#which is a shame because he was a fucking brilliant villain for seasons 1 and 2

[maeo-png]

closing thoughts on the owl house in the tags cus boy howdy do i have a lot of them

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

(sees another fandom that I can ask you about and cheers) Orphan Black! Thoughts? I don't know Dr Who but Tatiana is one of my favorite actors period.

Anon you are so sweet! I'm always happy to chat about fandoms and characters and whatnot, and I will never not appreciate the majesty of Tatiana's acting. That is one of the greatest parts of the show hands down.

Orphan Black, to me, is a show that had incredible potential, but didn't really live up to the excitement it created. (Loooong post ahead.)

The thing is, Orphan Black builds a chilling mystery and background, the world it gradually creates as it goes for about the first two seasons, got be very invested and made me wonder a lot about where it was going to go and what the answers were. The setup is brilliant, right from the start with that iconic cold open of Beth's suicide. The unknown is what really helped this show get as thrilling as it was, because the actual answers behind the unknown were kind of hit and miss, and it seemed like far too often, the show just wasn't interested in telling it's story. Hijinks where the clones impersonate each other in slice of life events? That's fun at first and it really works well as they're still getting to know each other. But after a while, it gets tedious, and it seems like the show would rather fuck around and have dance parties (seriously, that scene was such a #BigLippedAlligatorMoment) than focus on the story and the threat that the sisters are facing. Virtually all of Allison's plotlines are like this, they feel like they belong in a different show, and for some reason the writers insisted on giving her one of these storylines like, every season. After Allison passively murders her own friend out of suspecting that she's spying on her, I just don't feel like an arc about her running for some PTA office position even matters. It doesn't feel right.

Speaking of that, here's another example: Donnie. Why did the end of the first season suggest that he was this secret mastermind working for Leekie? The whole idea just deflates in Season 2 and doesn't really go anywhere. He just goes back to being the bumbling sweetheart he was before. Why even have him be the spy? Maybe it should have been Ainsley. Do you want to know the exact moment that I think Orphan Black went wrong? Like, the specific scene? When Leekie was killed off. The character who had thus far been the Big Bad, gets taken out in the stupidest possible way, a literal accident on Donnie's part, and it's even played for laughs. After that point, the show really struggled to regain it's footing, though I don't think it completely went off the rails until about Season 4, and it was still generally hit or miss. Like, some stuff was really good. The introduction of the Castor clones, the development of Rachel's character (I'll get to her, trust me.) and the reveal of Kendall Malone. But it seemed like so much else was just forgotten or otherwise not resolved. Whatever happened to Cal? Sure, the show wanted to focus on the sisters...but Kira deserves to know her father if she wants to. That's just one example. It's a crying shame because this show is sometimes incredible. The metaphor that I always use for situations like this, is a card game. The show has all the right cards in its hand, they're just not being played.

The two strongest characters, at least to me, were Rachel and Helena. One of these characters was superbly written and went through a devastating arc. The other was Helena. We need to talk about her. In Season 1, she really cemented herself as a memorable presence with her trademark accent, her scars, her whole damn personality (again, hats off to Tatiana) and of course, that iconic screechy theme music that accompanied her. Which at first made us jump, but eventually made us cheer. I adored Helena, and I loved the development of her relationship with Sarah. Who went from shooting her in Season 1, to being deadset on rescuring her in Season 3, being furious with Siobhan for betraying her. (This is unrelated but Siobhan has the same " twist villain fakeout" at the end of Season 1 that Donnie does, and it's quite frustrating.) And yet, I swear, the writers just didn't know what to do with Helena half the time. They put her on a bus for long stretches, including one point where she just up and leaves Allison's house in Season 4, for no given reason. And the characters just kind of...don't care. The same thing happens when she gets arrested. No one cares to try and find Helena, even though she's unstable and often a danger to those around her. Even though she's by herself with no real ability to function in society. Even though she's pregnant. There is no excuse for this, and no Sarah, that "I'm sorry, I avoided you" scene in Season 5 is not going to cut it. It's such an afterthought.

I'm being rather critical, but I hope you can tell that this is from a point of passion. I genuinely enjoyed this show and getting to watch it. Just that sometimes it didn't feel like the show cared that I was watching. However, this was not true whenever Rachel was onscreen. Look, I'm a Merula Snyde stan, so you can probably already guess how I feel about Rachel. Despite her crimes, despite her constant slipping back the dark side, I felt so bad for Rachel at the end of it all. That scene with Kira really sums it up. "Who hurt you?" "All of them." And no scene is more intense than when she stabs out the eye cam. Like, I'm sorry, I pitied Rachel pretty much from Season 2 on. Her parents were horrible to her, and I'm supposed to think Ethan is the good guy here? He kills himself in front of his own daughter, telling her that she doesn't deserve him. And then Sarah shoots a pencil through her eye, causing brain damage and requiring a long recovery. I'm not saying that Sarah was wrong to do what she did, just that if I were in her shoes, I'd still feel a degree of guilt for Rachel's condition. In the end, I'm devastated that she was barred from Clone Club, when she made the right decision at the point it mattered. But there's just too much history there, and Sarah won't ever forgive her. (Though again, I do feel as though there's blame to share.) Rachel is my favorite character and I never expected her to be. But she's just so complex. Side note: "Enjoy your oophorectomy" is so damn quotable. I don't know why but I love that line.

So, Rachel's my favorite. Who's my least favorite? It might surprise you. It's Delphine. I'm sorry, but I just...I couldn't get on board with C*phine. Not after Season 3. I was waiting for the point that the show would push to finally redeem Delphine for her turncoat role, for all of the hell that she put Cosima through. By Season 5 though? I realized that as far as the writers were concerned? She already was redeemed. Even though she did nothing to earn it, except be presumed dead by Cosima. The way she treats Cosima in Season 3 is actually disgusting. Her reasoning for breaking up with Cosima is circular. She has to love "all the clones" in order to be with Cosima, and the way to do that is to take over Rachel's job, which means they can't date anymore? I'm not the only one who thought that didn't make sense, right? Oh and let's talk about how she stalks Cosima's date, breaks into her house, and threatens her life. Red. Flags. Cosima even says the line, "If you're not going to be with me, just let me go." I'm sorry, that should not be something she has to beg for. Delphine's behavior made me want her to stay far, far away from Cosima. Who is, incidentally, a sweetie and I absolutely adore her. I legit have trouble remembering that Tatiana's playing her because she just looks and acts so different. That said, even though I immensely disliked Delphine, I am so very glad that they made one of the clones gay. Just like I'm glad that they made one of them trans. (Though...Tony wasn't handled especially well.)

In general, I do think the earlier seasons were stronger. The Brightborn arc, while interesting, didn't really contribute much to the overarching narrative. We got the backstory on Beth's suicide and finally learned the truth about her, I suppose. Still, even though Beth is one of my favorite of the clones, and I never expected her to be either...I feel like the actual reason given for why she took her own life was rather illogical. She apparently did it because the investigation was putting the clones in danger of another Helsinki. Okay, but just because Evie Cho says you should off yourself, doesn't mean you have to. You could just, like...stop investigating. And if you die under mysterious circumstances without explaining anything to the sisters, they're not going to be put off from the investigation. They're going to look into this even more, because they don't know why they're not supposed to. The reveal that she and Art fell in love toward the end adds an extra gut punch, but it also doesn't make sense because wouldn't Art have referenced it during the period that he thought Sarah was Beth? On the other hand, Season 4 also introduced MK. And I have such a soft spot for her. I adore that sheep-masked sweetie. Everyone always asks "Which clone would you date" (because fandoms can think of nothing else I guess) and I never see anyone give any love to MK. Her death absolutely tore me apart. I am glad Siobhan avenged her even if she went down at the same time. Side note, her last word being the affectionate "Chickens..." Broke me.

Season 5 was a strange beast. In general, it seemed like we were finally getting some answers to the questions that were hanging over us. Exploring the deep mythos. But then they kind of turned it around and made it just be a Wizard of Oz style fraud twist. Westmoreland isn't really inhumanly old, he's a charlatan. I don't know why that was necessary in a science fictional show. I've seen the interviews and I get what they were going for, it just feels like it would have been cooler and far creepier if he was actually that old. The puppet master pulling the strings the whole time. We also finally get some answers for Kira's superhuman healing abilities (though we never learn how she's telepathically connected to the clones) and I'm loving it, but the trouble is, it's inconsistent. Ethan "Why is this guy so popular, he's an asshole" Duncan told Rachel specifically that Sarah being able to have children was a fluke, that the clones were "barren by design." I don't know, the whole concept of Revival and of the "magical island" was really foreboding and tied in with the earlier references to The Island of Doctor Moreau. Especially that song about "Revival's Children" just...the shudders, man. But just having it be a regular old scam is...a letdown. I know it may be more realistic, but I don't always need realism in my scifi. The finale is interesting, in that it's mostly an epilogue. I'm glad the clones (sans Rachel) got to live happily ever after, but there are two gut punches right at the end that are total nitpicks but they bother me. Helena naming her kids after Art and Donnie? And writing a memoir that she names "Orphan Black?" Those two tropes can go die in a hole. They can enjoy an oophorectomy, because I'm so sick of them.

The potential of Orphan Black was practically infinite. The results of Orphan Black fell frustratingly short.

[asterekmess]

1-11 Scott/Posey Stans always try to deflect criticism of the way Scott McCall is written in Teen Wolf by claiming that ANY attempt by a fan, a viewer, or a critic of holding Scott to a level of behavior that one would expect of a character who is a main and the self-proclaimed hero of the show is “racism”. Except that their accusations don’t make any sense whatsoever, because Scott’s canonical shitty actions and behavior don’t stem from his race (or canonical lack of thereof.)

Okay hun, this is a doozy, so I’m putting it under a Read More.

2-11 Scott McCall is mean. He’s mean to Stiles, he’s mean to Allison, he’s mean to Derek, he’s mean to Peter, he’s mean to Cora, he’s mean to Lydia, he’s mean to Jackson, he’s mean to Erica, he’s mean to Isaac, he’s mean to Malia, he’s mean to Malia, he’s mean to Kira, he’s mean to Liam, he’s mean to Chris, and he’s even mean to Theo (“You are barely even human!”) Scott McCall is deliberately rude to the Hales, Boyd, Ethan, Danny, Hayden, Jiang, Tierney, and Melissa.

3-11 Scott McCall deliberately USES, INSULTS, HUMILIATES and DEHUMANIZES people in ways that demonstrate that he is fully aware of what he’s doing. Scott McCall deliberately disregards other people’s needs in order to fulfill his own. Tyler Posey being half Mexican doesn’t change the fact that his fictional character Scott McCall is a whiny coward and an abusive piece of trash,

4-11 and that his so called ‘defense squad’ enjoys the power fantasy that Scott can be cruel, can lie, can assault, can lash out, can violate other people’s boundaries, bodily autonomy and consent, can commit premeditated murder, can break the law without impunity, can dehumanize, can gaslight and victim blame his friends to his heart’s content and no one should ever hold it against him

5-11 In both the production and in some Scott supremacist fanfics, there’s often the premise that people are evil and in the wrong if they call Scott out on his bullshit or hold his toxic behavior against him. Take Season 1. As much as the Scott McCall defense squad brigade love framing Stiles and Derek getting shit done and prioritizing people’s life over Scott’s jealous fits and temper tantrums as the height of depravity

6-11 Scott/Posey Stans consciously and steadfastly ignore all the cruel things that Scott says and does throughout the seasons, such as “How much Adderall have you had today?” OR “What are you trying to do?! I just made first line! I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me and everything in my life is perfect! Why are you trying to ruin it?!” OR “The hunters had a reason to slaughter your entire family and pack”

7-11 (As an aside, it’s amazing to me how Fanon rewrites Scott as this brilliant thinker and strategist and mastermind who is so much smarter and better than everyone else in every way even though Canon Scott spends the entirety of Teen Wolf doing absolutely nothing except get his ass handed to him by everyone, whining about wanting to be popular/get his dick wet/play lacrosse, screaming at his friends and girlfriends, being utterly useless when left to his own devices,

8-11 and planning to bite Stiles against his will because he doesn’t know what to do. But I digress.) Or take Season 5. In the rain argument in Lies of Omission (5x09), Scott McCall’s hypocritical, dehumanizing speech to Stiles is one of the meanest, cruelest, most disgusting manipulations I have ever seen a television character deliver to another television character they supposedly cared about. It’s victim blaming and gaslighting at its vilest.

9-11 And, of course, the Scott McCall defense squad focuses exclusively on the idea that Stiles didn’t behave “the right way” in that scene (AKA taking Scott’s bullshit without clapping back like Scott wanted and demanded), and cannot entertain for one moment the idea that Scott provoked that response by dehumanizing Stiles and by accusing Stiles of being a violent, dangerous, inhuman monster and serial killer based on Theo’s words alone.

