#but i have the majority of the plot somewhat put together and i’ve recorded a few scenes into voice memos already

[shazzeaslightnovels]

February 2023

(Series: Demon’s Crest | Artist: Yukiko Horiguchi)

No. of Reviews: 5

List of Reviews:

Demons’ Crest 1

Hamefura 12

Kami wa Game ni Ueteiru 5

YouZitsu 9

Astrea Record 3

As promised last month, I’m going to use this post to delve into my top 10 anime of 2022. It ended up being long and I can tell that I’m not going to be able to do much about that without really cutting more details out and I’ve already tried to make it shorter so I’m just going to put it under a cut instead. Before the list, here are some honorable mentions: Summer Time Rendering, Delicious Party Precure, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. Really, GWitch should be on the list but I’m still traumatised from the disappointment that was the second half of Ranking of Kings so I’m being cautious. It’ll probably end up on next year’s list if all goes well with the second half.

10. Raven of the Inner Palace - I watched this one shortly after it finished airing and was very impressed. The story was really interesting and engaging, the characters were charming and I loved watching them grow, and the lore was fascinating. The only major issue is that it does end of a somewhat incomplete note. It feels like it wraps up Shoxue’s character arc satisfyingly but it’s clear that there’s more story to come. I definitely would be interested in reading the novels but I’d struggle a bit with some of terminology in Japanese so if I did read it, it would be in English.

9. Shadow House 2nd Season - The first season just missed out on being one of my faves of 2021 so I was pleased that it got another chance so soon and it more than earned it’s place on my top 2022 list. The plot of season 2 was consistently engaging and I appreciated the focus on characters like Rosemary/Maryrose and Barbie/Barbara who I was interested in from the first season. I hope we get more but I know I’m going to be reading the manga when I can either way.

8. Love Live! Superstar!! Season 2 - While I didn’t like the second season of Superstar quite as much as the first, I did still really enjoy my time with it. I was a bit iffy on the new characters at first but they did grow on me by the second half and I was able to enjoy it a lot better. I think the best part of this season is the introduction of Wein. She’s got such a cool character design and a lovely voice and her performances were so good. I was also incredibly fond of the episode about Ren’s gaming addiction. I was initially annoyed about the ending but now I just can’t wait to spend more time with these characters and see what’s in store for season 3.

7. Bocchi the Rock! - There were three things that stood out to me while watching this anime: the music, the visual gags, and the representation of anxiety. The music was great and the visual gags were hilarious and I really related to Bocchi. Aside from the relability, I also really liked that Bocchi was allowed to grow throughout the twelve episodes. Compared to something Komi Can’t Communicate, which I do like but it has flaws of course, where it’s been 2 seasons and Komi still can barely string together a sentence, it was nice to see Bocchi actually grow and be able to talk to others in ways that she couldn’t have imagined at the beginning. I really appreciated that. I think I will rewatch this one in the future as I wasn’t in the best of moods when I did watch it but I still enjoyed it and I really hope we get more.

6. Spy x Family - I don’t know that I have anything to say about this show that hasn’t already been said. It’s fun show and I enjoyed watching it every week, though there were a few dull moments. I enjoyed seeing the family grow and it’s such a good-looking show. I can’t wait for more.

5. Sasaki and Miyano - Sometimes a simple romcom is all you need. I’ve been a fan of the Sasaki and Miyano manga for years and I was so excited for the anime adaptation. While I was a bit wary of the adaptation choices at the start - like the awkward character designs and anatomy and the random cut-aways to cats doing stuff, it melted my heart by the end and became such a joy to watch. I loved seeing these two characters fall in love with each other week by week. It was just so sweet.

4. Lycoris Recoil - This anime was such a blast to watch each week and to look at all the new fanart of the characters and the ships. The animation was superb and I loved the characters and watching them and their relationships develop. I know a lot of people were disappointed that the story didn’t challenge it’s own flawed premise but I think it was satisfying as a story about Chisato and Takina and I appreciated it for that, though I do wish we had gotten more from characters like Fuki and Mizuki. I know we’re getting a sequel and I’m cautiously optimistic about it.

3. The Case Study of Vanitas: Part II - I enjoyed the first half of Vanitas well enough but Part II really surpassed my expectations. I was so invested in the story and the characters and it was such a pleasure to watch each week. I hope we get more of the anime at some stage.

2. Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultraromantic - To be honest, I wasn’t massive fan of the first two seasons of Kaguya-sama. It had some great visual gags but I wasn’t attached to the characters or anything and a lot of the gags fell flat for me. And then Ultraromantic came along and I finally fell in love with it. Each episode was hilarious and I was surprised by how invested I was in the romance aspect. I loved all the visual gags and this one stands out as being one of the most memorable anime that I watched last year. I can easily recall several scenes and that’s not something that I can say about most of the shows on this list. So I guess Kaguya-sama won this game.

1. The Orbital Children - This was one of those series that reminded me of how much I love sci-fi. There were so many interesting ideas and details. The plot was gripping and the characters were so much fun, especially Mina. I do think it got a bit convoluted at the end there but I still really enjoyed it and it ended up being my favourite anime of last year.

#Reading Log #February 2023

[bifrostarchivist]

so i’ve recently started writing a horror mystery podcast and who knows if i’ll ever actually finish it but i’m just thinking about how trying to get anyone to agree to act on it is just gonna be like “you get paid nothing. we have zero budget. we’re recording on our phones. we’re using imovie to edit. the script is shitty. and i’m annoying. but it’s gay. are you in?”

#personal bullshit #podcasts #writing #pls shsjsjsj there’s literally no positive but i am trying okay #i actuallly really like how it’s coming along so far tho? like i haven’t done much in the way of actual writing yet #but i have the majority of the plot somewhat put together and i’ve recorded a few scenes into voice memos already #and i’m genuinely really loving it so far? i haven’t been this excited for a project in a long time #no one cares im sorry shsjsj just ignore this #i refuse to write a single straight character into this show #it’s. so angsty. there is so much pining. #also the main characters are sapphic and in love and trying their best and i would die for them both #the gays might suffer by my hand but they’re gonna get a happy ending simply to spite jonny sims #i am simply a broke teenager who is trying 💔

[true-blue-megamind]

Fan Theory Thursday – The Not-So-Evil Overlord?

Shhh… Want to hear a secret?  Come closer... SPOILER ALERT!

Okay, this one delves a little deep into the imaginative side of Megamind fan theories, however I believe it holds enough interest and has enough support to be well worth discussing.  There is a supposition which I frankly love: our favorite blue alien was an Overlord of sorts before he briefly took control of Metro City, and he had good reasons to be so.  That might sound a little crazy, but bear with me.

This idea has appeared in several fan fictions, and essentially goes as follows: Megamind was more than a supervillain; he was also a crime boss, and he chose that path for the most unlikely of reasons. Bizarre though it may seem, his primary drive was bettering Metro City.  (And, yes, I’m aware of how contradictory that sounds.)  However, it’s logical when considered more closely.  By making himself the de facto ruler of the city’s underbelly, Megamind was able to control crime to an extent, probably even setting limits on certain activities, and guidelines for others.  In the majority of fan fictions using this concept, that includs things like reducing violent crime, setting purity standards and purchase limits for narcotics, and ensuring sex workers were neither underage nor abused.

I’ll be the first to admit that, on the surface at least, this seems like nothing more than fans seeking to justify or even moralize a beloved character, but research reveals that there is actually some support for this theory.  Firstly, there is the fact, touched upon previously in the Fan Theory post concerning the Warden, that Megamind was clearly already establishing control over other criminals at a young age.  While writing a truly wonderful blog article, Demishock actually went through the trouble of deciphering the newspaper clipping shown at the beginning of the film’s title sequence.  It contains, among other things, a reference to the fact that, although an elementary school age child, Megamind was feared and obeyed by other inmates at the prison where he grew up.  A quote from the Warden reads: “I've got experienced, hardened criminals in here who are afraid of him.” The article goes on to mention an incident which involved a few other inmates, adding that “the other prisoners refused to point fingers for fear of retaliation.”

It is quite possible that Megamind was already building and consolidating a base of power.

Next, there is the fact that the blue man seems to have lines he won’t cross, even as the self-proclaimed Evil Overlord. In one of the storyboards, when Megamind is approached by the Doom Syndicate, he clearly holds them in disdain, yet they are careful to placate him.  Obviously they have somewhat different standards.  When Agent Orange—who was later reimagined as Psycho-Delic before being cut from the film entirely—compares Megamind’s “inspirational” defeat of Metro Man to “a car crash on prom night,” the blue alien looks rather disgusted. Although they refer to celebrating his victory, it also seems the Doom Syndicate may be indirectly asking Megamind’s permission to go on a crime spree. While this may be because he is the new Overlord, it seems odd that other villains would immediately leap to the assumption such approval is necessary if they were accustomed to acting on their own. However, if they were already in the habit of requesting the blue alien’s sanction, their actions make more sense.

Whatever the case, it seems that, once again, Megamind and the Doom Syndicate may have very different ideas of what sorts of crimes are acceptable. The Destruction Worker refers to “really putting the screws to the city,” while Agent Orange adds his desire to “swim in the torment of the innocent.”  However, these suggestions don’t seem to match what we actually see Megamind doing.  In the movie, Megamind does, indeed, go on a crime spree, but none of it appears to be violent.  He certainly causes chaos, but no one seems to ever be injured.  In fact, in the DVD commentary, one of the creators even states outright that the supervillain never goes beyond vandalism and theft because he doesn’t really want to hurt anybody.  (Indeed, in the film it rather seems that, by being raised in jail, bullied, and constantly rejected, Megamind was pushed into supervillainy.) This, together with the previous evidence, paints an image of a man who has been forced to do some harsh things, but who nonetheless dislikes violence and, deep down, possesses a certain moral code, albeit a skewed one.  

There are, in fact, several other details that point toward Megamind being far from truly evil despite being a supervillain.  As I mentioned in Megamind and Identity, he displays several redeeming qualities, such as his largely friendly treatment of Minion, his respect for Roxanne’s intelligence, and his playful, affectionate game of fetch with the brainbots.  However, I won’t go into a long explanation about that here as it can be found in the aforementioned post.

Nonetheless, I don’t believe we can seriously expect that the former villain has never once hurt anyone in his life.  Keep in mind that, as discussed in the post How Strong is Megamind, the blue alien almost certainly had to fight in order to survive.  However, his unwillingness to attack citizens suggests that he only injured others when it was absolutely necessary.  Similarly, the aforementioned “news article” indicates that he may have limited his physically aggressive responses to other criminals only. (After all, the reference to prison inmates fearing him is the sole evidence of possible violence we have.)  I have seen it suggested here on Tumblr that he may have taken over Metro City in part because he believed that, if he didn’t, someone worse like the Doom Syndicate would.  It may even be possible that he was afraid of appearing soft and thus losing control over the criminal underworld.  

Of course, it has to be mentioned here that Megamind also fought with Metro Man, who certainly wasn’t a criminal.  However, there are two factors that I believe need to be considered.  The first is that it is very likely that Megamind didn’t expect he could truly harm his nemesis. This is evidenced by both the his apparent shock when Metro Man seems to actually be dead, and by his overt statement during the museum scene that he “didn’t think it would really work.”  The second is that, as young Metro Man was a bully, tormenting Megamind without provocation and encouraging other children to do the same, Megamind may have mentally placed him in the bad guy/threat category.

His lack of violence is not the only proof that Megamind had a better heart than most credited him for even when he was a supervillain. Keep in mind that he had a holographic disguise watch and a hoverbike.  Presumably, Megamind could have simply fled Metro City when Titan turned evil, but he didn’t.  Instead he went to Roxanne for help, stating that if they could not find the new villain’s weakness Titan would “destroy the whole city.”  And this was after Titan had tried to kill him.  Clearly, despite being a supervillain, Megamind cared enough about his home town to put his life in danger.

The final support for the Benevolent Overlord theory is less obvious: Megamind had to have been getting funds from somewhere even when Metro Man was still functioning as the Defender of Metro City. (Indeed, in some of the early concept art, the Evil Lair was imagined as a luxurious space boasting things like a huge library and a sleek laboratory.  Some fans still picture the living quarters in much the same way despite the creators stating that he built his inventions from whatever he could get his hands on.)  Near the beginning of the movie, Minion mentions a supplier in Romania, and presumably he and Megamind had to be getting food and other necessities somehow.  While it’s true that the blue villain was clearly not above thievery, we also know that his plots were always defeated by Metro Man, so it’s safe to assume that he rarely if ever got away with stealing anything before the former hero’s supposed “death.”  Of course, it also seems extremely unlikely, even laughable, that Megamind would have had a day job.  Where, then, did the money come from?  Many fans theorize that, as the local crime boss, he received a cut from all illegal activity. It certainly seems like the most probable explanation.  

Art by Kory Heinzen, found in The Art of Megamind by Richard von Busack

So why would Megamind build his technology and machines largely from scrap if he had a constant cash flow?  Given his concern for the city, several fan fictions have imagined the blue man secretly and anonymously donating a significant portion of his ill-gotten money to various charities and non-profits.  That idea is not directly supported by any evidence, but it does fit with what we know.  It’s also consistent with Megamind’s character: a feared supervillain who possesses a surprisingly good heart and, given his past, knows too well what it’s like to be thrown away by society.

So, was Megamind a crime boss as well as a supervillain?  Did he use that position to secretly better life in Metro City?  If so, is he still doing that now that he is the Defender of Metro City, thus curbing criminal activity from within as well as fighting it from without? (For the record, given that there is no apparent gang war happening during The Button of Doom, I would propose that the answer to the last question may be yes.)  These are certainly interesting ideas to consider, and the mere fact that this animated film offers enough details to argue the point is a testament to just how well-constructed the movie is.  I consider it yet more proof that the film Megamind is truly an underrated masterpiece.

#Megamind #Megamind movie #megamind fan theory #fan theories #fan theory #fan theory thursday #Overlord #crime boss #good bad guy

[accidentalrabbit]

TOGETHER WITH ME

(series)

Thailand 2017

RANK: S

A-pairing: Korn x Knock

B-pairing: we will get to that

C-pairing: we will GET to that

Other character(s) i enjoyed: Yiwha, Faii, Farm

Overall review:

This show is a MESS. And it is iconic. Some truly horrible and inane things happen to its characters, and that’s a warning. It’s camp! Proceed with caution.

Overall, the production is par for the course. You get your occasional weird sound effects and audio, but in the edit, the show basically works. I love that Amphawa Floating Market is one of the major locations, it’s so striking and breaks up the university vibe with a standout, non-beach setting. Shoutout also to hair and makeup, ESPECIALLY on Yiwha, who is serving Carmen Sandiego/Fortune 500 CEO with a bold lip at all times, and Pleng, who is also on her evil girlboss grind 24/7. I’m going to be overusing the word girlboss, because this show is fully in its girlboss side character era. And everyone in this show is giving their roles 110%, boots the house down.

