#while i deliberately watched no spoiler reviews

[thistaleisabloodyone]

The people who have been making Dragon Age content even without a new game being released all say they enjoyed the story. As someone who will most likely end up on the "Plz just give me story" setting, I'm down with that.

[thenamesblurrito]

so. Transformers ONE was a good movie

i HIGHLY recommend going in blind, i do think it's incredibly effective with as few spoilers as possible beforehand! seeing it on the big screen is really really nice too, i encourage you to watch it in theaters without reading up on it first if you can!

long full-spoiler review and dissection of elements below (i reached the text block limit a couple times oops):

general stuff:

gorgeous. just genuinely visually gorgeous. so many details, colors, textures, everything was so beautiful. the stylization itself may not be my favorite but it was executed so well that i ended up loving it. their optics! their colors! their movement! the way the visuals serve the lore and the story is extremely well done too, i felt like everything i was seeing was deliberate, relevant, and a treat for the audience instead of just "ooo visual noise look at how powerful our cgi rendering is" (which is how i felt about the "live action" Lion King prequel(????) ad they showed before). all the little cameos and repaints and everything in the background? mwah. GORGEOUS MUSIC TOO AAAA THE WAY THAT TFP'S MOTIF IS IN THERE AAAA

the visual effects and action, the way they USED their roboticness/transformation sequences/vehicle modes in fighting and moving and emoting, it was VERY GOOD. Orion grabs a Death Tracker and RIPS THEM INTO PIECES BY TRANSFORMING AROUND THEM AND FORCING THEIR FRAME TO SHATTER. insanity

this is ABSOLUTELY the origin story movie the fandom has wanted. even if it wasn't your preferred origin story, this movie SHONE with love and respect for the franchise and drew on so many influences to craft a powerful version of the beginning we all wanted to see

in some ways i wish we had more, i think it would've been extremely effective to see things expanded upon, especially D-16's emotional descent and maybe some more Quints. actually looking at the content and pacing of the movie though, and the audience it's aimed at, i don't think there's anything they should've cut in favor of other stuff. i understand why it wasn't dwelt on more, but hooooo i would've liked to see Dee breaking apart a little more thru the middle of the film. apparently the novelization has more scenes of this and i would love to read it

i had so much fun watching this movie. it was a rollercoaster. it was a TREAT. i was sitting there enjoying every second both times i saw it because it was a good film that rewarded me greatly for being a Transformers fan, giving me so many easter eggs and injokes, while also being perfectly understandable and fun for a complete newbie. excellently balanced appeal to old and new fans alike

there was no wink to the audience about how stupid and childish a movie about robots is, there was no lampshading of how silly sci fi is, there was no betrayal of the emotional tone of the film. so many stories now kneecap themselves by mocking their very concept, and the audience watching them, in a very cinema sins-style irony poisoned way. this movie never does that. its humor is fitting, its drama is real, its emotion is all SINCERE and i love how i was never mocked by any part of the movie for engaging with it sincerely

this movie loved being a Transformers movie

anyways. specific stuff:

love how Wheeljack managed to explode everything despite not even being a scientist. he's just THAT good

THE INJOKES AND REFERENCES. "you don't have the touch OR the power." calling them Gobots. the corny More Than Meets The Eye bits. "don't be a glitch" is a headcanon swear i've been using for years now and they canonized it!! "High Guard, eject". "paging doctor Ratchet." the new take on "all are one". the really interesting way that the term Transformers is an actual significant in-universe name, and how Orion and Dee ARE NOT Transformers at first!

the sheer number of cameos is ASTOUNDING. what an excellent mix of masc/fem designs too, they really made it normal on this Cybertron which i appreciate! apparently Blurr exists here, his name was on the leaderboard!!!!!! good job Chromia i am so proud of you for winning. and the shots of the bots getting cogs at the end was aaAAA!!! <<33 my HEART! Jazz's little smile looking at his new doorwings!!

I GOT ALL MY SILLY OLD DEMIGOD FAVES I GOT THE THIRTEEN EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM AAAAAA ALPHA TRION MY GRANDPA god i'm so sorry you're dead but i can't believe you showed up on the big screen <<333 you and your rockin rhino unicorn lion alt mode. and your superpowers. god you're so cool. "old timer" NUH UH HE'S STILL BETTER THAN YOU!!!!! using Zeta for the thirteenth was an interesting choice! i did think he was Overlord for a hot second. it's the lips. Solus wasn't fridged by virtue of everyone else died too yippee!! ALSO MEGATRONUS THE COOLEST ONE WOOOO HES NOT JUST A FIERY EVIL GUY!!!!

the way Dee himself was, in a way, the Fallen of this continuity.... 😭

the way Sentinel was handcrafting his downfall with each touch of the blowtorch. carving the sigil of the Decepticons into the one who will kill him. dooming Cybertron in a moment of petty mockery. AND HE DOESN'T EVEN DRAW IT WELL IT'S LIKE A MESSY CRAYON DRAWING CMON

planetformer Primus in a blockbuster movie? CANONICAL EXPLICITLY STATED PLANETARY ROBO MPREG BIRTH IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES???? THEY USE THE WORD BIRTH. BORN. we are never escaping the reproductive insanity in this franchise

Shockwave you whiny tantrum throwing wuss. let Elita beat him up more. it's good for him. also love how that could be construed as a ref to her G1 resistance force

CASUAL MIND READER SOUNDWAVE???????

Elita was perfect, no notes. i would not like her if i met her but i respect her so much. she really is better in every way and down to business. Best First indeed

so much cool implications and fascinating timeline confusion. 50 cycles since the Primes were slaughtered? the way Sentinel leveraged their reputation to make himself beloved, casting himself as their peer? the way he didn't choose to villainize them, the way he apparently openly admitted to the loss of the Matrix and how it impacted the planet? when did cog theft start, and how old is Orion since in the novelization it states his entire generation is cogless? who remembers the og Primes? who is in the know about it all?? hoooghhghhh fascinating.

the implication that the High Guard worked with the og Primes?? the possibility STARSCREAM was a loyal guard for Cybertron's DEMIGODS????

okay i was not expecting a backstory for STARSCREAM'S VOICE in this movie but holy. god. the shippers will be going insane over this one. hoogh holy fit. what is wrong with you. the utter contradiction of being both an instigator and a coward when he gets in over his head and immediately backpedals

also obviously this is the I Love Divorce movie and megop shippers will be having a field day but i DEEPLY appreciate just how solid a friendship Dee and Orion have and how badly they fall apart, even thru a strictly platonic lens. i also appreciate how there was no forced comphet attraction/romance!! i was dreading the possibility of it, i mean Oplita was RIGHT THERE but they didn't force it at all thank youuuuuu. i would rather have this dynamic with its zero intended romance than awkward, OOC attraction shoehorned in to detract from the plot

Bee was actually good! like yeah he's def the kid appeal character and i prefer it when he's in a younger gen and not OP's peer, but he was wayyyyy less annoying than i was expecting! i think he fit the movie and did his job in it well, and i absolutely laughed at him multiple times. "i get to work for the GOVERNMENT! :DDDD" bee. please. the fact that he's been going insane and desperate after isolation for so long really helps make his character work instead of being just irritating

Airachnid you are so cool. you are TOO COOL. PLEASE TONE DOWN YOUR COOLNESS. i adore how she is not good at facial expressions thank you evil autism moments. love how her signature move is stabbystabbystabbystabbystabbystabby

Sentinel. god. Sentinel. SENTINEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i need to draw him getting ripped in half. it's like they distilled the worst parts of every single iteration and combined them into a SuperBad version. horrifically realistic kind of guy. i love to hate him. real Metro Man from Megamind energy. and megachurch pastor energy. the IRONY that Orion and Dee were probably actually helping him, that he was probably being genuine in the medbay when he said he loved what they did by racing, that he may have been honest when he said he was gonna have them fixed up in his own facilities and had them tour the mines! because them racing increased energon production by 150% and Sentinel needed that!!! he needed that for the Quintessons!!! i think he was being genuine when he first met Dee and Orion and then Darkwing ruined everything!!!

Darkwing is the curly straw of this continuity

the Quintessons were hoooooooooooooooo. whoooooooooogh. hoohhhhhhhhhhhh. the biomechanical. the shapes. the textures. eugh. icky. creepy. excellent. the way their ships looked like the Nemesis. the way they're STILL a looming threat. i wanted to see more of them but i get why the movie wasn't about them. i hope we see more in the future

the way Orion is the kind of guy who, in an attempt to be selfless, keeps making selfish or thoughtless decisions was SO INTERESTING. it set up the dynamic of his and Dee's friendship very well, with Orion always wanting the best for his buddy but ultimately overwriting or ignoring what Dee says!! the way Dee clings to the social contract of protocol for safety because that's all he knows and his ANGER when it's broken, even when it's Orion breaking it, because that's not SAFE it's an UNKNOWN it has CONSEQUENCES WHEN YOU DEVIATE. and then it's revealed that the social norms have been a lie the whole time and Sentinel has "broken protocol" more than ever and Dee has no safety left because it was always broken. Orion wanted to be more, he could feel there was more. Dee just wanted security

Dee spent so much of the movie complaining and arguing and it was very funny and good characterization but it was also a hint at how much bitterness was under there the whole time. so much of his complaints were threats of violence. he always had Orion's back and then when he learns the truth he abruptly. stops. do you notice he doesn't really have Orion's back after this? he's no longer by his side? he's there, but he's not... there. he was the first to shoot an enemy and took joy in it. all of his emotions were so justified and then what he does with them is what makes it a tragedy. he didn't have to do this. augh

i really, really like the fact that they managed to pull off the ending without it fully turning into a "boohoo if we do anything violent we're as bad as the bad guys waaaa". the specific phrasing of "rebuilding cannot start with an execution" went HARD. and it's demonstrated in their actions too like, Dee was out for REVENGE and it was PERSONAL, Orion was fighting for JUSTICE and it was UNIVERSAL. Sentinel was beaten, everyone knew the truth. it was over. but Dee in his (very justified!) anger and broken trust was too overcome to back down. they were given the power to change their worlds, but Dee was thinking only of his world. Orion was thinking of everyone

ironic that as soon as Orion starts thinking of other people and considering what they need instead of forging ahead, Dee decides to center his own feelings and actions to the point of murder. even after Sentinel was dead, he just kept shooting, he did NOT AT ALL care that some of those shots were clearly hurting innocent civilians/going wide and shooting out into the city/damaging actual important infrastructure and not just Sentinel statues. i believe it's Bee who said "he's gonna kill everyone" and he proves it by attacking Elita and saying "I won't stop until every last one of his followers is dead". THE FACT THAT HE FELL SO FAR AS TO SEE ELITA, HIS PEER AND FELLOW FREEDOM FIGHTER WHO WAS THERE WORKING AGAINST SENTINEL WITH HIM FROM THE START OF THIS QUEST, AS ONE OF SENTINEL'S FOLLOWERS.... by the end of it, Dee really was nothing but blind anger

and the way kneeling was a common thread!!!!! aaaaaaa. Sentinel betrayed the world by kneeling to the enemy. Dee won respect by refusing to kneel. Orion gained followers by willingly kneeling to his peers. hooghh

Orion jumping and stumbling and falling this whole movie because he just THROWS himself into things because he BELIEVES in things, he's the one to take leaps of faith, to take that step out into the unknown! and Dee refusing to save him as one final nail in the coffin, so clearly feeling like Orion jumping in front of the blast was yet ANOTHER way Orion is forcing his hand, corralling him into doing something he thinks is best but did not consult him on, finally FINALLY saying NO and leaning in to the tragedy!! and in the exact same way Sentinel handcrafted his enemy in Dee, Dee has now handcrafted his enemy in Orion!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and now that Orion took that last leap of faith and fell, now is when he RISES. ONE SHALL FALL AND ONE SHALL RISE. god. it reminds me of Spiderverse, the way they use falling and rising

the way the tragedy is worse for how well everyone was working together.... for one shining moment, the miners and the High Guard, the rescue mission, it was going so well. they were doing it. they were winning. it didn't have to turn to slaughter. if there was to be an execution it should've been by trial, by the voice of the people, not Dee deciding for Cybertron as Sentinel decided what truth was. augh.

