The concept alone there is sweet. I’d like to see them do a non-human well again like. I love Danzo and I love robots but they literally can’t write inhuman characters without making them robots wtf is going on. Stop making Greek gods robots. They’re gods. You used to be able to write Fran and Nursery and shit what the hell happened to the character creation team. Or like. Actually give us a literal robot if you want to do robot humanity narrative so bad but I’m begging you to stop making all the Valkyries and Artemis just AIs like literally begging. Gods are inhuman but you write them different and it’s so fun and not actually hard like just do the assigned work jfc. Please.

If you mean more like what specific characters would I like to see, that’s harder. Personally I’d love a Lucifer if well done because I love a good Sympathy for the Devil character (P5 just gave and gave and gave to me). I’d like more animal spirits like give me Balto, or Laila. If they do more gods like they’ve been I would very much like Bast because she’s always been a favorite. Uhhh I’m a sucker for the personal connections so I would love it if they quit doing alters of existing people and gave us their family members or friends instead I mean the DRAMA. Mmmm tasty. There’s almost no Americans and that’s fine but like it’s Geronimo, Billy the Kid, Tesla, and every American president through Obama in a body with Edison and the 20th Century Fox lion so if they wanted to make it just slightly more normal they could add like Nathan Hale or Deborah Samson or something. Uhhh, from a gameplay perspective, we’ve got interesting and talented supports, but Iri is the only white mage and I’d like to see them play with more range on defense. So I would personally like Lister or some other doctor with highly specialized defensive skills and to play with the defense only mechanics more in the back line. Like team evades are great but I’d love to see someone with a skill to revive a party member but like with a massive cooldown or stun penalty to balance that. Idk I’d just like to see more complexity. Maybe it’s luck based called like ‘Defibrillator’ and it doesn’t always work, like guts but can be used after they’re downed and at any point. I do quite enjoy the specialized skills like how Katsu does little for support unless you’ve got a lineup of Nobunaga and he suddenly becomes the bullet chain in their galtling. An ability to swap formation, or switch the cooldown from one character with another (‘blood transfusion’) could be cool for a doctor. White Mage with 30,000hp, +5 to attack, who can revive downed party member and allocate NP or cooldown among them, or swap formation. Skill where damage he takes is taken by the frontline member with the most HP instead. Or NP that analyzes the enemy skill set and warns before stuns or rapid ult charge. Or can cast small passive buffs like debuff cleanses the way story characters do, but even when in the back line. Lol Romani Archaman build. Uhhh I’m off topic, characters let me think. I personally loved Amelia Earhart as a kid so I guess part of me keeps hoping she’d be added too. I kinda enjoy when unnamed, or less important or well known people get caught up by a twist of fate like the hessian though. I like weak normal people doing their best in an impossible situation.

[danwhobrowses]

NXT World's Collide - Initial Thoughts

Now to part 2 of 3

In NXT UK's last hurrah before taking a hiatus and becoming NXT Europe, what remains of the UK roster are to be integrated into the normal NXT, including their titles. The World's Collide event sees NXT UK cross NXT in battle in our second PPV of the Weekend, All Out will be (somehow) fitted in tomorrow

Spoilers for the PPV

No matches for the Kick-Off, bit remiss given how it's only a small card

Starting with NA title with Pretty Ricky, but Melo with the hanged jerseys mind games, Sikoa among the shirts, Melo has the NA title decal on his knee pad too

The two are very clean in their wrestling, a great double springboard cutter to cancel each other out popped the crowd

Also Stu Bennett has been great on commentary

Melo wasn't sneaky leaving his foot out for Trick to pull like half an inch XD

Good match, probably could've benefitted from story, Trick did bide Melo time but it was the paul smackage when Ricochet landed on his feet for the Shooting Star Press

Oh, so Roddy's dead

There are a lot of bodies for this four way

Ahhh Briggs and Jensen eliminated first by Gallus, so much for the NXT UK Tag Champions

That alliance between PD and Gallus didn't last

Creeds then eliminate Gallus, who don't leave quietly

Julius' hot tag was great

The eliminated teams are fighting in the ramp for some reason which leads to a le sigh ref bump

Kemp then of course uses this to turn on the Creeds

Urgh they had to go with the Zoolander Twins, where was Brutus throughout all of this?

The same promos from Clash are on NXT, does WWE think that we don't watch both?

Tony D'Angelo trying to validate the fact that he lost LDF doesn't work, but he looks to be trying to side with Cameron Grimes who blows him off

You make Meiko come out first!?

Bit too much smoke for Bea/Blair

Mandy arrives in a...car? Sporting USA attire

Someone is screaming far too much

Yeah that list doesn't do Mandy favours

Reminder that Meiko is 42 years old and still amazing

Bit dumb though to wait for Mandy to pose and not take advantage of it

Mandy's gear seems to be struggling to contain her girls

KAMIGOYE! Only 2

Of course the fickleness of American crowds that they will cheer anyone American against non-Americans

And Rose *URGH* wins, Meiko hits the Scorpion Rising on Blair and after having to set her up, Rose hits both with the running knee

I am absolutely fucking baffled that between Bea Preistley and MEIKO SATOMURA, WWE choose Mandy Fucking Rose to still be their champion

Why do I even bother? They made her beat Raquel, KLR and Io after all, I just expected the better wrestler to win

They moved Axiom vs Nathan Frazer to Wednesday :/

Just be Nikki Cross and Piper Niven already!

First to challenge all active women's championships but won nothing in NXT

Chance is literally so mini compared to Doudrop XD

Toxic Attraction make a distraction which occupied Nikki so that KC2 can beat Piper, even though Piper proved able to handle both women previously in the match

That's 3/4 interferences btw, plus Nikki could've made it, weak match really

Main Roster bias made the tag champs look weak as it is

The Dyad are just weird, why couldn't we have the Grizzled Young Vets?

Still not sure how I feel about Bate with the long Jesus hair

Of course my internet chooses the main event to start blipping out and killing the vid quality, I've seen the buffer bar longer than I saw Bate's entrance

Never been done? Titles have been unified from two different brands and even companies for like decades

Bronn's shoulder was well up from that Airplane Spin slam

Bronn kicks out of the Tyler Driver 97 but Bate gets to the ropes for the Gorilla Powerslam

Bate forgoes the second Tyler Driver attempt to try his rebound Shotei and runs into a spear to lose

Least Tyson Fury didn't come out to sing American Pie, but again it was just, fine? I guess I never quite bought that NXT would give it to Bate

There's something missing as well, I can't quite explain it but it's like that buzz in my chest that makes me into it, Bate and Bronn are great workers, but I feel like they could've done a lot more

Conclusion

Honestly, I would've rather slept. The opener was good but after that it was just a snowball of weak booking choices, I get you wanna make it feel evens but the fact that Pretty Deadly and Mandy became unified champions in succession then postponed a potential best of 3 banger between Ben Carter and A-Kid shows the mentality NXT 2.0 has at play, thew Vince-ism is still there, right down to the 'home team' bias.

