#the flash 100th episode

[hotshotsxyz]

too little, too late

(8x08 coda) (buddie) (1.2k) the episode chose violence and so did i :) spoilers for 8x08, and hey, guess what? this is my 100th 911 fic! it feels right that it's an evil one <3

The real estate agent has an irritating voice. It’s pitchy and run through with vocal fry, and if Buck has to listen to her talk for another second, he might actually tear his hair out. And it’s definitely about her voice. Nothing to do with the largely helpful information she’s handing over to Eddie like candy on Halloween.

“Anyway, we can touch base again once you’ve had a chance to look over those listings. I’m sure we’ll find something for both of you to love!” the realtor says.

Buck smiles. It feels brittle and fake.

“Thank you so much,” Eddie says with all the sincerity Buck can’t quite muster. He ends the call and sits back against the couch.

“That, uh—that went, um—” He’s choking on the positivity he’s trying so hard to exude. “—well,” he manages.

“Yeah,” Eddie says. He runs a hand through his hair. “Seems easier than I thought it was going to be.”

Easy.

That’s—

Yeah.

“You know you—you don’t have to buy straight away,” Buck says as casually as he can manage, which is to say, not casually at all.

“Buck,” Eddie says with a sigh.

“I know!” Buck says, throwing his hands out in a gesture of surrender. “Just—maybe you want to make sure, you know? Before it’s—it’s permanent.”

“I can’t keep missing out on his life,” Eddie says quietly.

Buck swallows. He knows. He knows! Knows it like he knows there’s going to be an Eddie-and-Chris shaped hole in his heart for the rest of his goddamn life.

“I don’t want you to,” Buck says, and it’s maybe the first honest thing that’s come out of his mouth since he sat down on Eddie’s couch.

Bile rises in the back of his throat as he realizes this might be one of the last times he gets to sit on this couch, in this house, with this man.

Eddie drops his head into his hands. “I don’t—” He cuts himself off.

“Have you told Bobby yet?” Buck asks. His breath catches.

“No,” Eddie says.

“Oh,” Buck says in a rush of air. “That’s—” He wants to say good. He can’t say good. Eddie needs—he needs—

Eddie lifts his head from his hands and his eyes are shining. “I don’t want to,” he admits. “I thought—”

“That he’d want to come back,” Buck supplies when Eddie doesn’t finish his thought.

He nods.

“He still—he could still—” Buck starts.

“He’s not going to change his mind.” Eddie cuts him off. “He doesn’t hate me. It’s worse than that. He doesn’t care.”

Buck’s chest feels tight. “He—he loves you, Eddie,” he says weakly.

“Maybe before, but—”

“He does,” Buck insists. “And—and if this is what you have to do to make sure that stays true I—I get it.” He does. He gets it. He’d do anything for Christopher. He’d—

It’s the worst feeling in the entire fucking world, but he’d give up Eddie for that kid. Is. Is giving up Eddie for that kid. A sob jumps up in Buck’s throat. He fights it back.

“I want to believe you,” Eddie says.

Buck knows that he doesn’t.

“Have you, um. Have you talked to Chris about this yet?” Buck asks, feeling a little bit like he’s just laid his neck across the base of a guillotine.

Eddie shakes his head. “No, I—I’ve got to do this, whether he wants me to or not.”

All at once Buck’s angry. Angry at Eddie, angry at his parents, at fucking Kim, at himself, and maybe even a little bit at Christopher.

“Eddie, you—you told him he could come back!” He says, a little louder than he means to. “Doesn’t he deserve to know that’s not going to be an option anymore?”

Eddie’s gaze snaps to his. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He’s got—he’s got friends here, and—and Carla, and—” He can’t say it. He doesn’t have the right to say it, doesn’t have the right to feel like he’s already lost a limb and now they’re taking a lung, but— “and me,” he finishes quietly.

Something like devastation flashes across Eddie’s face. “Buck, I—”

“No,” Buck says quickly, standing up from the couch. “I shouldn’t have—I’m not—”

“Buck, wait,” Eddie says, following him as he retreats toward the door.

“I, um—I forgot, I have to—I promised Maddie,” he tries to lie.

“Please don’t go,” Eddie says, and god, how many times in Buck’s life has he yearned to hear someone say that to him and mean it. How many nights has he driven home from Eddie’s wishing he’d been asked to stay.

This thing building in his chest, this thing of anger and grief and regret—it hurts. Every breath he takes is a little more constricted, a little less effective.

Eddie looks at him, and Buck sees it. That thing he’s always wanted to see. That thing he didn’t even know he wanted from Eddie until right now and it’s—

There was a small, naïvely hopeful part of Buck that really still believe that if someone loved him enough, they’d stay. Eddie loves him, looks at Buck like he’ll break his heart when he walks out the door, and it still isn’t—

Eddie loves him, and it isn’t enough to make him stay.

Buck is in love with him, he realizes, and it doesn’t fucking matter because he’s leaving. Like Abby and like Tommy, except Buck didn’t know how much hurt he hadn’t even discovered yet, because this isn’t Abby or Tommy, it’s Eddie, and Eddie—

Eddie’s supposed to be the one that stays.

Buck shakes his head and shuffles back until the doorknob is digging into his spine. “I have to,” he breathes, a grossly distorted reflection of what neither of them has quite managed to say.

Eddie opens his mouth like he’s going to ask again, like he’s going to beg Buck to stay, to show him all these awful pieces of his heart that he’s just found so he can remind himself that it’s not too much to leave behind.

Buck’s out the door before he can say another word.

He throws himself into the Jeep and all but fishtails it out of Eddie’s driveway. He makes it three streets away before he has to pull over.

The first sob surprises him with its softness; the second with its violence. He wraps his arms tight around his stomach and, god, he tries to breathe. But there’s not—there’s not enough oxygen in the entire world to make up for the way his lungs refuse to expand in the face of this loss.

He has to—he can’t—Eddie needs him to pull it together. To—to help him. To support him, and god help him, Buck will. There’s nothing Eddie could ask of him that he wouldn’t give. Nothing Eddie could do, Buck’s realizing, to make him love him any less.

Hot tears spill down Buck’s cheeks. He takes a shuddering breath and wipes them away. His vital organs are crumbling, so what?

He’ll set himself on fire if that’s what it takes to keep Eddie warm.

[arrow-v-flash-polls]

who had the Best 100th ep

invasion (arrow

what is past is prologue (flash

wvrd error 100 (lot

its a super Life (supergirl

Not every show makes it to 100 episodes but these four did, so which one had the best episode to mark the occasion?

Thank you for the suggestion anon. This should be an interesting result.

[shehungthemoon]

Just dumping my Ina Paha thoughts here. 🙃

First of all I did NOT know it was the 100th episode going into this, so i was very confused watching the montage at the end lol

I also had to click out and make sure I didn't click the wrong episode when the Pilot started playing at the beginning. When I heard Danny's voice on the phone instead of Hesse's I swear I got whiplash

It's filmed so well (bar where they reshot the pilot where Steve gets Danny on the phone instead of a dead dad, in which they literally forgot to put the same filter over the scene to make the stitching coherent) and I absolutely love the camera work they did with the white-room and the video projections. It felt very much a level above normal network television cinematography, especially the parts where Steve's going in and out of the hallucinations.

