✨ classic Rick and Jerry mess around ✨

The Girl He Left Behind [Part One]

Fandom: American Actor, RPF, Elvis Presley, Elvis Movie 2022

Pairing: Elvis Presley x Original Female Character

Characters: Elvis Presley, Addison Goodwin, Gladys Presley, Vernon Presley, Minnie May ‘Dodger’ Presley, Red West, Sonny West, Gene Smith, Billy Smith, Original Female Characters, Colonel Tom Parker, Billy Smith, Marci Cunningham, Steve Cunningham, Jerry Schilling, Mary Jenkins, Alan Fortas, Marty Lacker, Original Male Characters, Mona Goodwin, Joe Goodwin

Word Count: 4100 // Rating: Mature

Summary: When Elvis returns home to Graceland from the Army he’s followed by the headlines ‘The Girl He Left Behind’ but what the media don’t know is that Priscilla wasn’t the first. No, that title belongs to someone Elvis will never forget.

Tags/ Warnings: Angst, Fluff, Graceland, Poverty, Friends to Lovers, 1950s Elvis, Bad Parenting, Surprise Surprise the Colonel Is a Colossal Prick, Parental Loss, Grief, Fun Fairs, Kissing, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Movie Nights, Arguing, Tension, Denial of Feelings, Age Gap Romance, Underage, Addison is 17 Elvis is 22, Guilt, Betrayal, Extortion, Blackmail, Jealous, Army Elvis, American Draft, US Army, Lying, Time Shift with Elvis moving to Memphis, Flashbacks, Caught, 

Notes: This is gonna be several parts and its gon be sad so don’t say I didnt warn ya

LINK TO ALL PARTS // AO3 LINK // PINTEREST LINK‘Come on EP!’ a voice echoed through the crowd.

‘I’m comin’,’ Elvis chuckled as he threw his arm around his date and followed in the direction his friends were headed. The group looked like any other, an energetic bunch of boys with whatever ladies they had sweet-talked into accompanying them for the night and so long as Elvis kept his head down it would remain that way. He supposed it was foolish of him to be here, after all he was a teenage heartthrob and his fan base was mostly made up of teenage girls so going to a funfair a few days before school was due to be back in session and kids from all over were going to be enjoying their last taste of freedom seemed a little stupid. Yet he didn’t care, because as he walked down the makeshift street of the fair watching the patrons have fun whilst the smell of doughnuts and candyfloss wafted by, he couldn’t help but feel happy. It didn’t hurt that Cindy, his date for the night, had spent most of their ride on the tunnel of love making out with him either. As they neared the end of the lane Elvis caught a glimpse of the ride his friends had picked to do next and sighed, the ghost train. He rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of it but as he did, he felt Cindy lean a little closer to him as she noticed where the group was headed.

As they joined the back of the queue in an unorganised huddle she leaned into him and said, ‘do we really have to go this?’ ‘Oh come on Cindy it ain’t that bad,’ Gene smiled as he turned to face her. ‘Yeah,’ Red said, ‘and we need someone who makes Billy look brave in comparison.’ ‘Hey!’ Billy said elbowing Red in the arm which made Red grab him in a headlock earning a laugh from everyone. ‘Elvis,’ she said uneasily making his laugh trail off as he looked down at her. She was watching him, her big blue eyes wide and her mouth drawn down in a pout. ‘It’ll be a fine baby. You’ve got me right next to ya,’ he smiled hoping to reassure her which he seemed to manage as she thought about it for a second and then nodded.

Whilst the group moved slowly up the line the group chatted idly, though admittedly the focus of their conversation seemed to be whether or not Billy would scream, until finally they were at the front of the line and Elvis was handing over a $5 bill so that he and his friends could ride alone. Whilst everyone scrambled to get a good seat Elvis steered Cindy towards the back hoping that being furthest away from the action would help her calm down a little but as the carts rolled into the dark she grabbed a hold of him, allowing him to put his arms around her for comfort. Fortunately, the ride was over in less than five minutes and though there were a few jump scares here and there it was nothing that would get the heart beating faster. For Elvis at least. 

‘What a rip,’ Junior said as he led the group down the off-ramp, ‘25 cents apiece just for a couple of pop-up ghouls and a mechanical laugh. ‘It was alright,’ Gene shrugged. ‘Yeah, you weren’t sitting next to Billy though,’ Sonny chuckled. ‘I knew he’d be scared!’ Red chuckled. ‘I was not!’ Billy protested. ‘Sure you weren’t,’ Sonny said rolling his eyes. ‘Just a good job you were wearing brown pants, right?’ Red ribbed earning another attack from Billy. As the two locked in a little wrestle, Elvis watched on chuckling to himself, though as he looked down at his date he found she wasn’t enjoying the scene as much as he was. In fact, she was white as a sheet and trembling a little causing Elvis to stop in his tracks which meant everyone else did too.

‘Everything okay EP?’ Sonny asked. ‘Yeah,’ Elvis said, ‘I think we just need a minute, right honey?’ ‘Right,’ Cindy said with a weak smile which brightened as he slipped his hand into hers. ‘I think I saw some benches back there,’ Darla, Gene’s date, said. Elvis nodded and they started walking to a small collection of picnic benches by a food stand which were fortunately deserted enough that all of the group could grab a seat. Whilst everyone sat down Elvis ordered Red and Sonny to get a selection of snacks and sodas before he slipped in beside Cindy, his arm going around her in an attempt to make her feel better.

Fortunately, after twenty minutes or so of relaxing the colour returned to Cindy’s face and though it wasn’t clear to Elvis whether it was due to the cooling night air, his attempt at comfort or stacks of sugary goodness they’d made their way through nevertheless he was happy she’d come around. In fact, she’d bounced back with such vigour she was on top form, relaying the story of how the pair of them had met earlier that week.

‘And then that lil guy, what’s his name,’ Cindy said. ‘Earl,’ Elvis said. ‘Yeah him. He’s all up in Elvis’ face and he’s angry, like, steam coming out of his ears mad, and I just say ‘look sugar-’’ ‘Are you done with that?’ a voice said snapping everybody’s attention away from Cindy as Elvis’ gaze fell upon the voice in question. It belonged to a girl, a few years younger than him no doubt, and quite the looker. Her hazel eyes flicked to him for a moment before they landed back on Cindy whose empty Pepsi bottle her hand was hovering over. ‘What?’ Cindy snapped, evidently feeling better. ‘I said are you done with that?’ the girl repeated without hesitation. ‘I’m in the middle of a conversation,’ Cindy said. ‘And I’m in the middle of bussin’ tables,’ the girl said pointedly, ‘so are you done?’ ‘Do you have to be so rude?’ Cindy said. ‘Do you have to keep ignoring my question?’ the girl challenged earning an involuntary snigger from Elvis who masked it as a cough as Cindy’s glare fell on him.

‘We’re finished,’ Billy said uncomfortably from across the table earning a series of nods from everyone else as they attempted to dispel the palpable tension in the air. Cindy however didn’t seem to feel as uncomfortable as the rest of the group, in fact she seemed irritated as her mouth fell into a tight line as she stood up and climbed off the bench, scowling at the girl before she stormed off. Feeling it was better for him to side with his partner than the waitress Elvis scrambled to follow her, though he had to admit their little tiff had amused him. The girl could hold her own, that much was evident, and Elvis couldn’t deny it got him a little hot under the collar. Not that he had much time to dwell on that fact as he tried to catch up to Cindy who didn’t seem to be slowing down as she stormed down the alley between the stalls.

‘Baby slow down,’ Elvis said grabbing her by the elbow as he reached her, stopping her in her tracks. ‘Who does she think she is?!’ Cindy scoffed, ‘we’re paying her wages! I oughta go back there and give her a real piece of my mind.’ ‘And what good will that do?’ Elvis said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, a pout on her face

‘I suppose,’ Cindy said.

‘Best just to leave it be,’ Elvis said pulling away from her as the rest of the group finally caught up.

‘Well, she was pretty rude,’ Darla said, coming to stand next to Cindy. ‘Some people have no manners,’ Gene agreed as he threw his arm around her. There was a murmur of agreement from the group, but Elvis ignored them. He supposed they were right, the girl could’ve been a little nicer, but he figured working in a cheap polyester dress in the blistering heat and serving bratty kids or rowdy teenagers might get him a little unfriendly too. However, since he didn’t feel like debating the topic, should it cause his date to sour, he made the executive decision to change the topic.

‘How about we head to the hall of mirrors?’ Elvis said, earning a nod from Cindy before she leaned in to kiss him. He allowed her to but pulled back quicker than she anticipated causing her to frown. Elvis pretended he didn’t notice and instead he turned away from her and announced that they should turn back to head to the house of mirrors earning mutters of agreement. However, they were barely ten feet down the lane before Cindy stopped in her tracks forcing Elvis to follow suit. ‘Everything alright EP?’ Red asked, noticing his friend had slowed down. ‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘we’ll catch you up.’ ‘Alright,’ Red nodded before he turned and carried on down the way, joining the rest of their friends. ‘What is it?’ he asked looking at her. ‘My purse,’ she said, ‘I’ve not got it.’ ‘Where did you last have it?’ Elvis asked. ‘When we were sat down. I mustn’t have picked it up,’ she said. Elvis fought the urge to say ‘when you pitched a fit over nothing’ and instead replied with, ‘how about I go and look for it?’ 

Cindy nodded and unlooped her arm from his so he could head back the way they came. By the time he got back to the benches they were deserted and all of their trash had been cleared away which meant that if the purse was there it would’ve been found by now. Still in an effort to seem proactive he surveyed the area, looking under the benches and around the trash can to see if he could spot it. Still nothing. Not wanting to return to his date empty handed he walked towards the stand they had gotten their food from in the hopes it had been handed in. It was essentially a wooden hut, crammed with various kitchen appliances, and manned by a wizened old guy who looked so at ease back there it wouldn’t have surprised Elvis if he’d been serving hot dogs his entire life. His striped shirt was covered in grease and his glasses so thick that when Elvis stepped up to the counter he doubted he’d even know if he was a man let alone who he was.

‘What can I get you?’ the man said. ‘Uh, actually, I was wondering if anyone had handed in my girl’s purse?’ Elvis said. ‘A purse?’ the man said, ‘I don’t think so.’ ‘Ah, okay, never mind,’ Elvis said with a smile. ‘I’ll keep my eye out!’ the man said earning a chuckle from Elvis. ‘I’m sure you will sir,’ Elvis smirked, ‘thanks anyway.’ ‘At least you tried,’ Elvis thought as he moseyed back up the alley. Yet as he got to the spot where he had left Cindy he found there was a throng of people crowded around watching something. As he got a little closer, he could see who was at the forefront, Cindy and the waitress. He pushed through the crowd, earning a few grumbles as he did, until he was at the centre. ‘Like I’d want that tatty old thing anyway,’ the girl said rolling her eyes. ‘You couldn’t even afford one of these!’ Cindy sneered, ‘why else would you steal it.’ ‘I didn’t steal anything!’ the girl challenged. ‘You mean you didn’t think you’d get caught,’ Cindy scoffed. ‘What’s going on?’ Elvis said though the gist of events was already clear. ‘I caught her stealing my purse!’ Cindy said waving her now recovered purse in front of him as if it were some kind of proof. ‘I was taking it to lost property,’ the girl said as her gaze fell on him. He looked at her for a second only to find a flicker in her eyes of something he couldn’t put his finger on though he didn’t have time to dwell on it as the pair of them were both eyeing him meaning his gaze kept flitting between them as if he was watching a high-stakes tennis match. Though before he could say anything a booming voice came through the crowd ordering people to make way until eventually an older gentleman appeared opposite him. He was a stocky man with thinning hair and beady eyes that Elvis instinctively took a dislike to. He stood in between the girls looking at them both.

‘What’s happening here?’ he said in a stern voice which softened as he noticed Elvis standing there, ‘Mr. Presley…I had no idea you were visiting my carnival.’ ‘And he might never do again,’ Cindy jumped in making Elvis wince. People were looking more closely now, his normal carefree night ebbing away by the minute. ‘I am sorry to hear that sir,’ the man said, ‘how can I help?’ ‘Your waitress was stealing from us,’ Cindy said folding her arms across her chest. ‘Mr. Ackers, I swear-’ the girl started, her voice panicky, but the man held a stubby finger up silencing her immediately. She fell quiet but Elvis could see her temper seething beneath the surface. ‘Now I’m sure there’s an explanation for this Ma’am and I assure you I will deal with it,’ Mr Ackers said. ‘Mr Ackers-’ the girl repeated but he merely turned his head and snapped, ‘my office. Now.’ 

Elvis watched as her jaw clenched in an attempt to restrain herself. Her eyes fell on him for a moment, watching him with disgust, for what he didn’t know. Maybe he should say something. After all, if Cindy had left her purse and she happened to pick it up was it really stealing? Maybe the girl was telling the truth, but before he could say anything she disappeared into the crowd.

‘As I said, I am deeply sorry for your inconvenience,’ Mr Ackers said as he moved to stand in between the pair wrapping his arms around each of them as he led them away from the now quickly dispersing crowd, ‘please let me do something to improve your visit to us. A complimentary ride or something.’ ‘Actually,’ Elvis said pulling out of the man’s grasp and pulling Cindy with him, ‘I think we’re just going to go find our friends.’ ‘Right,’ Mr Ackers said with a curt nod, ‘if you need anything be sure to let me know. We value our customer’s happiness here at AC Enterprises.’

Elvis smiled politely and then started to walk away in search of their party. Cindy allowed herself to be dragged her long, her white purse now tucked under the crook of her arm, and satisfied smirk on her face that didn’t go unnoticed by Elvis. As they got to the hall of mirrors their friends were just coming out and she wasted no time in telling them about all the ‘fun’ they had missed. But she recounted her tale, filling in the bits even Elvis had missed, he couldn’t help but feel something odd bubbling inside him. He didn’t know what it was but there was definitely something.

‘You’re just a sucker for a pretty face,’ his mind whispered to him as they made their way to the next attraction. Maybe. But it was more than that. He was sure of it.

Maybe it was because he thought Cindy might be lying. He hated to think it but the twinkle in her eye when Mr Ackers had scolded that girl made him think it could be true. Or maybe it was the fact that he had heard true panic in her voice. Like the situation had spiralled out of control more than she intended. Or maybe it was that look in her eye when he had first got there. As if she knew him. That didn’t mean much though, almost everyone in the south knew him by now. He stayed in his thoughts for the rest of the night, unable to shake the unnerving feeling that was bouncing around his brain bringing with it more questions every time it hit the edge.

Eventually, the crowds got thinner and thinner until they seemed to be the only people left. As darkness finally settled in, and the rides started to close one by one, they decided to call it a night and head back to the car. 

‘I think I drank too much soda,’ Darla complained as they neared the exit. ‘Well you better use the facilities before we head home,’ Gene said. ‘Ew, those disgusting things?’ Darla said wrinkling her nose. ‘Well it’s that or pee at the side of the road,’ Red said, ‘because you ain’t having an accident in the caddy right EP?’ ‘Hmm,’ Elvis said coming out of his thoughts. ‘I said the girls better take a leak before we head home right?’ ‘Right,’ he mumbled looking passed them, lost in his thoughts. The boys shared a look but didn’t say anything. ‘Come on I’ll walk ya to ‘em,’ Gene said, ‘this place is kinda creepy in the dark.’ ‘I think I’m gonna come too,’ Billy said. ‘Yeah me too,’ Junior said, ‘someone needs to hold Billy’s hand in the dark.’ ‘As long as that’s all you’re holding,’ Billy chuckled speeding up out of Junior’s way as he swiped at him. ‘Are you gonna walk me too Elvis?’ Cindy said sweetly capturing his attention as the rest walked away leaving just him, Cindy and the Wests standing there. ‘Why don’t you just go catch them up?’ Elvis said as if it were obvious. Cindy smiled a false smile and nodded before she turned on her heel and flagged down the group a little way ahead of her. As she got out of earshot Red nudged him with his elbow.

‘What’s going on with you man?’ he asked, his brow furrowed. ‘What do you mean?’ Elvis said. ‘I don’t know,’ Red said, ‘you’ve been acting weird like half the night.’ ‘I have not,’ Elvis protested looking at Sonny for back-up who merely shrugged. ‘Alright,’ Red said, ‘if you say so.’ ‘Well yeah I do,’ Elvis said, irritation thick in his voice. ‘Okay man,’ Red said holding his hands up. ‘How about we just bring the car around?’ Elvis asked tersely, receiving nods from the boys. They headed towards the exit and though the conversation had picked up between the cousins he wasn’t paying much attention.

In fact, as he started to cross the parking lot towards their cars he got distracted as standing there by the side of the road was that girl. Without thinking he started to meander towards her, earning confused looks from Sonny and Red. ‘Where ya goin EP?’ Red said as his friend started walking away. ‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said as he jogged across the lot towards her. She wasn’t facing him but she turned as she heard his footsteps appear. Her face immediately fell into a scowl as he approached, coming to stand in front of her, and throwing her his most knee-weakening smile. 