I also hope that the NXT UK belts aren't gone, they are WWE's best looking belts, and if they are gone I will happily take the UK title for myself if they name a price.

Overall it was fine, somehow didn't top Clash at the Castle, ball's in All Out's court now. Now I have to have 5 hours sleep...

Match Results (and Predictions)

Carmelo Hayes (c) [w/ Trick Williams] def. Ricochet (Pinfall via Small Package) Pretty Deadly [w/Lash Legend] def. The Creed Brothers (c) [w/Damon Kemp], Briggs & Jensen (c) [w/Fallon Henley] & Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) [w/Joe Coffey] (Final Pinfall by Prince on Julius after chair shot) - NEW UNIFIED TAG CHAMPIONS Mandy Rose (c) def. Meiko Satomura (c) & Blair Davenport (Pinfall by Rose on Blair via running knee) - NEW UNIFIED WOMEN'S CHAMPION Chance & Carter (c) def. Doudrop & Nikki A.S.H. (Pinfall by Chance on Doudrop via 450 Knee Drop) Bron Breakker (c) def. Tyler Bate (c) (Pinfall via Spear) - NEW UNIFIED CHAMPION

[kittyprincessofcats]

Olympic Team Event - Men SP

Some (mostly angry) rambles from someone who hasn’t watched FS in a while and just watched this^ lol. Not NC friendly.

- First of all: Obligatory reminder about the human rights violations and concentration camps in China and that the Olympics absolutely should NOT be held there. (Is there any news on Peng Shuai yet, btw?)

- Secondly: Reminder that the Team Event in figure skating is a scam in the first place, doesn’t have fair rules, doesn’t give athletes from smaller feds the chance to win a medal, was literally just invented by the big feds to be able to call even more of their athletes Olympic champions/medalists because they’re literally guaranteed to win them and they’ve been abusing that to hell and back. REMINDER THAT TEAM MEDALS DON’T COUNT. (I’m already vomiting at the thought of Russia calling all their athletes Olympic champions after this...)

- Speaking of Russia... They’re allowed to be here why again? Like, what’s the point of letting them compete and just giving their team a different name? That name even has “Russia” in it so like... And they even have the flag colors right there on their oufits?? How is this any different from Russia literally just being there?? How does this help with the doping problem in any way? Why won’t anyone make that country face actual consequences???

- I want to punch James/Radford in the face every time I see them. I hate how the German commentator praised them while completely leaving out... that story, and how viewers who only tune in for the Olympics won’t know. (Dear Olympics-only viewers: Vanessa James is an abuse apologist (her previous partner sexually abused a 13-year-old and she knew about it), Eric Radford betrayed his previous partner by not telling her he teamed up with someone new, and the two of them didn’t even fairly qualify for these Olympics but got the spot anyway over the pair that actually shoud have gotten it (Walsh/Michaud) - and, if rumors are to be believed, Vanessa James then even taunted Evelyn Walsh about it. So yeah - don’t support James/Radford please.

- I really can’t deal with this German commentator’s hard-on for NC. He literally praises him right before going on a rant about how important artistry is... As we Germans would say: Genau mein Humor.

- “Brilliant from the first second to the last; he’s in shape of being an Olympic Champion.” Shut the actual hell up, that program was boring af, I literally wanted to skip it the whole time. How the actual HELL does anyone watch this with their own two eyes and think it’s anywhere close to being on the same level as Yuzu? HOW?? I’m literally done being polite about this. There should be no compeition here. If you think NC is anywhere close to being in Yuzu’s league, I just have to believe you’re lying on purpose at this point.

- “It’s not possible to skate better than this?” ARE YOU DUMB OR SOMETHING?? YES IT IS?? HAVE YOU SEEN SHOMA RIGHT BEFORE THIS? And I don’t even like Shoma that much anymore (his misogynistic opinions kinda ruined his skating for me, tbh), but freaking come on.

- “For me, he would get a 10 in 3 out of 5 PCS categories” … Are you kidding me? Yes, this is still the commentator talking about NC. At this point I seriously think these commentators are all getting paid off for saying this or they’re in on some elaborate scheme we don’t know about. I really don’t get it.

- (I’d switch to somewhere where I can watch without commentary, but I don’t want to spend money on these Olympics – human rights violations in china and all that.)

- How the hell did freaking Grassl become No. 1 in world standings again? I’ve been out of the loop for too long lol

- “I don’t know why Daniel doesn’t get higher component scores, I don’t think he’s that far off from Nathan Chen.” Who’s… who’s gonna tell him?

- Morisi’s half-assed cartwheel hurt my eyes and once again made me super depressed that Rika isn’t there to do a proper one – this world isn’t fair.

- The ironic thing is, I actually enjoyed watching this during the first group. I was all… aww, this is nice, I’ve missed skating… and then NC stepped on the ice and it’s like… oh, nevermind, the fun is gone. It’s just the same feeling as with the Russian girls: I know he’s going to be overscored af and that dread of how bad it’ll be just sucks the joy out of the competition.

- At least Yuzu’s WR is safe – I literally had to frantically check lol

[whencallstheheart]

I’m majorly disappointed, angry, and absoutletly confused beyond imagination with that S8 Finale - but let me rant to get over my enduring nausea. Beyond the storyline, I find the BTS drama of it all so intriguingly telling. And sadly for us Nathan Fans the drama may be the only WCTH thing left for us to even connect to without watching this increasingly sadistic show.

