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plainsight6578 · 3 years

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Self-indulgent IwaOi fic because I was sad

This fic was based of a fanart by @ / marikdraw. Check them out their art is amazing!!!

Characters: Oikawa x Iwaizumi

TW: depression ???, just general self-loathing, though nothing too serious.

Genre: angsty but it turns into fluff at the end

Summary: Oikawa thinks he’s not enough. Iwaizumi shows him that he is.

Word count: 1,762

A/N: i hc that oikawa has MDD i dont make the rules... but i do

pâro

n. the feeling that no matter what you do is always somehow wrong—as if there’s some obvious way forward that everybody else can see but you, each of them leaning back in their chair and calling out helpfully, “colder, colder, colder…”

Since he was little, Oikawa was showered with endless praise and compliments.

"Wow! he's that good and only a first year?"

"You're going to make it very far!"

"You have so much potential, Oikawa!"

No one was better than him. He was unstoppable. Unbeatable. He was, in every sense, the great king of the court.

"Oikawa-san, you work so hard!"

"Slow down, Trashy-kawa"

Those remarks from his teammates only fueled his unending hunger for greatness. But, with high status comes high expectations. And Oikawa did everything in his power to live up to those expectations. 'Just a few more,' 'just a little bit further,' 'just a little more,' more, more, more. He never seemed to be satisfied with his own efforts. Fearing that his hours of extra practice would betray him when he needed it most. So, he always did more, more, more. He didn't stop until he physically couldn't anymore.

On more than one occasion his teammates have walked in on a passed-out Oikawa, who had exerted too much of himself before practice had even started. He knew this wasn't healthy. He knew his body wouldn't be able to keep up. But no one, not even his already injured knee, could stop him. Because, as he found out, he wasn't the best. Not by a long shot.

When he first met Kageyama, Oikawa's first instinct was to crush him. He wanted to push the younger boy so far down that he would give up on trying to get back up. Because inside his heart, he knew that he could never beat him. Kageyama was born a genius. Volleyball was natural for him. Oikawa had to mold himself to get to where he was, while people like Kageyama were born miles ahead, with all the instincts for the sport instilled into their DNA. He could never hope to be overtake Kageyama when he already had such a large head-start. He knew it, but he refused to accept it.

And then, in his third and final year of high school, the spring tournament came. Everything, all his efforts, lead up to this moment. It was almost poetic that he has to face off against his former kouhai who had challenged him so much in middle school.

And then... by some miracle, they won. He won. Oikawa had actually beat the "king of the court". Finally, he felt like he was catching up. Oikawa was no longer struggling on an unfamiliar path that others had already crossed, he was struggling side-by-side with them. After nearly 18 years of his life, he finally felt like he was on an equal playing field with the others. Maybe, just maybe, all his extra hours of practice, all those bailing on gatherings with friends and nearly failing his subjects in school just to squeeze in a few more laps or serves... All of those sacrifices he made, weren't for nothing. His hard work was finally paying off. He was on a high no one could bring him down from.

And then they lost to Shiratorizawa.

He couldn't seem to fully grasp the reality of it yet. To him, it didn't make sense how Ushiwaka could beat him. He did everything right. every choice he made was the right one. Every toss went exactly where it needed to score. The entire team was at the top of their game. There was nothing else they could have done. They tried their hardest. So, why didn't they win?! Why had they lost? Clearly, it was Oikawa's fault. he was both the setter and the captain, meaning he held most of the responsibility for their loss. That's how it was in his eyes, at least. It had to be his fault; it was no one else's. This loss had dragged Oikawa from his high all the way down to rock bottom, and then kicked him down some more.

As Oikawa sat in the changing rooms after the game, he contemplated every single day he spent not training. All those lunch breaks he let his fan-girls distract him, every damn time he told himself he was "too tired" or "not in the mood" to practice. Those scenes flashed in his mind like nightmares. Tears threatened to slip from his eyes as he fought for some control over his emotions. He was so caught up in his misery that he failed to notice the sound of Iwaizumi's footsteps coming in.

"Oi, trashy-kawa!" He yelled. Startled, Oikawa looked up to see Iwaizumi scowling down at him, "the bus is leaving soon, what the hell is taking you so damn long?" He asked, less aggressively than usual, taking into consideration their current situation and the tears that pricked at Oikawa's eyes. Their loss also weighed heavy on Iwaizumi's shoulders; he was slouching a tiny bit more than usual, and he didn't really have the energy in him to yell at Oikawa like he normally would have.

Of course, Iwaizumi was beating himself up too; there was a ton of spikes and serves he'd missed during the match, and he knew the rest of the team was thinking the same things about themselves.

"I'm sorry..." Oikawa mumbled, barely loud enough for Iwaizumi to hear, "it was my fault we lost. I should have trained mo-"

"More? You're the one that did the most out of all us, stop regretting the things you didn't do," Iwaizumi had cut him off. He had now taken a seat right next to the bench Oikawa was sat on. Oikawa clenched his teeth. He didn't know why but he was getting angry. He wanted Iwaizumi to yell at him, tell him that he failed as their setter and captain, and most importantly as his friend. "Don't say that. We both know I should have tried harder," he spat back.

"Are you saying that you slacked off during the match?" Iwaizumi asked.

"Huh?! Of course not!"

"Then you did your best didn't you? We all did. That's all that mat-"

"THAT WASN'T ENOUGH, THOUGH!" Oikawa had snapped. His self-loathing had reached its peak. He couldn't stand Iwaizumi's lies anymore. Why wasn't he blaming him?! It was Oikawa's fault that they lost, right? So, why wasn't Iwaizumi angry?! Oikawa had long forgotten to stop himself from crying, and now every word he said as accompanied with the tears that flew down his face. "THEY SAW THROUGH ALL OF MY ATTACKS! THEY MANAGED TO RETURN MOST OF MY SERVES! I SHOULD HAVE TRAINED MORE! I SHOULD HAVE PRACTICED HARDER! I COULDNT MAKE IT IN TIME! I-" Oikawa's voice broke, "I wasn't enough for you..." He looked away. He couldn't stand to see Iwaizumi's face right now.

Earlier in their third year, the pair had promised each other that they would play on the same court for as long as possible. They would continue to win so they could keep playing volleyball together. And then, they would win nationals. side-by-side. Like they've always been.

When they'd lost against Shiratorizawa, Oikawa felt like he'd broken that promise. He was ready for Iwaizumi to yell at him about how disappointed he was, about how much he was let down by him... He waited... But nothing happened. Oikawa slowly turned his gaze back up to Iwaizumi and his breath hitched in his throat. Iwaizumi had tears in his eyes and his fists were clenched.

Oikawas heart immediately stopped. Of course, he would be the one to make his best friend cry. The sight of it made his heart ache. He didn't know what to do so he just sat where he was and looked away.

Iwaizumi said nothing; he simply bent down on the floor and placed the smallest little kiss onto Oikawa's injured knee. Oikawas heart started pounding. In that moment, he remembered why he'd been pushing himself so hard. Why he wanted to keep going even if his lungs were screaming out in pain. It was because of him; because of Iwaizumi. Because he wanted to play with him for as long as he could.

"You are so much more than enough, Tooru," Iwaizumi's voice was barely above a whisper. He looked up at Oikawa, who now had stopped crying, but his face was decorated with a bright blush that went up to his ears.

And, although Iwaizumi didn't say anything else after that, the look in his eyes told Oikawa everything he needed to know: 'it's not your fault, you did your best and we all know that, no one blames you.'

A weight had been lifted off Oikawa’s shoulders; all those pent-up feelings of never being good enough seemed to melt away in the blink of an eye - in a way only Iwaizumi could do. He was so overwhelmed with so many feelings that all he could do was laugh as the relief set in. Iwaizumi, who was confused at first but then offered a soft smile, reached up to grab Oikawa's neck, and then proceeded to lean in for a kiss. Iwaizumi was about to pull away when Oikawa deepened the kiss by leaning down further and grabbing the hem of the other man's shirt. He could never put into words how thankful he was for Iwaizumi, so he was showing him. Likewise, that kiss was meant to reinforce how much Iwaizumi wanted to tell the other man, how hard he worked and how much of an inspiration he was to him and everyone around him, and he wanted to keep reminding Oikawa of just how much he meant to him for the rest of his life.

When they pulled away, Oikawa wore the brightest smile on his face that Iwaizumi had ever seen; he'd also realized that, in the weeks leading up to the tournament, he didn't see Oikawa smiling much. He didn't realize how much he’d missed that smile. Iwaizumi couldn't hide his giddiness either.

"If I'm going to get this treatment every time we lose, I'm gonna start losing a lot more," Oikawa joked.

"You better not!" Iwaizumi replied, his usual scowl evident on his face, but smiled at the implication that there were going to be more matches in the future.

And Oikawa, although still upset over the loss, had realized that he could be okay with losing if it meant Iwaizumi was there for him.

____________________________________________

A/N: tysm for reading, I hope you enjoyed UvU! This is the first fic I’m actually posting. If you have any criticism/feedback lmk!! I did proofread this but there might be some mistakes that I missed, if there is I’m sorry e.e’.

#iwaoi #iwaizumi x oikawa #haikyuu fanfiction #iwaoi fluff #oikawa angst

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ilovejevsjeans · 4 years

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IS RICCIARDO WORTH THE MONEY TO RENAULT?

Defining what a driver is worth to a team is a challenge, doubly so when it’s Daniel Ricciardo at Renault. If you’re talking about a driver like Lewis Hamilton who wins the majority of the races and the title, then by definition they are worth every penny, but with Renault known to be paying Ricciardo $25million per year for his two seasons how does that stack up?

Absolute results are of limited value as a measure and only really count when you are in a frontrunning team. Ricciardo isn’t and was never expected to be winning races within the scope of his two-year deal with Renault. What he was sold was a team with the potential to get to the front, with hoped-for progress in 2019-2020 leading to the promised land of the new rules in ’21.

Now, the new rules have been put back, Ricciardo is on his way to McLaren and Renault spent the first half of his time there getting nowhere – hence the desire to leave. But Renault is making progress, has beaten McLaren, which uses the same engine, in four of the last five races and now has a realistic chance of challenging for third in the constructors’ championship. This was the upward trajectory Ricciardo was supposed to be part of.

Ricciardo was recruited as a big-name star driver to help take Renault to the promised land not of a single third place, but something more than that. So has this spend been justified for the team or could it have been better used elsewhere?

Team principal Cyril Abiteboul, whose response to Ricciardo’s decision to leave lacked grace and showed how hard hit the team was by it, has talked up the value the Australian has brought.

“It’s equally important to the team, to Daniel, to myself also,” said Abieboul. “We’ve been questioned about this decision of him joining us and also his decision of joining the team – in both directions really.

“It was very important for everyone to put the commentators at bay and show why it made sense at the time. Yes, it was disappointing last year, you could argue that it was one year too early. But there’s not that many opportunities to have a driver like Daniel, who was available on the market.

“So I still believe that it was the right thing to do at the time. The team wouldn’t be what it is today without Daniel – and maybe thanks also to the year that we had together last year, which was indeed a very painful year, which has pushed all of us to take the measures that that we’ve taken, and also with the team in Enstone with Marcin Budkowski and so on and so forth.

“So now we are finding ourselves in a much better position for this year and for next year and Daniel is capable of doing this type of thing. So yes, it’s a statement.

“I know that our communication was a bit negative when we found out that he would not stay with the team at the time, but I think that it’s precisely because it was an honest, emotional, unfiltered communication at the time. Daniel is also being unfiltered and genuine in what he’s doing today for the team.”

It’s standard practice for a team boss to be positive about a driver after a result, particularly one who was at the forefront of the decision to spend such an enormous sum of money on that driver. But after the initial negative reaction, the fact the relationship between team and driver remains strong speaks volumes.

While at Ferrari, the team’s decision to drop Sebastian Vettel has caused endless friction, what happened at Renault has not had the same effect. Partly that reflects the nature of the characters involved, but crucially Ferrari has its spearhead in Charles Leclerc.

Ricciardo remains Renault’s spearhead and it’s logical for team and driver to want to get the best out of each other as the season runs down. As Ricciardo has stressed, every race counts in F1 and it serves him well to had to McLaren following a strong run of results.

So where would Renault have been without Ricciardo? Chances are, it would have continued to run Nico Hulkenberg and perhaps kept Carlos Sainz alongside him. If not, perhaps Esteban Ocon would have come in a year earlier.

The impact Sainz would have had is difficult to judge as he reached a higher level when he moved to McLaren – by his own admission the step he made from 2018 to 2019 after leaving Renault was the biggest he’d made in his career – but in his final Renault season Hulkenberg was the stronger driver. Maybe that would have continued to be the case in ’19 without the change of scenery.

As Hulkenberg and Ocon have both definitively performed at a lower level than Ricciardo in 2019 and 2020, it’s fair to conclude that the car is being driven a little faster thanks to its driver choice. Ricciardo is a seriously quick driver and given he’s competing in a part of the field where a tenth or two can make a big difference, that is having an impact.

