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#its all about the hijinks and family moments
gffa · 2 days
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I adore your batman stuff very much. I recently read the Wayne Family Adventures, and now I really want to read some more. Do you have recommendations on comic lines to follow?
Hi! I'm glad you're having fun with getting into comics and enjoying the posts around here, it's always nice to have new blood (or returning blood, in my case)! <3 I would give a gentle caution in that Wayne Family Adventures is sort of in a class of its own in a lot of ways, the characterization is much softer and fluffier, while the mainline comics are darker and messier, the characters are definitely not always as nice as they are as in WFA. That's no shade on either of them, just that I want to give a quick warning that if you're stepping from one to the other, the culture shock can sometimes be more than you're expecting. (And also keep in mind that comics are a shifting landscape, there's no one "true" version of many of the landmark moments of characters' lives, you'll see events often retold, you'll see comics that later get retconned, you'll see comics that are in different continuities/set before or after a universe-wide reboot, etc. Don't worry about it, just recognize that you're reading a story to enjoy that story, not as Hard Continuity!) That said, some of the lighter comics that I think would be fun if you're looking to come over from WFA are:
Li'l Gotham is a cute parody series that's super adorable, has some lovely art, and is nice little self-contained stories that are humorous. It's not in mainline continuity and it's even softer than WFA, but it's deeply charming and it's a fun, quick read.
Super Sons (2017) by Peter Tomasi is in mainline continuity and it's focused on Damian Wayne and Jonathan Kent becoming friends, bickering all the while, and getting into hijinks. It tends to lean more humorous and cute, so it's a nice stepping stone up to regular comics.
Robin and Batman (2022) by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen is a good litmus test for whether you might like regular comics--it's a short 3-issue mini-series focused on Dick's early days as Robin and the complicated, thorny relationship he has with Bruce about it. It's one of my favorite, it balances what a terrible gremlin he was with what a little angel he was and the emotional beats are painful in the best way.
Robin: Year One (2000) and Batgirl: Year One (2003) by Scott Beatty/Chuck Dixon and Marcos Martín/Javier Pulido are good places to start for both characters, and hold up okay considering their age. The art is a bit stylized in a way I really like, it lends it a charming old-fashioned vibe while still being pretty to look at, and there's some solid character moments in both.
Nightwing (2016) by various (starts with Tim Seeley, but it's been several authors by now) is one of my go-to recs, I think it's a great jumping on point, has a lot of really nice art, and often tells fun stories, as Dick has some of the best connections to various other characters in the universe.
Nightwing (2016) by Tom Taylor starts with issue #78 and is a great jumping-on point and Taylor's writing is just very light-hearted, action-packed, quippy, and fun. Starting here saves you from having to slog through some of the worse arcs of Dick's series, you get Bruno Redondo's fantastic art, and you can feel the affection for the character, the author and artist love this character and want to make him very cool, as well as they love his relationships with other characters, so you get good Bruce guest appearances, Babs appearances, Damian appearances, Wally appearances, Jon appearances, etc.
Robins: Being Robin by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas was a fun self-contained mini-series that had all the Robins working together and I don't think it should be taken super seriously as a case story, but it had some quality banter, some hilarious moments, and a great look at these chaotic gremlins all shoved into a mini-van together to go solve a case.
Batgirls (2022) by Conrad Michael W./Becky Cloonan and Jorge Corona is focused on Babs, Cass, and Steph as a trio and being adorable together, with some humorous moments, cool art, and fun Batfam moments. It's nice that they get the spotlight and the chance to shine (it's their book, so they get the majority of the cool moments) and it's not super-long and you can jump right in.
Batman: The Knight by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico is a "Bruce travels the world to learn the skills he needs to become Batman" and I'm really in love with the way Zdarsky writes a Bruce who is deeply complicated, messy, coming from a place of loving deeply, but also this man has twenty seven different flavors of fucked up trauma going on in that hell brain of his. Zdarsky's current run on the main Batman title has been my jam, but that's a bit of a darker leap than this one, and I think this one is a great way to get to know Bruce Wayne as a character.
Batman: Urban Legends volume 5 has a story called "The Murder Club" that is basically "Thomas and Martha Wayne are time traveled into the future and see what's become of their son, they're not thrilled about it, but come around when they see the people that love him so deeply--primarily Dick, Damian, and Alfred." and was an absolute BANGER for me for feelings, gorgeous art, and some great character moments.
Batman/Superman: World's Finest (2022) by Mark Waid and Dan Mora is an absolute knock-out, it's Bruce and Clark in their early days of their friendship, where Waid is one of the best writers in the industry for how fun his stories are but also how well he knows the characters, Mora's art is often THE portrayal I think of when I think of the characters, and there's a ton of bonus guest appearances from various characters across DC's universe. Also, I am biased, Dick tags along a lot, as he's still Robin at this point in time, and it's a great dynamic between the three of them.
Batman: One Bad Day: Mr. Freeze by Gerry Duggan and Matteo Scalera was easily the standout of the "One Bad Day" stories for me, it's set in the early days of Bruce & Dick as Batman & Robin and it has ADORABLE sunshine gremlin baby Dick Grayson, a genuinely touching story about Mr. Freeze and his wife, and some beautiful art.
Year One: Batman/Scarecrow (2005) by Bruce Jones and Sean Murphy is a fun look at the early days of Scarecrow, but also has absolutely banger baby Dick Grayson content, there's a scene where Bruce literally just grabs him by the scruff of the neck to haul him out of the way of a crowd about to stampede and it's the funniest thing because that 12 year old could destroy your face with his fists but also Bruce can literally pick him up one-handed. There's some great banter in there and it's just a super fun dynamic.
As you make your way through this list, keep the author/artist and year listings in mind, as often times there are multiple series under the same title and some are more relevant to what you're looking for right now than others. Like, there have been three different volumes of "World's Finest", but I want to direct you specifically to the 2022 version because I think that'll work better for you. Similarly, Nightwing 1996 is one of my faves, but I think the 2016 version will work better at drawing you in right now. This is definitely biased in favor of my faves, but I honestly think they work for good jumping on points for someone new to comics and who's coming from WFA and might not want to get into the messier stuff of the mainline comics right away. Hopefully, you'll enjoy these and anyone else who wants to transition from WFA to reading mainline continuity comics, feel free to join us! Yeah, comics fandom can be a bit of a pill sometimes, but genuinely there's a lot of really fun moments to love and the characters are so much more fun when you're reading their stories with all the history and depth behind them!
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kathaynesart · 4 months
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Replica Holiday Special Winners!
Happy Holidays everyone! It's that time of year and you know what that means! Time to announce the winners for the DTIYS Replica Holiday Special Cover!
I received so many wonderful submissions. Far more than I had anticipated! They were all so unique and creative and it was an absolute joy to look at each and every one of them! I really underestimated however how difficult it would be to choose with them all being so unique from each other. In the end, I decided to gauge the top picks on how well their cover captured the "essence" of what this Special is going to be like! Without further ado, here are the winners.
HONORABLE MENTION - @matchstique
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Buddy! I love this piece so dang much! It has so much character and perfectly displays the wacky hijinks we can expect as well as the huge amount of stress our poor boys are under during these trying, pregnancy times. The movement and colors work so well and make me excited for what comes next! Seldom do I see pregnant females shown as the badasses they are, but you have gone and turned Cassandra into an absolute icon with this piece! Bless you!
3RD PLACE - @thegunnsara
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Sara, the shear amount of craft you put into your art is STAGGERING. Every scuff on Raph's shell and wisp of smoke screams of a quality I can only hope to attain someday. I literally want to be you when I grow up! That said, the concept of this piece is also fantastic. One of the things I'm must excited about for this Special is getting to see Raph and Casey as they were and witnessing the strong bond they share. I love them dearly and this cover captures their strength and tenacity so perfectly. Gods among men.
2ND PLACE - @cupcakeslushie
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Slushie, this cover is so damn fun and dynamic that I can't stop looking at it! Your attention to detail and composition are masterful and the fact that you could fit such a bombastic battle into such a limited space speaks to how crazy talented you are! You also do a wonderful job of retaining both the intensity of the apocalypse but also that playful edge that Rise always manages to retain! It's definitely the cover that would catch my eye on a shelf and make me want to turn the page to see what happens next!
1ST PLACE - @abbeyofcyn
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Cyn, the moment I saw this cover, I gasped! It's funny because this is both a piece I could have totally seen myself doing had I done the cover, yet crafted in a unique way I could have never come up with on my own! On top of that, this slick composition scratches my little designer brain juuust right. The use of the hands motif is such a great element because to me, it encapsulates the conflicting themes of family/parenthood with the drama of what it means to be human. On top of that, having each character as one of the digits both connected to and encircling Casey is such a wonderful touch that really drives the symbolism home. Somehow, you managed to peer into the future and perfectly capture how the finale of this special is going to feel. Thank you so much Cyn for such a wonderful piece!
~~~~~~~~~
Now that I think about it, looking back on these winners as a set, all four them actually do an amazing job as individual covers for each of the four "acts" that will make up this special. That was not at all my intention, but it kind of worked out perfectly for that. Gets me all emotional!
I also definitely want to put a spotlight on the other amazing submissions, many of which made it SO close to the top slots! I was going to post these pieces individually but I was worried people wouldn't then go to their blogs to view the covers, so instead have a compilation and links to the full versions! Please check out everyones amazing covers and give them some love. They all worked really hard and it means so much to me. Thank you everyone!
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@dreamundraws - LINK @honeylief - LINK @gemini-forest - LINK @memorydarkness - LINK @skullythefriendlyskullface - LINK @v-albion - LINK @its-wabby-stuff - LINK @yris-latteyi - LINK @reagi-df - LINK @chaoscontrol50 - LINK / LINK @murasakibonnet - LINK @hitwiththetmnt - LINK @xandriagreat - LINK @karonkar - LINK @sunydays - LINK (sorry my dear, yours did not appear on my hashtag reference at first! D: But still love it!) @quailaz - LINK @delicatechildwitch - LINK
Thank you again all of you! You all did such an amazing job!
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affixjoy · 3 months
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I did it folks, I watched the one with the whales!
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What a delightful movie, I had so much fun watching it. I don’t think it’s as high quality as Wrath of Khan, but its still so well done. There’s so much humor and hijinks! And WHALES!
Some things I loved:
💫 Spock trying to swear to fit in. Hilarious, and they used it the exact perfect amount. Any more would have been too much.
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💫 Bones in the hospital. Perfectly grumpy, perfectly smart.
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💫 Scotty was just great the whole movie. He’s always fun, but I like that he had a little more to do and got to be so funny. I bet it was a blast to film.
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💫 The entire scene where Chekov is asking for the nuclear vessels had my husband and I dying of laugher. Possibly the hardest I’ve ever laughed at TOS stuff.
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💫 Old married Spirk touring San Francisco together and visiting the whales. It wasn’t quitttttte the amount of love and heartbreak I wanted, but we did get some of it with Spock not calling him Jim.
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💫 And of course, gotta include some Spones/McSpirk feelings! Bones translating Jim to Spock felt very THEM and very funny.
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💫 I love that we got a sweet father/son moment with Sarek and Spock. After everything, it’s just so nice that Sarek could finally be proud of Spock. I wish Amanda had been there to see it, I’m always fascinated by her and her relationship with her family.
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💫 I just love this crew, and I continue to be so pleased to see them all together having adventures and growing older. The more I watch the more I realize how rare and precious it is that we get to see them age. We get to watch them get older and dealing with it, growing in their careers and friendships. We get to watch how their bodies naturally change. And like, maybe that’s a weird thing to fixate on, but for the last few years I’ve been thinking a lot about how everyone on tv has to be young and beautiful. Even as they get older, they try to look as young as possible. But I feel like here I’m getting to see their wrinkles and their gray hair and their weight gain. They look like people instead of an idealized version of people. And I’m not saying they AREN’T beautiful, just that they look real and interesting and like they’ve lived. I’m sure smarter people than I have written articles and books about this. It’s just so nice to see and makes me happy!
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Overall, extremely fun movie. Seems like it will be a great rewatch. If I have to rank them so far it goes:
Wrath of Khan
Voyage Home
Search For Spock (very close to Voyage home but not quite as good!)
And way down at the bottom is TMP.
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littlejuicebox · 11 days
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This is probably wack AF, but ... Dadstarion takes the fam on an island vacation and Gale becomes fascinated by his new crab friend. Now everything needs to be measured in crabs, e.g. "Yes, Gale, I'd reckon you're about five and a half crabs tall." Also, the amount of sunscreen necessary for this family is jaw-dropping.
Pale by comparison.
Haha I love these scenarios you guys give me! The Ancunin hijinks continues! I did a fair bit of crab research for this piece. :P
Tags/Warnings: fluff, dadstarion, parenting, children, very mild angst with comfort, lmk if you see anything else
Word count: 2.4K
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Astarion still hates the beach, which puts him, unfortunately, in the minority of the Ancunin household. His wife and children cannot seem to get enough of drying salt water and coarse sand stuck between their toes. 
But carting three children to the beach and back in a single day is exhausting, and the father learned his lesson last summer when Gale and the twins all burnt to a crisp after they ran out of sunscreen on their day trip. Tav went on and on about sunspots and melanoma after that, worried that their children would wind up with an incurable condition in 500 years. After that, the parents were sure to bring more than enough sunscreen, but the already overloaded carriage broke down on the following day trip, and Astarion decided he’d had enough.
So this year, he and Tav decided to take Wyll and his wife, Euphemia, up on their offer and borrow the Ravengard beach house for a week. The quaint cottage is built on a small island dotted along the Sword Coast. It is sparsely populated, mostly by native humans year round, but hosts various nobles and elites from Faerunian cities during the summer months. The latter includes the Ancunins — at least for the week.
“Evander, you cannot go to the beach naked. Run and put your swim trunks on now; I don’t care that you don’t want to!” Tav scolds the older twin as she coats the younger one in sunscreen. 
Finnick is squirming under her touch as he laughs and tries to remove his bottoms to match his brother. 
“Finn, absolutely not,” Tav warns before shooting a pleading look at her husband. “A little help here?” 
Astarion closes the basket, which he’d been examining to ensure that, yes, they still had more than enough sunscreen and then scoops the naked twin up with an annoyed sigh. The father heads down the hallway to their bedroom, giggling brunette three-year-old in hand, on his way to retrieve the abandoned swim trunks. As he’s walking, Astarion rapts a quick knock on his eldest’s door and calls, “Almost ready in there?” 
“Yes!” Gale shouts moments before he rips open the bedroom door to join his family in the main living area. A bucket and shovel are in one hand and a waxed, wooden surfboard is tucked under his other arm as he patiently waits for his parents and siblings. 
“Where is your hat, my little love?” Tav asks her eldest, prompting the boy to run down the hallway and grab his sun cap before returning back to his mother with a smile and a showy wave of the head cover. 
Astarion joins the family a few moments later, Evander now properly clothed, and exchanges one twin for the other so that Tav can begin coating the previously naked twin in sunscreen. The father glances down to inspect his eldest and catches sight of some creature trying to crawl its way out of the bucket. The older silver-haired elf’s nose instantly wrinkles in disgust. 
“Gale, did you bring a crab into the house overnight?” Astarion questions as he unceremoniously plops Finnick into a chair and then turns and begins to slather sunscreen on his eldest child.
“Yes,” Gale answers, always the picture of honesty. The seven year old’s voice is muffled and his eyes are slammed shut as his father rubs a thick layer of white lotion onto his cheeks, nose and forehead before paying special attention to the child’s pointed ears, causing him to squirm at the sensation, “Mama said I could.” 
Astarion shoots a disapproving look at his wife and she responds with a half-hearted shrug. 
“But remember what I said, Gale? Only for one night. Now we have to return the crab to the ocean,” Tav interjects as she releases Evan and starts to gather all the other beach day necessities into the family’s basket. 
“Why can’t I take Shelly back home?” The eldest Ancunin boy asks, his voice tipping up into a whine as he scrunches his nose up at his mother. 
“The crab needs to stay here, Gale,” Astarion responds, “It— Shelly will be happier here on the island rather than in your room back in Rivington, don’t you think?”
Gale groans as he peers down at the crab; the sea creature is still trying to crawl its way out of the bucket but finds itself unable to get a proper grip. The boy props his small surfboard against the wall and carefully pulls the animal into his hand as he sighs,  “I guess...” 
Finnick jumps from the chair without warning and darts forward to grab the crab. Before Gale can stop his brother, the youngest Ancunin boy is met with a sharp pinch to his finger and shrieks out a startled, “Aah– aaah! Ouch!” 
The younger twin begins crying as Astarion swiftly moves to pry the crab from his son’s hand and drop it back into the bucket. Gods, why does his eldest insist on caring for creepy crawly creatures? 
Gale rolls his eyes in annoyance at his brother, the spitting image of his father as he says, “I told you not to touch her, Finn.” 
Evan moves to hug his crying twin, but Finnick pushes his brother out of the way, causing the elder twin to bump into Astarion’s leg as the injured one runs toward his mother, still crying. 
“Kill it, mommy!” Finnick cries, clinging to Tav as she inspects the damage on his hand and whispers a quick healing spell.
“We aren’t going to kill Shell— the crab,” Astarion sighs, his eyes rolling at the ridiculousness of this conversation, “And what have I told you about keeping your hands to yourself, little fox? See what happens when you don’t?”
