#and execute season 5 with character consistency

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 5/7/2024

i have Got to read a book i enjoy this week or my brain will turn into something the consistency of dried tomato paste on a kitchen counter

also i have lost track of the timing and rhythm of the seasons so for the first time in a very long time there is no may starred war tuesdaypost

listening

Chapstick by COIN off my weekly recommended spotify playlist. i don’t think this song is particularly interesting or well-executed as a whole, but the lyrics

She’s a friend of mine, and an alibi

And the getaway car in overdrive, like

Hey sharpshooter, I like the way you’re moving

i think the use case for this song is a telecom company trying to get you to switch by promising some portable Bluetooth speakers for your summer parties and this is playing diagetically as we slip in and out of various summer parties, following one TV-hot woman in a sundress

-

reading

i am once again not sleeping well and have shoved a lot of mediocre books into my gaping maw. i have read a good fuckin chuck of the jason todd outlaws runs. i like jason todd/the red hood bc i feel a certain kinship with someone trained for an incredibly specific thing who are then thrown away the second they stop conforming. darth maul also but that’s a different post.

i have several bones to pick with writer scott lobdell. i know this was the early teens but can we chill with the misogyny for a singular page. why themes of addiction only when it is needed to fill a narrative lull? and why are you continually going to put jason in interesting situations where he might confront his trauma or grow despite his trauma and then. not have him confront his trauma or grow at all because of it??? i like snatches of the early issues of the run, when the outlaws are figuring out how to be a polycule team on the most beautiful deserted island and crashed spaceship you’ve ever seen. i liked the art in most issues and these had just enough fun flashes of character (about every other issue) to keep me reading. but im annoyed by it.

i finally finished Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, the first physical paper book i have finished in a long time. the flaw of being the first in the english detective fiction genre is that everyone who comes after has a lot of time to perfect it. i felt the actual perpetrator was a little beyond belief and the ending was fumbled. however it was very good at sustaining my interest for like 400 pages. not my picture bc i cannot be bothered to find my copy and bother a cat, but this is the penguin edition i own. i don’t actually know if i will keep it on my shelves but maybe it’s more of a trophy of me getting back into reading physical books?

Alexis Hall’s Mortal Follies also annoyed me. i do not think this author’s strong suit is in longer books. i have read previous books in two hours and change and while i found the ending here satisfying from a fairytale perspective, i did not enjoy the path we took to get there. i thought we were ending and wrapping things up at least three times, and the number of Things that happen in order to carry us on to the next Thing does not feel gleefully madcap but sort of frantically shambling. a very classic three-days time limit is introduced in the middle, it is met, and then we continue on for several months. also the author introduces the concept of shipping your friends with an equally made-up word as shipping through one of the more tiresome characters in the novel and this…cracking? chip? in the fourth wall? fucking annoyed me. it felt very out of tone with the rest of the book. surely there was a better way for this character to express that she wanted the two leads to be together

-

watching

Hammerhead (1968, dir. Miller). this is leaving tubi soon and sometimes the heart needs a silly little James Bond ripoff. had high hopes for this one bc it was rated R and the baddie was obsessed with collecting vintage erotica. i don’t really know why this is rated R. the erotica we see is almost all prints of Fine Art Nudes. there’s a lot of cleavage and undergarments and bikinis but not like. full frontal at any point. no man has their chest out except for an enterprising motorcyclist near the end.

anyway this is a deeply unserious film, as you may surmise. it’s not much fun, especially when it’s not very good at getting everyone to the next scene. Vince Edwards is kind of a cold fish, i do not know why every woman is throwing herself at him. Judy Geeson makes every scene she’s in better (there’s a very funny scene in a post office where they play both keepaway and the thimble game with an important package) but she cannot hold the whole dragging movie up by herself. god they made leading ladies fucking tiny back then. very throwable

-

playing

not fallow but i don’t have anything interesting to say about genshin this week. a friend started playing fnv after several months of subtle hints, i was only able to join his streams after twenty hours in and promptly let him know the inventory is sortable if you click at the top. how had he been going through his whole fucking inventory for twenty hours like that. a man singularly obsessed with both inventory management and min-maxing caps. he had like 8k caps by the time he got to Novac, taking the normal route. people sure can play games in different ways huh

-

making

put some dijon mustard and some broccoli in some macaroni and cheese. that's about it

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem #an important thing to ask yourself as a grownup responsible for your own care and keeping is: am i having fun? and the answer is no the fuc #i am not!

[gayofthefae]

The thing with the Byler twist - and it is a twist, even if we’ve predicted it - is that all that the general audience really needs to be on board is to realize that all of Mike’s behavior will have remained in character. No sudden change or confusion to accommodate this fan service ship. Even if you didn’t see it coming, it is very consistent with his behavior over the seasons.

That’s all you really need for a good twist. Not predictability but rewatchability. Does it makes sense? It doesn’t matter if it was built up. Because this isn’t a slow burn. It’s an “it was under my nose the whole time” subversion. Yes, it’s been built up from the start but that’s the part about being under your nose the whole time. Some people will have caught it some won’t, but ultimately, the fact that Mike’s behavior won’t change is what will make people see it.

Because the general audience is, by definition, not actively fighting the idea. Casual viewers. Character consistency is all that’s needed. Even if it WERE to be fan service, if they were to be able to execute that unplanned plot with great character consistency, props to them, that’s the story now, and I’ll accept it. (Just like I say a non-Byler ending would be totally great if it can maintain character consistency and realistic happy endings within that - I just can’t think of a way it can). 

This has been a long way of saying.

Mike and Will getting together will not feel out of character or like an adjustment or accommodation to this “new” storyline. And that’s really all that’s ever needed for a twist or subversion to work. It doesn’t have to be foreshadowed or predictable. It just needs to make sense. And as long as that’s true, no general audience member will fight it.

#reminder also that homophobic casual viewers don't count because that is a bias even if it is out of fandom #going with the flow of whatever happens in character without actively rooting for anything and just kinda riding the wave is the type of per #son i meant #general audience byler #also fix its are great but at the end of the day i'm a believer in the idea that what's happened in the show happened so if an ending feels #in character then that is the ending of that story #i don't pick and choose #i don't even skip episodes of sitcoms on rewatches because i am always in it for the full story overarching #if they really do just absolutely pull byler out of their ASSES and have been doing fan service this whole time #and execute season 5 with character consistency #i really do not give a shit what was on the original drawing board however long it was bc welp it was scrapped and the reason doesn't matter #fan service is only bad when done poorly #writing at the end of the day is just putting characters you know into different situations and seeing how they react #suspending disbelief that byler would be hypothetically unplanned #the fact that there is even a situation to drop the existing characters into that would warrant byler as a result is great and i say counts #i'm thinking of it as a simulation. an if >> then #you can change your mind on the outcome all you want as long as you can execute it within the sim of just dropping your established characte #rs into situations and letting them play it out #if that makes sense #like this is a sort of metaphor i know the writers aren't just gaming on sims 4 all day with the proper personality traits and then getting #he demogorgon expansion pack #but you get what i mean #if it's in character most people including myself will not give a shit what other in character ending we could have had #because in most cases there could have been another in character ending up until a certain point #times the timeline could have branched off from different in character decisions but didn't and now that it hasn't the options are end the n #arrative arc in season 5 one way #or continue the show long enough to execute something else #both work imo #although i do want the integrity of ending it #i just can't think of a combined s5 finale alternate

[geekgirles]

Liar Revealed

So Marinette and Sabrina worked together to lure Lila into a false sense of security that eventually led up to her spilling everything in front of an audience she was unaware of. Now everyone knows she’s been lying about everything, she’s a horrible person, and she and Chloé are about to be expelled for good... After 7 years, the fandom finally got what it wanted.

...then why do I feel like I’ve actually wasted those 7 years of my life? 

Buckle up, ‘cause this is going to be a long ride.

As someone who’s been eagerly awaiting for Lila to be exposed since Volpina, a feeling that only grew with each passing episode she’s been featured in, I honestly find this development wholly underwhelming, highly disappointing, even. 

Maybe I’m too vindictive, who knows, but this in no way feels like proper comeuppance for a character who’s been maliciously manipulating everyone around her and relishing in other people’s misery since she was first introduced.

First and foremost, because having Lila accidentally reveal herself while gloating is too much of a cliché. I’ve seen people before mentioning how Lila exposing herself seemed to be the only way this could go, seeing as Marinette’s best attempts always seemed to fail. But if we ignore for a second this was actually set up by Marinette and Sabrina, with the way it’s handled it just feels like a kick in the gut, not the overwhelming catharsis I’m sure most of us were expecting. 

Because, and this is actually my main problem with the execution, by having Lila expose herself by spouting a self-satisfied tirade of every single lie she’s ever told and people have believed without question as she disparages Sabrina’s attempts to take her down, saying how she could easily turn everyone against her, the narrative is actually framing Lila in the right.

When we as the audience know it shouldn’t be like that. 

Lila only really upped her game in season 5 (and even then the writers still rely too much on the characters being dumbed down around her for it to work), up until then all her lies would have been easily discreditable if the writers didn’t need the class and everyone in Paris to believe her for her schemes to work!