Alright, we have to start with episode one, which for the record is the most impressively homosexual first episode of any show i’ve watched. Korn and Knock are childhood best friends who lost touch but reconnect while studying architecture or whatever at university. If this were a drinking game, you’d already be drunk. And speaking of drunk, they go back home to pick up girls and get absolutely faded, but when the girls leave early (and rob them, those enterprising girlbosses!)...they fuck. They have just completely unrestrained and messy drunken sex in episode one. Twelve episodes to go! This is such an aggressive way to establish their barely contained homoerotic tension that i almost can’t believe more shows haven’t done it since, but i guess once you have a show that does it so well you can’t just do a pale imitation. This also establishes the insane level of chemistry these two have when they’re not holding back, and my god. In terms of high heat, who comes close? They also do a great job at playing awkward but still intimate when they are holding back, like when Knock gets injured during their soccer football match and Korn has to bathe him, but they’re both in their “let’s pretend nothing happened i love our friendship” era. Oh, they’re also pretending nothing happened because Knock has a girlfriend. Oops! We’ll get there.

For the remainder of the show we have three main characters to root for, if we’re generous. Korn is the audience insert/POV character and we love him, Knock is the somewhat passive (lmao iykyk) protagonist whose arc becomes the arc of the whole show, and then there is Yiwha, a gorgeous queen who has never done anything wrong. She is the girlboss: an excellent wingman, a nosy gossip, an amateur detective, never takes off her plot armor. Yiwha is the character who holds the plots together and moves them forward. She is responsible for creating the show’s main antagonists, the evil girlboss trio, and she is, for the most part, the one who moves between all the different subplots, acting at key moments when it looks like the story might otherwise stall. Knock’s girlfriend and noted evil girlboss Pleng puts out a hit on her at one point and i did worry, but Yiwha uses her plot armor to beat up the bad guys and convince Korn’s ex to betray the evil girlboss trio. You cannot stop Yiwha. She’s a legend and she is the moment. When she’s on screen, i’m having fun, even when she’s being slightly evil.

I’ll take a moment here to say that at first i thought the show had no moral core because the way these characters act is extremely chaotic. Even our main characters who we love and want to root for behave very sketchily, lying and cheating and betraying each other and outing their friends and just being plain mean. It makes for excellent comedy. But at some point i realized the theme of this show is that self-deception is the ultimate evil because it prevents the possibility of love, and then everything fell into place. These characters behave in amoral ways because they are hammering a point home for thirteen episodes and everything that stands in their way is a nail. Even deceiving others is okay if it’s in service of making them realize or admit something about themselves, and the most evil characters are the ones who want their loved ones to keep lying to themselves about what they truly want. And that’s why cheating on your girlfriend is okay if you’re a queer man, actually: Because she’s keeping you in the closet on purpose, because she is evil.

THE EVIL GIRLBOSS TRIO. I love the execution of the antagonists. No one has done it better more entertainingly when it comes to the (problematic) women scorned trope. All three of them have reasons, all of the reasons are bad, and all of them are at least partially antagonized by Yiwha. They are unhinged; they have zero hinges between them. Their schemes make no sense and require an incredible amount of expertise. Getting hired thugs to beat up your enemies? Hacking university databases? Printing hundreds of flyers of your boyfriend making out with his gay friend using a photo you took of their room from a rooftop fifty meters away? It’s camp!

Faii is a minor character in the grand scheme of things but i love her interactions with Yiwha and Farm. I love that she’s on the boys’ football team and WINS. I love her can-do attitude. I love her John Watson detective era. Lesbian-coded gnc icon. Ugh. Legend.

Farm: I love him. Perfect baby gay. We’ll come back to him. Dr. Bright is a good character in terms of the story, but i like him less because i want only good things for Farm, and he is Not That. Phu and Kawitra also exist and are characters. We’ll get there.

I appreciate how tightly written the side characters are. They all continue touching base with the plot throughout. They come back occasionally in unexpected ways. They all interact anonymously with Knock’s online thread about his conflicted feelings, and sometimes they say very insightful things. For a show that is so silly and trope-reliant, it’s refreshing that the writers demonstrate that they pay close enough attention to the plot to make the smorgasbord of characters both necessary and sufficient to the story. No one feels extraneous and no subplot feels underdeveloped. The writing is also very funny most of the time. It is like the best possible CW young adult drama crossed with a decent sitcom, with ridiculous soap opera plot details, and i mean all of that in a sincere and kind way.

Before i wrap this up, i am a sucker for a bow-tied happy ending, and Korn and Knock, despite spending several episodes driving each other up the wall, do eventually get to kiss without having to sneak around Pleng’s back or worry about telescopic camera lenses. These two are so compelling to watch even when they’re mad at each other; when they finally get to be openly in love, it feels transcendent. The writing also makes good use of the fact that they are childhood friends with a shared history in various foods, objects, and rituals, and it makes their scenes, ups and downs alike, that much more emotional.

This show is so...much, but part of that “muchness” is also its earnestness. Despite being weird, often uncomfortable, and not at all self-aware, it never felt like this show was cynical about its own existence or the progression of its story, which happens in even very good, very well-written Thai BL (see: Bad Buddy (2021), Dark Blue Kiss (2019), and also most of the mediocre series (My Gear Your Gown (2020) is a BIG offender)). I know it’s dangerous to make blanket statements but in my unitary and subjective opinion i think this is the best Thai BL made before 2019, and it still outshines many others made since.

I had a good time, but:

Together With Me is PEAK television, but that does not mean you should look to it for moral guidance or real world advice. Please. I had a good time, and that is not an endorsement of the objectionable plot points, which are so important to the show being peak TV and which i would like to never see ever again. This show is hanging onto its S-tier status by a thread, and these are the things that almost undid it.

I loathe student-teacher romances. LOATHE. I ultimately made some uneasy peace with the Phu x Kawitra C-plot, but every scene with them worked my nerves. I mean, from the jump i was on edge, and i sighed with relief every time a scene ended with the status quo mostly unchanged. I liked how Kawitra stands by her ethical principles as a professor (mostly), i was relieved that a fully-grown very annoying university student was the pursuer (so i didn't immediately have to root for prison time), and i tolerated how the narrative made their one kiss very unattractive, based entirely on Phu's lies, and blessedly unrepeated.

That being said, the moral core of this show was all about confronting self-deception and admitting your true feelings or whatever, so i understand why, to an extent, this storyline is here. I did not like what they did with it. But their little arc wasn't NOT compelling, in a narrowly-avoided trainwreck kinda way. And because all the characters are written so interconnectedly (she's Korn's sister and Yiwha's professor, all the students are roommates, they all care about each other), it also tied into the other plots in a way i appreciated. I now simply hope Phu graduates and gets a decent job far away and never bothers her again. (And Kawitra, ma'am, get a grip! you have to want better for yourself!)

Farm gets his own section. Don't you worry.

This is not a real complaint, but Yiwha deserved to be bisexual, because i say so, and we were robbed.

Other than that, there's not much left to complain about. Even at its…least restrained, Together With Me has the benefit of being very fun. The tropes, the edit, the neon blue tequila shots, the Yiwha ex machina plot armor, the evil girlboss trio—none of these things are unimpeachable. But goddamn do the weak spots have an oblivious charm that i don't think any other show i've watched has quite replicated.

Unfortunately, you have been chopped: Bad Romance (2016, parent story/sequel), Together With Me: The Next Chapter (2018, sequel).

Honestly, neither of these shows piqued my interest, and the stories they tell are entirely ancillary to this one. Korn and Knock lose a lot of their spark, which is one of the primary reasons i enjoy this show so much, and Yiwha, for all her girlbossery, has significant changes by necessity to her character when she’s with her little man or whatever. I think in the sequel in particular, everyone loses the kind of weird, chaotic, amoral edge that they have in this series. I did try to power through TWM:TNC, but it’s so long for so little payoff, and that’s not even bringing up what they did to

Character(s) entitled to financial compensation: Farm, my beloved. Here comes an essay.

Between his friends plying him with alcohol to get him to fess up about his love life, to his girlfriend drugging him and then trying to assault him to turn him straight, to getting punched by a random homophobic hitman, to his messy, messy, messy one-way puppy-love relationship with Dr. Bright—Farm deserves therapy. To be honest, if i didn’t see a lot of myself in Farm, his arc would have been much more uncomfortable and much less enjoyable, and i understand people who hate everything about this B-plot. But i actually found his story touching, even when it was being played for a laugh. (Which, to be clear, it usually should not have been.)

I do think the writers kept it real about different kinds of non-traditional relationships in the gay community, and i think they kept it real about how much it would hurt to go from one kind of relationship that looks right but feels wrong because of your sexuality, to one that feels right but is still wrong for you. But they definitely should have treated serious subjects like sexual assault with more care. I was definitely uncomfortable, and my heart really ached for the parts of me i saw treated so poorly in this character—and still i found his story worth showing even in such a problematic way. Bright enjoys very non-traditional relationships and Farm is a hopeless romantic, and they are both unable to love, persuade, cajole, or embarrass each other into changing what they want, and that is KEY to the theme of the show: Self-deception is the enemy of love. You cannot force a relationship that smothers your truth.

In the end, Farm learns the wrong lessons about jealousy and relationships, but it feels like a mistake he’s making as a confused baby gay, and not something he can’t grow past with the help of his (amoral and possibly sadistic) friends. And this is why i’m asking us all today to disregard TWM:TNC as canon. Do it for me. Do it for Farm. Thank you.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed this show a lot. Unreservedly, unabashedly, i say everyone who enjoys BL, or LGBT media in general, should at least try to watch it. Anyone who wants to get into the Thai genre should make this one of the first shows they watch in order to learn what these specific tropes look like when they're being played mostly straight, but with a solid cast and impressively tight writing to back it up. So: despite everything that is objectively weird and uncomfortable about it, i truly love Together With Me. It is, quite simply, peak television.

Tune in next time to read all about unproblematic fave Kieta Hatsukoi (2021), in which we dare to root for…the heterosexuals?

#together with me #S tier #thai drama #mine #reviews #together with me the series #korn x knock #i'm so glad yiwha is my header image i love her i love her i lov #anyway this took forever to put together and i'm sure i'm missing things i wanted to talk about #i should rewatch this #girlies. what are we thinking #how did you people feel about together with me and were you as generous as i was #i get why this show was divisive and yet i enjoyed it more than bad buddy which feels sacrilegious in some ways #which is not to say it was as good lmfao this show is a mess #i will say this is probably the S tier show i enjoyed the least if we're doing that intra-tier ranking #i promise most of my remaining opinions are more mainstream than this #minor edits for clarity #mostly for farm

[theangryhistoriananna]

We have been fed 500 years of lies......but it’s not about Anne Boleyn

Also known as @bunniesandbeheadings did this to herself. 

Jane Boleyn, usually referred to as Lady Rochford in most works that speak of her, will forever be regulated to the margins of history....and honestly that’s okay. She wasn’t a history maker like so many of her other female contemporaries-including her sister-in-law and niece....so most history books will (and do) overlook her and most works that do mention her are focused entirely on other people, and so the people writing these expose's don’t do very much Jane Boleyn specific research on her when they fit her into their works, be they fictional or not.  

That in itself isn’t a bad thing. I don’t expect people to spend 5+ years on her specifically if they are working on a book about Anne Boleyn or the Reign of Henry VIII. A week or two (tops) of going over the times she cropped up in records and maybe fact checking statements made by other historians-including her only biographer to date- is really all that one would need to do to be able to fairly accurately sum up her role in the court of Henry VIII and it’s politics. 

But being such a minor figure has a huge downside to it. And that’s when you’re actual story gets buried under an orchestrated smear campaign based entirely on unsupported rumors and gossip that has never been definitively proven or even convincingly proven that has gone on almost unchallenged for 500 years. 

Of course Jane’s not the first, and certainly not the last, woman to suffer a smear campaign. It’s one of the world’s favorite past times after all. Anne Boleyn herself was the subject of an awful smear campaign.....and one that would continue well into the 17th and 18th centuries before finally being seriously called into question in the 19th century. But Anne Boleyn’s also always had her defenders-many of the English Protestants hailed her as a heroine and a martyr for their cause. And in the 19th Century she began to be painted not so much as an evil seductress but as a tragic, romantic heroine. 

By now there is a great deal of information on Anne Boleyn, many do still paint her as a schemer and and an adulterer, driven by ambition and nothing else, but I’d argue since Eric Ives released his definitive and well researched biography on Anne Boleyn in the 1990s, and certainly since Natalie Dormer dazzled us all with her portrayal of the woman in the showtime hit “The Tudors”, most biographies of Anne have been overwhelmingly positive...or at least more nuanced and fair. The scheming and cold Anne seems to have mostly retired to the world of fiction, and even in that realm this portrayal’s popularity seems to be on the downturn with only a few books, such as Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, still choosing this Anne for literary reasons. 

There is still of course plenty of myths and negative stories about Anne Boleyn, there always will be, but its easy enough for an interested individual to do the bare minimum amount of research into her and her life and have those myths dispelled....or at least seriously put into question. 

The same cannot be said about Jane Boleyn unfortunately. But it’s hardly surprising......she’s no Anne Boleyn after all. On paper she’s nothing more than a footnote...nothing worth taking a real serious gander over. So people don’t. 

They don’t bother to look at the facts even when they are staring them in the face. Because Jane doesn’t matter. 

Right? 

Except that Jane is more than a footnote on a page. She was a living and breathing person, and deserves to be presented as accurately as possible. 

When it comes to Jane Boleyn two things are generally taken for as fact: 

1) She was the informant who gave Cromwell and Henry the incest charges against Anne and George. 

2) She hated the Boleyn family. 

Would it surprise you to hear these two facts aren’t facts at all and are in fact just a theory that has almost no evidence to corroborate it?

I mean if you’ve followed me for more than .5 seconds...then probably no, it doesn’t surprise you. But the majority of people who have an interest in the Reign of Henry VIII, even many who are very knowledgeable on the time period, probably would be. Those statements are still taken as fact, and to say otherwise is somewhat controversial. 

But the evidence simply doesn’t support either of these statements. No first hand or even second hand statements name Jane Boleyn as being an informant for Cromwell or Henry. In fact no one names her as being responsible for the incest charges at all. No one even ALLUDED to her in that respect. Only Chapuys mentioned Jane at all, not in regards to the incest charges, but apparently because Anne had told her sister-in-law that her husband, the king, couldn’t please a woman and suffered erectile dysfunction. The fact that Chapuys mentions this as having been revealed during George’s trial seems to suggest that George was either privy to his conversation himself or that Jane told him about it later. 

Other than that. The records are mute about Jane when it comes to her involvement in the trials. 

Her name wouldn’t even be brought up in connection to the incest charges till the reign of Elizabeth I, and by people who had no real evidence to base their claims on, just rumors, hearsay and “family stories”. It’s interesting that about the time Jane’s name started to crop up with these accusations, her family by birth, the Parkers, were in disgrace and exile.  

And what about the second ‘fact’? Did Jane hate the Boleyn family? 

Again, the evidence, as scarce as it is, seems to say no. That Jane Boleyn was an integral part of the Boleyn family, and was a favorite of Anne’s. Historians have always assigned the motive of jealousy for why Jane turned so viciously on the Boleyns, usually it’s been that she was jealous that George-her husband-clearly loved Anne more than he did her. Lately however it appears the motive, while still jealousy, has switched from “jealous over a man” to “jealous she wasn’t in the in crowd”. But this is....a strange statement to make. Because a quick glance at the records show Jane was VERY MUCH a part of the in crowd, arguably even more so than Mary Carey or Elizabeth Howard-Anne’s sister and mother. Jane was one of Anne’s foremost ladies. She was presented at Anne’s coronation march through London as one of England’s premiere ladies, riding in a spot of the highest honor, directly behind Anne herself, among the most powerful women in the country (including the Duchess of Richmond), far above what her station as a Viscountess entitled her. Neither Anne’s sister nor her mother were given the same honor. 

