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utterrandomnesswithlulu · 1 year

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By the Episode: The Last of Us

Welcome to a new article type By the Episode! This article is essentially a recap of a show that airs on a weekly basis. This won’t be including shows that can be “binged watched” or full seasons that are currently available on streaming platforms. That will be left to our other article type Midnight Binge.

There won’t be a rating for articles that are by the episode because I personally like to rate an entire season rather than an individual episode. However, I give my opinion on if it’s “Worth a Watch,” “Cautiously Optimistic,” “Let’s See Where This is Going,” “I Might Stop Watching,” and finally “Nope, Not Worth the Time.” Instead of being at the end of the article, I will be including this opinion at the beginning.

EPISODE GRADE: CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC

The popular video game The Last of Us received a t.v makeover on HBO. Let’s get the obvious out of the way. With the few games that get a movie or t.v makeover, only some are done well. They tend to be overall disappointments.

Game to live-action in theory should translate well, however, for whatever reason, most adaptations are a complete miss. This is odd because most story-based games such as The Last of Us are rich in concept art, background story, and background or secondary characters. It would be inexcusable for the creators, producers, directors, writers, and others to not dive into the already complete first part of The Last of Us. Even disrespectful to the fans of the original source material, we are already seeing that happen with the likes of The Witcher.

Let’s recap The Last of Us’s first episode before Sunday’s new episode!

SPOILERS!

WHEN YOU’RE LOST IN THE DARKNESS

As I break down the first episode, I’ll also be breaking down some of the differences between the original source material and the series. Warning, if you haven’t played the game or have watched the first episode which is now streaming on HBO, this will be your SPOILER warning. Do not continue if you haven’t watched or played The Last of Us.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s introduce the chief antagonist of the game and series: fungus. That’s right, a fungus is responsible for the events that take place in the world of The Last of Us. Now the specific type of fungus is called Cordyceps, and apparently, there are over 600 species of cordyceps fungi in the world. According to Planet Earth, a BBC documentary, each type of cordyceps specializes in a species of insect. This fungus, that’s primarily found in Southeast Asia, can also be found in several health supplements.

Cordyceps cannot affect people. However, in the series, cordyceps have evolved to infect humans, which comes to our first difference between the game and the series. Unlike the game, which has us playing as Sarah the night of Joel’s birthday, we instead open with a talk show 1968. That’s discussing the high probability of a worldwide infection or pandemic. They talk about how planes make it easier to transport viruses from one part of the world to another. The amazing John Hannah, who plays Dr. Neuman, says it isn’t a virus that the world needs to be concerned about, but a fungus. There’s literally no way to fight or stop a fungal infection at the level of a pandemic, meaning no vaccine, treatments, or anything could be made to destroy this infection. He even goes into that medicines are a product of fungus. This allows more story to be introduced, because in the game, while the player does get this sort of explanation, it’s in fragments and not as solid, it’s more fluid. What I mean about that is you gather this information by picking up collectibles throughout the game.

Fast forward to 2003, which is a 10-year time difference from the game which originally took place in 2013 when the game was released.

They introduce us to 14-year-old Sarah Miller. She’s celebrating her father’s birthday as she gets ready for school. We’re also introduced to Tommy, Joel’s brother, who has come to pick Joel up for work. Once again, unlike the game where the player is thrown into the deep end of the night, everything hits the fan. We’re instead given a glimpse of Sarah’s life as she goes to school. While the day outwardly seems normal, it’s far from it. That boy who’s twitching during class, he’s infected. Story-wise, we don’t see or know how the fungus infects an individual until a little later, but I’ll break it down here. The first signs of infection are slurred speech, coughing, mood change, and muscle spasms.

After school, Sarah takes the bus to go get Joel’s watch fixed. All day we’ve been given clues that something is off, the constant stream of SWAT, police, firefighters, ambulances, and more come and go on screen, and we can even hear throughout Sarah’s journey from school to the repairman. The viewer doesn't know what is going on. As she’s trying to get the watch fixed, one of the owners barges in from the back of the store and says the store is closed. As the owner ushers Sarah out with the fixed watch, we realize that everything has closed.

Sarah goes home and spends the afternoon with the elderly neighbors making raisin cookies. Something is very seriously wrong with Nana and Mercy. The elderly couple’s dog can sense it, which concerns Sarah, but only for a moment as she goes home to wait for her dad.

Joel, who has come home from working a double, gets his birthday present and they settle in to watch a movie. Their quiet evening is cut short when Tommy calls to get bailed out for bar fighting. Joel, obviously annoyed by this interruption, carries Sarah to bed before heading out to the local jail to bail Tommy out, leaving Sarah alone.

Sarah is awoken by helicopters and explosions that emit greenish light flashing into her bedroom intermittently.

Mercy scares Sarah by jumping onto the window, trying to escape something. Sarah, trying to do the right thing, attempts to take Mercy home only for the dog to run away from Sarah. It seems like the neighbor’s front door was left open and Mercy just took the opportunity to run. Inside the house, there are clear signs of a struggle. Looking for her neighbors (Danny, Connie, and Nana Adler) she finds them in the kitchen bleeding and Nana chewing on Mrs. Adler. Nana realizes that Sarah is standing in the kitchen, horrified at what she was witnessing. Nana goes after Sarah with roots or tendrils coming from her mouth. Joel and Tommy pull up just in time to save Sarah from Nana.

More infected people start shambling toward Joel, Tommy, and Sarah as they all hop into the truck to make their escape out of Texas and hopefully toward the Mexican border. The military, though, is quickly trying to enforce a quarantine as we find out that an unknown virus has started to spread and had started in the city. The next few scenes are almost an exact replication of what happened in the game, including the POV shot from the back of Tommy’s truck.

They did add more to the chaos of those already chaotic moments. Including the addition of the planes coming down, which alters a pivotal moment both within the game and the show.

In the game, Tommy, Joel, and Sarah are hit by another car as they’re trying to escape blocked roads. However, instead of being hit by the car (which still makes an appearance as a near miss), they’re hit by debris from a crashing plane. Sarah still suffers a broken leg/ankle and needs to be carried by Joel. Everything is happening at the same time. Cars are exploding, crashing into one another, and people are being attacked and essentially eaten by strangers, family, neighbors, and loved ones as everyone tries to make their escape. The trio is separated, and Joel and Sarah try to escape infected, which we’ll later come to know as Runners, which is the first stage of infection. The Runner beelines for Joel and Sarah as they run through a diner. A soldier shoots the Runner, and he informs whoever is on the radio that he has two, one of them injured.

Unfortunately, this isn’t good news, and the soldier is given the order to shoot, which he does. Sarah and Joel try to avoid the bullets, rolling into a trench and, before the soldier can fire again, Tommy appears. Joel is clipped, but Sarah isn’t so lucky and dies.

Twenty years later and we are witnessing a very different world. Like at the beginning of the episode, we are following a young boy who’s making his way to the Boston QZ. The military, or FEDRA, takes the boy. The next few scenes set the tone for the reality of the world in The Last of Us.

A female soldier promises the boy his favorite food and unlimited toys when another soldier shows her a device, revealing that the screen is red. The soldier tells the boy that after an injection, he can eat and play before the scene cuts to a funeral pyre and workers tossing bodies into the fire. Another truck pulls up and when they opened it up, it reveals the unfortunate fate of the boy who has been euthanized, and we met Joel again. It’s clear that Joel is a broken man when he emotionlessly tosses the boy into the pyre.

Joel went from doing construction to becoming a smuggler. As public executions unfold, Joel is selling pills to FEDRA soldiers. They discuss the ongoing tension between the Fireflies, a rebel activist group, and FEDRA, who are killing Fireflies on sight.

We meet Tess, the other half of Joel’s smuggling operation, who’s talking to Robert, who sold a battery to someone else. Robert’s scared that Tess is going to tell Joel about their altercation. Their conversation is interrupted by an exploding car bomb and all hell breaks loose as the Fireflies and FEDRA come to a head.

The car battery is important to Joel for a car. He’s trying to get to Wyoming because that’s the last place Tommy was. Tess and Joel vow to track Robert down and figure out who he sold a battery to.

Elsewhere, we are introduced to a teenager being guarded by the Fireflies. Even though she calls herself Veronica, this is Ellie, and the Fireflies are cautious of her. Marlene, the leader of the rebel faction, tells Ellie that she’s got a much more important fate and that they’re going to move her out west.

Tess, Joel, Marlene, and Ellie cross paths after a shootout leaves a dead Robert, and an injured Marlene comes to the realization that she wouldn’t be able to transport Ellie as planned and basically orders Joel and Tess to do it, she obviously promises a battery, guns, and other supplies to the duo once Ellie is safely delivered to the State House. Marlene begs Joel to not mess this up.

To kill some time because they plan to move her in the cover of night. Joel parks himself on the couch and falls asleep. When he wakes up Ellie asks him questions about the code that seems to correlate with song decades. The 60s equal no new loot, the 70s equal that there’s new loot, and with a trick, Ellie figures out that the 80s mean that there’s trouble.

They sneak out and they’re spotted by the same officer that Joel sold pills to earlier that morning. As warned, Joel and Tess are given no special treatment. Leaving the QZ, by the way, means hanging. It is literally a death sentence. Per protocol, the officer tests Joel, Tess, and Ellie, but Ellie freaks and stabs the guy in the leg. Joel is triggered by the guy pointing his gun at them and he rushes him. Nearly beating the man to death before his attention is pulled to Tess, who shows him that Ellie is infected. Ellie insists that the clear bite mark on her forearm is three weeks old, which is impossible because all the signs that break down the beginning stages of infection clearly state that infection can take over a body in a day. There’s no time to figure specifics out because FEDRA will be swarming the place. As the episode ends, the radio turns on and begins playing “Never Let Me Down Again” by Depeche Mode. An 80's song.

CONCLUSION

As mentioned above, I am CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC about HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us. This first episode was *chef's kiss.* Literally, my "problems" with this episode are just me being nit-picky and holds no actual weight to my overall excitement and unabashed giddiness.

Like anyone who is a big fan of the game, I had my reservation, and of course, expectations. Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Pedro Pascal, Gabriel Luna, Nico Parker, Anna Torv, Merle Dandridge, and Bella Ramsey were all superb. They exceeded those expectations so much that I’m scared for the next episodes. They embodied their characters with such nuance, grace, and weight that, living in the times that we are now, it’s believable to the point that I got chills watching them.

Being a fan of the game, I know the outcome of the characters. Even though I knew what was going to happen to Sarah, the way they executed it still had me on the edge of my seat because of the additions they added. These added moments just enhanced the story that we already know and love. It gave more to the story and the characters. Once again, even though I know the fates of these characters, I find myself excited for Sundays.

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ethwastaken · 3 years

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#okay so i know i'm late but i'm watching michael's vods and oh my fucking god that guy did not do exile justice in the fucking slightest #'tommy became sad' are you fUCKING KIDDING ME #DREAM ABUSED HIM FOR WEEKS #TOMMY WAS FUCKING HOPELESS #ALONE #DEPRESSED #/SUICIDAL/#AND HE ONLY TALKED ABOUT WHAT DREAM DID LIKE. A LITTLE BIT #ALSO THERE WAS NO MENTION OF BAD OR PUFFY OR SAM OR AND COMING TO LOGSTED #JUST BECAUSE TOMMY COULDN'T BELIEVE THEY DIDN'T JUST DO IT OUT OF PITY #DOESN'T MEAN THAT THEY DIDN'T MATTER?#i'm sorry i am Very Enraged right now #exile is one of my favourite arcs and it's hard enough to truly understand like. the feeling of it if you didn't watch it live #weren't in the community back then #but he didn't even try #yes it's a recap but with how extensive other parts of these videos were this is just. i swear to god #this is super watered down it's borderline unacceptable #sure you maybe don't wanna turn away new viewers but oh my god #there are so many people in this community already and if you can't handle this shit in a simple recap then maybe this isn't for you #again i'm sorry i'm rage posting

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mushroom-soup-is-my-religion · 3 years

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A thing I need to say about exile arc: you cannot always rely on recaps unless they were day by day. I recently found out that several recap videos didn’t mention half of the stuff that happened since there was so much of it. One of the popular ones didn't even mention Tommy being suicidal at all. Sometimes I think I should rewatch and make my own recaps just because I know I won’t miss anything, and I still might if I have the time.

