#wow will desperately wants to be a father and hannibal desperately wants will to have everything he wants

[daisies-on-a-cup]

the fucking smile hannibal did when will immediately said "i'd be a good father" PAIN AND SUFFERING AND LOVE FOR 1000 YEARS

[gingersnapwolves]

today’s 3 AM notes:

The Untamed/Pacific Rim crossover

bruh

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are drift compatible. Nobody, absolutely nobody, understands this. They are as different as night and day. What the hell.

Wei Wuxian was also drift compatible with Jiang Cheng, and they used to pilot together but then Jiang Cheng was badly injured and now he can’t pilot. He is intensely, bitterly jealous of Lan Wangji. 

Jiang Cheng is now one of the science guys, along with Nie Huaisang. They fight all the time. (I’m not typically a Sangcheng shipper but I could totally see it here. “Stop leaving guts all over the lab!” “I need all these guts, Jiang-xiong.”)

Nie Mingjue is Stacker Pentecost, obviously

Lan Xichen and Meng Yao are drift compatible, but it took years for Lan Xichen to convince Meng Yao to actually step into a Jaeger with him because he was convinced that once LXC actually saw his thoughts and his mind, he would never speak to him again. (LXC afterwards: wow it’s a complete shock to me that you resent your father who left you and your mother on the streets. I never would have guessed.) (MY: okay stop rubbing it in.)

Jin Guangshan is some politician, probably the one who wants to build the wall and defund the Jaeger program, like that’s gonna work.

Wen Qing is the team doctor with Wen Ning as her assistant and really wishes they would all stop getting beaten up by monsters and each other.

They save the world and nobody dies because I ain’t about that life.

(Bonus: you could even do Pac Rim 2 [which I have not seen tbh] with the juniors later - you just know that Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi would be drift compatible. Jin Ling desperately wants to be a pilot but can never find anybody he’s drift compatible with and it drives him N U T S.)

ETA: XUE YANG AS HANNIBAL CHAU XD

[brave-clarice]

“Clarice” Liveblog: Episodes 5 & 6

Since these are extraordinarily late, I tried to keep them more concise/focused than before. I’m sorry for how long it’s taken me to (almost) catch up. And to the handful of you who’ve enjoyed these and encouraged me to do them: thank you!

Episode 5, “Get Right With God”

the music at the beginning of this episode might just be in the maintenance guy’s headphones(!) but it was still a…Choice.

there’s something so tragic about watching Clarice be unable to use her legs… :’(

this whole scenario feels like a twisted parallel universe version of the end of Hannibal.

glad to see Ardelia finally has her priorities straight and is going to fight for her best friend! let’s forget her Episode 4 subplot ever happened.

good: the warrior finding a weapon even in the direst of circumstances!

bad: those damn moths are back. at least this time they might be drug-induced.

“she worked Bill alone” no, she didn’t. not really. (Hannibal: I’m right here.)

stop trying to make Likable Paul happen, it’s never going to happen!!!

I HATE the “Reesey” nickname, y’all. HATE. IT.

plus, we know that her dad called her “Baby”?

her father’s appearance doubles down on the end-of-Hannibal vibes...Not Sure If Want.

wow, Clarice is being literally tortured? thanks, I hate it!!!

really doubt that Clarice’s Pinto used to belong to her father (who drives a truck in the books??)... weird flex.

and how would she even have gotten it? her mother would either have driven that car into the ground out of necessity or else have sold it for the money the Starlings needed so desperately.

Pintos also weren’t super high-quality cars and were definitely not built to last ~20 years.

Clarice already being able to chat with her father whenever she needs to really undermines the therapy Hannibal will eventually give her, but…I guess they’ve already accepted they’ll never make it that far?

“you’re trying to get in my head” yeah, and she’s doing it, too–’cause she learned from the best!

“you get an answer, I get an answer, Felker.” she’s Hannibal’s girl all right.

this episode’s had flashes of brilliance before diving back into…whatever tf watching one of your favorite characters of all time being tortured is.

I really wanted Ardelia to say that no, but Clarice was like a sister to her.

it took FIVE episodes to get some lamb imagery, but we’ve been looking at moths for the entire season?!

oof, Clarice voicing her own insecurities about her childhood abandonment and using them to twist Felker’s arm...painful but smart.

HANNAH!!!

I would die 4 baby Clarice

after all that, Clarice is going to apologize to Ardelia about last week? this episode SUCKS.