But even before that it seemed Jane was and always would be very staunchly supportive of the Boleyn clan and their interests. She would leave Katherine of Aragon’s service shortly after Anne was recognized and would join her sister-in-law’s service, while other members of Anne’s family-chiefly her aunt the Duchess of Norfolk- would refuse to do so. She would later be one of the women Anne brought with her to France to be presented to Francis as the future Queen of England. Jane, alongside Mary among others, were hand picked by Anne herself to participate in a masque to impress the French king and his loftiest nobles. During Anne’s tenure as Queen Jane was a relatively powerful woman as sister-in-law to the queen. And while George or Anne could-have they truly not liked her-sent her away to wallow away in some country house ignored and forgotten-she never was. In fact she seemed to be rather welcomed, well liked and popular in Anne’s court. Certainly Anne trusted her, as on two occasions it was her sister in law she would turn to. I’ve already mentioned the damning secret she told Jane about Henry’s lack of sexual prowess. But we have another incident that Chapuys paints us about Jane and Anne. Interestingly this man, who is often erroneously used to prove Jane’s guilt, always painted Jane as being in league with the Boleyns, not against them. According to him, Jane and Anne plotted together to get rid of a woman who had caught Henry’s eye and had written friendly overtures to Henry’s daughter Mary. We don’t have details on this event, and there is even some doubt over whether it actually happened or not as no one else speaks of it, but according to Chapuys, the plan backfired on Anne and Jane and Jane was banished from court instead of the lady. 

Whether it happened or not, it is important that Chapuys always presented Jane Boleyn as working with Anne and not against her. 

All in all that Jane was jealous because she wasn’t one of the “cool kids” is even less plausible then “she was jealous that George loved Anne more than her” because the evidence is just so in our faces that this was not in the least bit true. Jane was very much one of the ‘cool kids’ of Anne’s court, and when Anne fell, Jane lost that.

But hey when the story isn’t about Jane Boleyn who bothers to fact check on her? 

#Jane Boleyn #Jane Parker #Jane Rochford #Anne Boleyn #Boleyn Family #JPD #Anne's Rambling About Jane Again

[maggot-monger]

some musings on shipping culture

just to get this out of the way: this post is prompted by things i have seen people say and reblog recently about a variety of ships and fandoms, some of which i have been in, some of which i have not. it is not directed at any individual in particular. 

i am also not upset. how other people like to enjoy fandom is interesting to me but ultimately it’s totally irrelevant to how i like to enjoy fandom. in fact, my apathy about other people’s favorite ships is a major reason i am curious about how some people respond to each other/canon/whatever.

the main question is: why do people care what other people ship and why they ship it?

here’s what i got. this list is not ordered by importance.

1) purity culture 

tbh i am kind of burnt out with thinking about purity culture. probably a lot of reasons are somewhat related to purity culture, but i don’t want to get into whether or not it’s ok for people to ship stuff they wouldn’t condone in reality (although for the record, if you couldn’t tell, my opinion is: ship literally whatever you want). so, moving on.

2) whether or not ships are likely to become canon

a lot of the time, this debate gets avoided either because none of the ships being argued over are likely ever to become canon, or because one of them is almost definitely going to become canon. sometimes it’s an argument about which relationship is more important, whether romantic or not (two examples: 1) most wincest shippers understand that sam and dean were never going to kiss on the mouth on tv, but are very invested in the brothers’ relationship being the central relationship in the show regardless. 2) debates over whether elsa in frozen should have a girlfriend or stay single). 

much of the time, people get passionate about ships going canon because of issues of representation. wanting the queer ship; wanting the ship involving at least one character from an underrepresented group; wanting the ship that resonates with some meaningful experience much of the audience can relate to. that’s all cool. i get all of that. i don’t personally have many feelings about ships i like going canon because that’s not really part of the experience for me, but i understand why it’s appealing to others.

i do not, however, understand why some people whose ships might become canon care about telling people whose ships are never going to become canon that their ships are, uh, never going to become canon. like, in my experience, usually people who ship a never-going-to-be-canon ship know that it’s never going to be canon, and while they might be salty about it, they aren’t claiming that their thing is going to be what happens in canon. i get why never-going-to-be-canon shippers might get pissy at might-be-canon shippers because it sucks to “lose,” or because often (not always) might-be-canon ships are very popular comparatively and it can get tiresome to see your fandom dominated by something you don’t like/care about. but why do fans of popular (might-be-)canon ships get pissy about fans of never-gonna-be-canon ships, within fandom spaces?

a lot of this tension might be because of fandom dominance wars, rather than canon dominance wars. the never-gonna-be-canon shippers might feel that the might-be-canon shippers are dominating fandom spaces, but the might-be-canon shippers might feel that the never-gonna-be-canon shippers are dominating canon spaces. often when this happens both ships take up a lot of fandom space regardless of which takes up more, and might in fact be equally popular. so this might be just misperceptions about relative popularity, and feeling like your ship is being attacked/ignored disproportionately in the fandom when in reality it isn’t. i have definitely seen this sort of attitude from warring flagship supporters many a time.

but ok, to come back to why might-be-canon shippers make arguments against never-gonna-be-canon shippers based on likelihood of canonization: why? i don’t get it. i’ve seen this happen even with people who ship fully realized canon relationships arguing against people who ship fully non-canon relationships. why? 

my instinct is to think that last one is a sore winner thing. like, you won dude. good for you. take your winnings and let everybody else lick their wounds/carry on with their own preferences in peace. i’m even inclined to think that canon shippers as a rule should ignore most baiting by non-canon shippers because losers should be allowed to be little a bitter, as a treat. but at this point, i realize that i have just made a claim about how people should act in fandom, and who am i to say that? no one. so: never mind. and it might not be a gloating thing anyway.

another piece of evidence i see people bring up in these arguments is about basis in canon, rather than likelihood of canonization. that seems like another major point, so let’s move on to that. 

3) basis in canon

whether or not a ship is likely to become canon, there are lots of conversations about which ships make the most sense given evidence from the canon. 

i, being a massive slut for characterization, get this sort of. usually even when i enjoy crack ships i want to make them work with textual evidence somehow. i personally just think it’s more satisfying to figure out how two characters might have met and what would have appealed to them about each other to lead them to connect/date/bang/whatever, even if it never happened and never will happen and nobody would even think about the pairing unless either they were trying to be funny or they were really far down a rabbit hole. that’s my own geeky cross to bear.

i don’t get why “basis in canon” makes any ship better than any other ship though. sometimes a ship is within reach of canon characterization/story, and the work to go from non-canon to canon is suuuper minimal. these ships make sense pretty much as they are. that’s cool! such ships are usually popular for a reason: they appeal to a lot of fans of the canon because not a lot has to be done to the source material to make it work. often, the more you have to modify/do interpretation footwork, the more people’s interesting is going to drop off because you’re getting further from the source, and the source is why everyone is here in the first place. (some fandoms are of course exceptions to this.)

but why is closer-to-canon better? sometimes the work to get from canon to a far-from-canon ship is really clever, and does actually make a lot of sense if you follow the reasoning. sometimes far-from-canon ships are satisfying in a way other closer-to-canon ships aren’t (at least to some people). sometimes far-from-canon ships allow for creativity that closer-to-canon ships don’t. sometimes the appeal of far-from-canon ships is none of that, and it’s purely because the ship is sexy, or it’s controversial, or it’s weird, or people have gotten tired of the fandom flagships and they’re looking for something new. 

i don’t understand why any of that is worse than the reasons for shipping something with “more basis in canon.”

personally, i get tired of fandom flagships in most of the fandoms i’ve been in very quickly. furthermore, i lose interest in ships almost immediately if/when they become canon. that’s not a value judgment; it’s just a pattern in my own preferences that i’ve observed from 15+ years of fandom involvement. i enjoy having to work in the murky waters farther from canon to justify my weird little ships. i find the moment of canonization exciting and satisfying (and sometimes emotional and vindicating), but i do not enjoy watching people actually being in romantic relationships very much (part of this is probably due to the fact that i personally do not enjoy being in romantic relationships very much). i also just tend to enjoy elements of ships that a lot of people find off-putting, but this is going back to purity culture and, again, i don’t want to get into that. these preferences reliably lead me away from close-to-canon ships and fandom flagships. 

(just to be clear: i’m not being attacked. i do not feel attacked. i'm just using myself as a rhetorical example here.)

does this make my taste in ships bad? i don’t know what "bad taste in ships” means, but if you’re going to say that my taste is bad, i’m going to want you to justify it. 

does it make my taste in ships stupid? well, sure, i do like stupid shit sometimes. but i also feel that it would be strange, if not flat-out incorrect, to claim that my taste in off-norm ships is not thoughtful. i think about many of my far-from-canon ships a lot — often, i think about them a lot before i start shipping them/see anyone else ship them, and i decide i like the characters together because i’ve come at it from a character analysis perspective. i have liked ships for some extremely nerdy reasons. a lot of people who like far-from-canon ships get there because they like thinking about characterization and plot and symbolism. to be completely honest, i often end up liking rarepairs in part because the people who end up liking rarepairs often have higher overall intellectual skill and desire to think about things extensively on average than fans of fandom flagships do on average. so, is liking far-from-canon ships stupid? that’s subjective. is it unintelligent? probably not.

is enjoyment of these ships dumber when people don’t get there through a lot of analysis, or when they don’t try to justify their enjoyment once they’ve decided they like a ship? i have seen extremely well-written, clever, extensively researched fic about pairings the author had no interest in justifying, and imo that’s just as intellectually motivated as analysis about why the ship makes sense. so, i would say, no.

is it bad to ship stuff and have no intellectual interest in it all? i mean, everyone can have whatever opinion about this, but in my opinion, no. this is fandom. this is for fun-having. i’m a nerd, but not everybody has to be a nerd. sometimes i like to read stuff that is not nerdy, that just shows me something comforting or new or evocative and doesn’t ask me to care about how we’ve gotten there. i might care anyway, but that’s on me, and it doesn’t make my enjoyment better than the enjoyment of someone who doesn’t want to overthink it.

finally, even if a ship having no basis in canon does make it worse somehow, who cares? what is the point of arguing over ship quality, of all things? is it just elitism? is it defensiveness against criticism of fan work being inferior to original work? is it a desire for everything to make sense, paired with a belief that people prefer things that make the most sense? if anybody has read this far and has insight into this, please tell me. i see this so often, and it baffles me every time. i don’t really want to agree, but i want to understand.

so, i don’t quite get this one. i get parts of it, but overall, i don’t get it. 

4) i don’t have a number 4. i put a number 4 when i started writing this post but i think i covered what i was going to say here in points 1-3. alternatively i forgot my 4th point in which case RIP.

if you read this far, i apologize for the messy organization. i wrote this primarily to sort out my own thoughts. i’m not sure it helped, but it was something to do for an hour XD

#please don't reblog #(idk why anyone would but) #(i am happy to chat though! i am genuinely interested! my questions are not rhetorical) #further disclaimer: none of this is about my current main fandom which seems blessedly tolerant compared to many fandoms #i say things

[xolarajean]

Feel the Beat - Movie Review

Plot: Feel the Beat is a film that combines dance, comedy, and drama. It is directed by Elissa Down and stars Sofia Carson, Enrico Colantoni and Wolfgang Novogratz. Carson stars as April Dibrina, an aspiring Broadway dancer in New York City. Unknowingly, April steals a taxi from Ruth Zimmer, the producer of a major Broadway show April is going to audition for. After the realization she tries to plead with Ruth not to get cut, only to accidentally cause her to get injured. To make matters worse, the entire encounter was recorded by another dancer. After the embarrassing video of her goes viral, April returns to her small hometown in Wisconsin. April reluctantly accepts an offer to coach the local dance team in hopes of getting the attention of a famous Broadway producer, Welly Wong, at the national competition. Throughout the journey, April struggles with figuring out what her dreams are while also trying to mend relationships with the people she left behind years ago -- one of them being her ex-boyfriend, Nick. The movie shines a light on the rigorous training and pressures professional dancers go through. 

Rating: 3/5

I would say it is PG-13. The only curse word that I can remember that wasn’t censored was “ass” near the end. It also shows some little girls twerking/doing suggestive dancing in somewhat skimpy outfits in dance competitions -- for me it was awkward and I skipped through those parts, but I guess it also highlights the sexualization of young girls in the dance industry. 

Pros: 

Diversity (out of the main cast) - Zuzu is deaf and everyone knows/learns sign language which is used throughout the film.  Kari is African American and comes from a struggling household. June is of (I believe) Japanese descent (based on her Instagram account). In addition, Dicky joins the dance group and no sexist comments are made about it. Oona is not made fun of for her weight (if I recall correctly). Deco is also African American and honestly slays throughout the movie (Such a queen, I aspire to be him)

Supportive side characters (especially dads) - all the townspeople are super supportive of April and the girls. The dads tho came THRU. I really enjoyed the scenes of them taking notes on the dances and helping their daughters with practicing at home. The football coach (father of Dicky and one of the girls) especially surprised me because I thought the movie was going to make him the stereotypical sexist dude with him being against Dicky joining dance and overall looking down on dance, but I was pleasantly surprised when he started going full cheerleader mode when Dicky joined in. 

Sofia Carson and Wolfgang Novogratz - I really enjoyed their acting and chemistry together. Though, I wished their was more time to develop their relationship before getting back together because it felt very rushed/abrupt when they kissed. Either way, I really liked their banter and interactions, it felt really realistic. 

Kinda enjoyed the little crush Sarah had on RJ because I’ve been there lmao.

Cons:  

Cheesy and predictable - going into it I already knew what was going to happen obviously which kinda made it more bearable I guess? Kinda overdramatic with some characters like Miss Barb but at the same time endearing.

Sometimes the dialogue felt weird and cringey - this was mostly felt in the parts at the beginning with April begging Ruth and her going back to Wisconsin.   

April in the beginning - I know the whole idea is to show the major growth April goes through from start to finish and that the protagonist is not perfect, but it felt so weird for April to be so blatantly bitchy and moody to the girls the first time they meet. I feel that most people at least would put on a fake smile at the start and try to answer the questions in a respectable way. Tho I would like to mention that I love Sofia Carson even when acts like a villain lmao. Plus the way she treated Ruby was just not cool??? Like at least be a decent human being and say something along the lines of “you could practice harder and be better” instead of just crushing her dream??? 

Some of the dancing scenes where girls twerked/did very suggestive dancing - I skipped through these parts b/c I was so uncomfortable from the first second. Enough said.

Nick - look he is hot and I loved the few scenes of banter between him and April, but I felt that he wasn’t really developed? I understand that he is not the main focus so there might not have been enough time for him too. Honestly, I think its because he seems WAY TOO PERFECT and I wish to find a guy like that haha (my hopeless romantic heart beats so fast when he is on screen) Guess who found their new celebrity crush

So those were my thoughts on Feel the Beat! My PMs/replies are definitely always open to discuss this movie or any other movie/shows that I’ve seen/reviewed. I would love to geek out with anyone! <3

#feel the beat #feel the beat netflix #sofia carson #wolfgang novogratz #april dibrina #ReviewByC #netflix #netflix movie

[psychopersonified]

Q Origin story - Series 2

An imaginary Q-centric Netflix series

Series 1 Pilot here. 