10-11 After all, it’s part of their power fantasy. Scott being “abandoned” and “mistreated” by his “ungrateful” friends serves another type of fantasy: the poor oppressed martyr. It doesn’t matter why Scott is abandoned or who is leaving Scott, it’s all about Scott McCall’s right to own people and demand his friends’ love, friendship, loyalty, sympathy, forgiveness, obedience and devotion without having to account for his own abusive behavior.

11-11 And that’s Scott Stans’ point: Only Scott McCall Is Important and Damn Derek/Stiles/Liam/Other Teen Wolf character for having a life and motivations that don’t revolve around Scott! To them (and to Canon Scott), the pack exists not to serve all its members, but to serve and validate Scott McWhinyCall. Because, after all, that’s what antis want for themselves – validation in the face of shortcomings and bad behavior.

Wow, that was a lot of anger. Do you feel any better after venting that? I really hope so, it honestly looks p cathartic. Okay, I apologize in advance if I don’t come across as quite so passionate, I’m kinda bleh today and I already used up all my righteous fury in an earlier post, so I’ll do my best.

I honestly understand the worry about people disliking Scott as having racist motivations. As I said in another post, there aren’t a lot of Latino (wait, I read somewhere to use latine? Should I use that instead? I’ll use that, someone correct me if I’m wrong. The thing also said latinx was not great bc of pronunciation issues? I’m not educated enough on this. Halp, please.) Latine protagonist characters in popular television, especially for teen dramas like Teen Wolf. Intentional or not, written into the show or not, Scott is half-latine. His mother is a latine woman. We don’t see them speak spanish or take part in any specific cultural traditions, but that doesn’t make him white. Yes, his character was written for a white guy, but Tyler Posey is the one who got the part and we can’t strip him of his heritage just because the show originally meant for Scott to be white. My husband is almost always mistaken for white, even though he’s also half-latine, but that doesn’t make him any less latine. There’s little enough representation as it is, and if we start being picky about whether characters were ‘intended’ or ‘written’ as POC, everything will just fall to shit. Plus, as a white person, I have literally no rights to decide that Scott’s white. I’m cool with that. Would prefer to just stay in my lane, if I’m honest. With Scott established as being a POC, it’s totally reasonable for other POC and fans of Scott to be worried that those of us who don’t like him have that opinion because of either passive or active racism. There are a lot of occasions where Protags of Color were either liked less, or actively disliked for just being ‘not white.’ It also doesn’t help that Scott is one of very few “good” Characters of Color in TW (whether we agree or not, he is presented as a ‘good guy’). We have Boyd, who dies in 3A and doesn’t get much character developement in the meantime, and Kira, who sticks around for a while, then has to leave because of ‘losing control’ which is apparently a very common stereotype for POC, especially within Fantasy or Supernatural settings. Other than them, the other POC are either bad guys or just morally dubious. I’m not sure where Deaton falls on the scale either. I understand it being frustrating to some people for us to take one of the few “good’ characters and see him/describe him as a villain. It’s important for white people, and honestly, anyone not latine (because even POC can be racist against people who aren’t their race) to be self-aware and analyze the various reasons why we dislike Scott and make sure that we aren’t accidentally being passively racist. Just because we’re sure we aren’t, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t double check. And if we find we are, then it’s up to us to correct that mindset and educate ourselves. There is no shame in learning that you have not great habits or mindsets and working to fix them. That’s how growth works. It’s equally important that when we’re writing fic, we watch how we portray him and the other POC in the show. I’m not saying we can’t write Scott bashing fic. Fuck knows that I’ve written plenty of Bad Friend Scott McCall fic, and I don’t intend to stop. But we still need to be self-critical and make sure that we’re not writing Scott (or the others, please assume from here on out I’m saying Scott and the others) into racist stereotypes. We shouldn’t reduce him to just a “Yes” man, or make him constantly submissive, or constantly vicious and angry and mean for no reason. It’s one thing to write him as doing something bad or cruel and making it realistic for the story. It’s quite another to have him just randomly pop in to say “fuck you” and hit someone (I’m not referencing something specific here, I’m just saying dumb stuff). Honestly, I don’t know enough about this and I’m not really entitled to go into too much more detail. Instead, I’d recommend that even if you don’t think you’re hating Scott for racist reasons, still read This Post about racism in fandom/fanfic. When I read it, it was both reassuring and intimidating. I have anxiety, so I’m usually worried about doing things for ‘the wrong reason’ even when that’s not actually my reason for doing the thing. Reading this gave me a clearer view of my own thoughts, and it honestly made me feel a little more comfortable with my own mentality because it gave me a structure to think about and consider when I’m worried that I’m doing something racist. It’s worth the read. I’d also like to reiterate the suggestion on that post, to check out the blog Writing with Color, which is a great resource for writing Characters of Color. It doesn’t have as many resources for fanfiction writing and the grey area involved in writing characters that your reader already knows, but their ask box is closed at the moment, so maybe when it opens again someone’ll send in an ask about it (If I actually remember to, I’ll do it myself, but that’s unlikely, so if one of you feels so inspired, please do so and help a fic writer out!)

Now. I cannot speak for every single fan of TW who is anti-Scott in some way. Obviously not. But, I can speak for myself and for the experiences I’ve had within the fandom. My issues with Scott are many and complex and a lot of it is intrinsically connected to issues with the writing of the show in general and with the creators and the calls they made. In all the conversations that I’ve had with other fans, I’ve never seen anyone list Scott’s race as a problem. I’ve never seen anyone talk about how they wished he were more submissive or more obedient. Maybe that he would listen to actual adults once in a while, but not that he be unreasonably obedient of white characters. I’m not all-knowing on the subject of racist stereotypes, but nearly every complaint I’ve seen was based on details from the show and specific moments and dialogue, not just a general disgust with his existence. Furthermore, for all the anger I see directed at those of us that prefer Stiles, Derek, or even Peter, I’ve also never talked to anyone who liked those characters who wasn’t willing to admit that there were plenty of points in canon where they fucked up or did something wrong. Again, I don’t know everyone in fandom, so maybe there are people who won’t admit those things, but they aren’t in the majority.

I personally hate the way I see Scott treat people in the show. I hate the really vicious things he says and does and the chronic lack of self-awareness or growth. Even worse, the way the show excuses his behavior, be it intentional or not, has soured a lot of other parts of the show. The clearly impulsive moments that could easily be excused by him being a really stressed out teenager make me a lot more frustrated than they would, had I not known that he would never get better. That he would never stop saying things like that. I can’t even make myself enjoy the genuinely sweet moments with him and Allison or him and his mom, etc. I might hate that he left Stiles’ messages unanswered and skipped an entire day of school during a crisis to hang out with Allison, but I would’ve liked to enjoy their banter, the soft moments between them that are actually really nice. I can’t though, because so many other things about his character have ruined that for me.

It isn’t okay to attack people for disliking a character and throw around such charged words like “racist” and “abuse-apologist” or anything else. First off, this is fiction, and we all need to keep that in mind. These are not real people we’re talking about. Secondly, calling someone racist because they disagree with you (unless they are actively saying/doing something actually racist) isn’t okay and it isn’t an adult way to deal with things. Someone not liking a character doesn’t automatically make them racist. Someone happening to prefer a white character over a Character of Color doesn’t automatically make them racist. Sure, they might have passively racist motivations that even they don’t realize. But it is not up to strangers to come yell and call names without proof. There are plenty of reasons that have nothing to do with race (Not saying “i don’t see race.” I’m saying “Not About Race”) that I like Stiles over Scott, ranging from the fact that he’s physically more my type, to sharing a neurological condition with him, to just preferring Dylan O’Brien as an actor because he makes me fucking cry every time he cries on screen. What’s important is that we self analyze and check ourselves and our opinions to make sure that we aren’t falling into the racist habit of disliking Characters of Color for no real reason. But that isn’t something that other people can do for us, and it’s not their place to tell us what we think. Calling a stranger racist for saying they hate Scott’s behavior in the show doesn’t do anything for racial equality. It just makes people stop listening to the word ‘racist.’

There are times I seriously get frustrated with TW to the point of considering not watching anymore. Of closing my blog and stopping reading fanfic entirely because every single time I read a fic where Scott’s a ‘good guy’ or a ‘good alpha’ or where Derek is glad to be a beta again because he likes following Alpha Scott, I get squicked so badly I have to click out and just sit there for a second to settle. I can’t disentangle the things he does/says in the show from the fic.And I’ve written Good Friend Scott McCall fics. I have multiple wips where he’s either a decent person or he grows from being a dick to being a decent person. With my own work, I know that there’s an awareness to his behavior in the show and an active intent to rewrite/fix his behavior so that he is a nice person. With other people’s works, I don’t have a guarantee (unless it’s mentioned in tags or author’s notes, and I don’t expect people to have to explain themselves that way), and it personally makes me uncomfortable to read something when I don’t know if the writer actually sees Scott that way. It’s a personal preference, and one that I stick to pretty strictly.

Scott brings me no joy, and with him as the main character, I’ve come perilously close to cutting myself off from the most welcoming, loving fandom I’ve ever been a part of (except the Merlin fandom, but I don’t blame anyone who can’t compete with them. They’re fucking magical.). But I’m still here. I still love, if not the reality of the show, then all the potential I see in it when I watch. I love watching Derek and Stiles interact with each other and with the other side characters. I love seeing the glimpses of Boyd that we get, the tiny scenes of Erica, the snarky moments with Isaac. I even like Kira, though I haven’t seen a whole lot of the show where she’s in it/genuinely can’t remember it (I can’t even remember how far I’ve seen total, but I don’t think it was past S4, and I haven’t seen past S2 in months and months) and she spends most of her scenes with Scott, which just....kind of ruins the scenes for me.

That’s the glory of fandom though, of media in general. I don’t have to like Scott. I can love Derek and Stiles instead and I can choose not to read fics where Scott is a major player or an Alpha at all. I can read fics where Kira’s part of the pack without Scott ever getting involved, and see her interact with everyone else. Or fics where Boyd never dies and watch him bake or read or play lacrosse with the pack. I can curate my own experience, whether that means blocking tags or users or filtering fics, or just straight up skipping certain scenes/episodes of the show itself. I cope with my frustrations by coming on this blog and ranting about it. Yeah, this is a public space, but it’s also a space people choose to view. If they don’t like my opinions, they can block me or unfollow me or all of the above. They don’t have to read it, just like I don’t have to read any of their pro-scott stuff. I also read fic that does explore how Scott’s behavior is problematic and cruel sometimes. Fic that either erases him or turns him into the villain, I find fun and interesting and the relationship between him and Stiles cracking into pieces is something I find extremely cathartic, so I read it pretty much every chance I get (though, i’m so picky about fics I read, you’ve no idea). I also write fic. I write the most mushy, self-indulgent sterek fic and Stiles-centric fic and and Scott bashing fic that I can possibly write. It’s a joy and a therapy all its own. Fuck, I’m rewriting the entirety of canon for fuck’s sake and I’ve made so many changes that at this point I honestly have issues remembering what happens in the show, bc I rewrote the damn thing.

At the same time, Scott fans are gonna write their power fantasies. They’re gonna write anti-Stiles stuff and anti-Derek stuff, and whatever else tickles their fancy. They’re gonna make their own rant posts and gifsets. And to be quite honest, I don’t give a single flying fuck. I already have those tags filtered out on Ao3. I don’t follow any pro-scott tumblrs. That shit doesn’t show up for me most of the time, unless it’s not tagged properly, and even then I just click out, take a second, and move on.

No one is required to like or dislike specific characters, and it’s unfair of anyone to tell us otherwise. Fandom is built on choice. The choice to disagree with canon, or to re-envision it altogether, or to love it entirely. No one can take that away from you. So long as you aren’t hurting anybody, just keep doing you, friend. I’m here for you to vent to when it gets to be too much.

<3

[popculturebuffet]

DWD Reviews: A Brush with Oblivion Or Is Everyone Blind and Stupid? (Commission by WeirdKev27)

Well this was a mixed bag if I ever saw one. Taking a break from the Ride, since Kev commissioned this during my still going black friday sale, seriously 3 bucks for episode commissions get after it, I thought this would be pretty good.. good villain with a good gimmick. Could be intresting. I didn’t count on EVERYONE but Honker, Gosalyn and Splatter Phoenix themselves daring to be stupid. I mean my god in god we trust, this one was frustrating. I WANTED to like it for it’s brilliant qualities but the main plot is so frustrating, Let’s discuss shall we? First off WHY Kev commissioned this one. He was waiting till I did Quackerjack and Bushroot but he decided to do it early because sale prices. See this is a BONUS chapter in “March to Justice Ducks”. It’s very thinly associated with it, but honestly had I had the idea myself I would’ve gladly done this and I thank Kev for it. See Tad Stones regretted putting Negaduck in the fearsome five. It’s not that Negs is a bad character.. it’s the opposite. Being such a dynamic and interesting one.. meant he overshadowed the other four to the point they didn’t get as much of a chance to shine. So in hindsight, had he had the chance to do it all over again he would’ve put Splatter Phoenix here in there instead. And I’m incllined to agree: as the comics show, Quackerjack could’ve been the leader easy and if not him Megavolt, but neither would’ve overpowered the others. That being said the five we did get are great, and the dynamic is fine, but I can’t fault him for wanting them to be equals instead of minons. 