(/rp of course)

For those who weren’t here for the exile arc, here’s a few important lines and events that I've seen left out, plus a few common misconceptions cleared up:

1. Tommy either attempted or seriously considered suicide at least seven times over the course of exile

2. Dream did not just take the invitations from Ghostbur, Dream took the invitations and then sent him out into a snowstorm planning for him to die and Ghostbur would have died if he hadn’t found Techno’s house

3. Dream did in fact know that Tommy was suicidal, having stopped him the first time he tried to kill himself. Also when Tommy flat out said it, Dream’s response was basically “Neat wanna see Drista again before you kill yourself”

4. Dream killed Mexican Dream

5. Dream immediately after killing MD tried to convince Tommy that MD had died of an overdose despite the fact that he literally killed him in front of Tommy

6. Tommy saw Mexican Dream as his last real friend and after he died said “I’ve nothing left to live for now”

7. Tommy killed Jack Manifold out of anger that Jack hadn’t come to visit before, then Tommy apologized right after it happened. He still to this day doesn’t know it was a canon death. Jack retaliated by destroying HOTTER Girl, it’s unclear if “killed” is the correct term

8. When Tommy and Tubbo were given the compasses, Dream told Tommy that Tubbo had burned his because he didn’t care about Tommy anymore

9. Multiple times, Tommy would set himself on fire in the nether and let himself burn, then refuse to eat even if he was on half a heart

10. When Dream destroyed Tommy’s items, he sometimes forced Tommy to light the tnt himself

11. Near the end of exile, if Tommy didn’t have any weapons or armor, he would make extra just for Dream to burn. He also referred to Dream destroying his things as a “bonding thing”

12. Ranboo was the only person other than Dream and Ghostbur to visit Tommy more than once

13. “I exiled you for a reason- I mean- Tubbo exiled you for a reason.”

14. ‘Tommy’s exile arc was sad but we all knew he would be okay’ Absolutely not. There was a point somewhere for almost everyone that we were pretty sure that he would either kill himself or risk it to get back to L’Manberg and get killed by Dream

15. When Quackity visited and found Tommy writing How To Sex 3, he thoguht Tommy was writing a suicide note. He actually wasn’t too far off, as Tommy had planned to kill himself right after he finished writing it.

16. When Tommy hid things from Dream, he was never planning to attack him. Originally it was mostly tools and pictures of L’manberg and Tubbo. He only added his weapons and valuables right before he planned to kill himself on the final day, because he said that people other than Ranboo didn’t visit him, and so they didn’t deserve them. (Ranboo knew about the secret room)

17. Dream didn’t only take Tommy’s weapons, he also took any tools, armor, and (attempted to take) all his pictures of Tubbo and L’manberg except for one picture of L’Manberg and a picture of the queen, which he did later destroy as well when he found the secret room

18. When Dream found Tommy’s secret stash, he (in order) destroyed everything that was in the chests, made Tommy drop everything in his inventory, killed Mushroom Henry, blew up all of Logsteadshire, blew up Tommy’s tent, destroyed the nether portal, then made Tommy drop everything he had managed to salvage and destroyed that too. Every time he went to destroy something else, he would say “Come over here, I want you to watch.” and then would wait until Tommy got there so that he could destroy the things in front of him.

19. Through that whole time, Tommy was desperately apologizing and Dream was yelling at him that he thought they were friends and that Tommy obviously didn’t care about him since he felt the need to hide things and also accused Tommy of plotting to kill him

20. “(scoffs) Tommy, you and I both know you could never actually… y’know. [kill yourself]”

21. The only people Tommy told about Dream destroying his items every day were MD and Ranboo, and when Ranboo expressed concern, Tommy defended Dream and said that it was okay because he deserved it and “It makes sense because I’m in [Dream’s] domain”

22.Tommy hallucinated Tubbo visiting him so many times that when he went to L’manberg he ignored Tubbo completely because he was convinced it was another hallucination

23. “You can’t go to the nether. No one can visit you until you learn to listen.”

24. Tommy never faked his own death. He was 100% intending for it to be a real death, he changed his mind right on the edge. After Logsteadshire was destroyed by Dream, Tommy built a tower up almost to the block limit that he was planning to jump off. He changed his mind after realizing that he could escape from Dream.

25. It’s a relatively common misconception that Tommy didn’t jump because he realized Dream was manipulating him. Quite the opposite, his first reaction to realizing that was thinking that it meant no one cared about him. He jumped into the water because the only reason he hadn’t left in the past was because of Dream, and Dream had planned on not coming back for a week as punishment for disobeying. (See when he got close to Techno’s house before saying “Dream wouldn’t want me to be here” and turning back)

#Dream smp #dsmp #dsmpblr #tommyinnit #Exile arc #tw suicide #tw abuse #tw self harm #<- for the fire thing #long post

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sleepypuffpastry · 2 years

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sorry but whats the issue with evanmcgaming? /genq i have seen some stuff about him on my dash but i never really understood the situation i guess

he does lore recaps on the dream smp and they are very popular. so the fandom and even the CCs on the server use evan's videos to catch up on the lore.

it's nice that they want to learn about the lore...if only his videos weren't absolute doggy shit at doing their intended job. and that's worrisome considering how many people rely on these videos to learn the lore of the server.

evan's recap videos has a history of leaving out pertinent information to the lore. examples i can think of off the top of my head is brushing off the severity of the exile arc and completely skipping over how c!fundy was a spy against c!schlatt during the pogtopia-manburg era. cuz now we have an influx of people joining the fandom thinking that c!tommy didn't really have it that bad during exile and c!fundy was just a dirty traitor to his family.

and ohh boyy the misinformation in his videos 💀💀💀 two cases that i can immediately think of is when evan posted his prison arc video, he decided it would be a good idea to assume c!sam's and c!dream's motivations then pass them off as canon. i physically cringed watching those parts because if you watched the relevant livestreams/vods, you can tell that mans is making up a whole new story. nowhere in those streams were his assumptions made obvious by the characters. then you have evan's las nevadas video, or moreso the thumbnail. the bias is really showing here chief. @daggryet pointed this out, but evan put c!techno alongside c!quackity on the thumbnail of the las nevadas recap. but people that have watched the actual las nevadas streams/vods know that c!techno literally didn't have to do with shit during that arc. if anything, all c!techno did was help c!quackity with the eggpire, which had its own video, and get locked up by c!quackity and c!sam afterwards. but in terms of las nevadas, c!techno is the least relevant option. that thumbnail makes him seem more important to that arc than he really was.

in general, lore recap videos tend to leave out a lot of important information, which is why i always recommend watching the vods. but understandably people can't do that, so i would recommend blueberrytv and/or the dreamsmp carrd made by @relaxxattack

#evan makes me 💀💀💀💀#ask #dream smp

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cregla · 3 years

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I will never understand all those who, through summaries, video recaps, art, and much more, have made Technoblade's "I'm a person" speech the "focal point" of Doomsday.

Is the confrontation between Techno and Tommy important to their relationship? Certainly. Is it the focal point of Doomsday? No.

The fight between Techno and Tommy didn't provoke Doomsday. Techno would have destroyed L'Manberg anyway. If Tommy had been on his side, or dead, or still in exile, Doomdstay would still have happened.

Do you know what are the scenes which I consider "essential" that day?

The citizens of L'Manberg singing the hymn one last time as they watch everything being destroyed.

Ghostbur facing Phil.

Niki burning L'Mantree, and all the others who have turned their backs on L'Manberg.

To give too much importance to the moment between Techno and Tommy, which is relevant to their storyline, is to send the wrong message (which in fact has already passed) that Doomsday is Tommy's fault (again, like so many other SMP conflicts that are attributed to him) and not only takes away the importance of everything else but is also not respectful for the rest of the storylines of other people.

#dsmp #mcyt #l'manberg #doomdsay #technoblade #tommyinnit #NOT a techno neg #dream smp

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findingjoynweirdstuff · 3 years

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Dream SMP Recap (March 1/2021) - Breaking Point

Sam has been unable to find a cause for the security breach, leaving Tommy trapped. A heated argument in the cell escalates to a horrifying end.

As the rest of server mourns, the Eggpire celebrates. With their biggest obstacle in the way of their objective gone, it’s time for the next step.

It’s the start of the Final Stage.

---

VOD LINKS:

HBomb94

Ponk

Tommy

Tubbo

Ranboo

Jack Manifold

Connor

Badboyhalo

Captain Puffy

---

- HBomb hosts Foolish and Jack Manifold’s episode of L’Cast!

---

The Prison Stream

(This portion of the recap will be more detailed than normal since it’s one long conversation and there are many important lines here, including a couple that were hard to hear during the stream)

---

- Tommy’s stream starts with him making sounds and singing “Roadtrip.” Dream tells him to stop, he’s trying to write a book.

Tommy: “What are you writing, Dream? What are you writing?”

Dream: “None of your business.”

- There’s a little gray and white cat sat on the chest. Tommy says it’s annoying.

Dream: “No he’s not...he’s actually the best thing that’s happened to us.”

Tommy: (Trying to lead the cat away) “Come with me, come with me...you know what I named him, don’t you? Pussboy, Pussboy!”

- The cat returns to its spot on the chest

Tommy: “Oh, Pussboy, you are so ugly.”

Dream: “C’mon, you’re being mean!”

(Tommy punches the cat)

Dream: “Tommy! Stop!”

- Tommy starts singing “Roadtrip” in autotune. Dream tells Tommy that if he can be quiet, he’ll give Tommy more potatoes.

Dream: “I think that...the cat is the best thing that’s happened to us.”

- Sam joins the call to say hello and ask how it’s been going. He’s come to drop more food into the cell. Tommy also picks up a new clock.

- Tommy asks to be let out, but Sam says he still hasn’t found out what the security issue is. Dream asks how long Tommy will be in here for. Potentially for a while, but not forever.

- Tommy protests about how bad the prison has been. He threatens to get lawyers on Sam, he knows Big Law.

Tommy: "Sam...you know I don’t deal very well in...close quarters situations for a long time, Sam. Sam, you remember when you visited me in exile, Sam? Alright, this is worse than that, Sam...let me out. I don’t like this. Let. Me. Out. Sam.”

- Sam insists he’s doing the best he can and leaves.

- Dream tries to say that it’s not that bad. He’s been in there for a long time, but now it’s better! Tommy writes a book to Dream, signs it and throws it to him.

Dream: “I have company. I have a cat -- I mean, technically it’s not my cat, technically it’s your cat, but still! It’s just as good, keeps me company when I write and everything, we talk sometimes -- ‘cause you’re annoying a lot of the time--”

- Dream throws away the clock in the lava, saying they don’t need it. Tommy punches the cat again.

Dream: “Tommy, hear me out, hear me out...what if...we get out together, okay?”

- Tommy is not a fan of the idea, Dream shouldn’t be let out too. He goes over to the cat and shouts at it for being in his spot. He punches Pussboy twice.

Dream: “Tommy...TOMMY, STOP!”

Tommy: “Excuse me! Come this way, come this way, excuse me Dream I’m trying to right-click Pussboy--”

(Dream moves to get in front of the cat)

Dream: “Tommy.”

Tommy: “Come here, come here! Do you like this cat, Dream?”

Dream: “Yes, I do.”

Tommy: “Why?”

