Justified (2010) - 1x01 || Justified: City Primeval (2023) - 1x01

Justified | 1x01 Fire in the Hole

the cavalry's last ride

I'm still clawing at the walls about Crosshair's speech in the jungle.

Clone Force 99 died with Tech.

It didn't die with Order 66?

Order 66 and the Empire's amplification of the chip ripped Crosshair away from CF99 back in 1x01. Up through Bracca he had no choice but to be parted from them; after Bracca, in an attempt to justify what the chip had led him to do, he doubled down and tried to tell himself that he would have made the same choices without it, that this was who he was. He tripled down and stuck with the Empire when the team gave him a chance to come with them, and he stayed in the Empire those long miserable months alone.

But none of that is what shattered Clone Force 99. Not to Crosshair.

In The Outpost Mayday asks him what squad he was with, what happened to them. Clone Force 99. They're... gone. Not dead. He still thought of them as together, a squad, a squad that didn't include him, but one that still existed all the same.

The self-loathing behind all of that runs so, so deep.

And then, Tech --

Crosshair came back. He worked to help his brothers again. He worked to help Omega. He turned his back on the Empire, and slowly, slowly, his brothers placed their trust in him again. He let Omega in. He fought through the tremors and the PTSD and the guilt to start to make amends... and none of that could bring Tech back.

Did anyone tell him?

Did anyone tell him why they were on Eriadu?

That Tech was the one who insisted that they save him? Him, of all people?

That Tech would still be alive if he'd never fought to send that message that he hoped would protect them?

He's just Crosshair. I'm not them. And even though he's back, he could never replace Tech, could never be what Tech was to them -- loyal -- could never repay Tech's sacrifice for him -- and so even as the brothers got closer and closer again in the fight to save Omega, that self-loathing never went away. He just doubled down. Tripled down.

It's... it's what I deserve.

(excuse me. I need to go crawl into a hole and sob for a few days.)

But then Hunter? And Wrecker? There is no hesitation. This is not a Plan 99 situation, one for all. This is the cavalry's last ride, the final stand of Clone Force 99, a tribute to brotherhood, to loyalty, to family. He gave them the chance to turn away -- and they said No. We do this together.

Just... outstanding, and I'm so, so grateful we got this scene. For Crosshair, for Tech, for Clone Force 99.

JUSTIFIED 1x01

I’m still s h o o k that people do not see exactly what’s going on with Moiraine throughout s2 and people are dragging her and dismissing her without an ounce of empathy for what she’s been through, so I’m bringing the full character analysis for y’all (and my own sanity). So this is a big ol in defense of Moiraine (and Lan) rant, so if that’s not your thing, scroll down now. Here we go.

I just… The AUDACITY some people have to look at Moiraine and be angry and pissed off at how she acts in S2. To not feel any sympathy and empathy for her and the monumental weight she’s under every goddamn day. There’s a reason we start with that bath scene in 2x01 – it shows you everything. How she’s just going through the motions. How she only lets herself cry when she’s alone in the water. How she literally curls into the fetal position and looks reproachfully devastated over her knees as she hugs them to her chest in a futile attempt at comfort. Not to mention the direct comparison/callback with the bath scene in 1x01, where she has both her power and Lan still, and now she’s lost her connection to both of them.

How is it not painfully obvious that every interaction she has after that bath scene is infused with a trauma response? Let’s tally up the devastation she’s been through. At the end of S1, she was 1. banished from the sisterhood of the white tower (they literally turned their backs on her), 2. was separated AGAIN from the love of her life fully expecting to never see her again, 3. was cut off from the other love of her life (that would be Lan, for the record) which is all the worse bc it’s her own fault for masking the bond, 4. was fully made to believe she’s been stilled from the one power aka an integral part of her being, AND 5. she’s “failed” her mission at the eye of the world – the one goal she’s had for the last 20 years, her life’s purpose – because instead of locking away the dark one she’s directly caused Rand to set Ishamael free.

You don’t think it's justified to be a little pissed off and standoffish after all of that? You don’t think the weight of that guilt, grief, pain, and loss is a reasonable cause to be distant, cold, harsh, having a little bit of a death wish? That’s TRAUMA, baby! She is absolutely wrecked, and it’s coming out in the worst way in her interactions with others (especially Lan because we’ve seen how they should be), but it’s absolutely not because she actively wants to hurt the people around her. In fact after almost every moment she lashes out at someone, we see an equally sad/grief-stricken/devastated moment from her and THAT’S the real emotion hiding underneath the anger. This woman needs therapy and understanding and patience, and does not deserve to be judged at the worst time of her life.

