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caribbean-ace · 2 years

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Hello folks! I did watch the episode of Station 19 6x03 that thursday but the streaming gave me hell so i thought i could rewatch it (because i was watching it in the middle of a lecture, talk about dedication am i right?) and expand a little bit on what’s happening and what we could possibly have for 6x04. You know the drill, spoilers ahead:

I have to admit that Maya working out is so hot even tho she’s on her path of self destruction and Jack is right there joining her with other unhealthy methods + Andy giving him some tough love i think + “are you always this rude? -only when i’m this angry!” That made me laugh not gonna lie😂 + the overall theme is that both Jack and Maya are not willing to accept help, not yet and forcing them to do so it’s not gonna end well + unless the show is paralleling both Maya and Jack then ignoring her pain just because it doesn’t look like Jack’s is pretty stupid i’d say

Carina and Ben duo, gotta love them! + oh yikes this going to keep going + popping pills like candy, not sure that’s a good idea, but then again Maya is in her own headspace, not even her wife can make her change her mind right now + lmao Ben that’s not a nice morning + “neurotic, self righteous half korean gay man” gotta love Travis😂 + Travic teaming up! + i’d find Beckett’s humor amussing if he wasn’t an asshole + i mean he’s kinda right, how can you depend on someone who’s just gone + lmao Maya and the doggy door + now she can come to them? Really? Ugh i hate they’re still going down the “i’m the villain” path + oh Robert i truly hope your lying catches up to you + i can’t even understand how he’s just okay with himself + lmao they don’t look impressed at all😂

Maya being confused is my favorite genre + kitty cracks me + i was very focused on Maya’s facial expressions, i think they all instantly picked up on the fact something is wrong and she’s obviously dodging it + Ben and Maya are like ugh this is going to be long + lmao chaotic Travic is my entire soul + I just want to hold Carina forever + i don’t even understand how that happened + “your husband” well, Carina Deluca can be considered daddy so i get it + where’s mama Bishop btw? + oh so we’re learning about Dixon now + Vic is me, i would actually work to avoid boredom + at least Vic is trying to talk Carina through the motions + Gibson’s hair has seen better days for sure + lmao Kitty + Maya was close to punch the living hell out of him + this is escalating way too quickly + oh my baby Maya :( + they do need therapy + Maya and Ben regretting so hard that call

Andy “i told you so” + oh yikes + Carina and Vic bonding forever + oh Carina my love :( + this was way too cute + i need more of this friendship + oh Maya babe :( + welp there’s that + oh no Carina’s smile broke me in half :( + lmao Ben was like uh we shouldn’t talk about it and Maya went like: lol i do not care one bit + lmao Travis😂😂😂 + damn Eva + so this is the moment Andy gets the approval + god and Maya is just going down this dark path and Carina can’t do a single thing, her so called friends are not paying attention

So things are moving forward, Andy seems to be more than ready to fill captain’s role which was a long time coming i guess, that means Maya won’t be captain again (i’m still bitter about the trial). I’m honestly glad that Jack is getting the help he needs from 19 but what bothers me is that everyone is just ignoring Maya, again unless they are making some sort of parallel about mental health issues and how they affect people differently then i don’t see how ignoring someone who’s clearly struggling but coping in a different way is acceptable.

I’m also wondering what’s gonna happen with Dixon, any sort of scandal that would take him out of the race maybe? Travis winning? Lots of questions i have. Also i’m wondering how things are going to progress between Ross, Beckett and Sullivan, is Andy gonna expose them or what, hopefully i get my questions answered.

If you read all of this you’re incredible🫶🏼 thanks for reading my rambling about the wee woo show that has my soul, catch ya in the next one✌🏽

#ale watches station 19 #station 19 #station 19 season 6 spoilers #maya bishop #carina deluca #vic hughes #andy herrera #ben warren #travis montgomery #theo ruiz #jack gibson #eva vazquez #robert sullivan #shane beckett

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ashthewaterghoul · 3 years

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Never Again – A Sirius Black One Shot

Let’s say the Department of Mysteries is not where I thought I’d be this evening, my loony cousin Bellatrix just a few metres from me, and right by my side is Harry. I accidentally called him ‘James’ a few moments ago, duelling death eaters bought back some memories, and he is identical to his father, but he has Lily’s eyes.

The battle seemed to be over, but a bright light and an odd sensation in my chest told me that it was just my battle that was over. I looked to Harry, at least my last view would be one of three of the people I love most, the other one was Remus, I couldn’t see where he was, I just hoped he was okay. The view of Harry stayed in-front of me, but I knew I wasn’t in the same world as him. I was hovering above the ground, and Harry wasn’t looking at me, he was crying, Remus is right behind him, holding him, he’s crying now too, and so am I. Harry ran just off, I went to be right in-front of Remus’ face and held it, I wonder if he can feel it, he’s just staring at the veil which I had just fallen through.

“Sirius?” A voice from behind me said softly, a voice I haven’t heard in 15 years, but one I’ll never forget.

“James.” I said turning to face him, both of us crying our eyes out, I raced and hugged my brother.

“God, I’ve missed you!” Lily said, she was standing by James’ side, also crying.

“Evans.” I hugged her as well.

“It’s been ‘Potter’ for 18 years now.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” James asked me.

“Well Prongs, what do you think?” Oh to call him Prongs to his face was the best feeling in the world.

“You shouldn’t be here yet, Padfoot.” Hearing him call me Padfoot again made me well up.

“Harry will be fine! He has Remus.” I turned to where I had left my godson and my boyfriend, I knew Harry was somewhere else in the Ministry, Remus was still staring, my goddaughter, Tonks was trying to guide him away, she was also crying.

“Over here!” Lily called and we all went to see Harry in front of Voldemort himself.

“Not again.” James said as the two intently watched their son.

“Can’t we do anything?” I ask.

“No, we can see the living world, but can’t interact with it.” That wasn’t James or Lily.

“Reggie.” My baby brother was here as well, I gave him a big bear hug, the last thing I said to him before he died raced into my mind.

“I know what you’re thinking, it’s fine, you were mad at me, it was understandable.” He always could understand me in a way only paralleled by James.

“It was foolish of you to come tonight, Tom.” Albus Dumbledore was in the Ministry now.

We watched Harry escape from death again that night, James and Lily said it never gets easier, seeing your loved ones suffer and not going to help them. My and James still transformed with Remus on full moons, even though he didn’t know, James said he always did it. Regulus told me how he rarely left my side while I was in Azkaban, sometimes he would go to see Andromeda, but that was it. He also told me how and why he died, I’m so proud of what he did. Dorcas and Marlene are in the afterlife with us too, it was nearly just like old times.

I split my time between Remus, Andy and Harry, I couldn’t just try and forget about them. Me and Remus knew we could lose each other again, so we promised that we would move on if we did and be happy, I just didn’t expect him to be with my goddaughter, I was the only person Andy said she’d trust with her daughter even though I was only 13 when she was born. It felt like a knife to the chest watching them be happy, I tried to ignore it and focus on Harry but I couldn’t. It would seem that in their shared grief, they found each other. Tonks has had feelings for Remus for a while but he never returned them because he had me. We hid our renewed relationship because Snape was in the Order and he already told Hogwarts about Remus’ affliction, he didn’t need anything else.

When they got married, I felt… I felt…, I can’t describe the feeling.

Harry started dating the Weasley girl, Ginny, James though it was hilarious that his son fell for a red-head. When Harry got the locket from the cave, Regulus hoped that they would find the real one, when Dumbledore died, he joined in on watching Harry, he would spend a lot of time at Hogwarts though. When Ted, Andy’s husband, died he came straight up to me, and cried that he wouldn’t meet his grandson.

When Tonks got pregnant, I knew I had lost my Moony for good, never again would I have the love of my life back. He had a completely new life without me, sometimes I saw him staring at an old picture of us, he loved that picture, god knows why, its blurry and embarrassing as all hell for the both of us. When his son was born, he was telling him about me and James.

“Gotta start them young.” James said. Remus made Harry the godfather of Teddy Remus Lupin, I know he saw James and Lily when he asked. When Peter died, none of us even acknowledged him, he didn’t deserve it. Although, Lily did use some choice word when he tried to talk to us, I won’t tell you them but they do rhyme with ducking traitor, chitty friend and, my personal favourite, mucking runt, I’m sure you get the idea.

When the Battle of Hogwarts came around, we never left Harry’s side. When Fred Weasley died, he recognised me and tears streaming asked me what was going on, why Percy was crying so much, he was a great trickster. When Snape died, he thought he would get a warm reception, but instead it was Lily and James shouting at him for how he treated Harry. When Remus died, he ran over to me and kissed me, I was so shocked I didn’t return it, which made him visibly confused.

“What about Tonks?” I asked him.

“I knew this would happen.” She said from behind him. I ran and hugged her. “You never got over him, Remus. I could see it in your eyes whenever his name was brought up.”

Much to my surprise, and pleasure, me and Remus wouldn’t be separated, never again.

We got to actually speak to Harry, he used the resurrection stone, just before he sacrificed himself. We stood right behind him, James briefly stood behind Voldemort and did the two finger bunny ears behind his head. We could tell Harry had survived, because he wasn’t with us. He had survived the killing curse again.

“That’s definitely who I want protecting my son.” Remus quipped, I hadn’t heard him joke in years, the war and his lycanthropy had taken a huge toll on him, but in the afterlife, he no-longer transformed, I saw the biggest smile on his face when he found that out. He also became the first werewolf to get a Order of Merlin, we all celebrated. Harry and Ginny had three children, his youngest son’s name was questionable, his first son definitely had the best name. George filled the fourth spot that reformed The Marauders, and we figured out a way to manipulate objects in the living world, our first successful go was writing “Hello Minnie” in McGonagall’s notebook, it made her cry and us. We are figuring out more and more about the afterlife each day, it’s a never ending mystery.

But, the Marauders are back together, and we will not be disbanded, never again.

You can view all my one shots here

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supercorp-hosie · 3 years

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My thoughts for Legacies 314:

1) Clarke!!! I like his air of cockiness when he do all this things, and especially when Hope break this air😂😂😂 I think since the show is constantly letting him show up like this, maybe at some point he will eventually turn up or be brought back by my Sowanby team? Oh my Holarke heart! I just love their dynamic like how I’m entertained by Lizdon dynamics🤣🤣

2) I still see that artifact that was broken because of Landon unnecessary move, why? I thought the arc was over? It’s just hilarious when Clark tried so hard to break it, even using explosives, but Landon just break it by throwing it to the monster😂 these brothers, I can’t 😂 (I know it’s because of the presence of Cleo, but still, funny!)

3) Okay, the way Hope just ended up with Wade, doing a drama about undying teenage love, I can’t imagine 🤣🤣 sorry Hope, but Wade can be a good teammate. And Wade has a last name - Rivers! Congrats! Poor Jed, another person that’s appear later than him and got a last name.

4) I just inevitably thought about the other witch Gaby, and relates back to Penelope😆. What if Penelope comes back and starts a war with Finch, that would be fun🤣 I can imagine they somehow would have to work together to protect Josie if something happens to her. They can look past that because they both care for Josie so much. Penelope/Josie/Finch anyone? (I’m secretly shipping Penelope and Finch too in my head, OMG can you imagine the volcano erupting? Enemies to lovers trope??)

5) Finally SBS has a teacher other than Alaric now.

6) I do think that the compelling works. Anyway, considering what’s going to happen, I’m certain that somehow Ethan is going to remember what happened with MG. If he’s going to be a supernatural, I’m rooting for vampire. We are really lacking vampires here.

7) I love Hope’s magical surges♥️ and how other students is taking that like it’s a normal thing around them. Unlike the school tour.

8) I love Hope needn’t to turn around to know that it’s Josie right away♥️ and Josie do catch up things around Hope when she’s not around after she returns.

9) Josie lied to Hope that Lizzie needs help(even though it turns out to be true doesn’t mean she didn’t lie), to help Hope with her mental state. Is this toxic or supportive?? Maybe I should just count it separately?

10) The twins clothes!! Contrast colours, love them!

11) I wonder who drove there....Hope didn’t have a dl in s1 (but two years has past now?) while in 307, Josie apparently walked to Mystic Grill to find Finch(but Lizzie did drive before in s2)....so? I bet it’s Hope...but how the hell did they even have time for driving education?

12) Hope, looking at Josie: like I said, trap. 😂😂but she just doesn’t even get mad at Josie?? Exactly how many times did she let Josie escape like that?? Poor Landon got grilled when he lied😂

13) We don’t worry about dick here🤣🤣🤣🤣

14) I love Finch just confidently stand up for herself, challenging Jed. But no, I don’t like Jed being thrown down by a new wolf again. But having female alpha is appealing too, I love to see that when Finch challenge the old system, then get to improve the abusive hierarchy towards the omega/new wolf in the pack. I was conflicted. I love how they resolved the issue in the end! It’s win-win situation and I love how Jed and Finch bond! Brotp/Sistp! And I love that from Finch perspective, we can see that the wolves let Jed win because they love Jed as much because they know Jed cares about them a lot and just willing to let him win. Not because Jed was oppressing them.

