#when it isnt the main plot but still compelling

[lavellane]

ok i have avoided talking abt my datv thoughts but now ive finished and slept on it here it is. this is huge btw and really just a way to process my thoughts for my own peace of mind. and get out what i need to say. so yeah word salad below

2 disclaimers before i start. firstly i think im going to be SUPER blunt and clear about my thoughts on this post but then i will mostly be putting the matter to bed in my heart bc i am not someone who delights in being a hater nor do i take comfort in it. i will take from this the things i enjoyed and keep my distance from the rest. second disclaimer: ultimately i think i will still enjoy being a part of the fandom and seeing other people enjoy the game, because it will endear it to me and maybe take away the pain im feeling right now, so this isnt a long rant to make you feel bad about enjoying the game if you do like it! in fact quite the opposite. it comforts me that there are people who find value in the game and i hope in watching you play it i may be able to eventually be able to say the same

that being said . obviously i didnt like the game

which is an extremely difficult thing for me to say. i went into this game thinking "i will at the VERY least enjoy the game. not love it but at least like it. but im sure ill love it". it really is quite distressing for me that it didnt even really reach that bar for the most part. i TRIED to like it. i begged this game to give me ANY handhold at all that i could cling to, to forgive and like this game. i think the things i liked err more on the technical side. the graphics i loved, the character DESIGN was *fantastic*. the art. the pacing. the vague vision of what they were obviously nebulously aiming for. and honestly, i mostly enjoyed the main plot although i wish it had been more disciplined and constrained with the lore it was trying to expand on. act 3 was fantastic and naturally i am happy and fulfilled for the most part by the conclusion of solas's story, who i still believe was and is the best written "villain" of dragon age. sorry logang and meredith nation but i do still stand by this.

but thats really about it. as a disclaimer i am not an origins puritan or a da2 diehard or anything like that. i have loved (almost equally) EVERY single iteration of dragon age which has been released. i am one of the few people who sees equal value in inquisition and origins. i love them both so deeply. i couldnt pick between them.

for me what i love the MOST about dragon age - and which every single previous game has always nailed despite other flaws - is the characters. right under that is the world's capacity for introspection. and unfortunately nothing in this game provided that for me

regarding the characters: i do not care about a single one of them unfortunately. or at least i do not CARE about them the way that i have CARED about the other previous games companions. companions i would write banter about !!! just for fun when i was bored!!!! i would say my only exception is harding, but even then i care about her only because i care about her due to inquisition. overall i just found them all so ..... shallow. and devoid of any of the conflict or nuance or ethical quandries that make biowares stories so compelling - and sure, usually controversial! i would give ANYTHING for this game to have been controversial. for a unforgivable RO, or a problematic fave, or a cancelled wife. did bioware forget that their most beloved or at least enjoyed characters are people like anders, merrill, mordin solus, blackwall, sten, loghain, SOLAS??? i dont understand HOW they could have forgotten that, because solas is literally right there in game and handled (in my opinion as a fan) well. love him or hate him or dont care about him, he is such a hallmark of great bioware writing (in dai if nothing else) - characters who are not EASY to like. characters who are not SAFE to write and who WILL generate criticism from all sides because they are written boldly and unapologetically, strengthened by a foundation of consistent ideals, clear objectives and beautiful faults. characters that do not NEED you to like them, but instead invite you to engage with them critically. solas, even to someone who hates him, is nuanced and morally complex enough to muse and fight over for 10 whole years. hes IN this game, just as ethically murky as ever, but the morally grey hallmark of biowares writing really does kind of live and die with him alone. the rest of the companions feel like they barely made it out of their concept phase. what are lucanis's flaws??? genuinely asking. other than being a murderer who exists in an organization which buys and trains literal child slaves of course, but i'll get to that in a sec (because bioware sure as fuck didnt). um, i guess you could say hes broody?? and emmrich too. what actual flaws does he have?? he has a fear of death, as we're TOLD, but it does not really reflect in the overall convesations we have with him over the course of the game. mostly hes just.... a little bumbling i guess. bellara's flaw is being a scatterbrain. harding's is that shes..... angry??? but shes not???? fucking come on. i really felt the lack of actually being able to TALK to these people at the end of act 2, when i realized i still felt like i havent really MET any of them. and yet here rook is talking about found family and being a team. ok

and then there are the romances. which from my perspective - having romanced taash - and my friends who have romanced lucanis, neve and davrin..... WHAT romances. davrin's full romance is 20 minutes in a 30 PLUS HOUR GAME. solas had the least amount of content out of any companion in inquisition and was a last minute unintentional RO and still had like easily 50 minutes of content. so why did these romances feel like nothing. actually nothing. i was so excited for taash, but their romance straight up felt like neither rook nor taash even wanted to be there. i forgot they were technically together at certain points. zero chemistry. zero intimacy. all TELLING zero SHOWING. if you had told me that i would be saying these sorts of things about a writer like trick weekes a month ago i would call you fucking crazy to your face. i cannot reconcile that taash was written by the same person who wrote solas. i cannot reconcile that mary kirby - who wrote the fucking chant of light - wrote lucanis. its so dire. its devastating actually.

lastly i want to talk about my other point - bioware's famed emphasis on introspection and ethically quandries. again, i'm genuinely experiencing a sense of profound whiplash because when it comes solas's character you can still see it. its still there. they actually doubled down on making him worse than he was in trespasser which i LOVED and thought was so incredibly promising. they could have caved to solavellan fans and uwu-ified him but they didnt. thats great.

but where was that energy for literally anything else. everything has been defanged - even minrathous, the capital of the tevinter slave trade, does not even ADDRESS the elephant in the room of slavery. and i know because i played a shadow dragon. so tell me why i as a shadow dragon am happily allied with the crows, who solely exist to assassinate politicians and BUY SLAVES. THEY BUY SLAVES. THEY BUY SLAVES AS CHILDREN AND TRAIN/TORTURE THEM TO MURDER. HELLO??????????? there is no commentary made about the mages/templars. there is no discussion of the treatment of the elves in the north or Anywhere. there is no discussion of why exactly blood magic is or isnt acceptable - they simply tell us its bad. all the theories of the last 10 years were answered with handwaved comments or bare bones codex entries that honestly stripped so much nuance away from so many things (the blight, my BELOVED) that i dont know how im going to go about fixing it or making it right in my head. the introspective nature of dragon age always went hand in hand with player choice, but there really WAS no choice in this game as so there IS no real capacity for other interpretations or schools of thought. it is so..........................bleak.

i think the thing that finally made it click in my head that this game had fundamentally let me down was the gloom howler quest. and i know im not alone on this. for those of you who dont know - the gloom howler, "isseya" was the protagonist of the dragon age novel "the last flight". i would HIGHLY recommend you read it, especially if you're an origins fan. super bleak, super political, not flashy at all in terms of magic. it was set 500 years pre origins, during the 3rd blight. isseya is very similar to characters like loghain and solas in a way - a richly complex, beautifully intricate, terribly thought provoking character who did HORRIFIC things for the most NOBLE reason you could imagine, under the most traumatic of circumstances. im tearing up just thinking about her story, and how the title "the LAST flight" foreshadowed that her story had a definitive, bittersweet, finite and peaceful ending.

and then this game did THAT to her. turned her into a grotesque caricature of what she was. stripping her of her nuance and her capacity for atonement or forgiveness. and once again, i do not fucking get it. she was obviously brought back because she is a parallel to the solas dilemma. so WHY is she not afforded the same opportunity for empathy that he is. why is bellara's brother not either. its insane. its literally insane. i cannot begin to imagine the oversight or laziness or WHATEVER IT WAS that occured to have this game turn out this way.

there are innumerable other problems with the game that im not going to get into because what ive said above is the main crux of my problem. introspective and character. those are all i really wanted from this game, and like..... i thought we would get that. because the game centered around solas. and i know people dislike his fans for very fair reasons, but i hope those who know me know that i enjoy him not because hes hot (he is though) but because he is terrible. i love him because they made a character who was TERRIBLE, and then gave you the task of using your head and refelcting on your own morality and values and deciding and arguing and meditating over whether he is worth loving anyway. to me, solas is the person i point to when i want to describe why i love dragon age. its complicated, its nuanced, it is terrible and wonderful and everything in between depending on the angle you look at it from. and so having the writer of a character like THAT in charge of the whole game filled me with hope and dissuaded so many of my fears for this game. but i was wrong apparently.

so now im left with a feeling akin to survivors guilt. genuinely. because at the VERY least, despite me saying all of these negative things, i at least finished the game crying happy tears and being overjoyed that my favourite character was handled well and got an ending i enjoyed. and yet that happiness *i* got to feel and that glimmer of good writing was paid for at the expense of literally everything else. i feel almost personally responsible in a way, which sucks. im sorry to all the people who did not enjoy or care about solas, im sorry that you really did get nothing out of this game. i hope we can all be comforted by the trilogy we have and will always have, and i hope we can all take what good parts we enjoyed out of veilguard and make peace with the rest

leaving this youtube comment my friend sent me which is unfortunately a summary of how i feel about the game as a whole.