‘Hey,’ he said softly. ‘What do you want?’ she asked folding her arms across her chest. She was dressed differently now. Her stiff blue waitress dress and apron were gone replaced by a simple white shirt and a pair of shorts that showed off so much leg Elvis had to make a conscious effort not to stare. ‘To be greeted by your charm,’ he chuckled making her roll her eyes. That familiar feeling returned in the pit of his stomach as he cleared his throat and said nervously, ‘I-I-I just wanted to apologise…a-a-about before. I hope he didn’t give you too much grief.’ ‘He wouldn’t have given me any if your girlfriend hadn’t shot her mouth off,’ she snapped. ‘She’s not my girlfriend,’ Elvis said quickly. He didn’t know why. It wasn’t pertinent to the conversation, but his mouth had thrown the words out before his brain connected. ‘Lucky you,’ she snorted. 

Silence fell between them for a moment where all that could be heard was the distant sounds of the fair shutting down for the night and the passing of cars a little further down the road. Elvis placed his hands in his pockets unsure of what to say. She wasn’t looking at him now, if anything she seemed to be willing him to walk away but he couldn’t make himself. After a minute he said, ‘do you have a ride coming or something?’ ‘I’m waiting for the bus,’ she said simply. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘well you can get a ride with us if you want I mean I don’t mind-’ ‘Uh huh,’ she mumbled shaking her head. ‘What?’ Elvis asked. ‘Is that supposed to compensate for getting me fired? A ride home?’ she smirked but her eyes signalled it was not one of mirth but rather one of annoyance. ‘He fired you?’ Elvis asked. ‘What did you think he was going to do? He thinks I’m a thief,’ she said. ‘Lemme talk to him. I’m sure I-I-I can straighten things o-out-’ he stammered as guilt coursed through him before she could respond though their attention was captured by Red’s voice.

‘Hey EP! We leaving or what?!’ he shouted from the car. Elvis looked over his shoulder to find a car idling just a few meters away from where they were standing. Red was in the driver’s seat, Sonny beside him and Cindy in the back watching him with fury in her eyes. He held his hand out as if telling them to hang on before he looked back to the girl. 

‘Look I really am sorry I promise I can get you your job back. Why don’t ya-’ ‘You should go,’ she said, ‘don’t wanna leave your friends waiting.’ ‘But-’ ‘I have a bus to catch,’ she said with an air of finality. Elvis watched her for a moment, wanting to protest but he could see she wasn’t going to listen so instead of saying something he simply nodded. Then, he turned around and headed to the car where his friends were waiting. He hopped over the side of the car and slid into the seat beside Cindy as Red started the car rolling. Cindy didn’t look at him, instead, she kept her arms folded across her chest and looked away from him as if taking in the dismal scenery of the parking lot but as the car pulled down the road he found his eyes lingering on the girl’s figure as it got smaller and smaller until she was out of sight.

The ride was uncomfortably silent on the way home. Sonny and Red barely said anything though they did keep glancing into the back seat to see if the tension had dissolved any and Cindy didn’t make a sound until they pulled up outside her house she mumbled a ‘goodnight’ to the boys before she climbed out without a backwards glance. Elvis didn’t care. It wasn’t as if he was so into the thought of seeing her again. So what if she dubbed him a lousy date to all her friends?

As they pulled up to Graceland his mood didn’t change. He barely spoke to the guys who were waiting back at the house or his Mama when she asked how his night had been. Instead, he told them he was tired and climbed upstairs to his bedroom. Once alone in the dark, he sat down on his bed and played back their conversation in his head.

He had gotten her fired. Well, Cindy had, but he hadn’t intervened which meant the blame lay at his door at least a little. Hell, probably the only reason her manager took it so far was that he was there. Elvis Presley. The biggest attraction at the whole carnival. To some. 

‘But not to her,’ his mind whispered. His mind played back the way her face had shrivelled in disgust as he apologised. She hated him and he supposed it was fair enough. He probably wouldn’t like the guy who got him fired either. 

But still, that voice in the back of his mind was niggling at him. There was something about her. Something familiar. 

He knew her from somewhere, he was sure of it. 

And if that were true, he couldn’t let her lasting impression of him be a bad one. He had to change her mind. 

Unpopular Opinion: Snoopy is better when he has dialogue

I feel like I’m the only one who actually thinks this, but am I the only one who prefers Snoopy when he has thoughts and dialogue in the comics, than him being a “silent” character in the animated stuff? And sorta wishes his dialogue were in the cartoons as well?

(Well technically he always is silent but you now what I mean),

I know Charles Schulz chose for Snoopy to be “silent” with no dialogue for the animated cartoons compared to the strip, and don’t get me wrong, I love/respect Charles Schulz/Peanuts, but personally I never really liked this compared to the comics.

(You can read more if you wanna hear my reasons/ramblings lol)

So many Peanuts strips have the punchline of Snoopy’s inner thoughts that can be very sarcastic/funny, or whole strips are just simply Snoopy thinking about things.

Sure there some where he doesn’t, but overall in the strip he can BOTH have funny slapstick without dialogue like the cartoons along with many times where he has dialogue just like all the other characters (if anything Woodstock + the birds are the “no dialogue” characters in the strip)

But in the specials/cartoons, since they have to have him silent a ton of his strips either never get adapted into the specials, have some other character say it instead, or have someone narrated his thoughts for him, and it just doesn’t feel the same IMO. I also have always wondered why they couldn’t have just made it like Garfield where you can hear his thoughts.

And this may just be me but I feel like it even makes his character feel a little more unique compared to him in the cartoons? It’s hard to explain but idk I just feel that Snoopy’s character feels different when he has dialogue about things IMO.

Almost all of Snoopy scenes in the specials are usually just a b-plot of Snoopy doing silly cute or funny things for a bit until cutting back to the kids, which are funny don’t get me wrong, but at the same time Snoopy having thoughts/discussions in his head or snarky remarks just make him feel more like a character to me:

Plus I personally always loved his voice/singing in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” + “Snoopy the Musical!” Some people say the voice sounds off, but I disagree. At least IMO, those voices were perfect/cute for him, so it’s such a shame we’ll never get something like that again or even hear him sing again.

Also, if I’m really being honest, if a lot of Peanuts stuff is going to focus so much on Snoopy as the main focus (like The Snoopy Show), then honestly, having to keep him silent was a shot in the foot tbh.

If I’m really being honest, in my opinion with some exceptions like Snoopy Come Home, Snoopy not having any dialogue and/or just doing shenanigans only works as a b-plot that goes back to the kids like in old specials.

In stuff like The Snoopy Show, whenever eps focus mainly on Snoopy/Woodstock it’s just them doing “silly shenanigans” while making high-pitched noises all the time. It low-key gets kinda old in that show and I wait for the kids to come in during eps like that lol.

(For the record, I’m not saying that I never like cartoons where people don’t speak in them. I love Tom and Jerry + the Roadrunner cartoons, it’s just with those they managed to make it very entertaining and the way they do it in The Snoopy Show is not as entertaining IMO.)

Also I know this is sooo long but one last thing, the WW1 stuff is another good example of why I prefer Snoopy’s thoughts, sure it’s funny in the specials when you just see him doing it or someone narrating for him, but in the strips the fact that a puppy is sitting in the middle of a yard thinking of deep thoughts of PSTD in the war all in his head is peak comedy to me 😂

Does anyone else feel this way about Snoopy too?

Furuba S3 - Episode 8 - Thought Post - EP and MANGA SPOILERS!

This week sure has been something for both Funimation and Crunchyroll, huh? First, Funimation accidentally leaked this episode a few days early, then Crunchyroll uploaded this episode with the Episode 9 title and summary, lol.

Below are the notes that I took when I watched the episode on Saturday. I was at work and the wi-fi there isn’t always the best, so there would be some times where the episode would need to load. So this thought post is more of a live reaction type of post. I’ve since embellished some parts here and there (and have added screenshots), but didn’t really have too much else to add, since the focus of this episode is very self contained.

All I’ll add here is that the actual Japanese does match up with the subtitles when Kyo talks about “erasing” the memory, forgetting, and remembering, etc. Nothing is really being lost or twisted in translation (the same applies to the dub script too). I figured I’d mention that here, since I remember some people were wondering about this when all we had to go off of was the dub script and now that we can check, I thought it would be good to bring up. Anyway, let’s start!

--- 

 Jerry Jewel's performance! Stunning! All of the VAs (both EN and JP) did stunning voice work in this episode!

 Tohru reflected in his eyes. Love it. It tells a lot visually.

Twin-tail Kyoko!? Excuse me!? You can see Tohru and Kyoko’s resemblance here, I feel. Probably why they did that, lol.

 Little Shonen Protagonist Kyo! T-T (I still really love the joke that Kyo is basically a shonen protagonist stuck in a shoujo, lol)

The bamboo framing when Kyoko showed the hat. For Kyo, the hat works as an item that lets him continue to project and redirect his issues and anger onto others. But it is also an item that brings about a sense of defeat and entrapment, so showing it framed by the bamboo, highlights this, since the Cat’s Room is also surrounded by bamboo. 

The hat also works in contrast for Yuki’s and his perspective on it. To him, the hat signified freedom, help, and comfort. Even the way he “gets” it from Kyo implies this, since we have Kyo responding to Kazuma in the scene, while Yuki was all alone and hurting when the hat came to him. I love how the hat works as an item that symbolizes different things depending on the character perspective you are looking at it from.

 Baby Kyo's voice is so good! *A*

Amazing transitions and sequences with Kyo reaching out to Kyoko during the accident! Honestly, that bit is the most breathtaking moment in this episode.

Putting the rest under a Read More because of length and some MANGA SPOILER talk!

The symbolism of Kyo seeing the scene with his mother and father only through a small hole in the shoji door, it shows how little Kyo didn't fully understand what happened with his mother and father. How he only had a small, one-sided view of the situation and how the true depth of what was going on there was still a bit out of his reach and understanding as a child. This is a change from how it was depicted in the manga, where Kyo show both of his parents in full view. I like this change a lot.

Some of the episode does feel a bit redundant though. But it really is only like two or so moments and scenes. There was kinda no helping that. I don’t know though, a part of me thinks they could have condensed some of this monologue a bit more and not sacrificed any of the emotional impact. But, it is what it is, and I still really love the episode regardless (it also doesn’t feel anywhere near as bad as Season 1, Episode 8, where the endless amount of flashbacks in that episode just felt like padding and nothing else).

I really like how they drew Kyo’s face here, when he says that it was "Yuki's fault" to Kazuma during the trip to the mountains. They really made sure to capture the same look he had in the manga and make sure that look translated into how that was the mantra keeping him going and how somewhat crazed he was. They captured his likeliness to his birth father in that scene as well. They did a really good job with Kyo’s facial expressions in this week’s episode.

Excellent how they pan over to Yuki while Kyo is talking about how he would redirect his anger and issues and problems onto Yuki. I’ve talked about this already, but this shows how this episode is meant to parallel S1, E24.

Ohh, Kyo jumping onto the tree branch. I don't know why that little moment caused me to chuckle, but it did, lol.

Tohru's face after she tells him she loves him is so pretty! T0T This is Tohru’s face from Kyo’s perspective. There is hurt and pain there in her expression, but I’ve always been of the mind that that is a good thing. Tohru is able to express herself openly and honestly with him, showing hurt, pain, and anger, emotions that she normally hides from others. I also really like that we don't get to see her face when she actually says “I love you!” We see it from Yuki’s POV, who doesn’t have the full picture, but still knows enough. He gets to see this premature, mistimed confession, while the actual confession is something we get to see from Kyo’s POV (in the manga, anyway) and there we get to see Tohru’s full smiling face.

 I NOTICED HOW SLIPPERY THAT MUD WAS! 

I’m glad they included that small, little moment. Not only for the foreshadowing and to show Akito’s (continued) unstable state of mind, but also how it breaks up the scene. But, also, now that I’m looking at it with the subtitles on the bottom, it is also very interesting that we have Kyo talking about “confessing his sins” over an image of a “god” character who has committed some actual sins. I feel that can be its own post though.

 I like how they showed Kyo going one way and Yuki going the other. This is something Yuki notes later in the manga, but it is nice to see how the anime can bring life to those small moments and things. 

 They kept the ED too. The picture frame is still broken. I expect it will be for a while still.

I'm laughing at the dissonance between the ending of this episode and the tone of the ED. I love the ED though! <3 

This episode was great individually and I think they, overall, did an excellent job of making an episode that consisted mostly of two people standing and talking in the rain interesting and dynamic. The slow down here was handled well. I'm still worried a bit about the overall pacing, but I do trust TMS.

The Beach Day - ep. 02 - JJ Maybank

Summary: It’s the second day of s’week and your group decides to hit up the beach. Issues before and after put a  damper on the vacation but the events of the day might just bring you and JJ closer together. 

The S’week Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

///

“Beach day bitches!” JJ shouted, footsteps thudding down the steps as he entered the kitchen. Sarah was slumped over the island, scrolling mindlessly through her instagram feed while you sat across from her on your computer. 

“How’re you not hung over?” Sarah asked, turning just enough to glare at her boyfriend’s best friend. 

“Cause I didn’t drink my body weight in four locos?” JJ shrugged.

“You say as you down a natty for breakfast,” you mentioned, watching him stand in the doorway of the refrigerator as he drank. 

Sarah and John B had joined you on the beach the night before where Sarah had gotten absolutely cooked because she ‘couldn’t deal with JJ’ while she was sober. While the three of you split a case of Pabst, Sarah had accumulated as many blue four locos as she could find and proceeded to drink until John B had to carry her back to your house. 

“I need a shower and like three more hours of sleep before I even think about the beach.” Sarah mentioned, coming back around to JJ’s original idea. 

“Is the point of s’week not to go to the beach?” 

“And I will JJ, when I’m not practically dead. I came down here for some ginger ale, sorry I’m not standing at the door ready to go.” Sarah snapped, sitting up enough to glare at JJ. 

“You guys are super fun to vacation with clearly,” you cut in, closing your laptop, “I have to go to the market before we hit the beach so...do you wanna come JJ?” 

You figured the best plan of action you could possibly have for this vacation, especially after yesterday, was to keep JJ and Sarah away from each other. If they could survive five days without murdering each other in the house it would only be because they didn’t spend any time together sober. Which seemed fine with both of them. 

Sarah got off the island stool, taking her phone and leaving the half empty can of ginger ale as she went back upstairs to find her boyfriend. Possibly to take the shower she claimed she needed but probably just to wake up John B and complain about JJ’s attitude all over again. 

“Morning,” Pope passed Sarah on the stairs, coming into the kitchen and grabbing a water bottle, “what’s with her?”

“Hang over,” you replied, “If you and Kie want to wait to go to the beach, I’m just running to the market with JJ and then we can all go?” 

“Yeah sure,” Pope nodded in agreement as you excused yourself to get changed. When you were out of the kitchen Pope turned his attention to JJ, who was rummaging through cabinets for something to eat. “I thought you ‘didn’t want to spend senior week with a bunch of fucking kooks’?” 

JJ paused in his search, looking back over his shoulder at Pope, schooling his expression into one of indifference. “Keep your enemies close Pope.” He replied, “and if they wanna buy you some free food then fucking let ‘em.” 

“You know, she does seem nice.” Pope reasoned. He knew his friend well enough to pick up on tells. JJ could pretend like he wasn’t as easily swayed by a cute girl but truth of the matter was that he was looking for the same thing John B and Pope had seemed to obtain. Someone in their lives a little closer than a friend. 

“Don’t try to make it something it’s not.” JJ replied, grabbing a bag of Frozen themed graham crackers and shutting the cabinet. 

You came down the stairs at the same moment, changed into different clothes to go out. “Okay, I’m ready.” 

JJ sat with his feet up on the dash, black scuffed boots leaving dirty prints on the glove compartment of your ‘88 land cruiser. He fiddled with his phone the whole time, switching between playlists as you drove. You’d given him the aux cord willingly, knowing that Kiara has good taste in music from the years at the academy with her and assuming her friends were the same way. 

“This car isn’t very kook of you,” JJ mentioned as he plugged his phone in, noting the old tape deck adapter that the cord plugged into. 

“I think you’re obsessed with that word.” You replied. 

“What? Kook?” 

“Yeah...is it possible for you to not say it for the next four and a half days?” You asked, looking over at him briefly as you stopped at a red light. 

“Of course it is.” 

“Okay, it’s a bet then.” 

“What do I get if I win?” He asked switching to another song when one he didn’t care for came on. 

“You can decide when you win.” You replied, “also, to ease your concern for my car, my dad’s not really into all that ‘kook’ shit. My grandparents are, hence the keys house but my dad tries not to flash his money.” 

“I’ve never met a k-never met anybody on the Eight that doesn’t.” JJ replied. 

