#the alaska episode is so special to me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

having-conniptions · 9 months

Text

Love In The Air episode 13 live reaction under the cut (long post)

FINAL EPISODE AAAAAAAAA (well there's a special episode but this is the official finale)

Hahahaha Sig's beef with the teacher is too good

Awwwww Sky is so in love 🥰

And so is Pai 🥰🥰

Awwwww baby Sky flashback 🥺

Sky smoking for the first time is so realistic until the moment when he doesn't cough his lungs out

Oh nooooo it's a flashback to his first relationship 💀💀💀

Reluctantly watching the horrors unfold

Is that a hickey... or a bruise?

Ok it's a bruise "I fell down the stairs" my ass

ARE THOSE CIGARETTE BURN MARKS ARE YOU SHITTING ME MY POOR BABY

"This is normal for me" FUCK OFF "Can't you endure this much for me" FUCK OFFFFFF

"What's going on? Why are your friends here?" NOOOO I WAS SO GLAD THAT SKY'S ABUSE HADN'T BEEN EXPLICITLY SHOWN BUT INSTEAD CONVEYED THROUGH (still disturbing) FLASHBACK THAT SHOWED HOW HE FELT DO NOT MAKE ME WATCH MY BABY GET HURT

"You're annoying. Boring. I'm bored." WELL I'M GONNA KICK YOUR FUCKING TEETH IN

That fucking lighter sound that keeps going even after Sky wakes up from his nightmare 💀

Whyyyy is "twinkle twinkle little star" playing in the background while Sky calls Prapai and asks him to come over after the nightmare 🤨

Ughhhhh Gun and his friend OF ALL PEOPLE WHY NOW

"I'm here, honey. I'm here." 😭❤️😭❤️

The instant comfort that Pai brings Sky ❤️😭❤️😭❤️😭

The soft kisses with Sky's gorgeous hands always in frame, what a masterpiece 🙏🙏🙏

They are SOOOOOOOOO ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

"My honey's awfully adorable. Will I die from a heart attack?" FOLLOWED BY NUZZLES I THINK I'M THE ONE WHO'S GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK

Oh no Sky is at a race GUN IS GONNA BE THERE FUUUUCKKK

Praying that Pai will fucking deck Gun

I CAN'T WITH PAI CALLING SKY HONEY ALL THE TIME IT'S SO SWEET AAAAHHHH

Hahaha Sky is still shy in public

THE CHEEKY HAND KISS BEFORE RUNNING OFF AAAAAAA

Oh no Sky is gonna go back to the car and he's gonna run into Gun FUCKKKK

THE FUCKING LIGHTER SOUND OH HELL NAW

OH NO NOT THE KEY TO PAI'S ROOM they're really planning to get Sky to Pai's room and- ARGH I'M GONNA KILL THEM the fact that it's his boyfriend's room makes it extra twisted PAI BETTER KICK THEIR ASSES ALL THE WAY TO ALASKA FOR EVEN INTENDING TO DO THAT TO SKY

Love how both Phayu and Pai are immediately super suspicious of those guys

YES SKY STAND UP FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR BF

That manipulative fucking asshole

Concerned bestie Rain ❤️❤️❤️

The guard said what --- as if even one of the guards is in on this entire thing

OH NO AND NOW SKY IS GONNA ASSUME PAI ARRANGED IT FUCK NO I AM NOT OKAY I'M SO SCARED

OH FUCK OH NO OH FUCK HOLD ON STOP NO FUUUUCKKKKKKKKKK

"I'm very curious why P'Pai readily gave him to you" HE DID NOT-- LISTEN TO ME SKY PAI DID NOT GIVE YOU TO ANYONE PAI WOULD NEVER

Am I a little sensitive to the whole "trust issues" topic. YES. I won't be surprised if Sky never trusts anyone ever again WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK

AND HE'S FRAMING IT AS IF PAI DOESN'T WANT SKY ANYMORE BECAUSE OF WHAT GUN AND HIS FRIENDS DID TO SKY?????? THIS IS JUST GETTING WORSE AND WORSE AND I'M FUCKING FURIOUS

Detective Pai figuring out that Rain didn't take Sky to his dorm because Rain got back so quickly 🔥🔥🔥 go save your boyfriend NOW

Yeeeeesssss Rain and Phayu are coming with him 🔥🔥🔥

YEEEEES PAI HAS STARTED THROWING PUNCHES AAAAAAAA 🔥🔥🔥

"Your boyfriend started it" SKY DID NOT "You know he used to date Gun." PAI DID NOT

LOVE how Rain casually cuts in putting that asswipe in his place

Meanwhile Sky is (understandably) dissociating

Pai barely containing all his hurt and rage when Sky breaks down... aaaaaaa

YESSSSSS HE PUNCHED GUN SO HARD HE FELL ON HIS ASS

Angry/protective Phayu is scary but like in a really cool way 👀

DID PAI JUST RIP OUT GUN'S EYEBROW PIERCING BEFORE PRETTY MUCH BASHING HIS FACE IN? In this case I'm all for violence 🔥🔥🔥

Rain trying to get through to a still dissociating Sky 😭😭😭

PAI CRYING AS HE TELLS SKY TO CRY AS MUCH AS HE NEEDS BC HE'S HERE TO WIPE AWAY HIS TEARS 😭❤️😭❤️😭❤️

Literally begging him to cry and finally let it all out 😭😭

And Sky's spaced-out "why are you crying, P'Pai?" I'M GONNA FUCKING EXPLODE INTO A FOUNTAIN OF TEARS I LOVE SKY SO MUCH HOW CAN ANYONE EVER HURT MY POOR BABY

Phenomenal acting from both Fort and Peat in this scene btw and amazing writing I wanna quote every single fucking line

Sky finally crying when Pai tells him he loves him 😭❤️😭❤️😭❤️

"Aren't you gonna ask me what happened?" - "You can tell me when you're ready." THANK YOU PAI YOU WONDERFUL MAN LEMME GIVE U A BIG KISS MWAH

Did not expect Sky to be ready to talk about it already but I'm glad he finally got it all out ❤️

Pai's devastated face as Sky tells him everything that happened... 😭😭😭😭😭😭 and sooooooo much credit to the actors, HOLY SHIT

"I'm trash. I'm damaged goods." Well you know one man's trash is another man's treasure SKY DON'T YOU EVEN THINK THAT FOR A SECOND

OH MY GOD THE TEAR FALLING FROM PAI'S FACE WHILE SKY IS THE ONE IN FOCUS there's something so special about that tear that wasn't emphasized, wasn't handcrafted for a perfect shot of Pai crying, it was just there because it was. The realness of that tear. I could write an entire essay about that fucking tear what the fuck.

PAI BARELY HOLDING IT TOGETHER and "I'm sorry, I should have met you sooner" 😭😭😭😭😭 I'm really about to transcribe the entire dialogue between these two whoever wrote this deserves the world

"I won't make a promise. I won't make a vow." *laughs in The Wedding Plan*

I feel bad for saying this but I can't stop staring at Pai's back/shoulders during that hug holy shit dude 🔥🔥🔥 man is W I D E and triangular and I am once again not sure if I want him or wanna be him

"And I let P'Chai deal with that bastard. We won't ever see him again" mf is at the bottom of a river I can feel it in my bones 🙏🙏🙏

SKY GOT OVER IT BACK THEN FOR HIS DAD AAAAA 😭❤️ well he didn't entirely get over it but he at least moved on with his life ya know

Pai working from home with Sky bringing him coffee

Pai's uncle is Sky's favorite actor?? Awwwww

Why are PrapaiSky kisses the most beautiful kisses ever someone needs to conduct a scientific study on that

Omg that photo of PrapaiSky at the beach is so fucking cute Sky looks so good in that shirt and so sassy aaaaaa

So that's it, huh? Wow. Two relationships with veeeeeeeeeeeery rocky starts but beautiful happy ever afters... holy shit I'm feeling so emotional

Don't have time for the special episode today so that'll be my special treat tomorrow ❤️

#sorry for yet another long-ass post #but its the finale i had to #it gave me quite a lot to react to #love in the air episode 13 #love in the air final episode #love in the air finale #love in the air live reaction #prapaisky #phayurain #payurain

6 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 2 years

Text

Gay as a Fox Finale: The Great North: Pride and Preju-Dance Adventure, As Goldie as It Gets Adventure and Say It Again, Ham Adventure: Love and Acceptance (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people! It’s the final day of pride which means i’ts the final pride month review for yours truly and the conclusion of Queer as A Fox, my monthlong look at Animation Domination’s handling of queer characters and subjects. And i’ts been a roller coaster: We’ve had highs from the simpsons with classics like the simpsons meeting John Waters and Patty coming out, all time lows for this blog with Family Guys sterotyping and open transphobia, and some middling middles with American Dad keeping the steroyping but at least er trying. All thanks to WeirdKev, my consumate buisness partner and friend.

So for our last one we go out on a high with The Great North. It’s also the only show here i’ve covered before, and no doubt will again, having both made my best episodes of 2021 list and having reviewed the pilot as a patreon sign on reward.

As a refresher for those not familiar with it the Great North is an incredibly recent addition to Animation Domination, coming for Bobs Burgers vetrans the Mollenux Sisters that debuted in 2020. It’s in my humble opinon the best show in the lineup right now, and one of the best family adult sitcoms running alongside Close Enough. So naturally it was my idea to cover it though Kev was fully on board. The Great North follows the close knit Tobins of Lone Moose alaska and the stuff that insues whne you live in a small isolated town.

It’s also, unsuprisingly given it’s youth, the show with the best representation: For starters it’s the only one of the animation domination lineup to have a queer character in the main cast: Ham, who is easily one of my faviorites, a teen who often misses the point, is an expert baker, and in general seems off in his own world while still being deeply loving and empathetic.

