#they had that one scene in 5x01 where they were happy sort of but even that got interrupted by taylor’s work

[seddair]

9-1-1 is great and all (would argue definitely less “great” and more just “good” over the last couple seasons but w/e), but Buck’s storylines ever since the shooting at the end of season 4 have been all over the place and shoddy tbh.

[just-a-fangirl13]

Why s5 *might* be the season MacRiley happens

Okay so...Hear me out! I'm not crazy I promise!!

Firstly, after 5x03 (and probably 5x04) it may seem very unlikely that MacRiley could ever happen. But I thought of a few reasons why they might actually happen by the end of s5 after all.... (it gets a lil long winded and kinda complicated but just stick with me till the end!)

1. All the MacRiley moments including the ones in 5x03.

[this Mac smile could not be an accident or something that slipped through both production and post-production right?! that in itself is a whole reason!]

Every Macriley moment we have ever had- whether it's the hugs, Riley saving Mac, Mac saving Riley, the ultimate show of loyalty when Riley went after Mac during Codex or even just the looks exchanged between the two- to any outsider it would seem pretty obvious that they are dating or at least in love. Keep in mind the writers would have written each of those scenes and Lucas and Tristan have acted them out with a specific build up in mind aka MacRiley.(think about the date episode: Riley just got dumped but was still thinking about how Mac might be hungry. She didnt have to do that. She could have just shown up at his place..) I mean how can they write two people so perfectly in sync and so perfect for each other and not have them end up together? It would just be a waste of all that tension and slow burn. (not to mention all the hugs and glances)

2. They know we exist. 

The MacRiley fam is very active on twitter with the writers and while they were writing 5x01 they knew we were around. They know we are a huge group. They would not want to risk pissing 90% of the fandom off by not making MacRiley endgame.

[P.S.yes 5x03 was a bait and switch but if you were paying attention you would have noticed that neither Lucas not Tristan live tweeted or hyped up the episode. They knew we would probably hate it so they didnt publicise it too much! so in the future if you have doubts about the episode being a MacRiley one just check their stories or posts on twitter/intstagram]

3. Yes 5x03 happened. 

I really think it was an episode they HAD to write. Ok so after 4x13 they had 7 more episodes planned and were filming 4x20 (aka the finale) when the pandemic struck. So they have these 6 episodes but no finale for it. [Idk if anyone else has noticed but in 5x01 there were clearly some parts cut out. For example the conversation between Desi and Riley towards the end seemed a bit jilted. Riley asking Desi to forgive her but Desi replied with yeah we are cool (still no apology ofc) I feel like something happened during that which ended up getting cut out so it could fit with the final story.]

This makes me think that they have rewritten a few bits to tie into the new finale episode. In 5x03 when Mac asked Desi to come fishing with him which was clearly something very personal to him she was like no do better.. then we see Mac's disappointed expression. She could have easily said okay but maybe not for our first date? Or its not really my thing? Or just about anything else rather than laughing in his face like that. Eventhough MD is together they still arent compatible. Mac’s final words in 5x03 was him being desperate. I truly think he is so broken and lost that Desi is the only safe thing left, the only thing he feels like he can fix right now. Once he finds himself again and heals...then it's going to hit him like a pile of bricks!!

4. But Riley doesn't have feelings anymore...WELL doesnt she? 

When it comes to Mac, Riley is always in denial. We saw it in s4 when she tells Bozer not to make her say it. I think s5 will show her finally accepting it. Finally accepting that she is in love with her best friend and that it definitely isnt Codex adrenaline because she caught the feels when Codex wasnt even around. While Mac's arc would include realising he and Desi are never going to work and that he is unhappy and that RILEY is the one for him.

[why else would they give Riley feelings for Mac? Something has to come of it.]

5. The slow burn rule.[this point is a lil complicated] 

Now season 5 is rumoured to have 13 episodes. So here’s what I think: If MacGyver follows the pattern that most shows do when it comes to slow burns, then technically MacRIley should have happened at the end of season 4. But since the season got cut short and they didnt get to air/finish their final episode the writers had to improvise. 

From what I know, 4x19 which is 5x04 for us is the episode where Mac meets Desi’s parents and 4x20 was supposed to be the finale that was left unfinished.(they are definitely moving the timeline ahead if a pre finale episode is suddenly a mid season one.) There might have been a 4x21 or 4x22 but I haven't heard anything about those....EVER.

So what I think they have decided to do instead is extend the MD storyline a bit longer just so they dont end up scrapping all their s4 episodes where they would be together and write a new finale that ties everything together, aka MacRiley.

If you think about episode counts, s4 and s5 together would have 26 episodes which is a how long a normal season runs. Basically what im trying to say is if we follow the ‘slow burns end by s4’ and take season 5 as an extension of 4 then MacRiley should get together in the season 5 finale or maybe the episode just before. (IM REALLY TRYING TO GET SOME LOGIC INTO THIS)

This would be a typical TV thing too where the couple finds out about each other’s feelings while the main arc of the show is also at its peak, which perfectly sets up a future season where fans are hyped but still has a satisfying ending.

6. So what about MacDesi?

So far the macgyver writers have given us characters we love. Think of every character on the show apart from maybe Desi... Mac, Riley, Bozer, Jack, Matty, Leanna, Samantha, Russ and even Murdoc. WE LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. So then why is Desi such a strange character? I think shes purposely been written as an opposite to Mac or even Riley (I get she’s supposed to kinda replace Jack but Jack is really irreplaceable). 

It's not necessarily a bad thing its just not a great thing to do or have great execution. People have said things like Desi is a badass and shouldnt have to apologise or say I love you back to her boyfriend because she is a strong woman...I'm sorry but your opinion of who a strong woman is, is EXTREMELY skewed. A strong woman is someone who can make mistakes and when she does, she is ‘strong’ enough to own up to it, she is loyal and fierce and also caring while being a badass who can take down bad guys. And for GODS SAKE, RILEY DAVIS IS A STRONG WOMAN...people have called her mushy and feminine on twitter and I'm just very confused by that.....

Anyways before I go off on a rant, it seems like Desi is intentionally being written this way. Every opportunity they get to redeem her and make her more relatable or just a better person they just dont take it. While Rileys character arc is one of the best I've ever seen. Either its intentional or they’ve forgotten how to write characters...which is worrisome but ill give them the benefit of the doubt.

The writers also know we dont like Desi. The amount of times we've tagged them in the toxic posts or pointed out problematic things we can be sure they've seen at least half of those. So theres no way they dont know. RIGHT?

So why then is MD still a thing you may ask??

Well for one they cant break them up again off screen because of those unreleased s4 episodes. (not to mention the other parts of the audience who arent as invested in mac’s love life would probably be very confused.)

Secondly Mac has to be the one to pull the plug, not Desi. 4x13 made it seem like Desi was the annoyed one not Mac. He apologised to her which meant he wanted to fix things. 

Thirdly, they are opening the chpt one last time before they permanently close it. MD is going to be a stark contrast to macriley(it already is in every way possible). Every issue Mac and Desi had can be used to show how amazing macriley really is as two people who arent even dating yet.

Fourthly, MD being together is a sort of commentary on Macs mental health as well. We can see how happy he is with Riley but around Desi he becomes some one else. If the writers are doing this on purpose or subconsciously still remains to be seen.

And Yes keeping MD around for a few more episodes seems like a necessary risk right now but I have a feeling its going to be worth it later.

[I know we have had like 4 desi entered episodes already but I really think 5x04 will be the last of it since 5x05 is the Jack episode and 5x06 is Mac+Riley+Bozer episode with no mention of Desi at all!]

The writers know we are a dedicated bunch and they know that once MD breaks up for the last time the entire fandom will be waiting and watching. That's when the show will be at its peak. That will be the perfect moment to bring in MacRiley’s arc to a new start!

Congrats if you stuck with me through this whole thing! if you agree/disgaree with any of these or have other reasons why they could be endgame in s5 let me know!!

[mashi-sims]

Ranking AHW's S5 Episodes

I know that ranting about how bad some of the episodes this season were isn’t going to change the fact that they were, in fact, bad, but I still wanted to do an overview of this season in my opinion, and I love ranking stuff, so here it goes:

Also, I should mention that, yes, this is Cooliver biased, although I did take other plotlines into consideration, but mostly Cooliver. Also, lol, I could only add 10 photos so the #13, #12 and #11 don't get one, also they don't deserve it.

Tier 1: I wish they could be un-written, please.

13. 5x12 How Oliver Got His Groove Back

I’ll start with my least favorite episode, and the one we all wish we could unsee. This is the episode where Oliver is feeling down because the girl WE, THE AUDIENCE, just realized he liked, doesn’t like him back (which is a whole other thing), so Katie gets him a date with this girl that’s never been introduced in the show before. Oliver doesn’t want to see her, but he still does, and then he realizes she’s nice, and just like that, he’s happy again. I feel like this plot would not have been that bad if it hadn’t been so out of character, unexplained, and utterly designed to be filler for the season. Worst episode from my perspective, wouldn’t watch it again, barely watched it the first time, ugh, next-

12. 5x11 The Guardian

Same thing with this one, very uneventful episode that talks nonsense, introduces the idea of Oliver liking Lindsay and thinking they’d been dating, but nobody knew about it! How convenient! And again, doesn’t progress into anything, and it just feels out of character, forced, and like they didn’t even try to hide that it was a filler episode. Wouldn’t watch it again, I don’t even think about it, I’ve erased it from my mind. The only reason why this episode is ahead of 5x12 is because of Kathryn and Anna-Kat, and JD trying to find his egg donor, other than that, still pretty ugh.

Tier 2: Did the writers really look at their script and think; “ah, well done”?!

11. 5x07 Under Pressure

I kinda enjoyed this episode even if it didn’t include any Cooliver. I liked Anna-Kat’s storyline about not feeling her popularity and sticking to Franklin, I really really love these two together! So cute! Also, Taylor helping Oliver relax and not stress out that much was nice, although not amazing. Katie and Greg’s double date that led to a city council rivalry, I don’t care for it. Overall, I don’t know if this was intended to be a filler episode, but it totally felt like one to me; a nice episode but not one I’d watch again.

10. 5x05 Kids These Days

Eh, pretty uneventful. Katie wants Franklin and Anna-Kat to be more edgy and to take more risks, ends up in completely nothing. Oliver wants Boosterin and he accidentally drugs Greg, also ends up doing nothing for the storyline. The only thing I liked about this episode was seeing how Cooper cared about Oliver and how Oliver said “Your boy is doing both”, the Cooliver content was still good; other than that, eh. Also, the strange order in episodes this season really threw me off.

9. 5x04 Homeschool Sweet Homeschool

Nice episode, but not one of the best. Mommy blog, Cooliver moves to the basement, Andre shows up and it’s all weird now, eh. I enjoyed this episode because of the Cooliver’s interactions more than anything, but it’s not the greatest in my opinion.

Tier 3: *Sits down on the couch with popcorn and a blanket*

8. 5x06 Mother’s Little Helper

I also enjoyed Cooliver this episode. Although their drinking arc was pretty pointless and, again, ended up being nothing!!, I liked seeing them together, and that shaking they gave each other was funny. This is the episode where Tami was introduced, and I really liked her from the beginning, although I do wish they would’ve given Katie’s original second breakfast club some sort of closure so I wouldn’t feel so guilty about liking Tami and JD, eventually.

7. 5x02 Psych

This episode always made me feel stupid because I never understood what was going on with Taylor, why she didn’t take her gap year, why she never told Katie and Greg that she had gotten in, or at least make something out of it, why she decided to go to another college or if Greg got her in just so she didn’t have to take a gap year, bUT THEN I realized they didn’t actually talk about it, so I’m not the stupid one, I think.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this episode. I like Katie’s storyline of getting involved in other people’s lives after she sells her lasagna business (again, did they ever talk about that or am I stupid?)

This is the episode where we can see the change in Cooliver’s dynamic (a good thing), and the iconic line “stop bothering our boyfriends” saved my life. Having Taylor And Trip with Cooper and Oliver hanging out in the same frame is one of my favorite things and adds a few days to my life.