“Well I think it was established yesterday that we should get to know each other more.” 

The Winn-Dixie you took him to was a little further away than necessary but it was your favorite, a little less updated, it reminded you of coming down in the summers as a kid. 

JJ was out of the car the second you pulled into a spot, grinning as he looked toward the entrance. There in the front of the store, between the set of sliding glass doors, was a mechanical horse that looked straight out of the 80’s. “I’m getting on that before we leave.” 

“I think you’ll break it.”

“I think you’ll break it.” He snarked back and you couldn’t help but laugh as you followed him inside. 

-

“Hey!” 

You turned in the frozen food aisle when you heard someone call your name. Kelce waved as he walked over, pushing a half-cart of food. 

“Hey, Kelce.” You greeted, shouldering the door to the Ben and Jerry’s display. “How’s the rental?”

“Pretty sweet. Heard you got Sarah and her friends at your place?” He replied, gaze shifting passed you as he spotted JJ at the top of the aisle. “Scarlett saw you two at the party last night. She told Rafe.”

You looked back as the blond approached, smiling at him before turning back to Kelce, “Scarlett can tell Rafe whatever the fuck she wants. I don’t really care. My life is none of his business.”  

JJ came up beside you, missing the entirety of the conversation, putting an arm over your shoulder for the sake of Kelce, while he dropped some orange juice in the cart. Kelce looked both of you over, an expression of annoyance and contempt marring his features. He wasn’t a big fan of Rafe but he would defend a fellow kook, especially a friend of Topper’s, over you any day. You flew under the radar when you hung out with them, and they tolerated you because your family had more money than most, but you were far from the typical kook.  

“I better get going.” Kelce finally said, shifting his cart to walk passed you, “make sure you  check all your silverware before they leave.”

Before he could pass you completely JJ’s hand grabbed the end of his cart and he stepped in front of Kelce. “What’d you say?”

“I swear to god, if you two make a scene right now-” You groaned, annoyed as it was that Kelce had brought up your ex-boyfriend or the fact that they were in creeping distance of your house. And now he was being an asshole to JJ.

“Hey, I’m just stating a fact.” Kelce said, grinning, “you got sticky fingers just like your old man-”

JJ shoved Kelce’s cart back, pushing it into him stepping closer. You grabbed JJ’s arm to stop him from doing any more damage. You didn’t honestly know anything about his family life or him other than what you were learning as you went along but what Kelce said had clearly struck a cord. JJ looked back at you, jaw tense but eyes softer than they had been when he was looking at Kelce.  

“It isn’t worth it, don’t let Kelce being a douche ruin the day.” You said, glancing over at the kook in the aisle. “Let’s just go.”  

“Fine. Lets go.” JJ grabbed the handles of your cart and twisted it around, heading back the way he had first come down.  

“Hey, in the future try to keep your dog leashed.” Kelce commented.  

“What the fuck did you just say?” JJ shouted, leaving the cart and coming back down the aisle. You darted in front of him, putting your hands on his chest to stop him from completely plowing passed you and pounding on Kelce in the middle of the Winn Dixie.  

“You heard me, fucking pogue.”

“I swear to god, say one more thing and I’ll fucking rip your throat out!” JJ threatened though he kept his anger in check enough that he didn’t push you.  

“Hey, no!” You snapped before turning back to where Kelce was still standing, looking smug, “Kelce, fucking leave.”

“See you guys around.”

“Like hell!” JJ shouted after him. Once Kelce was far enough away JJ backed away from you and ran his hands through his hair, trying to calm himself down. “I fucking hate those guys, I swear to god, they’re all fucking douches!”

“I’m not arguing with you JJ, I’m just saying it’s not worth it to push them, especially not in the middle of a fucking grocery store.” You sighed. “Lets just go okay...we can head back and go to the beach.”

“I gotta cool down...” JJ said, trailing off. He still felt like he wanted to punch something and Kelce was well gone by now.  

You stepped over to the refrigerator door closest to him and opened it, jokingly swishing it back and forth like you were fanning him. “Does this help?”

“I hate you.”  

-

The rest of the grocery trip went without a hitch, JJ falling back into a more easy-going persona as he walked the length of the Winn-Dixie with you. Without quarters neither of you got the opportunity to ride the mechanical horse though you promised to come back later in the week with him. When you got back from the store Sarah was already on the back patio, beach bag ready to go.  

“They almost left without us.” Kiara mentioned as she helped you unload the car.  

“Why am I not surprised?” You loved Sarah but she was single minded and currently, for the last few years, the object of her attention had been John B. It was fine when he wasn’t around but now her main focus was him and spending senior week with him and sunbathing.  

Able to wait long enough for you to come home from the grocery store but not long enough for you to actually unload the groceries, Sarah and John B headed down to the beach while you were still getting changed into your bathing suit. With them gone it just left you, JJ, Kiara, and Pope to head down the beach together though you didn’t mind.  

Even though it was senior week the beach wasn’t too crowded, the four of you setting up a little closer to the water. Pope helped Kiara with the umbrella while you set up the blankets, watching JJ pull his shirt off and kick off his sandals.

“Do you have sunscreen on?”

“JJ never wears sunscreen.” Pope said, looking over at his best friend.  

“You should be down here. The sun is more intense down here.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I've ever heard.” JJ replied, putting his sunglasses back on.

“Are you kidding me?” You asked, looking up at him like he was crazy. You knew from passed experience that the sun in Florida was a nightmare and could only imagine his pale skin burning in the summer sun.  

“You should put sunscreen on Jay, seriously.”  Kiara said, offering him hers.  

“Nope.” He shook his head and you rolled your eyes at him.  

“Don’t come crying to me when you burn.”  

You and Kiara headed down to the water almost as soon as everything was set up. As you neared the edge of the water JJ ran up behind you, grabbing you around the waist and lifting you into the air. You screamed in surprise, Kiara and Pope laughing as JJ carried you into the ocean and threw you into the water. When you surfaced, you jumped him, wrapping your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist and sending him falling back into the current.  

“Guys!” Kiara shouted when JJ accidentally backed into her trying to grab you again when you ran away from him.  

“Sorry!” You laughed, running behind Pope and holding him in front of you.  

“No! I’m not getting in this!” Pope said though he was laughing as he tried to move away from you.  

“Get over here!” JJ reached for you, just missing and falling into the water. While he was under, he grabbed your ankle, dragging you under as he surfaced. You screamed again as you fell into the water, coming up and sputtering saltwater as you tried to catch your breath.  

“JJ!” Kiara smacked his arm as she swam over to you, rubbing your back as you shook your head.

“I’m okay, I’m okay.” You swore, voice hoarse. When you looked up from the water your eyes met JJ’s and you smiled, splashing water toward him.  

You stayed close to JJ throughout the afternoon, offering him sunscreen a few more times though he continued to claim that he ‘didn’t burn’ and that he was perfectly fine in the sun. When he and Pope went further out to jump waves you headed back up the beach with Kiara to sunbathe.  

-

“I don’t think you should go,” you said, standing in the door of the bathroom as JJ stood in front of the mirror, inspecting the harsh red burn that covered the entirety of his back and shoulders and part of his arms. You had been right about the sun in Florida and he had learned that the hard way.  

“I’ll be fine.” JJ replied though he sounded a little apprehensive. “All I need is some aloe and I’m good as new.”

“Okay,” you bit your lip, knowing that it was a bad idea to let him go to the party but also knowing that there was no way he was going to listen to you. He hadn’t listened to you in the market and he definitely hadn’t listened to you about putting on sunscreen so there was no reason for him to listen now.  

The party was down the street from your grandparents' house and you cut through the beach to get there, carrying your shoes as you walked beside JJ. You knew his back was bothering him by the way he kept twitching but you said nothing. The party the night before had been nothing compared to this one which was clear as you walked into the house.  

“Finally, a good fucking party.” JJ announced, scoping out the place.

“He says on the second night of the entire week.” Pope commented, rolling his eyes.  

Kiara pulled him off to dance while John B and JJ went to find refreshments. Sarah stayed by you, hovering a little too close, and you frowned as you began to catch on to her motive. “I don’t even know if they’re here.”

“If my brother and Topper heard that there was a party anywhere near their place and didn’t decide that they definitely had to come? Yeah, I’m sure they’re having a quiet night in playing scrabble.”  

“I didn’t mean they wouldn’t be here I just meant I’m perfectly capable of dealing with your brother Sarah.”

“Except every time you see him you’re so cringe it’s unbearable.”

“I am not!”

“How many times have you gotten back together with him? Because the second he even looks your way you totally turn to jello and do whatever he wants.” Sarah pointed out.  

You crossed your arms over your chest, looking around the party and suddenly feeling like you wanted nothing more than to leave. “Look, it’s over. For real this time. I don’t want anything to do with him and I’m not just saying that.”

“Good, I hope not. JJ and I don’t always get along but he’s John B’s best friend and I don’t wanna see him get hurt or anything.” Sarah commented.

“What are you even talking about Sarah? JJ and I are barely friends. Just because we hung out today doesn’t mean we won’t go back to our usual kook v pogue shit when we get back to North Carolina.” You replied, “I’m getting a drink.”

You pushed through the crowd to the kitchen, grabbing a seltzer and heading down the hall for somewhere quiet. Sarah had sucked the party right out of you and honestly all you wanted to do was walk home and forget the whole night had even begun. You knew she was right, you had fallen back into Rafe’s charm more times than you could count but this time you swore things were going to be different. They had to be. You couldn’t keep putting yourself in that situation. And speak of the devil, you had just grabbed the doorknob on the bathroom when you heard the familiar voice call your name.  

You turned around to see Rafe standing there in the hallway, beer in hand and grin on his face. “Topper and Kelce said you were down here...I was starting to think they were seeing things.”  

“Did it occur to you that I didn’t want to see you?” You asked, turning your face away from him and looking back down the hall.  

“Oh come on, you’re not still mad about your grad party are you?” He asked, stepping closer to you.

“Am I still mad that you showed up to my graduation party high off your ass and embarrassed me in front of my entire family. And then on top of that I had to catch you with my cousin?” You said, holding your ground. You hadn’t been lying to Sarah when you said that the last time was the last time you were doing this.

“Babe-”

“Don’t babe me Rafe, I made it perfectly clear I wanted nothing to do with any of you. Why are you even here? Aren’t you a little old to be hanging out on senior week.”

You watched the tic of his jaw as it tensed, “I came to see you and convince you to give me another shot babe. What happened was a mistake.”

“You sound like Topper, desperate and pathetic.”  

Before you could get away Rafe grabbed your wrist pulling you closer to him. “I won’t give up.” He said, leaning forward and kissing you while you were trapped between him and the wall. He reeked of alcohol and you pushed at him, trying to shove him away from you. He wouldn’t let up, hands holding your wrists and pushing you harder against the wall.  

“Rafe!” Someone shouted and his concentration broke long enough for you to push him away and duck into the bathroom. You shut the door behind you and locked it, leaning your head against the wood and taking a deep breath. Trying to steady your heart beat as the sound of the bass from the music thumped gently in rhythm with the pounding.  

You heard the familiar gag of someone about to throw up and turned just in time to see JJ throw his head almost into the toilet bowl as he vomited. His whole body seemed to convulse and as he fell back against the tub you realized he was sweating.  

“JJ!”

He groaned but said nothing to you, leaning forward into his lap. You came over, kneeling onto the ground beside him and carefully reaching for the hem of his shirt. “Can I take this off?” You asked, “I want to get some aloe on your back to cool you down.”

“I’m not even drunk, what the fuck.” He groaned, letting you take the cut-off shirt off of him. You got up and grabbed some aloe from the cabinet before coming back and sitting between him and the bathtub. He leaned closer to the toilet, waiting to throw up again.

“I think you have sun poisoning Jay,” you said, watching him shiver as the first of the aloe hit his shoulders and neck. “I’m sorry.”

“Tally this as another fucking terrible part of the trip.”  

“When you’re feeling up to it, can we try walking back to mine? You might be more comfortable there, where there isn’t a massive party happening.” You reasoned.  

He nodded. There was a long pause as you worked aloe into his back, cooling him down significantly, before he finally spoke up again, “are you okay? Why’d you come in the bathroom?”

“Saw someone I didn’t wanna see.”  

“Kelce?” He joked. A second later he was kneeling up on his knees so that he could throw up into the toilet and you were holding his hips to steady him as he leaned over the toilet.

“It’s okay.” You comforted when you realized the quiet noises, he was making were whimpers from the feeling the vomiting was causing. “You’re gonna be okay.” When he fell back onto his butt again you rubbed his back carefully, adding a little more aloe. “We need to get you some water too, sun poisoning can dehydrate you.”  

As you took care of JJ any thoughts of Rafe where pushed to the back of your mind. You knew it was only the second night and you had the rest of the week to survive, and he was was nothing if not persistent, but you couldn’t worry about what he wanted or what he would do when JJ was taking up all your attention. Not for the same reason he had on the beach today but still, you didn’t mind focusing on him for a while.

-

taglist: @pixelated-pogues @booksandshish @lopineapples @ponyboys-sunsets @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes @millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @howdyherron @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles @tragicmisfits @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27 @dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @jjsthumbring @faded-blue @parkerpetertingle @thebookwormlife @summer-clouds-and-long-days @jellyfishbeansontoast @minigranger @louisolos @hoewkeye @love-someone-special @finecelle @vitaminekabc @tiredfeels @g4bster @strangerthanfanfiction713 @the-only-nana @tomzfrog @mozz-are-lla @vindictive-hearts @poguestyleskye @ssprayberrythings @pensysto @jenahbell @beautyandthebleh @lavenderxraindrops @gothackedalready @teenwaywardasgardian @thelonewolfdies @hvitost @haha-fuck-you-thot @stillbelieve398-5 @rewindlr @queenniccimicci @kissessforharryyy @thedarkqueenofavalon @alytavzla @bqmblebee @linniep @nerdypartytrashpsychic @xxchxrryxx @spencer-reid-is-a-cutie @mirjanak @kwjune @danielladreaming @obx-saltlife @youngestxhearts @spnobsessedmemes @wowitswondergurl @siwiecola @regev1408 @celestialmaybank @mybnkjj @averagxfangirl @mysterious-adventurer @justawilddreamerchild @rhyetaylor62 @calm-rejects @99sxuxii @oh-annaa @katiaw2 @aiifandomsunite @marteenuhh08 @x-lulu @kitkat0609 @ceruleanjj @yoxsh06 @wicked-laugh @obxwriterfan @justkeepdreamingswift @allie-mcginn @jjmaybankswife @literarycharleton @khiaraaa-in-spacee @crushe-s @teamnick @daydreamlilys @poguesnobx @collectiveuniverses @activist-af @mdgrdians @buckys-sunflower @jolomez @timotaychalabae @babycakes00 

REWATCH: s1 recap/ranking

quick intermission before hopping into s2! just going to talk about the overall impression of this season and my personal episode ranking, since there's not really a better place to do it.

season one is short but memorable. some of the episodes are on the weaker side since it was still early in the run and, as with most shows, it got better before declining again. s1 does have a number of greats though and was fundamental in cementing the show's impact and influence on audiences and the animation industry as a whole

i think s1 did a really good job of establishing these characters and that it led to s2 being able to build on them in interesting ways. while i haven't watched all the way through in a while, i remember s2 having a lot of the best character moments (i guess we'll see.) "stimpy's invention" is kind of a great gateway into that, while the episodes preceding it do well to lead up to that episode's character payoff. i'm not going to talk too much about individual episodes here but it's worth reiterating i think.

as for the ranking:

UNRANKED: "big house blues"

i don't think this episode can really be compared to the others due to its nature as a pilot. if i did have to choose a place for it, it would probably be at the bottom, but that's only because of how rough it is. i really enjoy the art style and i do think it gives due focus to the dynamic between the main duo.

11. "black hole"

i actually think this episode has gone down in my personal listing since i last watched through the show. i don't hate it by any means, but it does feel repetitive and i was a bit bored watching it this time around. i think it really would have benefitted from greater variety in its environments, but i do love the alternate universe in concept and even in some areas of its execution.

10. "fire dogs"

this suffers from the same issue as the previous ep in that this episode can be pretty slow/dull. there are jokes that make me laugh, but i also think it's one that's aged more poorly than some others. ren & stimpy is often said to be a product of its time and while there is some truth to that, i think it's often more timeless than people give it credit for. there are many episodes that haven't aged well though.

9. "nurse stimpy"

mediocre execution on this one, but i wouldn't consider anything about it to really be bad. i think it has a couple of the best jokes from the season as well.

8. "robin hoek"

another episode that tends toward the mediocre, but i like the premise and there are some good jokes in this one as well. not much more to say about it tbh.

7. "the boy who cried rat!"

this is a good episode up until the chewing scene. the pacing grinds to a halt and while i appreciate the cartoony tom and jerry-esque slapstick juxtaposed with the signature grotesquery of this show in concept, the execution just isn't very good. i like everything else about it though.