Steve finally FINALLY killing Wo-Fat was so cathartic, it should have happened ages ago but I'm willing to look past all the dumb ways he survived just to allow this incredible ending to his story.

Ina Paha gave me Kono doing... this. I owe Grace Park my whole life. Pls costuming department put her in hot pink again 💗

yes, it was a Steve episode. but Danny REALLY shone, first as the only resident Actual Detective figuring out what happened to Steve by the tire-tracks, rampaging through the compound steadily and efficiently and knocking people off without a pause, and then in Steve's mind shooting Hesse's kneecaps off?!?!?! That was CRAZY and probably not suppose to be as hot as it was and definitely made me want an ex-mobster AU immediately. Basically I have a competency kink and really like badass!danny shit 😊

Seeing Chin's long hair again made me swoon

My jaw dropped when I saw Jenna! I think it's really interesting that Steve still thinks of her so much, and I was surprised that she showed up in both the actual dreams and the montage. I definitely underestimated how much she impacted Steve's life, it seems, and I hate that we'll never hear him address that and we'll only know about it inadvertently like this.

(hand over the heart for how lori got like. one team shot. poor girlie.)

⭐I took the montage at the end as being flashbacks and memories that Steve was having as he left the compound. Looking at it through that lens certainly makes one unwell.

Obligatory squeal for Adam appearing just to save the day :))) look below to see the love of my life! :)))))) ⬇⬇⬇

Of course, the obligatory mcdanno bullet(s). It writes itself! The way Danny said Steve's name so small and broken when he found him. The way they look at each other on the ground, the pain their faces. I need an official apology statement from Scott and Alex for it. Can we talk about what flashes by during the montage at the end? (IMO it being Steve's memories.) So much Danny.

The first thing is Danny and Steve's first meeting. Jfc. The showrunners milk it SO MUCH and who's complaining

The big, rocking hug. The hands clasping underground. Gracie of course. And then Danny collapsing from the bioweapon, which to be honest I was NOT expecting to see at all--it felt like a genuinely strange choice to include in there and it really ONLY makes sense if you go along with all that being what Steve's remembering. Even then, I was surprised to see it, so basically this is Hawaii Five-Oh making mcdanno gayer than even I was wanting them to be. Steve still thinks about that? From so long ago? Even with so many other close calls in between then and now? Good fucking lord ok then loverboy that's WILD. Canon accepted ig this show is just pure whump.

Danny goes through all of this just days after losing his brother and killing Reyes. JFC can we please address that. I need a 30k introspection fic to let me into this man's mind rn.

The Wo Fat v.s. Steve fight at the end was INCREDIBLE. I would love to give the choreographer's hand a shake, it's some of the best work I've seen on television in a long time. It was impressive for a procedural like this. It was long and physical and you truly didn't know what the outcome was going to be; it everything that their built-up relationship deserved for a conclusion. It also happening with a Steve coming off of hours of torture and drugging was crazy (guess we finally know who would win a PVP if they were both at full strength!). That being said I was really impressed with Wo Fat's capabilities and physical prowess, I was not expecting it to be so even and close to the line. I actually jumped when Steve LIFTED him up into the lighting fixture. We do not talk about Steve's (Alex's???) raw upper-body strength enough.

Anyway. Electricity in the water play. The physicality hell that this gif below is ⬇. Fire extinguishers and loaded needles. Crazy martial arts. Chair and buckets (holy shit did y'all see the force with which Wo Fat SHOT that bucket?????) flying. All's fair. I loved it.

The shot going right through the forehead, clean. I don't know how to put into words why that's so monumental to me but it is.

The mystery bad lady was SO intriguing, I wish we got more from her... How does she know Wo Fat? Why was she entrusted with all that information on him and Steve and especially Doris? Absolutely where did she come from, what was her name? Why did I have a huge huge hot crush on her? All important questions. (Goes to show that h50 CAN give us some more genuine badass, not just there to date someone women characters, just explicitly choose not to. I'm holding out for Ellie to remain platonic so hard right now.)

Almost forgot Danny in that black Hawaiian shirt. Will be whimpering over that image forever. The whole episode I was trying to focus on the underlining betrayal mystery they were laying out but every time my brain started working too hard Scott with his stupid waist and those flower patterns just started flashing into my head

Again, are you seeing this:

I'm unwell and so so happy.

H50 you're a gem when you want to be.

[inkedroplets]

I would love to hear about the Fate Has Intervened WIP you have going on :)

Would it surprise you if I told you it was another rift fic?

I picture it set sometime after the 100th episode before it diverges from canon. Lena walks away from her Non Nocere project but there's no reconciliation. Perhaps the wounds are simply just too deep. And when Lena realizes how close she came to crossing a line she had vowed never to cross she finds it impossible to trust herself to work alone. Too easy to imagine herself making excuses for herself. Too hard to trust her own judgement but her desire to do good wins out and she begins a tenuous partnership with Clark of all people. Something familiar about working with a Kryptonian maybe. Or maybe she knows that Superman is likely to be her harshest critic after Lex and after what she did to Kara in the Fortress and feels it's a rightful punishment. But time goes by and without really meaning to she finds herself working with the Justice League. Nothing official. There's L-Corp to think about and she doesn't want to even imagine the headlines that would follow if a Luthor joined the Justice League. And when the League finds themselves facing an enemy that specializes in magic, one that has no trouble at all taking down Superman, the decision is made to call in Kara (something that Lena doesn't agree with but knows better than to argue. pushes to assist while Lena's sent to the armory to retrieve a weapon that they hope might stop them. She spots the weapon in question but before she can retrieve it something else catches her eye that almost feels like it's calling to her...

Just as Supergirl arrives on the scene, there's a flash of golden light and a figure making a beeline towards the enemy, tanking a blast of magic that had been enough to lay out Superman seemingly unscathed and just as quickly as it had begun, it ends and once the smoke clears, there's Lena still floating in midair wearing the Helmet of Fate. She's made a deal with the creator of the Helmet that still possesses it. The Lord of Order. Too long he's acted without a vessel, too long chaos has been allowed to run rampant. Speaking through Lena, he informs the League of the agreement. There are those that disagree but Lena's made up her mind. It might be safer to act as a force for good as a vessel rather than by her own hand... She's a Luthor, after all. Kara is the loudest to voice her disapproval but there's little that can be done. The deal has been made. Lena is no longer Lena. She's the vessel for Doctor Fate. But as per the agreement, Lena gets one day a year to remove the helmet, to be herself for a time. The first time that she does, Kara watches from a distance as Sam envelopes Lena in a hug, looking more stunned than anything. Lena consoling Sam as she cries against Lena's shoulder, asking Lena why she would do something so foolish. And Kara is left to wonder if they can ever reconcile, if perhaps they missed their moment to do so...

[cecekeating]

My 609 Jordayla thoughts and breakdown pt 1

So many things surprised me this 100th episode. Infact a lot of things did. However I am not going to go into that now. I am here to continue sharing my thoughts on Jordayla because despite how the 100th episode went, I thought it was the one piece of story that the writing got right. So let’s get into it.

