#the flashbacks were incredibly important to establish the way his son saw him: the good and the bad and the implied

[elmaxlys]

i love everyone that took the time to vote on this. smoochies.

[artsybanchou]

I’m a big fan of 80s/90s anime and Ranma 1/2 played a big role in my childhood. The premise has sooooo much food for thought when it comes to looking at gender and specifically the performance of gender. I’m about to get INTO it, so, here’s your warning-- read more is a ramble. (LONG ramble)

Oh ho ho ho! WELCOME TO MY HELL!

Aight, so let me set the stage for you-->

Two people, who should not be parents, have a kid. The father, Genma, a fairly successful martial artist, takes their just-born son on a training journey without consulting the mother. By training journey, I mean that they travel all over the world with little to no money, either stealing from or scamming people in order to make sure they can eat, under the guise of training the son, Ranma, to become the greatest martial artist of the “Anything Goes” school of martial arts. One of the most frequent scams the father pulls is promising his son’s hand in marriage to various families in exchange for a dowry before running off with both his son and the dowry, never to be seen again. This-- inevitably-- comes back to bite them in the ass. But more on that later.

We don’t get to see a lot of Ranma’s childhood on the training journey, just the occasional incredibly horrific flashback to something that would become a national incident were it to happen in the real world. For example, at one point in time, his father finds a Chinese pamphlet of an ~ancient lost Chinese art~ that is INCREDIBLY POWERFUL!!!!! wow! It’s called Neko-ken. So he decides to teach his six-year-old this technique, although he can’t actually read Chinese so he does it based off the diagrams-- which detail a process of collecting a good number of cats, starving them for a few days straight, and then tossing his son, covered in fish sausages (possibly tied up, can’t remember), into the pit to fend for himself (and not be eaten alive) for hours on end. Surprise, surprise, Ranma comes out incredibly traumatized and with an intense fear of cats (something his father would’ve seen coming if he was able to read Chinese as the pamphlet says that someone would have to be crazy to try to teach someone this technique and that it causes severe psychological damage-- also could’ve been avoided if his father had any common sense or fatherly instincts, but hey that’s just asking too much of Genma). This is not the result his father wanted, so he tries to “fix” it by doing the exact same thing multiple times, just with different cat foods wrapped around his son because... I genuinely don’t know what his thought process was but yeah. So that’s just a tiny snapshot of what his childhood was like as well as how much of a massive idiot his father was. And since Ranma never interacted with his mother, guess who had the greatest influence in his development (yay........). (save him) (also this is based off my memory from watching the anime YEARS ago, so some small details might be wrong but the big, overarching “his dad is a terrible person” thing is still very much true even if some of these smaller details aren’t)

When Ranma is a teenager, his father brings him to a Chinese training ground full of cursed springs. The tour guide repeatedly tries to explain what exactly this place they’re visiting is, but the father and son pair are two hard-headed idiots and get right to sparring. Ranma knocks his father into a spring pretty quick only to be caught off guard when his father reemerges from said spring as a panda and grand slams our protagonist into another one of the cursed springs. Our manly man martial artist protagonist emerges from this spring as a dainty, busty teenage girl. /The horror./ The panic from both Ranma and his father’s deeply shaken fragile masculinities gives the tour guide enough time to reveal that they had fallen into the cursed springs of the drowned panda and the drowned girl (one guess who fell into which one) and that anyone who falls into a cursed spring will take on the form of the life form that drowned in it. They can return to their original bodies by being splashed with hot water but, from now on, every time they’re hit with cold (or even apparently lukewarm) water, they’ll change into these new cursed forms.

Now, I’m sure you all saw this coming from the type of man that Ranma’s father is based on everything I’ve said so far, but Genma is the worst(TM). So Genma is all, “no SON of MINE can be a GIRL! >:((((((” and Ranma, who has been raised for his entire conscious life by this man, and only this man, is also very much not Okay(TM) with this because he’s a man, a manly fighting man who was raised to be the manliest of fighting men who fight. He can’t be a GIRL. 

Except he totally can. Because these two start taking advantage of Ranma’s feminine body pretty much immediately in order to continue running scams so that they can eat and whatnot while traveling. Of course, Genma constantly shames Ranma by saying things like, “I can’t believe my son is such a failure of a martial artist, being a girl! I’m so ashamed!” and whatnot at every opportunity but especially when they are in an argument and Ranma is winning or if he needs Ranma to do something for him. He frequently manipulates his son by using this kind of guilt-tripping language as though it’s Ranma’s fault that his body is like this. Nevermind that they both frequently profit off of Ranma’s female body for scams, Genma still puts Ranma down for having it and Ranma internalizes that because he’s 15 and his father is the only person he’s ever known.

And I’m sure we all hate Genma now, as we should, because fuck Genma. What kind of woman would ever marry Genma? (And we assume a woman is married to Genma because how could a man this bigoted do anything other than marry a woman all traditional and whatnot). If only Ranma wasn’t taken from his mother so young. Maybe he would’ve turned out a better person~ Well, uh, bad news, lads :/  So, by the time we meet Ranma’s mom in the series, we’ve known most of these characters for a chunk of time. It’s already quite well established how terrible of a human being Genma is. Ranma may or may not have started the episode out admitting he doesn’t know much about his mom after being asked about her. A standard set-up. I don’t quite remember all the details of the episode, only the important things-- here’s the important thing: Genma’s wife, Nodoka, made Genma swear something to her before he took their toddler on a training journey all around the world. He had to raise Ranma to become “a Man among Men” (and we’ll talk about how she defines manliness) and, if he failed, then both he and Ranma must commit seppuku. 

Yeah, that's right. 

If her son isn’t enough of a man by her standards then he has to commit ritual suicide.

Her son who now transforms into a girl every time he is touched with at least a ladle’s worth water that isn’t steaming.

(hey have i mentioned save Ranma yet? save him seriously)

Her definition of manliness? All the shit the misandrists of tumblr swear is the inherent evils to all men. She thinks her son needs to be unapologetically forceful in /all/ he does. Especially in his romantic forays :///// (yeah this is going where you think it is)

When she does decide he isn’t manly enough (because Ranma was being sexually harassed by an old man who forcibly put him in a sailor outfit, no im not kidding, happosai, said old man, is a whole other element of the show that like holy shit) and tries to get him to commit seppuku, the solution the cast comes up with is to have Ranma “peek” at (his friend? girlfriend? fiance? frenemy? roommate? it’s weird-- technically they’re the two romantic leads but their chemistry is like -5 because she constantly physically hits him for things that really aren’t his fault and just ://) Akane while she is bathing and that will prove his manliness to his mother so that he doesn’t have to literally die. Will having Ranma be a fucking voyeur prove his manliness to his mother, you ask? Yep. This is Manly(TM) and so Ranma gets to live another day. Yay. Once again, molestation saves the day. (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa) All of this is played off as a joke, for the record. No character is really acknowledged as being “a bad person” for any of this behavior-- not molester Happosai, not trying-to-kill-her-own-child Nodoka, etc. 

So these are the people who made Ranma. Who shaped this kid with the ability to spontaneously switch between male and female bodies (presuming he has water on hand). Also, obviously, Genma had more influence seeing as Ranma never saw his mother between the ages of two and (I think) 16(?), but. regardless, these are the people who shaped his understanding of gender. For all intents and purposes, our lad should be such a pressure cooker of toxic and fragile masculinity that he just about commits seppuku himself every time he ends up in his female body. 

But he doesn’t. In fact, Ranma is largely comfortable in his female body as long as his father isn’t trying to hold said body against him (wait did that come out wrong?). Ranma has no hesitations taking on his female form for something as little as a discount on ice cream. He makes the statement, “when it comes to eating out, being a girl is the only way to go”-- because he’s able to get an extra scoop for being “cute”

There’s a scene very early on in the series about exactly that which has always stuck with me. It opens with Ranma in his female body at a cafe with Akane and they both order fancy ice cream parfaits. Ranma is extremely excited and exclaims, “I’ve always wanted to try one of these!” 

Akane replies with, “don’t tell me you’ve never had ice cream before.”

And Ranma proceeds to explain that he’s never had ice cream like /this/ because it would be too embarrassing for a guy. When Akane asks if he isn’t embarrassed now, happily shoving huge spoonfuls of ice cream into his mouth, he responds with, “hey, I’m a girl now. It don’t count.” Akanes shoots back with a “REAL girls don’t eat like that” (because our lad is eating with such gusto-- he’s living, he’s thriving, he is demolishing that parfait and there is ice cream all over his face) 

He goes, “I’ll eat it however I want.” And then finishes the whole thing off and proclaims that he wants to order the chocolate one next.

Moments like that were the ones where I loved the show the most. We can see Ranma’s insecurities about his masculinity (thank you /soo/ much for that genma) in that he isn’t willing to perform an ‘unmanly’ action in public in his male body. He can’t be *seen* eating girly ice cream. But when he is admonished for not living up to feminine standards in his female body (eat more daintily), he just goes, ‘i’ll do what i want’. Young me really resonated with that, being born with a female assigned at birth body and growing up in Texas. 