in an abruptly different note, the way they have characters move and fly is so cool. i love the jetpacks. i love how flight is not "flyer" exclusive. it's fascinating and i think really fitting for the general city of Iacon itself. all those towers going up and down

THE TRAINS!! THE MOVING ROADS!! HOW COOL IS THAT!! LOOK AT THAT WORLDBUILDING IM OBSESSED WITH THIS CYBERTRON HOOGH. this movie was VERY good at building a rich, functional world of detail and making it very alien in a way i want to chew on forever. the moving mountains and greebled energon mines. the living planet. the deer!!! ooghghh. PRIMUS LOOKS LIKE A STAR

i do like this Primus actually, yeah it was a deus ex machina but that's the POINT. Optimus himself is an act of god and his presence heralds miracles. Dee couldn't bring justice to Cybertron because justice is restoration. justice is healing what was hurt and doing right by the wronged. yes that often means consequences upon the perpetrator but that's NOT what Dee was doing, he wasn't even THINKING of anyone else!! would killing Sentinel get ppl out of the mines? would it restore their cogs? would it bring equality to a clearly oppressive society? like he LIVED this (cogless bots with limited options, the talk of tiers as if they are social castes you can be demoted from, lower city levels where ppl can be banished, etc) but it was Orion who ultimately addressed this. i'm sorry if it feels like insult to injury to rub his Primacy in your face, Megatron, but stealing a cog just like Sentinel and declaring the age of Primes over, when it was the age of Primes ending that made you cogless and oppressed in the first place, is only an extension of your trauma, anger, and violence, and is not solving the problem!

a cog stolen from him at birth! and then he steals it from Sentinel in symbolic revenge, stolen again, but even that wasn't Sentinel's, it was stolen too! the way he discards the cog from Onyx, willingly gifted to him, to continue the trend of desecrating the dead! man. MAN. the name he took, the cog he took, the symbol he took, all from his hero, the one he looked up to, the coolest Prime, and THEN DECLARED THE AGE OF PRIMES OVER

the gilded pompous showmanship of it all was so gross, the way Sentinel's face was everywhere, the way he had instant access to everyone in Iacon via announcements that took over the media. but this was clearly derived from the previous Primes!! we see their statues, we see their stately tower, and unless Sentinel had all that built in "mourning" (which is totally plausible imho) he was really just setting himself up as an inheritor of that hyperwealthy standard! we don't know anything about the rule of the og Primes beyond that they're favorably remembered and loved (possibly because of propaganda but i think it was also genuine) and that they may have been losing the Quint war (considering that info was from jerkwad supreme i find it suspect) but just by comparison to Sentinel i think they HAD to be better rulers. there weren't cogless bots forced to mine for 20 shifts in a row back then!!! Sentinel is stealing their aesthetic as if that gets him the same power and acclaim. he's trying to steal their legitimacy. he paints himself across the face of Iacon to hide the fact the planet itself went into a coma because of him. he has ALWAYS been rejected. i call him a megachurch pastor but really symbolically i could say he's a fallen angel, and his visual design really fits too

i'm coming back to the deus ex machina thing bc i know it may be considered weak in a plot construction sense but i want to engage with it as literal. like, there is a literal in-universe god in the machine. they know it. they worship it, at least a little bit. i would consider this story to be analogous to Prince of Egypt, in that the deific is a real and tangible character with impact on the plot, and not a meta excuse to save the day. Orion made his choice, and as a result Primus made HIS choice. it's not necessarily a happy ending but if even Megatron acknowledges that GOD mandated this guy to be a Prime and the planet itself responds by COMING BACK TO LIFE.... i keep thinking of it like a cityspeaker, how they're the ones who commune with Titans to know their needs and tell them what needs to be done. is a Prime just the cityspeaker of Cybertron, able to help it remain healthy and functional?

the divine right to rule is REAL on Cybertron. you can like it or not but you have to contend with that when discussing fair leadership, political accountability, and representation of the masses re: Cybertronian government and Primacy

god i'm still so obsessed with the Thirteen i need to see them better i need to look at them. i love them. insane. i really need to invest in a chewtoy

also i know it may be a throwaway line but i'm very curious why Primus had to transform and sacrifice himself to save the universe. Unicron, maybe???

also how did Alpha Trion narrate the archival stuff telling the fake story of how the Primes died and the Matrix was lost. did Sentinel get a deepfake of his voice?? is that part of how he made the transition to power?? AUGH THE DISRESPECT KEEPS COMPOUNDING

Alpha Trion. my blorbo. my old man. holding you so tight. like an ancient rescue dog. im gonna groom you and give you treats and buy the biggest plushest dog bed from costco for you

anyways

good movie, guys

[beautifulsnake2162020]

Rambling Fan Review of the donghua Heaven Official's Blessing (English dub)

I just need to ramble for a bit after finishing the entire series (PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS A SEASON 3!).

Quick Quick review version: I LOVE IT even if I didn't read the novels yet. Highly recommended.

Quick review version: Why is this so underrated?! Would me fangirling about it make Season 3 to arrive faster? I GET THE HYPE NOW!

Actual review/rambling:

So just to be clear on a few things so that everyone is on the same page:

I deliberately chose the English dub once I saw it was an option because my brain needs to rest from all my academic readings and it was too tired to read the subtitles;

There is nothing professional about this review - it's just me writing all my feelings after crying on the closing montage of season 2. Considering that I was emotionally crying on the closing montage of Season 1, I don't know why I'm surprised at myself for doing the same on the Season 2 montage;

I read some spoilers from the wikia pages because I want to know if Hualian gets a happy ending or if I have to write one for them;

I am horny for James Cheek's Hua Cheng voice;

Having said that I am so impressed with his vocal chemistry with Howard Wang's Xie Lian. When I read the novels (when life finally allows me to do so), their voices will be the voices in my head for Hua Cheng and Xie Lian;

I watched some of Kictor's videos on TGCF , specifically this video but I stopped at around the 12 minute mark since I was confused at first midway on the first episode on who was supposed to be Xie Lian's love interest. I initially thought it was going to be a love triangle with Xie Lian being fought over. I was impatient and I needed to know just the background details. I can confidently say that I think this video helped me in clarifying some things and I think the emotional reveals still work;

I am very aware that there were certain scenes that needs to be changed because of China's censorship laws and that the novels have more leeway;

A part of my brain is already making outlines for fanfiction for Hualian; and

The most important point - It is okay to disagree with me. This is just my opinion on what touched me the most while watching the story unfold.

Okay now to the fangirl rambling:

As I type this to the youtube loop of Red Supreme by Hu Xia I've got a lot of positively emotional feelings.

I LOVE how their love story unfolds. How they save each other and they complement each other so well.

I especially love how the story within itself shows why Hualian loves each other even though they may not expressly say it but it is so obvious from their actions to each other and their internal monologue that we are given every now and then.

Season 1 is about showing that Hua Cheng's reason for existing is his love for Xie Lian.

Season 2 is about showing why Hua Cheng's feelings are from genuine love for Xie Lian.

If anything their love story teaches an important lesson: Hope doesn't have to be perfect to be effective.

At the start of Season 1, everyone in Heaven has given up hope on Xie Lian being nothing more than a waste of space who has the audacity to ascend three times and it seems like everyone except Ling Wen who after informing him of his debt because of the damage his latest ascension caused was able to help him get a task to quickly get more credit to pay off the debt (to be honest I still don't really understand the currency of Heaven but maybe that's kinda the point that the story is trying to make in that in a place supposedly of paradise this should be ridiculous. Mortals believing themselves reaching heaven will grant them freedom only to be subjected to the current system in place). And it is this little piece of hope that leads him to Hua Cheng who is the very proof that he has managed to greatly affect someone by giving them hope when they wanted to give up. Xie Lian may think later on that he might have said something ridiculous but to Hua Cheng who wanted to commit suicide, his very existence is the hope he needed to change his perspective on life and it is because of Xie Lian telling him to make him the purpose of Hua Cheng's life that Hua Cheng finally got to live. Even if now he is a ghost, from the brief time he actually truly lived life, that experience showed him what are the things that matters the most. And him achieving greatness in the form of being one of if not the most dangerous calamity that Heaven had to face. So much so that he has killed 33 Gods and has gained a reputation of being someone who is essentially the God killer. He did all of this because Xie Lian saw him in a time when no one wanted to see Hua Cheng, much more help him. This is mirrored in Ban Yue who kept the hope that Xie Lian gave her when he shared with her his dream of saving the world. Something he is later embarrassed about but it was enough for her to do her best to change things, even when it involved the massacre within the city walls. And once again this is shown in Lang Qianqiu to whom Xie Lian was a mentor to (I forgot the word they used for mentor but you get what I mean), when he taught him that it is not the royal family but the people that makes a nation thrive and this lead to Qianqiu leading a peaceful reign and united the nations of Xianle and accomplishing what several others had hoped for.

And this is where these relationships begin to act as a foil to show why the Hualian relationship works.

Ban Yue was misguided and did not have enough experience to trust in herself to know the difference between right and wrong and the subtly gray area in between. While influenced by Pei Jr, she also isn't wrong for saying that she also had some responsibility. But she thinks that the beatings she took in her afterlife is her penance for what she did on that day. It was self-destructive because while she may not say it out loud a part of her feels like she deserves to be treated badly after what she has done. And it was only after they saved her - that she begins to start moving on.

When Xie Lian started to become a God that was hated, he was also self-destructive and feeling like maybe he did deserve it. It was during this time that Hua Cheng still in his mortal lifetime declared that he will never forget Xie Lian. While this may or may not have influenced Xie Lian into moving on from any past mistakes, we do know that he may have not confronted any negative feelings enough that he still has a mental breakdown when the truth is revealed to Lang Qiangqiu. And so Hua Cheng provided Xie Lian that space and person to not be alone while confronting these feelings and thoughts all the while also reassuring Xie Lian that he is not a bad person for what he has done.

Speaking of being viewed as a bad person, we also come to the flaw of Lang Qiangqiu's perspective on Xie Lian. Both Lang Qiangqiu and Hue Cheng admired Xie Lian for saving them and wanted to be like their savior. But there is a difference: Lang Qiangqiu despite having more interactions with Xie Lian as his student, grew up idolizing him so much that he did not notice that the image he made of Xie Lian in his head is either a savior who could do no wrong or the traitor who killed his family and all of their lessons and experiences together were lies so that Xie Lian could kill his entire family. This simplistic reduction of Xie Lian which had carried out even in Lang Qiangqiu's life as a martial God, is not the true Xie Lian who was somewhere in between. Seeing him as nothing more than a savior prevents him from thinking of the times when Xie Lian was the killer rather than the savior. And seeing him as nothing more than a traitor would make him blind in the things that Xie Lian was genuinely trying to teach him to make him better than generations before.

Meanwhile Hue Cheng only had a few but significant interactions with Xie Lian that doesn't simply reduce Xie Lian as either one or the other. He knows enough to know that Xie Lian is altruistic and would do anything that would make the world better. Whether that was disrupting a procession in his honor to save a bandaged child from being killed from a fall or what seems to be the massacre of the Yong An royal family with only the heir remaining, he knows Xie Lian has enough reason to do the things that he did, though he may not know all the facts of the story. And to talk with the God he loved when said God was feeling hopeless and was in despair because people now hate him and are destroying his temples made Hue Cheng realize that even Gods feels remorse, upset, tired, and hopeless. I think this is the moment that Hue Cheng truly becomes devoted to Xie Lian. I forgot who in the Hualian tumblr community said it but I have to agree that this very human moment of Xie Lian being in despair is the catalyst in Hue Cheng's life to be the person whom the God he loves could turn to when he needs support from someone. And what better support could a God have than the most devoted follower that would become the most dangerous and notorious Ghost King among the four calamities. Him being a ghost is also the very thing that ensures Xie Lian continues to exist. These two interactions he has had was enough to not paint a simple picture of Xie Lian in Hue Cheng's mind which allowed him more than Lang Qiangqiu more contemplation on Hue Cheng's part on who the actual Xie Lian is while also allowing room to get to know him more.

