#also i think they both had their Villain Moment in ‘under the knife’ in S1 so some of these parallels must’ve been deliberate

[lliaq]

okay, now that I’ve slept on it I’m actually gonna try to put down my thoughts on the season, so obvious TUA season 2 spoilers below and it’s probably going to get really long

Just to preface this, I haven’t read any of the comics, so I can’t speak to how the show compares to them.

Guess I’m gonna start with the positives, and I think what I enjoyed most about the season where just little moments between the siblings. Obvious standouts being Ben getting to talk to Vanya and Diego. I think those were the only two scenes that acutally made me tear up a bit. It was just really nice seeing him get that opportunity, and something that I’ve wanted to see since S1. It would have been even nicer if he got a moment with all his siblings, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Another one was at the very end with Vanya and Diego just sitting on the stairs together. Just a nice little moment, even if it was short.

Luther apologizing to Vanya was a pleasant surprise and showed that he actually used his time alone to reflect and have a bit of character growth, so that was another plus.

I overall liked Allison and Ray’s relationship, and I was okay with the way it ended. It was kind of bittersweet, but it made sense and felt in character.

On that note, I also liked that Allison learned to achieve things without her powers, because never having to do that was kind of a big note of her character in S1. Not necessarily sure it had to be done by taking her voice away, I think if anything it would have been even better if she did it by choice, but I’ll get back to that.

I enjoyed the whole old Five vs “young” Five thing. Not much more to add to that, really.

And lastly, I enjoyed Reginal a lot more than I thought I would. It was interesting to see a bit of a different side of him when he was with Grace, felt like it gave his character a bit more depth, and I mean the actor is just fantastic. Like, I fucking despise Reginald, but it’s a joy to watch his performance. The way he went in on Diego at the dinner was fucking brutal, man. That was heartbreaking to watch, and the fact that none of the others stood up for him sucked, but honestly I think it just shows that despite them bonding a little, they still have a ways to go in terms of being a functional family. S1 didn’t span all that much time, and they were separated for most of their time in the 60s, so it makes sense that they’re still learning in that department. Them getting into the car with Vanya showed that they’re getting there though. Also, to get back to Reginald, I think they’ve made it pretty clear now that he’s an alien, so there’s that too. No more confusion about that.

Now on to the so-so stuff. Things that were neither all good nor all bad.

Vanya & Sissy - oh boy man. I mean first of all: give me that lesbian farm life, hell yes. I was rooting for them from the start, and I just really loved all their interactions. Also, idk if that was intentional on Ellen’s part or not, but her chemistry with Sissy was leagues above whatever the fuck was going on with Leonard. That being said- I’m personally not a fan of cheating storylines, just in general. I get why, in this case, but yeah. And unlike with Ray, I really wish they would have taken Sissy and Harlan with them to 2019. Because, for one: can we at least have one happy gay couple on this show? And second: They both deserved to have a life where they’re not constantly judged for who they are. From a character standpoint I get that going to the future would be really scary and shit, but just imagine man. Vanya and Sissy could have been together without having to hide, and Harlan could have vastly benefited from the better understanding of autism we have now. Not that either of those aspects are perfect in 2019, but they’re a long way from the 60s.

Diego and Lila’s relationship I honestly didn’t care much about. It felt like they just completely dismissed Patch and the impact her death had, by not even so much as giving her a mention. And I also just didn’t really feel it man. I mean they spent some time together in the asylum, but it seemed like they weren’t even friends really - and then by the end of the season they love each other, like girl, it’s been less than a week. Relax.

Lila on her own, I did kind of like, but I feel like she could have used a bit more development, and a little less ‘I had sex with this guy once like five days ago and now I love him more than anything’

Ben. Ben Ben Ben. I was kind of up and down on his arc. I actually liked that he was just so done with Klaus’ shit, even if calling Dave a fling might have crossed the line a bit for me. Some of the posession stuff was weird (though I’m glad they at least had the ground rules talk), but at the same time getting to see him experience the most basic sensations like air on his face and dirt under his feet was nice. He did also save the world through the power of communication and love, so you know- good job, Ben. And then they killed him (again). Ngl, I was pissed at that- but I figured they would probably find a way to bring him back somehow, so I held off judgement on that until the end, and I was right. Still not entirely happy, and whether or not that’s going to change will likely depend on what happens with S3.

Klaus’ cult story line was kind of eh. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really like it either. His attempts to save Dave were more interesting, even if they ultimately didn’t work. Other than that, he didn’t really go through any growth this season. It did piss me off that Allison enabled his drinking after he relapsed. Fuck that.

I’m glad we got to see a little bit of how Allison losing her voice affected her, but I think they could have done more there. Idk, it just felt a bit lackluster for something so huge. Like I mentioned earlier, her living a life of never actually having to work for anything was something that shaped her character and personality in S1, and I‘m glad she’s had that realization. That being said, I think it would have been even more impactful if she worked for what she wanted w/o using her powers by choice, showing that she was was willing to put in the effort to grow and change, rather than being forced into it by circumstance. But you know, sometimes life works like that, and people don’t change unless they’re forced into a situation where they have no other option.

And, somewhat related, I think the last point for this section is Allison and Vanyas relationship. While I’m glad that they’re closer now, I wish they would have at least adressed Vanya slitting her throat. I understand that Allison doesn’t blame her, we already saw that at the end of S1, but c’mon. At least have a short conversation about it, because that was a big thing. It feels like they just used that to fuel the ‘Allison needs to learn how to do things without her powers’ storyline, and then it just got dropped, never to be mentioned again. The show tends to do that a lot, and it completely diminishes the impact of these big moments.

Okay, now to the purely negatives, here we go.

Luther moping over Allison. For the love of god. Listen, Luther did grow on me this season, compared to S1 - but I was so fed up with his moping around. Can we just not do the incest thing anymore, please. I already went through that shit with Shadowhunters (except there it at least wasn’t actually incest), I don’t wanna do it again.

