11, 7, 24 for the tts ask game (if any of these were answered ignore this lol)

7. "Do you have any post series headcanons?"

I've actually answered this question before, but I'm happy to reply again! :] !!

I don't have many of them, though I do headcanon that there would be a lot of tension in the Dark Kingdom post-series. Edmund, Adira and Hector hurt eachother a lot (well, Adira and Edmund committed most of the "hurting" if I'm being fully honest here) and now that the 3 of them are stuck together rebuilding the whole place by themselves, they oughta work out those issues if they want to be productive again!

11. "What is a major change (rewrite) that you would make to the canon?"

I've answered this question before as well, but since you asked again I'll take this chance to tell a different change: make someone else take the Moonstone. Someone like Hector, for example, who has extremely good reasons for doing so: he wants to stop anyone else from grabbing the Moonstone. What better way to do that than by holding onto it himself?

Plus, he could potentially use the stone to rebuild or at least repair his kingdom.

And of course: being the new holder of the Moonstone, he's sure to attract Zhan Tiri. That would've been so fun to see, considering he already has a connection to her since he freed her power from the Great Tree!

This is actually a concept I'm exploring myself in my fic, because it's just that interesting to me. Although, my Moon!Hector is a lot more defensive than another one may be, so while mine may focus more on rebuilding the DK and defending from intruders, another could focus on destroying Corona and ensuring that no one will ever try to take the stone from him. The latter option seems very interesting, especially when you realize that the reason he's doing all of that is to make sure no one tries to grab the Moonstone to do "evil", but he himself is doing evil, by trying to destroy the home of dozens, if not hundreds of people.

It's just one little change that makes a hurricane of a difference! :]

24. "The Salt Question: what were you disappointed by?"

The FINALE. my god you have absolutely no idea how freaking sad I was to see Zhan Tiri, my absolute FAVORITE CHARACTER, get defeated by a fucking frying pan. I swear. I cried so freaking much in that scene. What an anti-climatic ending.

Everything that happened in the finale battle was disappointing, and everything that happened afterwards was just rubbing piles of salt in the wound.

And that's not even talking about the whole finale, pretty much ALL of the 2 parts of Plus Ent En Vous were disappointing somehow:

- Varian and Quirin didn't have a heart-to-heart (it was their very last chance to do so since it didn't happen in the rest of the season)

- Mindtrapped!Quirin didn't fight Varian. That was unexpected, considering how many cruel things Cass has done so far, but alas.

- the monkey scene. that in itself is a disappointment.

- The fact we didn't get any concrete insight on Zhan Tiri and Demanitus' backstory past the very contradictory flashback. We could've gotten an entire flashback sequence of their story (at least in Demanitus' POV) if the mains had found entries in his journal regarding his past with Zhan Tiri. That would've been infinetely cooler than the fucking monkey scene. Yet, here we are.

- The Lost Realm. I had expected a void, or literal hell, not Buddy Song-level drug world. It's neat, but still disappointing.

- Zhan Tiri. I love her, but my girl was completely useless the entire fight. She showed up just to pretend she was gonna be an epic villain, only to die to a fucking frying pan about five minutes later. Sure, she killed everybody with the Decay Incantation, but what good was that if they just got revived 3 minutes later?

- Cassandra! Her "redemption" was, forgive the wording, fucking ridiculous. She basically cried and moaned about being useless, once again making herself the victim, then said one "I'm sorry" to Rapunzel and poof! Suddenly, hero again! I honestly could've accepted that if Cass had gotten any kind of punishment afterwards, but nope. She got a cleaner record than Varian's, probably, all because she died for less than one minute and was Rapunzel's favorite. Admittedly it could even make sense that Cass was forgiven in Corona, since Rapunzel is a princess and therefore does have the authority to forgive Cass of all of her crimes there, but there's absolutely NO reason why she wasn't punished by the DK.

By all means she should've been executed or at the very least arrested by the Dark Kingdom and the Brotherhood (who, may I remind you, HAVE BEEN ROBBED OF THEIR CONSCIOUSNESS FOR WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN MONTHS, in Adira and Hector's case, and in Quirin's and Edmund's—were forced to fight their own sons). The worst part is that Cassandra didn't have to do that, she chose to. You can't even pin that on Zhan Tiri because like- she told Cassandra what the Mindtrap was and what it did, not that she absolutely HAD TO use it or else she was gonna die or lose everything or something. This was Cassandra's doing. This was Cassandra's choice. Something this unforgivable couldn't have been let off just because pretty little angel Rapunzel asked.

