#they have one of the biggest messes of a storyline anyways so!!

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on todays volume ! well…i can’t say it was uneventful

i enjoyed the podium challenge! i wouldn’t say it was “fun to play” because the entire thing was on rails, but it gave us some reasonable drama. plus MC actually got some wins for once, rather than automatically losing for the sake of a diamond option

next up is some random date, it was mostly just eavesdropping on other couples, and then we have a dance off ??😭 anyways, i danced with lisbeth, it was very cute

then we have spin the bottle! jesse chose to kiss MC and obviously i went all in

for the diamond option, you actually can pick tristan (and interestingly enough, he has hearts. i'm starting to think he really is the enemies to lovers route 💀💀💀) i just couldn’t resist the mess

but then i was considering a replay, because choosing him means i probably won't be able to kiss lisbeth—

sike ! she points the bottle right at MC and we kiss her too. anyways, this was the most fun i’ve had in the villa by far (with that being said, after the results of this volume i might actually replay to choose lisbeth for the diamond scene 😭)

i was dreading whatever gesture hayden had planned for MC, but at the very last second lisbeth swoops in 🎉 unfortunately that means i have to read dialogue about "the LI i'm forced to be with being sad about being turned down" for the one millionth time. i wish female LIs (or slowburns in general) could be a choice early on instead of forcing us into these awkward situations (even if we can't be coupled up for storyline reasons, FB could have one of the girls talk to MC about romantic gestures, give us some "if someone here did a gesture for me, i'd love if it was..." type of dialogue, and then have every LI to choose from. it's not that hard luv)

anyways, lisbeth also has some dialogue about how i also chose her for the hot tub date and the hideaway, i thought that was a cool detail! (and it’s nice to not get treated like you’re automatically on a hoe route as a wlw player, that was one of my biggest complaints with the 2 previous seasons)

we go to the treehouse and catch franki kissing tristan, i would say “clap if you care” but it’s all gonna go downhill from here, so…👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

we go back to the rest of lisbeth’s gesture: looking at the constellations, and it was so adorable ! however, i should’ve known that the line about the pleiades was foreshadowing what happens next

side note before it all kicks off, the new outfits in this volume were giving me life ! putting "goth PLEASEEEEE" in every FB survey question about clothes finally paid off

next up, we got some season 5 energy with everyone dogpiling MC. common sense and critical thinking completely out the window. mind you, everybody that was in the dressing room saw franki steal MC’s perfume. mind you, my MC doesn’t even wear lipstick. mind you, our own LI defends us and somehow we still get dumped (UPDATE: i said tristan didn’t vote for MC but he actually did when i replayed. maybe it’s a glitch, maybe i’m illiterate, maybe it's maybelline) before we go, lisbeth tells MC that she'll wait for her. then we got some season 6 energy with “dumped MC actually being sent to casa” …or coming back to the main villa as a casa girl 🤷🏽

but more importantly, we got dumped for two whole weeks ??? that’s pretty much years in love island terms, im sure our LIs managed to stay loyal but i have no idea how they’d do that without getting dumped (i could see lisbeth and jesse staying together in a friend couple, but idk about hayden/ethan/milo) can't wait for all the "pay gems to learn about what happened" scenes 🙄

speaking of gem scenes, the way i thought the option to open the door was gonna be for one of our LIs 😭 i already said this in my last post, but i have unlimited gems and i still feel robbed. in the game i ended up forgiving franki, just because there wasn’t an option to throw hands (and i do agree with the option that ideally, tristan would’ve been dumped instead lol) but i definitely do not forgive her, choosing to walk after letting MC take the fall is some of the most pathetic bullshit i've ever seen (so what was the point of throwing MC under the bus, you bozo !!!)

overall... what on earth !? i'm gagged, mainly because i cannot believe my prediction of MC getting dumped was correct. granted, we’re gonna be returning, but this is so unserious 😭 i'm sure the game won’t let us be more than mildly upset with the islanders who got us dumped, but trust and believe my MC will be burning that villa down when she returns.

(in case you're wondering, i'm still gonna romance tristan...because i live for the drama and his route will probably be "uncharted territory." in other words, i don't think a single person is gonna be romancing him after this shit, & i'm curious to see what it's like. he's 100% not my endgame tho 💀 i prefer sweetie pie LIs . jesse and lisbeth all the way)

[darthenderson]

So, I went back and rewatched Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World (at the same time). Heres the thoughts:

I watched Girl Meets World before (when it came out in like middle school/high school; I’m in college now so it’s been a while) and since I’m a Boy Meets World fan I thought I would go back and rewatch it.

Boy Meets World is amazing. The storylines, the characters, everything else; I will always love that show and I often rewatch it.

Girl Meets World is 95% hot fucking garbage. Like I get it’s a Disney channel show- it’s not going to be the greatest thing ever- but good god this is a mess. The writers didn’t really get to tell the story they wanted because of Disney, at least I hope that’s what happened instead of actually thinking that this would be on the same level as Boy Meets World.

—————-

The 5% of the show I enjoyed was:

- Eric’s episodes

- Eric and Tommy’s reunion

- Eric and Jack’s reunion

- Seeing more of Cory and Topanga’s relationship

- Some of Shawn’s episodes

- Some of Farkle, Smackle, or Maya’s scenes (definitely not a lot of them though)

- Stuart Minkus’ appearances (and Jennifer too)

- Feeny and the other original characters making cameos too

———-

The rest of Girl Meets World I kinda hated.

For example:

- they did Angela dirty (like, wtf? They acted like she wasn’t close friends with Cory, Topanga, and the other characters before she left in Boy Meets World; it seemed like they made some of the characters mad at her (Riley) for no reason at all, she did nothing wrong in my opinion. And I would have loved to see more of her, like as an Aunt to Riley and Auggie or something)

- they did Jack dirty too (he would’ve definitely stayed in contact with at least Eric and Shawn, being as close as they were on Boy Meets World. And why wasn’t he at Shawn’s wedding? Also, we should’ve seen more of him after the semi formal episode, and jeric should have happened)

- no Rachel appearances (I would have loved to see her again, and she did stay in contact with Eric, as mentioned in the show, so she could’ve come back)

- the annoying ass Riley, Maya, Lucas love triangle

- the fact that they still didn’t make jeric happen (I need them to happen. They would be so cute! Just look at them:⬇️)

- Mr Turner not having more scenes (I hated that he wasn’t at Shawn’s wedding- like we knew he was in NYC, he could’ve been there- and that he wasn’t in more scenes, especially ones with Shawn)

- the whole “Maya is turning into Riley and they have to stop it” arc. (It was- like the love triangle- annoying, long, and unnecessary. And people do change in high school- and often do a full 180 to their personality; I know I did, and on the Boy Meets World universe Harley Kenner did too. I didn’t even notice the change until it was outright said on the show, and I think the characters discouraging this was just wrong. Yes, Maya did change a lot throughout the show, but that is good. It shows growth, it shows a character arc, that her life is getting brighter and she has more hope, and I still saw Maya as the same character at that point. Anyway, I think that this whole arc was just bad, but I think that Maya still was a good character- she was just poorly written sometimes)

