#i should rewatch his review I like him a lot and I remember his thoughts being good | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fernsnailz · 3 months

Text

February 2024 Review Roundup

well i sure did watch some stuff and read one book this month

the things i finished this month reminded me that for every incredible piece of art i find myself enjoying, i end up watching some Hot Garbage immediately after to balance things out again. idk why i do this.

i have quite a bit to say about both the things i enjoyed and the things that brought me physical pain this month, so there is um. a lot under the cut. any previous desire for brevity i had in january has been completely thrown out the window as i use these roundups as an outlet to gush about things i like and complain about things i didn't. fair warning, if you open the readmore you will be scrolling for a while. enjoy i guess

House of Leaves

does any other book out there have the balls to write a completely fake interview with stephen king

House of Leaves is a novel you gotta throw around a little bit. It feels really weird that my copy is still in the pristine state I bought it in - It seems like it should have water damage and smell like mildew with its pages falling out and spine cracked into pieces. Getting the full story from this book requires flipping back and forth, turning it around, searching for answers. All things considered it’s not that difficult of a read, but its format still allows you to feel like you’re discovering every hidden piece for yourself, and I really liked that interactivity. I was engaged pretty much the whole way through.

I don’t really think I’ll be able to revisit this book anytime soon though. It’s difficult for me to format what else I’d like to say about it because to be honest, it caught me off guard and disturbed me on a fairly personal level. There’s a relief I feel when I remember that I don’t actually know what was going on with the house - maybe that was intentional on the book’s behalf, maybe I just didn’t look hard enough for answers. I don’t know. But the implication that something divine was down there was enough of an answer for me. The book's good. read it if you want a spooooooky time or if you never want to look at a hallway the same way again

Doctor Who (Series 1-4) (rewatch)

ok so this is a fuckload of doctor who to cover so i’m gonna give some thoughts on a few of the characters and my favorite + least favorite episodes

9th doctor: My favorite butch lesbian. Christopher Eccleston truly embodies the concept of The Doctor so, so well: otherworldly guy who knows too much, genuinely cares about life across the universe, and also has a bit of deep, unresolved rage. His moments of joy and careless fun stick with me the most, he absolutely radiates with life and brings so much to this character.

Rose: I first watched Doctor Who when I was in middle school, and I didn’t like Rose that much back then. And guys. I have bad news. I'm still not really much of a Rose fan

I definitely understood her more this watch through - that desire for adventure and some sort of control over her life, emotions so strong that she’s willing to throw near everything away. That’s just what being 19 is like sometimes. I think Rose is a very compelling character who just happens to frustrate me a bit. And that’s kinda the point, her co-dependent relationship with the Doctor is doomed to fail and it's meant to hurt. Ultimately, I think when I first watched the show I was too young to understand Rose, and now I’m just too old to relate to her.

Captain Jack: Jack is my favorite character. I fucking love this guy. Dude has the worst luck in the whole universe and still cannot be stopped. Legendary. Every episode with him is a goddamn delight because he has so much chemistry with every single cast member. No notes 10/10 i love my problematic bisexual king

10th doctor: About four episodes into David Tennant’s run I realized that he dresses like a Hazbin Hotel character and it made me very sad. Still, there’s a reason this guy inspired every middle schooler to buy a pair of converse in 2008. He has style, he has depth, he’s got the sauce. It’s genuinely terrifying to see his anger, I like that a lot of 10’s run is about his denial of godhood and power over life in the universe, something that the rest of the time lords desired. idk i like my sad pathetic little weasel but he's also a huge fucking asshole sometimes which sucks. especially when it's directed at Martha.

Martha: Martha I am so sorry for what this show put you through. Martha was my favorite companion when I first watched the show, and I still have a huge soft spot for her. Her ability to hold her own and navigate foreign worlds using her own intelligence absolutely rules, and her drive forward is unbreakable. But the show seems to put her down at every possible opportunity, most notably with how 10 treats her. Her struggles and wants are constantly ignored, and she's often treated as a rebound from Rose. And I like that she eventually chooses to end it by not traveling with 10 anymore, but it hurts because it feels like she was never given the same chance or care that Rose and Donna were. This era of Doctor Who really doesn’t treat its black companions well because Mickey goes through something similar - both Martha and Mickey are characters designed to be ignored or left behind, and it sucks.

Donna: Donna Noble is one of the greatest fictional characters to ever exist. Despite seemingly living a fairly average life and working a fairly average job, Donna reflects the idea that no one is truly "average" and every single person is brimming with personality, life, and love. I love that her relationship with 10 is purely platonic, personally their friendship feels like it has a lot more depth than either of the romance-oriented relationships 10 had with Rose and Martha. 10 and Donna bounce off of each other so well and it's delightful, Donna brings so much humor and life to every world she's taken to and it's incredible. I wish her and Captain Jack could have interacted more.

My favorite episode: The Runaway Bride is hard to not choose as my favorite. I have a blast every time I watch this episode and it’s such a good introduction for Donna. Also the Tardis car chase kills me, I love when it cuts to the kids in the back of another car clapping and cheering. I was also surprised by the episode Midnight - it’s dreadful to watch and I kinda loved it. So much spirals out of control when shit hits the fan, even though no one has any idea what they’re trying to fight against. Really interesting exploration as to how fear can drive people apart.

My least favorite episode: It’s Love & Monsters. I wish I liked this episode - stories that follow regular ass people living in this world are often some of the best episodes in the series (Weeping Angels and all that). And this episode definitely has some of that. It’s honestly really touching to see this group of nerds get together and enjoy life in the first part of the episode. I think the antagonist of ��guy who absorbs people” ends up dragging down any charm this story had because he just. eats all of the interesting characters. But despite me disliking this episode, I honestly have a deep respect for it - it’s fucking crazy. It ends with the main guy telling us about his sex life with his girlfriend who is now stuck in a piece of concrete. Where else are you going to get a story like this. It fucking sucks and that’s hilarious

oh also the production design: GODDDDDD I FUCKING LOVE THE PRODUCTION DESIGN AND SETS ON THIS SHOW. I love how dirty and rundown a lot of the spaceship sets look with wires and lights scattered everywhere. And a number of alien designs also go CRAZY with the prosthetics - I keep thinking about the Hath from The Doctor’s Daughter and how every head prosthetic had liquid inside it that could bubble. Absolutely crazy. I also love the moments where you can clearly see they did not have that much time and just had to throw something together or pain a bald cap green. Jank is the nature of sci-fi production design and I dearly love and miss that Doctor Who jank.

Rebuild of Evangelion

Last year after finishing the original Evangelion series + End of Evangelion, I remember going through the Evangelion tumblr tag and being very confused by the number of slice of life/found family-esque fanworks of the cast. It left me puzzled and thinking “...did we even watch the same thing??”

APPARENTLY NOT

[spoiler warning here because these movies are very good and i give the best parts away. if you want to watch these movies then DO IT NOW!!!!!!!!]

I honestly never expected a world where these characters got a happy ending. I so, so badly wish I could see 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 in theaters - these movies are stunning. I know I say things “go crazy” a lot, but man. They go fucking CRAZY.

While I have a few issues with how the first two movies adapted the original show, I do think the changes they made better serve the story this rebuild is trying to tell. For example, my favorite episode in the original Eva series is episode 18, where Toji is chosen to pilot Unit 03. It’s absolutely terrifying because Shinji doesn’t know who 03’s pilot is, yet he’s forced to be inside Unit 01 as it tears 03 apart. His resolve not to kill anyone despite not even knowing who’s in danger is an aspect of that episode I love and speaks to Shinji's inherent humanity, and when he learns Toji was in there it hurts even more. The rebuild movies change Unit 03’s pilot to Auska, and Shinji knows she’s in there from the start. I think this choice works for the movies and is still an effective emotional beat, but personally I still prefer the version where Shinji had no idea who was in there. That lack of knowledge is infinitely more terrifying to me.

I really like what these movies did with some of the angel designs though. The sixth angel (the fuckin. blue diamond cube thing) works really well in 3D/CG animation. The way the thing warps and moves is otherly and terrifying - and it’s just a fucking cube. I’ve always really loved how the Eva series approaches angel designs and the divine - despite the alien-like designs, there’s often something extremely familiar about them. They’re often reminiscent of an animal, a machine, or a human. This is also how they approached the anti-universe in these movies, I loved how it takes the form of various locations from the series and turns them into a movie set. It’s deeply familiar, but ultimately just an illusion of familiarity like the angels and the divine.

Also I gotta say. I fucking love Mari. I think she’s hilarious. She first meets Shinji by accidentally parachuting into him and then immediately starts crawling on all fours to sniff him. This girl also introduces “Beast Mode” where the Eva pilots can go wild turn their mechs into a fucking. superpowered beast of some sort. And also she defeats a whole army by using the Eiffel Tower as a spear. She’s such an absurd character and I honestly kinda love it. The only thing I knew about these movies before watching them was this gif of her Backing That Shit Up and she truly lives up to the insane nature of this shot.

My favorite section of these movies is definitely the first part of 3.0+1.0 where the pilots are basically just living a domestic life in a small town - it’s truly beautiful. The growth that Rei’s copy goes through here is fantastic, I love stories about seemingly emotionless beings learning how to live. And right after she dies, we get the shot that absolutely broke me the first time I saw it:

This shit. The way you can just barely tell he’s been crying from the red around his eyes. They don't talk about it, they barely linger on it, but it's allowed just enough time to punch you in the gut. I don’t know why this shot got me as hard as it did but goddamn. jesus christ. i want to throw up

There’s some goofy shit in these movies. The infinite synch rate. Misato’s stupidass hat and sunglasses. Some goofy ass 3D animation that doesn’t age super well. The rainbow that shows up every time an angel dies. But these things really didn’t take me out of the core of these films, and there’s so much genuine emotion and beauty in this series that had me absolutely hooked - especially in the last two films. They go crazy. My favorite line is 100% “The only thing a son can do for his father is pat him on the shoulder… or kill him.” and man. ain’t that what Evangelion is all about. i love these movies

High School Musical 3

kinda slaps just a little bit

High School Musical 3 starts with a finale number. The last high school basketball game of Troy Bolton’s life - and it goes kinda hard. The classic pep band brass that’s essential to so many High School Musical numbers returns, and the constant theme of two feuding cheer teams in the background? Genius. This is truly art. I love listening to Now or Never without visuals because in the middle Troy just starts coughing and gagging seemingly out of nowhere

Unfortunately, starting the movie at such a high point means that the rest of the runtime doesn’t quite match up to it. The story lags and meanders quite a bit, but part of me kinda appreciates that - it’s their last semester of high school, which is always a time of confusion and turmoil. However, I do have a pitch for how they could have countered the constant falling action this movie seems to go through:

The Wildcats should have lost their last game at the beginning of the movie.

What if the game is instead the inciting incident that leads Troy and his besties through their tumultuous last semester? Troy is still torn between basketball and theater, but his identity would be even further challenged here - is winning and success all that matters for him, or is it the love of sport and performance that keeps him going? idk whatever this movie came out 16 years ago i can’t be out here writing AUs for it jgnfsgfnjdksg

Some miscellaneous thoughts about this movie that i don’t care about formatting into larger paragraphs:

Ryan and Sharpay’s number (I Want It All) slaps as usual. The part where Ryan shouts “MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!!!!!!!” makes me so happy every time i hear it

The production design and sets go absolutely fucking crazy. I still have no idea how they pulled off the spinning hallway in Scream.

One of the classic staples of HSM is Chad’s shirts. Most of them are fairly silly and like something you would expect to find in the walmart clearance section. However, there’s one shirt he has in this movie that confused the hell out of me. It’s this one:

What the FUCK does Greenster mean. Is it just a combination of Green and Monster?? Why??? What green monster are we talking about here????? Where the fuck did this shirt come from?????????

Avatar The Last Airbender (2024)

There’s really only one word I can think of to describe what this show is like: sauceless. No flavor. No depth. No character. No sauce. This show is honestly so fucking boring and seems to fundamentally misunderstand what the appeal of the original Avatar series is - not necessarily because things are changed or removed from the original, but because nothing of substance is added in return.

Most of the characters are mere echoes of their original counterparts when compared to their source material. Sokka is reduced to a guy who wants to fight good, Katara’s stubborn and confrontational nature is very rarely utilized, and Aang’s mischievous antics and love of fun is sorely missing. One of the major reasons for the dull interpretations seems to be the directing - While I have faith that most of these actors are trying their best (especially since a number of them are kids/young adults), the direction seems to be incredibly lackluster and takes away nearly every cast member’s stage presence or personality. There’s a number of reaction shots of the main trio that just look like this: 😐😐😐 as if they were just told to “look concerned” at the events unfolding before them. And these issues are apparent in the majority of the performances - for example, General Zhao talks like he’s in a board meeting up until the last episode, and it’s an incredibly flat performance. He talks somewhat monotone in the original series as well, but this live-action take on the character often meanders with his dialogue and lacks that sharp, terrifying quality that I think this character needs. Uncle Iroh also feels incredibly stiff in this adaptation, and it’s a goddamn crime that they took away the cunty little outfit and chains he was originally wearing when he gets captured by earthbenders. wait who said that

Credit where credit is due, there’s a few cast members that seem to be giving their best. It’s clear that Aang’s actor enjoys the role and does pretty well despite the lackluster direction and dialogue he’s given. On top of that, I think Zuko’s actor is honestly the best part of the show. His take on Zuko leans much more into teenage tendencies and sarcasm, which, although it can be silly, is a welcome take of the character in my opinion and pretty fun to watch. There’s this one line he has at the beginning of episode 2 where, in an incredibly whiny tone of voice, he goes “He RAN! The ultimate warrior! He’s a Coward :((((“ and the read is so. fucking funny

The case of bad direction isn’t limited to the performances, however. It’s also stunningly apparent in how everything is shot. Despite being in a widescreen format, most shots are incredibly centered - you could crop the entire runtime into a 4:3 frame and you wouldn’t be cutting out much of anything. I’ve seen some speculation that this was an intentional choice to make things more adaptable or readable for TikTok/phone video, but honestly I think that’s a dumb take. I think the issue stems from a lack of creativity and thoughtless composition. Keeping everything staged in the center can make shots feel disjointed, lacking much depth, or completely empty. It’s a boring way to shoot and indicates that the show lacks any unique vision at all.

Overall, this show doesn't really seem to understand what makes Avatar interesting in the first place. It's more interested in spectacle and action than the characters' relationships, emotions, and mistakes. I try not to compare it too much to the original since it's allowed to take liberties with its adaptation, but very few of its changes add much to the end result or give it a unique voice. It's just sauceless and boring.

Some YouTube videos i liked in February:

💥 My House.WAD - Inside Doom's Most Terrifying Mod (some supplemental House of Leaves material for ya) 💥 Martha Jones Deserved Better (this video explains how Doctor Who did Martha dirty better than i ever could) 💥 bringing JUSTICE to the worst garfield game 💥 Selling Kids for Clout: The Downfall of Family Channels

And that’s my roundup for February! Thank you for reading, I promise there are no more reviews left to scroll through below this goodbye. Nope, nothing else I watched this month. Bye!

…ok is everyone gone. phew, i’m glad no one noticed i pulled an hbomberguy and hid the largest part of this post under a false ending. Anyway holy shit i need to talk about hazbin hotel

Hazbin Hotel

well i didn’t like it

Hazbin Hotel is a weird, fascinating mess of a show. Every episode left me wondering what creative decisions (or lack thereof) led to the sequence of images I just watched. There’s been a lot of discussion of this show recently and I’m not interested in covering every critique I have, but there’s a few things that I'd like to talk about somewhat in-depth.

Hell is real and it's just Red Chicago

The setting of Hell is kinda boring in this show.

Let me try to put this into perspective. Aside from the hotel, here’s a list of the locations we see in Hell:

A boardroom

A video store

Vox’s evil lair (it has cyber sharks which is kinda cool)

Various streets

Another boardroom

A BDSM club

Carmilla’s house (it’s gray and has. balconies?)

A porn studio

A bar

Another bar

A town square (full of cannibals)

None of these locations really take on any sort of otherworldly form besides some vague demonic imagery scattered throughout (and the cannibals. i guess. whatever). In short, Hazbin Hotel’s setting resembles Chicago more than it does Hell.

I can see a world where that’s intentional. Perhaps making Hell resemble a modern city could be used as a thematic tool or point of relatability? But Hazbin doesn’t really do anything like that - since the characters rarely ever interact with their environments, these locations end up seeming like they lack creativity, like they’re just cardboard sets where characters go to swear. They all start to blend together after a while - every street feels the same, every boardroom fades into the background, and every bar feels like a google image search result for the word “club.” This world feels stunningly empty despite the busy designs and colors. Even though the backgrounds are painted and designed fairly well, nothing of substance is ever really added to them through the story.

However, a few musical numbers take effort to break away from these settings. This felt like a weight off of my shoulders whenever it happened, it was nice to see some interesting setpieces and backgrounds that weren’t red. I liked the bombastic and over-the-top broadway lights in Loser and the glowing alternate world in Charlie and Lucifer’s song. But these moments are few and crowded by the dull locations in Hell - or worse, the Hotel itself.

Despite being the namesake of the show, the actual Hazbin Hotel is… lifeless. Which, yeah, it’s a hotel where dead people go in the afterlife, but it’s missing any sort of personality or history besides “it’s old and falling apart.” I expected the hotel to be full of secrets - like maybe some hidden passages or rooms, or mysterious cabinets full of rotted meats, or old valuables hidden under the rugs by the previous owners. Something for the cast to explore and discover, and as they get closer to each other they also start to understand the hotel more. Alastor seems very intent on keeping the physical hotel standing for some reason, but I never really understood why. There’s nothing there. And that nothingness is fully realized when at the end of the show, they just rebuild the entire hotel to be grand and beautiful - an emotional beat that didn’t hit me at all because I never felt like I knew the hotel in the first place. Despite rebuilding it from the ground up, it will feel just as empty.

3 SHOTS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY

I was truly baffled at how some of these scenes are timed and put together. Multiple sequences left me feeling nauseous and dazed - the camera moves like it’s being swung on the end of a rope, and there’s so many misplaced or meaningless cuts scattered through these episodes.

There’s a sequence of three shots in the first episode that I want to dissect. I will fully admit that I'm breaching nitpicking territory here, but the shot composition issues in this show are pretty rampant and my analysis here is just a hyper-specific look at a single part of that larger problem. Hopefully you can also use it as a quick storyboarding lesson too idk

First, we see Adam teasing Charlie.

Then, it cuts straight to this shot:

A few things here.

Shot 2 is just closer on the characters, which is not a great idea to cut to after the previous waist-up shot. On top of being a jarring jump cut, there is no purpose for this new shot. All the information we see here (Adam laughs, Charlie fake laughs) could have just been conveyed in the previous shot.

Despite the characters being in the same position as the last shot, the background changes. This straight up just feels like an error. I think the idea is supposed to be that the camera is at a different angle, but the position of the characters does not convey that. It looks like reality changes behind them.

And if that’s not enough, this is the shot we get immediately after those two:

In this shot, the residents of the hotel sit on the couch as Vaggie walks into the shot, framing them between her legs. But there’s something… off.

Vaggie either looks like she’s floating or she’s three stories tall. Quick storyboard lesson as to why:

The main problem with this shot is that the perspective of the background doesn’t match up with where Vaggie is placed. The couch is framed as if the camera were above it, but Vaggie is framed like the camera is floor-level below her. I’ve traced the shot and added a perspective grid to hopefully better illustrate this:

Do you see what I mean? If the camera WAS actually on the floor like Vaggie’s position in the shot suggests, the composition would look more like this:

Notice how much closer the floor grid is to the bottom of the frame and how you can see the underside of the couch.

And to be fair, this is probably what the original storyboard for this shot looked like! Personally I think something went wrong in the compositing stage - this might be a couch background from another shot that was reused here to save time, or whoever approved this shot just let the error slide since the shot is so short (i've been there. sometimes you let the jank slide). Most animated shows will have some poorly framed shots and continuity errors because mistakes are bound to happen, but two egregious ones right next to each other like this is. pretty bad. It's so noticeable from a directing perspective.

Here’s the thing: these three shots happen in the span of like 10 seconds. Most viewers probably wouldn’t notice these issues, and that's fine. But even though these errors are quick, they stack upon each other so fast that even if you can’t pinpoint exactly what’s wrong, something still feels wrong. There’s so many other moments where the show breaks extremely basic shot composition, continuity, and staging rules - for example, the second musical number of the show breaks the 180 rule like four times for no good reason. The whole show feels like a dizzy, nauseating mess because the shots rarely feel like they form anything cohesive.

MY ROOMMATE TOLD ME TO GO TO BED SO HERE ARE SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

Here’s a rundown on some other thoughts that I don’t care to format into larger sections:

The show seems to lack much to say about sin and redemption other than “redemption good.” like sure, but what are they being redeemed from? Is heaven truly the place they deserve to go after being redeemed, even though it’s shown to be unjust? Are there sins that are too great to be redeemed from, or others that shouldn't be considered sins at all? I asked myself a number of questions like this, but never got many answers from Hazbin.

This show has a bad relationship with kink and sex. Both are mostly used as a punchline or a form of control. I didn’t like it. Perhaps the reason Hazbin never really comments on the nature of sin is because it needs you to consider sex and kink sinful or otherly for these jokes to hit.

Some of the animation is crazy good. I will praise any animator that even attempts to make these character designs move. A number of extremely talented people worked on this show, a few of the musical sequences in particular have some incredible movement.

Alastor is a very boring character. It’s wild that most of the side characters in this show only exist to talk about how much they like or hate Alastor, he mostly just stands to the side of some shots or kills random nameless goons. I expected him to have a much larger role in the story, but he just gets his ass kicked in the final episode and then crawls back to the hotel.

