#there's something poetic about her feeling she's no longer useful and her regression when in !! she suddenly became nicer with no explanati

[sunshine-of-my-shoulder]

there's something in the water that's specifically affecting green haired princesses who have purple eyes and also bpd (momochi and hiyori)

[charliejrogers]

I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Or, What Many Will Think About Midway Through This Movie)

You may be expecting a long review for this movie. I mean, let’s be honest, I dissected the shit out of Birds of Prey, to the point that it was almost inappropriate for the kind of movie it was. But this movie? The arthouse classic-to-be from the much-revered Charlie Kaufman (both writer and director here), I’m Thinking of Ending Things? A movie filled to the brim with symbolism and which refuses to commut itself to any one point of view or plane or reality? This guy’s gonna write about it for fucking eternity.

Well, no. It won’t be the case. Why? Because I don’t think I really got it. Sure, I could try to wax poetic about my thoughts on aging, time, whether there’s meaning in relationships, meaning to our lives (all themes the film raises and which serve as its central core) But it would just kinda sound bullshit coming from me.

So, yeah, this isn’t much of a plot movie. It starts with a young woman (Jessie Buckley) waiting in the street of a snowy quiet country town’s downtown for her boyfriend, Jake, (Jesse Plemons) of one month (or longer?) so that the two can join Jake’s parents for dinner. Despite taking this proverbial big step in her relationship, she’s wondering (evoking the film’s title) whether she should end things. Or is that really what the title is about. Like everything in this movie, every piece of dialogue every character, every suggestion of a chronology, things are laden with a second meaning. Part of your enjoyment from the film will derive from whether or not you enjoy being strung along for 135 minutes without ever really understanding what’s going on, what’s really being said, who these characters really are, or when/where the hell are we in the world?

Despite those tantalizing and exciting questions, I’m here to warn you now, nothing big or exciting happens in this film, at least by conventional movie standards. We watch the couple drive to the Jake’s parents’ house and that takes about 25 minutes of film time. We’re in the house with his parents for probably about 45 minutes. Then the drive home takes another 20-25 minutes. The scenes about driving are just that: two people in a car talking to one another without much event. It’s like the car ride scenes from your favorite buddy/road trip movie but with all the fun adventures taken out. Instead what we get are long, confusing conversations more akin to Matthew McConaughey’s time spent in a car on True Detective.

But one thing becomes exceedingly clear when we finally get to Jake’s parents’ house: the film’s banal settings (a country road, a farmhouse, a rural high school) belie a truth about the film. It is not set in our reality. Jake and the woman’s conversation on the car ride is full of reflections on the nature of time, aging, depression, and life. Jake is a slightly insufferable intellectual. He’s the kind of guy who says he doesn’t know a whole lot about musical theater and then proceed to list 15-20 musicals of various fame and obscurity. The whole scene feels as quirky and just-shy of overwritten, i.e. par for the course of a pretentious art house film such as this. But the mannerisms of Jake’s parents are more than can be attributed to a quirky film. His mother is a jealous, possessive neurotic played by Toni Collette in a way only she could and a twitchy, and his father is a lecherous rival obsessed with his girlfriend played by David Thewlis (a favorite actor of mine). And throughout the meal, the confident, know-it-all we knew from the drive regresses into the behavior of a weak, embarrassed child. These are caricatures taken word from word from a textbook on Freudian psychology more than they are believable humans. The film admits and confirms the Freudian aping rather explicitly.

But just when you think you understand what the film’s up to, it switches course. After dinner, the woman starts to explore their house and starts a journey through time (but, again, with none of the excitement that sentence would normally imply.) It’s my second favorite sequence in the film (the first being an interpretive dance that occurs towards the film’s end… yes, it’s THAT kind of film). It’s filmed and framed in the trappings of a horror movie, but there’s no jump scares or horrible truth to be found. It’s how I imagine someone would adapt the tone of the superb video game Gone Home (yes, I’m one of THOSE people). But yeah, there’s no horrible truth… except if you consider the inevitability of human decay and disease to be a terrible truth. Every room the woman stumbles upon finds Jake’s parents appear to be a different age and health than when she first got to the house, ranging from a mother decked out in 50s/60s apparel to old, feeble gentleman. From there the movie continues to refuse to stay in one place and becomes odder and odder. It’s then I realized to think of this movie of a totally abstract piece of art, like the dream sequences of The Sopranos or Buffy.

So what do I think is going on? Obviously spoilers for here on out. Despite getting the majority of the screen time, this is NOT a movie about the young woman. At the very beginning of the film we are introduced, briefly, to an older, portly gentleman in his late 70s, looking out a window. The film cuts back to that exact same room and window 30 seconds later, but in the old man’s place is Jesse Plemons’ Jake. From that I take it to mean the two are the same person, with Plemons representing the older Jake younger self (or imagined younger self). Alongside the main plot, we occasionally get images and short scenes of the older Jake, a janitor at a rural high school who lives alone. The intellect (or perhaps false sense of intellect) of his younger self is clearly not meeting its potential. He is mocked by students for his age and fragility. What I think we’re watching is this older Jake trying to make sense of what it means to be old and who is currently on the verge of suicide unable to see its meaning. Although I compared the film to a dream sequence, I don’t think it’s fair to reduce the whole thing to Jake’s dream. More I feel like we are seeing a manifestation of Jake’s subconscious thoughts on screen play out.

Who is the young woman then? I’m not sure. I doubt she represents any actual woman – she’s given a variety of names. She almost plays the part of our (and his) guide into Jake’s subconscious like Virgil to Dante, but she’s more than a void. I think she represents what Jake would want in a woman in his life, a confident woman who can see through Jake’s faults (but notably sees them and sees them clearly). She’s not overtly sexual like the women at the ice cream who clearly make Jake uncomfortable. But yet, it’s telling that even in his deepest, most private thoughts that I think we’re seeing, he cannot imagine that even his ideal woman would want to be with him.

We get lots of reasons for why Jake thinks things are like this. Clearly he holds resentment for his parents, even if he feels like it’s cliché to do so. But time is his true nemesis. For me the most telling scenes for my understanding of the movie comes at the end with the interpretive dance, which shows Jake and the young woman (or, at least, stand-ins for those two) engage in a beautiful display of courtship, love, and marriage, only for the young Jake stand-in to be violently by a representation of the older janitor Jake. Clearly Jake thinks of his current self as something wholly distinct from his younger self, and that the creature he is now, a creature created by time, has destroyed who he once was. Like many of us (or as many of us think), he peaked in high school, the last place where people gave him awards for being who he is. This detail adds a sadness to the fact that he works as a janitor at one now. And it is notable that the film’s journey ends there, at a high school, where inexplicably he is being awarded a lifetime achievement award. Achievement in what? It’s unclear. What is clear that the person receiving the award is not the janitor Jake, but the younger Jake (Jesse Plemons) with old-age make-up on. With his dying breath he is able to see the self he loves, his younger self, grow up and live the life he wanted. There’s no sense at all of his present circumstances or person. Then we cut to a shot of janitor Jake’s truck buried in snow, presumably (on my interpretation) with janitor Jake frozen inside, dead.