Last year, he outscored Hulkenberg 54-37 after a shaky start and this year he’s 78-36 up on Ocon. He’s also forcing Ocon to work hard to improve himself. Ricciardo has outqualified his team-mate in all nine dry qualifying sessions but Ocon did get closer than ever in the recent race at the Nurburgring. A Hulkenberg/Ocon combination might never have pushed itself on in quite the same way.

Then there’s the effect on Renault. Having a proven race-winner is a boost for any team but the day-to-day realities of racing in F1 can soon replace that feeling. But Ricciardo is an energetic and inspiring character and during the early races when he was struggling to adapt to a car that was very limited on corner entry and not compatible with his style, his attitude ensured the team wanted him to do well. This might sound obvious, but many an experience and proven driver has had the opposite effect when they’ve joined an underachieving team.

This helped to create a constructive environment where Ricciardo was able to benchmark the performance of the Renault against his experience of the Red Bull. That kind of knowledge is valuable and can help to ensure the right characteristics are pursued and the correct changes are made.

That Renault has made a good step from 2019 to 2020 proves this. The car was immediately better in terms of getting the power down at corner exit, but subsequent improvements in terms of rear downforce, upgrade packages further forward on the car that have worked far better than last year’s attempts have made Renault into a genuine all-rounder.

The driver does not design or engineer the car, so the responsibility for these improvements lies within the walls of Enstone and Viry, but Ricciardo has had a key part to play in terms of input into this process. Not only does everyone know that he’s a winning driver, which gives his opinions great strength, but he appears to have remained constructive with his contributions even when frustrated.

What’s more, he’s also not been afraid to admit when he has underperformed, admitting early last year that he had been a little shocked by the challenge of stepping from a frontrunning car into a midfield one and that his job was to adapt rather than endlessly blame the machinery.

Ricciardo’s contribution has likely played a part in ensuring the team could sign Fernando Alonso for 2021. While Renault was the only realistic choice for his F1 comeback, it’s unlikely he would have seen the value in joining the team were it still performing as it did in 2019 – inconsistent and only really strong on low downforce tracks. Ricciardo has, in effect, helped to prepare the team to be able to recruit his illustrious replacement.

Is this all worth $50million? Only Abiteboul can really answer that but given Ricciardo has played a central role in the team eliminating the fundamental weaknesses it had – and as Abiteboul suggests, this also had a role in the technical personnel changes that have had some positive effect with far more to come – he’s certainly been worth something.

If that $50m has given Renault nowhere to hide, no easy get-out by blaming drivers and no excuse to disregard the start comparisons in terms of characteristics between its products and those winning races, then it has been money well spent.

After all, what price is $50m over two years for an F1 team if it ensures that it can now justifiably aspire to challenge for wins if it aces the 2022 regulations when it might otherwise have carried on going around in the same circles?

Ricciardo has not and could not have transformed the team and perhaps it would have got to this point itself regardless of his presence. But his superb performances behind the wheel, which have been consistently good from the middle of last season onwards, his effervescent attitude and vast experience from Red Bull have allowed him to make an important contribution.

The team will have plenty of personnel who would argue their department could have done more with that amount of money spent on more facilities or more people – but that’s always the case regardless of how much you are spending on drivers.

And despite the age-old complaints of it all being about the car, the driver is the biological heart of the machine who must bring it all together and extract the potential. For its money Renault got exactly what it paid for – one of F1’s best drivers who has got the best out of it race after race this season. That’s all you can really ask for from a driver – and Ricciardo has delivered that and more. (X)

#daniel ricciardo #renualt #dan #long post

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mxrcayong · 4 years

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the avatar series: 01.08

masterlist.

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Entering the theater felt odd.

Usually, it felt like entering a movie theater or an entertainment center; everyone excited to be surrounded by their community and even more excited to be watching the underground fight.

It wasn’t the first time where entering the theater felt different. During the memorial, a thick atmosphere of grief weighed on everyone’s shoulders. Now? It felt eerie, as if they were walking towards an unsheathed sword.

Logically, it could be because this is the first time the abandoned building was properly abandoned. It has always been ‘abandoned’, but being ‘abandoned’ didn’t mean it was void of life. Every day, there was always people in the theater, even where there were no planned fights– either benders training or scoping out the competition, custodians cleaning, or the Big Bang Crew thinking of renovations to only increase their pride for their passion project. On fight nights, it’s a different story; people clustering in the abandoned dome, anticipating the fight and trying to get the best view possible.

NCT was supposed to be the legendary pro-bending theater. Built as a dome with two floors for spectators, it would’ve been the largest one in the country. Unfortunately, once pro-bending was banned – construction was on hiatus ‘impermanently’. Luckily, the Big Bang Crew had earned enough money throughout their time as one of the greatest internationally renowned pro-bending teams and purchased the incomplete building. After the ex-pro-bending team added water sources for water benders, the abandoned theater quickly became the ‘Neo-City Theater’. They didn’t know what the societal repercussions would be when they created this twenty-years prior, but they created a community comparable to a family. It was surprising they’ve never been caught by the authorities, although everyone had a theory that the police officers who disagreed with the ban deterred the discovery of the illegal arena. Anyone in attendance could easily report the location of the fights to the government, but they never do. Yes, not everyone knew each other’s name – but the relation ran deeper than blood, than family ancestry, than the history of bending. Everyone who attended had an intrinsic love and endless support for the artistry of bending, for equality, for appreciation of what one was born with – bender or non-bender.

Ever since the memorial, the only thing occupying the run-down building were stains of melted wax from the candles of those who came, and the shrine of the deceased bender illuminated by the flickering fake candle. It was obvious some maintenance was still being done; batteries in the candle must’ve been changed at least once, wax stains were present but fading due to probably being washed down, and the source of water for the water bending fighters was clean and free of contamination of dirt.

It must be hard to leave this all behind, Tari sighed as she continued to shuffle in the space, avoiding dragging her feet on the wax stains. This has always been something they wanted to do. She wonders what that feels like – to be so invested in a hobby, in a passion, in an identity that you can’t leave it behind even when you have to.

Her slow shuffle soon increased speed into a fast walk as Johnny tugged her with him, guiding her to follow their group through the crowd. Johnny has been clinging onto her for dear life since she’s gotten back. The only times he goes back to his own apartment now is if Tari goes with him or he has to get clean clothes, even then – he drags Tari with him. Kilari stood next to Johnny, acting as a reminder for him to give Tari some space. She knew what it was like to be watched and monitored all the time. In fact, it’s her very reason for her being rebellious. Funnily enough, coming here was an act of rebellion as well – before coming, the group had to wait outside the Ba family mansion and watch Kilari clamber out the living room window and hastily land on the dirt in front of them.

On the other side of Tari, Doyoung and Sonan talked in hushed voices about what to expect. Doyoung’s anger against the protestors has subsided as Tari encouraged him to meditate with her in the apartment, reminding him of the air bending values his family raised him by. She had to meditate anyway, she couldn’t go back to Avatar training with Johnny’s constant checking-in.

Tari can’t be mad. She knew Johnny had no ill intentions and knew he was just exposed to hearing about all the dangers the benders are facing due to his job. She can’t be mad at him for being concerned.

“Do you think Big Bang may actually shut this place down?” Doyoung inquired, biting his lip anxiously. The theater was a community linked together by the location and the notion. If the location shut down, the future that may accept everyone for who they are may be farther from their reach.

Sonan quickly shook her head, placing the palm of her hand on Doyoung’s back in a comforting manner. “I don’t think he will. I think he might just try to reinstate a community right now.” She softly said, knowing Doyoung was concerned. “I did the same with my Kyoshi girls; just reminding them it’s imperative we remain a community right now.”

The Avatar had a hard time speaking. She felt surrounded by people she disappointed. If she had revealed her identity when they asked, would they still be here? Would the government still be monitoring benders like a hawk and its prey? She tuned in to the silences around the arena, trying to listen past the conversations between Kilari and John or Doyoung and Sonan. Tari needed to catch her breath, as the air in her lungs felt suffocating.

From across the arena, she saw Sukiara stand on the other side of the stage. Her icy cold eyes boring into Tari’s, a small nod being sent their way to acknowledge each other’s presence. Tari had asked her to come so they can discuss a ‘plan for a girls night’ later on, in front of Johnny. Ever since Johnny started refusing to leave her side, she couldn’t go train like she was planning to. Having an excuse to leave him was the intention for him observing the interaction. The giant’s overpowering monitoring methods were the reasons why Tari has been meditating more – to enter the Spirit World and talk to Aang, who’d teach her the moves. Unfortunately, being in the Spirit World means the only bending she could do was energy bending – which wasn’t the most difficult to pick up. It was the only bending that solely the Avatar can perform so it came naturally.

Sukiara’s eyes seemed to smile back at her, despite being as cold as an iceberg. The black-haired guardian first used her hand and motioned up and down just abover her lungs, reminding Tari to breathe. Tari breathed in time with Sukiara’s hand going up and exhaled when it went down. When she got to a normal pattern of breathing, Sukiara then motioned to their surroundings - reminding Tari to pay attention to everything around her rather than Sukiara. It seemed Sukiara can sense something coming as well.

G-Dragon came onto stage like a reverend; everyone looking at him for hope. He stood next to the memorial, almost dead center on stage as he addressed the hundreds of benders and non-benders filling the arena. “Last night, we heard some heart-breaking news.” He enunciated, not needing a microphone to gain the attention of the spectators. Contrary to the boring monotone building, he seemed to paint every nook and cranny of the building with his endless colorful charisma.

“We are no longer seen as human beings. We haven’t been seen as equals for a while, but now,” He let out a sigh audible by the entire room, “we’re animals.” A soft hum rippled through the crowd, signaling to him that the sentiment was shared. “We’re animals in a zoo, these monitoring contraptions are our cages.” His voice grew in volume, growing more and more outraged as he continued to describe the current situation in animalistic ways. He continued to compare Mayor Roddin to a dictator, to a zookeeper who permits animal brutality. Following, he used an analogy describing the police to the blind employees following. Rage was dripping off every single word that left his mouth, but with a sense of organized rage. He sounded like he had a plan.

Maybe he should’ve been the Avatar, Tari thought to herself. G-Dragon was organized, he was well-planned, he was a people person. The sight of him was magnetic. In a time where the Avatar wasn’t as important as in the past, the Avatar is mainly a figure head. But they still need to be a master. He would be the perfect Avatar; he’s world renowned in his fire bending ability and in his charisma. It should’ve been him. He can inspire. He can connect.

Tari looked around at her friends. Sonan stood with her arms crossed, biting at her lip as a controlled fire rage in her eyes. Doyoung looked at his feet; a look or grief painted on his face as when he would look up, his eyes were trained on the photo of the deceased. Kilari’s arms were wide - her hands balled into fists as her jaw became locked. Johnny, on the other hand, watched everything with awe but with a passion behind his eyes. She can tell how passionate and riled up he was getting with every word, his arm and hers locked around each other and his grip tightening as he’d clap along with the audience to support G-Dragon.

“It is imperative now,” His voice finally calmed down as the roars of the audience hushed, “we work together as a community. We remind them we are human too.” Tari could sense the community radiating off everyone – a sense of acceptance. She can’t lie and say she doesn’t feel it too, however, something felt off. It felt like a moment before a bomb went off, the feeling Aang must’ve felt minutes before he knew Sozin’s comet would pass. “And if they cannot remember that, then we need to prove them right and show them how terrifying and dangerous we can be.” He incited. With that, G-Dragon raised his arms, signaling the rest of the Big Bang crew and the most frequent winners of the underground fights to stand beside him.

If Johnny had a camera with him today, he’d take a photo. Each bender on stage allowed their element to be held in their hands. It was notable to mention that some Big Bang members were their managers or friends, therefore not benders. They stood on stage holding weapons. It was a beautiful image of unity. “Together, as benders and non-“

It happened too quick and out of the blue.

It started with the sound of sirens, followed by an explosion, interrupting G-Dragon’s speech. A smoke bomb was dropped into the middle of the arena; smoke flooding the arena; everyone coughing their lungs out as they struggled to see through the dirt. “EVERYONE IS UNDER ARREST,” A voice boomed – one Tari can recognize as Lin’s non-bending counterpart, “PUT YOUR HANDS UP OR WE’LL SHOOT!”

But that didn’t stop them from shooting. In fact, nothing could’ve stopped them from shooting.

And that didn’t stop people from fleeing. Or freezing. Or fighting.

As the smoke was clearing up, Tari could see figures running towards the entrance – trying to block off the theater from the police. She noticed individuals frozen and some of those individuals already being taken by police, handcuffed and pushed to the ground. She noticed the police harshly pushing people to their knees, to their stomachs despite the said individuals not resisting arrest.

Everything felt like slow motion. Tari was frozen. She couldn’t focus on everything that’s happening – a loud screeching noise echoing in her ears as she tried look through the smoke and find her friends that she lost in the chaos. If they are hurt… she trailed off, not even wanting to complete the thought, it’s my fault – I could’ve done something. Her search was soon completed; Johnny tugging on Tari’s arm, trying to pull her with everyone else who were staring at her with panic and fear. Their mouths were moving but she still couldn’t hear them over the screeching.

