#this dude committed a crime and is facing the consequences of his actions. i’m not gonna coddle him and pretend anything about this case

[lesbiandarvey]

the insinuation here is that the Perp Walk is a violation of someone’s constitutional rights.

but that’s not true.

there’s nothing in the constitution that’s like “thou shalt not be shown off by law enforcement” i guess potentially you could maybeeee say it’s a 6th amendment issue (right to quick and speedy trial by jury) and the argument is no jury of his peers will be unbiased bc of the media attention. but that’s the medias fault not the cops’ if the cops did a perp walk and nobody covered it it wouldn’t matter

anyway “violation of one’s constitutional rights” is a specific thing with a specific definition you can’t just throw the term around to sound important. and let’s just say the burden of proof for “violation of constitutional rights” is pretty high lmaoo

also considering how affluent this dudes family is his lawyer is gonna be able to protect him extremely well

“it should lead to a mistrial.” the trial hasn’t even happened yet?? there’s no influence of a jury happening here because one hasn’t been empaneled you can’t call for a mistrial before one’s even happened

[detshin]

Last anon made me curious now... who do you think is stronger emotionally? (Between Kaito and Shinichi) I think it's Shinichi because the stuff he has gone through is a lot worse than Kaitos, even though Kaito isn't having a walk in the park either.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF dude, okay. Now, here I’m gonna have to agree with you on this one. 

Don’t get me wrong. Kaito is incredibly strong. He had to deal with his father’s death when he was little, now his mom is... almost constantly out of the picture. He has it difficult. And here’s the thing- he actually strikes me as more of a lonely person than Shinichi does. I know, most people would scream at me because WHAT? HAPPY CHEERY KAITO??? SOCIAL BUTTERFLY KAITO WHO IS ALWAYS CRACKING JOKES AND PRANKING PEOPLE “LONELY”? YOU CRAZY??? Well I just- don’t think Kaito is as happy and cheery as he pretends to be. And I definitely don’t think he’s as social as he’s portrayed to be most of the time in fanon. 

Canon Kaito has Jii as his only connoisseur, the ONLY person who knows he’s Kid and who he can talk to freely (Hakuba doesn’t count because Kaito hasn’t admitted it and they don’t share things, at least not from Kaito’s side, willingly). He has Aoko, that’s true. He has Nakamori, who actually likes him. But I’m sorry, I don’t think Kaito considers neither Akako nor Hakuba his friends, at least not for now. (NOT TO SAY THAT I DON’T ENJOY WHAT FANON HAS DONE TO EXPLORE THEIR DYNAMICS PEOPLE, I LOVE THE EKODA GANG, THEY COOL). 

He’s suffering because he’s pursuing something that he’s not even sure exists, and he’s all alone doing something that he mostly doesn’t want to do, he’s commiting crimes, he could go to prison, his life could go to shit if he screws it, and it’s all because of his father, who has... btw, taught him some ways that are incredibly harmful emotionally (the whole poker face thing seems really hurtful to me, and I think we can all agree on that). And don’t even get me started on the whole Toichi might be alive thing because I WILL lose it. Kaito definitely doesn’t deserve that, and for a manga that’s supposed to be more lighthearted it would be an incredibly dark twist, I don’t even know how Kaito would possibly react to something like that being true and it honestly scares me. Kaito does not deserve that at all, and I think I’d rather have Toichi stay dead. 

Kaito has to be able to move on eventually, leave the whole Kid thing behind so he can start to be truly open and honest with Aoko, because up until then... I’m not sure if he would be emotionally mature enough or prepared enough to be able to be in a serious relationship with her. Which is one of the main reasons why I will always stay on the “Kaito has to find Pandora soon and then quit being Kid” part of the fandom. I’m not sure if it’s a popular opinion or not, but I’ve definitely seen some saying that Kaito should keep doing heists after the Pandora thing is resolved, and I can’t say that that would sit right with me? 

But here’s the thing. At least Kaito has some stability in his life atm. He has calm between the storms. He has a normal life to go back to after dropping the Kid cape. He has his own body. He chose to be doing what he’s doing. And he’s aware of all dangers and possibilities. He knows the risks and he accepted them by putting on the Kid costume. But Shinichi... Shinichi doesn’t have any of that. 

Shinichi’s life was taken from him because of his good intentions. He made ONE mistake, and now all of his life is gone. His stability and everyday life was stolen because he was too eager, too innocent, too curious to see the danger ahead of him. He didn’t deserve to have that happen to him. The experience of that night would be traumatic on its own to most. The pain he had to endure, all of it- He thought he was going to die. He should’ve died. But he didn’t, and now he has to put up an act all day, everyday, 24/7, from the moment he gets up to the moment he goes back to sleep. 

And yes, Shinichi strikes me as more social, which goes along with the fact that more people know his secret than Kaito’s (and he has more people to share his thoughts with, Heiji on his own is a pretty important anchor for Shinichi’s emotional stability). But you can also see that it also causes him incredible pain. He misses his life so much, he misses Ran (because even if he sees her everyday, it’s not as himself, it’s not Shinichi who she’s talking to or looking at), he misses Sonoko (fight me on this), he misses his friends at school, he misses his house, and he misses his body. Shinichi was stolen of EVERYTHING he had quite literally. And he’s learning an incredibly hard lesson through that. He goes through his days knowing that the slightest slip up will get him and everyone he loves killed. He knows the consequences of his actions now, and it’s scary as fuck. 

They are both so strong, I could never, the stress and pression alone would make most people crumble. But they don’t, at least for now. We’ll see how that holds up. But my vote goes to Shinichi here.

[my-sherlock221b]

Supernatural Rewatch Ramblings: Dead in the Water

This episode is the first one to be directed by Kim Manners. It was written by Raelle Tucker and Sera Gamble. It is still the MoTW format and once again the ‘monster’ is something that was created by human action. Ordinary seeming stories—of bullying, lies, cover up—with deadly consequences.

Read below the cut for more and also watch out for the add-ons by my partner in crime @soulmates-for-real​ who does the most amazing gifsets and image galleries 😎

It reminded me of this quote:

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

It is a chilling experience—both the actual monster when we do finally see it and the backstory of what really happened. These monsters are all created by the flawed human beings. Here is another quote from the same source which could well be the underlying bedrock of the two very different approaches we see Sam and Dean take in later episodes to the whole saving people hunting things.

“Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.” .

Philosophical overtones aside, we are also getting more glimpses into the heads and hearts of the two leads.

It is already obvious that Dean has put the whole ‘Dad- is- missing- and- hasn’t- been-home-in -a -few-days stuff’ on the back burner till …ummm  forever ? cos he has Sammy in front of his eyes who is sitting shotgun and being completely brotherly and sniping and bitching while also being boyfriend- level possessive.

As I said in the earlier review- I was just so swept away by the swashbuckling swagger of Dean that so obviously was an armour for his vulnerability that I almost didn’t notice Sam much. This is the episode where he became something more for me. Someone who was also finding out what Dean was all about at the same time as we were.

Someone who could pull him down to earth with a sharp: ‘People don’t just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them.’

But also reach out to him and remind him that they ‘can’t save everyone’.

In an early scene in the episode Sam scolds Dean for even starting to flirt with the waitress. 

He smirks when Andrea shoots Dean down. He mocks Dean’s pick- up line about kids are the best. He seems pleased in a very petty way that Dean’s attempt has failed and that he has no choice now but to hang out with Sam and to give him his full attention.

The episode does have plot holes –that house Lucas draws and the history of the friendship of the two men and the missing boy surely must be well known to everyone in that small town, including Lucas’s mother and how come no one joins the dots etc. etc.

But small quibbles aside, we get to see that the past casts long shadows—whether sins of the past or just events of the past. ( again a parallel to the lives of the Winchesters themselves. And in later seasons we find out just how far back into the past those shadows reach!)

We see that Dean connects with the mute boy, Lucas, but then we learn that he can do this because he had also shut down after he saw his mother die and he knows how scary the world can seem and how he needed to make himself brave to carry on.

Sam watches from the sidelines and we can see him have an ‘oh ok’ moment as he stores away this information because it has clearly never been discussed in the family earlier. Kudos to Jared for being amazing with the ‘active listening’ that Sheila O’Malley references so often.

So despite Sam challenging him to name 3 kids he even knows, we see that Dean actually focusses on the kid throughout. The shared sense of loss aside, maybe Dean also sees himself as the protector of all little kids especially after the Shtriga incident. (which we don’t know anything about yet) (and we do see him bond with kids in every episode that involves kids. It is adorable !!)