And let’s not forget the two biggest reasons I hate this sequel:

- Joshaya (that relationship was creepy as hell now that I’ve watched the show as an adult, in middle school I didn’t really see why people disliked it, but now I get it. I mean at the end of the series Josh is a FRESHMAN IN COLLEGE (around 18) and Maya is a FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL (around 14 or 15), them doing what they do on the show is illegal. And Josh saying that he’ll “play the long game” too and wait for her? Ew. Just ew. That makes it so much worse; it implies that he’s waiting until she’s 18 or in college and that’s just disturbing and disgusting for a Disney channel show and in general. Overall: Joshaya is gross and illegal and should’ve never been a thing and other characters should not have encouraged it on the show)

- “Girl Meets Farkle” (the infamous autism focused episode. I loved the fact that it had representation for autism, but I hated the way this episode was handled and written. This was by far the worst part of the show for me. I hated the way that some of the characters (Riley, Maya, Lucas) reacted when Farkle said he might be autistic. They acted like it was some horrible thing to be autistic, (which- as a human being and recently diagnosed person with autism- I found offensive) seriously they acted like autism was going to kill him (I’m not joking, that’s how they reacted) and they even went as far as to make Farkle mask who he was in one scene when Farkle said that he identified with some signs of autism. Like, all he wanted was support from his friends when he was getting tested and figuring things out, and all he got was hate from them. And I hate that other characters (and the writers of the show) didn’t see this too and change things or put a stop to it. They also used some outdated language to describe the spectrum on the show, which didn’t help things at all. For a lot of people and viewers, this was the first time they really learned about or saw anything about the spectrum and autism and this is just a horrible way to learn about this. Additionally, I loved Smackle’s whole story and telling how she got diagnosed, but I hated how some characters (Riley and sometimes Maya) treated her throughout the show. As an example: Smackle, as shown in the series, doesn’t often like hugs or physical contact (like me sometimes) and she makes it known, but Riley still fucking tries to hug her constantly and it’s so irritating! I know that if I was having a moment like that, as I often do, and someone tried to hug me like that I would be very uncomfortable and upset, so this whole thing they do with those interactions on the show just pisses me off. Overall: this episode of the show was offensive and horrifying, mostly because of the way the show frames autism and the way that the other characters react to Farkle and his potential diagnosis and Smackle with her actual diagnosis.

—————

In conclusion to my long ass rant:

Me at Boy Meets World:

Me at Girl Meets World:

[thatgirl4815]

Only Friends Predictions

Purely for my own entertainment, I want to make Only Friends predictions now so that I can refer to them later and see how accurate they turn out to be (which I don’t have too high of hopes for, but I’m gonna go for it anyway). I’m gonna make these attempts based on what we know so far/what some members of the cast have said.

I would be really interested though to see other predictions? Who do you think will end up together? Speculating is the only way I know to pass the time before it airs, lol.

In short:

- Ray and Sand will end up together. 

- Boston and Nick will be split. Boston will still be alone, but Nick will have moved on to someone new. 

- Top will have cut ties with the group after Boston ruins his relationship with Mew. Mew and Ray will continue to be friends, but Mew will remain alone (but content). 

Of course, this could be totally off, but I’m going with it now based purely on ✨vibes✨

Getting into the details...

SandRay

First and Khaotung said that their storyline is emotional compared to the hotness of the other couples’ storylines. I also know that Jojo has a thing for mixing up established pairings. As we’ve seen, the messiness of SandRay’s relationship really revolves around Ray’s feelings for Mew. But if they keep Sand’s characterization from the trailer, he won’t stand for any of Ray’s crap (“I won’t be in anyone’s choices.”). Does this mean Sand will end things and leave Ray to grovel for his affections again? Will Ray confess to Mew, and come crawling back to Sand after being rejected? Will Sand keep standing up for himself, or will Ray make some grand gesture to win him back? Can he be won back?

Even though this series is being marketed as messy, toxic, and chaotic, I’m certain there will be some core thematic aspects at play in each characters’ relationships. For SandRay (and BostonNick, I’d argue), self-worth could be a fundamental aspect. How much do you value the relationship, versus how much do you value yourself? I also wonder to what extent there could be a privilege check for Ray’s character. We know he’s wealthy and a playboy, but will his wealth create a division between him and Sand? Will Ray change himself? Obviously I’m posing a lot of questions, but until we get more info, I’m going to predict that Ray and Sand will end up together in the end, mostly because I think Ray navigating his feelings for both Sand and Mew--and coming to terms with what these feelings say about himself--would find its natural conclusion in Sand. Given what FirstKhao have said about how emotional their storyline is, I think it’s clear the feelings run deep for both of them. Also, I’m getting the sense from the trailer that Ray’s crush on Mew is unrequited.

Finally, FirstKhao have made a comment about their characters ending up together. They did say this before filming I believe, so might take it with a grain of salt. 

BostonNick

My biggest dilemma at this point is figuring out how the SandRay plot will differ from the BostonNick one, because both Nick and Sand and Boston and Ray are in a similar position. Nick, to me, seems more likely to beg for Boston’s affection while Sand seems more ready to let all hell break loose and cut ties. In other words, Sand’s reaction in the trailer might indicate that he values himself too much to stand for Ray’s indecision from the get go. For Nick, this could be more of a slow-building awareness. By that I mean, I could see Nick coming to understand that Boston doesn’t deserve his affection if he’s going to disregard his feelings and treat him as a fwb when Nick keeps pushing for something more. I could see Nick making a stand, essentially telling Boston “him or me?” and Boston choosing Top...only for Top to cut ties with Boston after messing up his relationship with Mew. In short, I foresee Boston getting the worst outcome of everyone. But maybe this is just because he seems to be responsible for most of the chaos in the trailer.

TopMew

Top and Mew as an established couple in the trailer seems like the most likely endgame--and that’s exactly why I think they won’t end up together. I have a hard time believing Mew will just let Top off once he knows about his relationship with Boston. (I’m operating under the assumption here that Boston and Top resume their affair while Top and Mew are together...at least for a little while.) I could see Top keeping up his fwb relationship with Boston for a short time into his relationship with Mew, but as he gets more serious about Mew, he tries to cut things off with Boston. And that’s when the whole situation gets out of hand and Boston essentially confesses to Mew about their secret relationship. 

Mew is also presented as content with his solitude; he only pursues a relationship with Top when Boston pairs them up. If anything, this entire situation could serve as a lesson for him. And if I’m right in predicting (hoping) that Ray will undergo a big moral shift from beginning to end, then I could see their friendship being a core part of the series. (I think it would also be good representation to keep them together as healthy friends despite Ray’s previous crush.) 