So ultimately whether or not you like this movie depends on your tolerance for head-up-its-butt dialogue about the grand questions of life combined with its purposefully obtuse presentation. As one of the biggest douchebags I know, I liked it, but didn’t fall head over heels for it. The only other associated Kaufmann production I’ve seen is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but from what I understand, this movie is Kaufmann at its Kaufmann-iest. I have a great respect for the planning and thought behind every second of the film and I can honestly say I was never not entertained. I loved the film’s mood and atmosphere and that I was always on my toes. It’s a movie that truly has gotten better as I’ve continued to think about it over the last three days. But still, I don’t think I always understood what was going on and it’s a little too obtuse/abstract for it to be an all-time classic. I respect that for some people this may be their favorite movie of all time, and for others it may be a crock of shit. I’m somewhere in the middle, and cautiously recommend this film to those of you who are open to some abstract art in film. If you are, definitely try it out, you won’t forget it. If you are not open to it, skip it; you will have no qualms about endings things early.

***1/4 (Three and one-fourth stars out of four)

[aggresivelyfriendly]

Hi babes! Chapter 4 for you! It’s a biggie!

Eternally grateful to the tripod, without @dirtystyles -and @bleedinglove4h I would fall on my face- maybe into someone’s cleavage if I timed it right!!

Ski Da Yo- Chapter 4

It's silly really, the entire scenario that she's found herself in. Ada could laugh, nobody would hear it over the music. It's loud, and people are taking turns at the stage. Though She could go join the group, she should, rather than lurking in the corner like a weirdo, fixated on a previous performance. She's not laughing, even at herself. She'd kinda drooling, way more embarrassing.

But she just had to watch him.

He was in his element, relaxed, on, charming, lit up like a Christmas tree. Merry, bright.

She'd never seen him like this, in the flesh. Glimpses, in the interviews she watched and called research. She'd seen the fuss there, agreed to the picture partly on the strength of it.

She could see it, what the fuss was about. And it was the first real glimpse she'd had, besides those moments she felt she had to steal from him to get on film. She was beginning to think there was a limited supply of Styles' magic. Perhaps, that was why she was only able to get a precious few minutes a day.

Watching him now, that did not seem to be the case. Harry was incandescent and she felt blinded by the light. She could chalk that up to all of her rockstar fantasizes brought to life, but it didn't explain everyone else's rapt attention on him, their enthrallment. Maybe they all had a grunge fetish too?

When she walked in and she clocked him, even with the stupid glasses that obscured his face, festive she supposed, he looked different.

On set he looked, perfect was the word that came to mind, but not in the way people usually meant. Polished and made up and proper in his prince clothes.  Perfect, fake. And anxious, like the film was a bit of an albatross around his neck. Or maybe the pressure.  And he looked like it was heavy, all the trappings trapping him. Ada worried over it. Like, the movie made him regress. Maybe it felt too familiar. He said that a lot when they talked about scenes, when he was frustrated with himself.

"I know just how he feels."

Because he had been there. Is that why he had such a hard time getting the shot? Because it made him freak out a little, feel like he'd not called his own shots for years? But he'd made these choices. Had agency. Maybe she could help him see it as therapeutic. Because it was a way to safely rebel - a redo, no risk.

She'd talk to him about it. They needed to have that drink. She could order him one now.

Ada shook her head. Not tonight. She didn't want to kill his vibe tonight. It was too lovely to watch, and to live she guessed. No shop talk.

He looked light as a cloud, and as soft edged too.  Nothing perfect or fake about him. His skin was a little slick under the stage lights, the ridges near his nose were shiny especially. He had glitter on his cheeks, but not like highlighter, like the glasses he wore were cheap, and shedding tiny pieces of shine.

But he did shine.

And he had sounded good.

Not everybody could sing Nirvana, in a chest voice no less.

She was weaned on that. And really into indie rock, especially grunge, while her dad was fostering 90's slick hip hop. It was a silly means of rebellion, but she took her opportunities to disappoint Garner seriously.

She remembered her dad had called the cover of in utero obscene, which made her laugh as he had just put out a video full of nearly naked females in bikinis, but anatomical drawings were obscene. Okay.

She had snuck a new copy in after he threw the first one away and poured over the lyrics in her baggy jeans and crop top with a flannel. Had a giant crush on Kurt, May he Rest In Peace, and when she met Dave Grohl it may have been the only time she was really starstruck.

Well, she felt like she had been hit about the head by a celestial being currently. Harry had it, that was for sure. How had she missed it? The bushel basket he'd been hiding his light under must have been thick. There was something obscuring her view or his personality definitely. Not tonight. Star power was all over him tonight; that was the boy she had signed up to direct. Right there, from those red carpet clips she'd watched. Those sold her and then she had watched concert footage, shaking camera and all. Those were another level. This silly karaoke gig almost matched the wattage when he was bedecked and bantering on stage. He looked dashing, and like he could carry a movie on his thick shoulder pads all with a joke on his vibrant lips. That man was in this building, singing one of her all time favorite songs. It had an effect.

Wow, the rasp in his voice. God, she was still reeling and hiding out in the back like her crush was nearby.

Her eyes widened.

That's what was going on! She was doing what she had done with Danny Diaz in 10th grade. She wasn't teenage dream obsessed about him, really. But, she'd paid him a lot of attentions, clandestinely. He'd been so cool, and was really into raving. Which, in hindsight, made his post high school life a little clearer. But he liked music that had nothing to do with her dad and he was cute, had long bangs and a shaved head and he could dance! She loved to dance.

She needed to go, before this bloomed like a cherry blossom and she fell off in a great big clump to wait for shoe marks. Like 10th grade, only less poetic.

The pathway to the door was clear. Her heels on the floor made a click click click, though nobody should be able to hear it. She turned back to make sure nobody was following her, was watching, and her heel caught, right in a crack in the concrete floor.

"Shit!" Her ankle twisted and her heard a crunch, that was not good, but her trajectory to the ground wasn't either. Her hands went out to catch her.

He smelled good, like leather a bit, smoky, with a sweet tinge. And he caught her and hoisted her up like she was feather light. She never felt like that, because she was the tallest of her friends, not even tall, just taller, and she had never been small. She had that insta baddie body before it was popular. Grown up in the big titty, little hippy 90's. She always felt huge.

But not right now. He had her, was righting her before her weight came down and she properly broke something. This felt like that time she'd sprained her ankle jumping fences to go skating with the boys. Stupid heels.

Back to the rom com moment she found herself in. He's caught her under the arms. His hands span her whole armpit and his fingers curled into her scapula. Ada spared a thought for how sweaty her underarms might be. Yuck! But she should be ok, she'd gotten properly ready, lots of antiperspirant. She knew that, took a deep breath and then realized she'd missed something. He's staring at her expectantly. The rockstar with the totally revealed charm. Harry.

"What?" It came out with no finesse, like a burp.

"You ok?" Harry was kinda grinning and loose, left eye more hooded than his right, and his breath, definitely 80 proof. She heard the shift and he's no longer got her in a dip fit for a tango . She felt like she'd been whirled and thrilled.

"Um, I think I'm ok." She realized they were still locked in an embrace when she tried to check her foot. Ada looked down at the place his hands had migrated to, on her hips. She didn't really need to look, she could feel all ten fingertips, like little bruise marks formed from hope not pressure. It saved her from looking at her own hands where they were full of the muscular forearms she knew to be covered in tattoos beneath the green button-up he had on. It was a a stall.

But Harry released her the minute he saw her eyeing his familiar hands. She had him well trained apparently. Massive walls between them. They were massively out of place at the moment, regrettable. She wasn't balanced on her feet yet either. Ada nearly fell before he steadied her with a rebound hand at her hip. She caught it to stand on one foot, for safety.

