#the way the dialogue was so cringe in episode 1 even in moments that were obviously going to be projected and repeated later

[blues-valentine]

Honestly I think hsmtmts s1 started with very typical idea of Ricky and nini being the boy/girl next door, Childhood friends that date kind of thing. With Gina and ej being the mean, scheming counterparts. It was so obvious from the posters and their costumes. But I guess none of the writers anticipated what a force sofia Wylie would turn out to be. She has a presence that just demands attention. She's the best actress of them all, best Dancer and her chemistry with Joshua is on another level. Plus the character of Gina turned out to have fascinating layers. All this combination outshined nini. Nini and Ricky were originally supposed to be main characters and though Ricky stayed a main character throughout the show, nini, never felt like a main character to me, even in season 1. She was sweet and good and had a straightforward arc that wasn't nearly as interesting as other characters. Plus she had no flaws. Ricky had issues, he had flaws that made him interesting. Same with Gina and ej.

And I feel the same with rini. They were sweet but kinda bland. Portwell were much better, interesting and deserved better treatment from the writers. And rina is rina. Sizzling chemistry. Best ship.

This is no hate to olivia, my problem is with nini. Honestly I completely forgot she was part of this show in season 3 until she showed up in last episode.

I had this in my drafts and I remember responding to it but forgot to post it.

I think the show marketed themselves as very typical Disney in the way that you could kind of tell what narrative archetypes the original core 4 were supposed to be, especially if you relate it to the movies. Nini as the girl next door with so much talent but didn’t believe in herself until she’s suddenly the star of the show. Very girl underdog narrative. Ricky as being her first love and the cute dorky guy that doesn’t put effort but somehow is magically talented, plus the network promoted them as their “Troy and Gabriella” so the audience was supposed to believe they were their rightful successors. Even some of the posters promised that “love triangle” between EJ/Nini/Ricky as a relevant plot and we know that wasn’t the case. And just by the posters and trailer you could’ve guessed Gina and EJ were the “antagonists”. But as I said, it was a marketing tactic because tropes and love triangles sell, and I was also a bit too skeptical but ended up genuinely surprised.

I definitely agree Ricky and Nini’s romance was very bland and I was not rooting for them at all even on Season 1. I found them so cringy, very Disney cooking cutter and they were clearly not right for each other. I was attracted to Gina’s arc from the start so imagine my surprise when she went the opposite direction of what she was marketed as and then developed a way more interesting character arc. However, I do think the show failed Nini because she could’ve been more interesting. I liked her but I agree her arc was too straightforward and a bit too boring at times only saved by Olivia’s voice but there’s a lot of people that still don’t get her arc at all, which is why they still ship her with Ricky even if it was literally against Nini’s character growth.

Funny enough, when I watched 105 I ended up feeling like Ricky and Gina had so much potential and their chemistry was interesting but I wasn’t sure if the show was going to follow that up because it wasn’t very Disney like. Very rare do Disney shows follow the second lead romance pipeline. And I am so glad I was wrong because Ricky and Gina elevated the show by having them develop a very tension filled arc and it did felt very much 00’s coded so I ended Season 1 feeling like they had to go there at one point because it would be a wasted potential. By Season 2, I was sure they were endgame. No questions or doubts. The narrative made it very known and I never doubted that for a moment.

So, PW was just as bland to me, the narrative was forcing them badly with obvious and cringe dialogue. It lacked subtlety, it was very much in your face. As if they wanted you to ship them so hard and were overdoing it. But not even in a good way – there was not care or thought put into their scenes. The music, the implications. It was not done in a way that screamed endgame. And them also being a thing when Ricky and Gina were not speaking was a plot device to keep the endgame in the won’t they/will they situation-ship. I still believe it was a mistake to put them together because it was clear it wasn't going to last and their dynamic worked best as platonic. EJ worked better when he wasn’t put into a situation to be Gina’s plot device. PW was a mid-game ship and was treated as such. The narrative wasn’t hiding it. It was there for Gina to experience her first relationship before she gets with Ricky since their build in narrative has always been about second chances, the right timing and opportunities. I think they deserved a better closure on Season 3, but I am glad they eventually got it on Season 4. However, they were always meant to be a plot device and I didn’t expect anything else from it. The people convinced they were endgame clearly didn't want to see the show for what it was saying.

Rina just had the it factor to me. It was very reminiscent of the old ships in which their story line wasn’t too straightforward and it was told by the parallels and foreshadowing which is a huge factor as to why Ricky and Gina had such compelling arcs individually and together. Ricky being the stability Gina needs and Gina being the person that pushes Ricky forward by taking him out of his comfort zone. They give each other what the other needs and wants. That’s what their storyline has been about since Season 1 and nothing compares to their chemistry. It was undeniable since the start even when some people wanted to deny it.

#i know this is such an old ask #but better late than never #hsmtmts #hsmtmts season 4 #gina porter #rina #ricky bowen #hsmtmts rina #ricky x gina #asks

[seventeenlovesthree]

OPLA episode 1 - first impressions

Just randomly trying to summarize my thoughts here, because they are in no way coherent yet, but hooooly shit, I like where this is going. SPOILERS AHEAD.

I decided to start watching in English, then in Japanese, then in German - because I would assume that'd be the best order to judge both the best and worst parts of this. Best as in "the intentions of the dialogue, the framing and hinting", worst in "Oh God, the cringe is real". So far, there obviously have been a few lines that have been very obvious, because you HAVE to translate a lot of things that work for an anime INTO this setting. More tell than show so to speak, but I feel like that's perfectly fine for the medium.

Luffy is endearing - the first thing you can tell in comparison to anime!Luffy is that he's got that positive main-character-energy that not only speaks his thoughts out loud, but also tries his best to make you see what kind of character you are dealing with. He was brash, stubborn and had very one-dimensional (and toxic) ideas of what and how a man/pirate needs to be - just to be taught kindness, perseverance and a positive attitude and by Shanks and I think that is displayed beautifully here. He does not get shy to approach everyone he meets with good will - on one hand, because he obviously wants to build his crew. On the other hand - it just shows who he is. The CGI works really well for him as well, the "stretchy kind" really doesn't seem too much out of place, but I would assume it's easier to accept it when you are already used to "anime logic".

This is a comment that was made a lot on Twitter already - so here's to the bi-/pansexual squad, because this series knows exactly what it is doing with the fanservice eye-candy. Zoro, so far, got the most impressive camera-angles/cinematography. The mysterious, aloof framing, the detailed and VERY immersive fight scenes/choreography - he's not only coming across as stoic and lone-wolfey, they definitely make sure you can TELL he is kind at heart too. You can tell he has experienced pain and that's why he insists that he needs to work alone - but if people show HIM kindness, he cannot not react in return. Whether it's Rika - or Luffy, doesn't even matter. That idealistic, kinda annoying kid saved him (and man, the hearts in Luffy's eyes were so present and all over the place, he was IMMEDIATELY enchanted by Zoro and doesn't grow tired of saying it out loud either). Plus, he didn't insist on getting anything in return, even if he still wanted him on his crew... So what happens? Once Zoro sees that he's in trouble, he jumps in to fight as well. And they IMMEDIATELY work off of each other well. "You go above, I go below". As someone who has ALWAYS enjoyed Luffy's and Zoro's dynamic (platonic and otherwise), I am obviously VERY easy to please here, but man, it works. So well. I cannot WAIT to see their Captain/First Mate dynamic develop. Also... I did not expect them to actually let any character use the middle finger??? I mean, good for you, Zoro, you go be edgy as fuck, but hey... (Also, the gay subtext with Helmeppo was definitely... Something...? But I mean... The gay subtext exists with ZoLu too. "Where does the third sword even go...?" I mean... Seriously...)

On the other spectrum of the bi-/pansexual eyecandy, we have Nami. And while she visibly uses her charms (read: physical attributes) to get what she wants, I am HELLA pleased that she wasn't sexualized yet. I really liked the nudge towards her concept art design! Her cheekiness and smartness come across very well. And, MAN, the dynamic with Luffy is PRICELESS. It really has a lot of sibling energy - but it also leaves a lot open. Of course, we're still at the VERY beginning of it, but as a long-term fan of the series, it's hard not to read anything into it ("I will never join anything with you" is beautiful foreshadowing and also interestingly phrased).

Oh Romance Dawn Trio, my heart. The moment they lined up next to each other, Nami and Zoro on each of Luffy's side, insisting "Not a crew/Not together!" was just... Chef's kiss. I love these dorks and their dynamics so much and I cannot wait to see this further emphasized.

Honorable mentions for other characters - I know it has been said many times before, but I really enjoy the casting. Koby is very relatable and he fits the character so well (I literally cannot wait for his glow-up), Shanks gives the vibe of the "kind and sweet everyday guy-mentor" at this point in time so perfectly, Alvida was great so far and I could go on...

Cringe is dead, I am so excited for episode 2.

#one piece #one piece live action #one piece spoilers #one piece liveblog #opla #opla spoilers #opla live reaction #personal

[rockanroller]

The animation was pretty good, the one thing that bugged me to no end were charlie and vaggies bangs they were really distracting and just off character models but the animators put their all, the camera and editing isn’t good. BG/props/color keys were great but too great like it eat the characters up so much, not even Scott pilgrim or castlevania nocturne had this problem Voice acting was ok. Erika is the best thus far Alastor and nifty are alright, Vaggie Angel and husk were rough, Vaggie just sounds dead, Angel goes from sounding like a nasally teenager to trying to sound like Michael, and Keith doesn’t fit husk. They dropped a new clip of husk and Angel. You can hear Kieth David more and he drops the gruff and sticks with his smooth voice and it doesn’t work with Husk. I know people are tired of hearing this but Keith voice doesn’t fit Husk.