- finally: the Mindtrap not being adressed by any Brotherhood member, at least on screen. They got Hector's and Adira's VA's in the finale only for them to say one or two lines each and that's it. Truly a waste.

Dear oops,

Don't read this if you are still avoiding spoilers for season 3. Just perhaps reply if you can after you watch the show?

I've just listened to an interesting possible explanation of why season 3 of The Mandalorian has its take on Din and the Darksaber. ( I don't care if it's supposed to be his family name, not his personal - I'm not calling him Djarin!)

There was supposed to be a series called "Rangers of the New Republic" but Gina Carano's monkeyshines torpedoed it. This YouTube creator thinks that this show will reappear with Din and Grogu as reoccurring characters but not being the focus of the show ( it had better not be "Trapper Wolfe" Filoni!!) The last episode where Din talks to Carson Teva about getting some "unofficial work" points to this - Teva is the person who gave Cara Dune her marshall badge and now seems to be trying to ride herd on this part of the Outer Rim.

What do you think? They seem to have shunted Din and Grogu well out of The Mandalorian by giving them a happy ending and a tiny house with a pond for snacks/animal abuse depending on how hungry the kid is. So as far as I'm concerned The Mandalorian is over. Hell, I think Pascal only did voice overs this third season as we never saw him once. Happy to see they gave credit to the men who bring Din's armor to life in this season.

I respect your views on this show that I've loved for at least two seasons. So what do you think? And watch Screen Junkies "Honest Trailer" for Season 3 - it has a nice slap on Filoni forcing the Mandalorian into his cartoon world.

Be safe and be well

Jay

Do NOT get me started on the creep factor of Grogu using IG-11's skeleton as his battlebot body - ick!!!

I still haven't watched the end because my sister and I watch together and now I finished school+taking online classes this summer and her job is at her busy season so I have no idea when we're getting around to it. (Especially because I'm trying to convince her to watch at least season 1 of Rebels now. "You said Filoni ruined this show too!" "Yes but you will LOVE the Ghost crew! They have a murder droid!") But I've seen enough spoilers to know what happens. I mean, it could've been worse.

It veers a bit into conspiracy theory but I'm so behind the idea that Gina shitting the bed ruined all Favroni's plans. I'm guessing she was supposed to head Rangers of the New Republic and Din got the Mandalore plot (the show was SO CLEARLY setting up a Reluctant Ruler Turns Out To Be What His People Needs a la Movie!Aragorn in the season 2 finale). But instead of recasting Cara (maybe that wasn't a financially secure option to pin a show on a lesser name? because Katy O'Brian is RIGHT THERE as a perfect muscle lady Cara recast) Din got Cara's New Republic plotlines shoved into his show, he became the Ranger, and Bo-Katan was rebranded from compelling Anti-Hero who could make up for her mistakes to Mandalorian Barbie Princess who the narrative treats as Always Justified even when she shouldn't be (shouldn't her people turn on her for just giving the Darksaber to Gideon? or at least call her out and say she doesn't deserve it? isn't this the third time she's had it and failed to lead Mandalore?) and gets the Mandalore plotline THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DIN'S. IT MAKES NO SENSE.

And I feel icky agreeing with the assholes who prop up Gina but.... Cara was an important part of the show. She was a significant secondary character with lots of interesting hooks to tie into the plot: Former Rebel who left the New Republic, the perfect lens to see the faltering New Republic through by someone who saw its flaws and wouldn't go along with them early. Potential redemption arc by trying to Do The Right Thing and fix those flaws and/or help people against the Empire like she originally wanted to. Another Alderaanian besides Leia who we could've seen the Alderaanian people's fate through - are they and Cara still in mourning? Is there anger now? Are they rebuilding a New Alderaan? How has their culture suffered, endured, or changed?

Not to mention it is was so, so refreshing to see a new body type that was thicc and strong and still feminine. I haven't looked like the Rey/Ahsoka/Bo-Katan/literally almost everyone else body type that's always shown since I was 16. Cara and Gina's portrayal were really meaningful to me and it's so disappointing that Gina is a bigoted moron and that cost us a wonderful, unique, inspiring character. I know I keep harping on this I'm sorry. I love Cara so much and I REFUSE to hand her over to the bigots.

Idk. I really hate to say it, but it's the second time Filoni's one-trick pony writing style (look at these new interesting characters! Just kidding my TCW characters! LOOK AT THEM YOU'RE FORCED TO AHAHAHA) has caused me to have significantly less interest in a show I loved with amazing, unique characters. I was mad as fuck but now I've cooled off and I'm just turning back to my Caradin fanfiction when I actually have time to write, which has been next to zilch lately.