Harlan. I honestly did not care for him at all. That being said, I usually don’t care about child characters, so that’s not a big surprise and not necessarily the show’s fault. But also, the fuck even was that storyline. I’m sorry, but it just made no sense. Which actually leads me right to the next point

Inconsistently written powers. Diego doing the thingy with the bullets like since when tf can he do that? I understand that the show already changed his powers from the comics, but up until that point it was strictly about knives. We never see him curve or manipulate (or whatever it is he actually does) any other objects, so this just felt so random and out of nowhere, and like they just wanted to give him a ‘badass powers moment’. If they wanted to indicate that his powers were more than what we’ve seen in S1, literally all they had to do was have him use them on something that’s not a knife at any point in the season. A 2 second shot, done. And then you don’t get to the finale and are suddenly like “the fuck”. But, boy, Vanya was even worse. Sounds. That’s what we learn her powers are in S1. Sounds, she manipulates sounds and sound waves. So how in the everliving fuck does she a) bring someone back to life, b) tranfser part of her powers to that person and create a magical connection, and c) take that part of her powers back? None of that makes any sense whatsover. The stuff in S1 where she’s sucking the life out of her siblings was already a stretch, but they’ve just made it worse this season. And this is just a minor gripe with the VFX, but her floating out of the barn looked so bad. I know it’s hard to make floating/flying people look good and natural, but other shows and movies have done it, so it’s not like it’s impossible.

And lastly: The villains. They were terrible, period.

I don’t like the Handler that much, she’s just so...plain and boring and really the only thing she has going for her are the outfits. Nice outfits don’t make a good story though. But the Swedes were even worse. Just every scene they were in felt like it dragged and I just wanted to skip past it. And then they have the fucking funeral scene with swedish Adele like are you kidding me? Am I supposed to feel bad for these pieces of white toast with zero personality or development? ??? Honestly, they could have cut them out completely and replaced them with more development for Lila and I would have been perfectly happy with that. Or replaced them with literally anything else. I don’t think I would have felt like I was missing anything important. Also, AJ? What was up with that? Again, haven’t read the comics so idk if he’s a big deal or not in them, but I really thought he would play a bigger role. That felt like such a waste of a character and like what even was the point?

I really feel like AoS (esp. S1-4) raised my bar for well written and developed villains. Admittedly, a 22 episode season allows for a lot more time to actually do that than a 10 episode season, but still. If you have less time to develop characters, then you need tighter writing and TUA completely dropped the ball on that one.

Okay. I think that’s it. I mean, I probably forgot a bunch of stuff, but these were the things most prominently on my mind after letting everything sink in for a bit. Overall I’m pretty meh about the season as a whole. I’ll probably watch S3 (if they renew it, that is), but I’m not super hyped about it or anything. The only thing keeping me interested are sibling interactions and the Ben reveal (even though his emo hair is an atrocity. I’m sorry Ben, I love you, but no.)

#tua #tua spoilers #boy this got longer than I thought it would

[class-wom]

Legion Chapter 24 “Morning After”-Thoughts – SPOILERS!!!

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 SPOILER TERRITORY

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Okay, as I mentioned in a previous tag from a previous reblog, where Shakespearean tragedy analogies/comparisons are concerned, this is looking less and less like Romeo and Juliet (doomed star-crossed lovers, but hey, at least their folks kissed and made up at their funerals, so to speak!) or Hamlet (huge “pile o’ bods,” including the struggling title character, but hey, at least he finally avenged Daddy’s death and left Horatio behind to tell the tale!) and more like MacBeth.  And frankly, that’s really hard for me to take, because I hate MacBeth!!!  (That being said, yeah, Lenny is now officially a classic Lady MacBeth figure.  Out damned spot indeed!)  And it seems rather ironic to me now that the body count we thought was “a thing” by the end of the Pilot -- dead Lenny, dead Clark -- really is a thing now.  (...or is it?!?  Duh-duh-DUHHHHHHHH!!!)

On the bright side (yes, I’m determined to find one -- LOL!), good and/or bad, there was a lot that happened in this ep that imo needed to happen if we’re going to reach a halfway-decent conclusion for better or worse.  And let’s not make the decision there just yet, though we’re kind of left in a position to anticipate the latter imo.

Clark’s fate? love him or hate him, yeah, he had to go imo, because to me he was a vengeful fly in the ointment who only back-burnered his David-grudge from Chapters 9 to 19 due to lack of sufficient evidence of David being a threat (a terribly useful tool in Farouk’s “bag o’ tricks;” please let us remember how casually Farouk literally flicked him off in the closing scenes of Chapter 18!), and consequently only succeeded in his relentless pursuit and obsession in making a bad situation ten times worse and more complicated in the long run.  I’ve mentioned before that Daniel’s lines in Chapter 20 made the consequences of Clark’s one-track mind perfectly clear, which brings me to Daniel’s fate:  Yeah, this is definitely one to file under “Okay, if you want me to badmouth David, I’ll go with this one; what he did to Daniel was (borrowing from Clueless) way harsh and completely unnecessary and cruel.”  Funny that it happened before he took down Clark, who again did have to be removed if any headway is to be made in any direction imo.  But maybe that’s part of the point being made here:  Okay, fine, go ahead and hate David for savagely taking down Daniel’s mental capacity as collateral damage, if you like.  But in the end, what put him in the line of fire in the first place?  His love for and loyalty to the obsessed (”focused”) Clark.  So could it be possible that, consciously or otherwise, Clark was so focused on taking down David by whatever means necessary that he was willing to put his partner at risk in the process? and doesn’t that make him as bad as David, allowing his obsessions to distract him from and ruin what he holds dear?  Not an excuse, mind, but just a thought.  It’s just that there are so many more of David at this point that it’s easier to spot in his case! LOL!

