#though i feel like in both their cases their comic relief roles were played up in the movie adaptations?

[misskriemhilds]

if i had a dime for every well-meaning sort of comic relief but all around heart of gold large bird that helped out the small mammal protagoists in a xenofiction story i'd have two dimes which isn't a lot biut it's weird that it's happened twice

[lampmanliveblogs]

"Look at poor Raine, trying so hard to play a bad guy so the other bad guys don’t catch on and failing miserably at it. Look at them. Not an evil bone in their body. Then again, I suppose they’re the head of the Bard Coven, not the Acting Coven."- Terra Snapdragon agrees.

I tried reading that in Terra's voice... and I hate that it sounds exactly like something she could say.

More asks below

I laughed a little.

Fun Fact: A helicopter parent is what we in Swedish call a curling parent.

This one?

(i've had this image sitting in a folder of "useful images" for nearly two years and now it finally pays off)

Because I guess Eda and Lilith managed to save that while the house was being ransacked? Priorities!

There is also maybe something to be said about King up until very recently being a little guy himself. Yes, he always thought of himself as a big and important person, the King of Demons. But no one else ever believed him about that. With the revelations in Echoes of the Past, he started moving away from that, focusing more on trying to find out the truth of his past and his family.

Then, suddenly, he finds out that he's a titan. A VERY important person. Whereas before, he was relegated mostly to comic relief sidekick, he now has the ability to play a very important role in the narrative, which he does by freeing The COllector, changing the course of the story forever.

At the same time, we see how Lilith reacts to this, she begins to basically worship him like he always wanted people to do in the past. But now it makes him very uncomfortable. He connects with Steve, someone far removed from that, someone who has no idea about his "tall genes."

In an ironic twist, the fact that King no longer wishes to be a king might just be what makes him more suited to be one. You know the old saying about how the people who donät want power are always the most worthy, or something like that?

Not that I think King will literally become the King of the Boiling Isles or something. Then again... with Belos gone and the revelations of his true intentions, the government would be in upheaval...

The circumstances and scale are different, but Camila and Eda were both, in their own ways, trying to protect Luz.

Camila sending Luz to summer camp, while misguided, was in the end for Luz' own sake. Luz' has a beautifully creative mind, but her creative energy was not being channeled properly which resulted in her bringing live snakes and fireworks to school. Which is obviously not a good thing. Furthermore, some clues hint at Luz being a victim of bullying (for example, Camila mentioned Luz doesn't really have any friends, and how apprehensive Luz was about Vee talking to the kids in the parks during Yesterday's Lie), likely due to her unique personality... as is sadly often the case in real life.

Now, the threats Eda was trying to protect Luz from were a bit more concrete and obvious: bad guys are trying to kill them. So it's a bit... itäs a lot different, but I can see the association being made in Luz' mind, though maybe not consciously.

Eberwolf: *sees darius trying to be cool* Eberwolf: òwó

I almost feel kinda bad for Darius, because he's obviously trying so hard, but no one will let him be cool. Not only does Raine have to choose a stupid name for their little rebel group, but he can't even pose on top of a carriage in peace.

I must've been tired when I wrote that, because I could have worded that a lot better, but whatever.

I kinda glossed over that being Raine and Luz first proper meeting because Luz has known about Raine since Follies at the Coven Day Parade. She knew who they are and what they look like, while Darius and Eberwolf (and also Amber & Derwin) would be total strangers to her.

... the fact that this question is asked in this way makes me think that Luz' palisman is not going to be a bird at all. And I'm not sure what else it would be. I mean, it's the obvious answer... right? Luz is the main character protagonist of The Owl House. And with the whole "Eda is Luz' adopted mom" thing going on, I figured it made sense for her palisman to reflect that and be an owl, or at the very least some kind of bird to reflect that.

As for other animals I'd associate with Luz... I'm drawing a blank here.

[cleave-and-plough]

just another normal episode...

i'm not totally sure if body swapping is actually more common in japanese media than US/western, though it certainly has the reputation of being a classic "weird" anime trope. i really have to hand it to the show for using it both as a gag and as a means of enriching the characters, and i'm reminded of how often tropes are used poorly just as references, rather than as functional narrative tools. as is so often said, tropes and cliches aren't inherently signs of poor writing: they can be thoughtfully used and explored in service of the theme and story (and not just as subversions or deconstructions).

nanami continues her role as both comic relief and villain, her obsession with touga getting her into yet another scrape. now setting her sights on both utena and anthy, she attempts to overspice their curry in cooking class and inadvertently causes them to swap bodies and personalities: utena becomes demure and subservient, tending to the garden, while anthy becomes aggressive and athletic, dominating the basketball court and high jump and standing up to anthy's bullies. there's something so fanfiction-like about these scenes - the side characters delight in the novelty, buying photos of the swapped pair (even despite heartbreak, in miki's case) as if they were souvenirs from an alternate universe's canon.

however, touga is displeased - not only did nanami almost injure the rose bride and the current champion, she's disrupted the will of end of the world and must make it right. of course, this means she needs to fly to india to collect another sample of the spice. all the animals in heaven and earth continue their war on nanami, and she suffers about a half dozen elephant attacks throughout her journey and return. as with the body swap, i'm struck by how matter-of-fact the show's tone is in these moments - of course they're hilarious, but they're also fully within the show's world, not hallucinations or dream sequences or anything that would elide reality. it all feels extremely cartoony, something i love to see in animated works - embracing of the medium. letting things be kooky and normal at the same time is such a great use of animation - though this tone can also be captured in live action, it's more often through dialogue and acting than the kind of extraordinary visual hijinks seen here.

at the same time, the body swap uncovers a new truth about utena and anthy - how much they care about their appearances, and how much this reflects their respective freedoms. as the pair walk through the school halls together thinking about how to reverse the spice's effects, anthy expresses a certain apathy, saying she doesn't care how she looks. "well, i do!" utena retorts, and it feels like a new door is opened on them. throughout these initial episodes, both characters have shown a notable sense of purpose in their outfits and appearances. utena actively and intentionally wears the boys' uniform to emulate the prince and chafes at having to wear anything overtly feminine, while anthy dresses reactively in the outfits expected of her: her school uniform, the rose bride's dress, a maid's outfit, and nanami's dress only after utena's insistence. for anthy, clothing and her appearance are mere extensions of the role she's playing - they aren't expressions of her self, which she seems to suppress and ignore. and yet i wonder if there isn't something exciting to anthy about the swap - through circumstances entirely out of her control, she gets to look totally different and inhabit the body of one of the school's most beloved students, free of the shackles of the rose bride. the two fall into their usual habits, so it's not as if their roles have completely reversed, but there's a tension of shifted power: utena is uncomfortable not having control over the way she looks, but anthy seems grateful for a brief moment of freedom from her typical expectations.

amidst all this, saionji returns, and much like the episode itself he shows a mix of silliness and seriousness. ever devoted to his exchange diary, he makes the fatal error of baring his soul to utena. i'm surprised by her brief sympathies and gentleness toward him, but i can see what's going through her mind - like herself, saionji is caught up in anthy's strange game of duels and seems lost in it, and the honorable thing to do is to allow him his privacy. intriguing as that commonality between them is, i'm glad she goes back to despising him after seeing his drawing of her - he isn't close to being redeemed in my mind, and i suspect anthy feels similarly. she’s very quick to misinterpret utena’s words as a command to discard and escape the diary - i really believe these moments (along with her comments to the defeated duelists) communicate a great deal about her inner feelings and how she tries to subtly convey them.

at last, nanami returns to deliver the spice, which she immediately drops after slipping on chu-chu's banana peel, and one last elephant blows it away in the wind. as the silhouettes say, divine justice. the ending of the episode is mysterious in a lot of ways, and perhaps it's best not to overanalyze it. instead, contemplate the image of chu-chu saionji crouched on a tree branch, eating a banana.

stray thoughts:

this is the first time the silhouettes have appeared twice in an episode, and i think it's extremely effective. it's interesting to me how sometimes their shadowplays are very relevant to the episode's story (as is the case here), and sometimes they seem completely unrelated.

the prelude repeats at the start of this episode, and i casually wonder if they weren't trying to fill a little airtime.

nanami's ojou laugh really doesn't get old, and i like touga's dramatic interruption. not sure why she got so tanned on the trip but her friends look exactly the same - yet another mystery.

really don't know what to make of the indian spice being stored in a genie-esque oil lamp. also confused by the strange, scooby-doo-like way everyone runs to greet nanami - i guess accentuating how they're leaving saionji to wallow in the garden?

[fuckyeahelijahwoodfan]

Elijah Wood Thinks You’re Right Not to Trust Walter

By James Grebey

It would be reductive to break Elijah Wood’s vast filmography down into just two different types of roles, but he does frequently find himself playing either an innocent — an impossibly bright-eyed and good soul like Frodo Baggins or any number of his childhood roles — or, well, a weird little freak. Wood agrees that Walter, his character in season two of Yellowjackets, is of the latter category, though the self-proclaimed citizen detective who finds himself investigating a mystery alongside Christina Ricci’s Misty has a certain ��� odd sense of innocence to him as well.

Walter made his proper debut in last week’s episode of Yellowjackets when the man better known as PuttingTheSickInForensics dropped by Misty’s place of work and offered to help solve the mystery of Natalie’s disappearance. (Never mind that Walter also — correctly — suspects there was something more to Adam Martin’s disappearance despite Misty’s attempts to get him to stop snooping into the murder that she helped cover up.) In episode three, Walter and Misty meet on a boat to interrogate the dim-witted Randy Walsh about what he knows, with Misty feeding Walter questions and Walter pretending to be an FBI agent who slaps the ever-living shit out of Randy. (“It was a camera angle and swiping a hand across the face in the right way to make it look real,” Wood clarifies. “I didn’t hit him.”)

Walter is something of a wild card, seemingly unrelated to whatever force the survivors might not have left behind in the Canadian wilderness, who disrupts Misty’s present-day existence. Yellowjackets’s creators, Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, reached out to Wood for the role, which the actor says was “unprecedented” for him because he already loved Yellowjackets and Ricci’s work as Misty. “I’ve never seen a season of a show as a viewer and as a fan and then subsequently been asked to participate in a follow-up season,” he says, explaining that he was all-in on the idea of “this eccentric oddball called Walter.”

What has it been like joining the Yellowjackets cast when you’re playing an outsider who is decidedly not a Yellowjacket?

So much of the storytelling in Yellowjackets is the young cast in the past and what happened to them in the forest and how that past trauma informs the characters as adults. Walter doesn’t have any of that. I got to come into this as a completely stand-alone character that has an adjacent interest that sort of feeds into Misty’s journey but doesn’t have the narrative weight or the darkness of what everyone else has experienced. So much of what I got to do with Christina was almost comic relief. It’s this kind of funny investigation story that ultimately dovetails into the true heart of the narrative of the show but initially is kind of on the side. Walter doesn’t have to bear a lot of that weight, at least initially.

Were you familiar at all with citizen detectives before this? There’s a certain unease about whether they’re trying to actually solve crimes and bring bad guys to justice or just amateurs getting their rocks off with no accountability. What’s Walter’s motivation?

I think both are true: It’s people who truly want to help, maybe, but it’s probably more the thrill of being involved in something and feeling like they’re participating in a larger narrative, fed by a community of similarly like-minded individuals. That’s very true of Walter. My feeling is that Walter probably does not have a lot of field experience, that, heretofore, a lot of what Walter has experienced in the world of the citizen detective is to just contribute ideas to cases. There’s a lot of fun to be had there, but it’s low-level investigative work that gets fed back into this Reddit thread. But with this, Misty presents him with a real opportunity to get out there.

Do you have an idea of who the Yellowjackets survivors are to the general public? Are they thought of as celebrities, and, if so, does Walter have any specific reverence for Misty’s past outside of her citizen-detective work?

It does come up. He makes it very clear that he’s not interested in her for that reason, but it’s baked into the narrative that everyone is aware of these women and what has happened to them. There’s no way he’s not fascinated about the past. In the world of Yellowjackets, that would be a part of pop culture that everybody would know about. Even if it’s not the driving force behind his motivation, there has to be some thrill about being associated with a person who had mysterious things happen to her in the past. It doesn’t really factor into a lot of what they experience on this journey together. But as a background element, it’s undeniable.

Toward the end of episode three, Walter says maybe he’s “a bored Moriarty looking for his Sherlock.” Are we supposed to think of him as a villain, like Sherlock’s most infamous foe?

There are obviously narrative hints that are dropped: She listens to bird songs to fall asleep; he listens to cat noises. There’s all sorts of funny little hints that they could be adversaries. But I don’t believe that’s the motivating factor. It certainly isn’t present — yet — in their relationship. Over the course of the season, that might change.

Look, I’ll say this: We’re not entirely sure of who Walter really is. Both Walter and Misty present a version of who they are to the world who is not entirely their true self or their whole self. Walter presents a version of who he is, but there are still so many things that, over the course of their journey together, start to be revealed. I don’t even know that I’ve learned everything about the character yet. We can rightfully feel a degree of un-trustiness toward him because he’s giving us enough reason to not fully believe his motivation and where he’s coming from. But there’s a version of him that is also true, which is that he’s this dude who came across a fair amount of money, so he doesn’t need to work and can just dive into his passion, which is true crime. I think there is a version of him that is that simple, but there might be something underneath all of that as well.

Even not knowing yet if there’s more to Walter than meets the eye, is it possible he’s in over his head now that he’s with Misty?

He has spent all of his time on the citizen-detective message board, and this opportunity that she has given him is the first to get out into the field and flex what he feels are his skills and everything he’s maybe read about. I don’t know that he’s as savvy on the field as he would like to think he is. What we will see over the course of the season is him kind of jumping headfirst into something that is a lot bigger than him and goes beyond his skill set, maybe, at least in practice. But we will definitely see him do these things for the first time.

You’d worked with Christina Ricci before, on The Ice Storm, which, despite having “a character dying in the snow” in common with Yellowjackets, is pretty different in tone. What was that reunion like? We hadn’t worked together since we were teenagers. There was a lot of life in between. But it was great. It was joyful. She is so excellent. She is like a finely tuned instrument of an actress. I really admired what she crafted with Misty in the first season. And, I mean, we’ve both been doing this for a really long time. She also started very young. I think there’s a connection just because we’ve both been doing this for a long time. We certainly have worked together, but also there was just a comfort and ease to it.

With that sense of comfort and ease, was any of the interrogation improvised?

That was all scripted, and it was wild, too, because her part of it, in the bathroom at the bottom of the boat, that initially was supposed to be shot at a separate location. We were going to do all of my stuff, then all of her stuff, with me coming into the bathroom on a separate day. But for time considerations — and also just because the location with the boat worked — we decided to do it all at once. She was in the bathroom, and I had an earpiece in, and she was telling me what to do as I was doing it. So we were playing it almost like a play. It was happening in real time. Everything she was saying in my ear, I could hear it and repeat it and she could hear me. It was so fun and so thrilling. There was no real time for improvisation because we had a lot of material to get through in a short amount of time, but it felt improvised because there was a sort of electricity because of the fact that it was all really happening in real time.

Walter’s cargo shorts are a great character detail. Were there lots of costume options? Did you have to try on a lot of pairs before finding the perfect cargo shorts?

Amy Parris, our costume designer, brought so many wonderful ideas to the table, and it was very easy to identify Walter pretty fast. We were looking for semi-eccentric pieces of clothing that would allow a read on who he was, without it being too extreme but weird enough to make you go, Who the fuck is this guy? [Laughs.] Just slightly heightened or slightly odd. A lot of it was that he’s wearing these sorts of outdoorsy, functional clothes that aren’t cool and aren’t quite being worn as fashion. That was the big guiding principle.

The cargo shorts came about very early — they were baked into the script, actually. When you first see Walter, when he’s walking through the convalescent home that she works at, it’s in the script that she sees his legs. So shorts became a part of his vibe early on.

Between The Lord of the Rings and Over the Garden Wall, you certainly have experience being lost in the woods. Was it at all odd to join a show about being stranded in the wilderness and have your character not be out in the brush?

Those particular elements didn’t occur to me until you just mentioned it, but yeah, you’re right. [Laughs.] But no — I wasn’t really thinking about it in that context. For me, I was just drawn to the fact that I got to play this character who gets to sort of explore this world that had been previously created but who doesn’t have the narrative weight of dealing with the past in the way that all the other characters had to deal with it. Obviously, it all comes to a head toward the end of the season, but the joy for me about this was that I got to play a character who was adjacent to the primary narrative but didn’t really need to engage with the past in that way. This character is kind of his own thing and not at all informed by what happened in the woods.

While we’re on the subject, do you have any feelings about Warner Bros. plans for a possible Lord of the Rings remake? 

I’ve done a little bit of digging, and no one knows what it’s going to be. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens are being consulted. There’s no plan yet for what the stories will be and what the narrative will be, and there are no filmmakers attached, and there are no scripts. So it’s the earliest, earliest stages. But my understanding is that nobody is making any moves to remake The Lord of the Rings but rather continue telling stories within Middle-earth, of which there are many stories to mine. I don’t think they’re going to remake Lord of the Rings. If that news were true, I feel like all of us would know about it and there would be a lot of strong feelings.

Is there anything more about Walter you want to tease?

His love of musicals may be meaningful. That’s about all I can say about that. But there’s a tease there.

[ifeelallwrite]

Let’s talk about Hospital Playlist. (KDRAMA REVIEW)

note: does contain spoilers

When people ask me what is my favorite Korean drama of all time, with no doubt, IT’S HOSPITAL PLAYLIST. This drama has the comic relief, the emotional scenes, realistic characters-just to name a few. No toxic relationships and petty revenge fights. Nothing else will stop me for saying that this is the ultimate feel good drama.

SYNOPSIS: The drama shows insights into the daily lives of doctors and nurses working at Yulje Medical Hospital. It focuses on 5 doctors who have been friends since medical school, who also play together as a band.

This drama encompasses so many elements and characters so bear with me yo this might be real long 

Hospital Playlist is produced/written by the Shin-Lee PD and writer pairing, whose previous works were the renowned Reply trilogy and Prison Playbook (which are *chef’s kiss*) I really like that all their dramas really highlight humanism, and puts emphasis on creating a heartwarming and realistic series. There isn’t always a major conflict to be resolved, but instead it showcases how different people-in this case mostly those in the medical field-go on about their daily lives.  I also liked their reasoning to produce a medical drama which was that hospitals were where the most dramatic moments occurred, for example during births, deaths or sickness. And since we are still in the Covid-19 pandemic, it ties in greatly to be paying homage to all the medical personnel saving lives. Hence, props to those who were involved in this meaningful masterpiece <3

The drama is not the usual 16 episodes, but has 12 episodes for each season (SEASON 2 IS COMING SOON YAAS) Good thing is I felt that they were still able to weave a dynamic storyline in the first season even with lesser episodes. The writing was just top-notch with the witty humor bits. Additionally, the music is AMAZING. I love the concept of the main characters being a band and playing different songs every episode too.

Okay, now onto the characters. I thought that every character in this drama was well rounded. Starting of with the main five characters, also known as The 99ers, whose distinctive personalities and natural chemistry make all of them extremely likeable. All main characters are professors of different specialties, and I find the male OB-GYN (Seokhyeong) and female neurosurgeon (Songhwa) very refreshing. Also, I like Shin-Lee dramas always have characters that might be realistic yet hardly seen in other dramas or films. For example, Professor Ahn Jeongwon. Despite being a chaebol (inheritor/heir), he isn’t depicted as a spoilt brat or a cold character, instead as a warm Pediatric doctor who uses his wealth to secretly support patients in need. However it makes him stingy to his friends LOL

To be honest, I really thought I was gonna dislike Junwan due to his cold and tsundere nature. I pretty much believed that he was going to be the party pooper type of the bunch, but with the writer being a master of character development, he turned out to be really sincere and hilarious at times. Same for Ikjun, who apart from his enthusiastic and happy go lucky exterior, cares the most about the people around him. Although Seokhyeong seemed detached and introverted, he shows a emotional side to his friends as well as his mother. Songhwa is literally a girlboss though haha she’s smart, capable and gets along with everyone well. And she’s the most sane out of the bunch. 

With all the main characters, we have the relationships. Junwan is the first to date seriously with Iksun (the dog or Micky? jkjk) who is Ikjun’s sister. When it first happened I was like not again Jung Kyung Ho (bc he dated his best friend’s sis in prison playbook too LMAO) I think their relationship was realistic and open. It also showed a more sensitive side to Junwan who would do anything for her. I especially liked how he said he didn’t need access to her phone because he trusted her. Yet as all couples do, they have their fair share of ups and downs. Like conflicts on getting married and a long distance relationship as Iksun moves overseas for graduate studies. I don’t really know how to take the ambiguous ending for these two, as Junwan receives the returned box (that has the ring he sent) I really hope nothing bad happens to these two though.

I’m sure we all love Wintergarden couple though, tbh they’re kinda my OTP at the moment 🤣 It was pretty much a ‘will they won’t they’ relationship with a relatively slow build. I think Gyeoul turned out to be one of my favourite characters. Shin Hyun Been did a good job at portraying her as a straightforward but innocent Resident, who is pretty much openly crushing on Jeongwon. The scenes they had together were adorably awkward (and the scene where he gives her chocopies omg) And when Jeongwon battles his inner conflict to become a priest, the final decision where they kiss was beautifully shot, with the actors both showcasing their emotions extremely well. 

Then we have Chihong who pursues Songhwa, his professor. Midway through the drama, it is also shown that Ikjun and Songhwa might have had romantic feelings for each other. Songhwa ends up rejecting Chihong’s confession. In my opinion, Chihong was quite a interesting character but I didn’t really like him at the end. (I like the actor though) He did a real jerk move during drinking games, insisting on Ikjun to confess his feelings towards her even though he is already trying not to put Songhwa in an awkward spot. Although his character did end up making a cool exit and when I thought about his incredible story of soldier to doctor, I kinda regret disliking him that much. As for IkSong, In the final episode Ikjun confesses to her one last time, and we are left waiting for Songhwa’s reply. As much as I love this pairing, I don’t think that the ship will sail or maybe not as quickly as we think. I believe Songhwa would meticulously consider the sacrifices to their friendship or other aspects and might not be able to bring herself to it, but I hope it’s otherwise. 