Add this to how he is disgusted by how Heaven is for allowing Xie Lian to be taken for granted and which made him realize that beneath the beautiful veneer it is still a system which seems to hinder rather than actually help both Gods and mortals alike - being the most powerful and dangerous Ghost to warrant being a threat to Heaven truly was the best option for Hue Cheng.

And I know this has already been said but it is beautiful that even now in the early stages of their relationship both of them wants to be there for each other. Xie Lian was always there in some form or another for Hue Cheng and Hue Cheng is always there for Xie Lian no matter what disguise or form he takes. They both complement each other's weaknesses. Xie Lian tends to overthink and sometimes doesn't allow himself to truly feel because of his religious sect. Hue Cheng while also calculating tends to take action more because of either efficiency or boredom. Xie Lian apologizing to Hue Cheng for giving him half-truths and thinking about the damages he caused while Hue Cheng apologizes for wounding Xie Lian was so beautiful in that they both love each other to think they deserve retribution from the other when it is so obvious they want their relationship to be repaired.

Hue Cheng is the one being that Xie Lian could truly be himself with and Xie Lian is the one being that keeps Hue Cheng living even though he himself is no longer mortal. And that is such a beautiful love story.

[thecrownnetflixuk]

Fond Farewells Mark the End of an Era for The Crown.

Pt 2 of Season 6 Accedes to the Next Generation – But Reigns Most Triumphant Saluting Its Sovereign.

Review & gifs by L.L @The Crown TV

I wasn't sure what to expect from the final 6 preview episodes of The Crown. Part 1 gifted us with a season-defining performance from Elizabeth Debicki, but such intense focus on the tragedy of Diana and Dodi's deaths was heavy-going. How to move forward?

Not many TV shows stick the landing, but I believe The Crown does, mostly by putting Queen Elizabeth front and centre. In four different ways! But Part 2 takes a while to forge ahead and reign triumphant.

Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy make shy William and swotty Kate believable as a young couple who meet at university – or earlier, as per a flashback with (not Ghost!) Diana. I still found it hard to invest in their will-they-won't-they relationship (we already know they do.) 

Instead, it’s sisters Elizabeth and Margaret who have long been the emotional heart of this show; at every stage of their lives.

Former Oscar-nominee Lesley Manville (alongside Queen Imelda Staunton) is truly magnificent in Ep 8 as Princess Margaret, though it's painful watching this vibrant lady struggle as her health worsens.

Memories of the 1940's are a delight. However, I wish we'd seen more of wide-eyed teen Lilibet let loose (Viola Prettejohn) and carefree Marg (Beau Gadsdon) before older Margaret says her final goodbye.

Staunton saves her best for last, bringing dry humour, vulnerability as well as leadership to Ep 10. The 70+ min epic finale 'Sleep, Dearie Sleep' has its shaky moments, but beautifully completes Queen Elizabeth's story when it counts, bringing near-perfect closure. That alone elevates Season 6 beyond Season 5.

Warning - MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. This is my final *EVER* review (might be extra long!)

S6 is NOW ON NETFLIX - WATCH THE EPISODES before reading.

Images: courtesy of Netflix

Starting with less good news; the first couple of episodes of Part 2 were my least favourite. Ep 5, 'Willsmania', feels transitional, and a little stuck in the past. Following his mother's death, Prince William (Ed McVey; taking over from younger actor Rufus Kampa) turns inward as he struggles to cope with public attention and grief.

It's an understandable reaction to losing a parent, but Part 1 already spent nearly half a season on Dodi and Diana. It felt like we grieved in real time. As a result, whenever the subject of Diana crops up again in Part 2, it tends to weigh down both pace and narrative.

Ep 6 brings a welcome change of topic. This being The Crown, I'm sure there are critics poised to be offended by Queen Elizabeth's nightmare about Prime Minister Tony Blair being crowned king, but to me, his 'coronation' was hilarious, as was the choir boy singing Blair's cheesy Labour pop anthem.

It felt like deliberate tongue-in-cheek humour, an absurd reminder why monarchy might still be better than populist elected leaders.

I really wanted this episode to work, but it didn't go anywhere, and themes like tradition-vs-modernity were covered more effectively in episodes such as 'Marionettes.' Bertie Carvel has Tony Blair's voice down but suffers from comparisons with Michael Sheen, who was uncanny as the Prime Minister in 3 earlier Peter Morgan projects.

^ PM Tony Blair. The Women's Institute weren't fans of his grandstanding.

The Crown: The Next Generation fully arrives during Ep's 7, 9 & 10. Some will love it. Those who prefer more historical episodes with broader scope may be disappointed, as the show follows William and Kate through University life in the early 2000's.

The newcomers do bring fresh energy to the show. It helps that they cast Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy, who make a sweet couple as Will and Kate, even if William sometimes comes across as petulant.

Unlike Ed McVey as William, Luther Ford doesn't bear much physical resemblance to Prince Harry, other than red hair. Ford does however put in a good performance as Harry becomes increasingly reckless.

The Crown doesn't hide either Harry or William's bad behaviour. The brothers seem to get on well at the start, but it later seems like they're more at odds. Underneath a lot – a LOT – of boozing, both boys appear quietly screwed-up over their mother's death. Neither of them seem to enjoy playing happy families with Charles, either.

The show mostly concentrates on William and Kate, but there aren't many episodes left to develop a genuine romance. They have potential, but it feels fairly surface level. Suddenly, they rush to move into a house share together when we've barely seen them kiss. They (and we) needed more screen time to really get to know each other.

There's a bigger issue here with Kate's mother, Carole Middleton (Eve Best.) Pushy parent Carole is keen to play matchmaker between her 'commoner' daughter and the young eligible Prince, keeping tabs on William. Carole isn't as conniving, but ... didn't we just watch a similar storyline with Mohamed Al-Fayed/Dodi/Diana in Part 1?

^ Kate 'n' Will. Her Mum would frame this picture.

Ep 8 'Ritz' plays like a standalone film. Margaret's final story is touching, but upsetting, at times; I was a fan of Diana, yet sobbed as much for Margaret as the credits rolled, even though her eventual death isn't shown. In fact, her final goodbye is sensitively done and stands as a fitting tribute to the princess, as well as to the Queen.

Lesley Manville makes Margaret's predicament so real as her health slowly breaks down. She bounces back from one stroke, then another hits. How awful too for Elizabeth to watch a much-loved sister deteriorate, though it was wonderful to see Lilibet read Margaret a bedtime story. It brought out the warmer side of Staunton's Queen.

The scene where Margaret scalds her feet in the bath is genuinely horrifying. I've suffered from ill health and loss of control myself and this was so much worse. I could feel her pain. That poor woman.

Human moments are where The Crown excels; through this episode, this working-class lass from a council house could somehow relate to a Princess in a palace. Peter Morgan has surely done more to humanise the royal family than any P.R team ever could.

^ Fans of Margaret (and Lesley Manville) prepare yourselves for her sad final journey.

Onto the big reveal: when I mentioned at the start there are FOUR ways Queen Elizabeth appears – this is what I meant:-

^ Newcomer Viola Prettejohn plays teenage Princess Elizabeth.

^ & there's Olivia Colman & Claire Foy alongside older Queen Imelda Staunton.

Satisfyingly, all 3 of The Crown's leading ladies return to close the show. Olivia Colman and Claire Foy each have an additional scene, too (I won't spoil the entire finale, as it covers a lot of ground in over 70 mins, but Olivia and Claire aren't back as 'ghosts.')

As we get older, the ghosts who speak loudest are our own; the former versions of us we berate ourselves with. Not everyone may warm to the Queen (sort of) talking to herself, but personally, I was thrilled to see these talented actors on screen together.

Foy's scene with Staunton is particularly effective, as the younger Queen gives her older self an old-fashioned dutiful talking to. It's somehow also credible that they're aspects of the same person.

It reminded me of Peter Morgan’s 2013 (extraordinary) play, ‘The Audience', which inspired this series, and included scenes where Helen Mirren shared the stage with young Elizabeth. That play is also why this theatre-fan started watching The Crown to begin with, and later went on to create this website.

When Ep 10 finished playing, my Netflix returned itself to Season 1. 60 episodes over 7 years! I will miss the grand scale of The Crown, but appreciate the legacy which remains. Now feels like the right time for this story to end. A full-circle moment in more ways than one.

**Majestic thanks for reading, and to every person who has liked, reblogged, messaged, supported The Crown TV for all these years.

💎♕You each deserve a Crown of your own!♕💎**

N.B: These are my humble opinions at this point in time. No offence is intended. Agreement = lovely; not compulsory. Disagreement = happens; kindly coexist. Ta!

[tepkunset]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Film Review

(This review contains spoilers!)

I consider The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book to be a masterpiece that sets a standard of what YA Fiction can be; something that any young adult upwards can enjoy. Suzanne Collins does such an amazing job of pulling you into the world and characters she’s created, and doesn’t shy away from the truly grotesque things that make a dystopia feel impactful. I am glad to say that, for the most part, this film lives up to that standard.

Before anything else, I do want to get a few minor complaints out of the way. Keep in mind they did not ruin the film for me, but I feel they are worthy of pointing out.

Sejanus Plinth is my favourite character in the book, and while for the most part he is very accurate, there is one thing that really disappointed me: In the book, Sejanus knew damn well what he was doing with the rebels; he deliberately supplied them with weapons. But in the film, he has the line “I didn’t know there would be guns”, discovering for the first time that they used his money to arm themselves. This really feels like de-clawing his character to me.

It would’ve been nice to have at least a brief mention that Barb Azure is gay. I can understand why they had to cut out Pluribus Bell for time, but because the also cut him out, that means there’s no mention at all of the book’s queer characters in the film.

The relationship between Coriolanus and Sejanus has a much more bitter feeling in the film than in the book, and after sleeping on it, I think I know why: Because we don’t get to hear Coriolanus’s thoughts in the film, the film I think overcompensates by making him much more verbal about his snobbery towards Sejanus. Subsequently, it’s harder to believe why Sejanus sees Coriolanus as his best friend.

Okay now, onto the praises!

The story is extremely loyal to the book. In fact, there is a lot of dialogue that is ripped right of the page, and it all made me really happy to hear. I am especially glad they kept in this pinnacle Lucy Gray quote: “I think there’s a natural goodness built into human beings. You know when you’ve stepped across the line into evil, and it’s your life’s challenge to try and stay on the right side of that line.” Because this, of course, directly enforces the core message I took from the book: Good and evil is a choice. The choices that Coriolanus made are his to hold responsibility to, and as much as you can point at Dr. Gaul for introducing him to the path he takes, ultimately, he chose to walk it. Most of the changes were understandable cuts for time without any sacrifices being too detrimental. The things they added were all, in my opinion, enhancements to the story by expanding on what only happens on the peripheral of Coriolanus’s point of view in the book. For example, the things he only watches on screen in the arena are delved further into by shifting to Lucy Gray directly a few times. They also added a bit to Coral’s character at her time of death, which I liked because it made her out to be less of a cardboard antagonist and instead reminded the audience that she, too, is a victim of the system.

All the actors did a phenomenal job, from both the main and supporting cast. Tom Blyth does a great job at showing Coriolanus Snow’s progression down the path of a young villain in the making. Rachel Zegler does a great job at capturing Lucy Gray’s charm and free spirit. Josh Andrés Rivera does a great job at selling the weight Sejanus carries around with him, and has some of the best line deliveries in the film in my opinion. (My favourite being “I’m so blameless I’m choking”.) And I especially have praise for Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, who does an amazing job at bringing the unhinged character from the book onto the screen. She’s properly intimidating and strange at the same time. Dimitri Abold as Reaper was also a scene-stealer, in that he captures what I absorbed from the book really well; the western societal expectation that a young Black man is a danger that is then turned on its head. Not only does he not kill a single person, he has a very emotional moment of mourning for the tributes, collecting their bodies as he does in the book, and covering them with the Panem flag – something that outrages the audience more than the actual death of the children.

The scenery is very loyal to the descriptions provided in the book; I swear they stole it straight from my own personal imagination while reading.

The music… I don’t even know how to put to words my satisfaction in how the film adapts the music written out in the book, into an actual song. My personal favourite is “Nothing You Can Take From Me”. Rachel Zegler has a great voice, for sure.