And honestly , and getting to one of the episodes strengths, Splatter Phoenix IS a thoroughly awesome villain with a unique and interesting power. In short she’s an experimental artist who through her experimenting, created a paint brush that can bring paintings to life and control them as well as allow her to travel in and out of them. She’s voiced here by  Dani Staahl, who i’ve never heard of but is terrific. And shockingly, she’s voiced by a rather sizeable voice next time with Andrea Martin of SCTV fame. And if your wondering if i’m going to cover her other appearance you are extremely correct, just probably further down the line or for another commission.  But her powers are used REALLY creatively by the episode, having her and Darkwing and Co run through various abstract art I can’t really name outside of the salvador dahli piece at the end because I don’t know art. That being said, it still looks utterly gorgeous and while I can’t name most of the pieces or the artists behind them, the wiki does say most are pastiches. They are recognizable though and it does look utterly stunning from a cubist piece to the dahli finale to Gosalyn’s dinosaur picture seen above. Each style is unique, crisp and beautifully animated and they and splatter are the saving grace of the episode. These sequences are some of the best i’ve seen from the show and, especially for a low budget 90′s kids show even a disney one, are REALLY impressive and would be even today. And her attidue helps. While her gimmick is simple, she talks in intellectual art speak most of the time, it’s funny enough to enjoy. Plus, it weirdly does things for me and I don’t know how to respond to that so let’s move on. 

My shame aside, you may be wondering two things then: Why I don’t like this episode, and why i’m not covering it my usual style. Well the answer to both is otherwise.. this episode is REALLY damn obnoxious. Splatter takes up enough to make it watchable.. but the main spine of the episode not only pisses me off in a very specific way, as it follows a story trope I CANNOT stand, but in a general way it’s just frustrating and REALLY dumb.  The basic premise is it’s children’s art night at the musem, with the kids various paintings being displayed, so naturally The Mallards and the Muddlefoots are both there, with Honker having painted a painting within a painting and Gosalyn having painted a horrifing but neat dinosaur piece. It’s then.. the plot starts and my patience evaporates. Honker spots Splatter in a painting and spots her comit a theft but no one belivies him. They belivie it wasn’t him, because he dosen’t have the target on him, but his parents think he’s making stuff up and so does Drake. Or in other words...

I mean.. nothing about this works. I’d get skepticism in a normal setting, and this was produced earlier in the series though as for where your guess is as good as mine, but.. this is a world where appliances were brought to life, a water dog publicly ransomed the cities water suply, and and an evil toymaker raised hell, not to mention the bat based pizza theft. A woman running in and out of a painting SHOULD NOT be that farfetched but no everyone just assumes the kid is lying and dosen’t bother asking why. Including Drake.. everyone else.. fine, Herb’s a moron and we’ll get to him in a second. But Drake has fought so much weird shit at this point, you’d THINK he’d think it was a supervillian and not just honker lying.  You’d think but no. Thankfully he finds out pretty quick, so he’s more tolerable but it still hurts my head that he’s this stubborn. 

But as I just hinted at.. Herb and Binkie are worse as they repeadtly think their son is a liar and ground him over it... even though they KNOW Honker dosen’t lie, Gosalyn admits he can’t and admits she’s failed to teach him, and then instead of you know believing their kid, blame Gos for it, which amount's to absolutley nothing so why have this plot point! All it did was make me hate herb as much as Drake does.. I mean if he’s this terrible a parent and this dense that rather than believe his own kid didn’t do the impossible or wasn’t covering for a thief that his friend taught him how to lie, no wonder Drake can’t stand him. The voice dosen’t help, as normally it’s tolerable but it’s extra loud and extra insufferable this episode. It just makes already insufferable scnees worse. 

But the crowner for moron of this episode is the curator, who repadtly, when seeing Honker there, blames him for the thefts, and at one point when he tries to enter a painting HAS A CHILD ARRESTED. He has a small child, who couldn’t of possibly taken any of this.. arrested. Now granted one of the paintings is destroyed.. but the can wasn’t left behind by splatter phoenix. So he had a 10 year old arrested... on charges of propety destrictuion? What.. why would he do this? WHy would his parents belivie this/ WHY. it’s agonizingly dumb. It hurts.. it hurts and I understandably didn’t want to go on loop with this asshole. But that’s what the episode feels like and it only gets broken because Splatter outright tells the curator so she can ransom mona lisa’s mouth! GAH. 

But yeah that’s our big setpiece,  as Splatter carriers mona’s annoying mouth around through some cool set pieces. We also get a neat bit earlier of Gosalyn stuck in a piccaso, which looks really damn neat and also really painful. And apparently she can leave because drake enters? I dunno, it’s not the dumbest thing about this episode. We do get the curator catching Darkwing tryign to take the painting.. which not only has him actually blamed with a crime resonably for the first time since the pilot, but is clever and gets a good line out of the deal.  And that brings me to another reason the episode is so frustrating: so much of the plot is just dropped threads. The Waddlemeyers don’t want honker around gosalyn. Goes nowhere. Gosalyn is trapped in a painting,. Resolved pretty easily. Darkwing might take the fall for this GOES NOWHERE. MY SANITY. GOES AWAY. 

Finally.. I just don’t like this stock plot. The “Character is telling the truth but no one belivies them”. it CAN be done well. Amphibia did this plot well in season 1 and Gravity Falls used it well as it was revealed Stan DOES know, he just was playing dumb. It can be done right.. it’s just more often than not a kid is put through hell for something they have on control over by some asshole adult or some other kid. or an adult is put through it. I’ve never enjoyed this sort of Michigan J Frog bullshit, and never will. And here it’s an innocent, honest, good kid being sent to JAIL breifly for .. telling the truth. With no reward. Just nope episode over. fuck this episode. 

So before we wrap, the finale, which again is pretty good. Honker finds one of Splatter’s brushes, uses it to restore Darking and Co and it’s pretty cleve.r. then it gets dumb again with Darkwing escorting pheonix away and the muddlefoots finally beliving their son after mona lisa’s smile tells them he isn’t a liar.. okay whatever we’re done. 

FINAL. THOUGHTS. 

This episode is split down the middle :It’s half a good episode, wtih great sequences, great jokes and great use of classic art.. and half GOD MAKE IT STOP AGGRIVATION. It’s easily the worst darkwing i’ve seen so far, and yet SITLL has stuff worth watching it for. The painting sequences are still some of the shows best.. it’s jsut saddled with a plot I hate and that aggrivates me. This was not good, and i’ve seen much better and hopefully Splatter’s other appearance is less aggravating. we will see eventually. Till then, there’s always another rainbow. 

[gallavictorious]

Top 5 Male Characters

I was tagged by @whaticameherefor - thanks, dear, this was fun!

Standard disclaimer: These are some of my favourites – I'd be hard-pressed to choose the actual top 5. Whom I love best varies a bit (though no 1 below will probably always be no 1).

Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars)

This one strode straight into my heart on Boxing Day 1994, and it's fair to say that my life might well have looked rather different if he hadn't. Star Wars was my first big fandom, and it's still the one I keep in my heart of hearts, even if I'm not into Disney's revisionist stuff at all. (Which is a shame, because Rey, Poe and Finn are darling and I would have loved to see good movies wih them.) Darth Vader is kind of like a fusion between two of my very early favorites: Shredder (from Turtles) and Zorro, so yeah. I fell for Vaderkin the second he said “I am your father” because in that moment I knew that a, there was an exciting history there, and b, he'd turn back to the light side. I was a dangeorusly genre savvy 10-year old, I just want that said – and I've been a sucker for a redemption arc since... forever. I have a vivid memories of dreaming of Duchess Ravenwaves of Lady Lovelylocks becoming fast friends when I was a 7 or 8.

Excellent things about my dumbass Chosen One include his dedication to being a Dramatic Bitch, him being very intelligent about some things while being so fucking stupid about others, his general prowess (Kee has a competence kink, y'all... ), and the fact that he loves enough to both break the world and heal it. Truth be told, though, I've loved him for so long that I can't really say what it is I love about him, the same way you can't really say that about siblings or close friends: I just know that I do.

Jim Moriarty (Sherlock)

Jim's an amoral genius with a thing for Sherlock Holmes, and not only does he dress well but he is fun, which is only all too rare in villains. (Unless you go for the actually insane and sadistic ones, which I don't so much.) If you gonna be evil, you might as well delight in it! When pulling off a complicated  heist, Jim takes the time to design a completely bogus app with super cute icons, in spite of him being the only one who will ever see them. This is the kind of dedication I look for! Underneath the slick facade and wisecracks, there's the very occasional glimmer of utter ennui and loneliness, which makes his gleeful embrace of CRIME all the more compelling to watch.

Incidentally, Sherlock was the fandom that had me move from LiveJournal to Tumblr back in 2012. I'm extremely intrigued by Sherlock and Jim's relationship – foe yay dreams were made of this – and I have to say that my interest in the series dwindles since Jim's death (THERE WAS NO BODY! HE COULD HAVE FAKED IT! DON'T AT ME!), thought that might well be due to season 3 and (particularly) 4 not quite living up to the absolute glory that was the two first seasons.

Gabriel Gray/Sylar (Heroes)

Driven by a need to be 'special' (blame it on his mom), humble watchmaker Gabriel Gray adopts the name Sylar and starts murdering people to steal their various super powers, as you do. Sylar ticks several of my boxes: extreme competence, one-liners, into being super dramatic, proper enjoyment of being bad, strong eyebrow game, redemption arcs. Yes, arcs - there are several, as Sylar kind of goes back on forth on the whole being evil thing. Later seasons introduce a 'hunger' that's supposed to explain his descent into darkness, which I'm not a huge fan of (I'm more into people making horrible choices of their own free will; drugs, psychotic breaks and being possessed by dark powers bore me) but I suppose it'd be a little hard to sell his ultimate  redemption otherwise, because he kills so many people and often seem to have quite a bit of fun doing it. To be fair, he kind of goes to prison for eight years (even if it's all in his head... ) but yeah.

Since Sylar interacts with and antagonizes pretty much all of the heroic main cast, and does have shades of affable evil, he is very easy to ship with a lot of the good guys. Catnip for a foe yay fan like me.

Lucifer Morningstar (The Sandman, Lucifer)

Yes, this the comic book character the TV show is based on, but while the show has some charming qualities of its own, it's utterly rubbish as far as adaptations go. Comic book Lucifer is cold, brilliant, sardonic, never lies but manipulates like nobody's business. He plays the piano. He doesn't give a rat's ass about anybody's sins or immortal souls: he just wants to escape the tyranny of predestination. Which, you know, highly relatable. I'd want to do that to, if I believed in predestination. The people he feels anything but vaguely disdainful disinterest for are extremely few, and even those he does care about he'd probably be willing to sacrifice to achieve his own ends. He's not a charming character – but fuck, is he compelling!

The Lucifer introduced in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman is slightly softer than the version in Mike Carey's spin-off Lucifer, and I love them both. The Lucifer of the TV show... well, he does play the piano, I suppose.

Ian och Mickey (Shameless US)

Yes, this is cheating but you cannot make me choose! If I was forced to put only one, I'd put Mickey – though I miss Ian more when he's not around than I miss Mickey when he's missing from the show. In fairness to me, while they are both very interesting characters, they arguably become something else entirely and completely awesome when they're together. Mickey being such an utter thug while still retaining enough of a soft heart to be super soft for Ian, and Ian being genuinely kind and caring while at the same time being a little punk and generally ready to throw down.... Their differences, and their rather difficult circumstances, cause them quite a lot of problem over the years, but they complement each other in the best of ways: and they truly appreciate each other and have fun together. I love them, ok?

I’d like to tag @iwannabewhereyouaremickey @fiona-fififi @imberantiel​ and @sickness-health-all-that-shit - no pressure whatsoever, if this is not your thing though. :) Also, anyone else wanna do this, I’m always curious to know about people’s interests beyond Shameless, so have at it please.

[dewprisms]

After your binge-watching session, which would say is better: Kim Possible or Danny Phantom, and why?

Someone actually interested in my opinion for once?

Well it depends, both have their pros and cons in regards to episode plots/arcs, characters and chara development, character designs etc. So I’ll suppose I’ll break them down into different categories. Under a cut as to not make scrolling a hassle.

Also I apologize in advance for my page theme, I know it’s kinda shitty and hard to read sometimes but I’m too busy to change it right now.

Designs/Art: I know Stephen Silver was the main designer for both shows (and his designs for a lot of the teenage girls has a uh, Obvious Pattern.) Ignoring my bias towards Vlad and Drakken, I think a lot of the ghosts have fun designs, but KP gets points for actually letting characters (esp Kim and Ron) wear other clothes in S2 and beyond, and between Phantom, S1 Kim and S4 Kim I think S4 Kim has the best “action” outfit. BUT the art style for DP is pretty stiff at times and KP style has a lot more range for animation, body types and faces.  Overall though, I say they’re pretty tied imo. Both have a lot of ups and downs that truly comes down to a personal pref, even though the Fartman’s style is the more iconic one. I think KP wins animation/art and DP wins for designs.

