#yes this is related to the dad subplot

[adobe-outdesign]

Kung Fu Panda 4 Rewrite Thing

Been chewing on this movie for a while now and wanted to take a shot at improving it. Some parts are a bit rough but I think this gets the general idea across.

As a rule, I'm trying to keep most of the characters and elements/plot beats in place rather than spinning things off in a completely unrelated direction. I also am aware of the restrictions placed on this movie, such as an unwillingness to rehire high-profile VAs and runtime limitations. This is just meant to be a "what if" kind of thing. That said:

We open with a stylized sequence of Po telling the story of his and the Five's latest battle. As it ends it's revealed he's at the grand opening of Mr. Ping's brand new bigger, better noodle shop location, talking to the customers.

As one of them asks where the Five are now, Po explains that they got summoned to their own individual missions, but they'll be back soon.

(Yes I am still having them be MIA, as Po needs to be alone with Zhen for part of the movie. However, they'll only gone for the first part of this rewrite and for a very specific plot-related reason.)

(The thing with Po needing to give up his title of Dragon Warrior makes no sense for multiple reasons, so let's just drop that plot point entirely. I get that it's meant to tie into the "change" moral, but I'd rather have Po imparting this lesson onto Zhen instead of learning it himself, as otherwise it undermines the character growth he had in 3.

Also, Po isn't carrying the staff around with him constantly in this rewrite, as it looks a bit silly and isn't plot relevant here.)

A messenger shows up to report that the Jade Palace is under attack. Po decides to rush over just in case Shifu needs backup... which he does, because he's being kidnapped in a small one of those magic-proofed cages from the actual film.

(Shifu being kidnapped was tossed around in the writing room originally and I want to keep it in this rewrite because it A) gives Shifu something to do, and B) I want to allow Zhen to openly be working with the Chameleon in order to help flesh out her character and avoid the lackluster plot twist, meaning she'll need new leverage against Po later on.)

The figure behind the kidnapping appears to be Master Elephant, which confuses Po as he's been missing for several months. Right as he's about to land a finishing blow, the figure shape shifts into Master Chicken, throwing Po's attack and resulting in him getting a bad head injury. He does his best to pursue the attackers, but can't keep up. Dismayed, he returns to the Jade Palace...

...And finds Zhen trying to steal something, using the commotion outside as a distraction. Po fights, but he's still badly injured and can't give it his all, resulting in Zhen being able to slip away with her prize—a dust bunny from under the furniture. Po is baffled.

(Side note: I would probably redesign Zhen so she actually looks like she matches the other characters' style, but I digress.)

Feeling dismayed, he returns to the noodle shop, where both his dads work on treating his wounds and comforting him. As Po explains what happened, Mr. Ping mentions that customers have been circulating rumors about a shapeshifting sorceress in Juniper City. Po decides that that's where he needs to go, promises his dads he'll be safe, and leaves.

(I'm cutting Mr. Ping and Li's subplot, because as much as I love them they don't really add much to the plot. It also feels like it goes against Mr. Ping's characterization in KFP 1 and 2 in particular.)

This is where we can have the scene of the Chameleon vs. the crime bosses. This can mostly stay the same except one of the bosses attempts to attack her when she shape shifts, causing her to retaliate with a magic-based attack. She also needs to straight-up kill the guy to establish her and her sorcery as a legit threat.

Po arrives at the Happy Bunny tavern to look for a ride to Juniper City. As he talks to Fish and Chip, he notices Zhen nearby doing some black market trading with Granny Boar to obtain a white feather. Po confronts her and she tries to run out with the feather, causing the boar family to pursue in a big fight scene.

Po and Zhen manage to escape, Zhen stashing the feather. Po threatens to have her sent to jail, but Zhen confirms she's working for the Chameleon and can lead Po to her so he can rescue Shifu. Po dislikes this situation, but has no choice but to agree.

(Unlike in the actual film, I would make it so her lair is hidden in some fashion; magic that keeps it camouflaged would be appropriate for a chameleon, or it could be underground or hidden behind something. Regardless, it should be impossible to locate without Zhen's assistance.)

On the boat ride over to Juniper city, Zhen says that she has to "obtain" one more item from the local history museum or she'll be in big trouble with the Chameleon. Po doesn't like this detour, but once again has no choice in the matter.

Po asks why Zhen would want to work for someone so obviously evil, and this is the point where Zhen admits she was adopted by the Chameleon and we get her backstory.

(I would establish that the Chameleon has an actual name, but only Zhen uses it. It shows that Zhen is closer to her than most, not quite seeing her as a mother but not fearing her enough to use her preferred title. Also, the Chameleon's the only KFP villain without a proper name and that bothers me.)

The backstory can be the same, but the part about her living on the streets and meeting the Chameleon for the first time should be merged into a single flashback.

Zhen says that Po couldn't understand, but Po reveals that he's also adopted, and that he probably would commit some noodle-related crime if his dad asked him to. Still, Zhen insists that people don't change, and that includes her.

They arrive at Juniper city (Po is impressed at its size but he very much is not acting like he's never seen a city before). Zhen covers up her muzzle and tucks her tail under her clothes so she won't be recognized.

Zhen is ready to break into the museum, but Po says that he's got this and goes up to the guards to tell them that he has some official Dragon Warrior business to take care of and will need to borrow some ancient artifacts.

Unlike in the actual film, everyone ready acknowledges him as the Dragon Warrior. The guards are more than happy to loan him whatever he needs... until Zhen's tail pops out and the guards recognize her, prompting them to attack.

During the scuffle, Zhen uses a chi blast to knock back one of the guards, but almost gets taken out by the other guard coming up behind her. Po defends her but gets mildly injured as a result.

After the fight, Po asks about the chi move and Zhen states that the Chameleon taught her the basics.

Zhen confirms that the Chameleon is a master of chi, and that the sorcery she uses is a specific type of chi manipulation.

(The reason I'm connecting chi to her powers is that it makes them feel a bit less out of left field, and helps 4 feel like a logical progression from 3.)

Zhen admits that she's not very good at using chi, but Po points out that it took him years to use chi in battle. He also compliments her on her kung fu, and she confirms she's self-taught.

(In this rewrite, Zhen is good at fighting but not quite at the level she is in the actual movie. This is to address the issue of who taught her if the Chameleon doesn't know kung fu.)

He takes a moment to give her a few pointers, which causes her to ask why he took that blow for her earlier, figuring there's a catch. Po just says it's the right thing to do, but Zhen is skeptical, figuring he only did it because he still needs her to lead him to Shifu.

The reminder of Shifu prompts Po to move on, and they grab the item Zhen was after, a 500 year old set of blades, then run for it.

Po and Zhen arrive at the Chameleon's lair, and Zhen shows Po how to get inside and tells him where Shifu is being held. She says that she'll take the items to the Chameleon, which will distract her while Po breaks him out. Po thanks her, and the two separate. Zhen warns him of booby traps on the way out.

There are indeed booby traps, such as those saw contraptions from the actual movie and a bunch of guards. It takes Po a few minutes, but he eventually gets through them.

Po finds Shifu being held in a dark room. Shifu is glad to see him, but warns him to be careful as the Chameleon's likely not far away. Po explains Zhen's distraction and moves to free him... only for a cage to fall down and trap him as well.

"Shifu" is then revealed to be the Chameleon in disguise, who slips through the bars via shape shifting into a mantis and thanks Zhen for her help. Zhen apologizes to Po, who's naturally upset ("I mean, I know you were evil, but I didn't think you were THAT evil").

Zhen hands over the three items she collected, and it's confirmed what they are: a dust bunny that contains a clump of Tai Lung's fur, a feather from Lord Shen, and a pair of blades once wielded by Kai.

Po mistakenly interprets this as the Chameleon being a collector of kung fu memorabilia and tries to chat about the Jade Palace's collection, much to her bafflement.

The Chameleon explains that a trace of a person's chi remains long after their death, and demonstrates by doing The Tongue Thing on Kai's blade, stripping its chi, and immediately taking his form.

