#tldr she’s very okay to play but fun as a character probably won’t play her again unless im in the mood

[crazysnor1ax]

Guess who I tried playing recently

[bonesbuckleup]

Lord, this answer got long. I’m a little embarrassed about it, but I wrote it, so it’s getting posted. It’s a literal essay. Sorry but also not?

TLDR: Yes, the show is arguably unfair to Sokka about Kya, but it also follows a pattern where Sokka stays quiet about Bad Feelings and plays by the rules established for his character. Katara, meanwhile, grieves loudly and often, and appears to be under the impression that because Sokka’s grief is silent it doesn’t exist, which also fits her character/interactions completely. Neither of them are right or wrong, but it sets them up on inevitable collisions.

Now. If you want to join me on a cactus-juice fueled descent into madness, proceed below the cut.

Number one. We’re referring to this exchange in “The Southern Raiders,” where the Gaang is talking about Zuko and Katara going after the man who killed Kya, which is vicious and brutal and never reflected on:

Aang: You sound like Jet. Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster. Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right. Katara (angry, yelling): Then you didn't love her the way I did! Sokka (visibly hurt, softly): Katara.

And that’s it. Upon returning, Katara apologizes to Aang and not, as Anon is absolutely correct in pointing out, to Sokka, who is 100% the more injured party. Now. Is it possible this is one of the rare missteps from the atla writers? Yes. Absolutely. Is that the answer I’m about to write a literal fucking essay about? No. Because it’s more painful fun to take it as face value and talk subtext.

First, a reminder that this show is fucking good at what it does. It teaches you how each character grieves as we go: Aang explodes, often triggering the Avatar state, usually crying or angry, and when he does try to repress his Bad Feelings it rarely lasts longer than a day; Toph either shuts down or gets mad, but either way she doesn’t like people seeing her having Bad Feelings and often storms away, knowing that she can’t control it no matter how much she might want to; Zuko yells at the sky in a rainstorm or yells at his dad in an underground tunnel or challenges Zhao to an Agni Kai or yells at his uncle in a jail cell and generally is an emotive nuclear bomb because the boy has feelings and if he keeps them inside for more than three seconds he might explode okay.

Then we have Katara and Sokka.

Let’s start with Katara, since she has the most textual and straightforward displays of grief. She’s really the only one to talk about Kya’s death in Book 1. If Sokka mentions it, it’s barely in passing. I don’t think we hear Hakoda address her death at all (which I’ll return to in a moment.) Katara’s grief is loud. It’s angry. It’s still very much a living thing for her. She thinks she sees Kya in the swamp and breaks down crying, and tells Aang and Sokka about it with no hesitation. When she’s angry and sad at Hakoda for leaving, she acts out and is visibly upset with him, yells at him, cries at him. She out-loud hates Zuko when she comes to the conclusion that he told her about Ursa and got her to talk about Kya to manipulate her. It isn’t that her grief is performative, because it’s a very real and terrible thing, but it’s a grief that’s to be witnessed.

Then, Sokka. Sokka’s grief is more complicated because it exists almost entirely in subtext, especially in regard to Kya. We really only hear him talk about Kya twice, both in Book 3. First, to Toph, when he tells her that he can’t remember what Kya looks like. Worth noting, however, that even though it is Sokka talking, this is still centered on Katara and Katara’s grief. The next time is when Zuko asks what happened to Kya, and Sokka tells the story that leads into the initial flashback. Sokka doesn’t talk about his mom. This is a fact of the show. It’s such a fact of the show that, in “Southern Raiders,” after the exchange at the start of this post, while Katara and Zuko are on the hunt, Sokka doesn’t bring up Kya again and is messing around with Aang. Like nothing has happened or is currently happening--which I’ll come back to in a moment.

So while we can use Kya as a perfect example of how Katara grieves, we can’t really use her for Sokka. So let’s use Yue instead. Moments we see (or don’t see) Sokka grieving Yue:

In the opening to Book 2, we briefly have a shot of Sokka with the moon imposed behind him.

“The Swamp,” where Sokka’s vision is of Yue accusing him of not protecting her. This one is one of the more textual moments of grief--”I think about Yue all the time”--but what’s awful great about it is how Sokka tells Aang and Katara. Aang, obviously, has no qualms about sharing his vision. Katara openly talks about seeing Kya. Sokka only tells them about Yue when explicitly asked. Even then, he doesn’t mention what she said to him. From this, we can assume that Sokka is still holding onto a lot of guilt over her death--guilt that he won’t let Aang and Katara see. Anyway. Moving on.

“The Serpent’s Pass.” After spending all day panic protecting Suki, he tells her that he lost someone, but doesn’t go much further into detail, just saying that he can’t when she tries to kiss him. Of course, this is all happening in front of the moon. Again, though, Sokka stays vague. He doesn’t tell her any details.

“The Puppetmaster,” Toph posits that maybe the moon spirit has gone mean and is kidnapping people. Sokka snaps at her, in a moment definitely meant for laughs, saying, “The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady. She rules the sky with compassion and ... lunar goodness!” It is a funny moment, but here’s what we can take from it: Toph doesn’t know about Yue. Toph is a Feral Bastard a lot of the time, but she also knows where the line is, and I don’t think she’d’ve said that if she’d known.

“Boiling Rock,” in arguably the most quoted (and well deservedly so!) line in the entire show. “My first girlfriend turned into the moon.” “...that’s rough, buddy.” COMEDIC GOLD. Also, weirdly, the literal only time that Sokka explicitly tells someone about Yue in the course of the show.

“Ember Island Players” which I haven’t hit in my rewatch yet, but I definitely remember a moment where Suki asks Sokka when he was gonna tell her he made out with the moon, and he tearfully shushes her. Again, played for laughs, but the implication is that he still hasn’t told Suki about what happened.

This plays perfectly into the same way that Sokka (doesn’t) talks about his mom. When the Bad Feelings come, Sokka either avoids them and finds a distraction (Goofs with Aang--see, told ya we’d come back to that) or stays silent. When someone explicitly asks him about the Bad Feelings--what he saw in the swamp, what’s eating at him in “Sokka’s Master,” why he’s panic-protecting Suki--he’ll answer, but often talks around the actual issue. (Interestingly, it’s in regard to Suki we see the most explicit manifestation of Sokka grieving as Azula taunts him during the invasion: he cries, he attacks Azula, he yells and questions her despite the fact he knows she’s wasting their time. I think this one hits him because, as this beautiful post points out, Suki’s the protector in the relationship, and Sokka can actually chill out for 2 seconds. But he let his guard down, and Azula got Suki. Anyway. That’s probably a different essay: back to the matter at hand.) We even see this in “Boiling Rock.” There’s a moment where they think Hakoda is not with the other political prisoners. Sokka’s tense, drawn tight, but the only thing he says is, “No.”

Basically, we’ve got Katara, who grieves loudly and rages and is kinda like white-water rapids that churn and churn and churn. And we’ve got Sokka, who, to quote John Mulaney, looks at his grief and says, “I’ll just keep all my emotions right here and then one day I’ll die.” Iceberg grief, to keep the water metaphor going.

And where did these come from? Yup! Water Tribe gender roles! What we know from the show is that, while the South is typically more progressive (women can train as benders and marry who they want, at least) than the North, it’s still very rigid: the men are warriors/hunters/protectors, the women stay home to cook/clean/child-rear.

Now: subtext! And why I think they are this way!