In this episode Dean is almost drowning in his dad’s leather jacket and the way the silver ring looks on his hand is just ridiculously sexy…sigh….and that amulet right where it belongs…..deeper sigh. Then the cocky grin, the unsubtle flirting, all macho/manly/me- so- hetero/me- see- me- conquer on the outside but the soft squidgy child- whispering caramel centre, the trauma of being a motherless kid—having become motherless in a brutal way, a missing and probably almost cruel dad, a brother he raised as his own who walked out on him to go seek his own dreams….all these layers are being put together slowly for us.

Dean is not what he seemed to be and that brash swashbuckling exterior hides a very complex and interesting person. The script and direction were excellent of course but Jensen brought to it just the perfect balance of bad-boy + I wuv hugs.

Sam is still finding his way into the story and we are still watching things from Dean’s perspective as narrator which is fascinating to realize during the re-watch. As I have mentioned earlier, I was so swept away by Dean that it took me a very long time to focus on Sam as a separate person.

Ok, now, all together shout--- --WHY do people DO the following things??!!!

Put hands elbow deep into a sink, give lifts to obvious deranged malevolent spirits in human form, ‘let’s split up so we can cover more ground’, go into a shower/bath in a scary scene—can’t they HEAR the dun-dun-dun music score in the background?!! Sheesh.

Anyway.     *eyeroll*

In a not- at- all- very- surprising turn of events Sam and Dean’s fake identity is called out and they are asked to leave town, which they do. But ….of course Dean does a very dramatic turn on the highway and takes them back to make sure the kid is ok!

Then Sam rescues the mother from the lethal bath- tub while Dean makes sure the kid is safe. Then they start to connect even more dots and eventually we see an incredible heroic rescue scene in the scary lake with Dean and the boy.

Jensen had described this shot in some interview as the most terrifying scene he had ever done apparently because he was responsible not only for doing the scene right but also for the young boy’s safety underwater.

What a fabulous visual we do get finally, with the boy in his embrace as they shoot out of the water!

That lake with its dark water is one super creepy place. That very first scene where we see the girl swimming from an underwater perspective had me yelling at the screen for her to GET OUT NOW.

So, finally, all is sorted and revenge has been had and bad folks die, good folks live and as they leave the town of course Lucas chats with Dean and they high five and just like the sister in the Wendigo episode, the young mother in this one also gives Dean a kiss on his cheek. Dean of course blushes and goes all gruff and drives off with Sam smirking in the shotgun seat.

The pattern is beginning to be established.

I am loving it!😍

.

The gag reel of this episode shows Jensen leaping into Jared’s arms.

This is the third episode only. So they have known each other only for a couple of months at this point?! Hmm…my J2 tinhat is also shining. And also wow. I mean Jensen is NOT a tiny guy.

  Here are some other possibly more erudite and informed reviews if you would like to go down that rabbit hole like I did.

This one is cool https://the-orbit.net/entequilaesverdad/2016/05/10/supernatural-s1-e3-dead-water-summary/ and gives a fun and interesting score at the end which goes like this

Episode 3 counts:

Woman in the Fridge: 1

For Sophie Carlton being the first to get murdered by the vengeful spirit. It’s obviously meant to hook us harder: I mean, nobody would care as much about obnoxious brother Will, right?

Revenge from Beyond the Grave: 4

Sophie Carlton, Will Carlton, Bill Carlton, and Jake Devins.

Brotherly Love: 2

I had to give one to Sam for cock-blocking his brother right at the start. Another point goes to Dean’s sick-of-your-attitude lecture to his little brother, throwing Sam’s decision to go to college while Dean stayed behind with their dad in his face.

Toxic Masculinity: 1

For Dean downplaying his grief when Sam draws him out about the aftermath of their mother’s death.

Swimming in Sexism: 2

For Will Carlton’s comment to his sister that “guys don’t like buff girls.” I added a point for all the times they had Dean hitting on any available woman. They do want us to be extra-very sure he’s hetero, don’t they?

Cumulative Counts: Dean’s Man Tears: 3

One point awarded for all Dean’s choking up about Mom. We’re now three for three, folks.

.

This review totally calls out Dean LOL. I love the reviews that were written as first watch because they are without the benefit of hindsight we have on a re-watch.

.

http://markwatches.net/reviews/2013/11/mark-watches-supernatural-s01e03-dead-in-the-water/

“It was fascinating to me, then, that through this, Sam was able to learn about Dean’s own emotional reasoning behind his hunting. Of course, Dean, being the most stereotypical dude of all dudes who ever duded, has to immediately act like feelings aren’t cool because BLEH. Okay, that is one aspect of Dean that I’m not terribly interested in, especially since he expresses feelings like every five seconds. The whole “I am a straight man and I’m very straight and look at that butt straight I’m straight” thing is already exhausting because I get it. You don’t need to tell me this every five seconds.” 

The comments to this review are also super entertaining with gems like this:

“So, if you knew that someone had drowned in the lake recently and their body was never found, WHY WOULD YOU STILL GO SWIMMING IN THE LAKE? Especially if two people had. It wouldn't make you think, "Hey, maybe there's something dangerous in that lake?" This show has some of the least genre savvy people EVER. Like, for example, once this mysterious death thing shows up in a sink, why would anyone want to take a bath or really ever fill any basin with water again? Seriously, is this the Bad Decision Olympics?”

.

Here is an awesome review from Fangasm also

https://fangasmthebook.com/2021/01/13/looking-back-on-dead-in-the-water-classic-supernatural/

[haebeomsleftbuttcheek]

You know Endeavor’s good far outweighs his bad! Plus he’s working towards atonement so give him the chance!

‘You know Endeavor’s good far outweighs his bad!’

That don’t mean shit, he should still face punishment for his crimes! Like so by your thoughts or beliefs it’s he’s done a lot of good therefore he should be exempt from punishment for his bad because the good outweighs it! That is your opinion, but my opinion is you do the crime you should face the consequences no matter who you are! Like if a police officer who’s made some great arrests and received awards, turns out to be an abusive husband or father he should face punishment. It doesn’t matter that he made some great arrests or achievements, he still committed an offence so he should be punished! I don’t understand why it’s so wrong of me to want Endeavor to face punishment for his actions, and for it to not be slipped under the rug just because he’s a hero and feels ‘bad’ now!

Oh right by give him a chance you meant ‘go easy on him’, so like how about this....

I ain’t going to go easy on him, or sympathise with him, like why should I go easy on him! So what he’s been beaten to a pulp, who the fuck hasn’t in these last few chapters!!! Look I only want him to face consequences for his actions, especially now that they’re out in the open and he can no longer just bury the past! Now, if he is truly changing for the better your probably right, he’ll face the music when he wakes and despite my animosity I think he might do just that. And believe it or not I know the dudes unconscious so obviously he’s not gonna be able to do anything as of right now 🙄 I’m not stupid! I would also like to say that out of the many anti-endeavor’s out there, I think I have been pretty easy on him! I don’t want him dead, just punished so I would say that’s pretty much going easy on him!

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: Finale - 1. Why was Richter surprised that Marta said "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality"? I know Richter learned it from Aster and taught Emil it, but still. 2. How come Marta and the others still care and look out for Ratatosk despite killing Aster? Marta still loves him because he's a part of Emil as they're the same person.