Characters: Again, the villains shine here more than the protags. KP as such a wide range of villains that I have have to give them the point for creativity and FUN in antagonists, (Duff Killigan is prob my favorite in absurdity followed by Monkey Fist, the Seniors and DNAmy all tied for second. I really like Motor Ed too, seriously.) but that’s not to say that DP doesn’t have them either. Vlad’s true motivations are really...unique compared to other DP villains and even KP ones, (seriously? How many bad guys you know who’s goal in life is “fuck the MC’s mom and also make MC your son”) who like KP are just “take over the world and/or cause tons of destruction” but with only half the fun. Sadly Dark Danny’s entire thing hinges on him being Danny But Evil who only wants...destruction??? Whereas Evil Ron actually does something interesting with the character, showing Ron’s true potential (see Evil Ron vs Electronique in “Stop Team Go” for example) and being in-character for him still. (Faux Take Over The World plot to cover his true goal of owning all the world’s Nacos? Of fucking course Ron would. Brilliant.) Evil Ron still has hints of Ron’s personality (”Boo-yahaHAHAHA!”) whereas Dark Danny is just... evil for evil’s sake, which can be good when actually done right, but in this case isn’t because the only thing that resembles Danny is his outfit. Shego’s backstory is great. DP’s new S3 enemies are very boring despite interesting powers. KP S4’s Camille Leon is great but Warmonga is just eh. Moving on to protags, KP’s protags are far, far more interesting than DP’s. Which brings us to the next point. (Also Mr. Barkin > Mr. Lancer, and Kim’s parents > Danny’s parents.) KP gets this one.

Chara Development: Gonna say it, DP almost has none, and straight up regresses in very end of S2 and most of S3. I swear the only real characters who have any are Vlad (for better or for worse, the latter imo), Jazz (when they remember her, and is good) and Valerie (whose is good too). Tucker gets 3 (three!!) fking episodes about him and they ALL carry the same theme of him not being able to responsibly handle having any kind of power, which is why him becoming the town mayor at the end is so BAD. There’s NO WAY Tucker of all people would make a good mayor. VALERIE got more episodes than him, JAZZ got more episodes than him, both with development that STUCK while he’s a MAIN CHARACTER. Sam never changes, def for worse. Sam is a Base-Breaking Character for a dang reason. She’s extremely pushy, acts like she’s lowkey better than everyone else, and never seems to consider how her actions affect other people, and the like 1 or 2 times she does it doesn’t fucking stick like she’s Hank Hill or something. Danny has no real development for his character. All that develops for him are his powers and nothing else. On the other hand, KP characters DO have development and it shows! Not just for the protags but for villains too! Kim is bossy and a lil controlling early on and stops during S2, whereas Ron was extremely cowardly and gets, not exactly braver but just less phased by it all, plus early he never quite liked going on missions but later on gets sad if he has to miss them, before he doesn’t like being distractions but later on very much takes pride in being one, and etc. Drakken and Shego get development too, esp their relationship with each other AND with Ron and Kim. Bonnie actually got an episode of development (but sadly regressed in time for the finale) whereas Pauline just...never changes whatsoever. Bonnie actually makes for a good rival and mean girl for Kim for the entire show whereas Paulina and her relationship with Danny and Sam are just....bland and doesn’t go anywhere. There’s nothing for Dash, though Ron doesn’t really have an equivalent. So, KP gets this one.

Episodes/Plots/Arcs: DP wins in the Lore department by far, KP wins in character arcs. A Sitch In Time answers the great questions of What Would Happen if the Villains Teamed Up AND Shego is a Better Villain than Drakken so Why isn’t She in Charge? ft Time Travel. The Ultimate Enemy answers What If Danny Went Evil and Is Vlad Completely Irredeemable? ft Time Travel. KP definitely does the “balancing Hero duties with School life” better than DP. You can definitely see her struggles with it whereas DP is just kinda there. I also very much like that Kim is girly but is never shamed for it both in-universe and out, whereas DP is known for the shitty “I’m not like other girls” fake feminist bullshit. A problem I have with DP is that time pretty much never changes, as if the show takes place within a year, and it seriously hampers the growth of the show could have. Time is also just out of whack, they take their big end-of-the-year test then it’s Christmas THEN it’s Summer Vacation but even in S3 they’re all still in the first year of high school like ??? What?? Whereas KP starts in Freshman year and ends with Senior Graduation. The arcs of Danny/Sam vs Kim/Ron are just...D/S was definitely teased a ton more but by S3 you just get tired of it, not to mention the hypocrisy regarding the character relationships. Personal opinion warning, but Danny/Valerie had a lot more development in such a short time and was super interesting. Kim/Ron didn’t have as many teasing esp in S1 and S2 (it’s there though) but it def picks up in S3 and I love how their new relationship was handled in S4. Back to episodes, my favorite episodes for both are Reign Storm and So The Drama, but while I might be biased toward Reign Storm I’m gonna have to ultimately give better episodes overall to KP. So The Drama has Drakken going back to his Actually Dangerous roots from early on and becoming the closest to anyone to actually winning on his own merit (Shego stole the Tempus Simia from Drakken/Duff/MF and relied on weird time shit of Kim being “lost in the time stream” ((actual canon explanation)) to travel to the future specifically to stop her, to actually win) and is SO good when Dr. D finally gets defeated, plus (personal bias here) Kim and Ron’s teased hook-up finally happens. I will say though, I’m not a fan of S4′s Hana Stoppable/The Han story. As both shows are action-oriented, they definitely have their fair share of good fights but I think KP also has better action and fight scenes. Humor is extremely subjective but I think KP made me laugh more. Finally, DP is infamous for S3 just being bad whereas KP just got better and better with each season, though I’d put S4 below S3 and above S2. So: Lore = DP. Arcs, Action and Eps = KP.

Fandom: Ignoring the super gross shipping aspects of some parts of the fandom (If ur a P*mpousP*p or K*go shipper pls go away from my stuff i’m fucking serious), I think DP wins for this one. Many great OCs, (I really haven’t seen any for KP aside from next gen?) the already interesting lore is def expanded so much by fans, I legitimately don’t care for “Wes Weston” but my god did the fandom do some serious work for this boy. I don’t know too much about KP since the fandom seems kinda dead aside from some shipping stuff and a very slight revival from the movie, whereas DP ended before KP and is still very very active. DP wins fandom.

(Bonus) Reboots/Redesigns: I’m gonna be honest, I’m not sure what could be done better for KP aside from the mess of Disney’s out-of-order airings, a more serious reboot wouldn’t work for the show at all, but DP could definitely use a reboot and fixes the disaster of S3. And reboots & character redesigns are def a hot topic for the DP fandom. So DP gets this one, though I’m not sure if this is a good thing.

Final: So over all, 4 for KP and 4 for DP, or if you add the little groups, 7 for KP and 4 for DP. Overall, I’ll say KP is the better show, but DP shines with the fandom. I also have a personal bias in favor of DP but it makes them even out for me. If you want interesting lore and good fandom content, go for DP. If you want fun and interesting characters, actual character development and more action and drama, KP is the way to go.

But instead of picking one, just watch both!

[themonsterblogofmonsters]

Monsterblog Recommends: Gotham [TV]

Previously - Monsterblog Recommends: My Hero Academia [Anime]

So, Gotham is now on its final season, which is a shame, because Gotham is an utterly underrated delight. It is one of a few live action shows that truly gets its comic origins and understands that there has to be just the right touch of the absurd for events to be truly believable. It may start out as a regular old police procedural, but when shit goes sideways - you’ll know.

It’s Gotham. Its backstory of all of the villains of Gotham (and also Batman).

[ITS A DELIGHT AND I WON’T HEAR A WORD AGAINST IT]

1. What is Gotham?

Gotham is, ostensibly, a TV series showing the growth of Bruce Wayne from orphaned smol to early-days Batman, the friendship and trust between Bruce and Jim Gordon, as well as how the city came to be so completely batshit as to create Batman. 

In truth, its a fantastic if somewhat goth-aesthetic’ed show with some of the most brilliant and utterly delightful villains you will ever encounter.

I may be biased because many of the villains are not just queercoded but outright queer and have absolutely amazing aesthetics, and in several cases some pretty understandable reasoning’s for their total chaos but also.... I’m not wrong.

Believe me. When you watch the show you will realise and agree that the villains are the best part.

2. Why I’m recommending it.

.... See above.

I know it seems like I’m making it all about the villains but arguably the show does it too. It knows that yes, the trigger for pulling everyone in is babybat and Jim Gordon, but that sticking to the police procedural isn’t going to work. So it gives us stuff to cling to.

Left to right: Don Carmine Falcone, Selina Kyle, Fish Mooney, Oswald Cobblepot and Edward Nygma. 

Early on the big driving delectable villain is Fish. She’s amazing. She’s also Oswald’s boss, early on, and factors in a fair bit to his development. She dies like three times - as one of the showrunners said on twitter, “At some point a character has to die, after like the second or third death”.

... This makes sense in context I promise.

Later on Falcone comes more to the fore, as well as Nygma and Cobblepot’s development as well - which also involves development together. They become murderhusbands and then murderdivorcees and hate each other and I swear to you I am not fucking with you about that. We also get development of Barbara and a variety of other characters. My favourite of them all is probably the development done for Nygma, but of the occasional guest stars... you can’t go wrong with Zsasz.

Zsasz is bonkers and I love him. He’s Falcone’s top enforcer, he has goth as fuck lady minions, he’s always so damn chipper even when he’s killing people and oh my god his ringtone.

HE IS A DELIGHT. WE DO NOT GET ENOUGH OF HIM

Even beyond this the general use of aesthetic in Gotham is amazing. It very effectively captures the idea of a city with a large proportion of wealthy and how that then rots down as you look towards the working class and the criminals and those suffering under the existing system of Gotham. It has a very distinct colour scheme and it just... it works so well. 

It is also, as my girlfriend pointed out, one of the only live action shows based on comics to really get the aesthetic of that. Like, for example, this delightful scene:

That is indeed Hugo Strange watching Doctor Freeze fighting Firefly, freezeray to flamethrower, with the two halves reflected in his glasses in the most comics-book of comics-book style shots ever in the history of anything.

It is also worth noting that it was his experiments that helped to create both of these two.

For another reason why this show is a delight....

Look, I’m just gonna directly quote from something my girlfriend said because she has a knack for making Gotham’s batshittery comprehensible.

Listen I’m not saying Gotham is politically beyond reproach, or that its narrative is coherent, or that it has solid consistent characterization or even a reason for things to happen the way they do half the time

But what Gotham does have is a scene in a modern art museum featuring a comically fake looking bomb, labeled “This is a real bomb”, which is, in fact, designed to smoke like a real bomb, even though it is actually, in fact, a fake bomb.

And that shit is worth the price of admission alone.

[Source]

Gotham is a delight. Gotham is bonkers. Gotham starts out like a regular police procedural about Jim Gordon trying to find out who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents and help Alfred keep Bruce from going full Batman ASAP and then somehow develops into the batshit world of the comics in a way which makes perfect goddamn sense.

Somehow.

...

Also this show has probably one of the best and most intriguing versions of the Joker I’ve ever seen in any medium and he’s not even been outright called the Joker yet. It’s more like... a phenomenon. A memetic mind virus. An infectious idea. 

It’s something Heath Ledger’s Joker would be proud of, honestly.

3. Less Good Things / Trigger Warnings

Its based on a comics series featuring some of the most enduring villains of Batman’s career and involves said villains. This means body horror, psychological horror, general gore, violence, swearing, I could go on. Things that I think would specifically fuck with people most of all would probably be the woman tasked to spy on Don Carmine Falcone being exposed and then throttled in front of several of his underlings, because with everything that comes before it is... a very specific horror. On a similar note, the torture of the mayor, when he has a box on his head filled with rats.

There’s also then some of the more specific horrors, Fish Mooney and some of the stuff that happens to her later on, Alice Tetch and her brother Jervis - Jervis is a jerk and horrifying on multiple levels and seems to be kind of incestuously into Alice which she really really does not like. Alice can also do something weird and specific and it is its own kind of horrifying as well as what Jervis can do.

What else... Gods, I don’t know. It has a very specific set of themes and aesthetics and after the first season you probably have some idea of what to expect even if it doesn’t show it all.

Suffice to say, it probably helps if you have a tolerance for weird and bullshit. If you can stand Hannibal you can stand Gotham, and you’ll probably get more laughs.

4. Spoilers and Further Points

I don’t really know that I can spoil it because its just... Its Gotham.

What I will say is what my girlfriend suggested on her blog ages ago, which is to watch the first episode and then just skip until you get to the goat murder cult, because that’s where stuff really starts picking up. Then later you can go back and watch those episodes you skipped if you feel you need to. 

Lastly... Gotham is on it’s last season. Catch up now, and join us in time for the finale. Make the most of it.