In the beginning portion of the episode, Jordan comes to Layla’s room to check in on her. His initial reaction to the squeezed pieces of paper reminded me so much of episode 417 when he finds Layla trying to write her letter to Carrie. I thought that was a funny callback. Now before going further, we need to remember that Layla is still in recovery. For this recovery arc to make sense, we need to head back into season 2. 

In season 2, we saw Layla battle depression and eventually check into the rehab facility. By episode 209 she had checked out of the facility. The back half of season 2 actually focused on Layla and how she was doing in recovery. She could not get back together with Spencer because she needed to focus on herself. However, what she eventually did was to focus on work and making music. So throughout the back half of season 2, she was in work mode. This was when she was super keen on making music with Coop and all through that arc, that was her focus.  She never allowed herself to process the emotions that come with being in recovery. Remember this would have been around the time she started taking medications. Layla chose to throw herself into work and sort of suppress everything going on. She was also dealing with this recovery on her own and had no constant emotional support as she navigated this. So the writing has sort of established Layla’s tendency to distract herself instead of dealing with mental health issues headlong. Remember the aftermath of Carrie in season 4?

Flash forward to this episode and she is back in recovery after a major breakthrough. Now even though she has had a major breakthrough, she still needs to work through that breakthrough and get to a place where she is completely healed. Mental health recovery is a work in progress. So we see that her recovery in season 6 is very different from season 2 because this time around, she is going through it with a loving partner, Jordan. Now Jordan is also not passive in this journey. He is very active and he knows her so well. So when he asks about therapy and she begins to talk about party planning, he clocks that she likely deflecting, reverting back to her old patterns. This is similar to what happened in episode 607 and it was something Jordan saw first hand in season 4 with the aftermath of Carrie. In episode 607, instead of booking the appointment, she focused on work and trying to expand the lounge. And in season 4, she built her walls and threw herself back into work. Remember again that Jordan knows her very well. Props to the writers for honing in on the key part of the Jordayla dynamic : Jordan being able to read Layla accurately. 

Jordan lovingly reminds her that she needs to focus on therapy. In this moment, you can see Jordan trying to walk that fine line between letting her know the truth and also respecting her autonomy. Jordan is a brutally honest character. If he is not comfortable with a situation, he lets it be known and this makes him the perfect partner for Layla as she needs someone who can tell her the truth and point her to what is really important. Layla agrees but also misinterprets the scenario as him pulling back from her. 

Why would Layla misinterpret the situation? 

We need to head back to episode to 608. In this episode, Layla bares it all for Jordan even to the point of explaining what happened in her parents’ marriage. This level of vulnerability is a lot for a very guarded character like Layla. Aside from the therapist, Jordan is the only human alive that knows this aspect of Layla’s life. So for Layla, this level of vulnerability would be something that makes her very uneasy and cause her to jump into conclusions. Add the fact that she is coming off her medication and her emotions are all over the place. In her head, she is beginning to think maybe Jordan is pulling back because he knows it all. She also asked him for more time. Maybe her asking for more time is making him pull away from her. This is not fact though,  it is all in her head. We also see from the short note she tried writing that her biggest fear in marriage is ending up like her mother. 

I think the “fear of ending up like her mother” in this scenario is the fear that Jordan will lose his spark with her, become tired and leave her.  Episode 608 highlighted this fear and this episode is us seeing Layla work through that fear. 

So with all these in her head, we see her with Charissa. Charissa makes a comment about Jordan and her (Layla) being distant. Layla’s fear is sort of coming to pass (In her head). Now you may be wondering why Charissa was able to get into Layla’s head so easily. Well, there is all these thoughts about Jordan pulling away but there is also a fear of her and Jordan ending up like Charissa and Greg. Remember episode 606? In that episode, we saw Layla being worried that she and Jordan fighting might mean they are becoming like Greg and Charissa. Jordan did his best to assure her that they are fine but by the time they got back home, Greg and Charissa had broken up. At the time I watched the scene, I felt there was more to it especially as we didn’t see Jordayla discuss it again. That fear was sitting somewhere in Layla and this conversation, especially with Charissa mentioning Greg triggered the fear again.

So, Layla decides to get married to Jordan in a surprise wedding. That will save the situation. Olivia is not comfortable with this decision at all. However, we see a massive contrast in how she handles this situation as opposed to the Jimone surprise wedding in Vegas. She takes it easy and thinks things through - even calling her mother for some guidance. This is a massive character development for Olivia as she can sometimes barrel her way through boundaries to fight for what is right. Layla and Jordan are two key people in her life, and she approached this with a lot of care and thought- wanting the right thing to be done but also respecting the boundaries of Jordan, Layla and Jordayla as a whole. She lets Jordan know that he needs to speak to Layla before heading to the lounge. 

The next time we see Jordayla, it is at the Baker house in Layla's room. I talk about that in the second part.

[talas-first-lady]

Post the ranking of the male legends. Let the world burn. Let chaos reign. It's on brand for the show (please read this in a funny tone)

The official, correct ranking of male Legends from best to worst along with foolproof evidence which you can trust because I am a lesbian and I am not swayed by men of dubious attractiveness.

1: Gwyn Davies

Pros: Invented time travel so he could save the poet he spent his entire adult life pining for. Has some of the absolute best throwaway lines of S7 (with flawless delivery). Has literally never done anything wrong ever.

Cons: Not around for long enough, which was in no way his fault.

2: Ray Palmer

Pros: Delightful. Hilarious. Has great chemistry with every other character. Loves showtunes and Star Wars.

Cons: Spending billions of dollars to create a suit so you can be a superhero in a city that frankly has too many superheroes already is not a good look. Also he's way too intense in relationships.

3: Nate Heywood

Pros: He somehow manages to be the perfect combination of himbo and really smart. It shouldn't be possible. Also, I too am an overeducated nerd who is really into Tala and Maisie, so I relate to him.

Cons: He really sucks whenever he's in a relationship.

4: Jefferson Jackson

Pros: He's such a good guy through and through. He has been put through some deeply unfair things but still manages to always be a positive force. Deserves all the hugs.

Cons: His accent is ridiculous and I can't take him seriously because of that.

5: Mick Rory

Pros: Has any character on the show evolved as much as him? Probably not. He's a sweetheart. He writes romance novels. His relationships with other characters are always amazing.

Cons: We all had to watch him birth alien eggs through his nose and that can never been unseen. Way too attached to his shitty ex boyfriend.

6: Wally West

Wally is right in the middle because he is true neutral. Does he make the show better? Not really. Does he make the show worse? Not really.

Pros: Good karaoke choices.

Cons: It's really dumb that Death Totem Sara appeared to him as his ex (who he really wasn't with that long and who was very much still alive) instead of his mom (who was his only family for his entire childhood and fairly recently died).

7: Gary Green

Pros: Sweet, funny, endlessly relatable. He adds so much character to every scene he's in.

Cons: Does not understand boundaries at all. He's also very inconsistently written because obviously they didn't plan for him to be an alien from the beginning.

8: Behrad Tarazi

Pros: I enjoy the way his relationship with Zari has developed. And he's a great singer.

Cons: Weed is not a personality. They didn't bother to give him an actual personality until season 7, at which point I was already over him. I also don't like his fixation with Astra which was entirely about finding her pretty on Highcastle Abbey and has nothing to do with who she actually is.