1. I figure Richter was surprised because he hadn’t expected the phrase to catch on or mean anything to Marta. For Richter, that was always something between him and Aster, and he only taught it to Emil because he thought it was something Emil needed to hear. I guess he didn’t expect it to be something meaningful to anyone except people like him, like Aster, like Emil.  2. I’m sure a lot of why everyone sticks with Emil is 1) The side of Ratatosk that IS Emil clearly feels bad about what he did to Aster and WANTS to be good, and Ratatosk, while he’s reluctant to outright say it because he’s a dope that doesn’t talk about feelings, also seems to feel bad even though he felt justified in attacking Aster at the time. 2) Emil and Ratatosk are a summon spirit, an entity necessary to the balance of the world, the closest tangible thing the world has to gods. There are people of many different religions who worship gods that did some pretty terrible things. So I’m sure part of it is some sort of “Emil/Ratatosk did something bad, but he’s necessary for the world to be healthy so we can’t blame him too much since we really need his help. But I’m sure the part the game wants us to focus on is that, on top of changing and wanting to be better and make amends for killing Aster, something he obviously regrets, the party, especially Marta, understands that part of the reason Ratatosk lashed out at all was because of what happened to his tree.  So it’s some combination of those factors. Kind of like I might forgive Richter for trying to stab Marta. From Richter’s perspective, he’s avenging Aster and preventing a minor deity from committing a genocide he is perfectly capable of enacting. Like, I want to punch Richter because “Dude this is not how you deal with trauma and if you have genuine concerns you should ASK FOR HELP and not try to do it on your own and/or manipulate people!” But I understand why he did what he did and I think if he worked hard afterward to make up for what he did, I could forgive his actions in the game. Similarly, if we understand Ratatosk’s perspective, how he's lashing out because he’s afraid, upset, in pain, and just wanted to be alone to grieve after he just woke up and some uppity mortals show up, don’t treat him with any respect, make demands, and then get in his face about how “actually, the creatures that killed your tree are very important” it gets easier to forgive the unforgivable. Killing Aster, also, was only one action. A crime of passion. What Richter did was a series of mistakes. He dug himself a hole and instead of asking for help he just kept fucking digging whereas Ratatosk, apart from being just a little too trigger happy and having a temper, really only did the one bad thing. Like, honestly, this entire game is a massive case of “people who were hurt tend to hurt other people.” Like, both of these boys need therapy and a hug but also some spanking because like... they clearly don’t know how to process trauma. So like, on the one hand, yes, both these boys deserve forgiveness and happiness and Emil unconditionally supporting Richter is definitely something Richter needs even if he doesn’t “deserve” it for everything he did in the Vanguard. Similarly, Marta’s unconditional support of Emil and Ratatosk is definitely something they both need even if Ratatosk might not deserve it for squishing Aster like a bug to make a point. On the other hand, both these boys have serious issues and as much as I like to “solve” Richter’s trauma by shipping him with Emil, Richter and Emil should, ideally, have some sort of therapy and prison sentence because like... they’re directly or indirectly responsible for people losing their lives and that not having a consequence, as much as I don’t WANT it to have consequences, is kind of shitty for the families people that died. If Brute and Marta are going to take responsibility, Richter and Emil/Ratatosk should too. Unless they all get freedom in which case unrealistic but it’s better than Brute doing jail time, Marta getting community service, Richter being stuck in the Ginnungagap for 1000 years/his whole life depending on how Ratatosk deals with Richter aging, and Emil doing whatever he ends up doing with Marta. Like, IDK, I feel like they all deserve happiness, despite what they did, but, like. That’s not how the justice system works so... IDK, the game does a REALLY good job of making EVERYONE the victim, and you just can’t help but woobify them because the circumstances they had life deal to them are just terrible and they didn’t deserve anything that happened to them. Ratatosk didn’t deserve to lose his tree, Richter didn’t deserve to lose Aster, Aster didn’t deserve to die while trying to help the world, Emil didn’t deserve to come into being to pay for Ratatosk’s mistakes, Marta didn’t deserve to be part of the Vanguard and watch her dad slowly go insane after she just lost her mom, Brute didn’t deserve to be manipulated into a militant organization’s leader. Everyone in the game got dealt a shitty hand in life and they all suffered because of it and because they suffered, they inevitably caused harm to others. IDK, if there are real gods in the Symphonia universe, not just the Spirits and not just “Martel” but, like, actual gods that influence the events on Aselia? They need to be slapped. “What if we just give these guys unresolved trauma on purpose?” is, like, great from a narrative’s perspective but it’s so fucking cruel and I’m still mad at the writers for hurting my boy Richter like they did and then continuing to hurt him in Rays. But I have to admit, I probably wouldn’t like Richter as much if he wasn’t damaged. 

[writer-chan97]

Top 5 Horrible Things Gary Goodspeed Has Done

We all love the fun-loving idiot we all know as Gary Goodspeed but let’s be honest, annoying us to pieces and breaking our hearts are not the only crimes he has committed. Although the show has its moments of humor, drama and lightheartedness, we can’t ignore how it casually glosses over some of the messed up things they do, like KVN committing mass genocide on Serapentis. But then again, who’s idea was it to have KVN impersonate a goddess? Even though I’m about to call out Gary, let me say first that I love his character. He’s a great guy. However, I still think he holds accountable for many of his actions and some of these actions have produced consequences and would soon bite him in butt in the future. Here is a list of top five terrible things Gary Goodspeed did.

Note: This post is completely opinionated. You don’t have to agree with everything.

Oh, yeah. SPOILER alert.

5. Leading Little ‘Cato’s suicide Mission

After the tragic death of one of the most beloved characters in the show, Gary swore to look after Avocato’s son, but didn’t quite know how. Given that Gary didn’t grow up with both parents, he didn’t know how to be a parent figure himself, but was still willing to try anything to make Little Cato happy, even quenching his thirst for revenge. They try to take on the Lord Commander themselves without any plan whatsoever, and as a result, failed miserably. If Nightfall hadn’t saved them on time, Gary would have been responsible for the death of he best friend’s son. Now that’s poor parenting skills.

4. Destroying 92 star cruisers and a small family owned Mexican restaurant.

We’re all familiar with this one. While Gary was trying to impress Quinn Airgon by impersonating an Infinity Guard pilot, he got caught in the act when he accidentally destroyed over 90 ships of government property and a single family owned property. EPIC FAIL. This is the catalyst that got Gary imprisoned, but we wouldn’t have a show without this turn of events.

3. Robbing a man’s life.

In an attempt to hit on a Quinn, Gary knocks out an Infinity Guard soldier while in the can, steals his clothes, and drugs him. Five years later, Gary finds the man right where he left him and finds out that instead of giving him aspirin, he gave him crylinal, AND overdosed him! Whether it was a good thing or bad thing he was still breathing, it wouldn’t matter because instead of dyeing in an oblivious sleep, he woke up to the hellish nightmare of the end of the world and then died. Soooo yeah. It took Gary 5 years to murder an innocent. (He also acknowledges what he did was beyond wrong by looking himself in the reflection and calling him a jerk face.)

2. Impersonating Melanie DeWinter

This is the most messed up and disturbing thing Gary has done thus far in the show. Instead of getting ID papers on a visit to a planet, he instead takes on the identity of a diseased citizen by wearing her skin. You are one sick dude, Clearance. This gets him mixed up with the disease’s family, making them think he was their mother during their time of healing. Just when they thought all was right again, the kids tear open the skin, revealing him to be a psychotic killer in their eyes, traumatizing them for life. What’s worse is that they come back to avenge their dead mother, further demonstrating how Gary ruined their lives.

Before getting into number one, let’s have an honorable mention. In season 1 episode 8, we see Gary and his dad beat the crap out of the past Lord Commander while frozen in time. Some might argue that this is messed up since this is before Jack turned evil. At that moment, he was still an innocent Infinity guard who served the universe while being good friends with John Goodspeed. However, given all of the horrible things he WILL do, it was a satisfying case of revenge. Plus, he turns evil at the exact moment when time moves forward again, so I’d say the beat down was more than justified.

1. Gary loses the earth

Now, before you raise your pitchforks and yell at me, “It’s not his fault! He tried his best!” I’ll say yes, he did try his utmost best... but he could’ve done better. At the moment Gary has the Lord Commander at gunpoint, he had the chance to kill him and ending all his schemes, but hesitated and argues with the Lord Commander.

He lost his chance to shoot so he resorts to trying to reason with Jack, reminding him of what he used to be before turning corrupted with power.

What Gary tried to do was noble, but Jack was far beyond gone and succeeded in opening the breech in space wide enough for a Titan hand to snatch away the earth. I’m just saying, he could’ve just shot him.

Even though Gary was not entirely the cause of losing his home planet, the guilt of not being able to save it still haunts him and he sometimes get reminded of his failure.

That’s all I have to say. Again, I didn’t make this list to dish out on Gary. Rather, they’re more like stepping stones of him growing as a more developed character because people get better after learning from their mistakes and picking themselves back up from failure. With a serialized show as deep and emotional as Final Space, it makes me curious as to how they’re going to bring up these past mistakes and mishaps in the future.

