#tv tropes every ep

[marvelsaos]

TV tropes from each episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020) → 3x13 Parting Shot

#agents of shield #aosedit #marveledit #tvedit #shielddaily #dailymarvelgifs #marvelgifs #marvellegends #cinematv #filmtvcentral #usersource #useroptional #cinemapix #my edits #s3 #3x13 #tv tropes every ep #dailytvfilimgifs #filmtvdaily #usertelevision

[mobius-m-mobius]

sometimes i rewatch just the moment of Loki stumbling and tripping all over himself when he tries to approach Don!Mobius father of two at his home just to relive the moment of my jaw slowly dropping to the floor as it unfolded on my screen. truly there have been few moments that took me out with complete startled befuddlement so entirely as that. NOT because it wasn't perfectly in character I just hadn't in a million years expected a Disney/Marvel joint would let us SEE it.

You and me both anon, you and me both 🙏💖

There are some moments in life that really will last forever and what a pleasure it is to say the God of Mischief being canonically down for a single dad from Cleveland is now one of those, lmao. Honestly even to this day it's hard to wrap my mind around Loki's fit check, like there's poor Don literally just off work struggling with some trash and a chaotic household while an actual god lurks around wishing for a mirror in case he's not personally up to standard 😅

And like you said it's all COMPLETELY in character!!! Loki's never had to approach Mobius *needing* to impress before (because Mobius could never not be impressed with him) and because of it everything kind of hits in that moment how desperately he actually does want Mobius/Don to know how much he means and the difference he's made and if the only way that could be communicated is through some of the most obvious flirting any of us have ever witnessed then so be it. Still can't believe a full season of a Disney/Marvel show from start to finish gave the stuff dreams are made of, it's definitely a fluke but I'm running with it and never looking back lol.

#every day i pour one out for ep 5 being the surreal rom com fever dream we didn't know we needed or deserved #there will probably never be another moment like it in the history of tv or at least not as far as i'm concerned #i mean no wonder even now i can't bring myself to watch anything else when we got not just one full course meal but six?? #they really said have sheer talent and the best chemistry you'll ever see speedrun every trope out there! enjoy 😉💕 #tysm for the most relatable ask ever!! lots of love and hope you've got an amazing week ahead 💖 #ask

[perenlop]

not to sound like some guy who takes kids shows way too seriously but was anyone else really upset by those cartoon episodes that were like “omg actually everyone hates the protagonist bc theyre annoying and their lives would be better without them and thats the punchline” growing up. 

#granted i didnt like them bc i was a really really sensitive kid and also bc of personal reasons #but like idk why two different shows at nickelodeon thought that was hilarious #like the spongebob episode where everyone has a ''no spongebob day'' and they all go off without him and then come home and brag #about hating him and how they need to be free of him bc hes exhausting. i had to change the channel whenever that one came on #also to a lesser extent the whole ''the characters all avoid and exclude the protag all day and the protag thinks they hate them #but it was actually them planning a surprise party''. like thats not the end of the worldor anything but they always distressed me as a kid #today im like. whatever its an annoying trope and it doesnt despair me but i dont get why its so adored that its always used in every show #idk exclusion is just like... a tad triggering to me even to this day. it was way worse when i was younger but ya #i just really hated seeing plots like that on tv and the protag being excluded was always told ''omg trust your friends'' #or ''ha ha the friends are justified bc youre annoying and its dark humor!'' #echoed voice #ik mlp season 1 has an ep like that which im not gonna skip or anything and im not gonna say its the worst ever probably #but its def not one im jumping in my seat for

[hoodieimp]

Not me finding a new(ish) podcast and Binging it all in one go when I don't even *listen* to podcasts normally--

#dizzyisms #it's Mystery Shack Lookback if you're wondering hdjdjd #the Gravity Falls rewatch/nostalgia time capsule one #found it thru Weirdmageddon's one audio post last night #stayed up till 3:30 AM listening to the Cipher Hunt ep w Alex Hirsch n Jason Ritter(!!!!) #aaand now I've been steadily plowing thru it from the beginning all day #it's genuinely so cool it might even come dangerously close to dredging up my ancient GF special interest #like ngl I wasn't *super* involved in the GF fandom even while the show was On #bc I didn't have cable or Prime or anything (hell I don't think I even had my own debit card back in high school) #so I straight-up missed a bunch of episodes and only saw em thru reaction videos or absorbed the plot via TV Tropes or tunglr posts #but *god* if this isn’t reawakening the same ''!!!!!!'' feeling that reading thru people's theories and stuff back in 2012 did #that same Hype and Monkey Brain satisfaction at ripping into every episode to pick out potential clues and cracking the ciphers #like rn I'm listening to the MSLB ep talking about the First Big Hiatus after Summerween aired + the Rumble's Revenge Flash game #and how this fuckin. Disney Channel tie-in beatemup was where *Bill Cipher's name* was first revealed to us #and hearing Charley (the one host+editor) getting So Fucking Hyped to talk abt Bill is so fun #bc hell yeah that's exactly how *I* felt back when I was first watching!! #now I get to *relive* it vicariously through these two yelling about it!

