#my body was ready to be destroyed by episode 9

[cocogum]

Let’s TALK about episodes 9 and 10 people… (part 1)

PART 2 : HERE

(‼️SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4‼️)

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If you thought episodes 7 and 8 had so much to talk about (cuz I sure did), then episodes 9 and 10 destroyed my mind.

….

I am so tired.

We begin with a small recap of what happened last episode and it’s honestly very nice and heartwarming of Ankama to remind us that Yugo will get his ass handed to him in a few minutes.

BRO LOOK AT HOW THEY’RE DRAGGING HIM ON THE DIRTY FLOOR LIKE THAT!!

The level of disrespect these thirsty hoes have for him is immeasurable. Even if Yugo’s not a kid, the fact that the necromes didn’t hesitate to tie him up like that and sacrifice him like a lamb is jaw-dropping. It really makes you understand that they don’t give a shit if you’re an actual kid, they will hang you up like a roast beef for dinner.

Bro’s asking as if he just got here.

Also, how do you think that fall must’ve felt like? Cuz when Toross yeets him, Yugo takes a massive fall only to get his body slammed into the pavement when he gets tied up.

He gets to fall even faster because of the stasis ropes pulling him down too.

You can even hear the loud slam when he hits it. That must’ve hurt like a bitch.

Btw I love how even after all that, Adamaï and Amalia still don’t trust Qilby even when he saved them from the necrome world.

Adamaï thinks he was an idiot for not using the eliatrope Dofus and…he’s right? Cuz my guy…ur scared of ruining things if you use the dofus but what are you gonna ruin in a place WHERE THERE’S NO WAKFU????

Sometimes I can’t tell whether or not that guy’s okay in his head. Like is he blind or something? You can clearly tell that the necrome world is completely deserted and has no actual life, Amalia even CONFIRMS IT for you, Toross is literally using his dofus in his world of nothing, AND it’s also literally known as the gods’ garbage bin.

No wonder you get slapped around so much, you’re stupider than Yugo!!

I never in my life thought that I’d eventually get to see Qilby booping Amalia’s nose.

And I don’t know if I should like it or if I should fear it.

Man literally booped her as if she was a kid. But then again, he IS a millennial years old so it would explain why he’d treat her like a fetus.

In a way, he really CAN see her as a kid who doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.

But like-

I never imagined this happening???? Not even in a trillion chances 😀😀

BUT WHAT CONFUSES ME EVEN MORE IS THIS :

I get that Amalia annoyed him when she said he STILL couldn’t be trusted but what do you mean by “artificial”??? I’m still confused about that.

MY QUEEN NORA AND HER GAY ASS IS BACK WITH HER SHENANIGANS GURL WE SEE U !!

You can’t tell me this scene ain’t gay 😭😭

The way she grabbed her was so sudden, it made my heart jump!! And Amalia just goes with it like a damsel in distress being protected by her knight 🥰🥰 My noramalia senses detected that shit from a mile away, you ain’t getting away!!!

That torture scene tho should’ve taken longer ngl. But Okoo being the kid that they are decided “hell nah”. It’s still a shame really but at least we got what we needed.

Also, lemme just say something about this torture scene real quick.

Not only does Yugo get sucked the living out of him, but he just got BODY SLAMMED FROM AT LEAST 290 FEET on LITERAL PAVEMENT so now his back is completely obliterated, he keeps CONVULSING, TWITCHING, and GETS HIS BONES BREAKING TO GROW LONGER ONES-

He’s feeling all that WHILE getting sucked to death. My god. I wanted to see more of that.

The only reason why he didn’t turn out ballistic was cuz Oropo was keeping him busy in his head. He literally told him that he’ll make him fight just to not think about it.

And even though Oropo does hate him (but calmed down a bit once he reunited with Yugo), he told him that even he doesn’t deserve all of this. Can you imagine the one who caused so many calamities and was ready to kill the gods because he hates you telling you that even you don’t deserve this?? It just shows how kinky this Toross guy is.

#wakfu #ankama #krosmoz #wakfu season 4 #wakfu s4 #wakfu yugo #wakfu review #wakfu reviews #wakfu season 4 episodes 9 and 10

[bengiyo]

Ossan's Love Returns Ep 9 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

Last week, everyone sensed that something was up with Kurosawa, and so the squad rallied to host a home party to cheer him up. Kurosawa spent much of the episode working on saying goodbye, and even left instructions for Maki with some household tips before teaching him how to make his version of miso soup. He left goodbye videos that completely destroyed me, and his final scene in the park with Haruta brought me back to the In the Sky goodbye in ways I was not ready for. I don't want to mourn him, but I feel like I already am.

I can't drink those smoothies that just taste like grass.

NOT THIS GOOFY ASS MAN MISHEARING THE DOCTOR AND JUST WALKING OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!

He kicked the doctor!!!

All this drama over red food!?!

Oh lord his home sold. Where is he going to go??

I hope the entire cast comes to visit him a little bit at a time. This is great.

"Give me back my tears, geezer!" Yes, Maki! Fight him again!!!

I'm with Haruta. I think about my parents getting older. I've been making slow preparations for the future.

Good job, Chizu. I'm glad you're still here to keep Haruta from spinning out.

Oh, thank you for the shower scene. Tanaka Kei has a great body.

Natflax real estate???? I'm gonna lose it.

This recruiter looks familiar. I'm going to need to look them up later.

STYLER JIBS!!!!!!!!!

Oh no Haruta is having nightmares now.

Whoa, is that Tabasco hot sauce???

I really do love the way Kurosawa and Maki moments have evolved over time.

I love that the whole crew is here for a surprise party, and glad Kurosawa is back to tormenting Maki.

Haruta bursting into tears whenever he feels too much love is one of my favorite things about him. He always appreciates every earnest gesture from Maki.

This is beautiful. I would love to be surrounded by all the people I love telling me all the things I did that made them feel supported and appreciated.

Takegawa got a cat! That feels so correct.

This whole sequence is incredible. It's an ongoing group hug, a party, and a talent show.

Maika is always eavesdropping and she is correct. Not all queer relationships need names that fit neatly into other expectations.

It does feel like a family photo. I have quite a few with my wider digital families.

Wow, the cherry blossoms scene was beautiful. I really appreciate how explicit this season has been about the complex nature of family and that finding community and joy in it is possible in any number of configurations.

Maro is such a dude I love him. He would absolutely get into a fandom just to be closer to his mom and wife.

Kiku and Izumi made it! Can't believe that they've grown on me a little bit.

Teppei, Chizu, and Maika having dinner with their kids as Teppei sings another song is perfect for them.

Maki stay trying to slam the door on Kurosawa.

Another almost brawl!!

"WE ARE FAMILY!!" I got all my sisters with me!! Okay, I cried.

Final Verdict: 9, Highly Recommended. I think, even if you bounced off or didn't watch Ossan's Love (2018), you should absolutely check this show out. There's so much to be had in this show about adults navigating what they want for their lives as they try to take care of the people they love. Maki and Haruta figuring out what their romance is going to Iook like when it's not just an idea landed so well for me. I like that Maki is still able to be a little bit terse or reserved, but he's finally able to say clearly to Haruta how important he is to him and he's also better able to be around others. Izumi is right that Haruta is this beacon of love that others seem inevitably drawn to. Kurosawa is such a huge presence, and he reminds me of some of my favorite gay elders. I hope to be as powerful and loved as him when I get older. I'm so glad I went back and watched Ossan's Love properly. I can't believe I denied myself this incredible experience for years.

#Ben watches #ossan's love #ossan's love returns #japanese bl #bl series

[dwarvencraftsdirectfromorzammar]

okay, fuck it. I made this post while ago and i haven't been able to stop thinking about it. i am going to be coherent in any way? Not really, some of them feel very deliberate, while some of them dont make much sense to me, maybe im reaching with this but what fun is in being normal about a show??? also i poses no brain cells so dont expect some deep shit from me (expect some shitty screenshot tho)

So we start with this:

"monster" hanging above the city, nice neutral backround as we just got introduced to the story and the characters, we have very little information overall but it hangs above menacingly ready to land on our first candidate.

We find our first monster (expectedly) in Lee Dongsik

Epiodes 2,3 and 4 greet us with these (very pretty) title cards and of course its Lee Dongsik. Playing the role of monster for us and also for Han Juwon (and rest of manyang) is essential to his character and the story. He was the one the say "If you want to get the monster, you should become one." On subsequent rewatch these feel somehow flippant, like a part of the play he keeps up. He welcomes the label, he often meets it head on like he is aware it's there. They also feel very different to another title card we get with Dongsik.

Episode 7 flashes the title across Dongsik with the sound of gunshot, and it feels very accusatory, like the show itself pointing it's finger at him "see? he is a monster after all, look at what he does." This isn't part of the play, this is just him exposed and vulnerable. Then we get the scene where he smashes that guys head on the pavement. This is also last time he is branded as such.

As we go further along and we uncover (at least partial) truth we get another monster branded.

Episode 6 gives us this duh! kinda moment you can see from miles away but nonetheless its very satisfing to see it. True monster is finally exposed and identified. But then we get episode 8 and it kinda boggles my mind.

Feeling like for sure i have been thinking too much into the whole thing, because this doesnt make much sense. Han Juwon is next to be marked as a monster as he's leaving right after arresting Kang Jin Mook. Looking back at Dongsik who is kneeling in front of body of Kang Min Jung quoting his earlier words "No one is going to die from today." And maybe this is a brand he puts on himself, maybe he thinks of Lee Geum Hwa and maybe he thinks about how he treated Dongsik, maybe its a reminder for the audience that he is not without fault here.

Nontheless the killer is found, the case is closed, we can start with a clean slate:

Title card for episode 9 and 11 is the same and they kinda represent the lull in the investigation, no new leads, no new characters to be accused, starting from zero so to say. What's interesting to me that in between these, in episode 8 we get this:

This is actually my favourite, it feels like a callback to the whole "if you want to catch a monster you have to become one". Han Juwon just had THAT conversation with Kwon Hyeok about how he, a sheltered boy can never catch Lee Dongsik. His response - "i have to be reborn". I have to become someone like him, i have to play by his rules.

Episodes 12, 13 and 16 are pretty straigtforward, as we learn more, we get more suspects. I really like that mother of Park Jung Je is in that frame with him, holding him. That last episode really driving it home for me that these have meaning.

on the other hand there are episodes 14 and 15. Mother of Han Juwon being dragged away, Han Kihwan saying "now our lives will be perfect" and little Han Juwon standing on the balcony watching the whole thing.

and again Han Juwon walking away after listening to the whole confession of his father, what he is capable of sacrificing for perfection, what he already destroyed in his pursuit of perfection.

If i had to reach and i probably was this whole time, i think that in every instance Han Juwon puts that label on himself. Eveytime we see that word flash across him he bears it with guilt. It feels like his internal struggle with things he considers he did wrong made visible. He never bears it like other characters, its thing of shame and sin. He never meets it head on, even in that instance when he wants to be reborn, because thats just not who he is. He can never use it as just a label that can have its own uses, not like Lee Dongsik did.

Also i really like that in case of Han Kihwan, Lee Chang Jin and Kang Jin Mook, our "true" monsters, just as they are branded we get to look them in the eyes. It feels very matter of fact, they know it and they dont care. There is no regret, no remorse. (In the very begging Lee Dongsik also looks us in the eyes, he bacame what he had to, to do what he has to.)

Overall, its interesting how the show uses it, its like this multipurpose tool for the characters, the show itself and the audience.

#Please be gentle I don't like doing this kinda of post because Im not smart and I can't articulate anything for shit #I don't like presenting my interpretation of any media because I just feel dumb as fuck #But I really like beyond evil and I keep thinking about it so I want to share my thoughts #Beyond evil #han juwon #lee dongsik #han joowon #Lee Chang Jin #Han kihwan #Kang Jin Mook #Also sorry it's little bit long

[yeetlegay]

I truly believe that the reason why we didn't get any more aftermath scenes in ep 8 is because all they did was either giving head, humping or "mutual masturbation" (thanks for that Apo). I feel like they're building the tansion for us. The tension between us and that pool.. Episode 9 will come and destroy all of us, and we're not ready. I also feel it in my bones, that they'll use all of the spare minutes we were robbed of. And this ep will be the longest (not counting the last episode).

“Mutual masturbation” is part of my vocabulary now lol, it’s just such dudebro energy like “hey homie what if we explored each other’s bodies haha jk unless..?”

I stg every new ep my eyes immediately go to look at the time length so I know on a scale of 1 to 10 how insane I’ll be at the end of it

#kinnporsche #yeetle asks #why don’t queue stay

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - Enterprise S4

Originally posted on Twitter 31 January 2020 - 7 July 2020

Enterprise Season 4 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As in Seasons 1-3, mini-reviews will document my progress.

Storm Front: Nazis in New York, aliens up to no good, a time-ravaged Daniels, and the unforgettable sight of P-51 Mustangs firing on a shuttlepod = a slam-bang season premiere. Alicia Travers is a strong guest character. 9/10

Storm Front, Part II: The Temporal Cold War comes to an end, and so does Silik. The NX-01 shooting down Stukas over Manhattan is a highlight, as well as the final shootout in the temporal conduit complex. 10/10

Home: Archer and Erika Hernandez reconnect and recover, and Trip’s unrequited feelings for T’Pol are thrown in his face by her marriage to Koss, THE most insufferable Vulcan in a series full of them. But it’s Phlox’s encounter with casual racism that hits home. 10/10

Borderland: The Augments trilogy kicks off in style. Brent Spiner is a perfect foil for Archer. Malik makes for a complex proto-Khan, while Persis is almost too clever for her own good. 8/10

Cold Station 12: Malik and Soong start to drift apart here. Too bad we couldn't see more of Udar. Alas. The torture scene with the Symbalene blood burn is insane body horror, right up there with "Conspiracy". The pieces have moved into place for the trilogy's climax. 8/10

The Augments: Interesting debate on nature vs. nurture. Persis deserved better, both from Malik and the arc. I think the ending would have had more impact if we saw Soong write something about positronic brains, rather than have him explicitly mention cybernetics. 8/10

The Forge: RIP Adm. Forrest. Deep, deep Vulcan lore is introduced, things only mentioned off-hand or hinted at in the franchise’s previous forty years (including IDIC). Loved seeing T’Pau and Surak again. 8/10

Awakening: Pieces are moved into place as Archer falls further under Surak’s spell (err, katra). V’Las is veering dangerously close to mustache twirling, but Robert Foxworth is too damn charismatic. The Kir’Shara is found, but it may be too late. 9/10

Kir’Shara: The first steps toward the Federation are taken as V’Las’ assault on Andoria is foiled by Enterprise and Shran. The Vulcans begin a re-evolution here. Meanwhile, a certain raptorial species makes a shocking appearance in the tag. 10/10

Daedalus: This one does nothing for me; ergo, I nothing it. What should be a tragic story in the vein of the vastly superior DS9 “The Visitor” is wasted on a paint-by-numbers “ghost story.” Archer’s relationship with the Erickson’s comes out of nowhere. A rare S4 misfire. 4/10

Observer Effect: Non-corporeal aliens possessing our heroes? Check. Lethal infection? Check. Deus ex machina? Check. But the last-minute reveal that the Organians from the sublime TOS “Errand of Mercy” are the culprits is a great twist that wasn’t telegraphed. 7/10

Babel One: The Tellarites attack and destroy Shran’s ship…or did they? The Andorians attack Enterprise…or did they? Some amazing groundwork is being laid here for not only the rest of S4 but the entire Star Trek universe. The reveal at the end of the episode is 👌. 8/10

United: Pour one out for poor Talas. Tucker and Reed disable the drone, while Archer disables Shran. The reveal at the end of the episode tops the Romulan intrigue from “Babel One”. The Andorians get some great development here, and Jeffrey Combs is sublime per usual. 9/10