Franklin and Anna-Kat’s relationship also picks up in this season, and I really enjoy them in this episode. Also, Greg was very funny here, and I am grateful lol.

6. 5x08 Encourage, Discourage

I really liked how this was a Cooper-centered episode, really diving deep into his character instead of keeping him as a shallow side-character. By the way, how did Cooper get so much development and Oliver lost most of his? What was that? Anyway, Cooper saved this episode. I would’ve liked for Oliver to be a more supportive friend in this episode, but he was still there, at least.

Also, Cooper doesn’t think he’s too good for Oliver! Bless his heart.

5. 5x10 Getting Frank with The Ottos

I liked this episode very much! Again, Anna-Kat and Franklin melted my heart, but Oliver and Cooper squeezed it with Cooper’s realization of not wanting to go to Harvard, but Oliver eventually understanding and supporting him? Please, get married. Also, Oliver saying “We’re Cooliver”, and Trevor asking them if they were breaking up made my day. Could’ve been better and a bit more eventful, but it was good nonetheless.

4. 5x13 The Election

I really liked the finale, despite not having any Cooliver at all, the ending was pretty awesome, and I believe it really sets the tone for what could potentially be a great S6, that is if that’s actually happening AND if the writers stop it with the bullshit. Franklin and Anna-Kat getting engaged was very sweet, I adore them! Taylor and Trip getting really engaged was a bit cringe, but still adorable, and I love it! I just wish they had paid more attention to Oliver in this episode, but well, I guess his bang is not here yet and not every episode can be a banger. I hope that whatever comes next will be good enough that the wait will be worth it.

Tier 4: *Chef’s kiss, no pun intended*

3. 5x01 Graduation

Although this episode doesn’t really belong to this season, and it doesn’t share the same 〜vibe〜 with the rest of the episodes, since it has more of a S3-S4 energy, it’s still in S5 and I wanted to include it, too.

Not my favorite, but it’s one of the good ones imo. So much stuff happens in this episode that it almost feels cramped and overwhelming to me, with the graduation and the wedding, but I get that it was necessary to set the scene for S5 and close S4 even if it didn’t turn out the way they’d originally planned, and it came out fine considering the situation the producers were in, which can’t be said for every episode this season lol.

Taylor and Trip were adorable in this episode, Cooper was amazing, Oliver moping around was something I didn’t know I needed in my life, and Lonnie’s speech about not wanting his relationship with Greg to end, even if I never cared for his storyline, was really nice.

This episode made me think that S5 was headed toward amazing things, but not everything was good.

2. 5x09 The Heist

I love this episode because of Cooper’s development. Again, why couldn’t Oliver get that too? However, I did like how they made Oliver seem like he might’ve been a bit thirsty for his fellow Cooper over there, telling him multiple times that he’s good looking? Come on, tell us what you really mean.

Anyway, Cooliver really shone this episode, round of applause.

1. 5x03 Coupling

This episode is superior, bite me. I love everything about this episode, not only Cooliver. Katie and Greg trying to be supportive of their kids having sex with their boyfriends? Yes! Parallels between all four couples? Yes, please! Cooper and Oliver having their first married couple fight, Cooper feeling like he’s being replaced, but Oliver is doing it for the both of them and their future together? Yes! Masterpiece of an episode. I have no more to say.

Hands down, my favorite episode this season. Too bad mostly everything went downhill after that. I hope we do get a season 6 and that things pick up. This series deserves redemption, and Cooper and Oliver deserve to be happily in love together. Thank you.

[carylizzington]

CARYL & LIZZINGTON

...aka two of the best fictional ships since 2010 and 2013.

(I’m doing this post almost entirely for myself because I figure most people who ship one don’t ship the other, but whatever.)

Let’s start with tropes that apply to both ships.

Age gap romance (including the fact that people dismiss their possible romance because of their age gap and see a parental link between them) - The 25 years difference between Red and Liz and the, what, 5 years difference between Carol and Daryl.

Everyone can see it : Several blacklisters (Pratt, Berlin, Braxton, Solomon, etc) and even Ressler suggest a romantic connection between Red and Liz. Glenn ask Daryl about Carol, Negan calls Carol Daryl’s girlfriend.

Saving each other : Red saving Liz countless times, Liz saving him in 2x14. Daryl protecting Carol from Richard in 7x10, Carol saving Daryl (and the others) at Terminus in 5x01.

Battle couple (where they fight together) : Red and Liz in 2x14, in season 3A. Daryl and Carol in 5x06.

Unconditional love (putting the other’s good before your own) : Red sparing Tom’s life and tolerating him for Liz’s happiness, Daryl giving Carol his blessing to marry Ezekiel.

Gibberish of love (being unable to speak in complete sentences when around the other) : Red telling Liz "I hope you can find solace in the fact that when I look at you..." in 3x02. Daryl often feeling clumsy and embarassed in front of Carol, not knowing what to tell her.

Sexual innuendo : Red mentions deep throat and the g-spot to Liz. Carol jokingly offers Daryl to screw around.

Insecure love interest : Red deems himself unworthy of Liz’s help love, see the "I risked my life for you because I care about you" scene. Carol and Daryl both want better for the other than themselves, as they think they aren’t worthy of the other.

Scars : Red and Liz both have physical scars caused by a fire, which possibly happened on the same occasion. Carol and Daryl share some physical and psychological trauma as they were both abused in their earlier lives.

Ennemis/friends to lovers (kinda) : Caryl are BFF to lovers. Lizzington are rivals (I mean, she’s a FBI agent and he’s a criminal so they’re supposed to be some sort of rivals/ennemis in theory) to lovers.

Please don’t leave me : Red implores Liz "please Lizzy, don’t go" in 3x18, Daryl repeatedly asks Carol not to leave on her boat again in 10x01.

Slow burn : If Lizzington ever happens, it’ll be towards the end of the show. When Caryl happens, it’ll have been more than ten years. Honestly, both ships are taking forever to become canon and I’m dying.

One true love : Red and Liz are soulmates, Carol and Daryl are soulmates. That’s point blank my opinion and you can’t change my mind.

Storylines that both ships have gone through.

Love triangle (including lots of jealousy, angst, the other pairing going as far as getting married and raising a child together) : Red, Liz and Tom. Daryl, Carol and Ezekiel.

One believe the other’s dead and is devastated : Red after Liz faked her death in 3x18, Daryl when Carol went missing in 3x04.

Symbolism and metaphors.

Dreams about the other : Liz dreams of Red asking her what she really wants while she’s half naked in her bed, Carol dreams of Daryl being her husband. Both won’t admit the significance of the dream after waking up.

Light metaphors : Red asking Liz "If a ray of light came into the cave, would I be able to see it?" and Daryl telling Carol "follow my light" while in a cave.

Ship metaphors : Red and Liz on a container ship, Carol asking Daryl to leave on a ship with her.

References to the future : Red told Liz "if anyone can give me a second chance, it’s you" and toasted to their future in 1x02. Daryl often told Carol they could start over and that they had a future together.

Just some cute, random moments/facts.

Both ships love to hug (a lot!!)

Both ships had forehead kisses.

Both ships did that "resting my head on your shoulder because I’m exhausted from everything that’s going on in my life and I’m seeking comfort in you" thing.

Both ships held hands.

Both ships had a romantic candle-lit dinner.

Both ships had a "lifting you up to transport you to safety" moment (this one truly breaks my shipper heart).

Both ships love giving each other gifts. Red repairs Liz’s music box and gives her a cuckoo clock. Daryl gives Carol a flower and a matching bracelet, Carol gives him a double capped acorn.

Both ships have literally killed for each other.

Both ships bicker like an old married couple at times.

Both ships are oblivious to their feelings for each other.

Both ships keep getting separated but always find their way back to each other.

Both ships have the man desperately, hopelessly in love with the woman and willing to wait forever for her.

Both ships just need to open up to each other and talk kiss it out and all problems would be solved. Idiots in love.

Both ships are endgame (!!!)

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Daryl and Carol - S5 Template (Maybe)

As I said in an ask on Sunday, I want to talk more about this Daryl/Carol situation. Because we see them in the trailer a lot riding on his motorcycle together, many people have speculated that at the end of the season, they’ll basically ride off together into the sunset.

Now, as far as I know that is just speculation. No one has any idea if this will actually going to happen or not. Maybe we’ll see them riding around on his motorcycle in the first episode and then there'll be nothing of the sort for the rest of the season. We simply don't know. 

But I had an epiphany over the last week that made me think about the possibility of them leaving the group together. Counter-intuitive though this may seem, them doing so might be a good thing for us. I think we have evidence that it would lead to them running into Beth. Let me explain.

First, let me reiterate one more time that even if they do take off together, it will be as a mother/son pairing not as a romantic one. Angela Kang recently did an interview where she pretty much confirmed Daryl and Carol aren’t heading for romance, so it’s not something we need to worry about.

So here’s the thing. Last week's Fear episode (5x15) got me thinking about the bridge symbolism. In that episode, a bridge little literally falls apart beneath them. 

We already know that the bridge represents the community. So, the bridge falling apart beneath them represented the community falling apart. We already kind of knew that at the end of 5x15, but 5x16 confirmed it. Ginny came to “help” them but she split them all up, which means their community is in shambles, much as TF’s was right after the fall the prison. Everyone separated, split up, in different places, and trying to find their way back to each other. So, the bridge falling apart represented that.

I was just turning this over my head and thinking about the bridge symbolism. I mentally ran through the various episodes that have had bridges in them and what they represented. This is when I got my epiphany. I started thinking about when Daryl and Carol went off the bridge together in 5x06 and what it meant.

In the past, I’ve always assumed that it was a foreshadow of Beth’s arc. Falling off a bridge generally means getting separated from the community. But it doesn't always have to be the person who fell off the bridge who is separated.

For example, there was that time Tara fell off the bridge in 7x06, Swear. Yes, she was separated from her community for a short time while she went and discovered Oceanside, but overall, I'm not sure she really fits the bill. She wasn’t gone very long and nobody presumed she was dead. She simply wasn’t gone long enough for that to be the case. 

So, while her falling off the bridge represented her being away from the community in the short term, I think it also represented Heath disappearing for a long period of time.

Because Heath, like Beth, has been gone for years. There hasn’t been much talk about him (to be fair, there hasn’t been much talk about Beth either) and I think we can assume TF thinks he's dead because he never came back.

To top it all off, Angela Kane confirmed that Jadis gave him to the helicopter people. So, Heath and Rick at the very least are in the same place and that has been confirmed. But I digress. Once more, I think Tara falling off the bridge represented Heath’s absence more than it did hers.

So, back to Daryl and Carol. Given that template, I always assumed that them going off the bridge in 5x06 was a foreshadow of Beth being separated from the group for a long time. And I still think that’s a valid interpretation, given everything we’ve seen.

But here’s something that occurred to me last week in thinking about the bridge stuff. Because of all this talk of Daryl and Carol taking off together, it occurred to me that if they do leave together, that would be them leaving the community together. Obviously. And…the two of them went off a bridge together in 5x06.

To see what I mean, you kinda have to take a giant backward. Look not at the specifics, but at the very broad sequences of everything that happened in S5, because I think everything—truly EVERYTHING—that happened in S4 and S5 were foreshadows of bigger things that would happen later. 

We’ve already proven this with quite a few events. This is just another one that, if Daryl and Carol leave the communities together, will end up being true as well. For example, Beth being separated from Daryl in the short term, from 4x13 to 5x08 was a foreshadow of them being separated for much longer time after Coda. 

Similarly, I'm thinking about the fact that in 5x02, Carol tried to leave and Daryl stopped her. Then the two of them took off together to find Beth. Literally, the two of them left the rest of the group at Father Gabriel's church and took off on their own. Only after that did they figure out where Beth was and come face-to-face with her.

But it's so much more than that. The more I think about it, the more the parallels lineup. Let's back up and talk about Carol. Why did she try to leave in 5x02? Because she just suffered a major trauma by losing a child. Actually, by losing children (Lizzie and Mika.) She was depressed over the death of a child and was trying to leave the group over it. Daryl stopped her from leaving just before the two of them took off together.