In this second series, we see Q’s double life and how he juggles them. One as a civilian and the other in service with MI6 -  his growth his setbacks; the dramas that follow and which of the two will have to give way. 

To make Q’s backstory come to life and the events that happen to and around him seem more realistic, I’ve tried to include as much relevant details including the bureaucracy, politics and technology in MI6 (with a lot of artistic licence). The details all play a role in growing plot and telling of the narrative, I promise. 

This is meant to be a plot summary, not a full blown fic. Feel free to furnish with your own details. 

———

Episode 1

We see him older now but still in university on the verge of getting his second PhD and third masters (about 28-ish). The last several years, he’s been working part time at MI6 Q-Branch. Major Boothroyd (Q senior) insists he continue his education in Chemistry and Engineering as he’s competent but not great yet in these areas. The Major is an absent minded professor type, involved but not affectionate yet provides enough structure and interesting projects to occupy Q. 

Meanwhile Q in addition to the projects Boothroyd assigns him has started gathering some of his more cyber savvy colleagues in Q and IT Branches into a loosely defined “cyber security team”. It’s mostly them poking around MI6 systems testing and patching security. Technically, administrative IT is not under the purview of Q-Branch - you wouldn’t call Q-Branch if your laptop is refusing cooperate. Q-Branch is a specialised Field Research and Development (Weapons & Defence) division of MI6. However, there is increasing overlap with IT-Branch as terrorism and counterterrorism activities move into the cyber realm. The need to use cyber offensive measures (weapons) and protect against them (defend) blurs the lines between the branches in this age. 

It is still up in the air as to which branch will eventually take over - both branches playing it like hot potato at the moment. Q has a suspicion that M wants Q-Branch to play a more involved role sooner rather than later but bureaucratic red tape and legitimate logistical and manpower concerns have yet to be addressed. 

Timothy Hayden, Head of IT- branch is territorial about letting the grease monkeys down in Q-Branch toy with his high tech touch screens. He runs his branch like a corporate entity and isn’t a great fan of the somewhat disorganised tinkering elves that surround Boothroyd like a perverse Father Christmas toyshop. Boothroyd on the other hand doesn’t want Q-branch becoming mired in a multi-year IT systems transformation project that would draw resources away from their core competencies (whose budget should it come out of? what’s the scope? whose personnel? whose accountability? legacy systems, ongoing support and patches, etc.) 

So for now, Q and his merry little bunch of misfits - who in later years will become the core group of senior Q-minions surrounding Q (opportunity to explore the other characters) carry on their project in the background. Its their standing Friday CYBRWar! night with IT-Branch. Their cybergames isn’t exactly sanctioned but is not prohibited either - as long as they don’t repeat the Black Friday incident where an uninformed IT boffin mistook the games as a legitimate attack and executed a hard shut down of Level 3 servers taking all email down with it…. now that was a long weekend of data recovery work no one wants repeated. 

The games see them take turns playing system hacker and system defender. The score is currently an alarming 163 (success hacks) vs 57 (success repels) with both sides starting to uncomfortably acknowledge the gaping under-preparedness of their protocols. To add to the worry, a third of the successful repels are only because Q was playing lead defender. So, vigorous trash-talk and deliciously unhealthy takeaway food aside, it does serve a critical purpose - one that they won’t realise until a few years later. 

Meanwhile, Q’s personal life starts to get interesting. He’s fallen for a university tutor in the Arts & History faculty (lets call him Adam) who couldn’t be more different than Q. Adam is flawlessly chisel cheeked and athletic - but internally soft, emotional and romantic. Juxtaposed to Qs fragile physicality but rapier wit and iron will. Q suspects that Adam sees in him a scrappy lost puppy in need of a good home and boundaries to focus his genius - but doesn’t mind ...initially. His first serious romance and sexual experience ensues. [insert desired smut here. LOL]. 

However even as his personal life blossoms, his life in Q-Branch begins to unravel. A spate of failed field operations culminating in the death of a field agent instigates an investigation. It is determined that equipment failure is a cause in all these cases. Major Boothroyd as branch head is ultimately accountable - he is censured and put on administrative leave, which is crushing to the old man who has spent his life in Q-branch. As he spends an emotional evening packing his office and reminiscing on a life spent in the bowels of MI6 creating countless gadgets for his countrymen, the stress and shame takes its toll. He suffers a stroke, and collapses. It’s Q who finds him unresponsive next to the old DB5 that Boothroyld wanted to see for the last time when Q goes to collect the old man for the “farewell” drinks Q-Branch was throwing to honour their old mentor. 

Boothroyd  survives but suffers long term damage to his right side, making a potential return to Q-Branch impossible. It is both an emotional and technical blow to the department which is now facing ever increasing scrutiny. There is even talk of contracting all R&D work to external defence companies and doing away with Q-Branch all together…….

 Episode 2 continued under the cut.

———

Episode 2

Opens with a harried senior R trying to keep a demoralised Q-Branch together. The Major was a pillar of Q-Branch for decades and many feel a strong loyalty towards the old man, Q included. R orders a review of the few examples of returned equipment to find the root cause of failures. The engineers in Q-Branch get to it - they narrow it down to a few components but the records show no issue with them prior to assembly. Without more evidence, the investigation stalls. 

Out of curiosity, Q pokes around the inventory system, trying to find a pattern. When he checks the data logs, he finds discrepancies that suggest data tampering. The component serial numbers have been moved around so that in some cases untested components or those that have failed testing are getting released to be used in the assembly of field equipment.  

It is a small hack (if you can even call it that), surgically precise and inconspicuous enough that it flies under the radar.  In an era of brazen top down system wide pwn-ing, no one would have given priority to securing these low level administrative systems since they don’t hold any classified information. But once compromised causes a ripple that cascades upwards. Q gets a knot in his stomach, how many more of these time bombs are hidden in the system? 

Just then a field report for 007’s latest mission (Casino Royale) comes through. Q-branch is red flagged because the medical defibrillator they built for 007’s kit failed to discharge when expected - nearly costing the agent his life. It was only an act of serendipity that the liaison from HM Treasury Dept was there to assist. Q designed that defibrillator; he’d personally drawn up the schematics and the electronic controller as well as the specifications, he’d put in failsafes and redundancies knowing the critical use case of the equipment. This point he’s doesn’t know 007 personally, he knows of his reputation as a rebel and M’s experimental wild child. People say that about Q as well, that he’s M’s bet - for what exactly, only she knows. Q thinks otherwise, viewing MI6 as his gilded cage - one that M imposed and one that he now willingly submits to; to keep his egomaniacal tendencies in check (think pyjamas + tea + laptop = destruction). He resented it when he first arrived, but has since matured and loves the sense of purpose and outlet it provides. 

He plans to gather more evidence about the data tampering, before presenting it to R. But the next day he gets an urgent call from R telling him to come to HQ, they’ve sent a car for him. He has to cancel a long-awaited planned weekend with Adam who doesn’t quite get what’s so important that Q can’t put it off. To everyone else, Q is still a PhD student with no more pressing concerns than finishing his doctoral dissertations - a lazy student at that. 

This is where we see the cracks in Q’s civilian persona. Brilliant as he is, he barely makes his tutoring requirements and spends more time in Q-Branch than in the university labs. When he does show, he’s ill prepared and sporting increasingly implausible excuses. His PhD project is half baked and boring because the more interesting topics he’s working on is for MI6 and classified. Yet his technical genius means he still manages to run verbal rings around his peers and professors and make a general nuisance of himself (he can’t resist pulling the lion’s tail at times simply to see what would happen. We see traces of this side of him when he meets 007 later in Skyfall). He has all the ego and sensitivity (lack of) of a Sheldon-esque character but without a developmental disorder to explain his behaviour and endear him to those around him. MI6 funds his tuition so he is not wanting of anything. In summary for all appearances, he’s a privileged little shit too smart for his own good, cruising through academia without ambition or drive to make something of himself.  

Adam is understandably upset. Q is annoyed at Adam’s concern and increasing attempts to ‘guide’ and ‘channel’ him. He knows he’s been more erratic and impatient lately but can’t explain to Adam why. He leaves Adam at the university entrance and gets into the unmarked black car with a promise to talk later. 

When he gets to HQ he finds out that he’s facing the fallout from 007s’ field report. He’s now caught up in the internal inquiry dragnet. The inquiry board wants to issue a recall of ALL specialised field equipment designed by Q-branch. It would be a massive undertaking as it’s deployed all over the globe and across agencies (CIA, NATO, EEAS, etc that contracted work with Q-Branch) and in many cases with agents under deep cover. Not to mention the embarrassment and damage to MI6 reputation (they don’t know it yet, but this is the start of a campaign to undermine M; this is also my take on why Q-Branch makes no appearance in Casino Royal and Quantum). They also want to rescind Q’s contract and security clearance to cover their liabilities - using Q as a scapegoat. 

R thinks it’s an over reaction; granted there are serious issues here but give Q-Branch time to investigate before they make a decision. The board is unconvinced; they don’t have time for a protracted review, they have already lost one of their filed agents, now nearly losing a 00-agent. If something similar happens to one of the other allied agencies because of Q-Branch tech, the reputational embarrassment will be severe. The situation is at an impasse. 

With his career on the line, Q speaks up for the first time in the inquiry, surprising everyone into silence. In the last half hour, he’s been talked to as if his presence was irrelevant; a lowly Q-Branch boffin, disposable and expendable in the grand scheme of political machinations. He details his findings regarding the data tampering in the inventory management system. If he can trace which of the components are affected, he could narrow the list of equipment that potentially needs to be recalled. He asks for 3 days.

R an old school mechanical engineer, is out of his depth on this one as it’s a IT systems issue. IT-Branch Head, Hayden is uncooperative. He thinks Q is trying to deflect blame to his branch. Hayden objects, accusing Q of unauthorised hacking into IT Dept. Q admits to unauthorised access but quips back that its hardly hacking when all he had to do was jiggle the the handle to find the door unlocked. Terrorists are not going to pass up an exploit just because we asked nicely. That shuts everyone up. Out of the corner of his eye, he thinks he sees M look somewhat pleased but isn’t sure. 

The board acquiesces to the 3 days….the clock starts ticking.⏳

Update: Episode 3 up now.

----

Let me know what you think? 😉

#00q #00q fanfiction #james bond #Q spin-off #quartermater #007 #would you watch this?

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Hell/Dark Tunnel Symbolism

Okay, today I want to talk about the hell or dark tunnel symbolism. It really came together for me in a big way during episode 10x10 and I want you guys to see what I'm seeing. First let's talk about what it is. It often starts with water. We’ve said before that water = Beth, and that still true. But I believe water may represent something slightly bigger or more general than that as well.

It struck me in episode 10x11 that when Ezekiel went to get Carol, she was at Daryl's camp by the water. Now, Carol basically did in this season exactly what Daryl did after he lost Rick.

(Once again, Carol and Carol are very similar in their tendencies and how they deal with things. Both of them tend to shut down and become somewhat hermetic.)

It's important to note that Ezekiel is the only one who could've convinced Carol to come back to civilization. This happened relatively quickly, because as soon as Ezekiel found out what happened, he went out to get her. She wouldn't have come back for anyone else. The same was true of Daryl, and that's what makes it sad. After Rick’s death, if Beth had been around, he wouldn’t have stayed out in the woods so long. She would come to get him and he would come back with her. But he ended up staying up there for six years because he had no Beth to come get him and bring him back, as Ezekiel did for Carol.

And yes, for the record, Carol did bring Daryl back in S9, but remember that he wouldn't do it for her originally. He said no. She had to leave Henry with him overnight, trusting that Henry will be able to convince Daryl to come back. And who did Henry represent and remind Daryl of heavily? That would be Beth.

But back to Carzekiel. I thought it was interesting that rather than just have her go off by herself into the woods somewhere, they purposely put her next to a body of water. I think water represents happiness, especially romantic happiness for our main characters. So, Beth definitely does = water, especially for Daryl. And I also think she equals water for other reasons having to do with the plot, including the helicopter group, which is purifying water. She's a dynamic symbol.

But back to the dark tunnel symbolism. It often starts near water to show that the character is happy and that there surrounded by people they care about. That's often romantic love, but it can also be other kinds, like familial love. After all, Rick was near water when he disappeared, which would suggest romantic love for Michonne losing him, but obviously not for Daryl and the others.

So again, we start no water, which represents happiness. Then something happens, usually the loss of someone the character cares about, and the character enters the dark tunnel or hell symbolism. This is often represented literally by a dark tunnel in the show.

We've also seen it represented by gas station more than once, and gas stations represent hell. So, these are all the same symbols. It represents a period of great trial, personal hell, or emotional/psychological darkness for the character. And again, this is usually because they’ve lost someone they cared about.

Yet, we often see it depicted as having a light at the other end of the tunnel. This usually represents them being able to get that person back. Because of this, I believe the dark tunnel symbolism is usually used only when the character will eventually get the person they've lost back. In other words, a death fake out.

I’m going talk about all of the instances of dark tunnel symbolism I can think of. I'm sure there are some that I've missed, especially smaller, more subtle instances. I'll just give you enough so that you can see the way that they do this in the show.

Let me mention that this specific dark tunnel symbolism was not used heavily until S4 when Gimple took over. The trials the characters went through still existed in earlier seasons, of course, but I don't think they used “dark tunnels’ extensively to show those trials until Gimple took the reins.

So, for example, earlier death fake outs included Carol in S3 and Merle in S1, but they didn’t specifically employ dark tunnel symbolism for those. I’m sure if you go back and watch the episode, you might be able to find something that qualifies, but it’s not to the same extent that Gimple began purposely putting still after 3x16.

The original dark tunnel had to do with Rick in episode 1x01. After he wakes up, Rick enters the hospital stairwell, which is very dark. He has only a small flickering lighter and then we see him open the door out into the sunlight, which is very common now, which is very similar to what Beth did agree.

Now, this dark tunnel might represent Rick’s own fake out in ep 1x01. Because Lori and Carl thought he was dead and then he showed up alive. Rick waking up at the beginning of the series was sort of the Original Death Fake Out.

And I think sometimes Gimple does this. More often, though, the character who enters the dark tunnel isn’t the one who is presumed dead. Rather, someone they love is presumed dead, which is why they’re in hell to begin with.

The dark tunnel in 1x01 represents Rick is about to enter a period of trial or is going to lose someone. I believe for 1x01, the dark tunnel represents the series as a whole and the zombie apocalypse in general. Rick is about to enter a period of trials that is the apocalypse and the end of the world. He’ll lose a lot of people along the way, and this entire story is one great big hell for the characters. This is actually backed up by quite extensively by what Dr. Jenner in 1x06 at the CDC. We get a lot of biblical symbolism and mention of trials.

It’s also worth mentioning that one of the first and most famous scenes of the pilot is where Rick arrives at a gas station and sees zombie girl. That was mirrored in 8x01 and foreshadowed Carl’s death, so it lines up fairly neatly. The gas station represents the hell that comes from losing a beloved family member or other character. The dark tunnel, while represents basically the same thing, is used primarily when the person lost is a romantic love interest.

But then Gimple takes over in 3x16 and starting in S4, we get much more purposeful and obvious use of this dark tunnel symbolism.

In 4a, Daryl's group, while looking for medicine, goes into a gas station. This instance is how we know the gas station represents hell. On the marquee the letters have been turned to spell out the word, “hell.”