It feels like there’s a trans narrative buried in the steaming hot mess that is this work by Takahashi Rumiko-- and it is abundantly clear that was never her intention so I wouldn’t exactly recommend trying to give her an award or anything. She said that she wanted to write a work with a male main character but was so worried about how many male readers she had, she made the decision to make (as she described) a half-male half-female main character (essentially so she could have her cake and eat it too if you will-- all the self aggrandizing fantasies of a male protagonist her male readers could imagine themselves as along with a copious amount of fan service-- the great majority of which was at Ranma’s unwilling expense in his female body which like ://////// (remember that old man I mentioned before??)--  with the female protagonist body). And, like, I’m not saying Takahashi Rumiko is a terrible person or anything-- I don’t know what her beliefs are, I only know her works which are quite old at this point. Takahashi Rumiko is a big deal in the mangaka world because she was one of the first big shonen mangakas who was openly a woman. Normally, men wrote shounen (which literally translates to boys) manga and women wrote shoujo (which literally translates to girls) manga-- the genres were literally divided along gender lines in terms of their intended audiences but also, to a certain extent, their creators. If a woman wanted to write/draw shounen, usually she had to use a pen name that sounded fairly masculine in order to not impact the perception of her work. Takahashi Rumiko was working in that environment so I would understand why she’d want to be careful but, at the same time, I still kind of hate a lot of the things that she normalizes in her works. Especially assault. Both physical and sexual assault she constantly used as a punchline. Not as much anymore. Her most recent work I’ve read was Rinne and the punchline with that one was that the male lead is super poor, literally penniless, and is constantly starving so hahahahha humor amirite? Pain being funny seems to be her through line now that assault is off the table. At least he isn’t constantly getting whole ass tables thrown at him by his love interest as though that’s supposed to be a cute relationship dynamic (Akaneeeeeeeee). I digress. Takahashi Rumiko’s works played a big fucking role in my childhood from Ranma to Inuyasha to Lum (which I encountered well into my teens and therefore didn’t jive with at all because I’d finally learned sexual assault =/= funny and this was one of her more dated works) and so on and just--  I don’t know if I can watch her older stuff the same way I used to. I’m scared to try, honestly. Because some of the ideas behind her works are so interesting-- like Ranma 1/2-- but then you have to sit through episode after episode of a teenage boy in a girl’s body being sexually assaulted by a remorseless old man only to try to fight back at which point he is physically assaulted but also he still has to grovel to and respect said old man because he’s his father’s master and therefore he has to learn martial arts from him but the old man is constantly wagering Ranma having to pose for him in incredibly skimpy outfits if Ranma wants to learn literally anything and alsso RANMA IS FUCKING FIFTEEN/SIXTEEN JESUS CHRIST IS THERE NO FUNCTIONING ADULT ANYWHERE IN THE VVICINITY SAVE HIM!

I NEED TO DIGRESS

It feels like there’s an unintentional trans narrative buried in this anime. It’s not a fun one (but most trans narratives aren’t either so). This is a boy who knows he’s a boy-- even when his body disagrees. He frequently asserts that “he’s a boy” even when in his female body because he is. He’s a boy. He’ll reference being a girl “in appearance” like with the ice cream parfait scene earlier, but when it comes to identity statements, he’s always a boy. This narrative is about him navigating gender presentation and societal assumptions in order to live however he wants. He’s constantly contending with his own forms of gender dysphoria, whether that be his own gripes about doing anything unmanly (eating ice cream) or the very real threat of his mother fucking killing him if he does anything unmanly (aaaaaaaaaaaa), and he navigates tons of threats by choosing how he presents himself.

There are characters that are in love with the male “version” of Ranma and want to kill the female “version” of Ranma (who, for the record, goes by the name Ranko) and vice versa. The Kuno siblings are a great example. Kodachi is in love with Ranma (and is not above literally fucking using date rape drugs on him to get to him) and wants to fucking kill Ranko whereas Tatewaki Kuno, her brother, is in love with Ranko (the lovely pigtailed girl, he calls her) and has literally sent assassins after Ranma. Ranma essentially has to choose between being sexually assaulted or physically assaulted every time he runs into either of them in terms of what body he is presenting. 

I feel like I should let you know, ye who have actually read this far, that Ranma is able to protect himself pretty well from the assault. Like, our boy ain’t dead. Later on he literally fucking kills a god because he’s really passionate about martial arts so he puts all of himself into it and god damnit does his effort show but, honestly, his ability to protect himself shouldn’t mean that it is okay to assault him. Assault is assault. And just because he can fight back doesn’t mean he always does. Akane, his main love interest, regularly sends him through roofs and across town with the force of her Up + B (aka magically appearing hammer), usually for things that aren’t his fault in any way. Akane actually came to the conclusion that Ranma was a pervert when she (fully dressed) walked in on him (naked because he was in the bath) even though the bathroom was obviously occupied. She constantly gets mad at him for things that are beyond his control and then takes her frustrations out on him by literally beating him up and he never fights back-- which is admirable of him but also made me never want to root for their relationship because that isn’t a red flag, my dude, that’s a red planet. the whole of mars is out here trying to warn everyone that this relationship is the most toxic thing since RoundUp.) 

Usually, when watching a show, you get really invested in the character’s aspirations. You want them to ‘get the girl’, ‘get the promotion’, ‘become the pokemon master’ and whatnot. All I ever wanted for Ranma was for him to fake his own death and run far, far away from everyone who ever knew him as “Ranma”. He’d have to fake his own death, obviously, because otherwise his father and Happosai would track him down because, for his father, Ranma is a walking meal ticket and, for Happosai, Ranma is a teenage girl he can sexually assault at any time. Those two would chase Ranma to the ends of the earth if they thought he was trying to get away from them so--

Ranma. Help him.

There’s so much more to dissect with this show. It’s kind of accidentally a great way to look at gender presentation, especially all the terrible negatives that come with constrained gender roles. I use He/Him pronouns when talking about Ranma because it is abundantly clear that he sees himself as a man and I respect that. Sometimes nonbinary-me is like, but think what a gender-fluid icon our boy would be-- literally switching perceived genders via fluids-- and I think that version of Ranma would be a lot happier than the canon one but, I think the canon Ranma is an important reflection of what a lot of people go through, cisgender, transgender, and beyond, when trying to parse what it means to present a gender and the roles you’re supposed to play. 

Maybe Ranma can go on a journey of self-discovery with his own gender after faking his death and escaping Nermina. 

I was all over the place writing this but this isn’t an essay and I’m not being graded so ha fuck you (excpet no not really fuck you because you either a) read this whole thing or b)scrolled down to the bottom to see if i’d get to the fucking point already-- which for the record, I don’t really-- and either way it means you were a little curious what I had to say so thanks I guess). None of this is exceptionally well-thought-out. I wouldn’t exactly stamp this with any kind of official gender discourse seal. It’s all just food for thought. 

[sleepymarmot]

Re-liveblog: eps. 4 & 10

Here's something I've been planning to do for a while -- rereading the liveblog of The Untamed I wrote a couple of months ago and looking at my own initial reactions to Jin Guangyao's storyline with new eyes. Returning to old liveblogs is always fun, but particularly when the perspective on something changes so much by the end of the story!

Of course, this turned into a monstrosity with word count in thousands that sat in my drafts for about a month, and involved rewatching most of the scenes the liveblog mentioned, and some that it didn't. Please be warned: this series of posts is not meant to be a comprehensive analysis, and will jump from one point to another or highlight only the things I have changed my mind about, or haven’t talked on this blog before. It is going to include some very personal interpretations and opinions, sometimes possibly (or definitely, in the case of this very post) unpopular or negative. I am here to reflect on my own experience of watching the show almost as much as to write meta about the show itself.

[All re-liveblog posts]

[ep 4]

is this shy illegitimate son the same person who summoned WWX in the first episode, or are they two entirely unrelated bastards? I don’t think the ages match up…

Oh, so that's what I was thinking during Meng Yao's introduction scene: trying to figure out whether he was the same person as Mo Xuanyu or not. That's funny.

[negativity ahead!]

Of course, I was also admiring Xichen's elegant way of Using His Privilege For Good, but I thought that was self-explanatory enough not to put in the liveblog. It didn’t occur to me this scene could be interpreted as a sect leader openly hitting on a disadvantaged youth, or that such an interpretation would be popular, especially in a literal and positive way as opposed to a dark or subversive headcanon. So even if this is ever confirmed to be an intended message of the scene, I’d just say “I recognize the council has made a decision...” and continue to disregard it. Kind of incredible how it manages to squick me in at least five ways -- and xiayo is one of my main ships in this fandom! And not only squick -- in my eyes, sexualizing LXC’s intentions in this scene not only adds something that I don’t like, but actively detracts from the textual, surface meaning and narrative function of LXC’s actions (establishing LXC as a Model Authority Figure who masterfully manipulates the social power dynamics not for self-interest, but for justice, kindness, and peaceful conflict resolution; see also the following scene with the Wens). And from the other side, I think Meng Yao is shocked and impressed specifically because someone like LXC would do this for someone like him without an ulterior motive; I suspect that if he saw this as LXC making an excuse to touch someone attractive, he would only be turned off: a sect leader who can’t keep his hands to himself is nothing new and nothing good from the point of view of JGS’s illegitimate child.

But if this brief brushing of hands holds any in-universe significance in addition to a possible foreshadowing of this relationship’s future importance -- I think I just finally realized what it must be! This interaction is an adaptation of the following scene from the book (which, to be fair, happens when MY and LXC already know each other, not during a first meeting):

Meng Yao had been a famous joke for a certain period of time, which was why a few recognized him. Likely thinking that the son of a prostitute perhaps also carried some unclean things with him, the cultivators didn’t drink from the cups that he had presented with both hands. Instead, they put the cups to the side and even took out white handkerchiefs. As though it felt too uncomfortable, they repeatedly wiped the fingers that they’d touched the teacup with, either intentionally or not. Nie MingJue wasn’t someone mindful to such things. Wei WuXian, though, caught sight of this through the corners of his eyes. Meng Yao acted as if he didn’t see anything, his smile unfaltering as he continued to pass around tea.

