#we've started ep 5 so we still have a bit to go

[spockvarietyhour]

This is how I read those subtitles

[becauseimanicequeen]

My Semi-Coherent Thoughts About Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo So Far (ep. 1-6)

This is a response to some asks I got after this week's ep. 5 and 6, and some additional thoughts from me. I'll mostly throw some random points out there because I've been living in right-brain-land for most of this week (or weeks? What's time anyway, eh?), so being coherent seems like too much of a challenge right now, lol. But this post needs to be written so I can stop thinking about it and focus on something else.

Let's start with two Anons who dropped into my inbox with comments of the same context: that Dohoi was an asshole and that I wouldn't be able to defend him anymore...

Clearly, Anons, you seemed to have completely missed the point of my previous posts where I said I was neutral (I still am) and refused to go into a discussion about taking sides because that's not where the interesting bits are (not for me, anyway).

I'm on both their sides and on no one's side.

Juyeong and Dohoi have both made mistakes:

Juyeong lied about Dohoi's dad abusing him

Dohoi pretended to not know about it

Juyeong chose to stand up to Dohoi's dad even though he knew that man was a violent piece of shit

Dohoi called the police, afraid he wouldn't be able to focus on his exam, but he couldn't focus anyway

None of them communicated any of this to the other in the past

Etc.

To say that Dohoi is the asshole while Juyeong is an angel is completely ignoring an important point: nothing is ever black or white. (Yes, this is just fiction, but it's a realistic piece of fiction that shows this very point.)

Also, to think that only one of them has/does suffer is a very one-sided way of looking at it. To be fair, it's easy to fall into that trap since we're getting a lot of Juyeong's pov at the moment while Dohoi's story is still kept in the dark.

But imagine how much of a self-sabotager you are for choosing to push away people who love you because you inherently believe that you will never be good enough or will never be worthy of love. Dohoi has been in so much pain for such a long time it's familiar to him. It takes years, decades, maybe even a whole lifetime to climb out of a hole like that. And he might've been able to do that on his own if Juyeong hadn't shown up at the funeral and reminded him of all the things from the past once again.

One of the Anons then proceeded to list all the ways Juyeong was abandoned and that Dohoi did the exact same thing to him, which made Dohoi even more of an asshole...

I can't help but wonder if we've seen the same show.

Because Dohoi was abandoned too.

They’re both dealing with abandonment issues.

None of them had present parent growing up

Juyeong was adopted, which will always be a wound for him (and being adopted by those kinds of parents didn’t make it any better)

I can’t quite remember if they mentioned that Dohoi’s mom died or left but, either way, both can lead to abandonment issues (especially when a child is forced to go through it)

Then we have Hyeonho who turned from Dohoi's friend to his bully (again, Dohoi was abandoned)

When shit went down in the past, Juyeong left with his parents, and while that was a valid reason, it was yet another person who left Dohoi (which, to be fair, made Dohoi indirectly responsible since he called the police)

And then Juyeong was abandoned by Dohoi who went radio silent for years

They are both dealing with abandonment issues. Just because the show, at this point, is mostly focusing on the effects of Dohoi abandoning Juyeong doesn’t mean Dohoi wasn’t abandoned as well. Because he was. It’s mentioned and shown in subtle ways throughout the show.

Being abandoned can be a huge trauma for a person (especially for kids who don't have the tools to deal with important people leaving or dying). And we all have different trauma responses, which I think is another interesting point of this show:

Juyeong’s trauma response is to fight (he did so when he stood up for Dohoi against the bullies in the past, when he chose to stand up against Dohoi’s dad, but also when he physically punched a teacher)

Dohoi’s trauma response is flight (he tried to ignore that Juyeong was abused by his dad, he never put up a fight even when he was beaten by the bullies, he left after he threatened his dad with a knife, etc.)

None of those is a "better"/"worse" response

These characters are both traumatized for fuck's sake

And, the thing is, we've seen time and time again that the last thing Dohoi wants is to fight. He reacts even to the mere mention of it.

Juyeong fighting (even though it's never physical with Dohoi) won’t give him the results he wants from Dohoi.

And Juyeong, who was abandoned by his birth parents, adopted by a couple who didn't seem to want him anyway, and might think that no one ever fought for him, will always be hurt by Dohoi avoiding things.

They are each other's opposites even though they're dealing with a similar type of trauma.

And they won’t be able to be happy with each other (or with themselves, which is, honestly, more important) until they deal with their own trauma.

(Also, I don’t know about you, but Hwang Daseul choosing to use these contrasting trauma responses for these boys is fucking genius to me because there's so much potential for angst, which we've gotten a whole 3-course meal of. I'm well fed at this table and I won't be leaving any time soon, lol.)

One of the Anons also briefly mentioned Dohoi's old home and how he should just sell it to Juyeong because it was the only place where Juyeong was happy, and I...

*Sigh*

I'll have to admit that this was the first time in the show that my neutrality was tested because... If you can watch the following scene without feeling empathy for Dohoi, you're (no judgment) colder than me (a certified ice queen):

Imagine going back to the place where you were abused all those years. Dohoi took one look at the place, and his past traumas and emotions about what happened came pouring back. I'm not surprised he wants to sell it. Hell, if I was him, I'd want to decimate the place. But, instead, he has to deal with Juyeong wanting to buy it even though Juyeong knows what went down in that house.

If Juyeong wants to keep it "as is" to make sure Dohoi doesn't regret selling the place, Juyeong is delulu. If he wants to buy it and build something new, that's different. But we don't know what he wants yet. We don't really know why he's so intent on buying the place (other than not wanting Dohoi to regret it).

Either way, that whole situation made me feel a bit weird about Juyeong. Buying the place where the person you loved experienced trauma? What the actual fuck? And I'm not surprised that Dohoi is feeling some kind of way about it (and if he still thinks it's because Juyeong feels some kind of loyalty or guilt towards his dad, that's so fucking sad).

I do think the place is important to the rest of the story, though. It's the place where theirs began. It's the place where they loved and lost and were abused. It's the place that contains the events they both need to reconcile and deal with before moving on.

Which leads me to my speculations of where this might be going in the last two episodes. Because I think Juyeong will take Dohoi to his old home. Especially since the search history on the GPS in the car he rented included it.

That place will always be an open wound for them until they deal with the past, so Dohoi can stop running from it and Juyeong can stop living in it.

It was also the place where Dohoi's walls crumbled for the first time since the time jump, so Juyeong might think that's the best place to deal with the shit once and for all.

Walden Law Firm was also in the GPS search history, which is where Hyeonho works. My guess is that Juyeong has already gone to see Hyeonho when he meets up with Dohoi at the end of the 6th episode. Whatever might've gone down in that meeting (Juyeong saying Dohoi broke it off again, Juyeong demanding to know what happened with Dohoi during the past 12 years, Hyeonho spilling the beans, or whatever), it might be the reason why Hyeonho called Dohoi to say they needed to talk.

Then there's the biggest question of all the questions I have, which is about what happened to Dohoi during those 12 years. If Dohoi didn't graduate (at least not as an architect), how did he gain everything he now has?

In regards to college, I don't think it was anything more dramatic than him not managing to have the right results on the entrance exam. Math is an essential part of architecture, and we've already seen that math wasn't Dohoi's forte.

About his apparent wealth, though. As I mentioned before, I can't remember if they mentioned whether Dohoi's mom died or left. But, if she left, there might've been some inheritance if she eventually died, which could also be how he and Hyeonho met (since these things, more often than not, require lawyers).

If that's true, feeling that his wealth was "unearned" might be a reason he lied about the floorplans to that house. (Btw, I can't believe Juyeong didn't call Dohoi's bluff because I would've called him out on his bullshit so fucking fast, lol.)

I think it's also a part of his facade to pretend that he was okay all those years even though he was suffering (which I'm sure we'll see more of in the coming episodes).

But I also feel like there's something more. More to the reason he didn't study architecture and more to how he gained his wealth. And definitely more to what was going on between Dohoi and Hyeonho and how involved Hyeonho has been the past 12 years.

There's still so much of Dohoi's story to be revealed, and I can't wait to see it all unfold.

[hils79]

Hils Watches Tibetan Sea Flower - Ep 4

Now that I'm back at work I won't be able to watch as quickly as I did yesterday but I think after this week the release schedule is meant to slow down a bit. We'll see how we get on.

Wait, how many years are we talking?

Is this the first time we've seen Wu Yiqiong in a drama?

Ah, we're back to new young Wu Xie again

Ooh a new Wu Sanxing too

So Wu Laolou says he must be cremated within 2 hours of his death, no one should be 30 meters or less away from the cremator and no one must look inside the cremator after he's been cremated. Did he...swallow something?