We also get what I always refer to as Grady lighting at both the gas station and the veterinary clinic. All that means is that it's dark inside with light streaming in from outside. So kind of lines up with dark tunnel symbolism. It might also represent imprisonment. Darkness insight the prison with the light of freedom on the outside.

A couple of important details: they are looking for water almost right away, because the battery (Battery Theory) that they find is dry and needs water. We also see prominent keys, and coolant (antifreeze) plays a prominent role in how the people in the gas station died.

In 4b, we had two major instances of the dark tunnel symbolism. The first was with Maggie and Glenn. Glenn and Tara literally entered a dark tunnel because Glenn was searching for Maggie. When they got into the tunnel, they found that the ceiling had fallen in, trapping walkers.

I’ve always believed the ceiling falling and was a representation of Beth being shot in the head. (See the Hole in the Roof theory.) Maggie even tells Glenn later that she fired off her gun and that's what made the ceiling fell on the walkers, which saved her life. The point is, Maggie and Glenn were separated and searching for one another. We have a literal dark tunnel with light at the end, and they came out of the dark tunnel on the other side, reunited.

Bet you can guess the other major hell, dark tunnel symbolism and 4B. That would be the golf club. Once again, we have a confirmation that this represented hell because on TTD, the writers said that Beth and Daryl going through the golf club represented the nine circles of hell. So, it represented a period of trial for them.

And I could go into all kinds of ways that what happened in the golf club foreshadowed their arc and what would happen, including the passage of eight minutes which probably represents eight years. But the point is, we have dark tunnel symbolism which represents hell or a trial. And at the end, both of them came out on the other side into the light and Beth said, "We made it."

Let’s move on to S5. We had Beth leaving Edward's office and literally walking into a dark hallway with light at the end. We also have the shot of her looking down the dim hallway greeting when she arrives, and seeing a man with a mop at the end, standing in lighter area. This represented that Beth was about to enter her dark tunnel arc.

Well, I said the person entering the dark tunnel is not usually the person who's presumed dead, but the one who lost somebody. So between the two, it's really Daryl in the dark tunnel because that represents his emotional or psychological darkness over losing Beth.

However, I also believe that Beth will have a dark tunnel of her own. We haven't seen it because we aren't seeing anything from her point of view. But when we get her story, I think there's a very good chance that she has a dark tunnel as well. Mainly it will be dealing with the emotional darkness at losing her family and being left behind, but I think there's a good chance she’ll come to believe Daryl is dead as well. That could be why it’s taken them so long to find one another, because neither believes the other one is still living.

Moving on to S6.

Enter Glenn's death fake out. Because he’s the one presumed dead, It would be Maggie who’s in the dark tunnel because she lost him, right? And, once again, we have a very literal dark tunnel that Maggie enters.

After 6x03, Thank You, even before the audience learned he’d lived, Maggie and Aaron enter a dark tunnel together. This very much represents her emotional turmoil over not knowing whether Glenn is alive or not. And all the lighting and symbolism applies.

(I’m also side-eying the fact that Aaron was involved here, given that he befriended Daryl right after Daryl lost Beth, and that Aaron actually showed up with the music box.)

It's also important to me that we didn't get any dark tunnel symbolism when Glenn actually died. That's why I believe it's only used when they're going to get that loved one back. So the dark tunnel applied in S4 when Glenn and Maggie were separated but found their way back to one another. It also applied in S6a when Glenn had his death fake out.

But we didn't see it around Maggie when Glenn actually died. Don't get me wrong, we saw her grieving and saw other interesting symbols around her, but not specifically the dark tunnel symbolism because, in this case, she wasn't going to get Glenn back.

Season 7:

We see a version of this when Daryl was being held captive at the Sanctuary. There were a lot of symbols there that showed he was thinking a lot about Beth and that represented his dark tunnel arc. The symbolism we saw here other wasn't exactly the same, but I think that's because it represented the dark tunnel that he was already in.

The thing about Daryl is that, as Beth pointed out to him in S4, he doesn’t naturally default toward optimism and faith. He often can't see beyond the darkness toward the light. Other characters such as Beth and Ezekiel can see beyond the darkness to light much more easily than he can.

So, we had a shot of him lying in his cell, reaching toward the light, and he's definitely surrounded with darkness. It's like he wants to get to the light, but he doesn't know how. And again, it’s important to note that he didn't actually take actions to get himself back toward the light by escaping the Sanctuary until after Dwight played the song that reminded him of Beth. She became his light that helped him get through the darkness.

Season eight.

There was a scene where Negan and Rick were fighting and went into the basement of an abandoned building. This is another thing we can point to as being a representation hell because there was a sign beside it said "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." 

That same thing is written above Hell, in Dante's Inferno. So, the writers obviously pull heavily from Dante (the 9 circles of hell in the golf club also comes from Dante) but this obviously represents Rick's coming dark tunnel and death fake out, in the same way that the golf club represented Beth’s.

Season 9:

Some people have suggested that, just before Rick disappeared, when he and Daryl fell into that pit together, that might have functioned as dark tunnel symbolism. Also, during his hallucination, we saw him in the hospital again from 1x01. There are lights on in the hospital, but it still dark compared to what's outside, so that also might have been a representation of dark tunnel symbolism.

And its interesting that it showed the hospital from 1x01 again, because it kind of book-ended his time on the show by showing both ends of the tunnel, as it were.

I also think it's worth mentioning what happened with Michonne in 9x06, right after Rick disappeared. She found an abandoned van hidden in the brush and got in to explore it. Honestly, this wasn't the best representation of dark tunnel symbolism because the van wasn't terribly dark. But it was cylindrical in shape and it did have sunlight streaming in from the outside.

And to be fair, this tent Daryl wakes up in also has the look of a dark tunnel. They were both in a bad place after losing Rick.

During the opening sequence with her, she picks up the sheriff that looks a lot like Rick and talks about how since he left just become darker and darker for her. So, I think it's a representation of her being in the dark tunnel after having lost Rick.

Season 10:

Now, finally, we get to the sequence in 10x10, with Alpha and Daryl. While I don't think this represents a coming dark tunnel arc, I think it’s rehash of Daryl's entire dark tunnel arc from the beginning.

So, notice it starts out near some water, which represents him being with Beth. Then, we see a fight between him and Alpha, in which Alpha (who represents Dawn) injures Daryl (who represents Beth in the sequence) in the forehead. He even stabs her in the shoulder as Beth did with Dawn. Then they both stagger away into a gas station.

Remember that gas station represents hell or the dark tunnel. In other words, after Beth was shot, Daryl enters the gas station/dark tunnel of trial because he lost her.

We have a walker horde involved. (I haven't mentioned it specifically with each individual case, but there are usually walkers involved in the dark tunnel/hell symbolism. Walkers were involved in the train tunnel in 4b with Maggie and Glenn; there were walkers blocking her and Aaron from getting out in 6a; we believe a walker horde was involved in leaving Beth behind; you get the idea.)

We saw many symbols around Daryl in the gas station in 10x10 that we've seen throughout a lot of these situations over the seasons, including fire extinguishers, yellow mops, a car with an open trunk, Christmas tree symbols, and coolers. There was even a fish hanging on the wall. I won’t go into details on all of these for this post, but if you’ve followed TD for a while, you should have a pretty good idea.

And then of course there was the conversation were Alpha asked, "Can you see beyond the darkness, into the light?"

Daryl: "No."

This was a representation of Daryl's entire dark tunnel arc. I think they’re replaying it because his is been longer than anyone else’s by far. Maggie and Glenn’s came to a close, both times, within a handful of episodes. We don't know exactly when Michonne will get Rick back, but certainly won’t take as long as it did for Daryl to get Beth back.

Daryl's entire arc on the show since S5 has revolved around losing and was foreshadowed in S4. I also believe they’re rehashing it because it's about to end. He's about to finally come out of his dark tunnel when he finds Beth alive. So just as we saw the hospital from 1x01 again when Rick disappeared, so they’re also rehashing Daryl’s dark tunnel arc because Beth is about to appear.

We get a few different symbols of resurrection at the end of this dark tunnel arc. Sometimes its eyes fluttering open (Beth and Glenn). Other times it’s lying against a tree. *Ahem*

It's also important to note that Dawn died very soon after what happened with Beth because Daryl shot her. Obviously, Daryl did not kill Alpha, but I do think it's important that we saw the sequence with her being a stand-in for Dawn and only two episodes later, she's dead. Yet more evidence that the sequence was meant to represent Grady.

We also get other, oblique symbols that recur with the Dark Tunnel symbolism, such as flashlights and flashlight flares, 

but I won��t try to go into all of that, today.

So that is the dark tunnel/how symbolism as I'm seeing it. As I said, I'm sure there's a lot more instances, but these are the major ones that came to mind. 

Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

[jastersmohnson]

Rewatching Masters of Sex: Volume 7

Season 3 Episodes 6-8

To be entirely honest, I’ve been somewhat disappointed by the first half of season three.  I mean, I guess that goes without saying, but I had remembered the first half of this season being better than it was.  Well, “Two Scents” is sort of the opposite.  I guess considering the episodes proximity to “Monkey Business” I remembered the episode being worse than it was, but I actually think it may be one of season three’s stronger episodes.  It certainly feels like a continuation of “Matters of Gravity”.

Virginia’s dissatisfaction in this episode is somewhat understandable.  Her mother being there certainly being the driving force from Bill towards Dan Logan.  I don’t really have a problem with the Dan Logan storyline this season.

What I do have a problem with Libby Masters’ storyline this season.  Okay, let’s get into it.  The problem with Libby Masters.  Now, her arc in the first season was I think necessary for the show.  To show that Bill is a married man but also to have his wife’s insistence on having a baby be kind of a force that drives him towards the work.  But then in the second season, Libby goes from racist-white-lady to activist.  To be honest, I actually enjoyed Libby’s storyline in season two.  It worked well as a way to incorporate the racial tensions of America at the turn of the 60s into the Masters of Sex storyline.

In season three, the Masters marriage is dead, and instead of continuing what they established in season two, they instead give Libby Masters this lame romance with her neighbor.  It certainly felt like been there, done that.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I won’t delay it any longer.  It’s time to discuss it.  The episode that arguably killed Masters of Sex.  The episode that received unanimously negative reviews.  The episode that Michael Sheen went on record saying it was a mistake.  And keep in mind, this is a guy who thought that this mustache was a good idea:

Now, I’ll start this off by saying that my favorite episode of Masters of Sex is “Asterion”.  It’s an episode all about time and change.  It’s a very cinematic episode and is wonderfully written.  Another of my favorite episodes is “The Pleasure Protocol”, which is another great episode that changes the direction of season four, as the tide begins to turn, as we see Bill beginning to evolve and Virginia do the opposite.  This episode also has a very distinct visual style and some very creative visuals.

So you have the duo who wrote “Asterion” and the guy who directed “The Pleasure Protocol” together to make “Monkey Business”.  How bad could it really be?

Oh…

See, I think this episode exists only as filler.  I think Michelle Ashford wanted to do an episode where Virginia and Dan are in Las Vegas while Bill starts the surrogacy program in her absence, but she had introduce the surrogacy plot in the episode before.  Considering “Two Scents” was 58 minutes long, it was pretty clear that episode was full, so they had to devote episode seven to introducing this plot.  And then, because the episode needed something to fill the other ¾ of the episode, they concocted this bizarre monkey story to be the A-story.

Now, the idea of the ape storyline isn’t that bad.  It could’ve been good if it was done right.  Considering how similar apes and humans are, could an ape’s sexual dysfunction be fixed?  Or can ape’s even suffer from sexual dysfunction like humans?  Maybe have a few scenes of Bill and Virginia talking with professors or experts on monkeys.  I don’t know…

I think that the ape stuff could’ve worked if the tone was right.  Masters of Sex is a very smart, scientific show.  To present gorilla sexuality in comparison with human sexuality in a smart, scientific way would’ve been true to the show.

However, the tone and content of these scenes are just baffling.  In the first scene, Bill and Virginia are having a discussion with the zookeeper about sex that’s supposed to be humorous as we’re misled to believe that we’re talking about the zookeeper but instead we’re talking about the gorilla. 

Then we have an awkward scene with Alex Borstein that is also supposed to be humorous.  And then when Virginia flashes Gil, it’s supposed to be dramatic.

I think the biggest misstep the episode made is that the majority of the set-up is that it was played for laughs.  A serious investigation into primates and their sexuality could’ve been interesting.  But to have most of the exposition for a storyline be humorous, and then when the storyline concludes (in a laughable scene), it’s supposed to be dramatic… it just comes across as strange.

I think the tone was the main flaw of the ape storyline.

OH MY GAAAD!

Well… the second biggest flaw.

What’s even more confounding is how little of this episode the ape storyline is about, and this leads me to my next point.  Masters of Sex is a show that usually thrives with little going on.  What do I mean by that?  Well, simply put, the less storylines in an episode, the better the episode.  Take a look at “Fight”. No tacked-on side story with Betty or Libby.  That episode is just Bill and Virginia and it’s a near-masterpiece.  A Masterspiece, if you will.

A typical comedy has an A-story and a B-story.  A drama usually has a little more going on because they typically have longer running times to fill, but it’s usually a good idea to keep it around four things going on.  And usually, a Masters of Sex episode only has about four things going on, give or take.  The point is: the less, the better.  The more stuff you throw at the audience, unless it’s all connected in some way, the episode loses it’s focus.

This is very clear in “Monkey Business”.  So much is going on.  Seriously.  A lot of people don’t remember anything about this episode outside of the monkey stuff, and I think a main reason why is because this episode in particular was a jumbled mess.  I mentioned that your average Masters of Sex episode has about four things going on.  “Monkey Business” has NINE things going on.

1) Bill, Virginia, and Gil the Gorilla

2) Bill, Virginia, and Dan

3) Bill and Virginia starting the surrogacy program

4) Bill and Virginia getting interviewed by Newsweek

5) Jane and Lester and her friend

6) Tessa at the clinic

7) Betty and Helen want a baby

8) Libby and Paul

9) Johnny and whatever

You can argue that #3 and #5 are more or less connected, but… um… OH MY GOD, nine subplots???  No wonder this episode is a mess.  I mentioned earlier that the main point for this episodes existence was to introduce the surrogacy program, and that they concocted the ape storyline to be the A-story for the episode.

The downside of this is that every other storyline (with the exception of Betty/Helen wanting a baby and Jane/Lester, which were both introduced in this episode) moves at a snails pace simply to fill the running time.  Seriously, was there anything really significant that happened this episode with Libby and Paul’s relationship?  Or with Tessa and Virginia?  Or with Johnny and Bill?  Or even with Virginia and Dan, you could pretty much just skip from the end of 306 to the start of 308.

But after “Monkey Business”’s myriad flaws, all "Surrogates" had to do was show signs of improvement, regardless of where it would fall on the spectrum of good to "Monkey Business".  If episode seven was the equivalent of OD'ing at a party, episode eight is waking up in the hospital bed.  But was "Surrogates" successful?

(^My reaction to how tedious rewatching this season of Masters of Sex has been)

Well... it's passable.  To be honest, "Surrogates" was a lot worse than I remembered it being.  In particular, the dialogue in some scenes were horrifically bad.  Namely in the scene where Paul was overreacting to Libby being quiet in bed because the writers needed some way to bring up Robert.  To be honest, I’ve been feeling embarrassed for Caitlin FitzGerald in some of these late-season-three scenes.  Actually embarrassed.