Dream: “Because he -- Tommy, he keeps me company --”

(Tommy punches Pussboy again and leads him towards the lava)

Tommy: “Pussboy, this way. Pussboy, this way. Let me show you the light--”

Dream: “He’s probably low, he’s probably low!”

Tommy: “Oh what, you love him? Do you love him? Do you love him?”

Dream: “Yes, I do...Tommy, he’s made things better in here -- okay listen! When you leave, can you sit him down and leave him here?”

(Tommy goes over and punches Pussboy again. He tries to lead Pussboy away again, but when the cat doesn’t come he punches Pussboy twice more, killing him)

Tommy: “Yeah. And that’s what happens when you love something, bitch.”

...

Tommy: “See, now when I leave, when I leave, you’ll have nothing! ‘Cause you are lonely, and you’re m-m-manipulative, you’re a fuckin’ twat, and I mean that.”

Dream: “Tommy...I’m gonna get out! And you just motivated me -- you motivated me all the time, you just -- that was hope, right? The cat was hope -- the cat was hope that I could live a nice life in here--”

Tommy: “And now it’s dead, now it’s dead.”

- Dream insists that he’ll get out, and when he does, he’ll get his revenge on everyone who wronged him. Tommy asks if he’d kill Tubbo.

- The subject goes back to Dream’s plan of escape.

Dream: “I have a plan. And the thing is, Awesamdude’s never gonna believe you that I have a plan because he thinks it’s unbreakable, unescapable--”

“I have a plan. And you know, there’s a certain someone who owes me a favor, but -- that might be a part of it, but...I do have a plan.”

- They argue about the conditions of the prison again.

Dream: “I’ve been in here a for hundred times longer than you, and you sit there trying to tell me that it’s so horrible, that it’s so bad -- yeah, it was! But guess what, we have each other to talk to, and we had a cat until you fucking killed it!”

Tommy: “Dream...Dream, and listen to this -- fucking engrave this on you, write this into your arms, Dream...You don’t have me. You’ll never have me. We don’t have each other, alright? I am me, and you are this fuckin’ loser who goes around manipulating people, lying to get what he wants. You are a fuckin’ no one, man, alright? And when I’m going to leave here, you’re not! You might have a favor -- you think, who is it, Technoblade’s gonna be able to come in here to let you out -- Technoblade, he doesn’t like governments, but he likes self gain! You think he wants to piss off the owner of the most POWERFUL building on the entire server, just so that he can get a video that BARELY scrapes the five million view mark -- NO, Dream, alright? You’re a fuckin’ asshole, you’re deluded, you’re delusional, and I fuckin’ hate you.”

Dream: “Okay...yeah, but I have something Techno would want, so...it means knowledge, alright?”

- Dream says that even when he’s in here, he’s more powerful than Tommy outside. Tommy replies that if he wanted to, he could kill Dream right now. The only reason he doesn’t is because they need the revive book.

- Dream says that he will never use the revive book to help Tommy or his friends. Ever.

Dream: “So kill me. Go ahead, come on.”

- When if Tubbo dies, Dream says, they’ll come begging for Tubbo to be revived, and Dream will ask to be let out.

- Tommy then says that this isn’t worse than exile, because in exile, Tommy thought Dream had all the power, and Tommy knows something...he thinks the revive book isn’t real. Jschlatt was just a drunk, why would he have this book?

Dream: “Jschlatt gave me the book -- why else would I switch to Jschlatt’s side?!”

...

“I’m not lying! Jschlatt gave me a revive book after...before he died....because...he said--” (he cuts off here)

- Dream asks why he would be lying about that.

Tommy: “You’re a liar! You’re a liar, and really, through your Netherite armor and skin, I look at you and you know what I see? I see a sad little man who’s insecure about the fact that this server has gotten so far ahead of him that his only little glimpse of power in this world is gone. And I see an insecure, sad little man. So fuck off. You stupid green lad.”

Dream: “Your life...is literally in my hands. Does that piss you off? Does that make you mad? Does that make you so mad that I -- if you kill me -- I MIGHT AS WELL BE A GOD, TOMMY! YOU CAN’T KILL ME, AND I CAN KILL YOU! So what does it mean, that you can’t kill me because of the revive book -- what does that mean? If you can’t kill me, does that make me some kind of god?”

Tommy: “No Dream. I could kill you right now. If I wanted to.”

Dream: “Okay. But you won’t. But you won’t! I could kill you if I wanted to! I could kill you right now, actually.”

...

Tommy: “I don’t think this revive book is real. Schlatt? He’s fuckin’ dead. I’ve seen his grave! His grave is real, his corpse is there!”

Dream: “Okay...Why don’t you go see him then?”

Tommy: “NO -- stop it stop it stop it st--”

--- ---

CANON DEATH: TOMMY

Cause: Punched to death

--- ---

End of stream.

---

- Tubbo, Ranboo and Jack see Tommy’s death message in game chat.

- They go to the prison and Sam is there to tell them what happened. Sam couldn’t get there in time. He didn’t think Dream would actually kill him. They’re all in shock.

- Tubbo and Ranboo think Tommy will be back. There’s no way he’s actually dead, right?

- Jack Manifold is in celebration. He got what he wanted! He thought Dream would want Tommy alive, and killing Tommy himself would be an extra jab in the chest for Dream, but apparently not? And now he has a hotel!

- He decides to check on Tubbo and makes sure he’s okay.

- Jack walks down to the shore and looks up at the prison, and...it hits him. He’s spent months plotting to kill Tommy. Jack realizes his victory feels hollow. Even now, Tommy and Dream have managed to take away this from him.

- Of Ze Haus, he says that this place no longer means anything to him. He gets a flint and steel and sets it alight, watching it burn.

- He passes by Tommy’s house and finds Ranboo planting red and white flowers outside.

- Jack switches into his L’manburg uniform and walks along the Prime Path.

Jack: “I remember the day I joined the server. The day after the first war. L’manburg was still a big hole, and we built it up. And Tommy invited me to join. And I betrayed him (laughs), so really this has all come full circle.”

“Maybe I was always really just upset because I always felt like he cared more about the discs than...anyone. And I guess I just enjoyed it when we were friends...and...I’ve not really had any friends...since...then, really. Never really wanted any.”

- Jack later speaks with Foolish and tells him that Tommy’s never coming back from prison. Foolish didn’t know him too well, but he’s still a bit sad. When anyone passes, it’s sad.

- Jack heads back out into the wilderness, wandering to the beach area at the edge of the forest where Quackity had his argument with Badboyhalo a while back. There’s something just beyond the hill.

- Quackity meets him there and escorts him back home, telling him he was heading too close to something, could have gotten “a nice view of it.”

- He’s been thinking of writing up a draft of their contract. He also sees the new McPuffy’s.

- Jack tells Quackity that Tommy’s not in the prison anymore. Quackity says they need to talk to him and make sure Jack keeps his hotel. As the rain pours, Jack tells him. Tommy didn’t make it.

- Quackity and Jack have a moment in front of Tommy’s house. Though upset, Quackity says it’s time to get back to work.

Quackity: “Jack...don’t let this affect business. The train doesn’t stop.”

Jack: “No, it only goes faster.”

- Jack also speaks with Antfrost. Antfrost gives his condolences, and says he’ll put together a celebration “of life.”

Ant: “Bad and Sam will be happy...to attend, of course!”

- Afterwards, Jack heads down into Karls nightclub and ends stream there.

- Connor speaks with Sam Nook at the hotel.

- Bad meets Ant at the Holy Land. Ant asks if the church would be a good place for a celebration. Ant sits Bad down to tell him. Bad is overjoyed.

- Bad says that now, they don’t even have to do any preparations:

They can move into the Final Stage.

- They get milk for the cake and decide to throw the party at Tommy’s house!

- They meet with Sam at the prison entrance. He sounds dejected.

Sam: “I didn’t think Dream would ever actually...try and kill him”

Bad: (laughs) “Is this the same Dream we’re talking about? It’s Dream, Sam.”

Sam: “I mean...Dream had...I thought I had...broken the will out of him, to do something like that. But he...he did.”

- He says they need to find out what it was -- he wandered around the prison several times and couldn’t find any sign that someone had done something.

- Ant and Bad try to reassure Sam that Tommy signed the waivers, he went to see Dream, and Sam shouldn’t blame himself. Sam doesn’t see it that way.

- They say they’ll talk to Sam later and leave the prison. They see Sam Nook at the hotel. Sam is excited about the new upgrades for the hotel! Tommy will be so excited to see them!

- They return to Tommy’s house and speak with Punz as they make a party floor and sing the Crab Rave song in dudududus.

- Meanwhile, Captain Puffy is grieving, feeling like she failed Tommy. As she logs on, Bad and Ant decide that Puffy might want to join them for the party!

- Punz meets them there, and they tell him that Tommy’s dead. Punz isn’t sure how he feels, it’s bittersweet.

- Puffy arrives and angrily tells them to leave. What’s wrong with them?!

- The Eggpire sees Sam Nook at the hotel and goes up the floors to find a place to party. Puffy comes up and tells them to find another place to party. They argue again.

- Foolish arrives to visit his room in the hotel. Puffy leaves them. They quarrel about who has the room for the night.

- Puffy mines down the Eggpire’s meeting room. She’s noticed that being a hero hasn’t worked. Sparing people, being merciful, it hasn’t worked. She might need a change of perspective.

- The Eggpire decides to visit the Egg and break the news to it. They see the wreckage, but Puffy is in the Nether by the time they get there.

- Puffy visits Logsted.

- The Eggpire goes down to the Egg Room and finds the pathway blocked up with obsidian...is this why the Vines have been slower to grow lately?

- They break the barrier and find the Egg drenched in water. They wake up the Egg and it speaks.

“This world is mine. It belongs to me.”

“No no no, I know, but we’ve got something to tell you!”

“I see all...I...am...all...”

“Oh so you--”

“I know all.”

“You know then! Guess -- well, we’ll tell you anyway in case you don’t know -- but guess what? Tommy’s dead! Dream -- the green guy, you met him -- killed him in the prison! I guess Tommy got stuck there, and Dream killed him! Are you happy?"

“Feed me...I require nourishment.”

“No no no, don’t worry -- that’s coming soon! We’ll take care of that! We’re already gonna begin the preparations, right guys? Yeah, we’re gonna begin the preparations, and we’ll send out the invitations, we’ll let everyone know...and the final stage can commence! This is wonderful!”

- Once on the surface, Bad announces that with a little more preparation, they’ll all get exactly what they want. The final stage is about to commence.

The day of celebrations, the day they’ve been preparing for, the day the Egg has been preparing for, is about to happen...

- Bad goes down to the Egg Room one last time and stands at the Egg to give a final speech.

“Everything leading up to this point, EVERYTHING, all the way going back to the discovery of this...beautiful, luxurious Egg, okay...we had it all planned. As soon as we found it, we knew what was gonna happen. We knew the objective...”

“We may have forgotten what it was, forgotten the ultimate goal as soon as we boxed the Egg up in obsidian. But guess what -- that didn’t stop the Egg! Boxing it up only made it STRONGER, and LARGER, and more powerful! And the Egg’s been storing up that energy, okay? You may have been thinking the Vines have not been spreading...but that’s because we haven’t WANTED them to spread. We have been working, storing energy, storing power...in preparation for the final plan. The final objective. And there were only a couple people getting in the way. But guess what? One of the biggest obstacles -- Tommy -- is no longer in the way...now that he’s not in the way, we can commence with the final stage...the final party...before it all comes to a conclusion...”

“Brace yourselves...everybody on this server, prepare. Anyone who is anti-Egg...you guys better get ready, because we know who you are. And at the end of the day, the Egg is gonna be victorious. And there’s nothing ANYBODY can do to stop it.”

“Good luck.”

#dream smp #long posts #dream smp recaps #prison arc #i apologize for not including a lot of puffy's stream :(#it's really late and this post's a mile long as is #if you see any typos no you don't /lh

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zeta-in-de-walls · 3 years

Text

You know, I wonder how many people use EvanMCGaming’s recap vids as their introduction to the Dream SMP story?

