#episode one i am already emotionally damaged

[hypnostallev]

Well... First episode of Superstition Season 3 was certainly something

#13leaguestories #superstition #superstition season 3 #superstition s3 #spoilers #author breaks my heart for few last years thanks for that #episode one i am already emotionally damaged #ahaha #sydero #chanara #death

[uzis-dopeaf-hat]

Analysis of Nuzi in Episode 7

[MAJOR MURDER DRONES SPOILERS]

Okay! I've been wanting to rant about these two for ages so I'm happy to get this out haha. I'll try to make this post a little more comprehensible than the last one (no promises).

I'll try to keep this in chronological order.

-

So before I move ahead, let me get this out of the way.

N still cares about V, but I don't think he's thought about her in a romantic sense since at most, the end of episode 3. He absolutely sees her as family and deeply cares for her. Hence why he immediately starts freaking out and attacking the rubble blocking the elevator shaft.

He is desperately trying to get his family back.

So desperately that he unintentionally hurts someone else he immensely cares for.

He forgets about Uzi's condition in his blind panic, but upon remembering he becomes almost ridden with guilt. Uzi likely already feels terrible because of the loss of V and not being able to do anything to help N since she physically is unable to at this moment. It seems N understands this and tries to remedy this by telling Uzi "It's okay," and apologizing profusely.

He doesn't want Uzi to put anything else on her shoulders and backtracks so fast here.

And when Uzi tells N she's sorry, for both N's loss of V and her own inability to help N get back up the elevator shaft, she sounds so upset for N. There's nothing she can do for him here, and she knows this.

It's almost amusing how N gives "Tessa" a death glare here. As the series has gone on N has become less and less of a pushover, no doubt because of Uzi. If N had run into Tessa in any episode from 1-3. it would have been easier for Cyn to manipulate him.

But because she waited so long, N has built such a genuinely healthy and stable relationship with Uzi. One where both parties mutually care about each other and treat each other like equals (which should be normal but of course, this isn't the case for N or Uzi).

But something else to be noted here is the regression of both Uzi and N's characters at this moment.

Because while N is definitely making progress on standing his ground, and letting his own opinions be known, he is still faced with a non-choice. Instead of immediately deciding to question his old friend, he tries to compromise.

It's an old behavior met with an old friend vs a new behavior met with a new friend. He is trying to still somewhat appease "Tessa" while making it known that he isn't willing to hurt Uzi. But he never discusses this with Tessa herself aside from this moment, where he does so with Uzi present and out of the loop.

Let's take a look at Uzi's reaction when N tells her they won't hurt her.

She is scared.

Her eyes dart back and forth between the duo in front of her, putting her hand up in defense to try and subconsciously protect herself.

She doesn't understand what is happening, but she isn't stupid. She knows this means something happened- something regarding her, that's been decided on without her knowledge or input.

And with how much we like to joke about how dopey N is, he does seem very emotionally intelligent at times, especially here. He realizes his mistake immediately, his placating expression of trying to reassure Uzi drawing back as he drags his hand back, startled at her negative reaction.

After the solver accidentally activates from Uzi (unsure if Cyn activated it on purpose or if Uzi herself activated it by accident because of her distress- I can see both being factors), N tries to reach out to her. To bring her back to his side, to him.

He holds his palm upwards to her, physically trying to tell her 'I am here, with you, let me help.' And as he steps towards her, she moves away from him.

Uzi's trust in him has been damaged. She is scared and instead of letting N help her, or allowing him to try and explain what's happening, she hunches over and guards herself from him. She isolates herself, their relationship crumbling like the cave around them.

And N? Once Uzi is out of his view? His hand switches from welcoming to pleading. As in, he reaches out to her, trying to get her back even if he doesn't actually do anything to make it so. He is reeling from what he's done to make her feel like she can no longer trust him, to come to him for his aid. His demeanor is now 'Please wait, come back, don't leave me, I am sorry.'

Maybe not exactly those words, but it's obvious that he doesn't want her to leave. So much so that he forgets to even protect himself (or even "Tessa") from the debris falling around them.

When N wakes up, he immediately tries to free himself and desperately calls for Uzi.

And yes, Uzi is his first thought. He doesn't know where she is, or if she's okay, but his first instinct is to find her, because 'is she okay? Where is she, where are you?' is definitely what N is thinking when trying to find her, even though he can't move.

N is distressed, and after not being able to attract Uzi back to him via shouting, he gets ready to saw off his own arm.

He isn't just saying "I deserve this," because he chopped off Uzi's arm in the last episode, although that is part of it. He's saying he deserves this because he drove Uzi off, didn't confide in her, let her know what was happening, and scared her off in the process.

He is also sawing at the arm that he had held Uzi's hand with -- once again, the same hand that he sliced off to try and stop the solver. Interesting parallel there (at least it's another thing they have in common...?). His hand is absolutely crushed. That's not an accident, the team deliberately shows this -- and this is the result of N's actions (or lack thereof).

...sucks that both hands that had held each other are now destroyed (that's not me trying to be philosophical, just me being sad).

Cut here, and N is immediately ready to tell Uzi what he's learned, sprinting to find her. Probably due to the fact that he's discovered that his crush's mother is still alive but...

When told not to inform Uzi of Nori's existence by the woman herself, N upright denies her request; he's learned from his previous mistake and that lying (via omission) is not something he's going to do, especially not with Uzi.

And while certain information may hurt Uzi, he never wants what happened with Uzi to happen again. He doesn't want her to be afraid of him, or unsure of his intentions because N just wants to help and support her in any and every way he can.

He only relents that he won't tell Uzi, as long as Nori does. This is a bit different from the situation with "Tessa" since A) Nori is Uzi's mother, she really should be the one telling Uzi about her maternal status, and B) He is expecting her to actually inform Uzi of this. Not a "maybe, if needed," situation, a "you can wait until you're ready, but you will tell her," situation.

Back with "Tessa," N finally confronts her, giving her one chance and one chance only.

And Tessa, not used to this new version of N, does not heed his warning, and is promptly dealt with.

N is pissed... and it makes sense as to why. "Tessa" is attempting to force N to kill his best friend, the first one to really talk to him after who knows how long of being stuck with V ignoring him and J berating him.

Uzi has her own bite, but it's never in a way meant to harm or insult N. That's just how she is, and she and N have an excellent bond as the series moves forward.

Tessa is jeopardizing this, mocking him, and calling him "cute," and even tries to monologue to him. But N doesn't let her, because she's already made him hurt Uzi enough and he's at his last leg here. He's done.

And he's still shaken from killing Tessa.

He went full disassembly mode, maybe to make it easier, to kill her.

He is actively struggling, breathing heavily, and having to use the blade he beheaded Tessa with to hold himself up.

Despite this, when "Uzi" grabs at the patch, he snaps out of his stupor to address her. Trying to cope with what just happened. He calls her "buddy," which he really only calls her once in episode three when referring to both of them as "dapper buddies."

Just something interesting to point out, since Cyn took control of Uzi immediately after N "got rid of her body "killed" her. He's called Cyn "buddy," before (although, he called the birds trying to kill him buddies as well, so not sure how that pans out).

When he says it here it almost feels like a coping mechanism. Trying to take care of his loved ones in any way he can. Also, note how he still has an 'x' as an optic. Likely due to the stress he's been put through.

Once he somewhat collects himself, he attempts to tell Uzi that all he needs is her, and for them to stay together.

Their short time away from each other did not favor them. N admits to both himself and Uzi that he doesn't like being away from her and that he needs her to be by his side.

And Uzi definitely could've used him when she found the recording of her mother.

It's a bit harder to analyze Uzi's moments since a lot of it is just herself dealing with her own issues. This is still important, but not a lot of it deals with N, aside from the fact that, yes, N being here would've been preferable (unless I missed some stuff in the middle of this episode).

Cyn reveals herself, having taken control of Uzi, and we really see how sinister she can be.

Make no mistake, that is indeed a heart around Uzi, formed with Cyn's... claw... like appendages.

This is also deliberately put here by the team because they do not want us to doubt N's feelings for Uzi (it gets a lot more heavy-handed, too).

But the most important part here is N's reaction to seeing Uzi. When Cyn turns and shows Uzi's face, N visibly falters, expression growing more upset. He doesn't shoot her. Cyn notices this and smiles because she now sees the advantage she has over N.

And boy, does she take advantage.

This is probably my favorite part of this entire combat scene. N tries to essentially threaten Cyn here from further hurting Nori, trying to get her to back off.

Except, Cyn sees this as an opportunity to toy with him.

Maybe I'll one day do an analysis on Cyn, but she takes active pleasure in seeing N's suffering. When he holds his blade to her neck, he actually takes a moment to look at Cyn in the face, waiting for her next move.

And Cyn grabs that blade and slowly starts jabbing it into Uzi's neck. Because this is who N is now seeing: he is seeing Cyn hurt Uzi and he doesn't know what to do.

You see him visibly gasp, as he notices what Cyn's doing, and is still unable to make himself move (unless, of course, N is now actively trying to get the blade away from Uzi, but it doesn't seem like that's what's happening here).

Scratch that, while it's not immediately obvious, there are minuscule movements of the blade after Cyn starts stabbing Uzi - like N is trying to get it away from Uzi's neck while keeping eye contact with Cyn. He may still be seeing Uzi instead of Cyn at this moment (likely struggling between the two).

Something else to point out is that N is shaking even before Cyn grabs the blade. If you look at the tip of the weapon it's easier to tell. Again, chalking it up to not wanting to actually hurt Uzi.

This is a very nice parallel back to episode three. Aside from the hand-chopping part. Lots of limbs have been lost recently.

Ignoring the fact N was just raining fire down on Uzi, which is one of two times (don't quote me on that) he gets properly lethal, he tries hard here to not hurt her- almost like he's trying to get Uzi back in control.

It's hard to see here, but N is actually smiling as he holds Uzi's hand. Probably similar to what he does later - he is trying to remind Uzi of herself. Aside from the eyes, it feels like Uzi is reacting to this, looking surprised, before Nori takes her hand off to stop Cyn from creating more pockets of voids and closing the current ones.

But Cyn isn't done yet.

Once again, she uses N's affections against him to save herself. But in doing so, she allows N to finally crack through to Uzi, even if not by much.

It's comical that this is what helps Uzi gain control again, although what else would we expect? Even so, probably another favorite moment of mine.

Again, if anyone was doubting Nuzi... the team cannot get more obvious than this. Until we get an outright verbal confession... which is yet to be seen, sadly enough.

Unsure if N knew this would help Uzi or if he just wanted to let Nori know about him and Uzi before she died. This may just be him being lovesick for his possessed girlfriend.

Jokes aside, a lot of people took this as N saying they've been dating since episode five. I don't... think that's necessarily the case. I keep seeing the phrase "she fell first, but he fell harder," when discussing Nuzi and honestly? Yeah, he did. But dating since before episode six? That doesn't make sense, since we've been following their relationship since episode one, and it's not like it's irrelevant to the story. It's actually a huge part of Murder Drones, romantic or not, so any developments like the two dating would make more sense to happen in front of the audience and actually be addressed.

I think this is more of him sort of declaring his love for Uzi, in the most N way he can.