5. Further Reading

My girlfriend’s tag for Gotham is a delight and can show you the full extent of Gotham’s WTF in a way that, even for me, who watches and loves the show, I still see posts and then go oh wait HA oh my god yes that happened. You can find it Here.

Not exactly reading, but there are some great fanvids out there for Gotham, of which this is probably my favourite:

Otherwise... goddamn just watch Gotham already, ok?

You won’t regret it and also you should come and burble at me about it.

[ravencromwell]

Thoughts on the Wolf 359 Season 1 Finale

All you folks who followed me in hopes of Wolf 359 meta and who're probably wondering if I've forgotten y'all: fear not. I liked doing ep recaps, and y'all seemed to enjoy perusing my musings, so have my thoughts on the S1 finale, Deep Breaths and Gas Me Twice.

If the other eps won me over on a narrative and structural level, this one's greatest strength is its message. The narrative and structure are fucking fabulous, don't get me wrong, and I'll ramble about them to embarrassing length momentarily, but I finally know what the beating heart of this show is. There were a lot of contenders up to this point: would it be humans vs. aliens? or humans vs. the inhospitable environs of space? or even humans vs. humans? But no: if this episode is anything to go by, it's humans vs. their worst selves, with a splash of humans vs. other humans. And to facilitate this sort of plot successfully, there has to be tremendous emphasis placed on what makes one human n: the creators have to have a fundamental understanding of the quality they think is uppermost in defining "humanity" from other animals, so they can set up folks grappling with and succeeding at achieving whatever it may be.

And the ringing shout at the core of this episode and I hope the core of this podcast is empathy. Not some sort of in-born empathy, but the choice over and over to walk in other people's shoes and to let that define our choices. Hera and Hilbert are set up as brilliant foils: and Hilbert, despite being blessed with all the intelligence that is supposed to make him human, being hampered by none of Hera's limitations--that we're aware of anyway--chooses again and again to remain tied to a code of conduct and a mission no one forces him to maintain, while she always chooses to reach out and help. And it's that choice that saves them all.

[spoilers beneath the cut]

But let's back up a bit, and ponder Doug for a sec before we dive into the darkness that's the last half of this finale. We're starting to see so many of Doug's flaws now, as well as his strengths. I'd say that one of the greatest flaws is that only in adversity do we see that strength. When left to his own devices, he crafts nonsense--if utterly hilarious--hijinks, like attempting to smoke a damn cigarette with an oxygen mask so as not to explode the ship. (Doug, seriously honey, just don't smoke 'till you're home! It's not like they didn't warn you there would be a limit to the luxuries you're accustomed to when you're in the middle of deep space ffs) He more and more strikes me as one of those really smart people who desperately needs external motivation, a really strong support network that can gently redirect his potential, to achieve things. But I'm also starting to wonder if he knows and doesn't much like this about himself. After all, he's the guy who no one remembers the birthday of. Admittedly, it is on Christmas, which does give folks some excuse, but it paints a portrait of someone always kinda buzzing around the fringes of circles, maybe irritating folks a bit, but never really getting close enough to matter enough to be remembered. He's really surprisingly touched when Hera remembers, like all the griping at the beginning of the episode was entirely genuine, if melodramatic in typical brilliant Doug style.

The way Doug uses humor as a defense mechanism is also really coming into focus in these one. The "Gas me once, shame on you. Gas me twice...well, still shame on you. But I'm not fooled" line springs immediately to mind. This's a man they've spent over five hundred days with, who's just utterly betrayed them, and his default response is dry as bone snarck. It forces you to examine some of his melodrama from things like Little Revolución. Was he actually more hurt that Minkowski and Hilbert made such a good team? That every time he thought he and Minkowski might be united in some small thing, she and Hilbert showed that they too were united and he was on the outside? And no wonder he feels such an affinity for Hera: also the outsider, sniped at by Minkowski and dismissed by Hilbert. He treats her the way he wants to be treated: which isn't entirely the correct way to treat her because she is right. There is a chasm between them, and it needs to be acknowledged. But it's a better way than Minkowski or Hilbert, and it calls to something in her, as we see here.

I know from the last couple points, it may seem like I don't like Doug. Which couldn't be further from the truth! I like him a lot, as much because of the flaws we're seeing revealed as anything else. Because if he can transcend those flaws, he has the potential to become something extraordinary. For all his silliness and insecurity, he brims with empathy and I adore him for it. The way he flirts! actually omg flirts with Hera, uses humor to reach out and bridge that chasm, to say see I see you; I believe in you. is one of the most powerful moments in the episodes. And when he tells her that she's smarter and stronger than Hilbert could ever believe: I wonder how much that's him telling her what he wishes someone had told him? This is a man after all who wanted to go on a deeply dangerous mission for years on end that's light-years away from Earth; still waters run deep.

Hilbert simultaneously infuriates and intrigues me. We get that marvelous soliloquy about the fear of being alone and what it signifies about the great unknown in ep 11. We have such intelligence! in this ep--like I was really on the verge of liking him merely because he was so damn quick and clever at figuring out that there was no way the music could be coming from Earth. And there was an odd gentleness in Extreme Danger Bug, when he was telling Doug to be still and that he would be right back. He wasn't just calm, which I might have expected on the theory that remaining calm keeps your patient calm; he was actively gentle Ok admittedly, his admission that he *thought* the antivenom would work was shitty bedside manner. But there was something that prompted him to be kind in that moment. So he can be oddly poetic, he's intelligent as hell, and he clearly has the ability to feel empathy. And yet, he actively chooses to betray these people he's been with for nearly two years! with no outside prompting! And yet. And yet there's something almost regretful when he says that Hera is gone--despite that he was the one that ripped her to shreds (I wanted to reach through the screen and throttle the bastard for that). He doesn't monologue at them after he takes over; he's immediately all business. There's no triumph in this coup, no personal vendetta being fulfilled. It's almost like it's a logical step, a necessary part of a formula or equation or something. And there's something almost...quietly wry in his question to Minkowski about whether it would change anything. Like he's almost regretful or tired. This's why I keep snagging on the idea that it's humans against their better selves that's part of what this show wants to explore. Because he knows what he's doing is wrong! and it's going to be fascinating to see if there're ever any mitigating circumstances or if he ever comes to regret his choices.

Going back to monologuing for a minute, I love how this show subverts tropes left and right. It's not the villain who foolishly monologues and gives away their advantage, but the hero. I was screaming at the monitor for a minute straight begging Doug to pls pls for the love of God shut up you're talking to a really brilliant scientist wtf are you doing! And his arrogance, or generously overconfidence, had horrific consequences. And yet, in another thing that made me utterly adore him, there was no great swearing of revenge, no shouting that it was unfair. Just a deep, exhausted realization that he'd fucked up, that they'd lost so much and their world was irreversibly altered.

The way show is utterly fearless in playing with your expectations still takes my breath away. The way it opens with Minkowski being so happy about preparing Christmas dinner--about trying to bring this mismatched crew together in something, stubborn and fiercely determined even when she has to know it won't go well. It makes you think that the first part of the episode will end happily. That they'll all be sitting around, eating dinner, bonded into something like a family by the extraordinary thing they've just done together--discovering first life outside of Earth is a hell of a present after all. You expect there to be governmental complications, of course, but you expect the core team to be all right. The way that rug is utterly jerked from beneath you, and the tension never really abates is masterful. Always before, our crew's been battered at the end of eps, exhausted or angry, but Doug's always found some humorous closing, even if it were melodramatic as hell. There's no humor at the end of this, just uncertainty about their next moves and about Hera, just two people clinging together. And that gradual tonal shift Gabriel's been enacting all season is finally complete. We've shifted into another gear, and he's weaned us a little more off what the show originally was and prepared us for what I'm hoping it'll become.

And in the vein of plot: the Hilbert reveal was Barr none, the most masterful reveal of its kind I've ever seen. There's always this niggling question with most reveals: but how could they not have noticed? But we get that answered, over and over. They do *notice* They notice that the physicals are out of the ordinary; Doug even suspects that Hilbert's doing something to him with the cigarette candy! But even the audience is convinced that Doug is an unreliable narrator there, that Hilbert is fundamentally a good person if a shitty doctor. And he keeps saying that he's not a doctor, but a scientist. So we put all his irregularities down to that. And having been fooled as the audience, we understand on a gut level how the characters could be fooled, would just shrug off what they saw as odd.

This episode feels like...the easiest metaphor would be a Chinese puzzle box, but that's not quite right. It feels like a wide-panning camera shot, wherein we finally see a full glimpse of the canvas. And it's as utterly terrifying as those moments when we finally see glimpses of the beasts we've only seen in profile in a horror film. Command actively wanted Doug and Minkowski dead. They actively wanted Hilbert in control, and the question, the terrifying, overarching question is why. And what will they do when they realize they've failed? It was terrifying enough to think of these people dealing with first contact with the full support of command, but with a hostile command, and a mutiny....yeah, I'm so, so ready for season 2. And in closing, I'm amazed and delighted that while weaving together so many lose threads, they managed to make Minkowski's obsession with the space manual from EP 1 important. I love Minkowski so. so much, with her need for order, and her obsession with obscure protocol that saves their asses every. single. time.

[albionjake]

Why Is Fear The Walking Dead Now Better Than The Walking Dead?

I know that’s a question that none of us ever thought would be asked by anyone sane. But that’s where we are in Walking Dead land. To be fair, the comics are still the best version of The Walking Dead that exists but on TV alone, it’s Fear The Walking Dead that’s consistently (ish) impressive while The Walking Dead limps along like a particularly disfigured walker. So what’s happened? Let’s start with the positives about Fear The Walking Dead: Almost every character has a clear reason for being there. They have personalities. You know what their motivations are. Each one has their own plan for survival and each one wrestles with morals. They can go from being the hero to the bad guy in an episode and that’s so much more interesting than a clear hero/villain divide. It’s realistic. The story moves fairly rapidly. There’s some inevitable stalling but that’s a result of America’s insane 16 episode seasons that are just TOO LONG. In general, Fear does a great job of moving things on, killing off characters and introducing new and complex elements to The Walking Dead world. For instance, killing Jake in the last season was something you can’t imagine The Walking Dead doing. He was handsome, fairly charismatic and a very obvious hero for the future. To kill him before his evil brother is so bold and so against what audiences are used to having shoved down their throats. The fact that Troy died later on was a shame, I thought. I quite liked the idea of having someone so nasty and unhinged sticking with the group for a while. The 5 main characters of Strand, Madison, Nick, Alicia and Daniel are fantastic. Each one is so different and so complex. Not a single one of them can be described as a hero. Alicia is probably the one that’s done the least bad things so far but even she isn’t anywhere near as heroic as half the cast on The Walking Dead. It’s refreshing. The show has it’s drawbacks, particularly in the fun stakes. I’d say the one thing The Walking Dead gets right almost every time is the light relief. Fear is often a much more serious affair and that can become slightly draining, along with making you feel more removed from the characters. But considering where The Walking Dead is with characters at the moment....Fear is doing a far better job. So let’s talk about The Walking Dead: We’re two episodes into season 8 and so far it’s the same old stuff. The first episode was ok. It was full of action and kicked the war off nicely. I didn’t see the need for those flash forwards at all though, they didn’t fit with the episode and told us nothing interesting about the future. The second episode was much worse. I sort of enjoyed everyone doing their separate plans but I’m also completely unsure why it took so long to see. Those scenes could have been done in ten minutes. Another issue with the madness of having 16 episodes. Everything is drawn out. We were expected to care about Eric being shot in the stomach. The show has given us NO reason to care about him. He’s been on the show since season 5. We are now in season 8 and we have no idea who Eric is. He’s been on this show for longer than Shane or The Governor were. There has been time to make us care about Eric. The writers think killing him off is going to be some big emotional moment. It’s just not. He might have been part of the group for a while but he’s just as important as the nameless members of The Kingdom. The Walking Dead does this A LOT. Killing off people we don’t care about and acting as if we should give a shit. Fair enough, The Walking Dead has a MUCH bigger cast and I really do appreciate that it’s tough to juggle character development for such a big cast and keep the action going. But you either have to get it right or cut that cast down. The comics have the luxury of a huge cast because they are comics. I wouldn’t have felt cheated out of anything if the show had decided not to bother with The Kingdom. Yeah there would have been a load of babies crying over the fact that we didn’t get to see a tiger but it would have saved a lot of time and energy if we hadn’t bothered with them. Do we need Tara? Do we need Rosita? Do we need Aaron and Eric? There’s 4 off the top of my head that could easily go. I actually quite like Tara and Rosita as characters but they’re just not important. Tara doesn’t even exist in the comics. The cast is too big. Get rid of these people. This latest episode had so much nonsense in it. There was a woman that essentially just let a walker bite her in the neck. She just stood there as it came towards her. Why did that happen? It’s little things like that which really irritate me. Then we had Jesus be tricked by that man who pretended to wet himself. Jesus isn’t that stupid. The show is so good sometimes and has the most wonderful history. Why ruin it by having characters do things like that? Same as last week when Gabriel found himself trapped with Negan. Gabriel had a gun. Negan had a baseball bat. YOU LITERALLY CAME HERE TO KILL NEGAN AND HIS MEN. But he didn’t just shoot him immediately... I hate that. Obviously, I don’t want Negan to die, it’s just another example of an entirely unbelievable situation. Speaking of Negan. He’s turning out to be the most divisive figure in Walking Dead history. I genuinely thought his arrival would save the show. He’s by far the best thing in the comics so it made sense that he was finally coming to breathe new life into the show. For some reason, it didn’t happen. Maybe because of that whole nonsense when they made us wait months to find out who he killed. People instantly became irritated. Also people thought the scenes were too gory (boo hoo, it’s a zombie show, you idiots) so I think Negan had an immediate negative response. It’s true that he’s pretty cartoonish as a villain and it certainly doesn’t translate as well from the comics as I hoped but I still think Negan is great on the show. I’m aware many people think he’s the worst but I still have a soft spot for the character. Also, if the show does follow the comics, the haters might as well get used to Negan being around... Finally, why on EARTH did Morales have to return? I didn’t have a clue who he was and I didn’t care. The fact that Rick actually had to say “You’re names Morales and you’re from Atlanta” or whatever he said was embarrassing. The most see-through bit of dialogue I’ve ever seen. It only existed to tell everyone watching who the hell that man was because he means nothing. Why bother? Anyway, the show needs to get it’s act together so here is my plan to return The Walking Dead to it’s rightful place and stop that cheeky little Fear The Walking Dead from totally taking over: 1. Half The Main Cast Clearly, Fear’s big plus is the smaller main cast. It might be tough but The Walking Dead needs to lose people. Kill half of them. The war is the perfect opportunity for this and I really hope they do it. 2. Fuck The Comics I am a comic reader. I love the comics. They will always be the best. But that doesn’t mean the show has to keep following them so closely. Some of the best things about the show are the big changes from the comics. Daryl existing, Carol having attitude and not dying, giving Morgan more relevance. So many other great moments. By all means, follow the story of the comics loosely but don’t be afraid to kill someone who’s important later in the comics, that doesn’t mean you can’t use the story with a different character. 3. Balance The Elements Episodes of The Walking Dead these days either have too much talking or too much action. There needs to be a balance. We need the talking for character development and we need the action to keep things exciting. Please balance them. It is a difficult balance but the show got this right in the early days so why can’t it now? 4. Stop Playing With Time The show doesn’t do this too often but I hate it when it does. It’s The Walking Dead not Lost. Playing with time isn’t as effective as you think it is. It’s jarring and gets in the way of the story we care about. 5. Watch Fear The Walking Dead I know the shows are made by a lot of the same people but how about watching the show that’s much better at the moment and learning some stuff? It really has done some impressive things in the past season and a half and I can see it improving even more in season 4 while The Walking Dead slowly ties itself up in too many characters and bad execution of the comic story. To finish this mad rant, I’d like to say I love both shows. I really do. The Walking Dead is one of my very favourite franchises which is why I have such strong opinions about it. There’s nothing I’d love more than for both shows to continue doing amazingly well and for the comics to carry on for many years to come. It’s a brilliant world but I just wish the TV show that first made me fall in love with that world would shape up and do itself justice.