I personally feel like they’re not a great way to get into it. They’re well-made videos, with good visuals, and they’re clear and concise - that’s not the issue. The thing is that they’re not useful at all in actually experiencing what the content is like. His videos have their own pacing and style and uses the Dream SMP’s plot but reframes it into a clean narrative. This informs you on the plotpoints but doesn’t tell you at all why its fun content to consume. If you enjoyed Evan’s video and decided to wander into a TommyInnit stream, you’d be completely unprepared for what to expect. The humour, the way he interacts with chat and other CCs, the lighthearted antics, all that.

Even as a recap, his videos are often misleading, as his goal is to retell events in a really clean narrative, meaning lots of canon plot points are simply left out. Such as Coconut2020 in the election recap. And some things are untrue but make for more dramatic storytelling. In the exile video, he says that no one except for Dream visited Tommy. This is untrue; Sapnap, Bad, Ranboo, Lazar, Fundy, Jack, Niki, Philza, Quackity and Techno all visited. But it’d be more complicated to explain why Tommy’s character felt lonely and unloved despite the presence of others compared to just saying Dream was the only visitor. It makes for a cleaner story, but it’s still inaccurate. This is not what you want from a recap.

Sad-ists animatics transform the DSMP canon into something cool and cinematic. They’re awesome as a reimagining of events but they’re of course not showing you the real Dream SMP but reframing the narrative into something exciting, impressive and very much entertaining in their own right. Likewise, these recap vids are cool but they’re not showing you what the Dream SMP actually is. They are instead Evan’s take on the SMP.

Ultimately they’re an interesting summary but no substitute to watching any stream. And watching them all is still a rather large investment as they’ll take a couple hours to get through in spite of their role as a quick recap.

#some thoughts #i say this as i still have no idea what an actual great way to introduce someone to the smp is #im thinking either throwing someone into a big vod like the elections fallout or disc finale #or tommy or wilburs edited dsmp vids #tommyinnit #dream smp #meta #analysis

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bookfandomtalk · 2 years

Text

I just watched EvenMcGamings new lore recap video, and yes, the production quality is great, but I am MAD.

No.

The fact that this dude is the most well known recap guy is infuriating, given how incredibly one-sided his recaps are. Like, either update without bias or don't do it at all.

Now, if you haven't seen the video or if you don't know Tubbo's lore and thus didn't know what was wrong, let me explain.

Evan McGaming just put out a new lore recap video, this one is about Las Nevadas and the events surrounding it. https://youtu.be/cpaaAwPD3KQ

If you know Tubbo's lore, you'll know this is what happened:

After L'Manberg fell, he went off and made Snowchester. He invited a lot of people, but only Jack and Foolish stuck around. Some other people also moved in, but they weren't involved with Snowchester at all, they just had a house there. Tubbo built a nuclear factory and made nuclear weapons to keep it all safe.

Tubbo realized soon enough that both Jack and Foolish had other commitments. Foolish spent most of his time building his summer home, and while Tubbo had confided in Jack a lot and saw him as an equal, Jack moved out of Snowchester the second Tommy died and he could take over the hotel.

Tubbo did, however, get close to someone else, and that person was Ranboo. They ended up getting married (Tubbo was the leader of Snowchester, he could simply declare they were married, and that was it) and adopting a child, Michael. After a while, though, Tubbo found out Ranboo had been living with Techno and Phil, and had been hiding that from him. He didn't mind it that much. They kept the fact that they knew each other from Techno though, even when Techno came to inspect Snowchester for a government, they managed to hide it.

Ranboo only joined the syndicate because he had found out someone had threatened Tubbo and he'd been afraid that that person was in the syndicate. Ranboo figured the best way to protect Tubbo from harm was to join the syndicate so he could find out their plans beforehand.

Tommy got revived, and later Wilbur got revived also. Tubbo didn't trust Wilbur at all. He was too traumatized from what happened in L'Manberg.

Then Tubbo heard about Las Nevadas and Foolish soon after told Tubbo that he was leaving Snowchester for Las Nevadas. Tubbo went to scout the place and build the cookie outpost, and Ranboo came to help him. Sam and Foolish also showed up regularly, despite being part of Las Nevadas, and Fundy actually knew about the outpost also, although he was less happy with it.

Eventually, though, Quackity asked Tubbo to remove the walls from the Cookie Outpost, but Tubbo refused and Ranboo, for the first time, openly stood next to Tubbo. The conversation ended in a stalemate, with neither party being willing to compromise as much as the other asked.

That day, Tubbo told Ranboo about his execution, and he explained why he didn't trust Quackity and why he wasn't fond of Technoblade.

A bit later, Tubbo was sitting near the L'Manberg crater when he found out Ranboo had joined forces with Wilbur and Tommy to oppose Las Nevadas, and while Tubbo didn't trust Quackity, he had even less reasons to trust Wilbur, and he'd already told that to Ranboo. Tubbo and Wilbur had a huge fight after Tubbo told Ranboo to leave. Tubbo felt emotionally drained, and he realized that he hadn't had anything to truly live for in months. Hell, he'd even been suicidal.

This is when Tubbo decided to join forces with Quackity. He claimed he wanted to truly be a part of something again, but only a part of this was true. The main reason that Tubbo joined forces with Quackity was to oppose Wilbur.

Now that we've discussed what actually happened on Tubbo's streams, we can talk about what Evan said. Evan's inclusion of Tubbo looked about like this:

*Image of Tubbo and Quackity when mentioning how power corrupts*

*Image of Tubbo when talking about dictatorship*

"Tubbo heard about Las Nevadas and built a cookie outpost. Quackitiy disagreed. They had a fight. Eventually, for unknown reasons except for the fact that Tubbo realized that he had no purpose in life, Tubbo decided to join Las Nevadas by working in the burger place. Ranboo and Wilbur found out and felt betrayed"

Ranboo joined the syndicate because he was close with Techno and Philza. There was no other reason.

BITCHHHH

NOOOO

WTFFF

#Tubbo #EvanMcGaming #DSMP #DSMP lore recap #c!tommy #Dream SMP #Ranboo #Quackity #dsmp lore #Wilbur soot

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wilbursoot-updates · 3 years

Text

21 May 2021 Stream Recap! ➪ In Medias Res

Wilbur talks about Dream's most recent song "Mask"! Dream sent the song to Wilbur months ago and Wilbur didn't actually know it came out until he spoke to Tubbo earlier. He is a fan of Dream going the "vulnerable route."

He explained the title of the stream ("In Medias Res") - he is only here for 1 day, because he's going back to songwriting in a cabin.

On the "Taunt" MV - he and George were on call together and GNF said he wanted to be in a music video. Wilbur: "Okay, baby, let's get you in a music video!"

The original "Taunt" MV had Wilbur running in a field while George runs next to him and slaps shaving cream/moisturizer on his face.

On the Lovejoy debut album: He wants to impress the people who hate the Minecraft Youtuber community.

"As much as I may be chasing this music, at the same time I'm not leaving you guys behind. I'm not going anywhere. Even if the streams are once a month, I will bring a laptop on tour."

Tubbo joins the call and they react to the SAD-ist "Passerine" animatic!

Wilbur on "Passerine": "That is a fanfiction inspired by a bunch of friends that has inspired an animation, that was all the community. That's incredible!" He even contemplated reading the fic.

Wilbur and Tubbo talked about the new category for hot tub streamers on Twitch. "Tubbo, don't let anyone tell you you can't have an opinion on something."

They reacted to the SAD-ist Dream SMP Bloopers animatic!

Tubbo: "Cut off de balls, boss man."

Wilbur showed Tubbo how to "lag" which he learned on TikTok -> Tubbo's TikTok FYP is all clips of Adam Sandler -> They watch "If Hamilton Was Sung Entirely By Adam Sandler" -> Wilbur talks about how he recorded the ENTIRE 2 HOURS of Hamilton in a New Zealand accent while he was at his lowest during quarantine. (??!)

Tommy DM'd Wilbur: "Cool ass stream title!" Wilbur: "I dunno Tommy, maybe I'll name all my stream titles cool names for you!"

Warning: Around 52 - 56 minutes, they talk about diets/food

Wilbur said that he didn't bring anything fun to do while Lovejoy wrote their album in a cabin so they all went a bit stir-crazy and he showed a video of him playing the organ!

They play Geoguessr!

They watch Derivakat's amazing cover of "Jubilee Line" - Wilbur watches covers of his personal songs in his spare time, but it can feel a bit strange to him unless they put their own spin on it. Derivakat nails what he meant in the song and he loves the composition.

Wilbur talks about how he's been "kicked out" (/jokingly) of Tommy's mod videos potentially because he hasn't been doing weird bits. :( Wilbur's favorite is the Lava Ravine mod video and Tubbo's favorite bit is "mule bits."

During the Dragon Morph mod video, Wilbur and Quackity filmed a dragon porno (??????) which wasn't included. He also talks about how his newest video got age-restricted - "Why? There's very little swearing - I say cunt once, but-"

Wilbur ends stream and raids Tubbo!

#wilbur soot #tubbo #twitch #stream recaps

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darlington-v · 3 years

Note

I know different interpretations of a work are generally enriching and cool... but c!dream villan interpretations is like how to tell me you only watch Tommy without saying you only watch tommy.... which would be fine but its not a great place to be making statements about the whole nature of the dsmp lol

Wild speculation, but sometimes I wonder if like, because the dsmp didn't really start as a narrative, and a lot of fans don't nessecarily enter it expecting a narrative, but then there is one and the fandom is really discourse heavy and everyone is sort of excpeted to have an opinion while maybe not expecting to form one from the begining or not having a ton of experience with narrative in a way that would "expect" them to have an opinion or not take things at face value??, I don't know if I explained that well at all... and I don't really even think thats right nessecarily... but like wow sometimes some of the takes about power and government and villany...

Honestly, it makes sense!!!

I think something interesting is like.... looking at how animatics have shaped the like tone and culture of the fandom essentially. Like, an interesting fact that I didn't really fully grasp until SUPER recently is like...

c!Wilbur out the gate admits he is manipulating c!Tommy. Like his first youtube video on the Dream SMP he admits his goal is to manipulate c!Tommy and people like c!Tommy into helping him achieve a potion ("drug") empire to monopolize on potions because there were a lot of people on the server who like to min-max, which is to put all of your effort into this one specific skill essentially. so like... i know minecraft doesnt have a skill tree but if it did, it would be putting all your points into that one specific branch of a skill tree. So he wanted to exploit the labor of all the TommyInnits to.... maintain a Potion Empire.

THIS IS A LONG POST BC I GOT CARRIED AWAY SO BUCKLE UP

And I don't think a lot of the fandom who joined later on knows this. I certainly didn't until like a week or so ago? Like... I knew c!Wilbur had been manipulative from the start because I'm a mod of (shameless self promo incoming) @dsmpanalysis and we have a lot of different POVs in that mod team and discord and we talk about it really frequently. I joined the fandom as someone who was really big on L'manburg ESPECIALLY crimeboys, and have turned into.... *gestures vaguely to my blog*

And ngl I owe a lot of it to @1-michibiki-1 in terms of c!Dream "Apologism" but all of the mods there have expanded my thoughts and views on the storylines of this narrative.

My application consisted of like largely essays about like... how I think Dream was the villain but he was meant to be the villain because you don't get any insight into his character WHICH.... IS A FAIR ASSUMPTION AT FIRST GLANCE. People are easily villainized when you cannot get a glimpse into their thought process. It's easy to dwindle someone down into this flat character and starting out I knew Dream didn't stream the SMP on purpose.

And I personally came to the conclusion of "Oh! So Dream is supposed to be the villain." However as the story continued and I learned more about what Dream went through I began to realize that... it's more than likely a form of a red herring. My opinions on this were immediately solidified when I watched Ranboo's 2 MIL stream because both Ranboo AND Dream agree on enjoying red herrings.