[imreallyloveleee]

Where do you think it all went wrong with Riverdale?

honestly, part of me is like, the show's over and nothing but fandom matters. so who cares?

the other part of me loves to complain about Riverdale and will continue to do so until the day I die in the parking lot of Michael's Diner in Montgomeryville, PA at the age of 86. so, long-winded answer under the cut

I'm tempted to say it's the s4 b*rchie kiss. It was so wildly out of character for both Betty and Archie that it's laughable. You know how you can tell when something is just blatantly OOC with no justification? They...don't justify it. They find ways to dance around any interaction that might offer clarification. They mute the reactions of the characters who should be devastated by it. And then they jump ahead 7 years so it's easier to just handwave it away as something that happened a long time ago.

but the thing is, I did keep watching after that. I thought: okay, at least we should get an exes-to-lovers arc out of this, which is one of my favorite tropes. there is no way they would spend 4 seasons developing Bughead as this loving, supportive, communicative, sexy, and almost-unbelievably-compatible couple just to tear them apart and never do anything with that dynamic again. maybe it'll be even sweeter seeing them come back together after so much hurt and longing.

boy was i wrong!!!!!!!!!

so, the episode that actually made me stop watching for good, with the exception of some standalones like The Jughead Paradox and the finale, was the s5 musical. that was when i realized that this team of writers was 100% willing, maybe even eager, to completely drop storylines they themselves had been building over the course of a season - do a 180 with all of the characterization and relationships - and then act as though the buildup they wrote never even happened.

in this case, i'm specifically talking about the Bughead reunion storyline they dropped in s5. i'm not going to pretend like it was a GREAT buildup - and it was mostly on Jughead's side, Betty's character in s5 was basically an emotionless misery bot that had sex sometimes - but it was there. Jughead told Tabitha he had unresolved feelings around Betty. that's followed by an entire episode that lays out Betty & Jug's time jump relationship, and how Jughead still believes she's the one who saves him from himself. they work on a case together, they start opening up to one another. Jughead's so worried about her he can't eat.

and then...you know what happens.

(i'll also note here that there was random bts stuff that strongly indicated the musical ep storyline had a drastic last-minute rewrite: lili tweeted a blue dress, suggesting the song with that line was meant for her character; RAS said cole had to do last-minute recording sessions; supposedly crew members have confirmed this was the case, too. since none of it's 100% confirmed you can take it all with a grain of salt, but i believe it.)

it was so fucking insulting as a viewer to give my time and attention to a show made by people who would not only randomly drop the threads they set up, but torpedo them altogether, and then behave like the fans are the ones somehow at fault for expecting a story that actually follows through on its own emotional and plot beats. we're just shippers, so our opinions are dumb and biased! it's just a tv show, so who cares! get over it!

so, i stopped watching, because i knew they would continue to write without any thought or respect for their characters or their audience, and therefore inevitably write themselves into another corner. and, shocker, i was right. they did it again, whisking everyone away to the 1950s because actually resolving any of the scenarios they set up was ToO hArD. why bother when you could just make every single character Righteously Angry and Incurably Horny all the time, lecture the audience about social issues that have already been mainstream progressive for the last several decades, and call it a "love letter" to your fans?

#WHEW ok anon idk if this was what you were looking for but it's what you got #hopefully this has fully exorcised my need to Go Off against the creators of this show but you never know!! #my capacity for bitter resentment is apparently endless when it comes to this show #rd negativity #riverdale #anti b*rchie #anti j*bitha #just in case #anon

[asexualsoup]

Wait wait wait

I'm literally half asleep and we only have half the episode out but

Parallels between Vanishing Act and Murderous Mask:

1. Cassandra Kanagawa

2. All Important Item locked in a supposedly unbreakable case

3. Solvin crimes on a set of some kind (stage play versus tv shows)

4. Discussions about the integrity and social importance of the act of making art while working in an exploitative capitalist environment

5. Juno almost dies (though that's every ep)

6. Noir detective themes and tropes babey

7. And Juno thinkin about Nureyev A LOT more than he knows he should be

Can't wait for the next half of Vanishing Act to come out so I can see if there's more. Also I probably missed some anyway.