...As for how Sea could factor into any of this (if he really is going to play some part in the series), I’ve seen speculation that he could be a possible love interest for Sand. I think it would depend on how big of a role he’s given. I’m sure it’ll be a cameo either way, but how much of one is questionable. He could be involved in an episode or two to stir up some drama and equal things out between Sand and Ray; I think that’s a strong possibility (and the drama would be oh so juicy). Or maybe he ends up with Nick, if Nick moves on from Boston? So many possibilities.

- X - 

OK, so that’s my thought process at this current moment, but tomorrow I could have a wildly different one. If anyone is thinking completely differently, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. In the meantime, I’m gonna go stew over this some more until we finally get a trailer (Jojo, I’m begging). 

[et-cant-phone-home-no-signal]

rewatching the original star wars trilogy at the moment but i had to pause halfway through TESB because i think i'm one of the few people on earth that just cannot stand han solo's fuckboy attitude and gets super annoyed and disgusted with it idk it's not sexy to me, it just makes me feel icky. ANYWAY will be giving notes on those films when i've watched them all but i rewatched rogue one because it's my favourite star wars film and i'm an exhausted, tear stained mess rn enjoy these ramblings - spoilers under the cut

i love this film so much, could go on about it for ages and ages tbh but that would be a crazy long post even for my standards, so my biggest takeaways are that it's honestly the best looking film from all of the star wars movies we've got that i've seen (i haven't seen solo yet but i'm not really interested in it tbh but if people think i should see it maybe i will). the music is phenomenal, the visuals are stunning, the casting is spot on, and the storyline is cohesive. brava fr on this one

i was so into the first half i legit didn't really make notes so that's what you get for like the first half of the film lmao i was just too glued to the screen

i am so in love with this group of people, i think they're the most dynamic of all the groups we see

i haven't seen andor yet but you bet your ass i'm gonna after this because i forgot how much i love cassian - diego luna is fantastic

cassian and jyn <3 also K2 i love you

baze, chirrut and bohdi also just fill me up with joy this whole crew is *chef's kiss*

when baze calls jyn little sister 😭

the pure joy on literally every single rebel's face when they fly in and start shooting the AT-AT's is enough to send me into a fit of laughter and tears 😭 🙌

star wars ships designs are so unique and awesome i love them

K dying had me crying it always gets me

chirrut 💕

CHIRRUT 😭

general raddus is such a g oh my god

baze, you mean so much to me

that hammerhead corvette is so powerful what

jyn and cassian are like, yeah they're, they mean a lot to me, their relationship means a lot to me, i'm fine

lies i'm literally sobbing at this point and can no longer type

had to come back eventually just to write that i'm forever grateful they hugged at the end because they could have done a cheap kiss shot but they didn't and i love and appreciate gareth edwards for this + vader's entrance is fucking astounding

this is genuinely the only star wars film that always makes me cry because i care so much for all the characters and they all fucking DIE - the skywalker saga doesn't have this level of stakes in the fact that we know they all survive at the end of the day, but this movie literally isn't like that, they all die for the cause and it's fucking heartbreaking and powerful and it wasn't for nothing!!!! 10/10 fr imo, i need a fat glass of cold water now because i'm a total wreck dudes like i am this emoji 😭 rn no lie (i cry laughed through writing this final bit because damn dude y'all should see me i don't get this emotional for movies that often but i'm a complete mess and my throat hurts)

[asarigg]

(I'm sorry if you're not interested in replying to asks, feel free to ignore it, I just gotta talk about this with someone 😭)

I listened to the cyan moon drama for the first time and my thoughts are that 1. Koujaku is absolutely pathetic (in an endearing way) and would ABSOLUTELY do anything Aoba asks him to no questions asked. He loves him so much and it's making me insane 😭

And 2. More importantly: Near the end, Trip (I think, could've been Virus?) says that Koujaku isn't a good candidate for a butler cafe bc he gets into fights with Noiz all the time, and then he TRIES TO INFLUENCE KOUJAKU INTO ACTUALLY GETTING PISSED OFF?!?!? I don't know if this was supposed to be a small joke for the people listening who are in the know about Koujaku's storyline and I'm just going crazy, or is it implying that Virus and Trip know about Koujaku's tattoos and the effects they have on him??? Idk, this small bit just kinda blew these doors wide open for me. Given that Vitri work with Toue, who had some degree of involvement in the "designing" of these tattoos, maybe this is how they found out? Or maybe through their own shady sources? I think that it's possible that they have dirt on Koujaku or Mizuki, figures in the local community who have some sway/influence. Does Koujaku know about it, or is he unaware, if that's the case? I dunno, I just find the concept so interesting, that Vitri would know about Koujaku's secret and openly taunt him in public, knowing that nobody else knows what they're talking about. I know that they just kinda do whatever, so taunting Koujaku might've just been funny, but maybe they were hoping he'll lose it and look bad in front of Aoba? Man. I just can't stop thinking about it.

omg yesss, talk to me any timee, specially about koujaku 🤓🤓

And YES absolutely Koujaku would do ANYTHING for Aoba. I mean once he said he'd love Aoba even if he was violent and arrogant it was over for him. He's literally "I can fix him", he's insane and I love him for that. They have this scent of slightly toxic obsession that is just so *chef kiss*, truly leaves space for so much in fanfiction and fanart 👄

I almost don't remember anything of that cd but that honestly sound like Virus, he's always the one doing the talking. It's so funny when they appear in front of Koujaku and Aoba because the dumb bitch (trip) only laughs at whatever Virus says and does 3 words commentary.

Anyway, I honestly don't think it necessarily implies they know? Because they just love to mess up with people and manipulate them regardless. BUT that doesn't mean they don't know. And I mean this because they work close with Toue, and it's the reason why they had access to all that information about Aoba. If they know all that about the twins, Toue's biggest experiment that he'd WANT to keep secret, how would they not know about Koujaku's? And I'm pretty sure they have enough free time to investigate about anyone close to Aoba. So yeah, to me they do know, but they mostly just want to mess with an angry mf. They weren't Sly's fans for no reason.

Which btw, talking about Koujaku's tattoo being an experiment, it's never mentioned or implied, but I've always hc that his father knows about what the tattoo really is. Either he had intentions of making Koujaku the heir, THEN agreeing to the tattoo to be part of the experiment, or he called him back precisely because they talked about the tattoo beforehand.

The tattoo being able to control Koujaku would only mean that his father would have power over him, and it would serve Toue to complete his investigation. Koujaku would never obediently listen to him, unless he hurts his mother. But that wouldn't be an option forever, the kid would grow into a man, and if he was going to train a capable fighter and gangster he wanted this killing machine to be on his side. Powerful men doing their thing I guess.