There have been MANY times were Dream has said that c!Dream is a complex character and he's not a wholly evil guy and there have been times where the narrative has honestly just proved that.

Anyways, what's important though was that... I learned most of this from other people who were more focused on c!Dream rather than myself. Eventually I shifted from c!Tommy to c!Ranboo and c!Techno after c!Tommy betrayed c!Techno and I began to realize.... everything I learned before hopping in wasn't exactly what it seemed.

Part of this is because I'm older, I heavily identify with c!Techno's sense of loyalty and philosophies on government, but I especially identify with the anguish c!Techno voiced in... a lot of lore but especially the lore around Doomsday.

I'm not 16 anymore. I don't always feel wronged by adults, or older people in my case, whenever they absolutely have done something wrong by me, but I do feel wronged by my close friends. I also felt like c!Tommy's sense of loyalty didn't line up with mine after what felt like him constantly flip-flopping and refusing to understand c!Techno's morals on government didn't line up with his.

In short, it was easier to identify with Tommy in these animatics versus in the actual stream content because c!Tommy is played by a 16 year old. I'm not a teenager and my line of thinking doesn't entirely line up with people that age anymore. It's harder to place myself in the same shoes of someone's OC who is played closer to their actual age, because I'm not that age.

Regardless, I was still on the c!Dream is a villain train. I wasn't ever like... c!Dream is repulsive I hate him, but I was like omg hot villain lad go brrr.

Even when the first like... mellohi, panic room, Ranboo lore stream popped up I thought "Oh! c!Ranboo corruption arc?"

And I was excited because I really wanted this shy, nervous character to turn into villain buddies with his good pal c!Dream. I'm a total sucker for villains and corruption arcs and all that good shit.

SO I STARTED GETTING REALLY INTERESTED IN ENDERSMILE. I'VE BEEN ON ENDERSMILE SQUAD OUT THE GATE. NOT THE SAME WAY I AM NOW, BUT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED THEM TO TEAM UP.

So... upon not really keeping up with c!Dream and being relatively??? indifferent? I don't think I started arguments on c!Dream back then, but I might have. But I remember like... starting to participate more whenever c!Dream came up and looking more into Dream's character BUT ESPECIALLY TALKING WITH OUR SERVER'S C!DREAM SPECIALIST MICHI ABOUT DREAM A LOT MORE.

And because Michi has been a watcher since day one and was a DTeam fan rather than a SBI fan, she was able to provide me with more information on how the server worked pre-Tommy but especially pre-Wilbur.

Now, you could definitely argue well Michi probably has clear bias but it made sense to me when I looked back on how the storyline had been constructed and was going along, and everyone in the server talks a lot about our own biases and how we want people to maybe not lean so hard on them. Michi would also provide like anecdotes on what had happened and I'm sure links were probably provided at one point but the point was I felt like Michi had no reason to lie or manipulate how the story was told and if she did, eventually someone would have pointed it out because... Group of like... right now it's around 20 or more analysts but I don't remember how many at the time there were. POINT BEING, WE'VE ALL GOT POINTS TO PROVE AND IN MY EXPERIENCE NOT MANY OF US HAVE BEEN SHY TO PROVE THEM.

So if anyone ever had any differing opinions they would be talked about and we literally had and still have discussions.

REGARDLESS.... I DIDN'T FACT CHECK IN DEPTH BECAUSE I THOUGHT PEER REVIEW WAS ENOUGH WHEN YOU HAVE LIKE HOURS UPON HOURS OF STREAMS TO WATCH.

Anyways. Eventually I started paying closer attention and looking more into c!Dream lore but only recently have I started to triple check before speaking about c!Wilbur lore because I know everyone has biases and while I did trust everyone's thoughts and analysis in the discord, whenever I make essays I typically like it to be largely air tight and if theres a mistake, I want it to be because I forgot not because I just trusted what was said. Plus, I wanted to get down to the specifics of how Wilbur had always started with manipulation on the mind.

SO I WATCHED HIS FIRST VIDEO ON THE DREAM SMP.

AND WHAT I WAS NOT BY ANY MEANS EXPECTING WAS WILBUR TO SAY WORD FOR WORD, VERBATIM,

"SO WHY DON'T I START AN INDUSTRY WHERE I USE THE TOMMYINNITS OF THE WORLD TO WORK FOR ME, TO CREATE THINGS THAT THE MIN-MAXERS OF THE WORLD WILL WANT."

Like... this is in no way an attempt to like hardcore villainize c!Wilbur like everyone does Dream, it's just more so to like REALLY outline how far off a lot of fandom interpretation of c!Wilbur is....

Because of SBI focused animatics.

Now, when I joined I watched A LOT of animatics that really highlighted like... Wilbur being this self-loathing JD-esque, "I destroyed it because I had to because the world was against me because no one loved us, Tommy" type of character. At least... that's what it came across as.

And it definitely highlighted the fact that Tommy was a victim, which he is. He is undoubtedly a victim and no not even any dream apologist can change my mind otherwise. Tommy, despite being an instigator sometimes, didn't deserve the abuse he received.

But these animatics never shown the fact that c!Wilbur started L'manburg as a shady ploy to exploit people like c!Tommy and vilify c!Dream so he could have power.

And that was easy because Dream and Tommy had wars before. They had spars and pranks and here's the plan to take back my disks and here's the plan to out smart the thieving little child etc etc.

And all of the animatics I watched never mentioned this. Neither did the recaps though. The recaps gave the events flat out, there didn't sound like there was bias, and honestly I don't really know if there was rather than like... a lack of nuance. And it's hard to provide a recap with that much nuance in a short period of time for a youtube video, to be perfectly fair.

However, this creates a perfect formula for entirely rewriting the history of a server. c!Wilbur quite literally fucking succeeded TO A META LEVEL. He slandered and ran smear campaigns against Dream and like he even does that with Sapnap in the beginning. But what's crazy is that it transferred over into the meta! Most of this fandom understands Wilbur as a victim of mental illness, and yeah maybe? He definitely wasn't mentally well by the end of pogtopia, but he never started out with honorable intentions. L'manburg was never a victim, only its citizens. The TommyInnits of the world.

I just think it's like... such an interesting case study. Because this is like... an opinion like shared by at least half of the fandom, but the vilifying of c!Dream is shared by MOST of the fandom I would argue. Which is like even more crazy for me because that was c!Wilbur's goal!!!

LIKE I GO INSANE WHEN I THINK OF THIS BECAUSE HIS REACH IS JUST TOO POWERFUL. HE'S NOT EVEN ENTIRELY REAL, JUST A MANIPULATIVE PERSONA OF SOME BRITISH GUY.

And I mean... maybe people who have watched Wilbur's video on the SMP still maintain this idea that Wilbur wasn't always the bad guy, but honestly... I wouldn't be surprised if their introduction was still an animatic. Like bias is hard to check and I'm not going to lie I could have sworn I watched both Wilbur's AND Tommy's video on the SMP in the beginning and yet I STILL was a ride or die for tragic yet on some level still honorable Wilbur and a resilient Tommy.

Like... upon watching Wilbur's first video... possibly again I was surprised because I thought I did watch it like right before I even started watching the streams and yet I was still so invested in c!Wilbur as this tortured anti-hero.

It took 6 months of... not being in an echo chamber, full of multiple different people of different ages, different stream POVS, and people who joined the fandom at different points in time.

IDK IF THIS WAS EVEN ENTIRELY RELEVANT IT JUST FELT TANGENTIALLY RELEVANT AND THIS WAS SOMETHING I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT FOR A HOT MINUTE AFTER LIKE WATCHING WILBUR'S FIRST VIDEO AGAIN.

TLDR;

SBI CENTRIC ANIMATICS HAD A LASTING AFFECT ON THIS FANDOM AS IT'S HARD TO GO BACK AND ACTUALLY CHECK THE NARRATIVE FOR SOLID FACTS FOR YOUR OWN INTERPRETATION BASED ON THE FACT THAT THIS NARRATIVE SPANS OVER HUNDREDS OF HOURS WORTH OF TWITCH STREAMS.

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Episode 2 Transcript: You Want Some White Meat?

[guitar music]

G: Hello! My name is Grey.

C: And my name is Crystal.

G: And this is Busty Asian Beauties, a Supernatural commentary podcast where I, someone who has seen the show several times-

C: and I, someone who only knows the show through social media, discuss every single episode of Supernatural from start to finish.

Also, we are both Asian.

G: We are both Asian.

G: So for today's episode, we will be discussing season 1 episode 2.

C: So as a foreword on today's episode and why we're not saying the title: The creature in today's episode is sacred to Algonquian culture and was thoughtlessly stolen by the writers for a fun little monster of the week episode. Traditionally, saying the name is a bad omen, so we're going to avoid that. Moreover, since the writers are not Algonquian or Native, they had no business depicting this creature or having two white characters defeat it. Later in this episode, we do make fun of the creature as it appears in Supernatural, but to be clear, this is aimed at this particular depiction as created by the writers and prosthetics team; we're not mocking the sacred spirit as it exists in Algonquian tradition.

G: So, Crystal, our first time viewer, I'm assuming you don't know much about this episode.

C: Right, yeah, I do not. So, um, before watching the episode, here are the things that I know about it. I know that Sam at some point has a nightmare that involves going to Jess's grave, and second, I know that at the end, Dean is sitting somewhere looking very cute with, like, little bloody bandages on his face and, like, a cute girl kisses him on the cheek. These are the two things I know about the episode.

G: Let's start with the episode itself. So the "Then" sequence, right. It's one minute and 30 seconds long. It's actually much longer than I expected, like, I didn't anticipate it to be so long. But they did a good job of summarizing everything basically that has happened in episode one.

C: Right. And I guess like us, they focused on the character beats rather than really anything related to the case. It was very long, but I guess for a second episode then, they probably needed to remind everyone because these were not famous characters yet.

G: Yeah, exactly. And also like, the setup of the show back in the day where it wasn't, like, bingeable, so...

C: Right, yeah. It has been a week.

G: You have to do an every week thing. You really have to recap everything.

G: We go to the "then" sequence. We start in Blackwater Ridge, Lost Creek, Colorado- wow! We hear growling in the woods, first and foremost. There's a creature growling and walking around and pacing. And then we go inside the tent. So there's a couple of kids playing with their DS's inside the tent which I find very relatable because I also was a DS kid. Were you not?

C: Not really, I think I was mostly just playing Webkinz on my PC.

G: Well, I was wondering during this time, like, because they've been there six days as was revealed later on when Tommy, uh, starts talking to his phone while recording a video for his sister. And they've- he says they've been there six days, and I was like, "Where do they charge like, their- their shit. Where did they charge it?"

C: That's a good point. They probably had like, portable chargers with them right because like-

G: Did those exist back in the day?

C: I don't know... I mean they mentioned that, what, Tommy had a satellite phone? I don't know what that means.

G: Yeah, the satellite phone is understandable.

C: Right. So like, I'm assuming they had, like, I don't know. They were probably very, like, stocked up on tech, so... So perhaps they- they had some kind of portable charger.

G: Did you recognize the guy playing the DS?

C: I did not. Was that like, a well-known actor?

G: He's from Glee. Like, he's the guy from Glee.

C: Oh, I was never a Glee kid.

G: I watched one episode of Glee, the very first episode. And I was so young and it was, like, the song sequence was about sex and I was like, okay I'm too young for this.

C: Aww.

G: So I just never watched any other episode.

C: I think baby Grey made a really good choice. From what I've heard, you dodged many a bullet.

G: Well, I didn't dodge the Supernatural bullet so... that's unfortunate.

C: That's true. And I dodged it and then went back and shot myself in the face with it on purpose.

G: One of the kids go out to pee.

C: Yep.

G: And then he gets taken by the creature.

