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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed - Episode 02

Warning: Spoilers for all 50 episodes!

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Donkey Riding

way ho and away we go, donkey riding donkey riding way ho and away we go, riding on a donkey

Wei Wuxian and Apple are doing their best for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Xiao Zhan had trouble riding the donkey sitting side-saddle, so the Department of Questionable Practical Effects made him a fake leg to wear while riding regular style.

Can you spot it? It’s very hard to spot. It is very convincing.

Simple Pleasures

Wei Wuxian takes his time wandering up the nearest mountain, and half of the cultivators in the land also wander up this mountain because...Night Hunting! The cultivators are hot and thirsty from walking because they forgot that they all know how to fly.

Wei Wuxian relaxes by a well and listens to people stanning him.

Also

I’m going to say it: Wei Wuxian never met a drinking vessel he couldn’t blow.

Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet

The actress who plays A-Yan is named Zhang Linran. She probably has studied dance since she was 4 and now she gets her big break which turns out to be feeding an apple to a donkey. So let’s pause for a second to look at how beautifully she moves.

Reunions are Awkward, Part 1

Wei Wuxian meets up with one of his family members and it goes super well.

I...like Jin Ling? He’s much less of a douchebag than his dad, his uncles Jin, Jiang, and Mo (the three stooges), and every damn one of his Jin cousins. He’s genuinely brave (his Dad’s primary good quality) and his hair is on fleek. He’s still a whiny diaper baby, but I like him.

(much more after the cut!)

Then Jiang Cheng shows up, looking fine as hell and radiating peak arrogant-prick energy.

When he discovers that ‘Mo Xuanyu” stuck a piece of paper to Jin Ling, he tells the child to literally murder him. Excellent uncleing! A+++++ would recommend.

“In fact, literally murder anyone who uses Yiling Laozu’s tools, like talismans, lure flags, or spirit compasses - basically murder everyone in the Lan Clan plus those other fanboys we saw coming up the hill. Then get out there and make some friends, goddamn it!”

These nets full of cultivators on this daytime night hunt are the only time we ever see anything in a net during a night hunt. In fact dudes constantly go night hunting and the only prey we ever see is rock lady, murder turtle, and a couple of rag mops in the lake.

You Are Not Qualified to Speak to Me

Also radiating arrogant-prick energy on this occasion is Lan Wangji. He has been using pettiness as a weapon since long before he met this Jiang Cheng turkey, and he *brings it* when Jiang Cheng tries to have a conversation with him.

Letting your eyes wander everywhere except to his punchable face while you ignore his passive-aggressive questions? Quality work.

Dropping a silence spell on his child and then letting your own child explain it to him? Golden.

Lan Wangji is never ever going to forgive Jiang Cheng for what he did on cliff day, and his silence here is as pointed as an ice pick. I suspect the last words Lan Wangji actually spoke to him were “Jiang Wanyin, stop it,” sixteen years ago.

Jiang Cheng is actually the bigger person in this particular interaction, visibly mastering his temper and telling Jin Ling to take his medicine.

Reflecting

Wei Wuxian hangs out by a beautiful river and hallucinates for a while. River Jiang Yanli is nurturing and River Jiang Cheng is pissed off, so there are no surprises there. River Jiang Cheng thinks that Wei Wuxian is a promise-breaking douchebag. He’s not exactly wrong.

Courtesy of convenient gossiping cultivators, Wei Wuxian discovers that the 16 year old arrogant kid from the Jin clan who his brother from the Jiang clan has custody of is actually and quite obviously Jin Rulan.

Well fuck I guess now I care about something, that’s inconvenient.

Needing to help parent the child of the sister who parented him is what draws Wei Wuxian fully into his new life.

As soon as he has this realization, Apple comes back from roaming around, and never gives him any trouble after this for the rest of the story. Which...probably doesn’t mean anything.

Wen Gravesite

Does Wen Ning hang out here because it’s where he and his (dead) people came from? Oh great, now I am sad.

Judging by all the leaves on this grave thingy I’m going to say that this grave tender dude is, ah, not very good at his job.

Get him, Jingyi!

I feel like maybe we all focus too much on how Lan Jingyi is so hilarious and sardonic and not enough on how he is a such a biscuit.

Soul Grass

As mentioned in the previous post, Chinese spiritual concepts don’t always translate well into English. Soul grass? Sure, why not.

This is where Wei Wuxian’s Sherlock Holmes brain starts to work, although he still doesn’t remember really basic stuff about Dafan Mountain. Dying and changing bodies is rough on the old neurochemistry. This creates more opportunities for flashbacks, however, and if there’s one thing The Untamed deffo needs more of, it’s kissing flashbacks.

Temple Statue

Presumably grave-tender dude is also in charge of clearing away spiderwebs at the temple, because it’s not getting done.

Jin Ling walks into the temple blaspheming at full volume.

Since this isn’t a Greek story, he isn’t immediately struck blind for this. Then when he wishes for the statue to come alive, it obligingly does. Everything’s coming up Rulan!

Wei Wuxian shows up to rescue all the kids by throwing talismans at the monster which does not tip anyone off to who he is.

Baby Cultivator Babysitting

Lan Wangji chills out in the cultivators’ pavilion with Jiang Cheng and their mutual hate boners.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian forgets all about his nephew and turns into cool professor guy, explaining the basics of soul-eating to the baby cultivators and gleefully encouraging their fear of Hanguang-Jun’s punishments.

Because the Lan babies are good filial children they are super respectful and engaged with this random adult who is lecturing them. They also - like their own Hanguang-Jun at their age - see and admire Wei Wuxian’s intellect. It’s easy to forget how extremely smart Wei Wuxian is, because of how extremely dumb Wei Wuxian is.

Lan Jingyi suddenly figures out Wei Wuxian is not crazy.

Bis. Kit.

Then Rock Lady shows up and Jin Ling sticks 6 arrows into her while Lans Jingyi and Sizhui stand around not bothering to draw their swords.

I see a lot of comments about the bad effects in the statue sequences but I think Rock Lady is all right. The figure animation is decent and the lighting is no worse on her than on everything else in the scene. Her hair is nice, for a rock person.

Admittedly I just finished watching Guardian which has CGI monsters so bad they may have injured my retinas and possibly also my DNA, so the bar, for me, is pretty low. Rock lady clears it with room to spare.

Note: Wei Wuxian’s flute playing does zippity towards controlling the statue. Not sure what his plan was here.

Wen Ning Kicks Ass

Now we get to meet Wen Ning, who appears to be a stone-cold badass. Later we will discover how hilariously inaccurate that assessment is.

While all versions of Wen Ning are delightful, this version of Wen Ning is also...strangely attractive? He’s got a Patti-Smith-Horses-Era vibe here, instead of his more usual lost-baby-dork vibe. And his dreamy “I have nails in my head” expression is intriguing.

I mean, he’s not a total snack like zombie Song Lan or pre-zombie Song Lan or blind Song Lan or post-zombie Song Lan, but this look is a good one for Wen Ning, is what I’m saying.

Reunions are Awkward, Part 2

Lan Wangji, who has 99% already recognized Wei Wuxian because of the haunted sword and the fierce jawline and beautiful neck and tiny tiny waist, is summoned by his flute playing as inexorably as the Ghost General was.

Jiang Cheng also recognizes Wei Wuxian and goes into full beatdown mode, thwarted (silently) by Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian attempts to preserve his incognito by sassing Jiang Cheng in as sibling-like a manner as possible.

Hanguang-Jun’s Pro-Ghost Agenda Has Been Clear for Some Time

This Jiang/Lan fight is hilarious when you consider the implications.

Macroexpression vs. Microexpression

Mo Xuanyu brought Wei Wuxian back using sacrifice summons, a dark ritual invented by Wei Wuxian that he, most likely, did NOT show to Lan Wangji back in the day. So it’s a pretty safe bet that Lan Wangji doesn’t know that Wei Wuxian was gifted a body, rather than stealing one.

when your brother turns around, you must whip him you will never live it down unless you whip him

When Jiang Cheng lets loose with Zidian, it’s not just because he’s angry. He’s using purple power to force Wei Wuxian’s ghost out of the body he’s apparently possessed. And Lan Wangji instantly STOPS him from doing that.

Clan Leader Jiang: this person has been possessed, against their will, by an evil ghost

Future Chief Cultivator Lan: Counterpoint: I am banging the ghost

Flashback Time

Welcome to your 30-episode flashback!

Once I used to join in Every boy and girl was my friend Now there's revolution, but they don't know What they're fighting

Let us close our eyes Outside their lives go on much faster Oh, we won't give in We'll keep living in the past

Road Tripping to Summer School

Gosh I’m looking forward to younger, kinder, more relatable Jiang Cheng.

...prick.

Incidentally, until now this episode didn’t know that Jiang Cheng has smile muscles, and neither did the person who glued his wig on for him.

I Like Rabbits

Here we have our first rabbit in a large collection of rabbit iconography that appears in The Untamed.

Instead of sending everyone to the Wikipedia page for Tu'er Shen I’m going to take this opportunity to rec the short film Kiss of the Rabbit God by Andrew Thomas Huang (tw: blood, tw:body-mod cutting) which you can read about and watch over at Nowness.com

Particularly if you are a queer person of Chinese heritage, check it out.

So. What the fuck are these? Are they food?

Are they made from wax? Or corn starch? or pig intestines?

Wei Wuxian runs off to get laid drunk and Jiang Cheng grumps about it. Jiang Yanli reminds him that being free is a Jiang Clan Rule, so really Wei Wuxian is following the rules by not following the rules. Does that mean he’s not free? My head hurts.

Jiang Cheng: yes but grump grump grump

Jiang Yanli: Nothing bad will ever happen because of A-Xian’s choices, trust me

Outro

Wei Wuxian faint tally: one Caught by: the cold hard ground

Soundtrack: 1. Donkey Riding by Great Big Sea 2. Living in the Past by Jethro Tull 3. Whip It by Devo

Fic prompt: Lan Wangji’s internal monologue while he sits in the pavilion with Jiang Cheng

If you write a fic from this prompt and want to share, please post a link in comments!

Bonus: Wang Zuocheng, macro-expression king

Episode 03 Restless Rewatch coming soon!

#the untamed #fytheuntamed #the untamed spoilers #the untamed gifs #the untamed stills #my gifs #my stills #restless rewatch #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #lan wangji #lan jingyi #c-drama #bl drama #the untamed memes

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Static Shock: Shock to the System and Aftershock Review

“You know what? 13 years ago, me and some friends sat in a restaurant all night and daydreamed about the kinds of stories we would tell if we had the chance. We wanted to expand the concept of superhero to include characters that kind of looked like us, who had some of the same background, experiences and dreams as we did. We wanted to create something fun that a new generation would respond to the same way we responded to our childhood heroes -and damn if we didn't succeed beyond my wildest dreams. Today, Static Shock is a household name with millions of fans of all ages (Is there stuff I'd do differently? Yeah, almost all of season four but why nitpick?) Static is the most successful thing I've ever helped create and I'm both proud and gratified that people have taken it into their hearts. “

Dwayne McDuffie, Co-Creator of Static and Writer for Static Shock

This review is dedicated to Dwayne McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III. Rest In Power Static Shock is awesome. I grew up with the show watching it both first run on the WB and second run on Cartoon Network and loved it as much as I did other large parts of my childhood courtsey of DC like Batman the Animated Series, Teen Titans and both Justice League Shows. What makes this unique among the DC Properties is that Static wasn’t really a big name when he got a show. He wasn’t even part of the DC Universe.

See as I had no idea for probably a good decade, Static actually came from Milestone Comics, a company ran by and focused on african americans. The goal was understandable: While black heroes existed at the time, and there were some fantastic ones like Storm, Jim Rhodes and Steel... these guys weren’t the center of their universes. The big faces of the big companies, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash.. were white. So milestone was a shakeup of that with the main teams and heroes all being black, from Icon, an alien who’d lived among man but rather than end up in kansas like say superman ended up imprinting on a slave woman centuries ago and has been with us since, who was encouraged by an energetic teenager named Rocket to put on a costume and do something with his powers and his community, Hardware, a tech genius who had his work stolen by a white asshole and wanted to fight back and BLood Syndicate, a group of gang members all caught in the “The Big Bang”, a huge fight between all of Dakota, the midwest city where the comics take place, that ended when the police released a bunch of experimental gas that gave them all super powers.

As most of you who have watched the show already know, this is where Static comes from. Static was the company making their own Spider-Man, i.e. a nerdy teenager who suddenly gets super powers, in this case Virgil Hawkins who at the prodding of a friend took a gun to The Big Bang to get revenge on a bully. .but ultimately couldn’t go through with it, decided it wasn’t him and got rid of the gun and ran.. and still ended up in it, becoming Static, a young hero dedicated to using his powers to fight other “Bang Babies”.. a term that dosen’t really sound that great and they really should’ve thought through. But Phrasing aside the character was great and I look forward to reading more and only haven’t because I have to buy the issues gradually, but DC is currently re-releasing the individual issues of Static, Icon, and Hardware weekly in anticipation of a reboot of Milestone Coming in May digitally on Comixology at only 2 bucks a pop, and rereleased the original print collections that were long out of print for 10 bucks each, though i’m getting static on it’s own since i’ts really not that much less expensive as it only collects four issues while Icon and Hardware both collect 8, so I can wait a bit there on Hardware and already own Icon: A Hero’s Welcome.. and really need to review it at some point.