Ahh... although the dating part may be a bit irrelevant due to their predicament. They are both somewhat aware of how the other feels but have yet to discuss anything as Uzi states later. Likely due to uh, certain events happening around them.

When N sees Uzi come to, he starts laughing because of how relieved he is. And then promptly screams in horror at Uzi's next actions (I'm sure Nori is fine).

A small thing, but I thought it was an interesting reaction to have after having fought the previously possessed girl.

I think the fact that the two defaulted to freaking out after seeing each other is really sweet, funnily enough.

The way the two immediately start bantering, almost frantically, makes it feel like the two are looking for some sort of familiarity after all that's been happening. Moving instinctively closer to each other. Yes, maybe so they don't have to shout; but more importantly, after everything they've gone through, they want to be near each other.

And when they meet in the middle? They embrace each other, Uzi tightening her own hold and weeping into N's arm. N himself petting and caressing Uzi's head, both to comfort her and reassure himself that she is finally here with him.

...unfortunately, that is not the end of this post, nor the episode (as you've probably guessed).

After Cyn interrupts and attacks the duo, she descends into her pit of hell where she plans on dragging them.

You can see Uzi desperately trying to reach N, trying to get him to respond. That is her only goal in this moment, making sure that he is okay and alive.

I feel as if I am repeating myself... but yes, that heart is also purposeful. It's interesting how the tentacles split after forming, proceeding to drag N and Uzi apart with Uzi grasping at the ground trying to get back to N.

It literally tears them away from each other, and you can see how Uzi is forced to let go only to try and grab ahold of N.

She manages just in time to grab him, while impaling her hand onto some bones sticking up from the fleshy pit to stop both herself and N from falling further.

And we know this isn't a painless process, as drones have been shown to actively show pain. She doesn't care, she is doing all she can to save N, even if it hurts her. You can see how her arm starts ripping apart from her own hand as tentacles begin pulling harder.

But when Uzi sees N wake up, she gives him a smile, with a small, shakey, "Hey."

She knows they're likely about to die. And while N may have clones, Uzi does not. And even so, there's no way Cyn would allow N to remember anything that's happened, Uzi's firewall likely only protecting this N.

And as her final words she begins to thank him. For being her first friend. The first to believe in her. The first to show concern to her. The first to stay with her despite everything.

But when she sees that key?

She finishes thanking her first love and throws him away from their shared doom.

Uzi is genuinely so glad she's met N, and it shows in her expression here. She is saving the one good thing that has happened to her since her mom left her.

She knows N isn't going to be okay with this, that this won't be easy for him, and won't be easy for her, as she's assuming her own death in saving him.

Because of this, she doesn't want N's last memory of her to be herself being scared and unsure. So she tells him to "Die Mad," and flings him out of the chapel to both prevent him from attempting to save her and witnessing her death.

And you can see N was ready to jump in, determined to get her back and to save her. He uses his blades once again as a crutch, flaring his wings out in preparation to fly towards her.

Uzi doesn't let him, and for the last time pushing him away to save him from their once-shared fate.

I think Uzi's message to N will come into play later when they inevitably confront Cyn for the last time. Whether or not Uzi is there with him, he won't be able to forgive Cyn for controlling him and hurting him along with his loved ones.

-

And... that's the post! ending on a sad note but uh... we are talking about episode seven so there's no avoiding that haaaah.

If I missed something or you want further discussion feel free to send an ask or reply/respond to this post, love talking about shit.

Take a Nuzi dancing gif to go (I'm also sad now so this is really an excuse to put this at the end of my post).

Have a good one!

#long post #murder drones #serial designation n #uzi doorman #biscuitbites #md spoilers #murder drones n #nuzi #md nuzi #n x uzi #murder drones nuzi #murder drones uzi #md n #n murder drones #serial designation v murder drones #serial designation v #v murder drones #cyn #murder drones cyn #md cyn #murder drones tessa #tessa james elliot #scyn #what do we call her?? #md scyn

[br-disaster]

CQL's crybaby Nie Mingjue appreciation post

I always see people talking about CQL's Nie Mingjue crying constantly, and they're right to do so, but I haven't seen those scenes compiled so I thought it would be a good idea to do it, since it's one of my favorite things about this version of NMJ.

*I'll consider the times he was tearing up too because I think they're important, but i'm only considering "full crying scenes" the ones where there are actual tears falling down his face.

*It's all in chronological order.

Episode 41 - defending Meng Yao

Why is NMJ crying? Crying is his response to everything, okay? NMJ is very emotionally invested in everything he does. He's very mad these men for saying terrible things about Meng Yao while benefiting from his labour. He's so emotionally invested in everything he does.

Is it a full crying scene? No, he tears up the entire time he's scolding the cultivators but those tears don't leave his eyes.

Episode 10 - being threatened by Wen Chao

Why is NMJ crying? Wen Chao is being very disrespectful, as he often is. And it's understandable, NMJ is hurt, his home was invaded, some of his soldiers are dead and it's overall a terrible time for everybody. To be honest, though, I think he's tearing up out of pure rage because Wen Chao just mentioned what Wen Xu did to the Cloud Recesses.

Is it a full crying scene? No. I almost didn't include this one because it's very subtle but his eyes look too shiny to be ignored.

Episode 10 - expelling Meng Yao from the Unclean Realm

Why is NMJ crying? It's a very emotional and conflicting moment on top of a terrible day, on top of a very stressful period of his life. He was betrayed by his friend who saved his life right afterwards; his home was invaded and they're at war! He has every right to cry as much as he did.

Is it a full crying scene? Hell yes, and it's glorious. They even end the episode with his miserable little crying face.

Episode 41 - Everything, really

Why is NMJ crying? Everything sucks, he's defeated and hurt in front of the man who killed his father. He didn't get his personal revenge and he didn't free the world from Wen Ruohan's tyranny either. Instead, he watched helplessly as his men were murdered and now he has to watch his former deputy mock his father's death and threaten to have Wen Ruohan damage Baxia like he did with his father's blade.

Is it a full crying scene? No, only because he's being very brave about it. I have no idea how those tears didn't fall.

Episode 41 - confrontation at Jinlintai

Why is NMJ crying? Very difficult topics being discussed here. People who are way better with words than I am have already written amazing meta on how having his worldview challenged like this affects NMJ emotionally, so I won't go there. But between the song of turmoil making him more emotionally unstable and the disdain with which JGY talks about the men he killed, evoking this very traumatic moment I just mentioned on the previous crying scene; I think it's very understandable.

Is it a full crying scene? Yes! Most of the time he's holding back tears, but you can see the one dramatic tear running down his nose (on the outside of it) on the second gif!

In conclusion: he has so much to cry about, it's surprising he didn't cry more, it must have taken so much strength (or he was just crying offscreen, which is plausible, because sadly this isn't The Nie Mingjue show and we don't see him all the time)

Anyway, I am not here to claim he's not a crybaby because he absolutely is, but on the actual show we only have 2 full crying scenes. They were so impactful it feels like much more crying happened. Fatal Journey is it's own thing so I made a separate post for those tearing up, crying and emotional breakdown lovely scenes <3

#nie mingjue #this isn't meta this is me discovering the joy of making decent gifs #cql #long post #kinda #despite often being at the crime scene i won't tag jgy or nieyao because i don't go there and i'm not a fan but yall do whatever you want #i just wanted to look at his pretty crying face and have more than just screenshots of it #like look at him!! how can you say mean things to him or in his general vicinity knowing it will make him cry? #monsters all of them #the zoom on the second to last gif makes it so funny though #anyway i hope my gifs aren't horrible to tumblr standards

[lysreadsbookssometimes]

I watched the finale of young royals and here are some of my rambles, collected while watching. Enjoy.

Spoilers!!!

So i didn't make it a minute, i paused at 00:59 because i could already feel the tears coming up. What the hell.

I honestly didn't expect the reactions to the closing to be that way. A lot of screaming and blaming? Sure. But August breaking down? Very in character, but unexpected.

I was especially surprised by Vincent going for a hug to calm him down. Really surprised me.

Felice is probably my favorite person in this show ngl

And they see each other from across the room, through the partying people, and we have come full circle back to the first episode. Honestly poetic. I love it.

August got redeemed. And although i am still rationally thinking about the consequences, emotionally it works. My emotional side thinks he's earned it. Somehow.

Felice and Sara making up is healing my soul

Nils finally coming out to his friends. No comments, just that.

They are wrapping everything up so beautifully in the first 30 mins. All the smaller things. The rush from the "last" everything, everybody finally getting their shit in order, all of it. Beautiful.

I am also insanely worried about what is going to happen now. I am writing this at timestamp 26:25 and the 30:53 of emotional damage on the other side of the progress bar is still staring at me. We'll see.

And the interaction between August and Sara just killed me. And its not even over. I had to pause so i could handle Augusts puppy eyes after the rejection. Judging from the big sip of cider i just took i was subconsiously rooting for them. I think i just want them to be happy. All of them. Even Sara and August.

Okay homebro is panicking so bad he PROPOSED, he is down BAD

Also the line "You love who you are when you are with me" was killer, oh my god

The last kiss. The wiping away the tears. "It will pass." Wound, Salt, and then they twist the knife.

But it is a fitting ending. It works. It fits their characters, their journeys. They wouldn't have worked out in the long run and they get their ending. Both heartbroken, but on their way to healing.

I love and hate the idea of "one last night together". It implies and ending i am still dreading. But they deserve to forget everything for a night.

I honestly didn't realize it was still sun out and it caught me off guard so bad (or is that a sunrise? I am so confused)

I don't have the scene on hand but i am pretty sure they framed the scene in the bed at the end of s3e5 the same way as them lying on the blanket (?) here. Super interesting visual storytelling.

(Small detail here, i recently had a crash course on tv journalism and a big part of that was scenes and pictures, thats why i pay so much attention to the visual language here)

The entire lake scene is beautifully shot. The way they have mirroring motions (like brushing hair out of Willes face) in different perspectives, the way the water is shot, the entire calmness of all of it. And then they have these emotional conversations under it that build up these emotions, with these big pauses in speech, drawing out this bit of retrieve from everything.

The way they show Simon swimming away, the distance between them, when they speak about exactly that.

And how they go from Wille sitting at the lake, watching Simon swim, being physically not in the same thing as him (the lake), Simon swimming away, and then the cut over to him alone in his bed.

Beautiful, artistic storytelling.

Also fucking heartbreaking, i am nearly crying already and there are 23 minutes and 54 seconds left to completely destroy me.

I am clutching to the hope that twenty minutes are left to figure everything out and that that would be too long for this to be the end. Twenty minutes, 30% of the finale, cannot and will not be the epilogue, i dont think thats likely and i also refuse to believe that.

Okay, Stella and Frederika are finally together, at least some of my sanity is clutching on. I literally yelled "fuck yeah" and punched the air.

Henry and Valter (i hope i spelled that right) together in the fields also makes me happy. I know they were shipped a lot and although I am not a religious shipper of them, i am rooting for them. Go them.

Wille taking down the pictures could also be taking the happiness out of my heart. Whats wrong with the showrunners for making us do this rollercoaster?!?!