15) Btw, I can’t believe they are using pool/billiards/snooker to decide who becomes the alpha. Really I just don’t like how it works, like leading a pack is a game. But some wolves are born alpha. In real life, a pack’s alpha is always the one to lead hunting, be vigilant of any threat that can harm the pack, they really care for their packs, like Jed. Whilst there’s this beta position in the pack, they recognise the alpha’s leadership, help the alpha keeping others in line, help take care of other members too. Just like what I’d imagined, Finch can fit the beta position very well, for the time being, because of their dynamics. I’m not saying that Finch doesn’t fit as alpha, I think that beta always has the potential to be the alpha of a pack. I just love that now the dynamics in the pack somehow really resembles how the social hierarchy of a pack of wolves in real life.

16) appreciation to Finch being badass at pool/snooker/billiards

17) when Andy just called Hope’s name, why don’t the trio be surprised? It’s not like they even meet before?

18) when MG showed up, I just immediately believe in him. Love that Alaric defended him. I understand Dorian though, he’s always sensitive of rippers as his family was butchered by one. Please don’t blame him too much. MG living in a cave breaks my heart, I just recalled that Hope was homeless when she’s out of Malivore too! Double heart breaks.

19) MG diaries! I’m so proud of him, even Alaric validates his effort and his kind heart! I just rewatched 106 last night to do some fact checking for my hosie interactions 2.0 and twins relationships 1.0. MG has always wanted to be a superhero that saves lives. He has grown so much, from first fighting zombies, to super squad fighting monster, until now, saving normal people lives. I bet now Penelope can’t laugh at him when he first pitched his feelings to Penelope. Good job!

20) I’ve talked about the Finsie sitting together, so I only want to talk about how the relationship between Finsie is healthy for one another (for now, and at least they are not cringy for these two episode).They function independently and Finch doesn’t need to constantly worry about Josie all the time, like what Penelope fear of. Ofc it may also because that the twins have grown healthier.

21) even though Hosie were mind controlled, I just love how they have unspoken understanding between each other😂 Josie doesn’t need to tell Hope to make Lizzie stay with them to have Hope “as sonnum” Lizzie. Then only Josie said “stay with us”.

22) Hizzie hugs, and HOPE ANDREA MIKAELSON 🤣

23) I just love how Lizzie knows what to say to break Josie’s peace, while Josie knows how to break Hope’s peace. I see another spoken parallel from 308 about blindspot😂 Lizzie -> Josie -> Hope.

24) so if the drug sometimes doesn’t work on Lizzie, that means that there are times that Lizzie is really blue! Really at peace! I’m so proud and happy for her! Go Lizzie!

25) “ALL I WANTED FOR YOU IS YOUR HAPPINESS” this is so powerful! My Hosie heart! And really the last painful sentence, is fact. I’m sad for Hope because she’s so into that relationship until she can’t bring herself to do it and only leads to Landon leaving, but it’s also classic Mikaelsons(I feel), never giving up for their love ones. Appreciation to Landon, but still it’s strike three for leaving, please don’t let them be together again. It’s derogatory to Hope’s self-esteem.

26) I love badass Hope so much!! All the bodies she left! If I’m not already gay, she would have bent me into a mosquito coil by that scene, (so bent that I can’t be straight anymore). I love how Josie just let Hope outing her anger on these witches, freeze Andy, waited patiently for Lizzie and Hope to deal with Andy together.

27) I died laughing at these Pandemonium 🤣🤣🤣🤣 the badass trio in panda suit😂😂😂😂 I can’t! They’re so cute! And the height difference🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

28) How Hope tries to focus and dead serious in dealing with the upcoming monster but fails inevitably and miserably at Josie’s antics! All Josie does is laughing cutely at Hope and poking(?) her.

29) I love the trio so much!

30) haven’t watched any Star Wars, so I really thought that the one in the mask was Clarke until the Star Wars theme song started😫 too bad that Landon must have missed it.

31) Lizzie kissing Ethan is the last thing ever to have crossed my mind, so again, what the fuck?(sorry, language)

32) when I first thought about team building, I was thinking about finch + MG + Jed + Kaleb, but pack bonding, I’m satisfied too.

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phoebehalliwell · 3 years

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Prue gets together with Mitch (reincarnated Micah) and lives. How does their relationship evolve over the rest of the series?

okay so fr because like i've been thinking about this I've Been Thinking About This. WHY give us that connection if we're not gonna do anything with it??? WHY make it worse my literally giving us the guy THE EXACT SAME GUY and then never mention him again What is the motive?????? okay okay okay so here's what i'd do: 2.6 undercut lmao

because prue has really only had two boyfriends in the series so far: andy & jack (bane doesn't count as he was more of a tryst and also he's in jail :'( could have been fun tho! he could have sacrificed himself for somebody else and become a whitelighter he already knows the ins and outs of the underworld like. could have been something there. but as they were only together twice, once when prue was posing as a hitwoman and then again when he kidnapped her, he, tragically, does not him boyfriend status.) so here me out andy is a cop he represents protection and familial ties / ties to the past (prue's childhood best friend, already friends with the sisters, he's also a third generation cop so like there's that too). he represents prue's early stage, where she feels like she has to be the protector of the whole family, of which she is basically the matriarch. she doesn't get to have fun, she has to protect her sisters and now the whole world, and her past is having some very real effects on her life right now. that's her andy era.

jack era is at buckland's, it's her breadwinning era. we even saw in morality bites (which, i am once again bringing up, is fake) that she goes on to be superbillionaire whatever. so jack kind represents professional ambitions, amplified by the fact that the fonet also served as a blatant metaphor for their relationship (prue, the world is made up of almost perfect. it's nothing but near misses and necessary compromises. in this case, i think we got a little bit of both. that's okay, i know how you feel. i'm just asking you not to look so close. nothing bears up under that kind of scrutiny. are you talking about the monet? yeah, that too.) and that their relationship ends when she decided to leave bucklands to pursue a career in photography.

so now we enter season three, which is prue's artist era, her passionate like zeal for life era she finally seems to have a weight lifted off her shoulder for the first time in a long time like you can tell she like. trusts her sisters more than she ever has before she sees them in a new light and knows that they are strong and smart and independent and she doesn't need to protect them every waking hour. this era's for prue. so i'm pitching that micah mirrors this by being an artist, too. i wouldn't say the same medium (photography) as prue because like. prue's definitely someone who would compare herself to him just like subconsciously constantly that's the type of woman she is, but maybe like a painter. not a writer because they're all insufferable. lmao 🤙🤙. but someone who lives in a hella nice studio type loft filled with art and just like life. passion. something prue hasn't really allowed herself in like. a hot minute. and i would make micah (mitch??) a witch. haha it rhymes. scratch that i'd make him a warlock. or a darklighter i'm cashing in my half-darklighter character. it's mitch now. idk how this would fit into phole narrative foils maybe or we scrap phole but they're really coming from two different perspectives where cole is entering the joint like i am evil and here to murder and then he catches feelings whereas mitch would be like yes i have some dark past but i'm not letting it define me bonus points is prue is able to piece together the clues of his origin just by looking at his paintings. this also adds to the rift between prue and phoebe on prue's cole stance like oh your evil boyfriend is fine but mine, for some reason, is still evil? yes. oh you know what we keep the source's heir in this au let me continue.

instead of introducing mitch in p3 because like WHAT WAS THAT, we instead, parallel their first meeting. mitch's origin story is

his mom was a future whitelighter knocked up by a darklighter this was not intentional on anyone's part mom wasn't trying to become mom dad wasn't trying to become dad Nor did dad know mom was a future whitelighter. because well he's not great at being a darklighter in spite of maybe being like the. head darklighter's son he's like the fucked up son who doesn't wanna run things. he doesn't know he has a kid!! until something something an oracle or something tells him he has a son But he can't find mom because she's cloaked by her whitelighter. mom dies doing something heroic idk (maybe mom was a firefighter??) and then cloaking on mitch is lifted when he's in his late teens his dad finds him his dad is now like proper leader of the darklighter clan and is trying to bring mitch into the fold which initially he is game for because mitch has all these powers black orbing touch of death that he doesn't understand and finally a community to explain that to him! he gets a crossbow (which is lit) but um. quickly catches on to how blatantly evil the whole thing is. he's secretly teamed up with some whitelighters (not his mom tho. friends of his mom, but he's not allowed to see her :'/ ) to help get other halflings like him out and cloaked.

leo's been taken hostage by the darklighter something something something a plot a plot a plot we do some solid pleo angst we maybe have cole drop some thinly veiled advice about the underworld without coming out as a demon, something that will help the sisters later. but what's really important here is they're sneaking through the underworld maybe they've been split up and they need to find leo so either they're looking for him Or they're looking for a darklighter to interrogate. and prue hears shifting behind a rock and goes over to look and it's mitch and some kid and the kid immediately summons his crossbow but mitch knocks it away just like prue did with piper in the past and piper's like prue u see anything and she's like no nothing here and then mitch and the kid blackorb away which just leaves prue with this sinking feeling like what the fuck?? because. what the fuck??? a) that was the same guy from puritan times and b) she still feels the same she felt back then and c) it's clear he does do but d) --and this is the crucial one-- D) he's fucking evil????? so blah blah blah we save leo but now prue is left with one crucial question what the fuck is going on?

so what she's gonna do is research the town the colony whatever that melinda warren was born in she astral projects to salem or whatever and steals. maybe the mask mitch wore at the party she recognizes it from all hallows eve. and she brings that home and scrys with it. and she finds him!! and um bonus points looking at his place she sees he's an alum of the college she went to because backstory!! when prue was in college back when she was still pursuing photography before grams got sick, they had met before! once before, at a party, and it was this instant spark, this instant connection, but then something pulled them apart be it one of them was already in a relationship or their ride was leaving something but like. again! this connection has always been there. so like blah blah blah prue has broken into mitch's place she sees their college connection she sees his art and starts to pull together a life story he sees maybe some paperwork that just says like in bold letters like saving kids: good person activities something real obvious you know and that's Right Next To his crossbow. ~juxtaposition~ so like. what the fuck is this. but whatever that'll be dealt with later she has to get to work! but!! at the magazine her boss is like hey prue some guy came by here earlier asking for you you know [description of mitch], [description of mitch], [description of mitch], you know him? and prue's like ummmmmmmm. no. ?. and her boss is like ?? i don't really care. photography! but now she knows that while she's been digging up on him, he's been doing the same with her. so that night at p3 prue's like okay i've got to come clean with u guys remember micah and phoebe's like oh yeah that hottie from the past who was like . spiritually in love with you? and prue's like yeah i found him. and piper and phoebe are like 🤗🥳😃 and prue's like. and he's a darklighter. and piper and phoebe are like 😳😶👎 and prue's like yeah remember when like we were trying to save leo and you asked me if i saw something? well i did. it was him and and this kid and i think he was trying to save him and phoebe's like wait you think? and prue's like well i mean yeah phoebe like. it was like the same thing when he saved us in the 1700s. and phoebe's like well no because we're good witches and he saved us you saved a darklighter? and prue's like he's more than that phoebe and phoebe's like but how can you know (flash forward to her sparing cole in about three episodes and being like hmm 😐 those words are gonna bite me in the ass).

the point is they're hashing it out phoebe's devil on the left and piper's trying to be angel on the right But he is in the clan that kidnapped her husband so like..... but prue is explaining the good person papers she found on his desk, the fact that she went to college with him, she's like. she thinks he's only half darklighter and he's helping others like him and piper phoebe are like ....................do you just want him to be half darklighter and helping others like him but prue's not even listening but look who's coming down the stairs!! so she beelines over and phoebe's about to follow but piper holds her back bc wait let this play out they'll watch from afar and piper will freeze the room if she has to.

and something something something blah blah blah they tal and there's this tense like. what now. because like. What Now? you're evil and i'm a charmed one but this invisible string pulling me here whether i want it too or not. and i think prue kinda shifts back into her earlier seasons self where. it's family above all else. like i need you to steer clear because if i see you again i will vanquish you. and mitch knows she's bluffing. because he know that if he tried, even if he really wanted to, he couldn't harm a hair on her head. and it's clear she's like. suffering from the same ailment so to speak.

