#we will love her and show game execs that this is what we want

[feral-pixie-dream-possum]

I can't wait for Witcher 4 and trying to make the best possible choices in fucked up situations and ending up making a mistake and aaaahhhhh

[m-ilkiee]

"Sometimes, we may have the best intentions for our friends, but ultimately, our actions can have the opposite effect. Such was the case of Emma Sano.

Although not her intention, she had pressured (name) into doing things that made her uncomfortable such as going to the mall with her brothers and making the girl forcibly interact with her abusers, encouraging her to sit on Manjiro's laps despite (name) expressing outward discomfort, and then leaving her with her brothers, who only became friendly with (name) a week prior. Her inability to see through her brothers' act and real intentions, coupled with her overzealousness to keep you in her life forever by setting you up with her brothers, has lead (name) into dangerous situations, such as nearly being assaulted by Manjiro Sano. Unfortunately, this will not be the last time that Emma's seemingly good intentions leads (name) further down the path of pain and regret."

Layla's commentary podcast on Chapter 3 of "Monsters"

Welcome to the second Monsters poll, how is everyone doing? I know some of you have written finals or are in the process of writing finals and to that I say comgratulations and good luck!

We had a few blips, but I'm back. And I'm better than ever. This chapter was an intense rollercoaster of emotions, bringing (name)'s fears and emotions to life. Unfortunately, it has also marked the beginning of the end for her since Manjiro has started to 'fall' in love with her. It's only a matter of time until Izana starts to chase after her since he has a constant need to outdo Mikey.

Now, as for chapter 4, we're bringing back the original black dragon members for this one. I won't spoil it for new readers, but this is the chapter that Shinichiro meets (name). It may go a lot differently from what og readers know, seeing as this is a timeline where Shinichiro had to fall into darkness to make sure his siblings were taken care of amd to save Izana out of the orphanage.

Izana will also play a huge part in this chapter, and there may be a huge development between him and (name), especially since Mikey will request him to watch (name) for him closely while they are at the Sano residence.

Takeomi may have had a few lines back then, but mow we have to remember, a girl like (name) is exactly his type and Shinichiro is complict in everything Takeomi does. What do you think happens when an older man in power wants a young woman who has no one to fight for her?

There is only one turning point, one decision that (name) will make that would seal her fate in chapter five and it involves one character, so:

Remember to reblog or send an anonymous asks why you think it's any of the three options or if you think it's someone else entirely.

For the blind item on the previous poll, congrats to anyone who answered: Rindou Haitani. Please message me if you did so that I'll give you your reward.

#2 Blind Item: Lust and Lies

"I wonder if Mikey knows it's obvious he's attracted to that girl. Long before the car incident, I always caught him staring at her body like it's a piece of meat, especially her legs and feet. He's not exactly trying to hide it either, seeing at how many times he admitted during Toman game nights that he'd fuck (name) if she wasn't a virgin and it would be the best sex of his life because her body is perfect. I wonder if he listens to himself when he lingers on her panty cam that he sent on the group, how he was so greedy with it before he eventually was forced to show us or how he seems to beat up any pledge or lower Toman member day dreaming about you.

At this point his attraction to her is an open secret. But he'll never admit it because he hates her so much." - submitted by an anonymous Toman exec. Who could this be? Let me know in the anons or the comments along with your answers for the poll.

[scatterpatter]

SONIC 3 MOVIE REVIEW/SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

Still riding my high of just seeing it but like HERE'S MY INITIAL THOUGHTS

Not spoilered review: GOOD SHIT GOOD SHIT. FLAWED BUT GOOD MOVIE!!!!

MASSIVE SPOILS UNDER THE CUT

Sonic is such a good character in this one. He goes through a really good and believable arc and I just. He's so good.

Tails is perfect but what else is new

CHAO GARDEN. 11/10 NO NOTES.

KNUCKLES IS AMAZING. I LOVE HIM. NO NOTES. He also has an amazing moment with Sonic where he tries to be like "Hey you're not in a good headspace to use the emeralds right now man, I trust you and I'm asking you to trust me here" and he just. *CHEF'S KISS*

MULTIPLE "THEY DID/SAID THE THING" MOMENTS LETS GO!!!! I saw multiple references to SA2 of course but also Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and a few more!!!

Maddy and Tom are fine. They don't really show up let alone do anything for 95% of the movie but like- when they're there they're fine *shrugs* Neither of them go through any character arcs, they're just supporting roles here, and that's all good and fine. I like how Tom getting severely injured really affects Sonic!! It's good shit!!!

SHADOW IS PERFECT. Augh. They really did their homework and absolutely nailed his characterization- While some of Keanu's line reads didn't QUITE hit how they should've, but like still 9/10 performance and 10/10 characterization. He's so good.

MARIA! IS! SO! GOOD!!! She feels like a real child and like a child from the 70s too!!!! She feels like a real person and not just "Shadooowwww you have to protect humanityyyyy the earth is so perfect you must protect them!!!" Don't get me wrong I love the original Maria but this one feels real and i LOVE HER.

BIOLIZARD WAS THE CREATURE IN THAT GODZILLA-ESQUE MOVIE MARIA AND SHADOW WERE WATCHING LETS GOOOO

So they didn't shoot her directly which... yeah thats fair. Execs probably wouldnt have let it slide for their PG rating. The fact that more than one guy WERE firing even though there were children ("CHILDREN", PLURAL- COMMANDER SAW SHADOW AS A CHILD LETS GOOO!!!!) and that caused Maria's death is about as good as we were gonna get for these movies and I'm fine with that!

The whole rewrite of backstory lore for movie-verse? Im fine with tbh. Shadow arriving in a meteor is a good possible foreshadow (hehehe foreshadow) to Black Doom and all of that- and I'm fine with things being on Earth and not the ARK, like- movie-verse is clearly a different continuity so I'm fine with all of that

Agent Stone is good but man my mans deserved better. He KINDA got a bit of justice towards the end but ehhhh? Other than that he was fine.

G.U.N. was. Fine. They clearly wanted to go a "Some people in G.U.N. were good guys but overall G.U.N. sucks and Sonic and crew eventually learn that" angle but they never really follow through with that set-up. Once both keys are retrieved G.U.N. is baaaasically forgotten about. Which sucks :/

I hope Shadow comes back somehow. That'd be nice. Kinda like the games where hey maybe there's some memory loss or something or other- idk, it'd be nice for him to come back.

... Was Gerald's whole "Scorpion nanobot armor" thing a reference to Sonic Spinball or am I insane. Am I insane. Idk.

... Okay. Elephant in the room time.

I DON'T CARE FOR JIM CARREY ANYMORE MY GODDDD. Like. Okay. He was perfectly fine as Ivo and Gerald early in the movie!!! It was fine! But when Ivo and Gerald team up... Im ngl you guys its just too many Carrey-isms that rreeeeaaaally overstay their welcome. It's tonally dissonant from the rest of the story they're trying to tell- Like yeah they can be silly and goofy sometimes but like. It takes away from the moment too many times.

It's a kids movie I know I know, but like- kids movies can and should take themselves seriously when the time calls for it! They had such a good setup for some really good moments!!!

Like Gerald having his heel-turn moment of "You're no Maria. My family is dead." was really good!!!! ... But then he just goes to being a goofy sort of villain again? And just Jim Carrey's all over the place???????

Like I think the worst offense was when Sonic and Shadow have their Live and Learn moment (WHICH! BTW!!! IS AMAZING!!!!! OMG LIVE AND LEEEAAAARN) and it's this AMAZING and CINEMATIC BADASS MOMENT- and then smash cuts to Gerald. Spanking. Ivo. With a big ol robotic hand and it's like... Oh. Oh wow it really killed the moment huh.

And when Gerald's sendoff was getting basically "Thousand years of death"'d or whatever the Naruto meme is- by a fucking Sonic quill and then just. Just. Bug zapper'd. With no real... anything behind it. I genuinely had a "Wait thats how he dies???" moment in the theater. Like. Seriously???

It's. Not good. And I really don't care for it and felt it reeeeaaally detracted from the movie- Again I know it's a kids movie but HEY KIDS MOVIES CAN TAKE THEMSELVES SERIOUSLY! Like. Like there's plenty of good humor (I think a good example is Team Sonic's first encounter with Shadow- good quips but also taking things seriously) but like- When a story is trying to be as serious as the FUCKING PLOT OF SA2, you can take it seriously! There's massive stakes here!

Ivo got a fine sendoff. It was fine. I dunno. It felt better than Gerald's shitty ass sendoff. I just. I hope it's for real. I want Jim Carrey to retire. He was fine in the first like 30 minutes but after that I was verrrry sick of him.

BUT.

Im so happy guys im so happy BEFORE I SAW THE MOVIE I CALLED IT I CALLED IT

METAL AND AMY CONFIRMED FOR THE NEXT MOVIE!!!!

You know what needs to happen now, right? Right?

YOU MAY KNOW EVERYTHING IM GOING TO DO, BUT THATS NOT GOING TO HELP YOU SINCE I KNOW EVERYTHING YOURE GOING TO DO!

STRANGE, ISNT IT?!?!

But yeah like. Hm. 7/10 Too Much Jim Carrey.

[joannerowling]

do you think they'll ever go for another HP spinoff? Both Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts received poor or mixed reviews at best and were not that popular (I don't think anyone has ever referenced them IRL in my experience) so I doubt they'll be trying another spinoff anytime soon. Perhaps after the HP show is over in a decade? I really hope not lol, I found both CC and FB incredibly uninteresting and basic (Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp really turned me off too lol) and I figure any other spin off would be just as disappointing.

I also think the terminally online fans going "No one wants this! we want a spinoff about the founders or marauders!" are so incredibly out of touch. the HP show everyone will watch, however no one would care about either of those except super duper HP fans. If I said "marauders" IRL I highly doubt anyone would even know what I'm referencing. Also why on earth would they take a gamble on a new show after CC and FB flopped? and these terminally online JKR haters complaining about the show and screaming for a Jegulus spinoff instead also hated and complained about CC and FB for the most part? it's such a bizarre reaction that is based exclusively in 'I hate jkr and want to complain' instead of any actual desires on their part IMO

Will there ever be another HP spinoff?

Short answer: probably not.

