#this is how the prison cube episode went like we are all aware of this right

[yutamayo]

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time!! last night* we watched tng's "descent part ii" and ds9's "the homecoming." *times changed i am typing this at fuck o'clock but it will have been last night when this posts

descent part ii (tng):

this was...a little underwhelming

it's kind of unclear whether all borgs are just like this now or whether there is still a sexy collective of cube-shaped inevitability out there somewhere. at the end of the episode i still didn't know. it was great to see hugh again though

i think before riker and worf stormed the castle riker should have given him a little kissy. for luck.

OBVIOUSLY i am distressed at poor data getting brainwashed and HURTING HIS BESTIE!!! but i think they did it backwards. i think they should have had him torture picard and then be unable to shoot geordi. or actually no fuck picard anyway both things should have been geordi. but the final moment should have belonged to geordi because that's data's closest connection.

anyway, lore putting on the visor was EVIL. i was gasping and covering my mouth the entire time. it was definitely distressing, but even though we were lucky to get the little fallout we did, it still didn't feel like enough. data faced absolutely no consequences for his actions and we didn't even get into whether or not they WERE his actions

i'm glad geordi stopped him from destroying the chip though. it is horrifying to me that data has now been traumatized by the very idea of having emotions. dream ruined...

i'm almost sure lore will be back. i know what happens to data in picard :/

also, CAPTAIN BEVERLY!!!! i was so thrilled for her. i loved watching her sit in that chair. i really hated that one guy who kept talking down to the female ensign though. fuck off, dude, beverly is captain, we're doing feminism rn

the homecoming (ds9):

so they labeled this episode "the homecoming (1)" and the episode after it "the circle (2)" which mean it's a two-parter episode but not one that's immediately apparent...so i sort of felt a little cheated when it ended "early." i think if you're gonna have a two-parter they should have the same name and be labeled with part i and part ii. just a thought. i know enterprise does this too and now i understand what those numbers mean!! baffling...

anyway, i fucking loved it. like, i could go on and on. just watch me.

i of course have to talk about kira in this episode. she is always so determined to do right by her people which of course is awesome i love watching her go but more importantly she was SOOOO HOT. MA'AM. MA'AM

the outfit. the new hairdo where they slick it down at the sides to make you think she took a little off there. her and o'brien laughing at that cardassian together 😳 their action hero moment..........

i love also that all of that was perfectly platonic. she was like do i look sexy enough to pull this off and he responded in the affirmative and it never felt like he was running around on his wife. picard, take notes

actually, this episode sort of makes me remember why o'brien is such a natural choice for ds9...in addition to probably being the one who was in the transporter room when picard was beamed back after his capture and torture by the cardassians (he is always very quick to point out to sisko that he's LITERALLY SEEN how they treat their prisoners when we need a reminder of the stakes, so it obviously made a strong impression on him), we have that one episode of tng i always forget about because it's all the way back in season fucking 4 where o'brien is like, it's not you i hate cardassian, i hate what i became because of you. he's seen the cardassians at war and he's been personally affected by it, and you get the feeling that he's also well aware that his experiences, while bad, are just the tip of the iceberg of awful.

and like, it adds so much depth to sending HIM into enemy territory with kira. she warned him they might not come back, and he has a wife and child at home, and he STILL WENT. it was an extremely brave thing to do, and remembering his history in this context leads me to interpret this as something he felt he HAD to do, morally

actually, to veer off a second...i really always love how sisko tries his best to throw his weight behind kira, to protect her and support her. like, him giving that low whistle and going "man i wish you hadn't told me what you wanted that shuttle for" but then going to like dax for example and trying to spitball an idea to make it work. he threads the needle of what's morally correct with what's legally permissible as far as his job goes really well, it never feels like he just pulls the correct solution out of his ass, he always struggles with it

but the thing is HE WENT TO DAX. and dax ALREADY KNEW. he then, to back to o'brien, went to o'brien to work out a plan and o'brien had ALREADY COME UP WITH ONE. there is something so incredibly cathartic about seeing all the starfleet guys in particular triangulating around kira and backing her up for no other reason than they care about her and it's the right thing to do.

anyway, i havent even TOUCHED on the rest of the episode yet. i really could go on and on about kira.

okay, other things! whatever quark is doing was really funny. i wish he had actually given his brother a fair share of the profits, but i guess the new leaf he's turning over doesn't extend that far. his whole sections with odo and kira were hilarious though - the whole episode was actually pretty charming when it wasn't being serious.

i kind of had that guy down as either not really being who they thought he was or not being as brave and cool as they thought he was and i was right. i DO think he should be allowed to retire even if bajor does need him...ten years in a labor camp and straight back to work but now it's political? not my ass. i'd never lift a finger again unless i had to.