[old-stoneface]

listened to a holly black book the other day, "book of night", and my general review was that its really compelling and i also really liked the main character and her relationships with the people around her. the magic system was executed in a very interesting way that didnt feel overly complicated or oppressive to the momentum of the story and added soooo much to the final few reveals and chapters of the book. it was adult fantasy and the central romance was super well written tbh i didnt find it annoying at all i found it very sweet and interesting, especially with the big reveal near the end.....the only thing is that i usually think its pretty corny when adult fiction has a lot of jokes about drugs or alcohol and this book has a decent amount of both, and it was a slight turnoff, but the central plot of the story was so compelling i didnt mind too much.

holly black is an author ive been reading since i was like 10 years old, i read her spiderwick chronicles that she wrote with tony diterlizzi at that time, and i was so deeply impacted by it that i still think about those stories to this day. holly black usually writes a lot of young adult stuff but her writing style isnt really that obnoxious at all compared to others, and she always tells a solid story....i dont think ill be reading her other young adult stuff since i already read some of it when i was in middle school, but its in the back of my mind rn

[disaster-bay-leaf]

late night thoughts about sylvie

- its even more clear this season that she is loki’s foil in every single possible way and its highlighted so many times

- i hate the idea of sylki selfcest as much as any other person, but you gotta admit that when disregarding all the outside-of-plot bullshit (disney being homophobic or just not caring about the characters) it is sort of an interesting dynamic (mostly during this season) because i think that trying to figure out how to act with a version of yourself, someone who you know to their core because you have the same one, someone you could have been but aren’t and desperately want to stop them from heading down a road you could have gone or have gone, is a sort of difficult experience

- so yeah ill be disappointed if sylki happens again because i think that it makes much more sense that they exist as the same person with the same thinking processes and mentalities but aimed at different goals - simpler put sort of the same plane but different direction, or same root different philosophy

- so i think its compelling and frustrating to have someone that you know has the potential of seeing your point of view perfectly and understanding you deeply but still taking the same base data (lets say) and interpreting them in a very different way

- i think the most clear example of that is the pie room conversation - they know perfectly well how and why the other is choosing the sides and interpretations and actions that they do, but in the end they reach vastly different conclusions

- and in that moment i think loki’s connection to sylvie is very clearly shown: not only he sees his past lost lonely self in her, he also understands her like he understands himself and wants to show her that his way might be better for them

- also of course in the “its time to write your own story” “i can rewrite the story” parallels

- and i think it would be fitting if both of their perspectives affected what will happen in the finale (although my own opinion is that loki is the one more in the right and given that he is the main character and had the greatest development he should have most of the impact on how the season is resolved)

- but i also think that ultimately the writers can take a different approach and make them unfoil lets say and find common ground which can of course unfortunately end with yet another moment of selfcest

- bonus thought is that the show has to somehow connect after this to the rest of the mcu so i dont think that any connection to sylvie will be very permanent i think shes going to be more like a stray cat that stumbles into the plot when it wants or is dragged in kicking and scratching when needed

but then again this is just a pile of semicoherent thoughts so take from that what you will

- bonus thought #2 once again when we disregard the outside of the plot, i think sylvie isnt meant to be exactly likeable (or at the very least, that isnt the purpose of the character) - she is meant to do precisely what she is doing, foiling loki (a character we obviously root for) and showing us his emotional and mental and philosophical insides through her reflection as well as being a sympathetic and understandable character because she shows us that alternative mindset that we might not necessarily agree with (or do agree with! it just gives us something to compare loki’s own decidions and perspectives to)

[milkbreadtoast]

I WATCHED NIMONA!!! As someone who read the original nimona webcomic when it was updating (roughly a decade ago??) and was rly impacted by it, I was so excited to watch the film and... they did a really good job!!! it was so beautiful i cried omg... it's def worth a watch!! (long ramble under the cut BWAHA spoiler warning)

...and it was rly completely diff from the original comic but im not complaining?? like its a v loose movie adaptation and the plot/setup was v diff but still v well done... like the comic and movie r both good in their own right... & i laughed and cried a lot... i was surprised at the extent of some of the changes but the emotional parts hit hard(my eyes r swollen from crying) and it was written v well... and visually it's just gorgeous... my jaw kept dropping at the beautiful lighting, and they brought the futuristic medieval setting to life so well i could cry😭

it's funny bc one of the main things i was afraid of was them changing nimona's backstory from the comic, bc even after a decade that's one of the things that stuck w me the most... i love nimona as a chara sm... I was so worried abt them changing it and... they ended up changing it completely... but it was actually really good?! like i cried so hard, it was well done... so I'm glad I didn't have to worry after all jdjfjd🥺 like they Did change it but both ver r good in their own right...

I understand that they had to rewrite the plot completely to fit within the time length of a single movie while still being a contained story, as is always the case w movie adaptations of books, graphic novels, etc which r much longer... Series have a chance to follow the source more closely but that just isnt the case w movies... and as far as movie adaptations go they did an amazing job!! I can rly appreciate both the comic and the movie as their own thing... and I rly liked some parts that were added to the movie, like ballister(blackheart)'s backstory in the beginning, and the addition of gloreth (and her relationship w nimona) was surprisingly compelling... And I really really love that they made Ballister and Goldenloin canon POC 😭😭😭 like that made me so happy!!!❤️‍🔥 When i first saw the casting of riz ahmed and eugene lee i was sooo happy, i was like YAYY IDC IF THEY LOOK WHITE IM GONNA HC THEM AS POC🥰 but the fact that i dont even have to hc bc its canon now... 🥹 SOUTH ASIAN/EAST ASIAN KINGS🛐... and they also didn't hold back with showing them openly as a gay couple... Even tho their dynamic changed a lot from the comic I rly appreciate that...

And there were things that I did miss from the webcomic, like the original setup with goldenloin and blackheart as staged nemesis, them being exes (and some time having passed since their graduation, so they're older, unlike in the movie when it just happened), etc. but the whole setup and plot and everything I completely understand why they had to change it to make it work/fit as a movie, so I get it... so not complaining there tbh bc they did what they had to do... But tbh... TBH... my one(1) complaint(/lh) w the movie... IS I REALLY MISS GOLDENLOIN'S BEAUTIFUL LONG HAIR😭😭😭💔 He would've looked so pretty with long golden locks in the movie artstyle, esp w the gorgeous lighting... glowing gold and flowing in the wind... And I think it would've fit perfectly well with the movie ver of his chara/lore too?? like the new lore of him being a descendant of Gloreth... I could imagine him growing out his hair and bleaching it blonde to fit the image/pressure of being a descendant of gloreth, and to look more flashy and heroic to the public (They did tone down his vanity a lot but im sure he still retains some of it... like he still has that pretty popular celebrity image)... And him having long hair doesnt contradict with him being asian too or the modern setting... modern asian men can and do have pretty long hair😭 Like he couldve still been Asian, just w long blonde hair... It doesn't contradict w his new personality either... And I wish they kept the golden color bc the white/silver makes him look less like a "goldenloin"... (i also love black/gold color combos personally lol)... And i just aldjskd can u imagine movie Ballister stroking Ambrosious's long hair affectionately... pls🥲 WE COULD'VE HAD IT ALL... canon asian madeleine cookie qkjdksdj... I also do miss his original stupid vain arrogant himbo personality from the comic, but I understand why they changed it (for one, charas like that might start out obnoxious but then slowly develop and gain depth over the course of the story, but in a movie's short length, there's less time to slowly grow on ppl so it'd be easier to make them more likeable from the start... so like i get it.) but I think it would've been perfect if they just kept his long hair even w his new personality😭😭 LIKE IT WOULDVE BEEN 100000% PERFECT THEN!!! So that's literally my one lighthearted complaint/dissatisfaction w the movie LMFAO... I'd be happy if ppl draw fanart of movie ambrosious w long hair... TTwTT i miss it sm DKDJZ /end rant OVERALL I HAD A GOOD time ^^ LMFAO

[tls123]

hello boss, i have completed my read of "devil venerable also wants to know" so i came back to 打卡/check in here since your post was the one that got me reading the novel

it feels weird to call an 80 chapter long novel a bit of fun weekend afternoon light reading but that was exactly the kind of vibes it gave me. it was filled with interesting characters and was a fun take on the whole "demonic sect isnt demonic, the righteous sects are just bastards and everyone is a shade of grey" genre

both the protag and the love interest are fleshed out enough to make the romance enjoyable and the plot was compelling, without being overly grimdark to be "taken seriously" yknow? i think thats sth chinese webnovelists nail really well and i love it

the only thing i regretted a little bit was that i wished the main cp had more scenes together post-getting together, just to satisfy my happy ending cravings, i was expecting the extras to have more lovey dovey scenes and i feel a little robbed (but on the other hand i also enjoyed how much interaction they got to have with each other that wasnt purely just fuelled by romance yknow? they got to have a relationship with each other beyond just the romantic and that also satisfies my craving for a romance that has layers and nuance to the pairing)

all in all, a great rec and i would love to one day be able to collect this as a physical print book

hey champ! great work on the ''devil venerable also wants to know'' report, the meeting is going to go great, can't wait to see you in there doing your thing 👩‍💼👍

but jokes aside i absolutely love how you've described everything, it really is fun, light reading with still enough depth to make the story not only worth it as a read but genuinely interesting and nuanced. it's just such a well-balanced novel in that sense and i'm glad it sounds like that's something you also personally enjoyed!!

i do understand where you're coming from for that last bit, i agree that it was a pity there wasn't a bit more of them after everything BUT they're such a compelling duo, both as individual characters and together and every scene we get with them is so good that i felt like, despite wanting more, it wasn't because the story it self left me wanting for more. it was just that everything was so delicious and well written that a little more time with them, towards the end, would have been welcomed. if that makes sense lmao you explained it much better <3

i am so so happy to hear you enjoyed it, and much like you i'd love to also have a physical print one day. it's such a nice novel, i was surprised when i came out the other side of it and realized only a handful of people had already mentioned it here on tumblr

thank you for letting me know your final thoughts, i am thrilled to be able to update the counter 🧡🥰

[gizkasparadise]

wait you didn’t like mr.queen or our beloved summer?? how?? (respectfully lmao)

LOL bless @ respectfully. ty friend :'D

i recognize these are unpopular opinions here, but to hell with it let's shake some salt.

mr. queen

i adored jang bong hwan (and their theme song is a bop, i still loop it on spotify), shin hye sun's incredible performance, the maid sidekicks, and when it was doing comedy it was 100

but jesus christ the political plots were such a gd chore to get through. i felt like someone was frankensteining a wacky and wild fusion sageuk (that was fun! and enjoyable!) with a palace drama that was as engaging as watching overnight oats ferment. the jo family was annoying. the kim family was annoying. it was just tedious machination after machination and none of it was particularly imaginative or compelling (and, like. i made it through princess weiyoung with 0 fastforwarding so clearly i can deal with circular palace politics). i was so annoyed by consort jo. and super unpopular opinion, but the male lead did absolutely nothing for me in this drama either and i found him really unpalatable for a good chunk of the show (which is wild, because the actor plays one of my favorite MLs in another drama)

and the ending...sort of forgot to include the title character for a good chunk of it. bong hwan was done so dirty in terms of character resolution and the romance post-transmigration came off kind of yikes for me with kim so young returning (also the body horror component of someone regaining consciousness/agency in their now pregnant body i just. if you're going to include these elements address them????)

idk it had some high notes and it was really charming at the beginning of the drama. but then it spiraled down a well (that fucking well. oy.)

our beloved summer

ON PAPER THIS IS EVERYTHING I LOVE. second chance romances are my favorites. bickering couples are my favorites. having to work with the ex is my favorite. i loved the 3/4 of the main actors that i knew from other dramas (kim sung cheol is a particular favorite!), the OST is amazing (another set of songs i still loop on spotify!), and the art direction and acting were also great. i remember really enjoying the first half-ish of the show.

