#because the S2 finale felt like a series finale to me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

genericpuff · 6 months

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Omg hiiii, I absolutely love Rekindled! You're so talented, and the story you're making for Persephone is so intriguing! A lot more than whatever trashfire Lore Olympus has become.

That being said, what was the moment you stopped liking LO Persephone? Have you always disliked her, or was it gradual? Or just a specific moment that made you go "yeaaaaah.. she's not it ;-;"

(And bonus question if I can ask, but how do you draw hands?? I hate them with a passion, but unfortunately hands are pretty necessary T^T)

aahhh thank you so much!!!

honestly, I was a pretty big fan of LO up until the trial arc. Like, you've all seen me hate this comic with a fiery passion, but the only reason I'm able to do that is because before I hated this comic, I loooved this comic. I'd literally be counting down the hours until new updates, I loved the art, and I was too smitten by the appeal of the series to notice its writing problems, I just loved the romantic drama and the H x P ship, and yes, I loved Persephone, I loved her design, her personality, and I felt so 'seen' by her struggles, both with her trying to pave a path for herself and the SA plotline. I was even (regrettably) one of those people who would lurk in the antiLO tags and think "wow, these people are dumb, can't they see how brilliantly written this is ?? they're nitpicking!"

But then the trial arc happened which involved writing a plot that didn't put the romance front and center anymore - now that Rachel had to actually write something complex and logic-driven, the blinders started to fall off and I went wait... maybe Rachel doesn't know what she's doing. Persephone choosing her own lawyer? And it's Hades, one of the judges? Why are they suddenly establishing Thanatos as Hades' adoptive son? I'm not a lawyer, but I know that's not how any of this works and it really tipped me off that something was amiss, that Persephone was having all of her solutions conveniently handed to her on a platter and all of the other characters were suddenly being made to look like assholes just to make Hades and Persephone the heroes.

And then... Eris happened.

See, one of the things I loved most in the story was Persephone's character arc concerning the Act of Wrath. I write stories about characters with dark "personas" all of the time. So it was something I had frame of reference for, I really loved the premise of Persephone earning her name through this act of violence and while it was dashed with the opening of S2 revealing it was "all an accident", I was excited to see how the trial arc would bring about new information and confirm who was telling the truth about what "really happened" with the Act of Wrath. If the courtroom drama wasn't gonna be realistic, I could at least hope for some good 'OBJECTION!' reveal that would finally put to rest once and for all what really happened, and maybe Kore would finally embrace this 'dark side' she had.

So for the actual twist to suddenly reveal itself as... 'actually, this one goddess we've never mentioned before blessed you with wrath. why? idk she just did. anyways she's the reason you have wrath and that's what made you commit the act of wrath. problem solved.'

And that was where the twisting of 'faith' happened. When I went through the subconscious realization of , "Oh no, Rachel doesn't know what she's doing and it took me this long to notice. Oh no, maybe those antiLO freaks had a point-"

That said, there was a glimmer of hope in the midseason finale. Persephone was sentenced to remain in the Mortal Realm to carry out her mother's duties and I thought, "great! This will be Persephone's Rocky moment! She'll have to prove herself without the help of Demeter or Hades! This is gonna be awesome!!" During the hiatus, I was VERY excited to see where the story was going, I still had so much hope and I figured the mishandling of the trial arc was just a bump in the road. The series was still good, it was just going through a rough patch, these things happen.

And then it came back and it all went downhill from there. There was a 10 year time skip with very little insight as to what happened. Minthe and Daphne were just suddenly back to normal. They were referencing some food shortage or terrible event that happened during Persephone's reign that they never explained in explicit detail. And now, all of a sudden, Persephone was just returning to the Underworld, where Kronos had suddenly taken over. I had cautious optimism but throughout it, I was really seeing the cracks that were already forming opening wide. A lot of what I had to say wasn't positive anymore, I literally couldn't understand what the reasoning was behind these writing decisions and I couldn't find myself rooting for Persephone anymore, everything just seemed to convenient and easy for her to make her seem like the "strong and confident" character the comic claimed her to be.

The S2 finale was my breaking point and I think it was for a lot of other people too. That was pretty much where my 'transformation' from passionate stan to passionate critic happened, and it happened alongside the creation of the UnpopularLoreOlympus subreddit which would become my new 'home' within the community. After seeing how much the story had gone downhill, it made me realize in hindsight just how awful and one-note Persephone is, how she really never cared about anyone but herself and Hades, how her mother did, actually, have a point about her being practically groomed into a relationship with a billionaire slave driver, how she was very intentionally drawn to look like a child in ways I couldn't believe I had never noticed before, the list of "awakenings" goes on. And it sucked! It sucked to have that realization that the thing I loved wasn't just imperfect, but incredibly problematic in its writing and art choices. And just like when I loved the comic, I couldn't just let go of it, I had to understand to some degree why this happened.

It happened because Persephone was always being written as a one-note, easy to project onto self-insert character. A Wattpad protagonist. Not an actual representation of the Goddess of Spring, but a blank slate for the creator and the fans to imagine themselves as purely for the power fantasy of hooking up with a rich and abusive guy.

That was when I made my first piece of LO art intended to be an 'edit' - a redraw of Persephone's rebirth as the Dread Queen from the S2 finale, an ode to the Persephone I was hoping to see but never got. The rest from there is history.

youtube

I know I'm being SUPER dramatic about it but this was literally how it felt to go through the realization that this comic - and its characters - wasn't as good as I thought it was, and I think that's a sentiment that's shared by a lot of the 'haters' in this community. LO was a big part of my life and even some of my friendships with people, so when it went downhill, it felt like such a hit to the gut. It's still a big part of my life, albeit in the opposite direction, but I still wonder sometimes over the "what ifs", what if the series hadn't turned out this way? What if I had never realized its flaws? Rekindled is basically a love letter to those what ifs, satisfying the feelings I never got to keep with LO, and giving me a reason to count down the hours on Saturday nights again. I'm glad it's made that same impact for others, too <3

#lmao this turned into some really deep catharsis post #i never explained how to draw hands #i'll make a post about that in a bit lmaooo #this is what happens when i'm given free reign in my blog posts #i go off way too much JFDKASLFJDKSLA #but it's a story i like to tell because it reminds me why i do all this to begin with #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything #ask me anything

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narujenreacts · 2 months

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Will Murder Drones get a Season 2?

Alrighty. So, after GLITCH's post yesterday of Digital Circus that also mentioned "We're also working hard on Murder Drones & will be releasing final episodes soon!", which sent a lot of the fandom (including yours truly) into a panic that this meant these are the final episodes for the SERIES and not the 1st season. However, that felt off to me since GLITCH has been promoting MD as Season 1 and not a short series, which, if it had always intended to be only 8 episodes, it would've been. That's just how it goes in the industry for online series. And I believe GLITCH wouldn't make that kind of mistake in marketing. It'd be different too if it was only promoted as Season 1 for the teaser, but it's been that way up until that Digital Circus post. Hell, here are some of the things Kevin and Liam said during GlitchX:

"I remember when we were coming up with the, uh, this is like way before when, you know, Murder Drones was really, like we were really going for a smaller, smaller show-" - Kevin

"The whole oil thing that was getting set up in the pilot, that was gonna be like a MASSIVE sort of plot thread throughout the season." - Kevin

"Because in terms of importance to kind of where I want the story to go, it just ended up being less relevant." - Liam

"We, um, did the opposite of that. I think the series as it progressed, which I think is - it is intentional, I would say. We have gone from, I think, supremely silly to supremely kind of self-serious." - Liam

"There's so many dog easter eggs if you go and watch through the entire season." - Kevin

"We are announcing the finale of the season." - Kevin

With everything they said, none of it sounds like Murder Drones was intended to be a single season series. Now, this leaves two questions myself and I'm sure some of you have, "Why haven't they announced a S2 yet then and why are they barely posting MD?" I decided to enter analyzation mode and went digging through GLITCH's Twitter and YouTube. What I found was that this isn't GLITCH's first time handling their series like this.

Meta Runner Season 1 (Animated Movie Cut) was released on Aug 28, 2020 and in the description Season 2 was immediately announced since they already had it done.

Meta Runner Season 2 - EP 1: Hard Reset released Oct 16, 2020. The final episode for S2, "EP 10: Fatal Error" was released Dec 18, 2020 and there was no mention of the 3rd and final season.