Everyone knows it was the wrong choice and Lucas fans are coping hard with their win (not sure why they need to) by behaving like the most pompous, egotistical, pretentious, sore winners that I’ve ever witnessed. I see many comments from them that suggest: “Nathan wouldn’t take no for an answer”, “Elizabeth never gave him signs of romance”, “it was always very obvious it was Lucas” or my FAVORITE one... and just wait to hear this BS... “If you don’t keep tuning into WCTH, Nathan Fans, you never liked the show anyway”... 😒 The disrespect that Nathan fans have received is unfathomable, especially when we are told we are “throwing tantrums bc Lucas won” or “we wrongfully believed the world revolves around us”. But look, the reason Lucas fans are acting terribly is because they didn’t expect to ‘win’. They know deep down the chances after S7 of Elizabeth being with Lucas were lower than they could have ever gotten (the hug and all). The best part is scrolling back through the WCTH tag on tumblr.... I have read various posts from Lucas fans that fully expected to “never watch again if Nathan was picked”... It’s so annoying because both sides were going to be upset either way, but in Team Nathan’s circumstance: we were continuously beat down this season by the writers. It became bigger than who was going to win. It’s the disrespect of dragging us along for S8 to get ratings and to secure a S9 renewal - because let’s be real they weren’t going to pair her with Lucas in episode two and expect people to keep the good ratings going. Nathan fans in every poll I’ve witnessed (fb polls or even the one Erin did for Direct TV the other day) averages 70% Nathan and 30% Lucas EVERYTIME with no fail. Here’s the next thing: the Post-Finale interview with Erin, Chris, and Kevin was even worse. The first thing they do is basically pop open the champagne and throw the kiss in everyone’s face (btw ew, it’s like an adult film...) and celebrate that she picked Lucas. Of course, Erin attempts to play it down that she “had mixed feelings about the ending” but ya know all with a big Cheshire Cat grin on her face. I have a feeling she just picked the guy she’d best like to make out with for S9... 🙄 Lord knows that’s all Jack and Elizabeth ever did was fight and make out. Anyway, only Kevin addressed any remorse for Nathan fans and even then I don’t for the life of me understand why he accepts being the second choice when he’s lead material. Honestly, I say, Kevin should leave the show, bc he deserves more than this phony unwanted story its been hijacked into. Sadly, from the interview I get the sinking feeling that the next angle they have been just waiting to take is that “Nathan put himself in this situation by not backing down (though imo he did way too little of)”. Why would they do such a thing, you ask? To hype Lucas fans up (with delusion) and to possibly attract a newer audience (post-Nathan fans departing the show) bc they wouldn’t know the BTS details on how they settled on Lucas and the baggage that came with. Who knows if that will happen, but it wouldn’t surprise me they would go that below the belt after the writers made Elizabeth suggest that ‘Nathan would just never obtain Jack level qualities she would look for in a man’... All in all, these people used Nathan fans and honestly I feel my kindness abused with all the support I’ve given the show and taken advantage of all for some cheap a$$ ratings. Next step forward: Hope #TeamNathan sticks to their word about not watching the show, bc why reward sadistic nonsense???? Heck, forget the sadistic nonsense, it’s just terrible writing. Support FanFiction writers when it comes to Nathan and Elizabeth, not WCTH. THOUGH if I were the glass-half-full kind of gal I would say... ya know what, maybe they have tricked us into thinking the love triangle is over? Maybe next season an old lady friend of Lucas’ strolls into town to share his deepest secrets or a new lady catches Nathan’s eye and makes Elizabeth insanely jealous. Heck, a girl could dream, bc Faith?!? SNOOZE 😭

Oh there’s always the “you’re not a true Heartie” bullshit after something happens that people are even mildly upset about.  There’s definitely the notion that Hearties should NEVER have anything negative to say about the show and if they do then they were never a true fan.  It’s ridiculous.

Nathan has been the punching bag this whole time.  He got so much hate for being involved in Jack’s death.  Fans blamed him for killing Jack as if he’d shot him himself or something.  They hated on Allie constantly because she was merely acting her age.  It was awful and pathetic.  Nathan fans had to endure all of that and for what?  The character got fucked over in the end.  He’ll go on to better things, surely, but that’s not the point.  None of it needed to happen if he wasn’t going to end up with Elizabeth.  Bottom line.

They should just give Nathan and Allie a spinoff.

[kevinexyqueen]

An fanfic where Neil starded working for the Hatfords after his mom died but he is already dating Andrew and join the foxes anyway

so, andrew and neil meet in juvie when neil was like 14

he stayed there for 3 or 4months while his mother worked some things out

and there he bonded with andrew, told him some trues (he was 14 he was not thar good at keeping secrets yet) , they make a deal, a lot of drama etc etc

and then he has to break out from the place and andrew is like

" i'm going with you"

"no, you're not"

"yes, i am"

andrew can be fucking stubborn so yeah he goes with neil

(he already knows about aaron is a way to put more distance between them)

mary is pissed off, but andrew knows to much and she was not about to kill him

and she sees the way that andrew protect neil so in the end andrew stays with them

is not like someone will put real effort in looking for a foster kid

so she shows andrew how to use a knife (I think she didn't stop teaching neil, is a too valuable habilit)

and also a gun, and i have a headcanon that Andrew is just awful with it, and neil loves to make fun of him

anyway, they protect each other, kill some people, fall in love, learns russian, spar together, normal teenager stuffs

mary does not know, andrew doesn't like her but he doesn't kill her because he knows she is the only reason neil is still alive

they started dating after a year since they meet, so neil was 15 and andrew 16

idk neils/nathaniels age makes me confuse

also, andrew convinces neil to play exy without she knowing

(btw i forgot to mention neil was stefan when thet meet and alex when seattle happens)

and well like a just said Seattle happens

and after that neil can't just keep running, he won't be responsible for Andrew death as well

sooo, yep he calls stuart

Stuart tells them all the moriyamas bullshit, etc etc

they go to the FBI, neils is officially neil abraam josten, Andrew becames andrew minyard etc

after that andrew goes to live with aaron and Neil goes to england, it was safer that way for both of them

STUART KILLS NATHAN/LOLA YEAHH

continuing, they keep dating, long distance and all, andrew goes to england every month at least and do little jobs for neil's family

neil only do some translation works and he is pretty good at making deals (the irony) so he deals with a lot of other mobs family's and is like a lot people think he should become head of the family but that's a long history

anyway, all the canon shit with Andrew happens the same way, Tilda, Nicky, he turning down the ravens and he join the foxes

but he has some Hatford people watching over him so he doesn't beat all those man alone and doesn't take his meds (just needs to see a therapist for a couple of years)

even with all the Mafia shit neil still plays exy and he is better than he is in canon since he have been practicing with andrew for a few years (and also he spars with andrew so hr is a wayyyy better fighter and he also uses the knifes cause of andrew insistence and again all the mafia shit)

anyway, the Hatfords know about them but Andrew's family/the foxes (same thing, no?) doesn't

they come with a plan to take down the moriyamas and i have that in my head but don't know how to explain

but neils deals with a lot of mafia family's right? so like if the moriyamas kill him the Hatfords and idk the chinese as well will take revenge, and the moriyamas would loose since they are dealing with a war in japan and kengo is in hospital, nathan is dead etc etc

so, too much trouble to kill neil, so neil makes a peace offer with ichirou that while he is in the eau he won't kill him or the other foxes

so like, if rikos touches them he will be carving his own grave, and thats the whole point, cause Kevin's hand proven that riko's doesn't have any self control so the fucking plan is making riko angry

and we all know how good neil is at this, andrew is not happy

so yeah, neil needs to join some exy team and of course he will join the foxes because his bf right