Vox and Vel were really good. I thought adam was bad (he is he’s really bad) but man Valentino is terrible, he’s not menacing, he’s keeping changing accents and he’s voices cracks so much it’s funny but also sad I can’t take him seriously he’s such a joke. This was the guy everyone was hyping up on the crew and fanart? People were saying the dialogue sheets they got leaked were old, they were not old, some of the stuff that was on that sheet made to the Final Cut except worse somehow.

people were saying sir pent new va was good and I heavily disagree he sounds worse than the pilot VA. I couldn’t stand his voice.

agreed on the animation/bg/props/color remarks. especially how Charlie & Vaggie's bangs were distracting, they really were especially when it seems like it was such a struggle keeping them on-model making it even more distracting. for the voice acting it's really interesting to me seeing so many different takes on the VA's various performances.

i do think having many of the fans so enthralled with the pilot, hearing voices that are different is jarring, especially if they don't feel like they add up to or match the previous voices' performances or tones. replacing the cast was a really iffy decision and many are insistent it never should've happened while others feel there "had" to have been *some* reason for it. and of course replacing pilots casts isn't unheard of--Billy West voiced Zim in the IZ Pilot episode and we all know that changed, and Richard Horvitz knocked it out of the park and made Zim into an extremely memorable character for many.

but i won't deny there are some obvious weaknesses. these are my personal takes on the voice acting, and you may disagree:

-Charlie was fine, in some points very good, fun execution. the only thing i wasn't a fan of was the "voice breaking about to cry bc this story i'm reading is just so sad" moments she had while reading the "creation story" at the beginning of the first episode, made me cringe. and i do agree with others who've said her cussing felt out of place. (some were fine/ok enough, but others weren't) -Vaggie was...weird, it felt like her voice didn't match, but i got used to it. tho i agree with what some have said how her voice was "too" low-emotion to the point it was bland. i felt her saying "fuck" in her "what the *FUCK* was that" at Alastor felt forced--later swears were ok--and her duetted line in Charlie's Happy Day In Hell song sounded so off that it startled me. -Angel Dust was in and out--his first few lines were *very* rough. voice was all over and cracked in a way that wasn't natural or charming, felt more to me of an "I'm trying too hard to do a specific voice" type of crack/strain. tho i think it either smoothed out or i got used to it bc i didn't notice it the rest of ep 1 or all of ep 2. -Alastor was fine to me. many say they prefer Ed's performance but i haven't seen the pilot since it came out so i'd have to rewatch to say for sure if i feel it's any sort of "downgrade". but i *did* notice, twice, there were lines where they just suddenly dropped his radio filter? that was really weird. it felt like it was supposed to be for...idk...emphasis? like "oh he meant that the filter turned off" but it was just jarring. i also know some feel that they toned down the radio filter too far, but i thought it was okay, and as someone who has a hard time hearing words if they aren't crystal clear, i had a much easier time understanding Alastor in these first 2 episodes than i did in the pilot. -Husk didn't jar me, Keith seemed fine, but again having not seen the pilot in years and Husk having less lines (i think?) i can't remember what Husk originally sounded like. but you're probably right about the gruff getting lost in his lines later. overall it kinda sounded like Keith really enjoyed the cussing and i'm kinda solidly divided on if that made it feel more forced or more natural. -Nifty i *think* was good/decent? she had fewer lines and very brief moments so they went by quickly. -Vox was good, no complaints -Vel was also good, no complaints -Val, like you say, was a mess. right from the get-go his accent was all over the place. it was there, then it wasn't, then another accent was, then it wasn't, then finally several lines later he slipped into this deeper "sexy" accent and i finally was like "oh *that's* what accent it's supposed to be"--he literally would flip-flop between "saucy/menacing voice with an accent" to "flat American voice that's literally just some guy" and it was bewildering. -Adam i loved and i personally feel Alex nailed the lines, i think if anyone else did it he would've been insufferable to me--but i can see how some felt Adam came off badly / too strong. he made me laugh, altho i kinda expect as a character he's going to get worse, it was only his initial appearance that amused me and to reiterate from my last post i lowkey suspect it only made me laugh so much bc the episode so far had already worn me down. -Lute i wanna say was fine but i kinda frankly don't remember. -Sir Pentious was fine to me--really silly--but i again am gonna say i barely remember his pilot voice so i can't say if it's a downgrade to me or not. hearing it w/o remembering what Stamper's performance was like had me feeling like it was a good voice, and he had good moments that made me chuckle. -Katie Killjoy i already mentioned in a previous post but i *really* don't know what they were thinking having Brandon not only voice her but not even do anything unique with it? it was jarring and felt super out-of-place to me. i honestly think his execution was pretty mid as well. i think that's everyone? lmk if i forgot any or you wanna know anything else. and ty for giving me your two cents in the ask!

#anon ask #thoughts #hazbin hotel first impressions #hazbin hotel voice acting #hazbin hotel critical

[mantra4ia]

I mean no offense to the people who enjoyed "The Witcher" Season 3: Vol 1 on Netflix. No judgement. And also no offense to the cast and crew who I am sure worked hard to bring this to the screen.

I love the Witcher, mostly from the books and some gameplay, so from my own personal perspective...

What in the actual hell did Netflix do?!

There's so much eloquent dialogue in the source material to draw upon and this steaming pile of ****e is what they came up with? It telegraphs so much without a whiff of subtlety or craft— not unlike Sabrina in 3x5— that I want to puke, the only exception being that Yarpen Zigrin is still no nonsense and true to form.

Emhyr, as is evidenced by his cringe, overlong speeches and dull drawl, is not written as cunning or menacing by any stretch of the imagination as he ought to be, and the lack of a strong villain does nothing to drive the pace of the season.

Why are we waxing on about Vissena to try and strum up audience feels? We don't need to revisit that unless it serves a purpose for the characters. It doesn't. If the audience has been watching any of the previous two seasons, we don't need Geralt's childhood memories of his mother to impress upon us that he takes newfound parenthood seriously and would spill blood and make sacrifices for his family.

If that weren't painful enough, Yennefer — who we know is cunning when she schemes— lacks all of her razor edged wit when "groveling" before the Brotherhood to form a conclave. The recycled dialogue with Tissaia about chaos and control has lost its potency, as lukewarm as the mages' council of armchair tapping, and even her speeches to Ciri like "my ugly one" have so much wasted potential because there's a speed run montage about how much Yen and Cirilla care for eachother in episode 1 rather than letting us growing into the emotions ourselves, so that by the time we get to Yennefer disclosing her past, the emotion is lost. Also, Cirilla is supposed to be in a little awe of Yen and her power of influence, which is what makes "ugly one" so endearing, because it's the ends way of saying that Cirilla is powerful but magic isn't all she is / she doesn't need to rely on it like the mages rest on prolonged youth. It's her way of saying I love you, and for all the exposition that season three uses to elaborate feelings, this most essential part is completely lost. It's like we're playing house with emotions that haven't been earned their screen moment. "Lilac and gooseberries, now that I can tolerate," but I cannot abide these trash conversations.

These were the action sequences, the fight choreography, and the monster concept visualization they came up with? Like, for example, a failing mass of conjoined limbs and disembodied heads! The idea of Ciri's doppelganger from the books has been so corrupted.

On top of that, the cuts from scene to scene are so rough it's like whiplash. Chase scene - recycled Geralt /Ciri hug - dark portal nonsense - crash through ceiling. No finesse.

The Belletyn festival, which is so meaningful and beautifully described in the books, was butchered in execution of costume (Yen's is a season 1 throwback but never underwhelming way), with ridiculous "masks" (it irks me so much that Yennefer tells Cirilla had to cover her eyes and hair for a low profile and then we speed cut to the next scene where neither occurs and the costume department decides that they aren't even going to attach Cirilla's mask to her face, she just carries it around in her hand because that makes sense), unnecessary mazes to separate our characters and engineer a sense of peril, the whole lot. They used Belletyn as a setup to engineer a subsequent bait scene, which was an appallingly insult to intelligence and fight choreography. PS: Yen can I do more than throw a knife, can we please utilize her a little better?

Speaking of choreography, Ciri descending from mid air to stab the CGI aeschna in 3x4 with the overlong shot pull of monster blood on her face was so poorly edited I wanted to fast forward the entire episode thereafter.

Lastly, this farce for humor is what they came up with?! They made layered source characters like Dijkstra into single line fodder, and they wasted so much time on sitcom rubbish like Queen Hedwig's Redanian funeral, and Phillipa's bedroom shenanigans, and Fringilla as a drunken poison tester. I want to slap someone. It's as if the whole of season 3 thus far is a live-action adaptation of Ciri and Jaskier's satire of Yen and Geralt. Except that no one left the audience in the joke.

Also, for a series called The Witcher there is surprisingly little in the way of meaningful dialogue and action for Geralt to do, and that's a shame

I'm angry.

Season 1 was fantastic, season 2 was good but with notable divergence to character integrity, and Season 3 so far is the refuse pile of Aedd Gynvael. The only highlight was Ciri telling Valdo Marx to shut up, like I wish I could do for the rest of the dialogue in the series. After "Sherrawedd" I kept thinking to myself, it will get better. Ironically Sherwood was probably the best episode so far because at least it kept the essence of idea in "dear friend" from the literature as a foundation. After which it kept sinking down into chaos.

But more than angry, I'm disappointed. I'm sad that the Yennefer/Jaskier frenemy dynamic ("Hello again witch) —a highlight of season 2— has been shirked; the only decent byproduct of which is the Ciri/Jaskier relationship. And I'm depressed that this is Henry Cavill's sendoff as Geralt.

#Netflix: the Witcher #the witcher season 3 #is this a parody? #is it satire or is it the Witcher? #jaskier x yennefer #ciri and geralt #spoilers: the Witcher #henry cavill #geralt of rivia

[arianaofimladris]

Season three thoughts&rant

I more or less watched the third season of Netflix’s The Witcher.

What I liked:

- Geralt with a sword. His fight scenes are at least pleasurable to look at, even if in a wider picture that fighting makes no sense. I no longer have any expectations towards this show, I mainly wanted to watch Cavill as Geralt while I could.

- Geralt’s fight with Vilgefortz. It was alright for the series standards. It is one of my favorite moments in the saga and while they thoroughly butchered the whole Thanned part, that fight was ok.

- Geralt and Ciri were alright, at least until any fighting happened. I do NOT buy Geralt standing idly by while he lets Ciri take the initiative in a fight. Not with the monster on the boat and certainly not with Cahir. But other than that, they did have a few nice moments.

- The actress who plays Tissaia. I did believe Tissaia is one of the oldest of the mages, that she is respected and that she is powerful. The only idiotic drawback being her romance with Vilgefortz, but the actress really shines in that role and if I’m to remember anyone from that show except Geralt, it’s her.