(As you may have picked up on, this rewrite removes the spirit world elements entirely. While they are really interesting, I think cutting them is the best option because:

1. There is so much plot involved with bringing Po's old enemies back that you could make that an entire movie in and of itself. It's hard to do it justice when you're cramming it in around the edges of this movie.

2. It makes the Chameleon too similar to Kai in terms of abilities.

3. Having her rely on stealing other's kung fu makes her come across as weak despite being a powerful sorceress.)

Po asks her if her goal is to take over China, but she says no; she just wants to end the practice of kung fu for good, and prove that sorcery is the superior option. To prove it, she has Shifu brought in.

While having your chi stripped does not remove one's kung fu abilities in this rewrite, it is still removing part of one's life energy and thus weakening them severely for a period of time—ergo, Shifu is still unable to fight at his best. Still, he manages to hold his own.

Instead of using kung fu, the Chameleon relies on the brute animalistic strength and inherent abilities of the forms she takes, switching whenever she's loosing to keep her opponents on her toes and even transforming into Shifu himself for a period. She also uses a few chi-based attacks.

Just when it looks like Shifu is about to win the fight, she uses her tongue to strip the chi from the fur clump, taking the form of Tai Lung. Shifu is so shocked and distraught that he fails to attack, allowing the Chameleon to land a serious blow.

She returns to her original form and states that when the blood moon has risen, she will battle and take down every master in the middle of Juniper city, where everyone can learn just how useless kung fu and the people who teach it are. She leaves Po in his cage panicking over Shifu, who's unresponsive.

Zhen follows the Chameleon outside, where we get the "does the blood moon always rise so slowly" gag. Noticing that Zhen looks troubled, she asks what's wrong, and Zhen talks about how Po encouraged her to do the right thing. Even though she's been told that kung fu masters are elitist, selfish people, she couldn't see any of that in Po.

(Side note: I want to establish in this rewrite that while the Chameleon will claim up and down that Zhen is only a pawn for her to use, she does care about her to some extent, even though probably loathes the fact she does. For example, when talking to Zhen here, she might pick some rubble out of her fur or something to show there's a teeny tiny bit of actual affection hidden there.

The reason for this is that all other KFP villains have had an emotional anchor—Shifu for Tai Lung, Shen's parents for Shen, and Oogway for Kai. The Chameleon being abusive but having some real love for Zhen and Zhen struggling with her gaslighting adds a lot more depth to both of them.)

The Chameleon finally reveals her backstory, which should be told in a hyper-stylized way à la the flashbacks in KFP 2 and 3. Just like Zhen, she grew up on the streets as an orphan, broke and starving. She admired kung fu greatly and wanted to learn it, but everyone turned her away for having no money to pay for lessons.

One day, she found a shiny jade amulet on the streets that someone lost, finally giving her a much-needed break. She is able to use that money to enroll in classes.

The problem was that while the money changed her financial status, it didn't change the way people saw her. Her master still considered her a lowly gutter rat and treated her as such, verbally insulting her and beating her down during training sessions. It's very much like how Shifu treated Po in KFP 1, except worse, especially because the Chameleon is a small and fragile animal.

Finally, during one training session she became too injured to move. Her master told her to quit and started to walk away, only for her to grab his leg with her tongue to trip him up. However, at the peak of her self-loathing, she instead discovered her chi stealing abilities and transformed into him. It's not shown, but it is implied she killed him.

As the flashback ends, the Chameleon shifts into Zhen and tells her that no matter how much you change, you can't change the way other people see you. Siding with Po, she says, will only get her hurt. Zhen nods and unexpectedly hugs the Chameleon, telling her she knows, and runs off.

Cutting back to Po, we see him frantically trying to break the bars of his cage. Zhen comes forward and drops down on her hands and knees, apologizing for everything. Po says that she came back, and that's what matters.

She reveals that the "hug" was actually just a way for her to get the key off of the Chameleon, and she uses it to unlock Po's cage. Po runs over to Shifu and he and Zhen heal him with chi, and we get a callback to the "I'M NOT DYING YOU IDIOT" scene from KFP 1.

However, while Shifu's not dying, he is very badly injured and can barely walk on his own. Po asks how they can take on the Chameleon and her army with just three of them, but Zhen holds up the key and suggests they get an army of their own.

Running downstairs, Zhen reveals where the other masters are being held. To Po's shock, the Furious Five are among those captured. Tigress confirms that the summons they received were traps laid by the Chameleon, and she already has their forms.

Also down there are the other crime bosses, as it feels like they just disappear in the actual film after their scenes.

Zhen only manages to unlock the Five's cages before before the Chameleon snatches the key back with her tongue, revealing that she knew Zhen was lying to her. Behind her, her army assembles.

Tigress confirms that that the Five will take on the army, and Po faces off with the Chameleon one-on-one. She strips the feather and uses Shen's form to fly up and take the upper ground, trying to kick a cage onto him. Zhen helps deflect it, and the Chameleon tells her to stay out of the way. Po and her continue to battle.

Despite Po's best attempts at blocking it, she does finally stick him with her tongue. He grabs it and throws her a distance in her fragile base form, injuring her but still giving her some of his chi in the process.

The Chameleon takes on Po's form next, and we get a fight similar to the one in the movie, though once again with her using less kung fu and more magic and physical attacks.

She mentions how she was rejected and tries to tell him that he should be on her side, because a bit fat panda like him must have been treated just as badly as she was. Po denies this, but Shifu admits it's pretty accurate. Po says he's not helping.

Po admits that she has a point, except she forgot one thing, and we get a callback to the "I'm THE big fat panda" moment from KFP 1.

The two attack at the same time. As the dust clears, it's revealed that neither are doing great—Po has gotten a lot of little injuries and the chi stealing has weakened him. The Chameleon is struggling to shapeshift at all, with the attempt causing her pain, and instead settles for trying to blast him. Zhen steps in and manages to redirect the attack back at her.

The Chameleon takes the blow and ends up back on the floor as a parallel to her flashback. Zhen reaffirms that she disagrees with her worldview—people can change, and she's going to prove it. If the Chameleon wants get to Po, she'll need to get through her first.

The Chameleon kind of laughs this off at first before realizing she's dead serious. She states that Zhen isn't even good at fighting, but Po disagrees, giving Zhen a confidence boost. The Chameleon struggles to her feet as if readying an attack, everyone braces themselves... and she surrenders, too injured to fight and unable to bring herself to hurt Zhen.

(There are a few reasons why I think her surrendering makes for an interesting defeat here:

1. There's no spirit realm portal to yeet her into in this version;

2. There's only so many times Po's enemies can be yeeted directly into the spirit realm before it gets old;

3. It adds character depth, and;

4. It ties back nicely in to the theme of change and that it's never too late to do the right thing.)

Zhen helps the Chameleon up, Tigress does the same for Po, and Monkey does the same for Shifu. The five reveal that despite being exhausted, they still managed to wipe the floor with the Chameleon's army, which Zhen thinks is incredible. Po introduces Zhen to them formally, and Shifu asks if they can save the introductions for after they get medical treatment.

Later on, Po (carrying the staff Oogway gave him) approaches Zhen, who's sitting under the peach tree by the Jade Palace. He asks her if she's doing okay after everything that's happened. She says she's alright, but is pretty scared of what's going to happen next, given that the Chameleon's in jail and she has nowhere to go.

Po reveals that him and Shifu have been talking, and he plans to open a new school as part of the Jade Palace that will offer free kung fu lessons to anyone who's interested in learning. Zhen asks if there are any spots open, and we end similar to the actual movie, with her training alongside the five.

the credits still end with the Jack Black cover of Baby One More Time because it slaps

[angelsdean]

you probably noticed this but: right after dean finishes telling the CBGB story, he says “john friggin winchester” and takes a shot, and the jacting joices in that moment are… god. i mean the jacting joices are there the entire time ofc but they kinda give *overemphasizing this as a ‘cool john’ story* to me at first, but in that final moment—dean purses his lips, he shifts in his seat, he stares into the distance… he looks bitter. it’s like dean allows himself to feel bitter about this story for just a second, when sam and cas are no longer looking at him ://

(the exact moment i’m talking about is in a gifset you reposted recently)

Yea there's definitely a vibe throughout the whole thing that he's like, telling it as this "funny anecdote" but underneath there's more feelings brewing about this story. Like the story itself comes up because Sam prompts him to tell it, so it's not even Dean's first thought.

