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absolutebl · 4 months

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This Week in BL - I'm Late, I know

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Feb 2024 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 12fin - we waiting 2 weeks I guess? Bah.

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 13fin - I wasn't impressed by the last ep at all. Trash watch happened here.

My final thoughts:

Based on alittlebixth's omegaverse novel #พิษเบ๊บ’ set in the world of car racing omegaverse. Thailand brought us the world's first omegaverse BL but then failed to lean into the courage of its a/b/o convictions by not emphasizing the difference between our world & theirs, adding & subtracting characters & allegiances + a weak ending. With earnest performances, enthusiastic sex scenes, a fantastic side couple, and some delightful scenery chewing - the actors tried… poor things. It's just the story failed both them and their parent genre. Frankly? I just wanted it to be more outrageous and trashy, since I never expected it to be good. Instead, it was just… meh. 7/10

(Imma remind all the newbies that this is not unprecedented from me with hugely popular BL.)

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 10 of 12 - I like it but there’s a high % of this show that doesn’t interest me. Anything to do with the side couple, or the friend group, or the cooking competition drives me into a comatose state of UGH. That means that in this episode, I paid attention to about 5 minutes worth.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 11 of 12 - I'm ready for this to be done. I think they were trying to be this year's Big Dragon, but they just aren't good enough. I really didn’t need a third couple.

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 2 of 12 - I'm warming up to FueangKrom a bit. It’s cute. I am finding the pacing interesting. That pacing might be bad, but right now it’s simply different.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love For Love's Sake (Korea Weds iQIYI) 5-6 of 8 - I still love this show a lot, but this 2 ep installment felt a little disjointed. I’m not sure if that’s the narrative structure or the subs. The captions are shockingly bad for a KBL and I don’t have enough Korean to make up for their clear failings.

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - Oh the return of the manic pixie dream ex. This is all very high school drama for purportedly grown-up adults. But them both being jealous and then kissing was sweet.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - They remain adorable and the sunshine robot is very sweet. But it is a little slow.

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 6 - I prefer the episodes when we get more of them onscreen together. But this was fine.

Happy Ending (Korea Tues YT) 3fin - The ending disappointed me (are you surprised?). What can I say, not Strongberry's best as far as I’m concerned. High school besties that many could be sweethearts. I don’t like an ending that’s left up in the air. 6/10

It's Done but...

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master - from Vietnam, it's on YouTube. I will give it a try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch.

It's Airing But...

[NO INTERNATIONAL] Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 3 of 12 - yeah Japan put the smack down on our boys. Sadness. You can use a VPN if you like. Read all about it here.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… probubly not. I won't be watching this. I disliked Season one and actively hated the follow ups. No thank you.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 12 eps - Gave me Luminous Solution vibes. It finished, is it worth it?

Dead Friend Forever (Thai Sat iQIYI) 12 eps - finished, horror, supposed to be very philosophical, I think I'll give it a go.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting Up

2/16 My Strawberry Film (Japan Gaga) - not quite sure how much BL this one is, because... Japan, but we shall see.

2/17 A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV) - Khonprot, a third-year head hazer of the engineering faculty, has a secret crush on Pluem, a tsundere fourth-year head hazer. Over the years, he's seen Pluem cycle through many girlfriends. Recently, after a public breakup, however, Khonprot thinks maybe a boy has a chance. Unless this is really good I probably won't I hate the WeTV interface...

Still Coming in Feb

2/24 Unknown (Taiwan Youku) 12 eps - Older brother tough guy criminal breadwinner looks after his sister and defacto adopted little brother. Little bother falls in love with him and is sent away after a stolen kiss. But when he comes back…

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

We gotta talk about LFLS this week. Look at Korea go!

Talking about a dead fish kiss, how meta! This will end up on one of my best of the year moments. I could not have been more gobsmacked.

Also something rarely directly addressed, particularly for same-sex firsts.

And then, a claiming trope, a personal favorite of mine.

Thank you Korea!

I just love them. (Pit Babe)

(Last week)

#pit babe the series #pit babe review #alanjeff #cooking crush #thai bl #love for love's sake #kbl #korean bl #Perfect Propose #Although I Love You and You #Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka #japanese bl #AntiReset #Taiwanese bl #cherry magic thailand

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canmom · 2 months

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Ping-Pong The Animation: eps 1-3

So Masaaki Yuasa [AN12, AN28, AN150] can do no wrong, right? OK, well, I'll admit Ride Your Wave was kinda mid, and Devilman Crybaby goes hard as hell at the beginning and end but sorta treads water in the middle, but... generally speaking! No-one does it like Yuasa.

For reasons I don't really remember, I didn't get very far watching Ping-Pong The Animation some years ago. It should be entirely my shit: Yuasa pulling in a gang of wildly creative animators to put their unique spin on something. However, the first episode didn't entirely hook me, and I never got round to trying the second before something else punted 'watching Ping Pong' out of my brain. ADHD, y'know.

This is a shame because even the very next episode seriously goes, as does the one after that. But also this anime isn't entirely what I was expecting (crazy sakugafest full of Yuasa weirdness). Not to say it doesn't do a lot of really unique stuff with its cinematography and animation, but these first episodes at least are more about like... dissociation! ennui!

But more on that in a mo. First I wanna continue the thread of 'how do you animate sports'.

So, ping-pong, or table tennis. Not a sport I know much about, I'll be honest. (To be fair I don't know a lot about sports in general outside of some very specific niches. The sports I've pursued so far are rather eclectic: swimming, fencing, tai chi chuan, and roller derby; I never got particularly far in any and it's been years since I've done them.)

I'll inevitably be drawing a lot of comparisons to The First Slam Dunk, the other sports anime I've watched recently. I do think it's a productive comparison though! Both of them bring something of the visual language of manga into their presentation in unique ways. I have not yet read the Ping Pong manga, but it's by Taiyō Matsumoto, otherwise known for scifi manga like Tekkonkinkreet (god tier movie, still need to read the manga) and Number Five. So that's a pretty impressive track record!

If you go take a look at some scans of Ping Pong, what will immediately jump out is the shaky, rough line style and unusual camera angles and compositions.

The stylisation is also very different from a lot of manga. Noses are fully drawn, eyes are realistically small, and in contrast, lips and mouths tend to get the emphasis - as well as hands.

Knowing this makes a lot of the creative choices in the anime make sense! It also adopts a shaky lineart style, and makes use of heavy line weights and spotting blacks to add definition. It also has a lot of crazy closeups and layouts, and it loves a visual metaphor. But most of all, the most striking element of this anime is how often it loves to split the picture up into little panels...

...which [eli]'s subs do a really good job of typesetting, incidentally, moving the dialogue to fit naturally into the split composition. And while this shot with 7 smaller shots is perhaps on the extreme end, splits of three or more are pretty frequent. It's a really interesting way to evoke the effect of seeing a whole page of manga

So, as you proooobably know, ping-pong is a game of bouncing balls off a little table and directing them into places the opponent will find it hard to hit them back. From watching this anime I picked up that there are a number of styles of holding the racket (e.g. 'penhold grip' and 'shakehand') and approaches to hitting the ball (e.g. 'chopping'). A lot of this pretty much went over my head, but honestly it didn't matter, since the narrative significance was pretty much always evident.

Compared to basketball, though, ping-pong is a pretty tricky sport to make visually interesting! Sure, you have the players running to and fro, and that can lead to some interesting poses, but how do you get the drama and tension into this?

Ping-pong additionally is all 2D, it doesn't have the sort of resources that Toei could throw at making the best looking 3DCG basketball game ever. It is limited to a TV-feasible drawing count. So it has to make use of clever limited-animation tricks to get the most impact out of fewest drawings.