Episode 4 is the most cohesive, and i think Angel is the best character in the show. Unfortunately, the fact that Hazbin takes so much effort to show Angel’s misery left me… concerned? None of the other characters get treated as poorly as Angel by the narrative. There’s a few smaller explorations of trauma, but nothing remotely compares to what Angel is put through on-screen. This isn’t to say that I think the whole cast needs to be extremely traumatized and constantly miserable, but rather that I find it concerning that the only character subjected to incredibly graphic abuse and torture (that we see or hear about) is the gay sex worker. Which sucks, because I think the concept of hypersexuality resulted from sexual abuse is an important topic worthy of discussing in adult media. I just think they tried to execute this theme without much critical thought beforehand.

I think the voice cast does a fantastic job for the most part. Keith David is way too good for Husk.

I really liked the one shot where Charlie opens her phone and we see that she has a contact for every individual egg minion.

I was very brave and got through this whole review without talking about my new least favorite character of all time, Vox. here’s what I think of him:

The overall vision and end result of Hazbin Hotel is just mediocre. While I don’t know what led to the messy state this show ended up in, my guess is that it was probably the result of inadequate direction, sloppy writing, and lacking creative support from the studios involved. Because of this, please understand that I have no desire or intention to put down any individual artists that worked on this show - I hope it's clear that most of my criticisms are directed at the larger vision these artists were given to execute and/or the lack of creative support they received while working on this show.

I also don’t really have much desire to participate in any further Hazbin discussion or discourse because it has wasted enough of my time already and I want to be free of this curse. please spare my inbox from hazbin hotel discourse. please. i'm begging.

You want to know what the most fucked up thing about this is though? Despite everything I said about Hazbin, Avatar the Last Airbender 2024 is still the worst show I watched this month. I would take Hazbin over Avatar 2024 literally any day.

well if you got this far. thanks for reading. also sorry you read all that. whelp alright back into my hole i go bye bye

#to get to my hazbin hotel opinions you must first read my pitch on how i would have written high school musical 3 #jesus christ. either i gotta watch less things or learn to shut the hell up next month this is a longass post #review roundup #long post

45 notes · View notes

trelkez · 1 year

Text

Me watching Ted Lasso 3.11:

I truly thought the last few episodes of the show had broken any remaining faith I had in its storytelling, but no. The second scene of this episode: that broke any remaining faith I had in Ted Lasso's storytelling. This season is NOT GOOD. And yet: are they going to make my OT3 canon? Are they?

I'm going to process Ted Lasso 3.11 (mostly) the way I did last week, by doing a rewatch and taking everything in order as it happens. The show's writing is so incoherent at this point that I'm not going to attempt to impose order on it; things just occur. This is the way.

1. Ted's Mom

I spent the entire opening credit sequence mentally reviewing every Ted/Trent fic I've ever read that had some kind of take on Ted's mom – and realizing that whatever we were about to get wasn't going to be as interesting as anything I'd read in fic, because this season is hell-bent on the idea that all conflict can be washed away in the space of a single conversation.

Remember when I would've just been excited to finally meet Ted's mom? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

2. Jade hates working with her boyfriend

And who can blame her? This woman has one thing, and that is working at Taste of Athens. Come on, Nate, get your own thing!

3. "We want you to come back to Richmond."

So, okay.

I've already written pretty extensively on how badly handled Nate's redemption arc has been. This has been a problem all season long; before I moved back to Tumblr, I was writing small, irate tweets about it.

Let's go back and look at some of the things I said during and after season 2:

2.07: Nate - his characterization has been really consistent: he's always been a jerk to Will, he uses his power over others to belittle them to make himself feel better, he conflates being assertive with being aggressive, this stuff was in s1 too

post-s2, 1/3: the show put a lot of work into showing Nate punching down, his growing narcissism, the ways feeling underappreciated makes him cruel to others and himself; I don't think we're meant to take away that being denied a Nespresso machine justifies a heel turn

post-s2, 2/3: Nate's history with women as shown is not great - when he thinks he's fired he immediately calls Rebecca a shrew; "perhaps you'd like to give me your number, too" to Jade the hostess as soon as he feels like he can order her around; kissing Keeley at all

post-s2, 3/3: when he kissed Keeley I was like, sure, this tracks; (for him) it becoming solely about him being mad that it wasn't enough to get Roy's attention also tracks. but the rest ... and some of the media takeaway ... is weird to me. is this relatable content?? should it be?

What gets me about all of this is that sometimes, this season has almost convinced me that Nate leaking the panic attack story to Trent was just a weak moment for which an otherwise lovable guy should be forgiven – but the evidence isn't there. They were so consistent in how they built up Nate's fall; they seeded that in as far back as season one. They signaled it through hair color! They unfolded it piece by piece, in a deliberate, escalating spiral from which there ultimately was no last-minute escape.

And then we get to season three, and two seasons of careful character building immediately becomes meaningless. Season three's Nate is a different person. This entire season is taking place in an alternate universe. And there's no reason they had to do that, because they had an entire twelve-episode season of increasingly long episodes in which to slowly but surely make Nate a better person! Time for him to learn a series of important lessons that tie into past behavior; time for him to slowly reconcile with his father; time for him to grow without erasing the person he had always been. Time to build him up into a better version of himself.

Instead, this is what we have. And even then, some of the most important parts of the story of Nate's redemption have happened off-screen. Nate quitting off-screen last week was truly shocking; the team discussing Nate's situation, deciding to forgive him, and voting on whether or not to invite him back – that happening off-screen is unforgivable. The West Ham storyline has, thus far, mattered so little to this season that maybe (.......maybe) we can say that severing ties with Rupert wasn't a key part of his journey, even though that's absurd, but Nate's return to Richmond is everything. That's the whole ballgame.

For Colin to be part of the welcoming committee is truly fucking egregious. Even this very season, Colin is still repeating his affirmation from therapy as he actively works on building up his self-confidence – something Nate deliberately tried to destroy. At no point did I imagine that a one-on-one with Colin wasn't going to be part of Nate's apology tour. But now – one sprig of lavender for Will, and that's all it takes? Nate's treatment of Colin isn't going to be addressed at all?

This is the same team that collected red cards like candy against West Ham after Roy and Beard showed them the video of Nate ripping up the "believe" sign. Remember the power walk of fury past Nate to open the second half of that game? Why do they now suddenly want him back? Because they heard he was working in a restaurant and felt sorry for him? Because they heard he apologized to Will and decided that was enough? At this point, I genuinely think the writers didn't know how that conversation would go, so they skipped over it. If you aren't sure how to get the team back on Nate's side, just have it happen off-screen; then it doesn't matter how it happened, only that it did. If you only tell and never show, you can make anything happen without having to get from A to B.

All of this mess, all of this time, and we don't get to be in the room as the team reaches some kind of closure on everything Nate did.

4. "Richmond have won fifteen matches in a row. With two games left, you're just four points off Manchester City for the Premier League title."

Thanks for expositing all of that, Reporter Guy. If it weren't for the occasional infodump, we'd never know what was going on in the team's season! Exposition Characters, you're the true heroes.

5. "That goal is a lie. It should be retracted from the record. I apologize to everyone, especially the kids."

If they had kept to this kind of funny-but-alarming tone without going too overboard on it, Jamie's pre-Manchester depressive episode would've been a lot more effective.

I know this show can handle depression, anxiety, and parent-induced stress in a thoughtful way and balance that with tonally appropriate comedy, but can it do that … anymore?

6. Ted's ever-increasing mom stress

To that end: the way they built up Ted being so put out his mother was in town, I thought for sure we were going to find out he had been dodging her calls about something (was Michelle getting married after all?) and this would reveal whatever it was to the audience.

I think – I think – that the actual intended effect here is to underscore that Ted ran an entire continent away from his problems and all of his unprocessed trauma, and having all of that catch up to him without warning triggered a stress cascade resulting in the meltdown we'll get at the end. But if that's the intention, what this episode really underscores is that they simply do not know how to handle this sort of storyline anymore. Dottie Lasso is lovely and entertaining and you definitely can look at her and see where Ted comes from, but the Ted parts of this story are about as nuanced as a sledgehammer on concrete.

7. "Trent, your hair is fabulous. It really is. It's just stylin'."

I never thought that Trent would actually meet Ted's mother in the show. I can't wait to see what fic writers do with this. (Please don't get discouraged by however the show ends and walk away, fic writers! We need you now, tonight. We need you more than ever.)

8. Van Damme's mask

This is officially more follow-up on a previous episode's subplot than we have had about almost any other subplot this entire season, and it's about one of the most disposable stories they've told.

9. OT3 Watch: "Shouting is Roy's love language."

Does Trent ship it? One of us, one of us.

10. OT3 Watch: Jamie crying on Roy

There's a lot about this scene I loved, so let's take a break for positivity! That sounds nice, doesn't it?

Jamie bursting into tears and then, when asked what's wrong, saying, "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know": intensely relatable. He's already in tears as he walks into the boot room, just barely holding it in, and the second Roy pushes him to toughen up (in general), he loses it, because of course he does: he's dreading another trauma at the hands of his abusive dad, in the hometown that hates him. It makes perfect sense for Jamie to be having a serious depressive episode, and it is entirely in character for him to describe that as "I don't use any conditioner anymore, because what's the fucking point."

This is one thing this season has done well, with patience and consistency: it's believable for Jamie to break down crying on Roy because they put the time in to get these two to that point. Last season, it was a big fucking deal when Roy hugged Jamie. This season, if Jamie is going to cry on anyone, of course it's going to be Roy.

That said: I think it was a mistake to go quite so hard on playing this for laughs. Depression and trauma absolutely can be mined for comedy. "Do you think a depressed person could make this?" works because it's still Ben Wyatt, it's just Depressed Ben Wyatt. Jamie smushing Roy's face around as Phil Dunster gives it his absolute best comedy wailing sob doesn't … feel like Jamie? It just feels like comedy. If the moment isn't organic to the character, probably it needed a rewrite.

"It probably needed a rewrite," the Ted Lasso season three story. – Then again, I wonder all the time how much of this season's problems are due to the infamous production-halting Jason Sudeikis rewrites, so … maybe not? Maybe this season needed fewer rewrites and more Bill Lawrence? Who can say.

("Will, you missed a good one" is a great closing note for the series-long gag of overheard emotional scenes in the boot room. If they do another one in the finale, they'll have overshot it.)

11. "Hey, Roy, would it bother you if we brought Nate back?" / "No, I don't give a fuck."

At this point, I briefly stopped watching.

I went back to 2.12 to see if Roy knows that Nate was the source for the panic attack story: as of that episode, as far as I can tell, he doesn't.

I went to 3.04 to see if there was any indication during the West Ham episode that Roy had figured it out by then, but that episode focuses on the "believe" sign, which everyone but Ted seems to be finding out about for the first time.

Roy doesn't know that Nate actively tried to ruin Ted. (Does it make any sense for Roy to not have done the math when he was in the room when Ted opened up to the coaches about his panic attacks? Probably not, but that appears to be the canon.) He does know what Nate was like, particularly toward the end; he knows that Nate abandoned ship for West Ham; he knows that Nate ripped the sign, and he used that to turn the entire team against Nate for the West Ham game; and perhaps most importantly, Roy is not especially known as an easygoing, forgiving guy.

This is a man who carried a devastating news clipping around in his wallet for his entire career and beyond. A guy who couldn't hug Jamie in celebration until he headbutted him to make them even. This is Roy Kent, who is known even by people who don't watch this show as the one with the anger issues.

And he's just – fine? To bring Nate back? He holds no grudges? Roy Kent? We're really going to have Roy Kent as the voice of "yeah, whatever, I don't care" while Beard is left to fume alone?

12. "If you bring that Judas back, I will burn this place to the fucking ground."

Once again, Beard is the only one who's seen season two. And yet, this is being set up as a conflict that Beard has to set aside.

Has Nate apologized to Ted at this point? No. Was Nate an increasingly toxic presence in the locker room last season? Yes. Do they have any knowledge of his coaching style at West Ham that we're aware of that would suggest that he's had a major personality change? No. Are they currently on a fifteen-game winning streak without Nate? Yes. Are there only two games left in the season? Yes.

Is there any reason to bring Nate back at this point? No. And Beard, who has been the only one all season long who has retained any emotional awareness of past events, is only allowed to have that awareness so that it can be used as a justifying force for Nate's return.

I support you, Beard. This is all some bullshit. You should be allowed to be pissed about it.

13. Nora!

Is Rebecca's aside about Nora telling her to stop using her private jet the closest we're going to get to a Nora appearance this season? There's still time for her to pop up in the finale, but that seems unlikely.

14. OT3 Watch: Keeley checking in on Jamie

I was on the fence about whether or not they were going too hard on humor with Jamie's depression until "a suitcase is a drawer without a home … wahh." This is the best they could do for depression comedy? This is a comedy series that did an entire season about depression!! Phil Dunster really is doing his best in this episode, but not even he could elevate that line.

I do like the general concept of Roy going to Keeley for help with Jamie, only for Keeley to make it all worse. Roy being better at comforting Jamie is conceptually very funny. Writing dialogue that does justice to a story outline is tricky, isn't it? Mm.

15. Sam and Rebecca???

Are they doing this, or are they just going to tease it every single episode? Are Sam and Rebecca endgame? Surely not, right. If it were endgame, wouldn't we have gotten into the meat of it a lot sooner than … the finale?

If you know a Tedbecca shipper, maybe give them a warm cookie this week, because this episode did not move that anywhere promising.

(My money is still on Houseboat Guy popping up out of nowhere.)

16. OT3 Watch: Jamie and Keeley follow Jamie home

If this is the first time Keeley is meeting Jamie's mom, that means – he never took her home when they were dating?

Roy staring in absolute slack-jawed shock at Jamie and his mom cuddling on the couch is me. Roy is me. Setting aside for a moment just how much is going on there, I never would have guessed that Jamie had a relationship like this with a mom who was still in the picture.

In 1.06, Jamie talks about how his mom got him into football and supported him but probably wouldn't be proud of him lately; in 3.06, we hear about a trip they took to Amsterdam when he was a teenager. Is that … it? Have there been other references to his mom? In 2.08, when Richmond plays Manchester City, there is a lot about his dad but no reference to his mom that I remember. The show is so laser-focused on Jamie's dad that I assumed his mother, whether dead or estranged or somehow unwell, wasn't an active force in his life in the present day.

This is a show about dads. They've told us that in interviews all along. Ted's dad, Nate's dad, Jamie's dad, Sam's dad, Rebecca's dad, even a whiff of Trent's dad; Ted's relationship with his son, even Phoebe's relationship with her Uncle Roy. We see Nate's mom, but that is almost entirely about Nate's relationship with his dad. The only characters who get to have meaningful ongoing not-about-dads onscreen relationships with their mothers are Rebecca and Nora, which is … weirdly gendered?

But now, with the curtain about to drop on this show, they're doing a Mom Episode. We get two moms we've never met before dropped on us in one hour. We know almost nothing about these moms, because they've never been made central to the story in a way everyone's dads have been; and here, in an episode titled "Mom City," their stories are still mostly about each character's relationship with his dad.

Even so, those stories need to fit into what we know about Ted and Jamie. "I love meeting people's moms. It's like reading an instruction manual as to why they're nuts," right? Ted and Jamie's moms, introduced here at the eleventh hour, should shine a light on things we already know about these characters and make us think, "this explains so much."

Does Jamie's mom actually explain anything we already knew about Jamie? Does it actually make sense for Jamie to have had, all this time, a sweet, supportive mom available for hugs on demand, or does this just create a lot of new questions the show doesn't have time to answer? I don't think Jamie's mom as we meet her (or his future GBBO star baker stepdad) are fully outside the realm of possibility for his character, but we could've had more time to untangle all of this if they had spent as much time on Jamie's mom as they did on his dad. Instead, I'm left with: you're telling me Jamie Tartt isn't actually touch-starved? Jamie Tartt?

You're telling me Jamie's mom watches all of his matches … but has never been to one? Jamie's mom got him into football and drove him to all of his practices, but he's playing right down the street and she's watching from home? Jamie's mom is this important to him, but never met Keeley? Jamie's mom is this important to him, and we've only ever heard about her as the reverse side of a story about Jamie's dad? There are some drop-ins you just can't make in the eleventh hour.

Also: what is going on here? I'm with Roy. Wow. Wow.

17. Jade really hates working with her boyfriend

Is this really just a way to get Nate back to Richmond? Yes. Is it nonetheless completely valid for Jade to not want to have to hear about Nate's salty nuts scheme after work hours? Also yes. You might be a girlfriend ex machina, but you are nonetheless valid, Jade.

18. OT3 Watch: Jamie's posters

*chinhands* So are they, like … are they doing this on purpose, or … no, they have to be doing it on purpose, right? Right?? Maybe it won't ever go any further than this, because even now I have a hard time imagining an OT3 becoming canon, but they are surely at least tipping their hat to it.

19: OT3 Watch: walking off arm-in-arm

Surely they aren't going to make it canon.

20. Pep????

They actually brought on Pep Guardiola for a Ted Lasso cameo? In an episode about Manchester City leading the title race, airing in the same week City won the title irl? I'm legit impressed.

21. Jamie's injury drama

This is honestly the dumbest way to generate in-game drama. Jamie goes out on injury and Ted's coaching masterstroke is to act like they've just lost a player to a red card and now have to defend a one goal lead with ten men? Just in case the training staff can shoot Jamie up with enough painkillers to let him finish the game on an injury he couldn't walk on?

I know Jamie is their star striker and all, but did Sam, Dani, and Colin suddenly lose their scoring abilities when Jamie hurt his ankle? We just had a major subplot last week about what a heater Sam has been on – did that suddenly disappear? Does this team have no ability to adjust to the loss of a player? They've won fifteen straight games!! In real life, that would be one of the longest win streaks in Premier League history! No team becomes that successful without quality substitutes. Just get someone on the pitch, before Manchester fucking City takes advantage of being a man up and gets the equalizer we're told they've been on the verge of for the entire second half.

Why. This is Ted Lasso, why am I getting hung up on its football strategy? This isn't about strategy, it's about Ted and Jamie. Nothing matters except the conversation they're about to have on the sideline. Everything else happens exclusively to allow that conversation to happen. The football is just set dressing. None of this matters.

It's just so dumb, though. God.

22. Jade hates working with her boyfriend so much

Truly next level of her to blackmail her boss to get Nate fired so she can have some peace in the workplace. Does she only exist in this show to advance Nate's storyline? Yes. Is she doing this to be a Good Girlfriend? Yes. Can I ignore both of those things and pretend this is just a badass move by someone who does not care to mix her relationship and her job? Also yes.

23. Ted Lasso and forgiveness

This season's insistence on total forgiveness – that the past is the past, that holding a grudge is a moral failing or a poison of the soul – is one of its biggest flaws. Everything needs to be tied up just so. Characters can't truly grow unless they let go of whatever anger they're holding onto. In the end, everything must come around to wholesomeness and healing. As the show nears its end, it is doing everything it possibly can to wash all slates clean.

(Except, possibly, with Rupert. We'll see.)

In a void, Ted's mini-speech to Jamie about how he should forgive his dad so that he himself can heal might be – not something I would at all agree with, but fine, in that I don't have to always agree with characters on television shows and Ted is clearly doing some projecting here re: his situation with his mom. But in this broader context of what's going on with Nate, on the sideline of a game, it just feels … forced, and kind of gross. FORGIVE YOUR DAD SO YOU CAN KICK FOOTBALL. FORGIVENESS FIXES EVERYTHING. Okay, Ted Lasso. Okay.

Remember when Dr. Sharon said, "I think you [still hate your father] too, Ted, and that's okay," and they talked about the things Ted both hated and loved about his father, because it was okay for him to hold both of those things inside him at once? Where has that gone?

24. Manchester Loves Jamie

I'm not going to ask what the point of putting Jamie back on for one minute and then substituting him straight off was – do they truly have no one else who could have put them up by two? – because honestly, the City fan ovation was so unbelievable that football strategy pales in comparison. They spent an entire game booing and shit-talking him in the stands, and then he scores a goal on a wobbly foot and they suddenly realize he's Good, Actually and cheer him off? In a game that could decide the league title?

Manchester City could have won the league title right here in this game if Jamie hadn't scored that goal and the City fans cheer him off? In what universe. In what version of reality. Were there no even vaguely believable feel-good moments they could engineer for this game???

25. OT3 Watch: Roy whispering sweet nothings

They aren't going to make it canon, right??

26. Jamie's dad in rehab

This is one of the only "thing we heard nothing about and then suddenly it happens" moments where it makes sense for no one to know what's going on. It's positive growth for a shit character that I can actually get behind and believe in.

Jamie's dad is here doing the work and trying to get better. Instead of having it as an extremely brief reveal in the penultimate episode of the series, imagine if they had done this earlier and shown his dad getting out of rehab, and spent some time on Jamie deciding whether or not to forgive his dad now that his dad is sober. Emphasize the hard parts. Show them building a new relationship as different people. That would be so much more in keeping with the actual themes of this show than the magical thinking this season has engaged in.

27. Pep??????

"Don't worry about wins and losses, just help these guys be the best versions of themselves" from Pep Guardiola is THE MOST TED LASSO version of Pep Guardiola I can imagine. I cackled out loud. I threw back my head and laughed like a woman eating a salad. A+ comedy, intentional or otherwise.