- The final fight scene in the tavern with Ciri meeting the Rats and with Percival music during the fight. This was actually the only moment in this season when I felt like I was watching a Witcher adaptation, to the point that I felt like this scene came from a completely different series than the rest of this crap. Which left me sad in the end, because this is how this show could have looked like if the scriptwriters bothered to actually adapt the books. There were changes, yes, I know, but I actually FELT like I was watching the Witcher. That scene, along with the Renfri tale from season 1, are for me  the best adaptation and if the whole series had kept such quality/level/accuracy, I would have been happy.

- Ciri on the desert. Ok, with one huge BUT. I was genuinely surprised to see that subplot quite accurately adapted, with all the little details like Ciri licking the cream she had, or her going the wrong way and returning to the start point. The pace was slower, but I enjoyed it. Freya Allan gives much better impression when she’s not on screen next to Yennefer (because she looks older than Anya). Still looks a decade too old for Ciri, but at least it’s not that obvious when she’s alone on screen.

BUT – I really disliked there the visions part, I hoped to never see Netflix Calanthe or Pavetta again. I scrolled past most of that. It was boring, too long and unnecessary. Also I saw a lot of people complaining about this episode and I think it could have been way better if it was edited in a different way. Those desert scenes, which are, I agree, quite boring in the end, could have been entwined with another subplot. Like Geralt in Brokilon. We would get some news about both characters without either plot being too long and slow. And let’s be honest, Geralt in Brokilon, lying stiff, is not too action-packed either. I think the filming material of the desert part was good (minus the shitty visions) and different editing would have helped a lot.

- The Milva actress is like a decade too old for Milva and also very tiny for a nicely looking, but well built and muscled young woman living among the dryads, but at least her dynamics with Geralt start on the right ground. If I were to point one woman in the whole season whom I did not dislike, it would be her.

General impressions:

- Once again, a show that requires the suspension of brain instead of the suspension of disbelief.

- Garbage scriptwriting. And I’m not even talking about the book accuracy – that ship had sailed loooong time ago.  I’m talking about writing dialogues that make you cringe every three minutes. I’m talking about writing and constructing scenes in a way that makes the characters act like complete idiots. There were so many scenes where I could come up with at least five different solutions on spot, tiny changes easily incorporated so that the characters’ behaviour would make sense.

- Destiny as deus ex machina. This is exactly the opposite to the books. All the bullshitting about people linked by destiny always finding each other. This is exactly what Sapkowski did not write. Destiny is not enough. You need something more. The “more” being character’s conscious decision to act or inact. Geralt’s and Yennefer’s fates were somehow bound by Geralt’s wish, but it didn’t magically made them a couple. Without effort from both parts, their relation kept falling apart (Because Geralt would walk away. Because Yennefer was afraid to open up and allow herself to get involved. You name it.). Same goes with Ciri.

- Soap opera drama. God, this is a dirty fantasy world, why do we get all these teary dialogues with cheap emotional play. Or the big inspirational speeches that look ridiculous. And don’t get me wrong, motivational speech, when delivered right, will make a huge impression and get the right result. Remember Aragorn before the battle at Minas Tirith, talking to the Rohirrim? But Yennefer returning from her banishment, bullshitting before the other mages about how they have to stand together, blah blah blah? I know, the show desperately wants to create her as the best, the smartest, the one who takes charge, whatever. Sorry, it’s not working.

-  I watched/listened to the series in English and my cringe tolerance in English is higher, but gosh, it was hard even there. I wonder how these dialogues sound to native English speaker who actually uses their brain while watching. Because when I heard/read bits of these dialogues in Polish, that surely brought out another level of cringe.

- I feel like you could cut off half (if not more) of the first five episodes and the story would lose virtually nothing important.

- The sex/kink scenes were, erm, boring is a mild word to describe them. So you don’t actually show any intimacy between the two main characters, but you waste screentime for Filippa and whoever just for the sake of ticking another checklist.

- I would love to see sth like “season three by characters screen time”, just to know how many minutes of Geralt we got in these eight episodes. I’m left with an impression that he was hardly there.

 The rest of rant in details

- Ciri the future queen, the saviour, the one who will unite them all. Hi the most generic idea in a fantasy universe that contradicts most of the typical, generic ideas.

- They had absolutely no idea what to do with Geralt in this season. They make him act like an idiot and not killing Rience in the first episode, so that he has a purpose in the next three, only to let him kill Rience in episode 6 ( which takes a powerful moment later on from Ciri, who kills Rience in the books). Or they make him act like an idiot and putting his sword away when he’s literally waiting for a monster to attack.

- Episode 6 deserves an entire post probably, but let’s put it here. On one hand, it was the only episode of that season which I did not scroll. On the other, this (along with the fifth one) was the one I paused out of cringe most often. It was better than the previous five in terms of “something is finally going on there”, but then if you didn’t kill your brain cells before, it was a damn hard thing to watch. I’m going to ignore the mages vs elves fight. It was hilariously bad with cheap effects. Filavandrel blowing right into Francesca’s face was too grotesque not to laugh out loud and yes, I am aware that was not intended as such. Sorry.

Tissaia had her “big” moment, but all I could think of was “oh, so she unleashed the eels”. Well done, netflix.

And here comes the “fuck logic” part. All these scenes on the fields – the look like they are taking place MILES away from Thanned. And yet our characters run back and forth like it was 100m. Sorry, brain cells still working. Then we get our trio meeting in the middle of nowhere because Reasons and they have the perfect opportunity to just get the hell away. But no, here comes the soap opera in its full glory of teary speeches and Yennefer decides she needs to go back (miles away, but why would she care). I’m not buying it. Her priority should be Ciri. Since Rience had just teleported there, she should have been able to open a portal ANYWHERE and just send Geralt and Ciri away. But no, because it’s netflix.

Then comes the Powerful Girl netflix trope and when Cahir catches up with Geralt and Ciri (were they just standing on that field so he could go all the way after them?). Geralt does not know what his intentions are. He doesn’t know how good a soldier he is. And yet he lets Ciri charge madly at him and stays SEVERAL METERS away. Yeah, cool, I do see what the scriptwriters wanted here, let’s let Ciri have that fight. So maybe, idk, get Geralt involved with half a dozen of elves in the meantime to justify why Ciri is fighting Cahir? But no, he just stands aside. If Cahir wanted to kill Ciri, if he got the best of her, there was no way Geralt could have intervened in time. A+ parenting. And again this is just making Geralt an idiot. I don’t like it.

- Lydia. Why did they turn someone who was most probably a servant and also unhappily in love with Vilgefortz, a victim, into his willing accomplice and Rience’s master. I should not be happy that she died, but she was absolutely awful in the series.

 - Except for Tissaia (who acts mature and in a way that demands respect) and Sabrina (who looks pretty and dresses on the verge of scandalous but in a stylish way), the other sorceresses could easily blend in with any other women on screen and I wouldn’t be able to tell they are supposed to be sorceresses. You could switch Keira with Annika or Vespula and there would be literally no difference. I have some trouble with Filippa, because she was usually alone on the screen and thus recognisable as a sorceress, but somehow, depending on what she was wearing and how her hair was styled, she looked 30 or 50. I literally have no idea why, but she could look pretty and young in one outfit/hairdo, and then she would look way older and uglier. It’s confusing.

- This story, in general, lacks believable relations. Normal, casual relations. Even in the background or whatever. The only one I can think of in this season is Annika and that werewolf (or Zola and Yurga in the first season).

There is Filippa and Dijkstra and while the actors give a good performance, what the hell was that – first with the whipping for literally no purpose (yeah, except the obvious American “the powerful woman” trope) and then with drunken Dijkstra coming to Filippa and begging her to kill and blame him for the failure. What. the. hell. was. that. Why were they not portrayed as a powerful duo who has (or had) some kind of romantic relationship, but first of all who come as equal partners in the plotting. There was also this subplot of Filippa and that blond assassin with hideous haircut and her only purpose was to kill and show that Filippa fucks women. Cool. It’s not like later on there is an actual relationship between Filippa and Triss.

There is the fuckin F girlboss duo (Francesca and Fringilla) I had hoped to never see again after season two, yet here we go again. Bleh.

We get Jaskier and Vespula and Jaskier is discussing his love interests while laying in bed of his other lover. Believable as hell.

There is Geralt and Jaskier and while in the last two episodes I finally began to see the friendship between the two of them, the friendship I should have seen in the past two seasons as well – with Jaskier’s creation this series goes, I can’t be sure of how Jaskier sees that friendship. I really, really hate it because this was probably the deepest friendship this whole universe gives us, the kind of “against all odds” friendship. I wouldn’t want Jaskier to have any other thoughts towards Geralt.

- Just please pack Yennefer into a tiny figurine and store her somewhere for the next season. I know that the showrunner wants to have a show about women, but I’m tired of seeing this imposter of Yennefer being the acting factor of everything. Yennefer taking charge of the sorceresses? Yennefer funding the Lodge? Just pack her and store her.

- I’m not even going to bring up the CGI or the costumes. The first I want to forget, the latter I have already forgotten. There wasn’t a single outfit that caught my attention in a good way, something I would want to be inspired with.

I’m aware no one is going to read this long a post, but I needed to spill it out. In the end it’s sad to see two scenes that could have come from a decent book adaptation among a shitload of crap.

#the witcher #the witcher netflix #the witcher rant #twn #the witcher season 3

[reshrom]

So I just finished the New Tales from the Borderlands aaaaaaaand I got some thoughts, some good, a lot bad. I don’t think I regret getting this game, but I do wish that it was a tad . . . cheaper to buy. 

I’ll say this: I played the first Tales before playing this and, no competition, the first one is better by leaps and bounds. Shocker. A lot of what happens in New Tales doesn’t feel as epic as it did in the first Tales. There are story elements that kind of have no meaning or value and just don’t lead to anything. Unlike the first game where nearly everything you did, and almost everyone you meet can come into play at the end. Here . . . it doesn’t. 

Case in point, one of the first decisions you make in the game is what to teleport away in Rhy’s office. None of that comes into play. You send the Atlas bot Timm-E to retrieve the item and other than a few random jokes, this never comes into play. 