something something something maybe they have a couple quick brushes but not actual meetings And Then we get another time travel/past life episode where!! as it turns out. prue and mitch r soulmates cursed by a spurned lover to always be on opposite sides. meanwhile we just got cole demon reveal/cole's still alive reveal so prue's like hi mitch you're. evil. evil-adjacent. what do you know about belthazor/cole turner. and mitch does his due diligence and like. the stuff on belthazor is appalling. genuinely terrifying. but then there's some stuff on cole turner that's like kinda okay. this is were mitch does is big tragic backstory reveal, kids born of dark magic falling in with the wrong crowd blah blah blah and this kind of. supports our theory moving forward it's not really a theory. our endgame moving forward of healthy!cole. also prue and mitch still have not gotten together through all of this in spite of the cosmic pull and the past evidence of like. soulmatism. because they're both a bit too pragmatic they both think it's kind of a lost cause. blah blah blah pining we give prue a mini love interest here someone to keep her mind off mitch and we do make him good. kind, attentive, caring, smart, hot, but like. it's so painfully obvious she's not all in. so he calls it off. heart to heart with piper because piper's like hi you're in love. and prue's like yeah with a doomed relationship i think i'd rather not and piper's like hello you're talking to the queen of doomed relationships you wanna know the secret? and prue's like yes :( and piper's like just go for it. the time you have together is. it's better than anything else you'll ever have. there's gonna be heartbreak, but hell there's always gonna be heartbreak in the halliwell family. wouldn't you rather spend your time with someone you love?

something something something leo/mitch/cole buddy episode b plot. leo/mitch/cole/DARRYL buddy episode b plot. :D. prue and micah get their big first kiss in a very tv show build up way my heart is saying new years and all the fireworks go off around them.

we're bringing in paige because i love her she's first introduced by some seer oracle whatever as your other sister and the girls are like respectfully, bullshit. but micah's like hey......... she's half whitelighter. because he can sense those kind of things, being a darklighter. and piper and leo are like patty's affair....................... and all the pieces are falling together and in this one. paige either gets a witch love interest a cupid love interest or we keep henry because fwiw i do really like mortal love interests. if we do do the witch love interest it won't be richard i love him to piece i do but he sucks <3. source!cole time.

oh we introduce paige thru mitch trying to help one of his kids and that lands him at social services.

source!cole. idk what happens here but like. using our nifty-difty tool box the squad has been assembling over the years helping all of these wayward souls born from evil, things mostly work out fine. source's heir is born, a girl, but since prue isn't dead her name is either colette or victoria. depends if cole died or not.

prue moved out at some point and lives in a hella nice studio apartment with mitch they r both artists (who the fuck is paying for that?) phoebe moves back in the manor post-source fiasco paige moves in the manor but spends a lot of time with her sister prue and soon to be brother in law (??) mitch. (paige is like fr dude when are you gonna pop the question and mitch is like woahhhh pump the break because paige is new here and when she saw them she's like oh. married couple. but then they're not married. engaged? nope. no just loosely dating? okay. lame. bad idea. but as it turns out one of them always dies so they're just trying to avoid that for as long as possible) but paige spends a lot of time at pritch's place because not only is it The Art Zone it's also the rehabilitating kids zone, of which paige is a grand help. prue jokes about how much paige reminds her of phoebe as a kid, and since we're already muddying the timeline, we're having paige enter and solid advice columnist, married phoebe and paige is like haha what the fuck??

source's heir born twice blessed born magic school located under the charmed & co squad becomes integrated with children born of all magic and like our season 8 wrap up saccharine finale is like how magic has reached a new era of peace n understanding. <3

#its stream of consciousness plot pitch time again!! idk if i love it if i'm sold on it #i might come back with an entirely separate mitch pitch #because there's really nothing there the world is my oyster at this point #but i think this could be a fun one #charmed #prue x micah #💌#margaretsminiessays

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gaylorlyrics · 4 years

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the last great american dynasty

Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny

Her saltbox house on the coast took her mind off St. Louis

Rebekah is Rebekah “Betty” Semple West Pierce a sculptor, and philanthropist born on April 17, 1915 in St. Louis. She also composed music, one of many similarities between her and Taylor.

Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name, and money

Bill refers to William Hale "Bill" Harkness, the grandson of David Harkness who invested with John Rockefeller in Standard Oil. When David died he left what would today be over a billion dollars to Bill’s father, who was also named William Harkness. Eventually Bill inherited what would today be approximately $185M dollars from his father (approx 70% of this wealth was from Standard Oil shares).

And the town said "How did a middle class divorcée do it?"

In 1939 Rebekah married Dickson Pierce, descendent of President Franklin Pierce. However they divorced in 1946, and then in 1947 she married Bill. Her father was a stockbroker, and her grandfather started a trust company - so she wasn’t exactly middle class, but her wealth was significantly less than the wealth of the Harkness family.

The wedding was charming, if a little gauche There's only so far new money goes They picked out a home and called it "Holiday House"

Holiday House was built on Watch Hill in Rhode Island by Mrs. George Grant Snowden who, contrary to the song, named it Holiday House. Seems like this house has been having raucous 4th of July parties for a long time - at least according to this NYTimes article from July 6, 1941:

Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud

The language here mirrors that of the first verse - “the wedding was charming, if a little gauche”.

The doctor had told him to settle down

Bill died in August (interesting!!!!) 1954 of a heart attack - he had also had a heart attack the year prior, but that one was obviously not fatal. He and Rebekah had one child together named Edith who eventually committed suicide at the age of 34.

It must have been her fault his heart gave out

This line calls attention to how women are frequently blamed for, well, everything. Something that is explored more in mad woman.

And they said "There goes the last great American dynasty" Who knows, if she never showed up what could've been There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen She had a marvelous time ruining everything

The chorus and the title of this song seems to come from the title of a book about Rebekah called “Blue Blood: How Rebekah Harkness, One of the Richest Women in the World, Destroyed a Great American Family” written by Craig Unger. The from cover of the book reads “The story of Rebekah Harkness and how one of the richest families in the world descended into drugs, madness, suicide, and violence”. [Also, interesting that the background of the cover I found looks a lot like the blue/pink in the Lover cover!]

The chorus also references “mad woman”, another track on folklore. This song subverts the idea of a mad woman. The title and subtitle of Blue Blood use Rebekah as a scapegoat for everything that went wrong, blaming her solely for violence, drugs, mental illness, and loss. It uses several classic, sexist tropes of a gold-digger, a “crazy” woman, and the whore. However, in this song Rebekah is not taking the blame or feeling guilt about what is happening - she is having a marvelous time.

Another interesting thing is changing “great American family” - family is defined as “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household” - to the word “great American dynasty” - dynasty is defined as “a line of hereditary rulers of a country.” I find this specifically interesting because dynasty, unlike family, acknowledges a long lineage of people and decisions that lead to this outcome, as opposed to placing all the responsibility and blame on Rebekah, who only entered the picture at the tail end of this story. The title of Blue Blood has no accountability for the people who were involved with the dynasty before - framing it as if David Harkness didn’t choose to leave his wealth to his lineage, as if Bill Harkness did not choose to marry Rebekah, and as if the wealth Bill inherited wasn’t already diminished by 81.5% from what the family’s original wealth was (as passed down from David Harkness to Bill’s father).

However, Taylor is changing the narrative here to give Rebekah a more joyful way to be remembered.

Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set forever Flew in all the Bitch Pack friends from the city

Rebekah and her fellow debutantes formed a group called the Bitch Pack and were known for causing a scene at parties, doing strip teases on the tables or putting mineral oil in the punch, which acts as a laxative.

Taylor is drawing a parallel here to her famous squad days, when her and her group of girl friends were constantly under fire from the internet/press.

Filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names

Rumor has it that Rebekah cleaned her pool with Dom Perignon. Being a socialite and one of the richest women in America, she frequently kept high profile/famous/successful company - hence the “big names”. Stories of her involve J.D. Salinger, Alvin Ailey, and Andy Warhol, to name a few. However, swimming in champaign is also a metaphor or the carefree life of the rich and famous - something that she used in This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, from Reputation, where Taylor describes a similar scene:

It was so nice throwing big parties

Jumping to the pool from the balcony

Everyone swimming in a champagne sea

And there are no rules when you show up here

Bass beat rattling the chandelier

Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year

Another interesting tidbit is that the house where The Great Gatsby (1974) was filmed is the Rosecliff Mansion in Rhode Island, about 1 hour away from Holiday House.

And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet

Rebekah married twice more after Bill’s death, once in 1961 and once in 1974. As a life long dancer, she spent the majority of her time and energy founding (in 1964) and developing The Harkness Ballet Foundation, which still exists today as The Harkness Foundation for Dance. As part of this endeavor she also established a ballet training school and the Harkness Theater. She paid for everything for the company, from teachers to housing to plastic surgery. The company went on tour and performed at the White House, although it had a generally negative critical reception. At the peak of the company’s success Rebekah abandoned the project and started a different company

And losing on card game bets with Dalí

Although I couldn’t find anything specifically referencing a card game, Rebekah was good friends with Salvadore Dali. Here they are pictured holding a press conference together.

A portion of Rebekah’s ashes are in a $250,000 urn created by Dali called “The Chalice of Life”. The urn was designed to spin, so that Rebekah could always be dancing.

And they said "There goes the last great American dynasty" Who knows, if she never showed up, what could've been There goes the most shameless woman this town has ever seen She had a marvelous time ruining everything They say she was seen on occasion Pacing the rocks staring out at the midnight sea And in a feud with her neighbor She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green

According to the NYTimes, Rebekah dyed her neighbors cat green

Fifty years is a long time Holiday House sat quietly on that beach Free of women with madness Their men and bad habits, and then it was bought by me

Weeee the classic Taylor Swift storytelling twist! This is a great flex by Taylor to just casually drop in a reminder that she is a rich woman who has made her own money and can buy whatever she wants. The phrasing of this also let’s us know that the house is no longer free of women (plural, more than one woman) with madness (we’ll hear more about being a mad woman later in the album), their (possessive, something owned or bought) men, and their bad habits (bearding?). Taylor is admitting to having all of these things. Who knows, if I never showed up what could've been There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen I had a marvelous time ruining everything I had a marvelous time Ruining everything A marvelous time Ruining everything A marvelous time I had a marvelous time

This makes me think of the line at the end of Miss Americana - “Sorry I was loud in my house. That I bought. With the songs that I wrote about my life.”

Taylor, like Rebekah, is used to being blamed for everything and causing a scene. Even her purchase of Holiday House caused considerable backlash and commotion - with the governor creating a tax in 2015 (two years after Taylor purchased the house) called the “Taylor Swift tax” on homes worth over $1M dollars - something that affected many people in Rhode Island, especially those with large houses and vacation homes. All Taylor did was buy a house to live in (with her money, that she got from writing songs about her life), and she was immediately brought under fire.

However, like she did with Rebekah’s story, Taylor is flipping that narrative and focusing on how much fun she is having instead.

#last great american dynasty #the last great american dynasty #folklore #taylor swift #rebekah harkness

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palukoo · 3 years

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amy, cj, donna, and andy!!!

them!!! they!!! the girls!!!

okay. so. this is gonna be another one where i do some sets of 2 first, and because of that it's going under a cut haha

amy & cj!! okay, i know we've talked about them, but... god they're everything. i touched on them in this post basically to say that like. in canon they are set up as friends (and, in fact, close friends) without really giving us much of that. i see them basically as having met at some women in politics function with cj at emily's list and amy at now, and making jokes and hitting it off easily and eventually through running into each other again and again actually talking. the other thing is that... amy and cj are really similar, actually. funny and smart as hell and confident on the surface, kind of a mess beneath that. it's the humor as a defense that josh calls cj out on, the confidence masking insecurities (specifically the fear of letting people down), down to one of my favorite parallels between them of "he thinks of you like a daughter, cj" "that's not a good enough reason to keep me around" vs anything when amy thinks abbeys gonna fire her or when jed kind of does. the difference with them is... cj's focused on public image and conforming to that, on loyalty, etc, and amy's really, really not, and is terrible at working for people.

donna & andy, oh how i wish we'd seen them more! in canon they've got a few lines in gaza, and they seem familiar, plus earlier on during sam's campaign in california there's scenes with the two of them even if they don't actually talk to each other. i... don't think they really know each other well, but i think they could find some common ground, especially after gaza and i really want to write about them dealing with their trauma from it together some, because i think they'd both have a certain level of survivor's guilt, and to an extent i also think that andy would feel really bad talking about it with donna because she wasn't in the car and didn't get hurt and donna did. i also think... i'm not at all an expert, but i assume donna would be knocked unconscious pretty immediately, and so i kind of headcanon that they have a really... careful? conversation where donna's sort of just asking andy what happened, if she's comfortable talking about it?

cj & donna are everything! they (and occasionally others? but mostly them) are like. the emotional, compassionate, optimistic centers of the show, really, which is... something i could talk about more considering they're the only two consistently present female characters really but yk... but it means that you get this thing of kind of reminding everyone else to be like. human, and i like this for them a lot as characters (even if from a gender perspective i don't necessarily). they also both do the quiet loyalty thing without such a complex about it oh my god. and one of the things i really do like about later seasons donna doing press is that she does it in a very cj way at times and that's kind of beautiful. and then... at some point i will put down coherent thoughts about no exit but i love how much they care about each other and calmly call each other out but get really defensive because the other thing about them is that they're both insanely perceptive and sort of evasive, and they're fighting but it's kind of each of them being like "let yourself be happy!!!" anyways. this post. yeah.