[johnmulaneys]

About B99 though. This was a short-term visitor to a country who was doing illegal things (potentially harmful to pregnant women no less) not a refugee facing discrimination. This white dude deserved to be deported regardless of who his kid was. Not to mention his lack of respect for Boyle's parental rights was completely disrespectful to adoptive parents (basically threatening to stalk them until they gave in). Jake's motivation was still suspect though.

gintars is not an innocent victim and he’s not the immigrant story you regularly hear, that’s for sure. but at the same time that this is heavily about him, it’s more about jake’s behavior in the entire situation as a man with police power.

none of gintars’ crimes mattered to jake until he could use it to his own personal gain. jake didn’t care about the illegal stuff he was doing - if he did he would’ve done something about it from the beginning - he only cared about the fact that his presence was an inconvenience to his friend and consequently an inconvenience to him. he knew about the illegal stuff gintars was doing but only decided to investigate and do something about it once gintars bothered him.

if gintars stayed to stalk and harass boyle over parental rights then… they could’ve arrested him. because yeah, gintars has no parental rights over nikolaj but boyle allowed gintars to meet his son. and even though gintars didn’t follow through with the terms of their meeting, he made it clear he had no intentions of taking nikolaj away from boyle and since he was a short-term visitor he’d be leaving soon anyway, he even said he’d be leaving in 10 days so he wanted to spend time with nikolaj.

gintars and nikolaj bonded - nikolaj even called him ‘daddy gintars’ therefore accepting him as family - and even though boyle was really upset about it at first he came to terms with the fact that his experience with fatherhood would be more complicated than most and accepted that gintars should be part of nikolaj’s life if that’s what nikolaj wants.

but jake couldn’t spend more than 2 seconds hearing boyle groan and decided - without consulting boyle - to gather other policemen and create a set-up to get a confession out of a guy who did what he did just to meet his son. the police arrested gintars (very aggressively) while nikolaj watched, and he got deported.

i’m not saying gintars is an angel who did nothing wrong - because he is not the perfect victim at all. yes he committed the horrible unforgivable crime of copying GAP. but he didn’t get deported because he committed a crime, he got deported because he annoyed jake for less than half an episode. that’s it.

gintars didn’t pay the price for his illegal actions, he paid the price for annoying a cop with contacts and power to get him deported.

according to american immigration laws, deportations can result on a 5 to 20-year ban from the country and in more extreme cases a permanent ban. (x) i don’t know which one gintars fits into but he can’t come back for an undetermined amount of time.

so, yes. jake got someone deported and separated a family (nikolaj accepted him as his dad and so did boyle) - not because of any terrible crime he committed against a corporation - but for his own personal reason

[ninjagoat]

Note on Supergirl 4x02

This week, on the Metaphor For Xenophobia And Racism For White People:

- We return to the themes of episode 3x05, specifically how unfair it is when very, very powerful people have to face consequences for their actions.

- Seriously, it is so TOTALLY unfair how Olivia Marsdin has to resign just because she *checks notes* committed a massive criminal conspiracy to illegally win a presidential election.

- ON TOP OF THIS, it's also a mindshatteringly bad take on the Obama birther conspiracy. The birther story was not racist because it was "unfair" that people from Kenya couldn't be President. The birther story was racist because it assumed that President Obama's election HAD to be the result of a massive criminal conspiracy and not a genuine win MERELY BECAUSE HE WAS BLACK.

- Kara thinks Olivia can say something to get out of this; becasue Kara, being a seasoned journalist that now mentors other journalists, has no idea how laws work. Olivia schools her, which is noble; but it's still skating around the fact that she INTENTIONALLY BROKE THE LAW.

- All of that being said, I've always liked Ms. Carter's performance as Olivia. She's folksy, but tough. If she'd been an alien that had been born on Earth, I'd be fighting for her to stay as well.

- "Ugly is as ugly does; that makes you the ugly one!" This protest scene was written by fucking MILHOUSE.

- And then a fight break out. Because as we all know, security and crowd control are pretty lax on *checks notes* PENNYSYLVANIA AVENUE.

- The DEO interview process is clearly lacking something, because Agent White Dude has some serious prejudices that aren't suitable for the job; and the dude he's arguing with has Kara's level of understanding of the Constitution. Where's Pam when you need her?

- James - having spent the last two years publishing his onw love-letters to a local superhero, who is also himself - suddenly has a big stick up his arse about objectivity in news reporting.

- I maintain that the guy playing Otis is doing Ned Beatty but *serious*, and for that, he has my gratitude.

- I'm sorry? The DEO poisoned the atmosphere with lead? THE DEO? Not Lena Luthor, executing a plan from Lillian Luthor, using an original design by Lex Luthor; in the full knowledge it would likely murder her very recently betrothed and probably really upset her best friend? THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GOING WITH? (I realise this is just exposition, but it's pretty bad) At least Otis recognises the inherent viciousness of the plan, becuase no-one else has ever mentioned it.

- I would like to note that this is probably the most credit Winn has ever gotten from someone from his own time.

- Apparently, you can just... *buy* black-market Kryptonite? Arguably, the most powerful substances on Earth? The one that's so rare the show tied itself in knots justifying Lena's personally developed synthesis cache of it? ...kay.

- Lena's been working through meal-times. This is usually your five epsiode warning to evacuate the city.

- "Sales for the image inducers have been skyrocketing since the revelation that the President is an alien." This does not actually explain anything, because: a) it's not like Lena builds them herself; that'll be outsourced to China, at a location with safety netting around the roof to stop the workers killing themselves; and b) IT WAS YESTERDAY. WE KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING YESTERDAY. IT WAS THE PREVIOUS EPISODE.

- I get the sense that I'm going to spend time this season complaining about time-scales.

- At least they're keeping Lena's libetarianism consistent. Let's credit them with that. And of course, she's not immediately concerned with the potential collapse of democracy because MONEY.

- I will never cease to be confounded about the complete lack of coffee in the Catco building. I work for a relatively small company, and we have a Starbucks in our canteen.

- Weirder still is how increasingly hard it is to find. We've gone from Noonan's, to a little cart, and now to a *pizza place*. How hard is to find an *actual* coffee place?

- And now it's another Lena Sob Story; because this episode isn't just about the ideological battle between hope and fear, it's also a Lena vs. The World story - not so much an actual story, as a plot mechanism that will result in Lena stating where her character's at right now. It's completely incongruent with the rest of the episode, but never mind.

- Anyway, Mercy was like a big sister to her, but then Mercy and Lex broke up, and Lena never called her. Lena blames Lex for the break-up, but Mercy for the abandonment. So far, typical Lena. Oh, and they agree on some really fucked-up shit.

- "Why can't humans be as powerful as aliens?" Lena is, I'm guessing from this, planning to make metahumans on purpose. I'm certain Lena has read Mary Shelly; but, like many nerds, has completely missed the point.

- Why is Brainy on the L-Corp image inducer network? He built it himself, and did it two episodes before Lena even met him. Did he give her the design? Why is it networked anyway? Why is the hack affecting Brainy first? What is this plan?

- It doesn't fucking matter; this whole thing is so Brainy can be victim to a hate crime as part of the Metaphor For Xenophobia And Racism For White People, and then Nia can step in to help Solve Racism.

- I'm not going to claim to be an expert on women, but I'm pretty sure encouraging total strangers to investigate their personal information is... rare.

- "I'm putting a lockdown on the cloud so no-one can access the system through a computer." This is not how cloud computing works.

- It's at this point we stop the narrative so Nia can explain to one of the most powerful and influential black men that's ever lived that he does, in fact, have a lot of power and influence to make social change. She's Solving Racism!

- "You have another chance to fight for justice now," she says. Back when I was posting on the AV Club forums during season 2, the fact that James DIDN'T KNOW HE COULD DO THIS IN HIS JOB was one of the reasons we were so fucking tired of him already. He's not improved since then.

- We are back on the 'mirror' analogy that first appeared in 3x15, and it's actually quite good. I am, however, reminded of the image of Lena looking at herself in fractured glass at the start of 3x17. Lena's image of who she is has been broken, and cannot simply be repaired.

- I digress. James is worried if he does an editorial, he will seem biased. *sigh* Okay, this is gonna get ranty. Deep breaths, everyone...

- YOU ARE JIMMY OLSEN, SUPERMAN'S PAL. AN ALIEN SAVED YOUR LIFE. AN ALIEN MADE YOUR ENTIRE CAREER. AN ALIEN GAVE YOU A SIGNAL WATCH SO HE COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE SEVERAL MORE TIMES. YOU BECAME SUCH GOOD FRIENDS WITH AN ALIEN YOUR GIRLFRIEND JOKED HE WAS YOUR BOYFRIEND. YOU DEVOTED SO MUCH TIME TO ALIENS YOUR GIRLFRIEND BROKE UP WITH YOU. *TWICE*. MANY OF YOUR CURRENT FRIENDS ARE ALIENS. YOUR BEST HUMAN FRIEND - who is 'currently' busy cleaning up the mess made by one of your alien friends, helping another one of your alien friends - BRIEFLY FELL IN LOVE WITH AN ALIEN, WHO YOU HUNG OUT WITH. YOU GO TO AN ALIEN BAR SO MUCH YOU'VE FUCKING GENTRIFIED IT.    THE SHIP HAS SAILED ON YOU BEING PRO-ALIEN, JIMMY. STOP BEING A MASSIVE WANKER.