Finnick pouts, his head buried in the skirt of Tav’s dress as he pointedly ignores his father. Astarion scoffs and then hoists Evander into his arms, giving all three children a final inspection. Hats, swim trunks, swim shoes, sun lotion – check, check, check, check.  
“Everyone ready?” The father asks as he grabs the basket from the table. 
“Yes,” Evander and Gale respond in unison. Gale snatches his surfboard back under his shoulder.
Finnick says nothing as Tav sweeps him up into her arms; he simply buries his face in his mom’s neck and continues to pout as the woman gently lectures him about respecting animals. 
“Off we go then,” Astarion says as he opens the front door and gestures his arm in a wide arc, as if he is shooing everyone out of the house. Apple, the family dog, is waiting outside and takes off as soon as Gale sprints toward the water with a cheer.
The father chuckles when the twins are placed down in the sand and immediately run after their older brother. As he readies to pitch the tent, he watches Tav set up a blanket and call after the boys, reminding them to be mindful of how deep they go into the water without their parents.
Astarion hates the beach, but he loves his family.
*
While the children eat a late lunch in the tent, Astarion works on embroidery. The twins are starting pre-school next term, and Gale will begin second grade. Every year, Astarion adds something new to his eldest’s backpack; this year, he’s starting the same tradition with the younger Ancunins.
The twins both requested dragons for their first piece of embroidery. Evander wanted an orange one; Finnick wanted a green one. Those pieces had been finished earlier that summer and the four-year-olds used their bags for the very first time to bring their own clothes on vacation. Astarion thought Gale would choose another bird — pre-school had been a chicken, kindergarten had been a peacock, and first grade had been an owl — but instead, the boy spent quite a while deciding what he would request this year. And finally, this week, he chose a crab. A small crustacean is almost finished on the side pocket of the eldest Ancunin’s knapsack. 
Gale has yet to release Shelly back into the ocean. He’s the last to finish his lunch, and his siblings are already back playing in the waves while his mother watches carefully. Just after he finishes returning his plate to the picnic basket, the boy sneaks up behind his focused father and places the animal in Astarion’s hair with a giggle. 
The older elf stiffens as two pinchers snap around his curls, anchoring the small creature to his head. 
Astarion looks out to his wife, but Tav is busy with the twins, where they are playing pirates along the shoreline, costume eye patches and hats included. The spindly legs running along his scalp make a shiver run down Astarion’s spine. Cazador used to do something similar to him with rats when he was in the kennels.
“Gale— take it off, now,” Astarion hisses, the tips of his fingers starting to tremble as he sucks a deep breath in. 
From his father’s tone alone, the eldest Ancunin can tell he made a mistake and quickly removes the crab from Astarion’s head. He goes to place the creature back in the bucket and frowns up at his father, already on the verge of tears, “Sorry, Papa… it was— I was playing a joke– I didn’t– s-sorry.” 
The wind picks up for a moment, swirling around the tent as the most sensitive Ancunin boy blinks away guilty tears. Thankfully, a blast of wind never comes; the child takes a deep breath in and then exhales, like his parents had taught him. Gale had done better about controlling his powers since entering primary school, but the dampener around his neck still helped.
Astarion abandons his project, running a hand through his own hair to dispel the sickening ghostly feeling of tiny legs scrambling along his scalp. He offers a reassuring smile to his eldest, “It’s okay, little prince. Just… don’t put things on my head when I don’t know you’re going to, okay? Ask permission first.”
The silver-haired boy nods and then looks down at his tiny companion, stroking the top of her shelled body with a single finger,  “Dad… do you think I’m weird because I really like animals… and I can talk to them?” 
Astarion furrows his brow as he watches his son, “No, Gale, I don’t. Why would you ask such a thing?” 
“Well, some of the kids at school don’t believe me and they say I’m weird and that I’m lying. But I’m not lying. I could hear Shelly, when she was buried in sand and stuck upside down on the beach… that’s how I found her.”
The father nods as he considers what to say next. Most children with abilities like his son’s join Druid circles early on, or are born into a Druid circle themselves. While there are people like Gale in cities — Jaheira, for example — it is rare. 
Astarion joins his son in the sand and extends his fingers out toward the small crustacean. It willingly climbs into the older elf’s hand, and despite his distaste for the animal, the retired rogue forces himself to hold the sea creature.
“Gale, you are talented; the other children do not believe you because they do not yet understand…” Astarion starts, watching as the crab in his hand rubs its pincers together. “You are able to see the beauty in things others don’t… even in the creatures others may consider monstrous. You are like your mother, in that way. You are exceptionally empathetic and kind… but you are not weird, little prince. Not at all.” 
Astarion slowly lifts his hand, and his son watches as the father gently places the crab upon his own head once again. 
Gale giggles before he says, “I think she likes you, Papa.” 
“Does she now?” Astarion asks with a half-faked chuckle as he works to ignore the gooseflesh trailing down his spine. 
The boy nods and laughs again before he stands and retrieves the crab from his father’s head. 
“I guess I should go put Shelly in the water now,” Gale murmurs, the slightest tinge of sadness in his voice and the smallest pout on his lips as he peers down at the tiny animal. 
“I think that would be best, little prince,” Astarion responds, ruffling his son’s curls as he sits back in his beach chair. 
The child nods solemnly and then holds the crustacean carefully in both hands as he makes his way to the shoreline. He spends several minutes seated in the rippling water, speaking to the crab, before he finally places her down upon the sand. The creature waves her pincers up and down, as if she’s bidding goodbye to the little boy, and then sidesteps into the ocean and disappears.
Astarion is anticipating sadness when the child returns to his father but instead, he’s wearing a grin, “Papa… did you know mermaids are real?” 
The older elf has resumed his embroidery, but pauses for a moment to assess his child curiously. “The crab— Shelly told you that?” 
Gale nods and then launches into the story his crustacean companion told him before her release. Astarion listens with a mixture of fascination and confusion, and when the three other Ancunins return to the tent, Gale is sure to tell them mermaids are real, too. Evander and Finnick are both thrilled by this news, because if mermaids are real, then that means leviathans are, too. The twins think maybe one day they will slay a sea monster together. 
*
Several weeks after the island trip, Gale is still obsessed with crabs and Merfolk. The Wizard of Waterdeep, after a short weekend trip to visit the Ancunins, sends his namesake a book on Crustaceology. Gale learns that Shelly was a juvenile Dungeness crab, and that at her full grown size, she will be roughly 30-40 centimeters long. He begins measuring everything in “Shellys,” and even ropes his younger brothers into the behavior. 
Gale decides he is about four Shellys tall, while his younger brothers are between two and a half to three Shellys tall. Evander is half a crab claw taller than Finnick. The younger twin is not happy about this announcement and starts standing on his tiptoes whenever he’s near his almost identical (save the minute height difference) brother. For the rest of the summer, everything the boys touch is measured in crabs, to the dismay of their parents and the confusion of the servants and townspeople. 
And so, perhaps, the Ancunin boys are a bit weird, after all. But their parents wouldn’t have them any other way.
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mindibindi · 10 months
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The Failure of Ted Lasso's Unconventional Politics
SOCIAL CONDITIONING:
According to Brendan Hunt, shippers interested in a second chance, mature-age romance between Ted and Rebecca were being blindly, un-self-reflexively led about by their “social conditioning”. Presumably, however, the writers who wrote Ted returning to his heteronormative family unit – as well as all the viewers who enjoyed this ending and have defended it since – are completely free of social conditioning? No social conditioning is involved in reifying the white heterosexual family unit? No social conditioning is involved in deifying parenthood, fatherhood and patriarchy at the cost of all else? There is no social conditioning involved in a conclusion that values good ole working class Americana while rejecting the big, queer, complicated, multicultural world?
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid):
If the creators wanted to gesture to “Cheers” as a classic American sitcom, then at least learn from its example. This show worked best when it worked with familiar, beloved characters in a familiar, beloved, but confined setting. "Ted Lasso" had a near-perfect first act, doing a simple thing well. But from s2 onward, the show started straying out of bounds. The cast of characters kept expanding and contracting: people were in, people were out, characters were coming and going and changing (what was the point of that whole Zava plotline?). We had multiple workplaces and workplace dramas (grew to like Barbara tho). Episodes got long and unwieldy. Themes got convoluted as the show took a long trip, imo, up its own arse. The folksy wisdom of s1 became grating self-indulgence and cliched “moment” manufacturing.  
SUPERFICIAL UNCONVENTIONALITY:
TL employed a familiar 3-part structure but ultimately its supposedly radical, unconventional politics was not reflected in the show’s structure. Since the first act started with Ted's arrival, you could see his departure coming from a mile off. Some folks are acting like returning Ted home constitutes some super brave move by the writers that we've never seen before. But if you want to talk social conditioning expressed through narrative expectation then you really couldn't get anything more conventional than this ending.
We've seen it all before:
Act I: Fish-out-of-Water character arrives and begins winning over a dubious, dysfunctional community Act II: Bonding, hijinks, missteps, complications and development Act III: Revelations of growth. Community sadly waves goodbye to teacher they love but no longer need. Cue credits with moving song choice.
It's as cliche, conventional and predictable as it gets. And I could condescendingly accuse every viewer who enjoyed this ending as being blindly and un-self-reflexively led around by their social conditioning. But even if I'm not one of the showrunners who also played a beloved character and who is speaking on a public forum, that would be a pretty fucking shitty move. What I am saying is that the disagreement over this ending speaks to some core ideological differences currently playing out across the globe around patriarchy, feminism, queerness and privilege. There is an opportunity here to examine what we socioculturally view as “good’ and ��right” and “happy”. These ideas of good, right and happy are not necessarily benign and will be inevitably reflected in and reproduced by our art.
PATRIARCHY:
In the end, “Ted Lasso” literally chose patriarchy (but what kind is the question). Just because this show was working with a familiar 3-part structure, that doesn't mean it didn't need to justify Ted's inevitable departure. For many people, his son is enough. That's it. End of conversation. Henry trumps all. And yes, this was always going to be the justification used by the series. But I think this disagreement highlights changing attitudes to modern parenting. Everyone agrees that parenting requires sacrifice: large and small, everyday and lifelong. But how much sacrifice is too much?
For some people, this was too much sacrifice. Others seem to think it was Ted's duty to sacrifice for his son his own sense of family and community, his continued health and growth, his professional fulfilment. Imo, he could have shared all of this with him but chose old-school parental sacrifice instead. I consider this kind of sacrifice to be something that culturally we’re coming to recognise as unhealthy, for both parent and child. In reality, parents are more than one thing. Parents have jobs, interests, relationships, needs, limitations and struggles. Parents are people.
In the series, Ted was established as a person: a person with a sad past, a tortured inner world, a strong desire to connect with others and, potentially, a brighter future than his past. From the beginning, his relationship with Michelle was established (and often reinforced) as over, dead, absolutely no route back in. But his relationship with his son was loving and important to him. Of course it was. He’d be a bad man and unlikeable character if it wasn’t. Even so, Henry isn’t a major or fully realised character in this show. We care about him, relate to him through Ted. He matters to us because he matters to Ted. But frankly, we are far more attached to Ted’s other adopted “children”, the relationships we have watched him develop over 3 years, than the relationship we only saw glimpses of. That’s just narrative reality. In reality, yes, Henry would and should be Ted’s first priority. This is only right. In fiction, the team at Richmond should have been the first priority of Jason and the rest of the writing team. They are the ones we want to see and want to see happy and settled.
As many frustrated viewers have stated, it's not Ted's departure that is so disheartening but how it was done. If the TL team wanted to make this choice seem like a healthy one for Ted then they needed to establish other things waiting for him in Kansas: friends, community, employment, fulfillment. As it was, literally nothing tipped the scales in favour of Kansas. There were no romantic, community or larger familial relationships to get back to. Far too much was just left to inference or imagination. Yes, we can assume that Ted has community in Kansas, that he will probably get a great job after his success in Richmond. But all the people and opportunities we would like to infer/imagine will never tip the balance towards Kansas when we consider all we KNOW is already established for him in Richmond. The homeworld and beloved characters of a show will always hold more emotional weight than anything undefined and hypothetical. If viewers were to be happy with Ted’s exit then the writers needed to take the time to lovingly define his future away from the club.
Instead, it seems like a deliberate choice to shut Ted down and perform (and I do mean “perform”) this marvelous sacrifice for his son that so many think is admirable. It’s this shutdown that is so inconsistent and confusing. Because at any time in the hour, Ted could have said to Rebecca, the Diamond Dogs and/or his team:
“Look y'all this ain't the end. We’re family now. I'll be back. I'll show y'all round Kansas anytime you wanna visit. My mom will cook a dinner that will clog your arteries. And every so often, what say we do a long-distance movie night, huh? I'll miss you all but I’ll be watching every game and I can't wait to come back and see you win the whole fucking thing!!”
Ted could have been a model of honest, expressive, emotionally forthcoming, relationship-maintaining masculinity. But nope. Not a word. Just brave male sacrifice. It's straight up patriarchal propaganda. And truth is, fathers sacrifice way less than mothers do in heterosexual parenting relationships. Mothers are generally the ones making those small, everyday sacrifices that our society rarely acknowledges or admires. But I bet this ending makes all those lazy husbands and boyfriends feel real good about themselves. I bet it makes many female partners feel all warm and fuzzy to know that even though their kids’ father won't share half the labour that goes into raising a child, when it comes time for him to perform a massive manly sacrifice for his family, he toootttaaally will. I'm sorry, what were you saying about social conditioning Mr. Hunt?
FATHER GOD or WHITE SAVIOUR?:
Patriarchy needs its Father Gods and its Mother Gods to play certain roles (tho, to paraphrase Angela Carter, both are as silly as each other.) These magical figures materialise at pivotal times then dematerialise when the narrative is over, the pivotal lessons learned. They never themselves learn or alter. Think Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee. These figures are not entirely human, they possess an element of the supernatural. They serve others, serve a higher purpose. Nanny McPhee's appearance changes only as a reflection of her charges’ growth. Mary Poppins – the figure to whom Ted is most likened – learns to care about her kids but she doesn't engage in any self-introspection. Her duty and trajectory remains unchanged. When she arrives at her next job, she will do so exactly the same as she was.
These otherworldly mother deities are not unproblematic feminist figures themselves. But creating a male, fatherhood deity becomes even more problematic when he is white, cis-het and pretty able. Ted arrives to teach all the black and brown lost boys, to unite the disconnected women, liberate the closeted gays and to update the bumbling English gentlemen (there is, I feel, a special relish in these American bros educating their former colonisers on modern manhood). Here, we start to stray into white saviour territory. Frighteningly, this kind of patriarchal demi-god implies that white men are the most progressive figures in a society, they are in the political vanguard, championing the needs of the disconnected and downtrodden. White men are the ultimate source of wisdom, kindness and progress. It represents them as a group as progressive, when in reality the attitudes and politics of this group represent conservative politics and regressive values that impede the progress of every other marginalised group. If we buy this myth about white men, then we are more likely to accept what they say to us from their positions of power and privilege as right, wise, kind and progressive, even when it is the opposite.
So, if you are going to put forward a white man as a model of progressive politics, then you need to embrace unconventionality, not just superficially but down to your bones. “Ted Lasso” tried to structure s2 and s3 differently but just ended up making a mess of allusions and ideologies that did not connect, cohere, develop or conclude. In fact, sometimes they straight-up contradicted.  Employing a magical 3-part structure and making a bunch of meaningless allusions to well-known classics does not another classic make. They did not engage with any of these classics (“Cheers”, “Mary Poppins”, “The Wizard of Oz”) in any deep or critical way. Classics may be loved but they are not faultless. If you simply repeat what has already been done, even in celebrated classics, you may just end up repeating mistakes someone already made for you to learn from. TL repeats the central feminist problem of parental deities in “Mary Poppins”, just as it repeats the irreconcilable ending of “The Wizard of Oz”.
LIMINALITY:
Both “The Wizard of Oz” and “Mary Poppins” take us into strange liminal worlds. “Ted Lasso” could be read similarly, except that Ted doesn't take any magic home with him. In fact, he seems to actively forget it, reverting to the Ted he was before leaving. No queerness or feminism follows him home, no traces of the various cultures he's come into contact with. The liminal remain liminal with no indication that these two worlds will communicate or can integrate. The non-white, female, queer and otherwise bizarre are left outside of Ted’s squeaky clean hometown heteronormativity. And I really don’t think I have to explain why that is so deeply irresponsible. Because again, this is a writing choice.
That epilogue at the end was brief but imagine if it included more detail: Ted texting with Rebecca, or facetiming with Roy, Jamie giving Henry advice. They didn't take the time to honour and continue these relationships or integrate these two worlds. They didn't suggest that responsible fatherhood could entail many things, could look different. “Sacrifice,” they said profoundly. “Fatherhood,” they murmured mistily. “Patriarchy” was their final word to which this feminist says, “Bullshit.”
PRIVILEGE:  
I only did one film unit at uni but it really doesn't take much to deconstruct the absurdly inconsistent ending of “The Wizard of Oz”. It was 1939, the end of the Great Depression and the start of another devastating world war. People needed to be convinced that their small ramshackle b/w lives surrounded by loved ones were stable, noble even. They already had everything they needed. They didn't need Oz. They didn't need bright futures, big adventures or exciting opportunities. Monochrome Kansas was all a good American should ever hope for. There was danger in difference, safety at home.