Want to know when they announced it? Not until Nov 29, 2021. Over a YEAR later.

And before that they barely posted anything of MR. At first it was Sunset Paradise, and then once that series was about to conclude they started posting about MD. A lot. Way more than they have for DC. And when they announced S3 for MR they didn't even mention it was the series finale! That wasn't announced until May 6, 2022, 6 months after S3 was even announced.

However, once they did they made it VERY clear it was the final season. 99% of their posts of MR after that mentioned it was the final season.

So, to conclude my thoughts. I don't think we should be worried. I wouldn't suggest getting our hopes up TOO high, because despite GLITCH handling MD the same way they did MR, there's always the chance MD doesn't get a second season. That way we're not deeply disappointed if it doesn't, but after looking into it I personally feel a lot more confident MD will get a S2. Just be prepared that if GLITCH doesn't say anything, it could be up to a year before they do, but if MR fans could hold out for as long as they did, we can too. Don't forget either GLITCH isn't only working on the first season of DC. They're also working on the pilot for Gaslight District.

#murder drones #murder drones uzi #murder drones n #murder drones season 2 #glitch productions

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petitprincess1 · 3 months

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What critiques do you have of Hazbin? I'm wondering because I keep seeing a lot of criticism and hate towards it and I don't Wana get into something that's possible waste of time. Srry if thats rude

Dude, you're perfectly fine. I'm gonna keep it to like five points bc some things that I have problems with are mainly nitpicks. None of this, imo, is a dealbreaker for me. However, if it is for you, fair.

This is one that everyone has talked about and I fully agree with. The pacing is whiplash-inducing. I still do believe it's better than HB S1, but there is just so much information being thrown around that it's mind-boggling. The songs definitely help to slow things down a bit and introduce more info in an engaging, catchy way. However, I feel like there were some eps that either needed to come sooner or later in the series. I get they were fighting the clock, but still.

Lucifer and Charlie's relationship needed better explaining. Without going into spoilers, from what it felt like in the Pilot, it seemed like they were building up to something a bit more confrontational. I always figured Charlie possibly embellished Lucifer's words, but now it makes it feel like Charlie was talking to a completely different man. Someone that isn't even her father. Lu acts so much like Charlie, or vice versa, that it seems almost impossible to misinterpret his words.

NO FILLERS! The closest episode to a filler is the 3 ep, but even that brings up information and moves the plot along with key points. Now, that's not a bad thing entirely. It keeps you engaged. But this show very much lacks any breathing room. There's so much being thrown your way. Either things get overly talked about or not talked about enough. Which brings me to my next point-

The world-building is both fulfilling and empty. You do get a good sense of Heaven and Hell in this universe, especially Hell. You get an idea of the hierarchy and even some hypocrisy. However, we also don't really know how Heaven nor Hell operates. Like Lucifer appeared to be a shut-in. Yes, Lilith was the one inspiring demonkind, but what about when she disappeared? Is that why everything is garbage now? How much does Lucifer influence Hell? Where are the archangels? Was this conflict not important? Is there a "God" even in this show? What is Heaven's hierarchal system? There's so much being said, while also nothing being explained.

This one is the lowest for me bc I'm a bit torn on it. I've seen a few people complain about how the main characters are introduced as if you're supposed to know them. I didn't get this feeling, but I'm also a fan of Hazbin. I try to go in with a fairly "empty mind" so that I can view the material without rose-tinted glasses. However, it felt like some of the characters were given decent introductions at times. Idk. I'd like to know other's opinions on that.

Another one that I want to add is probably more diversity in the body sizes in the show. I'm not too worried about it bc Helluva Boss does a great job with body diversity, but Hazbin seems to be fairly stick and slender. But, again, I'm not too worried about it.

All in all, those are my biggest issues with the show. Like I said, none of these are dealbreakers, especially since we'll be getting a S2. Vivzie seems to listen to criticism, judging by the differences with HB S1 vs S2. So, I'm really hoping that we finally get to relax and actually get to know the characters more. Like, Adam shows the 7 Deadly Sins, while Charlie shows the 7 Virtues. I hope Adam isn't permanently dead bc I feel like this would be a good wake-up for him. He'll become the being that they were exterminating. But only time will tell.

Majority of this can be blamed on Prime and A24 for only giving them 8 episodes. I feel like either a longer run-time or more eps would've helped the show. Hopefully, they'll have learned from their mistakes in the next season.

#hazbin hotel #long post #hazbin hotel analysis #media criticism #vivziepop #ask answered #ok 2 rb

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writeronartblock · 4 months

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Listing fucked up shit that happened in BoBoiBoy, purely from memory (so details maybe fuzzy or I'm over-exaggerating):

1. At the start of the series, he literally got his powers at the age of like, 10. HE'S A BABY

2. The Second Tiers manifestations:

2.A. Halilintar got manifested after being seperated from the other elements and getting tortured via balloon poppings.

2.A.1. The fact that Adudu practically brainwashed him into joining his side after the fact.

2.A.2. Additionally, the fact that the massive drawback to BoBoiBoy's elemental split is the fact that he slowly loses his memories and gets amnesia? Fucked. Up.

2.B. Angin got upgraded to Taufan by getting DRUGGED via potion(?) enhanced cookies. Bro literally got into an acid trip and almost destroyed his town as he's promoting those cookies

2.C. Gempa manifested after having watched all of his friends NEARLY DIE and feeling helpless about the situation because he wasn't strong enough. DUDE–

3. The fact that Fire manifested as a STRESS COPING MECHANISM. OMG

4. Getting back to the getting drugged part, yeah, remember that episode when the gang got zapped by an emotion amplifier ray gun? It pretty much works the same way as the potion thing that happened Taufan

5. ONTO THE MOVIE, OH MY GOD THE MOVIE

5.A. Honestly, because of that, if there ever was like, a subplot, where Ochobot asks BoBoiBoy to take a rest and he refuses because of his crippling hero complex. I would get 'Nam flashbacks

6. To be honest I don't remember much about the movie actually, though I do vaguely remember that he got blasted into space and nearly froze to death? Or was that BBB Galaxy? Or both?

7. Fuck, wasn't he forced to fight Fang because of Kaizo and nearly died in the series finale?

8. For BBBG S1, I don't actually remember much aside from the season finale

9. Oh, but that timeloop episode got me tripped up like crazy. That is my NIGHTMARE scenario

10. And fuck, don't get me started on episode 14. Watching Hali show up again after so long was like watching an angel descend from heaven.

11. But the fact that he was flickering from his normal form to Hali in blinks and flashes, seeing him pushing himself to his absolute limit felt heartbreaking

12. Onto, BBB Movie 2

13. AAAAHHHHHH, THEY GOT SUCKED AWAY

14. BRO, WHEN I SAW SOLAR DISINTEGRATING INTO DUST I GOT SO WORRIED. LIKE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE REST OF THEM, HE'S PART OF BOBOIBOY HIMSELF, WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S NOW GONE????

15. Near death counter gets added several times here, like it isn't high enough already

And this is where I'll stop, since I haven't started on BBB Galaxy S2 yet (the comics or the now animated BBB Sori)

#boboiboy #i just finished watching the second movie with my brother literally an hour ago #the relationship i have with the series is like and on and off thing #naturally watched on tv as a child #perks of being southeast asian :p #got into galaxy as a middle schooler and it became an obsession of mine #now im in my last year of high school. basking in my nostalgia for the series #and finally realizing how fucked up this series is #honestly despite all of this #boboiboy is a genuinely good cartoon #malaysian cartoons are the fucking goat man #i was on that Upin & Ipin and BoBoiBoy and Pada Zaman Dahulu and Ejen Ali hype train #wooooo!

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mimisempai · 28 days

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Sunny afternoon

Summary

Just a sunny afternoon at the park and some sweaty kisses...

Notes

50 Types of Kisses - Writing Prompts

Kiss #30: Weak, sweaty kisses because it’s unbearably hot.

On Ao3

Rating G - 561 words

Aziraphale took off his jacket and laid it on the ground, rolled up his sleeves, undid his bow tie, and finally undid the first two buttons of his shirt. He sat down on the ground and leaned back against the tree, sighing with satisfaction, glad to finally be in some shade. He had left Crowley and Muriel to feed the ducks in order to find a nice, sheltered place to get out of the sun.