The costume design is great. The Capitol’s eccentricities we know from the core trilogy haven’t evolved yet, but there’s still a certain flavour carried with characters like Tigris and Dr. Gaul for example, that tell a story of where the fashion will eventually end up. On the other hand, we see that things haven’t changed very much for District Twelve at all, which showcases how society’s change is stilted in poverty.

The colour palette of the film is mostly just a little desaturated, with one exception: whenever Lucy Gray takes Coriolanus outside of District Twelve. The meadow, the lake, and the forest are all noticeably more colourful, which I interpreted as representing the freedom these locations offer to the characters.

All in all, I think the film was fantastic. It is easily the most loyal Hunger Games adaptation, and I don’t think that’s coincidental in its quality.

[jedinotes]

The Power of Dune Part Two’s Final Act: Stepping Away From the Messiah

Stunning photo by Jack Davidson

So I didn't think I would be talking about Dune in my first post for this page (considering that I intended it to be more Star Wars focused and also since I haven't read the Dune books yet), but the final stretch of this movie has been on my mind ever since I left the theater a few weeks ago.

(Spoilers for Dune: Part Two)

It's strange in the sense that we are suddenly distanced from Paul, and also in that the climax seems to accelerate the story faster than ever before. So far (in both movies), there has been a pretty strong focus on Paul and a very deliberate pace that let all the plotlines simmer. It’s a masterclass of immersion, both technically and emotionally. The humanity of its characters aren’t lost in the many elements at play. Paul is a character whose empathy and how it makes him conflicted with what is placed before him make him quite likable. Spending so much time with him, Chani, and Stilgar makes us grow attached to them, not just because they’re the heroes, but because they feel real. And yet we’re pushed away. In the third act Paul's dark transformation happens swiftly (you’d initially think from how it’s shown the water of life turns you evil), and by the story’s end we only see Paul from a distance in the eyes of other characters, unable to see him resolving the concerns we’ve wrestled along with him, unable to get a good read on his motivations anymore. The final battles with our heroes happen rather quickly as victory over the Harkonnans and the Emperor comes pretty easily. On one hand this shift could feel unsatisfying, and the first time I watched the movie I was a little unsatisfied. But I’m not here to say this is a fault of the movie; in fact, this shift results in something greater happening, and it’s the most powerful triumph of Part Two’s story.

By the end, even when we do zoom in on Paul we're not sure what's really behind his intensity. (All the Dune screencaps are from Dune Perfect Shots 4K on Twitter).

Dune’s story up until this point, from what I know about these two films at least, is all about complexity, discerning the many variables, the need to carefully monitor both these variables and one's own behavior. The importance of mastering oneself. (This video by Alt Shift X talks about this really well, and it definitely helped me understand this aspect of the story better). But Paul’s tests, like the Gom Jabbar in Part 1 and the worm ride in Part 2, carry not just that significance but also the danger of a prophetic horror being more and more certain. Therein lies an irony - you can gain power but tied to it is something much larger that’s out of your control. This becomes pretty key to the whole story, and there’s something I was reminded of that helped me put all this into perspective. I brought this up in my first-time watch review too, but I think I have more to say about it now. But bare with me as this might end up being convoluted.

In one of my classes this semester we read the poem “The Promised Land” by Gabeba Baderoon, and I was really struck by this image that it alludes to called the Angel of History.  Described by Walter Benjamin based on the painting Angelus Novus by Paul Klee, it depicts an angel whose wings get caught in the winds of a destructive storm “blowing from Paradise.” It’s trapped in the storm’s momentum going forwards with no way to escape. All the while, its head is permanently twisted backwards, forced to watch the wreckage of the storm, named progress, gathering below it. From what we discussed in that class this disturbing image suggests that all the events of history, all that we do or achieve or create, is not a series of events affecting each other, but instead one ever-building catastrophe barreling forwards. Both the Bene Gesserit’s century-spanning machinations and Jessica’s usurping of it all by birthing a boy. Whether the Harkonnen house or the Atreides house controls Arrakis. All of these are merely before a future that’s larger than any of them individually; the messiah and his holy war will come regardless. Even if it’s towards her own end rather than that of the Bene Gesserit, Jessica still uses their propaganda to facilitate his rise. The two houses end up converging anyways in their family trees with the Baron, and Muad’dib Atreides embraces it, merging the two families’ ideologies like the Kwizatz Haderach was always intended to. Whether his sudden ruthlessness is him embracing his desire for revenge or actually a strategic choice after sifting through the past and futures laid out, we’re denied of knowing for sure as we look at him from afar, and this denial by the film questions if the answer even matters much. The Angel image and the movie’s narrative dispel the idea that we have the capability to easily fix things when we make progress. It’s a notion that renders reasoning or means as having little ability to empower, envisioning us all moving towards the same horror anyways. It suddenly renders all the complexity of the plot and these competing ideas and factions inconsequential. And I don’t mean that in a bad way — it’s crucial to what the film is really getting at.

"We're Harkonnens... so that's how we'll survive. By being Harkonnens."

“You of all people should know there are no sides, Reverend Mother.”

Now, it’s fair to question the nihilistic bent of this (are we in the real world truly powerless to stop to this continuous catastrophe???), but the Angel of History and Dune use the stories they put forth as cautionary tales where that all-encompassing bleak endgame are meant to deconstruct our notions of progress and control. If we are powerless to shape history, how strong is the power we wield? And how good is the power we wield? As we strive for “paradise” and celebrate attaining it we often forget what happened as we got there, and we fail to see where we really are. If the reasoning for our actions doesn’t empower us, the effects of them in turn are even more debasing. The Baderoon poem that alludes to the Angel of History does so to examine this too. In its discussion of the end of apartheid and the ushering in of a democratic South Africa, “The Promised Land” weaves in the legacy of the jazz pianist Moses Molekelwa, who, despite influencing the poem’s speaker’s attitudes towards social progress (and appearing as an idol in that sense), is shown as getting off the hook in the eyes of history for strangling his wife to death. The triumph of his music is remembered while his wife’s murder is willfully forgotten, and the poem concludes that “our forgetting is also our home, which is why we will never leave the old country.” Baderoon warns of when the celebration of progress doesn’t factor in the ugly parts we still carry with us into the future, and her allusion to the Angel of History works to convey that danger. (Obviously the real anti-apartheid struggle of South Africa is very very different from the story of Dune, and I wouldn’t want to compare them to each other. Dune’s exploration of complicated progress instead speaks more towards the dangers of charismatic leaders and the co-opting of a cause). The only thing I want to highlight is just that Dune, Baderoon’s poem, and the Angel of History all hone in on the need to not lose sight of the now. 

This is why the third act’s shift away from Paul works so well. The film doesn’t show people “forgetting” necessarily, but we do see them caught in the fervor without acknowledging what’s happening to them. Paul is an exception in that he sees it all: his arc sees him changing his perspective on the destiny laid ahead and taking control to ensure it happens on his terms. He doesn’t really turn evil, but since we’re denied of seeing past his new icy exterior as he looks ahead with his prescience, the film instead turns us back to the now, like the angel looking behind. We're with Chani now, the only (non-psychic) person who’s seeing this all. We already believe in Paul’s goodness. If we were to see what Paul sees and fully understand his reasoning, it would make it easy for us to downplay the costs. The story thus has us focus on the consequences of Paul’s path beginning to gather in real time, the Fremen being exploited as they are led into a coming bloodbath by their messiah.

And this is the sadness of it all, right? Things that were once honorable, like Jessica protecting Paul like she promised Leto and the legacy of Leto that Gurney hopes for Paul to carry with him, are twisted into foul and manipulative actions. Good intentions and real connections, like Paul’s empathy, his and Chani’s relationship, and his and Stilgar’s friendship, all give way to the storm.

The quickness of the third act’s events compounds this danger. The path Paul takes may be the best possible option after considering all the variables, but the story doesn’t revel too long in the glory of his successful leadership and strategy.

The awe-inspiring images speak not to just heroism but something volatile and intoxicating. It's not that the film oversimplifies the moral dilemmas at stake, but by letting the big battle, Gurney slaying Rabban, and Paul slaying the Baron happen all too easily, it removes the focus from only being the powerful exploits of Paul and the Fremen and adds emphasis on how they become like Harkonnens and how the Fremen become entrenched in Paul’s conquest. The Harkonnen bodies are burned like the Atreides were before them, and the Fremen Fedaykin ultimately fight carrying the Atreides banner instead of their own. They lose sight of this fact as they place all their faith in Paul, their cause and faith co-opted. It happens so fast and it can’t be stopped. We’re caught in the momentum of the storm raging, pushing us forward, and at the same time the film adjusts its focus to ensure that we don’t forget to recognize the consequences of Paul’s choices. This is what I find so compelling about this movie — we’re given a story that details the complexity of all things and also ultimately denies complicated factors and necessary evils of becoming excuses that wave the wreckage of progress away.

Hopefully this was enjoyable to read and wasn't pretentious or anything! Lemme know what you think about the movie!

[goodbyeapathy8]

Review so far of "Will Love In Spring" (ongoing Cdrama). Spoilers below up until episode 8.

[Image ID : Actors Li Xian and Zhou Youtong are on a sofa. The man is smiling while the long haired woman looks up at him and also smiles. Title shows the name of the drama, Will Love In Spring.]

I'm glad I didn't let the poster influence me because I don't feel like it's a very accurate depiction of the drama.

Poster makes it seem like a very run of the mill romance. THANK GOODNESS IT IS NOT.

"Will love in spring" has unexpectedly been one of the best depictions of grief and death and life in a drama that I've seen. And I've seen many many dramas at this point in my life so, suffice it to say, it is incredibly well done.

Pros so far :

- Fair depiction of disability. Zhuang Jie is an amputee but there's just enough emphasis on the realities of living with a prosthetic (including the detail about her needing baths) without it being the ENTIRETY of her personality. Every drama needs to take notes on this.

- Blended family without drama. Although some may argue this is not realistic, I've become really tired of the exaggerated dynamics of step siblings/children/parents having manufactured arguments. He Shu is a wonderful stepfather while the siblings have an adorable relationship with each other. The mom is quite realistic as well, tough but loving.

- Interesting career choices - there's definitely morbid aspects of the hybrid mortician/embalmer job of Chen Maidong but that's not the main point. Yes, he's seen a lot of death and grieving but it also dictates how he views life and how to live life, with respect towards the dead

Cons (sort of) :

- This is not a con for me but I think some people may find the pacing very slow. To me, this is a VERY deliberate choice. It's a tried and true slice of life drama, not a romance. You'll be disappointed if you go into it with the expectations of a romance but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the many details that show what life is like in Nanping

- There's a LOT of death and discussions around it. This is not a con for me but I do tend to avoid hurt/comfort. I literally cried for an entire hour during episode 7 and my dogs were Very Concerned lol

- My actual one 'con' is that there's some very obvious nationalism that seeps in, especially regarding the push for the younger generation to return to "smaller" hometowns like Nanping instead of staying in cities like Shanghai/Beijing etc. To me, this shows a lot of government influence if not general Chinese nationalism vs a natural flow in the drama. There's definitely manufactured nostalgia that tends to be jarring but I've been ignoring that for the most part.

---

I do need to go and rewatch some episode of ShenLi because my chest still feels really spicy after watching episode 7 and 8 LOL So I'll get back to my thoughts on that but I hope other people give this new drama a shot.

Last but not least is a shoutout to legit the entire cast for their well-seasoned acting. Augh. Definitely a big reason why the drama is making a big impact on me.

[northerngoshawk]

kfp4 review

just watched kfp4 for the first time yesterday, so here are my initial thoughts

spoilers under the cut!