but it totally lost me in the second half with the writing. im trying to remember specifics, because it's been over a year since i've watched it, but i recall the distinct impression that the couple was really setting themselves up for the same shit down the road regarding their communication, their differing emotional needs, and their other issues. at the end when they revealed they were getting married my first reaction wasnt YAY LOVE but rather oh fuck not again. i left watching the show thinking both the leads would be better off if they tried dating other people-- it felt like they outgrew the other and the show didnt do a good enough job of convincing me that they would be able to make it work this time around. from ep 11ish onwards, it was frustrating and annoying to watch and the only reason i made it through all 16 eps is because i was watching it with a friend

i also remember there was this totally "?!" subplot/reveal about the ML basically being adopted as a replacement goldfish for his parents' deceased son and it was in focus for like 2 eps despite how deeply deeply fucked up that whole premise was (obs isnt unique in a "trauma focus of the week" kdrama narrative, it just struck out as glaringly bad to me for some reason this time around)

so LOL. uh. there it is. oy this was longer than i intended it to be, sorry :'D

[losticaruss]

NO BECAUSE THE WRITING ISNT BAD! ITS SO, SO GOOD!! ITS A SOLID PLOT WITH GOOD AND COMPELLING CHARACTERS THAT PULL OF TWISTS EXPERTLY!! NOT TO MENTION, ITS A MYSTERY, WHICH IS DIFFUCULT ENOUGH, BUT ITS A MYSTERY WRITTEN PRIMARILY FOR KIDS- older kids to be fair, but kids NONETHELESS!! and the mystery is STILL intriguing NOW and, as a person who watched it when she was the main demographic and AGAIN having matured as a person and as an author, the writing STILL holds up today!! and it holds up REALLY WELL!! if, IF anyone wanted to call the writing "bad" theres very small, specific examples of some pretty common writing flaws- these being the pretty common "deus ex machina" trope when you could see that the writers were struggling with a natural way for the characters to figure out one of the riddles, so they figured it out by random chance (e.g. hexagon thing rolling down a hill and miraculously opening), or by referencing something that hasn't had a precedent established as something the characters would reliably do (fabian telling nina to twist the head of corbiere because he "saw it in a movie"). but it's important to state, these issues ONLY APPEARED IN SEASON 1- and by season 2 you can TELL the writing (or at least the effort out into the writing) has SERIOUSLY improved.

so to piggyback off of op's comments, no the writing of house of anubis isn't bad, it's very good!

"house of anubis has bad writing"

so i have a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to critical discussions about tv, and i'm going to use house of anubis as a vehicle through which to talk about it since i think it's a very good case study of this particular problem.

it's pretty simple: "x has bad writing"

saying something has "good writing" in passing is fine -- not every conversation needs MLA citations -- but for the sake of this post not being a million words long to account for every nuance possible, let's discount those situations and suppose that this is in the context of an extended critical discussion about something, and specifically calling out the "writing" as the culprit.

the funny thing about "writing" is a lot of the time, that...isn't what's being identified in a statement like this. this is where i'm going to start talking about house of anubis so i can give you an actual example

house of anubis has what i would call strong writing for most of its run, with a few notable exceptions (that i'd like to note are localized, specific problems!). when i say this, i'm thinking about specific parameters: the coherency and structure of the story, the pacing, the tone, the consistency and fidelity of the characterization, the quality of the dialogue (doing everything possible to only consider the words themselves, not the performances from the actors), and bells and whistles/creative choices that elevate it past functional narrative and into a piece of art. that is writing.

things that aren't writing that have a huge impact on how the writing/story is digested and are heavily influential creative choices in their own right BUT are literally just. not writing. that get commonly conflated with writing: ACTOR PERFORMANCES (i would write this one 100 times if it made a difference), shot composition, editing (both cut-to-cut and structural editing), and in some cases production design (so sets/props/costumes).

house of anubis is a great case study for this because oftentimes (especially in this VERY cynical phase of pop culture we're in) people conflate things that are earnest, low budget, or camp (especially when talking about elements in the "not writing" category) with "badness" when, while you don't have to like it, if you changed the lens through which you observed them, "bad" would be...not apt as a description. that being said, house of anubis isn't a great case study just because it's camp, but because, as the strongest example here, sometimes the performances are just Not Good. i will not name names (especially since everyone has their moments/odd line reads AND you can see clear improvement over time). but hopefully you know what i mean. it CAN affect your opinion of the story as a whole in a way that like...okay if you were watching season one for the first time as an adult, i wouldn't blame you for being turned off by the pilot, or hell, even a solid 80% of the entire first season.

i've attempted hoa watches with rl friends 3 times now, very recently finished s1 with someone actually, and noticed that more often than not, it was the acting (either because it's a very characteristic/camp/borderline theatrical style that takes getting used to or because it's...roughest at the beginning) that was turning them off. sometimes that was highlighting existing writing issues, but especially during arcs like the play/patricia's kidnapping that are structurally sound, perceived "cheesiness" in the acting would leach into the perception of the writing. we actually skipped the first 5 episodes entirely to try and mitigate the parts that are a bit hard to sit through without prior investment (i showed them the recap portion of the video essay i'm working on instead because they'd seen the pilot before and quote "could not handle that again" LMAO) but i noticed something interesting: while it took them a while to come around to fully enjoying the show, there was a period before that where i could tell that something shifted -- they were invested in the story, but they were still reacting like we were watching a neil breen movie. once the acting picked up, "oh this is garbage" (affectionate) turned to "wait a minute this is good."

that is the difference between bad writing and bad [something else].

this is a post about how house of anubis has good writing more than anything, but i do have to talk about the actual bad writing to make this point. early s1 has a particular type of writing flaw that's both INCREDIBLY interesting to break down, requires good writing ability to make in the first place, and unfortunately, is a KILLER for interest in a show like house of anubis, especially when it's taken out of its original context of being released every couple weeks in runs of 4 days of a new episode each night (which side note: COOLEST release schedule i've ever seen a show do. BRING THIS BACK) and binged instead.

quick interjection because i realized that how i define the plots in this show is not at all universal and i haven't talked about it before/released that damn video yet so you won't know what i'm talking about: until episode 9, season 1 has TWO A plots -- whatever nina/fabian/amber are doing (A1), and whatever patricia's doing (A2). at episode 9, they converge, so it's a more conventional singular A plot, but the reason i insist on it being 2 A plots before that instead of the show having an A/B/C/D plot and then A/B/C is a) for clarity's sake since the other plots don't change at all so why shift their categorization b) calling patricia's plot the D plot so you don't have to do that would imply it's the least important when it's easily the MOST important (it gets all the coolest reveals let's be real) + the C plot usually changes every episode/couple of episodes so putting a long-running plot after what is usually just a runner in the hierarchy makes things needlessly complicated c) they DIRECTLY converge in a way that's well telegraphed from the start. you KNOW whatever nina's doing is related to what patricia's doing from the pilot, and that's good.

so let's be real here: the A1 plot kinda sucks. not because the content itself is bad on its face -- that part of the writing is fine -- but because the individual scenes and what information they drip-feed the audience are poorly paced. the most egregious scene is the one in episode 5(!!!! FIVE) where fabian finally notices the eye of horus in the stair railing (by getting his shoelace caught on the doorknob somehow -- don't get me started), shows nina, and they come to the EARTH-SHATTERING realization that robert frobisher-smythe was really interested in egypt! 💀 it's not so much about them...coming to an obvious conclusion...even if that was what caused my ??? kneejerk reaction, but more that we spent an entire scene on this information (that even to a kid wouldnt bear stating), and it's not the first (nor the last) time that something like this happens in the A1 plot. meanwhile, in the A2 plot, patricia is learning something LEGITIMATELY earth-shattering once or twice a scene, and with multiple scenes in an episode for her, it's difficult for the A1 plot to keep up in terms of intrigue/information weight. the audience can tell that nina's the main character and that whatever she's doing is the "main point," but it gets increasingly difficult to make that case when patricia is getting gangstalked while they're visiting sarah over and over without learning anything new.

the real rub here isn't even in the comparison itself but in the fact that they're still, ultimately, both the A plot, and the characters in each need to get to specific places in the information they have/things they've experienced before their plots can converge properly at victor kidnapping rufus. when you compare them, there's a discrepancy pretty quick: patricia has way more things she has to piece together than sibuna do. thus, the sibuna plotline is artificially sandbagged with repetitive scenes, reveals that don't deserve the fanfare they get relative to the actual content of the reveal, and contrivances (see: fabian shoelace doorknob scenario) so it won't outpace things going on in patricia's plot and undermine the reveals there. when you add in how the B/C plots tie in and have impacts on the A plots or vice versa, it makes sense that something would end up being sacrificed in the pacing department. it seems kinda nuts that it'd be A1, but at a certain point of fiddling with events/moving stuff around, i can see why it had to be A1 that got this treatment.

i'll add that while it was airing, i didn't mind that and even liked how things felt ""sort of normal"/not that supernatural relative to where it was going to end up for a WHILE so when, say, the elixir is introduced and alfie gets trapped in the cellar and they REALLY start using their effects budget, it feels like a considerable shift in the setting. a mystery story that lets you get used to some sense of normal first before yanking the rug out from under you is the best kind, but striking a balance between "something weird is going on here that needs my urgent attention" and "but it's still not THAT weird" so the reveal is both shocking but entirely appropriate and satisfying is VERY difficult. (it's also a move that improves the rewatch at the expense of the initial watch, which i can't help but have a soft spot for as a certified Pretentious Bitch.) that's what i mean by it being a problem that comes from a good writer -- they're trying something! it might not be working perfectly but they're trying and to me, that's far more interesting than technically "clean" but very unambitious writing! but i digress lol

something neat that scene i ragged on early does do is the presentation of the information, though, and it makes me trust this was a particularly thorny structural issue and not amateurish writing. it seems to us that the takeaway is that they need to look into egyptian mythological sources for further information, and that the rollers likely belonged to the frobisher-smythe family. what ends up actually being relevant, though, is a) the naming of the eye of horus for the scene later where rufus asks patricia to look for them (specifically the locket, as we find out later, but he doesn't give that away, same as the scene not giving away why it used the eye of horus in the railing to clarify ^ the above dubiously useful information) and b) the subversion of the audience's attention. i'm not sure if this was intentional, but there's something magical about the way it primes the audience to be dismissive of nina and fabian's discoveries and investigative ability early on. for one, it makes the scenes where nina makes fun of amber for investigating every nook and cranny extra ironic in a way that i love (yes! giving your prototypical blank slate audience insert main character hints of a personality that ends up commenting on the nature of blank slate characters/how their behavior would actually come off if they were real people later down the line!), it makes the audience more likely to get invested in making connections/speculation independent of the characters solving the mystery (audience engagement is critical in a good mystery!), and by hiding the "most important information" in plain sight, it reinforces the illusion that this is a living, breathing world where everything is interconnected in unexpected ways. sure, it's cheesy and may feel cheap, but through that, it hits something real.