Oh no I know exactly what this is. Fuck, I'm tearing up already

IS THE STATUE CRYING?? 😭

For some extra knives in the novel Wu Xie runs to this statue when his life is in danget because he feels safer with Xiaoge nearby even if it's just a statue of him

Of course everyone wants to marry Pangzi. And we all know he's doing to drop everything if Wu Xie needs him.

And of course Wu Xie knows that Pangzi would drop everything for him so he pretends that everything is fine. I AM DEEP INTO MY PANGXIE FEELS ALREADY AND THEY HAVEN'T EVEN HAD SCREENTIME YET

Honestly I'm amazed it's taken 4 episodes for Wu Xie to figure out this is a trap. And he didn't even figure it out, Pangzi did and he's not even there.

I love Pangzi so much!

Yep there we go. From 'I'm happy where I am because everyone wants to marry me' to 'stay put I'm coming to get you' in the space of 5 mins

He's so happy that Pangzi is coming for him 🥺

Of course Wu Xie has decided to try and befriend the one woman in this place who looks like she wants to kill him by stepping on him. He has a type and that type is women who could snap him like a twig.

You can definitely tell this is towards the end of Sha Hai era Wu Xie from the way he's meticulously setting traps and cataloguing the fingerprints of suspects. This is a man who has worked hard to wipe out an entire clan to keep Xiaoge safe

Man who frequently has hot women trying to kill him is surprised to learn that a hot woman is trying to kill him

Has he seriously got an internet connection in a monestary at the top of a mountain?

I recognise that voice. And that walk. OMG it's finally happening.

CHEN MINGHAO MY BELOVED!!!! I legit just started crying because I am a huge loser. I HAVE MISSED HIM SO MUCH 😭

LMAO Wu Xie's face! But...um...okay, there's a thing in the novel that I kind of assumed wouldn't make it into the drama but now I'm not so sure...

Oh thank god! So, in the novel they first start off by communicating via Pangzi writing messages on the toilet stall wall in his own shit. When he talked about having diarrhoea I had a brief moment of terror that they were going to go there 😅 NPSS really does like to include gross stuff involving bodily fluids in his novels

God look at him

I'm such an idiot I know who this is and I still gasped when someone with Wu Xie's face showed up unexpectedly. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read the novel

There we go! That's the Wu Xie I've been waiting to see!

Now the two Wu Xies are bickering. Where's my popcorn?

Still not used to this drama actually having a budget. Where are the wonky special effects?

I hope the bickering continues for a while this is fun

Human skin mask my beloved plot device

IS THAT ZHU YILONG'S FACE???

[chuplayswithfire]

thinking about ways i would change the pacing of events in season two to give them more room for breathing, while keeping to the same number of episodes that were available, this is probably what i'd have done:

Episode 1: Impossible Birds: add back in the missing cutscene with izzy and ed featuring ed throwing a knife past izzy, with tally marks - use that scene to explain that these tallies represent the number of raids they've gone on since the end of season 1. izzy is complaining about ed's blackbeard routine, ed snipes that he thought izzy wanted them to be pirates, well this is what pirates do. he's taking that record, putting blackbeard back on the map, isn't that what you wanted, iz? izzy acknowledges to himself that this is not what he wanted.

Episode 4: Fun and Games: right off the bat, i think they could have, instead of the crew voting Ed into a banishment that lasts a single day and which the crew are therefore pretty easily swayed on, they put him on probation in ep 4, with black pete suggesting the bell and frenchie and wee john the outfit, and stede pointing out that ed's very injured so it's not like they couldn't overpower him if something goes wrong. ed's annoyed about the whole thing and still half dead and fucked up from the gravy basket, and after hearing the terms, the crew says he has 12 hours to think about it before they're leaving this area. he takes off for shore, grumbling about it, meets the rabbit and then mary. meanwhile, stede and buttons follow to convince him otherwise and so buttons can explain the gravy basket. they still encounter anne and mary, they still do that whole thing, buttons changing is what convinces ed to do the probation, we end the episode with ed wearing the probation outfit and begrudgingly thumbing the bell. expand the scene where the crew are working on izzy's leg, just to have them talking in general a bit - oluwande is talking to jim about zheng, saying he misses her a bit.

Episode 5: Curse of the Seafaring Life: at the start of ep 5, we imply that it's been a few days to a week maybe, and ed is still on probation. he gives his corporate apology as part of his on-going efforts to show penitence and make up for what he's done, and we get a sense that he's been doing grunt work around the ship - repairing sails, fixing things that were damaged and broken - throughout. the crew's responses to the apology are pretty much the same as in the show, with some "it has been nice to have someone else doing all that shit though, right" about how he's been working. their acceptance of the apology is now equal parts because of the work he's done as well as a joke about corporate apologies working. Ed still feels frustrated about being on probation and stede has had more time to say he hasn't really felt like a captain, so he and stede have their captain voice exchange pretty much verbatim from the show. ed and lucius have been more or less avoiding each other all week, adding more nuance to ed living rent-free in lucius' mind, and ed offering to let lucius push him overboard. ed fishing with fang is part of him finally getting to meaningfully connect with another crew member again since the probation started, and is overall less about sitting with himself and more about him sitting in the moment, not just rushing to plan the next move, fishing is a great activity for having to be here, in this moment. the end credits stinger is the scene with zheng, ricky, and auntie.

Episode 6: Calypso's Birthday: finally, now on ep 6, probation has ended, we indicate that it's been a few weeks, someone mentions off-handedly that lucius and pete have been having a lot of all day marathon sex ever since they became engaged. when they head off to get party supplies, someone mentions maybe they should fetch them, and they all decide to leave the lovebirds to it. because of the added scene to episode 1, we've heard of ned low, and realize aw shit ed planted a seed of trouble back when he decided to go after that record. no other changes. meanwhile in town, olu sees signs of zheng's presence and that she's been here and laments a little about missing her, and wondering if maybe that's a good thing, if she's still pissed at him for what happened.

Episode 7: proceeds as happened in the show, that little bit strengthened by the passage of time, and also olu having actually been talking about zheng.

[bnhaobservation]

Keeping up with the Todorokis or, just me observing the Todorokis (Anime version): Ep. 11

So this is nothing else but a collection of informations, series by series, episode by episode about how the Todorokis appear in it, especially compared to the manga.

Ep. 11 Game Over (ゲームオーバー GAME OVER)

trasposition of

Chap.16 Know Your Enemies (思い知れ敵 Omoishire Teki) Chap 17. Game Over (ゲームオーバー)

This time we have Shouto being inolved in a bit of action which the anime goes so far as expanding.

We start more or less like in the manga wish Shouto's breath being visible due to how he used his ice and his enemies being frozen as Shouto talks to them.

The dialogue remains the same

Todoroki Shōto ‘Chirashite korosu… ka? Itcha warui ga, anta-ra dō mite mo “‘kosei’ o mote amashita yakara” ijō ni wa miuke rarenee yo.' 轟焦凍「散らして殺す…か？言っちゃ悪いが、あんたらどう見ても『〝個性〟を持て余した輩』以上には見受けられねぇよ。」 Todoroki Shōto “Scatter and kill them...huh? I hate to say it, but no matter how I look at you guys, you just don't seem like anything more than ‘people who don't know what to do with their “quirks”’.”

VILLAIN ‘Koitsu…!! Idōshite kita totan ni… hontō ni GAKI ka yo… ittetete…' ヴィラン「こいつ…！！移動してきたとたんに…本当にガキかよ…いっててて…」 Villain “This guy...! The moment he moved...is he really just a kid...what the...”

But then, while in the manga Shouto just thinks at what is going on while walking, the anime adds two Villains trying to jump on Shouto, only for Shouto to freeze them without hesitation.

Shouto's thoughts get expanded a bit as well.

In the manga all he thinks is:

Todoroki Shōto ‘(ALL MIGHT o korosu… shoken ja seiei o soroe kazu de attō suru no ka to omotta ga. FUTA o akete mirya (read: ore-tachi) yō no KOMA… CHINPIRA no yose atsume ja nee ka. Mita kagiri ja hontō ni abuna sōna ningen wa 4 〜 5 nin hodo datta… To suru to…’ 轟焦凍「（オールマイトを殺す…初見じゃ精鋭を揃え数で圧倒するのかと思ったが。フタを開けてみりゃ生徒（俺達）用のコマ…チンピラの寄せ集めじゃねぇか。見た限りじゃ本当に危なそうな人間は4〜5人程だった…とすると…）」 Todoroki Shōto (Killing All Might... At first glance, I thought they would gather their elite troops and overwhelm us with numbers. But when I looked, they were just a bunch of thugs... From what I saw, there were only about 4-5 people who looked really dangerous... So...)

...but the anime adds at the end of this sentence what instead Shouto will think later.

Todoroki Shōto ‘(Ore ga tsugini torubeki kōdō wa───...)' 轟焦凍「(俺が次に取るべき行動は───...)」 Todoroki Shōto (What should I do next---...)