As Lan XiChen accepted his cup, he looked up at him and smiled, “Thank you.”

He drank a sip of the tea immediately afterward. Only then did he continue to converse with Nie MingJue. A few cultivators began to feel uneasy as they saw the scene.

(Chapter 48)

So CQL!Meng Yao’s eyebrows twitch in pleased surprise because the sect leader not only personally approached to verbally support him, but took something directly from his hands, not even trying to avoid him or flinching at skin contact. As if it didn’t even occur to the majestic Zewu-jun to think of Meng Yao as dirty or disgusting.

I don’t know if this is an intended interpretation either, because I don’t remember anyone specifically avoiding physical contact with MY in the show, and on the contrary, there were examples of both friendly (from Huaisang) and unfriendly (from the commander) touch. But I certainly prefer it to the other interpretation, and ignoring the interaction altogether seems a bit intellectually dishonest.

[/negativity]

On another note, much is said about JGY’s performativity, but check out LXC’s! Someone’s being bullied in his classroom? Not on his watch! Time to descend from his pedestal like truth coming out of her well, Very Pointedly and at length explain how this person Has His Official And Personal Approval And Is Very Welcome Here, then take the gift from him personally instead of letting a disciple do that. Note how in the following scene, he also personally accepts the gift from Wen Qing as a peacemaking gesture. I love how LXC’s character establishing event is about defusing not one but two uncomfortable situations in a row. Of the two brothers, all social skills went to him...

I have no comment on the goodbye scene. Just sadness.

Oh wait, after rewatching the entire show and coming back to the post, I do have something to say. This episode is the only time I can say with all certainty that all of Meng Yao’s words and reactions are fully sincere. After this point in the timeline, it will never happen again. :(

It’s a shame that the gifs I’ve seen of this scene end with the iconic stopped bow, because the final shots are also great! As soon as MY turns away, his face becomes clouded again, and seconds after the Sect Leader himself held his arms and assured they were peers, he felt the need to bow and lower his eyes as some unnamed disciples walked by. And the bitter look he sends after them tells the viewer how much he is aware of falling from the dreamland where a nobleman would compliment him like three times within three minutes, back to the regular life where it is better not to be noticed at all. Meanwhile, Xichen looks him in the back like “I want it to grow strong and healthy, I want to tell my friends and neighbors about it”.

[ep 10]

Alright, when 10 minutes ago I thought “Meng Yao, sweetie, kill that clown”, this is not what I had in mind

SOMEBODY GIVE MENG YAO A HUG (after some emergency medical care) HE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG IN HIS LIFE. Can Xichen adopt him now?

Ah, the joys of the first viewing. 

At this point, I was thinking of both Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue exclusively as of father figures for Meng Yao. For LXC I think I slowly started to notice the romantic tension later but made a complete flip to the romantic interpretation only during the "late light talks... no sign of curse on his body" conversation. For NMJ it was during the head flashback. And as much as I like these pairings, it does feel like a loss that their existence displaces the very different pseudo-family dynamic. I think a story in which NMJ, LXC, WRH and JGS are all openly presented as competing father figures would be interesting; has anyone written that?

On rewatch, I was outraged by all of the blatant manipulation that I bought completely on the first viewing. MY is very good at playing a wounded bird -- especially when he's literally wounded. I had wondered why he just limped away without treating it, but now it's obvious he is using Stoic Suffering to invoke pity and admiration. Just like, a few minutes earlier, he showed NMJ that he was ready to be struck down, and it saved his life. He tells NHS with a sad but brave face “I won't be able to take care of you anymore” and on first viewing it worked on me just as he intended -- I thought “Poor boy, so trained to serve, he puts his duty to others above his own feelings even in this situation”. Ha...

And NMJ is only helping his case. He had the chance to explain everything and share the truth of MY's actions. And in the novel, he does take this chance, retelling the incident to Xichen (who chooses to turn a blind eye). Instead, NMJ basically confirms MY’s narrative: by hiding the reason for the exile, he makes it seem like there was no respectable reason at all. NMJ, all by himself, makes himself look like an irrational tyrant, and MY like a victim of an arbitrariness. And he does it in front of Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, no less -- an heir to a major clan and his brother! By trying not to discuss internal problems with outsiders, he achieves an opposite effect. Luckily for him, JC and WWX don't give a shit... But imagine how different the plot would be if they had this information from the start?

What I still don't understand is -- what was Meng Yao’s plan in this episode? Who was he working for? Who was his accomplice, whose feet we saw in the later flasback -- surely not Xue Yang himself, he’s supposed to be under arrest! Was he working with the Jin secretly already? (I don’t think so: in a later scene, JGS asks him about this incident, seemingly ignorant.) Or with the Wen (I don't remember -- did Xue Yang go back to the Wen afterwards)? Or just with Xue Yang directly, setting him completely free just on the promise of future cooperation? This seems most plausible -- but to risk and lose everything over such an uncertain gamble doesn’t make MY look very smart.

I have some other things to say about the events of this episode, but they’ll be in the post about the flashbacks in episode 41.

[dellaliz19]

Black Panther movie review: spoilers!

So, I just went and saw Black Panther and yes, it deserves all the praise it’s getting. So, you know the drill, pros and (few) cons, here we go!

Pros:

1) The general look of Wakanda is stunning. It’s a perfect blend of “city of the future meets African heritage” and it’s just amazing to see it brought to life. The technology is visually so engaging, and it’s great that so much of the sets are really utilized. The fight in the mine with the train, for example is a really efficient way to not just have a fight in an empty field (or airport 😐) but to actually make use of the premise you’ve set up.

2) Shuri is perfect and that is final. But seriously, Shuri is such a great character. Her relationship with T’Challa feels so real. The scene with her remote driving the car while T’Challa is on top of it is some of the most amazing and imaginative team work I’ve ever seen on film, and it was great. And it’s fantastic that her intellect and technical skill are so celebrated, and that no one ever looks down on her for it. As a woman myself in a STEM field, I’m all for celebrating smart, capable women of science and Shuri is a great role model for little girls. Also, she’s the Queen of Memes, and I love her.

3) The Dora Miljae. The powerful women don’t stop with Shuri: the Dora Miljae are finally on full display, and I’m so on board with it! I love that the King’s personal guard are these strong, capable women, who kick some serious freaking ass. Point these ladies in the direction of Thanos and then just give everyone else the day off, they’ve got it handled.

4) Andy Serkis is clearly having the time of his life. His Ulysses Klaue is the fun, devil may care kind of villain the MCU could use some more of. He’s irreverent, in it for the money and just loving every second of being a bad guy. Thematically, I understand why he had to die, but damn, he was just so much fun to watch. I know Serkis is the undisputed motion capture king, but can we please let him act more with his real face?!

5) Speaking of villains the MCU could use more like, Eric Killmonger is the perfect villain for this story. His arc was personal and related to T’Challa: he was the dark mirror image of who T’Challa could be, and Michael B Jordan hit it out of the park. I can’t say I ever rooted for him, but I definitely identified with his belief that the powerful have a responsibility to protect the marginalized. I think it’s important that the movie made it clear that it wasn’t so much his ideology that was wrong, but his methods, and that that hatred had warped his ideals somewhat: that he had killed his own people and that he wanted to punish the world. And it was important to that it was clear that his beliefs impacted and helped change and shape T’Challa’s own actions. Killmonger was the “we make our own demons” villain finally done right, and his last line was so powerful and so in character.

6) Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross finally found his rhythm. He’s clearly the story’s comedic “straight man” but he was really well integrated into the narrative, and he never feels out of place or takes up too much screen time. His hero moment in the flight drone thing was a really fitting culmination to his character developed in this movie, and I’d enjoy seeing him in more MCU movies.

7) Danai Gurira’s Okoye is a definite stand out character. She gets great fight scenes, is compelling and wise and she’s a fabulously funny character as well. I would let her kick my ass any freaking day of the week.

8) Suprise Sterling K. Brown is always a treat. I loved his scenes in the spirit world with his son, and his flashbacks in the apartment were really powerful. In very short order we’re made to feel his entire arc, and how his living amongst oppressed people of his own race affected his ideology and his struggle to reconcile that with his loyalty to his country and his brother and that’s very much due to the strength of Brown’s performance.

8) Winston Duke’s M’Baku is definitely the other stand out character. He’s introduced in this very brutal, no nonsense way, and somehow he ends up being the funniest character by the end? His “I’m just kidding we’re vegetarians” line got an honestly to gosh snort out of me, and he was a great story beat in showing the traditional side of Wakanada vs the technological side, and how T’Challa will be a different king than his father.

9) It was nice to see Bucky, but to only have him be the post credits stinger. It’s clearly establishing why he’s awake and around for Infinity War, but I’m glad he wasn’t in the whole movie. Black Panther really let T’Challa and it’s characters be the star, and including Ross was a good way to tie it into the MCU without taking that focus away from where it needed to be.

10) Honestly, the whole cast does great work with their characters. Chadwick Boseman has really made T’Challa his own, and he’s a great character. Angela Basset is always good, and Lupita Nyong’o is also fantastic. I especially like that, for a Marvel romance, she and T’Challa don’t waste time on the will they/won’t they. They find a common goal, and then they’re united. I like it. Another.