- Apparently, the only way to access the Image Inducer network is through the L-Corp mainframe, which is: a) definitely not how cloud-computing works; and b) contradicted by the fact the image inducers are STILL WORKING.

- Mercy designed all of L-Corp's security. Even though they only moved to National City two years ago. Right.

- "This is more innovative and imaginative than even I expected." IT'S AN OFFICE BUILDING WITH BUILT-IN SKYPE. Real imagination would have been REPLACING THE FUCKING SECURITY SYSTEM.

- Why does EVERYTHING have to turn into the Glorification of Lena Luthor?

- Miss Teschmacher getting the doors to close through quick thinking has easily made her the most likeable character on the whole damn show.

- "Reporter's Honour." Okay, Kara; firstly, it's called 'off the record', and the fact that Lena doesn't really feel worried about getting that status from you is pretty much why being such close friends with her is *completely unprofessional*.

- Lena built the Lexosuit. Huh.

- ...

- What?

- She built a suit... described as an "exquisite intrument of death"... with the potential for fighting Superman... as a hobby project? Is that what happened? Or are we just going to gloss over it, like- oh, okay, we are doing that.

- "It's about doing good for the world and clearing the Luthor name." You can't clear the Luthor name, sweetie. They actually did those things. And as far as doing good for the world: that's not a plan; that a GOAL. You really need to give details. Maybe a real journalist can ask you sometime.

- "He told me they were cute and I should make them in pink." One line of dialogue, and the potentially interesting Lena/Lex dynamic has been reduced to the most boring thing imaginable. FFS.

- "I know I'm the best." Oligarch, *please*. I guess it helps that Winn's in another century.

- "You've chosen a side. I'd never do that." WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Please, someone explain.

- No one tell Mercy about that time Lena purposefully overdosed her oldest friend with Kryptonite.

- "The Luthor name doesn't deserve Lena." Why the fuck not, Supergirl? Kryptonite, Lexosuit, thinks you're full of shit; what exactly is the big thing here that separates her from them?

- Also, have you just... *forgotten* about the Kryptonite thing, or...?

- The sheer petty-minded simplicity of the wood-chips in the cup is lending weight to my 'written by Milhouse' theory.

- Huzzah! James has decided to stop being a massive wanker for a bit!

- "It is our duty as journalists to expose the truth." For long-time readers of these posts, THIS SHOW IS TROLLING ME.

- Brainy and Alex get a nice scene as part of the Metaphor For Xenophobia And Racism For White People, but I'm just left wishing we could have had more scenes like this between her and Winn. Where was *nice* Big Sister Alex when he was here?

- Supergirl's speech is lovingly earnest, and *totally unengaged* with any actual issue beyond being nice to each other, and certainly not the one where Olivia INTENTIONALLY BROKE THE LAW. This was a total failure of our institutions, not least of which, THE PRESS, for not vetting her thoroughly enough. The potential for whataboutery is high.

- Okay, for some reason, I thought they'd cast Brent Spiner in this role, not Bruce Boxleitner. Anyway, this casting is a nice bit of nerd symmetry; and makes it almost certain that President Baker is going to be revealed as a wrong'un.

- I've not talked about J'onn much, mainly because he's spent most of the episode walking around aimlessly before he can show up at the Sons of Liberty meeting.

- Agent Liberty has been described in press releases as being almost supernaturally persuasive. The actual execution of this idea is... he's actually engaged with the issue. That's it. The government *was* taken over by aliens. National City *was* attacked by aliens. The press - and I know I did a big rant in favour of this above - *is* pro-alien; and these people know it, regardless of how unbiased James was hoping to appear. It's messy, and Supergirl talking about hope is not going to cut it. It's not going to get these people jobs. It's not going to stop their nightmares.    I've seen people compare how he speaks with Trump. This - this scene, at least -  is not Trump. Trump isn't engaged with the issues. Trump is the end result of forty years of this shit, long after the tribal boundaries have been set in place. It's never even really mattered what Trump says. They like Trump, because Trump is *their* guy. The definitions of 'Us' and 'Them' have been around since at least the 90s, if not earlier; and Trump just made himself more 'Us' than anyone else did.    And Agent Liberty is not doing that. There's an attempt, but the mask keeps him separate from his audience. Mostly, he's just recirculating the fears that they already have - that they have a *right* to have - and then pushing them towards his terrible conclusions.      This isn't magic. This is basic oratory. This is the big challenge our heroes face.

- Our heroes are *so screwed*.

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #228 - Tower Heist

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes, #129.

Format: DVD

Disclaimer: As this is an analysis/recap/review/weird musings post about Tower Heist, I’m not really going to get into the claims against Brett Ratner or Casey Affleck. I will say though I think it’s horrible what they did and I hope they face consequences for their actions.

1) I very much like Christophe Beck’s score for this film. It really fits the heist theme. It’s cool, slick, and a gets stuck in your head quite nicely. Since we get to hear Beck’s score before we even see any visuals for the film, I thought I’d mention it here.

2) The chess scene between Josh and Shaw speaks to how the heart of their relationship is conflict ridden. Even when they’re friendly at the beginning, even when they’re civil, there is a conflict there that is very interesting.

3) Ben Stiller as Josh Kovacs.

Josh is a very strong main character. You understand that he’s not only good at his job but incredibly dedicated and focused as well. He cares, but the one thing he cares more about is people. Josh is shown to be very empathetic not only to his staff but to a number of residents in the tower. He gives Fitzhugh extra time to leave, he chases down Shaw when he thinks he’s been kidnapped, and he knows all his staff like the back of his hand. Stiller’s reserved, human (albeit very Stiller-y) performance supports this and makes Josh a nice guy to follow along through the story.

4) Going behind the scenes of the Tower at the beginning gives you a sense of not only how this place is run but also gets you invested in its employees. They’re developed in small ways to be more than stereotypes, to be people you like and care for. This is important, as the fact that they are the ones who get screwed is the main plot.

5) Michael Peña as Enrique Dev’Reaux.

Peña is in competition as the film’s ultimate scene stealer (in competition with Gabourey Sidibe). Not only does he fit will the rest of the ensemble cast, but he’s remarkably funny on his own. Peña plays the role as sweet and endearing when he could have easily come off as annoying. But there’s a sincerity and uniqueness in the performance which makes it interesting.

6) This line always stuck with me, probably because of the film’s themes.

Josh: “You’re committing a crime.”

Fitzhugh: “I understand that.”

7) Alan Alda as Arthur Shaw.

You can definitely see why people would defend, trust, and believe show in the beginning of the film. He’s friendly and polite, but it’s obviously a facade. Alda is able to switch between Shaw’s “friendliness” and his rottenness very well, making it feel like a united character instead of two foreign elements. He’s wonderfully skeezy.

8) Téa Leoni as Agent Denham.

The writing for Claire Denham doesn’t make her more than a plot device Josh likes, I think. BUT Leoni is able to breathe such personality and life into the character that you almost forget how she is on the page. There is one scene in particular which represents this well: Denham feels actually human when she gets drunk at a bar with Josh, but she’s still the sexy drunk girl trope. So it’s a mixed bag: Leoni’s strong performance but weak writing. At least Brett Ratner didn’t dress her up in stupid “sexy” costumes.

9) TW: Suicide

Lester’s suicide attempt isn’t only powerful from a storytelling standpoint, but edited very well. Particularly, the scene ends perfectly. You don’t know if he was successful or not right away, it’s 50/50.

10) I love this line.

Lester: “Truth is, people can open their own doors.”

11) Josh going off on Shaw.

It is so wonderfully cathartic to see Josh go after Shaw. It perfectly paints that Josh cares more about people than his job (something which was a little in doubt before now). It also perfectly sets up his motivations moving forward AND means there is no more question of if Shaw did it or not.

Josh [after Shaw says he cares about Lester after his suicide attempt]: “Then why haven’t you asked me if he’s alive or dead?”

I dig it.

12) The sadness we see among the staff shows how much Josh means to them and how good a boss he was.

13) Matthew Broderick as Mr. Fitzhugh.

Broderick has some of the most surprisingly memorable lines in the film, playing Fitzhugh as wonderfully timid and out of place. Broderick is hysterical in the part, supporting the cast neatly.

14) Eddie Murphy as Slide.

This is probably Murphy’s best film of the decade, but that isn’t really saying much. The part feels like a classic for him, very much in line with some of his 80s roles, and there’s a charm/appeal to that. I’ve said this about a number of other characters but he fits remarkably well with the ensemble cast, with a particularly strong chemistry with Stiller (who’s involvement lurred Murphy back to the part after years in development hell).