From our perspective, Lila is nowhere near as formidable as she presents herself to be. Which, admittedly, goes in line with her consistent characterisation (about her only consistent trait aside from being hateful and a liar) that she believes and presents herself to be more special than she actually is. But the problem is no character other than Marinette, Adrien, and now Sabrina ever learnt of this fact! Maybe now that she’s exposed herself, but with the way she gloated about all her plans going off without a hitch...

Which leads us to another reason this was the worst possible execution of Lila being exposed they could have come up with:

It was a stroke of luck.

That’s it. That’s unquestionably what it was. Because hadn’t Sabrina finally grown a spine and drawn the line with the actions she was willing to commit for Chloé’s sake, Marinette would have had no way of knowing of Lila’s plan and preparing accordingly. 

Really, the only positive thing I can say about it is that it could maybe count as character development for Marinette since she finally learned she needed to be as sneaky as Lila if she wanted to take her down. And there’s of course the fact that Sabrina finally broke away from Chloé. Other than that? It’s a fairly sombre scenario, really. 

Because, again, Marinette didn’t manage to finally beat Lila because she had a strong support network (which would have painted a very symbolic and meaningful picture showcasing how, for all the superficial attention her lies can get her, in reality, Lila will always be alone as long as she doesn’t put in the genuine effort to reach out to others like Marinette does), but because she had outside help. Again, help she couldn’t have accounted for until Sabrina herself reached out to her. 

Relating to my previous point, Marinette never got Alya to even believe her about Lila or at the very least question how genuine she was until Lila spelled it out for her. Even though she’s known her best friend is Ladybug for months, which brings forth the question if letting Alya in on Marinette’s secret ended up being even worth it if the writers refuse to have her help her out where it matters (I’ll be sure to go back to this point in a minute, just you wait). 

What else? Oh, I know! How about the fact that, for a season that was supposed to be all about Adrienette winning, the writers purposely robbed us of that Adrienette vs Lila alliance we were promised back in Chameleon, huh? Because Adrien was completely left out of the plan. In fact, ever since Ladybug back in season 3, he hasn’t been allowed to do anything to help Marinette against Lila. As with the Ladynoir conflict in season 4, his relevance all but vanished even though he was a central part of the conflict from seasons 1-3. 

Even better! When he finally spoke up about Lila to Nino and Alya, arguably his best friends besides Ladybug, they completely brushed his concerns off as him just agreeing with Marinette out of boyfriend obligation! I didn’t know intangible things could slap me in the face, but boy was I wrong!

And the best part? This complete disregard of his feelings, lack of communication, and their assuming they know better than him (which disturbingly parallels to his own relationship with Gabriel...) is certainly never going to be explored, let alone resolved. 

What do I mean with all this?

Well, basically that for a show that’s supposed to promote the power of love, friendship, and teamwork, when it comes to Lila Marinette is all alone. Has been since Volpina. 

But at least that’s done with, Lila got her just desserts, and we’re never going to have to deal with her ever again...

SIGH

Except, not really. Not at all, in fact. 

Because just as she and Chloé were finally being reprimanded for their actions, Mr. Damocles had to choose that of all moments to realise he failed as a principal, attract an akuma, cause a racket, and provide Lila with the perfect distraction to just...walk away unscathed. 

And with the reveal that she actually has more identities, social circles, and opportunities to lie and manipulate to fall back to after being expelled from the Françoise-Dupont...Let’s just say it implies that while Marinette (and the audience) had to endure nothing short of psychological torture, Lila never really had anything to lose.

Now I ask you...how the Hell am I supposed to consider that a satisfying, cathartic resolution to that particular arc?!?!?!?

And if you permit me, there is one more thing I’d like to get off my chest. 

Alya’s reaction to this.

After learning the truth she rushes to hug Marinette and apologise, being a clear wreck about it. And while Marinette getting an apology once in a blue moon is always a welcomed thing, once again the writers aim and completely miss their shot. Because Alya apologises for being gullible. 

Look, back in seasons 1 and 2, Hell, even back in season 3, I could have overlooked this. Yes, she never listened to Marinette, could be a tad hypocritical, and the whole jealous thing got old and annoying fast, but at least she couldn’t know for certain Lila was bad news. But from season 4 onwards Alya no longer has such an excuse. No, from season 4 onwards Alya’s problem isn’t that she’s gullible, it’s that she willingly and repeatedly chose to blatantly ignore all of Marinette’s suspicions and warnings regarding Lila. Even after Adrienette finally became canon and Marinette had realistically no reason to feel jealous of Lila in any way, shape or form, Alya still couldn’t fathom that, perhaps, her best friend had her reasons for disliking Lila besides a love triangle. 

The moment Alya learned Marinette is Ladybug, the two should have been allowed to talk about Lila, about the real reason Marinette hates her, and to work together to overcome this issue and bring her down. How do you expect me to be okay with season 5 opening to these two having daily sleepovers to talk about Marinette’s love life, but not a single second could be spared after Illusion to have Alya question why Marinette hates her so much, if not connect the dots herself since she is Ladybug’s best friend, not Lila, and Ladybug hates her?

I’ve seen people justify this saying it’s been a long time since Lila lied about being Ladybug’s best friend, and while I’ll argue the last time it was mentioned was actually Chameleon, not Volpina, I could see your point. Except that is not just another lie, like her claiming she knows Jagged Stone or Prince Ali. No, that is the lie that started everything.

It was because Lila lied about knowing Ladybug to impress everyone, especially Adrien, that Marinette completely lost it and chewed her out for it in front of him. It’s because of that lie and the consequent reaction it got from Ladybug that Lila even developed a grudge in the first place. It’s because of that lie that Marinette ever found out about Lila being a liar, because before she first lied to Adrien about being close to Ladybug, Marinette was panicking because she had no chance against someone as incredible as her. If she hadn’t lied about knowing Ladybug, Marinette would have been as fooled by her as everyone else and the two might have never really come to blows.

So don’t tell me it was never brought up because it was so long ago and it doesn’t matter anymore, when that particular lie carries so much weight and we all know the real reason they couldn’t have Alya in Marinette���s corner is because the writers know Lila needs everyone around her to follow her blindly for her lies to work and everything to always work out in her favour because otherwise she just doesn’t work as a villain.

TL;DR: If you want a good resolution to the Lila Gets Exposed plot, pick literally any fanfic dealing with this exact premise. It’ll be better, I promise.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #mlb #ml spoilers #ml season 5 #ml season 5 spoilers #ml s5.21 #confrontation #ml salt #ml analysis #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #sabrina raincomprix #adrien agreste #lila salt #alya salt #lila rossi #alya césaire #chloé bourgeois

[t1gerlilly]

I’ve seen a number of posts dismissing discussions of racism in the new storyline out of hand. To the point where I have no idea what the original criticisms were. And I think that’s really unfortunate. Partly because it feels like there’s a part of our community we’re not listening to and partly because I have some questions on the subject and would really like to hear what people are saying about it, but I’m clearly not following the right people.

I think folks forget how important Eddie is as Hispanic rep. Although 25% of the US population is Hispanic, only 3.3% of lead roles in TV are played by Hispanic actors (source) They’re also only 1.6% of showrunners and 1.9% of directors. And they are also under 5% of executive or management roles in media (source). So there is clearly a systemic problem.

But how does that apply to 911? Well - Carlos on lone star is notorious for having the least screen time of any character, despite the fact that his character is the closest to Athena in terms of role. And Eddie? Well, the latest I could find was season five totals - and Eddie and Chim, the non-white or black men, were bottom of the barrel. To really establish a pattern, you’d want more than two shows, but at least across half a decade of shows, the pattern is pretty consistent. I’m not making an argument about the reasons for that, but those are just the numbers. If I were to speculate, I’d assume it was a combination of who the network exec, showrunner, and executive producer was, since they have the power to make decisions. Just coincidentally, their racial identities mirror the screen time of the characters? Hmmmm

So then let’s look at who does press for the show - making themselves more visible…yeah, that’s largely Oliver. And you can say that’s because he’s a POV character- but you might be surprised to learn that in many seasons either Hen or Athena had more screen time than Buck. Yeah. Really. But you NEVER see Aisha put out to do press the way that Oliver is.

Why is that? Is it because she’s a black woman? Because she plays a queer character? And who is making that decision and why? Because that lack of visibility impacts her personal career. Same thing with Ryan Guzman and Kenneth Choi, who both have less screen time AND less press.

But in particular- and this is the rub - Ryan has CLEARLY been making intentional acting choices FOR YEARS to shape his character and his dynamic with Buck as queer. Oliver played into them, thinking of them as natural chemistry- but it’s clear that other creators on the show - notably the directors and writers, picked up on Ryan’s choices and fan reactions to reframe the dynamics and the characters.

And it’s really clear that Tim originally intended to have Eddie come out, but the poor reaction to Natalia and the fact that the actress was unavailable led him to switch the storyline to Buck. All of which is perfectly understandable.

But if there’s one person most responsible for the reason we ultimately got bi!Buck, it’s Ryan Guzman - for the bravery and perseverance of his choices as an artist. It’s amazing to me that in all the praise for Oliver saying that he “would have” leaned into Buck as queer even without the go ahead…no one has thought to praise the actor who actually DID THAT - for YEARS- when he was in a much more precarious position as a character and an actor. Like really take a minute to look at what that took…he was risking his livelihood with that choice.