NOW EVERYONE FINDING OUT ABOUT NEIL

because like, they are together for years, and not as much hurt as they are in canon, they didn't feel the need to tell anyone but they also doesn't care to hide and yes they hold hand in public and things like this

now neil only come on the same day the upperclassmen return cause there was no need for him to come early

so, like a hour before the reunion in the lounge andrew is like hey everybody in the car now or you're walking

and everyone is like ???? especially when andrew makes kevin go in the backseat

and he goes to the airport and nobody understands nothing, until neil comes

and he just completely ignores everyone im the backseat (yes even Kevin) and looks at andrew >that way< and andrew is a man in love, so he leans and gives neil a quick kiss and neil smiles at him and with a fucking soft voice says "hey baby"

andrew did not blush

anyway they started driving and andrew has his hand on neils leg and aaron, nicky and kevin are just fucking shook, they have no reaction at all, no words nothing because WTF

so when neils turns and says "hey guys, i'm neil" and is meet with three shocked faces staring at him he is trying so hard not to laugh and just goes "are you all okay"

nicky's is the first to recover and well... nicky... "ANDREW, WTF, YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND, WHY DIDN'T U TOLD US, WHAT ABOUT REENE, WHAT"

andrew ignores him and turns on the radio, neil lights a cigarette and they start talking in russian

aaron doesn't say a word

anyway, neils fly was a little late so they're the last ones at the stadium

so when they enter the lounge and andrew is waking with some scary dude (because yeah neil can be pretty and scary) and when they sit in the sofa with thights to shoulders touching everyone is like what the fucking hell

aaron and nicky find some other place to sit, neil does some remark and they start talking in russian and yeah they don't know if they should ignore or no

until dan breaks the spell by asking since when andrew speaking russian and andrew just look at her completely bored until neil answers her

after that wymack (which as always is so fucking done) asks if they have some more languages to show off or if they could start

they both deadpan "yes there is" but are ignored

anyway during the reunion some try to ask questions but wymack stops them and neil and andrew just glare at the person and that's enough to make they shut up

until Aaron makes some shitty remark about both of them in german and neil goes to protective mood and roast aaron in the same language

nicky has to stop aaron from punching Neil (and andrew won the bet he made with Stuart about someone trying to punch neil before neil punches someone

and again wymack is so done

and then they break the news about the ravens coming south

which andrew and neil already know because Hatfords

andrew is still pissed off at kevin

and then neils says (on purpose) something about the moriyamas and everyone is staring at him like????

and the he just smile a little >that smile< and says "you really don't remember me kevin"

he wasn't wearing contacts or anything like that so Kevin's recognizes him

it's caos

but i'm to tired to keep writing sorry

[luci-cunt]

hey luci not to be an ao3 note but how does homesong end

kajsd;fljkasl;dfjkaslf;asjd I had so many plans man T-T

main points under this [VERY BIG AND BLATANT SPOILER WARNING FOR THE END OF HOMESONG] which unfortunately I doubt I will ever finish T-T

Ok first off

- Kevin and Neil are half-brothers bc Kayleigh and Mary are the same person

- Riko betrays them when they go to kill Livingstone (duh) and it backfires

- Stuart makes an appearance

Basically what was gonna happen is that 1) ppl are confused bc Neil can manifest the keys--which shouldn't be possible, and then they wanna know who his mom is/ parent--and eventually he cracks and tells them Mary and Nathan, but he doesn't give last names but he doesn't need to bc when the wolves hear Nathan they go "not Nathan Wesninski??" and he's like "Are you fucking kidding me" but then they all assume he's lying bc--

ok here's the thing about Kayleigh right?? She was a super powerful witch but she had this specific like, niche?? Brand?? where she would make Wolf-hunters infertile so they couldn't pass down their legacy at all, and Nathan Wesninski was one of the first she did this too. So everyone's like "ok but you look like a carbon copy of him tho, so you have to be his kid--but the only way you're his kid is if she lifted her curse."

Which is when Neil's like "ok well, it's not a thing bc Mary died, like--two years ago, and Kayleigh's probably still alive--"

Which is when Kevin's like-- "[Very specific date that I have not managed to find in Nora's ec or have the time to come up with myself--]??" and everyoen's like "??" but Neil is like "shit wait--how did you guess that???"

But poor Kevin is losing his fucking shit, and he very losely explains that it's the day his tether with his mother snapped--aka the day he was so distraut by not understand what was happening (bc he had no idea--he was with Riko and his tether had never snapped before) that he snapped at Riko, which pissed Riko off so much that he snapped back and broke his hand.

(aye aye it comes full circle)

anyways, then Gordo decides to stick his head in Neil's head--which Neil tentatively agrees to, and they confirm that yup--Mary is Kayleigh, which makes Neil a witch which means he really should not be able to be a wolf too, but Gordo's theory is that since he didn't know about his powers, he wasn't actively using them--which means he's gonna feel some insane pain when he does use them.

And Neil's like "yeah that checks out"

but then it's time to go hunt Livingstone down, which is a whole thing but most importantly Riko drags poor Jean along, and mans is fucked up from doing two locator spells in like one week but they all go to find Livingstone except that when they do Riko has Jean knock everyone out but Jean barely has the power for it and Neil ends up fighting it off so now it's just Riko, Neil, and Livingstone and Riko's like

"hey look! I brought you all these hoes! come work for me!" and Livingstone is like "You're an idiot" AND THEN!

Stuart!

Mans shows up bc Jean used to much power it was like a fuckin beacon and they came to investigate--cuz OOP! GUESS WHO'S A VERY OLD FAMILY OF HUNTERS!?!!?

Aeeeeyyyyeee Stuuuuu

Anyways, they manage to contain Livingstone, Riko, and Neil--but he recognizes Neil--and then he's like "wait a second" and also realizes Neil's a wolf and he gets pissed--which Livingstone uses to his advantage bc he's like "hey guess what--I know how to cure that :)" and Stuart decides to risk it, so he kills Riko, fakes Neil and Livingstones deaths (aka makes it look like Neil went supersonic to kill Livingstone and save the day) and then zips them across teh border.

Queue Livingstone and Neil trying to buy time and figure out how to escape, at least until Neil actually does manage to escape and Livingstone's like "ok now you're gonna get me out too right?" and he's like "no <3" and ditches his ass.

Then he shows up on the Bennet's front lawn in time to go "I lived bitch" and pass out an dyou know what? Good for him.

Then all the foxes and the wolves team up and threaten Stuart enough that he chills out and also kills Livingstone for them.

So yeah! alkdjfl;asdjf

I think that's all the lose ends?? Riko dies very unremarkably btw, alskjdf;laksdjf Stuart just snaps his neck when he tries to interupt him it's great.

Here's my favorite snippet from the outline doc! (it happens right after Neil gets his tether--and I mean like, right after)

Anyways, Neil can’t sleep though, all he can hear is the heartbeats of everyone in the room and every little sound outside feels like his father coming after him

Eventually he just sits up, thinking about going outside but he doesn’t want to leave everyone else inside

But Andrew’s up and dragging him into the kitchen where he makes himself a mug of cocoa and gets Neil a glass of water

They chat a bit, Neil asks why Andrew was willing to lay down his life in that moment and Andrew says it was because he knew Neil wouldn’t do anything.

Neil is DUMB and obvi goes to touch the scratches on Andrew, which Andrew says no to, so Neil just drops his hand and Andrew’s like “see--right there, that’s why.”

Neil’s like “yeah but while I’m a monster it’s different you fucking pleb” and Andrew’s like “but was it? You barely scratched me.”