amy & andy!! so. amy & andy are really really similar. are y'all noticing a pattern yet? anyways, i mean, it's by nature of being love interest to a main man, and she's angry and funny and yells at him and makes fun of him and he's a little hapless and... yeah. but... any of these characters i can say "oh theyre smart and funny" thats any west wing character. amy and andy also just really want to fight, and don't want to give up or in ever. i don't think of them as super close, but i can't imagine a world in which amy hasn't fundraised for andy's campaigns, or where they haven't worked together trying to get some legislation to pass. in the same way that cj and donna (and abbey and helen) have the quiet loyalty to contrast, say, toby and josh's (and leo's) very blatant, always talked about loyalty, they... just don't have that. i'm not saying they aren't loyal, they just aren't insanely committed to it. they prioritize themselves and their agendas rather than others, which i don't think we're really supposed to like them for? but i find it refreshing. also. the energies they have in process stories? unparalleled. i love thinking about them working together.

oh does this mean it's time for amy & donna? okay. well. i think the thing about them is that people assume they don't like each other when they really actually do. i mean, like, yeah, we rarely see them together, but i also talk about them in the post i linked for cj & amy, and here. I think they make fun of josh together a lot. i think that donna is bothered by amy being antagonistic and frankly hypocritical towards josh but also recognized that it's a two way street, and it makes her frustrated with both of them. i think amy is (knowingly a little irrationally) hurt by josh's loyalty and care for donna over her (i... actually mean this platonically), and donna's seemingly blind loyalty to josh. but i think... amy validates donna's political abilities multiple times, and donna seems to admire amy. i think they become friends and trust each other a lot and make each other better. i can't write this answer and pretend i haven't written a 176k wip about them falling and being in love with each other.

and cj and andy!! i also can't pretend i don't have an outline + some snippets of a fic for them! we don't see much of them in canon, either, but like. there's that scene where they're both kind of yelling at toby that's pretty iconic. when that couple is harassing andy in that hotel bar in the california 47th, cj technically steps in before toby (very differently and i could write a whole thing on that too). andy at one point points out how cj is feeling to toby which is a lot. (that whole scene is a lot), and then in s7 the scene where andy is trying to get cj to get the president to pardon toby makes me crazy. i don't know that i can explain why i ship them, but i really really do, and i think that there's a lot of history in their relationship because of their jobs and because of toby. this is also a thing with amy and andy, but there's this interesting contrast because while i'm sure andy has insecurities, she also seems genuinely self assured. oh also there's... andy is kind of abrasive and accidentally hurtful on top of charismatic, and cj is very quiet with her (negative) emotions, and doesn't often lash out and instead internalizes a lot of stuff? it's an interesting thing about guilt and anger with them.

so... the four of them is fun! like, amy and andy just getting set off about something political, and cj and donna just like quietly agreeing/being amused and bringing up their own points maybe but the two of them are just going on. amy and/or andy being frustrated over something that josh and/or toby did, and bonding over it, and donna and cj being incredibly uncomfortable. i mean, i also just see this really clearly because i parallel their relationships a lot so like, cj and donna talking about... being sort of awkward/guilty/reluctant about being in a relationship with andy and amy respectively bc they don't want to hurt toby and josh, and andy and amy bonding over being really frustrated by this outwardly bc they're there own damn people, but deep down kind of understanding and relating to that guilt... i mean like, i think actually putting the four of them in a room together would be just deeply funny if a little stilted depending on the context, but none of them are the most "let's talk about my feelings" so i don't think a lot would come out between them in casual conversation. you get them in a situation where either donna or cj is doing the thing their very good at about calmly calling people out, or where either andy or amy is angry enough to not be thinking about if they're being hurtful? that's interesting, and because you can see the different ways that all of the sets of two have different ways they can relate or are the same, or even groups of three, and so depending on the specifics you'd get really different dynamics of who is agreeing with/supporting who and how.

#tww #asks #answered #claudiasjeancregg #thank you for this really i love the four of them so much and theres so much to say hence the two fics #sorkins thing with gender and loyalty and like. the two women he will write and make variations on... its not a good look but like i #really do end up loving the women and the archetypes so... clown makeup

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x--daughters-of-darkness--x · 3 years

Text

To Make A Hero – Maria Brink and Andy Biersack ‘Dark Nights: Death Metal’ Interview

Countless iterations of Batman have been created since the character’s DC Comics debut in 1939. He’s been a detective, a Dark Knight and a key member of The Justice League. Of course, the crime-fighting anti-hero also leapt off the page and onto the screen for TV shows and movies such as the 1960s Batman live action TV show, the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series, and even a 2018 Batman Ninja animated film. Now, fans can see — and hear — their favorite action hero in a completely new way with Dark Nights: Death Metal motion-comic series and soundtrack.

The multi-medium endeavor is based on the comic book mini series of the same name written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Greg Capullo. The official soundtrack was produced by Tyler Bates (Guardians of the Galaxy, Watchmen), who recruited over a dozen musical artists to contribute to the songs. Two such artists are Andy Biersack (Black Veil Brides) and Maria Brink (In This Moment), who came together for the song “Meet Me In The Fire.” Both Biersack and Brink also have speaking roles in the motion-comic.

“I got a call saying that they were doing this series,” Biersack recalls, “and asked if I wanted to do the voice of Batman. For me, not only was it a dream come true, but it was huge to have a creative outlet in a time where there was nothing that could be done.”

Biersack is, of course, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic that kept non-essential workers home for months on end.

“It was this weird period where we couldn’t do anything creative. So to be able to, in some cases, record the audio here in my home studio and pretend to be Batman for a few hours a day was awesome.”

Biersack’s undying love for the anti-hero is well-established, but In This Moment vocalist Maria Brink also professes to adore comic books.

“I’ve always loved them and been fascinated by them,” she says. “I actually got into them more when I was older ⁠— I like all fantasy stuff. I got to have the voice of The Hand, which was so cool. In the middle of COVID, all of us were looking for creative outlets to keep our minds occupied, so it felt like a blessing for sure. To me what was so exciting was to bring in all the musicians and have all of their voices taking on this new storyline. I really loved the creativeness of converging both of these worlds.”

The storyline of the mini series is based on the concept of a dark multiverse, which sees multiple alternate realities and alternative versions of Batman. Told through visuals, dialogue, and music, this project is complex in both content and form.

“What I really liked about this project,” Biersack continues, “is that you have an opportunity to see those iterations individually and how they play into the same storyline. To have every version that you love in the same story is a pretty exciting thing. Especially if you watch the series that they made, you get to see the whole history of this character.”

For the Black Veil Brides frontman, it speaks to the greatness, versatility and longevity of Batman as a whole.

“As someone who enjoys comic book character creating and world-building, I love the idea of having a character that can stand the test of 80 years and have all of these variations, and the validity of one is the same as the other. You can have the Adam West chummy, joke-y Batman and you can have the Frank Miller angry, grumpy, murderous Batman — and they’re both valid versions of the character.”

For Brink, collaborating with Biersack and producer Tyler Bates on their cinematic track “Meet Me In The Fire” was about much more than Batman.

“When I was writing it,” she explains, “I wasn’t just thinking about it in terms of the comic book, but the world in general. That give and take, the struggle, the fight and the power; people wanting to stand with each other and having to go through hard times together — especially where we were all kind of at [with COVID] when we were writing this song. There’s gonna be hard times and you might have to walk through some flames and get your feet burnt.”

Biersack adds, “The idea of Batman, or any character, is there’s some initial injustice that causes them to become the hero that they ultimately become. In those ways, there’s so many parallels to the idea of those moments of absolute darkness or sadness that we all face. And in a year where not only was the world changing on a literal level — a virus that’s traveling everywhere and putting people in danger — but also socially, there were so many changes and important things that occurred last year. The best value that you can have in life is to not just have something difficult to occur, but to learn from it and grow from it.”

So in a time when lives are literally on the line every day, how do these two prominent rock musicians define what it truly means to be a hero?

“I guess a hero to me is someone who really stands up for others,” Brink says. “Someone who really cares about other people and who will risk themselves and whatever it takes to empower other people. It’s selfless. The doctors risking their lives to help these sick people — they’re heroes. They could die.”

“Also just on a more personal level,” Biersack adds, “anybody in your life who inspires you to be a better version of yourself is tremendously heroic. I think if you can find it in yourself to be a hero for yourself and for everyone around you, that is the most important virtue possible. If you aren’t trying your best to be better than you were yesterday, ultimately I don’t know that you’re spending your time that wisely.

“I think at the end of the day,” he continues, “the message that rock n’ roll has always been about is to not put everyone else up on that pedestal. Rise to the challenge yourself and be the hero that you want to see.”

You can catch Black Veil Brides and In This Moment on tour with Ded and Raven Black on their North American The In Between Tour starting Sept. 17.

#maria brink #in this moment #Andy Biersack #Black Veil Brides #2021 interviews

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laufire · 3 years

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Supernatural s2

I’m halfway through s3 already (technically a rewatch, but there were episodes I didn’t watch the first time around), so this post is a little overdue lol. At this rhythim the posts will overlap. Plus I’m hoping I can finish s4-5 during the holidays to see the ~intended ending~ before I have to slow down on the binge-watch. After that, a season a month sounds achievable AND won’t take longer than 2021 xD

ANYWAY.

-Overall, I’ve enjoyed it more than the first one, but at the same time I’ve found myself missing how... claustrophobic? Insular? Compact? That one was. s2 was about the world opening up just a little bit more, introducing new characters to the brothers’ life, etc. I do love the detail that this is something that can only have, narratively speaking, once John is dead. Again: this show gets abusive families, consciously or not.

-The foreshadowing is beautifully done. 15 seasons make for a lot of unintentional and ironic foreshadowing later on, I’m sure, but the purposeful foreshadowing is superb this season. About the crossroads deals, of course, but especially about John’s last words. I already knew he’d told Dean he might have to kill Sam (father of the year, seriously. Though I side-eye the fandom even more for always having acted as if this is only awful for Dean lol), so I was hyperaware of every single detail. My favourite moment was the absolute horror of hearing Gordon proudly, cheerfully relate how he murdered his sister when she became a vampire (which, btw, as someone that’s still bitter about what went down with the Gunn siblings on Angel, I found it healing to see something like that treated as a horror story).

-Speaking of Gordon: I unashamedly love his character lmfao. Sterling K. Brown is mesmerizing, always. At the same time, I have serious mixed feelings (especially after seeing his arc in full in s3) because man, if it isn’t a racist mess. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s not exactly revolutionary that the first time we see the story from the monster’s POV (something I want the show to do! Often!), it’s when white monsters are stalked and brutalized by our first black hunter. Especifically a white woman, btw (although I’m happy to see Tara Maclay as a brunette vampire. I didn’t know I needed that in my life, but I did). And you can tell that the show thinks it’s just so SMART and FUNNY to have a ~racist black hunter!! I mean, the comment about how psychic kids would be “betraying their race” if they allied with demons?? FFS.

And ofc there’s the fact that he’s condemned for the exact same type of stuff that makes Dean be hailed as a hero lmfao. Though I won’t like, I love the moment where, faced with the comparison, Dean’s response is “I might be like you, I might not. But you’re the one tied up.” I love those kinds of character moments. As of s2 I officially have a love-hate relationship with Dean Winchester, I hate it here xDD

But still, on his own, Gordon is an amazing character (it’s one of the most frustrating things about the show, the greatness tainted by the bigotry :))). Charismatic, terrifying, and ofc superbly acted. Also, I love that the fact that he praised John (as opposed to every other hunter having a rockier relationship with him) is clearly supposed to be a red flag LMFAO.

-I enjoy how the seasons delves more deeply into Sam’s ~~dark origins, since it was my fave thing about him way back when. I’m already mourning the (as I suspect) lost of his powers, ngl. There’s a little more attention in how he tends to over-identify with supernatural creatures struggling with their ~dark sides too (bitch me too, the fuck xD), which I LOVE to see (among other reasons because at least in that way we get a little of their POV in the forefront lol). One of my favourites in that sense was the episode centered around the ghost-who-didn’t-know-she-was-ghost, played by Tricia Helfer. I clocked early one what was going on, but it was still very enjoyable, especially with Sam’s empathy with her (contrasted by Dean being a total bitch about it, btw. I can’t believe I still see post about how Dean is all heart/kindness/compassion/whatever the fuck. Dean is all about selective empathy and only when it conveniences him, pls).