We’ll start with Katara. The last waterbender in the South Pole. She no doubt grew up doted on. If I say she’s most likely a little spoiled, I don’t mean it in a bad way--I mean it in a she’s the last living remnant of this aspect of their culture kind of way. When raiders come, she’s probably the first priority to protect. Kya dies to keep her safe. Her needs are generally put before the community as a whole. (This isn’t to say that Katara doesn’t contribute or care about her community, because she 100% does). But! Especially in Book 1, we see Katara often considering her opinions as facts (trusting Jet, the waterbending scroll) and doesn’t always pause to consider the larger impact that her actions will have (scroll and Jet again, challenging Pakku, dressing up as the Painted Lady despite the fact the factory will hold the village responsible). And many of these actions are good! But we see a lot of Katara being pretty self-centered--what can I do, how does this impact me, how do I feel about this? And this isn’t a bad thing! This aspect of her character makes her complicated and complex! Katara loves her family and protecting people and caring for them! She’s extremely empathetic! But she also struggles to meet people where they’re at when they emote in a different way than she does (see: her clashes with Toph, her initial problems with Zuko joining the group, the above interaction with Sokka). It’s also worth talking about how Katara witnessed her mother’s death, which no doubt makes her grief about it a sharper thing.

Then, again, Sokka. Also loved in his community! But a normal kind of love, I’d assume. He probably was raised on stories of the Fire Nation dragging waterbenders away. No one exemplifies the Water Tribe ride-or-die mentality quite as well as Sokka, or the gender roles of the man as the warrior/protector, so you gotta believe Hakoda raised that kid to look after his sister at all costs, which we see throughout the show (already preparing to go after Aang in the South Pole because he know Katara’s going anyway, “You burned my sister!”) And he isn’t there when his mom dies. He finds out later. He goes from feeling like a victor who helped chased the raiders away to the worst realization of his life. I have to imagine he’s ashamed by the fact that he thought everything was going to be okay, which leads into his worldview of assuming that nothing is okay ever in any circumstance.

Finally, Hakoda. Who never, unless I’ve forgotten something, talks about Kya. All we know is that their family fell apart after her death (per Sokka in “The Runaway,” learning how Katara stepped up to hold everything together) and sometime after he took the warriors and straight up left. He apologizes for leaving but doesn’t address the fact that he left Katara and Sokka with no parents at all, only the war. This is, uh, not exactly echoing a healthy coping mechanism?

My theory: Kya dies. Since the Water Tribe is so embedded in gender roles, Hakoda probably shut down and/or checked out emotionally for a while. This leaves his kids on their own to deal with their shit, and we learn Katara does everything she can to keep her family going. As the most protected individual in the South, Katara’s probably been taught that emotions equal attention, and uses her temper/caring/sadness to help bring her community closer. Meanwhile, Sokka, who hero worships his dad, watches Hakoda go stoic and learns that “real men” shove their shit down. Additionally, Katara’s grief is deafeningly loud, and Sokka’s number 1 role is to keep Katara safe. He’s taught that the Bad Feelings only get in the way and make things worse, and so he learns to be fine no matter what kind of terrible is going down around him.  Basically, Katara learns to use grief as a needle and thread, and Sokka learns to bury it as deep as he can and avoid it at all costs. Opposite reactions to the same trauma. Katara gets mad and demands to be heard and listened to and seen, and Sokka gets sarcastic and prepares himself for the day the Fire Nation ships come back for his sister.

So. Back to those above lines from “Southern Raiders.”

From a writing standpoint, I do wish the final moment was between Katara and Sokka versus Katara and Aang. They could’ve had an almost identical interaction, but it would’ve been more nuanced. I don’t think that Katara needed to apologize, but I think we needed some acknowledgement from both of them: Katara continuing the lesson she’s learned about how her pain doesn’t entitle her to hurt other people (including Sokka, who is there no matter what she says or does), and Sokka that Katara’s process of grieving had to involve this catharsis.

Or. Maybe not. Because again--subtext. Their grief works in such different ways that I have to imagine this isn’t a new fight. It was probably brutal and vicious for a very long time. Maybe that’s part of what made Sokka try and go with the warriors. Maybe that’s part of why Katara gets mad so quickly in the first episode of the show. But eventually, unable to find an answer, they just...stop talking about it. Because the two of them don’t talk about it. Katara only talks about her mom with people who aren’t Sokka, and Sokka does exclusively to Toph and Zuko.

The only time I can think of Katara and Sokka talking about it together is the exchange at the top of this post, and it gets ugly fast, and it isn’t brought up again. It’s a fight that will never be resolved, because they fundamentally can’t react to one another in a way that can be universally understood.

“You didn’t love her the way I did!” Katara yells, loudly, because if Sokka loved her then why isn’t he raging? Why isn’t he getting his sword and coming to help her? Why doesn’t Sokka want to burn this firebender to the ground and make him see and hear and look at what he’s done to the world? To their family? He must not understand. He must not care as much or he’d be screaming with her.

“Katara,” Sokka says, much quieter, and adds nothing else. Not because there isn’t anything else to say, but because Sokka can’t talk about this kind of thing. Not doesn’t want to, but can’t, because it’s his job to protect people, protect Katara, and if he lets all those old hurts come boiling up he can’t do that, because that ends with losing focus and losing control and people getting hurt or going away. Why can’t she understand that?

And then they do what they always do. They don’t bring it up again.

[ugdohyun]

let’s get it 😤

mun info

name/alias: ej age: 18 + pronouns: she/her/hers timezone: est (gmt-5? 4? wtf is daylights savings???) discord: cozyboy#6004 little trivia fact: tbh i’m a k-hiphop/rnb junkie so watch me pretend like i can rock lol

character info

character name: nam dohyun age: 25 zodiac sign: cancer (meh, is this even accurate? tbd) group/band/position: singer & rhythm guitarist for CTRL info links or quick points about your character: half-baked stats and bio are up. apologies for the messy messy bio; messy me was racing against the app deadline lmao. so instead, here are way too many tldr points about the boy: 

background

born to a borderline chaebol mother and a borderline b-list rockstar father who really shouldn’t have gotten married at all; but it’s a shotgun wedding made possible by the conception of ~yours truly~ 

his dad is quite literally terrible and among many things, a serial adulterer. the man leaves (more like kicked out at last...) when dohyun is no older than ten. nam is actually his mother’s last name, which he takes thereafter

does dohyun have daddy issues, you might ask? ermmm well, let’s just say he doesn’t even know or remember the man well enough to hate or miss him so it’s whatever

spoiled growing up b/c his family pities how he’s fatherless. but probably they’re more worried that if they don’t ‘love him enough’ (read: expensive gifts and lots of nagging) dohyun will end up like his good-for-nothing father *shudders in rich grandparent* ... but he just plays this weird leverage game with them to do whatever he wants, running around with his ragtag bands and whatnot

in reality, there’s a lot of gaslighting in both directions. an implicit cloud of blame and pity looms over dohyun’s head, like ‘damn if u didn’t pop into ur mommy’s womb, none of this would have ever happened.’ idk, he’s a living reminder of the most shameful thing that’s happened to this family. everyone’s hoping that dohyun’s not like his dad but deep inside, they kinda believe he’s fated to suck anyways...

prime piece of evidence no. 1: why the hell is he doing this rockstar thing ??? dohyun realizes it’s pretty shitty to do this to his mom and whoever else but... it just feels right. ‘music is my life’ yadada but it’s also just fun, and he thinks he’s pretty good at it. the continued chain of success and unexpected fame from his various musical stints seem to agree. sure he had to burn some bridges and breach a whole lot of trust with his family to get where he is but come on -- they thought he was going to be a huge bust anyways, no? just meeting expectations!

