#this episode is laying the groundwork i can already see it

[connabeth]

annabeth teasing percy about him being on the brink of calling her a friend (even though he literally just said he’d turn his back on his dad for her because she's done a lot more for him in days than poseidon his whole life, which goes a lot deeper than maybe friendship) is gold because you KNOW she is never letting that shit slide. down the line in season 2, when she's crying in his arms underwater in a bubble over what the sirens showed her, i hope she wipes her tears real quick and tells him he went through quite the length to save someone he could never be friends with. in season 3, when annabeth is rescued from being kidnapped (after percy sneaks onto a quest he has no business being on yet again because he cares about her too much) and he asks her to dance on olympus during the solstice, i hope she jokingly declines because they could simply never be friends and not friends don’t dance with each other. in season 4, when he’s by default assumed to be a companion on her quest, i hope she goes ‘actually…i only bring my friends on quests with me’. in season 5, when he asks for a kiss for good luck, i hope she puts him in place bc who asks people they’re not even friends with for kisses? when he confesses his feelings for her and is trying to tell her she’s his tether to his mortality and a reason he denied godhood, i hope she goes ‘surely you didn’t think of me. because we could never be friends” before she kisses him. writers do your fucking jobs PLEASE

[ineffably-human]

It honest to God took me a month to rewatch the last two episodes of this season of Shadows, because I'm still so mad about how they handled Guillermo's decision. And I'm probably going to always be mad. I think this season wasted a lot of time that could have been spent laying better groundwork, for both Guillermo's decision and for Nadja and the Guide's subplot.

But something did click into place for me in that very last scene, where Derek's being ushered down by Topher to meet the other zombies. Season Three was unofficially about power and protection. Season Four was officially about change. I thought this season was going to be about secrets. But it's actually about belonging to a community.

The vampires were out in the world a lot more this season. Colin runs for public office (passing among humans as he can), which drags him into the interests of the community of energy vampires. Nadja connects to a community from her homeland, and winds up caring about them more than she ever expected. Laszlo's mostly focused on the experiments, but his natural ease with Sean (and humans in general) is on display a few times - and when the vampires think he's in distress, they throw a whole party to rally him. The Guide, of course, struggles the whole season with feeling like an outsider who can't be part of the group she cares for.

Sean links the vampires to the pride parade, not just celebrating the queer community, but making the vampires the face of queerness, of immigration, of Staten Island itself. (And Guillermo gets his first taste of Pride, and of a community he'd never been able to claim until recently.) At the same time, it's shown that vampires always feel like they're a step away from being found out by humans, of their surrounding community turning on them and forcing them out.

Nandor struggles throughout the season with social awkwardness, communicating, being misunderstood; he fails to connect with strangers without hypnosis guiding the conversation the way he wants it to go. But the other vampires have become his home, in a way that's evolved past their relationship during Season Three. He rallies them successfully during Local News. He and Colin Robinson look out for each other. Keeping Guillermo's secret is just as much about protecting Nandor as it is protecting Guillermo.

(It's still Guillermo he's always calling out for, though. With the certainty of someone who already knows where home is, he just hasn't named it yet.)

And as always, Guillermo is stuck in between two worlds. He can't connect fully with his bio family, but can't truly step away from them. He wants to be a vampire, but his transformation fights him and he can't see humans as prey. He wants to come when Nandor calls, but can't tell him about the biggest thing that's happening to him.

By the finale he feels more isolated from the vampires than ever, to the point that he can't see what's actually happening: by the time they all know his secret, the others have rallied around him, and are seeing him as another member of the family in need of protecting.

And once Nandor realizes that he cares more about losing Guillermo than his own pride, he deliberately brings that community to Guillermo: he introduces Guillermo as the fifth of their household, and throws him a birthday party to bookend the one at the start of the season. He makes Guillermo a ceremony, invites everyone they know, and asks if he's willing to become one of them forever.

And it's not that Guillermo doesn't want to be a vampire. He does, desperately. It's that he can't stop also being a human.

So instead it's Derek (a vampire basically living as a human, and deeply lonely for it) who is ushered into a new community ready to welcome him, something Guillermo has always been hoping for.

("Do you like eating human flesh? Heh, you will!")

Guillermo still doesn't have The Thing he wants, not really. He still has to name exactly what it is. But Nandor helped guide him towards where home is. And Laszlo helped him pick up the pieces. The vampires don't love Guillermo like a fellow vampire, but they love him like Guillermo, and like with Colin last year that doesn't just reset. It can't. The roots are in too deep, it's already bound everyone stronger.

We'll just have to wait to see what it turns into.

[tevanbuckley]

i mean 'why is buck attracted to tommy' the actual critique is that he says he was charmed by tommy's fake mouth static and we are obviously supposed to understand that he was already interested in tommy by the end of his (re-)introductory episode but if you actually go and watch the episode... there is no sign of any of that. tim was too high on his own supply of b/t coming 'out of left field' that he forgot to actually lay the groundwork for their relationship in 7x04 in the first place.

he doesn't say he was charmed by the fake mouth static though? he says the reason he wanted to get to know tommy more is because he was willing to go all in with the 118 on a hunch to the point he made bad fake mouth static at the fire chief.

which imo is a very believable point of origin for buck's attraction, of course he's immediately drawn to this person willing to throw himself into a physically and professionally risky situation to help his family? the line of logic is strong enough that I can buy into from the jump.

that's the groundwork for his jealousy in 7.04, he wants to get to know tommy and is jealous of the instant connection him and eddie have had, which leads into the kitchen scene/kiss. the next step is watching how that grows into an actual relationship, which i for one, am excited to see.

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

TMAGP 16 Thoughts: Aave Maria

This was an interesting one. I don't think I loved it but I do think there is a surprising amount to dig into. I also think this is showing more of the form of TMP. A bigger focus on a rogue's gallery and unlike TMA is more more in the thick of it to start with. We're not piecing together an unseen world, we're in the world and getting our bearings.

Spoilers for episode 16 below the cut.

It's really great to see some immediate follow up on Alice's run in with Drowning Victim. I was a little worried it'd be something she pushes down and ignores like everything else in the job. Because she didn't I think there might be a change in her perspective. Previous she's been very uninvested in the specifics of the cases and now she's basically been in one I do wonder if it'll effect her work. We definitely saw more of a reaction from her from this incident than we've ever seen before. So I'm wondering where that will lead her. I'll also be interested to see how this ties back into the Institute. The Drowning Victim is obviously connected but it makes me think Connor Dyer (found in CHBD, see master sheet below) might not be her dead name. I wasn't a fan of the idea of both main protagonists having the same backstory but the way she alluded to the death of her parents here makes me think the Institute might have had something to do with it. Not that I think she knows that but that the narrative placement of it might be laying the groundwork for that connection to be revealed.