Which leads me to the next batch of things that happened that needed to imo:  The long-overdue Sydvid talk and Syd’s discovery of David’s alters.  Now regarding the former, this brings me to a tiresome sore point in light of the Chapter 23 gulag scene, namely the “one step forward/two steps back”-type of scenario where David has a much-needed confrontation that reveals his deep-seated pains and struggles beneath his dark persona, but GOTCHA! -- the whole thing turned out to be a trick, and David’s back to his guarded ruthless self as a result.  Still, hopelessly optimistic viewer that I am, I’d like to think some much-needed seeds were planted during the talk:  Even if Syd was deliberately attempting to lull David into letting his guard down (via SK’s Chapter 21 cringe-worthy promise to “teach you to lie so well that he’ll thank you as you stab him in the back”) by saying everything he wanted (and imo needed) to hear.  (Yeah, since David made a point of mentioning how he used to trust her, we’ll see how well he trusts her in future after that stunt!!! 🙄)  I’d like to think that, whatever state she may be in at this point (there’s the possibility that she may not take a literal physical form, but hey, after the whole Lenny S1-S2 Saga, who knows with this show?), she’ll know a lot better than to trust Farouk from now on.  (David was right about that when he said she shouldn’t have trusted him!!!)  I like the fact that she at least admitted that she had been jealous!!!  So at least she came out and stated the obvious; I was pleased about that!

And now that it’s happened, I can go ahead and say it:  Yes, the Sydvid Body Swap, Syd-trick or otherwise, needed to happen, because Syd needed to see what was/is driving David and making him behave the way he has been all this time.  I was shocked as to how quickly it transpired:  I wasn’t expecting it for a few more eps, tbh, and yeah, I was kind of hoping it would end a little more optimistically, with Syd and the Davids eventually talking things over, but depending on wherever Syd is mentally now (in David’s mind? somewhere in the stratosphere? I know that the next ep, which I may miss altogether but follow up on via summaries in the name of continuity, will follow her on the astral plane, so idk, maybe she’s just in a deep coma right now physically), maybe it could still happen with three eps to go? 

Also, on a side note, I liked watching DS’s “Syd-as-David” drag RK’s weakly protesting “David-as-Syd” down the halls muttering, “It’s okay, David! I gotcha!”  Took me awhile to figure out wtf Syd was up to and what she was really trying to pull during the discussion, complete with her tipping her hand about Switch’s whereabouts; I concur with a tweet I read dismissing it as a stupid plan on the part of Syd, quite frankly, thereby minimizing sympathy somewhat imo for her current position.  But I still enjoyed watching that post-swap part for some reason; acting-wise, that had to be a challenge for both DS and RK, so props there!  (And okay, yeah, Syd using David’s powers to blast his knife-wielding followers?  On the one hand, I feel sorry for them, but on the other, I concede with reluctance that it was kind of cool, if for no other reason that I no longer have to listen to them call him “Daddy”!  ROTFL!  Not sure what annoys me more, their calling him “Daddy” or Farouk calling him “My son” or “My baby.”  Let’s put it at a photo finish, shall we?  LOL!)

Okay, on to the Lenny Shocker -- and to me, it was a shocker!  Yet there was a huge dropped ball in this scene that annoyed me:  As Lenny was calling David out on his narcissism, why the heck didn’t he point out that the only reason he was keeping her around and/or she had a body in the first place -- a body destroyed by Syd, accidentally or otherwise, using David’s body and powers, I might add!!! -- was because Farouk destroyed the only tangible family, adopted or otherwise, in order to grant her request for a physical body and freedom?  He would have certainly had grounds to do so, Heaven only knows!  Okay, fine -- not saying that Hawley & Co. had to call up Katie Asleton to get her to film new scenes; a few flashbacks and/or at least the name-drop of Amy would have been good enough for me.  But I’ll give NH credit:  There may have been a case in which he did write such a line in this scene for David, and heck, maybe it was even filmed, only to be cut at the request of the FX execs who argued that it would cause the ep to run too long to ironically run that Twizzlers ad during the commercial breaks.  (Anyone else catch that in the “Lenny Swan Song”-ep with regard to a sponsor choice? that couldn’t have been a coincidence! LOL!)  Perhaps the best part of the scene (at least imo), David shedding visible and genuine tears as Lenny slowly bleeds to death, was supposed to indicate this, that the closest thing he had nearby to remind him of a true family was slipping away from him.  Interesting ref during the Sydvid talk that he later describes this as “abandonment” and equates it with his parents.  I guess that’ll work for now, but I would have liked to at least hear the Amy-ref, since it’s safe to call that moment the turning point in S2, David’s realization of Lenny’s true identity.  JMO.

And while the World Wide Web is crying “There’s no doubt about it, David truly is a villain now!” can we just take a look at Farouk in this ep once and for all and say “Yeah, okay, whatever, but that doesn’t mean that Farouk is good by default!”?  (I know, I know -- two wrongs don’t make a right, as I keep saying, but again, Farouk’s old enough to have a better idea of what he’s doing, and apparently for all his coolness, even he in the end underestimates his competition!) Puppet master, master Chess player (oooh, a Xavier/Magneto ref! LOL!), etc., etc. -- we definitely see Farouk as nothing more than a master manipulator.  Yet he’s not completely successful in his control over D3, and since the D3/Summerland gang has changed so dramatically and frustratingly over the course of this show to the point where I’m not even sure I can root for the Loudermilks anymore (Kerry’s excitement about going to space was kind of fun, though!), I’m not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed in this turn of events and the inevitable parting of the ways.  (Or at least I would hope so; perhaps he’ll use Syd’s apparent condition to his advantage, idk.)  Frankly, I’m coming more and more to the conclusion that there is going to be no true winner at curtain’s end no matter how you slice it; at best, perhaps some parties will come away with a bittersweet sense of closure, and that’ll be about it.

Regarding Farouk’s underestimation of his control over the situation, I liked Switch’s suddenly popping up to help David, but if she’s incarcerated in a hibernation chamber, how the heck did she manage to snap out of it so quickly?  That had a rather deus ex machina-feel to it imo.  I may have missed something, idk; quite possible with this type of a show.  LOL!