28. Nate hiding under the desk

Why? Why. I mean, I get why – this humanizes everything Nate did in 2.12 and makes him seem like a pathetic guy who can't even ruin a sign right, and retcons some of the most potent parts of Nate's season two arc to make us feel empathy for him where we might not previously have; I had this issue with the rolling chair pratfall video earlier in the season, too – but it just exhausts me. They couldn't spend the time redeeming him organically, so they're rewriting what's already happened to make it seem less bad.

Going back to Ted's funeral therapy session with Dr. Sharon: remember how Ted had this deep, terrible fear of losing someone he loved because he didn't do enough to make them feel their worth, and Nate unknowingly cracked that wide open when he accused Ted of "abandoning" him? Remember how Nate could only feel important if he was the most important person in the room, so being one part of a team felt like rejection – and Nate at the absolute bottom of his spiral, having already tried to ruin Ted's life in the press, tore at him with every emotional weapon he had on hand?

Now we're going to reframe all of that as, "ahhhh, this little guy, can't even do a harm to a desk chair, look at him hide from cleaners, so sad, someone rescue him from restaurant!!"

I'm so ready for this show to end. It'll be easier to pick and choose the parts I want to hang onto once canon is closed.

29. OT3 Watch: champagne

But they aren't going to make it canon, right?????????

Honestly, get someone who looks at you the way Roy looks at Jamie here. Just incredible.

If this is the most OT3 we ever get, it'll be enough.

30. Beard's backstory

Let's pause here a moment.

As a coping mechanism for whatever the show was going to throw at me in this episode, I made myself a bingo card. Every time I got a square, I won a tiny piece of chocolate. I made some of the squares obvious hits, some of them decent possibilities, and some were wild swings at things I knew would never happen.

Earlier in this episode, I hesitated over giving myself the "Beard Backstory" square for Beard and Dottie having nicknames for each other, wondering if that qualified as our Beard backstory for the episode. And then … Beard showed up at Nate's door.

In that moment, I truly felt I had cursed myself with this bingo card. Don't invite possibilities you aren't willing to see play out on-screen, I think is the lesson here?

"Just like in Les Mis." – Nate, and all of us

I really don't know how to feel about this Beard backstory. In theory, I have no issue with Beard having a backstory about being incarcerated for meth and Ted helping him out afterward, but in practice, I'm not sure it makes any sense whatsoever. Beard has a record that no one knows about? He's been an assistant coach in the Premier League for three seasons and it's never popped up in the Daily Mail that he was in prison on a drug conviction? I know in the real world Ted wouldn't be allowed to coach Richmond to begin with, but just how far into fantasyland are we?

(I also have some questions about the "and then I stole his car" twist. What exactly are the writers trying to say here about people freshly out of prison? He had a difficult re-entry, totally understood; he found a place to land, and immediately turned back to crime? Should they maybe have spent a little more time unpacking this story before they made it canon?)

All of that aside, I'm not sure I really wanted a Beard backstory. For the entire run of this show to date, Beard has been something of a Ted-adjacent cryptid with a very clear personality but relatively opaque motivations, whose history we've learned about through wildly random drop-ins that always raise more questions than they answer. He's a guy who roams the city at night and collects subcultures like stamps. He's in an eternally tortured relationship with a manic pixie nightmare girl who somehow suits him perfectly. His devotion to Ted has never, ever been in doubt.

I just don't think it actually rounds out the character of Beard to know exactly where he's coming from and why he's with Ted. The mystery is part of the character. Introducing an in-depth backstory in the penultimate episode of the entire show feels … kind of cheap? I would completely understand if other people felt it was long overdue and are happy to get it before the end, but to me, pulling back the curtain feels like a misunderstanding of what makes Beard a great character. We don't need to see the man behind the curtain. Being able to wildly speculate about what makes Beard Beard is a big part of his appeal.

And to drop this in as a plot mechanism for bringing Nate back into the fold – to make this significant change to a major character as a shortcut on Nate's mismanaged path to redemption – I'm just so tired.

This whole thing where Ted emotionally manipulated Beard into forgiving Nate by invoking Ted's own past assistance to Beard – I'm not sure that comes across the way they think it does. Ted wants everyone around him to forgive Nate and the only one who isn't willing to do it is Beard, so Ted forces the issue by hitting Beard where it hurts to get Beard to project his own past trauma onto Nate's situation. Does Ted really think that Beard stealing his car is equivalent to Nate putting his mental health history on the front page of every newspaper in London? Even if he does, why does he think it's fair to Beard to pull out Beard's trauma like a trump card?

31. Fuck you, Mom!!

What was Ted's relationship with his mother back home, that she comes to visit him in London and within 48 hours, everything he's been holding onto for years comes boiling out of him in a series of F-bombs borrowed from Jamie Tartt? What was their dynamic like in Kansas, that the minute she shows up his shoulders go up around his ears and he can't handle anyone he cares about liking her at all?

Is this happening now because Ted unlocked all of this in therapy? Is it happening now because he's been away from her for so long? Was he not visiting her on those trips to Kansas? Is it the change in setting – having her in London, in his space, meeting his people?

This whole "thank you / fuck you" speech feels overcooked at best, well-acted as it is, and it veers into some really incoherent areas. When Ted tapped his chest, I thought, "oh god, is he impotent in his soul?" Honestly, that would have made more sense than Ted saying he's afraid to get close to his son because "I know he's going to leave."

Yes, Ted is afraid of losing people, but we know because Ted has said so in therapy that his response to that fear is to pull people closer in. To try to make people feel wanted, feel valued, feel good about themselves.

In Ted and Henry's relationship, if Ted has projected his dad onto anyone, it's been himself. If there is a monster under the bed here, it is Ted's fear of turning into his dad, of having the potential for that inside him. That line would have made 110% more sense if it had been, "I'm afraid I'm going to leave," even if we would have had a lot more to unpack on-screen at that point. As it is, it's just – kind of nonsense?

Did they feel like they had to pull out some extra motivation for Ted having been in London all of this time? They didn't. The degree to which they are trying way too hard in some areas and not at all in others sure is something.

32. I've read this fic

Rebecca and Bex? Yeah, I've definitely read this fic. That "Bex divorces Rupert and takes West Ham" square on my bingo card is going to reappear next week.

33. "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's the time of the season when we do X" is a little too much meta self-awareness for me, and the "I'm going to invoke truth bombs as a concept but I don't actually have one" is clunky execution to set up Ted's cliffhanger line, but the staging: flawless. In seasons one and two, Rebecca comes into Ted's office and stands on the left of the frame, facing right. In season three, Ted is the one who comes into the office and stands on the left, reversing their positions both physically and narratively. That kind of attention to detail is A+.

(I wish they gave that much attention to the plot, but I'll take it where I can get it.)

What's next?

One more episode left to cram in everything they could possibly want to do with this show! We're on a real run here of episodes that cram in abrupt resolutions to ongoing stories while also dropping in a ton of new elements we don't have time to explore, and I wouldn't expect the finale to be all that different.

- Before 3.11, I thought the chances of Ted going back to Kansas were 85% for, 15% against. Now … I think it might actually be closer to 75% for, 25% against?

This episode pushed so hard on sending Ted back to Kansas, and we're being set up in that cliffhanger for him telling Rebecca he's quitting after the season ends, and – there's still an entire finale to go. Will the episode just be one long goodbye, or will there be some last-minute twist to keep him in London? I think the chances of him staying in London are actually slightly better now that the "I'm going back to Kansas" twist isn't being held for the end. Still pretty unlikely, though.

I say again: if he goes back to Kansas, fine, we can fix that in post. If he goes back to Michelle, I'm turning this car around.

- Every social media feed I have has been frantic with speculation as to whether or not they're going to make the OT3 canon in the finale. My money is on Not Canon – I think a wink and a nod at it is as much as they're going to do – but I'll be happy with anything that isn't a flash-forward in which Jamie has a girlfriend. Just let us walk off arm-in-arm-in-arm with room to speculate, show.

- So Nate goes back to Richmond, Ted leaves, and Nate becomes head coach, right? Just like we could pretty easily guess was going to happen before this season even started? There's still a chance of a surprise shake-up there, but I'd put it at, like … 5%. A 5% chance of this not going in the most predictable possible direction.

- If Ted leaves, does Beard stay or does he go? He stays, right? If they try to convince us that Jane is dying to move to Kansas, I'll have to Eternal Sunshine the entire finale from my memory banks.

- I am very much hoping for a thoughtful farewell with the pub trio. They've earned it.

- It's West Ham they're going to be playing in the last game, right? If Nate's West Ham storyline is going to have any meaning, he has to go up against his old team with his old old team in the last game of the season while Rupert's drama plays out in close-up.

There should also be some simultaneous game drama happening with Manchester City. They were four points down before this game, so on the final day of league play, they'll be one point down. If City wins, they win the title. If City draws or loses and Richmond wins, Richmond wins the title. If City loses and Richmond draws, then … actually, there could be interesting last-minute drama if they're trying to break through on goal differential, but I don't think the show would go that far into technicalities. Richmond has to win, right? They aren't going to send the show off on anything less.

Five days until we're free!

#ted lasso #ted lasso meta #episode reactions

38 notes · View notes

byebyelemonpie · 9 months

Text

byebyelemonpie's may 2023 recommendations

My may top 5 movies:

Kung Fu Panda trilogy (2008, dir: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson; 2011, dir: Jennifer Yuh Nelson; 2016, dir: Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Alessandro Carloni) [Rewatched the first two after a decade and watched the third for the first time] Listen, I don't know what happened to me or to the world that made me uninterested in these movies somewhere between the second and the third one, but I'm glad that went away because these are actually really good. Like, the animation, the aesthetic, the story: they're all great and enjoyable, and a lot of fun! -

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018, dir: Ol Parker) [Rewatch after five years] The songs are still bangers and a lot of fun, even though this is way more sad than the first one. Wacthing it with friends is even better! -

13 Going on 30 (2004, dir: Gary Winick) [Rewacth after seven years] Still a cute and fun rom-com. The time-travel and the moral consequences of a 13 year-old in her own older body are never even thought about, but that's probably for the best, because I genuinely enjoyed it as a kid, even though I didn't want to grow up. -

Sky High (2005, dir: Mike Mitchell) [Rewatch after more than a decade] Just okay, I remember liking this a lot as a teen, but never seeing it again. Loved the whole character of Warren Peace, his name and his backstory and to be honest I wish the whole thing would have been about him. But still not that bad! -

So I Married an Anti-Fan (2016, dir: Kim Je-young) [First time watch] No idea how I found this, but it was pretty fun. I haven't really written anything on my notebook about it other than "not that bad", and all the letterboxd reviews are about this k-pop idol whom I don't know, I'm so sorry.

Favourite series in may:

Spy x Family (Japan, 2022) [First time watch; anime] A spy needs to infiltrate the family of an important political figure to stop the war between the two prominent regions of his nation, but to do so, he needs to have a wife and a daughter. He finds them in a secret assassin and a mind reader respectively. This anime is so much fun!! It's hilarious and even heartwarming at times. I decided to read the manga as well because I fell in love with the characters so fast. -

Ted Lasso - season 3 (USA, 2023) [First time watch] This series has been a very nice comfort show since I started season 1 last year. I loved how everyone had a character development and I very much enjoyed the positivity and feeling of hope throughout the series and especially in the end. -

Schmigadoon! - Schmicago (USA, 2023) [First time watch] This musical series is still one of the most innovative around and I LOVE the songs and the references to the musicals it parodies. I think I might have enjoyed this second season more than the first because I like more musicals from this era than the ones referenced in season 1. I still wish they will eventually make a thrid season, because if they manage to make parodies of all musical eras, they will have my whole heart, although this had a perfect ending, so I am conflicted on this. -

Dark Blue Kiss (Thailand, 2019) [Rewatch after a year] This was the first Thai series I've ever watched, but I had overrated it, so I decided to revisit it with a better knowledge and some more place for comparison. It turns out that it's still pretty good! Pete and Kao's story and its stupid jealousy, their cute bickering, and Kao's will to come out to him mum but fear of rejection is still very well done. Their breakup phase is still so sad! New's little pouty face should be enough to make people forgive him, especially when Kao didn't do anything outwardly terrible. The communication problem in this couple is still annoying, but the last scene makes up for everything and they have my heart. I'm not the greatest fan of the second couple - when a lot of fans would say the opposite - but I still love fellow Pokémon Go fan Mork and I still think he deserves better, I'm not sorry. -

Quacks (UK, 2017) [First time watch] As usual, six-episodes-long British sitcoms that are about specific time periods were cancelled after one season, and so was this gem. This series was about several doctors working at a Victorian hospital and trying new ways to cure patients. It was very interesting other than pretty funny.

[byebyelemonpie's 2023 recs]

#a post #byebyelemonpie's 2023 recs #about movies #about series #kung fu panda #mamma mia! here we go again #13 going on 30 #sky high #so i married an anti fan #spy x family #ted lasso #schmigadoon #dark blue kiss #quacks

6 notes · View notes

calliethetrekkie · 8 months

Text

Star Trek TOS S01E06: The Naked Time

Original Thoughts

"[The episode], while it kinda made me uncomfortable cause it gave me pandemic vibes, DID get my attention with the concept of essentially losing your self-control was interesting. Spock’s private breakdown especially hit me since despite not watching it, I knew about his general personality and his half-human, half-Vulcan nature. It was performed very well by Leonard Nimoy and seeing him try to keep up the logical Vulcan demeanor and failing was really well done. "

(Original Post)

Rewatch Thoughts

I completely forgot that I'd written that post... wish I'd remembered when I wrote the last review... ah well!

Speaking of that last review, as I said, it's kind of funny how it worked out regarding the past three episodes. In The Enemy Within, we focus on Kirk as a bad thing happens to him, and we see if we can care about him. In The Man Trap, we focus on McCoy as bad things happen, and we see if we can care about him. I don't believe it was in any way intentional, but that's how it comes across to me. So that's two down, let's see if this will apply to Spock!

Despite my words above about being uncomfortable the first go round (I watched it in January 2021, so COVID was VERY much still happening), this was the episode that honestly convinced me that TOS was worth investing in. At that point I'd seen The Man Trap, Charlie X, and Where No Man Had Gone Before. None of which impressed me. This one finally did the job. I was actually kind of mad cause had I forced myself to get to this episode as a teen, I probably wouldn't have quit just 2-3 episodes in. This was the kind of crazy, exciting, and surprisingly insightful story that I had been waiting on, and it came just in the nick of time.

The concept of the episode is one that I think about a lot. Contracting a disease that completely removes your inhibitions. It can cause you to be taken over by your fears, your pride, your lust, just about anything. There are a lot of darker routes that the episode thankfully didn't go down, but it's still terrifying to think about. Sure, some of it is silly. Shirtless Sulu running around with a fencing sword and acting like a swashbuckler? By far the most fun scene in the entire episode. You could tell that George Takei was having fun XD The science officer at the start being overcome by fear and nearly killing himself, then dying on the operating table when he should be alive? That is utterly horrifying.

Things get chaotic quick. We actually get some excellent moments from both our three leads (okay two leads, but I can count McCoy at this point if I want to!) and the supporting cast. I believe that this is Chapel's first major appearance, as a matter of fact. We have Sulu with the fencing, of course. We have Uhura's response to being called a fair maiden. We have Scotty in full miracle worker mode, seriously that man doesn't get paid enough I swear. McCoy doesn't have as much that I can touch on as I will for Kirk and Spock, but the man managed to make a cure in a matter of hours while his staff were losing it, which essentially means he was doing everything himself for a good chunk of it. It's a good thing that he avoided getting infected, cause otherwise the Enterprise would have been royally screwed. Even the minor characters like Reilly, who will actually pop up again later, are pretty fun with his hijacking of the engines. It may have driven the bridge crew crazy, but it was fun for me~!

But speaking of Kirk and Spock...

You know one plus side to an episode focused on characters losing their inhibitions? It means that we, as the viewer, get to see the very rare vulnerable sides to characters that normally remain in check. We saw a bit from Kirk already in The Enemy Within, but we see here how frustrated and pressuring he can be. He's forcing Scotty to essentially pull off the impossible. There's a point where he snaps at Uhura, though he does apologize. He outright slaps Spock around to snap him out of his diseased state. Then when he gets himself infected, he mutters on about his devotion to the ship and how he can never have love because of it. He keeps it together long enough to let McCoy cure him, but it still says a lot. He's a man who is so devoted to his captaincy and the Enterprise that he feels that he can never love anyone else. He has a thing for Rand, but it can never be more than that. He has several relationships that we'll see that failed because in the end, his first love is the Enterprise. It's pretty sad when you think about it and how aside from McCoy and to an extent Spock, he can never allow it to show.

Then we come to Spock. Oh Dear Lord Spock. You know how he said in The Enemy Within that he's able to deal with his conflicting Vulcan and Human sides because he has the intelligence to do so? Yeah... he's not as capable as he'd like to think.

We've gotten to know Spock now. He's intelligent, logical, and very much efficient at his job as both Science Officer and First Officer. He's also incredibly blunt, rude, and as he especially made clear in Mudd's Women, finds humans and their emotions a pain to deal with. He has his reasons for being like this, and as this episode demonstrates, he has a LOT that he keeps suppressed.

When he gets infected due to Chapel's love confession (which apparently SNW explores more of this, but I haven't seen it yet so I can't comment), Spock slowly starts to break down. He gets into a conference room, repeating to himself that he is in control of his emotions, what his duty is, and even try to do math problems before he can't stop sobbing anymore. I think I read that Leonard Nimoy had to do this in one take, and if that's true... holy crap, now THAT is excellent acting! This is a scene of a man losing his control and breaking, something that I don't think that Spock has been able to do in a very long time and in this instance, he was forced into doing it.

This is a turning point for Spock's character, I think. We remember scenes like Mudd saying that Vulcans can't feel anything in Mudd's Women, a sentiment that Spock has repeated. We have him in The Enemy Within advising Kirk to keep the split secret from the ship to not cause unrest and, as I said, insisting that he can maintain his own two sides via his intellect. Now we see here that despite his cold, stoic demeanor, Spock does have emotions. Ones that he has bottled up due to his upbringing and the racist treatment that he'd received. He tries to act fully Vulcan, and that means expelling any human emotion. But he's still half human, and humans just can't bury their emotions away forever. Trust me, I've tried.

In that one instance, he can't contain it. He has guilt about never telling his mom that he loved her and likely also never being able to be Human enough for her, at least in his mind. He feels shame for the comradery he feels towards Kirk, by far the closest thing to a friend he has at this point. We saw just last episode how when it looked like Jim was going to be killed, he acted very emotionally and recklessly to try and save him. Which considering how Uhura pointed out to him earlier about his friendship with Jim and his coldness, it says a lot. He only calms down after getting it out of his system and hitting Jim hard enough to bust his lip. We never see him get hypo'd with the cure, so I assume that either McCoy or some other medical officer gave it to him off-screen. But if he hadn't been by the time he and Scotty are in the Engine Room, that means that he only pulled himself together long enough when Jim began to spiral for a plan that he thought was outright impossible.

I guess the short version of this is that this is the first time when we see that Spock has deeper layers than what he portrays. We'll learn more about why he's like this, but for now this is when Spock became a more three-dimensional character. This is where we truly see him struggle with his emotions and the shame that he's buried so deep down. Such shame that when he can't maintain control, all that he can do is cry. As someone who has also felt the need to suppress their feelings and feeling that kind of shame, I have a LOT of empathy for Spock. If this episode was indeed meant to get me to feel for him, it succeeded.

Anything else I need to touch on? There's the whole plot about a planet breaking up or something that causes weird time shenanigans at the very end. I... I'm just gonna leave it at that. We see the virus re-emerge in TNG... and imo to FAR less success, but I'll go into that whenever I reach TNG on this blog. Heaven knows that's not happening anytime soon. We have Chapel's first major role and her crush on Spock will pop up again later, which... meh, I don't have strong feelings about. Maybe because I'm too invested in shipping Spock with McCoy, but I guess when I hit SNW I'll see how things went prior to how they are here.

I think that's about it. Coming out of this rewatch, I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time! It's fun, it's wild, it's got some great character insight moments, it's a really solid episode. Like I said, had I made it to this one years ago I very well may have stuck with TOS and been invested much sooner. But hey, I guess better late than never. It's nice when I go through episodes I didn't care for and grow a new love for them (The Corbomite Maneuver, The Man Trap), but it's also good to just watch an episode I already liked and get to enjoy it all over again. That's all you need sometimes~

Original Rating: 4/5

Rewatch Rating: 8/10

[My TOS Reviews]

[TOS S1 Reviews]

[Previous Review] / [Next Review]

#star trek #star trek tos #st reviews #the naked time #tos s1 reviews #tos s1 #tos reviews

6 notes · View notes

spongebob-connoisseur · 10 months

Note

hi there !! i hope you don’t mind my asking, and i apologize if this question has already been asked, but do you by chance have a favorite spongebob episode? or perhaps multiple episodes? and if it’s not too much, may i ask why the one(s) you choose are your favorite(s)?

I answered an ask like this a loooooooong time ago but I don't mind answering it again. There's some new opinions to add. This is just going to be main series episodes. No kamp koral or the patrick star show because that'll be a lot.

It's kinda hard to say what's my favorite episodes because I like a LOT of episodes in spongebob. For most of the show it's hard for me to find episodes I don't absolutely love (not counting seasons 6-9a) I have favorite seasons. I rewatch season 1 waaaay too often. Its calming and pleasant and is the season with the best characterizations too.

As a kid I didn't care much for season one because it was slower paced and not as funny as seasons 2 or 3 but I've come to appreciate season 1 over all the other seasons. Everything about it is so perfect. Its impossible to pick a favorite episode. Any episode with sandy in season 1 is easily a gem. The pilot is a straight diamond. I really love the Halloween episode ScaredPants. The music was great and I love spooky themed things so this is a given. Also the way how Jay Lender draws Spongebob in the first season 👌 👌 👌 👌. Peak Spongebob design.