Been thinking a lot about Kabert's use of ring structure in the Junoverse and so it makes sense that they'll reference season one a lot this season

#tpp #the penumbra podcast #penumbra podcast #juno steel #peter nureyev #jupeter #junoverse #rita tpp #juno steel and the vanishing act #asexualsoup conspiracies #juno steel and the case of the murderous mask #asexualsoup

[mine-fujiko]

About Lupin III, I grew up watching part 1 and still to this day it remains my favourite installation of the franchise, with only Lupin Zero as a very close second if not even on the same level. I just adore Yasuo Otsuka’s style for the characters design and to me that’s the way they look best (redhead Fujiko, cute tall and lanky Lupin and Jigen and Zenigata, first time we see Goemon he looks like an Utamaro’s painting!) and the animation is pretty good for a 1971 tv series. I love the “more violent” episodes by Osumi but also the more comedic later ones by Miyazaki/Takahata.

The series as a whole is incredibly original, it doesn’t follow the usual tropes but instead it gives us a terrific interaction between the main characters. It also doesn’t claim to do any big explanations but just presents the viewers with characters and situations that are just there to be interpreted as the viewers wish. Very interesting to see as both characters and situations develop in the course of the 23 episodes. I’m going to focus only on Lupin, Jigen and Fujiko because there are some episodes that are just “Lupin and Jigen vs Fujiko” that are absolute comedy jewels 😁

On to the characters.

Lupin: is an arrogant, egocentric, over confident arse. He’s convinced that Fujiko is his girlfriend but he is the only one who thinks that! He is very attached to Jigen. He also kills cops. In later eps he starts to see Fujiko as a rival, stops molesting her(!) and by the end of the series they’re more like friends/colleagues.

Jigen: is very loyal and very reliable, off the scale cool guy who saves Lupin’s life like every 5 minutes, he’s sarcastic, cynical but also fun loving and a bit mischievous too. Doesn’t trust Fujiko and he is right because (see below). In later eps he too starts to see Fujiko as a friend/colleague. Still doesn’t trust her, though!

Fujiko: is a wild psychopath. Literally trumps on everyone’s dead body to get what she wants. Nobody’s girlfriend but totally Lupin’s antagonist. Doesn’t give AF and does whatever is best for her. Backstabbing made perfect. In later eps she loses a lot of her sexy man-eater traits but that’s the Miyazaki effect.

I also want to add what really makes the series and thanks god the whole franchise for me, which is the great amount of humour (all characters can turn from extremely cool to goofballs in a sec) and the ability to mix drama, comedy, mystery, mad gags, etc.

As someone who loves the original manga I maintain that the series that did the best job about basically *anything* was part 1.

For reference, the “Lupin and Jigen vs Fujiko” episodes are:

… basically all of them? LOL! No, for real episode 6, 10, 12, 16, 17, 21 because Rie is mini-Fujiko!

To quote one resume it usually goes like this:

“Fujiko goads Lupin into stealing a large shipment of diamonds. Lupin takes the task despite Jigen's protest that Fujiko is playing them for fools. Of course, Jigen is right.”

#lupin iii #lupin the 3rd #lupin the third #jigen #fujiko #yasuo otsuka #masaaki osumi #hayao miyazaki #isao takahata #lupin iii part 1 #part 1 jigen #part 1 fujiko

[tiktaalic]

Been watching Supernatural for the first time and am currently in Jo's era. I love Jo, fly into a mild rage at the show's treatment of her most eps., etc., but it's also reeeeeally funny to watch this first sustained attempt at giving Dean a romance with a woman unfold. At the point I've reached they're so clearly going for that, but every time they attempt a Romance Scene they choose they worst trope you've ever heard of and you watch Dean and Jo take turns initiating but they're BOTH so sullen about it. Then the director goes 'okay now have a sad about your father talk' and Jensen goes 'oh yay! approximating dead father emotions is in my wheelhouse' while Alona presumably goes 'finally a chance to act instead of receiving misogynies' and all of a sudden they have a genuine interesting dynamic. And this is so blatant that from what I hear the show eventually just gives up on the romance.

With the very entertaining result that the Man Show's first attempt at romance spanning beyond an episode ends up looking more than anything like two gays halfheartedly trying to perform heterosexuality and accidentally becoming friends along the way.

YEAH the Jo and dean is quite strange all the way through. I remember hitting it in my rewatch and being really shocked that (iirc) jo is the one who initiates it? And is flirting with dean while dean is so so so in the dead dad depression dumps. It goes straight over his head. He doesn’t engage at all. It’s like. Jo voice. We don’t often get big tall handsome men here. Dean voice. Can you help us l track down a demon. And then a few eps from that she stops flirting with him and HE starts flirting with her in the grossest ways possible while she actively spurns him. Because he’s a misogynist. I know Eric Et Al talked about how basically. They added jo to pander to women. And then women were like If you give dean a girlfriend I’m killing everyone in this room and then myself. So they backpedaled on the romance. But I also don’t feel 100% kosher accepting straight from the misogynist’s mouth that CRAZY FANGURLS FORCED them to change how they wrote women. I mean I don’t doubt there were women who hated jo I’m quite familiar with the woman who hates every woman on tv. But. I also am familiar with how Eric wrote women. So I feel like this disclaimer I’ve just put in is necessary. Point is. It’s a crazy dynamic especially when they put a neat little bow on it in season 7 that says Btw dean thought of her as a little sister and jo had a crush on him because he was a Cool Older Man. It’s a hodgepodge of intentions. So it’s like. Jo flirts with dean and dean doesn’t care and then deancflirts with jo and she doesn’t care and he tries to sleep with her and she calls him lame and then jo dies and dean kisses her forehead and feels guilty about her death and then in an alternate reality he’s her brother and then Ghost Jo comes back and says I had a huuuuuuge crush on you and Dean says I always thought of you as my little sister. Comes off Really strange when you look at all of it together.