While Milestone’s output was good, at least from the two books i’ve read, with Robert Washinton III, who sadly not only ahs also passed but was fucking homeless for a while in the 2000′s.. what the actual hell, writing Static alongside Dwayne McDuffie, whose later moved onto animation writing tons of Static episodes all of them classics including the school shooting episode, the first three rubberbandman episodes and both Anasazi episodes. Point is it had good writers and artists and even had a distrbution deal with DC, so they had a leg up on the glut of other comic book companies.. but happened to start at the start of the comic book crash, a huge downturn in sales in the 90′s as the speculator boom, i.e. a bunch of people assuming every number one would be worth golden and silver age money, forgetting a character has to BUILD INTREST and this stuff takes time, and whose attempts to sell fast flooded the market with comics no one wanted,, caused the roof to cave in and with a bunch of assholes pegging milestone as a “Company for black people” rather than you know, a company trying to add fucking diversity and represntation to the comics industry, and that simply wanted a unvierse that was centered around people of color instead of white guys. The company eventually had to shut down, and was left to lisencing. This is where the show comes in. Producers HAD been trying to make shows based on Milestone for a while, as far back as the mid-90s and the company was was all for it but the closest it got was an x-men style team series using various characters whose first draft was terrible and whose second draft by Alan Burnett, a producer on various DC Animated shows who’d go on to produce Static Shock, that McDuffie and others really liked but sadly did not get picked up. eventually though with presistance Static ended up getting a series and as I said McDuffie went on to write for it though he did not develop it. Some changes went into place naturally to make it work for an early 2000′s kids show and while i’ll probably miss so since again, only read one issue as we go. But due to Milestone coming back my intrest was peaking, hence finally reading the copy of Icon I had to buy from the library years ago due to keeping it overdue but am now EXTREMLEY glad I own as i’ts incredibly rare and really damn good, and wanting to read static, doing so lately since it’s finally on digtiial and again not too expensive. So join me as I give you a shock to the system and revisit this hell of a series to see if it holds up.. which just to cut that short it does and i’m only holding off binging MORE because I want the first two eps to be fresh enough in my head to review properly.. and also go over the various voice actors because that’s a thing with me now and charcter co-creator dwayne mcduffie because he’s awesome.

As I like to do when covering a series first episodes, let’s run down the voice cast.

First up is an UTTER LEGEND, and I use the term voice acting legend a lot, and mean it every time and have good reason to use it when I say it, and Phil LaMarr is a GOD in the buisness, having done a metric ton of voice acting roles, and being easily the most proflific black voice actor in animation. He’s also done some acting work, mostly in pulp fiction which I have not seen, but his true staying power and talent is in animation so here’s just the roles I feel are most notable or may not be very notable but i’m bringing up anyway because it’s my list.

His roles besides Virgil include Lester Payton the Texas Ranger who showed up for one very good episode of king of the hill to be badass and show up the hickish, stupid and very punchable local Sheriff, Gearld’s obnoxious older brother Jamie O on Hey Arnold, Hermes Conrad from futurama, Carver from the Weekenders (PUT IT ON PLUS DISNEY), Axel Foley for exactly one bit in Clerks the Animated Series, but anyone whose seen it will know exactly which one, Micheal on the Proud Family, Black Vulcan on Harvey Birdman (In His Pants), Hector Con Carne and Dracula on Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne, Jack on Samurai Jack something I didn’t know for decades (and I didn’t know about the carver thing till today though i’ts obvious in hindsight), John Motherfucking Stewart on Justice League and later Steel and Adult Static in the Unlimited seasons, Osmosis Jones on Ozzy and Drix, Bolbi Strogofski on Jimmy Neutron (And yes i’m just as shocked as you are.), Wilt on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Marcus on Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Bull Sharkowski on My Gym Partner is A Monkey and Also a Sociopath Please Help God My Life is a waking nightmare..... okay the rest of that title is implied but we all watched the same show, we all know in our hearts that was the title

Moving on, he was also, and yes there’s MORE: Maxie Zeus on The Batman, Philly Phil on Class of 3000, Both Robertsons AND Fancy Dan on the Spectacular Spider-Man, Jazz on Transformers Animated, Kit Fisto and Bail Organa on Star Wars the Clone Wars, Gambit and Bolivar Trask on Wolverine and the X-Men, Aquaman I, L-Ron and Green Beetle on Young Justice, J.A.R.V.I.S. and Wonder Man (Simon Williams) In Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Gabe and Carny on Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters (Really miss that game and have been snapping up what cards I can get lately), Baxter Stockman in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (And there’s also an awesome photo of him with 2003 Baxter... the two best together in one place. I got chills), Dormammu (I’ve come to bargin) in various Marvel Shows, Noville in Mighty Magiswords, Zach’s dad Marcus in Milo Muprhy’s Law, Craig’s Douchey Brother Benard on Craig of the Creek, showing he’s clearly come full circle, And Mr. Scully on the Casagrndes. And given It took about two paragraphs to cover all of this, yeah, I MEANT legend.

Next we have Kevin Micheal Richardson as Virgil’s Dad Robert, and it’s the first time since I started introducing Voice Actors on a show that i’ve overlapped. I already covered him during the second episode of legend of the three caballeros, but for the short version he’s also very acomplished, very damn good and I somehow missed he played the old blind guy in hey arnold> Needless to say the dude is awesome.

Virgil’s Sister Sharon is played by Michele Morgan who was in the rap group BWP and did some smaller roles outside of this the one exception being Juicy on the PJ’s, which I have not watched much of but REALLY do not like, though i’ll at least give it credit for being a decently long lasted black claymation sitcom at at time when there were, and hoenstly still aren’t, many black animated shows.

Back to long casting sheets, next up is Jason Marsden, who is one of my faviorites as i’ve realized recently as Ritchie. As I also found out only recently he started on the Sitcom Step By Step and while that show is .. ehhhhhhhhh, he is great in it because he’s great in everything. He also apparently has his own internet variety show which I have to watch now. His roles include Max Goof, ironically given I was just talking about that role a few days ago, Haku in the english dub of Spirted Away, Micheal, the kid being yelled at by a bunch of 80′s cartoons characters not to take drugs in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue!, Nermal in the DTV Garfield movies and The Garfield Show, Tino on the Weekenders (SERIOUSLY DISNEY), Snapper Carr on Justice League, Rikochet on Mucha Lucha! for the last season (Why I do not knkow and while I love the guy he was not the right choice), Felix on Kim Possible, Chase Young on Xiaolin Showdown (WHich I did not realize was him and now I do easily his best role and I REALLY should’ve), Red Star and Billy Numerous on Teen Titans, Speedy on Batman Brave and the Bold, Impulse/Kid Flash II on Young Justice, and Fingers on Kaijudo. He hasn’t done as much lately which is a shame but hopefully i’tll pick up again.

Next up is Hotstreak, Virgil’s brutal bully turned unhinted pyromancer played by DANIEL COOKSY, another actor i’m happy to talk about and another faviorite I haven’t seen much of lately. Daniel was an actor from childhood, playing Budnick on Salute Your Shorts, but he quickly gained a long and storied catalogue of VA Work: His first big roll was as Montana Max on Tiny Toon Adventures and if there is a god he’ll be back for the reboot, Stoop Kid on Hey Arnold, the incomprable Jack Spicer on Xiaolin Showdown, far and away his best role and part of why Chronicles sucked so bad was he was he didn’t get to reprise the role, The titular Dave the Barbarian, Django of the Dead on El Tigre (Had no idea), Kicks utterly insufferable big Brother Brad on Kick Buttowski and apparently he’s back at it again after laying low for a bit as he’s voicing Snag in Long Gone Gultch.. which I already really needed to watch but hot damn, I missed him. Sign me up.

Frieda, Virgil’s crush and close friend who in the comics was his main confidante and love intrest but here is eventually pushed aside, is voiced by Danica Mckeller whose work didn’t seem all that familiar.. until I found out she was Ms. Martian on Young Justice. Hello, Megan. Very talented and she did get a major role in a dc show eventually so good for her. Can’t wait for season 4.

So with our major players out of the way, let’s talk about Dwayne. McDuffie is an AWESOME man and my respect has grown for him more and more with time. A writer and editor at Marvel, McDuffie has a decent resume doing smaller but awesome books, which I got most of for free last year when Marvel was giving out free digital collections due to the lock down, like Damage Control, a sitcom set in the marvel universe about the company that picks up after superhero battles and the logistics and antics that insue and Dethlok, about a pacfist trapped inside a cyborg zombie. He was as mentioned one of Milestone’s founders, and wrote Icon, Hardware and co-wrote the first few issues of Static. He’d go on to a pretty stacked career in animation, writing on this show and Justice League before becoming story editor and show runner for Unlimited , even making a return to comics as a result writing the Marvel miniseries beyond and an arc of Fantastic Four in which Black Panther and Storm filled in for Reed and Sue while the two of them worked on their marriage after Reed did.. pretty much everything he did in Civil War. He also became head writer and show runner for Ben 10: Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, revamping the franchise a bit, and Alien Force, at least the first two seasons are awesome and I feel people overreacted on the changes. Ultimate Alien is okay, but has it’s problems but the finale was awesome and left the man’s legacy on a high note.. as he sadly passed in 2011 due to heart complications. He is truly missed and produced some utterly amazing stuff whlie he was alive. So on that melacholy note let’s see what happens when his creation hits the tv screen shall we?

Shock to the System:

This episode is written by Christopher Simmons, who is apparently a huge art designer guy.. but i’m not sure that’s the same chirsptoher simmons. Much more notable is the writer of the episode after this Stan Berkowitz, who was showrunner for season 1 and has done a LOT of DCAU work and is suprising talent, having written a lot of awesome Justice League episodes including Secret Society and The Royal Flush One. Point is we’re in first class hands. Before the episode itself I want to talk about the intro and how it’s unique among DCAU shows. Like most Western Animation the intros for DCAU shows didn’t change much over the seasons with the most I can see is JLU changing up the footage to preview the current episode and later adding Hawkgirl to the intro after her return to the team. I THINK superman the animated series changed some of it’s footage too, but I can’t confrim it and may of just been imagining it. As i’ve talked about on my blog it’s normally a pet peeve of mine, mostly because shows you know, change after season 1, characters get added some one shot characters used for the intro never return, and after a while it can feel dated especially in more recent shows where the status quo is not at all set in stone and things change quite a bit. But sometimes it can be good enough that either the dated elements don’t matter or general enough that you don’t need to change it and i’ts just that good.. and given Batman the Animated Series has both in spades, you can see why i’ts probably my golden standard for intros and after superman the animated series DC mostly followed suit. But being part of the teen superhero boom of the 2000′s Static is unique in that it splits the diffrence: It’s intro gets the character across perfectly like a good intro should starting with Virgil getting out of bed and running a comb across his head before showing off to his sister to bug her and literally running into his dad who hand shim his bag and smiles, silently showing off his family. He then runs to school and runs into some trouble.. and said trouble changes for each intro, with Rubberband Man for season 1, Kanga (Whose name I only know because I happened to run across it) for season 2 and your guess is as good as mine for seasons 3 and 4, though Hotstreak is a constant. They still save some money for seasons 1 and 2 by recycling some animation.. but that’s alright with mea s it was good animation, and the improtant thing is cycling out old villians for new ones, while Season 3 is the only out and out redo to show off Richie taking on the Gear identity, adding about 10 seconds of intro to let him show off. Seriously it’s an utterly great intro and like the other DCAU intros outside of superman, stuck in my brain.

The other change that’s ENTIRELY diffrent from the rest of htem is that the music changes each time. The first two have the same formula just with a difrent vocalist and backing track: a superhero theme but with some hip hop beat boxing over it. The first intro is fine enough, not specattcular but stilll god. The second song.. is eh. Not really great and feels like a marked downgrade from season 1 and just dosen’t blend an ocrehstiral superhero theme with the beatbox elements NEARLY as well. The third song though is my faviorite.. even if I HATED Little Romeo as a kid because I really did not like his nick show, it’s more a straight up rap song, but it has a faster beat that fits the intro better, and Romeo’s bragging fits Virgil’s character and penchant for Spidey quips perfectly. I also find it ironic that the theme that blends in with the dcau the most, the first season’s, is the one from BEFORE they decided to put it in the same universe. Still this season’s intro slaps, I just like the LIttle Romeo one a bit more. The opening scene is picture perfect. Some masked crooks looting a warehouse are loading some stolen TV’s into a van when suddenly the lights come on one by one above one of the crooks before his tv switches to various channels before going haywire. Cue our heroes’ entrance. Let’s tak ea good look at him

Static’s Costume is awesome. While I prefer the season 3 redesign, and clearly DC agrees as the redeisgn was used for both pre and post new-52 when they used him, and while he’s getting a fresh design for the reboot, said design takes a lot of cures from said outfit. As for how the outfit differs from the comics itself this is the design he had in the comics

It didn’t change much from the first issue, with the exception of his now iconic big puffy jacket which was added pretty early into the character’s history but I was unaware of that and just assumed he had the bodysuit the whole time. The more you know. But as you can see outside of the cool puffy jacket over a costume the two couldn’t be more diffrent. While the Dakotaverse outfit is more a standard superhero outfit, with some regular clothes touches on top the first cartoon outfit comes off more realistic, looking fantastic, but still coming off as something two teenagers could realistically have thrown together with what clothes they could buy, while still looking awesomely superheroy. IN short it’s perfect and only topped by the season 3 onward look...

But the slicker look, with an even cooler jakcet and the new colors all fitting the lighting ascetic better, but fits: not only has Virgil come along farther since he started, but with Richie now having a genius brain as Gear, he can provide a far slicker, far more professional superhero outfit on the budget the two have. This show is just great at costume design.

So getting back to the episode at hand, Static puts up a huge sign in elecrticy saying “Bad guys here”, PFFFT, and then hides away and narrates that a few days ago he’d be the last person anyone would’ve expected to be a hero. Cue Flashback.

We meet Virgil Hawkins on an average day: rapping into his razor, getting into a petty argument with his older sister Sharon, as a younger brother myself I relate to this, and talking to his dad who tries to get them to cut that out. We find out his mom has passed via his sister making really terrible eggs and saying that’s how mom made them. Exposition! Though we do get a great bit through this as when his sister gets distracted by her boyfriend calling, he uses the opportunity of her leaving the room to dump the eggs.. after having earlier jokingly prayed to his mom for a way out of breakfast. “Thanks for looking out for me mom” That’s both very sweet and very hilarious.