to sum up, i can see why if you're just turning this show on expecting a straightforward supernatural teen drama you wouldn't see this stuff first (especially since that genre is predominately cynical in tone right now and house of anubis is reminiscient at first blush of the type of show that a lot of other shows in the genre are...making up a guy like and parodying (badly)) and feel inclined to call it bad, especially without watching season 2. if you're someone new to the show, hi! i hope i haven't scared you off! if you don't mind spoilers, i did a writeup about a scene in late s2 that's an example of both good acting and EXCELLENT writing, both in dialogue but most importantly on a structural level. while it is a standout phenomenal scene, it's only that good because of the writing around it supporting that level of subtext in the first place, and the bones of that are present even in early s1.

i'm holding myself back from writing about cynical vs. earnest media because that's better saved for another post (specifically the fabled s3 writeup i will do someday i promise), but i cannot overstate how much of an impact that has on this, too. to state that conclusion as concisely as my verbose ass can manage: you need both cynical and earnest media in your media diet, elsewise your taste and critical skills will just Be Bad. too much cynical media, in particular, can trend towards a lack of appreciation for the earnest media it needs as reference material to respond to, and at that point, you're just adulating hatred ("intelligence") over loving, y'know, love. earnest media can suck, but at the very least, it's less insufferable to argue with.

(also, sidebar that's been said a million times, but these are TEENAGERS!! so many teenagers on tv are written like adults who make bad decisions, but there's an inherent corniness to being a teen that IS sorta "cringe," and you can't take that out without ruining the experience. i'm a super risk-averse person, but i'd be willing to bet a considerable amount of money that if you wrote up some early-ish s1 dialogue in script format (incl. action lines, etc.) of a scene with all kids and compared that to a scene of just adults, so stripping out the performances/keeping those from interfering in your interpretation, the dialogue that comes off "cringe" would read like perfectly fine, age appropriate language/cadence. i HEAVILY respect a show that doesn't pretty that up, even at the risk of coming off "amateurish.")

in conclusion, i asked my friend when their opinion of the show shifted from essentially "well i'm having fun watching it with you at least" to "ok wait a minute this is actually good," and they said the last four episodes of s1. while i'd place the "officially Good" marker for myself somewhere around episode 9, maybe a little later, i can see exactly why it'd be far later (and at that point specifically) for someone else, particularly someone that hasn't taken...extensive notes on every single moment of s1 and poured over them like it was my job for a solid couple years.

episode 23 and onward has: jerome and alfie getting more complex material to work with AND get to play off one another (and thus two of the show's best actors get to show us that), the rube-goldberg-machineification of the plotlines is setting in (the scene where mick and mara are playfighting while doing the dishes (as a result of their relationship turmoil up to this point??) and spill water on victor right when jerome chases alfie into the kitchen with the drawings of the ankh pieces?!?!?!??!?! LIKE!!! YOU CAN'T CALL THAT BAD WRITING...); reveals are paying off; stakes are high without spiraling out of control; actors in general are refining what elements of their characters work the best/need highlighting; beyond that the characters have weathered enough conflicts that their choices are cropping up to be consistent and solid characterization with a direction; it's clear that this is a campy endeavor with writing chops to back up the cheese.

the way that manifested in my friend's reaction was "wow, that was a good scene." "wait, that was acted really well. everyone did a good job there." "oh my god, they're not. theyre not doing this. oh my god, they are."

that is the essence of house of anubis, i think. it's not for everyone, but "bad writing?" a bit unfair, if you ask me.

[dockaspbrak]

Sorry, long rant

Richie in the new movies isnt even funny hve you guys considered that and hes played by bill hader!!! What was that?!? Whyd they CHOOSE to make him such a bad version of his character. Honestly those movies are so long that youd think they develop the characters really well- but they don't! They have so little time to give the characters you keep feeling like the movie will have to start eventually. the fans have developed the characters more than the movies have honestly the new movies think they did so much but they did almost nothing. Those movies get so caught up in how to make a 1000+ book into a movie they dont pick the right elements. Miniseries is 3 hours but it fucking makes the plot cohesive and the characters feel like friends! I honestly didnt get that from 2017. We had a bunch of encounters with then separate then suddenly its showdown time?!? Wtf. I mean. Ok. When I decided to try the media, after seeing enough compelling posts. I sat down and read the book. I liked it honestly but like any stephen king book you gotta weed through some really weird sex stuff and ofc the end. Then after I finished that, after i think 3 dedicated days of reading, I rewatched miniseries which id seen as a kid. And then 2017 and 2019. So i did a pretty procedural intake. But i really think either the marvel effect is happening where you all just dont care when movies are shallow? Or people are remembering the movies wrong. Or no ones seen the miniseries!! Which- i guess fair its old and a little corny but its so charming! Richie is actually instead of like damp and scared all the time??? The book developed Mike a lot, he was basically the main character too. God. I got pretty steamed. I guess its just the autism but i literally got so little from 2017 im so baffled people like it so much. Its poorly paced and strange and puts wayy too much effort into trying to be scary. 2019 did that less thankfully but still, imo by that time it was just too little too late and the way they did Richie and Eddies plot felt even more homophobic.

[zhuhongs]

Since rewatching the guardian drama after reading the novel has made me mad about how bad and good both of them are I am Obligated to write out a list of what I think the perfect merger btw both versions of canon are. This will be in list format otherwise I’ll end up writing like 6k words again. 

TLDR: the genre stays as supernatural from the novel and not Sci fi, bc that was rlly not fleshed out well. Shen Wei is a ghost king, and all the dixingren are ghosts or demons like originally intended. The ghost race naturally exists and wasn't born from kunluns shoulder fire or anything. They just exist separate from humans. Not all ghosts are former humans, some people are just born as ghosts, like Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan has the guardian whip and all the cool stuff that comes with the Guardian order.  Overall, i’d keep the novel’s plot and relationship progression and ending without the backstory. Instead the backstory is a merger of both canons. From the drama I’d keep the characterization and themes as well as like half the extra cases and omit the other half. 

I’ll be elaborating much further on my ideal backstory and other stuff under the cut bc the rest is 1.5k and I don’t wanna clog the dash 

Okay SO In my ideal backstory there are two timelines just like the drama but the mythology of the book. The god Kunlun is actually zyl that went back in time and became a god. But the one that went back isn’t the current Zhao Yunlan. There has to be an original timeline where the god Kunlun never existed. Thus the great seal nor the separation of the three realms don’t exist either. Zhao Yunlan must go back in time to become a god, meet Shen Wei in the past, and create the current timeline where the separation exists but isn’t perfect. The current timeline is the one that the majority of the series takes place in.

In the original timeline, Zhao Yunlan is just some dude living in a world where ghosts, fairies, and all other beings just live in a giant free for all and it's kinda just a mess. 

Like there’s government in modern context and all and all races live with each other but there's constant tension. ZYL works at some equivalent of the SID (same staff and side characters, but novel vers. Lin Jing is a monk, CSZ a zombie, etc) to protect people and all that and their job is rather hard. One day encounters the thousands year old ghost king Wei (who isnt shen wei yet bc zyl gave him that name in the future) who works alone as like a rouge cultivator of sorts. He lives on the surface undercover as a professor still bc he’s trying to not catch Yezun’s attention but does all the stuff he normally does as Heipaoshi. The two ally together for a case and bc they both have the same goals of getting all races to live in peace. At current, there are forces working together to decimate the human race, all lead by Yezun

As they work together they become closer and all that. Shen Wei tells him about how he was unable to prevent the great war 5 thousand years ago and neither could the gods so  he’s spent the past 5 thousand years trying to make up for it. As they search for ways to stop Yezun, they gather the 4 hallows and learn how to use them to manipulate time so ZYL can go into the past and stop the great war and separate the three realms (living, dead, ghost).  Shen Wei wants to go back with him but he can’t because he was alive all those years ago so if he goes back it will create a paradox. ZYL promises he’ll find Shen Wei in the past and create a timeline where they could be together in peace (that is the current timeline)

When goes back he becomes the god kunlun because there needed to be a new god born at the time to prevent the war.  Also this time traveller looked promising to Nuwa, Fuxi, and Shennong. And I know in the guardian universe gods are usually born and ppl don’t become gods. EXCEPT this can happen when a god passes on smth from their body onto them bc that did happen in the novel with Kunlun making shen wei a demigod. And since fu you and ma gui are supposed to be gods Nu Wa and Fuxi I think that when they die, they should make ZYL a god and that's how this stuff happens.

So like ZYL explains to the gods the time he came from and how he wants to save everything and they make him a god and he works to save everything just like he did in the drama but this time with the novel plotline. During this time he meets young Shen Wei (he’s still like a hundred or so years old) and they get close and all the stuff from the backstory happens. He gives him his name, all that good stuff. The entire time doesn’t let him know that he’s from the future or that his real name is ZYL. He just poses as kunlun. 

The two of them alongside the other gods (who still die at the times they do in the novel) work together to end the war and establish the great seal and set up the cycle of reincarnation, per the current timeline. Although the seal and cycle of reincarnation aren’t perfect. Gods can’t reincarnate, and ghosts still don’t have souls. And just like the novel, doing all of this kills ZYL bc it takes a lot of energy to create the seal even though it isn’t perfect.

Shen Wei of course doesn’t want ZYL to die and zyl says it's alright because he fixed the timeline so there must One day they will meet again and ZYL reveals the truth about the timeline to shen wei before he dies. This becomes the promise that Shen Wei mentions to meet again. Before he dies, ZYL gives him the shoulder fire as a memento ( i still like the candy wrapper necklace deal but i’ll take this too. Maybe both.. The pendant is still just rlly cool.. Gay ppl)

Shen Wei knows gods can’t enter the cycle of reincarnation and still makes the deal with Shennong to strip Kunlun of his godhood and let him reincarnate. This sets us into the novel timeline where isn’t allowed to meet any of zyl’s reincarnations before he becomes zyl otherwise he will die and also fuck up the timeline. The same 5 thousand years of pining still ensue bc Gay Ppl and i love making Shen Wei suffer but he doesn’t have the shrine room thing bc i think thats weird and yea.. Bad. 