I also do not disagree that Grogu piloting IG-11's corpse is rather weird, but also that's pretty standard "we can't decide if droids are sentient or not" Star Wars fare. Myself I'm just too happy to see him FINALLY HAVE AN ASSISTIVE TALKING DEVICE it overrides anything else lol. (I do totally agree that Din Grogu is stupid. Lastname first conventions have not been established - for example, he's Boba Fett not Jango Boba. I think it would be great and make sense to have different naming conventions among different cultures, but this is a stupid way to do it. You can't even argue that it's just a Children of the Watch thing because Paz Vizla clearly has his well-known clan name last.)

Galaxy 4

season 003 : story 018 : episodes 082-085

11 SEP - 02 NOV 1965 || 07 - 08 JUN 2023

This… really should’ve been a three parter.

While this has some interesting moments, funny lines, and the occasional unique narrative framing choice… It’s drawn out- the Chumblies just make me feel a bit lethargic.

Skipping straight to episode 2, because well... lethargy as I said… I like when the Drahvins take a hostage when the Doctor wants to go out again that Steven demands that it be him this time instead of Vicki; not only him in character offering her some personal freedom instead of being stuck in the Drahvin ship for a couple more hours, but meta-textually also allows Vicki to have more scenes acting opposite the Doctor. 

Steven has some good scenes trying to incite mutiny with the Drahvins, with Maaga’s behaviour… foreshadowing (is that foreshadowing or just characterising?) the reveal that she’s the real villain of the story. Although it is frustrating just how thoughtless the regular Drahvins are. Like yes that’s the point, I know, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t tedious to watch too. 

I like Vicki’s moments with the Doctor, especially with the retrospect that this is her last real interaction with Hartnell, other than [not even, really] saying goodbye at the end of The Myth Makers.

“That was no risk. I observed, noted, collated, concluded– then I threw the rock”.

The airlock scene with Steven is pretty good- he's escaped* the ship, and is now stuck between the threat of the Drahvins, and the perceived threat of the Chumbley. And Maaga’s decompressing the airlock compartment itself because she's a bit insane I guess lol. 

The Rills being revealed as peaceful is kinda cliche now, but could've been a good reveal back when it was made- after all cliches become cliches with overuse. Them avoiding showing their face is a decent narrative way to add false suspicion to them, and their justification of it being due to the potential of disturbing "typical humanoid" lifeforms is a fun comment on how a lot of the aliens are… coincidentally bipedal.

The Drahvin assault on the Rill ship is well shot and feels epic (as epic as it can be, being a 3 v 3) in the sense of pacing and camera angles.

The Rill's argument for why they'd let the Doctor leave the planet even if the refuelling effort was unsuccessful was a really great scene; Steven's suspicion is fairly justified after the encounters with the Drahvins.

And the explanation of how the Doctor stands for similar values to the Rills while being able to travel further and affect more people is quite a nice moment; the Rill's trust that even if they're unable to escape, the Doctor getting away would be for their agreed benefit of the universe. Steven’s (warranted) suspicion, after the whole debacle with the Drahvins, is also really appreciated.

Animation really did this favours in terms of the ship's size, and launch at the end of the story; the planet disintegrating and the ground hellishly cracking open is also really good.

As for the story in the real world… apparently all three of the main cast hated this script so much that their complaints resulted in Maureen's contract not being renewed, and Bill being threatened with firing. So that's… a thing that happened. 

At least I think it's got some good stuff. Like it's not incredible, just...

★★★☆☆

...fine

braveandsnipe's 2022 tokusatsu retrospective

in which i take a trip down memory lane and talk about all the toku i watched this year!

Kamen Rider

This year I completed 5 Kamen Rider series: Drive, Ghost, Ex-Aid, Zi-O, and Zero-One!

Kamen Rider Zi-O (Dec. 2021 -> Jan. 2022)

Started the year with an ending haha. Out of the 5 series I watched, this was the one that took me the longest to complete. At the time, I had only watched Wizard, Den-O and Build, so I didn't understand every reference in the show. I honestly wonder if that makes a difference. On one hand, I couldn't be mad at the show if they botched a "tribute" cause I didn't know any better, but on the other, maybe I would've enjoyed it more/been more motivated to watch if I knew more of the returning characters. Overall, I enjoyed the series. I thought it was very fun, even if it didn't necessarily stick to it's own mechanics (which in of itself is a huge flaw, but that's discussion for another day) and it's slow decent into a Decade AU™. I love Woz, and the main 4 group is one of my favorites. The 0.5 episodes we're also gold, I loved the self-reference humor. As for things I wish it did differently, definitely making Tsukuyomi a rider earlier. And I didn't particularly enjoy the final episodes (although that could've been because I stayed up until 4AM and had work at 8AM).