9: Carter Hall

Pros: Had the good sense to die quickly before he could really annoy me.

Cons: Manipulative towards Kendra. Actively detracted from the 100th episode.

10: Martin Stein

Pros: Victor Garber. A+ singing.

Cons: Drugged and kidnapped Jax in the pilot. Racist, sexist, deeply selfish. He started to improve slightly but it wasn't enough.

11: Rip Hunter

Pros: Saw the potential in Sara Lance.

Cons: Told Gideon he loved her and then TURNED HER INTO A TRAINING SIMULATOR FOR THREE YEARS. He also flew her into the sun and into an atomic bomb. Lied to all the original Legends. Lied to Ava.

12: Leonard Snart

Pros: Had the good sense to die quickly. Also, I do enjoy him on The Flash.

Cons: Cruel and abusive to Mick almost constantly. Talk about kicking someone while they're down. He's an asshole to everyone, but the way he speaks to Mick is unforgivable.

13: John Constantine

Pros: He's a useful foil for some of the more optimistic Legends. Decent bisexual representation. Never met a weird unidentified substance he didn't want to put in his mouth.

Cons: He forced Charlie to face thousands of years worth of trauma, got Behrad and Charlie's friends killed in the process, and put the entire world at risk. Why? To save Astra, who he immediately forgot about and left to struggle on her own (again). He sent Desmond to hell. He abandoned Nora when she was a kid. He altered Spooner's memories despite knowing that having her mind messed with is a major source of trauma for her. Put the entire world at risk again by teaming up with Bishop. Lied to and manipulated Zari and had the gall to call it love. Also, if both Ava and Mick don't like you, you are clearly highly suspicious.

[talkingtea]

Grant's play celebrated 100 shows recently, and of course, he was right beside his leading lady as the cast took a picture with the cake. On the other hand, as, as we all know, at the 100th episodes of The Flash TV show celebration, he couldn't bother to be near his leading lady in pictures or on the red carpet. Not even near his TV daughter. Giggling with CP in a grainy video inside the building that was passed around by fans is not my idea of "celebration."

Ugh, don’t remind us about that 100th episode party fail

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, October 20th - Monday, October 21st

DAWN: (to Joyce) They were talking about me, just like everybody is. XANDER: Again, not so much. In fact, none. ANYA: We were talking about sex. I mean, you know us, sometimes we like to pretend stuff- JOYCE: Um... XANDER: Anya! ANYA: You know, like, say there's a fireman, or a shepherd- BUFFY: You know what? Let's not have this exchange of images right now. DAWN: Oh. Right. Of course. Can't let Dawn hear anything. (angry) Fine. I'm just gonna go to bed. That way I won't accidentally get exposed to, like, words.

~~Blood Ties~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

A Horrorshow outtake by vampbrat (Angel & Spike, M)

California by drusillagirl (Faith/OC, not rated, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, child sexual abuse - not explicit)

maybe next time by rapunzelvangogh (Giles & Tara, G)

Of Things to Never Come by hedonistic_opportunist (Buffy/Faith, Spike, G)

Your Worst Nightmare by scaryfangirl2001 (Xander/Spike, M)

Buffy: I caught Dawn smoking! by aphony-cree (Buffy, Dawn, Spike, worksafe)

any advice for how to convince my mom to let me go to the dingoes gig...? by anonymous, sunnydale-high-school-rumors (Sunnydale inhabitants, worksafe)

Mr. DJ by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Officiant by VeroNyxK84 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Forgiveness Doesn't Come Easy, Ch. 39 by slaymesoftly (Buffy/Spike, R)

BtVS : Judgement Day - Chapter 1 by AntonioCC (Terminator crossover, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander, Riley, Sam, not rated)

Sending My Love from The Other Side of the Apocalypse - Chapter 1 by cawthraven (Buffy/Spike, Explicit)

Into Thin Air, Ch. 6 by Leighroyal (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Forgiveness Doesn't Come Easy, Ch. 39 by slaymesoftly (Buffy/Spike, R)

The Degradation of Duality [Series Part 2] Ch. 57 by Ragini (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Mysterious Destinies, Ch. 15 by EnchantedWillow (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Stupid Thing, Ch. 7 by Misti (Buffy/Spike, R)

Be Back Before Dawn, Ch. 9 by Blissymbolics (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Fury of the Fallen, Ch. 6 by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Sold Out, Ch. 3 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

reciprocity, Ch. 8 by HappyWhenItRains (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Sending My Love from The Other Side of the Apocalypse, Ch. 1 by cawthraven (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

His Last Slayer, Ch. 1 by VoronaFiernan (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

In the Shadows, Ch. 1 by Willow91 (Buffy/Spike, R)

Just Two Lost Souls, Ch. 1 by Holly (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

A Wish for Dawn, Ch. 1 by floralirony (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

The Circle of Scooby, Ch. 16 by redjacobson (Boondock crossover, Xander/Cordelia/Tara, Buffy/Willow, Giles/Jenny, Kendra/Oz, FR15)

Hellmouth Munchkins: A Slayerette's Fiction, Ch. 6 by JoshuAB (Munchkins fusion, Willow, Scoobies, FR18)

A Man in Shadow, Ch. 1 by Zab Jade (Buffy & Spike, 13+)

Viral, Ch. 8 by Harlow Turner (Buffy/Spike, R)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Gifset: Buffy and Spike in seasons 2-4 by clarkgriffon (worksafe, flashing gif)

Tara drawings by juette (worksafe)

Manip: A song for the harsher moments by spyder-baby (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Doodles by loseremzo (Buffybot, Spike, worksafe)

A Buffy sketch by spacemonolithart (Buffy, worksafe)

Drawings by tiaragloryart (Buffy, Spike, Angel, worksafe, some swearing)

Meme: Angel Iceberg Chart by Ahmedgorshybluth (worksafe)

Painted pumpkin: one of the Gentlemen by the_belle_jar (worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

I think it’s pretty clear that Andrew Wells is in Season 7 too much.... and yet [Storyteller] by coraniaid

ATS 304 - Carpe Noctem | Another Buffy Podcast

[Recs & In Search Of]

buffyversesecretsantaex mods have a question for the nominator who submitted "The Angel Investigations Polycule"

authenticriver recommends a high quality video of Buffy 100th Episode Celebration

[Community Announcements]

Buffyverse Secret Santa Gift Exchange nominations are open until Saturday, October 26

Buffyverse Secret Santa Gift Exchange nominations are open until Saturday, October 26

[Fandom Discussions]

weight of the world: I love willow taking charge when buffy is out by camellcat

aktuachlly mister mayor a slayer would never be up for murder one after u.s. v. anderson by just-about-nothing

i like to think that buffy and angel and willow and oz go on double dates by lowliet

[whedon's avengers writing is one giant buffyverse episode he wrote using marvel characters] by theaestheticmerchant

The names that Spike used when he was talking to Buffy ever since he realized he’s in love with her by thequeenofsastiel