Lastly not forgetting Seokhyeong and Minha, another Professor+resident pairing. This one’s a bit ambiguous though, mainly because there hasn’t been much romantic development. To me, the most impactful scene came from Minha who had been irritated by continuous night shifts and was on the verge of a breakdown. She ended up remarkably saving a patient, starting off surgery on her own for the first time. Oh man Minha was such a lovable character, I remember feeling so bad for her but extremely proud of her for her accomplishment. Although Seokhyeong seemed a bit aloof and distant (which was intentional bc he’s an introvert) I think the backstory and all the hardships he faced with his family really made me feel for him. I hate to break it to you, but I’m not so sure if the ship will sail because of the phone call from his ex-wife and Minha’s somewhat rejected confession. But who knows, they might pull off a twist 👀

Apart from all these characters, there are more characters HHAHAH However, I think this is the killing point of ShinLee dramas. Unlike typical dramas which usually focuses on a main character and 2-3 side characters, they like to cast a diverse range of actors (especially those from theatre/musicals and lesser known drama/movie actors) while actually give their characters personality or a reason to be there. I’ve seen many dramas where extras or side characters were kind of irrelevant thus making me feel that they weren’t needed to build the storyline, yet ShinLee dramas hit different y’all. Every role, no matter how small, holds significance to the drama. It really seemed like a collaborative work that shows off every actors skills (and not forgetting staffs) and teamwork.

Anyways because there are way too many characters and too many scenes for me to mention them all, I’ll just talk about some honourable mentions heheh

1. Sunbin and Seokmin confession scene (ahh so cute)

I kinda sensed that they liked each other at the start but I didn’t know Seokmin would ask her out on a date at the end. Even though it’s kinda awkward that they are dating and working with each other though (both are in the same department) but hey the confession was cute and awkward and just warm and fuzzy 🥰

2. MAMA ROSA IS THE QUEENN

I think we all (would) love Mama Rosa because she’s a real one ☝️ (probably the coolest mother ever) She’s feisty, hilarious and kind to others. Plus her friendship with Ju Jong Su was just adorable and super wholesome. The scenes where they were supporting one another through tough times and hanging out with each other when they felt lonely always put a smile on my face. Oh and how Mama Rosa treated Gyeoul was extremely sweet. (as well as Seokhyeong’s mother) Despite her tough exterior, she’s a likeable character for being a strong but caring woman.

3. Just Do Jae Hak

I seriously love this guy so muchhh omg he’s so funny

Do Jae Hak has a funny amd clumsy personality, though it’s clear he’s been through a lot and is strong willed person. From admitting his indecisiveness to counselling Jun Wan on his love issues, there’s literally nothing to hate about him.

4. Uju and his dadd

The father and son chemistry between these two is so good omg. The scenes with these two are so adorable and heartwarming (not to mention hilarious) It’s amazing to see how Ikjun cares so much for Uju despite his hectic workdays while going through infidelity issues with his ex-wife. Uju is matured for his age and shows his love and appreciation for his dad too, making their interaction a great portrayal of a healthy family relationship💞

5. the food stealing the show🥘

Who doesn’t love food and when a show has great food scenes? Some of the best scenes are definitely when the 99s gather to eat. It really showcases each character’s personality with the tiniest details as well as highlight warm delicious meals. Just don’t watch this when you’re hungry at 2am in the morning guys you’ll be drooling all over your screens HAHAHA

Of course there are way more aspects, like Hongdo and Yoonbok, Ikjun and Iksun’s pigeon jokes and raps, or Jeongwon drunk crying in the chicken shop with his brother (who was his coach in Reply 1994 when he played Chilbong LOL)

Most importantly, I think it is the themes and messages that you get from the drama that really create such a lasting impression. Not only does it hit you in the feels with the hardships of hospital patients, or the hardworking doctors+nurses who are working long shifts saving lives, it also tackles topics of friendships through the possibilities of platonic and friends-to-lovers relationships. However I think the biggest lesson for me came from Seokhyeong, who learns to live his life doing what he want, with the people he treasures. Although the drama might seem slow at times (mainly because there isn’t really a main plot line/conflict occurring), but this drama would still bring you on a journey where you would laugh, cry and finish the series, begging for season 2 ✌🏻

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Cinderella (Spoilers)

Disclaimer: I am posting this review the day after the movie airs on Amazon Prime, so if you haven't yet seen it don't read on until you do.

General Reaction:

It is slightly weird to think of another movie studio taking on one of the classic fairy-tales that isn't Disney, because, as I am sure is the case for a large portion of the mainstream audience, Disney have almost claimed fairytale adaptations as their own.

However, as identified, Cinderella, is a fairy tale and one created long before Disney came about. As such, other studios are allowed to put across their own interpretation of these classic stories that we have seen a lot of times adapted at this point.

That being said, we have seen many different adaptations of Cinderella at this point from the classis Disney Animation version and it's live-action counterpart, to modern-day reworkings like A Cinderella Story of the mid-noughties starring Hilary Duff.

It's quite an easy story to tell and adapt to a variety of different settings, and what this 2021 retelling does with the story blends the old-fashioned with the modern. Does that mean it is set apart from the others? Well in my opinion yes and no.

While this is a Sony movie, it plays a lot like a Disney Channel Original Movie. From the comedy to the settings to the costuming and the music, it plays like the best of those types of movies. I'm talking the High School Musical franchise and the Descendants franchise. It is by no means bad or corny, but it isn't even on the level of the 2016 live-action Cinderella.

While that version was pretty much a straightforward live-action version of the original animated version, the style of the movie outweighed the substance.

Here however, there is a great blend of both style and substance. The story takes the classic elements of the original Cinderella fairy tale but tries to inject a modern and feministic twist that the recent live-action Beauty and the Beast tried to do.

In terms of whether this version of Cinderella stands out in the crowd of Cinderella movies, I would say it does. Not only is the titular character race-bent and the setting she is in seemingly plays into that, but the reworking of the Fairy Godmother as the Fab G as well as giving the Stepmother a more humanised backstory allows for a more compelling take on a classic.

Cast:

Because this is just the one all-in review I'm not going to do an in-depth character analysis and instead group the characters as who were my favourites, who did a passable job, who was bad and who were for some reason just there.

Favourites:

I have a top 3/4 favourite characters in this movie. Idina Menzel's Stepmother Vivian, Billy Porter's Fab G, Minnie Driver's Queen Beatrice and additionally Beverly Knight's Queen Tatiana.

Idina Menzel was always going to be fantastic in this movie, but to see her portray what is traditionally the villain character in the movie as a sympathetic character as part of the movie's feminist agenda was an interesting twist. No cat for a start, I don't know if Lucifer was a part of the original fairy tale but of course in the Disney adaptations Lady Tremaine is always accompanied by her faithful feline, but also the fact that her backstory parallels Ella's current story and the fact Vivian was so willing to have Ella reject her passion to do what is expected of her just as was forced on her was actually great motivation.

In truth I have only ever seen Billy Porter in one other thing aside from this movie and that was American Horror Story: Apocalypse. I have never seen Pose though I have heard good things, but from what I understand, Billy Porter only really has one speed. However, as the character's name states, that speed is fabulous. I loved Fab G in this movie, the fairy godmother is usually one of my favourite characters in the movie and every interpretation I have seen has brought something different and memorable. If this version of Cinderella is remembered for anything it will be for this very modernised take on the Fairy Godmother, not only gender-bending and race-bending a traditionally white female character, but with Porter choosing to make the character non-binary and that outfit speaks for itself, Fab G was simply a fabulous character.

In both Disney adaptations, I have never heard mention or reference to Prince Charming having a living mother...or a dead one for that matter. So to not only have the Queen being in a chunk of this movie, but also having her own story branch tying into the feminist agenda running through the movie and being portrayed by Minnie Driver, I was in love with this character.

Pretty much similar to the Fab G, if you've seen Beverly Knight's one second in the trailers you've pretty much seen her in the movie. She contributes to Ella's story in the movie and only appears in the latter half of the movie in 2 maybe 3 scenes but she makes an impact because she's Beverly Knight. My only gripe with her is she does not sing in the movie, you have Beverly Knight with not even a solo in a group number?

Passable:

Unfortunately the star of the movie Camilla Cabello is just passable in this movie as Cinderella. She does have some humour about her and her singing is great despite maybe being autotuned because I know how she can sing, but she doesn't feel like Cinderella to me, it actually feels more like a version of what Emma Watson was doing with Belle in the live-action Beauty and the Beast rather than Cinderella but at least she tried.

As for Nicholas Galitzine, he's definitely more engaging as a modern-day Prince Charming, Robert is definitely more engaging a character than Ella unfortunately, which to be fair is still good as the 2015 Cinderella is the only other adaptation to really make the Prince interesting, but I can't quite put my finger on exactly which movie it is but there is another movie I have seen where the Prince Regent doesn't want to be king but the Princess does and has to fight for her right to be it...that's pretty much this story for them.

Also Pierce Brosnan as the King, despite jokingly singing towards the end, did a great job at being the archetype of old-fashioned values with his on-screen wife Minnie Driver's queen pushing him into a modern-day thinking.

Bad:

As for who's bad, I have to say it pains but the British comic relief characters really let the side down in this movie.

In the three mice defence, Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster are somewhat funny but unnecessary. James Corden however is abismal in this movie. I get he produces it, but particularly after Cats I do not understand 1) Why he'd want to portray another CG animal or 2) Ever think that one shot of him changing back from human to mouse with his head on a mouse body was funny...it was terrifying.

Also this movie is supposedly a family-audience movie...so why include a crass joke of Corden's character talking about peeing out of his front tail?

Additionally to the three mice, Rob Beckett has a surprising role in this movie as a potential suitor for Vivian's daughters, but he simply portrays such a creepy, cringe-worthy character it's almost uncomfortable to watch.

New Additions:

So as well as the two queens and the British comic relief there is also the addition of Princess Gwen to the movie who is the sister of the Prince and the one who wants to be ruler. It's kind of the same story as Jasmine's in the live-action Aladdin as wanting to be Sultan but being a woman isn't taken seriously, however here it is treated more comedically as every time there is a serious moment with the King trying to force Robert to grow up and be King, she always tries to interject with "Would this be a bad time to tell you about an actual real reason why I would be a good ruler" and they make sense but she's always dismissed until the very end.

Then there's a town crier, who is also inserted as a musical number while he's reading his proclamations but as a rap. Honestly I don't know Doc Brown as an artist but I did happen to enjoy what he contributed.

Music:

Which brings us on nicely to the music of the movie as this is a musical and I usually break down the songs. Again this time I will be doing groupings of best to worse.

Honestly my favourite number is probably "Shining Star" mostly performed by Billy Porter with verses by Camilla Cabello and, unfortunately, James Corden.

I also enjoyed the two original songs of the movie, "Million to One" which is Cabello's "I Want" song of the movie and used a lot through the movie, and then also "Dream Girl" which is Idina's main other song but also sung by basically the women of the movie, it's Idina Menzel if you don't give her an original song it's an insult.

Idina's other song is a cover of "Material Girl" and honestly it is a lot of fun, Nicholas Galitzine's rendition of "Somebody to Love" was also fun and surprising as I did not think this guy could sing that well.

The group numbers were fun and well choreographed but they are also somewhat forgettable. The song at the ball of "Whatta Man/Seven Nation Army" was probably the most memorable but still just mediocre.

Recommendation:

So with all that said, would I recommend watching Sony's Cinderella? Honestly I would say it is worth at least one viewing, and I do recommend watching all the way through just to get the full experience. I do think it will do better as a streaming movie than it would have done as a theatrical release, but I cannot pinpoint a market for this movie.

I don't think this will go down as one of the great adaptations, but there are moments and aspects of the movie that sets it apart from the crowd.

Overall I rate this movie a 7/10, it's not as fantastic as I feel the trailers were making it out to be, but having seen the movie twice there are definitely elements of the movie I looked forward to watching the second time around.

So that's my review of Sony's Cinderella, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[twh-news]

'Loki' Star Sophia Di Martino on the Season 1 Finale, Working With Jonathan Majors and What She Knows About Season 2

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Loki, "For All Time. Always."]

Since her introduction at the end of Episode 2, Sophia Di Martino's depiction of Sylvie, the female variant of Loki introduced midway through her campaign of vengeance against the TVA, has been a defining aspect of Disney+'s Loki. And, as we learned in the season finale, the story of Loki isn't over yet — though what's in store is pretty nebulous, following Sylvie's betrayal of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) after what was their first and what might be their last kiss.

In a one-on-one conversation with Di Martino via Zoom, Collider asked about working with Jonathan Majors in his MCU debut, what it was like having both fight scenes and more romantic scenes with Hiddleston, and of course what the conversations around Season 2 have been like.

Collider: To start off, when did you have a sense that there would be a second season of Loki?

DI MARTINO: I mean, there'd been rumors for a while, but I still haven't heard officially if it's happening, like officially, officially. I only know what I know through reading the news. And I know, because you guys know, because of the tag at the end of Episode 6.

I was going to say, that feels like a pretty official thing, but it doesn't sound like anyone has shown up at your doorstep with paperwork.

DI MARTINO: No, nothing. Nothing like that.

Now, does that mean that when you watched it, were you given a full script of the sixth episode?

DI MARTINO: Yes. We got one episode at a time. So I wasn't given Episode 6 until like midway through shooting Episode 5.

So in that situation, what was your initial reaction to reading, especially like the last, say, 10 pages or so.

DI MARTINO: Just like, holy crap. This is massive. How exciting. Woof. And then also, "who's going to play He Who Remains, I need to know because it's such an amazing part and such incredible speeches he has. I wanted to imagine who would play him, but I couldn't have ever imagined the way Jonathan would have done it. So brilliant.

In terms of working with Jonathon Majors, what was that experience like? Just because I feel like he brought such a different energy to the role than I think anyone would have ever expected.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. He just exploded onto that set with so much energy and nothing like we could ever have imagined. It was a lot of fun and he was brilliant. You know, people were saying this is going to be something really special, whispering behind the camera. He was so eccentric and fun and kind of terrifying. Very easy for Tom and I to just sit and listen to him for a few days. Very entertaining.

Yeah. In rewatching the episode, it's still so striking to me the way that, after Sylvie stabs him, he makes barely any noise.

DI MARTINO: Because he knows that it's a possibility, I think. So maybe he's had a long time to sort of imagine every scenario. Yeah. It's kind of creepy, isn't it? The way he does that.

When you were breaking down the script for Episode 6, were you talking about Kang the Conqueror? Were you talking about the comic book backstory there?

DI MARTINO: I don't remember talking about the comic book backstory of Episode 6. But you know, to be honest, it was all very quick. Especially with Episode 6, we got the script pretty late in the day. So there wasn't that much mining to be done, to be honest. I'm not sure about Jonathan's experience, but for me, it was sort of pretty late in the day, just in the case of learning my lines and trying to make sure I didn't mess that up.

Of course — and it makes sense in terms of where your character is coming from.

DI MARTINO: Exactly. So I just need to know at that point, I just need to know what's going on for Sylvie.

In that case, in your head, what was going on for Sylvie in those scenes?

DI MARTINO: Oh my goodness. So much. I mean, so much happens in like 30 seconds. Doesn't it?

Definitely. But even before the final sequences, it's very dialogue-heavy and there's a lot of listening. In playing that, what was important for you?

DI MARTINO: To really listen and to really take on board what he was saying to us at that point, and then to choose not to believe him. For Sylvie, she's just on a revenge mission from the minute she walks into that building, she knows that she wants to kill someone. When they're in the elevator with him, she's already taking swipes at him. She just wants to get him with her machete. And I think she's just so laser-focused on that goal, that he could have said anything to her and her priority wouldn't have changed.

So you don't think there was ever a moment in that whole sequence where Sylvie was tempted, not tempted by the possibilities presented, but tempted to believe him?

DI MARTINO: I think there's a moment that he really pushes Sylvie's buttons when he's talking about you have been on a long journey and it's been really tough for you, hasn't it? And you can't trust anyone. You think you can trust him. And he starts playing mind games with them, playing them off against each other. And I think at that point, he plants a seed of doubt in her mind about Loki, but I think her mission to want to kill him doesn't change. She's absolutely married to that idea. And that feeling is so strong that she chooses it over Loki in the end.

From your perspective, where does that come from?

DI MARTINO: Just revenge. Like having her life taken away from her, her life ruined, spending her whole life on the run, this sort of anger. And if you want to think of it in these terms, her "glorious purpose." I went there.

I don't think you got to say those words during the show, so I'm glad you got this moment now.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I'm saying it as much as I can now.

Later in the episode, this wasn't the first time you had a fight sequence with Tom Hiddleston, but did it feel different from the episodes you shot earlier?

DI MARTINO: Yeah, it did. This scene was far more emotive. There was a lot more going on for both of them. It was the breakup scene. It was the fight that you have when you are leaving someone. And it's so painful because you care about this person, but you just can't be with them for whatever reason. And that's how that felt.

Which is so interesting because of course what happens at the end of it is that there's a kiss and it's given the whole big Hollywood romantic music treatment.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. I mean, but that often happens when you're splitting up with someone, doesn't it? Just one last time, a sweet goodbye. It's kind of like a goodbye kiss in a way.

Of course. But it was also, unless I'm missing something, the first kiss.

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It was. And it had been building up for a long, long time. I think it was ultimately a goodbye kiss and a clap away for Sylvie to physically turn him around so she could get hold of that TemPad and zap him back to the TVA.

Yeah, of course. In terms of that, in general, I feel like there's a temptation to just kind of look at the Loki and Sylvie relationship as a straightforward romance, which of course it is very much not. From your perspective, what was it about that you worked hard to lean into.

DI MARTINO: I think it's about sort of self-love and acceptance as well as being a romance story. And for Sylvie, she's sort of shedding everything she doesn't need before she gets to He Who Remains so she can kill him. She gets rid of her cape, she gets rid of her horns. She ultimately gets rid of Loki. It's just not serving her in that moment. And it's so cold to think of it that way. But I think that's what was happening. That and the fact that she wanted him to be safe. So, she's kind of saving him by pushing him through that time door as well.

And if you're going to think of it as like an exploration of self-acceptance and self-love, that's also interesting because she showed sort-of, I don't know, getting rid of a part of herself that isn't serving her anymore at the same time as keeping it safe.

It's really interesting to hear you talk about it that way, because it makes me think about how the one thing that came out, especially I think in Episode 5, is the idea that knowing Sylvie made Loki a better person in some fundamental ways. And I'm wondering about the opposite of that. What did knowing Loki mean for Sylvie?

DI MARTINO: I think it's slightly different for Sylvie. I don't know if he's made her a better person. I don't know if she's allowed herself to change yet. Loki's been quite brave and he's changed. He's a changed person by the end of that series. Sylvie is still hell-bent on her mission and she still chooses it over caring about someone else. So maybe she's yet to make that change.

So in talking about the scene like it's a breakup... Season 1 ends with the characters being very separated and of course, Season 2 is very much a nebulous thing at the moment, but people break up all the time and get back together. In your head, do you see there being still some sort of future for the characters as a couple?

DI MARTINO: It would definitely be fun to see them in the same room together again, wouldn't it? I'm fascinated. Yeah. After that, I'm fascinated to see what Loki has to say to Sylvie after doing that to him. Who knows? Never say never. I'm really excited to see what they come up with because it could go in so many different directions, but surely they have to come face to face again at some point.

It's like that awkward party after you've broken up with someone and you see them again. And that first conversation, whether it's in public or not, it's sorts of awful, but such a relief once it's been done.

Something that's been kind of a topic of discussion when it comes to talking about romance on screen is a quality that a lot of leading men have — for lack of a better term, the ability to give their love interest a Look. I've consulted with others and we feel like Tom Hiddleston has the look or has the ability to deliver the look. And I'm curious what it's like to be on the other side of it.

DI MARTINO: Tom's a very charming man and he could definitely make people go weak at the knees by just giving them a look. My reaction to that is always to sort of make a joke and run away. So there was probably a lot of that on set, breaking the tension by being a goofball.

I just had to react as Sylvie. And Sylvie's got these walls up. She doesn't let anyone in and that includes Loki. So sure there's a sort of, oh, this person is not as I thought they were. I'm warming to them. But Sylvie's not an easy nut to crack.

Is it fun getting to play that kind of strength?

DI MARTINO: Yeah. It's awesome because when her defenses do come down and she's vulnerable, it's really interesting. And you start to see all of the stuff that's buried underneath and that's what makes her a great character to play.

So, how do you feel about there being a second season? Do you feel like if there hadn't been a second season, you would have gotten the closure you wanted to from the story?

DI MARTINO: Probably not. I want to know what happens just like everyone else. I'm super excited and I just can't wait to see which direction they're going because it could be infinite directions.

Do you have a sense that there might've been different aspects to it, had COVID not been an issue?

DI MARTINO: I think COVID actually probably made it a lot better. We had a five months hiatus and Kate and the producers and writers worked a lot on episodes five and six during that time. And as far as I've heard, a lot changed for the better. They could rewatch what we'd already shot and just carry on working on the scripts and developing them. So I think it was great to have that time actually, as awful in most ways it was, that was the silver lining of it.

Very. Yeah. So looking forward, I imagine if there's a second season, you're on board if you get asked.

DI MARTINO: Hopefully. Hope so.

By the way, I was really excited to see the story about how your costume was designed to allow you to breastfeed during shooting. That seems like it was a really special detail.

DI MARTINO: Yeah, really, really. I'm just so grateful that that happened. It made my life so much easier and it was important to me that I carried on doing that. So it was just the little things and it's just saved a lot of time. Practically, it was a godsend.

Of course. So looking forward, what's next for you?

DI MARTINO: Lots of interviews. Lots of being able to talk about episode six finally, and then, who knows? An infinite possibility. So yeah, I'm excited to see what happens and to see people's reactions to the series because people are still catching up. People are still watching and rewatching it and probably go on.

Yeah. I mean, I imagine that you're going to be cosplayed at various conventions over the next several decades probably.

DI MARTINO: Do you think? That blows my mind.

I mean, cosplaying has a long legacy to it.

DI MARTINO: It's so cool. The way that people are already making Sylvie horns and crafting them from scratch and spraying them. And there's one woman that's just sewn a whole suit together and it looks exactly like my costume. It's so impressive, the love and attention people put into it.

Are you getting an action figure?

DI MARTINO: I don't know. Hopefully. What would I do with it? Maybe I could use it as a cake topper. Who knows? But that would be a very cool thing to have, wouldn't it?

[broccoliboix5peepeeman]

Heeey there~! 🥺👉🏾👈🏾 I think the world could use a cute bunny!Izuku tddk fic and you’re the perfect person to write one into existence! 😭 Thank you in advance!

Anything for you, friendo!!! <333

Ao3 Link

Word count: 5125

Well…  Shoto thought to himself, looking down at the pile of clothes on the pavement. This is a surprise.

