#terapsina's tv rambles

[terapsina]

Now that the writers and actors strike is about to begin being felt (and as we wait for those greedy billion dollar companies who are refusing to negotiate fair pay and conditions to give up) here's 10 of my favorite (all around best) fully finished older series you should definitely check out if you haven't watched.

I mean it, these are the shows with continuously great writing and a satisfying endings that manage to actually deliver on their promises.

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1. Leverage - (containing 5 seasons, or 77 episodes) - trailer here.

Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief and Mastermind. Heists and cons. Stealing from the rich and giving to their victims. They provide... leverage.

Meant for anyone who enjoys bad guys being the best good guys, who will burn down the lives of evil CEOs and then gloat in the background. Very satisfying.

Hands down the best example of a found family trope I've ever seen on screen. Barring none.

2. Killjoys - (containing 5 seasons, or 50 episodes) - trailer here.

Space Bounty Hunters. Another case of found family trope. Bisexual space princess assassin. Quippy sentient ship. Green alien goo. Evil lesbians (but like... in a good way). The warrant is all.

More seriously though, it's a story about three killjoys and the bounties they go after. Initially. And then they have to save the entire Quad from some very terrifying... stuff.

Contains one of the best friendships I've ever seen on television.

3. Orphan Black - (containing 5 seasons, or 50 episodes) - trailer here.

Found family trope but with clones.

Low level grifter sees a woman who looks exactly like her kill herself and plans to take over her identity long enough to cash out. Except then there's two other women who also look exactly like her. And apparently they're all clones and someone's killing them.

Enter a global conspiracy. Human experimentation. Lots of clone shenanigans. Some serial killings. And a few murders 💖.

4. Person of Interest - (containing 5 seasons, or 103 episodes) - trailer here.

Okay I'm beginning to see how I might have a found family trope issue.

Former CIA agent gets recruited by a reclusive billionaire computer programmer who developed a... machine that can predict acts of terror before they happen. But it also predicts 'irrelevant' acts of violence that will result in someone's death.

Unless someone interferes.

I'd really like to spoil some stuff to get you all to watch this one. But I'm going to maintain self control and just mention that early on they get a dog named Bear. Bear is a very good boy. Watch it for Bear.

Also for excellent commentary on rights of privacy, government surveillance and what does 'greater good' even mean? But mostly Bear.

5. 12 Monkeys - (containing 4 seasons, or 47 episodes) - trailer here.

The very best time travel show out there. What starts out as a confusing mess of causality basically exploding, by the end of the series all makes complete and total sense.

(when that final timey-whimey loop slid into place and revealed the entire pattern it was like a choir of angels started singing in the back of my head. It was freaking glorious).

Anyway, a man from a post apocalyptic future travels into the past to stop a plague from decimating nearly the entire world population.

He has the name of the man who released the virus and it's supposed to be a single trip. One trip. One bullet. Simple. Done.

Except then things keep escalating, and escalating until time begins eating its own tail and it might start looking like the end of the world might be a better ending than erasing all of time and space from reality.

Because when our guys screw it up, they screw it up GOOD.

And oh yeah... found family.

6. The Good Place - (containing 4 seasons, or 53 episodes) - trailer here.

A self-proclaimed Arizona dirtbag opens her eyes and finds out that she's dead and got accepted in the Good Place. Except that as soon as she arrives the Good Place starts glitching, and she really, REALLY needs to become a better person before she can be found out and kicked out to the Bad Place.

Luckily her assigned soulmate was a professor of ethics and moral philosophy.

One of the funniest, most thoughtful and clever comedies I've ever watched. Ever. The characters are delightful and by the time the final minute rolled around I had sobbed my heart out multiple times (which, as we all know, is a sign of the very best comedies out there).

As for the question of whether or not this too contains Found Fami- Yes! Obviously, yes.

7. Avatar: the Last Airbender - (containing 3 seasons, or 61 episodes) - intro here (couldn't locate the trailer but it's basically the same thing in this case).

The four nations lived in harmony. Until the Fire Nation attacked.