ESPECIALLY BECAUSE HE'S REPLACING KIRA??? like ofc i know she isn't leaving but what a plot twist...no fucking good deed goes unpunished.

speaking of dax, sorry, her hair looks EVEN WORSE in season 2........i really hope in season 3 and onward they fix it :(

jake got sooo tall. wah. he's growing like a weed. i really loved the bit where sisko comes in from a long day, yawning, and then he's got to comfort his son about being dumped for being human because of political extremists. and he doesn't slack off on the dad job anymore than he does on the starfleet job. it was such a chuckle earlier in the episode when sisko was panicking because they were too young to do anything but talk in public places only, and now it's like. sad.

quark getting branded was ofc horrible but it WAS really funny that bashir had to more or less threaten him to get him to hold still enough to heal him. king. i love julian sm

i feel like the cardassians giving up their prisoners was a little TOO easy. like. it didn't strike me until just now but i feel like that was sooo easy like everything worked out as smooth as butter. some shit is Happening

TONIGHT: tng's "liaisons" and ds9's "the circle," neither of which i have read the summaries for. i have a feeling our run of pretty solid tng episodes is over for now bc we've switched seasons but SIGH hope springs eternal.

[fruitso]

Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution Analysis + Theories!

Okay, so here are my thoughts/ramblings on what’s going on in “Anemone: Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution” and what it means for the series and the future. Obviously spoilers, so read below at your own discretion.

The biggest question for anyone going in who is familiar with the series is: where are we? The world we see is obviously NOT the one we’re introduced to in the first film. This is an Earth that is not covered by the scab coral, so is it from the past? An alternate dimension? It’s similar to the alternate Earth we see in Eureka Seven AO (there’s even a Generation Bleu sign in one of the backgrounds), though there aren’t any LFO or IFOs.

Now, this film does establish that alternate worlds exist, so that latter option isn’t too far fetched. However that doesn’t explain why certain characters like Anemone and Mischa exist in this world, while others like Renton or the rest of the Gekko crew don’t. And if you recall from the first film, there were posters of Anemone around, so SHE clearly existed in some form in that world.

And then there’s Dewey. He’s the biggest clue to what is really going on, since he is the one with seeming knowledge about these alternate worlds. It’s not entirely clear yet what his deal is, or even how he got there. The last time we saw him, he’d been attacked by the Silver Box’s red ribbons, but appeared to be okay afterward—if a little shaken. From what Dr. Bear says, they found Dewey shortly after the scab coral began appearing in their world, and Dewey mentions something about being caught up in it. So was Dewey somehow split into two worlds following the events of the Summer of Love? And what’s going on with his eyes when he releases himself at the end? I assume we’ll find that out in the following film (though I’m guessing it has something to do with Silver Box), but as to how he arrived in this world, I have a theory, which also ties into what’s going on with Eureka.

So when explaining what’s going on to Dr. Bear and Anemone, Dewey talks about a Child of God being chosen to be sacrificed, and that where he came from it was Renton who was chosen and subsequently killed. It’s hard to tell whether Dewey is simply mad at this point, but he does go on to talk about how the Child of God was sent to show God’s mercy, but not to use that power for evil. He also says that the child fell to the “witch”—the witch being Eureka. However there’s later a discrepancy, at the end of the film when the scab coral mutates into that monstrous form, Dewey tells Dr. Bear that the Child was “swallowed up” by God’s power and then abandoned when he tried to demonstrate that power “fairly”. Before he kills(?) Dr. Bear, Dewey says that since the Child won’t do it, HE will, and then proclaims that the incarnation is “complete” and that the world will be overwritten by him. So I think it’s safe to say he was lying about Renton dying—or he was unclear about what happened to Renton. However this still doesn’t explain what he’s talking about, since Renton was only a kid when the Summer of Love happened. Unless the ‘sacrifice’ he’s talking about was when Eureka went through Acperience…

Okay, so this point is muddled partly because the first film did such a poor job of providing clarity, but this is what I think happened. In the first film, after the Summer of Love, Eureka is placed within the custody of Facility Guard—that universe’s version of the Gekko State. The purpose of the Guard is ostensibly to keep a watch over Eureka, but Holland plans on going rogue and taking her and the Nirvash away from the Federation. Now either before or after this rebellion, the Gekko arrives in Bell Forest where Renton is attending a middle-school/military academy while his adoptive parents, Charles and Ray, are taking vacation. Eureka and the Nirvash crash into Renton’s home, just like in the series, and presumably that’s when Renton decides to join the Gekko. Renton ends up developing feelings for Eureka and wants to ‘free’ her like she did for him, and so they somehow end up trying to go through Acperience. How and why is never clear (though according to Eureka’s dialogue in the second film, it’s because they went to the Silver Box, though the first film doesn’t clarify this) but afterward Eureka ends up in her scab form, at which point Holland forbids Renton from contact with Eureka and he runs away.

SO, this is probably what Dewey is talking about when he mentions that the Child was “swallowed up” by God’s power, since during the Acperience we see that Eureka’s arm begins mutating and threatens to swallow up Renton. But how he could be aware of this is unclear, as is what Dewey believes is the ‘proper’ use of God’s power. (I’m also assuming “God’s power” in this case is the Nirvash, and/or the Amita Drive).