And then, when the show DOES finally make it canon…who gets the praise? The buzz? The support? The white guy who was mostly oblivious for the past five years. Like…how is THAT fair?

And OK, the original plan was for the helicopter pilot to be Lucy, and that fell through so they reached out to Lou, because Tommy was a former character- but also quite likely because he looks a good deal like Buck - and the SL was supposed to have that character be a stand-in for the other half of Buddie. When they switched to Buck, they had to make Tommy have similar hobbies to Eddie to establish the similarities, since they couldn’t rely on looks.

But that meant they totally whitewashed the story line. And if you want to talk about firsts - when has a Hispanic lead come out as gay or bi? And how many of them were men? And how many were over 21? And on a mainstream show?

And no, it wasn’t intentional (just a function of having so many more white characters than Hispanic characters), but it was unfortunate. Not to mention the intersectionality of it all.

So…I honestly think there’s a decent basis for critique there. Not a “these people are terrible” critique, but a “not paying attention to diversity systemically” in a way that lets unconscious bias have the same impact as deliberate bias.

And I really wonder at the people who just dismissed the entire discussion - how hard did you listen? How willing were you to hear what people were saying? Because this is an issue that has to do with real people, their careers, their hopes, dreams, and identities. And you should be willing to listen.

#911 abc #eddie diaz #ryan guzman #911 discourse #911

[waddingham]

was looking at some very old posts of mine and i just. when i finished s2 of ted lasso i was certain that a) ted would be going back to kansas and that b) ted and rebecca would not end up together on our screens. and i didn't have a problem with either of those things bc i was certain they'd be done with the same thoughtfulness that was present in s1 and most of s2. and i ended up being right about both things but so totally wrong about the execution of both??? yeah okay i hear you there was a three season arc, there was a plan, but wrt s3 you cannot convince me that plan consisted of anything that happened outside of "ted goes home". and even that decision felt shoved to the wayside.

i was dead certain that teds decision to go back was going to be informed by a deep exploration of ted and his past and his trauma and how the loss of his dad affects his own sense of fatherhood, that it was going to be ted's season entirely and would be as heart wrenching and uplifting as the rest of his story — so much so that by the time he decided he needed to go back, that we'd all be so on board. we'd all feel "oh of course he has to go back, look how much henry needs him and how much ted needs henry, how deep his fear of not being there for his son goes". why didn't we get that why did ted feel like a supporting character in his own show in his own SEASON why didn't the deeply traumatic event that informs almost all of ted as a character ever come up when it's so relevant to all of this why!!!! i need a 30 page essay from each of the ted lasso writers and a week long conference with js to explain it to me like im 5!!!!! am I stupid!!!

right anyway

when it comes to ted and rebecca i have less gripes but still am so baffled at the number of parallels drawn and connections made and support given to say "yes they're kind of intrinsically tied" for ZERO acknowledgement of it? which brings me back to the first point because that journey for ted could've leant itself so nicely to rebecca returning the kind of support to ted that he gave her? which in turn could've added a lovely extra layer to rebecca's story by seeing her find additional comfort and confidence in her own ability to support someone else and give love? it all could've woven together so neatly?? like??? am i stupid????? whether they ever hit the romance threshold or not (setting aside the fact of just how many and how often they tried to invoke rom coms but went "oh ew romance? no" when given a perfect opportunity to say something timeless but refreshing about second chance loves) continuing to see them grow together the way they had already accentuated through the whole rest of the show would've been more than enough for me personally. even if there was a heartbreaking parting it would've felt......earned? it would've felt right? just as fair to the viewer after absorbing all these things as it was to the story?

anyway......i feel like I'm missing something every time I think about it

#'get over it' you say. but i simply cant. the opportunities missed haunt me. #my thoughts have been tumbling my brain smooth so they have to be out. sorry #ted lasso negative perhaps ? #also like. i didnt want to get into it too but the way they did roy and jamie will never leave my brain like. #they said 'men cant unlearn misogyny' with their whole chest huh? thats the note they wanted to leave us on?

[the-owl-house-takes]

So I think the worst take of the fandom is that all of the problems of the show would have been fixed had it gotten a full S3. That literally any problem the show had merely came from the shortening. This is... Well, just blatantly shows that the fandom not only doesn't understand how the animation industry works AND doesn't want to actually look at the narrative they did choose to focus on post the shortening call that were just... baffling.

So first let's establish how much of the show was affected by the Shortening. As a fandom, we found out about it during the hiatus between S1 and 2. This was at earliest, August 2020 since the S1 finale came out late August 2020. Dana has claimed two things that are important to this timeline. 1: The shortening was decided on shortly before the finale came out and 2: That the first episode affected by Covid, which would have been back in March/April, was Looking Glass Ruins. So we EXPLICTLY know that the shortening didn't affect the show until after S2 Ep 5.

BUT then we get into production schedules. Before S2 even BEGAN airing, we were told to stop campaigning for a full S3 because they had to get started on storyboards for the season and that was effectively the firm deadline. This means ALL of S2 was effectively done in script and storyboards by the time S2 aired. This makes sense to keep a weekly schedule and the like and most animation professionals will tell you they work MONTHS in advance of release, bare minimum.

This means, AT BEST, S2B was when the shortening really kicked in. And yes, S2B has pacing issues. It has issues in general and is when most people think the quality of the show dropped. The problem is that... The signs were always there. There's a reason why there's been a backlash because as people become disillusioned with the show, you have to ask what was driving so much before.

And a lot of that was potential. S1 is so good when you first watch it because it keeps teasing the idea that it's going to tackle things in a complex way. That it will explore concepts like Amity's abusive family, magic, fantasy vs reality, etc. like that. It's why the fandom was at its strongest during S1.

Unfortunately, the problem with presenting good ideas and then not executing on them, or completely gutting them is that those old parts are a lot harder to enjoy. As Willow was effectively not a character for half a season and then just suddenly was a jock, people began to realize the fact that she in the show is much more a plot device than anything else. They claimed "We're not doing the one kind act into friendship and forgiveness thing with Amity and Willow" and then literally did NOTHING with it until S2B and eventually DID just do the same trope anyways but now with less resonance than it would have had in Understanding Willow.

Not only that but even S1 didn't give a single shit about its worldbuilding. The First Day has Dana Terrace as a lead writer on it. If anyone knows the worldbuilding best, it should be her... So why is it that no one talks about multi-coven things being illegal? It's literally just used as meta commentary and so they entirely ignore the worldbuilding they have. Reaching Out is exactly the same, with Dana as the SOLE writer of that where Amity and everyone else treats joining a coven like going to college and not literally the word of the law.

But S1 couldn't even keep Wild Witches consistent. Half the time Eda can chill and not worry. She can go to a place funded by the EC like Hexide and not flinch for a second that Bump might call the guards on her despite that being kind of the ONE real rule to their society that makes it not just our world but with teeth. Then again, the show gives NO FUCKS about its own stuff, willing excising portions of itself that it finds cumbersome. Escaping Expulsion is BEFORE Looking Glass Ruins and yet it murders Luz's magical potential in its sleep and also discards Amity's family as easily disposable, despite how much the show claims her mother's influence is the reason why Amity behaved the way she did for all of... Three appearances? Because Amity's arc isn't actually good.

It shouldn't be surprising S2 would do this though when the writers already struggled to do anything with Luz's magic. If she's supposed to be learning and growing... Even S1 is shit at this and is repetitive. Not just with the at least three times we do "King has a minion!" B plot that isn't funny and doesn't do anything but also with its lessons. Luz theoretically learns to listen to Eda in the third episode and arguably the second as well. Then she gets her first glyph with the lesson, in theory. of not trying to take shortcuts to do magic and to not steal. And then in Adventure in the Elements, not even to impress Amity but because of her impatience, she steals something to take a shortcut to stronger magic. That is THREE episodes of the first TWELVE of the series. It usually takes most kids shows at least a LITTLE longer to be that bad at retreading its own lessons.

And the final part of this is that... S2 actually had to be effectively the exact same as it was for s3 to happen. You need the foreshadowing of the Collector for the Day of Unity. You need to FINALLY do something with Belos for the revelations of the Human Realm to happen and to do Luz's angst arc. You need Hunter to be at least 90% redeemed so he's there on their side during The Day of Unity, etc. like that. Then you get half a season in the human realm before coming back to the Isles for half a season, just like Amphibia did because returning home is the best mid-season finale you can have there. So any argument that a full S3 would have actually fixed issues with S2B is just... Wrong. The problems with S2B come with the fact that S2A wastes a FUCKTON of time on elements that don't matter.

Oh, and lest we forget that The Collector could have been cut. He had one appearance in a dream, that also doesn't make sense with his characterization, before S2B. In the fact, the crew has admitted as much. He was added AFTER the news of the Shortening because they always wanted to include a character like him so now that they didn't have the time for him... Cram him in anyways.