Now, going into season 10, Carol has been traumatized by the death of Henry, her child. From what I can tell, at the beginning of S10, she’s just returned from being out on a boat. Which means she's leaving the community to go off on her own and deal with her grief. The reason she and Daryl are happy to see each other is simply because they haven't in a while. So, their little reunion in 10x01 will parallel their reunion in 5x01. They’ve been separated for time and are just glad to see each other. BFFs, after all, right?

Do you see why the two of them leaving together might be a big thing a good thing for TD? It won't be a romantic thing anymore than it was in 5x06. I don't know why they would choose to leave the communities together plot-wise, but if they’re following the template of S5, the two of them leaving together will probably lead directly to them running into Beth.

You could even argue that Tyreese parallels Ezekiel. Even though Carol and Ty weren’t a romantic couple, they were sort of “playing house” in 4x14. They actively talked about staying there and raising the girls together, just as Carol and Ezekiel raised Henry together. In 5x02, Carol had just lost Tyreese. And while Zeke isn’t dead, she’s still lost him, and their relationship by having left him after Henry died. The parallels are strong with this one, my friends.

Another thought that’s been bouncing around in my head lately? My fellow theorists and I have been examining that final scene of Slabtown a lot lately. The one where Beth walks down the hall holding scissors, as though she's about to attack Dawn or Edwards, but then Carol is brought in on a stretcher and she backs off.

The reasons we’ve been examining this scene are irrelevant to this post (just a few background symbols we've been looking at) but I think it's because I keep looking at that scene lately that this occurred to me.

So, we think Beth is with the helicopter people. And we know Rick is. I had the thought some time ago that maybe Carol being brought in on the stretcher was a foreshadow of something bigger later on.

I can see Beth being with the helicopter people, trying to stage a coup and get away from them, but then she stops when someone is brought in that she recognizes. In this case, it would be Rick. I mean he was pretty much on stretcher when they took him away in the helicopter, and we know he was badly hurt. If Beth is with the helicopter people, there's a good chance she might be there when they bring Rick in and he needs medical care.

I still think that's a possibility, but if Daryl and Carol take off together in the same way they did in S5, well, maybe it will actually be Carol again who is brought in. Maybe it will be a very specific replay of what happened in S5. Carol getting hit by a car in Atlanta could have a parallel to something in the future that will eventually happen to take Carol to wherever Beth is. Same as S5.

I have no idea if this will pan out or not. If Daryl and Carol don’t leave the communities together, the entire thing will be moot anyway. But remember that Melissa was seen filming in Texas (presumable for Fear), as was Michonne’s stunt double. Norman was seen at a Texas airport as well, around the same time, but there’s some speculation that might have been for Ride. There just no way to be certain.

But, if I'm right about this template, a lot of the interesting things in Consumed suddenly make more sense. We saw a lot of suspicious symbols like red cars and red + green tents on the sky bridge (BRIDGE!).

Anyway, I think this has a lot of potential. I can't help but be curious about who will fill Noah's role if they retell this part with Daryl and Carol looking for Beth. There's no telling who will be, but it would have to be someone who's escapes the helicopter group (where Beth is) and somehow tells Daryl and Carol about it.

 I can't help but think it will probably be someone from Morgan's group. Morgan himself? Dwight maybe? We just have some really interesting possibilities and some great ways to connect these story lines. It makes me super excited. Of course, just to reiterate one more time, this is all conjecture right now. But super-fun conjecture to think about! 😉

Thoughts?

[thefatlannister]

do you think they’ll come back to the whole “how’d you do it” convo with bellamy and clarke and he’ll find out about how she radioed him everyday? or do you think that was that cus it felt like a good place for her to tell him but she was also like yeet when an emotional aspect to the conversation came up

Well this is the question isn’t it?? I think everyone in the Bellarke fandom is probably asking themselves this right now.

So, I’ve been team “I don’t think they’re going to address the 2199 calls” since the beginning of the season. That’s for a couple of reasons: 1) I’m trying to lower my own expectations lol but mostly 2) Clarke does NOT say Bellamy’s name in 5x01, Eden. She says his name in the call at the end of 4x13, but the writers do not have Clarke SAY BELLAMY’s NAME in 5x01. Now, it’s extremely clear from context that he’s who she’s talking to (”I’m proud of you” + “this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive” + calling her other friends by name). 

So it’s not that I don’t think we’re meant to think Clarke was talking to Bellamy the whole time; it’s that after an 11 month hiatus, if “Clarke radioing Bellamy” was about to become a Big Romantic Catalyst for bellarke, I would expect the writers to really flag it in 5x01 by having Clarke say his name, thus kind of putting a pin in that for the general audience. So, going in to 505, I was very pessimistic about the chances of Clarke’s The Notebook calls to Bellamy ever being relevant again.

BUT THEN

When I was watching this scene, when Bellamy asked, “how did you do it?” I literally froze because - are they really going to go there??? are they really going to have her TELL him that she spoke to him every day?? that the memory of him, his love, his partnership, was what got her through?? Because honestly, between the pause and Eliza’s acting, and the awkward way the scene ended - with the conversation LITERALLY UNFINISHED - that’s how it FEELS. It feels like she was about to tell him that he helped keep her alive, but then she chickened out at the last minute.

Like, idk what the stage directions were, but Eliza’s acting here makes Clarke’s hesitation in response to this question very clear. And if the answer is only and always just “Madi,” what awkwardness is there to be had??? In any sort of just world, this “omission” on Clarke’s part is a set up for her to reveal, down the road, probably when her and Bellamy are embroiled in some sort of angsty conflict, that it was in fact HIM that helped her survive 6 years without a peer on the ground.

Now, I’m also not going to pretend that this show always does what is just lol. They drop threads all the time, and as Bellarke has been building for seasons now, there are several scenes that were seemingly set-ups for later reveals that were pretty much forgotten (2x09 “Love is weakness”/”I was being weak” and 4x06 “Clarke, if we don’t see each other again-” come to mind). However, there are a couple of reasons that I feel like s5 might be the season where these kinds of ~romantic bellarke~ threads actually come home to roost.

One of the reasons I think that is something that a lot of fandom, included myself, has picked up on, which is the relatively muted nature of Bellamy’s reaction to finding out Clarke is alive. Like, the cast and writers have told us until they’re blue in the face that Bellamy is less “heart” than he used to be, less fiery, but there’s a difference between finding balance and like, not having a visible/visceral/conflicted emotional reaction to finding out that, contrary to what you believed, you weren’t responsible for killing your best friend/partner/woman you’re lowkey in love with by proxy. 

Like Bellamy is clearly happy to have Clarke back, but he hasn’t verbalized really ANYTHING about how it feels to have this huge bomb dropped on him after he lived his life for six years in honor of her. After he mourned her and missed her and memorialized her and moved on from her. This omission of a nuanced reaction on Bellamy’s part makes me think either 1) the writers really fucked up and don’t care bout Bellamy/bellarke or 2) They’re saving big relationship-defining angst feelings about the Separation and Reunion for midseason Bellarke angst. Needless to say I’m hoping it’s door #2.

What does that have to do with the truncated fireside chat scene? Well, in my deepest darkest Bellarke wet dream fantasies, they have some blow up fights or angsty as shit moments later this season where all of these omissions and half truths and old wounds get put on the table, subsequently setting fire to the tentative automatic partnership bellarke have fallen back into. Something else that makes me hope we’re in for some knock-down, drag-out emotionally raw air-clearing angst is, of course, the last shot of 505. 

So I don’t know if the show is really going to go full love triangle, and honestly I don’t much care, because THIS SHOT is intentional. Arguably, the shot of Clarke’s reaction to becho kissing is the first objectively nonplatonic framing of bellarke in the show. This shot tells me the show is ready to acknowledge in some way that Bellamy and Clarke’s feelings for each other go beyond platonic partnership. And to me, THAT means the door is open for all their baggage to come home to roost later this season. Because we as a fandom know that if the writers ever had Clarke and Bellamy really fully put all their feelings on the table, there would be no backpedaling into platonic territory. But if they’re willing to frame shots like the one above, I think they might finally be ready to stop just dropping hints and actually follow their own trail of bread crumbs to some MAJOR developments on the bellarke front.

Which brings me back around (finally) to your questions: will Clarke ever tell Bellamy that she called him every day for six years? The short answer is i don’t know!! If we do indeed get some relationship-changing moments between Bellarke, I would say it is highly possible, even likely, because this fact would be such an emotional bombshell for them - for Clarke, because she would essentially be admitting out loud that she loves Bellamy, and for Bellamy because he wouldn’t be able to escape the implications of Clarke staying so intimately connected to him for 6 years while he thought she was DEAD.

And THAT’S why I think Clarke hesitated. Because Clarke had six years to come to terms with the fact that she loves Bellamy, a fact that she was able to work out for herself by “confiding” in him every day. But when Bellamy comes back down, she realizes that she was in love with the Bellamy that LEFT, the Bellamy that has remained static, a ghost at the other end of her radio for six years. But this Bellamy is solid and real and DIFFERENT and, as she finds out at the end of 505, this new Bellamy is someone else’s. This Bellamy has moved on from her in a way that she never did from him. 

So while I’m betting Clarke at the end of 505 was glad she hadn’t spilled the beans about Bellamy being her personal diary for 6 years earlier in the ep, I think it is a Definite Possibility that this fact comes back up at the MOST inconvenient (read: most CONVENIENT, for me) time so that Bellarke can really lean into that fucking angst like I know they want to. *Clarke voice* I still have hope. Here’s to the possibility of emotionally fraught Fights and Reconciliations and Realizations, anon. 

[head-and-heart]

The 100 Highlights - “Eden” (5x01)

Hey there fam! I’m starting this series in honour of the new season of The 100 that is now airing. Basically, it will function similar to review of the episode, except I will be pointing out the highlights of the episode - the things that I liked (not what I was critical of).

In light of 5x01 airing, it has become increasingly clear to me that - no matter how good an episode is - it is too easy for this fandom to get caught up on the negative aspects of it. (And yes, that includes myself sometimes.)

Being critical is good - it is a part of consuming fiction - but it is also important to recognize the positive aspects of literature as well. If not for anyone else, than for your own sanity. So that sparked the purpose of this series: for me to take a step back and think about what I enjoyed about the episode, and then share it to spread a little positivity in fandom. 

I intend to do this for every episode of Season 5, and possibly for later seasons as well (assuming we get renewed) depending on how it goes. 

So, for my first post, I will be talking about “Eden”. 

In no particular order:

The camera following the Ark and speeding down to Earth as the very first shot of the season was pretty cool and really captured the atmosphere of the episode as well as what the heart of the show seems to be: the connection among people even when they are apart, and the ways in which they fight to get back to each other.

Looking back, the cinematography of this episode was honestly stunning. The dull and bleached colour pallet of the scorched Earth versus the vibrancy of Eden is a shocking contrast and there were so many beautiful shots throughout the episode.

Loved the little callbacks to past places and characters - like the stones where they signalled to Luna, Jasper’s goggles, the stick from L.exa’s throne, Maya’s iPod, the rover, etc - it shows how all these people are still very present in Clarke’s mind (and how they are indirectly keeping her alive, keeping her centered).

The attention to detail was really strong in this episode (see above point) with all the props and the music choices (eg. playing the CL theme when Clarke finds L.exa’s throne). Due to this it ensured that, in spite of the time jump, the heart and history of The 100 remained present.

Seriously, there were sooo many cool shots. The shot of Clarke driving as the dust/lightning storm approaches was super neat. I loved how they depicted what life on Earth looks like after Praimfaya, the devastation of the planet. And also the shot of her staring into the flames as she burns the bodies of the villagers was stunning.

Having the entirety of the first 27 minutes following Clarke (and narrated almost solely by her) really nailed home the impact of her isolation and was, not to mention, a very bold storytelling decision

Music was used expertly in this episode. Tree Adams did such a great job at pinpointing when the music was needed, and when the episode was better served by using it liberally (and, on occasion, not at all). In the shot of Clarke sorting through Arkadia, the music is very light, the most prominent sound the whistling of the wind, as if to accentuate the fact that the world has gone completely silent following Praimfaya. It is also used as an homage to old characters who have passed, such as Maya, or L.exa, which I appreciated.