Also him taking off Erik and him before Simon and him. Beautiful.

OH MY GOD THE BIRTHDAY GIFT

I am not prepared. Not at all. Oh my god.

Is that like a farewell? Or a "stay with me"?

Not ready. Will press play though and hug my pillow expectantly.

I made it like three seconds. WILLES SONG?!?!?!!?!?

Wille walking through Hillerska. Seeing all those spots. All those memories.

EVERYONE TAKING DOWN PICTURES. THE GOODBYES.

THE SONG. THE SONG.

Don't let them make you hide yourself.

The callback to the football field.

"WE WERE NEVER WHAT WAS WRONG" !!!!!

All the callbacks. "I could be free" was from the "he would give up the crown for you" scene, if i recall correctly. Simon is revisiting every moment in their story.

"'Cause we were a revolution" WHY IS THIS IN PAST TENSE? NO. NO!

It shouldn't be a revolution to love another.

That quote itself. Then showing August and Sara. Back to Wille.

What is slightly concerning to me is that they haven't shown Simon yet. His voice is singing, but they show everyone but him. (Sara was on the picture, i count that, but he is nowhere. Just a ghost of memories.)

"You were my revolution before it fell apart" I'M SORRY JUST TAKE MY HEART, BREAK IT AND STOMP ON IT. SURE, GO AHEAD, DIDN'T NEED IT ANYWAY

(sorry, this shit is getting to me)

(Although, you apparently read this far through my chaos, so honestly your fault)

(Still cool you're still here)

THE SNOW GLOBE. IN THE TRASH. BROKEN. DISCARDED.

Now, are we discarding Erik or are we discarding broken and damaged things? Like this relationship? fucking tell me i am losing it here

Wille looking at August after he officially graduated. I can't read his look. And i am so confused to the situation and emotions here. Because last time they were drunk, now they are sober and both their relationships with the Erikssons are basically over. That is an interesting dynamic.

SIMONS SONG INSTEAD OF THE CLASSIC HILLERSKA HYMN. SIMONS SONG ABOUT LOVING WILLE. THE ENTIRE REVOLUTION.

Wille standing alone. Then seeing his parents, behaving different from the other parents, but at least being there.

His mom trying. The hug.

And i am finally crying. These breaks to write down my thoughts have kept this at bay so far, but a mother trying and asking for forgiveness has finally broken me. (I should bring this up with my therapist)

Wille going after Simon. And his mother smiling at that.

The heartbeat in the background. After "I never gave up on us." Hope.

WHY ARE YOU SAYING GOODBYE

YOU STILL HAVE THIRTEEN MINUTES TO FIGURE IT OUT

And again Wille is telling Simon to enjoy a holiday. It was christmas. Now its the summer holidays.

But no "i love you"s. Just a heartbeat.

Simon leaving. Again.

And Wille is hesitating. I swear the heartbeat is speeding up. He is hesitating.

And i find myself yelling at the tv for him to finally move and go after him. Fight for him. Fight for them.

Fucking move. Get your man.

And this idiot walks physically backwards. Back to society and his parents, away from his love.

Fuck me, he called Simon the love of his life. And maybe he's young and doesn't know better. But i am not much older and am fairly sure someone would not say that if they didnt mean it. SO BETTER FUCKING GO AFTER HIM.

WHY ELSE WOULD THE HEARTBEAT BE THERE? i mean i am not a medical expert but i am pretty sure that was not one heartbeat, that sounded off. I hope it was two, two hearts and their beats, two lives entangled.

Felice and Sara are actively healing my soul. I am pretty sure i have written that sentence earlier but i refuse to check.

Also Wille being uncomfortable in the car. He should have run after Simon, than he wouldnt be, change my mind.

"You will be a fantastic king."

What if i don't want that?

Ladies, Gentlemen and friends of other assorted genders: FUCKING FINALLY

An honest, open, (somewhat) calm conversation. The one thing they have needed for three seasons. We finally have it. Finally.

The visual conflict of emotions in the queen. The motherly pride and concern for her child and the disappointment and fear of the monarch losing their heir. It's brilliant acting.

The realization on Augusts face hitting him when he sees Wilhelm leave.

The shaky camera as Wille is looking around, searching. The camera was steady in the car, a bit shaky around August, and now it is full on wobbling around. It is a panic, with the music, the emotions swelling.

And then he runs. And yells. And the camera gets steadier.

The regret in his face when he can't keep up anymore. And then the hope when he sees the car stop.

The relief in Willes voice when he tells Simon. And the pain in Simons eyes. Slowly morphing into hope.

The distance between them. When Wille was coming clean, they showed the faces, not the distance between them. Just that they were talking face to face. Now, as Wille asks, if Simon is done with him, they show this distance between them.

Simon starting to smile.

And now, paused, my brain moving faster than i can type, i was wondering why he was sitting in the backseat. They must have someone else in the car. And you can see Felice peeking through the rear window.

And the way they kiss. Passionately. Not holding back. Finally free.

All their moments. Their story. Their love. Finally, them saying i love you. To each other. In the open. Free. Declaring themselves. Together.

And Wille coming with them. Their little found family. Them whoooing in the car, like they did on that night at the football game on the motor bikes.

Them being happy.

And then that final look in the camera. Finally happy, finally free.

Cut to black.

Okay, that was absolutely brilliant.

I loved it, every second of it. It was a beautiful way of wrapping everything up, a happy ending at last. For everyone.

August becomes king. Or whatever. We dont care.

Sara and Felice make up. Are friends again. Are free together.

Felice finds herself outside of money and in people. In her friends.

Sara realizes she has people that care for her and see her as she is. She finds happiness in platonic love, not romantic.

Simon and Wille end up together, overcome their differences. Find a way.

Simon has his love and reconsiled with his sister. He can be true to himself and created his song, his music. Music that touches others, Music that others like.

And Wilhelm got out of that system that caused him so much pain. He got closure, threw away the snow globe, quit being royalty. He is free, the one thing he wanted all this time. Be happy, be himself, be free.

Sometimes family is a former crown prince, his musician boyfriend, a neurodivergent horse girl and the worlds best best friend.

[I think this is the point where i thank you for reading all this. I am going to post this without reading it a second time to keep myself surprised and not edit any reactions. But i hope the rambling made some sense. Thank you!]

#young royals #young royals season 3 #young royals finale #prince wilhelm #wilhelm x simon #wilhelm young royals #simon eriksson #felice ehrencrona #sara eriksson #august young royals

[coraniaid]

I'm not suggesting that Buffy and Faith were secretly dating (or at least making out between patrols) before the events of Revelations.  Even if Buffy joked about “seeing someone tonight” when her friends asked her if she was dating somebody, before putting her arms around Faith and insisting that they were really “just good friends”.  Even if Faith’s reaction to finding out about Angel – “Buffy knew … I can’t believe her” – is very easy to read as romantic or sexual jealousy.  Even if Gwendolyn Post’s last attempt to manipulate Faith (the accusation that Buffy was “blinded by love” for Angel) seems specifically designed to play on this jealousy.  Even if Faith’s decision at the end of the episode that “you can’t trust people” implies she’s been betrayed by more than one person; even if Buffy’s “you can trust me” is met with a disbelieving smirk.

I don’t really think that’s how the writers intended the show to be viewed.  More importantly, I don’t think that Buffy – even if she was emotionally self-aware enough to acknowledge her own feelings – would be ready to have that sort of relationship so soon after Scott Hope, let alone be able to keep it a secret.  

But what I am saying is that, in a world where that actually was the explicit plot of Revelations, you really wouldn't have to change any of the dialogue in the opening scene of The Wish at all. 

This is a scene in which Buffy’s lament that she  “couldn’t reach [Faith] … again” segues straight into her commiserating with Xander over the fact he’s had “no luck reaching Cordelia”.  Cordelia of course, is Xander’s ex-girlfriend who refused to speak to him the last time he went to see her, after Xander was seen secretly kissing Willow, and hasn’t been seen with him since. Cordelia's furious because she was just starting to tell herself that she was in love with Xander and he betrayed her.  Faith, on the other hand, is Buffy’s [redacted] who refused to speak to her the last time she went to see her, after Buffy was seen secretly kissing Angel, and hasn’t been seen with her since.  Faith's furious because she was just [redacted].

Meanwhile Willow tells Buffy she’s looking forward to seeing Oz again so she can “beg for forgiveness”, and Buffy – fresh from visiting Faith’s motel to do “damage control”, to apologize for keeping secrets and to promise her that she’s on her side, and who just finished telling her friends that she’s sad Faith hasn’t been hanging out with her lately  – tells her that that works too, and she “knows the feeling” Willow is going through.

The one line I might cut is the one that doesn’t make much sense even in isolation.  Xander decides that Buffy can relate to what he and Willow are going through because she “went through it with Angel”.  Only … well, yes, it’s true in a very broad  sense that Buffy has already experienced some sort of heartbreak with Angel, but the comparison doesn’t really work beyond that, does it?  Angel didn’t break up with Buffy because she was unfaithful. (Sort of the opposite, really.)  Buffy never had to apologize to Angel for kissing somebody else. She's carrying a lot of Angel-related guilt, but it's not particularly similar to the guilt that Willow or Xander should be feeling (Buffy blamed herself for Angel losing his soul in Innocence and for sending him to hell in Becoming, but she had no way to know the first would happen and was forced to do the latter to save the world). As of the last episode, if anything it’s Buffy who broke things off with Angel.  As parallels go it just feels a little forced.

Again, this is the first time Angel’s been brought up in the conversation.   And yet, Buffy has been talking about somebody she hurt and deliberately lied to and wishes she could make things right with, hasn’t she?

But, like I said, I’m not suggesting that  Buffy and Faith were secretly dating before Revelations.  I’m not.

Obviously that didn’t happen until Bad Girls.

#btvs #buffy rewatch 2023

[butterflydm]

morning thoughts on 2x6 (includes book spoilers)

spoilers through a memory of light; some speculation about future events, including what might happen in 2x7 and in s3.

So much other stuff happened in the episode that I barely pondered the potential setup for what's going to maybe happen next episode!

Siuan showing up in Cairhien with fourteen Sisters... forced into action by being 'officially told' that Moiraine and Lan found the Dragon Reborn, I assume?

Are they setting things up for the coup to happen potentially in the first episode of s3 (which would definitely mean no White Tower return for the Wondergirls)?

Or is this taking the place of the Fal Dara visit from the start of TGH? We are going to get Rand and Siuan's conversation, it seems, from the original trailer before the season started airing ("you are the water").

Is Rand going to be officially known as the Dragon Reborn to the White Tower as a whole next episode? Alanna, at the very least, knows that Lan and Moiraine believe that Rand is the Dragon. But are Alanna and Siuan the only ones in this group who officially know that Rand is the Dragon? (Verin knows, but only Moiraine knows that Verin knows, etc) Liandrin doesn't seem to know anything, after all (officially, she doesn't know anything!).

It wouldn't really be speeding things up too much because, in the books, TGH is when Rand gets banner'd across the sky and people make posters of him, etc, plus Rand has mostly accepted himself as the Dragon in the show already due to differing events so it could also be subbing in for claiming Callandor as well. But it definitely would speed up certain events.