But there were some other scenes this episode with really bad dialogue.  The scene where Virginia tries to tie in the stages of human sexual response to gambling.  I think that the writers intended this to be a scene where Virginia is slaying this business meeting, but, maybe it's just me, but it really felt ham-fisted.

The Nora-Bill scenes weren't bad.  I think the focus on the surrogacy program certainly helped this episode.  However, the Betty/Helen/Austin scenes may rival Libby and Paul for worst storyline of the episode.  During Betty’s confrontation with Bill, she says “Don’t insult my intelligence!”  Well, in Bill’s defense, how could Betty have possibly thought this was a good idea.  And how could Betty not know that her girlfriend’s hymen was still intact?  This whole strategy of theirs was entirely hair-brained.

Well, that does it for this installment.  Hopefully the remaining episodes of season three can grant a reprieve.

Two Scents: A-

Monkey Business: C-

Surrogates: C+

#Masters of Sex #Rewatching Masters of Sex #Two Scents #Monkey Business #Surrogates

[feynavaley]

Hello there! So, first off I'd like to say that you are an absolute blessing to this fandom, and you are probably the reason as to why Canada is one of my favorite Hetalia characters now. Secondly, do you have any tips (I guess?) for writing that you, yourself use? Such as outlining, et cetera, et cetera. (I'm not completely sure if you have addressed this or a question similar to this, so I apologise if I'm making you repeat yourself!)

Thank you so much!!!! 😍 Honestly, this was so sweet and it made me so happy. To think I’ve had a hand in your liking a character… I don’t deserve such high praises. 💖💖

As for the rest of the question… I really don’t think I’m qualified enough to give anybody writing advice, but I can try. 😅 I hope it will not sound too conceited…

I think the most important thing is to start from a story you want to write. It might be a scene you had in mind and you decide to write a story around it, a scenario you want to see… It can be anything, really. But, if you start with something you’re passionate about and you’re excited to write, it will help you get to the bottom of it even when the writing gets harder. (And it will, if you let the story be long enough. I managed to hold out a lot longer when I was writing in Italian, but with English, I usually hit a crisis by the third or fourth chapter, haha.)

From there, I start from a basic plot I want to follow. I tend to work with a very loose outline (basic plot elements and some scenes I have a very vivid picture of) and let it build on its own as I write, but, at the same time, I daydream a lot to build the skeleton of the plot and the pivotal moments, I just generally don’t write them down. If you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere, however, writing down the things you want to happen might be a good start. At first, it might be better to do it as a brainstorming – just putting down some elements. From there, you can figure out in which order you want them to happen and how to go from one point to another. I did this when I realized I wasn’t going to have enough time to write the last chapters of Chrysalis in advance but would have to publish each one after I had finished writing it, without having the next one ready. For example, these are the outlines for chapter 17 and 18:

See the different colours? Those are the different major sideplots I was trying to incorporate into the story. I wrote them down separately, then decided how to put them together in the different chapters. As you can see, this isn’t a detailed outline – just the barebones skeleton of what I have to put into the chapter. I might have some more detailed scenes in mind, but I’ll get to them as I write. And it’s not guaranteed everything will stay the same, anyway.

If you have somebody you can talk to, this might help as well. I used to do it a lot when I was writing original fiction. I don’t know why, but talking out loud (the other person doesn’t really need to give any input) helped me figure out where I was stuck and what I could do to change the situation. (I think my sister earned sainthood, lmao.)

You might also want to write a basic timeline – depending on your story, it might not need to be too detailed, but even with a silly romance as Chrysalis (I keep using it as example because it’s my longest story) I needed to figure out at least the season, so I could have the characters react accordingly. (For the record, the story takes place between October 2014 and April 2015. I don’t think I’ve ever said it, but I needed to know to figure out the holiday dates.)

But, don’t get too obsessed with the outline. At one point, you just need to write. I realized that there are some things I just have to figure out as I go. More importantly, trust your characters. Sometimes, they will take a different direction than what you had outlined, but that’s normal. Outlining is somewhat of a cold work – you’re keeping the characterization in mind, of course, but it’s different from being in the middle of a scene. As you’re writing, you might suddenly realize that what you had planned for a character doesn’t feel quite right. In this case, go with the flow. You’ll fix the story later, staying true to the characterization is more important. (Or, if it was a truly important plot point, you might want to fix something earlier in order to make the action needed coherent with the characterization. This might happen as well, it’s a choice you’ll have to do on your own.)

Obviously, to do this, you need to know your characters very well. Before you start writing, you need to know their personality in depths, what makes them tick, what are their goals, if they tend to lash out or are more hesitant… everything, basically. In fanfiction, this is somewhat easier as it’s already written for you, but you need to figure it out. Some people like to use classifications (Myers-Briggs, the enneagram…). I personally don’t because I find them reductive, but it could be a useful tool.

Aside from this, I don’t really know what else to say. Just… write. Don’t let your insecurities get the best of you, and don’t think too much about. The most important thing is getting started. As you go on, you’ll figure out what you need to know and what you need to do.

Wish you all the best! 😘

#writing #about feyna's writing #writing tips #outlining #characterization #hetalia #aph canada #anonymous #feyna answers #thanks for stopping by!

[not-majestic-bluenicorn]

The MONSTA X Universe Theory

Hello everyone, and welcome, to my most ambitious theory to this date, in which I attempt to convince you all that I am, in fact, not crazy and that all of MONSTA X’s comebacks can be put into one timeline whole universe. I’ve been working on this for months now, and to be honest I am exhausted, however I decided I needed to put this out before their comeback this next February 18. It’s going to be long, so tighten your seatbelts and pay attention, because we’re going to go deep with this one.

Let’s dive into the theory.

Basic Concepts

Like most companies and k-pop groups, Starship and MONSTA X didn’t to easy on us and introduced us to several interesting concepts like time and space travel and resurrection. You’ll need a basic understanding on how dimensions work for this theory to make sense, so I recommend you to watch this somewhat simple video about it because you’re probably going to need it.

They also make use of a lot of different symbolism, but I’ll explain those along the way because it’ll be easier to fit them with the rest of the theory like that. You might want to know a little about virtues and sins however since those will be mentioned!

The Setting

Before I go on explaining each of the phases of the MONSTA X Universe, I need to give you a bit of setting on how they are connected and why. There’s a vast quantity of in-verse connections but a lot of out-verse ones as well, so in each phase of the theory I’m going to explain each of the clues of both types and how everything ties together.

Almost all MONSTA X videos form part of a same universe that has been divided into several timelines, which can be distinguished by major events that happen inside the story. Not all videos are part of the plot, some of them are merely symbolic, and not all connections will seem obvious at first either, which is why out-verse clues are necessary to this theory as well, and let me tell you that “out-verse clues” is a very wide category.

In any case, now that I have cleared this up, it is time I start explaining the phases of the MONSTA X Universe and how everything ties up together, let’s go.

In-verse

Phase 1: The First Timeline - Origins (Tresspass & Rush)

Trespass and Rush might not seem tied to the theory at first, however, they are; even if they are not majorly relevant to the main events of the story. Both of these releases provide a background to what happens in The Clan, giving the boys’ friendship and origin and a point of comparison to when things start getting so bad they feel the need to go into war. They also show us they’ve been “problem” children from the start.

Phase 2: The First Timeline - The War (The Clan Part 1: Lost & The Clan Part 2: Guilty)

In my The Clan theory (which you can read here and here, and you’ll need to read it ‘cause I won’t go into much detail this time since it’s already there) I established that the boys were very close friends, even before Jooheon decided they needed to start a revolution and formed the X Clan. I believe that Trespass and Rush both happen before the events in All In, again, they’re not very relevant to the theory, but they provide a nice background to how things were before the war broke out.

Given the way they dared military officials and were clearly against the leadership of Hyungwon’s father, it wouldn’t be surprising that they went to jail a couple of times, hence Trespass. Rush is just them being dumb kids, like things should’ve always been. In any case, things start becoming worse and more difficult and Jooheon decides it’s time to start a war, so he forms the X Clan, discovers the magical flower (or the other way around), they make a pact and start the war.

During this war Hyungwon, Minhyuk and Shownu are all captured and rescued. Also, and a very important point, Hyungwon dies. I know in The Clan theory Gina and I said we weren’t sure, but I am completely certain he did die because it’s the only thing that makes him different from the others. Why? Because he’s the only one to be revived by the flower, he’s the only one that dies and comes back to life and frantically that defies the laws of nature. And that is what condemns them all.

We know the plant is magical because it heals their wounds and apparently is capable of reviving them and also of pulling them out of whatever spell Hyungwon and Minhyuk were in during their stay in the hospital. What if the flower can do other things as well? Yes, I am proposing that the flower was what gave Hyungwon his time-traveling abilities. Because the elixir made of the flower is literally what keeps his heart beating now.

Not only that, but the giant heart we see at the end of All In and of Fighter? I mentioned it was a symbol for their new beginning out of the war, but it might be more than just a new beginning. It’s a rift in time-space, the first one actually, and I’m willing to bet Hyungwon was the only one able to cross that door. That moment is the exact ending of our first timeline.

Phase 3: The First Timeline - Interlude (The Clan Part 2.5: Beautiful & Beautiful World Tour VCR)

I discovered the VCRs were important when I went to The Connect World Tour in Mexico and realized a bunch of things, which is what made me look for the VCR of the Beautiful World Tour (BWT from now on) and I was not disappointed. This VCR perfectly connects Trespass (Rush really isn’t that important I promise) and The Clan. You can watch it here.

In the VCR we can appreciate their lives before the war and before the government became rougher. We can also appreciate how they grew to be troublesome kids and even see a glimpse of Hyungwon’s family situation.

Beautiful is a bridge that ties in the symbolism and the stories of the boys in All In and Fighter. But it’s also a video that explains their past and personal fights, everything that made them join the X Clan in the first place (this is explained in more detail in the part 2 of my The Clan theory). Hence why in the BWT VCR the chapter order is Beautiful, Trespass and Lost. Beautiful explains their past, their personal lives; Trespass explains how they came together and became friends, their invasion into a new world; and Lost explains how they lost it all and decided to take action into their own hands. Lost is also the first part of The Clan trilogy, which would then lead to Guilty.

Phase 4: The Second Timeline (The Code)

Our first timeline ends the moment they reach the beating heart. Whether they all go in together or just Hyungwon goes, I don’t really know, but I have a strong reason to believe it was only Hyungwon the one who made it. Regardless, this is what clearly marks the end of our first timeline, because next time we get to see them, they’re leading completely different lives.

While Trespass and Rush hold no contradiction with The Clan, in Dramarama they don’t even know each other, and some of them do not even exist in the same time and space. Jooheon is dead in this timeline as well. Although this could heavily imply they have changed concepts and story, I believe the only way this can make sense is if this is a timeline that occurs after The Clan.

Hyungwon already has his strange time-space travel abilities, yet there’s no sign as to how he obtained them. And even more than that, if it’s clear they don’t remember each other, then why is Hyungwon trying to help them and giving them tools to meet each other (even if it doesn’t work in the end)? If he were just playing the Good Samaritan then surely he would at least give watches to other people right? Yet he doesn’t, we never see him doing it.

Our time-traveling hero has a clear mission here: getting them back together. He’s obviously struggling with this, as there seems to be some sort of agency that catches his activities and stops the people he’s helping? I don’t really think this agency is important to the story itself. It’s just another obstacle to their coming back together. In any case, this timeline is doomed.

Phase 5: The Third Timeline (The Connect: Music Film D)

Destroyer is yet another timeline distinct to Dramarama. We know this because we see different pairings, completely different settings and completely different timelines. Much like the BWT VCR, the Music Film D is divided in three stages: Part 1 The Code (a very obvious reference, this is already letting us know they’re connected), Part 2 Finding the road (if this doesn’t sound like Lost then I don’t know what does), and Part 3 Connected (clear reference to the current album.

D shows us the boys as geniuses, Minhyuk and Shownu are artists, Kihyun and Wonho are science (physics?) prodigies, and Jooheon and IM dominate technology. Through their own methods they all come to the revelation on how to find Hyungwon. Here’s the thing, why would they be looking for Hyungwon in the first place if they don’t know him? This is an entirely different timeline after all and it’s clear Hyungwon is too tired to keep making watches and keep trying to put them back together. He has already worn himself out.

The guys manage to figure it out and find the train station, which could either be a real place in which every timeline and universe converge or just a metaphor for them figuring out how to do the same thing Hyungwon does, either explanation works. They meet each other, they remember, and they go into the train, which marks our second main event in the theory.

Phase 6: Interlude (The Connect: Jealousy & The Connect World Tour VCR)

Jealousy is like Beautiful in the sense that it doesn’t feed the plot itself but helps connect (pun not intended)  and put everything else into place. Through different imagery, Jealousy illustrates how the different timelines push them together and then pull them apart, creating different pairings, but that despite this they still share things in common (the paper with numbers, the recorder, the glass of water).

Another thing this video does is allude to Jooheon’s death in Dramarama through the use of os symbolism. In one scene, a paper with his symbol is being burn, while in yet another, the chair he’s seen sitting on throughout the video is being burned as well and then falls down to the abyss.

On the other hand, The Connect World Tour VCR (CWT from now on, watch it here) functions like BWT’s, it creates a clear and obvious connection between Dramarama and D, revealing to us that they do have memories from other timelines. One thing worth pointing out about this is that they do not share memories of Hyungwon from the timelines shown in Dramarama and D, which means they can only have memories from him from The Clan, there’s literally no other way.

It also provides a clearer scene of Hyungwon crafting the watches himself and of him at the top of the Hero building (something I’ll address in more detail later). We can also see the last scene from Jealousy mirrored in the last few seconds of the VCR, which is something worth pointing out.

Phase 7: The Fourth Timeline? (Take 1 and Take 2)

The real question comes now, are Take 1 and Take 2 part of the MONSTA X universe? Despite the obvious change in theme, I have a lot of reasons to believe they do, part of them are in the Out-verse section that follows, so you should pay attention to that.

The most obvious reference I can think of that doesn’t leave room for question is Hyungwon in the Hero building and falling into the water. We saw this scene previously and we see it once again in the “Previous Film” that recently came out for We Are Here. This makes it clear that Take 1 and 2 are indeed connected to The Code - The Connect in a sense.

Plus, the use of symbolism to represent the sins and the characters is a very interesting reminder of other symbols that have been used since way back in The Clan. Finally, there’s also the narrations, which I will discuss soon in the out-verse. The only thing I am not sure of is if Take 1 and 2 form part of the universe from a plot point of view or only as interludes like Jealousy and Beautiful, we’ll probably have to pay a lot of attention to answer that question.

Out-verse

MONSTA X and May 14, 2015

The group’s name and their debut date are actually quite important in order to explain some of the symbolism used throughout their discography. As you might know, MONSTA means my star, and the ‘X’ represents the variable of a mysterious existence.

Back in Trespass, a number appears: M150514X. Any fan that knows remotely anything about MONSTA X knows this is their debut date, and it makes sense that it is in the video because it is, after all their debut video. However, we see something very similar after a while in D, when Kihyun solves the formula for time travel as X=4155102M which is basically the same number we see in Trespass, just backwards and with the numbers shifted slightly (full year still of only the last two numbers, and one number for the month).