He takes out the key and hands it to Andrew, explaining that he can feel how it’s the only rock in the river that is Neil now, and if it goes away or gets destroyed he’ll be swept right down with the current

And then the has the auDACITY to say ‘I want you to keep it’

Andrew gets all agro and like ‘I hate you’ but Neil’s like ‘I don’t think so bitch boy--you like me’

And then they almost kiss but Kevin interrupts them with his five am alarm and Andrew tells Neil he needs to sleep and shoves him down onto the couch. He turns on the tv and sits right by Neil’s head, with his back against the couch and sitting on the floor and Neil sleeps feeling the safest he’s ever felt in his life

The next time he wakes up Andrew’s in the same spot and it’s blindingly bright outside

They all get ushered off to the Bennett house and Neil takes Carter’s advice and decides to allow Gordo to dig around inside his head

SO yeah! Homesong! asjkdf;lkjadsfl;jk sorry this is such a long winded explaination and I'm sorry I'm never goign to finish it askdjf;laskdf;ljkasdflkj I love everyone who loved it!!!!! y'all single-handedly killed me <33

[anewbeginningagain]

It’s interesting to me that in 2018, apparently USFS left the decision entirely to the skaters, and they chose based on a specific order (that was determined by a ranking system of some kind). Nathan chose first. Shibs second. And the Shibs were the ones who said they wanted to do both events. There was a lot of hubbub at the time that they were doing so strategically to build momentum for themselves and more importantly prevent any momentum for another USA team. Of course one can debate does the team event help momentum, but my answer is that it can. I think it helped V/M for example. Anyway, some people were annoyed that usfs did not step in and force a decision on allowing a second dance team. Behind Nathan, the dance teams were the clear only other medal hope and they had two (possibly three), teams very close who could have gotten the bronze medal individually and it seemed pretty sucky to cut off another team from getting a team medal. Curious to see what they do this time. Nathan clearly will pick first and I can’t imagine a work where he doesn’t chose to only skate one. Dance would come second again I would think. We’ll have to see who is in front for the pecking order for dance I guess.

The thing is, so what if the Shibs wanted to do both? They were the ones on the podium at GPF but the three US teams were less than a point apart:

The Shibs 100% did the right thing for themselves, it created momentum that helped them nail the FD way more in the individual event, but either of the other two teams was more deserving of an Olympic team medal than Bradie Tennell (nothing against her personally) and considering all three were likely to overtake the Russians and Italians, one of those teams got "robbed" of an Olympic medal just so the Shibs will have the momentum for the individual event (momentum that mostly worked btw because H/D fucked it up). This time I really hope both teams will get the chance, they both deserve it imo.

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Two Live Crew Job

leverage 2.07

Sophie: I love the symbolists.

- - - - -

🥰 I love when the ot3 are together in one frame 🥰

- - - - -

the dogs playing poker painting tho

- - - - -

Eliot: Any sudden movement's gonna cause displacement of the water. It'll set it off.

Parker: Is that C-4?

Sophie: Oh!

(Nate grabs Parker’s hand before she can touch the vase)

Sophie: Parker... please don't poke at the motion-sensitive bomb.

Nate: So, uh... secret admirer?

Sophie: Well, it's no secret they want me dead.

Hardison: What do you think, man?

Eliot: I'd have to reach into the vase to disarm it. It'd go off.

eliot’s lips quivered when he said that bc he’s so nervous for her im-

- - - - -

Parker: Do you have any instant pudding?

(everyone looks at Parker in surprise. Cut to Parker pouring pudding into the vase)

Parker: The powder hardens the liquid, tricks the bomb into thinking it's not moving.

Eliot: Should give you a little wiggle room. Very little

MASTERMIND PARKER

- - - - -

(mourners are gathered around a casket with a line of black cars parked nearby. An open casket shows Sophie lying inside. Eliot is standing at a podium)

Eliot: She had a way of taking care of people, you know? She was a sister... she was best friend, all rolled into one. I'm gonna miss you, Soph-- So-O-O-O-O much, Katherine.

(Eliot leaves the podium. Hardison stands to let Parker walk by and she approaches the podium. Nate stands at the back of the crowd, Eliot joins him)

Parker: Katherine and I have known each other forever. Almost two years. Yeah, I know that probably doesn't sound like a lot to you, but it is to me. I never really had many friends. Which is why losing her is so hard. (sighs) It's so creepy. I mean, she's really dead. I was just talking to her and now she's just laying there. She was just laying there.

(Nate coughs and Hardison gets up to go to Parker)

Parker: Can you hear me?

Hardison: Parker. I'm -- I'm sorry. I'm sorry, y'all. What – What she really means is just, um, Katherine was like family. And sometimes, friends are all the family that you have. So... you -- you good? Come on. Just – let -- just keep going. You got all hysterical and emotional

- - - - -

btw there is at least one door from behind the briefing monitors which means they have at least one extra room (most likely more) from the adjacent apartment eliot knocked the wall down from

they have guest rooms or something back there for if anyone needs a place to crash

- - - - -

Sophie: We used to work together. We did the Copenhagen job in '97, the Berlin Polytech job in '98, and, Nate, remember – Remember that great run in Moscow?

Nate: "That great run"? I chased you for three months.

Sophie: Well, uh, technically, y-you chased us. Sorry.

Hardison: Are you saying that you saw other teams before us?

Parker: Really just another Nate before Nate.

Eliot: Let me ask you a question -- what bugs you more, is it the fact that he was with Sophie first or that he outsmarted you?

Nate: Moving on

eliot puts his arms over the couch and behind parker and I’ll take it + them grinning at each other seeing nate’s discomfort

- - - - -

mikel is wearing flannel in this one and you can now take bisexual mikel from my cold, dead hands

- - - - -

Sophie: Wrong place, wrong time. Starke must have seen me, and now that I’m one of the good guys, decided to get rid of me, because...why? Because... Because I know his scams. Because... I know his favorite scam.

[Warehouse]

(Stark’s team is sitting on crates looking at monitors as he goes over the job)

Starke: Cafe and a moonlit terrace.

Sophie (voice over): The Mona Lisa variant.

[Briefing Area]

Parker: Oo! (claps) That was the first one I learned!

- - - - -

(Hardison is drinking orange soda and working on a computer as Sophie watches)

Sophie: I'm not dead. I'm right here, Parker. So, this is, um, it's what you do, right? You take footage of us on cons and you -- you -- you -- download it into that?

Hardison: Yeah, I analyze it, I monitor comms, I scan for a police frequencies, I -- You had no idea I do all this, did you? Well – d-does nobody respect the van? The van is important. What -- What is that?

Sophie: It's lemon-Zest tea. I got to tell you, it's -- It's a little bit -- It's a little bit whiffy in here.

Hardison: It smells like hard work. That's what it smells like. D-- Whiffy

sophie has no idea what hardison does and does not like the van smell. hardison is ready to go off

- - - - -

Sophie: That was some nice things you said at my funeral.

Hardison: Wait. We -- We trust Nate to make sure the plan works. We trust you to make sure we’re all okay.

- - - - -

Starke: Word is on the street that you run the nastiest crew this side of the Atlantic.