I really love that Spike stopped calling Buffy “Slayer” by thequeenofsastiel

Spuffy is great because it’s so predator/prey but... by angelofthe2000s

So Riley told Buffy she's one hell of a woman... by jjmorelikeotp

A take on 6x19 [Seeing Red] Buffy/Spike by nicollekidman and elysianholly

The most insane part of the 'rank, arrogant amateur speech'... by duckwnoeyes

Anya’s *actual* worst fear [anti Xander/Dawn] by fang3d4

rating btvs ships: part 1 (bangel - critical opinion, spuffy, tillow, spangel) by captivebf

I understand that Buffy might have felt like she needed to forgive herself for how she acted in S6 but the truth is that she didn't do anything wrong by jjmorelikeotp

Any Angel Reference That You Have Heard Before [in movies and TV shows] by Ahmedgorshybluth

I love that Wolfram and Hart exists by GlitterViking1

Main characters' very last word on the show by francis2395

If you were a vengeance demon what would be your raison d'être? by Writefrommyheart

For those of you who watched the show live, what was the fan reaction like when Willow came out to Buffy? by mssleepyhead73

Why were there no older potentials? (Season 8) by Uncle-TMan

Joyce's art gallery by GraphicDesigner84

Finally got to the infamous episode of season 7 [Empty Places] by Olivia_VRex

S5:E17 Forever [color symbolism] by brnhnr

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

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[yuzukahibiscus]

のせ様’s (No-se-sama) Documented Events (February 2023)

(Note: This was taken from “Eto-Bun” (えと文) section in February Kageki 2023. Eto-Bun is a section written by a particular sienne in each troupe to share some little stories about them or about their troupe every three months. In this cycle of January-March, Ichinose Kouki is the one writing for Flower Troupe. And I thought, why not drabble and translate a little to see what Hanako* has for us!) *Hanako is her nickname as mentioned in OTOME, a biography of all siennes in Takarazuka.

A little introduction to Ichinose Kouki for those who are unfamiliar with her.

Ichinose Kouki・一之瀬航季

Entered the Revue in 2014 as the 100th class. Her favourite roles include Oswald Vickers for "A Fairy Tale” newcomers’ performance. She was originally going to have a newcomers’ performance lead for “Haikara-san: Here Comes Miss Modern” in 2020 but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, she went on Yuzuka Rei’s “Lock-On” Episode as a guest to talk about what she learnt from Rei, being Rei’s first “shinko kid” since she became Top Star. Later on in 2022, she starred in the Bow Workshop “Junjou” (or Complete Devotion) alongside with Mihane Ai as her partner. She also previously joined Minami Maito in her CAST side-A and was one of the members of Flor5. She will be performing with Minami Maito in her “One and Only” dinner show, also the final performance for Minami Maito as a Flower Troupe member before transferring to Senka.

Before you read February Issue, feel free to check the first of three series in January issue here.

Everyone, how are you all doing!?

This month is February. Very quickly, we’re at Valentine’s. Speaking of which I am Ichinose Kouki wearing an apron style fashion, pretending to be a chocolatier for taking the photo♪ In this season, streets are surrounded by heart-shaped objects and sweet smells, and it’s really a heart-fluttering feeling ✨

In this month, I’ll start by talking about Tsubasa Anju-kun who’s responsible for the drawing!

“のせ様’s Documented Events" Please enjoy reading for this month✨

🌻 Strange fish 🐟

“Can you help me with the illustration since I’m going to be working on ‘Eto-Bun’”? The first person I thought of handing this task is to Anju (Tsubasa) who’s a class lower than me (101th class). In Takarazuka Music School times, I received a letter from Anju who was still a primary course student (Yokasei)...The envelope had an illustration of a “very realistic but strange fish” wearing a mushroom T-shirt (She drew a fish with its mouth wide open and had sharp teeth, its lips were plump and its gaze was unusually strange...)

...THE STRANGE (LOL).

At that time, I asked Anju why she drew a fish...and she answered with a flashing smile, “There’s no particular reason~🥺✨” And that ended our little story and from then onwards, I love Anju’s art. This time, the title illustration is about waking up in the morning and immediately drinking red tea. It’s fancy! (LOL) She’s just a loveable underclassman. Anju, thank you for your best drawings. (*Okay somehow that illustration was not in the scanned copy? Haha sorry for those who are interested, here’s another illustration instead.)

🌻 How are you so cute!

And now, now. The next story is about what I didn’t document about in the last month’s issue, and that’s an episode about our Flower Troupe Top Star Yuzuka Rei-san✨ One day during rest time, I told her...

“Yuzuka-san! I’m responsible for writing ‘Eto-Bun’ this time, I’m definitely going to write something about Yuzuka-san!”

“Let me see what kind of story I can tell you 😊” she replied kindly and left but then at that time...! Madoka-chan (Hoshikaze) was close to her and thought of something, “Yuzuka-san!! Hey...the story of your sleep talking...” and whispered to her. Huh, sleep talking!? What is that, I feel like it’s something good to record about! So immediately I went to hear from Yuzuka-san and she was a little embarrassed and said, “Eh~Wanna hear?” and took her iPhone out. Yuzuka-san opened from her iPhone an app and in a tempo of Winnie the Pooh I heard,

Ka..Kawaii~...(Cute)

Kawaii~...

(A short pause)

How are you so cute~ huh~

Isn’t that Yuzuka-san’s voice when she was briefly sleeping! OMG!!

Right. The voice that I heard was Yuzuka-san’s sleep talking! When I asked Yuzuka-san about this more in detail, she said she used a sleeping app that could ensure better sleeping quality✨ Sometimes, there would be some interesting sleep talking recorded 😁

I wonder what she was dreaming about. I’m curious about the other sleep talking moments 🥺✨ Anyway, anyway, this is Ichinose whose lifespan increased because I heard Yuzuka-san’s precious sleep talking. I’m content.

Thank you for doing this...for “Eto-Bun”.

🌻 A perfume bottle full of love✨

And now, now, to our next topic... It’s about the show this time which is “ENCHANTEMENT–A Luxurious Perfume–”✨

There are numerous songs that are so Takarazuka-styled, so gorgeous that just by hearing it you would feel excited. From the start of the rehearsals I already felt that I love this show and this is Ichinose who continues to listen to the show songs even at home😁. Especially, I’ve been infinitely looping the Irish song from the “Sea Salt” scene led by Hito-san (Towaki)!! I want to join in this scene even if I’m going to playing a wood (from the wooden oar) or just a boat (LOL). Okay, maybe not that’s dangerous. There are so many points I like that I hope there wasn’t a word limit! But still I’ll start writing about it!😁

The perfume is the theme of this performance. Everyone, did you all look at the perfume props!? (the front panel at the stage sides) Because if you look closely, those are some cute perfume bottles✨ But it’d probably require a more condensed focus to realise the labels that...What! There’s actually all the names of the staff members and the Flower Troupe members names’ printed😊🌟 Besides, all those designs are only one (and unique to each other)! Isn’t that the greatest thing!? This idea was originally not proposed, but after Noguchi-sensei looked at the stage venue again, he told (the staff), “Later, let’s print all of our names (into perfume bottles).” Love! So much love!!✨ When there were performance suspensions in January, Kido-sensei responsible for stage setup said, “I hope you could take a look at this label and hope you like it!” and with that, they gifted us the design of the labels and we were so touched by it😌💓

It’s a perfume bottle full of love by our senseis. I hope that everyone could at least see a little of those labels.