Her ankle circled around ok. She felt a twinge of pain, but it was entirely manageable. That was good. She'd probably need to stay off of it, no treadmill tomorrow, and she'd need to elevate it. Ice too, she could ask the bartender for some.  She was plotting how to locate an ace type bandage, and who would be best to ask for that. They may have some in makeup - they'd used them to bind breasts on Wildflower, but she couldn't think why they'd have them for this movie. Harry had perky nipples, but they didn't need to be bound. Stop thinking about Harry's nipples. The lowlight would thankfully mask her blush. Wait, Maybe she could ask his friend, Masa, he owned a gym.

Harry. She could ask him too. And that would be really easy because he was still right there. Holding her hand.

They had laced their fingers at her hip. Ada looked at Harry, he had a huge lazy smile on his face. Pleased as punch. She was punch drunk, though she wouldn't say it. He looked so young and toothy. Though the gathering of sweat at his hairline, little droplets above his upper lip, made him real. Imperfect.

She shook herself and their hands unlatched. "I need ice I think?" Of course she needed ice. What was she talking about? Who even was she? Next she's start babbling, and tuck her hair behind her ear and duck her chin.

"Yeah, and a way to put it up." His head swiveled around and he nodded. "C'mon." He gently took her arm and looped it around his shoulder. He was just tall enough.

The table was closer than she would have liked, a walk under his arms was worth remembering, but it was good for her foot. Harry sat her in a booth and put both hands out in a straight stay there motion then grabbed a chair and propped up her ankle gently. The wrong one, but she went with it.

"Be right back." He tripped a little as he looped off to the bar.  Ah, that looked normal. The trip to the bar was only the chorus of the song too. He didn't wait long for the bartender. The whole place seemed to be filled with their group, pleasantly vibrant, but not busy. . It was a quick exchange, with a little sign language thrown in. He was big on hand talking on a normal day. Gesticulating when he described most things. He was very full body engaged and engaging before scenes, before he floated away on her.

Huh, she just thought about that, Henry wasn't gesticulative. A little more in the Akio scenes.

She hadn't noticed that Harry had layered physical control into his performance. She found herself nodding. That was good.  Made total sense for a royal.

He was walking back to her now with a thin white towel and he was crunching ice in it.  Oh shit - she hadn't switched feet, she'd been watching him.

"Cold!" She flinched, "a little warning Styles!"

"Sorry," he chuckled. "I figured me walking from the bar with a towel after I went over to get ice was warning enough." He curled his tongue a little at her and the ice gave her goosebumps.

Wow, maybe he needed liquid courage on set sometimes. All his nerves were gone.

"Usually someone tells you they are about to put ice on you, even nurses, unless they are trying to be little shits!" She arched one of her brows st him. They were her favorite feature and she used them to her advantage.

"You got me, just wanted to see you squirm, since you get to see me uncomfortable a lot." His slow cadence sometimes bugged her on set. It was another thing she could find irritating, during the literal 11th hour. Ada talked fast. She talked a mile a minute on set because they had shit to do and her brain was usually ten paces ahead of her mouth.

But it was kinda nice, the way he took his time.

"You sounded really good! When you were singing." Oh God he blushed. It was his job to sing, did he know that? "You moonlight in a Nirvana cover band often?" She flexed her foot where his hand was still moving ice around to find the sore ligaments, on the wrong foot. She followed the fire and ice.

He squawked a laugh. "No, just the one time, and only because Kunichi is so persistent. I think he could sell bad fish to a Tokyo chef!" He raised his eyebrows and Ada caught her hand just before she covered her laugh.

"So, it's not the song you've always wanted to sing? That wasn't you living out your teenage rock dream?" He shook his head, just hers then.

"Oh, it's a great song, I love rock." He moved his head like, obviously. His body of work spoke to that. "But I like a little more melody when I'm convinced to do karaoke," he made a drinking motion and she was laughing again. "I like disco divas and duets. And if there is absolutely nobody around to tell on me or god forbid, record, Britney Spears is a blast to perform." He'd placed his hand to block his lips from curious eyes and leaned in to tell her this secret. His lips were plump, they like to reach out and touch her faith.

She was thirsty.

Oh shit, did she just say that out loud? How much had she already had, while skulking in the shadows?

"Sure, what do you fancy?" Quicksilver grin, poisonous and enigmatic.

"Um," what had she already had? "A dirty martini!"

"How dirty?" He flashed his eyebrows.

"Very, three extra olives." She gave him her single brow, the one that she used to dare him when that was what he needed on set.

"Three olives!" He made a shocked face. "Well, I never." And he gave her the goofiest grin and went to grab her drink. He looked comfortable. Like a favorite hoodie she wanted to wear. She only got to really watch him one way. He was back quickly.

He sat by her when he put down her cloudy drink. She'd switched legs while he was away and thought she'd got away with it, but caught his eye as he was studying her legs and he smirked at her.

That was a damn good face. "You need to do that for the scene Monday, the one at the club." Ada segued seamlessly into shop talk. She was actually really excited about that one. It was set at a place she had frequented in her time here; she had really happy memories. She was feeling really excited too, this felt like an actual fresh start, she should have taken Harry up on his offer of a drink ages ago. He was a joy loose. This was the rapport they needed, him loose and smirky, handsome with a side of solicitous and cocky sauce. This was the Harry Styles she'd been waiting for!

🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵

Harry felt like he should get an Oscar for this performance. For his steady hands, that he was currently sitting on, and the confident smirk. It wasn't all an act, but the amount of times he'd had to turn this on like a lightbulb in an interview was invaluable right now. It was mostly fake those times, maybe even faker now. He had been relaxed and joyous, and then he had been so relieved to see her smile at him, he just went with it. But the minute he walked away from her, the first time, for the ice, the nerves kicked in. But he faked it, like a seasoned porn star, because she was looking at him, and touching him, and holy shit! Ada Scott was hanging with him. He would keep the action and make the moans believable.

Wow! Was this the way women felt all the time? When they had to put on some performance for the man they were interested in, or for the men they weren't, but couldn't offend?

It felt easier to relax tonight. The day had set him up for success. Things had ended so well on set, and he'd been in the best mood, and had gotten brave. He'd gone to her trailer. To invite her again.  Harry was excited about the evening at the bar and seeing music, though he wasn't sure what it would be like, because it wasn't a gig, nor karaoke, some hybrid he had been told. He liked novel nights out.

But everybody was coming. His whole Japanese network, including Jeff and Masa and his girl!

Everybody but Ada. So he'd put on his man panties and went going to ask her.  She needed to be there, and even though she'd turned down all of his invitations and returned the replacement shoes, he was going to ask her again.  For the whole cast. They had months left and needed to bond.

He needed to bond with her. It felt possible after their day on set, her brow wasn't creased and she didn't speed walk away. She slowed down enough for him to keep up. They'd had a conversation, not about a scene. He'd kept up and not drifted away on her voice. She walked and talked fast. He liked it.

Masa loved to laugh at him, and was doing just that while he psyched himself up to go talk to her. "Just go ask the lady." He'd arrived to take him back to the hotel to Harry stalling. Masa was giving him a look.

His grin was presumptuous. Harry didn't like it. It felt like he knew. Yuki knee, Masa might. Harry did, know, but he didn't think he was so obvious. Did she know?