Ok fine, you say, but Lan IS patient and understanding with her! And she’s still an asshole to him! You’re right, Lan is absolutely trying his best and doing just about everything he can to be there for her in 2x01/2x02 (with a little help from Verin and Tomas). But 1. It’s STILL not about him, Moiraine is not obligated to respond in a certain way to her grief and pain that makes him feel better, and 2. This is Moiraine goddamn Damodred and even her trauma response is also a front to protect him, to push him away from her and what is now certainly a suicide mission to fight the dark without her powers.

This is SOOO important to really get Moiraine’s character — y’all gotta understand this: Moiraine truly loves only TWO people on the whole fucking planet: Siuan and Lan. They are also the only people who truly love her, unconditionally, with all of her flaws and imperfections. Please please ingrain that into your brain, especially for Lan, in this context. (Siuan is a whole other conversation I won’t get into at the moment.) Moiraine loves Lan, he loves her, deeply. That’s the foundation of everything they go through with each other in this season, despite what’s happening on the surface.

Once you accept that as fundamental truth, everything makes a whole lot more sense. She is a dick to him to push him away. Literally tells him he failed her to put the final nail in the coffin of driving him away, which is his worst nightmare. On the surface it seems egotistic at best, plain cruel at worst. But look underneath. Moiraine always has reasons 2, 3, 6 layers deep for everything she does.

With everyone else she’s mean to this season, namely her sister and her nephew, it’s born out of distrust (and the aforementioned trauma response). She can’t afford to trust anyone because anyone could be a dark friend. (And if they’re not a dark friend, then they become a liability and endangered.) Anything she lets slip could be used to hurt/control Rand and push them all one step closer to eternal darkness. Oh and when we see Barthanes’ true nature that turns out to be fucking justified, by the way. But I digress.

Right so why is she an asshole to Lan then? Because she doesn’t trust him? I don’t believe that for a second. These two have been on the same page, literally sharing the same headspace, for the last 20 years – she knows he’s the best person she’s ever met, the least likely to ever turn to the dark, ever. It’s an actual impossibility. So it’s not that she doesn’t trust him. She literally marvels at how courageous he must be to fight the dark with only a sword.

The true reason is: she does trust him, she does love him, and she KNOWS him. She knows that he will never leave her like this, in her darkest hour. He is both honor-bound to her (which he takes very seriously) and deeply cares for her. The problem is that now his life is in serious danger by staying with her. But there is no calmly explaining to him that he should return to the white tower for his own good and bond to another aes sedai who can actually channel, who can actually hold up her end of the partnership and protect him and heal him in return for his loyalty and sacrifice. Or better yet, find Nynaeve, who is not only ridiculously powerful and has probably the best chance of protecting him out of anyone, but who also loves him.

If Moiraine loves him and wants him safe, the ONLY option she has to protect him, the one good thing left in her life even if their bond is masked, is to drive him away. To make it so that he’ll stay far away from her of his own free will, and never come after her and her suicide mission to defeat the dark. Because she has already lost everything, she has no control over her fate anymore (if she ever had any to begin with), but the ONE thing she can still try to do is keep him safe. And hopefully, maybe he’ll be happy, one day. Her reasoning is directly confirmed for us in the last thing she says to him in 2x02 before she leaves: “Light protect you, al’Lan Mandragoran.” That was her goal all along, to protect him.

That’s the true reason she’s Like That to him. It’s all out of her love for him, and a desperate desire not to drag him down with her when she’s sure she’s destined to die on this mission. Is her strategy misguided? On the one hand yes, because she does need people to help her and she needs to trust someone, as he points out. On the other hand, she’s absolutely fucking right because look what happened with the Fade fight at the end of 2x01. Both her and Lan would have died without Verin and Tomas, and it would have been because she couldn’t channel. He is factually, logically, physically better off without her as long as she’s “stilled.”

This is why it makes sense how Lan eventually responds the way he does. He initially sees right through what she’s trying to do, he literally says he won’t let her push him away. He knows her too, better than anyone, including Siuan at this point. But he isn’t expecting her to go as far as she does, and it shakes him to his core. She tells him he failed her, has his worst fears confirmed, and then hears the words “we were never equals” and hears that she thinks she’s better than him, when she means the exact opposite. Tomas tells him to really listen but he can’t, in that moment.

But then he gets some distance, and some perspective thanks to Ihvon and Maksim, and he remembers: he loves her. He believes in her and he knows her and he knows what she’s doing to push him away (although maybe not why, when it comes to protecting him, because he doesn’t see himself as someone who needs protecting). Even better, he realizes that her situation is actually not what she thinks, that she’s shielded not stilled, and he can do something about that.