6. "the littlest giant"

the pacing in this episode is a little slow but i like the humor enough that it makes up for it. i also like the premise for this one.

5. "untamed world"

this episode is a pretty straightforward nature doc parody so there isn't a whole lot for me to say about it, but it gets a higher spot because i like the "animals" and it's always nice to see r&s themselves in a chiller mood, since we don't get that too often. that characterization wouldn't work if it happened too much, but it gives a nice breather here, and they still feel in-character.

4. "marooned"

big fan of the psychedelic environments in this one. i find them very visually distinct and well-made. the episode is a little lacking in terms of plot, but i like the alien planet so much that it earns a high spot on my list anyways. i'm just a sucker for that kind of thing

3. "stimpy's big day/the big shot!"

very wonky animation in this one, but it earns a high spot because of what a strong beginning to the series and introduction to the characters it provides. it's one of the most memorable episodes for me because of the storyline and characterization, even if the visuals are lacking.

2. "space madness"

REALLY good episode. very solid in terms of structure and some of the best animation the season has to offer. the gradual build with ren's space madness and the ending with the history eraser button are iconic for good reason. also a very funny episode, lots of great expressions!

1. "stimpy's invention"

second-best episode of the show imo, only beat out by an episode i will be covering ~next season~ (it's "stimpy's fan club" lmfao i'm pretty sure most of you guys already know by now.) so it goes without saying it's my favorite of s1. this episode has many of the best visuals in the series and arguably the best tonal choices and balances. it's peak dark comedy and has excellent characterization on top of that. well-remembered as one of the best for very good reason.

FRUITS BASKET S2 EPISODE 18 + short Ep 1-17 english dub recap

AND I'M BACK WITH THE MADNESS.

Took a bit of a break from the Fruits Basket recaps because life happened and I wanted to focus a bit more on my art career and my webcomic. But, I came to miss doing the recaps! So, I'm gonna try and finish season 2 and do some of the left over recaps now in time for when Season 3 drops!

I HAVE however been re-watching the older episodes of Fruits Basket Season 2 with the english dub this time and I have a few notes!:

A shoutout to the wording used in the Yuki 'confession' scene on the beach with Tohru. However, in the sub the confession came across a lot more like platonic love to me and in the dub the confession came across a lot more romantic. (Especially in the episode after where Yuki says he doesn't regret kissing Tohru lol)

Laura Bailey stays killing it as Tohru. All the little vocal inflections are so freakin cute and make her sound more human! But that also speaks to the editing as well which is great. The balance between a little naive and scared and yet strong and determined in her scene with Akito was... amazing.

(Also... all of Akito’s most violent and hurtful moments are when it’s dark... I dunno I just found that cool and interesting lol)

Jerry Jewell in EPISODE 9?!?! His scene with Akito always gets me regardless but Jerry Jewell's performance was heartbreaking! Ah, I could cry. (I did) The little shake he did while declaring he wasn't in love with Tohru because he can't say that shit actually truthfully? 😩 Also... is he intentionally making Kyo’s voice sound a little deeper? It definitely sounded like it in that episode with Kagura. I like!!

While I LOATHE Akito, Colleen Clinkenbeard is amazing, I've never heard her sound this sneakingly evil! And yet... it's slightly carefree too. Reminds me a lot of Shigure. As I said before, Akito and Shigure's english VAs pair up so nicely in audible form.

I love how flirty Hatori was in the English dub when it came to him and Mayu’s episode. It was a really lovely performance from Kent Williams :) I always read that scene of Hatori just being friendly when asking Mayu out to get something to eat but this was a whole other wonderful take!!! <3

I LOVE KIMI TODO’S ENGLISH VA’S PERFORMANCE OMG. THANK YOU, CHERAMAI LEIGH 🤣

Kakeru’s English VA continues to sound cuter and cuter... 😘 Whassup, Aaron Dimsuke? I kid, lol

I lovee the fact that Haru calls Yuki ‘fragile and kind’ (two typically feminine presenting descriptions) and Yuki took it as a compliment! I dunno about the description of fragile as many people could take that offensively, regardless of gender, but the way it’s explained here it’s almost like he’s describing him as precious?... Coulda went with that instead...

I like the decisions for the moments where Mikaela Krantz emphasises on Momiji’s put on German accent and when she tones it down and return to his natural voice

But anyways... lol, this episode was... a LOT. Not an easy breezy one for me to come back to at all... I’ll be watching the english dub.

TIME TO DIVE BACK IN!

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

- Hiro's so cute at the start of this episode talking about his sibling and how he wants to look out for his mum. Of course, it's in the most Hiro of ways but this scene definitely warmed me up to him a lot more :)

Hiro’s mum is like a future Tohru, haha

That hair animation they give Rin is always great 😂 I hope Takaya-sensei is proud.

It’s so curious how Hiro speaks so honestly and true to Rin yet is so careful of her emotions. He’s never really been like this with anyone but Kisa, especially not the other teens or adults. It kinda shows how much seeing what happened to Rin by Akito’s hands really got to him and traumatised him. Of course, Hiro’s not just doing this because of his trauma but cos he genuinely cares!

- I noticed that there was a slight parallel between Hiro + Kisa and Rin + Haru. Kinda highlights why breaking the curse is important to Hiro and gives more reason as to why that event with Rin and Akito freaked him out.

- I dunno if this is intentional or just an animation glitch but I’ve noticed that in that long panning shot in the opening theme that closes into Yuki, Tohru and Kyo looking at the sunset, it looks like Kyo’s experession kinda ‘glitches’ in between a smile and a stoic look. Again, I don’t know if it was intentional, but I like to think it’s as a little show of Kyo not really managing to attain true happiness fully (for now anyway).

- (Also, I think that this opening song might come third in my list of most favourite opening songs in Fruits Basket history!!! <3<3<3)

- I’m super glad that Shigure and Rin scene didn’t go any further than it needed to... 👀 but the fact that Rin thought ‘Gure would be up for using her body as a bargaining chip says more about Shigure than Rin in my humble opinion...

Self-loathing? From Shigure? Unexpected. Empathy? For him? A little.

...Damn it.

🤣

I’m sorry. This scene is very gorgeous, well lit and beautiful and dramatic. But, I can’t not laugh at how early 00s gothic romance this is! But, I love it. It’s sweet and probably the first ‘raunchy’ scene we’ve gotten in this anime, ooo la! But, that kiss animation was kinda awkward for me, sorry. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I hate that Rin is AGAIN getting Outfit Appreciation Award when she’s literally killing herself with stress and worry but... amazing wardrobe as always. 5 stars.

Is it just me or does every zodiac member see Tohru as a parental figure or associate her with motherhood, except for Kyo?... 

*mentally notes essay of Tohru being the depiction of being a ‘merciful God’ compared to Akito being the decpiction of being a ‘vengeful God’*

Heartbreaking. 

but... WHY DO THEY ALL HAVE TO HAVE PARENTAL ISSUES?!

Also, Briana Palencia in this scene was amazing. Everyone is so, so good in this show! Dub and sub!!

...I totally forgot about this bit of Rin’s backstory. I love that they really highlighted how drastic the change was from happy family to an abusive household. Obviously, there must have been some cracks in the frame of the happy family and Rin as a child was inquisitive enough to see them. ...Only for her to be later punished for it. 

Kazuma!!! He and Tohru just be constantly saving these zodiac kids, man.

- Rin’s parents might just be at the same level as Kyo’s dad on the ‘WORST PARENTS OF THE ZODIAC CHILDREN’ list. Well... until later...

🥺💝

Beginning to understand why they’re so attached and bonded to each other now. <3

- Also, lowkey, Kagura’s mum is great! From her protecting Kagura from going to the beach house because of Akito to her taking Rin in without question! And she seemed completely cool with Kyo too! Yay to good parents in anime!!!

- The confession scene between Haru and Rin is so pure and blunt yet romantic and just... so them <3

- I’m not even gonna put any screencaps from the final scene with Akito because I find Akito is just disgusting. But, really? Pushing someone off the balcony?! I mean... I remember why Akito’s feelings for Rin are so strong and darkly intense but I still can’t excuse their actions. I kinda don’t like that they presented this very abusive and violent moment as... poetic? I mean, it matches Rin’s ‘style’, I guess? But... this is just someone going past the limit.

- And her landing like that on the conveniently pointy stone? I was surprised she didn’t damage her spine...

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

I’m so happy I’m watching Fruits Basket again! This anime really is the best! And it DESERVEDLY won Best Drama at the CrunchyRoll Anime Awards! Yayyyyy! Sorry, if this ended on a weird note, I did enjoy this episode. Just a very dark one to return to 😅

See you... soon? Haha!

Animaniacs: King Yakko Review (Comission by BlahDiddy)

Hello my beautiful technicolor rainbow! It’s time for Animaniacs, and while there is no balonga in my slacks there is one last christmas review for my friend to finish up, and after two visits to Acme Lab for the spinoff we’re finishing up with a look at Animaniacs proper.  Suprisingly for a show that stands so easily on it’s own it’s existance is entirely thanks to another show: Tiny Toon Adventures, which had largely the same staff, including ep and co-creator stephen speilberg and Todd Ruegger, who was brought aboard from A Pup Named Scooby Doo. Since TIny Toon was a colossal hit with tons of awards and merch, including some very good video games I wish Warner would find a way to re-release, I mean.. come on if disney can rerelease the disney afternoon games (If...not..for..switch), and LIon King and Aladdin games (If somehow FOR switch), then Warner, which has it’s own game stuido no less, can put together a collection of the good Tiny Toons games when the new show comes out soon. 

Point is it was a mass sucess and Warner Bros likes money, so they had Speilberg try to get Rutger to come up with another show for the two of them to do, something with name value. Rutger found his inpsiration when seeing the iconic warner water tower and taking some platypus characters, came up with our heroes and the rest is history.. well okay he retooled them from plataups’ to early looney tunes and other toons style characters minus the racisim of say bosko the tall ink kid but still, the rest after that is history. And the rest of this review is after the cut

The show was, and KINDA still is, a variety show: taking a page from looney tunes, as well as tex avery’s other work, the crew decided rather than just focus on the warners, to instead create a whole cast with various ensembles to work with so we got Pinky and the Brain, The Goodfeathers, Rita and Runt,  the Hip HIppos, Katie Kaboom, Chicken Boo, and my personal faviorite Slappy Squirrel.. and the bane of my existance, Buttons and Mindy.. or rather Mindy’s Mom. The kid did nothing wrong.  So naturally the first thing Animaniacs related I cover.. is an episode entirely breaking from format for one 20 something minute Warners cartoon. I do intend to do more animanics stuff in the future, so i’ll hopefully get a chance to talk about everyone, I just feel unlike with say house of mouse most people reading this probably know who they all are, and I can save any deep dives for if I cover the characters specifically. Spoilers: there’s probably never going to be a buttons and mindy deep dive unless someone tourtues me by paying for it. 

So with that out of the way, we can dive into the episode.. which I won’t be covering in my usual recap it point by point because the writers have freely admitted that’s not what Animaniacs is about. While some of i’ts SEGMENTS are more story based like Pinky and the Brain, Goodfeathers and Rita and Runt, most are just based on simple set ups to reams and reams of gags. And I love it. I grew up with this stuff not just Tiny Tunes and Animaniacs but the classic Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Droopy shorts. 

Their well timed, well executed feats of comedy and most have aged pretty well.. emphasis on MOST. I’m keenly aware why there are several gaps in the shorts for both Tom and Jerry and The Looney Tunes on HBO Max, including all of the Pepe LePew and Speedy Gonzalez shorts. Also all of Droopy is missing. 

My grumblin aside though, it is VERY NICE to have all the classic Warner and Tom and Jerry shorts at my fingertips and it was one of the biggest selling points of Max for me. Last year I gained an intrest in the old disney theatrical shorts, hence my various birthday specials, so I BADLY wanted to revisit the theatrical shorts I grew up with. And honestly.. Max is the best way to do that: their in crisp hd, in neat season collections (Though the Looney Tunes one is better sorted, tom and jerry’s seasons are just.. random smatterings of shorts across various eras), and most importantly EVERY SHORT they felt comfortable with putting up there is on there. Every. Single. One.  I make a big deal about this because Disney.. has only maybe 30-40 of their hundreds of shorts on there. Now lucky for me the vast majority are still on youtube and I get why some really arne’t suitable.. we probably don’t need the donald duck short where he prepares to shoot a penguin in the face or the Goofy short where his own reflection, the goofy equilvent of tyler durden I guess?, keeps saying “Hey Fat” to him. And yes BOTH of these actually happened. But.. there’s MANY shorts with no clear excuse why their absent like the triplets first apperance, gus’ only apperance, and one a friend told me about.. that time mickey built a robot to box a gorillia. Again not making this up, just wondering why you can’t restore the rest of these for plus. They’ve ADDED shorts ocasionally, but it still dosen’t make a whole lot of sense to just.. not have them all up there. and to not put them in some sorta collection for easier consumption but hey it’s Disney. They either full ass things or half ass it. There is no middle ground.  Point is Warner.. actually cares about their heritage in shorts and honors it and thus has everything avaliable in the best quality, so tha’ts nice.

My point after that detour is I really love this kind of humor, and now as an adult I can see the effort the timing, pacing and character chemistry these shorts had takes. And Rugger and co.. they got it. They got it down perfect. And this episode is a great show of that and just how they barely updated this format for the 90′s. But as I said it’s more about the jokes and basic setup, our heroes are slotted into x scenario and just left to run wild. It’s been the basic seutp for looney tunes, tom and jerry and all the gag based greats, and it works perfectly here. Sure there’s some setting and continuity with the warner lot, scratch n sniff, ralph, plotz and in the reboot Rita, but it’s mostly just our heroes go up against “X asshole” and it just works. 

And that’s.. entirley what this episode is. The short is an homage to the graucho marx film Duck Soup, which given the warners were based on the marx brothers that isn’t a huge suprise, a film like brian’s song I have not seen, but genuinely want to. The basic setup is the same: An underqualified womanizer, though since htis is Yakko it dosen’t get past hitting on his chancelor, played by hello nurse, constantly, which is still.. ewwwww... but clearly not the same thing, becomes king of a small nation and ends up at war with another country. There were spies and other stuff in the original short but that was left out to streamline things.  But this homage stands on it’s own fine: The basic plot is this: Yakko, due to being a distant relative and the last one alive, becomes king of the small happy and very musical, as the wonderful opening number shows, country of Anvilania, which makes anvils and why yes there is one MASSIVE anvil gag as a result at the end. Yakko says he’ll try his best and geninely tries to with the shenanigans you’d expect, including Dot not gettnig Polka Dot’s are a thing and instead taknig any mention of it as a sign to polka, Yakko again hitting on his colleague and wanting ot get a new anthem because the current one by “Perry Coma’ puts people to sleep. Honeslty that gag didn’t do it for me: Partly because I genuinely know next to nothing about Como and he’s far past my generation.. and because despite this, SCTV did a MUCH better Perry Como gag over a decade before this episode that while still left me baffled as to why anyone cared about mocking him, was 80 times funnier and felt far less like you needed to know who he was to be funny. 

That being said it’s one of only three running gags, and jokes period that didn’t land for me. The other ones being the hello nurse bits, because it’s aged really badly to have Yakko harass one of his employees and his age is hte only thing that keeps it from scuttling the episode as he’s just 13 or 14. Maybe 15. 

So SO glad I now have that on hand whenever i need it. The other being the “Your highness” joke as it just.. dosen’t make much sense and isn’t very funny. But that’s it: a refrence i specfically don’t get and I doubt most of you will, and if you do fine we all have our frames of refrences, a joke that’s dated very poorly, and one that just.. didn’t land. And even then the Perry Coma thing’s third use to knock out the opposing army DID work for me as did the VERY clever joke of “Sire” “Maybe later”, so even the weaker bits still had some legs.  But getting back to what little plot there is the king of the rival country, upon hearing this, assumes he can easily intimidate a child into giving him the throne and goes to a royal reception. Instead, as you’d expect, the Warners mistake him for a party clown, show him no respect and fail to take his delcration of war seriously, and while in a REALLY great gag, and the reason i’m not doing a strict summary is 90% of the review would be me saying something to that effect, Yakkos’ call to action for his troops ends up having them all run off in fear, the Warners take out the army as noted above and then in one of the most GLORIOUS climaxes in the series history...

 In which the Warners give the bad guy “all the anvils” as he requested. I sadly coulnd’t find a clip of it but seek it out if you got hulu, my words can’t do it justice as they hit him with anvil after anvil in increasingly clever and insane ways till the guy finally gives up and it .. is glorious.  Other highlights not already mentioned include: The opening song, the bad guy dictator from the other nation not being able to hear because of his helmet and his attendee having to lift it, leading to Yakko taking off his helmet just to end the “what’ running gag, Yakko’s bit explaning his distant relation and more.  So yeah not a ton to say on this one. It’s a very good, very funny episode but also very typical of a warner cartoon in structure, just stretched over 22 or so minutes. As I said with few exceptions the jokes work, the anmation is crisp as always, and the climax is one of the series best. A crisp, quick watch and a nice quick review after a week of with some really tough ones behind me and ahead of me and a month of rather large ones a few weeks out. So yeah if you like animaniacs, even ifyou’ve seen this one worth a watch, if you have any more animaniacs you’d like me to take a look at feel free to comment or comission and until the next rainbow..