For the incident itself I don't have a load to get into I don't think. I thought it was pretty effective in showing Madame E to be kind of a tool but then giving us more and more reason to be sympathetic towards them. Ink5oul's first voiced appearance was remarkably understated too. I was expecting them to feature more here but I think I'm glad they didn't. As I mentioned there is more of a rouge's gallery here and with a couple of really loud characters already it's quite nice to see one more understated than that. They've got a bit of an M.O. forming here too. Part ironic "punishment", part graverobbing plagiarist. DIG. Which does lead me to wonder about how they'll end up kicking the bucket. It feels like a set up waiting for a punchline. The way they give the "clients" what they're after in a twisted sense has a lot of room for interesting stories so I'm interesting to see where that goes. It's also interesting just how similar this was to Daria's incident. Very similar incidents overall but to different ends. What I think is a more interesting concept in those is how it totally differs from the tattoo that showed up in Marked. The tattoo in both of Ink5oul's works have been afflictions on the tattooed but Marked's tattoo was something that affected those that viewed it. Whether that's a consequence of they're plagiarism or a different "school" of tattoo technique remains to be seen.

Also fun fact: from.vision.ruled really is a location in Highgate Cemetery. There is a map app called what3words that is a grid of 3 metre squares over the globe and then each square gets a three word code. It's so you can give a more precise location than something like an address or broad location. So in this case you don't need to say "Meet me outside the Circle of Lebanon in Highgate East" you can say "Meet me at from.vision.ruled" and get a more accurate location. It's great if you want to meet people where there isn't much or any signage, point people towards the entrances to places when it's not obvious from a address, and stuff like that.

Post-incident was really great too. It's lovely to see Lena be so clearly angry and lose her typical collected nature. Not only because it shows she's got range but because it really hammers home just how scary a character like Lady M. is going to be. Gwen not taking her shit for it is also great. I think bringing Lady M. to the OIAR as a power play was pushing it hard but I also think Lena treats Gwen like shit and needs a lesson or two as well. This power struggle they've got going is always captivating to see and I can't wait to see more of it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet (Now with terminology/theory cheat sheet)

DPHW Theory: 1565 is about where I was expecting this would end up. 1 in Death in an episode where someone died already seems to be a sticking point for people. I personally don't understand that particular framing. Every Power in TMA had a massive body count but only one of them was the Power about death, and not all of them focused on stuff that'd outright kill you. So while a person did die this episode it's not an episode about Death as a concept/theme/subject.

CAT# Theory: CAT1 is very interesting given how the other tattoos have been placed thus far. But I'm going to leave that for the time being. I've got an essay in the works about the current more common CAT# theory. Should be out over the weekend.

R# Theory: B seems about right for this. It's weird and publicised but, ostensibly, medically explainable. So it happened and we can agree it happened but it's just an unfortunate illness in the eyes of most.

Header talk: Tattoo (Influencer) -/- Cardiac is interesting in the same way the CAT# is so I'll leave some of that for later. What I do want to talk about in that subsection. Influencer as a subsection is intriguing because it's very unlike Smirke's methodology. That was fairly rigid but Influencer in this context is such a modern term that it implies this methodology is reacting to how things change and express more rapidly, or it's not as old as I think has been implied so far.

[sensitivehandsomeactionman]

Rewatched 1x03 Dead in the Water (this is a really long one, so I added a "read more" break)

This episode 100% gobsmacked me in the face with Jensen's beauty all the way through. It's unreal, shocking. There's a simple mystery story, but the real mystery is how anyone can have a normal conversation with that face in the room? Thank you, Kim Manners.

Thank you also for the bleak mood of the story. Several unsolved deaths and a failing dam; the townsfolk seem puzzled and depressed in their dreary surroundings. It has the aura of a deteriorating Rust Belt town already mourning its impending doom.

Sam is impatient to follow the (nonexistent?) trail to Dad. Dean has to persuade Sam to do the monster of the week as this town is vaguely "along the way." Silly excuses for a MOTW aside, I do like that character-wise, pretty consistently throughout the series, Dean is a "trust the process" guy. When he's at a loss, he'll revert to the familiar steps of the hunt till there's another lead or inspiration hits. Very workman-like. (By season 7 it morphs into a more existential "fake it till you make it" survival strategy.)

We move on to them hitting the road in the gleaming Impala. Flirty Dean at the diner becomes flirty Dean at the sheriff's office. Andrea isn't buying what he's selling, and we get a little light comedy. Sam's "Name three children that you even know" is a nice bit of misdirection to imply Dean has no connection to kids. We and Sam are about to learn differently.

Sam's research uncovers that Lucas witnessed his Dad's death, setting up a parallel to Dean's loss of Mary. Dean's attention gravitates to Lucas, and his empathy opens a window for us into Dean's own childhood trauma. When Lucas gives Dean a drawing, I feel like Andrea's look of surprise towards Dean mirrors our own. Maybe there's more to him than that brash beauty.

There's a hint that Lucas has premonitions -- I love that they're laying the groundwork for premonitions, soon to be significant for Sam -- and can give them clues through his drawings. Dean's confession about being scared and thinking his Mom would want him to be brave is delivered with honesty, almost matter-of-fact. It's all the more poignant. I think it easily taps into how we all remember the loneliness of childhood sadness as well as the instinctive desire at that age to make our parents proud. This time instead of Andrea we get to see Sam register surprise at this reveal from Dean.

Giant Sam is able to pull nude Andrea from the haunted bath. I'm a bit distracted by the technical need to not reveal too much of her body, and I can't help but worry about actresses being put into those circumstances during filming. More memorable is Dean saving Lucas because of that emotional connection between them. I love the physicality that J2 imbue into the action, especially when they're clearly doing their own stunts. 

The first two episodes seemed to be pulling Sam into a reckoning with his past, and while he's not the emotional center of this episode, he's our proxy. Sam is seeing his brother in a new light. It's the same when you're a young adult, re-examining your childhood memories and finding a new perspective on and context for things you long took for granted to be true.

The two brothers together pulling a dead child's buried bicycle from its grave is a chilling visual on loss of innocence, and a fitting metaphor for how their work is unburying their own past along their way to rediscover Dad, their family. And the message here is that the violence didn't stay dead and buried; it needed to be acknowledged and reckoned with to stop the cycle. Psychologically satisfying.

Some echoes from the previous episodes: bathtub danger, creepy ghost kids, bereft and fatally flawed parents, a grateful pretty woman giving Dean a farewell kiss, a rock song sendoff. Toy green army men are connected to Dean's childhood. It was fun to see Amy Acker, as I really enjoyed her in Angel.

I love the melancholy of this episode. The filming is intimate and assured, full of dark rooms, quiet conversations, and grief. Noir shadows highlight Dean's stunning face, which I continue to gif in attempts to hold onto that wonder a few seconds longer. I love all the groundwork this episode lays for the mytharc while being a satisfying standalone ep. Jensen's acting with Lucas, and Jared and Amy's reactions to Dean bring an unexpected, deeper dimension to Dean. The story has begun to roll on the Getting-to-Know-Dean track, and I'm always ready to hop on this ride.