Even Cas asking them "You loved your father?" and Dean's response, "With all I had" is like, on the surface you can take that as a positive statement but it's also pretty vague when you really poke at it. It's like, okay and how much love for your father DID you have? It's not the same as a resounding "Yes, of course!" It's more, "I loved him as much as I personally could, given everything." And I do think Dean loved his father. Dean is full of love and he cares even when people might not deserve it. But, we also know he's no stranger to criticizing his father (as he literally says in the next breath that John was not winning any Dad of the year awards) and acknowledging that he was put through shit he did not deserve at way too young of an age.

Even him saying "damn if he wasn't there when we needed him" it's, I mean, he's literally criticized John for being a deadbeat and leaving them and not answering the phone and putting them in danger before so this line immediately rings hollow. And in the context of the scene it makes sense that he'd say this to Cas because Cas is specifically asking them about John as a way of understanding what a father is supposed to do. He prefaces his questions about John with the fact that HE never knew his father and thus has little experience with this whole Claire situation. He's looking for guidance, so it makes sense that Dean would over-embellish a little and want to paint John in a better light for the sake of telling Cas that "yea a good dad is there for their kids." Which we Know John wasn't always there for them. (Side note but all of this ALSO ties into Rowena and Crowley's subplot this episode, how she abandoned HER kid, wasn't there for him, left him vulnerable but is trying to be there now etc etc. Thematically it's an episode abt imperfect parents and their children). And the fact that Sam prompts the story to me says that Dean was probably just going to leave it at that, simply giving his advice to Cas that good dads are always there for their kids.

But anyways, all this to say, I can definitely see Dean feeling bitter about the story at the end there. Especially as the happy little mood drops and he's no longer trying to "give advice" and is reminded of the case, Claire, and how his own experiences actually relate to hers. It's like he finishes telling the story Sam prompted him to tell in the first place and he remembers, "yeah and that was fucked up. and dad might've been there THEN but what about all the other times he left us vulnerable and open to be preyed on. and now Claire is in the hands of this pseudo-guardian who is also putting her in dangerous and vulnerable situations, and and and."

[k-odyssey]

so many feelings about destined with you today, and not all of them positive... feeling nitpicky about the side plots.

adorable couple being adorable :))

shin yu's dad: i feel i was too generous with him before. and the drama is being too generous with him now. he's not simply a neglecting husband. he's also a certified misogynist and a classist. and he's treating hong jo like shit. he's not even a good dad. i really hope he's not going to get a one-episode redemption arc and everything's solved for him.

colleague's public proposal: immediately no. good on ms ma for running away in embarrassment. why would you do that at work?? why the fuck would everyone clap and chant "say yes" ?? just no.

other 2 colleagues : they're so bad. am i supposed to like them? that's what i want to know. they only speak to hong jo when they can get something out of it (gossip, access to a man, a petty feeling of power...).

a ... conception dream? i have a funny feeling that a wedding & a baby are coming in the finale. tbh these aren't my fav type of ending but whatever i guess. well, my issue is more with what happiness looks like in lots of drama finales. usually it's just visuals and product placement, and doesn't really add to the story. and the concept of conception dreams is sooo weird to me. especially coming from a person not in the couple, yknow? still. i know there's a cultural aspect and rowoon is good enough at acting to make it bearable to watch. cute reaction.

bodyguards are a good idea. "what an improvement from last week", i thought!! but hong jo is still being reckless ugggh!! someone stabbed your bf girl. the man is after you. protect yourself!

i seem to have tuned out anything relating to mount onju and could not, for the life of me, tell you what's going with that particular subplot.

[brakingpoint]

As someone who has never played the F1 games, but really enjoys your posting on it, can you give a synopsis about the story and the _tensions_ so far?

yes!!!

f1 2019 - not a "braking point" story as such but marks the first appearance of devon butler. in the career mode you start in f2 with some specific challenges and related cutscenes. devon's entire function is to be a dick to you, break your front wing during races, and be incredibly smug about it afterwards. people found him so fun to hate that they had to bring him back

(f1 2019 also includes lukas weber, who is the player character's teammate and mainly exists to tell devon he's being a dick. in braking point he's implied to have moved to a commentary/punditry role hence his little appearance in rep!)

f1 2021 - you play initially as aiden jackson, who wins the 2019 f2 championship and moves to f1 in a midfield/backmarker team of the player's choice (it then automatically assigns devon a team based on that). his teammate for his rookie season is casper akkerman, who is basically if kimi raikkonen was dutch and angrier. aiden hugely admires casper as a driver but they clash almost immediately when a three-way battle with devon in the opening race - now also in f1 in a midfield/backmarker team - causes them to crash. over the next season and a bit they have several bust-ups (including a physical fight in canada that gets filmed and uploaded to youtube, implicitly by devon) and become increasingly paranoid that the other driver is sabotaging them, getting preferential treatment from the team, etc. it gets to the point that casper announces his retirement and aiden is quite visibly suffering mentally from the flack he's getting

of course it eventually comes to light that a lot of their paranoia about each other comes from devon, who has been showing up every so often to stir shit between them, motive unknown (my read is he wants them clashing with each other to get them out of the way as competition; an alternate read is he's just a dick). once they realise this they confront devon, form a truce, and work together to win... frankly i can't remember if it was 5th or 4th in the constructors' championship. this game is not very realistic and regardless of what team you chose your car WILL be OP'd and you will get a 2nd year driver multiple decisive wins in like, the 2021 haas.

finally in the abu dhabi grand prix they have one final clash with devon - casper overtakes him, devon makes a desperate divebomb to regain the position, and takes himself out of the race and his team out of contention for that constructors' championship place. aiden somehow blasts his way to the podium in a car that should not be doing that, which to be fair would have been an insanely funny addition to the chaos of abu dhabi 2021, he gets the attention of one of the top 3 teams, and he invites casper up onto the podium as a heartfelt farewell gesture. all very sweet

(cut here in case anyone doesn't want braking point 2 spoilers?)

f1 23 - i have not watched this through in its entirety yet due to the horrors. starts in the 2022 season when new team konnersport joins the grid and - uh oh! - devon butler's dad's company is the key title sponsor. for some insane reason the team principal decides that devon and aiden would be a great teammate pairing for this season. unfortunately the car is a steaming pile of shit, devon is getting preferential treatment due to his father's influence, and there are multiple devon vs aiden clashes on track. the big drama of the season is at the hungarian grand prix where devon ignores a team order to let aiden past & then insists in the debrief that he never heard the order in the first place.

a subplot in this season revolves around callie mayer, an f2 driver who is well on track to being the first woman to win the championship. she's being mentored by the now-retired casper akkerman and... uh oh.... she's actually devon butler's little sister. callie did not exist when i wrote the majority of reputation so i gave him imogen as a sister instead but it's nice to know i correctly interpreted devon as big brother coded. also at the end of the 2022 season the konnersport team principal steps down and casper takes over!!

in 2023 konnersport unexpectedly nail the car and devon finishes - depending on how well you complete the objective - anywhere from the top 5 to Actually P1 in the bahrain grand prix. but he seems depressed and distracted! he outright ignores aiden when he comes over wanting a truce (and then looks at him ADORINGLY once he realises aiden is there but that's my bias talking). then in australia he ignores another team order (this time telling him not to push too hard because he has a brake issue). at this point casper is like dude talk to me if something is wrong PLEASE and books devon an appointment with the team doctor. but the issue reoccurs in imola and devon crashes out of the race, trashes his driver room, and reveals that... he's losing his hearing and is forced to quit f1 after five years.

understandably i then ragequit the let's play i was watching but i believe what happens next is devon moves into a sort of advisor role within the team and callie takes over his seat and girlbosses her way to the top

[littleaipoms-rebagel-carpentry]

i don’t understand other sonic fan’s dislike for the wedding scene/subplot in the sonic 2 movie. it literally reminds me of the funny plotlines involving the human characters in Sonic X. like the president using military force to hunt sonic down just so they could greet and shake hands. or how there was a secret agent sent to spy on chris for the whole series just because he knew sonic. less related, but one episode there was a movement where everyone wanted to be more like their idol Sonic so they all started lounging around more and skipping work to have fun, resulting in faulty appliances being made at chris’ dad’s company. Sam Speed is on a special police unit that uses race cars with rocket engines. If the human characters are going to steal runtime, have it be ridiculous and fun and entertaining for goodness sake. give them an outlandish reason to be personally entangled in the plot. it feels very in-spirit with what the franchise has been imo, and i thought it was a great inclusion. (i can now point to a human side character and say i like them!!)

anyway, yes the scene itself could have been shorter, that’s a pretty valid criticism. for me it was something i never asked for but enjoyed wholeheartedly, so the length wasn’t a negative.