Long answer: they can only greenlight a project with JKR's approval, so it really all depends on her. She's clearly not interested in writing more original Potter books right now, but she's ok letting others play with the IP in various media and/or commercial forms (except novels; duh, she's not stupid), so long as her specific wishes on some topics are met. So far, pretty successfully:

Theatre : Cursed Child, while hated by a vocal minority of (essentially book) fans, is a commercial and critical hit, winning several awards and touring in multiple countries while playing non-stop on the West End.

Video Games : Obviously a quite successful format, from the popular smartphone mini-games to Hogwarts Legacy. Nobody cared that much about HL's story, its success came down to the fun of actually getting to explore Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc.

Park theme(s) : Very successful and not to be underestimated creativity-wise, between decors, costumes, ancilliary products, etc. Again, the appeal is immersion and exploration rather than rides.

Supplementary non-fiction material : The "Hogwarts Library" supplementary books deepening the universe's lore have always been hits, hence WB using them as a base to develop FB.

Fantastic Beasts movie series (and the whole "wizarding world" brand) : The big disappointment. It didn't start so bad, the first was a success and well received. The second was too complicated and lost the GP, but still made money; and the third was better received but not well enough to save it. Still, even Secrets was more of a flop than a bomb (it made back its Covid-inflated budget twice after all, not enough to make a profit but better than nothing).

At some point, if i'm a WB exec and i'm a little smart, i start to notice patterns:

Normie fans and GA don't want new "wizarding world" stories: they want an immersive experience. Movies are a bad format for that. You just can't cram too much stuff in a movie without shit becoming real expensive real fast.

Book fans hate everything new in general, even with Jo's involvement it's getting touchy after FB and CC. (I'm sure an original novel would work but even that's risky and she's not interested anyways.)

On the other hand, book fans also famously disliked the movies, so a new, more faithful adaptation might interest them. Normie fans and GA too: they already know the story, so it's accessible, and parents would love sharing it with their kids.

Sales show that people in general are definitely still massively attached to Harry Potter, so it's worth investing.

TV adaptations of books following disappointing movies have been pretty successful recently: BBC/HBO's HDM, Netflix's Series of Unfortunate Events, etc.

TV's not a bad format for immersive story-telling. Not the best, but you have more screen time and it's usually cheaper to produce than films and more character driven, meaning more opportunities to add details and play with them. Enough "new" elements to stand apart from the movies and excite fans, but no risk of messing with canon.

For WB, a remake is a great middle ground to work with JKR in spite of her controversies: she's involved, but not too involved, because the story isn't a new one. It's not like she's writing an original script for them, she's just consulting to make sure they're not messing up. And for Jo? Also greatly convenient! She gets to make money with minimal work. She's a very busy woman you see, and she's got expenses (those rape crisis centers aren't paying for themselves).

Conclusion : Spin-offs = bad, expensive ideas almost bound to fail, unless they were adaptations of a new, critically acclaimed original novel by JKR, which will not happen any time soon. Remake = safer, actually something people want to see (or could be persuaded to watch if initially unconvinced, for the hardcore movie fans). Movies are (kinda) out, shows are (still) in. Carpe Diem, etc.

Will there specifically ever be a Marauders spinoff?

With the disclaimer that i'm not JKR so i can't actually know that but: no. Never. Not even a remote possibility, won't ever happen in a thousand years.

[my-mt-heart]

Why Equal Representation Matters for Caryl and McReedus

I love Carol and Daryl equally, and I think they deserve equal representation. That's the key word in all of this, but that's not what I'm currently seeing in the promotion. Extras are getting in trouble for posting pictures with Melissa while set photos with Norman are fair game. Casting calls always say "starring Norman Reedus," but leave Melissa out. The one time I do see her name, it's placed in the wrong billing order and spelled incorrectly. Then there's the title. Daryl's name is in it. Carol's is reduced to a subtitle in much smaller letters.

The past couple of years have been difficult. After Melissa's "exit," which I know wasn't her choice, I kept getting messages from other fans who were battling anxiety and depression because they lost something that meant the world to them, because they felt like they could no longer connect with a story that once made them feel safe. Sometimes those messages included graphic pictures of self-harm. It was overwhelming, but even though I was struggling too, I believed Caryl fans could promote positive change. And we did.

Of course we did, because we learned from the best. We watched Carol overcome anything and anyone who tried to keep her down. Her perseverance and resilience are inspiring. I am so excited to have her back, and I'm so grateful to Melissa for choosing to continue her story. She and Norman looked very happy to shoot together again. I know they get the same amount of input on their characters' arcs, which is great. I just don't know how to reconcile my excitement with my concern that other business practices are still treating Melissa/Carol like the lesser half.

It is detrimental for Melissa to be the only woman in a position of power among several male EPs, execs, and directors. It isn't fair that she has to risk being labeled as “difficult to work with” every time she needs to stand up for Carol. It isn't fair that there isn't another woman to help her tell and promote Carol's story in ways that can reach her largely-female fanbase. For the show to be the huge success we want it to be, that needs to change. Daryl and Carol are partners, "Batman and Batman" as Norman once put it. He and Melissa are leading the show together. That needs to be clear.

For the last couple of years, Melissa’s fans have done all the heavy lifting to support her the way she deserves. It's time for someone in power to be vocal about Caryl’s romantic bond, Carol’s vitality, and respecting Melissa’s wishes, so we know that the show values equal representation. The story should reflect those values as well.

[ourpickwickclub]

Wow, B! You nailed GR's fatherhood missteps to a tee!!! It's not a contest (although GR might see it as such), but B is someone the boys can count on to love and protect them and to make them a priority. The bonus, bonus, bonus of B & G is how much Blake loves those kids and has centered his life around them. Apollo giving him a "Stepdad of the Year" trophy, being B's constant shadow and "little buddy", Zuma accompanying him (by himself) to record exec mtgs, a concert and him wanting to ride solo in B's truck on his bday, showing King how to drive a truck in mud, to play guitar and adding a pop-up show just to showcase K's talent. I mean this man will bespectacle himself (paps be damned!!) to not miss a second of A's football game. We now know (thanks to that comment on A's bday IG from the architect) , that there's no doubt that A is positively obsessed with Blake. Blake could not take his "Pop" role any more seriously and the boys know it. Really, what we think up to worry about doesn't matter, it's what the boys think and know in their hearts anyway.

And the boys are as much a blessing to Blake as he is to them. Before Gwen he was alone so much. It used to make me laugh in the early days when BARFs would keep saying, he's going to get tired of her brats soon and move on... meanwhile, Blake was building cabins to house everyone, buying obo balls and busting out amphioxus vehicles, buy boats with slides, and dressing up for kid parties. Ya... he really looked miserable... lol. He loved having a family and his family adored him. He didn't miss being a punching bag, being berated and put downs, giving and never receiving, being alone while ML was sleeping with employees and close friends. Remember when someone commented on ML sleeping with her help, Dustin the bus driver in that case, and Blake said some things never change. Anyway, he is a wonderful dad, they adore him, and he has never been happier

-B

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

tti episode 3

“Last time on Total! Takes! Island! An Awake-a-Thon tested the patience of every camper, and left a few with some pretty wicked injuries. Caesar won the victory for the Flying Fujoshis, and Joner hit the hay and left his buddies Michael and McLovin behind. Will any alliances stay intact for more than just one episode? Will Frollo recover from his blunt force trauma? Find out today on Total! Takes! Island!”

---

The mess hall feels more crowded than usual today as every camper huddles around their table. Most are still sleepy from the past challenge, but some are in full gear. 

“We need to get our act together,” Max insists, drawing out a little game plan on his plate of mysterious brown slop, only pausing to glare at Frollo as he speaks. “We can’t afford to lose over petty personal differences.”

Frollo glares back, his eyes cold and gaze icy. Julia responds with a sigh, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “So what’s your plan, then, Mr. Man?”

“I don’t appreciate your tone,”

“I don’t appreciate your face!”

“Woah, let’s cool down, alright?” Austin says, holding out his arms between them as if they were to pounce on each other at any moment. “Take a chill pill, baby!”

Max pushes his arm down. “I’d ask you to kindly keep your peace and love away from me, thank you,” 

Austin sighs and sits back. “Only trying to keep us together, mate. We’re on a team, aren’t we?”

Only Kelly seems to agree as everyone glares daggers at each other. Max sighs. “As much as I hate to admit it, the hippie is right. As I said, we need to put our personal differences aside if we want to keep winning,”

“He’s right,” Scruffy chimes in, swallowing a spoonful of slop without a second thought. Everyone winces. “Speaking from the lens of a TDI historian, the most successful teams, alliances, and friendships are built off of practical cooperation.”

“Thank you,”

Julia rolls her eyes. 

Things are looking much more peaceful over at the Fujoshis table as they chat merrily. Courtney is wedged at the very end of the table, using McLovin as a shield to keep them away from Mal, who’s surrounded by Ass and Patrick. 

“And I’m covered by the company health insurance, so if I sustain any lasting injuries, it comes straight out of McLean’s pocket,” Caesar chuckles, using his spoon to form the breakfast gruel into pancake-shaped patties, somewhat fit for consumption. 

Bonnie shakes their head in bewilderment. “And you got all this stuff, how, exactly? Threatened to sue?”

“Not exactly,” he smiles. “Back home, I run a very popular Total Drama-themed Hunger Games simulation show on local cable and online. It got so big, the execs here threatened to sue. I sent my fans after them and they issued a formal apology, which included an invitation to their newest season.”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve seen that!” Peter says, nodding enthusiastically. “It’s so awesome, my friends and I take bets on who wins!”

Bonnie scoffs, shaking their head with a smile. “Lucky,” 

“I threatened to sue, but the court dismissed my case,” Patrick chimes in. “On the grounds of not actually having been on the island.”

“If only the courts were evil,” Bonnie jokes. 

“If only the courts were evil in my favor,”

Bonnie chuckles. Kitty reaches into their apron pocket and pulls out a handful of candy and hands it to Patrick. “For your troubles,” they whisper. 

Patrick blinks. “Thank you,”

“Alright, campers!” Chris shouts. “Your next challenge starts in ten minutes- be prepared to bring it!”

“Corny. Same line he used in the original,” Scruffy mutters. 

---

The dodgeball emporium is already set up, a shiny glass athletic center that puts the rest of the island’s amenities to shame. That can only mean one thing- Chris is very enthusiastic about going all out for today's torture.

“I still feel exhausted,” Kelly sighs, stretching. “I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night, either.”

“Bad dreams, baby?” Austin asks. 