The Good:

THE FIGHT SCENES!! as someone who once aspired to be a fight animator, the flow of each fight was astonishing - as expected of the kfp franchise 😌 my fav fight scene has to be between po and the chameleon as she shapeshifts into different enemies po had fought. just - UGH. scratches an itch i didn't know i even had

outside of the fight scenes, i really really REALLY loved the way they brought back tai lung. even if we only get like 5 min of dialogue n screentime with him, i really love the way he and po interacted with each other, how tai lung wasn't automatically all buddy-buddy with po and still held an ounce of contempt for po being the dragon warrior as opposed to him - even if he seems like he ultimately found some seamblance of inner peace. it made it that much more satisfying when tai lung finally acknowledges po as the dragon warrior. it really did feel like the resolution of tai lung's arc from the first movie, because while i think tai lung accepted that he would never be the dragon warrior, he didn't accept po as the dragon warrior until that very moment

in relation to the above, i think the part where everyone from the spirit realm acknowledges po alongside tai lung was the shining, pivotal moment of the entire film. it just felt entirely satisfying to see tai lung, shen, and kai in particular acknowledge po as someone worthy of the title of dragon warrior - tai lung bc of what i mentioned above, shen bc he only ever saw po as "the black-and-white warrior" that would defeat him, and kai bc he treated po as a joke until the very end of the third film. there's something very satisfying to see these former villains being saved by the very person they once fought and humbly bowing in respect to him.

the voice acting for the chameleon! the character itself, i'll get to in a moment, but i really do think the voice acting for her was phenomenal.

THE PANGOLIN!! idk why but honestly i thought he was a bit more intimidating than the chameleon. also i love the way they utilized his rolling around, so it didn't exactly feel like he was just being bounced back and forth, but being deliberate about it, like a martial artist

li and ping. i needn't say more.

The Meh:

zhen's character as a whole. ik most people's feelings on her range from indifference to outright hatred, and i personally lean more towards the former. the concept of her character in and of itself is intriguing, but the execution fell flat, turning her into one of those generic i-was-a-bad-guy-who's-totally-gonna-betray-you-but-because-of-your-good-heart-i've-changed-for-the-better characters. i'm fine with newer characters being added to the cast, don't get me wrong, but i want to see more... creativity ig, when it comes to their character arcs. i will say that i did enjoy the banter between her and po.

the jokes. the jokes themselves are fine, i even gave a chuckle every here and there, but the problem was really the timing of them. some jokes were placed well, but others felt like they completely messed up the emotional beats of the movie. some of em even felt almost... sacrilegious, esp when considering the first three movies.

how shen and kai didn't have speaking roles. i really really wished i would've gotten to see them exchange a few words with po alongside tai lung, but i also get the budget may not have allowed it. still, i will give the film points for focusing on them at the right moments, as well as having them flank tai lung when approaching po. not as satisfying as having them exchange a few words, but satisfying nontheless

The Egregious:

a severe lack of the furious five. i get that the budget may not have allowed them to come back in speaking roles, but by sidelining the five, kfp4 just didn't feel like a kfp movie. a core part of the first three movies, esp kfp 1 and 2, was the way the furious five grew alongside po and learned to not only work alongside him but to become his friends. i suppose the reason to have them step away was to also emphasize the "change" theme of the fourth movie, but it shouldn't change to the point where they are no longer a huge part of po's life. by taking them away, kfp4 really lost some of the soul that went into kfp 1-3

the fact that po really called himself the "kung fu panda." this is writing on par with "maybe the true dragon warrior was the friends we made along the way." we didn't need to hear the title come out of a character's mouth. please never ever EVER do that again, writers.

also the fact that po's achievements seemed downplayed in this movie. maybe kfp1 & kfp3 wouldn't be all that well-known, but when you save gongmen city and, essentially, the entirety of china, i'm pretty sure that your exploits would reach far and wide, regardless of where geographically you are on the map. the director mentioned that he wanted to take po to a far, distant land on his journey - but again??? gongmen city????

the chameleon's character. she just... didn't feel as intimidating as the other villains. when we first meet tai lung, he's a shadow with glowing gold eyes in the deepest pits of a dungeon. when we first meet shen, he effortlessly kills one of the most renowned kung fu masters in the land. when we meet kai, he overpowers and steals the chi of master oogway, a respected and well-beloved character in the universe. but chameleon? she just tosses someone down a set of stairs. painful, yes, but not quite as intimidating as the other three. her motivation for being a villain is also a bit weak, seeing as how she bemoans about being "too small" to be a kung fu master when mantis is, quite literally, right there. and while i can see arguments on how master oogway didn't judge mantis by his appearance but by his potential, it just didn't feel like a good enough motivator - or at least, the movie didn't really show us how the discrimination really affected her, instead relying on telling us how it affected her.

the entire plotline. i mean, i can understand needing to pass on the mantle of the dragon warrior to someone else once po passes, but the problem is that it essentially off-sets the ENTIRE point of the first movie. the whole point of being the dragon warrior was that it was a coveted title that couldn't be passed off to just ANYONE - oogway didn't choose tai lung, shifu, or any of the furious five for that very reason. the first film gave the sense of "fate" and "destiny" being the ultimate decider of who gets to be the dragon warrior, while this film po chooses his successor because... what? he felt bad for her and thinks she could become a better person? they could've done that for her without having her become the dragon warrior.

my biggest issue with kfp4, however, was that this entire film just felt like the writers were trying to copy the formula of kfp2 without understanding WHY kfp2 worked. let me break it down: po goes to a distant city with a bad guy that lives at the top of a terrifying tower, commences in a city-wide chase that leaves him in an underground/criminal environment where he tries to recruit people to his cause but fails, then goes out to face the enemy, gets thrown out at first, and then succeeds a second time. the scene when zhen tries to stop po from facing the chameleon, first by sparring with him and then hugging him, was especially remniscent of the scene in kfp2 when tigress tries to stop po from facing shen - except it didn't contain the same emotional beats as kfp2 did. why? it's because tigress and po had two movies to develop their relationship. we've seen how they were in kfp1 vs kfp2, from the one-sided rivalry and even contempt to friends who would put themselves on the line for the other's sake. we also know tigress's character, how she tries to be the stone-cold, tough love kind of person even around her fellow furious five members. so, when we see tigress hug po, it's a very pivotal moment not just for the movie, but for her character arc as well. but when i see zhen do the same thing for po, all i can think about is how it's essentially a cheap replication of what kfp2 does, but without the proper emotional investment and emotional beats kfp2 had.

The Memes:

if i had a nickel for every time awkwafina voiced a character whose themes revolved around trust, i'd have two nickels. which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Overall:

despite all my gripes with the movie, i thought that this was a fun movie to watch and not take all that seriously. definitely the weakest movie of the franchise, but not a terrible sequel compared to other franchises. you'd just have to watch and form your own opinion on this movie. personally, if i wanted to watch a kfp movie with some of the best emotional beats of the franchise, i'd just rewatch kfp2.

[pearlypinkies]

Book review

Five Survive by- Holly Jackson

This review has slight spoilers (nothing important though) and is divided into sections of overall storytelling, my thoughts, and do I recommend it?

Genre: Thriller

Read time: 2 minutes

Storytelling

Six friends on a summer RV trip find themselves lost in a dense forest. As they attempt to fix a flat tire, they lose all contact and cell signals. It soon dawns on them that their predicament isn’t accidental; they are being deliberately trapped by a concealed sniper lurking in the shadows, and he wants one thing: a secret one of them holds and it’s upto them to figure out who among them has it before they get killed.

The entire story is based in the span of 8 hours where one of them dies in the end obviously. 

My thoughts

Kids in the RV are drinking and playing games while our protagonist Red is thinking about her dead mother. Oh did I mention the RV was 31 feet long and had weird curtains? I didn’t care about any of the six friends particularly because none of them were likeable. I was waiting for this book to finish already.  Red is dull and always has long, boring monologues; ‘Oh my childhood bestfriend was shot? Let me think about my mom real quick’. The ridiculous plans they come up with to escape the sniper are depressingly lame. The book started with a really good premise, built the story up halfway and just crashed from there. The end is unexpected nonetheless but I didn’t care about it. Unexpectedly lame.

Do I recommend it?

No, please save yourself from this one and read Holly Jackson’s other book “Good girls guide to murder” or watch the netflix show.

[bgbrry]

@pikslasrce you asked for my review of ivtw so i wrote up some of my thoughts! been quite busy for a few weeks but i have a few spare hours in the car so i wrote down everything i had brewing in my head. might do a revision some day because this is quite disjointed both with when this was written and having only one (and a halfish) watch. iwtv spoilers dia don't look everyone else probably watched it already.

it's definitely a very intense experience of a show, with the writing probably being the singular most standout thing about it to me. i really enjoy the process of storytelling as a narrative device, so this framing worked super well for me and i was invested the entire time. i liked the way both seasons built up to their explosive finales, with S2 being the one i personally liked more. the theatricality of that particular season really set the tone for the story, highlighting how the way the narrative is told affects our viewing experience. it acts as more something more rehearsed compared to the simple personal conflict of season one, really demonstrating how different the interview is with and without armand's involvement. with that being said, im really curious to see what the particular storytelling style of lestat will be in the coming season, how his certain persona will affect the story being told, and also what that would be.

as a note on the writing - i enjoyed the way the show discussed ones "humanity" and personhood as concept inextricably linked to how they interact with the society around them. you can feel a very personal connection the writers had with the question of taboo, morality and how it affects your perception in society, others you in a very internally understood way. there are a lot of moments of small symbolism but this big overarching theme ended up being my favourite, and im curious how it'll progress with daniel being turned.

i very much loved the characters, they're all fleshed out in a way that feels more "real to life" than just understandable archetypes of a certain character, with the performances elevating this, small moments of expression or reaction i didn't even notice on my first watch but that either elevated the depth of these characters (specifically with daniel) or re-established their innate characteristics (very much with claudia). i don't think i can pick a favourite, as all of them worked incredibly well in the narrative as tools to progress the story, but also the fact that the narrative is largely just a study on how these types of people interact with each other and their relationships definitely helps. and the relationships here are definitely the strongest part, affecting every part of the work. so while there's is a bit of a sadness in, for example, not knowing much about claudia or daniel in the same way we know loius, it adds to a uniqueness in the way the narrative functions. in this way this show is a very carefully crafted and intricate mechanism, with every character, no pun intended, playing their part.

i am curious if they will develop how exactly their powers are supposed to function, as (at least for me) it seems that they work on the rule of cool, which, while not always good, can be frustrating. i don't think a long winded lore dump would fix my problems, but maybe a more in depth exploration of how (for example) one vampire can teach something to another one, and why exactly ones blood can be more powerful in a tangible way.

i had a small problem with the way the show was filmed, while all the shots are very deliberate in the framing, some were quite poorly lit or sloppily executed (ie the nails on the vampires being kinda inconsistent in the appearance?? maybe i missed something but that stood out to me), it was rare but they stood out to me when i saw them.

but to balance out there were a lot of visual elements that i loved or appreciated (specifically the costuming, not an expert but it looked delightful to me). both cgi and practical effects worked well, and i loved the multimedia integration of animation in the theatre sequences in particular. it's such a small detail but it elevated every scene set in a theatre for me tenfold.

overall, it is definitely a show that leaves you with room for thought, i do not think one can walk away neutral from this, which is always a compliment to a work. i can't speak on faithfulness of the adaptation, but as a standalone i was left impressed and curious to see more! honestly a really good time