IF Siuan and Moiraine successfully keep their association a secret in the next episode, then it doesn't led directly into the coup at the start of next season, not until it's uncovered that Siuan has been working with Moiraine all these years. But right now, everyone believes that Moiraine and Siuan are at odds and that Moiraine has been doing this all of her own devices.

I am also wondering again about the Rand & Egwene timeline. It is true that at this point in the books (whether we are talking about TGH or TDR), Rand and Egwene are still very much doing a will-they/won't-they, so it's not inaccurate to the books that they're still a major part of the emotional landscape (and Egwene is Rand's motivation for staying and fighting in Falme in TGH as well) but I am still so used to their post-relationship book dynamic that it throws me every time I remember that they haven't emotionally disengaged from their romance in the show yet. And it just really makes me wonder what the reasoning will be in the show for them to break up, given that Rand and Egwene will likely spend all or most of s3 hanging out near each other, given the storyline being covered. Will Rand be trying to stay away from her so as not to trigger Lanfear's jealousy issues and that leads to them drifting apart? The puzzle pieces of how Rand's relationships are going to fit together in the show still eludes me, lol.

What didn't elude me was that Rand & Mat reunion! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Definitely the lightest and brightest part of last night, even with the ending where Mat learns about Min's viewing and isn't willing to go meet with Rand because, in Min's words, "If you love him, you'll stay away from him." Mat and Rand actually trying to talk about their very similar enough damage was like catnip for me. They have so many issues in common in the books and never talk about any of them! (worries over being a puppet; dealing with having an ancient voice/memories in your head)

It wasn't enough and it didn't fix anything, but I loved that they each tried to give each other the advice of "actually your friends love you and aren't better off without you". The hug! (I'm pretty sure they never hug in the books and it is a crime!) Where they were both incredibly happy and Mat was wiping away tears and touching Rand's fuzz and disapproving of his haircut! A+, very romantic reunion, better than I was ever expecting!

And I was wondering how much the show would take into account the differences between book!Mat's journey and show!Mat's journey and they have, once again, shown that they are deeply invested in making their characters emotionally realistic. It would not make sense for Mat to have the same reaction in the show to knowing that Rand is the Dragon Reborn as he had in the books: a. Mat is more mature than he was in the books at this point; b. Mat has known for a year now that one of his group was the Dragon Reborn; c. Mat abandoned Rand & the group at the end of last season and still feels intensely guilty over that.

In s1, Mat's main feelings about the Dragon Reborn situation were "okay, Moiraine is out of her mind to even suggest this idea" to slowly going "oh shit it's me and I'm literally gonna die of the madness before I ever even channel" to "oh shit it's not me (probably) which means that it has to be Rand, Perrin, Egwene, or Nynaeve". Pasting book!Mat's reaction onto show!Mat would not have been emotionally realistic in that context. It makes sense that the relief and joy of seeing Rand again will be his most predominent emotions. Even in The Great Hunt, when he does have that more negative reaction (to being completely shocked by brand-new information, rather than it being information that has had a chance to settle in over the course of a year), he's upset when Rand has disappeared without saying goodbye and hopes that Rand is coming back when they see a rider on the road.

But the biggest question that this episode left me with about the future is: so... how are they gonna do Mat and Tuon after this? Because... this is the same feeling that I personally always got from the Seanchan in the books but the show was able to make it very visceral, in the way that visual media does. The difference between Egwene telling Min about what happened with the pitcher is just gonna feel different from actually seeing on-screen the brutality of the dehumanization process.

This is mostly likely what viewers are going to be thinking about when they meet Tuon, because the screen-time difference is going to be considerably shorter than the page-time difference was between TGH & WH. Because if this season is mostly bk2 (with some bk3 characterization beat wovens in), then on the eight season plan, we'd have s3: TSR (with some TFoH character beats maybe); s4: TFoH/LoC; S5: ACoS/TPoD; s6: WH-KoD, which at eight episodes per season would mean that Egwene's torture (which she is not likely to escape until ep8 of this season) will only be 25-28 hours away from Tuon's introduction (if Tuon is not introduced early).

Compare that to the audio books, where TDR-TPoD are a total of 197 hours (which doesn't even account for the fact that Tuon is introduced part-way through Winter's Heart). Tuon's introduction is going to be a lot closer to Egwene's 'training' than in the books.

And Tuon is a sul'dam, even if she doesn't do it often.

They are going to have to completely re-imagine both Tuon and the Mat & Tuon relationship, most likely. Which is basically what I've been saying but seeing how they committed to the Seanchan culture in this episode really affirmed it for me. There isn't any possible way to do Mat & Tuon the way it was written in the books because Mat will just straight up come across as an evil character at that point. If you read CoT & KoD without bringing in any of the leftover affection from earlier books Mat, he DOES just come across as a callous and selfish monster in those two books; or at least he did to me in my recent reread. CoT/KoD Mat reads as a genuinely bad person who manages to do a handful of non-shitty things per each of those books but is mostly just there to kiss Tuon's ass in the hopes that maybe she'll treat him like a person someday; Mat is one of my favorite characters pre-CoT but, wow, I despise him in those two books for turning his back on all his moral convictions for the sake of ~mysterious eyes~; luckily, the break from his previous characterization is both abrupt and severe enough that I don't hold pre-CoT Mat to account for CoT/KoD Mat's crimes but... it's a lot of yikes in those two books.

The entire Seanchan culture is rotten to the core and I don't think it's fixable. It needs to be torn to pieces. I'm hoping that the show will do what the books were never willing to get around to, and actually begin that process on-screen.

Anyway, I hope Egwene gets some really good hits in on Renna when she's freed. I'm pretty sure we're 100% going to get her braining Renna with the pitcher, because they really emphasized the way that it was used as a torture device in this episode.

And this episode did such a good job establishing what the stakes are against the Seanchan -- all marath'damane will be leashed, Suroth says in ep5 and now we see what it means to be leashed by the Seanchan. It really is the big Fate Worse Than Death from the books.

#wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #the wheel of time #wot show spoilers #wot prime spoilers #wot s2 spoilers #wheel of time s2 spoilers #cauthor #butterfly watches wot #wot 2x6 spoilers #wot book spoilers #a memory of light

[lurkingshan]

Step by Step Episode 11 (OF DOOM)

Warning: I really, really did not like this episode. If you’re trying to keep positive vibes you should scroll on by, friends! 

Welp. I told a few friends last week that my biggest disappointment would be if, after missing the mark on the emotional payoff of the slow burn and speed running the relationship, the show chose to break them up and do a time jump rather than staying with them in the present time and working through the conflicts they set up. And here we are! I wish I’d been wrong about where this was heading. Shouts to @waitmyturtles and @neuroticbookworm for holding me down while this show fell apart on me, I’ve been all in a tizzy about it, because I really loved it for awhile there.

This episode, yet again, felt like a disjointed mess. After last week’s cliffhanger, the idea of Pat resigning to get away from the predatory office gossip fell away within a few quick scenes. Instead the tension disappeared as the plot brought them into a bubble with only their most supportive colleagues and we swerved into a retread of the Put nonsense and a new plot about Jeng and Pat fighting to save the digital marketing team via the power of Put’s quasi-celebrity and Instagram likes. Or something. I honestly couldn’t tell you the details of what they were trying to accomplish, I was too distracted by my incredulity to pay close attention to this very sudden fake problem that they were obviously going to conquer (that, my friends, is what we call conflict with no stakes). Meanwhile, the show suddenly wants me to care about Jaab and Jen again - enough to devote a big portion of the penultimate episode’s runtime to them, what a choice - after doing fuck all with that plot for six weeks. It’s a no from me. 

It doesn’t matter anyway, because soon enough we’re time skipping again! After resolving the work challenge subplot we speed past another three months of Pat and Jeng’s relationship without addressing any of their issues, and I guess I’m supposed to be at peace with being a full nine months into their relationship with no onscreen emotional advancement? But I gotta be honest, y’all. I am not. You just don’t do this with a slow burn romance narrative. You can’t spend 80% of your runtime building to something that you have no intention of paying off, and no amount of thinking about what else this show is trying to say is going to convince me they did proper justice to the relationship. I already broke down why I didn’t think the episode 10 culmination got us there, and nothing that happened in this episode changed my opinion.

And all of this is leading to yet another time jump - two entire years this time - after the big reveal that Jeng doesn’t believe in Pat at all and literally bought his success, Evil Daddy knew it all along and waited for a choice moment to deploy the info for maximum damage while twirling his villain mustache, and Pat is finally quitting for real and dumping Jeng for good measure.

And ya know what? GOOD FOR PAT. I was completely on his side in this decision. If there’s one bright spot in this episode (other than Chot, always Chot) it’s Pat getting himself together enough to realize he deserves better than the bullshit he’s been getting from Put and Jeng and walking on out. So Jeng and Pat are now broken up, but I never got invested in their relationship in the first place, because we barely saw it, let alone got the chance to live in and feel it. I wasn’t even upset while watching this breakup scene - it left me emotionally indifferent. Which is maybe the worst thing I can say about a dramatic climax in a story.

I guess next week we’ll meet Jeng and Pat again two years in the future and get some kind of happy ending. I’m gonna stick around for the finale and cross my fingers that we get all the epilogue fluff we have definitely earned, but sadly, this show has lost me.

#step by step #thai bl #shan shouts into the void

[punkitt-is-here]

It's honestly pretty fascinating seeing people make super definitive statements about the state of the show at the point you're watching and you going "I already passed that point and thought it was fine???". There's really a lot of "my circle of online friends all thought this, therefore everyone does" going on. For the record, I actually liked "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" and thought that was the one episode that justified Daring Do being real, but I totally get not liking it lol. Did you notice that it was a guest star episode? Quibble Pants is voiced by Patton Oswalt.

I DID recognize Patton Oswalt! I honestly think of him way more as a voice actor than a comedian because my first exposure to the dude was Ratatouille.

And yeah, the only episode I genuinely think is bad with no real parts I would ever wanna revisit is Daring Don't, but that's really it. Everything else is...fine at the worst! Literally, nothing has completely put me off the show before. Sometimes an episode just isn't for me, or it isn't as interesting as I'd like it to be, but like...that's the worst of it, for the most part. I'm generally pretty easy to please when it comes to episodes and everything I've watched so far has kinda led me to realize what a lot of fans think of as character assassinations on the writing team's part are...just usually the result of having to write a show for like 5 seasons for both kids and adults. Rainbow Dash can never be perfect because if every member of the main cast took every lesson to heart perfectly and forever, we wouldn't really even have stories past like Season 2. Sometimes characters just have to be flawed or dumb in moments to get a plot rolling. And honestly, I don't have a huge problem with that! Sometimes, I am fuckin' dumb and irritable even when I should know better, because I'm human. I don't think it's out of the question for cartoon characters in a show about relationships to act the same way on occasion.