[itsrheasgirl]

I hope I don't sound silly asking this, but is it normal for WWE to be putting Rhea in the position she is in? I feel like they've stripped her of everyone - no Dom, no TJD, no Damian, no Jey...they're leaving her on her own to go up against factions and duos or trios eg. Dom/Liv/Raquel and there is always such a benefit to people who have others to bounce off and uplift each other. Even with Roman, he has never been completely alone for long, he's got his family back by his side already which gives him more room to express himself as a character and more of a storyline to be told. Why are they burying Rhea and instead lifting so many others, when she is literally, according to all metrics, still the biggest female draw? Sorry I feel like I sound naive, but I think seeing all the Twitter hate from Liv fans to Rhea is messing with me, cause it feels so targeted since Rhea is Liv's biggest threat, but it feels like it's spreading since they are so loud :(

Rhea has spent a LOT of her career being stabbed in the back by the people that are supposed to love her most. Leaving her alone to fend for herself.

So I was not surprised that the writers of the WWE took every one of importance from her again.

But at the end of the day, Rhea is a powerhouse and will never truly need to rely on someone to help her. Liv can have the shitty judgement day, they kicked out the two best members anyway.

Damian will always be there for Rhea, but he also has his own things to focus on and as for Jey..

I AM NEVER GIVING UP ON JHEA!

[yuesya]

First off, loving ZotS rn (it’s one of five fics I actually set email reminders for updates), so thank you for the great work!

Second off, with the upcoming festival ‘arc’, I was wondering how Maki is going to be playing in this fic and how her interaction with Shiki will go. So far, the only interaction we’ve seen her and Mai have with Shiki was the last festival where she basically put Naoya in his place and after re-reading it, I can’t help but imagine the kind of impact that kind of thing could have on her (a strong woman who is not only willing to defy a major clan but has the ability to back it up). Since we don’t really have any knowledge of her past between “leaving” the zen’in clan and joining jujutsu tech, a part of me hopes Maki seeks out Shiki this festival and pulls a korra-esque reverse-Luffy (“I’m joining your crew and you’ve gotta deal with it”). Plus, with how much both of their combat styles focus on cursed tools and shiki’s willingness (if poor ability in communicating it) to teach, I can imagine Maki seeing her as a mentor figure (at least more than Satoru, but that honestly isn’t that hard).

On Shiki’s side, though, I’m curious how she will regard Maki’s abilities with her HR. On the one hand, even if she’s not been told the full story on Toji, the fact that she not only “fought” him but also nearly got killed doing so should make her one of her biggest supporters since she knows not to underestimate someone with those abilities. At the same time, I’m kinda worried Shiki’s going to mess it all up like she did with Aikawa by saying something that could be interpreted as diminutive like “why be a sorcerer, I can barely sense your cursed energy?”.

Anyway, sorry about the rambling, I just really love your story and wanted to take my opportunity to ask a question that’s been on my mind for a while.

Thanks for reading and I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

Maki and Mai haven't been part of the active storyline aside from that one appearance during the first Obon. There are certain similarities between Maki and Shiki, such as their love for sharp, pointy objects...

Going to be keeping quiet for now because we'll be getting to the Zenin twins in the future. Assuming I don't make any last-minute changes, there are plans for them making an appearance during the upcoming festival. :)

[angelicjackles]

saw ur post abt dean and cassie and honestly i loved her so much she was beautiful (move over dean it’s my turn) and i honestly feel like he should’ve stayed with her in s5 instead of Lisa….

like don’t get me wrong i love Lisa she’s beautiful and kind but she was with Dean for 3 days, all he really did was give her good sex and then come back 7 years later for the case and then she let him stay with her and her son for a year like??

she barely knew his ass and she had a whole child too like you don’t know this man and you’re letting him stay with you and your son?… oh okay..

it would’ve made more sense for cassie to be more involved, since dean was literally in love with her, and by this i mean involved as in the same way Jess also haunted the narrative but we also have to keep in mind that this was in 2005 and the fandom didn’t like most of Deans love interests (which is why they’re either killed off or written out)

which is also why im pretty sure dean said at the end that they were “never going to work out” like they should’ve given her another chaaaaance 💔 my queen

hi, love! i couldn't agree more. the whole lisa storyline made no sense to me considering they had one (1) weekend together several years ago but he goes to her of all people, and she lets him in? this incredible one night stand she had in like... her late teens early 20s age, just lets him back in around her son when she hadn't spoken to dean in years? yeah i think not. in my opinion dean isn't the type who would have put himself around her knowing ben was in the picture anyway, not with the mindset he was in when he showed up at her door, he was a mess and subjecting a kid to that is just... not something he'd do, no matter how fucked up in the head he is after losing sam.

i also am just not the biggest fan of lisa period, no hate against her but that entire narrative was kind of stupid and overdone in my opinion. they really played up how similar to dean ben was, like they literally gave him moments of being a complete mini dean to the point it was cliche and then emphasised that no but he's not your son lisa just has a type so he's taking after the dad he never met. plus the idea that dean kept going back to lisa despite knowing how dangerous it was to be associated with her, and said that on numerous occasions... that whole plot just dragged on for too long in my opinion, it didn't feel like dean.

it would have made more logical sense if he'd of went back to cassie during that year, someone he actually was in a relationship with, who he loved, who he liked enough to tell her the fucking family secret, someone he'd reunited with a lot more recently than lisa. even if they didn't end up dating in that year, even just letting cassie by his stability and his anchor while he was trying to keep himself afloat. that would have been enough.

but as you said it was back in the day and the fandom did not like any of the potential love interests, so who knows. either way i still wish they'd have brought cassie back at some point. even if it wasn't getting back with dean, just having her in the story or giving an update on where she was at modern day would have been so cool - kind of like the way they very briefly brought sarah back and allowed her to reunite with sam (obviously the outcome there wasn't good, but still, the general idea still applies)

long story short. i'm obsessed with cassie and just mad we never saw her again.

this was... so long, i am so sorry for all my yapping asgdknelh

[heretherebedork]

There are rumors about Mix showing up later in OF and that he sleeps with Sand (are they exes?) and presumably there's a triangle storyline with them and Ray, so I don't think Sand and Ray are escaping the messiness. Ray's also going to confess to Mew at some point, that's a given, and rewatching the series trailer, most of the scenes in it are from early on, and it doesn't actually show all that much. We may think we see where it's going, but I think we're in for a lot that's surprising and unexpected.

Oh, man, Ray and Sand are gonna be one of the biggest messes here. I absolutely know that and have tried to be clear that I know how messy they are and how much I want their happy ending but don't expect it.

Sand and Ray are a disaster waiting for happen. Ray is a needy, damaged, hurt and achingly lonely rich boy who fell in love with a friend who looks down on him for all of that but wraps that disdain in a veneer of caring and kindness and that hooked Ray entirely while Sand is a much more street smart young man just trying to hold his life together without much to his name and without much to do besides work. They are not made for each other and the feelings they have and grow and discover are going to hurt so much.

No matter if we get exes or what happens, they were always going to be a messy. Sand is trying to be realistic and trying to watch himself, he knows he's playing with fire not just by starting to feel sympathy for Ray and fucking him but also because he knows Ray's brand and loneliness and drinking and fucking and that emotions are gonna be a tangled web that he doesn't have the time or energy to deal with, frankly.

Everyone in this show is gonna be a mess and I accepted that by choosing to watch the show.