 He honestly had no idea what had happened. One minute, him and Midoriya were walking down the street towards Yuuei with their groceries, the next, a small child had barrelled past them, knocking Midoriya's arm as she went. Initially, his friend had insisted that he was fine, but the moment the culprit had turned down the next street, he had vanished, his clothes and bag unceremoniously clattering to the floor.

 Shoto had been - understandably, he thought - alarmed by the development. After all, it wasn't every day one's best friend and crush disappeared, leaving nothing but a pile of clothes behind. Shoto was entirely ready to sprint after the children and shake them for information, when suddenly something moved under the pile, informing him that his friend was indeed still alive, just struggling to get free.

 'Midoriya?'

 Shoto knelt down and tried to untangle the clothes so whatever was underneath could escape. What he wasn't expecting was to come face to face with a fluffy Havana rabbit in place of his friend. 

 'Oh.'

 Wide, verdant eyes with dilated pupils stared up at him questioningly and Shoto felt himself blush at the sight. He knew those eyes better than his own.

  Yes… Definitely Midoriya. 

 Just when he thought his best friend couldn't get any cuter, he had to go and turn into the most adorable rabbit in the world.

 His ears were upright, albeit a tiny bit shorter than average, his nose was pink as it moved around, sniffing the air, and his coat was ebony with an emerald shine, except for his paws, which were white and messy.

  It's like he's wearing socks...

 Shoto shook himself. 

  Fawn over your best friend later, fool. You've got a job to do.

'Midoriya, blink twice if you can understand me?'

 Those big eyes continued to watch him intently, before blinking twice in confirmation.

 'Good.' That made things a lot easier. 'Now, are you hurt? Blink once for no, twice for yes.'

 Midoriya blinked once, much to his relief. Then, he let out an adorable sneeze that went straight to Shoto's heart.

  So cute.

 'Okay, I'm going to pick up your clothes and bags so I can take us back to the dorms. Am I okay to carry you?'

 Midoriya nodded and Shoto could've sworn his friend was smiling. He tried not to dwell on it though and got to work. He shoved Midoriya's clothes into one of the fallen carrier bags, before picking them up and transferring them to one hand. The weight was fine, but the straps bit into his fingers harshly - it was going to be a painful walk back.

 Midoriya must've sensed his distress though, because the moment Shoto scooped him up against his chest, his friend hopped up and took his place on Shoto's shoulder. When he turned to look at him, confused, Midoriya nuzzled his nose against his cheek to assure him that he was fine.

 It took every ounce of self-control for Shoto not to set them both on fire with his quirk.

 'Okay, Midoriya. I'll allow it.' He spoke evenly, despite his friend still rubbing against him. 'But if you fall, I'm going to be very upset. I will cry, don't test me.'

 The rabbit squeaked at that and made sure to shuffle a little closer, until he was nestled near the crook of Shoto’s neck.

 Distributing the carrier bags into both hands to distract him from the proximity, Shoto then set off down the street.

 Somehow, the walk back wasn't as uncomfortable as he thought it would be. Sure, some people sent him confused looks, while others straight up muttered about how he was a careless owner for letting Midoriya perch on his shoulder, but Shoto found that being in Midoriya's presence helped him feel less agitated. After all, Midoriya always had a talent for calming Shoto down when he let his anger get the better of him. 

 Soft fur brushed against his face and Shoto sighed, content, before deciding that he should probably say something.

 'How are you feeling?'

 Silence.

 When Midoriya tilted his head to the side, he realised his mistake. 'Oh yeah. Er, blink once for good, twice for okay, three for sad, four for other.'

 He didn't appreciate how easy it was for Midoriya to look so amused as he blinked twice. Before Shoto could ask though, Midoriya settled back near his neck and purred.

  I didn't know rabbits could purr.

 Shoto exhaled carefully to control himself and quickly decided to continue the rest of their journey in silence, lest he embarrass himself further.

 🐇🐇

 'Why is it, when something happens, it is always you two.' Aizawa leant against his desk and pinched his brow.

 'For the record, Sensei,' Shoto raised a finger. 'I understood that reference and think that the current circumstances are a lot different.'

 'Answer the question, Todoroki.' Aizawa glared at him. 'Why is Midoriya a rabbit?'

 Shoto sighed heavily and proceeded to explain what had happened. He informed his teacher that there was no foul play - it was merely an accident - and that Midoriya wasn't hurt. Aizawa nodded at set intervals and when Shoto eventually fell silent, he pushed himself away from his desk and looked down at them.

 'It wouldn't be logical to punish you for this.' He began bluntly. 'But in the future, I will be more stringent with your liberties to leave school grounds alone.'

 He then looked down at the small rabbit, sitting by Shoto's leg. 'Midoriya, you have to go see Recovery Girl in case there are any health concerns we need to be aware of. I will take you. Todoroki, go back to the dorms and keep this to yourself for now.'

 'Yes, Sensei.'

 Before he could turn around though, Midoriya suddenly nuzzled against his leg in an effort to make him stay.

 Shoto looked down questioningly to find wide eyes staring up at him, filled with emotion. Unable to simply walk away from such an expression, he crouched down to stroke his chin.

 'It's okay, Midoriya. I won’t be gone for long.'

 As it turned out, it was not okay.

 The moment Aizawa bent down to pick him up, Midoriya went feral. He jumped into the air to escape his teacher's incoming hands and landed a metre to his left.

 'Problem child.' Aizawa warned, before trying again. However, Midoriya repeated the action, then bounced in a zigzag motion to evade capture. When he came to a stop, Shoto noticed the look of defiance on his face - if that were even possible.

 Aizawa grumbled and fingered his capture weapon. 'Don't make me use this.'

 Midoriya frowned before hopping to hide behind the desk. Their teacher followed him, muttering something about how 'you little gremlins never make it easy for me.'

 Shoto stood, gawking as the two circled the desk comically. Eventually, Aizawa reached his breaking point and raised his capture weapon.

 However, Midoriya was ready.

 Shoto watched in awe as emerald and scarlet lightning came to life with the activation of his quirk. Sparks danced around his friend's small form as he leapt into the air to avoid the scarf. With practiced ease, he bounced off the walls around them - his style similar to his human form - before he eventually landed behind him. Shoto looked down to find Midoriya hiding behind his leg and glaring up at their teacher.

 'Midoriya.' Aizawa almost growled, crimson eyes flashing dangerously. The moment his erasure activated, the shining light vanished from around the rabbit. 'Come here, now.'

 Thump.

 Shoto stared, bemused.

 'Are you serious?' Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

 Another thump.

 'Don't you thump your foot at me, kiddo.' Their teacher snapped, albeit Shoto could tell the action had mellowed his anger. In any other situation, he might've smiled at the way pro-hero Eraserhead attempted to lecture a rabbit.

 Now though, he had to play the peacemaker.

 'Midoriya.' Shoto spoke gently. Angry eyes softened when they landed on him. 'If I stay with you, will you go to Recovery Girl? You can ride on my shoulder again?'

 His friend considered this offer, before nodding once.

 'Unbelievable.' Aizawa waved his hand, exasperated. 'You two will be the death of me.'

 Shoto considered his teacher, before bending down to pick Midoriya up with ease. When he got settled on his shoulder, the two followed Aizawa out of the room.

 As they walked down the corridor, he heard his teacher mutter, 'I swear, if you pull this shit again, I'll set Sushi on you.'

 'Who's Sushi?' Shoto asked.

 'None of your business.'

 🐇🐇

 One thing Shoto quickly came to release, as he dutifully accepted his role as caregiver, was that Midoriya was a lot more clingy than usual.

 He couldn't tell whether it was a side effect of the quirk or whether his friend was simply taking advantage of his adorableness and being affectionate because he knew no one would be able to deny him cuddles. Either way, Shoto didn't mind. He liked hugging Midoriya as much as he enjoyed receiving them.

 He especially didn't mind that Midoriya seemed to be the most affectionate with him, as he watched his peers slowly come to terms with their classmate's temporary form.

 'He's so tiny!' Ashido gushed, as Yaoyorozu stroked Midoriya, who looked rather content in her lap. 'I just wanna squeeze his cheeks and eat him all up!

 Midoriya squeaked at that.

 'Stop scaring him, Ashido-san!' Yaoyorozu gasped, before scratching behind his ears to calm him.

 'He knows I'm only joking.' She waved her off. 'We all know Bakugou's the one who likes rabbit stew anyway-'

 'Ashido.' Shoto warned, as he strode towards where Yaoyorozu was sitting. He noticed how Midoriya trembled at the mention of Bakugou's name and immediately bent down, opening his arms. 'It's okay. He's not gonna hurt you. You want a hug?'

 Nodding quickly, Midoriya jumped out of Yaoyorozu's lap, trusting Shoto to catch him in his arms and bring him close to his chest. Shoto cradled the back of his small head, stroking pointed ears as his other hand supported his fluffy butt. He tried to ignore the fact that he was technically groping his crush, but he couldn't hide his blush, especially when Midoriya reached up to lick his neck.

 'That's so cute!' Hagakure exclaimed, shaking Ashido by the shoulders while the rest of the girls cooed at the display. 'I've never seen Todoroki-kun so affectionate!'

 'Look at Deku-kun's little tongue, I'm dying!' Uraraka squealed with excitement as she bounced on the balls of her feet. 'Catch me, Iida-kun. I might swoon.'

 'Urarak-ah!' The class president yelped as she dramatically fell into his arms. 'I told you to stay hydrated!'

 'I'm just being dramatic, jeez!' Uraraka pouted, flopping against Iida.

 Shoto raised an eyebrow at his friends' antics, before turning his attention back to Midoriya, who was nibbling at his shirt. He smiled softly at the action and stroked one of his ears.

 'You're not allowed to eat my clothes, Midoriya.' He playfully scolded.

 Then a thought occurred to him.

 'Hey, Iida.' He spoke softly, not taking his gaze away from Midoriya, who stared up at him with big eyes. 'I need to fetch some food for Midoriya. He hasn't eaten all day, so could you look after him for me?'

 Uraraka fell to the floor with a shriek and in seconds, Iida was in front of them.

 'It would be my pleasure to look after Midoriya-kun!' He announced, before his voice suddenly dropped and he rubbed the back of his neck. 'In fact, I was actually hoping I would get the chance to hold him, but I did not want to presume that I had that privilege!'

 'What do you think, Midoriya?' Shoto tilted his head to the side. 'Can Iida hold you?'

 His friend nuzzled against him softly, before eventually nodding. He turned to the class president and Shoto lifted him up under the arms to hand to Iida, whose eyes were wide and nervous.

 When Midoriya got settled, Shoto then stepped back, lip twitching slightly. 'What do you want? Rabbits like carrots, right?'

 Midoriya stuck his tongue out and made a gagging noise, which Shoto found oddly amusing.

 'Midoriya-kun!' Iida went to gesticulate, but quickly realised both his hands were occupied. 'It is important to get the right nutrition, especially given the fact that you are under the effect of a quirk!'

 'It's okay, Iida.' Shoto narrowed his eyes at the rabbit. 'I know Midoriya won't say no to spinach.'

 Little ears pointed upwards and his nose twitched with interest. Shoto's heart skipped a beat. 'I'll take that as a yes.'

 In a moment of boldness, he then raised a finger and booped Midoriya's damp nose, before turning and heading to the kitchen.

 When he arrived, he took some spinach from the fridge and rinsed it under the tap, then reached for Midoriya's favourite All Might bowl. Fully armed with his food, Shoto then looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Iida, who was trying not to hand chop Midoriya as he stroked him. Keeping his face neutral, lest he betray his amusement, he then made his way towards one of the more quiet members of his class, who was mixing some honey into his cup of tea.

 'Koda, can I ask you something?' He mumbled, watching his classmate jump slightly at having been addressed.

 When he realised Shoto was actually talking to him, Koda nodded, tilting his head to the side in question.

 'Can you use your quirk on Midoriya?' Shoto scratched his cheek. 'Earlier, when I asked him if he was okay, he indicated that he was, but I want to be sure. I- I'm worried about him.'

 Koda looked at him, knowingly - Shoto wasn't quite sure how to feel about that - then nodded softly and walked over to Midoriya. His classmate whispered something into a large ear and Shoto waited for the result.

 Midoriya ground his teeth together as he seemed to reply, before his eyes met Shoto's own, a warmth in them that was oddly familiar and relaxing. He was so enraptured by them, he didn't notice that Koda had returned to his side until he flashed a thumbs up.

 'Midoriya-san's okay.' He spoke in a high voice, slightly amused. 'He was slightly overwhelmed at first, because the quirk seems to make him act more on instinct, but now that he’s accepted that, he told me he's liking all the hugs and pets! He feels rather tall on your shoulder too. And er…'

 'Yes?'

 'Er…' Koda grinned bashfully. 'Midoriya-san also said that "with Todoroki-kun fussing over me, I've never been better, so please tell him he doesn't need to worry about me".'

 Shoto flushed at that, but before he could fruitlessly try to defend himself, the door to the common room slammed open.

 'DEKU!'

 Shoto rolled his eyes and turned to find Bakugou storming into the room, making a beeline for Midoriya, who had frozen in Iida's arms. 'Is it true you're so pathetic you let a kid use their quirk on you?'

 He came to a stop and stared at the rabbit, before he burst out laughing. 'Ha! Look at you! You really are pathetic!'

 'Bakugou-kun!' Iida exclaimed. 'Please refrain from calling Midoriya such names!'

 'Shut up, four eyes!' He growled. 'I'm just speaking the truth!'

 Shoto placed his bowl of spinach on the counter and made his way over. Everyone was used to Bakugou's aggressive nature - whether they liked it or not - but that just fuelled Shoto’s need to protect Midoriya even more, especially in this state.

 'No one wants you here, Bakugou.' He spoke firmly. 'If you're just going to run your mouth, you can do it somewhere else, where you won't use my best friend as your verbal punching bag.'

 'Don't fucking tell me what to do, Half n Half!' He growled, baring his teeth at Shoto. 'Like I give a shit what you extras want!'

 'You're making Midoriya-san uncomfortable.' Yaoyorozu stood up then, fists clenched. 'Bakugou-san I must insist you stop. He's had a rough enough day as it is.'

 'Do I look like I care?'

 'No, but you should.' Shoto crossed his arms over his chest and looked at him, coolly. 'He may look helpless, but that right there is a ruthless killing machine.'

 'Fuck off, Half n Half. Like Deku could do anything to me.' He stuck his finger out to poke Midoriya. 'What are you gonna do? Eat a carro- AGH! YOU BASTARD!'

 Shoto couldn't hide his smile when Midoriya bit Bakugou's finger in retaliation, a look of defiance on his face. His classmate reeled back, clutching his bloody hand, before he lunged for Midoriya. However, the latter was faster and leapt out of Iida's arms just as Bakugou crashed into the class rep and the two clattered to the floor with a shriek.

 Green lightning coursed through Midoriya as he flew through the air towards Shoto, who instinctively opened his arms to catch him.

 The moment he felt soft fur against him, Shoto took action, wrapping his arms around Midoriya and holding him close as his friend scrambled to burrow his head in the crook of Shoto's neck, trusting him to protect him.

 Bakugou snarled as he wrestled himself off Iida and onto his feet. Before he could continue his attack though, Shoto raised his right arm and pointed it at him.

 'You brought that on yourself, Bakugou.' His voice was even. 'Now back off. I'm not letting you anywhere near him.'

 'Ha! Don't make me laugh.' Bakugou spat, tiny explosions popping from his hands.

 Shoto noticed the way Midoriya pressed closer, sensitive to the loud noises as his damp nose wet his neck, and frowned. Lowering his temperature, he prepared to attack, when suddenly the door slammed open. 

 'I AM HERE TO SEE MIDORIYA-SHOUNEN!' All Might burst into the room, his muscled body flexing before he reverted back to his true form with a puff of smoke. Shoto watched, mildly concerned, as his teacher hacked up an inordinate amount of blood into a tissue. 

 When All Might eventually cleared his face and pocketed the tissue, he smiled sheepishly at the class. However, when he noticed Bakugou's fighting stance, Shoto's frost and Iida's mid-air hand chop, he frowned.

 'Am I interrupting something?'

 'It's all under control, Sensei!' Yaoyorozu stepped between Shoto and Bakugou and clasped her hands together. 'Bakugou was just going to see Recovery Girl about his finger.'

 'The fu-'

 'Really?' All Might raised an eyebrow. 'What happened?'

 'That vermin bit me, so I'm gonna make him regret-'

 'You invaded Midoriya-kun's personal space!' Iida frantically shouted. 'The consequences are justified.'

 'Four-eyes, I swear to fuck, I'll end you!'

 'Language, Bakugou-shounen.' All Might raised a finger. 'I'll deal with Midoriya-shounen, but right now, you need to go to the infirmary.'

 Bakugou glared at his teacher and, for a moment, Shoto thought he'd refuse, when finally, the blonde tsked and turned away.

 'Fucking rodent's probably gonna give me rabies.' He muttered as he stalked out of the room. When he was out of earshot, Shoto tilted his head to the side.

 'How would we be able to tell the difference if he did have rabies?'

 It was a genuine question, yet when everyone around him laughed - including a vibrating Midoriya - Shoto allowed himself a small smile.

 🐇🐇

 Shortly after Bakugou departed, All Might took the opportunity to take Midoriya outside for a quick word. Shoto wasn’t entirely sure how many words were going to be exchanged during their conversation, seen as Midoriya couldn’t exactly talk, but he trusted the former number one hero to figure it out.

 So, while he waited for his friend to return, Shoto wandered back to the kitchen, grabbed his food for Midoriya and took a moment to simply relax. As much as he loved spending time with his friends, all this socialising was starting to become rather overwhelming, so it was nice to finally have a quiet moment to himself, now that his classmates weren’t hounding him for information about Midoriya’s current state.

 He managed ten minutes of pure Shoto-time, before he heard a cackle from the living room and the chaos began once more.

 Preparing himself for worst, Shoto turned around, only to come face to face with verdant eyes, mere inches from his face. Shoto’s own eyes widened and he stepped back in shock, watching as a black and green rabbit floated lazily in the air.

 ‘Midoriya?’

 His friend nodded to him in greeting, indifferent to the way his back legs rose higher as he began to rotate. His ears flopped against gravity as he turned upside down, nose twitching as he eyed the spinach in Shoto's hand.

 Unable to look away, he fumbled to grab a leaf and brought it to Midoriya's mouth. His friend eagerly nibbled at it and in seconds it was gone.

 Shoto watched, blinking dumbly, before he shook his head and finally found his voice.

 'Uraraka, why is Midoriya floating?' He spoke calmly, raising his arm and poking soft fur so that his friend was upright once more. ‘Where’s All Might?’

 ‘He had to leave to make a phone call.’ Uraraka shrugged, then she watched as Midoriya continued floating across the room and grinned. ‘As for Deku-kun, he said he missed being tall, so I said I’d help him out.’

 ‘You speak rabbit now?’ He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

 ‘Miruko-san taught me a little, yeah!’ She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. However, when Shoto shot her a look, she groaned and brought her hands together. 'You're no fun, Todoroki-kun. Release!'

 Midoriya squeaked as the gravity returned to his body and he descended to the ground. Abandoning the bowl, Shoto dove forward to catch him, arms outstretched. He breathed a sigh of relief as a fluffy stomach made contact with his open palms, safe, before he landed on the floor with a thud, chin, elbows and stomach receiving carpet burn as he slid forward slightly.

 'A bit of warning would've been nice.' He grumbled. However, his anger quickly dissipated when Midoriya hopped towards him and licked his nose in thanks.

 'I knew you'd catch him.' Uraraka skipped forward and patted her friend on the head. 'See, Deku-kun. I told you Todoroki-kun would fall for you!'

 Shoto buried his head in the carpet and groaned.

 🐇🐇

 Shoto wasn't exactly sure how he got into this position. One minute, he was reclined in one of the common room armchairs, reading a manga he had borrowed from Sero, while Midoriya released some pent up energy by zooming around the room. The next moment, he awoke from an unexpected nap to find his friend laid across his chest, twitching as he slept.

 Shoto looked down at him with a soft expression as he registered the way his hands had wrapped protectively around Midoriya whilst he slept. Not wanting to let go just yet, he absentmindedly stroked soft, dark fur, hugging his friend closer and watching the way Midoriya moved with each rise and fall of Shoto's chest.

 The two stayed that way for a while; Midoriya gently snoozed while Shoto fussed over him, gradually working his hand up to rub his head. He tickled the crease where upright ears met his head, before Shoto reached his friend's whiskers. He noticed how Midoriya leant into the touch and felt himself smile.

 Eventually though, in typical Midoriya fashion, his twitches increased in size and frequency as he dreamt, until the poor boy woke himself up with a full body convulsion. Alarmed, he lifted his head and looked around frantically, nose twitching as he smelt the environment.

 'Hey, bunny.' Shoto soothed, eyes widening when he processed the nickname, but Midoriya didn't seem to mind. In fact, his friend physically relaxed at the sound of his voice, then turned his head to lick Shoto's hand in greeting.

 His heart swelled. 'Must've been quite the dream if it woke you up.'

 Midoriya squeaked, before hiding his face between his paws, embarrassed. His fluffy body shook when Shoto's chest rumbled with amusement.

 'What were you dreaming about? All Might?'

 Midoriya shook his head.

 'Bakugou?'

 Shoto shouldn't have felt such satisfaction when his friend growled at the mention of that name, but alas, he was a simple man.

 'Were you dreaming about me?' He tried to sound playful, but couldn't hide the slight blush on his cheeks.

 It didn't help that Midoriya just stared at him with big, round eyes, like he wanted to say something, then Shoto realised.

  Oh…

 'You were chasing a cat, weren't you?' He asked, intelligently.

 He didn't know rabbits could sigh, let alone with that much exasperation.

 'No?' He quirked an eyebrow. 'I'm not sure then, you'll have to tell me about it when you can talk again.'

 Midoriya shook his head, before he let out a big yawn.

 'You still sleepy?' Shoto tilted his head to the side, scratching his friend's chin. 'Maybe we should head to bed then. Blink once for my room, twice for your room.'

 Midoriya stared at him for a moment, as if to say, 'Are you sure?'

 'I'm not leaving you on your own, Midoriya.' Shoto answered, as if it were obvious. 'What if something happened to you? You can’t use your phone, you don’t even have opposable thumbs.’

 His friend scrunched his nose up and frowned, before he relented and blinked once.

 ‘My room it is.’ Shoto reluctantly stopped stroking Midoriya and picked him up. After setting him comfortably on his shoulder, he stood up, grabbed the discarded manga and exited the common room.