Well, here we are in late-stage capitalistic hell, having come through (???) a pandemic and it takes a special sort of privilege to say to an audience: you don't need money or opportunity or community, they won't make your life any better than before. Be happy with the muddy and mundane. Be happy with what you've got. Turn away from larger community, greater knowledge, continued stability, and isolate yourself in a bubble of you and yours. Look, it's not a sweet or familiar narrative conclusion but the truth is, Ted’s, Henry’s and Michelle’s lives would have all been better if they'd relocated to London. Do these dolts have any idea what teachers (in the USA esp) are currently going through? How overworked and underpaid and undervalued these people are? The burnout rates?? Ted didn't have to take the highest salary Rebecca offered but, had the writers been willing to put in the effort, a more unconventional, more modern ending to this series could have been crafted.
Not that I'm surprised they took the easy road to glory. All indications from the beginning of s3 suggested that this would be the rather predictable conclusion. Indications do not, however, constitute development. This team had the opportunity to write a new ending to an old story, one that incorporated queer, feminist and anti-capitalist values. One that defined a different, new version of patriarchy. They didn't even think to. In their white boi hubris, they just assumed that they and tradition knew best. Considering how many viewers would be struggling right now for food, housing, employment and opportunity, an ending in which Ted turns down an opportunity like this hits a false, rather virtue-signally note. Literally, nobody would have come out worse. Everybody would have benefitted from Ted staying in Richmond. Which means this decision was made purely to manufacture a “moment” that celebrates patriarchy.
ANTICAPITALISM: There’s a reason they had Rebecca offer Ted the biggest salary in his industry. They wanted to make it NotAboutTheMoney! Ted doesn’t say so (doesn’t say anything) but, because this narrative idea is so fucking familiar, we can assume the thoughts behind his oh-so-sage expression are: “Well, shucks now, boss, I rightly do appreciate the kindly offer but that there kid o’ mine is more important to me than any cash you could put in my silly lil handy-hands.” Good Lord. The cringe is real. I really, really can’t with this mighty, manly silence and sacrifice. My problem isn’t that Ted values his son over money (not that it has to be a choice because that money could benefit Henry and his mother, who is owed a heck of a lot of child support esp since she’s been raising their son solo for 3 years). Again, that is how it should be. My problem is that the show actively established Richmond as an anticapitalist landscape, then suddenly at the eleventh hour, tried to walk that back and imply it was actually a capitalistic landscape (in contrast to homey ole Kansas).  
Capitalism teaches us to sniff at money. We've been told by the monied and privileged that it won't buy happiness. (This is of course, utter bullshit because money can buy you a hell of a lot of wellbeing, security and opportunity). At the beginning of the series, Rebecca Welton stands for this principle. And by the end, she has found a way to use her extreme wealth and privilege in an ethical way. She gives it away. She supports others. She lets Sam out of a promotional contract, she funds Keeley’s business, she sells half the club to fans. The most obvious example of Rebecca’s anticapitalist politics is her confrontation with all the richy riches who want to take soccer away from the people. Here, she becomes an anticapitalist leader, one who has been positively influenced by the anticapitalistic politics of The Lasso Way.
The Lasso Way is anticapitalistic in that it stresses that winning isn’t everything. You try but you try together. You play hard, not in order to beat the other guy, but to be the best (player, teammate, man) you can be. There are no individual stars, only collaborative team players. You give due credit to others, the team, the support staff. The club functions well when it functions as a unit. Over the course of the series, it becomes a commune that protects and nurtures its citizens. A socialist haven that values people over profits, prizes and meaningless acquisition. The Greyhounds don’t want to win the league for the money or the top spot. Winning the whole fucking thing is an expression of their regard for each other, the game and the new, kinder ethos they all now live by.
Because they spent 3 years establishing all of this (during a time when we really needed to hear it), there is something v disingenuous about them then having Rebecca offer to go to extremes to pay Ted more money than any man should have. It is not consistent with the show’s themes, the ethos of the club, Rebecca’s attitude or what she knows of Ted. She knows it’s not about the money for Ted. It never was. It’s an act of desperation on her part, but why did they need to make her ridiculous, desperate, so inept in this moment? Hannah plays it beautifully but I can’t help but feel this is part of them diminishing Richmond, (re)casting it as excessively capitalistic in relation to Kansas so that they can turn Ted’s decision into a simple Money < Son choice. Because if it is a Money < Son choice then he has no dilemma. There is no other choice. He goes home to his son. The problem is, they’ve just spent 3 years proving that it is not a simple Money < Son dilemma. Money was never actually part of this equation. Ted left to give Michelle space, to find himself, to find a new life and community, to extend himself beyond what he knew as normal. As such, there is now far more than just money for Ted in Richmond (which tbf, Rebecca also points out, but I still think this point stands).  
The other major problem is that, here in the real world, middle-class America (which btw does not exist) is far from being a haven of peace and prosperity comparable to nowhere in the world. This is a lazy cliché than any amount of travel should quickly disabuse you of. And yet in Kansas, we are supposed to believe, despite everything happening in America (referenced by Henry in ep 3.01), Ted will find community, opportunity and stability. To pull off this ending, they needed to establish a Kansas unlike the one currently in existence. This is what they did with Richmond. The UK is no better than the US currently, but they nevertheless established an ideal society, one with values very contrary to the world we now live in. Is it any wonder that people saw the desertion of this world as a rejection of feminist, queer and anticapitalist values? Right now, more than ever, people want to believe in a society that isn't all about triumph, success, competition, acquisition, individualism and aggression. They want to believe in a society that emphasises community, values people, shares wealth, offers opportunity, encourages difference, improves lives and moves onward, forward, in circumspect but ethical steps. These themes were all there in the series. They just weren't utilised when it came time to shape its conclusion.
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scarletbirbs · 2 months
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Now I’m interested.
What is your game plan on how Jon Kent should have been written?
Okay I've held off on answering this simply because I know I've talked about it before on this blog in a much more succinct and intelligible way, but due to Tumblr's search feature being ass I have been unable to find it. So unfortunately you're gonna have to get the spark notes version simply because I don't think I can word it as well as I have in the past.
But the run down is this:
A. Don't age him up like that's bullshit let him be a fucking kid and get into hijinks with Damian for like a decade or so. His character was honestly really compelling at age 10 because he represented something completely new, a naturally born Kryptonian/Human hybrid who struggled with learning his abilities and actually posed a threat to humanity and the earth as a whole due to his unstable genetics and how his abilities manifested. Like goddamn dude that's good shit to play around with. DC should've milked that for all its worth.
B. Eventually naturally age him up to a teenager but instead of having him simply take over his dad's mantle like DC had him do...have him reject it first. Have him have a teen angsty meltdown over feeling pressured to be a hero from a very young age and feeling like he was obligated to become a hero simply because he was the son of Superman. Have some moments with Clark and Lois as well where they re-examine their parenting over the years and discuss whether or not they were right to let Jon do hero stuff from an early age and whether or not they have unduly pressured him into taking over Clark's mantle.
B.2. Also, would be great to use this to highlight the similarities and differences between Kon and Jon. Kon always wanted to be Superman and never got to have a real childhood or family whereas Jon has never been sure if he wanted to be Superman and did get to have a real childhood and family. But at the same time they both struggle with being Kryptonian/Human hybrids and having pressures put on them from a young age. Definitely some heart to hearts in there as well as just stories in general that highlight this.
C. I think after this Jon would drop out of hero work for a while. He would decide that he needs some time to determine who he is outside of "Superman's son". He'd definitely have a conversation with Damian about it where Damian would not understand Jon's decision to bow out of hero work until Jon explains it. Cause for Damian, he's never really truly had the option to not be a hero. He's always felt that same pressure of living up to his dad's legacy. Jon's perspective and his thoughts about finding himself would definitely also open Damian's eyes. I don't think Damian would drop out of hero work like Jon, but he might re-evaluate his own perspectives on it and living up to his dad's legacy.
D. I think this "non-hero" period would be around the time Jon goes off to college. There he'll make some friends, switch his college major like fifteen times as he tries to sort out his identity and his goals in life, do college shenanigans, etc. His friends would NOT know that he's Superman's son or even has powers, that's something Jon would want to keep secret. There would probably be a few stories here and there though where Jon does something actiony but not as a costumed hero (cause like. it would be a hard sell to keep the comic going if he was just going to college) where like maybe a friend gets kidnapped and Jon saves him in his civvies while also trying to protect his identity, stuff like that. This would also be a good period in time for Jon to express his sexuality (cause I'm keeping the bi thing). I think it would be good to really slow burn it, like have a long ass process of Jon figuring it out, and then once he does he feels more like himself and like he's finally starting to build his own identity, which is what he wanted to do in the first place.
E. I also think in the midst of this there would be a good time to have something happen to Clark and the Superman mantle be up for grabs for at least little bit. Everyone goes to Jon at first because he's Clark's son but he's like no and hands it off to Kon. A sweet moment occurs where Kon's like "are you sure?" and Jon's like "of course. you're the only one who can" or something like that. Clark will eventually come back, of course, but goddamn it we're gonna let Kon be Superman if it's the last thing I fucking do.
F. Eventually, however, there will be a story arc that makes Jon realize that the best good he can do in the world is to be a hero, but he's going to do it on his terms, and with his new security in his sense of self and identity. He's Superman's son, yes, but that's not all that he is. I think by building Jon's character up like this, you can develop him into someone who is not just a carbon copy of Clark but gayer, but someone with his own personality, identity, and someone who chooses to be a superhero not just because they were born into it, but because they believe it to be the right thing to do.
N e ways that's the shortest version I can make it. Of course there's some more nuance and details and shit to be added but the bottom line is that Jon's character being artificially aged up is the worst thing that could've ever happened to him because he lost so much time to develop. This plan gives him the time to develop and also differs him from Clark. Also, this whole idea can easily be modified to make it happen when he is high school aged if instead of going to college he goes to some boarding school or something. The main thing is getting some space from his parents in order for him to grow on his own.
Hope that makes sense and is coherent enough and doesn't suck. Feel free to let me know what you think or if you have any thoughts to add.
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the5n00k · 10 months
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Character analysis essay: (kind of, it's mostly me just rambling)
The Ghost and Molly McGee and the concept of unconditional love and acceptance
‼️Spoilers ahead for both seasons 1 and 2!‼️
The Ghost and Molly McGee is one of the most special animated tv shows I've ever seen for several reasons but none quite as special to me as this. A ton of shows, especially on Disney channel, boast of their friendships between the main characters and their hijinks they get into but none have quite impacted me like the friendship between the two titular characters Molly and Scratch. I mean when I first watched this series in July after the season 1 finale, I expected to have a brief period of obsession, a few drawings, and then I'd move on. As you can tell by my blog, that did not happen. (For better and for worse)
People dismiss this show because of the more grounded slice of life episodic approach it takes but honestly I feel like that's it's strongest aspect. It allows the characters to have more moments where they can just slow down and connect. There's no urgent threat (save for a few episodes) that needs to be addressed or the world will end. The characters get to talk, react, and grow because of its slower pace. I say slower loosely because this show will also throw jokes at you harder and faster than an automatic tennis ball server but it knows when to take a moment seriously when it needs to. (This is also why season 1 Amphibia is my favorite and y'all can fight me for it.)
Now onto my main point; Molly and Scratch's relationship.
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They start out rough. REALLY rough. They're not good for each other in the slightest. Scratch is mean and constantly trying to sabotage Molly and Molly is controlling, dragging Scratch along on her daily tasks even if he expresses how much he does not want to come along. But no matter how terrible they treat each other, there's still a level of care.
Take First Day Frights or The Unnatural for example. Scratch is more than willing to watch Molly fail until he sees her getting picked on, something he's experienced almost every day of his afterlife, possibly his living one too. He has this connection to her early on, he has this empathy. He'd never expressly admit it and he still tries his hardest to make her give up MANY times throughout season 1 either for his own amusement, thinking the effort isn't worth both of their time, or simply because he has to keep Brighton miserable. But seeing her upset always sets something off in him. And while he doesn't verbally admit he cares about her until the season finale, he does eventually acknowledge her as his best friend (although in that instance it was more to spite Libby) and acknowledge himself as part of her family. The most notable episodes that highlight their more stable relationship are season 1, 18-20 (for those unaware, that would be Out of House and Home/Home is Where the Haunt is, Scaring is Caring/All Night Plight, and The Jig is Up/Molly Vs the Ghost World)
Moving onto season 1 Molly now, she was controlling and seemed to enjoy annoying Scratch in almost a sibling-like behavior, poking him, teasing him, playing with his "hair" but the further you get into the series, the less annoying these feel and the more endearing they become. She also begins to respect his boundaries more, summoning him less and kind of letting him do his own thing in the general area while she has her own plot going on. (Goat Your Own Way and gags ... The Internship) And even after the curse is broken, she seems willing to let him move on away from her if that's what he really wants. She's more interested in his happiness now than her own. Letting go of that control is HUGE for her considering how much emphasis she put on him being her first forever friend. She didn't even expose him to Libby until she got his permission. I brought it up once and I'm bringing it up again dammit.
These two broken, mistreated, flawed people who found each other by complete coincidence would do anything and go to the ends of the earth for each other. And they did.
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Moving onto season 2 I was terrified they would regress in some way from this. It was such a high note and a perfect end to their arc all throughout season 1, but now there was this new status quo. They were used to each other now. They could feel like completely different characters at this point. But they weren't, in fact they're even better.
They fight, they argue, they disagree on A LOT of things, but at the end of the day they're even more supportive and loving of each other than ever before.
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They're not tearing each other down anymore, they're actively building each other up. Making the other a better person. Cheering them on. This even extends to the B characters like Libby and Darryl, they feel like a close-knit family. Even when they argue, the first thing they see when they say each other again is "I'm sorry" which is HUGE for Scratch, acknowledging fault was (and still is to some degree) really hard for him. They love each other no matter what. They've still got their issues, Molly still feels like she needs to burn herself out to make others happy and Scratch is still calloused and mean towards new additions to his social circle but that just makes them feel more authentic. I don't want them to be perfect. Watching them improve yet still struggle with the same issues they had at the start of the series makes them feel so real. For being a show that's mostly episodic with loose continuity, the development its characters go through is so slow burn sometimes you don't even notice it just binging the series. But if you jump back and forth between an early season 1 episode to a late/season 2 episode, it is STAGGERING.
Molly doesn't love Scratch because he stopped being mean. Scratch doesn't love Molly because she stopped being an overbearing ball of energy. They've loved each other in spite of that. They see past these flaws to their source and relate to the feelings they stem from. At their core, Molly and Scratch are exactly the same; social outcasts seemingly doomed to never having lasting connections. They just responded differently to what they had to go through, their two extremes are even similar in some ways with over possessiveness and insecurity. When Scratch was defending himself to Libby, he couldn't even name any of his redeeming qualities. And Molly still thought Scratch wanted to leave her in spite of everything. They're so torn from their experiences and that drives them closer together. I'm tearing up writing this.
They're broken but they're healing. They're best friends forever. One without the other would not be the same person. Although they aren't codependent, they've gotten along fine on solo adventures without the other needing to step in and solve their problem. They're healthy in their toxic behaviors because they call each other out. I don't consider a relationship toxic if there's noticeable improvement and growth. They're mature in their immaturity, their friendship is so simple and sincere. They enjoy each other's company and don't care who knows it. They're weirdos and so is everyone else they're friends with. Save for maybe Geoff. I don't think a single soul hates Geoff. I'm getting off topic but their friendship is something I always wanted.
They know they're broken, they know they're flawed and selfish at times. But they're trying. And that effort is sometimes all that one can ask for. The dream team for all eternity.
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starseneyes · 9 months
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Spock / Nurse Christine Chapel - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S2 Eps 4 & 5
Folks, this is a wild time to be alive. Since we had bits and pieces leading up to 2x05, I'll touch on those first, and then we can get into the meet of a super uncomfortable, yet hilarious episode.
SPOILER ALERT: If you're looking for a friendly non-spoiler glimpse at this ep, please do not click through! I am a spoiler queen, and I go deep.
There's a tiny sliver of 4, so I included it in this recap, but it's primarily episode 5 in all its cringey, hilarious glory.
Everyone squared away and ready to play? Let's dive in!
"Among the Lotus Eaters" AKA "Who Am I, Again?"
"Hi, Spock. What's happening?"
He's the lieutenant currently in charge of the Enterprise, but she's totally conversational with him, here. She's got bigger things on her mind, which is why I think the formality escapes her.
Una Fumbles for Words
Spock looks to Christine to see if she's on the same page, but she's way ahead of him. I love these little wordless interactions of theirs. It shows that they're still them under these complicated emotions flowing between and through them.
"Charades" AKA "Hijinks Part Deux"
After watching the sneak peek, the promo, and reading the episode description, I came up with what I thought was going to happen:
Spock/Christine crash near beginning of episode
Spock loses his Vulcanness because some alien wants him and Christine to match like collector dolls
Spock's "What the F-" leads into main credits
Christine spends the whole ep working the problem
Spock has very little interaction with her, all things considered, as a human
Christine has to appeal to an alien entity to get Spock back to himself
Spock and Christine share a moment of truth before he is returned to himself
Possible Spock/Christine kiss to end the episode
IF Spock/Christine kiss, they were kissing before "What does this mean?" from preview
How did I do? Well, if you watched the episode, you know already. And while I didn't get all the details right (you'd have to be inside my brain for that bit), I think I did petty well!