Nate: Well… what?

Starke: Come on. Everybody knows. You robbed a bank and you -- you framed a judge. You rigged a jury to steal a million-Dollar settlement. I hear that you even conned the Irish mob out of a couple of million dollars just this year. Now, that's style.

Nate: That's one way of looking at it.

Sophie: Listen, Nate, if you tell him the truth about us, we're blown

- - - - -

Hardison: I know this style. This is Chaos.

(computer screen flashes signal found. Hardison grabs his keyboard and heads for the back door of the van)

[Parking Lot]

(Hardison exits his van and a little ways down the parking lot, Chaos exits his van with a laptop in his hands. They square off like an old west gun fight)

Hardison: Chaos. I heard you were in jail. Guess I was wrong.

Chaos: Hardison. I heard you sucked. Guess I was right.

(they eye each other across the lot, their fingers twitching. Abruptly they raise their keyboard and laptop and begin typing while car alarms start going off)

this wild wild west showdown tho

- - - - -

Nate: Okay, now, we know Starke. This guy goes by the name Apollo. I've chased him a couple of times -- infiltration, physical security.

Parker: People in that line of high-risk work tend to be very unstable. We could use that. Write that down.

(the rest of the team exchange glances)

🥰 she’s sitting next to eliot with popcorn between them 🥰

- - - - -

Hardison: Now, this person here's ex-Mossad, sealed records. Mikel Dayan used to work both sides as a mercenary.

Eliot: Mikel Dayan. I know that name.

Hardison: You were scared to fight a girl.

Eliot: She'd mop the floor with you, Hardison.

Hardison: I don't care.

Eliot: Seriously. She actually killed a guy once with a mop. It's a funny story, actually. (starts gesturing time parker) She broke the mop and took --

Hardison: Eliot. Eliot. (turns back to monitors) Now, this here's Colin Mason, otherwise known by his hacker handle as "Chaos." As... whatever. Hacked the pentagon, the NSA. The CIA computer guys call him the Kobayashi Maru.

Eliot: What the hell is that?

Hardison: None of y'all got that? Seriously?

Parker: Star Trek.

Hardison: Thank you

parker’s reluctant fistbumb I love them + it’s officially canon that she’s seen at least some of the movies

- - - - -

Nate: I tried to say to her I’m sorry, you know, and I don't –

Security: Because, as men, we're taught to hide our emotions. You share or you pay the price.

Nate: Yeah

- - - - -

Mikel: You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?

(Eliot walks forward, taking off his jacket and hanging it on some pipe)

Eliot (in Hebrew): Not unless she hits me first.

(they approach each other and begin to fight, blocking each other until Mikel hits Eliot in the chest, knocking him back. He touches where her blow hit.)

Eliot (in Hebrew): That counts

let me just say I LOVE that they had a woman hitter

- - - - -

Starke: What is going on, guys?

Guard: Motion sensors went off, sir.

Starke: I already checked that out. Everything's secure. And who's this?

Guard: Uh... he just got lost. No problem.

Starke: Sir, you okay?

Nate: Yeah, I’m fine.

Starke: I'm Nathan Ford. I'm with the insurance company.

(Nate gives Starke an irritated look)

- - - - -

Parker: What kind of bird did you use?

Apollo: North American Kestrel. It's small-Bodied, but its wingspan is expansive enough that it sets off the motion detectors.

Parker: I would've gone with the Scarlet Tanager. Similar wingspan, but the brighter colors are more distracting.

Apollo: Yeah. That was my second choice.

(Apollo scrambles forward in the ductwork. Parker also scrambles forward, headed another way)

- - - - -

eliot taking off his shirt too? equal rights

- - - - -

Starke: Now, why would you want to kill Sophie?

Chaos: Come on, Starke. (gathering equipment) I had set up the perfect double-cross, and then you want to go and bring in a new player at the last minute? "Oh, and by the way, guys, that new player is gonna be Sophie Devereaux." There's no way I’m gonna try to out-con Sophie Devereaux! And I hate to break it to you, Starke, but she was the one that everybody was always scared of. It was never you.

- - - - -

[McRory’s Bar]

(Parker and Apollo sit at a table with locks)

Parker: Go.

(they begin picking locks to see who is fastest. Across the room, Eliot and Mikel sit at a table)

Mikel: I can top that. (pulls her shirt aside to show a scar on her shoulder) Frag grenade, Somalia.

Eliot (pulls up his sleeve to show scar on his arm): Myanmar. Sniper.

Mikel: I was a sniper in Myanmar for a while.

Eliot: When?

Mikel: 2003.

(Eliot looks surprised. Mikel holds up the handcuffs and Eliot quickly pulls her hand down)

Eliot: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We can't have that.

Hardison (walking by): Handcuffs. Y'all nasty

(eliot has a handcuff kink and was probably pegged within an inch of his life that night. I said what I said.)

- - - - -

(Sophie stands looking down at her grave. The headstone for Katherine has been replaced with one for Sophie Devereaux. Nate approaches and stands next to the grave)

Sophie: Starke was right. I'm not Sophie Devereaux anymore. I haven't been for ages. I... you killed her, you and your silly crusade.

Nate: It's just a name.

Sophie: No, they're not just names, not to me. All my aliases, every one of them, I -- I know when their parents died. I know when they had their first kiss.

[enchanted--realm]

When Calls the Heart Live Ramples

S8 ep10 Old Love, New Love, Is this True Love💕💕💕

Ohhh this episode was a goodie. First of all, Ned and Florence were so cute throughout this entire episode. Florence looked beautiful in that dress! I liked it better on her than I did on Molly. Also that first kiss between Ned and Florence was one of the best kisses to come out of this show I must say. That was a good kiss😉 I also loved Katie and thought she played her character very well. Everything surrounding her felt very natural and I really like the way the conversations evolved about her feelings concerning the marriage. I thought that plotline was very well connected and flowed well.

When Elizabeth first went to talk with Rosemary I was SHOCKED that she didnt apologize. She acknowledged her actions, yes, but then she was just like 'let's put our differences aside' instead of asking forgiveness and making up. I was very surprised. I guess it's just a slow step towards Elizabeth going back to her old self. Her and Rosemary will probably make up fully in the next episode when Elizabeth really starts to come into her true feelings. That said, I do appreciate that this tension between E and Rose extended into this episode because sometimes the plotlines in WCTH just go by too quickly or kind of fade away and are forgotten for a while before cropping up much later.

I love how both Elizabeth and Henry Gowen give advice that ultimately applies to themselves and the things they have learned and now it has opened up their hearts more and they can now see things more clearly. In Henry's case, this episode makes me think that they are gonna bring back Abigail. I don't even know what to begin thinking about that and there's so much controversy I don't think I even want to comment on it. I will just say that I loved Abigail's character and I loved the plotline between her and Henry Gowen. Ok moving on.