[bee-a-lover]

let’s talk about the shadow and bone s2 ✨controversy✨

here’s my two cents. obviously, beware spoilers ahead.

specifically, this is going to be about how they handled the crows. and as a little disclaimer, you obviously don’t have to agree with me.

what i’ve seen people most upset about is how they took events from crooked kingdom (kaz’s revenge on pekka), or created scenes that somewhat resembled those events (kanej bandage scene, etc) and squashed them into the first four episodes of s2 with no build up. and i can agree that when you view it like that, it’s upsetting and underwhelming.

here’s the thing- i don’t view it like that.

the way i see it, the crows content we got in the first half of season 2 were teasers for what’s to come in their spin-off. a preview for the character development they’re about to go through in their spin-off, and laying groundwork for what’s ahead.

for example, the kanej bandage scene we got in the show was not the bathroom scene from the books. their conversation was not the same and didn’t hold nearly the same weight because it was a conversation from early in six of crows before they had relationship development. what differed was the setting and the actions, but even so, kaz attempting to clean inej’s wounds with his gloves on and telling her simply that pekka rollins killed his brother, having the “tells” convo, WAS NOT kaz opening up about his trauma while pushing himself to clean inej’s wounds without gloves and having that intense intimate moment with her. i keep seeing people say that that WAS the bathroom scene, to which i strongly disagree. what i think will happen is that in the future of the show, we will get the bathroom scene, and we’ll have that on-screen full-circle moment to when kaz was cleaning her wounds in s2 and could barely do so.

and i think that goes for all of the ck-resembling content we got from s2. save for the alby confrontation, which was directly from the books. we did get a version of the slat fight— and based on what i’ve seen with the writer’s talking about the spin-off, we’ll get something equal in emotional weight when the time is right for it. perhaps something with even higher stakes than in the books. because let’s face it, pekka rollins is probably going to be back to haunt kaz. he’s already teaming up with matthias. that guy’s gonna be back, and that’s going to mean something. the new content that will generate is almost like getting six of crows 3 and mixing it into the plot of soc and ck.

and i’m excited for that. i’m excited for the new relationship dynamics we have to work with. inej is getting a taste of her dream going with sturmhond, but we know that isn’t the end for her. she hasn’t had her arc yet where she realizes that she needs to hunt slavers for herself. when she comes back for the six of crows story, it’ll be interesting to see how the realization that something is still missing in her journey to reclaim her life will affect her.

and then there’s kaz, who’s going to be dealing with the realization that revenge is not the end, and like was lightly touched upon in the latter half of the show, he needs to figure out what’s next for him.

and sure, jesper’s getting more comfortable with being a durast where the show leaves him, but what happens when he realizes that his gambling debts have doomed his father? what happens when colm comes back into the picture? those questions from the books are still left unanswered in the show.

wylan in particular i think was done so brilliantly in the show. people were mad that they dropped that he couldn’t read early, but i think it’s genius, because it just leads casual viewers who haven’t read the books away from his other secret even more. people like my mom who haven’t read the books but seen the show just assume that he’s illiterate because he was never taught to read, because he’s presented as just some penniless guy in ketterdam with no money for food. when his true story is revealed, it’ll come as even more of a shock, and put the casual viewer in the same boat as the characters— we thought we knew this guy, but turns out we don’t know him at all. and with wylan and jesper already being in a relationship? something tells me jesper isn’t going to take that well— hence the “merchling” teasing will ensue, and the tension. if anything, their established relationship just ups the stakes. jesper thinking his friend and crush is on the ferolind when it blows up in the books is one thing, but jesper thinking his BOYFRIEND is on the ferolind when it blows up in the show? jesus christ, we aren’t ready for kit young.

what i’m trying to say is, it might help your enjoyment of the show to not view the crows scenes as THE scenes from the books, because with all my heart i don’t think that’s what they are. i’m not saying these “teaser” scenes were necessary, but that goes back to the crows’ inclusion in the shadow and bone plot being forced and unnecessary. which is unfortunate, because the crows deserve to get to the good stuff in their story, but at the moment they’re in a holding position because they just don’t have enough time sharing the screen with s&b to do their story justice. which is WHY GETTING THE SPIN-OFF IS SO IMPORTANT. if you want the storylines we love the crows for, if you want the REAL crooked kingdom scenes with their buildup and emotional impact, we gotta help the crows get their own show. even if that means watching them be filler in the s&b show. which is still completely possible to find enjoyment in, at least from my perspective— you just gotta view it less critically and more like foreshadowing for what’s to come, getting to see these characters build relationships early so that they might in fact be stronger when we get to their story in the show.

and when you view it like that it can be exciting! what’s worse than pekka that the crows will have to deal with? what confrontation will inej wiitness kaz have that affects her view of him like witnessing the alby confrontation in the books did, since she missed it in the show? how will seeing the alby confrontation affect jesper and nina’s perception of kaz (we can still get “who the hell is jordie” guys, jesper doesn’t know kaz’s brother’s name). the s&b show expanding on the crows content, even if the storylines are messy and rushed and unnecessary, is also building their relationships and characters. so when we do get the proper soc storyline, we’re ready for them in a different way than when we started the books.

[nijigasakilove]

It’s crazy cause JC staff will take a season off or so and then come back with TEN, yes you read that correctly, TEN shows in one season holy shit what a studio 😭 they’re cooking on all tho.

Been so excited for this one ever since it was announced, I’ve always found it interesting when I’d see it in the bookshops but when I heard it was getting an anime, I said I’d wait to watch it and I’m glad I did so far. Amazing first episode. Not like I expected at all, thought this would be just like hatamaou, but it’s already 1000x more compelling with a more interesting world, story and characters.

The world Veltol woke up in could not be more different from the one he left not just in appearance, but also the mentality of the people and the gonna be interesting seeing that play out. He was once the top of the food chain and now he’s at the bottom with those he once looked down upon. The magic that once made he and his generals special is now commonplace among the general populace AND one of his closest advisors is now a traitor.

Machina, what a character. The fact she’s been preparing for Veltol’s return all these years by herself laying the groundwork and suffering in silence living in that tiny ass kitchen all alone.. that hug at the end really just summed it up. She deserves it and I know she’s been holding those tears in. Very very good episode here idk how people have it at damn near below a 7 on MAL. First ep raters are the worst lmao.

Can not wait to see that bum Marcus get taken out eventually, also I’m sure that was the hero he passed on the street so it’ll be interesting to hear about his reincarnation as well and all the other interesting stuff that comes with being in a cyberpunk world.

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Do you have a favorite Bridgerton book/storyline?

Favorite/Least Favorite changes book to show?

So let me start this answer by saying that I haven’t watched any of season 3 yet. 🫣 Part of that is money reasons. We pared down our streaming services to the minimum when money was tight and I just haven’t gotten around to renewing my Netflix. Probably will once the rest of season 3 drops because… (book spoilers below the cut)

My 3 favorite books/storylines are:

1) When He Was Wicked (Francesca & Michael Stirling) because holy damn and hell and everything holy in between. Michael Stirling is the epitome of making consent sexy. That's all I'm gonna say about that, but I've seen enough talk and gif's floating around here to know that they've introduced John Stirling already and I am HERE for them laying the groundwork for a season five or six focused on Francesca and Michael Stirling.

2) Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Colin & Penelope) asfklsjfksanfs. I loved how sweet their story is, enough that I am mildly concerned about how they're going to deal with the massive change on the show, i.e. the fact that book!Lady Whistledown didn't nearly bring ruin and humiliation down on the Bridgerton family at all, let alone twice. On the one hand, I understand why show!Penelope did this and I kind of love that they've given her this massive mistake, this huge flaw for her and Colin to work through. But also 🫣 I don't have an excessive amount of faith in them handling these kinds of changes well on the show because the show is all about The Drama. Which brings me to...