You meet a bunch of unique and interesting characters from Octavio’s friends to the half-psycho Staple-Face, and none of these characters matter! And what’s worse, some of them die! And what’s even worse than that is some of them die and you can clearly do something about it, but the game forces you not to for whatever reason! There were literally many things you could do to avoid the characters death and you simply can’t because the game doesn’t want you to. 

Speaking of characters, the main ones I can see being very hit and miss among the fandom. Anu, Octavio, and Fran have a lot of good things going for them, but they also can be really annoying a lot of times too. What makes Tales characters interesting is that they aren’t badass assassins, soldiers, or mercs, they’re normal people trying to survive the bloodthirsty universe they live in. They’re every day people that are cowardly, selfish, and just plain not-badass. That’s what Rhys, Fiona, and to an extent Sasha and Vaughn, were! But they rise above those and work with the skills, abilities and tech they have and become Vaulthunters!

Anu for example is very high-strung and full of anxiety, but she also wants to do good and save lives instead of end them, which is something I don’t think we’ve ever come across in the Borderlands series. It’s very fun to see her go from 1 to 11 in an instant any time GUNS come into play, but it can also get very annoying when she says something cringe or makes super awkward faces. But she can also be badass too! Any time she get s an actual win, it legitimately made me happy. 

Octavio is probably my least favorite and probably going to be the least favorite of a lot of fans, I predict. Most of his dialogue is cringe and annoying, but he does get some fun and funny moments, mostly at his expense. 

Fran I would say is my favorite simply because of her attitude. Probably closest to a badass you can get in this game. She’s trying to do better with her life and improve herself, but the world is constantly putting her down and you can either have her respond with control or violence. Either way can be enjoyable, though personally it was a lot more fun to freeze people. Not to mention it’s somewhat rare to play a character that’s overweight AND paraplegic, so I give them points on that. 

Unfortunately, these characters aren’t enough to buffer a number of the negatives this game has. One of the biggest sins is that, the Opening Music sucks. If you like it, I’m glad, but the first game had such cool and memorable Openings and accompanying music. This one . . . just doesn’t. It just plays some song while the characters do a montage. That’s all the episode openings. It’s nothing special like listening to “Kiss the Sky” while running from a Rakk Hive and Moonshots, while falling out of a speeding, destroyed caravan or listening to “To the Top” while doing a slowmo team walk toward a rocket or listening to “Retrograde” while escaping from a falling space station, your friends either betrayed you, killed or lost to the winds. 

Something boring they added was the Vaultlanders mini-game. Personally, even before the game came out I knew this wasn’t gonna be my favorite because it looked boring to start with, but still. Vaultlanders is stupid easy and really only worth completing for the achievement. There’s also a mini-game for Octavio sequences, but those can at least be skipped. The only fun part about the Vaultlanders minigame is that you are challenged by Badass Superfan who is the weirdest nerd ever because they show up in the weirdest of places to challenge you! You feel sorry for them, but at the same time you can’t help but laugh at them too!

Oh and one other thing! Apparently this game was developed some time during the pandemic, which might explain some parts of the game that are . . . cheaply handled. In one scene Fran fights a tank full of alien sharks, but you never see it because you only see Octavio narrating what happens. Then there’s Fran’s big battle with Sponsorbot. Sponsobot turns into this cool, giant, spider-bot monster and Fran finally uses her chair’s most destructive mode that she’s been teasing at having through the whole game . . . and we only see it in an 80′s eight-bit turn-style arcade game. Fuck me, I feel disappointed again just typing that out. This is a world that can digistruct giant things into existence. Hell, the last game had you fighting in a giant robot, power rangers style, and we couldn’t even get wheelchair robot?! I want to be even angrier about this decision, but again, this was made during the pandemic and people were even more limited than! I don’t know if I should restrain my anger for that reason or not. 

There are some good points to the game. For one, there are many different dialogues depending on what choices you make. No seriously, depending on what you did or said, some characters will have something different to say and completely rearrange the flow of the conversation. Different things will happen if this one character is pissed at you or you made a mistake or you did something right. It was all really fascinating and offers replayability if you want. There’s even multiple endings if you care about that!

The animation is actually really good, I’d even say better than the first game’s. There’s so much detail in every character and the world they walk around in is gorgeous and even more detailed! I really can’t say they were lazy on the designs and animation, because all of it looks really good and smooth. 

Despite the negatives I’ve mentioned, I really feel like there was some love and care put into this game. It wasn’t executed well, but there was effort, and I feel like the developers did what they could with what they had.

Overall, I give this game 6/10 Skateboards! 

#new tales from the borderlands #borderlands

[thekimspoblog]

Things I want/expect from Season 5 of "YOU":

Awesome pop music. Look, at this point the writing on this show is just awful. I'm still watching because I care how this ends. The only thing which has consistently been good across the first four seasons was the soundtrack; the music took the cheesy plot threads and cringe dialogue, and turned it into something that was greater than the sum of its parts. The world of "YOU" has a very unique feel; it's sleek, it's fast-paced, it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a never-ending tedious party where everyone in the room is a shallow douchebag, but the worst guest of all is the tormented poet lurking in the corner judging them.

Joe Goldberg is too rich to fail. Season 4 was (almost) a complete waste of time, but the plot at least ended on an interesting cliffhanger: Joe seems to have embraced his identity as a serial killer, and chooses to return to New York, now having fought his way into the 1% and ostensibly is above the law. I mean, go big or go home is what I say. Not only is having your villain own the NYPD a concept which is simultaneously absurd and tragically realistic, but taking the plot in this direction means the series can't end with the predictable "he goes to prison" conclusion. We've had four seasons of Joe deluding himself that he's just a good guy in bad circumstances, so at this point it would be refreshing to see this character as a mustache-twirling sadist. The only good moments in Season 4 came from the show admitting that it had exhausted the premise of "misogyny from the misogynist's perspective" and switching its focus to seeing Joe through the eyes of women who encounter him. So in my opinion, Season 5 needs to really lean into the evilness of this character, once and for all. The feeling of insurmountability for the victims who want to bring him to justice.

Rhys Montrose. The Fight Club twist was stupid. It was incredibly stupid! The entire point of a story like this is that Joe's dangerous nature can't be hand-waived as "insanity", and the Season 4 twist ruined it!!! But you did it! It's done! The least you can do is respect us enough to commit to the bit. Because as dumb as an idea it was to give Joe a quirky British imaginary friend to plan murders with... I gotta say Rhys does have a certain charisma about him. At least he's having fun with being evil and teases Joe for perpetually angsting. So yeah... hope he sticks around in S5. Like I said, if you're going to make Joe a cartoon villain, at least own it.

Kate's POV Episode. The episodes where we're given a reprieve from Joe Goldberg's droning internal monologue are probably some of the best episodes. Even though it has a male protagonist, the story is still very much about women and femininity, and so the show wouldn't even work if it didn't occasionally switch to a female perspective to give us a window into how these characters see the world. Beck ernestly was just a sweet and fragile everygirl. Love Quinn was equally as neurotic and spiteful as Joe, but at least her quips were actually funny. Marianne was determined and resilient, because for some reason stuff like this always seems to happen to women like her. These episodes are used sparingly; we're only ever given a taste of what the show would be like if one of these women were the main character, but we're always left with more questions than answers, and that's on purpose. There's supposed to be a sense of violence to how little we get to understand the female characters; Joe has a pattern of killing women and replacing their voice with his own, often literally. So with all that in mind... what's the deal with Kate? Because Kate's weird, right? Even by the standards of a love interest in this story, and that's saying something. In some ways she feels like a rehash of Love Quinn's character, except she's colder and meaner. She's the first woman who is so uninteresting, Joe isn't even stalking her wholeheartedly. She barely seems to have any feelings for him, and their marriage at the very end more seems like a finance-based alliance of convenience. What even are her motives?! Most importantly, she told Joe that she didn't care about his past before they got hitched, which if history is any indicator, is the equivalent of deciding to walk out into traffic blindfolded. Obviously Kate is going to die; the question is just when and how. Hopefully before that happens, she'll get her own episode of "I'm starting to think this guy is untrustworthy", just so we can get the faintest idea of what makes this lady tick. ... Or maybe Kate is also a hallucination! Why the fuck not!

Don Giovanni allusion. Don Giovani is an opera about a licentious, aristocratic man who manages to stymie every mortal attempt to bring him to justice for his crimes. After taunting a victim for her failure to stop him, a literal Deus ex Machina intervenes and a living statue shows up to drag Giovanni to hell. If you ask me, this is how Netflix's "YOU" should end! Joe going to prison would be too cliché, Joe getting shot in the face by an enemy would be too cliché. But the series has been doing backflips over the proverbial shark for a solid season and a half by now, so why the hell not end with a supernatural horror twist? It would actually be perfect: Joe has gotten so rich and so powerful, that none of his victims have any real hope of bringing him to justice. But so egregious are this man's sins, that the cosmic balance had to get directly involved to punish him. It would provide a cathartic ending while still keeping with the story's overarching theme of a fundamentally broken and unjust society. It's karma, but on such an absurdly literal scale, that the audience is reminded how unrealistic it is to hope God has ever and will ever do something to stop the bad guys.

#netflix you #joe goldberg #penn badgley #you season 4 #you season 5 #and by “allusion” i of course mean joe explicitly referencing the opera and spelling out the parallels to the audience #because who needs subtlety

[lesser-mook]

Let's Talk About Deku's girlfriend--- Re: What girlfriend?

Ain't nothing baddie status about momo, she's designed specifically for one purpose, best thing about her is she takes leadership roles from time to time (when ironically she wasn't shy at all in the first season), so this myth that her costume & her coming into her own as a leader is what Horikoshi meant to do but what really happened- is Momo was a snob, and loosened up.

The shy bits happened at random times when the cringe "uwu kawaii" gags had to happen.

But one of her first lines is checking Deku infront of everyone, there was nothing shy about her lmfao.

So when you really look over what actually mattered in these fights- she's filler.

Balsa Yonsa, Ema Guzman, Lila Rira (look em up youngins) those are baddies.

Momo is a bad oc made canon, the most she got to her was giving orders, spawning plot devices, and serving her actual purpose as the token 17yr Senpai-big sister waifu.

Horikoshi really tried to dodge the cap and give a reason as to why a school let this child wear that bullshit costume (and didn't upgrade to anything better neither, just added some stripes lmfao) and the most she got for a winter alteration was a goddamn cape.