In the meantime Shen Wei does a lot of things mostly just protecting the great seal and working for Hell to keep the peace but still does other stuff. He still watches out for ZYL’s reincarnations but doesn’t do much besides make sure they don’t die a premature death. They meet again finally at the beginning of the series and the timeline resumes like canon. And that's my master plan that merges both drama logic and novel logic while making a much better timeline. (I hope that makes some sense)

Da Qing is still Kunlun’s pet cat and important. Novel backstory applies to him. And I already mentioned him kinda but as for Yezun (Gui Mian in the novel) his deal is similar as in the drama but just a ghost. And he is a big player in the great war, he thought Shen Wei abandoned him as a kid but they were just separated. Shen Wei doesn’t know it's him till the end of the war and couldn’t stop him in the OG timeline and vows to bring him to justice and make amends. Shen Wei continuously tries to explain things to him but he just won’t listen and is imprisoned in hell bc yk… war criminal stuff and yeah he’s the main antagonist trying to break the great seal bc he’s still made about the past. Idk. Yezun wasn’t well written in the novel OR the drama so like… honestly he just needs to be completely rewritten and I don’t care enough about that. He can just be a weak villain idk

the drama characterization stays the same for everyone else bc found family go brr. However for Lao Chu i… hmm… i think he should still be a zombie but the reason he killed someone should be related to his brother. I like that addition and then shen wei realized his sentence was unjust and exempted him. i like that storyline merger. bc the brother thing and him admiring Heipaoshi was drama only. in the novel lao chu just murdered some kid for a rlly whatever reason.

uhhh in terms of the cases… id make adjustments to most of them. i think the li qian case should be like the drama bc the novel just had her as a murderer and it was boring. 

For the mountain river awl one was fine… novel version was funnier and more interesting action wise tbh… rip zyl and his exorbitant flirting. uhhh the whole reveal that shen wei was the soul reaper thing was kinda… ehh in the novel but i did love the comedy of afterwards Shen Wei pretending he went into cardiac arrest when he actually just… has no pulse bc he's a ghost. 

ID KEEP THE WORTH IT SCENE AND RAIN SCENE… THOSE FUCK SO HARD… I love the drama for adding those every damn day. the novel version of zyl losing his sight sucked and was sooo boring.  Keep the drama version on that.

also id keep dr. cheng. i'm very pro dr. cheng and her friendship with shen wei it adds so much to his character imo. keep the fruit seller man and his wife for the merit brush..omg it adds SO MUCH the way the drama did it.. like the drams build up with the novels pace of that arc.. mwah. it felt like it dragged a bit in the drama but if it went faster and without the hospital ep and with sha ya (sorry sha ya) that would've been so good. tho keep novel version of da qings memory loss and lao li. that was rlly impactful.

id say keep some of the cases like the mirror one, the eyes doctor one, etc. just to like.. yk have more to fill in general.. novel pacing but drama characterization without the bs that wasn't fully realized. and novel ending ofc. And that’s it!!

I hope most of this makes some amount of sense  but it probably doesn’t. In my head it all tracks but like ik most of u don’t know anything about the novel so this sounds like gibberish. Also I know this would literally never happen but this is MY ideal merger of the two canons that I feel compelled to expand on for some reason. Anyways, as io said,, we need to rebuild guardian. Like literally let me and the mutuals write Guardian and it will be 500 times better.

[podcastlimbo]

My honest honest opinion on second citadel season 3

Uhhhh... short answer? I didn’t like it much.

Okay wait before I go on to my long answer I need to say that this is all just my opinion and it’s all subjective. If you liked sc season 3 that’s awesome! I get why you do and I’m glad you enjoyed it!

But I really wasn’t a fan of where they went with it (even from episode 1), and I’m gonna go on a long rambly and repetitive rant about it.

I’m not gonna talk about the way the season ended and the setup for s4 because I haven’t fully formed my opinion about that - to form my opinion means to relisten to the season and i don’t really feel like doing that.

Anyways, these are my unfiltered 2am thoughts about the Rest Of It - maybe I’ll neaten it up later to make it more palatable but for now it’s wordy n messy and you can just. Not read it bc it’ll probably make you mad, or feel free to pick it apart and tell me I’m wrong, or unfollow me (and at least one person has already done so lmao) but like that won’t change the fact that I just wasn’t feeling s3 so uh. That said.

Long answer? I love the second citadel... at least the first two seasons

I love the world building, how the setting is such a unique, deliberate step away from eurocentric fantasy, how refreshing all that is! The Second Citadel (the place) is rich with culture and history from the brief glimpses we get of it (mostly in knight of the crown). Not to mention the monster society, with its own rules (or lack thereof) and environments and personalities.

I love the storytelling, how different mediums are woven into the way each episode is formatted. Rilla has her tape recorder, Damien his prayers, Caroline her letters, and each medium is so well suited to each character, and it truly lets us get a glimpse of what’s going on in their minds, and I find it utterly fascinating how a protagonist of one story could just as easily become an antagonist (or at least, an annoyance) in another

And the characters! Each one so compelling, with their own goals and motivations, their own intriguing backstories and potential.

Most importantly, the way these characters play off of each other is what makes second citadel amazing. Getting to see people with similar experiences but different world views clash (Caroline and Mira), people with fundamentally different beliefs reconcile and meet in the middle (rilla and arum), just, Kabert created so many interesting characters, and watching them bounce off one another is a joy.

And that’s what made season 2 so great for me. The exploration of each character, getting to see their good sides and bad, through either a medium tailored for them, or through interactions with others, as they explored a fascinating world.

The end of season 2 left me so satisfied, but still with so many questions and excitement about what was to come. I wanted to see Talfryn come into his own and step out of his brothers shadow. I wanted to see Damien, Arum and Rilla navigating their new relationship. I wanted to know more of the fate of Rilla’s parents, Damien’s past, the consequences Arum would surely face after defying the monster court. I wanted Marc to finally be recognized by his fellow knights, to watch as Caroline lead the journeymen knights, while learning to trust in others as she was beginning to do. I wanted Angelo continuing to unlearn the implicit biases that had been instilled in him as a result of his upbringing, or more details on Caroline and Quanyii’s relationship. I was also curious!! How would human and monster relations change after the events of the finale? And would we learn more of the past, when humans and monsters lived together in peace?

I was buzzing with excitement for season 3, and then.. it came, it aired, and then it went.

And I felt... meh?

Don’t get me wrong. There were moments that I liked. Some of what I hoped to see did happen (see the above paragraph lmao), getting a glimpse of the western wastes with its own culture a joy. The dynamics between Olala and some of the characters were really fun! And the direction the story took at the end was one I didn’t expect, but left me open to more.

That said,,, everything else about the season just. Didnt gel with me.

Everything I loved about second citadel pretty much wasn’t there??? Aside from Caroline, Angelo and Quanyii, all the characters they spent so much time introducing to us and fleshing out over 2 seasons were just relegated to the side??

I think my main problem with season 3 was that it felt like a completely different show. Characters introduced as part of an ensemble became side characters in (what was supposed to be) their own stories. Character arcs that got set up were dropped, and mysteries/backstories teased were forgotten. Heck, the monster court and senate wasn’t even brought up! The aftermath of the fear bugs attack ont the citadel went unexplored! It’s like nothing in the past season even happened!

And I’m sorry I gotta say this, but the problem is Olala.

I mean. Okay I don’t wanna be super mean- she’s perfectly fine as a character. We root for her, we cry when she cries, and we cheer when she wins the day.

But since all the episodes were centered around her, we didn’t get to see anyone else’s inner worlds. And like okay, yes, they did it for this season of Juno Steel too, where Juno, the previous POV a character for 2 seasons, became a part of an ensemble, and was a side character for many episodes. But this choice worked for Juno and not Second Citadel, because it was a natural progression for his story! We spent 2 seasons exploring Juno’s character, his backstory, his motivations, we saw him come to terms with his family history, grow and change as a person, and by the time he joined the Carte Blanche, we’d gotten to a point with Junos story where we’re okay to step away for a while, and see events through the lens of others.

But that just?? Doesn’t work in second citadel? Because unlike Juno, the characters introduced in s1-2 are virtually unexplored! There’s still so much about their stories we don’t know, and so many ways for them to progress.

But we didn’t get any of that! Stuff established in s1-2 barely got payoff in this season. Characters stagnated, and when previously it was amazing to watch them interact with each other? Having each episode throw different combinations of characters together and seeing how they clashed and came together? Yeah we didn’t get that, it was all the same characters bouncing off of Olala, which is fine at first, but honestly? After the first couple episodes, it got stale.

And remember how before, we would get to see the characters tell their story through a medium suited for them? Well I noticed that the format of this season was a lot moreee audio drama-y (basically a TV show but with no visuals) and while there’s nothing wrong with that, one of SC’s strengths was in using the medium in unique ways, presenting the episodes in unique formats depending on the POV character. And with the exception of a few moments, the season really lacked that!

I know there were episodes in s1-2, like caves of discord and the Janus beast which didnt follow that format, but I think it’s a fan consensus that the episodes that do (moonlit hermit, KOTC lots, lady of the lake) are favourites, because they fully embraced the advantages and limitations those framing devices offered, and were truly perfect for character exploration.

It’s like. Idk. Imagine wolf 359 s3 where the si5 were introduced, and there was like 1-2 episodes of them interacting with the rest of our cast, but then after that the rest of the season just completely focuses on Eiffel and the new characters, and everyone else just disappears n twiddles their thumbs and doesn’t even do anything during the finale. That’s what happened this season, and that’s the kinda weird vibe I’m talking about.

Since I’m already rambling, I might as well just say some more stuff. I was disappointed with the music this season. I can tell Ryan Vibert was trying to figure a way to make SC sound different from Juno, and he was getting there in s1-2! The pieces that stand out now are the soft, acoustic guitar pieces, like Rillas song, or the lone melody line of the guitar in the SC theme. I thought he was getting it with s3e1, when Marc fought the dinosaur while traditional Japanese instruments were playing!! But then for the rest of the season, it was just samey echoey ambient electric guitar, like how it is for Juno. There could’ve been so much potential to give this world its own musical identity, but in the end, that attempt was dropped (at least that’s how it come off to me), just like so many other elements introduced in s1-2!