3) The Viscount Who Loved Me (Anthony & Kate) Look. I absolutely love some of the changes they've made while translating the books to screen. And I don't even care all that much for the historical accuracy of the show. They threw it out the window with season one and made it a brilliant alternate universe that allows them the freedom to not only give us a diverse cast but also give the middle finger to anyone who says "that' never would've happened." So I'm willing to forgive a lot of changes. Buuuuutttt.... having Anthony actually propose to Edwina, having Edwina actually believing she wanted to marry Anthony, changed the characters in a way that didn't sit very well with me. At least not with the way it was handled on the show.

So that covers my least favorite change they've made on the show so far, now for my two favorite changes.

Benedict. Gah he's so much better, such a more interesting and fleshed out character on the show than he is in the book. They've maintained his fantastic sense of humor and relationships with his siblings and somehow made it better by bringing in the pseudo underground culture of artists, the introduction of queer characters, and his cravats! I could write an ode to show Benedict's wardrobe it is FABULOUS. And while I know I said above that I don't really care for the changes made to Anthony's story, I'm kind of hoping they flip book!Benedict's story on it's head and see where they can take it. Because that book was one of my least favorites. Give him a man. Or give him a woman built like Luisa Madrigal but who sometimes dresses as a man and can pull it off. I don't care but do SOMETHING ELSE besides the nonsense that happens in his book and GIVE HIS PARTNER SOME FUCKING AGENCY.

Queen Charlotte. Look. She's not even in the books, but she's one of my favorite characters on the show. She and Lady Danbury own my whole heart, okay? And her spinoff show... I've only been able to watch it once because (other than the money issue mentioned above), I was crying literal buckets starting somewhere around episode five until the end and I binge watched that shit so what is that like six hours straight crying???? Also, having her as a character gave us Brimsley and Reynolds. (*whispers my poor overworked and beleaguered babies*) I wasn't overly fond of the role she played in dragging out the drama surrounding Anthony and Edwina, but that could've been avoided entirely if you'd given show!Edwina even an ounce of book!Edwina's compassion and understanding of her sister and had her do something equally dramatic like, oh I don't know... TURN HIM DOWN?!?!? (Can you tell I'm still salty about this?)

Alright, that's enough of that. I have a job interview to prepare for, but this was a nice distraction from my inevitable nerves.

Love,

kdnfb

[melfinawins]

I originally posted this in a reblog to @melonatures, but I'ma post it here.

Since you posted this, I haven't been able to forget it. I love it, but it took a little bit to figure out why these two gifs are particularly great.

I love your gifset. Let me explain all the ways:

"No, no, no. Fak's not my best friend."

I love how Carmy's face is turned away from the camera for a moment. And he hesitates and looks towards his front door where Syd just left. But then he agrees that Neil is his best friend. Which is totally fine! But I wonder if he was pressed by say, Nat or Richie he'd say the same thing. Fak is best friends to everyone, but is he Carmy's? I dare say Carmy's best friend is Syd, considering we're shown in the show how they are quietly and steadily laying the groundwork for a long, strong and substantial partnership. A partnership that is also a relationship.

We know that Carmy is working with Syd to reach her goal of a Michelin star, stars he thinks are bullshit. This is her goal but he's more than happy to help her reach it, to the point that he's willing to give her hands-on training on how to perfect a dish. Perfection requires fine tuning and precise decisions. Syd is an amazing chef early in her career, and has the makings of a wunderkind on the food scene if she can harness her natural abilities and training. I think Carmy sees that in her and admires it. I think he's attracted to her love of food and by spending time with her on the menu and just hanging out, it's reminding him that, even if he became a chef to spite Mikey, he actually loves it, he just didn't want to do it alone.

In working together to make the menu for The Bear, which will also help Syd get the star she covets, they've gotten close (more close than sitting behind the shop and commiserating), even if it's how they each come to their ideas about menus. In Honeydew, Luca tells Marcus that he experiences life and that's a part of what makes him a better chef. Sydney already does this. We see in Sundae how Syd gets inspiration for dishes, as well as her getting ideas in dreams (shortrib and risotto). Carmy is by the book, but I think he likes the way Syd thinks. That man would have never put chips on Nat's omelette! But I think Syd craves his wealth of knowledge and experience and ability to edit himself. We see in an episode where she realizes she's doing too much to a dish with Tina. Carmy helps her by hearing the ingredients and giving advice; I love Tina and everybody else, but only Carmy can provide that for her. They really do compliment each other, and learn about each other through their cooking.

"I fe- sorry, I feel like I should have known that, or, or- something--"

Makes sense that Carmy was mistaken! I think he's gotten to know aspects of Syd over a short period of time and in this scene he's maybe noticing that Syd holds things close to her chest. Omission plays a big role in her psyche. He can't just assume that she's okay or that she's an open book, because she's not.

Like mentioned above, I think Carmy is learning a lot about Syd through their menu creating. He's listening to her stories and anectdotes, laughing at her humor and learning about what she values through the food she creates. They have such symmetry through food, he assumed (incorrectly) that he knew more about her than he did. Because Syd is bringing back his love of food and the two of them really do communicate their desires through food. Syd loves taking care of people. But so does Carmy! They both don't want to use tweezers on food they don't care about. They want to use tweezers to show how much they love people lol

I love his stuttering in this gif because this man lost the plot and thought he could substitute communicating through food with actual communication. Example: Bro really was confused when Syd wasn't happy about the wall being torn down. By his logic, he tore the wall down for her, like he's working on the menu for her, so what's the big deal? (Someone save this man.) He's very action oriented, so it flew right by him that making a menu with Claire for Syd wasn't it, because he thought doing this action was what she wanted--like he said in that particular scene. But Syd wants communication and hands-on training (😏😏😏), because they're doing this together and if he just wants to put a menu together without her, she can just go somewhere else and make bullshit no-love tweezer dishes. They're supposed to be doing this for the love of food, not to just make money.

And even though they talk to each other via food, it doesn't make up for the other way they can and should communicate: straight up talking.

But The Table ™️ scene shows, in my opinion, that he's learning that. "Say more, please."