“One of the girls was snoring,” 

All of the girls and such on the Inane Anons turn to Michael, who looks back, confused. “Wasn’t me. I was up all night, too,”

Kelly shrugs. “It’s no problem. Just a bit tired,”

“Today’s challenge is everyone’s favorite: dodgeball! The first rule is don’t get hit. Second is that if you catch the ball, the thrower is out and the catcher gets to bring another team member out onto the court! And some other stuff,”

“Great. Okay, we only need five players,” Max says. “Who’s gonna sit this out with Kelly?”

“No, no- I’ll play!” Kelly insists. Max raises an eyebrow, but shrugs. "I guess it makes sense to save the best for last. Get in under the radar and then surprise them last minute. Frollo, Staci, you're on. I'll go too, and-"

“If Kelly’s going, I am too, baby!” 

"Whatever. Just don't try to "make love not war" them to death,"

Courtney, Mal, Patrick, McLovin, and Peter stand opposite to them, not looking very happy. Courtney turns to the rest of their team. “Just focus on dodging for now. If you see an opportunity, take it, but no one get themselves hurt,”

“But if you do-” Mal interjects, much to Courtney’s annoyance. “There’s no shame in losing!”

“Yes there is,” Patrick says. 

“Alright, ready? Set? Play ball!” Chris blows into his whistle. 

Courtney sighs. “Just focus on keeping in the game!”

A ball immediately flies from the opposite side and tags Peter directly in the neck. Staci and Austin high-five. He wheezes on the ground for a few minutes as his teammates stare in shock, and then Chef drags him off the court. 

“What did I just ask?!”

Another ball flies by and Patrick barely dodges, though it bounces off the glass wall and smacks McLovin in the back of the head, flattening him on the ground. 

Courtney sighs as Chef scrapes McLovin off the floor with a shovel. “Alright, it’s on!”

They aim for Frollo- the easiest target, since he’s still all bruised from his earlier divine encounter- and toss the first ball from their side. 

Frollo holds out his Bible like a shield. “The Power of Christ compels y-” 

The ball hits him in the gut and he wheezes, drops to his knees, and then curls up on the floor. Max groans and puts his head in his hands. 

Kelly yawns and weakly tosses a ball, which simply bounces across the floor and lands at Patrick’s feet with a weak squeak. Patrick picks it up and in one throw, takes out Kelly and a poor, derelict Austin trying to help them stay awake. 

Mal swerves across the court, dribbling her ball and dodging throws from the remaining Inane Anons before throwing it, hitting Max with such a force he’s thrown into the glass behind them. She turns to smirk at Courtney, and is promptly hit in the head with a throw from Staci. 

Patrick aims straight for Staci’s face, but they catch the ball and use it to take both Patrick and Courtney out. The Inane Anons win the round with a cheer. 

“We need to get in gear,” Courtney says, rubbing their sore side. “Not to live up to my namesake, but I’m gonna go all Type A on this team if we don’t start working together!”

“I agree completely,” Mal smirks. Courtney glares at her. 

Kelly falls asleep on the bleachers, and Michael takes their place. Julia, O, and Scruffy also step in, and the Fujoshis come up with Courtney, Ass, Caesar, Bonnie, and McLovin. 

"You sure you can handle this?" Ass asks Caesar. "Getting hit in the hair will still count you out."

He chuckles. "If I can swerve paparazzi and desperate fans on an average trip to the grocery store, I can handle this, easy. Bonnie? Care to join?"

Bonnie jogs over and the two stand back to back.

---

BONNIE: "I mostly do online gaming now, but back before I had access to my computer setup and my tablets, I used to go to the Chuck-e-Cheese's," they smirk. "Not to brag, but you're looking at the regional skee ball and Pop-a-Shot champion."

---

Bonnie and Caesar give each other a smile before team up sweeping the game in the blink of an eye, taking out three Anons and leaving the rest to Courtney and Ass. Only McLovin gets tagged out by a seemingly very-determined Michael, to which he glares.

Courtney grins, some hint of assurance on their face. “I’m gonna step out to save energy. Ass and Bonnie, stay in,”

“I’ll Sha-Go too!” Sha-Mod bounds forward. 

“Erm, no offense, but…” Caesar gestures to the picture taped over their face. “Aren’t you a little visually impaired?”

“My other senses are heightened,”

Caesar shrugs. “Our funeral,”

"If I may?" Mal asks, smiling sweetly. "Peter hasn't gotten a chance to play again."

Peter looks up from where he'd been watching a bug crawl around on the floor with big eyes.

"No offense, but this isn't exactly taking turns on your brother's tricycle," Caesar says.

Courtney nods, glaring at Mal with a suspicious stare. "Yeah... I don't know if he's really up to the task,"

"I have faith in him," Mal smiles confidently. "Go take a breather, Caesar."

Caesar rolls his eyes and walks off as the game begins, much to Bonnie's and Courtney's dismay.

Julia takes out Sha-Mod almost instantly, and barely misses Peter. “Ow!” 

A flash of anger crosses Mal’s face. “Come ON! AIM!” Everyone raises an eyebrow at her, and she catches herself, changing to a smile and a nervous laugh as she pretends to help Sha-Mod up. 

Peter is taken out seconds later, and as Mal stifles a grin a stray ball catches her in the stomach and she collapses. Peter groans and is dragged off court. Sha-Mod follows. They leave Mal on the floor. 

Ass and Bonnie aim for Michael, but Julia tags out Bonnie just in time, distracting Ass long enough for Kelly to swoop in and steal the lead. 

“One more game, one more chance!” Courtney insists. “Patrick, you’re in. Anyone else who thinks they can-”

“I- I wanna try,” Peter wheezes. 

Ass and Courtney raise an eyebrow in sync. 

“I don't think that’s such a good idea, little buddy,” Patrick says, smirking slightly. 

“I have… to prove my worth,”

"I say we give him one last chance, huh?" Mal smiles.

Courtney starts to say something, but the rest of the team cuts in. Ass shrugs. “Whatever, just don't get hit!”

Patrick, Peter, McLovin, Caesar, and Sha-Mod stand against Kelly, Austin, Max, Scary, and Scruffy. 

“Piece of cake!” Sha-Mod grins directly before Kelly aims straight for the jugular. 

Patrick dodges a ball from Scary, watching it bounce against the glass wall and fall to his feet with a chuckle. He picks it up and looks forward just in time to see a coordinated attack from Scruffy and Max coming straight towards him. 

“Not that face,” he whimpers before both balls hit him square between the eyes.

Caesar dodges a throw from Austin, catching another from Scruffy as he stands at the line between the two sides of the court. He tosses a ball, missing Kelly, before hearing a faint giggle and looking up towards the ceiling where Scary is hanging from on all fours with a ball in their teeth. They drop it- it hits Caesar, bouncing off his hair, and then ricochets on McLovin, leaving Peter alone on the court.

“Come on, Peter, you got this!” Ass shouts. 

Peter swallows a nervous lump in his throat and looks back at the Anons.

“Do you really think he can make it?” McLovin asks, holding an ice pack to his jaw. 

“No, but it’s a nice thought, isn’t it?”

Peter trembles, the ball in his hands shaking violently as he stares down the opposing team, who aren’t looking too concerned at all. Max gives a slight I told you so look to the rest of his team, then a smile Kelly and Austin, and then all three of them part, allowing Scary to walk through. Peter quivers and weakly throws the ball. It bounces a few paces forward and stops at Scary’s feet. 

He picks it up, grins wickedly, and then tosses it directly upwards. 

Max cups his face to shout. “Seriously?! He's right-”

As it falls, Scary does a tight, neatly performed spin-kick and launches the ball with her heel, sending it out with such a force that when it hits Peter, it sends him directly through the glass and onto the beach below. 

Max's jaw drops. Everyone falls silent. Even Chris looks mildly concerned. The Flying Fujoshis stare in shock, all looking at each other as if to say, “So, who’s gonna get the body?”

Then, the silence lifts. 

“And with a sweeping victory, the Inane Anons have won the game!” Chris shouts against the cheers of the winning team. “Chef, bring Peter to the medical tent and call in a chopper, he’s outta here! No elimination ceremony tonight!”

The Fujoshis stare in complete dead silence before a few interns force them out of their seats.

“That was rough,” Sha-Mod says, shaking his head as they walk back to the cabin. The picture of Lightning quivers in the wind, but stays put. 

Patrick shrugs. “Eh, he had it coming. It’s the law of the wild on this island- natural selection. The weakest go first,”

Sha-Mod frowns, but doesn’t respond further. 

The Anons, on the other hand, seem to be doing just fine as they gather for lunch in the mess hall. “How’s this, baby: you, me, the Christian square, and the history square?” Austin asks, walking alongside Kelly. 

“Are you sure? I mean, Frollo is kind of…” they gesture to Frollo, who’s standing over Peter’s cast-covered body and sprinkling holy water on him while he tries to weakly protest. 

“That’s why he can’t say no, baby!”

“Ok, I guess that makes sense. What about… Staci? Staci is nice,” Kelly smiles, gesturing to Staci as they growl at Michael for staring. 

“Sure, baby, whatever you say. Yeah!”

Staci sits back down on the bench and huffs. Scary emerges from under the table as if she were rising from underwater and sits next to them. “I liked your technique today. Brutal!”

“Thank you,” Staci grins. “My great-great-great cousin twice-removed Bertram actually invented the earliest version of dodgeball, so I’m pretty good at it.”

Max rolls his eyes. “Oh, brother,”

“I heard that!” they snap, brandishing their grimy spoon like a weapon. Scary giggles with delight. 

“Good job out there today, campers! And good work Scary- only three episodes in and we’ve already had to lift someone off the island in a full-body cast!” Chris chuckles, entering the mess hall. Scary smiles wickedly. “Really makes you wonder who’s gonna sustain a life-threatening injury next time- and there’s only one way to find out- here, on Total! Takes! Island!”

[trashquisitor-shirozora]

Another anon here, once again thanking you for your service validating the confused masses for whom s3 is not clicking for. In response to another anon response, and the fact that faloni recently said that "you don't need to watch clone wars to watch ahsoka" do you think he's trying to get a bunch of new people to go in blind so they don't know how nuanced these characters used to be?

Bo for me is the main thing. Like, this Faloni wrote a terrorist, and then gave her backstory, understandable if deeply flawed motivation, and a skewed worldview to the point where a few seasons after she's introduced as a part of Death Watch, we are rooting for her and Obi Wan as they work together even though we know she's done terrible things, because more importantly she knows she's done terrible things. There's no redemption for her mainly because it never felt like Bo was looking for it.