Could a show have EVER been saved when that's how they treat one of their two final antagonists? It's the sort of statement that just solidifies the idea that TOH didn't want three seasons. It wanted five... If not just to go on forever. To be the next monolithic show, even as it repeats character arcs, lessons and shrinks characters rather than expands them.

So no, the show isn't bad because of the shortening. The show is bad because the writing is bad.

-

#the owl house is one of my favorite shows ever #but it is not immune to criticism #sure the shortened season messed a lot do stuff up #but a lot of the bad stuff was the result of poor writing decisions #the owl house #toh #toh critical #long post

[blogger360ncislarules]

For All Creatures Great and Small fans, some great, big news: MASTERPIECE announced on Friday that the series based on James Herriot’s iconic collection of stories has been renewed for Seasons 5 and 6.

Each of the two seasons will consist of six episodes plus Christmas specials, airing Stateside here on PBS.

Also back for Season 5 are Nicholas Ralph as vet James Herriot, Samuel West as the mercurial Siegfried Farnon, Anna Madeley as the matriarch of Skeldale House Mrs. Hall, Rachel Shenton as the charismatic Helen Herriot, James Anthony-Rose as Richard Carmody, and Patricia Hodge as the wonderfully sophisticated Mrs Pumphrey (with her pampered Pekingese Tricki in tow, of course).

“It is such a joy to share the news of two more seasons of All Creatures Great and Small,” Susanne Simpson, executive producer for MASTERPIECE, said in a statement. “The MASTERPIECE audience has come to treasure this heart-warming series. We’re also particularly happy to welcome back Callum Woodhouse as Tristan to this incredible ensemble of actors.”

Adds Sir Colin Callender CBE, CEO of lead producer Playground: “Kindness and decency are increasingly rare qualities these days, so it is a blessing to be able to return to the sanctuary of Skeldale House and James Herriot’s beloved characters who represent all that is the best in us. There are no villains in All Creatures — just everyday folk trying to get through the day with dignity with the help of a supportive community, family and friends. It’s a lesson for modern times.”

#oh what wonderful news to wake up to! #all creatures great and small #pbs

[5-pp-man]

another tierlist because ppl actually liked that first one;

the crème de la crop;

the first 2 eps i thought it was fine, but it didnt really captivate me as much as id hoped. but then ep 3 changed everything for me. i started to think "how could living armour work logically? everything so far has been edible, so this must be too, right?" i actually managed to think of the exact thing that this series did. that really made me realise the worldbuilding in this was something unique, and it only got better and better with each episode. its really managed to captivate me and i look forward to "delicious donderdag" every week :)

ANIME ORIGINAL LETS GOOOO absolutely bonkers show that almost slipped by me because it initially tried to fool its audience into thinking it was a regular dramatic military show. it still is but theres also a giant robot who plays by saturday morning cartoon giant robot rules. if that sounds like tonal whiplash to you, trust me, it is. and its amazing. have i mentioned how homoerotic this one is as well? yeah. originally a tier below this one, but immediately after finishing this post i watched the newest ep. i had to make an exception and edit the list because ep 9 changes everything. i havent been gobsmacked by a show this hard in a while.

(return of the) show(s) that execute their own premise very well;

i havent read the manga for yubisaki to renren so i cant compare, but the quality of this adaptation has been very consistent. you need a little sweet romance every once in a while :) this is one of those series where the characters really grew on me the longer it went on. im always a fan of mixing realistic struggles with romance and this one has been doing it well so far

adaptations that are ok (i read the manga for both of these);

i've been a mashle fan since before s1 aired. and the anime has some good changes and additions here and there! but its not very consistent in terms of quality, it does that shonen thing where the animation quality suddenly spikes for certain action sequences, but it also frequently had a lot of scenes where they recycle shots a lot and nothing interesting happens on the screen for a considerable amount of time. still! its a fine adaptation. and yeah the op for this. blew tf up lmao? very strange to see happen in real time

i actually rlly like the manga for this one. i read the whole thing up until vol.6 before the season started (all that was available back then) and it made me cry multiple times throughout. i was sort of missing that connection with the show, though some of the later episodes still hit. its mostly to do with the animation quality, which isnt that great unfortunately. the voice actors are knocking it out of the park though

wghere am i;

is this show good? i. uh. will you hate me if i say yes...? objectively, i know its not that good. especially in the animation department. but if you like other Umatani shows, you'll like this one. it's got the same brand of goofy reactionary humour mixed with gimmicky tacky characters and crazy stupid plot twists. ive been faithfully watching this one each week and I'm afraid i've become very invested. overscientific indeed

bro you fell off...;

i was so beyond excited for this one. i replayed the op a million times, watched each preview, rewatched multiple episodes. and then. ep 5 happened. and i started to realise. oh this show kind of sucks doesnt it? the pacing of the first ep was great, but the rest? way too fast. it became clear with ep 6 that theyre trying to do a double cour show with half the length, which is why they started hauling ass plot-wise. now. i was an arajin apologist for the longest time. but at that point i honestly started to loathe him. even when he stepped up, his praise still felt sort of unearned. and to top it all off, shindou's motivation sucked so he felt like a lousy antagonist. ep6 was better than 5, but it really made me lose my enthusiasm and hope for the series. and right as we were talking about them probably not having time for a filler ep, ep7 happened. feels like a waste of time to do an ep like that when you've still got a whole 2nd arc to go through. but who am i

it started off pretty good honestly. but then chris went to the hospital and it kind of just dwindled from there. this season does so much with characters that have not even been properly introduced like how am i supposed to care about these people if i barely know who they are. the stuff with finn and leo respectively was good though. but the lore dump? lord help me. also vijay just kind of. exists to be there in the background huh? i would not call him a main character they never give him any attention. wendy had another ep again and he didnt get shit. again. also i think finn was stupid as fuck for not listening to lala but again. who am i. i know we cant destroy high card because we need a show but. cmon man.

i am severely behind on these;

reason why im behind is because most of the eps are a bit heavy so i kept. not watching them. its starting to get rlly interesting though so i'm def gonna catch up this is one of those robo-racism shows so i have to really watch out to see where its going. dont want another marginal service situation...

sorry this is just. a little too boring for me. its charming, sure. but i think this wouldve worked better as something with an 11 min timeslot instead of 23 min. theres just a bit too mu- or well, too little for me to rlly get into this. i think reading it would be more fun for me personally

#dungeon meshi #yubisaki to renren #yuuki bakuhatsu bang bravern #30 sai made doutei dato mahoutsukai ni nareru rashii #gekkan mousou kagaku #bucchigiri?! #high card #metallic rouge #kyuujitsu no warumono san #delicious in dungeon #a sign of affection #brave bang bravern! #bang brave bang bravern #cherry magic! #delusional monthly magazine #bucchigiri #mr villain's day off #i did the review a bit later into the season this time around. so my thoughts are more in order and ive already dropped a few things #theres also 1 more category this time #also if youre curious; i ended up finishing everything from last season except for the 2 series in the couldve been better category #i finished a bunch of them way later though but shhh. im also planning on finishing the last 2 at some point. esp since ke is getting a s2 #like wtf. who couldve seen that coming. #tedpost #tedtalks #tedlists

[rescue-ram]

Why The Joker Is Wild Hits Different

I was thinking about this last month when I wrote 'The Time Has Come For Us To Say Sayonara', and I'm feeling motivated to write up my thoughts tonight. I'm going to list my reasons why this episode in particular rubs people the wrong way roughly in order of importance.

1) Timing This is the most obvious reason but it bears mentioning. Because yeah, the episode where Hawkeye's friends team up to drive him crazy in the same season that ends with Hawkeye having a serious Mental Health Crisis definitely changes the impression this episode leaves, especially in rewatches. I've seen theories that it was intentional foreshadowing, as well as that it was meant to be a lighthearted throwback episode that's just squiffy in execution; both seem plausible. But regardless, I think the timing increases negative feelings towards this episode among people for whom it doesn't land.

2) The Pranks Are Lame This might seem petty or subjective, but the more I thought about it the more important it seemed. Because MASH has a lot of pranks, and the ones people remember and like the most are the most outrageous ones- there are a lot of creative set ups, and some opportunities for great prop or physical comedy. But the pranks in TJIW all happen off screen, for punchline reasons, and with the possible exception of Klinger blowing himself up are all very tame and unremarkable. The "victims" reactions are not particularly hilarious either. This means there's little entertainment value in the pranks themselves, so all of the focus stays on Hawkeye's reactions, and his reactions are "increasingly irrational intense distress" which obviously some people will find very difficult or upsetting to watch.

3) No Back And Forth Other "prank war" episodes are just that- a war. There's retaliation and escalation and often a final twist to the conflict that keeps the action moving. Hawkeye never gets to retaliate or take the upper hand until the very very end of the episode- he's not even really fighting for it. He's consistently put in a reactive and vulnerable position throughout the episode, so it feels targeted in a way that's usually reserved for characters we're meant to dislike and not empathize with- but Hawkeye is our charismatic protagonist, we're constantly invited to empathize with him! So seeing him get picked on and not fight back kind of sucks for a lot of people, especially if, in putting yourself in his shoes, you would find this an insanely upsetting scenario to find yourself in.