He leaned his head against the trunk of the old oak and closed his eyes. Soon, lulled by the surrounding sounds of birds singing and children laughing, and a little dazed by the unexpected warmth, he drifted off to sleep.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he was awakened by a light touch on his cheek and a slight chuckle as he patted the air with his hand.

He opened his eyes to see Crowley kneeling beside him, waving a fan in front of him.

The angel raised his face to the pleasant breeze and hummed with delight before saying, "Oh, my dear, that's divine."

Crowley chuckled and replied, "Me and divine in the same sentence, I don't know if the Almighty would like that."

Aziraphale replied, "Who cares what she likes or doesn't like?"

The demon continued to wave the fan until Aziraphale took it from him and returned the favor by waving it in front of his lover's face.

As he did so, he asked, "Where did you get it?"

Crowley shrugged and replied, "You know, demon, miracle and all. It's nothing complicated."

He grabbed the fan, closed it with a snap, and set it on the floor. Then he leaned over to kiss the angel, but Aziraphale pushed him away, saying, "Oh, no, Crowley, I'm all sweaty, it's a little disgusting..."

Without listening to his lover, Crowley planted a light kiss on the angel's cheek anyway, before sitting down next to him and saying, "Me too, so it's okay."

Then, he raised his eyebrow exaggeratedly and added, "It's a fact. We're both hot."

"Idiot."

Aziraphale turned his face to the demon's, and despite his initial reluctance, it was he who pressed a light kiss to his lover's lips.

Crowley's hand rested on the angel's moist cheek as he returned the kiss, keeping it light as well.

They continued to kiss in this manner, almost lazily, unhurriedly, tenderly, without trying to go deeper, for one thing, they were in public, and for another, it was far too hot for that.

Then the demon rested his head on the angel's shoulder, humming contentedly as Aziraphale picked up the fan that had been left on the floor. The angel opened it, then rested his cheek on the demon's head and waved the fan in front of their close faces.

He asked quietly, "Where's Muriel?"

Crowley replied, "They felt like walking around the park. They're apparently less bothered by the heat than we are."

"Hm, finally, I have to say, I'm not that bothered."

Crowley looked up at the angel and asked in an interested voice, "Oh, yeah? Does that mean I can k--"

Aziraphale didn't let him continue and instead of answering, pressed his lips to the demon's in a slightly more heated kiss.

And if the fan was left on the ground once more, it would probably be needed again soon.

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story 🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable kisses series : here

Ineffable Growing Love - Series post S2

Part 1 Story 1-99

Part 2 Story 100-?

#good omens #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #ineffable boyfriends #aziraphale #crowley #good omens fanfiction #aziraphale x crowley #crowley x aziraphale #50 kisses

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fireflysummers · 9 months

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Final Thoughts on GO S2

I'm probably gonna pull back on discussing S2, at least publicly, after this. I did actually like a lot of the season, but it's triggering some of my religious trauma and also the fandom is already stressing me out. So here, let's have some final thoughts.

First and foremost: I am not a Gaiman simp. I've read a decent amount of his work: comics, short stories, essays, and novels. Aside from Good Omens, I've liked Coraline and The Graveyard Book the best by far, whereas American Gods just. Did Not Connect with me, even though it's should have, given the stuff I tend to enjoy.

However. Regardless of whether I like a given work (or even like how he adapted it, a la parts of The Sandman TV series), he is a veteran writer who has proven that he does, actually, know how to write a story with consistent characters.

Beyond that, I do actually believe that he's trying to do right by Pratchett, and loves and respects the story and characters they created together. He's generally shown up as an ally to a variety of social causes, and directly and respectfully responds to fans on Tumblr. While no saint, I feel that there is cause to give the benefit of the doubt that things will resolve satisfyingly in S3, and that there is Intention about some of the things in S2.

This, of course, does not absolve it of being "bad," but even here I think we need to articulate better the different types of "bad" that people are reacting to. There seems to roughly be three camps here: 1) People who thought it was "bad" because of how it ended, with the breakup and a lot of unresolved plot threads; 2) People who thought it was "bad" because it struggled on a technical level with its set, lighting, directorial choices, editing, etc; 3) People who thought it was "bad" because they felt the characterization was significantly off and that the internal logic of the series had been violated.

With regards to Point One, the only solution is to Wait and See. Judgement should be reserved until the story is properly finished--easier said than done, especially considering the current media landscape, and the number of series or franchises that fail to live up to their promises.

Point Two isn't something I understand well enough to contribute meaningfully, except that I suspect the pandemic affected this aspect the most and am willing to give it a bit more mercy. That aside, I for the most part I don't find it bad so much as not as good as S1. Except for the parts with epilepsy warnings, surely there could've been a better way to do that.

Point Three... that's the stumbling block for me, and I find it interesting that most of the folks who struggle with this point in particular are long time fans of the book.

I trust that instinct.

There are two different directions to go from here. The first is the assumption that these problems are a result of ego, carelessness, or lack of skill from the showrunners/writers/director. It's cynical but not unjustified. The second is the belief that the breaks in lore or characterization were intentional, building towards a much grander conspiracy. Of course, even in this case I don't think it forgives the lack of signposting that would indicate that this is a choice rather than an accident. It just makes it feel clumsy and poorly constructed, a major risk on a show that hasn't had its third season confirmed.*

However, regardless, it still feels salvageable. I've enjoyed reading a lot of meta on all this, and I've pulled some things from others (particularly That Theory by @ariaste), but I don't really want to put forth a single, defined theory myself. Instead, here's some questions I've got, why those questions are important (to me, at least). Actual theorizing comes after, and anybody who snidely mentions Sherlock in the comments or tags is going to get auto-blocked. Like seriously, I'm aware that some stuff is a stretch, but it's fun??? To theorize????? And I'm here for me and my peace of mind rather than trying to argue a point.

*I have some suspicions here, particularly with Gaiman stating that the decision from Amazon would come much faster than The Sandman's second season (which was four months). I don't know enough though to say if that's actually significant.

Questions

Who the fuck is telling this story?

This is the most important piece, in my opinion. There's this assumption when reading books (or research papers, newspapers, etc...) that the narrator who is writing the words is a non-presence, Neutral and objective. That's not the case, and an important part of literature critique is figuring out who the narrator is, and what their goals are. Oftentimes, the narrator and the author are the same person, but with Pratchett's work, particularly on Good Omens and Discworld, the Narrator was its own unique character.

This is why people struggle adapting Discworld to live action--that medium requires a Reason for having a Narrator, and especially in the age of method acting that's often considered immersion-breaking. Good Omens worked so well because they not only kept the Narrator, but they made Her God.

This added some really interesting new dimensions, such as the scene where Crowley speaks to God about his fall and the destruction of humanity. He doesn't receive an answer, but we're watching from God's perspective, so we as the audience know that She's listening.

Another advantage of making God the Narrator is that it justifies all the goofy little asides we get into the lives of minor characters (i.e. Leslie the Mailman), without losing focus. It helps the world feel like it’s full of people, rather than characters and plot contrivances, and the theme that individual people and their choices are important. The Narrator is such a central character of Good Omens that without it, the story struggles to stay focused.

It also highlights a key difference in the writing styles of the two authors. Pratchett’s work tends to introduce four or five totally unique plot threads that feel completely disjointed until the last act (if not even later), when it turns into a Chekhov’s Firing Squad. Plot twists around secret identities and backstabbing and schemes are relatively rare, as the omniscient Narrator doesn’t lie about the intentions of people or their actions.

Gaiman’s writing is typically not like that, to my knowledge. He buries characters in misdirection and hints, and you never know the true identity or motives until all the chips are down. It’s a perfectly valid way to approach storytelling, but it makes it jarring to see it in S2. The lack of a Narrator is a huge reason why S2 doesn’t feel like Good Omens to some folks.

My gut feeling is that the decision to shift from the original Narrator was highly intentional. It helps to obscure the thoughts and intentions of people, and it also muddles the insights that we’re supposed to take away. (I would have loved hearing God monologue about what’s going on in Jim’s head. I think it’d do a lot to make him seem less.... obnoxiously stupid.)

More than that, it brings up a reasonable potential plot point of: Where did God go? Why isn’t She present in the story? Even in her early appearance in the Job flashback, she doesn’t sound like the narrator for last season. After the first part of her speech (which Gabriel later quotes), her tone turns casual and condescending, which might line up with her being a bit of an asshole, it doesn’t line up with the whole “dealer of a mysterious card game who is always smiling”).