The Aenar: The Romulans’ plans are foiled by a rag-tag Vulcan-Human-Andorian-Tellarite alliance, and the ethereal Aenar add much depth to the story. Trip’s feelings for T’Pol lead to a shocking ready room scene. I love these little throughlines connecting distinct stories. 10/10

Affliction: We learn why the Klingons from TOS looked different compared to their later brethren. This was a completely unnecessary “reveal” that IMO has influenced some of the unfair criticism DSC and PIC has endured. But it’s still a mostly thrilling espionage thriller. 6/10

Divergence: The opening sequence is incredible, breathless; something Star Trek rarely indulged in. Phlox’s solution at the end is clever and in character. I’m giving this episode a high score just for that chill-inducing setpiece, but my criticism from “Affliction” stands. 8/10

Bound: I can kinda, sorta see what they were going for in giving the Orion “slave girls” agency…but the execution is still not great. We saw this story already with Duras in S2. 4/10

In a Mirror, Darkly: Star Trek’s first episode set entirely in the Mirror Universe is a doozy: clever reframing of First Contact, a new opening title sequence, and our “heroes” really digging into their Terran Empire selves. The ties to TOS “The Tholian Web” are ingenious. 9/10

In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II: Archer’s mental state unravels as he plots and schemes. But it’s Hoshi (Augustus Iaponius) who gets the last laugh. 9/10

Demons: Another all-too-prescient episode tackling racism through the sci-fi lens of xenophobia. Peter Weller is perfectly cast as the hateful Paxton. Nice to see Mayweather get something to do in this third-to-last episode of the series. 8/10

Terra Prime: ENT’s main story ends on the highest of high notes. It was a great choice to end the Terra Prime story in the third act and give Archer’s speech and Trip & T’Pol’s final scene room to breathe. 10/10

These Are the Voyages…: Didn't like this one 15 years ago, still don't like it today. An absolutely sad way for Star Trek to leave television after 18 consecutive years. This episode gets 1 point for the cameos in the final scene. 1/10

And with that, Season 4 of ENT, and the series itself, comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 7.86/10. Highest score(s): "Storm Front, Part II," "Home," "Kir'Shara," "The Aenar," "Terra Prime." . Lowest score(s): "These Are the Voyages…"

ENT overall score across 4 seasons and 97 episodes: 6.99/10

#star trek #star trek enterprise #great star trek rewatch

[afaimscorner]

The Flash 9x08

You, know, it took only 8 Episodes, but it finally hit me why this season sucks so much. Because when Allegra told Chester that she loved him, my brother joked that Chester will now combust into nothingness and I sayed: “Well, at least that would be interesting. And good for Allegra’s character” and then I realized: “The Flash” was done with Season 8. Season 9 sucks because nothing that is happening in the show anymore is interesting or fun. The most interesting thing this season was the stuff concerning Nia Nal last week, but Nia is not even a “Flash”-Character. The only remotley interesing sub-plots that the shows has are the ones, that are definitly not fun, because they are about real problems that don’t even get resolved.

Take this week, this was the fifth or sixth iteration of the Iris-Sub-Plot, that started in 9x01 and has still not been resolved and frankly can’t be resolved, which is why it is starting to feel so repetitative. Iris’ problem is: “I am not in charge of my life, my life is ruling me instead.” But now that she is pregnant and about to become a mother there is no cure for that, she can only get used to that. Barry can tell her a hundred more times that he will be by her side and he will support her, but that won’t change how she helpless she feels. She might “not regret getting pregnant”, but she is clearly not ready for it and by getting pregnant three months or so before she thought she would, she has lost the last shred of conrtol she felt, she had over her life. And 8 episodes of this plotline in, she still hasn’t figured out why the fact that she has no control but is a victim of a pre-written fate is hitting her so hard, but the reason is very obvious: Because she just spend the last two seasons being trapped in the Mirror Verse and being time sick, one after another. She had no control of her life since Eric Wallace did take over as showrunner and put her throught the ringer non-stop: First she thought Barry was about to die, then Eva got her, then she was responsible for the birth of the Forces, and then she got time sick. And now neither her careere nor her personal life are her own anymore. And feeling her body change just makes her feel helpless all over again. She decided to get pregnant before she got time sick. She thought the time sickness might be a pregnancy, but it was something horrible instead. Now, she is finally cured, only to learn that she only has a couple of month to live the life she wants to live before she gets pregnant, only to get pregnant early. Everyone keeps telling her how her life has to pan out, when she is supposed to get a Pulitzer for what, that she has to sell her company in order to get these Pulitzer etc. Of course she can’t deal. And there is nothing that can change that, only time can heal her, time she won’t get, because there are only five episodes left in this season. A  miscarriage would destroy her, while being pregnant will continue to make her miserable. Why would anyone ever come up which such a storyline?

Same goes for the Jocile-stuff, there is no fix for the situtation the writers put Cecile in.: Either she keeps living apart from her child and the man she loves, or she goes to court and takes Jenna away from Joe, which of course would never happen in this show, even though he is keeping her from her daughter and at the same time her job and her calling by dictating her his terms for how she is supposed to live, which is a way that is not healthy and can’t work out and won’t be fixed by Allegra living with Cecile, because Cecile misses her family, something that won’t go away just because someone else is living in the house with her now. Amd again: Why would someone ever do such a storyline? Yes, Jesse left the show, but since it is the last season and we had various season with less Joe or less Joe/Cecile interaction before, why resolve this issue by doing a storyline, that can not be resovled until the show ends?

And those two are the only interesting sub-plots the show still has to offer. Allegra und Chester have ceased to exist outside their romance with each other, everything around Khione is just the most horrible and annoying stuff that ever happened on the show, and Barry himself is not even there anymore as a character since Episode 2 of this season. He is just going from week to week and solving weekly problems that are not really interesting. The Red Death stuff did not work at all and the most interesting stuff in that storyline went to the guest stars. The same with Nia, she got the meat, the character development, Iris just go a temporary fix, that did not hold for a week.

And fun? They could not even do the comedy episode right, because the plan of the villain did not make a lick of sense. So there went the fun in that one. And Khione is not a funny character, she is just akward in a not-charming way.

It is so clear now, that there never were any plans for Season 9 and they are just improvising from episode to episode. This week, thanks to the lack of Khione, wasn’t even bad, it was just totally uninteresting.

I know, most people think that Episode 9 will be the turning point of the season, but let’s be realistic: there are only five episodes left. If eight are not good, and five episoded are good, it would still be a bad season. But why should the upcoming five episodes be any better then the eight we already got?

Westallen still will not liplock, the interesting storylines will still go to the guest stars, continuitiy will still be ignored, Khione will still drag evey episode she is in down by just being there, Iris and Cecile will still suffer, Mark will be back and fuck up again, and Barry, Allegra and Chester will still act holier-than-thou and will still have nothing going on for themselves outside their romantic lives and the villain of the week. Neither Oliver Queen nor Cobalt Blue will magicially fix this season. Because there are no stories left to be told, that we would actually like to see.

#The Flash #The Flash Season 9 #Partners in Time

[lookinglass-fic]

The Shadow of My Wound

Ed/Stede - General Audiences - Fix-it - Canon divergence - Emotional hurt/comfort - Feelings - Domesticity Summary: Stede gazed off into the Eastern sky, imagining what the sunrise would look like from the South China Sea. “I’ve ruined everything,” he said, eventually. “Chauncey was right. I destroy everything I touch. You thought you were the monster,” he added, as Ed came to sit next to him, “but it was me all along. Maybe I’m the kraken.” or A fix-it for the ending of episode 9, when it all started to go to hell.

Remember Me to One Who Lives There (A Continuation of The Shadow of My Wound)

Ed/Stede - General Audiences - Fix-it - Canon divergence - Feelings - Domesticity - Love confession Summary: “All my life, I’d been told that I was pathetic, that I was a little spoiled rich boy, and a coward, and I would never be anything else. And I think… a part of me always wanted to prove otherwise. That I could be anything. I mean,” S said, looking around at their beautiful home; the lavish golden adornments, the chandeliers, the soft, velvet cushions. “I suppose I still am, at the end of the day. But I’ve come to learn that… this was never what made me truly happy. And I think, deep down I knew that I was what was causing you to be unhappy, too.” or Stede sets things right with Mary. The right way. With Ed by his side.

When Love Became an Act of Defiance

Ed/Stede - General Audiences - Canon divergence - Feelings - Letter writing - Angst - Fluff - Romantic gestures - Language of flowers Summary: 'You know his name, but what you don’t know is that he is gentle and kind, and his eyes hold oceans of feeling. His skin is written in stories of tattoos and scars and sun-kissed spots. He plays the harpsichord and knows how to dance a jig, and he loves telling stories. He is, truly, one of the best people I’ve ever known. And I just miss him so terribly.' or In this post-canon world, where geography is made up and postal codes don't matter, Stede becomes pen pals with Mary while he looks for Edward.

We Can Stay 'Til Break of Day

Ed/Stede - General Audiences - Missing scene - Canon compliant - Romantic fluff - Dancing - Talking it through (as a crew) Summary: Ed’s boots scuffed against the deck as he moved. He picked up the simple rhythm easily. “There we are,” Stede said. “That’s the hard part. The rest, you already know.” Ed’s feet kept up their one-two-three step. “That right?” “Mm,” Stede agreed. “Like you said, it’s all about anticipating your partner’s movements. Matching your body to theirs.” Ed gave a quiet huff of a laugh that Stede seemed not to hear. “May I?” Stede asked. He had stopped moving and turned to face Edward, holding out a hand. Ed could only shrug. or Shouldn't Stede teach Ed how to dance? I mean, fair's fair. Based on this beautiful art by @ylissebian.

I've Never Felt So At Home (Whānau Part I)

Ed/Stede - General Audiences - Alternate universe (modern setting) - Gay bar - Flower shop - Language of flowers - Misunderstandings - Fluff and humor - Coming out - Self-discovery Summary: “Uh oh, there goes your boyfriend,” Lucius called. He nodded toward the front windows. Stede turned from the wall he was papering in time to see a handsome, long haired man striding out into the parking lot. Today he was wearing a short black shirt, and his many tattoos were on full display. The man mounted a motorcycle and kicked it on with a low grumble that could be heard even inside the building. “Think you’ll ever just say hello to him?” Lucius asked. “Maybe casually park your car by his bike, happen to be walking in as he’s leaving work, say, ‘oh hello, very cool gentleman in your leather outfit, my name’s Stede, I enjoy staring at your arse through the windows every day—” “Oh, leave him alone,” Oluwande interrupted. “Stede’ll talk to him when he’s ready. Or he won’t.” or In which Stede comes out in his forties and jumps head first into the queer community, even if he's still a little too intimidated to talk to the handsome guy who runs the tattoo shop a few doors down. Based on this post by notebooks-and-laptops.

Besotted (Whānau Part II)

Ed/Stede - General Audiences - Alternate universe (modern setting) - Bar/Pub - Flower shop - Language of flowers - Fluff and humor - Getting to know each other - Domestic fluff - Fossil hunting as flirtation - Sappy romantic idiots - Florida Summary: Stede [Friday, 6:49 pm]: There seems to be a bouquet of flowers on my doorstep! Ed [Friday, 7:12 pm]: Wonder how those got there. Stede [Friday, 7:13 pm]: What are these gorgeous red and black ones here? Stede [Friday, 7:13 pm]: (Image) Ed [Friday, 7:14 pm]: Those are anemones. Some of my favorites. Don’t get to use em in bouquets very often. Too dark for most people Stede [Friday, 7:15 pm]: Well they’re just lovely. What do anemones mean? Ed [Friday, 7:15 pm]: Anticipation ;) or After the events of "I've Never Felt So at Home," Ed and Stede go on their first date, text each other a lot, and go about things in entirely their own way.

#ofmd fanfiction #ofmd fanfic #fanfic #my fic #fic list #fic recs #omfd #our flag means death #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #blackstede #blackbeard #ed x stede #omfd stede #stede bonnet #our flag means love #fluffy fic #angst

[theorist-influencer-untitled]

4.5.24 Friday

1:51 am

Marry me Pilot Garret???

2:05 am

Frustration.... Getting older for nothing... I feel bad... I feel HURT!!!

2:12 am

I still have windblow... I feel bad,ugly,fat and old for nothing...

9:57 am

Ready to commute with Mommy Peachy... Hoping a dad like Pilot Garret can give me a car hahaha... I love his face...

12:49 noon

Uncle Jun went here and really observing me awhile ago.... Hmm... He just asked if we have food, I said yeah! There are food that he brought here yesterday...

1:01 pm

I'm listening on radio that it is ohkay to be single and people don't need a partner... I want a partner for sex that I want a particular face.....My body needs it but my body wants the one she wants like Pilot Garret. The reality I'm so fucking frustrated for 17 years, I'm fucking imagining the face that I wanna fuck... I do masturbate... It is my sickness...

I feel bitter! Once I said or mentioned that I want Pilot Garret all through out of my entire soul, spirit and body... I want him so badly...

1:14 pm

I don't know.... I hope it is ohkay to scratch your back coz I'm so angry in life and I want you at the same time...

It wasn't acting...It is my way and it is returning that 17 years I can't have it and now I'm wanting Pilot Garret...

1:53 pm

This is order for Uncle Jun,gift by John for the bread...

I hope he will not destroy my order here for home improvement,I bought an "electric saver".

I bought an electric saver and this is guaranteed an almost half of your bill...

3:13 pm

Still, have windblow... Still, watching "True Blood", I'm on Season 2 on first few episodes, it is about the competition of vampire and people or human who hated vampires... But human here are doing the act of most of the vampire....My interpretation human here are jealous of vampires... Vampires can be good and nice... Vampires can be smooth or rough...But in "True Blood" vampires are somehow bad and always craving for blood. Vampires here killed some people...This "True Blood" it is about purely SEX!!!

Mitchang did you energize everyone??? Did she give me a "simple battery"? Is she a vampire now on different dimension???

I feel somehow jealous since 2007!!!

Where is Mitchang??? Is she a vampire now???

Mitchang, transfer me??? Are you a vampire on different dimension now???

Sookie is vampire but she have this " self-control" and awareness... What else???

On Season 2 there is an organization of human or people campaigning against vampires... But they copy the vampire and they even perfect themselves... They have perfect orgies session... They perfect their physical appearances for their campaign to hate vampires and one of the gatherings, is SEX ORGIES...

You get my point??? I want artist on screen, I'm fair! I don't hate people on screen... What is the right thing to do???

Be fair human!!!

5:05 pm

I still have windblow... I feel lazy to apply and I don't know, I'm waiting for Amazon and EXL... I'm out of money again...

Still,recovering from bugs bite from Conduent and dieting from eating free food that Teletech offered... That made me gained weight... But I feel self-pity.

But again on my age at 44, the only company who can accept me or this age is call center or to be an actual artist on screen.

I really wanna have Pilot Garret...Is that possible angels? I feel betrayed here since 2007... My body won't take their soul...

I wonder where are Mark and Mitch that I will truly feel HURT if they are Mickey Mouse for so long...

I need a new phone ,angels....My cables can't go in anymore on the hole... I can't record.... The sockets are loose already...

In a lil while if I can't have Pilot Garret, I need to get a job and they will smash my English speaking again... I can't understand Filipino's mind!!!

7:43 pm

I still have windblow,I wanna leave Cavite... I feel frustrated...

9:45 pm

I still have windblow... I wanna leave Cavite, there is no growth for me since 2007... What is the purpose?

I feel HURT! I feel HURT!!! I'm aging for nothing... Unfair, if I'm gonna die just like this... Unfair!!! My soul is shouting deep within...

11:14 pm

I still have windblow... I feel ugly,fat and old for nothing...