Also, apparently the Wonderbolts episode of Season 6 was the hazing episode??? I literally could not see it while I was watching it. Hazing to me, is, like, forcing someone to do something embarrassing or demeaning on a level that can be legitimately emotionally and physically damaging; what the Wonderbolts did is what pretty much every athletic team I've ever been a part of did; you find something to joke around about at someone's expense, but you participate in that joke too. Everyone's the butt of the joke. Do I like that? Nah, I think it's kind of lame, and I would have preferred if the episode was about Dash admitting that the nickname was getting to her, but legit all I can really remember going down is Rainbow Dash not being acclimated to the Wonderbolt culture and then realizing no ill-will was meant by the crew, it's just something that they've done since forever. Once Rainbow is finally explained, she's pretty chill with it. I think it's kind of a lame moral, but I can see why the staff did it, and it's So Fucking Far from the hazing I've heard of in places like, I dunno, University of Washington that it hadn't even crossed my mind.

#my posts #mlp #sigmasonicx #asks #im gonna make a new tag for mlp thoughts #horsetalk

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Hey Jalebi. How are you? I discovered your blog last year while rewatching IPKKND. Your and Phati-Sari's blogs are my favorite. Both of your blogs were really helpful in clearing some of my confusions that I always had regarding the show.

As you recently answered a question regarding Lavanya. I wanted to ask you a question about Lavanya's track. You don't have to answer if you have already answered it before. I couldn't find anything regarding this in the blog so I am asking. I recently re watched those episode where La n Arnav had their first break up and then he brought her back. I couldn't understand what Arnav was thinking bringing her back to his house. Cause from their previous argument it was obvious their relationship has changed. Even though when they started the relationship they were both on the same page. Now they both want different things from the relationship. Lavanya wouldn't have settled for anything less than marriage and Arnav wouldn't marry her. So they did the right thing by breaking up. But when he brought her back, I am sure it only raised La's hope and his family's too. La and his family thought that he must have changed his decision about marraige. But that wasn't the case. His and Lavanya's relationship was stuck in a loop, there was no going forward unless he wants to marry her. So why did he even brought her back when he clearly wasn't thinking about marraige? What was he planning to do exactly?

Btw I am glad to find someone who has same opinion as me about BD. I thought I was the only one who didn't enjoy the show. It's really sad though because I loved Barun n Ridhi in Asur and was really excited to watch them in a romantic show. But I felt they had more chemistry in Asur than this show. How did you find Kohrra?

Hello Anon!

Thank you for the love <3 <3 <3

Regarding Arnav and Lavanya; Arnav brought her back for two reasons - for Khushi and his family. The wonderful thing about IPK is that it's never direct, it's not going to spoon-feed you what every character is feeling so the audience gets a lot of room to interpret everything.

In my opinion, bringing back La showed Khushi that Arnav does have a heart

and his family was distressed without La. Apart from Nani - whose opinion Arnav doesn't really care about - everyone loves La and Arnav is actually content seeing his family at piece as now La and his family have become a unit.

Anjali comes up to Arnav and tells him one thing - "I'm so happy you did this Chote," and that means everything for Arnav - his Di's happiness.

But he is incredibly conflicted with Khushi's tears because he did what she wanted and she's still hurt, and yes - Arnav and La's relationship had irreparable damage and you can see from this point onwards Arnav has no commitment - nothing - towards La. Also this is the point where he actively begins to emotionally cheat on her.

He's more concerned about Khushi, his world starts revolving around her. La just doesn't exist. Up until this point La was an active person in his life. Even in their argument they're fighting like a couple and post the breakup everything disappears between Arnav and La.

They don't talk. They don't fight. They don't laugh... nothing.

And Lavanya panics, she knows everything has changed - she panics further when Khushi decides to leave because Khushi being here is a reminder that Lavanya is being 'groomed' to be a bahu - without Khushi, La needs to face the reality of being a part of this family without a buffer and actually being Mrs. Arnav Singh Raizada. Which is a cold, empty identity of being a man's wife who is invested in... nothing.

But still, love makes one choose the worst decisions and she decided to still come back because at least she's in Arnav's house. It's a sad decision.

For Arnav, marriage with Lavanya is a practical decision and it would've ultimately been that. Lavanya truly loves the family and vice versa (he's genuinely happy seeing both parties care for each other) and it puts Nani away from his back and Lavanya is someone who understands Arnav (even though he no longer understands himself).

So it's a perfect compromise (he doesn't realize how shitty he is as a partner until it's too late - he jolts into reality when during Satyanarayan Puja La was happy because he didn't yell at her and it's a slap on his face on wtf is he as a partner).

And yeah, Kohrra was fab! Just really some solid storytelling tbh.

Best,

Jalebi

#ask #ipkknd #about lavanya #about arnav

[buriedalienfma]

This week, I finally caught up on the latest episodes of 'My Adventures with Superman'. As I stated before, I ended up skipping the episode last week since I wanted to watch the two-parter in its entirety, and boy I sure am glad I did that because the cliffhanger for episode 8 would have kept me awake all week. When I first started watching this show, I was of the opinion that it was good, but had some obvious flaws in storytelling. Regardless, I continued to have faith in the show, and still thought that it had a lot of potential. Well, with the release of the recent episodes, I'm happy to say that the show is finally starting to live up to that potential. These last two episodes are easily the best episodes the show has had so far. The writing has improved drastically, the character development has been near flawlessly executed and the action scenes have become much more suspenseful and ambitious. It's safe to say that the show has reached a new peak. 

So with the obligatory spoiler warning, let's talk about episode 8 and episode 9 of My Adventures with Superman' : 

- Episode 8 starts off with Superman unlocking his super-hearing in his sleep, and he encounters a moral dilemma that has always been present with comic book Superman - mainly that Superman can hear EVERYTHING all the time, and has to actively choose which disasters to avert because he can't be everywhere at once.

In most iterations, Clark has had an entire childhood to get used to these powers, but the MAWS version has only recently unlocked them, and naturally they drive him a little crazy with him trying to help everyone as much as possible and even neglecting his sleep to do so. Here's one example of how good the writing has gotten in this episode : Superman suffering from sensory overload is played for laughs at first, but as the episode goes on, it becomes less funny as Clark slowly starts to unravel both physically and emotionally which leads him to be slightly less effective at being a superhero when he inadvertently causes a lot of collateral damage trying to save someone. This turns some of the people of Metropolis against him which perfectly ties into Jimmy and Lois' subplot where they have to deal with Vicki Vale, a new reporter who seems to be dead set on trying to turn people against Superman. On top of that, Superman becoming more exhausted as the episode goes on actually leads to him losing the big fight at the end of the episode. There's a lot going on here, and the show balances it all out really well.

- Speaking of Jimmy and Lois' subplot, I find it interesting that when they're interviewing the people of Metropolis, the characters who spout the "Superman is too good to be true" rhetoric are all characters who have selfish and ulterior motives. Almost like their assessment of Superman has less to do with what they really think of him and more to do with their own cynical perspectives. At one point, Alex (one of the characters from the previous episodes) even notes that Superman could be 'one bad day' away from completely breaking and turning against humanity, which is something that long-time comic fans will recognize as one of Joker's philosophies. It's even the premise of the Injustice games and comics. Like I said before, I will be so happy if/when this show completely tears apart the 'Evil Superman' trope.

- The fight scene at the end of episode 8 is so well done. I love how it starts off in the sky with all the characters essentially in free-fall. It just feels so dynamic and exciting. Some people like to make think-pieces about how Superman is a difficult character to write because of how powerful he is which robs any fight scenes of tension and suspense, but this episode proves that it can be done and it can be done creatively. There's a logical reason for why Superman is on the losing side in this fight between his lack of experience, the fact that the villains are all ganging up on him and the fact that he is already exhausted when the fight begins. And this episode makes it look easy. I'm going to go ahead and make the bold statement that the people who complain about Superman being difficult to write for simply lack creativity. Watch this show and take notes, people. This is how it's done.

- These episodes basically confirm that the General from the previous episodes is indeed Lois' father. He's called Sam, which is Lois' father's name in the comics, and there's a flashback in the second part where he is seen talking to someone on the phone - perhaps it could be a younger Lois or Lois' mom ? I like that the show is being subtle about this. The audience is given enough clues to put together that the General is Lois' father, but the characters themselves don't know it yet. It's a nice bit of dramatic irony. 

- The second part of this two-parter reveals why the General and his team were after Superman - in the past, Earth was invaded by a group of aliens led by a figure that heavily resembled Superman. They were stopped before they could cause too much destruction, but ever since that day, the General and his team have been on the lookout for any potential aliens. Now both Clark and the audience are led to believe that the invaders are from the planet that Clark came from, but I noticed that the alien robots sported the three dotted lines on their chests - the symbol of the villain Brainiac from the comics. I certainly hope that the show is going for that plot twist instead of making the Kryptonians a bunch of evil alien invaders because that would miss the point of Superman's story. 

- On the other hand, Superman goes through quite a bit of angst as he begins to wonder if he was sent to Earth to conquer it. I've stated previously that I liked that Clark doesn't know much about his alien origins, and these episodes are a good example of how you can use that setup to give Superman some character development. In fact, this episode confirms one of my headcanons about the character. I've always thought that when Superman was younger and was just discovering his powers, he would probably come to the conclusion that he was sent to Earth to conquer the planet based on how destructive some of his powers are. It doesn't help that a lot of real life science fiction stories revolve around alien invasions - what if a young Clark Kent read and/or watched those types of stories ? He would probably think that he was just like the alien 'freaks' and 'monsters' in those stories and that would give him a bit of existential angst growing up. Lo and behold, this episode confirms that headcanon in the scene where Clark is telling Lois and Jimmy about what he learned while in captivity. 

- I still think that the villains aren't as well written as they could be, but they do give Superman quite a challenge when it comes to physical threats. Parasite is obviously the star here as he evolves into a monstrous mech-Kaiju at the end of episode 9. It's a fun design, and his sheer size and power makes the final fight of the episode feel appropriately massive in scale as he threatens to destroy the entire city. 

- Lois and Jimmy rallying the people of Metropolis into supporting Superman is such a cheesy moment and I love it very much. It's similar to the crane scene from the first "Amazing Spider-Man" movie and I liked that scene, so I can't complain too much about MAWS having a similar scene. Scenes like that are what superhero stories should be all about. 

- It's very appropriate that Superman's character arc in these episodes involves him refuting the idea that he is nothing more than a weapon meant to hurt people - that's basically just the story of The Iron Giant, aka the best Superman movie since the 70s.

- This is something I realized while I was thinking about how these episodes fit in with the previous episodes in this show : this show is essentially a prolonged origin story for the character. I thought that Clark becoming Superman was a bit rushed in the pilot episodes, but then I realized that I felt that way because I considered that pilot to be an origin story when it's not, at least not entirely. Throughout the previous episodes, Clark has been going through the essential elements of his origin story - he's discovering his powers and the moral dilemmas and responsibilities that he has to face as a result of having those powers, he's learning more about his alien origins, he's developing the ability to inspire people, etc. You have moments like the ending of Episode 6, where Superman makes it his goal to help the people of Metropolis accept people who are different like him. Most typical Superman origin stories would shove all that stuff in the first third of the story so that when Clark actually becomes Superman, he's essentially fully formed into the superhero icon that everyone knows and loves. But this show is making the basic journey of his origin story into an actual character arc, while still having him do Superman things (instead of something like the Smallville TV show, which is also a prolonged origin story, but tries oh so very hard to not be an actual Superman show). It's a genius way to write the character and I very much appreciate it. 