I just feel like the Disney execs running all this have never seen Clone Wars and are now just brushing it off as a kids show for kids and not realizing that the character they are trying to elevating to main character perfection is a war criminal.

Also, good luck on your writing!!! I shall have to check out your AO3 now!

Hello there, another anon! I appreciate your kind words and I do hope you've also found your way to other people's many thoughts on various aspects of the way Season 3 is simply not working for them. It fascinates me how we all have been taking different things from this season compared to the previous two (and personally I find it helpful as a writer writing stories).

Forgive me for not having the cool vocabulary or know-how to use that vocabulary to talk about these things. These are just my opinions as a layperson who spent a long time in fandoms and thinks too much too critically. I didn't see a single episode of TCW until last year when I was doing research on Mandalore and Sundari. I never saw Rebels. My knowledge of these two shows came primarily from Wookieepedia, friends and fellow fans, and the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. Personally, I think Filoni & Co. are trusting the long-time Star Wars fans and the newer fans won over by The Mandalorian to keep them sailing onward toward the Thrawn crossover movie on the horizon but I feel that once the novelty wears off, the General Audience will have a harder time keeping up because they didn't watch TCW or Rebels or know anything about either the original Thrawn Trilogy or the new Thrawn novels. I know I'm going to have a tougher time because I don't know these characters that well and need to be convinced to care. I do think Filoni is going to have to brush aside or flatten/simplify character traits and histories just to engage viewers who are coming into this for the first time. He and Favreau were smart to introduce Ahsoka and her future path in the D+ verse with a Mandalorian episode, though who knows what actual damage that did to The Mandalorian (a lot), so that people become familiar with her and what she wants. Now they have to convince people they want to know where Ahsoka is going and who these other people are, and why it matters that Thrawn is back.

I have read so many meta and critical posts these past few weeks breaking down this whitewashing and rehabilitation of Bo-Katan. She has such a dark and complicated history and I love that for her! I loved her appearances in Season 2 because it felt like a continuation of what I read about her in the Wookieepedia and in posts and commentaries all around the Internet. She's a Messy Bitch and a foil and an antagonizing force, and that's what I expected going into Season 3. Seeing her mope around on the throne, having given up because her fleet dumped her ass for failing to get back the Darksaber, was really jarring and I couldn't understand what Filoni and Favreau were planning to do with her. WELP. NOW WE KNOW. They needed her to be at her lowest so that she can see a sleeping water dragon and hit the reset button, I guess.

I think the decision to erase a huge part of her past has less to do with making it a kids show for kids (because TCW showed what she did and the consequences of her involvement) and more to do with Disney trying to recoup the twin costs of buying Star Wars and launching a streaming service that lost them, what, a billion bucks? They need to sell her as a heroic figure now, a princess and a girlboss because girls and women can't relate to male characters I guess?????, but she has to be safe and palatable to market to the masses so we lose her Death Watch past and we lose the death of her sister. We lose count of how many times she already lost the Darksaber. We lose her messy past, her ambition and drive, and we forgive her for her crimes because she... saved Din's life when he sank in the waters like a rock?

This version of Bo-Katan just does not work for me and the idea that we're now following her redemption arc when this was not what I was sold just... it makes me angry when I don't have enough sleep and really, really sad when I have enough sleep. Bo-Katan could've been a wonderful tragic figure, the cautionary tale the Armorer warned Din about in another lifetime, but now I just look at this season and the direction of the D+ shows as a tragedy itself.

Thanks for stopping by, another anon, and I hope my fics are to your liking!

[popculturebuffet]

Sam and Max: Freelance Police: Tonight We Love Review (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Happy almost valentine's day you happy people! And for those who have a partner, it can be a warm time of love, recommetment and buying stuff. For those of us who haven't found someone or dont' like it's corprate nature it's a more frought time though and that's where some old friends come to the rescue.

Yes we're getting double sam and max this month and it won't be the last time as Kev has tenative plans to have me do more reviews of the two non game sam and max series: the original comics and of course the awesome cartoon sam and max freelance police: plopped onto fox kids and promptly treated like wet garbage, Freelance Police is still a treat to this day and having binged about half of it, I can say it captures the spirit of the franchise perfectly while adding it's own touches: the weapons are either bizzarely specific or entirely over the top to get around not being able to use guns, and it's perfectly enjoyable for both kids and adults, while the 11 minute pace of each cartoon helps keep the series manic energy up. In short it's one of the best adaptations of a comic/video game ever put to film and I badly wish we'd get another somewhere, as with a proper budget, time to develop and the freedom that comes with streaming there's no telling what we could get. But what we got was fantastic.

So this isn't my first review of the cartoon as i've covered both the friend for life as part of an april's fool house of mouse review, and likely will again as it's one of my faviorite episodes and has the red green show's Patrick McKenna as Norm, THE FRIIIENNND FORRRR LIFFFEEEE. I honestly wish like the Geek , who i'll get to, he'd been ported to the telltale games. Especailly after enduring the soda poppers.

Tonight We Love is one of two holiday specials Sam and Max did, the other being said christmas episode. And while the other had some sentiment along with the bloodshed, it's clear the writers didn't like Valentine's Day and knew sam and max, happily married they may be, wouldn't either, so instead our heroes are beach combing to avoid all that lovey dovey shit their not a fan of it. Honestly it's one of the few anti-valentine's day valentine's day episodes i've seen. Sure some specials may have characters against the holiday, but most at least at the core of it reinforce what it means. Sam and Max.. has the duo hate it, never change their mind about it and have the holiday be one big fat obstacle between them and their goal.

So what noble goal sends our heroes hurtling back into the city into the frenzy of lovers, dreamers and me? Why THE PRESIDENT OF COURSE. Well the commisioner anyway. I do love how they do the phone gag here as not only does the comissioner phone in via a shell, but when Max, whose ALREADY HOLDING IT tries to "I got it", Sam picks him up with the metal detector. Kev informed me that Max has a metal plate in his head that comes and goes as the plot needs it.

Anyways our heroes go to the Geek, aka Darla, aka a character I badly wish would come back next time they do something sam and max related. Darla serves the same roll as Bosco from the telltale games, being the team's arms dealer basically. The realtionships are radically diffrent though: Bosco simply sells stuff because that's his job and while he does seem to like the duo, keeps it mostly professional, which is sad as Sam sees him as a father figure. The two also annoy him at times.

In contrast while The Geek can be annoyed by her friends antics and them breaking her stuff, she can also both get in on it and clearly loves the guys. It feels like they split her into Bosco and Sybil for the series to have mor echaracters to interact with, but Darla herself still feels wholly unique. She's also a rare case of exectuive meddling remotely being a good thing: She was originally a fairly sterotypical nerdy boy, but execs wanted a female character, which I think worked out better as with the fo;rmer design the geek likely would've been more of a sterotypical nerd. With this the geek is mor ea modern nerd: snarky, but also plenty willing to goof off. She's also exactly the kind of straight man the two need: someone who will play along and be just as madcap as this world requires her, but who can also be frustrated with the two's stupidity and mayhem without feeling like two seperate people: she primarly gets mad when they break her stuff, which is fair, but is fine making said dangerous stuff for them and loves her surrogate dads.

Anyways this time she's made an artifical heart to the president, which max naturally inserts the obvious joke about. So our heroes stick it on the DeSoto, which is .. just fun to say. Try it.

Naturally this being an 11 minute cartoon not only do they play the timer for all it's worth.. but things quickly go wrong as after sticking it on the atnenna someone STEALS the DeSoto

So the rest of the episode is a madcap chase.. though not too hard at first as the Geek installed a tracking device that naturally goes "over here boneheads" over and over, which is both hilaroius and makes sense… I mean Max likes to play hide the desoto at least once a week and after that scuba diving fiasco with the mer people, he had to have some contegincey ready. Anyways they find the pompadoured desperado and his girlfriend woh have sotlen it to make out and give chase. If i'm not too descriptive.. ti's that ther'es only so much I can say.

At any rate our heroes loose them but find them at loveland, which is suprisingly not some sort of cult or some sort of christian super group done by ned flanders, but a love themed amusment park and pure hell for our heroes, including Max getting stuck in the tunnel of canodling. They eventually find our desperados and I love their explination "I didn't mean to steal your car it just looked stealable". and I also like how while Sam symptahize siwth them max.. tears them to shreds off screen. You crack me up little buddy.

At any rate our heroes get the heart to the president in time which is for his dog, valentine's day is saved.. and our heroes exit as only they know how.. in a hail of bullets after knocking the president over.

Tonight We Love is a fantastic special and if you haven't tried the Sam and Max Cartoon it's a great place to start that has the general formula, some great gags and a fun twisted take on valentine's day all in a tight 11 minutes. Open your heart and spleen to it this couples day and thanks for reading.

[xeansicemane]

I wasn't surprised she knew where I lived topside. It was part of the game, they pretend they don't know my DMV name and I don't bury their houses in six feet of ice in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. Capes on (not that capes had been the thing since the 90s) and we duke it out, if it's glasses and 9 to 5 business casual we play it cool.

But Tecumseh a.k.a. Rebecca Smith had shown up at my door, half drained bottle of Stoli in one hand, and fallen into my apartment passed out before she even hit the wood.

And I was on season 3 of The Expanse, I like that one.

A blandly handsome Holden was still paused on my TV as I laid her out on the couch and paced into the cramped kitchen, starting some water boiling and selecting one of my more medicinal teas.

The bruises were odd, if the files we kept were right she was a stock standard unstoppable force - you could put her through a bank vault and she'd be trying to tear you in half as soon as she was on her feet. I'd done it last week, even.

"uuuuuuuuuuuhh" a wet, way-too-drunk moan that told me she was not on her first bottle of the night.

"If you're going to puke tell me now, I've got a few pots I don't like"

"uuugh" this one petered out into a cut off heave "n-no I'm... I'm good"

"Tec, you showed up drunk with half your dance clothes on to /my place/. That isn't good"

"wait, no... Wait" she blearily sat up on her third try and looked at me with that unfocused version of an inquisitive glare than only ethanol affords a person "Jotun, what the fuck are you doing here?" The f was drawn out.

"Well this is my apartment" I removed a few quips and one liners before I spoke, I wanted to take it easy on her. The water boiled and I poured it over some chamomile and lemon concoction I keep around for 'wellness'.