Good: Clarice playing mind games with Felker like Hannibal did to her; Ardelia going to bat for her bestie, lamb flashbacks, baby Clarice, and HANNAH!

Bad: So much. Clarice being medically tortured multiple times, moth hallucinations, the several-years-premature (imo) Daddy-as-Guardian-Angel plot device, “Reesey”...did I mention Clarice getting repeatedly tortured?!

Ugly: Krendler backstory + making out with his wife. Ew.

Wow, this episode was a hot mess, and I kind of hated it. I loved Clarice’s really Hannibalesque approach to Felker, and I’m so thrilled that Hannah got mentioned at all (tho...did they need to be so heavy-handed with the helmet and gun and everything?) Also nice to see Ardelia behaving much more in-character. That said, it was sickening and imo totally unnecessary to further traumatize Clarice the way they did. To make her almost helpless.

Clarice, and by extension Rebecca Breeds (who is fantastic and deserves better), has been given very little range so far. She’s frequently been shown as miserable, afraid, desperate, traumatized, angry, resentful, but I also want to see her joyful, laughing, silly, relaxed...something else that will give her depth. Her life wasn’t miserable 24/7, 365. It was just unfulfilling. We got glimpses of this in the first two episodes. PLEASE bring it back!

And rn I’m questioning how Clarice’s career can possibly drag on for another six years after this. Her apparent PTSD is already interfering with her job performance as it is--this experience is only going to make it worse. Her “body count” in Hannibal was around five, iirc, and that was enough to slap her with the “Death Angel” moniker. In the show at least four people have died in close proximity to Clarice in the space of like...a week. How does she come back from that, even as the savior of Catherine Martin? It’s a PR nightmare for obth Clarice and the FBI.

They’ve also sort of forgotten that the Martins existed while continuing to flesh out Krendler’s (?!) character? It’s weird.

I almost don’t even want to watch Episode 6 after that. But here goes...

Episode 6, “How Does It Feel to Be So Beautiful?”

the freaking MOTHS again, I hate them!

frankly, yeah, Clarice should be on leave.

Clarice’s nondescript monochrome suits and constant ponytail are just so boring. in the book she’s described as never having to put effort into making her hair look good--so why is it always pulled back in this show?

I’m not sure it’s very in-character for Clarice, at this point in her career, to go over her boss’s head to get out of admin leave (one she really needs to take tbh) even for the sake of solving a case

lol what the actual hell @ AG Martin guilt-tripping Clarice, who was very recently tortured and almost died, for not calling Catherine back? Clarice is not Catherine’s therapist!

THIS is what my Vogue-reading heroine with burgeoning great taste wears for a night out? so disappointing.

never in my life did I think I’d be sitting through Krendler’s personal drama in a show ABOUT CLARICE STARLING.

her costume sucks and her hairstyle’s from years in the future, but dang does Clarice look gorgeous.

and I love thinking of her getting a taste of the luxury she’ll enjoy with Hannibal. :)

you know what? I think I was actually fine with them forgetting that the Martins were in this show.

whyyy is Krendler being made so sympathetic?!

now Catherine Martin “loved to sew” just like Frederica Bimmel? hmm. (tbf, maybe this is in the novel, and I’ve just forgotten.)

her gift for Clarice is sweet, though.

so beautiful, indeed

Christ on a cracker, that confrontation between the Martins was painful to watch (not a criticism). this show’s AG and her daughter are very much two of a kind in terms of emotional manipulation.

I stan one (1) doofus

now either Catherine’s gaslighting Clarice...or Clarice’s trauma (over BILL! again with this!) is so pervasive that it’s twisted her memories. either way, I hate it.

so Krendler’s lawyer is dirty and that’s why he’ll (probably) turn against Clarice? but WHY? why can’t Krendler just suck?

Good: Clarice looking gorgeous, Ardelia continuing to fight for Clarice, female characters in positions of authority everywhere

Bad: Clarice’s underwhelming costumes, Clarice’s primary/worst trauma apparently STILL being Buffalo Bill & having Clarice break down crying again (and NOT over what happened last week, which would tbh make a lot more sense).

Sad: Shaan’s backstory about his wife, everything involving Catherine

Ugly: Krendler subplot. Ugh.