4) No A-Plot Other "prank war" episodes are usually paired with a much more serious dramatic story line. Even "April Fools", one of the silliest, has the characters seriously thinking they're all about to be court-martialed. "An Eye for a Tooth" has Mulcahy fighting for a promotion, "Bottoms Up" has Margaret reckoning with her friend's alcoholism- even "The Smell of Music", which has one of the meanest things they do to Charles, has an A-Plot where Potter tries to help a suicidal soldier. The pranks are a welcome break in tension, and the more serious subject matter means they don't get as closely analyzed by the audience- they are straight up comedic relief. But in TJIW, there is no other plot- our focus stays, relentlessly, on Hawkeye losing it. There's no break from the tension, and as already established the weak pranks mean they don't provide that release in themselves. It is very easy to get stuck stewing in Hawkeye's distress.

5) Bad Casus Belli I really think, if Hawkeye had been the one to issue the bet- "Yeah, I said your prank was stupid and I'll say it again, Trap and I coulda pranked all of you in 24 hours or less and you'd've never seen it coming"- that A LOT of this episode's problems would decrease. His come-uppance would at least feel earned- Hawkeye has hubris, gets punished, punchline. But that isn't what happens!! BJ is exhausted and in a bad mood. He takes it out on Hawkeye in a petty destructive prank. Hawkeye is annoyed, and BJ gets mad at him for being annoyed, and then cold bloodedly manipulates him into a bet he fully intends to cheat, in order to punish him for... not finding having his boot ruined funny? For talking about Trapper? There's no explanation given for why the other characters go along with it, especially a character like Mulcahy who not only participates, but is gleeful about it to an extent that's kinda OOC. Hawkeye's punishment feels more like the sort of thing dealt out to Frank, who we expected to deserve it because he was so consistently awful. Why does Hawkeye, our loveable hardworking part-time prankster full-time doctor, deserve to get humiliated? It's charitable to say it's a lack of inciting incident causing problems- to be uncharitable, we'd have to say the inciting incident is BJ taking out his temper on Hawkeye in an honestly pretty cruel way. I say cruel especially given his reaction to seeing Hawkeye lose it in the ward was to make it worse by deliberately feeding Hawkeye's paranoia after Klinger's prank. If you are not a fan which finds BJ's fits of "evil genius" funny in themselves then yeah, the unearned targeting feels infuriating.

#mash

[centrally-unplanned]

Buffy Seasons Tier List, hm...ordered in tiers:

S Tier: Season 6, Season 3

A Tier: Season 5

B Tier: Season 7, Season 4, Season 2

C Tier: Season 1

Back in the day I would have put Season 1 in D tier, and often would recommend skipping it to newcomers. I don't think that anymore - if you don't want high school campy antics why are you watching early Buffy at all? Cringe is dead, get vored by a Praying Mantis Milf and love every second of it.

Season 6 is always going to be my favorite - its the depression season, its the Spike season, its the season with the musical episode. Its just so thematically bold in its choices that it justifies all its missteps. Season 3 is more consistent, the best of the high school themes, and it has some real directorially audacious episodes. And also Faith <3. But it lacks the maturity compared to Season 6.

Season 5 is like this hyper-deep Buffy character study which no season matches. And also Spike <3. But has some listlessness in the plot and Dawn isn't well done. Season 7 is thematically amazing, like such a great conceptual twist to the structure of the show, but the execution is haphazard. I discussed Season 4, and Season 2 is very similar to Season 3 but just worse, less creative, and suffers in the comparison.

#share your own tier list! #probably posted this once long ago - oh well! #buffy the vampire slayer

[spittyfishy]

What did you think of Season 5 of ML, if you have seen it?

So, I have seen season 5 and frankly… I wasn’t a fan.

Season 5 was just chocked full of missed opportunities, because there were some interesting ideas there but the show's writing fumbled the execution so hard it was difficult to watch at times. Just seeing character assasination after character assasination unfold on screen was so unpleasant. I don’t think a single character came out of season 5 unscathed, I’m wracking my brain for anyone that got better this season, or at least didn’t get worse in some way, and I can’t think of any.

To be fair, there were a few bits I liked. A couple akuma designs were good (Hoaxer, Dark Humour, Queen Mayor, and Ryukomori). I thought the Ryukomori episode was well done, I’d probably say it was the best of the season (which is a low bar). But everything else with Kagami was bad. Full honesty I hate Felix and what his role in the story has been so far, but I especially don’t like that Kagami got brought down with him. Felix is the entire reason Hawkmoth got EVERY OTHER MIRACULOUS and it seems like everyone forgot that?? He didn’t get any consequences At All, and yet when Chloé worked with Hawkmoth (when he already had the miraculous for the record) she was painted as the worst person on earth.

I know I’m not the only one who’s pointed out the double standard between how the girl characters are treated compared to the boys, but it really got highlighted this season. Male characters like Andre, Jaggedstone, Felix, and even Hawkmoth himself can do any number of horrible things and still be ‘sympathetic’, but the two fourteen year old girls are irredeemably evil?

I’ll admit I'm biased, Chloé has been my favourite favorite character since I started watching in season one, but she really deserved better than the show gave her. I don’t have an issue with her staying a villain, in fact I think she worked really well as a minor antagonist in season one, she moved the story along and was entertaining to watch. But the last two seasons they’ve made her out to be this giant threat, but haven’t let her actually do anything! She’s been nothing more then a lacky to Lila and Hawkmoth, as far as having Lila in her ear telling her exactly what to say. If Chloé is as bad as the show claims then she shouldn’t need other characters to hold her hand and tell her how to be mean.

But the writing is just like that. They really need to get better at ‘show don’t tell’, and even more importantly, consistency. Because they keep adding things after the fact and retconning things from the earlier seasons to try and clap back at fans criticisms, and it’s just sad. I’ll never stop complaining about the absolute train wreck that was Derision. They made Chloé worse then she was in season one, and made Kim so much dumber then he needed to be. At the beginning of season one Kim was characterized as a bully, he antagonized Ivan in Stone Heart and helped Chloé willingly in episodes like LadyWifi. But for Derision Chloé had to trick him into pranking Marinette? Why?

The pacing in that episode was even worse, because so much of it was dedicated to a flash back everything else was rushed at the end. And Marinette saying she’d never crush on anyone again if she didn’t know everything about them was clearly just the writers trying to justify her frankly creepy actions in earlier seasons because people pointed out that it wasn’t cute or funny it was just weird. And her whole line and issues in that episode flat out don’t work as a retcon because A: why even crush on Adrian at all if she vowed not to like anyone associated with Chloé, and B: we’ve already seen her in a relationship with Luka where she didn’t show ANY of the obsessive behaviour she showed Adrian OR freaking out about going on dates. AND ON TOP OF THAT there’s been two other timelines where her and Adrian have started a relationship (Chat Blanc, Ephemeral) and she hasn’t had any of the issues that come up in Derision.

It’s just such a lazy way of writing the story, and that’s really the core issue with this season. It feels lazy, like the writers couldn’t be bothered to watch their own show and make plots that fit in the world they’ve already built.

Miraculous is a franchise that’s dear to my heart, it’s how I met my best friend and really became comfortable sharing my art online, and I still really like creating content related to the characters, but I’ve been very disappointed in the show since about the end of season three. I still have a small amount of hope that maybe the show will turn itself around and improve, but it’s dwindling.

But at least when cannon goes off it’s rocker that’s what fan works are for!

#this got longer then I intended and that’s even after cutting a bunch of other complaints lol #no matter how bad the show gets I doubt I’ll stop making fan art tho so there’s that lol #the class and the akumas were always my favourite part of the show so both of those getting sidelined this season bothered me #I don’t like the romance elements because like #these are 14/15 year olds why are we even discussing soul mates?? #people that age will have any number of crushes yes #but it’s kinda too young to actually start dating? #plus neither Marinette or Adrian are really in a position where they’d have the time to dedicate to a relationship it would need #anyway lol #how do I tag this? #miraculous salt #kinda? #miraculous season 5

[iiyoshi]

Aaron is such a controversial character within the Aphmau community. The community itself isn't as controversial other than the existence of Aaron Lycan. (And the ships ig)

I've never watched MCD because 3 eps in and I found it too boring to continue. So I'm only covering MyStreet and PDH. (And additionally FCU)

I can see the development of this character throughout the whole series but it's just- executed in a bad way. And also the fact his character only consists of : ultima, fuck my parents, and omg aphmau.

I think over the course of MyStreet season 5 we get to see more of the relationship between Aaron and his family(especially Melissa) and I enjoyed watching the change in their bond, but other than his family issues and his love for aphmau, I don't really see much of him as a character. It's like his personality is just.. Daddy issues and my girlfriend.

PDH was.. something. It was enemies to lovers but make the female protag have multiple other guys swooning over her which honestly have more chemistry than the male protag. The whole FC and Shu thing is cute and all- but just seems like a bit of a stretch like a 2018 wattpad fanfic.

FCU, again, was just us seeing more of Aaron's daddy issues(I don't think his mom played a role in this) and his absolute obsession over Aphmau.

I can't help but see a lot of potential for Aaron as a character, and I wished we could've seen more to him rather than what we have on screen.

Either way, I am still biased over Aaron simply because Jason's voice acting is superb in the MyStreet series.