This is a change from the comics it turns out as I was utterly flored to find Virgil’s mom alive and well when reading the first issue of Static. Turns out this was a change made during development and one Dwane McDuffie admitted in the interview I got the tribute quote from to not liking as he had a good reason for having Virgil have a nuclear family, as most black families in media at the time were just one single parent and a kid or two with the other having either left or died. He wasn’t too bothered by it as while he preferred what he came up with in the first place, the show DID get some really good stories out of her being gone and didn’t just have her be absent because shut up. Virgil is still working over her death and the way HOW she died ends up playing an important role in this episode and gives Virgil a dislike of guns, as she died to gang violence. So the change wasn’t for stupid or racist reasons, but likely both to keep the character count down while giving them something to work with for storylines. Or it could’ve been for stupid reasons and the writers simpily made lemonade out of that very dumb lemon, either way it ended up working. Virgil also plans to ask his friend Frieda out. Frieda was a bigger deal in the comics, being Virgil’s friend and confidante as well as his ocasional love intrest, but here while she was inteded to at least be his love intrest here, that sorta fizzled out. As for the best friend role we meet her replacement in Richie, which McDuffie conceded was the kind of change a studio would make swapping out a female character for a male one. That being said the crew made the best of it and Richie is awesome, a bit of an overcompensating dipstick at times, but a good sounding board and pal for virgil and funny as hell too. He was also gay, something only revealed post series by McDuffie.. but unlike say Dumbledore, it’s a bit easier to swallow here: The early 2000′s were an even worse time for gay characters in tv let alone cartoons, and if they couldn’t kiss or have sex scenes on regular tv, there was no way we were getting any representation in a children’s show. So it was largely just hinted at by Richie overcompensating in how “into girls” he was and i’m once again fine with this being word of god as it was literally the best they could do and his counterpart in the comics was also gay, if not as relevant. Ritch encourages Virgil to work on his opening to ask her out as it’s awkward as heck, hits a bit close to home.. but I do appricate the show just .. having him try and ask her out from the first episode. They likely would’ve drug thigns out a bit granted had they used Frieda more, i’m not blind to the convetions of the time. .but as someone who got the very wrong idea from tv that just waiting around meant a girl would like you eventually, when no you need to actually try even if rejection happens, I honestly wish we had more of this in media than the other garbage morals at the time.

So he prepares to , not helped by her mentioning guy after guy is asking her out.... but before he can F-Stop, the future hotstreak, shows up. F-STOP

That being said...... it’s not as bad as the original gangster name for the comic’s version, Biz Money B. Yes BIZ MONEY B

So yeah while F-Stop is no more intimidating, it at least means I can stop laughing. Francis, because I can’t type F-Stop without laughing and this review is already behind, shoves Virgil out of the way and agressively hits on Frieda, even saying “you smell good”, the international sign your a douchebag and also to call the police. Virgil steps up to the guy and gets PAINFULLY slammed into the lockers, something I give the animation team a lot of credit for, as you can FEEL how fucking painful that was. Virgil is saved by Wade, another local gangbanger who in the comics was a close friend of Virgils but here saves him seemingly just because.. seemingly.

On the way home though Virg’s problems don’t end as naturally, the giant sized asshole with nothing better to do has his goons corner virgil before VIOLENTLY beating him.. off screen but the noises, and the clear brusies including a black eye, on virgil afterwords.. just holy damn i’m suprsied they got away with this but it shows just how horrifing it was and that this is a step above regular bullying, which make no mistake is absoluttley terrible and the series would later do an episode on it and school shootings, into straight up gang violence. Wade shows up again and gets the bastards to flee.. but also makes it clear he can’t keep doing this.. and forces Virgil to meet him at his base under the bridge. And it’s a tense sequence, with Virgil KNOWING this is a bad idea but having no real choice and Wade making it abundantly clear that he wants Virgil to join his crew, and makes a chilling point: while Virgils dad RIGHTFULLY dosen’t want his son to join a gang as Virgil points out.. he can’t be there for him all the time and eventually one of those times, Francis will be around. And he may not surivive that. Virgil nods noncomittaly. At home it gets even more grim as he dosen’t open up to his family, understandably as his dad would jsut say to call the police and well.. we’ve seen how the police treat black people. At best they’d just try and use Virgil as an informant and that likely wouldn’t end fucking well for Virgil. Ritchie points out he can’t join a gang, virgil’s mom died that way.. see told you it’d be important to the plot.. but I like how the story dosen’t offer an easy answer.. well okay he gets electric powers soon enough but without the fantastic element this is just an innocent kid caught between either joining the very thing his mom hated or hoping a system not built to protect him will keep him alive. It’s utterly saddening and chilling and holy shit is it amazing a cartoon in the early 2000′s was able to get away with.. ANY OF THIS, and they handle it great, paired down a bit from the comics but even then it’s still incredibly balsy they got THIS much in.

Naturally Wade calls in his favor and our hero is forced to come running.. and soon finds out Wade’s brought him in for a massive gang war. Welcome to the big bang, baby. He hands Virgil a gun as things get started and Virgil.. drops the thing and tries to escape, in a harrowing sequence.. and runs into Francis because god apparently REALLY hates this kid today. As if to prove that the police show up and while that prevents a beating, they demand they disassemble. then release untested gas on them because of course they do.

As a result the big bang truly begins, with the various gang members getting mutated.. and naturally so does virgil. Though he wakes up the next day seemingly fine. How’d he get home? Does his dad know where he was?

I don’t know and we’re not getting any answers, but Virgil soon finds weird stuff happening like his clock shorting out, change being attracted to him and his razor going wild. It’s only once he get sback to his room he gets an inkling of what’s going on and calls Ritchie to meet him at the Junk yard.. though it is a bit of a dick move as he dosen’t you know, tell him anything about Wade or Francis right away. He does at the yard though.. and that he has powers, having finally figured out how to use them to a point. And the series does provide a decent justification later as to why he’d get this so quickly: Virgil is a smart kid, gets great grades at school and apparnetly there’s even an episode later where he gets a scholarship to a fancy genius school. So him getting how elctromagntisim works or being a quick study on it makes perfect sense.

Richie suggest the obvious.. to become a superhero. And the thought.. hadn’t occured to Virgil. It’s honestly a nice twist on the old trope. That he hadn’t thought of it, not because he’s selfish or any of that or needs to learn a hard lesson, those have been done.. simply because the rush of getting his powers, and implicitly of having a way out of his current predciament, a way to keep Francis off his back and keep Wade from pulling him in further. His own path. But once i’ts brought up.. he jumps on it. Part of it is being a nerd like you or I, of course he wants to.. and being a good intetioned one, he knows this is the right thing to do. It’s waht makes a superhero a hero: Anyone can get powers in a universe like this, esepcailly the dcau, but it takes true courage and heart to use them selflessly and knowing you’ll be in danger. It’s why I love surperheroes: they often didn’t ask for this but they do it anyway because somebody’s gotta. We also get an intresting wrinkle is superman is, at least I think in this episode I could’ve missed it or misremembered things, mentioned as a fictional character. That’s because originally like the comics this wasn’t part of the DCAU.. but eventually the crew decided it shared staff from it, shared a network, both first run and on reruns, why not just make it part of the DCAU proper. I fully support this decisionf: While i’m midly annoyed unlimited never really used anything from static shock outside of Static himself in the time travel episode, despite you know Static and Gear having BEEN to the tower and not being much younger than Kara and defintely older than Courtney, I chalk it up to weird rights issues or something like that. But having Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman, Green Lantern and the Justice League itself all guest star was a good idea, and expanded both static’s universe and gave the DCAU something differnt as most heroes in it were older and more experinced in contrast to the up and coming virgil. Again really would’ve been nice if he and gear could’ve been a part of the expanded league but production might of just been too far ahead or, given he had his own series, they might just have wanted to stick to toher characters. Also begs the question why Icon or Hardware wasn’t adapted for the expanded League but hey, questions for later and the tricky logisitics of the milestone rights might’ve been the issue. I don’t know I wasn’t in the room.

So we get a costume montage, including Black Vulcan from Superfriends, who again ironically would be voiced by Lamarr not too long after this, though weirdly they DON’T use his outfit from the comics for this montage. I mean why not? It fits the gag and would’ve been a good second to last choice.But what could’ve been aside we get our winner and cut back to present day...

Thanks boys. Static finds out one of the things in the warehouse is a shipment of computers for the school and can’t help but show off, showing up to the school, where Frieda and Richie are setting up for the dance, and dropping off the computers, and even saying his catchphrase for the first time “I’ll put a shock to your system” (Which Richie chimes in with awesome line and I agree, great catcphrase), before helping set up and flirting with frieda.

Though as Richtie says he’s a natural. He’s not wrong as he can work a crowd. .but back it up too as his first run out had him easily taking out the crooks, and as many teen superheros and fans of heroes of hte type, myself included will tell you, getting it right in one is not easy. Not even Miles MOrales was immune. All Static needs now is a villian.

And the end of the episode provides one as we see, in horrifc and once again damn suprising detail most of hte new metas aren’t doing so good and are melting and other stuff and we catch up with Francis whose burning up.. and naturally given that hair, though given he named himself F-Stop it’s the least of his problems, he’s got fire powers and escapes to “Have me some fun”

So with that we end episode 1. And it’s excellent, a great way to introduce the hero and while the warehouse opening is a bit superflous, it is a decent addition, showing our heroes first outing in costume and giving us a bit of an action scene to get us through the very heavy rest of the episode. But the rest of the episode is no less grippping, telling the tale of a teen caught in an unwinnable scenario who suddenly finds a way out. And speaking of which waht of Wade? Will we see him again? Is he perhaps Ebon, the series big bad as I thought when I was a kid? What comes of the man who directly caused static’s origin?

Yeahhh that’s the one mistep I think the pilot makes. Frieda is understandable as that was likely a simple change in creative direction. This though? Why build this guy up if your not going to bring him back. I mean where he went was probably the grave, as he probably did due to his mutation, but it’s still VERY weird to spend a whole episode focusing on this guy, building him up as a big personal threat to our hero.. and NOT have him become the series big bad. And maybe he WAS supposed to be ebon and they just changed their mind. I don’t know but it bothers me it bothers me a lot. Otherwise though flawless. ONe more to go.

Aftershock: We open outside an electronics store, as our heroes watch the news reacap what happened in the first episode, with the media dubbing it the Big Bang and revealing their could be hundreds of “Metahumans”, as Virgil dubs after deciding the media’s term “Mutant” dosen’t fit, a nice wink to the fact that that’s the term used in dc comics and I believe milestone but could be wrong there. Me I like the term, has a nice ring to it.

At the store while Richie mulls over waht this means Static finds out he’s a human CD player.... this was before mp3 players and streaming on your phone made them horribly obsolete mind you and if you don’t know what one is congradualtions you live in some sort of bubble and you made me feel really old junior.

Frieda happens to be there and Virgil quips “What’s the matter they run out of britney cds”. Dude she’s not bad. Also be careful what you wish for man. Nickeback returned the year after this. You have not truly suffered through bad music yet my young friend. They spot a kid looking feverish, and he soon turns into a purple werewolf, as you do. It’s a bang baby.. those are richie’s exact word and you may not want to start a panic there bud. Just saying your best friend is one. THeir not all like this. Our heroes book it only to run into Francis who naturally refuses to let them leave and only doesn’t try to beat up Virgil because Virgil points otu the werewolf and nonplussed, he goes to fight it, scarring it off by revealing his own powers. He’s now dubbed himself Hotstreak which points for getting an actually good name kid. No points for what happens next as unsuprisingly getting powers did NOT mak ehim a better person and he attacks Virgil who blocks with a garbage can lid and thankfully is blasted into an ally. Richie tries to guard frieda for damn obvious reasons but gets hsi shirt burnt up because shut up Thankfully Static shows up, and we get our firsdt full on superhuman fight as both fight each other with aplomb, and it’s a damn good fight.. and one that goes pear shaped for Virg as he’s caught off guard when he finds out Hotstreak can use his powers to fly, and tackles him and his previous trauma causes him to freeze up. Thankfully , as Frieda put in a call earlier, the fire department arrive and HOt streak has to retreat, though Virgil is bummed that he “Choked”. And I love this as it not only shows Virgil’s inepxerince, as this is his first time fighting a bad guy but that just because he HAS power now dosen’t mean trauma and his previous fear of Hotstreak goes away or you won’t freeze up from time to time. It dosen’t make him weak or anything like some assholes would call it .. it makes him human. Humans make mistakes, and it makes him all the more relatable that he’s not pefect and that he did freeze up as I know I certainly would at last once in the circumstances.

Things don’t get better at dinner as Sharon and Pops argue over the bang babies with Pops calling them a meance and Sharon pointing out Static exists so they can’t all be bad. See assuming a group of superhumans are bad because a handful of them ar edick sis why the x-men had to get their own island nation. You can only save an ungreatful populous so many times before you say “fuck it i’m getting my own island, pay me for life saving drugs, save your damn selves and stop doing genocides on us. Kay thanks”. But he does bring up a valid point that rattles his son: We don’t know anything about the Bang Babies or their biological structures and it’s likely they might further mutate into monsters, Static included.

Virgil, understandably, wants to check this and thus he and richie compare blood samples in science, to no real conclusion. She he checks out with his doctor who assumes he’s sexually active in a great getting crap past the radar bit and a bit of realisim, but he agrees to the test though if something came up he would have to tell Virgil’s dsad and is up front about this. Nice dose of realisim.

That night City Council has a meeting and the Mayor TRIES to deflect Papa Hawkins questions about the bang babies which again, while being a judgmental ass as not every person hit was a gang member (Virgil, and as we discover later some others), and not every gang member is there by choice, some by circumstnace some, like virgil almost was, because they HAD no other option. Again years of reading x-men may of just made me a bit touchy on assholes admitely assuming superpower people bad. But it’s clear the public is upset and while she says an investigation is underway... Virgil and Richie are not only not convinced, but figure she’s actively covering it up. And unlike everyone else there who probably suspects the same, they can do something about it and tail her. It’s during this, and cleverly as I didn’t realie till writing this using similar skills to his human cd player act, Virgil listens in and discovers whose behind it: Edwin Alva, whose apparently richer than bill gates and a beloved phinarophist Alva, as it turns out, was actually the arch enemy of Hardware in the comics, taking advantage of the guy in his civiliian idtentiy and thus casuing him to launch a war on the asshole. He does transition into this series well though, being the one behind the gas that caused it and with the mayor agreeing to back off, planning to simply dump the info about the big bang on a disc then destroy everything for now till the heat dies down. Yup sounds like a corprate douchebag.

Static tails him, finds the lab and infiltrates it, stealing the disc.. but getting caught by Alva’s goon, and trapped in a glass prison, forced to use ALL his power to escape and barely getting out alive, but not before bouncing off alva’s car. Still he now has the proof.. and meanwhile Hotstreak, who I was wrong did get captured, is forced to take pill sbut spits them out once the orderly is gone. Dude.. WHY DIDN’T YOU WATCH HIM. Make sure he swallows that shit especially since, as he has no powers right now and can’t harm you.