I also like season 10, its a comfort season. I was just getting back into the show after the 2nd movie premiered. I remember losing interest in the show around season 8 so it was a few years since I watcher the show. Season 10 is really a gem and I feel like its underrated. I feel like if you don't like modern Spongebob its still worth giving season 10 a chance. It's fun without being too exaggerate. My FAVORITE episode of this season is Mermaid Pants. Hands down. It's just good old fashioned spongebob shenanigans. There's also Sharks Vs Pods, Mimic Madness, Feral Friends. They're all great IMO.

As for other favorite episodes, Spongebob's Last Stand, Fear of Krabby Patty, Spongebob's big birthday Blowout, Stanley Squarepants, a lot of episodes in seasons 2-3 that I can't even count. A lot of them is because they are nostalgic or so fun and bubbly. It usually boils down to being feel good. I don't think you should count me as a critical opinion. If it makes me feel happy then that's about all that matters. I could never be one of those youtube cartoon reviewers.

Also here's something new to add: Slappy Daze from season 13. Slappy is my FAVORITE character in the show, besides Spongebob. I've never ever had a favorite character in spongebob that rivaled the golden boy so it's a big deal to me.

I never thought Slappy would get his own episode because he's a parody character and he's not really liked. Even when Kaz promised Slappy would get his own little short, I was expecting a little segment that lasts a minute or 2. I never thought he'd get HIS VERY OWN EPISODE.

It was EXACTLY what I wanted too! My dream episode is just an episode showing Slappy's day to day life and I got that! Just him with no other characters there to disturb. The entire thing feels like a fever dream but it still makes me so SO happy! I feel like atm its my most rewatched sb episode.

I still find it so strange that everything I wanted to happen in that episode happened, to the point where it felt too specific. I'm not going to say what was it exactly but I'm sure my FBI agent was reading my erratic 3am notes app entries :)

#I hope this answers your question #the spongebob connoisseur #spongebob squarepants #spongebob #sb #spongebon squarepants #spongebob meme

5 notes · View notes

astorinx-writes · 2 years

Text

Describing and Reflecting On My (Almost) 11 Years As An AB Fan

Like most times in my life, I find myself lost in thought about the many things that make me who I am. All the special interests I’ve picked up over the years, many of which have come and gone. But at least one of them has stayed: my ever present love for Astro Boy. So, I thought, as I turn a year older, I would talk a bit about what’s brought me here today as an AB fan, and get a little introspective.

It’s funny when I mention my beginnings as a fan because I wasn’t initially much of a fan at all. I remember coming off the heels of what was arguably the most confusing time of my life: my parent's divorce, and being relegated to only seeing my dad a couple of times a week. In October, one of those days was spent heading to the local movie theater to watch the 2009 movie. Before this, I had no exposure to AB. But if my memory serves me right, I think our whole reason for going had more to do with my dad’s nostalgia for (presumably) the 80s series than anything else.

Again, there wasn’t anything that stood out to me in particular about the film. But I should say for the record, if you read my first-ever blog post here wherein I reviewed the 09 movie, you’ll know it’s grown on me quite a bit. Not to the point where I would ever consider it a favorite of mines, but certainly enough to respect it for what it was, and what it served in my journey as an AB fan. No matter what I think about the film now, or what I thought about it back then, it was truly at the time my only exposure to the franchise.

So, I leave the film and think it’s okay, I move on with my life and sink my teeth in other things. But my brother, on the other hand, seems to like this far more than I probably thought I ever would. I mean the amount of AB merch that had come out at the time! You had the toys at McDonald’s, I believe some toys at Toys-R-Us… I mean the movie bombed, don’t get me wrong, but for a split second, I was seeing AB everywhere in my house, and it was a nonstop talking point between us and my dad. I have to give him credit, though, if it weren’t for his persistence in finding out more about the franchise, I might’ve just shrugged at the movie and called it a day. But sadly, when I say “he found out more about the franchise” I really mean is “he saw YTPs of the 80s series on YouTube.”

Speaking of the 80s series, this is actually where his door closes, and mines opens up just ever so slightly to test the waters. I can’t say exactly how it all panned out because my memory is far too spotty for that. But, to make a long story short, I found myself curious about the AB world again and, after having seen the 80s series, I wanted to give it another try. Now, at the time, there wasn’t really any “way” in and of itself to watch the 80s series, unless you owned physical media. It was a weird time because streaming was in this sort of infancy stage where nobody pirated anything because Netflix was king. But if you wanted anime… well… you’d have to watch every episode in 3 parts on YouTube like everyone else, bud.

Funny enough, during that endeavor, I managed to watch just about every 80s episode, and I have not seen the 80s series since. I’m not sure when I’m going to break the streak and rewatch it, but I see it as more of an internal joke that I perpetually keep up for the lolz. At the time, though, my reasoning for not going back was actually because the channel I was watching from got taken down, and nobody else seemed to have an archive. Certainly though in the year of our lord 2022, where even the 60s series can be watched on streaming services, I think I’m just purposely skipping out.

That was back in 2012, a year later, I had an exposure to something a little different. You see at the time, I was in 6th grade, and I had a homeroom teacher who was a stickler for us reading during homeroom time. Now, when I was younger, I did read a lot, but by 6th grade I had mostly stopped (probably due to IRL stuff, but who knows?). So, I was basically relegated to reading almost anything from way back when that I could get my hands on at home. In comes my local library to the rescue! When I went over there for the first time, I was curious as to what the odds would be that any Manga volume was there. And luck be damned, I found a couple at the last minute. Now, I didn’t want to completely suck them dry of their manga supply, so I only checked out 2. But I soon realized that was a bad idea, since it turned out that I read graphic novels at lightning speed. I finished both of them rather quickly and had to read them over and over again for both homeroom and during P.E. attendance for a few weeks.

Briefly, I’ll talk about how I got into the 03 series. Initially, the 03 series was available on Netflix, and despite my initial thoughts on its art style, I decided to give it a try. Again, I wasn’t thinking too much of it at the time, but after the 2nd re-watch, I was sold. And when I mean sold, I mean I dropped every other rendition for that one. I also mean when I refer to or speak of anything AB related, I am 10 times out of 10 talking about the 03 English dub, and nothing else (except any of my fan fics or AUs). Nowadays, though, when I want to watch the 03 series, I have the dubbed version on DVDs that I’ve backed up digitally onto an external drive, so I just plug the drive in and go from there. This is also where I get all my screenshots for edits, and for my screenshot archive.

You’ll notice that for the most part, I’ve been talking about more IRL events rather than online stuff. And that’s mostly because me becoming the AB fan I am today didn’t really kick into gear until around 2015/2016-ish when I joined Tumblr. But before that, I did something a little similar… I wrote fan fiction. Or rather, my now partner and I did. But before she jumped on board, it was just me. Again, with no one to look after me or express any concern, I found myself on FFN reading… well… let’s just say… things someone at the age of 12… probably shouldn’t have. I read plenty of problematic works by problematic writers, and it inspired me to want to give it a try myself. After all, I did like writing— though like reading, I did give it up. I think at that point; however, I was so enamored and inspired, I let it all go and just jumped right into it.

The first fic I wrote, “Zoran vs. Uran,” served (technically) as the starting point to what would become my fan fic series Vivid Insomnia. But at the time was an arguably silly fic that never got finished because even past Sage knew it was horrible. The basic premise was based on the fact that in the 03 dub, Uran’s name was changed to Zoran, but I thought it would be interesting to write a fic in which Uran and Zoran are 2 separate characters. So, the plot basically surrounds Tenma creating Zoran and sending her off to live with O’shay. It was called “Zoran vs. Uran” (simply) because the “major bombshell” to be revealed was that Zoran and Astro are related (a shocker, I know /s). So, apparently Astro was supposed to finally gave a shit about her, which pisses Uran off and makes her incredibly jealous (something we can all relate to, I’m sure /s). Therefore, as a result, Uran and Zoran were gonna duke it out WWE style.

I legitimately have no words.

I’ll spare you all the tiny details, and move on to the short stories I did. After attempting to write a couple of fics and letting my anxiety consume me, I took a break from writing for a while, but found a way back in through writing short stories. Again, if V.I. was clay, then these short stories were helping it be molded into the shape it was set to become. Some of this information does overlap with my last post, so if you would like to learn more about the fan fictions I’ve written, you can check that out. The only thing you need to know is that after those short stories, I wrote my first long fiction in a while, called “Astro, Oh Astro, Where Did You Go?” It was by far my most em tonally gruesome fic at the time. It really paved the way for where I wanted to take V.I. and I think ultimately made me realize that I like writing about the emotional and mental perils of life, and what it takes to dig oneself out.

The entire premise was that after sleeping over at a friend's house, Astro decides to run away, leaving everyone to wonder where they went. By modern standards, this fic is a hot steaming plate of garbage, but at the time it was (again) the deepest thing I had ever written. Mostly with Astro’s portrayal-—I know many associate them with being childish and happy-go-lucky, and I do still agree with that sentiment. But during that fic, and certainly now, I find myself seeing them as a much sadder character. I won’t get into why exactly right now, so we’ll leave it at that. But in this fic, it should be noted that Astro’s entire persona surrounded how utterly depressed they were.

Moving on from fan fictions, I’m a freshman in high school who just left Google + because Tumblr lets you customize your desktop blog, and G+ doesn’t. This is also around the time that I had given up on my dream of being an animator because I would’ve honestly rather shot myself in the foot than do any sort of sketchbook doodle ever. You’ll notice I haven’t spoken about any fan art I’ve done, and that’s mostly because I feel it would be pointless, since it didn’t lead to anything but heartache and irrational anger on my part. Instead, I decided to be a graphic designer because at the time, I liked downloading fonts from dafont.com and making fan works for Vivid Insomnia in a way that didn't involve drawing. Funny how everything that makes me a modern-day AB fan comes back more to V.I. than anything else… haha.

So with my Shadows Into The Light II, and Bebas Neue, I slapped the worlds #edgiest quotes (or song lyrics!) onto 03 series screenshots in Photoshop. And that’s basically how my design hobby (as it pertains to AB) started. I dabbled in other mediums, like videos and GIFs, but I would wager that today, design is my strongest suit, and it’s what I do the most of.

Years went by, I wrote more, designed more, started uploading videos a tiny bit more. And since I want to keep this post lighthearted and less focused on psychoanalyzing myself, we're going to skip over the many times I said something stupid and let my jealousy and low emotional intelligence get the best of me. Let’s just say… I learned a bit more about my place as a fan in this fandom, and also how not to interact with people, basically.

By the time I graduated from high school, I was ready to move on from this fandom, actually. Impostor syndrome ever so fragrant, I thought “AB isn’t serious?! I need to be serious now! I’m a real designer!” So, I gave it up for exactly a couple of months before I went back to my shipping retro bullshit, and before I knew it, I was essentially back where I started: An Astro Boy Fan on Tungle Dot Org. It was at this point though that I realized, if I wasn’t going to quit being in the AB fandom, the least I can do is polish myself up a bit. I haven’t mentioned any of my past usernames, but when this was all happening, I was Astro.png- a name I made as an inside joke because I export all of my static designs as PNGs. When I decided to “get serious”, I changed my name to Astorinx (yes, ASTORinx, not ASTROrinx, common mistake, I understand). This coincided with the change of my main design brand to Thylio Design, and also a personal change of name too (don’t you just love when your personal branding finally catches up to your gender changes too?)

Here, to close this out, I can finally touch on my “Astro is a sad character” point I was making earlier. Originally, when I switched to being Astorinx, I hadn’t intended for the blog to take a mental health/psychology skew topic wise. You’ll notice a lot of my works throughout the years have mostly been observational. I am simply making works based on how I interpret Astro’s character. But even then, as I look back, I realize that even then, my works weren’t taking place within canon. Rather, they were post canon. Because I’ve always found myself to think and believe that while Astro canonically was quite happy-go-lucky, their circumstances and life events told an entirely different story. No matter what you assume, at some point, you’re bound to realize that those events and whatnot, are going to catch up to them. I think in my personal quest to learn more about myself through the world of psychology, it has led me to look into the minds of some of these characters to ask an ample number of questions: What does it look like when this character is at their best? What does it take to get there? Or what about their worst— where are their faults, and why?

As time went on, I started to embrace a story line that was beginning to come about in my works, most exemplified by my “I Need To Forgive My Inner Child And Tell Them It’s Okay” piece. The story is this: Astro is an older and wiser adult whom, after going through and making great strides in therapy, looks back at the actions/thoughts/feelings of their younger self. Contrary to feeling regret, anger, or embarrassment for whom they once were, they look at their younger self with an immense sense of compassion. Like a warm blanket on a frigid night, they give their younger self a hug and say, “It’s okay. I totally get you, and I wish you well.”

Though not all of my works fit this narrative, especially when I make designs for characters besides Astro, for the most part, you can assume in some way, shape, or form, it’s relevant. What I’ve also realized, too, is that there’s a lot of people who find solace in my designs messaging. I recently even got asked to do a design supporting neurodivergency! While I will never claim to be a psych or mental health expert in any way unless or until I get an actual degree, it does make me happy that people are taking to my works in such a way. Over the years, I’ve become such a proponent for seeing people be the best version of themselves as possible. And while I wasn’t initially intending for my posts to be for the masses (thematically speaking), I’m glad Astro’s introspection's about who they were canonically have helped others do some reflecting of their own.

So, that’s now, but what’s next? Well, as I mentioned in my fan fiction post, I still have a lot more to write. And of course, I will always have plenty to design, even if there are considerable breaks in between due to burnout. In terms of videos, I have a few AMV ideas cooking currently, it’s just a matter of when I’m going to shake off the nerves and get started on them. I also still plan to run the AstroBoyFanWorks blog and its Discord server companion for as long as possible. I think when I look back at just how long it’s been- I mean 11 years is so wild! It’s almost unbelievable! But, I find myself in a place where I’m just happy to be here. I could go on and lament about so many things, but the truth of the matter is that after this many years, you either shit or get off the pot, as they say. You don’t second guess, you don’t make assumptions, you decide: Am I going to stick around for at least another year? And personally, I think yes.

#astro boy #tezuka #anime #blog post #fandom

11 notes · View notes

unfunky-and-out-of-time · 1 month

Text

some reviews now that ive watched all the futurama movies

overall: i found the movies to be lacking... something. like i cant quite tell if its the pacing or the inconsistent characterization or their almost admirable dedication to keeping up their refusal to adhere to continuity in style of the actual show. but having these movies sort of tie in with each other plot-wise (or at just the one time between bbs and bwabb. idr) and then not letting the characters remember what happened in the movie that Just happened. well it just feels very strange and makes for an overall wonky story.

bender's big score: i think its not a surprise if i say that this one has the strongest plot. it's been built up throughout the fox run and it does tie it all together in a neat bow. i loved the time travel plot. the antagonists were kinda... eh but i could accept it because at least the character dynamics and conflicts felt fleshed out.

i still prefer to view the plot as part of an alternative timeline because it kind of weakens some of the greatest episode in the original run (the luck of the fryrish and jurassic bark. dont tell me they "coulve still missed him when he disappeared the second time" because no. stfu) and fry's character in general - him feeling so out of place in the 20th century and not spending a single second mourning his past life when he wakes up 1000 years later feels like a crucial part of his character. but alright.

sometimes i wonder if i read more into leelas character than the thoughts the writers have put into her character because to ME her being so easily swayed by romantic gestures and being superficial as well as being quick to run into serious commitments is a great reflection of her character and her insecurities and i love exploring her through that. but also then they depict these really outdated and honestly shallow ideas of what romance should be whenever they have an ep in which fry pursues her (time keeps on slippin, the farnsworth parabox) which makes me think these writers dont have a clue. this imo wears down their dynamic in into the green wild yonder too

still... i think out of all the movies ill probably (only) rewatch this and grow to appreciate it

the beast with a billion backs: so when i heard about the concept i was a bit weirded out but not in a gross way which is a good sign because getting this kind of reaction out of me is difficult LOL yeah but well. the movie could not handle the weight unfortunately i think the plot couldve fucked soooo bad. they couldve done a good take on scifi horror and get all existential but idk we just got this. bender jealousy plot is always good no complaints. you could kinda tell that in its heart it was meant to be just a singular episode. wouldve gone crazy tbh.... also fry's pope fit FUCKED im obsessed.

continuity.... ermmmm so going from bbs to THIS? who approved this. this was the last movie i watched of the four and wow it does not live up to the cliffhanger at all. fry being heartbroken over colleen was kinda? ig?? i feel like they couldve much more weight/tension to this movie by just cutting her out and making leela the cause. wouldve added more organic character conflict. but also maybe they thought they already did all of that in bbs so what do i know.

bender's game: guys i got nothing to say on this one. i barely remember the first half. i only remember the second half because i hated it.

into the wild green yonder: i liked the character dynamics and honestly i wasnt too offended because i feel like the movie wasnt striving for much. the plot is kinda ehhh the conflicts feel a bit contrived and thats saying a lot considering its futurama. benders just doing whatever... who gaf tbh. leela had a great start but honestly the more i think about this movies plot in particular the more i dislike it. wong gets away unpunished and this just never gets addressed. like not even in a satiric way which i found strange.

considering how this was - at least for a limited amount of time - the series finale it was really mediocre. fry and leela saying their i love yous right then and there felt sooo unearned and i love these two truly. which is why the writing makes me so mad sometimes.... but yeah i dont know if i particularly mind that they keep the characters apart (it certainly didnt help the plot) but reuniting them right at the end when the overall confrontration felt so anticlimactic kinda ruined the vibe...

end review: futurama has better moments and you can reeeally tell these guys are tv 20 min sitcom writers. yeah

1 note · View note

bongosblorbos · 5 months

Text

my supernatural rewatch reviews: season 2

jk i did season 2 tonight also. personally i'd consider this one of my favorite seasons, but it's only #3 out of the kripke based on ratings. again this falls victim to having some amazing episodes sandwiched by duds. my least favorite episode was probably Everybody Loves a Clown with a score of 5 for pretty obvious reasons, although I do like establishing Sam's fear of clowns. that's good. my most favorite episode was In My Time of Dying, this has gotta be like a top 5 for the whole show for me. average rating was 7.23!

here's the detailed reviews:

01 In My Time of Dying Dude I full on Swayzed that mother. —10

02 Everybody Loves a Clown Points given: Dealing with Dad’s death. DEAN FIXING BABY (plus one million.) DEAN BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF BABY (minus 1 point, plus 2 for being hot). Jo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ash!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t remember him but I love him. My little mullet man math genius. Points taken: The clown plot was so bad. I do not give a shit. Or a piss. Not even a fart. —5

03 Bloodlust HUGE DEANEPISODE!!!!!!! Hating on Dad episode! Dean actually does not want to be a hunter for the rest of his life! Dean critiques dad and Sam defends him so that’s a fun lil turnaround. Gordon! FUN monster of the week. FRESH IDEAS. Character focus integrated into the plot very well so all very interesting. —10

04 Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things Pros: What’s dead should stay dead. Single man tear. Cons: Plot. I was bored. —6

05 Simon Said A woman kills herself by lighting herself on fire after covering herself with gasoline and Dean doesn’t make a Zoolander joke. This is a criminal offense. We know Dean watched Zoolander (Blue Steel). He would totally reference that. I LOVE the little mind control guy. Evil twin is cheesy but fun to watch. —7

06 No Exit I feel like I should’ve enjoyed this more but I was doing abstract algebra notes while I was watching so that didn’t help. Joepisode. I love her so much. I think they could’ve done so much more with Jo and Dean’s relationship. This was literally Jo and Dean fake dating and they did NOTHING about it. None!!!!!!!!! Tragedy. Idk plot was boring and it felt very much like it was on a little mini set, no interaction with the outside world. Boohoo. So much potential wasted. —5

07 The Usual Suspects Sam and Dean suffer the legal consequences of their actions :0 Fun movie references that I didn’t get but were enjoyable nonetheless. —7

08 Crossroad Blues John is in hell confirmed :) —8

09 Croatoan Honestly they missed a lot with the plot. It felt very much like a scapegoat plot so they could just make Sam and Dean talk about their problems. It could’ve been way more interesting and interactive with the real world, but instead felt isolated and superficial. Boohoo. That said, many amazing moments still give it a lot of points. I’m gonna say this one time, you make a move on him and you’ll be dead before you hit the ground, do you understand me, do I make myself CLEAR?! You got a neighbor named Mr. Rogers? Not anymore. —9

10 Hunted Boring! Boring! Sam episode. Where’s Dean —5

11 Playthings Plot was integrated AMAZING into this episode, it felt very rooted in the plot and real consequences in the real world, but still managed to address a lot of Sam and Dean issues! Haunted house! Scooby Doo reference. Drunk Sam king of appropriate and logical transitions. Dean says MILF on screen. —7

12 Nightshifter Boys suffer legal consequences for their actions again. I was very stressed, thought the shifter was gonna be Sam or Dean the whole episode. Fun but no standouts in my head, but I was doing homework while watching so there’s that. —7

13 Houses of the Holy Dean listening to “led zeplin- kashmir” while we listen to Nazareth “Hair of the Dog” implications. Dean keeps talking about how he doesn’t believe in angels bbgorl just you wait. Just You Wait. Unfortunately I was overall a bit bored by the actual episode but I was also very distracted by the Zeppelin thing it is still bothering me. —6

14 Born Under a Bad Sign Dude you had a girl inside you for like a whole week. That’s kinda naughty. —7

15 Tall Tales VERY fun storytelling to Bobby with differing POV. Plus Dean getting beat up by beautiful women in heels and lingerie. —9

16 Roadkill Very easy to predict the twist but it was fun. Beautiful woman who is the actress for our main ghost girl looks so familiar I’m gonna lose my mind. —6

17 Heart I see the Sam appeal. I See It. feelings Felt. Wow. Sam looking back :( Dean’s flinch :(( —7

18 Hollywood Babylon Gilmore girls joke!!! Filming in Canada meta reference. Dean is a pop culture nerd and a slut. Enjoyable but not good necessarily. —5

19 Folsom Prison Blues “What are you, from Texas?” Ghost is boring. Ooohoohooo evil nurse. But Dean looks DELECTABLE. Chomp. —6

20 What Is and What Should Never Be The implications. —9

21 All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 1) Cried at the end. —8

22 All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 2) :(((((((((( —10

#spn #long post #my supernatural rewatch

0 notes

lovesickfolly · 1 year

Text

2022 Watchlist

Current Watchlist // 2023 Watchlist // 2021 Watchlist // My Favourites / My Art These are all the dramas I finished in 2022. They might not have been released in 2022, but this is when I watched (and finished) them. Year total: 76 dramas watched. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beware, here be spoilers!!