Cons (these are pretty minor!)

1) Vibranium is starting to feel like “fairy dust.” Have a problem? Vibrainium will fix it. Shot in the spine? Stick a ball of that in there! (also, like T’Challa couldn’t take two seconds to throw a little of that Rhodey’s way?) Want to make super holograms? Use some of that. And so on. This one isn’t a massive point to me: clearly the in universe explaination is that the secret government white guys in the 40’s only had imaginations large enough to make a frisbee out of it, but it does almost reach the point of feeling like a writing crutch. Vibrainium does everything, so sure, it can do that thing! Again, not major for me, because the world Wakanda paints is so cool, but it did kind of bug me.

2) Forrest Whitaker’s wise man mentor Zuri is fine, but he’s probably the character most unchanged from his general stereotype. He’s a shaman, he’s wise, he dies. His character history is good though and very thematically relevant, and Whitaker does a good job with what he’s given.

3) Daniel Kaluuya’s W’Kabi could have used a little bit more background, especially in regards to his relationship with Okoye. He’s basically only given the motivation of wanting Klaue dead, and when Killmonger delivers him that he’s just suddenly on board with all this world conquering and murder in a way that seems out of proportion for the character we’ve seen. And he and Okoye really needed more introduction to their relationship, given that their falling on either sides of this civil war is a significant plot point. All we get is her calling him “my love” and he returning it: that meeting on the battlefield would have been a lot more powerful if we’d been able to see them be domestic and interact.

4) The bloodlessness. This isn’t the director or the movie’s fault really, it’s the MPAA but the fact that PG-13 movies can’t have too much blood is...kind of noticeable here. I think it might be because the Dora Miljae all use penatrative weapons and many other characters do as well, but if you have a giant fight with spears and no one is bleeding then it feels a little bit...empty. Like, Killmonger slits the throat of one of the Dora in front of Okoye there’s no blood. Again, I get why it’s happening, and I’m not blaming the movie, but it’s something that I definitely noticed, and although I’m not asking for gore I felt the total lack of blood detracted a little of the realness from the fights.

Obviously, Black Panther is a movie that has a very deliberate point to make about race. And, I say this as a white woman: I’m so glad it does. As a woman, watching Wonder Woman was an incredibly empowering and momentous thing for me. To be able to see a story about a strong, powerful good woman on screen - someone I could identify with, and picture myself as - made me feel like I could do anything, and I think everyone, no matter your race, colour, creed, gender, sexual orientation, should get to have that moment. And so no, Black Panther wasn’t going to be a movie that gave me that moment, but I’m so, so glad it’s clearly doing so for so many people. Black Panther is a movie that celebrates black excellence and also tells an engaging and powerful story, and I’m happy to be able to enjoy and celebrate that with everyone.

So, final verdict: 9/10 for me. In a universe that is getting increasingly crowded and teetering on the edge of fatigued, Black Panther is something new and different and wonderful that everyone can enjoy.

Bonus: best lines.

“WHAT ARE THOSE?!?”

“Are we in Wakanda?” “No, we’re in Kansas.”

“Don’t freeze.” “I never freeze.” Lands. Freezes. “Ngh...hi.”

“Bury me in the ocean with all my ancestors who jumped from the ships because they knew drowning was better than living in bondage.”

“No tears for me?” “Nah, everybody dies. That’s just how life is around here.”

“Are you recording this?” “For science.” T’Challa flies across the room. “Delete that clip!”

“What, do you have a mixtape coming out?” “I can send you a SoundCloud link if you want?” “Please don’t make me listen to your music.”

“Oh good, another broken white boy for us to fix!”

“If he touches you again, I am going to impale him to that desk.”

Also if Infinity War doesn’t include a scene where Tony Stark ends up in Shuri’s lab and she’s like, “aw, that’s so cute, your hologram reminds me of the stuff I was making when I was 5,” while Tony loudly just loses his geek mind, then what even is the point of it all?

[takaraphoenix]

Can I just say something, Hazel is not v. realistic. Like I'm 13 and i can't say the same for all 13yolds but neither me nor my friends dream of growing old w/ a husband and like rick makes her and sammy to be soulmates and that's not how a 13yo's mind functions. Also, she shouldn't be completely dependant on her. And as someone who has experienced racism its v wierd that she only experiences in her schooling rather than also w/ her mum and even in new rome. 1/2

2/2 : And Rick just randomly makes the chracters diverse but then he forgets that race is a part of character. I mean Hazel was living in the 40s as an African American and now when she’s resurrected we hardly hear anything about her experiences w/ racism. It’s not realistic. I’d expect her to maybe have some centering as a character on that. I just think that Rick cannot display characters out of his perspecitve at all and im just very annoyed. idk what do u think on this all

When I was thirteen, we all didn’t quite think past the point of high school graduation - our life was in the now. We definitely did not think about growing old and picket fences.

But yeah, I said it in a post before - many posts by now - but Riordan writes only what he himself experiences. And that is the life of a fifty year old white CIS het man. And while I can’t attest for the CIS part because I’m not reading that one series that features the genderfluid character, you can feel every other aspect of that list very strongly.

You can feel the “fifty year old” when you read about literally every single teenager dreaming about the white picket fence.

You fan feel the “white” when you read Hazel, Reyna, Piper and Leo.

You can feel the “hetero” when you read the clumsy coming out of Nico at the end of Heroes of Olympus. And actually also in Will’s flippant attitude when talking to Nico about it, because in my experience as a fledgling lesbian, older and more experienced gays and lesbians were being very gentle and welcoming and not like “LOL that’s why I was trying to talk to you for so long because I’m gay too!”. That was just to retcon in that Will was also gay; had Riordan actually cared about the gay sub-plot before, then we would have had interactions between Will and Nico in PJatO.

You can feel the “man” at every female POV in the Heroes of Olympus series. Every. Single. One.

Gotta admit, as a white girl from Germany, I do not know how things are for black people in the US (you know, beyond the generic news coverage online and the police propaganda in cop shows), but nowadays with things like Black Panther, Black Lightning, Dear White People, Timeless (seriously, the part that I adore most about that show is how it dives into the female and black history, the kind that’s brushed under the rug), also gotta mention One Day at a Time here for the Latinx representation, I realized just how very… white-author the Heroes of Olympus characters feel.

Especially with Hazel it infuriates me because she comes from a different time and to include how her experience is, how things have changed - and worse yet, how things haven’t changed - would be so incredibly interesting. How she experiences everything.

I mean, seriously, Percy got shunned for being a son of Neptune because Neptune was feared - but so was Pluto. Just how awful must it have been for the black daughter of Pluto in New Rome…?

But oh no, worry not, the black girl from the 40s with no knowledge of the modern world perfectly integrated into New Rome in 2010. No issues here at all.

We live in a time and age where not everyone can be straight and white.

We live in a time and age where representation isn’t just asked for, we demand it, because the world isn’t straight and white.

So the author of the book series where every single major character was white started sweating. (Beckendorf and Ethan were the only non-white characters and oh look, both got killed off.)

So he… he literally just looked around what there is to represent and just slapped a label on each of his characters, like a check-list.

We need A Black Character - Hazel, check.

We need An Asian Character - Frank, check.

We need A Gay Character - Nico, check.

We need A Native American Character - Piper, check.

We need A Latinx Character - oh, let’s be generous on that one; Leo and Reyna, double check.

I didn’t notice that back then, when I first read the books. But by now…?

I’m not saying I could do better - heck, unlike Riordan I also have the disadvantage of living in Europe and thus not even second-hand witnessing what the American Experience might be like for people of color - but if you decide to write a major book series and represent something you are not familiar with - may it be being gay, or from a different cultural background, or being a woman - then you should at the very least put the research into it to back it up.

Or, the easier cop-out, stick to what you did before.

And I don’t mean that as “just write whites”.

It really would be less of an issue if Heroes of Olympus had still been only from Percy’s perspective. Because we would have only gotten to meet the characters through Percy’s eyes - and not their own.

Because then we wouldn’t have had those flashbacks to Hazel’s past, we wouldn’t have to question how it came that those characters didn’t think about certain things or complain how they all seemed to think about other things collectively. And literally no one would have complained about a lack of POV changes, because PJatO didn’t have those - it was all Percy, so no one would have questioned if the sequel had also all been Percy.

It’s one thing writing about characters, but it’s different writing as characters. And in my personal opinion, Riordan shot himself in the foot by making HoO a POV split between this very diverse cast of characters, without having the actual background knowledge to flesh them fully out.

Not to mention the part where I generally think that going from one POV up to three and then to seven and nine different POVs had already been too much of a jump, but if you do that with so many different characters, who should also all have a different feeling to them, that only makes a difficult task that much more difficult.

Now, obviously, having the Seven all be white males would have been a disaster and also the wrong choice.

There are different things that could have been done though.

Like I mentioned, keeping it Percy’s POV, which we all would have been used to and no one would have questioned (heck, even if he had just done it a Jason and Percy POV due to Lost Hero).

Doing actual research for the things you write about. Also an option.

Or dialing down on the unknown. Let’s not forget, he wasn’t just juggling seven characters who represented something he wasn’t personally familiar with (also including Annabeth, because girl), out of the total of nine main characters all but three were completely new and had to be introduced.

In my personal opinion, he should have carried more characters than just Percy and Annabeth (and then later on also Nico, but not important enough to be one of the Seven) over into this book-series.