And now, now, I’ve finished documenting the 3 episodes for this month and we’re at 2 pages. The backstage of Flower Troupe is often so lively and there are plentiful of episodes that I still have yet to document. For example my douki Izumi Maira did a “Mary Vestera-themed skit” and there was a big failure I did in my underclassmen times…there are numerous episodes I have them written in my Stuck Memo (app).

It’s suddenly getting terribly cold and it’s probably more likely to catch a cold in these days, I hope everyone would laugh a lot, and have the greatest fun!!

We will also be in one heart together with this!

Toi toi toi!!

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V3 2

Vinland Saga S2 - Gardar didn't last too long against Snake (Gardar and Snake, ha ha) before he ended up getting taken out of there to be put back in chains. The rest of the episode was spent on Arnheid's backstory with Gardar and the son she lost, as well as the reveal that she is now pregnant with Master Ketil's child. Eeeeugh!

Hunter x Hunter - Leol's party got sent out by the King's Royal Guard to hunt down Killua, Cheetu is still on the move from Shoot and Knuckle, and Meleoron finally got found out by Gon in the desert, but he seems to want to defect from the army and reason with Gon, which I don't buy for a minute, he's up to something else here. But I have to mention that this was the 100th episode in this entire anime and it ends in a way that left me unable to stop laughing for a good while - the human-looking Chimera Ant sniper who was trying to pick off Killua gets exposed as a small octopus-looking Chimera Ant named Ikalgo, and when Killua brings up he resembles an octopus, Ikalgo shrieks "DON'T CALL ME AN OCTOPUS!" The screen freeze frames, and as the narrator caps it off he too describes Ikalgo as resembling an octopus, prompting a echoing repeat of Ikalgo's line. Just...after 100 episodes of anime, what a way to end this milestone!

SHUFFLE! - Rin is understandably having difficulties coping with the recent changes in his life, which includes different fan clubs for Sia, Nerine, and Kaede who all hate his guts for his closeness with the girls. We see more from Rin's friends and learn that Sia had met with Rin once when she was younger that Rin can't recall, and then one day while walking from school, Rin lets a mysterious new girl into his life, a Demon friend of Sia's named Primula. When she follows him home to Kaede's house, it's decided that she will live there too.

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - Reached the part where the big Emiya showdown has ended and then Archer is slain by Gilgamesh, who asserts himself as the final enemy who wants to use the Holy Grail to exterminate the majority of humanity so that the world can be made better by virtue of being inhabited by only the truly strong and worthy, which he'd rule over as their king. He's so infuriatingly high-and-mighty and contemptible, but he does one decent thing at the very end by turning Shinji into the body horror that will become the Grail's vessel. Shinji can never deserve it enough!

KonoSuba - Kazuma has continued to show us how out of his depth he is as a "hero" in this world, and Aqua, for a goddess, is so damn incompetent and useless that it becomes all too clear to Kazuma that they're not getting anywhere fast as they are, so they put out fliers to recruit another party member, which they get in the young dark mage Megumin. And the one thing that was kind of distracting me in the episode was Megumin's portrayal: Erica Mendez doesn't do badly as her voice, but she's such a clear Rikka Takanashi clone that I'm always expecting Margaret McDonald. This isn't a dub-exclusive problem either: Maaya Uchida (Rikka's seiyuu) did voice Megumin in the Drama CDs, but the anime cast Rie Takahashi in the role instead. Why? Anyway, she's going to be a handful with her insistence on using this one destructive darkness spell all the time, and at the very end there appears a new, different sort of "Darkness" to deal with...

Symphogear XV - At last I started the final season with its premiere, where our girls go to Antarctica (hello, Place Further Than The Universe!) and fight a new sort of enemy that's been unleashed by an offshoot of the Bravian Illuminati who diverged from Adam's plan and are under the employ of someone else. In between we flash back to how this got started, with some new cute HibiMiku to spare.

Eureka Seven - Renton's still got it good with Charles and Ray, but its contrasted not only by the disarray back on the Gekko, but with Renton acting out and trying to save a terminally ailing Voderac girl against the advice of Charles and the wishes of the people at the sanctuary he wants to bring her too, who only display hostility and prejudice against her for belonging to the same group of people who terrorized them, killing and injuring many. There are some very harsh life lessons Renton is forced to learn here and he understandably does not take well to it. His guilt over his own sins are paralleled with Holland, who hesitates to tell Eureka that Renton ran away and when he finally does, still can't bring himself to admit out loud that he's the one most to blame for it, leaving Eureka to blame herself instead.

Gintama - Keeping with the continuity of this crazy show, Odd Jobs receive two Amanto carpenters - a Red and Blue Oni looking pair - from Sakamoto as an apology for destroying their home just two episodes back. Shennanigans ensue with Gintoki marveling so much over how good the two are at their work that he cons them into working extra to improve and "restore" the place, even making up some bogus fable about an unshakably helpful, dedicated and skilled carpenter named Mokishi, and these cheap tricks somehow work on the two carpenters every time. It all ends in a perfect Brick Joke where all the extra handiwork on the Odd Jobs place literally goes flying off into orbit with just the push of a button. So brilliantly dumb!

AND

My Dress-Up Darling - I think this anime and March Comes In Like A Lion could work well as a set labeled "Your Lie In April, But Actually Healthy, Uplifting, and Competently Conveyed." Much like how Rei Kiriyama was like a Good Counterpart to Kosei, Marin Kitagawa is like a Good Counterpart to Kaori, a extroverted, perky, silly, beautiful blonde bombshell who transcends Manic Pixie Dream Girl as her own aggressively confident force of nature unto herself, but while Marin is every bit as pushy, naughty and teasing as Kaori could be, she is also more earnest and sincerely well-meaning towards the friends she interacts with. Already I find myself enjoying the shit out of Marin and Gojo's dynamic and want to see them push all the way with it. Really my only big point of critique would be with Gojo, not because of his character, but because of his backstory: it is comically rushed and just ridiculous in its very nature, yet the show tries to convince us that it left major mental and emotional damage on the guy? I could not buy it, I just think Gojo is oversensitive and lacks commitment to try to really achieve something meaningful, and he's been clinging to that one childhood experience as an excuse to keep himself that way. Here's hoping Marin helps him get the f**k over it!

[squireofgeekdom]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

oh this was tricky. if you ask me next week the answer will probably be different XD I tried to narrow it down by limiting myself to complete works that were also standalone

From most to least recent:

when you’re gone we won’t say a word (but you know that’s okay) Star Trek Strange New Worlds, S1E10, Alt Future Pike, Pike&Spock, 10.9k, Dec 2022

"“Time is, uh, is complicated. But the monks showed me something simple. Every time we change the path, he dies.” - alternate future Christopher Pike, ‘A Quality of Mercy’ “I wanted a voice that sounded like it had given up a little bit after lots of emotional turmoil. So I thought, what would my voice sound like if I had spent a lot of time sobbing and screaming? - Anson Mount, about playing the alternate future Pike in ‘A Quality of Mercy’ What took a Christopher Pike back to Boreth, and back to convince himself to accept his fate? What did he see?"