- - - - -

For more aphmau content go visit my sideblog @garcargofarfar <3

#aaron lycan #aphmau fanfic #aphmau roleplay #aphmau #aphblr #aarmau #mystreet #aphmau pdh #pdh #phoenix drop high #falcon claw university #aphmau mcd #aphmau mystreet #aphmau mcyt #aphmau minecraft diaries

[canonicallyobserving911]

9-1-1 Season 6 - Constructive Criticisms #5

Continuity Errors and Forced Narratives

Continuity and narratives are extremely important in storytelling because use of them allows listeners, readers and viewers of any form of media, i.e., an album, a book or a TV show, to logically follow the story the creator wants to tell.  It allows those who are consuming it, to connect the dots and they don’t have to worry about if they’ll be able to understand where the characters in a book or on a TV show are going.

Continuity is defined as “the unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over a period of time” while narrative is defined as “a spoken or written account of connected events; a story” (Dictionary.com).  The definitions of continuity and narrative clearly illustrate how they should work together to make stories consistent and connected.  When creators of a form of media use them consistently, the stories they’re attempting to tell have meaning and the listener, reader or the viewer can follow it without feeling like they’ve missed something and for those who stop consuming it for a while, when they return to pick up where they left off, the story still makes sense.

Prior to seasons 5 and 6, the creators of 9-1-1 did an awesome job of maintaining the show’s continuity while allowing the narrative to organically develop for their main characters. Characters were allowed to grow and move on to the next phase of their lives without the audience wondering what the actual Frick Frack was going on.  It’s unfortunate but that hasn’t been the case lately since most storylines contained continuity errors and narratives were forced to produce a preconceived and/or a prescribed ending.  It almost seems like an end result was created prior to storylines being written and it was very noticeable in season 6.  The truth is it shouldn’t be difficult for viewers of a TV show to follow the narrative that was established for a main character but that’s been the case with 9-1-1 for the past two seasons and it was very apparent during season 6.

My fifth set of “constructive criticisms” regarding continuity and forced narratives are included below the cut. Please note criticizing a TV show is NOT a bad thing especially since TV critics have been doing it for decades. Constructive criticisms are designed to help make something better and they are VERY different from negativity. A person can offer criticisms about a form of entertainment they spend their time watching and not be negative about it the same way two people can agree to disagree on a topic. Just because one person liked the season, they shouldn’t expect others to feel the way they do because everyone has their own opinions.  Simply put, two people can have different opinions about 9-1-1 and those opinions can COEXIST since they are not mutually exclusive.

If reading criticisms about the TV show 9-1-1 upsets you, then don’t read below the cut.            

                 Warning! ⚠️“Constructive Criticisms” Ahead!⚠️

To illustrate the way storylines were mishandled in season 6, this post has been divided into two sections, i.e., continuity errors and forced narratives.

Continuity Errors

Based on the way storylines were written and executed in season 6, it appears several things which happened prior to season 4 either didn’t exist or was changed for some unknown reason.  The season was riddled with continuity errors that go all the way back to season 1 for multiple main characters.

In season 1, Bobby talked to his priest after tough calls but in 6x9 a “fictitious sponsor” named Wendell was introduced for him and the flashbacks included in 6x12 showed Bobby talking to Wendell about his sobriety during season 1.  Those flashbacks made it seem like Wendell had been around since season 1 even though he wasn’t.  This was a big continuity error that retold some of the most important parts of Bobby’s story especially the part about his sobriety and the way he felt about his life in the earlier seasons.

In 1x3 Chimney almost died after a rebar went through his skull and Hen told him that she tried to reach his father in Korea but she couldn’t contact him and she figured it had something to do with the difference in time zones.  He almost died again in 2x12 after Doug stabbed him but there weren’t any sightings of Mr. Sang Han even though it was the second time Chimney almost died.  But in 6x10, all Albert had to do was remind Sang he is a grandfather to Jee-Yun for him to come running to L.A. after taking a 17-hour flight from Korea.  He even brought his wife who’s Albert’s mother with him.  His presence was a continuity error since he didn’t come to the U.S. any other time when his oldest son was injured.

In 2x2, Jeff (the kid Hen, Bobby and Chimney freed during the earthquake) was brought back in 6x18 but the importance of his presence was unknown for any viewers who didn’t or haven’t watched episodes 2x1 - 2x3.  It was bad writing to not let Bobby verbally admit who Jeff was when he saw him and they should have let Jeff say he was “Paying it Forward” by helping Bobby be freed from the rubble after the bridge collapse.

In 2x5 Nathaniel told Hen and Karen he would follow their lead regarding his introduction to Denny but in season 6, the agreement he made with them was completely forgotten and ignored.  It was a huge continuity error and it was a forced narrative.

In 2x5 Maddie had already dealt with a crazy co-worker who was upset with her after she told Josh how the “perfect dispatcher” was hanging up on callers, therefore her storyline in 6x5 was kind of ridiculous.  She should have been more aware around Noah especially since she was experiencing trust issues with Magda the nanny she hired.  After everything she experienced with the woman in 2x5, Maddie should have protected her password during her interactions with a new trainee. Let’s be real, when someone works with any form of technology that requires a password to access a company’s systems, they’re trained on password protection during their first day of employment, they’re required to sign a technology agreement and updated copies of that agreement are included in the employee handbook.  This was a continuity error because her story with Noah should have been connected to her story from 2x5.

In 2x6 Hen said she became a paramedic because she was shot when she was 16 years old and the paramedics who were dispatched to the scene, saved her life but that wasn’t mentioned AT ALL in 6x6 when she gave up her dream of becoming a doctor.  This was a continuity error of epic proportions and it was a missed opportunity to connect her reason for staying with the 118 after she dropped out of medical school.

In 3x7, Athena was suspended for solving the murder of her first fiancé because she wasn’t supposed to be involved in the investigation.  But that fact was completely forgotten during 6B since she participated in undercover work to help Bobby solve Wendell’s murder. She used police resources to do it while she was off the clock but she wasn’t reprimanded for any of it. Therefore, the Wendell storyline lacked continuity when compared to the way her storyline in Athena Begins ended and it made her suspension for her actions seem redundant.

In 3x9, Karen told Stacy Mullins, the woman Hen introduced as the reason why she became a paramedic (another continuity error that conflicts with what Hen said in 2x6 and 6x6) while they were at the spa, she spent 45 minutes in the wrong bar after a blind date stood her up but then Hen came in and they met.  Karen’s comment to Stacy was a continuity error and it conflicted with the story that was told in 6x6 about the way Hen and Karen met because Chimney was shown to be the one who set them up so they could meet each other.  It’s like the show took pieces of their story and didn’t commit to giving them a flawless meeting during their flashback when all they had to do was REWATCH episode 3x9 to remember Hen came into the bar instead of her being already inside sitting down when Karen showed up.  It was a simple error that could have easily been corrected and it wouldn’t have taken a lot to fix it but for some reason it was overlooked.

In 3x10, Buck told Bobby he was one of the most important people in his life, if not the most important and if something happened to him, he didn’t know what he would do.  But in 6x11, there was NO mention of this by Bobby when Buck was in a coma even though Bobby could have said it to Athena while they were sitting in Buck’s hospital room.  It was a continuity error and another missed opportunity to establish Bobby’s role in Buck’s life but there sure was time to shoehorn the Buckley parents into the episode so Margaret could buy Buck a couch at the end.

In 4x4, Margaret said she wasn’t good with seeing her children in the hospital but she seemed completely fine with it in 6x11 after Buck got struck by lightning. This was another continuity error because the audience never saw how she overcame her fear of seeing her children in the hospital especially since she never visited Buck or Maddie when they were in the hospital in previous seasons.

Forced Narratives

It appears the showrunner wanted to completely rewrite parts of the first three seasons and there weren’t any main cast members spared from her ability to FORCE NARRATIVES.  Instead of allowing narratives to organically develop, it seems like she had A LOT of preconceived ideas regarding where she wanted their storylines to go and she didn’t care if she had to force the narratives to achieve her goal.

Prior to season 6, the narratives were consistent and they made the main characters’ storylines feel meaningful. Two examples of emotional and meaningful storylines included in season 5 were Eddie’s PTSD and Maddie’s PPD.  Both of their storylines could easily be followed starting in season 4 and they continued until both of them had received the help and therapy they needed in 5B.

Eddie being shot in 4x13 led to his panic attacks in 5x1-5x3 which then led to him quitting the 118 in 5x10.  Then he had a mental breakdown in 5x13 and all of his actions made sense because his storyline followed the narrative.  Also, Maddie’s PPD started in 4x3 when she was worried about ending up like her parents and by the end of 4x14, she admitted to Chimney she didn’t feel ok. After she dropped Jee-Yun off at the firehouse in 5x3, her actions made sense to the audience because the narrative could still be followed all the way through to 5x12 when her full story was told.

The narrative for almost all of the main characters could barely be followed in season 6 because a lot of them were forced.  Not only were they forced in 6A and 6B but some were forced in season 5 too. It almost seemed like the storylines were backed into or they were written in a way to make them fit an idea someone had instead of allowing them to naturally happen.