Clarisse, for example - she is over twenty, she is an experienced fighter and hero. That’d be a female character to be fully explored, but who has already been introduced (and would have made more sense than Frank, Hazel, Leo and Piper on terms of them literally having been introduced to the demigod world barely months prior with a total of one quest of experience before going to war).

Chris Rodriguez, who while never explicitely stated to be Latino as far as I remember, the name does imply and Riordan could have doubled down on that and included him. Hermes is a very diverse god, considering how much Riordan played with the powers of not overly powerful gods like Bellona or Aphrodite or Hephaestus, he could have done the same with Chris. It’d also have been fascinating to see the former traitor work hard to earn back his place at camp and to explore the mental strain put on him in the Labyrinth.

You would not have to start from scratch if you take characters you already have established. It makes everything easier, both for you as the writer and also for the readers, who don’t have to familiarize themselves with half a dozen completely new main characters.

And it takes away that edge of it being utterly ridiculous that, despite both camps having veteran heroes who fought in the Titan War and are around 20 years of age, they decided to send four kids who are essentially total newbies and of whom one is 13 and two are 15.

But yeah, those are just… personal picks on how he could have handled it better. Me, I simply wouldn’t have written about a prophecy of seven because this is a damn war. Seriously, the quest for Atlas, a minor stepping-stone on the way to the Titan War, already featured five main players with Percy, Thalia, Grover, Bianca and Zoe, only two less than this entire freaking war needed according to the prophecy.

Have it be the Giant War. Feature all of those new characters, but also your already established ones. Keep it first person Percy POV and show them fighting together, instead of singling only seven demigods out in something that is supposed to be an all out war against Mother Earth.

Neither of those are be all end all kind of answers to the problem, but suggestions on how it could have been handled differently.

The important thing would be growth and as someone for whom HoO was just too much, I can not judge that. Because everyone makes mistakes and everyone grows as a writer. So if Riordan saw what he did and learned from it - I know one of the Magnus Chase mains is a Muslima, another is mute, I think, and one is genderfluid, so if all of those are handled with more respect, research and dedication and it shows that he learned from the past, then that’s good and okay, because nobody is perfect and it’s all a learning curve, but if those are also just cardboard cut-outs put in place to be Representation, then that’d be… sad, I guess. And disappointing.

But, well, due to not having read that - and not planning on reading that - I can’t attest to it. I can just hope for the best for the readers who seek representation and got giddy about the prospect. I hope they didn’t get disappointed in that.

And I hope he will continue to learn from mistakes and grow as a writer, because yeah I generally don’t wish anyone anything bad and I truly, truly loved Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He hurt himself by trying too many new things in the sequels and if he learns to handle that and return the writing to the quality of PJatO, that’d be pretty amazing.

[aion-rsa]

James Wan Horror Movies Ranked

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James Wan has a new horror movie out this weekend, and it’s been far too long since we’ve been able to write that. As one of the singular genre filmmakers of his generation, Wan managed to launch three successful and pop culture defining horror franchises in less than a decade between Saw (2004), Insidious (2010), and The Conjuring (2013). And yet, the Australian director hasn’t stepped foot in a spooky house since 2016’s The Conjuring 2. Moving on to bigger and (maybe?) better things in Furious 7 and Aquaman, Wan’s new status as a blockbuster director caused many fans to wonder if his days in dark shadows were done. 

Which is why this weekend’s Malignant is such an inviting proposition. Five years after walking away from personally helming Ed and Lorraine Warren’s on-screen adventures, Wan’s returned to his roots with an original horror movie that’s not part of any franchise. What a novel concept. To celebrate this change of fortune, the editors at Den of Geek have put their heads together and voted, coming up with a definitive ranking of Wan’s horror movies. You can trust us.

7. Malignant

Sometimes it takes a while to get back into the swing of things. While Wan deserves credit for championing an original idea in the modern world of sequels, prequels, and spinoffs—he even turned down helming The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It for this!—daring gambles don’t always payoff for everyone. Which might be a polite way of saying that for some of us (although not all), Malignant is a disappointment.

Built entirely around a plot twist we’re not going to spoil here, Wan’s Malignant takes the familiar concept of a protagonist (Annabelle Wallis) being wrongfully accused for supernatural crimes, and turns it on its head. The actual twist however has left folks divided. Some applaud how bold it is while others of us found it fairly underwhelming, and lacking a satisfying subtext or cohesiveness to make it worthwhile. We’re all in agreement though, it’s a stylish bit of eye candy… and that Wan’s done better before. – David Crow

6. Insidious: Chapter 2

As the second installment of Wan and frequent collaborator Leigh Whannell’s Insidious franchise, there was a lot of anticipation over how this horror sequel would follow-up on the cliffhanger ending to the first film. If you don’t recall—and here there be spoilers, by the by—that movie ended on the shocking revelation that Patrick Wilson’s repressed and mild mannered father, Josh, had become possessed by a ghost which has been chasing him since childhood. Worse, this spirit caused him to kill Lin Shaye’s delightfully kooky Elise! (Don’t worry, her soul gets better.) What will happen next to the poor Lambert family?

Read more

Movies

13 Best Blumhouse Horror Movies Ranked

By David Crow and 3 others

Movies

Insidious: Is The Further Real?

By Tony Sokol

Something a lot more rote, as it turns out. This is not to say that Insidious: Chapter 2 is a bad movie; it’s simply a much lesser one than what came before. From the film doubling down on a monster not nearly as intriguing as the Lipstick Demon from the first film to the picture failing to expand on the strange astral plane of the Further in a meaningful way, Chapter 2 is just a tad underwhelming—a horror follow-up going through the motions. Still, it allows Wilson to play secretly evil, so that’s fun! – DC

5. Dead Silence

Dead Silence was DOA in theaters and critically panned when it debuted in 2007, yet after the movie became available as a home release it scraped together a small audience that was mostly composed of very specific genre fans: those who are just plain shit scared of ventriloquist dummies! Directed and written by the horror dream team of Wan and Whannell, Dead Silence stars True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten as Jamie Ashen, a young widower who slumps back to his hometown looking for answers following his wife’s ‘death by dummy.’ Dogging him on his quest is New Kid Donnie Wahlberg in a wild, scene-stealing performance as a detective who seemingly can’t stop preening his facial hair.

The mythical boogeywoman of the piece is Mary Shaw, a ventriloquist who was once lynched in the town after a performance went awry and a child later died by mysterious circumstances. Jamie’s family were an essential part of her lynching, and now Mary is on the warpath from beyond the grave.

Dead Silence is incredibly silly, but an important step in Wan’s directing career. Throughout the film he plays with the kind of masterful sound design and jump scares that he eventually refined down to a sublime craft. Just like one of Mary Shaw’s dolls, all the parts are there but the movie is only possessed by a little soul that doesn’t do too much damage to your nerves. – Kirsten Howard

4. Saw

The movie that made Wan a household name (at least among movie nerds and horror hounds), Saw became the biggest horror franchise of the 2000s and launched a grim new subgenre of exploitation that’s been derisively (if fairly) dubbed “torture porn” ever since. It’s therefore easy to forget Wan’s original Saw really isn’t one of those movies. Oh, people are tortured on-screen in this gnarly nightmare. And it is very horrific, to be sure.

Yet unlike the many subsequent Saw sequels that came later, plus copycats like the Hostel franchise, Saw doesn’t take perverse pleasure in its characters’ suffering or imagine the villain as some kind of antihero. Jigsaw was originally a chilling serial killer in the David Fincher mold, and his original film had a surprisingly minimal amount of gore. Most of the picture is really about the dreadful suspense of anticipation as we wait for something horrible to happen when two men wake up inside a dilapidated industrial bathroom and are told they need to saw off their own feet to survive.

In truth, if this same exact script (minus the grisly flashback sequences) was presented a one-act Off-Broadway play in 2004, it would’ve likely been hailed as edgy and boundary-pushing art. Instead we got a horror classic that spawned a memorable, if ultimately trashy, B-horror franchise after Wan and co-writer Whannell left the series following the first outing. Fair trade. – DC 

3. Insidious

Back in 2010 when Insidious was released, Blumhouse hadn’t yet become the horror behemoth it is today. So low budget but glossy horrors starring talented household names weren’t the norm. It wasn’t just these attributes that made Insidious a breakout which still holds up a decade later, however. It’s the fact that the movie is undeniably scary. It may use certain jump scare tactics at times but boy, do they work. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star as a couple whose son is capable of astral projection, which has taken him into the nightmarish world of the Further and caused demonic figures to haunt the family. 

The first half of the movie will have you leaping out of your seat. The second half though is more of a comedy, marked by the arrival of psychic Elise (Lin Shaye) and her sidekicks, Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (Leigh Whannell, who also wrote the screenplay). Made for just $1.5 million, Insidious is good-looking and distinctive, with scenes in the Further sharing an aesthetic with Dead Silence, and a mythology that clearly had legs. To date three sequels have been made, with a fourth confirmed last year. – Rosie Fletcher

2. The Conjuring 2

As a horror sequel done right, Wan’s follow-up to the biggest horror movie of his career felt like a palate cleanser for the director. After helming the successful but tragically troubled production of Furious 7, Wan returned to his roots and delivered a fiendishly designed thrill ride. In The Conjuring 2, we again follow Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s fictionalized takes on Ed and Lorraine Warren, this time to London as they investigate the infamous “Enfield Poltergeist” (spoiler alert: it’s a demon).