 By the time he entered his dorm room and got Midoriya settled on his futon, his friend was already dozing off again, his breathing evening out as his head rested against the pillow. Smiling softly at the sight, Shoto switched into his pyjamas and laid down next to his friend.

 He leant his cheek on his palm and observed his sleeping form, basking in the rare opportunity to shamelessly appreciate Midoriya, one of the most important people in his life, without fear of being discovered. Pointed ears twitched, closed eyes fluttered and his teeth ground together slightly. Shoto watched the small behaviours, heart suddenly feeling too large for his chest as emotion consumed him.

 His mouth moved before he could think.

 'I'd do anything to protect you, you know?' He whispered softly, reaching a hand out before faltering. 'I promise, I'll try my best to always keep you safe.'

 When Midoriya snuggled further into the pillow, Shoto sighed and closed his eyes, sleep slowly returning.

 He missed the way verdant eyes opened to regard him with unbridled emotion, before shuffling closer.

 🐇🐇

 The first thing Shoto's hazy mind thought when he woke up the next morning was Heavy.

 Groaning, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, before blinking them open, sleep blurring his vision. When it finally cleared, Shoto noticed that something was laid on top of him…

 Or to be more specific, someone.

 Or to be even more specific, Midoriya?!

 Shoto's eyes widened and his face immediately turned crimson. Midoriya Izuku was in his bed, cuddling Shoto and drooling all over his chest. His fluffy green hair tickled his neck and his large arm was wrapped around his waist protectively.

  How did…?

 It was only when he remembered the events of yesterday that Shoto realised the quirk must have just worn off in his sleep, causing Midoriya to transform back into his usual self.

  Nothing to worry about. Shoto told himself as he tried not to set his blanket on fire. You're glad he's back to normal. No need to feel- Wait…

 Shoto narrowed his eyes with suspicion, before he gingerly raised the blanket covering them, his curiosity getting the better of him. When his eyes landed on way too much freckled skin, he suppressed a yelp and dropped the material.

 His face felt like it was on fire, but before he could calm himself down, Midoriya suddenly roused. He squished his cheek against Shoto's chest, before he groaned and looked up at him, scratching his disheveled hair and smiling.

 'Hey, Todoroki-kun.' He mumbled, before rolling off Shoto and stretching. Luckily, the blanket still covered his lower body, but the frontal view of Midoriya's muscled torso was still too much for Shoto's heart that early in the morning.

 'Morning, Midoriya.' He replied, ignoring the way his voice squeaked slightly. 'How do you feel?'

 ‘I feel great, all thanks to you!’ His friend replied, chirpily. ‘Thank you for looking after me yesterday. I know it was a little difficult at times.’

 ‘I’ll always look after you, Midoriya.’ Shoto shrugged, ignoring the blush on his cheeks.

 ‘Does that mean I can still cuddle you when I want to?’ Midoriya wiggled his eyebrows friskily, albeit he chuckled nervously. However, his playfulness was lost on Shoto.

 ‘Of course, it does.’ He fiddled with his blanket and looked away, realising his bluntness. ‘I like cuddling you and looking after you.’

 Midoriya’s teasing smile faltered and he gazed at Shoto, curiously. Several seconds passed, before his friend nudged closer and reached out a trembling hand.

 ‘What about this?’ He cupped Shoto’s cheek and stroked the area under his scar with a gentleness that juxtaposed the raw strength he knew Midoriya possessed. The touch was so warm, Shoto felt himself nod, eyelids fluttering shut. ‘Good, because yesterday made me realise a lot of things, gave me the opportunity to figure out what I want… What you might want.’

 Shoto exhaled shakily at that, not trusting himself to speak.

 When Midoriya spoke next, he sounded a lot closer and Shoto’s eyes shot open when warm breath fanned his face. ‘I know that I want to be closer to you, if that’s what you want too? I know this isn’t the same as yesterday, but-’

 ‘Am I definitely awake right now?’ Shoto interrupted, swallowing heavily.

 Midoriya smiled at that.

 ‘Yes.’

 ‘Good.’ Shoto placed his hand over the top of Midoriya’s own and leant forward to close the gap between them. He rubbed his lips against his friend’s own, before he kissed him softly, admiring the way slightly chapped lips pressed back. When they pulled away, Midoriya rested his forehead against his own and laughed breathlessly.

 ‘I’m glad you waited until I turned back into a human before doing that.’

 Shoto hummed softly and leant in to whisper in his ear.

 ‘Well, it’s not every day you wake up to find your best friend naked in your bed.’ He sat back then and waited as verdant eyes widened with realisation and Midoriya lifted the blanket to find that he was, indeed, not wearing any clothing.

 ‘WHAAA-?!’

[scullydubois]

Only the Light Ch. 18

18/? | AU where Melissa moves in with Scully after Scully’s abduction | angst, msr slow-burn, occasional fluff | currently: mid-s3 (canon-divergent) | T | 5k | previous chapters | read on ao3 | tagging: @today-in-fic <3

Scully, Mulder, and Missy travel to California to meet Emily and wrestle with the future.

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

The echo of Scully’s heels against the linoleum is almost enough to drown out her racing heart. Mulder’s thumping steps and her sister’s daintier ones help too, but their collective power does nothing to ease Scully’s awareness that the Earth circles the sun at a thousand miles per hour. Today, she’s feeling every bit of it. 

The three of them round a corner, and a broad-shouldered man and tiny-waisted woman come into view. Agent Feniston and the lawyer, this must be. Outside of conference room C--as planned. 

Straightening every disc in her spine, Scully extends a hand and exchanges a firm shake with each of them. Mulder and Melissa hang back. 

“Dana Scully,” she declares. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“That decision rested with the foster parents,” the male agent insists. “As does any from this point forward.”

“Yes, and I’ll be sure to thank them as well,” Scully acquiesces.

“Hello, Ms. Scully.” The lawyer uncrosses her ankles. “I’m Tanya Joyce, you can call me Tanya. As a representative of the state of California, my priority is guarding the child’s wellbeing and ensuring that any choice made is what’s best for her.”

“Of course,” Scully murmurs. “Thank you for being here.”

Tanya thumbs toward the closed door of the conference room. “Brian and Cecily are eager to meet you. The foster system has extremely limited information on little Emily. Your testimony will help us all fill in some blanks.”

Scully nods. “Me as well...this is as much a surprise for me as all of you.”

“Are we to understand that you were not aware you bore a child, Ms. Scully?” Agent Feniston asks. 

“Yes, sir. I know it’s quite hard to believe, I feel the same. I was missing for a period of time last year and was comatose when I returned.”

“Yes, and how long was that period of time, Ms. Scully?”

The edges of her lips fall. “Approximately five weeks.”

“So is it safe to assume that though the child shares your DNA, you did not carry her?”

“No sir, not that I know of. I believe that my eggs were harvested, and she was...well, she comes from one of those.”

The agent hums a note of acknowledgement. “As I told you over the phone, the federal database contained no viable DNA match of a father.”

Scully nods. “Yes sir, and I have no knowledge of what sperm may have been used.”

“Noted.” He rubs his neck. “We were lucky, we only found you because you were in the missing persons database.”

“I had no idea I was still listed there,” Scully says. “I’ve asked the FBI to remove it.”

“Well, it was a stroke of luck for us,” the agent tells her. “This little girl’s foster parents encouraged the state to pursue child abandonment charges against whoever left her. She was found outside a local care center at two weeks old, as I’ve told you.”

“Yes.” Scully purses her lips. She imagines a baby with her eyes, nose, toes, chromosomes crying on a nondescript doorstep...she and Mulder did not know what they were doing when they said they wanted the truth. 

“We’ve already confirmed your story with the FBI,” Feniston continues, “and we have proof that you were working on cases in the east at the time of Emily’s delivery to the foster center, so you are free of any child abandonment charges.”

“Wonderful,” Scully replies, but really, those were the least of her concerns. “May I see my daughter now?” 

That’s the first time she’s ever said that sentence, and she didn’t expect terror to shoot up her spine. Is this what it is, having an extension of your life outside your body?

The lawyer steps forward. “I’ll introduce you to Brian and Cecily, they’d like to speak with you first.”

Scully does not like the way that sits in the air. Still, she musters a smile. “It would be my pleasure.”

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

Mulder and Melissa make themselves at home on a pair of leather chairs outside the conference room. They have been the pall-bearers keeping Scully aloft as her crushed dreams reinvent themselves as high hopes. They don’t understand how it happened any more than Scully herself: one phone call turned into multiple consultations with Agent Feniston, then Tanya and California Social Services and finally, DC social workers who performed background checks and prepared forms so that Scully could come here today to meet her baby and, God-willing, bring her home.

It doesn’t happen this fast, it never does--different voices said these same words to them a dozen times. And yet, barely two weeks after Agent Feniston’s fated voicemail, here they are. On All Hallow’s Eve, no less. Just in time for Emily to complete her first rotation around the sun.

They both play contrasting yet crucial roles in Operation Miracle Baby, as Mulder dubbed it. Dana has sobbed into Missy’s shoulder every night for the past two weeks; happy tears (her baby! she has a baby!), sad tears (she has a baby…and she didn’t even know...), scared tears (a baby! a baby, Missy! probably already walking, and maybe even talking if she’s exceptional...). The situation--and its implications--are impossible to reconcile in such a short time, if at all. Scully’s petite frame could not physically contain it. 

Mulder’s the comic relief, the distraction, the reminder that nothing can be so grave if there's still breath left in your body. He bought a CD of nursery rhymes and stuck in it his beat-up office radio, playing it through the day while Scully labored over this form or that and he pretended to alphabetize the case file drawer. Now, he hums himself to sleep every night with one of those rhymes; he’s hoping this new skill will come in handy. 

He would’ve bought toys and baby clothes too, but Melissa made him swear not to in case the adoption falls through. And she’s right, he can’t bear to imagine the pain Scully would feel packing those away. For sale: baby shoes, never worn hits you no matter who you are. Still, he has a stuffed UFO and a Build-a-Bear fox (yes, he went in and filled it himself) hidden in his closet, and he hopes they won’t go to waste. 

Operation Miracle Baby has been as covert as anything Mulder’s ever been involved in. He, Melissa, and Mrs. Scully are the only ones in his partner’s circle with any knowledge of what’s going on. No one else, in Scully’s words, matters. Trinity too has received a full briefing from Missy and is ecstatic about her girlfriend potentially becoming an auntie. Skinner was told it was a family emergency--and well, it is--though surely he’s suspicious about both of his agents requesting time off. Bill Jr. has no idea they’re in San Diego, though they may seek “refuge” (the air quotes are Missy’s) at his place if the proceedings drag on. 

This is a triumph or failure to be shared only with those most beloved, that’s what Scully said to them the night before they boarded the plane. Mulder has never been included in anyone’s most beloved before. It feels pretty damn good.

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

The perky lawyer raps on the conference room door, opening it in response to a voice on the other side. Scully’s breath catches….a strawberry-haired infant rests in her mother’s arms (Scully hates to think it, but surely this woman is more Emily’s mother than she is), pulling at a lock of the woman’s blonde hair. 

The woman turns her way, and Scully gets her first glimpse at Emily’s face. Emily. Her baby. She wondered the whole flight here whether she would feel a connection….a sense of recognition...upon laying eyes on her daughter. And my god, it’s like some chained section of her heart has burst open, flooded with all the good feelings of the world. Icy blue eyes and cherub cheeks...that’s her baby. That’s her baby.

She watches as her baby is passed to a woman in a CA Social Services button-up who slides past Scully in the doorway like she’s not even there. Scully has a split-second to notice the dimples on her daughter’s cheeks, but that’s it. Emily’s gaze misses her entirely. 

Tanya strides toward the couple in the room, Scully following behind. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Lace, this is Dana Scully, Emily’s biological mother.”

“We’re so glad to meet you,” the man says, shaking Scully’s hand with a firm grip. “I’m Brian, and this is my wife Cecily.”

“Thank you for speaking with me,” Scully tells them, shaking Cecily’s hand in kind. “I understand you’ve cared for Emily since shortly after she arrived at social services.”

“Yes,” Cecily confirms. “She came to us when she was a month old. Raising her has been an absolute joy.”

Brian nods. “She’s the second infant we’ve fostered. We adopted our first one, Andrew, when he was a year and a half.” 

“I didn’t realize you had another child,” Scully converses, feeling out of her depth. “It must have been quite a transition, taking Emily in.”

“It sure was, but she’s an angel, truly,” Brian says. “We couldn't fathom that someone could abandon her and get away with it, that’s why we contacted Agent Feniston.”

Cecily chimes in--”We were told the chances of finding a DNA match in the federal database was slim. We didn’t expect to learn that you were unaware of Emily’s existence!”

“Yes, I’m still coming to terms with it all,” Scully replies. “I’m grateful that you’ve given me the opportunity to see her, at the very least.”

“When we heard your story, we knew it would be heinous of us to say no,” Cecily says, offering a sympathetic smile. 

“You’re an FBI agent, did we hear that right?” Brain asks.

“Yes sir, I’ve been with the Bureau five years now.”

“You live in DC?”

Scully nods. “Around the corner from the National Mall.”

“That’s exciting!” Cecily pipes up. “How did you find yourself having Emily in San Diego?”

“I actually have no idea, Mrs. Lace,” Scully murmurs. “My family lived here when I was young, but I haven’t been back since. Coincidentally, my brother lives not too far off.”

“Wow,” Cecily gasps. “They weren’t kidding about you being a missing person.”

“No ma’am.” She went from a missing person to missing a person. No wonder she’s spent the past year feeling so empty. 

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

Mulder and Melissa get only the slightest moment to catch their breath before a child that is unmistakably the progeny of Dana Scully is carried into the lobby. Her hair curls around her ears in a cute mushroom top, her tongue dancing in her mouth like it has a mind of its own. They stare; they know better, but fuck it, if any baby is worth staring at, it’s this one. 

“Is that--?” Mulder whispers.

“Yeah,” Missy breathes. 

They’ve both seen the pictures, they are well aware that it’s her. They say these things for the awe of it. 

“She’s…” Mulder’s eyes are wide. “She’s bigger than I thought she would be. Not fat, I mean. Just...a whole tiny human.”

“She is, isn’t she?” Melissa smiles at her niece, who is now seated on her caretaker’s lap across the hallway. Emily’s big eyes blink at her, containing silent judgements. How like her mother she is.

Missy elbows Mulder. “I bet she orders mushroom pizza and then picks the mushrooms off because apparently ‘the cheese tastes better than on the regular cheese pizza,’” she muses, naming one of her sister’s quirks. 

Mulder likes this game. “I bet she vehemently denies the existence of extraterrestrials only to secretly believe that her dashing partner is right,” he offers.

Missy smirks. “I bet she would find this game very stupid if she understood it.”

“I’m all in on that one.” Mulder mimes pushing a pile of poker chips into the center of a table. 

Missy laughs, looks toward her seat partner with soft eyes. “She’s gonna be a great mom, isn’t she? Dana, I mean?”

“Oh yeah.” Mulder clasps his hands in his lap. “We should be so lucky to have a little Scully in the world.”

“Mm-hm.” Missy focuses on his face, watching for the slightest move that might give his thoughts away. “And she’ll be able to do it alone, do you think?”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll need some help from Mrs. Scully, and you, and…” he trails off before adding his own name, but Missy’s mind fills it in reflexively. “She’ll need help,” Mulder finishes, “but yeah, she’ll be incredible.”

The details have already been parsed out. As a single mother, Scully is required to list a guardian who would take custody of Emily if something were to happen to her. She listed her mother as the primary one--the social worker told her it’s best if it’s someone who has child-rearing experience--and Missy as the secondary guardian. She would, after all, already live in the child’s household. 

Then there was the matter of the job--its extensive time requirements, travelling, and danger level were all of concern to the agency. This came as no surprise to Scully; a single female FBI agent does not make the ideal adoption candidate. And though she hasn’t yet spoken to the Bureau, Mulder has promised her they’ll work something out. It can be like your leave of absence, he assured her. You tackle the paper trail and I’ll focus on following the suspect’s trail. Easy-peasy.

That’s what he says to her, though he’s terrified of losing her as his partner...Of her being reassigned to something simpler or leaving the Bureau entirely. She could teach at Quantico, that schedule would be a hell of a lot easier than running on Mulder time. Agent Scully can pack for hastily-booked flights at midnight then catch them at 7am, but Emily’s mother couldn’t. He will have to reckon with this if all the pieces fall into their graceful place. He’ll have to figure out how to rearrange their partnership for her, or even worse, how to live without her as his partner. Or maybe even at all. 

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

Scully glances at her shoes, then summons the courage to meet Mrs. Lace’s hazel eyes. “I hope you will consider my request. I know it’s not up to you entirely--the court will have the final say--but my abduction experience has left me unable to have a biological child, so learning of Emily was truly a miracle of the highest order.” 

Her voice clips as she takes a breath. “I understand that it would be a huge sacrifice on the part of your family, and that you’ve developed a bond with Emily over the past eleven months. I just ask you both to please...think about it.” Tears twinkle in her eyes. She made it, thank god, she made it without breaking down! She’s rehearsed that speech ten times over.

Cecily lays a hand on her husband’s arm. “Of course, Dana. It would be a painful sacrifice to us, you’re correct, but we understand that you’ve flown across the country to be here, and that you’ve brought witnesses to testify to your character, so your commitment is clear. We’ll listen and make as compassionate a decision as possible.”

Scully’s lips creep into a smile. “Thank you. I appreciate that.” She steps back, the weight of imminent sobs settling over her chest. 

“Ms. Scully has already undergone most of the requirements needed for adoption,” the lawyer tells Mr. and Mrs. Lace. “Medical clearance, psychiatric clearance, criminal background check, and home study. In the spirit of her unique circumstances, California and the District of Columbia have agreed to cooperate to make the process as smooth and expedient as possible, if you should choose to surrender Emily to her. I don’t mean to sway your decision in any way, just to give you all the available information.” 

The couple nods. “Thank you, Tanya,” Cecily answers. “We’d like to speak with the first witness now.”

Scully balks. She expected more questions, a barrage of them, as intense and prying as if she were testifying in front of Congress. And she was ready for that--she was prepared to do whatever they asked of her, to show that there are no lengths she wouldn’t go for Emily. She’s already documented every detail of her life for social services and given over the necessary specimens to prove that no, she’s not a drug user, and yes, her thyroid is hyperactive, but she takes medication for that and her doctor will confirm that it’s under control. 

And if they wanted to know more, she’d tell them. She’d tell it all. Her deepest, darkest secret (telling Daniel that yes, he should leave his wife & kids...all for her, to be with her), the most petty thing that haunts her (stolen cigarettes, smoked on the family porch at 1am), what she wants to say most but can’t (I love you)...a part of her was taken to create Emily. She would give the rest away to keep her.

There was a moment, in one of the drab little interrogation rooms at DC social services, where Scully was met with a question that lunged toward her like a time-bomb. Pull the fuse, pull the fuse it taunted her. See what happens. Instead, she played it off. Pretended she didn’t hear its doomed tick. Feigned none the wiser. No, she isn’t aware of any potential medical condition that would inhibit her life expectancy or ability to care for a child, she told the nice woman. Thank god they got the chip out of her neck before it showed up on any x-rays. 

She snaps back to reality, watching as the conference door opens, and her sister enters the room. 

“Thank you, Dana,” Tanya says, and she assumes that’s the lawyer’s way of telling her to get out, so she does. Outside the room, she settles next to Mulder in a seat that’s still warm.

“How’d it go in there, champ?” he chatters. “You need some water or anything?”

Scully’s not listening. Her eyes are trained on the baby girl across the way with hair too auburn to be brunette that’ll require a smattering of box dye every two weeks to qualify her as a soulless ginger. 

Emily’s eyes land on the woman she does not know is her mother, studying this new face with an infant’s usual curiosity. Mulder has realized by now that the little girl is of much more interest to his partner than he is, and he watches as mother and daughter wave to each other.

Scully lets out a laugh so strangled that for a moment Mulder thinks it’s a cry and jumps to comfort her. He relaxes back into his seat once he sees the joy on her face.

“She’s a sweetheart, huh?” Mulder wisecracks as the young girl jams her fingers into her mouth.

Scully beams. “She’s a baby, that’s her way of learning the world!”

“Hey, I’m not knocking it. That’s my personal preference as well,” he says with a lop-sided smile. 

“Yeah, well, she’s not licking evidence,” Scully quips. 

Mulder shrugs. “A man can’t help his oral fixation. Haven’t you ever heard of Freud…?” he lets it slide off his tongue. 

Scully rolls her eyes. His inability to maintain an appropriate manner is nothing if not inspiring. 

She gestures toward Emily. “You’re already encouraging bad behavior. Tsk-tsk,” she teases. 

“That’s my job as--hey, wait. What’s she gonna call me?” If you get custody, of course passes silently between them.

“I don’t know, Mulder,” Scully says, watching her daughter out of the corner of her eye. “I hadn’t really thought about it.” That’s a lie. She’s sat up during the night trying to decipher Mulder’s relation to Emily. He would certainly be the male authority in her life, but that doesn’t make him a father figure. Right? 

Scully adored her father because he was the head of the family, and he embraced the responsibility, always making sure they had what they needed. While her mother was often the one doing the grunt work of caring for them, her father provided for them. His long deployments with the Navy protected them. Scully understood his sacrifice and loved him for it 

That’s not how it would go with Emily. If she were so lucky as to get the child, Scully would be the caretaker and the provider. A two-in-one deal with a high price. What would that mean, for Emily? Scully could do it, she believes that. Not that it would be anything less than utterly exhausting, but with a little help from her mother and her sister, she could make do, and they say it takes a village to raise a child anyway, so what’s so bad about that?

Since she’s filling those roles herself, that leaves...well, Mulder could be the fun uncle, that fits him. Bill Jr. isn’t gonna cut it, and neither is Charlie, considering that he’s god knows where. Besides, it’s unlikely that Mulder will get a chance to know a biological niece or nephew. He and Emily could fill missing pieces in each other’s lives.

Scully’s eyes trace the contours of her partner’s face. “Do you have a preference about what she calls you?”

“I was hoping for His Royal Highness Fox Mulder of Martha’s Vineyard--is that too much?”

Scully lets a strand of hair fall over her face. “It might take her awhile to get her tongue around that.”

“Or it’ll speed up her speech acquisition,” Mulder replies. 

“Oh, you’re a child-rearing connoisseur now?”

Mulder twiddles his thumbs. “It is my goal to raise the first kid to transcribe canine language into English.”