And as often happens, I guess I had a little more to say the morning after than I thought I did! 😂

#Legion #Chapter 24 #Spoiler Discussion

[ranger-of-estel]

Pieces of a heart

First entry for #CCweek2018 put on by @writing-multifandom This is also a REALLY late prompt fill I got from an anon.

Set in an extended/alternate S1

Pre-Relationship

               Sara walks into her quarters, sparing only a quick glance to the figure sprawled across her bed. “Comfortable Crook?” She asks, moving to the small closet for a change of clothes.

               He makes a hum that she takes as affirmation, flipping another page in whatever book he’s brought tonight. It’s become so normal, to find him in her room (or for her to show up in his) that they’ve stopped being surprised by the others presence.

               Sara makes her way to the shower, washing away the seat of training and humming softly to herself. She returns to find Leonard exactly as she’d left him, shaking her head at his sprawled out form. She tosses her dirty clothes into a pile, swatting lightly at his foot so he will pull his legs up.

               “So,” he drawls, book lowering to rest on his knees as she props herself up at the free end of the bunk. “How was training with the hawk?”

               She shrugs, “she’s doing well, still a lot to learn.” She tilts her head slightly, “tired of chess with the professor?”

               A smirk plays at his lips, “figured I would give him a break, pretty sure he’s still puzzling over how I beat him yesterday.” She chuckles, grabbing one of her knives and a wetting stone from the shelf near the bed. They fall into a companionable silence; Leonard returning to his book while she sharpens the knife.

               Eventually Sara’s attention is drawn back up at the sound of cards being shuffled. The game begins wordlessly, both shifting to make room for the cards between them. Sara fetches a bottle of Rip’s scotch they’d stolen earlier in the trip, the pair drinking straight from the bottle tonight.

               Leonard loses the first hand, looking at her expectantly as he reshuffles. She thinks a moment, then tilts her head curiously. “You ever have pets?”

               “No,” he shrugs, “though there was a stray cat that would come around the house sometimes.” He frons, dealing out the next hand. “Disappeared after one of my trips to juvie.”

               They bounce back and forth a few rounds, sharing childhood stories, guilty pleasures and old flames. Sara’s lost another hand, waiting expectantly for his next question. He sits quietly for several long seconds. “You’ve spent a lot of time seducing the locals lately.”

               She raises brow, “is there a question in there, Crook?”

               “You seem so willing to give pieces of your heart to strangers,” he shrugs, “makes one wonder what is so different about the people who have your back.” His voice drops, and she’s not entirely sure she’s supposed to hear the next words. “Why keep me at arms length?”

               She looks at him in surprise, “Len…”

               “Forget I asked.” He gathers the cards, flashing a smirk before beginning to shuffle them once more. “none of my business.”

               “It’s because you scare me.” She replies; instantly regretting the words as she sees the flash of horror in his eyes, quickly hidden under ice. She shakes her head, words tumbling from her lips. “I’m not afraid of you Len. I’d trust you with my life, no hesitation.” She toys with the knife in her hands, “I’m afraid of what happens if I take that step.”

               His frown says she’s still not been clear, so taking a moment to settle herself she begins again. “The others you are talking about, one night stands through time.” She waves a hand dismissively toward the door, “Ships passing in the night, a physical distraction.”

               Leonard is watching her, suddenly more guarded than she’s accustomed to when they are alone. But he doesn’t speak, doesn’t move, so she presses on. “But with you…” she shakes her head, “it could never be just sex. Not when I…” she cuts off, cursing the scotch even when she knows it’s not at fault. She’s on her feet then, hand running through her hair as she wills her heart to quit racing, prays to whatever is out there that she’s not just broken the first real friendship she’s had in years.

               “Good,” she spins at the word, finds Leonard has also risen, leaning against the shelf at the head of the bed.

               “What?” it’s the only word I can find, a million new questions racing through her head.

               “If all I wanted was a warm body, to blow off steam, I would hardly choose someone on the team.” He pushes off the wall, only advancing a couple steps. “To messy, choosing someone who knows how” He frowns, “…damaged…I am.”

               “Yeah,” she offers a self-depreciating look. “We’re both pretty screwed up I guess.”

               “That’s the point,” he sighs when she offers only a questioning look in return. “The others here, the heroes.” He motions to the hall, “they’ve had the moral high ground their whole lives, believe that everything is a choice between good and evil…but you.”

               “Know what it’s like to be pushed into a corner where there are no heroes or villains, just people doing what it takes to survive one more day.” She finishes, an understanding that had drawn them together to begin with.

               He nods, “you said we could change our fate.” He shrugs, coming another step closer, but careful to respect her personal space. “Maybe it’s thinking about that…about becoming something different. Has a way of making one think about what it is they really want.”

               Sara’s drifted closer, captivated by the warmth of his icy eyes. “And? What is it you want, Snart?”

               “You,” his voice drops, usual drawl all but gone. “And me.” He reaches out, fingers just brushing against her wrists. “together, changing the hands we’ve been dealt.”

               “I don’t know that I’m a white picket fence kinda girl.” She raises a brow, but doesn’t pull away from his lingering touch.

               He scoffs, “I’m not changing that much, assassin.” He smirks, “but maybe it’s time we stop trying to be what others say is good, is right?”

               Her fingers curl around his, gazes locked. “It won’t be pretty.”

               “Real things rarely are,” his head tilts slightly, “it will likely require a fight.”

               A smile is curling at the corner of her lips, “The best things in life always do.”

               “So how about it, Lance?” His voice is soft, “willing to risk your heart on a criminal?”

               She smirks, “Guess we’ll see how good of a thief you really are.”

               He chuckles, free hand coming up to settling along the side of her neck. “Challenge accepted.” He leans in, lips brushing hers in a kiss that sparks something inside. Awakening a little girl who used to believe in happy endings.