Also, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that nobody is telling the story either. Just because they’re not making their presence known doesn’t mean they aren’t there, and in a story like Good Omens, that’s concerning.

Wait, where's Satan?

Another person I saw while scrolling the tags pointed out that Satan is nowhere to be seen this season. He's really only mentioned in reference to a bet God made in Job, but then Crowley is the one on the ground causing mischief. There's no Hail Satan among demons (like Hastur and Ligur did at the start of S1).

That's might be because the writers didn't want us to think it was important (a la Hastur), but that feels off. Given that Satan speaks directly through the radio to Crowley in S1, complimenting him on his work, it's safe to say that he was at least aware of and involved in the goings-on in Hell. The fact that he wasn't even an worry for Beelzebub in abandoning their post? Feels weird.

(Also if you know where that post is, I'll happy credit + link)

What is Maggie?

Look, I love cute lesbians in love as much as the next queer, but I don't like Maggie. I don’t think she’s a person. Contextually, she’s a plot device, but I agree with That Essay that she might be an actual Plot Device.

Her characterization is simple and relatively shallow—a bit of an airhead, ray of sunshine that’s supposed to remind you of Aziraphale. When she describes her past to Nina, it’s almost robotic (also, her story implies it was Mr. Fell who first rented to her ancestor, not Mr. Fell’s great-grandfather like Nina implied). Her emotions are over-dramatic and seem to be turned on and off at random (scenes with her crying to Aziraphale about her woes had my “manipulator” senses going off for some reason).

When asked about a song, she not only IDs the song, its singer, and its year, but how and on what it was distributed. (Honestly thought this would’ve been something interesting, because she’s been pretty ditzy so far, it’d be interesting if she had like... an insane memory for music history.) And then she’s the one that sets Aziraphale on his little investigation by giving him the transformed records, while also planting the seed about her love troubles with Nina. Later, her advice to Crowley is... not awful, but feels insincere and a bit too forward, given her own self-proclaimed lack of relationship experience.

I don’t know what she is (a demon, hastur with amnesia in disguise, a literal plot device inserted by the current storyteller, etc...), but there’s something not right with her.

(Also the joke of “who listens to records anymore, it’s so old fashioned” just doesn’t land, lots of people buy records, and I’m saying this as somebody who has worked at a record store before.)

What's going on with Aziraphale?

There’s something Off about Aziraphale, and it’s not his choices at the end of the season. That makes total sense if you read him as somebody with severe religious trauma getting dragged back into the abusive system because other people need him and he’s been promised the ability to change things.

But I do think something is happening to his memory. Nearly all the flashbacks are from Aziraphale’s point of view and retelling, which means that they’re less reliable than God’s version of events in the previous season. Many of them don’t make logistical sense (post-church scene in 1941), depict Crowley as meaner or more sinister than we know he is, or frame events... weirdly. The scene with him trying food for the first time feels Really Bad, especially when the series has previously established that he’s a) prim and proper and b) his interest in food is one of the beautiful things that connect him to humanity, not some kind of gluttonous sin. Also he turns down alcohol.

Their meet-cute at the start of the universe also doesn’t line up with their reactions to each other in Eden, or the fact that knowing each other Before has never come up or been hinted at anywhere ever. I don’t know what’s causing this to happen, only that Aziraphale repeatedly looks pensive when coming out of flashbacks, and Crowley is never there afterwards to corroborate said memories.

His actions also seem pretty inconsistent with what we know of him—i.e. I refuse to believe he would ever mistreat his books, even if they’re just old encyclopedias. Also, he feels a bit too...forceful in trying to get Nina and Maggie to fall in love? I mean, he didn’t exert that much direct influence on even Warlock, when he was actively hoping that the boy would turn out angelic rather than neutral.

I don’t think this removes his agency in that last decision, so much as explains how he was in such a vulnerable place at all. He still needs to apologize and fix things, because he messed up, and even if he hadn’t he still seriously hurt Crowley.

What's going on with Crowley?

There’s something Off about Crowley. The most obvious thing, of course, is his memories. At multiple points in the present day, characters state that they remember him or have met him before, only to be met with confusion. This is especially concerning given that he has a nigh photographic memory for faces (something mentioned in the book when he immediately IDs Mary Loquacious, 11 years after a 30 second conversation).

Overall, he seems to be better known by other supernatural entities this season, in ways that often tie him back to his angelic identity (i.e. saying they fought together in the war, Aziraphale stating he knew the angel he used to be, etc...). This doesn’t feel right, because S1 we see that Hell is largely apathetic towards his schemes, and definitely does not defer to him at any point in any capacity.

Then there’s the issue of his power level. It’s always been speculated that Crowley was a powerful angel prior to falling, when he mentions in S1 his involvement with star making, his seemingly unique ability to freeze time, and creating a pocket universe for Adam before the confrontation with Satan. He also has a tendency of breathing life into inanimate objects, like his plants or car. He also has the regular demonic skillset: miracles that can adjust physical appearance; the ability to change inanimate objects (like paintball guns into real guns); the ability to manifest clothing and similar items; and summon hellfire to his fingertips. This, plus the way he monologues to God with a degree of familiarity rather than reverence seems to indicate that he was Somebody Powerful and Important Before.

But in S2, his skills are significantly expanded upon. The miracle he and Aziraphale summon sets off alarms in heaven and hell, and it’s powerful enough to mask Gabriel from the Archangels. He summons a miniature sun to rain fire on Job, which is way bigger and flashier than anything we’ve seen him summon in S1. (If he needs fire, he alters the course of a dropping bomb, without creating one himself.)

Yet he’s able to cloak his presence so well he goes wholly unnoticed in heaven, or in front of heavenly agents on earth (i.e. the Job flashback). Muriel can’t clock him as a demon, or even as another supernatural being, despite their auras usually being pretty significant, such Aziraphale immediately sensing the archangels when they arrive. He’s able to interfere with files that Muriel claimed required clearance (although I feel like that might just be a snark about Obeying Without Thinking? I would really need a Narrator to know.)

I might be misremembering, but I don’t think we’ve seen angels or demons transmogrify living beings before either. In the book, Crowley brings Aziraphale’s dove back to life after the failed magic show, and occasionally sinks ducks, but he doesn’t alter them? Not even Adam demonstrates that skill in S1. But he has no trouble turning Job’s children into lizards, however temporarily. Boy that would’ve been convenient during the flood. Or when the guard stopped then from getting to the air strip.

I don’t have any real issues with his characterization in the present day parts of S2, but there’s something weird happening with Crowley.

Where's all the people?

I really like a lot of the new characters, but how were there only like, 2.5 new humans named in the present day? Flashbacks don’t count bc the humans are all dead and can’t affect the story.

As much as I like Nina, she and Maggie don’t drive the story beyond being an occasional and awkwardly inserted plot contrivance? Both are actively robbed of their agency at several points, forced into situations that they could not have avoided or escaped. I’m not really sure what growth they’re expected to experience other than deciding not to date each other after everything. I literally can’t tell you anything about Nina other than that she remembers her regular’s orders, runs a coffee shop, and has a textbook abusive partner we never see. The only meaningful interactions they have are between those two, or in conversation with Aziraphale and Crowley.

Compare that to S1, where Anathema gets hit by Aziraphale and Crowley, but her primary relationships are with Newt, Adam, and Agnes Nutter (I think that counts as a relationship). We know that she’s got a wealthy family back in Puerto Rico, and that she was literally raised to save the world, and that she isn’t happy under all that pressure. Newt on the other hand is connected to not just Anathema, but Shadwell and Madame Tracy. He never even directly interacts with Aziraphale and Crowley. We know about his hobbies, his struggle to hold down a job, and his almost supernatural ability to destroy any electronics he touches. I don’t necessarily like how their relationship came together, but they were both very, very well fleshed out characters with unique backstories and goals. They weren’t just... waiting around to give Aziraphale and Crowley a new questline.

And while there’s no requirement to include a large cast of human characters that are exerting influence over the story, the lack of it is another aspect that makes this season feel not like Good Omens.

Also, it's just. Really weird to me that the events of S1 aren't really referenced at all? Like, Adam isn't mentioned, nor is Warlock. I don't expect them to keep track of the humans they met on the airfield for 20 minutes, but none of it is ever specifically referenced as far as I can tell, beyond Crowley threatening Gabriel. Like, I get that it's been a few years, but the pair caused a big enough disturbance that you'd expect some kind of ripples in their supernatural communities.