“Really? I wasn’t aware of that,” Scully tells him, a smile flitting on her lips. It’s this kind of banter that keeps her sane. A few minutes out here with him, and she’s forgotten that what happens in that conference room will dictate the rest of her life. 

Across the hallway, Emily giggles at the air, and it fits, doesn’t it? Here she is, already laughing at Mulder’s jokes like the Scully girl she is. 

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

It feels like a prisoner exchange when witness number one in their civil-that-sure-feels-like-a-criminal case joins Scully back in the hallway, and Mulder is called forward “to the stand.” He swears he found a penny in the parking lot this morning & promises to bring back good news. Scully’s pretty sure he made that story up, but she’s no less hopeful that it’ll come true.

Returned from her brief stint in captivity, Missy dives right into a discussion of her niece: “Look at her, Dana, she looks just like you!”

“Well, she does have fifty percent of my DNA,” Scully concedes with an admiring glance at the little girl.

“Have you gone over to see her?”

Scully shakes her head. “I didn’t think that would be proper.”

“Are you kidding me?” Missy retorts. “First of all, Brian and Cecily are very nice people, and I’m not supposed to say this, but I think there’s a chance that Emily will be yours. Secondly, this could be your only opportunity to interact with your daughter and you’re not gonna take it?”

Scully bites her lip. Her sister knows how to craft an argument. “Alright, but you have to back me up.”

“Trust me, I wanna see her just as badly as you.”

Scully steels herself, then approaches the woman in the polo shirt. “Hello.” She does a polite half-wave, which she’s never done before and which makes her feel ridiculous. “I’m the potential adoptee, and I was wondering if I could say hello to this precious little girl.” It all feels completely out of character, like she’s reading lines from a script. But this is it, this is her reality.

The woman’s face offers little in the way of recognition. “You can have a supervised visit with her, yes,” she recites, as rehearsed as Scully. 

“Great.” Scully claps her hands together. “May I take her to my sister right over there?”

The woman nods. Scully lays her hands on Emily’s waist and lifts the girl gently from the woman’s lap. She is heavier than Scully imagined, or maybe just heavier than she hoped. Every ounce is a reminder of unseen existence and unwitnessed growth.

Emily does not balk, just stares up at her mother with those probing eyes. 

“Hi baby girl,” Scully coos to her daughter as she settles her against her hip. “Can you say hi? Have you got that one yet?”

The girl blinks. “Ma-ma.”

Scully crooks her neck, tries to reign in her racing imagination. All babies do this at this age, don’t they? Calling every woman mama and every man dada. Emily’s no exception. And yet...for that to be the first word her daughter has ever said to her. God winked at her, and she’s glad to have caught it. 

The pair makes it to Missy, who blows a kiss in Emily’s direction. “Hey there little one.” She extends her index finger, and the girl latches onto it. 

Scully cradles her baby’s head, Emily’s fine hair soft beneath her fingers. 

“She’s even-keeled for a baby,” Missy remarks, wiggling her finger and watching Emily crack a smile. 

“Yes,” Scully gurgles out of the sheer joy. She settles into her chair with Emily in her lap. “Do you know what she said to me?”

Missy looks up. “What?”

“Mama.” Scully dons a triumphant grin. “She called me mama.”

“Oh, no way!” Missy squeals. It’s a bit too loud and sudden, making Emily jump. The ladies laugh, and Scully pulls her daughter in closer, kissing the crown of her head. She still has that baby smell; the freshness of new life and all its purity. Scully sighs. It must have been even stronger when she was born.

Scully closes her eyes. If she had one chance to pause life somewhere along the way, to linger in a perfect moment longer, she would do it right now and she would never regret it. 

“My baby…” she breathes into Emily’s ear, hoping it will stick. That one day she’ll remember and find her way home, should she need to.

A warm tear slides down Scully’s cheek and lands in Emily’s lap, a dark drop on the girl’s corduroy pants. “Mama loves you, Emily.” She tightens her embrace. “That’s me,” she sniffs. “I love you, Emily.”

Observing this, Missy feels that she is an interloper and slips off to the bathroom, leaving mother and baby to have their moment. 

Scully strokes the girl’s tiny palm with her thumb. She has missed so much already, and my god, she could miss so much more. What is love, if not sacrifice? Hadn’t that been the takeaway from each week of Sunday school?

The conference door opens, and Scully finds herself irritated that life has failed to pause. Oh, what wouldn’t she do to take the reins from God, even for a moment? She looks up at Mulder, doe-eyed as he processes the optical illusion that is Emily and her mother. Said mother sees the tenderness on Mulder’s face as he comes to terms with this sight, and something in both of them breaks, and something else opens. 

Mulder approaches quietly, apprehensive about ruining the moment. Little does he know, he’s not ruining it; he’s completing it. 

“Hey,” Scully swoons. “How was it?”

He’s too earnest to crack a joke right now. “Less nerve-wracking than I expected,” he murmurs. “Brain and Cecily are good people.” 

Scully can’t help but wonder if they’re hammering this point about Brian and Cecily to make her feel better when the gavel falls in their direction. Mulder directs her train of thought away from this when he kneels in front of Emily.  His eyes are as soupy as ever, Scully notices; she could sink right into them.

“May I?”

Scully chuckles under her breath, like a stranger has just asked if they could pet her dog. “Of course, Mulder. Say hi.”

Over the past weeks, Mulder spent considerable time anticipating this initial interaction. First impressions are important, after all, and there is no one he has wanted to impress more than this sweet girl. Ultimately, he decided that he didn’t care what their meeting was, as long as it would be. And now that he’s here, knelt in front of his two favorite girls, he’s ready to make a promise.

He envelops Emily’s closed fist with one hand and uses the other to caress Scully’s palm. “I want you to know,” he begins, shifting his gaze between mother and daughter, “that I’ll always be here for you.” 

He looks to Scully, realizing that Emily is unable to comprehend what he is saying. “Regardless of Brian and Cecily’s choice, I am prepared to make every sacrifice so that you two can be a family. The family you deserve to be. I know what it’s like to not have that, and christ, Scully, I’m not letting you go through that. You’ve had enough for one lifetime.”

Scully’s face puckers. She is moved on a dimension that transcends the spiritual, if such a thing is possible. She closes her eyes, lets the tears slip out, then softens her focus on him. 

“Thank you, Mulder...Fox,” she effuses, needing to heighten the intimacy. “Emily and I…” she kisses her daughter’s temple again. “Well, you know. You already know.” Her voice is somber almost, reminiscent of a wedding vow’s binding utterance.

Mulder smiles up at them, pats Scully’s hand. “I know. Me too.” 

There are many phrases that could fill her blank, but he chose his favorite, and he’s got an inkling that he’s right.

Scully sucks in a breath, and it’s the first one that has ever counted. Earth is new to her, again.

The door opens a second time, and the lawyer approaches with Brian and Cecily behind her.

“Mr. and Mrs. Lace would like to take some time to think about their decision,” Tanya announces. “You will understand, they hope…?”

Scully nods, swallowing back a lump in her throat. She would like to break into a tantrum, throwing chairs and screeching every obscenity she knows. Begging please, please, don’t let me miss another heartbeat. Let me live in this Heaven I’ve found. But no answer is better than an immediate rejection, so she screws her lips into a smile and gives away two more handshakes. 

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Lace. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”

[popculturebuffet]

The Three Caballeros Ride Again Review!: And Ladies (Ride of the Three Caballeros)

Saludos Amigos! I’m back with yet another comics review! And we’re back on The Ride of the Three Cablleros! Thanks again to WeirdKev27 for commissioning this retrospective. It’s going to get pricey and I greatly appreciate it.  PREVIOUSLY ON RIDE OF THE THREE CABLLEROS 

In short.. a bunch of short segments of varying quality, a very thirsty Donald hitting on ladies, the first appearance of Panchito and some very good music. A fun time was had by all. Along with a LOT OF drugs by the Disney Animators. The film wasn’t a huge success, but out of the 6 package films, it was a fan faviorite alongside the Mr. Toad and Ichabod movie, and thus was rereleased quite a bit, as well as being one of the first of this era to end up on VHS due to it’s cult popularity.  As for Panchito and Jose they’d get plenty of success overseas, with both getting solo series in their respective home countries, Jose himself having just resumed having comics again this year, and being rightfully massive characters. But despite being a hit with fans across the world.. in the US... they were pretty much shoved in the Disney Vault for a few decades. Jose would show up on the Wonderful World of Disney, in it’s various forms, three times after the Three Caballeros while Panchito just vanished aside from reuses of the Three Caballeros footage. Their careers in the US just sorta vanished for a few decades. But as suddenly as they vanished, our boys returned triumphantly. Naturally being the most used out of the duo, Jose would show up for the first time in decades during Mickey Mouseworks, a show full of new late 90′s produced Mickey Mouse shorts, all but two of which would end up being recycled for the much more popular and well loved House of Mouse, which would feature the triumphant return of the Cabs to animation after so long away. We’ll get to that next time, as just a year before the Cabs had already reunited in the pages of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories in one of Don Rosa’s best loved tales. The Ride of The Three Caballeros was something Don Rosa had wanted to do since he got the job writing Duck Comics in the first place. As he explained in the back of the complete library edition named after this tale, Uncle Keno isn’t the biggest fan of the Donald Theatrical shorts. Having experienced the Carl Barks comics first, and having built his career around them later, he just wasn’t a fan of the goofier, angrier, less nuanced theatrical short Donald, often feeling like he was an entirely different character from the one he loved. And.. honestly he’s not wrong. Both were built for entirely different kinds of comedy: While both did slapstick, Slapstick, along with standard comedy shenanigans, was the main weapon in Shorts Donald’s comedic arsenal. Barksian Donald, while not immune to slapstick, was more like a well built sitcom character: Multi layered, sympathetic when he needs to be, but still having tons of faults to be exploited for laughs and to play off other characters. As a result while I like Donald in the shorts I do prefer Barks version of him, and the shorts Barks did are usually the best of both worlds, combining Donald’s everyman schtick with his slapstick schtick. Of course later cartoons would pick one or the other or combine both, but I do get his point and at the time he wrote this story the only cartoon show starring Donald was.. Quack Pack.. which I can only imagine his reaction to seeing that train wreck. 

But as you can probably guess there was one exception and it was The Three Caballeros. Don genuinely enjoys the beautiful music and the wonderful chemistry the three have. So after a trip to Mexico gave him the perfect setting and the fire in his belly to finally do it, he finally wrote the story. And since they weren’t Barksian characters and hadn’t had any other apperances in decade, Don also took a dive into their comics. Since Jose was more of a fancifial freeloader in his comics, Don decided to ignore this characterization and go with his own based on the film: A latin playboy and lounge singer. And i’m okay with him doing that, as unlike say with Marvel and DC when they destroy a character, Disney characters are both more fluid continuity wise and his is still rooted in a version of the character, and he’s fully accepting and apologetic that some fans hate him for this. Also for some damn reason they redesigned Jose at some point in his Brazil to look like this:

This is far from the dumbest comic book costume change i’ve seen, but it’s certainly one of the most lame, as his original outfit is dapper, stylish and fits the Brazilian version of him well. And it’s not like you CAN’T update the classic Disney characters with modern appearances. Quack Pack, which has somehow come up twice in this review, did so great with Donald and Daisy, giving them new clothes and a haircut in Daisy’s case but both still look great. Same with Goofy for Goof Troop who just wore a dad sweater and bow tie, which puts him in the small but significant club of “Bow Tie Wearing Characters who have defined my life” with Opus the Penguin and the 11th Doctor. You can update a classic character’s’s appearance without coming off like...

Which given Jose’s outfit there is horrifyingly similar, says something. Anyways, Rosa had more use for Panchito’s stories, which had him as a cowboy protecting small towns with the help of his trusty steed Senor Martinez. Rosa loved both aspects and thus used them here, with Martinez getting a makeover to fit Rosa’s style better. Rosa is also the one to popularize Panchito’s last name, having found it on a scrap of research, not realizing the character’s last name was not at all widespread and thus giving him a canon one that has stuck to this day, and sighing in relief when he finally got conformation from another fan this name was indeed something Disney had used after loosing his research scrap.  So with the two boys characters set, a plot set up and a whole sequence planned we’ll talk about on the way “The Three Caballeros Ride Again!” was born. How good is it? Well join me under the cut and i’ll tell you. 

We open in Mexico, specifically near the Barranca Del Cobre, aka The “Copper Canyon” of the Sierra Madre, a natural land formation simlar to the Grand Canyon that Don Rosa saw during his trip and thought would make a great setting. While larger than the Grand Canyon, Rosa figures in his notes it simply isn’t as popular because it’s more isolated than the Grand Canyon and that, combined with it having trees inside distracting from it’s rugged beauty, makes it much harder to build a tourist industry around. The four are headed to El Divisadero, because this comic is determined to kill me with it’s difficult to spell names apparently, where Huey, Dewey or Louie spouts off for no particular reason about the currently being built Chihuahua El Pacifico Railway. Seriously the boys might as well be the security guard from Wayne’s World in this comic, their role for most of their brief page time is just to set up stuff for later. I mean i’m fine with setting up your setting but there are better ways than just spouting off tons of exposition apropos of nothing. 

Donald has driven the boys here for a Woodchuck Jamboree. I did actually look into Jamborees, as before this it only had ever come up in one of my favorite movies of all time, Moonrise Kingdom, and mentioned occasionally in the Ducktales Reboot. Jamboree was first used for a worldwide scouting Jamboree but has gone on to mean a huge gathering of scouts, with the Boy Scouts of America having one every four years, so odds are it’s just a big yearly or quarter yearly thing for the woodchucks. Still it would be nice to see a big gathering like this in the series, especially since several of our cast are involved in them, including the possible power trio of Huey, Violet and Boyd, and Della and Launchpad could easily be slotted into the plot as seen in this season’s premiere.. as could Dewey and Louie if they really want to since according to Frank their members.. they just aren’t nearly as invested as their brother, and thus  don’t do Woodchuck stuff unless he drags them into it, as seen with “Day of the Only Child” in the series itself. It does make sense: Dewey doesn’t have the survival instinct or patience for camping, and Louie hates effort, the out doors, and doing things for anything but profit. Scouting is all of that.  So the boys have driven all this way for the Mexican Jamboree, as they’ve been carefully raising their tarantula Tara, and the Tarantula Breeding Badge is only given out in Mexico, which is plausible: Different branches of a worldwide organization would have different awards and what not in different countries. And Tarantula’s are also native to mexico so that makes sense.. and I want you to apricate that I’m afraid of spiders, not cartoony ones, for instance, this is adorable. 

Galvantula4Life. But real life ones or realistic looking ones? Yeah no fuck that. So I had to go to the Wikipedia entry and see several horrifying looking sizeable spiders for this one tiny fact. Your welcome. Tara ends up on Donald’s face with the boys assuming Donald is sad to see her go instead of you know FUCKING TERRIFIED A GIANT SPIDER IS ON HIS FACE. This gag does not work.. but probably because as I said i’m afraid of spiders and this is my nightmare, you little sociopaths. 

The boys however worry about what Donald will do for the weekend as they prepare to board the bus to the Jamboree... why it’s meeting in an out of the way town like this I have no idea, but i’d guess plot convince. They realize he has no friends, which Donald shrugs off, and they REALLY shouldn’t say to his face, but ruminate on it once he leaves to do whatever after vaguely talking about friends he had in the past. 

I like this scene even though it annoys me a bit: Ilike it because it does set up how Donald really DOSEN’T have any friends in the comics. It’s part of WHY Rosa was drawn to the Cabs: Their one of the few equal relationships donald’s ever had, people who treat him as a partner, in both sense probably, a friend, a true amigo. As the boys point out Scrooge is a monster to him in the comics, paying him 30 cents an hour which I actually put into an inflation calculator to get an accurate read on how little that was by 2020 standards.. and it’s 3 dollars an hour. Hence why I call him a monster, why that bit hasn’t aged well, and why Rosa REALLY, REALLY should’ve retired it. It dosen’t help reading that knowing Disney largely treated Rosa the same way is cringe inducing at best, if not for any fault of his own. It being cringe inducing for an employer horribly mistreating and underpaying his employees though is his fault, he’s a grown ass man, even in the 90′s this had to be a problem, be better. 

And yes i’m being hard on Don Rosa but just like with the comics thing, I simply expect better from the man given just how much respect I have for the guy. His art is gorgeous, his research is immaculate, his knowledge of old films is wonderful and his love for them so infectious i’m tempted to seek the ones he’s mentioned in notes out. He’s a truly wonderful guy and one of my faviorite comic writers.. but I have to treat him fairly like I do ANY of my idols. Just to prove that, I love Grant Morrison, especially his run on New X-Men, but a lot of it hasn’t aged well including some of the language and the entire subplot with Emma manipulating Scott into having an affair when he wasn’t in the best mental place and she knew that and was acting as his therapist, and treating that as a regular affair REALLY doesn’t play well nor should it have. I love Al Ewing, with all my heart and soul, but his run on Ultimates, while having some great worldbuilding and a spectacular cast, ultimately wasn’t very good after the first arc. Not terrible but not good. John Aliison, of Scary Go Round and Giant Days fame, while impressive has had plenty of stories I just didn’t like for various reasons and will probably get into some day and some parts of his stories haven’t aged well. It’s the hard but necessary part of being a critic: You have to be objective and see all the parts of a creator’s creation, not just the ones you like and call them out when they screw up. To me being a fan isn’t about just blindly loving something, it’s about knowing WHY you love it and being willing to call out faults while still thoroughly enjoying the work. There’s a fine line between being blindly loyal to someone, which has created Zach Snyder's awful cult of personality that I hate so much, and being an overly critical shithead and I hope I’m straddling that line. 

Back on the scene after that filibuster they point out Gladstone, who himself is a monster to me for how he doesn’t lift a finger to help his nephews or cousin, and constnatly flaunts his luck to Donald, and is a bit more than teasing especially since he tried to, you know, steal your house once boys. That’s canon.. that’s a barks story so it’s canon here. You.. You remember that right? He tried to steal your house. And we will be getting to that one next month, just you wait.  Finally the Daisy part that annoys me slightly. The boys being sexist.. was sadly the style at the time this story is set, the 1950′s, and thus plays better for me than it does in Ducktales, as their just little boys and don’t know better. Them assuming Girlfriends aren’t like having friends, while accurate though does bother me a bit, but only because the way this story treats Donald’s relationship is PRETTTTTYYYY bad and this sets that up. But we’ll get to that.  Thankfully this foreshadowing of terrors to come is quickly forgotten as we get a GENUINELY great two panels of Donald lamenting his lack of friends. It just works really well, selling his loneliness and how isolated he truly feels without any, which while I have friends I can relate to as I only really hang out with on regularly. 

This is what I was talking about. While I will point out Rosa’s flaws.. their truly outweighed but his artistic mastery. In just three panels he really has a truly emotional and heartrending scene, and just that one close up among them is all we need to get the true depths of Donald’s loneliness. I can be hard on the guy, but it’s because he’s one of the best there is, best there was, and best there ever will be and thus I hold him to a high standard.  But with that we transition to...

Or rather first his boss at the hotel, whose pissed his headliner has skipped out on him again to woo a lady, and while he plans to fire the guy, only isn’t throttling him because he figures one of his “Senorita’s” boyfriends will do that for him. And while I do like Jose as a playboy i’m not really fond of him trying to have sex with someone in a relationship, as it puts both him and the person he’s having an affair with in a really bad light. It does fit the character, I just don’t have to like it. As for this particular Senorita, it turns out her boyfriend is a notorious Bandito and is thankfully out of town. So yes, Jose is essentially acting out Come A Little Bit Closer by Jay and the Americans. 

Naturally just like the song, said Bad Man returns, Alfonso “Gold Hat” Bedoya, a machete wielding baddie who while understandably pissed about another man making time with his girlfriend, is less understandably about to murder Jose. Though unlike the song, Alfonso’s Lady, rather than help Jose, encourages her boyfriend to murder him and clearly has a fetish for cheating on her boyfriend with various men and watching as he kills him which.. Jesus. This is why while I don’t LIKE the idea of Jose hitting on women in a relationship it does work here, as he’s still not nearly as bad as either of these two, so it evens out. Jose escapes with his umbrella but crashes.. right into the back of Donald’s car. Rosa, Alfonso’s lady, encourages him to murder both of them for funsies, and being a brutal thug, Alfonso obliges and shoots at the car. And since, to quote the duck himself, Donald doesn’t like being killed “Even a little”, he books it out of there. 

Alfonso doesn’t peruse them though. He’s on the trail of a treasure hunter who has a map to the lost town of Tayopa, which contains untold silver, but before he can do that he has important buisness to get to. 

I fucking love that gag and that Rosa snuck more adult gags in there knowing plenty of Duck Fans, such as myself, are grown men, women and others who can handle this sort of thing, while still slippnig it past the kids. 

Donald, once the fear’s worn off a bit, starts to wonder WHY he’s running when he’s not the one who pissed off the guy, and ignores Jose’s good point about the fact Alfonso really dosen’t seem like a guy who sees nuance.. until Donald sees a wanted poster for Alphonoso and keeps driving. He eventually gets far enough away to feel safe.. and confront the guy who got him into this mess. 

Now kiss. While sadly, they do not, we do get a lovely warm reunion between old pals. Rosa keeps their past vauge as, correctly, he pointed out in his authors notes that the Cabs movie really had no plot, accurate, so instead just vaguely alluded to Donald having known the two in his pre-daisy and boys past and likely had similar adventures to the movie, but adapted more for Rosa’s barksian universe. Jose explains he often finds himself cash poor and thus hits the road to drum up some money, and Mexico is a great place for that as it has plenty of tourist money. 

Though as Jose talks about their past we get the most uncomfortable running gag of the story. 

While Donald’s paranoia here is played for laughs.. it just.. isn’t all that funny that Donald’s relationship with Daisy in the Rosa canon is apparently sooooo deeply unhealthy that just HEARING about him having a romantic past before him, as Rosa confirmed this was pre-daisy in his notes, causes Donald to panic and worry she actually somehow heard this. It just isn’t funny.. it speaks of MASSIVE relationship issues and some form of domestic abuse on Rosa!Daisy’s part. It’s stuff like this why there’s only a handful of Donsy relationships I like: Her treating him like shit is reduced to a punchline, instead of being used for character growth. It’s also why I’m deeply dreading covering “Legend of the Three Cablleros” at the end of this retrospective. I just don’t like when Disney media treats Daisy expecting too much of Donald or being hyper jealous of him as hilarious and while I take this more as the story not ageing well rather than barks fault, as since then Domestic Abuse against Males has become a more widely known and talked about issue, it still doesn’t’t make it plesant. It just makes this not entirely his fault. Just like it’s not Stan Lee’s fault this panel is both deeply hilarious and uses a now kinda racist term. 