And then we've maybe the creepiest change, something that makes Shouto really scary in the anime. In the manga Shouto sits down and just threaten the Villains to let them get frostbites. In the anime he remains standing and, although he says the same thing, he moves his hand near to one of the Villains' face, threatening to enchase him completely in ice. It would mean he wouldn't be able to breathe making the threat more dangerous as here he's basically threatening to kill him. As we don't know Shouto yet and here it's alone this makes him look even more scary because we can't clearly tell if it's a bluff, while in the manga it felt more like one.

Again, the sentence he says it's the same as the manga...

Todoroki Shōto ‘Nā, kono mamajya anta-ra jiwajiwato karada ga eshishiteku wakenanda ga, ore mo HERO shibō, sonna hidoe koto wa narubeku saketai. Ano ALL MIGHT o yareruttsuu konkyo… sakutte nanda?’ 轟焦凍「なあ、このままじゃあんたらじわじわと身体が壊死してくわけなんだが、俺もヒーロー志望、そんな酷え事はなるべく避けたい。あのオールマイトを殺れるっつう根拠…策って何だ？」 Todoroki Shōto “Hey, if you carry on like this your body will slowly die, but I want to be a hero too, so I want to avoid that terrible thing as much as possible. So you're saying you can kill All Might... what's your plan?”

... however in the manga the whole 'what should I do next' was added after Shouto thinks he's trying to avoid doing terrible things like murdering as much as possible, so it makes even more clear he planned to do something different. By placing it earlier instead it seems what Shouto has to do next is threaten to kill the Villains to get them to talk.

It's minor but this bit still make Shouto scarier.

We've another very minor scene which the anime kept and it's the one of Shouto running.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Okay one last ask, this time a bit more coherent. I was going to write about how disappointed I was with how hordak was handled, how much potential he had to show cult trauma (which was passed over to catra via the chipping episode) which could've paralleled Adora realising she's not a weapon but a person, to help the resistance thanks to his previously established extensive experience commanding Prime's fleet (but no, gotta have catra tap into the hive mind) and show that the clones were taught to be evil and didn't start out that way (but no, let's just introduce a nameless clone who's there mostly for comic relief) but I won't do that. Even though I'm salty that his defect was completely forgotten about and the villain we've had for 4 seasons spent most of season 5 offscreen.... I won't. It's an essay for another time.

Instead, I'll just point out the moments which, in hindsight, made me realise just how little SPOP cares about the original material or the story it was supposed to be telling:

One of the first eps of season 1 shows a multitude of silhouettes of different princesses. We only see a few of them (why tease them if they'll never show up on screen?)

Adora's friendship with Swift Wind is underutilised and he's mostly shoved to the sidelines

Sea Hawk

The war isn't being taken seriously (something which you've brilliantly discussed before)

Nate doesn't bother to explain what Gray Skull even IS until a brief moment in s5 where it turns out to be the name of Mara's rebellion cell or something. It was literally a second which I almost missed.

Adora's arc about finding her family and potential hinting at Adam and the extended MOTU universe is dropped.

The princesses don't act like processes and are barely even friends with each other.

The theme of "friendship conquers all" is quickly dropped as the princesses stop seeming sympathetic (cough, mermista and perfuma) and friendly with each other. At the end of s5 they had a great opportunity to parallel the s1 finale, but nah, gotta make it all about catra.

Micah, a former KING and magician of great power, spending s5 as either an awkward dad or chipped so that catra wouldn't face any consequences for killing Angella.

Sorry, who? Angella? Yknow, the one Catra killed in s3 and whose death haunted all of s4 and which was never discussed again in s5.

Entrapta getting more shit from the alliance than catra or scorpia put together despite being responsible for less bad stuff and the show still trying to gaslight us into thinking the princesses are her friends.

Worldbuilding? What worldbuilding?

^^ (i have nothing more to add)

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

i am not allowed to watch the newest ep before posting this

ghouls forgive me for over analyzing- but i LOVED how Frankie's place on the leader board doesn't change! The i m p l i c a t i o n s

so the point of the growing ghoulia ep is both Ghoulia and Draculaura are feeling a lot of pressure to do really well at their school stuff:

Ghoulia because zombies in general have a hard time squeezing all the extra stuff that would earn points, and she wants to be first to top the chart. Draculaura, fresh from the ep where her dad was worried her witchcraft would make her life harder, wants to 100% prove she can be a witch AND do well in her other stuff.

(ohhh the DElicious irony of that urge pushing her to accidentally do the thing she NEVER wanted to do- hurt monsters with her magic- i AdORE every time she draws the line of I Will Not Hurt People With This. i LOVE the look at how she realizes Ghoulia shouldn't have to compete against MAGIC along with everything else- AND AND AND how they both decide to be little less frantic about leader boards. we don't even see what the final redone results are! Because that's the point- they aren't THAT important! without the time spell there's a good chance ghoulia stayed in 1st this time, but the episode doesn't care, and the meta of that is vrvrvrvvrrbrrbrbrbrbr)

where was i. Oh yeah, Frankie!

they are second to last before the new points are tallied up- just above Ghoulia- and they're STILL second to last after the new calculation is done, this time just ahead of Heath!

First tally: 1 Drac, 2 Spec, 3 Heth, 4 Lag, 5 Claw, 6 Man, 7 Frank, 8 Ghoul

Second Tally, before drac jumped ahead suddenly: 1 Ghoul, 2 Man, 3 Claw

Second tally after drac did her thing: 1 Drac, 2 Ghoul, 3 Man, - - - 7 Frank, 8 Heth

(forgive, i cannot take scream caps right now)

WHY IS THAT EXCITING??? BECAUSE>>>>>> everyone else that we see DID move on the board. but not THEM!!!

and the only extra curricular thing we see them part of in the ep? the only thing they do that could get them points? It's something they already do and like.

It's a queer club- Frankie, the only openly non-binary monster we've seen, who introduced themselves with their preferred pronouns- there is no way they're doing a queer club for points. they're there because they want to be, it's fun, it's something they enjoy-

AND THAT S THE THING

so MANY of the kids at monster high are trying to live up to something! or prove something!

Cleo needing to earn a sliver of the respect her big sister gets

Duce trying not to let down the new Gorgon tradition of school excellence

Draculaura desperately wanting to make her dad proud AND be a witch AND earn enough positive interaction so's not to start decaying

Toralei and HER mom who is..... yeah....

heck even Spectra mentions bad grades could get privileges revoked by her family

Clawdeen doesn't have pressure from her dad (or mom, obviously) but she does struggle with wanting to fit in and belong in the monster culture she's still really new to- she's solidly in the middle range for spirit points, showing how active she is in school unlife- and several of her eps are about learning NOT to focus too much on fitting in or going with the monster flow. Instincts. The push to ignore them sometimes for her new home and peers is sTRONG.

but Frankie?

Frankie's got brilliant brain bits. They're smart, perceptive, sometimes VERY intuitive without noticing it-

yeah they have a permanent case of the stumbly clumsies and their brain sparks make them zone out sometimes- and they've literally only been alive for a few months so there's a LOT of normal everyday stuff they don't know about, and...

...... that rarely seems to bother them?

They're made from famous and talented monsters, they know it and are HAPPY to show off all their cool brain bits

and so far they haven't ever worried about living up to those monsters' reputations or legacies. their parents made a teen stuffed FULL with smarts, but getting amazing grades isn't something Frankie frets about?

they are SECOND TO LAST on the LEADER BOARD and they STAY THERE

the implication, the unspoken thing about all that is-

Frankie was made to have fun.

They're here at monster high, also to have Fun. To experience stuff. Make friends. Learn things, sure- but learn things they like, at their own pace

this could change if we ever see their parents but- but for NOW, the way things have been shown-

Frankie at least doesn't seem to be feeling any pressure to be anything more than what they already are. And that's really. Very. Wonderful to see

[wen-kexing-apologist]

So, I started writing a completely different post about the Heart confrontation scene and was gonna start it with "[Episode 5] was just so well done and they laid everything out on a platter for me to digest that I don't really feel the need to wax poetic about colors in this episode" but uhhhh, haha oops, I played myself. I was looking back through part 4/4 to talk about Heart's confrontation scene, and uh...

IT'S COLOR TIME.

Fuck you @respectthepetty! you created this monster.

So we already have Wen = Blue and Jim = Red but I've given the internet too many analyses about Wen and Jim and because once again the side couple strikes, all I care about is supporting this precious first love between Li Ming and Heart so that's what I'm gonna write.