I badly need to go back to dentist, I have coffee stain... I wasn't able to go back... This is not my ideal aging, angels...Depressing...

I feel bullshit... I have amalgams, the ideal toothpaste for me is really expensive even if I don't have amalgams... I always drink coffee and there is a toothpaste for coffee lover and it is expensive.

11:20 pm

17 years for nothing... I feel ugly,fat and old for nothing... I'm planning to kill myself but what will happen to me??? Change something but I need to think deeply...

I feel so ugly... The curse is just spinning for nothing...

Again, if I will kill myself, I will have a video of it... I'm not stupid to just put it here, like this... I don't have plans to be killed by someone and just copy and hack this diary...

Again, if I will decide to kill myself, it will have a video...

#Youtube

[onemoresomething]

Chapters: 3/5

Fandom: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)

Rating: Mature

Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom

Summary:

“I think I want that,” Kaoru says quietly, on instinct. So quietly he’s not even sure if he even said the words aloud.

“What?”

The deep voice pulls him back to reality, grounding him. He turns back to face his friend, who is looking back at him with a clear confusion across his face.

Kaoru feels blood immediately rush to his cheeks. He’s already said too much. Can feel the cracks in the walls beginning to form. It’s too much and his eyes fall to the half empty glass in front of him.

“That. Dating. A relationship,” he starts, flicking his eyes up ever so briefly to meet Kojiro’s before he finishes with, “Love.”

#sharing my fic again because i'm sad there's no dub today #my body was ready to be destroyed by episode 9 #sk8 the infinity #matcha blossom #matchablossom #kaoru sakurayashiki #sakurayashiki kaoru #kojiro nanjo #nanjo kojiro #joecherry #joe x cherry blossom #sk8 fanfic

[midnight-proxi]

Our Love is God: Yandere What If: Doctor Strange x Reader Part 1

.:A/N: This is somewhat of a spoiler if anyone hasn't seen Episode 4 and Episode 8 & 9 of Marvel's What If. I love episode 4 so damn much, I can't help to watch over and over again 😂 Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it and this is technically, my first ever Yandere one shot story 🖤:.

One Life.

One Choice.

One Moment.

There was nothing he could have done to prevent the end of the world. His world shattered around him, his friends disappeared, his love for Christine faded from his grasp leaving him all alone in his crystal dorm. The Ancient One, and O'Bengh had told him, it wasn't risking to bring someone back to life, even the Watcher himself, tried to step in to signal him but couldn't do it because of his oath.

Things got a little interesting after the Watcher asked him for help from a bigger thread, Ultron. "You're really going to make me say it?" Said the Watcher as he hesitated.

"Oh yeah. I definitely want to hear you say it" said Strange with a smirk. "Are you ready to break your oath?"

With a heavy sigh from the Watcher as he quickly let his pride slip out from his mind. "I can't believe what I'm saying. I can see now, I need your help"

As the two individuals discussed a plan to defeat Ultron and save the Multiverses. The Watcher gather up heroes from different points in time and universes: A female soldier lost in time, Lost Prince of Wakanda, Tony's protege and murder, Alone child with party intention, A Thanos slayer and including a lone survivor watch her world destroy from the hands of an Android. They all fought well against Ultron trying to take back the infinite stones but in the end, Strange figured The Watcher actually planned it! They never meant to win from the very start knowing Killgonmer betrayal and Arnim Zola possessing Ultron's body to claim the stones for themselves.

Strange quickly casted a spell around them to seal them away from their own crystal prison. The watcher was grateful from their successful mission and sent the others back to their own dimensions; however, Strange was given the task to watch the crystal dome in case they decided to break out. "Besides, what are friends for~"

~~~~~~~

Nearly a month after a battle against Ultron, pacing around his prism prison watching carefully at the miniature crystal dome by his side. Strange couldn't get that thought from his mind, The Watcher did say there are endless possibilities from different realms. Perhaps, there is someone who would share his life with just like he had with Christine...

Casting a small spell in front of him showing a small gateway from different universes and checking out the others in their realm. Scrolling through as it felt for eternity until something caught his attention, a young beautiful woman perhaps in her late 20s; her (color hair) hair looks so silky and shines bright from the rays of the sun. Strange couldn't help but admire her beauty, if only he could get away from his realm and get to her. "I must have her, she would be perfect for me~"

~~~

POV SUIT: (Reader's POV)

Walking through the busy streets of New York, people trying to cram themselves, shoving people shoulder to shoulder and the street's traffic is just as terrible back in California but I didn't mind. Today was a beautiful day for a night out with friends but mostly everyone got busy with school, work or a family business all except Peter Parker and Scott Lang of course. Those two will always be there whenever your friends quote, "ditch you" but I know they joke about it but sometimes you felt they could be right. Soon your phone vibrated from a text message from Scott.

'Hey (your name)! Are you doing anything later tonight? Hope is wondering if you want to go with us on a date night! You can bring a plus one~'

I rolled my eyes laughing at his text.

'Sure I would love to. I'll bring Peter with me if he's not busy'

He quickly responded in no less than 30 seconds.

'Great! We'll pick you at your place! See you soon'

I placed my phone back in my pocket and kept on walking with a smile. I had a feeling that Scott is trying to hook me up with Peter, he seems nice, smart and quite handsome but I only see him like a brother to me. Peter does the same as well but, the more I thought of it it made my cheeks heat up a bit just a thought of him. Without thinking I bump into a solid wall or at least what I thought it was.

'Please be a wall and not some crock.' Slowly lifting my head up with a faint growl from the individual, a crack from it's tail bash in the concrete. My eyes widened in horror, it was The Lizard out in the open with a louder roar, everyone in the streets panic and rush out of the way. Screaming trying to get somewhere safe, I tried to get away but The Lizard quickly grabbed me by the waist and roared at me. "Where is he!" He shouted at me. "Where's your little friend at!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I said, trying to get out of his grasp.

He growled as he tightened his grip on me, I let out a scream in pain. I won't tell him anything where Peter is even if he torture me or kill me for information. Before The Lizard tightened more a yellow red light casted in the back of me with a mysterious black cape came out wrapping itself around The Lizard's head, releasing from his grasp I nearly fell to the ground until a pair of arms grabbed me pulling me into the portal. My vision slightly blurred trying to look around my surroundings. All I could see was the room filled with books, weird objects with the light casting the room a bit. I tried to get up but I felt my legs numb with small needles pinching my muscles. "You poor thing let help you"

I quickly turned to the direction where the voice was coming from, I couldn't see who it was until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I flinched, causing to slap his hand away from me. I quickly turned around and I saw him on his knees with a worried look on his face. "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to startle you like that" Said Stephen reaching his hand at me. "I won't hurt you"

"I-It is okay, I c-can do it myself" I lied as I slowly got up not caring about the stings around my legs. "Where am I? Whatever happened to The Lizard?"

"Don't worry about him, dear. I took care of him"

Another portal opened out the same black cape wrapping itself around the stranger closing behind him. "Who are you?" I asked

"Who? Me. My name is Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme" he said gently, grabbing my hand and kissing it. "What about you my dear?~"

I blushed slightly with his icy blue eyes staring back at me, I couldn't help but blushed even more having my face heated up. I quickly moved my hand away from him and covered my cheeks. He softly chuckles, caressing my hair a bit. "I'm sorry, I'm usually never like this when it comes to new people. Y-You just surprised me when you saved me" I said moving my hands away from my cheeks. "Name's (your name) (last name) by the way"

"(your name), what a lovely name for a beautiful woman" he said with a smile.

He gently grabs my hand once more pulling me closer towards him, wrapping his other around my waist drawing me closer and closer to him. The more I look deep in his eyes as our lips, I place a finger in his lips with a shy smile. "Isn't that a bit early for a kiss? We just met after all."

Stephen chuckles with a sigh moving my finger away from his lip. "You're right. I was caught in the moment. Sorry."

Before I could say anything, the front doors slammed open with a voice that sounded familiar. "(Your name), are you here! I brought Ant Man with me"

I excused myself walking out the room toward the downstairs in the main entrance of the house. Stephen followed me nearly close to me; It was Peter with Scott in their hero uniform. Peter walks up the stairs and walks toward me holding my hands. Stephen looks over my shoulder seeing Spideman holding my mines, he quietly growls trying not to make a scene. "You okay? I heard from Ant man saying, The Lizard came out of nowhere and nearly took you hostage!" Said Spiderman in a slight panic.

"I'm fine P-, Spiderman. Doctor Strange rescued me from him" I said with a slightly blushed

Spider-Man let go of my hands but I can tell he was slightly blushing as well behind his mask. "T-Thanks Strange for saving (your name)"

"No need to thank me, Spider-Man. I was there in the right place and the right time" Said Stephen with a smile. Feeling his hand holding my left arm slightly gripping it with a slight pinch.

I twitched a bit and pretended it was just a mosquito bite me, Scott sensed something wasn't right about all this not from the awkward conversation Peter and Stephen are having but the way Stephen is behaving around (Your name). After a few minutes of conversations, I left with Spiderman and Ant man to take me back home; Stephen didn't like the idea of me leaving with them, I could see his eyes shifting to a different color and stare at Peter with hatred. Wrapping my arms around Spiderman's neck with his arm wrapping around my waist. "You ready?" he asked.

I nodded as he shot out a web and swung from building to building following behind Ant Man, I looked back at the Sanctuary as Stephen walked back inside slamming the doors behind him. About 5 mins we made it to my apartment, I helped him open up the window and we both crawled inside closing the curtains behind us. "That was pretty awkward with the Doc" said Peter, taking off his mask. "Don't you agree?"

"He's not awkward, Peter. Stephen is just misunderstood" I said shyly.

"I agree with Parker, (your name)" said Scott, turning back to his normal size. "He's giving me weird vibes around him. I think you should stay away from that man, Stephen may cause some trouble."

"Scott is right (your name), he may have saved you but, I just don't know what will happen if anything happened to you" Peter once more grabbed my hands closer to his chest. "(Your name), I love you and I wanted to tell you that for so long"

My heart was racing hearing from him, Scott looked at me from behind Peter giving me a smile, some thumbs up. I quietly heard him saying, "Go for it!"

I quietly giggled but smiled at Peter putting my arms around his neck. "I'm guessing that double date was just an excuse for us to hook up?" I look at Scott.

"He was going to say that but I think this is the perfect time for it" Scott smiles patting both our shoulders. "How about we should get ready, I don't want Hope to stay at home doing nothing"

We both chuckled giving Peter a kiss on the cheek, they quickly changed back to their normal clothes and headed out of the door. Waving them goodbye, closing the door with a soft sigh, my heart is still racing from Peter's confession and I just hope this night lasts longer..

Stephen POV:

Seeing (your name) with another man made my blood boil, I can't stand him being near my (your name). She's mine! I won't let anyone interfere with my plans to be with her! Growled feeling my right hand changing into tentacles, I grew in pain pushing the creature back inside my body. Panting slightly sensing the creatures trying to escape after consuming their powers for my own will. "Shit. I have to keep it together or else, I'll lose control with these beings inside of me"

I took a deep breath walking around the empty halls, casting a small spell that formed a small bat. "Follow them, I need to know where she lives and where they'll be heading."

The small creature phase through the wall and follows them to (your name)'s apartment. Opening up a small mirror through the eyes of the creature hiding behind the lamp. Watching from afar hearing their conversation until I heard something I didn't want to hear.

"(Your name), I love you and I wanted to tell you that for so long"

Clutching my fist slamming it against the wall puncturing a huge hole not caring about the damage, I growled at the young man who tried to tell my love away from me. "I'll make him suffer for saying those words to her."

Summoning different off the shelf searching a spell for tormenting or perhaps, a cast forbidden spell that could wipe every heroes in this realm. No that would be too obvious I’m not casting the same spell like Wanda did when she nearly wipe out the mutants gene population. I already did cast a spell she used on that small town in New Jersey with no memory upon these pathetic beings. “I just hope this spell will last longer just be a bit closer with (your name), I’m sure Scott and Peter will soon figure out what’s going on and foiled my plans!”