And that's episode 8 and 9 of 'My Adventures with Superman'. I think I still have so much more to say about these episodes, but I've rambled enough. I really enjoyed these episodes. I've always had faith in this show and I think it's finally starting to live up to that. These episodes do leave a few dangling plot threads, but they all sound incredibly fascinating, and I cannot wait to see what the show does next. 

#my adventures with superman #clark kent #superman #lois lane #jimmy olsen #dc animation #dc comics #iron giant #Youtube

[scripted-downfall]

One of the things that pisses me off most about Sam freaking Winchester is his tendency to claim the title of "the emotionally aware one" or "the empathetic one", ostensibly "try" to help someone only when it's convenient for him, and then turn around and revoke or rescind that help the second it's not.

This happens a number of times, but some examples include:

s02e09 Croatoan: "No, no, no, no, Dean. You're my brother, all right? So whatever weight you're carrying, let me help a little bit." followed by Dean telling him about John's last order (complete with Dean actually begging him to lie low for a bit) and Sam directly contravening that by leaving in the middle of the night (when he knew it'd hurt Dean to not know where his brother was, thus making the weight he was carrying worse) in s02e10 "Hunted"

The aftermath of Hell??? Like sir, wtf??? s04e08 "Wishful Thinking" has "Dean, look, you can't just shoulder this thing alone. You got to let me help." and then, when he finally tells Sam about Hell in s04e10 "Heaven and Hell", "Dean… Dean, look, you held out for 30 years. That's longer than anyone would have." And then there's Sam in s04e14 "Sex and Violence" going: "You're too busy sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. Whining about all the souls you tortured in hell. Boo hoo." (Yes, I know that the second quote was under the influence of the siren's drug, but the whole point is that it was exposing inner thoughts, so. Still counts.)

Every episode touching on the Gadreel business. Going from s08e14 "Trial and Error" ("I want to slam hell shut, too, okay? But I want to survive it. I want to live, and so should you. You have friends up here, family. I mean, hell, you even got your own room now. You were right, okay? I see light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm sorry you don't – I am. But it's there. And if you come with me, I can take you to it.") to s09e13 "The Purge" ("I was ready to die. I was ready. I should have died, but you… You didn't want to be alone, and that's what all this boils down to. You can't stand the thought of being alone.")

This is kinda a part of the last bullet point, but there's a backwards example in Dean's subsequent death... Sam pulls out the s09e13 "The Purge" "No, Dean. I wouldn't. Same circumstances…I wouldn't." line because he wants to hurt his brother, and yet, the second things go wrong, he wants to take it back: "What happened with you being okay with this?" "I lied. (s09e23 "Do You Believe in Miracles?")

And there are more, but these are just the prominent examples that spring to mind now. I might add more if I come up with them, though.

And, to me, this is really bad. Because Sam knows that he's inflicting serious damage, and seems to actively want to do so. (All of the above were examples chosen precisely because they're examples of Sam consciously having "made an effort" to help Dean with a certain issue/fear/concern, and then throwing that very thing back in his face to win a battle.)

And, like... it's great that he's willing to try and help when the situation is rosy. But it really doesn't help that he sets it up as something that can be taken away at a moment's notice. Especially given that this is precisely what their father did: give positive reinforcement only when something was going his way, and pull it away again or use it as a weapon whenever his will is challenged.

And the amount of damage that's bound to do to Dean... I mean, he already spent his whole childhood and adolescence being told that he only mattered in relation to his usefulness, his ability to follow listen to orders, his willingness to accept other peoples' ways of running things without complaint, etc. His feelings? His emotions? His hopes for the future? Oh, those don't matter. And then here's Sam. And Sam... Sam acts like John was wrong. Sam says that a lot. And Sam's the smart one. So Dean maybe (maybe) lets himself believe that. It's hard, and he doesn't always buy it, but he gets a little bit better at it. But the second he pisses off Sam? All those statements about him deserving better --- about how Dean (how everyone) had an innate right to be treated in certain ways, judgements of worth aside --- fly out the window. Then, the fact that he dared to actually presume that he deserved something more is all the more ludicrous because even the person who's been helping him sees how damn worthless he is. And the whole cycle repeats over and over again through the series, until it's this jagged zig-zag that is likely hell on his mental state.

(See below the cut for a personal anecdote that I feel is relevant to this/gives insight to it. It's very me-oriented, though, and I feel kinda selfish for including it, so I'm leaving it as optional. Don't click if you don't wanna see it. No trigger warnings to my knowledge or anything; it's just not solely fandom.)

I always knew I hated Sam for this, but I'd never actually put it into words. And then, recently, something similar happened in the middle of a conflict with a friend. My head often isn't friendly, and I had a friend who helped with that. He was one of a small subset of people I could rely on to help me with certain issues. He was one of my closest friends at the time, and he knew a lot that I've only told about one or two other people. And then we get into a fight and I receive a full two paragraph rant about how horrible I am, tearing into exactly the stuff I've told him I'm concerned about, everything that he'd at least tried to help me with, etc. And I feel worse than I ever did before because even he had given up on me.

And this wasn't my brother. This was someone I trusted, yes, but we'd still not known each other for anywhere near as long as Dean's known Sam. I've not sacrificed nearly as much for him as Dean has for Sam. I've certainly not built my whole life around his esteem the way Dean has for Sam. So if this is how I feel... what does that say about Dean?

#supernatural #dean winchester #anti sam winchester #anti john winchester #but only a bit

[unsleepingtales]

Burrow’s End!!! I am so excited for this season and I’m also incredibly nervous because I think it’s going to emotionally destroy me. This is a long one.

(Also I am now living in gmt which means episodes drop at midnight for me, so I’m likely gonna wind up posting about them the next day)

Aabria!! Welcome back!!

I’m so thrilled that more and more players are doing character makeup it’s so fun

OH we’re just getting classes and subclasses out the gate ok

Hi Izzy hi Erika <3

I have not seen Jasper William Cartwright in anything ever but simply based on the look and the vibes I’m so excited about this

Siobhan <3

Ooooh two paladinssss

(This is excellent for me personally because I have been slowly convincing my boyfriend that paladins are actually really cool and I can now use his crush on BLeeM to my advantage)

They’re a family!

DOME ALREADY

I hope Beatrix is in some way a reference to Beatrix Potter <3

Siobhan IMMEDIATELY in goblin mode incredible

Wooo full stats love when they give us the full stats

First roll of the campaign is a 21! Good vibes!

Oh what stat array did they use I need to look at that

I so hope that the bizarre british things counter sticks around

Izzy playing a rogue is so delightful

We’re in pvp already and I am HERE for the chaos

Ok so their dad’s Dead. Fantastic. Sure hope this doesn’t emotionally affect me at alllll.

Cheating at what??

Ten minutes in and they already made their guardian/aunt/babysitter curse

Their physicality is great

I also love the info we’re getting about Tula before we’re introduced to her

Dome? Dome? DOME??

God the art department knocks it out of the fucking park every fucking time

Oh these are KIDS

I know I say this every season but I love First Episodes. I love meeting them and learning what the vibe is for the season and settling into the world.

They’re rolling so welllll

Oh that was a Good entrance

The voice!! Her voice!!

Oath of devotion paladin !

Everyone really wanted hats huh

oh h my god

Girl WHAT

I love Aabria snatching the small opportunities to hint at what will be bigger later

Now why can he do that

Viola doesn’t go anywhere alone!

Oh that’s so bad

Oh right their lifespan is super different!

This line had been spoiled for me by my dash but that did not make it hit less hard.

“It’s interesting to watch someone go from wanting to survive, to wanting to live.”

Erika playing the grandma is everything to me

Also Erika literally shaved their head in the pattern of that character scar. Incredible

A SINGLE MOM THAT WORKS TWO JOBS WHO LOVES HER KIDS AND NEVER STOPS

Dropout team I love you so much

Brennan PC :)

Oh she’s SUCH a mother.

(Inquisitive music stops as the soft rejection hangs in the air)

CC writers are also back and on their game in full force!

Mmhmh

The first of all stoats 😭

She has cartoon anger eyebrows

Oh that’s gross

Did she just shade her dead son in law.

“I’ll try to keep up appearances” is so heartbreaking

YOU’RE LOOKING SO… LIKE YOU.

If I said that to my mom I would immediately dissolve.

Erika’s table acting is fabulous

Dome. Blue dome.

OOOOO

I love the multigenerational relationships here

No not a fanatic. A religious crazy!

Family dynamics.

Don’t threaten the children with emotional damage

The FACE

I feel like the roll for panic attack shirt is gonna make a comeback thanks to Thorn

Oh this is gonna make me feel real bad about being human huh

This is such a good season to be released over October-December. I know it was planned that way but I really appreciate it.

Straight Groucho 💀

“This is making me sad and scared” me too Brennan.

Baby girl has never known a thing in her whole life

Oh god oh fuck

His face

Ok things are being scaled down! Good to know

This is the second time Aabria’s had players use echolocation against her damn

I swear if he starts bleeding from his nose I’m gonna lose it

The CURTISES

The more she emphasizes that this is unnatural the more freaked I get

I am nervous for Jaysohn.

Oh no oh god

I love how Aabria is able to make nat ones still helpful and important

This is crushing ngl.

Is the tree gonna fucking get cut down

SHE HAS WERTHERS

I’m gonna cry this season I just know it

Oh my god this is so good.

#reactions #burrow’s end #verbal component #burrow's end

[lotus-mirage]

Time to see what they do after that tone shift

Trigun Stampede episode 3 liveblog!

Ok!  So.  Keeping that tone.  O.O

(also natural disaster angle? Interesting! And prooobably be being paired with presumably-Knives approaching the town)

....oh they’re crawling on other people now. bleegh, that’s unsettling.

Wow after the shooting stunts of the last two episodes having a death so easily is startling

Okay wtf is up with this guy

Oh! It looks like only Vash is being featured in the opening, which is pretty atypical. That might have been part of the reason I was so thrown off?

Okay so the newest antagonist’s tech is a weird mix of high and low-tech.  Like I think it’s being powered by advanced, glowy-blue tech, but the shapes and actions (aside from like.  how those actions work) are still kind of crude!

I wonder if other plants are put in danger this often lol

Good to know Vash can be serious!  Kinda surprised that didn’t come up sooner, but I guess even if they were causing a lot of incidental damage the previous antagonists have been focused on him and not just wanton destruction.

“there’s no use in revenge,” now???? To a guy whose only personality has been his son and revenge???

Okay they may be implying that same point  - wait piano again??  They are really leaning hard into this I had thought there was like. One scene about it.

O.O

Well that was something. I can’t say I was really expecting a conversation there, but I certainly wasn’t expecting dismemberment.

Two contrasting “whose side are you on” questions within a span of as many scenes! Neat.

oh wtf was that. corrosion?

flash-back touch, okay.

Or not.  Gate? 

more dismemberment!

...were those the nominal knives? or are they like. incidental.

Oh what is this now.  Giant mecha... gorilla-shaped-thing.