He’s also very gay, with his sexuality established in what’s easily the best gag of a fairly strong pilot, announcing during a fairly tense family moment he’s gay.. only for him to be reminded he’s come out a bunch of times and that as his dad puts it “We love you just the way you are dammit!”. But what’s notable about the joke.. is that it’s not on ham for being gay. It’s that due to his nature, he’s apparently FORGOTTEN he’s come out multiple times. The show bathes the jokes around Ham in his character, never making his sexuality the joke. Which should be obvious but given I had to watch 5 episodes of Seth Macfarline assuming all gay people were Jack McFarlane, it’s still fucking refreshing. Decades later and not only does fox have a gay main character, as great north is very much an ensembl epiece but one whose just gay and while two of today’s eps have very important queer aseops, and one just a general one that happens to involve a gay teen and his boyfriend, they don’t feel as Very Special Episode as episodes like this once were. The Great North didn’t go out of it’s way to have these eps, they just naturally came from the characters involved and just happen to have good messages and while I grant the first two gay simpsons episodes slack for when they came out, it’s nice we’ve evovled to the point gay issues are tackled because the characters are who they are and not because they have to build it around the issue to even adress it. So join me one last time as we live and stay from longest night to longest day in the great north.

Pride and Preju-Dance Adventure

Look this one had my attention even before it came out. I love romance, and I love dance episodes, and it was clear from the descreption what this would be about and it didn’t disapoint.

This one centers around the Lone Moose Equvilent of a “Girls Ask the Guys” dance... which itself feels very antiquated and it feels very much the point that it is, the Thomas Wintersbone Memorial Dance. Thomas was a popular loone mooser in the 1800s who wanted to marry his fiance but her father, feeling an intellectual school teacher wouldn’t be a good provider, challenged him to spend a week in the wilderness before the two could live in seperate cabins because their love couldn’t be contained by just one. He died.. almost immedietly and this dance was created in his honor with Girls asking guys in from the cold. The unteitonal imbalance for queer students is also addressed as Ham, while not bothered by it, admits he’ll be left in the cold even if he did have the date, but thankfully his cousin Rebecca coming up with her dad Brian. And I was just as delighted by that as I assumed it’d be some time before we saw Beef’s brother Brian, after he was brought up in the second episode, but nope Brian not only comes up just two episodes later but is the star of his own subplot.

And we’ll go ahead and get said subplot out of the way. The Great North usually has an a and b plot, sometimes linked sometimes unrelated but usually intersecting at family dinner or what have you. I do appricate that kind of continuity and when you look closesly it’s clear where scenes take place in relation to each side of the plot, making the episodes feel that much more alive knowing where everyone is during it. As such Brian’s visit takes place alongside the lead up to the dance and the climax of said plot, the client meeting he’s here for , takes place the same night as the dance and it never feels contrived.

Said subplot is also engaging. Ther’es a funny enough subplot about fiances, married at the end of the season , Wolf and Honeybee trying to pitch Brian their buisness ideas but the main heart is Beef himself, who expects to spend time fishing with his brother whose instead busy with emails and the actual meeting. Beef is worried his brother has changed, now wearing what they all call wedding pants and working a white collar job selling hot tubs, though we do get a cute scene of Brian comparing emails to fishing and the brothers sending them together. Things get less cute when Beef crashes the meeting and muddles it, and the resulting heart to heart makes the subplot: Beef admits he was worried thigns had changed and Brian admits not only that’s true.. but he wasn’t fully HAPPY here. He loves his brother, the town and his family, but he’s far happier selling hot tubs and wearing wedding pants than he was fishing for a living and that dosen’t make him or beef any less brothers. It’s a touching moment and also nice considering i’m very diffrent from parts of my family and can understand that disconnect.

The meat of the episode, isn’t beef but Ham.. and Judy, ham’s sister who decides to ask out her crush Crispin, failing a lot due to nervousness.. and again I can relate. Honestly I relate to judy a lot: being talkative, awkward, and very in her own head, while at the same time being expressive. As such she makes one final run at it with Ham with her.. and given what month this is and what you saw above, you can probably tell where this is going: Crispin is gay, and is immeditly taken by ham and vice versa. And the show makes it clear from moment one some part of Judy is aware of this.. but she’s supressing the hell out of it as admitting it means loosing her crush. And while I haven’t actively supressed the idea someone i’m crushing on is gay, I have fallen for people who aren’t into men or anyone and it’s not a great feeling, so I sympathize.

That sais the episode , while feeling bad for Judy, also makes it clear that Crispin ISN’T leading her on: he never shows any romantic intrests, agrees to go assuming it’s as a group and a means to get him in from the cold, something Ham dosen’t pick up on right away, and it’s very clear like Ham and myself and even Judy, Crispin misses some social cues. So he’s clearly unaware Judy has feelings for him. But the show also dovetails from other shows by not having the humor being in her crushing on a gay man or her being “dumb” for being oblvious but just how obvious it is.. and once she finds out her pain is played very real, with her finding the two kissing.. whcih is the only part of this that feels a tad cliche.. but also feels necessary as let’s face it, she woudln’t of got it any other way. And ham respectfully backs off as not to hurt her, having likely also not realized Judy was into crispin.

It takes a ghost/hallucination whatever of thomas for the obvious to hit Judy: Thomas Wintersbone..was gay and the attempted marriage was one of convience so two gay people could be with who they really wanted without supscion. He died, and the dance was clearly made up to cover for it. It also features Leslie Jordan as thomas which is just awesome and his frustration with judy’s oblviousness is great “You would’ve gotten there eventually.. that’s not true I really had to walk you up to it” And thus is the aseop: i’ts okay to feel a bit hurt but you ultimately can’t force a romance, especailly with a queer person and i’ts not good to get in the way of someone elses romance just because you feel it shoudl’ve been yours. Judy accepts it, gives the two her blessing and tells the school the truth: that they should just dance with whomever.. or in the case of Judy’s friend and one of the shows best character Bethany, make snow demons in the parking lot instead. So Judy ends up dancing with her platonic friend adn worst character of the show gill... who we thankfully don’t have to see again. Horay! It’s a decent episode, not the shows best, again it feels mildly melodramtic, but on rewatch and after all those others it still has a good message and is a good time.

This also features what might be the first kiss with a main character on fox and one of the first incredibly romantic and lingering kisses in Animation Domination history... which it probbaly is so good going to this ep.

As Goldie as It Gets Adventure

WE jump into mid-season 2, and this one is more casual like I said: Ham’s romance with Crispin is important but it could be with any sexuality.. and that’s wonderful. This time the two are very busy, Ham volunteering at the old folks home and Crispin with his promotion at Smoothie Boss, so the two are only commuincating through text though both are being mature about it. It’s a throughline through the episode as Ham’s new friend goldie worries about time getting away from them.

And her reasons are valid as the episode centers around Goldie, one of ham’s retirees who is a delight, a fun old woman who used to hold freakouts (basically wild parties with disgusting 70′s style dishes), with her husband paul till he died and who cons ham into holding one at her old house.. which she sold but lies to him about still owning. But she still feels sympathetic, just wanting to honor her husband, and with ham rightfully calling her out for nearly getting him arrested. Plus her casual mentions of wanting to get some coke for the party (it falls through because her dealer is going to art school now and she’s proud of him) appeals directly to my love of cocaine themed humor, so it works.

The two’s friendship is also just heartwarming, with Ham geninely wanting ot help her and sharin ga dance with his pal and goldie giving ham solid advice: to not let the moment pass just because he’s young: he seems to have time but time is gone before you know it and thus he and Crispin should enjoy it. The episode is about not letting moments pass you by as you never know when they’ll be gone and ends with the two teens having a sixteen candles style moment on the roof that’ sutterly adorable.. even if they end up throwing out the geletan they brought because it’s gross. It has liver or something there were a llot of hilaroiusly gross dishes and a whole MUSICAL number to them in this episode.

The subplot really barely factors in, but is still highly entertaining as Judy gets into pottery, which leads to a great bit with her teacher gently telling people not to expect him to “ghost” them as he’s in a commited throuple with his patners wintergreen and mike, which likewise is some nice poly and gay rights. The shows queer rep as a whole is just nicely casual: ham and cripsins relationship just shows up a lot and casually as hell with the two using pet names and being cute, Judy is HEAVILY implied to be bisexual starting with season 2 and gay characters just crop up.

Judy turns out to be bad at pottery and her family, knowign she gets discouraged easy, let her run rampant with insane creations such as a plate that not only defies gravity but has several holes in it, a ceramnic shirt moon has to be cut out of and a fork that’s actually a candleholder. I didn’t think a show could get so many good jokes out of “character is bad at pottery” and was wrong. The family then tries to talk the guy into getting judy out of the class.. and all end pu singing instead because he’s that charming. Judy is absent because she’s helping ham with the party. All in all a solid, wholesome hilarious episode.

Say It Again, Ham Adventure

And so we come to the penultimate episode of season 2 and the last one of this marathon, and one I was honestly going to cover anyway, but rolled into this with two more fitting episodes.

This one uses Ham’s previously mentiond habit of having come out a bunch as a plot poitn and cleverly at that: Ham and Crispin watch the hilarious film within a film Danny Vroom: Gay in the Fastlane, which is over the top from Danny’s partner being named Buisnessman Greg, whose defintely not a cop, and feeling just as over the top as an actaul insprational story.

Ham feels coming out in films is usually overdramatic, though Crispin himself admits his had some flair as while his parents were accepting they also set off fire works and burned down their mailbox and had to pay a fine. Ham honestly can’t remember WHICH coming out was the first.. and soon realizes with Crispin’s help it’s because his coming out LACKED drama. Everyone was just .. cool with it and casually accepted it.. which is what really happened to me. While it was at the end of a long night for other reasons, my mom and brother both acccepte dme easily, as while I feared they woudln’t my fears were unfounded and I deep down knew they were. Even with my dad who I expected to reject me.. it wasn’t. He was perfectly lovely about it.. if then talking about protection. As of this review i’m still a virgin and have come nowhere near sex so.. yeah. Kinda pointless and mildly offensive but still better than I expected. So while I didn’t feel the need for a big coming out, I do feel this is something a lot of queer people might run into: because of media, assuming a coming out has to be this big dramatic teary moment when sometimes it just.. happens.