[autisticandroids]

DS9 for the fandom ask

The first character I first fell in love with:

okay so storytime: i actually watched ds9 out of order, because when i’m at home i mostly watch trek with my parents. we were running out of good tng, and mum and dad were like “hey, everyone likes ds9 even though we hated it back when it aired, let’s watch it” and i was like “nooooooo, dataaaaaa” and they were like “we’re watching it.”

so we watched emissary and they were like “this sucks” and i was like “but i heard worf is there in later seasons let’s jump” and so i picked a random middle season and that’s how i started ds9 with season five.

anyway, the first character i really fell in love with was odo, oddly enough. or rather, not oddly at all because he is superficially smack dab in the middle of my Ideal Character Type, but i later got quite disillusioned with him because of the show’s uncritical attitude towards his Police-ness, the way he is set up as a Protagonist of the show instead of the lovable quirky side-boy, and his conspicuous lack of gender complexity (he is the most comfortably masculine of the spocks, and it’s a symptom of ds9′s uncritical valorization of masculinity, degradation of femininity, and specifically villification of male femininity)

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: 

okay so there are three answers to this that each deserve equal space.

first, ben. ben ben ben ben ben. my love, whom i adore, and care very much about. it took me so long to understand him.

i spent the first maybe..... two months? of watching ds9 ranting at my mother for three hours a day about how benjamin sisko had the possibility to be such a good character with so much potential if he wasn’t so INCONSISTENTLY WRITTEN. i really couldn’t understand him. i wanted to love him but i couldn’t get inside his head. i spent all of my time wishing that he’d been better written so i could have the character i wanted him to be

this has a lot to do with the fact that i need to understand a character’s ethical system, why they follow it, and what efects it has on them to really understand a character, especially in a series as driven by ethical dilemmas as star trek. most characters i get get a read on it fairly quickly. to use the other two characters i’m about to list here, julian bashir is an idealist, in a way that’s rooted in a combination of naivete and his raging god/hero complex. elim garak has no morality, just a system of loyalties that he will follow to the death, and a sense of propriety based on rather conservative cardassian ideals; this has a lot to do with his tendency to dehumanize other people, and to not see himself as a person with agency but rather as a tool, as well as his rather uncritical patriotism.

anyway, i just could not figure out captain sisko. i couldn’t do it. and then i read hollow men, and it all slid into place.

the funniest running gag/plot point in hollow men (which takes place directly after in the pale moonlight, an episode which i fumed about for WEEKS after watching it) is ben sisko going around to approximately every member of starfleet who outranks him and begging them to yell at and punish him. and none of them will do it, because he did, you know, actually do the right thing.

before this, i had assumed that his ethical beliefs had been carelessly and inconsistently written. after, i realized that he was actually a hypocrite, of a very particular type. specifically, three things are true about his worldview/psychology and they’re totally incompatible. first, he truly, genuinely believes that a Good Starfleet Officer is a Moral Paragon of Perfect Idealistic Purity. second, he is a pragmatist who will always, in the end, do what needs doing. but third, most importantly: he needs to believe that he is a Good Starfleet Officer. this is why he is always so surprised at himself when he must Do Something Bad, and yet always so willing to do it. why it always throws him into a crisis. he has to lie to himself about things in order to function. he’s also incapable of maintaining a healthy level of detachment from affairs at hand, even though in the end he will generally make the right decision. he gets very emotionally involved in things, in all sorts of way: he holds a personal grudge against eddington. he gets angry at garak at the end of in the pale moonlight. hell, he gets caught up by dukat’s friendly and charming demeanor and happily banters with him despite knowing he’s a monster. ben is very bad at taking a step back. and that was the piece i was missing.

next: julian. here’s the story on julian: whether i like a character depends very much on how they’re framed. and i fucking hated the framing he got from both the show and the fandom. i’m not interested in julian as the audience avatar the way he is framed in the show, nor am i interested in him as the naive baby/perfect caretaker/sidekick boyfriend/garak’s pet twink that he is in the fandom. i don’t care for it.

now, i thought i hated julian bashir in an uncomplicated way for a long time. but about four months into my watching of ds9, three things happened at once: first, i began bingeing season seven seven with my parents. you know, the season where julian goes off the rails to the point where the show can’t lie to itself anymore. second, i hit a string of julian/miles episodes on my own personal runthrough of the earlier seasons. and third, i realized that i talked more about julian bashir than almost any character except mr garak, and that....... normally doesn’t happen with characters i straight up hate.

julian is a perfect, beautiful nastyboy antihero who thinks he’s hot shit and the savior of the galaxy. and i love him for it. but i couldn’t love him for it when i thought that i was supposed to love him for being a different character. which he wasn’t. 

third, and this is the one that’s gonna shock EVERYBODY: i didn’t like garak at first. and the thing is, garak is like odo: he’s my type, to a t. mr queercoded (ex-)villain, wildly gnc, utterly fucked up, no healthy coping mechanisms we die like men and yet still dangerous through all of it.

but see, i started with season five. and his first episode of season five involves him 1) being a racist asshole and 2) not doing anything else of note. so i was like ???????????? why don’t i love this guy like everyone says i should. sooooooo i went back and watched past prologue. and i didn’t care for it. past prologue is a VERY badly written episode, on a number of levels. first of all, garak doesn’t make any attempts to not be obviously suspicious. second of all, he CREEPS ON JULIAN IN THAT FIRST SCENE IN A WAY THAT MAKES MY SKIN ABSOLUTELY CRAWL JESUS CHRIST. third, it just isn’t a very good episode. imo.

AAAAANYWAY so instead of giving up like a sensible person i kept skipping through garak episodes one after the other. i enjoyed cardassians (although the resolution was, imo, Bad), and i absolutely LOVED profit and loss, (although that was as much for the quodo as for garak), and then i got to the wire. here’s the thing about the wire: it is a LOT of emotional turmoil for a character who we’ve only seen in three episodes. it helped me reconcile my biggest issue with garak (that he seems like a spy when he should be able to seem innocuous since he has spy training; he acts suspicious bc he was high and also as a form of self-sabotage) and it also made me more attached to both him and julian, but also...... after watching it, i felt like i should have been more invested going in. i felt like i didn’t Feel enough, because i didn’t know him (or julian, really) well enough.

so i kept going on my garakbinge. the first time i felt maybe a touch of the emotions i feel for him now was in second skin. it was when he vaporized that obsidian order agent after bantering with him and quipped “a shame, i rather liked him”. and then the other charcters turned and looked at him in absolute horror. deep in my gut i felt a little bell go off. a bell that said damn that is a good piece of writing. because like, action hero style quips right? actually kind of a brutal and terrifying concept. no one ever points that out. and like..... god damn is he quick with the quips.

and then.... then........

civil defense. civil defense helped me to truly understand what kind of monster garak is. what makes him tick. and it’s all in the scene where he insults dukat for hitting on kira. what he focuses on in his insults? the fact that dukat is married, and calling dukat unattractive. he focuses on dukat’s failings according to Propriety (that he’s slipping around on his wife) and as a man (that he’s an incompetent seducer/unnatractive). he doesn’t comment on the fantastic rapey-ness of the situation, doesn’t comment on the fact that what dukat wants is one last validation that his role in colonialism was justified/is forgiven. it showed me that garak dehumanizes everyone, yes, and thinks of himself as above everyone (except, as i was to learn later, the Objects of his Loyalty), but that he had two categories. non-cardassians couldn’t know any better. they were sub-cardassian by nature. they could never be held to the same standard. whereas cardassian should know better. they should be better. the fact that they’re not is their own personal failing. this racist principle controls garak’s entire way of relating to other people, and i didn’t understand him until i understood it.

and then........

improbable cause/the die is cast. never has a piece of television quite so effectively Totally Destroyed My Ass.

improbable cause is a smart little piece of comedy that brilliantly develops a relationship that has a ton of potential: garak&odo. they’re both brilliant on their own, but together they reach new levels, and the writing is glorious.

the die is cast is a harrowing walk through elim garak’s daddy issue riddled psyche and i don’t know if i could not-love any character after watching them go through that shit. 

the mood whiplash between the two episodes is ingenious, the writing is tight, and the emotions? very real. i was so invested. i decided i was ready to die for elim garak at about exactly the moment odo punched him in the face.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: 

jadzia dax. she’s the only in the credits-main character who i truly cannot muster up some love for, somewhere. the only time i ever enjoyed an episode focused on her was rejoined (yeah, shocking, i know). jadzia dax is a sex object who is defended from accusations of being a sex object by doing two things: 1) giving her a superficial list of traits (sass, scientific knowhow, some fighting skills) associated with Strong Female Characters, and 2) making her a Mighty Whitey with the klingons.

but she isn’t actually a complex person. she responds to workplace sexual harassment and even stalking (lookin at u juli) by laughing and flirting back, and her sexual libertinism mostly serves to make her supremely available to all nearby men. if you are a young straight man in the audience, she is your wise mentor (but without any kind of power over you), your fuckbuddy (with no strings attached), your best friend and drinking (but without any of those nasty feminine interests and habits girls tend to have) and your girlfriend (but with no difficult Womanfeelings). ds9 has some really terrible gender bullshit and essentialism that we can blame for this. miles o’brien’s line about wishing keiko was more like a man in that one episode is a good example. it sounds gay, and it is, but it’s also underpinned by this terrible gender essentialist, heteronormative assumption that women are inherently alien to men and inherently difficult, (and also that men don’t have feelings/shouldn’t have feminine traits/yadda yadda). jadzia dax is the perfect woman for a man who follows this philosophy. she is a sexy woman who has none of the traits that make women difficult, won’t ever so no, and will always make things more fun without being a person in her own right.

the only time she ever gets to be a person on screen is when her gender is overridden by her performing the role of white audience avatar among the scary, barbaric, non-white-coded klingons. she is a textbook mighty whitey, an audience avatar who is instantly loved and respected by all klingons she meets, and can out-klingon most klingons as a party trick. it’s really absolutely disgusting and plays into ds9′s really bad racial politics and especially bad racial politics regarding klingons. like, she just waltzes into their culture and they shower her with adoration, and also she’s used to highlight the barbarism ds9 likes to portray klingons as having.

i’m gonna work myself up into a snit about ds9, klingons, and worf so i’m just gonna stop here, but, god DAMMIT,.