“If they do, I’ll make sure to put end of their exists once and for all but in the meantime, I should get ready for my date~”

~~~~~~~

This is just Part 1 of 2! I wanted to continue the story from start to finish but, I don’t give out a small info for the story 😂

Anyway, I’ll post part 2 in Halloween to continue with this Yandere Strange story! I hope you guys enjoy it!

#marvel #marvel comics #what if doctor strange #marvel what if #XReader #x reader #fanfic #yandere #dark doctor strange #doctor strange #stephen strange #Yandere Doctor Strange #Part 1 #Marvel Fanfic

[lunar-wandering]

Eventide

bet yall thought i forgot about the Sunset Wukong AU didnt you

jokes on you, i didn’t.

welcome to Macaque’s intro, aka me kinda just rewriting episode 9-

Word Count: 1.5k

Read on Ao3

-

"You know, when I found out that I was going to be trained by Monkey King, the 'Great Sage, Equal to Heaven', I had no idea.... that I'd be stuck here, hammering walls 12 hours a day!" MK yelled, throwing the hammer off to the side, ignoring the loud crash it made as it hit the ground, turning to glare at Wukong. "Why am I doing this again?"

"First of all, it's only been 2 hours, not 12." Wukong said, casually leaning against a nearby pillar. "Secondly, it's so that I can make a neat little breakfast nook."

"But I'm meant to be the Monkie Kid, not Construction Boy, and besides, this barely counts as practice!" MK said, crossing his arms with an annoyed huff. "How am I meant to defeat demons if I don't know any of the fighting...stuff."

"Oh, so you want to learn the 'fighting stuff', huh?" Wukong said, pushing off the pillar and picking up the staff from where MK had left it laying on the ground. "You mean like....this?"

MK barely managed to duck down and dodge as the staff proceeded to go sailing over his head, hitting the wall hard enough to break it and leave a sizeable hole in it.

"Yes! Exactly like that-" MK paused mid-excited ramble as he registered the wince on Wukong's face, as well as how the Monkey King had placed one hand behind his back. MK sighed, the excited energy leaving almost as fast as it had came. "Monkey King, I've told you multiple times that we could move training to nighttime, after sunset."

"It's fine, it's fine, you need your rest." Wukong said, waving away MK's concern, at the same time revealing exactly what MK's had suspected, that the tips of Wukong's fingers had turned to stone. "Besides, you're not ready for that kind of stuff yet anyways."

"But I am ready! What's smacking a wall going to teach me anyways?"

"Look, I'm never going to teach you something you don't need to know, okay?" Wukong said, sighing. "Anyways, this wall isn't going to destroy itself. Remember, step into the strike-"

MK's phone rang.

-

MK climbed over the edge of the building, a whole rant already building in his mind.

"Monkey King, I swear, I know it's sunset, but we have told you so many times not to use your powers during the day-" MK cut himself off once he got a good look at the monkey standing before him. "...Oh. This is awkward. You're not... Monkey King."

"Heh, I get that a lot." The monkey said, giving a nervous laugh. "The names Macaque, Six Eared Macaque, although that's more of a nickname really.... nevermind that, you're the Monkie Kid, MK, right?"

"...How'd you know?" MK asked, suspicious. Macaque gave an airy chuckle.

"Not exactly everyone can wield that staff, kid." He said, turning and starting to walk away. "Anyways, I should go-"

"Can you teach me that cool move you did?!" MK blurted out, almost as shocked as Macaque himself was at the sudden question. He wasn't sure what had prompted him to ask, but as it was he wasn't getting any stronger right now, and this powerful monkey didn't have a curse that turned him to stone in the daylight, so... "Please?"

Macaque eyed the horizon for a moment before responding.

"Isn't Wukong teaching you?" He said, and when MK looked nervous, followed it up with, "But I suppose you can never have too many teachers, right? I'm sure Monkey King wouldn't mind...."

And so, Macaque wormed his way into MK's weekly schedule.

Oddly enough, Macaque, like Wukong, insisted on never training MK during the night, but MK was fine with that, as Macaque was actually teaching him, unlike Wukong, who continued to simply make MK slam a hammer against a wall, day after day. Going back and forth between both training sessions, and his job of delivering noodles was no easy task, but MK figured he was managing it pretty well.

...Okay, so maybe he felt a bit more tired, a bit more irritable than usual, but he could overcome that! He could get better at balancing his schedule.

He could do this.

...His rising anger over how Wukong continued to have him do nothing but smack a wall, repeatedly, over and over, every single day, wasn't doing him any favors though.

-

He is the weapon.

That sentence repeats like a mantra over and over in his head as he stares down the glowing eye of the smoke monster. Maybe he says it out loud- he can't be sure. All he's focused on is the sparks of energy flying around him, the resistance he feels keeping him from landing a hit as he pushes harder, summons as much energy as he can-

The air shifts, and MK barely has time to blink as the smoke monster smirks (and he hadn't even known that it could do that), shifting, twirling in on itself-

He thinks of looking back at Macaque for help.

But then the smoke clears away, and despite his confusion, he instantly knows the help would never come.

He finds himself face to face with Macaque, remnants of smoke and shadows slipping off of the other's form as he looks up and meets MK's gaze, revealing a scar over one eye, and really, MK should've seen this coming.

But it's not really Macaque's betrayal that surprises him.

No, that honor goes to the stone slowly creeping it's way up the side of Macaque's face.

And then Macaque's fist hits MK's chest, and MK gets the wind knocked out of him. He drops, hitting the ground, hard. Groaning, he starts trying to pull himself up.

He feels....weaker, somehow.

Like something isn't quite right.

"Y'know, you really are a good kid." MK barely registers Macaque's hand ruffling his hair, but he leans back as the other enters the shadows on the ground. "Super nice."

MK watches as the shadow clone (because that's what it must've been right? Heavens he was stupid, falling for a plot as simple as this) merges with it's creator- noting that the stone isn't just on Macaque's face, both the monkey's right leg, his left arm, and slowly spreading onto his chest.

It took a few moments more than it should've for MK to notice the gleaming ball of magic in Macaque's hand, but by the time he'd noticed it, Macaque was already closing his fist around it.

MK watched in fascination and mild horror as sparks of magic appeared all over Macaque's body, and the stone-

The stone faded away.

MK didn't get much of a chance to think about that, as the next second, the magical recoil sent MK flying, his back colliding with the face of the mountain behind him, the staff following after and landing sideways, like a bar pinning him to the rock. Tried as he might to move it, he couldn't.

He was trapped.

-

Monkey King, of course, came to save him, as always. MK could only thank his lucky stars that the whole situation had taken place in the night, instead of the day. He had no idea what they would do if Wukong turned fully to stone during an attack. (And based on some of the things Pigsy had told him, this had actually come close to happening, far more often than MK would like. They all knew that Wukong would still revert back to normal at sunset, even if he'd been turned all the way to stone. But they also knew that it hurt. And MK never, wanted anybody to be in that level of pain just because he couldn't handle things on his own.)

Still though, they'd really been cutting it close, with there having only been mere moments before sunrise. MK could still vividly see the expression on his mentors face as he looked back, eyeing the horizon, before locking eyes with MK.

Wukong hadn't strictly asked for help, instead saying that it was time for the "hero stuff", as MK had previously put it. But MK recognized worry when he saw it.

Part of him relifting the staff was fueled entirely by his determination to be the one to help his mentor for once. But he wasn't about to tell the Monkey King that. (He was fairly certain that Wukong might get offended over it, if his reluctance to let others help with his whole 'turning to stone' problem said anything).

MK sighed, feeling tired as he watched the sunrise. It belatedly occurred to him that he had stayed up all night.

It wouldn't be the first all-nighter he'd ever pulled, but after what he'd just been through? He just wanted to collapse into a mountain of pillows right this instant.

"...I should probably head home." MK lightly pulled himself out from under Wukong's arm, standing up. "I feel bone tired."

"I'm sure you do." Wukong also stood up, brushing dirt and debris off of his clothes, before looking down the cliff they'd been sitting on. "Just uh, could I ask you for a favor first?"

"Uh, I guess?" MK yawned, leaning against the staff for support as he slouched.

Wukong eyed the horizon. The sun had already risen.

"...You and Pigsy would probably yell at me if I summoned my cloud and turned my toes to stone so.....mind giving me a ride back?"

#Monkie Kid #fanfic #my writing #Sunset Wukong AU

[eponymous-rose]

Man, I really was on the edge of my seat for that whole episode yesterday! Just delicious dramatic nightmare-fuel! So good!

You start with, hey, a cult leader in the body of our friend is trying to bring a terrifying sentient city back to destroy the world, let’s steal some useful shit from an evil wizard who tortures kids and turns them into assassins. What’s that, you say? The evil wizard is here and he’s pissed? Teleport out by the friggin’ skin of our teeth!

And then... oh shit, it’s possible the evil wizard knows that our families live here. Let’s just be super cautious and evacuate them to a safe spot. Oh shit, he’s sent advance scouts who may or may not be secretly on our side. Well, let’s get the party’s family members (including a mother who’s agoraphobic and also extremely famous and recognizable, a husband who just wants to keep being a great stay-at-home dad, and a literal small child) to safety.

Oh, right. Turns out the evil wizard can also teleport and is three blocks away and closing. Let’s go to the tower of an allied wizard! He’ll be able to help us out!

...only he’s in a trance and we can’t get him out. Maybe we can swipe something of his to escape unseen from the tower? Oh, here’s a scroll that will take us to a completely unknown location on another plane of existence. But it works for 9 people and we have ten with us!

Evil wizard is literally knocking at the door downstairs. Well, here’s a ball containing a time-warping extradimensional labyrinth in which we previously fought a dragon and were eaten by an Astral dreadnought. Let’s chuck half the party in there, scoop it up, and jump to that other plane of existence...

And oh shit, here’s one of the evil wizard’s associates, ready to counterspell our last-ditch attempt to escape...

...and she doesn’t.

Just all sorts of stressful, but I am loving it!

#critical role #critical role spoilers #this is literally just me flailing 'and then this happened! and then this happened!' but that's been my inner monologue

[firemanwhenthefloodsrollback]

Who Saved The Day? Season Two

time for instalment 2 of my eight part series Who saved the day? where I will be counting up who saves the day in each buffy episode. we all know who's gonna come in first but I am genuinely unsure who'll place after that in the final leaderboard.

at the end of season 1 the totals were:

Buffy: 10

Angel: 1

Sid: 1

season two is longer, more complex and more emotional than season 1 though I don't think anyone is coming for Buffy's top spot. while I don't think anyone is likely to argue with me about my calls for season 1, season 2 might get more controversial. let's see!

1. When She Was Bad: Buffy

A strong argument could be made for Buffy causing all of the problems in this episode, but she also solves them, and no one else arrives with a sledgehammer to kill the master's minions and grind his bones, so she gets the point.

2. Some Assembly Required: Chris

Another supporting character getting a point, which I'm finding quite exciting whenever it happens. Chris stops Daryl killing Buffy, and Daryl follows up by destroying himself for her.

3. School Hard: Buffy

I would love, love, love, love to the moon and back to give the point to Spike for killing the anointed one. I would love it more than you will ever understand but alas I have rules to follow. Buffy for saving Joyce and the other parents at the school I suppose.

4. Inca Mummy Girl: Buffy

A big part of me wanted to give the point to Xander, because I feel like Ampata getting so weak she turned back into a mummy only really happened because she hesitated over killing Xander and he put himself in her way knowing that was what could happen, but Buffy actually fought her, so I can't give Xander the point.

5. Reptile Boy: Buffy

Nice and straightforward. Awesome work killing the frat lizard.

6. Halloween: Giles

Yes Buffy fights Spike and wins the fight there but the real issue in the episode was the curse on the town and Giles solves that in an immensely stylish way. Giles' first point!

7. Lie To Me: Buffy

Holding my darling Drusilla hostage and letting the cult weirdos get away.

8. The Dark Age: Angel

Another point for Angel. Letting Eyghon into his body so that the two demons could fight was an unexpected and clever ending to a dark and excellent episode.

9. What's My Line 1: Giles (?)

The day is literally not saved here. This episode makes me regret my commitment to needing to pick someone for each episode because it... just doesn't work here. I'm giving it to Giles for working out what was going on? I suppose? I thought about giving it to Buffy for fighting Kendra but she didn't save or win anything so I didn't think it counted. Idk. Comment or message to change my mind and I'm fully ready to change it.

10. What's My Line 2: Buffy

I'd have preferred to give Kendra the point because I think my gorgeous, wonderful, underserved by the plot girl deserves one, but Buffy gets Angel out so it's got to be her.

11. Ted: Buffy

You go girl, end that dodgy episode by whacking the monster with a saucepan.

12. Bad Eggs: Buffy

Using a pick axe to hack the mother creature to death from the inside out: ingenious and also icky.

13. Surprise: Buffy (?)

Man I don't know. She gets the arm in the box and escapes the vampires at the dock and... no one else gets the point. This just wasn't a day-saving episode.

14. Innocence: Buffy

Nothing ever has or ever will make me feel as happy as Buffy kicking Angel in the balls here. Never.

15. Phases: Willow

First point for my heart's darling! Shooting wolf Oz with the tranquilliser gun is a big victory for my brave girl. Buffy bends the werewolf hunter's gun and sends him packing, but Willow saves everyone from the wolf demon and earns the point.

16. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: Giles

Giles and Amy both lift the spell, but it was Giles' idea, he had to force Amy to take part and only one person can have the point.

17. Passion: Buffy

I spent a good twenty seconds staring into the space above my laptop feeling my pain when I remembered this episode. I go to a world of pain when I think about Passion, Willow's crying and Buffy's face through the window at the end. Buffy rescues Giles from being tortured but it's a hollow point for this one.

18. Killed By Death: Buffy

A straightforward monster-killing of a straightforward monster of the week.

19. I Only Have Eyes For You: Angel

Angel breaks the cycle and makes the speech that Grace needed to hear. Everyone learns a lesson about forgiveness and is saved from demonic ghost bees (I interpreted the buzzing cloud as ghost bees?).

20. Go Fish: Xander

Xander's first point! I wasn't really sure here as Xander and Buffy fight the coach together, but Xander knocks him on the head when stuff isn't looking good for Buffy so I think he gets a point for that.

21. Becoming 1: Kendra

Feels a bit ghoulish giving Kendra her only point in the episode where she dies, but there wasn't a lot of competition in this episode where everything that can go wrong does go wrong and she does arrive with new knowledge and a magic sword.

22. Becoming 2: Buffy

I would have loved to give Willow the point because she was awe-inspiring doing magic from the hospital bed in this episode. But Buffy closes the portal to the hell dimension and I can't argue with that.

Totals

So at the end of season 2 the cumulative totals stand at

Buffy: 23

Angel: 3

Giles: 3

Chris: 1

Kendra: 1

Sid: 1

Willow: 1

Xander: 1

All the scoobies and angel have at least one point now, and we have a few more for non-regulars as well. I'm imagining that as the seasons go on we'll get more points for characters who aren't Buffy but I imagine she'll end up with more than a hundred episodes by the end, unless something very major that I've forgotten about changes.

We had a few 'no one really won here' episodes which I think we'll get more of with time, and a few 'dramatic speech' savings of the day which I think will increase with time too.

in season 3 I anticipate things only getting more complex and weirder. I'm excited to get there soon!

Read the rest of the series: my intro post, Season 1, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5, Season 6, Season 7

#who saved the day series #buffy #btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy meta #season two

[phynali]

Dean’s Body as a Punching Bag

Ever since I made this post about Sam and (his lack of) bodily autonomy (as well as the follow-up post that carries the theme through the other 10 seasons), I’ve been trying to determine what the corollary for Dean is. Re-watching 5x01 made it jump out at me in a huge way:

The bodies of the people that Dean loves are consistently used in a way that hurts/harms Dean and metes out violence against him. And it is specifically his loved ones’ bodies themselves, not shapeshifters or lookalikes or Leviathan either. It is the people he loves’ hands and fists and weapons.

(I need a snappier way to word that, but bear with me).

Where Sam’s bodily autonomy violations occur before he’s born, and are seen as early as the pilot with Azazel in his room and with the Woman in White, Dean’s analogous theme doesn’t sneak in until the mid-season finale with Asylum.

In this episode, Sam gets infected with a sort of ghost-possession/ghost-sickness (another example of a violation of his bodily autonomy) and his internal anger becomes external, focused on Dean. Sam attacks Dean violently, and Dean goes so far as to hand over a (thankfully unloaded) gun and in this altered state, Sam actually tries to shoot him. 

Ouch. The person Dean loves and most wants to protect had his body violated and used against Dean. This theme is going to carry us through the next, eh, 10 or so seasons, with some tail-end examples even after that. 

In Season 1 we have Asylum mid-season, and we have the finale in which John is possessed by Azazel and hurts Dean most grievously, almost kills him. In Season 2, Sam is possessed by Meg and shoots Dean (in the arm). In Season 3, we had a writers’ strike and a season cut short so I can’t think of any examples there (but lots of other shit to unpack for another day).