Kamen Rider Drive (Jan. 2022)

Inspired by the 2018 hit Kamen Rider Zi-O I decided to watch Drive not to long after. It wasn't really a season on my radar, but I was intrigued by Chase. Initially, I did enjoy it, even though the first 12-ish episodes did drag at times. But after Gou comes and especially the 001 arc, it got way better. Looking back on it now, while I still like it, I don't like it as much as I did when I first watched it. It's solid, but I wouldn't say any character stuck out to me or with me once I finished. Similar to Zi-O, I wish they made Kiriko a rider. I'd argue, she potentially could've made a more interesting main than Shinnosuke, given her relationship to the villains (creator). Maybe could've gotten an interesting family dynamic out of it.

Kamen Rider Ghost (Jan. 2022 -> Feb. 2022)

A more polarizing entry (on twitter anyways). I wasn't really going in with any expectations good or bad. The first 11 episodes were hard for me to get through, but after that, the show does get a flow going and became easier to watch. Similar to Drive, none of the characters particularly stood out (except Alain) for me, but I liked the supporting cast of Ghost better than Drive. I wish they did a bit more with Makoto because (at least concerning the show, no extras) he just feels like he's there. Sure, he has a connection to the other two riders, but he himself never does much besides look out for Kanon or the others. (Maybe he did more than I remember, but I haven't rewatched. I do think his V-Cinema delve more into his character, so maybe I'll get around to watching it). I liked Alain's arc the most, him and Ms. Fumi were iconic and episode 30/31 made me so sad (I cried at work). And Takeru was a fine protagonist. The only thing I didn't really like was how they killed him off 3 times (4 counting Heisei Gen.)

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Feb. 2022)

I did not go into this series expecting the impact it would have on me. The main reason I watched it was to finish out the second half of Phase 2 (Drive -> Zi-O) before Zero-One. Honestly, while this is the series out of this list I rewatched the most episodes of, I don't particularly love it. Coming off of Ghost, the beginning of Ex-Aid was really refreshing, and I liked the conflict and connections between the 4 riders. It started falling off for me once Parad became a rider and the introduction of Masamune. I really don't know why I dislike Parad, every time he's was on screen I just got annoyed. And then I didn't like what happened during the finale. But with the bad was good, ie: my namesake. I really don't know why I loved Hiiro and Taiga as much as I did at the time. In a sense, I think I related to certain parts of their respective personalities (which is probably not good...), but otherwise it wasn't like their characters storyline took off until the mid-30's of a 45 episode show. In retrospect, while it it a bit rushed given the timeframe of the show, their story was still really compelling to me. I haven't talked much about V-Cinemas and extra content (mainly cause they're mostly harmless but not much to talk about), but allegedly Ex-Aid only got 45 episodes so they could get the V-Cin. trilogy, and boy do I hate that because the Brave and Snipe V-Cinema was bad. Surprisingly, it didn't hit until my spontaneous rewatch where I realized how dirty it did the characters. In short, Ex-Aid: High-Highs but Low-Lows

Kamen Rider Zero-One (Apr. 2022)

The final series I watched before never finishing a series until this month. Similar to Ex-Aid, I think Zero-One has some really good highs (some of my favorite characters and moments from the franchise), and really bad lows. The writing of Zero-One (in terms of implications) isn't the best, and even arcs were pretty hit or miss. Like a lot of people talk about how the job wars arc was drawn out, and initially I disagreed because I didn't find it that terrible, but thinking back to it, I remember making a post that was like "the most interesting thing about the past 10 episodes was that Fuwa had a chip in his head" so I guess there wasn't plot development. I liked how a lot of the early episode felt like a tour of the town Aruto lives in and we get to meet people (workers) in the community, almost like a carrer fair. Looking at the episodes in a vacuum, I think they're quite nice. I really liked Metsuboujinrai, probably my favorite villain group. At first I thought Horobi saying Jin was his child was going to be a throw away line or like resolved relatively quickly, but it wasn't. The reveal that Horobi was a father-type humagear, and in the final episodes where he slowly was coming to terms about caring for Jin are some of my favorite moments. In episode 42 (?) when Jin sacrificed himself, even though I knew what was coming (the whole "your the only father I ever had" line), I still cried so much during the scene. It was very well done. Ikazuchi and Naki were good support characters, I'm glad each of them have some funny/iconic/good scenes. I wish they had done more with Yua outside of Gai. I feel like Gai gets more to do than her despite her being the tertiary introduced in episode 3. The whole chip in Fuwa's head thing was also weird (I don't have the words to explain it right now). I liked that Fuwa liked Aruto's jokes because their similar to the ones his dad made. I think Aruto is an interesting character to be the main, it's kind of weird he was just thrown into the company, and a bunch of other things I'm going to leave for another day. I don't think Gai needed a redemption arc, but I teared up when he got Thouser back. (Wow I had a lot to say)