Like father-figure uncle like nephew, Li Ming is red, and his love interest, Heart is blue. But because Wen and Jim are also red and blue I think there needs to be something else tying Li Ming and Heart together visually and that is stripes. (shhh, yes, I know Wen had a shirt with stripes on in it episode 4 but that served a very specific purpose of being red/blue color coded for the purposes of being caught between Alan and Jim) THIS however:

stripes.

stripes.

stripes.

stripes

stripes

stripes

STRIPESSSSSSS

Is exclusively a dedicated HeartLiMing motif.

And stripes makes sense as the connecting factor between the two of them. The plot line for Heart and Li Ming centers so much around how trapped they both feel in their respective lives. Li Ming trapped by poverty, Heart trapped at home. Li Ming trapped on the cusp of adulthood and independence, having a difficult time being understood by his uncle (despite Jim's best efforts), Heart trapped in his own body and mind, because his parents refuse to learn how to understand him. Their plot is about being teenagers, teenagers testing boundaries, breaking boundaries, rebelling against the authority they have known their whole lives in order to better understand who they are as people. In order to be able to make their own mistakes and start learning how to navigate the world without a "true adult" there to make decisions for them. It's about breaking free of the barriers your family has always placed around you to keep you safe.

Horizontal stripes of course, also make me think a bit about paper, and writing is a crucial, vital, and important part of how Heart and Li Ming started getting to know each other. If you want to get even more abstract about it, lines in relation to Heart and Li Ming make me think of hands, of fingers (the vertical lines especially) in reference to sign language and its importance in allowing these two to communicate and understand one another.

Okay I said it was color time, I lied again, sorry, it actually was stripe time.

NOW IT'S COLOR TIME.

We've seen a lot in this show, in my opinion, with blue lighting around the Red Rascals, both Jim and Li Ming. Especially Li Ming because all of his interactions with Heart until the middle of Episode 4 have been immersed completely in Heart's home.

and what I love about blue lighting is that it makes red pop so Li Ming is still the most central and eye catching presence on the screen, despite the fact that he is bathed in blue. Despite the fact that he is in Heart's room, in Heart's house, he is the center of attention for viewers in this moment, but also for Heart as a whole.

And even in Ep. 4 once they finally leave Heart's home, Li Ming is still constantly covered in blue because he is doing all of this for Heart.

And when they go to the church where Heart is introduced to other Deaf people for the first time, Li Ming is still immersed in blue because, once again, he is in Hearts's world. The world that Heart should have always had access to from the minute that he became deaf. The world he's been deprived of by his parents for three years.

Also notice, by nature of Li Ming wearing a red shirt in these scenes that the white and amber lights that act as the secondary wash in these scenes casts far more red tinted light on to Li Ming than it does to Heart. For the majority of episode 4, Heart's lighting pallet is blue or white, blue or amber. Li Ming's has a bit more red to his. AND AND AND AND it speaks to the talent of the lighting designers and directors and just general film crew in this show that they are able to use so much blue in this show and have it signify so many different things. Alan's blue lighting is colder than Wen's, Heart's blue lighting is colder at home than it is when he is outside. It's more of a blue green outside because they are mixing it with more reds/oranges and less white, you can even see it in these screen caps how much bluer and colder the first picture in Heart's room (and even when they are in his driveway) looks compared to the pictures outside where they are also lit with warm tones.

We know already that Heart cares about Li Ming, because he is his friend, because he finally has a life line, because he finally has someone to talk to, who treats him like a normal fucking human being, and trusts him, and and and...and we know that Heart is attracted to Li Ming because we got that scene where Heart pretty obviously checks out and is flustered by Li Ming without his shirt on. But I don't know if Heart fully has a crush on Li Ming at either of those points. And my argument for that is the lighting, because until Heart is standing in front of the speaker at the church with Li Ming, we don't see Heart in any objectively warm light.

I think this is the moment that is supposed to indicate that Heart is fully leaning in to having a crush on Li Ming, because this is finally the moment where his face is warm not blue, not bright, not cold, and not in white light. And I'm asking you to compare this image with the ones above it, at the street vendor, the secondary light wash on Heart is not amber, it's white. The back lighting on Heart's neck in the picture of him and Li Ming talking to the Father at church is definitely warmer, but it is not as warm as the light on Li Ming's face. But at the speaker scene, he is fully bathed in warm light. But the warm light isn't red light either, it's not objectively or definitively Li Ming's color, though it is his emotions.

You know what is objectively, definitively red light?

This is.

And like yeah, we can talk about the red bag on Heart's side, or the fact that in this lighting the blue square of the American flag on Li Ming's sweater matches close enough to the blue in Heart's shirt. We could talk about getting on each other's level by swapping colors through their clothes or their accessories. But I don't want to do that this time, because I am a slut for lighting and this lighting this definitively red lighting on Heart's face is what this episode is about for me. I think this is the point Heart realizes that he is in love with Li Ming, and Heart is fully ready to accept Li Ming as part of his world. Probably the most important part of his world.

Anyway, off to go take a million more screen shots of the confrontation scene so I can shout expletives about Heart and Li Ming's reactions to everything going on in that scene. Talk about a side track of epic proportions.

[drconstellation]

Gabriel as a Shoulder Angel: S2 Study

Part 2: Ep.3 I Know Where I'm Going and Ep.5 The Ball

So far in this series we've covered S1 and the Job minisode in S2E2, where the classic Supreme Archangel Gabriel stands on the left-hand side of the archangels as their collective shoulder-demon. As he arrived at the bookshop at the beginning of S2 we see that we are getting a parallel to the opening of S1, with Gabriel becoming a mirror and a foil to Crowley.

Episode 3: I Know Where I'm Going

We open with a content and safe ex-archangel clad in archangel tartan (with Aziraphale's teal underneath,) observing the world below as it wakes up.

Once he's dressed and downstairs at work, we get a centralized look at his hands holding a significant book. It's from the movie "A Matter of Life or Death," but you see it in the opening credit under it's US title release "Stairway to Heaven." The best meta I've seen describing the movie is here by @simonezitrone79

Crowley is looking after Jim in the bookshop while Aziraphale has gone to Edinburgh at this point. He stays on the demonic left, and Jim on the angelic right while they have a discussion about gravity, and things staying where you put them - or not. The book and it's movie connection is relevant to this discussion. It alludes to returning an item to its rightful place. But how do you decide where that rightful place should be? Is it natural for angels to go upwards, and demons downwards? Do only flies have the ability to defy the laws of the universe set unchallenged since the beginning of time? They all have wings...

Jim is still a puzzled and doubtful angel as Crowley describes his "Operation Lovebirds" plan. It sounds like there is some demonic mischief afoot!

After the failure of the rainstorm to get Maggie and Nina together, Crowley turns to find Jim sitting in a chair - back on the left.

Crowley's comment about a tempest triggers another possession of Jim, and an ominous prophetic warning of storms to come.

Just as Jim snaps out of this, Crowley must rush outside to confront Shax. He decides he won't play her games, and retreats back inside the bookshop, where Shax can't follow. He suggests she might spot an archangel, and the camera focus slides from Crowley on the left to Jim on his angelic right, suggesting to us they are one and the same.

But once Shax is gone, the real demon emerges to the suggested trouble-making demon, and threatens Jim with something awful if anything happens to Aziraphale.

We don't see Jim during Episode 4, so on to the next one!

Episode 5: The Ball

At Aziraphale's suggestion, Crowley comes to talk to Gabriel, and finds him playing with a lamp light switch upstairs in the bookshop.

Crowley enters the room blocked on the angelic right side at the start of the conversation, while Jim is demonized on the left.

Crowley has often doubted that Gabriel has really lost him memory, and is just pretending to be vague and naive, so confronts him with his crimes against Aziraphale in Crowley's eyes. Jim is on the left-side while this occurs.

But as he watches Jim begin to climb out the window, Crowley becomes the demon again. This is partly due the Temptation that is occurring here - the Second Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, leading up to his entry into Jerusalem, as Gabriel and Crowley also share the roles of Jesus in the underlying story line of the The Passion that is playing out throughout S2.

Crowley stops him from falling, again, and Jim returns to the angel-side for the moment, while Crowley questions him further.

"Where is your memory, then?" he asks? "Everywhere."

Crowley eventually gives up, but seems to understand somewhat, and offers Jim a hot chocolate. Jim is now back in the center of the camera, in a neutral position.

Its worth speaking a bit more about the hot chocolate at this point, as Jim is the only one who really drinks it during S2. And both Aziraphale and Crowley offering it is significant, especially in light of the coffee shop name. I've talked about it a couple of times, and when I look back on what I've said it is usually tinged with what ever was the topic being discussed at the time. But the guts of what I said remain the same. Crowley is essentially making an apology here to Jim for what he just did, but on another level the hot chocolate represents a choice that the others in S2 don't get.