The in Season 4, we have Sex and Violence, which is super interesting. While Dean is the one targeted by the siren and therefore the one whose body is used against his brother to hurt him, the actual violence doesn’t start until Sam is also infected. Sam’s body is violated by being held at knifepoint by his brother and his mouth forced open to accept the siren’s venom, but then it’s a fist-fight, a showdown. Both brothers’ bodies being used to hurt the other, but getting to that point required Sam’s body to similarly be ready to be used against Dean.

Season 5 is literally bookended by instances of this happening. First, true to the idea that Dean sees Bobby as family, Bobby becomes possessed by a demon and he violently attacks Dean. And then Swan Song, most famous example by a huge margin, Sam is possessed by Lucifer and is fist-fighting Dean, destroying his face and killing him with his fists, and it is his overwhelming love for Dean that allows him to overcome this possession and save the world.

The theme is carried forward for a few more seasons, pretty much until that narrative turning point in Season 10 that I mentioned in my post about Sam. In Season 6, soulless!Sam allows Dean to be hurt by a monster, harming him by proxy. In season 7, Sam is hallucinating and almost shoots Dean. In season 8, Cass is programmed by Naomi to kill Dean, and in the episode Goodbye Stranger beats him to a pulp before overcoming this programming. In season 9, when Gadreel reveals himself and takes over Sam’s body and kills Kevin, he also attacks Dean. 

Skipping Season 10 for a hot sec (more on that below), Lucifer also later possesses Cass in Season 11 and harms both Sam and Dean. In Season 12, we get brainwashed Mary attacking her sons (and overcoming possession thanks to Dean). And possibly examples from S13-15 that I’m missing (Garth being affected by Michael? Cass being affected by Rowena’s spell? Both Sam and Dean were affected by the Witch from Wizard of Oz, right? I honestly can’t recall the late seasons near so well). But regardless we see the theme play out in the final 5 seasons, just less and a bit different than it had prior. 

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Now, let’s unpack the S10 shift a bit, and why it changes things for this theme of Dean’s.

In S9, Dean takes on the Mark of Cain under the weight of guilt and self-loathing from having violated Sam’s bodily autonomy by tricking him into being possessed by an angel (and forcibly having him possessed by a demon to then fix that angelic possession). In this instance, Dean is willfully taking on something that alters his own body, and the narrative between he and Sam is flipped. Now Dean is the one with something ‘evil’ marring his body and impacting it outside his control, and now Sam is the one who is ignoring Dean’s protests and autonomy in order to save him from this thing, consequences be damned.

That 2.5 season role-reversal arc was huge for how it changed Sam’s storyline for the final 5 seasons, and similarly huge for how it impacts Dean’s.

Dean is now the one whose body is being used as a weapon against those he loves most, and he is the one suffering that loss of autonomy and control over himself. He is sick with bloodlust, is turned into a demon, is drawn to the First Blade, and is not in full control of himself. When the Darkness is unleashed and Dean suffers the emotional consequences of feeling tied to and drawn to this monster (woman? celestial being? godlike person?) against his will. 

The Mark/Darkness narrative shows us that Dean’s body might belong to him, but it too can be corrupted against his will. Dean learns that he won’t always be able to choose, learns what it means not to have control over his own body. That while he puts his family as his duty above all else, while he would sacrifice literally everything (his body, his soul, the entire universe) for his little brother, the opposite might also be true, even if Dean doesn’t want it to be. 

(And I said elsewhere that I fundamentally believe this narrative role-reversal was a consequence of him overstepping his ownership over Sam by tricking him into taking Gadreel. Their positions are swapped because they have to be, because narratively it becomes necessary for Dean to know what this loss of autonomy feels like, and for Sam to override his brother’s choices, or else they may never find a sense of equilibrium again).

By the time this Mark/Darkness narrative wraps up, Dean is fundamentally, irrevocably changed. Where in Season 5 it was completely unthinkable that he would agree to be a vessel for Michael, it is in the finale of Season 13, just two seasons after the Darkness storyline wraps up, that we see him take Michael into himself as a snap, in-the-moment decision. What was previously unthinkable is now canon. 

Because Dean is now different. Because his core of protecting Sam is the same, but his theme of how others' bodies are used against him has now upended itself, and he now has had his body used against others.

In my post about Sam, I said that in the end for the final seasons, the narrative has shifted from Dean owning Sam’s body to Sam also owning his own, and them acknowledging that they are in this together as a result of Season 10. I believe that happens with Dean as well, owing to this reversal. Sam has now taken some ownership over Dean’s body by getting rid of the Mark, and Dean has relinquished some of his tight-fisted control over himself. 

So Sam is sharing ownership over his body with Dean (in the vein of “I can’t pretend you won’t do whatever you can to keep me alive, even if I don’t want it, but we’re in this together” and “if we die we do that together too”), and Dean is also sharing ownership over his body with Sam (in the vein of “I’m no longer convinced you’re going to abandon me, so the things that I will do to keep you by my side will be met equal between us” and “when it comes to keeping you safe, it’s my autonomy I will give up first, not yours”). 

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But what does this particular form of bodily-violence-from-family say about Dean from a thematic standpoint?

In my post about Sam, I talked about how the themes of possession (ghost and demon) and demon blood are inherently about bodily autonomy and free will. 

For Dean, thinking through this theme of his loved ones being used to hurt him, I’m torn trying to find the way to word it, but I feel that it has to do with his themes of self-effacement as love, as protection and duty. It’s about being willing to suffer anything (even to the point of death) to protect his family, the ones he loves most. Family is the end-all-be-all to Dean, and protecting his family (most especially his little brother) is the core and heart of his character. It is a duty and a responsibility and a calling and a purpose. 

To remix a quote from the film Legend, Dean’s devotion to his brother (and to a lesser extent, to everyone else he calls family) is how he measures himself. There’s no single word for it, as it’s a mix of protection as love, as an instinct, but also as a fundamental duty, an identity. His internal compass.

So Dean’s narrative invokes free will in a very different way than Sam’s. Dean always had and has free will. He had the will to sell his soul, the will to refuse Michael. He has autonomy over his body and he has choice, so much so that he makes choices over and over for Sam. Instead, Dean’s struggles with autonomy of self as related to his constant effacement (to the point of complete ego-destruction and physical loss of self) for the people he loves. He will die, sell his soul, let himself be beat to a pulp, and anything more that the situation calls for, so long as it means protecting or not harming his loved ones.

The original Swan Song end is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, in the style of Greek tragedy. Sam’s struggle for autonomy, and the moment he claims that autonomy for himself, he falls into the Pit for eternity. Dean’s original intended Swan Song ending is analogous: a struggle to exist as more than his duty to his family, and right after he accepts that Sam is allowed to choose Lucifer and death for himself while Dean may continue on living, he then chooses to fall into the Pit after his brother so they could be together (in Hell, in the Cage) eternally.

Both of them have these absolute tragic flaws and in the first Kripke-era arc, tragic sacrificial ends. Sam’s relating to will and autonomy, Dean’s relating to love, family and protection/duty. Both of them belonging to themselves and to each other.

-

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A few extra things about this theme worth noting:

1. the people who love Dean are always in an altered state when they harm him, whether it be possession, brain-washing, siren venom, soulless, etc etc, which I think goes to show in some ways how this love as a given to people who will never deliberately harm him.

2. in a huge proportion of these instances, Dean is saved by the person who loves him reclaiming themselves over and above their altered state. John overcomes Azazel’s possession (arguably, I would say, deliberately from Azazel, but let’s not quibble). Bobby stabs himself in the stomach to save Dean. Cass overcomes Naomi’s brainwashing. Sam overcomes the literal Devil possessing him. Mary overcomes some brainwashing (I think?). Etc. So Dean's love as sacrifice is rewarded?

3. Sam’s body is the most frequently used to harm Dean.

#supernatural #supernatural meta #spn #spn meta #dean winchester #dean winchester meta #oof #i made myself sad #i gotta stop thinking too much about these damn brothers #long post #long post for ts #violence tw #abuse tw #family violence tw #in a weird way #ask to tag #apologies for typos this got away from me

[supercorp-hosie]

My thoughts for legacies 3x13: I’ll try to put the point chronologically

1. When Kaleb blew the candle, I’m so confused because the first thing that comes to my head is: he’s blowing that because is daytime, but why put it so far from Cleo? Why use a candle when you have electricity? And apparently I’m a fool, because that’s how the confinement spell works duh! I only recalled that when Alaric blew it in the end. I’m so dumb lol.

2. I love that Kaleb is the first to seek Cleo out, wanted answers and ready to accept them. When he tries to comfort Cleo in her memories, that’s me too! But apparently being the badass she is, she immediately come up with the idea of replacing her grandma to go with Malivore.

3. Poor Cleo! My heart sores when it started with a little girl, just like with Finch. She’s a hero! She’s so brave! She’s a queen! And weirdly she likes frogs(or toads?) very much. I wonder why. And although she tried to kill Hope last episode, I never see her as a villain. Never for a second. Instead I’m impressed. Tbh I didn’t understand why she is always playing with clay/mud since the beginning of this episode. But after her backstory, I just feel sad and proud at the same time. Sad because it’s shaped from her painful time of enslavement. Proud because she’s using the thing she learned from it against Malivore as her weapon despite the painfulness. I remember she talked about her sister dying, but nothing about that occurs in the memories. Did she lie before or it’s just another thing that the writers forgot?

4. ‘Jonch’ is horrible! I prefer Finsie as the ship name. Why is their moment always so cringy? I get this second embarrassment from them a lot, mostly from Josie tho. I always felt there’s something lacking in Finsie, just like what I felt when Handon started it’s kind of sudden. Maybe because of my perception, I really didn’t know why Josie think Finch is hot. I have to learn how to appreciate her beauty. But goof news, I actually appreciated Finsie first kiss, because I see why they haven’t kiss before, and why they finally kiss. It’s cute and the sparkling, haha. Tbh I start to appreciate Finch’s beauty from the kissing scene angle. But this episode, again, I still feel cringy in most of the Finsie scenes. I have to put my palm on my head. Anyway, I enjoy the “girlfriend” scene tho, like Finsie starting to grow on me(again, the first time is their first kiss, hopefully no more cringy afterwards). It’s really good to see Josie happy. Btw, since Finch decided to enrol, will she be the new alpha now that she defeated Jed? That’s good for her, she finally has a pack and no longer lonely.

5. Along with Finsie scenes, does anyone realise there’s actually other students there? And there are actually other witches at the school?? I remembered that there’s like only four witches? Because Josie was the only witch at the school when Berbelang!Hope happened? Annnndddd! To that! Does anyone remember there’s this girl Gaby/Gabby? She’s also a witch, and she loves dnd like Wade? They can’t tease us with Penelope using her then just let her disappear?

6. Oh great there’s actually other wolves at the school. I’m starting to think Jed is the only wolf left (of course there’s Hope, but she’s tribrid). As much as I enjoy Finch being badass that she can stand beside Josie, I felt so sorry for Jed and his actor. He’s been there for 3 seasons and yet Finch get a backstory before him. He has none! The actor is great, look at the siren episode! He hardly gets any decent lines and scenes now. Instead, they make him looked useless, hard to be respectable. Like anyone can just harm his alpha reputation. Justice for Jed please. Oh and the fact that Finch got a backstory before Kaleb too? It’s unacceptable. They deserve more. Jed doesn’t even have a last name, my god! Anyway that doesn’t change the fact that I want to hug baby Finch so much bc she’s adorable!

7. With MG gone, Kaleb looks like the only vampire left in the school. I miss MG. What about Ethan?

8. Josie and Cleo finally met! I’m glad that she’s learned something from her too. I think it’s true that other kids never felt as easy as Josie at the school. They finally addressed it.

9. I’m frustrated that Hope never wanted answers from Cleo. The only friend that helped her grieve. But hey maybe she’s too hurt to be able to bear Cleo in her sight. But then again there’s the Landon problem, so she’s off with Landon again. Only taking to Landon the whole episode, being the only one that only talk to one person in the whole episode. Feel bad for her about this. Poor Hope.

10. I really feel bad for Landon, because there’s a lot of hardships to make him like that. Someone please give him hugs and a therapist. The show is doing a full cycle by stating what he’d done is just like what Hope did when she returned from Malivore. I understand why he kept himself away, but weirdly, the way the let those words out, it feels like he wants to get back at Hope when I think he wanted Hope’s understanding. Maybe he wanted both?

12. Someone told me that every 13th episode is the episode where Landon’s power are explored. I kind of agree with it now. Because he’s finally having the fighting skills that he’s longing now. Finally he can achieve his desires to physically fight alongside Hope. For what though, I don’t know, because in the case of supercorp, Lena never needed it physically to be Supergirl’s partner in saving the world, or of course to protect Kara. Glad for him, anyway, bc that’s what’s he wants. And the blow to the head? It’s awesome.

11. I can’t believe Landon is blaming Hope for not coming to save him sooner?! What the hell? What happened to “I’m going to be the one that always fight to find Hope”, idk whether I quoted it precisely, but the meaning is there. I am furious. Is this some sick drama that the show wants Landon to think that Hope was not coming to him because she had a perfect version of him?? That aside, when I see that Handon is going to fight together physically, I actually think the scene is good and they will overcome the blaming thing, and going to be a power couple. Just when I have that thought, Landon have to fucking throw the artifact towards Malivore(whether it is Malivore I’ll discuss afterwards, it’s contradictory)!! That’s such a stupid move! Where’s your brain? And it’s broken, oh god. And the show have to show Hope being so weak during the fight. I mean why? She’s a badass, why do they have to make her weak to glorify Landon?? They made her look useless. These things just really kill the budding Handon spirit in me. The show really knows how to make people resent Handon and Landon. Just please change the show name.

12. Anyway to be fair, Landon do care for Hope and do love her. Before, though I don’t think they are endgame quality, I think that if they do improve, Handon endgame is tolerable, acceptable. But now, I’m not so sure of that anymore. Other than the above mentioned points, Landon did leave Hope for a solid third time. Why the show have to establish that for Handon when their fans desperately defended Landon that he wasn’t always leaving. I mean I’ve seen Handon shippers fought really hard against the “Landon is always leaving Hope” argument. What a way to make a couple being endgame. In Chinese proverbs, there’s a thing for a third time. Like the three strikes law, I think? It says not to do anything or tolerate anything undesirable that has happened more than three times. So please do not make Handon together ever again. It’s an insult to Hope too.

13. To see it differently, poor Hope will finally have time out of Landon to think of herself and her future. We need to see her having her own storyline. So maybe we can see Hosie eventually? Sorry Finsie for anticipating your break up in the future. But please enjoy yourselves when Hope grows on her own, because Josie deserves a decent relationship on screen too. Hosie didn’t interact this episode, I’m sad.

14. I just can’t help but wonder why Alaric oversee the artifact being destroyed so easily. And when Josie introduces Finch, she deserves a decent conversation with the headmaster, really. Oh he’s an adult, be a responsible and respectable one, especially you’re Josie dad. Help her with her impression with her crush. Alaric really need help, we need another adult figure. It’s okay that’s not Caroline.

15. I kind of thinking that Landon and Cleo are shippable too when I know that they are leaving at the same time. Cleo being the sole reason to Landon existence is one of the reasons to ship them. She’s the one that tell Malivore he can make vessels and create legacy, that leads to Landon existing. Not to mention she did literally made Golem Landon by hand (we all know the thing that Hope made doesn’t have a body, so Cleo must have made his torso and limps right). Or maybe we prefer wandon endgame? Wade is precious too, he’s the one that point out Landon is not himself.

16. I’m so confused by this episode Malivore. I thought Cleo trapped him inside that monster Handon defeated this episode. But if it was trapped this long? How did the pit, Clarke and Landon even exist? Did Malivore escape from it?? It must have escaped.

17. In the promo for the next episode, we’re seeing Lizzie and Hosie interaction! I’m excited! I think maybe Josie will be the one that bring Hope out of the cult’s enchantment. What will happen? Maybe they will realise something or develop something towards each other? Anything hosie that MAKE SENSE please. Oh and Hizzie friendship/banters, and Lizzie suddenly being and “angel” will be so fun to watch. Finally, the trio!

18. I know it’s irrelevant but since I mentioned Clarke, I miss Holarke. I have some shippable thoughts about Finch and Penelope too. P is the she-devil in good girl attire; F looks like a bad girl but she’s good hearted. They are both fiery, imagine what they’ll be like when they’re together, erupting volcanoes?

19. Applause to Aria’s acting skill, this is like the eleventh role he’s played in legacies? Original Landon, Hope’s (subconscious) Landon, Landon’s (subconscious) Landon, Josie’s SimuLandon, Hope’s therapy Landon, Malivore Landon, golem Landon, ptsd Landon, oni-possessed Landon, golem Landon micmicking Necromancer, Clarke-Landon. Keep up the good work!