"You need a tutu?" Masa heckled.

"What?"

"Your mind is like a dancer on drugs," he made a flitting motion with his hands. "you might need a tutu for making the decision. "

"Oh fuck off, man!"

"Just go ask her. It's a cast party, I haven't even met her and she's supposed to be the leader. She needs to come. A leader should." Masa's brow shrunk.

"She is the leader, she's the boss!" He was full of defenses for her. "If you were allowed on set you'd see."

"Oh, I'm not allowed." Harry had neglected to outright tell him that, just let him be distracted, that would run out when they had to go on location. Whoops.

"You'd make fun of me, I've been totally fucking up. So you aren't allowed. At all."

"Isn't the movie about a royal fucking up?" Masa said after catching his wheezing breath. He sounded like a dragon with hay fever.

Hmmm, Harry'd have to have a think on that. That was a plot point he should consider when he was flagellating himself. Maybe he could use it, all his self frustration. He shook himself and jumped up and down like he was going on stage, when he turned around to tell Masa he was going, he was laughing at him, again.

"What now?"

"Are you going to punch her?" He gulped the air. "You do that before you box."

"I just need to hype myself up." Harry shook his head out.

"She must be really pretty."

"Shut up." She was really pretty, but it had been an asset today, made the scene work and Harry had decided he needed exposure therapy. So he needed to be around her, more. He was gonna go talk to her, get used to her face.

He strode to her trailer and stopped cold outside before he could knock. For once, it was not over nerves, but his jaw which had dropped to the floor. That sound as coming from her trailer.

She was singing. Well!  To Mary J. Blige's Real Love. And he wanted to sit on the little steps up to her door and listen.

So she could have gone into the music business, had everything going for her there. Connected daddy, pretty face, hot body, and pipes. Wow, she could belt! He had goosebumps. Her voice was rich and evocative. Deeper that he expected.

And he could not talk to her.  Not now. Now she was even more impressive.

So he did what any brave young lad would do.

He asked his manager to do it.

Jeff smirked, but sent the text.  And like the magic 8 ball he could be, he made the face he did when the outlook wasn't good.

So Harry had resigned himself to Ada not coming to the bar.  He was disappointed, but also relieved. Those two feelings must be dating as often as he felt them together when it came to Ada. If she didn't come, he could relax and have fun, let loose, but not bond with her, or have another chance to impress her. Or throw up on her. There would be alcohol involved again. He needed to gain back the ground he'd lost when he spewed at her feet.

A second chance at a first impression.

But Jeff seemed to be right, as he often was. Ada was softer with him after the last cut because he had done a good job. He'd work that angle to bond.

He resigned himself to having another kick ass day on Monday for him and Ada, and having a great time tonight for himself, free of expectations. He was feeling buoyant, Kunichi had noticed right away, pounced and got him on stage. First on the drums, which he played like a 7th grader after a few lessons, and then on the microphone.

God, it was fun. So fun. And he felt the perfect amount of tipsy, like tomorrow he'd need two paracetemol and extra water, a good sweat and nothing else.

He felt extra intoxicated when he spotted Ada. In tight jeans and a slimmer t-shirt than normal, and high heels. He tried not to stare at her ass on a sneaker day, he was doomed with the thrust the 3 inches gave her curves. She looked amazing, but she looked like she was leaving. And he'd just realized she was there!

The social lubricant in his blood didn't give him a chance to think better of it. He was walking to Ada. He got there just in time. Her heel stuck in a crease in the floor, and he caught her. It was every rom com moment he'd ever sat on his mum's couch moon eyed over in one.

He got to help her. And he was able to talk to her like a normal human, and get her a drink. All in the span of 20 minutes!

She seemed relaxed, her shoulders pressed against her tee nicely, but were down, easy. And she smiled at him, a lot.

He was trying his best not to think, he'd spin out. When he went to get her ice towel and then the martini, god, she kind of flirted, right? People flirted with him all the time, or went mute. She didn't do either until tonight. And he was buzzing, more off the flirting at this point than the alcohol.

The little insecure boy inside, the one who was really loud in new situations or around new people, especially people he admired, was chiming in about the stage. The stage cast a spell on people, and he worried about people who knew him from it or expressed attraction to that aspect of him.

It's why he'd always held back with Helene, regrettably.

He didn't want to make that mistake again, he'd made wrong assumptions that cost him Helene's affections. He didn't want to do that here, wanted to do the opposite. Part of him wanted to dive in, head first, but he wasn't sure. Rejection hurt no matter who you were, and though he'd had his share, Harry's skin was still cling wrap thin. He wanted her to like him too.  He wanted this to be real. Which meant he had to be honest, and open. But he was rushing it, like he did when he was crushing.

He was going to let this night be what he hoped it would be, a beginning. And he was that guy, the one on stage, with the smirk, and the wit. He was also less commanding, and lost his cool at times, but she'd seen that guy. He just needed to show her more of his best side, tonight, and on set.

He caught Kunichi motioning to him. Ah, he'd almost forgotten his promise.

He leaned back, let his arm brush her shoulder while he relaxed. He'd turn on the charm for just a minute, he could manage that, he wanted something he'd been a little consumed with for the better half of this night. And he wanted it from Ada.

He flexed the dimple and titled his head to the side. "This smile?" He pointed his finger at his lips.

"That's a good one, but no. The cockier one!" Oooh, he really did love that eyebrow. Gave him tingles.

"I will do my absolute best," he smirked and her lashes fluttered. "If you'll come up and sing with me."

[ayearofpike]

Christopher Pike’s Tales of Terror #2

Pocket Books, 1998 207 pages, 5 stories ISBN 0-671-55076-4 LOC: CPB Box no. 1462 vol. 11 OCLC: 40117246 Released December 1, 1998 (via B&N)

Five more short stories, but they’re all kinda longer this time. I knew it was too good to be true. One of these is 75 pages, and the others (with one exception, maybe two) smack of a big idea that he needed to get out but didn’t have the pages to do it justice. It seems like maybe he knows his contract is coming up and that he’s not going to be retained? See also the dedication page: the book is dedicated to the longtime YA editor at Simon & Schuster, because she “has always supported my writing.” I can’t find any evidence of turnover or retirement through a cursory Googling, but this seems very much like a veiled shot at changing leadership that sees new trends in YA and doesn’t feel that Christopher Pike will be a part of it.

The Burning Witch

Pike jumps back into short stories with the longest one in this book, and with a return to Marvin Summer’s side, who he says is “a thrill” to write as, considering Marvin has “ten times the talent” Pike does. Which ... I don’t know about that. Obviously we can’t see anything Marvin has written, and whatever he spurts out is going to be via Pike’s brain anyway, so I guess we just have to imagine it.

But anyway, there’s this old friend from high school who needs Marvin’s help to extricate herself from a cult. Because when you’re in trouble with a cult, of course you go to the horror writer, which now that I say it actually makes a little sense. They go to the ritual, because the old friend has a feeling that they already have her in their magical clutches and to no-show would be worse than sticking it out. Of course Marvin is immediately in over his head, feeling drugged and soporific, unable to stop the three witches in charge from treating his picture of his girlfriend in such a way that she drowns in the hot tub the next day.