personality

dohyun can be... other-worldly. 4d, sure. he’s in his own realm a lot of the time. like everyone else around him is on one orbit? he’s on a one-man spaceship vibing on another. doesn’t mean he’s clueless though; he’s actually extremely perceptive (just cancer things... or the result of sussing and being sussed out by his family his entire life) but will pretend like he doesn’t notice things b/c it’s more convenient to not care

often told he has a natural charisma which helps as as a performer, i guess. but more than likely it’s just (1) his face (ngl he knows he’s pretty) or (2) people stick around b/c they want to see what wack ass shit he’s going to do or say next. definitely a bit of a showman in that regard. anyways, he’s probably a fun guy to be around?

his whole ‘larger than life’ public image is not fake per say, but dohyun in intimate settings is more of a grandpa soul than you’d think. gets very excited and also very existentially tired about things rather quickly. probably an introvert at heart who is way too talented at being an extrovert

funky antics and ‘cool kid’ vibes largely hide the fact that he does have aspirations / desires (he’s serious about his music and what he’s doing in the indie scene; ctrl is hitting big and he’s seemingly getting places) as well as really dark thoughts and insecurities shh

super open guy without actually being open. definitely that guy you think you know really well until you really start to think about it... and realize you really don’t know him at all. damn. he’ll often listen to others and lend them a shoulder to lean on or pour them a shot, but will never seek it out for himself. really his upbringing has made it difficult for him to receive affection or care without being skeptical af or feeling like he’s being pitied

he’s got a lot of growing and soul-searching to do / i’m still figuring stuff out and would love for u all to be part of it <3

wanted connections

umm page to come eventually but some quick ideas i’d like to see for dohyun: 

ctrl bandmates! so many fun dynamics and moments we should figure out -- very ready to make all the other bands jealous heh

a real trooper friend and confidant who doesn’t give up on him, even when he’s being a little dodgy shit

a squad to just set hongdae on fire with -- not literally but figuratively. like live for the nights you won’t remember ayy

exes, flames, 'are we just friends?’,  one-sided(?) crushes, and any variants. dohyun is entranced by the idea of love but is trash at it in practice (genetics, right? an empty excuse for his actual rship problems lol). definitely breaks hearts but gets his own smashed way harder so it’s even, okay?!

i really dig a good childhood friends trope; whether that’s like friends to lovers(?) or enemies or rivals or ‘how the hell are you two friends’ or whatever

someone he keeps running into in the most awkward or embarrassing situations only

someone who sees through his bs; and vice versa

musical collaborators, rivalries, mutual fans, anything really; “um i think i liked you better on stage / you are not what i expected” moments?

an antagonist. sorry this is vague af, but point being: i’m good with ‘negative’ plots too!

i swear i’m better at this 1-on-1, so please! let’s chat it up!

[ghostcatsso]

Look who I found wandering around Greendale

Hey Starshine where is your human

He could sense right away that I’m a soul rider. SSO sure does like dropping hints that our character is like, really soul ridery huh? I smell like a druid, I can find five leaf clovers, Starshine can just look at me and Know. Creepy

Anyways, back to the matter at hand. What happened to Lisa?

He’s incredibly long winded but the tldr is that they were out riding to celebrate Lisa returning from being on tour when they were attacked. There was a bright light and a loud sound before he passed out. When he came to, Lisa was gone, and he couldn’t even sense her nearby anymore. He’s been looking for her ever since.

I told him that Justin mentioned Lisa being trapped in Graydew Mountains and we agreed to split up to look for clues.

It did not take me long to find something

Yikes. That looks like it was painful. Better show this to Starshine

What are you doing just standing around over here? Come on I found your scorch mark

He said this must’ve been where the bright light and loud noise happened. From the looks of the tracks, they were probably ambushed. Starshine called them cowards for ambushing them. He also said he’ll destroy anyone who harms Lisa.

We split up to look for clues again

Found this hidden under some branches. That’s not good

Starshine said Lisa must be on the other side and started calling to her. In response, he faintly felt Lisa calling back.

Her speech bubble text is pink and her glitchy pandoria icon is still based off the old Lisa. That’s fun.

She said she’s trapped in pandoria and to save her we have to wake the sleeping widow. Neither Starshine or I know what that is. Well, technically I do, but only because I remember all this from playing this game before. She also told Starshine to stay with her, so it looks like this is gonna be up to me. Typical.

As with any time there’s something we don’t know, it’s time to go bother Linda.

hi Linda, good to see you on Meteor again. I found Starshine. Oh and Lisa’s in pandoria and wants us to wake up some widow about it

Of course Linda says to meet her in the library. I take a detour to ask The Baroness if she happens to know who “The Sleeping Widow” might be. She knows lots of widows, being an old lady herself, but none that go by that name.

I think I annoyed Linda a little by asking her if she’s found anything yet. She told me to go ask the Spymaster even though she’s pretty sure he won’t know anything about it. I think she was just trying to get me out of her hair.

That’s okay, I like visiting this guy. He’s so weird. He said the sleeping widow is a being who has lost their spouse and is probably sleeping, though maybe that part is a metaphor. Wow, that’s so helpful.

Back to Linda but she’s very busy studying. I guess we’ll have to check in on her tomorrow.

I’ll just stand creepily over her shoulder until then

[kingdomdivide]

“Farewell was a useless, short filler episode where nothing new was established.”

[Spoilers for Farewell/BtS/LiS, TLDR @ end, and a short Bay>Bae to Bae>Bay conversion confession].

I have to disagree. Whether you’re raising the Pricefield, Amberprice, or Grahamfield shipflag (among any others out there), I think this episode was a very important tool for us as players to better understand Max and Chloe’s relationship (platonic or otherwise). I’ll tell you why.

It highlights how incredibly anxious and hypersensitive Max was, even as a young child.

If you’ve played Farewell, you know there’s a decision that is a reoccurring theme throughout the episode, one that Max internally stresses and worries over in great detail: whether she should tell Chloe she’s leaving soon, or put it off for the last possible moment in order to enjoy one of their last days together before she moves. Nearly all of Max’s internal dialogue points to how worried and anxious she is about leaving Arcadia and telling Chloe that she won’t be around for much longer. She attaches sentimental meaning to everyday objects like umbrellas, and every object she observes brings about remorse or guilt, because she knows she might never see the house or its inhabitants again.

We knew in LiS that Max was a quiet, shy, socially awkward and introverted girl who had trouble expressing her feelings, but with Farewell it’s now established that she’s always been like this. I relate a lot to Max’s character. I’m anxious, introverted, often times awkward, nerdy, and a deep thinker. My mind never stops working, and with the help of my anxiety, I overthink everything, much like Max does. She agonizes over a decision we think should be rather simple: Chloe’s going to find out by next week you’re not going to be there, so why is it so hard to tell her you’re going?

Along with all the other traits above, I think Max is incredibly empathetic, if not sympathetic. I believe she’s one of those people that channels into other’s emotions, and can feel what they feel, on some level. With all of that combined, she hates letting people down, or being the cause of someone else’s strife. This would lead to her doing everything and anything she could to avoid it; thus, overthinking.

Get to the point, you’re telling me. Okay.

As anxious as Max is, one thing nobody can deny is how much she cares about Chloe. If she didn’t, leaving wouldn’t have been has hard as it was the day of William’s funeral. You can tell everything in Max is screaming not to leave Chloe (her body language, double taking at the funeral as if to rush back to her side), but she has to. I’m sure you remember the “I’m sorry” video tape (my feels do). Max had enough foresight to make a tape for Chloe to listen to, presumably multiple times, delving into her feelings and anguish of leaving, and telling Chloe under no uncertain circumstances that she loves and cares for her immensely, and always will. Young 13 year old Max may not have known how to deal with grief that intense, especially someone else’s, but she knew enough to know that things might not last forever.

With her anxiety, nervous nature, and her intense guilt (over something she didn’t ask for and didn’t cause), Max knew things might fall apart further. I’d like to say Max even knew she’d hold herself back from reaching out once she got established in Seattle. Children in general are constantly juggling homework, school, and free time. How on earth is an inexperienced 13 year old going to know how to deal with moving away from her best friend in her time of need, the very same year Chloe lost Bongo and her dad. It isn’t reaching to say that Max carried that guilt of leaving with her, and as days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, she petrified herself with fear, and assumed it’d be better off if she stayed silent, because she’d gone so long without so much as a simple hello. Reaching out after radio silence that implied Max didn’t care was more apt to damage Chloe even further, and that’s the last thing Max would want to do.

I think far too many people criticize Max like she should have known how to deal with everything. At 13 I could barely deal with a deceased pet, I can’t imagine having to deal with the death of an adult in my life who was such a prominent role model. I think Max went into shock, and because she moved away, she never had time to accept that William was really dead; unlike Chloe who could walk past his now half empty room and desolate garage on the daily.

All of this sets up LiS and explains why Max waited so long to tell Chloe she was back. She ghosted her best friend after moving away for five years. How incredibly cruel would it be to show up after that long and call her up as if all those years of silence hadn’t happened? It’d be equivalent to slapping Chloe right across the face, in my opinion. Speaking of Chloe, we learn more about her character, too.

It shows Chloe is understanding of Max’s circumstance.

In Farewell, we see the most innocent version of Chloe Price we’ve ever seen. She’s a young preteen with a strong heart, fostered by two loving parents who are incredibly loving and supportive of both each other and their daughter. She might cuss now and then like a sailor (or pirate), but that doesn’t take away from who she is at her core, which is a friendly and optimistic child.

Let’s talk about that important decision of Farewell again, to tell Chloe or to not tell her.

Regardless of your choice, Chloe knew Max was leaving soon. From the very beginning of the day, and even earlier than that, Chloe overheard her parents talking to Max’s about the impending move. Chloe doesn’t hold this against Max at all.

When Max is struggling for the words to begin explaining, Chloe purposefully interrupts her and changes the subject to something lighter. Chloe planned out the day to have as much fun as possible on one of their last days together, something Max herself didn’t want to ruin with bad news. Instead of getting angry or sad, Chloe lives in the moment, playing pretend like the two of them had no more responsibilities than their eight and nine year old selves.

When I first played Farewell, I misinterpreted Chloe’s dialogue whenever she referenced things that’ll take place once Max is gone (like when she mentions in two weeks -time the leaves will be big enough to pile dive onto). I didn’t think she was oblivious to Max leaving, but I thought she was trying to bait out the information from Max. Almost like catching her in a lie, or forcing her to confess (something I believe the LiS Chloe would have absolutely done).

But as I write this, I’m reminded of what the entire day consisted of: make believe. The two girls delve into their imaginary world that they created together to pretend for a little while longer that nothing else mattered, and that nothing would change. I don’t think Chloe referenced the future with any malice; in fact, I think she was enjoying the illusion as much as Max; for a little while longer, she let herself believe they were two best friends who would never stop having these adventures.

Other little details point out that Chloe knew all along, even if you decide not to tell her. The random hug filled with a goopy confession of “You’re the best, you know that Max Caulfield”, Chloe’s constant positivity, lightly brushing off any attempts Max makes at being sappy, and the beach-side secluded hangout she imagines up with Max, all for the sake of not ruining the moment.

If you do choose to tell her, Chloe admits she knew Max hated conversations like the one they were having, and would have been okay if Max had never found the strength to tell her. Immediately after having the heartfelt moment, Chloe rushes off with Max in hand to “find something fun to do”, forever persistent to not let the bad news ruin their day together.

If you’ve played LiS, you know how completely opposite of Chloe this sounds. Chloe is bitter and uses her grief as a weapon against Max constantly to make her feel guilty (even though Max always has).

Five years, you’re telling me. Five years and Chloe is still entrapped in this bitterness towards Max, William, and recently Rachel. Shouldn’t she have gone through this already, you ask? Shouldn’t she be over it? Well, no.

Grief is different for everyone. Telling someone to simply “get over it” is pretty ignorant (although I don’t condone using grief as a weapon). People have the right to their grief, and there’s no allotted time period where grief suddenly stops. The five common stages are, Denial and Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Some people don’t go through every stage. For some, stages happen together or all at once, and can be repeated over any timeframe. We see Chloe go through all of these, and even repeat the cycle.

How is that relevant to the Farewell Chloe? Well, we see who Chloe is at her core. Max has always kind of been her center, or a solid foundation. Chloe admits Max can read her better than anyone, and that life at Blackwell wouldn’t be so bad if she could have Max at her side to re-center her from getting swept up in the meaningless trifles. Max reminds Chloe who she is, and brings out the very best in her, her true self; probably the girl she always wanted to be.

This theme rings true in Life Is Strange. Throughout her time with Max, we see Chloe change, even if Max lets herself ‘let loose’ and do some rather reckless things while inspired by her punk friend. The angry mask comes off, and Chloe starts reverting back to her old self: the selfishness, anger, bitterness, and immaturity ebbs away until we’re left at the cliff in Episode 5, where the girl who thought the world was against her is ready to sacrifice her life to save the town she used to hate so much.

I think it’s incredibly important to remember the origins of these characters. Your early life surely doesn’t have to define you, but these two had an amazing start. They could have conquered Blackwell together, if things had been different.

It’s one thing for Max to write in her journal or tell Chloe that she’s remorseful; it’s another thing to live through the character’s eyes and truly see the story from their side. That’s what Farewell did, at least for me.

From Bay>Bae to Bae>Bay: Conversion Story

I used to choose Bay>Bae. I played Life Is Strange as it released, episode after episode, and I strongly defended the idea of saving Arcadia Bay over Chloe Price, who is a character close to my heart. My logic was along the lines of most people when confronted with the “there’s ten people on one train track and one person on the other; a train is coming towards the ten people, do you switch the tracks?”. It just made sense to me. Life Is Strange back then, for me, was a poetic message about how you don’t always get the chance to say goodbye or change life altering events. It gave Max the chance to do both of those things, and live out the bittersweet “what if” that nobody on this earth ever gets. The ending felt beautiful for me, and rocked me to my core, and continues to be the only other media I can’t replay without crying as hard as the first time (the first instance being Episode 5 of Season 1 of Tell Tale’s The Walking Dead).

At some point during Before the Storm, I realized I wasn’t okay with leaving Chloe Price on that bathroom floor. I’d played Oxenfree (such a good play) in that time-frame, and watched a few movies that dealt with time travel and the laws and physics behind it. While my knowledge is muddy and confused, I do know one thing: if what I understand about time travel is correct, there isn’t any reason for me personally that I wouldn’t pick Chloe.

If the fan theories are correct, timelines are infinite. The reality where Chloe lives and dies both coexist. Even if the theories are wrong and only Max’s current timeline exists, I can’t pick the reality to live in where Chloe is dead and Max has to be on her own. She lived through a lifetime of trauma that consisted of a single week, and nobody in her entire life will ever understand or be able to help her cope. Going to a therapist will only go so far when you can’t really get into the real details.

Coupled with a couple other practical things (how natural disasters are a natural occurrence and that it’s ludicrous for a city stationed by a huge bay not to have flooding or storm protocols/shelters), Before the Storm really tipped the scales for me. Rachel’s screaming really hinted at something far beyond a simple fit of grief in my eyes. Call me a conspiracy theorist (though I consider myself a rational person), but it really felt like Deck Nine was hinting that the storm really was Rachel’s. It’s never explicitly said, but you saw those fires and the complete force behind her screams. Call it a coincidence, but I’m not going to kill Chloe if there’s a drop of a chance that the storm is Rachel’s.

I knew a “Rachel Amber” in school. I’ve been caught in the trap and manipulation that Rachel Amber embodies. Don’t get me wrong, I fell right along with Chloe into the rush it was to be near Rachel Amber, and I don��t believe the young woman deserved to die. I can appreciate her character while not agreeing with her decisions. But having already been burned by fire in my personal life, I started noticing red flags way before Chloe did, and my guard was never completely surrendered over like when you first get flamed by someone like that.

Playing Farewell wasn’t the nail in the coffin, but it was close enough. I understand that in life, things aren’t perfect, and we don’t always get the ideal. People who deserved more don’t always live the life we think they’re destined to. Good lives are cut short for unjustifiable reasons.

I’ve always loved the practicality and realism Life Is Strange portrays, or tries to. I love how the heavy hitting subjects aren’t shied away from or made into a fairy tale (like an ending where Rachel Amber doesn’t die). And while the Bay ending may always hold a reverence in my heart for being my original choice (and a choice I still feel has an immense amount of emotional impact) if I were Max myself, there would be no way I would be able to sacrifice my best friend (and determinant love), whether they were willing or not.

Max’s voice actor Hannah Telle actually delved into this decision and admitted that although previously choosing the bay herself, now, she wouldn’t be able to decide to lose someone she loves on the cliffside (I saw the video linking on Tumblr, for the life of me can’t find it anymore). With her parents safe, and the person she cares about most in the world right next to her, why would she?

I think both decisions have valid arguments, and none of the characters in the game are flawless or unmarred by their own decisions. For me, personally, Chloe Price deserves to live on. And I think Farewell gave us the chance to see that the person she is at her core deserves to be saved.

TLDR: Farewell was a good insight into the person Chloe Price used to be before tragedy changed her life. It shows Chloe’s immense potential, as well as highlights all her good qualities that are buried deep in Life Is Strange. Farewell also expands and sets roots for Max’s character and her flaws. We find out she has always been nervous, anxious, and hypersensitive to events around her. It sets a basis for and explains why Max acted the way she did during her absence from Arcadia Bay, but also stresses how much Max has always cared.  

 It was more beneficial to see these events take place than to take Max’s or Chloe’s word for it in a journal entry, as narrators can be unreliable when clouded by opinion or bias.

All in all, I recommend this episode (more aptly called a bonus as it is considerably shorter than normal) for anyone who wants a glimpse into the pureness of Max and Chloe’s early friendship. 

[frivoloussuits]

Suits: What Comes Next?

What can Suits do next, in 7b and 8a and beyond? It’s a question I’ve been thinking about for a while, and while I’ve explored it in fic I think it’s about time I do a proper meta post. Strap in for lots of weird predictions about how Suits can go on, and what the potential pitfalls of each route are.

TLDR: Suits is probably but not definitely doomed. Their safest option, in my opinion, is to decisively break up Donna and Harvey in 7b, give Harvey an absolutely awful time through 8a (maybe 7b and 8b too?), and double down on another ship entirely. This is not their only option; Darvey is still on the table.

Word count: ~3K

Question 1: How can they handle Mike and Rachel’s departure?

First things first, now that Mike’s leaving, the powers that be are losing the core relationship of the show. Assuming the reason Mike’s leaving is that he and Rachel got a better job/life opportunity elsewhere (as opposed to, say, the two of them get killed off), there are two options here:

1.) Brush over Mike and Rachel’s departure as a happy, happy event for everyone involved. The remaining characters move on with their lives with minimal angst. Maybe a new sidekick (Alex? Donna? Louis? someone else new?) fills the Mike-sized hole in Harvey’s plot lines.

Pros: Patrick J. Adams described Suits as a fundamentally “aspirational” show. In his opinion the show can approach darkness, it cannot dwell there. This would allow the show to carry on with its typical plot lines without angst.

Cons: This may feel out of sync with the previous seasons. If everyone can pick up and move on without Mike in a heartbeat, then why were they so dedicated to keeping him around and protecting him for all this time? Also, now that two more members of the original core cast are leaving, Suits is at risk of having too few meaningful plots. Glossing over Mike’s departure would mean dropping a major source of potential drama.

2.) Dwell on the implications of Mike and Rachel’s departure. Harvey’s abandonment issues might come back to the forefront.

Pros: Drama. Tension. Sensible, in-character consequences over the loss of the Mike-Harvey relationship.

Cons: If the show dwells on Rachel and Mike’s departure, so will the audience. And if the audience is upset about the departure, they might end up alienated, sick of the reminders of what’s now missing. Also, as mentioned above, this show doesn’t like serious angst; it might be hard to strike the right tone.

Question 2: How to end 7b?

Patrick J. Adams has strongly hinted that the finale of 7b will include the Machel wedding. 7b is also intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for Jessica’s spin-off show. That’s all well and good, but what happens to our core remaining characters, Donna, Louis, and Harvey?

Suits knows the benefits of ending on a cliffhanger (or some sort of tantalizing promise of new conflict), they've done it every season except maybe 6. I think they have to do this again. Because they’ve now lost half their main cast, they’ll probably try to hook people more than ever and give them an incredibly compelling reason to tune back in. What sort of cliffhanger they might use depends on the answer to . . .

Question 3: What’s the driving tension of Season 8a?

(8b’s also important, of course, but I think it’ll be the ending of the series. And since I don’t have a great intuition for how this show can end without Mike, I won’t make detailed predictions. All I’ll say is that I think at least 2 out of 3, if not all 3, of the Donna-Louis-Harvey group will be happily and stably in love, and I think all three will achieve some level of personal growth. I predict that they’ll all be happy with their careers and that the firm will be doing well. Either that or the firm crashes, in which case Harvey probably throws up his hands and moves out of New York, lol.)

Okay, so fandom loves fluffy slice-of-life stories that don’t have conflict, but mainstream TV shows? Not so much. There ought to be a driving conflict that makes 8a run. I think Suits can have three major types of tension:

External Tension: A mostly-new set of characters invades and raises hell. Examples include the Danbury plot of 6a, the investment banking plot of 4a, and the failed Darby merger from 3.

Pros of external tension: So many options for drama.

Cons of external tension: Meh. Suits has done this a lot already, and how do you top the stakes of Danbury? What new threat can outside characters present that we haven’t already seen? If it’s just that “the firm’s in jeopardy again,” I think a lot of viewers will yawn, but the obvious ways of raising the stakes (disgruntled ex-client attempts murder, someone ends up in the hospital for multiple episodes, Louis makes good on the Daniel Hardman death threat, etc.) would potentially be too angsty and out of place.

Another potential issue is that the end of 7b would ideally introduce this new bunch of external troublemakers, and if 7b’s finale is already packed with the Machel wedding and Jessica’s pilot plots then that’ll be tough.

Old-Conflict-Resurfaces Tension: Oooh, this one could be fun. A decent way for Suits to go out (assuming Season 8 is the end) is to do a fabulous villain team-up. Maybe Daniel Hardman’s working with Travis Tanner, who’s being paid off by Charles Forstman, and so on. More broadly, if Suits can reach into its established rogues gallery and present some old threats as more menacing than ever and weave a credible yet surprising legal plot, that might be a way to go.

Pros: Lots of options for drama, though less than above. Potentially cleaner and more elegant, since Suits doesn’t need to introduce bunches of new settings and characters. If done well, it could viewers guessing all throughout, rethinking old episodes and searching their memories for clues to unravel every new mystery. All in all this could feel like a very fitting end for the show.

Cons: This may be very hard to pull off. It can tip one way and become boring, or the other and become absurd.

Internal Tension: My personal favorite. Something changes among our central trio, and they then generate a driving plot of their own free will.

Pros: Elegant. Minimal set-up (well, no, but the setup is all the character dynamics we’ve learned so well over the past seven seasons). A great way to propel meaningful character change and wrap up the central arcs. I think audiences will care about this tension more than any other kind, because it’s all about Donna, Harvey and Louis, and those central characters are what the general audience cares about most.

Cons: We’ve already seen a lot of Donna, Harvey and Louis. We’ve seen how they react in stressful situations. Pushing them to new limits is hard, there are few events that can still do it. The powers that be would have to be pretty damn careful to keep everyone in-character without just rehashing dramas we’ve already seen.

Question 4: Who is Samantha Wheeler?

For those who don’t know, Katherine Heigl is joining the main cast of Suits for Season 8. She’s playing Samantha Wheeler, a “talented new partner at Pearson Specter Litt who challenges the status quo and will either become the firm’s greatest ally or most powerful enemy.”

It’s possible that Samantha will come crashing in and become the one-woman generator of an “external tension” that drives Season 8a. I’m hard-pressed to come up with what’s so special about this character that she can cause such big waves, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Pros: New drama. New relationship dynamics. If she’s connected via backstory to one or more of the main characters (and she probably should be, otherwise the audience is at risk of just not caring about her), that could cause drama amidst the Donna-Louis-Harvey group. Also! She might provide new romance opportunities, and god knows Suits likes its love stories. If Darvey and Louis/Sheila are both definitively together by the end of 7, I think Samantha is even more likely to have a love interest.

Cons: Things are already changing a lot from 7 to 8. The audience is at risk of 1.) being confused, 2.) being bored because they’ve already seen too much like this, 3.) feeling alienated because this isn’t what they signed up for, and/or 4.) just not caring. Adding a brand-new main character may exacerbate these issues.

Question 5: WHAT HAPPENS TO DARVEY?!?!?!

The powers that be wrote themselves into an interesting corner with the 7a kiss. The Darvey tension’s been simmering for ages, but it’s finally been pushed so far that Donna and Harvey have to confront it. If the Darvey will-they-won’t-they dance isn’t finished by the end of 7, I think audiences will revolt.

The writers are devoting serious attention to the fallout the kiss; the consequences will propel plenty of 7b drama, and I won’t be surprised if Donna and Harvey spend 5.99 out of 6 episodes feuding. That said, by the time the season is over, the Darvey plot should be decided one way or the other to avoid the aforementioned audience revolt. Working under that assumption, there are two options . . .

1.) Darvey gets together in 7b.

I’m going to quote another Aaron (the namesake of Rick Sorkin?) discussing the long-time workplace romance of another fictional Donna: “They are in a tough spot . . . because she works for him. Besides, sexual and romantic tension is, to me, much more fun than taking the tension away by having the sex and romance.” And while I can’t find the article at the moment, I’ve seen a related quote from Sarah Rafferty, where she said that she hoped Darvey would happen in the very last episodes of the show, if it happened at all.

Why might they say this? Because hardcore Darvey shippers may be thrilled to watch an entire Season 8 of canon Darvey, but I think more casual viewers will lose interest. The unspoken will-they-won’t-they tension has captivated viewers for years, and once that’s gone so is one of Suits’ biggest hooks. If the powers that be still want the Donna-Harvey relationship to draw people in, they’d better cook up something really special to replace the sexual and romantic tension.

Donna and Harvey have prepared for this relationship for so long that a lot of the typical sources in television love stories (one of them is jealous, one of them cheats, they miscommunicate, they aren’t familiar with each others’ priorities) would make little sense; they should be past that by now. If there’s any relationship conflict, that would have to be written quite carefully.

Another option is to let Donna and Harvey be happy together and throw conflict at them from the outside-- maybe someone else comes and tries to break them up, or threaten them professionally, and maybe they close ranks and become a wonderful battle couple.

(Personal note: If Darvey gets together, I’d like to see canon unquestionably establish Donna as Harvey’s equal in 7b and 8. I want to see them contributing equally to their relationship. I want to be convinced that they’ll both be happy in the long term, that this isn’t a relationship where Donna sacrifices for Harvey but has to grovel for his support in return, and I think they’re not there yet. Harvey really isn’t there yet. Getting there could generate plot.)

So these are some options for how canon can keep viewers invested through S8, but . . . I bet they won’t be as compelling for the general audience as the 7-season mating dance.

2.) Darvey gets smashed to hell in 7b.

I know I’m the only one, but I think this is still a real possibility!

At this point, Suits is running into two issues. One, it feels overall predictable and unsurprising. Two, it feels like it’s pushing its characters out of character in order to manufacture surprises (see: Harvey’s sudden infatuation with Paula, rule-obsessed Sheila’s sudden willingness to cheat on her fiance). If they can thwart viewer expectations on one of the biggest questions-- will Darvey happen?-- while remaining true to their characters, that could be pretty damn cool.

It’s also a reasonable option, in my opinion. It could generate plenty of plot for Donna and Harvey in 8a, since they might completely burn their bridges in 7b and have to rebuild from scratch, and it also leaves room for a different central romance!

So there’s this ship that nobody talks about. It’s a m/f ship, which means it’s more likely to be canon on this sadly heteronormative show than, say, Marvey. The characters have had compelling plots and interactions from Season 1. They’ve laughed together. They’ve survived drama. They respect, care about and understand each other. They have the same interests and hobbies. They have hilariously sexual conversations. They have literally said “I love you.”

I’m talking about Louis and Donna.

Yes, I’m serious, and so was Sarah Rafferty when she claimed Donna needs someone more emotionally open than Harvey to be her “life partner,” and so was Rick Hoffman when he said, “I just don’t understand how Louis could not be attracted to a woman like Donna.”

Pros of Lonna: Surprises! Drama! I can see this being the internal tension that drives 8a, and hell, I can’t imagine a better cliffhanger for season 7′s finale than a Lonna moment. This wouldn’t be radically out of character-- I’ve been checking, and there’s a surprisingly large amount of foundational material for this ship-- yet it’d massively upset audience expectations and also the existing relationship dynamics between Donna, Louis, and Harvey.

No, I’m not forgetting Harvey. Maybe he doesn’t want Donna himself, but seeing Louis end up with her would upturn everything he thought he knew about the world. Given that Mike’s also leaving and that he might still be dealing with Paula-related guilt, this plot twist would send Harvey reeling, especially if he and Donna are still working out the fallout from the kiss. If he lashes out and screws up his professional life too, then that can generate legal plots as well as personal drama.

Long story short, Lonna is potentially a massive plot generator.

Cons: The big downside of Lonna is that (besides Rick Hoffman and Sarah Rafferty who have been discussing it at least since Season 2) practically nobody ships it. Louis is so often treated as fodder for jokes, it’s possible that audiences just wouldn’t take it seriously. Also, a lot of Darvey shippers would be furious and heartbroken.

Question 6: What’s my ideal season 7 finale?

Okay, I know nobody is actually asking this, but I want to tell you!

Mike and Rachel dance peacefully at their wedding reception, safe in a happy bubble, oblivious to the world burning down around them. Jessica’s in the Plaza lobby, threatening some poor sucker over the phone in a desperate bid to save her political career. Harvey’s locked in the bathroom, fighting off a panic attack and failing, wondering whether he’s sick because of Paula, or because of Mike, or because Donna’s not speaking to him anymore . . .

Meanwhile, Louis and Donna share a sweet, intimate conversation on a hotel balcony that leads to a sweet, intimate kiss-- only to have Donna pull back, gasping as though she’s been burned.

SUITS RETURNS IN FALL 2018.

(I don’t know about you guys, but I would so tune in for that Season 8.)

[fijimurmaider]

Thoughts & Spoilers for Alien: Covenant.

I went Thursday night to see the film and I’m going to explain more. I won’t be using a read more for this post, so if you don’t want things spoiled, scroll past the .gif. 

Okay I was HYPE HYPE HYPE to see this film. I’m going to make it clear right now, I have only seen Alien, Aliens and Prometheus. So if anything I say is answered (from what I hear, no lol) in Alien3, Resurrection or AVP movies, please excuse my ignorance. 

No I don’t intend to ever view those films, by the way.

So I fucking adore Alien (1979) and would put it in the top 10 greatest horror/sci-fi movies of all time (because if you don’t, you’re probably a prick or have seen a lot more than me.) I found Aliens (1986) to be pretty fun and a meaningful sequel. I just don’t enjoy the high action scenes very much. As for Prometheus (2012,) yes, it’s flawed but I love it as well. I actually, on a personal level and not a “I pretend to know film!” level, prefer Prometheus over Aliens. Sue me. I love the aesthetic Ridley Scott creates in his Alien films. Yes, I am saying this as someone who knows that H.R. Giger helped create a lot of the set and make a lot of monster designs, etc. I’m well aware. But the interior of the Nostromo is lovely and well lit. 

I mean, is it not gorgeous? 

and here’s one of the set of Prometheus

It looks good. It’s like my outer space wet dream. 

the thing is, I don’t remember a lot of Covenant looking this beautiful. No, don’t get me wrong, plenty of the movie looks great, it’s just not as visually appealing as I find the other two films mentioned and that’s just my own personal thing. It doesn’t detract from the movie if you don’t care and it really shouldn’t be a part of the movie’s downfall, anyway.. and I’m not going to let it be. Because I realize I’m picky. And yeah, there are parts like in Daniel’s room, where it just looks gorgeous, but there’s not a lot of high contrast. Moving on from my picky ass ideals.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE DEACON? 

This was the result of David 8′s uh... meddling with black oil, having Holloway transmit it to Shaw, having Shaw give birth to the trilobite infant, the trilobite maturing and impregnating an Engineer and POP! There’s the Deacon in a totally fucked up and confusing evolutionary twist. 

I totally remember thinking that surely, with it emerging at the end of the movie there’d be more Deacons running around.

Well guess what? There’s fucking not.

I’m just going to blubber the spoils now.  David 8 unleashes all those canisters of black oil on the engineers little shanty town.  David pretends like Shaw died in the crash buhhh... we later find out he kills her and uses her to pop out aliens.  Elizabeth Shaw? Nah bruh, she fucking died. We built up the next great Alien hero and then murdered her because of some wank ass reasoning. Thx.  David is living on a planet with what we’re calling the Neomorphs. 

So my best assumption is that since the black oil can produce the Deacon (through a load of shit,) that maybe the Engineers dna combined somehow made the neomorphs. Or maybe they weren’t created, they just existed? I don’t fucking know anymore and at this point, I’m trying to stop pondering it. 

So basically, are the engineers good? Are they bad? Well the answer is: WE WILL NEVER FUCKING KNOW. You have to assume that David found something on that ship while he and Shaw were traveling to make him hate the Engineers. Or it could simply be that he was all the creators dead. So he wants to kill humans, and if Engineer created man than he must go as well.  But? They really don’t make it obvious? And the movie really scraps everything behind Prometheus for a few shitty fans who complained about that film. 

I also have to assume that the Engineers weren’t just living in one little city on that planet, right? I mean.. I have issues believing they could be that advanced and have THAT small a city. Yes, I realize many Engineers went to other planets like LV223 to uh, build their weapon or do...whatever it was that was never clarified?? I also realize that 10 years after the events of Covenant and 20 after Prometheus, a space jockey/engineer is found on LV426. 

At this point, I’m spit balling and trying to conclude Prometheus in my head because Scott and fans just totally wanted to shit can what I thought was a decent idea.

In a perfect world, Shaw is still alive. How? I don’t fucking know but she is. In my world, the actually don’t go all biological warfare on the Engineers... but whatever else happens I don’t know BECAUSE I’M NOT A FUCKING WRITER AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT SCOTT INTENDED BEFORE EVERYONE FLIPPED AND CALLED PROMETHEUS SHIT??? 

So instead of my whining... let’s just review the pros and cons. 

PROS: 

Daniels, Tennessee and Walter are the only “Team Covenant” characters you need to know or care about and you have no trouble relating to or loving them.

Michael Fassbender reprising his role as David and playing alongside himself as Walter is the stuff of magic.

New aliens / ways to get infected / give birth. Like Prometheus but uh... less convoluted process.

CONS: 

There isn’t a lot of suspense / tension. The kills don’t skimp on gore but are fully expected and you can see every bad moment coming from a mile away.

Ridley Scott completely shit cans Prometheus, explains away the parts of that story he can’t just ignore and attempts to give fans a “proper” Alien film. 

Elizabeth Shaw is NOT crazed, robotic space Satan fodder.

I’d also like to add the “Alien” in the film is called a “Protomorph.” I do believe this is because it’s not quite the stealthy and (puts douche bag hat on for even using the term..) BAD ASS killer of the original 1979 film. It also seems to... uh... scuttle around on all fours rather than be bipedal... and loves cracking shit with it’s head.

*ETA* The end reveal is actually pretty good. And I love that Space Satan isn’t going to let us have another hopeful ending. 

All in all, it deserves a 7/10. It’s a good movie if you don’t have an attachment to Prometheus... 

From what I hear, if you enjoyed any of the films aside from Alien or Aliens, you’ll probably enjoy this one. 

On the Alien meter, I’d rank it 4th place. I haven’t seen 3, 4 or AVP movies, but I’m almost certain it’s better than those but none of these films will ever live up to Alien 1979. 

TLDR: 

[ts-2020-olympics]

Episode 13 - “Put On My Villain Attire” - Sammy

This week was a lot, I made a mistake socially that hurt someone, and i couldnt be more disgusted or hurt with myself tonight. I feel awful for what i said about nicole, after tribal i cryed like a kid on call with sammy and Caeleb. Reaching out to nicole was hard because i dont want her to think im coming to say sorry as a game move. I respect nicole as a person, as a player, and I made a mistake, and it was time for me to own up to making a personal comment in context that should not have been personal. Now getting that out of the way, this week was crazy, the vote was Tommy, then Jacob, Then nicole, cut to tribal Nicole is excused from tribal, which im thankful for because i actually got to reach out to nicole after to say sorry for my comment.  Getting a response was the last thing I expected from her. And it made me happy to get one, especially such an understanding one that came from her realizing that was not my intentions. Game wise going forward, im aware theres cracks in this alliance and im not 100% safe. But im gonna ride it till i cant no more. I don't want to think game tonight but obviously i need to keep thinking about the game. Immunity wise, i dont think its necessity that I need to win, Even after I had a blow up and such i still feel like those in the game understand how hard it was for me tonight and my truth of how i didnt mean to hurt nicole. I still feel the most close to Sammy and Caeleb, they where there for me tonight after tribal while a cried, so was Kevin and Emma, idealy these people are the people I want there with me at the end of the game. In other news, Darcy has exposed himself as someone who has voted out sammy, meaning the list of people who need to go before I need to start backstabbing gets longer Stoner, Tommy, Nicole and Darcy are IDEALLY the next 4 boots, but u never know what will happen in this game! I could be working with Nicole next round for all I know. ANYWAYS TLDR: Im sorry, me and nicole are fine, im in a good place in this game. Thank u for coming to this LONG ASS confessional. 