Wait wait who’s that!  That kid’s haircut & coloring look suspiciously like the twins’.

Oh the lighting here is really cool.

The kid’s eyes look completely different, though. Huh.

Okay that was really intense I didn’t have anything to say during it.  Except that the weird full-body hoodie thing is apparently the.....

knife. tendril.  ...thingies?

Anyway!  That’s kinda neat!

A third “whose side are you on”! ...yeah that checks out narratively

...also notably accompanying the first shot where we actually see his face, I think.

Yeah I think those are the nominal knives.

oh also lots of piano focus in the background now, nice

ooookay I see where the biblical references start coming into play.  I thought it was just Wolfwood, guess not! ...I have no idea what he’s referring to, though.  Probably something old testament? Which is interesting because Wolfwood has a lot of cross stuff happening, but other than that I am only getting the surface level of whatever parallels are being drawn here.

Aside from the next shot, I guess!  Knives gets a knife halo. ...or maybe the knives are doing the circles of heaven/ranks of angels thing? hmmm.

...did the kid just die! I thought he’d be the only one to make it out!

Wait the big guy is still alive?  Huh.

Yeah that’s a very fair reaction from Rosa.

“I don’t deserve to cry” WELL ALRIGHT THEN

Okay interesting that’s already a change in approach from Vash!  Pursuing Knives now instead of the other way around. 

Wait actually the “he” is unspecified, I guess, but I assume.

End notes:

Okay so. Kept the tone from the end of the last episode.  Okay! I wonder if they’re gonna mostly stick to that from now on, or maybe start bouncing between the two?

I had absolutely no idea about the other people working with Knives.  Like, none.  I guess I knew that there was a group with him (hence Wolfwood(?)), but nothing about the rest of the group. Wonder what’s happening there!  They took both the red and blue plants - which I guess I assumed were respectively dead and alive. Are they, like, hatching them?? They were kind of suspiciously egg-shaped.

So.  Admittedly I was previously not super emotionally invested in Vash.  I kind of knew a bit about his deal, going into things - the whole “peace and love” meme, contrasted with the material of the show - but the kind of outsider framing from Meryl and Rodrigo made me feel like we should get to know more about them before focusing so much on him.  Anyways, I didn’t dislike him, I’d just yet to get attached to him.  All of that rescinded now, I guess! 

The “I don’t deserve to cry” line made me go ‘Ah.  I understand the hype now!’ I guess, if hype counts as... my mutual’s and what feels like half the internet’s incredible fondness for the guy. Ouch.

No transition here but uh yeah! Lots of fantastic animation again this episode!  Also this episode put a lot of emphasis on framing, both symbolic and cinematic! Both of those points stand out particularly for the whole last several minutes, which were really impressive.

#trigun #tristamp liveblog #my thoughts

[goldeneyedgirl]

flattering ask time: baby-verse is an obssession. i love how you put these two totally non-parents weirdos as such a childcare team. like, jasper is fucking frozen because his son - who he feeds, baths, put in bed, play with and cuddles - called him...daddy. i just know parenthood hit him hard with that one.

damage alice is another obssession. as a neurodivergent person myself, it's so funny to me that we both have very similar "episodes".

now the questions about both of these fics: would you say that jasper is more of a warm/soft parent or the emotional distant parent who, at the same time, is always there for his son (since you already told here he is, in fact, a good dad). and, for damage alice, are you going with opportunist cullens who see alice as an experiment or something to be saved because they need to prove to god that they are good people and stuff, or with nice cullens who just want to take care of this little girl and give her a home?

(now, english isn't my first language, so excuse me if there are any mistakes ❤)

I am SO flattered that baby-verse seems to be so loved because Alice and Jasper are, like, the most pro-choice of the Cullens (as a side note, I think Emmett is also pro-choice because he saw first-hand what large families stuck in poverty went through.) So the idea of them juggling a dependent life is kind of insanity. But Alice is a perfectionist, and Jasper is both devoted to Alice and hugely overprotective, so they would figure out something that worked.

For Jasper's parenting style, it's different depending on the angle you look at it from. Jasper is very, very quietly involved. He is incredibly warm with Oliver, and very emotionally available for him throughout his life, but as Oliver gets older (especially once he's in his teens and young adult years), he realizes just how little he knows about his father. Alice also knows that Jasper is an equal parent to her - he knows Oliver's teachers' names, his favourite movie, allergies, crush etc. But to anyone on the outside, it would very much look like Alice was the primary caregiver - even Emmett gives him some hell for letting Alice do a lot of the heavy lifting. Jasper does this intentionally, as a protective thing, as a way to conceal his own vulnerabilities. It also helps when Oliver is just too old to convincingly look like their kid and becomes a cousin or a younger sibling to outsiders. As an adult, Oliver would say that his father is very mysterious to everyone but Alice, but that Jasper was a very good father (much to Jasper's relief. He has a LOT of anxiety over the idea of a 'good' father.)

I started Damaged Alice years ago before I realized and was diagnosed as neurodivergent and it's eye-opening how many behaviours I incorporated that imply Alice is ND. I hate the way that the transformation makes vampires 'perfect' - it's so boring and ableist. Give me Esme with OCD and anxiety, and Emmett with bear-attack scars, and Rosalie who has to wait for her physical wounds to heal and ugh. There is nothing thrilling about straight, white, Mormon neurotypical people.

In Damaged Alice, the Cullens kind of fall in between both categories. There was a plot point that Alice was sent to find the Cullens by the Groundskeeper (who heard about them from Alice and her visions), because they would protect her. There is a letter to explain the situation - I don't know whether I will keep that, honestly, because I like the idea of Alice being a mysterious figure.

But when Alice does arrive and is clearly not NT, the Cullens take her in for protection because they genuinely care about this poor girl's welfare (you can argue that their sentiment is apart of their Good Christian Family act but Carlisle's faith has shaped so much of who he is and how he approaches his family and vampirism, that it's impossible to split the two). At that point, she definitely functions as someone much younger and her newborn state has left her with a lot of feral behaviours and impulse control (there's a temper tantrum in a shopping mall because she wants a pet rabbit).

As time moves on, it's more and more clear that the Cullens have put her in a box because they don't expect her condition to change, when the venom is healing the damage to her brain - it's just a very, very slow process. Even after Jasper arrives and Alice latches onto him and improvement is made, the Cullens still resist letting her evolve and mature. They really expect her to stay childlike and dependent on them. Carlisle has an invested interest in her mental state, being a doctor, and Esme likes having someone she can dote on like a child.

And a lot of Alice's ND behaviours - lack of eye-contact, going non-verbal, meltdowns - are things that the Cullens try to cure her of; and they never really understand that Alice is dealing with excess sensory input because of her visions. A lot of her meltdowns are because of visions (especially when she sees Jasper fighting in the South). And her family really don't understand that. But no family is perfect (especially not families with ND individuals), and Alice and Jasper understand each other here (and in all my fics, lets be real).

Thank you so much for your ask, and your English is perfect <3

#anon #my fic: damaged alice #my fic: baby-verse #jasper is a good dad but oliver doesn't even known the name maria until he's in high school #he legitimately thinks jasper's scars are from the civil war #jasper goes into overprotective superdrive

[beevean]

Season 2 was supposed to be peak. I was promised peak, before the torture fest that is Season 3 and “let’s fix everything ASAP” that is Season 4.

Well, fuck me if this is the best season.

We see more of the dynamic between the main trio, finally. Trevor lost most of his gruffness of Season 1 and is now more melancholic, perhaps because he spends most of the season cooped up in his old family home. I appreciated how they also tried to elaborated on the family lore, such as how the Belmonts originated from France but moved to Wallachia to hunt vampires. Sypha is still cute, nice and talented but a little spoiled and sheltered, compared to Trevor’s roughness. They finally start to build some chemistry in episode 4, where Sypha makes fun of Trevor’s name and calls him Treffy, and okay, they’re cute. By the end of the season, they put a smile on my face :)

And Alucard? For the first six episodes or so, Alucard is horrible. He’s nothing but smug and condescending (okay he may have an understandable distaste for the Belmonts, I get it, but you’re way more of an asshole than the supposed asshole Trevor), he calls Trevor “unreliable, emotionally damaged, drunk and self destructive” after a few days with him when Trevor did nothing around him to deserve these words (Sypha has seen more of his worse side than Alucard), he curses already, he says stuff like “Villagers, pitchforks and torches, that sort of thing” which is very much not how Alucard should sound... How am I supposed to take seriously the running gag of Trevor turning everyone around them into cussing assholes, when they start out that way already? (yeah we already know that literally everyone here swears like a sailor, even characters that really should not. I will get there.)

Yes, they handwave it by saying that Alucard is actually a teenager in an adult’s body. He’s still a jerk. And this only makes a Very Infamous Scene much worse.

Strangely enough, they say that he’s called by others Alucard, it’s apparently not the name that he chose for himself, although he adopts it. Weird way to deprive him of his agency? Ellis, darling, Alucard is a silly nickname no matter how you slice it, no need to change the lore :P

Anyway, he gets better at the end when he stops being an OOC jerkass, and he becomes more like his kind but self-loathing game counterpart. I guess I’m insisting on this because I genuinely didn’t expect to dislike him this much. Hopefully he gets better later on.

Well, the trio spends most of the season doing exposition and supposedly bonding. And I mean. A lot. Of Exposition.

At one point, Alucard takes 2 full minutes to explain the tragic nature of his father and another 2 to drive home how terrible it is that Dracula doesn’t want to “destroy the world”, he wants to kill humans, which will result in a sad, empty world. I get it, man. It is a genuinely harrowing description of how mad Dracula’s plans are, but it comes so out of nowhere and it adds nothing other than “we must stop him”.

Another weird detour is the one about Trevor’s name, which isn’t “local”. Get it, because Trevor’s name was changed by Konami of America and he’s actually Ralph in the original Japanese? The explanation is that he was named after a Celt who rode with Leon himself, and it should be spelled Trefor, which, a little random, but okay. Well, good luck trying to explain all the weird names in Castlevania :) I’ll especially wait if you’ll ever justify the Germanic Richter.

Sypha goes on another speech about how both Trevor and Alucard are sad, but Trevor is still there under his sadness, while Alucard is completely consumed by it. Very poignant, but I only see smugness from him so far, so thanks for telling me instead of showing me? Who talks like that anyway?

I did appreciate Sypha defending Trevor from Alucard’s assholery by pointing out that he didn’t get to grow up normally, something that Alucard should relate to. That was actually a normal conversation to have.

I also find odd how the Morning Star, supposedly a powered up version of the Vampire Killer, is found in a chest as a separate object - I’ve already seen a clip of Trevor double wielding them. Speaking of which, was the Vampire Killer named in Season 1? If it was, I missed it thanks to the sleep-inducing pacing.

Speaking of weird writing... Sypha. Darling. Baby. Why in the sheer fuck did you move Castlevania on top of the Belmont hold? Like, she doesn’t even try to explain herself, she’s just like “oopsie, my bad”. girl???????

Yes it gives us the genuinely awesome moment of Trevor leaving the Belmont hold in Alucard’s hands, which is one hell of a friendship offering if I’ve seen one... but still.