#hosie #finsie #jonch #legacies #legacies spoilers #kaleb legacies #jed legacies #cleo sowande #josie saltzman #finch tarrayo #alaric saltzman #hope mikaelson #landon kirby #holarke #aria shahghasemi #handonedit #wade legacies #justice for Jed #justice for kaleb

[popculturebuffet]

Top 20 Animated Episodes of 2020 Part 2 (#10-#1)

And we’re back.. The first part is HERE, which includes the first 10 and my thoughts on this past year in animation, so we can cut the long intro and get right into it. This is the best episodes this year had to offer in animation, and it’s , without meaning to, at least a third bojack horseman. On with the show. 

10. I Am My Monster (Steven Universe Future)  “We all had Steven when we needed him, but the only person who's never had Steven is Steven. He's always been there for us, so... how can we be there for him now?“ Oddly “The Future”, a finale I did really truly enjoy.. is not on this list. Really good episode, it’s just Future was easily one of Steven Univereses best season, tightining up the pacing without loosing what made the series feel special and really digging into some of more unhealthy aspects of steven’s life. And while the future is good and certanily the needed epilogue.. this episode is the climax, the cumilation of EVERYTHING Steven had done and gone though and something fans sadly saw coming and just had to simply watch, unable to help as Steven slowly lost himself. Previously on this list we saw him hit rock bottom and it only got worse: He went to home world, attacked white diamond due to his pent up trauma and once again ingored attempts to help him, this time from the diamonds and spinle, angrily refusing to listen to his own words she she sang Change at him.  This only got worse in the briliant and sadly edged out of the list “Everything’s Fine’ A really damn painful episode where steven tries to assert he’s okay and act normal.. only he cant and he destroys everything around him, and even repeats pearl’s text trick from a single pale rose with a pained voice message to connie saying to help steven. But the pressure of the LONG overdue intervension and the fact it came too late.. means steven confsses his recent sins.. and instead of taking them for twhat they are, spur of the moment acts caused by a toxic influence and a fuckload of ptsd and unreseovled issues with white that while certanly not okay are symptoms of a larger issues takes it to mean “Im a fraud”.. and thus he horriingly corurpts.  So here we are as Greg, Connie and the main gems all gap ein horor as Steven has corrputed himself, reduced to a monster whose not even malcious just.. sad.. so full of self loathing he can’t function and at risk of STAYING like that. And the relization hits hard.. and hits everyone who joins in hard. The auxilery crystal gems soon join but attempts from both groups to stop Steven do nothing. The diamonds arrive.. and not only are saddneed by what htey’ve doned but equally powerfless to stop him.  Everyone breaks down, blaming themselves for not seeing this sooner and for speding YEARS piling their issue on the kids, everyone ready to give up as they loose the person they care about most.. except one. Connie proves to be the hero of the episode, rallying the others with the above, pointing out Steven would happily help them if he could.. and that’s the problem. He’s spent his whole life fixing other peoples problems and focusing on that.. but never had someone to be HIS Steven. Fighting him’s not going to work.. he needs to know he’s loved... in the end the final battle of the series is not some struggle of life and death.. but of love. What wins the day isn’t a fight, though our heroes various powers do come in hand to restrain steven.. but it’s all of them, one by one telling them they love him in easily the most tearjerking moment of the series, cumilating in connie softly playing a kiss on his nose... and it’s this that FIANLLY frees steven from his self made prison.. finally realizing h’es not alone and that no matter who or what he becomes.. his family loves and forgives him. While we REALLY needed the next episode to wrap things up after this swell of emtitions. this was the climax the series desrved: after spending 6 seasons trying to help everyone ELSE and fix their issues he never should’ve had to.. it’s eveyrone else who gladly pitches in to fix steven’s own issues, to help HIM when he’s at his lowest point like they’ve been, and make it so he can FINALLY heal and finally find himself once and for all. IT’s one of the finest episodes of the series and easily the best of future. 

9. The Perfect House (Close Enough)  “I’m this close to connecting garfield, TO JESUS”  This one’s just really funny, charming and creative. Simple as that.. I could move on but eh i’m a wordy bastard. Once again we’re focused on Emily, this time as we find out an endearing hobby of hers: She likes visiting open houses and fantasizing about affording a better place she likely never will afford, one with trash can nooks, a kitchen and a living room that are fully seperate, and indivudal bins for tea and sugar... and when it’s pointed out she dosen’t drink tea it’s only because she has nowhere to put it.  But after Josh and Candace get them thrown out, if adorably so, Emily is forced to face reality... i.e. Alex, in one of the series finest gags, in his underwear with conspiracy boards trying to connect garifled to jesus and having a jug of his urine around for some reason. Did I mention I love this weirdo because I do. Brigette is painting in the ktichen.. using her body as the canvas, though in a bikini because the show wasn’t streaming only yet. You’ll have to wait a season for possible boobs. Naturally this just stresses her out so she goes to visit more houses while Josh vows to buy a family bike, a large circular bike for the whole family, as an activity because of course he does and of COURSE he also has a recurring issue of being mocked by some random kid about not having one. 

So she escapes and meets dave and caitlin, a husband whose family life is miserable and a child star who got emanicapted and they quickly form a psuedo family to look at open houses.. only to, as if to remind you what show your watching, instead end up in a tgif sitcom... and trapped in a styigian void, with only Emily desperate to get out. Also she’s been missing three days and Josh has some thoughts on that and goes after her.  Naturally given she’s crashing in on her fake sitcom family, this oly has him seen as a plot element, and Emily’s attempt at cursing and everything she can , while hilarious fail.. but the climax is what makes the episode and what inches it slighlty above quack pack.. which itself was fucking awesome. Instead of FIGHTING the format... Emily is forced to play into it, and realizes a cheesy moment of emtional honesty is what’s needed. She apologizes to her fake family, saying their nice but she has to face the world and to josh and much like Donald, seroiusly this episode was made years ago and there’s no way in hell frank knew about it, she just needed an escape but it’s more healthy: instead of wishing for a life she never had Emily just wants a break from the life she does for five minutes. She’s happy where she is, with her loving husband, wonderful daughter, impulsive but still carring best friend.. and well okay maybe not Alex, there’s somethihng really wrong with him, but as much as I love the guy I admit he’s not for everyone. I’m also a borderline feral man covered in hair who wants people to know i’m smart. I get him. 

IT’s this that sets her free.. and we get another amazing gag as Dave’s family shows up and Dave chooses the fantasy.. though instead of this being thorughly pogiant it’s just “classic dave”. COmplete with title sequence. And of course it ends on a family bike with Emily getting those tins from Josh. Their relationship.. is REALLY what makes both this show and this episode in paticular work. Here while Emily screws up, it STARTS innocently enough, simply faking being a family and spirals into tgif because while this show isn’t, possibly, in the regular show cinematic universe, it’s defintely in the same multiverse. She just wants some peace of mind from a chaotic life, but dosen’t resent her husband or anything.. he just frustrates her sometimes which is fair. But he’s never portrayed as an abusive asshat which you think would be a low bar to clear but.. you’d be suprised. Point is it’s a wonderfully weird and somehow still unique despite being one of three tgif parodies this year. Seriously that shit is a goldmine. It’s how Dashieel Driscoll got half a season out of full house and a good chunk of a very special epsiode as a whole out of it. Though a certain incident helped. 

Point is good show, jolly good show... and ew’ll be right back with the rest afte the cut

8. Agony of a Witch/Old Bodies, Young Souls (The Owl House) “You always thought you were better than me! That I could never Beat you at anything! “  “I AM Better than you!” “Then WHY WERE YOU SO EASY TO CURSE?!”  The Owl House was a show I took WAY too long to catch up on after missing the second half of season 2.. minus Enchanting Grom Fright which I caught first run and we’ll get to that story shortly. Point is my procastnation did me dirty here as this show , which was already fantastic just got better and better, cumulating in this epic, heartdestroying, soul punching, beautifully animated finale that takes everything the show has built up thus far, blows it up in some places and uses it to beautifully end in others, leaving us with a new road for the future.  So yeah naturally it’s been a long ride as one of Owl House’s strength.. is that no episode is filler. No really, each one has a purpose great or small in the larger narrative, and every major arc has been expertly paced and crafted, bringing us to this point. The only major arc or plot thread left out is Amity, and that’s honestly for the better. Make NO mistake, she’s a great character.. but like fellow great Donald Duck, she was left out because the episode had a LOT of emotional stuff going on, a lot of plot to fit in, and a lot to do and it’s simply better for her character and for the moment’s she’s bound to have in response to well.. everything happening here, to let it breathe next season rather than try to shove it into an already stuffed two episodes.  But this episode is one long string of payoffs, and payoffs creating more setups: So all season Eda, our loveable witch, has been grappling with a curse that turns her into an owl beast, one that’s been getting worse as far back as the mid season finale Escape from the Palisman. She’s been needing more and more elixer to combat it, a harrowing parallel to some real world diseases: Sometimes your meds can only DO so much to combat something actively killing you.. thankfully this time.. not speaking from personal experince.  And Luz finds out soon into the episode as Eda makes a cloak of witches wool, which can deflect powerful spells, to protect herself.. only to black out and go owl just as she’s saying she’s fine. Like most parents would Eda hid just how bad things have gotten and it’s gone from needing just one bottle of elixer to needing their entire suply, and even that barely worked. Despite her mentor’s assurances, Luz is now PAINFULLY aware her mentor is on borrowoed time... not helped by the fact the coven attacked earlier that morning and she finds out by finding hooty playing tea party with them, meaning Eda is outgunned, outmanned and while Lilith failed, again.. the emperor can now easily find her himself and send whoever he wnats and however many people he wants to fetch her.. and Eda can’t use too much of her magic or else.  So while Eda and King, touched by how much Luz has changed them, decide to throw a suprise party with King making a big cake to jump out of and Eda using witches wool she intended for herself to make her a cape. Meanwhile as you’d expect Luz.. is plotting a dangerous and life threatning mission: with a field trip to the Emperor’s Coven that day, one she was going to sit out because you know they hate her second mom for dogmatic and vile reasons the episode fleshes out, she finds out they have an artifact called the healing hat that can seemingly heal anything.  So she does what Luz does and comes up with an impulsive plan to heist the thing.. but for once her impuslivness isn’t played for laughs. Her mother figure is slowly sucumbing to a fate worse than death, for once instead of just acting rashly because Luz.. she’s doing so because she KNOWS, that she has no other choice. Nothing else in sight and she’s smart enough to know that if Eda had a cure she’d of told Luz about it. Even if it was dangerous or required a sacrifice or something Eda would’ve just left that part out.  But the trip serves a few other purposes besides getting Luz where she needs to be for the plot that makes it work: it elaborates on just what the emperor’s coven is like and WHY Emperor Belos gets away with everything: He claims to speak for the titan,  the giant dead monster whose body makes up the boiling isles and who, as Luz has discovered, is the source of the magic there. So when he bloodily, I mean it’ sa kid show so they dont’ say so but given how violent this one is i’m asssuming bloody, took power, he claimed they were doing magic wrong, killed any hertiics and set up the rigid coven system. It explains just WHY the boiling isles limits themselves, gives the whole thing a creepy dogmatic religion vibe.. something that i’m REALLY suprised disney let them get away with as they had to fight for gays in the series.. but at the same time shouldn’t be because hunchback of notre dame exists and Soul , released the same year, was a big gamble against the bible belt. So their not afriad of religious groups.. but they ARE afraid of homophobic groups.. which have a lot of overlap. 

Point is it’s a good storytelling device.. and cathartic given i’ve been playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses as I finally bought it with some christmas money. Good game, probably will talk about it in the future, not the point here. 

The point is that the visit gives us some worldbuilding that helps show just how much of a threat the coven is and why their so intent on capturing Eda. We also finally meet belos, god emperor and man tired of Lillith’s shit and giving her till twilight to get Eda.. or presumibly die. I mean he dosen’t say it but he sure is implying it as loud as he can.  That’s when things go pear shaped for Luz who finds the hat.. and LIlith who has found her barganing chip to lure Eda to her, which works as well as you’d expect and leads to the best figh tin the series thus far and one of , if not it’s best scene; A duel between edith and lilith. And while they fought back in Covention this time  it’s not a petty squabble between siblings masquerading as one trying to capture the other.. it’s  fight NEITHER can afford to loose. Eda can’t loose her protege and Lilith will loose everything, dying at best being cast out of the coven at worst, if she fails not to mention loosing what she feels is her only chance at saving her sister.  But it’s also VERY clear Lilith is groosly outmatched, and while no slouch herself Eda’s constant bragging about being “the most powerful witch on the boiling isles”.. is entirely backed up. Lilith barely is able to hold herself and only gets ahead by using a child as a shiled, going even lower than her sister. However the stress of this, the build of having been the older sister of someone who constantly outshined her then turned entirely against her, finally causes lilith to snap.. and reveal the curse is her fault. Cissy Jones delivery here.. is jsut perfect, showing a mixture of rage and pain, showing that she’s spent YEARS hiding this, years resenting her sister for constnatly being better desptie working harder and doing the right thigns. Even when she’s trying to HELP Eda, genuinely trying to undo her mistake as we find out and as we’ve seen genuinely sees the emperor as the wise and benevlolent god he portrays himself as.. she can’t let it go. SHe can’t see past her own bitterness to see her sister is right and if she could just let this go and work on Eda’s terms instead of forcing Eda into her world, then maybe it wouldn’t of gotten this bad. Maybe she could’ve told her. 

Eda takes it about as well as you’d expect, and Lilith.. uses this to threaten luz’s life and force eda to use up her magic to save her, leading to the series most heartbreaking moment and Wendy Mallick’s best acting so far as she bids her appretnince a tearful farewell. Luz RIGHTFULLY and angrily lashes out at lilith calling her a monster while Lilith takes Eda and urges luz to go home... and after a tearful ending with king realizing something’s deeply wrong.

So thus next episode after a history lesson from king and some suprisinging caution as he KNOWS what Luz is up against.. Luz still decides she dosne’t care. Eda’s sacrificed herself, to Luz it’s her fault she’s in this which while KINDA accurate missues some fine points such as her sister’s stubborness or the fact had lilith not shown up she could’ve taken the hat. And the fact LIlith saying the hat was junk was pretty unreliable. What i’m saying is maybe the child shoudln’t blame herself for being kidnapped while genuinely tring to reach the same goal. 

But Lilith soon learns to her horror her sister was right. While Belos restores Eda’ss sentience even fully owled.. he has no intrest in helping her, eveyr intrest in publicly petrifying her, and not even the slightest hint of remorse at betraying lilith this deeply. After all her faith in the man.. Belos spat in her face and told her to like it.  Meanwhile Luz goes on the warpath, and we see just how far she’s come.. and WHY Belos is probably so restrictive with magic and put it on such a tight leash: we see that with her natural power and just a handful of spells, the four she’s pciked up over the season, she easily curbstomps the conformotrium staff, gets to Eda fairly easily.. and fines sshe can’t free her and eda wants the door destroyed so whatever Belos wants with it, he can’t have it. Luz heads home, ready to destroy the door.. onlyt of ind two things. her magic dosen’t work there.. and Lilith followed her and grabbed king. After a breif fight and Luz angrily and rightously confroting the asshole, wish she was in Eda’s place.. Lilith admits luz’s right and gives her backstory: That her insecurity was so great that on the day before a duel with Eda to determine who got into the emperoror’s coven, she curfsed her own sister, with no idea it’d last this long or get this bad. And with no idea Eda had lost intrest in it and WILLINGLY gave her sister teh spot.. It’s very clear despite her masssive flaws that will need to be adressed.. lilith never stopped caring about her sister, and it took all this to make her realize that trying to fix the mistake on HER terms without including her sister.. instead has almost cost her it.  So Luz and King relucntnatly take her help, though the other two are quickly capatured when theyt ry to get to hte exceution platform and thrown in the cage with Eda.. which dosne’t help the coven’s reputation as gus and willow try to make a case for Eda. Meanwhile we get the SECOND best fight of the series as Luz challenges Bellows.. and it’s UTTERLY chillling and while he’s had scenes before this it’s here we get the true scope of who he is ..and that like eda the god complex is something he can back up. Whlie Luz proves just how strong she’s gotten by keeping up with him it’s barely, and it’s clear from the moment go, and one of the series best shots, with Belos creeply materlizing behind her before announcing “sure, i’ll play” that this is a game. She’s no challenge to him and he simply wants to see waht she can do and is mildly impressed if a tad annoyed at her actually damaging his mask. But with Eda, King and Lilith’s lives in the ballance the only way Luz can save htem.. is to give him waht he wants. 