15) So some of these jokes you just know are not in good taste. And they’re not funny enough to make up for that. They’re not like Blazing Saddles which is bad taste but really good bad taste. Moments like the extended seizure joke just makes you uncomfortable. I think we have Brett Ratner to thank for that.

16) This film is at its best/funniest when the assembled crew is just doing shit. The tangent humor is ESPECIALLY strong. The next ten minutes (the mall scene through the heist prep) is almost exclusively this and features the best humor of the film. Some jokes (like the “gauntlet of lesbians” joke) can veer into bad taste territory, but largely they’re just funny.

17) Josh “apologizing” to Shaw really makes Shaw an even more despicable villain (the worse he is, the better). It also shows how Josh is able to work with people underestimating him to his advantage. Shaw doesn’t even blink when Josh says he’ll get, “Exactly what you deserve.”

18) Gabourey Sidibe as Odessa.

Sidibe is absolutely incredible in the part. There’s a chance her character might be a Jamaican stereotype, but she somehow steals scenes from comedy veteran EDDIE MURPHY. She’s hysterical, strong, and really interesting. If this movie had just been about Odessa, I would’ve been as interested if not more in the film.

19) So, why does Charlie get a promotion? He was at constant risk at being fired and terrible at his job. Is it because he’s a straight cis white dude? Actually, yeah. That’s probably it.

20) There’s a reason I watch this film around Thanksgiving: the entire heist takes place ON Thanksgiving! There aren’t enough Thanksgiving movies in the world so I DEFINITELY include this on the list.

21) The final act of the film, the reason the heist works as well it does is because everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong. Slide betrays them, the money isn’t there, Charlie is working at the tower, etc. It’s these constant monkey wrenches throw into the operation which makes it incredibly interesting.

22) This bugs the shit out of me, but when Slide is pointing his gun at Josh every time they cut back to Slide the painting behind him is in a different place. It bugs the hell out of me.

23) I LOVE that the Ferrari is where the money is. That it’s what they have to steal. It’s a nice surprise which completely changes the circumstances of the heist, forcing the characters to think on their feet. I love that.

24)

Slide: “I’m gonna call Ralph. [Throws up out the hanging car.]”

My brother and I saw this in theaters together. That joke had us dying the first time.

25) I will admit if you don’t find the final heist interesting you might not like the movie as much because it’s like the last half hour of the movie. So I can see how you might be bored by it. I’m not but I can understand if some might be.

26) I never got how the FBI knows EXACTLY who was in on the heist in less than a few hours, not to mention where they are os they can be picked up.

27) Hey, that’s talented character actor Zeljko Ivanek! Just randomly showing up! Sure, why not.

(That’s him. Not from this movie, but still.)

28) Josh giving himself up to save the others on his crew is a really nice ending for a number of ways. For one, it gets everyone the happy ending they deserve (except Shaw, who deserves what he gets). Also, it totally fits everything we know about Josh. Of course he doesn’t care about what happens to him. It’s about everyone else.

I like Tower Heist mainly because it’s a Thanksgiving movie and my mom really likes it, so it’s fun watching it with her. But beyond that it’s actually pretty funny. Yes, some of it is markedly insensitive (the seizure joke), but it’s supported by nice performances and solid comedy. There aren’t enough Thanksgiving movies in the world, so maybe Tower Heist is worth your time.

[batterymonster2021]

Lawyer Reviews Laws Broken In Classic Love Scenes

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/lawyer-reviews-laws-broken-in-classic-love-scenes/

Lawyer Reviews Laws Broken In Classic Love Scenes

My title is Diana Iseman with iseman law company in los angeles California i’m a criminal security lawyer and a former prosecutor at present we’ll be watching clips of various traditional films and watching into whether or not or no longer the characters that we all know and love have been truly committing various forms of sexual assault i would prefer to think you’re no longer in all of this caper skip it i’m not let’s go what would it not take so that you can see matters my way much more than you may have got how have you learnt i don’t wish to be aware of is not it long-established to grant a condemned man his final request you’ve gotten asked for this oh my god so many crimes let’s with the first one we could battery throws her across the room into a pile of hay she tries several times to maneuver her face so that he are not able to kiss her and he does anyway so that’s sexual battery in addition to the battery cost he would be watching at advantage lifetime intercourse wrongdoer registration on the grounds that sexual battery even though it’s a misdemeanor remains to be a registerable offense now we’ll watch a scene from Revenge of the Nerds hello Betty a nerd i am no longer kissing a nerd you need to I paid my money kiss this nerd I desired to it all this kissing’s made me sexy Betty you are like a goat subsequent and modified your intellect take off your masks it used to be distinct he did things we have now on no account completed before you’re that nerd yeah thanks k in order that was once terrible and disturbing to watch considering this young girl was raped the law protects victims from having sex with anybody who’s pretending to be any person else in different words if she proposal she was having intercourse along with her boyfriend and this guy comes in carrying a mask she even asks him she says changed your mind he says sure they are now going to have this consensual intercourse except it is not consensual intercourse it is obviously rape as good as you yes I feel the article that particularly form of irritates me is that immediately afterwards when he exhibits his identity she’s so ok with it it’s completely fine that she was conned into having sex with this whole stranger under false pretenses underneath most instances a sufferer like this could go and file it as a rape they forgot my birthday the next clip we’re gonna watch is from sixteen Candles a traditional John Hughes coming-of-age story I cherished loved loved John Hughes movies they had been the voice of a generation it’s rather stupid he would not really exist he requested me about you didn’t i go for it in the best thing is I made a bet with my acquaintances I bet them that I do with you however this is before I knew as a character i will get proof without without a doubt getting bodily how can i borrow your underpants for 10 minutes I believe it is time to blow this thing off and go to your house you guys i am serious come on dude piece of ass any time i want xiaolin the bed room correct now handed out cold violate her ten distinctive approaches don’t want to that’s disgusting and it is rape if you happen to did definitely go in and do that make a maintain you let me hold these until you are taking Carol at residence but you acquired to be certain she gets residence you cannot depart in some automobile parking space somewhere Jake i am only novices so she’s so Blitz you’re going to know the change who’s he that is me what occurred i’m going to inform you the place you are simply inform me who you are did we yeah i am pretty definite I did I enjoy it did you you know i’ve this bizarre feeling I did i’m rather sorry about getting you blended up with that man oh it can be ok i’m quite sorry about last night the social gathering oh come on make no qualms about it she used to be a rape victim and it was all orchestrated through someone that she depended on her boyfriend more than 60% of sexual assault circumstances go unreported so I do not know what she would do however expectantly she would go to the police and he or she would make a file and that investigation would mostly uncover the truth that this rapist took her in a automobile at the same time he used to be consuming so there is a lot of underage drunk using happening here too she used to be additionally violated by way of many witnesses that’s something that may play out quite unfavorably for the rapist within the court docket in these days so the subsequent one we’re gonna watch his wedding crashers which is a film that I genuinely laughed out loud close to from starting to end once I saw it within the theater is going on little one I started interested by what you stated before and i consider the drawback is i’m not being adventurous enough for you i am pretty definite that is not what i have been saying to you child i am gonna make oh yeah but this isn’t guys may also be victims of sexual assault too and in this circumstance i’m lovely certain that’s precisely what occurred they do not make it clear what happens subsequent it cuts to the following scene pretty quickly but you are alleged to understand that they go on to have some sort of sexual journey in opposition to his will apparently so that may be a crime relying on whether or not or no longer there used to be intercourse but that would investigate what kind of crime it was but at the very least it’s false imprisonment sexual assaults most likely I simply had my titties finished you liked him these look like lovely knockers what him does not give a little bit about my titties well darn him but mrs.Cleary this is pretty unexpected you’ve gotten been enjoying cat and mouse with me ever on account that you got here right here mrs. Cleary i do not come once more okay cat call me k ok kitty cat this feels borderline inappropriate Fiona what I stated think them her mrs. Cleary i am sorry kitty cat are you out your mind i am not letting you out of this room I inform you suppose so I suppose the article that’s rather principal to notice here is that there’s a energy dynamic she is competent of power it is her home he needs to make a excellent affect and she’s put him equipped where if he will get up and walks out he might be insulting her and he would make him feel just like the easier thing to do would simply be to acquiesce and do what she’s asking him to do versus make a enormous scene and leave her hanging it’s probably no longer gonna alternate the legality of it I still do not see a prosecutor filing expenses headquartered on this conduct I could potentially see a civil case popping out of this since it’s some type of harassment however it’s not going that this could bring crook expenditures it can be already difficult to show allegations of sexual assault when there’s a woman sufferer and in circumstances when the victim is a male it makes it even more challenging particularly where the perpetrator is a feminine the next clip is from Twilight forks is developing on me would a man have some thing to do with that yeah tell me the whole lot what’s indie talk to you later come on we gotta speak boys are you being riskless did you get in right here no window do you do this quite a bit oh only a earlier couple of months i like observing you sleep it is um it can be kind of interesting to me um I simply want to check out one thing you keep very nonetheless oh my god don’t transfer in instances that I’ve come throughout the place a guy thinks he’s being romantic but the lady would not recognize that’s what he is doing we call that stalking and there may be nothing romantic about it you can’t simply go into a woman’s condominium and sneak into her room to watch her sleep over the last couple of months no that is illegal just the truth that she used to be present within the house when he trespassed it can be it is an aggravated misdemeanor it’s known as an aggravated trespass except he had the intent to do some form of felonious act inside the house commit a criminal throughout the apartment then it would be a residential burglary and the penalty would be state jail and a strike what’s major to notice in these films is that there aren’t any penalties for the perpetrators moves in fact they do not even particularly see it as something that’s fallacious or illegal this is just a subplot of the movie and that’s altering that’s some thing that i’m hopeful going forward in films filmmakers are extra careful about what kind of messages they’re sending to young girls and young boys about what is suitable behavior the most important factor concerning the me to movement is that it can be bringing forth numerous consequences for movements that previously most often shouldn’t have even been mentioned and quite what we want is for the media in movies to mirror that to now not glorify these actions that unfortunately victimized quite a few females and guys throughout the country