By chance, Marvin is writing a novel about a young woman who channels through typing, and slowly comes to realize that a future self is giving her warnings through her present self about some changes attempting to be made to her past self. Yep, we’re back on that whole contiguous timeline thing again. But he came up with the idea after a fan letter suggested telling a past self something, and as the witches want him to bring the manuscript to the next session he’s now suspicious. He breaks into Old Friend’s apartment and learns she’s been using hypnosis to regress into past lives, and then he tracks down the hypnotist and tries a session himself, upon which he suddenly realizes that not only did he and Old Friend have a dalliance sometime in the past, but that sometime was 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. 

I didn’t mention that Old Friend was known for having terrible scars on her face from a childhood bout with antivaxxer parents smallpox. But when she reappeared in Marvin’s life, the scars were almost gone. She claimed it was plastic surgery a year ago, but everyone he talks to who she’s worked with in the last couple of months noticed a sudden change, right around the time Old Friend said she was sucked in to the cult. Marvin realizes that maybe she started it, solely in order to get back at him for what his past self did to her; i.e. outing her as a witch. But she hasn’t counted on his work on plots to come up with a devious one for himself. See, she was looking for a clue in his manuscript about a way to change the past, one that would make him the witch instead of her. Of course he beat her to the punch and gave a false clue, which swiftly and suddenly reverses her facial healing. And then he pulls out a Molotov cocktail and says they’re both done.

So she panics and runs out to the balcony, where he’s loosened the railing, and she falls off fifteen stories to her death because that’s what happens in a Pike story. But then the woman Marvin thought of as the head witch shows up and offers him a deal to serve the Dark Side or whatever. Marvin says OK and that his payment is to be Shelly alive again. Sure, the witch says, just go to sleep and in the morning she’ll be next to you and neither of you will remember any of this. Of course Marvin feels like he’s smart enough to get out of anything, and goes to take some notes for a “future story” about escaping a deal with the devil ... only he has writer’s block.

The Tomb of Time

This story works on an almost identical conceit as “The Burning Witch,” in that past and future timeline selves are showing up to help Shannon White change the course of the world through positive and negative vibrations. The difference is that they’re physically manifesting, rather than using fireside witch chants to pass information back and forth.

Basically, it’s the last day of school, and Shannon wants Senpai to notice her. She’s encouraged by the random appearances of women who claim to be this dude’s aunt and niece, who say he talks about her a lot and not to tell him because he’d be embarrassed. She’s discouraged by this blonde chick who smooches all over Senpai and writes a phone number and a time on his notebook. Weirdly, immediately after all three of these encounters, there’s an earthquake, and they grow stronger each time, so that after the last one school is finally canceled and Shannon goes home.

The blonde is there, though, and suddenly she realizes that she’s looking in a mirror except for the hair. Blonde Shannon explains that yes, of course I’m you; alien beings of a negative vibration got hold of some of your DNA and sent me to now, where I could affect the world in such a way to make it explode through enhanced negativity. The positive ones are trying to meddle, though, and they also have Shannon’s DNA and are showing up as different-age versions of herself so that she’ll go through with asking Senpai to notice her and create more love and affection in the world, which will reduce the tension that is currently threatening to literally tear it apart.

It’s too late, though: Blonde Shannon has given Senpai Now Shannon’s phone number and is going to shoot her and then answer the phone and be rude, which will cause the earth to blow up. (Now we see why I never called girls in high school ... too much responsibility.) Too bad for her, Good Future Shannon plugged the barrel of the gun before Blonde Shannon ever showed, so it explodes in her hands, and Now Shannon is able to answer the phone and apologize for weirdness and get a date for ice cream, thus saving the world. Yay!

Bamboo

This story is certainly not what we expect from Pike. It’s a lot closer to Sati than any of his other work, in that there’s a narrative about a group of friends trying to find the right path in life with some guidance from a teacher who leaves too soon. It’s more about mood than visceral grossness, and so I think it works. This is my “maybe” caveat for a story that was conceived as a short story — yes, he says he wrote it “in a few hours,” but there’s potentially room here to make this a novel.

We start with three friends that embody the good, the bad, and the neutral, much like the soul concept from The Lost Mind. They go to meet a new man who’s just moved into town, an Indian who had lost his whole family to circumstances of poverty, and who has a story for them about lost souls being trapped in shafts of bamboo and the possibility of saving them through cleansing fire. The kids are eight or so at the beginning of the story, and they stay friends with the old man through high school graduation, at which time he gives them gifts symbolic of hope and protection of their souls. And then he dies, because he’s old.

Two of the friends follow quickly: the bad soul in military action in the Middle East, the good soul (who had married the bad one and was pregnant with his child) of an overdose. She doesn’t die right away, though, and the neutral one (our narrator) understands that hey, her soul is trapped in the bamboo because of the severity of her action in trying to end her life. So he goes to the old man’s house, which by now is overgrown with giant stalks of bamboo, and starts a fire in the yard. And sure enough, by morning she’s gone.

Again, this story is really reliant on mood. It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot here, and I think Pike could have done a whole bunch with who these kids are and how they interact with each other and the rest of the town to make it into something bigger. But what came out is pretty and poetic and reasonably good.

The Thin Line

A disgruntled injured ex-basketball player shows up at his school with guns, intending to kill the coach and the whole team and maybe the cheerleaders, which include his ex-girlfriend. He gets cold feet at the last minute and turns the whole deal into a terrorist situation, for which he steals money and a plane and jumps with it and a parachute and his ex-now-on-again girlfriend. But then she feels upset about the one kid who got shot in the leg and the pilot who died jumping out of the plane, and kills herself by walking in front of a bus. So even if the injured kid won, he has now lost.

I really don’t have a lot to say about school shooting stories, and so I am not going to unpack this any more. However, it is important to note that Pike references the school shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Springfield, Oregon, which seem to have stayed his hand in fleshing this out and making it into a full novel. (Columbine happened five months later, too.) It pisses me off that we had what seemed like a flash point in school shootings and that it felt like enough to mobilize us, but twenty years later we’re still having the same fucking conversation.

The Tears of Teresa

This one is the most on-brand Pike story we’ve seen in years, It’s also the shortest, just seventeen pages. It’s so solid and strong that I hate to sully it by trying to write a recap, because the storytelling is so reliant on the intercuts between past and present that we don’t realize are happening until the last couple of pages.

It starts with a middle-aged couple coming home from a date to find that there is an intruder in their house. He forces them at gunpoint to drive to a house in Las Vegas, and then announces his intent to cripple them, to take away their mobility just like Max. 

Who is Max? This is the past intercutting part. Max was a young man who worked for his father, a successful business owner, but didn’t have any wealth of his own. He’d recently gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and knew that it wasn’t possible to support a child, so he paid for her to have an abortion. She’s torn up about it, but when he offers to take her away for a weekend to help settle her mind, she agrees and asks to go to Vegas. So they get a nice hotel room, and when he steps out on the balcony he unexpectedly gets thrown over it, because Pike.

(That’s a tweet for the thread: “Submitted for your approval, The Kid Who Got Flung Off a Balcony.”)

Max wakes up in the emergency room in pain, and overhears his girlfriend talking with some other dude — no, shit, it’s his BEST FRIEND — about their plot to kill him and give birth to his child and go after his rich dad for money. There’s a baby crying nearby too, obviously in distress, and after Max gains enough consciousness to let the schemers know they’re caught, he dies. But the baby survives, and eighteen years later he is getting Max’s revenge.