It's been a hundred years since the beginning of the war when two kids from the Southern Water Tribe find a boy frozen in ice and wake him up. A boy who's able to bend all four elements... though not very well.

Enter multi-nation flying road trip (thank you Appa, we love you most of all) as they try to find teachers for the Avatar and save the world.

Includes found family (shut up), amazing fight scenes, the most heartfelt and vivid characters ever, and the best example of a redemption arc actually done well.

8. Love Between Fairy and Devil - (containing 1 season, or 36 episodes) - trailer here.

This one gutted me. I'm saying this as a compliment. But it had to be said. Completely destroyed me. I just haven't been the same.

A love story between an Orchid Fairy and the leader of the Moon Tribe that starts out with her accidentally releasing him from millennia long imprisonment and then takes you through the caleidoscope of all possible human emotions (it's a body-swap comedy through the first part, then a romcom, then a dramatic romantic tale, and finally a tragic love story).

But it's such a satisfying slow burn.

And it carries this... humanity through the whole thing that makes it so visceral.

If you're a romantic who's very tired of instalove and characters dropping all their morals because 'ooh, attractive person' then you've got to watch this. Because this story does NOT take the easy road there.

(my more extensive rec for this series can be found here)

9. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - (containing 7 seasons, or 133 episodes) - fanmade trailer here (it was better than any of the official ones).

This series did so much. Introduced Ahsoka Tano, and made us love her. Gave names and faces and souls to the Clone Troopers (okay, it's the same face but you know what I mean), to a point where their endings during Order 66 destroyed me just as much as the ending of the Jedi Order. And somehow made me both love Anakin AND be a million times more angry with him.

There are some arcs in this series that might be a bit weaker. But there were some... god, there's a reason I love Clone Wars more than any other series or trilogy in this universe. And I'm not even a little ashamed to say it.

Must watch for Disaster Lineage shenanigans; for the vod'e; AND for the Jedi (who did their best okay? They always did their best 😭💔).

(and on the subject of found family... do I even need to comment)

10. Nikita - (containing 4 seasons, or 73 episodes) - trailer here.

A rogue assassin that escaped Division - covert government agency that takes recruits out of prison, fakes their deaths and then forces them to become spies and assassins - has come back to take it down. Brick by brick if she has to. With guns and explosives too when that works better.

Contains soooo many cool fight scenes. Is full of incredible characters you'll fall in love with (and hate with) very quickly. And most of all has an incredibly complex relationship of mentorship and friendship between two women that holds both great admiration and betrayal, real care and love as well as rage and hatred, forgiveness, mutual respect and an unbreakable kind of bond that so very rarely involves even one female character on TV, let alone two.

(as usual, found family tropes up the wazzoo).

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In conclusion. We all know there's going to be a large space between seasons of our favorite shows now (and some shows that aren't going to survive it). Let's fill that space with some excellent TV we haven't had a chance to see yet.

And direct the blame for the wait towards the right place (i.e. the studios).

[terapsina]

I totally agree and I want to add something to this.

So, queer people DO flock together, so the chances of there being only one queer person in a friend group are in fact slim.

But I think that's also likely due to one additional fact. After that first person 'comes out' or joins the group, there's suddenly a thing that happens. Everyone else in the group has this friend, this safe person that they can ask questions like 'how did you know?' and 'did you always know?' from.

And everyone notices that 'oh, no one here reacted badly', or maybe 'the one ex-friend that revealed themselves to be a bigot got kicked to the curb', and 'they didn't lose all their friends so... maybe I won't either?'.

Queer people aren't magic, we don't know that someone else is queer before they tell us (or before they know themselves). But once a friend group has proven itself to be a queer friendly place? The people who would have been too scared, or too isolated, or just not having had reason to think about it in relation to themselves, have the time, security and opportunity to explore their queer identities.

This might be why there's more and more kids that come out as gay, and bi, and trans, and ace now, than there were even 10 or 15 years ago. They feel safe enough to do it between friends.