Let's take an example sequence from episode 3. A minor character is about to get his ass kicked by Tsukimoto. Tsukimoto is something of a pingpong prodigy, and yet he is very emotionally closed-off and even standoffish; he doesn't particularly seem to like the game very much, and doesn't particularly feel inclined to flex on other players and get into the status games. But other players, like Wenge, have heard about him and want to see what he's got.

First we have the setup. Other characters are observing and discussing the game. Since ping-pong tends to involve very rapid exchanges, it can follow the classic shōnen model where there's a lot of talking, flashy fight sequence, more talking...

The cut happens in two steps, maintaining the vertical dividing line. This approach to cutting is used a lot in Ping-Pong, and it's quite a creative way to keep visual interest when it's using a lot of largely static shots. The panel on the right is more animated than the panel on the left, a naturalistic depiction of bouncing the ball off the table.

Things start moving faster here. A rapid pan on the image on the left disguises the fact that this anticipation pose is actually not moving at all. This then goes into a rapid, explosive moment as this guy serves.

The final pose is held for a couple of seconds while the voiceover line discussing his intended move finishes. This sort of elasticity of time is a very Osamu Dezaki type of move - it's something that Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata actually really disliked.

A sound effect hits as Tsukimoto appears on the right in silhouette, anticipating his reaction, and setting up the next shot which leaves the split picture and hides the background for just a moment, as if to put us in Tsukimoto's shoes: he only sees the ball.

Tsukimoto follows through and holds this pose - the ball is the only thing moving here. The ball moves mainly on 2s while Tsukimoto moves on 3s and 2s, and he and the ball move on alternating frames. He holds the pose as the ball zips off to the right (bouncing off the corner of the table), with a speed lines-like effect. At the end of the shot, the ball freezes in the air for the moment while the sound echoes.

The actual table-tennis round lasts just seconds, and the drawing count involved is pretty minimal, but it does a lot with those drawings.

We go back to voiceovers and reactions in the next few shots, returning to the split video as Tsukimoto's opponent thinks about how he'd really rather be at the beach...

Often, these comic-like compositions will change one panel at a time, and while one panel is animated another panel will be still, naturally moving your eyes across the screen. It is an approach similar to some experiments I've seen in 'animated comics' viewed in a web browser, where the panels do not appear all at once, but enter with some animation.

So this is the sort of animation technique that Ping Pong uses. It's effective! Elsewhere the cuts are used in a less direct, continuity-editing way and more in a juxtaposition/montage way. For example, Wenge's desire to return to China is symbolised by match cutting/fading to shots of an aeroplane.

And there is a recurring image, which I'm sure will be expanded on, of Tsukimoto hiding in a cupboard and wishing for a tokusatsu hero to come save him from his isolation. As Tsukimoto's feelings about himself change, the toku hero is replaced by a robot. At this points it starts to feel like an outright Ikuhara anime.

There is occasionally a little bit of CG, mainly when Tsukimoto uses a different type of racket surface, and the way the ball and racket make contact is the crucial thing that the shot is trying to convey...

It gets the job done, but I'm glad they stuck with 2D for most of it.

So I went in the first time expecting like, crazy elaborate sakuga - and to be fair, the OP, animated by none other than Shinya Ohira, delivers on that front - but if anything what I've seen so far in Ping-Pong is actually a triumph of storyboarding and limited animation techniques. I think back then I didn't have the eyes to appreciate it in the same way.

OK, that's the film nerd stuff, but what about the story? Ping Pong follows two school friends, Makoto Tsukimoto aka "Smile" (right), and Yutaka Hoshino aka "Peco" (left). Smile is defined by a flat affect and a standoffish persona. He's just going through the motions. He's very good at ping-pong, but to him it's just a way to pass time, and he's scornful about the idea of caring all that much about it. Much like Shinji with his casette player, Tsukimoto is pretty much always staring at a handheld games console rather than make eye contact with anyone.

Peco on the other hand is the more childish one - playful, kinda arrogant, very much an 'emotions on his sleeve' kinda guy. He sulks when he loses and gloats when he wins, and is constantly seen with bubblegum or other kinds of candy. He provides a lot of our commentary when he chats with the other players.

日本語上手 readers probably noticed the tsuki (moon) vs hoshi (star) symbolism thing they've got going on here!

High-school table tennis in this story seems to be a rather 'tough love' kinda world. Most of these players tend to look down on those who can't meet their level. Going easy on someone is seen as weakness, or cultivating bad habits, by almost everyone. Tsukimoto doesn't play at his full potential because he isn't as invested in winning as all these weirdos, but it seems that might be starting to change...

The coach is interesting. He's an old man and fairly disdainful of the club at large, and prone to speaking English randomly with a heavy accent. But he gets excited at the prospect of getting Tsukimoto to unleash his full potential, in terms that are repeatedly metaphorically compared to romance/marriage.

And when Tsukimoto gets sick of it, he challenges him to a game, with the stakes as...

Cue Makima/Beatrice images here I guess.

Tsukimoto de facto wins when the coach collapses, but this episode marks a change of heart. He starts to think of himself as a robot - the affect of a robot replacing the affect of the toku hero in his fantasy. And in this way he does what people seem to want and plays ping pong with mechanical precision, expressed once again in visual metaphor (shot here from a cool transformation sequence)...

What if I just dissociate harder? This is gonna end well.

So it really is one of those kind of like 'ennui of being a teenager' kind of stories - c.f. say FLCL. 'Boy with complicated emotional landscape' is Yuasa bread and butter, but the particular variant here seems a little unusual for him - they tend to be a little more earnest. I'm curious to see how Tsukimoto develops.

I am definitely enjoying the arrogant Chinese player Kong Wenge. Dude's got a lot of screen presence, and while I'm sure he'll get shown up sooner or later, he makes for a very fun antagonist of sorts.

In comparison to Slam Dunk... one thing that's significantly different about table tennis is that it's an individual rather than a team sport, which means it's harder to have an ensemble cast all contributing to the protagonists' eventual victory - instead it's about a lot of individual arcs interweaving with each other, individual duels. Besides that, it does seem like it will be following a similar arc of a character in an emotional hole (grief for Ryota, depression for Tsukimoto) finding new meaning and purpose through sports - though I can't be sure how things are gonna go for Tsukimoto here!

The tone however is quite different. Even when it's silly, I feel like Slam Dunk is a very sincere story. There's little detachment or irony, or false consciousness - with perhaps the major exception of Ryota's mother, who lets her own grief and trauma get in the way of understanding her son. But ultimately 'why would you care this much about basketball' is not a question that anyone would ask in Slam Dunk. Even the judo guy in the manga who's trying to recruit Sakuragi is just as hot-blooded about his own sport of choice.

There's a difference in like, general affect about the players as well, which has something to do with the sport itself. Yeah, Sakuragi's superpower is his 'genius' ability to predict rebounds, and there is plenty of strategising in Slam Dunk - but basketball is still a sport that very much emphasises physical power, and as much as Slam Dunk will work hard to sell you on a clever trick pass, the visuals are also emphasising the speed that players are dashing, the height they're jumping, their physique. Table tennis by contrast seems to be a sport that's more about prediction and mind games.

That said it is equally just like Matsumoto's style being different from Inoue's. Now I know it's by the guy who wrote Tekkonkinkreet, a lot about this series falls into place! There's a sense of tension here, of being fundamentally at odds with the world. The autismfeels. This is reflected also in the drawings - the characters don't entirely seem comfortable in their embodiment.

So if that's what I'm getting from just three eps, I'm very excited to see what the remaining 8 have to offer. This series is probably too long to cram into Animation Night format, but we'll see...

