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bunnopedia · 2 years

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Hi welcome to my obligatory “I relate my ocs to Taylor Swift” and what albums I’ve assigned to them plus the reason why and their most accurate song :)

Maya - Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

Fearless as an album, at least to me, very much symbolizes growing up. Maybe this has more to do with the time in my life it was released, but that’s what it means. Many of the songs relate to this idea in one way or another as well. For Maya, her story arc is mostly about growing up. Hence, why this is her album.

Most fitting song: The Best Day

Other fitting songs: Fifteen, Untouchable, Superstar

Jackson - 1989 and folklore

1989

1989 is the album of bright sounds and sad lyrics. Set up with “Welcome to New York,” 1989 is a very city-esk album. Jackson being from Chicago, fits the city aesthetic. The lyrics though, is where this assignment fits the most. While having happy songs; there are ones that are genuinely sad, but get overshadowed by the bright pop sound it has. Similar to Jackson and his enthusiasm overshadowing his insecurities.

Most fitting song: I Know Places

Other fitting songs: All You Had To Do Was Stay, Style

folklore

If 1989 is how Jackson outwardly appears, folklore is how he internally feels. The album is mellow, and almost entirely sad. In contrast from the brightness of 1989, folklore is Jackson’s stark contrast emotion.

Most fitting song: mirrorball

Other fitting songs: seven, my tears ricochet

Isaac - Reputation

Ah, who would have guessed anything else? Isaac’s story heavily revolves around reputation, and specifically how he lost it. The vengeance mixed with newfound happiness after the fall is something that Isaac has (or grows to have).

Most fitting song: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Other fitting songs: Look What You Made Me Do, Call It What You Want

Sophia - Speak Now and Lover

Speak Now

Speak Now is whimsically full of love, being full of regret and pain, mixed with the infatuation with a person. Sophia’s feelings are just so well put in this album, I don’t think I have any other words to say besides “well just listen to it for yourself.”

Most fitting song: Innocent

Other fitting songs: Enchanted, Back To December

Lover

Another extremely on the nose album. Seriously, just listen to it and you’ll understand.

But for actual elaboration, Lover is Red’s counterpart. From aesthetically to the actual meaning, Lover and Red are so similar yet so different. And yeah, the mention of Red is important.

Most fitting song: The Archer

Other fitting songs: Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, Daylight

Evan - Red

Yeah so this is why Red was important to Sophia. Hard to guess, I know.

Red is the album is a chaotic love. How love can be all consuming in the most wonderful way and then break and burn and end as quickly as it began. If anyone represents the meaning and set up of this album, it has to be Evan.

Most fitting song: State of Grace or Sad Beautiful Tragic

Other fitting songs: Red, Forever Winter

Talia - folklore and evermore

The sister albums! Thought I’d just wrap them together for that factor. The nature aspect of both of these albums are high, as well as the whimsical side of it. These albums both have some more complex language compared to her last albums, which gives off the feeling of wisdom. Like I mentioned with Jackson, the album is mellow sounding, giving off the vibe of Talia and her quiet wisdom mixed with her secrets.

folklore

Most fitting song: cardigan

Other fitting songs: peace, this is me trying

evermore

Most fitting song: dorothea

Other fitting songs: no body, no crime, willow

#the mirror capture #ocs #Taylor Swift

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bamfdaddio · 3 years

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X-Men Abridged: 1978

The X-Men, those take-me-to-the-ballgame mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 109 - 116) - by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Tony Dezuniga

Yes, the plan here is to toss Kurt at Magneto and yes, it’s objectively the best panel of 1978. (X-Men 113)

If the X-Men were a tv-show, the Phoenix mending the M’Kraan Crystal would probably have been the finale of season 1 of X-Men: the New Generation. Now that we’ve had this big finish, Claremont takes his time to sow new plot seeds and navigate his team of merry mutants in new directions. Compared to 1977, 1978 is a lot more laid back, with smaller arcs and more character moments.

Take the first two issues of the year, for example. The victorious X-Men come home from their space capers and for a moment, all is well. Ororo is a plant mommy, Kurt is a grade-A cutey and Jean comes out to her parents as the Phoenix. (Intrigued? Read more here.) And, because Moira going back home to Scotland, the X-Men say goodbye to her through… a baseball game! (Which, I guess if you’re comic book character bound by the comic book code, is the next best thing to just getting drunk together.)

It’s all very straight-edge wholesome.

Lilandra is very absent: I’m assuming she is sleeping off the space jetlag somewhere. idk

Sure, there’s still a few action-packed B-plots: a fight scene is mandatory in a comic book, after all. Weapon Alpha tries to claim Wolverine in the name of the Canadian government and some nobody named Warhawk sneaks into the mansion as a phone repairman to rig the Danger Room into a Death Trap.

(Look, you have a danger room. Why are you calling phone repairmen? During breakfast, did Charles go around the table, asking anyone if they wanted to fix the phone and everyone was like “nnnnnno, I am le tired”.)

Anyway, how would you unwind after a baseball game? Scott has an awesome idea! (I'm betting Scott would have embraced the Comics Code.)

This is the one issue not drawn by John Byrne this year. Dezuniga does a fine enough job, but Jean using her powers looks like she’s barfing psy-energy all over the place. (X-Men 110)

Warhawk traps the rest of the X-Men in the Danger Room. Wolverine gets a moment to shine as the team’s rogue, finally getting a win after getting knocked on his ass lately. Also, Kurt calls Warhawk Krieghabicht. (Hee.) Jean, meanwhile, is startled because despite her phenomenal powers, she was taken out so easily. She makes the formal choice to rejoin the X-Men.

And the next time we see them… THE X-MEN HAVE VANISHED? (yes, i know this sentence contradicts itself, shut up)

We find Beast at a circus in Texas, investigating their disappearance while on a sabbatical from the Avengers. See, Lorna called him because Havok was kidnapped in Scotland and the X-Men did not pick up, so she called good ole Hank McCoy. We know Charles is honeymooning with Lilandra, so where are the X-Men?

Cerebro leads Hank to a circus and, dude, for someone who’s supposed to be a genius, you draw the conclusion that these are the brainwashed X-Men way too slowly.

I by no means wish to belittle Storm’s situation, but Wolverine is in equally skimpy clothing while chained the fuck up, Beast. Can’t spare a little sympathy for him? (X-Men 111)

Beast continues being the worst detective mutantkind has ever known: even Jean, who’s currently a cigarette smoking trapeze artist named Miz Destiny, barely convinces him that these are the X-Men. When Beast finally confronts the Ring Leader, it turns out to be… Mesmero!

This pose: appropriate for a super villain or suitable for a Harlequin novel cover? Especially with all this talk about enthralling? (X-Men 112)

Apparently Mesmero doesn’t give a fuck that half these X-Men aren’t the same X-Men that fought him before. Revenge is a dish best served cold and to the wrong table, apparently. Beast fighting ole Messy causes Wolverine to spring free from his hypnotic influence. Wolvie proceeds to slap Jean out of it (literally) and they free the rest of the X-Men. But when they come and confront Mesmero in his little circus wagon, their villain is knocked out…

By Magneto.

dun dun DUN

Magneto proceeds to kidnap them, like this:

Magneto, who has no patience for narrative baggage, also yeets out Mesmero over the Andes, no big deal (X-Men 112)

Just like Mesmero, Magneto wants misplaced revenge. Instead of exacting vengeance on Charles, Moira and the Defenders involved in (literally) infantilizing him - no, seriously, he was a baby - Magneto comes for these All-New X-Men. (Look, logic has never been one of Magneto’s super powers.)

He takes the X-Men to his secret base below the South Pole, tucked away under a literal volcano. (He really should be on the tourist board for Amazing Antarctica, this is his third base there.) The X-Men, after they have safely landed, attack him, but they are tossed around like rag dolls, falling one by one - even the Phoenix.

Jean does have the right idea, though: it’s my theory that the key to defeating Magneto is being equally dramatic and hammy. (X-Men 112)

Somewhere on a cruise ship, Charles loses contact with the X-Men and proceeds to do absolutely nothing about it. Damn, but Elizabeth Taylor Lilandra must have some pretty choice moves in bed.