Punk’d History, Vol. VII: Sick Tunes*

In 1977, when punk rock was coming to the attention of institutional politics and mass media, the music and its culture were frequently compared to illness. In an infamously priggish rant about the Sex Pistols, English MP Bernard Brook Partridge used the word “nauseating” three times in forty seconds. Even the tentatively friendly coverage the Pistols were getting in some venues in the American musical press was informed by the comparison. In October of 1977, a Rolling Stone cover story declaimed, “Rock Is Sick and Living in London.” Charles M. Young, the cover story’s author, insistently characterizes the Pistols and their punky kin as suffering the effects of some sort of physical malady. When he meets Paul Cook, he notes that Cook’s “skin [is] pallid” and “his hand is limp.” Malcolm McLaren has “a pale face”; his assistants at the Sex Pistols’ Piccadilly Circus office space “are also dingy and gray.” Young’s description of Johnny Rotten is spectacularly rife with the imagery of disease: “All misshapen, hunchbacked, translucently pale…the vilest geezer [Young has] ever met.” Rotten is a “sickly dwarf.”  

It’s not surprising that music so rigorously focused on negation should be at least metaphorically associated with illness and decline. By now it amounts to obviousness to note that the mid-1970s Anglo-American historical milieu (during which punk suddenly became fodder for political hysteria and journalistic hyperventilating) was not especially possessed of health or vigor. In England and in the States, multiple economic recessions, seemingly countless governmental scandals and failures and a general sense of social malaise constituted the dominant structure of feeling and informed the cultural environment. But punk wasn’t only subject to comparisons to disease. Punk songs were also deploying the imagery and concept of sickness to effect a variety of responses to their times. Sickness became a symbolic weapon.  

Few bands were more fascinated and freaked out by weaponized sickness than Dead Kennedys. “Chemical Warfare” was a mainstay in the band’s live set from its formation in the late 1970s. The song’s focus on militarized and terroristic applications of bioweaponry was exemplary of Dead Kennedys’ deep-seated dread for dark perversions of scientific research and the medical rationality of the clinic. “Chemical Warfare” seeks some satiric recompense: its demented lyric speaker raids an armory and unleashes mustard gas on a fairway “full of Saturday golfers”; the tune acquires an even more vicious, antic charge when East Bay Ray plucks out “Sobre Las Olas” as the gas wafts toward “The stuffed country club / Effervescent ladies, so carefree….” The bitter, sardonic humor is characteristic of Biafra’s desire to invoke violence, even as he ironically distances himself from it. From such a distance, one can more broadly claim just desserts: Who better to suffer from the effects of such insidious illness than those who have benefited from the weaponry’s production?  

More frequently, Biafra would assume the guise of a corrupt apparatchik or evil undercover agent, doling out disease-laden punishment to enemies of the State and brainwashed rubes alike: see his speaker’s command to “Die on organic poison gas” in “California Uber Alles” (“organic” is a key element there); or “Trust Your Mechanic,” which observes, “TV invents a disease you think you have / So you buy our drugs and soon you depend on them.” Biafra gives those various anxieties a song-length treatment in one of the band’s most truculent recordings.

The buzzy, muscular opening riff of “Government Flu” is as close to crossover metal as Dead Kennedys ever got, and the rest of the song is suitably breathless, matching the song’s descriptions of sickness. The band plays with razoring precision, a zippy sprint, as Biafra barks, “Got a head cold, got a chest cold, and it’s three days old / Goin’ on forever / Make you hazy, make you lazy, drive you crazy / For days ‘n days ‘n days ‘n days ‘n days and years!” Yikes. A dire prescription. But Biafra’s technocratic voice assures us that it’s all for a good cause: “Slip it abroad / Keep a-slowin’ down the USSR!”  

The lyrics’ conspiratorial extremities oddly presage some of the crankier contemporary commentary on coronavirus. On March 13th, Jerry Falwell, Jr., joined the jolly morons on Fox and Friends and winked-and-nodded his way through a typically paranoid routine, speculating that North Korea and China had cooked up and loosed COVID-19 on the world in a plot to bring down the Trump presidency. There’s a weird symmetry to the way Falwell, Jr., and Biafra follow their visions out to geopolitical scales, especially given the frequency with which Falwell’s father was a target of Biafra’s wrath. History is always stranger than fiction.  

California’s punk history runs wide and deep, and numerous hardcore and crust bands further explored the symbolic and political ramifications of Biafra’s fixations. Bay Area band Christ on Parade’s first EP, Sounds of Nature (1985), featured “The Plague,” a song that associated humanity’s presence on the earthball with biological malignancy: “Civilization’s a cancer… / People are only mindless cells / Spreading a terminal disease.” Band member Noah Landis would eventually move on to join Oakland heavies Neurosis, whose first LP Pain of Mind (1987) included the grimly titled instrumental “Geneticide” and a song called “Self-Taught Infection”: Scott Kelly sings, “Our world’s a disease / The germ is us.” A few years later, and some miles farther south in Orange County, crust band Dystopia added to the chorus on its excellent EP The Aftermath (1999).

“Population Birth Control” delivers an apocalyptic elaboration of the symbols and themes: “Malignant cancer of the ecosystem / Gnawing at a mother / Children she loves / Cankered womb and body.” As the song progresses, the metaphors clarify: the “mother” is the earth, her “children” are humans and humans are a cancer. The song grinds and crawls and pummels away, like the machinery and industries it excoriates. Dino Sommese howls, “The tumors feed and grow / All the land turns to stone / Biodiversity reduced / From a parasite’s abuse.”  

Of course, punk and crust bands didn’t invent these rhetorics and discursive maneuvers. Any number of SF novels—from Huxley’s Brave New World to Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz to John Brunner’s excellent The Sheep Look Up—have inventoried, gamed out and riffed on human technologies run amuck and their production of profound ecological collapse. But we should note that crust punks who are serious about their crustiness have always been an earnest bunch. They don’t just produce art; they live it, inhabiting real, material austerities: squatting, assiduously following a vegan diet, releasing music outside of capital’s mainstream markets for exchange. Even the more performative elements of the subculture that other folks might label with the awful term “lifestyle” have material consequences for consumption: not bathing frequently, wearing the same denim and leather for weeks on end, dreadlocks.  

Soon after releasing the EP version of The Aftermath, the crusty boys in Dystopia would record a cover of Rudimentary Peni’s “Cosmetic Plague.” Much of Rudimentary Peni’s work can be thought of as an extended meditation on social alienation and psychological illness, and it’s all pretty brilliant. But a number of bands active in the English anarcho-punk scene that Rudimentary Peni drifted through engaged with disease in a more politically materialist fashion.

“Myxomatosis” concerns a disease caused by a pox virus, which proves particularly devastating to various European species of wild rabbit. In the 1950s numerous national governments intentionally introduced the virus into their populations of European rabbits to curb species proliferation. Like many of their fellow anarcho-punks, Flux of Pink Indians were strident advocates for animal rights. The band was disgusted by the deliberate spread of the virus; they saw it as exemplary of Western modernity’s insatiable desire to control nature, to impose destructive forms of human will upon other critters: “Experimentation, vivisection, devastation, starvation, torture, war / All mindless slaughter are basically the same / Manmade oppression, manmade pain.” Perhaps the most effective refrain in the song is “Oppression stinks” (and “Myxomatosis” isn’t the first song in which Flux of Pink Indians focused on a corrosive smell). Oppression signifies the idea of a coercive, politically motivated behavior. The term necessarily abstracts, a cognitive action that helpfully sets parameters for a general category; less helpfully, the abstraction operates at a distance from the lived reality—frequently a violent reality—of the behavior itself. “Stinks” is a powerfully organic term. It invokes the piles of bunnies, riddled with pox and writhing, dying and rotting. It vivifies our awareness of the full force of oppression, of how it impinges on and damages and debilitates bodies. It’s horrific.

Another 1980s English anarcho-punk band, Subhumans, recorded numerous similarly themed songs: “Us Fish Must Swim Together,” “Pigman,” “Evolution.” But more relevant are the band’s songs that address illness. “Germ” is a song from the Evolution EP; Dick Lucas sings, “I play with your health, I destroy all there is / I’m the germ in your mouth when you give her a kiss!” He almost cackles with glee—it’s a typical punky demolition of conventionally saccharine sentimentalization of bodily experience. The song’s skepticism about the efficacy of “the National Health” indicates the band’s ideological opposition to government and institutionally dictated forms of normativity. In the spring of 2020, it’s hard to hear that skepticism clearly, when we are in dire need of nationally and internationally coordinated responses to massive public health crisis.  

A glib response (powered by an impoverished notion of anarchism, all too common in some reactionary punks’ selfish appropriations of the term) to that need might be some version of “reap the whirlwind.” To briefly give that perspective an airing: late capital’s systems of production have indeed propagated uneven development and ever more efficient global interlinkage, as well as industrially scaled agriculture and fossil fuels consumption, all of which have issued in world systems and climatological conditions ripe for pandemic. The less glibly observed fact must be that many of the people who will suffer the effects of COVID-19 have not benefited from the operations of late capital. They suffered them, and they will suffer more.  

Subhumans address those issues with greater complexity on Worlds Apart (1985), one of the best punk records of the 1980s. “Someone Is Lying” revisits themes and symbols that are familiar by this point: careless manufacturing of toxic, hazardous substances; the substances’ escape into the lifeworld; the working class’s disproportional immiseration, both by the mode of production and the diseases that spring from it. The crisp, brisk riff underscores the song’s growing anxiety. More stirring is Dick’s vocal performance in the song’s closing minutes. He repeats, ad nauseum, “These people are dying! / Someone is lying!” The band swirls behind him with growing intensity. People are dying. Someone is lying. In 2020, the scenario has loosed itself from the song and infected our reality. To be sure, the Real is stranger than fiction. Throughout the winter and spring, institutional powers worldwide have lied and obfuscated, always in rank self-interest, in ruthless effort to maintain their grip on power. It is sick, diseased, repugnant. And the lies grow from and exacerbate deep social problems.

In England, in 1985, the song’s phrases gestured toward specifically English ideas, with specifically English resonances: “inbred snobbery,” “wipe out the ghetto,” “the civilized nation.” It seems that we are no longer worlds apart; Dick sings about a “British Disease,” but America in 2020 suffers strikingly similar symptoms. At the song’s crescendo, when Dick is diagnosing the illness, he shouts, “Ignorance is your disease! / Ignorance and apathy! / Ignorance and bigotry!” That turns out to be an apt depiction of a significant portion of the American citizenry, credulous boosters of a “PATRIOT law” (my caps), idiotically basking under the glow of fluorescents on the floor of Target or Whole Foods, whining about an unbelievable access to plenitude: “What? No fresh jicama!” It’s easier to bask and whine than it is to consider all of the crushing injustice and violence that have made that plenitude possible. Or to live in a way that struggles to fashion an ethical response.  

Some folks are more vulnerable. They have no choice but to become intimate with those crushing forces. Try walking out into the Target parking lot and adjusting your vision. You’ll likely find a car somewhere along the fringes, its driver gorked out, needle hanging from a vein. Another victim of the American disease, another person in malignant, soul-destroying pain, trying to self-medicate. You’ll walk past, plastic bags bulging. “You thought this country was so great.”  

Perhaps our new disease will provide a change in perspective. Current conditions suggest otherwise. At the time of this writing (22 March 2020), in spite of the callow cynicism, repulsive preening and empty macho pose of our newly self-declared “Wartime President,” the Trump Administration’s national job approval numbers are ticking up. Ignorance and apathy. Ignorance and bigotry. When does the disease become terminal?  

* N.B. This essay was written at furious pace, at the close of the first week of social distancing as COVID-19 arrived in Philadelphia, PA. There are many, many punk bands and songs that address sickness that haven’t been included: the Germs, Flipper’s “Survivors of the Plague,” GBH’s “Sick Boy,” and so on. But the essay is not interested in offering any sort of survey or comprehensive account of punk’s symbolic treatment of illness—and “Sick Boy” is a thunderingly stupid song, anyways. Additional apologies for the essay’s fast-and-loose organization. Furious writing bears the marks of the psychological dissonance its writer (ahem) suffers. And angry words likely should not be prettily put.  

Jonathan Shaw

I was going to tell you about the askbox but I'm shyyyy. Anyway, what were you favorite and least favorite moments at this ep?

Y’all leaving me out here to fend for myself like they did with anne and the paint smear on her face, I see, I see --- jk jk haha I’m really shy too so I get it sfldkj

My least favorite part of the episode was definitely tied between the scene with Josie and her mother just totally dismissing all of her feelings and Diana walking with Jerry and making him feel so slow about himself. Those two scenes were so absolutely frustrating to watch and I was just so mad the entire time that I was yelling slkdfj

There were a lot of shining moments this episode though. Any moment with Prissy was a winning moment. I’m so glad we finally got Miss Stacy and Anne moments like we really needed, it was nice to finally SEE their bond instead of just hearing about it. Gilbert defending Anne the way that he did was perfect. The PORCH scene was absolutely everything. The Anne focus of this episode made me so happy because it had been a long while since we really had an Anne focus going on and I’m really glad that we got to have a lot of good Anne scenes. Overall, the good moments outshined any frustrating ones.

Chapter 3 of my Caryl fic Through the Storm is here! This fic takes place during ep 9x16 “The Storm.” Chapter 1 can be found here, chapter 2 here.

Through the Storm: Chapter 3 - Seeing Something Real (also on 9L)

“The only thing I know is this: I am full of wounds and still standing on my feet.” – Nikos Kazantzaki

_________________________________________________________

Carol waited until everyone had exited, then, with Ezekiel, closed the gates of the Kingdom for the last time.

The clang echoed in her soul, a strained and hollow final note closing the curtain on the life she’d had as Henry’s mother.

It sounded hauntingly familiar, a resonating cadence that thrummed in accord with the exit from a Georgia farmhouse where a grave stood, now long forgotten, the Cherokee roses they’d placed on the mound of dirt surely one with the dust of the ground.

Without a single glance back, with a sordid mixture of regret and relief, Carol walked to her horse, mounted, and followed the caravan of people out into the cold.

She didn’t turn to Ezekiel, who lingered with a long look goodbye, no doubt heartsick at the loss of all he’d once had but ever hopeful as they all pressed on to a new life.

Staying the past several days hadn’t been difficult, merely busy. From sunrise to long after its setting and often during the midnight hours when she couldn’t sleep, Carol had helped plan, pack, coordinate, prepare, and gear up for the long, cold trek ahead of them. They’d radioed Alexandria and Hilltop to ask for assistance, and Michonne and Aaron had arrived a few days ago, with Yumiko and Magna, now living comfortably at the Hilltop, following a day later. The presence of such skilled allies accompanying them allayed some of the people’s fears, and Carol realized—always too late, she berated herself—how isolated they’d all become.

Having Michonne and Daryl so close again felt comforting, and spending time with them, even just packing up and working around the compound, caused something long hidden inside of her to awaken. Gratitude filled her—for their friendship, the longevity of it, despite their fractured living, and for all that they’d come to mean to each other throughout the long years of running, hiding, fighting, and surviving—but she couldn’t express it. Could barely express much of the tumult inside of her, but she pressed on, ever mindful of the people under her watch and care.

They drifted along in front of her now, so much like her at the beginning of it all, so little like her since then. Weathered, fractured, lost, and aching in a way no warm blankets, no respite from whatever fresh hell awaited them, could provide.

She spurred her horse on, catching up to the group at large, wondering what their future would look like. Many of them skilled and willing to work hard, though uncomfortable outside of the walls, they’d fit nicely into the Kingdom and would likely contribute to the council. And numbers couldn’t hurt.

Could she count herself among them?

The pounding of her heart told her no. She needed a fresh start, one where the people didn’t look to her as their leader or treat her as royalty—royalty, she inwardly scoffed. How did I let that happen?—or think that she and Ezekiel could somehow work things out.

And they would. Jerry had always adored her, refusing to let her stand outside of the royalty, always reminding her of her place next to Ezekiel as a queen, enjoying teasing her about it. Though loyal and always one for levity, which she’d come to appreciate, she knew he represented the community of those who’d bought into the fantasy. And she needed to face her reality.

It’d been far too long.

Perhaps Alexandria would work. Michonne and Judith lived there. She’d lived there once. It had RJ and Aaron and Gracie. Hope for the future.

It also had Negan.