The family is supportive though in helping Ham find someone to dramatically come out to, as is Crispin, and Beef suggests his Cousin Danica who is HILAROIUSLY awful and a great one off character, being judgemental of everything to an extreme and not all exagerated by beef degree, to the point he cut off contact with her after her response to Moon’s birth announcement was “please make it stop”. His response to it is also graet “Ten years later and i’m still going.” Gratend Ham has to be TOLD this despite it being obvious sh’es who beef means, because i’ts ham, but still it’s great and she lives down to the descrption, telling moon to leave her rabbit collection alone , despite only having one “There’s only one lincoln memorial” “Not sure that’s how that works”, calling Judy a floozy which delights her in how offensive it is, for her leggins, and even can’t get the coming out thing righ tas before Ham can, it turns out she’s wanted by the police, two delightful sisters, one played by kat dennings who banter is a higlight of the episode and who are inept at their job, assumign they should keep their guns in the glove box. They do manage to disarm her at least

Wolf and Honeybee are busy in their own fun subplot doing a true crime podcast, getting hot dogs and finding out the crime was solved and they just didn’t finish the page. not much to comment on there, but i’m pleased to say all three subplots are great.

And of course we get payoff as Ham apologizes for this (and to the shows credit Beef offered an out if it got too intense), and admits he was just told by the media and just wanted a big moment to be seen, but admits having a family who just acccepts him is better. Though he gets his cake and eats it too as his family stages a coming out for him that night and they all hug. IT’s a wonderful episode, going into the pressures to have a big coming out, which to be fair hollywood DOES overdramatize een when the parent fully accepts as while many coming outs can be dramatic or traumtizing, they all aren’t, and just being plain funny

So that does it for gay as a fox and I have tenative plans to return it again next year with more shows, some returns to one here.. and hopefullyt his show. we have a whole season to go so hopefullyt here willb e more. Till then, thanks for reading, happy pride, and thanks for all of you who read all of these. It’s nice to see fox has come this far and hopefully it’ll only sail further as we go.

#the great north #ham tobin #fox #animation domination #pride month #lbgtq+

20 notes · View notes

jprgirl · 2 years

Text

S1E3 - God's Gift to Zebras

[I skipped a scene of the goddesses talking about how girls are swooning over Axl in the library and Stacey is pissed she has to keep stalking him.]

Anders complains to Ty that Axl doesn't want to sleep around, "One girl comas out on him and he thinks he has killer god sperm" - to which Ty points out that it was Axl's first time, so he didn't have a lot to compare it to.

Anders checks with Ty that he's never done that to a woman, right? And Ty replies that he's not Odin.

"But you're still a god; I'm still a god. What makes Odin so different?" "He's Odin, we're not."

Anders then gets weirdly annoyed? He tells Ty to be more positive, then asks if he wants to spend the rest of his life hiding away in his cold room. The implication I think being that Anders believes if they ascend they won't have to hide their powers anymore? I don't feel like this was a very fleshed out concept, like, even rewatching it several times I'm confused by what they were trying to really imply or get at here, other than to show that Anders thinks their powers are good and not something to be shamed about. But honestly Ty doesn't seem all that "negative" in the scene, and him saying he's happy with his hobby might be true, but overall his character arc is that he hates being a god, so even that feels awkward on rewatch.

Anders tells Ty that if he likes things the way they are, he should "shift to Alaska - hide there" and Ty gets a good little retort in after he leaves, "YOU shift to fucking Alaska."

This whole scene is a little weird? The jump from talking about Odin to telling Ty to be "more positive" and then getting pissy that he isn't unhappy with how things are - I'm just not sure what Anders was really doing here, and if he accomplished it. Were there more lines originally that ended up getting cut in editing? He seems to lose his patience out of nowhere and then fucks off, which leaves Ty alone to answer his phone (which sets up the rest of the episode).

Since this isn't a place Anders would just happen to be, it feels odd he'd go all the way to Ty's home just to have this short convo and storm off without convincing Ty of anything, or even really asking him to do anything.

In later seasons this would probably have been made a phone call, I think, but this was probably more visually interesting, even if I don't fully grasp Anders's character motivation. I almost want to say they made him get pissy that Odin is like, "special"? But I feel like Anders is more of a hype man to Axl than jealous overall in the series. Especially in the final season, where he openly sides with Axl over Mike.

IDK, this scene left me scratching my head on this rewatch, haha.

#the almighty johnsons #almighty johnsons #anders johnson #ty johnson #taj s1e3 #dean o’gorman #dean o'gorman #jared turner

23 notes · View notes

angorwhosebabyisthis · 1 year

Text

i think probably the core issue of lorien legacies, beyond anything to do with individual characters, is the mixed metaphors.

more specifically, about politics.

[longpost after the cut; a lot of talk about racism, xenophobia, fascism--including ecofascism--genocide, and all of the above being poorly handled. also some deeply upsetting anti-indigenous awfulness wrt the w-word.]

the writers try to make the series Heavy-Hitting and Deep and Socially Conscious by addressing real-world political issues like racism, fascism, religious fundamentalism, dictatorship, colonialism, genocide, and so on... and instead of trying to build it into a coherent dynamic with any kind of real statement about any of it, they just blindly grab at every political issue they can find and slap it together into a jumbled mess.

they don't actually understand any of the things they're talking about. and the most disturbing part is that they don't even limit themselves to drawing on bad neoliberal takes, and/or captain-obvious shit like 'genocide bad.' they ALSO draw on the politics of fascists and racists--sometimes unironically, sometimes putting it in the mouths of random protagonists without reason after establishing that it's supposed to be a bad thing, sometimes doing shit that strawmans itself into confirming the Bad Guy Fascism and what have you--and often they mix those metaphors in ways that are anywhere from bizarre to horrific.

('ya so the great replacement theory was completely right actually! the people you're genociding a hundred percent have dedicated their entire life, purpose, and remaining culture to exterminating yours. it doesn't matter if their survivors are down to the single digits, if you fail to kill even a single one of them they WILL successfully wipe you out. they will literally have your last few survivors rounded up and put into prison camps. three cheers for them!' jesus fucking christ.)

(don't get me started on shit like tossing blatant racist caricatures of north korea and its political issues into the mogadorians at some point, because why the fuck not, and then piling on the anti-japanese racism with a dump truck at the end of the first series and throughout the second. internment camps.)

(jesus fucking christ.)

and like. people don't react to this shit the way they realistically would. you cannot tell me that not a single one of the majority-POC cast in the second series would not rip a black hole into nine's irl-racist and scifi-MAGA, white-man-in-a-position-of-authority ass, or the shit that john's white-man-in-a-position-of-authority ass brings about himself under the guise of ~kindness and peace.~

and there's no logic to the kind of shit people will say and do about this stuff, especially in the sequel series. sometimes they'll express, like, basic antifascist/anti-racist/humanitarian/decent-in-general beliefs, and other times the most absolutely wild shit will come out of their mouths which either directly contradicts things they've said before--and might say after--or pulls from other blatant parts of that same horrific ideology. there is no rhyme or reason to most of it. it's just a clown car of racist/fascist/xenophobic nonsequiturs. what the hell.

and when i say nine is irl-racist in reborn i mean he casually calls a native american child the w-word as a '''lighthearted''' punny joke about his legacy. the kid is not even from any tribe whose culture they originate from; they never specify, because of course they couldn't be bothered lol, but miki is from alaska. on top of that, they had the dick ass and balls to have him randomly throw in a Very Special Episode scene where he talks about how his family are the direct-action variety of activists who he got separated from when they blew up an oil pipeline.

and he does not fucking blink at this. he doesn't say anything about it, he doesn't uncomfortably not say anything about it, he just goes on with the friendly conversation about his legacies which nine just called him a w-word for without missing a single beat.

and the ecofascism. good unholy fucking god the ecofascism. probably the most fundamental driving force of the entire first series is that if you don't ~take care of your environment~ your entire race/ethnicity/culture deserve to suffer and die slowly in the results. yes, all of them. it doesn't matter who was responsible. every last one. including the masses we see protesting on mogadore in flashbacks/visions.

also did i mention the Great Fascist Cult Leader who is responsible for the loric's genocide is a race traitor who took charge of wiping out his own? because that is a thing. it's a thing.

like. man i could go on. i could go on. and in other posts i probably will, because WOW is there a lot to unpack here. but it really does all come down to the fact that the writers wanted to sound meaningful and important and socially conscious, because that's what seems to be hip with the youth nowadays, and they don't have anything to say.

it's just gibberish. gibberish that arranges in some very telling ways as to the beliefs of their own that they are putting into the books. but gibberish.

and it pisses me off in a different way to have realized this, but god damn does it make it less tear-my-hair-out distressing than racking my brain trying to figure out what in the goddamn fuck am i looking at here.

(capitalism. capitalism is what i'm looking at here. and also racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, and just plain being fuckin stupid.)

lord.

#lorien legacies #the crit files #LL tag #LL crit tag #stares at the ceiling this series is so much #all of this is not even scraping the surface #the literal climax of the entire series is a japanese girl protagonist sacrificing herself by absorbing a nuclear bomb #with extremely graphic radiation victim imagery #takes two ibuprofen and holds a glass of ice water to my temple #racism cw #genocide cw #fascism cw #xenophobia cw #w-word cw #i am doubtless forgetting tags and will try to add them later if so #this shit is exhausting; both emotionally and because Writing Longposts #it says something here that the character analysis would be a welcome break #that does remind me i need to draft up and post some headcanons i came up with to move away from the gross NK shit with the mogs #and draw on the weird sxual/romantic overtones wrt god and jesus in evangelical christianity lmao #i am invested in writing about stuff to do with five; the mogs; and setrákus ra #and the thought of unironically using the term 'beloved leader' in my writing makes me taste copper in my mouth lmao

4 notes · View notes

inquisitorius-sin-bin · 2 years

Note

8, 33, 47, and 50 for the get to know you asks.

Thanks for the ask! I answered 47 and 50 here, but I'll try to give some back up answers this time!

8. where do you wish you could go?

Ohh, if only this list had an end haha. Out west is a big one for me, I've taken two trips to the Bay Area of California and one to the Phoenix area and Grand Canyon of Arizona, but other than that, the farthest west I've been is West Memphis, Arkansas. Or maybe New Orleans. They're about equally west tbh. But I really want to go to Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, hell. Even Texas. Just so much new and different wildlife.

Also like, abroad too obviously. But I don't really have a hope or prayer of affording that. Oceania would be a dream come true.

33. what’s a cool skill, party trick, or talent you have?

Not that I get to show it off much as parties, but I love rollerskating! I'm not necessarily super impressive, but I can do some basic tricks like Shooting the Duck (no actual ducks involved). Also idk if this counts I guess but I recreationally pipe smoke tobacco on occassion and I can blow smoke rings like some kind of Hobbit lol.