#Captain Canary #Leonard Snart #Sara Lance #CCWeek2018 #@writing-multifandom #Pre-Relationship #My fic #Prompt Fill

[theadrogna]

So I skipped a couple of weeks because I didn’t know what to make of the mess that was Vietnam and then last week the show wasn’t on (crossover? what crossover?). However, I am back with the fun frolic to the Viking age that was Beebo God of War, so here we go with this week’s episode review.

Spoilers under the cut.

Let’s start with the good stuff:

Sara was great in this episode. She felt like she was leading from the front and when it looked like they couldn’t deal with the problem on their own, she called on the Time Bureau for help. It was nice to see that she wasn’t antagonistic towards Ava Sharpe or the Bureau, and Ava and Sara worked well together. Sara made smart choices, and when she didn’t, she listened to the team and adjusted her thinking. She was clearly affected by Martin’s death, acknowledging that it had been hard on the team and that she felt responsible as Captain.

Jax was a real stand out in this episode. Franz did a great job of showing the hurt that Martin’s death was causing him. There were so many nice moments for his character and the hard decisions he was making. I also liked the way that Zari was the one to support him when it came to trying to save Martin, showing that she still believes you can hack history. He couldn’t resist the loophole, but of course, he wasn’t that surprised by Martin’s refusal to take it either. Sara definitely knew what he was doing, and whilst she didn’t exactly approve, it was pretty clear she wouldn’t have stopped him either.

I actually really like the way the first shot we get of young Martin is him in his ridiculously delightful Hanukkah jumper. It’s celebrating the life he had with his family, but also reminding us that this isn’t just Christmas time. In fact, the entire episode seems to want to hit home that Christmas is one religious festival amongst many, and its origins are in yuletide and old pagan traditions. It made me very happy that Ava uttered the words “Beebo Day”, and it’s kind of interesting to imagine what kind of world we’d be living in if Christianity hadn’t become the dominant religion of the Western World.

We got confirmation that Rip’s in Time Jail and that the Tribunal didn’t go well. I’m pleased that at least they had a conversation about him, because so often Legends seems to avoid the obvious conversations. It was good to see the Legends using the Time Bureau (or trying to) as backup and acknowledging that they could. I hated the forced antagonism between the two groups and this relationship seems to be much more natural. I’d have liked some more explanation of what exactly they were charging Rip with, and given that they all seem to acknowledge that Mallus is a threat, why they haven’t let him out again now that they know he was right. It was really nice to see a slightly softer version of Ava Sharpe and that she actually works well with the Legends when they’re being sensible.

Someone finally pointed out that Mick always having a beer in his hand is unhealthy, and, well, that the only person who can fix that is Mick himself. The Leo and Mick interactions were well played, but I have some issues with them, but more about that in the bad stuff.

The Viking plot was kind of fun and bringing in Young Martin at this point was both twisting the knife and a clever way of giving the characters a chance to address their grief on screen. Jax bringing him a cup of tea, just the way he likes it is actually just utterly heartbreaking given the circumstances. It was very interesting to see the way that everyone reacted to him, and it felt like good characterisation all round.

John Constantine turns up at the end! Oh my heart leapt for joy with his opening line. It was just so perfect, and he’s there with his lighter and cigarette looking exactly as he should. I hope the rest of his characterisation is as good as those few seconds, and he gets a great story when they come back in February.

I can’t finish off the good stuff without mentioning Damien Darhk’s turn as Odin, who did seem to be a bit confused and be trying to be Thor with his lightening, but I’ll let him off. The moment when he realises that Eleanor is down is very interesting and we got to see how much she means to him. Damien is at his best when he’s being the comic book, mustache twirling villain, but this was an interesting twist.

And the bad stuff:

I admit, it’s fun to have this different version of Snart being all touchy feely and trying to get everyone to deal with their grief over Stein. We hardly ever get moments in Legends where people are given a healthy way to process their feelings about trauma, or even an acknowledgement that trauma has happened, however the puppet was rather disrespectful and I hated it. And Mick punching the puppet was actually just horrible. I can only imagine the uproar if Snart’s death had been treated that way back in S1. It’s really unnecessary given the already hurt feelings about how Stein died.

And I know that Snart fans are delighted to have their favourite back on screen, but I’m not sure what we’re gaining from it. This Snart is definitely not Earth1 Snart, so he’s not giving us new information about him, and we know he’s only here temporarily. I don’t know why the team would trust him to be their grief counsellor when they don’t really know him, and I can understand why Mick thinks he’s interfering. Also the chances of anyone reprogramming Gideon are slim to nil, unless she allowed it. Even Zari couldn’t manage it and she’s a hacker from the future. I’m just kind of baffled by what the show is doing with Leo.

Once again we have villains turn up and cause trouble but no real reason for them to do it. We don’t know why the Darhks want to do this, except that it’s somehow in service of Mallus. It’s getting just a little annoying that we keep having a total lack of motivation for the forces that they’re up against. And of course Eleanor Darhk getting fridged to motivate her Dad is just yet another example of a horrible trope that this show loves, but needs to die.

Rip spends Christmas in jail, after spending last year’s Christmas a brainwashed puppet of the Legion of Doom. Can we not just give the guy one happy memory, please? Also I would have killed for any sort of scene of him in jail or failing to persuade the Tribunal that he is right.

Jax left. I may cry. There were about a hundred ways that they could have lost Martin and kept Jax. We’re losing a great character there, as well as the Waverider’s mechanic, and I think the show will really miss him. It’s also a blow to the diversity of the cast, which could use more POC and not less.

So that’s it for this review. We now have to endure a long hiatus until February, so it’s back to the fanfic until then.