I named an entire youtube channel after that.. we all have our regrets. I also bring it up since currently Harry’s become terrifying villain Kindred... and thus the current big bad of an entire Spider-Man run and the being hopefully bringing one more day into the light and hopefully leading to it’s undoing.. once had a goofy mustache he genuinely referred to a “Fu Manchu Face Fuzz” that for all we know he regrew under the mask. 

Donald fondly remembers the old days of being a badass adventuring team and decides, screw it, let’s go show that Gold Hatted Paloka whose boss.. but being Donald ends up driving them into The Copper Canyon instead. Our heroes end up lost in the canyon and , fitting for Donald get shot at. I can only imagine his thoughts right now. 

Their mysterious attacker threatens them.. before revealing himself to be Panchito, whose glad to see his friends having mistook them for Alfonso. Turns out HE’S the mysterious treasure hunter Alfonoso was after, to no one’s surprise. We get another deeply unfunny “Daisy’s only a thousand miles away gag” as the boys reminisce and get introduced to Panchito’s horse, Senior Martniez. He also tells the boy about his map.. but how he’s hit a snag as the lost town where the silver, from a silver mine.. is now buried under pounds of volcanic rock, a volcano having erupted. This is artistic license as Don Rosa admits there aren’t any known volcano’s in Mexico, but that they also still haven’t found that missing town, so this was his explanation.  All is not lost as Donald’s globetrotting with Scrooge meant he knows his history.. and thus spots an old mission which, at the time, were used by preists as cover for secret mines. Donald naturally bungles his way in and we get the much better running gag of the Cabs thinking Donald did something amazing when he really just wondered into slapstick. They end up down the shaft, with Jose deciding Donald can’t do all the work, and finding a secret entrance under a sanctum sanctorum.. a religious thing I have no idea what it ii s but is clearly where Dr. Strange got the name. Regardless they find some old kegs filled with pure silver. As Panchito puts it: 

And he did ideed. In a nice moment that shows off his character, Panchito has no hesitation for sharing the wealth: He wouldn’t of got this far without his friends, and he wont get the Silver cashed in without their help. He also fires off his guns in celebration.. forgetting their in a cave, a gag I genuinely like. 

After some off screen loading and hoisting, the boys are slowly on their way out of the canyon, with Donald’s Car and Senor Martinez pulling the cart with the silver together. With some downtime the three talk about what they’ll spend the money on. 

About what you’d expect. A big beautiful music venue

For Jose, and a nice ranch to retire at for Panchito. Both despite being wondering souls would love a simple place to call home, in their own personal styles. While they are BIG goals, their also likeable and understandable ones: Jose just wants to stop having to do all these tours and carouse and party and perform at home. Be his own boss, and live his own dreams instead of working for whoever will put up for him. Panchito just wants to retire from being a wondering hero to a peaceful life of farming, an honest reward he well earned. And Donald? 

This is easily one of my faviorite moment’s of Rosa’s, one that really cuts to comic donald’s character: Sure he can be lazy, a trickster, hot tempered, and overconfident.. it’s why we love him.. but at the end of the day he genuinely loves those boys and their his first prority and I can see why the reboot took that trait and made it his defining one. They may annoy and frustrate them and he may pull a switch on them, 50′s after all.. but he loves his boys and knows they’ll do great one day and despite his spendthrift ways when given big money.. their all he can think about. Sure Donald probably has his own personal dreams, but instead of going big and retiring he’d probably just take only a small sliver of that money to open a humble hot dog stand or something, so he could have something of his own to provide them, while still giving most of the money to their college. Scrooge is who we all want to be.. Donald is who we are at our core: Flawed people who just want to do our best. It’s why I love the guy so much.  The boys rest in the small town of El Divisadero, which like the town we started in is a real place, though both are much smaller, even as of 2000 when Rosa made his visit, so he had to embelish slightly. THey stop at a local watering hole only to find Alphonso. While Jose is naturally worried, Gold Hat has moved on to Panchito and wants to know why he’s here. However Donald thinking quickly says he’s part of their nightclub act, and we get a rousing version of the three cablleros, which when reading this I synched up to the song. I won’t put it here, as it’s too big for tumblr and it really works more as a whole, but needless to say, it’s the highlight of the comic. While Rosa did have doubts about putting a musical number in a comic, and it’s often trickey, he makes it work with the energy, vibrance and number of gags, that compensate for the music not being there. There’s tons of great gags, from Donald getting thrown out  window, to the stone faced crowd who only cheers when Alphonso ends the number by whacking the three with one of their own guitars.  Alphonso quickly realizes what’s goin on, finds the silver, and then hyjacks the train. The boys take off after him in the car, as Donald triumphantly states “The Three Cablleros Ride Again!”. The three head after Alphonzo, who finds them when trying to release the other cars to increase speed, and then shoots at them. It seems hopeless... until donald gets launched into the air, into a cactus then back into Alphonzo knocking his guns out in a great bit of slapstick. The Conductor, likely not knowing about the others or not carring, detaches the cars though, so our heroes and villian are now sent rocketing through the world’s most dangerous railway. Which, as you’d probably already figured out, is very real and what inspirited rosa to use this setting and thus indeed wind through dangerous mountainsides and over thin cliffs like a real life Donkey Kong Country level.  Eduardo still has his machete though and easily beats Jose’s umbrella, but some more Donald slapstick and him apologizing to daisy about the senioritis as he wishes her goodbye seriously GET SOME COUPLE’S COUNSELING IF THAT EXISTS IN THE 50′S. It puls his sombrero down over his head, and with jose’s umbrella top landing on it, carries him off where he ends up in a lazy asshole sheirff’s jail for a gag. The boys however continue going back.. and the railway is unfinished at this time in history and while they save the silver, their fucked. But Donald has a plan, running to the back of the cars to get his car, and while it has trouble starting, Panchito throws some chilie’s in the tank to get it moving again.  The boys find the silver.. but when one barrel spills they find out it’s not actual liquid silver.. but quicksilver, which was used for silver refinment. So while i’ts shiny, and toxic so of course Jose sticks his hand in before knowing what it is, it’s worthless. Probably. The boys.. all have a nice laugh over it. I love this moment. Sure the boys lost their dreams.. but like Scrooge, the three belivie theirs always another rainbow. What matters is the journey they had and the reunion that restored their friendship. Donald also muses the boys are smart enough to get their own scholarships anyway, so it’s no big loss.. but he does have to get back to Disvadero as the jamboree ends tonight and Jose agrees as he now needs a job again. The owner balks, understandably since Jose missed a performance to get laid and then disappeared overnight.. but the Hotel Owner is visiting so as long as he can provide a big act he’s good, and while Jose is worried as he already gave them his best, the boys naturally pitch in to be the cablleros once more. After all

So we close on Huey, Dewey and Louie returning, still worrying about donald, when they find him on stage. We then end on a truly heartwarming and great last few panels. 

Final Thoughts: What else can I say? This story is beautifully drawn, as usual for Rosa, well paced, fun and really fleshes the Cabs out from the movie. It has a warm, fun adventurous tone and it’s nice to see Donald in the lead since Rosa usually did Scrooge stories and thus Donald was the justifiably surly sidekick instead of the main man> here he’s in the spotlight and gets to show just what he’s made of, while still being the hilarious mess we all know and love. The story honors the original film well, while forging it’s own path and is beautifully built into history. My only real complaints are the nephews being annoying, Alphonso’s somewhat overwrought accent, and of course the daisy gags.. but it’s all HEAVILY outweighed by one of Rosa’s finest hours and easy enough to ignore. Check this out if you can. It’s a classic for a reason. 

If you liked this review, you can commission your own by messaging me on here or at my discord technicolormuk#655 for five dollars a comic story or animation episode. Whenever the ride resumes next, we’ll coming on down to the house of mouse to see the boys return to the screen. In the meantime keep an eye on this space for regular Ducktales reviews every Monday, including once this run ends as I intend to start playing catchup, loud house reviews whenever, my tom retrospective that’s returning soon, and my retrospective on the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, with chapter 2 of that also coming soon. Until then, there’s always another rainbow. 

[thatguywiththecoydog]

Anpanman: Apple Boy and Everyone's Hope (2014)

Introduction

Fox's primary free-to-use streaming service, Tubi, had announced that they would be picking up at least 10 of the Anpanman movies to be released in English and Spanish back last October, with them slated for a fall 2020 release. This never happened, so many fans of the Anpanman franchise that spoke native English or Spanish would have to wait a little longer for dubs of these movies to come out.

The delay of these movie dubs went unannounced, leading fans to speculate that the dub was either in limbo or just silently canceled. This was until the first of them was released on April 15, 2021, with no announcement, or even complete details on who is dubbing them or the cast list. This had fans believing for a short while that the dub had taken a bit longer to assure its quality, but as you will soon read, this was most likely not the case.

Naturally, fans were excited as this was the first time these movies would see an official dubbed release in the west. There were other dubs of the franchise in English and Spanish, such as an English dub of the television series made for India that aired on Pogo, and a Spanish made in Spain sometime in the 1990s. However, these dubs are hard to come by and there are no official ways to watch these dubs in North America, as far as I'm aware.

Promo for the Indian Pogo dub posted by @doraedoramichan2021 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oxAx5EEdX_4

So now we have an official dub of one of the movies that can be watched at no charge with ads. Joy!

Plot synopsis (spoilers below)

The plot starts with Dokin (spelled as "Dokeen" in the dub) and Horrorman (dubbed as "Horror") as they read a book of fairy tales, landing on Snow White. They end up accidentally releasing a shadowy figure from the book as it flies off into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Melonpanna's and Creampanda's (spelled "Cream Panda" in the dub) class are making sketches of the ocean. This is where Baikinman comes in to cause trouble for them with his giant crab robot. Anpanman rushes in from the blue to beat the tar out of Baikinman to save the day as the theme song plays in the background.

After that, we cut to the movie's other titular character, Apple Boy, attempting to fly his hot air balloon over the ocean. After the balloon falls to the ocean, he is swept away by the current.

A whale finds him dehydrated and floating lifeless in the ocean, where he gives him to Anpanman so he can help. After offering a piece of his anpan head to Apple Boy, he takes him to Uncle Jam's bakery, where Uncle Jam and Batako let him stay while they wait for a new shipment of apples from SL-Man.

Back at Baikinman's lair, he discovers that the book of fairy tales was being read by Dokeen and Horror. Looking very worried, he explains to the two of them that he was told never to open that book.

Anpanman, Melonpanna, and Cream Panda find SL-Man with the apples, Baikinman comes by to ruin the apples with his giant caterpillar robot. After Anpanman slows him down, Melonpanna and Cream Panda take SL-Man to the bakery.

Uncle Jam and Batako receive the apples and make them into apple juice. They give the juice to Apple Boy which he quickly drinks and rejuvenates from.

As Anpanman is still fighting Baikinman, Melonpanna and Cream Panda come back with Apple Boy for assistance. Apple Boy ends up beating him by planting an instantly-growing apple seed on the robot's tongue, where Anpanman then punches him into the next time zone.

That evening at the bakery, Apple Boy explains to the crew, with Shokupanman (dubbed as Bread-head Man) and Currypanman there as well, that he needs his balloon to search for the fabled magic apple seeds that can apparently grow the biggest apples anyone has ever seen. Anpanman, Mellonpanna, and Cream Panda help him search for the tree that gives off the magic seeds, while Bread-head Man and Currypanman search for the Apple Balloon. With no luck in finding the tree, they return to the bakery.

As the heroes in the bakery are setting off to find Appleina, an apple girl who might have clues as to where one can find the magic seeds, Horror informs Baikinman and Dokeen of the whole situation through a mock TV newscast.

Once at Appleina's, she shows the crew (and by extension the young audience this movie caters to) how to grow large apples. After many hardships of growing the trees, they finally blossom. Just as they are admiring their hard work, a bunch of bats swoop in and suck the life out of all the other apple trees around them. Unrelated to this, Baikinman attempts to steal all the apples for himself.

At this point, the bats go together to form the wich from the Snow White book that Dokeen and Horror were reading at the beginning of the film, revealing that she was the shadowy figure at the beginning of the movie that escaped from the book.

The witch turns everyone into moldy apples for no other reason than she is evil. The only ones left standing are Apple Boy and Appleina. Uncle Jam and Batako rush to bake Anpanman a new anpan head so he can turn back from apple form and be powered up enough to beat the witch. However, the witch destroys the Anpanman Blimp's oven, meaning they can't bake the head. Apple Boy stuns the witch with the power of a magic apple that he ended up growing. This also bakes the cold head into a perfectly cooked one, giving Uncle Jam and Batako the chance to turn Anpanman back to normal.

They successfully do this and Anpanman beats the witch back into the storybook, as the movie ends and everyone sings about apples.

My opinions

Before you say it, I am fully aware this movie is made for young children, but that is no excuse not to have a quality movie in my opinion. If anything, kids deserve more good content so they can learn and remember seeing that content for years to come. It just makes me feel bad for these children who watch movies that don't have much substance purely because they are "made for children."

The movie itself

The movie is average at best, and boring at worst. I did type out a pretty large plot synopsis for this movie, making it sound like a lot, but there really was not as much as you would think. This movie is only 46 minutes in total too, so there really should have been more here. Like, there was some emotional stuff going on with Apple Boy back on the Apple Planet he came from, but it's never really relevant to the story, nor the series as a whole because of him being made for this movie and only this movie. The movie also has a surprising amount of filler. Like, the part where I briefly mention Anpanman looking for the tree is a montage in the movie that lasts about two minutes, along with a scene where Apple Boy falls off a cliff, which is also not relevant to the main plot. I want to say a good quarter of this movie in total was filler, so we only have about 33 minutes of actual plot.

The writing that is there is also broken. I believe that the most entertaining part about this series is the series villains, Baikinman, Dokeen, and Horror. They don't make too many appearances in this movie to serve as comic relief, rather, Baikinman feels shoved in here to serve as more padding to make that over-40-minute time slot. There are also parts of the movie that make absolutely no sense under any perspective, not just an outsider's. Like, why does giving Anpanman a new head suddenly transform him from a moldy apple back to normal?

Overall, I feel as though both adults and children would be bored to death by this movie. 3/10.

Dubbing quality

If the movie itself wasn't soleless enough, the dubbing somehow makes this worse.

The movie was dubbed by Macias Group, a Florida-based studio that is best known for dubbing English shows into Spanish but does have some English dubbing in their catalog.

They had hired voice actors that I have not even heard of, nor do I think anyone else has. This doesn't make the dubbing automatically bad, in fact, a no-name cast can be quite good if given the right direction. However, this cast I feel did not give enough life to the characters. Some characters sound fine, like Horror or Dokeen, but others sound like the actor is struggling to put on a good performance, like Baikinman.

The characters also tend to speak in a way I like to call "Dora the Explorer Syndrome." It's kind of hard to explain what this is over text, but characters will talk extremely slowly for the young children, along with sounding considerably condescending. Watch the first two minutes of a Dora episode and compare it to this movie and you'll hear what I mean.

The voice acting itself sounds a bit bland and flat, almost like the actors didn't really care for their roles and were just doing it for a small paycheck. I don't blame them, really. An obscure series that they most likely haven't even heard of streaming exclusively on an unpopular streaming service most likely won't pay too high certainly wouldn't get me motivated. To do something like this, it needs to pay high enough or be on a service where it will get more notoriety, and most importantly, the people need to have a passion for the project and voice acting in general, neither of which sounded like they were here. I also heard a bit of recording echo, but I'm going to chalk that up to the actors recording at home rather than a booth due to COVID restrictions. If the dub had a bit more heart, then I probably would have liked it that much more.

I feel as though some of the name changes could have been better. Like some were unnecessary like Dokin to Dokeen or Horrorman to Horror, but things like Baikinman and Anpanman were kept the same, which probably needed the most explanation to an English audience.

The iconic songs from the Japanese version were also translated to English, which is a rarity in 2021 dubbing land. However, the songs sound off from their Japanese counterparts. If you were to listen to the theme song (https://youtu.be/3qSiSWTJkzw) or the closing song (https://youtu.be/c4DY7xmLlQI), you hear that they are bouncy, happy, and catchy. The English versions sound a bit off-beat to the rhythm these songs are supposed to be in. Now, I don't mind if the rhythm is a bit different so it can be optimized to the English language better, but here, it's so off it makes the songs sound worse. Most likely, the singers were given no direction and only listened to the Japanese version a few times. Not only that, but the lyrics are nearly directly translated from Japanese, also messing with the flow of the songs. When listening to the Japanese musical tracks, it almost makes you wonder what could have been.

Overall, the dubbing is not too good and probably could have done better either with a different cast with more motivation, or a whole 'nother studio behind the wheel.

Final thoughts and other recommendations

If you do want another English dub of Anpanman that I think is miles better, watch the fandub by Thomas Blue on Fandubbers Unite, starring myself as Anpanman (renamed to Bean-bun Man) and @clwsblog as Baikinman (renamed to Cavity Creep). It has better writing, better acting, and better songs. Both kids and adults alike will enjoy this version. Before you ask me, no, there is no bias here. I truly believe we did it better and for no pay!

Here is a link to Thomas Blue's dub:

https://fandubbersunite.weebly.com/beanbunman.html

If you really want to watch the official English though, even after my warnings, then go ahead. Here's a link to the Tubi listing:

https://tubitv.com/movies/592033/anpanman-apple-boy-and-everyone-s-hope?start=true

[makeste]

so i’m guessing mr mouse killer, dr child killer and grape pervert are the three characters you hate then

actually, no! well yes for Re-Destro, but not the other two, surprisingly. with Ujiko, even though he’s obviously a terrible, horrible person (possibly the worst person in the entire series; I think he even gives AFO a run for his money) and I hate his guts, as a character he plays a really important role as AFO’s Guy In The Chair and as the architect of all these evil sciencey plot things like the Noumus and the like. and crucially (for me, anyway), Horikoshi makes no attempt whatsoever to try and portray him as likable or sympathetic in any way. he’s an unrepentant creep through and through, which is honestly kind of a relief. I can despise him without feeling any sort of guilt or conflict. so in that respect I think he’s a very satisfying villain character, and I can appreciate that he does a good job of fulfilling his designated role in the series, which is to be Very, Very Evil.

with Mineta, I don’t really hate him so much as I hate Horikoshi’s handling of him. it’s very annoying and frustrating that we’re still dealing with comically perverted tropey characters in 2020, and that it isn’t seen as anything serious, and that people will defend it and be all “oh lighten up” and insist that it’s no big deal. even if Mineta always gets hit with some kind of immediate and deserved retaliation for his attempted gropes and such, it’s still very telling of the culture that it’s portrayed as a nuisance or an unavoidable occupational hazard, rather than sexual fucking harassment. I feel like we ought to be long past the point of this being something to joke about, but yet here we are.

anyway that turned into a rant, but having said all that, I guess it’s kind of weird but I have a tendency to try and separate this phenomenon from Mineta’s actual character nowadays. like, rather than “Mineta did something perverted”, I perceive it more as “Horikoshi wrote Mineta doing something perverted again.” he is a victim of the author treating him as a vessel to pour all of his dumb horny energy into, rather than treating him as an actual character. I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t hate Mineta because I’m constantly wishing that we would get to see him portrayed as an actual character with a personality beyond just “I really like boobs.” he has an interesting quirk, and the potential is/was there to have him be a character who at first just wanted to become a hero for superficial reasons like money and fame, but over the course of the series gradually grows as a person and becomes someone who genuinely wants to help others. that’s the kind of character I think he could be if Horikoshi wasn’t constantly beating the “guess what, Mineta’s still a perv!! so funny!!” horse, which was in fact dead on arrival and never funny to begin with. anyway so I’m not sure if any of that makes sense but oh well.

so now getting back to the original topic of “characters I dislike”, the other two besides Re-Destro are Overhaul, and Stain. and there are a lot of reasons I dislike them, but I guess probably the biggest one is that in both of their cases, they’re characters who are treated within the story as being super charismatic to the point of inspiring fanatical devotion in a ton of people, and I guess I just don’t really see that at all, myself. like, for Stain, everyone in-canon kept going on about how even if they didn’t agree with his ideas, they all found him super intimidating and compelling. and I kind of got the impression that we the readers were supposed to have this impression of him too, except that I just didn’t. at all, lmao. to me he just came off as very annoying and hypocritical and child-murdery. I felt like it was a total swing and miss as far as the attempt to build him up into a character where we could see where he was coming from and empathize with his ideals even if we didn’t agree with his methods.

basically I dislike him because to me he fails at hitting the marks for either “likable as a character/person”, or “admirable as far as being well-written and serving an important function in the story.” he does serve an important function in the story, mind you, but that’s part of the problem -- that someone who serves as this huge catalyst and is in a way responsible for the creation of the LoV reads to me as such a hollow and disappointing shell of a character, and we’re basically just forced to accept that he’s the type of person capable of attracting this huge cult following. however, pretty much all of this is totally subjective and YMMV and that’s fine! like if you happen to be a big Stain fan or whatever THAT IS FINE lol, this is all just my own dumb opinion.

and with Overhaul it’s pretty similar to Stain I guess. except that with him, you also couple in the fact that almost right from the start we already know that he is torturing a little girl (and I mean like literal torture?!), and has absolutely no problem with that. and the thing is, as soon as that’s revealed, there is basically no coming back from that. this is never going to be a sympathetic character. this is never going to be someone the audience is ever going to look at and be like “okay, but otherwise he’s actually a really nice guy” or even “this sad thing in his past makes me feel sorry for him.” because bro. he is torturing a little girl. and manipulating her and gaslighting her into thinking she deserves it, and keeping her locked in a cell in the basement, and only interacting with her when it’s time to torture her some more. THIS ISN’T A NICE GUY. THIS GUY IS SUPER DUPER EVIL AND BAD.

which would be absolutely fine if, like Ujiko, he was treated as someone we were supposed to find repulsive! but then Horikoshi for some reason started giving us all these flashbacks showing his various lackeys being “saved” by him and them being all “he was the only person who gave my life any meaning even though he clearly treats me like garbage” for whatever reason (I mean, ??? this is still inexplicable to me). and then later on giving us these childhood flashbacks of him trying to explain that in his mind what he was doing made sense, and he had convinced himself it was all for his boss’s sake, and so in a strange and deeply fucked up way it was out of love for him, and so forth. and that just did not gel with me at all. like, I can respect the attempt to try and make him a more fleshed-out character, but at the same time, you showed him torturing a little girl. do you think we’re really going to feel sorry for him?? or that (in the case of the flashback where he was implied to have put his boss into a coma) we really needed to see yet more examples of how terrible of a person he was? anyway so to me his flashbacks felt like just more dragging-out in an already-dragged-out arc, and more or less fell flat in terms of expanding his character. like, yes, he’s a sociopath, we already got that. we figured it out. we’re good.

again though, it’s subjective! others may have found him a more compelling character, and have been more receptive to Horikoshi’s attempt to give him a backstory and provide more context for his actions! and that’s fine. but for me, it was just a big No all around, and I can’t say I was particularly sorry about his ultimate fate at the end of the arc. definitely ranks among my top ten limb amputations in a series which is surprisingly rife with them. anyways! so thus concludes my unnecessarily long post about my disliked BnHA characters. I’m just glad the series is good enough that there are only three, haha.