Speaking of Acperience and Eureka, this is also an important point of divergence between the two films. In that first film, we saw that Renton stopped the Acperience when he grabbed the Amita Drive before Eureka’s arm could swallow him, and afterward discovered Eureka had reversed into her Scab form. BUT in the second film, when Anemone finally confronts Eureka, she claims that she did kill Renton when her arm swallowed him, and that she woke up alone in her scab form. At that point Eureka says she began to use the Silver Box’s power to dream up alternate realities in an effort to bring Renton back to life. We’re then treated to a montage of various scenes and images from all the entries in the Eureka Seven franchise—the series, 2009 film, AO, Hi-Evolution, and even the video game and manga! (I have thoughts on this, but I’ll get to them later)

This is apparently why the scab coral were taking over Anemone’s world, as each dream Eureka tried to conjure into existence ended up forming more of the scab. However it’s shown that Eureka was wrong: Renton didn’t die. At the end of the film, the Nirvash type Z appears out of an egg (which Dewey calls the “Guide to Nirvana” and apparently its “final form”?) which Eureka feels is calling her, before the scene transitions literally to another world where we see Renton holding up the Compact Drive (and also wearing his costume from episode 50).

So what I think this means is that Renton and Eureka went to the Silver Box where they were sucked into Acperience. Renton managed to get them out, but a part of Eureka was absorbed into Silver Box, and that part believed she had killed Renton and thus fell into despair, and at that point started dreaming up those alternate realities. This somehow began manifesting in Anemone’s world as giant scab coral which began to overtake the planet. Dewey somehow ended up in that world and taken prisoner, where he revealed that the scab’s core was Eureka. Thus dubbed “Eureka Seven”, the government formed ASSID and Anemone’s father found a way to enter the scab’s consciousness through “diving” technology. He, and a team of girls labeled the Super Six tried to infiltrate and destroy the scab through the inside, but each of them were absorbed by the scab, later manifesting as the cores of the giant mech Nirvash X which appears to defend the scab coral from attackers.

Now at this point, what is still unclear is what happened between the end of Hi-Evo 1 and this film; when we left Renton in the first film he was on his way to reunite with Eureka (and the text tells us this would occur within 18 hours). It was also before Charles and Ray were to attack the Gekko to kill Eureka on orders from the Federation. But at the end of the second film, after Anemone and Eureka escape the Command Cluster and/or Silver Box, the crew of the Gekko as well as Charles and Ray appear from the destroyed scab coral, as well as the girls of the Super Six. However Renton is still apparently on another world. So why did the Gekko and the Beams appear? My theory: it has something to do with the Eureka that Renton managed to rescue from Acperience. In the first film, we clearly see that Eureka was conscious after Renton pulled her out from the scab. And when we left things off in that film, the Gekko was about to be attacked by Charles and Ray, like we saw in the original series. So I think something happened with Eureka when Charles and Ray infiltrated the Gekko which absorbed them all and transported them into the scab coral forming in Anemone’s world. Of course this raises the question of what happened to the Eureka of that world, and how far the “Eureka Seven” scab coral was spreading—was it just Anemone’s world, or were more realities affected?

The answers I feel all lie with Silver Box and the nature of all these alternate worlds. There’s still a lot about Silver Box that we don’t know, but it’s clear it can reveal and affect multiple worlds. When Adrock stops the Summer of Love event, he sees a vision of multiple planets and an infinity symbol which morphs into a cube. At the end of the second film when we transition to Renton on the other world, we see that same cube again briefly, but red. Could this be similar to the Quartz from AO, which allowed the scab to travel to alternate dimensions? Adroc does say something about what he sees being the “true world”.

And this ties into the montage when Eureka talks about the realities she created. Dewey mentions that these worlds are garbage remnants created by a false God, as opposed to the true worlds. I don’t think this is supposed to mean that all the previous entries in the Eureka Seven franchise are ‘false’; when we see the worlds that Eureka came up with in the scab coral, they’re just random scenarios from the series that have nothing to do with the other entries. However I think when we see that montage, it’s supposed to represent the alternate worlds that Eureka saw when she was within the Silver Box, not necessarily the ones she created, because she says that no matter how many times she dreamed she couldn’t bring Renton back to life, even though Renton never dies in any of the other E7 entries.

So what will happen next? Well I think it’s clear that Eureka is going to take the Nirvash Z and use it to find Renton, which supposedly will bring them to ‘Nirvana’. What is Nirvana? My guess is that it’s something that will tie into all the alternate universes. Dewey says that God doesn’t destroy a world he creates, but rather “washes away the evil society and rebuilds it”. This sounds a lot like the Limit of Questions, which in the original series was explained as an event which would collapse reality if too much sentient life existed in the same space, and I imagine that Dewey’s role in the next film will be to bring about a similar event across all the alternate worlds.

[wits-writing]

Earth’s Mightiest Retrospective Ep 12: “Gamma World Pt. I”

(Directed by Vinton Heuck, Written by Michael Ryan, Original Airdate: November 26, 2010)

What stuck out to me about this episode is how atmospheric it is throughout. There’s a greater focus in this episode on shadows, angles and how characters are placed in the frame that wasn’t always there in previous episodes. Part of it might be down to the environment most of the episode takes place in being the gamma-irradiated for supervillain prison the Cube. What’s going on with the facility carries on from the cliffhanger of last episode, with a green dome of gamma energy emanating from it and turning anyone inside into a Hulk-like monster. The source of this dome comes from the machinations of the hyper-intelligent nemesis of the Hulk, Samuel Sterns (aka, The Leader). As the threat the dome expanding presents becomes apparent, SHIELD calls in the Avengers to deal with it, minus Hank Pym who’s chosen to stay in Wakanda studying vibranium.