The items listed below are examples of possible “ideas” the showrunner had prior to the planning stages of each episode which includes the way she wanted particular storylines to end.  Episodes were executed in a way that made it seem like the writers were trying to figure out what was happening since these “ideas” went completely against main characters’ storylines/arcs that were established during previous seasons.

Disclaimer:  The conversations below are illustrations not facts regarding the possible conversations that took place during the developmental stage of an episode.  They’re included to illustrate the forced narratives that were present in seasons 5 and 6. If any similarities exist regarding whether these events actually occurred, it’s unintentional.  

Season 5

Showrunner: “I want Taylor in Eddie’s house having dinner with Buck, Eddie and Chris. Make it happen.”

Writers who remembered previous seasons: “Eddie hates Taylor… he always has.  So how do you suppose we do that?”

Showrunner: “Make him get use to the idea of her the same way I want the audience to get use to her.”

Writers: Speechless!

___________

Showrunner: “I want Buck and Taylor to break up… not because he’s unhappy with her but I want him to cheat on her and for her to get mad at him so I’m going to search for an actress to add to the already extremely large main cast who he can flirt with while he’s on the job and Eddie’s working as the LAFD updates man.”

Writers: Still speechless!

___________

Season 6

Showrunner: “I want Buck to have a baby and I don’t care how just make it happen.”

Writers: “Buck’s never said he wanted to have a baby, hence the reason why he didn’t get any of his exes pregnant.  His loft doesn’t work with this scenario and he’s already a second dad to Chris.”  

Showrunner: “I want him to be a sperm donor and I don’t want him to talk to anyone about it either.  Well… he can talk to Hen but I don’t want her to use any of her medical school knowledge to help him understand how not masturbating won’t prevent his sperm from dying. Also, I want him and her to make jokes about him not doing it for four weeks.”

Writers: Speechless yet again!

____________

Showrunner: “I want Maddie and Chimney to buy a house even though they can’t afford it.”

Writers’ suggestions: “Can’t they just move to a bigger apartment?”

Showrunner: “No, I want them in a house, so they’ll have to borrow money from someone.”

After a few seconds of loud silence.

Showrunner: “Oh, you know what… since I want the Buckley parents to come back and I don’t care how they return, let Maddie and Chimney borrow the money they need from Margaret and Phillip so they’ll make an unnecessary trip to L.A.   That way they can see their new house and they’ll be there when Buck gets struck by lightning”.

Writers: Listening to the loud tension in the room.

____________

Showrunner: “I know Buck told Taylor he was tired of making the same mistakes when he broke up with her, I mean of course I remember it since I wrote the scene… but write a death doula into the scene in 6x15 so she can use her position to help people accept death to her advantage then she can date him.  I want it to be similar to the egregious way Dr. Wells took advantage of him in 1x2 and the way Chase Mackey used him during the lawsuit in 3x4 so he could get paid.”

Writers: Looking at each other in disbelief while crickets chirp outside of the window.

____________

Showrunner: “I don’t want Bobby to get the AA counseling he needs because I want him to be on the verge of a relapse.  How can we do that?”

Writers who remembered the events from season 1: “Bobby’s sponsor was never introduced because he would confess to his priest and have weekly counseling sessions with him.  How are we supposed to do this?”

Showrunner: “Oh… since hurting a priest is bad, I know we can’t do that. Hmm… I want to write a sponsor into 6x9 even though he was never introduced to the audience.  I want Bobby to “realize” Buck’s his found son while Buck’s in the hospital and I want May and Athena to play instrumental roles in that.  I don’t really care how you do it just get it done.”

Writers who remembered 2x16 “Bobby Begins Again”: “Uh… Bobby lost his whole family before he moved to L.A. so, wouldn’t it make more sense to include that as part of the storyline instead of creating a new character no one has ever heard of or seen?”

Showrunner: “No, because I don’t want it to make sense.”

Writers: Looking at each other in disbelief.

____________

Showrunner: “I want Chimney’s dad to be in L.A. so he can have dinner with the Buckleys at their new house.  I haven’t figured out why yet but make that happen so Mr. Han can make an egregious comment about a man raising another man’s child.”

Writers: “Chimney’s been hurt and almost died multiple times over the last six seasons so wouldn’t Mr. Han showing up now seem unrealistic?”

Showrunner: “Maybe but it doesn’t matter because I want him to be the one to make that statement.”

____________

Showrunner: “I want Buck to use his math skills in a poker game.”

Writers: “That’s not the game that works with card counting, it’s actually Blackjack.”

Showrunner: “Well, I want Captain Mehta and Chief Williams there even though I don’t want Buck and Eddie to talk about the shooting or anything else.  I just want them dressed up and sitting around a table together and that’s why Poker will work better.  I want the audience to wonder if Buck and Eddie are on an actual date but I don’t want them to admit they are on a date.”

Writers: “Why can’t Buck and Eddie just go to Las Vegas and play Blackjack like Rain Man and his brother did in the movie “Rain Main”?  I mean that’s what you’re trying to imitate, right?”

Showrunner: Owlishly blinks at them.

_____________

Showrunner: “I want Eddie to start dating again so make his Tia Pepa act like his mother Helena and have her pressure him into it and make Eddie misunderstand a comment from Bobby so he’ll think the first woman he sees after their conversation is it for him.  Make it happen.”

Writers: “Tia Pepa hasn’t been around that much since season 2.  She wasn’t in season 3, she was only in season 4 in 4x14 at Eddie’s homecoming party and the last time she was there was in 5x17 for Ramon’s retirement party.  This doesn’t make any sense and the audience probably won’t like it.  Also, who’s Eddie supposed to date when he just went on a date with Buck?”

Showrunner: “They’ll be fine and so will Eddie.  Also, I don’t want Buck and Eddie to admit they were on a date.  Make it happen.”

_____________

Showrunner: “I want Eddie and Chris to have a picnic in front of Shannon’s grave.”

Writers: “Why? They’ve never done that before.”

Showrunner: “I want to turn Shannon into a likeable character and make it seem like her and Eddie were high school sweethearts who were the perfect match. It’s the only way he’ll find the magic again I want the audience to believe he had with her.”

Writers who remembered 2x10: “Uh… that’s not accurate.  They argued all the time and Eddie told her he didn’t know if he could trust her.”

Writers who remembered 2x17: “Yeah and the letter she wrote Chris said she didn’t want to be a mom.”

Showrunner: “I don’t care about that.  Make it happen.”

_____________

Showrunner: “I want Buck to be 30 years old even though he was 29 in 4x5.  How can we do that?”

Writers: “It doesn’t make sense to retcon a character’s age.  The audience will remember him saying he was 29 years old.”

Showrunner: “It’ll be fine because no one will remember and you know what else, I want Eddie’s and Shannon’s ages lowered too even though Eddie was introduced as Buck’s elder in 2x1.  He should be 33 or 34 this season but let’s make him 30 and I don’t care how you do it.”

Writers: Looking at each other in disbelief.

____________

The instances above illustrate there’s a possibility the show has been operating from a backwards perspective for the past two seasons with regards to storyline completion.  Therefore, it begs the question, has the show been back peddling into characters’ storylines instead of allowing them to develop organically the way they were done in the past?  Based on the way storylines/arcs and emergencies played out in season 6, it’s certainly possible.  A lot of viewers have expressed how things felt off in season 5 and that sentiment only continued throughout season 6 with all the continuity errors and forced narratives that were included in it.  Hopefully season 7 will get back to the basics and allow the characters as well as their storylines to organically evolve instead of them being created as an end result prior to the storylines being written.

These are my criticisms regarding the continuity errors and forced narratives for season 6 and “Constructive Criticisms” #6 will be posted on Monday, June 26, 2023.

I have a total of 15 CANON “Constructive Criticisms” (10 remaining) and my goal is to have all of them posted by Monday, August 28, 2023.  The topics are being posted in a specific order that begins with the overall issues for season 6 so they can be referenced within the posts about individual characters and ships that will follow them.