Most of us get the two options, coffee, or death. But Jim has been given a third option, and he has grabbed it enthusiastically with both hands. Aziraphale has handed it to him in spades, even! That much will take a long time to get through, wouldn't it. It's a big generous gift, that Aziraphale understands well. Gabriel came to Aziraphale because he instinctively knew Aziraphale understood what he needed. Mr 'six-shots-of-espresso' loves his freedom, or liberty, and his life here on Earth. The humans who line up for their dose of Heaven every day do, too. Death is the option-that-is-not-an-option. It's duty [and obligation.] It's the tax we all have to pay for living. So the Metatron turns up and offers Aziraphale a coffee to one who doesn't drink coffee. Essentially the Metatrash offers a choice that isn't a choice. Aziraphale's only choice is to do his duty at this point, or else...well, we aren't shown it, but it seems the 'else' was too terrible to contemplate. (Or, as some people alternatively see it, the Metatron kept pushing until he was offered a carrot he couldn't refuse.) But Jim, he's been given the option that Aziraphale and Crowley really want, but can't quite have at this point. Freedom to love as they want, and openly in front of all Heaven, Hell and Humanity. They understand. They don't judge Jimbriel for this, they actually encourage it - they both make it happen right under [Heaven and Hell's] noses in the end! The irony of it! They give their arch-enemy the gift that they dream of. ...the sweet hot chocolate is Gabriel's special option, facilitated by Aziraphale and Crowley. He doesn't have to drink what the plebs drink, the bitter devotional duty to Heaven [or Hell.]

Not long after, the Eldritch Ball starts, and we see Jim in his Gabriel-blue Liberace suit. In religious iconography Gabriel is associated with the right-hand side of Jesus, and when he's positioned there he wears blue. So it was only appropriate that Aziraphale dress him in that colour (plus it reflects the divine status of Heaven that he knows Gabriel to originate from.) Jim starts on the left-side...

but soon finds himself center-stage again! Oh, dear, what an attention seeker. You're supposed to be in hiding, you silly angel!

Look at the joy on his face! He's all right-hand side angel there.

Then Shax and her Legion of the Damned break up the party. He offers to go outside and give himself up to save everyone. Wow - doesn't he do it in style, taking center stage yet again.

This is actually a deliberate pose, made to reference Jesus as he preaches to the masses, even though it looks like he's saying "here I am, come get me." Arms outstretched, his two lower fingers are also curled in on each side, much like Jesus is often pictured as well.

Hey, Shax, it's me you want! Jim, short for James, but also Gabriel.

Oh, you don't know the mistake you are making, Shax...

So he returns inside, still taking center stage - in between Aziraphale on the demonic left, and Crowley on the angelic right, to report what happened outside.

Gabriel exits, angelic stage right, defeated, while Crowley confronts Shax.

The last we see of Jim in Ep.5 is in the background, over Aziraphale's left shoulder, so he's returned back to being a sinister-sided angel again, in his assistant book seller garb.

But the night isn't finished yet, there is still much more to come!

This meta is part of a series on Gabriel

Gabriel as a Shoulder Angel: S1 Study

S2 Study Part 1: Ep.1 The Arrival and Ep. 2 The Clue

S2 Study Part 3: Ep.6 Every Day

First Order Archangels Part 1: Maybe You'll See An Archangel

First Order Archangels Part 2: Foils of War

[bcbdrums]

Top 10 Soul Eater episodes?

As in, favorite episodes?? Or best episodes??

I'll do...favorites I guess? If that's even possible my gosh... I'm hard-pressed at this point to find any I don't like, and others are like...yes this one and this one and this one and this one.... Like the whole underground battle series of like seven??? Is just one giant episode to me, lol.

ANYWAY.... FAVORITE Top Ten episodes, listed in airing order not a ranking cuz that's impossible, lol.

Now, to absolutely no one's surprise...

These are all Stein and/or Spirit feature episodes. Except maybe two. Here we gooooo!

Episode 4: "Engage the Witch Hunter! A Remedial Lesson in the Graveyard?"

Why a fave? Okay well first of all...we get to see the four main characters fighting together against an enemy. The episode starts with the feeling of...okay, here we go... Like setting the tone of the anime after the concept and chars have been introduced. Gonna be a monster of the week thing, fighting new enemies and collecting souls. Like Digimon but not you know?

So we see awesome techniques from both Maka and Black Star and Sid as a char is super creative, so it's all that stuff to start with. And then...then we start to get that tiny bit of backstory at the end about Spirit and Stein and it's like, wait say what now?? The red-head is more than a comic drunk deadbeat dad? So then...

Episode 5: "Shape of the Soul – Enter the Ultimate Meister, Stein?"

Yeah okay... I mean. Obviously. We see Stein and it's like whoa that design is creepy this guy is creepy and then we hear Spirit blubbering drunkenly about the past and it's like creepy and oh snap I am now sympathetic to Spirit and there is a far deeper backstory going on here with these adults cuz we had the privilege of seeing Sid alive before you know and suddenly he's dead in the prior ep so mystery and...yeah. And then it's very much presented as wow...Stein is...unbeatable. They're doomed. And that twist ending I was just as much huh??? as Soul was and I just. Got captivated by the backstory.

Episode 7: "Black-blooded Terror – There's a Weapon inside Crona?"

More Spirit and Stein stuff. I swear that hospital scene was my favorite scene in the entire show for the longest time. It's hilarious, I still crack up watching it. The toes thing is just... And that way too long dramatic pause and camera pull before he reveals the divorce, and Stein freaking already knows and just...yeah I'm getting giddy thinking about it. But ALSO it's like, okay...now we've departed from the casual anime silliness. We skipped the 30+ eps of growth like Digimon and went straight to the big major character issue. Which you know, makes sense the further into the anime we go for this anime. But...yeah. It gets. Real. Not kids anymore. Crona with Ragnarok are hilarious I love them, and Crona is highkey relatable; Crona is every teenager to exist ever. But yeah then Soul's sacrifice, for Maka... It's just...wow. Yeah it got real.

Episode 8: "The Witch Medusa – Bearer of the Great Terrible Soul?"

Truthfully, probably my favorite episode as things stand right now. My mind may change later. Why? Because obviously...Spirit and Stein get to fight together. We get to see what the future is... It's like seeing the past in Star Wars, the very beginning of Ep. 1 you know where we see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fight and it's like...yessss this is how things are supposed to be in a world that isn't broken. Seeing Stein and Spirit fight together like that is just... Yeah my heart is pounding thinking about how insanely awesome that is. Also Stein is hot. Plus more of that...not kids anymore. Maka's pure terror at sensing Medusa's soul, seeing her...seeing what a real witch is. Like yeah kid the little kishin egg monsters and magical cats you've been playing with are nothing. Maka realizes the world of meisters and weapons she's in is quite a bit different than her experience so far. And can we talk about how Maka wasn't going to leave Soul's side??? Was just gonna take the hit and die right beside him, because he died for her??? MY HEART! Also Stein is hot yes I know I said it already it bears repeating and man that...seriousness...the way Stein looks at Medusa, the way the witch knows who they are which in itself shows a greater threat... That utter gravity that falls over that moment at the end there, after Stein blocks her attack and it's like....oh snap. Now what? Not to mention all the new tiny details we get about soul resonance and the possibilities and how a weapon can take on features of their meister in the special attacks! (Spirit takes on stitches here on the witch hunter blade, and in the last episodes he takes on Lord Death's skull face on the kishin hunter blade. That's so cool...) Okay I have to stop. I could go on. Like I said...favorite episode as things stand right now.

Episode 13: "The Man with the Magic Eye – Soul and Maka's Diverging Soul Wavelength?"

This one surprised me because initially I didn't care for it. I don't care for Free's design, shark!wolf just doesn't appeal to me. But over time this really grew on me. The writing is excellent and soooooo many major things happen. We get the first bit of touching on the morality issue, like, is DWMA really the correct moral power? Free says something about it and then it becomes a bigger theme going forward. We get the beginning of the black blood effects and the battle against/with it and the start of what all that means... The start of the "acceptance" theme even if it isn't named. We hear Soul's piano for the first time even though it isn't named as such until Brew. We get to see Soul and Maka both so confused but both so dedicated to each other, and the maturing starting to happen, that needs to still happen... It's a huge ep for their relationship. And also...Eruka. I love Eruka. All things Eruka. Any episode with Eruka is a delight. But yeah this episode is just SO deep and excellent, it needs more love. (Also in the candle room fight if you listen close we hear that Spirit has an outy belly button and I'm just alksjdahkjghsd how silly.)

Episode 14: "The Super Written Exam – Heart-Pounding, Reeling, and Restless. You're Kidding!?"

Ehhh heheheh...heheh... Pure absurdity. Pure comedic awesomeness. Everything about this episode. I love things where many characters are featured in more than a cameo and get real attention. We see more of all their homes, more of what they do and who they are when not in battle... Spirit being an absolute fool... That hilarious buildup timer to the end of the exam... Blair ruining what should have been something GOOD agh silly cat I'm still annoyed, lol. I'm not gonna say much here since I said so much about the last episode but man, yeah. Just pure comedy gold, I never ever tire of this episode. "Giraffe, giraffe~" Heheheh.