YOU COULD TRY FINDING OUT, CHARLES. (X-Men 113)

When the X-Men wake up, they're bound by Nanny, a robotic… uh, nanny! And Magneto unveils his revenge: he has scrambled the X-Men’s brains: they are fully conscious, but are trapped, powerlessly in their bodies, which won’t follow the instructions of their brains. It’s as if they’re the minds of adults, trapped in the bodies of infants - just like Magneto was. (He does not succumb to an evil laughter, but he’s definitely drifting into Evil Overlord territory.)

Look, a lot of this is very silly. Magneto hasn’t really been codified by Claremont yet: he’s still very much the sixties super villain and he doesn’t have his Holocaust-past yet. His motivations don’t make much sense: it’s never made clear why he needs the base, for example, or why he doesn’t just kill the X-Men. And yet, he seems more menacing than he used to be. Might be because these X-Men actually have a hard time beating him.

A lot of this era works like that. There’s the occasionally very silly trappings of a superhero comic, but there’s also glimmers of exceptional writing. Take the following scene, for example, which I’ll just include in its entirety, because fuck it. Storm is trying to break free, on the flimsy premise that she was a highly advanced baby who had the motor skills of a toddler. (I’ve met babies. They basically eat, sleep and poop. They can’t really do this.) And yet? This scene kind of works.

Like, the fact that this scene works despite the fact that Magneto thought to give his Nanny-robot a sixties copper bob-cut and a aluminium French maid headpiece is a testament to effective writing. (Also to Magneto’s attention to detail.) (X-Men 113)

No worries, Storm succeeds the second time she attempts this.

Together, the now free team manages to almost defeat Magneto, but Phoenix grows a little too zealous, destroying precious machinery. It proves to be their undoing: the roof to the base cracks open, letting lava in. Things grow dire and Magneto gets the nope out of there.

The lava turns on the heat and the team gets split up. Phoenix escapes together with Beast, and they both collapse into the freezing snow in the Arctic. A helicopter saves them, but what about the rest of the team? Are they dead?!

They’re dead enough for Professor X, and I really have questions about the effectiveness of Cerebro. After a brief mourning period, Beast rejoins the Avengers. But what really happened to the X-Men? Well, they fled into the Savage Land!

So, are we getting a sexy costume change with every new locale and/or story arc? What is this, Charmed? (X-Men 114)

The Savage Land plot is… kind of messy and confusing? First, Storm is attacked by Sauron (yay!) and he even hypnotizes Wolverine and uses his love for Jean against him (ew!), but as soon as Karl Lykos gains control again (boo!), he explains how he

Did not fall to his death;

Is suppressing his pterodactyl side (ain’t we all);

allied himself with the Savage Landers.

Then Ka-Zar, Marvel´s discount!Tarzan, explains how someone named Zaladane transformed a hapless innocent into Garruk, the Petrified Man, who is some sort of… living god? Who stopped some sort of interdimensional invasion by mending some sort of… portal rift? And then he set up shop in the swamp and built some sort of futuristic city? And he wants to enslave all of the natives of the Savage Land? And he built his city on the geothermal fissure that heats the Savage Land, so now the jungle is being choked out by snowy tundra?

Such a mess. And I know Zaladane gets important later, but, ugh, the socio-political tensions in the Savage Land is generally not what I’m here for.

One of the few Savage Land scenes I do like is also messy, but the emotional kind of messy. See, the X-Men on their part believe Jean and Hank are dead, and Scott takes it rather… lightly? When Storm confronts him about it, he confesses he does not mourn Jean as much as he thought he would, as if she were a different woman ever since they crash-landed the shuttle. Storm rejects this confession, always solidly in Jean’s camp, and basically tells Scott to man up. Scott has a point: Jean has changed and it’s not like people have fallen out of love for less, but there’s something to be said for Storm’s firm “for better or for worse”-argument. The scene ends unresolved, and I like that.

Anyway, there’s some X-Men fighting dinos and flying lizards, so there’s at least that. Oh, and Colossus develops a suddenly intense bond with a Savage Lander with a mohawk, which is a detail that becomes important later. Another significant detail?

There’s a lot of weight to that snikt, bub. (X-Men 116)

The implication is that Wolverine simply kills the guy in cold-blood. It’s a little weird that both Storm and Kurt are so okay with this, especially because Storm tries to save Garruk later. This, however, also marks an important direction in which they’re taking Wolverine, becoming the most ruthless of the X-Men.

In the end, Cyclops blasts the foundations of the citadel to smithereens, solving everyone’s problems and putting a neat bow on this tangled plotline. Also, all of a sudden? The X-Men are monthly again! (yay!) And they’ve upgraded from All-New, All-Different to Uncanny on the cover, though the name of the comic won’t officially change until issue 142.

Best new character: Like Hell I’m giving this to Weapon Alpha! So instead, it’s going to the two stylish, mohawked ladies who “show the island” to Piotr. (Again. They’ll be relevant later. Sort of.)

What to read: X-Men 109, for the denouement of the Phoenix Saga (or the first part thereof). The rest is rather inconsequential.

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gizkalord · 4 years

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Maul for the "character dare"!

favorite thing about them—the fact that he’s a sympathetic villain without needing a classic redemption arc!!! his character arc continues to be a unique and refreshing addition to the sw universe.

least favorite thing about them—making obi wan sad :/

favorite line—he has so many good lines omg but his whole dialogue in the throne room in phantom apprentice is just *chefs kiss*, i will never forget the experience of darth maul absolutely frying my brain at 2am

also: “He will avenge us.”

brOTP—he has no bros.... maul is cursed to a lonely, destructive existence where eventually everything he cares about is stripped away from him..... OTP—i don’t actively ship maul with anyone, but like... he def gay for obi wan nOTP—maulsoka, they are clearly wlw/mlm solidarity random headcanon—this is based on a fanfic i read, but i really like the idea that maul was continually haunted by visions of satine, as a manifestation of his shame, vengeance, misery, and sense of futility. also, that he really did love savage, even though he was never able to consciously realize that.

unpopular opinion—do i have unpopular opinions about him?? i don’t think so

song i associate with them—somehow taylor swift fits him, maybe bad blood or something lmfao

favorite picture of them

SERIOUSLY. WHAT A DRAMATIC HIMBO. KING.

#maul #sw ask game #ask #mademoiselleboucles

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aia-prima-raufton · 6 years

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(Spoilers ahead)

I just finished the second season of Jessica Jones and I loved it as much as I loved the first season.

Here are the things I liked: + Everyone’s arcs. Malcolm rose from being a well-intentioned but ultimately helpless sidekick into his own man. Hogarth’s world was crumbling away, but she gets back on her feet with a vengeance, quite literally. And Jessica? Poor Jessica needs a well-deserved vacation from everybody and everything. + Trish’s downward spiral was fascinating to watch, thanks to Rachael Taylor’s terrific performance. Note though that I do NOT support Trish’s decisions. Bullying your way to becoming a hero does not a hero make. Her “heroic” act in the last episode as well as her lack of remorse were just so devastating. I’m interested to see what happens to her and Jessica next season. + The sympathetic villain who wants to do good, to be good, but cannot control herself. Janet McTeer’s portrayal makes Alisa equally tender and terrifying. + I’m thankful for the writers for bringing back the inimitable David Tennant even for just one episode. I wish that he would be brought back for the next season. Isn’t the Purple Man Jessica’s archenemy, after all? + Before I forget. I think this season is female-centric without being patronizing. And I say this with pride because there are a lot of shows and movies that try to portray feminism in such a way that the roles are reversed: the woman is the heroine and the man is the “damsel-in-distress” or the object of desire. While I totally understand the idea that women can do what men do, what happens in this role-reversal scenario is that one sex is brought down to raise the other, and that is not what feminism is about. The male characters in this show are not merely plot devices, but are actually fully realized characters on their own and contribute to Jessica’s character development. Apart from Malcolm, there are Oscar and Costa. Oscar’s protectiveness and Costa’s steadfastness remind Jessica and the audience about the goodness of people. Even Pryce Cheng, a business rival, inspired her to make the right decision, even though it was difficult. + Overall, I think the second season has excellent writing.