I’ve gotten this far in my rant, and I haven’t even talked about the story. And the story is. Hmmmmm

Like. It’s completely serviceable? Kabert are good at what they do so the story is a okay I guess? But to be completely honest, the characters and story were so tied together in previous seasons, so much so that in this season, even though the plot was just fine, it stayed just that. Fine. it always felt like there was something missing because the characters were the story, and to have just. So many holes in that department meant that the story itself was fundamentally empty.

Anyways uh. All of this is to say that this all boils down to character. I had my nits to pick with other elements but the fact that Rilla, Arum, Damien, Marc and Talfryn got completely sidelined (Tal most of all) when so much of the previous seasons were spent setting them up- in favour of a completely new storyline featuring new characters and settings when there was still so! Much! Left! Unfinished! From unfulfilled arcs to dynamics left untapped, and creative potential lost, the essence of the show was watered down and it left me with the intense feeling of

:/

Idk. Season 3 felt like a completely different show. I liked s1, I loved a2, but s3 just. isnt second citadel for me. I’ll probably still listen to the next season out of loyalty, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel as passionately about the shows future as I do it’s precious seasons, especially if they continue this way.

Sorry.

[antigonick]

ok so i asked: if it's not too much to ask and if you don't mind, could you explain why you said emotional writing and character development isnt sims' forte? i havent started season 5 yet so idk about that season in particular, but i've always thought he did those things pretty well! no disrespect at all, i just want to hear your opinion since it's different from mine! i love your blog and think you're fantastic and lovely and hope you have a beautiful day💖

Oh no, no, don’t worry, it’s all good. I should start by saying that I’m kind of a pain in the ass when it comes to character development, because characters are usually my emotional gateways into stories—I can enjoy texts for what they are, for what they say, for how they’re constructed, for what they refer to, but for me to truly love and feel invested (and a little feverish) about a work, I need to feel like the characters have escaped their character-skin, you know? 

It’s not that Sims is bad at creating characters, not at all, I just think he’s better at other things. Most notably, at constructing a complex plot, at creating distinct atmospheres, and of course at pinpointing exactly what make people tick, horror-wise. His characters (in TMA at least) are usually archetypes; easy to enjoy because they are familiar enough that we immediately “understand” what they’re supposed to be, but still very much stock characters, created for the story rather than created for themselves and then experiencing the story. I can’t pick them up and throw them into another universe entirely; they don’t feel fleshed out enough for that, they’d have to be worked on for them to stand on their own two legs. Relationships are also posited rather than developed and grown—the goal is to make characters care for each other to justify their actions towards each other, rather than to make the relationship itself central to the story.

And it’s fine! I mean, it’s most likely a constraint of the format—podcasts are not the easiest medium for stream of consciousness and lengthy character description; it’s also a defect (in my opinion) of the genre, and by that I mean short stories, which usually compromise character-depth in order to enhance story-efficiency. Perfectly logical, but kind of why I don’t personally like short stories as much as I like, say, an obnoxious roman-fleuve.

It works wonders for characters we don’t see often (the one-episode punchy personalities and the seldom recurring ones) because they can exist vividly through their “main feature”, but once you want to get to know a character and peel away more layers, instability shows. I do think Jon’s development is compelling, but since he exists in a world of paper-thin characters, it can only go so far when he interacts with others. Overall, I’ve always felt, subjectively, that it... lacks a little warmth, a little emotional punch, a little depth.

Does that make sense? I feel like I rambled a lot here.

[kibybun]

Can I Get a undertale au where hawks is chara and hawks just hate when y/n (frisk) talk other people Hawks so he Manipulate into thinking everyone is against her finally boss sans (Dabi ) where she literally told that nobody against her After Murdering Dabi meet hawks “now we finally together nobody will help since murder everyone “ Or any plot be fine Hawks ( chara) Dabi ( sans ) Y/n (frisk ) Or you could change Around But please make hawks the main love Interest thanks so much

Yesss I love this idea so much! Thank you so much for requesting!

Yandere Hawks x reader

Undertale au!

Tw: Yandere, manipulation, murder

Enjoy!

❤Everything goes down in a blur as the wind whips past you. You hasn't mean to fall, you tripped even though there was nothing there to trip on. You try and reach out to catch something but everything went black.

❤You open your eyes and a circle of light so far up. You try and sit up back is stopped due to the excruciating pain coursing through your head. You look around and find yourself in a patch of golden buttercups within a large cave.

❤That's when you were greeted by a echo like voice. It was masculine and had curiosity as it questioned who you were and how you came to be down here.

❤You don't answer, simply thinking it was the ringing in your head from the fall. Instead you slowly stand and make your way to a large purple door hidden away in the shadows with strange encryptions on it.

❤The voice follows you with a annoyed tone. You still ignore it and push through the door and spot a line buttercup sitting in a patch of sun.

❤You jump when the flower starts speaking and explaining what a soul is. The voice was grumbling about something but fell silent as your red soul floated out in front of you.

❤You could swear that you felt someone touching your soul.

❤The flower continues speaking and says something about friendliness pellets. White petals floated towards you and you were tempted to touch the but the voice strongly demanded you didn't.

❤You don't know what compelled you to listen but you did. As you dodge the flower grows angry yet tries to keep its composure and sends another wave of petals. You dodge again and the flower snaps.

❤Its face contorts and it let's out a demonic laugh as you shrink back and bump into something that isnt there.

❤You cover your face in a attempt to hide from the pain about to happen but a gentle femal voice speaks. She says soothing words to calm your racing heart but you refuse to look out of her due to fear and the voice who says not to.

❤It helped you before so why wouldn't it help you now?

❤The lady asks you questions but you dont answer. She goes to touch you but you feel something push you out of the way of her touch.

❤She understands you dont want to be touched and simply asks you to follow. You wait for the voice to give you instructions before you make any decision. You feel something grab your hand and lead you behind the lady, saying they'll take care of everything if you listened.

❤You continue on with your head down until she leads you to a beaten up dummy. She asks you to make polite conversation with it but your guiding voice said otherwise.

❤You use a stick to give it a firm wacking causing the fabric to rip and for stuffing to fall out. The lady pauses and awkwardly clears her throat before walking on. Before you follow you were showered with praise by the voice that, oddly, made your heart warm.

❤The lady leaves you and the voice tells you to persist on, so you do. Along the way the voice directs you the harm the monsters along the way. You listen and make it on your way barely harmed.

❤At one point you even felt feathers brush against your skin in a protective and delicate way. It was comforting and ominous at the same time but you brush it off, continuing to hold the invisible hand that guided you.

❤You finally make it to a small house. Inside was the lady who you still refuse to look at. She leads you to a room and tells you to rest. You crawl into bed and a pair of arms wrap around you tightly.

❤When you wake up you find a piece of pie laying on the ground in front of you. You cautiously eat it and venture out the room to find the lady reading. The voice tells you to head into the kitchen and grab a knife. You do as your told.

❤You then sneak past the lady and down a set of stairs and make it to another large door before the lady comes and begs you to go back. When you refuse your soul shows its self and the battle begins.

❤The voice helps you dodge and tells you to wait before you attack.

❤ Finally the lady crumbles and starts to cry. She explains how she only wants to take care of you, how she lost her family and how she wanted to start a new and take care of you. She opens her arms for you and the voice tells you to hug her. You do and you feel your grip around the knife tighter as you're told to stab her. You do as you're told.

❤Her body turns to dust and you walk out the door to see the flower. The flower says something about her death and disappeares with a evil laugh.

❤No matter, your invisible hand leads you out the door and through the chilling winter forrest. You barely noticed the branch cracking in half with blue ash falling around it.

❤You almost didn't notice the person standing in front of you. You try and lift your head to look at them but something shoved you head down, preventing that. Either way the person introduces themselves and holds out a hand.

❤You couldn't hear their name due to something whispering static in your ears and when you went to shake their hand your hand was pulled back down. You were also given a strict warning not to interact with the person in front of you.

❤You try to walk past but the person grabs your elbow and spins you so you're facing them. They then try and lift your chin so you would look at them but once again your head was being pushed down to prevent it. You could tell that the person in front of you was male.

❤The fight over your head stops as footsteps approached through the snow. The man quickly pulls you and hides you behind a oddly shaped lamp.

❤The new person arrives and you were forbidden from looking up it seemed. You listen and determine how the new person behaves due to the way he speaks. He sounds like a brat that can't stand not having his way, spoken with a raspy voice.

❤They leave and instantly you're dragged off before the man before could say anything to you.

❤You are thrown into more fights that you win, staining the snow with grey. You're also challenged with puzzles that your invisible guide helps with. It also makes sure you leave no survivors.

❤You obey.

❤It hurt watching the dogs whimper as you cut them with the dull kitchen knife but the voice was the only thing you trusted. It was right about the flower so it must be trying to help you all around. It was protecting you so you trusted it, more than yourself.

❤You reach the end of Snowdin leaving no obstacles in your wake, except the tall bratty fellow. They demanded you take them on, saying that you could change and how he'd forgive you. You fight him without hurting him as instructed by the voice. He does his final move and opens his arms to you just as the lady did. You again jump onto his arms but this time you're instructed to go for the head. With a fatal blow of betrayal and your knife his head falls to the ground.

❤You walk into the waterfall, not caring to watch the head turn to dust as well as his body.

❤You again get led by a invisible hand that showers you in praise and helps you eliminate everything in sight. You even meet a little kid along the way.

❤They blab on and on about a certain hero who's name was blurred from your hearing. You honestly thought the voice would instantly tell you to eliminate them but it said to wait. So you did.

❤Along the way you got attacked by someone with blue spears and the voice simply advised you to run. This causes you to fall down the waterfall.

❤You wake up in garbage with a sore body but your invisible companion doesn't care. You're pulled from the garage and thrown into more and more fights.

❤You see the man from before a few more times, seeing that he has multiple dark burn marks that are hard to see in the dark. At one point you wanted to go interact with him because he had a telescope but you were pulled away.

❤You find a little cove of cat like creatures that let out the saddest of cries as your knife ended them. You couldn't do anything to help them, that's what the voice wanted.

❤You meet back up with the kid from before and started getting chased by the same person with the spears. The kid slips and holds onto the side of the cliff, calling out for help. The voice tells you to make them fall. You walk over and bend down before plucking at their fingers, making them fall.