Episode 23: "Dead or Alive – In the Rift between Revival and Dazzlement?"

Okay like I said before... The entire underground battle, starting with the anniversary party, I consider one giant episode. I name all of those as favorites. I selected this one for here because it's where we get some of Stein's backstory I think? Flashback to he and Spirit as young teens, and we learn where Stein's mental state really is. We get to see more of his and Spirit's dynamic, how they work together both successfully and less successfully... Many headcanons borne of this battle in this episode. My gosh I just...can't put it into words in any brief way. I could write an epic length post breaking down nearly every line, look, gesture... And is this also the episode where the kishin emerges and my gosh if that isn't the creepiest most suspenseful moment I've ever seen. Also, we see more of Eruka! I adore her. And Free. But yeah whole episode... Fantastic.

Episode 25: "The Death Scythes Convene – Stop Dad's Staff Reassignment!?"

And this episode...also silly and ridiculous, but awesome because we get to see a little more of the "adult" side of the DWMA and how things operate. Comedically yes, cuz Soul Eater is a comedy, but still there's quite a bit of seriousness too. Stein's madness as a plot point... But my gosh... Marie, Azusa... Justin... The dynamic between all the adults. I would give ANYTHING for a prequel anime where we get to see all these complete idiots in the academy and how it all went down between them. And my gosh we've had plenty backstory teased already with Stein's experiments against Spirit, Sid and baby Black Star... Seeing the adults as kids would be the perfect "reboot" series for me. Plus that basketball ending, bringing it all full-circle in terms of...okay, here we are again, and here we go again... Onto the next phase of the show/of our lives. It's a fantastic turning-point episode and I never tire of it.

Episode 31: "Drying Happiness! Whose Tears Sparkle in the Moonlight?"

This one...so much happens here. We get delightful glimpses of normal life, we get the reminder that Soul plays piano which becomes important quite soon... We get the comedy of Spirit having to parrot Lord Death to Justin because they just won't make the kid take out his earbuds! We get a moment of Crona and Ragnarok actually getting along and having a normal conversation and ohhh myyyy gosshhhhhh I wish we'd had more of that in the show. I adore Ragnarok. But then...ugh. The saga of pain that begins. You get everyone reaching out, you get to see Crona happy... Marie after wandering around lost, saying if there's ever anything you need... Later inviting Crona to her home... Only to be betrayed. And the absolute skill and execution of the writing as they make us believe for a moment that Marie is okay in returning the pen...and then it's revealed that Crona put a snake in the coffee. Just. Oh man. Ugh the pain. Whyyyy Crona whyyy when you had the entire academy to back you up, everyone on your side, full protection from friends, from a death scythe who trusted you to invite to her home, from Lord Death who gave you a second chance... But you still betrayed them all. And then of course, that little snake then is the catalyst for SO much of what happens in the next episodes... Big deal. This ep is so huge. So many different feels...

Episode 40: "The Cards Are Cut – Medusa Surrenders to the DWMA?"

Spirit feature, Spirit feature! I like getting to see a little more of Spirit's responsibilities other than hovering at Lord Death's shoulder waiting 800 years bound to Death City what the heck his poor death scythes for battles that will never come. I know logically he has other jobs as the death scythe, but it's nice to see him doing some of it and more of his relationship with Lord Death (those two raised their children side by side I mean come on there's so much comedic opportunity here). Also the sheer TENSION in the episode from the fact it's Medusa, and Maka's reaction, and Stein's reaction, and then the deal at the end... It's like...okay this is a serious tone-shift and no clue now what is coming. It's a lot of weight all at once leaving me feel like I'm in a whirlwind and kicks off the final arcs of the show and...yeah. This is a good one.

Also hey guess what!

Turning this ask into a tag game! So...what are your top ten favorite episodes??

@midnightcaptions @memethebum @chickycherrycola @blackbloodteeth @mellancholy-morose @beeejayy (that's right Sunny start interacting with fandom LOL) @takeyourcyanide @cannibal-nightmares

AND...anybody else who wants to take this on! Have fun!

And BONUS... Any and all episodes with Excalibur are awesome and if you don't love him you are wrong. That's okay you're allowed to be, you do you. 😘

[finalgirlmoment]

PJOTV Ep 4 + 5 (spoilers)

My brain is, and has been, rotted entirely! I feel like the TV show is such a treat because the new content adds layers to the story SO MUCH like the plot and character dynamics it makes me want to scream. Yes the differences are absolutely notable but the bottom line is that our main trio would find each other in any universe or storyline and would choose each other every time

-The opening scene of episode 4 broke me a bit: the lore that Percy actually did not take naturally to being in the water, he was actually afraid to be swimming! I feel like before we definitely characterized him as someone who felt at home in the water since he came out the womb but damn look how far he comes. How jarring it must be to later find out you're actually the son of the sea god :o

-Percy continually being angry about the system of the gods (not) interacting with their children, being so shocked that a parent wouldn't help or talk to their child. He's so sweet and I feel like his rage grows the more he gets to know Annabeth because he sees how amazing and loyal and cunning she is and wonders how her mother could ever ignore or abandon her

-Annabeth just in general, her badassery is so fucking perfect for this character, the way she draws her knife, her being so fucking in tune with Percy already....the way she knows exactly what Percy is going to do before he does it ((and the way he listens to her unconditionally i.e. cutting off Medusa's invisible head in episode 3 but I digress)), knowing he was alive and waiting for them somewhere at the beginning of episode 5. she is a LEGEND and she is LOCKED TF IN

-the hug <3 i won't make it weird if you won't <3 <3 we're like friends now <3<3<3 do u understand how i hurt

-trio walking down the side of the road like bums -_- i died lmfao. also them hiding when approached by some dude and just being like <3 we good ty tho!!

-Percy, again still acclimating to this fucking weird ass world where gods are real and can kill u easily, is shook when ares threatens to kill them. luckily, as a change of pace, grover is cool as a dang cucumber and saves the day af. this is what i mean like absolutely the characters are so different like yes grover has been nervous a lot but he also can turn it tf on and smooth talk when he needs to

-Annabeth has never seen a movie. Percy immediately insists that they watch one together. Look me in the fucking eyes and tell me that's not a date? Hello?

-The entirety of the tunnel scene/chair scene. Percy being the one to figure out the story illustrated Hephaestus' life. Percy ALREADY working to save Annabeth first and foremost! Percy continually sacrificing himself for her! Believing deep down she is capable of great, impossible things and being willing to set aside his life for her without question. Telling her she is better. "You just are. And you know it." Giving her Riptide, no second thoughts, no backing down.

-ANNABETH CHASE ALREADY ASSUMING PERCY'S PROMISE WOULD BE ABOUT HIS MOTHER. HIM BEING ASSURED SHE WILL SAVE HIS MOTHER, NO HESITATION. HIM ASKING HER TO COME BACK FOR HIM. HER BEING SURPRISED THAT HE THOUGHT HE HAD TO ASK. (THE ENEMY PHASE WAS SO SHORT LIVED. THEY HAVE BARELY GOTTEN IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK TRANSPORTING LIVE ANIMALS TOGETHER. WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY WOULD TALK ABOUT IN THERE NOW. I'M fine don't worry about me).

-On that note, the ending. Percy is like a loose cannon full of a deep rage and a lot (A LOT) of unrealized power; his problem is that he is not locked TF in like Annabeth (as of right now) and the ending really made me excited because it feels like he is finally catching on to what a big deal he actually is. All this anger he has inside him, all this rage at what he has lost and the suffering he has seen, .... i'm honestly beside myself at what is to come because this is already SO JUICY and I feel like we've barely started!

-side notes: the score is so amazing, I'm really enjoying it and I understand all the videos of the actors promoting the soundtrack!!! also my sister has never read the books but she loves the movies and we watch it together; she is very very excited for the casino scene so there is definitely hope for her in the near future. ((my nico loving ass will also be holding binoculars and twitching))

so yes a lot was changed but i am really liking the new content a lot because it just feels like added lore and, again, these guys can best the odds in any universe and help each other in every timeline. the most important plot points are there and i feel like they have already set up a lot of info for later on down the line. I do wish there was a bit more banter/conversation (because Percy is actually so quirky and I feel like this could be explored more) but the time we do have is amazing and feels super fresh! even when i've read the books to pieces! and again the convos they're having right now are setting shit up for later and maybe then they can play and have fun wit it. as always, i will be loyally sat, lurking, reblogging. kiss

[popculturebuffet]

Based on an ask where you ranked the Disney Afternoon pilots, how would you rank the pilots of each of the newer set of Disney cartoons?The cutoff I'll use is starting with the batch from when Disney moved all their cartoons to Disney Channel in 2018,I'll simplify it by not including the ones after Owl House to cut down on it being a mouthful,Pilots are Star Comes to Earth,Going the Extra Milo,Woo-oo,Baymax Returns,Welcome Home(Big City Greens), Anne or Beast,Tangled Before Ever, and TOH's pilot

Tangled is taken out as I haven't watched that one. And to compensate i'll add in The Curse from Ghost and Molly McGee (Since I haven't seen Hailey's on it or hamster and gretel yet and i've only seen a bit of kiff's first episode) and for my own amusement (and because this is my answer so I can do what I like), Moon Girl Landing.