Chistine's Log
It's great that we're getting a look into her mind, what she values, and how she organizes her thoughts. And I have to applaud Jess Bush on the voice work on this one, because her inflection on her lines has always been a treat, and it's just as wonderful via VO.
Christine is excited about the Kherkovians and excited about her possible fellowship. What I love most about the montage is how we see everyone rallying and supporting her.
This is Christine's "Elle Woods Studies for the LSATS" montage. And as we go through matching cuts (this director seems to be a huge fan of them), we eventually arrive at a table with friends... and shots!
And can we talk about these three boss ass bitches hanging out together and drinking together? Like, I love that we're back to that idea that a starship is a family, and that these people are the people you actually like and want to be around. It's so bloody glorious.
"I don't get it. Your interview is with a Vulcan. So why aren't you practicing with Mr. Spock?"
Yeah, Christine. Why aren't you spending alone time with Mr. Spock? Of course, that's not what La'an means, but you can see how Christine blanches at the mention of their pointy-eared friend.
"Oh, things are kind of weird between them."
Erica. Ortegas. You did not just do that! M'Benga would never.
But, I'm personally glad Christine opened up at least a little to one of her best friends. We saw her hesitating back in S1 to tell Erica about her crush on Spock.
So, at some point, Christine opened up enough to Erica that now her friend's spreading her messy maybe-relationship to their mutual friend.
"Weird how?"
Erica's smirking while Christine's in shock. Christine doesn't talk about her feelings. She shoves them deep down where she doesn't have to deal with them and pretends they don't exist.
Friendships are great for Christine. Friends-with-benefits? Hell, yeah! But talk about the potential for a relationship? Or having feelings rather than simple attraction? This is outside of Christine's comfort zone.
She buries herself in her drink, much as she did in the first season with Erica when she said, "It would have to be the right man."
Well, honey, I don't know if he's the right man, but he's definitely the man in your mind right now.
A Scientist, A Doctor, A Nurse, And a Turbolift
The turbolift scene is brief, but impactful. Christine tries to catch his eye because she wants to assure herself they can get back in their boxes. But Spock cracked open Pandora's box of emotions. There is no going back.
Spock is praising himself for his emotional control. But he was almost tripped up by crumbs. Crumbs. What would he do if he was face-to-face with the woman he wept over right now?
As Spock leaves without a single word to the two of them, M'Benga and Christine look at one another.
And I thank God I was watching this on my bed at 3 in the morning and not during my lunch break, per usual, because I'm pretty sure my drink would've shot through my nose at M'Benga's face.
Seriously. If you haven't rewatched this brief scene, go back and do it if only for his look after Spock leaves. It's hilarious.
Spock's Log
The temperature firmly established on Christine's present goals (prep for interview/avoid Spock), we now get a glimpse into Spock's mind and life via montage.
He is hanging out with friends, cooking with Pike, and trying not to murder Kirk for crumbs. In short, we're getting a glimpse at status-quo Spock so we can later compare and contrast.
Spock has always enjoyed being around his friends. I think of Spock in his later yeas camping with Kirk and McCoy (my personal favorite classic Trek character). He has always enjoyed being surrounded by people he trusts.
And I posit that's part of why he's so committed to Starfleet. On Vulcan, he is reminded of his father's disappointment in him, the conflict with his older sister (though they resolved it), how Vulcan children bullied him, and how he must perform as a full-blooded Vulcan despite being half-human or face derision and discrimination.
In Short: It's a lot.
But as a member of Starfleet, he spends time with people from many backgrounds, cultures, languages, and creeds. He doesn't have to be the perfect version of anything. In general, his friends take him as he is without asking him to be anyone or anything. He can simply be.
Though there is one notable exception, now. And it's not her fault. It's simply a necessity of reality—Spock feels he can no longer be himself around Christine.
Nearly losing her in 2x01 when his emotions were still quite raw and exposed was devastating. He literally wept over her lifeless body and had to endure the agony of potentially ordering her death.
Spock is trying to fit himself back in the Vulcan box because he's worried about what he'll say or do around her. He wants to be true to his fiancée and everything he's promised her. He knows to do this, he must suppress everything he feels for Christine.
But this isn't like a fresh herb he's never smelled (see next scene) and can't miss through his suppression. He knows what it is to kiss her, to taste her, to hold her, to want her, to mourn her, to save her, to hold vigil over her.
In short: He's so screwed.
"I am afraid my nasal suppressants inhibit my perception of scent."
Forgive the fangirl flail, but my two favorite characters of Enterprise were Trip and T'Pol—apart and together. So, getting a bit of confirmation of the Vulcan's keen scent that we first learned via T'Pol made me kick and squeal a little.
Reminder to Self: Gotta read that fix-it book, at long last, to save Trip from his Enterprise fate.
A Passenger
The whole conversation with Pike reminds me of the last time Spock was having concentration issues—when T'Pring was busy looking up human sex.
I find it fascinating (sorry, Spock) how much T'Pring throws him off. Whether it's his human side or Vulcan side, she tends to spring things on him that send him spiraling.
"I am fine, Captain."
Why call this out? Because "I'm fine" is going to come back later in this episode, and I find it fascinating (again, apologies, Mr. Spock) that it first presents itself here—when Spock is decidedly not fine.
And now he's getting a passenger. Of course, we're gonna cut straight from the line to the person for impact. But, oy, Spock's having a rough day.
He's already distracted with his relationship issues. The last thing he thinks he's going to get is more relationship issues.
A Nice Day for a Shuttle Ride
Christine ides alongside Spock, both of them facing forward. But Spock can't help but catch a glimpse of her.
This isn't a short ride in the turbolift. This is an entire mission together, in an enclosed space, with nowhere to escape.
He tries to approach her as a Vulcan—with tact.
"It is good to see you, Nurse Chapel."
Ah, now he's going to try to be "normal" because they're in a forced professional situation, and not talking at all would be ridiculous considering they have to work together.
"We did see each other in the turbolift the other day. You seemed busy."
This is such a passive aggressive line from Christine. The dude literally stared at the doors the entire time. But, it's also an "out" that she's offering him.
She doesn't want to talk about this anymore than he does.
But a small part of her wants to know if she's imagining it. She doesn't think so (M'Benga's reaction is confirmation enough), but she wants to hear it from him.
"I have many duties. If I offended you, I apologize."
He speaks without emotion, without emphasis, straight facts. But it's still hurtful. And he knows it.
Watch how he closes his eyes, admonishing himself. Do better. He tries to talk to her, really talk to her, like he would before he realized he was falling for her.
"You are here for the fellowship you are applying to? Archeological medicine?"
Note how his cadence and timbre have changed. This is how he normally talks to her—honest and open. It's how he wants to talk to her, but he's afraid of what will come out of his mouth if he opens it to speak.
Remember, Vulcan emotions are reportedly stronger than human emotions. And he's removed some of his control when he fought the Gorn. So, while he is making progress on regaining control, he's still terrified of what emotions Christine Chapel might unleash.
But he's choosing to talk about work. That's safe.
"You know, the Vulcan Science Academy would be lucky to have someone of your experience."
I love the use of "You know". It's so... conversational. It's true Spock slipping through. And this is a true sentiment. He means it.
"Thanks. It's, um, it's nice of you to say."
Ah, yes. This is nice, right? Just two coworkers talking about coworkery things. No reason to get emotional, right?
But Christine's struggling with this whole thing, and it's hard for her to believe what he's saying. Is he saying it as a nicety? Does he believe it?
There's too much weirdness between them right now, and she feels pushed to clear the air.
"Spock? I don't usually read into this sort of thing much, but, uh, it's felt like you've been avoiding me." "Has it?"
Welp, the plan to keep it professional backfired. Because while Christine doesn't want to have this conversation, she can feel the shift in their dynamic. And she doesn't like it.
She had put them into a happy little box of Friendship, and until they started making out on the Bridge of the Enterprise, they were doing a pretty good job of staying thee. Even later in the season, they seemed to have regained their footing.
But Hemmer's death set off a tidal wave of emotions in Spock that are still churning under the surface. Christine isn't blind to that, but I don't think she understands how much this Vulcan man feels for her.
He almost started a war for you, honey. You gotta mean something to him, right?
Spock's fortunately saved by the scanner, but even then, it takes a second for him to switch back into work-mode.
"I should... initiate scans."
Christine acknowledges the shift, no longer pressing for answers. But, did you see the way she checked him out when he stopped close to him? I mean... hubba, hubba. Christine's jonesin' for her coworker.
And, look, I am not a supporter of adultery. I applaud how Spock has tried to keep his distance while Christine has tried to keep him in the friend box. Neither of them want to do something they'll regret.
But this tension's reaching a tipping point, pushed over that edge by two major events in this episode that overlap and intersect.
The tension in the room shifts from, "Wow, I want him/her and shouldn't" to "holy shit, we're gonna die" in a matter of seconds.
The first time watching it, I noticed how Spock reached for a dial at the last second. My first thought was, "Oh, that was an intentional movement, there, but I bet we'll never know what it was for."
Folks, I was so excited to be wrong.
We'll get into what Spock was doing in that moment, but I love that the last thing he heard was Christine saying his name.
There's an intimacy to how Jess Bush says it—putting so much emotion into a single syllable. What do you say when you're about to die next to the one person you wish you could tell everything, but can't?
Do you break that invisible barrier of civility to tell him how you feel? Do you lament you didn't have time to sort it out? What can you say?
Genetic Manipulation Steals Spock's Eyeliner
He does have it in other shots as a human, but for this closeup, it's very jarring to go from Spockliner to none. All part of the illusion, folks!
"I feel... strange."
I love that the first words out of his mouth as a human are, "I feel." We talk so much about Vulcan emotions and Vulcan feelings, and he knows from the first moment that something is off.
"What happened to me?" "We don't exactly know."
It's almost a question on "know" that is so much fun. Jess Bush really has some incredible deliveries as Christine, and I adore it. There's such a dynamism to her deliveries.
I love that one of the first details is Spock investigating his hands. Why? Vulcans are touch-telepaths. No doubt, his hands feel strange without that ability coursing through them, even if he's touching nothing.
"Remediation was made. The beings now match."
This. Says. So. Much. Because so often in the history of this blighted country, we've seen racism tell people they can't be together unless they're the same. Heck, I've seen it in faith, too.
And these beings have the idea that making them match is the right thing to do. But they miss that having differences is part of the joy of connection.
Yes, you can be from the same country/speak the same language/worship the same way and have a beautiful relationship. But that isn't required.
Sameness does not equal compatibility or value. As Star Trek says, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
"Nurse Chapel is already working around the clock to find a way to reverse your genetic alteration."
Because she's the expert. Hell, yeah, that's my girl!
Now, we can play the "Christine's falling in love with Spock and that's why she's killing herself over this" all day. But the truth is that if this had happened to any member of the crew, Christine would be the one dealing with it because she's the expert.
It's simply juicier because she was the one with Spock when it happened, and she happens to be falling for him.
"Emotions must be new to you." "Vulcans have emotions. We learn to suppress them. These human feelings are different. They're intense and they never stop." "What you're going through, it sounds a lot like being a human teenager."
I love this whole explanation of what's happening with Spock. He hasn't changed who he is. We've watched him going through the exact same montage as before, but this time his control is gone—because human emotions work differently from Vulcan.
Through the Vulcan experience, he could suppress his emotions and box them up. Human emotions work differently. He lacks the chemicals in his brain to behave as he did before.
Remember, Vulcans are wired differently than humans, and while genetically Spock descends from one human and one Vulcan, dominant genes are at play.
For example, of my three children, only one looks like me with olive skin, dark brown eyes, and dark hair. My other two children take after my husband with strawberry and sandy blonde hair, pale skin that easily burns, and one even has hazel eyes!
Same parents. But different amounts of each of us and our genetics.
Spock's anatomy presents primarily as Vulcan, which would apply to the chemicals in his brain, as well. He's lacking those chemicals that retrained his brain to deal with emotion in a controlled and suppressed manor.
He is still the same person at his heart, but it's as though he were born entirely human in his genetics. Problem is, he didn't grow into them. They were thrown upon him as a grown man who was used to entirely different genetics.
It's not odd, to me, that while his core principles remain unaltered, how he approaches them is partially informed by the tools he has and/or lacks with an entirely human anatomy.
"Have you been here all night?"
Of course, Christine would do this for any member of the crew. But the pain she feels is amplified by her belief in her responsibility, and the fact that it's someone she cares about, deeply.
"If I hadn't been there, then maybe they wouldn't have done what they did to Spock."
Oh, there are so many layers to this. The obvious take is that she feels guilty that the aliens modified Spock's genetic code. But I think there could be another layer.
Because Christine was not initially on that mission with Spock. When La'an called her out on not talking to a Vulcan about the whole thing, I think she decided to prove that she could handle it, and requested to be added to the mission.
What if her ulterior motive for joining the mission was to prove to herself that they could be okay? That she could be okay around him? That it was all in her head that he was avoiding her, and that there really is nothing between them?
Because, that's what she wants. She wants for there to be nothing between them. She's tried to will it into being.
And what if her desire to prove they were nothing but platonic coworkers was what brought such pain to the person she truly cares for? What if it's her own hubris that brought this on?
Of course, we all know that M'Benga is right when he says that her presence might have been what preserved Spock's life at all. With "mixed instructions", who knows what the aliens might've done without Chapel's example.
And yet another example of just how biased our own medical system can be in this country. Did you know we are just now seeing medical diagrams and training materials that take different levels of melanin into consideration for bruising, bleeds, and reactions?
Sorry, back to the story—Christine's hurting.
"Survivor's guilt is easy to spot from the outside. But it's not fun from the inside."
I love their relationship. These two are deep friend who truly understand one another.
"Are you forgetting something important?"
Oh, shit! The interview!
"What? We're done?" "I have all I need. We will contact you."
I feel like all the other Vulcans in this episode are a reminder of why Spock is different, and special, and why we love him so much. It's not that he's a half-Vulcan. As Angel would say, that's not what this is really about. It's because of who he is.
No matter what version of himself he is, he cares about his friends. He loves his work, and he pours himself into it. He tries to do what is right, even if he sometimes gets it wrong. He's loyal, and patient, and kind.
Now, human Spock doesn't have impulse control, as we've seen. But if he were trapped in this state forever, I'd like to think that's something he could learn.
"Christine?"
First off, woah. Spock avoids saying her first name because of how intimate that is... and I have a theory...
See, Vulcan emotions are reportedly stronger than human, right? We saw what happened when Spock tried to let a little anger out with the Gorn... he went postal. He couldn't regain control. It was a flood that he couldn't stop.
What if he's kept such a tight rein on those emotions as of late because he's afraid of the flood to follow?
Spock's humanity is offering him the opportunity to talk to her, to engage with her, to be in the same space with her without losing all control.
His human emotions are a bit out of sorts, yes, but he can work in spurts and starts with them. Once a Vulcan emotion is unleashed, it won't easily be bottled up.
"I'm fine. I'll be fine."
She starts to say the canned line we're taught to say whenever someone asks how we are, "I'm fine." I hate "I'm fine."
Unless you're talking about how you look in your favorite outfit, when you say, "I'm fine" I wonder if you're telling the truth or bowing to society's standards.
"Vulcans can be such jerks."
The iron of that statement. Christine smiles at him, because she really needed that laugh. But it's also so strange a statement as she's working to restore his Vulcanness.
Insert Awkward Hug
In the history of awkward hugs, that might be one of the most cringe between two characters I actually adore together. He enters into it with the best of intentions, but once he's there, it's really awkward for both of them.
While Christine loves being near Spock, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like him.
"It felt like you needed that. Did I read the moment wrong?"
This moment really struck me, but for very personal reasons. See, I have an Autistic son, and hugging is one of those things that, God bless him, is a big part of him.
He likes to go up to strangers and hug them. And while they all smile because he's a super cute 8-year-old, someday he'll be an adult and they might not think it's as cute. So, we work on asking permission and understanding situations.
I know sometimes people liken Spock to being Autistic-coded, and while I don't know if that's true, this moment really struck me.
"It was really nice. It wasn't typical for you." "Is that okay?"
As M'Benga would say, there's technically nothing wrong with it. But it's not him.
"I'm fine. I'll be fine."
He's echoing back her words to her, but it also feels like growth. At the top of the episode, he declared, "I'm fine" when he wasn't. This response is far more honest and realistic.
Also, my mind drifted back to my first Human/Vulcan lovers, Trip and T'Pol. Their mutual confession of feelings scene is one of the funniest, sexiest, and most beautifully written/performed scenes in Star Trek, to me.
It's Season 3, for anyone who wants to relive it, but I'd do so before Paramount+ removes it like they did Season 4.
Spock's Elle Woods LSAT Montage
Echoes of Christine and Spock.... and how the team all rally around him, now, to help.
"We better hope Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel come up with a cure before the mind meld"
Fascinating that he's going professional on her name with his mother, and I think that makes sense in the moment.
Despite what Spock may feel for Christine, even in his human state he's trying to stay true to T'Pring and his Vulcan obligations related to their engagement. That's important.
Because Spock is still Spock. He's altered, but not gone.