Now onto my criticisms: - The amount of incessant threats to other characters. Jessica and Trish’s MO seems to be to scare the shit out of people to get what they want. I think that those instances were just used to showcase Jessica’s strength and IDGAF attitude. It got tiring pretty fast. - I feel like Simpson was unceremoniously removed. His strength and fighting skills could have still been used further. In fact, I see him more as a proper tool for Trish to use than Malcolm, seeing as how he is very loyal to her. - The pacing is a common problem among Marvel-Netflix shows, and this season is not immune to it. I feel like some scenes are just dragged on, like the aquarium scene. - While I applauded the writing, I think that there’s still a loophole in the story. Dr. Malus feels remorse for what he did to Alisa. She feels guilty for killing a nurse, but he takes responsibility. What does he do? He frames someone else for the murder –a mentally-challenged man. That’s fucked up. But after one episode, we don’t hear his name ever again. So, he’s locked up for a crime he didn’t commit? WTF. If Dr. Malus is actually the kind man that Alisa describes to be, then why oh why did he let a poor guy get imprisoned while he lives in (a false) paradise with Alisa? How can he live with that? Maybe justice will be served next season.

To conclude, I loved S2. It has more drama than action, but that doesn’t mean that the action sequences are less stellar. There are issues that need to be addressed, but this sophomore season is still very engaging. Here’s to hoping for a better third season!

#jessica jones #marvel #netflix

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syndianites · 6 years

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Paranoia is in Bloom

Fandom: Mianite Awakening

Summary: They all thought he was overly paranoid. The voices in his head didn’t. But maybe that was why the others thought he was crazy. Honestly? He didn’t care. If he had to, he would be the one to save them when his ‘paranoia’ paid off.

AN: Uhhhh, I remember at some point someone, maybe fans?, were talking about how ironic it was that people called Andor paranoid when he seemed to have some basis behind his paranoia? Lol, i dont remember at this point, but i can make fanfics from it! Anyway, this is for your birthday, Andor, but that was like, two days ago…. Whoops XD Happy late Birthday! At this point, Merry Christmas? I hope this wasn’t too bad, and that you liked it! Also, i tried to stay on topic, but tangents. Many tangents. Also, i dont reaaaally know how much your character is based on the Prince from the Fallen Kingdom, so i kinda… picked what I wanted out of it? Like, more than i should have? Oops.

@lolfzter

He wasn’t paranoid. Despite what the others may think, he did have a reason for his actions, he wasn’t just some child learning the ways of the world. He had learned the ways of the world. Maybe not all of them, but enough.

From a young age, he learned the necessity of work, of doing things yourself. That often times you could only safely rely on yourself, could only safely trust yourself to push through. But that wasn’t to say he was taught against making friends, against making alliances. There were, afterall, strength in numbers, in allied forces. And there was something nice about having friends.

It was only a little older that he learned that naivety could kill. That blindly trusting, recklessly brushing off your initial misgivings of someone could be dangerous. There was a strange knowing in your gut, some instinctual urge that judged on more than appearance. It wasn’t like he trusted many people anyway. Doing so made it too easy to be betrayed.

He learned to fight at that age. The whisper of air that curled around his swings, the pings of metal striking metal, the hissing of an arrows smooth arc past him. It all came eerily natural to him, irked some of the people who saw him in action. It was necessary, but it was somehow freeing.

To be so clearly in his element, to know each movement he needed to make, to fill that need to move, to become thoughtless, to fight. It was almost addicting. The way his enemies fell before him, the challenges he overcame, the triumphs he experienced. Battle enthralled him, called to him.

But, he conceded much later, he could only partake in it in moderation. Societal rules dictated that such conflicts were not agreeable, and that fighting, killing, just for the sake of it was morally wrong. As much as he felt the pull of battle, the yearning to see people crumple before him, part of him knew that he shouldn’t pursue such activities. Not if he wanted to maintain a semi-normal life. Not if he wanted to be a hero.

At least, that's what the voices in his head argued. If anyone asked of them, he’d scoff, telling the person of their childishness, of their strange conversations, of the weird way they seemed to think. Of course, this would only label him as crazier than he was, so he didn’t mention them. But if someone were to take that at face value, to ignore the thought that, this man must be insane, they would find it funny how ironic it was he considered his voices to be as such.

But no one wanted to hear about his head voices, and they were too busy thinking of strange ideas to care about being noticed. It was probably for the better that they had stayed below the radar. They would not have been well received.

It had only been a few years after he learned to fight that he found an excuse to. An excuse, and a real reason. Vengeance was, afterall, one of the more acceptable terms for battle. And it was what drove him forward, what set him before a being of inhuman strength and power.

Despite the more dedicated, perhaps even righteous, nature of his desire to fight he found himself slipping into another thought. The challenge this being gave him, the pure struggle that he could feel in his bones, that shook his core with each strike, that nearly blinded him with each clash, it sang to him. His voices had been rendered silent, whether awed or concerned, and the silence was peculiar. But it was the most silence his head had felt in such a long time. Though he had come to care for his voices, he found himself treasuring the silence.

Sharpened diamond pinged against sharpened diamond, a sound much different from metal, and for the first time in a long time, the sounds of battle were all that filled his head. Muted popping came from below as he was forced dangerously closer to the lava boiling below, yet the heat came as a comfort. His muscles burned with the same intensity, yet he relished the strain. Two pairs of eye connected, before lava blazed between them, and a ghastly cry was heard.

Getting some distance away from the otherworldly entity, a smirk, more of a smiling grimace, graced his mildly burnt complection. This was a fight he was determined to win, but the mere experience of it was exhilarating. To be nearly on par with some wretched creature of human likeness? It buffed his ego, but also called out to his inner warrior. Another enemy to trump, another person to best. He wanted to finish him, but not finish the fight. For once, his mind felt clear, felt in complete working order. As if fighting was what he was made to do.

But that too, ended. He won, rode off into the sunset like some cliche hero. Except it was more of a sunrise. The dawn of something new. Perhaps the yearning for battle had been quelled then. Maybe the lust for conflict found it's release. For a while after that, he was nearly content with the peace that held over his town of sorts.

Except… an urge in the back of his head was growing. His voices were anxious. Something wasn’t quite right. Someone wasn’t quite right. Though his gut told him to be wary, he brushed the thought aside. This was his home, his domain. Surely no one would be foolish enough to encroach upon it.

Well, he had been wrong. Wrong to assume it was safe. Wrong to deny the feeling he had. And now people he suffered for it. His voices didn’t accused him. They almost berated themselves, for not convincing him. But they knew, as he knew, that none of that mattered. That they could only push forward to rectify this. Afterall, what point is there on dwelling in the past?

Each fight pulled at him more. Like there was something he was… missing. Not anything tangible, but something he should know. But he didn’t. And there was something else going wrong behind him, behind the scenes. There was something getting ready to strike him, to rear its ugly head. No one else thought so. They could only see the end of this struggle coming out. It seemed to be in their favor, but something was getting close to breaking it. But they just didn’t see that.

And then it was too late. It struck while his back was turned. Literally. There was some great force, something seizing his muscles, strangling his cry, rendering him useless. Useless. And he lay there, motionless, confused, angry. And his world became enveloped in black.

That too, had been a while ago. That had been his first plunge into the void. Into nothingness. It It had been his first time meeting the strange person he knew now as Taylor, who couldn’t get rid of the flowers on her skin. (He didn’t think she wanted to anyway).

Back then was when he met his now closest friends, found that fighting was okay, that killing wasn't permanent. He had so many new experiences, was introduced to the cryptic priest he didn’t know he’d hurt to see die, helped revive the broken man he knew was going to die but pained over anyway.