#anonymous #ask #spnwatch

[emopirates]

I’ve been looking for other media that will resonate like ofmd does for me

I was thinking about what other media has hit me in such personal specific ways as ofmd. So maybe I can crack the code and find even more???

Predictably I’m not having a lot of luck but I DID come up with 1 example: Severance on apple tv.

If you haven’t watched both shows, it may seem like an odd pairing, because OFMD is (mostly) a comedy (wth dramatic bits) and Severance is (mostly) a drama/thriller (with comedic bits). But what can I say my brain sparked to them both in a similar way! And I think there are reasons.

~ the mildest spoilers for seasons 1 of severance and ofmd ~

Both shows have:

10/10 ensemble comedy gold. Original, weird, character-based, funny joke-ass jokes and flawless comedic performances and amazing riffing. (OK so OFMD is a comedy and has much more of this? But even though Severance is NOT a comedy, its comic relief pops up in every ep and is extremely well done.)

a similar … editorial lushness? That thing of, every frame has something juicy to notice, fun little details, little nuances in facial expressions, inside jokes, meaningful uses of color or light or whatever. Also maybe: that thing where every scene is tightly edited to be ~just the good parts~ so by the end of the ep you’re like, that was v satisfying but also I need to apply another coat of it to my consciousness immediately because I’m sure I missed something.

awakenings. ok this is going to be a nebulous half-baked description but. There is this similar theme of characters unmasking / awakening / discovering and trusting themselves / going for things that society doesn’t expect for them. This thing of realizing the truth is within. IMO this is such a healing and important trope and I want to see so much more of it. You could argue this is more blatant in the pirate show? but I think it’s an important part of severance too.

By the way! Those first two bullets just make these things “good,” and plenty of things are good. I think it’s the third one that really makes the difference.

A few more thoughts:

If you are a pirates fan but haven’t seen Severance:

You would like these goofballs riffing in their cubicles for sure.

If you love Black Pete, you will love Dylan.

A character writes a self-help book you will like a lot.

There’s a tooth-achingly sweet gentle delicate romance tucked away within this fairly dark show and it is SO GOOD.

Severance is a lot darker than ofmd but idk, there’s enough sunshine streaming in. it’s joyful too.

If you are a severance fan but haven’t seen Our Flag Means Death:

Underdogs. Underdogs who are pirates. Because lawful society does not welcome them. And they find their chosen family and. Sorry I need to cry I’ll brb.

If you love Ricken (and even if you don’t) (but who doesn’t?????), you will also love Stede.

If you love The You You Are, you will love talking it through as a crew.

If you love the plant room, you will love this one little well cared for plant?

If you love queer romance watch this show.

In summary my brain liked these things a similar amount thank you for coming to my seminar. 

#more examples pls i need more things #more weirdos loving weirdos #more neurodiverse self acceptance #more first romance #more queer romance #more triumphantly linking arms with your besties and wreaking havoc #seeking out books tv anything #i mean i guess i need to watch good omens 2 that seems obvious? #severance #ofmd #our flag means death #questing for media #look i fell harder for the pirates #but i also fell HARD for MDR & O&D ok

[antigonewinchester]

hiya, since you said you were watching You... what do you think of it? i'm a big fan of the books, but haven't seen the show. not sure i trust them to adapt it with any kind of nuance, but i was intrigued to see that sera is involved. how is it?

Thanks for asking anon! :)

You're the opposite of me, in that I've only seen the show (just finished season 1; I'm a slow watcher) and never read the books. I found S1 to be pretty good overall, with a few minor quibbles.