LMFAO. Yeaaah, nice try buddy boi. All the studio mandated assshots, cleavage, crotch shots below perspectives- i'd respect the man more if he just admitted he doesn't respect most of his female characters. At all tbh.

Mirko's annoying ass showed up later but she got way more to do than ANY of the 1A girls in terms of badassery. I'll give mirko credit for being a plot-armored up beast, but how does that make any sense? That some random furry shows up & gets more clout in like what? 2 fight scenes than the 1A girls in 2 goddamn movies.

Trying to rationalize it with in-world reasons, EVEN SO FAR as to have that pos Midnight go on a talk show and justify it--

just looks desperate, too desperate to justify 1 guy's need to dehumanize his female characters no matter the cost. Could easily have her evolve her power to spawn portals like Elizabeth Comstock through her hands only or learn to expand portals on the ground via a circle vector like Full Metal Alchemist or expand on where exactly are these objects coming from- give her some unique lore

cause in the manga it looks like she's organically mutating these materials out her skin

in the anime it looks like she's pulling them from an alternate dimension.

See THOSE details, would make her a baddie, amping her power level, giving her more control over her quirk, instead of quirk dictating how she presents herself to the world.

AUTONOMY. But you see, the more a character has that, the less likely they are to be exploited like a piece of meat or an NPC.

And Horikoshi can't have that.

---------------------------

As for Ochako? Like i said on another post, her & deku's relationship peaked in Season 1 when their dynamic had actual conversations without a lot of interruption.

The other 18 extras shut the hell up and weren't given too much dialogue yet--- thus the story wasn't a clusterfuck and it felt more focused.

And Horikoshi was fresh, and wasn't panicking thinking "oh shit? I don't know how to actually write a couple what do i do? OH I KNOW, I'll have Ochako overthink her stake in Deku's life & then bottle her feelings for no reason"

AND THEN i'll establish that U.A. forbids students to have relationships which is just...THE LAZIEST method to guarantee that you can have your cake & tease 24/7 but and eat it too without having to develop anyone's relationships

Lazy lazy lazy.

So when the two were interacting in S1? the likelihood of a bullshit distraction was minimal, because the extra's were non factors.

Their little convo in Episode 6 S1 is still one of the most meaningful ship moments in the show for them.

But all you see in those bullshit wholesome compilations is the crap Horikoshi fed you for 6 years to distract you from the fact that AFTER Season 2-- those two not only didn't get any alone time to actually be further closer friends, but because the man refused to commit and develop their relationship....whatdoyaknow? They didn't have a relationship to speak of that would justify being a couple.

Ochako didn't even meet Inko, that cringe speech is technically the closest she got, Deku didn't meet her parents. They never had lunch together, played video games, trained together NOTHING nothing nothing.

BASICs.

So (rhetorically) tell me, what exactly Do.They.Have?

What girlfriend?

Deku was closer to Todoroki in terms of talking & how much time spent, (OVA's, Seasons, Movies) Todoroki has more of a relationship with Mdioriya and guess what?

He showed up AFTER Ochako in the show. Why couldn't Ochako be part of that trio? Despite having one of them most prolific powers in fiction? (tactile telekinesis)

Why is it the boys get upgrades after upgrades but Ochako's main/major quirk upgrade after that plane feat is in the goddamn finale of the ENTIRE story. ....because she talked about love with someone she has zero stake or obligation to, who was cutting her up trying to kill her.

Despite the contrary of my reply. I'm going to be honest op, there's literally nothing to talk about with these two or any of the girls. They're decoration, a wide variety for the rule-34 warriors & bottom feeders to take their pick.

That's their relevance to the fandom, who they like, and what they look like.

Who they are? When has that ever mattered.

Hence referring to Momo as a "baddest bitch", and I'm pretty sure that descriptor has nothing to do with who she is as a character.

The most you can say is: WASTED potential.

Or they "look cute", which is more honest to reality. Their reality of relevance to the fandom.

(Will space out the paragraphs & add more visual another time, this is just a last min dump)

#my hero academia #momo yaoyorozu #ochako uraraka #boku no hero academia #girlfriend?

[ground-zero-idiocies]

a bit of cross-fandom pollination today

Every Star Wars Movie, Ranked

Or at least all the ones I want to rank.

11. Attack of the Clones (1/10)

It’s so bad. It’s got Jar Jar. It’s got Hayden Christianson. It’s got unnecessary galactic politics. I hate it.

10. The Phantom Menace (1.5/10)

This is about 1% better then Episode Two but not by much. Jar Jar is annoying. The writing is horrible. The relationship between Ani and the Queen gives me the ick (9 and 14??). The politics are just annoying. I’d rather play Stellaris, any day.

9. Rise of Skywalker (2.5/10)

Is this movie bad? Yes. But does it have a few good parts? Eh? Not really. The action is exciting and the editing is decent, but that’s not enough to save it from the bottom of the list. It’s horrible fluff. It’s nonsensical. It throws the ‘two sith’ rule, which had been very well cemented in canon, completely out the window. It’s just horrible. At least it has a story, which is more then I can say for Episodes One and Two.

8. Solo (4/10)

This movie is nothing if not aggressively mediocre. There’s nothing here and I have nothing to say about it. Also to fit the mobile app’s 10-photo limit, the poster has been removed. It’s not that good anyway.

7. The Last Jedi (4.5)

This movie is over-hated, but it’s easy to see why. It has little respect for canon (fuel???), but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t still a good film. If you were to take it out of the context of Star Wars, it is then a good movie. It’s entertaining and high-action. In context of Star Wars, it relies way to heavily on fan service and just doesn’t hold up to the series’ stronger entries.

6. A New Hope (6/10)

Crucify me, but I don’t think this holds up as well as people think. Yes, it’s been remastered eleven thousand times, but the CG is dated and the dialogue just isn’t as sharp as it would be literally two years later in Episode Five.

5. Revenge of the Sith (6.5/10)

Is this movie cringe as hell? Yes. Of course it is. But the action is tight and the score and sets only accent is. There’s no substance here, but the action is the best in the entire series.

4. Rogue One (7/10)

I would completely understand if someone hated this movie, and the poster isn’t doing it any favors. However, the movie is enjoyable. The emotional moments hit and even the comedy works, which is very rare for a Star Wars film made in the 21st century. Did this movie need to exist? Absolutely not. Am I glad that it does anyway? I am.

3. The Force Awakens (7.5/10)

(sigh). I know that this opinion is objectively wrong. This movie is over-hated, but it’s not too 3, right? I disagree. As much as I’ve dragged the movies in this series, they’re all good in their own ways, and this movie pulls it all together. Yes, there’s fan service. No, it doesn’t really work as a standalone movie. But this is Star Wars. Does it need to?

2. The Empire Strikes Back (9/10)

First of all, let’s just take a minute to appreciate this movie poster. It’s…it’s so good. Uhhhh anyway the movie is really good

1. Return of the Jedi (9.5/10)

I cant say anything that hasn’t already been said. Unlike Episode Four, this movie really holds up. From the action-packed intro to the emotional but sweet conclusion, this movie is a perfect ride. Well, almost perfect, anyway.

#star wars #star wars ranking #the phantom menace #attack of the clones #revenge of the sith #solo #rogue one #a new hope #empire strikes back #return of the jedi #the force awakens #the last jedi #rise of skywalker #cross fandom pollination lol #i’m an idiot #not fallout

[worstloki]

the miss minutes stuff is too cringey too me. I don't understand it. wandavision and TFATWS weren't so dark no kid could watch them or anything like that. but at the same time they felt like they were shows for adults. sometimes this feels like a show for little kids. what?!?!

treating the audience as stupit is the only way to get comedy done now

#i do think the show lacks in subtler witty and more nuanced approaches to things #much of the general feel is cringe and a lot of the camera work is leaving me questioning why they would do that #but i do think the show will get better when they get around to addressing darker stuff like how the TVA are totally bad #and the Time Keepers better not be used for a gag istg #that they essentially sidestepped any discussion on Thanos' torture/Asgard's abuse is a big yike #but im over that #i would rate the show 6/10 #im literally just here for Loki C-20 Sylvie and B-15 #as in the characters #i am crossing my fingers and hoping episodes 3 & 4 go with 'oh yeah loki needed to fool the TVA so he acted obnoxiously loud' #AND WHERE IS HIS MAGIC AT #I expect more magic #sliding across mall floors and using a vacuum and a roomba is funny #but whaaaat???? he weighs like 525 pounds???? he has literal MAGIC he can use at any time????? not even a shield he can put up???????? #he didn't have to fight just Not Get Beaten Up #i also think it could all be part of tricking everyone into thinking he's weaker than he is #but Marvel has the untrustworthiest track record and canon generally sucks with this stuff #the way the dialogue was so cringe in episode 1 even in moments that were obviously going to be projected and repeated later #this is kids show levels of narrative #im still finding it fun though with Loki getting to be chaotic and do actual *mischief* #but it does feel like they're telling far more than showing #then again we're only a third way through the show! #the Loki show #loki spoilers #loki show spoilers #my expectations with marvel tend to be 6 feet underground so im not really disappointed in anything other than dodging the torture/abuse #the abuse part which makes sense to me to do with the characters #the torture part which makes less sense to me because of whatever happened in deciding loki's interested in power and entitlement XD #reminds me of comic loki but not the modern one

[imreallyloveleee]

Don’t know if you feel like this but to me, Riverdale had a lot of potential on season 1 but it got worst when writers started to write to get reactions from the audience and not for the show (as you said). Season 1 wasn’t perfect by any means, it still had cringe worthy dialogue and acting but it had a very cohesive plot point. The murder of Jason affected every character and cohesively moved the plot until the end. The relationships being built made sense, felt fresh and the characters were allowed to have genuine angry reactions. Then, I for confirmed from one of Cole interviews that they filmed the entirely of Season 1 before it aired – and that’s the thing. Season 1 had time to be planned and fixed into 13 episodes, which is more than enough, being filmed way before it aired gave the writers a moment to write for themselves and not being influenced by the audience.