(Everything is subject to change and just personal opinion. My ratings and opinions don't reflect on the quality of the shows at all. Tastes vary!)

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

Dramas I finished in 2022.

(Alphabetical order.) 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us (Thai BL) Final rating: 8/10 This show was painful but beautiful. Painful in that I knew from the very first episode that it wouldn't have a happy ending, but the writing and acting and cinematography were still gorgeous to look at. Wang falling in love was tragic, because it was never going to work out. He was the very image of his father, stuck between his (love for his) mother and (his love for) In. Except where his father was on an even setting with the both of them, he's still seen as a child. Him trying to convince the world that he's not was more of a struggle in this show than him being attracted to a man was. He represented his mother and In's greatest fears and regrets. And as a result he was never going to get what he wanted with In, because In was never going to risk making the same mistakes and destroying someone the way he destroyed himself. Beautiful, but painful. So be careful if you watch this.

21 Days Theory (Thai BL) Final rating: 7/10

A cute show that surprised me. I was expecting it to be, well, worse, but it was actually rather cute and I didn't even hate the side characters. I don't really have strong feelings about it, though, which means it was good enough to have me look back on it fondly, but nothing really stood out to me at the same time.

8.2 Byo no Hosoku / The 8.2 Second Rule (Japanese BL) Final rating: 6/10 A short little series with a main character who finds himself being the match maker for cute guys but never finds one who likes him. Or does he? It's short and not really much of a BL, but it's cute?

About Youth (Taiwanese BL) Final rating: 7/10 I have to admit that I don't remember much from this show. I remember that I thought it was cute and that I was surprisingly into the secondary pairing, but that's all. I may have to rewatch it at some point to be able to give a better review. Ai Long Nhai (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6/10 Oh boy, this one was messy. The two main actors try their best and do have chemistry, but the storyline was a mess and I left the show feeling confused. I finished it because I felt like I had to, but I wasn't really enjoying it. (And this is coming from someone who actually really liked Tonhon Chonlatee and was excited about this somewhat related show, so my taste is obviously flawed.)

Alchemy of Souls (Season 1) (Korean Drama) Final rating: 8.5/10 I really, really enjoyed this show. It's the perfect mix of other worldly fantasy mixed with adventure and great characters. The two main characters were both interesting, the plot a lot of fun, and I actually looked forward to every new episode. Worth a watch if you're into action/adventure fantasy shows set in a beautiful world.

Bad Buddy (Thai BL)

Final rating: 9.5/10 Bad Buddy is already a classic. Every person who's into BLs at all should watch this one, because it's the perfect example of what a good BL should be. It uses, creates, AND circumvents some staple BL tropes but it does it in a great way. The two main characters are awesome together, the actors have comfortable chemistry, and this show has one of the best first kisses known to man. (Also, the moment when Pat and Pran have a sleep over and talk about whether they have a crush on Ink will forever make me cry. Pran's reaction when he realizes that the guy he likes is into someone else is devastating and played so, so well. Heartbreaking scene.)

Be Loved in House: I Do Final rating: 8/10 I actually really like this show. It has a fun - albeit somewhat silly - plot that makes for some great tension between the two main leads. Their characters are opposites in many ways, but gradually you see that they also have some things in common and compliment each other. They make the other better people. Also, the final confession is great. Behind Cut (Korean BL)

Final rating: 7/10 I feel like this show had a lot of potential and I really enjoyed the first couple of episodes. The tension was there and I liked the contrast between the two main characters, but once they got together I wasn't super into it. I thought the best friend of one of the main characters was actually the best thing about the show. He was fun and tragic and his jealousy made for some entertaining moments.

Big Dragon (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 I feel very conflicted about this show, because on the one hand it didn't give me what I'd initially imagined it would, but on the other hand the chemistry between the two leads was great and the story was still very entertaining. The push and pull of the main couple's relationship was a lot of fun and while I'm not 100% sold on the story, the pairing and chemistry from the actors I'm absolutely behind.

Blueming (Korean BL) Final rating: 8.5/10 I always think back fondly on this show. It's one I've watched more than once, mostly because I like how comfortable the main characters feel and how pretty it's shot. As an artist, I just love looking at pretty shows that make me want to draw and this is one of those. It's cute, well produced, and the actors mesh well together.

Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Korean BL) Final rating: 8/10 Much like Blueming, this show is just gorgeous to look at. It has great use of colours and always has a dreamy atmosphere about it. I'm not usually one for step-brothers kinds of relationships, but I actually really like this one. It adds conflict to everything. Also, the younger character being the tallest and more confident of the two is cute. They're just cute, okay?

Choco Milk Shake (Korean BL) Final rating: 9.5/10 If you'd told me a year ago that one of my favourite shows from 2022 would be one about a cat and dog reincarnated as humans, I'd have told you you were crazy. In fact, initially I wasn't going to watch this because it just sounded too silly for me to suspend my disbelief. But, then I saw it was a Strongberry production and I gave it a shot anyway. And, oh my god, was it charming. Somehow the silly premise works and somehow it ends up both breaking your heart and mending it. The chemistry between both pairings is excellent and I still adore how heartbreaking and beautiful the Uncle/Milk pairing is. I still headcanon about them sometimes. <3

Close Friend Season 2 (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I actually like this one better than season 1, which is surprising because this involves established relationships instead of the journey getting there. Is it phenomenal? No. Does it showcase how cute Ohm and Fluke can be? Yes. Also, I was very into the second/main pairing that this season introduced, which probably helped make it less 'established relationship'y.

Color Rush Season 1 (Korean BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 Color Rush has an amazing premise and is absolutely stunning to look at. The use of colour is both important to the storyline as well as the production and you can tell. The main characters have great chemistry and the story is painful, dark, and colourful all in one.

Color Rush Season 2 (Korean BL)

Final rating: 8/10 Much like the first season, this season is gorgeous and there is a surprisingly interesting plot to it. I was skeptical at first because one of the main characters/actors had been replaced, but it worked well and there is something hauntingly tragic about this relationship where one person has spent a lot of time waiting for the man he loves to return while his new lover must now be terrified of that actually happening. Let's just say, if this ever got a third season I wouldn't be opposed to it. Cupid's Last Wish (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10 This is my least favourite EarthMix show and it's rated 8.5 out of 10. Can you tell how much I love EarthMix as a pairing? XD It's a bit of a wild story, but I was willing to go along with it for the famous comfortable EarthMix chemistry. (Which is funny considering how volatile those two sometimes are together in real life, lmao.) I wasn't even opposed to the inclusion of the sister. It made everything more tense. 'Is he in love with me or my sister?'

Cutie Pie (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I'm torn on Cutie Pie. On the one hand it's well made, has a unique storyline, and great chemistry between the characters, but on the other hand it has some toxic 'I'm lying to you and making decisions for you for your own good because I am older and more mature and know better' attitudes that I just can't get behind. If you ignore that then it's a fun show, though.

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Soul (Thai BL) Final rating: 7.5/10 I have to admit, at one point I didn't like this show and stopped watching it. It took me months to go back and finish it. In the end, it had me crying. It's a weird kind of 'I like it but I don't' show for me, where I'm not huge on the chemistry of the main couple - mostly because one of the characters is a literal angel of death and he's stiff and otherworldly for most of the series - but the story still makes me cry. A timeless, immortal being having to watch their loved one grow old and die will forever break my heart, okay?

DNA Says Love You (Taiwanese BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This is a show that does a lot of things really well. At the same time, it took me a while to get invested. I think it was the big reveal that cemented it as 'this one is decent' for me. And it does say some meaningful things about what love means and whatnot. It just...didn't do as much for me as some other shows do.

Double (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 6/10 I don't...remember much about this show other than what the basic plot was and that I wanted to like it more than I actually did.

It had everything I like in a show, complete with angst and pining, but I just...didn't feel it? Eien no Kinou / Eternal Yesterday (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 8/10 God, this show hurts. Imagine finally realizing your feelings and maybe having those feelings returned and then suddenly your happiness is taken from you. Only, that person is not actually dead. They're still with you, but everyone forgets about them and they're slowly dying in front of you. I know this sounds super tragic and sad - and it is! - but it's also beautiful, because love and affection are why that person was able to live just a little longer. He was able to show his love, talk about what he felt, and just live while being loved. Even if it was just for a little while, that was beautiful. This show made me so sad and yet I'm glad that I watched it.

Enchanté (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 Oh boy. I know a lot of people aren't hugely into this show and I do agree that the writing could have been stronger. (Also, Theo...my man. Decisions were made. Talking would have sufficed, okay?) However, I actually rather like this silly show. The two main characters are very different, but that's the fun thing about them and there are enough interesting side characters to put these characters in various fun situations. Also, ForceBook just have good chemistry and it makes it enjoyable to watch.

Even Sun (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6/10 Look, this show just has me so mad. BounPrem are better than this. So much better. And the sad thing is, this show being bad has nothing to do with them. I don't know what the writers were on, but...it either was way too much or not enough. What the hell was this? I actually really enjoyed episode one and then after about two or three episodes it just went down the drain. The story made no sense - Prem's character is there to get his money back from Boun's character even though it's apparently the other way around? and legally that somehow works? And then Boun's character basically kidnaps Prem's character even though earlier he was trying his best to get rid of him? - and the side pairing was cute but was so disconnected from the main story that it felt like two different shows. BounPrem deserve better. Honestly. I'm so glad they got Between Us.

Fahlanruk (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6/10 Failanruk, more like. Oh my god, was this show a mess. Like a lot of other shows before it, I was fine and kind of interested after episode one. Not so much after episode three or four. Basically, my headcanons were fun and fascinating. Two playboys hooking up and having a friends with benefits situation before gradually realizing they've fallen for each other and having to navigate a situation - genuine affection and an actual relationship - they've never been in before sounds great. But no, one of the playboys just falls in love after day one for absolutely no reason and the other somehow falls in love too after being hounded and pestered for a while. Why anyone would be at all attracted to Fahlan is beyond me, because he is one of the worst (non-criminal) human beings I've had the pleasure of seeing in a BL. He's rude, obnoxious, toys with his own boyfriend and judges him for cheating when he himself has done nothing but cheat on him, harasses a guy who's made it clear he only wants a one night stand, is an asshole to his friends, and is over the top jealous/possessive of his boyfriend several times. Sherbet can't even give or receive affection from his long time best friend when he's injured without Fahlan being mad. This show drove me crazy!! (The side couple was cute, though.)

First Love Again (Korean BL) Final rating: 7/10 Cute but nothing special. The chemistry is okay, but nothing amazing. The story, however, is cute and the tension between the two characters is believable. Imagine waiting thousands of years for your one true love and then they're nothing like you've expected them to be? And imagine having to live up to the expectations of someone who's been waiting for you for that long? Let's just say, my headcanons were epic.

Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai! / Unlucky-kun Has No Choice but to Kiss! (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 Is it silly? Yes. Is one of the characters basically using the other for his personal gain? Yes. Is it still cute somehow and worth watching? Also yes.

Ghost Host, Ghost House (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8/10 This show pleasantly surprised me. I figured it'd be a ghost story with some comedy and basic chemistry, but it ended up being kind of heart wrenching with a great main pairing. These two have amazing chemistry and the attraction jumped through the screen. The story itself is also pretty good and interesting. If you're not watching for the chemistry between the main leads, then watch it for that. (It's not as scary as it promises to be, btw. The ghosts are generally good people.)

Hard Love Mission (Thai BL)

Final rating: 5.5 Look, I liked the actor playing Yoshi. He tried his best and was cute. That's about it. I can't even headcanon with this show because everything was just...lackluster or downright terrible. Ridiculous plot with sudden villains and next to no chemistry between the main pairing. I liked one actor and that was it. Sorry.

Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai / I Want to See Only You (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 7/10 Very cute show with pretty cinematography. It's short, which is both its advantage and disadvantage. Things aren't hugely fleshed out, but it's sweet and relatable and feels like your first (summer) love. Like the first time you looked at someone and felt butterflies.

KinnPorsche (Thai BL)

Final rating: 10/10 I might as well just link this post where I talked about it.

Kissable Lips (Korean BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 This just wasn't my show. All the things I liked - the chemistry between the characters and the two main actors' performances - I got (and better) in the second show they did together. Vampires just aren't my thing, I guess.

Love Class (Korean BL)

Final rating: 8/10 I could have done without the main character's obnoxious friend, but other than that this show was fun and I'll probably give it a rewatch soon.

Love in the Air (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This show is...questionable. Both relationships have fairly toxic beginnings - one starts out through subterfuge and repeatedly ignoring 'no' while the other is just built on not taking no for an answer - but do end up with clearly mutual attraction. If you can ignore the part where both of the older characters completely refuse to take their future boyfriend's word at face value, it does end up quite cute and with some very nice, steamy scenes. I just...had a hard time doing that. The rating is based purely on the chemistry between the actors and not at all on the story being told or the characters.

Love Like the Galaxy: Part 1 & Love Like the Galaxy: Part 2 (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 7.0/10 & 7.5/10

I was super excited about this show when I first started watching it, because it has my probably favourite actress - Zhao LuSi - in it with an actor whom I really enjoyed in The Long Ballad. And the storyline did seem very promising going in. However, I sadly didn't end up liking it as much as I thought I would. The main female character is fun, but at times she's also a total bitch and gets away with way too much. (All the important, good characters immediately love her even though she's everything a girl in those times would be expected not to be.) And the male character is just...boring. He isn't even near her for huge parts of the story and their chemistry disappointed me. I thought she matched much better with the actor playing Luo Yao. (Whose character I also liked better. He seemed a much better match.) So, yeah, fun show but not as good as I expected it to be.

Love Mechanics (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 This is another show that has a toxic relationship as the main focus. However, the difference is that it being toxic is part of the story. We know that Vee is an asshole to both Mark and his girlfriend. (Of course, his girlfriend also ends up cheating on him to offset this. Convenient!) That's something he has to work on throughout the series to eventually win Mark over. Had I been Mark I would have dumped his ass ages ago, though. The chemistry between the two leads is obvious and carries most of the show.

Love Stage!! (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10

A cute story, but there's not really much to it. Both leads are very pretty, though, and they did have decent chemistry once things actually started happening. Minato Shouji Coin Laundry (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 9/10 Look, as a grown up and a teacher do I approve of student/teacher relationships where one is a grown ass man and the other a teenager? Absolutely not. Does this show tell a great story and did I enjoy it? Yup. Because it's a fictional story, I was able to get over that and ended up really enjoying the tension and angst and the eventual happy ending. But had this been real life...no way in hell.

Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 8/10 It's been a while since I saw this show, but from what I remember I was really into it while watching it and for a few months after. The main female lead is a lot of fun and not as obnoxious as a lot of cdrama leads tend to be. Fun, action filled, pretty to look at show with good actors and great characters.

My Only 12% (Thai BL)

Final rating: 9.5/10 This show was made for me. Had the characters been a bit older and not teenagers, this would have been 10/10. Best friends who eventually realize - through a bunch of angsty, painful, beautiful episodes - that they love each other is my aphrodisiac. I love that shit. This show actually made me cry both sad and happy tears. It's comfortable, loving, gorgeous, painful, and heartwarming all at once. Earth and Santa work so, so well together and I actually liked them a lot more than I thought I would.

My Ride (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This is one of those shows that I kind of didn't care for the first time I watched it, but then liked it a whole lot more the second time around. It has a very likeable main character and the other main character actually being into someone else for the longest time was rather interesting. Plus, older queer character representation!!

My Secret Love (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10

This show is a little messy and the plotline goes back and forth a little, but it is cute and it has some great secondary pairings. I was especially into Tim/Mai for the longest time - they took the longest to develop and had the most angst, okay, I'm a sucker for that - and still have active headcanons for those two.

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwanese BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 This is a really good show. I don't have it rated that high because I didn't completely feel the main pairing, but that doesn't take away from that it's a good show and there is a lot of chemistry. Also, like many shows the secondary pairing was fascinating and I wish it'd gotten more of a conclusion.

Not Me (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10 Not Me has become a BL staple and rightly so. It's a very good story with some amazing characters and it deserves to be considered one of the best and most popular BLs in recent years. And Gun deserves so many accolades for how distinct the two characters he plays are. The only reason that it's not rated higher for me is that I was one of the few people who wasn't hugely into the secondary pairing.

Ocean Likes Me (Korean BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 Was it cute? Sure. Did I feel the chemistry? Not really. I love Holland and really liked his co-star in other shows I've watched, but I wasn't 100% convinced on this one. I also thought the storyline was on the weak side. Pretty shots of the sea (Ocean?), though!

Oh! Boarding House (Korean BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 I may have to rewatch this show, because I only have vague memories of it. To the point where I sometimes come across videos on youtube that have characters from it in them and go 'oh, hey, that show seems interesting. how have I never seen that be- wait, it's oh boarding house...'

Oh! My Assistant (Korean BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 A little weird, but cute. One of the main characters has the personality of a houseplant, but I think that's kind of the point? He's still very pretty, I guess. It's short but sweet.

Oh! My Sunshine Night (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This show broke me. It had so, so much potential and I was so invested in it for about half of the show and then it turned into murder plots and helicopters and completely abandoned what it had initially been about. Look, this show was supposed to be about Ohm and Fluke being tragic and sad because Fluke's characters had a heart condition, but in the end his heart problems didn't even matter to the story at all. I was so mad at the end, because I'd been so excited about everything - especially the secondary pairing - but everything they'd set up got thrown aside for literal murder and subterfuge. The rating is purely for the side pairing and the potential the show had. If you can ignore the last bunch of episodes and just headcanon what a normal show would have done, you're good.

Old Fashion Cupcake (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 10/10 One of the few shows that I've given 10/10 to. As an older queer person, this show resonated with me a lot. It's about older people realizing they are still able to fall in love and discover things about themselves. Alongside that it's a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing tale of cupcakes and adoration. It takes short but sweet to an entirely new level. Please watch it. (Also, Togawa is unreasonably pretty.)

Paint with Love (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I actually really liked the main pairing. They were different, but that made them fun. It's also really funny that I watched this before I knew who most of these actors were. Looking back I'm going 'wait, Tae? Yoon? YACHT??!' It's also kind of an office romance show, which is currently all the rage. Ahead of its time, I suppose.

Plus & Minus (Taiwanese BL)

Final rating: 8/10 The kind of suffering and pining that LiGong does throughout most of this show is exactly the kind of thing I live for. Like I've said several times before, best friends who come to realizations is my jam and one of them pining for the other for decades is right up my alley. My interest kind of tapered off towards the end and the secondary pairing was a little weak - Yuki is pretty but... - but it's still a really good show.

Roommates of Poongduck 304 (Korean BL) Final rating: 9/10

This is what happens when you give the Kissable Lips boys a better story and it's a blessing. The tension between the two main characters is fun, the arguing amusing, and the chemistry is just undeniable.

JiWoong and SeoBin are so good together and I'm trying very hard to be happy for JiWoong and not sad that we'll deprived of this pairing now for a long time if not forever.

Secret Crush on You (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 SCOY is a bit of an acquired taste. It took me two tries to get past the first few episodes - look, I'm not into people falling for their creepy stalkers and Toh breaks a lot of boundaries that never should have been broken - but once you get into the meat of it it's a charming show with amazing chemistry between the pairings. Nuea/Toh is one of the few pairings that actually feel like they'd bone in public if common decency wasn't an issue. I think it's the sounds and the grinding, to be honest. Also, Sky is a green flag kind of character before that kind of thing was cool. Sky/Jao forever.

Semantic Error (Korean BL)

Final rating: 10/10 One of my 10/10 BLs. Even if you've only seen a few BLs I'm sure you've come across this one. It was even famous in non-BL circles in Korea and it made both of the actors verified superstars. The story is one of contrasting personalities clashing until they eventually realize that they actually work really well together. It's blue versus red. Reason versus emotion. Calmness versus passion. Just watch it. You won't regret it.

Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! / Senpai, I'm in Love! (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 7/10

Not my favourite Japanese BL, but that doesn't mean it's not good. It's an office drama and very cute. It takes a while to show the chemistry between the two leads, but once it does it's pretty good. And the main character is just adorable.

Shining Just for You (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 7/10 I watched this solely for Peng Xiao Ran, whom I loved in Goodbye My Princess. She's great in this too! I'm not hugely sold on the male lead, but the story and Xiao Ran's performance are good enough to have made it an enjoyable watch regardless. It has some similarities to GMP actually, as it starts out in similar settings. Not nearly as heartbreaking, though!