I'm fond of stories picking apart The Ideals of Romance, so Gamble describing S1 as needing to be both a love and a horror story in every scene rang true. It's a cliche but a ton of romantic tropes are, if taken more realistically, pretty creepy, and I'm right there with the show in terms of noble fairy-tale princes hiding secret horrors underneath. The use of voice-over for what Joe says versus what he was actually thinks worked very well, could've been cheesy but it's not. Joe's voice is very strong thru the whole season. The show walks a tough line with Joe as the main character, because he's such an unreliable narrator, but imo they did a great job. In the last ep, Beck screams at Joe and calls him a sociopath but, at least in S1, he really didn't read that way to me; it's much more than Joe's understanding of love and what love means is very very messed up. He's an incredibly self-deluding character with very warped perceptions, so while I never bought into his charm, he and that dissonance remained compelling to me throughout the show, who Joe thinks he is vs. what he actually does (and then how much he judges other people too, like he's so much better). It's also his humor, and the show's humor, that's the final ingredient, I think. The show can be quite funny! Then quite horrifying, and sometimes funnily horrifying. The writing uses bathos particularly well, which is a form of humor I don't always like (thanks Marvel movies...) but the undercutting of Joe's obsessions or idealizations or the romantic moments really works. Overall, its balancing of tones from lighthearted to horrifying to funny is quite deft, and I enjoyed its range.

For what worked less well, I found some of the social media stuff a bit dated (altho Facebook stalking and all that was more relevant at the time). While I think the writing of the various female characters was better than what I've seen of Gamble's past shows (particularly SPN), her bias towards male characters was definitely still at play. Say, it took me a bit to figure out what the writing was doing with Peach, but eventually Peach as Joe's female foil -- the woman who's secretly in love and obsessed with Beck, who will manipulate and gaslight her, and who's implied to also have grown up in an emotionally abusive and homophobic household -- worked... except it felt like it came pretty late in the season, and I would've liked more hints earlier on. Maybe it’s more obvious on rewatch, tho.

The other part is a bit tricky, because I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it. As far as I can tell, both of these elements are unique to the TV show: first, Mr. Mooney being physically abusive in raising Joe; and second, Claudia and her son Paco as Joe's neighbors and her boyfriend, Ron, being emotionally and physically abusive. Thru flashbacks over the season, we see Mooney abuse Joe, including locking him in the book cage as a kid and manipulating him into thinking he was doing it for Joe’s own good, out of love, and Joe then reenacting that hurt on later people, most obviously Beck: in the last ep, there's literally a match cut from Joe as a kid in the book cage to Beck as an adult. We also see Ron's abuse of Claudia and Paco thru the season, with Joe's care for Paco clearly connected to his own hurt and trauma, and ultimately leading up to Joe killing Ron to protect Paco. If, as I understand, none of this is in the books, I could see someone not liking these additions, or seeing them as a way to humanize Joe and make him more sympathetic in light his stalking, kidnapping, murder, etc.

In terms of Gamble as a creator, it was striking to see her return to such distinct ideas around men, masculinity, and violence -- she's talked about how she likes writing male characters because she can get into their heads and figure out what makes them tick, but it seems to me she's particularly interested in men who've been abused/traumatized (esp by fathers/father figures) and how they react to, and reenact, that violence. Do Gamble & her writers use nuance and thoughtfulness in dealing with abuse & its consequences? That's a tougher question to answer, and depends on the person watching, tbh. I've read some pretty harsh critiques of Gamble’s writing around this topic, and understand where it's coming from, but what makes me a little more generous with Gamble is how it feels she wants to understand, and that she's working through something in continually returning to these ideas in her work.

#abuse cw #child abuse cw #asks #i do think i want to check out the book series possibly before i watch the rest of the seasons #you tv series

[marvelsaos]

TV tropes from each episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020) → 3x08 Many Heads, One Tale

#agents of shield #aosedit #marveledit #tvedit #shielddaily #dailymarvelgifs #marvelgifs #marvellegends #cinematv #filmtvcentral #usersource #useroptional #cinemapix #my edits #tv tropes every ep #s3 #3x08 #dailytvfilimgifs #filmtvdaily #usertelevision

[yumeirochaser]

finished kamen rider hibiki's second half

this was some of the worst tv i have seen period. they were told to make it like a rider show and we got exactly that. an encapsulation of every single rider trope and flaw buried in a pile of pure spite and hatred for the thoughtful masterpiece that is the first half. this IS rider.

like it's not just random and spiteful, but it's also actively toxic and harmful. the sexism is fucking insane in this one. every character gets humilliated and demeaned, with the akira oni eps being the absolute nadir of the show. the kids are blamed for being lost and needing guidance from the adults. every adult in this is seen as an unmanly failure. and the only kid who gets to be an oni is the one who bullies everyone and acts like a loser for most of the show. what are kids supposed to learn from this?

honestly incompetence isn't enough to explain this. it can only explain so fucking much. this is too targeted to opposing every message of the first half in an almost surgical way. they went out of their way to oppose every single one of the thoughtful lessons and character arcs the show made before this, humilliating every character just because it Wasn't Rider Enough. someone upstairs at bandai or toei was really fucking mad at hibiki and burned tons of cash to make this harmful crap. they could have just made a lighter retool or even just pulled the plug but no they kept on making the expensive decisions they hated and planned to make EVEN more (including firing the entire staff and cast) just to shit on hibiki 1. like what the fuck was up at bandai.