47. what’s your favorite time of day?

I mentioned Dawn and Dusk in my last post but special shout out to evening as well, I love a good night hike out in the woods or a swamp.

50. what’s your favorite book, movie, and tv show?

Book- Again I am like the worst reader ever because I just can't stay focused long enough to finish a book, but aside from Dune and Lost Stars... Well I thought Phasma was pretty good, and Heir to the Empire. I also listened to the audiobook for the first in the new Thrawn trilogy and remember liking it, but sadly, my retention for audiobooks is really low.

Movie- Jurassic Park will always be #1 in my heart, but I really like horror movies too, especially campy 80's/90's horror, and I love vampire movies (except those vampire movies). Like I watched Bram Stoker's Dracula wayyyyy too young and it probably shaped me forever lol. I love Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, Scream, Lost Boys, Van Helsing, etc.

TV Shows- Since I really struggled with this the first go round, how about I tell you about a TV Show I have an... interesting relationship with. So one of my best friends is super obsessed with LOST. And because she's really into it, I watched the first 4 seasons in college. But it was a really stressful time, there was a lot going on, and I just... straight up don't remember any of it. So flash forward to now, my husband has never seen LOST, and so she starts a podcast with him as the co-host and they watch the episodes and recap and I edit the podcast for the entire first season and holy shit. I still don't remember a goddamn fucking thing that happens in this show.

I uh, don't really love it. It has good moments, but goddamn the early 2000's were like, hella misogynist and homophobic and such. But at least for our second season we're splitting up editing duties. I didn't mind it, because it made my husband and my friend happy, but wow yeah. Podcast editing takes a lot of time and I am not as into LOST as they are lol.

5 notes · View notes

bubblegumteeastuff · 1 year

Text

My opinion of Stranger Things S4

I know it's late to upload or do this but that's when I can so here it is, Warning these opinions are for two episodes so this is part one where I only talk about the first two chapters.

Well we start with a narration by "eleven" that rather results in the narrative of a letter of the same that he had made for Mike.

In the same way they let us see mike, reading the same letter in his bed in his underwear, until Nancy takes him out of there to go to high school one day to visit "eleven" in California. With that fact they guide us again to California where eleven is harassed by Angela humiliating her and making uncomfortable comments, making her have a horrible time even making her believe that she still "has powers" but it only makes her look ridiculous and with a broken model about her life with "her adoptive father" hopper who incidentally confirms that he is alive why he sends a special package to Joyce.

Meanwhile mike and his friends spend a euphoric night after winning a campaign of the famous evil Dungeons and Dragons (1986) (will's favorite boardgame).

In fact this act on the part of the creators and show runners the duffer brothers's unworthy many fans, in fact not only the unworthy but also they thought it was hypocritical on the part of Mike and Lucas who just because they have "girlfriends" decided not to listen and play with their "best friend" (this on season 3), so the fact that Lucas and mike joined said club is somewhat hypocritical

For me, this fact should only pass as a fact to unite Mike and Will even more, and perhaps Lucas in case of season five.

meanwhile Lucas also wins his first basketball game which none of his friends attended for what we could call "own" reasons. That same night is the night that Mike must prepare to visit eleven in California.

While in California with "eleven", she is the victim of bullying by Ángela, who makes her have a bad time in class and after them, Ángela says that eleven's "father" is not a hero The real humiliating moment comes when Angela trips "eleven" causing the model she is carrying to break, seconds after said act eleven she finishes humiliating herself believing that she still has powers and after a "what the hell was that" from stacy eleven it only looks bad in front of the whole school.

Y And speaking of the father of eleven "Hopper", he announces that he is alive and after Mike's arrival, Murray also arrives who will help Joyce confirm if Hopper is alive. This too help's Joyce to "lie" their own son's and "daughter" about go Alaska for give "the fuck1ng money" to "Enzo" for the rescue of hooper who is in "the Motherland" which by 1986 was known as the now-dissolved (we believe) Soviet Union.

While in Hawkins one of the new characters witnesses the death of other new characters, Eddie Munson's sees Chrissy Couniham in his own trailer because of what we will know as "the curse of vecna", after this Eddie flees but this would result in him being the number one suspect in the death of the female.

This just in chapter one: "The hellfire club"

General opinion:

This chapter is just the introduction to the problems that are to come with vecna this minimum for "team Hawkins" and eleven. While for the California team it represents minimal and collateral damage.

This chapters like I said before, is just the introduction to all the drama comes for all of us, this is just to put the context and do not represent a big punch to the serie's but leave us look at little bit of what was, after the facts of season 3, the trauma of max, Lucas trying to be a "popular boy", mike & Dustin in the hellfire club being part of the "freaks" and side of eleven and Will bullying being part of their life Joyce's new job, and Jonathan being a university marijuana with his best friend "Argyle" is just a part of the things happen on S4, a innocent try to cover the problems are for coming.

Chapter two:The curse of vecna.

With a Eddie Munson's Fugitive from justice, Dustin with the help of Max's witness, and Steve and Robin, try to find Eddie with a database at Steve and Robin's work. They manage to find him in the house of "Rick the griffin" Eddie's drug dealer so with the help of the adults max and Dustin they get home where Edie had been hiding, there Eddie tells them what exactly happened with Chrissy in the trailer with that information Dustin thinks he can prove Eddie's innocence.

And this is the way in which they finally put a name to what they did to Chrissy based on one of the characters from the dungeons and dragons "vecna", once in this way they proceed to tell Nancy who at the pure Sherlock Holmes style and good "enola holmes" searches and finds clues without stopping.

This was the most important about chapter two season 4.

General opinion:

The chapter In short, it's the same as chapter one, plus it's full of references to criminal cases from the 80's. In addition to mentions of real criminals such as "ted bundy" and in addition to the fact that the chapter is based on showing us how Dustin and Steve work that "having an older friend" and also lets us know Eddie's point of view added to Nancy's help and the first attacks on max, which left more than one frozen which makes it somewhat slower than the others but with a greater depth perhaps.

And my opinion on the first two chapters of Stranger Things S4 ends here, if something does not seem to you I do not care but you are free to have a different opinion.

#byler #dailystrangerthings #mike wheeler #stranger things #will byers #byler is endgame #byler is canon #byler moodboard #byler theory #st4 theory #netflix #stranger things netflix #mike wheeler is gay #opinión #reseña #long post

6 notes · View notes

the-last-rat-standing · 2 years

Text

The reason that #Tiva and #Ellick were as protracted as they were is “they were just in denial, and we’d play with it now and again and never did anything with it. Fans are well aware of that!” the EP admits with a laugh. “But here we’re trying to do something that’s realistic to the time and place we live in — and, as a side note, is entertaining as well.”-Steven Binder

You do know these are fictional characters, right Mr. Binder? Because he speaks of them as if they have their own agency and they were in denial because, what could the writers do??

My god, how this show has made it to 20 years is beyond me. No, wait, I think we’re about to cover that in the next snippet-

.....

“That’s a really interesting veil, where Gibbs is and how we left him,” Binder points out. “There’s this feeling among the writing staff — and I share it — that we left him sort of nowhere but also everywhere. Like, when I think of Gibbs, I don’t think of him living in an apartment in Alaska. Instead, I imagine he’s sort of melted into pixie dust and is floating around in the sky until he is called back to duty.”

As such, Binder contends, to have a line of dialogue that crystalizes what Gibbs is up to and where would “smear dirt all over” the perfect ending that was crafted for the character in early Season 19. “When he has ‘appeared’ so far, it was things like the college trust fund that he deposited money into,” or NCIS: Hawai’i‘s mention of how Gibbs quietly steered Jane Tennant’s career, “things that gave us no shape to who or what kind of life he is living right now,” Binder notes. “We do have plans to involve him in those ways again… ways that don’t rip off the scab and don’t ruin this what I thought was the only fitting ending we could have given this guy.”

Melted into pixie dust and...jfc. There’s a lot to unpack here, holy hell. But ultimately, it’s the admission that they will continue to use Gibbs as a mention in order to keep the fans who keep asking about him at least sort of satisfied.

The “only fitting ending we could have given this guy” says everything you need to know about the limits of the writing staff. Dropping the main character into Alaska so he could ‘find peace’ is the only fitting ending they could have given him? Really? (And ffs, he’s not living in an apartment in Alaska. Did you not watch your own fucking episode??)

Which leads me to think one reason they’re stuck with ridiculous mentions like the Leroy Jethro Gibbs College Fund is because they can’t find a storyline that would bring Mark back, even as a ‘special guest’. I truly believe only Ducky’s death can bring Gibbs back (or the very last episode). Until then, the writers will continue to exhume the dead horse, beat it with a baseball bat, then bury it again until they need it for another episode.

4 notes · View notes

genevalentino · 20 days

Link

#2ndAmendment #IllegalImmigrants #peepingTominWomen'sRoominWalmart #riseup #stayingignorant #takebackourfreedom

0 notes

televinita · 4 months

Text

TV I Watched In 2023

Before I can even begin to answer survey questions about it, I have to remember what I actually watched. I have been tracking it month to month, but since I rarely finish an entire series or even a season within a month, all that data is stretched and scattered throughout the year and it takes a post like this to bring it all together. Does this need to be public? Probably not. But it is anyway!

Broken down by categories that are not, for the most part, genre:

INSTA-QUIT

Animal Control: 1x01

The Terror: 1x01-02

Quantum Leap (2022): 1x04

The Triangle (2005 miniseries): pt 1

SAMPLED, WILL COME BACK SOMEDAY

The Ranch: 1x01-02

Trinkets: 1x01

What If…?: 1x03 & 1x07

CURRENT SHOWS (SCRIPTED)

Abbott Elementary: S2

Night Court (2023)

That 90s Show

Ghosts (CBS): S2

Poker Face

Daisy Jones & The Six

Loki (full series)

Alaska Daily

Good Omens: S2

Big Sky: S2-3

La Brea: S2

Goosebumps (2023)

NEW TO ME

The Exes: 4x17-22, finishing what I started last year

Scott & Bailey: S3-5 (and a rewatch of S1)

The Night Manager (which I completely failed to reblog anything about because I was overwhelmed with joy; so good)

The Essex Serpent

Return to Cranford

Litvinenko

Slasher: S1

REALITY & GAME SHOWS

Survivor: S44-45

The Amazing Race: S32 & 35

The Chase: S3

Celebrity Jeopardy

Celebrity Family Feud: Chenoweth vs. Najimy

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune: Abbott Elementary cast

Cook at All Costs

Snack vs. Chef

Best Leftovers Ever

Pressure Cooker

The Traitors (both US and UK)

Snake in the Grass

Squid Games: The Challenge

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test: S2 (and 2 of S1)

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team: season 15

(I can't explain why I will watch 7 junk food reality shows before I watch one genuinely good series when I have sooo many of the latter on my watch list. It used to be because I wrote about every episode of TV, and it's always hard to articulate positive feelings well, but now I guess I just have an emotional block about processing Great Stuff without even having something to show for it afterward.)