"Yes, I'm way ahead of you."
I love this. We need the reminder of the Chapel we met on Day One, "I know I'm good at what I do". This is where she excels... and she can't make it work. And now she's on a time-clock of her own.
Also, I love how she and M'Benga talk as equals, here. There's no ego in what they're saying. He's trying to offer solutions, but she's already way ahead of him—because this is her speciality.
She respects his, and backs him up, and serves as an amazing assistant when needed. But right now he is the assistant, even though he carries the "Doctor" designation and she the "Nurse".
Let me tell you, I've often experienced Nurse Practitioners who were better in their field than Doctors. This is a nice reminder of that reality while also showing how it can work in a practical situation without bias. Ah, the utopian vision of this era of Star Trek's timeline.
Christine Interrupts Dinner
Look, these two just got their meals, and in comes their sweet-but-oblivious-to-her-feelings friend begging them to go on a mission with her to save her not-boyfriend.
And it makes sense that now that Spock is beyond the help of (most of) his friends the team swivels to helping Christine, again. This is their episode, after all.
"Look, I can't ask either of you to risk your lives for this. But if there's a chance to save Spock, I have to try."
She's willing to risk her life for him. Golly, they are so similar. Because she's in a shuttle craft on her way to the anomaly where he once chose to risk his life for her... but she doesn't know that, yet.
"He didn't choose to be live this."
I remember when I was guessing at what would happen in this episode that I really thought his choice was going to have more to do with it. I guess the writers thought it obvious that he wouldn't want to continue being human.
Yes, we've seen that being human is impacting his life in negative ways, but it could also impact it positively. That's the dichotomy of life in all its facets—it's beautiful and terrible.
"So, we're doing this?" *Uhura touches her shoulder* "We're doing this."
I really think those two bonded when Christine held Uhura after Hemmer sacrificed himself. But I also love this moment of Christine feeling the warmth of sacrificial friendship. She's growing closer to everyone with this civilian post.
We know that in childhood Christine didn't have a lot of friends. She was bullied. She was different, somehow. It's one of those points where she and Spock always related.
Christine also tends to rely upon herself rather than others. Trusting others means letting them in. Letting them in means opening herself up to potential pain.
But as she goes on this mission to help one friend, she's in the company of two others. And you see the moment their friendship washes over her and she relaxes into it.
"This is not going well. How is the cure coming?" "We've hit a roadblock. Nurse Chapel went to find the Kherkovians" "She what? And you just let her go?" "You and I both know that when Christine sets her mind to something, she is hard to stop."
I love the transition from professional to conversational, here. M'Benga is one of the few people—if not the only—privy to the fact that Christine's feelings aren't unrequited.
Yes, Christine's girlfriends have clearly picked up on how she feels about Spock. But even Christine is unsure about how he feels.
But that last line is so bloody powerful. Christine can be a bit like a bulldozer when she's locked onto something. What happens when she locks onto Spock? What happens if she locks onto something else and leaves him behind?
"What is your relationship to this being?" "Um... He's my friend." "Friends are not allowed complaints outside of the response period." "What? Why not?" "Because they do not have sufficient connection to the being in question."
Holy shit, they made HIPAA a character on Star Trek.
Think about it. My best friend can't go into the doctor's office and make decisions about my medical care if I'm unable to speak for myself. But my husband could.
Blue and Yellow might as well be documents you fill out when you show up in the waiting room. They're contractual, factual, literal, benevolent beings.
"You are each other's caregivers?" "No. Well, sort of." "This would answer a question we had. During the crash, the other being diverted shields away from himself to protect you." "He what?"
She finds out that he was willing to die to protect her. This is a huge shift for her. She had a malamute sticking up for her as a kid. A malamute, people! But now there's a man literally willing to die for her.
And he couldn't bear the thought of her dying, again. Rather than watch her die, he chose to increase her likelihood of survival, thus minimizing his.
When she was searching for last words, he was soaking in that last look at her knowing it might be the last thing he saw.
"What is your relationship to this being?" "I don't know." "Oh my God, Christine, come on!" "Seriously. You do know. Tell them." "Tell them what? I don't know what to say." "Tell them you like Spock, that you have feelings for him." "Are you so obtuse that you don't even see that?"
This is the line that broke me. Because Ortegas knows her. Erica has been through a lot with Christine, and knows how she handles relationships—poorly.
Also, Erica has a tendency to notice things before Christine—like the fact that Dever was going to become a problem for Christine's sensibilities.
So, I love that while Uhura is just as fed up with Christine's inability to put it into words (my husband beside me said, "It's now or never") with Spock's genetics on the line, it's Ortegas whose words strike me hardest.
Because Erica knows that Christine's not trying to be difficult. She's been hurt, before. She's afraid of relationships and love. She's tried so hard to follow her rules of dating. And with all that programming, it's difficult for her to realize what she's feeling.
"It's complicated." "Then make it simple. Because if you don't, he'll never be like how he was again."
Damnit. The future rests on Christine facing her feelings head-on. She soaks in Uhura's words, knowing they're true. If she can't convince the aliens that they have true connection, then she can't save Spock.
That means she has to tap into what she really feels. She has to acknowledge it. She has to allow herself to feel it.
But she can't do that with everybody watching.
She motions for Uhura and Ortegas to turn around, which they do with much eye-rolling. As much as Spock's dealing with the emotional maturity of a teenager, Christine's just as stunted, in some ways.
"Spock is..."
The emotions strike her before she can get out more than two words. Because, there's what he is... what he isn't... and what she wishes he could be in her life.
"He's my friend. And, maybe, sometimes, I wish that we had... more... connection."
She's reaching for the words the aliens use, trying to keep this controlled.
"But when you healed him, you changed him. You made him, um, easier to talk to. Someone who probably, um, understands my feelings a little better."
There it is. Her feelings. She's finally acknowledging her feelings. But in this heartbreaking realization of her feelings, she's admitting that Spock in his full self may never understand her feelings.
Restoring him to his former self means stripping his current understanding away. But it's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to restore Spock so he can live the life he was meant to—even if that means Chapel helps him complete his Engagement Dinner to another woman.
A tear slips out of Christine's right eye, and she wipes it away. And while I know these things are random, I can't help but smile to realize it's the same eye that Christine's tear fell from in TOS when Spock wiped it away.
"But, um it's not him. At least, it's not all of him because you took away the other part. A part I was connected to. And I miss him... as he was."
Connection. In the history of Starfleet and all our many stories within that world, connection is always emphasized. It doesn't have to be romantic. In Christine's case, she feels it never will be between her and Spock, no matter how she feels.
But they are still connected. Just as she's connected to everyone in her inner circle. As he is to his. They have found community and connection with one another.
And Christine was able to bring her thoughts back around to save Spock. Because their connection—no matter how deep or shallow it will become—will always be there.
"Mr. Spock. I have your vitamins."
Spock's, of course, grateful. Christine is alive and she beat the clock (barely... thanks, Pike, for the charades!). As he joins Christine in the bathroom, T'Pring watches them thoughtfully. She's had suspicions that something was going on, but I think this is when she's almost sure.
Not that she thinks these two are going to hook up in the bathroom, or anything, but that she's on the outside, yet again, with her own fiancé.
"Uh, the Vulcan genome should start coming back immediately, and physical changes may take a couple hours."
We know that Christine can rearrange and manipulate genetics temporarily, but Spock's body is about to go through a massive change. His arteries and internal organs are going to shift. His ears are going to grow back to their normal state. His blood's gonna shift from red to green.
I'm gonna take a wild guess that those Kherkovians put some heavy painkillers in that cocktail Christine's about to shove in his neck.
"I'm glad to see you're okay. I was worried about you."
This is completely consistent with character, except that he would not have vocalized it before. We know Spock worries about her. We know that he's relieved when she's okay. We've seen it.
"Why did you do it? On the shuttle, you moved the shields to save my life." "I... it was the logical choice. As a Vulcan, I had a higher likelihood of survival." "Just logical, huh?"
She normally wouldn't call him out like this, especially when she should be rushing to give him these meds so he can get into that Mindmeld. But she's raw, and she's hurting, and she's confused.
Her nerves are exposed and a part of her needs to understand if she's reading too much into the situation.
"Christine, I feel many things. It's confusing." "Yeah, I know. For me, too."
Welp, they're both confused. There's something.
They both look down, and I'm grasping for what motivated it. I'm guessing he took her hand, but we're in a shoulders-up shot, so we can't actually see what's happening.
I'm going to go with him taking her hand. It makes the most sense. And it's fucking bold of Spock.
"I have to tell you-"
Christine shuts him up with the hypospray. Because, if you're going to hear a love confession from someone you care about, you want it to be when they have all their faculties. If they're under the influence or inhibited somehow by something outside their control, it's hard to know what they really think and feel.
So, Christine stops him. But, from Spock's perspective, it feels almost like rejection.
"Get back out there. You have people waiting."
But he's frozen in place. Vulcan emotions are rushing back in, and they have to be compartmentalized and suppressed because he feels the pain of that rejection.
Christine walks out, instead, but she's hurting just as badly as he is. Because even if he said all the things she wanted to hear, it wouldn't have been him. She might have lost her only chance at hearing what she wants, but it was the right thing to do.
Spock Decides to Talk with Christine
I have to call this out because of where we last left these two—heartbroken. Spock was opening up to Christine about how he felt when she stuck a hypospray in his neck to shut him up.
She did it because she felt she had to—to restore Spock, that meant restoring him to the "honest man" who wouldn't pursue her while he had a "girlfriend".
For Spock, he had to endure that moment of all his suppressive abilities sliding back into place while simultaneously recognizing Christine pushing him away.
And yet, here he is, making the decision to go to her.
Now, let's be clear that this would not have happened if T'Pring had not said she wanted time apart. Spock has done everything that he can to stay away from Christine, to avoid what he feels for her, to suppress what he feels.
In a strange twist, T'Pring's actions have created a scenario similar to the one he just experienced—freedom from expectation.
Now, I've seen the "we were on a break" arguments, and I think it's up to Spock and T'Pring to define what that means for them. I can only hope there's Vulcan precedent to help guide them on what is (and isn't) acceptable during their time apart.
Because I hate cheating.
I've had friends who were cheated on, and it was the bloody worst. I don't like it in media. So, I'm hoping my assumptions are correct in that this is accepted within the constructs of Spock and T'Pring's separation.
Spock has been stewing on the events of the day and his mother's last words to him. Despite Christine pushing him away earlier, he makes the decision to seek her out. He needs to talk to her.
"I'm here."
The way she says this is so adorable. There's such optimism and openness in it before her more cynical nature kicks in to shut it down.
And why is she here? She's the one who walked away from him, before, but I like to think her own emotions and feelings are swirling inside to the point she can't think.
As she finally had to be honest about it with herself, she's sought out Spock to be honest with him. She doesn't expect anything from him.
But Erica once told Christine that she should spend her next relationship being more honest from the start. So, she's going to be honest.
"What were you coming to see me about?"
Spock wordlessly steps into his quarters, inviting her in. As he stops, he turns sharply over his left shoulder to face her.
In the hallway after Hemmer's wake, he turned over that shoulder, away from her. In Sickbay as she slumbered he turned over that shoulder, away from her. But today, he turned over that shoulder to face her.
He's no longer avoiding her, and his body language tells us before his words.
"That T'Pring and I decided to take some time apart." "And how do you feel about that?"
Christine, the queen that you are. This reminds me of their conversation at dinner, of their chat in the hallway, of every time she makes space for him and how he's feeling.
She doesn't make any assumptions about what he's saying. She leaves space for him to speak, even though we can see her initial reaction was elation.
She tamps that down to be sure she's reading the room correctly, and give Spock the opportunity to correct her initial assumption, if needed.
"I feel badly."
Christine nods, ready to be in friend-mode.
"But also, it was necessary. I am conflicted because I have feelings for someone else."
He said it. He fucking said it.
"A Vulcan with feelings?"
Classic Christine to deflect. But it's also a flirt. You can hear the smile in her voice as she says it, because she knows he has feelings.
She's the one who's talked to him about his emotions, wiped the bloody tear from his cheek. She knows that Spock has emotions, but it's so her to deflect a little in this moment.
Nearly losing her forced him to confront his feelings in 2x01. In 2x05, Christine faced losing Spock, and it similarly forced her to face what she'd been avoiding.
But she didn't imagine he'd feel the same way.
"We do have them. They are more powerful than human feelings which is why we suppress them."
Translation: My feelings for you are so strong, I had to suppress them.
He's explaining why he's been MIA. Suppressing this emotion has meant avoiding the cause of it. This isn't a messy table he can clean up and forget.
Yes, I've talked about love being messy before. And I have a feeling this is about to get very messy. But I hope it'll be fun along the way.
"I don't want to suppress this one any longer. I want to feel this."
The emphasis on want is incredible. And he's telling her without doubt that he is choosing them in this moment. He's choosing to embrace whatever this is, without allowing logic to dictate it.
Christine watches him, and this time it's words failing her. Her lower lip is trembling as she listens to him. It's too good to be true.
And I swear there's a smile in Ethan Peck's eyes when he says that last bit.
Christine's lack of response isn't because she doesn't share his emotions. We know that she does. But I posit she's told herself so much this was never going to happen that even as it's happening, she's struggling to believe it.
It reminds me of my response to my husband when he proposed. I literally said, "Are you kidding?"
Folks, he planned a four-hour scavenger hunt through multiple cities, calling friends in England and California, finding hidden notes, all to end in a black box theater he rented with a bloody light plot, dozen roses, and a poem he read to me.
After all of that, I was still convinced it would never happen. So, as he knelt before me, I fumbled to believe... even then.
"What did you come here f-"
His voice drops to a whisper. So intimate. So afraid to hope that she's there because she feels the same way. He got a hint of that when she gave him the hypospray, but it's not the same as confirmation.
Christine launches herself at him. Her hands grab his face, drawing him to her, but he already sees her coming. His eyes close before her lips meet his. Christine's take a little more time to close, and I like to think she was watching to see if he was into this.
Christine, honey. He's so into this.
As they kiss, the camera swoops around them, and I mourn the tightness of the shot. I've never been a fan of tight shots for kisses, to be fair. This is purely personal preference. I want to see the hands.
I have two communications degrees, and as an ambivert who was quite introverted in grade school, I spent a lot of time observing people.
I feel like the lack of hands takes away from how I can rate Spock's true engagement in this snog-fest... which might be the strangest sentences I've ever written in a Meta.
For any Rose/The Doctor fans, you must remember the clone they made of him and how they kissed, right? That kiss looked emotionless and cold filmed as a head-shot to me. I never believed Rose was into it.
But the behind-the-scenes where we could see the hands!? Hubba, hubba!
I really wanted to see Spock's hands to better gauge his interest and response. Especially after reading an interview with Ethan Peck about how he had to determine if Spock kisses a human differently than a Vulcan. I wanna see that in action!
Christine drops off tip-toes as the camera settles, and Spock moves with her, his lips still locked on hers. They're already moving as one.
But the part that guts me in the best way is the little kiss after they start to pull away.
Remember their first kiss on the Bridge? Of course, you do. Who could forget that!?
Welp, I didn't notice until long after I wrote my first Spapel Meta that Christine lingers momentarily after they part—as though she wants to go back in for more.
This time, they both have that same instinct. And this time, they actually get it. That little micro-kiss is one of the hottest things in this scene to me.
Why? Because it's a fulfillment of an unspoken want to have such intimacy that you can share something so small and have it mean just as much as the big, sweeping kiss before.
And as they share this moment, Christine's fingers trail down Spock's Vulcan ear. And while I doubt Vulcan ears are as sensitive as Ferengi, I'm sure that felt pretty damn good, too.
Because Christine accepts all of him. She doesn't have to tell him, "I'm okay with you being Vulcan" because it's not a matter of her trying to convince him. It's implied. It's understood. It's apparent via their interactions.
And during this episode, Christine showed it in how she fought for him to regain his Vulcan half—even at her own expense.
Think about it... Christine spends a lot of her time helping Spock with T'Pring. And even though there was a countdown clock to the diminishment of genetic plasticity—Spock's biggest concern was his engagement dinner with his fiancée.
Christine fought to restore him not for her, but for him. Yes, she is attracted to Spock in his fullness of self, but she recognizes that restoring him meant restoring him to the half-Vulcan who has been avoiding her for weeks.
To be here, now, with him is beyond her wildest hopes. She's tasted him once, but this time there is no pretense. This time, their attraction is so much deeper. This time, it's all real and honest and open.
Christine opens her eyes almost immediately, but Spock's remain closed as he revels in the feelings he's experiencing. He's soaking it in. This time, there's no awkwardness. Nobody's watching (besides, well, us).
And the fist time I listened to this moment with headphones on, my heart about stopped. It's. Their. Song. The same theme that played during their first kiss on the bridge is playing as they kiss, now.
Our doomed lovers have their own theme.
Christine looks to Spock with new desire, her hands finally free to touch him, her mind finally free to wander to the places she didn't dare. Girl is ready to go! Look at how she's taking him in, letting her fingers explore his skin.
And Spock's taking the logical role of hoping to define what this means.
"What does this mean?" "I don't know. Shut up."
His eyes close before her lips meet his as she pushes him away from the door and deeper into his quarters.
Spock and Chapel are gonna get some tonight!