Promised by the Narrative (Obvious Chekhov's guns that I will be legitimately upset over if they do not go off)

A sincere apology from Aziraphale to Crowley that doesn't come with the expectation that Crowley will come back to him, but because he deserves an apology, even if the choices Aziraphale made were done with good intentions. Aziraphale does not expect forgiveness, and is shocked when Crowley grants it without hesitation.

A clear declaration of love from Aziraphale, which can't be rationalized away by either of them.

An "I'm Sorry" dance between Aziraphale and Crowley, but with greater sincerity and gravity. The most important piece is that they end up dancing together, which signifies a mutual apology and dedication to come together.

Since kissing is on the table, I expect an actual joyful, mutual kiss between these two assholes.

A shared cottage in South Downs.

Predictions/Theories (just some fun thoughts I've had)

When Adam declared that Satan was not his father, he didn't make himself not the antichrist, but accidentally crowned his human dad the King of Hell. Nobody knows this, because Adam doesn't have a good measure for "normal" supernatural situations, and Mr. Young because he's so "normal" that he explains away all the magical bullshit that's started going down.

When Adam declared that Satan was not his father, he erased Satan altogether. However, this left a vacuum in both power and reality. The defection of both Gabriel and Beelzebub only widens that crack. In an attempt to Fix things, reality is warping the story. Crowley has become leagues more powerful between S1 and S2, as the narrative is trying to force him into the role of his previous boss. Aziraphale is unknowingly being pulled into a similar version on the Other Side, perhaps to replace Gabriel or perhaps to replace God herself, who has been fairly absent in all this. The alterations to their memories or past have come about to keep the narrative running smoothly.

When the Metatron asks Nina whether anybody has ever asked for death, he was actually referring to Death, the sole remaining rider of the apocalypse.

If Maggie is indeed a Plot Device, it would be a fascinating exploration of Free Will to see her become aware of this (cue existential crisis), and then fall in love with Nina on her own terms, rather than because she was written that way.

Hastur will be back. Somehow.

The reason why S2 focuses so much on the supernatural characters is because S3 will be about how the events in S1 have changed the political landscape of heaven and hell. Angels are questioning their roles, demons are yearning for something more. It's scaring upper administration, and then the two most reliable folks in employment run away to alpha centauri. Recruiting Aziraphale and getting him back in line prevents him from becoming a martyr, control the range of his influence. The series reasserts its theme of choice and agency by highlighting that Aziraphale and Crowley aren't that special, they've just had the chance to live and grow, and that the others have free will too, if they want it.

The reason why they wanted to separate Aziraphale and Crowley, is not to get Aziraphale on his own, but to get Crowley on his own. He literally stopped time and made a pocket universe in front of Satan last season. He's powerful and dangerous and somebody wants to see that reigned in.

Wishlist (stuff I desperately want to see)

Crowley getting an audience with God and an opportunity to ask his questions, only to refuse to do so because he's found his own Answers and he no longer needs hers

Aziraphale and Crowley growing more into their book incarnations. Aziraphale becomes confident in his sense of morality, which he developed the hard way through millennia on earth besides humanity. He slowly learns what it means to be loved, unconditionally, but also is better at asserting and maintaining his boundaries. Crowley, still anxious and unwinding, works through his fear of abandonment, providing him opportunities to be kind and gentle and nurturing--all traits that he's aggressively hid since being a demon.

Hand holding. I know that Gaiman was referring to Ineffable Bureaucracy, but I still feel like we'd benefit from meaningful hand holding, especially since that got cut from the adaptation of the book.

Shifted focus away from the supernatural shenanigans, and back onto the humans that actually drive the story.

Cameos from S1 characters (if not a more substantial appearance).

The Four Other Riders of the Apocalypse.

Cursed Thoughts (why I shouldn't be allowed a social platform)

Ineffable Bureaucracy turns up in season 3 because Beelzebub got Gabriel pregnant somehow.

#good omens #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 #good omens s2 #good omens meta #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens 2 theory #good omens 2 analysis #long post #text

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inevitably-ineffable-husbands · 9 months

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A Thought on AziraCrow from an A-Spec Perspective

On the Eve of Good Omens S2, I just wanted to put my two cents in about AziraCrow, before we see the outcome of S2, because it’s pretty clear from trailers and promotions that their relationship is a plot point in the season.

I started writing a ridiculously long post a week ago spurned on from this screenshot from Pride Magazine, and my being upset by the current discourse on Twitter about AziraCrow “being canon or not”, but decided to shorten it to just this little thought, because I feel like me writing a meta-style commentary (which I do have saved if you want a more long-form thought about it after the series airs) isn’t necessary right now.

And this is all despite Gaiman AND the cast AND crew basically confirming that it is in multiple interviews, discourse from people in the community that are supposed to understand the queer experience, completely disavowing its legitimacy unless “X” happens (where “x” usually is explicit confirmation of sex happening) so therefore it’s not valid (which is really bizarre).

But I digress.

This is just a bit of a thought that I think allos are COMPLETELY skimming over:

Crowley’s and Aziraphale’s relationship, as it currently stands now prior to S2, is representative of the beginnings of a (currently) queerplatonic asexual relationship, and as an ace who so desperately just wants to see a relationship that I can see myself in on screen, and lo and behold came Good Omens. I’m part of a demographic which I and a few of my real-life friends fall into and were so happy to see on-screen when we saw GO. A demographic that is ridiculously under-represented in media that it often is mistaken as “bromance” or “just besties”.

As it stands now, in act 1, it is the part before the romantic gestures and before the “I love you”’s, and the part before the moving in and committing your life to someone else. Very gentle and romantic, slow burn kind of stuff that I, as an ace, relate to so much.

This relationship looks like what my best friends went through for YEARS before finally tying the knot in their queerplatonic relationship because they couldn’t imagine their lives without each other anyway and they loved each other fiercely. This relationship looks like the kind of relationship that doesn’t turn me off as an asexual: to share the ridiculous amounts of love I have, and be loved in return, despite my complete disinterest in having sex. The “you go to fast for me Crowley” was SO FELT in my soul as someone who needs a lot of time to feel comfortable in any relationship I’m in (like, Aziraphale is SO me, it’s ridiculous really), and me trying to explain to people that I need a lot of time to feel comfortable in a relationship and that sex may never happen, and me knowing that I’ll probably be turned down because of it. Me not wanting to hurt someone in a world where sex is an expected endgame, so I just... tend to keep to myself. I’m just as happy with my books and my video games and doing things on my own, but I long for a life partner to love and to experience my life with. And while can’t speak for what other aces and aros may relate to about the relationship, I like to hope that they can also see themselves in AziraCrow as well.

And please don’t get me wrong: I WANT them together-together, in any or all ways that it means: committing to each other 100%, love confessions, declarations of forever, marriage, a cottage in Sussex, and yes, even sex if that’s who they are canonically... I do want that, because I want it for myself. I want to see a relationship blossom where sex isn’t the primary outcome of it, but more of an afterthought as a way to consummate their love and to FEEL loved by each other.

I think the beauty of Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship is that because they are essentially supernatural beings, we as people can put ourselves in their places, and use them as placeholders for us to project our relationships and experiences onto them and in turn feel seen.

AziraCrow gives me hope that I will find my Other Person someday, because there is unconditional love in the world for people like me, especially as I get older and more set in my ways. I only hope I find my own Crowley to make me feel loved.

I know my opinion isn’t popular about AziraCrow, but honestly, their relationship, and the way it’s progressing means SO much to me, as an asexual, anyway. I hope it’s important to others too. <3

#ineffable husbands #good omens #good omens meta #my meta #my thoughts #asexuality #not everything is about fucking #shitposting steph

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brightwanderer · 8 months

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I'm sure you get one million and one asks ab Pray For Us Icarus all the time, but I wanted you to know that I truly couldn't stop crying for 30 minutes after finishing. It was so beautiful and perfect and then it was ~over~. Just, thank you 💗

I also wanted to ask, and sorry if this is a repeat, if you always knew Death had put the "curse" on Crowley? If not, what were other options you considered? Also, have you finished season 2 yet? (You'll like it 💗)

Thank you! <3 JUST finished S2 last night so I can finally read my asks again! I did like it :D

So basically when I wrote "Flowers for Anthony" it was one of those stories that came out of nowhere and felt like I was just writing it down while someone else dictated. I had a loose idea of the setup - Crowley was human and had been reincarnated many times, the flowers were important, Aziraphale didn't dare be near him because of how badly it had gone in the past. I didn't have specific backstory worked out at that point, because it just HAPPENED and I thought at first it would be a oneshot.