So yeah, if TV shows want to be "Realistic" then once they introduce that First Queer Character, they can give it a year or two more and there's gonna be four more main ensemble characters that should be ready for their queer storylines.

the idea that there can only be one queer person (+ an outside love interest) in tv shows/movies is so stupid and unrealistic

like besties,,,, we flock like ducks

if there’s one, there’s another ten

in the last seven years of my life (age 12-19) my best friend (at the time) came out and there was like a ripple effect, now i’m a lesbian and friends w more queer people than cishet people

i was gonna say i need a show with a Token Straight Friend™️ but that’s literally tao in heartstopper

[terapsina]

So I started watching Found. A show about a team of vigilante-adjacent civilians who search for missing people (specifically the ones that get forgotten by cops). Lead by Gabi Mosely, a former kidnapping victim who's now holding her childhood kidnapper locked up in her basement.

As one does.

And honestly it's pretty great.

Here's the trailer:

The relationship between Gabi and Sir (don't ask!) is just as much of an emotional landmine clusterfuck as you might think. And will probably appeal to the fans of stuff like Prodigal Son (in the sense that we've got the hero in a codependent association with their abuser as they try get that abuser to help them investigate and save other people from the things they once put other people through).

But there's also a pretty great team around Gabi and that part of the show will probably appeal to the people who enjoy shows like Leverage, The Equalizer and Lie to Me (which, coincidentally they actually kinda have Gillian Foster's actress as the Cal Lightman of the team... but with less ego).

So the team...

Gabi Mosely. The main character and the team leader. She's the crusader of the team. Cares about the victims so much. Is willing to do absolutely anything to reunite the missing people with their families.

Margaret Reed. Gabi's lead investigator who developed her deductive reasoning and Sherlock Holmes levels attention to detail after her son went missing. It's a non-superpower superpower.

She juggles the two sides of tragic optimism like a champ.

There's Dhan Rana. The muscle of the team with PTSD from his own time in captivity (details to be revealed but my personal current guess is time as prisoner of war... don't quote me on that though).

Very ride or die, especially where Gabi's concerned (I mean this in a platonic sense, he's got a husband).

Then there's Zeke Wallace. The tech support and occasional hacker for the team. Suffers from agoraphobia, ergo can't leave his apartment because of trauma from his own kidnapping (details unknown, but initial guess is that he was kidnapped for ransom, his family money seems to at least partially fund their operation).

There's also a token cop character named Mark Trent. He's... fine.

And finally, my favorite out of everyone there, Lacey Quinn. The law student moonlighting as legal assistant.

I've got a more detailed description of her role in the story but as it's a bit of a spoiler (though something that gets revealed within the first few episodes) I'm putting it under a cut (you can decide for yourself if a reveal that happens within the first three episodes is too big for you or not).

Lacey too was kidnapped as a child by Sir and then saved by Gabi when the two of them managed to escape. Since then the two have developed a very close sisterly bond.

Lacey however is NOT aware that her former kidnapper is locked up in Gabi's basement.

THE DRAMA! 💣💥🥳

[terapsina]

What are your favorite tv shows?

I've actually made a post where I rec Leverage, Killjoys, Orphan Black, Person of Interest, 12 Monkeys, The Good Place, Avatar: the Last Airbender, Love Between Fairy and Devil, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Nikita.

So instead of recapping that - here's a FURTHER list of some of my favorite TV shows.

11. Black Sails - trailer here.

A show where real historic pirates get smooshed together with the greatest examples of some literary pirates and shaken until everyone's bloody and grubby.

A lot of queer characters, cool pirates doing cool pirate things, and the inevitable and cruel encroachment of "civilization" onto the last safe pirate port.

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12. Lost in Space - trailer here.

The Robinson family get stranded on an alien planet and gradually adopts (in no particular order) a killer robot, a sociopathic fake psychologist, and a smuggler and his chicken. As one does.

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13. Anne with an E - trailer here.