Season 2 started the problems with inconsistent writing, lack of character progression, multiple story lines that never seem to connect, and I also think the 22 episodes order was partly the problem. Many shows nowadays adapt the 10 to 13 episodes per season style and the CW continues being the only one ordering shows for 22 episodes which is so old fashioned, and it makes the writers create filter episodes or the need to prolong story lines because they need to cover for more episodes, it makes the actors stay more time on set, which means they need to film while the season is airing and it allows for writers to change the plot based on comments.

And I just believe that if Riverdale had stayed with 13 episodes per season, hardly any of the crazy and useless plot lines would have been able to make the cut, which for Riverdale, it’s so much better. Sometimes the mystery plots the show deals with can be done in 13 episodes. The writers don’t plan the season anymore because the CW has people filming like crazy as soon as another season ends. Season 1 felt cohesive because it was done with time and lesser episodes.

yeah, I agree that s1 worked best as a contained arc, for sure. it's hard to say whether the show would have been much better if subsequent seasons had been similarly short, though. i'm almost positive i've read that they didn't know who jason's murderer was until they were at least halfway through writing the season, so there's been a severe lack of planning from the very conception of the show. and they couldn't even come up with a coherent arc for the 5-episode event, which they had practically no restrictions for.

i think it basically boils down to this: RAS is a creative guy with interesting ideas who has no business being a showrunner, and the rest of the show's writers lack the talent to make up for it. i admittedly don't have much insight into the entertainment industry specifically, but people get promoted into management positions all the time based on the strength of their work product instead of the strength of their actual management skills and i think that's just as true for creatives as it is for any other industry. the showrunner's job is to guide the writers, cast & crew towards a coherent vision...and he's not really able to do it. we've seen this play out across multiple series that he’s helmed by now.

#rd negativity #anon

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: ML Season 4 episode 1 (Truth)

(Yes the real review this time)

Spoilers below

-So the only way someone can fix a miraculous is if they are rich, F***ING FIGURES

-Marinette's guardian box has unique surprises.

-TIKKI IN TINY HATS IS EVERYTHING!

-KWAMI PARTY

-Trixx called dibs on Alya.

-The Kwami were adorable.

-Luka gets sent a pic of Marinette's room, the one side with all the Adrien posters. And he is okay with it? Dude.... no.

-Okay so Tom and Sabine know that marinette is trying things with Luka. I wanted a bit more dialogue, but it was cute.

-I am no lukanette fan, but them quizzing each other on Jagged stone facts was kind of adorable.

-The guitar pick, I wonder how THAT will be used later

-And they are gonna kiss... NOT! Cause terrorism. (I am not joking.)

-Chat noir is chill with Ladybug being guardian as long as they are still cool.

-And she arrives back JUST as the movie ends. And Luka aint even mad? How?

-Did they really just make a montage of every time Luka got C-blocked?! That's hilarious and tragic.

-Is Luka actually annoyed? HE IS! Look at that folks, HE DOES HAVE FEELINGS. An excellent day for character development.

-Okay the Le Seine scene was dumb in the first half.

-Did... Did Luka just confirm he is a cuck? I am not kidding. "I don't care if you are still in love with Adrien? I just want you to tell me the truth." He just wants the truth. He wants to know he is getting cucked.

-Luka getting some character development 'Is all about Honesty' Gotta say, great trait for him. It adds some lovely depth to his character.

-WOW, HE LOOKED SO BROKEN THERE.

-Shadowmoth look ugly. But that conversation with Luka? TOP TIER.

-THIS IS THE LUKA AKUMA EPISODE WE HAVE BEEN MISSING.

-So all of marinette's friends confirmed she is in love with Adrien.

-"THAT ISNT A SECRET!" Luka... are you okay? I am starting to feel bad now.

-I KNEW IT! I KNEW ANARKE BANGED JAGGED STONE. LUKA IS THERE SON?!

-Ladybug getting saved by Chat noir.

-So thats why she had the belt over her lips.

-Also, Truth is a legit threat to the heroes. Can we take a moment to appreciate that.

-Jagged pulling a reverse Micheal Jackson and confirming that Anarke was his lover.

-Jagged confirms he left his family because he felt inadequate. But then turned it into a song. THATS HILARIOUS AND TRAGIC!

-Ladybug and Chat noir distracting Pharo (who is my new favorite sentimonster).

-Alright, I often complained about the choreography of akuma fights. But I REALLY liked this fight with Truth. It had good flow to it.

-CONFIRMED! Ladybug loves Chat noir's humor.

-Also top tier Ladynoir banter today.

-Alright folks and the final verdict.

-ITS OVER! MARINETTE AND LUKA BREAK IT OFF BEFORE EVEN GETTING OFF THE GROUND!

-Look Luka, buddy. I feel like you knew this was coming before it even happened. And I kind of feel bad.

-Luka meeting up with his father was touching, Jagged, raise your son!

-Marinette needs comfort. Kwami group hug.

_____________________________________________________________

WOW! That episode was really something. First episode of season 4 and so much emotion jam packed into it.

I was skeptical. I didn't want to believe. I didn't want to get my hopes up. But it delivered pretty well.

Now it isn't flawless, there are some clear plot holes and some cringe.

But for an ML episode. I would rate it on the higher end.

This is what Silencer COULD have been.

9.5/10

#ml #miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #ml season 4 #marinette dupain cheng #luka couffaine #truth #ml season 4 spoilers #such a good episode

[black-coffee-and-sugar]

Listen, I actually couldn't finish this episode. Like I lost brain cells, got ingestion and finally KO-ed because I could NOT grasp the plot. Not even seeing Lena again made this enjoyable for me. But here's what I got:

- I wonder how many takes Thomas took to say Nxyly's full name without biting his tongue off

- also I am so sorry Thomas that they had you sing. And yet somehow that wasn't the most cringe thing to happen in this episode

- Nia and Kara desperately assigning blame to themselves instead of just, idk, working together to fix the problem. Who cares who's fault it is??

- Alex jumping in front of kara when mxy brandishes the PZ projector is the only thing I liked

- Kelly's absence felt so odd after 2 back to back episodes of her front and centre

- Nia thinking that Kara would drag her for making a mistake makes me wonder if these characters even know each other

- kara: "I should've told you guys about Nxyly". Yes you idiot you absolutely should have! Like I get that they don't wanna bring it up but like how is ignoring what happened to her any better? Do they not do any Intel sharing?

- the fucking zookeeper is still here?!?!?

- look I wasn't expecting Lena to be talking to kara on the phone, I know better than that, but I had hoped it would at least be Nia considering that Lena and her have been bonding over their moms and it just makes sense??

- andrea's titty window sans kara or Lena to see it. What was it all for?

- I understand Lena using Andrea's resources to help her out and shit and I'm actually surprised the writer's remembered she doesn't have access to the LuthorCorp jet anymore. I honestly wouldn't have batted an eye if she did tho.

- the way we haven't had ANY scenes of dialogue between kara and lena aside from 6x01 and only ONE line from kara to Lena since then. Like are they actually going to brush everything under the goddamn rug? We heard from Alex that they've forgiven each other and it seems that way too but we haven't actually had the chance to judge that as an audience and it's (checks notes) 11 episodes already???

-Kara is back and yet Lena doesn't seem full. Kara is back and yet she hasn't been vulnerable with lena or with anyone really. Or was that all a lie?

- Nxyly is actually kinda hot in this episode. Interesting development there

- the team actually fighting a giant pussy cat and more brain cells have died. If they were hoping it would be amusing like the Legends fighting a giant Beebo, spoiler alert - it was not

- mxy and Nxyly and even the king has some keysmash names but one imp is actually named Jared? Just fucking Jared. Christ

- Lena being bullied by a bunch of Canadians is hilarious and I say this as a Canadian. Like Lena has stood her ground against Lex, Lillian, SG, an interrogation room filled with judgemental pricks, fucking Reign and yet, she looked two seconds from crying when denied her hotel room by some fucking Newfies. Get the fuck outa here.

- not a single Tim Hortons run in this entire episode. Are we sure she even went to Canada???

- at one point, I was rooting for Nxyly to win.

- so not only did they bring back that god awful wig that they actually had the audacity to make footage with it? That thing needs to be snatched and thrown into the sun like the trash monster.

- Katie looked so done in this episode and I don't even blame her. I suffered second hand embarrassment on her behalf. Those lines, her behaviour. It's like what the fuck happened to the Lena from the past 4 seasons?

- the mean bartender says "I've seen you on the news running arm in arm with a bulletproof alien" and the places my mind went is probably why I didn't pay any attention to the rest of the episode.

- so lemme see if I have this right. Lena's mom visits the cave lady in her dreams but never once thought to visit her traumatized little daughter?

- am I supposed to be upset that they killed an abuser? Because I'm not

- so much porn shots of the town car driving up and down some sketch and lonely road

- did Google maps really lead Lena to some random cave?? Bruh

- Lena's scenes felt so disconnected for a minute I thought I was watching a completely different show.

- aluminum foil on the props lord did they just say fuck it and made a Dollarama run for the cheapest 200ft roll they could buy?

- Kara being a mentor to Nia for the first time since that Nia centric episode last season. God I hate it here.

- they do remember J'onn is a shape shifter right? Why do we need an image inducer? I get the little Lena is still with the team crumb but it's stupid.

- still no word on M'gann huh

- yo since the Luthors are technically perceived on Earth-Prime as "good", what trail of bodies is this bar lady talking about? This isn't public knowledge and Lena's mom only killed 1 dude who frankly deserved it.

- sigh. We're really doing this witch Lena thing then.

- kara stop trying to reach the good in people! Just stop. When has this bullshit EVER WORKED? Some people are just too far gone. Accept it.

- stronger together has truly lost meaning on this show

- Alex and Kara being so willing to hold much less use the PZ projector is utter bullshit. Also they just have that thing lying around for any grabby hands to take?

- what the actual fuck is Kara's arc this season? Or Alex? Or poor J'onn. The man has been seriously neglected.

- kara is supposed to be the most powerful being on the planet and yet this show continues to nerf her abilities. God I missed the days of S1 when Kara looked like she could fuck shit up.

- also when is kara going to be the focus of her own show again? Are we ever going to properly address Kara's issues? We got two episodes of James processing his trauma and only 5 mins of flashbacks in 6x08 for Kara and a few fleeting moments sprinkled across the last 5 seasons. Ridiculous. Like it won't diminish her as a character to seek professional help, it won't make her any less of a hero. Think of how impactful that would be and the message that could send about the importance of mental health.