Hotstreak escapes off screen and our heroes discuss the disc before he shows up, and we get a REALLY fucking amazing scene: Virgil ducks into an Alleway and ritchie is worried.. and Virgil disarms him with just one word responses Ritchie: Virg you can’t take him. Virgil: Gotta. Ritchie: Well at least wait for the fire department Virgil: Can’t. It’s simpile but it gets the point across: This is his fight, he can’t wait for help, and people need him. And this is what makes a true hero: It’s easy to be a hero when everythings going well.. but it’s the true ones who stick it out against the odds and fight anyway. And he’s going to. So we get one hell of a fight, though naturally Hotstreak burns up the disc. And I do like this as it dosen’t feel contrived.. yes Static could’ve left it with ritchie.. but he wasn’t thinking in the moment and dind’t really have time to think abotu the disc, only that people were being hurt and he was all they had between them and Hotstreak. It was no choice at all. Still that pisses Virgil off that the last night’s work is now worthless, and he fully charges up and curbstomps francis who retreats into a clearing. Hostreak brags when static follows, as even he’s figured out Static needs to be around metal, as he’s usually on his disc or the street, and in the park there suppodsidly isn’t any. But he’s not THAT smart as Virgil points out two things: one, he hoped to do this on PURPOSE so they wouldn’t be around people and no on e would get hurt and 2).. this is a city, there’s metal everywhere.. and he awesomely and cleverly proves it by unlodging a sewage pipe with his powers and dousing his foe, winning and proving his stuff. I love this solution, it’s a clever spider-man type way to disarm him, using smarts and the einvroment instead of just brute forcing it. Though the sewage part wasn’t intetional our hero still won and gets praise from the people dumb enough to follow the fight.

However at home Virgil points out it was Pyrrhic Victory and shows off his smarts by telling the tale behind it, which I didn’t know,because tv tropes didn’t exist yet: king pyrhus fought the romans and WON.. but had so little armies left that he still lost overall. That’s what this feels like to Virgil: he beat hotstreak but any chance at a cure for Bang Babies and Alva going to jail for causing them is gone. His mood does get a boost though as the doctor calls and reveals he’s fine, he just has a bit too much elctrolytes and just needs to lay off teh salt. He celebrates, we get a quick gag and the episode ends

Aftershock is another stellar episoe, giving us Virgil’s first super foe and a personal one at that, while showing some growth. As richie tells him he’s not virgil anymore he’s static and he can’t let his past get to him.. and he does’nt going from cowering in fear to easily beating his foe with simple logic. It’s a good followup that answers questions you may have from the first ep, like what does this do to virgil’s body, who supplied the gas, and why has no one done anything about this, and sets up another villian for Static in Alva. Great stuff. I highly recommend these episodes and the show as a whole: it’s fast paced, grounded and enjoyable, having just enough levity to not be too dour but just enough tension and stakes to be intresting. A throughly fantastic superhero show and one that i’d certainly love to revisit on this blog If you have an episode of static or the dcau in general you’d want me to cover, my comissions are open and details are on a tab on my blog or can be gotten simply by asking me via ask or dm. Tommorow we’re going deeper underground, there’s too much damage in this town as the Lena Retrospective continues. So expect gay ducks, straight ducks and some terrfirmains. See you next rainbow.

#static shock #static #virgil hawkins #richie foley #robert hawkins #sharon hawkins #hotstreak #milestone comics #dc comics #dc animated universe #dcau #dwayne mcduffie #robert l washington IIII #kids wb #hbo max #2000s #animation #black lives matter #black history month

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scifinal · 4 years

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DW s12e10: It's Quite Unfortunate That This Child Keeps On Regenerating

It's only fitting that the first post on a blog called "SciFinal" should be about a season finale.

Not that fitting is the fact that in said post I'm going to begin where it all started for me.

Part One: How I Even Got into This Mess of a Show in the First Place

While I call myself a huge Doctor Who fan, even a – *gasp* – Whovian, I must admit I am not as familiar with the franchise as I would like to be; I've seen the new show, I've seen Torchwood (though, admittedly, I had to force myself to finish the fourth season – but that's a story for another day), I've listened to a handful of audio dramas (including Kaldor City, which I consider to be canon for both DW and Blake's 7) – mostly Torchwood audio dramas, but who cares, – I've read a couple of comics, I've got a novel or two somewhere on my bookshelf, I've seen the first couple of seasons of the classic show, but that's about it. I can't say I grew up with it – it wasn't on TV when I was a kid, there isn't an official Ukrainian dub, et cetera, et cetera. I first heard about it when I was about thirteen, when my classmate did a project about something they liked – and was pretty dismissive of my peers' hobbies at the time, believing myself to be somewhat above them, so I didn't pay much attention.

Then somebody finally pressured me into watching it (I believe I was fifteen or something back then) and I loved it. The first two episodes of the first season, I mean. I watched those, texted my friend something like "consider me a Whovian now!" and abandoned the show completely only to return to it maybe several years later.

I loved it. This time, for real.

Doctor Who has been with me ever since that time, it has a big soft spot reserved for each and every Doctor ever in my heart, and for each and every companion. I know full well it's cheesy, and it's stupid, and it's technobabble-y, and it's glorious in all of its cheesy technobabble-y stupidity.

And I hate this finale.

Part Two: Doctor, Why

I hate this finale – because I hate Chris Chibnall. Mind you, not the gentleman himself (I don't even know what he looks like, and I can't be bothered to Google), I hate what he did to Doctor Who.

Now, when it was revealed that the would replace Steven Moffat I felt... nothing. What did you expect? I had no idea who the man was. I know now he's made Broadchurch, and I know he wrote a bunch of stuff for Torchwood back in the day, including Cyberwoman. I had to drop Broadchurch because of how well-handled the depressing atmosphere was, and I love the flawed, dumb, sexy-cyber-bikinied, almost-fifteen-minutes-of-Ianto's-whining-including (I know because some time ago I literally cut almost every single moment of Gareth David-Lloyd whimpering, moaning, groaning, screaming, and mugging at the camera out of the episode and made those bits and pieces into a beautiful clip show called "I HATE THIS" to explain exactly why his face was and still is so punchable) mindless fun that is Cyberwoman (this is also one of the two episodes in which they actually do something fun with the pterodactyl living inside Torchwood's underground base). The latter also led to the creation of one amazing in how it develops Ianto's character audio drama entitled "Broken". I love Broken. I am now forcing you to look at its cover because of how much I love it.

Here we go. Now, back to the point of me rambling pointlessly

In his video "Sherlock Is Garbage, and Here's Why", a well-known YouTuber hbomberguy pointed out how Steven Moffat's problem is that he is more than capable of writing a good one-off episodes, but ultimately fails at managing multiple complex, overarching stories, as visible when you look at the difference between Moffat's individual episodes and his run on the show.

Now, I believe that Chris Chibnall suffers from the same affliction: he's a good screenwriter but a terrible, terrible showrunner. Sure, he's made Broadchurch, but Broadchurch, in its essence, was a complete singular story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. There were no bigger, incomplete arcs expanding at the expense of other episodes, and the show did exactly what it was originally designed to do: it told an uninterrupted story.

Here comes Chris Chibnall's run on Doctor Who.

Now, while Steven Moffat was ultimately not very good at managing overarching stories, he tried to do so nonetheless, and the fans seemed to like his attempts. And while I can't be sure as to whether it was Chris' original vision for the show or he and his co-writers were merely trying to emulate Moffat, he attempted the same. A friend of mine has even pointed out how, to her, it was painfully obvious how the writers of the finale were desperately trying to copy Moffat's style (to give you some context, she grasped it from a 30-second clip of the CyberMasters' reveal, and that clip basically consisted of me filming my laptop's screen and laughing at their design, making the video wobbly and the audio distorted). At the time of writing this post this friend hasn't seen a single episode of Chibnall's era and, as far as I know, has no wish to do so – mainly because of two reasons that both have something to do with the finale:

Somebody's already spoiled it for her, so who cares;

I ranted to her about how shit this finale is and now she hates everything about Chibnall era.

I am very sorry for the latter, since I genuinely believe there are some nice episodes in these seasons, and I especially like the "historical" ones, they really are quite a lot of fun, I like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison fighting badly CG-ed alien scorpions, I love Lord Byron and Mary Shelley running around a haunted house trying to escape from a Cyberman (even though it's all too similar to the Agatha Christie episode from Russel T Davies' run), I adore that episode about Rosa P–– oh, wait, no, that one was crap and ripped off Blake's 7... Anyway, I love Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, I am a big fan of Graham, I like Ryan just fine, and I can put up with Yaz, even though it's been two seasons and I've still got no idea what's her personality supposed to be, and I absolutely love the new Master (he reminds me of a cute little pug with a big Tommy gun). There is plenty of good stuff in these two seasons, they are lots of fun to watch, but this finale... Oh god, this finale.

Part Three: We Had All of Time and Space at Our Fingertips and We Ended Up with This

We are getting to the point of this whole thing. I would love to begin with the obvious, the twist, but there's so much wrong with this who-cares-how-many-parter than this one big thing.

It is inept. It is impotent. It is incompetent. It is bad at almost everything except its okay camera work, somewhat good (for a British TV show, I mean) effects, and its really solid performances.

Its editing is tone-deaf to the extreme. There is a moment in the final episode where Ko Sharmas asks who will be the first to cross the Boundary and step into the unknown, and immediately it cuts to Yaz walking towards it, all fast and silent. I would love to show you a clip of it, but I don't have one and I can't force myself to download the episode and sit through this shitshow again just to present you with a ten-second clip. Nonetheless, that part is not edited like a dramatic moment. You edit comedies this way. Bad comedies. Bad editors edit bad comedies this way.

Its plot is incoherent. There are several plot threads in this finale, and they're managed in a way that doesn't make the viewer care about all of them at the same time, rather the viewer goes "oh, I've completely forgotten this was happening" and then, before they can even begin to care, the show cuts to something else. It's all over the place and oh so annoying.

The plot armour is painfully obvious despite every attempt to disguise it. There wasn't a single, solitary second when I believed the Doctor was really going to sacrifice herself and, lo and behold, here comes the old guy ex machina to do it for her. The only questions I was asking at that moment were "How are the writers going to prevent the Doctor's death now that they've seemingly created themselves a way to go on forever?" and "How can Whittaker care so much about her performance in this scene she's literally almost crying?". I wholeheartedly related to the Master asking "So why are we still here?" and shout–– hiss–– mumbl–– whatever-ing "Come on, come on, come on!" – at that point I've suffered through at least forty-five minutes of utter nonsense, people going preachy, religious Cybermen with Dalek motivations, that absolutely ludicrous scene in the previous episode when the show was trying its worst to make me perceive autonomous flying Cyber-heads with laser eyes as a serious threat, a shit twist and... Oh.

I've got to finally touch on the shit twist, haven't I?

It doesn't make sense. No, I mean it. I guess it makes sense from the show's writers' standpoint to retcon everything in a way that would allow them to go on forever without having to come up with a way to circumvent limited regenerations, yes. And I won't be touching upon all the lore people say this twist has ruined. No. It doesn't make sense as it is.

The twist is revealed to us by a madman that claims to have hacked into a database, claims to possess control over the Doctor's mind, and gives the Doctor and the audience no actual solid proof that the Timeless Child is, indeed, the Doctor. We have Ruth, sure, and she's nice enough (damn, I want that vest), and she's a Timelord that happens to own a TARDIS that looks like a blue police telephone box, and she calls herself the Doctor. Here's Ruth:

I really like Ruth. She also makes no sense from the show's timeline standpoint, since the Doctor's Type 40 TARDIS only got stuck looking like a police box in 1963, so there's no reason for the Doctor to not remember being her.

We also know that the Judoon have identified Ruth as "the Fugitive"... except in one of their previous appearances in the show they weren't able to identify their targets exactly and thus were seeking out non-humans. There is a possibility that they were only looking for a Time Lord on Earth.

You know what? It's possible that Ruth is actually the Master messing with the Doctor. I have just as much proof of this as I have of the fact that the Doctor is some kind of an endlessly regenerating superbeing.

But this is not the most maddening thing here. I loathe it, but I don't loathe the twist itself: I loathe its lifelessness, I loathe how empty, how unemotional, almost robotic it feels. When somebody'd spoiled the finale for me, I got angry, and I started asking questions, and when later I saw the actual thing...

This gif. I can't even explain how accurate it is. I stood there, in the middle of my kitchen, episode paused, holding a cup of cold tea and desperately looking around as if in my surroundings I could somehow find that emotional reaction that this show failed to evoke. I was ready to burst into tears of how empty it felt, and how empty I felt, and how the same show that has Christopher Eccleston go from literally foaming at the mouth with pure hatred to shocked silence in a matter of second because of one sentence that you, a viewer, can't help but be astonished by failed to make me feel the tiniest speck of literally any emotion. And slowly, I felt that vast void in my chest fill with sheer, pure, flaming hatred for the person who made me feel nothing, for the story that left me not bored – but empty.

And the next moment, in its own unique way of being absolutely tone-deaf, the show introduces the CyberMasters, looking ridiculous, being asinine in concept, making me burst into laughter with their dumb design. Wow.

So.

Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who is no longer a show. Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who isn't even, as somebody on Stardust said, a fan fiction. It's a rollercoaster. A lackluster rollercoaster that lifts you from the vast caverns of frozen hell, devoid of any life whatsoever, soulless and abandoned, to the heavenly torture of being so bad, so utterly awful and ridiculous, that you can't help but laugh as you watch something you used to love be distorted and deformed to the point where you can't recognise it anymore nor really care. This is what Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who has become. And I'm going to continue my ride on that grotesque rollercoaster. I'm going to pirate that ride and get on it again. Because I'm a masochist. Because I want to feel something, even if it's hatred towards those that make me feel nothing.

Because some time ago my fifteen-year-old self watched the first season and learned a lesson that I hold dear after all these years – that I can't abandon hope, and that someday, somehow, things are going to get better. That the future is being written right now. That the future can change.

#doctor who #thirteenth doctor #doctor who review #i hate this #review #sci fi

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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S3 Ep 39: Tea Fight

Hey I just wandered into a random forum on the internet about the deaths that impacted you the most in a series, and I was in there faster than you can say “How many GRR Martin fans does it take to kill off a pregnant lightbulb in a random wedding episode″ (the answer is no one in this entire forum watched anything but anime) and then this one guy stood up in the back of this little internet forum and was just going off about how this one dude died in Yugioh GX and he turned off the TV and like didn’t want to even go back to the season until his students were like “no really, professor, please keep watching Yugioh GX” and he was like “WHAT’S EVEN THE POINT NOW” and it was like...really??? The series where nearly 200 people have died in just the first 3 seasons??? (which I didn’t comment, don’t worry, I just kinda lurked in stunned silence)

So like, lets talk more about Yugioh, which apparently has one of the roughest death scenes in any series that this random adult guy on the internet has ever watched. Course that was GX. I’m pretty sure I take so long on this show that I’ll probably still be recapping Season 3 of Yugioh when I’m dead and reincarnated into some cursed locket that a poor internet blogger wears around their neck.