2. Super Sentai

I didn't watch that much Sentai this year, and only completed 2: Seijuu Sentai Gingaman and Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (~May 2022)

I kind of forgot I watched this lol. Overall, it was better/more fun than I was expecting it to be.

Bakuyuu Sentai Abaranger (Nov. 2022 -> Dec. 2022)

I started this one day because no one (my teachers) decided not to show up to school. I ended up enjoying it a lot. I like the team dynamics, and it was solid at balancing silliness and seriousness. I think having the motws be made from forms of art (painting and music) was cool and made for some cool designs/abilities.

3. Ultraman

This year I finished the trifecta and watched 2 Ultraman Series: X and Orb.

Ultraman X (Aug. 2022)

I watched this for totally legit reasons…/ It was alright, but it kind of just felt like the same thing (formula) for 20 episodes. I did like the 24 hours at Xio episode and the Ginga S crossover. I also think this series had some good effects and the fact that their car turns into a jet is so funny to me.

Ultraman Orb (Sept. 2022)

I liked this series better than X. It was more interesting and I feel like there was more intrigue and a story line. The unfolding of the connection between Gai and Naomi was great and overall I liked the one episode plots

4. Power Rangers

Since I've watched most Power Rangers, I only finished the latest series this year. I sometimes forget power rangers is a tokusatsu lol.

Dino Fury (Feb 2021 -> Sept. 2022)

I said a lot about what I thought about the show on my other blog. Generally, I think it has good idea, but the execution of them is hit or miss.

(wow this kind of fell off at the end)

so me and bf resumed with the degrassi watch and we're on season 9. I've seen better. this is when my interest originally waned but picked back up in 10-11. soon things will change big time but in the meantime, lackluster is the understatement of the century being such a bore with the exception of like dolly j content but even now felt weird to me and i used to really like them i guess that's growing up. riley's (is it a sandwich?) storyline is predictable as all get out. riley really hates himself. i can't with his plot he is clearly in need of anger management and luckily for him he gets that.

can we talk about how jenna edged clare out. first she was hella nice to clare and taught her guitar and got close to her but it was all so she could date kc. like she is a master manipulator and by the time clare saw the light it was the end of her and kc. not that kc is a super epic prize, but jenna is shit for that. i think pregnancy with kc and other factors humbled her but at her start she was one phony lil bitch that really needed to be told some shit. i don't even think jenna gets a real chance at a future because they throw a lot at her after this and then she just kinda chills in season 13.

i found myself really feeling bad and how much potential it could've had about that kc plot with the coach who had lot of influence on him, i felt so bad i just don't know what he was doing with the gun? like he had the gun with him, i doubt he was gonna shoot anybody but i also don't think he would've shot himself either so why did he steal the gun aside from the fact he can get him fired over it. that was my only real question.??

overall season 9 was predictable, boring and lackluster what i had initially been like looking forward to was kind of meh for me.

Imo, potential Saileen was better than canon Saileen. I shipped them when they were cute flirty friends in Seasons 11 and 12 and was upset that they killed her (and not just for ship reasons.) But when they brought her back in Season 15 and made it canon it just... didn't feel like them. All the spark was gone out of the ship. Plus it kinda felt like they shoved Rowena out of the way for it to happen just when I'd started to really get into that ship! (And a certain corner of fandom also killed my love for Saileen, but that's a story for another DM.)

I didn't ship them in s11-12; I didn't feel there was enough material for me to make up my mind one way or the other, but I was expectant regarding s15. Her death was bullshit, that's for sure.

With s15... that scene where he resurrected her pinged my radar, I felt something. But that was pretty much it. I shipped Samwena too and would've definitely preferred that, but I'm a multishipper so that wouldn't have stopped me from adding another ship to my armada lol.