So many new people, different rules, strange customs. Who needed a god? Apparently mortals. But he wasn’t going to conform to some pretentious sounding gods, and he wasn’t going to fold under the pressure of some weird old man.

And he didn’t. And he still wouldn’t. Back then his gut said to be wary of Birdy. It was right. Later, it said to be wary of the shadows. So far, he wasn’t sure if he was right. He wasn’t wrong.

Now. Now his gut said not to trust what he was told. Something in his head pulled at him. He refused to remain naive. And when Spector showed up, strange and crazy, he was going to listen to that pull. But he wasn’t going to let it drive him.

Much later, when he, along with the others, were left reeling, scurrying through the end, wondering what Hector really meant to Dal, he felt the pull. His voices muttered about, speaking of Dallas, of Spector, or was it just Hector at this point? They spoke hushedly about why she chose to stay with Spector.

But that wasn’t the real pull.

No. His head warned him of something else. It wasn’t something he could fight, or anyone could fight. There was no harm, well, physically harm he could see coming. Just like Sky, this was something fought within someone’s own mind. But not his. Hers. When it really came down to it, he wondered.

What would Spector do to Dallas?

(AN: Yeah, at some point i switched tense, on accident, and then it went back, but then it switched again. So. Well. Whoops. Supposed to be all past tense in the beginning. I think. And kinda present at the end? I should go back and edit, but its getting closer to one in the morning than i should get to, and tbh it prolly wouldnt help. Anyway, Happy (late) Birthday again Andor! I know at this point its Christmas, but ya know..... )

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marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer · 7 years

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MTVS Epic Rewatch #177

VOTE ON THE SEASON POLLS!

BTVS 6x22 Grave

Stray thoughts

1) Okay, where had we left off?

Oh, right, right, Ripper is back!

2) “Daddy’s home! I’m in wicked trouble now!” I’ve always thought the way Dark!Willow delivered this line hinted at a different meaning of “Daddy,” if you know what I’m saying…

WILLOW: But, hey, if you'd like to watch... I mean, that's what you Watchers are good at, right? Watching? Butting in on things that don't concern you? GILES: You concern me, Willow. Stay on this path and you'll wind up dead.

Okay, let me preface this by saying that, like probably everyone else in the fandom, I legit cheered when Giles showed up and took Dark!Willow down. And let me follow that by saying that if you’ve been reading my recaps/meta, I’m about to get just a tad bit repetitive. As awesome as Giles’s arrival was, I can’t help but feel it was too little, too late. If there was one person who could’ve predicted – and who I fear actually knew – the path down which Willow was headed, it was without doubt Giles. Let’s not forget that Giles had been a rebellious teen himself who had found power in magic. He, too, had thought he was almighty and that he was in control of magic, not the other way around. We all remember where that got him (2x08 The Dark Age.) And I know what you’ll say: he wasn’t Willow’s father nor her watcher. Pardon my French, but that’s a bunch of bullshit. The fact that he wasn’t Willow’s father nor his watcher does not excuse the fact that he stood idly by as a responsible and experienced adult witnessing how a teenager was in over her head with magic. The fact is, Giles acted irresponsibly and carelessly. He knew. And yet, from season 2/3 till season 5, all he did was either sternly frown or mildly warn Willow of how dangerous the magic she was dealing with was. Come season 6, and yes, I cheered when he scolded her in Flooded. Yet, I can’t help but feel this was, again, too little, too late. A good old scolding is hardly a deterrent for a witch intoxicated with the power of magic. If anything, it’s the opposite. Moreover, Giles found himself speechless at Willow’s not-so-subtle threats. I can admit that, in spite of how similar his own experience was to Willow’s, he might have been ill-prepared to tutor her or guide her in the right path (but then again, he does end up doing exactly that in season 7, so there really wasn’t any reason for him not to do it before she went dark…) If that was the case, then Flooded was probably the moment he should’ve gone to the Council or the Coven or whoever was better prepared to help her. That is, he should’ve done it when he first saw signs of Willow’s darkness. Not when she had already gone over the edge. So, as much as I’ll always see his return in Two to Go as a moment of awesome, I can’t help but feel he failed Willow. Rant over. (but will be resumed, you’ve been warned...)

4) And this is also a moment of awesome…

5) Of course, it doesn’t last long…

6) This moment is so sweet…

BUFFY: What did you do? GILES: Contained her and her powers within a binding field. It puts her in a kind of... stasis for the time... You cut your hair.

Damn, I will end up giffing this entire episode, won’t I?

GILES: Buffy, what's happened here? BUFFY: God. I don't even know where to start. GILES: Well, Willow's clearly been abusing the magicks.

But you already knew this, dude!!!! The day you left she had erased everyone’s memories, for fuck’s sake! It was as much of a problem then as it was now!

8) Back me up, shouldn’t this be written on the season 6 DVD back cover?

BUFFY: [Willow] was [abusing magic]... and I barely even noticed. (...) Xander left Anya at the altar, and Anya's a vengeance demon again... Dawn's a total klepto... money's been so tight that I've been slinging burgers at the Doublemeat Palace ... And I've been sleeping with Spike.

All written on this screenshot, of course.

Yes, it’s a super dark season, and everyone screws up and suffers and it’s all #pain, but when you condense it all like this, it’s so outrageously funny, isn’t it?

WILLOW: I need you, Anya. I need you to do something for me.

ANYA: I know what you're trying to do. And I hate to burst your bubble, but that mind control mojo doesn't work on vengeance demons, so why don't you just- WILLOW: Stop talking and listen. ANYA: Okay.

10)

GILES Can you forgive me? BUFFY: For what? GILES: I should never have left. BUFFY: No. You were right to leave. We're just... stupid. GILES: I know you're all stupid. I should never have abandoned you.

No, no, you really shouldn’t have, Rupert.

11)

GILES: Sometimes the most adult thing you can do is... ask for help when you need it.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING, GILES?!!! WHAT WAS ALL OF THIS, THEN, IF NOT BUFFY ASKING YOU TO HELP HER?!!!!

6x04 Flooded

BUFFY: I'm glad you're back. GILES: Well, I'm glad you are too.

6x05 Life Serial

BUFFY: This is, this is great. This is more than great. I don't... really know how to say this... but it's a little like having Mom back.

6x07 Once More With Feeling

BUFFY: Oh. I thought you took care of that. GILES: Right. BUFFY: What would I do without you?

6x08 Tabula Rasa

GILES: You have to be strong. I'm, I'm trying to- BUFFY: Trying to, to what? Desert me? Abandon me? Leave me all alone when I really need somebody? GILES: I don't want to leave- BUFFY: So don't. Please don't. I can't do this without you. (...) So I won't! No giving up. You can be here, and I can still be strong.

Like, I get that it all sounds so wise and beautiful in the dawn of their reunion, but it seems as though the writers totally forgot the way Giles acted prior to his leaving. Buffy did ask for help in absolutely unequivocal terms. And Giles deliberately refused it. So it’s all fine and dandy with him being back and them laughing it all off. But the crux of the matter is Buffy needed him and he wasn’t there. What’s worse, he comes back and tells her: “you should’ve asked me to stay and help you.” Are you for real, dude?

12)

BUFFY: Part of me. I just... I don't understand... why I'm back. GILES: You have a calling. BUFFY: But it was my time, Giles. Someone would have taken my place. So why?

Someone had already taken her place, but for whatever reason (the reason being she’s the title character...) Buffy continued to be the “official” slayer. I get that they were most likely setting up the arc for season 7, with the question of why she was back (a question that she quite conveniently hadn’t asked herself until the season finale...) but can we please remember that the Slayer line runs through Faith now?

13) Oh, look, Puppet Anya!

Also, is this where Taylor Swift got her inspiration for Look What You Made Me Do?

[this]

14) Why are they still walking?

Like, I get that it wouldn’t make a difference, either way, considering Willow can teleport at will, but idk, I feel I’d still want to put as much distance as humanly possible between the person who wants to murder me and my precious self.

15) Oh, Xander, your pettiness is showing…

DAWN: Where are we going?