[hasdrubal-gisco]

eurovision '24 semifinal 1 early review

content and spoiler warning for croatia, cyprus, ireland, lithuania, poland, serbia, ukraine, australia, azerbaijan, finland, iceland, luxembourg, moldova, portugal, slovenia, germany, sweden, united kingdom

croatia - it's not easy going first but this is a bad way to do it regardless. already the woke agenda has us singing about anxiety attacks. if you are prone to anxiety get off the stage and let real warriors conquer the hearts of evropa. "my presence fades to black" yeah i wish it would. qorban/10

cyprus - many have said this before but i think cypriots should launch missiles at ankara just to see what would happen. singer is very serbian looking with the ironed long hair, very 2008 romcom looking music video (complimentary), forgettable song, thus has got to be someone's niece. mid/10

ireland - thank you god for making our enemies this embarrassing. i just know she had a self harm tumblr blog in 2013. very sincerely sending this to eurovision is comparable in national humiliation to the treaties of trianon and versailles. 30 year old antisemitic pagan themlet/10

lithuania - this is nothing. lithuania/10

poland - kinda of a normal pop song, i can see myself hearing this on the radio while stuck at a red light. good to see a weird looking woman. jeszcze polska nie zginęła/10

serbia - #JUSTICE FOR BRESKVICA. zorja or zejna or breskvica would have mopped the floor with her. this will lose and it will deserve it, hopefully all the PZE jury members including sajsi will be executed in a public square. bad/10

ukraine - hate to say it but the loathsome ruthenians have once again sent a good contestant. if my last name was Shemaieva i would simply not use Heil as an artistic name. i can hardly believe i'm saying this but i think it would be better without the fat girl rapping. critical support for ruthenian autonomous oblast/10

australia - my opinion is colored by the fact that i was viewing the music video, which is a consistent two and a half minute face closeup of the white guy cumming. the song itself is not bad, but i could do without the white guy cumming, actually. australia gets a pass this year/10

azerbaijan - you can always count on the iranic people to sneak in subtle references to sun-worship. oldest trick in the book. considering this was the last song picked, this was maybe not worth the wait. don't want to doxx anyone but one of the backup dancers looks like a beloved tumblr user. eeh/10

finland - random xD WAFFLES. the "what does the fox say" candidate of the year, and of course its from the turbo-autistic finns. total opposite of tact and taste. the west has fallen to its far-easternmost asiatic enemy (the mongols (finns)). beyond repair/10

iceland - based for sending an older woman. this is pretty good, nothing much to add. will maybe listen to the icelandic version. top quartile/10

luxembourg - israeli broad with skinny arms singing in french ? *wiping the sweat from my brow*. finally something worthwhile out of europe's last grand duchy. am yisroel chai/10

moldova - pleasant surprise out of the illegitimate romanian province of moldova. dignified in an atmosphere where others have been deliberately embarrassing. not impaling anyone's heart/10

portugal - this is nothing. portugal would benefit from being brazil's european vassal state. meu curaçao :(/10

slovenia - the best of the three of this exact performer that we've seen, not that that's very high praise. eeh/10

germany - pleasant surprise in an otherwise very mid year. not the worst guderian i know. germany/10

sweden - i can feel the martin x marcus x reader spam in the tags already. usually they at least send something that's listenable under normal circumstances but not eurovision-material,but not even that this time around. as always, marg bar sweden/10

united kingdom - (watching the official music video) lol that's probably 4k/mo in london. nobody cares about the failstate of the united cringedom, they should have been excised from the contest when they left the eu. nice trainspotting references in the clip tho. bleh/10

final conclusion - overall very disappointing year, luxembourg stands in a separate category, even without the ethnonarcissism. germany, moldova, iceland, ukraine are okay but nothing to be thrilled about. the plague of appealing to jury votes at the cost of anything interesting is crushing this competition. seeing what got passed up in serbia instead of teya dora makes one wonder what the situation is like in other countries. help me, zejna. zejna, help me. i hope semi 2 will be better but there's not many heavy hitters

[meglosthegreat]

Trigun Stampede: Losing More than July (A Review)

I was expecting Trigun Stampede to be bad. There's a certain amount of trepidation; a hefty grain of salt with which any fan of something takes an announcement of a reboot or a remaster. So I was expecting Stampede to be bad, because it was safer than hoping it would be good.

I was wrong. Trigun Stampede wasn't bad. It was just disappointing, and to me, that was so much worse.

[Non-specific spoilers for Stampede and the '98 Anime follow]

I could start by listing all of the ways Stampede was good, followed by all of the ways that it was not so good, conclude that while it has its faults, it's still a fun watch with great visuals and animation, and recommend that everyone checks both it and the '98 anime out to form their own opinions on it. But that would be boring, so I'm instead going to elaborate on why exactly Stampede let me down in particular, and why I think it managed to squander a huge amount of what makes Trigun special to begin with.

You see, Stampede, in my opinion, commits a cardinal sin of storytelling: it fails to adequately characterize its main protagonist.

Now, there are many stories out there that enact this sin as a deliberate choice. Trigun is very much not one of those stories. The story of Trigun is the story of Vash, its protagonist, and the framework of the plot exists to build up and reveal his character. So when Trigun Stampede opened by immediately showing us a defining moment in Vash's backstory, I knew this show was headed off the rails fast, likely never to return.

The earliest episodes of the '98 anime are often seen as weaker in comparison to later ones; as 'filler' episodes that do little to advance the overarching plot. Several of them are not even adapted from the manga and were created entirely for the show. But this does not mean that they have no purpose - in fact, they are an essential part of the experience, forming the foundation upon which the rest of the show is built.

These episodes contain few important characters and have relatively low stakes, but what they supply in droves is characterization. You learn about Vash the Stampede by watching how he reacts to these low-stakes scenarios, and this creates a baseline; certain established patterns of behaviour that you are then able to track as the main story kicks off. The reason later episodes hit harder and harder as you see Vash struggle to maintain his beliefs is because you have previously established this baseline. The choices he makes as the story progresses then become surprising, shocking, or tragic and inevitable based on your knowledge of the character up to this point.

Stampede, on the other hand, takes no time to do this. Out of the gate, it bombards you with exposition, revealing Vash's origins and setting up the conflict with his brother that spans the rest of the series. There is no opportunity to see Vash in low-stakes conflict, and so you do not get to establish the baseline against which to compare his future actions. Vash's unique moral compass is the defining trait of his character, and to not take the time to cement that in actions leaves further plot beats and choices feeling weightless; un-grounded in anything substantial.

You might think that because Stampede chooses to delve into Vash's backstory so early on and with such great depth, the more subtle and slow-burning approach to the character that is present in the '98 anime is perhaps unneeded. But knowing where a character comes from and knowing the deeply-held moral tenets that drive them in everything they do are two very different things. The story of Trigun itself is proof of that - look at Vash and Knives, two people who share exactly the same origin who nonetheless developed in radically different ways. Revealing Vash's backstory does nothing to reveal his character on its own - for that you need actions, reactions, and deliberate choices. And when you spend as much runtime as Stampede does delivering history instead of the present, you find yourself with few of those character-defining moments to explore.

The backstory reveals in the '98 anime come much later - long after you as the viewer have come to know Vash as a character. At this point in the story, you already know everything you need to know about him. That the majority of our missing knowledge of Vash's past is shown in the second-to-last episode is no mistake: it shows us that the events of the past are less important than the beliefs you hold in the present. You don't need to know exactly where Vash came from and what happened to him before the story began, because you know the person he is now, and no amount of further information is going to change that.

And that's all that the lore-heavy flashback sequences in Stampede are: information. Answers to questions that the viewer doesn't even think to ask, because the story never allows us room to wonder. My first ever viewing of the '98 anime will always remain a special experience, because Vash's true nature and the nature of the world were hinted at slowly, giving me time to ponder and theorize about what these hints could mean. This experience is why I fell in love with Trigun in the first place, and if Stampede had instead been my initial introduction to the series, I daresay it would never have held the special place in my heart that it does to this day.

I can forgive a lot of the missteps that I think Stampede takes, and I can learn to live with others. The bizarre exclusion of Milly and the lacklustre character of Roberto, the injection of late elements from the manga into the early stages of the story, and even the complete shift in genre and tone to something only vaguely resembling a Western. But Vash the Stampede is the core of Trigun; the axis upon which the entire story turns, and for Stampede to have dropped the ball so heavily on basic characterization is something I resent the series deeply for.

If Trigun Stampede had simply been bad, it would not have been nearly so disappointing. But because it's shiny and new, because it has legitimately good animation and a largely engaging story, it will be many peoples' introduction to Trigun, and watching it will immediately negate a great deal of the intrigue and incredible tension of the '98 anime and of the manga by extension. I am therefore disappointed not for myself, but for all those who will not be able to experience Trigun in the same way that I once did - the way, I believe, that the story was meant to be experienced.

In short, if you've gotten this far and you have not yet watched Trigun Stampede, I encourage you to watch the '98 anime or to read the manga first. Be warned, though: you may find Stampede to be disappointing as a result.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Shadow and Bone 2x01 Review

I have just finished watching ep 1 and overall I think it was a solid episode and a good start to the season. It does a good job of getting you back into the swing of things and refamiliarizing you with the characters. It’s also got some interesting additions to the character list. So here are my thoughts on everything, obviously there are spoilers, there will also be some book spoilers so show only fans tread carefully, I will put a * before and after any book spoilers so you can skip over it if you want. 

Opening Scene

Right from the get go the show sets the tone with the opening titles, the shadows coming and ripping at the sign, it sets a much darker tone for the season. What’s interesting is how that is juxtaposed immediately afterwards with a shot of Alina observing a peaceful town with a smile on her face. However the peaceful image doesn’t last long as a flock of what I think are crows fly over the town. What’s interesting about this is that crows are said to be an omen of death due to how they would flock over battlefields, they are said to flock over places where people are expected to die soon. True to the myth right after these birds fly over,  the fold expands and swallows everything and everyone in its path. What is interesting is in this nightmare that Alina is having once inside the fold she cannot use her powers. I do think this is symbolic of how helpless she feels and how helpless she felt when Aleks expanded the fold into Novokribirsk. She then sees Aleks appear and begin to approach her while calling her name before she wakes up suddenly. *Obviously I do think this nightmare is connected to the mind palace/tether bond and the connection that exists between her and Aleks and she just hasn’t recognised that and thinks they are just dreams.* With her needing Mal to tell her that Aleks is dead repeatedly I do think that deep down she does know that he is still alive and she can feel that pull to him. She does eventually discover that the fold really is growing though and honestly I felt so sorry for her in that scene. The nightmares are scary enough it must have been terrifying to realise that its happening in real life too. It does make me wonder something though, is Aleks deliberately expanding the fold or has it grown out of his control and is just now growing by itself? 

The Crows 

Ok not going to lie I did find it low key hilarious when Jesper makes a joke about them arriving back in Ketterdam and no one was there waiting to kill them, yay, but then two minutes later they are all being held at gun point and wanted for murder. I did really enjoy the crows storyline this episode as it had quite a few call backs to the first ep of season 1 and we see a few characters that we haven’t seen since the beginning of season 1. I must admit I did laugh a bit when Dreesen makes his reappearance and the first word he says in ‘criminals’ I did love that call back. We also saw Pekka Rollins again and it seems he has been busy since the crows left, Tante Helene is apparently dead and the crows are wanted for her murder and Pekka Rollins now owns not just the crow club but the Menagerie as well and so by extension Inej. I did love how the moment Kaz realises that Rollins is a threat to Inej he tries to protect her by getting her out of dodge using the excuse that Alina needs her because he knows that is something Inej feels strongly about and would therefore more likely convince her to go. I also love that Inej doesn’t go for it and instead chooses to stand with Kaz and reassures him that she is not leaving him. I really liked her line about ‘what happens to the saints is fate, but what happens here is up to us’.

Going back to Dreesen, Kaz was back to being Kaz in that scene where Dreesen had him and Jesper captive and he just assesses the room and figures out that Dreesen wasn’t the real boss but Sturmhond was. *Book readers will know that Sturmhond is actually Nikolai Lantsov the prince of Ravka.* One thing I do love about Kaz is how he is able to assess a situation and with some quick thinking turn it in his favour. I also do think its interesting how they linked Sturmhond back to season 1 with having him being the one to hire Dreesen, making him a player the whole time, it is interesting to me that he was looking for Alina since the beginning. 

I haven’t read the six of crows books so the crows are very interesting to me as I know next to nothing about them outside of what we learnt in season 1. So I cannot tell you how shocked I was when its revealed that Jesper is grisha, a durast. The funny thing was when watching season 1 there’s a scene towards the end of the season when Inej talks to Kaz by the fireplace, she opens the conversation by telling him Jesper fixed his cane and I remember thinking how the hell did he do that? I did wonder if he was grisha but then dismissed it and told myself that was just silly and I was looking way too much into it. But then it turned out he actually is grisha and it was so cool to see him use his powers to change the coin into a key, I also love that Kaz just knew all along pretty much. 