Like, fuck yeah. I don’t know that this was worth pushing through fifty pages of a school shooting, but I’m glad I didn’t put the book down before I read this story. We’re back at the blend of the evils that people are capable of with a little bit of supernatural magic that made me love Pike and be excited for this project back at Spellbound in February. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.

Two more Archway Paperbacks, and Pike will be done with a certain era of writing for teenagers. Surprising? Not so much, and it really does feel like he sees the writing on the wall with this collection. Still, we close on a very solid and satisfying note here. If Simon & Schuster wanted to reprint the Fucking With Teresa trilogy (Road to Nowhere, “Revenge,” and “The Tears of Teresa”) it could have been a strong mover. I bet Pike would have no problem with it, seeing as he apparently continues to hold a grudge and keeps naming these victims after her.

[snarktheater]

Shadowhunters — Episode 2x14

Today on Shadowhunters: we're actually going back to the central plot, and that means I have good news! Indeed, my existential crisis of the past couple episodes is over and we're back to sucking!

We open this episode with Jace playing the soulful piano. You know, that soulful piano music that always comes up in media. (It's Chopin's Nocturne No 20, and honestly I had to look it up because I'm terrible at memorizing classical pieces that I didn't play myself)

Sebastian comes in, and waxes poetics about how great of a musician Jace is. I would express my disbelief, but it's Sebastian, so I tend to just assume everything nice he says is a lie anyway. He goes on to say he never learned how to play, and acts somewhat jealous when Jace says Valentine taught him. Even though Valentine did so by breaking Jace's fingers whenever he made a mistake. Which is totally how you get good at piano!

Anyway, Jace is still having an affair with Maia, leading to this totally-not-foreboding exchange:

"I thought you had a thing for Clary." […] "Well, she has a boyfriend. She's moved on, I've moved on. It's ancient history."

Yeah, I'm sure that'll stick until the end of the episode.

And with that, it's time to talk about the actual plot. See, after Kaelie went on mass-murdering and the Institute showed its fascist leanings in response, Alec, as the newly-appointed head of the Institute, has to clean up Jace's mess and fix everything. Which he plans to do by organizing a "cabinet" of Downworlder representatives to talk to him and establish more transparency in all Shadow world dealings. A couple Shadowhunters talk shit about that decision, making a jab about Alec dating Magnus, and I'm sure they're totally not a red herring for when things go to shit.

Meanwhile, Alec is sending Jace and Clary on a mission to the Seelie Court to investigate Kaelie. See, Alec requested an audience to the Seelie Queen, but she only agreed to talk to "Valentine's experiments". And—you can guess the amounts of "oh no" that this announcement caused. Because I thought we'd escaped this scene from City of Ashes, yet…evidently not.

I do not want this scene, guys. I mean, I guess it's nice that it was postponed until after Clary and Jace stop thinking they're siblings, but still. I don't want this scene to happen. You guys probably all know what I'm talking about.

So once again our main characters are split into two plots, and let's get the Seelie one out of the way first so I can move past that scene as quickly as possible. Turns out, Simon tags along, even though the Seelie Queen didn't invite him, because…he doesn't want to let Clary out of his sight. Which is totally not patronizing or anything. It doesn't help that Clary's on board, and acting like it's basically a date for them, even after Jace insists this is dangerous.

"Jace, you're not gonna get him to change his mind."

I mean, how much more contrived do you get. At least City of Ashes had the three of them together because they just happened to be together when they decided to visit the Queen. Hell, you could have just said the Queen invited Simon along because he's a Daylighter. Especially because, spoiler, she hoped for him to come along anyway. No need to make this contrived shit and make Clary suddenly act much less competently than she's been in a while on this show.

So they enter the Seelie realm by jumping into a creek in Central Park, because landmarks or something, and Clary and Simon keep being obnoxious.

"You know, for a dangerous mission, the Seelie Court's pretty romantic." "It's like being dropped in a fairytale. Which makes sense, fairies do live here."

I'm sort of floored that after using "Seelie" for twenty-six episodes, the show decides to use "fairy" anyway. Why even bother with the name change then?

Simon soon gets trapped in a…"kill tree". Which is a thing, apparently. It's exactly what it sounds like, by the way, and Jace has to save him. And yet Simon is still not deterred by his near-death experience.

"That tree almost tore Simon's pretty face off." "You think I'm pretty?"

And people wonder why I don't like Simon.

He gives them the usual "don't touch or eat anything" speech, which you'd think they would have gone through before entering this realm, but okay. And with that, it's on to the Seelie Queen's palace, with the Queen looking like a child. And this somehow confuses Clary, because the concept of unaging beings (or in this case, a being who can change her appearance at will) is totally foreign to her, even though she's friends with Magnus, a centuries-old warlock who looks like he's in his twenties.

You know, I'm getting the feeling someone involved in this episode really doesn't like or understand Clary as a character. Considering it's the first episode for both this episode's writer (though she was writing assistant on season one) and the director, it's hard to pinpoint where the blame goes, but either way…this isn't good.

Anyway. The Queen keeps trying to elude questions about Kaelie, saying she sent a proxy to their cabinet meeting specifically so she wouldn't have to talk business herself. Jace keeps trying to steer the conversation back to Kaelie, who was apparently a knight of the Seelie Court in this version.

"Were you surprised to hear one of your knights was killing Shadowhunters? "Were you? Kaelie was your lover."

Oh yeah, turns out Jace lied to Clary about how he knew Kaelie, and this is a big deal because…I don't know, stupid straight people reasons.

Clary, in a shocking moment of usefulness amidst this episode, just flat-out asks if Kaelie was working alone, because Seelies can spin the truth but they still have to actually speak the truth. The queen says another knight was involved, but she already killed them. Which is relatively unconvincing, but hey, did you really expect this to be solved today? The Queen has to go on and be Sebastian's ally/lover at some point, assuming this show follows the rest of the books in concept if not in execution.

Speaking of "if not in execution", the queen asks for a moment alone with Simon. After an awkward attempt at making the show's world more "real" by claiming that Sia and Bjork are actually Seelies and/or working with them, the Queen offers to sponsor Simon's music career as well, and basically implying she wants to ally with him against the Shadowhunters.

"There's a reason why my people have survived longer than any creature on this Earth. We know when to choose the winning side."

There's a reason why this speech was given to a villain in the books, show. The Queen is supposed to be a cunning political expert and master manipulator. Trying to turn a guy against Shadowhunters, when his friends are primarily Shadowhunters, without even trying to worm her way into his good graces, is not something that matches these traits.

I'm starting to think the issue in this episode isn't just with Clary, but with women in general. And wait until we get to Isabelle's stuff this episode.

Meanwhile, we gotta set up that scene, so Jace suddenly empathizes with Simon forcing his way into their mission.

"You know, you can't really blame him. If I were him, I'd never leave your side either."

I just…how regressive to you have to be to think this is actually a romantic line and not, you know, a creepy stalker line?

Simon barges in, tells them they need to leave immediately. Because, again, that was shitty manipulation on the Queen's end. But the Queen decides that she'll fuck shit up even more, and traps Jace and Simon in magic vines of truth. See, when Jace saved Simon of the "kill tree" earlier, they squished a few bugs, and those were actually fairies of some kind, so the Queen owns their lives by fairy logic. And of course she offers a game.

"The kiss that will set them free is the kiss you most desire."

Gee, I am shocked.