She sighed, the eternal war within her stomping along like her horse’s feet. Lydia would live there too now. Could she see the face of the girl her son had cared about so much that it’d gotten him killed? Would it ever get easier to see her and be reminded of him? Of a once happy, if unrealistic, life?

They’d circled each other since the funeral, giving each other a wide berth, Carol not sure how to treat the girl she felt sorry for now that she knew the extent of horror she’d lived with. Still, seeing Lydia and not Henry made the ache acute, the grief raw, the vision of his demise fresh in her mind. She couldn’t move past it, didn’t know if she could face her every day.

Her thoughts jumbled, Carol offered her steed to Michonne and got off to walk with the others. She saw Ezekiel watching her give up her royal horse, and something flashed in his eyes, but he continued leading the caravan with Jerry next to him.

Her feet felt heavy, but she listlessly kept an eye on Lydia and trudged on, remembering all the roads she’d traversed before when she thought she couldn’t take another step. Back then, she’d had others who knew the depth of pain and despair, who’d felt too much, seen such horrors, felt the curse of spilled blood on their own hands. This was altogether different, a road she walked alone.

She felt more than heard Daryl fall into step beside her.

Maybe not alone, she considered. He’d witnessed both losses with her. Not as their father, not even as someone who’d spent a lot of time with either of them, but damn if he didn’t crumble right alongside her, didn’t live with the ghosts of them, didn’t see them, both living and gone, in his nightmares, if his arms hadn’t caught her, held her together, picked her back up.

They shared a morbid tether they couldn’t break, though the cords that linked them by so much more than the loss held tighter and more comforting than any other.

With him, the road still felt long but a little less lonely.

“Henry wanted her here,” Daryl stated without preamble. “When no one else did.”

His voice held conviction, a tinge of pride in his tone, and Carol realized it was the first time she’d heard Henry’s name spoken aloud in weeks. Everyone else used titles when speaking of him, which they tried to avoid altogether. ‘I’m sorry about your son,’ they said, or ‘I wish we didn’t have to leave the prince behind’ or ‘he was a brave kid.’ Even Ezekiel lately had taken to saying, ‘I miss our son too.’ Rarely did anyone speak Henry’s name. As if doing so was a curse.

She missed him, dammit. She missed Henry. There was something healing in hearing Daryl speaking his name. He didn’t tiptoe around the hurt, didn’t speak in sympathy-code, wasn’t afraid to face the raw.

One of the reasons she trusted him so much, she concluded. He was real. Real about the pain and loss, authentic with people and about those that’d died, genuine with his words and about the ugliness of life. Nothing superfluous or fanciful.

Real in a way she missed being.

He kept glancing at her, but she couldn’t face him just now. Not with this revelation. Not when she felt like such a fraud.

“She’s a good kid.”

She hoped some day she could see what Daryl saw when she looked at Lydia, but right now it only sent slivers of ice through her heart. “Every time I look at her, all I see is him,” she admitted through the pain.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look up at the sky. Not in frustration or disgust, but something else. She felt the tension in him suddenly.

“What do you see when you look at me?” he ventured.

It was a bold question for Daryl, the type of query she never could have imagined him making, not with such curiosity and conviction. He’d grown so much over the years; she’d watched him blossom into a loving, caring, generous, fiercely protective man who knew how to stand against the evils of this world. A man of honor. A man who’d never failed her.

Carol slowed her steps a bit and turned to look at him, a bit surprised. Though she knew him by heart, her eyes skipped over his form a few times, briefly taking in the tattered clothes of a man who didn’t care about pretense, the strong hands gripping the strap of his crossbow, both fierce weapons she’d relied on, the face of someone who didn’t see a shattered mother but a trusted friend with oceans of history that forged a bond no time or distance could sever. A man of substance and his word. Eyes that saw too much but that she always found herself drawn to when she needed the truth.

How could she tell him all the things she saw when she looked at him? “I see you,” she stated simply, her resolve nearly breaking at the honesty of his question, the limit of her answer.

She reached up to grip his arm, hoping to convey what she saw, what she felt, through her touch and the look she gave him, instead of her inadequate words.

The left side of his mouth tilted up a bit and he gave her a single nod, seemingly content with her answer, and they picked up the pace again.

Still mulling his question over, she realized he feared she’d see Henry when she looked at him too. After all, he’d crowded her space the instant she’d spotted her son on that spike. He had every reason to wonder if she identified him as a harbinger of death.

They’d helped each other through too much for that to be the case.

They walked on in silence, the muted sunlight, the stretch of her muscles, the friends around her all making her feel momentarily alive. It also felt exhausting.

Grief made everything so stark and clean, and simultaneously muddied and confusing.

Jerry passed water around to them and the others who walked, and she watched Daryl make sure Lydia got some. He really had taken her under his wing, and she wondered at the connection they shared. The girl was squirrely, always curling in on herself, and suddenly she recognized the actions of a victim. She should’ve seen it before now. Then again, her focus had been everywhere but at Lydia.

No wonder Daryl had become her protector. She was one of them.

Daryl stepped ahead of her, and she followed his gaze to the footprints that crossed the road just as the horses began whinnying. Ever alert, he swung the bow off his shoulder, surveying the ground around them, the tree line just off the road.

She heard the growl of the walkers just as he did, and she readied her bow, letting the arrow fly seconds after Daryl’s hit its mark. He moved down the ditch to retrieve his arrow, glancing at her as he moved around the car she hadn’t noticed.

She took a step forward, intent on following him, but Ezekiel’s commanding voice behind her surprised her.

“Keep going. We’ll catch up.” He determinedly barreled after Daryl, passing her without so much as a glance.

Carol considered following anyway, but she didn’t have the energy it took to disagree, to find out what he was on about. Or to play referee.

She’d said everything she needed to say to Ezekiel the past few days. Keeping up appearances until they arrived at the Hilltop. Going through Henry’s things. Working together to tie up the fairy tale he’d believed in and she’d let herself run away with. She didn’t want to hurt him.

She didn’t want anything from him anymore.

She stared after them, stepping absently out of the way of the people behind her, then continued on. Whatever he wanted to get off his chest, Daryl could handle it. Maybe she’d ask about it. But later.

Right now she just didn’t have the energy to handle a fitful king still holding on to what was already gone.

Ep 10 Shoddiness (Spoilers)

I'm procrastinating on some design homework for this but I just can't focus unless I get it out. Thus I'm going to elaborate on why I don't like this episode... and why Dan Harmon should stop writing.

Key points:

character inconsistency

rapid and unsubstantiated changes in interpersonal dynamic

underwhelming content for finale

That last one needs no further explanation except that the Ricklantis Mixup should have been the finale. I was blown away by that episode and it's definitely my favorite of all three seasons. No surprise that it's also top of the episode ranking list on IMDB.

Now, I can see why people might like the episode. The main plot was funny and we got to see Rick really unload some badassery with his gadgets and wit. I laughed a lot. It's important, however, to not overlook the misdirection and ultimately how it can invalidate character progression or principle plotlines.

Firstly, let's address character inconsistency.

I'm talking about Morty here. We ALL want Morty to progress, to grow, to go somewhere, to change a little... but we want to SEE it. We want to be there to see the growth along the way. When there are gross changes in character that haven't been substantiated by a turning point or haven't been eased into, writers invalidate the very concept of growth. We end up feeling empty while the characters feel less "real."

Morty here is incredibly confident, talks back to the president, doesn't care about his selfie, doesn't even say a single "aw, jeez" in this episode (if he did I seriously missed it)... AND... did you catch where he snaps at Rick with his body language while on the phone? I was shocked. (It also felt uncharacteristic of Rick to just take that.)

It all feels so alien and is a big change from the previous episode. --Oh wait we didn't see Morty in the previous episode. I mean the episode before that. Although, wait a minute. Summer completely reset both Rick and Morty to a state before ever going through the mind blowers, so we can't reference that. The episode before was the Ricklantis Mixup and all we saw of them was before and after entering Atlantis. Which leaves us with Ep 6: Rest and Ricklaxation. --No wait. Morty wasn't his actual self in that whole episode and seemingly returned to normal unconfident Morty afterward.

Episode before that was the Jerry episode. This is the last time we see full normal Morty go through any kind of plot that could progress his character before the finale. That was five whole episodes ago, AND unfortunately he was a sub-plot in that episode, not a main.

Why is this important? Good shows ease into character changes, not just pop them on viewers and make the excuse of "well he must have progressed off screen for the last 4 episodes."

Remember the first episode of the season and how it began with Rick seemingly explaining to his family "and that's how I broke out of prison"...? We were all pissed for a moment because we thought writers took the lazy off-screen-progression route and left us out of the whole damn escape. That's what I mean. Morty in this episode has progressed to a point that feels very out of nowhere with the excuse of "well he's been adventuring a lot with Rick off-screen."

Here's another character/inconsistency issue.

Morty didn't only talk back to the president and act like a little mini-Rick the whole episode. He also did something that should not have been used so lightly in the plot.

There are quite a lot of times in the series where something serious happens, Morty has had enough and he threatens Rick that he won't go with him, that "this is it." Each of those times so far have made sense considering what was at stake or what Rick put him through. Morty threatening to end adventures is not something used lightly and normally has substantial reasoning.

In this episode, however, Morty is completely willing to give up adventuring, abandon his grandpa and live in the woods with his family--something pretty huge--*without* a substantial reason. It's great that his parents got back together but was that really enough to warrant using that plot point? It feels like an incredible stretch and just messes with the realism and relatability that other episodes have established.

Let's talk about that interpersonal/family dynamic.

The end of the episode was the grossest part for me. We see the dynamic between Rick and the group completely turned upside down and somehow Rick ends up being treated like the black sheep of the family. It was weird. It was alien. It was frustrating to watch and I seriously wanted him to snap and just shoot all of them...... revealing they were all clones.

Why is Rick's status here such a problem? Some people say it was refreshing to finally have his family treat him like dirt instead of bowing down to him, but refreshing isnt at all what I would call it. This is yet another flip-switch that forces a rapid change without substantial reason. We didn't witness some big meaningful turning point that set them all as equals. We didn't witness any valid reason for condescending upon Rick, any feasible plot point for the power to change hands.

Secondly, the vast majority of us didn't get on this ride to see Rick treated like Doofus Rick. We fell in love with his command over life and the universe, his no fucks attitude, his disrespect for authority and being told what to do. It feels like the entire family just kinda crapped on him today for no good reason and he took it, uncharacteristicly.

Last but not least...

The last weird thing is that Rick even compromised to settle things with the president rather than put him in his place. The president didn't even learn a lesson or have any growth himself. This is really unlike Rick and unlike prior writing where antagonists realize where they went wrong (or of course just kicked the bucket.)

And are we really to believe that the president has a stalemate with the smartest man in the universe? The writing just defies everything we've come to know about Rick. He can topple an entire *galactic* federation but here they put him on a sort of "par" with the American government? Rick is a good three or four steps ahead of the elaborate scheme of Zigerian scammers, and we're expected to believe he never knew about illegal satellite spying? Rick has a device that rendered all squirrels inert for a radius probably about a block in size and we're expected to believe him and Morty would really just walk down the mine shafts shooting infestations individually with guns?

Again, it wasn't the presidential or political plot that I disliked. There was so much about this writing that just doesn't fit, is disappointing, underwhelming and defies previous character abilities/personality. It feels like it was a throwaway episode merely meant to align things the way they want it for next season: have Beth and Jerry back together without any issues, drop the idea of Beth being afraid of Rick leaving (but why drop that?), and set Rick up to be more indebted to the family, not have as much power over them. It sounds like they want to neutralize all series subplots (no more family drama, no more father daughter conflict) and get back to, as Beth mentioned, a more streamlined plot with just Rick and Morty.

While I do want them to show more of the main characters and stop going on these side escapades, having father-daughter conflict makes the show a lot more meaningful. Having Beth Summer and Morty want to stay in Rick's life because they love him makes the show more meaningful. Completely erasing that dynamic and now having the family shit on Rick and not care whether he stays or goes, having Morty be so willing to abandon adventures instead of be caught in dissonance between keeping his family happy and keeping Rick around...

Idk about you but that doesn't sound like the Rick and Morty I want to watch...

Hey there! I was thinking of starting Dexter's Lab, could you tell me anything about it? Thank you!

Welcome to the Laboratory! 

First, I should mention the basic stuff. Dexter’s Laboratory is a show on Cartoon Network made by Gennedy Tartakovsky  about a boy named Dexter who loves science and has a sister thats opposite of him but just as passionate about her own interests and loves her brother very much. Its one of the first pilots that got picked up during the “what a cartoon” show that showcased original programming pilots the public would vote on. 

It has four seasons and a tv movie, though two of those seasons are after the tv movie due to Gennedy tying it off after the movie and then CN picked it up for two extra seasons and put a whole new crew under Chris Savino in charge. This caused it to change to flash, hence the uncanny valley of designs and Dexter’s original VA, Christine Cavanaugh retired halfway through season 3, causing Candi Milo to be casted in replacement. 

The rest here is gonna be under the cut since I have ALOT to say about this. 

Obviously start at the first season, first episode and if anything seems not to your liking you don’t have to keep watching. IMO the first season is pretty weak with only 13 episodes and even then thats broken u into 3 seven minute segments or two eleven minute ones. Some noteworthy season 1 eps are “maternal combat” and a justice friends short involving val hallen losing his mighty axe. 

speaking of justice friends, they are a segment parody of heros, often the avengers and marvel type though the joker does show up in an episode as a mail man saying he’ll mail the president a giant bomb before Major glory stops him. Major glory is the leader and much akin to 1950s america so expect a slightly dated idea system. Val hallen is a viking god of rock who is just awesom and Krunk is.... just really innocent. hes no genius. they basically have mostly domestic adventures of not being able to do a simple task or become scared of a bee. Major glory is also allergic to white tiger, a black panther parody who is most likely an actual cat man or sorts. there are other minor justice friends but we mostly see krunk, MG and val hallen. the rest are used in bigger fights like “last but not beast” the season 2 finale. 

theres another segment called “dial M for monkey” where dexters pet monkey is actually a hero and befriends alien wrestler voiced by RANDY SAVAGE. his friend is agent honeydew and shes the smartest sweetest woman. shes beauty shes grace but she’ll kick you in the face. 

as for the show itself, seasons 1 and 2 focus alot on just happenings with science and dee dee being silly. though there are good bonding moments and alot of the comedy is either wordplay or slapstick akin to tom and jerry. theres even a parody of tom and jerry where dexter switches brains with a mouse and his mother finds him as said mouse which leads to a chase of cat and mouse. its one of the notable season 2 episodes. Expect alot of refernces to either outside pop culture at the time, or stuff within cartoon network of the time(such as a box of dog treats with scooby’s face!) 

the tv movie is just a book end to see how dexter will grow up with some dystopian future and imo the best showing of action and comedy gennedy has skill-wise next to “last but not beast”. it also has a very shocking and questionable scene that wouldn’t fly by today’s standards. 

seasons 3 and 4 were headed by chris savino and honestly not awful. Everyone quotes them as seasonal rot for the show but i disagree. they arent the same quality and the flash is a weird transition but outside of a few bad episodes they crew really did try to keep to dexter. this season also introduces a bit of contradicting canon such as mandark’s backstory and parents when the first season only had him as a rival that happened to love dee dee. this is where people get the theory he’s trans as well. dexters birthday is said to be in march but season 2 “a hard day’s day” says hes a capricorn, meaning his birthday is somewhere in dec-jan. dont think too much on these since its not that important in the long run, especially with his leprechaun uncle. Just be wary of “sore eyes”, that episode had a person from ren and stimpy on board which lead to comedy that does not fit with Dexter’s Lab sense of humor or design. 

A few notes also:

1. dont always trust the wikia for things because it is not 100% true. Dexter’s family’s last name has never been said in the show and “Mcpherson” was most likely made up or correlated to the MMO game “fusionfall” 

2. dont take everything so seriously. this show is quite dated for 1996(and 2001-2003) for society’s standards at the time. It hasn’t aged too well. 

3. Dexter’s accent is based off gennedy’s own experiences as a kid when his family immigrated to america and he learned from reading comics how english worked, and it fueled his love for comics. though he still had an accent at the time. 

4. yes theres a ppg reference in “star check convention of three miscolored ppg dolls at the doll convention and a dexter reference in “ploys r us” of the ppg where the professor steals a dexter and dee dee doll. 

5. craig and gennedy say their worlds arent connected but believe they’re connected all you want! bc i do. 

6. the blossom x dexter ship most likely started due to bleedman’s PPGD comic. read it if you want some anime styled cartoon crossover. 

7. Have fun! I honestly hope you enjoy the series and you can ask me any questions if you have them. you can ask any of the few people of the fandom as well including @pumpkinbeta or @flukesandspooks! 

I hope this cleared up alot or gave at least a good basic amount of information to interest you. 