The heroes are met outside the dome by SHIELD agents and former head of research at the Cube, Doc Samson, now empowered by gamma-radiation himself since the last time we saw him. Being made aware of the full extent of the situation and given protective suits to wear in the dome, the Avengers venture forth to stop the Leader’s schemes.

Multiple problems arise for the team in all at once, including the previous SHILED agents sent in now turned into monsters and the gamma-powered supervillains using the Cube as a base to help the Leader. The claustrophobic, dark setting of the former super-prison mixed with the green fog permeating the scene are key to how strikingly this episode makes its dilemma feel so overwhelming. It’s a mood the episode doubles down on when the villains the heroes are fighting reveal they aren’t trying to defeat the team, but instead damage their protective suits into no longer functioning. First seen when the Wasp’s suit breaks, the gamma energy turning her into a literal wasp-creature.

Throughout the mission, it’s clear that even after as many missions as they’ve been on together the teams still not fully united. When Iron Man asks for volunteers to be the first to test their gamma-proof suits, Captain America tells him “leaders lead” to prompt Tony to go in. Later, as they start being overwhelmed by the monstrous supervillains inside the Cube, Black Panther decides to go off on his own to find the source of the gamma-dome. This ends up leaving them in a situation where the most team is overwhelmed by villains along with the infected Wasp, so Thor and Samson (the only two immune to the gamma dome) go to find the dome’s source only to be confronted with a rematch against the Wrecking Crew, gifted with a power boost by the Leader. The thunder god is nearly at the point of being completely overwhelmed by the Crew, when Panther comes in at the last second to disable the machine generating the dome and reversing all its effects.

However, before the Avengers were pulled into the dire situation at the Cube, they were chasing down another escapee from the mass supervillain breakout, Hawkeye. This episode and the next are the first time in the series we’ve really gotten a spotlight on the archer hero/former-SHIELD agent. He’s shown able to deal with the Avengers in the episode’s cold-open by out-maneuvering them rather than outfighting them before finally managing to escape from them to continue his personal mission. In his efforts to track down Black Widow, the one who framed him in the first place, he ends up at a Hydra weapons facility in New York City where she’s selling Hulk’s blood to Madame Hydra. Breaking into the facility and managing to take down their operations before fighting Widow add on to how this subplot builds up Hawkeye. He manages to finally capture Widow for himself and tells her he plans on taking her to the Avengers rather than SHIELD, an organization neither of them can trust at this point.

The episode ends by reminding us that it was a part one, with the Leader, alongside the Abomination and Absorbing Man, discussing how the “test-run” at the Cube went before activating another gamma-dome in the heart of Las Vegas. We’ll pick up on how the team manages to deal with that next time.

If you like what you’ve read here, please like/reblog or share elsewhere online, follow me on Twitter (@WC_WIT), and consider throwing some support my way at either Ko-Fi.com or Patreon.com at the extension “/witswriting”

[olicitybishop-clairmont]

Arrow 7x14: Brothers and Sisters “Not-So-Live” Blog

Another week, another missed episode. And that means another “Not-So-Live” Blog from me!

Enjoy!

bhbkhbk

1:55 - Oliver filling up his son’s voicemail box saying how much he wants to hear his son’s voice.

3:00 - "Look, I'm not trying to get in the middle of any family drama."

"Too late."

4:10 - I like everyone on this Ghost Initiative except for Diaz. There are so many other villains to choose from than him.

5:50 - If John is Connor's adopted father, what happened to JJ?

Also, if the baby Felicity is pregnant with is Mia, then what could possibly have happened for no one else to know Felicity was pregnant? it would have to happen before Felicity would be showing, so whatever it is, it would have to be pretty soon.

6:22 - "Did you actually see a body?"

FIRST RULE. ALWAYS CHECK FOR A BODY. 

Especially for the villains, because they have a nasty habit of not actually being dead.

6:55 - Only a couple minutes and Mia and William are already being total siblings.

7:26 - "I love a spontaneous OTA moment as much as the next person…"

SO DO WE ALL. I miss OTA so much.

7:47 - "You're working with the man who threatened and tried to kill my entire family?"

Felicity is understandably and justifiably pissed off about this. And so am I. John saw what it did to Felicity every time Diaz got away. And now he's letting the person who hurt two of his closest friends still live.

8:41 - "You realize this is the second time you have prioritized your job over keeping your friends safe."

THANK YOU FELICITY.

13:10 - "That is a pregnant lady amount of chocolate you just consumed."

Still not a fan of Not!Laurel. But she is perceptive.

14:36 - "Rene has a big mouth."

Yes he does. He also likes to roll over on his friends and help get them sent to prison.

Curtis left, any chance we can kick Rene out too?

15:22 - Oliver is such an awesome big brother. It makes me miss Thea all the more. But Emiko is not Thea. 

18:46 - Any chance we can replace Diaz with Bronze Tiger? Isn't he still stuck in Slabside?

22:55 - Who the hell is this Dante guy?

23:19 - It's official. Felicity's current pregnancy cravings are junk food.

24:06 - "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're kind of a badass."

And that was a pretty decent Not!Laurel and Felicity friend moment.

25:55 - Oliver spotting techy stuff because of all the tips he learned from his super smart genius wifey.