Something else that intrigued me was what looked to be flashbacks of Kaz’s past. Honestly those flashbacks have me very worried they don’t look like a barrel of laughs. Also it did seem like they were triggered by touch, like every time that guy accidently brushed against Kaz’s leg he had a very visceral reaction and it almost seemed like it was triggering for him, like he had a near on panic attack. It was hard to make out the flashes because they happened so quickly but one looked like two kids sitting in the rain and the older one was coughing, I’m not sure which one is Kaz but did Kaz have a brother maybe? There was also a shot of Pekka Rollins asking ‘how are you feeling boy?’ there was also a shot of a boy with some kind of sickness like small pox or something and then another shot of that boy lying on what disturbingly looked like a pile of bodies. Now that I think about it the little boy was in more of the shots so it would make sense that he is younger Kaz, so maybe the older boy from the shot of two boys sitting in the rain is Kaz’s older brother? My theory is that Kaz and his brother were homeless and this lead to them getting sick, oh no please tell me Kaz’s brother doesn’t die from this disease? Was the sickness what lead to Kaz’s leg injury? It might explain why it was the touch to his leg that triggered these memories. But also how does Pekka Rollins fit into it all because he was in the flashbacks and it was clear in season 1 that Kaz had some history with Rollins but that Rollins doesn’t remember Kaz. Anyway I am very very worried about learning Kaz’s background because just from these small flashes I feel like I am not emotionally ready for what I am about to see. 

The crows also add a couple of people to their ranks this episode with Nina and Wylan. We also get an explanation as to where Kaz got that phosphorus flash bomb from that he used against Aleks in season 1, turns out it was Wylan who made it for him. Again I like that link back to season 1 and how they are tying these new characters in. I also thought the reaction the crows have to Nina really funny especially as Nina is so surprised they know her name, but again its that tie back to season 1 and the conductor and how that was a link between these characters who kind of have history even though they have never met before. Also as a brit I must admit I did enjoy Wylan’s line of offering everyone tea, the correct action in those circumstances if you ask me, I thoroughly approve. I am curious to see all the new dynamics between the crows and these two new members, it seems like Inej and Nina immediately liked each other and I could see them becoming fast friends. However whilst it seemed like Wylan seemed somewhat in awe of Jesper it didn’t seem like Jesper was all that impressed with Wylan despite wanting a demolitions man. Also have these guys met before because it seems like Wylan knew who Jesper was but Jesper didn’t seem to know Wylan? 

I am not sure how I feel about Kaz giving up Alina to Sturmhond and its clear that Jesper definitely didn’t feel good about it but at the same time Kaz did have a point about how Sturmhond already knew what ship they were on and that he would have been able to deduce where Alina went from there eventually and so they might as well get some of the money back. He did also attempt to send help to Alina later when he suggested Inej go find her, though I do think that was more for Inej’s benefit than Alina’s. I also do think that it was very in character for Kaz, he’s very calculating and at the end of the day he is always going to prioritize his crows over anything else. For him it was all about getting him and Jesper out of that situation and that just ranked higher on his list of priorities than keeping Alina’s confidence.  

Sturmhond, Tamar and Tolya 

Some other new characters we meet in this episode is Sturmhond, Tamar and Tolya. I think all three, despite not having a ton of screen time in this episode, got really good introductions. Tamar and Tolya both look very cool and badass and also very intimidating, they seem like characters I am going to like. I also loved Sturmhond’s introduction, again mentioned it before but I like that they tied his character to the story by making him Dreesen’s boss. I do wonder why he wants Alina, I am assuming as some kind of political chess piece but it seems like at the moment he believes she was working with Aleks, but he also seems really eager to find her. I do think its funny that in the end, after all that time searching for her and hiring Dreesen etc, Alina willingly puts herself on his ship, it reminded me so much of when she climbed into the crows carriage herself, what is it with Alina essentially unwittingly handing herself over to her own would be kidnappers? 

I did think that Sturmhond’s character was very charismatic and entertaining, I loved how he made the distinction that he was in fact a privateer and not a pirate. I am really looking forward to seeing more of these characters as the season goes on. 

Malina 

Ok so fair warning to fans of Malina who may be reading this, you may wish to skip over this part as I don’t talk very favourably about them. I wouldn’t say I hate on them necessarily but I’m sorry I just really don’t find them that interesting.

The thing is I will admit that show malina is alot more tolerable than they were in the books, but the truth is I just find their relationship to be a bit bland. Also I’m sorry but when they were attempting to flirt, god was it just me or was it really cringey, I don’t remember them being this cringey in season 1. The whole conversation about the warming stones for example, just it didn’t seem natural at all it just seemed forced, like hey they are talking about beds tee hee hee. Also not going to lie the mention of warming stones only made me think of darklina and their scene in episode 4 at the fountain when Aleks asks how Alina is adjusting to the LP and she replies she’s never had warming stones in her bed before. So that scene only reminded me that whilst warming stones in his bed might be a new thing for Mal its not new for Alina and for me it just highlights that difference between them and how their experiences don’t match anymore, its not something they will be experiencing together for the the first time. Also side note but did they retcon Mal’s lifelong dreams in this episode? Because I remember Alina saying in season 1 that she always dreamed of travelling but Mal always dreamed of settling on a farm somewhere. But then in this episode whilst talking about how they are now travelling Mal says that when he was in the trenches he used to imagine exploring the world because of Alina’s maps, essentially that he dreams of travelling too. But then Mal doesn’t exactly talk very favourably of their travels so far talking about how they haven’t eaten or slept, so I am getting mixed signals here.

 And then there’s the whole there’s only one bed scenario, that scene just seemed really awkward to me. To be fair to them I think it was supposed to have that awkwardness to it because its the first time they’d be sharing the bed and most scenes in films and tv shows that have that troupe have that slightly awkward feel to them but those scenes also usually have an underlying sexual tension to them and I just didn’t get that in this scene it just felt awkward. 

I don’t think that they have bad chemistry necessarily, I think their chemistry is fine, the problem is its just fine and it doesn’t hold a candle to darklina’s chemistry. Like the kiss scene on the bed, that moment should have been hot and sexy but instead it was kind of meh. Compared to darklina’s desk kiss it was like tepid soup whereas the darklina desk scene sizzled with passion and energy. I think the problem is malina have a very quiet kind of chemistry and if darklina wasn’t in the show then maybe the show could have gotten away with it but darklina do exist and because the chemistry and magnetism is so strong between them it just completely outshines malina. Like there is a moment in one of Alina’s ‘dreams’ where Aleks reaches for her face and she gasps at the contact, that one like millisecond moment had more sexual tension in it than all of malina’s scenes in this episode combined. 

I appreciate that everyone has different perspectives and ships and no disrespect to anyone who does ship malina but they just don’t do it for me, I just find them boring. Maybe they’ll get better as the season goes on, at the very least I hope they dial back on the cringe a bit, in season 1 I did think they were very cheesy, but cheese I could bear cringe on the other hand is a big no, no for me.   

Darklina

So there wasn’t loads of darklina content in this episode but I won’t lie I found the one scene we got really interesting. It was interesting that the space that they meet in during that ‘dream’ scene was the same tent where he put the collar on her. I do think that space has different significance to them both. For Alina its the place where she truly did feel betrayed and wronged by him. Where he took her power. This comes through when Aleks asks what she thinks this is and she says more veiled threats and empty promises. I really do think she is thinking back to the last time they were in that tent together and the threats he made towards mal and the promises he made that they could do anything together. For him I do think this place holds some feelings of regret, its a reminder of how he hurt her. But I think they are both pushing those more complicated feelings aside and are instead hiding behind their anger towards each other. 

I also think their costumes are interesting as they aren’t the same clothes they were wearing when they were last in that tent. Alina is in her blue kefta and her hair is the same as it was when the had that horse riding/fountain scene in ep 4. What’s interesting to me about that possible link back to that scene from episode 4 was it was a scene where they were being very vulnerable and open with each other so its interesting that when Alina appears before him here it is with the same look as that moment they shared previously. It could also be in connection to the fact that she rejects his colours in that episode. They have a conversation in this dream scene where Aleks says she thinks she knows who she is now. So her coming to him in the blue kefta and not a black one could be like an act of defiance on her part to say I am not like you, I am not going to wear your colour. Aleks meanwhile is in the black kefta from season 1 and is scarless, he has come there in his former image the one that doesn’t bear the marks of what happened in the fold in the season 1 finale, in a way its the version of him before he hurt and then lost Alina. 

I really loved their conversation about suffering and sacrifice, I thought it was very intriguing and raised alot of interesting questions. The whole you think you know yourself because you have suffered for a moment I do think is almost his way of warning her but it also pulls into focus that difference between Alina’s experience and Aleks’, yes Alina has suffered but so too has Aleks, only Alek’s suffering has spanned across hundreds of years. I also think he makes a good point that she won’t know the depths of her soul until that suffering becomes sacrifice. I do think Alina was being a little naive when she asked Aleks what he has sacrificed other than innocent lives. Don’t get me wrong its a good question one that does make you stop and consider what it is that Aleks has sacrificed. Luda, countless soldiers and friends, his freedom, his name, his pride, alina. But what I think is naive on Alina’s part is this believe she seems to have that you can win a war or a revolution without sacrificing innocent lives. It again highlights that difference in experience between the two, Aleks learned this lesson a long time ago, that sometimes you have to make the hard choices and that sometimes the cost of that is innocent lives. Alina has yet to realise that but the fact that they are having this conversation now tells me that at some point in this season, during her journey of becoming a leader she is going to learn this lesson. The most tragic part of war is the innocent lives that are lost, but sometimes to achieve the greater good you have to make sacrifices. 

I do think the fact that when Aleks asks are you willing to sacrifice that which is most precious to you and he reaches for her face it’s supposed to indicate that he himself did sacrifice what was most precious to him and that happened to be her. He did look somewhat meditative in that moment. I did think Alina’s reaction to him touching her was very interesting as she gasps as if she felt this surge of energy from him. I am very intrigued to see more of these dream like scenes between them. 

Grisha

I did like that we got to see Grisha from another country in this episode and to have that as a comparison of what life is like for the Ravkan grisha compared to other places in the world. Alina meeting the durast grisha in Noyvi Zem was a good example of how different life is for grisha in Noyvi Zem, there grisha all have one name which translates as ‘blessed’. I think this was a good interaction for Alina, to see someone viewing grisha powers as a blessing as again its a link back to season 1 when Alina very much saw it as a curse as opposed to a gift. But I also think it was important that the grisha voiced pity for the ravkan grisha because I think Alina has had a warped idea of the Grisha in Ravka, that they are privileged and like they don’t suffer. I am hoping that by seeing the way grisha are treated in other places around the world and seeing people have that pity for Ravka’s grisha it will help her realise that is not the case and it never has been.      

Speaking of Ravka’s grisha they are in a bit of a sorry state at the moment. The first army literally have them locked up in cages. There was that scene where the first army officer was making a speech and he talks about how they have sacrificed for the grisha and fought for the grisha. Here’s what bugs me about this whole speech, yeah sure maybe some of that is true but lets be real they were mostly fighting for themselves and on top of that the grisha have also fought, died and crossed the fold in aid of the first army so it was a two way street. Also what they are planning to do to these grisha is pretty messed up they have them locked in cages and the plan was just to leave them there in the path of the expanding fold as some kind of human sacrifice to the fold and its volcra. 

Honestly it might be mean of me, call me a terrible person, but I had very little sympathy for the first army soldiers when Aleks killed them. Yes I get the whole they were acting out of fear and desperation and I get that those can be powerful and corruptive forces but you still choose what you do with your fear, how you react to it and these first army soldiers decided to imprison and ultimately kill innocent grisha. Also if you are going to use the whole but they are being driven by their fear and desperation excuse for the first army’s actions then why can’t that also be used for Aleks because lets be real he is also acting out of fear and desperation, fear that his people will always be hunted and desperation to find them a safe place. 

I think this really shows when he says ‘so this again, locking us up in cages? I shall have to overthrow the king now.’ He has once again found himself back in the same situation he was in when Anastas was King and honestly I can understand his anger, it must be really hard to see this happen to his people again and his reaction to this being I must wipe out the first army and the King makes perfect sense for his character as last time it was the first army and the king that made his people suffer so horrifically, it makes sense that he would want to remove them from the chess board, so to speak, before they can imprison and kill too many of his grisha, I think this view is only made stronger because he took the more peaceful route in the past and not only did it not work but it cost him dearly, it again comes back to that idea of sacrifice and how much you are willing to risk and ultimately lose to achieve your goal, what lines are you willing to cross? Also I know I am being petty here and this is most likely influenced by the book reader side of me but I do think its funny how the first scene we see of Alina is her essentially running away and hiding, though to be fair they have made an improvement in the show by having her looking for the sea whip, especially as it does give her that agency she lacked in the books. The first time we see Aleks (outside of the dreamscape) its him saving grisha yet somehow Alina is the heroine and Aleks is the villain? Like I fully support Aleks killing those first army men as they were only going to do the same to the grisha, although I will admit he was a tad bit dramatic when he threw that head out of the fold. 