[heathered-beinn]

BTS American Hustle Life Ep8

Episode 7 recap:

It started with a basketball game; Tony, Jungkook, Jimin, and J-Hope VS Nate, Suga, V, and Jin. Tony’s team won by a point and the punishment was Nate’s team had to buy ice cream for everyone. The next day BTS were dragged out of their beds and sent away to experience ‘working for a living’. RM and Suga joined housekeeping in a hotel, Jimin and Jungkook went to an airfield where they had to clean workshops and planes, Suga, V, and Jin ended up on a yacht and had to clean, polish, and varnish it ready for an event. At the working day they got ‘paid’ and Tony told them they were going to use the money to buy food for people on Skid Row.

While the end was a really good lesson in ‘giving back’ the rest of the episode was not so good viewing. IMO they really wasted an opportunity by not telling BTS that they were going to work – if they had they probably wouldn’t have treated it like a game. If they had taken it more seriously then it would really have put the “earning money” and “giving back” aspects into proper perspective. But it was what is was.

Anyway on to the final episode!

So BTS are getting dragged out of bed again. Did they get any decent sleep this trip? Poor V – he’s been the hardest to get out of bed each time lol.

So their last challenge is to create the best hip hop performance they can using their learned skills.

As a band they set to work on their lyrics for regulate – I’m pretty sure they don’t normally work on lyrics altogether – too many cooks spoil the broth etc - so this maybe made it harder for them. LMAO at V who wanted to include an audience aspect with, “I say V, you say The Best” and RM saying if they weren’t on camera he would have cussed him. LOL the sass and confidence of JK putting a hand across his hyung’s (Suga’s) mouth.

So Suga and RM are in charge (by rights of earning the most money last ep). Suga gives Jin and J-Hope the task of printing hand-outs, while Jimin, V, and Jungkook (the Maknae Line!) are to hand them out and promote the show.

Lol at Jungkook’s method of handing out flyers

Why do I think these were the worst three to promote anything *crying with laughter emoji*. Haha V ends up being shyer than Jungkook.

In fact, Jungkook does rather well with the promotion!

I like the little bit of behind the scenes where they clap to indicate the cameras are rolling. Jungkook really got into it lol. They clearly did other promotion for the show (and relied on their already established international fans?) because I’m calling it out that that amount of people were not the skills of Jimin, V, and, Jungkook on the street lol.

I wonder how nervous BTS really felt about shows at this point. It’s 2014 and they’ve played in quite a few shows at this point and I think been on TV? They have even been to Japan. So they were new but not that new? No doubt there will always be some nerves ahead of a show, it’s only natural, but there’s a difference between feeling antsy and feeling ill. I wonder who out of all the band had the worst nerves and who had the least nerves and why. Questions questions.

So this is really my first time seeing them perform on stage, concert style. I’ve never been much of a fan of rap but I actually quite enjoyed their music – they have some great choruses that you can’t help singing along to. What else can I say? They are well styled. Their performance is polished. Everyone sings confidently. Suga is really good at rapping. Their dancing is on point. They are a great band and it is clear why they made it.

I’m impressed at Jungkook’s stage presence – he’s confident and one of the lead vocals despite being quite shy behind the scenes. Also, I noted Jimin has some versatility to his voice! I thought he was mainly the “high vocal” of the group but I saw one bit in that concert where he had a strong middle range. I’d be interested to see him rapping.

Regulate: Turned out pretty nicely, guys! The dance challenge: Ah ha ha ha actually it was quite fun to watch. I be the audience were like ????? though lol

RM and Jimin killed their bboying. RM needs extra kudos for his efforts.

LOL, Jin and J-Hope tried with their beatboxing – lovely of Fraahz to join them on stage.

OMG Suga, V, and Jungkook’s ‘Oh Happy Day’ was great! It was polished and Jungkook, what a marvellous tone you have – he made all the notes, just cracking!!! <3

All in all, it’s clear the lads have a lot of fun on stage and it’s lovely to see their confidence shine. “Same love” was, again, polished and full of high energy, and so was “No More Dream”, it’s easy to see why BTS made it so big. They have great stage presence, their music is interesting, their performances are energetic, their personalities are fun and engaging, they all seem to really care about each other and are not afraid to show affection (which is a wonderful Korean charm), they work hard, they are polite and friendly, and they seem to have a lot of fun which means we have a lot of fun. They tick pretty much every box for success – well deserved success.

So it’s the last day and they are all packing up. They say some really nice things to Tony and Nate. It’s clear they all got on well and that the two gentlemen made it easier for the band to enjoy their time. Perhaps RM was the most honest when he said there was a lot of hardwork. I think there probably was – more than the camera showed. There was probably some home sickness in the mix as well - 21 days in a foreign country and not able to speak the language must have been quite hard.

 Overall Series Musings.

 I’m not going to lie, there were some seriously cringy moments in this series and a lot of episodes I wouldn’t care to re-watch because of that. However, there were some absolutely magical moments too and some comedy gold. We got to see more of the lads’ personalities and they are thoroughly delightful; all seven of them are fun, playful, affectionate, decent, energetic, interesting, polite, charming, sassy, talented yet beautifully flawed, awkward and just perfectly human. The list is really endless, and I know I’ve fallen even more in love with them because of it. I can certainly see why they won the world over.

Things I have learned and/or observed about the members thus far: Jin is not a natural dancer but if he’s motivated – like when he didn’t want to let J-Hope down – he will work his butt off and his hard work really shows in the end. He’s quite awkward at times and that spills into some of his craft. We learned he had been working towards a career in acting before BTS and that he has a brother who is into hip hop. As the band is so busy he hasn’t even seen the families’ new house. His role in BTS at this point seems to be a bit of parent figure for the younger members.

Suga is quite nervous of woman – like unexpectedly so – worse than Jungkook! I don’t know why this surprised me so much. Does this nervousness around women mean anything? No. Not on it’s own. I’ve just filed it away in my brain in case there is anything else that might connect to it at a later date. Anyway, what else did we learn about Suga? He’s a hard worker and a kind of ‘just gets on with it’ guy. He has a nice affinity with the younger ones, which was a little absent in previous series. This time he spent a lot of time with V and Jungkook and he was pretty soft and indulgent of them. It was lovely to see. His roles in the band are lead rapper and a song writer.  

J-Hope is a literal ball of sunshine. He is also a seriously talented dancer and I was a little taken aback that the band considered him their strongest dancer – that never came across in Carpool Karaoke. He admitted that as a trainee he had felt quite remote from the band as everyone else was a rapper, although I wonder if this was before Jimin joined? J-Hope is really quite talented all round – doing really well with all the challenges – except basketball. His roles in the band are lead dancer and the positivity/glue guy.

RM was RM. I don’t feel we learned as much about him as we did the others. Don’t get me wrong, he was front and centre but I didn’t feel we got to go too deep with him – either that or we’ve learned a lot about him already and there was little new. What did come across is that he is under a lot of pressure and that he cares what other’s think of him. He also wants to care less about what others think of him. His role is still as leader of the band.

Jimin is simply a lovable little ball of energy and laughter. Supposedly he has a temper but even when he’s ‘supposedly mad’ he is laughing about it. It’s hard to talk that seriously. Even the tutor, Tony, fell a little in love with Chim Chim. What else did we learn about Jimin? Well he was definitely calmer than in previous series – although he was still plenty loud. What really came through is that he is a hard worker and can knuckle down. His role is main dancer, high vocals, and comic relief.

V is… a lot of things. He’s overly affectionate at times, wonderfully weird, very random, a little spacey, not always the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to certain things, surprising shy in some situations, and a bit of a sensitive soul. Quite frankly I have a real soft spot for this goofball. His role is a little less obvious but I’m thinking low vocals, face of the band, and the mystery guy.

Jungkook, the maknae, is growing – both literally (I swear he grew several inches between ep1 and ep8 alone and is constantly hungry) and figuratively (his personality is blossoming). He has come out of his shell somewhat – still shy (and nervous of woman) at times – but also surprisingly brave in other situations and growing quite sassy. I think he is more comfortable behind the camera rather in front of it and I hope he gets the chance to be creative with that in the future. His role is main vocalist.

Band relations:      

Some of the musings I made in previous series have been proven right while there are many that I perhaps read too much into. We really started to see the inner friendships more in this series so that has helped put behaviours into better perspective. I think J-Hope and Jin are really tight, they spent a lot of time together and had an ease of two people that had known each other for years. They clearly have a close brotherly bond and it’s just lovely to see. Suga, to my surprise, spent a lot of time with the younger ones in this series and he really indulged them. In fact, he did a great job looking after them and played on their level in a way that made it easy to forget he is their hyung. My new observation for him is that he maybe doesn’t care too much for convention? He is unapologetically him and that’s that, which I take my hat off to. RM and Jimin made a surprisingly great unit – RM is really good with Jimin, even if his (lack) of dancing skills frustrates the younger one at times. RM respects everyone and he gives people time, which I think Jimin needs? Also, I think they get on particularly well because they are quite similar in work ethics and principles. Towards the end we saw Jimin partnered with Jungkook. I can’t put my finger yet on a proper description for their bond. They are certainly comfortable around each other – and get on well and hang out a lot - but they don’t have the same ‘brotherly vibe’ as say RM and Jimin. Jungkook also treats Jimin more like he’s the same age as him. I wouldn’t say he’s disrespectful but there is a lot of teasing and a noticeable lack of honorific behaviour. I also can’t explain why but their bond has not got the same feel as Jungkook’s and V’s relationship, in which Jungkook also treats V as though they are the same age. However, there is a notable warm brotherly vibe between V and Jungkook and certainly more obvious respect from Jungkook’s side. I don’t know... Maybe it’s just the way the programme was edited or maybe I’m talking out my *** I just get frustrated when I can’t explain something. I suppose it didn’t help that Carpool Karaoke didn’t show much of their individual bonds in later life. I guess I’ll find out as we go along whether Jimin and Jungkook have a really close but unique bond or whether they are secret enemies lol.

 ******************************************************************************

The next programme on my list is BTS Go! According to Wiki, this seems to be from 2014 too. However, I recently came across the existence of the BTS Youtube channel where they have hundreds of videos from backstage dating back to 2013! What I think I will do is watch and muse over BTS Go first and then watch all the videos up to the end of 2014 on their Youtube account and then muse over what I see there and what I’ve seen in the tv programmes so far. I expect their personalities and bonds are more candid in the behind the scenes videos so I’m looking forward to seeing those in particular.      

[cinemaocd]

The Mirror and the Light raises more questions than it answers

Going into The Mirror and the Light, the third and necessarily final book in Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, the basic plot wasn’t much in doubt. Thomas Cromwell would rise. Thomas Cromwell would fall. In the summer of 1540 he would be executed. Along the way his son would get married, while he remained single, despite wide-spread speculation that he was angling after the King’s daughter Mary Tudor. Those who Cromwell promoted would be raised as well and some would remain loyal while others would betray him. Cromwell’s fall would come some time after Henry VIII’s unsuccessful marriage to Anne of Cleves, and his role in promoting that marriage would play some part in his downfall. Cromwell’s past interactions with his two most powerful enemies, Stephen Gardiner and the Duke of Norfolk, would also have some bearing on his downfall, since they were the main figures behind his arrest.

These are the undisputed big historical facts that Mantel had to work with, or in many cases, work around. There were many other smaller facts that she had to play with as well, some of which appear in the book as delightful asides like Cromwell putting a neighbor’s house on rollers in order to settle a boundary dispute, or Cromwell importing beavers to control the streams and rivers of England. There was also some evidence that Cromwell had an illegitimate daughter, born sometime after his wife’s death. Mantel massages the timeline to make this fit into her backstory of original characters from the first two books, and cleverly ties the daughter to the seemingly random charge in his arrest that he “sheltered Anabaptists.”

Of course Mantel created a whole plot, a series of original characters, and interpretations of historical figures and events for the first two books. They were fiction, after all. Like any good writer (and Mantel is an excellent writer, always in control of her material), she left questions unanswered to hook readers into the third book. If you were expecting these plots to be tidily resolved, you will be disappointed in The Mirror and the Light. The book fails to resolve many questions, creates more plot threads and then leaves those loose as well. Does that mean the book isn’t successful? I would argue that it is precisely because she fails to resolve these puzzles and questions, that Mantel manages to walk the knife edge between genre fiction and literature with a big “L.” She is certainly aware that these characters have all been the main actors in romance novels and murder mysteries as well as history plays. Indeed that is the subtext of almost every movement of plot within the novels.

While Wolf Hall seemed to be a conversation with playwright Robert Bolt about the veracity of A Man for All Seasons, which made Thomas More the hero and Cromwell the villain; this last installment seems to be deeply concerned with T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral, about the murder of Thomas Becket at the hands of Henry II. Cromwell digs up Becket’s bones at their resting place in Canterbury, tears down statues of Becket and even keeps the supposed remains of the martyr in his house, in case the king changes his mind. He  considers commissioning a play that shows what a terrible person Becket was for disobeying his king and bowing to Rome. Henry II was excommunicated, and Mantel dwells on the possibility that if the current Henry suffers the same fate, the whole nation could be lost to invaders given free reign by the pope to do their worst to the heretics. This is one of the reasons Cromwell is so eager to align England with Lutheran princes via the marriage with Cleves. But of course, Cromwell, as always, has half a dozen reasons for everything he does.

Eliot celebrates Becket as a champion of the separation of powers of church and state, a founding principal of modern democracies and one which was much threatened during the time Eliot wrote the play, 1935, with fascism on the rise in Europe. Of course it does not take a rocket scientist or even a political scientist to put two and two together with our own times. Cromwell would be anti-Brexit, pro NHS and anti austerity. Yet, he would also be the kind of neo-liberal who would be quietly feathering his own nest, profiting from selling off National Trust properties all the while making speeches about the enduring greatness of the British monarchy. For every eerily prescient passage about the plague and it’s random destructive path through society, there is a reminder of just how foreign a country the past is: Cromwell--a becon of rationality and enlightenment--believes the source of his fever is a snake he held in Italy. For every kindly head of an English department who is inspired by Cromwell’s leadership, there is a despicable grotesque like Steve Bannon who admires Cromwell’s ability to seize both religious and political power who sees himself, like “self made” white men everywhere, the victim of the elitism that Cromwell faced. 

But these are questions for people who get their essays in front of more eyeballs than I ever will. What do I, the Cromwell fanatic think of the new book?

I think die hard fans of the first two books will be generally pleased with this installment. We get so much more Cromwell than ever before. We are moving more slowly through his life and we are, with exception of a few enlightening flashbacks, solidly in the company of the mature, sardonic, earthy man that we we got to know in Bring Up the Bodies. In short, Cromwell at fifty is a pure joy. Mantel as with the previous installments surrounds him with a crew of lively and memorable companions. From his son who has come into his own as Sassmaster of Austin Friars, to the irrepressible Christophe, who stays with Cromwell through his confinement and walks with him to his execution, cursing the king as Cromwell could not, I love everyone in this English Reformation. Even the bad guys like Norfolk and Gardiner remain fresh. Mantel uses them thriftily, lest we tire of their antics, so that when Cromwell is blindsided by an Easter dinner with Gardiner and Norfolk it is one of the highlights of the book.

As we move closer to his doom, Cromwell has flashes of his fate, but the history fan, or even just the person who has made a close reading of Cromwell’s wikipedia entry, can see it collapsing all around him. Yet, miraculously he never wears out his welcome as other iterations of the character do. As much as I enjoyed James Frain’s Cromwell early in The Tudors his characterization gets more shrill as the story moves forward to the point where his execution is almost a relief. Cromwell is a convenient villain because so many of the facts of his life actually support that conclusion. Mantel used every trick in the book from making him the victim of child abuse, to giving Cromwell a love of animals and children to humanize him in the first two books. In the third she sharpens all of these tools, even as she readies Cromwell to make that last journey from the tower.

In the first two books, there are a number of tropes that are quite worn and flimsy. For example, the idea that it was Cromwell selected the group of petty noblemen executed with Anne Boleyn because they once participated in a masquerade mocking his former master, Cardinal Wolsey. The men were guilty of something to be sure: a kind of greedy, entitled, elitist malice, but not the crimes for which they were executed. It is a weak premise really, but Mantel made it work because of the way she showed the working of Cromwell’s mind, and the way in which she brought the reader so thoroughly into his schemes. By the time you realize that you have been spending time with a mass murderer you are so under his spell that you begin to question the entire premise of narrative fiction. Can any narrator be relied upon? Is there any such thing as a villain or a hero? Are there not elements of both in every person? Can’t the guilt for all of this blood really be laid at the feet of the often childish monarch in whose name all of this happened? Where does personal responsibility begin and end in the midst of atrocity?

All of these larger questions are floating around in the background of The Mirror and the Light and as Cromwell focuses in on the grim task of disemboweling England’s religious houses for personal and political gain, you wonder what price all of this is going to have on his soul. In Wolf Hall, Cromwell fell into a fever, (probably malaria--which had a basis in historical fact) after he managed More’s execution. Though More’s death should be seen as political triumph for him, he views it as a personal failure. Cromwell does not like saints who don’t behave like rational men. He likes men like Geoffrey Pole, who he interrogates in The Mirror and the Light. Pole gives in easily to intimidation, talks a blue streak and is pardoned and released. Cromwell suffers another bout of the fever--which he believes will ultimately take his life-- after bringing down the last and largest religious house in England, the nunnery at Shaftesbury. Now it is true that Cardinal Wolsey had an illegitimate daughter who was housed there, but Mantel takes that fact and weaves into the fabric of her story. Again it is a flimsy premise and again it works because it is surrounded by unassailable bulwark that is Cromwell’s character. Cromwell arrives at Shaftesbury with the vague plan of trying to do something for the Cardinal’s daughter before he turns her out of her home. He winds up disastrously proposing marriage to her in an almost comical scene, a proposal which she rejects with such venom that he weeps for only the second time in three books. This is a man who has lost his entire family, suffered deeply all through his childhood and adolescence and yet this is only the second time he weeps? It’s not quite logical, and like the masquerade plot, it feels all a bit creaky, yet we believe it because Cromwell.

Wolsey’s daughter also accuses Cromwell of poisoning Wolsey, a rumor which has touched Cromwell’s ears earlier in the book, from the dying lips of another bastard child, this time The Duke of Richmond, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. The injustice of the accusation drives Cromwell’s grief more than the girl’s rejection and he becomes haunted by the idea of who is spreading this rumor. While it could be any of Cromwell’s numerous enemies, it is never fully resolved. On second or third read of this or the other books, we might find the clues that Mantel hid in the story. Similarly multiple readings of the first two books reveal clues as to who terrorized Anne Boleyn by leaving her hate mail, setting her bed on fire and murdering her dog. Mantel has not exactly solved that mystery but she puts the probable solution into the mouth of one of her least trustworthy characters, Lady Jane Rochford, the wife of the late George Boleyn. If Cromwell believes her, he doesn’t say. We are left to decide for ourselves.

In the end, Cromwell’s bout of grief-driven malaria does contribute to his downfall, as he misses a crucial session of parliament, in which Stephen Gardiner forced through a series of laws meant to reverse the Reformation. Cromwell has to stand by and watch friends and fellows in the struggle to create a bible in English, burned at the stake.  In Wolf Hall, Mantel says that a “blacksmith creates his own tools,” meaning that Cromwell created the very laws which he used to take down Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. The blacksmith imagery pays off in the final chapter of the last book, when we are reminded of Cromwell’s childhood nickname “put an edge on it” when he spies the dull instrument with which is to be executed. In The Mirror and the Light, the blacksmith is left at the mercy of his own tools. Unable to find proof of Cromwell’s heresy as a religious dissenter, Gardiner uses the law that Cromwell created to prevent any of Henry’s heirs marrying without the king’s permission. He takes idle gossip started by Cromwell’s oldest frenemy Eustace Chapuys, that Cromwell is planning to marry the Lady Mary Tudor, and uses it to fabricate the evidence used in Cromwell’s arrest. He uses the exact methods that Cromwell used to bring down Anne Boleyn: spin a rumor into fact while using the king’s momentary dissatisfaction as the window of opportunity to make ordinary ambition look treasonous.  

The scenes with Mary are both heartbreaking and hilarious, as are many of the scenes with other possible, past marriage candidates such as Bess and Jane Seymour. Just as Cromwell’s relationship with frequent correspondents Stephen Vaughn flavored the earlier books, Cromwell’s relationship with Thomas Wyatt is the closest thing to a romance that Cromwell has in The Mirror and the Light. Cromwell’s seemingly irrational loyalty to Wyatt is explained away by a deathbed promise to Wyatt’s father (there is also a convenient deathbed promise to Katherine of Aragon retconned into this book to explain the lengths he goes to to save Mary Tudor from father’s wrath). Another flimsy trope that works because of the strength of Mantel’s characterization. 

In prose that is frequently breathtaking and always interesting, Mantel saves some of her best stuff for describing the relationship between Cromwell and the king. If his friendship with the poet Wyatt is like that of a lover, his strange entanglement with Henry is like that of a spouse. In one scene Cromwell and Henry fall asleep together on a sofa. The intimacy is heartbreaking, partly because we know how it will end. When Cromwell is in his most pitched delirium of fever he realizes that Henry will use him up and spit him out. When he recovers himself, he writes The Book of Henry --treasonous advice to some imagined future privy councilor. Even if he does not consciously acknowledge  that Henry will kill him, as he has his other spouses, his fever self, his true self, seems to realize it.

[timeagainreviews]

My Series 10 Rewatch: The Husbands of River Song

One of the beautiful aspects of starting this blog has been the opportunity to revisit old episodes. The title of this blog "Time and Time Again," isn’t just a reference both to Twin Peaks and Doctor Who, but also a raison d'être. The hope is that repeat viewings will bring forth new insights. Things I loathed previously may seem charming in hindsight. Things I initially adored may begin to show cracks in their facade. Some records take a few listens until we discover their greatness. Sometimes art requires consideration.