❤The hero instantly jumps down and saves them. The hand takes the time to drag you along and run.

❤Unfortunately the hero catches up and fights you. Due to their fall they were badly hurt, making the fight end a lot faster. But then the kid before confronts you, demanding you fight them. It was a lazy swipe of your blade that ended their life.

❤Everything went by quickly after that. You had managed to kill the lizard that was spying on you and complete the puzzles with ease. You even brought that cute couple's life to an end, atleast they were together.

❤You had made it to a restaurant and the guy was there too. He didn't hesitate to grab you and teleport you to a table with him. The restaurant was near empty yet the atmosphere was still lively.

❤The man's voice was muffled to you and it was hard to even pay attention to you as you were violently being yanked out of your chair. The man noticed this and yanked you back into his arms. You stood uncomfortable, feeling the rage of your invisible friend grow.

❤Your knife starts floating and darts at the man. Before he disappears he tells you to run. Sadly, it was impossible to ran as your hand was trapped in a bone crushing grip that dragged you along the way.

❤Dust coated your clothing as you entered a dark room with a spotlight. Someone with a robotic voice then started to monologue so you decided to simply attack to get the battle over with.

❤The battle fully begins and cameras float around and broadcast your fight to the very few people still alive. Your invisible friend grows irritated and seemingly possessed you. Your movements weren't your own and the thoughts in your head were playing out in a different voice.

❤The battle ended quickly and your body runs off but you didn't object or fight back. It was only trying to help you... right?

❤Your body charges though a monochrome area very similar to the ladies house from before. Your body only stops once to pick up a much sharper knife that gleamed before exiting the place. That's when you entered a large hall with stained glass decorating the walls with a line person standing in the middle, waiting.

❤There stood the man from before, but this time you could actually see his face. His face was decorated with burn marks yet he was still very attractive.

❤You started talking but it wasnt in your voice. It held malace towards the man for being in the way. The man held a calm expression before attacking. Blue flames and bones erupted from the ground, aiming to kill you.

❤Somehow your body dodges all attacks thrown at it and so does the man. It was almost like they've fought countless times before with different stories behind each time but this time was different. Someone didnt follow the rules, someone got involved when they shouldn't have.

❤This would be their last fight together.

❤The man started sweating as your body continued at the same incredibly fast pace. You didn't want the man to die but if your guide said so it must happen.

❤The final blow was dealt and the man felt to the ground clutching his bleeding chest. You felt as if in a different timeline or universe the two of you could've been great friends, lovers even, but this wasn't one of them.

❤You continue to be a passenger in your own body and it pushes on through another set of doors. Not before hearing the man say a final and heartfelt goodbye to the world he called home.

❤That's when the final battle of your journey starts. It was the king this time. You barely had time to look at his face before he was dust.

❤A final push through some doors and you're back in a dark room with the only light falling on a lone flower. You regain control over your body as the flower starts talking but it was interrupted by something invisible cutting it at the stem.

❤That's when you see him. Your guide with the cold eyes and blood red wings.

❤He happily turns to you and grabs you. You felt an unbearable amount of unease as he whispers how he'll take care of you, how no one will hurt you, how he'll always love you, how you could never leave him now.

💔Then everything went black.

💔GAME OVER.

Kiby~💚

[crowsent]

so i started watching kings avatar

this is a no-spoiler reaction mini-essay of the kings avatar anime; an action-adventure anime focused on high-paced fight scenes and an insane amount of dramatic one-liners but has like. a surprising amount of character focus and compelling narratives. the anime released a few years ago, around 2017, and i know its technically a “web series” and not an anime but consider this: anime is easier to type. so anyway, this anime is essentially an e-sports centred around a fictional mmorpg which is. not a genre i like. but for reasons i refuse to admit on this blog, i started watching this anime and im glad i did. because its good.

surprisingly good.

the animation, the music, the characters, the sound design, the environment, setting, killer one-liners, plot, character dynamics, emotional scenes...

its fucking good.

i expected something mediocre at best bc e-sports anime arent generally known for any profound themes and usually just funnel all their budget into fight scenes which certainly have a place in the anime community but its not my cup of tea but kings avatar just. decimated that idea.

8 minutes in and i already got a compelling amount of characterisation for the main character, the setting, and oddly enough, a discussion about the chinese gaming culture and how corporate commercialises the industry and leaves their talent (the gamers) ill-prepared for when they get their contracts released and/or terminated which is. not what id expect

obviously, the fictional depiction of the chinese gaming industry in an anime should not be taken to represent the chinese gaming industry in real life but like. 8 minutes in. i got THIS MUCH from kings avatar 8 MINUTES IN.

there is so much about this anime that i didnt expect and i was pleasantly surprised. for starters:

the music. the music of this anime is stellar. that ost during the first fight we see in the very beginning is just adrenaline-pumping. thats the kind of music youd expect to find from a AAA movie. the kind of music youd expect from a fucking video game boss battle. and its soooooooo fitting for the anime which is essentially about video games and battles. amazing score. 10/10

the animation. there is 3d animation mixed in w the 2d BUT its blended pretty seamlessly that it isnt super obvious. obviously the big boss we see in the beginning is 3d bc its cheaper/easier to animate, but there are some background characters and props that are animated with 3d as well. the animation is smooth enough and the amount of detail is made just so to ensure that the focus still remains on the 2d animation. not revolutionary by any means, but the inclusion of 3d anime allows for something that i found really appealing,

the camerawork. dont know if i talked about this before on this blog, but i am a fucking sucker for good camerawork in animated movies. which is why i ADORED kimetsu no yaiba which has PHENOMENAL camerawork that took all my uwus. kings avatar has the same phenomenal camerawork. huge panning shots of a beautifully rendered environment, action scenes with quick cuts and deliberate rolling focus, numerous perspective shots from different angles to achieve suspense, unease, drama, fucking ALL OF IT

the thing that i loved most of course, are the dramatic moments and one-liners bc im a dramatic motherfucker and i eat that shit up. the most unnecessarily extra tossing of a contract across a table, “rest for a year then come back” announcement, “50/50? id rather take 100″ and so on and so on. this anime is so fuckin EXTRA and i fucking love it

please do keep in mind that i uh,,,, may be a little biased for this anime. ive already mentioned that i usually dislike the genre but i watched kings avatar for a reason and for that reason, i may react to the anime a little more favourably than i would otherwise

but also keep in mind that while i normally post screenshots along with my reactions, i wasnt able to grab screenshots this time around bc i uhhhhhh did not pause the episode to grab the screenshots bc this stupid fucking thing got me waiting with bated breath so take what you will from this ig

dunno if ill do an episode-by-episode reaction or do one huge reaction at the very end with my formal review/opinion of the show as a whole. well see

[doomsdaydicecascader]

thoughts on the pq ending?

mixed. mostly bad. 

i really liked the way dirk was written before ult dirk showed up. it’s a very charming portrayal of him, and pesterquest dropping the act that any of mspar’s failures meant anything in the long run while still gesturing at the sierra king’s quest-ass deaths was nice. 

ult dirk in dirk’s route is really good, it’s a really tense conflict and taking the choice out of mspar’s hands and putting it in dirk’s is really, really nice, dirk kind of flipping the patterns of pesterquest on its head is amusing, and candy dave is a nice vibe to add to the scene, even if he looks like /r/relationships made into a human and not at all how i imagined him.

that stuff is fun. it’s like, the best thing the ult dirk conflict can be, by playing ult dirk against his younger self. if ult dirk was a weird offshoot and not like, the main dude, it would own a lot. “X character, but from a timeline where they’re evil” is such a fucking fun trope, but it’s like. supposed to be the same dude we saw in homestuck, and ult dirk isnt just a bad end for dirk specifically.

he’s a bad end for the idea of storytelling in general

and that’s a segue into this: the afterw@rd is almost really good. i wish the director had motivations beyond literally shrugging when asking why things have to exist. 

i dont have any ill will towards aysha and i try not to have ill will against new homestuck in general, these days, since if i leave it unchecked and unmeasured it WILL consume me and nobody wants that toxicity in their life, let alone me. so i try to kind of take post-canon as it comes, try and engage with it on its own terms, but the writing does not vibe with me at all, and aysha having their self-insert outright say “being within a narrative is inherently suffering” while continuing to make homestuck^2 just doesn’t vibe with me at all. 

like i get that “being within a narrative is suffering” is kind of like, the point of post-canon content, but i sincerely just don’t vibe with it. there are a lot of reasons to tell a story, and homestuck^2 has scaled back the pillars of canon into just “a story is canon if it’s compelling” and maybe this is a personal thing but i think that stories that are compelling are stories that have a reason to exist, a statement to make, and maybe i’m just stupid but i don’t know how to apply the idea of “being meguca is suffering” that post-canon seems to build itself around to real life. 

there’s a lot of time spent with the director and dirk arguing, and its presented like a conflict when i don’t think it is. i don’t necessarily see how they disagree, but at least it’s comprehensible this time, which is a step up from how it shows up in other routes. 

official vriska thevriscourse meta plot tier list: A tier: aradia’s route. fun, indulges and is relatively well set upC tier: afterw@rd secret ending. uses known symbols in new ways but isnt necessarily anything new in the long run. D tier: afterw@rd ending proper. pretentious and boring but at least has a decent amount of setupF tier: vriska’s route. unwarranted and detracts from the story around it with an unnecessary interjection 

the Director sending you back to give john the beta seems to completely contradict the way that homestuck has handled retcon powers to begin with, like its a time loop to be corrected, but the thing is, the part where john gets the beta has already been committed to the page and cant be changed without pissing a lot of people off. 

and the game closing when you choose to do anything else that the game presents to you sucks. like. i get it, this is the “you lost to omega flowey, the game closes” thing, but at least undertale had writing and gameplay to back it up, when i don’t think post-canon does. i was mostly just exhausted by it.

the ending for mspar in the semi-secret ending is nice. it’s a little bit puzzleboxy and has a weird bit where it treated the green sun as a Symbol, A Theme, when i never really got anything from it beyond its use as a plot device, but that might just be me not looking at homestuck in the same way as the writers.

aside from that it’s very sweet and i sincerely hope this is the last we see of mspar. if we do, it wouldn’t be the first, nor probably the last time post-canon has wasted its own endings but i will be a little sad about it. 

if post-canon won’t end, the least it can do is give individual characters endings.