I do think that Ray will confess to Mew but I think Mew will turn him down with a bit of disdain but also fairly gently because Mew sees that as a chance to keep using Ray. He might even give him the tiniest hint of false hope just to keep him around longer. But who knows? Maybe Mew will accept Ray's confession to make Top jealous, depending on when it happens. Will Mew start playing their games with each other or will he stick to looking down his nose at the mess around him? Can't say for sure, I don't know!

Anyway, all I expect here are messes and nothing good to ever happen but we'll see. Sorry, sorry, i'm trying to be cynical because I refuse to let myself actually hope for anything.

[vaicomcas]

I think we should talk more about post canon Cas, Meg, Baltazar and Crowley dynamics

Post canon because it's easy to work on the dynamics after everything is said and done.

Both Batlh and Meg are important to Cas and see Crowley as a threat. And I am talking about a scenario where Crowstiel are testing waters with their relationship

For Meg, throughout their saty at the ward and after Cas came back from purgatory, Crowley was trying to kill him. She basically died to keep Crowley away from Cas

She won't have the best relationship with her killer after she comes back.

And when Baltazar died, Cas was working with Crowley and it was one of the biggest problems everyone had.

I think they both would be scared and worried and angry.

I also think Meg would come around quicker.

For a bunch of reasons

Killing baltazar is something that weighs a lot on Cas, he won't just approach Balth except for an apology.

and the way in which Castiel's relationship with heaven worsened. He is likely to confide more in Meg and Crowley and even Rowena.

Like from heaven's and Baltazar'a pov, they will have Cas spending time with demons he is too find of for the angels to be comfortable.

Also Meg would get a long with Rowena, I just know it and they will gang up on Crowley. And Crowley will make rulling Hell, hell by being the master of the Hellhounds.

That's something that would be interesting and funny and has lot of potential

Comming back to angels, they will take a long time to come around each other. There is a lot of pain and hurt and betrayal amongst them.

Also fixing relationships between Cas and angels will start only after Cas deals with the crushing guilt he lives with.

Like there is so much explored of these characters.

I have no idea why SPN writes insisted to making those two flannel clad nightmares the main characters, the only thing that can be done with them is

I lied to my brother-I messed up-my brother is in danger- we broke the world

It gets boring after third round

What you have here all makes sense and I agree, can be interesting to think about.

However I'm not sure it would be "post canon". Canon-wise, Jack brought back those Chuck killed-- but I don't get the sense he brought back "everybody who had ever been killed"? granted, I didn't really watch 5x19 and 5x20, and certainly not the "prequel", so I could be missing some information, but I wouldn't think post finale universe includes resurrected Meg and Balthazar.

The show's storylines for angels is done with such absolute malice and disdain it's pretty much impossible to explore it fairly without going non-compliant with canon. The whole thing about Balthazar is so senseless, that I just think it doesn't even deserve to be "resolved" as if it was an organic storyline. I intend to stay in denial, anyway.

So, you should definitely explore these things as you like, I'd only suggest there is no need to tie it to canon.

[stevethehairington]

5, 20, 35 for wee woo show asks -@girlboygarfield

eeeeeeef hiiii ty for the ask friend!! 💕

5. Least favorite episode

i simply cannot answer this question with just ONE episode, bc my most HATED is a fucking THREE PARTER, CAN YOU BELIEVE. 😩 the fucking. season 7 opener. the fucking. cRUISE SHIP ARC MY BELOATHED. MY WORST ENEMY. genuinely, THEE worst opening disaster and one of THEE worst, if not THEE worst, arcs of the whole entire show.

i just. god. i don't even know where to begin with it. bc like. IT WAS A FUCKING MESS. A FUCKING MESS. seriously. like. it feels like when they were writing it they were like oh MAN we GOTTA do something that will top everything that came before this, it's gotta be BIG, it's gotta be CRAZY, and then they threw spaghetti at the wall and INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR NOODLES TO FALL, THEY WENT OH FUCK IT ALL STUCK HELL YEAH LET'S THROW IT ALL IN. i mean seriously. there was S O much going on and N O N E of it meshed well and it was just. so fucking MESSY in the WORST way.

like. starting off with making athena have all these like. mysterious issues with bobby and their marriage all of the sudden?? OUT OF LEFT FIELD. but then to like. have that and make them go through all of that AND THEN NEVER FUCKING BRING THAT UP AGAIN??? LIKE HELLO??? WHAT? WHERE? W H Y??

and then. bringing back fuckin norman and lola. like. that could've been a fun nod! but then it just got annoying lmao. i was like i dont caaaaare about these people!!!! there were SO many extra people. norman and lola and the dollar-store-chase-from-house-md-boat-dude and the numerous crew members and then the fucking family that home aloned their child on the boat like MY GOD SO MANY PEOPLE. when really all i wanted was to focus on BOBBY AND ATHENA.

AND THEN THE FUCKING PIRATES????? LIKE WTF??? they fr brought fucking p i r a t e s into the mix for them to hold the ship hostage for like 2.5 minutes and shout about a fucking dongle (which. MY GOD i know thats a real thing but PLEASE THAT WORD IS SO UNSERIOUS AND ALSO THAT WASNT EVEN A DONGLE) and then to fucking. leave and then never show back up again. like WHAT was the point. what was the point!!!!!

i just. ough. i had suuuuuch high hopes for the cruise ship arc, it COULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD, but then it fucking SUCKED and im still mad about it.

OH AND ALSO. THE WAY IN THE FINALE OF THE ARC THEY F I N A L L Y GAVE US THE REST OF THE 118 ONSCREEN BUT THEN FUCKING DIDN'T EVEN SHOW THE ACTUAL RESCUE.

genuinely. THAT is my villain origin story. ALL THAT FUCKING AWFUL MESS AND THEN WE D O N T EVEN GET TO SEE OUR HEROS SAVE THE DAY. ITS STUPID ITS SOOOO STUPID. they shouldve fucking nixed the pirate storyline and actually gave us the helicopter landing on the overturned boat, gave us buck and eddie and hen and chimney SAVING BOBBY AND ATHENA AND EVERYONE ELSE. im so fucking mad about this!!!!!! it was like the stranger things 2 days later EXCEPT A THOUSAND TIMES WORSE ACTUALLY.

ALSO. by not showing any of this, they realllllllllllly fucking shot themselves in the foot wrt bucktommy tbh. bc like. this was supposed to be their first meeting. this was suppose to be the origin of buck's crush, yknow, the one that makes him coocoo bananas enough to maim his best friend in the next episode. EXCEPT. BECAUSE we never see them interact (like. LITERALLY at all. we get maybe one exchange in the helicopter BUT EVEN THEN NOT REALLY), we never see them chat, we never see the cool things tommy does that makes buck go all starry eyed over it - so it makes it reeeeeeaaalllly fucking hard the next episode to understand where and why and how that crush even came about. (which - dont even get me started on this particular issue, the overabundance of offscreen relationship progression, for ALL couples not just bucktommy, bc it is perhaps my biggest pet peeve about this show and i could rant about THAT for hours gkflgdf)

BUT ANYWAYS. this was supposed to be a good arc!!! it had ALLLLL the opportunity to be that!!!! but it fucked SUCKED ASS and im mad about it and i will ALWAYS be mad about it.