#9-1-1 Season 6 - CANON Constructive Criticisms #Canonically Observing 9-1-1 Speaks #911 fox #911 on fox #911onfox #911 abc #911 on abc #911 season 6 speculation #911 s6 #911 season 6 #eddie diaz #evan buckley #maddie buckley #christopher diaz #bobby nash #athena grant #may grant #hen wilson #chimney han #911 meta

[triviallytrue]

yeah, sure. mild spoilers under the cut @kata4a

brief summary: TMA is a horror podcast with five seasons that starts with episodic monster-of-the-week stuff and eventually widens out into a unified plot.

the most straightforward thing i can say about TMA is that the execution on the micro-level is very good - individual horror concepts are great, the characters tend to be pretty well-written, some individual episodes really shine. on a macro level, though, the show has several tendencies that make it a lot worse.

season 1-2 are mostly one-shot horror stories which are almost universally good to great, and season 3 marks the major transition to more of a plot focus. at this point the horror takes a backseat, since once you understand more of what's going on, everything is less scary.

in this way, the worldbuilding is kind of a blessing and a curse - things follow well-defined rules, kinda, but scary things having rules makes them less scary. conversely, the setting is very well-put-together, to the extent that if you pay enough attention, you can conceivably figure out plot-critical elements prior to them being explained to you. i liked this a lot.

i also really liked how clever some of it is. many people just end up completely fucked, regardless of what they do, but there's several great examples of humans doing clever things to fight the supernatural and winning.

one classic one from the first few episodes is a guy who has a fucked up coffin locked with a skeleton key, and he finds himself waking up in the middle of the night holding the key, having slept-walked toward the coffin.

locking the key away doesn't work (he just finds it again or it magically returns to him) so instead, he freezes it inside a block of ice. the cold wakes him up before the key melts and is usable.

i wouldn't say this type of thing is central to the show, but it comes up a fair amount and it was one of my favorite parts.

but on a macro level the show feels very flawed. it has a consistent tendency, starting in season 1 straight through to season 5, of killing off interesting characters that i like and centering boring characters that i don't. there are lots of phenomenal characters, which will leave you baffled about why certain specific ones got so much airtime.

there's also a reliance in s4 and especially s5 on a certain romantic relationship carrying the podcast, and uh. it is not interesting enough to justify center stage, let me tell you that.

i also have highly specific gripes about the finale, which (without completely spoiling the show) are intertwined with the above issues and left me feeling like the tone of the finale and its actual content were extremely disjoint.

all seasons have great moments that i think about a lot, but having listened to all of it, my impression of the show as a whole is as a work that is less than the sum of its parts.

#tma

[floatingcatacombs]

Macross Frontier and the Hilarity of Giving Your Protagonist a Recap Movie-Only Gender Dysphoria Arc

12 Days of Aniblogging 2022, Day 5

Thanks to the defusal of a 20-year legal nightmare that prevented the distribution of the franchise outside of Japan until last year, this year I got to watch the Macross Frontier movies in theaters, and they were a blast! I've been a Macross fan for years but these movies hooked my girlfriend on the franchise, so we've since watched through the original Super Dimension Fortress series and the TV version of Frontier together.

Since I’ve gone through both this year, I get to compare and contrast Macross Frontier’s original broadcast version to its movie series reimagining. Specifically, I want to focus on how the movies rework the character arc of our prettyboy protagonist Alto Saotome, because it’s genuinely effective on top of being executed in the funniest way imaginable.

You see, Alto Saotome is an delightfully beautiful boy. He's frequently called “princess” by his classmates and peers in the military, and looking at his hair, it’s not exactly surprising as to why. But this isn’t just for bishounen eye-candy purposes, there’s a narrative purpose for his feminine grace. Alto comes from an esteemed kabuki troupe, where he was a child prodigy consistently cast in female roles. This naturally gave him all sorts of Complexes, and he ultimately ran away from his stifling and abusive upbringing in order to spread his wings. This is both metaphorical and literal, as he joins a flight school and later the military. So in the present, Alto is faced with the conflict of wanting to be free, but facing pressure from his father who is seeking to pass the family troupe down. It’s a decent character arc, and we see it in action through how Alto approaches piloting as a craft and not a military routine. He acts through flying. It also explains why he’s such a stuck-up and dense male tsundere of a character, especially around the seasoned idol Sheryl Nome – he has a huge chip on his shoulder when it comes to performance.

Everything I just described is how it happens in the Macross Frontier show, where the narrative gets 25 episodes to breathe. The movies don’t have this luxury, clocking in at just under 4 hours when put together. How do you speedrun Alto’s struggles? By giving him gender dysphoria, of course. Believe it or not, this makes his attitude towards art and performance way more poignant.

On a nighttime streetcar ride in the first movie, Alto opens up to his friend Ranka about his past in kabuki performance, since her own singing career is just beginning to take off. In a significant departure from the show, he goes into intense detail about how he ran away because his acting roles were beginning to consume him. The power that came from being on stage was so intoxicating that he felt his identity outside of the stage begin to crumble, with all the gender crisis that entails when you’re a guy playing female roles. This confession is a moment of serious vulnerability, one that overtakes anything we see in the show.

In a follow-up scene that defies any cisgender explanation, Alto sits alone in his military quarters, staring at a candle (a symbol of his kabuki past, as seen in the previous scene) and an earring, which belongs to Sheryl.

After plenty of deliberation, he lets his hair down, appearing even more feminine than usual, and puts the earring on.

He’s hit with an overwhelming wave of emotions, and when he buckles and stares into the locker mirror, he sees Sheryl reflected, not himself. There’s plot reasons for this – Sheryl’s earrings are Fold Quartz and can transmit feelings, yada yada – but the sheer symbol language of the scene overpowers any of that. Beautiful beautiful boys are letting their hair down and trying on earrings and feeling insurmountable emotions that lead them to parse themselves as women.

That’s all for the gender stuff in the first movie, as Alto is subsequently required to play the role of mecha pilot hero and save the day against a government coup attempt and an insectoid giant robot hive-mind. But the second movie does not leave this narrative thread behind, and instead makes it an essential part of Alto and Sheryl’s relationship.

I’ve been trying to keep plot details as slim as possible because the Macross Frontier movies are nigh impossible to follow at times. But basically, in the second one Sheryl ends up wrongly accused of espionage and is sent to Space Alcatraz. The gang brainstorms ways to rescue her and comes to the most obvious conclusion: they need to hold a prison concert and send Alto in to rescue her. It’s a tribute concert to iconic Macross 7 band Fire Bomber, and everyone on stage cosplays the part. Except for Alto Saotome, who, I shit you not, dresses in a gothic lolita maid outfit.

No explanation is given. Is this him coming to terms with his gender trouble described in the first movie? I can’t think of a better explanation for now. The funnier part is that Sheryl is completely unphased by this upon being rescued.

After throwing off his maid getup to reveal an honestly even sluttier sleeveless bodysuit underneath, Alto and company escape, gearing up for a final battle that is wildly hype-inducing for how unclear it is who they’re even fighting at times. This is Macross, so the mecha battles are amplified by idol music to create the flashiest audiovisual feasts you've ever seen. In order for Sheryl to regain the will to sing, she reflects on what inspired her to become an idol in the first place, as well as where her love first bloomed – watching Alto perform as a kabuki actor when they were both young. This is another movie-only detail, and it rules. On top of establishing Alto and Sheryl’s relationship as a desire to constantly one-up each other as artists, it posits that Sheryl loves Alto specifically as a feminine boy. No wonder she wasn’t even surprised by the prison breakout crossdressing!

This is great. More of this in every anime please. This is how you get me to care about heterosexual romance – make the boys look and dress like girls and have the girls love them precisely because of that. Alto’s breakdown in the locker room is caused by feeling all of Sheryl’s emotions on top of his own while he wears that earring – having him dress like a female idol afterwards decisively closes the empathy gap between them and serves to strengthen their relationship. And that’s so good. Unlike in the show, Sheryl decisively wins the love triangle for Alto’s feelings here, and she deserves it. Ranka is in love with Alto as a big-brother type figure who can protect her. Sheryl is a fellow artist who wants a peer and a rival in her lover, and also to dress him up like a girl. It’s not a contest.

So that’s the Alto Saotome movie-only gender arc. On top of being goofy as all hell, it’s a genuinely effective way to explore his relationship to performance and techne, more so than the filial piety angle the Frontier show takes.

I'm gonna conclude by posting a gif of the slutty outfit change. It only seems fitting.

#12 days of anime #macross frontier #alto saotome #macross

[sammygender]

SEASON EIGHT FINAL TAKES

LIKES

- KEVIN. <3. my beloved. he deserves so much better.

- crowley main villain would be so good if they utilised him consistently….

- trials would have been so insanely good if they’d been throughout the whole season instead of in like. The last 5 episodes.

- its nice that sam got to be happy with a girlfriend and a dog for a little bit before he was inevitably dragged back into toxic codependency w dean

- meg!

- dean is a dick in a way that gradually becomes interesting

- brainwashed cas is a cool concept!!

- i finally started actually going hard for destiel 8x17 was crazy…. i need you….

in short all the concepts this season were cool and interesting

DISLIKES

- killed meg :( just as i was starting to really like her

- dean is a dick

- sam has like no arc until the trials (why the fuck do the trials start so late nothing happens)

- benny. i’m sorry. i had zero interest in his entire character. they picked the wrong time to introduce him because by the end id warmed to him a little because dean had stopped annoying me quite so much and i could appreciate how fucking gay they were. but like. how could i want to see dean’s stupid macho vampire boyfriend at the start of s8 after he kept yelling at sam for trying to heal and break the cycle and move on. i didn’t even want to see dean

- purgatory was fucking boring. that’s not what purgatory is. go read the bible

- as always, cas pops in and out of the season, only showing up for good episodes and skipping the bad ones, which is a shame, because bad episodes would’ve been vastly improved by cas

execution of everything was awful. first half was just so mediocre. spent the whole time waiting for the trials. Trials were great though! finale stretch was really good which i think means i’ve put it over s6

rankings for me personally rn

s4 > s5 > s3 > s1 > s7 > s2 > s8 > s6

s2 is much better than s7 but s7 means the world to me so it has to be higher sorry. (I liked s7 a lot!). s5 is also better than s4 but s4 is when i first became a true samgirl so it is beloved to me

#spn #oliver talks #spn spoilers