Anyway! I love this gifset melonatures. Sorry if this broke any Tumblr edicate. I loved your gifset. Thanks for making it! ❤️

[markantonys]

Idk if you saw the Josha Collider interview but he kinda hints we might get some Randlayne in s3? Which I am curious about that cause I didn't think they'd have time. Also that the Randfear relationship will continue where it left off and get even more complicated (which is very much their Shadow Rising dynamic)

i'm gobbling up these randlayne crumbs!!

but he keeps it very vague here and i don't think there's anything too surprising in what he says - the fact that the show took the time to signal randlayne in 2x08 definitely implies to me that they plan to follow up on it in SOME way in season 3, and given that daniel was already talking about having filmed some lanaeve scenes way back in june which according to the block filming schedule would probably mean those scenes are somewhere in the first block (eps 1&2), i think we can pretty safely assume that the tanchico & waste travel groups won't split up right away, and that we'll see rand and elayne interacting early in the season.

now, that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be making out all over falme or declaring their love for each other already! "a gradual thing which needs to be organic" definitely makes me feel pretty good about my prior randlayne guess, which is that they'll be getting to know each other and building a connection early in s3 and laying that groundwork for romance, but nothing explicitly romantic will happen between them before they split up for their respective journeys. because they wouldn't have included that Moment between them in 2x08 if they didn't intend to build upon it pretty promptly at the start of season 3, so we've got to be seeing SOMETHING more on the randlayne front, but i don't think it will be anything huge. and what josha says here supports both parts of that prediction, i think! his comments on rand's headspace at the start of s3 also make me think it's unlikely rand will be jumping straight into brand-new romance during the first episode block, and since we know tanchico & the waste are both in, i don't think rand would see elayne again until the second half of s3 at the earliest and perhaps not until s4 (in person, anyway; further randlayne development through TAR chats is not outside the realm of possibility!)

and of course, avirand isn't something josha would be hinting at even a tiny bit in interviews since it's way too much of a spoiler, given that the two of them haven't even met yet, so randlayne being the s3 romance he's discussing doesn't mean avirand won't sneak in there and end up happening first! but all this being said, i am always ready for the show to surprise me and prove me totally wrong haha

and he made intriguing comments about randfear too, like you say!

in a couple of today's other interviews he said he wants randfear endgame djkjfg i'd have a shipping war with him about that, but i love how much he's loving digging into this relationship! lanfear positioning herself as ~the only one who understands him~ despite him being surrounded by his friends definitely sets up some toxic shit and i can't wait to see where that goes in s3. i love Mess!!

(..................i'm saying nothing about book!min positioning herself as ~the only one who understands him~. nothing at all!)

wait a moment. literally right here josha says rand is with his friends at the start of season 3, so that pretty much confirms we'll be starting off with the gang all still together!!!!!! (of course, he could mean just that he's with mat & egwene en route to the waste, but given daniel's confirmation of lanaeve scenes, i think at this point we can feel very very confident in seeing the whole gang still together at the start of the season)

[lover-of-mine]

I’ve thought about it and considering we haven’t seen Lou on set yet if he’s going to be back in season 8 (though like everyone else I would not be mad if he just didn’t come back at all lol) I feel like one or more of the 3 following scenarios is happening

1. He’s been on set but for such minor scenes just to wrap up that storyline that it just so happened he wasn’t caught on camera

2. He’s not allowed to be involved in any PR including behind the scenes videos because of his cameo nonsense

3. He hasn’t been on set yet but he will be and they just didn’t have time during opening emergency stuff (which is what they’ve been filming I believe) to deal with BT breakup so maybe the first 3 eps focus on the emergency and Eddie and Tommy isn’t really mentioned (unless maybe by Buck to lay groundwork that it’s not working out) and then he comes back in ep 4 or later for the breakup.

I’m curious your thoughts now that we’re a little further into filming and have gotten some behind the scenes stuff.

Okay, I think that no matter what that man is under the most strict NDA an abc lawyer ever had to write. Second, they don't film things linearly and our first sign that Marisol was gonna be back was almost a month into filming even tho she was in 701, there's a chance they filmed emergencies in a bulk because of location availability and consistency or just because it was easier to block those together and he didn't show up yet because they are just now starting to film non call related stuff. But I feel like the longer we don't see him the options are:

They decided bringing him back is not worth it and that the narrative can take the hit of having him being written off off-screen because of the chaos the ghost of his presence can create (ref most recently the comments on Kenny's reel but literally anything else) or that they found out that the cameos were a breach of contract and they are not bringing him back at all. This is the less likely scenario in my head, but it is a possibility;

He already has been in to film whatever scenes they need him in. Like, they clustered them together, locked him and Oliver in a set for a day and then sent him on his way without anyone else seeing him because he's under the most strict NDA known to men and the rest of the crew just didn't post him;

He will show up soon and still be in the opening arc because realistic anything they film up until the end of the month can end up in the first episode anyway (opinion of a video editor, considering how s7 was, maybe even first week of September could still mean first episode);

He will show up soon but will only be addressed once the opening arc is over. I think this one is extremely unlikely mostly because the longer it takes to address the relationship, the crazier things are gonna get, just watch the way the other side is already losing it, it's gonna get worse once the show starts airing, he needs to be addressed quick, ignoring him within the narrative for 3/4 episodes is gonna create problems, for marketing and for the narrative;

He's been there multiple times already and they actually are hiding him. Hiding as in making a point of not letting anything involving him hit social media. This is a network show not a marvel movie so I don't see why they would hide him, but at this point I need to say it is a possibility that he is being hidden to avoid creating conversation.

He's a schrodinger cat. He's both there and not there at all times until we see something definitive. I still think they need him for at least 2 scenes (maybe one if they do the rest of the work with Buck talking to other people but it will be pushing it) so I'm not holding my breath for him not to come back at all. But I also know he's gonna be addressed in episode 1. Ali was addressed in 301, Taylor and Ana are both in 501, Natalia is addressed in 701 and Marisol is in 701. Whatever happens with him, we will know in 801.

[emilykaldwen]

People are allowed to be upset and disappointed about the finale (and the season in general). We're all on our own blogs, we get to do that. Make sure you tag things appropriately (the a*nti H*otd tag is a handy one). But also make sure you step back and take a breather. This show should not be throwing you into a conniption fit.

For me? My final thoughts:

I'm more than happy for my feelings on this season to change over the hiatus. I know I'll re-watch the episodes in a few months and I'm able to sit and really go with the story and not react for the first time. I can just look at the season as a whole and see where it goes.

In a perfect world, they wouldn't have filmed during the writer's strike. In a perfect world, HBO wouldn't have cut their two episodes at the 11th hour. They wouldn't have had to throw out the fucky Sopochnik treatments when he stormed out, and when Matt/Emma/Olivia threatened to walk. The lead up to the production of this past season was a messy one, and I think it shows.

This season had good bones. When it hit? It absolutely hit. Episode 2 continues to be one of my faves. 2x06 was also fantastic. I genuinely was delighted and enjoyed the Riverlands arc. I loved Aegon's storyline and everything brought to it. I loved Jace getting fleshed out.

I absolutely was frothing at the mouth for the noting of how shitty the nobility is to the peasantry. Even if it was uneven and awkward, I'm glad that's getting brought up and brought in. God, Rhaenyra Cult Leader drinking the Targ Supremacy kool-aid? Loved that choice. Jace realizing his mother doesn't care for him/Rhaenyra making the same parenting mistakes that Viserys did? Loved it! And there are a lot of other things about this season I did love.

The acting was fantastic across the board, I felt so vindicated in some of these choices. I know a lot of us did.

But where the show disappointed me, it disappointed me hard. And the thing is, you can see where the writers are going with it, nothing is out of left field, it's all there... but I look at it as the same way you see someone taking the wrong route in the forest that will still get to a destination, but it's not the... don't go that way it's not a trail?

I think a lot of the frustrations with this season are absolutely because of the s1 missteps, namely that I think as a fandom everyone collectively agrees season one should have been two seasons. Season one should have ended with Driftmark. We should have had more time with the kids growing up, we could lay the groundwork.

We know that there was a lot happening outside of Condal's control with the issues and changes happening with HBO. It's unfortunate. And I think that exacerbated the issues in the writers room that were already there.