[started-feeling-liberated]

The Drama for Next Season

I honestly have only one fear, it is the drama for season four of the show. I am a hundred percent sure that they are done with love triangles for the leads (Ricky & Gina) and if they are going to have another love triangle it will most likely be (Ashlyn-Maddox-Big Red). As for Ricky I knew since Season 2 when they dropped EJ's college storyline & were leaning to giving EJ "The poor little rich boy" trope/storyline whose dad pulled a few strings to get him into college, I knew then that Ricky was going to get the college storyline.

Now, My favorite Ms. Gina Porter what I WANT is for Gina to be at her happiest yes she DESERVES IT. However, knowing this show and know Sofia Wylie THE BEST ACTRESS on HSMTMTS I KNOW the writers have some super dramatic subplot My theory is ,it will most likely be family related like her father has not been mentioned yet so I think the writers are going to do something with that and I am a little upset because I really do not want to see Gina Porter sad and need to see her at her happiest.

PS I would like to know Gina's name Regina or Geneieve.

[thekatea]

My School President

Watched: 24.02.2023

Chemistry that truly carries the whole show.Honestly speaking, this is not a special drama in terms of the plot - the light enemies to frenemies to friends to lovers has been done many times, but it’s undeniable the execution here was amazing. Gemini and Fourth are truly the best new BL actors out there.

I have to say, both Tinn and Gun are perfectly written. Tinn has this amazingly goofy side of him that you cannot ignore, you just adore it. Gun is just a walking charm. It’s not all sweet though, and both the characters struggle with some internal issues, but are able to support each other in the best ways possible.

The relationship is simply wholesome. I loved how Tinn was focusing on Gun’s happiness and not just about his goal of dating him. I loved that they actually had a lot of nice conversations and tried to understand each other. I loved the mutual support. With the oversaturation in the BL industry with questionable and toxic stories, this level of understanding and mutual respect was simply refreshing to watch.

That’s for the main couple, what about the side ones? Sadly a bit of a failure. Either the chemistry was just not quite there, or the setup and progression was barely existing. Did I care about any of the side characters? Honestly - no.

Can we also just shortly talk about the mothers in this show? I could not be more happy with what we’ve got. Both Tinn’s and Gun’s mom are amazing in their own way. The drama perfectly showcases how good communication with your child is what builds trust and makes them want to confide in you for support, share their happiness and be honest about their struggles. Sometimes it’s important to take the initiative, but sometimes you have to give your child space and time and let them speak when they are ready, and not when you want to hear the answers.

Tinn's dad too, great person, I wish we got to see more of him.

The plot was great, but I also got a bit bored at some point. I still enjoyed all the adorable moments as I was watching, but I also had to motivate myself to start the episodes in the first place. This show was 90% fluff and 10% content (yes, this is an exaggeration, don’t sue me for it). And with that ratio it should be maybe 8 and not 12 episodes.

That said, there was one thing I will never complain about, no matter how many times it will happen even just as a filler fluff - good hugs. Hugs are underappreciated. Hugs are amazing. Proper hug on screen is at times better than kissing scenes. Melt into these arms and give us all butterflies! My School President definitely delivered in that area.

Fourth’s acting, his cheeky smile and warm gaze… Can we even ask for more? Yes we can, and we got it all - from the light and funny scenes, to more emotional and raw expressions, this boy delivered it all. Gemini also does great with acting. Surprised how well he does subtle comedy. For the rest of the cast - some did better, some did worse. We got the glorious “no tears just squeezing eyes hard” scene.

Production side of it was great. I am so happy to see the improvement in that aspect in the BL industry and the effort in making the show deliver a good storytelling both in writing and in the visual aspects.

Overall, the purest of the fluff. On screen chemistry that will make you jealous of not experiencing it yourself. Great main characters with fun personalities and relatable stories. But sadly also forgettable side characters and subplots there just to feel the screen time and overall repetitiveness of the story.

[courtneysmovieblog]

Holiday Viewing 2023

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays despite everything. This month, I got to watch some Christmas movies that were either or just ones I never got around to before now, and seen a few of this year's Oscar candidates.

The Shop Around the Corner: Two shop workers (James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan) are unaware that they are penpals. Yes, this is the movie that was eventually made into You've Got Mail. I wasn't really interested in the romantic plot, but I did love the subplot of the shop workers rallying around their unhappy boss (Frank Morgan) after his wife cheats on him. That was some Christmas movie magic right there.

Nuts: Barbra Streisand's more lesser known role as a call girl whose mental state is put on trial after she kills a client in self defense. I had to watch it after reading her memoir, and while the movie wasn't exactly well-received, she played the hell out of it.

Noelle: Anna Kendrick plays Santa's daughter, who tries to find her brother (Bill Hader) when he ditches the North Pole for yoga instead of taking over as the new Santa.

8-Bit Christmas: Screw A Christmas Story! I can relate better to watching a kid desperately try to get a Nintendo for Christmas instead of that stupid Red Ryder. Plus, any movie with Neil Patrick Harris is a win.

Candy Cane Lane: Eddie Murphy unwittingly faces being turned into a Christmas ornament after making a deal with an evil elf for the best Christmas decorations ever. Forget the reviews calling it dumb and corny--Christmas movies are ALWAYS dumb and corny! That's why we like them! And I thought it was hilarious.

The Family Plan: Basically National Lampoon's Vacation if Clark Griswald was an assassin instead of just an incompetent dad.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget: Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the original. However, while this pretty much followed the formula of a Disney direct-to-video sequel -- child of a legacy character wants to see their world while their traumatized parent wants to stay put -- it was pretty cute.

May December: Holy crap. This was amazing, in a morbidly disturbing way. Julianne Moore has never been more despicable as a predator who married her teenage victim. Charles Melton gives one of the most heart wrenching performances of the year as an emotionally stunted man that is only now coming to terms with what was done to him. And Natalie Portman as the actress who stoops to sociopathic levels for a film performance. Just watch it.

Maestro: Regardless of whether or not you think Bradley Cooper deserves all the hype he's been getting for this, he sure does know how to disappear into a role. And Carey Mulligan was fantastic in this...although I just found out that she wasn't exactly an appropriate casting choice ethnicity-wise. Godammit, Hollywood, I thought we weren't going to do this crap anymore!

[theroyalmisfitmess]

But also... Is anyone irked over the fact that Max Richman’s character writing is so inconsistent??? I could excuse his behavior in Season 1 post-Zoey’s Extraordinary Night Out up to Ep 2 of Season 2 because it’s very hard to accept that your best friend who you ended up harboring feelings for can just unfairly have a look inside your head and because he was still consistent up to that point, but I don’t know.... Did the writers forget to write him off as genuinely sweet and unconditional lately?? I love Max, and I want him together with Zoey, but that doesn’t mean he’s my favorite character.