26:29 - "What I want is for you to not touch my things."

Oliver being a nosy brother is too funny.

28:05 - "There's two of you now?!"

28:21 - It’s kinda funny to see Oliver, who has spent so many years outside of the law, recite rights as he is arresting someone. 

32:55 - Do you mean to tell me that William NEVER heard from Oliver and Felicity again?

What?!

So in the years since William went to live with his grandparents, Oliver and Felicity never went back to Central City to see their son? William and Felicity are both techy, and neither of them ever bothered to try to email or text each other? Oliver didn’t even ask The Flash to run by the kid’s house to check on him?

That makes no sense.

33:40 - "Was he a hero?"

"Yeah, he really was."

35:07 - What has been going on with John? He’s never been one to disregard potential collateral damage. But with his idea for the Ghost Initiative, he’s dismissed Felicity’s problems, and put his wife’s career in jeopardy.

37:00 - THIS WHOLE OLICITY SCENE. Now THAT is character development.

God he is the best husband ever.

40:47 - Dyla going out on an undercover mission together? Just like old times!

43:00 - And now we know what Dante looks like. Again, doesn’t seem like a very scary villain.

44:32 - Finally, John! Your family is more important than your job.

And the look on Felicity's face? That is the look of someone who is beyond done with Diaz. 

It’s the look that’s been on all of our faces for such a long time.

48:28 - Thank you John for making the right decision and seeing how you’ve been acting.

And that Dyla scene? GOLD. 

50:30 - Oliver is so wonderfully self-aware! With Felicity, with John, with Emiko... He sees his behavior and actively tries to do better.

Thank you Beth for giving Oliver the growth he always should have gotten and maintained.

51:36 - Cube in a cube in a cube. Mia and William bonding over a Rubix Cube.

52:03 - "What's an answering machine?"

Encryption through obsolescence.

52:35 - Felicity chowing down on a pint of mint chip on her kitchen counter. Only this time she’s not stress eating.

53:35 - " You said children."

FELICITY IS PRGNANT.

54:07 - Emiko knows Dante?

54:25 - FINALLY. DIAZ IS DEAD AND DONE.

But it was totally anticlimactic. And we don’t know who did it. It was someone Diaz knew... Any one of the Longbow Hunters? Another person sent by Dante? Possibly someone from the Ghost Initiative?

So many questions.

Another great episode!

My viewing of this episode is saddened by the news that Arrow will be ending next season, but I intend to enjoy every episode as much as I can. This show has given me so much. Arrow was the reason why I joined Tumblr 4 years ago, and I’ve made so many great friends since then. Fortunately, season 8 is a long way away, and we have plenty of episodes to enjoy before then.

[p101recaps]

Broduce 101: Episode 9 (Quick Livestream Recap)

Firstly, I want to apologise for the lateness of this recap. I’ll try to be more timely for the remaining two episodes, I’m sorry.

This episode is all about the concept evaluations and the live performances for the next eliminations.

We start off in the Produce prison mansion, where BoA visits the waiting trainees. They’re always a bit starstruck with her lol

She reminds them this is the last elims before final 11, casts a degree of doubt about whether the cut off will be the top 22 ranks, then explains the voting system and benefits.

Although at this stage, these godawful live voting stages are increasingly important for the rankings, they continue to be stupid and easily manipulated in favour of the popular trainees regardless of their performances. I know this is supposed to be a true reality show or whatever, but the idea of giving a young audience more organised than Mnet so much power gives me a stress headache.

Anyway. The team that gets the most votes for their performance gets a 20,000 vote benefit and the trainee with the most votes gets a 100,000 vote benefit. The team with the most votes gets to perform at M!Countdown.

Each song has to have 7 members, and since Mnet’s crappy planning meant the trainees got split into teams before elims, they have to be reshuffled so every song has the same number of performers. 

In true Lord of the Flies fashion, the boys have the privilege of kicking out their own teammate by ranking their group from first to last. This means a chunk of them have spent a week rehearsing for a song they won’t perform 

The teams short of members pick from those trainees in order of highest ranking. Open, which has the most missing members has Kang Daniel pick first, followed by Showtime’s Yoon Jisung and finally I Know You Know Kim Taedong.

The kids from Oh Little Girl and Never get together to beg appeal to not be kicked out from their song

Never has Haknyeon saying he’ll work hard to keep his spot and not hold back the team

Minhyun says, flatly, ‘Yes. Hwaiting.’ 

Dead.

Most of them want to vote themselves as best to help their odds lol

Yoo Seonho, who is self aware: I don’t want to be first, I just want to be 7th. No wait. 6th? I should be confident.

Open has lost most of their team. They went from having Kim Seonglee to not having any main vocals to carry the song. They retained Baekho and Yongguk, so still not too shabby. 

Sidenote: Little Lee Woojin is so smol amongst his hyungs with that little yellow beanie. 

Oh Little Girl keeps their visuals and token singers Sewoon and Gunhee, which is smart considering how average the song is. They’ll need their fanvotes to win the Mnet performance so they kick out Moonbok. 

Sacrilege but c’est la vie.

Never retains their strengths with a good mix of popular and talented boys. This group had way too many competent trainees so it was a closer battle, I reckon. Emperor Hwang Minhyun’s picks in almost the exact order stay. 