My favorite adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. An old spinster and her aging brother plan to adopt a boy to help at the farm, they get sent Anne instead. And it will transform more than just their lives alone because Anne has the biggest, brightest personality on the planet and her imagination is like... getting hit over the head with a slate.

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14. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - intro here.

Buffy Summers. One girl in all the world to face the forces of darkness.

She fights demons, kills vampires and saves the world. A lot.

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15. Psych - trailer here.

Perpetual manchild Shawn and his best friend Ghee Buttersnaps aka “The Heater” (better known as Gus) open a psychic detective agency after Shawn fakes being a psychic to the cops. As. One. Does.

Utterly ridiculous. And a LOT of fun.

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16. Charmed - intro here.

After their Grams's death the Halliwell sisters inherit the manor, the Book of Shadows, their magic and a destiny of bi-weekly demon attacks.

The literal reason I have a huge soft spot for witches.

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17. Eureka - trailer here.

The answer to the question of what happens when you put a towns' worth of crazy scientists inside a single paddock. The answer in question - black holes, time travel, love potions, zombie apocalyses, robots dating smarthouses, and a partridge in a pear treeeeee 🎶

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18. Cloak & Dagger- trailer here.

The ultimate opposites attract slow burn superhero best friends forever soulmate romance. A show about fighting for justice, facing your privilege, and healing from trauma (...and teleportation, and daggers made of light).

There being only two seasons is a crime but as those two seasons were utter perfection, it deserves to be on the list.

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19. 9-1-1 - trailer here.

A show about first responders, more specifically about the people of Station 118 and the crazy (crazy) emergencies they get called to. Alternatively, the show about how many times a season one of the team can get shot/stabbed/crushed by firetruck/impaled through head/swept by tsunami/sink in a cruise ship/buried alive and be completely fine.

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20. Stargate SG-1 - fan trailer here.

Alien-planet-of-the-week show where the villains are body-snatching snakes pretending to be gods (to start with). And the heroes (to start with) are an archeologist/linguist with the Olympic gold medal in dying, a theoretical astrophysicist who occasionally blows up stars, a military guy whose favorite character is Bart Simpson, and the guy who can convey all the feelings under this (or any other) sun in a single raised eyebrow.

Other kids grew up on Star Trek. I grew up on this.

[terapsina]

Reasons to watch Love Game in Eastern Fantasy (永夜星河)

An 'Ordinary Girl from Our World' drop kicked into her least favorite novel with a stupid ending and needing to deal with tasks such as 'Switch the Medicine for Her Favorite Character Without Getting Murdered by Her Favorite Character's Mean Paranoid Brother' (task failed *rewind* task failed *rewind* task failed *rewind* task f-) because of COURSE she's dropped into the villainous side character.

As conveyed by 'Extremely Expressive Physical Comedy Acting'.

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'Badass Demon Hunter' surrounded by a previously 'World's Most Introverted Brother' and 'Her New BFF a.k.a. Brother's New MorTaL EneMy' turning into LITERAL CHILDREN once a day and twice before breakfast.

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'The Complicated Relationship between a Woman Whose Entire Family was massacred by a Demon and her Adoptive Brother Who She Doesn't Know is Half-Demon and Has So Unintentionally Given a Bajillion Self-Image Self-Worth issues to'.

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Miss 'Winner of the Most Adorable' award and Mr. 'Grumpy Angsty Wet Cat' parenting the little 'Sunshine Bamboo Child'.

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The Coolness Factor of the Magical Girl Transformation Scene.

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Slowly building romance between 'Secretly a Demon' and the 'Only Person Who Did Not Fear The Real Him and Instead Saw and Valued and Protected Him'.

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A Little Breaking and Entering, a Little Arson, a Little Prison Break and the Cinematography of BOOM!

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The 'Bi-weekly Shenanigans Interrupted For the Obligatory Rip-Thy-Heart-to-Threads Hurt/Comfort Angst Storyline' as conveyed by 'The Most Expressive Micro-expressions Face Acting Around'.

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'Incredibly Sweet and Soft Secondary Romance' a.k.a. 'Miao Miao's OTP'.