RANDOM REWATCHES

Various episodes: 30 Rock; Seinfeld; Friends; The Simpsons (S7 & 12 mostly); Community (S1-2 mostly)

That 70s Show: 1x01-19

Survivor: Gabon (S17)

The Amazing Race: S32

The Office: S9

CSI: 4x12

Primeval: New World: 1x01

Doctor Who: 4x01-02; 4x06; 4x12-13

#a more talented person than me would make cool graphics about it #but that's just beyond my capabilities #year in review #tv watched in 2023

1 note · View note

sunmarketing · 1 year

Text

Best of North Island New Zealand

In this episode: The FAQ is: on being single and traveling: The destination is New Zealand, North Island. The lesson learned is: losing jewelry while traveling and the tip is: be willing to pause and be safe in travel.

FAQ : Ruth asks, I will be newly single in the new year and want to do some traveling that I did not have the opportunity to do when I was married, I am excited but a little timid about solo travel. Does anyone have any tips on trips that would be a good dipping the toe in the water?

Response: Being newly single is a great time to take a travel somewhere new. It’s ok that you’re timid at first. Some tips to dip your toe in the water will be found on Level 1 or Level 2 travel stages. Here’s some advice:

Don’t wait for your trip to come to you. Find out yourself how much you like travel and just start out small, this weekend take a trip on a city bus, train or to your nearby next city you’ve never seen. Go alone. Don’t be tempted to find a friend and see how you do.

Let me know when you get back how did that go.

Today’s Independent Destination- New Zealand’s North Island

New Zealand was one of the first locked down countries who did well with Corona Virus in 2020. In this episode, we’ll focus on the North Island, and in another episode, I cover the South Island.

My friend, Jenny Latto, talked to me about what’s new on the North Island, New Zealand. She’s an artist who lives in Waiuku, part of Auckland City, an hour’s drive to Auckland Central or downtown. About 8k away from her home are some surfing beaches, including one that has either black sand beaches on one side or white sand, whatever you prefer. She told me about a Sandspit beach with a slide into the water which sounds nice. They are on an 8-week holiday in the summer months, the opposite weather from the Northern Hemisphere. She said that you could really travel from one end of the north island in a day if you wanted to.

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-KohStor-t1-back-d3.html

If you go to NZ North Island, you’ll hear about the Waikato River, the longest river in NZ. 264 miles long.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikato_River

You may find a nice rural area in Ohakune, where the ski areas are nearby.

https://www.mountainviewestate.co.nz/about.php

Wellington on the North Island is nice to walk on the boardwalk and stroll the restaurants and waterfront bars.

Touristy places to visit include the Lord of the Rings sights and the Peter Jackson owned, Weta Studios in Wellington.

https://www.wellingtonnz.com/experience/see-and-do/weta-workshop/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/oceania/new-zealand/things-to-do-lord-of-the-rings-locations/

www.jennylatto.com

Today’s Lesson learned-losing jewelry on the road

Walking through a small town in Alaska, I felt a chain from my necklace in my sleeve. That was not a good sign. It indicated that my special cross from my necklace had broken and was missing. I have the chain, but not the pendant. The lesson learned was to buy a better chain with clasp. I had warnings prior that the clasp was old and I should have done something about that. So, learn from my lessons, replace the old clasp before you lose the pendant.

Today’s Travel Advice- Be willing to pause and be safe

Pandemic travel may be with us a long time, so you will be getting used to new ways of walking through airports, using public spaces, and making meaningful travel decisions, especially about safety. Be more willing to smile, take a breath, and to let someone go ahead of you in line during these stressful outings. You never know, you may just make someone’s day when you do. What a great experience that will be, right?

Website

Drmarytravelbest.com

Mary Beth on Twitter

Dr. Mary Travelbest Twitter

Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Page

Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Group

Dr. Mary Travelbest Instagram

Check out this Dr Travelbest episode!

#travel #women #dr travelbest #best travel

0 notes

tvrundownusa · 1 year

Text

tvrundown USA 2022.11.17

Thursday, November 17th:

(exclusive): The Dry (SundanceNow, Irish dramedy series, all 8 eps), Leopard Skin (Peacock, dark comedy series, all 8 eps), "Dragons: The Nine Realms" (hulu|Peacock, season 4 available, all 6 eps), "1899" (netflix, multilingual steamship drama premiere, all 8 eps), Dead to Me (netflix, season 3 available, all 10 eps, series finale), "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" (netflix, sweepstakes legal battle docu-series, all 4 parts)

(movies, etc.): "Christmas Party Crashers" (BET+), "Christmas With You" (netflix), "A Christmas Story Christmas" (HMax, sequel to classic film), "Santa Camp" (HMax, documentary), "Muxes" (HMax, Mexican third gender documentary), "I Am Vanessa Guillén" (netflix, documentary)

(streaming weekly): Impact x Nightline (hulu), Fleishman Is in Trouble (hulu, limited series premiere, first 2 eps), Star Trek: Prodigy (Para+), Gangs of London (AMC+, season 2 opener, first 2 eps), Indefensible (AMC+, penultimate), The Walking Dead (AMC+, "Episode Diaries"), First Wives Club (BET+, season 3 opener, first 2 eps), Partners in Rhyme (AllBlk), Titans (HMax), Pennyworth (HMax, penultimate), The Big Brunch (HMax, next 3 eps), The Sex Lives of College Girls (HMax, season 2 opener, first 2 eps)

(original made-for-TV movies): "Sweet Navidad" (LIFE, 2hrs+), "Dirty Little Secret" (LMN, 2hrs)

(also new): Thursday Night Football (AmazonPrime, streaming live), Jeopardy! "Tournament of Champions" (syndicated, game 4 in "best of 7"), "Pickled" Celebrity Pickleball Tournament (CBS, fundraiser special, 2hrs)

(hour 1): Walker (theCW, midseason finale), Law & Order (NBC), Hell's Kitchen (FOX)

(hour 2): Walker: Independence (theCW, midseason finale), Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Welcome to Flatch (FOX) / / Call Me Kat (FOX), / Ultimate Marksman (HIST)

(hour 3): Alaska Daily (ABC, midseason finale), Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC), Indefensible (Sundance)

(hour 4 - latenight): Top Gear (BBCAm, season 33 opener), Best Of 'All The Smoke' (SHO), Hell of a Week (COM), TallBoyz (Fuse)

[preempted, returning in three weeks on Dec.8th: Young Sheldon (CBS) / / Ghosts (CBS), So Help Me Todd (CBS), CSI:Vegas (CBS) ]

#TopGear #DeadToMe #FirstWivesClub #pickleball #VanessaGuillen #television

1 note · View note

railingsofsorrow · 3 years

Text

Happier Than Ever

[B.A.U team × Reader]

summary: the bau is required on alaska for a case and reader has to confront some ghosts from her past. or, in which I got inspired by happier than ever from billie eilish.

pairing: b.a.u × platonic!b.a.u!fem!reader; slightly spencer × reader

word count: 5.1K (I've never written this?long?before?)

warnings/content: tw!drugs; tw!childhood trauma; tw!abuse; mental health issues; read at your own risk; reader is the baby of the team; too much angst <3; fluff? I think?

• Y/L/N = your last name

• reader's mother's name is Charlotte Parks

A/N: This is 100% an au because nothing came from the episodes, I created a random case for the first time. does it make sense? I hope so :)

ps: press play on happier than ever by billie while reading. the experience is 1000/1000.

➶ ➷

Kodiak was a small island located in Alaska. It had over six thousand habitants, therefore, it wasn’t a big city. It was hidden by mountains and explored by bears.

That was Y/N’s favourite thing about Kodiak; whenever she looked there were mountains covered by white dust on top of them. When she was a kid, she would imagine the bears racing to see who would be the first to reach the top of the mountain. Her mind used to be so full of innocence and fantasy.

Reminiscing these moments were something she did not want. That’s why her body froze when JJ announced the location of their next case.

“Kodiak, Alaska. Get your coats, guys.” JJ jokes halfheartedly, turning the screen off, finally. Victims images would never be easy for her. Specially children.

When Hotch declares ‘Wheels up in twenty’ everyone starts to leave the round table room to grab their stuff and meet on the jet.

As Y/N checks if everything necessary was in her go bag, Penelope approaches with her pink and blue strands and a beaming smile. “Got a coat in there, baby tiger? I checked the weather in Alaska and let me tell you; it should be considered a crime anything bellow sixty— Y/N?” The woman touches her shoulder, causing Y/N to snap out of her thoughts.

“Hey, Pen.” She knowledges the blonde with a tight-lipped smile, zipping her bag shut to put it over her left shoulder

“You’re okay, bub?” She asks as they begin to walk towards the elevator. “Seemed a little out of it for a sec,”

Y/N presses the button as soon as they get inside the metallic box. She turns to her friend with a reassuring smile, “Yeah, all good. Just an annoying headache.”

Penelope decides to believe her for now.

Before the doors can close, Spencer blocks it with his hand, smiling sheepishly to the girls as he enters the elevator.

Y/N has no idea that the headache is about to become a full on migraine of at least for three days straight.

Coming back home was like dropping a ton of bricks on her shoulders without warning. Y/N was already exhausted. By the time they landed, she had checked her bag exactly twice— going for the third time.

Spencer squinted his eyes as he glances at her, passing a strap of his satchel over his shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

Zipping up her bag finally, she turns to him. “Me? Yeah, I’m perfect.”