Fire and Blood is not a perfect book. It's a mock-u-history book that is very fun, with templates of who these characters were. They are not fleshed out characters, so the writers had a sandbox to play with. But we do know the basic foundations of who they are, and I think a lot of that got lost in the 'I know better' mentality that I really feel in Condal's interviews. There's expanding on ideas and then there's... 'I can do better/improve on this' when it doesn't have to be that deep.

Anyway, I'm still here, I'm still writing, I'm wholly amused that some of the convos and plot points are similar to what I've written and planned, because we are all playing in the sandbox.

Just remember everyone: This is the dragon incest fantasy show. It does not define you, it's not the end all be all. Don't harsh on anyone's joy, don't go off the rails with your anger and frustration. Curate your spaces, give people space, and always try to find the joy in things.

[iamafanofcartoons]

Rabbit Debunks Hbomberguy’s “RWBY is Disappointing Video” and explains why the Critics are wrong about RWBY.  Part 1 of 2

Making a thread reacting to the hbomberguy RWBY is Disappointing video.

Mostly as a refresher and also because there’s been a lot of dissension regarding it so why not.

Intro Calls it R (Rue) By lmaoo.

You’re not supposed to pronounce the W So the gist of it, is that he feels like it has great concept that could be interesting, but fails to execute it in any meaningful way???

Like overall it’s bad but there’s few good glimpses-

Of what could be a great show.

I guess for now I guess I can give it the benefit of the doubt and assume good intentions so far.

No words on the History of Monty Oum and RT history.

I mean it pretty much all checks out

Though immediately admitting your bias against the show takes the validity of some of your criticisms away ngl.

So he loves the Red Trailer but brings up the views it gained and then brings up the views of the episodes (Vol 1 ep 1 and 2) as a sort of gotcha like “oh see the trailer is more popular than the episode like look at the 15M to (episode 2) 6.8M ratio!!!”

Like those are two-  Wildly different things my guy

But what’s up with that “Red Like Roses Part 1 is the best composed music Jess has ever done” take?????

That’s wild asF fr.

Like no way you listened to the soundtracks of V1-3 and still have that opinion.

Like it’s amazing but????

“Does she get the scar from the fight or from something else, oooo mysterious”.

Is this a bit????

She so obviously gets the scar from the fight so I hope it’s just a bit lmao.

Also the complaint about Adam is so weird?

“He’s so obviously a bad guy that it doesn’t make sense”

“Since there’s already wolves set up as the baddies in the series”

Like, it’s not word for word what he said but that’s the gist of it?

It’s a bad and very nitpicky complaint since there are many series with more than 1 antagonist and antagonistic force.

I don’t know.

Saying “it’s coming from a well meaning place” but then saying it’s extremely bad, followed up by an intro song saying that RWBY is lame and it sucks all while dedicating it to Monty is…. So disgusting??? And very disingenuous???

Using the ending of Vol 2 as a point in your “they don’t know their story” when Ruby is laying down all the things that they have yet to solve (leading into the new volume and this laying down the groundwork for it)

It’s obviously in your face my dude.

Ah damn, a little out of order, but is there instances where Miles or Kerry  acknowledges good faith criticism? Panels? Deleted tweets? Anything?

Mainly just curious if it’s true that they haven’t and he just didn’t do the research by saying he “has a hard time finding any”

Another thing. Forgot to mention.

Really wish he prefaced his complaints about the voice acting and writing that he understood that the studio itself was amateurish and small with not a lot of budget to work with. (Unless that’s true) not that there isn’t criticism but that- There are TANGIBLE reasons why it’s the way that it is.

Where Do We Even Start?

Uhhh they never dropped the Dust Theft plot line????

Volume 2 was literally the culmination of the dust theft and the reason is because of Cinder’s plans.

Another thing that’s in your face but just, weirdly you gloss over???

“The intro doesn’t set up the story properly… leaves out the fragile peace between the nations…. Leaves out faunus… leaves out semblances…”

Quite literally, the intro talks about things that weren’t even revealed until Vol 4 to 9. The intro is good and sets up what it NEEDS-

Like sure you can say “oh but it’s only added till later when they got the story that they wanted to tell straight”

Mate, a pro tip for a lot of writers renowned/acclaimed have admitted that some of their works or some of their best writing decisions were made by the seat- Of their pants.

You think Naruto, one of the most iconic and popular anime of all time would have spun into how it is just off the intro of the first episode?

What about Bleach?

ATLA?

One Piece???

There are so many instances where the intro just isn’t all encompassing bc- That just isn’t how story writing goes.

You can have the best most rigid outline in the whole world, but at times you’re gonna go off script because there’s something you want to expand upon more or explore.

Ends off this segment by saying that RWBY’s story is interesting and it has neat ideas (backahandedly by adding “to write a wiki about”) but the storytelling only gets worse.

Which, I sort of disagree with???

It’s not stellar by any means, but I chalk that up with them- Not having the sort of resources available.

However from what they managed TO put together it was coherent enough to convey what they were meaning to portray.

Though I do have my gripes with certain aspects of the first two volumes.

But from V3 on? It’s only gotten- Stronger.

Yes I harp on V5 a LOT and it’s still one of the weaker volumes, but the conversations and character dynamics where stronger than they’ve been.

It was mainly the animation in the last few episodes of the giant fight that I just, wasn’t vibing with at all.

Worldbuilding and Conveyance

So next he talks about how aura was explained.

Bringing up both Harry Potter and ATLA and how they tell it as an example.

Following it up by making a rwby edit to make it seem as if it was mundane and boring.

Which isnt the case at all.

If you- Actually take the time to watch the scene.

It's about 1:20 long and while the explanation of what Aura does is being told to the viewer, it shows Ren taking down the King Taijitu with his aura.

It's another valid form of story telling because it's not just two characters talking on screen.

it's also giving us an insight of how it would be put into action.

"No one just happens to have full on speeches prepared in case anyone is to ask"

Uhhh, have you met Weiss?

Even the examples you gave literally is Hermione and Katara.

"Why does Jaune not know about this?

When he came from a long line of hero's and monster Hunters."

Idk, how does Naruto not know about Chakra despite 8 years as a academy student.

He probably just skipped out on it or didn't take it seriously enough.

He never went to- A prep school like Signal either.

His transcripts were faked, so you could easily say he went to Beacon with nothing more than a Dime, A old Rickety sword and a dream lol.

Also Pyrrha is super smart and also a really great battle tactician.

Of course she would be able to- recite what Aura does word for word.

It's not mischaracterization.

You just want to twist that narrative against her.

And not just that, I feel a strong mischaracterization of Jaune.

If Jaune is played off as an idiot for jokes, that's cool. But if he's shown to just not- Understand or doesn't know about the world at large, then that could hint at the fact that Jaune is more than just an idiot.

He's probably born in the sticks/boonies.

A country bumpkin if you will where Hunters aren't all that well known nor pop culture.

It doesn't dumb down the other characters.

Because Weiss is frustrated herself that someone so famous isn't recognizable by anyone and everyone in the world.

Same thing with her and the SDC

For Christ sakes, he only knew Pyrrha from a cereal box be fr

Well he brings up the Jaundice thing and yeah that's fair, a lot of people have gripes with that (i'm not one of them) and brings up how Pyrrha is only really a character for Jaune's development as a fighter and romance option but not much else on her own.