And, did I see this coming at the beginning of the season? Honestly, no. I thought they'd sleep together at some point in the run of the show. But definitely didn't call it this early! Especially when we all know it's going to implode/explode/end in tears.
I'd be remiss if I didn't at least address the separate-yet-similar arcs of our two lovers. Both of them are on arcs of understanding themselves better, just in different ways.
Spock has been made fully human. This has always been a part of him, but not something he could even imagine experiencing. He had the opportunity to see life through human eyes, to feel human emotions, to smell like a human, and to better understand his own mother.
And major props to whichever character decided they should meet in Pike's quarters with Pike present so the smell of humans might be explainable, even with Vulcan suppressants helping.
But in his journey to navigate life as a human, he started to see his mother's journey. He saw all the pain she suppressed over the years to give him a life of joy. And I'm not saying that we, as mothers, should have to suffer for our children. But I know all good parents often make decisions that are to the betterment of our Little ones, even at our own expense.
Spock finally understood the sacrifices she made. It reframed his own quest to be "Vulcan enough". His mother was never Vulcan. Could never be Vulcan. And yet, so much of what is good in him came from her.
I think that's part of what gave him the emotional freedom to declare himself to Christine in that final scene—freeing himself from the expectations of others. He realized he could thrive without compromising who he is. It's something Angel—for all their flaws—was trying to teach him.
And being released from his obligation to T'Pring by T'Pring freed him up to go after Christine. Again, I'm really hopeful that in the framework of Vulcan culture this is not cheating. I don't like cheating. But, I do like Christine and Spock.
Christine's arc is similarly about defining herself. Somewhere in the mess of the past year, she's lost a bit of her trademark confidence. And I think the problem of trying to solve Spock's genome issues was especially disheartening.
If you're the expert who can't expertly do the one thing in which you're supposed to excel, how much of an expert are you?
The initial rejection of the fellowship deals yet another blow to her psyche on a bad day. But after embracing who she is—a badass scientist, a loyal friend, an innovator, and even a woman capable of romantic love—she enters her second interview more confident in herself.
And I want to be clear that loving Spock doesn't make her who she is. But it's a part of her. It's a part of her she was denying and avoiding.
By releasing the burden she'd been carrying, she freed herself up to so many other things, including regaining her confidence in he prowess in her field. She's a badass. And now she's remembered that.
When they come together in that final scene, they've both been on journeys of self-discovery in their own ways.
Christine remembered that she was born to stand out in the best way, that she is capable and strong, but that she can also be vulnerable.
Spock learned what it is to be truly human, and finally understood the sacrifices his mother made for him.
And they were both surrounded by the love of their shipmates. In an episode all about connection, we witnessed so many different kinds: Familial. Friendship. Romantic.
Connection is more than tonsil hockey, despite what some media might say. Connection is when two hearts meet and feel kinship. That is what both Spock and Christine have found on Enterprise—with each other, and with their beautiful friends.
The over-arching theme of Season 2 thus far seems to be, "Who am I?" You can see it in different characters in every episode so far. It's a universal question—one that so many of us ask of ourselves at many points in our lives.
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope you know that you are beautiful, have intrinsic value, and matter more than you know. May the next morning bring light and love into your life like never before. See you on the next.
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filmmakerdreamst · 8 months
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“Life with Derek” is Back Again!
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Life with Luca is a hour and a half spin-off movie based on the 2000’s Canadian Sitcom Life with Derek, set eighteen years after its predecessor. The story follows two step-siblings, Casey McDonald (Ashley Leggat), now a court lawyer and mother of three. And Derek Venturi (Michael Seater), now a successful musician in Paris and a single dad. As history repeats itself, they both have rebellious fourteen year old teenagers, pushing their buttons. So in order to get a break, they both have the idea of dropping them off with their grandparents for their anniversary, and to their surprise, they end up meeting each other instead. With help, they figure out how to co-parent their kids together for a weekend, and hijinks naturally ensue.
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The original show Life with Derek was all about a blended family. In which two teenage step-siblings, Casey and Derek (the eldest children in the household and equally self absorbed), clash; fighting each other to take control of the house, their younger siblings, their school and their world.
The episodes consisted of simple, domestic family antics, containing smart jokes that would make adults and children alike laugh. The storylines were mature enough for teenagers to be interested but not so mature that it would put children off from watching.
Life with Derek was a show that prided itself in being character driven and more realistic than some of the family shows that was airing around that time, especially on networks such as Disney Channel.
However, it became well known and successful to this day for the slow burning subtextual “love affair” between the two step-siblings, Casey and Derek which undoubtedly acted as the backbone of the series. And the reason why it got picked up for a reboot fifteen years after the final episode aired.
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When I first read the premise of Life with Luca (when the announcement came out that they were going to make a Life with Derek reboot in 2020), I was immediately judgemental as often reboots can erase character growth. It just seemed like another manufactured money making remake (a copy for the next generation) rather than an actual continuation of the original show.
And while the movie does have alot of tropes repeated from the original i.e. Casey and Derek’s kids Skyler and Luca clash from the beginning, two families not really knowing each other previously merging for the first time etc. The writers had the ability to make these tropes most importantly character driven and natural so the audience didn’t notice the similarities so much. And when they did, it’s treated as a familiar nod rather than a direct copy.
Luca and Skyler
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Part of the fun of the original was the ongoing romantic tension between Casey and Derek, and I was worried we were going to have a repeat of that with their kids, Luca and Skyler but thankfully the casting and writing department was alot more thorough. And while they do clash at the beginning, its presented more of a culture clash because of how they were raised, and it evolved into a familial relationship quite quickly. I loved watching their bonding moments.
They managed to keep the core message from the original ‘of family and building a family even when you hate your situation at the beginning’. I felt they did a good job of mirroring that message with Luca and Skyler.
Out of the two, I felt like Skyler was the more fleshed out. The casting for her was amazing, she looks just like Derek’s daughter. I loved how, even though she was clearly meant to be the ‘Casey character’ — organised and dramatic — she still had her own vibe. She had the carefree attitude and style from Derek’s parenting, but still was able to be responsible as she essentially raised herself.
Luca, (the ‘Derek’ character) the more rebellious counterpart, is suggested to be acting out due to his chaotic home life, rather than that’s just “how he is” unlike Derek who was labelled as the bad guy from the start. He’s still very much Casey’s son as he doesn’t have some of the toxic masculinity that Derek possessed in the original show. And he has a few neurotic tendencies from her style of parenting as well. But I almost feel we didn’t get enough of him.
If and when Life with Luca does get picked up as a TV Series later on, it would be nice to flesh out his character alot more (and hers), because there was clearly alot of conflict that the two of them both had, his dad working overseas and her mum having a bran new family, that can’t really be fleshed out thoroughly in a hour and a half film.
George and Nora
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George and Nora’s plot was by far the most ridiculous (hint, jewel thief car chase), but I loved seeing them on screen again. It was nice to see how their relationship was still going strong after all this time. Along with their cameo, there were some other great ones such as Sam and Mr Lassiter. It was a shame we didn’t get to see the rest of the blended family such as Edwin and Lizzie and Marti, even for a second at the anniversary party at the end. But I understand the screenwriters wanted to save that for a TV Series later on, so they could be fully explored more.
Simon
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Simon, the youngest of the McDonald-Venturi’s (that was a storyline for the last two episodes of the original) was by far my favourite addition to the film. This was surprising, since that storyline in Life with Derek wasn’t exactly my favourite around the time of watching because I don’t necessarily agree that the step-family gaining a shared child made them “a proper family”. Thankfully, Life with Luca proved me wrong as he was so lovable. I loved how he was a perfect mix of both of the McDonalds and the Venturi’s, but mostly the Venturi’s as he was so clumsy.
Casey and Derek
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As always, the strongest parts of the movie, were when they were focusing on Casey and Derek, individually and together. I loved how they went with careers that naturally meshed with their personalities. Casey being a married lawyer in Toronto and Derek being a travelling musician in Paris with his daughter as a best friend. Watching Derek be a parent was amazing, especially since he was shown to be really good with kids in the original.
When the two finally meet up again, the audience can see that their friendship has definitely progressed; they have finally learnt to respect one another even though they haven’t spoken one on one for a long time. But they still maintained their comedic banter. It was refreshing to see that character growth. It was nice that it hadn’t backtracked in typical reboot fashion for the sake of drama/entertainment since that relationship was the core of why the original worked.
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Now in the original show, Life with Derek, it was never confirmed that Casey and Derek had romantic feelings for each other, but there was alot of speculation by the fans, because of all the subtext going on throughout the series.
The actors, Michael Seater and Ashley Leggat, put a rest to some of the speculation in 2016 and confirmed in a article by MTV that because ‘the fans were so into Casey and Derek being a couple, [they] would find subtext in their lines to give the fans what they desire’
Life with Derek was primarily about the first four years that they [Casey and Derek] lived together. Their relationship mostly consisted of an antagonistic push and pull/tug of war even though at the end of the day, they were always there for each other when it really counted. Even though Casey and Derek claimed to dislike each other, it was very clear that the two had developed a deep bond over the course of the series.
However, Casey and Derek’s relationship in Life with Luca is interesting in a way that they’re no longer in a “sibling dynamic” in which they were previously forced into. Mostly because they’re no longer teenagers and the fact that they’ve barely interacted or lived together in eighteen years since life both took them in very different directions. Which creates a paradox in itself.
It’s this incredibly grey area throughout the movie where they’re adjusting to each other again, slipping into their old bickering, confiding in each other about parenthood, all while transitioning into a mum and dad dynamic while they’re co-parenting the children they had with other people.
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Before the movie came out, I was positive, because of the criticisms and hype surrounding the show and the pairing, that the writers were going to diminish the potential of a romance between the characters in fear of backlash. For example, have Casey in a happy marriage, Derek dating around and eventually gain a love interest at the end of the film. Also, trying to make their relationship as “Sibling- Esque” as possible.
Even though I knew from the premise of the reboot, that they were going to move in together, and there would be a few romantic undertones scattered in for the fans, I’d thought they’d play it off more as an “aunt and uncle babysitting the kids”.
But the opposite ended up happening. Casey has an absent husband who continuously leaves her and her kids alone while he plays hockey over seas — breaking his promises that he was going to retire before their kids were teenagers. Derek supposedly hasn’t dated anyone in fourteen years nor mentions flirting with other women. He even has a distant relationship with his daughters mum.
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The moment Derek comes, he almost takes ‘the role of her husband’ as he sees Casey isn’t doing so well. He does the cooking for their kids — Casey even mentions that her husband does all the cooking while Derek is preparing dinner — babysits her little ones, attempts to calm Casey down when she’s getting too stressed, helps arrange an anniversary party for their parents so she’s able to get on with her work. And even though, they are referred as “Aunt” and “Uncle” in the movie, it’s also made apparent that they’re essentially “Mum and Dad” to their children as well.
One of Casey’s little ones, Molly even makes a “catch it or you’ll miss it” comment to Derek’s kid in one scene “I wish we were cousins AND sisters.”
Their last scene together at the end of the movie, Casey comes up to Derek saying ‘You’re gonna come home again soon, before the kids go to university?’ in which Derek heavily implies that he wants to move into her guest house to potentially raise their kids together, making a direct parallel to her husband not retiring from hockey and coming home from Europe, even after their kids grew up.
That moment is possibly why I came out from watching the movie thinking ‘If Casey and Derek don’t get together after this; then it’s bad writing’ because their scenes in the reboot didn’t feel like random “fanservice moments” like in the original; it felt like a genuine setup for a romance. Even if it can’t be written explicitly, due to the network, it is the most logical ending for their characters and the movie just made that ending seem even more inevitable.
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Despite my enjoyment of Life with Luca, and overall it being a Great Comeback of a 2000’s Classic — it’s not a movie that can really work on its own. Finishing it left me feeling unsatisfied and wanting more. It felt very much like an introduction than a complete product. Its very apparent they made this movie so it could be picked up as a TV series later on, since there is alot of plot threads that are unexplored, unfinished or left open.
Life with Luca is not a reunion movie. It’s only page one.
“Life with Derek” is Back Again! by Ellie Hersey
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boonesfarmsangria · 3 months
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Mike Farrell Reflects on Captain B.J. Hunnicutt’s Ahead of ‘M*A*S*H’ TV Special
Scott Fishman, TV Insider Dec 21, 2023 Updated Dec 22, 2023 0
Mike Farrell knew he had a lot to live up to when he joined the 4077th Medical Corps and cast of M*A*S*H as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt. The well-versed actor already had an impressive career including a stint on Days of Our Lives. However, this was a completely different kind of pressure coming into season 4 of a highly successful series after the exit of Wayne Rogers, who played Captain “Trapper” John McIntyre.
He was up to the challenge with viewers connecting with the devoted family man and what would be a long-time bond with Alan Alda’s Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce. Viewers will ever forget the shot during the historic series finale where B.J. yells out that he left a note for Hawkeye. As he flies away in the helicopter, he soon notices that his good friend spelled out the word “Goodbye” with rocks on the ground.
It’s these types of iconic moments and characters that are celebrated during FOX’s upcoming M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television. Executive-produced by John Scheinfeld and Andy Kaplan, this two-special delves into the Emmy-winning run over 11 seasons through the perspective of the cast and visionaries behind the scenes.
Joining Farrell and Alda on the doc is Gary Burghoff (Cpl. Walter “Radar” O’Reilly), and Loretta Swit (Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan) to name a few, as well as series executive producers Gene Reynolds and Burt Metcalfe. Those who have since passed, including show creator Larry Gelbart, Rogers, Larry Linville (Maj. Frank Burns), Harry Morgan (Col. Sherman T. Potter), and McLean Stevenson (Lt. Col. Henry Blake) are spotlighted through archival photos and footage.
Here Farrell opens up about his emotional reaction to the special. The 84-year-old also describes what it’s like to see the beloved sitcom still resonate more than 40 years after it ended.
Michael Farrell
How often do you go back and watch the episodes back?
Mike Farrell: The popularity of the show continues to astonish me and thrill me, frankly. I get constant emails, and mail, calls to keep it fresh in my mind, and its extraordinary impact. I don’t make a point of looking for it on television, but sometimes it’s there. And when it’s there, I can’t stop looking at it and watching those people I love so much and care about. To see and remember who they were and what we did together. It’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I’m so thrilled to be a part of it that it’s hard to put into words.
I remember seeing Alan Alda share a photo of you two toasting to the 50th anniversary of the show’s premiere. How is it for you to still have these close connections after all these years?
For us, it’s a family situation. We enjoyed working together and having this kind of bond that continues to this day. We talk about how much we love each other and stay in touch regularly. It has been something that brings an ongoing extraordinary rush of gratitude and appreciation for all of us here…Then you see David Ogden Stiers, Harry Morgan, Larry Linville, and others on the special. There is that sense of longing for somebody who you knew, loved, and enjoyed working with. It’s piercing at the heart when you see that sometimes. For me, I’m overwhelmed with the warmth that comes back from seeing Harry, remembering the relationship we had not only during the show but afterward. Watching Alan and his incredible wit and hijinks. Some of those things stay with me today. When I tell stories, I can’t help but get misty about those memories. It’s an everlasting love affair for me.
It’s fun to think about what would have happened if social media had been around during M*A*S*H’s original run. For example, B.J.’s mustache would be a hot topic of conversation.
People often ask me, “What do you think of the mustache?” I will say my mother hated the mustache. The mustache was a fun thing. Alan called me at the beginning of one season and said, “They think we are too much alike. What do you think about growing a mustache?” I thought it was a great idea. We made a lot out of it, which was fun to do. I wore what started as a red long shirt. Through many washes, it came out pink. I thought it was hilarious to be wearing a pink shirt in the middle of all that. I get many comments from people in the gay community who tell me they loved my pink shirt and ask if that was a signal. I tell them no, but that I’m glad they noticed it.
One of the topics that gets tackled in the special is B.J.’s character and moment of infidelity with a nurse divorcee. After all this time, I even saw a Reddit thread asking if B.J. cheated on his wife Peg.
I remember when I first met with the guys and they were talking about the possibility of Wayne leaving. I told them the one thing I didn’t want to do as an actor was come in and step in the boots of “Trapper.” They understood. They had in mind a fellow who was married, not a womanizer like “Hawkeye” or “Trapper,” who had a child at home. And he is going to be true to his wife and family. You’re talking about modeling fidelity on television, I didn’t mind that at all. We laughed. It stayed that way. One year we did a show where Blythe Danner played the guest star. She and “Hawkeye had been having a love affair in medical school, and she was temporarily assigned to our station. She was married, but the affair popped up again.
There is a scene where “Hawkeye” asks B.J. if he has ever been unfaithful. I said never. He said, “You ever tempted?” I said, “Tempted is a different question.” He said, “So, you have been tempted?” I said, “No, it was a different question.” It was a good gag. Larry Gelbart, who wrote the scene was ont eh stage when we finished that shot. I said, “Larry, that was wonderful, but let me suggest the idea. The fact B.J. is a faithful husband is great by me, but to suggest a man was not tempted goes too far. I don’t think we need to paint in that pristine manner.” He said that was a good thought. A year later Gene remembers that conversation with Larry. He asked, “What do you feel about B.J. falling off the fidelity wagon?” I said, “It depends on how you resolve it.”
How do you feel it came out?