Which would be shaped like a DVD set of Seaquest, S2. Like sometimes we talk about -sonas and we draw people and characters but what would your puzzle necklace -sona be? (remembering that is has to be cursed, heavy, awkward, and as inconveniently shaped as possible--you can’t just say Gucci or wtv) Because mine is the DVD collectors set of Seaquest, but only S2. Bro says that his is a Comic Sans version of Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

But I digress, so we start this episode knowing that Joey and Kaiba are dueling or whatever--but honestly none of this matters to me. Not at all. This doesn’t matter to anyone because for the first time ever, I finally get to see Tea try and punch out a God. Or a Ghost. Really hard to tell the difference between God and Ghost in this show.

And like, no one else will even witness this event because they’re too obsessed with Joey. So much so, that Yugi makes a staggering observation.

In the actual dialogue of the show, Pharaoh’s response to Yugi’s comment here was “HMMMMMMMmmmmMMHhmmmmmmmm”

and it’s like yeah, hard agree, Pharaoh, hard agree.

(read more under the cut)

Anyways, our very punchable God/Ghost character never came down from atop of Card Mess Mountain, and he’s just been sitting here on his perch trying really hard to just parse what exactly went down over the past few episodes.

Marik right now is me before I write every recap.

So he decides, well if the Rod did something for Kaiba, I guess it should do something for me, thus kind of proving that no one on Earth understands how to use this item anymore. I was kinda banking on the the fact that Marik’s Slightly-More-Evil-Possessed-Ghost-God-Entity-Person was kind of like the only guy who knows what’s going on with these gadgets outside of Bakura, but nah. Not even this guy knows. Now that Bakura’s temporarily vaporized, basically all that these millennium items are now are heavy paperweights that sometimes make your life just super inconvenient.

And I guess it can possess minds but wtv. Had Marik remembered that this rod can possess minds he would have had a much, much easier time in this episode. Of course, we haven’t really seen him possess anyone since Slightly-Better-Marik peaced out, so maybe that’s just something only Slightly-Better-Marik can do?

Ah. There it is.

What sweet catharsis.

She doesn’t actually punch him, which is kind of a shame, but because they can’t show Marik explode like a slo mo frozen giant gummy bear shot with a deer slug directly on screen, this episode is Tea-punch free.

Anyway, during this episode, the Millennium Puzzle develops a neat new trick--which is to set an alarm to remind Pharaoh to check up on his sort-of-not-really-girlfriend for once in his damn lifetime because this asshole will not do it otherwise because he is just waaaaay too busy thinking about cards.

And then it just finally dawns on Yugi that he boarded Murderzone island like 3 hours ago.

And, because this is Yugi, do you think he’ll tell everyone else what’s going on? Do you think he’ll step in and be like “woah woah stop the game for five seconds I just realized Tea might be in huge danger and we all should go and stop the murder.”

Do you think Yugi, for once in his entire life, will finally tell the entire truth to his friends who have constantly given him love and support and who just want Yugi to tell them the entire truth even once? Just ONCE?

That’s right, in an effort to be polite, he apologizes to Joey for ditching him and then books it without bothering anyone else.

The lengths Yugi will go to be as awkward as possible in order to not make anything awkward.

And then he just books it as fast as he can go and I guarantee that offscreen, everyone just kind of stopped what they were doing, looked at eachother, and Seto was like “Well, now why am I even playing?”

Anyway, atop the tall tall tower that takes like 15 minutes to get to the top of, Marik as Tea is very easily holding their own. And listen, Marik didn’t say any of the next lines in these caps but I can’t stop thinking about how freakin weird this would be for him. I’ve been kinda holding this in for a little while and youknow what? I have to talk about it for just a little bit. Just a little.

Like I usaully just erase any shipping stuff but just...give me a little second to just...touch on this subject. Just a little bit.

And while Marik thinking about dating is absolutely not canon, I’m just saying, going from tombkeeper to living within the body of not-Pharaoh’s-GF must have been a really crazy ride for Marik. Like, he starts out life learning literally everything about Pharaoh lore that is left over from the wastes of time. But, none of it--and I mean none of it--could have prepared him for the High School dating scene of “but should I text him more than twice a day or is that too much texting?” They don’t tell you how to do that in the Pharaoh brand card scriptures that they tattoo on your back with a hot knife in underground Pharaoh school.

Marik went from mole-person who has no human contact to just watching this whole weird thing unfold with Tea and Pharaoh giving eachother hoverhands-of-a-hoverhands hugs, and it must have been just completely wild for him. I’m not suggesting he remotely enjoyed it or didn’t enjoy it, but I’m just suggesting that the thought must have crossed his mind that this would be the last place he ever expected to end up when he picked up the Millennium Rod.

And it’s like, congrats, Marik, your soul went to hell and then you accidentally dated your own god.

I’m sure there’s plenty of fanfics about this already to fill in the gaps, so I won’t go too deep into this but man, Marik could have possessed anyone, and he possessed this girl.

Which again was probably because she’s strangely super strong because then Tea reveals that she could have done this the entire time.

LOOK AT THIS.

SHE DID THIS FROM STANDING. OLYMPIC GYMNASTS CAN’T DO THIS.

And then I guess Marik got sleepy after that much effort and just passed out.

And no one got to see it, Ishizu didn’t see it, Pharaoh didn’t see it.

Who’s here now, PS, Pharaoh finally showed up. That long as hell elevator must’ve stopped like 4 times on the way up for Roland who’s on his break, probably heating up the grill to talk to the other Kaiba Dad Stand-ins and have a Kaiba Dad Stand-In brunch where all they do is talk about sports, dark sunglasses, and if they should send Mokuba to UC Davis or Colorado State.

And so, seeing that Tea is passed out on the ground, Pharaoh jumps to conclusions and it very much looks like we’re gonna get a Millennium Item fight, which we haven’t yet seen Pharaoh even do.

Like, when you think about it, do either of these people even know what they are doing? Like Marik can at least fight a bunch of robots and one stationary computer monitor, but does Pharaoh have any idea that thing can shoot lasers?

Much like a bobcat making itself look really big to fight other bobcats, Pharaoh managed to poof up his hair big enough to spook Marik into actually stepping down. I guess Marik figured he’d have a better time with cards than lasers that neither of them know how to shoot in any general direction.

I gotta say, Pharaoh’s reaction to Marik secretly being in the body of his girlfriend was like “oh. Well we better go save him then before he dies.” and I do appreciate that. He seems secure enough in his own identity to not be bothered by this gender reversal he was not even aware of at the time. How I wish more boys on TV were more secure about that type of thing.

Like obviously this show that has no romance in it will never actually talk about sexuality but just enjoy this moment of zen where this possible lowhanging punchline could have happened and the writers room went “do we have to do the Family Guy/Friends thing?” and they were like “nah.” because Pharaoh canonically would not at all be bothered by this. At all.

Anyway, I’m kinda bummed that they didn’t extend Tea fight out for 3 episodes, but at least I got one Tea fight in before the end of the series.

I can’t believe she did a weird backflip thing off of a rail that was on a tower 300 ft in the air. I can’t believe that was the B plot of this episode.

And here’s a link to read these recaps in Chronological Order.

#Ygo #Yugioh #recap #photo recap #episode recap #S3 Ep39 #Tea Gardner #and Tea Gardner's brute strength #Yugi Muto #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Duke Devlin #Marik Ishtar #Ishizu Ishtar #I usaully wait longer between posts to post but yousee I just changed my user avatar to Tea Fight so now I have to

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dcarevu · 5 years

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Batman TAS: Robin’s Reckoning (Part 1)

“That Grayson kid’s a real boy wonder!”

Episode: 32 Robin: Yes Writer: Randy Rogel Director: Dick Sebast Animator: Spectrum Airdate: February 7, 1993 Grade: A

These blogs have come out quite out of order, so looking back to Robin’s Reckoning has been a bitter-sweet experience. As I watch further and further through the series, going back to complete unfinished blogs is a huge pain in the ass. I just finished watching The Man Who Killed Batman, and then had to go back and cover an episode I saw a couple months ago. Ouch. Don’t even get me started on the comic books. I think I’ve released a blog for maybe one of those? But at the same time, I’m coming pretty close to actually being caught up on these posts again, and that feels really great! Just a few more to go! Robin’s Reckoning was the point where I realized that my schoolwork was too much to be able to continue this series for a while, so arriving here now finally gives me the feeling of accomplishment that completing my finals almost gave me.

Robin’s Reckoning is a stand-out episode in the series, and this is evident as soon as it starts. How I’ve missed talking about Spectrum’s work. After a sea of Akom and some subpar Dong Yang (mixed in with their better stuff), there is a magic and a fluidity that is impossible to take my eyes off of. The first scene gives us a dynamic fight on top of a building (currently under construction). Every hit almost sends one of the on-screen characters flying off, headed toward the traffic below. Nothing is stilted, and it is all paced perfectly. Batman is obviously the one in charge of the duo, but his parental side is pushed further than in previous Robin appearances. It feels a little bit weird to see Batman sending Robin away from the apprehended thug like a dad telling his son that there will be no more rides on the merry-go-round, but this is very important when it comes to what is going on in Batman and Robin’s heads. It turns out that this thug has information about Tony Zucco, the one responsible for the murder of Robin’s parents. We, of course, see this through a flashback.

As soon as the flashback starts, we are greeted with playful circus imagery, but it is all blanketed in shadows, and some absolute killer music accompanies it. When we see Dick Grayson as a little boy, his identity is revealed because of some woman going, “That Grayson kid’s a real boy wonder!” I like the use of a corny joke to establish where we are in time, and who we are looking at. It gives people who already know the Batman lore something to hold onto. We see that Grayson was a trapeze artist, together with his mom and his dad back in the early days of Batman’s crimefighting. This explains a lot of Robin’s acrobatic skills and his overall strength. But what about his desire to fight alongside Batman, defending the innocent? Well, see, this Tony Zucco guy is a real asshole, right? And because the circus refuses to pay him the money that he wants, he goes and sabotages the ropes used in the Graysons’ act. This causes both of Dick’s parents to fall to their deaths once enough weight is put on them. It’s pretty well known that originally, the team behind the show wanted to display the entire murder scene in full detail. The censors, of course, said, “Are you outta yo damn minds?” So they came up with a way around it, showing the Graysons’ silhouettes swing out of shot, and then the silhouette of a severed rope swing back into shot. It’s the perfect climax to the tension (no pun intended), but it really is quite a shocking moment. This probably gave more kids nightmares than what they originally concocted ever could. Imagine if we saw real life like a Batman TAS episode is directed.

Forgive me if I go a little bit out of order here, but Dick at this point is feeling incredibly guilty that he didn’t say anything to anyone about Tony Zucco being in the tent right before the show. There is also the problem of the police (including a younger, red-haired Gordon) thinking that Zucco may attempt to go after him, in order to shut him up about the incident. So he can’t stay with the circus, despite them being the closest thing he has to family. Because of this, we get a goodbye scene that may be short, but boy is it effective. Bruce Time notes on the commentary that the part with the elephant makes him cry, and it definitely almost made me tear up. Goodbyes are something that really get me emotional, and seeing a group of usually cheerful-looking waving to Dick for the last time (yeah, laugh it up, you immature goobers) accesses that part of me. It’s not all bad, though, because Bruce’s mansion is Dick’s new destination, and, well, the rest if kinda history, no? The next section of the episode focuses on Dick attempting to adjust to such a lonely, empty place, while Bruce is constantly gone on “work meetings”. Of course, by “work meetings”, I mean trying to beat the shit out of Tony Zucco, wherever he may be hiding. During what is possibly one of the best Batman-segments yet on the show, there is no music, only the sound of guns, blows being thrown, and the night. We also get to see one of Batman’s old costumes, which features a different belt, no yellow around the bat, and other slightly different aspects. It looks kinda similar to his costume that we’ll see later in the DCAU. During this scene, Batman tries to hunt down Zucco, who is hiding at his uncle’s house. He is terrified when Batman pays a visit, but then acts all cocky once Batman leaves, teasing his uncle about how “well” he handled Batman. Of course, once they both realize that Batman is still outside, that fear sets in again, and I love listening to the voice actor go from such a punchable voice to one that is in full panic mode. In the end, Zucco manages to escape Batman’s grasp, and from what I gathered, that’s the last time he was seen in Gotham city…until present-day.

Robin uses Batman’s computer to figure out that Tony Zucco is back, and gets enraged. I don’t blame him. Ever since he was a kid, he’s been wanting a piece of Zucco. Now, not only is Batman treating him kinda like a child, but he’s trying to keep Robin out of this very personal situation. Why? Well, we’ll have to find out next episode, won’t we?

Episode leaving us hanging like...

I can’t think of a single moment in this episode that I disliked. There were some smaller moments I didn’t mention, such as Bruce offering to take Dick to a game to cheer him up, or Bruce disguising himself as a lowlife during a gambling session to get info on Zucco. He oversteps his boundaries, and the others become immediately suspicious, attacking him. Bruce, of course, handles them quite easily, and then, on one of the thugs, we all of a sudden see the Batman shadow. It’s so badass, and Bruce’s persona he was playing during this moment was pretty legit too. I love the accent, especially when he says, “They say he’s got bat-problems.” Oh, and there’s a bit at the Flying Graysons flashback where we see a young Bruce Wayne in the audience (who does look a lot younger), and as the spotlight shines on him, he drops his popcorn and his drink in the most clumsy way possible. I honestly felt bad! But, yeah, I laughed.

Char’s grade: A Next time: Robin’s Reckoning (Part 2)

Full episode list here!

#batman tas #dcau #dc animated universe #robin #dick grayson #batman the animated series #btas #robin's reckoning #part 1

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monsters-demons-and-ai-oh-my · 5 years

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What We Lost and What We Have

Chapter 4: Crony capitalism, big needles, and pep talks from hell

TW: Big Needles are mentioned Castiel and Dean take an awkward car ride to deal with an annoying little man. Meg attempts a pep talk and Sam is in over his head

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AU somewhat inspired by Episode 2x20 - What Is and What Should Never Be, and the season 14 storyline concerning Jack’s illness.