Spencer inhales deeply before talking, “Constantly checking your things and biting your inner cheek it’s a behaviour response to a chronic anxiety disorder called OCD,” He let out in one breath, squeezing the strap of his satchel nervously. “Which means that something or someone triggered you. So, I’m asking: are you okay?”

Spencer Reid was the first person Y/N clicked with when she arrived at the Bureau, she loved his ramblings, even knowing that sometimes they could get too much. Specially right now that he was throwing her OCD right at her face.

Y/N gulped down a snarky comment, turning to him with arms crossed, “Thank you for putting your profiling skills at display, Spencer. If anyone hadn’t told you that before, you are an exceptional profiler.” By the tone in her voice, despite her gentle smile, he realized she was upset. His shoulders instantly drops and he open his mouth to retract what he said, but she quickly interjects. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to get to the jet.”

Spencer watches his friend go with a helpless look.

It was cold when they arrived. The snow announced that it would get even colder. Mountains were covered in white dust in the top like a white chocolate cake; that’s what made the postcards of the city.

Hotch divided the team as soon as they landed on Alaska. Rossi, Derek, and him would be going to check out the crime scene, while Spencer and Garcia would be analysing the surveillance cameras. Lastly, Emily, JJ and Y/N would be going to the police station to gather old files they’d need to investigate and talk to the families of the victims.

They noticed a pattern during the interviews by the third family member: when a school day was finished, some kids would wait for their parents to come pick them up, and some would simply walk home by themselves, since it was a short path and a seemingly safe neighborhood. The target was the kids that went home alone. Even if, in some cases, the girls had heard they left in a group, somehow, one kid would still disappear.

“There has to be a specific spot they go through. Maybe a short cut?” Y/N prompts, analysing the pictures of the crime scenes and the school surroundings at the same time. She was trying to find anything in common. Besides the trees and the avenue, there was nothing. And the unsub could not just snatch a twelve year old in the middle of their friends on a highly trafficked area.

“Even if they did get the short cut, which is a street behind the school,” Emily pointed at an image “Michael and Ella were never targeted and they always go through this way to get home.”

Y/N bit her lip pondering, “They’re the only kids to get the short cut, right?”

“Yes.” Emily confirms.

JJ sighs, sitting down in the nearest chair. “The only pattern here is that the unsub waits for them to leave school to kidnap them, not before school starts, never on weekends...”

“It’s always the last one.”

“What?” JJ and Emily look up at Y/N questioningly.

Y/N harshly places the statement documents in front of the two agents, who gets startled. “It’s always the last kid that is targeted. Look,” Her index finger points to a certain part of the statement that one of the parents gave, “Hanna’s mom says ‘we live by the park, it used to be a safe spot for children’— Okay. Now, Ryan’s parents say ‘it’s close to the school, just across the park— It’s the park! The park is the main spot for this guy. Or woman.”

“They wait for the last kid to be left alone,” Y/N carry on with the idea, straightening her back as the images gain life in her brain. They observe, intrigued. “... enter the park, they hold until an opportunity comes and bam, catches them.”

“You think they're bold to the point of kidnapping children in the middle of the park?” JJ asks, frowning.

Y/N meets her blue eyes, shaking her head, “I don’t know. But he or she sure is bold by the fact that there’s two kids missing in a course of two days.” She sits down by Emily’s side and exhales in frustration. “What do you think, guys?”

Jennifer picks up the map of the city and a red marker, “I think we need to rule out unspecified areas around the school. If the unsub goes through the park, that means they're not keeping the victims close by.” Y/N hums in agreement, standing up so she could have a better access to her friend’s work. Emily does the same thing, and occasionally gives input to where the blonde should circle.

“I’m gonna go call Hotch. See if they find anything. This could help.” JJ nods as Y/N walks out of the office. There was no reception in the room they where working in, so she had to move outside to pick up a signal.

Y/N huffs when no line appears. As she moves forward, it finally reaches a signal of reception.

She stops abruptly when she collides into someone. Quickly apologizing for her clumsiness while the phone is in her ear. However, when she looks up at the person, everything seems to freeze as the top of the mountains in Kodiak. Y/N thinks she can actually feel her blood stop running through her veins.

“Y/N?” The woman inquires, as shocked as she was.

“Agent Y/L/N?” Her boss calls through the phone at the same time.

The later that makes her blink away from the previous inertia state she was in, “Hi- hi, Hotch. I’m sorry, mhm—” what was she supposed to say anyway?

“Is everything okay, Y/L/N?”

“Yeah! Huh. We were studying the geographical profile and we found a common spot where the kids pass by.” Y/N stole a last glance at the woman, that kept on staring at her as if she was a ghost, and stepped towards the exit of the police station. Pretending there was a better reception there. “I thought it was important for you to know, since you’re in one of the crime scenes. Is everyone there?”

Cleaning her throat—that suddenly seemed very dry—she holds for a reply.

“Everyone is here, sunshine. Go ahead.” Derek’s voice chimes on the line. Thinking that Hotch must’ve put on speaker, she begin the theory she and the girls had created.

Although, as soon as the call ended, her mind went back to the police station. And someone she hasn’t see for a long time.

A few hours later, the team joined each other to talk about the profile they would be delivering to the community.

“I’ll make some calls for the press conference,” JJ announced, leaving the room. The rest kept on sharing ideas while the public announcement didn’t came.

“How come the only thing that was found was a handkerchief?” Garcia pressed, typing loudly in her computer. Her deep frown gave away her annoyance with the case. “This bastard kidnaps children and has the audacity to, not only think about everything beforehand, but he also knits up after taking them away!”

Spencer nods fast while scribing away in the board with his messy handwriting. “That says a lot about the unsub, actually. The fact that he hasn’t left anything else in the other crime scenes means that he or she is a person with neat behaviour,” He closes the marker with a click and turns around before continuing the clarification. “Which leads to an organized offender, that is likely to be antisocial, cold...” He gives a pointed look to Y/N, who was watching his explanation quietly. The agent’s eyes widened, indicating she was caught off guard.

“Huh... Probably has OCD tendencies and is inclined towards a more dangerous persona.” Y/N concludes, breathing out in relief right after. She sends him a dirty glance, “I told you not to do that, Reid.”

Spencer simply shrugs, unbothered. A hint of a smile on his lips.

Y/N was finishing a master’s degree in psychology behaviour, so she asked who she considered to be the best professional in the area to give her some inputs: Spencer Reid. She just did not know his method of teaching were questions like that in the middle of random investigations, completely unexpected.

“But, they can also be social, right?”Y/N recalls some of his words from few days back, biting the cap of the pen distractedly, “Have a steady job... Family... Which changes the usual organized profile.”

“That way he can gain trust and insert himself in the investigation. You’re doing a good job, sweetheart. Keep it up. I know the teacher helps.” Derek playfully slaps Spencer in the shoulder and gives a wink at Y/N, that just roll his eyes at his antics.

“Please, if cornering is a great method of teaching...”

“Oh, c’mon!” Reid complains at her.

She grins at him, throwing a crumpled paper ball in his direction. He doesn’t dodge in time and it hits his cheek.

“Good aim, baby tiger.” Penelope lifts her hand to high five her. Y/N obeys proudly.

“Okay, children.” Rossi enters the room with Aaron on his heels. All attention goes to him. “Time to go. It’s all for today.”

Emily frowns, “But, aren’t we delivering the profile?”

“Not today,” Hotch says, “We should sleep on it to deliver something more concrete in the morning. Besides, the whole city is on edge, this will only cause a bigger disruption tonight.”

Everyone agrees. It was a delicate case, and a bunch of tired FBI agents or a frantic community wouldn’t be of much help. So, they left the station and went to their cars to get to the designated motel.

However, as soon as Y/N unlocked the vehicle, her name was called. Emily, who would be sharing a ride with her, looked back too. Eyebrows raising when she sees one of the witnesses from the last crime scene.

“Y/N, honey,” Emily blinked in astonishment as the nickname left the lady’s mouth. “Could I have a word with you?”

Y/N squeezes her hands into fists, knuckles turning white, “No.”

The stranger takes a step closer, entering Y/N’s personal space and touching her shoulder, “Please. It’s been so long...”

“And whose fault is that?” Y/N hisses, snatching her arm away. She got into the driver’s seat, closing the door harshly.

As she begins to drive, the review mirror shows the woman watching her with longing. It’s too late now, mother.

“Who was that? Are you okay?” Emily asks, concerned. When Y/N speeds over a red light, she knows what the answer is “Hey! Y/N, slow down.” Emily orders, holding on the car seat. “Stop the car, now.”

Y/N shakes her head, feeling her throat close up. The last thing she has control of doing is parking the car by the side of the road messily. She then opens the door and crouches down; with hands on her knees she begins to heaves.

Emily is holding her hair back in the second she reaches her.

The only meal Y/N had that day goes straight out to the grass as her back archers forward. Emily grimaces, caressing her back.

When she feels nothing will come back through her throat anymore, she stands herself up with Emily’s help.

“Easy, easy. Are you dizzy?” Emily questions while leading her to the passenger side of the car. Y/N shakes her head in denial. “Liar.” Emily blurts out, “You can barely stand, Y/N.”

“Thanks for pointing out my misery.” Y/N mumbles, eyes closed because everything seemed to be spinning around. I will not pass out right now. She warned her subconscious.

“Y/N,” Emily calls, giving her a worried glance, “Should we go to an Emergency?”

The girl chokes out a laugh, “Em, I’m fine. It was probably something I ate. Don’t worry.”

Emily narrows her eyes at the road, mentally glaring at Y/N. “Stop lying. You’re terrible at it.”

Silence becomes active in the car after that.

When Emily is parking in the motel, Y/N says in a cornered voice, “It was my mom.”

Emily looks over, her neck almost snapping by the fast movement, “That woman who talked to you?”

Y/N nods, playing with her fingers quietly. Emily frowns at her behaviour. There was something there. You didn’t have to be a profiler to see it.

“You wanna talk about it? I won’t pressure you, but just know that I’m here to listen, okay?” She takes one of her hands and gives a soft squeeze. Y/N looks up and smiles softly, muttering a low thank you.

That night, she told Emily everything. Everything about her past that she just wished to forget, but couldn’t. She told her how her mother treated her and how the drugs made everything worst; she told her how she was a target every single night her mother would come home in a bad mood; she told her she still had marks of each beating, and in parts of her body that had healed, the healing was only physical for she’d never forget.