(W O W sorry lmfao i went OFF there. did NOT realize that question was going to awaken something in me LMFAO)

20. Moment that made you cry the most?

oh my goddd okay. like. genuinely this show has made me cry SO many times, like ALMOST every fucking episode has something in it that makes me at least tear up, but i have DEFINITELY ugly cried at SEVERAL moments...... the only problem is i am now COMPLETELY blanking on all of them fskjglfdkgs. or, at least the one that made me cry the most. maybe this is a cliche answer, but the mitchell and thomas storyline truly got me so good it made me CRY. and then also since this is most recently in my brain, the madney wedding episode, but specifically the scene where chim is with the lees and they're talking to kevin. the buck begins end scene and the "i almost gave up" moment, like FUCK (already fucking EMOTIONAL scene and then they went and threw the song from fucking broadchurch my BELOVED over it which made it a thousand times more emotional to me). god i know there are so many more too but ough ough.

35. Underrated moment?

DO MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS THE HILL I WILL DIE ON THAT LINE IS S O O O FUCKING UNDERRATED NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT AND IT SHOULD ABSOLUTELY BE TALKED ABOUT IT'S SOOOO IT'S S O O O O!!!!!!!

wee woo show asks

[sapphire-weapon]

I actually agree with you analysis with Aeon, because there is one thing that’s been bugging me this whole time about their “relationship”.

Leon states in Vendetta that he is tired of all the fighting, so much to the point to where he starts drinking. But what bothers me the most is that Ada in her shitty storyline is stealing samples to later trade as per orders of Wesker.

For me, it almost undermines Leon’s goal in the sense that the one thing he wants to end is being continued by the woman he is so in love with. Because of his love with her, he’s willing to turn a blind eye to her actions all because he loves her???

Leon’s character is being questioned. Which doesn’t make sense cause his whole thing is to save people but when the girl he loves is continuing the cycle that he wants to end, he just doesn’t care??? Like Leon was top of his class in the police academy, labeled as smart. But just because he sees a pretty girl his intelligence kind of just gets thrown out the window.

I like both characters, but i feel like their little cat and mouse game destroys both characters completely.

Anyway, sorry to ramble, keep up the analysis. i’m lovin’ it!

So, this has actually been my biggest source of frustration as a critic/analyst. Back when RE6 first came out, I was still heavy in the dwrp scene, and I played through the game with my buddy Seiko (who RPed the Chris to my Leon, at the time) and I just remember both of us at varying points being like "what the fuck is he doing??" "why is he so fucking stupid?? it's like he took all of Chris's stupid pills and he's like 'no it's my turn to give myself brain damage you already had your fun. B('"

And when we first beat Leon's campaign I just dropped my controller and leaned back and said, "Well. I guess Leon just became unplayable. So much for that shit. There goes five years of RP down the fuckin toilet. Thanks for nothing, Capcom." And Seiko had to be like "No, wait, hold on. We can figure this out." And eventually she was the one who finally realized and said: "It felt like his whole campaign was a cry for help."

And I have been trying to make that work ever since -- because it is the only way to make his character make sense, after a certain point.

It actually took me the better part of two years to fully form and crystallize my analysis of "Leon projects most of his trauma onto Ada because she's familiar and convenient -- and also it's a bit of sunk cost fallacy because he wasted so much of his life trying to chase her down, so he's forced to create and live in this delusion where he's convinced himself that she's working towards the greater good, even though he has absolutely no intellectual reason to think that considering the men she's worked for -- but he still has to force himself to buy into it because his entire sense of self has become wrapped up in all of this bullshit, and for him to confront and admit that he's been wrong about her all this time would literally cause his worldview to shatter and his mental health to completely unravel into nothing."

Because RE6, as it exists, is fucking nonsense. I already thought RE4 was pushing it, because I don't know how Leon could just... be okay with Ada working for Wesker. The only explanation is that he's become convinced that she's doing it for a good reason and is going to do the right thing -- even though he has absolutely no evidence for thinking that. A delusion is the only way for it to make sense, and RE6 kicks that into overdrive.

If you were to look at Leon and Ada's relationship and call it for what it was, the very uncomfortable truth that would shake out is that Leon himself is probably one of the greatest assets contributing to the perpetuation of bioterrorism research. He not just aids the US government in their cover-up stories and cleans up their messes for them, but he also actively aids Ada's efforts while she's working for guys like Albert goddamn Wesker.

If you look at it from that perspective, the grim reality is that the world might objectively be better off if Leon was to step down from his position, withdraw from the battlefield, or even off himself like he's always wanted to. He's not just a useful idiot like Chris was for the BSAA -- he is actively part of the problem.

And there's some part of Leon that knows that. But it goes against everything he claims to stand for.

And so, the only way to make sense of his actions is the explanation that his entire sense of self is wrapped up in this, and he's too deep in that hole to dig his way out now. He's aware, on some level, of the cognitive dissonance that's happening, and that's why he drinks.

So, it is very interesting to me that Ada has been MIA from the OG timeline since 6, and that Vendetta and Death Island made the move to have Chris and Jill officially move in as Leon's support system, when he didn't have one previously -- because, with the proper support system in place, it's possible that he can dig his way out of this hole.

But what will that mean for his relationship with Ada?

And so we look at the Remake series and see the foundation it's been laying...

And suddenly the horizon starts to look very, very dark for Aeon as a ship.

[fieldofdaisiies]

I once again can only deeply apologise to everyone who has been affected badly by the last story. I had no ill intentions as I really did not think further about what the person requesting it suggested.

I also still firmly believe that the person requesting it did also not have any ill intentions.

I simply wrote what came to my mind, well aware that I would never ever write about grooming or that sort of things. I didn’t even think about it. Rhys amd Cassian are both over 500 years older and there are other stories on this platform where Azriel‘s mate is one of the IC members child.

Whatever, I am jzat incredibly sorry and something like this will never happen again.

To the person sending the last ask: no, I am not glorifying grooming, I did not even think about that.

I changed the whole storyline now. It is about one of Azriel’s spies, she has been working for him for quite some years now. She is younger than him and also rather little as she is a spy. Both are pining for each other but can’t really accept it as it is employer and employee.

There are no more mentions of Y/N being related to anyone from the Inner Circle or her being so much younger than Azriel.

Now, that the story is edited, I would really hope that you could maybe give it another chance as it is now hopefully alright for everyone.

I can only apologise again, I still feel incredibly stupid for not seeing the obvious and truly hated myself the whole afternoon. I still do feel terrible about it and hurting you in anyway.

Still, the biggest thank you goes out to @moonlightazriel and @bubbles-for-all-of-us for being there for me right now and helping me as I was quite a mess right now I think.