- glad to see a promo for this important episode next week (I honestly can't wait - Kelly in a head wrap is so personal to me y'all) but please I'm begging you, do not make the issue of race come at the expense of kara's intelligence and awareness. She's a journalist, she's seen xenophobia and written about it, she's been friends with James for years. Kara knows about racism. Please show that.

Needless to say I did not enjoy this episode at all. I was happy to see Lena again but all her scenes were just hard to watch. I feel like so much of their very limited time is being wasted and there's still so many things they haven't touched upon yet. When exactly are we gonna get to it? Better question, will we ever get to it? Probably not.

Like I wanted to see the super friends communicating, leaning on each other, character growth, being truly stronger together but no. They're giving us literally anything but that and it's frustrating.

#every week i ask myself #why are you still watching this mess? #idk self. idk #supercorp #supergirl

[kira-7]

mAn i bloody love Musa and Riven. I loved their relationship in the show as a kid mostly because they weren't perfect. Whilst the other relationships were pretty much and they made me cringe far more, even as a kid. Though their relationship was a little toxic when they were both developed as characters they had a really good relationship. From what I heard about s8 they made Riven regress back to his old jealous stubborn self which is annoying seeing how much he developed as a character

Hi anon!

I love these two! They're my OTP 😍 I still remember exactly the moment I fell in love with them

Ok, maybe not exactly this moment 😅 but of course this episode, exactly when Riven came into the light with Musa in his arms 😍 from that moment on, I started to follow them, and rec every moment of their love story 😂

I love them, too, because they were more realistic than the other couples, both of Musa and Riven were stubborn, proud, they found hard to talk openly about their feelings (see when Musa denied to Stella, in season 1, that she had a crush on Riven), and easily irritable, just like Flora said in this other episode, from Season 2

In Italian, Flora said something like "Incredible, those two are identical!", and I still think that she was right.

Season 2 was something incredible for them, Jared, Musa's concert, the way Musa gained her charmix (trusting Riven), and the end! The EEEEND!

I squeaked in this exact moment, because in Italian Riven said (after "come back to me") "I love you!" FINALLY THIS STUBBORN AND PROUD GUY SAID WHAT HE REAL FEEEEEELT!!! YEEEEEEEESSSS!!! 🎊🎊🎊🎊 (ok, I have to calm down 😅 I can't, I become 14 again 😭😭😭😭), then Riven saved Musa from a Lord Darkar's attack, risking his life, their kiss, THE AAAAAANGSTTTTT! 😭😭😭😭 And when, after Bloom healed every one, Musa went away from Riven shily (awwww 😍 how cute! 😍), at the end, they happily danced

(and I really "thanked" Aisha/Layla for this moment 😁)

Then, there is season 3, and I think there is another beautiful moment, even if we started to see how much they argued, like in an episode where specialists teached winx how to drive a motorbike (I didn't remember its real name, sorryyyyy 😭)... But here's a thing that makes me think about...

On one hand, in Red Fountain, specialists, expecially Helia (a saint!) made Riven reason just saying to him that if this fuchsia head continued with his attitude, he would lost Musa! (literally: "Be a better person if you truly love her and we all know you do!")

Instead, at the other hand, Musa confided with Aisha her problems with Riven... Aisha was, of course, a good person, but at this moment, in my opinion, she was the least person to give Musa advises, because she was in a big problem herself, an incoming arranged marriage, with someone she didn't know and, most of all, she didn't love... If I remember well, that was the dialogue between Musa and Aisha:

M: "How can you be together with a person who doesn't understand/believe/trust you?"

A: "Simple, you aren't together!"

Like... What?!

I mean, don't misunderstand me, anon, please, I'm the first person who thinks that, if you are with such a person, it would be a good idea to leave them and search someone better, but I also think that it would be worth considering talking, trying to understand what went wrong and trying to be a better person (don't change yourself, just improve yourself, just like Helia said!)... Then, if things don't change, the couple decides to take two separate ways... But Aisha didn't consider this option, and so neither Musa did (I'm sure if there was Flora, for example, instead of Aisha, perhaps musa would have received that advice too, like Riven)

Then, Nabu arrived, the man in the wrong place at the wrong time... And we see Riven's jealousy, thanks to a little mistake that Flora innocently did: she took a video with her phone and rec Musa's back who stayed with this stranger. So, who can stay calm when you "see" your partner "kisses" someone else, while you're trying to be better? I'll be honest: personally, I can't, like, hell, "I'm trying to improve myself, here, and this handsome hunk wooing my girlfriend?"

Totally a misunderstanding, but a comprehensible one, in my opinion. Finally, after understand what real happened, those two stubborn ones are on the same page, Riven learnt to be more sweet (?) and less proud (?), and it's a really big improvement, remembering the guy he was in season 1! Musa, on the contrary, learnt that if two people doesn't get well in the first months, for example, it's over! Let's change! Next please!

I take into analysis the first movie, where there are two kisses between these two, one in Riven's memories, and the other really, after the specialist states that he understood what was worth fighting for, Musa, and awwww 😍😍😍😍

(can't find their kiss in the movie, unfortunately 😔)

From here, I believe, a slow but steady descent began: from the fourth season I remember Musa falling in love with Jeremy... Jason... I don't remember his name, the music producer, jealous Riven, other squabbles between the two of them, this time Nabu tries to make Riven reason (another saint!), and eventually making peace at the end...

From here I gave up on seeing the episodes completely, I followed the scenes dedicated to them on youtube: Musa gets jealous of a blonde, but it was all because Riven wanted to surprise Musa by dedicating her a song... The sixth was a tragedy, with the two of them leaving permanently because the specialist doesn't feel satisfied and cannot pay attention to Musa... Obviously, I have not seen the seventh (you can imagine why 😅)... The eight I know they did a big improvement as a couple, there's someone, here on tumblr, that tells everything in two episodes all dedicated to Musa and Riven's relationship 😍

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

At the end, was their relationship toxic? Yes and No? No, because if they decided to speak properly about their feelings, even with someone's help, they could work perfectly well together (just read what that person wrote about season 8, anon, you can find them on "Musa x Riven" tag here on tumblr); yes, because they received different advises... Both of parts have to work on themselves to be a healthy couple, according to me, not just one of them... Just my personal pov, you are free to say that I'm wrong: even if everyone in this world wants a wonderful relationship with someone, most of the time we have to improve ourselves, together, sometimes just accepting other's defects, sometimes helping them to work on their insecurities, to listen them, to be near them... In my opinion, Musa and Riven could give a strong message to children, they could teach that if both of you truly love each other just like the perfect couples do (like Bloom/Sky, Stella/Brandon, Flora/Helia, Tecna/Timmy, Aisha/Nabu (I don't take Lex because I don't know his character)) both of you have to work hard, together, don't stand firm in your beliefs, because that would be the most wrong thing. The writers, on the other hand, decided not to give the couple this chance... Alas, it could have been interesting...

I just hope, if the live action will do a second season or more, and they will make Musa/Riven real, they will fix this... I'm not sure they will do, but hope never dies 😁

I'm terribly sorry for the novel, anon 😅 I got carried away 😂 I'm sorry even if there could be typos here or there, I tried to write as perfectly as I could, but Idk how "perfect" it really is 😂😂😂

Thank you for the ask and have a good day 💖

#winx club #winx riven #Winx musa #musa x riven #MusaxRiven #Idk if anon follows me... So I tag this ask hoping they can see I answer them

[love-geeky-fangirl]

Ranking every teen drama I've watched

I have gotten really into teen dramas lately, because it's quarantine I can't go out and have fun, but I can still watch other people my age going out and having fun and doing things I don't get to do. Anyway I haven't seen all teen dramas, I was never interested in supernatural ones, so you won't find Vampire Diaries and similar shows on this list.

From worst to best:

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

I will never understand how this show ran for five seasons. It will forever remain a mystery to me. This show is so bad it's good. The writing resembles a wattpad story, Amy's pregnancy is inconsistent (like how was she five months pregnant for like five or six episodes, aren't the episodes supposed to be set a week apart?), the acting is bad (that is not to say that Molly Ringwald or Shailene Woodley are bad actresses, obviously they're not, I'm talking about Amy's sister that has the same facial expression no matter what her mood is supposed to be), some of the views this show expresses are very old-fashioned and damaging (the madonna-whore binary, the fact that they can't even utter the word abortion) and every single male character on this show is a creep and a cheater. I can't believe I watched like thirteen episodes of this. I will never get that time back.

Weirdest moment: "I'm a whore!" "Well, you're my whore." (Was this supposed to be romantic??)

Best moment: none

Glee

This is going to be unpopular and don't get me wrong, I like Glee, but I feel like the writers put much more thought into the musical numbers than the storylines. Again, Quinn's pregnancy is inconsistent (but I'm starting to think TV shows are always inconsistent about pregnancies), the characters don't look like they're in high school at all, the cheerleaders wear their uniforms 24/7 for no reason (Quinn even wore it to her sonogram, like seriously?) the whole celibacy club thing is weird and Mr Schue is a terrible teacher. However, the visuals and the musical numbers are great, Sue Sylvester is iconic (albeit also a terrible teacher) and some of the scenes are really emotional (Kurt singing I Wanna Hold Your Hand made my sister cry) so overall, it's pretty good.

Weirdest moment: Finn praying to grilled cheese (what??)

Best moment: Quinn giving birth to Bohemian Rhapsody, Kurt singing I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Dawson's Creek

I LOVE their 90s' outfits and Joey and Pacey are really otp material, but I just can't stand Dawson! He got mad that Joey didn't tell him about his mother's affair, as if it was her place to get involved. She was 15! It's understandible she didn't want to get tangled into that mess. He also slut-shamed Jen in a really gross way. He literally stopped talking to her for a day when he found out she isn't a virgin. Why are both Joey and Jen into this guy?? This would've been a much better show if it was called Joey's Creek or Pacey's Creek.

Weirdest moment: the way Dawson's mom confessed her affair to her husband. I don't think any irl human would use this choice of words. Also that scene where Dawson's father was teaching him how to kiss while Joey was watching. Cringe.

Best moment: any time Joey and Pacey are bickering. My shipper heart!