Listen, I've half-joked before about how I never expected to be much of a shipper because I only ship Sam with people Dean wouldn't want him to be with LMAO. It's not just out of a "fuck you, Dean" impulse, I swear. Seriously, there's a direct correlation between how much Dean disapproves of one of Sam's relationships, and how beneficial said relationship is for Sam's narrative (hence Samruby being my OTP for him!).

Sam's narrative is at its best when he has relationships that give him a reason to fight Dean, Watsonian and Doylist-wise. The fact that Dean endorses Sam/Eileen is effectively a ship-killer as far as I'm concerned.

But I would've liked it to be, and I was a bit hopeful it'd be... a nice, uplifting dynamic for Sam; something last minute, not too explored, but something heartwarming that might leave you thinking about the future ~possibilities, you know? Last-season romances are a mixed bag, but I've seen some that managed to stick the landing quite well, and IMO this one wasn't didn't make the cut.

Given what I knew about the finale it was difficult it reached those expectations LOL, but it COULD have happened. Hell, everyone is free to imagine whoever they want as The Blurry Wife, as I've said before, Eileen included. But I don't want to imagine her in that role.

Like I said, with her resurrection and their tentative thing I could enjoy it a bit. But then comes 15x09, with the reveal that Chuck's machinations were what brought them together in the first place.

And that could've been the point where things got turned around and the dynamic could've become something really interesting!! I mean, c'mon, it could've brought at the forefront a lot of the themes of the season itself, Chuck controlling the Winchesters lives, the collateral damage that causes (in this case, Eileen getting used as a pawn and questioning her level of agency within their relationship)...

It could have been used to explore those issues, and to delve into Eileen's relationship (which I hope I get to write one day!), but instead, she leaves and never comes back. We're told the two of them are trying to see if they work, and they have one off-screen date. Then she dies alongside the rest of the world, comes back, and. Nothing.

Nothing.

So. We had option a.) something uplifting that gives you a bit of hope for the future; not an intense world-destroying love, but something softer and kinder; or b.) a chilling exploration of the themes of the season (and larger ones, if you think of how it could mirror John and Mary getting roofied by cupids on Michael's orders!). And the show failed to deliver on both fronts.

So yeah, I found their relationship disappointing. This might be my most controversial SPN opinion. Mutuals are going to desert me over this xDD

(lol I know what you mean. Yeah, it seems to be Sam's convenient ship to pair him off vis a vis Destiel. Something neither of the characters, nor the people that genuinely like the ship, deserve. Plus like, what's safe about a God-forced romance?? That deserves to be explored in fic, not made into the eternal "safe" ship smh)

Rewriting The CW's Kung Fu, Part 9: Reflections and Moving Forward

And we have reached the end of our Kung Fu journey. If you haven't seen where we began, here's a handy guide to the previous posts:

Part 1: The Characters

Part 2: The Pilot

Part 3: The Mythology

Part 4: The Story Map

Part 5: Act I

Part 6: Act II

Part 7: Act III

Part 8: The Finale

Before I start with the lessons I learned and my other reflections, I want to thank @flailingbloo for all of her help and support in this endeavor. Without her to talk to and commiserate with, I would probably have gotten stuck in Act II forever and everything I've written would've been riddled with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. So my eternal gratitude to flailingbloo. And now, we begin:

Lessons.

Going into this writing exercise, I already knew it was going to be hard. Writing stories is time-consuming, it's nerve-wracking, and it takes a lot of research...and patience. Writing, especially for television, is also not a solitary task. I mean, sure, the writing itself needs to be done alone--but everything that comes before, during, and after the writing needs input from so many people.

Although I have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of complaints about how The CW's Kung Fu was handled and written, I do have a lot of respect for the work that the writers put into their scripts. And I do appreciate all that they have done to have a show like this produced.

Doing this rewrite, I learned that it's really important to make the main character likeable. Like, every episode I broke down, I had to ask myself: is Nicky likeable here? Is she someone who viewers would want to root for? Like, for me she is, but only people who read what I wrote can say for sure. My perspective is now a bit skewered because I have bias.

Second, story maps are very helpful. There were times, especially during Part 6 (where I wrote breakdowns for Episodes 6 to 9) where I kept getting road-blocked by where I want the story to go. So I went back to the story map over and over again, to remind myself--where does the story itself need to go? How do I help the characters get to the point where they're ready for what needs to happen? (This is also where flailingbloo helped the most for me. Like, she really reminded me why I was doing this rewrite in the first place. Because I care about Nicky and the show. I wouldn't have funneled so much of my time and effort into this if I didn't.)