Once again Ed and Lorraine play the good samaritans and help a young family in desperate need, and Wan still keeps it wildly entertaining and suspenseful, if not necessarily fresh. But as important as his gliding camera set-ups and ability to create new iconic images of evil out of seeming whole cloth—hello, there demon Nun!—it’s the humanity in both of Wan’s Conjuring films which elevate them above the rest of their franchise. Never mind the ghosts; the scene of Wilson crooning Elvis Presley to some beleaguered children is the stuff of movie magic. – DC

1. The Conjuring

James Wan couldn’t have picked better subjects for his paranormal investigation franchise than Ed and Lorraine Warren, the controversial demonologists who left behind countless diaries and recorded accounts of demonic possession, haunted houses, and other supernatural events they claim to have witnessed over their decades-spanning careers. They even opened a museum full of spooky artifacts in the back of their Connecticut home. This is a couple who enjoyed digging into the occult, and with The Conjuring, Wan showed just how much he loved telling stories about the Warrens. 

Read more

Movies

The Conjuring Timeline Explained: From The Nun to The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

By Daniel Kurland

Movies

How The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It Embraces Satanic Panic

By David Crow

The first film covers one of the Warrens’ most famous cases, the Perron family haunting, with more than a few embellishments thrown in for an effective ghost story. In the real-life account and the movie, Roger and Carolyn Perron (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) are haunted by an antagonistic spirit that wants their newly-purchased 18th-century farmhouse in Rhode Island all to itself. That’s where the Warrens come in to investigate the strange occurrences, like the smell of rotting flesh in the basement.

The chemistry between Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who bring the Warrens to life, is one of the movie’s greatest strengths, establishing one of the franchise’s most important themes: that love can defeat any evil. It’s their devotion to each other, and their will to help others in need, that allows them to overcome any supernatural obstacles in these movies. (It’s why the sequels spend so much time threatening to tear them apart.) More than the creepy set pieces—like a possessed Carolyn in the crawl space *shudder*—and the “based on a true story” tagline, it’s the Warrens as characters that people keep showing up for, and the first Conjuring cleverly sells their love story to an audience just expecting jump scares and demons. – John Saavedra

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[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #221 - Zombieland

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: No.

Format: Blu-ray

1) The prologue.

We are immediately given a sense of Columbus’ voice in the prologue, which is important because he narrates the entire film. From the beginning we get a strong sense of not only who Columbus is but the rules by which this film operates (in a literal sense, as Columbus lists his rules for surprising Zombieland). We get all the backstory we need: we’re dealing with fast zombies, world on the brink (or post) apocalypse, etc. It all works as a strong setup to a great film.

2) According to IMDb:

[Rhett Reese] the co-writer of the film plays the man in the white tuxedo with an assault rifle in the opening credits.

3) Columbus as the gas station.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

We have been introduced to Columbus’ rules for surviving Zombieland (cardio, beware bathrooms, seat belts, etc.) but this is where we first really see them in action. Whenever a horror comedy is made it is easy to go low on one of those elements in favor of the other. The comedy has been established by Columbus’ voice but now we see that this film CAN be scary. There is genuine suspense on the scene as we practically wait (like Columbus does) to see if there will be a zombie attack. Not to mention they get in a good jump scare or too.

4) Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus.

As mentioned above, Columbus is our film’s main character. He’s the one we get to know best throughout his narration. That means he cannot - under any circumstances - be boring (or else the film will be too). And although Eisenberg’s performance may not differ TOO greatly from some of his other work, that’s largely because it does support the character. Columbus is interesting, developed, funny, and sometimes tragic. We get a sense of his fears (of which there are MANY) and how they can define him, but we also see him grow to face those fears for those he cares about. All of the characters are developed wonderfully in this film and Columbus is no exception.

5) Story is conflict, conflict is interesting. The two parts of the main bromance meet when they’re pointing their guns at each other. That just DRIPS with conflict and speaks to the wonderful heart of their relationship.

6) Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee.

From the very first moment Tallahassee shows up on screen you know he’s special. He just LOOKS badass and Harrelson ends up stealing every single scene of the movie. Tallahassee is largely enigmatic, but we do get to know him as the film goes on.

Columbus [seeing a zombie eat a corpse]: “I mean it makes you -”

Tallahassee: “Hungry.”

Columbus: “I’m worried about you.”

He’s developed throughout. You understand how much he fucking hates zombies and later you understand why. Sometimes when you reveal more about an enigmatic character they lose what makes them interesting (see: Jack Sparrow). But not with Tallahassee. I think this is a testament to Harrelson and the filmmakers for making him strong throughout.

7) This could really be a note thrown in while talking about Tallahassee, but I think it deserves its own recognition. The fact that such a notable part of this movie is Tallahassee looking for Twinkies gives the film two things: a strong through line and a unique character detail. Columbus’ analysis of why Tallahassee feels so strongly about this, about how it makes him remember a time when things were normal, also gives it heart. It’s not a joke just to be funny, there’s a reason behind it. I love that.

(GIF originally posted by @themarvsthompson)

8) I’m so tired of this idea that if you’re a guy who still has his virginity you’re some kind of loser. Like, fuck that shit.

Columbus [explaining how he was kind of a dweeb before zombies]: “Virginity: totally justifiable to speculate on.”

9) Amber Heard as 406.

There’s a pretty good chance that this is the only film I’ve seen Amber Heard in (that’ll probably change when Justice League comes out) and while it may not be exactly the part of the year, Heard really commits to it. In her human form you are able to invest in 406 really quickly, as Heard plays her fear and panic totally believable. But the actress also plays the part as a zombie which requires a unique physicality that not everyone can master. 406 as a zombie is freaking great though, with Heard bringing that unique movement to the character while also being really fucking scary. I dig it.

10) There are so many small jokes in this film I love I couldn’t possible list them all.

Tallahassee [about a zombie free place]: “It's all just nonsense. You know, you're like a penguin on the North Pole who hears the South Pole is really nice this time of the year.”

Columbus: “There are no penguins on the North Pole.”

[Beat.]

Tallahassee: “You wanna feel how hard I can punch?”

11) The scene with Columbus and Tallahassee in the grocery store shows off one of this film’s best qualities: it has fun with its zombie violence. It’s over the top and crazy making all the zombie killing just wildly fun.

12) The con Little Rock and Wichita run on the two guys is so interesting. For one thing actresses Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin are so good I’m 100% riveted by both performances. They give it their all even though it’s fake, even though they’re conning them. And the fact that it is a con, that twist to the scene, speaks to who they both are as characters.

Wichita: “Better you make the mistake of trusting us then we make the mistake of trusting you.”

Their trust issues with everyone but each other is great. The relationship these sisters have is developed wonderfully, defined by their interaction during the following car ride. We understand how this relationship works and the love they have for each other in NO TIME.

13) “Zombie Kill of the Week” discussion.

Take a look at that scene, take a look at that production design. The film never calls attention to it but you 100% understand what has happened just by looking at it. The tanks, the banners, the propaganda posters, all speak greatly to the world we are currently in. Juxtaposing that against the sheer irrelevance of the conversation Tallahassee and Columbus are having about killing zombies is a perfect representation of the film. Incredible humor against a bleak landscape. (Note: the first half of the scene is not featured in this video, the one where they’re talking about zombie kills of the week. Just so you know.)

14) Abigail Breslin as Little Rock.

None of the main four characters in this film are weak, meaning Breslin is able to hold up against her cast members (including and especially veteran Woody Harrelson). There’s this sense of sarcastic humor, almost jadedness, and charisma that Breslin breathes into every scene. She’s basically twelve year old Han Solo fighting zombies. I love that.

15) I relate to Columbus in this moment.

Columbus [after Wichita highjacks his car and points a gun at him]: “I kinda like this girl.”

16) There are occasional flashbacks to life BEFORE zombies which could’ve really messed with the film (especially considering it’s less than 90 minutes), but they’re put in good spots and improve on the movie’s human element (which is incredibly important and I’ll speak more on soon).

17) Emma Stone as Wichita.

I love Emma Stone. I’d watch Emma Stone read the phonebook as a film. So I’m not exactly unbiased here, but I freaking love her as Wichita. The character is wonderfully layered, with trust issues being a defining trait but so is her love for Little Rock. The more she lets those issues go, the more she trusts Columbus and quits keeping him and Tallahassee at bay, the more fun we get to have the character/the more invested I am. But again, I’m hardly unbiased.

18)

Wichita [about Columbus, Ohio]: “It’s a total ghost town, it’s burned to the ground.”

The fact that this packs as much of a punch as it does speaks greatly to a really important part of this movie: it’s human element. In a movie called Zombieland there are probably more scenes without zombies than there are with them. Except you don’t notice this, you’re not bothered by it, and that’s because this movie isn’t about the zombies. It’s about the people living in Zombieland, living this world with zombies in it. We don’t spend as much time developing the zombies or the mythos there as much as we do getting into the characters who we are traveling with. Through trashing the roadside shop, through their time together, through their car ride conversations, through all of it. And it is done in an incredible way that just keeps getting stronger the longer the film goes.

Columbus [about Little Rock]: “It’s tough growing up in Zombieland.”

Wichita: “It’s tough growing up.”

19) Okay, the entire idea with “Zombie Kill of the Week” is a holdover for when this script was going to be a TV show. And it’s one of the best gags in the film.