The scene where Clarke finds Jasper’s things was absolutely beautiful, and Eliza killed the scene with her acting. When I watched 4x13 last year I was disappointed to find that the scene where Clarke found Jasper’s suicide note was cut from the finale (it was in the leaked scripts) because I thought it meant Jasper’s memory would be forgotten. In retrospect, I’m happy that they did it this way instead, when Clarke is completely and utterly alone, and she can finally allow the emotions to hit her properly. There were so many amazing callbacks to characters from previous seasons who are no longer around anymore.

“Anyway ... in case this is the last time I get to do this, I just wanna say .. please don’t feel bad about leaving me here. You did what you had to do. I’m proud of you.” We’ve all had over a month to mentally and emotionally prepare ourselves for this line, since the trailer came out, but it remains just as beautiful as the first time.

There’s just something so badass about Clarke driving through an empty post-apocalyptic wasteland, listening to EDM on one of the last remaining pieces of tech on planet Earth. Clarke finding Maya’s iPod was the gift I didn’t know I needed.

Kudos to the makeup department for depicting their female lead realistically after almost dying of dehydration and radiation burns in the desert - sometimes this is not easy to find on a CW show.

Clarke’s frequent radio calls/narration offers up a fresh and interesting way of telling the story in this episode, revealing how Clarke has grown and reflected over the years.

There were soooo many parallels to previous episodes (eg. Clarke rising out of the water like Octavia in 1x01, the irradiated dining room in the village visually paralleling Mount Weather in 2x16, Clarke confronting her map like she did in the very first episode of the series, the shot of her face through the flames as she burns the bodies of the villagers is very reminiscent of 3x12, and everything to do with Madi and Clarke parallels the Blakes. And, of course, Charmaine’s “it means we’re not alone” is an obvious callback to Clarke’s words in the Pilot.)

No emotional beats are missed in 5x01. Clarke finding the child on the step outside the church is just one example of a gutwrenching moment in this episode that emotionally impacts us just in the way that all good media should.

“I’ve lost track of how many bodies we’ve burned since reaching the ground. God, this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive, if I knew I was going to see you again.” My Bellarke heart is singing!

Clarke gushing about berries. Enough said.

The filming of Clarke’s encounter of Madi pays homage to the horror genre, with her appearing suddenly in between the trees, or in the window frame. While not scary, it holds the same mood as 3x12 and 4x07 did - two episodes most strongly associated with typical horror films. I really enjoyed the mystery and intrigue associated with the way they approached Clarke meeting Madi.

By displaying Madi as fearful of flamekeepers, it demonstrates an alternative perspective to the Grounder faith that we haven’t gotten to see before: resistance. It also shines a light on the brutality of the conclave system in a way that is rarely addressed in the show (but perhaps should be).

Clarke performing surgery on herself? SO ! BAD ! ASS !

Clarke’s drawing of Madi was beautiful. And the little girl’s smile after seeing it? Precious.

Clarke spearing a fish? I’m turned on.

They did the absolute MOST gorgeous transition this show has ever done in this episode. And you all know which one I’m talking about. When Clarke is looking up at the stars and says, “What about them? Do you think they’ll come down too?” AND THEN IT SMOOTHLY SHIFTS TO THE ARK, BELLAMY STARING OUT THE WINDOW LOOKING DOWN AT HER AS SHE LOOKS UP AT HIM - BOTH UNKNOWINGLY. And the MUSIC. The music, oh god. Everything about it was stunning. The camerawork, the music, the thematic implications of it all. I just can’t be coherent about how amazing that transition was. Lemme go watch it another five times before I continue.

Raven beating Echo. Raven laughing. Raven. 

The dynamic among the space squad is really intriguing, and Jason Rothenberg communicated so much with so little. With just a few short scenes and lines of dialogue we can perfectly understand everyone’s role on the Ark, the tension between Bellamy and Raven, the uncertainty of Echo paired with the internal struggle of Monty, the way Emori has so seamlessly fitted herself into the group, and how Murphy has just as easily removed himself from it. It’s fascinating to me to watch how these characters interact with each other; how things have remained constant, and how they have shifted.

The fact that “Murphy” is considered one of their chores on the Ark will never not be funny (and equally heartbreaking???).

“Seconds?�� “Yeah right, I choose Murphy.” I will never be over Monty’s poor, cute, little hopeful face here. It was adorable.

The Murphy and Bellamy fight scene was a blessing in every single way. First of all, Bellamy being cheeky is my lifeblood. Second of all, Murphy’s story this season is super intriguing to me. And third of all, Bellamy holding Murphy in a headlock as he forces him to admit he’s not worthless is a scene I never would have imagined I would need this much.

“You know what I think your problem is? You like being the hero; only up here, there are no heroes.” I LOVE this line because of how it delves into Murphy’s psyche and also displays him in a different way than Murphy typically is. It shows that, deep down, he really does care about more than himself. When he has so much time to wallow in his own self-loathing, he feels he needs to live up to his own expectations, and he acts out. If he can’t be a hero, then he’ll be what he knows he can be. A dick.

Also ... “there are no heroes” = “there are no good guys”. I love my otp

Bellamy is the biggest dad and I am LIVING for it.

“I’ll make sure it’s my only choice.” Cue Kate’s Bellarkean death.

“Non-violent offenders with me?” “Yeah, both of them.” Okay, I’m sorry but I’ll never stop laughing about this.

“Relax, McCreary. You’re still my favourite mass-murderer.” I loved this little exchange because it hints at the dynamic between all of the Eligius crew. Again, Jason does so much with so little words. It clearly indicates just how different these prisoners are from The 100 - how dangerous. Also ... is Zeke a mass murderer, then?

Monty and Harper’s scene together was enlightening. I’m so excited for Monty’s journey this season, and it makes complete sense for him to go in this direction. What’s intriguing is that him and Harper have almost shifted places from where they were in Season 4, where Harper wanted to give up and Monty was insistent on the need to keep fighting. He brings up a good point now: “No one should have to be that strong.” Because isn’t that the whole truth? I also really appreciated the callback to Monty’s mom, as well as Jasper, as there was a serious concern as to whether those deaths would just be swept under the rug because of the time jump. I’m happy to see that my concerns were for nothing.

Emori and Raven’s friendship is EVERYTHING. 

Nothing is brighter than Raven Reyes’ smile and that’s a fact.

Lindsey and Richard continue to have stunning chemistry and they both feed off each other so well, no matter how you see their relationship.

Ending the episode with the single shot of the fight ring in the bunker and Octavia (and her “royal guards”, so to speak) observing blankly from above was absolutely chilling. And the best possible way to lead into the next episode. 

Hope you enjoyed reading my highlights! Feel free to share some of your own. I’ll be back sometime next week following “Red Queen”.

[insectoid5]

Putting these SU-related replies under a read more because SPOILERS. 😉

@iamdeltas replied to your post “Steven Universe 5x01-04...”:

Thanks for tagging me! Dang, this bomb was nuts! I still think Rose was involved in Pink’s demise in some way, but it’s clearly a more complicated situation than we realized. How did Rose get past Pink’s entourage? I feel like White Diamond might have been involved. I actually saw a post theorizing that Rose only poofed Pink and then gave her gem to White for shattering, and maybe Eyeball just saw Rose attack Pink with a sword and assumed Rose shattered her? Hmm. So many questions.

No problem!  I'll add you to the list. 😉

It really seems odd that White Diamond hasn’t even been so much as mentioned on the show; all we have proving her existence is the Diamond Authority symbol, and the murals in the Moon Base.  That she is absent from a trial concerning the murder of one of her sisters seems awfully suspicious.  Then again, it’s speculated that she is the ruler of Homeworld, so she may be too busy.  But even that seems like a thin excuse.

As I discuss below, I believe it’s entirely possible that Rose DID poof Pink, just as the “official story” suggests, and then did something with her Gem.  Exactly WHAT she did, we can only guess.  I wonder whether White would even entertain a meeting with a rebellious Quartz soldier...?

@frozenartscapes reblogged your post and added:

I’m gonna talk about more spoilers, so read on at your own risk.

I expect nothing less. :P

I, too, am annoyed that there still is no change to the opener. I’m not asking for having Peridot and Lapis right there with the CGs at the end, but can they at least be in the opener? Also, where the hell were they throughout this whole arc? We know Lapis would have likely flown to Homeworld herself to rescue Steven, despite everyone else insisting its a bad idea, and Peridot likely has a strong enough attachment to Steven that she’d be riding on Lapis’ back the whole flight, likely swinging a garden rake or something…now that I say that I want to actually see that…

You’d think they’d be able to work the Barn Gems (and Pumpkin!) into the opening somehow. 😅

I’d love to know why they didn’t shown up.  It’s possible, I suppose, that they are at the ship that the CGs were trying to fix (presumably, either the one from “Friend Ship” or from “Monster Reunion”).  And Lapis would be there, if only so Peridot and the others can keep an eye on her and prevent her from doing exactly that.  (And that does make an amusing image...)

Anyway! I was also a little disappointed that Aquamarine and Topaz just kind of…disappeared. They were both really great characters, and while I’m happy we got to see all these new gems it kinda felt like: “Here’s a gem! Poof! Here’s a gem! Poof! Here’s some more gems! Poof!” Like, I’m sure we’ll see maybe Topaz again, but the question of when is the problem. As much as I love this show, it does kind of have a bit of a pacing issue.

I think that we’ll see them again, even Aquamarine.  After all, this show has a habit of characters coming back when we least expect it (Jasper, Eyeball, etc.).  But yeah, it does seem like they were gone in an eye blink.

And Zircon was also great! (Although I’m not too hopeful that we’ll see Blue Zircon again.) And you’re right about Amy Sedaris! I had to look her up on IMDb because her voice sounded really familiar. She’s a well known comedian and actress. I best know her as Princess Caroline in Bojack Horseman, but she’s done a lot of voice work and acting in other shows, too.

Yeah, the Blue Zircon may... disappear. 😞  I must have seen Amy Sedaris on Comedy Central at some point and forgotten about it.  *shrugs*

I also feel like I can write an essay on “the Trial”. I might do a long post, or something, just not here. All I can say is I really want to see more of the Diamonds, if anything because their relationship is so fascinating. And I will say Blue Zircon had a point: it is highly suspicious that Rose was able to get that close to Pink Diamond. I know a lot of people are speculating based off Yellow’s reactions that she knows something about this, but… I’m not too sure. I do, however, think Blue Diamond doesn’t know anything, and there might even be the possibility of her turning against whichever Diamond who did do it if she finds out. I don’t know, but Blue really does seem torn up about Pink’s death - there were a lot of actions and facial expressions from her that make me believe she wasn’t faking it. But Yellow: she really seemed to want to speed things along once Blue Zircon started talking. Also, and even more suspiciously, there was the (possibly convenient) absence of White Diamond. So, there’s that too.

I’d like to see more of the Diamonds, too, in maybe a less threatening situation.

I was chatting with @raksha-the-demon about the whole Pink Diamond thing.  Logically, there can be only a few possibilities:

Pink was shattered, and Rose was personally responsible.  Based on what’s come to light (the sword detail making no sense, and Blue Zircon’s testimony), I think this possibility can be ruled out.

Pink was shattered.  Rose is either partly responsible, or the Diamonds framed her, and she felt guilty anyway.  Since Blue, as you point out, doesn’t seem to know the truth (and seems to be sticking with the “official” story), it seems more likely that either Yellow, or the unseen AND unmentioned White, are responsible, and made Rose the scapegoat since she was the leader of the rebellion.

Pink was NOT shattered, and Rose has something to do with her disappearance.  This is entirely speculative, but it’s worth mentioning anyway.  Lion may not be Pink Diamond in disguise, but there’s at least one thing about Lion that we STILL don’t know: the contents of the treasure chest in the pocket dimension.  Think about it: Rose could indeed have attacked Pink Diamond, as the story says, poofed her, but taken her Gem and sealed it away.  And if that’s not the most plausible loony theory regarding this mystery, I don’t know what is.