Another thing I learned, or rather re-learned, is the art of letting go. I created the character of Stanley to recur throughout the series as a reminder of who Nicky was and who she is becoming. And then I finished writing the first act without even mentioning him. By the second act, I was ready to use him finally--but, after multiple false starts, I realized Stanley was one of the reasons why I was having a hard time pushing Nicky's story forward. Because I kept trying to go back to the past. So I decided in the writing of the second act to shelve Stanley completely, only to find him popping up in the second to last episode in a, at least I hope, more organic way.

The last thing I learned in this exercise was that, whenever a new character needs to come in, I have to look at my existing characters first to see if any one of them can fulfill the role I needed for the story. Like, creating new villains for Nicky was fun, sure--but, at the same time, I realized that there were already existing villains that could recur. Like the Triad, who played villains in two more episodes after the pilot; and Henry's martial arts class at the community center became the source of two existing storylines from the actual show.

Reflections.

Do I think what my rewrite is better than the show? To me, yes. But, again, I am very biased. That said, I am proud of how I utilized the characters that the show created and didn't really give much importance to. Dennis, when he was introduced, felt like a rich character that could provide a very different point-of-view from the Shen siblings--but he was mostly relegated to being eye-candy. And I thought I gave him more meat by making him more involved in Althea's sexual harassment storyline, while also involving him in Nicky's stories.

That said, I also realize that I wasn't able to play up Nicky and Evan's past relationship as I was writing the episodic breakdowns. I was able to give them a lot of opportunities to explore their chemistry together, as I did with Nicky and Henry, but I kind of dropped the ball as a writer on guiding those planted moments into something more significant. Granted, I only wrote breakdowns and not actual scripts. Maybe I could've explored the romance angle more with a little sprinkle of direction and dialogue.

As I went deeper into the rewrite, I do see how easy it is to fall in love with characters as you write them. It's very easy to trap yourself into wanting villains to be more well-rounded. I keep having to remind myself that I don't have to redeem everyone. Just Nicky. Which became harder and harder as I went further and further into the story.

Another thing that became difficult as I went on? Keeping the mythology from just bursting open. That's how Henry, as I wrote him, evolved into becoming the son of a guardian--just so there's a reason for him to be so invested in Nicky's quest, while also having someone who can explain things to our main character. I'm actually really proud of that evolution.

All that said, I also have to recognize that I rewrote the show with the benefit of hindsight and the lack of budget constraints. In the real show, there's a group of writers who each have their own ideas of what the show should be. (This is where a head writer--not a show runner--would come in handy, so they could reel in the story to what needs to be told.) With more writers comes more chances for inconsistencies to happen. (And this is where a script supervisor, or a writing assistant, could come in handy.) And then there's production notes and budget. Not to mention, you know, the whole pandemic that's still happening. I didn't have to think about those things while doing this rewrite.

So, again, I want to give the writers kudos to actually producing scripts. I hope they haven't lost their minds--or their will to write--just because there are people like me who nitpick at everything. That's what people who love things do. We nitpick because we care.

Moving forward.

I do plan to stick with the real show for Season 2. I hope it's planned better. I hope they get researchers (plural!) and a writing assistant to help in the writing room. I hope the writers would sit down with the cast to discuss and develop the characters more. And I really hope they hire a better fight choreographer and fight director for the second season. (Like, rehire the people who choreographed and filmed the flashback scene in... Episode 11? The one with Nicky's maternal grandmother and Pei-Ling's own mother?)

I hope that the Nicky-Henry relationship gets explored realistically, and if a potential new love interest is ordered, they get introduced in a way that isn't antagonistic. Make them more well-rounded characters too, please. Make us want to root for their success. And while I think Nicky doesn't have an iota of chemistry with Evan, I do like Evan himself as a character. So I hope they get him more involved in future storylines--as an outsider looking in, sure, but also as an honorary member of the Shen family.

With regards to the Shen family, I do hope that we get to explore their relationships and dreams more before the show drops the reveal about Mei-Xue's daughter. I want Althea to have a cohesive storyline that doesn't pause for no reason. I want Ryan to explore being Asian AND gay as a first-generation Asian-American. And give the Shen siblings some recurring friends. They don't have to be semi-regulars (unless there's a story that can be explored) but let's not keep the Shens in a bubble. It was weird in the first season. Especially for Althea whose friends only showed up for her bachelorette party and never again. Not even when she was panicking about wedding preparations, which, considering how rich Dennis's parents were? They wouldn't let Althea be in charge of anything. They would hire a Chinese wedding coordinator. And an expensive and hard-to-book one at that. They donated an entire hospital wing, for crying out loud.