I was more divided on the episode with Madison the werewolf, tbh. OTOH it put Sam in a better position, for a change xD. As the one willing to make The Hard Choices by fulfilling his promise to kill her because she was dangerous, even when Dean offered to ~take the burden from him. OTOH I hate that kind of thing lol. YOU GUYS KNOW A HUNTER PRO LIKE BOBBY, I BET HE COULD’VE FIGURED OUT SOMETHING TO CONTAIN HER A FEW NIGHTS A MONTH. Also, my immediate reaction was to compare this to when my man Angel had a crush on a werelady and helped her every month lmfao. But then, very few characters can withstand a comparison with Angel, in any sense :P

I also liked Sam’s subplot with his fellow demon-psychic kids, though I wish it’d lasted longer :/ (also: RME at the queer girl dying almost immediately AND her power being killing people, her girlfriend first of all, with her touch. The black guy was the last one to die at least...?). My fave was Ava, by far. I loved her since her reaction to helping Sam stealing a psychiatrist’s records was yelling “I’M AWESOME!!”. It made it easy to buy that someone that appeared so mundane, with her easy life and her fiance and whatnot, would become so power hungry and go off the rails, IMO.

BTW: RME at Dean being all “oh Sam is going too dark/becoming to cold” when Sam kills Jake. Jake ripped off his spine and killed him first!! It both amuses me and infuriates me all the times Dean tries to push Sam to be more like himself and then freaks out whenever Sam is not all sunshine and rainbows (while still remaining, IMO, far less cold than Dean himself. Besides, it’s not easy to be colder than Dean, lol).

Lastly, a little character detail I loved was when Sam was jealous about Dean being in the federal database but not himself lmfao.

-I loved the new foreshadowing crumb with Sam finding out Mary knew the demon, too (information he’ll withhold from Dean, which I approve of LOL). I mean, I know exactly what’s up, I’ve watched most of s4 xD (also, what is UP with this family and making deals with demons. Everyone but Sam so far!! And then HE gets dragged for ~getting too close to one smh. Maybe lead by example!! Also also: yes, it was meant to be ambiguous, but I can’t help but notice the only kiss-pact -or further, depending to how close YED was to Lilith’s levels, since to make a deal with her you have to fuck xD- we didn’t see was the one that must’ve happened between John and YED. Cowards!! xD). Still. I’m so curious about her. Her resurrection is one of the main reasons I’m determined to make it to the later seasons, ngl.

-Another thing I LOVED about this season is how they used sibling relationships to parallel/foreshadow stuff about the brothers, the way s1 did often with fathers. I’ve already mentioned Gordon and his sister, but the others are not less brutal imo: Andy having to kill his evil twin, who wanted him all for himself (... Dean is that you xD); the little girl’s ghost who wanted her grand-niece to commit suicide to stay with her, and didn’t give in until her old sister agreed to die in her place. It was chilling. Also, at one point the parallel was between the brothers and a married couple (the ghost-who-didn’t-know-she-was-a-ghost) and asñdlfkajsf. I’m guessing they had fun with the shippers lol.

Speaking of the brothers’ relationship, this season also goes a little further in escalating the violence between them, when Dean punches Sam in the face and he refuses to respond (“you can hit me all you want, it won’t change anything”. Fuck), or when Dean again punches Sam after Sam was possessed by Meg ¬¬

-Going back to my love-hate relationship with Dean, lmfao. My biggest beef remains how much validation his POV gets from the narrative, granted or not; he’s one of the most irritating cases of protagonist-centered morality and I know it’s only going to get worse smh. At least this season it feels a little more balanced than in s1, with episodes like the one where the civilian Sam had tried to keep away dies halfway through the ep because Dean allowed him to get involved, for example. Still, it grates on me xD. The continuing prison rape jokes/demonic possession rape jokes (with Meg and Sam), his general grossness with women and his lack of sympathy for non-humans even when they’re not trying to hurt anyone don’t exactly help. Also, I often see him praised for some of his political views, a lot of which I agree with (his mistrust of cops, saying convicts don’t deserve to die no matter what they do), but when contrasted with his general attitude across the show it’s really grating ngl.

But then he has such AMAZING character details thrown in, that make me appreciate him as a POV character nonetheless, as much as I often want to curb stomp the guy xD. I loved his speech about how there’s no such thing as a dignified death. I love how he refused to come near his mother’s grave, both at the beginning and at the end of the episode (this show is like, the cure to DCCW’s shows false fuzzy sentimentality istg). I love his pop-culture references, like when Sam mentions Dean always thought OJ was the murderer or Dean jokes about freeing Katie Holmes from Scientology’s cult xD (sometimes it really hits you how old this show is lol). I enjoyed his Wishverse episode, and his lines after Sam dies/he sells his soul to save him (“I had one job”, “my life can mean something”) hit HARD.

But most of all? I LOVE how and why he starts losing respect for John. It’s so fucking cold and abrupt and makes so much sense!! Like, yes, part of it is John’s message about killing Sam (... again, father of the year!), but most of all it’s about John making a pact with a demon and dying TO SAVE DEAN (and probably, simply that he died at all. That shit de-mystifies anyone). IT’S SO FUCKING GREAT TO WATCH. “He spent his life chasing that demon. He was supposed to die fighting, not making a deal with the damn thing. That was supposed to be his legacy, not this." Damn, Dean xDD. The *contempt* with which he said that killed me.

I also love his inherently atheist vision of the world (even if yes, it’s extremely funny knowing this show has canon God and angels and shit -no Jesus Christ though, which I find endlessly funny-, or that they actually meet the archangel Gabriel in disguise xD. Either way, the episode with the fake angel and its foreshadowing was hilarious), his anti-destiny stance, and that it’s him and not John who gets to kill YED.

-I liked Ellen and Jo. Not LOVED, but I liked them. I keep fearing that secondary (especially female) characters will feel empty/shallow but the show keeps proving me wrong, even with one-episode wonders, and at first I wasn’t sure about them, but I was sold quickly. Partially because of the actresses, they both had this... humanizing, endearing quality? It worked really well. I also loved the explicit contrast between John and Ellen’s parenting styles, with Ellen wanting Jo to return to school and be safe from the hunt, and Jo wanting something different. Also, I wouldn’t ship it if you paid me, but LOL at anyone who actually buys Dean sees Jo as a ~little sister just because MEG said that rme.

This show is just REALLY good when it comes to giving depth to a character with only a couple of brush strokes, which makes it all the more frustrating when they abruptly die or disappear to never be seen again/only once more (to abruptly die!) :)))

I was less sold on Ash; he was amusing, but having a Genius Hacker TM helping them out seemed like the beginning of increasingly giving the brothers ways of deux ex machina-ing them out of problems, when one of my favourite things about the show is seeing them creatively find ways out themselves. I like when they’re competent! Like with the multitude of codes they have to improvise plans, like in the episode where with two words through a lawyer they implemented a quick scheme so that Sam would escape from a police precinct. I like that stuff.

-I’m still so bitterly jealous about the dead man’s blood hurting vampires detail. SO BITTERLY JEALOUS. I love a lot of what this show does with its lore but that little bit is the worst offender. I want it so bad xD

#talking to the void #my thoughts #spn thoughts #supernatural #sam winchester #dean winchester #gordon walker #ellen harvelle #jo harvelle #spn s2 #the winchesters get to have a tag I GUESS

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cinaed · 4 years

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Red vs Blue Season 3 Rewatch

Slowly making my way through my DVD collection of Red vs Blue!

"You can't die! I'm bored!" Donut is so ruthless in the earlier seasons and I love it.

We really needed more Tex and Sheila girltime, talking about gender inequality and workplace harassment.

Simmons actually calling himself Simmons 2.0 manages to be both hilarious and sad.

Yes, Sarge and Caboose team up! Season 3 has some of my favorite odd couples, and Sarge and Caboose is one of my favorites. Sarge being furious that Doc has a higher body count than he does, Caboose's dedication to nap time.

I love Caboose's moral boost! He's great at compliments even if Sarge doesn't appreciate them.

I know these zealots were like a mostly one-off joke, but also like...they could be a creepy potential experiment in making soldiers that can't die, which I wouldn't put past anyone in the Halo universe.

I love the blame game of who came up with the plan that ended up with everyone scattered across the galaxy. Sarge: "My only choice is to blame Grif, for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif." Grif: "I should have never listened to Donut's stupid fucking plan."

Church and Grif in jail is one of my all-time favorite things.

Simmons is such a tech savvy guy, reworking the teleporters to make them communication devices as well! He just wants some love and support.

Caboose getting angry. I mean, who wouldn't get angry at kittens with spikes that you couldn't cuddle?

"Simmons, you get an F in efficiency. But I have to give you an A+ in dramatic timing."

I do love O'Malley and Doc's dynamic. The Do Not Call list!

I love Tex's half-truths about the Freelancers.

Also love Sarge calling Caboose a little rascal and Simmons just seething with jealousy. And he's also jealous about Donut!

Church: There's no "I" in team, Grif. Grif: Yeah, there's no "U" either. So I guess if I'm not on the team, and you're not on the team, nobody's on the God damn team. The team sucks!

I may or may not quote that to myself on a weekly basis.

Again, just Church and Grif together in that prison cell is sheer perfection. As is Church going "Wait, the people outside sound like they're winning, that can't be our teams."

Tucker likes Sheila so much! And she packed them food! Well, the AI equivalent of food, but it's the thought that counts! Just the sheer affection in Tucker's voice as he promises her they'll be back gave me emotions.

And another good moment of Simmons being the one to suggest they track down Grif, because no one else was going to.

In retrospect, Grif has clearly watched some prison pornos. Like... Buddy.

Wyoming calling Tex Allison has so many interesting implications.

Simmons re-engineers stuff, Sarge makes a weather control device. Where's the AU where Sarge is a mad scientist.

Simmons asking Grif if he's okay after prison. Just loving the slow build of friendship between them.

Also big parallels of Church's "Misery loves company" and his willingness to let the bomb blow them all up together to later seasons stuff.

I still love that everyone's go-to explanation for stuff is "time travel."

Donut is too thin-skinned about criticism for his play. He'd never survive on Broadway, lol. But I love everything about the time travel show.

How is Tucker the smartest person in this group? But also Tucker being so worried about Church. I am having a lot of Tucker feelings this season.

I love Grif's devotion to cheesy disaster movies.

Caboose: Look what I found. Donut: I found it! Caboose: Look at what I took credit for finding.

Poor Donut! A grenade to the head and now his hand got chopped up.

Grif: Hey, what're you doing? Simmons: What does it look like I'm doing, I'm getting in the jeep. Grif: What're we, on a date? Get in the back. Simmons: Oh you're so insecure.

I would've watched an entire season of Doc and O'Malley and Lopez's Lair Improvements. And when Doc mentions a real estate agent all I can think of is an AU where Doc meets Kai because she's running her business on the side while in the military. But also Doc's motivational powers in the living room, O'Malley's belief that the cat won't hang on until Friday, it's great.

The iconic jeep conversation is still good now as it was back then. Re-enacting Dukes of Hazzard! "I can tell you what we weren't doing."

Grif's mind immediately going to gay stuff as a favor from Tex. Between this and his prison conversation with Church, someone is protesting way too much.

Sarge's plans are so amazingly terrible. I love them.

Grif getting choked up over hating Blue Team and Tucker and missing the days where they all just stood around and talked a lot.

Tex sounding genuinely concerned when Tucker falls into the hall. Luckily he gets a cool sword out of it!

Tex's conversation with Simmons about shooting Lopez's head is a great example of an eloquent helmet look. Tex doesn't even say a word and you can feel the disbelief and rage when Simmons implies she may have missed.

Church: Caboose, I know you're there. I'm leaving this message from two thousand years in the past. Whatever you do, don't, touch, anything. Apparently you're this culture's version of the apocalypse. You're going to destroy this building, and somehow bring about doom for their entire race. Caboose: Mmmmmmnooo... that doesn't sound like me. I like people. And buildings also.

Time for some actual time travel or at least a simulation. But I do love Butch Flowers, haha. Whose greatest enemy is apathy! Love watching Church just make his own life worse. Also love the bit about Sheila having been made in Mexico.

"Man... First I kill myself, then I realise I'm a honkin' dork. Not a very good day to be me."

Church: I learned a very valuable lesson in my travels, Tucker. No matter how bad things might seem- Caboose: They could be worse. Church: Nope, no matter how bad they seem, they can't be any better, and they can't be any worse, because that's the way things fucking are, and you better get used to it Nancy. Quit yer bitching.

Grif and Simmons and Sarge talking about the Blues, and Simmons saying he's not looking for friends and doesn't like his current crop AKA he just accidentally admitted Grif is his friend. Grif just didn't realize it.

Between the warthog and monkeying about discussions, Church and Grif really are on the same wavelength.

I love the scheming versus plotting conversation.