I don’t know how to feel about the decision to leave Alucard behind. In-universe, Alucard explained his reasons well, I don’t blame him. In a meta sense, it’s an odd decision to split the trio so early on, after they barely began to bond. And I know how it’s going to affect Season 3 :\

Onto the villain side! The war council gets introduced, and with this, Dracula’s portrayal takes a nosedive. While he was genuinely intimidating yet tragic in Season 1, here Dracula can’t even intimidate a room by yelling, and all the new OCs take turns into painting him as a dumbass who just wants to destroy himself with no logical thinking. Which is true, and an interesting thing to point at, but let’s just say that I’m very tired of OCs existing purely to make fun of the canon villain :\

Basically, Dracula is clinically depressed and getting worse. By the second half of the season, his modus operandi is “fuck it, I don’t care”. And I do feel sorry for him, I do, Graham McTavish is perfect in conveying his tiredness, and there is an excellent payoff at the end, but I only see a forced reason for the OC villains to be right and surpass him. I think I’m biased at this point :\

As for the OCs, you have Godbrand who keeps insisting that he doesn’t want to fight this war, that it has no order, why does Dracula trust two humans over his other generals, and most smartly, if Dracula manages to kill all humans, how will the vampires feed? Dracula doesn’t have an answer for that other than “welp i have stored blood”, which is not a good solution for immortal creatures. I don’t have much to say about Godbrand on his own, he wants to be funny but insightful at the same time but I just felt that he hogged too much screentime for someone meant to last 4 episodes.

Then you have Carmilla who can march to Dracula and ask him why hadn’t he turned Lisa, did he really want to keep a pet, and Dracula for some reason doesn’t turn her into a smear on the floor. This is hard to go through. And it gets worse.

Oh, Carmilla. You wonderful radfem #girlboss, you. You are the Starline of this show, without any of the cute shipteasing. It’s really funny to compare her to her game counterpart, who not only looked more frilly, but was one of the many Dracula simps of the series.

Here her design is more generically sexy (really, no skull motif? Boring) and, well, her personality is #girlboss. She’s a smug snake, she constantly speaks in a fake sweet voice, always with a hand on her hip, she #slays in her pretty dress and high heels, takes no shit from no man, her introduction is all about intimidating men, and no wonder fans love her, she has no depth other than “man bad” :^) (the implication that she and Godbrand have a sexual relationship is... uhhh interesting ig?)

The way her backstory is told is so forced too. She kicks Godbrand down the stairs to subdue him, and then rants about the Stupid Old Man who kept her prisoner. We don’t see how she was “bound” to her master, but we see her in her #girlboss moment as he murders him with a smug smirk on her face. God forbid we see her in a more vulnerable moment of her life. I feel nothing for her. I don’t even know if I’m supposed to feel nothing for her. I only know that at this point the mere sound of her clicking Girlboss Heels pisses me off and I want to use them to stab her in her obnoxious smirk.

Carmilla is the Mephiles of Castlevania. The show tries so hard to paint her as a Machiavellian mastermind, pulling everyone’s strings to get what he wants... but realistically, who is she dealing with? Dracula, who is depressed and doesn’t have the strength or will to fight her; Godbrand, who has only one braincell and it’s boat-shaped; Isaac, who agrees with her plan while knowing that it doesn’t benefit them simply to make her shut up (not that I blame him); and Hector. I am not impressed, I’m just constantly rolling my eyes because everyone is such a dumbass!

We have here another instance of weird writing, the running water rant, which is basically Carmilla, Godbrand, Hector and Isaac arguing about the validity of the superstition and what counts as current water. This smacks to me as Ellis trying to use logic to explain old vampire lore, although at least it’s not as stupid as the cross explanation in Season 4. Yes, vampires can’t touch running water because it was seen as purifying, much like garlic, and this is present in the games sometimes: Alucard in SoTN needs a relic to go underwater, and Joachim was imprisoned in the Dark Palace of Waterfalls, much like Carmilla mentions the ancient practice of burying vampires on small islands to trap them. So... I guess this is supposed to flesh out the lore? But it comes out of nowhere and, unless I’m proven wrong later on, it leads to nowhere. It’s a big filibuster that takes time from things like showing stuff.

“oh but these conversations make the show more realistic, it’s like how real people talk!” unpopular opinion then but I’m getting tired of all this pointless exposition, it’s not even that entertaining. All these people do nothing but talking, and I don’t feel a damn thing! And I adore dialogue, characters interacting is usually my favorite part of every story! Here, I’m not sad, I’m not amused, I’m not intimidated, I just want them to shut up. Godbrand is the only one who is mildly entertaining, but of course he doesn’t last long.

Oh, and people have already pointed out the inherent contradiction of a cursed zombie bishop being able to bless the waters. By all logic it shouldn’t happen - hello, the magic is called Devil Forging for a reason, maybe you shouldn’t drop it! But hey, everything to make Carmilla look as smart and powerful as possible, look at her, destroying Dracula’s forces like a total #girlboss! Or to yell that CHURCH BAD, in case we missed it the last 4383532 times.

Well, I’ve ranted enough. Positivity time! This won’t be long :P

The fighting scenes are still top quality (although admittedly the general animation has its dips), and I really liked the fight in the Belmont house. I have the smallest of nitpicks, which is that I would have preferred if Trevor stuck to the Vampire Killer/Morning Star instead of having a sword as well, but it’s no big deal. I also appreciated the more precise references to the games: while Slogra and Gaibon are a little “obvious”, I genuinely liked the inclusion of Malphas and the presence of four Save Room statues, that’s more deep cut. The sequence of Castlevania moving around Breila, being flooded with blessed water, and Carmilla jumping around with Hector in tow to avoid it is also actually original and cool. (it also has the only instance of “fuck” that made me genuinely laugh)

And of course, I can’t not mention episode 7, which feels like it was written by completely different people for a completely different show. First of all, Bloody Tears.

Chills. I love this track despite being used to death: I can only imagine how long time fans felt at the time.

I’ve watched the fight scene plenty of times, and it never gets old. Animation on point, good choreography, excellent use of every character’s abilities, this is the real peak of the show and I’m finally feeling something! It’s so good :D

Speakin of feeling. God, Dracula.

When I saw the scene of Dracula sending Isaac in the desert, I thought that it was a nice way to show how much he cared about his friend, but that it was also much dumber compared to how the manga justified Dracula being left defenseless (why are you sending away your best fighter?). But it was not about protecting Isaac at all: it was to ensure that he’d die in peace without Isaac laying his life for him. And, well, it got me. Finally, some good telling instead of showing!

(although sending Isaac in the middle of the desert with no help whatsoever is kind of cruel)

The ensuing fight is also awesome. After a whole season of moping around, we get a good reminder that no, Dracula is not to be fucked with. He shrugs off every attack, even the OP Sypha can barely scratch him. (and alright, him recognizing Trevor as a Belmont from his ineffectual punches is funny)

By the second half, it becomes more of a Dracula vs. Alucard fight (and tbf, the other two were clearly outmatched, although I liked the moment where Trevor supported Sypha with his back to allow her to push Dark Inferno away - yay, battle couple!); this is, of course, to fully explore the family tragedy, how much Lisa’s death wrecked both of them, and how Dracula is so lost in his grief that he’s beating his own son to death. Which leads to the absolutely best moment in the show, which still makes me tear up: “Lisa, I’m killing our boy” :(

This fucking sequence makes me cry almost as much as Lee’s death goddammnit I can’t handle this

if only this was the last episode. But no.

So, that was Season 2. Much meatier than Season 1, although still rather slow for most of its run, but I really thought I would have enjoyed it more, especially since I know the hell that it’s awaiting me. The core of this season was Carmilla setting up the stage to replace main villain Dracula, which I can’t say I found entertaining. Well, episode 7 was a masterpiece, but it took so long to get there, and episode 8 had to shit all over me.

... speaking of which...

:)

I had to split my thoughts into two parts. Because now, I get to talk about the Devil Forgemasters. And it’s going to be fun :)

#castlevania #beev watches netflixvania #anti netflixvania

[lurkingshan]

La Pluie and the Aftermath 

There’s something so satisfying about a story that pays off every beat it has set up, isn’t there? I am going to have comparably less to say about this episode than the last one, and it’s not because it’s any less masterful. It’s because I already said it last week, because this show’s writing is so damn consistent that after watching that episode I knew exactly what needed to happen to continue the characters’ emotional arcs. 

Shoutout to @wen-kexing-apologist, @neuroticbookworm, @bengiyo, and @fadelikeclouds, all of whom wrote relevant essays I’ve linked to here. 

So in this episode, we continue the arcs for our core four as expected:

Tien is sad, delivering truths Tai needs, and generally continuing to be an emotional rock even as he nurses his own broken heart

Lomfon has realized that he kissed the wrong brother, and is beginning to clean up his mess with a much needed apology to Tai

Patts is going through it (and lord does Pee continue to kill it in this final arc) and still upset with Tai, but because he’s Patts he still tries to compromise and reach out one more time (which the show smartly blocks with a well-timed misunderstanding) before he decides to pack up and try a change of scenery to nurse his broken heart

Tai stubbornly continues to passively wait for Patts to be the one to make amends, forgives Lomfon easily (because that boy never mattered to him enough to bother holding a grudge), and then goes and pitches a fit at his mother’s wedding because he continues to be entirely self-absorbed 

The grace Tai received from his family is perhaps more than he deserved given his extremely childish behavior in the context of those scenes, but we know how much he needed to finally understand what happened with his parents so that he could begin to heal and get his shit together about Patts. I really loved the direction the show took with this. As it usually does (episode 10's big explosion excepted), the show steered away from high drama and revealed that their breakup was entirely mundane - they realized their romantic relationship wasn’t working, and decided to split up even though they still love each other.

@sliceduplife and @neuroticbookworm pointed out to me that this episode is the first time we actually learn Tai’s parents names - Yadfah and Warun - and I think it’s because this is the first time we are seeing them as actual people instead of stand-ins for Tai’s hang-ups. And as we learned, contra to Tai's long held belief, it was Tai’s dad who ultimately decided to release them from this obligatory soulmate marriage, giving them the freedom they needed to live happier lives while keeping their platonic connection intact and sticking together through the rain. 

That’s fucking beautiful, and you could see how moved and shaken Tai was as he realized he’d gotten it all wrong. And his dad did us one better by making the point explicit: Tai done fucked up by dumping Patts, and needed a reminder that when you find a good love, you have to take care of it.

Tai needed to hear that so desperately. He did so much damage to his relationships, and for no damn good reason. Tien already made sure he knew that it was his lying that caused all the drama, and now he can see from the way his parents treat each other that his approach to his relationship with Patts has been wrong-headed from the start. And so we head into the finale where we’ll get to see him finally be the one to reach out to Patts, to use his words, and to make amends for the things he got wrong.

I want to end by just mentioning how incredible it is that this show managed to wind up to such a high drama emotional climax and then pivot immediately to such a quiet, calm release of tension while keeping everything emotionally consistent. This is only possible when the writing, acting, directing, and editing all come together perfectly. I have every confidence that La Pluie will stick the landing.

#la pluie #thai bl #shan shouts into the void