#anime #manga #ping pong the animation #masaaki yuasa #animation

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bronx-bomber87 · 11 months

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No better way to end a Friday than with a review. We are in the home stretch of s1 still crazy to me. Excited each time get to write up my reviews. So thank you all for your interest and support as always. Lets dive in to the third to last ep shall we?

1x18

Homefront.

After having a non Chenford ep always happy to have them back together. Loved dissecting Lucy and having insight into her family life but I missed them. They don't have a ton of content in this one. Pretty Talia driven one but what they do have is really good. Underrated moments in this ep for them IMO.

Our first shot of our fav duo is at the hospital. They’re visiting a released convict they were assigned to check up on. Tim makes a comment about filling his hours when not studying. To him it makes the most sense to fill his dead time with work. Lucy is immediately all over that comment. Because Lucy don't play around at all when it comes to Tim. She knows that isn't healthy for him. She starts probing as to why he doesn't have a hobby. She's genuinely surprised he doesn't have a way to decompress/recharge.

His first answer cracks me up it’s so Tim. Also how he adds in for her not to give him shit cause it has 'work' in the title LOL He knows her so well. He tries to combat her answer before she even says it. Lucy doesn’t deny she thinks that anyway. Goes on to say he needs something for himself. A way to decompress. Maybe even have a little fun. Gotta love her for trying to get him out of his comfort zone. He’s a creature of habit and doesn’t like that to be upended. Lucy is very aware of this and can't help herself but to challenge him on it.

The eye roll she gives him is primo. She knows this is going to be an uphill battle per usual. Tim fights her on it because its his natural first instinct. He always fights her on it and she always ends up seeping in. Jolting his system and POV on things. I do love him opening and holding the door for her. Ever the gentleman even when they’re arguing hehe

This shot is just because they're so pretty just standing together haha. That's it really. I mean look at them. Their Tall/Small thing never ceases to make me happy. Also Tim's stance pretty damn appealing tbh. I mean look at dem biceps. It's a wonder Lucy gets any work done haha

They respond to a call at a paintball place. A guy named Jimmy has lost it and impaled another player with a piece of wood over the game. Go on to tell them he plays there every day. He'll be hard to find. They head off to find Jimmy. Lucy does not waste a second before she is giving him more crap. So damn sassy with him. Using this guy's obsession to prove her point about why its bad to be focusing on one thing too much. They were married long before they ever dated people haha Lucy is so smug in this moment. Makes me happy haha

Tim defaults to what he usually does when’s she got him dead to rights. Clams up. Tells her to shut it cause that’s the best come back he has at the moment. LOL The smile on her face when she says ‘Yes sir’ Lucy knows that ‘shut it’ is just him annoyed he has no witty comeback. Lucy is reveling in the fact he can’t fight her on this one. No leg to stand on and he knows it.

They start searching the paintball area for their suspect. Lucy makes a comment about it would be easier if everyone wasn’t wearing camo. Tim gives her his company line about this job isn’t meant to be easy. She instantly disregards it and asks him if he’s ever played paintball? Trying to peak his interest. His reply cracks me up. Not a doubt in his mind he would crush these people at this. Her face is what kills me the most. That’s the wifey face. Placating him like ok babe....

I also love her blowing past his TO line earlier haha Very early on Lucy would’ve said yes sir or nodded. We’re long past those days even in s1. Especially at this point in time. That rapport and comfortability has come to stay. She’s on a mission to find him a hobby to help him relax. Bypasses Teacher Tim without blinking.

Tim starts to explain why he would straight destroy these people at paintball. Using one of the players as an example. Also Timothy there is no need to lean so close when explaining strategy to her sir heh But he does it anyway and she’s grinning like a fool. I’ve always loved the magnetic pull these two have between them. Whether they’re aware of it or not. Personal space is word not found in their vocabulary. Clearly passionate about what he's telling her so he gets closer. I love it.

Look at the way she is looking at him. Goodness girl you are working. That look on her face. You know she’s indulging him right now. Letting him ramble about how everyone is amateurs. How he would go about it. Tim has no idea he’s giving her fuel to get him to play. Always looking out for him even when he doesn’t have a damn clue she is. Taking care of him and putting his needs first. I can not with them. I love it so much.

They end up going to higher ground where Jimmy would be. They find him and Tim is sexy af stopping his escape. Grabs a players gun and easily decimates him with paint. Don’t tell me she wasn’t the slightest bit impressed with him nailing that guy with the paint gun. But it’s also reinforcing her idea about paintball for him.

That little smirk of hers before she hooks Jimmy up. Just like in 1x15 Lucy is all smiles and heart eyes for him in this ep. She is also a little bit wifey like in her reactions. Like yeah he’s an idiot but he’s my idiot. That second gif above says it all for that for that.

Ahhh the hanging out, outside work begins ❤️ Look at her dragging him outside his comfort zone like only she can. I bet you she pitched it one last time to Tim as a hobby. Something he could do to destress/relax. That it would be fun. He probably didn’t have to twist her arm too much to join him. That he would only do it if she came with. I could see Tim doing this so he could show and or prove to Lucy he could smoke everyone at this like he said. A little flex on his part. Coming in armed with a plan ready to execute it with her.

He looks so happy. She did that. It's written all over Lucy's face how happy she is that he's enjoying himself. That little smile on his face as they’re gearing up to go in. My heart. He’s so excited to do this. It’s why Lucy is beaming. She got Tim outside his routine and into something she knew he would love. He’s smiling and ready to have some fun. Not that he will say as such but everything in his body language does. Once again that beautiful silent communication of theirs is a sight to see.

His half hearted 'No' has Lucy smiling and laughing. She is beyond pleased with herself for this. Anyone looking at them without context would be able to see how she feels about him. I saw this great post by relentlessescapsim had a collection of Lucy unabashedly looking at Tim. Being as transparent as she could be. It said ‘She’s a ten but she’s terrible at hiding her feelings. ‘ I died laughing cause it so friggin true. You just watch her entire body language around Tim and you know. You just know he’s far more than her T.O. to her. I mean its clearly her day day off and Lucy is spending it with him. She's doing his new 'hobby' with him. I love it sfm.

Lucy challenges and pushes Tim same way he does for her. Been saying this all season his growth is incredible. Look at this puppy of a man playing paintball with her. Once again doing something he wouldn’t have for any other rookie. Incredible. He's continually allowing her to influence him which is huge in itself. Its constantly seen through out the entire season. This was her challenging that bubble of his that rigid routine. Lucy pushed because in the end she knew he would benefit from it. What good it would do him. She was right.

Tim says 'No' when really he's so glad she got him to do this. He can't say it just yet but his actions scream it. They balance one another out so well I could not adore their dynamic more. Damn I just love them so much haha. How good they are for each other. The fact that it dates back to s1 for multiple reasons is amazing.