Sungwoon and Lai Guanlin tie for 7th, and the top 6 vote between the two.

It ends with Sungwoon joining Seonho, Haknyeon, Youngmin for the cast out kids.

He’s embarrassed because he’s efficient and skilled but I’m significantly more bitter. As much as I like Guanlin, this is a bit disrespectful for someone like Sungwoon, who’s literally known for having everything but height. Even though Never doesn’t need too many vocally adept trainees, it’s the bandwagon song and therefore likely to have public appeal.

He’s cute though, straight up pandering to the Open team when they have to pick their new members by singing the song.

Open picks up Im Youngmin, Seonho and Hakneyon leaving Moonbok and Sungwoon for the next team.

Disrespectful, straight up.

Showtime has Yoon Jisung doing a startlingly accurate impression of Daniel before they chose Sungwoon for the high pitched vocals. 

Moonbok makes his way to IKYK’s practice room to join the underdogs, who’re excited to see Pocahontas hyung.

Oh Little Girl has a mournful bgm at rehearsals as they have to decide on final positions after eliminations. 

Minki has to work to secure broadcast minutes that Mnet has carefully avoided giving him by trying out for centre, and his teammates vote him in place, unseating Jihoon. 

Main vocal has Gunhee and Sewoon battling it out for the position. They’re both good choices - the demo singer even sounded like Sewoon, who hasn’t been main vocal even once despite strengthening the background vocals every mission. The team does pick Sewoon this time, fortunately.

Bae Jinyoung wants to be sub-vocal, and is worried about his falling rank. He’s not ambitious enough to try to be main vocal at least, but those vocal techniques confuse me with that inherent smooth tone. The kid is young, and can be easily improved though, maybe a few months of SM styled vocal boot camp?

Showtime has a still (rightly) pouty Sungwoon want to be centre in his new team. His whole team laughs, with co-HOTSHOT member Noh Taehyun cackling particularly loudly at his sheepish announcement. 

Auntie Jisung references Jessi from Unpretty Rapstar, yelling, ‘THIS IS COMPETITION,’ and pinches his nose bridge like the drama queen he is.

Centre nominees try the guitar stringing ‘killing part’ to appeal for the spot and Brave’s Samuel wins the spot. 

Sungwoon tries stealing the sticker out of sheer desperation OTL

Ah, I don’t like the song so much but this group has so many of my faves.

They actually start rehearsing and come to a realisation.

Noh Taehyun: The centre needs to be able to sing well too.

Kim Samuel, who is an extremely competent dancer by anyone’s standards, can’t sing above his speaking range. Again, easily fixed by a year or two of concentrated training. He’s only sixteen and his voice must have dropped like a summer ago

IKYK’s Kwon Hyunbin wants to be leader. The team votes him in over BNM Donhyun and he does Auntie Jisung’s clapping in celebration

Mnet, how many kids are you going to give the Sohye edit, this is getting out of fucking control.

Picking centre is particularly sad with most of the contenders well aware they’re going to be eliminated. They vote Taedong in, displacing poor Donghan.

Open team has Kenta, Seonho and Haknyeon do expression acting to appeal for centre. Kenta pulls a face to loosen his facial muscles before trying, and is embarrassed although he’s not bad. Haknyeon is good too.

Seonho can’t hit the notes and tries a vocal trick Shin Yumi taught the kids. This sort of stuff about the Cube chicks impresses me because they’ve really absorbed every learning opportunity on this show like sponges. They’re still far from debut ready and I wouldn’t want them to debut in BOI over the older trainees but it appeals to my Asian sensibilities to see them working hard if nothing else.

Baekho: You can’t ask someone to press down on your forehead on stage.

So it comes down to Jeju pig boy and Japanese puppy. 

Joo Haknyeon gets voted as centre and then struggles with everything. 

Pledis Dongho gets GodJonghyun edit, practicing with the kid to help him improve. He points out that Haknyeon’s confidence is far from being at par with his skill level.

Never team votes Emperor Hwang as centre over Guanlin. Not shocking, considering the difference in ability. 

Ong-ssi hits the nail on the head as always as they practice, pointing out that they don’t really have to deal with shuffling and learning of the song so rehearsals are smooth and quick. It also helps that most of them are highly competent.

There’s a bit about Ong Sungwoo being Mnet’s human slate. Cute. 

Also cute is Brand New Music’s Park Woojin finally being comfortable enough to be the kid he is, surrounded by hyungs. I found a subbed cut, which you can see here because I can’t do justice to this positive filler bit that I would be happy to see more of @mnet. 

Important takeaway - Sweet puppy Park Woojin and gang are being taught variety by Ong-ssi

Final concept performance day!

Far out, look at the bank the show is making with those crowds. Girls are easily the backbone of capitalism. It’s amazing considering how much effort the industry puts into putting women down.

Anyway, kpop legend tiny Queen BoA looks fire emoji in her red pantsuit.

Aw seeing the eliminated trainees always makes my soul ache. 

The composers are attending too. You gotta have all those unnecessary reaction shots am I right ha ha HA

The composers visit during rehearsals for a check in. Not many women there either lol Hashtag bitter female tears

Showtime gets primarily positive reactions at the check in. They have high energy while performing which suits the song’s up tempo disco vibe. Samuel’s vocal get a boost because his voice doesn’t waver.