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And finally... 'Eternal OTP Bait Galore'.

[terapsina]

Let me introduce you to the characters of the new British TV Show Nautilus (loose re-imagining of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas).

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Captain 'Tragic Backstory, a Quest For Vengeance and All The Slow-Motion Cool Camera Angles' Nemo Dakkar nee. Indian Prince.

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Miss 'Taken By Underwater Pirates But At Least I'm Not Married Yet' Elizabeth Sw- I Mean Humility Lucas.

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Mistress 'I Should Never Have Taken That Job To Body/Prison Guard That Rich Girl Until She's Unhappily In the Hands of Her Betrothed' Loti.

&

Cook 'Surrounded by Idiots' Kai.

(featured together because if that's not 'Love at First Knifepoint' I don't know what is (and if I'm wrong I will be highly disappointed))

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A PUPPY.

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Young Mr. 'A Sweetie With a Sweet-Tooth' Blaster.

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Mr. Architect 'I Just Wanted To Explore the Beauty of the Depths of Ocean WHY Does Everyone Want To Ram My Precious Child Into Boats?' Gustave Benoit.

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Captain 'The Most Punchable Face I've Seen So Far' Youngblood.

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Mr. Evil Toddler of 'It's MY toy that I built with slave labor and I want it back' Crawley.

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To Be Continued Once I Get To Know The Rest of the Crew Better but Until then... trailer under the cut.

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[terapsina]

8 TV shows to get to know me

Not tagged, except indirectly by @norcumii (hi, you don't know who I am but I adore your fics).

Stargate SG-1 (*whoooooooshhh* 'Close the iris.')

Leverage ('sometimes bad guys are the only good guys you get').

The Vampire Diaries (the first 3 seasons + American Gothic (I might have developed into a feminist partially out of spite and in self defense to watching this show now that I think about it)).

Charmed ('was it a demon? 😧' / 'No, it was w a t e r m e l o n 🍉😭.')

Avatar: the Last Airbender (just watch the whole thing (because it's eeeeexcellent) but keep in mind that The Southern Raiders is my favorite episode).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ('No weapons, no friends, no hope. Take all that away and what's left?' / 'Me!')

Psych (🎶 IN BETWEEN THE LINES THERE'S A LOT OF OBSCURITY, I'M NOT INCLINED TO RESIGN TO MATURITY... 🎵)

The Pretender (honestly you can just write - miss parker the pretender - in a search engine and as soon as you get the pictures you'll probably immediately know me better).

Tagging: @vorpalmuchness, @isagrimorie and anyone else who wants to do this.

[terapsina]

Reasons to watch Love Between Fairy and Devil.

A Chinese fantasy romantic drama with a dash of comedy in the beginning and a huge wallop of angst in the second half.

One, the romance.

(take careful note of this gesture, please, it will break your hearts in the future)

Okay, so this is honestly one of the best told love stories I've watched in recent memory. And that is honestly very impressive when you consider how very easy it is to mess up this kind of love story.

She's Xiao Lanhua (or 'Little Orchid Fairy'), bright and innocent and kind. And in the beginning more than a bit naive and foolish. A fairy who is looked down on because of her damaged immortal root, who bends under the pressure of the bullying she's always known from the other fairies. Lonely in her home of Arbiter Hall where she looks after the destiny books alone by herself because her shifu left to wander the mortal realms.

He's Dongfang Qingcang. The Moon Supreme, the leader of the Moon Tribe who has been imprisoned following the last war between his people and the Heavenly Realm 30'000 years ago. He's cold and unfeeling and quite literally heartless (this involves fantasy reasons and some pretty horrible childhood trauma that gets slowly unraveled through the story).

And in the beginning the only reason he doesn't kill her as soon as he's free is that there's an accidental curse that ties his life to hers. If she dies so does he. If she's cut, so is he. And whatever emotion she feels, he will feel too. Whatever order she gives, he must follow. And sometimes, under certain conditions, they switch bodies.