When I realised I was going to continue the series, I knew I wanted to pin down the exact circumstances of Crowley's situation before I went any further. I pretty much went through all the options I could think of for how he could have ended up like that, and discarded a lot of them - Heaven or Hell doing it to him felt wrong, God or Satan doing it to him felt wrong, him doing it to himself or by accident felt wrong, I didn't want to introduce some new character or force... I settled on Death because, as you might have noticed from the way the series ends, I have some THOUGHTS on the idea that "life is only worth living because of death".

I did hesitate to do it, though. And in a way I still regret it a bit. Because Death, as a character in Good Omens, has much sharper edges than the Death of Discworld, but they are still very much kin to each other... and the Death of Discworld is incredibly important to me (as is the one in Book Omens in fact) as a concept and as not being a malevolent entity.

What I wanted to convey in this story was that Death wasn't actually acting out of maliciousness or cruelty; he was operating on a completely blue-and-orange morality system. As far as he was concerned, Crowley was just wrong, and it was weird that he, a demon, was so insistent about it, and slightly annoying that he was meddling in Death's domain... oh well, make him mortal for a lifetime, he'll understand then.

... wait, what do you MEAN he's still refusing to concede the point?

Anyway my slight regret is that I don't think I got that across as clearly as I wanted; I think he came off more villainous and spiteful (which, in fairness, is how Crowley, Aziraphale, and Adam all interpret his actions, and we only get their POV on it).

(Pestilence, on the other hand, absolutely WAS acting out of spite and malice.)

#good omens #good omens 2 #pray for us icarus #flowers for anthony #fanfic #my fic #ineffable husbands #asks #writing

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loveourfuture-c · 11 months

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After watching the series in its entirety, I used to think that Ben loved Devi loved that she loved him (just a little bit which I endorse for reparations) but now I realize she loved him the whole time and just thought it wasn't a possibility. For all of s2 and s4 she wanted to be be with him and only him, and with s3 they were basically flirting the entire season and devi just didn't entertain him as a possibility because she didn't know how he felt. Once he made that known, she immediately went for it.

RIGHT!!! Like I’m going to be bold here and say that ever since the kiss at the end of season 1. Devi was down BAD for Ben. Like she went absolutely feral over him not talking to her in season 2. She literally never expressed that type of jealousy toward anyone else. I know she liked Paxton but she loved Ben.

She dated Paxton because Ben was dating Aneesa then she dated Des because she thought Ben just saw her as a friend.

After the hallway scene she was ready to risk it all and spent the entirety of season 4 OBVIOUSLY in love with Ben. Her dating Ethan was purely to make herself feel better. Like when he started texting her dumb little memes and stuff. She was so freaking excited to the point she almost forgot about her college troubles. And when she got in he was the one she wanted to tell first!!!!

In that little hallway scene I could tell she wanted to ask him to stay but she felt like she couldn’t. I think at that point she was waiting for him to do something, WANTING him to do anything.

When he came to the wedding, her world stopped. Like she literally tuned out everything else to focus on him. Then the absolute almost disbelief when he told her he “thinks he loves her” to the relief of him telling her “that he does love her”.

Her soft safe face while riding the scooter to his house was absolutely precious. Like she was so so freaking happy to finally FINALLY know that he loves her like she loves him.

We talk a lot about how Ben loves Devi but Devi LOVES Ben. She really showed that this season especially even when he didn’t really deserve it.

I know I have my complaints about this season but I am truly so happy it gave us them together and in love. It makes me ridiculously happy everytime I think about it.

#kay answers #never have i ever #benvi #ben x devi #mutuals ❤️#the paris of people #devi vishwakumar #argumentative antithetical dream girl #ben gross #lonliest boy in the world #never have i ever spoilers #nhie spoilers #they love each other so much 😭😭😭😭

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thequietesthing · 2 years

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so i finished Fate:The Winx Saga season 2…….

SPOILER ALERT!!

RAMBLING AHEAD BRACE YOURSELVES

…….i freaking loved it!!!

i mean season 1 was cute, something nice to watch especially if you, like me, used to watch the animated show as a kid, and wanted to be brought back to that world

but season 2 slapped!! i loved it!! idk why but it had that something more.

i guess it felt like while in S1 the story was completely revolving around Bloom, just focusing on her growth and her adapting to the Otherworld, in S2 we know that Bloom is important because we finally discover that she has the Dragon Flame and is the only one that can best Sebastian, still it allowed other characters to have their own stories and development. Also Sebastian surname being Valtor… we love a good reference

I loved all the other side-stories: Aisha & Grey, when i found out he was a blood witch i was like OwO

Terra storyline was so sweet!! Flora also is a great addition to the ensemble and i liked it how she is different than how she is in the animated series (since her personality is already portrayed by Terra), it would have been boring otherwise

Bloom and Sky… they are adorable, incredible chemistry and it shows, all their scenes were either absolutely lovely or absolutely heartbreaking

Stella and Beatrix: yes please! i loved them together! two sassy queens dealing with a lot of shit, i hope Beatrix comes back (also she has two sister Isobel and D’arcy!! the way i SCREAMED, i feel the trix are coming)

then my beloved Musa and Riven: i love love love love love them, Musa storyline was brilliant this season and i love how they showed Riven growth (less of an asshole and more similar to the Riven in the animated series)

i also liked the way the gave Farah a proper farewell (they shipped her away from westeros for that scene lol)

also OMG THE TRANSFORMATION!!!!!!

ahhhhh the more i think about it the more i love this season

brian young did his homework this time!!

in general, i really liked it and i think that a second rewatch is going to happen very soon

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inevitably-johnlocked · 6 months

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Loki S2 Pre-E6 Thoughts

So I know that this is totally random content to give to y'all this morning, but I wanted to post up my thoughts about the series before its final episode airs tomorrow. I have, in the past, talked about my thoughts on S1 and how I really did like it until the last 5 minutes of Episode 6 and how out-of-nowhere-forced the Sylvie/Loki kiss felt (I was physically cringing about it).

Given how S1 ended, I was a bit wary about S2, but decided to watch it anyway, and holy hell I think Season Two is KNOCKING it out of the park. I'm loving it as much as I loved Moon Knight, and it's right up there now in my top 5. The episodes are SO cinematically beautiful, well written and flow nicely, the characters are all so charming, and the Mobius/Loki relationship is being built up so much that it COULD lead to more or canonization in the final episode. During the past 5 weeks, I've been lurking on the meta spaces for Loki on Twitter and Tumblr, and wow the nostalgia I feel for it, it SO reminds me of the hey-day of my Johnlock meta-ing before S4.

I think my only gripe right now with this season is that they wasted Sophia DiMartino... her character Sylvie feels like such a... filler character (like they just put her in there because she was in the first season and they didn't know what to do with her this season)? But I think ALSO she's meant to be a counter-mirror to Loki, to show that he ISN'T like her anymore, that he grew and changed for the better with the positive influences in his life, and unlike her he doesn't WANT to be alone and such. And they're REALLY making her so unlikeable this season for me... I'm glad that it's looking like they're pretty much not going the Sylvie/Loki route (and I honestly don't see how people who ship it think it will canonically turn around at this point), but the showrunners are having her have every interaction between her and Loki rather hostile, demoralizing, or toxic. And rather that, they're countering it by showing a more positive alternative for Loki with Mobius as his potential romantic partner. Which is fantastic because I've shipped Lokius since Mobius came on the screen in S1, LOL. I just think they could have done that in S2 without making Sylvie an unlikeable character (like have her be a cheerleader for them instead?) I dunno. It's a shame because I did like her in S1. Don't like her at all in S2. She's so MEAN to EVERYONE. To Mobius especially, like CHILL girl, let a man stress-eat, JEEZ.

And here's the rant I actually wanted to write this post about because I didn't want to clutter up other people's threads with it: So, every week, I usually watch breakdowns and review videos so I can understand the characters and their comic counter parts a bit better, and usually the breakdowns are really good because they show the nods to comic-canon things and such. But OMG these past two weeks, I had to stop watching the reviews because LITERALLY all of them ship Sylvie/Loki and are trying SO hard to prove that it's canon when the past few weeks it's only been more and more likely that it's not happening.