And then there were “Off Colours” and “Lars’ Head”. After seeing what happened to Lars it was like that scene in A New Hope when Alderaan was destroyed: “I felt a great disturbance in the Fandom, as if millions of headcanons suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.” Welp, it turns out Lion isn’t Pink Diamond in disguise, eh, guys? Guys? Ah, they’ll be ok. This has given them a whole bunch more theories to start flinging around. I will say, though, I am very happy with Lars’ character development. The only thing that concerns me now though is what will happen with him and Sadie once (not if, come on guys) he gets back. It’s sort of been confirmed that he’s now a near immortal pink zombie, and Sadie is…not. This is going to hurt.

Oh... yeah.  That’s for bringing that up.  I am happy that Lars got some character development, but...  Poor Sadie. 😢

I might have also complained about the introduction to all these new gems only to immediately cut them out again (not permanently, I really do believe they’ll be back), but I gotta say, I love them all. I’m also really interested in how they will be received back on Earth, if anything because we have at least one pair now with Padparadscha and Sapphire being both, well, sapphires. It also looked like Rhodonite might be a fusion of a pearl and a ruby, which would make two more pairs. And we don’t really know who forms Fluorite, so there might be more there, too.

It sure seems like the fandom has accepted that Rhodonite = Pearl + Ruby (from the shape of their Gems, if nothing else).  And I really like Fluorite; she’s like a wise old grandmother.  (Think about it: she’s a permafusion of six Gems.  Compare with Alexandrite, who besides having only four Gems total, is rather unstable because of Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst’s personalities.)

(I’m also a little curious, too, if different gems fusing together would make different forms of the same fusion gem, like if another jasper and another lapis would create the same form as the Malachite we know, or if the same combo of gems that make Fluorite would form another fluorite that looks identical. We’ve only ever seen fusions formed by the same gems, but since fusion is a metaphor for a relationship would two different gems who have a different relationship make the same fusion?)

That is... a fascinating thought.  Since we’ve seen so few other Gem fusions containing one of the same type as one of “our” Gems, it’s hard to say.  Rhodonite definitely has a bit of resemblance to Garnet, probably from the Ruby.  But if another Ruby fused with another Sapphire, would they be just like Garnet?  Probably not, but there is definitely room for much speculation.

Wow, this got long. I think I’ll call it here and maybe make my own post about the rest. This show is great, I will say. But my god can they please just give us one episode that answers shit without killing off a bunch of good theories while simultaneously bringing in a bunch of totally new questions?

I don’t think that will happen until the show ends. 😂  May that day be far off!

#I'm also looking forward to the inevitable beach cities episodes that are to follow #sarcasm btw #but hopefully these will have a little more substance as steven has to tell everyone why lars isn't with him #i just want answers dammit

I agree with your sarcastic opinion (when is THIS hiatus going to end, show?  I WANT ANSWERS).  But yeah, Steven probably has to reveal the whole “I can bring the dead back to life, but like Lion” thing, and probably convince at least one of them not to race off to Homeworld to wreak havoc.  (Good thing Bismuth is in a bubble, huh?)

[themtmshow]

What are some of your favorite MTM episodes and why?

Thank you for the question! I’m sorry it took me so long to reply; I wanted to give you a decent answer but I haven’t had much free time this week. I was goingto give you a top 10 list and, after much deliberation, I ended up with a top15 list instead; I couldn’t narrow it down any further. And if anyone wants to reblog this with their own favourite episodes, or send me an ask about it, that would be very welcome.

I’m posting this under a cut because it got very long (sorry about that).

1x02 – Today I Am a Ma��am

This episode features the first of many disastrous Mary parties, and personally, I don’t think they got any better than this. “Allow me to introduce myself:I’m another person in the room” is one of my favourite lines of the wholeseries. And I love the part where Rhoda dumps food all over her lap and Marylooks over in horror. That is absolutely the kind of thing I would do at a party, if it didn’t violate every social rule in existence. (Also, Ilove any time Rhoda is in a scene with her real-life husband at the time, DickSchaal, aka Howard Arnell.)

2x21 – Where There’s Smoke, There’s Rhoda

This is the one where there’s a fire in Rhoda’s apartment, so she moves in with Mary for a few days. I thinkthis is one of my favourite Mary/Rhoda episodes, because it puts them inconflict with each other while still managing to reinforce how strong andbeautiful their friendship is. They end up fighting because they’re just sodifferent, not because they intentionally want to hurt eachother. They have each other’s best interests at heart the entire time. And theend where Rhoda agrees to go stay with Phyllis is fantastic. I love the look onPhyllis’ face that just screams “HELP ME.”

 3x06 – Rhoda the Beautiful

This, of course, is the episode where Rhoda won the Ms. Hempel Beauty Contest. I have alot of feelings about this episode. I really don’t like the implication that Rhoda wasn’t beautiful when she was fat, and that she only became beautiful after she lost weight. For one thing, Rhoda was neverall that fat, and for another thing, she was never not gorgeous. Also, weighthas absolutely nothing to do with beauty anyway. But I do think the episode madeit clear that the important thing wasn’t Rhoda’s weight at all. Her problem was that she didn’t feel good about the way shelooked. And even winning a beauty contest doesn’t solve that problem for her. Onanother show, that might have been the end of it, but for Rhoda, even that external validation isn’t enough to make her feel confident. Only after admitting her victory to Mary and receiving her support is Rhoda able to take some pride in her appearance.I love this episode because it doesn’t dismiss Rhoda’s self-image issues asunimportant. Instead, it gives them the emotional weight they deserve. Rhoda’s not sillyfor feeling bad about the way she looks. She’s not shallow for caring about herappearance. And she’s not vain for taking pride winning a beautycontest. The writing (and Valerie Harper’s Emmy-winning performance) reallyemphasize how hard it was for Rhoda to feel good about herself, and how braveshe is for gaining that confidence. I adore the scene where Rhoda tells Marythat she won. She looks down instead of meeting Mary’s eyes. Her voice shakes.She’s clearly terrified. And Mary’s reaction is so wonderful. Rhoda neededMary’s support here, and she absolutely got it. Although this episode dealtwith some really important subject matter, and it was definitely inspiring and poignant, it was ultimately a story about one woman earning some well-deserved confidence, and her best friend who helped her get to that point.

3x16 – Lou’s Place

This is theepisode where Lou tries to be the happy, welcoming bartender, but he can’t keepit up, so he ends up individually terrorizing his patrons. I always laughwatching him try to angrily force everyone to have a good time. “What thehell’s wrong with you, anyway? You just sit there like a bunch of clods… Nowthis is the Happy Hour.” I’m laughing out loud just thinking about it. I thinkit’s one of the funniest scenes in the whole show. And I cannot imagine how EdAsner kept a straight face through the whole scene. Or anyone else, for thatmatter. I also love the scene where Ted tries to arm-wrestle Lou while posing for the photographer. And Murray giving Ted change for $500 in nickels was a great ending.

4x17 – Cottage for Sale

This is the one where Lou almost sells his house but Mary changes his mind at the last minute. It’s just a nice, quiet episode that I’ve seen a million times and it always makesme smile. We see Lou give Mary a lot of helpful (and not-so-helpful) advice andguidance over the course of the series. I like this episode because it’s one ofthe times where Lou depends on Mary to be the voice of reason and help him realize that in some cases, his emotions are more important than logic. And I like thescene where Lou makes Mary breakfast: a scrambled omelet, with green pepper,green onion, and… beer. He’s just so pleased with himself for it. Phyllis is also very good in this episode, in her typical nails-on-a-chalkboard sort of way.

 4x20 – Better Late… That’s a Pun… Than Never

“Wee Willie Williams was the oldest living citizen in Minneapolis. There were other citizens in Minneapolis who are older; however, they happen to be dead.” Although the Wee Willie obituary scene is already enough tomake this episode legendary, this is also one of my favourite Mary and Lou episodes. I likethe part when Lou says that he missed Mary more than anyone else did, because that’s not the kind of thing he admits very often. Apart from that, I think it’s very sweet that Rhoda gave up a Robert Redford/Paul Newman movie to write obituaries with Mary until 4 in the morning. That’s quite a favour, even considering what happened as a result. And I would really love to know which character went into Lou’s office overnight and broke all his pencil points. (It was probably Murray.)

4x21 – Ted Baxter Meets Walter Cronkite

I love mostof the Teddy Awards episodes, and this is one of my favourites. This was a goodepisode for Ted. I love the look on his face when he realizes that he won. Forall his confidence before, he seems genuinely surprised, which suggests that much of his trademark overconfidence is actually fake. Ted had so few victories in the show, and his acceptance speech makes mesad for him almost as much as it makes me laugh. And his meeting with WalterCronkite was pure genius. (I wonder if Ted ever gave him his pipe back?)

 5x01 – Will Mary Richards Go to Jail?

I really admire Mary in this episode. She’s scared of going to jail, andshe even cries about it, but she does the right thing anyway, without really considering any other alternative. She’s not flawless, butshe’s brave and principled, which is something I love about her. This is alsoanother really good Mary and Lou episode. Lou’s ethics are such a fundamentalpart of his character, and he demonstrates many times over the course of theseries that he’s very rarely willing to back down on things he cares about. Butin this episode, he tells Mary that he doesn’t believe in the freedom of thepress - going against everything he believes in as a newsman - because he can’t handle her being in jail. That demonstrates just how much he cares about Mary,even more than the ensuing hug. And I always laugh when Sue Ann tells Mary, “Dear, when you get out, if you get out, I’ll beright there to help you find your way back into decent society.” (I’m curious as to howSue Ann got all those tin prison cups on such short notice. Does she just have themlying around in her studio at all times? Was she doing a special on prisonfood? Does she collect them? We’ll never know.)

5x19 – The Shame of the Cities

This is theepisode where Lou and Mary make a documentary on a politician that Lou thought was shady but who turned out to be incredibly boring. The “Thank you, Mr. Mugger” scene at the end is one of myfavourite scenes in the show. Mary Tyler Moore was so damn talented. I alsoreally like Charlene, and I like the part where she casually tells Mary thatshe dated Frank Sinatra and Mary can’t get over it. And I lovethe scene where the news team has a meeting in Lou’s office to work on the documentary and Ted listens in until Lou shuts the door on him (at which point you hear his offscreen cry of anguish).

5x23 – Ted Baxter’s Famous Broadcasters School

This is the one where Ted is tricked by a con man and he has to run a broadcasting school with just his colleagues for support. I don’tknow exactly why this episode is so funny to me, but I really enjoy it. I lovethat everyone pulls together, however reluctantly, to help solve Ted’s problem.And I like Ted’s school song: “We have no gym and we have no pool, but we haveheart at Ted Baxter’s Famous Broadcaster’s School!” Short, but catchy. I also love how Mary completely loses her patience by the end of it. (“Who IS this person? What are we DOING here?!”) Although, having watched “GetSmart,” I find it very confusing that Mary is on a date with Siegfried.

6x09 – Ted’s Wedding

I don’t knowwhy they didn’t call it “Ted and Georgette’s Wedding,” but anyway, this was a veryfunny episode. Ted and Georgette were adorable, of course. Sue Ann was brilliant as thefrilly, flower-toting task manager who magically had everything together at thedrop of a hat. And the tennis-playing priest was perfect. (“Bride on mybackhand, groom on my forehand!”) The wedding is sweet but still hilarious, andalthough this is a significant episode with two of the main characters getting married, it fits very neatly into theshow.

6x18 – Once I Had a Secret Love

I actuallyfeel weird about this episode because of the Lou/Sue Ann storyline. I find it disturbingthat Lou was made to feel guilty for having a drunk one-night stand. And Ithink that if Lou had been a woman and Sue Ann had been a man, that storylinemight have played differently.  But asidefrom that, this is a really emotionally heavy episode because of the Mary/Louconflict. It’s the first time we’ve ever seen Lou be really devastated bysomething Mary did. And I think it’s interesting that he just shuts down,instead of yelling or being sarcastic like he normally would after being hurt. It shows a side of him thatwe don’t normally get to see, and I have a lot of feelings about it. I also have a lot of feelings about the Mary andLou resolution scene, which is very sweet. And Ted is wonderful in thisepisode. “Mary, why are you weeping? Into a sock!” That part always makes melaugh. This was the episode that made me realize how much the show show relied on Ted to keep the show funny while they did heavy episodeslike this one. (I think the episode where Murray falls in love with Mary is another example.)