XANDER: I have no idea. DAWN: What? XANDER: I don't know, okay? I can't even run away well. And that's something I'm usually good at. DAWN: Maybe we should we go back and help. XANDER: Yeah, 'cause I've been such a big help already. Standing around like a monkey while Buffy gets shot. Tara's dead... and Willow... losing... DAWN: Well, feeling sorry for yourself isn't helping either, Xander, okay? You know, if Spike were here, he'd go back and fight.

XANDER: Sure, if he wasn't too busy trying to rape your sister.

DAWN: What?!

XANDER: Forget it.

DAWN: I don't believe you. XANDER: Fine. DAWN: He wouldn't do that.

XANDER: Is this blind spot like a genetic trait with the Summers women? The only useful thing Spike ever did was finally leave town.

There are a number of reasons why I find Xander’s behavior problematic here. First and foremost, this was Buffy’s traumatic experience to tell, especially where her little sister is concerned. Buffy’s. No one else’s. Okay? Second of all, it’s easy to tell he’s only saying this to A) make himself look good compared to a would-be-rapist, which is setting the bar very, very low, Xan-Xan. B) destroying Dawn’s idealization of Spike (which I think was definitely needed, just not in this way.) Thirdly, he drops this hell of a bomb to a 15-year-old, btw, just because he’s being petty and then he’s all like “forget it.” And it’s easy to tell he’s talking to Dawn as if she were an equal to him and Buffy, which she is not. She is a 15-year-old! Why did he think he had any right to be discussing - with Dawn of all people! - what had happened to Buffy without her consent and, more importantly, in those terms?

16) Meanwhile…

I’ve never found creepy-crawlers this sexy, tbh.

But as regards the plot, the writers were definitely trying to throw us off. Like, it has always puzzled me how there are people who still believe Spike was there to get his chip out and then the soul thing just happened to him. Granted, the lines seem to be hinting at that, and James’s delivery every time Spike refers to Buffy is full of spite and resentment. And it was definitely all written in a way that would lead us to believe he wanted the demons to get his chip out. But, like, that’s what a plot twist is? Literally? You think the plot is going one way, and then, boom, it goes in another way. And if you reread all of his lines knowing that he was actually there to get his soul back, it makes even more sense. Still, the fact that people still believe Spike was there to get rid of his chip is completely perplexing to me. But more on that later.

17)

WILLOW: Boy, you just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me now. This? ...is nothing. It's all... nothing.

GILES: I see. If you lose someone you love... the other people in your life who care about you... become meaningless. I wonder what Tara would say about that.

OOOOH BURN!!!

18) How sad is it that Buffy left to save Dawn knowing that she was most likely leaving Giles to die?

19) Giles kind of hit Willow with his horrible breath, didn’t he?

20) Ok, so this…

…was his plan all along. But like, he was banking on a lot of things going his way to make this work, right? Like, how did he know that when given the chance, Willow wouldn’t kill him before even considering taking his powers? And even if she did take his powers, how could he be sure she would react to those feelings with compassion? (which she didn’t…)

21) This moment, though. Alyson just kills it.

WILLOW: Wow. Whoa. Who's your supplier? This is... wow. It's incredible. I mean, I am so juiced... Giles, it's like... no... mortal person has... ever had... this much power. Ever. It's like I, I'm connected to everything... I can feel... it feels like... I... I can feel...

WILLOW: ...everyone. Oh. Oh my God. All the emotion. All the pain. No, it, it's too much. It's just too much.

22) Oh, Jonathan, what happened to “we will do our time”?

I get it, they had served their purpose from a plot point of view. They were merely a device to pit the main characters against each other.

23)

GILES: I know where Willow is. She's going to finish it. ANYA: Finish what? GILES: The world.

24) I love how subtle Dawn is about bringing up the whole Spike thing…

DAWN: This looks a little like Spike's place. You know, under his crypt. What are you doing?

BUFFY: If we can pull these out, we can use the coffins for height. Maybe get out of here!

DAWN: Maybe one of the tunnels Spike uses is around here. Uh, we could use it to get to his place.

25) Dawn, you’re damn right.

BUFFY: That's the last place on Earth we need to be. DAWN: Oh, but it was good enough for you to take me there after what he did to you.

BUFFY: What he... DAWN: Tried to do. Whatever. BUFFY: Xander. DAWN: So it's true? BUFFY: Dawn, you may not have noticed, we're in really big trouble here. This isn't- DAWN: Why did you not tell me? BUFFY: Because you didn't need to know. DAWN: Yes, I do. I need to know! I'm not a kid anymore. BUFFY: Dawn, I'm trying to protect you. DAWN: Well, you can't! Look around, Buffy. We're trapped in here! Willow's killing and people I love keep dying! And you cannot protect me from that.

26) How was it day already?

TV show daytime savings, I guess.

27)

BUFFY: There's... no temple on Kingman's Bluff.

Well, there is now…

28)

ANYA Something else Giles said. No magic or supernatural force can stop her. BUFFY: What does that mean? ANYA: Don't know. He, he said, "the Slayer can't stop her," and then he said a bunch of other stuff.

Get it? This is the other reason why Buffy couldn’t have been the one to stop Willow just by talking to her. It just had to be someone else, someone human. But not just anyone...

29) I don’t know why I get so emotional with this moment. Seriously. Tears in my eyes, you guys.

BUFFY: They just keep coming. I can't take them all. Dawn. Will you help me?

DAWN: I got your back.

30) Anya always telling it like it is…

ANYA: Giles? Giles! Don't die. Not yet, there-there are things I wanna tell you. Thanks a lot for coming. It was good of you to teleport all this way. Though in retrospect, it probably would have been better if you hadn't come and given Willow all that magic that made her like ten times more powerful. That would have been a plus.

31) And then, the final confrontation… (I’m crying already…)

You see, she attacks Xander just once, and she instantly flinches with regret and pain. But more on this later…

32) Yet another moment of awesome…

DAWN: What? You think I never watched you?

33) So, let me share some of the highlights of Xander’s and Willow’s confrontation and then – after I’m done crying my heart out – I’ll offer some of my thoughts…

WILLOW: You can't stop this. XANDER: Yeah, I get that. It's just, where else am I gonna go? You've been my best friend my whole life. World gonna end... where else would I want to be? WILLOW: Is this the master plan? You're going to stop me by telling me you love me? XANDER: Well, I was going to walk you off a cliff and hand you an anvil, but... it seemed kinda cartoony. WILLOW: Still making jokes. XANDER: I'm not joking. I know you're in pain. I can't imagine the pain you're in. And I know you're about to do something apocalyptically evil and stupid, and hey. I still want to hang. You're Willow. WILLOW: Don't call me that. XANDER: First day of kindergarten. You cried because you broke the yellow crayon, and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far, ending the world, not a terrific notion. But the thing is? Yeah. I love you. I loved crayon-breaky Willow and I love ... scary veiny Willow. So if I'm going out, it's here. If you wanna kill the world? Well, then start with me. I've earned that. WILLOW: You think I won't? XANDER: It doesn't matter. I'll still love you. WILLOW: Shut up.

XANDER: I love you. I... love y-

WILLOW: Shut up!!

XANDER: I love you, Willow. WILLOW: Stop!

XANDER: I love you. WILLOW: Stop.

XANDER: I love you.

You see, this moment felt earned. This was a moment six seasons in the making. It just had to be Xander. There was no way around it. He was the only one who could get to her and break her defenses. He was probably the only one who could console her in the dawn of Tara’s death. The first interaction both of them had in the show was with each other. Long before Buffy, before vampires and hellmouths and werewolves and gay love and vengeance demons and magic and apocalypses, there were Willow and Xander, Xander and Willow. It is incredibly fitting, then, that come the end of either of them, the other should be right there by their side. I’m not diminishing Buffy and Willow’s friendship in any way. But Xander was the one who truly knew Willow best, and vice-versa. They knew each other since they were kids, and they were each other’s friends when probably no one else wanted to be. So the reason this moment feels so earned and overwhelmingly moving is because of the history. It’s the history we’ve witnessed since season 1, and the one prior to that, which we’ve been told and also pieced together. This moment has such a huge impact only because of the history between these two characters. Her love for her first and closest friend was the last spark of humanity left in her, you see? Friendship love is the best kind of love. I’m so emotional right now.