I knew I was going to end up writing this like, within hours of watching the episode. Time travel fridge horror, how could I resist? I struggled with how to end it and the bittersweet note I hit on made me cry the most.

Ghosts in Your Head, Ghosts in My Head The Flash, Pacific Rim AU, Cisco & Harry, Cisco and Eobard, 33.9k, Sep-Nov 2022

"We can vanquish the impossible if we can learn to trust again. - Guillermo Del Toro they're so drift compatible it's!?!? i'm JUST i might be Compelled to write this - me, June 20th, 2021 --- Harrison Wells has no intention of ever entering a Shatterdome again, determined to leave the ghost of the tragic loss of his co-pilot and wife from his last time piloting a jaeger firmly in the past, to focus on raising Jesse. Cisco Ramon is a jaeger engineer, not a pilot, focused on retrofitting a badly damaged Gen 3 jaeger, keeping the ghost of his one and only drift, and the truth of the tragic accident in his Shatterdome, close to his chest - and hidden behind his goggles. But some things don’t stay buried - or in the basement - forever. And to cancel the apocalypse, they may both have to face their own ghosts..."

This was published between September and November of 2022, so you can tell from the quote in the summary (from talking with my canoe buddy @philcoulsonismyhero, who helped turn this from rambling into a fic and was a fantastic first reader) it was a while in development. This was my 100th fic on Ao3 and I really wanted it to be that milestone because I love it, I love the concept, and I feel like I really captured a huge chunk of what keeps me coming back to writing about the Flash, and specifically Cisco and Harry and Wellsobard/Eobard. I think I managed to make it something that's readable if you don't know the Flash while something that has a lot of interesting adaptations and twists from the Flash if you do know the source material. I also had a fun time tweaking and playing with the world of Pacific Rim to fit the narrative. And also just. Cisco and Harry are so drift compatible, y'all. They just. Are.

Blank Slate, Artificial Boxes Murderbot Diaries, Aggressively Arospec Week 2021, 2.2k, Jun 2021

"“I’m probably the one who has the best chance of getting it, anyway.” I rolled my eyes at the ceiling. “Because you're augmented?” The difference between an augmented human and a murderbot is like … the difference between a chihuahua and a cyborg wolf-construct with cloned organic components. Or something. “Because I’m aromantic.” That… shouldn’t have been surprising, actually. And it was something we had in common, as much as I was loath to admit having something in common with Gurathin. And - well, it did have something to do with this. “That has nothing to do with this,” I said."

It was *really* hard to pick a fic for this slot - two days ago I might have gone with More Than This, an older aro-centric fic about Obi-Wan Kenobi that I also love very very much and definitely gets an honorable mention. But something that stands out about this fic is that I was trying to hit a very distinctive writing and character/narrator voice, and I think I really did.

conquest of spaces Pacific Rim, Post-Uprising Fix It, 27.1k, Apr-May 2018

"It takes a Shatterdome to save two people the Precursors have tried to destroy, and to help them put the pieces back together in the aftermath. A story about liquor and ice cream, donuts and decaf coffee, kaiju-blood rocket boots, and, in Pacific Rim tradition, the power of science and people too stubborn to give up on each other."

I have fanart for this fic from my dearest alex (who I also spent extensive time discussing this fic and drift and precursor hivemind mechanics with) over my desk, it's not a hard call to put it in the top 5 :D (Honorable mention to Hold, a fic from Cass's run as Batgirl that I have art over my desk for) This fic is tagged The power of friendship and THE POWER OF SCIENCE, it is very Me. :D This also introduces Kay and the neuroscience team, a collection of OC's who you'll see many other places in my fics :D

What You Can't Run From The Flash & Supergirl, Cisco Ramon & J'onn J'onzz + Eobard Thawne, 7.4k, November 2016

Or: Martian Manhunter vs the Reverse Flash When Cisco is kidnapped by the Reverse Flash and ends up sending them both to Supergirl's Earth, it's up to J'onn J'onzz to kick some ass and do some rescuing. But that might require going further into Eobard Thawne's head than he ever wanted to go, and dredging up some of his own memories...

I periodically go back and reread this fic and yall. It slaps, as I believe the kids say. It's an early crystallization of my love of weird mindscape & unreality tropes. It hits on a lot of feelings about Cisco and Eobard that I would end up going back to over and over (and continue to) in many different angles and variations. It has confrontation and foils between DCTV's two 'glowing red eyes mentors who are not who they seem'. It has J'onn and Cisco bonding. What more could I ask for from past me.

[moviehealthcommunity]

It's August 11, which means Movie Health Community is celebrating 8 years on the internet!

Admin Brandon started the effort of Movie Health Community by posting a handful of evaluations from memory, focusing only on flashing light and motion sickness risks. There was no method, no pattern, and mental health warnings would not come to MHC for 2 years. Most of those initial evaluations have been redone since then, most recently with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. We started with Ant-Man. When we include evaluations that have been completed and are pending release right now, we are up to 1,069 feature films evaluated.

In the last year, Admin Brandon has improved the record-keeping practices here, and re-counted how many evaluations of feature films we've posted. In the past, that count has mistakenly included a short film, so in one of the two pictures here, we have included stills from each 100-movie milestone we've hit over the years, from our 100th movie (The Jungle Book, 2016), to our 1,000th (Fantasia 2000, 2000).

Admin Brandon is almost done covering the unevaluated feature films in his Vudu/Fandango account, and when that is finished, our efforts may be scaled back somewhat from our current rate of 6+ evaluations per week.

In the last year, we have run into some difficulties around streaming movies. On Netflix, as we usually use an account in a family sharing agreement, we have been unable to access content on that platform with their new rules around household sharing. Access to a reliable account on Max has become sporadic as well. In spite of all this, we still accept requests outside of the Weekly Plan from our Patrons.

We now have 9 Flashing Lights Warning Tracks available on the $5 tier of our Patreon page, with the next one coming at the end of this month. There is an announcement of which movie the 10th one will cover at the end of the FLWT for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, and we will be posting about it on Monday.

Click the links below to see some more of the efforts we are involved with.

Petition to the FCC and FTC to remove strobe effects from advertising

The Movie Health Community YouTube page, which is far more active now

Image ID 1: A collage of stills from each of the 100-movie milestones of evaluations by MHC: The Jungle Book (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming, Deadpool 2, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Dark Waters, The Woman in the Window, Batman Forever, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Tár, and Fantasia 2000

Image ID 2: A collage of stills from movies that have Flashing Lights Warning Tracks available: Eternals, The Batman, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Hocus Pocus 2, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

[arrow-v-flash-polls]

Tom Cavanagh directed three episodes over three seasons, which of his directing efforts is you favourite?

[ultrahpfan5blog]

The Flash Season 5 - Retrospective Review

Well, I finally made it to the Eric Wallace era in my rewatch. The Flash season 5 is in the rearview, but there are still 3 seasons left in the rewatch. I probably won't be caught up until like a month into the new season. In any case, season 5 rewatch was interesting. To me, season 5 is filled with a lot of faults. There are issues with the character arcs with almost every arc. In spite of that though, I quite enjoyed season 5 as a whole. Its definitely a significant uptick from season 4 because it is at least never boring to me.