Yes, it is that scene. And Clary fails to free them by kissing Simon. And even then she still can't figure out why until the Queen basically prompts her to kiss Jace. Because this episode doesn't even trust Clary to understand her own feelings.

"This means nothing."

Is that an ironic echo of Maia's line from last episode, or just an unhappy coincidence? Well, either way, the vines disappear but Clary and Jace keep making out, because they're just so in love and totally not self-conscious about 1) Clary's boyfriend and 2) the murderous millennia-old fairy queen who are watching. Not to mention the Queen's entourage, who are also right there.

The worst part is? The show tries to justify this as political manipulation.

"I told you, Daylighter. They always choose their own kind."

Except…not? This is a case of just one individual Shadowhunter choosing another over Simon, for romantic purposes. It's not like Clary had to choose to only save one of them and let Simon die or anything. It's a bad metaphor and you are bad for trying to salvage that scene in the first place, and worse for failing in a way that makes the scene even worse than in the books.

Yes, I've said it.

Okay, let's move on to today's other subplot: the cabinet meeting. Alec's got representatives from everyone but werewolves (and yes, it's exactly who you think it is, a.k.a. Magnus, Raphael and Meliorn), and so he visits Luke to ask him to join. Luke, however, is still stuck on one character motivation. Well, two: destroying the Soul-Sword to prevent it from being used against more Downworlders, and killing Valentine. Neither are within Alec's power, and also, there's no sense in killing Valentine with any sense of immediacy, but hey, who cares that this flies in the face of Luke's established character as a pretty reasonable guy?

He refuses, but later receives an anonymous fire message, leading him to an abandoned phone, where he gets a call from an anonymous source offering access to Valentine's cell at the Institute so Luke can kill him during the cabinet meeting. Gee, I wonder who that could be.

Also, remember Ollie? Luke's partner who's way too curious? Yeah, she's still around, trying to be relevant. And totally inconspicuous. I mean, it's normal to find someone in the middle of the night, at a restaurant you clearly weren't expecting to find them, to ask about paperwork, right? Yeah, no one's gonna suspect a thing. She investigates the Jade Wolf as soon as Luke leaves, and while she finds nothing, we see her browsing the pictures she took later, and there's a wolf in the background. Damn these werewolves and their inability to stay hidden when the plot requires it!

Anyway. Let's move on to another unreasonable person, since Alec moves on to call Magnus and tell him they need to keep a professional distance during the meeting, so it doesn't look like Alec is being biased in favor of warlocks. It's a fair request, considering the circumstances…so of course Magnus is offended. Worst part is, aside from them acting a little stiff during the meeting, it doesn't even impact the rest of the episode. And to an extent, this does fit Magnus's character, but it still annoys me, so…there.

Then Maryse shows up to congratulate Alec on his promotion. It's cute, but let's be real, it's mostly here to re-establish Robert's affair and that Maryse won't divorce him (for political reasons), even if they're separated.

Meanwhile, Isabelle is angrily training because she heard her mom was in town, reminding me that I am, in fact, bisexual.

Jokes aside, Sebastian shows up to ask her what's going on, and Isabelle angsts about being unable to live up to her mother's expectations. Sebastian points out it's okay to struggle, but also, that she's better than she realizes, which he proves by trying to attack her by surprise and Isabelle immediately blocking the attack. I'm not sure how that relates to her struggles, which are mostly mental, but whatever.

More important question: why is Sebastian everyone's therapist now? I mean, he's even giving mostly solid advice. Is he just trying to get everyone to trust him? If so, sure, but why help hem recover from their troubles?

And with all of these things set up, let's skip to the cabinet meeting itself. By which I mean they have a small reception first, with Isabelle part of the welcoming committee. And…I don't know how to feel about the fact that Isabelle literally says she's here to make the Downworlders feel comfortable. I mean, no shit, she dated two of them. I don't know if it's smart, kind of sexist (since, you know, she has no voice in the actual meeting), or both. Probably both, though.

In spite of Isabelle's presence (or…to an extent, because of it), there's plenty of drama at said reception. Magnus and Alec have a sass-off over the professional distance thing, then Maryse tries to present her condolences to Luke, who's just flat-out meant to her.

"I feel terrible that I couldn't be here at her rite of mourning." "I couldn't be here either. The Clave banned all Downworlders for attending."

I mean, he's right to be pissed, but why be pissed at her?

And then, the worst part: Raphael meeting Sebastian, who is conveniently working security. And they immediately engage in a cock fight over Isabelle. Note that Sebastian hasn't even really expressed romantic interest in her yet. He's mostly just being friendly, and sure, we know he has an ulterior motive, but 1) it's not romantic or sexual and 2) Raphael doesn't know that, since he doesn't know the guy. So…thanks for that unpleasant, unnecessary scene. Wait, what do you mean there's more coming out way?

Well, first we get to the business talk. Except Luke still demands Valentine's death, especially after Magnus, in the name of transparency, tells everyone about the body-swapping business from a couple episodes ago. So Luke walks out, claiming he needs to call his pack about this? Yeah, no, he's calling his anonymous guy and we all know it.

And while he's off, the others take a recess, which means there's more cock fighting. The one thing I'm grateful for is that Meliorn, while present, seems mostly amused by Raphael's attitude. Unfortunately, knowing it could be a three-way fight and therefore worse doesn't make this bearable.

"So what're your intentions with Isabelle?" "I'm sorry, are you serious? […] That is rich, coming from the guy who used to feed on her."

Good point, Sebastian…until he starts telling Raphael to stay away from Isabelle because he triggers her addiction. I mean, it's a good point, but isolating people from their friends is also a classic abuse tactic (which Raphael himself used a few episodes ago, lest you thought I forgot), and while Sebastian is a villain…could we just not use these if we can avoid it?

Also missing from this subplot even though it's centered around Isabelle: Isabelle actually getting a word in on the discussion. As I said, this episode has a problem with its portrayal of women.

So, Luke sneaks around and bumps into Maryse, who again tries to apologize for the way she treated him all these years. Luke more or less just walks away from the conversation in the most conspicuous way possible, because he sucks at that stealth thing, but Maryse doesn't suspect a thing, so…this doesn't go anywhere.

On the plus side, Maryse then finds Isabelle, leading to the one nice scene in this episode. Yes, really, there's a nice scene. Maryse tells her about Robert's affair, Isabelle reveals that she knew, and Maryse actually commiserates with her daughter having to keep the secret for years. Even better: Isabelle also tells Maryse about her addiction, and Maryse is still supportive.

"Oh, Isabelle, you poor thing. […] I am so sorry. This is all my fault. […] I've been so hard on you. Put so much pressure, of course you needed a release."

It's good, and it also acknowledges that addiction is more related to psychological factors rather than the substance itself, and I just like to see Maryse and Isabelle making things up.

Unfortunately, this scene exists solely as a setup for Maryse to tell Isabelle not to give up on love, even if her parents' marriage is falling apart. Which sounds out of place in their conversation, and is there only to lead into a later scene where Raphael takes Sebastian's "advice" and decides to stay away from Isabelle, with the implication that Isabelle will fight for their love. That they totally have. Don't question it.

Anyway, I got sidetracked again, but…well, you can guess what happens next with the Luke plan: he makes it into Valentine's cell, then Sebastian just happens to have noticed him sneaking off and brings Alec to catch Luke red-handed. Alec breaks up the fight and arrests Luke, with Sebastian having a Meaningful Exchange™ with Valentine.