I LOVE Lan in 2x07 because he’s got Moiraine’s number now, and he will not be swayed by any further attempts (rather weak attempts at this point) to lash out at him. He just takes all the shit she throws at him, and calmly asks her what he needs to know and tells her what she needs to hear (“hopefully everything we’ve lost” and “that’s what I thought” and “you need to trust someone, Moiraine”), and is truthful with her even if she is still putting on this act with him in her fear and grief. He isn’t having any of it, he sees straight through it to the fear and pain underneath. And he literally DECIDES they are going to be okay, and then he fucking. Follows. Through.

He is not a doormat to her rage, he is not her servant, he’s not going back to her with his tail between his legs. He SHOWS UP for her in her darkest hour, when NO ONE, not even Siuan, can see what’s going on with her. That’s a true friend, a true hero, and absolute king behavior.

In conclusion, Moiraine’s behavior in s2, while not cute, is totally justified given the trauma, circumstances and everything she’s dealing with (jfc the lack of sleep alone) and makes sense in light of her ultimate goal to protect the world, which includes protecting Lan. And Lan’s response, once he figures out what to do, is the absolute correct way to handle the situation and is not weakness at all but strength in the highest order.

I’m so glad we got the payoff of all that with their conversation in 2x08 and reconnecting the bond. It was so beautiful, so earned, and reminded us of the level they’re on with each other — which is a soul connection way beyond what any of us can imagine.

Boyd Holbrook as Clement Mansell JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL (2023) 1x01: City Primeval

Boyd Holbrook as Clement Mansell

JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL (1x01)

JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL 1x01 “City Primeval”

Timothy Olyphant as Marshal Raylan Givens

- FX's Justified: City Primevil - 1x01: "City Primevil"

Rin Okumura Whump - Blue Exorcist

Yukio Okumura Whump Stupidity is contagious

Season 1 1x01 The Devil Resides in Human Souls - Bloody fist, face cut, held down 1x02 Gehenna Gate - Hunted, almost falls, trips, slapped, dragged, restrained, emotional 1x04 Garden of Amahara - Sobbing (reading Manga) 1x05 A Boy from the Cursed Temple - Flustered, chased, knocked down, almost bitten, almost shot inconspicuously 1x06 The Phantom Chef - Restrained multiple times, justified anger, dies (of horrible food), loopy, held, master chef battle against a pokemon, collapse, hurt feelings/crying, knocked back 1x07 A Flock of Plovers - Thrown, knocked down, choked 1x08 Now A Certain Man was Sick - Jumpscared, hits his head, slapped, dropped heavy rock on his foot, chased, thrown multiple times, knocked down 1x09 Memories - Targetted, hurt with holy water, squeezed, pain, stabbed, bleeding 1x10 Black Cat - Headbut, bloody nose 1x12 A Game of Tag - Smacked, knocked down, punched multiple times, feral, pinned, bloody face, knees collapse 1x13 Proof - Headlocked, sliced, impaled, bandaged, traumatic flashback 1x14 A Fun Camping Trip - Depressing high school flashbacks, panic, restrained 1x15 Act of Kindness - Knocked back, knocked to the ground, unconscious, reveals powers to friends, tail hurts, goes feral 1x16 The Wager - Feral, collapse, unconscious, targetted, imprisoned, nightmare of turning into a demon 1x17 Temptation - Moves while imprisoned, crystal prison broken, unconscious, squeezed, dazed, collapses unconscious, knife held to neck, confronted by ex-friends [insert season 2 here] 1x18 Hurricane - Face sliced, misunderstood, held at gunpoint, punched, stabbed, punched down, held by the head, exhausted 1x20 Mask - Targetted, sword to throat twice, held at gunpoint, shot with tranq, paralyzed, passes out, weak 1x21 The Secret Garden - Targetted, pinned to the ground, knocked down 1x22 Demon Hunting - Betrayed, held at gunpoint, thrown, unconscious, captured/imprisoned, chained as ritual sacrifice, extreme pain, bleeding 1x23 Truth - Bleeding profusely, extreme pain, unconscious, carried 1x24 Satan's Spawn - Punched, confronts Yukio, punched multiple times, bloody, weak, shot, collapse, bleeding profusely, emotional

Season 2: Kyoto Saga (This is loyal to the manga; when making season 1, the manga wasn't completed, so the studio came up with the rest)