20) I love the following car scene. If I could find a clip of it I would post it here, but it’s a bunch of little moments cut together which are so great (including a scene where Little Rock explains “Hannah Montana” to Tallahassee in an improvised moment). It’s one of my favorite moments in the film and I wish there was a clip of it online.

21) Bill. Fucking. Murray.

The video is not the best quality but it’s the only one I could find with the whole scene.

Okay, the first time I saw this was in 2012. I hadn’t laughed in movies a lot since then, it had kind of died out of me. This scene busted my gut and has me laughing like crazy still to this day. The best fucking scene in the whole film it is just pure, unbridled fun! Murray fucking shines! And the way it ends!? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I can’t explain it in justice. Watch it. Watch it now.

22) When we learn the truth about Buck (that he’s Tallahassee’s son who was killed by zombies, not his dog), the fact that this film is a human story is clearer than ever. It’s this one scene, this one revelation, which catapults it from good to great. Before it was a really funny zombie comedy movie and now its something else entirely. It’s so much more human and relatable. I just really love the thought the filmmakers put into that.

(GIF source unknown [if this GIF is yours please let me know].)

23) One of my favorite pairings in this film is one which doesn’t get a lot of screen time and that’s Tallahassee and Little Rock. There’s this close to parental bond (more like uncle or older brother) they have and it comes through very nicely in the scene where Tallahassee shows Little Rock how to shoot.

24) Columbus and Wichita’s nightcap.

This is a great moment of vulnerability and honest connection between the pair. The fact that the film spends a couple minutes just going over their respective 1997’s means we get to know even MORE about them in an interesting way. As the audience we are treated to so much rich character information and development in not a long runtime and this scene shows that off beautifully.

25) I thought of this as Little Rock and Wichita get to the rumored Zombie-free-zone of Pacific Playland: the external goal in the movie is the amusement park, but that’s not what they’re looking for. What they’re looking for - what everyone is looking for - is something they had before the zombies. Columbus was looking for his family, Tallahassee is searching for Twinkies, and the sisters are looking for just a little fun that kids get to have. There all looking for a little bit of normalcy where they get to just be PEOPLE who can relax a little, something they end up finding in each other.

26) The extended climax of this film works for a few reasons. For one thing: Little Rock and Wichita being stuck on the drop ride creates a great amount of tension. The suspense and sense of risk is present throughout in scenes like the haunted house and Tallahassee in the prize cage (supported by slow-motion). That, and the zombie killing is as kickass as ever.

27) I haven’t really talked about this before but I like how this film is able to make their zombies a little unique in design. They’re not carbon copies of Romero zombies or 2005 Dawn of the Dead zombies, they’re their own thing.

28) This is Columbus’ climax.

Columbus [trying to save Wichita, stopped by a zombie clown (he hates clowns)]: “Of course, it had to be a clown. No, it HAD to be a clown. And it had to be Wichita for me to finally understand that some rules are made to be broken.”

He disregards his rules (specifically, “Don’t be a hero,”) in order to just do the right thing. To live for someone else for once. I dig it.

29) I always say you can tell a climax works because once its over all the tension in your body just vanishes. That is true for this film, once the zombie clown is dead.

30) Wichita’s real name - Krysta - is actually the name of Emma Stone’s mother in real life.

31) TALLAHASSEE GETS HIS FUCKING TWINKIE!

32) There are few films which are able to include their message in dialogue without being cheesy as all hell. This film is one of them.

Columbus: “And without other people, well you might as well be a zombie.”

33) And, if you stay after the credits…

Zombieland is a freaking classic. Holy crap, I love this movie. It’s tight, funny as hell, and the decision to tell a human story above all else gives it an amazing beating heart. All four the main cast members are through the roof incredible, it’s got Bill Murray in it AS Bill Murray, I just really fucking love it. One of my favorite films of all time. Go watch it, it’s not that long.

[redwhale]

The following was sparked off by the sentiment ‘Thomas would think Flint a monster and would hate him for the things he’s done’ (briefly mentioned here). I didn’t want to attach the following as a reblog to poor @my-truest-flinthamilton directly because the rambling below is waaay too much of a tangent, but I find the topic really interesting, and I have Feelings on the subject.

Spoiler: I think it would be complicated, but still nah.

I do think Thomas' reaction to what Flint has done depends, among other things, on what kind of hell Thomas himself has been through. We have no concrete answers outside the fact that Thomas was taken to Oglethorpe's plantation. Unless someone bribes Thomas related answers out of Steinberg and Levine (can we do a fandom Kickstarter?), it's ultimately up to the viewer's discretion. From the events of Black Sails, there is a tenuous timeline that can be established, but it’s still up to the viewer’s discretion. I actually have an unfinished post about this, and I wish I’d finished it before this post!

Some of the TL;DR re: the timeline:

The real world maps used as props on the show demonstrate Georgia and Savannah exist within Black Sails’ world in 1715. (Thank you to the incredible sagestreet!) In the case of the latter map, it was in wide enough circulation to the point that a copy of it is displayed in Governor Raja’s office in Havana. It’s fair to say that Savannah may have been established for awhile, and if Oglethorpe plays a similar role within the world of Black Sails to his real world counterpart, he may have been in the Americas for a decade or so. My assumption in turn is that the plantation may have been around for a few years. Georgia and Savannah weren’t established until 1733 in our world, but Black Sails exists in its own ball of wibby-wobbly timey-wimey. With some extra wibby and wimey.

In regards to what Thomas himself has been through, we have a lot of variables. How long was Thomas in Bethlem for? Was he ever in Bethlem? How long has he been at the plantation? What is the treatment of those at Oglethorpe’s plantation like? For all of Oglethorpe’s pontificating, the reality of what we see on screen is no more than a small sugar cane plantation. My hope is that the treatment of those imprisoned there is still better than other plantations, but there are dangerous realities inherent to sugar cane plantations regardless. Even if Oglethorpe’s plantation was the Nicest Sugar Cane Plantation Ever—now there’s an ironic statement—it’s still a one way trip for those imprisoned there. (Slightly off-topic, but I had a very different image of what the place was going to be like from Max’s dialogue in 4x04. ‘Cared for, tended to...’ Yeah, they’re certainly tending to something.)

When it comes to Thomas’ emotional state over the lost decade, along with whatever transpired at the plantation and the possibility of being held in Bethlem, there’s also the conundrum of what Thomas was told about James and Miranda from Peter Ashe. Did Thomas think they were dead? Did he think they were alive, still out there somewhere?

The amount of hell that Thomas himself has been through would certainly contribute to how Thomas feels about his father, Peter Ashe, England, Nassau... and all that James has done as Flint. Thomas in London was already a stubborn, passionate man with a temper and very strong ideas about the world. Would he be broken after a decade ? Would that fire be even more inflamed?

The Thomas we knew in London was in an extremely privileged position, and he wanted to pardon the pirates of Nassau for both financial and social benefit. That was before Bethlem or Oglethorpe’s plantation. (Lord Thomas ‘I Want To Pardon The Pirates’ Hamilton. P.S. ‘Yes, All of the Pirates’. P.P.S. ‘Did I Fucking Stutter?’) 

Judging by Hands’ talk to James in 4x04, it seems like Blackbeard was already established in prominence when Lieutenant McGraw came to Nassau. From Hands’ dialogue, it seems like Hands himself may have been one of the men that murdered Governor Thompson’s family. Thomas wanted to pardon the pirates back in London whilst Blackbeard and co. were at large, and was still willing to do so even after James brought back the news of all that had transpired there. It was a decision that ended quite badly, mind, but with James’ encouragement, Thomas decided to continue on regardless. If Thomas was willing to pardon these pirates, some of which had also done some pretty horrific things, I think it’s a fair assumption he wouldn’t be washing his hands of James and ‘Captain Flint’ so easily. Thomas was very much in love with James back in London (see the Meditations inscription, among other things), and Thomas still seemed very much in love with him from the reunion in the finale.

[Tangent: how the hell did Hands hear that Flint used to be a Navy man, and that McGraw was there when they took back Nassau from the English?! Only Miranda would have 100% known the specifics.]

In regards to how Thomas views people and humanity in general, we can also only look to the episodes themselves. As Miranda says in 1x06, he was Mr. Devil's Advocate back in London: Thomas would have played that game with you from dusk until dawn. And everything you hold sacred, he'd leave in tatters. Not from malice or hate, but from love. From a desire to see the yoke of shame lifted from your shoulders.

Considering what we know of how Thomas reacts when he’s dragged off to Bethlem, and how loyal and protective he is over Miranda and James, I can’t imagine that he would be all that aggrieved by Flint killing Alfred Hamilton or Peter Ashe. (Miranda, 2x05: Before they took him away, he made me promise him that no matter what happened next, that you and I would take care of each other). Again, pardoning the murderous pirates of Nassau wasn’t really an issue for Thomas in London. Alfred Hamilton and Peter Ashe destroyed the lives of Thomas, Miranda, and James—and ten years later, Miranda is now dead because of it.

Speaking of darling Miranda, I think it’s also important to look to Miranda as a counterpoint to Thomas, in regards to her feelings on James, and James as Flint. Thomas and Miranda absolutely are not the same in personality or actions (the latter is more sensible and realistic than the former, among many other things!), but they have a similar character trajectory. We don’t know anything about Miranda’s backstory, but considering she married the son of an Earl, she must have come from at least decent social standing. Thomas and Miranda are both outcasts from society in different ways: Miranda, as a brilliant, forward thinking woman who society wants to keep in place, and Thomas, the radical Lord who is whispered to be mad by half of Whitehall and who’s sexuality is punishable by death. In London, both Thomas and Miranda fall head over heels in love with James McGraw. After Ashe’s betrayal, they are separated from each other, and both go from London high society to a terrible and horrifying fall.