"You don't get to die today." "Do I know you?"

Alec decides not to punish Luke as a show of good faith, to prove to the Downworlders that he doesn't see them as enemies.

"One thing's for sure: Valentine's not safe here."

Took you long enough to acknowledge it, after three attempts to break him out and/or kill him, one of which you participated in, Alec.

And so that's the end of the episode. Well, we have some wrap-up. Clary bangs on Simon's door, saying the Queen tricked them, but Simon's too busy brooding to listen to her. Meanwhile, Jace reports to Alec about their mission, saying he still suspects the Queen to be involved even if her hands are officially clean with the Kaelie thing. Clary also refuses to talk to Jace about what happened, because she needs time to process, and she and Isabelle end up crying together about their boy troubles. As you do.

And finally, we close the episode on more soulful piano, and plot twist! It's Sebastian, who totally knows how to play even though he said he couldn't. Oh, and he's holding someone prisoner in his apartment, but hey, I don't know which is worse.

"Keep quiet. Or I'll have to punish you again. And you wouldn't like that."

You mean sebastian might be…a villain? No wayyyyyy.

So…after the uptake in quality over the past two episodes, it's almost reassuring to find out that yes, as soon as the show goes back to (mostly) sticking to book material, it also goes back to being pretty bad.

I've already pointed out the issue with women throughout the episode, which is the biggest issue here. I mean, sure, Maryse and Isabelle get a good scene, and it's also nice to see Isabelle and Clary getting to sympathize with each other rather than being at odds, but that pales compared to the fact that Clary and Isabelle both got reduced to passive elements in love triangles. Add to that the incompetent portrayal of Clary and the Seelie Queen, and…yeah.

And lest we forget, it's not like the men fare much better, because the patriarchy usually goes both ways. Simon is an egocentric asshole who basically ruins Clary and Jace's mission, and then doesn't even give Clary a chance to talk it out with him. Jace sides with his decision at the end, and immediately leaps at Clary once it's apparent she still wants him, having to be told that Clary's upset because he can't intuit that on his own. Raphael acts possessive of Isabelle, then lets her go when Sebastian brings up the addiction, and at no point is Isabelle herself factored into his decisions. And Sebastian is, as I mentioned, literally using abuse tactics. Alec and Magnus are the only ones who come out ahead, and in Magnus's case, it's mostly because he's barely relevant here.

So…a trite plot and the worst characterization in a while. It's almost a homecoming.

[bthump]

what if it’s Casca’s behelit?

yk maybe now is a good time to lay out my Casca uses the behelit theory in full.

- the manga keeps bringing the behelit back up recently, including the reminder that Guts might just be carrying it for someone else

- “your wishes might not be her wishes” is ominously brought up many times, plus “even if you force back what was lost it still won’t be the way it was.” Emphasis on “force” because there is a sense that Guts is just doing what he wants without considering that Casca might not be ready for it.

- sadly if I had to lay odds on one member of the RPG group dying it would definitely be Farnese, ie, Casca’s prime sacrifice material. I don’t want that to happen for various reasons but the signs are there. Her arc is largely about improving her self-esteem and feeling like a valuable person but she’s a jack of all trades master of none right now and doesn’t bring anything unique to the group except her bond with Casca. And it has that extra tragic feel when a character who is just starting to come into their own gets cut down.

- Plus the irony of having her killed not by Guts, but by the so-far weakest and most helpless member of the group.

- PLUS it would give Serpico motivation to do something. And while I’m nhf motivating a male character by killing off a female character, I mean, you can’t ignore all those “if she dies I will commit murder” scenes, or the fact that Serpico is... kind of a non-entity rn. Like I actually really love him and the screen time he has, but so far he’s pretty much there for the cooking, being Guts’ dps back up, and the wry little comments, and this is the most obvious and hinted-towards way of motivating him

- plus further irony of Serpico vowing revenge on Apostle Casca instead of Berserker Guts and maybe later clashing with Guts over it. Or maybe joining Guts in his campaign against the Godhand/apostles and either way adding another angle and/or cautionary tale on revenge and how it fucks up your soul or whatever.

- look, Miura is a hack who is mostly shit at writing rape, but the first like, 4 instances of rape and attempted rape were at least good about focusing on the victim, how it affects them, how it changes them, how it motivates them etc. the eclipse is astoundingly bad at that aspect, but it is possible that he chose to delay the focus on Casca as a victim on purpose. sure it took 20 fucking years, but if he knew that it would cause Casca's moment of despair leading to apostlehood, but had to delay it for the right moment, the mental regression actually makes a little sense from a plot perspective and not just a shove-Casca-out-of-the-narrative perspective.

- basically now that we're finally getting her perspective on the eclipse, it makes sense to get her reaction to it, and imo the only way to even come close to justifying delaying that for 20 years is if her reaction is extremely plot-relevant and has to happen at this point in the story

- and I really, really want Casca to do something pro-active and plot-relevant and just for herself, even if it does damn her soul.

- imagine Casca's wish is to gain enough power to avenge herself. so she becomes an ultra elite apostle a la Ganeshka, but, because of the brand, she's a little outside causality and therefore actually has the power to harm Griffith. imagine SHE gets her own revenge, not Guts. Can be bitter sweet due to the story’s take on revenge, ie it bad, but still satisfying.

- but hey, while Berserk has only shown revenge as a strong negative so far, there are so many different perspectives, different sides of the coin, different characters and different motivations and different strokes for different folks angles in the story that it wouldn’t surprise me if it showed the idea of revenge in another, less negative (at least more ambiguous or justifiable) light.

- plus we’ve already seen that Griffith has his own very significant weakness if he needs to fight her.

- more irony if Griffith’s own “sword” destroys him. also Femto sowing the seeds of his own destruction as his first act.

- tbh i was watching the anime and had the thought that the scenes where Casca talks about how much she worships Griffith would just be sooo good if she ultimately kills him. especially since she became his “sword” in the first place because he encouraged her to kill her attempted rapist. killing Griffith would bring her narrative gloriously full-circle.

- plus it would make Casca’s initial worship of Griffith less ironically tragic and depressing and more ironically awesome. Instead of re-reading the scenes where she waxes poetic about him and thinking ‘aw man poor Casca’ you’d re-read those parts and think ‘heheheh just you wait Griffith’

- i like irony as a storytelling device, as you may be able to tell.

- it would add more depth to the concept of apostles. I’ve mused before about whether apostles are automatically damned to hell or whether they can still make better choices, and in lieu of Guts going apostle someone close to him who the audience also loves, like Casca, could make an interesting study in that - how monstrous vs how human do apostles have the capacity to be, yk?

- Plus if Casca has the opportunity for revenge but exemplifies the theme of Berserk by choosing another route, it still brings her narrative full circle.

- it would just add so much relevant fuel to the revenge theme and kick the plot back into gear and make Guts go back to contending with his dark side without stripping Casca of agency again by eg killing her off or something.

- And by moving the revenge narrative from Guts to Casca, Guts might be put into a different position - maybe attempting to stop a conflict. This would both continue to move Guts’ characterization forward rather than having him regress back into revenge-mode, and provide a new challenge and internal struggle, as the hound, say, urges him to join Casca.

- like how are you going to keep the hound relevant if Guts and Casca are honeymooning it up together without turning Casca into a damsel in distress in some way to agonize Guts? plz.

- ok that’s alll i got so far. this ended up a lot longer than i expected lol.