Thing is, just like Lilith, just like everyone has, good an dbad all season.... Belos undereesitmated luz.. who left fire runes on the door, willnig to sacrifice ever seeing her mom again if it meant keeping him away from her. While he has no invasion planned whatever it is CANNOT be good. Luz saves them, and Eda flies them off with Belos saying the titan dismissed them. Also that Belos has a big penis.. super huge, size of a tractor that one. Yeah that’s the ticket. 

But we get  a happyish ending as LIlith does what she should’ve done a long time ago and apologizes, and Eda starts to fogive her, brought on by King earlier standing up to her as whle he’s not happy with her either, he realizes from her story she’s not a bad person.. just a very messed up one who couldn’t own up to her mistakes. One who belivied in the wrong person to fix her problem and finally takes repsonsiblity and part of the curse into her. So with the sequel hook of Eda having lost her internal magic power but still being able to use glyph’s like luz, we also find out the Emperor has the door and a mysterious masked minon,.. who i’m fairly certain isn’t amity only because it’s too obvious. This is simply how you end a season: It’s engaging, heartbreaking, well animated and pays off EVEYRHTING so far while setting up the season to come. It’s going to be a LONG wait till next time, mid-this year.. but I can wait. The high from this one’s going to last a while. 

7. Good Damage (Bojack Horseman)  “ That means that all the damage I got isn't good damage. It's just damage. I have gotten nothing out of it and all those years I was miserable was for nothing. I could have been happy this whole time and written books about girl detectives and been cheerful and popular and had good parents, is that what you're saying? What was it all for?! “

Bojack Horseman is one of the best shows of the last decade, and an important one to me. it was the first one I watched when we switched to all streaming. I really related to Bojack and his struggles with depresion and self loathing.. which backfired given he’s a much worse person than me and while I could relate, I also compared myself too much to a character who in retrospect is both far worse  and has FAR MORE issues than I do and diffrent ones at that outside of the depression and self hatred.  The point i’m framing is that the series and I have a complicated relationship and that coupled with how bad 2020 was meant it took until a few days ago to finally finish it, almost a year later. But I cannot deny how good the show is: it has faults, a bit of reptititon in some character arcs, casting a white woman as a Vietnamize-American woman (something both Ralph Paul Waskerberg and Alison Brie have apologized for to their credit), and .. I can’t think of a last one. They never brought Ralph back? Yeah let’s go with that one what the fuck there. So I felt I owed the show one last round and it payed off as the final stretch, while easily the hardest to get through due to covering the collapse of Bojack’s life, is easily one of it’s best. 

But before the fall, we get Good Damage, which instead of focusing on BoJack focuses on Diane, said asian woman voiced by a white lady, neurotic writer and Bojack’s best friend, who has moved to Chicago to be with her boyfriend guy, a chill, charasmatic and likeable buffalo cameraman. Things are going better than they ever have: she’s in a supportive relationship and thanks to her antidipresenants, while still her loveably neurotic self, is now not obessing over shit as much and is solving her problems with applomb. Even the weight gain from her meds, which she dreaded in the previous half of the season.. has insteead only made her look healthier and happier, and more beautiful than ever. 

The only problem is she can’t write her long promised Memoir, which Princess Carlolyn, her former boss, agent and loveable pink cat and single mother, has promised to a lot of celebrities. She TRIES, she puts lots of work into it, keeps trying to sit there but nothing comes out. And what makes the episode truly great is how this is presented. Bojack is no stranger to beautiful, visually diverse episodes, Stupid Peace of Shit being a notable example and one similar to this one but uniquely great in it’s own way, but this one is easly the bes,t using a squiggly crude style to show just how chaotic and uncomfortable diane is and how stuck she is. She’s TRYING, but she just can’t make her life’s story into anything GOOD, she can’t get the words out which as someone whose had reams of projects I never startd, even to this day and who has genuine trouble writing fiction.... I related to this like all hell. But even people who have never had an intrest in writng can just get the feeling thanks to the wonderful writing and animation, from cameos by the rest of the cast to Diane’s father showing up as a goblin to the word boxes showing what she’s writtne it’s just a treat.  But what centers this amazing visual represtnation is Diane’s internal struggles as an encounter with a rude sales person leads her off on a tangent..and to Ivy Tran, a teen detective whose upbeat, optimstic, and in a great bit outlines who she is in jsut the right amount, and solves mysteries in a food court. It’s a genuinely good idea, one I honestly think could support it’s own series... seriously get on that Ralph-Bob. Get on that. Point is it’s good.. but Diane’s so hung up on what she SHOULD be making, she can’t see what’s right in front of her, despite guy saying the passages are good.  Things come to a head when Diane makes a huge mistake and goes off her meds.. which from experince never ends well: for the entire episode she’s been under the impression she can’t write because of them.. only to be proven HORRIFYINGLY wrong. It’s a  VERY necessary aseop: that your medication will always be with you and that going off it suddenly, or blaming it for writers block not only isn’t true but is DANGEROUS. Diane spirals, cries and her writing gets dark and full of self hate. It’s then Guy proves just how fucking majestic he is: he figures out what’s going on after she tells him, and helps her get to bed so she can rest, puke whatever she needs and they’ll talk about things after she takes her meds again and gets her head on straight, when she’s in a good place to do so. As someone with mental illness.. ti’s nice to see a character who not only supports someone fully, but knows how to handle it. Instead of a shitty third act breakup like many shows would do guy stands by her.  He does however step SLIGHTLY over the line, if iwth good intentions and reason and send Princess Carolyn the Ivy Tran pages, because as he puts it he made an executive decision.. and when Diane is a bit annoyed by that as it does sound a tad douchey, he rightly points out she was in a really bad hole of a place, stuck in a loop doign something that even before going off her meds was clearly hurting her and going nowhere, and needed SOMETHING to snap her out of it, and did so not to hurt her or because he thought he knkew better or , like her ex husband, because he was oblvious to her needs; he did it because it was the hard but necessary thing to get her to seee she had something special and that she dosen’t have to constnatly tear herself up by diving into past traumas because of some internal obligation. 

Naturally Diane dosen’t take it despite Princess Carolyn not only being impressed but PREFERRING the ivy pages, as she was genuinely unaware Diane had something so happy and charming in her. While Diane is worried about it when the two end up meeting in person, we soon find out why: If all the damage she went through wasn’t “good” damage, things she could writ eabout and use later.. what was it for? Could she of just been happy this whole time? Did she waste her life. And in a rare moment betwen the two PC helps Diane walk it back, explaning that she can do what she always wanted: write something that makes someone like her feel not alone. That she dosen’t HAVE to make her life story into something complicated, just make what makes her and other people happy. Something PC’s daughter could enjoy one day. So Diane finally accepts that maybe there’s something else for her.. and then we get a segue into the next episode with bojack having a panic attack and pasing out but that episode, good as it was didn’t make it so moving on.  We also check in with Penny, the daughter of an old friend of bojacks who he nearly slept with and is stil haunted both by the decision and a drunken later visit to apologize... which isn’t helped remotely when max and page, two reporters inovlved in teh subplot that tears bojack’s life apart, start hounding her. While they have good intentions, exposing Bojack’s connection to Sarah Lynn’s death, the two’s methods still come off as creepy, following a, at this point , 21 year old girl whose been through ENOUGH home. While the two aren’t terrible people their actions.. are.. while getting hte story ismprotant is it truly worth genuinely harming this person. And penny wonders if she SHOULD air her story.. she ends up not.. but only because her mother, while lettiner he decide, poitns out it may not be worth all the pressure and possible trauma it digs up,especially since Bojack is getting what he deserved anyway. IT’s a decent subplot tha tties up a loose end but really makes our journalist characters feel like assholes for again, basically stalking and harassing a young woman who didn’t want to rehash the worst moment of her life. Otherwise top notch stuff. 

6. Heart (Parts 1 and 2) (She Ra and the Princesses of Power) “Don't you get it? I love you! I always have! So please, just this once... STAY! Stay. “

Now we get to the gays winning.. and to one of the best series finale in recent memory. And given the other two titanic shows ending, one of which we’ll get to’s ending in a moment, last year, it’s a huge compliment. Heart is how you end a space opera... with big wonderful speeches, great payoff, a huge climax.. and a beautiful cathartic kiss paying off the relationship at the heart of the series that ends up saving the universe.  So let’s just go ahead and crack open that pinata: The kiss.. was easily one of the best moments of animation this year and, at a time when the quarantine was starting, misery was spreading, and things looked pretty damn bad, having a major animated show, one of the biggest of the last few years, climax with an emotional moment between two women, one the series had been setting up since day 1... it was a huge step foward for gay representation in children’s animation, and warmed my big bi heart. And it’s not just good because of that: the fact it’s a giant pile of representation is wonderous, but it’s because it’s also well baked into the show. This is the conclusion of both their character arcs: Catra finally realizes Adora will not abandon her and her leaving the Horde was not choosing them over her.. it was simply doing the right thing. So instead of running or trying to escape she’s grown enough to fight for what she wants and fight for a future with Adora.  Adora meanwhile finally overcomes her martyer complex, her determination, especially after Angela’s death, to make sure no one else is gone and she’s the only one that suffers and looses. To make sure there’s nothing else. It’s Catra’s confesssion that FINALLY gets it through her thick skull that she dosen’t have to be alone or bear anything alone.. she’ll always have someone with her to do that.. and even before Catra.. she’s always had friends for that. She dosen’t have to be alone. So the two embrace and it’s fucking beautiful..and gives adora the full power of the doomsday device they went to shutdown in the first place, restoring the planet.. and allowing her to destroy horde prime’s fucking soul. I just want to reiterate that because it understandably got lost in the shuffle of the gays winning, but our heroine fucking tears out the main villian’s soul.. and it is SO damn satisfying given what a truly repulsive , irredemible, asshat Prime was. So the two finally get a future together, a chance to build and to stop letting the past define them. It’s wide open.  But while that alone would probably net it on this list but it’s damn good otherwise, an epic final struggle between our heroes and the horde for the fate of not just their planet but ALL of htem as Prime prepares to finally wipe everything else out in egomanical genocide. There are just.. tons of awesome moments in this one: Bow and Glimmer’s suprising but welcome love confession, Seahawk annoying mermista into fighting her chip, the people of etheria fighting back.. and the reason they do is easily the second best moment of the episode. With the chips down, not literally, and things looking bleak Bow hyjacks Prime’s egoamnacial hologram.. and broadcasts for everyone to fight, to fight back, and to END THIS. After spending most of the series as the one trying to keep his friends together, the glue of everyone.. it’s bow’s heart, courage, and voice, the one that lead his friends through some rough times and severed as reason when they needed it most wether they listned or not.. that frees the world and with Entrapta turns the tide at long last. It’s just a hell of a moment.  And the only other moment equaling it is Hordak freeing himself and deciding he is his own man, he made himself tha tway for better and worst and kills prime, at least before adora finsihes the job with the badass “I am HORDAK and I DEFY your will. “ It’s just a wonderful, epic finale that pays off most of the shows major arcs, gives our heroes a MUCH deserved happy ending after spending their lives at war, and let it be said one last time, gave gay representation in children’s cartoon one hell of a win.

5. Nice While it Lasted (Bojack Horseman) 

“ No, I need to tell you... thank you... and... it's going to be okay... and... I'm sorry... and... thank you... “

Back to back finales here and honestly both are REALLY close in quality, both satisfyingly paying off their series. But both take equal and opposite routes: Heart is an epic finale in scope size and impact... while Nice While it Lasted is a very stripped down character piece: there are other characters in the background but after the intro the only voiced characters in each segment are Bojack and one of the main cast, each one both showing how much said relationship has evolved since the show began, and giving Bojack time to reflect on his possible future. I say possible because one of Nice While it Lasted’s best aspects it that there’s no real concrete ending for Bojack. Ther’es still closure: after his life emploded and he nearly died, more on that in a bit, Bojack ended up in prison, offically for breaking and entering but unoffically for all the shitty things he did with him glumly accepting it. So one year later he’s out thanks to Princess Carolyn for her wedding, sober again thanks to prison and even started his own acting class at the prison he’s geninley invested in, inteding to continue it once he gets out. But otherwise.. his future’s in flux. HE’s sober for now, but he’s painfully aware that could change again, his friends while, with one excpetion, still having a place for him in their lives, have moved on, and his career is on the upswing again despite being a pariah a year ago because as I mentioned earlier and as PC brilliantly puts it

So he could become a better man, get his career back, make amends for what he did and stay sober.. or backslide and fall down into the same traps he always has. It plays into an aseop the series has always preached: There are no real endings, life just goes on. Even for the rest of the cast hteir lives aren’t over.. their just in a good place.. maybe bojack will, maybe he won’t. Tha’ts up to the indvidual viewer and I like that. While ambgious endings can be frustrating and I get while some preferred the more concrete if still somewhat ambgious ending of a view from halfway down, I feel this fits the series better: Bojack, like the end of every season is moving on to something new, but this time we don’t know what, and that’s okay. IT’s time for us to move on.  Well okay not from this entry as each vingette deserves some praise: Our first has Mr. Peanutbutter pick up Bojack from prison, and even get him a new suit.. and then another one offscreen because predictably for his life BOjack got meatball all over it. He also calms our hero down when he wants to go back to jail, letting him know it’s okay and he’ll be there for him.. unless his friend Erica shows up but what are the odds... 1:1. But what’s nice about it is while Bojack still makes jabs, it’s clear he’s gone from truly hating and resenting PB for being the betterversion of him.. to truly seeing the guy as one of his best friends, his jabs having gone from hurtful and bitter to wry and warranted. I mean they were warranted a lot back then too he’s just a lot softer about them. 

At the wedding Todd and Bojack finally reach some form of understanding after years of awkwardness, the two having reconclied but not being really remotely close or in each other’s lives hardly anymore after Todd’s understandable blow up at Bojack in “It’s You”. Here Todd has Bojack rush him to the beach to cary him on his shoulders.. to watch fireworks because he could tell he was overhwelmed, the two having found a rhtym again, with, like with mr peanutbutter, Bojacks jabs being a lot friendler and Todd having a respect for his own needs while actually being present for bojack instead of ignorant of how bad things were like he was at the start. He even helps BOjack see even if he DOES replase.. he can get right back on the horse, couldn’t resist that one sue me, and as the hokey pokey says turn himself around. 

After, in one of the best payoffs of the series, finally trying Hondedew and finding it’s not so bad, Bojack dances with PC, admittingh e half hoped he’d have to help her go thorugh with it before the two run through the scenario, and PC expresses some honest fears with bojack helping her showing how the two hav egone from a horribly stiffing relationship.. to two close friends who are probably stuck with one another for life. Sunk costs and all that. And if bojack does want to act again she knwos some people. But for now PC finally really has everything she ever wanted:: A daughter, and a loving husband in judah. 

Finally we have the most painful of the group because of course the Bojack finale wouldn’t be all sugar and would have to punch us in the gut. Bojack finds Diane again who hasn’t talked to him.. because he called her the night of his near death/sucidide and due to putting the blame on her due to being high out of his mind, made her feel like it was his fault during the 7 hours she could reach no one and thought he was dead. Diane is hurt, feeling betrayed that bojack promsied he’d be fine then possibly left her with the pain of his death on her concious forever. Thankfully she’s doing fine, as she’s now married guy and Ivy Tran is a huge success and probably a series now.. but it’s abudnantly clear her friendship with Bojack is over.. but even this bittersweet, and necessary, seperation, as Diane has moved past LA and Bojack needs to stop relying on her and stand on his own two hooves, still warms the heart as she thanks him and lets him know i’tll be okay, and endugles him in telling her one last story, a rathe rfunny one about prison movie night bfore the series ends on the melancholy and apporriate song mr blue as the two gaze out and they see each other and we see them for the last time. 