they were willing to tell children their worries are useless, that if you are a girl you are a waste of space and that believing in people is bad, just to spite the show. they humilliated a teen girl by stripping her of her dignity and her literal clothes.

and the thing is. inoue was actually successful at what he was told to do. he made it into a rider show. sure, it's the worst example of it but. it's definitely more riderlike. a toxically masculine, sexist mess with shallow lessons. this is rider at its most exposed.

and it's sad bc since kuuga, rider did try to be more than that. but blade and hibiki failing, and this....atrocity of a show happening reversed all of it. it never recovered from returning to that.

i won't watch any more rider after this. this just killed it for me.

#stuff happa watches #kamen rider #hibiki #kamen rider hibiki

[dotthings]

Season 3 finale.

This show is utterly off the walls bonkers bananas. It’s not just that it does [insert tv trope here]. It’s the frequency that it does something wild, like they’re trying to outdo themselves, and they do whatever story trope every time with some twist that does it like it hasn’t been done a zillion times before. And escalates higher and higher with the main overarching plot each time.

I can’t think of many shows whose mytharc worked quite like Fringe’s.

This show really puts Peter/Olivia shippers through it, while also giving things like…morning cuddles are canon. Or letting us see them as a middle aged married couple who worked together. And then horrible terrible things happen, and with every horrifying thing that happens, they come back stronger and even more loving. It’s an excellent demonstration on why conflict is good for fictional romances, actually. Especially slow burn ones. This ship needs a safe word. It’s soooo good.

Joshua Jackson, who doesn’t get to play multiple roles on the show, keeps proving his range and solidity as an actor. In a way, Peter, despite being sort of the key lynchpin figure, is the least flashy role on the show. He’s got darkness in him and is also so good and empathetic and kind, he knows how to fight, but he not a big physical fighter like Olivia, he’s a genius, but not a mad scientist like Walter. Josh Jackson plays Peter and a very real, grounded person and with skilled subtleties of emotion. Peter has to be especially lovable for the show to go, and Josh Jackson pulls it off and makes Peter so real, and so heartful, with dark edges.

And Walter, in the future, is in deep disgrace, as the one who tipped off the world-breaking in the first place but Peter says he got into the machine, and tries to take the culpability on himself. Walter hasn’t lost Peter or Olivia’s affections, or Broyle’s respect. He is responsible for what he’s responsible for, nevertheless, he’s not a bad person, and he did his best to save people, and to make amends for his initial mistake. The attempt to fix it, and Peter’s decision to step into the machine, turned out to be world-destroying.

“That was the day we died.”

There’s a big theme here about the interconnectedness of things. Symbiosis. The butterfly effect or how ecosystems work. Each action has a ripple. One world dies, it dooms the other.

Walternate has a point about what was done to him, and to his world. But what he did in response is a choice. His choices.

Walternate is “father.” Walter is “dad.”

This ep is Walternate deciding to go full supervillain. Where the ambiguity of Walter and Walternate, them not being all that different when it comes down to it, breaks down into a more simple dichotomy—Walter is the good Walter and Walternate is entirely off the rails and cares only for revenge. Becoming the mad evil scientist potentiality that’s in both of them.

Oh no, time paradox.

PETER!

#Fringe #Fringe rewatch #Fringe meta

[greatrunner]

‘Wolf Pack’ Impressions (Ep. 5-8)

1x05 - “Incendiary“

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Armani Jackson are easily the best part of this series

Ramsey is a duplicitous cop with a personal agenda connected to the werewolf murders, and the confidence in this narrative reveal is superbly supported by Gellar’s steady performance.

Everett started out like a walking ‘anxiety (get nervous)’ kind of character in the same way Scott was your prototypical ‘kid with asthma on TV’, but has otherwise not been pigeon-held in a quagmire characterization where his kindness disallows him from defending himself from assholes (Harlan, Austin, his mother) or assholes experiencing no consequences for their fuckery (see: Scott’s every interaction with discount Logan Lerman).

Additionally, his connection to the werewolf killing people is not in the least overshadowed Harlan and Luna’s bio-family drama. His status as a forced-werewolf has allowed him to become what he considers his ideal self and I’m here for it, honestly. Scare the shit out of your bullies.

Garrett really isn’t contributing anything to the current trajectory of the plot besides some nice UST between himself and Ramsey. He is, at the moment, a distraction (like he considered himself in Harlan’s flashback).

Harlan actually becoming proactive in the narrative and contributing to an episode something other than self-involved anger? Say it ain’t so.

This series seems to want to depict teenagers authentically, but lapses right into tried and true trope(s) of ‘unsupervised parties’ and ‘teenagers have easy access to drugs to the point of being pushers themselves’.