It's why they’re so good in s5 once they get together. That beautiful base is already there and solid as hell. I love the idea of them playing paintball and having fun. Its lovely to see such beautiful depth and development for them. Such a good episode for them top to bottom. *chef kiss*

~~~~

Side Notes Non Chenford

Cute Wes/Angela stuff I always enjoy them so much.

Stuff with Jackson's dad was also very good. Watching him stand up to his dad was awesome.

Percy asking why Grey didn't stick Jackson with Tim. My god that boy wouldn't have made it without Angela. He has no idea. Tim would've washed his ass out so quickly. Hell Tim might not even be around cause of his bullet issues in the beginning. So very good he was not. Everything happens for a reason and all that.

Thank you all again for you likes/comments/reblogs. Every time I get a notification for them makes my heart smile for real. See you all in 1x19 :)

#Caitlin rewatches The Rookie #chenford #chenford hiatus #waiting on s6 #summer rewatch #s1 #1x18 Homefront #the rookie #tim x lucy #tim bradford #lucy chen #lucy x tim #eric winter #melissa o'neil #otp: doing my job #tim bradford x lucy chen

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dragonsir · 2 years

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Lets talk about Swindle

One of the things I appreciate about tf earthspark is how all of the characters have depth, even the ones that aren’t the main focus, and especially the decepticons. However, the one I want to talk about is swindle.

In ep 4, House Rules, swindle is his typical greasy self, manipulating Thrash and Mo by acting like a victim and their friend to get what he wants. When they turn on him, he does what we expect and pulls his gun on them.

But what is interesting about Swindle is his motivations. He wants an energon scanner because he’s trying to find his brother, Hardtop. He says things are much harder with only one person, so its probable that he’s never been on his own before, at least since the war has ended. That means its been him and hardtop against the world, and to my knowledge, this is new to Swindle’s character (i’m not counting the swindle from Armada, that one is totally different).

Of course, we could chalk up Swindle trying to find Hardtop as just him needing someone to help him find energon to survive. Swindle does mention that it is an energon scanner that he’s trying to take, so he could potentially find energon solo after dumping Mo and Thrash. But the first thing he says after finding it’s location is that it will help him find Hardtop. He isn’t even thinking about his survival at the time, his priority is his brother. And what’s more, Hardtop seems protective of Swindle as well. He shoves Swindle out of the way when OP drops a shipping container on him.

Swindle got an entire episode, while we only got a few small scenes from Hardtop. But just this shot here gives him depth. He throws his brother out of the way, knowing he himself won’t make it out in time.

I don’t remember any other show giving us this much of a sympathetic view of the decepticons, at least not the minor characters. In Decoy, Frenzy mentions that they, the cassettes, are free and don’t have to follow Soundwave anymore, implying that they weren’t happy with him (or at least Frenzy wasn’t). In Age of Evolution, Nova Storm gets fucking pissed and launches herself at Megatron when he clips Skywarp’s wing. These little moments keep adding up, and with the way Megatron is written to be genuinely caring of his former comrades, I feel like this show finally wants to show us that all of the transformers are people. Not just the Autobots and Megatron, ALL of the transformers. This makes me so excited to see more of Soundwave, as hopefully they’ll flesh out his relationship with his cassettes and megatron. As for Starscream, I really hope they will show a more sympathetic side of him, perhaps for his fellow decepticons, or soundwave, or megatron, or literally anyone (I’ll even take agent schloder).

I am so excited for more of this show and it is quickly becoming my favorite because of how loving it is to its characters. I hope all of them, especially the decepticons, will have more depth and grow over the course of the show. And I think we have good reason so far to believe that they will.

#transformers earthspark #swindle #maccadam #hardtop #i will probably make a seperate post about megatron #his character is fascinating this time around #he is definitely my favorite version #i might talk about arcee and elita 1 too #oo and the terrans and quintus prime

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 9 months

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Legend of the Dragon S1 Ep 1-13 Watch and Rewrite

I have gone down a rabbit hole by watching a random show from early 2000s (think Liberty's Kids, Sherlock Holmes 22nd Century kind of channel) that is clearly trying to jump on the Xiolin Showdown/Avatar the Lat Airbender and admittedly, it's mediocre but I'm just fascinated by its potential so my writer brain has a loooot of thoughts.

You can find the whole series on youtube if you want to watch before reading cuz this has spoilers.

Here's the plot: The show starts when the previous Golden Dragon has passed on to the afterlife and Ang and Ling Leung, seventeen-year-old fraternal twins, born in the year of the Dragon, are next in line for the Golden Dragon powerband and use of its mystical abilities to defend the mortal world from evil. Ang doesn’t believe he will become the Golden Dragon, as Ling is the best fighter at the Dragon Dojo.

Ling is positive that she will become the Golden Dragon. However, when Master Chin Ho calls upon the power of the Golden Dragon to choose who will be the next Golden Dragon, it chooses Ang. Humiliated and furious, Ling storms out of the temple and is tempted by the dark and evil power of the Shadow Dragon. From then on, Ang is forced to fight his twin sister.

First, the general

Alright, the animation style, let’s face it it’s not the best. But after seeing 80s shows, it’s not the worst. It’s just very dated. It’s a weird combination of some shots are really good, and some just look like bad flash animation yet you can also see the detail in the fight choreography. It’s weird.

Speaking of fight choreography, the show is just in loooove with doing slow motion shots multiple times in each fight. Like it’s supposed to be epic but since it’s used all the time, I think they’re just padding the air time. And since the speeches are generic, I have fast forward through it unless a shot literally particular interesting or seems to be delivering meaningful conversation between Ang and Ling.

That or it’s trying to mimic old Kung fu movies with the over the top yelling (gets grating after awhile tbh especially from Ling), people suddenly flying (just assume everyone has the power to fly) and the slow motion.

As for the powers, each temple guardian has a magic armband that gives them powers related to their zodiac like turning into the animal plus extra like Bengali has super claw rips, the snake guardian turns into a shapeshifting, size changing cobra, the ram has power over avalanches etc.

Which makes the powers of the dragons disappointing as they display generic fire blasts. I mean if it’s the top guardian, you should put a little something special into the power like flame breath and turning into a literal dragon! So I would give the dragons a power upgrade stat.

Btw, besides the generic power blasts, each dragon has a voice upgrade. Ang gets a manly hero voice while gets sexy villainess voice. It’s kinda funny because it’s just so unexpected. No explanation for why these teenagers suddenly sound like adults or why that’s part of their transformations, it’s just there.

As for the dialogue, the show has some spark when it allows the characters to show their personalities with humorous lines that make them distinct but it is also hampered by generic hero speech tropes (like in a fight it’s more about “Incoming” “I know the real you is in there” etc. if you’re going to do the tropes, at least make it specific to your character). Like the animation, it has good potential but also limited.

Now to the real meat of the show the characters: Like the summary says, the two mains are Ang and Ling who are suddenly on opposite sides due to Ling’s insistence that she deserves to be the golden dragon.

The first scene brilliantly sets up their personalities with them sparring. Ling dominates the fight with aggressive, offensive moves but Ang manages to outmaneuver her with observation and subtly. When Ang teases her about forgetting Master Chin’s lesson on using your opponents’ leverage, Ling nearly hits him again in anger over losing.

Foreshadowing. . . Totally

Ang is set up as the more laid back of the two. Into video games and movies, while Ling has been eagerly awaiting the day to be the temple guardian her entire life.

As Master Chin invites to the temple, the show further demonstrates their differences and sets up Ang as the real candidate for Golden Dragon. Ling is consumed with getting the prestigious position, focusing on the power she will gain. Ang rightly points out, there’s a lot of responsibility to it too but that’s not interesting to Ling. She will rule, it’s a given, because she earned the spot.

And so Ling’s pride goeth before fall.

It’s only natural since Ling represents the yin which is feminine and dark and Ang is the yang, masculine and light (as if the name wasn’t enough of a clue).

Ling may have memorized the teaching/learned all the moves, Ang is the one who has taken the education/teachings to heart and put them into practice.