Emily listened. And not once there was a pity look on her face, one that Y/N kept searching for but couldn’t find. There was just a hint of anger, but most of all, understanding. She was listening.

By the time Y/N stopped talking, it was over midnight.

“Em, you need to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow—”

“I’m gonna ask you something and I want you to be truthful, alright?” Y/N closes her mouth, confused. She nodded. “Do you think you can stay in the investigation?”

That made her flinch away from her. Emily quickly realized she had asked the question in the wrong words, “I can do my job, Emily. My traumas never got in the way of that. I told you this because you asked—”

“Y/N, I never told you you couldn’t do your job. I know you can. I’m just worried it might cause you a worst reaction than- than the one that happened tonight.”

Y/N crossed her arms, looking away. Emily waited.

“I can do it. I- I just need her to stay away from me.”

Emily sighs, nodding, “Right. I’ll make sure of that.”

At exactly nine a.m, the BAU delivered a profile. The ofender was a male; organized and was probably cold towards adults but softened towards kids. He had a steady job, a family, probably a child the same age of the missing children, and it was likely to insert himself in the investigation to try to outsmart the police, pretending to be worried about his own. He was between mid thirties to forty-five years old, caucasian, didn’t have a very strongly built body, and probably suffered a trauma not long ago that was the stressor to commit the kidnapping.

They didn’t spoke about the handkerchief. That was something they would watch closely every man to have and how they used it.

“I got five guys that matched your description,” Garcia blurs out, trying to match their fast walking.

“Show us.” Hotch requested.

Once they entered the office, Penelope went straight to her computer. Derek on her heels, watching her work. “What you got, baby girl?”

As Garcia described the suspects, they crossed off three, leaving two.

“Okay, so there’s Mark Cowen and Ben Parks. Both work at the local real state company.” Penelope turned the screen to the rest of the team so they could see the images

“Ben Parks, we interviewed him yesterday,” JJ shares a look with Emily, “He kept on fixing the papers in and pens on the desk, but overall he was pretty calm.”

That was the guy her mom was currently married with.

“Too calm.” Emily crosses her arm, standing straight.

“You think this could be our guy?”

“He had a handkerchief and is always wearing a suit,” Y/N pipes in for the first time in the morning. The whole team just remembered she was there with them. “I realized it this morning. He doesn’t have work today, why wear a suit to get out of the house?”

“Maybe he likes to look formal?”

The door burst open, attracting the agents and doctor attention, “Another kid went missing,” A cop said out of breath.

Everyone rushes out of the office to see every TV on the news channel, warning of another missing kid in the peaceful neighbourhood. The media taking pictures and shoving their mics into the people present at the crime scene. Without the FBI.

“Are you kidding me?!” Derek lashes out.

“Officer Marlow, how did they get this information before us?” Rossi asked sternly.

The officer had his head practically fuming out of anger, “I don’t know, agents. You can be sure this was not my order.”

“Well, now we have to go over there and stop the vultures from ruining all the evidence. Great job!” Y/N spats, walking away with heavy steps.

Hotch was probably going to order for her to take a walk anyway, so she did it before he asked.

Spencer goes after her before Emily can stop it. She sighs frustrated.

“We need to go. They’ll meet us there. There’s one more kid on the line now.”

Spencer sprints after Y/N and when he finally catches up to her, he holds her elbow so she can stop. She turns to him, trying to pry her arm off. He let her go and raised his hands in surrender, “What is going on, Y/N?” He asks, dropping his shoulders and hands. “You’ve been on edge since before we get here. And I saw the way you tensed whenever Charlotte Parks was mentioned,” Y/N opens her mouth and closes it multiple times like a fish. “You can tell me.” He said in a more soft manner, taking a step closer to her.

Y/N pushes her hair back, looking away. “Can we do this while driving to the crime scene?”

Spencer exhales, but agrees. With one condition: he’s driving. Y/N merely rolls her eyes at that. She was a great driver in all situations!

“She’s my mother.” Y/N mutters putting her seatbelt on as he exits the parking lot. Spencer frowns, eyes still focused on the road. “No—she gave birth to me. That’s all. Remember that I told you I lived with my aunt in California?”

Spencer hums a small yes.

“I ran away and that was the only place i ever felt safe. She didn’t look for me. Didn’t call. And I’m sure my aunt told her exactly where I was, Spencer. She just never cared.”

“Why did you ran away?” He asked carefully. He was scared for the answer. Spencer didn’t want it to be what he was assuming.

“Because I got tired of get beaten up for existing.” Y/N says, bitterly. “Sometimes she would come home with a new box of cigarettes and would make sure I-” Her voice breaks, interrupting her rant. She wipes the few tears that fall harshly. Focus on the case. The kids need you. “She made me hate this fucking city.”

Suddenly, Garcia’s voice played in her mind like her favourite song: Ben Parks last location was in a residence for selling.

“You don’t have to carry on if you feel uncomfortable—”

“Turn left!” Spencer looks at her and quickly goes back to the road.

“What?!”

“Turn left on the next street. This one. Right now right now right now!”

The tires screech against the sidewalk as the Doctor turns a narrow left. Y/N helds onto the seat for dear life.

“Keep going straight. At the third street you turn right.”

“Mind telling where we’re going, Y/L/N?” He only called her by her last name when he was being serious. And she could see he was annoyed.

Y/N bit her lip, almost drawing blood. “You know what Garcia said about a property to sell, a little over the lake?” Spencer nods, paying attention to the avenue but listening closely. “I asked her to search a little bit through it. It hasn’t be sold for more than three years, Spence. A house being sold for a great price in that neighborhood? Why is it still available?”

She could practically see the engines in his brain turning. “You think that’s where the kids are being kept.” It wasn’t a question, he knew she was sure by the certainty in her voice.

“Call Hotch.” It was all he said before parking in the sidewalk.

Everything was covered with snow, you could barely see a spot to step where it wasn’t white. The lake, a few metters away from them, was completely frozen.

Y/N hanged up after being yelled at by Garcia for leaving like that. Hotch was sending reinforcements. Although they weren’t one hundred percent sure, they couldn’t go in in a place where the victims were being held with possible killer that could come back at any moment.

“What are you doing?” Spencer hisses, catching her walking further as he closed the car door. Y/N pointed at the house. It was a good view to wake up to: mountains and full of trees. The perfect spot for reserved couples. Or for a kidnapper that didn’t wish to attract attention. “I can see that,” He walked towards Y/N, wrapping the FBI jacket over her shoulders. “Zip up, it’s too cold. You’re not thinking about going over there, are you?”

“Just survey the area,” She replies, inserting her arms on the jacket and zipping up as she was told to. “Can you cover for me?”

Spencer crossed his arms, “No. We’re waiting.”

“Great. The kids have been waiting for three days to be at their homes safe. How about making them be in danger for longer?”

“They’ll be here, Y/N.” He eyes his wristwatch, “In about... Fifteen minutes. Traffic here is low.”

Y/N rolls her eyes.

There was moment of comfortable silence between them as they watched the mountains. Until Spencer breaks it.

“You think she didn’t change, right?”

Y/N is surprised by the question.

“What do you mean?”

He exhales slowly, locking eyes with her, “Do you think your—that woman is still the same way she was before?”

“Does it matter?”

That seemed to satisfy him. “No, it doesn’t. I was just wondering.”

Y/N buried her hands in the jacket, a foolish attempt to warm them up. She kicked a rock distractedly, “You were wondering if I’d consider having her back in my life after everything... If she showed remorse now.”

“You’re getting good at analysing behaviour.”

“I’m good at reading you, not any behaviour.”

They shared timid smiles.

“To answer your question, I wouldn't. I never even forgave her after all those years... I'm not a person to forgive and forget, I guess.” Y/N shares, smashing snow between her fingers absentmindedly. “Does that make me a bad person?”

Reid’s phone goes off before he could reply to her question, interrupting their conversation. He picks up after a sigh, “Hey, Morgan... Ben Parks? So we were right... Don’t worry, we’ll be careful.” Upon hanging up, Spencer turns around to tell Y/N the news that they’ve got enough proof to arrest Ben Parks. What he sees, however, makes his throat dry.

Y/N was already half away across the river.

He yelled her name but it was no use, she was too far gone. A minute later his cellphone vibrated with a message. “Cover for me :)”

He scoffed in disbelief.

“Please, be careful. They found a match of Ben Parks’ DNA in the handkerchief of the first crime scene. He got away.” He quickly types and sends.

Not even a minute later, she replies.

“Ok.”

Y/N managed to take the kids to safety. However, it wasn’t that easy to find them inside the house. They were under a hidden basement; the opening right under the carpet.

As the twelve years old were lead towards their parents on the other side of the lake by Emily Prentiss and Spencer Reid, a tense silence welcomed the team. Y/N still hasn’t left the house, and they were informed a little boy was still inside.

“Where the hell is she?” Derek pressed the ear-in forcefully, as if that would make the girl answer.

“Rossi? Any eyes on Y/N?” Emily asked through her ear-in.

“Not yet—”

“Mr. Parks. Drop the weapon.”

“Everyone, stay put.”

That was the last both heard before things the line went silent again. Emily shared a worried glance with Derek, as Spencer did with JJ.

“I’m sure they’re fine.” JJ gave her best friend a soft squeeze on his shoulder

“He’s inside with them, JJ, what if—”

“Drop your fucking gun or I’ll kill them!”

The scene unfolding was dreadful. Ben Parks was pointing a gun at the back of Y/N’s head, while Y/N held a boy with swollen face and red eyes in front of her, making sure she covered the aim of the gun from the kid.

“You’re making the wrong choice, Ben.” Hotch warns, studying any loophole in his posture so he or his team could shoot. “We can do this peacefully.”

“You took my kid from me— You-- you, took her away! Where is the fucking peace on that, huh?” In a spit of rage, he yanked Y/N's arm back, causing her to let go of the boy against her will.

Ben Parks had lost his daughter when she was five years old. She was kidnapped and a ransom was required. Unfortunately, the girl was already dead by the time she was found. He was never the same after this. His marriage broke down and his behaviour changed completely.

That was the stressor.

“Go!” She said to him. His big amber eyes watched her horrified. But, JJ picked him up and rushed him behind her.