They’re safe. Tari told herself, feeling the breath she didn’t know she was holding escape. She was still frozen in place – as if her feet were buried in the same concrete used to build. “GO!” She screamed, the screeching noise now dulling and being replaced by the chorus of screams as people fled. However, these screams soon became a background noise; mercging into the environment as the pleas of her friends became her focus.

“TARI, WE CAN’T LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!” Johnny protested, Doyoung screaming in agreeance as Sonan and Kilari now joined in trying to tug her away. But the Avatar looked down at the arena, where The Osaka Prince, the Mouse, and the Big Bang Crew were at the front lines. They were pushing police officers off innocent people, they were creating a wall of their element, they were fighting back. That’s my duty, she realized. My life is theirs. And right now, they can escape.

She thought of everyone she had hurt; Kilari after the protests, Doyoung during the attacks, the benders he’s friends with who were hospitalized, the bender who passed away, the benders who have been arrested. She thought of everyone she let down; Johnny’s disappointment of the Avatar, Sonan’s misplaced trust in her.

She can’t just leave. Ignoring and resisting the violent pulls of her arm, pretending not to hear their persistent pleas – she searched the arena for one more familiar face; a face she knew was following her.

‘Help’ she mouthed as she spotted the same icy blue eyes. ‘Save them.’ Her attention was soon taken away, Johnny refusing to leave. “I’m not leaving you!” He screamed; his grip still tight over her wrist as their friends started following his lead.

“Johnny, my life isn’t mine!” Tari was quick to reiterate, holding back all the tears threatening to spill. “It’s theirs! I can help!” She was desperate for Sukiara, she needed them to leave.

Doyoung was quick to jump in, “Then we can help too!” He motioned to him and Kilari, who were fighting their way back to Tari.

“There’s minimal water here, Tari!” Johnny said at the same time as Doyoung, the non-benders grip tightening around her wrist and now becoming harsher in pulling her away from the danger. “Tari, come with us!”

She had a hard time thinking – everyone calling her name; explicitly through her friends’ pleas and implicitly through the fight on the stage.

As soon as Sukiara came by, Tari sighed. “Thank you.” She said, barely audible over the screams in the arena. Sukiara nodded with a smirk with the pure message of ‘I told you so’. Tari took a breath and felt a rumbling in her stomach, which she redirected to her wrist. She glanced up at Johnny; looking at the concern over his face. “I’m sorry.”

His face twisted in confusion before contorting to pain. A burning sensation took over his wrist as he flinched back in pain. The expression quickly contorted back to confusion as he asked a question to no one particular, just loud enough to hear it himself. “Did she just fire bend?” He has for sure seen her water bend, so fire bending…she has bent multiple elements. Maybe it was the friend, right? He tried to reason – his best friend couldn’t have been the Avatar. She would’ve told him. Right? Now he was frozen and their friends looked at him in confusion, now desperately trying to pull Johnny away from the crowd as they watched Tari disappear into the crowd. They want to go back for her, but they can’t leave Johnny behind.

His question was soon answered as his vision cleared up again and he spotted Tari, who was no longer in front of him and on the front lines, fly down from their place on the second floor using air bending and creating a wall of fire with the flick of her wrist. She stomped and the earth raised; effectively blocking the entrance from more police guards swarming in. She stood alongside the Big Bang Crew, The Osaka Prince, and Mouse – who are now the only benders left at the front lines as they encouraged the other fighters who fought with them to leave.

All of her friend’s jaw dropped in shock. Johnny was certain the other front liners were shocked as well, but he couldn’t tell as the stranger now guided them out to the closest exit. “I’m Tari’s friend, Sukiara. I’m taking you to her home.” The same stranger whistled, before a flying bison stood in front of them and the group fled.

“Go, go, go” Johnny rushed everyone onto the bison, making sure everyone would get on. But Sukiara didn’t budge. Johnny must be the last one of her friends on the bison, Sukiara must make sure that he’s safe. For Tari. “I’ll go back to be with Tari, I just need-“

The group’s eyes widened. They couldn’t potentially lose both Tari and Johnny. They are already panicked – their hearts racing – for Tari, they cannot be panicked for Johnny as well. “Get on or I will make you get on.” Sukiara threatened.

“Johnny, just get the fuck on!” Kilari called, tugging on the collar of Johnny’s shirt she could just reach as she leaned from the saddle on the bison. “We can’t lose both of you in one fight,” Johnny has never heard Kilari’s voice crack before, “please.”

As Johnny reluctantly climbed onto the bison and Sukiara followed, Sukiara let out a whistle. With the whistle, the bison took its cue and flew above the ground. As miraculous as the experience was - flying through the air, the breeze flowing through their hair - all of them felt a mix of emotions. It was complicated. Sukiara couldn’t help but notice Tari’s friends look dejected, concerned, panicked, and exhausted all at once. Sukiara knew the pain of losing someone she loved and knew the worry that comes from leaving them in a dangerous situation - in fact, thats how she joined the White Lotus. In fact, she swears she was feeling the same in that moment.

But she pushed those concerns aside. She took a breath and interrupted the tense silence with a forcedsmile. “She’ll be fine,” The whole group looked up from staring at the oh-so-interesting boring floor and looked her in the eyes. Their expressions begged for reassurance, for proof Tari will come home. “She’ll be fine, she’s got this.” Sukiara repeated, “she’s the Avatar.”

request anything for future parts / penny for your thoughts here

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doof-doofblog · 4 years

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"Their Mum Isn't Even Here, Jean!"

Monday 18th May 2020

Good Afternoon folks! I hope you've all had a good week, I'm sure you've all been made aware of the recent EastEnders news! For those of you who haven't heard, the soap writers and the rest of the team have been given the green light to start re-filming again, this is due to take place some time next month. However, it does mean that EastEnders will be taken off air for a few weeks until the time will come for them to start re-filming again. This is fantastic news that we've all been waiting for, we won't have to wait much longer than expected for us to get our usual 4 episodes a week back. How long the soap will be off air still remains unknown. It also has been revealed that script-writers will include characters talking about the current pandemic. I for one, feel it's amazing news to hear that plans are in place for our favourite actors and actresses to walk through the Square again! Crew will still make sure that everyone follows the rules and for them to keep 2 meters apart and the recording/editing team will use techniques to make it look as natural as possible for the viewers. I also realise this post is a bit late, due to me being in work again, but today I will post 2 blogs covering both last night's episode and tonight's episode.

I also have some other news for you, it has been revealed that EastEnders are planning to film an episode which will focus entirely on Ben and his hearing loss. The soap will feature subtitles and muffled audio for the audience to get the idea and/or experience what Ben is currently going through. I for one, am REALLY looking forward to seeing this episode. It will be something completely different and something that we've never seen before. I love when soaps jump in the deep end and decide to show something completely different, it was the same when Bobby kept seeing Lucy and also when Stacey went through her breakdown a couple of years ago. I just find it fascinating! I'm sure it'll be a momentous moment for EastEnders and it'll get rave feedback! Are you looking forward to seeing this episode air? The episode will be shown on Monday 1st June! I can hardly contain my excitement!

Now, let's make a start on last night's episode, a lot to cover from last night I think. Let's start with Isaac, still moping about finding out about Patrick being his biological father. Denise has done everything she can to keep him from making a mess of himself. She knows he's struggling but skipping work and making up excuses and drinking until he's nearly having a pee in front of children, is definitely not the way to be coping. All I can really say is, thank you to Bailey! What an amazing child she is! Amazing that it's taken a child to actual make a grown-up realise he hasn't really got it all that bad! Yeah, it would be a shock to him, but what Bailey said was absolutely inspirational and it really spoke truth to him. She's absolutely right in the fact that the guy who Isaac thought was his Dad, never left his side till his death. He was with him every single day and treated him like his own, now he's got another Dad to help him with his future, he could really make a go of building a relationship with Patrick if he gave him the chance. When Bailey spoke how lucky she was to have had two Mum's, I just thought it was absolutely moving, really sweet. I'm hoping now Isaac will realise he hasn't got it all that bad and he'll be able to move on, perhaps when Patrick and Sheree come back, he'll be able to ask them any questions he wants answering and maybe then, he'll feel ready to move on and accept Patrick is his Dad.

Oh Keegan! I feel like he's just not dealing with things well at the moment. I mean, did he really need to post up the video to his social media, inevitably putting Jack's job at risk! Jack told him to keep it to himself as their could be consequences, and its as if he didn't care. He was selfish and wanted to uphold his reputation. I mean, I get he wanted to prove he was innocent, but that would have happened in time and the police would've admitted their mistakes, but it's as if he can't let go after the way they treated him. I personally, feel sorry for Tiffany in all of this, she's being stuck right in the middle of it all. She's trying her best to support and understand her husband, but also her uncle put his neck on the line for her husband. What's going to happen now? Could Jack be in deep trouble with this colleagues? Will Keegan get the justice he's so desperate for? Or will he come to regret posting the video in the first place? I know it's awful to say, but I'm kinda getting a bit bored of this story-line now, I have a feeling this will change Keegan's personality completely and it may lead to further story-lines involving him fighting against the police, fighting for equality and stuff like that? I could be completely wrong, but I just have a feeling that might be the direction it'll take, who knows? I am concerned for Jack now though, is he going to lose his job now though due to Keegan's actions? Will he be able to explain himself or will he do as Keegan suggested and keep quiet? What do you think is going to happen? Do you see this story-line dying down eventually or could it take a whole new direction? Let me know what you think guys, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Ha! She may be a bit gullible, but I do love Habiba! She brings a lot of comedy to the soap, which is what we really need right now. At first I thought she was going to get away with it and be able to get the information for Rainie! I loved the look on Ian's face when he thought she was serious about getting to know more about the business. It was only when she dropped all her papers and Ian saw her paperwork it was all going to go downhill! I just loved the fact she didn't seem to click, not even knowing what "Sweet FA" meant! God bless her! Haha! But now Ian has made Max aware of what is going on, what does it mean for Max? Will he still give Rainie the divorce she wants? Or will he be able to give her the divorce and still be able to keep the majority of his money! Even Ruby mentioned he should be careful with money, considering he wanted to take her out for a meal even though he still has a divorce to pay for. Did anyone else see the flirtation between Ruby and Martin?! Okay, let me just say ... where the heck has Martin been?! With everything happening with Jean, surely he would've been there to help Kush out ... hmm maybe now he'll start helping? Anyway, there was obvious flirtation and sexual attraction there between Martin and Ruby ... Didn't they sleep together once a while back?! And they've not mentioned it to anyone or to each other since? Now Ruby has offered him a job, could there be something on the horizon for them? And will Max start to feel jealous around them and begin to notice what's going on?!

So, due to Ben having a temperature, his operation has had to be postponed. It's a bit of shame as I feel everyone wanted him to get it done there and then, obviously Ben more than anyone! Callum was there to support his partner, after having their argument the episode beforehand, he knew he had to be there for him. It was massive blow for Ben to be told he couldn't have the operation, he just wants everything to be back to normal. But now the question is, when will he have the operation? Will it still be a success? But most importantly, will he have the operation in time before he has to do the dodgy deal with his Dad? Something is telling me, No! Even Phil was eager to know when they'd reschedule his op for, and Kathy noticed it was the exact same way that Ben reacted! Is she going to click on that something is happening between the two of them and will she find out what they're involved in?! I'm really looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Ben, the episode that's going to be completely focused on him is going to be epic! We know that Ben is still meant to come across someone who is completely deaf, a young girl named Frankie will come into the soap, will she be able to help Ben come to terms with his hearing loss? I do hope his op will be successful, but of course, we will all have to wait and see!

Ooooh poor Jean! I just want to give her a big hug and tell her everything is okay. She's found out that both Kush and Shirley were slipping her medication into her food and drink, which actually caused her to have her fit. They'd accidentally given her too much and she'd been poisoned by the vast amount they'd given her. Of course their intentions were caring and loving as they both care very deeply for Jean and can see that she's not being herself recently, they were literally trying to do their best at caring for her. It just turned out so drastically wrong. I hated the fact that Suki had to get involved, she was more bothered about her cardigan!! She is going to be so smug now knowing that Jean also has bipolar and that she was there to help and even stop the hospital from getting both Kush and Shirley in trouble. Jean owes her nothing and I hope Jean knows that! What is Suki getting out of this? I don't understand, why can't she just keep her distance from Jean and leave her alone! I feel sorry for all of them, I feel sorry for Jean, I feel sorry for Kush and Shirley. Everyone is just trying to help and poor Jean can't see that, and now she feels as if she can't trust them and has decided to throw Kush out, as well as the kids. I'm worried that her living on her own is going to cause her more problems, how will she be able to cope? I think now is the time for Stacey and Kat to come back, Jean's mental state is only going to get from bad to worse and without Kush or Shirley being there to look after her, who's going to let them know?! Maybe Kush and Shirley can keep an eye on her from a distance? Will Kush finally inform Martin about is happening? Either way, I just hope Jean will be okay, although I do fear it's only going to get worse for her before it gets better.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading, if you have anything you'd like to talk to me about regarding EastEnders, feel free to send me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the current story-lines. I'll be back again this evening with a second post following up tonight's episode! Thanks folks! xXx

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onestowatch · 4 years

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WizTheMc Talks Growing Up in Germany, Signing to 10K Projects/Homemade Projects, and His New Single “Lied” [Q&A]

Raised in Germany, based in Toronto WizTheMc has a new vision for rap. He started gaining attention with singles “Do What I Want” and “On My Mind,” which showcased his youthful attitude and his ability to hop on instrumentals you wouldn’t typically hear rappers perform over. WizTheMc signed to 10K Projects/Homemade Projects earlier this year and his label debut “For A Minute” established him as a unique and versatile emcee. His follow up single “Lied” is equally as charismatic, catchy, and summery.