Ling tries to take the armband even when Master Chin tells her it’s not a mistake but it electrocutes her and when he assures her that her real destiny is to support the Golden Dragon and teach the next generation like he did, she blows up and directs all her anger at poor Ang who doesn’t even want the position.

Anyway, I’ll go into my thoughts about what I thought about the split in the episode discussion but from therein, Ang maintains a typical protagonist personality when one is suddenly the chosen one. He is upbeat but sometimes he gets lazy, he doubts his capabilities, he delivers a few noble speeches.

Even though he’s a bit generic, he’s still relatable and a good protagonist to follow. It helps that his relationship with his twin brings out his flaws. Like his optimistic belief that she’ll regain her common sense and stop trying to take his position as Golden Dragon.

Despite her many actions on the contrary, he still believes she can be good again even though no one else does. In fact, he gets very defensive when others call her evil or psychotic (no matter how accurate a descriptor). He’s just a very loyal person and will do anything to protect his friends.

I still think that he needs a different name if only because Ang is too on the nose for symbolizing Yang. And the other famous Aang from A:TLA. If you’re gonna take the name, it’s gonna bring up unfair comparisons to that masterpiece. Do you really wanna be known as “the other Ang”?

Ling is arrogant, aggressive, entitled, not self aware at all. . . Pretty much a good villainess in the making. I feel like the show (so far) needs to work in more positive traits as to justify Ang’s intense belief in her ability to be good again.

But she does make a good foil to Ang, easily countering him in battle and thinking ahead of him. Plus she makes a good snarky Shego to Zodiac Master’s Dr. Drakken, introducing such ideas as hacking Ang’s phone to track down other armbands and temples or to ambush him.

I’ll discuss more about how to improve her characterization in the episodes below.

Which brings me to the antagonist, the Zodiac Master. He’s a pretty generic villain, wanting to gain all the armbands so he overpower the Golden Dragon and achieve power all for himself.

And. . That’s it. I know it’s a kid’s show but this was around the same time as Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego and Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, surely they can work in more backstory and motivation than just power for power’s sake. Like how did he even get power? Was he a former guardian, does he relate to Ling in not getting what he “earned” so he is taking it all by force? He needs more, which I’ll get to below.

I’d also improve his powers which are generic power blasts (seriously why give the secondary guardians cooler powers than the protagonist and antagonists?). He does demonstrate life force draining in one episode which I think he should utilize more to make him a more dangerous threat.

But between him and Ling, he’s the Dr. Drakken if Dr. Drakken was more evilly competent and took himself way too seriously.

Master Chin, the teacher of the dojo and all the guardians is another generic (maybe even stereotypical?) wise master character delivering vague wisdom and a sometimes humorous old man line. I also wish he had more of a backstory and developed a more fatherly guardian ie. Uncle Iroh from A:TLA

Bengali is the Tiger guardian and friend of the twins. It doesn’t say how long but one must assume they grew up together and she’s a little older since she’s been guardian for awhile (seriously this show needs to work on giving people backstories!).

She’s kinda generic too. She’s a good friend, sometimes teases, sometimes is the voice of wisdom, will go along with the others hijinks, delivers quips during battle. She’s similar to Ang in that she focuses more on the spiritual side of being guardian rather than martial. She also has feelings for him (okay not yet but it’s obvious as the only non related, reoccurring female, she’s gonna be a love interest, let’s not kid ourselves).

If I had to improve her, I would give more of a backstory on her feelings as being Tiger guardian. Since everyone seems to be an orphan in the show, maybe something about how being a guardian gives her a community, gives her a purpose in life, the spiritualism allows her to find acceptance in the face of so many unknowns of her origins, gave her confidence.

According to wiki, Tiger personalities are passionate, stubborn, generous, and with a strong sense of justice. She can provide some contrast to Ang as believing things are black and white in Ling’s case and she needs to deliver the hand of justice to eliminate the threat Zodiac Master and his sister pose. If you have the whole Chinese zodiac, lean into it.

Xuan Chi is the Monkey guardian and is exactly what you would expect. At least with western depictions of monkeys, he’s a goofy jokester. Raised in the jungle, Xuan Chi isn’t quite used to civilization and is mainly there to serve comic relief. I think kids would like him even though his one note monkey jokes can get annoying after while. Luckily, he is more than one note as he provides common sense to Ang when the latter continues to ideally believe his sister can change or tries to take short cuts of his guardian training. I like their burgeoning friendship.

Xuan Chi also has some mistakes in his past like the fact that he came to the dojo seeking help when thieves stole his armband. He doesn’t have powers like the others but his martial arts and tree swinging (and bananas) skills keep people off balance, providing dynamic fights. The loss of his armband provides some depth as he struggles with the humiliation and shame of failing his duty as guardian, revealing the insecure teen behind the happy face.

Now the first half of the season:

Alright I described most of the first episode up to Ang getting the armband at which point, Ling blows up and the Zodiac Master appears with samurai goons to kidnap Master Chin. This gives the show an excuse to show Ang’s powered up Golden Dragon transformation and save the day. Ends with Ling swearing that no matter what, she’ll take that armband from Ang and become the golden dragon herself.

First thing I would change is Ling’s reaction, vowing vengeance and all that. She acts more like a frenemy than a twin sister. She shows no care for her brother, and is so willing to hurt him for her supposedly “earned” position. There’s no connection between them and makes it hard to see why Ang would continue to root for her redemption and familial bond when Ling feels nothing on her end.

So I would change her reaction to her, still being angry, but trying to calm down and say that she’ll try to support him and teach him better cuz he’s still the baby brother.

Episode 2: Here, Ang goes with Master Chin to the dojo with Xuan Chi who came seeking help to retrieve his stolen armband. That will be saved for another episode as Ang is concerned with the sibling rift. Ling goes to the cliff side to calm down and the Zodiac Master appears to preposition her. Together, they can team up and steal the other armbands so they can eventually overpower the Golden Dragon.

She hesitates for like 3 seconds because she knows he’s evil but damn her resentment makes her easily give in to his proposal. He gives her the shadow dragon armband (basically evil twin, I mean yin powers), she shows up at the dojo, transformed and drunk on the dark side. Ang eventually defeats her, and kicks off the whole series arc.

The major change I would make here is to continue to make Ling less psychopathic. Have her totally refuse Zodiac Master’s offer because he’s everything she's been trained to fight against. She may not be the golden dragon but she has honor!

Zodiac Master would reveal his backstory-he used to be a teacher alongside Master Chin, training future guardians and warriors. But he grew weary over the years of watching guardians make foolish mistakes. He, with all his wisdom and experience should be the one with the power, he wouldn’t make those stupid mistakes. He knows better than all. So he struck out on his own and got the yin armbands (which corrupted him and so his original good albeit arrogant intentions have disappeared. Now he’s all about the power)

Ling refuses and returns to the dojo. The Zodiac Master vs Ang/Xuan Chin/Ling fight would happen and after several bad mistakes, Ang would triumph.

Ling wouldn't be able to appreciate Ang’s eventual victory through his out of the box smarts. All she would focus on is his mistakes and how, if she had been the Golden Dragon as she was supposed, she would have defeated the Zodiac Master with decisiveness. She would have defeated him once and for all, she wouldn’t have let him escape. She should be the Golden Dragon and if only she had the chance, had the armband, she could prove it.

So she goes to Zodiac Master and accepts the offer, becoming the shadow dragon and the dark side seeps into her.

Eye on the Tiger, Hero Worship, Terra Unfirma, Master of Sarcasm: All are good episodes, introducing other guardians, have Ang put his training and teachings into practice, some generic hijinks like “Don’t meet your heroes” “What being a hero/warrior really means” “Appearances are deceiving” etc.

Although I must admit Hero Worship is really dumb in Zodiac Master believing a regular movie actor is an actual warrior even after Ling tells him Wang Lee is just a lame actor her brother worships, he still kidnaps the guy, convinced that Wang Lee is capable of teaching any martial arts to Ang when it’s the other way around. I do enjoy the Drakken/Shego vibes.