NONE of Big Name Reviewers (NRS and SC specifically, if ya know you know) acknowledged AT ALL the RIDICULOUS amount of romantic tropes and dopey staring that Episodes 4 and 5 had (Loki watches Mobius through a window the first time he finds him, and the second time before going to talk to Mobius again Loki LITERALLY groomed himself and then stutters like a lovesick teenager. It was very rom-com; and they're skirting around the fact that all the empty places in the TVA that Loki kept slipping to were ALL places that Loki tshared time with Mobius in... I CAN GO ON FOREVER HERE, AND AND AND that Loki is constantly panicking if he can't find Mobius). LIKE. NONE OF THE REVIEWERS, who literally break down all the episodes and point out shit like All That for het-ships, just won't acknowledge any of it!! They glossed over both Loki's and Sylvie's bisexuality confirmations in S1, and only briefly mentioned their genderfluidity in the comics and in actual mythology. I usually watch the breakdowns because I'm not familiar with comic lore so I find it interesting to learn about those backstories, as well as little details they find, but they've been dropping the ball ALL season, and EVERY one of them mention EVERY single breakdown that Loki just wants to get back to "his one true love Sylvie!!", like what are you smoking?!?!? I was getting SO FRUSTRATED because they skipped over LARGE chunks of E5, especially, just pointing out the surface level stuff instead. I literally turned it off after all that.

THAT ALL SAID, since episode one it's been clear that Sylvie wants NOTHING to do with Loki – she just wants to live a quiet simple life. Then when shit goes bad, she blames Loki for all the problems SHE caused, shits on Mobius every chance she gets, and then in that bar scene when Loki's bearing his soul to her, telling her that he wants his friends back and DOESN'T want to be alone, she basically is like "tough titties" and leaves him ALONE, showing she's not a friend at all.

But the reviewers literally just gloss over all of this. ANYWAY.

Ugh, sorry about that, that's been eating at me for like 3 weeks and last week's reviews finally just pissed me off so much because even casually watching the show I could see all this shit. I only REALLY started believing Lokius could happen after Episode 4 aired, and then Episode 5 had me reeling.

I am DYING to write meta about every episode as it comes out... I just feel that other people are writing better stuff than I could, and much faster than I have time for, and really it's nice to be on the reader side of things for a change. I just... don't want to add in my own two cents to their posts because I'd feel I'm intruding, is all.

I have lots of hope about where Episode 6 will go... like I'm feeling pretty good about them canonizing Lokius... However... I'm not gonna be disappointed if it doesn't get canonized simply because this is Disney and I am REALLY not thinking they're going to explore Loki's comic-canon genderfluidity and sexuality on a surface level.

Good thing I eat subtext for breakfast LOL. I lived through BBC Sherlock, hahah. BUT... can I get a third ship canonized in one year??? Is it wishful thinking? Oh, for sure. I hope so. I would be so happy if Disney even ACKNOWLEDGED that they love each other But I'm not expecting it. I'll be happy with another hug at least, or a forehead touch or hand holding. I'm a simple gal.

Honestly though, I do inevitably want the last episode to have Loki as the ruler with his friends, because they built up to this for 12 episodes, I DON'T want an unhappy ending for the sake of a twist or whatever. Truly let him be the Loki Who Remains (a callback to Episode One) as the Keeper of Time with Bea, O.B., Casey, and Mobius at his side <3

I LOVE the character development of Loki in this series, too. I legit didn't really care for Loki all that much in the MCU, but this series did the same to him for me that FatWS did to Bucky for me: Make me want to see MORE of them and their adventures with their new friends.

Anyway, thanks for reading and indulging me, I mostly just needed to get that rant out about reviewers and wtf people still think Sy!ki is happening. Feel free to discuss in the notes, I plan on posting a reblog with final thoughts after it airs on Thursday <3

#my ramblings #loki spoilers #loki s2 #not sherlock #my thoughts #marvel #lokius #long post #i love writing meta #just don't think people like reading it anymore #shitposting steph #some negativity in this post too sorry

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blaithnne · 2 months

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Actually I think one of my (minor) gripes with Season 3 of Hilda is that I wish it committed to being a… serial? Is that the right word? Let me explain-

One of the reasons previous seasons of Hilda are so good because they’re episodic - each adventure works as a great standalone episode that (outside of finales and the like) you don’t need much context for - but still follow an overarching storyline.

The Tide Mice, for example, is a fun standalone adventure about Hilda accidentally stealing some souls. But it also foreshadows Frida becoming a witch in Season 2, why Hilda herself wouldn’t have made a good witch, and the jorts episode in Season 2, among other things. It also builds on things we already know - Johanna struggling to find work was foreshadowed in previous episodes, David was already established to be an anxious and worrisome character, etc! So the story works perfectly well as a standalone adventure, but all these little details mean that within the context of the rest of the series it’s even BETTER!

The thing with Season 3 is that I don’t really think it had time to do that in the same way prior seasons did. In S1-2, it felt like we were seeing little snippets into one of Hilda’s many adventures. In Season 3, the events feel much more consecutive, like less time has passed between them?

Where S1-2 subtly set up plot lines and then zoomed in on them later, it feels like S3 said hey look at this cool plot line! And then they zoomed out to have an adventure with a talking fish, and then zoomed back in a few episodes later. The Laughing Merman and The Giantslayer feel a bit like interruptions to the main storyline, which sucks bc they’re great episodes.

As much as I love Louise, with the episode count being so limited I think I’d have preferred if The Laughing Merman and The Giantslayer were replaced with adventures that had more to do with the pre established plot, or characters from previous seasons like Kaisa or The Bellkeeper. It feels like those episodes were included as a return to format, a last hurrah for the monster of the week style stand alone adventures, but they just didn’t sit as right for Season 3.

Honestly? This isn’t a gripe with the show as much as it is with Netflix - but I don’t even think Season 3 should’ve even been Season 3 — I think it should’ve been a seperate series.

For one thing, the way Netflix has the series set up rn means that the movie is in a totally different section, so if you’re watching without knowing it exists beforehand, you could end up autoplaying from The Stone Forest to The Train to Tofoten and be left VERY confused. It’s weird to me that you have to click off the series to go watch the movie and then come back for Season 3 if that makes sense ??

I think it would’ve been better formatted if Season 3 was an epilogue series listed separately from S1-2, and under a different title (like “Hilda and The Fairies” or something). That way it feels less clunky going from S2 -> MK -> S3. It also makes it easier for ppl who dislike S3 to pretend it doesn’t exist, so there’s a win for that crowd too.

I also think under those circumstances it would’ve made more sense for the series to be much more story focused, without stopping midway through to do a last monster of the week couple of episodes.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved those episodes! But they were just slightly off from what I’d come to expect from precious seasons, and kind of just reminded me of what we were missing out on. I think if the show had committed to doing things differently for S3 - which would likely have been easier if this was a separate epilogue series, as the expectation for it to follow the previous seasons formula would’ve been lessoned - it would’ve felt a little less… uncanny?

TLDR - Season 3 is undeniably different in tone and overall vibe from the previous seasons, and I think the show would’ve benefited from leaning into that.

(I don’t even know if this is a critique of the show tbh, or if it’s a critique of Netflix? A lot of this could’ve been solved or at least improved by changes in formatting, or not cutting half the planned episodes, and I don’t know who’s responsible for that lmao ?? So yeah this is just me getting these unproofread unqualified opinions out on paper and is not me trying to bash anyone cause idk jack shit about how shows get made, it’s easy for me to sit here and go “oh they should’ve done this—“, but there was likely chaos behind the scenes that would’ve made that impossible, or hell, maybe it just wasn’t what they were going for! Idk! Idk what I’m saying or if any of this makes sense but thank you for reading hope you enjoyed anyways I still love s3 bless you all and goodnight <3)

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katsaturnwhatever · 6 months

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Finally returning to Tumblr after a long vacation because I’ve got the brainrots all over again.

So I’ve gotta say it. Ed didn’t really mean it.

Ed didn't really feel that sleeping with Stede was a mistake. He may have wished that things had unfolded differently, but he absolutely does not regret the act itself. But also, there was nothing shocking or out of character about Ed's decision to leave.

1) While the wall-slam definitely caught him offguard - he came to Stede's room likely just expecting to offer comfort and lighten the man's spirits after a traumatic event - he absolutely consented to what ended up happening. I love that they gave us that tiny, nearly-imperceptible-but-definitely-there moment when Stede waits to see how Ed will react, and Ed looks into Stede's eyes and nods.