We got the chance to connect with WizTheMc via email and learn more about his creative process, signing to 10K Projects, and how his experience overseas influenced his music.

Ones To Watch: What do you hope fans take away when they listen to “Lied”?

I want them to know that it is ok to feel like you haven’t been honest to yourself because you wanted to create space for someone and set them free. “Lied” is in no way a bitter song, rather me being honest with myself that I actually wasn’t sure about my decisions in a scenario of letting go.

One of my favorite parts of your music is your ability to hop on a variety of different instrumentals. What’s your process for picking beats and working with producers?

Honestly I don’t take beat packs and only work with a handful of producers. Before I met Hugo, who helped me discover my sound in the summer of 2019 in Berlin, Germany, I produced most of my catalogue including one of my recent summer vibes For A Minute. My process now is a lot different to when I first started producing myself. Now I work with the Toronto legend Jeff Hazin (producer, writer) who’s an absolute musical genius. He pulls the craziest and best parts out of me. After working with him for almost a year now I still always look forward to every session I have with him. There’s no process, he just got the juice and we vibe.

How did growing up in Germany affect your creative journey?

Well, I often times say it didn’t affect me in any real way because I was always making music in my room, in my own world. It never felt like I was in any specific place, so that never really mattered to me. Though one thing I can say for sure, growing up in a small town (Lüneburg) made me dislike the mentality that came with it. So every time I had a chance to do something outside of what everyone else was doing, it didn’t matter if it was photography, film or making music, I got completely obsessed with it, because it gave me the feeling of creating a new me, a new life no one would have say over.

What drew you to Toronto when you first started to pursue music?

It was a cheap flight that initially got me there but it was the culture, the music and arts scene that kept me here. I had amazing opportunities all around me and I seized every single one of them. From postering the streets with my face to promote my music, to playing gigs at every possible open mic and event that would let me perform.

What was it like signing a record deal with 10K Projects/Homemade Projects during quarantine?

Wild but oddly calm. It was never a dream of mine. To be heard yes, but to sign was not in my near future plans. Zach, Tony, Molly, Elliot and the whole Homemade/10K team changed my mind with that. We were talking to other labels around the time that Homemade came into the picture. I was quite overwhelmed by meeting all these industry people who heard of me and were interested in signing me. But this team made me feel like they saw what I was after and really valued the level I had worked myself up to. So rather than thinking, oh here’s a label trying to swoop me up, it felt like we were talking like business partners with mutual respect for one another. In the weeks prior to me actually signing, protests about the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless other black & indigenous people started in the US. Being from South Africa, I know the struggles my father and my family went through in the times of apartheid and the repercussions that still exist to this day. Seeing a first world country like the United States go through similar motions in 2020 made me sick.

To show unity and love in these times Jacob (my good friend and manager) and I decided to share a donation of $10000 to the Nia Centre for the Arts and Foodshare Toronto. Two Toronto based organizations doing the real grassroots work in the city. We wanted to do something together with our new partners to really recognize as a group what it meant to be able to think about music in a time like that. 10k had already started a fund for social justice projects, so the whole team jumped on and joined together to contribute. All of us giving to our local communities that helped build us up, Toronto, Philly and LA.

I was always privileged enough to have food in the fridge and to pursue what my dreams were and are but me and Jacob are well aware that not everyone has had an equal chance to do so. This is just the first step of us collectively cultivating love and support in our immediate communities.

How has your creative process changed since signing a label deal?

Nothing has changed, my Uber Eats orders just got more bougie.

In an earlier interview you stated, “I want to change how people think about what a rapper can be.” What does that mean to you and how do you think you’re accomplishing that?

Rap is raw. It always has been. In the beginning it was real, all you could show and express had to be real otherwise you never touched the mic again. Now Rap and Hip hop are the number 1 favorite for people from around the world to listen to and indulge in. A big part of that audience isn’t so connected to the lyrics anymore, and in some cases fortunately doesn’t have to be. I feel like the world is and has been ready for rappers to make songs with Taylor Swift (Kendrick did that), songs with Linkin Park (Jay Z did that) etc. And I’m more than anything inspired by rappers and musicians who are willing to make music that is beyond the borders of what they started out making. That’s real evolution and thats what I’m after. You tell me if I’m accomplishing that.

What’s next for WizTheMc?

Lots of super cool videos, lots of studio time with people I love and lots of finding out who I want to be and how I want to show up in the world.

What are some of your dream collaborations?

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Kayne West, J. Cole

Who are your Ones to Watch?

I love Dominic Fike’s new album and otherwise I’m too lost in my own music right now to pay attention to other people's work. But that will change and I can’t wait for that. Though for everyone from North America, check out MAJAN and Cro, two amazing german artists I admire with vibes out of this world.

Listen to “Lied” by WizTheMc below:

#pop #rap #hip hop #alternative #wizthemc

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pinestripes · 5 years

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Favorite Moments from TAZ: Balance, in No Particular Order

(I’ve been wallowing in my grief over finishing Balance for a bit now, and I thought I could make a tribute by listing some of my favorite moments from the campaign! It should be noted that there will be SPOILERS AHEAD and that some quotes might be paraphrased slightly. Also, I haven’t listened to the liveshows yet.)

The guys’ delighted laughter as Griffin reveals that Barry’s back.

Actually, every time they have big reactions to his reveals. The sheer dumb confusion and then the whooping and clapping when the first loop in the Eleventh Hour happens. Justin’s quietly horrified reaction to finding out Lup made the Umbra Staff. Clint’s confused laughter and incredulous “Anyone?” when Griffin asks who he summons from the bond engine.

“I, and a team of other people, created this world.” “Gary Gygax?”

The guys tormenting Jenkins in Murder on the Rockport Limited, after which we find out the guy is a literal murderer (and not, in fact, a “sh*tty wizard”).

The entire exchange at the bottom of the well in the Gerblins arc. “Can anybody levitate?” “I think we just live at the bottom of this well now.”

“No dogs on the moon. They just run right off the damn thing.” "Should you say it, or should I? ...No dogs on the moon!”

“[Stephen] swims around in his tiny bowl. And he loves me.”

The sheer comedic gold that is the scene where Taako convinces Garfield to give him the sword--the perfect buildup, Griffin’s soul leaving his body as he realizes what’s happening, the other guys losing their minds as they too realize it.

Arms Outstretched, of course. And the sort of reprise of it in the finale.

Speaking of the finale--I’m a massive sucker for “Hey, the gang’s all here!”-type finales, where everyone we’ve ever met in a series shows up in the end and pays a role. And the TAZ finale does this SO WELL, with the music, and how it always makes sense in what’s happening in the scene. It’s so satisfying.

“You know we’re going to have to talk about your sister being a lich, right?”

Lup’s introduction.

Lup’s return, from the long pause, to Justin snapping the staff, to Clint’s “Attaboy!” to “YOU’RE DATING THE GRIM REAPER?”

When the guys all simultaneously respond to the question “What’s the best type of advertising?” with “Word of mouth” in Wonderland after episode after episode of them asking people to and thanking people for telling others about the podcast.

Killian reacting to Magnus cutting off Merle’s arm.

Magnus eating the Philosopher’s Stone, and Griffin subsequently being adamant that Travis deal with the consequences of his actions.

The guys starting their second loop in Refuge and immediately messing up so badly that Justin almost has Taako shoot them all and end the loop right there.

Magnus’s. Pep. Talk.

Lucretia in the Candlenights episode. “Hot diggity sh*t, this is a baller cookie.” “Magnus, this is the nightmare scenario.” “Booyah.”

Taako suddenly deciding stealing is wrong in the Goldcliff Trust. “This isn’t a dungeon; people do business here!”

Merle’s bit about the traveling forward/backward in time 9 seconds in the finale had me laughing so hard I was wheezing and crying. My roommate had to check on me and make sure I was okay.

I love Davenport and his sheer delight at piloting the Starblaster again. “Dance for me, buddy.”

The guys coming up with silly and perfect reporter names and newspaper titles to ask questions at the beginning of The Stolen Century.

The big, triumphant way Griffin goes “Let’s roll initiative!” in the finale, followed immediately by Mort Garson’s incredible music.

Everything Angus does ever.

The scene with Taako teaching Angus magic. “Can--can I get tickets?” “Why don’t you conjure them yourself, Mr. Wizard?”

When, in Reunion Tour, Angus says something about his books and Travis says he loves Angus and Justin says “Precious” in his Taako voice which means IT WAS IN CHARACTER AND CANONICAL.

Lup freaking apologizing for destroying the macaroons Angus made.

The Tom Bodett thing is just. So dumb. But so funny. I love it.

Taako calling Barry “Barrold.”

Fisher loving the carved wooden ducks is SO CUTE.

“Griffin, can we please deal with the Fullmetal Alchemist situation I currently find myself in?”

“Who?” goiehioewgasd;

The Junebug scene, with the music, gives me chills.

“Those are the arms that have held my wife!”

Merle choosing Lucretia to go with him to the spa in that lunar interlude because it’s so good for character stuff but also is unintentionally heartbreaking when you think about it much later??

Cassidy becoming mayor of Refuge.

Magnus deciding to break into the BOB’s prison. I’ve never been a DM, but I could feel Griffin’s sheer frustration and exasperation in my very soul.

Okay, no, I actually need to talk about Arms Outstretched. I usually don’t feel much dread or fear when watching/reading/listening to things because I’m like “it’s fictional, no one’s in any actual danger, there’s more books/episodes after this, it’s going to be fine” but this scene made me feel absolutely horrified dread the instant the Animus Bell rang anyway.

“Taako’s rushing in!” “Magnus follows him?” “Merle’s good out here.” “What’s going on?!”

“Hello, my name is Elder Merle!” THUNK

Magic Brian’s death. “I cast magic missile on him again.”

“Between the fan and the fancy umbrella, I’m one seventeen-inch waist away from being Scarlett O’Hara.”

The tantrum Taako throws when asked to get on the Elevator of Tomorrow in Crystal Kingdom, and of course his subsequent GLEE when Magnus and Merle get attacked after using it. “Taako--that’’s me, hi--I’m done with elevators. Never again! ...Don’t do it, I swear to god. You will not like how this ends. I will burn a spell slot on you. I give no sh*ts.”

Lucas, sadly: “My lab!”

The endless tormenting of Leon. “Yeah, he is no longer functioning. You have thoroughly broken this man.” “I win!”

Justin finding out about Lup’s existence and immediately having Taako call her Lulu.

“That’s real low [max HP]!” “Is it? Is it, Griffin?”

“See, there’s magic in a bard’s song. They call it inspiration, and it tells the listener what they need to hear right when they need to hear it. And right now, you hear it too. The message in the music heard round the world. You hear Johann’s voice, telling you, ‘You’re going to have to fight. And...you’re gonna win!’”

“Hear that babe? We’re legends.”

“This should go without saying at this point--Taako is DELIGHTED.”

“My name is Magnus Burnsides.” “Marchis Burchsins.” “Yep, nailed it. Got it in one.”

When Merle has the choice to sacrifice his memories of his kids’ births in Wonderland and immediately decides to take the penalty.

The bit in the second Story and Song where the guys keep putting off getting in the Starblaster and keep having little moments with all the other characters, and Griffin gets so annoyed that he tries to get them to move along using the NPCs. “No, totally. Let’s save the world, then 420 blaze it. Can we gooooo?”

Lucas, also sadly: “I got a splinter.”

“Our capacity for love increases with each person we cross paths with throughout our lives, and with each moment we spend with those people. But, too often we neglect that part of ourselves in favor of others. And by the time we realize just how important it is, we find ourselves with fewer folks around to practice with.”

“Did you enjoy the adventure?” “Of course!”

“Oh, yes, small prophecy is easy. I burp and a small prophecy happen.”

“Let me tell you a story about the time we fought three ogres, and I got punched so hard I almost died. You remember? You were up in some kind of weird laser firing potions willy-nilly, Magnus was pulling the arms off a robot, and I got punched so hard I almost died! I’m not about to throw down with a giant crab while you’re armed with just a terrible Scottish accent, and Travis doesn’t even have his shield! I’m out!”

“It all started when I met the most beautiful elf, and the bravest cleric...”

“Not all exits are made equal. Some are beautiful, and poetic, and satisfying. Others are abrupt and unfair. But most are unremarkable, unintentional, clumsy.”

“I’ll be having my body back, you undead f***.”