[gizkasparadise]

wow trying to edit that post was a nightmare. sorry yall. 

anonymous asked how bad “goodbye my princess” was. 

vague badness: enemy lovers that actually have consequences, betrayal/lying, jealousy, murder, suicide, dead family members dead family members everywhere, depression, the male love interest going a lil Unhinged, main character deaths (plural)

detailed spoilers (and legit, SPOILERS) under the cut

so you have to embrace that the male lead/chengyin is an absolute piece of shit. like he’s terrible. and he’s compelling. but he makes so many bad choices in pursuit of power / the throne of the li empire. so so many. now, he loves xiaofeng and it’s legit, but that ultimately brings more pain to her than if he didn’t.

Fucked Up Shit Chengyin Does: A Love (?) Story

-within the first 10 episodes, he + his soldiers have almost completely wiped out xiaofeng’s family + the danchi as a whole. her cousins die. her friends die. tangentially, her mother dies and her father goes insane. chengyin even beheads her beloved grandfather in front of her (he didn’t know she was there. but lmao. still.)

-did i mention that was on their wedding day? it was on their wedding day. said grandfather even gave her away. he went ahead with marrying xiaofeng even though he had no intention of abandoning his mission and thought idk love would fix it? chengyin what what what are you doing

-it’s unclear whether or not chengyin was going to tell her he was the double agent/the reason the li empire was able to wipe out the danchi, but there’s this like Significant pause between when xiaofeng wakes up from traumatically fainting after the danchi are defeated to her recognizing the li empire armor in his quarters where he doesn’t say anything and it is Sketch. definitely the implication that if he could he would hide his role in the defeat of the danchi from her and just Carry On as a Happily Married Couple

-she’s rightfully horrified by him when she makes the connection between him and the armor in his tent and tries to stab him, so he stabs himself harder which isnt awful but just fucked up like this is not a good relationship

-when gu jian (xiaofeng’s teacher/first love) comes to take her out of the li military camp, chengyin stops him and demands that he lets xiaofeng go because, quote, “They’re not over yet.” bro you just massacred damn near her entire family i think that’s a dealbreaker (to his credit he does let her leave but lmao it’s v clear he didn’t want to)

-there’s a semi-time skip and Plot Related Amnesia, so he and xiaofeng don’t remember their traumatic history, and both end up in the li empire b/c of xiaofeng’s marriage contract to one of their princes. one would think without the danchi backstory maybe they could have a better time. they don’t.

-chengyin falls for xiaofeng again, but he knows the politics of court are Fucked Up and if he shows he cares about her they’ll target her. so he makes a girl who’s been in love with him since childhood (se se) his concubine and fake!dotes on her to have all the political schemes fall on her instead of xiaofeng. basically, he exploits the poor girl’s feelings to make her a meat shield. i think he calls her expendable at one point. on the flip side of things, he treats xiaofeng like absolute shit sometimes in order to protect her. which works, but gd what an asshole

-although their memories are gone, chengyin knows basic things about the events in western liang that others in the palace have told him: that he defeated the danchi and killed xiaofeng’s grandfather are among them. he doesn’t tell xiaofeng this, even when they’re officially engaged. she finds out on her own right before the wedding and confronts him. he’s essentially like Look I Didn’t Want You To Know and when that doesn’t do well he’s like Think of The Country and also I Love You and gets general pei to later take her to the memorial he built for her grandfather, complete with his armor set. which is kind of sweet but also kind of imperialist museum? and also he was the one that killed him??

-super jealous. when there’s rumors that general pei and xiaofeng are having an affair (they’re not), he maneuvers to publicly strong-arm pei into a marriage with his sister (aka an imperial princess aka a marriage he can’t turn down). it turned out alright, but the Motives were definitely not alright--emphasized by the stone cold stare down he gives xiaofeng after the announcement (she’s oblivious to it, because she’s not in love with pei, but chengyin doesn’t know that). part of it is a political maneuver, but it’s also p clear that it’s personal

-a doozy. so gu jian, chengyin’s cousin and accomplice in the Take Down the Danchi Fuckery, is in love with xiaofeng. he was also xiaofeng’s first love, but she doesn’t remember him because #amnesia.  throughout the second half of the show, gu jian’s been working as sort of a guardian for xiaofeng as she lives in the palace and trying to make amends for his part in the danchi massacre/trying to assuage his guilty conscience. at one point, he decides enough’s enough and he kidnaps xiaofeng in order to get her free from the palace. during this time, chengyin’s absolutely losing his shit because his beloved wife is gone and he knows gu jian’s the one that took her / has his suspicions about gu jian’s feelings for her.

while gu jian and xiaofeng are on the run, xiaofeng starts to get bits and pieces of her memory back--all of them surround a man named “xiaowu” aka chengyin’s alter-ego when they were together in west liang. because he’s a shit, gu jian says he’s xiaowu, and as a result xiaofeng believes he’s the one she used to be in love with. Complicated. even more complicated when, fleeing chengyin and palace soldiers, xiaofeng hits her head and COMPLETELY remembers everything.

needless to say, she doesn’t want to be around chengyin anymore. it’s super sad and fucked up, because while xiaofeng remembers everything, chengyin doesn’t. so here’s what chengyin knows:

-his wife was open and warm and they were in love even if he couldn’t always show it because #Intrigue

-wife gets kidnapped by his cousin, who he suspects is in love with her

-wife comes back from kidnapping, hating him and saying the only person she ever cared for was xiaowu -- which is NOT HIM

-his cousin claimed to be xiaowu

when gu jian tries to rescue xiaofeng again, he’s surrounded by palace guards and chengyin goes totally unhinged. he forces xiaofeng to watch as he orders his men to shoot the shit out of gu jian. she tries to look away but he won’t let her. he doesnt even care that a’du, xiaofeng’s best friend and the only one she really has left, is at risk of being shot as well. gu jian dies, and while xiaofeng knows he’s not xiaowu she remembers that they grew up together/at one point he was her beloved teacher and she’s devastated. she tries to starve herself but chengyin threatens to take a’du away forever if she does. it’s fucked up.

-xiaofeng tries to escape multiple times, and he won’t let her/re-captures her. it’s just. sad. really sad, esp since she can’t forgive him for what he did to her family

-after all this shit, west liang decides to rebel and chengyin decides to crush them. because killing one side of xiaofeng’s family tree wasn’t enough, apparently

-xiaofeng rides out to the middle of the battlefield--on one side is west liang, under control of her brother. on the other is li empire, under control of her husband. she threatens to kill herself unless chengyin meets two of her conditions: 1) that he’ll leave west liang the fuck alone for as long as he lives--chengyin agrees, and it’s clear he would say yes to anything she asks because he is freaking out. he even says that if she dies he’ll kill himself, too. which leads to wish 2) he has to live well

which feels like a mixture of selfless love and a little bit of a fuck you? she knows that making him survive after she dies is probably going to be what hurts him the most, but he swore to it. then she slits her own throat while he watches, and he runs by her side and is trying to keep her alive (which is fruitless). and then he’s shoved away from her by her brother, who takes her corpse back to west liang. chengyin grows old, and it’s clear the only thing he’s got is his empire and it’s a lonely fucking life. at some point, he abdicates to his nephew (implying he never had his own family) and goes back into the desert to “find xiaofeng” because he’s in denial that she’s dead and the vibe is that he’s definitely going to die alone out there

#fin

characters who die

-danchi: tömür/xiaofeng’s grandfather, he shi (a’du’s brother/xiaofeng’s friend), yi moyan (xiaofeng’s cousin), batu’er, a good freaking chunk

-west liang: consort/princess mingyuang, ashina yun/xiaofeng’s mother, qu wenchang/xiaofeng’s father goes insane

-li empire: zhao sese goes insane, crown prince #1/chengji, crown prince #2/chengye, the empress, the emperor, gao yuming, li yan, gao zhen, gu ruhui, chang’er, chai mu, ming yue

-main: xiaofeng, gu jian, a’du

[i-looktothe-stars]

so that went downhill fast

where to begin with this episode. spyfall was so good, and this episode tried to be. it tried really hard. the message was good, but the execution of that message was so frustrating. spoilers ahead

(ok before I get to the important stuff can I just mention the green wigs. those were so bad. the fuck)

this episode honestly just pissed me off. I'd be really surprised if the writer (ed hime) had ever watched an episode of doctor who before, because this is not how the show is supposed to work.

the doctor visits the main timeline and, based on what happens there, that can affect the future. if the doctor failed to beat the carrionites or the pyroviles or the gelth or whatever, that would affect our future. we haven't visited an alternate future like this before (apart from in an alternate universe) because that's not how the show has shown it to work.

and if this is part of the main timeline, then that entirely fucks with the show's canon, which would make me even more annoyed. every established future event would just been retconned. all those fixed points? fuck em. the great and bountiful human empires that the show has told us about? what empires? there can't be human empires if all the humans have mutated or died.

and the doctor would know about it! it shouldn't be a surprise to her if earth goes through a nuclear apocalypse at some point. the doctor isnt supposed to be omniscient but she knows a lot about space and time, especially earth. she's supposed to be teaching people about what happens in the future, not surprised at every twist and turn.

I like the message that we need to do something to stop global warming and try to be the best we can be. but the way they've tried to deliver this message, by fucking about with the show's rules? that's Not Great.

onto the other bits. honestly, I wasn't compelled by the old guy being taken by the dregs. don't get me wrong, I did want them to get him back and it was sad when he died. but they could've directly involved our main cast in the plot by having one of the companions get taken. that would've been so much more tense because we're invested in these characters. instead it feels like they tried to remake gridlock but rather than martha getting kidnapped, it was that random girl at the start who bought the forget drug.

I wasn't invested in the other two plots either, with Bella being annoyed at her mum and Sylas being annoyed at his dad. they felt disconnected from the main plot and didn't feel like they fit thematically. the Bella plot was moderately better, as Kane wanted to make money off "Orphan 55" which I guess fits with "humans bad in this timeline", but still just felt like a distraction.

speaking of Bella and Kane, why did the doctor just leave them to die? I'm sure that every other incarnation would've at least tried to save them, because that's what the doctor does. but I guess not any more.

finally the episode didn't develop the characters or link to the season arc (apart from one line about the doctor being moody, which, come on. show don't tell guys). I'm not saying every episode needs to be super important, but you could just not watch this episode and your experience would be the same (probably less irritating) as if you had watched it. not every episode of every series of doctor who before this is perfect, obviously, but I'm just disappointed that it went downhill so fast.

here's hoping next episode will be better.