"Fuuuuck. Sorry I... I gotta go"

"Nah-ah. You, little superheroine, are nine sheets to the wind. I'm surprised you didn't pancake a car on the way here" I fitted the tea cozy over my tea pot. "We both know the score. No conference hall of finance bankers or whatever, no oil execs for you to save. We're off the clock"

She nodded with the emphasis of the fuck-my-proprioception drunk and flopped back down. "Yeah oh-" another heave "okay"

"So, who finally managed to bruise the famous march to justice?" Their branding was crap, but when you were on a government budget you got what you got.

"Riptide" she mumbled

"What, the water guy? He hit you with a cargo ship or som-" Hey, wait a minute. Riptide was one of theirs. Pretty decent hydrokinetic, more about the whole sense of unity with the sea than most of the talking to fish folks. "thing?" I managed to end the word without too much of a pause.

"Coast Guard cruiser. Asshole went rogue"

Well well well, the outreach office back home would love to hear that one. "Rogue, eh?" I busied myself with getting some honey in a pair of tea cups, if I was going to inflict wellness on a guest it's only fair I suffer with them.

"He wouldn't fucking..." Heave "fucking /listen/"

"What about?"

"He kept going on about how we were protecting and dying for the people poisoning his ocean, fucking with the thermal profile or some shit. Kept talking about how Europe is made of plastic"

"In point of fact he was likely talking about the Europe sized area of the ocean that is covered in microplastics"

"Fuckin whatever. Dude lost it and I was told to bring him in before he started doing some ecoterrorism"

"sounds like you should have let him cool his jets"

"Fuck your cool his jets dude can like... Drown a city if he wanted" she sat up, two tries this time, managing a real glare. "He can't just... We can't just be mad and blow off steam we gotta... Gotta be watched"

I nodded, pouring the tea into the cups and stirring a little to break up the honey. I paced back to the living space and set both mugs down, sitting on the crappy recliner I keep. "So he hit you with a coast guard cruiser and that's why you got drunk enough to come to your arch-nemesis' lair on their night off"

"Oh fuck you" she grabbed my 'don't speak to me until I have eaten this mug' mug and drank, grimacing "ugh. Fuck is this, chamomile?"

"Yeap. You look like you need wellness" I drank from the other mug, something I had lifted from a diner.

"Fuck" she said, taking another sip. "He... Wasn't making sense. I mean he was but he wasn't."

"Mmm?" I responded, prompting her on

"He's right, yeah, we protect some shitty people. Trust fund babies and oil tycoons and folks who don't pay their wearhouse employees enough. Boo hoo, it's the job"

"Sounds to me like he was having a hard time reconciling his powers and what he was using them for"

"Well we can't just fuckin stop drilling for oil. People have to drive. Refinery workers gotta eat"

I nodded, sipping at the tea again. "Let me guess, the eastern shore job last month?" I'd hit a number of fracking sites, enough material damage to require all the rigs to be replaced with almost no spilled waste, the crews only suffered some frostbite and a couple of broken bones where it was called for. I was proud of it, honestly.

"Yeah! He kept saying... Saying that if you all can just do that, just stop the poison or whatever, why couldn't he?"

"Tec, you guys are bound by the rule of law. You gotta know the law isn't always what's right. What needs to be done."

She jabbed a finger at me "Oh don't you fucking start the sales pitch, everything I do is legal and voted on and legal"

I held up a palm "Hey, no sales here. I get it. You want to know that what you're doing is okay, and if everyone says it's okay, it's okay"

She nodded "I'm not a third grader but yeah"

"If it makes you feel better, we haven't talked to Riptide yet. It's possible he just needs to think things out"

"And it's possible he's making his way to you all right now"

I smiled a little "His costume could use a little slink, he's really not showing off enough"

She threw her mug at my head, I managed to encase it in ice and redirect the force into my floor. And by the sound of it the floor of the unit below me.

I sighed, pulled out my phone and started texting for a cab

"Sorry. I shouldn't have done that" she mumbled

"No, you shouldn't have. But you're drunk, you're mad, and I know you all have a budget for property damage. I'll have an itemized bill to you" I tucked my phone away and drank off the last of my tea. "But, if I'm lucky the mug is okay."

"Tec, you all are in a stressful job, and just like us you make compromises now and then. Riptide just couldn't take the compromises that working inside the system needed. Now, there's a cab on the way to take you home. Dry out."

She nodded and stood, walking to the windows on the front face of the building and pulling one open. "I am sorry, that wasn't... Wasn't okay"

"I know you're sorry, Tec. Put a little work in and I might forgive you. And for gods' sakes take some boxing classes or something. You're not protecting your left side at all."

She grunted, nodded, and stepped out the window. I stood, walked over to it and closed it, watching her brush herself off. I emailed the landlord about a "freak accident" that I would pay for, and left a text with Mrs. Jenkins downstairs that I would make her some ice cream to apologize for the damage.

As a Villain, one night, someone knocks on your door, you open it and there she is, the most famous invulnerable heroine of the city, completely drunk and with many bruises, as soon as you realize who she is, she passes out into you arms.

[cyarskaren52]

we just ship them your honor

The 12 TV Couples We Really Wanted (But Didn’t Get) in 2023

Team TVLineDecember 14, 2023 7:00 am

Courtesy of NBC, Netflix, Apple TV+none

As 2023 comes to an end and we reflect on the past year in television, we’ve realized something: we don’t like not getting our way. For that very reason, we’ve decided to compile a list of the couples we really wanted this year, even if the TV gods decided to keep them apart.

And let’s be clear, we’re defining a “couple” as two people who have agreed to define their relationship as such. Some of the duos on our list have kissed, and some have done considerably more than that, but they failed to make it official. DTR-ing is very important here, people.

And while we’re confident that some of these shows will eventually give us the couplings we want, our list also includes a few characters whose shows won’t be resuming in the new year, leaving us to wonder what could have been. Consider us haunted for life.

Read on for a breakdown of 12 TV we couples we wanted (but sadly didn’t get) in 2023, then drop a comment with your own additions to the list. Which pairs from your favorite shows are you hoping will finally get serious in 2024?

01

Janine and Gregory, Abbott Elementary

Photo : Courtesy of ABC

The elementary teachers are made for each other, and their failed relationships with other people in Season 2 only further confirmed that there’s something truly special about Janine and Gregory’s bond. And honestly, we don’t know how Janine didn’t just dissolve into a puddle when Gregory told her, “I take all of your recommendations seriously. I want to know why you like stuff.” Swoon!  

02

Jack and Sadie, American Auto

Photo : Courtesy of NBC

Just when the Payne Motors exec decided to throw caution to the wind and agree to a real date with the co-worker for whom she was obviously made (and vice-versa), NBC threw cold water on the would-be couple as well as our hopes for them in the form of a cancellation notice.

03

Georgia and Joe, Ginny & Georgia

Photo : Courtesy of Netflix

We were sure that Joe’s slow realization of the significant past connection – not to mention, the palpable chemistry – he and Georgia share would finally inch the pair towards each other in Season 2. Alas, she married someone else, but we’ve got our eye on the long game when it comes to these two.  

04

Benson and Stabler, Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime 

Photo : Courtesy of NBC

‘Shippers have wanted Capt. Benson and Det. Stabler together for literal decades, and it seemed like maybe the show’s writers were on board this year. But despite some heavy flirting and heavier conversations about their feelings, we were left having to “Liv. Laugh. Love.” our way on to the next season.

05

Lee and Keiko, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Photo : 'Monarch' Episode 6 (Courtesy of Apple TV+)

Since their very first appearance in the series premiere’s 1959 flashback — which hinted at Bill having ended up with the “right woman,” Keiko, that Lee didn’t — we have wondered, “Wait, what all transpired with this triangle of adventurers…?” Add in everything that happens in Episode 6 (streaming Dec. 15 on Apple TV+) and, well, our interest grew Titan-ic!

06

Nick and George, Nancy Drew

Photo : Courtesy of The CW

Blame it on final season-induced nostalgia if you want, but we were rooting for George and Nick to get back together before Nancy Drew came to a close. Don’t get us wrong, their respective new partners suit them in unique ways, but we were invested in this couple prior to their breakup. Remember when they almost got married?!

07

Maeve and Otis, Sex Education

Photo : Courtesy of Netflix

Sure, Sex Education’s will-they-won’t-they it couple may have kissed and even had sex, but the series took far too long to get them together(-ish), before sending Maeve off to the States for school. By the time she returned, the couple’s moment seemed to have passed and in the end, they parted ways for good without ever experiencing the waves of a real relationship.

08

Spock and Chapel, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Photo : Paramount+ screenshot

The sizzling chemistry between the Vulcan science officer and the human nurse is absolutely out of this world, and it only got hotter in Season 2, with Spock gallantly using CPR when Chapel was barely clinging to life in the premiere. They even gave into their feelings after Spock was temporarily turned into a human — and shared a kiss! — but alas, Chapel’s decision to leave the Enterprise to take a prestigious fellowship meant that our dreams were dashed for now. Sigh.

09

Gerri and Roman, Succession

Photo : Courtesy of HBO

We knew these two were never destined for a traditional romance, something that didn’t really exist on HBO’s corporate drama. But we at least hoped they’d find their way back to the delightfully twisted, sorta-weird-sorta-hot situationship they developed in the show’s first three seasons, which could have softened the blow of Roman’s emotional implosion in Season 4. Alas, Roman was left to drink that series finale martini alone.

10

Roy and Jamie, Ted Lasso

Photo : Courtesy of Apple TV+

The increasingly profound bond between AFC Richmond’s former foes was both a complete surprise and such an appealing plot development that we can’t believe we didn’t ‘ship these two from the start. With all due respect to Roy and Keeley’s ill-fated fling, we found ourselves more invested in Roy and Jamie going the beyond-platonic route, after a season of meaningful interactions — Uncle’s Day is ourRoman Empire — that only scratched the surface of what these guys have come to mean to each other. But the finale went a different way, instead pitting Roy and Jamie against each other (?) in a fistfight for Keeley’s love (?!) and then asking her to choose between them (?!?). Well, we’ll always have Amsterdam.

11

Daryl and Isabelle, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

Photo : Courtesy of AMC

Maybe it’s for the best that the fifth Walking Dead spinoff didn’t capitalize on the chemistry that we all some of us saw developing between young Laurent’s de-facto parent figures. Viewers didn’t seem to agree that Norman Reedus and Clémence Poésy’s characters felt more for one another than mere friendship.