 6x22 – A Reliable Source

This is the episode where Mary quits her job after Lou insists on running a potentially incriminating story on her Congressman friend. The scenenear the end where Lou helps Mary type her resignation letter is another one of myfavourite scenes. I like any time Mary call Lou by his first name, because sheso rarely does. And although I think that Mary was wrong about wanting to keepthe story about the Congressman off the air, I admire her for sticking to herword anyway. I also think it’s sweet how Murray and Ted really try to supportMary in her fight against Lou, even though there isn’t much they can do. And it amuses me that Ted so readily assumes his friends are trying toget him a raise when they’re really talking about totally irrelevant things. “Thegood Lord has blessed me with many friends… And not a damn one of them’s gotany pull around here!”

 7x10 – Murray Can’t Lose

There are afew episodes during season 7 where you can tell that the writers and the castknew it was going to be their last season, and they just went all out with thesentiment. This is one of those episodes. There are a lot of good scenes inthis one, such as Mary singing in Lou’s office, Ted using Lou as aventriloquism dummy, and Georgette’s excellent dance sequence. But my favouritepart is the end scene where Murray gives his acceptance speech to all hisfriends, even though he didn’t win. I think what Murray says to Mary is lovely: “You do theimpossible every day. You make people forget how beautiful you look becausethey’re too busy realizing how beautiful you are.” It’s a perfect summary ofthe way Murray feels about Mary, and it’s also such a good way to describe her. And I love that Murray finallyadmits to Ted that he does actually like him. (Of course, Tedhad to ruin the moment.)

7x11 – Mary’s Insomnia

Apart fromthe highly inaccurate depiction of insomnia, I adore this episode. It wasdirected by James Burrows, who is one of the most legendary directors of alltime (he also did Cheers). Maybethat’s the reason why there is so much excellent physical comedy in thisepisode. Aside from that, and aside from this being such a nice Mary/Louepisode, I like that Ted actually got to get back at Murray for his years ofinsulting him. I also love the scene where everyone shows up in Mary’s bathroomwhile she’s taking a bath, and only Murray has the good sense to be embarrassedabout it. And Lou accidentally lapsing into “Up the Lazy River” while attempting to sing a lullaby is another one of my favourites.

I could absolutely go on and list another 15 episodes, and probably another 15 after that, but I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if I stop here. Thanks again for the question! And like I said above, people should feel free to reblog and add your own favourite episodes. I’d love to hear what everyone thinks.

[asagimeta]

Teen Wolf 6x09- “Memory Found” - Observations And Predictions

(Clever title Teen Wolf)

Hello my dudes, welcome to meta night! I cannot tell you how glad I am that this episode had alot of filler in it and gave a bit of a break from the really heavy meta, most of what we have tonight is very charector-centric, not so much mythology, I'm glad for that because I know next week will give us more- ALOT more, a ton more even-  because it's the season finale' (for 6A atleast) and there's always alot of stuff to talk about for that reason alone, so we get a nice calm before the storm here, plus, as with most Tuesday nights, I'm recovering from a headache (I swear it isn't the meta, I have some kind of food allergy that keeps getting me because I usually bring food home on Tuesdays and I haven't yet distinguished exactly what's triggering me so I keep ending up afflicting myself :| ) so the fact that this one ISN'T going to keep me up until eight in the morning (I hope) is a very welcome change, and because I don't want this stretching out for six hours, let's get to it shall we?

You know, from a completely personal standpoint, I always get a little excited to see hypnossis in media, especially in places like Teen Wolf where it's handled pretty well, ofcourse when I went through MY hypnotic regressions I always got a comfy chair rather than a dangerous, freezing ice box... *cough*

Ok, who else noticed the sheriff's sudden intuition? He says "I'll consider asking Theo for help when I don't have a station full of armed deputies to back me up" and then IMMEDIATELY opens the doors to the station and finds every single deputy gone, that is some Stiles level intuitive work right there, we had talked last week about the sheriff being Something- the same Something that Stiles is- with how much strength he had to summon Claudia, now that she's no longer around to suppress him, his powers are flourishing, plus remember that Stiles' power relies on BELEIF, the sheriff himself is finally relying on that beleif too (in Stiles, he's finally believing and even stronger than that he's believing in the believer) wich has caused an obvious surge in his intuition- a really HUGE surge at that, from the description to the timing, everything about this is SCREAMING "Stiles", the only question is, how much of this is Stiles' power being influenced through the sheriff, and how much is the sheriff drawing on his own power?

Speaking of awesome sheriff stuff, the tease of Theo and that key card is the best thing I've seen in EONS!! I was teasingly telling my mom throughout the entire thing that the sheriff should make Theo dance before letting him out (a fun game we like to play on my dad when he gets locked out of the house) but forcing him to talk about Stiles was ///EVEN. BETTER.//// And we obviously see where Stiles gets those wits, I'm glad he tested Theo first, even moreso because he was such a tease about it~

As sad as I am that the sheriff got poofed early in the episode (because it would have been pretty great to see him actually in action against the riders with Theo and Liam for atleast more than five minutes) atleast he, hopefully, is with Stiles now, and that should make them both feel better

Liam and Theo having car trouble... sounds suspiciously similar to the issues Stiles usually has, and sure enough, when their conflict starts to resolve the car trouble does too...

Ok so I'm just going to be honest here, I find it odd that Scott's FIRST memory of Stiles is, of all things, one of the only times Stiles has ever called him out on anything- and, possibly, the FIRST time he's ever called him out on anything (and I mean a real call-out, not a "Dude you suck at math oh my God" kind of a thing) why is that? Of all the memories, all of the GREAT memories, why was Scott only remembering the bad ones until Lydia gave him direction? And why would that one be first? If he was going to have a bad Stiles memory first, why THAT one instead of him abandoning Stiles in the rain or Stiles shoving him in the hospital? Why that one specifically? The pessimist in me says it's Stydia related but that feels wrong too, there were plenty of other moments where there was clear Stydia wile also being related to Sciles- and even BAD moments like that, it just seemed like a really odd choice... and the thing with Scott remembering only the bad things first is a double-sided coin, on the one hand that's GOOD because he's getting a splash of cold water in the face about their relationship, a reflection from a very fresh point of veiw on things, one of those "You don't notice until it's gone" moments where he's seeing in his reflection of their time together just how *MUCH* Stiles reached for him in their relationship, Scott has always occupied the relationship high ground in that he's really very confident in his relationship with Stiles, Stiles could go off to Japan for three weeks and come back with a girlfreind and a billion dollars and Scott wouldn't have a moment of hesitation in reasserting himself as "The Best Freind" and feeling comfortable that Stiles still thought of him that way, Stiles, however, could never do that, if Scott went off to Little Japan in Ebcott for three hours and came back with a snowcone and three dollars he found on the sidewalk Stiles would still be timid about where he stands, reaching desperately for reassurance that nothing had changed, and these are exaggerations yes but they're not really far off, everytime we see Scott move in a direction away from Stiles in the series, we see Stiles scramble after him and reach as hard as he can to keep a hold on Scott so he doesn't get left behind, whereas Scott offers very limited reassurance throughout the series, whereas Stiles, on the other hand, can move three paces away from Scott and Scott not even notice it, he rarely needs reassurance but Stiles is always very quick to give it to him anyway, I think Scott is finally seeing that- especially with the reiteration of the Motel California scene (ugh my heart)- and that's FANTASTIC, it's a really great way to give us a nod to them closing the gap between their respective personal grounds in the relationship, on the other hand though (finally) I have the sneaking suspicion that if the roles were reversed Stiles' memories would start off with Scott's Greatest Hits, all of the BEST moments between them where Stiles felt closest to Scott, and it just.... confuses the hell out of me why Scott would go *completely to the negative* right up until Lydia actually instructs him to go for the positive- and even when he DOES what counts as "positive" isn't a happy memory t all, it's a necessary one, but there's no summoning a patronus from it, that's for sure

Speaking of positive Sciles however, Stiles was looking for a place for them to live together after graduation, BE. STILL. MY. HEART. Fun fact, before I actually got into Sterek I borderline shipped Sciles because- even though I OTP'd Stydia back then-  I thought if they were going to put Stiles with a guy it would be Scott hands down, so these little moments sort of make me really freaking happy, although I think this is news for Scott, I don't really know why but I got the vibe that he hadn't really been *helping* Stiles for that apartment search- or hadn't even known about it, possibly, and ofcourse as PRECIOUS as this entire thing is it does raise a few meta questions, mostly what Stiles plans on *doing* after highschool, because the way we left it in season five I thought he had grown past his Plan of "Everyone has to stick together no matter what and I'm going to punch my own brain to make it work", I thought he had found some resolution in that and settled with the idea that they could still all be close with eachother without being, you know, physically close with eachother, and it seemed to me like Scott's college of choice was one of the major kinks in Stiles' plan, did he decide to just roll with Scott and let there be more distance between them and the girls? Does he plan on following Scott to college? What about what his dad said with law enforcement? Is he going to do that or no? (I don't know how colleges work at all- and I honestly don't *care* either- but vet school and law school/the police academy are two different things right? Isn't Scott going to a vet school right away?) Are they actually going to live in/closer to Beacon Hills? Is Stiles going to live with Scott but still do his own thing career wise? That would be my first choice in how that plays out honestly, but then I'm shamelessly //severely picky// about my ideas for what Stiles does after highschool in terms of where he lives, his career, his romantic life... *cough* so I'm starting to sink more into fanon than meta so I'm gonna stop, but seriously though, on a meta standpoint, I'd like to know what his plan is for this, because I felt like there was alot of development in season five with him letting go of his Plan/letting go of his desperation to be near Scott and going his own way, so if I find out that that isn't actually true and he's just following Scott to school I'm actually going to be really sad about it, I had hoped Stiles had grown out of that- although he may have been pushed back in a little by the "Welcome to law enforcement" thing, wich I STILL think was more of a curse than a blesssing- so I'm just hoping that he's planning to live with Scott somewhere near enough to Scott's school and near enough to whatever Stiles is doing so that there's still a degree of seperation for him, there's still the maturity of letting go of his need to be glued to Scott's hip wile being able to say "We CAN live together and I WANT to live together so we should", there's a biiiiig difference between ///that/// and what Stiles was alluding to in 5x01, I guess the good thing is that he said an apartment, not a dorm, if they were sharing the same school they'd probably get a dorm right? Those have to be cheaper than apartments? (Again I wouldn't know so I'm shooting blind here) But I'm going to leave it for now because I could turn this into fanfic way too easily

*mutters quietly under my breath* I still hate Theo ok? I just feel like it's important that I say that

I also feel like it's important for me to point out that it gives me a personal shot of happiness that they actually mentioned the stairwell visualization because I'm not sure if that's the most common thing in hypnosis or what but that's always how my sessions started out so yay

My mom: "I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say it, there's something oddly attractive about them (the riders), if you block out the face" It isn't meta but I found it important anyway

What was the title of Malia's first memory book? The best I could see was that I thought it had "Wolffe" written on it but I could be mistaken

I do wonder why Scott's memory didn't do anything at all and I think it's just because they wasted so much time getting the formula right that he didn't have time for it to do anything, because if both Lydia and Malia triggered *something* and Scott got dead air just because Stiles is least important to him out of the three or some nonsense like that... then that really does suck, and I don't mean in a way of it sucks for Scott, I mean as a fan of the show it really sucks that Stiles' BROTHER couldn't conjure so much as a tremor when Malia and Lydia could, I know they want to push Stalia and Stydia (especially Stydia) but if you're honestly telling me that Scott's connection to Stiles is less than their's I'm very much done, I may not always agree with how Scott treats Stiles, and I think it's very clear that Stiles is the one who always clings to Scott rather than the other way around, and yes, Scott does take his sweet, sweet time //noticing things// but... none of that negates the fact that their relationship has been immensely close since before the series even started, even if it IS largely Stiles -> Scott, I refuse to believe that Scott's most emotional memory of Stiles was so weak in his heart that it did nothing, so I'm really hoping it's just because they spent so much time screwing around with the formula that it didn't have time to work

Real hypnosis, I'm here for that

I love Scott's little "You smoked when you were ten?" line, harkens back to "My mom does all the grocery shopping", but I also found it interesting that Lydia went to a hypnotist back then, it's very odd, Natalie I-Don't-Like-Anything-Not-Purely-Scientific Martin not only went to a hypnotist for herself, but for her daughter? And over a little thing like chewing her nails? Hypno-therapy is really expensive and is something that you usually require boosters for, it isn't a once-and-done thing, for her to go to that length... either Lydia's nail biting was REALLY bad, wich, to be fair, I can see.... or she only TOLD Lydia she went there for nail biting, after all, hypno-therapy may be mostly used for bringing back forgotten memories, but that doesn't mean it can't be used for forgetting unwanted memories, in theory atleast, maybe that memory she suppressed of her grandmother in Eichen was suppressed due to hypnotherapy, or maybe Lydia saw something ELSE back then that her mother wanted to hide... I'm getting a very Clary Fairchild vibe here....