“We’ve chosen the perfect person for this. It’s like sending a mildly eloquent piñata in!”

“Let ‘em know, kid.”

“The late Merle Highchurch rolled a five.”

“You’re going to be amazing.”

...And every single moment that demonstrates what phenomenal entertainers and storytellers the McElroys are. Thank you, guys, for an experience unlike any other.

#the adventure zone #taz #the adventure zone balance #tazb #i took like four days writing this because #i kept coming up with new ones #i know i have more i could add #but it'd eventually just be a transcript of the entire series #pinestripes babbles #edited because i forgot lucas from story and song #and that needed to be in here #edited again because i love magnus's epilogue

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reneeacaseyfl · 5 years

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If you hate the U.S. women’s soccer team’s World Cup party, you’re a cop – ThinkProgress

On Wednesday morning, Megan Rapinoe, dressed in her “World Champion 2019” shirt, massive red-framed sunglasses, and her now-signature pink hair, was on a float in the ticker-tape parade in New York City, surrounded by teammates, fans, and, because nothing can be perfect, New York mayor Bill DeBlasio. She had been partying for three days straight with her teammates, ever since the moment they won their second consecutive — and fourth overall — World Cup championship in Lyon, France. But the party was far from over.

Her left foot was propped high in the air, putting her left knee about parallel with her shoulder. The World Cup trophy was in her left hand, and resting atop her knee. In her right hand, was a bottle of champagne. She turned to her friend, Ashlyn Harris — a back-up goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) whose documentation of the group’s post-victory celebration bender will go down in the annals of women’s sports history — and told the whole world through Instagram stories, “I deserve this. I deserve this. Everything.”

To some, this might be considered an off-the-cuff, light-hearted statement. But it was far from that. This was an earth-shattering declaration, a pointed rebuttal to everyone who has ever told women that their worth was tied directly to humility and modesty; a mantra for women everywhere who feel pressured to tone down their happiness to make others more comfortable, to turn down compliments or brush-off accolades. It was the opposite of, “thank you,” and a complete rejection of, “I’m sorry,” a phrase that most women utter, on average, 100 times a day, often to nobody in particular, as they merely move around the world.

It was a motto that summed up the entire World Cup run of the USWNT. Three months before the tournament began, they sued U.S. Soccer for equal pay, taking the fight for equality onto the biggest stage in the sport. Once in France, they smashed record after record and celebrated with abandon at every turn — drawing massive amounts of criticism for being too demonstrative about their happiness. They didn’t apologize; they just kept winning, and sipping tea. And then, when the last whistle blew in Lyon, France, to solidify their 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in the final, they kicked off a globe-trotting, ass-shaking, champagne-soaked, expletive-laden party, which the players — particularly Harris — shared with the public on social media.

Seeing these women cussing and pouring champagne on one another, holding signs asking for beers, unapologetically flaunting their drunken happiness in public — in a display that rivaled the shirtless shenanigans of J.R. Smith when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA championship, or the over-the-top water-fountain antics of Alex Ovechkin when the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup Finals last year — wasn’t just entertaining; it was down-right inspiring.

Other elite female athletes acclaimed the champs.

“I’m kind of obsessed with them right now. I just can’t. Like, they’re so dope,” Ariel Atkins, a second-year player for the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, told ThinkProgress. “They’re not trying to flex for the media and trying to be like, all preppy and professional all the time. I mean, they are who they are, And that is professionalism, being exactly who you are and showing people that athletes are humans too.”

Atkins admitted that like the rest of the world, she’s spent a lot of time over the last week watching Harris’s Instagram stories. So has Sophie Cunningham, a rookie for the Phoenix Mercury.

“They are so badass. Having them go out there and being feisty the way they have been, it has been inspiring to me. For them to go out there, to see them having fun, now I want to win a championship so this team can experience that,” Cunningham said.

“They’re not hiding who they are. They are themselves. I think that is so awesome for all women and men to see.”

This all began on Sunday, after the confetti was cannoned and the trophies delivered, when the players got back to the tarp-covered locker room, put on their goggles, turned up the music, and started popping bottles. We got to see what it looked like, in real time, as the weight of the world was lifted off of their shoulders, and the women began to realize what exactly they had accomplished. The early mornings and healthy eating, the skipped parties and long workouts, the time away from family and friends and all the doubts that this team faced when it came to France, it had all been worth it. Heck, the President of the United States had even come after Rapinoe during the tournament, after a clip of her saying, “I’m not going to the fucking White House” went viral, and the team only got stronger after that.

So of course they partied. Alex Morgan twerked. Crystal Dunn chugged beer. Tobin Heath sang, “We are the champions” at the top of her lungs. Harris documented it all, and then turned the camera on herself and said, in instantly-iconic fashion, “You’re fucking welcome for this content, bitch.”

Ashlyn Harris’ instastories are the best thing on the internet rn pic.twitter.com/JLDjftOSpj

— em (@East_From_Eden) July 7, 2019

After the locker-room celebration, the players went to an after-party, where they danced on the bar, took shots, and did a lot more shouting. On Monday, they took a chartered flight back to New York City, and when they landed, they were still singing and dancing and drinking. Tuesday, after waking up early to go to Good Morning America, they had a private roof-top player’s-only pool party, and then took the party to a Yacht in the East River.

Some how, on Wednesday morning, they were still standing and able to participate in the parade, which became about far more than their World Cup victory, and turned into a rally for equality. All along the parade route, fans held signs that read, “Equal Pay.” And the players — who, it must be stressed, were surrounded by the U.S. Soccer officials they are suing during this celebration — actually used their lawsuit as confetti during the parade.

When the players stood in City Hall — still drinking — and waiting to come out on stage for the speech portion of the program, Harris took to Instagram to show copies of the lawsuit in the trees outside, and strewn across the floor of City Hall.

“Our lawsuit is in the fucking trees,” Harris said. Moments later, as Allie Long literally ate the lawsuit, Harris added, “Pay us, bitch.”

Daddy will pay us. He loves his girls.

https://t.co/WuWyb9fnWu

— Ashlyn Harris (@Ashlyn_Harris) July 10, 2019

That afternoon, they got on a cross-country flight, received hair and makeup on the plane, and then took the ESPYs — a sports-centric awards show hosted by ESPN — by storm.

From Sunday morning to Wednesday night, every single thing these women did was about celebrating themselves. It was a flashy, raucous, attention-grabbing, euphoric, and often crude showcase of success. It was revolutionary. It was true equality.

Most of the time, female athletes either lack the time, resources, or platform to hold a celebration like this one — a celebration like we see male athletes have every single time a championship is clinched. Diana Taurasi, a guard for the Phoenix Mercury and the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer, said that because of the year-round demands on female basketball players, they never get the time to celebrate like the USWNT did this week.

“We usually win something, and we never get to celebrate it. We’ve won four [Olympic] gold medals, and the next day, you’re flying back to your WNBA team,” Taurasi said. “It’s like you don’t even get to enjoy winning.”

That’s a big reason why the USWNT’s drunken victory tour meant so much to women everywhere — because most of the time, athletes or not, women aren’t encouraged or even given the time to celebrate their accomplishments.

It’s also why so many pearl-clutchers expressed outrage at the audaciousness of the championship parade. Because the world never gets to see women let loose like this. Under every single social media post about these antics, there are floods of people calling the players classless, arrogant, and embarrassing, and scolding them for not being good enough role models for little girls everywhere. But the best part of the celebration was that is wasn’t about anyone else; this team has worked so hard, not only to be the best at their craft, but to fight for equal pay for the next generation, and to stand up for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, and minorities. This party was about taking a moment to celebrate themselves. Because, as Rapinoe said, they deserved it.

“I mean, they’re just being themselves. I think that’s all you can do. Just be authentically you. They’re great people, and they’re great athletes,” said Mystics’ All-Star Kristi Toliver, who is friends with Pinoe and Harris.

“And you know, they’re about the right thing. So if that upsets people, [those people are] probably in the wrong.”

Credit: Source link

The post If you hate the U.S. women’s soccer team’s World Cup party, you’re a cop – ThinkProgress appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/if-you-hate-the-u-s-womens-soccer-teams-world-cup-party-youre-a-cop-thinkprogress/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=if-you-hate-the-u-s-womens-soccer-teams-world-cup-party-youre-a-cop-thinkprogress from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.tumblr.com/post/186267054737

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robertlchapa30 · 5 years

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If you hate the U.S. womens soccer teams World Cup party youre a cop ThinkProgress

Other elite female athletes acclaimed the champs.

Atkins admitted that like the rest of the world, she’s spent a lot of time over the last week watching Harris’s Instagram stories. So has Sophie Cunningham, a rookie for the Phoenix Mercury.

“They’re not hiding who they are. They are themselves. I think that is so awesome for all women and men to see.”

Ashlyn Harris’ instastories are the best thing on the internet rn pic.twitter.com/JLDjftOSpj

— em (@East_From_Eden) July 7, 2019

“Our lawsuit is in the fucking trees,” Harris said. Moments later, as Allie Long literally ate the lawsuit, Harris added, “Pay us, bitch.”

Daddy will pay us. He loves his girls.

https://t.co/WuWyb9fnWu

— Ashlyn Harris (@Ashlyn_Harris) July 10, 2019

That afternoon, they got on a cross-country flight, received hair and makeup on the plane, and then took the ESPYs — a sports-centric awards show hosted by ESPN — by storm.

“And you know, they’re about the right thing. So if that upsets people, [those people are] probably in the wrong.”

Credit: Source link

The post If you hate the U.S. women’s soccer team’s World Cup party, you’re a cop – ThinkProgress appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

from https://weeklyreviewer.com/if-you-hate-the-u-s-womens-soccer-teams-world-cup-party-youre-a-cop-thinkprogress/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=if-you-hate-the-u-s-womens-soccer-teams-world-cup-party-youre-a-cop-thinkprogress

from WeeklyReviewer - Blog http://weeklyreviewer1.weebly.com/blog/if-you-hate-the-us-womens-soccer-teams-world-cup-party-youre-a-cop-thinkprogress

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velmaemyers88 · 5 years

Text

If you hate the U.S. women’s soccer team’s World Cup party, you’re a cop – ThinkProgress

Other elite female athletes acclaimed the champs.

Atkins admitted that like the rest of the world, she’s spent a lot of time over the last week watching Harris’s Instagram stories. So has Sophie Cunningham, a rookie for the Phoenix Mercury.

“They’re not hiding who they are. They are themselves. I think that is so awesome for all women and men to see.”

Ashlyn Harris’ instastories are the best thing on the internet rn pic.twitter.com/JLDjftOSpj

— em (@East_From_Eden) July 7, 2019

“Our lawsuit is in the fucking trees,” Harris said. Moments later, as Allie Long literally ate the lawsuit, Harris added, “Pay us, bitch.”

Daddy will pay us. He loves his girls.

https://t.co/WuWyb9fnWu

— Ashlyn Harris (@Ashlyn_Harris) July 10, 2019

That afternoon, they got on a cross-country flight, received hair and makeup on the plane, and then took the ESPYs — a sports-centric awards show hosted by ESPN — by storm.

“And you know, they’re about the right thing. So if that upsets people, [those people are] probably in the wrong.”

Credit: Source link

The post If you hate the U.S. women’s soccer team’s World Cup party, you’re a cop – ThinkProgress appeared first on WeeklyReviewer.

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sol1056 · 6 years

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hrm, I have several asks that all imply a similar premise in their questions, so I’m answering that particular part of those asks, all in one, here.

and the premise is that I hated S6; but truthfully,I’d be reluctant to say that. Instead, I’d say I found its flaws even more glaring thanks to contrast with parts that I did like, but that what goes in the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ columns depends on the hat I’m wearing when I’m asked.

See, if I were to break out the various levels in which I consume any story, in any media, it’d be something like this: as a writer, as a student of visual media, as an anthropologist, as a technologist, as a philosopher... and that’s not counting the various other things I love that -- if reflected well in a story -- will make me happy: engineering, mechanics, architecture, intercultural communications.

behind the cut: an example in how those parts of my brain react, and a quick rundown of the real issue of the season: failure to be inspired evenly across the character spectrum.