Ugh, the arrival of Andy. I hate him so much.

Haha, Simmons lying about his math skills is great.

Uuuugh, Andy. :/ Freckles is SUCH a step up as Caboose's AI murder buddy.

"Do we really have to seize destiny? Can't we just invite it to join our online circle of friends?"

I love Lopez's little rebellion-- he might be under O'Malley's control, but he's also going to sabotage O'Malley as much as possible. And tricking O'Malley into insulting himself in Spanish.

I really forgot that Tex straight up tried to steal Tucker's sword.

Military law is very clear in regard to the "not it" methodology for making decisions. Sorry, Donut.

I forgot that Donut can speak Spanish. In fairness, so did the show.

Hello, Crunchbite!

Next up, the PSAs!

Some of these have aged poorly... Like, uh, jokes about 2004 politics do not land well in 2020. And uh jokes about colds and flus. ...Okay, the Christmas PSA where Church destroys the Reds' Christmas tree, tells Caboose the truth about Santa Claus, gives everyone knock-off coal, convinces Church that Santa is now wearing blue and working only for the Blues, and scams Tucker out of a $350 gift is pretty funny though.

I enjoyed Burnie playing himself in the outtakes by putting words he can't pronounce in his own script. And Grif singing Happy Birthday to Church in prison. Also poor Geoff being told to adlib and immediately having Grif start to tell Church "You're looking buff, man, have you been working--" and being immediately booed by everyone, and someone says they'll use it for an outtake and Geoff is like "It's funny! And I didn't even get to finish!" And everyone trying to figure out Tucker's sword and him accidentally killing everyone in various outtakes. And in the deleted scenes Tex keeps making fun of O'Malley's plans to rule the universe, haha. Also the deleted scene that's just another Simmons' self-insert fanfiction, just as a video instead of a fake game in the Fan Guide.

It also gave us character profiles! I'm sure a lot of this has since been contradicted in canon, but interesting that we got specific hometowns for a few people: Donut in Leggatt Plains, Iowa, which doesn't seem to be a real place; Moscow, Iowa for Sarge, which actually does; Tucker's from Detroit, and Delta Commune for Doc. Oh, is this where we get Caboose grew up on the moon, with his hometown being labeled as Low G Colony, Moon? And hey, I always had him be a middle child, I like that this one did too. Tex likes money and scars and dislikes Donut. Okay I know that's definitely not real, but the idea of Allison growing up in an orphanage hurts me a little. Okay, and I know for sure that Simmons would die of happiness at the fact that Sarge's likes are battles, fringe science, and Simmons. Lopez likes oil and unions, and hates capitalism. My kind of guy. Last but not least, I actually really like Simmons as the son of a bunch of right-hand stooges (who probably wanted power for themselves).

#Red vs Blue #rvb rewatch #long post

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aurora077 · 3 years

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The Guardian - Chapter 1

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13743693/1/The-Guardian

Summary: Harry Potter has been left in charge of Teddy Lupin after the death of his beloved grandmother, Andromeda Tonks. But how does someone with no parents to use as a model even begin to raise a toddler? Especially since he was just barely out of childhood himself. Cue an intervention by one of his best friends, Hermione Granger, and maybe he could make this work after all.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

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It was a bright, sunny day. The wind was blowing gently, and somewhere up ahead there were birds singing a cheerful tune. It did not match the occasion.

Harry scowled, and squinted as he watched the gleaming casket be transported wandlessly into the Black family tomb. He hadn't even known there was such a thing as the Black family tomb. (Not as though Sirius had any body left to be buried, he thought darkly.) He was sure Andromeda would hate her final resting place. He had wanted her buried together with Ted. Except, Narcissa had made the unfortunate but accurate assessment that he would not be able to remember where Ted Tonks had been buried after his murder at the hands of those snatchers. His protests that Andromeda would want to be buried with the one she loved fell on deaf ears and in the end Narcissa's will had won. Her dearly departed sister would be laid to rest with the other members of her family.

He bitterly wondered if maybe it would have been better had Andromeda and Narcissa not reunited after the war. He immediately regretted the thought. She had had no family left other than Teddy and the Malfoys. Andromeda's last days before her untimely death were filled with a lightness that she had not had for many years. The loss of her daughter and son-in-law so soon after her husband's death had taken an enormous toll on the woman. The reunion with her sister had been a blessing for her -- helped along by Harry himself, who had spoken up for Narcissa and Draco at their trials, leaving them both with a slap on the wrist rather than in a cell in Azkaban alongside Lucius.

A sniffle broke him out of his dark thoughts.

How could he forget?

"Oh Teddy," he said mournfully. He knelt in front of the child, whose normally bright hair was now an ashy grey, and opened his arms. The two-year old ran into his arms and began to sob openly. He had been so brave, but the moment he saw his grandmother being carried away he broke.

Harry had to scold himself. Now was not the time to think about Narcissa or the new responsibilities that Andromeda's death had thrust upon him. This would be a lot harder on Teddy than it would be on him. It was his job to be there for the child. To be the godfather he wished he had. (He forced away thoughts of Sirius who never even got the chance to try.)

He got up slowly, cradling the sobbing toddler and made eye-contact with Hermione. She shot him a sad smile. He returned it and turned back in time to see the heavy stone doors close behind the casket. So this was it then. The beginning of a whole new, depressing chapter in his life.

"Mr. Potter," came a thin voice behind him, making him leave his thoughts again.

"Mrs. Malfoy," he replied evenly. She pursed her lips. She had told him to call her Narcissa but he wasn't feeling quite so charitable at the moment.

"Give him to me," she said, holding out her arms.

Teddy grabbed on to his shirt suddenly and Harry unconsciously tightened his grip around him, "I'd rather he stay right here for the moment, thank you."

Her eyes narrowed. "Well," she said after some consideration, "I suppose I'll let you enjoy the time you have left with him." She turned to her son, who was awkwardly standing next to Hermione, "Come Draco. It is time we took our leave." Draco looked eager to escape and he looped his arm around hers and promptly apparated away.

Harry sighed wearily.

"What is it?" asked Hermione as he approached her.

He passed a gentle hand down Teddy's back and he relaxed, though the tears were yet to disappear.

"I was just wondering if to take Teddy back to Andromeda's or to Grimmauld Place. Though I think if Narcissa had her way he'd be in Malfoy Manor by now."

As if he knew what the adults were talking about the toddler squirmed in his arms, his grip as tight as before.

"It's okay buddy, you're not going anywhere if I can help it," said Harry soothingly. Being The Chosen One had to count for something didn't it? Even if all it did was help him delay things.

“Of course he isn’t. I’ll start looking into magical custody laws as soon as I get back. I know how much he means to you Harry. Narcissa has her own son to worry about right about now, she should let you handle Teddy,” she pursed her lips, “besides as much as she might have helped you, she can’t deny that her family’s reputation is in tatters. It would certainly be better for Teddy to stay with you.”

She didn’t mention that she didn’t think it was a good idea for Teddy to be brought up around the people who were partially responsible for his parents having to risk their lives in the first place. They may have redeemed themselves, and Hermione wouldn’t lie to herself about the fact that the Malfoys certainly did get thrust into a situation out of their control, but she also couldn’t deny that she was still a bit apprehensive to be around them any longer than necessary. Forgiveness did not come easily to her. It would take her some time to come around to being anything more than civil to the people who thought for years that people like her weren’t worth living, and who acted upon those thoughts by tormenting her and the others like her.

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said, oblivious to her thoughts, "I knew I could count on you."

He always could. She was the one person who never let him down, even when he was being an idiot. Teddy's cries were slowing now and Harry could tell the toddler was exhausted.

"I think I'll take him to Andromeda's," he decided finally, "I'd rather he be somewhere familiar tonight but I'll have to take him with me to Grimmauld tomorrow. I don't know who Andromeda left the house to and I certainly don't want Narcissa to have free access to him. Might wake up and find him gone. I'll see you around Hermione." He smiled tiredly at her and apparated with Teddy to Andromeda's house.

He truly was worried. He trusted that Narcissa wasn't evil or even really all that bad anymore, really he did. However the woman had lost most of her family to the war, both sides of it, and she seemed to be clinging to what little she had left. Except, Teddy was all that Harry had left as well. Narcissa would have to be content with Draco, and sharing Teddy.

He couldn't help but see the parallels between himself and Teddy, both orphaned by the war at such tender ages. He didn’t want Teddy to end up with a (great) aunt the way he did. That didn’t work out in his favour. Granted he wasn’t wanted by Petunia, who had never reconnected with the sister that she would now never get the chance to, whereas Narcissa had mended those broken bridges and actively wanted Teddy. He was determined to be there for Teddy the way he would have liked someone to be there for him though.

The only problem?

He had no idea how to take care of a child.

As he tucked Teddy into bed his thoughts turned to his own godfather. The idea of Sirius having to change his diaper and being totally confounded brought the first chuckle out of him since Andy died.

He sank into his own bed and blissfully slipped into oblivion.

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thevampirediariesdiary · 4 years

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SEASON 2 ARCS: Damon

Caroline – Elena -- Stefan

I can literally talk about Damon’s entire season two arc by talking about the parallels and foreshadowing in the final episode - granted, it’s more the arc for Damon-and-Elena as a unit, but that’s because for this season, Elena is Damon’s whole world. he’s brokered a tenuous peace with Stefan, but their moments together circle back to and around Elena, over and over again. she’s the only thing that can get Damon’s attention, for better or and worse. so here we go:

the season opens with a revelation for Elena: it seemed romantic that Damon loved only her, that she was the only person who could sway him and civilize him. but the attraction that comes when someone who is capable of doing terrible things for some reason only cares about you can’t be the foundation for any kind of relationship - it didn’t protect the people Elena’s closest to, and it didn’t even protect her. she told Damon “don’t make me regret being your friend,” and then a day later he killed her brother. she couldn’t be close to Damon and be protected from everything else, because he doesn’t know how to protect her from himself. and, on the flip side, Damon tried to flee from the hurt of Katherine’s betrayal straight into Elena’s arms, and found that what she was prepared to offer him couldn’t fill the hole. it didn’t heal the wound, in fact, it couldn’t. and so, after the disaster of The Return, Elena tried to set up boundaries. she was bad at it - you get the sense she’s never done this before - but she avoided Damon and was clear about her anger until he started to avoid her, too. she could never know when he was going to break down or explode, she couldn’t trust him, and so she couldn’t be there for him.

in the deathbed scene, Damon tells Elena to leave, he could hurt her, and she answers, “No, you won’t. I’m here until the very end. I’m not leaving you.” and it’s not because Damon has miraculously grown to the point where he could never, ever hurt her. in the last week he let her believe that Bonnie was killed and he fed her his blood against her will, and he just bit her outside. but the point isn’t that he loves her so therefore he won’t hurt her - the point is that people who love each other hurt each other, but still, love doesn’t leave. she offers him her trust freely, willing to risk in order to be with him.

and although Elena’s presence doesn’t protect Damon from hurt - she still doesn’t choose him the way he does still want to be chosen, and even if she did, he would still have to feel all the pain, he would still have to face his life as it comes to a close - her compassion transforms the hurt, keeps it from being senseless. she suffers with him, weeps with him, walks the journey with him, lies beside him and holds his hand. and in an obvious sense of course it doesn’t change anything - he still made all the wrong choices, he still devoted over a hundred years to a woman who didn’t deserve him and didn’t care for him - but in another sense it changes everything. Damon finds peace in these moments. in the past he was always desperately grasping for Katherine’s whole self and love, but now he receives what Elena is willing to freely give him and accepts it gladly in gratitude. it’s enough. his whole life in its tragedy and darkness is enough, because he merely met her. it’s this acceptance that allows him to truly feel his guilt for the first time but without despair. and Elena forgives him - both for the desperate loss of control when he lashed out and killed Jeremy, and also for the much more calculated overpowering of her and disregard of her wishes because he couldn’t stand the thought of her dying.

in The Return, Damon didn’t explicitly ask for Elena’s love or profess his own, he simply said “there is something between us”, he didn’t give a name to it. Elena unwittingly echoed Katherine’s words and told Damon, “it’s always going to be Stefan”, and he lashed out and tried to hurt her the way that she hurt him. in 2.08 Rose, Elena ran into Stefan’s arms and Damon nodded at her over his shoulder, having accepted his place in the world and what she’s able to give him. it still hurt, but he tried to let her go - he told her he loved her and compelled it away, because he thought she couldn’t know it, because he couldn’t imagine a love that wasn’t selfish, that didn’t grasp. and as the season went on he did come closer to an understanding of what love was; Elena was angry at him for more of the arc than not, but in the beginning because he hurt her when he couldn’t possess her, and in the second half because he protected her and chose her even when she didn’t choose him and didn’t want to be protected.