[twodlover]

i just started s4 of ninjago and i want to quit again 💀

why it is always the romance subplot that make me feel so much second hand embarrassment

[mellarkably]

🚨 NHIE SPOILERS BELOW 🚨

first of all. that was a crazy ass season. so much happened and i can barely keep up or remember. so while this probably won't be a coherent or well worded recap, yhat defintely won't go over everything that i just watched for the past six hours, it'll just be my thoughts for now.

personally, i really liked the kamala plot and her struggle in the workplace. it was probably one of my favorite parts of the season. i'm not sure if kamala will be ditching prashant for mr. kulkarni but if she does i wouldn't be shocked. considering how prashant played into the whole workplace problem. also rip steve lol who remembers him. homie got done dirty.

now speaking of devi. there were many things she did this season that were not at all good or rational. however, i do like the fact that they delved more into her grief, and overall she actually seemed to develop over the season which made me happy. there are aspects of her grieving process that kinda felt unanswered, but hey, it is what it is. for what it's worth, im happy with the amount of growth she had over ten episodes. i actually felt like giving devi a hug so many times towards the end. and maitreyi killed it as always.

regarding the new kids! malcolm, well, i honestly kinda have intense apathy towards him as a character. he was cool at the start, a dick at the end—so yeah, i feel like he served his purpose overall. i felt extremely bad for oliver the entire time. and aneesa! she was the coolest addition they could honestly have had to the team. she's fun, charming, and fits in very well. i felt extreme sympathy for her ed and im glad they put a hotline at the end of those episodes. she's a great girl.

i'm very glad they gave paxton more of a well fleshed out personality this season. he seemed much more personable overall. although i felt like his episode at times fell a bit flat or felt too preachy regarding the whole hot people can be smart too concept, it was overall a fantastic episode and gigi hadid was a great choice as narrator. also loved the little switch to ben's pov when andy steps in. that was funny. i also liked the fact that they went into his ethnicity!

regarding his romantic feelings for devi though. i feel like i can't understand? like does he like her? does he not? is he embarassed of her? is he not? i failed to understand where he was most of the time. the mixed signals, like. paxton. i like you, but huh? well, to be fair, the romance in devi's life this season was pretty much a rollercoaster ride anyways so. i do love paxton's obijan though. great guy. we didn't get enough of rebecca though!

out of the two besties, i honestly liked fab's story a lot more. it felt relatable, that whole feeling of not being able to fit in as a new sapphic. and i adore fab and eve. i'm glad they didnt make their relationship too cookie cutter.

eleanor's subplot was alright. again, it was really hard to kinda, if i put this blatantly, give a fuck about malcolm and whatever their relationship was. (loved tyler alveraz's performance though) but i liked her talking with her stepmom sharon. i wish they spent more time on that rather than malcolm but again, they don't have much time to waste.

i loved nalini's subplots. all of them. she was honestly one of my fav characters this season, as well as devi's grandma. we got to delve into the indian culture more too, so that was very cool. her relationship with dr. jackson was also nice for the short time they had with each other. i didn't expect them to breakup, i kinda just expected devi to learn to be okay with her mother moving on, but then again, i also agree that it felt a little fast. i loved the flashbacks with mohan too.

i feel like i wanna save ben and benvi for last because i have too much to say. it was an absolute rollercoaster ride to be a team ben while watching this season. i'm a bit dissapointed that we didn't get any individual plot regarding him, stuff that didn't have to do with girls, but i get why. he got that in s1, and it was paxton's turn to shine.

regarding the whole ben and aneesa thing; honestly, i think they're cute. i love aneesa and i love ben. i just want him to be happy. but it's clear he still has feelings for devi and he doesn't really know what he wants, which sucks for everyone involved. i think that he just assumed that devi liked paxton more than him, that he was her second choice (which honestly, considering the things that transpired, it's not very hard to see why he though that, and he was clearly hurt with her clear choice of paxton over him on multiple occassions) but oh well.

i feel like ben was a catalyst for a lot of the things devi needed to do. like apologize to aneesa, for example. and in that way, they still work well. i loved their banter, whenever we got it. i have hope for them in season 3 (if it happens), considering the way they ended it, but eh. aneesa is also a great girl, so it sucks that this is the direction we're going. but yeah. i am a bit bitter with the dreadf lack of benvi i kinda got this season, but their conversations and the way he helped push her development did make me feel a little better.

as for what team i'm on or whatever, i don't feel like i'm avidly on any team tbh. i'm still lowkey rooting for ben and devi. the reason why i'm not completely getting behind daxton is because i didn't really like what paxton did in episode 10, with the whole not wanting them to be public thing. the entire season felt like he was sending mixed signals. not that i'm saying hes a shitty guy or anything, but yeah. and the reason i'm not completely team ben is because he seems to be teetering between aneesa and devi, so yes, again with the mixed signals. kind of. but the reason i'm still rooting for ben is because i really liked the way they pushed each other, or majorly, he pushed her development, with asking her to apologize, etc. and although him getting together with anessa was not a win for me, a benvi, to relish, i think it helped devi learn to act a little more mature and less territorial.

if i'm being completely honest, i think that devi needed to be single at the end of this season, at least for now. i read the synopsis of episode 10 and was kinda hoping that she'd make that choice, that she'd choose herself, because what she needs isn't a boyfriend. what she needs is just to recover. and i honestly still don't feel like she completely got over her dad's death.

OVERALL THOUGH. this was a much better season than the first one. i feel like they finally got into their groove in terms of acting and comedy. (also trent is the funniest >>>) although i felt like this season was kinda like the first one but on steroids, which at most times was very anxiety inducing to watch, i did like the episodes and i was heavily entertained. go watch it!

i also really need a season 3 so—

[wooseokkies]

Hello! Before I was not the same anon as earlier, but now I am haha :) I can totally relate with anything you wrote. I would also like to add that WYW often takes literally everything she's being told without questioning it (e.g. during a trial she has been told to "have a long face" and she touches it trying to figure out if it was true before Choi Soo-yeon explains her the "joke"); WYW calling her dad to ask him if he thinks that she can make Jun-Ho happy is some sort of improvement in that sense, because she doesn't take for granted what Jun-Ho's sister said about this matter and I think that's because of how much Jun-Ho and her feeling for him are so important. Sorry for my confusional sentences too, but as the main character of the kdrama I have so many feels and it is hard to explain all of them lol :') Let's hope for the best for them ♥

hello anon!!

yes, she really takes everything literally. yep what we saw recently shows her growth, and I think her love for Junho will overcome those doubts she is facing right now.

I'm actually quite confident that they will pull through this hurdle. because I'm certain that it's not a fleeting romance for them, it's a concrete, real, true love that neither thinks lightly about. so yes, I believe they will end up together!!! (if they don't then imma quit all kdramas.... HAHA)

what I don't know how the writers will wrap up nicely are the other subplots. there's too many, I don't know if each one can be explored in the level of detail I'd like. second season then? even so, it won't be soon because of Kang Taeoh's enlistment (sobsssss)...

No worries, I am not coherent most of the time too and I'm always screaming about things. but I love that I have people to do it with, you included!! <3

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

Season 4, Episode 7: An Extremely Chaotic and Incoherent Review

This episode was very meh overall, but luckily it at least didn’t cause me immense pain like Episode 8 is about to ;______;

The Good:

ARE WE FINALLY GETTING THE TEA ON WHAT HAPPENED AT APPLEBEE'S

WHAT WENT DOWN WITH THE LOADED POTATO SOUP, I NEED TO KNOW

Not Miguel pulling out Johnny's headband like it's a piece of lingerie

This reveal is just as hysterical as I've always dreamed

GO KENNY GO

Awwww good boi Robby actually trying to be a good influence on this kid and guide him in the right direction

Wholesome!!!