I loved the whole process that they cared enough to hear me out, and decided it was worth dealing with that question. I thought they resolved it in a classy way. B.J. was upset about what he had done. It was brief and a misstep. He was miserable about it. “Hawkeye” gave him hell because he was going to write home and tell Peg. He said, “Don’t do that to her. If you must confess for whatever the transgression, wait until you get home where you can be with her and talk to her. I thought it was great that they were willing to explore the kind of experience people are put through in these circumstances.
It was almost like it didn’t matter how far they went, but didn’t matter. He would feel the same way.
Exactly. But the idea of them spending the night together in a bed, under those circumstances, and didn’t go far sounds a little stretch to me.
When was the moment you felt how big a show M*A*S*H was?
I was in Southeast Asia during one of our breaks. After my second or third year there on the show when I went around, I was astonished at the no matter what part of the world, the show meant something to the.m. This one man said, “Your show constantly underscores for me the meaning of peace and the need for peace in this world.” I came back to set and Alan and I were sitting together during the first day of the season back. I said, “Are you hearing what I’m hearing out there?” He said, “Yeah, we need to be aware of the way the show is affecting people.
We decided on a regular meeting as a cast and talked through the issues of the day. Alan and I both made it a point that this show is having an impact that is beyond just being a popular television show. We need to be seriously committed to making sure we do the best work we can do. Everyone got it and agreed and rededicated ourselves to commit to doing meaningful work because of the audience’s respect and appreciation for the show.
What are your overall thoughts on the FOX special while screening it? 
I watched it with tears streaming down my face while laughter burst from my mouth. It was an extraordinary tribute. Not only to the show and people involved but the people involved behind the scenes. I’m glad they included the clip of Gene, Larry, and in particular Burt Metcalfe, the casting genius who brought many of the characters to the show; me included. He was a powerful force in maintaining the integrity of the show. It was deeply touching and I think the audience will love it. It shows the significance and the work of the characters and the way the show was built and what it became. I was thrilled when I saw it. 
How do you think the show would do in today’s TV landscape? 
I think it would remain a touchstone for people I can’t tell you how many veterans have contacted me. Even children of veterans. They would say. “My dad would never talk about his experience in the war until he saw your show. Then he would say, ‘That’s the way it was.”…That it has stayed relevant and meaningful to people for generations speaks volumes about the show. 
M*A*S*H: The Comedy That Changed Television premiere, January 1, 8/7c, FOX
@stroyent 🤝
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littlereyofsunlight · 2 months
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I'm late!
Sorry, @doctorhelena for the belated Steggy Secret Santa gift! I'm still working on the rest, but I've got the beginning polished up and ready to share ...
I loved receiving your letter to @steggyfanevents/Santa: "here are some general ideas of things I particularly like (applicable to either fanfic or fanart!): - stories (or fanart) set during the war - AUs with Steve present during the Agent Carter timeframe - AUs in general - friendship and found family - secret relationships, but also Peggy and Steve getting teased about each other - shared adventure, working together to achieve a goal - banter - Peggy being badass and Steve loving it - hijinks and terrible ideas - the Howling Commandos, Howard, Phillips, the Jarvises, Angie, Rose, Natasha, Bucky, Sam, Tony, Pepper, Thor - Bernard Stark, Howard's flamingo"
I had a lot of fun pulling a few of these elements together to come up with this story. Hope you enjoy!
Peggy bit the inside of her cheek as they arrived at Howard’s Beverly Hills home. He'd assured them of their privacy when he’d offered this house as a place to lay low while the news of Steve’s return blew over. It was their best option—she just hoped this really was the place to wait it out.
The driver handed over their bags to Steve, who took them with a warm smile, despite his obvious exhaustion. Peggy noted the way weariness seemed to have settled into the laugh lines at his eyes, the crease on his forehead that never quite went away now, the perpetual, if slight, downturn his mouth had. She shook herself from her reverie, reminding her wandering, maudlin thoughts that she’d never thought she’d get to see his face again, let alone watch him age. 
She rubbed at the simple band on her left ring finger. While Steve’s miraculous return had certainly caused a stir, it was the news of the wedding that had turned the press rabid.
Peggy looked at Steve. Steve looked at Peggy. There was, not for the first time since he’d returned, the feeling of uncomfortable tension between them. “Well,” Steve said, his voice congenial, “I’m fifty-percent convinced he’s not going to out us.”
Peggy nodded. “I might go as high as seventy-five percent, just knowing how well Howard pays.” 
“He sure is doing us some favor.” Peggy found his tone inscrutable. This was a new development, since his return. The small lines on his face and, sometimes, the wrong-footed feeling that Steve was referencing something from where—when—he came from.
She shifted her purse strap higher on her shoulder. The California sun was hot, and Steve’s suit hadn't fared well on the transcontinental flight. She didn’t feel particularly fresh, herself. “Shall we go in?”
He inclined his head. “I take it you know the way.”
Biting back the sharp retort that flew into her head—this wasn’t the same callow Steve who’d suggested fondue was some kind of lewd act, after all—Peggy was acutely aware of Steve behind her as she strode up the front walk to Howard’s ridiculous mansion. The lawn was just as green and well-manicured as when she’d last been, two years ago. Peggy supposed Howard thought stuccoed walls and wrought iron details made the place stately, but she’d always found it cozy, despite its size. And of course, the pool made it especially appealing. She looked back at Steve—at her new husband—and thought idly of just how secluded the pool really was. She felt a flush come over her that she couldn’t blame entirely on the heat.
“Howard played host when I was here working a case with …” She fumbled for words as she reached the front door and dug into her purse for the key Jarvis had arranged to have messengered to her back in D.C. “Ahem, well … there was a scientist, I’m not sure I’ve had the chance to tell you about this one.” 
Peggy’s mind raced. What exactly was she going to tell him in this moment about the escapade with Whitney Frost? Her flirtation with Jason Wilkes? Her dalliance with Daniel? Not exactly honeymoon talk. “Well, another time,” she finished inadequately, feeling suddenly quite tired. Opening the door, she stepped inside. The heat of the day hadn’t touched the cool tile entryway, and she sighed in relief. Peggy ushered Steve in after her and, with a final look back at the expanse of lawn and the eight-foot wall beyond it that encircled the property, she firmly shut the door and locked it.
“Alone at last,” she said, with a genuine smile for her new husband.
***
Steve took in the immaculate Spanish Colonial Revival details of Howard’s house. He’d visited Tony’s home in Malibu, once, before he rebuilt it. The setting had been spectacular, and the house had certainly gone out of its way to provide unobstructed views of the ocean, but all that glass and space had left it feeling empty. 
Now, Steve wondered if it had been a reaction to this place and to Howard’s preferred style. There was dark, ornate woodwork, plush, heavy furniture and warm colors everywhere Steve’s eye landed. Light spilled into the vestibule from arched windows stretching above the front door. The tiles were an inviting orange, with a Moroccan motif bordering the floor. A staircase of dark risers and wrought iron lead, Steve presumed, to the bedrooms on the second floor. Beyond the stairs was a hallway into the back of the house, and to the left of the foyer Steve saw a study filled with bookcases and leather club chairs. 
He suddenly became aware of Peggy’s eyes on him, her expression expectant. “Nice place,” he observed blandly. She raised an eyebrow, and he noticed, not for the first time today, how impeccably turned out she was. Her honeymoon suit crisply pressed, hat set just so, red, red lipstick looking freshly applied even with the transcontinental flight they’d boarded that morning. Steve knew his jacket was creased to hell and his collar had lost its starch—he was out of practice keeping his clothes up to this time’s standards, that was very clear. 
And, he realized through his musings, there was a frown beginning on his wife’s incredibly beautiful face.
Steve reached out a hand, pulled her in close. “Did you say something about being alone?”
He was relieved when she melted against him immediately, her hand coming up to cup his cheek. “One hears that’s how newlyweds are supposed to spend their time, alone together,” she teased, her eyes soft as she looked at him. He’d been flagging on the drive from the airport, looking forward to a nap when they arrived. But now he couldn’t resist kissing her, pressing her fully against him, reveling in how her lush curves fit against his body. 
“Good thing I cleared my schedule,” he murmured as they broke apart. She removed her hat and set it down on a table just to the side of the door. He let his hand roam down her shapely backside, knowing there were layers of nylon slip and girdle beneath the lightweight wool of her skirt. Maybe a nap could wait. Would she let him peel her out of each layer slowly this time? 
Peggy rewarded him with a laugh before she leaned up to kiss him again. “I have a few items to add to your itinerary, darling.”  
He wasn’t sure how long they spent, pressed against the door. Long enough for the shadows to change, lengthening over the stairs. Peggy’s stomach rumbled and Steve laughed. “Some things never change,” he said, a smirk on his face. 
“Do people in the future not require nourishment at regular intervals?” Peggy quipped, smoothing her skirt back down. “If I’m hungry, I know you’re famished,” she said.
Steve dragged her hem back up a few inches. “I could eat.”
Peggy arched an eyebrow at him, her hand around his wrist. “Focus, darling.”
“I would be very focused.” He saw how her eyes darkened and her breath came just a bit quicker. He brushed the tips of his fingers against her thigh, keeping his touch light. 
Her grip tightened and she exhaled. “Steve.”
He angled his head and let his lips graze the shell of her ear. “Peg.”
She sighed again, turning her head to kiss him firmly. “Lunch first.” She punctuated the imperative with a quick nip at his bottom lip. 
“Is that an order?” he teased, chasing her lips as she pulled away.
Her eyes sparked at him as she put both hands on his chest. “It is indeed, Captain.” She stepped back out of his arms. “But if you find us provisions, you have leave to resume your mission after your wife’s been satisfied.”
Heat spread through his chest at that word. His wife. He couldn’t keep the goofy smile from taking over his face, even as he sassed back at her, “I’ve been trying to satisfy my wife this whole time, Mrs. Rogers.”
Peggy laughed as she took up her small suitcase, shaking her head with a smile that echoed his. “I’ll go freshen up. The kitchen’s back through there, and I expect Ana Jarvis will have left plenty in the larder.” 
“Ma’am, yes ma’am.” He resisted the urge to pinch himself as he watched her walk up the stairs. All the ways he’d struggled with the decision to find her, after everything that had happened to him—he’d nearly talked himself out of even trying to have this a dozen times. But somehow, Steve was here, with Peggy, and everything felt so right. 
Even if they were technically on the run from the press.
Steve ventured to the back of the house, where the well-appointed kitchen was indeed stocked with food. Steve couldn’t remember if he’d ever learned when frozen french fries had been invented, but apparently it was before 1949. There was a box of those plus a few cans of Minute Maid concentrate in the freezer, along with a wealth of tupperware, all labeled in neat Palmer script with the contents and instructions for thawing and reheating. Steve whistled at the display and selected a stew to thaw for dinner later that evening. 
There was a note taped to the fridge, and Steve scanned it quickly.
Peggy, my dear—
I’m desolate that I cannot offer you my heartfelt congratulations in person, and that my inspection of your illustrious gentleman will have to wait until Edwin and I return from our visit. Please help yourself to anything; I have arranged for more groceries to be delivered on Tuesday. 
E says I must warn you that Bernard is suffering from some tropical malaise. But as sardines seem to cheer him up, I admit to being skeptical of my husband’s theory.
Affectionately yours,
Ana
Steve couldn’t remember who Bernard was supposed to be. But Howard had assured them both that his staff would give them their privacy while they stayed at his home, so Steve assumed the fellow would have to get his sardines elsewhere. 
In the fridge, Steve found basic sandwich supplies. For his part, he was still a tiny bit sad that sriracha wasn’t yet a staple in American cupboards. Thinking of sriracha made him think of being on the run with Sam and Nat. Instead of shoving the memory aside, he let it wash over him. Two years of running that grief group had been good for many things, of course. But certainly, an unintended benefit was how it had prepared him to leave it all behind and return to Peggy. 
Steve took the stairs two at a time, balancing the sandwiches, two glasses of water and a package of Oreos in his hands. He found Peggy down the wide hall, in a spacious bedroom with a private attached bathroom and a Juliet balcony overlooking Howard’s tree-filled side yard. She was still occupied in the bathroom, so Steve set down the food on one of the nightstands and pulled the inner lace curtains closed over the inset windows in the balcony doors, leaving the heavy velvet drapes open. The diffuse afternoon light that filtered through turned the room a cozy orange. By the time Peggy was done, he’d unpacked their suitcases into the closet and dresser provided, and stowed the bags underneath the giant four-poster bed. 
She’d changed out of her suit entirely and had on her robe, her hair unpinned and falling softly to her shoulders in mahogany waves. “Sandwiches!” she said, and clambered up onto the bed beside him. 
“Oreos, too,” he pointed out, delighted at her excitement over his extremely basic offering. “You were right about Mrs. Jarvis keeping the kitchen stocked. Which reminds me,” he fished the note out of his trousers pocket, “she left this for you.”
***
Peggy read the note quickly, mouth full of roast beef, and then tucked it under the water on the nightstand. Ana must have dictated it, as it wasn’t in her handwriting and she and Jarvis were on a trip to Europe, visiting cousins of Ana’s who had settled in the Netherlands after the war. 
Steve had eaten a sandwich of his own, as well as several chocolate biscuits, and then he’d gotten up to hang his own suit and change into pajama pants as Peggy finished her own meal. Though it was three hours later by her internal clock, Peggy felt a bit of a thrill to be in her nightclothes in the daylight. She watched as the muscles beneath his white undershirt flexed with his movements, his physique somehow even more impressive now than when he’d first gone through the transformation of Project Rebirth. Peggy was grateful for all that had transpired to bring Steve back to her. She was grateful that the man he was now was with her in this time. She felt suddenly such a swell of overpowering love for him, she was happy to be sitting down as it hit. “Steve,” she managed, hearing the emotion thick in her voice.
He turned back to her, concern clear on his face. “Peg?”
She shook her head, smiling through the rush of feeling. She aimed for sultry when she spoke and tossed her hair behind her shoulders. “You have leave to resume your mission at your leisure.” She toyed with the tie on her robe. 
Immediately, his eyes darkened and the concerned dip of his brows smoothed over. A hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth. “Is that so?” Peggy nodded, unknotting her robe so she could let the neckline fall open. As Steve realized she had nothing on underneath, she watched his breath deepen and his hands clench at the suit he still held. “Remind me where we were?” he teased.
Peggy licked her lips eagerly. “I seem to recall you promised satisfaction.”
Steve tossed the suit behind him, ensuring it would truly need a thorough pressing before he could wear it again. He prowled back towards the bed. “Did you have anything particular in mind?—”
Before Steve had even finished the question, there was a loud crash on the balcony, accompanied by a sound Peggy could only describe as a goose attacking a chalkboard. Steve immediately closed the distance between them, pulling Peggy off the bed and positioning her behind him. The sound came again, this time accompanied by some shuffling and … flapping? 
Peggy slapped a hand to her forehead. “Bernard!”
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scripturiends · 11 months
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i know one of the biggest complaints about house of anubis was its writing but if you step back and really consider the sitcoms that were airing at the same time on nickelodeon then it’s actually stellar in comparison. one thing that really set it apart was that it was serialized and not episodic so you had to be really cohesive with the main plot whilst being able to keep ur younger audiences hooked with high school hijinks,, which was comparatively less intense with the d*n schn*ider shows but was just as impactful?? and it did so without resorting to constant physical comedy.
just as a sidebar so far on twitter the biggest criticism ive seen of the show was that it was boring but that makes sense if you’re watching an episode that was meant to be the continuation of all the other ones that you may not have seen bc it was the time of cable. streaming was still sorta a foreign concept in 2011-2013. so that was one of its weaknesses back when it was airing but i think actually as time passed by it has now become one of its strongest points because house of anubis is incredibly rewatchable. you can watch it over and over again and discover something new about the plot, the characters, even the random things happening in the background.
anyway back to the writing, one of the reasons i love the dialogue in the show is because of how witty it actually is like im sorry it’s actually so hard to find the balance of sounding sharp without being pretentious and being funny without being too childish and using big words while still effectively portraying what it’s like to be in high school. that’s in the writing, that’s in the delivery – there have been questionable acting moments for sure but the cast were definitely giving it their all.
and this was something i articulated to my friends as a commentary but i seriously love how they wrote the girls on the show. because yes nina and joy were in that love triangle but nina never plotted to hurt joy because of it and when it mattered the most, joy was there to help nina out with all the chosen one stuff. and when willow and mara found out jerome was dating the both of them, willow asked mara if she hated her and she said no. which, if you were 13 at the time would have been so crazy to think about because normally the portrayal of girls is being at each other’s throats, trying to win the guy back, one-upping each other to find out who loves who more. joy did mara dirty during the journalism arc but she straight up said “i will not accept joy slander”. kt always reassured patricia that she wasn’t interested in eddie and even helped them get back together. amber was a girl’s girl the whole show – when she was unhappy with joy it was because she wanted to protect nina. when joy lashed out at willow, she felt bad and apologized. i could go on and on about all the times the women of anubis house had each others’ backs like they would fight but at the end of the day they love each other and would protect each other. just like joy said, whatever fight they would have, it’ll be ancient history by lunchtime.
i think the same goes for the guys as well? the guys don’t fit squarely into just one stereotype. like yes fabian is the ‘nerd’ but he barely went to class. he was smart in the things he was interested in – if anyone cared the most about the school it was mara. jerome was the ‘prankster’ but they did a deep dive into his family in season 2 and we even got to see him at his most lovable when he’s fallen in love with joy. eddie is supposed to be the ‘bad boy’ but in the entirety of season 2 he made me swoon with the way he kept encouraging patricia to lower her walls and talk about her feelings. he was pretty vocal about how he would like to be cared for, and genuinely gets upset when patricia wouldn’t listen. he’s an honest and sweet friend to everyone too.
anyway im sorry i couldn’t do one for everyone but you get what i mean. everyone was nuanced in a way that i think was so advanced for network standards like i really believe nickelodeon didn’t deserve a show as good as anubis but also at the same time im not sure it would be as good had nickelodeon not picked it up and gave it the number of episodes that it did. it’s kind of like how i feel about many of the decisions in the show – nina leaving without a proper explanation, the nina/joy/fabian love triangle, mick and amber’s departures, the way they approached the jerome/mara/willow/joy arc in s3 – i hate it but i also love it. it’s my favorite thing but also my most despised thing. i can’t stand watching it but i can’t get enough.
house of anubis is flawed in the way anubis house and the kids living in it are. they do the most awful things but they are so in need of nurturing. they’re immature but also the most mature people on the show. just a collection of oxymorons that created the masterpiece that it’s always been but also the masterpiece that it’s now just becoming.