Eye on the Tiger feels a lot like filler even as it shows Bengail’s Tiger guardian prowess. It was more focused on the fight scenes than character interactions or dialogue. Here, I would add more emphasis on Bengail’s friendship with the twins and the characters realizing “oh shit, Ling is serious about being a bad guy.” It does show Ling being not a total psychopath as she refuses to kill Bengali (just fight her and knock her out and steal from her but not kill)

Terra Unfirma was fine though I wanted more ox guardian action. I liked Zodiac Master’s idea to combine the ram and dog armbands even if it put him over his head and Ang had to help him out in the end.

Master of Sarcasm was the best. Not just because I liked sarcasm but because of the location change. Ang and Xuan Chi travel to Vietnam to learn discipline from Shoong (unbeknownst to them, he’s the pig guardian though his surroundings should provide a huuuge clue). He was a lot like a gruffer, tougher Master Piando. So enjoyable.

Temple of Changes was disappointing. After failing in his training because he wants to hang out at the movies and do normal stuff, Master Chin tells Ang it’s time to go to the temple of changes as all the golden dragons before him have done. There he goes through some trippy sequences and fights a dark samurai before emerging victorious and more confident in his abilities.

This was disappointing as Ang’s big test was fighting himself. Like literally fighting himself with very few psychologically painful taunts of his inadequacies. There was no reckoning with his destiny vs his wants.

So I would change this with a poignant flashback to Ang’s past. A few months ago to be exact where Ang is playing a game on his phone while Ling spars with Bengali. In the present, he thinks about his new role and his past certainty with his future. He had thought that Ling was sure to be the golden dragon so he didn’t apply himself with the same intensity. He thought he would teach others like Master Chin. That he’d be able to travel, go to university, be able to hang out with his friends without responsibilities and new foes. Now he’ll be bound to the temple, always on alert for evil and he isn’t even as formidable of a warrior as his sister was. Why him?

So the temple would have him face these questions. Since Ling wants the armband so bad, why not give it to her? Why hang onto it? Because of destiny? Does he want this destiny? Is he capable of being a good guardian? Can he actually become better than he is?

So the temple would force him to really think about why he chooses to stay in this role that he never asked for, ultimately deciding that he is doing it because he wants to. He wants to protect his community, his friends. He believes there needs to be a golden dragon in the world. He’s accomplished so much already, he can do more and he wants to improve, inserting some of the lessons Master Chin has taught him.

Mindbender is another semi disappointing episode with a good premise that doesn’t go as far as it could. It’s Chinese New Years and everyone is celebrating new beginnings. Ang hopes that will include Ling coming back to her senses which everyone rolls their eyes and warn him that Ling won’t change, he needs to give up the idea. Zodiac Master attacks, setting up a distraction for Ling to sneak into the temple and ambush Ang when he goes to recharge his armband. In the midst of battle, Ang gets knocked out with amnesia and Ling sees the opportunity to trick him into giving her the armband.

Predictably, it nearly works but Ang’s memories come back and he changes to the right side at the last minute. Also, in the episode, Ling should do a better job of convincing Ang she’s the real golden dragon if she doesn't get impatient and transform into the shadow dragon so they can escape the cave they’re trapped him. That was just so dumb.

To make it more dramatic, the plot will go as shown up till the amnesia. Ling tricking Ang will have more weight as she references their past relationship (including a cute beach flashback), she is imbuing it with truth. She has always looked out for her brother, she protects him, she cares for him. She wants him on her side as always. And here, one can tell she means it even as she’s angling for him to give her the armband. Again, this will make her look like she has actual emotion instead of a manipulative psycho.

Ang will regain his memories in time with the help of his friends, and defeat the Zodiac Master and Ling. Only their face off will end with Ang deciding to officially cut off all hope that Ling can be redeemed. He is too hurt that she was willing to manipulate their twinship, to corrupt their happy memories. She’s gone too far.

Episode ends with Xuan Chi, Bengali, Master Chin and Ang having a fun New Years meal with Ang appreciating his new family.

But there’s a flashback to his previous happy new year with Ling and Master Chin. Flashback ends to Ling sitting alone at the cliff side, staring at her locket with their baby picture. As fireworks bloom overhead, she decisively closes the locket and walks away, a tear running down one cheek.

Chow Chow is yet another interesting episode that could do more with its ending.

It all starts when the Zodiac Master is trying to resurrect the original dak Emperor of Yin, and tries to use Ling to do it by allowing the Emperor to drain her life force. Well, Ling isn't going out that way and realizing the danger she's in, tries to contact her brother for help. But the Zodiac Master intercepts the email and goes to ambush him, making it seem like it had been a trap all along.

Now I like that idea, and the subsequent execution where Ang does the smart thing and hides his armband before getting subdued by the Zodiac Master in battle which enrages him when he realizes that Ang is useless.

And Ling makes it much more difficult when Ang accuses her of setting him up and she gets all defensive that he doesn't believe her. I mean, girl, you have set up plenty of times before, you can't blame him.

Nonetheless, when Zodiac Master threatens to suck her life force, Ang gives in and agrees to show where he hid the armband.

And while all this is happening, Ang's friends have teamed up with the dog guardian, Chow Chow to literally sniff out where he's been kidnapped. I just find these specific guardian traits/powers super fun. It also comes to an entertaining battle where Xuan Chi grabs ahold of the dragon armband and temporarily becomes the Golden Dragon.

Cool but brings a few plot holes to why did it reject Ling if Xuan Chi can just take it? Does it only repel evil? Then why don't the other armbands repel Zodiac Master when he steals them?

In the end, there's a big fight and Ling returns to Zodiac master despite him trying to kill her just hours ago, proving how stubborn she is about holding a grudge against a brother who has only tried to help her. While Ang realizes she was telling the truth and admits that he wishes he could give up on her, he's sad to admit he just can't.

So I would change the ending a bit. After Mindbender, Ang won't have any trust for Ling so when he gets her email, he just straight up assumes it's a trap. The plot will go on as expected only Ling will be taken aback by the fact that Ang was prepared for the betrayal and doesn't believe her. He just wants to learn what the Zodiac Master is planning. The life force draining will still take place as well as the battle.

But the reason Ling stays with the Zodiac Master despite him trying to kill her will be because she sees that Ang doesn't trust her and she is totally alone. So she convinces herself that because this night turned out fine, she can handle it. She never needed Ang's help even if he had offered it. She'll show him and she will show that backstabbing Zodiac Master, furthering her evil descent.

Monkey Mission was a very fun episode, giving Xuan Chi more depth than I ever thought he would get. For one thing, apparently he has PTSD-esque nightmares of losing his armband. You see, he didn’t just lost a fight to some temple robbers, they held him down and electrocuted him. No wonder he has nightmares!

But now, he has a clue of where the thieves are going. They’re auctioning it and other temple items off like any good temple robber and Zodiac Master is on call to steal it back.

Why doesn't he just buy the armband since his civilian disguise looks like he’s the head of a majorly rich corporation, I don’t know, but I guess he’s cheap.

Anyway, it was a bit of Indiana Jones and a bit of a regular martial arts movie with three separate acts and gave Xuan Chi a chance to shine and prove to himself that he’s an honorable warrior even as it leaves off with a cliffhanger of the armband going missing again.

The Emperor of Darkest Yin was an episode that felt like a filler with Ang and Xuan Chi disobeying Master Chin's warnings that teaming up with Zodiac Master's vengeful ex-partner. This ex partner calls himself the Master of Red Chi whose powerful blasts mostly make up for his incompetent combat skills.

I liked the message, "When you try to use the force of evil, it is evil that ends up using you," and it plays it straight with Master Red Chi double crossing them for another of Zodiac Master's traps as well as the twist ending.

But it felt riddled with holes like why doesn't the Red Chi Master not have a name? Where did he learn red chi? Can anyone else learn or was he just born with it? His story was very vague and felt like it could have been expanded to add to the magical lore of the show.

The fight in the Hong Kong docks also felt silly with the Zodiac Master's entire samurai army in view.