Young Caucasians Soundcloud playlist

https://soundcloud.com/user-405314491/sets/young-caucasians/s-roJuO

The Young Caucasians 1980-1989

Matt Hahn- Vocals

Judd Lees- Guitar

Andy Kaulkin- Keys, Guitar

Jerry Hergenreder- Bass

Bill Kalish- Drums

also:

Ted Vanderclute: Vocals; Jack Lees: Drums; Bob Bullock: Bass; Go Go Tim: Rapping & percussion; Mark Philips: Guitar

Albums:

Pop Quiz- 1983;  The White Stuff- 1986; The Shroud Of Elvis- 1987

The Young Caucasians was my band from '79 or '80 until '89 when we split up and i moved to LA.

The band was started by myself and guitarist Judd Lees with his brother Jack on drums and a really interesting bass player named Bob Bullock and our good friend Ted Vanderclute on vocals.   Judd was a musical omnivore.  More-so than me, and very studious.  He was good at playing pretty much any style he wanted to.

We started out doing Grateful Dead and classic rock covers plus a lot of 60s r&b, which i was obsessed with, as well as some originals that were written by myself and lyricist, Andrew Ellen.  By the time we started gigging and recording, we had morphed into an r&b flavored 60s garage punk type of band with a bit of early rock and roll and more of a focus on originals.  

Right around this time, Andrew died in a car accident, but left me with stacks of lyrics that i continued to write music to for the next few years.  all the songs on this playlist up until the "white stuff" sessions are his lyrics.  After that the lyrics are mostly mine.

About the lyrics.  Lyrics were never supposed to be an important part of the band.  We knew Andrew was a talented lyricist, but I was not sophisticated enough to really pay attention to what he was writing about.  I was really only going off of the sounds of the words.  He is the one who got me into all the big lyric writers like Bob, Tom, Neil, Bruce, etc.... but, even though i loved those artists, i really only listened to them phonetically as well.  I didn’t really start taking it seriously until i started writing them, and even then it was a while before i started to understand it.  The point of this band wasn’t lyrics though.  it was about fun and energy and crowd interaction.  I talk about lyrics on this blog because the process of learning about them became important to me, and i feel self consious about my lyric writing in this band.   Listening back now, I really like Andrews lyrics a lot.  He died when he was 18 so they were all written by a teenager, but they were youthfully fatalistic, ambitious and passionate and actually fit what we were doing really well most of the time. Most of my lyrics in the band were way worse.

Around '82 we had a big personnel shift and the real band started coming together with the addition of Matt Hahn on vocals and Jerry Hergenreder on Bass.  Matt is a big personality and a great performer.  He created the personality of the band, which was really fun and energetic.  To me, he sang a lot like Buddy Holly (in the early days), which was very unique for this type of band.  Matt loved the Beatles.  Matt and I both loved the Ramones.

Jerry has a very natural musicality and had a great feel for r&b.  in addition to bass, Jerry wrote most of the background vocals and wrote songs for the band as well. He probably was the most tuned in with the funky stuff and we probably couldn't have done the Go Go as well without him.  Because of these guys, we were incorporating a lot of showmanship and flashy r&b cadences in the arrangements and got a reputation as a really great live band.

At this point, Judd had become a very serious guitarist and was deep into chuck berry, steve cropper, and roots music in general which is actually my favorite part of this music when i listen back to it now.  any actual toughness in our sound would definitely be attributed to him. He was probably the most professional player in the band as well.  on some of the live recordings he is the only one holding it down while the rest of us are flailing, caught up on our stage moves.

Jack was younger than us and was more into commercial hard rock, but he was a very accomplished drummer and his precision gave us a punky edge.

In my mind, we were The Ramones meets The Rascals, but the other band members brought their thing into it so that was really just a starting point.

Our Pop Quiz ep was made half with this band and half with a new drummer, Bill Kalish, who was an NRBQ fan and brought a little of that looser vibe into the band.  Jack was great, but we wern’t really his taste in music, and Bill ended up fitting in with us really well.

the song "Natalie" from pop quiz got played a lot on local radio station called WHFS, and we started doing really well at our gigs and playing out of town more.  Local promoters liked us and we opened for a lot of national touring bands including multiple shows with bands like the Fleshtones and The Ramones (5 times!).  We were a smaller band in the same scene as local heroes, The Slickee Boys, Tru Fax and The Insaniacs, and The Insect Surfers, to whom we were sort of the little brother band.  In fact Pop Quiz was on the same label as the Surfers, Wasp records, owned by local record store owner, Bill Asp.

I think this is when we were at our best.  we were a fun, goofy band and in addition to club gigs, we got invited to play at a lot of schools and dances.  We were very proud of our live show and always working on it.   The originals were catchy, but we also knew a lot of old r&b tunes and we enjoyed winning over tough crowds.

Around this this time, a local studio offered us free studio time to make our next album thinking that being associated with us would bring them business...big mistake!  we took forever and never finished the record.... i included a couple from this session (unmixed).  there were actually a bunch of good songs from this period but unfortunately the recordings are lame and wimpy.  We probably should have released it anyway.  This was the last of Andrew’s lyrics and sort of the beginning of the end of the band. First of all, this is the point that i started writing lyrics which weren't very good.  a lot of word vomit….nothing to say…swaying from portentous to silly and back...  But even worse, this is when i started taking myself seriously as a songwriter and started wanting the band to be taken more seriously.... without the actual songs to back it up, of course.  I started playing guitar more live with the band because i was writing on the guitar, and the band was getting less fun. Also, the focus on lyrics and the switch to writing on the guitar made the music simpler and less distinctive than the earlier stuff.

  Luckily, while this was happening, we stumbled into the DC Go Go scene where we had a lot of fun playing those kind of shows.  There was a guy named Kenny Marshall that i worked with at a record store who introduced me to the scene and he was in the band for a short while.  Kenny was a good rap writer and he wrote the rap in “Right On Time” He also introduced us to Go Go Tim, who was a really talented mc and percussionist.  Tim was actually in the band for a while and played on our 2nd ep, The White Stuff, which included one of our attempts to mix gogo and rock&roll, the very catchy but ridiculous, “Right On Time”.  It’s a dumb song but it was popular at our shows and got played on our cool local radio station.  It may have been the first lyric i ever wrote.  Its literally random rhyming words and phrases put together with no meaning.  Another early song that i now think was much better than Right On Time was “Your My Reason”.  I think i was trying to write like Andrew, but was ultimately embarrassed by it’s earnestness so I didn’t want it on the album. Instead, we had a bunch of songs that made no sense.  I have a hard time listening to this album because of the words,  but i included some of the songs because we were definitely trying some new things musically.  Its a little more “professional” and “accomplished” than Pop Quiz. For better or worse, we were evolving.

I should also mention that before we recorded the White Stuff, we had an unfortunate episode where we worked with a pop producer and recorded some of these songs with really slick, un-listenable production.  The only redeeming value of these recordings is that the version of Right on Time features Kenny doing his own rap in that classic 80s broadcaster style.  i still couldn’t stomach putting it on the playlist.

Live, the Go Go thing was pretty awesome.  We did some crazy gigs, like the time we opened for Trouble Funk and r&b star, Shannon at a football stadium at North Carolina A&T for thousands of people.   We had a lot of cool experiences that were way outside of the scene we came up in and it really kept things interesting on the surface.

Unfortunately, as a rock band, we were getting more unfocused. The next record, “The Shroud of Elvis” is sort of all over the place…. some stones-y rock with the 2 guitars….some awkward attempts at a funk rock hybrid,  some really portentous songs, but some good ones.  I was listening to a lot of Television, Clash, Velvet Underground, Husker Du, Replacements...None of it really fit in with the Go Go stuff the way our earlier music had.  Having said that, the band was playing really well at this point, especially Judd.  Some of these tracks did come out pretty good.  In particular, I Don’t Love You, which is a total stones rip off, but is still kind of clever and catchy.  I also included Real Things which is closer to the stuff i was doing on my own, but the band and Matt sound great with it.

Judd quit at some point after that and was replaced by a guy named Mark Philips.  He was younger, more from a punk/post-punk background and, listening back, did not fit our sound as well as Judd.  I have some recordings with him, but i didn’t include them because they sounded really forced and the songs were also pretty bad.  

We did end up back in the studio one more time in 88 or 89 before the band finally broke up.  We did a lot of straight up go go in our shows but never recorded any, so we wanted to do that, and that is “This Joint Is Bumpin”…. i actually think it came out pretty good, for what it is, and was in the spirit of our early stuff in its own way.

I don’t remember exactly how and when the band broke up, but i think it was late ’88; early ’89.  I spent most of 89 working on my own music and i moved to LA at the end of that year.  

I hadn’t really much thought about the Young Caucasians (or my own music from that time)  since my life took other directions in the mid ‘90s  The band existed before i fell in love with chicago blues, or delta blues, or Erroll Garner, or took piano lessons, or listened to classical music or electronic music or latin music and so much more of what informs my tastes these days.  However,  I recently discovered forgotten tapes of the band and remembered what a big part of my life this music and these people were.  It was a very odd feeling.  It all sounded so alien but intimately familiar at the same time.  I feel a very strong sense of gratitude for all of it and I’m actually proud of a lot of it now.

At our best, we had no “artistic” motivation.  We just wanted to have the most fun, exciting show around and I believe we achieved that on many nights.  The recordings don’t really capture it, but I now enjoy them.  The ones on this playlist are my favorites in sort of chronological order.  It’s an odd journey.

Episode 118 : Dubbul Or Nothing (ft. Dubbul O)

"Burning it to the ground, from the ashes see what might rise..."

- Dubbul O

It's been a while, but with a reworked studio setup we welcome the second-ever guest to the show - the syllable-spraying Dubbul O! You'll certainly have heard him on here before, whether it's been with The Mouse Outfit, Voodoo Black, Mothership Connection, or one of his other projects. This month, he came through for a chat about his approach to MCing and with a bunch of tracks for us to hear (including an exclusive), which the selection for the episode is centered around. With it being March, we also include some Phife and Biggie in the mix, and it's Brooklyn's Finest who kicks things off...

Check out Dubbul O's Bandcamp, Twitter, and Spotify too! You can also buy his work on iTunes if that's your shop of choice, and find everything from him and the rest of the label at room2records.com.

Twitter : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

The Notorious B.I.G. : Playa Hater

Funnily enough, I know a lot of people hate this song, but for some reason it just tickles me! Biggie and Puffy give their armed robbery rewrite of an old Delfonics number on this album track from "Life After Death". B.I.G's love of old soul and a dark sense of humour combine for what is definitely a Marmite track from his catalogue!

$lowbeats. : Madness

Out of Guadalajara, Mexico, comes an artist whose name simply describes what s/he does! This booming, ominous beat comes from the "Burn Slow" beat tape, the only release from this producer, and fit in really nicely to allow us to keep a continuous groove going. 

dead prez : W-4

Double-time drums but with a counter of acoustic guitar and bass, stic crafts a great track on which dead prez lament the stress of the poor working life. For the non-US listeners, the W-4 form referenced is the form workers submit to their employers detailing their tax situation, which then tells them how much tax to withhold from pay. This track from the "RBG" LP is as relevant now as it ever was - in fact, in an era when mentions of the "working class" often implicitly ignore Black people, maybe more pertinent in the present day.

Voodoo Black : Gettin' Dum

The latest single from this Room 2 crew reps Manchester proudly - this month's guest leads off, then passes the ball to Sparkz, and finally Ellis Meade takes it all the way to the end. This track has the kind of pace and space that enables all the MCs to play around with their patterns; even without actually hearing the words, there's flavour in the flows. DJ Cutterz with the production on this one.

Swell ft. Shiloh Dynasty : I'm Sorry

Swell is an Australian producer who isn't even twenty years old yet but clearly has talent to keep an eye on, and Shiloh Dynasty is such a mysterious vocalist that I don't have the first clue which pronoun to use! At such a slow tempo, I don't know if "head nodder" is the right phrase to use, but I love this beat from the "There's Still Us" EP.

Dubbul O : Smoka-Motive

The title track from Dubbul O's most recent EP, with Mankub bringing some Yard flavour into proceedings, along with eerie strings, guitar, and vocal samples, a real low-tempo soup over which Dubbul O speed-races with his double-time flow.

Jake One : Eli

Heading back to the "#PrayerHandsEmoji" beat tape, which has been a great source of quality low-tempo instrumentals. Production fans should definitely grab this one.

Tobe Nwigwe : HËÂT RŌČK.

I first heard Tobe mentioned by Bomani Jones, and his gushing praise let me know that this was an MC I needed to check out - and I was not disappointed! Coming out of Houston, he's got a unique combination of flow and voice, and packs substance into his bars while being absolutely crystal-clear the whole time. You owe it to yourself to check out the "The Originals" collection, and there are videos for many of the tracks on Youtube!

Voodoo Black : Run Along

Solid single from the start of last year, with the DJ Cutterz-produced beat cockily ambling down the street while the crew dismiss weak challengers with a wave of the hand. This track is just one example of Dubbul O killing the final verse in that Busta/Freddie Foxxx tradition of flawless clean-up men :)

Polyrhythm Addicts : Motion 2000

One of those classic independent records - very well known to those into the scene at the time, but one I have to remind myself isn't universally known even among dedicated heads. Polyrhythm Addicts was something of an underground supergroup, comprising DJ Spinna, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Mr Complex, and Apani B (later replaced by Tiye Phoenix), and their debut "Rhyme Related" featured this Spinna-produced single. That bassline is immediately distinctive, and with just the drums added to it (and a little guitar in the hook), there's plenty of space for all the MCs to get busy.

Bronx Slang : Married To The Game

Jerry Beeks is a friend and big supporter of what I'm doing over here, and the feeling is mutual. It's great to see the release of the new "Bronx Slang" LP, where he and Ollie Miggs show over the twelve tracks that contrary to popular opinion, real Hip-Hop never went anywhere! Beeks kills the mic over this piano-driven beat, and needs no hook to pull you in.

Dubbul O freestyle / [J-Zone] : As It Ever Was (Instrumental)

Dubbul O was up for giving us some lyrics from his rhyme book that haven't been heard before, and so we went through some instrumentals - didn't get far before he picked this one out. This is just raw MC business, straight through with no edits, no punching-in, exactly how it should be done.

The Quarter Inch Kings : I'm No Comeback

Decided to slide another instrumental in here, and went to The Beat Tape Project's "The AZ Beat Tape" for this track from a Toronto-based production unit who bring a soulful vibe. Got to love the humming woman sample that would have fit right in around 1996 - right around the time AZ's debut LP came out!

Dubbul O : Mussbemental

Vintage double-time syllable distribution here from Dubbul O on another Mankub-produced tune from "Smoka-Motive"! Dubbul O has talked about how he tries to become another instrument on the track, and he jumps all over the place like a jazz saxophonist on a solo here.

Natural Elements : For The Culture

Natural Elements are back with another three-song selection in their #DeathComesIn3s series, the "3 Kings" EP, and this was the tune that jumped out for me on the first listen. Great bars as always with this crew, and GxBxT provides the beat.

Pitch 92 ft. The Four Owls and DJ Jazz T : Swoop

I've been following Pitch from his first days and he's one of those people where the talent was immediately evident. His skills were a huge contribution to The Mouse Outfit during his time with them, and now we have his first full producer solo album to hear his latest work. The "3rd Culture" LP is one of those producer-helmed projects with a host of artists coming in to help realise the vision, and there are plenty of heavyweights - on this track, the respected High Focus crew The Four Owls and battle champion DJ Jazz T on the cuts. For the bargain price being charged on Bandcamp, this is a no-brainer purchase!

Phife Dawg ft. Rodney Hampton : Game Day

The "NFL Jams" compilation was, in 90s soundtrack-era weird idea style, a combination of NFL players and established Hip-Hop performers on each track on the album. Results were...mixed. The late great Phife Dawg certainly holds down his end of the deal on this early Jay Dee-produced cut, but Rodney Hampton really just gets credit for trying! 

Damu The Fudgemunk : Randi

Just some good drums, bass, and piano, arranged in the MPC2000 of Damu on his "Spare Time" album. I don't have any deep knowledge on this one, but it's one to enjoy for what it is!

Dubbul O : Step Into The Circle

An exclusive to close out the show! Dubbul O brought this track for a first airing, previewing the EP he's got coming later this year with Clay of Room 2 Records. Dubbul O's flow is as laid-back as it goes, matching the vibe of Clay's clean and breezy, crisply-drummed track.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

  Check out this episode!