[bassfanimation]

The Final Problem: Eurus’s crash therapy session

I've written one post talking about how my husband viewed the “I Love You” scene in The Final Problem.  I wanted to write some more, as we’ve discussed TFP in depth together.  We talk a lot about the media we consume because A) we're nerds, and B) our views are usually quite different.  

It's also nice to have a male perspective on things, as it sometimes can shed some light where my female brain just bumbles around in the dark and stubs it's toe on the Feels Dresser.  My husband views things very textually, but he is also fantastic at thinking about stuff on a meta level.  It’s nice because he has no ulterior motives either, no shipper goggles or anything.  I'm going to write a bit about his theories about TFP and what it all meant in his eyes.  I'll add my own views as well, for comparison.  This is going to be a long af post, so strap in!

(Disclaimer: this post may contain more shippy talk than you want, because I am a major Sherlolly/Molly Hooper lover, but you can also disregard my feelings and read for the hell of it.)

My hub said he views The Final Problem as the final case for Sherlock, which is essentially, solving himself.  I remember when Mary's video appeared, and she said she was giving him the toughest case of his life.  I seriously thought it was going to be for Sherlock to solve himself, which is the hardest thing for any person to do...to know yourself.  Instead we got something equally wonderful, but a bit easier to solve: how to mend Sherlock's friendship with John and save him from eternal despair.   Thankfully, Sherlock was a rousing success. He solved it.

"The next one won't be so easy." -Eurus Holmes, The Final Problem

The Final Problem, as my dude talked about it, is about the Holmes family, but mostly Eurus.  It was about Eurus trying to go 'home', only she couldn't.  She had to unlock the one person who could "save her soul", as the song puzzle went.  In order to do that...she had to literally break down Sherlock's walls.  Each major emotional wall he'd built was because of Eurus, so only she could break them down.  Only she was smart enough, and ruthless enough, to accomplish this.  

“You know the problem with disguises? No matter how hard you try, it’s always a self portrait.” -Irene Adler, A Scandal in Belgravia

It's very fitting that Eurus chose to reveal herself while she was disguised as a therapist, because TFP was in essence, a crash therapy session for Sherlock.  Each room in Sherrinford was a self discovery trap.  Now, someone was corresponding with me over the "I Love You" meaning and said it wasn't real because it was manipulation.  That is correct in that it was manipulation...but that is what all therapy really is.  It is someone very skilled manipulating you into understanding your own true feelings.  As a person going through intensive therapy currently, let me tell you, this is exactly what TFP was.  A very elaborate therapy session.  

Room One: Sherlock, John, Mycroft and the Governor.

My hub sees this test as about Sherlock facing the fact that sometimes his actions will hurt his friends and family. Eurus gave Sherlock the choice of giving the gun to Mycroft or John so they could kill the Governor.  He was choosing whether to hurt John or hurt Mycroft. Either of them would be hurt by being forced to kill an innocent man.  Mycroft absolutely could not do it. John thought he could, but he couldn't either.  In the end, their inaction killed two people, but Sherlock was directly responsible for that.  He hurt John AND Mycroft without meaning to.  The consequence was real...the Governor and his wife were killed.  Sometimes your actions will hurt others, sometimes your innaction is just as dangerous. It will happen, and it will hurt you too.  I actually 100% agree with this reading.  My eyes popped out in amazement.

Room Two: Sherlock, John, and Mycroft.

My hub feels this test was to confront Sherlock with his arrogance.  Three brothers, all hanging by ropes, one of them having killed their fourth brother, but which one?  Sherlock solved the crime, but Eurus dropped the two innocent brothers, leaving the guilty one still hanging. The guilty man was eventually dropped as well, but it held a mirror up to Sherlock.  How many times did he blithely solve a crime with no thought as to who might be hurt by that? It never mattered to him. Like Eurus said, "Innocent?  Guilty? Punishing either feels the same."  This is Eurus throwing Sherlock's arrogant disregard for real justice back in his face.  He solves crimes to be "right", no matter what the consequence, no matter who he hurts.  He's confronting his arrogance and his selfishness.

Room Three: Sherlock, John, and Mycroft.  (This one may take some paragraphs, so bear with me.)

The coffin with the words "I Love You" on the lid.  Me and my hub actually diverge a bit here, but I found his reading of it very interesting.  Also, a man's perspective on love is great to have, considering Sherlock IS a man, and this whole episode is about a man’s love.  

My hub was very passionate about discussing this one, which surprised me.  Something he talks about quite often with me is how he feels female fandoms think they understand the minds of guys.  "100 travel brochures do not equal a single trip."  To understand a man’s feelings about love, you really need a man’s perspective.  I can respect that, as I’d want the same kind of respect as a woman with my own feelings.

First and foremost, he thinks Sherlock's words were genuine.  He said Sherlock's reaction was not that of a man who did not mean what he said...in fact it's the opposite, he meant it and it scares the shit out of him, hence the reaction we got.  He said when you like someone, and they like you back but, for whatever reason, you refuse to pursue a relationship with that person.  Often it's feelings of inadequacy.  Sometimes you just don't really know how you feel about that person.  Often, strong friendships can feel like love and if you are friends with a member of the sex you are attracted to, it can be easy to wonder if those feelings are love or not.  The last thing you want to do is pursue those feelings and jeopardize that friendship.

If anything, the "I Love You" test showed JUST (he typed that in all caps in his chat to me) how amazingly important Molly is to Sherlock. He "humiliated" himself just as much as she did. By finally openly admitting that he might have feelings for her, he knows that he has essentially forever altered the nature of their friendship.  Maybe it could grow into something more, but he could have easily destroyed it too. We see in the epilogue that they obviously got past it, but had we not gotten that scene it could easily have been the last time Molly ever answered his calls.  That's why he has been so afraid to even broach the subject before now. The hub added to this that once you understand that Sherlock isn't a "high functioning sociopath" like he claims, then his actions all click and you realize he is a man who is seething with emotions and desperately trying to channel them in order to keep them contained.  

"Sherlock is not all about thinking and rationality. He gets emotional, he lashes out, he shoots the wall. And when he can’t figure something out, he stabs it." -Mrs. Hudson, The Lying Detective

My hub continues on by saying that for someone as obviously traumatized by the loss of a close friend then it makes that scene with Molly so much more meaningful than just a guy telling a woman that he loves her.  Imagine how traumatic it is to force someone like that to risk losing another close friend through their own actions.  Sherlock actually doesn't consider John a friend at this point, he considers him family. They are brothers in arms. There's a special kind of relationship that guys share when they've fought alongside each other. That's what Tolkien was trying to show in LOTR. It's different from a romantic relationship. In some ways it's more intimate and closer. I think Mary saw that.  It's why a lot of cops and soldiers end up divorced. Their wives see that bond that the guy has with his comrades and it puts a heavy strain.  The fact that Mary was able to get past that and even encourage it is a testimony to just what an amazing woman she was. John was INCREDIBLY (his typed caps, again for emphasis) lucky to have her. (yay Mary Watson love)

To dovetail back to how this relates to Molly, my hub believes Molly would also be the kind of woman to be just like Mary.  She would want him to be himself, to be with John, solving cases, being Sherlock and Dr. Watson.  But again, he thinks Sherlock was just so afraid of losing Molly that he never even entertained the idea of being able to have a relationship with her, for fear of losing what they have.  He is really surprised female fans don't understand this. He's heard so many women say that they couldn't imagine pursuing a relationship with a close friend because they didn't want to jeopardize that friendship. Even when you bring up that they are essentially already in a relationship with that person in everything but name.  I actually agreed here, 1000%, because I've been in this situation myself...it is so, so, so painful...and you are always filled with regret over words that weren't said.