Take a scene like the one where the castle is hijacked. I don’t know for sure, since @ptw30 is too kind to smack the shit out of me, but I had to have sounded like a chaotic jumble in reactions when Pidge realizes there’s a virus, tries to barricade it in, discovers it’s got a counter-attack tailored to defeat her defenses, and then must use her stored shutdown systems as final defense.

writer brain: okay, the series of events is kinda cliched but it’s handled solidly, moving at a good clip, aaaand yep there’s the backlash, aaaaand yep, the final pivot, dialogue is jargon-heavy which reduces tension slightly but that emotional reaction beat at the end, good job there

visual brain: not bad, kinda predictable angle, oh, that’s a nice shot, good grief hate that cliche, glasses do not go full reflective like that, ohh that’s a different angle, lovely contrast with the character’s words, not earth-shattering but solid composition

technology brain: FKN STOP IT THAT IS NOT HOW IT WORKS NO OMFG JUST STOP WTF OF COURSE THERE’S DEFENSES WTF WERE YOU BORN YESTERDAY FKN FIND THE VULNERABILITY NO THAT’S NOT HOW THIS WORKS THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS NO WONDER PPL NEVER GET WHAT WE DO GADAMMMIT ANKERLNSDFOIXCVUDX OMFG

mechanics brain: uhm, does this castle have no isolated systems? did no one in all this time ever look at the castle and say, gee, all of this is connected by a single computer system and boy maybe we should, like, isolate this shit, where are my physical real-world levers and a big red button that will physically break connections in a case like this wtf

architecture brain: my HOUSE has a shut-off valve so I can turn off all water to outside spigots when there’s a chance of freezing, without putting interior water pipes at risk, what genius built this castle and never thought to do the same for all their crucial and vulnerable systems?

philosophy brain: is this meant to shut the castle down, or an act intended to make the castle explode, how to draw a clear conclusion as to the moral reaction to such an act, ramping up danger gives impression that purpose is simply shut-down, as opposed to going for the jugular by taking out life-support vs turning castle into bomb, (technology brain interrupts to say FKN CASCADE FAILURE DAMMIT) and reaction is good but lacking something (writer brain pops in to say but emotional beat! we have emotional beat!) bc still not enough to leap from here to seeing friend as enemy, where is the ethical decision point to justify murder in self-defense

...you can see there’s a lot going on in any one scene, in my brain.

But that also means I can analyze anything -- from an entire story down to a single dialogue exchange or image -- from one perspective and find it satisfying. And there’s no real contradiction imo to turn around and in the very next analysis put on a different hat and be frothing at the mouth over all the failures and numerous flaws.

No work is perfect, just as no audience is a monolith and neither are any of the individual members of that audience. Every single one of us has experiences across many areas and will bring all of them to bear on our enjoyment of a story. Up to and including sometimes willfully shutting down parts when they get too noisy -- like the way I have to grit my teeth through stories showing tech stuff because visual media pretty much never gets it right.

Here’s the bottom line, though, and the one thing that will overrule every other complaint (not neutralize those complaints, mind you, only backburner them in comparison):

do I give a damn about the characters?

As long as the answer is yes, I’ll be riveted, regardless of the goings-on. And that’s where S6 was a fascinating object lesson in how my reactions to some characters have changed, thanks to events in S3/S4/S5.

I honestly skipped every scene with Coran fixing the castle. I don’t hate him; I just didn’t find him half as compelling as the other plot threads.

I tuned out roughly half of what Pidge had to say, because her descent into amorality (and the lack of ever being called on it) has turned her from one of my favorites into one who doesn’t deserve my time.

I only gave Allura half my attention, b/c her deus ex machina in S5 is too OP and that takes away a huge amount of risk. She’s a walking powerhouse now which means a lot less at stake, and what could’ve been a truly dramatic moment (Lance’s near-death) had no drama for me b/c of course Allura can make it all better. (Plus the compressed pacing in that episode meant the story ran roughshod over that reaction beat.)

I skipped Lance’s scenes once I figured out they’d amount to him pining away (but not actually doing anything about it) -- once again, everyone else is working hard and Lance is wrapped up in himself, and I’m tired of it. Get over it, act on it, move on, I don’t care, just shut up.

I paid attention to Lotor until he went over the edge. I’ve heard enough descent-into-madness speeches from fictional sociopaths, and he didn’t even present a good enough motivation to make his actions riveting.

Uh, did Hunk have anything to say? Other than doing engineering stuff in the first episode... frankly, a chunk of which I skipped ‘cause I’d seen that four-minute teaser. Too long, enough I had no interest in sitting through it again.

If Keith, Krolia, or Shiro was on the screen, I was on it. If it was the clone, though, I kinda half-listened. I wanted that one storyline resolved already, so I could decide whether to stop caring for any of these three, too.

I paid attention to the generals... until Axca revealed she’d been working with Lotor all along, and then I realized the story had been lying to me. I do not forgive that. When Zethrid and Ezor shrugged over previous betrayals (Narti) and agreed to work with Lotor, I stopped paying attention to them, too. I’m here for characters, not plot devices.

Also, Romelle was left-field unforeshadowed swerve exposition fairy with an accent almost as annoying as no-name-father’s attempt at, uh, idk what that accent was (but goddammit it hurt to listen to, so I just muted him when I saw his mouth move). Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll drop Romelle off at the nearest mall so she can go buy herself a reason to be in the story.

And lastly, wtf was that about the castle’s destruction, whhhhyyyyy did we get a larger reaction space for AN EMPTY SHIP than we did for, oh, say, LOSING THE CLONE who’d been part of the team for how many months? wtf was that.

If you look up at my list of reactions to the castle-virus point, you’ll notice that there aren’t any mentions of personal stakes or characters. At no point was I thinking, oh no will everyone be okay (or even oh no not the poor castle) -- because any remaining connection with the core cast was tenuous by that point, at best. I had minimal to no emotional reaction to Pidge’s final emotional beat, because I’ve lost all respect for her as a character, so I don’t care anymore whether she cares or not.

Which means that there will be things -- depending on the hat -- that I either have found, or may be shown (via other peoples’ analyses, usually) are worth my time and/or have a reason to be there and/or make me reconsider. But without that connection to the characters, at least half the story is just going to go by at arms-length for me, now, and that’s a lot harder to come back from, all things being equal.

#voltron legendary defender #vld spoilers #meta #analysis is my chocolate cake #come for the sugar stay for the salt #vld #voltron

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fuckyeahevanrwood · 6 years

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Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez and Other Stars Take Aim at TV’s Patriarchy: ‘There’s No Going Back’

It’s a different day for Hollywood, and for our culture. From the time allegations of sexual misbehavior rained down on mogul Harvey Weinstein last October, this business and many others have been rocked by revelations and allegations, and by a sense that the time is long overdue to afford women equal respect and equal opportunities rather than treating them like commodities.

In this climate — with hashtags like #MeToo and organizations like Time’s Up working to affect real change — TheWrap convened seven television actresses to discuss what they’ve experienced in their careers, what they’ve seen in the last nine months and where they’d like things to go from here.

TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman and Beatrice Verhoeven asked the questions; Zazie Beetz from “Atlanta,” Alison Brie from “GLOW,” Rachel Brosnahan from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Claire Foy from “The Crown,” Gina Rodriguez from “Jane the Virgin,” Yara Shahidi from “black-ish” and “grown-ish” and Evan Rachel Wood from “Westworld” answered them.

What does it feel like for all of you at this particular moment in time, with everything that has happened over the last eight or nine months? Are you mindful of the politics going on around you in Hollywood and in the wider world?

ALISON BRIE Well, there’s no way to ignore what’s going on in our industry these days. That’s why I feel lucky and grateful to be working on a feminist show where we have female showrunners, so many women on the crew and six out of 10 of our directors are women.

That’s something about “GLOW” that I find really amazing and fascinating: We have a cast of 14 women in Season 1, 15 women in Season 2, of all shapes and sizes and ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. They’re interesting, in-depth characters. Their lives revolve around things other than men and being single.

I was talking yesterday with Gillian Jacobs from “Love” about how different it can be shooting a romantic scene when you’re working with a female director. You’re more involved with the way you’re being commodified on the show, which is helpful.

YARA SHAHIDI It’s extremely powerful and inspiring to turn on the TV and see Issa Rae on the show she created, to see Laverne Cox, to see all these women leading shows. Whether it’s cable or [broadcast] television, I feel like we are seeing a difference, and I think it’s partially because the audience is now expecting it. But we’re not nearly there yet.

We are seeing more shows — like Rachel’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” — about female awakening.

RACHEL BROSNAHAN At its core, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” is a story about a woman finding a voice that she didn’t know she had. And that becomes more and more relevant every single day. We’re seeing so many different groups of people in the country finding their voices.

It’s not something that I was necessarily aware of as we were making it, but it’s a huge gift to play this fully realized, completely three-dimensional, complicated, flawed woman.

SHAHIDI We’re definitely seeing more complex roles. It’s less about saying that a character has to be this beautiful, perfect role model who handles it all. If anything, it’s been about making them realer, more complex or more unique. So rather than saying this woman has to be the universal woman, we can deal in specificity. When we add that layer of detail, you can only gain when you’re talking about human complexity.

BRIE What’s great about what’s happening right now is that these stories for women are being told, and I feel like there’s no going back. If I read a script about a woman who can’t get a man, or two women fighting over a guy, I’m just so bored.

EVAN RACHEL WOOD I think everybody’s a little bored by that.

ZAZIE BEETZ For so many years, people were like, “Everybody can identify with a white man lead.” There wasn’t even a thought of, “Oh, someone can identify with a woman as well and not be a woman?” That’s insane.

Many of your shows now feel increasingly timely and resonant precisely because of what’s happening in Hollywood and in society.

WOOD We started “Westworld” before this movement happened, but when people say, “Oh, it’s so timely now, it’s crazy how synced-up it is,” we always say, “No, it’s timeless.” This has always been an issue, but we’re just paying more attention and listening in a different way now. So it seems more relevant.

And it was strange doing Season 2, because it’s all about the uprising and the reckoning, and the women — even though they’re not technically women, they’re machines — coming into their power and realizing who they are.

CLAIRE FOY I think it’s really interesting, the conversations that people are having. A year ago, would TheWrap be having an all-female cover talking about women being empowered? It’s because of a very few brave people got together and put themselves on the line. And then all of a sudden everybody came out of the woodwork and said, “I just realized I can stand up for myself.”

I have learned so much from other women about what they’ve experienced.

GINA RODRIGUEZ I’d love to jump in on that, because I think Time’s Up was created from the response from the American farmworkers — 700 women got together and wrote a letter to the women in Hollywood. This is such a difficult conversation because there’s no way we can encompass everything: This is hours and months and years and history and hundreds of years of domesticated mentalities.

But I believe that the culture for women, if we’re going to specifically speak about that all over the world, is a social norm. We created it and we can change it. But it would take a collective effort to do that.

WOOD We get pitted against each other sometimes, and I think what we’ve realized, which is part of the theme of today, is that we’re stronger together. It’s a slogan, but it’s also very true.

BROSNAHAN One of the coolest things about doing things like this is that we get to spend time together and know each other as peers, and that makes it easier to lift each other up and be each other’s champions and be on the same team. Because previously, there was usually room for one woman in a group of men.

Now, there has been a shift. I’ve been walking into a lot of rooms recently with both men and women where they’re saying, “Do you want to do other things? Do you want to write? Direct? Produce?” I’d never been asked that question before and I hadn’t thought about it much, but now I’m thinking about it and going, “Yeah, I do want to do all those things!”

RODRIGUEZ I produce my own projects because I really got tired of being told, “They don’t think you are this enough.” And I was like, “Who is they?” I need to be they. So I just made sure that I was the they so that I can tell them, “No, I don’t think that’s correct.”

As a young girl, I knew how affected I was by the lack of color on screen. I knew how much I gravitated towards the little bit that we did have that represented our culture. I understand that the lack of history of Latino culture in schools adds to dropout rates. I love that Claire plays one of the most important women in history, but there are so many more that we haven’t seen yet because people don’t even share it in schools. I’m all about doing my own stuff, making my own projects.

Claire, you were the subject of a real furor recently when it was revealed that you made less money than your co-star Matt Smith in the first season of “The Crown,” even though you had a bigger role. It came as a shock…

FOY It’s that unspoken thing. Actors don’t talk with each other about how much they are paid. But we all knew. And now something good has got to come out of all the shame and the embarrassment and the talking about my worth in comparison to one of my best friends.

WOOD I have never been paid the same as my male counterparts. I’m just now to the point where I’m getting paid the same as my male co-stars [on “Westworld”].

BROSNAHAN Really? I’m mad for you but also happy for you now that you’re there.

WOOD I was married to an actor for years and he always got paid more than me, and I actually worked more. And I was like, “I’ll just take what I can get, I’m just happy to be here.”

BROSNAHAN That’s a huge part of the equal-pay conversation, because women are brought up with this idea that there are 100 more of us who could step in at any given moment. So it’s hard to speak up for yourself, because you feel like you could lose it. And honestly in the past, you could.

RODRIGUEZ They do that to us from the start of our careers. Take our power away. I feel like that’s happened to me from the jump. “That’s fine, we have a bunch of people who could step right in.” You diminish someone’s self worth and it’s up to them to believe it or not. I’ve had that from the beginning.

BEETZ It’s about, are you being valued in the same way? Are they seeing you as an asset in the same way that they are seeing your counterpart?

FOY Our industry works on a quote system. You get a quote for one job and it will be used in your next job. It’s across the board, and it’s relatively fair in that sense.

The way it doesn’t work is because if there aren’t leads of people of different races or different genders, then they’re not going to be given the opportunity to ever get their quote up, because they will never be given that lead. And if they do get that lead and they don’t have the same quote as their counterparts because they haven’t had the opportunity before, then I genuinely believe it’s the responsibility of the people who are in charge of making those decisions to pay that person not according to their quote but according to what their part is. That is the only way it will ever make it right.