I was close to deleting my account, but we will see…

[we-pay-for-everything]

I've watched all available episodes of Nancy Drew and am rewatching season 3 (can you tell I ship Nace), and here are some of my thoughts no one asked for:

The biggest plot twist was the reveal in season 3 or 4 that Nancy's mom hasn't even been dead for a year. It's fucking crazy how each season spans a few weeks?? You're telling me that in less of a year Nick and George fell in love, got engaged, and then broke up? And Nick's on his third relationship. Bess fell in love 3 times?? She loved the FBI agent, called Odette the love of her life and is now seriously in to the new girl? And how many boyfriends has Nancy had? Nick, Owen, Gil, Park, and soon Ace? Plus she had a thing with the other detective? And now Ace is the love of her life? Carson really started dating that cop as soon as his wife died and is now seriously dating someone else? He's probably still paying for his wife's funeral. Do normal people move on this fast? Also, in less than a year the gang decided they would die for each other, unquestioningly? Intense.

Season 2 was a mess. Season 1 was legit fucking scary and the plot was amazing. After season 1 the show felt completely new. Season 2 was the worst because they did a whole concept change with the case of the week format, which imo didn't work. The episodes were all dry and there was nothing driving the story forward. Seasons 3 and 4 are a mix of seasons 1 and 2, with the episodes having some continuity and still standing on their own.

Season 2 also had the issue of Odette. I hated that storyline. The actress honestly did a very poor job. I couldn't connect with her at all. Season 4 is way better so far.

It's fucking weird how it was an issue when underage George dated Ryan (ewww), but Nancy (or the show) doesn't apparently see a problem with three grown-ass men being into a teenage girl? She's so smart but doesn't think it's inappropriate for them to date her? Especially the cops??

I'm sure Nancy gets on everyone's nerves, but she really has the unfortunate main female lead syndrome. She's insufferable most of the time. She's always getting everyone in trouble, never listens, puts herself and her cases first. When Ace got in trouble and asked her to solve the chocolate box riddle, she literally ignored him while he still asked about her case and told her to be careful. Although he was scared and in danger, he didn't mind being told no and stopped to talk with her. The hilarious thing is that she later solved the riddle in like 2 seconds lmao. The show takes it too far. She's smart but her photographic memory is ridiculous.

To be fair, the characters were also unfair to Nancy when they blamed them for their death curses in season 2. They said it was her fault because she was selfish, but they literally insisted on going with her to call on the Aglaeca. She told them not to.

Bess's best love interest was Odette. I didn't like the actress's performance, but it was cute anyway, and that one kiss they shared was magical.

I started noticing something between Ace and Nancy in season 2, and now I ship them, but it's also weird seeing them together. They fell in love even when they were dating other people?

One of the best lines in the show was when George's grandma said something like "It's not a path if it goes nowhere. That's a hole in the ground." Made me laugh the two times I heard it.

I wish the show had stuck with the season 1 format.

I shipped Owen and Nancy and he's still my second favorite boyfriend of hers after Ace.

Nancy saying Ace isn't letting her move on in season 4 is absurd. How is her stopping her??? But the dude shouldn't have let the ferret go just because he got jealous. He went through all that trouble just to catch it.

I still don't fully understand why George and Nick broke up.

I love Ryan and Carson's dynamic, and their dynamic with Nancy. It's like found family, with a twist. Ryan is Nancy's biological dad but he literally just found out and Carson raised Nancy but she's not his biological daughter. It's also cute how Ace is tight with Carson. He was really nice to him.

After Nancy absorbed all the lust in the chastity dress, she later said it was refreshing to just feel desire, but that was so cheesy. I'm sorry, but when does she not allow herself to feel desire? That girl is not repressed in any way - only emotionally.

I'm not super fond of George either. My faves are Ace, Bess, Ryan and Carson. Nick and George's sisters are cute too.

I had other things I wanted to say but I can't remember them...

Also, if anyone wants to chat about Nancy Drew, my ask box and "DMs" are open!

[onekisstotakewithme]

🔥 TWW

I have many opinions on TWW and some of them are fairly unpopular so uhhhh here goes.

I'll get the biggest one out of the way first: for when it happened, I actually don't find the shuttle leak storyline out of character for Toby, nor do I hate it. If it had happened back in season 4, sure, and I'm mad at the post-Sorkin writing team for their slow destruction of Toby's character, but by end of s6, start of s7, it's not out of character for him. Could it have been better executed? Sure. But where he is as a character, unfortunately, it doesn't feel supremely terrible to me.

Second, the best Donna is season 1 Donna. A bit of an audience surrogate sometimes but in a not-overly-clumsy way, funny and spunky and just a bit quirky... and her dynamic with Josh is SO fun in season 1. I'm almost through s1 in my rewatch and I'd genuinely forgotten how much I enjoyed Donna. I feel like she really got flattened out once they really committed to the will they/won't they with Josh, and then was worse because of the whole season 6/7 disaster (that was a mess!), PLUS they had her make some very dumb decisions to advance the plot that did not feel realistic (the dumb shit with Cliff Calley, the accidentally voting for Ritchie).

(more under the cut because apparently I'm not done!)

I know season 5 was the weakest season overall, BUT season 4 was the weakest Sorkin season. I'm not saying season 4 needed to be all about re-election, but I feel like there was a better balance to strike between the "rush through all the election stuff by episode 8-ish" and "stretch it out into a season and a half long affair" (as in 6-7). It also just, despite everything it took to get to this point, felt INCREDIBLY rushed and unsatisfying. it didn't feel like there were any stakes! I wanted to see the whole debate, I wanted to see a genuine election night with stakes, dammit! And I think, much as I love Will, that dedicating so much time to THAT storyline was part of the problem. This also wasn't helped by the fact that Ritchie was a caricature and a Bush expy which worked when the episodes were airing but just makes him look cartoonish and one-dimensional now. Like Arnie Vinick may be a unicorn of a Republican and impossible to believe in now, but at least he's a person and not a cardboard cutout. Anyway! It feels like for all the build-up to the difficulty of getting re-elected post-MS scandal, it was just. they won, shuffle them offscreen again.

Okay, fuck, this is getting long.

I don't MIND Annabeth but I find the whole Leo-Annabeth flirtation thing REALLY weird and honestly out of left field. That scene in the elevator where she says they shouldn't be spending too much time together 'because of the tension', I was RIGHT THERE with Leo like 'what tension?' Like I'm sorry, I just don't see it!

Okay a few more bullet-point gripes just because

I got used to it eventually but I'm still not a fan that CJ got promoted to COS. Like yeah by the end she did a damn good job and she has one of the best relationships with Jed, but c'mon. she loved being press secretary, and she was a damn good one.

CJ's dark hair in season 7 is not a good look on her, I'm sorry CJ my love, but it doesn't look good. The only non-canon part of the flashfoward is that she definitely does NOT still have that hair.

Amy was fun when she first appeared, but in seasons 6 and 7 her character definitely got worse.