I really liked how we saw the gears turning in Elizabeth's head everytime she would talk with someone and give advice in this episode. You could see it right away at Ned and Florence's wedding that she already regretted sitting with Lucas and she was having major second thoughts about her relationship with him. It was very quick, but if you paid close attention to her face, you could see she was having doubts. Also, small note about that wedding scene, why the heck was Nathan sitting like that in the back row with his elbows up on the pew??? Just--why would they have him sit like that? It looked so awful and made him seem lazy and unrefined. And I didnt get the feeling that he felt uncomfortable by seeing Elizabeth sitting with Lucas so...it didnt even make sense, it was just bad. And it was also weird the way Carson had his arm around Faith. That is way too much pda for that time period.

More on Carson and Faith...I dont like them together, I never have, and I don't even want to bother talking about them anymore than I already have.

Fiona and Mike. I'm starting to really like them. I'm also starting to really like Fiona as her own character. I didn't always like her but she's really growing on me this season. I like that her progressiveness makes sense for her character and I really like the way her personality comes through in the acting. She's very natural in her delivery and Fiona feels very real and like someone with depth and layers to her. I don't know the name of the actress that plays her, but she is doing a fantastic job. I'm really loving Fiona🙌

I really liked the scene between Florence and Molly, when they were speaking by themselves. I love a good heart to heart between best friends and it felt like a good moment to have it then. I just love female friendships. Sisterhood is the best❤

Moving on to the reception I suppose. First I'll say that I love that Robert has noticed Allie and he seems to like her now. I think they are so cute together. It was so adorable the way he complimented her hair, her reaction, and then their dance. They were so cute. Ha! And then the joke that Jesse made about them getting married before Mike and Fiona! That was so funny, it was good chuckle.

I was surprised that Lucas hadn't asked Elizabeth to dance at all, but then I thought maybe it's because she was making herself distant from him in the crowd bc she doesn't want to lead him on anymore. Or the writers just didnt want to have any awkwardness in him asking her and her saying no, or them ending up dancing even if she doesnt really want to. Oh and I was also completely disgusted when Lucas brought up Allie again to Nathan at the reception and trying to manipulate Nathan into leaving E alone by bringing up his child. Ugh I hate it so much when he does that. It's not the first time he's done it. I wanted to hit him with a kitchen towel!

When Elizabeth walked up to Nathan I straight up thought she was gonna ask him to dance I was losing my mind! but then that wasnt the case. Yo, I was so shocked though I was on the edge of my seat let me tell you. Then she asked him to talk outside and I--!! What!! I could feel the relief in both E and Nathan during that talk. Oh it was like a breath of fresh air. Finally!! Team Nathan is coming in! Now after all those talks and moments of E giving advice, Elizabeth is finally able to take her own advice and take control of her life again instead being lead around by her grief and her fears. She is becoming ready to really be in a relationship with Nathan and I am so relieved it's finally happening. I was concerned about the pacing of these last few episodes bc I didnt know how they were going to write how Elizabeth comes to realize she can't live in fear, but I thought it was written in pretty well. When they spoke outside I was surprised that Nathan reached out to hold her hands. I thought that was pretty bold, but oooh she didnt pull away from him! And oh how awkward they had Lucas see them through the window. At least he sees now that Elizabeth has strong feelings for Nathan. I mean, he knows that N confessed his love for her Twice and both times she couldnt even say anything in response and just left. And now he sees that she'll allow them to hold hands, so... Lucas may actually bow out of this love triangle before Elizabeth has a chance to break up with him. That's what I suspect will happen next episode, that Elizabeth will call everything off with Lucas, but yeah he may make it easy on her and not put up a fight. It's not like Lucas has ever used the word love with Elizabeth anyway. He definitely doesnt feel as strongly for her as Nathan does, as seen through his actions and words, but that's a whole other subject that I don't have the time or energy to go into right now.

I loved Elizabeth in that dress btw I thought she looked really pretty. That dress had such a lovely design.

The preview! Yessss! More Team Nathan for the win! Things are really turning around for us you guys. I feel so good. Finally Elizabeth will be going back to normal and Nathan's game will be coming in strong! Hahahaha! I'm so excited for these next last episodes!

[hopevalley]

I've actually enjoyed watching new episodes of the show for the first time in a LONG time! I thought Lucas being frustrated w/ Elizabeth was contrived and misplaced. Was his mom like "me & your father are separated btw i told elizabeth before you?" The bit felt off. But hey, these past three episodes have been fun & much-better written than anything last season. How much of this season's improvement over recent prior ones do you think is due to the season having a new showrunner?

As to Lucas and Elizabeth, I feel this is an issue with shows in general of this runtime and episode length. I like to compare WCtH with Road to Avonlea because both shows had short seasons and 40ish minute long episodes, were family shows, and featured ensemble casts. Avonlea had a similar issue with pacing in the occasional episode. I know I like to nitpick WCtH a lot about its writing, and I never shy from honest critique, but I really do think the hiccup with Lucas and Elizabeth in Ep3 was just a product of needing a few more minutes of screentime—preferably the start of Helen telling Lucas about the situation with his father, since it did feel like him knowing everything came out of almost nowhere. We knew Helen would have to talk to him, but we never really saw her resolve to do so, and I think we earned the emotional payoff of the truth coming out. (As an aside, Helen should have apologized for telling Lucas that Elizabeth knew as well as putting her in a position where she had to keep a secret from someone she cared about. Elizabeth being put in a bad position was awful enough, but then she went and told Lucas that Elizabeth was aware the whole time? Yiiiikesssss...)

I’m pretty confident that Helen told Lucas something like: “I have to tell you something important... Your father...left me...a few weeks ago. I need to apologize for keeping it from you but I didn’t know how to bring it up...” and then probably responded to something Lucas said with a comment about how she’d talked to Elizabeth about it, or Elizabeth suggested she be honest about the situation because Lucas would find out eventually and it would be better if it came directly from her. I could definitely see Helen accidentally being too honest in a situation where she’s nervous about admitting the truth to her own son. She’s probably extremely embarrassed and ashamed, and the episode doesn’t really go into how Helen feels about it. They just jump into talk about love and how it needs to be nurtured and nobody ever asks Helen if she actually loved/loves her husband, let alone if he was a good man/husband to her. 

Not getting a scene where Helen confesses the truth weakens the entire plotline. I’m hoping they’ll just keep improving on this specific aspect of the show, and consider getting rid of unnecessary scenes or entire unnecessary storylines in favor of stronger, more complete stories.

I know their hesitation is based on the idea that not everyone cares about (for example) Lucas, so focusing really hard on Lucas’s relationship with his mother might feel Bad, but the entire “chair” plotline with Rosemary and Lee was unnecessary, as were the longer Florence and Ned scenes. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoyed them! But if they cut those out, or mostly cut them, then there would have been enough screentime for a full scene showing Helen telling Lucas about the truth.

And Chris McNally is clearly an actor who can handle an emotional scene like that, so it would have turned out well, and been well-received by the fans...even the ones who aren’t rooting for Lucas. Because what people who watch this show want to see is...depth, I think. So many relationships feel tacked on or fake. I’ve seen improvement this season, but they could definitely do more to bolster the “community” feel of the show.