I want Jin to have an actual character, and not just be the supportive dad who loves his kids very much (admittedly my own rewrite also made this same mistake). And I want Mei-Li to be consistent as a character. Like, no more surprise twists about being the descendant of a legendary warrior without proper foreshadowing and plot-planting please.

Dennis shouldn't just be eye-candy. The same applies to Kerwin. Sure, I get that shirtless men are a must in a CW series, but please give their characters some meat too. Dennis's nerd-side was never showcased in the show, and Kerwin had that poor little rich boy background that didn't get explored either. Because the show was too busy keeping him and Zhi-Lan tearing each others' clothes off--when they're not tearing other people down.

Also, don't drop the ball on the tease that Bian-Ge is now everywhere. If I understood correctly, Bian-Ge is Kung Fu's version of Qi. If yes, then I hope they treat it respectfully as a force of nature--and not just the source of magic. The flowers from Bian-Ge itself can be magical, sure, I have no problem with a fictional flower being a McGuffin.

Finally, I hope the show also explores other Asian communities and cultures. Like, Kung Fu is great--but imagine if Nicky had to face someone who is versed in Silat Melayu? Or someone who uses Arnis? Someone who practices Kalaripayattu or Lathi Khela? Or Kuntao? Imagine Nicky having to use Wing Chun against someone who uses Karate or Krav-Maga? Asia is a big continent and there are so many different types of martial arts found from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Kung-Fu is an umbrella term, so it'll be great to see the different styles found under it.

... This went long again. Sorry about that. Funny thing is, when I started this whole rewriting plan? I thought it would take three posts, tops. And look at us now. Nine posts deep, and it seems I still haven't run out of things to say. So I'm cutting myself off before I completely wear out my welcome.

But if you've read all my Kung Fu posts, please do reach out. Let's discuss the show and what it can do to produce a better second season.

I really like Mike. I esp liked him backing up the whole 'she's just a kid' at the carver's camp and trying to stop Kenny from having her do the radio thing. I also loved his just... compassion, in general and towards Arvo. TBH if I could've picked one person from the like, last 'group' of s2 to go with it'd be Mike (I remember picking the 'let me come with you' option in my first run'). plus his scars are neat

I actually like that, too. 

Everyone expects Clementine to fucking carry them throughout the entire season that it just becomes laughable. 

I get that characters like Luke and Mike know she’s strong and capable of helping out, but then you have fucking Bonnie whose only purpose in s2 is to make you do shit you don’t want to do, Kenny who puts so much damn pressure on her while also constantly acting out whenever she doesn’t side with him, then everyone expects her to babysit him. Then Rebecca expects you to, like, literally carry Alvin back to the group before they escape and it’s just.... it’s so much. 

So it’s nice to have Mike be like “Uh? She’s 11? She shouldn’t be the one taking the risk, so I’ll do it?”

But nah. Clementine’s gotta do everything. 

As for the idea of Mike being a potential final caregiver instead of Kenny or Jane, I will say that I’d be more on board with the idea if it weren’t for the shit he pulled with Bonnie and Arvo, but like.... if they kept Mike around then maybe we can assume that the writing would’ve been better, therefore, he could’ve been a better option. 

Sigh. Mike deserved better writing. That’s really what it boils down to. 

Also, I believe I remember that being a thing if Bonnie hates you, now that you mention it. When I finished the season last night, I tried to save Luke and Bonnie didn’t hate me, so it was her who freaked out after Arvo shot Clementine. 

But yeah, if you choose to listen to Luke and shoot the walkers, Bonnie fucking HATES this child and is like “Leave her, Mike!” as she’s bleeding in the snow. And in that scenario, it does make much more sense that she’d be the one to convince Mike to leave them, since at that point she doesn’t give a shit about Clementine, nor does she care about the baby, either. 

Also, can I just add that the option to ask Mike if you can leave with him has always intrigued me. It’s a fake “choice” since Arvo shoots Clem no matter what, but it’s an interesting choice for Clementine to make, y’know? 

Tbh I wish I could just take Baby AJ and steal the car by myself but guess we can’t all have what we want...

...though can you fucking imagine? Clementine takes AJ and one of the bags, decides she’s done with everyone’s bullshit, and takes off. Hell, y’know what? She can take Mike, too. 

At that point,  that’s the choice I’d probably pick. 

Anyway, I feel ya. Mike’s cool and the writing didn’t do him justice.