For the most part, I actually wanted less election plot in season 7 and more focus on the west wing (and I say this as loving both Matt and Arnie!)

Gina Toscano/CJ is a great ship also. I rewatched "six meetings before lunch" last night and remembered that I ship them.

Episode specific: the B-plot of Requiem makes absolutely no sense to me and I've watched the episode about 6 or 7 times now (the whole 'meddling in the speaker race' plot).

And finally: Danny should've been in every single season, as a regularly recurring character. I know that Tim Busfield was busy with other commitments but Mr. Busfield, I'm begging you.

TL;DR:

[stillhavetodothat]

Replaying Nancy Drew without Cheating - Part 13: Danger by Design

Aahh, yes. One of the wackiest PC games ever to make it to the threshold of public consumption (only behind a few other upcoming ND games, but more on that later). I used to think this game came out in response to the popularity of The Devil Wears Prada, another story about a woman working for an unpleasant titan of the fashion industry, but I just googled it and TDWP came out 3 weeks before Danger by Design. Unless Her has the most efficient development team in history (spoiler: they do not. Just look at the past 8 years or so), this has nothing to do with the movie. And I know that it took longer than 3 weeks to come up with this tangled web of side plots and storylines...I could never have conceived of any of it even if I had 3 years.

The game starts with Nancy getting to Minette’s windmill studio and almost getting bonked in the head by a flying plant. She is there to investigate why Minette, a famous fashion designer, is acting so ~*strangely*~ and report back to the States, where Minette’s biggest investor is just waiting impatiently to pull the plug on the cash flow. Nancy is yelled at, has to hilariously brew a cup of tea based on what Minette’s favorite color is at the moment, and runs all over Paris on errands as part of her new job. She then learns that a French Resistance fighter, Noisette, used to live in the windmill, and proceeds to spend the rest of the game learning more about that instead. It IS a more intriguing mystery, so you can’t blame her. Ultimately, after swimming in the sewers under Paris and going on about her day like everything is fine, Nancy finds Noisette’s secret under the windmill, stumbles by chance upon Minette’s secret, and blocks a couple chops from Minette, who then proceeds to pass out from exhaustion (?????)

So many of the choices here were so interesting to me. I feel like this game is chaotic evil on the scale. I also feel like some of the puzzles here are hard! I was THE CLOSEST I’VE EVER COME TO CHEATING (in this round of playthroughs) at the end when I am locked in the bottom of the windmill, and there are about 100 steps needed to decode the way outta there. What child would ever be able to solve that on her own?? I had to come back to it over multiple days. I was literally thinking about this puzzle throughout the day, like on my commute to work, while eating dinner, while going for a run. It consumed me. Eventually it came to me, after I inspected in detail every item in my inventory. 

Anyways, back to my open questions.

1. First of all, why was there only one French suspect in this entire game? Were they having trouble finding voice actors willing to put on an extremely terrible and unpracticed French accent or what? Furthermore, why did everyone pronounce Minette as “Minn-et,’ even the Parisians? I guess Paris is probably a bit of a melting pot, especially in the fashion world, but I have always been bummed by the lack of French people in this game.

2. Also, why does Nancy struggle SO hard with the one French suspect’s name, when in other games she rattles off French so perfectly that you’d think it was her native tongue? Also, she needs to look up numbers and colors in a book, but at the end of the game she is able to translate a long letter written completely in French with ease? Something isn’t adding up here.

3. Why was Heather wearing that hideous brown tie? Surely that can’t be considered fashion?

4. I actually used to wonder why Minette’s designs are so absolutely absurd, but I think they are hilarious now. Feels like we are being trolled by HerInteractive by forcing us to put together THIS outfit for Prudence Rutherford’s cruise.

5. Why does a squirrel almost sabotage the entire game for you? Additionally, HOW in god’s name is anyone supposed to figure out how to deter the squirrel from messing up your work? I ONLY was able to get past this part because I vividly remember searching the forums back in the day to figure this out.

6. Who is buying the shitty paint-by-numbers of the Mona Lisa from the guy in Pont Nouf? For more than 15 Euros, presumably? Also, I think this is the first time I’ve ever messed up one of the paintings, because I DO NOT remember the vendor completely berating Nancy on her carelessness. This guy just screams scam artist to me.

7. Why did I find the catacombs so challenging as a child? I remember sitting at my computer, furiously clicking, SHRIEKING IN FEAR as I heard the footsteps of the French policia approaching, when really getting to the entrance to the sewers involves like 2 turns from the entrance to the catacombs. This isn’t really a question about the game, it’s more a question of my intellect as a young teenager.

8. What is the rhyme or reason for the timeline of this game? Is there a hidden in-game clock that is running all day, and let’s you know when it’s too late to be out by yourself? Or is it just completely random? Either way, it makes for some hilarious timing. Minette tells me to go to the park to pick up some stuff for her, and I just go straight to bed instead. Minette tells me to take the cockroaches and release them, and I just...take the cockroaches to bed with me?? JJ is called into Minette’s studio for a fitting, and she has to stay there all night long???

10. What is going on with some of these characters’ teeth? Strong Bruce the Shark vibes here.

11. Why are the plotlines completely disjointed? It wasn’t until I played the game through this time that I took the time to really think about the story, and realize that the two parts had absolutely nothing to do with each other. Noisette and Minette, apart from both residing in the same windmill at different points in history and both having French-y ‘ette names, have literally nothing in common?? Dieter and his family history were a complete red herring to what the actual mystery was? And when you actually find the stained glass under the windmill, and you breathe a sigh of relief because it truly feels like the end...it isn’t the end at all?? because you actually haven’t solved the mystery you came to Paris to solve?? A mystery which is actually far less interesting than Noisette’s??

12. The actual ending here, once you find your way out of the windmill’s basement (and that took me a MINUTE), is bonkers. The developers had to have been tired and just trying to wrap this up stat. Putting your hand up to block Minette’s slow-motion chops for 10 straight minutes feels like something someone came up with at 3am after their fifth cup of coffee, a cigarette pinched between two fingers. And yet, it somehow really fits into the feel of the game. It has certainly brought the ND community together, because I have never heard anyone who didn’t think this was a total WTF moment.

13. WAS Minette having an affair with Sonny Joon? I just heard this theory and I am running with it. What else would explain an alien face tattoo, and her just randomly dumping Dieter? I am choosing to believe that this is the case - otherwise, there is no explanation behind why she even got the tattoo in the first place, and having this be the reason for the mask feels a bit underwhelming.

Despite the insanity of this game...it’s a fun time. It certainly holds up on a replay, because the story is convoluted and there’s no way you’ll remember from the last time you played. Also, this is when Her really starts busting out the near impossible puzzles that no young child could ever solve on his or her own (I am already dreading the picture frame puzzle in SAW because HOW will I refrain from cheating then??)

Join me as I head off to Hawaii to sort bug poop and flirt with Big Daddy Mike. CRE is maybe one of the most lowly rated games in the entire series, so naturally I am stoked to replay!