C: Right.

G: And then we see the creature, like, creeping around the tent some more,

C: Right.

G: And then takes the second kid,

C: Yeah.

G: And then creeps around some more, and then takes the third kid. And then we get our intro screen.

C: Yeah. This scene has, you know, the very classic horror movie trope of the Black character dying first. Or I guess in this case, being taken first. And then we don't even see him in the mine later because I guess he's presumably already been eaten. And also his family isn't looking for him, and they don't need to inform his family at any point later in the show. It's "whatever, Tommy's good."

G: Literally the two kids were expendable.

C: Like their parents are, like, probably very upset right now, but I guess they do not matter.

C: Next, we go to Sam's nightmare, but we don't know yet that it's a nightmare. He's at Jess's tombstone in a cemetery carrying some flowers. We find out that her middle name is Lee, which is very trans Jess vibes, I have to say. Sam cries a bit, very- very sad boy hours. And then he kneels down to set down the flowers, and then like, a hand reaches up through the grave, grabs him, there's some scream-y sound effect, and then he wakes up. Ooh, it was a nightmare.

G: He says "I should have protected you."

C: Right, yes.

G:He says, "I should have told you the truth," which, like, really shows us that his main feeling is regret. Over the sadness, over the, like, grief, I guess, it's the regret. It's what's killing him, basically.

C: Right. And yeah, the interesting thing is that "I should have protected you, I should have told you the truth," because I know like, what we learn later about the John-Dean-Sam relationship is that John was the one who tried to, I guess protect? Sam by keeping him from the truth, while like, Dean was, you know, the little soldier boy, etc. But I guess since Sam feels betrayed by not knowing the truth, he sees protection as telling the truth. So that's fun, I guess. And yet, he doesn't tell Amelia about monsters in season eight! So what gives, Sam?

G: [laughing] You're revealing to the audience how much you know about Supernatural right now. We're supposed to have a brand!

C: I only know things from social media, but I sure consumed a lot of social media.

G: So, we wake up, and- well, Sam wakes up in the Impala to "Hot Blooded" playing in the background, which I'm assuming you don't recognize.

C: No, I don't know any of the songs of the show.

G: And then Dean asks him if he has another nightmare, and then he asks Sam if he wants to drive. Which Sam goes like, "you've never asked me that," so which was kind of funny, and then-

C: Yeah, oh, siblings.

G: And then Dean reveals basically that they dug around in Stanford for a week, so it's been a week since the fire. And they didn't find anything, so now they're going to the coordinates that John gave them, which is where they're going now.

C: I wonder what the digging around Stanford was like. Like Sam presumably still had friends there-

G: Some classes, yeah.

C: And also what, like, did he pass a professor and was like, "Sorry for skipping the interview, but my girlfriend was being dead, so you know, you get it."

G: Dean would have looked so suspicious, right?

C: I think-

G: He would be like, prime suspect number one.

C: Perhaps.

G: Because he showed up, took Sam away, and then the building burned and then, like, once they got back.

C: Right! Exactly. Because it's like, maybe Dean knew that the building was going to burn and he got Sam out, like, while he was setting the trap or whatever. Yeah. But I guess, I guess like-

G: Crack police work! [laughter]

C: [laughs] "This is Sam and this is my brother who's emotionally supporting me through this time" probably worked as a story for enough people.

C: They go to the ranger station of the Lost Creek, Colorado National Forest. They look at a few maps, they learn about the grizzly bears in the area, and then a ranger there asks them about things. Sam decides that they're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, very cute.

G: Dean says, “Recycle, man!” which is also very cute.

C: And then the ranger reveals that there's a girl named Haley who's been digging around, looking for her presumably missing brother, and they decide that they're going to take the permit that her brother filled out to go camping in the woods, and then go find her. And also, Dean seems to be interested in Haley in some way, despite only hearing one sentence about her.

G: He says, “That Haley girl is quite a pistol, huh.” Which made me so uncomfortable!

C: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

G: “Quite a pistol”? What a turn of phrase.

C: I mean we know that Dean's into femdom or whatever [laughter] so like, go get her, Dean.

Sam accuses Dean of trying to hook up with Haley and seems to be very into going to find their dad, and like, I don't know, very single-minded focus on the mission. And Dean asks, “Since when are you all ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ anyway?” and Sam says, “Since now.” Dun-dun-dun!

G: Actually this reminded me of when I was first watching the show, because when I watched the show the first time i had no context at all.

C: Right, like you didn't know their regular personalities.

G: Also like, I wasn't on social media. So it wasn't like I had exposure on what they're like because I just genuinely just found Supernatural on a website.

C: Awww.

G: I didn't go on Tumblr and discover it or whatever. So like, absolutely no context, right? And I was like- this was the point in time where I was like- “Oh, I'm a Dean girl,” because I thought Sam was so annoying. Like, because he's so mopey. He's like, “I'm so sad, my girlfriend just died.”

C: His girlfriend just died!

G: I know, but like, I was annoyed because, you know, I'm watching the show to have fun. And if you're being a downer, I'm like “Oh, come on, dude… I'm watching the show to have fun!”

C: Blame Eric Kripke for his need to murder Jessicas, not Sam, my good boy Sam.

G: I know. Now I'm like, I guess I am looking for something more than just enjoyment when I'm watching the show because I'm attached to the characters now. So I am less inclined to be like, “Oh Sam, what a downer,” but that was, like, what I thought at first when I was first watching the show. That Sam was a downer, and therefore, I liked him less than I liked Dean.

C: Right. And it's interesting that they're starting the show on a point where it's like, Sam's not being himself, and Dean has to keep being like, “By the way, here’s exposition on what Sam's personality usually is like, but he's not doing that right now. Everyone, remember, this is what Sam is usually like! I hope you learned something today, kids, about these characters.”

G: Anyway, we go to Haley's house. They introduced themselves, actually, as Sam and Dean. Which I was like, “oh! they don't use an alias?”

C: Yeah, they're not Freddie Mercury today.

G: They introduce themselves as rangers of the park service, and then like Haley is kind of, uh, set up as a character who's suspicious of them.

C: Yeah.

G: Like we can see instantly that she's smart, she's on her feet, she, like, knows how to navigate these things. Very, you know, like, very parental figure the way she interacts with her other siblings.

C: Yeah, she's the true eldest daughter syndrome.

G: And then, like, so Haley asks for an ID and Dean shows it, and we barely see it because it's, like, when he shows it, it's on the screen door so, like, we can't see it, which was a bummer because I wanted to see what their surname they used was and also Dean's pictures.

C: Oh the transcript says that, it says Samuel Cole on it. Which-

G: Oh. Cole.

C: But, you know, I guess it's smart that he picked one that says Samuel on it because- oh no, but he said, “I'm Dean.” He didn't say “We’re Sam and Dean,” so Haley's definitely like, “Why did you mix your name up with your brother’s? Your photo’s on this one and it says Samuel,'' but whatever.

G: And then like, Haley compliments the car before she lets them in.

C: Right, right. Because, you know, when one is terrified that your brother is dead one must flirt with Dean Winchester.

G: Dean turns around and mouths “Oh my…” at Sam. Which I was like… Come on dude! Come on!

C: Oh wait, are we continuing the Dean misogyny count? Because it was four last episode. Do we count this at all? Like I feel like “That Haley girl's a real pistol” plus this whole thing, is this like, at least half a Dean misogyny?

G: I think it counts as one.

C: All right yeah. So, yeah, so one more Dean misogyny, so we're at Dean - five.

G: So they go in, and they find out, you know, what happened, which was: Tommy was sending voice notes and emails until three days ago when it all just stopped.

C: Yeah.

G: And then Sam asks for the pictures that he sent, and Dean has an “I relate to you” moment with Haley, when Haley was like “It's just us, it's just me and my siblings. I can't- I have to make sure they're always safe,” and Dean was like, “You and I are the same.” [laughter]

C: Wow…

G: Wow!

C: Sam is also in that situation, but I guess- I guess this is a Deangirl episode so…

G: Yeah. I was just gonna say, this is a- The plot points that relate to the metaplot, to the big plot of the season are Sam-related. But the actual episode itself is Dean-heavy?

C: Yeah.

G: It really is about Dean.

C: At least Sam looks really good the whole episode, though. That was really nice of them to do.

G: Yeah but he looks so sad. He looks so mopey. And I'm not a fan. I must admit. I'm not a fan of mopey boys.

C: His little emo boy moments, with his little bangs, like, ough. What a lad.

G: Every time he does something I have to remind myself that, like, his girlfriend just died! He’s allowed to be like this.

C: He was going to marry her! Like, it's a big deal! And also, the same way his mom died like that's- that's very, very traumatic.

G: That's gotta be creepy, yeah.

C: Yeah. So now they go to a bar, and they're trying to figure out the case. Sam talks about a history of missing campers, every 23 years, like clockwork. And then he shows Dean the video of Tommy on his laptop, and it shows, like, a big hulking shadow passing behind him through the tent. Three frames only, which shows that it moves really, really quickly. And then they find that in the past, there was a survivor of one of these attacks- which have been usually attributed to grizzly bears. So they decide to go find the person who survived to see what they can tell them about the creature.

G: And then, next, they go to the Shaw house, which is, like, the guy who survived the apparent grizzly bear attacks. So they interviewed this guy, and then Mr. Shaw claims that no one believed him. And Sam was very- you know- very, like, “If we know, we'll be able to figure this out. So you should tell us.” Like, he's doing the sympathetic, or empathetic, I guess, bit. And it works! The man says that the creature basically moved too fast to see, which, when you watch the later part of the episode, is such a funny thing to look back on.

C: Right. Because it's just- it's chillin’. It's just lumbering.

G: He's literally just some big guy who's walking around really slowly.

C: With his little Gollum face.

G: Yeah. And he hid too well and unlocked the door by itself, so it can't be a bear because it did not smash open a window or anything, right. And then he shows Sam and Dean his scars.

C: So after that, they head out of the house. They sort of discuss what the monster could be. They're like “Oh, we can't let Hayley go out alone.” And then Dean says-

G: You forgot the corporeal part!

C: The what? Oh! The corporeal- yes. They do have a banter thing about "corporeal" as a word, I guess. I didn't think it was that important, but I guess it's like a nice sibling moment.

G: Yeah. Who hasn't been teased by their sibling for using a big word? But later on in the show, Dean also uses a big word, and I was like “Ooh… big word…” [laughter] He says "belligerent"? And I was like, “You were just making fun of Sam for saying corporeal and now you're saying shit like belligerent.”

C: I feel like belligerent was in one of my vocabulary works, like- sorry, vocabulary books when I was in, like, I don't know, middle or high school.

G: I have never encountered that word. I had to Google it.

C: So they discussed the whole thing. Dean says that they can't stop Haley because her brother is missing and she's not just gonna sit tight. And then we have, you know, the moment where Sam asks “Finding Dad's not enough? Now we gotta babysit too?” And Dean looks so upset.

G: It look- he looked- Actually, now that you say it like that, I'm like, “Oh, okay. That's why he's upset.”

C: Right.

G: Because, like, I thought he was just angry, because I wrote “He looks at Sam angrily.” But i didn't connect the dots that, like, that's basically what he had to do in his life, right?

G: Yeah, yeah. Like he had to-

C: - Babysit Sam while John left them alone in motel rooms.

G: After this we go to the woods, and Roy and Haley are talking. Did you catch the name of the younger brother? Is it Josh?

C: Okay, for some reason I thought it was Connor. I feel like- I don't-

G: [laughs] It’s definitely not Connor.

C: But okay. The transcript says that it's Ben, so we just came up with two random white boy names and substituted them in. [laughter]

G: He looks like a Josh, so it's fine. Anyway, Ben. So they're talking about how- they're talking about how Ben shouldn't come but Haley insists that they should all stick together. And then Sam and Dean show up.