So shooting the Riders with their own guns DOES, in fact, kill them.... and yet neither Liam nor Theo thought to pick up the guns and take them with them...? Did either of them even pay attention to the fact that these unkillable hunters were, you know, DEAD? I can understand Liam but I really did expect more out of Theo here

Other than that I'm so excited for Stiles next week!!! He gets his bat back <3 <3 <3

Also, if you haven't heard via Melissa Ponzio, Teen Wolf started filming again yesterday, last I heard they had filmed episode four before doing 6x10 and then going on winter break, so they should be picking up at episode five right now, unfortunately, we don't know anything else besides that- and even that's guess work, they might be shooting out of order to use Dylan as much as they can before he goes back to Maze Runner next month, we don't know if he's filming right now but there's nothing to say he isn't, and they might very well be trying to milk him for all he's worth and just shooting all of his scenes in the next two or three weeks until he has to go back to TMR, sadly, we don't know

[twdmusicboxmystery]

FTWD 5x07: Analysis

“She’s alive….Impossible shit happens.”

Hello everyone. How you like last night’s episode. I thought it was fantastic. There were some really great lines in it that are very good for TD.

***As always, spoilers abound in for 5x07 in this post. Don’t read until you’ve watched!***

So, a quick synopsis. In this episode, Strand and Charlie are still trying to get the propellers back to Luciana so they can put them on the plane. By the end of the episode, they do manage that. Morgan seems to get through to Grace. It seems that perhaps will come with them now. Alicia manages to get the children to agree to come with them as well, and John finally gives Dwight the letter from Sherry. The major twist is that Alicia killed a walker that was contaminated. She didn't know until after she killed it and saw chemical burns under its clothing. She got some of its blood in her mouth and chances are she's infected now.

Remember last week I said I felt like they were hinting that someone was going to get sick and die? Looks like Alicia is the one. Will she actually die? I don't know. If they do any kind of cure arc, I think it's possible she’ll still live. But it's equally possible that they're heading toward killing off her character. They did talk a lot about how she redeemed herself and made up for the bad things she's done, so I could see was being fitting end to her arc. More on that in a minute.

Let's talk symbols. The biggest one was still the yellow balloon that Strand and Charlie used. I'm about to shift a little bit on what I think the yellow means. I’ve always said yellow means escape, and I still think it does. But I think after all the times we've seen it, we can be a little bit more specific. The yellow specifically means escaping or living through an encounter with walkers.

There’s awesome evidence of that in this episode. Strand and Charlie used the yellow balloon specifically as a wall against a horde of walkers. So yellow specifically protected them from the dead, rather than helping them in a more general escape.

If we look back over all the other times we've seen yellow in this way, that's always the case. We saw it around Beth and Noah when they escaped Grady, and they fought walkers the entire way. It also might've been a foreshadow of the walker horde that resulted in Beth being left behind, but that remains to be seen. In 7x12, Michonne thought Rick was eaten by the walker horde but he went through the ride and escape through yellow car. So, the yellow car protected him from the walkers and helped him live.

A lot of gasoline/fuel in this episode. We’ve seen a lot of this anyway throughout the season. Al went to get some fuel for the plane on the mountaintop, where she went with Isabelle before. We got a shot of the fuel right beside a lake, which is kind of interesting.

When Alicia went to convince the kids to come with her, something interesting struck me. I have no idea if this is what they were going for, but the kids were living in this sort of makeshift tree house. 

It reminded me a lot of Peter Pan’s lost boys. Basically, these are kids living on their own and not wanting to become part of the real world. Just like the lost boys didn’t want to Neverland and go back to real world.

And THAT reminded me of Beth’s song in 4A. When she sang to Judith in the prison, she sang about not wanting to grow up, which I always saw as a Peter Pan reference. I don’t know if we should be comparing those two, but it might be a connection that shows Beth will show up soon. And honestly, I can see the Peter Pan story being associated with Sirius symbolism. People always “return” to Neverland, and you get there through the stars. “Second star to the right...” etc

Morgan went to some houses Grace told him to, looking for a car. There were some interesting shots there as well. He found a parking permit hanging from the mirror of a car.

It caught my attention because that's where the rabbit foot hung in the wolves’ car in 5x16. Plus, it had a prominent A on, much as the helicopter does.

I really hoped he’d look in the trunk, but he didn’t. He searched the car for keys, including the glove box. It was very reminiscent of the way Maggie searched the car in 5x10. Even though he didn’t open the trunk, I still felt like there was something important about cars and parking, and of course looking for keys. (Key theory.)

Inside the house, Morgan picked up a Garfield birthday card. 

That's important for two reasons. First, there's the cat symbol, which I’ve talked about recently. We think that it's a resurrection symbol because cats are known for having nine lives. And we can tie that back to Daryl in S4 and the Claimers (think Red Machete). Rewatching, I think there’s actually three different birthday cards, all with cats on them. But the camera focused in on this one.

Then there's the birthday thing. I can only remember two other times in the show where birthdays were mentioned. One was by Beth in Still when she mentioned birthdays and summer picnics. The other was when the Savior outside their compound in 6x12 started whistling the Happy Birthday song. So, seeing those two symbols together felt important.

Morgan also saw a flyer for Fiddler on the Foof. A couple of ways I think they might be using the symbol. First, it's definitely a musical symbol. This musical is also the story of a people who get kicked out of their homes. They’re forced to leave against their will. I think that could also foreshadow something with Morgan’s group. They were living in the denim factory before Clay’s previous partner took it away and is forcing them to leave. So, maybe it foreshadows them being forced it leave the area. Maybe something else. It will be interesting to see how things go moving forward.

But back to the musical symbol, because we know Beth equals music. I couldn't help but think that right by the flyer, Morgan found the keys. The key was kind of in the music. 

In this part, @wdway also noticed that there’s a soda bottle on the fridge in the background. We can’t tell if it says “Frosty Cola” on it, but it’s definitely reminiscent of the Frosty Cola soda bottle.

I even noticed a bird cage. We saw one of those in Beth’s cell and have seen them in a few key scenes since. It definitely gave me some thoughts, but I’m going to save them for another time because they’re a little off-topic.

A little later in the episode, Morgan shows up to kill walkers and save Strand and Charlie. This is very reminiscent of what happened in S5 with Daryl and Aaron. In both cases, they were surrounded by walkers and trapped in a structure (minivan and yellow balloon). Morgan showed up to save the day and get them out. We even had a return of Morgan’s gas mask. That’s super interesting to me. We saw him with the mask in 5x01, but never really saw it any  other time. So I’m wondering if that little snippet when he first appeared in 5x01 foreshadowed what’s happening now in FTWD.

As I said last episode, there was a foreshadow of Al talking to June about Isabelle. She did that this episode. What she said sounded very much like what we've seen with Daryl after he lost Beth.

June even told Al (speaking of being separated from John) "I felt gone." Read the “gone” theory HERE. In TWD, using that phrase always suggests someone being alive but not in their significant other’s life at the time. 

Just like John and June were separated, but neither was dead. Michonne talked about being gone for a long time after she lost her son. She was still alive and going through the motions of living, but this wasn't emotionally or mentally present. Beth said, "You’re gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone." Which means she's not going to die. She simply won’t be in Daryl’s life for a while.

June assured Al that she will see Isabelle again. That's not a stretch since we know Isabelle is with the helicopter people and therefore is not dead. It's pretty good confirmation that some point, Morgan’s group will end up with the helicopter people. And given the parallels between Al/Isabelle and Beth/Daryl, it also suggests that Daryl will see Beth again.

The car runs out of gas (major out-of-fuel theme going on this season) for Dwight and John. John tries to ho-twire a truck. I knew right away it wouldn't start. Every time we seen people successfully hardware cars in TWD, it's been with a red and green wire. The car comes back to life because red and green are the resurrection colors. In this case, he had a red and yellow wire. I immediately thought, "that’s not going to start." And it didn't.

When Alicia was looking for the kids, we saw the same disgusting one with one of its eyeballs popped out several times. 

So a lost eye is often part of Sirius symbolism. Remember the one-eyed dog in Alone, and Denise getting the arrow through the eye. And now Father Gabriel being blind in one eye. Alicia saw this walker once and then saw it again. It made her realize she was going in circles before Dylan came to show her the way. In other words, she RETURNED to it.

Then, at the tree house, she fought that same walker. It was that one whose blood she got in her mouth before realizing it was contaminated. So, I’m not sure how to weave all of that altogether, but I think it's important. 

Remember we saw the contaminated walkers in S8 during AOW because there was a chemical leak. My fellow theorists and I have also discussed that this might hearken back to the virus and the contaminated walker from S4. Either of those instances might have been foreshadows of this contamination in Fear. If it leads to Beth or ends up being connected, perhaps this walker with the missing eye is a sign that Beth will be connected to this contamination in some way.

And that's why I think it's possible Alicia could be saved. Maybe they’ll find this helicopter group and the group will have a way to save her from the radiation. I honestly don’t know which way it will go. Will be interesting to see, though.

Morgan talks to Grace about Eastman, his mantra about all life being precious, and how you have to redirect your life to live for something else when you can’t for yourself. These are all things we've seen before, especially around Morgan. But for me, it kind of confirmed that Morgan will end up going back to Virginia at some point. In order for his arc come full circle, he needs to return to Rick's group to get his return and perhaps lead Beth back to Daryl.

Then we had the convo between Dwight and John. Definitely my favorite part of this episode. When we saw Dwight’s three rings (his and Sherry’s) laying on his palm, something occurred to me. There are always three of them, and they look exactly like the three rings we see on the helicopter.

I mean, why THREE rings, specifically. Yes, yes, I’m sure it’s because Sherry had both an engagement ring and a wedding band, which isn’t uncommon. But if the writers are specifically just trying to show Dwight and Sherry’s rings, a symbol of their love/marriage, the obvious thing would be to have two rings, not three. 

To me, this suggests that Sherry is also with the helicopter people. That's important because, in this scene, Dwight finally realizes Sherry doesn't want him looking for her and she's gone to some other place without leaving him a note. Dwight wants to keep looking for Sherry, but says he'll help get John back to June. Basically, Dwight is being unselfish this point.

He says the most epic TD line ever: “She's alive…Impossible shit happens." Wow! Totally my favorite line of the whole episode. No better way for the writers to tell us that Beth is alive.

I mean, we’ve already seen a million parallels between Daryl and Dwight. And “she’s alive” is the first thing we heard when S5 began. Daryl said it several times to Maggie when they were at Terminus. So to hear Dwight say it now is such a great confirmation!

In addition, something else occurred to me. I’ll talk about this more in tomorrow’s theory, but this also reminded me of how Daryl let Dwight go at the end of S8, and I think that will allow Beth to return to him in some way. I think something similar is happening here.