"A Chili's or a Marie Calendar's or a Red Lobster" truly Johnny Lawrence is a man of culture

Carmen is a morosexual

Aight I take back what I said a few episodes ago, Jarmen is still pretty cute actually

"I would've chosen someone with better food in their refrigerator" OH MY GOD YES DRAG HIM MIGUEL

LIVING FOR THIS

Not really all that invested in the Anthony subplot but Daniel comparing karate to video games was a nice moment! That IS one thing I really like about Daniel--he tries to connect with people and share his passions with them by relating it to something he knows THEY like

I remember he did that with Demetri and Game of Thrones in S2 and it was the purest thing ;_;

Y'know, I don't know what all I expected from S4, but shipping Piper and Tory was definitely not on the list

And YET

Look now that I'm openly stanning YasMoon I am actually very down for this

Imagine them on double dates

Literally the two most terrifying lesbian power couples imaginable--the Rich Socialites and the Badass Karate Sapphics

But like...Tory x Robby is hella cute though, do you see my struggle here

Well anyways this is proving to me without a doubt that Torobby is bi4bi

Also like...I'm still pretty firmly on the Shawbby train, SO

If Shawbby were to happen...Toriper??? Please??? As a treat???

Yeah not like either will happen but I can dream

Eagle Fang training montage was as delightfully amusing as I'd hoped! Those poor boys though

"They're wearing cups, right?" OH MY GOD

DAMN Kenny, that was BRUTAL

He really is Hawk 2.0, the little shit

Curious just how evil this boy's gonna get during his villain arc

It makes me sad but I am also morbidly intrigued

Anthony just paying some guy to wash the cars, I am HOWLING

Why is Daniel even surprised, this is the most in-character thing I've ever SEEN

The man got played for a fool and honestly??? Hysterical. I cannot stop laughing. Daniel LaRusso is definitely not in possession of the valley's brain cell at the moment

JOHNNY I CAN'T

He's trying to be a Cool Sensei and a good dad at the same time, this poor meow meow

He really is so deeply clueless about parenting, I love it

Love that Miguel was having so much fun chilling with his girlfriend that he lost track of time, indicating they're a very loving and healthy couple actually!!! Like find yourself someone who hours feel like minutes with, fr

Anthony ain't my fave by any means but I kinda get him being sick of Daniel going on and on about Mr. Miyagi nonstop XD

The irony of Daniel thinking Kenny is bullying Anthony is also admittedly pretty funny

"Kenny?" "Oh, he's hilarious! You guys are gonna get along great!" okay okay okay okay not super into this plotline in general BUT this amused me

Actually kind of ingenious how the library beatdown parallels the library bullying scene from Season 1, but with the complete opposite results. Like the ultimate inversion from bullies picking on nerds and the nerds just taking it to a nerdy kid taking complete control of the situation and handing his bullies' asses to them. Pretty dang cool cinematic parallel/inversion!

SAMMMMMM

Damn, the lifelong "good girl" really cut class to do Chaos Training with her boyfriend and her second secret karate dad and for that I couldn't be more proud

Chaos gremlin Sam who makes her own rules is the love of my life actually

Absolutely digging this character growth

Literally so satisfying when Daniel and Amanda finally found out Anthony's been a lying little asshole, about damn time!

Neat! Check out this evil karate husband divorcee drama!

I didn't see them having a falling out, but it's juicy so I don't mind it

The Bad:

Aight, someone's gotta say it: This fucker Anthony is getting too much dang screentime

Like we could probably get the idea of his plot with like...half the screentime tbh

So, uh. Breaking up the only LGBT couple in the entire show and then having the closest we have to a canon lesbian character join the villain dojo sure was a writing choice

I don’t like the implications of that I don’t like the implications of that at all

While yes, it is extremely funny that Moon has a thing for violent bully types, I’m not particularly besotted with the fact that the lesbian ex turns evil and the (supposedly) straight guy ex gets a redemption arc

This coming from a slightly unhinged evil lesbian who usually LOVES slightly unhinged evil lesbians

But when that’s your ONLY lesbian in the show, we may have a problem???

I say Piper is the closest thing we have to a canon lesbian character because I’m pretty sure she’s the only female character in the show who has never shown romantic interest in men

Like she’s only ever flirted with and dated women and when Hawk tried to come onto her she was like “fuck no”

Anyways they made her join the evil bad dojo, despite Moon no doubt telling her during S3 that it was filled with bullies and fiends, so that’s fun

Like yes lesbians CAN be scary assholes but we’re not ONLY scary assholes

SO we get to see Eagle Fang and Cobra Kai training, but NOT Miyagi Do??? Unfair!!!

And Sam had to babysit??? That sounds funny as shit!!! Show me what went down please!!!

Also, you're gonna have Eli do this big grand gesture of joining Miyagi Do for Demetri and then NOT show Dem and Eli training together???? Absolutely unacceptable, I want to speak to the manager

You deadass telling me Devon, who we met like...an episode ago, gets a Cool Training Montage, and Demetri and Eli DON'T??? Fuck all the way OFF, we've been watching these dudes grow into badasses for 4 goddamn seasons now and BY GOD I WANT TO SEE THEM KICKING ASS TOGETHER AGAIN

Also it's highkey a big deal that Eli joined Miyagi Do, so it seems like it would be cool to see him like??? Actually learning and practicing some of the moves???

Like Eli absolutely deserves a MD training montage all of his own because it's, like, a complete contrast to how he learned in CK and EF. I want to see whether he takes to them easily or if he struggles to pick them up since they're a pretty different style than Johnny teaches.

Like how well does Eli adjust??? Does Demetri help??? What's his dynamic with the other MD kids like??? Does he get discouraged because they're more experienced MD fighters, and then they have to help gradually rebuild his confidence? I want to know!!! Give me details on MD Eli please!!!

On the topic of training montages, I would have loved to see a bit with Johnny, Miguel, and Sam all training for doing the flying tornado kick together!!! They're like the perfect chaotic, aggressive trio and them just doing the most hectic and insane training drills would be so damn fun, I swear

Also I want to see more of Sam and Miguel being an adorable couple in general!!! Like they've been through so much, they deserve some fluff!!!

Would also be interesting to see them bond over their respective traumas, and try to help one another through it. It would also be pure and wholesome as shit and I would enjoy every minute of it

But nooooooo, gotta cut it to make room for the middle school subplot -_-

I...really can't bring myself to care that much about the middle school love triangle tbh. Like I'll admit they could have done it worse, and Lia has a decent amount of chemistry with both the boys, so it's not totally grating to watch. But Bully-Hot Girl-Nerd love triangles are hardly something we haven't seen before. This particular love triangle isn't really adding anything new to the show???

Like I get what they were going for--they wanted to parallel young Johnny and Daniel, but kinda reverse it by having Daniel's son be the one who's the "spoiled rich popular boy" or what have you. But...was it really necessary??? I mean, we already kinda did that with Miguel and Robby in S1 and 2, I would argue. And even a little bit with Demetri and Eli in S2 and 3, although with no love triangle.

Anyways, point being that I think we're dedicating just a tad too much screentime to a gag that it seems like they're only doing as like...a funny, ironic callback

Anyways in summary this episode needed vastly more Miyagi Do training shenanigans

Specifically more Eli and Demetri training shenanigans

Specifically more Eli and Demetri homoerotic sparring sessions

COME ONNNNN WE ARE 7 EPISODES IN AND I HAVE NOT ONCE SEEN THESE FUCKS SPAR

I mean on that topic I would've loved to see Miguel and Demetri spar too, but too late for that I guess

Like!!! I want to see how they handle sparring/fighting when they're on the same side!!! I want to see if they hold back from hurting each other because of their rough recent history!!!

And imagine the ANGST POTENTIAL if one hits the other a little too hard, especially Eli, like??? Eli going from breaking Demetri's arm to profusely apologizing for hitting Demetri's arm a tiny bit too hard would be BEAUTIFUL

Tbh any MD pair sparring would be more interesting than Anthony running around and causing mayhem in his middle school -__-

Also this would be a GREAT spot to put in a formal Eli-Sam apology scene, just to kinda cement Eli's determination to grow into a better person in MD and such

But do we get it? Noooooooo -__-

Anyways, more MD hijinks!!! More Samiguel!!! I demand it!!!