12

Kat and Elliot, The Way Home

Photo : Courtesy of Hallmark Channel

Redemption for the loyal high school best friend who stood by while Kat fell for and married the wrong guy! When Kat returned home after her divorce, her former bestie-turned-adorably handsome teacher Elliot was not only there for her, but also provided guidance, in the present and past, when her teenage daughter discovered a time-traveling pond. That’s what we call a good guy. Plus, that first kiss? Fire! Sadly, the complications of time travel led Elliot to decide he needs to forge his own path forward. 

Sent from my iPhone

[ear-worthy]

Please Stop With The Celebrity Interview Podcasts

Remember the good old days on TV and radio when celebrities were interviewed by people trained to ask questions in a public forum? Ah, the old days. A troubling and annoying trend in podcasting is the fire hose of celebrity interview shows.

I love Julia Louis Dreyfuss. I loved her in Seinfeld and especially in Veep. She has a new podcast called 50 Women Over 50. It’s pitched as a “podcast for women whose personal confidence is borne of experience. Interviews with 50 women to learn how they see the world; what lessons they’ve learned; what advice they have for us all.”

It’s just that every celebrity with a little time on their hands has plunged into the interview podcast pool, and all that splashing has listeners wondering how they ended in the deep end of this ego-stroking pool.

Celebrity podcasts have overwhelmed the sea wall built to protect listeners from celebrity self-love, self-absorption, and self-actualization.

We have the heavy hitters like Meghan Markle in Archetypes and Michelle Obama and then the lesser-known celebs like Justin Long, Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop (Heaven help us), and Seth Rogen.

It’s not that all of these celebrity podcasts are bad — except for Snooki & Joey — but like true-crime podcasts, there are just too many of them.

There are so many of these podcasts that there is a podcast called the Celebrity Podcast Podcast that covers celebrity podcasts. Talk about meta.

So I know what you’re saying? What’s your problem?

After all, broadcast TV has lovable trash like The Bachelor and Bachelorette and The Masked Singer. Discovery has an entire channel dedicated to skewering humanity with shows like 1000-lb Sisters and MILF Manor (jeez).

No problem. To each its own. But TV also has Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, Yellowstone, and 60 Minutes.

My problem is that I’m frightened that podcasting will be the recycling plant for celebrities with nothing to do or those with fading careers inundating the medium. Podcasting already has a problem with the true-crime genre overwhelming the medium.

Podcasting, like TV and radio, is a zero-sum game. We are definitely seeing that now in streaming TV, where execs just woke up and realized streaming isn’t a moneymaker. On TV, for example, all those Chicago shows, NCIS spinoffs, or Law And Order franchises crowd out other potential shows that offer viewers quality programming at a similar cost.

In podcasting, there are some terrific interview shows. Fresh Air, WTF with Marc Maron, How I Built This, Vox Conversations, Jemele Hill Is Unbothered, and The Jordan Harbinger Show, and so many more.

With Spotify and other networks pulling back on money and resources for podcasting, every new celebrity podcast means one less potential quality podcast from a person listeners have not yet heard of.

There’s an old maxim in entertainment — and in life — that media execs will always destroy a good show, by giving the audience too much of a good thing.

In 2001, ABC put on its hit game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with Regis Philbin four nights a week. At the time, the show was riding the crest of incredible ratings, societal ubiquity, and the public’s obsession with the latest shiny new object. So what happened? The show got canceled because viewers eventually got tired of all that overexposure.

Back to celebrity podcasts. How many is too many? Sometimes, it seems like every celebrity has a podcast. Does a celebrity on a reality show who became famous for “Karen” behavior really deserve a podcast? And isn’t that podcast going to crowd out the aspirational podcasters who start their own interview shows without the spotlight of having received a rose ten years ago on a reality TV show?

Marc Maron was not a celebrity when he started his podcast out of his garage. Believe it or not, Joe Rogan was simply a former reality show TV host when he started his podcast.

Are all those celebrity podcasts flooding the podcasting space, crowding out the potential for unknowns to surface and become household names? Is podcasting becoming Kardashian-ized like reality TV?

It’s bad enough that Dr. Phil has a podcast. So no more TV castoffs and celebrity laughingstocks on podcasts. If celebrities are sliding into podcasting, please make it people like Dreyfuss, Lupita Nyong’o, and Emma Watson.

For me, the best celebrity podcast is Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda. Smart, intellectually curious, and far-ranging, the show is, as one reviewer commented, “The perfect mix of insightful and humanistic conservation.”

[testudoaubrei-blog]

Well, it’s not quite a master’s thesis, but this is (the first of) a series of posts on why Catra and Adora are the best love story in the history of kids TV animation and maybe the greatest love story in the history of TV. This may in some ways be faint praise - romance on TV is generally not very good compared with books or movies. Often it’s just some will they/won’t they sexual tension that is defused by getting characters together and re-heightened by breaking them up. TV is full of nearly shark jumping pointless dramas like Sam and Diane (Cheers, holy fuck am I dating myself, though that was technically before my time), Ross and Rachel (Friends, which was no Cheers) etc, but also some less annoying couples like Ben and Leslie (Parks and Rec) or Amy and Jake (Bk99) who are mostly just kind of cute and fun. Other shows, like the X-Files, teased viewers for years with unresolved sexual tension. In kids shows most romances are, appropriate for their target viewers, mild, sweet relationships based more on self-conscious flirting and blushing than on complex and conflicted feelings or deep passions - which is pretty realistic when the characters are young teens or even mid-teens. Some of these relationships are really well done - Finn and Flame Princess, Dipper and Pacifica (yeah I ship them), the early stages of Katara and Aang (before the showrunners imbued this childhood crush with cosmic significance), Steven and Connie, etc. Catra and Adora, though, are different. Their love story is not a side plot or a sub plot, it’s the heart of the show. It isn’t a childhood crush, it’s a very messy and passionate relationship between two young adults. She-Ra is an emotionally complex lesbian romance just as much as it is a thrilling action/adventure show. Everything about their relationship is baked into the show’s plot, its themes, hell even its musical score. The dramatic tension between Catra and Adora is not the result of stretching out a flirtation for ratings, but a coherent dramatic arc that runs through the entire show. As Noelle said, he made Catradora so central that execs couldn’t take it out without ruining the show. And the show is better for it. In this series of posts I’m going to try to show why, as well as showing why She-Ra is such a fantastic love story.

First off, let’s talk about how Catra and Adora’s character arcs are foils for each other, and how they come together and apart through the series. This is actually a post that I’ve been working on for a while but I keep summarizing the show rather than cutting to the chase, so I’m not going to recite many plot points so much as sketch out what’s going on with the dramatic structure at the time. But also, let’s talk about what each character’s arc is saying, and how they are commenting on each other. Spoiler alert: Catra’s arc is a subversion and critique of stories of empowerment through ruthless self-assertion and revenge, while Adora’s arc is a subversion and critique of chosen one narratives and stories of self-denial and self-transcendence.

When the show starts, Adora and Catra are shown as rivals and friends - their first scene starts the recurring motif of them reaching out for each other as one of them dangles above an abyss, as well as establishing their flirtatious banter and easy camaraderie. We quickly learn that these two young women plan to conquer the world together. These scenes and later flashbacks show Catra and Adora as deeply enmeshed in each others lives, to the point where neither of them (but especially Catra) have clear identities outside of one another. There is so much genuine love on both sides before Adora leaves, but also resentment, envy and fear, especially on Catra’s side, as well as a protectiveness on Adora’s side that deprives Catra of her autonomy. They are both being abused by Shadow Weaver - Catra physically  and emotionally, Adora emotionally. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Shadow Weaver holds Catra hostage to control Adora (this is why critiques that Adora abandoned Catra to be abused are actually kind of messed up, since they accept Shadow Weaver’s premise that Adora is responsible for what Shadow Weaver does to Catra). In addition, Catra and Adora actually see the world incredibly differently. Adora already sees the world in terms of right, wrong and her destiny to right wrongs - this is why it’s important for her  to accept the Horde’s obvious lies - she couldn’t keep living if she didn’t. Catra, on the other hand, sees the world solely in terms of survival and personal loyalty - everything for her is about preserving herself and the person she cares about - Adora.

Then, when Adora finds the sword, she leaves because it’s the right thing to do. Catra doesn’t even have a concept of ‘the right thing to do’ being something she should care about, or perhaps, something she can care about as an irredeemably evil, awful fuck-up. So at Thaymor neither one understands where the other is coming from, and Catra and Adora begin to part. This is the first turning point in their relationship. Adora chooses duty over what she desires, Catra chooses to protect herself (such as she sees it) and nurse her sense of betrayal and abandonment.

Their relationship until Promise is a kind of weird Frenemy thing that is fascinating to watch and sold me on the show. Neither one wants to fully admit to themselves that the other is now their enemy, neither one has given up on changing the other’s mind. Each is furious at the other, and desperate to see her again at the same time. There’s a lot of heartache and just as much sexual tension, especially at Princess Prom. Both of them come alive when they fight each other (more about that in a later post). But they’re already growing apart - Adora embracing her destiny as She-Ra, Catra rising in the ranks for the Horde. Adora now has the purpose she always wanted, plus other friends and a sense of being chosen to do something great, while Catra now has power - the means to protect herself from people like Shadow Weaver as well as the vindication she had always been denied, and even the opportunity to beat Shadow Weaver at her own game.

The next turning point is Promise. Holy fuck, this episode. It’s an episode that is even more heartbreaking after you’ve watched the show because you know just how much worse things are going to get, and yet, it’s a necessary part of both of their character arcs. Even through season 1 Catra and Adora had remained very much enmeshed in each others lives in an increasingly fucked up way as they grew apart but refused to turn away from each other. Even though they aren’t -exactly- a romantic couple (Adora doesn’t recognize and acknowledge her feelings until the last episode of Season 5), Season 1 of She-Ra is one of the worst breakups I have seen on TV. As I said in a couple of previous posts, this is the kind of shit that the Mountain Goats write songs about. Everything that was poisoning their love for each other even before episode 1 bubbles to the surface and combines with them fighting on opposite sides of the war to make a truly fucked up situation. In the end, it’s Catra that makes the choice to turn away from Adora. This isn’t a -good- decision. It’s spiteful, and destructive, and based on an outright deluded understanding of their relationship (inspired by Light Hope’s manipulations and her own issues), but it’s in some ways a necessary decision. Catra has been so wrapped up in Adora for so long that she isn’t going to be able to figure out who -she- is without cutting Adora out of her life. And the same is true of Adora.