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AO3 Link

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

First Chapter

Complete Tumblr Chapter List

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It was nearly another hour before the doctors were done with Jack and Castiel was ready to leave. He'd stayed with the teenager as the doctors finished up their scans (and whatever else they had to do involving his lungs and cameras), and then he'd practically held Jack's hand all the way back to his hospital room.

Dean didn't know much about the teen but he figured if one of his parents did that when he was Jack’s age he would have been mortified.

Then again Jack still seemed far too high on pain meds to really give a shit about what was going on around him.

It wasn't as if Dean was going to say anything either way.

He didn't seem to be able to say much of anything lately without running his mouth off and starting World War bitchface.

The Klines always seemed to bring out the worst in Dean. Any time he saw Castiel the man always treated him the same; from the first time he'd taken the flight with his dad up to Washington state to meet with him when Jack was a newborn. Castiel always seemed to look at the Winchesters like they were his enemies like he expected John and Dean to stab him in the back if he dared to turn away from them.

Dean was sure it would be that suspicious stuck up face he’d see if he dared to turn to look in Impala’s passenger seat.

Castiel had been nearly silent following Dean out to the parking lot, only thanking him stiffly and asking him if he needed directions to the hotel across town.

“I live here,” he said harsher than necessary, immediately regretting it and following up with a gruff, “just tell me the name I’ll find it…”

God was that was fucking awkward.

At least Dean had an excuse with Castiel…

Jack was… Jack was some awkward kid who as far as he knew didn't really deserve the hot ball of fire that rose in Dean's chest every time he saw him. He didn't like the person he became inside when he saw the kid and he wished more than anything Jack would just go back with his smug uncle a few hundred miles away.

Why Castiel with all his suspicion and mollycoddling thought it was a good idea to bring Jack back to Kansas… He didn't know.

But Dean had told Sam he’d be there while Jack was sick… and he didn’t want to let Sam down again.

No matter how hard he tried he couldn't see himself as a part of Sam's little remorseful crusade to make what happened right but his brother Sam mattered. So he’d try to grin and bear it, deal with whatever this was until it was over… and things went back to normal.

The car was uncomfortably quiet the radio off as Castiel was making phone calls to what sounded like a school.

"No no, please don't let Mr. Sully substitute for my class, he’s too lenient with the students they'll never finish their review packets on time for the exam…"

Dean squeezed the wheel and tried to remind himself to just focus on the road and mind his own damn business.

"Th-the exam?" he heard after a moment, "I… I um…"

He heard Castiel take a shaky breath.

"I… we should be back in time to proctor it, if… if everything goes well…" there was a long silence. "No… they still don't… they don't know…"

Dean felt like running the car into a ditch to escape.

"I… I'll let him know you hope he feels better… goodbye…" Dean heard the man’s voice choke slightly before he hung up.

He could hear Castiel breathing shakily, see him blink rapidly to clear his eyes in the mirror. It almost shook something in Dean too.

But like Castiel, he shoved the feeling back and clicked on the radio instead.

Led Zeppelin's " The Rain Song," started it's mournful tones and Dean quickly switched it off again.

The car was too quiet yet again.

Dean cleared his throat awkwardly, the silence was somehow worse than listening to a grown man near tears.

"So, you're a teacher?" he asked vaguely just for something to fill the void.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Castiel blink dubiously at him

"High School science…" he muttered shuffling in his seat slightly uncomfortable, "Advanced Placement Biology… and Physics."

Dean gave a non-committal noise of acknowledgment.

He thought for a moment back to when he first met the man.

Don't ask, don't ask…

"I thought you were going to school to be a doctor or something?"

There was a pause he could feel the man's eyes on him.

"Nurse Practitioner… and that was a long time ago…" Castiel said with an odd tone in his voice, cutting short the line of questioning.

There was no sound for a long moment and Dean tried to focus back on the road.

"The turn is up on the right…" Castiel said after a moment glancing at the time on his phone with an anxious brooding expression.

"Dude you have half an hour until two, chill," Dean muttered under his breath half hoping he wouldn't be heard.

"It not your property or your reputation on the line Dean," Castiel said stiffly, the stick in his ass somehow jamming up higher.

Dean took a deep breath and shoved down his need to aggressively defend the honor and reputation of mechanics everywhere.

Sick kid, sick kid, dude has a sick kid…

"I am driving though you know…"

Castiel finally relaxed slightly, slumping back into the anxious guilty posture he'd had at the hospital. It made Dean feel almost worse.

"I'm sorry… thank you…" Castiel said quietly, "let's… let's just get this over with…"

The hotel came up quickly on the right side of the road Dean raised an eyebrow, the way the dude on the phone talked and Castiel acted you would have thought he was late checking out of the Ritz Carlton.

This place had the "O" and "T" literally burned out of the lit "Hotel" sign and the pool looked like a suspiciously green public health hazard.

Maybe that's where Jack picked up whatever plague he had.

"It's… changed ownership since the last time I stayed here," Castiel tried to explain looking sheepish.

Dean just blinked at him incredulously and pulled up to the office, "Yeah… sign says under renovation… probably looks great inside."

He couldn’t not rub the obvious in a little, not with the way Castiel acted, he'd explode.

The man rolled his eyes, "Just… wait out here, this should only take a minute to sort out."

He slammed the passenger door a little harder than necessary getting out of the car.

Dean flicked back on the radio, now more appropriately playing Harry Nilsson's - "You're breaking my heart."

He turned it up and gave and gave Castiel an insincere smile when he turned back to glare at him.

The man just rolled his eyes again and went inside.

Dean waited as "You're breaking my heart" along with three other songs came and went and still Castiel hadn't returned. Dean tapped impatiently on his steering wheel turning the engine off to conserve gas.

Dean tried not to let his curiosity get the better of him, first telling himself to stay in the car, then telling himself he was only going inside to share his annoyance with Castiel taking his dear sweet time.

Real convincing.

He heard arguing as he got closer to the door.

"I'm not going to pay you to get our luggage back, you said nothing about that over the phone!"

When he pushed open the ajar office door he saw Castiel leaning against the desk and arguing with a short man dressed suspiciously well for the shitty barely air-conditioned office he was in.

Some scruffy little dirtbag sitting in a nice chair, in a fancy suit, surrounded by four walls covered in peeling dark maroon wallpaper that probably been there since the place opened.

"Well I'm sorry, but it's policy, it was in the room contract that you signed."

British accent too, wasn't he special.

"I already paid for the extra day…" Castiel sounded harassed.

Dean's eyebrows rose almost to his hairline something about the situation felt wrong and he nearly backed right back out the door.

Don’t get involved.

"It's a new policy introduced to encourage our guests to check out on time, I’m sorry if you feel that way, but it's in the fine print," the man shrugged smugly.

Searching his mind Dean couldn't come up with a more punchable face, it felt familiar though like he’d seen it before.

Castiel blinked at the man looking mildly disgusted before sighing and pulling out his wallet exasperated, "I really don't have the time for this how much do you need…"

The man in the suit shrugged, "I'll give you the discount, a flat fifty dollars."

Dean reacted to that without really meaning to, whistling at the fee, both men finally seemed to notice him at the door.

Castiel looked away quickly somehow even more embarrassed than before.

Part of Dean wanted to be happy about it, to be just as petty as his brain told him he deserved to be. To see the man who seemed to permanently assume he and his family were the scum of the earth (despite the fact that they shared half their blood with his sister's kid) embarrassed.

But… he couldn't.

Because this was a fucking joke. Separating himself from his feelings about Castiel this was some asshole separating a man from his money simply because he was desperate enough to actually pay it.

Dean found himself speaking, “It’s just… fifty bucks is a little steep, don't you think? Considering your room rate is only forty-five a night?”

Where most people saw a parent scared senseless and in a tight spot this asshole just saw dollar signs.

"You know I was just thinking…" Dean leaned nonchalantly again the frame of the office door, "it only really makes sense to try to get your customers to obey the rules by threatening to hold their junk hostage if they already knew that rule existed when they checked in."

"Ah," the man smiled at him with mild malice in his eyes, "Well, as I said, it’s in the contract I’ll just have to make it more obvious next time…"

Yeah right...

He reached out for Castiel's money but Dean found himself speaking again.

"I'm guessing Cas here told you he wasn't able to meet the check out time because he's been at the hospital all night, because his kid is sick…"

"Dean," Castiel shot him a warning voice full of mild panic like he was afraid of the very real possibility that Dean would make things worse.

Dean kept his eyes on the bargain basement con man.

The man had the decency to look nervous, "While I have the greatest sympathy for your friend here, I can't afford to look away this time. I only recently acquired this place and we're in the middle of renovations you see."

The man’s face finally clicked in Dean’s mind.

"And what did do before you bought this place, sell used cars?"

The little man looked like he about fit the colorful descriptions of the seller half the lemon owners who came into his auto shop described.

"You're name is Crowley right?"

Dean felt a hand suddenly tighten on his shoulder, Castiel had moved at some point without him seeing.

"Could you please excuse us for a moment?" he said through gritted teeth shooting Dean a frustrated look.

Crowley seemed mildly relieved to look away from Dean, "of course…," he smiled casually, "I have nowhere to be…"

Castiel's mouth twitched and he almost dragged the larger man out of the office.

As soon as they were out of earshot…

"What are you doing!?" Castiel asked looking exasperated.

Dean blinked at him for a long moment before replying, "you can't tell that dude is playing you?"

Castiel's mouth opened and closed before he huffed, "I don't know? But do I look like I care?"

The man looked like he was about to blow a vein, all the nervous energy that Dean thought was building up to get to the hotel was still there. Dean felt like an idiot.

It was never about the stupid fucking suitcases or his reputation...

"Look," Dean said carefully, "I'll get you back to the kid just go get your things, wait at the car… if I'm not back in five minutes I'll pay the stupid fee myself and we'll leave, okay?"

Castiel hesitated looking unsure, tettering, but the need to get the hell out of there won out.

"Five minutes…"

Dean smiled thinly patting his shoulder awkwardly and tossing over the keys, "thanks."

Castiel gave him one last incredulous glance before leaving in search of the luggage.

Dean headed back to the office to deal with the con man.

Crowley smiled nonchalantly as if nothing had happened, "finished the lovers quarrel and here to foot the bill?"

Dean huffed, "You're really sticking to this bullshit aren't you?"

Crowley gave a fake tired sigh, "Again, it is not 'bullshit' it is written into the contract all guests sign when they rent a room, I'm just holding them to it."

Dean puzzled over what to say for a moment his mind turning to Sam…

"Well you know there's a law that protects customers from…" Dean searched for the word Sam threw around whenever Dean called to ask him about anything law-related, "predatory claims like this…"

Crowley's eyebrows rose mirthfully trying to cover slight nervousness, "it's a contract, it's not my fault your friend didn't read the fine print before he signed."

"Really because penal code…" Dean rolled the mental lottery, "67845 C says otherwise."

Crowley looked skeptical.

"Believe me I know, I own an auto shop people try to use it all the time when they get a rate they don't like…" Dean lied through his teeth giving a small shrug.

"Well, I highly doubt anyone who stays in this dump would have the cash lying around for a frivolous lawsuit…" Crowley said unconvinced crossing his arms.

It seemed like the innocent owner act was finally slipping but unfortunately, Dean knew he was probably right.

Mary had worked at the local high school teaching history for a while after she and John separated, Dean knew a teachers salary wasn’t exactly high.

"Look I'm sorry about your friend's situation, I really am…"

Bullshit

"But I apply the same rules to every customer, I can't bend them for one person. My mother once came in wanting a free room saying she was terminally ill,” The man shrugged and leaned back in his chair with a squeak, “I did not give it to her."

Dean’s eyebrows rose.

"Relax she was lying…" Crowley said flatly.

Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree I guess.

“I… I really don’t care,” Dean said back just as monotonously.

He was beginning to worry. It didn’t seem like logic or appealing to Crowley’s “ better nature ” was going to work.

It wasn’t about Castiel, it really wasn’t, he told himself. It was just this man thought he could get away with this ridiculous and bad-natured con just to get a quick buck and he’d probably continue to prey on people who didn’t have the money to stay at a nicer place and fight back.

Dean was going to have to change tactics.

“Do you still own that shitty car lot along with the shitty motel?” Dean asked innocently.

Crowley’s eyebrow rose in fake offense to Dean’s overt implication.

“I do own both establishments yes…”

“Mmm…” Dean tilted his head and smiled mirthlessly, “so how about you forgive Cas’s luggage debt and I don’t post the six-page list of complaints I’ve gotten about your lot up in the waiting area of my auto shop…”

-------

Dean exited the office a minute later to see Castiel pacing the length of the Impala.

“Did it work? If it didn’t I promise I can pay you back I…” the man had started wringing his hands anxiously.

Dean raised a hand to cut him off and smiled like the cat who got the canary.

- Which it turned out was sheepishly, like he had a mouth full of feathers and was questioning his life choices -.

“Don’t worry about it… it’s done,” Dean said vaguely before quickly changing the subject, “you get your stuff?”

Castiel still looked a little puzzled but nodded, “I put the bags in the backseat…”

Dean grunted satisfied before climbing into the car himself, “Let’s get you back to your car so you can get back to your... hovering.”

He said it half talking to himself like it meant nothing.

Let’s get this over with…

Castiel nodded hesitantly before climbing in the passenger side.

Dean turned back on the car, the radio resuming it’s blaring of the classic rock station and they left the crap show of a motel behind.

Castiel said something he couldn’t quite catch.

“What?”

Castiel huffed and reached over to turn down the radio, much to Dean’s chagrin.

“I said… thank you…” the words were dragged like Cas was struggling under the weight of the sentence.

Dean shrugged not looking up from the road, “You don’t have to, I would’ve done it for anyone, dude was shady.”

It was probably true...

Castiel seemed to go back to staring into nothing out the window.

Dean’s thoughts began to nag at him.

“So where are you staying tonight?” managed to slip out, “I mean, obviously you aren’t staying at that dump anymore…”

Castiel was quiet for a long moment, “I’m probably going to stay with Jack at the hospital again, I’ve already been away too long...”

Dean grunted non-commitally, he couldn’t imagine sleeping in one of the hospital’s half cushioned pink monstrosities they called chairs.

“Why are you asking?” Cas quipped back.