Sword Snow Stride (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 8.5/10 This show had such a pretty first episode that I ended up drawing three watercolour pieces for it before I even hit episode three. I knew Zhang Ruo Yun from several previous shows, so I knew he'd be good and I thought the story overall was a lot of fun and was super pretty to watch. Some of the characters - especially the female ones - were badass. I thought the romance aspect was weak, though.

Something in My Room (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10 When I watched this it was mere months before watching an influx of ghost related shows and this still remains one of the better ones. It's interesting, the characters work well together, and parts of it were painful. I like my shows to hurt a little sometimes.

Star and Sky: Sky in Your Heart (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 This show was always going to have a tough time ending up as one of my faves because it reminded me too much of A Tale of Thousand Stars and it was never going to beat that. So, it started out on the back foot. However, much like ATOTS it did have beautiful scenery and I wasn't averse to the story being told. Very similar, but still cute. I'd be interested to see if this pairing could do well with a different setting.

Star and Sky: Star in My Mind (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 Much like the other Star and Sky episode, this show was fighting immense odds. School related shows are plenty and some have been way better made than this one. However, I don't dislike it as much as some people seem to do and actually think the main pairing is very cute together. Frustrating sometimes, but cute. Also, after watching their Our Skyy 2 episode I now need Typhoon/Maitee to happen.

Takara-kun to Amagi-kun (Japanese BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10

This is such a soft, pure show. It just exudes first love.

It's very pretty to look at at times and the characters are just adorable together. The ice prince who's been crushing on the innocent dork has kind of become a BL staple, but it works so well here. It's just cute, okay, much like My School President is cute. And soft. And adorable.

The Autumn Ballad (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 7.5/10

I don't remember much about this show, which is surprising to me because it has two of my favourite male actors in it. I do remember it was pretty and that the two leads were entertaining together, but other than that...?

The Blue Whisper: Part 1 & The Blue Whisper: Part 2 (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 8.5/10 & 8.5/10

Any show that has Dilraba in it is guaranteed to do well. That's just a given. This show is no exception. It has some amazing worldbuilding and a great, powerful main character with equally great supporting characters. Hell, one of them even circumvents the 'rival turns evil' trope and makes actual, sensible decisions. Good on you, Hao Qing! Very pretty show that will make you root for the main pairing. Might seem long due to two seasons, but at 42 episodes combined that's less than your average (single season) cdrama. The Eclipse (Thai BL)

Final rating: 8.5/10

The Eclipse is one of the most popular BLs released recently and proved First/Khaotung to be an excellent pairing. And it's deserved, because the show is great and the two actors have a lot of fun chemistry. My only gripe with this show is the ending. Having the perpetrators all be queer characters while the story is supposed to be about how oppressive regimes/governments/etc are and how they hurt those very same people just doesn't sit right with me. Like, all the people responsible for the curse were gay. And they were oppressing the out queer characters and putting them in actual danger. Really? That's what we're going with? The Love of Winter (Thai BL)

Final rating: 5.5/10 I...remember nothing about this show. Which makes sense, as it's only 2 episodes. Whoops? The Tuxedo (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10 I know a lot of people dislike this show, but I didn't think it was actually that bad. Okay, I didn't give it a high rating, but it had a unique concept and I actually liked the way the characters developed. (And this is coming from someone who loathes 'he got better through the power of love' scenarios.) Not earth shattering, but still cute. Till the World Ends (Thai BL)

Final rating: 6.5/10

Just...not really my show. The storyline was all over the place and one of the main characters was just completely unlikable for most of it. Like, actively lying to his love interest, whom he pretty much got killed. And that's not even including the time he hit him over the head so hard that he ended up with amnesia. I like Art as an actor, though?

To My Star Season 2: Our Untold Stories (Korean BL)

Final rating: 8/10 It's like this show knows that I don't enjoy established relationships, so they broke them up and went through the pain of bringing them (back) together all over again. And I loved it. Was it painful and tragic and frustrating? Yes. But that's what I loved about it. Because in the end they suffered through all of that because they need each other.

To Sir, With Love (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7/10 I have a weird relationship with this show, because on the one hand I love the relationship Tian and Jiu and I loved Tian's brother, but apart from that I had absolutely no interest in the storyline or the other characters. Like, it wasn't fun to me somehow and so I spent half of the series just fastforwarding to the good bits. And, no, that did not include magic mushrooms. I know a lot of people loved it, though, and I can see why. It just...wasn't for me. Only that amazing relationship. Hell, those amazing relationships because the love between Tian and his brother was just as deep and important. Triage (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 My issue with Triage isn't that it's not a good show with an original plot and good acting, because it's all of those things and I did really enjoy it, but that I didn't think the chemistry - which is there plenty, don't get me wrong - is realistic when it comes to two characters who basically meet for the first time every single day. At least from Tol's point of view the first time around and then the doctor the second. And initially Dr. Tin falls for someone who only ever gets introduced to him and has only known him for a day, basically. Like, how do you fall in love with someone who doesn't know you at all? Who will treat you like a stranger every time you meet him? My brain just...wasn't dealing with that. Still a really good show, though! Unforgotten Night (Thai BL) Final rating: 5/10 Oh, Unforgotten Night... What a mess you were. Supposedly dark and gritty, but in reality just silly and repetitive and throwing away any and all potential. I like Yoon, but I don't think he was right for this. Though I do think he and Ton work well together. The only thing I was really interested in at the end of this show was the relationship between the bodyguard and Baiboom. Which, in true tragic BL fashion, they did nothing with and it had no resolution. Truly cursed. Vice Versa (Thai BL) Final rating: 7.5/10 A really good show with an interesting premise and great main characters. I don't know, it's just a good show. It doesn't really hit my favourite tropes - there could have been more angst about not knowing what the other looks like, etc - and I still don't get why Puen didn't tell Talay who he was, but still a really good show.

War of Y (Thai BL) Final rating: 6.5/10 This show is tricky, because it was basically a collections of shows. Some I was really invested in - well, one, maybe two, I was really invested in - and the others I just...watched because I could. Billy and Seng have such amazing chemistry that I enjoyed the first one quite a bit, but after that it got to be less and less. It also became repetitive. Everything was about 'this thing bad for everyone involved, but the love is real guys!' (Not to mention the contradiction of making a show about how the very shows they're creating are bad and shouldn't be supported while wanting fans to support you.) So, yeah, this show is weird to judge. What Zabb Man! (Thai BL) Final rating: 6.5/10 One of those shows where I find nothing really wrong with it, but I also wasn't invested in it. I was most into the side couple, honestly. I'd like to see those two in more shows together. Who Rules the World (Chinese Drama)

Final rating: 9/10 Look, if you put Zhao LuSi in a show I will watch it and if you add YangYang, an amazing story, and an equally amazing world to it? With a badass main female character? Then I'm sold regardless of what happens. This is one of those shows I'd recommend because it's just so much fun and has some great characters with a compelling, entertaining story. Why You… Y Me? (Thai BL) Final rating: 7/10 I primarily watched this because there was such an uproar about Shogun and Maito on tumblr and I get why. I do. They're cute. But in the end my angsty brain just felt bad for Green. Idk, I'm weird. You're My Sky (Thai BL)

Final rating: 7.5/10 I've seen people talk bad about this show, but I don't really get it. Yes, it's not ground breaking and there is some repetitiveness in the issues they deal with, but overall it had three pairings that I really enjoyed and that were different enough to keep things interesting. It was cute.

#arcana's watchlist #bl dramas #thai bl #korean bl #japanese bl #taiwanese bl #cdramas #chinese dramas #bl series

1 note · View note

ruby-whistler · 3 years

Note

Alright curious anon here. All this is /dsmp /rp from here on out unless otherwise specified and is refering to characters. If i make any mistakes or am misinformed please let me know! So by the cat was nothing compared to mushroom henry i was meaning more toward the fact that the cow was killed as a punishment for something not worth or ok for it to be killed for at all and the fact that it belonged to tommy, wheareas the cat was killed more to annoy dream and belonged to tommy. (1/?)

alright then another lengthy reply, here i come! /lh /dsmp /rp

Dream also did not seem to mourn the cat much, shrugging it off with a "just more motivation to break out".

it was killed to hurt dream, not to "annoy him". it doesn't matter who it belonged to, c!dream was attached to it and it died, which had an effect on him and also further proved his point about attachments being weakness and caring getting you hurt, and it's still very sad.

you say that it was not ok at all to kill mooshroom henry, but the cat's death wasn't ok either, so i really don't see your point.

again, i disagree it was "nothing compared to" either way. i never meant to compare them in the first place, i was simply talking about the cat and c!dream so i don't see why it is in any way necessary to drag c!tommy and other dead pets into this. /nm

also, it isn't true he didn't mourn it. he is a very reserved person who doesn't show his feelings much, that's true, but the cat death still changed the way he acted afterwards, as well as the attempts he made to prevent it. he didn't "shrug it off", he yelled about it because he was understandably upset.

You mentioned that propganda was used to make dream seem like a tyrant, could you specify a bjt? Cus im a little confused srry /gen. Because the most i can remember from the lmanburg era at least is him being called a b'tch or other similar insults. You also mentioned how trauma responses can be differet which is true! I agree! Do you have any ideas to what caused dream the trauma?

wilbur would continuously make him out to be some sort of oppressive, tyrannical force, in front of his troops - a prime example of this being the lyrics of the l'manberg anthem itself and the l'manberg declaration of independence.

actually! here's a nice thread about l'manberg's establishment complete with links, timestamps and evidence :]

i also said in my previous post what could've possibly caused it, but since the character intentionally hides his emotions from the public, it would be difficult to see how things really affected him - which is why the way his spiral went is the majority of the evidence that would imply it, however it does make sense within the story as well with what i mentioned last time.

I would like to note that for sapnap at least had reason to leave dream. Some examples off the top of my head are dream leading an angry fundy to sapnap's pets on purpose, resulting in some deaths, dream assisting tommy in burning down sapnap's effiel tower where he got engaged to karl, and dream giving tommy either mars or the other fish at the battle of the lake. Idk about george tho other then the whole mexican lmanburg/el rapids thing and decrowning him

c!sapnap was actually at fault for most of this, and it wasn't really ever betrayal on c!dream's part.

c!dream is a mediator and he wants to stop everyone's conflict - c!fundy was angry because of c!sapnap's actions, and hence it made more sense for c!dream to centre him on c!sapnap's animals instead of running around killing everyone's pets (at that time, all c!dream knew was c!sapnap did something really bad and c!fundy wanted beckerson / mars from him, which were also his and c!george's fish).

c!sapnap was an instigator, and in multiple conflicts during the time as well as before he'd align himself against c!dream. he isn't "loyal" per se, he causes chaos and the reason c!dream helped c!tommy was because, c!sapnap, again, killed his pet. the first l'manberg war and then the 16th are signs of the fact that c!dream and c!sapnap were willing to fight together in actual war, but these small conflicts where c!sapnap continuously picked fights weren't about personal loyalty, nor did they seem to affect their relationship at all.

c!george was never really hurt by c!dream either. the dethronement was him very obviously being a guilt-trippy drama queen, but, well, that's just the character. he had stolen the l'mantree while he was supposed to be the diplomatic figure of the greater smp, which is why c!dream was justified in - very politely, may i mention - taking the duties off of him (seeing as he was also trying to keep him safe and c!techno had already assassinated him once).

Im pretty sure i remember cc!sam stating that his character never canonically physically tortured dream during his subathon but take this with a grain of salt as i am looking for the clip currently. So to the best of my knowledge dream did not have a physical contact trigger during tommy's visit which! I rewatched the vod and dream actually was first to hit tommy and i can give you my full writing downs but 10/12 of the phy-

you never finished this point because you had to go do something, but i'll reply to what is here at the moment (i suggest writing these down before sending next time, or even writing them out wholly before sending a single one could help avoid stuff like this).

i am 95% sure that the reason cc!sam stated this was because people were suspicious he had already been doing what c!quackity was doing after - torture within the storyline itself is associated pretty much only with what c!quackity is doing, so that's what he meant, just to clear up confusion - the starvation or terrible conditions haven't been retconned, but it was direct torture (like c!quackity is doing) people were asking him about.

i never said c!dream had a physical contact trigger at all, i don't think he had that, though he probably will after the torture.

huh, ok, i'm gonna have to rewatch then, but i remember c!tommy punching c!dream a lot and him just telling him to stop and only punching back to get him to stop. trigger or not, getting hit isn't very pleasant, if you know what i mean.

You mentioned tommy stealing dream's armor unprovoked. Do you have the vod or a general idea of the time so i can find it? Like before lmanburg after another event so and so because if you do not have it i can find it but any help is appreciated.

i am pretty sure you can find the video on cc!tommy's channel! there are also recaps of the disc war on youtube :]

I wanna talk a little on why the Final Control Room was so messed up. For starters, with the way the room was designed. It was small, and had labeled, empty chests with each person's name on them as a mockery. The next reason is that its bascially a kill box.

It's fairly inescapble with the stairs being ones you have to jump up, slowing anyone who climbs them down. The final reason it is messed up is that it is shown to have caused every person who died in it trauma. With tommy there are several examples, the time he saw it with techno, the way he refuses to go near it, the exposure trauma, etc. Fundy also appears to have trauma, as when the Red Banquet executions began, it can be seen as him being afraid of dying last again.

It can Be thought as tubbo having trauma because he buries most of his issues and pretends to be ok. Moreover this event took at least one of each person's canon lives, making it the most canon lives lost EVER in a dream smp event. (This is not hate on any of the ccs btw i loved this scene and its one of my personal favorites). Plus the fact Eret's betrayal just literally happened, giving at least Tommy and Wilbur canonic trust issues.

i wouldn't call the chests mockery? it was a trap. people had traps on the smp before. it was a trap in the middle of war, supposed to end said war by killing them all at once rather than individually which would be a lot more bloody and difficult.

i agree c!tommy and other people might have post-war trauma, especially if they were young during the time, but i think that's because the final control room was "messed up", moreso because the war itself was. it all happened fairly instantly as well? i don't think c!fundy would be able to realize he was the last one standing within the two second before he wasn't.

it "can be thought" and it can be interpreted like that but besides c!tommy there isn't much evidence for them "all" being traumatized by the final control room. of course betrayal would spark trust issues, i understand that.

The probation was humiliating in my opinion because dream was Sending tommy anatgonizing messages through out the whole meeting, plus he had to write a review of his day every single day, which fundy mocked him for.

i mean, it was definitely a strike to his pride, but he was being extremely uncooperative so i don't really blame the other members of new l'manberg trying to teach him to listen for once? of course i know c!dream was riling him up, and that should definitely be considered. i don't think it would be as humiliating if c!tommy didn't make it, is what i'm saying.

for the tommy being toxic to fundy? At least for the examples you gave, to me personally they come acoross as either in a meta way being the cc's bantering or in canon being the characters having banter. If you can send the post with the clips so i can read the tone better that would be cool but if not i will try and find em.

no, these were all in canon. canon isn't only when c!tommy is being nice, it's also when he's being a jerk. /lh

the first one was him threatening c!fundy about kicking him out of l'manberg and undermining his self-worth, and the second one was him trying to get c!sapnap to vote for them via bullying c!fundy.

i found these from a transcript focusing on c!fundy's character, so i don't know exactly where the first one is from, but the second one i am pretty sure is from when the elections were starting with the whole cabinet battle deal and all of that.

there are other instances, and all of them are canon. his personality was never being nice or compassionate, so i'm not really surprised? he still cares about the people he cares about and is very brave, y'know. but this part of his personality is definitely a valid reason for people to dislike him.

I hope the exam went well :). Hope u have a great day! (Ps i think theres something called a submission box to send in pictures? Am not entirely sure sry)

it would've gone well but my work-speed is a tad too slow for the schooling system (considering i'm three years younger than my classmates,,, probably that's also a factor) so probably not despite the fact i knew everything and would've aced it if i only had more time. i did as well as i could so i'm not worried about it, but thanks!

i think you're thinking submissions. sadly, i tested it and it doesn't work on anons, so idk how you'd solve that, maybe make a burner account?

Curious anon here one point you may wanna include in the redemption essay is that c!tubbo or c!tommy do not necessarily have to forgive him. What's important is that he recognizes what he did was wrong (exile, beating tommy to death, manipulating them both, etc) and does his best to make amends. Hope this helps! Can't wait to see your essay

it's out, idk if you've seen it yet, and i think i included enough of that so hope it's all good! :)

the mcc update video is out if you are an mcc enjoyer. It's very neat, if you wanna check it out

yeah! i am a fellow mcc enjoyer, saw it already, thanks for telling me though, i'm really hype for today.

Allo curious anon here sorry if the lots of asks bother you. I was just curious if i could share an interesting post i saw today about c!dream :0 (not necessarily negative i think? More of a statement of an often-confused canon)

sure thing! i don't know what you mean by often-confused since, the entire fanbase is very confused always, and often selection bias plays into the perception from both sides, but sure :]

you also sent in a thing for the other anon who said they didn't know what c!dream did that bad; pretty sure they couldn't really be alerted since, not sure if they watch my blog that closely, but i'll summarize your points just in case and add some notes;

the repeated blowing up of l'manberg (in my mind that's largely a positive since i,, despise that country, but fair enough), revealed c!ranboo as a traitor (they seem to be friends so i also,, think that might've been planned between him and enderboo), sent ghostbur away (i don't think c!dream knew it was dangerous for him and wanted to actually hurt him, but idk), participated in fighting against c!sapnap when he killed people's pets (that's only negative against c!sapnap and didn't seem to hurt him much at all), and then the whole vault scene where he was allegedly planning to steal people's things (though saying he would & being stopped beforehand and doing it are two different things, frankly).

so i still agree with the other anon that a lot of the hurt he did "to the entire server" (he only negatively interacted with like,, a half of them) is exaggerated both by the characters and the fandom, but i guess that's a consequence of most people seeing him as a threat to everyone's happiness rather than a complex personality.

Also he was aware of the butcher army going to kill techno but only got involved because he saw an opportunity to get a favor. (As he knew in advance due to him telling techno to get a totem, watching from afar instead of interveing or manipulating tubbo out of it)

i don't understand this at all, i'm sorry. how do you know he only helped techno in order to get a favor? last i remember he was only doing it to protect and strengthen his alliance, and techno came up with the whole favor thing entirely on his own. you might've not watched techno's perspective or their prior interactions, idk, but this really is a misinterpretation in my eyes. /nm

sorry if that is overly dream negative i just wanted to let yall know cus you seemed unaware -curious anon

nah dw, i watch the smp and i watched all of these things happen so, wouldn't say unaware, but thanks.

#long post #my asks #curious anon #tw torture #tw animal death #c!dream negativity in asks #nothing aggressive though #so safe to read

81 notes · View notes

skyjennysworld · 2 years

Text

exposed from my sequels trilogy review: - i rewatched "the force awakens" and "the last jedi" (tomorrow i will review "the rise of skywalker"). Well...everything changed when I watched star wars resistance KKAKSKSKS. I even kept looking for any reference to "Colossus". But anyway, a lot has changed since I shipped dinluke, because it sure made me change a lot. Before reviewing tfa and tlj I was having several dreams and imaginations about Ben Solo and Grogu. I was thinking a lot about what Ben's mind was like, what it felt like to be him... I even cried a lot.

I have a weird gift (or maybe it's just my excessive daydreaming disorder) where I embody the character, making me be like him, it's like I act and see everything he's going through, and I feel it. So because of that I can describe the characters a lot because it's like I'm in their bodies, so I understood for a moment. but moving on, I was thinking a lot about all stages of Ben, from childhood to teenager. and also i thought a lot about dinluke (which i don't know if it will ever be canon) and the grogu in action. in many, many things (one day I will make a specific post about this) and.... Ben's soul is so lonely and troubled that I think I have a kin in this character.

another reason that made me want to rewatch it was some videos on tik tok and several reviews on yt. all the characters deserved much more than that, more development!!!! so much wasted potential. because honestly, I really like the story, but I could always have added something more like in the prequels era and the original trilogy.

Now watching it again, I see how much I like it a lot and I don't need to hate it like I did before, because of the influences in the fandom. who is always complaining. do you have reason to complain? YES AND A LOT. but I think we should also remember that it's still a sw story. It's at these times that I love ao3 fanfics more than ever (disney, you have to hire the writers there as screenwriters).

now as a shipper of Luke with Din, every sentence of old Luke in tlj hurts me and makes me cry a lot. please don't hate old Luke, he has all my love and I would do anything to make him smile. Now with this new phase that we saw in TBOBF, I'm not at all prepared to see his fall... his shine disappear, you know? to see him corrupted by these jedi laws that made him lose himself in who he was.

there's probably going to be more stuff with young Luke trying to find his way around. and there was one thing that Yoda said in tlj which was that Luke is always looking too far... at what could happen, when in fact he should be seeing what's right in front of him. what he already has. and bro... i cried a lot and a lot now that i saw this more than i saw it for the first time. because I'm completely understanding this sentence. Luke is a perfectionist and pessimistic person: he's afraid of being alone, of losing someone he loves, of failing, he demands a lot from himself (he demands too much) and he always thinks it's not enough.

that he will always want to be someone better. he doesn't hold back with who he already is. because he doesn't feel he is worthy. he blames himself. do you know how i know this? I'm like this. I identify with him. Luke is not my favorite for simple reasons, I basically know how he feels. so... that thing about me shipping dinluke also has a reason, I kind of feel better with Din in a different way. because Din is also a part of me. and now with the mando series having involvement with the sequels era, he's probably going to die... Grogu too, I don't know. one word: despair.