Like is this like Marvel New York? Are the people used to samurais and bombs in their harbor? Isn't this supposed to be a secret mystical battle? Just the concepts of what is secret and what is normal in this world is unclear?

I would have kept the use your enemy concept but have Ang try to outwit his sister, the way she has been doing the previous episodes and throw in the Red Chi Master for the red herring (this was unintentional, I semi swear).

The Last Dragon- I actually have no complaints with this episode. It was solid story wise, revealing that the previous Golden Dragon was the twin’s father who had Master Chin erase their memories to protect him from their enemies. Of course, Ling is dumbly manipulated to turn her rightful anger toward Zodiac Master for murdering her father to being furious at her father for “abandoning” them.

But the show actually pulls through and has her realize the truth thanks to Ang and of course, a cheesy flashback.

And then they team up to fight the Zodiac Master!

It’s a temporary truce but I enjoyed that it touched on my previous complaints that Ang was the only one acting like they had a familial bond. Also Ling was less hostile psychopath and demonstrated she may have some good after all. Also them as kids were cute. I would just change the animation of the last scene because it looked less like a hug in the moonlight between twins but the beginning of something else between not siblings. . . so ew.

Spy Hard was also a fun episode. As you might guess, it’s a James Bond parody! Well a parody if James Bond had mystical possession and martial arts powers. Okay, it doesn’t really follow any James Bond movie plot but the Rooster guardian,Lo Wang has a Sean Connery voice which is delightful to listen to. Ang learns a bit about thinking before acting which I’m pretty sure he learned before but I didn’t care since I was enjoying Sean- I mean Lo so much.

Also, Ling continues to return to her roots by fighting against Zodiac Master again. While she was originally down for the whole possessing the dragon temple, she’s not in it for corrupting the Golden Dragon temple’s spirit with the darkest yin. If she’s going to steal the Golden Dragon, she’s going to do it honorably!

So yay? She’s not quite on Ang’s side but she’s not the Zodiac Master’s idiotic puppet either. And Ang trying to do an awkward fist bump was surprisingly endearing even if Ling didn’t reciprocate. You could tell she kinda wanted.

So yeah, as I write this down, I can see that it’s really starting to improve as the season goes on and I’m excited to see what the second half of the season does.

#legend of the dragon #episode thoughts #series rewrite #obscure shows

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where-theres-smoak-2 · 1 year

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Shadow and Bone 2x03 Review

I have finished ep 3 hooray! Going to be honest, it was an ok episode don’t get me wrong but I do feel like the pacing was a little off in this one, I feel like a lot of big things happened and it might have been better if some of those things happened over a couple of episodes, it just felt a tad bit rushed. Anyway as always spoilers, lots of spoilers, any book spoilers will be between two * for you to skip at your convenience if you so wish.

Nikolai, Alina and Co

So I am going to start off with Nikolai and Alina and that storyline involving that crew. I will say that the flying ship was very cool, I liked the way it detached from the ship. I also thought that Alina’s reaction to the boat taking off was very relatable like yup I too would find the nearest seat and then sit with my eyes closed hanging on for dear life.

We also finally got the Nikolai reveal and not going to lie was very happy they kept the punch in, it was amusing but also I think understandable for Alina’s character as this is the second time that she has been lied to by someone who she put her trust in. That being said I did really like the conversation between them where Nikolai points out that she makes it too simple and that people do what they have to do to protect those they love. But I also like that he pointed out that Alina never would have trusted him if he said who he really was at the start which is very true. I do think this logic can also be applied to her relationship with Aleks as well as its the same scenario, if he had revealed to her from the start that he was the creator of the fold she never would have trusted him. As Nikolai said it is never that simple.

I was surprised that they’ve introduced the spinning wheel so soon but it was nice to see Alina and Nadia reunite, I also liked the relationship between Nadia and her little brother Adrik, I am glad we got to see him. We also see Zoya again and it was nice to see her and Alina kind of make up and Zoya pledge allegiance to Alina. I’m still not sure how I feel about them all being at the spinning wheel this soon though. *In the book its not until way at the end of book 2 that they flee there so its almost like they’ve covered the first two books in ep 1 and 2 and now they are doing the end of book 2 and the beginning of book 3 in this episode. Which again as I said multiple times in speculation posts before the series aired just feels way too fast. But hopefully I am wrong and the pacing will sort itself out.

We also got Nikolai making his proposal for a political marriage to Alina. I guess it does make sense to show a united front and a way of bringing otkazat'sya and grisha together and like Nikolai said his royal family name would give her some protection so it does sound good politically. One thing I will say about the whole scene though, is I appreciate that they are trying to make Mal less of a toxic jealous control freak over Alina than he was in the books but I feel like they are stripping him back too much and making him too perfect. Like to me his reaction was a bit too chill which just seemed very unrealistic. Like I think it would have worked better if he initially had the same reaction as Alina of this guy is coo coo but then later in the episode he comes to her and says he’s mulled it over and realised it is the best thing for her and ravka, it just would have felt a bit more natural than the immediate acceptance.

The Crows.

So the crows had some tension amongst the ranks this episode and Kaz was definitely beginning to unravel a bit. It was clear the others in the crew felt like Kaz was taking unnecessary risks with their lives seeing as last episode Nina got shot and Inej got hurt. It was interesting to see these cracks in the crows relationships but honestly I am worried for Kaz because it does seem like he is spiralling.

We do learn more about Kaz’s backstory through some more flashbacks. Looks like Kaz’s brother invested money in some kind of business with Rollins and then Rollins ran off with it all, which I am going to assume meant they were left with nothing. We also learn through Wylan that the disease we saw in previous flashbacks was called firepox and it sounds horrific, we learn there were so many bodies that the crematoriums couldn’t keep up and so they had to float all the dead bodies on the harbour, which is what those previous scenes of young Kaz were where I said it looked like he was lying on a pile of dead bodies well that was because he was lying on a pile of dead bodies, and god did this get morbid fast. I am assuming they thought he was dead and so threw him on with the rest of the bodies. We also learn from Kaz confiding in Inej that Rollins killed Kaz’s brother, though I don’t know if he did that directly or not as there was that flashback of his brother coughing which makes me think he caught firepox and died so it was Rollins fault indirectly. Like them losing all their money meant they had no where to go and as they were homeless they were exposed to firepox. That’s my theory anyway.

I do have to talk about that scene between Inej and Kaz though because damn was it a good scene. I loved it, I loved that Inej called Kaz out and what I loved even more was that this time he trusted her and opened up. I also love how Inej immediately was on board and in ok well now Rollins shall die. It was also a rather tender scene between them as he tended to her wound. Also I think I may be a bit slow because I am pretty sure that Kaz has a touch eversion and that is why he wears gloves and that was probably covered in season 1 but I totally missed until this moment. I liked the discussion they has about finding the opponents weakness and how when Inej asked Kaz what his is he said his limp and cane but that no one had been smart enough to find his real weakness. But I think I have figured it out. His real weakness is Inej. In this episode we discover Rollins has a son and its clear that the other crows are worried Kaz in going to use his son against Rollins, I think this links into Kaz’s on weakness and fear that someone will use Inej to hurt him.

So Wylan and Jesper’s little side quest together was kind of cute not going to lie and I totally killed in last eps review they did totally sleep together and surprisingly it was Wylan who left the morning after. I knew I wasn’t just imagining the vibes between them. The song Wylan played on the piano was really beautiful, Jesper did seem to have quite the emotional reaction to it so I wonder if that song has some relevance to his past somehow. I am really enjoying the energy between these two though. They are really wholesome.