Deans shrugged cooly, “I mean it’s just, what are you going to do when you need a shower or something?”

Castiel bit his lip unsure, “I’ll get a new hotel room.”

Dean gave another half-convinced huff.

- As in he only had half of either man convinced he was convinced of anything. -

It took all of ten seconds before Dean blurted...

“I mean probably one of the reasons that jackass was in such a hurry to chase you out of his place was there’s gonna be a premium on shitty hotel rooms around town with Kansas University big spring preview ga-...”

“Dean…” Castiel cut him off sighing rubbing at his face, “I… I appreciate what you did for us back at the motel I really do, but I don’t need you to play host or anything like that.”

Dean’s mouth opened and closed awkwardly and he focused back on driving,

“I was just going to recommend a few places,” Dean lied smoothly.

Castiel seemed to take the excuse, “I’d actually appreciate that…”

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Sam resumed his awkward chair perching in Jack’s hospital room as soon as Castiel and Dean left.

He’d bought a black stuffed bear holding a little yellow “Get well Soon” heart while waiting for Jack to come out of the lab in an attempt to make things a little less awkward.

Did sixteen-year-olds even like that sort of thing? He wasn’t sure but thankfully Jack was passed out again by the time Sam got back upstairs from the gift shop.

He didn’t seem to want to do much more than sleep lately…

Part of Sam hoped to hell that Jack wouldn’t wake up until his uncle got finished with his business at the hotel. But at the same time it was not wanting the kid to wake up alone that held him in place in the hospital room.

Sam pulled out his laptop determined to get some work done on upcoming court documents as Jack remained peaceful in his bed. An orderly came in at some point to deliver a lunch tray for the boy.

After about a half-hour though Sam could hear Jack’s breathing speed up and set aside the computer concerned.

A thin veil of sweat bloomed across the teen’s forehead and the muscles of his face grew tense, teeth clenched. He was in pain.

Sam pushed the nurse call button, but when they arrived they explained the pain medication was originally given when they were resetting his wrist and they were letting it wear off until they had a better idea what was going on in Jack’s body.

The thought made Sam wince but as there was nothing he could do he tried to ignore the sounds from the bed and go back to typing up his court document.

It worked for all of ten minutes.

Jack started to move around restlessly in his sleep and finally, Sam heard a pained sigh and a soft anxious, “Cas…?”

The teenager had woken up.

He pushed himself up on one elbow coughing into the crook off his arm and blinking around owlishly searching the room for his uncle.

Jack’s eyes met Sam’s only for a moment before he seemed to shrink into himself again looking down to study his bed covers. The dazed drugged look in his eyes had passed but it was replaced with a pained glassy awareness, like he was looking at the world through a feverish haze despite the fact the monitor only read a mild ninety-nine point seven degrees.

Sam cleared his throat and finally gave an answer, “He… he went with Dean to sort something out at the hotel…”

“O-oh…” Jack said disappointed still not looking up, fiddling with a loose string on the edge of his blanket before sinking back against his pillows.

Sam searched for some way to help cheer him up feeling like “The Problem”™.

“Castiel should be back soon they just had to pay for the hotel and pick up his car from the restaurant you went to last night…”

Jack nodded against his pillow noncommittally, wincing slightly at the movement.

“Are you in pain?” Sam asked stupidly already knowing the answer.

Jack eyed him warily pulling the thin hospital blanket tighter around him, “I’m alright, headache…”

There was a long pause before Sam tried again, he couldn’t blame Jack for not wanting to talk to him. Even before the incident in the graveyard they’d never been close. He didn’t think being in as vulnerable a state as he was at the moment would make him much more comfortable around Sam.

Most of Sam’s memories of Jack were of a tiny crying blonde baby that grew into a shy but curious toddler who sucked on his fingers and took to following his much older brother around the Winchester’s house. When Sam couldn’t find an excuse to stay at his mom’s or be out he rarely volunteered to watch the baby unless there was no other option. Because at the time that was all Jack was, “a baby,” who cried and got into things and required Sam to be around John longer than he cared to be.

For Sam the first two years of Jack’s life were a game of avoidance with their father and by extension Jack himself. The only consolation was that Jack had probably been too young to retain any memories from that time…

And it wasn’t as if any of the newer memories Jack had created of his older brothers warmed him to either of them. John’s funeral, a no-contest court hearing when Jack went to live with Castiel full time… and now the one time he’d tried to open up to his half-siblings he’d just gotten burned. They’d be lucky if he ever trusted them again, even in a situation where he wasn’t alone, and terrified, and feeling absolutely horrible in a fucking hospital.

Sam pushed away the urge to descend into another self-hating spiral.

“They brought you lunch…” Sam tried pulling the cover tentatively off the tray and revealing it’s rather unappetizing contents.

Jack just blinked at him and coughed hoarsely into his arm, his breathing was still wheezy but at least it didn't sound alarming like choking like before.

Sam pushed the buttons on the bed controls to push the back of bed into a more upright position like he’d seen the med student do before.

At least there didn’t seem to be blood this time...

“Th-thanks but I… I’m not really hungry…” Jack rolled over onto his side facing away from Sam trying to clear his throat.

Sam sighed a little to himself with a pang of concern. When was the last time Jack had eaten? He’d been sleeping most of the morning and early afternoon and Sam remembered Castiel mentioning he’d had very little to eat at the diner the night before.

“You should still have something,” Sam said, trying to think of what Castiel would want if he was there.

“I mean there’s…” he looked over the paltry spread, a meat sandwich of some sort, a mug of rather gray looking chicken soup, a fruit cup, and… “there’s lime jello, that looks good?”

Jack grumbled mumbling something that sounded like "then you eat it", before looking up and hugging himself with a grimace, “No thank you.”

“Well… the nurse said they could bring you something else if this didn’t…”

“Sam…” Jack interrupted him sounding a little frustrated.

Sam quickly shut his mouth.

“I… sorry,” Jack looked down at his lap poking at the splint on his sore wrist with his free hand, “I just… my head hurts… and my stomach’s kind of bothering me…”

“Do you feel like you’re going to be sick?” Sam asked cautiously rubbing his hands together in front of him to suppressing the urge to lunge for the nurse call button again.

“No!” Jack said quickly blushing pink crossing his arms in front of him, “It just... hurts, it’s probably f-from…” He coughed roughly again into the crook of his elbow, “coughing so much…” he muttered frustrated.

“I just,” he sighed, “I just want to rest okay?” Jack attempted to give Sam a reassuring smile that didn’t quite cover the pain lurking in his dark bruised eyes.

Sam sat mouth slightly open for a moment before deciding to let the subject drop and covering the lunch tray again, “Okay…”

Jack tried to get comfortable under his covers again and Sam tried to get back to working on his laptop. But when he caught Jack’s eyes again, they were looking in mild confusion at the small bear sitting in the chair beside Sam like a second visitor.

The teenager turned pink and he looked determinedly away when he caught Sam looking at him.

Sam’s mouth twitched slightly, and he thought that maybe he made at least one positive decision today.

“I um I bought him for you…” Sam said a little sheepish, holding out the bear, “I wasn’t sure if you still liked that sort of thing… but…” he trailed off.

Jack watched him unsure for a moment before tentatively reaching out a hand to take the bear, wincing a little as he pushed himself up into a seated position in bed and stared at it for a long moment. For a split second, a small smile crossed his face.

“Thank you…” He said softly, gently running the fingers of his non-splinted hand over the bear’s soft fur before going red in embarrassment again and reluctantly perching it beside his uneaten lunch on the rolling tray table facing towards him.

He settled back against the pillows and they both relaxed for a moment into silence Jack trying to settle into sleep.

It didn’t seem to work, without the painkillers he shifted almost constantly occasionally huffing sounding exasperated like he couldn’t find a comfortable position. The beads of sweat across his forehead seeming to grow more prominent, his eyes tensed shut. His lip occasionally quivering like he was trying not to cry.

Sam wished there was something he could do to end the kids suffering but he felt like anything he did would be unwelcome, just make the kid more emotionally tense and uncomfortable alongside whatever pain his body was already in.

He was relieved a few minutes later when the nurse from earlier entered.

“Are you sure you can’t give him anything for the pain?” Sam asked quickly wringing his hands slightly.

“I wish I could big man really…” She smiled thinly, more of an empathetic grimace, “but they want to run more tests without any drugs in his system for reference… and I’m just coming in him to prep him for the LP…”

“LP?”

Sam and nurse Master’s looked back to see Jack peeking at them warily over the sidebar of the bed, “what’s that?”

The nurse looked a little hesitant for once before smiling in an ‘oh honey’ way that was not at all reassuring.

“It’s a procedure to collect spinal fluid and test pressure around your spinal cord, I believe the doctor is trying to rule out possibilities for what caused you to have a seizure,” the nurse began moving the lunch tray onto the empty seat beside Sam and setting the bear at the foot of Jack’s bed.

“Sp-spinal fluid,” Jack mumbled going a pale, knees pulling up to his chest.

“Isn’t that what they do to test meningitis?” Sam froze for a moment, “I thought didn’t think it was that?

Jack went more white if that was possible and looked at the nurse wide-eyed.

If looks could kill the one the nurse gave Sam would get her convicted.

“Maybe that's why they’re in a hurry to try to rule it out, ” nurse Master’s explained sardonically, before turning to Jack and speaking in a much kinder voice, “ and there are hundreds of other issues that are not meningitis that can be ruled out through spinal fluid…”

Jack was still pale but seemed to relax a little at that, “Wh-what are they going to do to me?”

Nurse Master’s explained, “What the doctor is going to do when they come in… is called a lumbar puncture, they’re going to numb part of your back and carefully use a needle to collect spinal fluid from the space between your vertebrae…”

Jack’s eyes were wide as saucers and his voice shook when he finally spoke again.

"W-will…?" He paused swallowing and looking down centering himself before speaking again hands gripping his blanket, "will it hurt?"

Sixteen suddenly felt absurdly young...

The nurse gave a practiced but not unkind answer, "The needle for numbing medication should be the worst of it, after that you shouldn't feel much more other than pressure on your lower spine.

Jack nodded and tried to smile back like he fully understood, it came off as a frightened grimace.

"Can… can it wait until my uncle gets back?" He asked hopefully.

"Wish I could do that for you kiddo, I really do, but the doctor wants to get this done as soon as possible, so I guess you're stuck with Mr string bean over there."

Both the nurse and Jack looked in Sam's direction with an unsure expression…

Sam was momentarily tongue-tied, "I um… I can just wait outside if that's better, I don't want impose if…" he trailed off seeing the nurse giving him a contemptuous look, “what?”

She shrugged, "I was just wondering, you two don’t look much alike are you really his brother or some weird perv who snuck in when we weren't looking?" the nurse said sarcasm somehow still bleeding from her monotonous tone.

Sam blinked taken aback mouth twitching irritated, "I… I really don't think that's…"

The nurse's eyebrows rose pointedly at him silencing him again.

"Jack I need to talk to your brother alone for a moment outside okay?" she gave Jack a thin smile.

Jack just nodded the prospect of what was coming, making him seem to physically and emotionally curl into himself, refusing to look at either of them.

Sam sighed setting his laptop under his chair and following the nurse outside.

And as soon as they were...

"I really don't know how things are run around here but you are really out of line…" Sam started his “lawyer voice” cut off by a withering look from the nurse.

"Are you really planning to leave that kid alone in there?" She sounded disbelieving like he’d just admitted to planning to abandon Jack on the side of the road somewhere.

"Look lady," Sam was beginning to get irritated himself, "I appreciate what you are trying to do but you know nothing about me or my family, yesterday was the first day in about six years we've seen each other, it would be…” he tried to search for the word but couldn’t find it settling on, “inappropriate… if he wanted me there he’d say so."

The nurse crossed her arms unphased, "Fine, I don’t know you, but you wanna know what I do know? I work here every damn day and I know a freaked-out kid when I see one. A kid like that? Sixteen? If you’re waiting for a personally signed invitation he’s probably not going to give you one because of macho bullshit or because he’s trying to prove how he's a 'grown-up' or something. But you want him not to talk to you for another six years? Leave him alone to get needle shoved in his back…”

Sam’s mouth hung slightly open but he had no retort for that. There was a movement behind him and he glanced back to see the doctor from earlier go into Jack's room.

The nurse’s expression hadn’t changed when Sam looked back at her, “Now I could call another stranger to stay with him during the procedure but somehow I think a familiar face might better don't you?"

Sam didn't respond glancing back again through the room window the doctor who was doing the procedure was re-introducing themselves to Jack who looked on warily, still hugging his knees.

Sam heard the nurse still talking to him "So how about you stow your shit, and go back in there?"

What if he doesn't want me there?

What if I make things worse ?

A hundred quips and excuses and things that could go wrong spun through Sam's head but he finally just sighed and said…

"Okay…"

Nurse Masters huffed and stood straighter, "My hero… now get back in there before the doctor starts without you…"

Reflexively Sam’s mouth half twitched into a polite smile back and he went back into Jack's room without another word.

The doctor looked up when the large man entered. Jack seemed to still be attempting to study for a doctorate in the pattern on his blanket and refusing to look up so he aimed his uncomfortable smile towards the doctor “Hannah.”

She offered him a more reassuring smile back, “are you the one who’s going to assist me today?

Jack’s head snapped up at that and gave Sam a look somewhere between horror and betrayal.

“I um…” Sam looks unsure, “are you sure I can do that?”

“Don’t worry I won’t ask you to do anything complicated,” she said while laying out complicated supplies on the rolling side table, Jack looking on warily.

“I just need someone to help hold his knees when he’s curled on his side for test, with the IV and his wrist it will be difficult for him to do… As long as that’s alright with you Jack?” she addressed Jack with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Jack nodded silently eyebrows furrowed, eyes still wide.

Sam sat awkwardly in a chair near the bed pulling his it closer to the bed with a strangled squeak giving Jack a strained smile and awaiting further instructions.

The doctor instructed Jack gently to turn onto his side facing away from her. The boy complied strangely quiet aside for a few soft coughs as the doctor dropped the bed flat and carefully rearranged the wires and tubes attached to his body.

When she told Sam to provide counter-pressure for the boy’s knee as he curled up in a fetal position he could feel Jack shaking.

His eyes were clenched tightly shut, breathing shallow and heart beating rapidly on the monitor.

“Jack?” Sam asked gently worriedly.