C: Oh for context, Roy is the guide that Hayley hired to take her through the woods so she can find her brother.

G: And then, Sam and Dean show up, and they're saying, like, “Hey, so, we're going with you guys.” And Haley was like, “You're hiking in biker boots and jeans?” And Dean says his iconic line of “Sweetheart, I don't do shorts.” which-

C: Can I count that as a misogyny moment?

G: -may be a misogyny moment?

C: I'm counting that as a Dean misogyny moment. All right, we're at six now for the show.

So then we go- after they get to join them on their little adventure- we go to the mine, where we see the earlier kids who were captured, well, two of them, the later two, hanging from the ceiling, all chained up. And then we hear growling, and the creature presumably goes and bites the guy who's not Tommy- who the transcript says his name is Gary. And then it's like “Ah! No… They're being eaten.”

G: Okay, so we go to the woods, right? So they're in the woods and Dean is asking Roy pointed questions to figure out if he's a “hunter” hunter and not just, like, a bear hunter. So he says, like, “Did Bambi and Yogi ever hunt you back?” Questions like that.

C: Right.

G: And then Dean almost steps on a bear trap, which is kind of like, when Roy figures out that Dean is genuinely like, out of his depth, and they're lying about being park ranger service guys. And this is also when Haley figures it out, so she confronts Dean about not being an actual ranger, and Dean looks at Sam, and Sam was like, "you got this" and just walked away.

C: So true, Sam.

G: And then, so Haley was like, "You're just carrying a duffel bag! You're not packing any provisions! What are you?" and Dean is like, "Oh, so we're not really park rangers. We're looking for our father." And Haley was like, "Why didn't you tell me from the start?" and Dean says, "I'm telling you now," and then he says. [both start laughing] [G screams] I hate this. I hate this.

C: I'm putting the tally up. We're at seven. Grey, hit us with the line.

G: "This is the most honest I've ever been with a woman, ever." Which is… One, like, what a weird misogyny moment.

C: Yeah, exactly, like why?

G: But two, like, it's such a weird thing to say in general? Like, if we- even if we remove it from the misogyny, you know, part... because like, what- what's the point of saying that? Like, “I've never been honest with another woman in my life.”

C: Right. Like, "Hi, I lie to women! So are we good now?"

G: And also, it's just like, it's so dehumanizing-

C: Right.

G: -of like, I say- “I'm honest with men, but with women? Nah.”

C: “Women? That other species? I just fuck them and leave them! What are you talking about?”

G: And then we have the most pointed M&M sponsorship.

C: [laughing] Right.

G: Where Dean pack- Dean gets out a giant bag of M&Ms and it's like, "These are my provisions! What do you mean I didn't pack any?" And then they keep on walking.

C: Yeah, which, I, okay. I feel like- do they usually couple Dean misogyny moments with like, harmless Dean being funny moments, so it's always like, "Uh, cringe; this is kind of bad! But oh, he's just a little boy!” Like, is that sort of a pattern that's been happening in the last two episodes? I feel like I've seen it a bit.

G: I guess in this era of television like, the misogyny jokes are supposed to be funny, so like, they're combined, you know? Just one continuous joke.

C: Right, right. He's just a silly goofy guy! In all the ways that matter: food and misogyny!

C: So now they're heading deeper into the woods, and they see that they're at the coordinates that John had left for Dean in his journal. And they notice that there are no creatures in this area, which means I guess they all ran away from something that was scary, and then they keep heading deeper into the woods.

G: Okay, so at the campsite, they see the tent and it looks like, Roy says that it looks like a grizzly attack because, well, it's full of blood, for one thing, and like, everything is in ruins. Dean figures out that the bodies were dragged from the campsite but the tracks stopped in the middle of the woods, which I was like, "oh, this is going to be relevant later." Well, it's not? Like I don't- so what's the implication?

C: I mean, a little bit.

G: That the creature went up to the trees?

C: Yeah, right, because there were the claw marks on the trees, right?

G: Yeah, I guess that's the implication? So Dean comes back and tries to comfort Haley by telling her that Tommy might still be alive, because Haley found the satellite phone basically destroyed on the ground. And then someone screams for help, and so they run towards that, but turns out, they were just lured away so that their provisions can be taken. So all of their backpacks were taken.

C: And their GPS, and their phones, very smart.

G: Yeah, their weapons, everything. So Sam asks Dean to speak with him in private and then asks for the journal, and they figure out what it is, what the creature is, and then they go back to the camp, and Sam and Roy get into a verbal battle. And Sam almost reveals what the thing is, but Dean stops him. And then Haley stops all of them, and then says that she's not leaving without Tommy, so.

C: Right. Yeah. Now they're hunkering down for the night, trying to stay alive. They've built a campfire, Dean's drawing symbols around the site which are supposed to keep the creature out, while Roy continues to be skeptical of whatever's going on. And then Dean and Sam have, like, a nice little conversation where Dean is asking Sam what's up because Sam's been especially belligerent recently and doesn't seem to be okay. Oh, also, Dean specifically asks, "Do you wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" Which I think is the first time Sam's referred to as a freak in the show?

G: Yes, that's true.

C: Yes. It's going to come back and haunt them all later.

Dean seems to think that John left them the journal as a message and he wants them to become hunters and do- the iconic line, "Saving people, hunting things: the family business." Sam's more skeptical of this and is like, "Why doesn't he just call us?" So true, Sam. And he's also a lot more focused on finding their father so that they can find who killed Jessica. And Dean's sort of arguing that what matters now is helping the people here and also telling Sam to be more healthy with his emotions, stop being-

G: Ah! Which is like, Dean saying that like-

C: Right like, okay, Dean. Okay, Dean.

G: "Your anger is gonna kill you" is like-

C: "All that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long haul. It's gonna kill you." Alright, Dean.

G: Like I guess like, young Dean, I understand him saying that, but in retrospect, it does sting a little bit.

C: Hm. Hm. Alright, Dean. Alright.

Yeah, so then Sam's like, "I don't know how to cope with this" and Dean says, "I figure our family's so screwed to hell, maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable." And Dean also says that something else that helps is "killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." Right, which is I guess a whole establishing hunting and also the emotions moment.

G: Yeah, this is the only part of the episode that is actually related to the metaplot, so that's what I meant when I said that like, the metaplot stuff is Sam's, but the episode is Dean's.

C: Yeah, no, for sure.

And then they hear the creature mimicking a human again yelling for help, trying to get them out of the circle. And then the creature is growling, getting nearer, rustling the bushes. Roy tries to shoot at it, thinks that he's hit it and then, like, runs out of the circle, where he gets snatched.

G: Yeah, he gets taken in kind of a brutal shot because his neck gets twisted when he gets taken.

G: Okay, so we get to a commercial break, and then when we come back, it's morning! And then Haley is asking Dean about how he knows about monsters, and then he says, "it runs in the family." And then Sam... [laughing] Sam says “bitch” for the first time in the show.

C: Yeah. Ugh, Sam! He was quoting Dean, so it's not his fault.

G: Yeah! [laughing]

C: [laughing] No Sam misogyny count yet.

G: Yeah. He says "evil son of a bitch," and that's where we get the bitch line. And then he explains the lore. Wow, Mr. Loreboy! explains the lord to Haley. The lore is like, that cannibalism basically turns a person into a superperson.

C: Right, right.

G: And then there's a line there that Dean says. Basically, he says that it turns the person from a human to a less-than-human thing. Which I was like, confused by the wording, because if a person is turned into basically a superhuman, you know: they have immortality, they have very quick speed, they have super strength-

C: And they're still very smart.

G: They turn "less than human." It's like, a bit weird. I guess like, morally speaking, less than human.

C: It's like the Supernatural thing where every creature- well, where humans are held as the platonic ideal of existence, and all other creatures are like, less than. Like, angels are considered worse than humans in Supernatural. Like, they're just really out here promoting the human agenda.

G: Yeah! So that's why I took note of it because I thought that was relevant to the whole, you know, humans like-

C: Yeah, no, it's definitely one of the establishing moments of Supernatural's philosophy about monsters and I guess like, biological determinism in a way? Though I guess what's interesting about this creature is that it starts as a human.

G: Uh, Dean says basically that the thing can only be killed through fire. Where did Dean find the torches?

C: Yeah, I don't know. Like, did he just have them in the car, or maybe they were on the campsite, maybe-

G: Oh, yeah, right, that's true.

C: Because they had to build a campfire in order to have the campfire earlier. So-

G: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-

C: I think he probably just picked them up from the campsite. Honestly, I feel like they should have just gone back to town and gone to the local store and bought some more lighter fluid and a flamethrower. Because it's a real problem when Dean gets snatched later and Sam is lighter-fluid-less.

G: well I guess like, there's a sense of emergency, because, you know.

C: Right, because Tommy's gonna get eaten.

C: Dean's leading them through the woods and they're seeing a lot of trees with claw marks on them. And then Sam sort of realizes that, I guess, the claw prints are too easy to follow like, the creature left them on purpose to lead them into a track- trap. And then we get the classic Supernatural blood dripping on you from above, and then you look up, and it's Roy, and he's dead in the tree, and he falls down and they're like, "ah, he sure is dead!" And then there's-

G: I replayed that scene because I didn't know where the sound was coming from. Like, I didn't realize that blood was dripping on Haley. I was like, "what's that noise?" and then, so like, I went back and I was like, oh, it's blood.

C: It's Supernatural, it's blood dripping from above.

G: Hashtag Supernatural. Yeah.

C: Right. And then they hear growling from the creature, and they're all running and running. And then, Sam and Ben end up losing Dean and Haley.

G: Ben and Sam are walking around and they're talking about why the creature killed Roy. And Sam was like, "well, probably Roy pissed the creature off because he shot at it." So they're just walking around, they're trying to look for Dean and Haley until Ben finds a trail of M&Ms. Hashtag product placement!

C: Sponsorship, sponsorship.

G: So they end up on a mine while following the trail, and they go inside. And they see the creature, and they hide from the creature, which like, this is the point where I'm like, “My suspension of disbelief, it's being challenged.”

C: Yeah, no, right, it's supposed to be like, incredibly fast, but nah, it's just chillin’. It's taking a stroll.

G: Yeah! It's literally just walking around like, heavy and lumbering.

C: Right like, this is not like, a fast creature, this is not-

G: Also, was its senses ever mentioned? Like, did they ever mention if it can hear things or see things?

C: I don't- I don't think that was mentioned, but like, you'd think that a creature that is described as an excellent hunter would have a good sense of smell and hearing. Like, Ben's little gasp totally should have been heard, but nah.

G: Yeah.

C: Also, again, they totally should have just gone back to town and bought more flamethrower shit. Like, I don't care that, like, time is of the essence or whatever; it's probably not going to eat them now. Why are you coming into this completely empty-handed? You are both so screwed. But apparently not.

G: I- [laughing] They still win in the end, so it's fine.

C: Yeah.

G: They continue walking, and then they fall into the floor, I guess, and there's a basement. And the basement is full of bones, which was like, a little bit of a jump scare for us and for Ben.

C: There's some skulls on the ground. They're all very clean.

G: Well, the creature is a ferocious eater.

C: Right, right.

G: Licked the bones clean. So they find Dean and Haley, and Haley and Dean are tied up on the ceiling. So they wake them up: Ben towards Haley and Sam towards Dean. And when they're on the ground, Haley finds Tom, which she thought was dead but then turned out to be alive, which was another jump scare when he gasps for breath. And so the siblings are reunited, and Dean finds flare guns in what I presume is their provision pack that the creature took earlier? The specifics of that are a bit fuzzy, but like, I'm assuming- I'm assuming that.

C: Right, and then they hear the creature coming back, and Haley recognizes that they won't be able to outrun it even though it isn't fast from last we saw. So Dean decides to split off from the group and be a distraction while Sam helps get Haley and her brothers out of there. Dean says, [laughing] "Chow time, you freaky bastard! Yeah, that's right, bring it on, baby, I taste good!" Okay, Dean.