This makes sense, because if X is the variable for a mysterious existence, then May 14, 2015 is the day that existence came to be, and I think it’s an amazing reference to make. Even in Dramarama we see Kihyun traveling back to 2015, the year everything began, even the story they are telling through these MVs, in and out of the plot.

References to Real Life

In Jealousy we see a very important reference that took me a long time to figure out. We see them sharing a paper that has a bunch of numbers in it, these numbers prove to be the members birthdays, which again ties up with the concept of existence, because those are the days they started existing.

Another very important thing about these numbers is that, ever since Jealousy, the comeback dates have been matching perfectly with this numbers. The Connect came out on March 26 and I.M was born on January 26, Take 1 came out on October 22 and Kihyun was born on November 22, and finally Take 2 is coming out on February 18 and Shownu was born on June 18. This is just further proof that Take 1 and 2 form part of the Universe.

The Logos and Individual Marks

MONSTA X have an easily recognizable logo that we’ve all seen at least once: a detailed and complex M and X combined on each other so that the inner lines come out longer on the bottom. This is their official logo and as such is present in all of their albums in some way or another (in the back of the photo cards, in the credits, somewhere), however it is not always the most visible.

As you might have noticed, for The Code and The Connect they had a ‘change’ of logo, which happened again with Take 1 and Take 2. Yes, their original logo is still present somewhere in the album (you can see that in unboxings) however it is not the main logo that takes the covers as it did with their previous releases.

I think the logos, in a sense, mark the belonging of one release into the series, as well as mark the important events in the story that change its course. First, we have the original logo that goes from Trespass all the way to The Clan Part 2.5: Beautiful, then it changes for The Code and The Connect, and then it once again morphs for Take 1 Are You There and Take 2 We Are Here.

These changes match with the two main events I have described so far. After they meet the heart in All In and Fighter the logo changes (let’s remember Beautiful works as a way of explaining their past and characters, so technically the story is contained within All In and Fighter only). And then, after they go through the train’s doors in D (same thing with Jealousy) it changes again. Yes, the logos for Take 1 and Take 2 are slightly different because the colors are inverted, it could be ‘cause of the choice of colors or maybe because they’re “two sides of the same coin”, either way the logo is pretty much the same.

Aside from marking the important changes in the Universe, I also think their logos are a symbols of their own. The first one is the original, it’s their identity and matches well with The Clan, it represents them and their union. The second is the loops they’re trapped in, the infinite repetition of timeline after timeline until they’re able to get back together. The third one is what we know as an impossible figure, it’s a shape that can’t exist in a tridimensional plane because it doesn’t make sense, just like how they’re are trapped and followed by their past mistakes and the sins they carry within them.

As for their individual marks. During The Clan they all have an X tattoo that looks just a bit different for each of them, this symbolizes their union as one team. However, after they break apart because of what happened, they start having individual symbols that are sometimes fused to each other. This is the case for The Code’s stylized initial and The Connect’s initials that were put as clocks. For Take 1 and 2, I think their symbols will be the deadly sin that identifies each of them, but we’ll see.

Album Titles

Although I don’t think the album titles are such an important element, I think it’s worth mentioning the structure they follow. For The Clan, The Code and The Connect they all have a repeating structure of ‘The’ and a word that starts with the letter C. Even inside The Clan we had 3 parts, and for the last two albums we’ve had Take 1 and Take 2, which makes me think there might be a Take 3, but do remember what I said earlier. (I remember reading something about a Take 4 because there’s four versions to each album).

Narration Elements

A lot of the MONSTA X videos that aren’t Music Videos contain in the a lot of narration, Take the VCRs and The Oaths for example. The way these narrations are structured mirror each other a lot, and we can even find some recurring elements between them.

Check these comparisons. The phrases under the same colors are related.

Shine Forever, Newton and Hero

Lastly, I feel the need to explain why I didn’t mention these three much. Newton is the easier one to explain: it is a commercial MV. That’s it, it’s obviously not part of anything because it was a commercial, and even if it were part of the universe I think it would lack relevance to it.

As for Hero, it is mostly just a dance video, but the place is clearly representative of something important since it has been using repeatedly in different eras, so I think it’s mostly just the location rather than anything else.

And finally, when it comes to Shine Forever, it just doesn’t fit anywhere. I desperately tried to tie it with everything else, especially after I saw the lights they used in Music Film D and the car crash in Dramarama, but it just doesn’t fit. Plus, it doesn’t fit within the logo theory, it doesn’t have the first logo anywhere visible and it doesn’t have any variation of the logos either that could explain it as a different timeline or setting, which is why I discarded it, which is a shame cause I love the song and MV.

Conclusions

Ever since the beginning, MONSTA X’s albums have been part of one sole universe that poses the journey of a group of seven boys trying to get back together after they get split apart, probably because of what Hyungwon did in All In. But not only that, this is also a story about them, about their struggles and how they’ve grown up. They’re each other’s friends and family, the value of X is their debut date because that is when they came into existence, they are each other’s dreams because they wanted to become artists and they did so by coming together into one group.

So far, we’ve seen the growth of their strong bond, the separation, the reencounter. But just like the narrations says, it is just not enough. D showed them reunited at last, but their sins follow them even beyond that, and their journey is not quite over. They could be the salvation of each other, or their doom.

I hope you liked this theory, and be assured that I’ll add onto it as more things come out and new mysteries are to be solved. If you have any questions you can hit me up on my Tumblr (@not-majestic-bluenicorn), Twitter (@soft_bluenicorn) or my CuriousCat (@soft_bluenicorn)! I’ll be glad to answer them ^^

#bluenicorn does theories #monsta x #monsta x theory #monsta x the clan #monsta x the code #monsta x the connect #monsta x are you there #monsta x we are here #kpop #kpop theory #finally done!!!

[cnrothtrek]

The Misrepresentation of Mental Disability in Star Trek: Discovery

Season two of Star Trek: Discovery has teased us for half a season with Spock having vague mental health issues and Starfleet being a big dick about his experience. In episode 8, “If Memory Serves,” we finally get an explanation for Spock’s strange behavior and see what happened when he escaped the psychiatric hospital. It is... infuriating.

The set up was bad enough, with its dangerous mentally ill person and he can’t really be mentally ill because he’s a nice person, with the gross violations of Spock’s rights and Amanda’s dreadful comment about how “‘emotional disturbance’ is code for ‘psychosis.’” It’s honestly a clusterfuck of misused terminology and harmful tropes. With episode 8 we’ve added the mental illness fake-out and when modern medicine fails try magic (telepathy), as well as another iteration of the INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS myth that psychiatric hospitals are scary places that might lock you up against your will and threaten your safety.

I can’t help but think back to the season one arc of the the only major character who had a psychiatric diagnosis last season... who also turned out to be a mental illness fake-out and was insta-cured by sci-fi magic. Looking back at this parallel, we see that the dreadful bait-and-switch representation of mental illness in season two was also used in season one, indicating that Star Trek: Discovery is not quite as progressive and inclusive as it purports itself to be.

So let’s talk about Tyler’s PTSD.

The misrepresentation of Tyler’s symptoms

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), in order to receive a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder a person must experience a traumatic event that meets specific criteria (such as a life-threatening event or witnessing violence). Then, for AT LEAST A MONTH after the event, someone must experience symptoms from ALL FOUR of the following categories:

Intrusion (e.g. flashbacks or nightmares)

Avoidance (staying away from things that remind the person of the event, avoiding thoughts or feelings related to event)

Arousal and reactivity (hyper aware of surroundings, exaggerated startle response, explosive unprovoked outbursts of anger, feeling on edge, sleep disturbance)

Mood and cognition (e.g. beliefs that the trauma was one’s own fault or that they’ll never be safe again, memory disruption, loss of interest in activities or ability to feel pleasure).

Although it’s clear Tyler and Voq experienced multiple traumatic events, and we see Tyler having intrusive flashbacks and nightmares—although they were mostly used as a plot device to conveniently convey backstory and foreshadow a major plot twist—we didn’t see clear examples of all four symptom groupings. Moreover, the timeline for his symptoms isn’t clear, but if we start the clock at his escape from the prison ship, I have doubts that it was a month. (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)

Now, I realize that no one directly gave Tyler the diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It was Admiral Cornwell who recognized his symptoms as trauma-based and said she had experience treating PTSD from her former medical practice, and she used her training to help talk Tyler through his reaction to seeing L’Rell. Still, viewers were expected to buy into this explanation so that the reveal of Tyler as Voq would be a surprise.

In short, they indicated that Tyler had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but they didn’t seem to do much research into what the symptoms or criteria for that disorder are. They misused terminology and exploited Tyler’s suffering for the sake of the plot. Then, they used a bait-and-switch tactic to reveal that he didn’t actually have a real-world psychiatric disorder after all, but just some fantastical sleeper agent side effects. They sold viewers on an inaccurate but compassionate representation of mental illness, then ripped that representation away from us and laughed about it all the way to the bank.

The problematic way Starfleet (and the show) handles officers with mental disorders

Tyler is suffering in season one. Clearly, he wants help, but he’s afraid that if he talks to a doctor he’ll be relieved of duty. He confides somewhat in Michael, but swears to her that he’ll get help if it becomes too much for him to handle. We later follow him on a mission to retrieve a data core with a worker bee, where seeing Klingon bodies triggers a flashback and he almost blows the mission. We, the audience, are supposed to take this as a sign that something is very wrong with Tyler and he isn’t fit for duty.

But here’s the thing: The way this story is told is discriminatory and harmful. If Starfleet were as compassionate and utopian as we’re supposed to believe, then they wouldn’t take away the thing that helps Tyler cope and stay active. Working is good for him; taking him off duty—particularly on a ship that for some stupid reason doesn’t have even one mental health professional on staff—would mean... what? What would he do to fill his time? When someone is suffering from trauma symptoms, too much spare time can be counterproductive. It can in fact be very triggering, opening up mental space for the trauma symptoms to fill. It would likely also add to Tyler’s sense of being an outsider on Discovery. His comrades are all working, but he is not.

Tyler doesn’t need to be relieved of duty. What he needs is for his commanding officer to accommodate his disability.

Out of universe, this is important because PTSD is very stigmatized in the US military, and many people fear losing security clearances or even being discharged because of such a diagnosis. The truth is that the stigma of diagnosis is much more dangerous than the diagnosis itself. Avoiding help can lead to worsening of symptoms and unexplained behaviors (such as snapping at a at a superior or avoiding certain triggering situations) that could have been excused and perhaps accommodated by having a diagnosis on record. Tyler’s situation has real world implications, and the way the show undercuts him over and over is downright harmful to real people living with this condition.

Let’s look at his mission to retrieve the data core. Now, there was really no good in-universe reason for him to be on that worker bee. He was a security officer, not a technician. Why send him instead of, say, Owosekun? The answer is that the plot demanded it. The mission was an excuse for Tyler to have another flashback, and the viewers were supposed to believe that he was messed up and unfit for duty.

But let’s say he was the ideal person for that mission. If Tyler had been receiving treatment, his doctor could write up a list of special needs he has and some accommodations Lorca could make to help him. Lorca would be legally required to fulfill those accommodations as best he could. It is not Tyler’s responsibility to bear all the weight and consequences of his disability; as the ones with more power and privilege, it is Starfleet’s job to accommodate him. So, maybe one of those accommodations could be that he doesn’t go on missions alone. If something triggers him, another officer is there to provide support.

How hard would that be to do? Answer: it’s not. Not at all. Accommodations are usually not hard to provide, but refusing to make accommodations is ableist. Unfortunately, Starfleet—the beacon of hope and progressiveness in science fiction—is unwilling to make accommodations for Ash Tyler and other personnel suffering from PTSD. They’d rather pull them from duty and put them out of sight so they won’t inconvenience anyone.

Instead of giving viewers an example of how the crew came together to support Tyler as a person suffering from trauma-based symptoms, the writers chose to put the burden of Tyler’s suffering squarely on his shoulders. With this choice, they heavily implied that people with PTSD are not capable of contributing to Starfleet and must be set aside until they’re “better.” THIS IS HARMFUL REPRESENTATION.

As someone who has personally experienced multiple mental disabilities, two of which are chronic and a third of which is trauma-based, it makes me wonder... would I have a place in Starfleet? Based on what I’ve seen in Star Trek: Discovery, my answer is no. I am not welcome to contribute to their so-called utopia.

Not at all.

If you want to support positive representations of mental disability in Star Trek, please tell them. Share this blog post on Twitter and tag their official accounts, or just tweet them your own thoughts about how their portrayals of psychiatric symptoms and healthcare are hurtful to you or your loved ones. If enough fans give them constructive feedback about this issue, they’ll listen. Thank you. Good health and stay safe.

#star trek discovery #dsc spoilers #mental illness #mental health stigma #representation matters #mental health #mental health in media #ash tyler #voq #spock

[douxreviews]

The Very Best of Supernatural

Supernatural was just renewed for a fifteenth season. Which is insane. Even more disturbing is the fact that I've been reviewing this show for fourteen years, and it just... won't... end. Looking back over my earliest reviews, it's funny that I kept fretting about cancellation. Who knew?

The 300th episode will air this Thursday, February 7. In observance of this major event, six Agents of Doux compiled lists of their favorite Supernatural episodes, and I tallied our choices and made a final top ten. Okay, eleven, because there was a tie in there, but it was really hard to bring it down to eleven, let me tell you. Our list of honorable mentions went from here and out the door.

So here they are. Please note that if you haven't seen all or most of the series, there will inevitably be spoilers. 

11. "A Very Supernatural Christmas" (season 3, episode 8)

Christmas arrives smack dab in the middle of Dean’s last year on Earth, or so we believed at the time. Sam, knowing he will soon be left to carry on after his brother’s death, has no desire to celebrate which is at odds with Dean’s intention to collect as many happy memories as he can before the end.

This marks Supernatural’s first holiday episode with a marriage of gruesomeness, absurdity, and bittersweetness we'd already grown to love – from a blood-soaked Santa dragging a father up the chimney in front of his son, to bridge-playing pagan gods threatening Dean with the swear jar while preparing him and Sam for ritual sacrifice, all ending with the brother’s exchanging heartfelt gifts from a neighborhood Gas Mart as Baby looks on. The pièce de résistance – learning Dean’s amulet was a Christmas gift from a young Sam in unsaid acknowledgment that Dean was often more of a parent to Sam than John was. And no, I’m still not over Dean throwing it away. – Shari

10. "In the Beginning" (season 4, episode 3)

A remarkably funny but ultimately tragic tribute to Back to the Future, Dean is sent back in time by Castiel and interacts with his young parents. He discovers that his mother and grandparents were hunters, and that Mary essentially sold as-yet-unborn Sam's future to the Yellow-Eyed Demon in exchange for John's life.

"In the Beginning" is a perfect example of the attention the Supernatural writers pay to continuity and series mythology, since it explained Mary's actions in the pilot episode on the night that she died. Plus it features, in my opinion, one of the most touching moments in the entire series. It's when young Mary tells Dean, not knowing that he is her son, "You know the worst thing I can think of? The very worst thing? It's for my children to be raised into this, like I was." It choked me up when it first aired. It still does. – Billie Doux

9. "Baby" (season 11, episode 4)

The longevity of this series has allowed the writers to experiment and take chances, which often gives us exceptional episodes. This is one of them.