Luna’s subplot with Austin feels more necessitated by plot than anything they’ve got going story-wise, so not terribly unfamiliar territory in the box of ‘Jeff Davis can’t do teen romance’.

However lukewarm I am on Everett and Blake’s romance, it at least feels companionable vs. Luna and Austin’s “oh, hey, you drew pictures of me, so clearly you like me!” mess.

I like Prisha. I hope we see more of her next season.

1x06 - “After Party“

Balthier’s (Gideon Emery) appearance was a nice throwback (and definitely less hammy), especially working as a springboard for Ramsey’s story.

Ramsey as the avenging werewolf mother who goes into law enforcement to track arsonists is certainly a narrative I’m here for, and a large part of the reason why I was never interested in dismissing the arsonist storyline continuing on in the background without the teens.

By and large, the story becoming more motivated by Ramsey’s desire to find her son, protect him from [the] harm (of others), at the same time protect him from the authorities is just *chef’s kiss*. I love this monster woman, she is precious to me in all her violence and underhandedness.

Everett being handed the name of the murderous werewolf feels lazy as hell. Yet it does very little to my general enjoyment to how Everett remains at the center of unraveling the red herring of a ‘teen arsonist' plot.

Ultimately the best thing to come out of the reveal that the weird kid at the pool party was the werewolf projecting into Everett’s mind was the use of sound and visuals with the dead mean girl (Phoebe) to alert him about the next victim (Austin).

And, yeah, I was kinda sad about Phoebe’s death. Especially after that dead-straight heart-to-heart they had about Blake’s mother’s infidelity, and why she cut everyone out of her life. She was a jerk, but was also intercommunicating her pain in a similar way as Blake. Let this girl have friends, please!

1x07 - “Lion’s Breath” / 1x08 - “Trophic Cascade”

There are elements to Everett’s narrative (and the idea of lycanthropy being a cure-all for all disabilities or even autism) that hits a decidedly sour (abelist, anti-medication) note. I like the idea of it boosting your confidence, or even changing your perspective on the world (since the person has become an uber predator). But altering things that are often a case of nature or nurture, not so much.

That said, the Everett’s growing steadiness and unwillingness to give his parents emotional neglect and dismissal any more room in his life is incredibly thrilling.

That scene with his mother (”You should be nicer to me”) fucking rips. But it's also what makes part of the finale so bitter. Everett’s mother really white-woman-in-distressed her son, and her exaggeration of events really got his Black ass, swirl-silly father to try and get him confined. Fuck. Everett’s. Mom. I hope Ramsey eats her.

Luna’s loss of faith in her family and friends is a far more interesting note in her stakes than Austin (who promptly disappears from the plot), and a nice reversal of her role as the believer and her brother as the inward-looking jerkass. She neither trusts her father or her brother.

Ramsey’s agenda regarding her lost children, particularly the undercurrent of discomfort from the reveal that she’s known where they were for some time, is something I’m looking forward to see play out in the next season. She doesn’t appear to be angling to nix Garrett but at the same time she’s making it very clear (to the audience) that she won’t be separated from them again.

Even as the arsonist (lmao, what a wet flop of a reveal), driving her son out of hiding (and harming him, losing his trust), she’s gone out of her way to protect the new members of her pack. And the reasons feel like an illustration of how she views who’s worth saving and protecting vs. who isn’t. It’s not altruistic, but I wouldn’t call it intentionally malicious either. She’s a wolf, and she uses her ‘humanity’ so to speak in a way that will benefit the wolves. Again, I’m here for it.

The Malcolm reveal was pretty weak, all things considered. There was no build up, and they literally have the guy spelling it out to the audience.

How did he know she was the wolf from seventeen years ago that murked his crew? How did he know Baron was her son? Why was he not a bigger character in the story if he was going to be that important to the finale?

Ramsey turning out not to be the mysterious caller was a relief and a frustration. But I’m also expecting this to belly flop should it ever get a proper reveal.

Basically, this was like any finale of Teen Wolf. Rushed to hell and back.

Could’ve done without the grim-dark trailer rendition of “Can’t Fight the Moonlight”.

My overall (first) impressions of Paramount+’s Wolf Pack first season is that it’s Teen Wolf if Teen Wolf was written more a little more competently, and Jeff Davis’ preoccupation with white boys didn’t (or wasn’t allowed to) push the protagonist (Armani Jackson’s Everett) into the margins like he did with Tyler Posey’s Scott McCall.

The super-hero-fication of werewolves ah-la HEROES (everyone gets a special ability!) is kinda eye roll-inducing, but I can deal with it.

But, if Ramsey was going to be the fire-starter all along, then the story honestly should’ve been tailored to that instead of telling and not showing that part of the story in favor of a whodunit that basically went nowhere like the Kamina plot. It seems like an ass-pull to intentionally make her the antagonist when there were better and stronger elements in her character that qualify her for that.