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/supernaturals-bad-place-left-us-prehistoric-place/

'Supernatural's' Bad Place left us in a prehistoric place

I LOVED last week’s episode of Supernatural, so I went into this week’s with high expectations, especially because this was the lead-in to the Wayward Sisters pilot episode that happens when we return from Hellatus. ‘The Bad Place’ turned out to be a wild rollercoaster of a ride that kept me on the edge of my seat – it literally looked and felt like a feature film crammed into 42 minutes! That’s not to say I loved all of it, but it definitely did a great job of setting up the possible spinoff while simultaneously entertaining me throughout. So, what I liked?  Well, I really liked Jack. It was nice to meet Alexander Calvert at last weekend’s Supernatural convention and to be able to tell him in person what a fabulous job he’s doing on this show, because DAMN. I have been rooting for Jack since the beginning, which says a lot about Calvert’s acting and the way he’s been written considering he’s Lucifer’s son. I didn’t think I’d like him at all before Jack was born, so I wasn’t even prepared to care about the character – but I do. We open with a young Native American artist, Derek, and his girlfriend discussing the difficulties of making a living through art, which, YES. Enter Jack, a prospective buyer. Derek: You’re young. Jack: I am. I laughed out loud at Calvert’s delivery, and the fresh-faced expression on Jack’s face. He manages to make Jack entirely likable while also playing him with a hint of wait-is-that-a-menacing-look so I’m always a little off base and unsure. I was so horrified when we thought that Jack killed Derek, it actually made me a little sick to my stomach. I don’t WANT Jack to go dark side, Show! And that says something very good about how the character is being written and acted because I actually CARE about him. Berens does a good job of incorporating a bit of Native American lore, and casting does a good job as they almost always do with finding an actor  (Nathaniel Arcand) who makes us care about him even in the four minutes he was in the episode! Arcand is not just very good looking; he invests Derek with personality too. I hated seeing Derek lying on the floor with his eyes burnt out, his horrified girlfriend screaming. I think I might have been muttering No No No Jack No No No, much to my family’s dismay. And who does Jack see as he hitches a ride with the Dreamwalker? Mary, now in the hanging cage that Lucifer was being tortured in. That didn’t help my poor stomach at all. There’s more to like about Jack in this episode, but let me more or less follow the episode’s progression because there was a lot happening! While Jack is out hitching a ride with a dreamwalker, Dean and Sam are desperate to find Jack. So desperate that Dean is doing something that felt a bit out of character to me – calling Patience. After he told her to stay out of the life and stick to normal if she possibly could, he’s calling her to ask for her help in finding Jack. Yes, he acknowledges the change of heart and the reason, but I couldn’t quite get my head around it. Especially when we see that he’s called her six times! That’s called stalking, Dean. It all feels a little more worrisome when this is a high school student we’re talking about. So that wasn’t one of the things I especially liked in this episode. Patience (Clark Back), for her part, is having a tough time of it even apart from Dean Winchester being intrusive. She’s lying to her dad (played by Adrian Holmes - which he somehow doesn’t realize even though it seems fairly obvious to me) about having visions, and her grades are suffering for it. If you can call getting a C suffering, that is. I work with clients all the time whose perfectionism is definitely not doing them any favors, so I really bristled when Patience’s dad told her in no uncertain terms that only perfect grades and SATS were acceptable. Bad parenting, Patience’s dad! The dads on Supernatural make some really crappy decisions, and this dad takes a page out of the John Winchester parenting handbook by telling Patience that if she leaves and “chooses that life,” she can’t come back. WHAT? I mean, I knew he made bad decisions after the whole decade of lying to Patience about her grandmother Missouri, but this was almost worse. Who sets those kinds of limits on your kid when it’s clear they’re trying to do something GOOD?? Poor Patience. Good thing she kept Jody’s business card. Speaking of Jody, she calls Sam and Dean with a lead on Jack and they head to Derek’s studio to talk with the traumatized girlfriend. There they learn he was a Dreamwalker and see the painting that lets them know he’s been to the AU – Apocalypse World as we’re now calling it. Sam and Dean get in the car, in front of a big beautiful blue winged mural on the side of the studio so kudos to Jerry Wanek and his team of wizards. Dean knows this is Season 13 so he keeps to the new norms, thankfully. Dean to Sam: We gonna talk about it? Of course they are, because this is Season 13! Dean: Looks like Jack gave up on us and is looking for his daddy. Me: (and Sam probably) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Dean: This isn’t an I told you so. I actually like the kid. I liked that little conversation so much, because it’s the Winchesters really being open with each other. Before Sam can misinterpret, Dean lets him know how he’s actually feeling and that this is not what he wanted either. Season 13! Another thing I really liked? Kaia Nieves (Yadira Guevera-Prip). We first meet her in a group therapy session (with a not so great therapist, which always makes me feel a little defensive for my profession, but whatever). Kaia is revealed to us little by little, covered up all over and hiding under a hood and under her well-honed snarky defenses. Her portrayal was so realistic that I found myself thoroughly believing her as a reluctant, defended client – both the acting and the writing were spot on. Even her little quip about Trump rang so true (I guess on the show we’ve intersected with real life now that the Lucifer-possessed president guy is out of the way). She actually sounds just like an addict in denial, which is how the therapist treats her, but when Kaia says she doesn’t want to go to “the bad place”, she means something much more literal. She too is a Dreamwalker, but instead of being able to go where she wants, she always ends up there – and comes back not only psychologically scarred but literally bloodied. Those scars she’s hiding under her sleeves are not from cutting. (Also did anyone else keep getting Dark Angel feels every time someone talks about ‘the bad place”?? Shades of Jensen Ackles’ brilliant portrayal of Ben, one of the most tragic characters I’ve ever encountered) Jack shows up, and he’s progressed from “I like nougat” to “I like cocaine” alarmingly fast. Kaia’s reaction was brilliant – Yadira’s facial expressions are amazing in conveying so much, from shock to humor to horror to joy. Kaia: (bemused) Okay, Suite Life… The little shout out to Kim Rhodes’ previous series was a nice touch, Mr. Berens. Jack breaks her out, and I worry that the guard he took down isn’t really just “sleeping” because we don’t yet know that Jack did not, in fact, kill Derek. But we find out quickly because the Winchesters show up right about then. Sam shares the details of Kaia’s tragic life story with Dean, who sums it up with “bad hand…” I’ll say. I already have a lot of empathy for Kaia, but that seals the deal. Meanwhile, Kaia is proving herself not only relatable but badass. And smart. She refuses to go with the creepy stranger who can break through triple locked doors and knock people out by touching them – I mean, odd decision, but…  Jack is distracted by Sam and Dean, which gives Kaia a chance to haul off and punch him and run away. Jack: (indignant) She hit me! Then we get one of my favorite scenes in the episode, during which Calvert, Jared Padalecki, and Jensen Ackles all knock it out of the park (with help from Berens and director Phil Sgriccia). Jack: I’m doing this for you! I wanted to prove to you that I’m good. So I did the thing you wanted the most…. I researched, like you taught me… And I saw her. Your mother. She’s alive. Dean: (absolutely dumbfounded and already overcome with emotion) What? Jack shows them what he saw, and they actually SEE Mary being tortured, and hear her calling out for help. It must KILL them to see and hear that and not be able to do anything. Dean: (sounding broken) Mom! There’s a moment then where we focus on Dean’s face, and everything else that’s going on seems to fade into the background. He turns away slightly from Jack and from Sam, a look of shock on his face at finding out his mother is alive. And then, in just a few seconds, you can see his expression harden, his jaw set. That right there is Dean Winchester swearing to god that he will do whatever it takes to save his mother. It’s Dean channeling John every time he put his boys into danger to try to save Mary. It literally gave me goosebumps. The other incredible scene I LOVED was the “car scene,” with Dean and Sam in the front and Jack in the back as they go after Kaia. Berens shared that as originally scripted and shot, that scene was much shorter. But the episode actually (miraculously) came in under time, so they had some time left to fill. They “collaborated and spitballed” and realized they could reshoot the scene in an extended version. Berens added that it “felt like a cosmic gift.” And I definitely agree! Berens: Strong case to be made it’s the MOST important scene in the ep, the emotional payload, and we almost didn’t have it. ALL that stuff was written as subtext to the episode but it became clear I messed up, we NEEDED to see that moment. So Phil shot it perfectly, and of course Jared, Jensen and Alex hit it out of the park. So lucky. I’ll say. Also, the Season 13 rules about open communication are still in play, and I am ridiculously grateful for that. Dean to Sam: You were right. This whole time… We should have been looking for her. Sam tries to console his brother because he KNOWS how hard Dean will take this, saying he didn’t know, he just hoped. But it’s clear that Dean is taking this on himself, guilty and traumatized because he gave up on his mother. Dean (and me) struggled mightily with Sam giving up on looking for Dean way back in the Amelia season, so this is something that must really hit home for him. And that worries me. Dean: We find her. No matter what. Me: Uh oh. Then there is the absolutely wonderful conversation that came from reshooting the scene and being able to make it longer. It makes me wonder what kind of glorious moments we would have if our show always had the luxury of time, because this? This was effing magic. Dean: Kid, you okay? I smile every time Dean calls him ‘kid.’ Jack is not, in fact, okay. He realizes that the Winchesters believed he was capable of doing something awful like killing Derek. Sam struggles to explain, and Jared does an amazing job making it incredibly real and poignant. You can hear Sam’s voice shake; he even stumbles over his words a little in an attempt to make something awkward understandable. Dean finally admits that they thought he went looking for his father. Jack: Lucifer? He’s no one to me. You – Castiel – you’re my family. Dean doesn’t even hesitate. Dean: Yes. Yes, we are. Me: Tissues! Dean: Finding mom, you did a good thing, kid. A real good thing. The small smile on Jack’s face made me tear up. And the look on Sam’s face when he hears Dean say that! There are tears in his eyes, and he just looks so…. Relieved? Happy? It made me happy too. Kaia, in the interim, gets kidnapped by a bunch of angels who are of course dicks because really, angels are the worst on Supernatural. I get that they’re desperate with the whole going extinct thing, but wow, they are really awful other than Cas. I continue to adore Kaia, both the acting and the writing. The angels tell her they’re using her as bait to lure the Winchesters and Jack, and she scoffs. Kaia: They won’t come for me, you picked the wrong bait. No one’s gonna fight for me. I’m not white, I’m not rich, I’m not blonde. I don’t matter. That line didn’t pull any punches, and it hit many fans very hard. Several people on my timeline posted that there were tears streaming down their faces, they were so shocked and so validated to hear a person of color be that outright on a television show. But Jack and the Winchesters do show up, and the angels try to talk Jack into coming back to Heaven with them, saying he belongs with his own kind. Dick angel: Come home. Jack: (glancing at Sam and Dean): I am home. Me: Tissues! Jack saves the Winchesters’ very fine asses, much to Kaia’s shock. Then try to explain to her who they are and what they do. Winchesters: We’re hunters. Kaia: And he’s the son of Satan. Jack: I am, yes. At some point in here, the actress ad-libbed an under her breath “What the f—k,” which was glorious. And which Sgriccia left in, bless him. The next scene is the one I had a big problem with, as did a fair number of fans. Sam pleads with Kaia to help them find their mom, trying to explain what’s needed.  He even uses his puppy dog eyes. Jack tries too, telling her “we need you.” Dean listens, then adds his own plea, which goes right to the heart of where Dean Winchester’s head is at right now. Dean: We can save her. But Kaia says no. She only goes to the bad place when she dream walks, and she doesn’t come back unscathed. Again, she says no. There’s a loaded pause, and Sam reluctantly says what we’ve heard the Winchesters say many times when someone is reluctant to put their lives on the line. Sam: We’ll find another way… Dean interrupts him, pulling his gun and quietly cocking it. Sam: Dean. Dean? Sam looks shocked, and in my living room, I am literally gaping. WHAT ARE YOU DOING, DEAN?? I even had a brief moment of wait, is that Dean? Did he somehow get possessed? Dean: Get in the car. Kaia hesitates, still unwilling. And then the most shocking thing happens – Dean suddenly LOSES IT, brandishing his gun and yelling GET IN THE DAMN CAR! I legit screamed because Dean Winchester scared the crap out of me, and then for some reason, I covered my ears as though that would make it not be happening. (Yes, I know, I’m kinda invested in this tv show, what can I say?) Kaia looks as frightened as me, and she gets in the car – I mean, who WOULDN’T get in the car with Dean Winchester yelling at you like that? My timeline immediately split into “I’m terrified” and “Uh that was weirdly hot” while I felt just like Sam looked – just plain shocked. Dean: We’re going to South Dakota. I think I understand what they’re going for here – why Dean is acting so not Dean. This is his mother, his family. Who is being tortured RIGHT NOW and is screaming for him to help her. He can no more leave her to that than he could leave Sam – he will move heaven and earth to save his family. I know that, I love that about the character. But this just felt a bridge too far for me. Kaia is a teenager (I’m assuming) and a vulnerable one at that. She clearly said no and he ignored it and forced her into the car – he essentially kidnapped her just like the angel dicks did. Not for as nefarious ends, sure, but whoa. I had a hard time reconciling that Dean with the Dean I know and love. I know Dean has been in a bad place himself this season, and I know how prone he is to throw mountains of guilt on himself – and that makes people do pretty crazy things. I’m guessing he can rationalize it with it’s for the ultimate good and he’ll be sure she’s safe, but it becomes clear pretty quickly (and really he knows) that he can’t do that. And we just heard all about her tragic life so far and how awful it is for her to go to the bad place, so forcing her there is just hard to swallow. Maybe it’s the therapist in me, but I was entirely on Kaia’s side in that scene, not Dean’s. And I don’t like that feeling! Sam echoes my discomfort, asking Dean “What are we going to do, force her to dreamwalk at gunpoint?” Me: Exactly!! Dean: We get Mom back no matter what, remember? Pretty sure neither Sam nor I defined it in quite this way, Dean.  That scene still doesn’t sit right with me. I just don’t see Dean going that far, even if I understand his motivation. Jack takes over as the voice of reason (which is really saying something, Dean!), apologizing to Kaia and reassuring her that not everything she sees in dreamwalking has to be the bad place. Jack: Our powers can be good. We can do good in the world. That seems to persuade Kaia more than Dean waving his gun at her (go figure…) but at that moment the angel dicks cut them off and they take refuge in a boat yard. In a big giant abandoned boat. Like, a real boat. Not a VFX boat or a set, but a real boat. Whoa. That scene was amazing, with all the kudos once again to the crew who makes this show look like a motion picture day in and day out. Here's where the suspense ramps up to off the charts, with an incredible musical score by Christopher Lennertz that has my heart pounding right out of my chest. Sam paints sigils throughout the boat as they race higher and higher, a whole gang of angels now after them. Luckily the angels sort of take their time, so Sam gets to paint LOTS of sigils. (I bet Jared had a great time with that, we all know how much he loves painting sigils…NOT) Dean seems to come back to his senses, apologizing to Kaia for dragging (literally) her into this Dean: Sorry to drag you into this, it’s not your fight. But Jack has gotten through to Kaia and she’s on board – and also her survival instincts have kicked in. Kaia: Let’s do it. Sam: What if something goes wrong? Dean: (stating the very obvious) Something already is going wrong! Kaia agrees to dreamwalk and take Jack along, trying to get them all to Mary. Meanwhile, the angels are performing a synchronized sigil-busting ritual we’ve never seen before (canon problem perhaps, or maybe new canon?)  The suspense keeps building as they take down one sigil after another, until only one is keeping them out – and it’s slowly melting. By this time, I was about to have a heart attack. Just in the nick of time, Kaia gets to where Mary is and then screams. Her scream, surprisingly, destroys the angels, and blasts Jack and the Winchesters to different places. Kaia wakes up still in our world, Jack at Mary Winchester’s feet. Sam and Dean wake up in the Vancouver woods, except it’s clearly not. Everything is in desaturated shades of blue, so we know we’re not in Kansas anymore. The portal stays open, which can’t be a good thing. In another part of the country, Patience arrives at Jody’s house. Patience: Something bad is coming…. Meanwhile, Dean comes to and immediately pats Sam on the back. Dean: Sam? Sam: (knowing what Dean needs to hear)  I’m okay, I’m okay. Dean has come through with an angel blade, so that’s good. But that’s clearly the only thing that’s good. Dean: Where the hell are we? The camera pulls up for a wide perspective and we see that where the Winchesters are is.. [caption id="attachment_51848" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Caps by @kayb625[/caption] Standing inside a giant three-toed footprint. I admit I laughed for a second, because for once I was NOT spoiled. Me: DINOSAURS??? But it was a really cool shot and I mean, why the hell not? Supernatural has done just about everything else, and it’s Season 13, and we have Alternate Universes to play in – and besides, it’s Sam and Dean against the world and that is never not going to make me happy.  My timeline lit up with Jurassic Park gifs – timed just as the trailer for the new Jurassic Park movie hit, believe it or not – and lots of bad jokes about Winchesters and dinosaurs. In fact, it was hilariously split between OMG AWESOME and OHNOYOUDIDN’T! But I think ultimately I’m sorta okay with it. Supernatural has jumped the dinosaur? We’ll see. For now, I just want it to be January 18. And not just because that’s my birthday. It’s also the night that the actual Wayward Sisters episode premieres, which I’m taking as some kind of meant to be thing. Kismet!

Movie TV Tech Geeks News