G: The way he says "I taste good" was so funny...

C: He literally says "I taste good."

G: He says like, "I taste goooood."

C: Right, like-

G: Oh, he also says, "You want some white meat, bitch?"

C: Oh, my god, I know like, at least you're aware!

G: [laughing] Wh- It's so funny it's so funny and I know, like, that scene, I don't know what they were going for. I guess it was both supposed to be comedic but also like, scary, or was it just supposed to be scary?

C: That scene, I think it was supposed to be like, funny and scary, right, it's like, "Oh, look at your favorite little guy Dean just being so funny and cocky! But oh no, he's sure maybe going to get eaten. Ah!"

Right, the creature's lurking around. Sam tells Haley and her brothers to get out. Right, and then we finally see the face of the creature. It looks like Gollum. It just looks like Gollum.

G: It's disappointing. I wish we just never saw the face of the creature.

C: Right, because I think- I think they do a decent job of building up the suspense and only seeing the corners of the creature, and then you're like, "Ah, face reveal? For realsies?" And it's not- it's a little- some guy. It's a wrinkly little guy with big ears.

And then, yeah, Sam tries to shoot it and then runs off, and then Dean shows-

G: Was the exit closed? Why didn't they go out?

C: Yeah, I don't know how close the exit was. I don't- I think it wasn't that far. I feel like they were mostly just slow because they had to carry Tommy.

G: No, but like, they were at the end of the tunnel. Sam was like, "damn it!" and then they just stand in front of them, like, defending them, and I was like, "What are they doing? Is the exit closed?"

C: Right. It's not... Gah. I don't know. I don't know.

G: I genuinely have no idea.

C: I think since it's a mine shaft like, there was like, probably like, an incline, so it was probably harder to get up.

G: Mm, maybe. But I think they were just like, "It's closed now because it suits the plot better."

C: Yeah, yeah. And then Dean shows up and shoots the creature, and the creature burns up, and yay, they're good.

G: So we go to the epilogue, which is Ben telling- Ben and Sam telling the police that basically they saw this like, 800, 900 pound bear, and that it attacked them, etc. And then Haley and Dean are talking! And then- I- okay. I know what you're going to say. I know what you're going to say.

C: I'm ticking- I'm moving this to an 8. I'm moving it to an 8!

G: Okay. I'm going to defend him. I'm going to defend him.

C: Oh? Okay, all right, all right.

G: So like, okay, I'm going to explain first what happened, which is that Haley says "I don't know how to thank you," and then Dean makes, like, a cheesy, like, smolder face, and then Haley says, "Oh, come on. Must you cheapen the moment?" and Dean goes, "Yeah!" like, you know, really funnily. And then Hayley kisses Dean on the cheek. So okay, here's my defense of Dean.

C: Okay. Hit me with it.

G: So like, at the beginning of the- at the beginning of the episode, Haley and Dean haven't been through anything. They don't know each other, right? But like, because during here, they're basically acquainted, this is just like, for me, like in my perspective, this is just a little bit of flirting with a friend, you know?

C: Okay.

G: Like, it's not like, offensive because they know each other, and they've been through shit, and it's just like a little funny joke that “Ooh, remember when at first we were like- I was like, trying to hit on you, and now, I'm still trying to hit on you? And then we've been through shit in the middle of that?" It's like, it's not- I don't find it as offensive as like, the pistol comment or the other comment that we cringed at earlier. The- what's that?

C: Yeah, um, the calling her sweetheart? Or was it-

G: No, no, the "I've never been honest to any other girl."

C: Oh my god, yeah, that one. [both laugh] Okay.

G: So like, it's- you know. What do you think?

C: Okay, I think my feelings... Okay, I understand your perspective there. I feel like my problem with this scene is sort of just my problem with Haley's portrayal in general and like, sort of just the general trend of like, you know, like, "funny guy makes sort of sexual harass-y comment, but the girl's always cool about it"? Like, she's always like, “ah, you sly dog!” and sort of laughs and shrugs it off. I just think- I think my issue is just with that trend in general because... Male writers want to think that when they are sexually harassing people, they are being funny, and they also think-

G: Yeah.

C: And they're also like, "Oh, well, I would never actually assault someone, like I'm not that kind of guy, I'm a good person! So of course women shouldn't feel uncomfortable or scared or threatened when I say something like that because I'm a good guy, and they should know that!" But they don't know that, and they shouldn't know that, and they shouldn't- and these characters realistically would not be like, "Ah, you sly dog! You silly little man! I love you so much!" Right, like, it's like- earlier, she's in the woods with this guy she doesn't know, and he has guns and has been making advances, and his brother is there and is quite tall and could probably also overpower her. Like, she should be terrified, she should continue to be terrified. And like, I understand her at the end. Maybe she and Dean had some fun little chats while they were hanging up there by meat hooks. So like, yeah, I think the specific moment isn't that bad. Well, like, I think it's just the culmination. It's like, this is what the writers thought of their relationship, this is how the writers are gonna leave it off. And, it's bad. It's- I guess it's a writer misogyny moment more than a Dean misogyny moment.

G: Yeah.

C: Kinda, is what I think. But yeah, I still hate the moment and would love to put some kind of a tally mark on it, but I understand not putting a Dean misogyny tally mark on it. I'll let him stay at seven.

G: The- [laughter] Should we do a separate tally mark for writers’ misogyny moments, or would that be too much?

C: Right, yeah, no, let's, right, okay. Writers’ misogyny moments.

G: Because like, writer misogyny moment, like, first scene of the show is Mary dying on the ceiling for manpain.

C: Right, right, yeah.

G: Like that's already-

C: First one is Mary, second writer misogyny moment is Jess, I guess, but also the woman in white in general, I think. is a writer misogyny moment..

G: [laughing] You know what? Let's not do the writers’ misogyny moment anymore.

C: Yeah, honestly, there's too many, there's too many. There's just too many.

G: Yeah, let's just stick with Dean.

C: Right.

G: Okay, so after Haley kisses Dean, she turns around and then barely looks at Sam-

C: [laughs] Yeah.

G: -and then goes, "thank you, Sam."

C: Right.

G: Literally doesn't even look at him which I was like, "Oh my god. You just kissed the other guy, and now you're just going like, thank you!"

C: He shielded you with his body while the creature was going at you.

G: Yeah!

C: But oh, I, whatever, I guess Dean has longer eyelashes.

G: - but they were establishing Haley and Dean more, yeah, so.

And then Sam and Dean are sitting behind on the hood of the car, and Dean was like, "I hate hunt- I hate camping," and Sam was like, "me too." So Dean says, "You know we're gonna find Dad, right?" and Sam's like, "I know. But in the meantime, I'm driving!" And they drive off into the night or morning or whatever time it is of the day.

C: There's the whole needle drop.

G: And the episode ends.

C: Yeah, I don't- I didn't like the ending. I don't know. I think they tried too hard to make it lighthearted at the end.

G: The ending where they like, cut to the car driving is so weird. I wish they just ended it after Sam was like "I'm driving" and then that's it. Because the cut to the car was so jarring, and I was like, "Oh, there's more? There's more to this episode?"

C: But like no, there's not.

G: And then it just ends like, there's nothing.

C: It's like, we just wanted to blow our money on getting the rights to another song in this episode.

G: Which I don't even recognize, so that's a fail on their part.

G: So we have a new segment that we didn't do last time.

C: Oh, right.

G: Called Best Line/Worst Line.

C: Yes.

G: So what do you think is the best line in this episode? I'm gonna say mine first.

C: Okay, yeah.

G: So my favorite line in the episode is the iconic one. you know, "Saving people, hunting things: the family business." I think, you know, that line is something that Supernatural would cling on and fail to embody through the years, but for what it is, it's a good line! Like yeah, that's what this show is about! Like if you're introducing the show, and you're watching it the first time, and you want to know what it's about, "saving people, hunting things: the family business" is basically what is it- what it is about in the beginning. So I was like, "Ah, that's- yeah, it's a line." [laughs]

C: Probably my favorite line is just- it was the one I skipped over in my cemetery recap, but just, "I should have protected you, I should have told you the truth." Just because I think it says a lot of interesting things about Sam, and it also has so much untouched potential in that they should have told other people about the supernatural, like they should have protected people by telling them the truth. But alas, the show never really went in that direction, so I will just have this line to comfort me in my old age.

G: Okay, so I think we both agree with the worst line [both laugh], which is the-

C: [spluttering]

G: - the one about honesty, oh my god! "I've never been honest with a woman like this" or whatever it is-

C: Ever!

G: God, ever. Come on, Dean! His game is so bad. It's so bad. The only reason why he gets girls is because he's like, the prettiest man alive.

C: [laughs] Right.

G: Otherwise like, dude, come on.

G: Okay, I'm going to search it up, but like, in the meantime, what do you think is the IMDB rating?

C: Okay, I mean, I feel like it's probably just going to be lower than the pilot just because it's less iconic. But I think like, it's a good second episode in the way it establishes what hunting is and what it's like, and, I don't know I think it has some like, decent jump scares and stuff for the horror fans, so... like an 8.5?

G: 8.5? That's so high. I was going for like, a 7.8.

C: Ooh. Okay. What's your reasoning?

G: Well, because it was like, like nothing- basically nothing happens plot-wise, you know.

C: Yeah, I guess like, for a second episode I guess I viewed it as more of an exposition episode?

G: As a- I guess, okay, I'm going to view it as like, a monster of the week episode, right? Like, for what the monster was. I don't know. I was like, I guess it was- it was kind of creepy? [laughs] I don't know. Because I'm not a horror fan, so like, I don't know the themes of the genre or like, what it should be about. And like, I liked Haley, I think Haley was a good character.

C: Yeah, I liked Haley. They made Haley to be likable.

G: I think her brother... yeah, I think her brother was literally a no character person.

C: Yeah. He was underutilized, I suppose.

G: I would say... okay, I'm going to be a bit more generous and say an 8.2.

C: Okay.

G: Yeah, okay, I'm gonna search it up...

It's an 8 over 10.

C: Okay, so yeah, both of us shot too high.

G: After your jackpot last week, we have diminished in skill.

C: Yeah, no I really missed it on this one. Yeah. I can't believe both of us were nicer to Supernatural than the overall audience.

G: The general public?

C: Right.

G: Well, you know. I would... Okay, to clarify to the audience, right? I think this is the part where we say that like... Do you love the show, Crystal?

C: What?

G: From what you know of it, do you love the show?

C: No?

[both laugh a lot]

G: Yes.

C: I love Cas.

G: We're starting a podcast- Yeah, exactly, that was, I was gonna say like: I love certain aspects of it. I love Cas, I love Sam, especially earlier Sam. Dean, I have complicated feelings for, but, I mean, I watched the show for so long. Of course I'm gonna love that guy, you know And I love the characters like, Charlie, Kevin, like these characters, I love. But I've always had the perspective that this show was not good enough for these people, you know? Like, I've always been a person who was like, "Cas should be in another show because he's such a good character, and Supernatural is underutiliz-" you know? Shit like that.

C: Cas should be in my house.

G: He should be in our houses, that's correct. [laughs]

So, uh, I guess I'm just trying to say here that like, we don't necessarily love the show, yeah. So yes, we overshot the IMDB rating, but like, maybe we'll get better at this, you know?

C: I think after... maybe by the end of season one, we'll understand what America wants from Supernatural.

G: So that's it for this episode of Busty Asian Beauties. Next time, we will be talking about Season 1 Episode 3: “Dead in the Water.”

C: Follow us on social media! We are on twitter at twitter.com/BeautiesPodcast and on Tumblr at bustyasianbeautiespod.tumblr.com.

G: You can email us any feedback, comments, or inquiries at [email protected]. So, see you guys next time!

C: Bye!

G: Bye!

[guitar music]

#transcript

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