Which... Yeah I kinda- get that too.

Like, I liked Pyrrha too, but I do wish she had more to do in V1 and 2.

But in V3 is where she shines.

Hell there were so many people who did cry and got shocked by the end of Vol 3 even with the amount of screentime she gets.

"Praise RWBY for being feminist and progessive cause most of the mcs are women... But Jaune has 4 episodes dedicated to him, and has the coolest girl in school flirting and helping him become a stronger warrior."

Jaune isn't the main character.

How I've always viewed RWBY and JNPR has always been: RWBY as the protagonist and JNPR as the deuteragonist.

They hold about the same amount of importance because of how close their teams are.

So of course you're going to want to give the deuteragonist development and screentime to.

And yes Jaune had Jaundice.

RWBY still has an ABSURD amount of episodes dedicated to them as well so the balance/ration will always be in RWBY's favor regardless of how you feel about Jaune as a character and Jaune's importance to the story.

Same goes for the rest of NPR

"The writer's dont know what Yang's semblance is.

It goes from her being angry, to it being her taking hits and she transfers that energy back to them by hitting them again, and then temper tantrums, and then re-xeplain it as a redirection of energy stored from hits."-

Uhh, no.

Her semblance has always been about redirection of stored energy from attacks and aiming them back at the opponent.

Every single time we see her use it, it's always after she's taken several hits.

It's probably still possible to use it without taking hits, but its more than- likely less powerful.

He goes on to talk about how semblances are abstract and only gets mentioned 14 episodes later.

Which sure ok, but the gist of them and how they work are still easily within the story.

Could they have expanded upon it more earlier on? Yeah they could.

But to sit there and say, "When Pyrrha used her abilities and Ruby and Weiss look at her like she was weird and surprised and confused she has powers too"

no no no no no, that is grossly misreading the scene.

Pyrrha has kept her semblance a secret from anyone and everyone.

No one knows what it is or if she even had one.

They were just confused by what she did, why her hand glowed black, and why her hand was out.

It had nothing to do with them being confused about why someone else had a semblance, but more so they never knew what Pyrrha's was.

and also, the reading of Semblance = magic is both meh and eh.

Like if you looked at any and every single semblance that exists in RWBY, every single one of them have to do with concepts that has nothing to do with earth, wind, fire, and water.

Whereas Magic in the series- has Maidens throwing storms, lightning bolts, fire, ice, etc. at any enemy they choose.

That's the major difference between magic and semblance.

Magic is divine, naturalistic. Semblances are more man made if that makes sense.

Man he really does not like how semblances are portrayed/exposited.

Like it's been just as long as he harped on for Pyrrha expositing the aura scene.

like the exaggeration that he's going to, to explain this is kinda crazy

It's not a semi complicated concept at all, like he said it was.

It's very easy to follow and very easy to understand. he brings up Emerald and Cinder knowing about it, but doesn't bring up the fact that Pyrrha had to have put it in her application for Beacon or her personal- record that only Beacon has track of.

A record that they broke into with the helps of Watts, but not just that.

But Mercury also figured it out because he's an intelligent fighter just like Pyrrha is.

You can just say that Pyrrha's opponents were all just dumb for not figuring it out.

But no, it's just bad writing I guess.

Brings up WoR as an example of not being able to tell the story completely and labels it as homework.

It's not necessarily out of the norm though.

There are lots of character guides, extra material that expands on characters, worlds-

nd ideas that you can't really put the time in the show to do.

Like let's look at the first 3 volumes and how most episodes where 12-15 minutes long.

And even then they were still trying to get the hang of writing for something so massive as RWBY.

Having extra material so readers can get a better understanding of the world around them isn't bad. because even then, most everyone knows who Faunus are.

How Aura works, what a semblance is. all of these on a surface level.

If you want to dig deep, thats what WoR is for.

Unless you just wanna insult the show and embrace ignorance?

Some Positive Examples

Such a nothing complaint really. 

Just Miles and Kerry's writing vs Monty's character acting (in terms of how he conveys the four in a team fight (example being Team RWBY vs Mecha Roman)). 

I mean, I dont know what to really say here.

"The writers are so busy writing drama and wacky skits to explain why they're friends while Monty is putting in the REAL work with the fight scenes and showing how close they are and how far ruby has come at becoming a leader."  

Yeah... Cause that's what writers and animators do

Briefly touches on Ships and how Monty, Kerry, and Miles referenced them in the fight. (also decided to call it creepy since Ruby is 15 and the other girls are 17...

Which isn't that bad??

Like Sophomore and Senior in High School really).

Wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki 15 and Naruto not even 13?

Also says they didn't make a name- for Ruby and Yang because of the certain fans that ship those two together so they avoided that one altogether

.... Which yeah??? Did you want them too lol??

I can't seem to see his point of bringing this up because on one hand it feels like he's admonishing them for it, but  on the other hand he seems... like he's a little upset that they dont have a team attack name?

Maybe just at the inconsistency of it. Which i can understand.

I would have maybe came up with one that isn't fandom made so they can have a cool SISTERS team attack, like Rose Dragon!

Ends off this segment talking about more Miles and Kerry vs Monty (with Shawn being added in).

Another example of writing vs character expositing through animation by using the Pyrrha vs Mercury fight as well as the exposition between Emerald, Cinder, and Mercury.

Lots of talk about animation being weird and how he's seen worse animation but the stories were good enough to overlook it.

I'd be a broken record by stating this again and again.

But just look at what they had to work with. Look at how divided the writing and the animation- really were with Monty coming up with new characters that the team had to shove in last minute.

Look at Poser even and how the engine was something really only Monty and Shane (oops I made a mistake in that other post) could work to the level that they did.

Look at RT and even CRWBY at the time.

And now look where they are now.

You can't tell me that they've gone downhill when most of your gripes that you've complained about are/have been fixed in the later seasons.

Gonna end it here and make it a 2 parter. This thread is-

Long enough and I'm tired extremely lol.

I'll do a QRT tomorrow and start it back up. 

If anyone has more to add or correct me on, feel free to QRT anything you feel i didnt do a good job of explaining or just missed in general.

Any help is appreciated.

https://twitter.com/PhonyMangaka/status/1653898140678856704

[paperstorm]

I always thought TKs heartbreaking line from 313 when he says something like you don't want those pieces (of me) was so sad but very telling. This was when they're back together in their loft but those insecurities and hurt still haunts him and all the love cant fix it. Can't even imagine what he was feeling right after the breakup, must have been thousands times worse 🥺🥺 I'm very excited to read your take on it, feels like you've already done the groundwork with your last fics in the series.

Yeah 😭😭 He really believes that Carlos might not love him anymore if he knew all of his dark past. These damn boys!!!!! They both have such deep scars of insecurity. I have a draft for the fic for that episode where after Cooper leaves and TK is crying Carlos gets him to just like lay it all out. Just like "Tell me the things you did at your lowest moments. What are you the most ashamed of" so that he can then show TK "okay, see, now I know that, and I still love you."