(the actors have great fun with it, warning of huge amounts of second-hand embarrassment in two out of 36 episodes, I nearly died, it was worth it)

He keeps her safe because he has no choice.

And the thing is that he doesn't actually ever try to seduce her. The normal formula of this kind of story is 'he lies, seduces her, then falls in love, but still breaks her heart, she forgives him' right? This show though? It plays with the formula, yeah, but it twists it in a very interesting (in my opinion) way.

There's a misunderstanding between them. And here's some of the comedy of the show. She thinks he's fallen in love with her and she's trying to gently let him down. Meanwhile he's not actually pretending that he's in love with her, he's just not telling her exactly why he can't let her out of his sight.

And the development in both their characters is incredibly detailed and intricate. They both grow immensely through the story. As Dongfang Qingcang first experiences emotions through her and then as his own emotions begin to wake up following that. As Xiao Lanhua starts out wanting to return to her normal life and then falls in love not only with him but also his land and his people.

They're very Hades and Persephone (minor kidnappings including). And very Romeo and Juliet (though more mature about it, she isn't actually willing to compromise her own morality just because she's fallen in love with him).

And their love story isn't at all rushed. It takes nearly three quarters of the story for them both to fall in love, it is gradual and believable and mutual. And then once they have fallen in love despite the fact that there are all kinds of very familiar angsty plots thrown at them, none of them get dragged out to annoying lengths and many of them get resolved in very refreshing ways.

(angst, there will be such big whallops of angst, my friends)

But the romance is not the ONLY thing this show has going for it. It is what changes the fate of all three realms, yes, but there are other relationships that deserve to be mentioned.

And other characters, because this is actually a pretty beautifully built ensemble show.

One character is Dongfang Qingcang's brother Xun Feng, the character that in a different show would be the malicious underhanded brother who wants to steal his brother's throne and cares only of power.

Here though, after an old secret is revealed and he finds out the truth behind the reason (a good one) he's hated his brother for thousands of years his wish to rebuild his relationship with his brother is genuine. And though there are things he does after that which could have been because of cruelty in a different show, here they are simply misguided.

(there are lots of awkward Dongfang Qingcang trying to show affection for the first time since childhood scenes, they're adorable, and hilarious)

Then there's the false friendship between Xiao Lanhua and Jie Li which slowly develops into a real one through the power of Xiao Lanhua being simply too stubborn and too good and too genuine for Jie Li to remain stone against.

(here portrayed scene of Jie Li flinching under horror that is Dongfang Qingcang doing his very best to make Xiao Lanhua as ugly and unattractive as possible)

Jie Li is an orphan of the Moon Tribe from Haishi City who has spent her entire life scrapping for survival by lying and cheating. Including by selling to Xiao Lanhua fake cures for her damaged immortal root.

Again, there are certain ways you'd expect her story to go. You'd be wrong.

And then the relationship between Dongfang Qingcang and his most loyal guard, the Black Dragon Shang Que.

(here shown the reaction to the miracle of his lord patting his brother on the shoulder).

Poor dragon needs to deal with a lot and deserves a raise. He's also just as dumb as the rest of them. And FYI falls in love with Jie Li.

And then of course is the very healthy way this show portrays unrequited love too.

There are two characters who this is shown through. One is fairy Dan Yin who is in love with the God of War Chang Heng and is introduced as a spoiled bully but very quickly is shown being capable of fairness and ultimately gets developed into a character that you want to see gaining happiness.

The other character is Chang Heng himself who is secretly in love with Xiao Lanhua (who actually does have a crush on him bourne from gratefulness and a little hero-worship at the start of the story), but he ultimately loses his chance through inaction and silence that he abandons too late. But I want to make clear that he is not an unlikable character. In a different show he would have been the other lead. Just... not in this one.

Anyway, the two characters experience unrequited affection and though both go through stages of denial and unwillingness to abandon hope, neither do either one of them ever turns into something despicable - and when the time where they must choose between selfishness that would hurt the ones they love, and selflessness that would save them comes around both do the right thing.