The boy jumped violently at the sound of his own name, blue eyes opening wide pupils tiny pinpricks.

He looked absolutely petrified.

“You’ve done this before right?” Sam asked Doctor Hannah unsure.

She smiled back carefully pulling on sanitary gloves, “over a hundred times…”

Sam gave Jack what he hoped was a reassuring smile, “see it’ll be okay…”

Jack nodded lip quivering slightly, jumping at the feeling of the doctor applying antiseptic iodine to his back.

He still looked on the verge of tears.

Sam searched for some way to calm him down, something to say, “just take a deep breath… it will all be over soon…”

It didn’t seem to help, Jack’s breathing sped up further.

“Hey hey… Jack just look at me…”

The boy sniffled softly.

Sam was at a loss he knew nothing about kids, he searched the room desperate for some way to distract him.

He spotted and used the hand not supporting Jack’s knees to grab the “get well soon” bear from where the nurse had set it at the end of the bed.

“Remember him?”

What the hell Sam he’s sixteen not six…

It seemed to work though because Jack’s breathing slowed for a moment as he blinked at Sam in confusion.

“I, um… sorry…” Sam said sheepishly glancing between the boy and the bear’s duel glassy-eyed stares.

The smallest of confused smiles crossed Jack’s face quickly disappearing with a sharp hiss of pain.

“It’s alright… just the anesthetic… this is the worst part I promise…” the doctor comforted him gently.

Jack gave a tiny nod stiff as a board trying not to move but still shaking slightly. Sam set the bear back on the bed carefully taking Jack’s hand with the IV.

“It’s okay…”

Jack just bit back a soft strangled noise and gripped his hand tightly until the anesthetic needle was removed.

“The, worst part’s over Jack, but I need you to hold very still for the next part alright?” the doctor says gently.

“O-or what?” Jack mumbled nervously not daring to move to look at her.

“Don’t worry where I placing the needle save for a freak accident there in next to no chance it would cause anything like paralysis, if that’s what you’re concerned about…” the doctor comforted, “But still we want to be very careful…”

That didn’t seem to relax Jack very much but he nodded sheepishly, “I… I’m sorry,” he looked forlorn and like he was embarrassed for even asking.

Sam tried to cheer him up again letting go of his hand just long enough to bop the stuffed bear on the head with his finger.

Jack shot him another weird look but gave him another soft bemused smile through watering eyes and he tried to take deep shaky breaths, hand closed tight over Sam’s again.

When it came time for the needle he fixed the bear with a death stare.

Sam felt numbness spread across his fingers as the boy’s hand tightened as the needle was inserted into his back.

He silenced the knee jerk reaction to tell Jack to ease up when he saw the paralyzed fearful look the teen's face. Tears start to roll unbidden down his face.

Sam couldn’t even convince himself to look at what the doctor was doing on the other side of Jack without feeling woozy he could only imagine what the experience was like for the one going through it.

Unsure what else to do Sam found himself mumbling platitudes.

“It’s alright… You’re doing great… It will be over soon…” the words seemed empty and he felt stupid and for saying them, Jack barely knew him why should he listen, but slowly, surely he felt the boy’s hand loosen a little.

And then before he knew it...

“Aaanndd…we’re finished…” doctor Hannah said smiling gently setting aside the last of three small sample tubes and beginning to clean and bandage Jack’s back.

Sam was surprised Jack didn’t immediately dissolve into a puddle of jello instead just quickly letting go of Sam’s hand and turning a little pink, “thank you…” he mumbled bashfully.

Sam smiled awkwardly back as if he wasn’t flexing his fingers trying to get the feeling back just out of sight.

“Now I’ll want you to lay flat on your back for at least an hour after this, and if you feel like you’re getting a headache that’s perfectly normal…” The doctor said as she cleaned off the last of the iodine.

“I already had a headache…” Jack mumbled, suddenly wincing and giving a hiss of pain as the doctor pressed down on part of his back.

She paused and frowned, “did that hurt?” she asked concerned, cautiously pressing her hand down near the same spot, worryingly far away from the injection site.

Jack gave another wince of pain but nodded.

The doctor’s frown deepened and she moved to touch the same area on the opposite side of the boy’s back getting a similar reaction.

Sam felt genuine concern start to build up in his chest, “Jack said he was having stomach pains earlier,” he found himself blurting.

Jack gave him a look of betrayal but after the doctor finished bandaging the procedure site he obediently rolled onto his back and raised his arms above his head when she asked and let her gently probe his abdomen.

His face screwed up and he actually whimpered when she applied pressure to one side, slightly below his ribs.

Unlike before the doctor’s face was uncomfortably anxious.

“Is… is that bad?” Jack asked nervously.

The doctor's mouth opened and closed before settling on a tight line, “I… I want to run a few more tests…”

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Oof And I'm back from vacation :) Sorry this took a few more days than I thought but the chapter turned out longer than I thought 21.5 pages instead of my usual 14. So... really it's about a chapter and half long, please enjoy.

I'd really love to know what you liked or what you think, even if it's just a sentence or two or a quote you enjoyed. It really, really helps me improve as a writer and gives me confidence knowing people are interested.

#SPN #Supernatural #Dean Winchester #Castiel #Sam Winchester #Jack Kline #fanfiction #whump #humor #illness #family drama #crowley #Meg Masters #Hannah #TW needles #5 points to anyone that can guess what's happening to Jack at the end of the chapter

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elyvorg · 7 years

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How To Doubt Yourself, Ignore Metaphors and Punch Fire

or: the significant differences between the original and the dub of Digimon Savers/Data Squad episode 3.

Something I didn't mention in my reblog of Lost in Translationmon was that I'm also following along and doing the same thing as them, watching both the subbed and dubbed episodes together and making note of the differences I notice. It's pretty fun - I'd previously only been familiar (extremely familiar, mind you) with the subbed version, so it's interesting to see what the dub changes, even though most of the changes they make are for the worse. For episode 3 in particular, I found there to be some pretty significant differences with the dub - differences that the podcast didn't seem to notice. Since I have way too much to say to expect the podcast to read it all out in their Postmon Pat segment, instead I'm making a post here about my thoughts.

(For anyone who doesn't remember, episode 3 is The One Where Tohma Is Introduced And Masaru Struggles With Punching Fire.)

The first scene that's really drastically different is the scene just after Masaru witnesses Tohma's skill as a DATS agent, as he's running out of HQ questioning himself:

Original scene

Agumon: Aniki… Why are you angry?

Masaru: Shut up!

*Masaru trips and falls over*

Masaru: Damn it…

Agumon: Well, I think Tohma and Gaomon are nasty guys too, but…

Masaru: No… It’s myself that I’m mad at, not them. Damn it! What am I doing? Really… what the hell am I doing?

Dubbed scene

Agumon: Don’t be upset, Boss! Just because Thomas is better than you!

Marcus: Says who?!

*Marcus trips and falls over*

Agumon: Boss, I’m sorry I said that about Thomas. You’re better than him.

Marcus: No, I’m not. I’m just pig-headed and I let my pride get in my way. It’s time I realised it. I still have a lot to learn. Face it. I’m not the ultimate fighter.

It's important to note for context that in episode 1 of the original, Masaru claimed to be "Japan's number one street fighter", whereas in the dub Marcus just said "One day I'm gonna be a champion ultimate fighter". So Masaru believes he's already the best, whereas Marcus is still just aiming to be. The dub version comes across kind of like how Ash Ketchum wants to be a Pokémon Master - this abstract, far-off goal that he may never actually reach.

Which is fine and still potentially in character, except it changes the perception of moments like this one in episode 3 where he questions his ability. Marcus admitting that he's not the ultimate fighter doesn't make any sense, because he should already know he's not one yet. Imagine Ash Ketchum having a moment of self-reflection where he confesses, "It's time I realised it. I'm not a Pokémon Master." Like, dude, you never said you were...?

Even aside from this, Marcus's realisation of not being strong enough is a lot more explicit than Masaru's. Masaru knows he's mad at himself and can tell something's wrong, but he's not quite sure what it is - after all, he's already meant to be the strongest in Japan, right? This fits right in with the fact that Masaru is, to put it mildly, not very introspective (introspection doesn't involve punching things, after all!) and indicates that we might be in for a bit of an ongoing character arc as he slowly figures out that maybe he's not the best and isn't yet as strong as he wants to be. The dub, on the other hand, writes this like it's a big moment of character progress right here, except it's about to completely undermine itself, as I'll go into in a bit.

Marcus also specifically identifies his pig-headedness and pride as traits that are holding him back, implying that maybe he should start to be less like that and more like Thomas going forward. This is nowhere in the original, because Masaru is the kind of person who would never even consider changing the way he is. Even when people are telling him he's being ridiculous and an idiot, he sticks to his principles and does things his way, no matter what. That's an aspect of his character that I really like, and I'm sad to see it watered down in the dub. (This is not the only dub change that does this - I may make another post about this in particular later on.)

The scene immediately following this is the next one that's significantly different, as Masaru encounters the old man who gave him his Digivice and receives some metaphorical advice:

Original scene

Masaru: Old man! What are you doing in a place like this?

Old man: Just what it looks like: making a fire. I’m cooking fish. It’s hard lighting up a fire… The sparks go out easily whenever the wind gets even a little too strong.

Masaru: Well, obviously!

Old man: But… once I get a larger flame going, it burns stronger no matter how much the wind blows. Fire is an interesting thing, isn’t it?

Masaru: This is…

Dubbed scene

Marcus: Hey, it’s you again! What are you doin’ here?

Old man: Just what it looks like: barbecuing a fish for dinner. I’m having trouble starting the fire, though. You see, the flames keep dying out on me because the wind’s too strong and it keeps blowing it out.

Marcus: Yeah, that’s happened to me, too…

Old man: Well… If you learn to use the wind instead of fighting it, you can make the fire burn brighter than ever before. Harness power, don’t extinguish it.

Marcus: He’s right!

First off, the old man's metaphor itself is quite different in each version. In the original, he's telling Masaru to not worry if his "flame" gets blown out from time to time, because eventually it'll get so strong that nothing will be able to stop it. He's essentially quieting Masaru's self-doubt by telling him that he's doing fine the way he is and he'll get stronger in time.

In the dub, on the other hand, the old man is practically telling him that it's his fault that his "flame" is getting blown out because he's not harnessing his power well enough. It's telling him to take new action, but... what new action? It's not like Marcus wasn't already giving it his all every single day up until now. Him maybe not being as good as Thomas is not for lack of him trying. The only moment in which he was perhaps going to not "harness his power" was just half a minute ago when he was contemplating maybe becoming more like Thomas. So... the old man is telling him to completely ignore the realisation he just had and go back to how he was before as if that realisation never happened? Apparently. So much for the dub's big character progression moment.

[alternatively: something I only thought of once I’d finished making this post]

Then there's the fact that Marcus's responses to the old man imply that he actually understands the metaphor. No. No, this is all wrong. Masaru is the world's most straightforward, simple-minded fool who wouldn't know a metaphor if it punched him in the face. I love this about him and am very sad to see it gone from the dub. In Masaru's case, the metaphor goes completely over his head, but that's fine, because he never really needed to understand it in the first place, since he would have kept on giving it his all regardless of what some old guy said.

But what this scene is really about, at least in the original, is that the old man's metaphor, whether deliberately or by chance, just happens to be perfect, literal advice on how to successfully punch a PetitMeramon. Masaru was having problems punching them because they're not solid enough and the "wind" of his punch blows the flames out before he can connect; here he's being told that if the flame just burns a bit brighter then it'll be solid enough to punch without getting blown out. Given that Masaru is so literal-minded, that lesson is the only thing he takes away from this conversation, and so he rushes off to deal with the PetitMeramon, now knowing how he's going to be able to get his Digisoul and evolve Agumon. Sure enough, he instructs Agumon to shoot fire at the PetitMeramon until they gain enough power to evolve into Meramon, and then...

Original scene

Masaru: Fire sparks go out easily whenever the wind blows on them. But… once they burst into flame…!

*Masaru punches the Meramon quite solidly in the face and lands triumphantly with his Digisoul flaring*

Masaru: They won’t be extinguished that easily!

His words echo the advice the old man gave him, making it clear that this is how he knew punching it would work and he had this strategy in mind the whole time. Look at Masaru actually being able to come up with some semblance of strategy if pointed in the right direction (the thing Tohma's been saying he's incapable of this whole episode), albeit a more reckless one than Tohma would use!

Meanwhile in the dub, the different metaphor given by the old man simply does not make sense when applied to punching a DemiMeramon. At no point during the metaphor does he explain that a larger flame will not be blown out (and will therefore be punchable). So it's only a metaphor, and Marcus (somehow) understands it as a metaphor and gains renewed vigour from it, and so he rushes off to fight the DemiMeramon... while still not actually having a plan for how he's going to get his DNA Charge. He still gets Agumon to shoot fire at them despite this being profoundly idiotic when he has no way of knowing that this will give him any advantage. Then:

Dubbed scene

Marcus: Just like the old man said, a fire can be blown out by the wind. Then again… You know what I always say…!

*Marcus punches the Meramon quite solidly in the face and lands triumphantly with his DNA flaring*

Marcus: You gotta fight fire with fire!

Which confirms that, yes, he really didn't have a plan other than BE REALLY RECKLESS AND I'LL WIN SOMEHOW. Which I guess has to be what he took away from the old man's metaphor, since the renewed vigour with which he rushes away from that conversation implies he learned something from it. Except, as I've already mentioned, that shouldn't have been a lesson he needed to learn in order to prove himself next to Thomas, because he's already always like this in the first place!

This also, of course, means that Marcus was only able to defeat the Meramon through sheer hotheaded luck. The original episode's ending has Tohma continue to accuse Masaru of just getting lucky and having no strategy, which comes across as him being a sore loser who can't see that maybe Masaru has some idea what he's doing after all. But in the dub, Thomas is completely justified in accusing Marcus of this.

Overall, the dub's changes just serve to completely undermine the point of the episode's climax in multiple ways. The other episodes that I've watched so far also have quite a few dub changes, but they're all relatively inconsequential and don't really change the overall meaning of the episode. This episode is by far the most different one in the dub for me as of right now. (Hopefully it won't be dethroned from that spot, because completely changing the point of an episode once we're actually into the main plot would be baaaad.)

#digimon #digimon savers #digimon data squad #masaru daimon #marcus damon #ramble #lostintranslationvorg #(that will be the tag i use for any further posts where i talk about original/dub differences)

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