I"ll also say before this ranking that most of these are awesome first episodes that sell what the series is at that point well. Disney is really good at pilots and first episodes.

9. The Lying Witch and the Warden: Case in point this is the only one on this list that.. isn't good. It has good moments, but as i've talked to at length with many fellow owl house fans, paticuarlly @jess-the-vampire the pilot is very ...

It beats you over the head with it's theme of "BE YOURSELF. BEING WEIRD IS OKAY", when the rest of the series does a much better job of expressing it's messages way better. It also hurt Camilla's character and reputation SO BAD that her next two episodes had to go out of their way to explain WHY she sent luz to what came off as a metaphor for conversion therapy in the pilot, show it wasn't that, show she came back right after to help, and have her accept luz as is. The character as she is now is amazing but how badly the pilot botched the assigment with her still left an impact on the series and it's the only one hwere where something in the first episode had to be course corrected this badly.

8. Baymax Returns: A solid tv movie and a neat way to bring back our squishy soft boy. I've only seen bits of this series but it's pretty good which given who made it isn't suprising.

7. Welcome Home: this is a weird one as Space Chicken was the first ep aired and produced, so my first impression of the series.. isn't this episode. Still as an INTENDED first episode it's pretty good, sets up Bill, Cricket and Tilly well. I just slightly prefer space chicken as, even with Tilly being slightly off, it showcases the entire core cast.

6. The Curse: A really good opener that sets up who molly is, why she needs brighton to be her forever home, and who scratch is and why he needs a friend. I also love the scene with mollys family finding out about scratch.. and after the shock wears off all taking it in stride to his massive annoyance.

5. Moon Girl Landing: The most recent pilot here and it's up so high for a reason. This show is fantastic and the opening does a really good job fleshing both Lunella and Devil out while also having a throughly memorable villian that gives it real personal stakes. Sure we know the family rink won't be gone in the first episode, they spent the money making that setting, but the power going down in LES and so many people's livelyhoods being in danger gives realistic stakes to "Genius 13 year old and giant red dinosaur fight elctro daughter".

4. Anne or Beast?: Another banger. Ugly Ugly Hero is still a tremendous line and it gets across our core 4 incredibly well. Also we have a slug instead of betsy for some reason who I love only because I love slugs and snails. Such shrively little guys.. or big guys in this case. Where did that snail go? Whose his agent? Am I now his agent? It's remakable how fleshed out everyone is from day one in almost all of these. I mean granted as we've seen these aren't the PILOTS but even so many series still take time to get a grasp of the cast. Amphibia and what we're about to see had it day one. 3. Star Comes to Earth: While Star Vs had a weak finish i'll probably never entirely let go it had one hell of a strong start. Star Comes to Earth tells us everything we need to know about who star and marco are. Granted Marco being the "Saftey kid" never comes up again, but it served it's point: to show Marco's a bit in his shell and cautious but wants badly to not be the responsible one, and Star provides a way out of that. Also once again we have a gag that's damn perfect with "I'm a magical princess from another dimension". It's remarkable how in just 11 minutes they set up pretty much everything for season 1 and a lot of things for the series: Star's reckleness and how she has a pretty loose grasp on her magic but a great one of combat, marco's martial arts and safteyness, his awesome parents, star's disapproving mom and ludo and co. It's a snappy 11 minutes that really sets the tone for season 1. I really shoudl revisit it with a proper review.

2. Going the Extra Milo: Speaking of things that need a proper review hot damn do I love this episode. Just thinking back to it, it does what a pilot should do and I know I keep repeating myself but that's because a good pilot is setup, showing you who these characters are (even if they can sometims be slightly off) and showing off the premise. In this case it keeps it simple: Milo meets Zack, who as a new kid serves as a perfect window into the weird shit that happens to milo.... while also showing us why he can be so chipper and happy despite the worst happening to him. The "How can you live like this scene" Is really what lands this so high, showing that milo rather than see his constant misfortune as a terrible thing.. sees it as having fun lifethreanting adventures every day. He gets to have an intresting life and Zack sees that being around milo is dangeorus.. but it's also a lot of fun. And that more importantly.. milo's one heck of a guy. Melissa also gets a lot of fleshing out as we both see her faith in milo via the side bet and her hustler nature. Had this show actually got proper promotion this would've been another hit on this pilot alone. Alas we got what we got.. and at least the two seasons we got keep this level of quality up.

1. Woo-ooo!: Look ya'll know I love ducktales, so you likely saw this coming.. but even loving me some ducks woo-ooo is just .. objectively the best on here. It does everything I said a pilot shoudl do while also having some really gorgeous shots like scrooge putting his money in the bin o rthe sweeing intro of duckburg. I'll grant it has more time than most pilots but really it does a LOT of it's character exposition in the first 5 minutes: within that we get who the boys and donald are and where scrooge is now, while the rest shows us who he was and will be again, introduces webby, beakley and launchpad and even sets up the series final villian. The second half adding in Glomgold is just gravy at this point. It's honestly weirdly LESS awkward than the rest of early season 1, where it seems they struggle more to find the shows identity while this.. shows they had the core of it from the start.

[effieandtim]

So many thoughts about the latest episode, I am interested to see how Tim has evolved from the 1960s to the 1970s, we've seen a bit of Tim in the 1980s, but we haven't seen 1960s and 1970s Tim, I'd imagine that Tim would be at war until 1975, end of Vietnam war, so that leaves 5 years. Will there be a time skip whilst he's at war? Or does he go for a few years and gets discharged and then starts to protest, I'd imagine that he'd be really into the activism at that point.. Harvey Milk died around 1978 and the Vietnam war protests became prevalent around 1965 or so. I reckon what happens is that Tim is drafted and comes back disillusioned even more, and begins with the protest movement.

I think by the late 1970s Hawk realises that Tim's life is kind of deteorating with how much drugs he's taking, Hawk argues with Tim, they break up, Hawk doesn't hear from Tim until he's diagnosed with AIDS....

yeah im really interested to find out more too - i dont know the exact timeline of actual events that well but yeah the next ep is set somewhere in the 60s

though they also meet in 1957 but that portion has been shifted to the last ep for some reason

its weird tho bc if you have seen the stills from ep 6, tim looks really dishevelled and is being arrested? like shouldnt he still be at war lol and why the hell is hawk there

apparently whatever happens in the 60s is a consequence of their meeting in 1957 but since we aren’t seeing that just now, it’s possible the writers have altered something from the book

in any case we will see in about 5 days

[weshallc]

I know most people are probably over it or sick to death of hearing about it and some just wondering what all the fuss is about. But, I keep hijacking everyone's posts. So I'm just going to say what I thought and be done with it.

Series 12 Ep 5 under the bar just in case anyone has skilfully managed to avoid spoilers.

Yesterday I received a very kind comment on the first fanfic I ever wrote. I remember at the time, because it was my first attempt and I didn't know if there would be another, I plunged every single idea I'd had about that period of the show into it. I didn't hold anything back for another time. That's what Series 12 Ep 5 felt like to me.

In the first five minutes we are introduced to six storylines even though Mrs Wallace opening a dry cleaners doesn't have much mileage. Apart from a bit of foreshadowing spotted by @ctmwidower

The most positive storyline is that of the Barkelys. I think is the first time we have seen a positive portrayal of a hospital birth. Yes, Phyllis is on hand to offer support, but the cardiologist and the obstetrician are actually quite human. There was something that got my hackles up, but I don't think this is an error because this kind of situation still arises today. Dr Turner tells Mrs B she mustn't risk another pregnancy because of her heart condition. When she suggests getting her tubes tied, he tells her she is too young. Now if he had added, I'm not ruling out they may find a treatment for your heart condition in the future, that was a different conversation.

Spencer's story. I imagine was to show how difficult it was to obtain psychiatric support. As a GP, he was left without adequate resources trying to do his best. I also get the punchline is waiting times for mental health referrals are much worse today. But, I don't get why an experienced GP handled it so badly. "Are you hearing voices?" "No" "Oh, OK then". Followed by here is a pill from out of my pocket (that did used to happen) you can spit it out when I walk away before I watch you swallow it.