#Legends of Tomorrow #S3e9 #Beebo God of War #episode review #crit #I'll miss you Firestorm #Rip is in prison and it hurts

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I post a lot in here. Lately I noticed that I leave a lot of criticism of Stranger Things 2 (or Season 2 if you prefer). It's true that I like the original season better than the second for a pile of reasons I went into previously. However, I realized I left so much criticism and comparisons to season 1 that I'm coming off as a bit of a negative Nancy (tehehehe)!The truth is I loved and do love Stranger Things 2. I was so excited to watch it and left it feeling very satisfied. I felt it surpassed my own expectations for a sophomore season by a long ways. So I think given the amount of criticism I leveled at this season in comments on this sub, I may as well explain why I loved it if even just to keep it as a link for myself for later! So here we go!The continuity of the party!Right away in Season 1 we see all the boys together in some perfectly shot scenes in perfect sets. That arcade is so damn beautiful it makes me nostalgic for my real life history where I played games at the arcade (I'm now old enough that I remember the 90s, in which arcades were still awesome!). These four boys are a blessing to viewers and could not have been better cast! They are always entertaining!Noah Schnapp!If you pay even the slightest attention to Stranger Things 2, you can't miss Noah Schnapp's considerable contribution. Almost a stranger to us in the first season, Noah blows it out of the park in ST2. We meet him in ST2 as a kid kind of boxed in, with his life being dominated by others. That could be his mother's understandable preoccupation with his safety, or his need to report every episode to the people at the lab. He plays the role of an outsider - Zombie Boy - so perfectly. You see it on his face as he walks in and out of the school knowing people are talking about him.Then he has to portray possession. It's not just the task of actually portraying the act of possession itself on the field but the actual possession later as the shadow monster learns to slowly take over his brain. He has to portray both the evil and good side of Will and probably doesn't even know where the balance is scene by scene. Then, they asked him to portray a seizure. I have a sister with severe epilepsy, I can say that the out of control muscular spasms he shows as well as the expression on his face are scarily close to somebody who is experiencing a bad seizure.If that wasn't enough, they added in his exorcism scene where he has to portay a total lunatic, if as possessed by a demon exorcist-style. Yet, he manages it all. The boy out of shot all of the first season grabbed ST2 and made it his own.Noah Schnapp... the heart and soul of Stranger Things 2. Kudos young man, I've never seen a performance like that from someone so young!Winona and HarbourThe two adult leads on the show picked up right where they left off. Winona Ryder was a serious crush of mine as a kid (lol) and it's rare that when you become an adult and get into your 30s (which unfortunately I am) your crush can still be relevant. Well, it is. Winona is so damn talented and natural it is RIDICULOUS. I buy Joyce Byers. I buy that she would knife you to save her son, even though she's a small, almost frail looking single Mama. Her strength comes from the best place of all.. love.That face she had when she is embracing Will and looks at the picture of the Shadow Monster is just perfect. It is almost like she is daring it.. COME AT ME! Come at a Mama when you are threatening her cubs, I dare you! There's nothing like a mother's love and Joyce is a real mother, she'd walk through HELL for Will. I mean.. she did!David Harbour is proof that the best are so often overlooked. Even by his own admission his career has relegated him to being part of the background. He was in big productions, like The Equalizer with Denzel, but he is always the villain with the gun or just the extra guy. In the first season he showed the depth he truly has as we went on a journey from hating this terrible cop, to being glad this "asshole" is on the case because he is at least competent, to being heartbroken when he tells Joyce about his grief over Sarah, to being TOTALLY invested in his fate right to the end when he saves a little boy.In ST2, he comes back and does it again... by...Hopper and Eleven!I love that they showed us Hopper and Eleven's backstory to some degree. The small details can mean so much. When Hopper hears her behind him and turns to see her there, in the flesh, his immediate reaction is to take off his hat. This may seem like a small thing, but it is everything.If the cops show up at your house and they remove their hats, it likely means you aren't in trouble. It is done for respect. They are not there to enforce the law against you, rather they are there to inform you of something, probably something not good. It is respect, they are no authority in that moment, they are public servants there to help.When Hopper sees El his immediate reaction is to take off his hat. This is so adorable because she can't know what this means but it is everything to him. It is a signal to her that he is here to help. He is a friend. She is in no trouble at all. It is also clearly a relief to him having told Brenner where they are that she is still breathing.But they didn't keep it rosy and overload us with the MOMENT that is the "Hopper Dance", instead they show us conflict. In that conflict we see both sides of the argument. We see it from El's side and Hopper's side. She is cooked up, lonely and sick and tired of spending every day there. He cares only about her safety. They are bound to clash and they do, and when they do it isn't pretty. Both of them come across badly. She accuses him of being like Papa, and he acts rather childishly with the "wanna go back in the lab?" line. I do appreciate though that he stands up to and faces her power, he won't let her win by just being more powerful. In any case, it's a hard scene to watch and that's why it is good. It is honest!Their redemption scene in the car is also.. everything. El is only the second person we see him even acknowledge Sara's death with, after Joyce. I also adore that he gave her the bracelet.Oh and that shot at the end of S4 when he is in the tunnel with the flashlight and we flip upside down. God damn!!!Bob Newby, Superhero!I loved the Goonies as a boy and I loved (and still love) the Lord of the Rings as a teenager. To see Sean Aston join the the cast was awesome. On screen, he was perfect as Bob Newby, the nerdy guy who clearly loved Joyce and the boys and wanted to help whatever the cost. While the show made him almost seem a bit silly or maybe even pathetic in early moments, it showed his strength in Episode 8. In that episode, the strong stereotypical male lead, Hopper, was powerless to enable them to escape the lab. Instead, "Bob the Brain" was the one who could turn the power back on and use his programming knowledge to get them the hell out of there.I still won't say I liked the manner of his death, but his death at least was understandable. He undertook a serious mission and it was a success, except the part of coming out alive. The people he thought of first and foremost.. namely Joyce and Will.. left the lab alive and in good physical health.Bob may have been a character introduced to die so that they don't have to kill a main character.. but they pulled it off!Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson!I just... I love this. I love how much Steve ends up liking Dustin. Clearly reluctant to help Dustin at first, Steve went way above and beyond the call of duty later. When he realized Dustin was right about Dart, he didn't run off. Just like he walked back in that house in the S1 finale and saved both Jonathan and Nancy, Steve stayed by Dustin's side right to the end.One little moment I love between them is when Steve pats Dustin on the head after putting the demodog in the Byers' refrigerator. He's "his boy" now. Dustin grew on Steve like he grew on all of us as we watched him in S1. Dustin could grow on anyone to be fair!The fact that they kept their budding friendship and "big brother / little brother" thing going right to the end is wonderful. I love that Steve saw this young boy who was struggling in some aspect of his social life even though he is clearly a smart kid, and decided to take him under his wing. I hope it continues into Season 3.I also love that while Steve's advice seems to have failed, it "sort of" worked. We see Dustin crushing on Nancy in the opening minutes of Season 1 and we get the impression he tries to get her attention every chance he gets. In the meantime, he has turned his attention to Max and isn't showing any outward interest toward Nancy. Then, while not chasing after his friend's older sister he ends up dancing with her at the Snow Ball. Which is no small deal! Did you see the look on the girl's faces? They are intrigued.. why is she dancing with him? WHAT DID WE MISS? Indeed Steve, "act like you don't care" worked in part for Dustin... except it was for the girl you are crushing on :PEl's refusal and Kali's portrayal in Episode 7So I am critical of Episode 7 for reasons I won't go into because this is about what I liked! Eleven's refusal to commit murder is HUGE for her character. She has killed before but in immediate defense of her life and freedom, or of those she cares about. That's reasonable! Kali wanted her to kill a man who hurt her mother for revenge, but upon seeing the children she would be depriving of a father figure she can't do it. She cannot do to them what he did to her, she is too good. She even stops Kali from doing it.This moral compass is a direct result of the people who influenced her in Hawkins. This includes Benny (RIP gentle bear!), the boys (especially Mike) and Hopper. She escaped and won the lottery when it comes to who to influence her. Mike berates her when she does wrong, like throwing Lucas across the field. Hopper resists her powers in an argument even though she could snap his neck in a rage. When she does wrong, it is not excused, she is told! She is yelled at. She also learned small, seemingly insignificant but important things like "friends don't lie". These are all part of the moral compass she has developed in the previous year.Unfortunately Kali doesn't seem to have benefited from similar influence. In fact, Kali comes across VERY badly. Not only does she kill at will, she has recruited lost people to do her bidding. They depend on her for survival, for protection and everything. They talk about her with the same reverence uttered about Marhshall Applewhite, David Koresh, Jim Jones, Charles Manson and so on. All of their followers believed them to be saviors. "We were dead. All of us. Kali saved us here, and in here".Those cult leaders also sought to manipulate their followers to believe the world was against them. Kali does this to Eleven directly. She even tries to poison the relationships Eleven made already, insisting they can't help her, even though they already have. There is a feeling of "only through me is there salvation and peace" about it.Kali has saved NOBODY. She has put her gang on an inevitable path toward death or imprisonment. It is only a matter of time. She also doesn't hesitate to use her power to try to psychologically influence Eleven. She shows her Brenner, understanding that El has been brainwashed to see this man, her handler, as her savior and protector. We also hear Axel tell Kali "I told you to stay out of my head" or words to that effect earlier, suggesting she doesn't have a problem using her power against the people around her.While I don't like episode 7 and make no bones about that... I appreciate they left Kali's true nature up to interpretation and redeemed Eleven before it was over!Max MayfieldI'll say it.. I like Max. At first I didn't see the point but on re-watch and thinking about it, she is no mere introduction for a love triangle. Instead, Max introduces real drama. She causes a rift with the boys because Mike doesn't want her there. She also dumps the boys as friends when she feels she was being mistreated.. and I respect that!She also is the person besides Eleven who makes Mike really SMILE. And I mean really SMILE. You may have missed it if you were focused on El finding Mike, but when Max is skating around Mike she breaks down his phony tough shell easily and he is smiling at her. He is moments away from accepting her as a friend and fellow party member until Eleven's jealousy interrupts them. This is probably the first time Mike smiled properly in a year and it's to her credit, because she under it all is a good person.She also plays a major role at the end potentially saving Steve's life (and Billy from life imprisonment?), but she manages to get herself and the boys to the tunnel to lure the demodogs away from Hopper and Eleven, which almost certainly saved Hopper's life and maybe even Eleven's.I'm looking forward to finding out what happened in California!The "pull out" line and the cookie eating!...... what can I say? There will always be an inner 12 year old in me who appreciates a little inappropriate innuendo etc. :PSo that's just some more positive thoughts on S2 from someone who constantly seems to be criticizing it. The way I see it, I wouldn't be criticizing so many aspects of it if I didn't care about it at all! But still, it is good to remember that I enjoyed it a lot.. and why!If you read all that.. god damn.. well done and thanks :P via /r/StrangerThings