The character I love that everyone else hates: 

there aren’t a ton of universally hated characters in the fandom? but ben sisko doesn’t get the three dimensional appreciation he deserves and i cringe every time i see him reduced to “baseball dad”

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

odo and jadzia, but just so i can round this out with another character, i’ve gotta say quark sort of too. i still love him, and actually i still love odo too, but i no longer get excited when i see a quark episode because they’re so repetitive. as the series went on, quark got more and more shunted off into his own corner of the narrative and stopped being allowed to interact with others in meaningful ways, and that just made him less interesting to me? because without outside influence, quark is totally cyclical. he can’t develop. he’s trapped in his own trap and all his plots are the same. i love him but i need him to do something else for once. please.

The character I would totally smooch: 

kira :3c

The character I’d want to be like: 

i don’t normally take fictional characters as role models, because i tend to be more interested in them for their flaws than their virtues, but if i had to pick i would say ben.

The character I’d slap: 

julian. deserves slapping but doesn’t deserve anything worse.

A pairing that I love:

:3c y’all know

A pairing that I despise:

all the het especially the canon het, garashir

[just-kept-running]

4, 5, 19, 26

From this meme.

4. Favourite Dalek story? 

Probably Dalek, from New Who season 1.  Because it just has so much to say on the subject of humanity and blind hatred.  Actually, this is probably my second favorite, but I’ll address my number one favorite Dalek story in a later question.  So we’ll call this my favorite New Who Dalek story.

5. If you could pick any companion to travel with any Doctor, who would it be?

That’s a tough one.  There are so many wonderful companions.  But I think I would have to say Zoe Heriot and the Tenth Doctor.  Zoe is absolutely brilliant and extremely determined.  She is also more than just book smart.  I think Ten would really appreciate that.  He values knowledge and learning, so I think the challenge she could give him would be something he would like very much.  And I also think she would enjoy traveling with someone who valued her intellect and would challenge her in return.

Although, I am tempted to say Nyssa and Eight.  For similar and also completely different reasons.  Nyssa is kind, compassionate, brave, and brilliant.  I think Eight would greatly appreciate all of those things about her.  And I think that Nyssa would appreciate Eight’s curiosity about the universe around him and his compassion for all those in it.  Plus I would just love to see how my favorite Doctor traveling with my almost-namesake would pan out.  (Yes, my father wanted to name me after a Doctor Who companion.  I was raised by nerds.)

19. Favorite one off monster?

Oh, that one is fantastic. I would have to say the Wirrn. The creature from the Ark in Space arc. That one is absolutely ridiculous, and that’s honestly why I love it. It looks like it’s made from a sleeping bag that’s been wrapped in bubble wrap and painted a weird green color. And knowing Classic Who, it probably was. It’s one of those wonderfully terrible monsters that could only come out of sci-fi of that era and budget level.  Seriously, this is ‘70s tv sci-fi summed up in one monster.

And so that you can see what I mean, the Wirrn:

Four’s face says it all…

My next answer is ungodly long.  I got into probably a bit more detail than intended.  So in the interest of not cluttering up people’s dashes, I’ll put everything past the actual question under a read-more.

26. Favourite episode (or top 3 if that’s too hard)?

Going with top three.  I’ve got one from Classic Who, one from New Who, and one from the EU.  Single favorite story from each.  I’m also taking “episode” to mean a complete story line, because all three of these are arcs in which the individual episodes don’t really stand alone.

Classic Who: The Genesis of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor, 6 episodes)The reason I’m choosing this one is because it has this absolutely beautiful moral dilemma that the Doctor is forced to confront.  For those unfamiliar with the arc, I’ll give a brief plot summary.  The Doctor and his companions are sent back in time by the Time Lords to the planet Skaro.  The Doctor had been here before.  In fact, the second of One’s serials is set on Skaro and it is our first introduction to the Daleks.  But this time, the Doctor is sent back to before the Daleks became Daleks.  He is sent back to the war between the Thals and the Kaleds.  His task is to eliminate the Daleks before they can become the threat to all life in the universe that the Time Lords have foreseen.  But the Kaleds are far too human.  They’re nothing even remotely like the Daleks.  They haven’t even begun to become the monsters we know them as.  So the Doctor is given the impossible choice: Kill the Kaleds, commit the genocide of an innocent race to prevent future atrocities, or let them live, knowing the sort of monsters they will eventually become.(Interestingly, for those only familiar with New Who, we see this exact same plot played out again in the episodes The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar.  I say exactly the same because it really is.  Twelve is presented with Davros as a Kaled child stranded on a battlefield.  The Doctor knows what Davros will become, knows he will grow up to create the Daleks, and is forced to choose: end a presently innocent life or allow the child to grow into what the Doctor knows he will become.  He made the same decision both times.)

EU: Zagreus (Eighth Doctor, 3 episodes plus a prequel)Oooh boy, where do I even start with this one.  This is a Big Finish main range audio drama.  The Eighth Doctor is probably my favorite Doctor at this point, now that I’ve really delved into the EU.  Most of his stuff comes  from there.  But the reason I love him so much is that he is the eternal optimist.  He loves the people around him unabashedly, he is consistently compassionate and anti-violence, and he has this child-like sense of wonder and curiosity about the universe and everything in it.  He is a delightful character.  This is one of the stories that begins to break that down.Zagreus is a character from a Gallifreyan nursery rhyme.  It’s long, so I won’t take up that space in this post, but I have it on my Eighth Doctor blog, so that can be found here.  Zagreus is supposed to be this monster that brings about the end of time.  What Zagreus actually is, is a manifestation of is an anti-time infection caused by a plot for revenge by a group of Time Lords who had been banished to a separate universe through a practice called dispersal.Zagreus is my secret nameZagreus is the one to blameZagreus is the Time Lords’ shameThe beast that I’ve been keepingThe Doctor, in attempting to save the universe, becomes infected with anti-time, as does his TARDIS.  In this arc he must confront his own mind and his TARDIS.  Zagreus manifests as a sort of quasi-entity, a personification of the anti-time possessing the Doctor.  And it really does play out like a possession.  He is trying to stave off losing control to Zagreus.  All the while, he is being led through a series of visions by the TARDIS.  Charley, his companion, is also being taken through a series of visions, also by the TARDIS.  But while both of them innately trust the TARDIS, the TARDIS is angry about the Doctor’s decision that he knew would kill them both.  As such, she has given in to the anti-time infection and has been leading them into a trap.And in case this wasn’t enough of a mind-fuck, the Doctor’s entire half of this arc revolves around Lewis Carol references.  Just to make everything a little weirder.  The TARDIS appears to Charley as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.  She appeared to the Doctor as the Cheshire Cat.But the reason I love this arc so much is a little hard to put into words.  I love Eight for his optimism and sense of wonder.  But it’s also fascinating to watch the way that that unravels.  And the sort of madness he displays in this arc is both terrifying and extremely interesting.  Additionally, this is not a problem that is easily solved.  This is not something that just goes away.  He is eventually able to wrestle back control and make peace with his TARDIS, but he is never fully rid of Zagreus.  The arc ends with him undertaking a mission that is tantamount to suicide.  He does this because he knows he will never be fully rid of Zagreus and will therefore always pose a danger to those around him.  He chooses probable death over that risk.  Because as with most things involving Eight, in the end his choices are guided by compassion and a desire for peace.  Even if that means he has to die.

New Who: The End of Time (Tenth Doctor, 2 episodes)This arc is the end of the Tenth Doctor’s run.  It is a story featuring the Master and, for the first time in New Who, the Time Lords.  My reason for loving this arc is a little less… abstruse than the rest of them.  I love Ten, I love the way he’s written here, I love the Master, and I love Wilfred.  I also thought this was a wonderful farewell to the Tenth Doctor.When I say I love how he’s written here, I mean a lot of things about the writing.  I think my favorite exchange is between Wilfred and the Doctor: “We must look like ants to you.”  “I think you look like giants.”  But the conversations between the Doctor and the Master are also wonderful.  I love the way we’re made to relate to the Master, to see him in a sympathetic light even as he’s cast as the villain.  That is villain writing done properly.  We can see what his motives might be and that there is very clearly something seriously wrong with him.  The Doctor sees it too.  It doesn’t make him any less dangerous or villainous, but it makes him sympathetic.  Additionally, the Doctor is not always kind.  His speech to Wilfred when he finally realizes what “he will knock four times” actually meant is callous, unkind, and self-pitying.  And that’s actually great.  Because it makes him relatable.  He has shown himself to be borderline suicidal through the whole season.  But when it really comes down to it, as hopeless as he feels and as emotionally exhausted as he is, he doesn’t want to die.I also loved the ending.  I felt it gave a good sense of closure.  Was I sad to see Ten go?  Absolutely.  And I admit, I was not a fan of Eleven, so that made it all the sadder to me.  But I did love the send-off he got.

[countingtheheadlights]

Some thoughts on series 4

Yikes.

I dunno.

The first two episodes were compelling. Like they were really well directed and acted and…Ugh. they were good. But then I’ll see some posts that point out some excellent points, specifically about the female characters of the show.

About how Molly was unnecessarily emotionally tortured (I feel for ya girl) and how Mary was essentially used as a prop to further developed Sherlock’s and John’s characters. Like i get that…And initially, I enjoyed tfp.

But then I think about the excellent points everyone’s making, and while it’s great that Sherlock’s character has developed more empathy as the series progressed, and John’s finally admitted to himself he’s the guy that’s addicted to the danger of Sherlock’s world (why else choose to live with him, aside from his initial amazement at his abilities) and I kinda just go…Oooh.

I’m conflicted. I’m gonna argue and say this, character development wise, has been an excellent series. You see more Mrs. Hudson. More Mycroft. More insight into his relationship with his brother Sherlock, and you start to finally see the cracks in their stone cold interactions. And John this season, well, plot wise, he’s been put through some shit. But it was interesting seeing them write this character make the same mistakes a lot of people sometimes make in his situation. And that I totally get. John’s human. It is what it is.

Have we, as an audience, always known that?

Yeah. (Him punching Sherlock in the restaurant when he came back “from the dead”, one example)

But to this extent?

Maybe not.

We’ve never really seen John make a mistake like this.

Maybe unable to keep a stable relationship with ex girlfriends because of his addiction to adrenaline. I liked that storyline because of a few things:

1. Shit like that DOES happen in real life. You think you can make something work because you think it’s what you need…But it’s not what you want. Or that you’re not the person someone thinks you are.

Like, that shit happens and it’s disappointing as fuck.

But it happens, and THAT’S why I love that scene in TLD because it’s honest.

2. While the knowledge that John Watson may not be as perfect as Sherlock sees him as, we’ve never really seen how John feels about this.

I liked the storyline in TLD.

It reminded me of a lot of shit in real life. Namely, John’s guilt of pretending to be someone he’s not and failing to be honest, and Sherlock’s growth as a person.

Personally, I’ve known someone like Sherlock. With an additive personality, high intelligence, the “not give a fuck” attitude.

But I was glad to know them.because, like John, they slowly opened up and became softer while still retaining that high intelligence and propensity for being right all the time.

I’ll say this: they’ve written their male characters beautifully. They wrote their character arcs craftily.

As for their woman… ….

it fucking sucks they used Mary as the catalyst to getting him to function again, her sole purpose in getting the boys back together.

And Molly…

I like Molly. I just don’t like the way she had to be emotionally manipulated. But I get what they were trying to do. Make that scene a part of the villain’s game.

Still though.

I’m conflicted. On one hand, the plot, while weak, had its moments–character wise. You get a glimpse past the facade of these characters (I.e: Sherlock’s emotional range, John’s steadfast soldiering on. We knew that from the beginning, but it’s nice to be reminded. And Mycroft’s love for his brother. do not tell me that was ooc. I think, with the way they developed the character, in the context presented, it wasn’t pic at all.) And it was nice to see Moriarty again. I get what they were trying to do.

But on the other hand…

The plot was weak. Characters (especially female) were written as plot devices (but then so was Mary in the original books), and the lead up to this fell flat.

If someone could understand the plot in Russian, who doesn’t speak Russian may I add, then maybe something’s wrong.

But OVERALL…

The first two episodes were fantastic. They were. Stoppit.

And this episode had its moments.

You see cracks in seemingly unemotional characters, a bit of enlightenment into Sherlock’s pysche.

I’d say the series was 2/3 brilliant.

Mary used as a plot device for a male character was disappointing…But how they did it was believable. Mary’s character was clever. She thought ahead, covered her tracks.

Loved both the boys.