34) Can you blame Dawn for asking this question, though?

DAWN: Wait, is... is that happy crying? BUFFY: Yes, dummy. You think I wanted the world to end? DAWN: I don't know. Didn't you?

35)

BUFFY: Things have really sucked lately, but it's all gonna change. And I wanna be there when it does. I want to see my friends happy again. And I want to see you grow up. The woman you're gonna become. Because she's gonna be beautiful. And she's going to be powerful. I got it so wrong. I don't want to protect you from the world. I want to show it to you.

And it also feels fitting that Buffy is finally overcoming her depression with the person who was the very reason she decided not to jump off the tower again at the beginning of the season.

36) But it’s not over yet… (and this is why I think it should be perfectly clear that Spike was in fact after his soul...)

DEMON VOICE: You have endured the required trials. SPIKE: Bloody right I have. So you'll give me what I want. Make me what I was. So Buffy can get what she deserves.

DEMON: Very well. We will return...your soul.

DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNNN!

37) All in all, a great season finale unlike any of the others. And a pretty hopeful end to a rather dark season.

#Buffy the Vampire Slayer #BTVS #Buffy Summers #Willow Rosenberg #Xander Harris #Rupert Giles #MTVSepicrewatch #BTVSrewatch2015 #Grave #recap #mine #btvsrecap

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justgotham · 7 years

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When will the increasingly malevolent Edward Nygma finally embrace his super-villainous identity as The Riddler? According to actor Cory Michael Smith, the man inside Ed's greener and greener suits, the big reveal is now.

With "Gotham" returning after a winter hiatus for the remaining seven episodes of its third season, Smith has finally stepped into the center ring as Gotham City's emerging prince of psychotic puzzles who uses his razor-sharp intellect in the service of increasingly malicious and attention-seeking antics.

And, as Smith reveals, after all the lengthy, deliberate setting of the table and plenty of time to chart out Ed's evolution, it's been pretty easy being green -- as long as it's in a suit and not a question mark-covered leotard.

Moviefone: Here you are, right at the doorway of becoming The Riddler that we've all been expecting him to become. Tell me about getting him to the point where we left him, and where we're about to go.

Cory Michael Smith: It's been quite a long ride here. Where we are at this point: he just killed the mayor, who happened to be his best friend, and also kind of his mentor in villainy. Frankly, the only person that he would trust to kind of guide him into this lifestyle. Perhaps the only person equipped to deal with him and guide him that way.

So he's kind of in this crisis at the moment where he has to decide what his next move is. Does he continue to run the city by proxy, and pretend like he has no idea what happened to Oswald, until a new mayor is elected, and then maybe he finds a different job in the government? Which I don't imagine is what he wants. There's that path.

Or, this thing that he's kind of preparing himself for, that he kind of yearns for, this challenge, and this exciting option, which is, have a coming out party as a villain. Find your identity. Figure out someone to kind of replace Oswald as this person who can help you find your identity, figure it out, and then, like, go for it, man! So that's what this first episode back is all about.

What was fun for you playing, first, the bond and the friendship that Ed and Oswald had, and then how it all turned ugly? Tell me about that arc for you and what was the kind of delight as an actor to play.

First of all, it's imitated real life. Not the bad part, but the good part; Edward admires Oswald as a villain and as a leader. He was happily No. 2 to Oswald. I certainly admire Robin [Lord Taylor] , and I've enjoyed everything he's done in this show. So it was kind of this really easy thing to be like, "Oh my gosh, now Robin, a dear friend of mine, and I get to work together and be like buddies." So it just kind of was easy and fun.

Jeff Neumann/FOXThen as I figure out that I lose the second person that I've fallen in love with, it tasted like this second opportunity at normalcy somehow, which wasn't ever the plan, but it found me again. When that was stolen from me, and I found out that Oswald was the culprit -- this was the only person I ever really, outside a relationship, trusted, or admired in such a way that I became their friend, they let me be their friend, and then this is how they kind of repay me. First it was Jim, sort of trying to pretend like he was my friend, and now it's Oswald.

I just think there's a lot of scar tissue there. This is someone who never really had friends, and wanted them, and then all of a sudden had his best friend, and is lied to and betrayed, and has a love stolen from him. So the kind of turn and fall into wanting to hurt someone was kind of, I think, easy for him. It felt like this is just justice, and this is vengeance, this is Oswald's language, so it seems only fair that I would use his vocabulary on him.

Is Ed almost an entirely different person from the Ed you started playing?

Absolutely! Yeah, I think a theme in the journey of Edward is issues with identity. I've leaned really hard into, every time something happens to him, and he's seeking for an answer, or he wants to change, or he's trying to change, he's making these declarations about how he's going to live now, and how he's not going to live, I've made sure that he really committed to each thing he was doing, and tried a new kind of life and existence.

One of the most freeing things that happened was when we had two Edwards, and there was a physical manifestation of all of the qualities about himself that he thought were outside of himself. The kind of swagger, and confidence, sexuality. These are things about him that he was intimidated by, and never practiced as sweet little Ed at the GCPD.

So when he kind of accepted the fact that this was him, and this was his identity, or that fate has given him of maybe he's a bad person and he doesn't deserve a good life, accepting that, and accepting all of these colors that were a bit murkier, really freed him up to be a fuller human being, and constantly surprised himself with his capacity and capabilities.

So this season, for example, I made a really strong choice for him, when trying to intimidate people, to really lower his voice, and try to offer a sort of commanding presence by altering the way that he was communicating with people physically. And the thing that happened, in my experience as Ed, was that people actually responded to that. So Ed kept doing that.

That wasn't something that I had planned out. It was like an experiment of his. Of like, "Oh, how do I make people think I have purpose, and I have strength, and I have power?" And it worked, and people were listening to him. I've really allowed him to explore identity and try stuff out, and then respond to the fellow actors and adjust accordingly.

You took your research and the character's 60-odd year history very seriously. What has it meant to you to really do such a defining version in a mass media format with The Riddler, to go deep with the character in a way that nobody else has really been able to do? And in a way that probably hasn't really gone that far in the comics even?

Look, I certainly feel privileged for a couple reasons. One, that I get to contribute to a part of the mythology that really hasn't been charted extensively at all; two, that we now have three years in the can, and hopefully more to come. It's my first time I've done long form television, and there's such a joy as an actor, not only to be able to tell a story of a character over a long period of time, but to tell a story of a character that's as dynamic as this, and that has gone through such a change in three years. It's so exciting and invigorating.

Lastly, I feel really privileged because the audience, they were receptive from the beginning, and they gave him a chance, and they went along with what started as a pretty slow journey, and I felt a real commitment and support from our audience with what we've done. So I feel really grateful for that.

You're getting more and more shades of green in your wardrobe.

Yeah, man. Yeah. We're getting really green!

Tell me what's been fun about plotting that evolutionary direction, and working with your costumers to get Ed to full-on Riddler green.

This season has been super fun because we kind of found the shape and template of the suit that we wanted. Then it was just about gradually changing the colors of green. So over the course of Season 3, I must have had, I don't know, eight to 10 different colors of green that we were working with, leading up to the green suit that we introduced in [Episode] 15, which is quite a vibrant green, especially for "Gotham," because most of our characters have a bit more of a darker, dull tone. You'll get like a splash of color here and there, but I am wearing a very bright, glittery green suit.

When I first saw it in the fitting room, I was like "Wait, wait, wait, is that the suit?" They were like, yeah. I said, "Have you shown the producers pictures of this material?" They were like, "Yeah [director/producer] Danny Cannon loves it." "Danny loves this color green in our show?" I lost my sh*t, because I was like, this is really bright. When I do scenes with people and they're all in black leather, I'm going to look like a Christmas ornament.