One of my friends is an Indian actress, and she’s never going to get a high enough quote because when has there been a lead part for an Indian actress? It just has to happen by someone making the decision. It has to be a directive, it has to be something that people just do. Because you want to be paid equally for the work that you do, and for your investment in that which will make a lot of other people very wealthy.

So it’s time to be outspoken and stand up for yourself.

FOY It’s not even about being outspoken. It’s just about saying, “These are the facts!”

RODRIGUEZ That’s what it is. It’s like, a woman does it and she’s being craaaaazy. A man does it, it’s logic. We gotta stop talking about it that way. It’s not about being outspoken, it’s about laying the truth down.

WOOD I’ve been working for 25 years, and the people with money are still men. You’re pitching projects about women to a room full of older white men with money who aren’t necessarily creative types. Those rooms need to change. They need to be more diverse and have more women, more people of color, more everything.

BROSNAHAN It’s hard when there’s one group at the top making all the decisions and controlling all the money. People in positions of power need to look like what the world looks like, so that the art we’re making reflects the world we live in and the world we aspire to live in.

#evan rachel wood #Interviews #the wrap #articles #interviews 2018 #gina rodriguez #zazie beetz #yara shahidi #alison brie #rachel brosnahan #claire foy

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iamjacsmusings · 6 years

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MCU Challenge musings

18 weeks. 18 films. The MCU Challenge. In collaboration with Team #Geekstalkers. Collated musings below, all leading to Infinity War.

#1 - Iron Man

Robert Downey Jnr IS Tony Stark, Tony Stark IS Iron Man, Iron Man IS the first MCU Avenger. Without this we wouldn’t have the MCU as we know and love it. Despite that, coming soon after Batman’s triumphant return as it does, I can’t help but feel the identikit Iron Man Begins falls a little flat. The weak MCU villain problem is present and incorrect right from Mk 1 too.

#2 - The Incredible Hulk

Tonally misjudged and (latterly) at odds with the hulk as we know and love him in the shared MCU. Watching now, 15 entries later, it feels non-canon. As a standalone, inspired by the 70s show, it’s fine.

#3 - Iron Man 2

Probably [one of] the weakest #mcuchallenge entries for me as it aims for “cool” moments rather than developing character or overarching story. On the flipside, it introduces us to ScarJo’s Black Widow

#4 - Thor

In no particular order: the direction of Branagh, the realisation of the Rainbow bridge, the triple H acting of Hemsworth, Hiddleston and Hopkins, the hilarious humour, the majesty of Mjolnir, the Shakespearean plot machinations; all are Thor-some!

#5 - Captain America: The First Avenger

I (too) was predisposed to preferring this origin above all Avengers due to my predilection for Captain America as a character, so the bar was set high. Johnson, the perfectly chosen director, exceeded it by making a boys own adventure replete with echoes of his Lucasfilm roots. It’s underrated in my opinion and should be considered as the Raiders of Phase One. Joe Johnson just *got* 1940s Adventure-era Cap. As too does Evans who only continues to get better with each subsequent appearance. I could watch Cap movies all day…

#6 - Avengers Assemble

Still top 5 MCU of all-time. The Avengers characterisations are spot on in this initial assemblage; no mean feat considering the wealth of source material, the origins of Phase One and the balancing act of at least seven key roles. Come the epic Chitauri invasion finale and from the Avengers arc shot onwards there’s too many fist-pumping, geekgasm moments to mention; spine tingling each and every one of them.

#7 - Iron Man 3

As a fanboy of @BonafideBlack’s buddy banter and noir stylings, I’m on board with his Iron Man entry (noir is an anagram of Iron after all) He write characters therefore it came as no surprise that his take delves beneath the suit to the mechanic that wears it. I’m aware I’m in the minority, but the first two don’t do much for me therefore this is like a shot of extremis to Shellhead’s previously floundering solo entries. It still looks to be Stark’s swansong and, if so, it’s a fine way to finish IMO. Kiss Kiss Iron Man, if you will. The “barrel of monkeys” scene is one of the stand out scenes from the entire MCU too.

#8 - Thor: The Dark World

The tone, palette and plot of this inferior sequel is arguably more aligned with the much maligned DC(E)U rather than the rightly-lauded MCU; make of that what you will. I’d gladly watch an anthology prequel about the Lord of the Aether battle glimpsed in the prologue though…

#9 - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

An espionage thriller every bit as good as the best Bourne or Bond has to offer, Captain America: The Winter Soldier just happens to have a few present and future Avengers at its centre. The undisputed leader of the Avengers as the 18-strong MCU currently stands, the more I revisit Captain America Super Soldier, the closer the film creeps towards my current cream of the big screen comic book crop, The Dark Knight.

#10 - Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy is better than any film about a half-Terran cross between Han Solo and Indiana Jones, a walking thesaurus, a talking tree, a green-skinned warrior woman and a bad-tempered raccoon has any right to be. I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve seen GotG already. There’s so much to admire, so much Galaxy to explore. it bears repeat viewing. Every joke still lands. Every emotional beat pulls a heart string. Every character is worthy of fronting their own galactic adventure. We. Are. Groot.

#11 - Avengers: Age of Ultron

There’s much to admire in this movie as Whedon ably juggles the ever-growing ensemble cast; each one gets their moment so, no matter who your favourite is, you should feel satisfied come the conclusion. The action scenes pay off with key moments that remain in the memory: the team line-up, “Go to sleep, go to sleep”, Black Widow on the bike, Hawkeye motivating Scarlet Witch and the arc shot around the Avengers as they end the threat of too many Ultrons. Quiet moments pay off too: the party is perfect (especially Thor’s face as Cap moves Mjolnir), the interlude at ranch Barton is a top idea and the lull in the final fight manages to move; I even welled up a little as Cap and Widow debate their fate this watch. In short, it’s endlessly rewatchable, as my SuperSon has put to the test.

#12 - Ant-Man

Easily the most underrated entry in the entirety of the MCU to date, Ant-Man is also, upon reflection, my favourite solo character origin story. Giant-sized words, I know!

#13 - Captain America: Civil War

War! What is it good for? Captain America movies!

I love Civil War. It’s edgy. It;s important. It’s epic! It truly feels like a “superhero comic book movie” ripped from the panelled page. And, Thor damn, the Russo’s sure can shoot the shit (Sorry, Cap) out of an action scene. Speaking of scenes, there’s one in Fight Club when the Narrator and Tyler mock a Gucci advertisement, asking if it’s what a real man look like. It’s not, no. What a real man looks like is Captain America holding a helicopter with one arm and a building with the other. Swoon.

I could watch this on repeat all day.

#14 - Doctor Strange

Let’s face it, Cumberbatch was the only choice for Strange, as suited to the hyper-intelligent, egotistical, socially-awkward auteur as Downey Jr was to Stark’s genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist. By this point in the MCU, Marvel can do origin with ease as this return to formula proves. Whilst Doctor Strange does remind you of movies from before (Iron Man, Batman Begins, Inception, Matrix), it patches them together into a kaleidoscopic Frankenstein of its own making.

Oh, one more thing: it goes without saying how awesome Doctor Strange’s enchanted Cloak of Levitation is – I’d argue it’s the single best cinema companion since Gromit!

#15 - Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol Two

GotG amped up to 11, Vol. 2 is less a case of difficult second volume, more Gunn locked and loaded. GotG2 is deeper, richer and cleverer than it’s predecessor, if not as instantly iconic nor anarchic in its punk rock aesthetics or impact. Ego, we’ve all got to grow up sometime. Following the near perfection of the first Volume was always going to be a tricky proposition, but this sophomore space saga soars true enough and will surely, in time, serve as a solid central entry in a worthy Guardians of the Galaxy stand-alone trilogy.

#16 - Spider-Man: Homecoming

Did I need another resuited Spider-Man movie so soon after the last aborted attempt? I didn’t think so until I saw this coming-of-age comedy that referenced Ferris Bueller, BttF: Part II and The Breakfast Club (among others)

Did I need another iteration of Spider-Man and his teen geek alter-ego Peter Parker? I didn’t think so until I saw Tom Holland’s infectiously enthusiastic and ultimately incomparable portrayal of everyone’s favourite neighbourhood webslinging wannabe Avenger.

Did I need another potentially disappointing take on a classic Spider-Man villain? I didn’t think so until Michael Keaton’s birdman soared above almost any other adapted antagonist from the entirety of comic canon – not since Loki have I feared and cheered in equal measure.

Did I need another big screen Spider-Man blockbuster? I didn’t think so until I understood what this wall-crawlers direction was under the genius creative control of chief Watcher Feige within the winning MCU. Now I need more, for thwips sake…

#17 - Thor Ragnarok

Space fantasy as its Flash(“ahh ah”)iest, Ragnarok is: Thorsome, Hela good, Full of gloriously glib Loki asides, a Hulk load of fun, great Valkyrie for money! Third time’s the charm for the God of Thunder. I can’t TaikaWaititi to see the Revengers return in Infinity War!

#18 - Black Panther

Stunning Wakanda world building. Convincing and charismatic cast performances. Strong character motivations. Serious and meaningful underlying themes. Too much CGI. MCU continuity issues. Nowhere near enough Michael B Jordan. Good not great. Middling MCU Challenge entry for me.

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wineanddinosaur · 3 years

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Morals Over Margins: A Blueprint for a More Equitable Hospitality Industry

The spring and summer of 2020 brought a reckoning for many Americans, with a global pandemic causing mass unemployment and the murder of George Floyd spurring protesters across the country to decry police violence against Black lives. For the restaurant industry, these events brought every failure and uncomfortable truth to the forefront — and exploited and jobless workers suddenly had plenty of time for such conversations.

Social media was flooded with infographics about the racist origins of tipping and the inequities that have kept the hospitality machine running in America since its birth at the blurry end of legalized slavery in this country. Capitalism itself was under a lens, the unfair concentration of power and profit magnified with every report of another billionaire doubling or tripling wealth. Replacing this economic and political system is a long shot, but anti-capitalist practices have existed in bars and restaurants for years now. So what does this look like, and why should everyone care?

Fair Wages

Capitalism is an economic system wherein the means of production of goods and services is privately owned rather than state-owned, with those private owners reaping the sole benefit of profits. That leaves the “means of production” — bartenders straining your Margarita and line cooks preparing your al dente pasta — in the hospitality industry exposed to exploitation thanks to notoriously slim margins for success. And since the hospitality industry, like most in this country, was built on the backs of Black people, it should be surprising to no one that the mistreatment of BIPOC, immigrant, and undocumented workers remains prevalent, despite their significant majority as employees in restaurants today.

One of the most basic ways an establishment can ensure the safety of its staff is by providing stable pay. Sadly, tipped workers who serve guests in bars and restaurants often make a subminimum wage, which is legal in all but seven states. Organizations like One Fair Wage seek to end this subminimum wage, but so have business owners.

In 2015, the practice of paying restaurant staff a higher but un-tipped wage cropped up noticeably. Prominent chefs like Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., began including service fees in guests’ checks in order to facilitate the change, while now-closed Bar Agricole in San Francisco raised its prices 20 percent to do the same. Chef Amanda Cohen was an early advocate for abolishing tipping in New York City when she adopted the practice at her Lower East Side location of Dirt Candy.

A Level Field

One of the most prominent supporters of the movement was Union Square Hospitality Group’s Danny Meyer, who announced back in 2015 that USHG would gradually end tipping and raise menu prices at all of its restaurants. Citing pay disparities between back- and front-of-house employees, which often fuels an unspoken feud between the two, the move to eliminate tipping at such a large and influential restaurant group convinced others to follow suit. This past summer, Meyer reversed the company’s “Hospitality Included” policy, meaning that servers at Gramercy Tavern and Union Square Cafe (to name just a couple) are once again working for tips.

Where Meyer posited that staff should benefit from guests wanting to tip generously in the wake of an economic crisis, Stephanie Watanabe, co-founder of Brooklyn wine bar Coast and Valley, found the opposite to be true. “We instituted a universal living wage, which was super important for us,” she says. “I think we did that in the summer after realizing that folks were not tipping.”

With tips plummeting, Watanabe and her partner Eric Hsu began to have the conversation about livable wages with their staff. “It really solidified for us when Covid hit: People before profits, period. It’s non-negotiable,” she says.

Thanks to her background in filmmaking in Hollywood, Watanabe brought outside perspectives to the argument against tipping, too. The “Most Favored Nations” clause utilized in movie contracts for smaller independent projects — paying the A-list celebrities the same amount as the supporting players — inspired her to try something similar. “We saw the dynamic between dining room and kitchen [employees], and it really bothered us,” says Watanabe of the tipped FOH/untipped BOH schism. “So for me, this was a way to level that and say, ‘No. We’re not going to pay this person less because somehow their job is deemed less valuable than the person who is able to go to get their WSET [Wine & Spirit Education Trust certification].’”

The friction between staff, coupled with the usual caveats of tipping — tipped workers experience higher rates of sexual harassment and people of color are tipped less than their white coworkers — led to a discussion with staff about experimenting with a fixed wage. “We understand the deep roots that tipping has and how ultimately, it’s incredibly, incredibly harmful and racist, and that doesn’t sit well,” Watanabe says. “Every single person, including the owner, gets paid $25 an hour.” This anti-capitalist strategy, which values humans over money, brings her staff equality and stability. It is not, however, an easy way to run a business in America.