4 The Wasteland (Infinity Train) 

“I'm as good as dead, and if my last act is to bring you with me, sliver, I can't imagine a better way to go!” “Well, I can! “

So from a bittersweet ending to holy shit that’s depressing, we have our only entry from Infnity Train on the list. That’s not to say the series did bad this year. Season 2 was easily the series finest hour, taking the framework from season 1 and crafting a gripping story of a teenage mirror person who just wanted to live without assholes trying to kill her for what she fundementally IS, and be recognized as a person, with the help of a magical deer and a more optimstic teen grappling with his peer pressure issues.  The series was still undoubtly silly with a parasite voiced by Bill Corbett, wonderfully so, and again a magical deer named Alan Dracula, long may he reign, it simply deconstructed the nature of the train and thus opened up the floodgates. By giving us a denzin who, after years of being someone’s reflection in both senses of the word, just wanted to live and how that clashed with the train and the racist assholes she met alnong the way, from the ones who wouldnt’ stop trying to kill her.. to humans who considered her as nothing more than a plaything at best and something to get rid of at worst. While Season 3 was not bad, if a bit way too strcuturally messy and trying to do too much at once, Season 2 still handled the same issues but in a much tighter frame storywise.  And that’s why only one episode made it: Most of the episodes, espicially the later ones, are pieces of a large whole, with the show being heavily seralized. Which while a great approach intended for streaming, also means it was hard to find a chapter that worked that well on it’s own, steven universe future had similar issues. But I did and the wasteland is easily the darkest, harshest and most intresting episode out of the batch.  The episode opens at MT’s darkest hour: The apex told the mirror police where she is, Jesse is gone, and MT is now running for her life from the sadstic assshole and his spinless partner who want her dead just for existing.. gee can’t imagine why a bunch of assholes refusing ot acknolwedge other peoples opinons, rights or even existance was a big topic last year.. or this year. 

So while Mace, the main mirror cop, manages to handcuff her MT manages to throw him under the train. THe result is her trying to escape the train by wondering i’ts vast desert, forced to drag Mace along as he taunts her, bleeding out slowly from you know being bisected by a train. It’s a really moody peace as Mace mock’s mt’s dreams of escape and justify’s his own selling out, while MT pokes holes in that: he was so desperate to not nonexist.. he’s willing to kill others who just want the same. IT’s a damn hard watch but fuck if i’ts not compelling. 

And the climax is what makes it. MT finds out she can’t leave the bounds of the wasteland, as it only projects so far and after escaping the ghoms ends up back on the train, with Mace, not long fo rthis world trying to kill her.. so we get a 13-14 year old GRINDING HER HORRIFYING ABUSER UNDER A TRAIN WHEEL. Just jesus.. I mean I kind of get HBO Max’s point that MAYBE this is a bit much for kids. I mean i’ve seen other really dark stuff but holy fuck a man died.. and we see his blood splatter. But it’s this horrible, harsh moment that makes the episode.. as is MT”s reaction.. not one of triumph.. but of exaustion and horror at what she’s done, before steadying herself to prove him wrong. A hard one to write about but damn it was good. 

3. Enchanting Grom Fright (The Owl House)  “Dear Luz, will you go to Grom with me- Amity”  Now we THANKFULLY get to something lighter: the gays winning.. again. Coming out during pride month, phrasing, and only a month after the she ra finale we got this delightful episode. As I said earlier I watched this one first run: while I was super behind, I couldn’t resisit to the point I watched it before that week’s amphibia. I was that curious what was going to happen.  See as i’ve given out about quite a lot.. and I mean a LOT, Disney dosen’t have the best track record with gay representation: they don’t do horrible sterotypes or anything.. but they also don’t do much of anything for the most part. Alex Hirsch has outright spoke about how much he had to fight just to get Blubbs and Durland firmly together in the finale, and how the symbols for the love god were widdled down to just male and female. And around the time this episode came Disney was coming out of a REALLY bad batch of pr stunt gay representation: They made a big deal about the first gay x in an x having gay characters in avengers endgame, star wars: Deep Hurting and onward.. but these were cameos AT BEST, with the endgame one being so minor I genuinely didn’t realize the character was talking about dating a man and only found out afterwords. Sure Ducktales had gay dads, which is awesome and always will be.. but none of the major cast was allowed to be openly gay. I mean we know webby and lena are gay but hell if disney would allow that.  But miracoulsy.. shockingly and wonderfully.. Disney DID mange to finally just say fuck it and let some big gay rep in, something so obvious it can’t be ignored and that actually features the main character and one of the most major supporting characters. And what do you know, the good press and pats on the back outweighed the bad. It’s almost if giving up homophobic markets in exchange for doing the right thing.. is a GOOD thing while also being profable. Who’d a thunk. Point is via sheer perstiance, Owl House creator Dana Terrance got to not only make her lead bi, which Terrance herself is, but have her love intrest be a girl. And I find it genuinely wonderful that gay, bi, pan and what have you children can watch this and say “tha’ts me and this is okay”.  But even minus Owl House saying gay rights.. the episode is just REALLY good and part of it is who it focuses on. Amity easily has the most character devleopment out of the cast going from someone who walls herself off from everyone, revels in her superiority.. to slowly opening up to heroine Luz, realizing Luz is not a bad person and that Amity herself dosen’t have to be, and right before this starting the road to patching things up with her former best friend willow. Allt hrough this said friendship had been prettty, prettyy, prettyyy gay. And that’s wonderful obviously, but part of why I watched this was while I HOPED they’d get to be couple.. I wasn’t convinced since see a fucking bove. But I was happy to realize that oh my god I was wrong, the gays won all along. 

So with Amity a better person she’s naturally syampthetic when sh’es put front and center at hexside’s prom equvilent which while having a dance, gromprosals and a disco ball tha’ts also a sentient being, becuase boiling isles, it also has the queen or king forced to fight a horrifying monster that manfiests as your greatest fear. And, as we find out towards the end.. Amity’s is being rejected by Luz, having her love letter, which she fails to deliver due to running into luz.. and co (which is my faviroite gag of the episode and the adorable smiles gus and willow give in response are what make it). And . it makes sense. When you stop and think about it.. Luz is the best thing in her life. She got her to change as a person, genuinely cares about and adores her, just wants to be her friend and thinks the world of her. Given her siblings, while trying to be better, are two disaster bisexuals who just stopped a lifetime of untietonally harsh bullying and her parents are controlling asshats who made her abandon her best friend at a young age and she sees LILITH as a mother figure, just let that sink in given a few entires back.. yeah.. no wonder sh’es utterly terrified of rejection. Poor baby. 

Of course WE know Luz wouldn’t. Luz may be many things, including oblvioius to thte freaking obvoius as this story line has revealed, but shes not cruel and even if she said no, which I higlhly doubt she would, she woudln’t be a dick about it. But being surrounded by cruel assholes for some time has made Amity a bit paranoid so Luz volunteers to sub in to both genuinely help her friend.. and to prove to eda she can do this. Eda is also chaperoning. and looks neat in a suit, while King and Gus get a wonderful b plot of mcing the dance with the egotisticl king having issues with stage fright. I will get more into that when I review the episode proper, come back in a month for that.  But yeah while Luz does well when the time comes, and while sadly not wearing her otter suit does wear a wonderful tuxedo with a tutu.. she has her own repressed issues to adress as Grom takes the form of her mother, as Luz has been nursing guilt over not telling her the truth about what’s going on. Luz runs, and Amity ends up facing her fear to save her crush and the two get a wonderfully romantic, and desturctive dance together as they face hteir fear, untie as one and kill that motherfucker... well okay i’m not sure grom can die but it’s gone for now.  The dance sequence.. is easily one of the best scene’s all year, beauituflly animated and painstakingly planned out, with wonderful music.. it’s just awesome and what takes the episode ove rthe top, with the two perfeclty in synch as they take grom out in less than a minute. Also king become prom king and queen, he is best of both as Luz’s own personal issues put a damper on things. Also someone’s been writing her mom. 

Overall just a perfect episoe and a perfectly gay episode of one of the best shows going right now. Speaking of a perfect episode of one of the best shows going right now, tha’ts also on disney. 

2. Escape From the Impossibin! (Ducktales)  ”We have to keep them safe” “But not like this!”  So from some emotinal torment mixed with some lovely shipping, we get a whole buttload of emotional anguish but with a robotic scrooge and the time loop room and the time loop room and the time loop room, and time l...

As I said in part 1, Season 3 is easily Ducktales best so far, having far better pacing, character ballance and bolder and more intresting stories than ever before. While the first two seasons are still excellent, this one has taken everything great and honed it and no episode shows off just how great this season is than this one.  This one takes place in the fallout of “Let’s Get Dangerous!”, with the family dealing with finding out FOWL”s not only still alive, but is run by Bradford, head of scrooge’s board of directors former shush agent as we’d find out later, and asshole, who knows all their secrets. And given Scrooge is mildly paranoid on a good day and Beakly is extremley paranoid on her best day, it’s done a number on both as they’ve split the family minus launchpad, who just had a whole episode so fair enough, up: Scrooge has taken Della and Louie, wiht their see all the angels schtick, to test out his new security, while Beakly and Donald are securing the house while Beakly has webby throughly test the boys.  Neither side goes well. The bin ends up locking our heroes out due to Scrooge’s password being changed, and forcing them to work past it. Louie rises to the challenge, as does della.. but as they beat a robot versoin of scrooge, because of course the final test would be a robot version of scrooge, Scrooge is instead of triumphant at not being dead, incredibly depressed and furious. Because when told he’s scrooge mcduck he tellingly replies “AND WHAT IF THAT’S NTO ENOUGH’. For once.. Scrooge is SCARED, up against someone who knows his every move and is one step ahead, iti’s how it’s always been, no matter what he’ll do, he’ll always loose and Bradford will always win. I REALLY need to watch spies are forever, point is he’s scared and Bradford PROVING the point by revealing he was behind it and taking over the robot dosen’t help. Our heroes win though in a damn impressive action sequence, but as it turns out.. it was just a distraction.. but we’llg et back to that.  The other plot though is whyt his is so high. While the first plot is a fun romp with deep eomtional consequences.. the second plot is decidly far darker.. it still has some good bits as webby terorizes the boys and easily one of the best in the season when she horrifying imitates dewey, but its’ only when she does finally attack she realizes she’s taken it way toof ar. She’s terrorized her brothers, caused huey to break his leg and then turn her away when she tries to help.. all she’s done is turn them AGAINST each other and they can’t win this way.  Beakly strongly disagrees and clealry lost in her own paranoia and fear, prepares to attack huey.. and thus Webby steps in... leading to one fo the most heartbreaking and tense fights in the series as grandmother and grandaughter fight one on one but both are outmatched.. but Huey and Dewey, despite everything, refuse not to help their sister and help pull webby up, with Webby panickidly realizing something’s VERY wrong and her granny usually isn’t like this when sparring... and is also chasing them. This leads to the roof, in a rainstorm no less, and Webby relcutnatnly ready to fight even though she clearly knows she both can’t win.. and dosen’t want to anymore. Despite her wilingless to scrap, fight and train.. Webby dosen’t WANT to hurt her granny she just wants to help her. Thankfully, the boys attempt to stop this, while failing horribly, catches donald’s attention as he catches them, ntocies what’s going on and furiously refuses to let this go on. While Beakly tries to ignore it and fight..s he instead slips and despite everything, the rest of the group rescue her, with Webby impressing on her grandmother that they aren’t fowl. They wont’ win acting like them and tearing each other apart.. they need to be the family they are.  But if all that wasn’t enough turns out.. yeah, Bradford’s thing was a distraction and with the rest of the group distracted with Beakly, that meant his plan went off without a hitch: all the missing mysteries have been taken by FOWL, in a masterstorke that ties both plots together and brings what seemed like isolated adventures on their own in a tagnetally related plot into the fore. Everything so far has built up to this.. and despite the loss.. the family, having been through a dark night of the soul, is ready to fight back. They want the rest of the mysteries? Their going to have to fight clan mcduck in their elment. And it’s been glorious so far. A tense, well paced, hard hitting episode, this one’s a winner. and almost got #1.. ALMOST. But as much as I tried to not go with the obvious chocie, the one with tons of press and praise and that’s graced tons of best of lists... I had to go with what was honestly the best. So...

1. The View from Halfway Down (BoJack Horseman)  “Oh BoJack, there is no other side. This is it. “  This episode was my main reason for catching up with the series and finishing it off once and for all. Awash with praise and hype I was curious about this one.. and my curiosity paid off. This is easily one of if not hte best episodes Bojack put out in it’s storied run: it’s creative, impossible to look away from and devistating: in short it’s the show in a nutshell.. and it’s a hell of a view. 

Previously as mentioned before Bojack’s life blew up and he lost just about everything, from his friends, though as the finale bared out only one of them stayed away for good and for good reason, his only family in hollyhock, his house, even horsin around. He had nothing left.. so high on drugs and in his old house he passed out at the end of last episode.. and we wake up here with a recurring dream as Bojack has a dinner party at his mother’s house, another wonderful performance from Wendy Mallick. Everyone there is someone Bojack knew who died: his former best friend he betrayed Herb, Sarah Lynn his former child co start turned washed up 30 something he let die, Courdory, a co star who died trying to get off david caradine style, Crackerjacke, the uncle he never knew who die din the war and his parents, distant mother Beatrice as mentioned and his father, who is in the body of his hero secretariat who comited suiccide in this unvierse due to getting banned from racing, as that’s the kind of weird shit dreams do. Also Zack Braff, who has no real conncetion to bojack but still died during that time Mr Peanutbutters house sunk into the earth and his ex wife Jesscia bIel formed a death cult.  The group play a game of best and worst, lay into each ohter and have some really intresting conversations with Bojack confident of when it’ll end: before the show their always mentioing. But this time, it’s diffrent.. Bojack is there for it so we get a trippy and horrifyimng stage show as Bojack watches the various people one by one vo into a black door, allt he while bojack coughts up sludge and is persued by it, unaware where he was before this. Sarah Lynn gives one last song, a reprise of a song from previous in the series, Courdroy does a ribbon dance and zack braff gets on roller skates. And bojack has a frank conversation with his dad, with his dad/secretariat revealing he DID care but was just so filled with loathing he coudlnt’ admit it to his son and thus was an abusive ass.. and then reveals to bojack he’s not waking up and bojack horryfigngly see shimself, drowning ina pool. And while he frantically, heartbreakingly tries to flee... he can’t. There’s no exit for him. As herb tells him, this isn’t the afterlife, this is his brain making sense of his last moments, and ther’es no way of knowing if he’ll get rescued, no way to do anything but watch.. watch as his father secretairat shows suicide in all it’s horror by letting it know he wouldn’t of done it if he knew “the view fro halfway down”, a horrifingly haunting poem that sells just how bad it was. As beatrice and crackerjack also go we’re down to herb who introduces bojack... before going in himself, claming there is no other side. Bojack tries not to go genle and runs, and in a horrfying sequence is surronded by the ooze as he tries his damndest to escape.. but in the end he can’t. As herb said.. he can’t do anything about this. So speaking to his min’ds version of diane he accepts he probbaly won’t be coming back and we hear a monitor as we fade out. While we know it’s not the end now... there’s no way of telling then. 

The View from Halfway Down is a haunting, beatuflly animated, masterwork, taking 6 seasons worth of communinity and regret and shoving it in bojack’s face in an intresting way, while bringing back characters we thought we’d never see again for one last go round. It was patcually nice to hear LIn Manuel Miranda and Wendy Mallick again,, and Kristan Schaal is always great. The show ALWAYS had a horrifying habit of having it’s penutlimate episode be an utter gutpunch that broke you, with the finale picking up the peices and offering some hope.. and this was no exception. They literally saved the best for last, and it was worth the wait. The view from halfway down may be gahstly,.. but the view of this episode is hauntingly beautiful. 

So that was the list, and it was.. a lot taking 2-3 days to finish all together over both parts. But it was worth it and hopefully we can get back to some regular stuff later today. For now, thank you for reading, and hopefully i’ll see you somewhere in the sunset. 

#steven universe future #steven unvierse #the owl house #lumity #catradora #She Ra and the Princesses of Power #bojack horseman #close enough #infnity train #2020 #best of the year #animation #disney #cartoon network #hbo max #netflix #disney channel #lbgtq