--

As to the quality of the season so far...

@trash-god​ and I were chatting earlier this week about how wild it is that we’re both, like, actively looking forward to the next episode regularly. Sure, it’s still pretty early in the season, but we’re 25% of the way through. If the writing stays this consistently decent I think we’ll have the best season in a long time on our hands!

It’s funny because if you lurk on the WCTH subreddit, you’ll see most of the fans there are bored of this season, but I disagree with them in a bit way; this season is DEFINITELY better-written and smoother. As to where to place the credit, I think it’s worth considering the last few seasons and what the writers/writing teams have struggled with.

Season 4: They knew something was going to happen with their lead man so they tried introducing other things and in many ways had success. There were some REALLY GOOD scenes in S4, but there were also scenes or arcs that had a lot of potential that just fell flat. For example, they had that plot where Frank and Abigail got annoyed with each other over the fact that he’s kind of still living (mentally) as a carefree bachelor, and even though it wasn’t as thorough as it should have been, it was a pretty good and realistic storyline. But then later in the season, they introduced Carson, and Frank is suspicious of him for almost no reason (or at least, no solid reason), and then actively is...like a BAD PERSON for NO REASON. Two completely different plots, one was good and felt natural, and the other was awful and cringey. We also have the AJ plotline in S4. It started out super good because it was one of those plots that was genuinely built up to over the course of several episodes. We find out the accountant that was going to testify has withdrawn their statement, then we find out they’ve disappeared and we have a name. Bill discusses it with Abigail and Frank both, multiple times. He thinks it’s a payoff and he’s determined to prove it so he starts poking around. Eventually he gets a lead and follows it, and it’s revealed that AJ is a woman. Bill is annoying. AJ is a liar. I think conceptually this is one of the more interesting plots they’ve cobbled together, but in execution it was lacking toward the end of the story. Bill spent two episodes fighting AJ’s attitude and in the end he just lets her go with a smile? That isn’t like Bill at all. There’s a scene or two missing to make that reaction make sense. They don’t interact enough to give us the idea that Bill *understands* her, let alone would be okay with her literally breaking out of his jail ON HIS WATCH.

Season 5: They had to write Jack out of the story and had to rush a wedding in to “appease” the fans. They also had to write Shane, Philip, Frank, and Dottie off the show in this season (Dottie because the actress deals with a chronic illness and can no longer do acting work—I want to say she has Lyme’s). So they cobble this like, awkward storyline to write Frank out that doesn’t really make a lot of sense. They put this dramatic story together for Philip (when him just moving away would have been better/more interesting), and they try to bring AJ back for another 2-part episode, which sounded fun until we actually had to watch the episodes. It was at this point that I thought, “The people writing this show...think they’re writing a movie script.” It’s not that I think AJ isn’t pushy or emotionally blunt, but it definitely came across in those episodes that they wrote her that way specifically because the plot wouldn’t work out if she wasn’t. She does unreasonable things. For some reason Bill still has feelings even though she’s done nothing to earn them. (And vice-versa; he’s just so mean to her...why would she be interested?) Everyone was like :O when the AJ episodes weren’t very well-received. But like, I didn’t want AJ to come back for a huge dramatic rattlesnake bite scene. I wanted her back to see her emotional struggle with facing prison. I wanted to really see where they’d go with her seeing Henry Gowen. She says she wants to start over in Hope Valley after prison, but like...WHY? The only people who are nice to her are Dottie and Abigail! And then after this super dramatic poorly written set of scenes that pretty much ensured AJ would never be seen on the show again (because her presence was actively mocked by a lot of fans) they actually kill off Jack and try to have a deeply emotional and thoughtful episode.

The worst part is that...the post-death episode was good. The actors were great. Then you look back at the dramatic rattlesnake stuff and you’re just like, “What went wrong here?”

Season 6: They decided they were going to introduce a love triangle, so they start doing that, but then Abigail’s character AS WELL AS CODY’S CHARACTER has to be cut from the show, so they edit those out. I still think doing this was the right thing—Abigail as a character was literally UNBEARABLE throughout most of S5—but I also can’t deny that it probably brought the cohesiveness and overall quality of the season down by a bit, particularly with Abigail acting as a buffer between Nathan/Lucas and Elizabeth. I have no way of knowing if they edited other characters into those roles (it’s possible Bill became a buffer between Nathan and Elizabeth, for example), but the editing still gave us some scenes that just didn’t...quite work, like the one where Elizabeth comforts Henry, or when Lee becomes Bill’s confidant regarding the position of judge being offered to him.

Season 7: In their attempt to make Lucas seem “mysterious” they accidentally made him come off almost creepy. More than once. They had some good ideas in this season, but the writing felt a bit choppy and isolated from episode to episode. Of course Nathan’s father was innocent. Of course it was resolved in five minutes. You could see they were trying REALLY hard for cohesiveness at certain points (Elizabeth tried talking to Henry about his attitude; Jesse mentioned Frank; Dottie was mentioned), but each episode felt very isolated from the others, almost as if most of them were written completely separately from the rest.

And you’ll notice in S4, 5, and 6, we kind of have a similar problem, where some plots feel like they were written or inserted into the story independent of the other plotlines. Frank breaking into Carson’s room at the saloon to snoop through his stuff was one of the worst things in the season (literally cringey—and not in that “character is doing something in character that is hard to watch” way, but rather, “this character would literally never do that” way). The AJ storyline in S5 felt like the person who wrote it watched AJ & Bill’s interactions in S4 and absorbed ONLY the fact that they bickered a bit (and then didn’t know how to write that dynamic in a pleasing way). Writing Abigail out of the show was for the best, but it forced cracks in the plotlines that weren’t necessarily filled, as well as gave us interactions that didn’t feel quite right.

And I think S7 was trying to get on the right track, but wrote episodes in a very disjointed, haphazard kind of manner. There were good things about it, yes, but there were also some very...bad things. 

And overall the problem almost universally was that it felt like some of the episodes/interactions were written as if they were part of a movie, as part of a one time deal, instead of something that would need to be carried forward. If you go back and look over some plotlines you can start to see where the writers...didn’t know how to write fanfiction. S5 AJ is not the same character as S4 AJ. She doesn’t feel the same. She’s not written with S4 AJ in mind. She’s not a natural version of the character that exists a year later in the storyline...and then she was given a storyline that they had to force the character to fit, instead of tailoring a storyline to match the character. And they continued this trend...over...and over...and over...and over.

And now, finally, it feels that they may actually have a head writer who knows how to write television, who knows that in order to write a successful television series, you have to go back and watch the early episodes. You have to see how the characters have evolved. You have to consider how they’ve gotten to where they are, and where they will LOGICALLY go from here based on things that happen to or around them.

I don’t want to state this as Fact too early, but I definitely think it’s a factor. We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out, but I hope the quality continues to be as good as it is.