Jill knew he was hearing voices, his mother knew, Nancy knew, Cyril knew, probably even Mrs Wallace knew. All he had to ask was, "Does Spencer sometimes think the TV or radio is on when it isn't?" I really didn't see the point of the stabbing other than sensationalism. It was a pretty drastic measure just so Cyril could be gifted a phone call to Jamaica.

Which brings me to my next point. This was an episode of stories that went nowhere. We'll never know what happens to Spencer, the stabbing wasn't an exit story and Cyril was discharged pretty swiftly. Unless he suffers from PTSD or it brings Lucille back, not sure what the point of that was. We don't know what method of contraception the Barkleys chose that story just fizzled out. Shelagh isn't pregnant. Sir Brigham was introduced just to kill him off and maybe to send Trixie on a cardiac refresher course because it was pretty obvious what was going to happen in 'the little boys room' and she can update her CPR training. I do hope we are not starting to trade medical accuracy for dramatic effect.

There was also an outbreak of characters acting out of character. The positive being MORE angsty, overwhelmed, telling it like it is Shelagh, please! Well over due. That takes us back to Patrick, who isn't having the best of episodes tbh. All I can think is Heidi and Stephen had a bet on how many meaningless cliches Dr Turner could say in one episode. Why there wasn't any physical contact between the two? Well, we've been wondering that for ten years now. I still think the door frame scene was filmed with each actor separately. Otherwise I'm bewildered.

Two of the original characters who have been at Nonnatus well over a decade, maybe two, suddenly forgot how to deal with authority. Fred, who was supposed to protect Poplar from a nuclear attack and against Russian spies, seems to have forgotten that 'loose tongues cost lives'. One slip would have been forgivable, but why is he telling him confidential information about salaries, and how does he even know that information?

Sister Julienne meanwhile turned into Auld Jenny, wittering on about love. I hate to admit I had to agree with Mr Threapwood there. "It is 1968, love is no longer a legitimate currency." Did make me laugh. Meanwhile, Lucille's personality transplant is almost complete in Jamaica.

To end on a positive note and to cut Dr T some slack, Patrick's facial expressions were spot on during the talk. I found the Chuckle Brothers (thank you again @ctmwidower ) bathing shenanigans funny and also quite nice to see an aspect of 1960s social care. But did we really have time for it in such a full episode?

"All thoughts, feelings and understanding are broken into pieces and cannot be made to connect in the usual way." Was a great description by Sister Veronica. I just wondered if she was talking about the episode.

[kitkatnerds3]

BSD SEASON 5 EP 3+4

So, I just watched ep 4 and I forgot to write a thing on my thoughts about the third episode, so I'm gonna do that first and then scream about the new one.

The third episode wasn't bad! Hunting dog Akutagawa looked dope and that imagery with the clock was dope. Also having just a black screen with white scrolling words was a cool decision for the ending, really not letting us have any distractions from what just happened. Still upset that they didn't include them being silly.

Now that that's done we move on to the next episode.

NOOOOOOOOO! GODDAMNIT BONES I WAS SO EXCITED FOR THE AKUTAGAWA SMILE RIGHT AT THE START OF THE NEXT EPISODE! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD!!! HOW DARE YOU YOU COULDN'T HAVE JUST GIVEN HIM ONE SMILE!!???

But anyways, as FUCKING PISSED, I am about this slaughtering of Akutagawa, the rest of the episode wasn't awful. Tachihara was on some cool hot girl shit, and I'm always happy to see the Black Lizard squad and seeing Hirotsu care about him. Higuchi was beautiful as always and I was happy to see her too, even if it was only for like two minutes.

Back to Tachihara and also the hunting dogs, I feel like they did Tachihara pretty good! Probably could've done better but it wasn't awful! Really hope he ain't perma dead, probably not seeing as Asagiri hates killing off main manga characters, but who knows. The hunting dogs were all delightful, Tecchou looked gorgeous, Suegiku did a bit of gay shit, Teruko displayed her terrible taste in men, all in all they were doing great! Particularly liked that soft family photo that kinda looked like the one of the agency!

(Also, on the subject of the hunting dogs, Fukuchi is so fucking overpowered I hate him.)

And finally, my favorite part of the episode.

BRAM FUCKING STOKER

When I first entered this fandom and heard that Bram Fucking Stoker was a character, I nearly died. Not sure why Bram shocked me more then any of the other authors, such as F Scott Fitz-fucking-gerald, but he did. And seeing him in the anime was an absolute treat! He was so pretty! Seriously why did they make him so pretty? And seeing as they did make him so pretty, why couldn't they have done that to fucking AKUTAGAWA- but I digress. They really did make Bram positively gorgeous tho, and his voice fit him perfectly too! We've found the third thing Bones has spending all their budget on, Dazai, Fukuchi's man-tiddies, and Bram Stoker!

All in all, the sskk shipper in me is dying but as a whole this episode certainly could have been worse! I have no idea what's gonna happen next episode, this might be where Aya shows up? Or maybe the Fukuchi v. Jounno fight? maybe we'll go back to Mersault? I don't know the order of what's gonna happen after so I'm excited to see what happens next. Praying that whatever it is will be adapted well!

[navree]

Something that make me very curious given their personalties and irony, how do you think dynamic between Alicent and Harwin would be like ? Say if Harwin where her sworn sword or something like that ? (

I think it would be much more formal than her relationship with Criston, and certainly his relationship with Rhaenyra.

Alicent and Criston are bonded not just through shared ideals and shared intense religious beliefs, but also the circumstances in which they became close, with Criston on the verge of suicide over feeling like he's the lowest of the lowest sinners imaginable, and Alicent feeling incredibly isolated, and both of them angry at Rhaenyra over how her thoughtlessness has effected them. Plus, you know, Alicent stops Criston from literally killing himself, and Criston is Alicent's first real friend who isn't even asking anything of her, unlike Larys. Those circumstances are part of what forges their strong connection that lasts for so long and essentially makes Criston not just a sworn sword, not just a friend, but literally a member of the family.

Harwin and Rhaenyra, on the other hand, grow close because of similar personalities, and that Harwin likes things that Rhaenyra would otherwise push down, like her independence and her predilection to try and do things on her own terms. Harwin from his first appearance expresses a clear admiration for Rhaenyra, and doesn't have issues with her doing things that go against Westerosi gender norms, and Rhaenyra in turn likes people she can be playful and open and free with, and those similarities are what draw them close to each other enough for not just friendship, but for a real love to blossom and a relationship to be consummated enough to result in three children.

Harwin and Alicent don't have any of those foundations at all, and as you said, they have extraordinarily different personalities, Alicent reserved and religious and proper where Harwin is boisterous and irreverent and prone to rule-breakage of his own. That doesn't mean that I think there'd be no relationship at all. Neither Harwin nor Alicent are unkind people, and they're not going to be rude and nasty for no reason, especially in as formal and stratified an atmosphere as working for the royal family. Alicent is also someone we've seen who is desperate for companionship and who wants friends, like we hear her talk about in the "few friends" monologue in ep 4, it's why she continually reaches out to Rhaenyra even after things start to fall apart with them once she gets married and why she's so determined to be nice and personable with Criston in ep 5 (the little seat pat she gives so that he sits down next to her, Alicent baby I love you so much). Meanwhile, Harwin seems to be a genuinely nice and easy going person, and clearly someone with a strong personality that he doesn't push down even for propriety's sake.

Combining those two personalities means that Harwin would likely be a friendly, if a bit formal, presence for Alicent, and she might enjoy having him around, and while they'd be nowhere near as close her and Criston, there would likely be a nice rapport between them. There'd still be a clear power dynamic, given that it's not a friendship as much as it is a relationship between, like, two people who work for a company but one of them is higher management than the other but they still happen to find the other one pretty all right. But it would definitely be somewhat easy going, and likely something that Alicent would enjoy having around as a contrast to her isolation and feelings of loneliness.

All of this is, of course, subject to change if Rhaenyra and Harwin still have an affair. If that happens, then, outside of outright demanding that he no longer be her sworn sword and reverting back to Criston (who I'm gonna assume is following his canon path but instead of being Alicent's sworn shield after the godswood is still just a regular Kingsguard), any relationship would likely be severed and turned into straight "rando knight and the Queen". It'd be a classic case of "unstoppable force meets immovable object", Harwin's personality traits and his desire and his free spirit meeting Alicent's strong religious convictions and her deep sense of morality, and there'd likely be no way to reconcile the two, especially given that it's Rhaenyra involved, and everything that entails for Alicent.

Overall, I think it would be an interesting dynamic that would likely be nice for Alicent to have, but it would ultimately fall apart if we stick to canon events and continue the Strong bastards storyline, and that Alicent would have no problem with him ultimately being dismissed back to Harrenhal and his subsequent fate at the hands of Larys.