Nina finally got in to Hellgate and saw Matthias in the fighting rings, these rings do seem really messed up as it looks like they not only have the prisoners fighting each other but fighting wild animals and the like, its giving very roman colosseum vibes. I did feel bad for Nina when she was calling out to Matthias and eventually gets his attention only for him to then give her the cold shoulder. Its obvious that she is not only desperate to make up with him and reconnect but also is so desperate to get him out of there. That being said I don’t think she will take Rollins deal. I reckon they are going to do a cop out where it looks like Nina has but then it turns out she told Kaz from the beginning and they came up with some kind of plan together, what that plan might be I haven’t the foggiest. But like Kaz said at the beginning of the episode, Nina is a crow now and I just don’t see her betraying them.

Aleksander, Baghra, Genya and David

So when I said I felt like this episode was rushing the storyline a bit, I do think Aleks’ story in particular is being a little rushed. The first scene we see of him is the one between him and baghra near the beginning of the episode and I adored this scene, it was just really interesting. I loved how it starts out with Baghra telling him to stop lurking, it really does remind you that this is a mother and her child. But I think what I loved the most about this scene was that it does address how much of an effect Baghra’s parenting had on Aleks, the scene does kind of call her out on the mistakes she made. The thing is the lessons we are taught when we are young are the ones that’ll stick with us and the ones that are the hardest to unlearn. So I think this scene was important to show how Baghra’s teachings have informed Aleks views of the world. For example how she taught him that grisha were superior and that the otkazat’sya should fear them. It also addresses the events of Demon in the Woods a little talking about how she would burn down villages in the name of protecting her child. I have talked about the significance of this before how it set the example for Aleks that if you love someone then destroying entire towns and villages is acceptable to protect them. This is a lesson that stays with him and I do think it played a part in why he expanded the fold into Novokribirsk, he has love for Alina and Zlatan in his men tried to harm and would continue trying to harm her, he has love for the grisha and Zlatan was a threat to them too, so to him destroying Novokribirsk was an act of love and he saw it that way because of the example he was set by his own mother.

I did think the line about how she didn’t teach him compassion was a bit of an odd one if I am being honest because it implies that Aleks doesn’t feel compassion yet we’ve seen multiple examples throughout season 1 that would say otherwise. I mean if you look at the definition of compassion:

A strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others and a wish to help them.

He clearly has compassion for the grisha, you kind of have to have that compassion if you are going to recognise they are suffering and your response to be that you want to do everything in your power to help them and give them a safe place. He also shows concern and sympathy to Alina when it is clear she is suffering in season 1. Whilst I would say that he might struggle more with his compassion for others as years have gone by and he has had to numb himself in order to make those hard choices but I don’t think he is devoid of it or that he never learnt it like this moment suggests. Like when baghra starts listing off all the rumours she’s heard about the grisha being persecuted and killed by the first army, you can see that this pains Aleks, that he feels guilt over it and that he feels compassion for their suffering.

However I will give it to Baghra that moment when talking about Alina and she says ‘there was a moment where you might have earned her love instead of claiming her power’ wow talk about a hit in the gut. You tell that one really did hurt Aleks. However it is also worth pointing out that if Baghra hadn’t got involved then he still may have earned her love and might not have tried to claim her power and none of this may have happened. But ya know hind sight and all that. I can still appreciate that it was a damn good line.

David was pretty smart in this episode in that he played nice with Aleks and used that trust he knew Aleks had in him to his advantage to learn more about the Nichevo'ya and their effect on Aleks. But it was interesting how Aleks actually seemed to be kind of sweet to David, like he seemed genuinely happy that David was there it was kind of a bizarre contrast to how unhinged he also seems to becoming with the merzost poisoning him. During the conversation Aleks talks about how apparently Morozova went mad so I am guessing this was also a result of the merzost and could be where Aleks himself is heading, we could see him continue to lose his mind. I won’t deny that I do find it an interesting concept.

However the part that I do think was rushed was what he does to baghra and genya. I get that they are trying show that Aleks is becoming more unhinged the more desperate he gets but I think having both these big and violent moments happen in the same episode was too intense and made it feel to sudden if that makes sense. Like I feel like the pacing would have worked better if he had cut Baghra’s finger off in this episode and then saved his attack on Genya until episode 4 then it would have seemed like a more gradual shift, and like him sinking deeper into this madness caused by the merzost.

One thing I will say I think they did right was that as opposed to the books they did make these two acts of violence make sense for Aleks’ character. * I also think the change from blinding baghra to cutting off her finger makes alot more sense than it did in the books.* Like I can follow Aleks’ chain of thoughts here, he is feeling very angry and abandoned by his mother, who also keeps talking about Alina, another person he feels angry and abandoned by and that anger at his mother only grows the more she refuses to help and so by cutting off her finger he can exact his revenge on his mother and satisfy that anger he feels but also he is desperate to find out more about Morozova’s amplifiers and knows that he made them from his own finger bones so thinks if his mother won’t give him any answers he’ll take her finger bones and see if they will give him some answers instead. It is also really unhinged which furthers that storyline of him being poisoned by the merzost. What I do think is an interesting touch is that both when he cuts off Baghra’s finger and when he attacks Genya you can see those blakc veins creeping up his neck. With Genya you could probably explain it as him summoning the nichevo’ya and using merzost but it is interesting that it is there when he is cutting off Baghra’s finger as he isn’t actively using merzost in that moment but it is clearly still having an effect on him, its almost like the merzost itself has a hunger for violence.

Like with Baghra I do think him using the nichevo’ya on Genya made more sense in the show’s scenario. *It didn’t make much sense in the books because of the order he gave not to harm Alina and yet he punishes Genya for not harming Alina which made no sense.* I do think it is understandable why Genya running triggered Aleks I mean not only it because its another betrayal from one of his grisha, like Zoya betrayed him in the fold, but it is very similar to how Alina left him. When he catches up with him he doesn’t ask why she ran but why she abandoned him. I think Aleks at this point is so lost and unhinged that he can’t understand why all these people who used to stand by him are leaving. Afterall his goal is still the same, to safe grisha, in his now warped mind achieving this goal is the most important thing in the world and he doesn’t understand why no one else is willing to go to the same lengths he does to achieve that goal.

I will say also that while I understand why David and Genya ran watching a guy produce shadow and monsters and cut his own mother’s finger off is bound to unnerve a person, I do think this is another thing that is a bit rushed. Again though I think this comes from being a book reader because in the books it takes them both alot longer to realise how dangerous Aleks is. Its another thing that I think maybe could have been pushed into ep 4. That would have given it just a little bit more time to stew and also that would have put David and Genya’s escape attempt half way through the season which I think would have worked better, like the first half of the season they are loyal to Aleks but then come mid season they have that epiphany of hey this guy is bonkers lets skedaddle.

Going back to Aleks and the merzost we see those black veins again when Aleks has that angry outburst after discovering that the Morozova journal is gone, it really does seem like it flares up when he is angry and causes these violent outbursts. What is interesting though is that Aleks’ way of calming down is to call on that connection between him and Alina. To visit her, its like he is using her to keep himself steady, like she is the focal point he is using to stop himself from spiralling completely out of control.

Right well that’s another review and episode done. On to episode 4 and then we are at the halfway point, so that’s exciting.

Favourite Lines

‘There was a moment where you might have earned her love instead of claiming her power.’

‘There are no mistakes, only lessons.’

‘Pekka Rollins killed my brother.’ ‘Then we destroy him.’

#shadow and bone #s&b season 2 spoilers #darklina

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