I just don’t know how I feel about this installment. Wish I cared more about the overarching conspiracy plot, but I’m really only here for Clarice and Ardelia. And while no show can stand on the shoulders of a single character, for a show about Clarice, there seems to be quite a bit of screentime devoted to her bosses, Martin and Krendler, and even to her team members. And all without Clarice herself getting much character development. They don’t seem to be exploring much of her character other than her traumatic backstories, and I’m no longer very hopeful that she’ll be much more fleshed out in the last four episodes, either. It’s a bummer. I really think Rebecca could shine like Jodie did if she were given a chance.

Most of the scenes with the Martins were visceral and felt so real that it was hard to watch. That said...the AG Martin/Catherine content all strikes me as being somewhat detached from the rest of the show, as if the writers are making it up as they go along with no real end goal in mind.

Man...these two were rough going. Very little humor or warmth and absolutely no joy. Of course the source material is dark, so a somewhat dark crime drama is to be expected, but I really think the show needs a slightly less intense, bleak and (dare I say it?) unpleasant episode. But they writers have really dug themselves into a hole by zeroing in on Clarice’s PTSD. And unlike in Hannibal, there’s no love interest with whom she (and by extension, the audience) can flee her misery and pain. 

I'm cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season. A lot of the ingredients are there, and despite my many criticisms, it’s been great to spend time with a character I love. Fingers crossed that they finish strong!

[queerhannibal]

What's your take on the whole Murder Family scenario? Was it ever realistic or did (poor poor) Abigail got tangled up in business of two men who were dreaming about being fathers but couldn't communicate properly and mizumonoed the shit out of everything?

Do I think that Will and Hannibal could have been the ideal fathers to Abigail? Probably not. Do I think that they both genuinely loved her and wanted to do their best by her? Absolutely. 

I don’t know if there was ever a moment in which it was actually possible, though. The thing is that if Abigail was dead, Will wasn’t going to be able to seriously pursue being in a relationship with Hannibal, at least not at that stage of grief he was in during season 2. He couldn’t be with Hannibal without betraying Abigail. 

He goes into the honeytrap scheme to bring Hannibal down mostly because Hannibal killed Abigail! yes he’s upset about being wrongfully imprisoned and by god is he upset about Bev (and i mean, he’s not happy about Hannibal being a murderer at all) but the thing he absolutely could not and would not let go is the fact that Hannibal killed Abigail

and this is partially bc Will loved Abigail a great deal, but it’s more because he knows that Hannibal loved Abigail a great deal, and if the best job Hannibal can do at loving someone is to murder them the moment it seems expedient to do so… then there’s not much point in Will contemplating having a future with him, is there?

And once Will has begun to play Hannibal, he’s even MORE sure that Hannibal would kill him if they ever tried to actually be together, bc Hannibal would realize that the Will he wanted (the Will Will was pretending to be) was not how Will actually was; either Will would attempt to sustain the persona and be uncomfortable until he inevitably failed, or Will would begin to act like himself, and either way Hannibal would be disappointed, and apparently no matter how much Hannibal loves someone he murders them the moment they disappoint

So that’s what Will has to go on there lol. No matter how badly he wants to make this a real thing – no matter how desperately he wants to say yes when Hannibal offers to go without a sacrifice, no matter how invested he finds himself becoming in this fascinating and horrible man, no matter how deeply Will loves him – Will doesn’t believe that it’s in any way viable, and he can’t allow himself to believe it might be, because Abigail is dead

So the only circumstance in which the thing becomes a possibility, really, is if Will finds out that Abigail is alive when he still has time to show Hannibal he really does actually want to be with him and his performance was not actually entirely a lie, and the problem with that is that Hannibal absolutely would not under any circumstances tell him

I’m not entirely sure WHY Hannibal doesn’t tell him? Hannibal during that arc is kind of at peak dumbass as far as I can tell. He wants Will to be under his spell and Will seems to be and he doesn’t like. Question that in any way. Which I mean I get I do but it’s REAL DUMB bc like….. last week or whatever Will was promising reckonings and shit bc he couldn’t get over the fact that Hannibal killed Abigail so you’d think Hannibal would be bright enough to realize that was still bothering Will, especially when Will is literally crying about it still in Ko No Mono

You know what would’ve worked is if in that scene in Ko No Mono where Will is crying bc Hannibal killed Abigail even though he loved her, Hannibal had used his massive fucking brain and thought  “oh wow I bet he’s worried I’ll kill him even though I love him” and said “I did not actually kill Abigail” instead of some bullshit about teacups and sacrifices or whatever it was that he said