I mention this because our first review for the series 10 retrospective is for "The Husbands of River Song," an episode of which I detested. It's important to give this context as my opinion of it has indeed mellowed over time. I will endeavour to highlight this shift in perspective as memory permits. Before the other day, I hadn't watched this episode since it first aired on Christmas of 2015. What then can nearly half a decade add to the experience?

It should be noted that I have never been a big fan of Doctor Who Christmas specials. It would be quicker to count the reasons I like them, or in this case, the reason. That being, it's more Doctor Who. Other than that, I find the whole Christmas theme to be hokey. Growing up, I was a Halloween kid. I really don't like Christmas all that much, so an entire episode themed around it is not my idea of a good time. Even worse is when the villains themselves have Christmassy gimmicks like Santa robots or evil snowmen. I suppose in some ways, it's in the Christmas spirit for the Doctor to die and regenerate on Christmas, as they so often do. The concept of birth and renewal are a big part of the holiday. But if I was known to die a lot on Christmas, I might use my time machine to skip it every year.

Landing his TARDIS on Christmas Day, in the year 5343 is Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. The planet, Mendorax Dellora, is one of Steven Moffat's usual Christmas village planets, stuck somewhere in a vortex of quaint sentiment. The Doctor appears to have about as much Christmas spirit as I do. Having just lost Clara both in spirit and memory, he's reverted to the Doctor's most worrisome state- hermitic and bitter. Not even the TARDIS' holographically generated reindeer antlers can bring out the holiday cheer. It's a visit from Nardole, a nebbish sort of man, that brings the Doctor out of his slump. Mistaking him for a surgeon, he leads the Doctor to what appears to be a crash-landed saucer. The obscene redness of its exterior against the plain backdrop gave me the strangest pangs of the circus tent from "Killer Klowns from Outer Space." Just throwing that out there.

From the outset, Peter Capaldi is at his most charming. I've never actually covered a Twelfth Doctor story before now, so I would like to mention how much I adore his performance as the Doctor. I know he gets a lot of flack from certain fans (see: dipshit morons with no class), but I think he's brilliant. Right away his banter with Nardole is apparent. It's easy to see why someone may have watched Capaldi and Matt Lucas interacting and thought "There's something here." Lucas' history in comedy gives him great timing as the foil to the Twelfth Doctor's eccentricity.

However, it won't be Nardole filling the role of co-star for long. As the Doctor enters the ship of King Hydroflax, he is greeted by the familiar face of River Song. As I have mentioned previously, I have issues with the way River's story plays out, but by this point in the show, I had grown to love her. Which is why this episode pains me so much. The problems inherent in having the Doctor and River's relationship play out like two ships in the night are at their worst in this episode, but I'll get to that in due time.

The King Hydroflax, played with great relish by Greg Davies is a mere head atop a giant robot body, painted in the same garish red as the flying saucer. River, acting very unlike herself, is practically prostrating herself in front of the vain king. Furthermore, she doesn't seem to recognise the Doctor's new face at all. Even more disturbing to the Doctor is the fact that River appears to be married to the king tyrant, talking about him as some sort of cherished lover. After analysing his new patient, the Doctor discovers a foreign body lodged into Hydroflax's skull. All the while, the king's loyal subjects watch a live feed of the operation, booing the Doctor when he refuses to placate the ego of their leader. It's an idea that has become painfully more believable in the years since airing.

The Doctor and River go into another room of the ship where River explains that the foreign body is, in fact, the most valuable diamond in the universe known as the Halassi Androvar. Somewhat to the Doctor's relief, he discovers that River's love for the king has been a ruse to recover the diamond for the Halassi people, from whom it was stolen. Much like the Doctor has turned into a bitter hermit, loneliness has brought out River's more sadistic nature as she takes to the idea of killing Hyrdroflax for the diamond in stride. Less enthusiastic of the idea than even the Doctor is the emperor himself, who has somehow managed to eavesdrop on two Time Lords while walking around in a massive robotic body. This kind of logic will continue throughout the night.

The king is much displeased with learning that his new wife is some renegade archaeologist with a sonic trowel. Taunting the pair, he removes his head from his robot body, leading River to improvise. Holding his head hostage at trowelpoint, River improvises and takes the entire head in a duffel bag. River's other husband, a beautiful but submissive man named Ramone, teleports her and the Doctor to safety with the head in tow. Meanwhile, Hyrdoflax's body sets about taking on a new head in the form of poor Nardole. It’s worth noting that River wiping Ramone’s mind of any knowledge that they were married is a bit creepy. There are implications involved that kind of gross me out.

The Doctor, having just met Ramone, is taken aback after having met yet another of River's husbands. Beginning to feel like a bit of an afterthought the Doctor takes small potshots at River's sense of loyalty, while also fishing for clues that he may or may not have ever meant something to her. For all this episode does to highlight the Doctor and River's secret feelings for one another, it does a piss poor job of actually staying true to River's character in one key manner. Throughout a majority of the episode, River fails repeatedly to recognise the Doctor for who he is.

Moffat tries somewhat to cover his tracks by making it look as though River only knows of twelve previous regenerations, including the War Doctor. In what looks like one of the cheapest props of the episode, she even has a little fold-out wallet with all of the Doctors' pictures. Knowing that the Eleventh Doctor was the end of his regeneration cycle, she never even considers the idea that the Doctor may have lived on. Even though toward the end of the episode, she remarks that the Doctor always finds a way to cheat fate, she wholeheartedly buys into the idea that the Doctor would just never regenerate beyond the Eleventh Doctor. In a single episode, not even River's own logic believes River's own logic.

Learning that River sometimes shows up to places he's been long enough to take the TARDIS for a joyride, the Doctor is given a chance to act as a bit of a spectator in his own life. There is a definite bit of glee to be found in the Twelfth Doctor's over the top reaction to his own TARDIS. Finally being able to say "It's bigger on the inside," the Doctor savours the moment to great comical effect. Ramone parts ways to he and River's pre-established rendezvous point. However, he is cut short by the giant robot body holding a gun to Nardole's head. Poor Nardole, he's having such a rough go of things. First, he brings the wrong surgeon, then he loses his body, and now he's being held hostage by his new body. The robot’s only demand is that Ramone send a message to River.

River, as always, is quite at home in the TARDIS, even taking a moment to raid the liquor cabinet of which not even the Doctor was aware. However, her flawless piloting of the TARDIS is thrown out of whack by unforeseen circumstances. Even after the Doctor deduces that the TARDIS won't fly while it senses the King's head and body are both inside and outside the TARDIS, River still doesn't grasp the fact that he is the Doctor. I would also like mention that while I found the TARDIS' failsafe to be a rather creative invention, it did immediately make me wonder about the Cyberhead Handles' body. What constitutes a body the TARDIS recognises? Could the Face of Boe fly in the TARDIS? Could Dorium Maldovar? Oh well, it doesn't really matter.

A knock on the TARDIS door from Ramone, now part of the robot, quickly reunites the head and body. However, for the third time in this episode, any action is immediately sidestepped by yet another person taking a disembodied head hostage. This time it's the Doctor threatening to throw Hydroflax's head down the garbage chute. Every chance this episode gets, it bravely avoids the perils of forming some sort of plot. The stakes have never been lower. The Doctor and River take the TARDIS to a restaurant aboard the starship Harmony and Redemption. Everyone onboard is some sort of war criminal or seedy individual, including the Maître d', a bug faced man named Flemming. After taking a seat in the restaurant, River reveals that she never planned on returning the diamond to the people of Halassi. Instead, she plans on selling it to the highest bidder.

The Doctor uses this moment to probe River for further information. River reads silently from her TARDIS diary. She reveals to the Doctor that the person who gave her the diary was the type of man who would know just how long a diary she would need. It's at this moment that the Doctor begins to see traces that River is very much still in love with him and that she may be a little lost without him. I would say this scene was touching if it weren't for the fact that it was undercut by River's inability to recognise the man sitting directly in front of her. It's so out of character for River to be this myopic. By this point in my initial watch through, I was so annoyed by this betrayal of her character that it took me out of the story completely. The second time around was only a little less irritating due to the fact that at least now I expected it.

River's buyer turns out to be Scratch, a very Moffatty body horror bad guy, in the vein of characters like Colony Sarff or the Headless Monks. After accepting River's price, Scratch opens his head like a coin purse and pulls out a little orb that connects to any bank in the universe. By this point, I've grown accustomed to Moffat's over the top exploits like this. It's feasible to imagine that Scratch's cruel master may have torn his head open to store money. It's like in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," when Humma Kavula removes a servant's nose to reveal a control pad that opens a series of draws tucked into his chest. However, it gets a bit far fetched when it is revealed that many other diners in the restaurant are the same species as Scratch and they all have the same scar across their faces. Is this some evolutionary trait? Are they a species so greedy that they evolved a place to squirrel away their money? Do they keep other stuff like car keys or bags of space weed? Not every bad guy needs to be a toy, Moffat!

The reason the patrons suddenly turn on the Doctor and River is that they discover the diamond is lodged within the head of their great leader. This brings up even more questions about their heads. Why doesn't Hydroflax’s head have the same scar? Are they the same species? How did this asshole even get so much power in the first place? There seems to be neither anything likable nor competent about him... oh right. Once again, the events of the years since have made this episode more believable. Dinner is even further interrupted by the King's body barging in, demanding its proper head. Only now it deems King Hydroflax's head unsuitable. Having been detached from his body for too long, the King's head is now dying. The body disintegrates the King's head, leaving behind the diamond. Flemming uses this opportunity to alert the patrons of the restaurant to the fact that River knows the perfect person to become the next head of state, so to speak. Of course, it's the Doctor.

Why Flemming knows River knows a Time Lord, but doesn't know she herself is a Time Lord is anyone's guess. Or maybe he knows and is just throwing shade by implying that the Doctor is a better Time Lord. It's at this moment that Alex Kingston is given one of her finest moments as River Song in the form of an emotional monologue. After arguing that the Doctor wouldn't be there with her because he doesn't care, it finally dons on her that the Doctor has been standing next to her the entire time. Despite the fact that Moffat sacrificed River's intelligence for the sake of a big reveal, the moment still resonates. Capaldi's warm gaze meeting River's expression of shock followed by his soft utterance of "Hello sweetie," is genuinely touching. No cynical sensationalism can undo the beautiful performances given by Capaldi and Kingston, who bring more gravity to the scene than the script.

For all of the hand-wavey tripe this episode heaps upon us, the way in which the Doctor and River escape this sticky situation is actually rather brilliant. In any other show, the appearance of a sudden freak meteor collision with the ship would seem convenient. But River is an archaeologist and a time traveller. She picked her meeting location perfectly- a starship about to be destroyed by meteors. Her line of "I'm an archaeologist from the future, I dug you up," is easily one of the best River Song lines ever written for Doctor Who. If this is truly her final episode, that's one hell of a line to go out on.

In another convenient moment, the diamond lands in River's dress as they're making their escape. I guess she planned that too. The Doctor uses Scratch's money orb to short circuit the robot body with its firewall. River and the Doctor run to the TARDIS while the ship crashes into the planet Darillium, knocking River unconscious. While River is out, the Doctor uses the opportunity to do a bit of time travelling. First, the Doctor gives the diamond to one of the crash's first responders, telling him to build a restaurant in front of the singing towers of Darillium. Then he jumps forward to a time when the restaurant has been built to make reservations. Then he jumps forward to the day of the reservation. River wakes up to find herself wandering into a beautiful restaurant on Christmas Day. Even Ramone and Nardole have survived due to some trickery on the Doctor’s behalf. Nardole is having a bit of “alone time,” which River remarks must be difficult as a head. That one goes up there with Ursula becoming a blowjob dispensing pavement stone at the end of “Love and Monsters.” The Doctor is waiting for River in a First Doctor style bow tie and coat. He treats her to a romantic meal and the gift of her own sonic screwdriver, the same sonic screwdriver she has when we met her in "Silence in the Library."

There's a nice little cap on the entire River storyline here that feels a bit more final than the one between her and the Eleventh Doctor. Perhaps it's the fact that it's the last time Moffat wrote her character, or perhaps it's because even River seems to know something is up. Having heard the legends of her own romance with the Doctor, River knows that her last night was spent with the Doctor on the planet Darillium. This is a bit of retconning that you often find in Doctor Who. River doesn't really know in her first appearance that she's headed toward her own demise, yet here she's all too aware of it. It's compounded by the fact that the Doctor reveals that a night on Darillium lasts 24 years. It's meant to be a sweet line that implies they got to spend a lot of time coupling together for 24 years, but it's really just 24 years for River to know, for certain, that she's going to her inevitable doom.

Retcons like these don't necessarily ruin the show. Storytellers shouldn't be forced to sacrifice the current narrative all for the sake of creating tidy bookends. Should Big Finish not put Peri and the Fifth Doctor in more adventures for fear that it may dilute the Doctor's sacrificing his own life for a woman he barely knows? Does him knowing her better make his sacrifice any less admirable? How about the many times River meets the Doctor in his previous forms even though the Tenth Doctor clearly had never met her in his life? I'm not going to answer these questions because they should be open-ended. It is a thing to consider in Doctor Who. If time is a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff, then maybe the storylines are allowed to be as malleable.

As I've demonstrated above, our own experiences with the stories can be malleable. I watched this episode with my boyfriend because I wanted to gauge his initial reaction. A lot of his reactions mirrored my own. We both found ourselves enjoying it as a light romp afforded by the air of a Christmas episode, while also deriding it for its lack of plot. Like myself, he too felt that the big reveal was detrimental to River's intelligence and went on past the point of acceptability. It's one of the oddest things about Steven Moffat as a writer, no matter how clever his ideas actually may be, he doesn't ever seem to know when his audience has caught on. Perhaps it's the suits at the BBC underestimating the audience. Or perhaps this is because he spent a lot of his life as a Doctor Who nerd, oftentimes feeling out of place when talking about Doctor Who to casuals. But the modern Doctor Who audience has been raised on science fiction and intricate narratives. No hand-holding necessary.

Regardless of how attuned he perceives his audience to be, River's realisation seems more slavishly timed to the climax of the story than anything else. One can't help but wonder if Moffat hadn't been so insistent on making this moment the crux of the episode, we may have actually gotten a more serviceable plot. Instead of heads held hostage and hand waving, we could have gotten a stronger villain. Scratch could have represented more than just some guy with a coin purse head. There are lots of fantastical elements on display, but none of them is ever given any gravity. Moffat's fixation on character relationships is so single-minded that it comes not only at the sake of plot, but character as well. It's unfortunate that despite Alex Kingston's greatest efforts, River's goodbye is undercut by one writer's need to be clever.

[nerdinreview]

“WandaVision In Review”

The first of many Marvel Disney+ shows has just recently concluded.  With fan theories running rampant, and twists and turns during almost every episode, it isn’t surprising that WandaVision was so successful.  However, the show is not without its own issues as nothing can ever be quite perfect.  Below is our spoiler-filled review of WandaVision.

My first impression when watching the early (first two) episodes of WandaVision was confusion.  I had a hard time trying to determine why Disney and Marvel would take us on a nostalgia tour through classic television series featuring two underserved and underutilized Avengers.  I have to admit, I wasn’t overly invested in the project in the beginning.  I enjoyed the references to The Dick Van Dyke Show and Bewitched, but I honestly didn’t care much for it past that point.  Despite this, I kept watching for curiosity’s sake, and it certainly paid off.

When it becomes clear that Wanda is more in control of this reality than was initially assumed, I was hooked.  I’m a big fan of Wanda Maximoff as a character.  In the comics she has been a force to be reckoned with and the Marvel Cinematic Universe hadn’t seized the opportunity to really utilize her until this point.  It was exciting to see Wanda use her powers in a way we hadn’t gotten to see on screen before, and the ending definitely implies that this is just the tip of the iceberg for her.

As someone who has been critical of Vision in both comics and film, I have to say that this did wonders for his character as well.  We finally get to see a more “human” side of the synthezoid.  That said, it’s hard to determine how real this side of him was, as he’s technically a manifestation of Wanda’s grief.  At the very least, we get to see Vision as Wanda saw him, which is almost beautiful in its own right.

As mentioned above, some of the best content to come out of WandaVision is the character development.  While the two titular characters had the most development, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the other characters who stuck out.  The first of which is Monica Rambeau.  The last time we saw this character she was a child in Captain Marvel, and while she may have been dreaming for the stars, she had a lot of growing up to do before she became the version of her we see in the show.

Monica was another bright spot in the show, she was fearless, and certainly didn’t back away from a challenge.  She, similarly to Wanda, is dealing with grief.  Losing her mother in addition to the last five years of her life, would be maddening to anyone, yet Monica jumps right back in to work at SWORD, and is often the voice of reason throughout the series. It was also incredibly exciting to see Monica get her powers after being exposed to the boundaries of Wanda’s “hex” three separate times.  We even got to see her powers in action, first being able to withstand Wanda’s attack to get her to leave the neighborhood again, and then being literally bulletproof in the finale.  I don’t think I need to go too deeply into the significance of the MCU literally giving us a bulletproof black female superhero! It was amazing, seeing her protect Billy and Tommy, while also being impervious to Hayward’s attack.  It was a powerful scene that only highlighted Monica’s character even more.

 However, what impressed me most about this character was her empathy to Wanda.  No one would have been overly critical of Monica if she had taken Hayward’s side.  After all, she too was held hostage by Wanda and forced to play a role in Wanda’s show. The experience was even described as “excruciating,” in Hayward’s retelling of Monica’s experience, and yet Monica is unyielding in her opinion that Wanda is not doing this maliciously.  In fact, she willingly exposes herself back into the “hex” despite knowing that it is quite literally altering her DNA, with unknown side effects.  This was something that Jimmy Woo wasn’t even willing to expose himself to once.  During his first scene in the show, he says he doesn’t enter the town because he can “feel” that they’re not supposed to go inside.  He stays true to that throughout the series, only entering Westview when Wanda breaks down the “hex” during the final episode.

As mentioned previously, Jimmy Woo was another character we got to see develop a bit since his Ant-Man and the Wasp appearance.  He and Thor’s Darcy Lewis, were oftentimes the comic relief in the show when things got heavier.  However, we got to see a side of Jimmy Woo’s character that we hadn’t seen before.  While he was appreciated in Ant-Man and the Wasp, he was often at odds with Scott Lang as he was assigned to make sure that Scott was following his house arrest.  It was refreshing to see Jimmy defy Hayward and fight back, being a key role in thwarting his escape.

It was nice to see Darcy Lewis get in on the action as well.  In the Thor franchise she was often comic relief but rarely in the spotlight during action scenes.  While she still didn’t do much fighting in WandaVision it was refreshing to see her stop Hayward with her stolen truck, and have her be the leading expert during SWORD’s investigation of Wanda.  It was particularly exciting to see that she has earned her doctorate, so she is no longer Jane’s intern, and isn’t playing second fiddle to Jane Foster or Erik Selvig.

Finally, Kathryn Han’s Agatha Harkness is also deserving of praise.  With the exception of a few of the films, Marvel has had a bit of an issue with giving fans villains that were worthy adversaries to their favorite heroes.  This was not the case with Agatha Harkness.  Seeing her toy with Wanda throughout the series was a highlight of the show and seeing her be a full fledged witch was equally as exciting.  While Wanda defeated her in the finale, they certainly left the door open for Agatha to return, and I certainly hope they find a way to incorporate her in the future.

While I have mostly praised WandaVision, I have to mention some of the negatives as well.  Overall, I greatly enjoyed the show, there are still a few points that I took issue with.  The first of which is Maria Rambeau.  Maria Rambeau was last seen in the Captain Marvel film and had become a bit of a fan favorite.  She was a pilot, similar to Carol Danvers before gaining powers from the Space Stone, single mother, and according to WandaVision the eventual director of SWORD, yet she is killed off-screen from cancer.  

While this is frustrating for a number of reasons, I was particularly miffed because Marvel still has a long way to go in terms of diversity in their films, and to kill off one of your few female black characters off screen left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.  That’s without getting too deep into the fact that many fans were hopeful that Maria and Carol might have a romantic relationship in the sequel, and this all but confirms that won’t be the case. This adds another layer to the fact that Marvel has yet to have an LGBTQ+ hero in the films.

Additionally, the Marvel films have always handled Wanda and Pietro’s Romani roots poorly.  Not only are the actors not of Romani descent, the culture of their characters is often used as a prop or a joke.  Specifically, Wanda’s costume in the Halloween episode being referred to as a “fortune teller.” 

Additionally, having the twins willing join Hydra--a Nazi organization while having Romani and Jewish roots, through their father Erik Lehnsherr, in the comics has always rubbed me the wrong way.  WandaVision had an opportunity to remedy that when Wanda is reliving her past.  They could have easily given us a one off line about Wanda and Pietro not knowing that it was Hydra when they signed up to be experimented on and didn’t find out until later.  Unfortunately, all we get is a line about the twins wanting to “change the world.”

One of the other issues that I took was the presence of Evan Peters’s Quicksilver.  Initially, I was very excited to see him show up on the show and hoped that this meant we’d be seeing more of Fox’s X-Men in future Marvel films. Not only was he not the real Quicksilver, but he was instead just a long running “boner” joke, as he was Ralph Bohner, Wanda and Vision’s next door neighbor that Agatha was controlling.  While I wasn’t expecting him to be a huge character,  I was hoping for something a bit more significant than Ralph Bohner.

Finally, something that has been sticking out in my head for a while is Jimmy Woo’s missing person.  Jimmy Woo mentions in his first scene that Quantico had sent him to investigate a missing person in witness protection, who lived in Westview.  Initially, this was who I believed Evan Peters’s character to truly be, yet when Jimmy sees him on screen in the All New Halloween Spectacular episode, he just makes a note that Pietro has “the wrong face,” and doesn’t indicate that he recognizes him.  In fact, Jimmy’s missing person is never mentioned again later in the season and it seems as though that was just a plot device used to include him in the show.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed WandaVision.  It was refreshing to have Marvel be able to spend six hours to devote to character development and plot rather than it just being action-centric.  I think the show was an excellent first step in setting up a post-Iron Man Cinematic Universe.  After Avengers: Endgame, so many characters were lost, and it felt like a finale of sorts.  I think this was a great way to continue the story with a whisper rather than a bang, and I look forward to their upcoming Disney+ content.

WandaVision is currently streaming on Disney+.