I think what season 5 got right was tone. The Flash traditionally has always been the strongest when leaning into emotions. Season 3 struggled a bit with the doom and gloom tone, and season 4 especially struggled with the oscillating tone with trying to humorous and then also having some pretty dark elements. Season 5 gets the balance right, being closer to what seasons 1 and 2 were in tone. And a big part of that was the refocus on bonds between family, blood or otherwise. This season felt like the entire Flash family was very much united and at ease with each throughout the season. Obviously the center of the show was the introduction to Nora and her relationships with both Barry and Iris. The WestAllen family dynamic is one of the strongest aspects of the season. It isn't without its issues from a writing POV, but it certainly gives a lot of emotional drama and there are some good arcs for each of the characters and their relationships. Even the side characters have emotional arcs. Caitlin/KF also has a refocus on her family, with both her mother and her father coming back into the mix. Ralph feels more integrated into the team Flash dynamic as compared to season 4, Joe and Cecile have an arc of becoming a working couple together, and Cisco too has a self reflective arc about what he wants with life and about finding love. These arcs largely play to casts strengths and so they are more emotionally involving then they might otherwise be. Even the Cicada storyline is a family based storyline and there is a bit of a mirror reflection between Orlin and Grace with Barry and Nora. I also think the new Wells worked fairly well as he had his own active storyline where he investigated Nora and discovered the Thawne secret.

I also think the humor is a lot more consistent this season than it was in season 4. In season 4, it felt like the cast and writers were overdoing due to the criticisms of season 3 being too dark. Season 5 feels like the humor and heart were more smartly balanced with emotion. Certainly the Elseworlds crossover was one of the funniest crossovers because it really utilized the comedic chops of Grant, Melissa, and Stephen quite well. There are some pretty strong episodes. The show celebrated its 100th episode in this season with 'The Past is Prologue' which was an excellent episode apart from the ending result of the Cicada fight. The scenes with Barry, Thawne, and Nora are excellently acted and play a key role in the finale of the season. It was actually pretty clever. The Time loop episode 'Cause and XS' was also pretty good. The show embraces its goofy roots with 'King Shark vs. Gorrilla Grodd' which was a blast, with surprisingly decent effects for a show of its budget. I feel the finale was quite strong and emotionally moving, with a nice tease for COIE. There aren't any episodes that I particularly disliked this season, despite my issues with certain character arcs.

There are definitely some big issues with the season and the various character arcs. Starting with Nora, who has the most major character arc. While the character is overall likeable, there is an inconsistency in how she is portrayed. While she is a late 20's adult, the characterization often feels like that of someone in their late teens, early 20's. That is sometimes a little grating. She is also shown to be impossibly naive at times. Iris benefits greatly from having moved out of team Flash leader role, even though she is nominally called that a few times. But this season does feel like Barry is back in the role of leader of team Flash as he should be. Its good to see Iris being more of a journalist and establishing the CCC. However, she does have moments towards the end of the season where she again throws Barry leaving her to go into the speed force in his face and not understanding Barry's distrust for Thawne, which makes her seem a bit callous. Cisco's self reflection arc, although well acted, feels out of character for him. I didn't really buy him deciding to let go of his powers because the show didn't really convince me, in this season or the next couple, that he wanted to let go of the team Flash life. I think this story arc was partially because Carlos was thinking of leaving so they made this as a contingency plan but it didn't really work. I liked seeing Caitlin's KF origins gets explored with the re-emergence of Thomas/Icicle but what should have been a multi season arc is wrapped up in 2 episodes. And there is a tease for Caitlin's mother which never panned out to anything. Sherloque has this random romance with Renee Adler which is extremely throwaway. The character also didn't quite have the bonds with team Flash that previous Wells' did. The show struggled at times on what to do with Ralph. I think Sherloque filled the shoes of what Ralph may have otherwise been doing. So it does feel like he is in the background for large parts of the season. He is involved in the beginning, when investigating the identity of Cicada, and towards the end, when he figures out the connection between Thawne and the dagger. In between there are episodes like 'Goldfaced' where he is prominent but there aren't too many of those. Then the show also got into this bad habit of having Cecile constantly promoting realizations due to her abilities. It gets a bit annoying. Joe is absent for about half the season due to Jesse's back injury and he is missed. Barry's character is largely consistent and more matured this season. He does feel like a dad. There are times where it does feel like he cedes the lead character role to Nora this season.

I think the biggest issue with this season though is Cicada. On paper and in theory, a meta human serial killer is a great idea. It makes perfect sense to flip the threat. The idea of Cicada being an uncle who is going after metas due to what happened to his niece is also a good idea. However, the show unfortunately didn't execute the character well. For one thing, the dagger becomes an OP device and it renders team Flash consistently useless against Cicada, barring KF. So again there is a sense of repetition of Cicada constantly beating them and getting away. The show oversells the character by saying that none of the heroes across the multiverse could stop Cicada, which became quite silly given that the dagger is only supposed to work on dark matter. Then there is a Cicada II/Grace, who is not given any depth at all because she really only turns up for the last third of the season. Unfortunately, both Chris Klein as Cicada/Orlin and Sarah Carter as adult Grace/Cicada II, ham it up way too much. The background villain, Thawne, ends up being more compelling, but that is not surprising given that Thawne has been the best villain in the show's history so far.

But overall, despite my criticisms, I think the season overall retains a pretty strong emotional core and at the center of that is Jessica Parker Kennedy, who was just inspired casting to play Barry and Iris' daughter. We saw teases of her in the previous season, but here she is an absolute delight and she looks so much like what Grant and Candice's daughter would look like. Its quite funny to think that she's older to both of them but she definitely doesn't come off that way in the show. Grant and Candice both get to play more matured and emotional roles as parents this season and the WestAllen family dynamic is key to the success of the season. As always, Carlos, Danielle Panabaker, Hartley, and Jesse bring a lot of heart and humor to the table. Tom Cavanaugh now delivers his fourth iteration of Wells, and despite an unnecessary french accent, is great as always and his is at ease when playing Thawne. Its his signature role. Danielle Nicolet blends into the team and is likable. Overall, season 5 is like a 7/10.

[wanderfan2000]

Thanks to a Tina Fey booking.com advertisement on YT,  it gave me the idea of rewatching 30 Rock again on D+, (because of the Hulu merger they did)

But…it was gone! 

I dunno what exactly happened, I kept trying to figure out if the show was removed from the service or it had to be taken down for some fixes. (For example, the first part of the episode “100th” wasn’t quite working unfortunately. It kept flashing an error message saying, “THIS IS NOT CAPABLE ON THIS DEVICE!”) The rest of the show worked fine, except the 100th episode.

So, I dunno what happened to 30 Rock on D+\Hulu. Hopefully, it will be back in the service soon enough. 

[afaims100arrowversefavs]

55.  100th Episodes

Not all of the Arrowverse Shows reached a 100 episodes, but those that did, did celebrate accordingly, and all four episodes were true highlights among the impressive body of Arrowverse Episodes. „Arrow“ also got to celebrate the 150th episode, while „The Flash“ had one, but did not really celebrate it. In any case a 100 episodes is impressive, but taking the time to celebrate it by making the 100th an extra special episode is also something very impressive to do.