Throughout all of James’ years as Flint, Miranda never stopped loving James. Miranda didn’t think of James as a monster, and never treated him as such. Miranda was the only character in the 1715 timeline of Black Sails that looked upon James wholly without fear. She was afraid for him, but never of him. In the killing Alfred Hamilton, James and Miranda were partners, with James wielding the blade. We see that Miranda didn’t approve of all of James’ choices, but we know how much she loved James regardless. ETA: I had completely forgotten about Miranda’s 4x08 dialogue re: Flint, until Bean’s gif set reminded me: You can defend that man. There are good arguments in defense of him. 

And, god, my poor beloved Miranda, who finally got to express her own fury at the world after the horrifying realization of how deeply her little trio had been betrayed, had it all cut short by a bullet to the head.

(not. over. her.)

Regardless of how you read the specifics of the relationship between Thomas and Miranda, I also think it’s important to consider the love between them in regards to how Thomas would react to some of Flint's actions. We see how deeply Thomas and Miranda cared for each other, both from Miranda's present day dialogue and through their interactions in the London flashbacks. So how does Thomas react when he finds out what happened to Miranda? (I’m still so bitter that we didn’t get to see.) How does he react to what James did in the aftermath of Miranda’s loss, and of Peter’s part in it all? In both London and in Charlestown, we saw Miranda’s enraged fury over the loss of Thomas and the revelation of how they all were betrayed. Miranda wanted to see Charlestown burn. I have no idea if Thomas would want destruction on such a scale, but it seems wrong to dismiss that Thomas wouldn’t have his own grief and fury about Miranda’s loss, especially considering how much her cared for her.

Miranda and James went through horrific emotional trauma over the decade since London. Trauma that shaped their actions, their emotions—specifically, their rage. Thomas, at the very least, would have gone through a lot of emotional trauma, with the possibility of some horrifying physical trauma as well. I don’t think it’s a reach to say he would have his own heartbreak and rage at the world in turn.

I also have to link to @sidewaystime‘s wonderful Thomas meta that expands on what we can infer of his character from the text of Black Sails itself. In the case of this post, I’m linking to it with special emphasis on Thomas as a character (the man isn’t exactly innocently Mr. Soft and Fluffy), alongside his dynamic with Miranda and James. Also, just go through sidewaystime’s tags anyway to read all of her godly Miranda meta and meta in general ohmygosh. ohmygosh

All of this to say: from what Black Sails itself shows us, I don't think Thomas would hate James, nor think of him as a monster. That’s not even bringing into the equation of what Thomas may have been through himself, as he hasn’t exactly been sitting around picking daisies for the last decade. I think it's fair to say some elements of Captain Flint Thomas would support, and some of it he would not.

..but Thomas hating James and thinking of him purely as a monster? 

Miranda didn’t. I can’t see that Thomas would, either. 

[callistawolf]

Best in Five (vol. 2)

So last year I did a “Best in Five” post for episodes 1-10, covering seasons 1-5. I promised I’d do another post for episodes 11-23 after season 5 finished. But when season 5 finished, I took the whole “hiatus” thing a little too seriously and just... enjoyed a little break. For five months. 

Now, tonight, Arrow is back on our TVs and I really need to do this post. This list was really difficult. Because so many episodes were so good. And so many were SO BAD (honestly, Arrow has an ep 11-19 problem). SO. Here goes. 

Best Episode 11

4x11: A.W.O.L.

This one was easy. 4x11 was an amazing episode for Felicity, as a character. We saw her struggling with her disability, her feelings of self doubt. The scenes with her hallucinating her goth, college self were incredible. 4b was a mess, not gonna lie, but 4x11 was a shining star of an episode. And Arrow rarely has a particularly remarkable episode 11. 

Best Episode 12

1x12: Vertigo

I was almost tempted to select 4x12, but 1x12 is just iconic. First you have the infamous “if it’s an energy drink, why is it in a syringe” scene and then you have this amazingly intimate moment where the bond between these two is really being forged. The trust is established. This was groundwork and a beautiful episode. 

Best Episode 13

4x13: Sins of the Father

This was hard because Arrow never has a really good episode 13. But I gave it to season 4 if just for the scene depicted in the gif above. Oliver and Felicity telling each other they just want to get married, that a big fancy wedding isn’t important to them. That’s gonna come up again this year, folks. Plus, how precious is that kiss? 

Best Episode 14

1x14: The Odyssey

I really like 4x14 with the engagement party but... how do you beat the origin of #OTA? You don’t. This is where Arrow became Arrow. We got to see Diggle and Felicity really interact and bond, Felicity was brought into the secret (and the lair), the team was formed and all was right with the world. I’ll always love this episode because it really set Arrow on the trajectory that launched it from mere comic book show to something else. Something more. 

Best Episode 15

1x15: The Dodger

If 1x14 was iconic because of the origin of #OTA, then 1x15 is iconic because we get to see #OTA truly in action together. Down in the lair, hanging at Big Belly, taking down a bad guy, teasing, getting shit done and generally being awesome. Plus it’s the first time we really got to witness Olicity chemistry being put to use and it. did. not. disappoint. Look at that sizzle in that gif. And then when Oliver sees her in the gold dress? Wow. 

Best Episode 16

3x16: The Offer

I feel like this episode gave us everything we wanted to see from the whole “Felicity dates someone else while Oliver is painfully in love with her” storyline we were promised. It’s a shame that we really only got one episode of it, but it was done so well. I really did not like 3x15. 3x16 reminded me what I was waiting for in a great way. 

Best Episode 17

5x17: Kapiushon

WOOOOOOW. This episode was visceral. Season 5 was hard, but late 5b is when things really picked up. An argument can be made for the turn around really happening in 5x16 (which I did enjoy) but 5x17 really made me understand what the season was about. It played out Adrian as the villain, Oliver as the broken man and set up the last episodes so perfectly. This is when I got excited for the rest of the season. About time! 

Best Episode 18

3x18: Public Enemy

It was difficult to pick an episode 18 that I liked. Cuz most of them are.... meh. BUT. I picked this one because of the infamous jello scene and Donna cutting through the bullshit and telling Felicity she doesn’t love Ray because she loves Oliver. It wasn’t the breakup (yet) but it was the beginning of that particular end. Plus, Roy giving himself up for Oliver set off a stunning sequence of events that quite literally had me sitting on the edge of my seat. 

Best Episode 19

5x19: Dangerous Liaisons

Felicity vs. Oliver. We needed to have this episode. It was brutal but in the best way and I gotta say, I loved every second of it. Plus, Felicity went into the field which is always something I enjoy. But to be against Oliver in the field? Injected a level of tension and anticipation (and frankly delight) that really set this episode apart. These two finally getting to the heart of their issues was such a long time coming. Plus I loved the setup of Caden James as a future threat. 

Best Episode 20

5x20: Underneath

GAHHHHHH. Okay so episode 20 is almost always fantastic. And it’s really hard to beat 3x20 in my opinion. That was my favorite episode for a long, long time. BUT. 5x20 did it. The flashbacks were so good (and hot) and the present day gave us everything we so desperately needed to see. Plus all the #OTA goodness (that elevator stunt! DIG IS THE MAN!) just had me screaming with delight. This will probably be my favorite episode for a long time. (Feel free to see that as a challenge, Arrow.)

Best Episode 21

1x21: The Undertaking

It’s almost impossible to beat the underground casino episode. Plus it was a near pitch perfect ramping up of the climax in season 1. I didn’t dig the LL scenes in this episode, but I can squint and look past it and realize that they just served the business of setting up the perfect storm that took place in the finale. Plus, Felicity looked like straight fire in this episode and “it feels really good having you inside me” is one of the best lines I’ve ever heard her say. 

Best Episode 22

2x22: Streets of Fire

The last three episodes of season 2 are basically like one big movie, in my opinion. And it’s hard to pick a favorite episode out of those three episodes. But even with the “he took the wrong woman” moment from 2x23, I think I have to give the edge to 2x22 instead. There was that van accident and Oliver carrying Felicity (even with his bum knee!). There was the scene in the clock tower that was basically laying out the core tenants of why Olicity is the best ship on the CW today. He is not alone. She believes in him. THAT HUG. THE LIGHT. How can you not love this? Impossible. You must love it. 

Best Episode 23

5x23: Lian Yu

Again, this was difficult. I really like 2x23. But I’m (still) annoyed the cut the kiss and let us all think it was a ruse. Rude. I also really like 3x23. But they didn’t give us a kiss (AGAIN) and there was something off about Oliver being willing to turn his back on his vocation as a hero, even if it was to leave town with Felicity. We don’t talk about 4x23. 5x23 not only gave me the kiss I desperately needed (and it was with him in the Arrow suit!!), but everything else in the episode was SO. DAMN. AMAZING. The conflicts, the fight scenes, the EMOTION of everything. Oliver finally found himself and saved his son and... well the island went up in flames, but you can’t win them all, can you? 

So tonight we see what happened after the island went up in flames. Who lives who dies and who tells the story (of tonight)? I can’t wait. I’m so excited for season 6. I do think this has the potential to be the best season of Arrow yet. SO much good stuff coming up. I literally can’t even get upset right now. We made it, fam!