But it's been quite fun, and it feels right to me, because there's something about Ed's coming out that is like, it feels flamboyant, and I like that all of a sudden he's saying, "Look at me. I am ready for the attention, I am ready for this, and you all need to look at me. Look at my bright green suit." I added a line in 15 on the day when we were filming it. I have this scene, because the mayor is obviously missing, I am speaking to the cadets, and it's their graduation. And I'm like, "You all look fabulous. How do I look?"

It's the first time that I wear my suit, and I loved it so much. It was the first time I got to wear it, I was on set, everyone was, like, freaking out. So I had to add it, because I just thought it was such a delicious moment where he was like, look at me. Does anyone like my green? No one notices but him. I just wanted him to like relish in it.

As you mentioned, the two people closest to him are out of the picture right now. Does anybody kind of fill the void early on in the rest of the season? Do you get to do some scenes with some other characters that maybe you haven't gotten to play with as much?

I do. There's this interesting ... I don't know that you can call it an alliance yet, but I have a relationship with Barbara, and she is the person who kind of lifted the veil on Oswald's actions and intentions.

So there's a sort of interesting partnership between the two. They both have needs and wants, and they're not necessarily complimentary, but they try to help each other out get what they want, and it's a very interesting companionship they develop, and it's certainly been fun working with Erin [Richards].

It seems like you're still going to have to wait for scenes with David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, because that seems like something that's really more going to happen further down the road. Tell me what you're looking forward to in getting to play that dynamic.

What I'm really excited about is ... we've already been introduced -- it was in Arkham Asylum, so he knows who I am, but I didn't know who I was at that point. So to be reintroduced in, like, the classic way of, "This is Bruce Wayne, and this is The Riddler," is kind of exciting.

Also, what I'm doing here at the beginning of Edward kind of calling himself The Riddler, and pursuing this title of villainy, the reality is, he doesn't know what he's doing, or what he wants to do with it, or how he's going to act, or present himself, or behave. So I have everything starting really intense and forceful. He's like really aggressive and brusk.

So what I'm excited about going into Season 4 is him kind of like figuring out exactly what his presentation is of a riddle -- like, really finding his elegance as the Riddler, the showmanship, the grace. I'm like really excited about Edward finding his way to that, which I think should take some time.

If they ever ask you to put on a Frank Gorshin-style leotard, are you up for it?

Oh boy! If they want to pay for my personal training months in advance of me putting on a friggin' leotard, then that's cool. But otherwise, I really dig the suits.

I think they're classy. I think it fits into the version of Riddler that I really like, which is someone who is a showman, and is elegant. I think it's most appropriate based on where we started, which was this like clunky, socially inept, gawky, awkward, tense guy that was like scooting around the GCPD to becoming this man who has some prowess, and some power, and is like smooth in his presentation.

I think it's actually quite intimidating to have someone be so slick present you something, and your life is on the line, rather than someone trying to scare you and intimidate you. Like I said, I think that's kind of where I want to work toward.

I've always liked the iteration of The Riddler as kind of a psychopathic game show host.

Yeah. "The Riddle Factory" is my favorite. It's great. I like the guy that is a bit of a showman. I just want him to be able to be really slick, and classy, and then explode from that. But until you learn how to be a graceful, elegant dancer, then the snapping out of it won't be as impactful.

#Gotham #Cory Michael Smith #Edward Nygma

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justgotham · 7 years

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Edward Nygma, aka Gotham City's puzzle-prone supervillain The Riddler, has always had the potential to be one of Batman’s most intriguing, multi-layered foes, though it took comic books several decades to elevate the man from a one-note gimmick to a complex, three-dimensional character.

It was a transition of the most glacial pace, not exactly aided by largely goofy on-screen portrayals in the mid and late 20th century, with two prior live-action TV iterations (Frank Gorshin and his successor, John Astin) and a feature-film appearance by Jim Carrey cementing The Riddler's status as little more than a hyperactive nuisance with a Lycra fetish and an inexplicable need to tell his opponent — albeit cryptically — exactly what nefarious plans he had up his sleeve.

But, even with early animated appearances in the 1960s-80s reinforcing the campy, unitard-clad interpretation of the character, change eventually took hold: the 1990s' Batman: The Animated Series gave Nygma a new look — actually first worn by Gorshin in 1966's Batman: The Movie, and since adopted as his primary outfit in the comics — as a suit-and-bowler-hat-wearing genius initially out for vengeance against an employer who had scorned him, consequently driven forward by his obsessive desire to outsmart his nemesis and anyone else who would oppose him. (Granted, the series' successor, The New Batman Adventures, reverted to the unitard, and mid-2000s series The Batman went full weirdo-goth — but the less said about that, the better.)

Along with that reinterpretation and a few consequent re-imaginings in the comic books, his mythos has found further substance elsewhere: he was a persistent presence throughout the Arkham games of the past decade, and — although not canon — writer/artist Alex Ross even suggested in his 2005-2007 series Justice that Nygma's penchant for riddles was the result of an abusive father who used to beat the truth out of his son when he suspected the latter was lying, the villain's clues a manifestation of his ensuing psychological inability to be untruthful about his intentions.

All of which is to say: The Riddler has come a long, long way since his first appearance almost 70 years ago.

In the case of popular Fox TV show Gotham, a similar degree of depth has been achieved for the character, though it's done so in a much shorter time frame, across its three seasons to date, gradually coaxing Nygma's inner evil out from underneath a shell of naivety and social awkwardness. Even so, for actor Cory Michael Smith — presently in Australia ahead of his impending appearance at Supanova Comic-Con & Gaming Expo — reaching the point where he has finally stepped into the shoes of one of Batman's greatest supervillains still felt like an eternity.

"I actually said to the producers ... ‘When does this change? When does my life change? When do things start happening?'"

"It started so slow for me; season one really tested my patience," he laughs. "I was just some dopey, gawky, chipper dude walking around the GCPD, trying to make some friends and make people laugh and test people, and I just kept pissing people off and upsetting them, but it was this long period for him — it felt very much like his life.

“I kept coming in and kept making effort to impress these people, as Edward, and make people laugh, and was just getting shutdown after shutdown, and I actually said to the producers ... ‘When does this change? When does my life change? When do things start happening?’ and they were like, ‘Yeah; yeah, that’s Edward’s experience, isn’t it?’ But, once the ball started rolling, I started having a blast, and I’m having more fun than ever. And, now that we’ve finished season three, I can officially call myself The Riddler, and that feels pretty darn fantastic."

Describing Nygma's shift from maligned and misunderstood coworker, to accidental murderer, to aspiring criminal mastermind as "one of the most extreme and cared-for evolutions on the show", Smith says that his character's journey represents "a very smart transition" for Gotham over the course of its existing arc, one that has served both show and character in very good stead by establishing Nygma's underlying humanity before tearing him down and rebirthing him as The Riddler, ensuring a genuine connection was established with the series' viewers.

"I certainly try to connect everything to a piece of humanity, and not just be evil for evil’s sake; that’s not that interesting."

"I think the audience got to sit with Edward as a genuinely well-intentioned young man, and to see him kind of suffer, and then the unfortunate events that befell him," he muses, reflecting on Nygma's journey. "At a certain point, when you’re in your late 20s and you just can’t catch a break, and when you finally do have the first taste of normalcy in your life ever — that being a relationship with a beautiful woman who loves you back — and you’ve lost your virginity and you’re going on dates, and all of a sudden this guy at your work, Gordon [Ben McKenzie], likes you, and is on a double-date with you, and that’s taken away from you by you accidentally killing your second person... at a certain point, it’s like, you know, this guy looks at his life and he goes, ‘You know, I’m not making these decisions; this is the world taking over my life. This is fate.’

"I’ve always found that to be a really interesting way to kick Edward into villainy, by him forfeiting his attempts at being a good guy, at being kind, and trying to make friends with people, just trying to love someone. It’s like, the world’s just not going to let him do it, and he can’t do it any more. He has to kind of forfeit that, and accept the role that he thinks the world has given him. And I think there’s a tragedy to that, that a viewer, as they watch that, can have some sort of compassion and sympathy for him, so that as he goes forward, it’s almost… you feel so bad and sad when you see this person doing all this stuff. So, I don’t know, maybe that’s what people are attached to. I certainly try to connect everything to a piece of humanity, and not just be evil for evil’s sake; that’s not that interesting."