[jbk405]

Like I said last night, my read of season 2 of Arcane so far is that they're trying to fit two (or even three) season's worth of content into these nine episodes. I could be wrong, but that's how it comes across.

What I'm guessing was the original plan was for the first episode to actually be spread across the first three (Act 1). They would spend time introducing the three members of the Enforcer Team so that we-the-audience would understand why Caitlyn is drafting them into her personal strike force. This would in turn give the show time to actually introduce them to us (I still can't get past the fact that they literally still haven't even named two of them yet). We'd see them display some unique skills -- any skills -- and also perhaps show some area of unique bravery or honesty.

These episodes would also give time to show Caitlyn buckling under the grief of losing her mother as an ongoing crushing weight instead of a single breakdown. Vi, seeing Caitlyn falling apart and also seeing her try to "soldier on", could grow to accept joining the Enforcers with the rationale that she's supporting Caitlyn in her time of need. Maybe also with having conversations with the other three people where they talk about 'reforming from within' and 'showing that not all Zaunites are bad' or something else along those lines.

So, at the end of Act 1 we have the scene where Caitlyn stomps into the council chambers and 'takes charge' with her team, and instead of wondering 'Who the hell are these people with her and why the hell is Vi an Enforcer now?' we think 'Ah yes, she's going to Kick Ass and Take Names with this badass crew!"

And then we get to the second three episodes (Act 2) and we see that it's not quite working out that way. We can still have the one year timeskip here, and we see that the Enforcer Team is now jaded and cynical. After a year without any real obvious gains, no end (Because these things never end at the barrel of a gun), they're getting violent with civilians in the Undercity and they're using the Gray as chemical warfare. The bubbly Junior Officer who was going to be the cute team sidekick is instead twitchy and trigger-happy, and the other two are...something (We don't know anything about them so I can't guess what kind of angle the show would have gone with). In essence, they're just another crew of Enforcers kicking around the inhabitants of Zaun.

Hence why Vi has the conversation with Caitlyn where she explicitly discusses how everybody is changing, and she begs Caitlyn to stay herself.

Here they would show Caitlyn unraveling most of all. Over the course of these three episodes we see her obsession with Jinx growing and growing. We see at least one operation where they almost catch her, before she gets away (And the Enforcers know she was there, unlike that sequence where she hid in the Gray and they never realized what was going on). She comes very close to crossing 'the line' several times, and always only just stops herself. So when they manage to corner Jinx in the fight with Sevika, to see her get away again, apparently with Vi's "help", it's the climax to an arc we've been following all along of Caitlyn becoming consumed by her hatred instead of just being fueled by it.

This would have let them lay the groundwork for Caitlyn turning on Vi in a moment of anger, instead of it really coming out of nowhere and just being stupid.

The final three episodes of the season (Act 3) are less clearly divided based on what we've already gotten, but I imagine it would have showed Ambessa's manipulations to set the stage for her coup. Perhaps with Caitlyn being installed as the dictator of Piltover in the final episode to set up season three.

Everything that we've gotten so far in the actual Act 2 probably would have been saved for season three, combined with what's still upcoming in Act 3. Although maybe with some of the Viktor stuff still happening now, spread out here-and-there.

In addition to better pacing and groundwork for these stories, spreading this out would have also given them time to actually show Mel Medarda, who has tragically been sidelined for much of the season. We could also follow whatever adventure Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger are on, instead of presumably having the info backfilled in the upcoming last three episodes.

It really feels like that's what they wanted to do, and are just cutting out all the setup for each plotline so that they can squeeze it into the episode count they have.

[muninnhuginn]

Thought I'd speculate about the Lu Guang possession scenario before next episode discards this all entirely. Looked at the standard dive protocol and how that maps onto what we know of the current situation. See below cut:

Standard procedure for a dive:

First go around takes place. This then lays the groundwork that CXS has to follow.

CXS possesses the person who took the photo (or in case of CCTV is inserted into the scenario as himself)

CXS then has to ensure that the timeline continues as in the original timeline. This isn't as straightforward as "everything has to be done identically" because minor changes can actually take place without breaking continuity. This is best demonstrated in the earthquake arc wherein CXS is able to deliver Chen Xiao's words to his friends/mother without it altering the node. This worked because the main node was the earthquake and so unless Chen Xiao had been able to entirely remove the others from the scenario there was little to be done that could save them. The way that timelines work in Link Click appears to show that timelines do have some give in them. Minor deviations are tolerated so long as the nodes aren't changed. The most important nodes we encounter in the series are death nodes (Emma being the obvious one, though it's unclear if her node always led to her death or if CXS's actions caused her death) though it seems as though they're not limited to that. Doudou's kidnapping, for instance, was also a node, which was why CXS had to let him be kidnapped and let the time pass until the present.

What makes an event a node is unclear, though I speculate that it's simpler than it seems in that it is "any event that would change the past such that the dive in the present would no longer be able to take place". In other words, if a node is changed, a paradox will occur as the initiating event is lost. This would explain the Doudou node and also fit with how Chen Xiao was able to get married and have a child in the new timeline (as implied by the ring he only has after the dive). So long as his mother died and the camera survived, CX would always be given the camera by his father once his father refound it and this was the triggering event for the dive.

(It's very broadstroke, of course, because if the task was to deliver the words and it was successful then Chen Xiao would no longer think he needed to deliver the words and so would no longer ask. You could argue it's a stable loop and CX just blocked out saying the words initially because of the trauma but in that case why the ring and child after the dive and not before? That implies something has changed, and we know it's not the node. So yeah. We're going broadstrokes with this and setting the rule as what makes sense within the series rather than following the implications of the writing through to the end conclusion.)

With all this in mind, if a node can't be changed because it would cause a paradox; if a dive is always CXS following the original path and he can diverge in minor ways but not stray entirely. Well, by that logic, the original path had to have been laid down by Lu Guang.

Others have already pointed out the kettle, but we know that in the first loop, the window was smashed by something else as the kettle is still visible in the room. In CXS's current dive however, he used the kettle to smash the window. And here's the part where I diverge from most people's speculation: I don't think using the kettle to smash the window necessarily alters the timeline. I think the timeline has enough leeway in it that CXS can still muddle his way through if he follows the rest of Lu Guang's path.

(Actually, tbh it's possible we're following CXS on his nth time around because so long as he doesn't have LG's guidance he never knows what was used to smash the window and so could pick a different item each time. We saw how he hesitated over picking an item so depending on the slight alterations of the previous loop he could easily pick a different one each time so long as it doesn't alter the node. The important thing is that LG did the initial loop and this is CXS in a following loop. I don't think the series itself will really care too much about saying this is xy number loop and will just keep it as "this is CXS's dive" because that's what it's done literally every other time).

If there is to be a divergence point, I believe it would be at the boat as at this point CXS wants to save LG and it seems odd with what we know of his characterisation that he would deliberately give Lu Guang up. I do think he will just because what Lu Guang said to Li Tianchen was censored from the viewers and so we'll almost certainly get to hear what he says this time around, but as for his motivation in handing Lu Guang over, I honestly don't know at this stage. It may simply be that he's constrained by not wanting to alter the nodes? Which would be character development for him tbh. CXS did well with altering Chen Bin's past without altering the node of his death, but as Lu Guang is much closer to him it really is a test of his character.