The team’s live performance is enjoyable. The average skill ability in this group of trainees is also rather high. It looks very polished, and they all look like they’re enjoying the stage, which always makes me happy to see. 

Sanggyun, who receives his usual amount of absolutely no screentime, is memorable in my opinion. So handsome.

The choreo is fun more than complicated. Easy standouts are Auntie Jisung dancing Pick Me and the inclusion of RBW puppy Dongmyung’s warming up limb flapping dance. Samuel does well with the dance break, the Ardor and Able trainees remain excellent performers as always.

They all keep calling it their possible last stage and Auntie Jisung looks like he’s going to cry again. It hurts because it could be true. 

Probably the shortest screentime for the group with my personal faves. Deeply grateful as always, Mnet.

Next up is my top song pick for Concept evals, I Know You Know.

Their wardrobes are particularly pretty. Thank you stylists for Moonbok’s look.

At check in with the composers, they get a bit of shake down because of their lack lustre initial performance. I’m not surprised because Joombas is really high profile, someone who works with famous singers. The team has competent but not excellent trainees. 

Hyunbin’s been getting a good edit as he makes up for the effort for the first evals where Mnet basically shoved him off a cliff, with a GodJonghyun inspired leader attitude. 

It’s a bit annoying because good god don’t we have enough Brohyes. 

Still, I’d rather this than kids being thrown sacrificed to the netizen flames.

Product placement.

The final performance is good. Kim Yehyun’s voice wavers out of place at parts but sweet boy Seo Sunghyuk is unexpectedly very stable considering the very energetic choreo. Donghyun, Donghan and Taedong remain reassuringly good and completely ignored. Hyunbin’s voice doesn’t sound as out of place as it did last mission while Moonbok proves he’s capable of idol rap with his smooth delivery. The choreo is exhausting but none of their voices are strained (they also probably have their studio recorded tracks playing so this may not be a matter of skill)

Open is next up, with the boys looking unreasonably good in their black suits. 

Well, Daniel, Dongho and Kenta anyway. I take a minute to pray to the wardrobe team again. I’m not a Daniel fan in particular but my word, the boy looks fine. 

Haknyeon messes up with typical Mnet camera focus at pre-performance check in. The composers can’t even pick one standout trainee.

The team convene to re-discuss centre with Haknyeon not being about to live up to his desire and confidence. Again, lack of training and age comes into play here, but wanting to take on things he can’t handle yet is not helping him.

Center swaps to Kim Yongguk, who doesn’t even get a clear shot of his face for the occasion.

Haknyeon gets Sexy Bandit’s thumbs up of approval at recording, after working hard for his second consecutive redemption arc. 

It could be the editing, but Daniel hasn’t been a very effective leader this mission either.

Product placement.

They come to check out the stage during dress rehearsal with the bed and slick set.

Kenta: It’s rather adult (as far as I know, the word can mean dirty or sexy depending on context but I think adult sounds appropriate here).

I agree. Seonho’s too young for this one. 

With the song and choreo being handed to them being what it is, this performance was looking to be one of my more anticipated ones, but the boys do a great job too. Daniel comes off more as centre than Yongguk but I can’t fault him because he does a really good job. Kenta is a visual standout too

It could be the editing, but Yongguk fades among the others although he keeps up well enough. Seonho’s vocals are satisfactory considering where he started out, there are bits where his dancing is still slightly awkward though. Same with Haknyeon, which is strange because I thought that was his strongest field. He’s visibly out of sync at times, even to my tired eyes. Maybe he doesn’t practice to beats, because he had the same issue in Right Round

This may be Sexy Bandit Pledis Baekho’s stage though. He’s beyond reproach. I’d call him oppa if he wanted me to.

They get an encore chant!

Fully deserved, because both the song and their performance of it was debut group level.

Oh Little Girl next

A lot of visual hype kids here. Costumes are terrible though, bits and pieces from earlier performances and maybe Park Jihoon’s personal closet?

That song name though....

Jihoon does the aegyo I’ve seen from the cute Monsta X rapper. It’s cringey on him too.

At performance check in, the producers acknowledge that the song may well have been tailored to Sewoon. Bae Jinyoung makes a few mistakes though.

Cue mournful music and cuts of his confidence issues.

Sewoon helps him practice and he’s better at recording. Kids like this usually are. He definitely could be a competent idol singer if someone gives him focused help. 

In the practice rooms, Minki has some issues while rehearsing, and there’s friction between him and the younger kids. Jihoon leaves the room with a door slam that freezes the others, and they have to gather to talk because Jihoon feels like Minki is upset with him. 

This time Minki slams the door behind him as he exits.

Sewoon is getting visibly worked up at this conflict.

Is Mnet finally getting genuine drama footage without manipulative editing? 

No. It’s another one of those birthday camera pranks that Korean variety producers still think are entertaining. 

Gunhee comes in with a cake and you can see the tension melt out of Jihoon’s face and he smiles the most genuine smile I’ve seen since his first time ranking first. 

Lol Sewoon thinks the cake’s just for Jihoon and starts clapping until the trainees sing his name too. Cute.