now, he repeats the same old words back to her: “I know you love Stefan, and it’ll always be Stefan,” but doesn’t repay hurt for hurt, or tell her she’s wrong, or even thank her for the caring which she has extended him - he says, knowing that it won’t be returned, “But I love you.” she doesn’t love him, and yet he offers his own love freely. because he’s learned that love isn’t a burden - even if it isn’t what you would have picked or hoped for yourself, knowing that somebody cares for you is a gift. he understands that their relationship is asymmetrical, he will always choose her and she will never choose him, but the truth is meant to be known and shared, and the truth is that for his part, he loves her. and whereas the last time someone told Elena that, she said that he didn’t know what love is, now she only answers that she does know that he loves her. he gives the gift; she receives it, as is, with no caveats.

in 2.12 Damon confessed, “I’m not human and I miss it, I miss it more than anything in the world,” and then in 2.13, he told Andi, “she wants me to be the better man, which means I can’t be who I am.” in 2.22, Damon tells Elena, “You should’ve met me in 1864, you would’ve liked me,” and gets the answer, “I like you now, just the way you are.” he doesn’t have to be some old lost version of himself - he also doesn’t have to be Stefan - Elena likes him, she always has. this is what Damon has never expected and never before received: as far as Damon sees it, Stefan loves him because he’s his brother; Katherine never really loved him, but liked the parts of him that he’d modeled after her (rough and monstrous); Liz liked what she thought Damon was, a righteous vampire hunter hero like her; Alaric bonded with him because they were both pathetic; and Elena tolerated him in the hopes that he could become the better man she envisioned for him, or out of pity for the hapless human she knows he once was. but no: I like you now. she liked him when he made her laugh in the kitchen in Friday Night Bites, she liked him when they were drinking in the bar in Georgia, she liked him when he came to her rescue in Miss Mystic Falls and when they were basically cohabiting after that, she liked him when he was dancing with her like a goofball at the 60s dance. she likes him a lot - in fact, she likes him more now than she did before she’d ever been hurt by him. and you wanna know how I know?

back in the Return, every one of their arguments was premised on one point: he thought he kissed her, and thought she kissed him back, and she wasn’t surprised that he would kiss her, but she was surprised he thought she would kiss him back. she wouldn’t do that.

and in As I Lay Dying, she kisses him first.

#s2 #meta #s2 meta series #delena #damon salvatore #this is...almost incoherent #i apologize lol

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dragonsareawesome123 · 4 years

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I was tagged by @samuscarla. Thanks for tagging me!

rules: pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. don’t cheat. tag some people

1. Andi Mack

2. The Good Place

3. Ducktales

4. His Dark Materials

5. Psych

who is your favorite character in 2?

They’re all so freaking amazing that it’s so hard to choose! However if I had to choose one, I’d probably say Chidi.

who is your least favorite character in 1?

Probably Miranda, lol.

what is your favorite episode of 4?

I really love all of the episodes so far, but I think my favorite is going to have to be the Season 1 finale, Betrayal. That episode was as breathtaking as it was heartbreaking.

what is your favorite season of 5?

Hmmm, another hard one since I love all of the seasons of Psych. I think I’m going to have to go with Season 5.

who is your favorite couple in 3?

This show doesn’t really have a lot of canon couples but if I can do non-canon, I’d probably say either Della and Penumbra or Webby and Lena. If I was going by canon, probably Scrooge and Goldie.

who is your favorite couple in 2?

Chidi and Eleanor. They’re my favorite OTP in anything. They’re the couple that no matter how many times they get separated, no matter how many times they get their memories erased, they always find their way back to each other. They just love each other so much that it hurts <3

what is your favorite episode of 1?

I think either the pilot, One in a Minyan or the finale.

what is your favorite episode of 5?

Oof, that’s a hard one since all the episodes are so freaking good. I think maybe the finale because you got to see just how far everyone had come since the pilot.

what is your favorite season of 2?

Season 4.

how long have you watched 1?

I started watching Andi Mack when it first aired back in 2017, kind of fell off after a few episodes (not because I didn’t like it but because I tend to move from interest to interest), started paying close attention to the fandom while Season 2 was airing (while not getting involved because I kept on seeing drama and I wanted to join when there wasn’t intense drama), and then finally joined the fandom after Season 2 and caught up with the show before Season 3 started. And the rest is history.

how did you become interested in 3?

If I’m going to be honest, the news that Lin-Manuel Miranda was going to be in it was what made me interested in watching the show. It’s so weird to think about because this is one of my favorite shows now with Lin’s Fenton being only one of the many things that Iove about it.

who is your favorite actor in 4?

Oh, that’s hard, they’re all so good. If I had to choose, probably Ruth Wilson because she should definitely at least get nominated for an Emmy for her role and if she doesn’t, I’m going to riot.

which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

I think this one is probably going to have to be a toss up between Andi Mack and the Good Place.

which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?

Andi Mack because as of right now, it has more episodes than Ducktales has. This is probably going to change when Ducktales Season 3 airs but as of right now, it’s Andi Mack.

if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Lyra. I love her.

would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

Um, no. It wouldn’t work. Well, unless the Ducktales universe is just one of the many parallel universes out there that HDM said existed.

pair two characters in 1. who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple?

Walker and Libby. I headcannon that they meet at SAVA.

overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

Probably Ducktales. Psych doesn’t really use overarching storylines that much (a lot of their storylines particularly in the early seasons are contained within a single episode although they did start to go into overarching plots as the show progressed) so I’m going to have to go with Ducktales here.

which has better theme music, 2 or 4?

I think they’re both great for different reasons. TGP’s theme is short and sweet (it’s literally only 9 seconds long) and HDM’s theme is epic and sweeping and everything you could ask for in a title sequence for an epic fantasy show.

I tag @meangirlsx, @sandyjennifercheeks, @secretly-of-course, @uglyballerina

#andi mack #the good place #ducktales #his dark materials #psych

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multimetaverse · 5 years

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Thoughts on the new texts?

It’s great to see Tyrus finally being brought from subtext to text. I always had high hopes for Something to Talk A-Boot simply because it was after the farm wedding which meant that the show could finally start openly talking about Tyrus. Basically everything we’ve seen of Tyrus up to now is nothing that Disney couldn’t back out from had they so chosen and nothing that would really clue in the casual audience that Tyrus is a thing and really if you just watch the episodes themselves there’s nothing there so far that makes Tyrus look like anything more than a crack ship or queerbaiting.We’ve come a long way from Disney editing a look back to make TJ seem straight and from Cyrus having to vaguely talk about how, ‘’crushes change’’ on the texts but now we’re finally getting the set up for them to canon and be real and textual and Disney is finally letting the audience know that.

Another reason to be optimistic is that the show will actually be allowed to follow up on these texts. It’s clear that the texts between Buffy and Andi after 3x11 talking about TJ’s crush on Cyrus was nothing more than a desperate attempt by the writers to try and get the audience to realize that TJ is gay because they weren’t going to be able to do that on the show itself. That convo looks wildly out of place now, especially since neither Buffy or Andi have talked about TJ’s feelings again nor have they informed Cyrus about what they think on the texts or on the show.

I’ve seen some people who were under the mistaken impression that Cyrus hasn’t realized his crush yet but that was never the case, it was just that he wasn’t allowed to say so because that would Tyrus real for the casual audience and would create an expectation that something would come of it, which obviously couldn’t come until after the original wedding. We’re looking at 3 or 4 days in universe of TJ scenes, most of them with Cyrus, and probably around 4ish minutes of screen time which may be the most TJ has left in a single ep given how crowded the finale will be. All this talk of relationships and feelings is definitely setting up for whatever happens at the gym between Cyrus and TJ whether it be a hand hold or hug or something else. It’s also heavily implied that Cyrus is ready to have a boyfriend and be out to a larger sphere of people, which needs to be the case since Tyrus canons at a house party and is also why all the Tyrus scenes in 3x18 are at the school and in particular their moment at the gym is in a very public area with lots of people around.

Cyrus clearly doesn’t believe (or want to believe) TJ when he said he and Kira weren’t a couple which is likely partially because he doesn’t trust TJ as much after costume day and partially Cyrus’ low self esteem and lack of self confidence. He can’t hear of a breakup because there is no relationship to break up but it is set up for Cyrus to find out that TJ has gotten out from Kira’s manipulation which lets them spend time together and repair the damage she’s done which culminates in whatever moment they have at the gym. That must be what gives Cyrus hope that TJ might like him back which is shattered when he sees Kira at the party which leads him to feel like he was deluding myself and makes him retreat to the bench to be sad. I’d guess that TJ’s trial reminds him of how much he’s changed and he decides to help Kira be a nice person and then she ends her incredibly poorly written story line by apologizing to TJ and encouraging him to go talk to Cyrus.

I don’t think we’ll be seeing Andi involved at all in the Tyrus story line until they rejoin the party after the bench scene; they’ll stick with Buffy being Cyrus’ confidant on screen. Andi has always been kept conspicuously away from Cyrus’ sexuality arc and TJ in general except for key moments because getting her involved would bring too much attention to the gay story line. She’s the main character so any words coming from her have greater weight, that’s why the show had her go with Cyrus to report the gun and why she was the one to tell Cyrus that it was his choice who to come out to and when.

It’s great that we see such a close Andi and Cyrus friendship in the texts but it’s not one we’ll see on screen and it wouldn’t shock me if that Andi and Cyrus scene at Andi Shack in 3x16 is the last solo scene we get for them. Yes Andi has a lot of other characters to interact with but they’ve always made time for her to have solo scenes with Buffy or Jonah or Amber or Walker and undoubtedly if Cyrus had been straight we would have seen more of their friendship. I also don’t think that the Jonah and TJ friendship they set up in 3x08 will amount to anything and Jonah won’t be involved in Tyrus until after the bench scene as well; looking back it’s clear that it was just contrived drama to justify having TJ in the ep but not doing anything with Tyrus.

The texts also straight up pretend that Ciris never existed which is funny because Andi herself had a lovely convo on the texts with Cyrus after he broke up with Iris. It’s very wise of the writers to not bring up Ciris though, there’s no good way to explain why Ciris got so much more than Tyrus will and the less the audience remembers of Ciris the better for the show’s legacy. It will never stop being darkly funny that after all of Disney’s censorship and restrictions, the Tyrus story line is the only one not damaged by the re-shoots and the farm wedding being cut simply because TJ’s story line was written to keep him away from it and now we’re getting a much more equal Tyrus story line and we get them back a week earlier than we would have in otl. If I was a spiritual man I’d say it’s karma.

The texts also circle back to Andi and Jonah in a way they haven’t for a very long time. We get a reminder of Jonah ‘writing’ songs for Andi which when combined with Amber wondering if Jonah would write her a song seems like set up for You Girl. We also get Andi saying that if you still like a person than the relationship isn’t over just growing in a different way which suggests she still likes Jonah. And we get a reference to their no breakup breakup which was pretty poor writing on the shows part. We also get a run down of Jonah’s past relationships and Cyrus correctly points out to Andi that Jonah liked her best of all his girlfriends: Jamber 1.0 was toxic, Jonah could barely communicate with Libby, and Jamber 2.0 was a mess. Given that Jamber is broken up, Andi and Jonah have solo scenes in 3x18, and Jonah performs You Girl in 3x19, we’re setting up for some Jandi plot line.

I don’t think we’ll end with canon Jandi like we will with Tyrus and Muffy. Rather I think we’re getting a wishy washy, we know we like each other and always will but now’s not the right time but the universe will guide us back together type thing. And since either Andi or Jonah are moving away in the finale it will be easier to pull that off and it parallels young Bexie in a way. They do need to give Andi some romantic plot line, she hasn’t had any since 3x04 and we really should get some hint that Jonah is capable of learning and growing from his relationship mistakes instead of repeating them over and over. Well can’t wait for 3x18, it should be a good one and hopefully all the remaining eps are.

#Andi Mack #Tyrus #Cyrus Goodman #TJ Kippen #Jonah Beck #Jandi #Andi Mack Asks #Asks #Answered #Andi Mack Season 3 #Andi Mack Meta

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briangroth27 · 5 years

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Toy Story 4 Review

I rewatched the first three Toy Story films and the shorts before seeing this, and I was blown away by how perfect this series has been so far. Making one great movie is extremely difficult, but making a full franchise that's this good seems like it should be impossible, yet here they are. So, in addition to being one of my favorite franchises since my childhood, Toy Story 4 had a massive legacy and standard to live up to. Incredibly, it completely lives up to both!

Full Spoilers...