2x01 Small Beginnings - Avoided, sad 2x02 Strange Bedfellows - Sad, not trusted, drunk, passed out/carried 2x03 Suspicion Will Raise Bogies - Hungover, tired as balls 2x04 Act of Treachery - Trying to prevent Bon from making the same mistakes as him and his father, emotional, leash tightened, pain, passes out 2x05 Mysterious Connections - Imprisoned 2x07 Like a Fire Burning Bright - Can't draw Kurakara (scared), no confidence, re-imprisoned, sentenced to death, friends worried, depressed, emotional x2 2x08 From Father to Son - Mental block 2x09 Through Thick and Thin - Mental block 2x10 Unbowed and Unbroken - Mental block broken, badass 2x11 Shine Bright as the Sun - Soloing the impure king, no confidence, emotional pain, badass, confronted by angry Yukio, punched, collapse, unconscious 2x12 Candid and Open - Flustered

Justified: City Primeval - 1x01

Justified | 1x01 Fire in the Hole

One thing that frustrates me to no end is the fandom's insistence that Rand has gotten no character development on the show or that he's the most underdeveloped character on the show. Like I just saw a tweet saying they're starting to hate the "it was about them all" quote from AMOL being used by Sarah and others involved with the show "to justify bad writing" cause "Rand desperately needs development" and "I never would've thought Rand was the main character if I hadn't read the books".

Like did we watch season 2 at all? Where we got to know Rand a lot better than we did in s1 and got to know him better and understand who he is at his core?

LITERALLY!!!!! genuinely, i think that when many (most?) of these people say "character development" they actually mean "power development" because the complaints are ALWAYS that rand "doesn't feel like The Main Character™" and that he "didn't get a big solo moment to show off his power", and not that his personality and characterization are underdeveloped. because they aren't! season 2 devoted so much time to showing who rand is as a person (as did s1, which did a great job of establishing the foundation of him; imo the take that making TDR's identity a mystery ~robbed rand of screentime/development~ is just not true) and how he's reacting to being a male channeler and how it's changing him and the way he approaches life, and, at the same time, how at his core he's still the same boy he was back in 1x01.

things we have learned about rand in the first 2 seasons: he's kind, he's selfless, he's self-sacrificial, he's stubborn, he's good at avoiding truths he doesn't want to acknowledge but will step up and acknowledge them once he realizes that other people's safety is at stake, he would do anything for his loved ones, he's terrified of hurting people, he's desperate to be loved, he's mild-mannered but snaps when pushed too far, he can hold a grudge but also has no problem apologizing for misjudging someone, he's responsible, he blames himself for everything, he's sensitive, he's emotional, he takes things personally, his greatest desire in life is to be cozy at home with his family, he tries so hard to cut love out of his life but he simply cannot do it because his heart is too damn big

and that is at LEAST as much as we'd seen of his characterization in the first 3 books alone, and in my opinion, far more

JUSTIFIED — 1x01 Fire in the Hole JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL — 1x01 City Primeval

JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL 1x01 ��City Primeval”

Some Interesting Details I've Noticed in My Adventures with Superman 1x01-02

The Jor-El hologram appears to be an AI - he appears to even say "AI" in his first pre-recorded speech to Clark though it's hard to tell. But in particular, this AI isn't all-knowing: It learns as it goes. This is more accurate to how AI currently works. So, in his first encounter with Clark, opening the ground beneath him doesn't get a good response? Next time he just zaps him. Talking in Kryptonian doesn't work? Use visuals instead. The fact that the ship itself has grown is also fascinating. Perhaps the Jor-El AI will eventually be able to learn English! (My guess is that won't happen until mid-season or season finale)

Superman's energy bursts being blue-colored appear consistent with the Superman Blue/Electric Superman run in the 1990s, where Superman lost his traditional powers and became a being of pure energy. This is oddly timely considering Clark's son Jon Kent is starting to tap into these same powers in the Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent comics. Will they tap into this arc at some point in the show? Is it just a Mythology Gag that happens to make Superman more like the anime character the show is going for? Curious minds want to know.

Speaking of Jon Kent, Jonathan Kent Sr. actually seems to almost nip Clark's fears in the bud after that first encounter with Jor-El. Often children's fear response comes partly from the reactions of adults around them, and while Jonathan started to reassure Clark that even though it was scary, he's okay, Martha is the fearful one. She remains fearful even when Clark is a young adult, though for a justified reason. I'm interested to see this play out, but I'm a little sad they chose to portray it this way. They sort of inadvertently made Martha part of the reason he's initially scared of his powers, though at least that seems to be mending after the transformation sequence, where she recognizes Clark is more than just her baby boy.

Clark wears glasses as a kid, before he gets powers. In some comics continuities this was to hide the otherworldly color of his eyes, so that might be all that is. But it does make me wonder if at one point Clark actually needed glasses, but his vision corrected itself at some point, a la Tobey McGuire Spider-Man.