Pretty Little Liars

I loved the book version of this, but the TV version seems way too dramatic. First of all, they romanticized Aria and Ezra's relationship (ewww) and made the whole thing seem much more overdramatic. I don't know how to explain it, I mean the books are also dramatic but the TV show somehow took it to a whole new level. None of the girls look like they're in high school, but I love the way they dress and do their makeup. It's almost as though the writers put more thought into their outfits than storylines. I still loved watching it until Netflix took it off, though.

Weirdest moment: Spencer somehow trying to block A's number from her laptop in the middle of a park and then being confused that it didn't work. Weren't you supposed to be the smart one, Spencer?

Best moment: Haleb in the shower, hiding from Hanna's mom.

Skins

This is a classic. Effy is iconic (I somehow heard about her even before watching Skins) and the musical number at the end of season 1 was out of nowhere but still somehow fit perfectly into the story. I also give this show point for being one of the few TV shows where teen characters are actually played by real life teens. They look their age, talk their age (no "I reject reality" or other cringy lines like that) and aren't unrealistically perfect like characters from American teen dramas tend to be. They look like people you might actually meet in high school. However the show loses points for all the continuity errors (are 8 episodes supposed to be the whole school year??) and the number of unneccessary death/tragic accidents. It seemed kind of over-the-top and unneccessarily dark and brutal at times.

Weirdest moment: Chris's graphic death

Best moment: Wild World

Euphoria

The Gen Z American version of Skins, but with better visuals. Much better. I loved the aesthetic, the colors, the lighting and glitter. Zendaya's a great actress and I give this show points for casting an actual trans actress in the role of Jules. However I find it weird that all guys on this show are complete irredeemable assholes (except of Jules's dad and Ethan that is). Are we supposed to just root for the girls and not the guys? Also I find it hard to believe that any of these characters are actually 16/17. They have sex all the time (yeah teenagers have sex sometimes but on this show they treated Kat as some kind of a chaste nun for being a virgin at 16) and have seemingly no rules and no curfew. It would've been much more believable if they were in college.

Weirdest moment: Nate breaking into Tyler's house, beating him up and then taking a shower. The audacity this guy has!

Best moment: "You did this to me!" and Rue having an anxiety attack on the stage in theater class

Gossip Girl

I know this is also an unpopular opinion, because many claim Gossip Girl is the best teen drama ever, but for me it just got way too soapy as the seasons went on. The first two seasons were believable, even though they didn't really look like they were in high school, but after that it was just more and more weird plot points. I will give this show points for the fashion (I mean Blair's headbands and school uniform inspired a fashion line), the acting ("I killed someone"- iconic) and the choice of background music (Nate and Serena kissing to Paparazzi, Thanksgiving with Watcha Say). Despite the wild twists and turns of events, I just had to keep watching because this show had me hooked.

Weirdest moment: Bart Bass somehow flying off the building for no reason (seriously, what he did there had no logical explanation and defied laws of physics), Dan being Gossip Girl, Bart faking his death and returning more evil than before, Serena becoming Gossip Girl, the affidavit, everyone randomly stopping going to college... there are so many but Bart takes the cake I guess

Best moment: the Thanksgiving flashbacks from season 1, Dan placing a plastic crown on Blair's head

Freaks and Geeks

This is one of the few shows where high school is depicted realistically. It's not all glitter and parties and not everyone has sex and does drugs. Okay, I admit, the bullying was over the top and it was weird how no adults cared but other than that, it was pretty spot-on. It was emotional without being too dramatic and far-fetched and also had funny moments. Yes some of the characters may have been stereotypes but at least the show seemed self-aware of that. It's truly a shame we only got 18 episodes of this show, while The Secret Life of the American Teenager somehow got five seasons??? I don't get it.

Weirdest moment: when Cindy suddenly got super mean once she started dating Sam

Best moment: Daniel showing up at Kim's doorstep, Sam breaking down in tears in the end of 'Garage Door'

Gilmore Girls

I'm not sure this one counts as a teen drama, maybe it's more of a dramedy but I'm still including it here. It's funny, the dialogue is witty and full of obscure pop-culture references and the relationships between generations complex. Same as with Freaks and Geeks, the portrayal of high school is pretty realistic. Characters are shown studying and taking tests and not just partying all the time. However the show loses points for getting weirdly soapy in the 7th season. The dialogue wasn't as good and the camera angles were soap opera like and the storylines weren't very good either. You could really tell the show changed show-runners. The earlier seasons are the best. It's hard to explain but something about them feels cozy like a warm blanket and a cup of hot chocolate on a rainy day.

Weirdest moment: Lorelai marrying Chris and then making the whole "you're the man I want to want" speech, Lorelai defending and loving Dean for no reason

Best moment: Rory's graduation speech, Rory yelling at Chris and calling him out for not having been there for her, Then She Appeared, "Yes Emily, you may go first"... there are so many!

#teen dramas #the secret life of the american teenager #glee #dawson's creek #pll #skins #euphoria #gossip girl #freaks and geeks #gilmore girls #i would've included the oc but i havent seen enough of it yet

[gar-trek]

no i care about ur tng s1 opinions !!

Well anon since you asked..... (imagine we are hiking together, lol :)

Alright... season one of TNG... well... it wasn’t great. In fact, if it was not a Star Trek show, I’m not sure I would have gotten through it at all. Now I'm not saying that I hated it, in fact there was plenty that i did actually like. But overall it just kinda boring and it was hard to really get into it. Sometimes mediocracy is a worse then just being flat out bad, ya know? To keep things comprehensive, since half of this was written in an RV and the other half is written whilst im on 3 hours of sleep, lets put my review into a nice list of things i did not like, and things i did about season one of TNG

The bad:

-I have talked about this before, but I think my main issue with TNG so far is the extremely awkward vibe it has. Shots linger way too long after characters are done talking. the jokes do not hit most the time. the dialogue is often stilted and awkward. The characters just do not feel real to me at all. It's just very very strange. I don't know if its a problem with the writing, the directing or the producing, or maybe just all three, but overall shit is just awkward all the time. I wish the charecters felt more real. Like yeah, maybe we didn't see much of Sulu in TOS, but they still managed to make him a guy you could imagine yourself meeting at a bar or whatever. what am i gonna go have some drinks with fuckin season 1 William Riker?? Nah, wtf is that bitches motivations and aspirations ?? that he wants to be captain and has blue eyes ?? what i am trying to say is that nothing feels real and no smart ass not because its a fictional sci-fi show, but because the characters all act super weird or literally just do nothing.

-Picard. I’m kind of turning the corner here but like... he just doesn’t do it for me as captain. I feel like since he’s the captain that makes him the “””””main character”””” and yet... what does Picard do? He’s just kinda boring. Like the man doesn’t even always bean down to the planet or whatever. And you guys already know my thoughts on his relationship with Wes... yeah :/ so no, I don’t hate Picard, I just kinda hate that he’s the captain.

-Where is the action ? Am I an old white male boomer for wishing TNG had a little more tits out violence like TOS did. I mean where is the punching? Where is the redshirt deaths and photon torpedos and shit. I need more violence, and I know that’s like, opposite of the message of Star Trek but dammit... more violence!

-Every single thing that happened to Tasha Yar in Skin of evil. I know you know :/ we all know. :/ and mini rant but in the beginning of that episode Worf and Tasha had a cute little moment and I actually thought “wow they would make a good couple actually or at least best buds” but.. well you know :/ too bad. Also I feel like they spent a lot of time trying to set up Tashas backstory and she actually had something interesting going on so like.... again too bad I guess :/

*cough cough*

anyway, here is what i did like:

-despite their awkwardness i do think some of the characters are neat. Geordi has to be my favorite, he just brings such a good vibe to the crew and I think the whole concept of his character is really interesting. I like Worf but I still feel like we don’t get enough Worf time and of course I like Data, tbh I never disliked him but he definitely grew on me more as I watched. Data does have the tendency to make me cringe... but like in the way your weird lovable friends do. And of course Wes, who deserves so much better then all the dumb ass situations they write for him.

-I think they do a good job of making it feel like the Star Trek universe without just copying everything they did in TOS. like its super different from TOS in a lot of ways, but still it feels like the same universe, and maybe even a little more true to the universe. like the prime directive thing is taken a lot more seriously, same with the federation not wanting to resort to violence right away, all that star trek jazz. its still there, its still trek.

-they don't do a bunch of annoying pandering. i feel like nowadays when they come out with remakes or spin-offs or whatever they always have to have a million callbacks like "hey remember this thing you loved?? here it is again exactly the same" because like yeah that is easy and it more fail-proof. like they could have just stuck a vulcan in the main cast, don't tell me you wouldn't have gotten Spock brain and just ate that shit up, but they were like nah and tried new stuff instead. and i respect that. because the callback episode they did do (naked now) kinda fuckin sucked. so good for them for trying to forge their own path.

okay anyway those are my general thoughts. More specifically, here are the epsidoes i think were the very worst

- Encounter at Fairpoint (literally the first episode and i kept checking my watch wondering when it would be over. it should not have been a 2 parter that was way too long. Q was annoying as hell. the main plot was not that interesting. )

- Where No One Has Gone Before (very tedious and hard to sit through. "oh we traveled too far into space.... oh we did it again! haha lol!" boring. did not like that Traveler guy sus as hell.... hated that Picard only made Wes and Ensign after the Traveler said Wes was important.)

-Skin of Evil (dumb stupid dumb)

-The Nuteral Zone ( i dont even want to get into this. i actually think this one stunk the worst and it was the last episode. so many things wrong)

annnnddd the episodes i liked!

- The Last Outpost (Ferengi Ferengi Ferengi Ferengi )

-Haven (how can you not love Lwaxana Troi this episode made me genuinely laugh so many times. lots of very good character moments here)

-Angle One (i really liked the concept of male wife girl boss society i thought it was funny and interesting)

-Conspiracy (i felt like this one actually kept me on my toes. also liked when that dude's head exploded)

annndddd that about sums it up people! was that a comprehensible review? no. was it long? yes. feel free to disagree with me or fight it out in the comments. what are your least favorite episodes from season one? do you agree with my takes here? let me know

#okay time to be a person now #so tired #so so tired #stick around for soon when i review killing time #yeah thats right bitch i read a book! #star trek #tng #the next generation #tng season 1 #review #my takes #data #william riker #whatever whatever