This is very much Woody's (Tom Hanks) movie and Hanks runs with it, bringing Woody's character through a familiar struggle that leads him to a completely new place by the end without ever feeling like we’re retreading old ground. At first, Woody's attempts to force Forky (Tony Hale) to accept his role as a toy despite his insistence that he was trash (since Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) made him out of trash) felt like a weird message to send. Then I realized it was more like what he did for Buzz (Tim Allen) in the first film, albeit with more understanding on Woody's part; even though he was similarly replaced, that’s some nice growth from the old cowboy. It doesn't matter what the toys thought they were initially—with Buzz and the BattleSaurs, we've seen toys’ fresh-out-of-the-box personalities mimicking whatever they were built as rather than realizing that they were toys—and what really makes them who they are is what they mean to a child. Because of a kid's love, they can be more than trash; more than a space ranger.

It's a nice bit of cyclical plotting that Woody goes through this again at the end of his time in another kid's room, and watching him realize that there could be more to life than going from kid to kid and endlessly being discarded was great. Toy Story introduced the terror of being left behind, TS2 played with Woody’s acceptance of the fact that Andy would eventually leave him, TS3 forced him to actually deal with Andy outgrowing him (which is entirely different from acknowledging the concept), and this movie gives us a glimpse of what happens next, when Woody has to face the entire cycle again. I really liked his admission that all he had left to give was protecting Bonnie, even though she’d moved on from him (an interesting adjustment to his outlook, given how he used to see being replaced as the worst thing that could happen). Even if he couldn’t be the toy she adored and needed, he would supply that love no matter what problems or challenges it caused in the process. Woody’s drive verged on obsession more than a few times, leading him to take really irresponsible risks and I almost think he gets off a little too easily (which would be my one note for the movie). Bo (Annie Potts) gets to be rightfully furious with Woody for not listening to her much better thought-out plans and causing real damage to her friends, but since Woody is also unable to fully let go as the leader of Andy’s toys now that they’re Bonnie’s, it would've also been nice for Dolly (Bonnie Hunt) to be right about what Bonnie needs instead of Woody ultimately knowing what’s best. Either way, I would’ve liked an apology from him to Dolly, because that section’s really the one where it feels like Woody can do no wrong, even while flouting the rules of the new room (and even if it saddles him with Forky). I wonder if Forky jumping out of the RV window was an intentional callback to Woody accidentally knocking Buzz out of Andy’s window in the first film, since that also sent him on a journey of self-discovery about his place in the world and led to a toy realizing their true purpose.

Woody's reunion with Bo (Annie Potts) was great and she was absolutely outstanding! She was so cool and I loved that it wasn't some horrible trauma that made her the awesome adventurer she’d grown into, just an unwillingness to continue sitting on her lamp watching the world go by without her. What an excellent, inspiring, and unfortunately rare motivation for a strong female character! Judging by her attitude to being given away in the flashback, she was already more well-adjusted to the possibility of being discarded than Woody and it was very cool to see that evolve into the fearless and free doll she became. I feel like we got enough nods to her history and relationships here that I don't need to see a prequel that spells out her journey (though if they gave us one I’d watch it), but I would be totally up for a sequel about her continuing adventures. Maybe it was the CGI quality of the time, but it really looked like Bo Peep’s dress was part of her ceramic sculpt in the first two movies. If it not being part of her sculpt is a retcon allowing her to be more active in cloth clothes this time around, then that doesn’t bother me at all. Her reaction to her broken arm was pretty funny! I was surprised that Woody’d spent all that time dating Bo back in Andy’s room and didn’t know that Billy, Goat, and Gruff (Emily Davis) were girls (and didn’t even know their names!); even with the excuse that they weren’t Andy’s toys, it was pretty selfish of him to not know that (and selfishness is not a new flaw for him).

Buzz’s screentime felt significantly shorter than in the other three films, but it didn’t hurt the movie for me. With this being Woody’s farewell, Buzz’s more limited focus felt right (though maybe a talk between him and Forky about their initial senses of self would’ve been worthwhile). The subplot of Buzz learning to listen to his “inner voice” (misunderstanding what Woody said about his conscience) was really enjoyable (even if this movie took some liberties in giving both Woody and Buzz more sayings in their voice boxes than it seemed like there ever were before). That was a fun callback to Buzz taking everything about himself so literally in the first movie! I would’ve liked for more of the old gang beyond Buzz to have more to do than wait in the RV, but the script and the actors made the most out of limited screentime. I liked that Bonnie promoted Jessie (Joan Cusack) to sheriff and would be interested to see how she and Dolly run things in the room without Woody (at the end, I wondered if Bonnie took Jessie to school with her, if Jessie hopped in her backpack on her own, or if Dolly agreed to send her). Letting Woody have a moment to return his badge to Jessie was a nice way to give him a chance to willingly let go of his status and his past while relenting to and restoring the way Bonnie set things up. Whether given a few funny lines or slightly larger gags, all of the other toys got a chance to shine. Buttercup (Jeff Garlin) gets an especially odd and hilarious running gag of trying to get Bonnie’s dad (Jay Hernandez) arrested to halt the family’s trip and stall for time. It was also cool to see players from the Toy Story shorts like Combat Carl (Carl Weathers) and Old Timer (Alan Oppenheimer) get moments here. It’s always nice to see shorts like those remain part of the world instead of becoming unconnected extras to be forgotten.

I liked all the new characters too! Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), Giggle McDimples (Ally Maki), and Ducky & Bunny (Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele) were all really great additions to this world, representing a wide variety of toys with different goals, tactics, and dreams, which was refreshing: a lesser film would’ve had them pursing the same dream or wouldn’t have bothered to dig into their humorously tragic backgrounds (or imaginations) at all. Forky was funny too, as well as serving as an interesting peek into the imbuement of consciousness onto something by a kid. It was intriguing that even the other toys hadn’t seen something like that happen before (even with sentient chair Chairol Burnett (Carol Burnett) in Bonnie’s closet). His life gives credence to the idea that a toy’s purpose really is to be there for their kids while they need them, even if they don’t know it yet.

The movie’s villain, Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) was quite creepy and worked really well as a dark reflection of Woody’s own insecurities about losing his kid while acting as an example of a toy that had gone off the deep end by being discarded (at first). The body horror they came up with through her wanting to take Woody’s voice box—by force, if necessary—just so she could experience the love of a child was really effective. I liked that they found a way to bring Woody to a place where he’d willingly give up his voice box (to save Forky) rather than it be stolen and that Gabby Gabby wasn’t actually that evil; she could be redeemed. I was definitely expecting a turn where Woody fought to get his voice box back and I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t go that way. It was very cool that even after being abandoned by what she believed to be her one way out of the store and offered a chance to come with Bonnie, Gabby Gabby was still a good enough person that she chose to help another lonely and lost soul (Maliah Bargas-Good), risking abandonment again but finding a real home instead. With Woody failing to listen to just about everyone about the right way to do things, Gabby Gabby giving up the “sure thing” of Bonnie’s love to take a chance on something that felt more right was a cool way to stealthily foreshadow and parallel Woody making the same choice, just for himself rather than another kid. Gabby Gabby, even more than Woody, understood that the important thing wasn’t to be just another toy for a great kid, but to be the toy for the right kid at the right time. This is an especially cool parallel since Woody comes so close to being a contender for the villain role here too, given how obsessed he is with doing what he thinks is best for Bonnie. Gabby Gabby’s hench-dummies, the Bensons (Steve Purcell), were super-creepy! I wouldn’t have minded them taking the horror of those dummies a step further, but this worked perfectly as is. I know the Bensons have a very common ventriloquist’s dummy design, but I couldn’t help but wonder if their look was based off the book and movie version of Goosebumps’ Slappy.

At first I was skeptical that they had any full-length-worthy story left to tell in this universe and I was content for them to just continue doing periodic short films, but I was excited when I heard this would be a romantic comedy about finding Bo Peep. I’m not sure the romantic comedy vibe fully survived into the final version of the film, but taking us back to find Bo was certainly worth it and this turned out better than I could’ve imagined. The movie hit really strong emotional beats all the way through, with the flashback to Bo being given away, a very smooth recap of Woody’s life with Andy (Jack McGraw, John Morris) and Bonnie, Woody feeling left behind in Bonnie’s room, and eventually Woody nearly saying goodbye to Bo again…but changing his mind and leaving all his friends behind instead. I’m a sucker for goodbyes between family and friends, so both that one and Bo initially being given away hit me hard. Not quite as hard as Andy giving his toys to Bonnie in Toy Story 3, but they were still powerful moments. The knowledge that Woody and the gang from Bonnie’s room will probably never see each other again hurt, but I’m glad to know he’s off to find a new purpose for himself (finding homes for all the carnival toys and living his own life with Bo), rather than continuing to devote himself to someone who doesn’t need him anymore and has decidedly moved on (as I’ve seen others point out elsewhere).

The RV, carnival, and Second Chance Antiques store all provided a great variety of new locations for adventures. It was cool to see everyday settings like a store and a fair get the toy’s-eye-view treatment, transforming them into wondrous and danger-filled playgrounds. The action was great and made good use of not only the toys’ specific attributes, but tied their emotional arcs together really well too. CGI technology has improved a lot since the first film and these characters look outstanding in their latest (and last?) film. The writing and pacing were on point, while Randy Newman’s score brought a great familiar feel to the proceedings.

Toy Story 4 is an absolute delight and totally worth seeing in theaters! If they want to do another sequel and continue either Bo/Woody’s or Buzz/Bonnie’s Room stories (or both), I would definitely be down for that. I trust them to find a new story to tell with each movie and know that they’d make it fantastic, just like the rest of this franchise. However, if all we get from Toy Story is more short films, that’s OK too. And if this is the real end, then it’s a great one.

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

#toy story #toy story 4 #tom hanks #tim allen #annie potts #woody #buzz lightyear #bo peep #disney #pixar

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shadowlongknife · 5 years

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31 Days of Spooky.

“Time to float.” - Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

Day one: It directed by Andy Muschietti

Since I plan on doing 31 of these, and I only have so many horror films in my collection that I have not yet seen, I thought maybe I’d start with something I already know I’ll enjoy. This is not the TV Movie version from 1990, that I remember watching and loving, although there were some bits I dreaded. We don’t talk about the bad giant spider in this house. This is the more recent adaptation, or perhaps I should call it a half-adaptation, because it’s only tackling half of a really quite long book, one that many people call King’s magnum opus. It’s difficult to call anything a magnum opus from a guy who wrote a seven book series about a parallel world travelling gunfighter, and there’s that whole over a thousand page book about what happens when a virus kills 99 percent of the population, but I think it can be widely agreed upon that It is one of his seminal works, it’s one that frequently hangs out in the forefront of people’s minds when they talk about Stephen King.

It’s difficult to escape the imagery of a killer clown that eats kids. That’s the kind of thing that sticks in your head.

It’s hard to write about a remake and not judge it partially by the original. It’s equally hard to write about an adaptation and not judge it by the source material. This is, of course, both things (it can be two things, Brant.). As an adaptation, it’s got a few flaws. Trying to cram so much story into a two hour movie has always been a struggle, no matter what the project is you’re adapting. Some things have to be cut. The director and writer took the tack of splitting up the narrative, focusing this film on the Loser’s Club and their struggles with Pennywise as kids, and leaving their return to their hometown as adults for Chapter Two. That’s not necessarily a bad decision, but it does mean that the original story’s flow, where perspective shifts on a dime between the two time periods is lost out of necessity. This version of the story works in some things that weren’t in the previous adaptation, mostly because it was on television, and there’s restrictions. You can’t have Richie Tozier dropping F-bombs on broadcast TV, no matter how much you may want to. But here, the kid from Stranger Things (who gives one of the two strongest performances from the young cast members in my opinion, the other being Sophia Lillis as Beverly Marsh) is slinging language that would have made a television Standards and Practices executive have a need to lie down and sip a quiet cup of tea to settle their nerves. We’re also spared what is widely considered one of Stephen King’s worst choices, the ending of the kids’ portion of the novel from the book. If you don’t know what it is, go ahead and Google it, and prepare to have your eyes open wide in shock, and say aloud to yourself, “Who thought THAT was a good idea?”. Who indeed? Stephen King himself, that’s who.

All in all, it’s a different animal than the TV version for a lot of reasons, but it’s hard not to look at Bill Skarsgard’s interpretation of Pennywise and hold him up to be judged against Tim Curry’s, and some may find Skarsgard superior, I’m not one of those people. Pennywise comes off as creepy, to be sure. But Curry’s comes off as genuinely fun in a way that Skarsgard’s just doesn’t, to me. The Pennywise in this film definitely comes across as more alien, and more of a nightmare creature. Doesn’t make it more or less a valid interpretation, just different. Trying to reinterpret a classic character who’s been played before has it’s challenges, no one wants to be a simple retread, and no one wants to play someone else’s version of the character, I’m sure. Just ask Kevin Spacey about playing Lex Luthor, if you can stomach talking to him. I’d give this one a definite thumbs up, with some strong performances and set pieces that make it well worth your time. I may even make it to the theater to see Chapter Two sometime this month. We shall see.

#31 days of spooky #countdown to halloween #review #in which i talk a lot about movies #It

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