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minijenn · 3 months
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Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Mr. Peabody and Sherman
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So let me start off by saying I have no prior knowledge of this... property? I honestly don't even know what Mr. Peabody and Sherman originally was, a show? A comic? I don't care enough to research it, because this movie was lame.
Yeah so I don't know if its because of my inpaitence for the movie I get to watch after this or because I was already in a bad mood from watching Turbo but Mr. Peabody and Sherman... just didn't do it for me, ya'll. And I think the fact that this is perhaps so very blatantly made for very small kids is a large part of the reason why.
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We focus on Mr. Peabody, a genuis dog and his adopted son, Sherman, as they travel through time using the WABAC time machine and get up to shenanigans. Throw in Sherman's classmate, bully turned love interest Penny, and we get hijinks all around various times and locales such as ancient Egypt, renissance Italy, and more.
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It's a pretty simple setup, and I'm not faulting it for that. What I am faulting this movie for is that it's just... god, it drags on. It doesn't help that the characters are... kind of fucking insufferable along the way. Mr. Peabody is... ok, kind of an annoying genuis know-it-all type but he sort of grew on me as the film went on. Sherman is an annoying kid, so I'm already not a fan of that. And Penny might just be the worst of the bunch, god I hated this annoying little bitch. Rare is it that I watch a movie and hope for a child character in it to rest in fucking pieces, but I was rooting for that to happen to Penny cause she is the worst.
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The time travel hijinks are... fun, I guess? I mean, they travel to very well known points in history and make some cute references to real world events, but even then, they're just that. Cute. Because this is a movie for babies. It skews very young with its humor, its writing, its message, and yes, even its art style and animation. Because of that, I, a tired, bitter woman in her mid/late 20s, had almost nothing to connect with here. Try as the movie might to have its emotional moments and themes about family and love, I just... felt nothing.
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As for the animation, at least this is a very nice movie to look at. The character designs are pretty fun and unique for Dreamworks, and it's boosted by a vibrant color palette that grabs the eye all the way through. The score also had some pretty fun jazzy moments in it, but even so, it was nothing really that special.
Really, that's what I can say about this movie as a whole. It's... nothing special. It didn't grab me, didn't captivate me in any meaningful way. I mean, it didn't offend me and it wasn't "bad" per say, it it was far from being anything resembling good. It's just... really, really damn mid.
Overall Rating: 4/10
Verdict: Eat a TastyKake with Marie Antionette
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Previous Review (Turbo)
Next Review (How To Train Your Dragon 2)
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whichstiel · 4 months
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A Christmas Prince II
I haven't even watched THAT many Christmas or other holiday movies yet this season, but I just vividly dreamed an alternative sequel to the Netflix's A Christmas Prince.
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The movie began with them divorced after a short but rocky marriage. The magnifying glass of royalty charred them both and they parted ways amicably (but also obviously heartbroken).
After the opening recap monologue where she talks about her whirlwind royal romance and subsequent heartbreak (disclaimer: I haven't watched the movie in at least a few years - what even happened in it?) we cut to her leaning in to kiss her new girlfriend. (That's right, Netflix says bisexual rights!) They're ready to spend their first Christmas together. Her new girlfriend really wants to introduce her to her parents when the whole family gets together for the holiday. It's bittersweet for our heroine but she tries to move on.
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But Amber (I just had to google her name, shut up) gets a call from her Journalism Boss, the Boss of Journalistic Sources. The crown jewels from her former lover's kingdom have been stolen!!! And there's nobody better to cover the news than Amber.
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Amber breaks the news to her new girlfriend buuuuuut also obviously makes a big terrible lie out of it. Instead of "sorry, babe, I need to work," she tells the girlfriend that she can't meet the parents because her Christmas surprise is an all expenses whirlwind romantic trip toooooo ALDOVIA. Her girlfriend is apparently NOT a news reader, connects no dots, and packs her skis, baby!
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They arrive in Aldovia. Amber tries to spend the whole time wearing slouchy hats and sunglasses, so that nobody in this tiny, fake European monarchy will notice its famous former queen. Hijinks happen. She probably gets recognized by the butler, or something, who secretly plots to "accidentally" reunite her with her former husband who has been pining for her this whole time.
The girlfriend is a sweet but lazily written cinnamon stick who is mainly in the movie to be holiday-card cute and super sweet to Amber (while Amber spirals after glimpsing the Prince - er, King? IDK). We want Amber to reunite with her lost love but also? Girlfriend is sweet like kitten? Must protect??? Maybe this will be a Frozen situation and the girlfriend will turn out to be a total Hans.
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Amber is trying to focus on the case - er, journalism story. WHO STOLE THE ROYAL JEWELS? She is only in the country for this reason! She definitely does not find herself comically hiding herself in hedgery to spy on her prince! Especially when a princess comes to town looking to give away her rose, if you know what I mean.
This part of my dream is a little fuzzy, which probably means it doesn't actually exist. So let's have a little fun and make it up.
We can throw in a...baking contest. How about Amber goes undercover as a contestant to sneak into her former home and nobody will recognize her at all because, uuuuuuh, she just has "one of those faces?" (Her bakes are terrible.) She tells her boss that she's only in it to find the jewels and save the prince's kingdom cover the news story.
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While Amber is living her worst life, her actually still pretty new girlfriend is busy being a solo tourist of Aldovia. We get what could be a sad montage of solo Christmas card moments (decorating cookies at the local snowy farmer's market stall, holding baby bunnies at the Pet Palace Emporium (the bunnies wear little fake poinsettia bows), and drinking hot chocolate while looking at CGI snowy mountains). The thing is, she's not sad about it. Girlfriend is having the BEST time. It keeps things light for this Netflix romance and we don't feel too bad for girlfriend. She is in a stale three month relationship and all she has is this amazing overseas vacation to show for it!
Amber ends up getting discovered at the palace by the prince. He pulls her into a lavishly red and green decorated room to hold a hissing conversation about why she is there, is she there because of this princess interloper, does she want to get back together, does she miss him too, has she happened to spot any very shiny rocks anywhere?
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They decide to solve the mystery together before parting ways FOREVER. One last adventure! Hijinks ensue again, and we're made to suspect the interloping princess, the mysterious relative of the prince who just so happened to be visiting and may be trying to steal his throne, and probably a mysterious shopkeeper who bears some resemblance to Santa Claus and keeps showing up unannounced all over the movie.
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While they try to find the missing jewels, Amber and the Prince fall back in love. Or, realize they never fell out of love.
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Amber breaks up with her girlfriend - probably during the baking contest - and runs off to stop the prince from getting engaged. It turns out the princess interloper is nowhere in sight and the prince is just...staring out over the mountains, longing for Amber.
Finally, we get back to my dream. The snowy garden is full of twinkling lights and Amber and the prince lean in. Turns out they never stopped loving each other. They vow to let nothing get in the way of their love again. It's time to get married again! They can overcome anything including Journalism and Jewel Thieves! Will their marriage crumble again?
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That's probably for next year's sequel.
The cinnamon-stick girlfriend soothes her sorrow by heading back to the Baby Animal Emporium to snuggle more bunnies. The spurned Princess shows up, looking to soothe her heartache with some, uh, bunny snuggling as well. I guess they're going to be featured in the spinoff movie?
Oh, and what about the JEWEL THIEF? We almost forgot about the mystery sub-plot! A squirrel lumbers across the yard while Amber and her prince reaffirm their love. It's...dragging a ruby pendant. They follow the squirrel and find the entire treasure trove of Aldovia shoved into a hollow tree. The thief was small and furry and there's no threat to the kingdom after all! Let's turn to the camera and laugh, share a kiss, and.......fade into snowy mountains while a generic Christmas love song plays us out.
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howlingday · 23 days
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Question: What 3 things do you really want changed from each volume
And what 3 things do you want to see in volume 10
And please share it with everyone you know have entertaining answers.
Ooh, that's a good set of questions. But three per volume seems a bit much for me, so I'll just do my big three for all volumes.
Starting off, and people are gonna get mad at me for saying this, but give us more Bee action from Volume 7. Specifically, during the election night. Seriously, you could have SHOWN us instead of telling us they're going out. Give us some episodes of Blake and Yang out at the club AND Jaune, Weiss, and Oscar going to the movies. Give us the shenanigans, the hijinks, ALL OF IT! If you really cared about this ship as much as you say you do, CRWBY, you need to prove it with more than just hand holdings and forehead touches. Give us CHEMISTRY! Not Yang throwing a fucking tantrum on Blake's behalf.
Khm... Sorry. BMBLB keeps getting me riled up with how bad it was.
Okay, next on the list, let's get some more JNR coping. Get them talking. Actually, let's get everyone interacting more. Pyrrha's death was felt by everyone, and it wasn't just her, but RWBY was cut down to just one person. Have them all talk to each other. Don't summarize it to just one post dinner conversation in Volume 6. I understand the plot is important, but let's actually take a breather. And swinging back around to BMBLB, let's have them talk about the fact they murdered the guy. Like, they looked him in the eyes as he died and we're supposed to expect they feel nothing from it? What the hell is that?!
Okay, one more and I can stop getting mad over things that already happened. How about we get an actual episode of Oscar, and not just him getting beaten up and tortured and forced along the way. It seems like he's just... there... not doing anything unless the plot calls for it. Have him make a joke about wanting to be a farmer, or something. Since Volume 5, it's just... He's basically that one girl from that David Cage game. The one about her having a ghost living inside of her? He exists for no other purpose than misery and to give Ruby someone to make out with by the end of the series.
Okay, Rosegarden is getting me riled up this time, but whatever.
Overall, though, despite my many gripes, I can take the series as it is. Could it have been better? Yes, it could, but there's no such thing as a perfect series. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender has some spots in it, but everyone agrees that it's the best show that was ever made.
Okay. Now for something better. What do I expect from Volume 10? Well, first and foremost, THAT IT'S NOT THE LAST VOLUME! Don't try to rush this out and Game of Thrones us, CRWBY! Give us an actually decent series finale WHEN IT'S READY! Just have Volume 10 be its own thing and then work on the finale later.
Second, let's get some shots of the family at home. Taiyang, Willow, the Belladonnas, the Arcs, all of them. I want to see some actual family moments and not just Yang giving Ruby a hug. Show us Nora and Ren and Oscar being bros with Jaune again, or at all. MAKE ME BELIEVE THEY'RE ALL HAPPY.
And last, and this is a big one, make sure Teams SSSSN and CFVY aren't a bunch of assholes. It's simple. It's efficient. It's bare. Fucking. MINIMUM. The novels left a bad taste in my mouth because the only decent person in them were Velvet and Yatsuhashi.
And yeah. That's what I've got. Until then, here's hoping both CRWBY and you all KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
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ladedanixie · 6 months
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Ok, I love this show, but if I could get rid of one episode and rewrite another while leaving the majority of everything else untouched. I'd chose---
Seeing Stars and Unhappy Campers. I'd rewrite Seeing Stars and delete Unhappy Campers.
Why?
Seeing Stars should've been a purely Octavia and Loona focused episode. The scene with Loona and Octavia would have hit harder that way.
Unhappy Campers, is bad, I love Millie focus, I like learning about Barbie but its executed badly, and while it is a Millie focused episode, the development and pov is mainly Moxxie's. Moreover, its more about them as couple than solely about Millie. If we wanted to addressed their issues as a couple, we could have done that in Exes and Ohs. Moreover the Barbie stuff we could swap out the Hellbies shot stuff for the Barbie stuff. A more serious parallel to Oops where someone he loves gets hurt, but he chooses family but still loses them anyway.
Also Millie development can be outside Moxxie and Blitz, this episode told us Millie thinks she plain and boring and after seeing Fionna and Cake, she's not too different from Betty in the sense that she does keep sacrificing to keep her boo happy cause he's too in his stuff. You could say Seeing Stars shows that. But we could have had this hinted at before on Millie's side. Have Blitz ask at least once, what she sees in him. When he's so goddamn whiny and single minded. But yeah anyway.
How would I rewrite Seeing Stars?
I would keep it the same up until Octavia broke into the office, and I would have Loona tag along with Octavia.
They would just focus on Octavia's journey, bumbling around L.A., refusing to address why they're there. (Oh hey look Like Fathers, Like Daughters. They are all bad at communicating.)
Blitz freaks about Loona, but then realizes Stolas would be mad, we'd still have that scene be mostly the same aside from Blitz freaking out too. We learn about how Stolas found Blitz in Truth Seekers or we have the gang employ another Hell Hound, maybe even bring back Tex again. Maybe Stolas has an idea of the books last use. But aside from that can't track it because it's in the hands of a rightful user. As well as the limitations of the human world.
They go to the human world, we can keep the Moxxie and Millie hijinks and other things up until the van. In the Van, Blitz and Stolas are freaking out about their girls, and Stolas wonders again why Octavia did this and wondering why Loona went with her. Blitz then ashamedly admits why Loona left and that he's a bad dad, and Stolas assures him he's not. They have a moment, Stolas tries to reach out and hold Blitz's hand to comfort him, just like he did at Ozzie's, but Blitz shuts it down immediately. Stolas is unhappy, looks down at his phone. He tries to bring up Ozzie's, "Blitz I know its not the best time but I just want to say I'm---" he gets cut off and they are whisked into the building.
Meanwhile, Octavia and Loona are still wandering L.A., Loona wants to go to a coffee shop, and Octavia tells her to do whatever she wants, but as Loona responds she spots a pet shop, or a dog pound. Cue trauma as she recalls the day Blitz adopted her. We focus on the hound trying to hurt her, her fear, her huddling into the bed, and distantly we can hear Blitz and the lady talking, same dialogue, "Oh that's Loona, she'll never amount to nothing" until Blitz says "I want to adopt her." "What?" "I want to adopt her." He says, looking right at her while holding the bars, his smile is soft and kind. Loona growls at him, but he doesn't stop smiling. And you see the brief bit of hope enter Loona's eyes, then we transition back to L.A. as Octavia is concerned for Loona. "Hey, hello, are you alright?" Loona gaze hardens. "I'm just fine." "You sure, because you looked like you were having a stroke."
"Can you just fucking drop it? I need some fucking coffee."
Loona leaves Octavia behind. Octavia looks hurt.
Back to the t.v. studio. We can have it the same. (the water joke can stay as well, we can just have someone pour some water on a plant or something before hand to better set up the joke, instead of just having it on a poster in the background, it can still be on a poster. In fact, have a person drink the water in front of that poster, so later when Stolas throws it at the director no one is confused about why he's burning.) Blitz still has has flashback moment, but instead we can see him signing the adoption papers, linking back to that photo on his phone in Ozzie's. Loona is done with the whole thing and Blitz is beaming. But he overhears people saying they are happy to be rid of her sooner than 18, and that she's a good for nothing. Loona is hurt. She heard too. Blitz notices. "Hey, let's go home."
Come back to "no she's mine and I love her!" chaos ensues, ends at lets go find our daughters.
Meanwhile, Honey, I'm in the house is a live taping right, so it could be broadcasting as Loona's in a coffee shop, we see Loona see Blitz calling the pug Loona and sayin "no she's mine and I love her" and the camera tips over as all hell breaks loose, Loona see's Stolas too. And then we have the moment of her throwing her coffee away and going to find Octavia. We can have the sinstagram again or, as Loona is thinking of where to find Octavia, she recalls the common theme of Octavia's wandering. The stars. She finds out where you can see stars and she goes to Griffth Observatory. We have the exchange about smog and cutting her dad slack. When Octavia asks why. Loona apologizes to Octavia and explains why she tagged along. About Blitz, and then says but at least he's trying. There more impactful, and gives Loona more of an arc in the episode.
The girls go find their dads, Stolas and Octavia hug. Loona can still kick Blitz in the nuts, saying "that's for saying you were gonna replace me with a new secretary," then she picks him up and sets him right, and goes "thanks for coming to get me." He tries to hug her, she pushes him away. "Don't push it old man." Then we have the moment with Stolas and Octavia, same as the og, cue fireworks, cute moment. Back to M&M. Everyone goes home the end.
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