“Every month, we’re losing money. But we’re like, ‘and?’” says Watanabe. “Then so be it, then our business can’t survive. Period. And that’s a shame, but it’s also a function of capitalism and society and these systems and structures that exist.”

With profit margins hovering around 1 percent at places like Coast and Valley right now, most investors would be hesitant to risk it all, but many of Watanabe and Hsu’s backers are friends and family who truly believe in their vision. The team recognizes the real struggle that most bars face. “There are good folks out there, and the problem isn’t [that] owners don’t want to pay their people. Some of the time, it’s that they can’t,” Watanabe says.

Even for the big players, a seemingly minimal loss in income might come with strings attached. “Who knows if they’ve got investors and people that they’re beholden to that don’t share their commitment to those things?” Watanabe says. “Then oftentimes, you don’t have a lot of control over it. And that’s where capitalism kind of just comes in and wreaks havoc.”

Nobody is saying that flouting our capitalist tendencies is painless. “To do the right thing is really, really, really hard in this world that we live in,” Watanabe says. “I think it’s like you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. But for Eric and I, … we can’t violate our own integrity, and so maybe that means we’re bad business people. And at the end of the day, I’d rather be a bad business person than a bad person.”

A High Road

Andrea Borgen Abdallah, owner of Barcito & Bodega in Los Angeles, was once a general manager at Union Square Hospitality Group’s Blue Smoke in Battery Park City, Calif. “I became really interested in that model and what it hopes to achieve — especially when it came to dealing with the inequity between kitchen staff and waitstaff,” she says. Borgen Abdallah followed USHG’s lead and did away with tipping less than a year after Barcito’s September 2015 opening.

Thanks to the restaurant’s proximity to the L.A. Convention Center, Borgen Abdallah noticed business was very cyclical. “[On a] Monday, I would out-sell a Friday night, and there was no method to the madness,” she says. But eliminating tipping created stability for her employees, ensuring that shifts would be predictably fruitful on any given day. “I was also able to introduce healthcare as a result of that,” Borgen Abdallah says — no small feat, given that the Affordable Care Act only requires insurance to be offered if an establishment has a larger staff of 50 or more full-time employees.

In March of 2020, with the shutdowns brought upon by the rise of Covid in the U.S., Borgen Abdallah closed her restaurant and made two important decisions. First, Barcito would continue to pay for the health insurance of its furloughed employees. Second, it would keep jobs available for anyone lacking a solid safety net. In this way, even though the restaurant was unable to provide the same hours, it was able to keep its doors open and its vulnerable staff cared for.

Last year, Barcito was also one of the first restaurants to participate in High Road Kitchens — a group of restaurants working to provide food on a sliding scale to low-wage workers, healthcare workers, and others in need. One Fair Wage, which fights to end subminimum wages nationwide, oversees the program through RAISE (Restaurants Advancing Industry Standards in Employment). Participating High Road Restaurants like Barcito commit to advocating for fair wages and increased racial and gender equity through hiring, training, and promotional practices.

Borgen Abdallah’s dedication to the fight for better wages began while working directly for One Fair Wage in the past, even making trips to Washington, D.C., and her commitment doesn’t seem to be waning. “I think this pandemic certainly exacerbated a lot of the issues that we’ve had for a really long time,” she says. “And I think a lot of people wanted to sweep [them] under the rug and finally were forced to reconcile.” Now, with all that is known about the instability of a life reliant on tips without guaranteed access to healthcare, paid leave, and other benefits, real change could be on the horizon.

The Hope

It has been one year since the start of the pandemic, and the cry of the overworked and underinsured is once again becoming just a murmur. An increase in vaccine availability quiets much of the fear of going back to a job where contracting Covid remains a danger, but bar and restaurant workers are still far from safe. Returning to work during a national emergency can be confusing, adding new ways for management to exploit staff such as through unsafe Covid practices, unexplained pay changes, and denial of federally required paid sick leave. After so much loss and disruption, mental health is suffering, and affordable insurance is often still tied to employment. One look at the long list of resources put together by the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation, a nonprofit created by and for restaurant workers, gives some insight into just how vastly workers’ lives have been and continue to be affected.

With the passing of President Biden’s latest Covid relief package, small restaurants received access to $28.6 billion in grants, but a $15 federal minimum wage amendment failed. “I think people kind of started to talk about [issues for restaurants],” observes Watanabe, “but it was just like ‘bailout bailout bailout!’ But … that’s not going to cut it anymore.”

Last month, Barcito was able to get all of its employees vaccinated against Covid. As eligibility opens up to the rest of the public, a new normalcy feels within reach. But the sense of urgency to repair broken systems within hospitality threatens to dwindle. “I feel like it has kind of started to fall to the wayside,” Borgen Abdallah says. “The light at the end of the tunnel gets brighter and brighter, and I think it’s just important that we [have] those conversations and that that continues to feel really urgent.”

Anti-capitalist methods can actually work well within our capitalist society, even beyond championing workers’ rights through ensuring stable wages, paid time off, health care, or shared ownership opportunities. American bars and restaurants will need to look at sustainability and minimizing harm not just to people, but to the environment. Ambitious bar programs that are eliminating plastics — eco-friendly paper, metal, bamboo, and even hay straws have become standard — tackling water usage, and targeting waste by focusing on the creative use of what most might toss out have a real chance to lead the way as well.

“I’m hopeful, but I also am disappointed in the industry,” says Watanabe. “I feel like we’ve had a year where we could have addressed some really deep problematic systemic problems in this industry.” Businesses must look frankly once again at where they are lacking in response to the racism, sexism, and ableism that has pervaded hospitality since its early beginnings in this country. If capitalism benefits from white supremacy, then now is the time to challenge them both. “Ultimately, it’s not just about hospitality,” Watanabe says. “This is happening all over the place, and there’s a lot of reckonings happening. It’s really about changing the way we do business to be more conscious, to be more people-centered, to be more thoughtful.”

2020 may have broken us down with its harsh realities, shuttering more than 110,000 bars and restaurants nationwide, but as long as we can keep the momentum of learning and reimagining a better future for this industry — one where it values lives over profits — there is hope. “It’s been a tough year,” says Borgen Abdallah. “I think a lot of it could have been avoided had we done things differently, and I don’t think reverting back to the old way of doing things is the answer.”

The article Morals Over Margins: A Blueprint for a More Equitable Hospitality Industry appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/anti-capitalism-hospitality/

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johnboothus · 3 years

Text

Morals Over Margins: A Blueprint for a More Equitable Hospitality Industry

Fair Wages

A Level Field

A High Road

The Hope

The article Morals Over Margins: A Blueprint for a More Equitable Hospitality Industry appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/anti-capitalism-hospitality/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/morals-over-margins-a-blueprint-for-a-more-equitable-hospitality-industry

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aion-rsa · 3 years

Text

Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 2 Review: What is Kate’s Game?

https://ift.tt/39l9RLa

DCI Jo Davidson: D for Devious. C for Corrupt. I for I wonder what hold the OCG has over her. Because that flappy car tantrum was not the act of an ice-cool customer solely in it for the spondulicks. Jo’s a foe in woe. Why? We don’t know.

What we do know is that AC-12’s shade-ar now has a 100% detection rate. Every time it’s pointed at a potentially bent copper, it finds one. The moment Davidson picked up that burner phone from Beardy Blue Van Man, she lost all claim to innocence. Everything now points to her having 1) tipped off the OCG about Carl Banks running his mouth, 2) bought them enough time to kill him and the CHIS framed for Banks’ murder, and 3) used her keys to Farida’s to plant those burner phones and frame her as the leak.

What made Davidson do it, and whether AC-12 will be able to nail her are the questions. This series is still at the drawing-us-in phase, making steady progress by laying the ground and setting mysteries instead of bounding from one shock to the next.

Speaking of nailing Davidson: now that she’s dirtier than a street dog, is Kate about to lie down and catch fleas? DI Fleming was firmly on Team Jo this episode, thumbing her nose and rolling her eyes at AC-12 at every opportunity. When Steve tried to muster a sense of bonhomie in that piss-stinking underpass, Kate was having none of it. She betrayed him to get in Davidson’s good books, exposing Steve to a humiliating defeat when he and his troops stormed the Hill, his waistcoat puffed up with the fair winds of justice.

Was Kate and AC-12’s break-up really that bad, or – and a prize poppadom to everyone who got here earlier than me – is the lady protesting too much? It wouldn’t be the first time Fleming has gone undercover via a different anti-corruption team. The twist would be that, having exhausted all the Forster, Francis, Flynn surname variants in previous series, this time she’s gone undercover as herself, playing a disgruntled ex-anti-corruption officer who’s had it up to here with those pious tossers at anti-corruption. Hate those guys.

It’s one explanation for the cosy glass of wine, lingering hug and weekend invitation. Another equally plausible scenario is that Kelly Macdonald is a pre-Raphaelite beauty, even in her sensible trousers, and Kate’s recently single and ready to mingle. Who could blame her?

It is in the air, after all. John Corbett’s widow Steph let Steve know that he’d be welcome to visit her bungalow whenever the desire arose. Steve’s problem is that thanks to his injury and painkiller addiction, nothing of his has risen for well over a year. (Not strictly true. In a victory that couldn’t have been more bittersweet if it had come dipped in Green & Blacks Organic Dark 70%, Steve’s finally been promoted to DI – rewarded for his loyalty by a Super he’s planning to skip out on.)

Uncharacteristically, Steve wasn’t at Steph’s for yet another unwise sexual liaison, he was there to covertly suss out why she’d visited Ted at work. If I heard it right, Steph told Ted “You promised you’d call me back, it’s HMRC,” before he ushered her out of headquarters. Are people starting to get suspicious about that so-called life insurance sum (actually £50K of hooky cash Ted passed Steph to make up for the lack of police pay-out on John’s death)? Another mystery: are Ted’s buttocks the ones leaving a dent in Steph’s sofa in front of that big TV on match nights?

Line of Duty: Who is DC Chloe Bishop? Fan Theory Suggests Series 1 Link

By Louisa Mellor

Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 2: Ryan, Davidson & All Our Questions & Theories

By Louisa Mellor

Apologies there, for the blasphemous mention of Ted Hastings’ buttocks. Three Hail Marys and an act of contrition later, where were we?

That’s right, the return of Ryan Pilkington or The Caddy V2.0. The OCG’s newest inside man, Ryan’s history with AC-12 made for some awkward moments – whenever Steve showed up at The Hill, Ryan had to duck behind a tall plant lest Arnott remember that time he tried to amputate his fingers with a set of bolt cutters. Kate, now working alongside Pilkington, struggled to place him as the kid she’d once attempted to scare straight with threats of the sexual assault he’d face in juvenile custody. For Ryan to be Farida��s replacement on this case means there’s definitely somebody on high pulling the strings. Two to one odds it’s CC Osborne, whose conspiracy to cover up Steve’s botched Counter-Terrorism op in series one we were reminded of in that first Vella clip.

No thanks to Murder Squad, there was a breakthrough on the Vella investigation. Steve and Chloe (Ted was right, a great wee girl) have learned that Vella was poised to go public with her findings on police corruption, and so was likely killed for her silence.

The Vella case has been the force’s highest priority for over a year and has got nowhere. AC-12 poke it for five minutes and they’ve already uncovered a motive. It’s amazing how much police work can get done when the investigators aren’t being bribed to drop the evidence in puddles and misplace their pencil when it’s time to take down witness statements. “Working their bollocks off to find Gail Vella’s killer,” are they, ACC Wise? If Central Police are so desperate to solve Gail’s murder, why put Ian pigging Buckells in charge, an officer with only half of what it takes to be a useful idiot.

It’s a clever trick, inserting Vella into the past investigations. Zoom out a little from every series we’ve watched and it’s easy to believe there she’s been, watching alongside us, raising eyebrows and keeping receipts. Vella’s a mouthpiece for series creator Jed Mercurio’s well-aired opinions on PR and optics-led politics and policing. (Literally a mouthpiece. He gave me her line questioning what corrupt police officers were getting out of their relationship with Jimmy Savile back in 2016.) Her case may also have been partly inspired by the still unsolved murder of Daniel Morgan in 1987 – as namechecked by Vella’s producer – a case with alleged connections to serious police corruption.

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Wrapping Vella around the past series is a neat turn, but comes with the drawback of needing to keep those cases alive in viewers’ memories. That means more recap dialogue than we’re used to from a series that usually, flatteringly, speeds off without a backwards glance and expects us to keep up. “If your man pulled the trigger that means he’s a gun for hire, the order came from higher up,” said Ted this episode. “If organised crime ordered the murder of Gail Vella, they’re protecting Carl Banks and framing Terry Boyle,” said Steve. “Yeah, we get it”, says Kate, speaking for the viewer. Credit us with some grasp, Line of Duty. Loyalty works both ways.

The post Line of Duty Series 6 Episode 2 Review: What is Kate’s Game? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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