The Impala is home for the Winchesters, a legacy from their father. That car is not just in nearly every episode; it's also the setting of many of the most important brother scenes in the series. "Baby" gave us an entire episode from the car's point of view. I'm going to crib from my initial review: "This episode was such a love letter to the fans. It was the world of the Winchesters, but not what we usually see on the show. It was what happens in between and around what we usually see." The camera angles, the head in the cooler, the windshield wipers, the valet parking, Castiel on the cell phone, the brothers singing "Night Moves" together, it was different from all the others but a practically perfect episode. – Billie Doux

8. "Fan Fiction" (season 10, episode 5)

Supernatural's 100th episode ("Point of No Return") was good, but arc-plot heavy. Coming in the middle of a very serious storyline, it's dramatic and moves the plot along. But its 200th, "Fan Fiction," is a complete contrast and a sheer joy from start to finish. An episode centred around a girls' school putting on a musical they wrote themselves, based on the first five years of Supernatural, sounds like a terrible idea. And yet, writer Robbie Thompson makes it work. The episode also features great performances from the young actresses, but it's the numerous call backs in jokes and the way the episode revisits old favourites with a twist that make it one of the show's most re-watchable episodes. – Juliette

7. "Swan Song" (season 5, episode 22)

Endings are hard, as Chuck would say. You have to balance expectation with payoff, death and survival and a resolution that feels satisfying. For Supernatural, this was supposed to be it, the show's literal swan song, as planned out by Kripke. It was sad and painful. If this had been the ending, it would’ve left us with Dean trying to live on after losing his brother to spend eternity with the Devil in hell, and that’s pretty brutal. Of course, framing the story around Baby, and making the car one of the most important things in the universe, was perfect. The only reason we didn’t end with Sam in the box is because of season renewal, leaving us with more questions than answers. Including what happened to Chuck. – J.D. Balthazar

6. “Dark Side of the Moon” (season 5, episode 16)

This episode has always been a huge favorite of mine. The opening scene where Dean and younger Sam set off fireworks to "Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door" was so gorgeous that it gave me goosebumps.

How many shows would dare to send their two main characters to Heaven? And show that Heaven as somewhat creepy? What I found poignant was that the brothers' choice of happy memories mostly don't include each other. I've often thought that a perfect end to the series would be the two of them in a Heaven that finally included each other, with everything that ever divided them fully resolved. – Billie Doux

5. "Wishful Thinking" (season 4, episode 8)

Absolutely one of their best comical episodes, from the "deep woods Duchovny" line to the suicidal teddy bear. Although, of course, what makes funny Supernatural episodes work is that there is always an element of underlying seriousness or tragedy. Here, it was the acknowledgement that using magic to make someone love you is evil. This was also the episode where Dean told Sam the truth about his experiences in Hell. – Billie Doux

4. "Don't Call Me Shurley" (season 11, episode 20)

Supernatural has a warm heart and it's often hilarious, but it's not often happy. Usually, the joy of watching Supernatural comes at least partly from knowing that whatever's going on in your own life, Sam and Dean surely have it worse. But "Don't Call Me Shurley" is different. The ending of "Don't Call Me Shurley" is miraculous – and we mean that literally. The rest of the episode is a delight anyway, offering a witty back and forth between God and His Voice – and finally confirming what "Swan Song" had only suggested. But that ending, when, temporarily at least, we get a real miracle and a moment of salvation, is what makes this episode really special – eleven years of storytelling reaching a thrilling moment of clarity. – Juliette

3. "The Monster at the End of This Book" (season 4, episode 18)

Oh, how I love this one. "Monster" is the introduction to the meta episodes where the Winchesters discover that they are main characters in a series of novels called "Supernatural," written by hack writer Chuck Shurley. As I said in my write-up of "Baby," it's taking radical chances with the narrative while continuing to stick closely to the show's mythology that makes Supernatural special.

And wow, this episode is special. Clever and funny and full of geeky in-jokes (especially the boys' disgusted discovery of the existence of Winchester slash), there is also that foundation of tragedy that makes it all work. The brothers cannot escape their fate. It's in the Winchester Gospels. – Billie Doux

2. "Changing Channels" (season 5, episode 8)

Take a beloved character, mix in playful jabs at some of the most popular TV shows while both expanding the narrative and laying the fate of the world on the interpersonal relationship of our favorite brothers. No wonder it’s one of the show’s creator, Eric Kripke’s favorite episodes. We discover the Trickster we’ve grown to know and love is none other than the Archangel Gabriel, little brother to Michael and Lucifer. Now that the Winchester’s have given Michael and Luci the Earth on which to wage their civil war, Gabriel is eager to see it end no matter the cost.

This doesn’t mean he can’t have fun doing it. Between the sitcom Supernatural’s opening credits, Dean fangirling over Dr. Sexy, Sam and the literal nutcracker, and the meta nod to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal of a ghost on certain Seattle based medical show that shall remain nameless, we are treated to a host of laugh out loud moments. My personal favorite was Sam’s less than ecstatic performance in a genital herpes commercial. – Shari

"Nutcracker!!!!"

1. "Mystery Spot" (season 3, episode 11)

There’s something both twisted and poignant about watching Dean die again and again. Funny in a macabre way, for sure but also a touch tragic because in the Supernatural verse, those deaths were real. Well, real in that each was recorded, and each time he went to heaven briefly. No wonder Death finds Dean fascinating and frustrating.

Of course, it was really Sam’s episode, dealing with the pain of watching his brother die again and again, and the numbness that came with it was palpable. To this day, in season fourteen this episode has been referenced. Pretty good impact for a generally comedic episode. – J.D. Balthazar

Conclusion (by Billie Doux)

Putting this list together made me want to rewatch the entire series, although with so many seasons, that's turned into a major commitment. You know, we could probably put together lists of our top ten best comic episodes, the ten most tragic, ten scariest, ten best angel episodes, ten best ghost episodes, and so on because with so many seasons, there's so much to choose from.

It's interesting that the Groundhog Day episode "Mystery Spot" turned out to be our number one, simply because most of us put it on our list. Is it yours? Is your favorite even on this list? Post it in the comments!

Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

#Supernatural #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #Castiel #Bobby Singer #Mary Wincchester #John Winchester #SPN #SPN300 #Doux Reviews

[canaryatlaw]

okay, well today was fine but I’m in a bit of a funk now about job related stuff that’s just kinda got me discouraged. I didn’t get till bed till fairly late last night and I was dead exhausted, so I just let myself sleep in for a while, lol, so I think it was like 3:14 when I actually got out of bed. Had some breakfast (”breakfast”), and the first order of business was contacting stubhub about the mess that unfolded with the tickets yesterday, so I got them on the chat function on their website and then tried to explain and they were like “well it shows here that we contacted you and you never responded so the order was cancelled” and I was like “actually I did respond and I have screenshots showing so, as well as a timestamped email that I already sent those screenshots to you” so I had to send them all my proof and ultimately prove that the issue was on the buyer’s end and I did everything I was supposed to do, which they eventually agreed with and reversed the decision not to give me the money from the sale, which honestly I was kinda surprised actually happened because I was pretty sure they were just gonna be like “tough luck” so I was pleased to see that was not in fact the case. After that I accomplished some random around the house stuff for a bit, listening to podcast episodes, including our latest episode of the batwoman podcast we recorded last week and got released today. I was dismayed to find out I talk too fast for me to be able to use my speed listening podcast app that I use on every other podcast I listen to 😂so I guess that’s a sign that I need to slow down (I’m from New York, we talk fast) before starting on dinner, which was a dorito chicken casserole, basically crushed doritos on the bottom and top of a mixture of chicken and cheese and like sour cream and cream of chicken soup, plus a few more other things lol. but the chicken of course had to be cooked before that is put together and the recipe called for 2 cups of chicken, so I consulted the internet about how much in ounces I should make and it said 8 ounces, and the internet lied to me and when I had the chicken cooked and shredded it only made one cup, so I had to quickly cook another 8 ounces (which is obnoxious because I was just going to make 16 oz to begin with) so I basically just threw it in the pot without defrosting it lol which took a little longer but ultimately was pretty quick, so I was able to get it in the oven by like 6:15. A little while after that Jess showed up and we soon had dinner and watched the new legends episode. To be perfectly honest I was a bit underwhelmed with the episode, I felt like we didn’t accomplish all that much storyline wise and being that next week is the season finale I feel like more should’ve happened by now. The actual episode was fine, I just feel like we’re not at the point where the season is ready to be over next week, I feel like there’s way too much for them to try to wrap up in one episode which probably means the finale’s going to be somewhat disappointing so I’m kinda annoyed about that, but I guess we’ll have to see. I still love Legends of course, but it’s been hard seeing this season not quite live up to how good season 3 was. And I mean I know this happens with pretty much every tv show, it’s just how it is sometimes, but it’s still disappointing, especially being that Legends had progressively been getting better from seasons 1 to 3, so this is the first time the quality has actually declined. Jess headed out after Legends because she was tired like a little bitch (I’m just dragging her for when she searches this post for her name) and I continued watching for the Arrow season finale. so.....this episode was definitely like, intended to be the finale of the actual series, and for Oliver to die in the crossover next year, so I’m kind of ???? about what next season is going to be?? I’ve heard that it’s supposedly going to be all of the next gen, but that doesn’t really explain how any of the crisis stuff is going to fit into it, so that’s all a bit unclear at the moment. The actual episode though I really enjoyed, I think it was the first time I really got into the future plot and was like, on the edge of my seat when they were flipping back and forth between Oliver and Mia saving the day in their respective time periods, which was a very well shot and directed scene, so kudos for the crew on that. Seeing them officially wrap Emily Bett and knowing she’s not coming back is sad, but it is what it is I guess. So that was a lot. After that was over I watched The Fix, which I also don’t know how they’re going to sum up by next week’s season finale, especially if they aren’t renewed for a second season (I have no clue if they are or not). Watched that into the news and then Jimmy Fallon because Jimmy Kimmel was a repeat I’d already seen, ended up watching pretty much all of his show before showering and getting ready for bed, and now I’m here, While I was watching the news and Fallon I started looking at job applications because I had meant to do that today but I slept most of the day instead, and I ended up just feeling really shitty and discouraged about all of this. The major trigger for this was seeing that OPG had listed that they were hiring for GAL positions on the job listserv from my school which was really just a punch in the gut, because I still want that so badly, and knowing they have openings but they already turned me down is just really discouraging. I sent a couple applications in for random jobs, nothing too interesting, but I kinda just felt shitty about the whole thing and am starting to really loathe the entire process. I’m just so tired of all of it, I just want to be done with it already. I can feel my depression creeping in during the time I’m alone, it’s fine generally when I’m hanging out with people and having fun, and it’s definitely not at the point where I’d be willing to mess with my meds (I do have a psych appointment on Wednesday but at this point I’m not taking the chance of fucking with my meds and making it worse given what happened last time). It’s just so frustrating knowing at this point that whatever job I end up in very likely isn’t going to be one I actually care about, and they’ll probably want me to be totally committed to it when it’s always just going to be nothing more than a job to me, not a life because it’s not where I want to be. I haven’t heard back from legal aid about that one application I thought I’d be really good for, I’ve thought about following up with them but at this point I’m not sure what good it’d actually do. Sigh. so I’m just feeling really shitty about all of that and I’m so tired of being trapped in my apartment all the time with nothing to do, I just want things to go back to normal, it’s been way too long. Sigh. I guess that’s it for now, it’s almost 2 am and I have to wake up to go to the allergist (not like, early, but earlier than I would’ve naturally woken up) before the chiropractor tomorrow so I should probably be getting to bed, so I think I will do that now. Goodnight dearies. Hope your Monday didn’t suck.

#daily journal #May 2019 #Jess tag #Rachel watches Legends of Tomorrow #Rachel watches Arrow

[yaldev]

Praise Pelbee, I was interviewed by StarScript!

So StarScript is a startup I’ve been keeping an eye on. They’re working on a platform which is like a combination of Patreon and a social media network for worldbuilders. I’ve contributed a bit to their crowdfunding campaign and chatted with the owner, and now they want to feature me as young talent who will be on their platform! I’m their fourth featured creator, and the first writer!

I'm so excited about this! I feel like I’m starting to get somewhere with my worldbuilding, even if my following now is quite small. (I love you lads, I mean that!) This would get me a bit more exposure, and it’s honestly just an honour to be featured alongside the likes of Tony Washington!

If you want to learn a little more about me and my thoughts on StarScript, go check out the interview! It even has a face reveal.

If anyone’s worried about Yaldev becoming pay-to-access, I have no such intentions. Yaldev is always meant to be free and I’ll keep posting all the same content on Tumblr and elsewhere. (>implying i post with any relevant regularity anyway)

That said, if some people actually are interested in financially supporting the project, I’ll have to start doing more stuff for those contributors! Besides just writing more often for starters, I’m open to hearing what you guys would want to see! Here are some things I’ve considered doing so far!

Actually posting more? 🤔

Early access to new stories?

Author readings! I’m actually quite good at reading out loud. Blame four years of Drama class which I never actually did anything with.

Breakdowns of my own writing, for anyone who wants to learn something from my style.

Recording myself from start to finish and out-loud thinking for putting together some of my stories, for those who want to see my process.

The ability for patrons to vote on certain plot elements! Does this character survive the Collapse, or do they get what’s coming to them?

If anyone ever cares enough to make an OC for Yaldev, perhaps their official incorporation?

Choosing art that I previously skipped over for me to do? Maybe you could even pick art that isn’t by Beeple!

Bonus non-canon pieces set in Yaldev! For this last point in particular, I’ve decided against writing anything for Beeple’s art which has corporate logos, since Yaldev is an extremely far distance from our planet. However, perhaps I could do an alternate-universe extra series available to contributors, one in which mighty corporations from Earth are able to travel to Yaldev and launch an invasion...

Even if you don’t plan on contributing anyway, please do share your thoughts! These would all just be extra bonuses. Yaldev in its current style isn’t going behind a paywall, since it’s as much an exercise for my own practice as anything else. I do somewhat enjoy having the power to buy things, but thinking that my words are being seen by people and are actually meaning something to them is so much more valuable to me. When someone says that they liked this post, or ask questions about the events depicted, or make reference to something I wrote before, I really get that feeling. It means I’m not wasting my time speaking to a void with no response.

On that note, I really do appreciate feedback! Likes are a nice dopamine surge and new followers really feel like progress, but comments make my whole day. If you liked it, I’d love to hear that! If you didn’t, let me know so I can focus on improvement! Lately my goals have been centred on creating better openings for my posts. A problem that too many worldbuilders have is forgetting that their work is more interesting to themselves than anyone else, and that other people may not be as readily interested as the creator is. Making exposition interesting right off the bat is crucial!

Anyhow, I just want to thank you guys. New stuff up soon. I’m planning on a phase focusing more on the post-Ascendant Yaldev, with more about the Net Clan and other societies founded around the remnants of the Ascended Empire.

Yaldev is a fantasy/sci-fi worldbuilding project based entirely on Beeple art. It is the story of a world in mana-fuelled pandemonium, of the nation which rose to conquer it, of this empire's inevitable collapse, and of the new world which emerged in its wake. The project has major themes about perspective, imperialism, nationalism, nature and the metaphysical battle of law against chaos. All stories in order can be found on the subreddit!:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Yaldev/comments/94htyv/welcome_to_ryaldev_clicktap_here_for_info/

#beeple #fantasy #scifi #worldbuilding #writing #dystopia #scifiart #sci fantasy #fantasy writing