The unsub laughed in mockery. Y/N flinched at the close sound to her ear. “You know... When your mother told me about you I'd never guess you would become a cop. That fragile little girl...” She almost vomited when he sniffed on her neck. That was disgusting.

And to think her mother married someone like that. Had a kid too. That poor boy. She saw it in his eyes when he hesitated to go that he was way different than his parents.

“Fragile?” She whispers back, taunting him.

The issue with reckless people was that they never thought about the consequences their actions would bring.

Now, Y/N couldn't care less.

“Guys, it's cracking.” Emily croaks out. JJ follows her eyes and immediately understands. The ice had cracks written in its surface like a delicate drawing. One wrong step, and everything would swim in freezing water.

“We have to take her out of there.” Spencer is stopped by Derek, that pushes him back “Derek!”

“You stay here.”

“Ben!” Rossi yells, also realizing what was happening. “Let her go, so we can talk.”

“The only thing I'm going to be letting go is a bullet through her pretty little brain, Agent Rossi.” Ben replied calmly. It was terrifying to watch someone change behaviour so fast. In less than three minutes the guy would me fuming, and then, he would laugh and calm down instantly.

“You're a coward.” Y/N blurts out.

There's a pause.

“Excuse me?”

“You-are-a-coward.” She repeats, pausing in between every word.

“You've reached your limit, bitch.”

His finger press begin to press against the trigger, but in a millisecond, Y/N manages to step on the ground with as much force as she can get. Hitting his stomach with her elbow and punching his jaw as she throws herself away.

The last thing she hears is her name being called, and then, she feels the ice break.

➶ ➷

sources I used:

- criminal minds (obviously)

- these three sites; 1 2 3

#criminal minds #spencer reid #BAU × reader #platonic #angst #tw: mentions of trauma #derek morgan #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #penelope garcia #aaron hotchner #david rossi

205 notes · View notes

pluckyredhead · 2 years

Text

Please Care About Aquaman With Me: The Nineties, Part 1

Welcome back to Aquahell! Today we are going to begin to tackle the 90s. This decade is going to take several parts to cover because there are a lot of new characters and mythology introduced and also it’s bonkerstown. But it’s also the era that has me in my “makes no damn sense...compels me, though” feels, so I’m pretty excited. Also we are getting MY BOY KORYAK. *blows him an underwater kiss*

We begin with the short-lived 1991 series, in which the most important thing established is that Atlantis has really hilarious phones:

I love this so much. Yes, they have phones. Yes, they are attached to a giant switchboard like it’s 1925. Incredible.

That guy on the phone is King Thesily, who took over when Arthur stepped down from the throne last time. He is not super stoked about how everyone in Atlantis still likes Arthur better and Arthur does whatever the fuck he wants all the time, so he makes him an ambassador to get him out of town. Arthur continues to do whatever he wants and Thesily gets even crankier about it.

Also, there are FINALLY MERPEOPLE:

SPAK!

So this series establishes that Arthur was actually only king of the city of Poseidonis; the merman is King Iqula of the other major Atlantean city, Tritonis. (They are both descended from the same people...it’s a whole thing. Do we want me to cover The Atlantis Chronicles? Maybe that’ll be a Very Special Episode.) I know Iqula seems like a bad guy here but he’s actually a good dude - aggro, but honorable and eventually a reliable ally to Arthur, not that that prevents horrible things from happening to him. Also his wife, like Arthur, is blonde, and this is the first time such a thing is referred to as THE CURSE OF KORDAX, which we will get into more later.

Also, we meet the dolphin who raised Arthur, who he considers his mom. Her name is Porm.

And...yeah, that’s about all I care about in the 1991 series. Now we enter...THE PETER DAVID ERA.

Peter David wrote a four issue miniseries called Aquaman: Time and Tide, which was followed by the 1994 ongoing, which he wrote for nearly 50 issues, plus various “extra” issues like Annuals and stuff, so he really shaped a lot of Aquaman lore for many years. I...do not love his Aquaman the way I love his Supergirl and Young Justice, but I'm sort of fascinated by it? It’s much more firmly an epic high fantasy series and not a superhero series, which is absolutely my preferred flavor of Aquaman.

So! Time and Tide. At the end of the 1991 series, Vulko gives Arthur a series of books called the Atlantis Chronicles, which are...you know, the history of Atlantis. Time and Tide shows Arthur reading them and reacting to them by remembering his own past. There is a separate seven issue series, also by Peter David, called The Atlantis Chronicles, that details that history, but like I said, that might wind up being a separate Very Special Episode of Aquasplaining.

Anyway, remember the Curse of Kordax?

Yeah, so some of the Chronicles were written by Arthur’s mother Atlanna, who claims that he was conceived not by her husband the king, but by an ancient Atlantean sorcerer named Atlan, which is why he has abilities beyond those of normal Atlanteans. Also Atlan (and thus Arthur) was descended from a blond lizard monster named Kordax. Arthur is skeptical about both of these claims.

Over the course of the series, he remembers being raised by dolphins and discovering humans, being briefly taken in by a lighthouse keeper named Arthur Curry who he considers his father and whose name he took, and finally of making his way to Alaska, where he saved an Inuit girl named Kako from a polar bear. In gratitude, her family took him in and he and Kako grew close.

Very close.

SIIIIIGH. There it is, the good old-fashioned “indigenous woman throws herself at the brave white hero” trope! Why isn’t she wearing underwear? They are OUTSIDE IN ALASKA IN WINTER. (More on the angry dude watching them in a minute.)

Afterwards, they fall asleep (IN THE SNOW!!! there’s no time for logic, we have a teenage girl of color to exploit and abuse!) and Arthur has a dream about a monster named Nuliajuk threatening him. When he wakes up, Kako has been carried a few feet away and slashed all over with something sharp, but she’s still (barely) alive. He takes her back to her home and tells her family it was Nuliajuk; her grandfather says that Arthur has brought a curse down on their family, has a heart attack, and dies. Arthur is kicked out and will not see Kako again for many more years.

Anyway, Arthur finishes reading the Chronicles and then recalls an encounter with his enemy Ocean Master, who we covered in the Silver Age episode. Orm has now been given the last name Marius and has been retconned from being Arthur’s fully human half-brother to Kako’s cousin - that’s him in the last panel above. During this flashback fight, Orm angrily accuses Arthur of stealing Kako from him, revealing that she wasn’t attacked by Nuliajuk - he did it (somehow without waking her or Arthur and without her crying out???). He also rants about how his mom was a slut because she claimed his real father was an ancient Atlantean wizard who impregnated her in a dream.

Present day Arthur suddenly puts two and two together and realizes that Orm’s mom’s description of Atlan matches his mother’s, which means that a) Atlanna was telling the truth and Arthur’s father really is an ancient wizard, and b) he and Orm are half-brothers. He is shooketh, and the miniseries ends.

Which brings us to...the 1994 ongoing! Our story begins with Arthur and Garth being lured into a trap by a new villain called Charybdis, who has also captured a woman named Dolphin. Dolphin has been around since the 60s but never interacted with the Aquafam before. She’s a human girl who was experimented on by aliens who gave her various aquatic powers. Also, she loves wearing jorts underwater, which...you know, we all make choices. Sometimes those willingly involve wet denim, I guess.

Anyway, Charybdis cackles evilly for a while, then forces Arthur’s hand into piranha-infested waters and they, um, eat it down to the bone. It’s pretty gross. Dolphin rescues Arthur by shooting Charybdis in the chest, then taking both him and Garth, who is also badly injured, back to Poseidonis.

Garth immediately develops a crush on her, which is too bad for him because Dolphin only has eyes for Arthur. (For context, Dolphin is about Garth’s age; Arthur is old enough to be her father, if he was a teen parent. Which he was. FORESHADOWING.)

We also learn that when Garth is horny, he says mortifyingly embarrassing things. This will be consistent going forward. Garth, no.

Meanwhile, Arthur replaces his missing hand with a harpoon. Everyone becomes very concerned about his mental health:

(He grew a depression beard over the Orm/Atlan revelations.)

Arthur decides he needs to find out more about his father, and that means following his only lead, which is Orm’s mother. He and Dolphin head to Alaska, and we finally meet KORYAK, MY LOVE:

KORYYYYY. This is literally the first page he appears on: shirtlessly fighting the tentacle monsters that have been ravaging their village, long hair blowing in the wind, massive bladed weapons in hand. What a 90s boy. He just needs a lot of little pouches.

Arthur and Dolphin arrive at Kako’s house, where Arthur and Koryak...don’t exactly get off on the right foot:

FUCK HIM UP, BABY.

(Yeeeah, the fact that Koryak is literally colored red is...not great. Come on, colorist.)

Kako arrives and breaks up the fight. But why is Koryak so pissed at Arthur, a man he’s never met?

BECAUSE ARTHUR’S HIS DAD. Truly he is the right level of pissed off about this, Arthur is a terrible dad.

Anyway, like Arthur, Koryak is equally comfortable breathing on land and water, and has Atlantean strength and durability. He also has some hydrokinesis, primarily the ability to fire a hard water “spear,” which is a big of a wildcard of a power since Arthur doesn’t have it. He and Arthur team up to fight some parademons and Kako turns into, uh, a fire monster and leaves forever (SIGH), so Koryak decides to go back to Poseidonis with Arthur and dolphin.

Poseidonis is thrilled by Arthur’s return because the city is experiencing some major seismic weirdness and they are freaked out. They also take a shine to Koryak. King Thesily is super threatened by all this, so while Arthur’s off doing superhero things on the surface he sends assassins after him, and meanwhile plans to take care of Koryak himself:

Thesily attacks Koryak but is crushed by a piece of falling masonry, whoops. He begs Koryak to get help and Koryak cheerfully says he plans to take his sweet time, so that Thesily will be dead before anyone else can arrive.

STONE COLD. I love it. What an asshole.

Also, Garth’s dead or something. (He’s not, but there’s a very funny fakeout for a bit.)

This post has gotten long, so I think I’ll end it here. Next up: Garth’s glow-up! Koryak ruins everything! Mera returns! Atlan! Kordax! Shit’s about to get wild, folks.

#aquaman #arthur curry #garth #aqualad #tempest #dolphin #koryak #aquasplaining

54 notes · View notes