#stranger things

[piecesplacesthings]

Why ‘The Fall’ is one of the bravest shows I’ve ever watched

The Fall is a show about a murderer and a policewoman but more than that it is a dirty, distorted mirror that reflects our opinions and expectations back on us, asking us if that first response is really the right one. 

To say that Season 3 of BBCs The Fall has been divisive would be an understatement. Even among its early season champions there have been those who felt that the pace, always achingly slow, had become preposterous, that the excitement had dwindled and that what they’d loved about Season 1 was gone by midway through Season 2. Those people are entitled to their view but twelve hours after watching the Season 3 finale, and still rocked by what I witnessed, I want it on the record how very impressed I am by the series in its’ entirety.

Here’s why I think The Fall is such important viewing and why I will go down shouting that it is one of the bravest, ballsiest things I have ever had the privilege to watch.

Upside Down TV

Television, but specifically the thriller/crime genre, relies on keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. There are huge differences in execution depending on the sub-genre,  the trappings of procedural drama, a psychological thriller and an experimental Scandi project are wildly different but they all rely one common thing. The withholding of information. In almost all crime dramas the audience is missing certain key pieces of information. We spend the show watching for clues to string together seemingly unrelated events which will lead us to a plot conclusion. Along the way we are fed characters, situations and atmosphere which lead us subtly to the desired conclusion, that flurry of revelation at the end where everything suddenly makes sense. At the moment of climax our understanding of what happened suddenly catches up to our expectations, to the emotional understanding we have and we walk away from the show feeling relief. We expect to be surprised and are pleased when we work out the surprise the nanosecond before it is revealed.