But each of them do this in about the worst way possible. Catra embraces destruction, ambition, manipulation and outright cruelty, turning the tactics of her abusers against them and against everyone around her. She first triumphs over Shadow Weaver and manipulates Entrapta into trying to corrupt Etheria itself. Meanwhile Adora ‘lets go’ and commits herself to the self-denying mantle of She-Ra. Over the next several seasons, their respective paths will nearly lead both Catra and Adora to their deaths (in the Season 4 finale).

For the next season (counting season 2 and 3 as one) Catra and Adora are still closely linked, but as enemies. Still, there’s more than enough flirtation between them (that ‘Hey Catra’ in the first episode of Season 2 is something else), and especially on Adora’s side we see her hold back with Catra, and often take responsibility for the harm Catra inflicts, just like she had when they were kids. Yet they still drift apart - after facing off every other episode in Season 1, they spend less and less time on screen together through season 2 and 3. Catra continues her ascent to power and descent into villainy while Adora becomes more of a stressed out mess as she takes the fate of the world and the wellbeing of everyone she cares about on her admittedly broad shoulders. Catra’s one moment of vulnerability is rewarded by Shadow Weaver’s betrayal and her exile, then Catra triumphs in ruthless badass fashion through sheer desperation and aggression. In the Crimson Wastes, we see Catra at her most independent, and she almost seems happy. But once Adora shows up and Catra hears about Shadow Weaver, she’s sucked back into the worst of her resentments, and she makes very clear that being happy is less important to her than making sure Adora is miserable.

This changes everything. Catra completely breaks with reality and tries to kill Adora, herself and the world rather than lose to Adora and Shadow Weaver (I do think it’s important to remember that she does that after Shadow Weaver nearly kills her). Catra betrays everyone around her when she exiles Entrapta, threatens Scopria and lies to Hordak. Then she flips the switch. When Adora tries to fix things, Catra fights to her own death to make sure that the world disintegrates with her. For her part, Adora fights first to understand what is wrong with the world and then to fix it. Finally she tells Catra that destroying the world is her choice and she has to live with it, decks her, and then sees her off with a death glare once the portal is closed. With this, Adora writes Catra off even if, as she says later, she never never hated her. By doing that, Adora casts off the guilt that had dogged her and takes responsibility for her own life rather than someone else’s - this is actually a huge step for her, and one that will become more important in Season 4.

Season 4 is in many ways the nadir of their relationship. They only see each other once during the entire season, in Fluterrina, when Adora tries to blast Catra, much to the latter’s shock. There’s a sense in that scene that Catra is trying to have the same flirtatious enmity she used to have with Adora, and Adora is having none of it. Catra almost seems hurt by this, which is an early hint at how isolated Catra is beginning to feel. Catra spends the rest of the season at her highest and lowest. On the one hand she spends most of 12 episodes winning by every standard she has ever claimed to care about, besting Hordak himself in single combat and making herself co-ruler of the Horde and coming within a day’s march of ending the Rebellion. In many ways it is the ultimate empowerment fantasy - the abused young woman has defeated her abusers, showed up everyone who doubted her and forced everyone to respect her. But I think it’s striking that the show starts with her and Adora dreaming of conquering the world together and in Season 4 Catra nearly succeeds in conquering it alone, almost like she was trying to live out her old shared fantasy while proving she didn’t need her former best friend. 

At the same time, Catra is clearly miserable. She’s always been unhappy, but in Season 4 we see her completely isolated and lying to herself and everyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to justify her actions. Turning the tactics of Hordak and Shadow Weaver against them to gain power and then against Scorpia and Entrapta to maintain it haven’t vindicated Catra, they’ve made her more and more alone as Entrapta is exiled and Scorpia drifts away. Meanwhile Catra reaches out to Double Trouble, and her interactions with them reek of a kind of desperate desire to have someone in her life (the feeling of their interaction is of an unhealthy casual relationship where one partner becomes emotionally invested and the other takes advantage of that while denying the other the closeness they desire). As people leave her, one after the other, it becomes clearer and clearer that Catra doesn’t want power at all - she wants connection, friendship, love, and power is a very poor replacement. As I said in my long Catra rant, Season 4 is both her ‘Walter White as a Catgirl’ season and the beginning of her redemption. Everything comes to head when Sparkles destroys everything Catra has tried to achieve, Double Trouble delivers those harsh truths and Horde Prime shows up and makes it all irrelevant, just highlighting how futile all her struggles and sacrifices and crimes have been.

Meanwhile Adora spends Season 4 becoming her own her and her own woman. After telling off Catra, she grows more and more disillusioned with Light Hope and critical of Glimmer (though the latter has more than a shade of her old habit of taking responsibility for others - Adora’s development is not linear). She’s gained the courage and confidence to strike out her own path, not just follow a destiny. At the season’s end she once again breaks with her best friend to do what is right, and discards the destiny that she was being prepared for. But in this case she isn’t chasing one packaged destiny for another, instead she’s making her own choice and literally shattering the thing that she thought gave her life purpose. It’s badass, and heartbreaking, and along with decking Catra and jumping after Catra into the abyss (see below) it’s the perfect Adora moment.

In many ways Season 5 starts with Catra and Adora farther apart than they have ever been. They aren’t even enemies anymore, they’re completely out of each other’s lives. And both Catra and Adora are lost at the beginning of Season 5 - Catra is useless and alone on Prime’s ship, completely defeated despite ostensibly being on the winning side, and she goes through the motions of her normal plotting without any particular conviction and none of her normal flair. Meanwhile Adora is even more miserable and self-destructive than usual, throwing herself at Horde Bots and working herself until she drops of exhaustion. In a very real way they both stay lost until they have a chance to help the other. Catra takes responsibility for what she’s done and what she can do, saves Glimmer (at least partly for Adora’s sake), apologizes to Adora, and sacrifices herself. Adora only seems to come alive when she decides to turn around, face Prime, and save the cat. And when she does, Catra and Adora’s arcs, which had separated so completely in season 4, come crashing back together to end the series.

Adora during Save the Cat is such a contrast with the uncertain, hesitant and self-destructive wreck we’ve seen so far in Season 5. This is possibly her craziest plan in 3 years of mostly cazy plans, but she never wavers or questions herself. Even when Chipped Catra appears and we see Adora’s heart break while we watch, Adora doesn’t back down or relent. She keeps at it even as the tears stream down her face. She fights better trying to save Catra without She-Ra’s powers than she fought at the Battle of Bright Moon with them. Catra’s just about as desperate - we see her cry and plead, and now is probably as good a time to any to point out how amazing a job both VAs did throughout the show, but especially in this episode, and how good a job the board artists did. 

Seeing each other for the first time in a year, and only the second time since Catra blew everything up, Catra and Adora are probably the rawest and least restrained we’ve ever seen them. There’s barely any banter, no bravado, and no pretense that they are anything other than two women who desperately need each other (Prime doesn’t help with ‘You broke my heart’.) Then Catra is flung to her death, Adora jumps after her, breaks both her legs in the fall (we see her crawl to Catra, as though she couldn’t walk) and becomes the real She-Ra. It’s such a triumphant and deeply queer moment seeing a woman transformed into a warrior goddess to protect the woman she loves, and it’s the reason that, as dark as it is, Save the Cat is my Comfort Food episode.

Let’s not sleep on Taking Control, though. This episode is like a microcosm of what this show does best, especially the A plot with Catra and Adora. Catra’s reversion to lashing out at everyone and her refusal to be open to Adora shows just how much of a struggle this whole ‘being good and trying to connect to people’ thing is. Catra’s outburst gives Adora a chance to stand up for herself and refuse to be Catra’s punching bag, while also not trying to control her. Adora’s ultimatum gives Catra a chance to reach out to Adora (quite literally), and allow herself to be vulnerable. In this episode, we see just how far Catra and Adora have come since the messed up stew of their relationship in Season 1. Adora lets Catra be responsible for her own actions; Catra lets herself be vulnerable to Adora and takes responsibility for her actions. They’re both better people and better friends and better partners than they were, and the show has shown this in a strikingly nuanced and realistic way. 

The important thing to note in the next few episodes of Season 5 isn’t just how much closer Catra and Adora get to each other and how much they flirt (So much. So much, y’all) but just how -happy- they are. We see both of them transformed in the other’s presence. Basically, since they’ve parted, both Catra and Adora have been defined in no small part by how miserable they often are. They have both had their triumphs and their lighter moments, but there’s been a sense of melancholy dogging both Catra and Adora since episode 1. And now that they’re together again, that lifts, somewhat. Catra’s verbal barbs have lost their venom, and she can openly show how much she cares for Adora and even Bow and Glimmer. She’s still herself - snarky, cynical, somewhat devious - but she’s not engaged in a self-destructive zero-sum struggle with everyone around her. Meanwhile Adora has spent 4 seasons being a neurotic and sometimes nearly joyless mess who takes responsibility for everything and often doesn’t let herself enjoy anything other than the odd BFS group hug (exceptions include trying to uh...impress Huntara and reveling with the butterfly ladies of Elberron in Flutterina).  Around Catra, though, she’s a cocky, swaggering jock who gives as good as she gets. It’s a side of Adora we’ve only seen hints of before, and one that’s so much more confident and joyful even as the world is ending around her. Apart, Catra had tried to protect and vindicate herself with power and conquest, while Adora had tried to forget herself in duty and sacrifice. Together, they can be themselves again. This dynamic is crucial to the show’s portrayal of Catra and Adora’s romance because it doesn’t just show how much they love each other, but how they’re -good- for each other now that they’ve grown as people, and that they are so much better than they were when they were apart.