im dying, so its been fun toodaloo 

Actually feeling very frustrated atm. I wanted this immunity so bad. The way Nicole plays this game is very frustrating and I’d love to see the way she actually plays the real game. Is she just gonna sit under the hut and ignore everyone that approaches her. She just lies about everyone and the minute someone does something against her she cries in her host chat. I’m usually not a mean person but she deserves to be the villain of this season. I literally have always looked up to Nicole as a player bc I have seen how genuine and kind she can be. But this game has really tossed out how i viewed her as a player. As a person sure she’s great but there’s a way to play this game by having good character. I would hate to see me leave before Nicole but if it happens and she makes it to the finals that’s okay but she won’t have my vote poor management. Anyways don’t wanna make my whole confessional about Nicole since she’s made the whole game revolve around her actions already. I’d like to personally shoutout Jordan caeleb and Eve in this confessional. Truly are the rays of sunshine in this game. I have my doubts about Kevin, Emma, and Darcy because I think that they have connections to Nicole. Someone is playing everyone and it’s so frustrating. I was so close to winning this immunity. I need to survive. Also I am very annoyed that caeleb has not had to stress a single round since merge. Yeah he’s my closest ally but like it’s annoying i want someone else like me to be immune and i know it’s selfish but it’s just annoying. I need to figure this out. I might have to put on my villain attire for this round. 

IMMUNITY? IMMUNITY? I HAVE THAT? Oh my god I think this may be like the first immunity I've actually one in the history of my Tumblr Survivor career (although checking the records there was one time I was just like individually immune for no reason during Seychelles premerge and I do not remember why) I needed this SO BAD, and even better is everyone is PISSED at me for winning, nobody can figure out where I figured out all the colors and it's SOOOOOOOOO FUNNY god bless, long live the underdog bayyyyyyybeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 

Okay, so here goes.   To start off my confessional for this round, that past tribal really was a mess.  Nicole played a tribal skip, so she survived, which was a good play on her part, but it led to some messy scrambles, and ended up losing probably my closest friend in this game (Love you Jacob <3,)  I ended up voting in minority with Jacob to keep my word, even though I knew majority was on Jacob.   In this game though, you got to take risks, and if the risk of keeping my word to my good friend outside this game ends up being my downfall, then so be it.   However, one isn't going to win by playing it safe every round and voting with majority all the time, you got to vote in minority at times too and try to at least make some bold moves, to get out the threats, otherwise, you might as well just give them the money, as those players would all make finals, and one of them would win.  Then where would the sheep be?   They would be at the jury, alongside those who they voted out.   Now, terms of this round, Nicole and I are trying to come together to split up the power trio of Eve, Caeleb and Sammy.   Plan is to try getting out Eve, as Eve has everyone basically wrapped around their finger, which I do not like, and I think Eve has the best chance of winning this game if they make it to the end, so yea Eve has to go.   I've also been hearing though, and sounds of things, Emma is wanting me out, and her reason I think is pretty well just because I haven't been voting with her.  It's like, I have only been to 3 tribals so far with Emma (4 if you count this one,)  and I voted with her the one tribal against Karen, then other tribal was just because I wanted to be loyal to my friend, and keep my word.   The first time though, was because I found the other person more threatening to my game.   Anyways, I am fighting my all right now to stay, and not going to back down, but if I end up going, so be it, I know I played a great game, and am glad with everything about it.   Pitching to people though that I'm not threatening at all, I literally have 0 moves on my resume at the moment, and how I just want to try beating 7th, because as of currently, 7th is my best placement.   Here goes nothing, and hopefully cards fall right, and Eve gets slain.

I’m kind of feeling hopeless after this round. Nobody actually wants to make the moves that need to be made, nobody wants to do anything actually smart. People are just being so short-sighted and playing for jury. Eve has an ego and will use it to make you believe that it’s her way or the highway. I feel like any cast with more than three braincells amongst them could really do something but, they won’t. Caeleb will win immunity yet again next round. I’ll go, then one by one they’ll go. I really just like, have no energy to guide these dummies to anywhere anymore. I’m tired. Even with immunity people are just ridiculously fake and annoying. 

I think Emma is the plan for tonight. She's playing a double agent type of game which is super dangerous and people are starting to see through it plus me and her don't have the best past so I'm fine with Emma going. It gets me to the Final 10 and gets me one step closer to the Final Tribal Council. I also think once Emma goes I'll be nobodies #1 target and that'll put me in a good position for next vote as long as Nicole doesn't win immunity again. Although who knows things switch around in this game so fast and it could be me going home because if Emma gets wind of her name being out there I see her coming for me just because of our past and I do think there is viable reason for people to flip their votes onto Me, if Emma campaigns for me to go. I'm hoping my name doesn't get dragged into the conversation and it just stays between Emma, Eve, and Darcy so I have no chance of going home tonight. I'm just gonna lay low after this bit of strategy talk but be around if the wind starts to shift onto me.

Fuck I’m not home and don’t want a stike this will be a quick confessional, Sammy I’m so fucking sorry about this but you have such a good social game and I need you gone to free up the field. Formed an alliance with Darcy today that was random but now I actually trust him which is wierd. Still fucking people over with Nicole it’s crazy how that’s working. Next round is final 10 o need to make it past it or I might cry, once I pass that hurdle I’ve never heard passed I’m good. 9th- 1st no bitter Jordan pines, don’t get me wrong though, 1st is still most preferred and it’s seeming achievable

Bye bye Sammy 

Ahh I have to turn my phone off and can't find confessional but my confessional is that I hate myself for voting Sammy 

I ate dinner, We're doing Sammy. Maybe these people have four brain cells instead of three. I however, still just have the one bumping around in my ear canal saying I might have a chance to win the game which is in fact, the stupidest thought I've had this whole round.

well well well....this round is a BIG OLE MESS, so i went into it last night thinking the vote was gonna be emma because she was leaking to nicole, but then i woke up and i guess the vote is on darcy, but Nicole tried to pull a vote on eve but because emma was involved and very loose lipped I would not have felt comfortable hiding that for almost 5 hours, so i told eve LOL.... but that built my trust up with eve and I thought it would make eve doubt emma even more but instead it seems to have made her want to keep her? which maybe means emma leaked the vote already?? which would be a good thing for me because then i didnt try to hide info that eve already knew, but so then that landed the vote primarily on darcy but honestly if darcy goes home this game is likely in the bag for eve, so I had to come up with something quick ! I have no idea if this is gonna go through but i put all my energy into selling this sarah vote like it was the end all be all move for us to make, when i dont think it is but if sarah can go home then the 5some that im viewing as Sammy/Caeleb/Eve/Jordan/Sarah would be down to 4 meaning theres wiggle room at the final 10 to potentially make a power move on a big player, without them being able to stay 5 solid and threaten rocks. They all seemed kinda hesitant but came around so im nervous, eve also asked for a back up plan which I said could be stoner, but the fact that she asked makes me nervous that shes gonna try to pull a fast one and be like "I think sarah has an idol we need to flip it !!!!!" which would be annoying but i wouldn't put it past eve. This also keeps all my potential numbers in those being nicole and then tommy/darcy emma and stoner, again IF this goes through, i could've lost darcy but then i just a 5v5 or if emma gets bold then a 6v4 and im powerless again. I think this was where i need to make a move and i hope it goes through but if it doesn't at least i tried !!!

I think tonight the night ladies, TONIGHT THE NIGHT I AM RELEASED, i mean if not sarah goes home and its whatever. I love love sarah and feel bad for blindsiding her like this. But I have confidence in Kevins decision here, hes trusted me, I have to trust him now.