Get ready to see me suffer next episode :D

[yamayuandadu]

Circe by Madeline Miller: a review

As you might have noticed, a few of my most recent posts were more or less a liveblog of Madeline Miller’s novel Circe. However, as they hardly exhausted the subject, a proper review is also in order. You can find it under the “read more” button. All sorts of content warnings apply because this book takes a number of turns one in theory can expect from Greek mythology but which I’d hardly expect to come up in relation to Circe. I should note that this is my first contact with this author’s work. I am not familiar with Miller’s more famous, earlier novel Song of Achilles - I am not much of an Iliad aficionado, truth to be told. I read the poem itself when my literature class required it, but it left no strong impact on me, unlike, say, the Epic of Gilgamesh or, to stay within the theme of Greek mythology, Homeric Hymn to Demeter, works which I read at a similar point in my life on my own accord.

What motivated me to pick up this novel was the slim possibility that for once I’ll see my two favorite Greek gods in fiction, these being Hecate and Helios (in case you’re curious: #3 is Cybele but I suspect that unless some brave soul will attempt to adapt Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, she’ll forever be stuck with no popcultural presence outside Shin Megami Tensei). After all, it seemed reasonable to expect that Circe’s father will be involved considering their relationship, while rarely discussed in classical sources, seems remarkably close. Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women and Apollonius’ Argonautica describe Circe arriving on her island in her father’s solar chariot, while Ptolemy Hephaestion (as quoted by Photius) notes that Helios protected her home during the Gigantomachy. Helios, for all intents and purposes, seems like a decent dad (and, in Medea’s case, grandpa) in the source material even though his most notable children (and granddaughter) are pretty much all cackling sorcerers, not celebrated heroes. How does Miller’s Helios fare, compared to his mythical self? Not great, to put it lightly, as you’ll see later. As for Hecate… she’s not even in the book. Let me preface the core of the review by saying I don’t think reinterpreting myths, changing relations between figures, etc. is necessarily bad - ancient authors did it all the time, and modern adaptations will inevitably do so too, both to maintain internal coherence and perhaps to adjust the stories to a modern audience, much like ancient authors already did. I simply don’t think this book is successful at that. The purpose of the novel is ostensibly to elevate Circe above the status of a one-dimensional minor antagonist - but to accomplish this, the author mostly demonizes her family and a variety of other figures, so the net result is that there are more one dimensional female villains, not less. I expected the opposite, frankly. The initial section of the novel focuses on Circe’s relationship with her family, chiefly with her father. That’s largely uncharted territory in the source material - to my knowledge no ancient author seemed particularly interested in covering this period in her life. Blank pages of this sort are definitely worth filling. To begin with, Helios is characterized as abusive, neglectful and power-hungry. And also, for some reason, as Zeus’ main titan ally in the Titanomachy - a role which Hesiod attributes to Hecate… To be fair I do not think it’s Hesiod who serves as the primary inspiration here, as it’s hard to see any traces of his account - in which Zeus wins in no small part because he promises the lesser titans higher positions that they had under Cronus - in Miller’s version of events. Only Helios and Oceanus keep their share, and are presented as Zeus’ only titan allies (there’s a small plot hole as Selene appears in the novel and evidently still is the moon…) - contrary to just about any portrayal of the conflict, in which many titans actually side with Zeus and his siblings. Also, worth noting that in Hesiod’s version it’s not Oceanus himself who cements the pact with Zeus, it’s his daughter Styx - yes, -that- Styx. Missed opportunity to put more focus on female mythical figures - first of many in this work, despite many reviews praising it as “feminist.” Of course, it’s not all about Helios. We are quickly introduced to a variety of female characters as well (though, as I noted above, none of these traditionally connected to the Titanomachy despite it being a prominent aspect of the book’s background). They are all somewhat repetitive - to the point of being basically interchangeable. Circe’s mother is vain and cruel; so is Scylla. And Pasiphae. There’s no real indication of any hostility between Circe and any of her siblings in classical sources, as far as I am aware, but here it’s a central theme. The subplots pertaining to it bear an uncanny resemblance to these young adult novels in which the heroine, who is Not Like Other Girls, confronts the Chads and Stacies of the world, and I can’t shake off the feelings that it’s exactly what it is, though with superficial mythical flourish on top. I should note that Pasiphae gets a focus arc of sorts - which to my surprise somehow manages to be more sexist than the primary sources. A pretty famous tidbit repeated by many ancient authors is that Pasiphae cursed her husband Minos, regarded as unfaithful, to kill anyone else he’d have sex with with his… well, bodily fluids. Here she does it entirely  because she’s a debased sadist and not because unfaithfulness is something one can be justifiably mad about. You’d think it would be easy to put a sympathetic spin on this. But the book manages to top that in the very same chapter - can’t have Pasiphae without the Minotaur (sadly - I think virtually everything else about Pasiphae and Minos is more fun than that myth but alas) so in a brand new twist on this myth we learn that actually the infamous affair wasn’t a curse placed on Pasiphae by Poseidon or Aphrodite because of some transgression committed by Minos. She’s just wretched like that by nature. I’m frankly speechless, especially taking into account the book often goes out of its way to present deities in the worst light possible otherwise, and which as I noted reviews praise for its feminist approach - I’m not exactly sure if treating Pasiphae worse than Greek and Roman authors did counts as that.  I should note this is not the only instance of… weirdly enthusiastic references to carnal relations between gods and cattle in this book, as there’s also a weird offhand mention of Helios being the father of his own cows. This, as far as I can tell, is not present in any classical sources and truth to be told I am not a huge fan of this invention. I won’t try to think about the reason behind this addition to maintain my sanity. Pasiphae aside - the author expands on the vague backstory Circe has in classical texts which I’ve mentioned earlier. You’d expect that her island would be a gift from her father - after all many ancient sources state that he provided his children and grandchildren with extravagant gifts. However, since Helios bears little resemblance to his mythical self, Aeaea is instead a place of exile here, since Helios hates Circe and Zeus is afraid of witchcraft and demands such a solution (the same Zeus who, according to Hesiod, holds Hecate in high esteem and who appeared with her on coins reasonably commonly… but hey, licentia poetica, this idea isn’t necessarily bad in itself). Witchcraft is presented as an art exclusive to Helios’ children here - Hecate is nowhere to be found, it’s basically as if her every role in Greek mythology was surgically removed. A bit of a downer, especially since at least one text - I think Ovid’s Metarphoses? - Circe directly invokes Hecate during her confrontation with king Picus (Surprisingly absent here despite being a much more fitting antagonist for Circe than many of the characters presented as her adversaries in this novel…) Of course, we also learn about the origin of Circe’s signature spell according to ancient sources, changing people into animals. It actually takes the novel a longer while to get there, and the invented backstory boils down to Circe getting raped. Despite ancient Greek authors being rather keen on rape as plot device, to my knowledge this was never a part of any myth about Circe. Rather odd decision to put it lightly but I suppose at least there was no cattle involved this time, perhaps two times was enough for the author. Still, I can’t help but feel like much like many other ideas present in this book it seems a bit like the author’s intent is less elevating the Circe above the role of a one note witch antagonist, but rather punishing her for being that. The fact she keeps self loathing about her origin and about not being human doesn’t exactly help to shake off this feeling. This impression that the author isn’t really fond of Circe being a wacky witch only grows stronger when Odysseus enters the scene. There was already a bit of a problem before with Circe’s life revolving around love interests before - somewhat random ones at that (Dedalus during the Pasiphae arc and Hermes on and off - not sure what the inspiration for either of these was) - but it was less noticeable since it was ultimately in the background and the focus was the conflict between Circe and Helios, Pasiphae, etc. In the case of Odysseus it’s much more notable because these subplots cease to appear for a while. As a result of meeting him, Circe decides she wants to experience the joys of motherhood, which long story short eventually leads to the birth of Telegonus, who does exactly what he was famous for. The final arcs have a variety of truly baffling plot twists which didn’t really appeal to me, but which I suppose at least show a degree of creativity - better than just turning Helios’ attitude towards his children upside down for sure. Circe ends up consulting an oc character who I can only describe as “stingray Cthulhu.” His presence doesn’t really add much, and frankly it feels like yet another wasted opportunity to use Hecate, but I digress. Oh, also in another twist Athena is recast as the villain of the Odyssey. Eventually Circe gets to meet Odysseus’ family, for once interacts with another female character on positive terms (with Penelope, to be specific) and… gets together with Telemachus, which to be fair is something present in many ancient works but which feels weird here since there was a pretty long passage about Odysseus describing him as a child to Circe. I think I could live without it. Honestly having her get together with Penelope would feel considerably less weird, but there are no lesbians in the world of this novel. It would appear that the praise for Song of Achilles is connected to the portrayal of gay relationships in it. Can’t say that this applies to Circe - on this front we have an offhand mention of Hyacinth's death. which seems to serve no real purpose other than establishing otherwise irrelevant wind god is evil, and what feels like an advert for Song of Achilles courtesy of Odysseus, which takes less than one page. Eventually Circe opts to become mortal to live with Telemachus and denounces her father and… that’s it. This concludes the story of Circe. I don’t exactly think the original is the deepest or greatest character in classical literature, but I must admit I’d rather read about her wacky witch adventures than about Miller’s Circe. A few small notes I couldn’t fit elsewhere: something very minor that bothered me a lot but that to be honest I don’t think most readers will notice is the extremely chaotic approach to occasional references to the world outside Greece - Sumer is randomly mentioned… chronologically after Babylon and Assyria, and in relation to Persians (or rather - to Perses living among them). At the time we can speak of “Persians” Sumerian was a dead language at best understood by a few literati in the former great cities of Mesopotamia so this is about the same as if a novel about Mesopotamia mentioned Macedonians and then completely randomly Minoans at a chronologically later point. Miller additionally either confused or conflated Perses, son of Perseus, who was viewed positively and associated with Persia (so positively that Xerxes purportedly tried to use it for propaganda purposes!) with Perses the obscure brother of Circe et. al, who is a villain in an equally obscure myth casting Medea as the heroine, in which he rules over “Tauric Chersonese,” the Greek name of a part of Crimea. I am honestly uncertain why was he even there as he amounts to nothing in the book, and there are more prominent minor children of Helios who get no mention (like Aix or Phaeton) so it’s hard to argue it was for the sake of completion. Medea evidently doesn’t triumph over him offscreen which is his sole mythical purpose. Is there something I liked? Well, I’m pretty happy Selene only spoke twice, considering it’s in all due likeness all that spared her from the fate of receiving similarly “amazing” new characterization as her brother. As is, she was… okay. Overall I am definitely not a fan of the book. As for its purported ideological value? It certainly has a female main character. Said character sure does have many experiences which are associated with women. However, I can’t help but think that the novel isn’t exactly feminist - it certainly focuses on Circe, but does it really try to “rehabilitate” her? And is it really “rehabilitation” and feminist reinterpretation when almost every single female character in the book is the same, and arguably depicted with even less compassion than in the source material?  It instead felt like the author’s goal is take away any joy and grandeur present in myths, and to deprive Circe of most of what actually makes her Circe. We don’t need to make myths joyless to make them fit for a new era. It’s okay for female characters to be wacky one off villains and there’s no need to punish them for it. A book which celebrates Circe for who she actually is in the Odyssey and in other Greek sources - an unapologetic and honestly pretty funny character -  would feel much more feminist to me that a book where she is a wacky witch not because she feels like it but because she got raped, if you ask me. 