I love star wars, but this thing is making me have emotional/technological dependence and I cry a lot about it. "star wars is a family story" half the characters don't even have a family and the others have a dysfunctional family KAKWKWLDKDKFKD (I don't know if I should laugh at this).

but anyway... I want more exciting stories, I know they will break me and make me very bad (I'm very sensitive, is it PMS????) but that's it. please recommend happy fanfics to make me feel good. from the sequels era, by dinluke, i want to delude myself with the hc. because I know that at least in the headcanon everything is possible and I don't have this void

8 notes · View notes

into-crazy · 4 years

Text

horror and chill

Ledger!Joker x Female Reader one shot

Summary: You and J watch a horror flick. Eventually you both grow bored, turning your attention onto one another. You don't make it through the movie.

Warnings- Cursing, NSFW, SMUT, fingering, edging, orgasm denial, light knife play, spanking, use of the word daddy(once), unprotected sex, brief degradation, choking, light blood play, J style fluff, ages 18+

This sort of popped into my head while I was watching a scary movie. I'm a sucker for watching horror movies in the dark. Let's just say my self indulgences deff kicked in with this one whew! Also forewarning, it’s very long.

The month of October has always been a favorite for you. That time of the year when Autumn is in full effect. The air outside is cooled down, where it's not too hot and not quite cold yet. Seasonal items return with a comeback, available to stock up on- whether they be edible goodies or scented candles. Then, of course, there's Halloween. Or spooky season, as the kids like to call it.

That special time where watching horror movies is an absolute must. Ordering takeout, nothing on but panties and an oversized tee, cuddling on the couch with a blanket, turning out all of the lights, and blasting the volume on the television to get the full effect. Yeah, it's one of your most prized traditions.

You and Joker have been together for well over year now. Let's just say he was around this time last year. He knew of your passion for this month, but he hasn't fully experienced it with you. Since that was a point where your relationship- if that's what you want to call it- was still fresh. Too early to establish complete trust and understanding in one another. Actually, you believe that still may be the case for J.

Not that you have anything against it. He's a highly complex and guarded man, he has a difficult time trusting people. In fact, he doesn't. But he's allowed you- and no one else- to come this close into his life, and it's pretty damn close. He trusts you enough and he's trying. There's nothing you'd ever do to betray that. You've come to accept it'll take a longer period before you'd get there fully.

Though it can be rough sometimes, you've had your fair share of fights. But he's never given you a reason to leave. You trust him, you've grown to love him. And while J would never confess to it, would never say it aloud, he adores you. He shows it in everything that he does for you. As for love, you've become aware and accepted that the word doesn't apply to him. He can't love. And that's okay.

Fast forward over to now, already a week into October. It's a Saturday night, and you're ready to continue your cherished routine, but with your beloved J. You've only watched two horror flicks thus far. Both nights had been alone, minus him and the takeout. He's been busy with his usual chaotic jobs, which kept him out later hours into the night. However you don't care about that right now, he called and informed you that he'll be home for tonight's showing.

"An' don't ah, don't ya dare start without me." J warned on the other end of the phone line.

"Well then you better hurry back," you playfully teased into the phone, "I already ordered the pizza and the movie is set to play."

That conversation ended about forty minutes ago. You sat on the couch in your shared apartment, waiting for him. Everything good to go, pizza has arrived, scented candles are lit, movie ready to proceed at the click of a button, and the lights are off- save for the small lamp by the entryway. The overall setting feeling eerily, just how you like it. It also feels quite romantic, which is a bonus.

You're wearing one of J's dress shirts with a blush thong underneath. Wrapped snug in a huge fluffy blanket in your designated spot(rightfully decided by you as this was your apartment first). Since he prefers to keep the apartment cold, you tend to get chilly a lot. Which was fine considering you have J and a vast selection of blankets to keep you warm. Currently, you have the blanket. All that's missing is J.

What's taking him so long? I'm gonna start the movie, I don't care. He'll just have to deal with it.. and I'm not rewinding it either.

You began to ponder while sitting in silence. Fingers tapping impatiently on the remote, debating whether or not you should carry on without him. With a loud huff, you glance over at the pizza box on the small table directly in front of you. In the amount of time you've waited, you managed to eat two slices already.

Then, you heard the familiar ruffling noise at the front door. The sound of the lock hurriedly being turned getting you to shoot your eyes towards it without moving your head. The door swings open and in walks J in all his glory, quickly shutting and locking the closure behind him.

"I'm home-ah!" A lilt in his voice as he exaggerates his arrival.

"You're late," you return displeasingly.

He narrows his glare at you, "well uh, hello to you too."

Rolling your eyes, you motion with your fingers, "I was this close to starting the movie without you. What took you so long?"

J works on shrugging off his plum trench coat. "What can I say? It was such a ah, easy breeze to get here." He throws sarcastically.

Shaking your head, you laugh, "I'm sorry J, I didn't mean to sound rude. I just missed you is all." You really do appreciate the extra efforts he goes through to make sure he gets here safe and undetected. To not be traced or followed. Be it by his fellow rivals, Gotham police, and in some cases- the Batman.

"Yeah doll, I know," he licks his lips, "I know." You watch him remove a few of his other articles to get more comfortable. His face paint isn't too disheveled which tells you his day went rather smoothly. Or as he prefers to call it- boring.

You open up the blanket to make space for him. Patting the empty spot right next to you, "hurry and get over here, pizza's getting cold."

Left in his purple slacks, dress shirt, and socks, he shuts off the last light before making his way over to plop onto the couch next to you. He allows you to snuggle against him. With the cover behind him, he doesn't feel the need to wrap himself in it. You, on the other hand, have your end burrito wrapped over you. Finally, you stick your hand out the blanket to hit play on the remote.

Twenty minutes in, you were beginning to grow less and less interested in the film. Nothing but a predictable storyline with a bunch of weak jump scares. Not to mention the overly cheesy acting. Though it wasn't completely terrible, it had a few good points to it. However this film probably won't make it onto your rewatch list. You failed to previously read the reviews for this one like you normally would when picking a new movie to watch. The plot sounded good when you had read it. Oh well, you gave it a shot.

J wasn't fond of the movie either. He's actually more bored of it than you are. Occasionally would he exhale blatantly or comment on one of the bad moments that came across. This. Is. Torture. He thought to himself staring blankly at the screen. And not the good kind. Alas, he'll bite his tongue and miserably sit through another hour because it is your movie night, and he knows how much this means to you.

You can't help but feel bad for having him sit through this with you- for you. Soon, you lost total interest in the film and your mind began to drift.. elsewhere. To his hand, resting freely between your soft thighs. His palm feels so warm against your flesh. But that's just J- always giving off heat. He's like your own personal heater. Sometimes warming you to the point you don't even need a blanket because it becomes too hot. Speaking of which, you removed the cover, preferring his signature warmth over the fabric's any day.

Your fingers start to brush lightly on his wrists and knuckles. The subtle touch earns you half smile followed with a pleased hum, which you see in your peripheral vision. He hasn't caught on yet, but your need for him is building fast.

You scooch closer to him in attempt to get his hand where you need it most without him catching on just yet. It didn't work, his hand isn't touching you. It's right there, mere millimeters away. Thinking about how amazing his hands feel when he touches you. When he grants you with friction as he rubs your throbbing clit. The wonderful spots he reaches when he relentlessly fucks you with those paint speckled fingers. Curling them deep, making you writhe and cry beneath him.

Clamping his wrist, your breath hitches at the thought. Shit. That was audible. For a split second, you thought you might have blown it. But Joker took it as something from the film frightening you.

"Quiet doll," he shushes, "you an' I both know the ah, movie ain't scary."

Fuck, you can't take it anymore. You want him to touch you. With a slight roll of your hips, you manage to get his hand to brush against your clothed heat. The smallest bit of friction causes you to release a muffled whimper.

J's arm stiffens and his face instantly snaps to look at you. You seize, halting your movement. No question, he felt what you did, sees the burning desperation in your eyes. Tossing his head back, he erupts in a delighted, high pitched cackle. "Oh-" more cackling laughter as he glances at you again, "so that's what that was." A malicious smirk spreads his scarred cheeks. He firmly grips the inside of your thigh, pulling you against him. "What happened bunny? Growin' needy?" Cupping your clothed mound, his fingers rub you teasingly.

"Yeah," you admit, taking your bottom lip between your teeth. Tightening your thighs around his wrist. Would've been no use lying to him when he'd easily seen and felt otherwise.

His rubbing comes to an abrupt stop. He taunts, "Ahh, this was your idea, hm. You were the one keen on a movie night, remember?"

"I know, but-"

"Ah-ta-ta," He cuts you off, "But nothing. This is what ya wanted, so that's what we'll do. We'll ah, sit here and watch."

Suddenly, he lifts you, effortlessly moving you into his lap. You yelp as your back is pressed flush against his torso. He separates your legs apart, you can feel his cock beginning to harden under you, pushing into the plush of your ass. One hand wraps around your chest, to roughly knead your breasts. The other slides under the shirt, gliding over your abdomen, down between your legs. To rub harsh circles on your excited clit through the thinly soaked fabric of your underwear.

"Ahh- fuck!" You whine, throwing your head back to rest on his shoulder, reaching around to grip his green locks.

J starts to kiss and nip his way down your neck. Leaving dark patches into your skin, accompanied by red and white splotches- completely marking you. Once he was satisfied with his marks, he leans closely by your ear. "You're dripping, doll," he whispers huskily, his hot breath brushing against your neck. "Now, you will sit here and watch the flick like a good girl, while I play with this needy little cunt of yours. No fussin' or fightin'. Got it?"

"Mhm, yes sir," you answer. Biting back the urge to smile at the thought of finally getting what you want. Fighting it off because, let's be real here, you know with J, it never comes along that easy. But he always makes it damn well worth it.

"Good, now sit still." He growls lowly onto your neck. With that, he pushed your panties to the side and began his torture. His fingers transitioning from fucking your aching hole to rubbing the drenched digits on your throbbing clit. Whispering twistingly sweet and dirty words into your ear while he slathers your own arousal all over your pussy.

He'd bring you close, on the verge of your orgasm, only to stop his movements entirely. Tearing it away from you before you could fall over that edge into pure ecstasy. You grew more and more frustrated each time he'd do that. Though you haven't fully, but you're rapidly losing your composure. Which already may be broken. Sweat is forming on your hairline, tears are prickling your eyes, your breath is starting to hitch. Starting to want it so bad you're teetering towards retaliating to get what you crave.

Joker's counting on it. He thrives on edging you, demands the control over you. As much as he prefers having you entirely at his mercy, he likes it when you lash back. Finds it rather amusing, makes for something a little bit more interesting. See how far you'll go before you snap so beautifully.

And that's now.

You start to buck your hips against his fingers that are going in and out of your pussy, along with his thumb assaulting your clit. Feeling that powerful knot reforming, you need to orgasm. "Oh f-fuck! Please!" You start pleading, "I-I can't take it anymore. Please J, l-let me cum!"

"You wanna cum?" He hints, removing his chin from your neck.

"Yes, God- yes please!" You cry out, clawing your nails into his thighs. Clamping down to gain better leverage. The wild rolling of your hips gets your ass brushing more against his hardened cock. Your arousal had already soaked through his pants a long time ago.

"Fuck," he hisses through gritted teeth, digging his fingers hard into your hip that's sure to leave an array of dotted bruises. He bucks absently into you, licking a wet, hot trail up your neck. "Mm, dirty girl. So you wanna play that game-ah?"

He moves his fingers faster and harder. Even over the loud volume from the television could the wet squelching sounds deriving from his ministrations be heard. The air filled with the scent of sex- your sex. So desperate and ready to let go and orgasm. It's driving you crazy.

"P-please- Ahh! Can I cum?" You plead. Hoping he'll reward you at least for asking.

"You can cum. Go on, babygirl. Cum on my fingers." He finally grants, fingers continuing to get you to ecstasy.

Well you didn't have to be told twice.

You release with a broken cry, orgasm gushing out onto his digits. Drenching the fabric of his pants beneath you. Your body spasming madly over his own while you ride out your high.

Coming down, J removed his hand from your pussy. His fingers are glistening, coated in your cum. He sticks them into your mouth. "Clean my fingers of the mess you made," he growls the command in your ear. Groaning in approval when you comply. Eagerly licking and sucking his digits clean of your juices. "Come here," he grabs your face, turning your head, making you look at him. "Give me a taste."

He kisses you, shoving his tongue into your mouth to savor the taste of your delectable juices. You kiss him back feverishly. One hand fisting in his hair, the other goes to stroke his cock. Still clothed, still hard. The action causing him to snarl against your lips, "such a greedy little thing. Always ah, wanting more. Ya just can't get enough of me, huh?"

"Never," you huff with a grin, "and telling by this-" you rub him again, "neither could you." His eyes snap to glare into yours viciously. Ohh, he's gonna make you pay for that snarky remark.

With hasty movements, J turns you around so that you're now facing him. Straddling his lap. He tears the shirt that adorned your body open, buttons flying to scatter the couch and floor. Someone's gonna have to sew those back on later, most likely you. He removes the shirt from you, carelessly tossing it aside.

With the large article gone, it granted him with a better view of the mess you made on his custom, pricey slacks. His entire crotch and thigh area is completely drenched in your juices. He gave a sigh which tried to make him sound annoyed or displeased. However, with the straining bulge pushing against you below, you know that was far from the case. His eyes traveled to land on your barley covered pussy, he groaned at the sight. The flimsy fabric of your thong sticking to one of your wonderful, wet lips. Your orgasm, still dribbling out your cunt.

He hooked a finger under the thin strap hugging your hip, pulling far enough only to have it fall and snap against you. Chuckling at your slightly startled reaction. "Bad girl. Misbehaving, talking back, making a mess of my pants? These aren't exactly 'buy at the store' ready. Maybe I should put your dirty mouth to use and have you suck your own juices up, hm?"

"I misbehaved?" You mock a pout, fully knowing what you did. Regardless, asking anyway.

His kneads the plush of your ass roughly. The callousness of his hands making you shiver in his grasp. You may think this position is in your favor, that you could use it to your advantage. But Joker's got you right where he wants you. The stern look in his blackened eyes and the firm hold he's got on you make that known. "You ah- were supposed to make it through the film without so much as a fuss. Remember that?"

"I was?" Your fingers ghost up his chest, "I don't remember that part." Now you're pushing it. He notices the smile threatening to creep your face. One of his hands shoots up to grasp a fistful of your hair, yanking your head back, exposing your marked neck.

"Yes," he acknowledges slowly trailing his lips up your throat, "yes you do. You just chose to be a brat and not listen." His tone is dangerous, and it would've been absolutely frightening had you been anyone else instead of the only person he cares about in his life. Even though he'd never verbally admit that, frustrating as it is for him, he does care. He does. Which is why whenever you feel that tingle dubbed as fear creep up your spine, you still hold assurance. The flesh of his scars brush the underside of your chin, making you moan unabashedly. "Ya know I gotta punish you for that."

J uses his hold on your hair and hip to guide you to lay over his lap, your naked stomach pressed against his wet thighs, and most of all, his erection. He reaches over to the small table beside the couch, plucking an item you assume to be one of his signature knives. The distinct clicking sound indicates you were correct. It's a switchblade.

He drags the razor sharp blade along your spine until it reaches your underwear, almost on the verge of slicing into you. The thrill gets your heart pounding faster in your chest and ears. You love it when he cuts you, and he's aware of that. But this is a punishment, so you won't be getting what you want.. least not yet. Placing it under the strap, he tears the article to shreds, carelessly nicking you a few times in the process. Alright, so the little nicks he can't control. Those just come naturally. Tossing the ruined fabric aside, he palms your ass cheeks, favoring a spot to start spanking. "Count. We'll ah, stop when I decide you've had enough."

His palm came down hard against your ass, sending an electrifying jolt through your entire body causing you to yelp. "One!" You count. The stinging grew worse with each spank. He hit you hard, but it wasn't anything you couldn't bare. Warm tears steamed down your reddened cheeks. It hurt in a wonderful way, your pussy leaking more arousal as it progressed. He continued to spank you until he grew bored of hearing the same cries and whines.

"Last one bunny," he subtly praised, soothing over the bright marks in your flesh that are starting to welt and bruise. With that, his hand came down a final time. This one stinging the worst.

"Fif- fifteen." You manage to rasp, mind overcome with the lust you had building up. At this point you need him inside you. You need his cock buried deep in your aching core and you need him now. "Please f-fuck me J. I need you!" Your body arched into his as you begged.

J snickered, "need me huh? How bad?" His hand went back to your abused ass to shove you forward, so that your pelvis was atop his as he purposely rolled his erection against your painfully heated sex. The friction drawing a long, strained moan from your lips which pleased him. "Tell me bunny. How, how bad do ya need my cock?"

"Bad- oh so fucking bad- I need your cock! P-Please J, please daddy, fuck me!" You practically shout, resorting to the word daddy. A word which you hardly use, but do when need be. And now was a time of great need.

A snarl left his lips as he yanks you off briefly to undo his pants and shove them down. His cock finally free from the uncomfortable confines, he sighs with relief as he takes it into his hand, pumping a few times. The tip, red and angry with his precum beading out. "Get over here now," he growls impatiently.

Wasting no time, you swing your leg over both of his, reclaiming your previous place of straddling him. You grabbed-rather pawed- his shoulders for leverage. His thick head lines up with your dripping entrance, then he pulls you down, driving his length inside with a powerful thrust. Knocking the wind from you as he filled you. Fuck, how he stretched you so good.

After a brief second for you both to adjust- you to his size and him to recompose himself- he instructs you to- "Move."

To which you do. Rapidly bouncing yourself up and down on his cock. Unashamed at the loud moans and whimpers continuously leaving your lips. This was exactly what you needed, and having been denied lots tonight it felt amazing to finally have this. You moved like your life depended on it.

J grunted as he met your thrusts with his languid ones, his hands guiding the movement of your hips. He held back from pounding into you, oh how he's going to pound into you, just not yet. Which means he's definitely in the mood to tease you to an extent, in any and every way that he can. What an asshole.. Your asshole.

Your arms went to wrap around him. To your surprise, he didn't shove them off. Instead, his chin went to rest in the crook of your neck, catching glimpse of the illuminated TV screen. The movie was still on.

"Mhm, you're just a horny little slut, aren't ya?" He sneered. "Can't even get through a movie without having my cock inside of ya."

There was no way you could give him a proper response. So wrapped were you in the exhilarating feeling of him that any words to a sentence you tried to form wouldn't come out. What did manage to slip out was muddled babbling. He snickered at your incoherence.

The female protagonist on the screen started to scream. The shrieking noise caught both your attention, though your actions didn't falter. "This woman's a terrible actor," J criticized the lady, "her scream is so fake, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes- ah," you return finding your voice, "It s-sure is."

He removed one hand from your hip, gliding it up the valley between your breasts to grip your neck. Glaring menacingly into your eyes momentarily before muttering, "I think you could give me a better one." You knew from his low tone that something malicious just popped into his head. His fingers tightened, "Let's see if you could scream louder than the girl on the screen. Can ya do that for me sweets?"

You nodded feverishly within his hold, "yes J."

Satisfied with the answer, he began driving his cock vigorously up into you. The harsh slapping of skin heard as his hips pound mercilessly against your own. The spontaneous change of pace left you almost completely breathless. Your orgasm was fast approaching. Eyes squeezing shut as he fucked you relentlessly. You screamed, "Oh fuck!"

Your beautiful screams rang harmoniously in his ears like a favored tune. That he could play on repeat over and over and never grow tired of hearing. Your screams and moans are definitely his favorite sounds, aside from explosions and gunfire. He can't help but want more. Crave more.

"Come on doll, get louder," he teases, "I know ya could do better than that." He went to tug your head to the side, exposing the junction between your neck and shoulder. Sinking his yellowed teeth in, biting down hard to draw blood. That was just the push you needed. Your eyes roll back and your walls clench tightly around his length, releasing a shattering scream as you cum violently around his cock.

J lapped the fresh blood from where he bit you. "Hm, that's it," he groaned, "now that's a real scream." He kept going, his pace never letting up. In fact, soon as your hands went to tug at his hair did his thrusts speed up.

You yank his head from your neck to look into his intoxicating eyes, moving to glance towards your blood on his lips. Crashing them with yours to taste that savory metallic flavor for yourself. You take his bottom lip between your teeth and bite down harshly, earning a rumbling groan from him.

He's getting closer and closer to his own peak as you're nearing another. When you feel his thumb move to rub rigorous circles on your sensitive clit, you release his lip with a sharp cry. "J!"

Your walls clamping painfully tight around his throbbing dick, vision blurring as you cum. Nails digging into his broad chest, probably creating tiny bruises under the shirt.

He relishes in the pinch of pain you give him. Combined together with your sinful noises, the sight of your face contorted in ecstasy, and the feeling of your tight warm walls. With that, he buries himself in you and cums hard. A moan mixed with a groan like noise slipping from his lips while he shoots his hot load into your cervix. So much, that some leaks out while you milk him of every last drop.

J collects his breath before lifting your weight up to slip out of you. Your pussy lips are so swollen that his cum isn't even able to drip down once he's out. He sets you onto the couch beside him, getting up to go into the restroom to clean himself and grab a damp rag to bring back to you.

As you regain yourself, you manage to sit a little more up on the couch. Wincing, trying not to sit up all the way due to the soreness already starting to form between your legs. You wrap the blanket around your naked form and silently contemplate. The sex was amazing sure, but you still felt bad for ruining movie night with a terrible movie.

The sound of J coming back in hadn't even registered with you until he waved his hand in your view, tearing you from your thoughts. You blink quickly, offering him a smile to hide it. But J had already seen the small frown when he walked back. And he wanted to know the reason behind it, since it was out of the ordinary. Usually you're always smiling in your post orgasmic state.