The last thing my husband said about the coffin test was that, to him, the coffin symbolized the death of Sherlock and Molly's current relationship, as it’s been throughout the show. It couldn't go back to the way it was, not after what was said.  There is no more unspoken feelings hanging in the air.  Everything is out in the open.  There's only two outcomes now: either Sherlock did pursue a romantic relationship with Molly, or he simply couldn't bring himself to actually commit to her, but the words being said freed Molly of her unspoken, unrequited love, thus allowing her to actually move on.   He thinks they did pursue a relationship, btw.  He wasn't sure until our last viewing, but more on that later.

Lastly, I want to add that I view the coffin as an entirely different symbol. The coffin had the words "I Love You" on it.  Where do we equate love coming from? The heart.  When young Sherlock's best friend was killed, it effectively killed his heart.  It was broken, shattered, dark, put away into a box....dead.  The coffin represents the death of Sherlock's heart. It is the box containing all the love he used to feel inside it.  The coffin test was by far the hardest test...it's the one that had the most harrowing effect on him.  Opening your heart is the hardest thing for us, as human beings, to do.  But Sherlock Holmes did it, even if it confused and frightened him to do it.  Eurus forced it open, in front of John and Mycroft no less!   Sherlock gently touching the lid of the coffin, he is feeling his heart, the heart he has missed for so, so long.  He wants to break it out of that coffin...so he smashes it to bits, screaming while he does it.  He is breaking his love free of death, out of that coffin.

"So many complicated emotions. I lost count!"- Eurus Holmes

Love is also confusing as hell for Sherlock.  It's going to take a while for him to solve that particular one, for Molly.  He can't solve it completely while in that room, so of course...he does what Mrs. Hudson said he does...he stabbed it...or rather, he dismantled it soundly. That's how strong his feelings were.

Room 4: Sherlock, John, Mycroft.

My hub felt this test was simple.  It was to demonstrate to Sherlock that there will always come a time where he will have to choose between friends and family.  He didn't have much else to say, but I have some feelings on it myself.  I think Sherlock actually managed to turn the tables on Eurus during this one.  Remember, his heart is wide open now. He busted it out of that coffin. It is confused and scared, but it is raw and beating like thunder.  He cannot, will not choose between friends and family, because his friends ARE family. They are HIS.  Their love is HIS.  He cannot choose because there is no choice to make.  He would rather truly destroy himself than dare hurt the people he loves any more. We saw this with the Culverton Smith case as well, so this one is no surprise.  It was no surprise to Eurus either, which is why she was prepared.

Room 5: Sherlock.

Finally, the last bit of really amazing symbolism I want to talk about is when Sherlock was in the fake room, just outside Musgrave.  The walls inside there were littered with photographs of the Holmes family.  Sherlock, Mycroft, Eurus, Mummy, and Daddy.  Sherlock's family.  He is forced to look at those pictures...forced to look at who he used to be.  Who Mycroft used to be.  Who Eurus used to be.  The love that existed there, the love he felt, the happiness he so briefly knew.  He had made a prison inside himself...but suddenly he realizes it...all he has to do is push, one last time.  The walls of the fake room literally fall down around him.  His prison is no more.  He's solved himself...now he must solve Eurus in order to save his family.  He could only save John, and the little girl high above, if he solved The Final Problem: himself.

At last, we hear Sherlock say to Eurus when he's holding her in her burnt childhood bedroom that she got lost last time, but this time she can do it right.  He's here now, here for her.  He begs her to save his best friend this time...not let him die like last time.  Sherlock effectively brings his little sister down to the ground again, and he did it with love.  The entirety of The Final Problem represented unlocking Love.  Love for his best friend, his inseparable partner: John.  Love for his family, his big brother: Mycroft, who isn't as strong as he thinks, and Eurus, a little girl who was lost inside her own lonely, cold brilliance.  Love for the quietly strong woman who's love for him was unbreakable: Molly Hooper. Love unlocked Eurus' prison, just as it unlocked Sherlock's.  They brought each other 'home'.

And that is the long ass tale of me and my husband's discussing of this incredible, frustrating, tragic, beautiful, brilliant, messy episode of my favorite show of all time.  I'll admit to you here, I cried in front of my hub when he compared the coffin to the state of Sherlock and Molly's relationship.  He felt so bad, poor guy.  I had also spent the day so upset over Moffat and Gatiss's flippant responses about the "I Love You" scene.  Upon our final viewing at the theater though, walking out, my hub says, "I have a new theory.  I'm almost positive Sherlock and Molly did pursue a relationship.  When she walks into 221B, she's smiling really brightly, and she's heading in the direction where Sherlock was standing in the room." He is right.  Molly could have walked in and simply stood gaping at the miracle of 221B's resurrection, or she could have stood alongside Mrs. Hudson.  But nope.  She went in the direction of the man she's loved for so, so long.  She was going to Sherlock, who is now the good man everyone knew he could be.

Louise Brealey tweeted just before the final series aired that "Molly was back where she belonged." Molly belongs with Sherlock, just as much as John Watson, Rosie Watson, and Mrs. Hudson. She's a permanent part of this Sherlock Holmes's Baker Street. Forever.  <3

[a-romance-with-misery]

Day 6: Guilt

Years ago, yet not long enough ago to make this crime forgivable, I bullied a kid. Initially, I bet you’re thinking how melodramatic it appears I’m being, especially when I tack on the additional detail this occurred in elementary school. Admittedly, most people would not hold a child responsible for his or her actions over a decade later unless a truly heinous act was committed. Bullying, while bad, doesn’t normally fall under most people’s definitions of a “heinous act”. However, bullying as a word doesn’t do justice to describing the hell I brought to this poor dude. Constantly antagonizing him, denying he had ever been invited to or visited my home (he had), poking fun at his insecurities and worst of all, turning his only friend against him. I wasn’t the only kid involved in this madness-human tribalism and mob mentality at their finest-however do have to admit to being the main impetus to many of the incidents where he was tortured by his peers. It wouldn’t be until high school where I would be confronted with the consequences of my actions. At some indeterminate time, the bullied kid -who I’ve intentionally left nameless- moved out. The world kept turning so to speak, and all his former bullies including me (obviously) matured over the years. Senior year of high school, I spot a familiar face lumbering through the hallway. In milliseconds, my brain identifies him and suddenly, a whole host of memories bursts through a dam of childhood amnesia. He’s back, the same kid who I f**ked over in life, one of the victims of my tumultuous childhood years. The guilt piles on high as I come to learn he’s now a grade below me, likely having been held back at some time, and might be attending a special needs class. I never figured out that last detail for sure, but at this point it’s relatively obvious why I feel guilty nonetheless. This kid I bullied, he was not mentally challenged when I last saw him. Now, as I passed him nearly everyday while heading back from lunch, I have to wonder: did I do this to him? Did I aid in destroying a kid’s life to such an extent that he has permanently fallen behind academically? Did I deprive him of the opportunity to grow and excel later in his life? Did I do this to him? These questions plague me on my loneliest nights, slowly gnawing away at my inner psyche. I almost want to reach out, apologize, make some right out of this horrific wrong. Yet I did nothing, I ignored him the entire year, my class walking across the stage, diploma covers in hand, none the wiser that we were missing someone who should have been graduating with us. He’s not the only victim of my past vicious nature, but he is one of the worse cases. All I can say at this point is: dude, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry. I’m so f**king sorry. It doesn’t matter if I wasn’t aware of the consequences of my actions, it doesn’t matter how naive or young I was, it doesn’t matter what personal things I had going on in my life, the results are the same. I believe I f**ked you over. I believe I ruined your life. I can never accept a compliment from someone telling me “how good I am” or “how pure I am” without remembering the sh*t I’ve done to people like you. It blackens every compliment I receive along those aforementioned lines, poisons them with the venom of unserved justice. I may be spilling this in a public manner now, but this is in no way compensating for any of it. I’m sorry, and I’ve wished you well since that first time I saw you in our high school. One day, I hope I can come to peace with this and more importantly, that you can forgive me for this heinous act(s) I have committed.

END day 6