Minki does his shoulder expanding thing for dress rehearsals at coach Shin Yumi’s request. Sewoon gets well deserved praise for his vocals and Bae Jinyoung gets his confidence boost since this is probably his team mission individual edit for the season.

The final performance is cute, easily carried vocally by Sewoon and Gunhee. The others are also good, no visible mistakes. The song is still rather average, the choreo elevated by the boys performing it. They’re all adorable, their good looks helping save the tragic outfits. Minki was an appropriate centre. Hyungseob pulled out a rose out of nowhere mid performance, which seems perfectly in character for the kid.

I wouldn’t seek the song out to listen to, it’s one of those throwaway b-sides on mini albums, but watching it this one time was really fun. This truly was Sewoon’s performance, it fit him well.

Kahi: Ai, cute~

Pretty much.

We get to the final performance, Never.

Hyuna visits the team to cheer them up at rehearsals and the boys are instantly distracted at the sight of her. Minhyun keeps practising while the boys start to greet, but later reassures the camera that he was excited too. 

He’s probably seen all of SNSD and other prolific girl groups while promoting the last few years, it makes sense for him to be less fazed. He’s also from the company that (miraculously still) houses Nana.

But its Hyuna. 

Meanwhile, the trainees outside gather outside, pressing their faces to the glass door to stare at Hyuna. 

Baby chick Seonho: Oh, they’re from our company! :D

She turns to look at them and they almost faint in excitement. She cutely greets them as she exits, leaving behind an echo of longing sighs as she tends to do

At check in with all the composers, they do well enough. Kenta in particular is appreciative. A lot of trainees proceed to hype them up.

There’s something awkward about the blond Pentagon kid talking like an authority in front of the Nu’est members. I’m not the kind to go in for hierarchy over achievement but I’d be annoyed, like who are you brat lol

They go to visit Cube, and see Guanlin’s untidy locker with his Korean books 

AND THE EPISODE HIGHLIGHT

THE CUBE CHICKS WERE ORIGINALLY GOING TO AUDITION FOR P101 WITH TROUBLEMAKER

Why didn’t they? I loved it! I’d have rooted for them earlier on!

Guanlin’s excited to practice a routine that requires skills he didn’t have earlier, at his company with his hyungs, who coo at him. 

Every time Hyuna says something nice at studio recording, the boys flush with happiness. 

Daehwi’s smile spilts his face when she praises his tone

The words “Guanlin sounds like a native Korean” are said, which make my eyes roll out of my head. I’ve said multiple times I love how much the chicks improved and it’s clear that Guanlin is finding his groove as a trainee, but let’s not exaggerate because he’s handsome. It is, however, true that his words are getting clearer and less obviously accented.

Jaehwanie can rap too! I look forward to seeing him get signed to a good company after this (@Starship, you don’t have any worthy female groups anymore so you might as well add to your male talents)

Park Woojin’s rapping is really good but he can’t sigh?? It’s endearing too. He re-tries at his interview. A true cutie. I hope he recovers quickly and gets to debut. This episode has made me triply fond of him.

The final performance begins after this extreme hyping and screentime allocation.

Three seconds in, Sunghyuk, calmly: It’s over (for us).

I’ve said multiple times I don’t like the song (I still can’t remember it as being anything special and the fuss around it makes me resent EDM even more), but I can admit that the performance was great. The collection of talent and visuals make the choreo work smoothly, a stage that could easily be an M!Countdown performance. Jaehwan and Woojin were particularly spectacular, specially considering that Woojin was ill. Daehwi and Minhyun deliver, as always. 

The only negatives I have are that the while the costumes looked nice, they seemed ill suited to the concept and not the colours you usually see on broadcast performances. Beige? Come on. How do you work lighting for something like that? Green or a dark red would have been so nice.

We see a shot of Mnet staff counting the votes. Don’t worry, we don’t suspect you of anything here, Mnet. I’m blaming the live audience. 

The results bring over the sheer shameless fuckery of the last mission. 

5. I Know You Know 83 (Did I not call this?)

4. Showtime 135

3. Oh Little Girl 398

Totally warranted considering the number of popular trainees in each team.

BoA references Ong-ssi’s hyperbole speech when asking about his chances about winning, and he uses every single adjective again to express his confidence about his team placing first.

She then asks Baekho, and he one ups Ong-ssi by adding the Japanese adjective for ‘very’ (cut to Kenta laughing) as well as the Mandarin.

2. Never 443 1. Open 552 

So there is some sort of fairness in the world! Thank you, good lord in heaven!

....female fans really like sexy concepts. 

Kenta and Seonho’s handsome faces reach new levels of meme

Daniel is stunned. Getting banned from Never was an act of god for him and his fans.

Nation’s Leader Angel GodJonghyun makes an appropriately congratulatory comment.

Live vote rankings without benefits for individual trainee rankings are below:

Unrevealed

Maroo Park Jihoon

Brand New Music Park Woojin

Pledis Hwang Minhyun

C9 Bae Jinyoung

Unrevealed

Cre.Ker Joo Haknyeon

Brand New Music Lee Daehwi

CUBE Yoo Seonho

Chun Kim Yongguk

Brand New Music Im Youngmin

Next week, feel good fillers and third eliminations before heading into finale for top 11! Man, is this nonsense getting increasingly, unpredictably intense.