"What's carving a frown in ya, pumpkin?" He asks, a hint of concern in his tone as he hands you the small towel. The strange nickname causes you to giggle and he eases knowing you're alright.

"It's nothing J," you say shyly, "I'm just.. I'm sorry the movie sucked. I promise I'll pick a better one next time."

He hums, saying nothing else as he sits back down beside you. Draping his arm behind the couch behind you. Blankly watching the last of the movies end credits while you clean yourself with the rag.

You start to laugh again, "Well, now I really wanna carve a pumpkin. This place could use a couple. How about tomorrow I get some for us to carve?"

He grins sinisterly, "ya know, I'm usually carving into people."

"Pumpkins are less messy. Like, way less." You playfully respond.

"I like messy," he huffs.

"Yeah I know you do." You smile knowingly at him, lightly tracing the hexagonal patterns on his shirt. "I thought it would be fun. You don't have to if you don't want to."

J licks his scars as he ponders on it. Any activity having to do with a carving into something with a knife, count him in. "Ah, what the hell. Alright. What better way then to uh, help me spruce up on my slicing skills." He traces his hand out in front of him, as if he were carving a smile into something. This action causes you to release a genuine laugh. And in that moment, J relishes in hearing yet another one of his favorite sounds~

Woah, so that's the end! I hope you guys liked it. Again, sorry that it was so long. I can't help but make these super lengthy when it comes to smut😭

#heath ledger joker #tdk joker #the dark knight joker #ledger joker x reader #ledger joker x y/n #ledger joker x female reader #joker x reader #joker x y/n #ledger!joker #ledger joker #ledger joker smut #joker smut #the dark night #fanfic

833 notes · View notes

whentheynameyoujoy · 3 years

Text

So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

youtube

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.

#atla #atla movie #zutara #anti bryke #dev patel #the last airbender #anti-kataang

173 notes · View notes

windychanglin · 2 years

Text

Nirvana in Fire: A Series that Just Gets Better with Every Rewatch

There is a saying that the first viewing of a great series/ movie should be done for the plot, second watch for the details and third watch for the craft. While rewatching things (especially a long series) has never been one of my favourite things, i had done it for a very few Japanese dramas, which definitely the ones i love the most and since they just have little number of episodes. The only long series i'd ever rewatched back then was Sherlock, and this year, finally i binge-rewatched another one! Yupyup, that is Nirvana in Fire, and the sole reason was because i was triggered after seeing the series' six-year anniversary post on Twitter around September LOL. I first watched it three years ago, though i had to finish it in haste before the university's end of semester exam period coming up. I remember i loved the overall quality of the series, admiring some of the amazing casts, repeating the theme songs, looking up for the fanficts, but didn't manage to rewatch it until this year, when i finally have more spare time and less thing to watch on my list.

I don't know if this post can be seen as a review, i just feel i need to write it all down because it's not just my opinions/ questions regarding the details i discovered after rewatching, it also contains my feelings HHH now without further ado, here is some of my best scenes and discoveries after a rewatch that leave me in complete awe all over again of the brilliant screenplay!!

[EP1] I think i didn't catch the clue during my first watch that when Lin Chen said, "He actually did it" upon hearing the Northern Yan's unfavoured 6th Prince's ascension to the Crown Prince, he was referring to Su Zhe. This reminded me again that Su Zhe was so resolute in his plans and never took the shortcut. He went as far as meddling in the enemy kingdom's affairs to create a concerning news about the Divine Talent and make sure it reached the other kingdom's princes. That way he could kill two birds with one stone because he also got the chance to test his own capability as a royal adviser before proceeding to his greater objectives in the Da Liang.

[EP4] I love how Su Zhe looked startled even in the subtlest way when Nihuang confessed that she's in "difficult situation," have no "other alternatives" and hoping that Su Zhe will put all his efforts into the defeat-Baili-Qi plan, i assume he only found out that moment that Nihuang actually still didn't want to get married and worried a lot about the husband selection tournament, yet she didn't say much about it and still being so cooperative with him to carry out the plan, which probably in her understanding, was initially created to get Tingsheng out of the servant prison (as what Su Zhe had promised to Jingyan).

[EP9] Minister Liu Cheng from the Grand Secretariat who stays out of the princes' fight for the throne suddenly brought up Shen Zhui's name to Emperor to be chosen as Minister of State Revenue. Next we found out Su Zhe had set up a meeting for Shen Zhui and Jingyan to know each other. Was it a coincidence or Minister Liu actually had somewhat a connection with Su Zhe?

[EP11] It's ironic that Grand Princess Liyang was one of those people who prevented Nihuang to be drugged by Consort Yue, but it was also her husband, Xie Yu, who made the snake Yue got Emperor's mercy and reinstated to her original position. If Xie Yu had the feeling of guilty because of what he had done to Liyang in the past, he wouldn't come up with an idea to help Yue out from the punishment.

[Ep14] A hear-warming moment when Su Zhe told Yujin that he's a "bright and insightful" person, while in the novel Su Zhe used to punish him a lot due to his frivolous behaviour. Yujin is one of those with the best character development throughout the story, like who would have thought that Su Zhe even trusted him an important mission in a later ep!

[EP14] Nihuang actually started to do the female-style greetings before Su Zhe, she normally did the male-style probably because it was more natural for her as an army general. I love how Su Zhe looked a bit stunned and Mu Qing just chuckling at her sister, acting on behalf of the viewers xDD

[EP19] Remember when Lin Chen asked Fei Liu if he wanted to join him to Southern Chu in [EP1]? In this ep, Princess Yu Wen Nian from Southern Chu was told by "Priest Chen" that her wish can come true once they arrived in Jinling. I wished they show a glimpse of Lin Chen's journey to Southern Chu and how he managed to persuade the princess to visit Jingrui, her half-brother.

[EP19] Why did Mu Qing not invited to Jingrui's birthday? I thought they're bestfriends?? x"D Had Su Zhe done something to stop him from attending the bloody party? I remember he had promised Nihuang that nothing will happen to Mu Qing while she went back to Southern Border.

[EP20] Gong Yu played Feng Qiu Huang (A Love Story) in Jingrui's birthday party, it's a famous Chinese zither song in Chinese history that has served as a symbol of the youth's pursuit for love, free marriage and happy life. A song that would hit none other than Grand Princess Liyang close to home.

[EP23] Water-buffalo is his mother's son after all

After hearing Xie Yu's confession in the prison, Xia Dong actually said, "I'm sorry" to Jingyan for casting him out for years due to his belief of Chiyan army case but Jingyan, being a benevolent man like his mother, didn't think it was for him at all as he replied, "Xiao-Shu wouldn't blame you," probably thinking that the guilt she felt was only aiming for Lin Shu and his family.

[EP23] The moment before Grand Empress Dowager died, she was actually calling for Xiao-Shu and Jinyang (Lin Shu's mother), i thought it was Jingyan at first. I was too slow to follow that Lin Shu's mother was also the granddaughter by blood of the Grand Empress Dowager.

[EP24] Remarkable Argument Scenes

I'd like to address a bit some of my fav argument scenes happened betweet Su Zhe and Jingyan, in which we could see how Su Zhe wasn't only giving instructions to Jingyan as a strategist (like what he had done to Prince Yu), but gradually evoke Jingyan's ability to think of any possibilities and solutions by giving him perpetual questions regarding the situation.

Su Zhe queried Jingyan on how would he arrest Duke Qing, a Marquis General of the second rank, with the right to receive a pardon from Emperor, who didn't commit the murders personally and how to find the missing link as a necessary piece of evidence. [EP9]

After the explosion of illegal firework factory, they had another argument as Su Zhe suggested to pretend to forget on reporting the utilization of army provisions for the victims to the Ministry of Defense. [EP17]

The heated argument happened again between them after hearing Xie Yu's confession in the prison, as Su Zhe suggested Jingyan to give up the investigation of Chiyan army case since it won't bring benefit but endless troubles on his path to the throne. Although it sounded like Su Zhe didn't want Jingyan to investigate, i think Su Zhe was actually testing Jingyan's determination, making sure he won't act recklessly on his own and eventually rely on Su Zhe's plans and strategies. [EP23-24]

Through the logical questions and reasonings, Su Zhe had been training Jingyan to be more forbearing, prudent and know when to retreat/ advance during the fights for the throne.

[EP24] Su Zhe said, "Whenever i think about the things in the past, i feel like an iceberg been roasted by a fire. Sometimes it's warm, sometimes it chills to the bone," this is reflecting to what he said during his first visit to Jingyan's manor after 12 years in [EP9]. He felt the warm because "this place is still the same as in past years, nothing has changed at all" but the unchanged manor sent chills down his spine, provoking the symptomps of his illness, as he next said, "It's just today feels a little colder than yesterday." It's not only Winter, cold weather and over-toiling that could make him suffer a relapse, but also when he's reminiscing the past, it happened too after Nihuang found out about his identity in [EP12].

[EP25] During my first watch i thought Su Zhe would eliminate the entire Hua Tribe because they're dangerous and might wreak future havoc in the Da Liang, but in this ep it's hinted that even though Qin Banruo's informants got removed by him, those who wanted to retire and fled were eventually saved by Jiangzuo Alliance. I like the idea of him saving them because Hua Tribe also deserved the justice after being betrayed by the Emperor which causing the fall of their kingdom.

[EP30] Xia Jang said, "Of the officers ranked above brigadier general, there was two whom we didn't find their Chiyan wrist band. One of them was Wei Zheng" i was wondering whether he had never thought the possibility that the other one would be Lin Shu or Nie Feng and that they're still alive, because they had the requirements above. And Xia Jang should had known that Xie Yu actually brought the wrong (or intentional fake?) body of Nie Feng to Xia Dong.... or he did not know at all.

[EP34] The thievery in the ministry's officials manors on New Year's Eve wasn't a mere coincidence because it was all planned by Su Zhe, for it became a very valid reason to move Jingyan's capital patrols (under Emperor's order) around the city to catch the thieves the day they saved Wei Zheng. Literally Su Zhe had to makes 5 or 6 subplans to save one person with all the risk of being accused, that shows how difficult it was to penetrate Xuanjing Bureau and it's system!!

[EP37] Fei Liu's memory

The plant that Fei Liu gave to Su Zhe was Nandina Domestica, usually known as "Heavenly Bamboo" or "Sacred Bamboo." It's commonly planted in the garden or house in Japan and serves to protect a household from harm. A householder who'd had a bad dream could confide in it, thus ensuring the safety of the home's inhabitants. The question is, did Fei Liu actually know about it? Because he knew his Su-gege had been having frequent bad dreams and had always been in danger during his stay in the city.

In the novel, younger Fei Liu was bought by a secret Japanese assassin group that used drugs and poisons on the kids which resulted in intellectual disability but still enable them to train in martial arts. Fei Liu was the youngest in the assassin group and had not been released on any of their missions yet when one day, the group failed in an assassination task and eventually got eliminated, he was left alone to freeze and starve to death until Su Zhe saved him when he was travelling to Japan to find some medical herbs. There shoud be a possibility that during his early days in Japan he found out about the plant and still have it in his memory even after the drugs took effect on him, that explains why he gave it to Su Zhe out of so many beautiful plants in the city! I had this theory because Su Zhe ordered his household to take care of the plant and "will not forgive them" if he finds even a single leaf is missing, then he drank the heart-protection pill from Lin Chen (that very much look similar to the Heavenly Bamboo's red berries!). Knowing that Fei Liu and Lin Chen were protecting him with their own way would make him even stronger and confident to get through the interrogation in Xuanjing Bureau.

[EP38] When Xia Dong said, "Justice is people's hearts. If you still don't repent, even if you kill 10 Mei Changsus it will not solve the problem." i think i once wondered (in my first watch) why they put those words together. Was she implying that Mei Changsu is the symbol of justice itself? Thus, even if they kill him there will always be another Mei Changsus to carry out the duty.

[EP43] Mei Changsu on His Peak of Identity Crisis

I've seen so many reactions from viewers about how people around Su Zhe were so freaking out about his altered appearance while he still looked so damn fine, but i'd like to point out that it wasn't about turning hideous or not that made them horrified, let's see what he had been told about his appearance:

Meng Zhi: "I still can't believe you have become completely unrecognizable. There are no traces of the past." [EP3]

Mr. Shisan: "Heaven has mercy. It allows me to meet Young Master. But after seeing that you don't look like before, i felt so sad.." [EP8]

Nihuang: "What kind of cruel things, can wipe away all the traces of a person? Making you unrecognizable." [EP12]

Up until here, he had been giving calm and insignificant responses with some self-assuring that he knew best who he was in his heart. But not until Consort Jing said this in this ep: "If your father or mother could see the hardships you have taken upon yourself, this heart would die of heartbreak! Xiao-Shu, you used to look so much like your father..."

I found that very heartbreaking to hear, particularly for a family-loving person like him, to the point he had to state for the first time in the series that "Even though my appearance has changed, but i'm still the son of Lin House." That was the first time he started to doubt his identity, that no matter how much he convinced himself, that even he got his appearance altered to the handsome Hu Ge (LOL), having to live the life being completely unrecognizable and cut off from the once pleasant and normal past would give one's a great amount of despair. His misery regarding his own identity might also supported by how he deliberately made himself seen as a stony-hearted and scheming person, the total opposite of his past self.

[EP45] How did Emperor see Prince Yu as a son?

After the Emperor told Prince Yu that his mother, Princess Ling Long and her kingdom were just chess pieces for his ascension to the throne, and should be eliminated because they're too dangerous, the last dialogue between them indicating that the Emperor never saw him as the princess' son, that he's much worthy to be called as his son or else the Emperor wouldn't take him home to raise him even allowing him to be adopted by the Empress.

Prince Yu: "Then what about me? What am i?! Am i the small chess piece born from a big chess piece?"

Emperor, sounds as reassuring as he could: "Jinghuan, back then before i became Emperor, the Hua Tribe was already a defeated country. Jinghuan, you are my fifth son. Your birth mother is Concubine Xiang, do you understand, son?"

Prince Yu must then realized that he had misunderstood his father's intention for being secretive about his heritage, that even though he had been so ambitious and cunning in the fights for throne, that when his father had been giving attention to other Princes in favor of their mother*, his father had never forgotten him and kept favoring him due to his abilities or achievements, and never saw him as a potentially treacherous son (the opposite way how Emperor thought of Prince Qi). I must admit i had a bit of sympathy seeing him crying in agony, he's like a frantic child who couldn't control his ambition, who had nothing but power in his head, who went too far just to please his parents, even worse because he fell for advisers that didn't help his moral character to change at all (both Su Zhe and Qin Banruo were just letting him do the bad things, a good adviser should have done the opposite for their lord, shouldn't they?).

*Consort Chen (Prince Qi's mother), Consort Yue (ex-Crown Prince Xian's mother) and Consort Jing (Jingyan's mother) all became Emperor's fav, while Prince Yu had the Empress, she didn't seem to get along at all with Emperor.

[EP45] Nie Feng was actually following Su Zhe for his blood?

I had always thought he first appeared in [EP16] on the Mount Gu to see Xia Dong when she was visiting his grave, but remember that Su Zhe happened to show up in there too, and remember he was first seen in the capital after so many years not long after Su Zhe' arrival. Coincidence? Fast forward to this ep, he appeared again on Mount Jiu An where Su Zhe joining the spring hunt. I think Nie Feng really had been yearning for Su Zhe's blood (or anyone's who had been contracted with the Bitter Flame Poison?) and tracking him because Su Zhe said that "If he drinks my blood, he will be in less pain!"

[EP46] The kingdom still belongs to Prince Qi?

Emperor was asking for Grand Prince Ji's opinion about Jingyan and whether he had ambition for the throne, and later revealing that Prince Qi is his best son while Jingyan is not, but Jingyan has good points which is he knows how to be humble, while Emperor thinks Prince Qi didn't have that. Grand Prince Ji was then muttering, "So in the end, the kingdom is his. The world is now his, so this divine talent who can obtain the world is also his," i didn't catch the meaning at first so i thought he was referring to Emperor, but Su Zhe clarified it's about Prince Qi. It all makes sense because the best son for Emperor still goes to Prince Qi, and once Jingyan ascended to the throne, he will bring out Prince Qi's aspirations to the world that he learned when they grew up together, making it feels like Prince Qi is reigning again.

[EP46] "We are all one family"

The fact that Su Zhe saved Prince Yu's wife and unborn son made me uneasy at first as i tried to find out what's his motive behind it. But what if he was encouraged by what Grand Prince Ji said to him? Several minutes earlier, we saw Su Zhe thanked him on behalf of Jingyan for saving Tingsheng, in which Grand Prince Ji answered with "We are all one family, in this world, who is not related?" and that left Su Zhe in silence. If Grand Prince Ji could save his nephew's posthumous son even though he didn't know at all the truth behind his death, why Su Zhe couldn't do the same to his cousin's wife and unborn son, when he knew they're innocence and should be given the chance to live?

[EP46] Yujin and Xia Jiang's son

Grand Prince Ji revealed that if Yujin was born as a girl, he would be enganged to someone's child/ son about his age. Throwback to [EP35], Marquis Yan actually said, "but children all grow up too quickly, if brother Xia's child was still here, he'd probably be like Yujin." Considering the fact that in the past, Xia Jang and his wife were close friends of Marquis Yan, we can assume that Yujin was supposed to engange with Xia Jiang's son.

[EP48] Consort Jing loves Lin Xie?

Let's see how Consort Jing talked about Lin Xie:

She woefully said to Su Zhe: "you used to look so much like your father..." [EP43]

Lin Xie saved Consort Jing when she was bullied by other physicians, even brought her to the capital and adopted her as a sister, hence for her he's her hero. [EP45]

Lin Xie had other name: Mei Shinan. Jingyan asked, "Which Shin, which Nan?," Su Zhe went with Shi as in stone, and Nan as in "Nan-shu" (Nan tree), but Consort Jing went with Nan as in "Nan-mu" (Nan wood). Why didn't she say "Nanshu" too? [EP46]

In this ep, the Crown Princess asked Consort Jing whether she likes the "Nan-shu" (Nan tree) that she was gazing at. Consort Jing answered with a smile that "Yes. I have always loved (it)." Apparently she didn't use any pronoun and so it's not clear what exactly she was referring to. But then it's even more fishy because she didn't just say "Nanshu" to reply Jingyan's question, i assume she was trying to make him not notice that she planted the tree right outside her room, and how she loves to gaze at it as what had been shown in some previous eps! We would never know the real feeling that Consort Jing had to Lin Xie, but obviously it's more than just a woman admiring her hero/ brother.

[EP50] Su Zhe apparently didn't get rid some of the incompetent ministers, he spared the Minister of Public Works (Prince Yu's side) and Minister of Martial Arts (ex-Crown Prince Xian's side) because they showed change and were willing to work better under the new leader.

[EP50] Remember when Emperor selected Minister's Liu Cheng's granddaughter as Jingyan's wife in [EP47], and it all went according to Xia Jang's plan (he claimed he knew Emperor's likes and thoughts on it). In this ep we found out that he actually planted his spies as her wet nurse and probably some maids. Xia Jiang must have thought he could use the Crown Princess to slip an attack on Jingyan, but she is the fierce one! So satisfying to see her and Consort Jing firing all the maid-disguised-spies!

[EP51] I'd like to point out how it seems not many people, at least in the family, remember about Lin Shu's mother, Grand Princess Jinyang, and how devastating it would be for her to see her family being accused and eliminated by her own brother, until Su Zhe said to Grand Princess Liyang in this ep: "You were very close with your sister. I wonder if she has ever entered your dreams" and in [EP53] Consort Jing asked the Emperor if his sister has ever entered his dream too, like how he had ones of Consort Chen and Princess Ling Long.

The amount of subtle forshadows throughout the series is insane, every dialogue, manner even cinematography does matter to build the dramatic tension and suspense that will keep the viewers turning the page, and i believe i couldn't figure everything out here.

Regarding the ending, i'm one of those who can't think of a better conclusion than what they offered here. I'm used to the tragic ending because some of my favourite series had the lead character died, but that's not entirely ruining the plot, instead i found that helps to create a satisfying and dignified ending.

Honestly in my first watch, i felt like they were just trying to make another irrelevant climax as a reason for Su Zhe's death, but a rewatch changed my perspective as i found that it does make sense to have all the enemy kingdoms attacking the Da Liang all at once, they must had heard the news and royal statement clearing the treason charge of Prince Qi, Lin Xie and Chiyan Army. Jingyan and the officials were busy to investigate, the entire city's focus were diverting on the case, the Emperor fell sick, and the country's defense weakened, every oppurtunist wouldn't just let it go, would they? Unfortunately, we forgot that Mei Changsu is the biggest oppurtunist in this series, a patriot in addition. The light in his eyes when he heard the chance to go back to the battlefield for the country, and how he desperately begging to let him go back to the last place he stood as Young Marshal Lin Shu are so heartbreaking to watch. He indeed brought a light of justice and hope to the country and his loved ones, but none of those could remove all of his identity crisis problem and frequent nightmares of the past, just like the lyric of Loyal Blood Forever Runs Red by Wang Kai that goes: "A decade passes in an instant, yet in his dreams he keeps wandering to the past (十载倏忽过几回魂梦旧游)."

While i can say every rewatch makes this series even gets better, doesn't it also make you even harder to move on? Because it does for me. As an avid Asian series viewer, i'm so glad i could find this masterpiece in this lifetime! I wish i can find more series as compelling and wonderful as this one later!!

Note: Some quotes from the series are credited to Lang Ya Bang Team @ Viki

#nirvana in fire #lang ya bang #琅琊榜 #nif #lyb #c drama #series review #this show kills me

8 notes · View notes