I do think if by some miracle of improved communication the three of them had ended up somewhere together as a family that it would have worked though! It would not be a smooth and easy thing since Abigail and Will actually did not have anything approaching a positive relationship anywhere outside of Will’s head at any point, but I think it could have gone okay with some time and effort

Will loved her a whole lot and he is capable of being a decent father, and Hannibal loved her a whole lot and while he is a terrible garbage person I think he does have sufficient skill that he could semi-competently parent a teenager. He certainly had the resources to give her a good life, and the desire to do so. I don’t think it would have been ideal for her, but I think it could have been good

[windwardrose]

RWBY 20/20, 3.11-3.12

Once again, I am blown away. I remember watching these the first time and going wow, this show has suddenly turned awesome. Because all the cute, clever, funny, thrilling and periodically ominous build-up has come to these last few episodes and paid off in bloodstained spades.

I love so much about the Battle of Beacon episodes, even though (maybe partly  because) there is so much that hurts a little, but in the way that stories can hurt and still be good.

- Velvet, fighting with the glowing ghosts of her friends’ arsenal.

- Weiss - in a lovely wordless moment of decision - charging into desperate battle to save Velvet. Myrtenaster against a two-storey-tall mech? Doesn’t seem very equal, but that was what Weiss offered. The rest was hope.

- If Torchwick gets eaten by a Grimm in the middle of his speech against idealism, does that count as a Shut Up, Hannibal?

- Adam, you red-haired psychopath, how do I loathe thee, THOU UTTER CREEP. However, I am pretty sure that Blake and Yang loathe thee far more, and I look forward to watching them wipe the floor with you in the upcoming volume.

- Ozpin, green glass against red flame, holding back Cinder till the vault falls.

- Pyrrha’s choices - first to become the Maiden and then to fight with nothing beyond her own Semblance when the whole plan goes awry. She can’t expect to win. She honestly can’t. But she goes anyway. Because the alternative is running away? Because she thinks she might be able to slow Cinder down a little and buy some time for the others? I think that, at any rate.

- Jaune in the alleyway. Owch.

- The odd little silence on Weiss’s face when she comes to meet Ruby in front of the school, then steps aside and we see the wounded huddled on the cobblestones. Blake reaching out to Yang. “I’m sorry.” Ren still insisting he can fight. (Sit down, Ren.)

- Pyrrha fighting with the fallen gears of Ozpin’s clock room. No words there.

- The way that so many of the fights have a terrible hard-hit quality that hasn’t come before in the series. (Pyrrha v Cinder, but also Ruby v Torchwick. And of course Yang & Blake v Adam.) It’s a little shocking, but it makes sense. It really does look more like kid prodigies getting outclassed by fighters twice their strength, even though their Auras still keep it from getting too bad.

- I got some much-needed laughter when Qrow called Ruby a pipsqueak. Maybe it was an ad-lib as a joke, maybe put in as a special gift to the voice actor? I want to believe it was one or the other - that it was a total accident seems a bit hard to credit...

- Qrow heading out to keep an eye on the kids. “Taking up where Ozpin left off.” He’s grieving, and he doesn’t show it much. He’s chosen to be the mentor, the backup, the keepsafe, the last-line-of-defense, just like Ozpin was. We’ll see again in vol 4 how that’s working for him. Welp.

- Some of the moments that sting the most are the ones we don’t ever get shown, I think.

Injured, distraught Blake stumbling into the group’s camp, carrying Yang.  

Qrow climbing the crumbled school tower, past the frozen dragon-Grimm, and finding Ruby unconscious amid the broken pieces of Ozpin’s command room. (Partly because he might have been just going up there to check in the obscure hope of actually finding her alive. Though after the white flash perhaps he surmised what had occurred and hoped for the best.)

Weiss in the wreckage afterwards with her whole team downed and disappeared, seeing her father’s transport coming to take her back to the home she’s worked so hard to escape.

But I still have a bone to pick with the opening song, no offense, RT. The good will crawl - eh, only while they’re still getting to their feet to fight again. The shining light will sink in darkness - not yet it won’t.

Though I will concede the misery and pain for all part.

And onward now to vol 4. Probably to be noted with less detail, since I’ve already recapped most of it elsewhere on the blog.