If the rings Dwight holds are meant to connect to the helicopter group, and Sherry is with them, I’m thinking that by being unselfish and helping John get back to June, that will lead Dwight straight to Sherry. So I’m seeing a definite theme in which it is the characters’ merciful actions that help others live and result in their own, long term happiness.

At the end of the episode, some air raid sirens go off, which suggest they’re out of time and the reactor has already begun melting down. Feels like a MSF situation to me. ;D Thoughts?

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Predictions for the Format of S8 (Can’t Wait!)

As I said in my 4x10 Re-Watch, I want to talk about the format of this episode a bit more. Because the more I thought about it, the more excited I became. Something HUGE occurred to me in light of Gimple’s words about 8x01-8x04 melting everyone’s brains.

Inmates really is a unique episode in terms of how they told the story. We’ve had several episodes that have relied on flashbacks for their format (6x01) or ones that flashed back to earlier times in general (4x16, 5x06, etc.). But Inmates is the only episode I can think of that specifically employs this backwards-time technique.

Because that’s really what it is. They had four different story threads to cover: Bethyl, Carol/Tyreese, Maggie/Sasha/Bob, and Glenn.

(The previous episode, 4x09, showed us that Richonne and Carl were alive and well and had found one another. So no one was too worried about them, and they aren’t in this episode.)

If you watch the episode carefully, the stories start with the latest one chronologically and move backward. This becomes most obvious at the point where Bethyl’s and Tyreese’s stories cross. Beth and Daryl find tracks, including some crushed grapes. Daryl says things went bad and whoever it was got out in a hurry. (Later, we see Ty and the girls make those tracks.)

It’s also important to note that we see two days pass in Bethyl’s story line. First, we see them running from walkers (during Beth’s diary voice-over). Then we see them sitting by the fire and it’s dark. Beth says the sun will be up soon. Then when they’re tracking Tyreese, it’s day again. They follow his tracks to the train tracks, where they see what they think is the remains of the people they were tracking (even though it’s not). Beth starts to cry, and the only other thing we see is them sitting by another fire in the darkness. So two nights have come and gone in their story line since the prison fell.

Then…

We move to Tyreese. We only see one night with him. He, the girls, and Judith are out in the dark. Lizzie murders some rabbits in a log, and Judith cries, so they decide to keep moving. The next day, we see the part where Tyreese runs (after Mica), squashing the grapes, which Daryl and Beth later find. (Bethyl also walks right past the log with the dead rabbits in it, btw.) So there’s only one day’s passage there, and Ty’s bit happens before Bethyl’s. Backward progression.

Then we move to Maggie/Sasha/Bob. We don’t see any darkness/night time with them at all. Beyond that fact, there’s nothing to specifically tell us that their story came before Ty’s chronologically (that I saw) but because of all the other stories showing backward progression, I’m assuming it did. We see a very short slice of time with them. First Sasha bandages Bob’s wound, then they set out to find Glenn. They see the bus, Maggie confirms Glenn isn’t on it. The end. That’s all we see of them in this episode.

Finally, there’s Glenn. They show us that his story happened the soonest after the prison went down in several ways. 

1) The tank, though the flames are out, is still smoking. If it had been days or even hours, there wouldn’t have been so much smoke. 

2) It’s obvious that Glenn was injured and knocked out when that same tank blew up the prison’s bridge. Glenn got sort of caught up in it. Wrong place, wrong time. (Poor Glenn.) But he wouldn’t have been out for very long. Unless he had a severe head injury (and since he gets up and walks away relatively unscathed, we can assume he doesn’t) something like that would only cause a few minutes of unconsciousness. Mostly he’d be dealing with shell shock, but again, not unconsciousness. So his story takes place only minutes after the end of 4x08.

Okay, why is this important?

Two things to point out.

1) Glenn’s life, more than any other character’s, was in question in this episode. We already knew Rick, Michonne, and Carl were safe. With the others, we didn’t actually see any of them die at the prison like Hershel and the Gov, so it was a safe bet that they were alive, but we couldn’t know for sure until they showed us. Glenn was the last one shown, and they even did a very tiny death-fakeout with Maggie’s thread. I’ll get to that. But my point is that they did this backward-time progression, revealing some surprising things along the way, and it culminated in revealing that Glenn was still alive.

2) The Importance of the Sequence. The last thing we see in this episode is the arrival of Abraham, Eugene and Rosita. 

So I had this moment where I thought: 

“Okay, the backwards time thing leads up to new characters arriving." 

Of course I was thinking of Beth. That sort of works but also sort of doesn’t. It doesn’t because these were brand new characters we hadn’t seen before, and that won’t be true of Beth. But Abraham was also a major proxy for Beth, so it still might work symbolically. But it doesn’t really matter. That thought led me to others. I started to realize that every one of these four threads had something super-important to TD in it.

First we have Bethyl. There are no death fake-outs or revealed-to-be-alive moments in their part of the episode, but we have Daryl being cynical and not believing anyone is alive. Beth screaming at him, "They’re alive, they’re alive, they’re alive!” Then, rather than having her hopes realized, they’re dashed. They come upon the remains by the train tracks and assume them to be that of those they were tracking. Anyone seeing where I’m going with this? Okay, I’ll come back to it. Let me get through the sequence.

In Ty’s part of the story, we have Judith, a character everyone from the GA to the characters in the show thought to be dead, revealed to be alive. Resurrection story. Judith’s alive. Yea! Not to mention the return of Carol after an estrangement from TF. So obviously that’s a TD thing. (Remember that RK “confirmed” that Judith was dead, which is why everything negative he’s said about Beth is so suspect.)

Then Maggie/Sasha/Bob. I said in my 4x08 Rewatch that Maggie’s convo with Beth where Beth says “What if you’re not [right back]?” was a foreshadow of Beth being left behind, right? But we can take it even a step farther here with Glenn. If you hadn’t figured it out yet, I think Glenn was a foreshadow of Beth in this episode. His being revealed alive at the end of the episode was a mini foreshadow of Beth. So in line with that, look at what happens here. Maggie goes into the prison to get Glenn. She puts him on the bus. When she gets there, Beth is gone (more of the Beth being gone when someone returns for her foreshadowing).

But as far as Glenn goes, Maggie put Glenn on that bus. She assumed he stayed there, even though he didn’t. So when she found the bus, just as we think will be the case with Beth, he’s gone. So we have a case of Maggie being separated from Glenn, then going back to look for him. When she gets back to the CAR she left him in, he’s gone, and she has no idea where.

Now, there are obviously some differences. When Glenn is gone, Maggie is happy because she believes it means he’s alive, and that won’t be the case with Beth. But then Glenn wasn’t shot in the head, so you can’t blame Maggie’s reasoning there.

But as I said in my re-watch, it’s also weird that they didn’t show the face of the walker she kills. Okay, couple of things: We never see this dude’s face, but from behind, he really does look like Glenn. Even his clothes are similar. So that’s in line with the Walker Look-Alike thing I mentioned in the 4x09 Re-Watch. If a character has a walker look-alike, it always means there alive. True here with Glenn as well.

I also think not seeing this guy’s face could possibly correlate in some way with them not showing Beth’s face again after she’s shot.

But most of all, there’s a micro death fake-out here. I remember when this episode aired, seeing memes of Maggie crying in the bus that said things like, “Why do you have to mess with my emotions, AMC? Why?” Because, for a minute, she cries and it really seems like the walker she just stabbed was probably Glenn. Then she smiles and the next scene reveals Glenn is alive. So yeah, micro death fake-out. Good times.

I also think this could be more foreshadowing of Glenn’s actual death. We have Maggie crying over Glenn here, just as she did through the glass with Beth in 4x03.

Finally, we have Glenn revealed as alive, which I think foreshadowed Beth being revealed alive. So, once again, we have an instance of Maggie being without Glenn, and crying over him, just before the big resurrection reveal. Probably a foreshadow of Glenn’s death before Beth is revealed.

Okay, so look more closely at what happens in this sequence. First we have Bethyl, where Beth is confident that the others “are alive.” Then her hopes are dashed when they discover the remains at the train tracks.

That sounds a whole damn lot to me like Daryl saying with confidence in 5x01, “She’s alive.” He had the faith and positivity that Beth showed him in 4b that he’d find her and everything would be okay. His hopes were dashed when she was shot and he lost everything. 

Beth sobbed by the train tracks.

Daryl sobbed by the barn. 

In Ty’s story, Judith is revealed to be alive. Even though her actual death fake-out happened in 4x08, I still think this may represent another, smaller death fake-out that came after Beth was shot and was resolved relatively quickly: Glenn’s. It was a much smaller story line than Beth’s. People believed him to be dead, and only a few episodes later, just like Judith, we find out he’s alive. (Yea!)

Then we have Glenn’s fake death, Maggie crying, just before the big reveal.

But here’s the biggest thing I wanted to tell you all. This is the thing that gave me epic chills when the realization hit me. Because we can take this a step farther.

Glenn wasn’t on that bus. But where WAS he? Back at the prison, right?

Think about that. He was back at same place Maggie first found him and put him on the bus. He was back where it all started. No one even thought to go back to the prison to look for Glenn.

So when Maggie goes back to the car where they left Beth, she won’t be there. Where will she be? She’ll be back at Grady, where they first found her, where it all started. And no one will even think to go back there looking for her.

And not only was Glenn just back at the prison–like on the grounds or something. He was INSIDE the prison. And he woke up. Alone. Without TF. They’d already all moved on.  So he had to fight his way out of that prison. And how did he do that? Using alcohol and fire, of course. He burned it down, as Beth will probably do in some way with Grady.

He acquired friends/a group along the way, ended up leading them more or less, and then reunited with Maggie in the dark tunnel. (Haven’t I been saying for two years that the Glaggie reunion in 4b foreshadowed Bethyl’s?)

A la @thegloriouscollectorlady’s 4 Arcs for 4 Community’s theory, it’s also important that Tara is with Glenn on this journey. This is a bit beyond the scope of this theory, but remember in 4x15, after Maggie and Glenn reunite, Maggie thanks Tara for helping bring Glenn back to her. Glenn says he couldn’t have done it without Tara’s help. Tara is now the character connected with Oceanside, and we think Beth will come through there. So she couldn’t have been reunited with TF except for the ocean, Oceanside, and what it represents. Just saying.

So! What does it all mean for S8?

I’m wondering if we’ll see this backward progression story telling again in S8. 4 threads, 4 arcs, 4 leaders of 4 communities, and 4 episodes in S8 that will melt our brains.

I’m honestly not expecting to see Beth in 8x01. If we do, Glory Be! But I think we’ll have shocking reveals in each of the first four episodes, but they’ll start close to the present (maybe something like showing us what actually happened to Heath?) and work backward. We’ll get answers to things that have remained mysterious, including stuff around Sasha and Tyreese, and the strange conversation, and then eventually what happened after Coda. They’ll culminate, much like this episode did, in showing us that a character who disappeared and people assumed was dead, really isn’t.

And TD will rejoice. Is it October yet?

The above-line was originally the end of my theory, but I wanted to add one more technical detail. I showed this theory to a few of my fellow theorists who asked about it, and @katkhaos had a really interesting insight. She said the backwards time thing reminded her of Quentin Tarantino. It’s the kind of thing we might see in one of his films. Such as Kill Bill.

Now, I’ve seen a Tarantino film or two, but I’m really not all that familiar with him. Certainly not an authority on his films. It seems like I’ve seen people draw parallels between Beth and the Kill Bill films before. Chances are, I dismissed them. I’m not big on going outside the world of the show looking for parallels.

But…

Kill Bill is a show that relies heavily on messing with time and showing things in the wrong order. It’s about a blond woman who wears nothing but yellow and is a badass. (Could describe Beth, yeah?) Plus, this woman was shot in the head and spent four years in a coma. 🤔

But if I’m not big on parallels outside the show, why am I telling you this?

Because Nicotero worked on this film. Now he writes for TTD and we have ample evidence that he shipped Bethyl. He was actually the one on TTD after 5x09 who revealed that they’d skipped 17 days. I’m not saying we should read too much into it. I just wanted to point it out and I’ll just leave this here, okay?

This has been planned for a long time, y’all. Now we just have to sit back and wait for it to unfold. Have a great weekend everyone!