While Nygma's slide into villainy appears, at face value, to be something of an inevitability — it was a foregone conclusion at the outset that we'd eventually see the man take on the persona of The Riddler, though there was no telling when that change would take place — Smith says that he enjoys the idea "that there is a way that he could not have been this evil, evil person".

"I like to think that there’s a way that most people who cause harm and destruction wouldn’t be that way, for whatever reason, whether it’s ideological, or abuse or neglect, or mental illness," he reflects. "I think his turn into villainy is an amalgamation of a few of those things, so, yeah, I think he’s more interesting if he’s someone who possibly could have had a life where he wasn’t harming people or choosing to wreak havoc. Perhaps still contentious, and liked challenging other people, but I like that there was another life and another path for him that was a bit brighter."

It's nice to think about whatever alternative universe exists in which Nygma ultimately got his happiest ending, but in Gotham's reality, it was not to be — especially not once the character started rubbing shoulders with the city's ascendant crime lord, Oswald "The Penguin" Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor). Since their very first scene together back in season one, the pairing of Nygma and Cobblepot has been one of the series' most compelling relationships, and it has only grown in both complexity and entertainment value — through the duo's blossoming camaraderie, underlying antagonism and genuine love alike — as the show has progressed.

"Oswald is really one of the only people who can sometimes outsmart Edward, for now, because he’s understanding what Edward’s intentions are, what his habits are, what his neuroses are."

Echoing Taylor's sentiments about the innate chemistry that exists between both actors and their characters, Smith says that their fruitful onscreen compatibility is the product of several factors.

"Well, I think they work together for a couple of reasons: one, because Robin and I are dear friends now, and we get along very well, and that dynamic transfers very well to the screen," he explains. "Even when we are at odds with each other, Robin and I are very… it feels very safe, working with each other, and we’re able to do things with each other and mess with each other and be quite competitive on screen with each other, trying to get the upper hand, and when we finish … we just, like, hang out. It’s just easy. It’s a really great environment.

"But I also think that Edward admires Oswald so much, and Edward is able to use his skills and intelligence and ability to… he kind of understands Oswald better than Oswald sometimes, and knows what he wants and what motivates him, and he’s able to guide Oswald to getting what he wants, and vice-versa. Despite Edward not wanting to hear it, Oswald knows him just as well, and it creates this really interesting dynamic where Oswald is really one of the only people who can sometimes outsmart Edward, for now, because he’s understanding what Edward’s intentions are, what his habits are, what his neuroses are, because he’s spent so much time with him, and so he’s able to predict some things that Edward is going to do, which is dangerous for Edward, because he thinks he can outsmart everybody.

"It’s just a really interesting relationship; I think it’s one of the richest relationships on the show, because they’ve allowed us to have so much history together and so many shared events. It’s been really, really fun; it’s been really fun to spend so much time with him at work."

The on-set fun of Gotham also translates to the finished onscreen product of the show itself. In fact, it's pretty broadly accepted by fans of the show that, in its second season, Gotham underwent a fundamental shift in tone that saw it distance itself somewhat from its straighter crime-procedural origins to more fully embrace its comic-book roots and get a little looser, a little more ambitious, a little more exciting in what it was bringing to the table in terms of charting the rise of several of Gotham City's best-known and best-loved villains. According to Smith, it was a transformation that was "absolutely" felt among the cast and crew as the show reimagined itself anew following its (still generally successful) maiden season.

"We were all very, very aware of the transition of style and format at work, and we were all very excited as each episode kind of came out," he says of the series' structural changes. "We always get together as a cast with our producers and the writer and director, and read each episode together. It’s just a nice little family bonding time for us, because, you know, we don’t all get to work together. So we get to reconnect and read each episode together. As we were reading them, it just… each one just felt like, ‘Yes! Yes! This is heading in the right direction.’ We have rerouted ourselves, and it felt way more exciting. It felt right. So we all were very aware of it, we were cheering on the writers and the showrunner, and were really celebrating the redirection of the show."

"It’s pretty exciting to now have this moment where he is donning the name and donning the hat and is wearing the green suit, but that doesn’t mean anything if he doesn’t know what his objective is."

Although the Gotham crew have finished filming season three, the final eight episodes are yet to air, and Nygma’s ultimate acceptance of his destiny as one of the city's foremost supervillains will only be seen when the show returns this week in the US, with an episode titled — fittingly enough — How The Riddler Got His Name. For his part, Smith is positively jubilant about the prospects of what that means for the character after so long a journey.

“I finally get to call myself The Riddler on-screen for the first time,” he enthuses. “And I feel like it’s just a very cool thing, because up until that point, it’s like, I wasn’t really The Riddler, so I wasn’t really the third live-action Riddler; I was the third live-action Edward Nygma on my way to becoming The Riddler. But now, as it stands, I am truly the third live-action Riddler, and that’s just a pretty cool thing.

"But, in terms of the narrative, it’s pretty exciting to now have this moment where he is donning the name and donning the hat and is wearing the green suit, but that doesn’t mean anything if he doesn’t know what his objective is, or what he wants from this, or how best to be this person, and so there’s still so much — and really this is going to go well into season four — how does he become the best version of that? So, at the start, I had him kind of experimenting with how to deliver a riddle, how to interact with an audience that is captive, how to present yourself, and initially I have him doing things that are a bit brusque and tight and forced — he’s trying to figure it out — but I want him to kind of move to a very different version of The Riddler; his expressions are perhaps a bit more elegant and with grace."

"It would be very interesting to see how The Joker would handle puzzles and problems set up by The Riddler where he is in danger, and the only way to solve them is to be analytical."

It’s not just his own character about which Smith is excited, but Gotham’s direction in general. With The Riddler set to make a proper return to the comic books in the near future — facing off against the Dark Knight's arch-nemesis, The Joker, in a kind of supervillainous civil war, with Batman's rogues gallery taking sides in a skirmish sure to be one for the ages — Smith says that he would be keen to see his Nygma go toe-to-toe with the series' own take on The Joker, a young madman by the name of Jerome (Cameron Monaghan), because, despite their similar names, their modi operandi couldn't be more diametrically opposed.

"I think that it’s an interesting pairing-off, and I think I’ve said this at a comic con recently; somebody had asked me who I wanted to work with on the show, and I said Jerome, you know, our pre-version of the Joker," he elaborates. "I think it’s an interesting pairing, because The Joker is really about anarchy and destruction for destruction’s sake, and when you have someone that likes questions and answers and analysis and puzzles — things that have to be solved, not crushed — I think it’s very interesting. It would be very interesting to see how The Joker would handle puzzles and problems set up by The Riddler where he is in danger, and the only way to solve them is to be analytical. I think that’s a pretty exciting dilemma for The Joker character."

Hypotheticals aside, Smith teases that Gotham is set to delve even deeper into the comics’ mythological well as the show stares down the barrel of season four, with surprises and delights in store for long-time fans of Batman and his crime-riddled city, and new devotees alike.

"Our team of producers, they’ve kind of taken on a new way of going about this, now, and it starts, really, with… towards the end of season three, they decided to go less obvious with most of their choices," he allows. "We're going to see some transitions happening at the end of season three, and some identities unveiled that I think are going to be really surprising, and people aren’t deep into the mythology probably won’t — may not — recognise. But, like, the people that love Batman and the mythology are really gonna get excited by some of this stuff that we’re doing. So I’m excited to see who else in season four they’re going to pull out from the deeper end of the well in terms of the villains.

"There are some very, very cool ones. I think that they make a few choices towards the end — and Ra's al Ghul is coming in at the end of the season, which isn’t as, like, obscure by any means — but there are a couple of revelations at the very end that are so good. So good!"

#Gotham #Edward Nygma #Cory Michael Smith

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