2) Ed seemed 1000% happy and satisfied the morning after. There's no sense of regret in their conversation in bed. But, in typical Ed fashion, he goes "all in" wayyy too quickly, seemingly incapable of stopping himself. We saw it back in S1 with the "I'm folding socks and that's okay" conversation. One taste of life with Stede and he's ready to chuck his entire identity overboard... AGAIN.

3) After the emotional rollercoaster of the previous 24 hours, my man is a total mess. If you think that we, the fandom, are experiencing some seriously painful whiplash, just think of how it must feel for Ed - he had to watch the love of his life being tortured, then watch him make an enormous mistake (killing Ned), immediately followed by finally experiencing the loving intimacy and desire he's craved all his life. So he decides in the morning to leave everything behind, his whole persona, and make a clean break because that's the only thing he knows how to do. But he has no regrets about doing so, telling Izzy it feels "fantastic".

4) At first, Ed doesn't seem to mind that Stede is enjoying the spotlight, even giving him pointers of how to deal with fame. At this point he's still hoping that Stede will be able to have his moment and walk away, not realizing quite how much Stede has wanted to be "known" (remember "you've heard of me"?) and respected his whole life.

5) As all of this unfolds, he has a series of incredibly harsh realizations - and he knows how this will end. Piracy only ends one way: violence and death. If they stay together, it is very likely that he would have to watch Stede die a horrible death. He can't deal with that idea at ALL. It's the same reaction he had in S1 when Stede is about to die by firing squad. Ed would give anything to save Stede's life, but he comes to understand that Stede is on a self-imposed trajectory that ends in death (much as Ed himself was in the beginning of S2 - these boys are SO much alike, which is why it's so painful that they never quite seem to get on the same page). He doesn't try to talk Stede out of this trajectory because he already tried that tactic the night before - telling Stede not to kill Ned - and Stede ignored him and did it anyway, which really had to sting.

6) He's feeling a lot of the same things that Stede felt at the end of S1 - that he's ruined the man he loves, that he's been nothing but a bad influence, and the only way to set things right is to remove himself from the situation entirely. So Ed does the only thing he knows how to do - make a clean break, reducing the damage as much as possible by saying something that makes it feel final: "I think last night was a mistake." But he's lying. We all know he's lying. I think even Stede knows it, since he calls Ed out for panicking - which is absolutely the truth, but that doesn't stop everything that's been set in motion.

Bonus: It's interesting to me that you end up with a similar situation as in the end of Good Omens 2 - you have these two people who obviously love each other more than anything, and desperately want to be together, but in the end, they each end up feeling betrayed - feeling that their partner is choosing a different life over them.

Bonus 2: The episode's title is Man on Fire - on the surface it's a reference to the dude who gets literally set on fire, but thematically the Man on Fire here is undeniably Stede. He's "on fire", having finally made it big as a pirate. But Ed craves the cool relief of the water. He's drawn to the life of a fisherman, and he imagines Stede as a merman. But water will kill you just as quickly as fire, if you thrown yourself into the deep end. Both of them are drawn to extremes, when what they really need is to meet each other in the middle (Izzy even says that they balance each other out - the most astute and accurate way to sum up their whole deal).

This went on wayyyyy too long and I’m sorry. I can’t think about anything else today. 😂

#our flag means death s2 #ed x stede #our flag means death spoilers #our flag means death season 2 #ofmd #ofmd analysis #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 #ofmd 2

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markantonys · 3 months

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I'm thinking about Rand's ending in the books and I hate both the bodyswap and that he abandons everyone but at the same time I get that his sacrifice has to mean something so the world forgets him/lets him fade into myth. And him actually dying would undermine the entire point of his arc. So I'm curious how you think the show might tackle this? I'm sure there's a few options

i hate it too! but yeah, rand needs to be forgotten by the world at large and needs to get a new face so he won't be recognized, or else he will never know peace. so the way i would do it is have him fade into myth among the general public, but still remain part of his loved ones' lives and they all just keep secret the fact that this guy is rand al'thor. his whole arc is about learning to stop self-isolating and to instead let himself lean on his loved ones for support, so i felt that him ending the series by fucking off into the mist all alone was totally contrary to that and did not make emotional sense as the endpoint of the journey we'd been on with him for 14 books. i can certainly understand if he needs to take a lil sabbatical and have some time to himself in the immediate aftermath, but that should not have been the very final concluding note of his whole arc! for my own sanity i have to imagine he just took a 2-week vacation and then went to caemlyn to be with his family (and told tam, nynaeve, and perrin that he's still alive, and rescued mat from the seanchan and incorporated him into the polycule, and bargained with the creator to bring egwene and gawyn back to life........okay i'm getting sidetracked)

as for what the show might do, i'll brace myself for them to adhere to the book version, but from what we've seen in the first 2 seasons, i think that ending would make even less sense for show!rand than it does for book!rand. in 1x08, we see that his greatest dream is to live a quiet, peaceful life with his family, and now we're going on a journey of watching him be forced to give up that dream for the rest of the series. what better way to end the show than by having rand finally get to live out that dream now that his duty to the world is done? the tears i would weep if the final scene of the show was similar to his 1x08 domestic AU, but real this time! plus, the s1 ending & s2 already did the whole thing of rand fucking off into the mist all alone, making his loved ones think he's dead, and trying to start over in a new town with a new life - AND HE LEARNS THAT THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE because he can't help but get attached to new people wherever he goes AND because he can't keep himself from remaining attached to the people from his old life and wanting to help them when he learns they're in trouble. and it also showed how his loved ones suffer because of him making them think he's dead and took a pretty hard stance in saying "no, no one is better off if rand fakes his death, not rand and not his loved ones." so i especially think rand's book epilogue scene would ring hollow in the show since s2 has specifically proven that that scenario doesn't work.

some people will harp on about happy endings being uNrEaLIsTIc, but i Do Not Give A Shit!!!! and so far the show has also shown that it's not interested in grimdark for grimdark's sake and that, like the books, it doesn't shy away from showing trauma and tragedy and yet still chooses hope & togetherness over cynicism & isolation at the end of the day, and so i think it feels very plausible for the show to give rand a bit more hopeful of an ending. (i guess the books TRIED to give him a hopeful ending what with him thinking happily about how he can travel around by himself and not be recognized, but it just felt false to me that that's the sort of thing that would make rand happy - in large part because show!rand was the first version i ever met, and i subconsciously carried his homebody caregiver stay-at-home dad-ness with me into the books even though he wasn't REALLY like that in the books in the way he is in the show. so that feels like further evidence that book!epilogue wouldn't work for show!rand.)

now as for the bodyswap, that's so tricky to imagine what the show might do. on the one hand, rand cannot fade into anonymity and be allowed to rest and set down his duties if he keeps his same body and will still be recognized wherever he goes. on the other hand, imagining rand's final moments in the whole show being portrayed by some random new actor instead of josha is so freaking sad! sad for us and sad for josha! it's fine in a book where we're in rand's head and can feel that he's still him even though he tells us he looks different, but in a visual medium, spending up to 8 seasons with josha as rand only to have his final moments be portrayed by a completely different person..........the emotions just wouldn't hit the same, it wouldn't feel like a proper sendoff for rand. granted, if moridin's actor had been in the show for several seasons already (and whether they would cast a new actor as moridin or bring fares fares back and just have the character still be called ishamael is another question i can't predict) then we'd be attached to him too by the finale, so maaaaaybe it could still feel emotional, but never as emotional as if it were josha doing that scene.

so i'm stuck here because story-wise it makes more sense for rand to get a new face, but TV-wise it's not sensible to have one of the main characters played by a different actor in their final scene(s). the potential solution to this would be, no bodyswap but have rand disguise his face with an illusion when in public so that he doesn't get recognized as the dragon reborn and get hassled.

so, okay, here's what i would do: rand wakes up in the healing tent still in his original body, but then he disguises himself and leaves the tent. he passes by his own funeral going on and slips away into the night, after exchanging a meaningful look with his partners who can sense that this stranger is him thanks to the bonds. then, cut to a proper epilogue scene of josha-as-rand undisguised in the privacy of his own home, watching his kids play with his partners by his side (and maybe all his friends and tam too if they REALLY feel like spoiling me haha) just like he told us in 1x01 he always dreamed of :')

#anonymous #answered #wot book spoilers

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