Part of me wants to accredit a lot of the show’s success to Sarah Michelle Gellar’s skill as both an actor and an executive producer.

Please, do not kill her character off.

#greatrunner watches wolf pack #wolf pack #paramount plus #sarah michelle gellar #kristin ramsey #armani jackson

[kabutoraiger]

every time i watch an airing BL show and scroll through the tag for it i just feel like. a lot of these people are posting from a different dimension or something?

just tons of these mini essays where they’re going “let’s break down how #deep and meaningful this week’s ep was guys 😭” or reaction posts where they’re like “shaking and crying how could they do this to us” (“this” being the usual temporary breakup episode that just about every drama couple gets)

like besties i enjoy them too but. these shows are formulaic as fuck. that’s kind of part of the appeal, i always thought? they’re like comfort food. there ARE less formulaic BL manga out there certainly but those typically. do not get tv adaptations. how are you writing this much about these sequences of pleasant but completely standard romance tropes that i KNOW you’ve seen countless times before (bc some of these users seem to watch nothing but BL).

it’s like if people liveblogged hundreds of cheap paperback romance novels and still seemed shocked and amazed by every chapter.

#doramablogging

[littleskrimp]

NCIS: HAWAII 1x20 SPOILERS

I know it’s been frustrating seeing this “1 step forward, 3 steps back” thing with Kacy. However, we have to understand that Lucy has every right to be upset. She was hurt by Kate and wasn’t told about Cara. She heard that from Cara herself that she was Whistler’s girlfriend. We had a bit of progress with Kate’s apology in ep. 17, but we still saw Lucy struggling with it in the episodes after that. Lucy was starting to heal. Very slowly, but she was healing. In tonight’s episode, she witnessed the woman that she loves get hurt and she finds out that Kate chose not to tell her about her promotion she turned down (which happened right before she found out about Cara) and it triggered that same pain she felt when she found out about Cara. Not only did she find out about it way too late, she found out from another person AGAIN. Not Whistler, herself. So, Lucy was getting overwhelmed by all of these feelings throughout the day. She didn’t get to really express it until she finally saw Whistler (and maybe when she was beating the living hell out of the woman who hurt Whistler). Only then she let it all out. All the feelings of hurt and she dropped the “L” word on Kate. It may have been used in past tense but we as an audience know she’s still very much in love with Whistler. That’s why she keeps walking away and not allowing Kate to talk. It’s easier for her to just throw all these hurtful words at Kate and walking away instead of facing them with Kate head on. Maybe it’s because she wants Kate to feel that pain she felt.

Her feelings keep getting too overwhelming because she’s still hurt but still in love with Kate. She has a right to express her hurt feelings but shutting Kate out won’t help her heal. It won’t allow closure or build any strong foundation to start anew. Healing takes time and it might have setbacks along the way. This is one of those setbacks.

As for Kate, I truly believe she won’t ever hurt Lucy again. She just wants a chance. A chance to explain. A chance to really be with Lucy. I really do hope this “grand gesture” that’s been hinted at in the finale is something done healthily and beautifully. I’m hoping these two can start anew and actually get the chance to be together. I think all the things Lucy has said to her about the hurt and seeing it on Lucy’s face made Kate realize she has to fight for Lucy’s trust and really earn it. We have to remember they did start out as just a hook up. So, the lack of communication has always been there. Now it’s time for them to actually work at a relationship together. And a relationship does require work from both parties. Something to look forward to in the episodes to come and season 2. ☺️

So, I’m glad the writers are delving into Lucy’s feelings and her healing because she’s had to shelf her feelings for Whistler. She’s had to keep things under wraps way before their relationship was shown to us (post hookup/that 6 month period) and then during this season when they were “on” again. So, Lucy’s had to really repress so much and sooner or later those feelings/emotions have to be released.

As much as we all want them to “kiss and make up”, it can’t be that easy especially knowing their current situation. I believe the writers plan this relationship for the long haul. It wouldn’t be this excruciating if they didn’t.

I’m hoping I’m right on this because they are both beautifully written characters and together they’re electric. In a way, it’s refreshing to see. We haven’t had this type of relationship on tv let alone LGBT. Now, the “secret gf/wife” trope is a bit overused but seeing how they’re dealing with that is keeping my attention. Usually, we have couples break up then kiss/make up without dealing with the pain and hurt. At first, I didn’t know what to think of Kacy but after getting their backstory and getting to know the characters separately I’ve really grown to love them. I also see some of myself in both of them. So, I’m still tuning in and hoping for the best.

#i hope you guys will too #kacy #kate x lucy #lucy x kate #lucy tara #kate whistler #ncis: hawaii #ncis hawaii