Not so The Fall.

From the first episode we know who and we know what and we have some strong suspicions as to why. The first season looks and feels more like other thrillers because you have the cat and mouse element, but what’s happening under the surface is a huge departure. Under the cover of an edgy but understandable plot, the foundations of everything we expect from a show of this type is being chipped away. The obvious changes are easy We have a female lead, utterly divorced from the domestic setting without a backstory to help us comprehend her. We have a murderer whose entire life is laid out to us, who plays both the sinister and the sweet with intensity. We watch them circle but as we focus on that, short side scenes are thrown at us which add and takeaway from what we think we know. And when the chase is over it’s these minutiae that are thrust into the spotlight.

What happens when we think nothing is happening…

Season 3 is all about those minute details. The first 5 episodes are an achingly slow expose of all the motivations and ramifications of what has gone before. There is no “action” per se. No car chases or daring escapes, no murderous nurses or corrupt coppers working for the defence attorneys to destroy evidence. There is just a cast of people trying to understand what has happened, why it has happened and how they need to respond to it. And the audience becomes a part of that process. We’re a witness to the murderous happenings of Season 1. We’ve followed the police through the official investigation Season 2. And in Season 3 we’re asked to review, to take apart and to reconsider. Season 3 is about us…

The show’s tension shifts from a fear of physical menace to a much deeper, less comfortable fear - the fear that justice may not be served, that the truth will not be enough and that our questions may never be answered. Week by week I found my perception challenged, my opinion slightly altered and as I went into the finale I was asking myself how I wanted it to end - how it could end? How on earth would they tie together five hours of minute nuance and complex motivation in a single hour?

And then it exploded in the simplest way possible.

The one thing that had been certain from the moment Paul Spector broke into Sarah Kay’s home was that he was a creature of incredible intelligence and brutal instinct. Yet somehow while we watched my friends and I, along with the shows doctors and lawyers and to an extent the police, had allowed ourselves to be lulled into a sense of security. His compliance through S3 had made me question his nature and intentions, even at moments to pity him. I never believed he should be forgiven but I questioned whether or not he could eventually find some sort of redemption…  which made watching what happened not only harrowing but incredibly personal. I felt personally misled and in some ways individually responsible for the situation which led to an explosion of grotesque and unflinching violence from a man we all knew was capable of such behaviour, but had all been too busy analysing to remember to fear.

Which is why The Fall is, in my opinion, such necessary viewing.

Bring Your Own Morality.

This is not TV for the faint-hearted or the impatient. It is not comforting or clean but rather raw and ragged and challenging. It is in many ways imperfect but it forces you as a viewer to go one step further in your TV experience.

To get anything out of The Fall one cannot simply sit and watch and wait to understand. It just doesn’t come together that way. You have to fight. You have to dissect and you have to engage. The heroes are flawed and the villains tug at your heart, the victims are liars and aggressors as well as innocents. You watch the seemingly infallible Stella Gibson make mistake after mistake and you wish for the simplicity of S1 where she was simply a feisty, no bullshit leader. You watch Spector fight his way back from death, try to reclaim his memories and identity and you wonder whether his horror when told of his past is disbelief at what he became in those 6 years or the fact that he can’t remember and revel in his crimes.

Your own morality is as much on trial as Spectors is.

At no point do the cast and crew offer you an easy out, a moment with a swelling soundtrack to remind you how to feel, or allow you the distraction of a romantic side-plot or a bumblingly humorous side-character. All you get is a series of small, intense happenings, a thrummingly tense score and an ensemble cast who put in a raft of stellar performances which threaten to blow you off the knife-edge of the main plot.

And then it’s over.

The still, brooding tension of S3’s first 5 episode is shattered in the most brutal, bruising fashion and we are left aching and clutching at ends which feel unfinished because… well they are! I never expected a warm and fizzy finale from The Fall but now that it’s over I don’t know why I even expected any sort of neat, satsfying ending. Because this is not a neat show.

Humanity is not neat. The survivors of a man like Spector do not wander off into a rosy sunset to lick their wounds, they stagger on, day by day, forever altered by what happened to them. His family, his surviving victims, the people who fought for and against him - all of them will be forever impacted by his existence. So to finish with Stella Gibson, exhausted but upright at her kitchen table, fresh flowers delivered by some friend with a note that I imagine says something like “Welcome back! Hope you had a successful trip to Ireland” seemed so very very appropriate. Sweet but trite, well intentioned but meaningless.

Beyond the credits Stella will go to bed and get up and go on with life, absorbing the events of The Fall into her personality. And I feel like that’s what Allan Cubbit asks of us as an audience.

Instead of giving us a glossy, slick 18 hours of television with carefully managed peaks and troughs of tension he gave us 18 hours of interlinking questions that it will take us weeks, months even, of flashbacks and water-cooler conversations to figure out how to respond to. He gave us a show that keeps strangers up talking until 2am on Twitter about the significance of a single scene. He gave us characters that lingered past their time on screen, whose development challenged us to reconsider over and again our first impressions.

Yes, The Fall is a show about a murderer and a policewoman but more than that it is a dirty, distorted mirror that reflects our opinions and expectations back on us, asking us if that first response is really the right one. The writing is dangerously sparse, the acting devastatingly good and the overall effect could have been disastrous, But it isn’t. It made me sit up and take notice. It made me question things a bout myself. There were things I hated, disagreed with but also things I never would have considered otherwise. The chances taken, on balance, paid off and the final result was me, sat on the edge of my sofa, watching the credits roll one last time, shaken, shattered and moved to the point of tears.

And for that I will always defend it as one of the bravest, most brilliant things I have ever seen.

#review #opinion #writing #my writing reposted here