Which is something I found refreshing and a relief.

And this show has so many relationships that get fully developed and explored. Not simply between the main couple and those around them. But between the secondary characters themselves. Other than the relationships I've already mentioned, other ones that have their chance in the sun are Xiao Lanhua and Dan Yin, Dan Yin and Jie Li, Dongfang Qingcang and Chang Heng, Xun Feng and Xiao Lanhua. And more besides.

And then there's the villain of the story who is both monstrous and utterly unforgivable and yet also has a very sad story and motivations for what they do. I can't really say anything more though.

Basically I just really recommend this show to fans of fantasy and people with a weakness for a very compelling, well developed love story.

For those interested, the first five episodes are available to be watched free on the official streaming site here (at which point you can decide if it's worth subscribing for a single month to finish watching).

I think it's also going to be available on Netflix on September 18, 2022 update: September 9, 2022.

That's of course for the... official sites. There are of course other options available 🏴‍☠️.

P.S. I finished the entire show with all its 36 episodes in three days (despite it being my first time watching a live action Chinese TV series) am now going into withdrawal. Seriously, this show is SO GOOD, I PROMISE.

P.P.S. It's got a happy ending. I will not tell you anything other than that. But yes, it's got a happy ending.

[terapsina]

The first 6 episodes of Love Between Fairy and Devil are officially on Netflix.

Here, look at some scenes that might encourage you to check out this absolutely EXCELLENT series:

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(the aesthetic excellence is out of this world)

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(the comedy timing is top notch)

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(the scenery and cinematography is consistently amazing)

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(the romantic chemistry is absolutely gorgeous)

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(the magical badassery delivers constantly)

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(the world even has colors)

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(the costume department was given SO MUCH MONEY)

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(the angst of it all will utterly break you)

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(AND it's got the most pretty opening credits I've seen in my life)

[terapsina]

I don't understand what people have against narration in TV shows. It's not that irritating. Chill.

[terapsina]

Anyone else having problems with finishing these made-for-binging seasons? Like. The problem/case/monster of the week type of shows get too repetitive for binging but I have very little problem picking it up again. While with the shows that are basically just a very very long movie, I will have that urge to watch the next episode IMMEDIATELY but then if I can't finish the season in one sitting I might put it off for tomorrow, and then for next week and then I just don't feel like watching it at all anymore.

I wonder if it's something to do with the fact that because in those type of shows the story develops into something unpredictable and there's no way to know if I'll like the direction. While with plot of the week I know exactly what I'm going back to and there's a certain kind of familiarity and comfort in that.

[terapsina]

Hot take: All main characters in television - those who haven't been identified otherwise queer - should be bisexual to keep all romantic avenues for excellent chemistry open.

[terapsina]

You know one of the things I like about 'procedural shows' more than 'a single overarching plot' shows?

The fact that time passes.

You can basically expect that within the universe it's been basically as long between episodes as it's been outside it. And then between seasons there's probably like a three month skip within the show too. People get to grow older. You know how long they've been killing vampires, or meeting aliens, or conning rich people.

And yes it means that June tends to be Apocalypse season and "it must be Tuesday" whenever something weird happens (but who doesn't love an inside joke?).

On the other hand with shows that start the next episode where the last one ended? And the new season where the old one ended too? Who the hell knows how time passes in there, sometimes it takes four seasons to tell a story that in universe takes up anywhere from two to six months and by the time they're done you need timey-whimey algebra to figure out how old the characters are now (and sometimes not even the writers know anymore).

Like, I actually enjoy both kinds of shows, as long as the story and characters are interesting I will love it. But I kind of miss getting to watch new fantasy and science fiction shows that have the demon/alien of the week. There are a lot of things I like about procedurals, and this is one of the reasons (another being that generally they have more time for character exploration).

There's a reason BtVS, Charmed, Stargate SG-1, Leverage and other shows with that format are so well loved (admittedly I'm probably the only one for who the way time passes in them is one of those reasons (in my defense it's not the main one, the main one is how the writers made me love the characters)).