It would make sense that she’d plan something in case of her death, which was always a possibility considering her former position as this badass assassin.

But it wasn’t ..Surprising they’d use her character as a sort of stepping stone for character development. Which is the reason shame.

the ending wasn’t terrible. It reminded me of when I first read the books, and it was about these two guys solving crimes together. It was the essence of who Sherlock Holmes and John Watson is.

Having Mary explain that wasn’t terrible.

There are a lot of things wrong with this episode, but the series as a whole had a lot of really great moments. Like that hug™.

So all I’m saying is that….It’s NOT complete trash. It’s not.

I’m not gonna call this series trash. The use of certain characters, yes, the use of trite plot devices, yes.

The saw remake?

I mean, these characters are very interesting. Hell, when they meet a new intellectual villain, all they do is play head games with each other.

A disgusting plot device?

Eh, I wouldn’t say that.

I’d just say overused, but not not enjoyable if you’re a super casual fan.

But as someone who invests themselves into this show as a whole, yeah. It was fucking disappointing that the climax was anticlimatic in the most painful way.

But those first two episodes overall?

No. I will defend those two episodes to the death BECAUSE THEY WERE ACTUALLY GOOD.

The final problem?

Perhaps the problem lies with the misguided thought that “challenging the fans” means “enraging the fans”.

Come on creators.

You guys are better than this. You pulled off a fantastic 2/3.

You just need to stop thinking rehashing the same “mind games” theme in your finales with your villains is “breaking new ground”.

And please, for the love of good, have the female characters not always be used as crutches for Sherlock's and John's character development. There are other ways.

[captainignatiuspigheart]

Ah, February, My Old Nemesis

Alright, that’s a bit melodramatic… I’ve perked up considerably and the prospect of February brings me neither fear nor hope. It’s been a very quiet week, or at least… I think it has. I’ve spent much of today in a courtroom in our dress rehearsal for Light Night: The Glowstick Trials on Friday at the National Justice Museum (you should come along, especially if you have kids – get em judged by strangers!), and I feel a little perplexed about what I might actually have done this week. Let’s see… Ah, I have it. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time doing minute photoediting at work this week, and I think it’s turned my brain inside out. Don’t get me wrong, I really love learning more about Photoshop (since I use it every day for book design and layout at Aconyte Books, and for doing a similarly wide range of graphics stuff for MissImp, I’d better learn to love it), but I’ve been kinda embedded in the same task, and can no longer perceive the colour blue. Ho hum.

Reading: Between Books

I’ve foolishly ended up reading a pair of books alternately. It wasn’t intentional, but rather situational. I am very fond of my Kindle – it’s amazing to read a book with one hand while brushing my teeth or wandering around the house, so it’s an automatic go-to. On the other hand (or both hands, I guess), I love to read real books with the paper-fondling and all that. So I’ve ended up on two. I’ll not review them before finishing them (that would be daft).

First up, Adam Roberts’ Splinter, which is a curiously Jules Verney adventure about a chap whose dad predicts the end of the world, and turns out to be correct (probably), leaving he, his father and a bunch of believers (in his father) are stuck together on a little chunk of Earth. It’s odd, and I’m struggling to drag myself back it a bit. On the plus side, it’s got this gorgeous cover by Darius Hinks (whose splendid fantasy novel The Ingenious we published back at Angry Robot. He’s a very fine chap too).

Second, I’m back in the Malazan world with Ian C Esslemont’s Return of the Crimson Guard. Kinda digging it. Also noticing more differences from Steven Erikson’s storytelling: there are far fewer “thus”es.

Doing: Lego

I’m at an awkward point in Lego building. I’ve failed to build anything for myself (as in, not as dictated by the instructions in an official Lego set) since my Wizard of Oz at the beginning of last year. That’s a combination of having very little time (mostly due to doing far too much admin for MissImp), and having relatively little space to get all the boxes out for rootling through them. I’ve managed to have a few breakdown and sorting periods which I find very relaxing, but I’ve not felt the necessary inspiration for building. Trying to build and getting nowhere is really grim. Last week I pulled a couple of boxes out and made some intricate and horrifically fragile gold gates, but didn’t know what to do with it.

But yesterday I had the day entirely to myself and after getting a few things done, I got everything out! Ah, six hours crosslegged on the floor leaves a chap utterly unable to stand, but it was totally worth it. I’ve expanded the gate, framed it and started building a structure around it. The tiled floor is very pleasing (I got loads of those quarter circle coral pink tiles from Leicester Square Lego Shop last year). The long hexagonal shape is putting enormous stress on some of the bricks, but I’m pretty chuffed with it. I suspect I’ve over-greebled the walls and will need to tone it right back down, but overally I feel deeply happy about the whole thing. It’s raised up so I can build some terrain and foliage around it when I’ve got some idea what’s going at the back. Some kind of tower…? It’s actually a little further along than these pictures show – check out Instagram for more continuous updates!

Gates!

Flooring!

Acquiring: The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen by Roy P Webber

I’m rarely able to help myself when it comes to Harryhausen stuff. The man was a fantastic artist, animator and all-round nice fellow. This one’s been on my list for a while, and I’ve finally added it to the stack. Unlike the recent (fantastic) Titan tomes on the Hollywood special effects genius, this one is all black and white and a lot more text and commentary. Accordingly, it’s going to take me a lot longer to get into and through, but I’m delighted to have acquired it.

  Acquiring: Fake Lego Mandalorian

Disney’s super-secret hiding of the baby Yoda spoiler in The Mandalorian was an absolute delight but it has left us with fuck all vital Baby Yoda merchandise! The AT-ST from that brilliant shrimp-harvesting episode (I’m trying to avoid spoilers) is the only real Lego set currently available, so I was utterly at the mercy of knock-off merchants on eBay. The Mandalorian himself has a rather cack helmet print, but the body and armour printing is great, and the overall quality of the parts ain’t bad. Baby Yoda filled my heart with joy though. Shame he’s got a slight nick out of his green face paint (revealing the generic pink below). I’m quite pleased. The Mandalorian is a fantastic show, by the way, the perfect space Western that Star Wars is supposed to be and you should watch it. I’m on my third re-watch now…

Watching: Titans

Ah, this is what I’ve been doing this week… I watched both of these shows last year, but damned if I could recall a single salient story sliver. Titans season 2 popped up on Netflix, and that seemed like a fine opportunity to dive back into season 1 with Marilyn. It’s really fun! I’ve got no idea who any of the characters are (save Robin and Wonder Girl). I feel this a a DC thing – other than Batman and his usual coterie of villains, I’ve never taken to and absorbed a general sense of the DC heroes and villains. The parlous state of their movie universe pretty much guarantees my feelings will stay this way. The show picks up a very violent Robin and a couple of his street-scrapping chums to protect a young girl who appears in dire need of exorcism. They team up with a guy who turns into a green tiger and a spectacular woman who can channel the energy of the sun into burning stuff. It’s proper comics far – somewhat perplexing about why anything’s happening, but it’s all done with a pleasingly gritty tone without too much winking or spandex. The fights are pleasingly violent too – it’s no fun being twatted with a staff, and Titans does not pull those punches. The effects are a bit poor occasionally, but it doesn’t really detract much.

Watching: Star Trek: Discovery

ST: Disco was a delight last year, and caning through it again while playing with Lego and every other activity is proving equally satisfying. I like Discovery because it’s got plenty of mental episodic drama, fun characters and splendid special effects. It’s really all I want from Star Trek. Like DS9 it’s got a strong narrative arc which pleases me, and the cast is pitch perfect (Michelle Yeoh, goddamn). As with all the prequel storylines, I end up completely forgetting that this much better looking, higher tech world with cooler uniforms is actually set way before the hilarious jumpsuits of Next Generation. Great fun, and I’m looking forward to its return with season 3.

Last Week, Sunday 2 February 2020 - lots of TV (Titans and ST: Disco), Lego funtimes (real and fake) and some bookish bits. #reading #lego #harryhausen #glowsticktrials #babyyoda Ah, February, My Old Nemesis Alright, that’s a bit melodramatic... I’ve perked up considerably and the prospect of February brings me neither fear nor hope.

[padaheck]

My favourite and least favourite seasons of supernatural ranked

I'm gonna go from least favourite to most favourite. Spoilers for all seasons ahead. 12; S7. The whole leviathan plot line was fairly weak in my opinion and the season itself was pretty forgettable. It's the only season I haven't rewatched in it's entirety. In my opinion the best part of this season was our introduction to the amazing Charlie. Also this is the season where we lost Bobby so... I shouldn't have to elaborate on that too much. 11; S12. I know I probably shouldn't include this season because it isn't over and I don't know how it will end so I can't really judge it but... I'm going to anyways. I'm just flat out not enjoying this season and instead of staying up all hours just to watch new episodes live, I find myself not watching episodes for days or even until the next episode is out. The excitement is gone for me and I really hope this season turns around and pulls me in again. 10; S10. This season (which I can barely remember, I really need to rewatch it) annoyed me for a couple reasons. First off, the writers really wasted Demon!Dean. They should've spent way more than 3 measly episodes exploring this character instead of ending it abruptly for a musical episode. Another reason it annoyed me was the season finale. I couldn't believe they would actually kill off Death. It was such a stupid move. I still can't wrap my head around it. 9; S11. This season really didn't do it for me at all. I didn't really like the Darkness not because she was a bad character (well she wasn't amazing but she wasn't awful either) but because it seemed like the writers were just trying to create the Biggest Big Bad. Confirming Chuck as God was nice but it was just telling us what we all pretty much worked out on our own. The finale, which I live posted about, really pissed me off. Months of showing us how much Amara hated God were wasted when they solved their issues after five minutes of speaking. I won't even speak about Mary's resurrection because then I'll just get mad and this section is already long enough. 8; S8. There was so much going on in this season! I didn't want to put this as low as I did but there were much better seasons than this. That said, this wasn't a bad season at all. It saw many amazing characters (coughAbaddoncough) I loved the finale to this season, it has become one of my favourites and the scene between Sam and Dean in that church where Sam tells Dean he doesn't care if he dies? Breaks my heart every single time. So yeah it's a shame this had to be at number 8 but there's simply better seasons than this. 7; S6. Let me start by saying the reason this comes before S8 is because I fucking adore Soulless!Sam. Like, he's my favourite Sam second only to normal Sam. So that's a big contributor as to why I like this season. I really liked how Dean got a taste of an apple pie life and his relationship with Ben was really adorable. This season also saw the creation of my (and many others) favourite episode, The French Mistake. For me, Samuel really brought this season down and I wasn't Castiel's biggest fan either but of course I have forgiven him. Can't say much for Samuel though. 6; S9. This was one hell of a season, such an emotional rollercoaster. I was actually pretty fond of Gadreel and thought he was a decent character. Metateon infuriates me, even to this day but not in a way that would make me not want to watch episodes he's in. He's a good villain to say the least. Man, that season finale. It really fucked me up, especially that last shot. I joined the fandom about a month after that episode aired because I heard so much about the emotional trauma of that final episode. 5; S3. This season was amazing! It pains me to put it at number 5 but like S8 there's just better seasons. Anywho, watching Sam being lead astray by Ruby was both very frustrating to watch and also fun. Ruby is a character I love to hate, particularly the original Ruby seen in this season. Deans inevitable descent to hell was devastating, especially that finale. God, seeing Sam clutching Dean's mutilated body while sobbing was heart wrenching. It's a shame it only has 16 episodes. 4; S2. Oh man, oh man S2. I love this season more than words can express. I love love love the whole 'psychic powers' storyline and was definitely satisfied by how it played out. That two part finale fucked me up so badly. I can hardly bear to rewatch either of them because it hurts so good. This could easily be in my top 3 favourite seasons if the next season wasn't as amazing as it is. 3; S4. One word: Castiel. One of my favourite characters of all time is introduced in what I consider to be one of the most badass introductions to a character ever. He is such a prick when we first meet him and I love it. I don't think I have one bad thing to say about this season. The finale was brilliant, Ruby's ulterior motives were finally revealed and it felt so good to watch her being ganked. I desperately need to rewatch this season. 2; S5. Wowowow! I don't even know what to say other than I fucking love this season. Lucifer might be my favourite villain of all time so beautifully played by Mark Pellegrini and occasionally Jared Padalecki. The writers really nailed it with this season and so did our boys Jensen and Jared and Misha, with some of their best scenes being in this season imo, especially Jared in the season finals. I am endlessly impressed by this season. 1; S1. This season will always be my favourite no matter what new seasons they come out with for one reason. It was the season that hooked me and got me emotionally invested in the boys lives. I'm so eternally grateful I started watching this show and I know if the pilot wasn't as stellar as it is, I probably wouldn't have continued to watch. I love rewatching this season just to see the fresh faced, squeaky voiced Sam and Dean overcome the monster of the week, a format I truly miss. Not only that but S1 just looks completely different from recent seasons. Everything seems darker and grittier and I love it. So that's it. I didn't mean to waffle as much as I did but hey, shit happens. Feel free to give me your thoughts my dudes