I do also want to talk about the nichevo’ya because omg do they look amazing. I love the aesthetic of them and the way that they move and the sound of them. I mean they really are very terrifying. Like 100% if I saw one of those things coming at me I would be running in the opposite direction.

Ok I think that is everything, I have come to the realisation that posting these reviews between episodes is going to make getting through the season a little longer but the bright side is taking the time to write the review lets me really mull over the episode and think about what I have watched. 

Bonus: Favourite Lines of the Episode 

‘Let’s all go back to Ketterdam. It’ll be fun. They said.’ 

‘He’s a very rich pirate.’ ‘Privateer actually. It’s an important distinction.’ 

‘You won’t truly understand the depths of your soul until that suffering leads you to sacrifice.’ 

‘I’m not leaving you, not now. What happens to saints is up to fate. What happens here is up to us.’ 

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Money in the Bank 2023 - Quick Review

Okay so I did have a highlights for MITB but when I hit CTRL+Z to fix a bullet I deleted it instead deleted all but half the title, and CTRL+Y didn't fix either, and it couldn't be recovered in the draft so quickfire stuff

Spoilers for MITB 2023

I enjoyed it, it was a good show. All the matches were consistent and the UK crowd was unsurprisingly great. We had 'surprise' returns from Drew and Cena (well, the latter was a surprise), a surprising heel turn by Shayna and valid MITB winners in Damien Priest - the second best option because he's worked his butt off this past year - and Iyo Sky - who has been long overdue a proper push. We had solid showings from the Women's Tag and the IC match, as well as some more unique thinking like using Handcuffs in the MITB or Gunther chopping a foot to soften it. Also as much as the Pre-Show is a nothing hour of nothing, you gotta watch Heyman's promo with Kayla there because it's great.

If there's negatives I'd say that it was still safe, nothing quite thrilled me and thus some felt just like regular matches rather than PPV quality ones, as much as it was consistent there was little peaks and troughs. In comparison to Forbidden Door, a lot clearer and fulfilling finishes but at the same time it was higher lows but lower highs, the men's MITB was messy at times and as much as Cena's promo was great we all know that a Wrestlemania in London will be at least a couple of years away given how we know what next Mania's at Philly, Cody/Dom felt a little pointless without Lesnar showing and Cody winning gives neither man anything, plus all the Bloodline matches remain direly by the numbers, only really being entertaining in the final 5 minutes after the mandatory ref bump...also infinite negatives for not pulling the trigger on LA Knight that was just the most easy open goal they reneged on.

You may've heard people say that Forbidden Door was 'a two match show' but you can argue the same here, you eliminate the Men's MITB and Main Event and it wouldn't have drawn as well just like how Forbidden Door wouldn't have drawn as well without Omega/Ospreay and Danielson/Okada, even though the 10-man was a banger, Punk/Kojima was fun and both WWE's women's matches were the better of the night. I guess that is the main problem, I didn't feel strongly about anything (especially Logan Paul trying to GIF himself with a botched Spanish Fly) a lot of the time it was just 'oh, that happened' because each moment felt more like a stepping stone to the end goal rather than the end goal, the only feud quashed was the Women's Tag - which was basically a reset button to before Liv got injured, Cody/Dom maybe depends when Lesnar's feeling up to it, and the IC title where Riddle wasn't gonna stand a chance anyway, all others like Iyo/Bayley, Trish and Zoey/Becky, Bloodline, and Priest/Balor are gonna continue, which while it isn't a bad thing it's a greater percentage.

However, there's a lot of good to come from the show and come out of it going forward, such is the nature of MITB when you don't immediately try to cash in. WWE sets a clear path to Summerslam with little damage control to clean up after.

So overall yeah, good show; you get your money's worth, consistent on the board with some unexpected twists, and you gotta love a good crowd, I hope to hear that noise in Wembley come August.

Match of the Night: Women's Money in the Bank, it was inventive and layered by different feuds occurring in the match. Becky is once again denied the briefcase while being fingertips away to continue the poetic irony paired with Iyo handcuffing her and Bayley to step over both of them to win. Best Attire: I had to deliberate since Ronda's Majin Vegeta gear appeals to the anime fan in me, and I'm sure Becky was going for a Jean Grey look with hers, but I'm giving it to Liv's Union Jack gear because it's inspired by Geri Halliwell's dress when she was in the Spice Girls. I was more shocked that Seth didn't come out to anything I must admit. Performance of the Night: It's a hard choice because of how consistent everyone was, but I'm gonna give it to Becky given how many spots in the ladder match she was involved in and her narrative with Trish and Zoey was a lot more physical than Bayley and Iyo's one. Spot of the Night: Shayna's surprising heel turn and the Usos surprisingly pinning Roman almost took the top but I'll hand it to the aforementioned clever finish of the WMITB, utilising the handcuffs, getting a strong winner and using Bayley and Becky being outwitted to give Iyo the rub.

[sparrowsabre7]

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review SPOILERS

Just got out of the cinema and needed to get thoughts on digital paper.

It's a really enjoyable watch. It manages to tread the balance between the more heartfelt, but action-light, "Bumblebee" and the more shooty-bang-bang Bayverse films. To quickly touch on that: while - Unicron aside - there's nothing really explicit that prevents ROTB from being part of the Bayverse, but it ultimately raises more questions if it is. They do throw a cheeky put down to those who might like to think so though by directly referencing Mark Wahlberg's intention to become an actor. While it wouldn't be the first film to reference an actor that was also in the same series, it does feel like a deliberate attempt to put a nail in the coffin of the "not a reboot" theory.

The film opens with a neat prologue, as I think every Transformers film has, this time narrated by Optimus Primal, rather than Prime, giving a quick introduction to Unicron and Scourge, also providing a devastating look at what they can do. This sets the tone for the film moving forward, as well as indicates it's approach to its plot. The stakes are clear, everyone's motivations defined, and the interpersonal relationships are what hold the film together.

It speaks to ROTB's strengths that it is a trim two hours and maintains a consistent pace throughout, it doesn't linger too long, nor rush through and manages to maintain momentum even when they start to delve into the macguffin search.

The film also gives perhaps the highest percentage of bot screen time across the franchise. Mirage and Optimus take the lion's share of the screen time, Bumblebee (rightly) is given a bit of a rest this film, with Mirage stepping into the human best friend role. Pete Davison voices Mirage with an infectious humour and manages to avoid forcing the comedy angle too much. Optimus by contrast is more brooding than ever, unsure of himself and much less friendly towards humankind. Each of the remaining Autobots get time to shine too and are fleshed out well enough to be more than just action props. Sadly the same cannot be said for half the Maximals. While Optimus Primal and Airazor are given a fair amount of screen time and feel fully realised, Cheetor and Rhinox have less than a literal handful of lines between them.

"Beast Wars" fans will likely be disappointed by their all too brief action sequences, but Primal is definitely done justice in terms of his character, getting a few reflective moments with Prime. The wonky time travel aspect of "Beast Wars" is retained as well, surprisingly, though paid only brief lip service - Primal confirms he is named after Optimus Prime and thus comes from Prime's future, though via the Transwarp key (aforementioned macguffin du jour) the Maximals travelled back in time to early Earth history. Aside from this and Primal's cry of "Maximise!", however, there are no sly nods to "Beast Wars" and anyone looking them will be sorely disappointed. That said, they are treated with far more respect and time than the Dinobots in "Age of Extinction" and are at least more than mindless brutes.

Despite my 90's kid gripings, the action sequences are still very impressive and while the final battle against hordes of enemies feels less personal than the smaller scale skirmishes, it does provide a lot of fan-pleasing moments.

The human characters also surprised me. What struck me straight away was the benefits of having black and latino actors as the leads. The shift in perspective is immediately apparent: Sam and Charlie from the Trilogy and "Bumblebee" respectively both need a car to gain independence. Anthony Ramos' Noah needs a job so he can pay his brother's crippling medical debt and also try and keep a roof over their heads. Dominique Fishback's Elena is desperately trying to keep her job as an intern and fighting for recognition while her (white) boss takes credit for all her work. The dichotomy of circumstances is clear and having characters who are actually struggling just to get by, rather than "first world problems" makes for a more compelling narrative, to the point where midway through the movie, Noah and the Autobots' goals end up at odds. It's a move that makes sense for the character as well as creating real reasons for division. Optimus doesn't trust Noah, so why should he trust Optimus? The ultimate (cliché) message of the movie comes down to the importance of overcoming differences to work together using the arc words straight from G1 "Til all are one".

It's cheesy and a bit on the nose, but it works in its favour, a sentence that more or less sums up the film as a whole.

[lonelier-version-of-you]

I’ve just watched the second episode of the Casualty double-bill: S37E18 “Running on Empty” by Claire Miller. It was fantastic. Really, really good stuff. I definitely thought it was the better of the two episodes, probably because this one didn’t have Faith in it. (The Rash stuff in the previous episode was really good, but the Stevie stuff fell flat to me due to Faith’s involvement.)

The Jacob stuff was great. It’s nice to see him getting more focus lately, he really felt like a background character for a while. Also - wow, I really see what people meant about this episode, Sunil’s injuries were nasty. It was a bit hard to watch even for me, even as someone who’s usually not bothered by the medical stuff in Casualty/Holby.

Charles Venn was great, as usual, and so was the actor playing Sunil. (And, of course, the dog was cute too.)

The Dylan stuff was really interesting. I noted that, within two episodes, both Stevie and Dylan barked up the wrong tree and accused a patient’s visitor of abuse that they hadn’t actually committed - I wonder if that was deliberate, because it really does show how similar Stevie and Dylan are.

I do appreciate it when we get a good “Dylan’s not a saint” storyline. I don’t think the show or the fandom fall into the “Dylan is perfect and can do no wrong” attitude anywhere near as much as with Henrik on Holby, but it does get a bit close to that sometimes, so a healthy reminder that Dylan is well-intentioned but deeply flawed is nice every now and again.

I think Dylan was strongly projecting his own history in this episode, to be honest. He’s been projecting a bit during this storyline in general (understandably, and he’s obviously doing all this for a noble and important cause), but now he’s taken it too far, and it’s causing him to lose focus and see things that aren’t there (metaphorically). I wonder if the choice to name the patient Brian was deliberate, like on Holby when Oliver was struggling with his PTSD (from taking a bullet for Roxanna Macmillan) and he ended up lashing out at Henrik while treating a patient named Roxanne.

Speaking of Henrik, I can’t help but feel annoyed that the one-off elderly patient Brian got more focus on his internalised homophobia and the level of trauma he had from growing up queer back then than Henrik ever did during Henruss, but I’ll try not to start ranting about that because it’s not really relevant to this post.

Anyway, Dylan’s got demoted, which is an easy way to make the fans hate Marcus even more than we already do. Having said that, I find it very amusing that Marcus’s idea of punishing Dylan is... demoting him from a job that he hates anyway.

Nice one, Marcus, Dylan will really suffer for that. /sarcasm

Paige was really, really great in this episode. Shalisha James-Davis’ performance was excellent, too. The scene where Paige and her patient Lloyd went out to see the stars was just lovely. I think this is my favourite episode for Paige so far, actually. It gave her a lot of development as a character. I also like how they’re showing how everything with Ashok is affecting Paige as well as Rash.

I hope she doesn’t have an affair with Teddy like some of the spoiler articles have been teasing, though. I think that would just be piling unnecessary drama into the storyline. Teddy having an unrequited crush, or even Paige maybe being tempted, I wouldn’t mind as much, but I really don’t want a full-blown affair.

There was a great variety of patients in this episode, as well. I’m glad we’re back to having so many patient stories, because I felt the previous two episodes were lacking in them.

So, yeah, that’s me all caught up and ready to review the next episode later this week. :)