Circe evidently having the time of her life, by Edmund Dulac (public domain)

[juniaships]

My Issues With Sam Manson

Or, please stop simplifying legitimate criticisms we have with this girl.

Lately I've also been seeing these same points talking about how the phandom dislikes Sam for the crime of being a teenage girl. There are legitimate problems with her character and the harmful message she spread. Frankly put I'm so sick & tired of seeing our complaints be reduced to "you only hate her because she's a woman!!"

We don't dislike Sam because she's a teenage girl (anyone who do has serious issues to work out) but because the narrative excuses her flaws and bad attitude.

What I mean by that is, she has flaws, which is perfectly fine, but rarely faces detriments for them and even gets rewarded. She got no chances of growing, in fact with each season she got worse. The writers wanted to put her on a pedestal at the cost of other female characters. ESPECIALLY nonwhite girls.

The writers do not develop her beyond confirming her endgame with Danny. She never learned to open her mind or being respectful of other girls' interests. Despite some episodes that COULD have had her views challenged & she grows from them. She never learned to temper her hypocrisy. Sam never made up with her parents - we don't even see their side of the story - her character remained the same. She ended up rewarded with a guy she called selfish and boring because he gave up his powers - to protect her & his own family. The overfocus of such romantic subplot came at the cost of literally every other girl in the series. They were put down to reinforce "Sam is Right." Heck Danny himself was dumbed down a bit to make Sam a well of wisdom.

In Girls Night Out she talked down to Jazz as if implying the latter didn't know how to handle ghosts. In her very first episode she changed the school lunch menu to food only SHE would eat without any consultation or mindfulness of allergies for that matter. In Phantom Planet she barely contributed beyond screeching at Danny for being just another boring human which only gives weight to the sentiment that she only loved him for his powers (ergo uniqueness). She was never made to held the same level as the male characters. In Fact half the time she had to get involved is a problem she started first. Sam fell in love with a guy because he looked similar to Danny's Ghost Form (again only adding more weight to the "she only loved him for his powers" argument).

Especially at the cost of characters like Valerie and Paulina. Valerie's arc never got completed because at that point the writers wanted to get the cogs going for Amethyst Ocean as quickly as possible. The last we see of her is standing in the background clapping and cheering. No resolution for her and Danny. She didn't even contribute in her Huntress Form. Valerie was a crucial part in the first two season of the show. She was relatable and sympathetic, she had challenges to overcome. Her flaws weren't excused and she had to LEARN and grow from a stuck up brat to a vengeful hunter to an understanding anti heroine. We were so close to seeing her arc get closure. Heck Valerie even gave up Danny because she wanted to protect him for her own secret life as a ghost hunter. Her chemistry with Danielle was also would've done wonders with her arc. But in S3 it was forgotten, she was forgotten, all to push the Sam as endgame. Weird considering she spied on Danny & Valerie out of envy when they went on their date. Then she had the nerve to call out Danny for spying on her & Gregor when the only reason did so to protect her form being targeted by an evil ghost or the Guys in White. Sam didn't even feel compassion for Val when her dad lost his job and she ended uo living in horrible conditions abandoned by fake friends. And Sam's supposed to be the nice one??

Paulina at least got comeuppance for her crappy behavior but again she was demonized as worse than Sam because of her femininity. You could say she and Sam were foils (which they are) but Paulina was written to be worse than she actually was while Sam did truly selfish things and never truly addressed.

The Beauty Pageant episode....boy that was a DOOZY of a plot. She willingly joined a pageant to complain about high beauty standards and shallow girls, when literally NONE of the other models pressured her into joining or bullied her. She even WON yet had the audacity to throw the trophy on the ground in an extremely unsportsmanlike act. The narrative supports her action despite her clearly being in the wrong.

Her having flaws in of itself is not the problem but, the way the show HANDLES her flaws as if they're strengths to be emulated. Yes you could say that Sam herself was wasted potential. Then again she was Butch's intended pet character and the main love interest so of course she had to be Perfect! She should've had a meaningful arc but no. She's still that same obnoxious excuse for a Strong Female Character that the show forces us to sympathise with.

This isn't me saying you should start hating Sam. This is me saying please take the time to read our legitimate complaints before strawmanning us. Sam reinforces the tired Not Like Other Girls Trope, the two biggest victims being WOC, and the show treats this as a good thing. It is not a good thing, seeing interesting female characters esp. Woc be put down to put a very poorly written character on a pedestal.

[tanoraqui]

okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight​‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse.  LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

SO

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have