Until Shadow Weaver shows up. Their old abuser reintroduces tensions but even then things are different than they were. Now Catra isn’t just resentful of how Shadow Weaver prefers Adora - she’s  protective of Adora, which is clearest in Failsafe when she calls Shadow Weaver out for being willing to sacrifice Adora. And while Adora takes the Failsafe, it isn’t to follow her destiny or because she has a death wish - it’s because she loves her friends, and she is the only one who has any hope of doing this and living (though Catra’s suggestion that Shadow Weaver take it is a good one). And finally, when Catra leaves Adora, it isn’t because she hates Adora, nor, despite what she says, is it because she really thinks that Adora chose Shadow Weaver. At least, not exactly. It’s because Catra loves Adora, and can admit that to herself, and can’t stay around and watch the woman she loves sacrifice herself rather than choosing Catra. Before Catra leaves, she asks Adora ‘What do you want?” It’s a question that echoes Shadow Weaver’s speech in Episode 1: ‘isn’t this what you always wanted since you could want anything?’ As much as Adora has grown as a person, and defined herself and stood up for what she thinks is right, she still has never answered that question - it’s never been ‘what do I want’ but ‘what do I have to do?’ and that’s how Adora answers Catra’s question. This is Adora’s last gasp as a self-transcending hero, letting go of what she wants (not that she ever dared articulate what that was) in order to do what must be done. And it nearly kills her and dooms the universe, because Adora can’t be the hero that she needs to be by being anyone less than herself.

But it’s losing Catra that inspires Adora to tell off Shadow Weaver for good (not that she’d ever really warmed to her after season 1). And it’s love for Adora that inspires Catra to stand up to Shadow Weaver and demand that she do the right thing. In both cases, Catra and Adora aren’t just standing up to their abuser, but holding her to account for the harm she’s caused, and it’s the love that they have for each other that inspires them to do this. In Catra’s case in particular her refusal to let Shadow Weaver weasel out of finding Adora is a much greater triumph over Shadow Weaver than beating her up and breaking her mask in Season 1 - it’s proof not so much to Shadow Weaver but to Catra herself that Catra really is better than this and that she deserves better than this. It’s not turning her abuser’s tactics against her, but truly holding her to a moral standard and demanding that she do the right thing.

And then there’s Catra and Adora together at the heart. Catra has already come back for Adora and stayed to the end, choosing to die with her even if she can’t share a life together (not out of some death wish, but because Adora needs her). And Adora, who’s been avoiding answering the question for three fucking years, finally let’s herself want Catra when Catra finally confesses her love (breaking the last of her self-protective shields) and asks Adora to stay -for her-. And by admitting what she wants, Adora can truly be at peace with herself and be the hero she needs to be, lesbianism saves the universe, The End.

So anyway, that’s how Catra and Adora’s stories are woven together and how they compliment and comment on each other. Narrativiely, Adora and Catra start together, come apart, find something of themselves, and truly find themselves and each other when they are reunited. Thematically, they are critiquing seemingly opposing narrative tropes - empowerment narratives and narratives of self sacrifice. But by showing the flaws in both types of story and showing how neither self-seeking empowerment nor self-negating self sacrifice can actually make us happy, She-Ra asks and answers more profound questions than most prestige dramas for adults do. I’ll get into how the show sells the idea that the power of love can bring us happiness (and save the world) in a future post. But next up, I’m going to celebrate just how much Catra and Adora’s relationship revels in ambiguity, complexity and contradiction and so tells a grown up love story in a kid’s show.

[jadeite-art]

I think that all of those cracks we see throughout the show really boil down to one fundamental issue.

This may sound weird but Barb and Coop remind me of Mary-Sue and Daniel Pleasant from the Sims 2 in the sense that if they were sims they would have diverging aspirations. Barb would be a "career" sim and Coop would be a "family" sim.

When you start the game the Pleasants are still together but their marriage is strained - on the verge of breakup even - cause Mary is focused on her job (she's a "career" sim) and Daniel wants to bang the maid (he's a "romance" sim). You as the player, can make them work through their issues and stay married but at the end of the day, Mary will still want to make career and Daniel will still want to bang everyone in town and their mother.

Barb and Coop love each other, yes, but that doesn't change the fact that:

1. Barb is a city girl and a working girl, she may not condone everything Vault-Tec does but I feel she actually fits in that corporate environment. She thrives there. I mean, she is an exec.

2. Coop is a family man and a country man deep down. He's a simple, honest kind of guy who despises that corporate world with all of its scheming and butt-licking and all. What he values and desires most is to be with his family (pets included).

Barb could never relate to Coop's desire to step away from city life, in the same way Coop could never relate to Barb's honest desire to continue that life.

I find it somewat telling that when Coop suggests that they move to the countryside Barb's first response is "and what would I be doing there?" She later gives other arguments why that's not a viable option, but still, her very first response was pointing out that's no place for a woman like her. This has me wondering...

Barb fell in love and married Cooper Howard, the Hollywood actor, a man with money, status, connections etc. Would she have fallen in love and married Coop, a simple man from idk, Nebraska?

Barb the city slicker who goes on summer vacation to the country and falls for Cooper the local cowboy sounds like the plot of a hallmark rom-com. At the end of the movie, Barb would obviously stay with Coop but in real life, she'd have a steamy summer romance but would ultimately go back to the city and perhaps that's exactly what happened. Except Coop fell in love so hard that he left everything behind and followed her there.

It must have been all great at the beginning. He gets the job as a stuntman, then becomes an actor (I wonder if Barb might have pulled a string or two to make it happen), they marry, have a kid and a dog (not necessarily in that order). Life is good, even if he misses the countryside sometimes, but then Barb pushes him into the collab with Vault-Tec, molding him further into the kind of man she needs him to be. Problem is, that's not the kind of man Coop is or ever wants to be. He does everything Barb asks of him for the sake of their love but you can tell he gets more and more miserable in the process. If the opposite scenario was true and it was Barb who moved to the countryside to be with Coop and spent her days milking cows, raising chickens, and baking pies, she'd end up just as miserable if not more.

That said, I feel like regardless of the entire atomic issue, Barb and Coop's relationship would always be destined to fail, at least on some level. As much as I loved them on the show, the rationalist in me recognizes that they could never really work. Not without one of them changing to the point of unrecognition to fit the other's needs and expectations and ending up somewhat unhappy as a result.

They are just two sims with diverging aspirations.

i can’t help but notice how sincerely uncomfortable barb looks after the vault-tec commercial when cooper comes up from behind her and puts his arms around her. she’s clearly not a fan of pda while he clearly is, and it’s just an interesting moment showcasing how even at this point, they’re on two different pages.

the cracks are already showing.

[insanityclause]

Not Jennifer Lawrence (known TS associate) getting dragged for her “I was the first-ever lead female action movie star” fiasco comment 💀

Here was a great one 😂🤣

https://twitter.com/thedenisecrosby/status/1600764645135917056?s=46&t=CNnc1ZX0gMX8zvgVB9uyow

It's worthwhile actually watching the whole interview, not just the gotcha clickbait quote - the larger point she was making, which Viola Davis agreed with, is that it was hard to get action movies with female leads made (data shows that it's improved), that this is what the execs would say (boys don't identify with female leads) and that she finds it so great when the movies come out and prove TPTB hugely wrong -- in this context, it was about Woman King being successful.

AND that people get slotted into certain types of pictures that they can be in.

JL: I want to circle back to you being the lead of Woman King, and we’re at I think it’s 94% on Rotten Tomatoes? $66 million domestic. I mean it is just, they couldn’t have been more wrong. And I thought it was so, I just love seeing stories like that of… I remember when I was doing Hunger Games (probable edit) Nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie…

VD: Yeah.

JL: … because it wouldn’t work, we were told. Girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead.

VD: Oh, absolutely.

JL: And it just makes me so happy every single time I see a movie come out that just blows through every single one of those beliefs, and proves that it is just a lie to keep certain people out of the movies, to keep certain people in the same positions that they’ve always been in. And it’s just amazing to watch it happen.

But yeah, in 2011 it was something like 20-25% of ALL movies had female leads, whereas now it's closer to 50%.

By the way, if anyone bothers to actually watch the full interview, they can hear both Jennifer and Viola take down the exact kind of thing that's happening with this conversation - full conversations being diluted to click bait, and how that can actually ruin careers in some cases.

ETA: I found the chart.

[x]

[theditchlillies]

10 January 1992 // Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love // Nirvana & Hole

East Village NYC

Photos by Dora Handel

30 years ago today Kurt and Courtney were in town for Nirvana's first Saturday Night Live performance. They were newly engaged and Courtney is pregnant with Frances Bean here though probably doesn't know it yet. They were interviewed by Christina Kelly for the April 1992 edition of Sassy Magazine:

" The lead singer of Nirvana and the lead singer of Hole are getting married. They're buying a Victorian house in Seattle and want to have a baby. It is so nice to see a multiplatinum rock star in love with an opinionated, feminist, ambitious rocker, not some supermodel in a boob tray.

 Courtney’s in this cool black midi-dress, a fuzzy old sweater and brown vintage pumps. She keeps playing with her bleached hair, covering her face with it and making it stand up and stuff. Courtney says she’s 24, but I think she could be older. She’s not classically pretty, but she wears her offbeat looks well. Kurt, who probably really is 24, is very cute, with incredibly blue eyes, which are set off nicely by his pink-streaked hair. However, he is so skinny that I would like to force-feed him a solid meal. He’s wearing disintegrating jeans and a cardigan over an ancient Flipper (the band, not the TV show) T-shirt. His black sneakers have holes in them. "He’s got the number-one record," says Courtney, in her scratchy voice, "and he only has one pair of shoes."

Kurt has a very sweet way about him, almost shy. He’ll sit there and not talk, but not in a hostile way - besides, it’s hard for anyone, even me, to get a word in edgewise with the loquacious Miss Courtney. 

And then I met him at a show about a year or something ago." "Butthole Surfers," says Kurt. "And L7," adds Courtney.

The turning point for the relationship was last September. Courtney was meeting with a record company exec. ‘He said to me, ‘What do you want? I can make you a big star,’" says Courtney, whose band is based in LA. "And I said, ‘I want to see Nirvana in Chicago.’ So he got on the phone and spent, like, $1,000 and bought me a ticket and I went. And that is when we got together."

"The other day I was driving around in LA listening to a college station. They were playing a lot of my favorite bands, like Flipper and the Melvins. I was saying to myself, This is great. And then the DJ came on and went on this half-hour rant about how Nirvana is so obviously business oriented and just because we have colored hair doesn’t mean we are alternative. And I felt really terrible. Because there is nothing in the world I like more than pure underground music. And to be shunned by this claim that just because you are playing the corporate game you are not honest! You use the corporate ogre to your advantage. You fight them by joining them." Kurt says.

We go outside for some photos. They sit on the sidewalk and Courtney kisses Kurt, smearing lipstick on his face. It’s looking very Sid and Nancy."

Sources: