#lots of character potential. writers really missed the ball
Text
Eddie Munson
“Why are people so connected to this character?”
I was roped into watching Stranger Things season 4 after never taking the time to even watch season 3 because I happened to see some pictures of this guy, this new cast member in Stranger Things- I’m immediately drawn in by the 80s metalhead aesthetic because it is right up my alley and happens to be “a look” (tm) that I adore.
So I cave and watch the first episode, Eddie’s introduced and immediately I’m like, this guy has a lot of energy and then-- oh god he’s really climbing onto the table and making a scene. People shout “loser”/jock-boy calls him a freak and then Eddie takes the insult, folds it into a crown and wears the hell out of it.
I am immediately struck by the CONFIDENCE. This guy does not give a FUCK. He’s loud, kind of obnoxious, and very weird-- and I LOVE IT. He then goes around and is able to make all of his friends smile and laugh; his charisma commands the entire cafeteria scene.
He’s a roughly 20-21 year-old in high school; he’s failed senior year twice, but he’s somehow radiating coolness and it’s clear how everyone in the “nerds and freaks” group looks up to him.
That level of self confidence and zero fucks given attitude is so admirable in my eyes; he never stops being himself. I can only wish I could be like that, and I think a lot of people feel the same, which is why Eddie comes off being so cool and likable. It’s only the tip of the iceberg really, but I felt like sharing my first reaction.
So you’re still kind of on the fence about Eddie at this point-- Cut to the next scene with Eddie and Chrissy in the woods. Even though Eddie and Chrissy operate in very different “high school worlds”, he’s so nice to her. He goes out of his way to make her feel comfortable and smile because he can tell she’s going through some shit and is out of her comfort zone. It is such a sweet scene! Any reservations about him being a total asshole are pretty much out the window at this point
I think we were ROBBED of more Eddie/Steve interactions. I really wanted more of those two conversing.
There’s something to be said about how they’re both c.20 years old, both only appear to have friends younger than them, and both are stuck in a “deadbeat” situation- Eddie being the guy who failed senior year twice and Steve being the guy who couldn’t get into college and works at the ice cream/video rental store.(I’ll also point out that despite failing twice, Eddie is still trying to graduate, he hasn’t given up, another endearing quality)
Eddie lives in a trailer park, sells drugs, and we find out lives with his uncle (we can only theorize why), but these facts paint a particular picture.
Traditional society looks down on people in their circumstances, so-called “losers”; no future-- But, uh, guess what? High school reputation doesn’t amount to shit, lots of people don’t go to college, and working a “common/unskilled” job doesn’t dictate a person’s worth. Eddie and Steve are badasses who’ve faced and fought greater horrors than nearly the entire of the population in their universe- they chose to be brave and fight and protect the people they care about (and even those they don’t really care about). I’ll also point out that Eddie is clearly very passionate about metal and playing guitar, as demonstrated by his SICK skills, and you know he didn’t learn that in school.
((While not canon or explicitly stated- Eddie also comes off as ADHD coded with his level of energy and nature, which obviously would play a role in maybe making it harder for him to focus on things like school and studying (another relatable quality for many people) especially if he already has a hard time with those things. Like I said above, the fact that Eddie is still trying to graduate despite it all makes me think more on this- that he isn’t just lazy or something, though that could very well be a large part of it haha))
There’s also the interesting juxtaposition of Eddie and Steve’s respective high school reputations and how much/little they cared about it. They’re different, but they also have a lot in common and I’m glad Dustin was able to bridge the gap between them. There is also much to be said about Eddie acting as such a great friend and role model for Dustin as well. The love in their friendship is so heart-warming; how can you not smile when watching them? How can you not want to be friends with this guy?
I just wish we could have seen more, UGH.
#eddie munson deserved better#stranger things#eddie munson#steddie#stranger things season 4#spoilers#stranger things spoilers#they may say he is cringe. but he is free.#i just have a lot feelings about this character#(think his arc was too on the nose#(and the ending felt unnecessary and cheap#lots of character potential. writers really missed the ball
59 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hi fight writer! Longtime follower, I always enjoy seeing your work and the situations people put their characters in. X3 Could I ask you to look over an element of character backstory for me, to see how realistic it is?
Character is an itinerant-knight sort of fellow, fantasy setting, elven. He's missing a chunk of his ear on one side, having lost it in a fight -- but not in the usual way of getting it sliced. It's the reason he swears by using a helmet and will not let any of his students go ahead into battle without head protection. The premise I had was that somebody gave him a blow to the side of the head and the helmet he was wearing crumpled from the force, pinning the ear between skull and metal. When the helmet was peeled off, a chunk of the ear came with it, or was basically so pinched off and dead that it had to be amputated anyway. (It also gave him a whopper of a concussion, of course. ^^;) But if he hadn't been wearing the helmet? It wouldn't have just been the ear, it would have been the whole top of his head. Wear your helmets, kids.
Do you think the helmet would have had to be damaged in some way beforehand for this to happen? Or be of shoddy make? Or would the opponent have to be supernaturally strong? Thank you!
So, this question has been sitting in the inbox for a bit, and part of that is that I've had difficulty parsing the question. There's a few reasons for this, but a major element is how much of the above comment isn't part of the question.
I get that most of this is a setup for a simple, “what do you think of my idea?' and those are questions we generally avoid, simply because, “thumbs up, it works.” Or, if there are serious problems, it feels like punching down.
So, in answer, “it's fine.” You don't even really need to justify it with other factors. Someone swinging a hammer at your head can result in your head protection failing. I think we can safely scratch off the supernatural strength option, simply because that's more likely to turn the character's head into an improvised golf ball, rather than taking out an ear. This is a weirdly specific injury, but it's also the kind of injury that could, potentially, happen on the battlefield.
Ironically, the weakest part to this concept is just that a combat veteran wouldn't automatically value head protection unless they'd suffered a disfiguring injury which would have been dramatically worse if they weren't wearing a helmet.
Helmets get into a weird place for a lot of writers. A lot of visual media hates putting characters in helmets (even when they really should be wearing one), because it hides the character's face. There is a legitimate concern here (specifically in visual media), because if multiple characters are wearing uniform helmets, they will become visually interchangeable, so skipping the helmet is about keeping the characters more recognizable. This creates a situation where, in a lot of cases, a helmet is treated like an alternate haircut option, completely glazing over the part where it's extremely important safety equipment.
To a certain extent, the treatment of helmets as cosmetics also extends to the entirety of a character's armor. You see this anytime you have partially armored characters going into battle. In some cases, there may be legitimate reasons for omitting specific armor pieces, and not having the resources to be fully armored is always a real possibility, but skipping the head or torso armor are extremely questionable decisions.
The, “pinched off,” comment always struck me as a bit strange. It sounds like the ear was held away from the skull, with part of the helm inserted between the ear and skull, rather than held up against the head. This would be a bad idea, and a structural weakness, though depending on the exact physiology of your elves, it might not be possible for them to pin their ears against their skull. In which case their armor would need to be specifically designed around their physiology. That might mean a much broader helmet structure. For example similar to something like large flared guard on Japanese helmets, or even the ACH. Depending on the overall tech level, it's possible that the best solution would to simply have ear holes in the helmet, though this could result in a situation where ears could be cut off on rare occasions.
I suppose there'd also be some consideration for rigidity and how uncomfortable it would be to bind down their ears under a helmet. So there might be some kind of structural cutout to accommodate their ears, but again, you really wouldn't want your ears being encased in metal away from the head. Even in the worst case, with horizontal ear tips, you'd probably see helmet designs that fit over the ear, possibly even leaving the underside exposed for better hearing, rather than full metal encasement.
Ironically, having just brought up the ACH, the one place where fully encased ears wouldn't surprise me is with electronic headsets. Though, again, that's more likely to be plastic and softer materials, and would likely fit over the ear and seal against the scalp, rather than just encasing the ear itself.
Also, he'd be partially deaf in that ear. This is not, “deaf by human standards,” but impaired hearing by elven standards. Unless their ears really are just magical, and the tips are performative, it's extremely likely that their ear structure would result in improved hearing, and that's something he would lack if most of the external ear had been destroyed.
-Starke
This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.
#writing reference#writing advice#writing tips#writing fantasy#howtofightwrite#Starke answers#Starke does not have an ear collection
77 notes
·
View notes
Text
thinking about post-implantation wash again.....
cause like. the rvb writers dropped a lot of balls, but this is the one i find personally the most upsetting. like. a soldier getting irreparably fucked up by an experiment gone wrong is the kind of premise i read fanfiction about (that probably says something about me but im not gonna examine it. moving on). especially since he STAYED with freelancer???? you could take this in so many different directions- his fellow freelancers are worried about him but he pushes through anyway. his fellow freelancers ARENT worried about him and push him harder than he can handle. the director pulls the ai fragments and theres hostility from more than just the one-dimensional "raging bitch" character. the director DOESNT pull the ai fragments, which seriously calls into question the ethics of the whole operation (which i believe is more in line with the pfl that was described in earlier seasons, but thats a story for another time) AND puts potential pressure on wash to get another implantation (oh my GOD. show me THAT version of pfl).
and of couse. how could i possibly forget epsilon. there is something so uniquely tasty about 2 characters who went through something traumatic together and then didnt see each other again until ages later- ESPECIALLY when one of them was the cause, even though they werent directly at fault, and the other was just unlucky enough to be involved. like holy shit????? the TENSION that would cause???? the discomfort being around each other? the guilt? having nowhere to place the blame except the director?? oh my GOD literally any interaction between them couldve had so much FLAVOUR. im not saying they need to be the main focus of the story or anything but we didnt get a single interaction!! not even a crumb!! like. do something with the fact that wash needed to have alpha in his head in season 6 despite refusing to ever have another ai after epsilon. do something with wash needing to SEE and HEAR and TALK TO epsilon again. do something with epsilon remembering fucking exploding in washs head!!!! im not asking for a lot here- asking for a lot would be suggesting a scenario like the one from season 6, except wash needs EPSILON in his head for some reason and gets legitimately triggered by it or cant bring himself to do it. thats the kind of shit i want to see, but i understand that that isnt carolina-centric enough so ill get it from fanfiction as god intended. but cant i ask for at least some awkwardness? maybe an uncomfortable confrontation? irrational hostility? SOMETHING. it doesnt have to be the focus but it should be THERE.
and like. youd think that this is an issue with retconning. and it kind of is, but its more about missed opportunities. like. i dont mind the retcon that freelancer was always its own thing, or that church was always an ai. those things are cool! they take the story in a more interesting direction! yeah it makes things more confusing and id prefer if the retcons werent necessary, but. its not the end of the world. but the thing with wash is. they did a really cool and interesting thing by having an ai COMMIT SUICIDE in his fucking HEAD. and then they went back on it! they very quickly went from "this clearly left a lasting impact on him" to "oh well it was bad, probably worse than hes letting on, but some of it was an act! so he could take em down from the inside!" to "yeah i mean he screamed while it was happening but he was fine when he woke up. no lasting consequences" and then it was never addressed again. and im mad about it!! they didnt even properly retcon it- they just decided that it had no consequences anymore, and it made washs character LESS interesting.
56 notes
·
View notes
Text
okay can i say a thing about esther in fics
So, this isn't something I loathe, or take great issue with, or anything, since I understand why this character is the way she is in a lot of fics, or any fandom interpretation. A lot of times, in fandoms, characters will change roles depending on the fanwork context. So if you want to explore a specific type of abuse with Enid, obviously Esther is going to fit that role.
I also have a lot to say with Murray, but I'll cool off with that for now. However, a lot of the same applies.
Anyway, I...do wish there was more nuance to Esther within the fandom? Or a better appreciation as to why she is a problem. Especially since she's a direct foil to Morticia, because both mothers ultimately have the same issue, it's just Morticia handles it with grace, and Esther doesn't.
Esther is an overbearing mother.
That is emotional abuse, which often stems from a genuine care for the child, but through a very warped perception that is so because of insecurity and/or entitlement.
I get it. I get why she's written to be physically abusive in a lot of fics, or do other things. It's a way to tell the stories people want to write, and I can't say that I won't be responsible for that. For context, the project I'm working on now has a lot of medical abuse where...it's really, really bad. Far worse than what's presumably in the show. And it's something done out of insecurity.
...can't really be a good judge of what or how I handle her, since I'm the writer of that. But. Whatever.
The point is, as someone whose personal experience with maternal abuse was never a physical one, and was purely emotional/mental, it does feel like a lot of the fandom doesn't understand how devastating those are, and equates physical abuse as...the worst kind. When in reality, they're not comparable, and it ultimately depends on the people involved. Some people can better defend themselves against mental abuse over physical, others it's the opposite.
And then you just have the additional context. Like what...is actually happening.
It's an oversimplification that I think really misses the point in trying to analyze what the show tries to say about Esther and Enid. Enid is a people pleaser. Enid does want to please her mom, but she acknowledges and pushes back against the pressure she's been put in. Very emotionally intelligent in that regard, probably because she had to be. And because she physically cannot wolf-out for the bulk of the show, Enid chooses to prioritize another thing that her mom may like: finding a "mate", of sorts. With or without a possible issue in comphet, this may be why Enid is so overbearing with Ajax. Because she's trying to compensate for not being able to frolic in the forest, beneath a full moon, as a saber dog thing.
Meanwhile, Esther is overbearing...because she is also compensating for something. When Esther hands Enid the pamphlet for summer conversion camps, she says outright that a cousin of Enid's had the same problem.
This is a familial issue. And may be indicative of something genetic: the Sinclairs, for whatever reason, have a predisposition for late-blooming. And Esther doesn't like it. Maybe because she's a late-bloomer herself, or, she saw what happened in older generations and wants to "save" Enid from it. By doing things potentially just as bad.
And she foils Morticia because Enid is not like her. The same way that Wednesday is not like Morticia. There's friction of interests. There's friction in communication, and in how to articulate love for each other.
However, Morticia actually accepts Wednesday. She doesn't understand her, but she tries. She leaves Thing to watch over her. Leaves the crystal ball. And leaves the necklace that Wednesday wears, because rather than physical touch, she doesn't mind the touch of cold obsidian. Ergo, by the time of season's end, Wednesday understands better how to communicate with her mother because her mother understands how to show her love. So she lets Morticia...kinda sorta embrace.
Esther meanwhile cannot get through to Enid because...she does not restrain herself. She's overbearing because she's being overruled by insecurity, and perhaps entitlement. There is an interesting implication with her wearing a wool vest--making her a literal wolf in sheep's clothing--, and that brings another layer of nuance.
And that's what...I really just want. I want more nuance and complexities than just "Esther evil. Esther hit Enid. Esther sell Enid off to be omega whore, or something."
So. Yeah.
I'mma go back to writing.
#volt's shit#wednesday show#wednesday 2022#wednesday netflix#wednesday addams#enid sinclair#morticia addams#i want more nuance is all#no shade i get why but still#also i think esther's actress is pretty
49 notes
·
View notes
Text
thoughts about physical 100 s2
includes minor spoilers abt the challenges themselves
overall i found it super enjoyable and i'm really hoping they keep it up. both season 1 and season 2 were incredibly watchable and fun
i know its CLICHE but.. competition, sportsmanship, giving it your all in respect to your opponent, the human spirit, camaraderie.. AUUGH
i feel like the skills that were tested were imbalanced this time around. they focused on like heavy strength & endurance so much, the disadvantage was huge for those who didn't have bigger bodies.
i feel like since its PHYSICAL 100 there should have been agility, flexibility, balance, calisthenics.. like a lot of potential was missed out on. the challenges for the top 4 was what i was looking for, they were balanced so much better (pulling own body weight, infinite squats..)
i wish we saw more of that small weightlifting woman
LOVE how the 1v1 for the ball came back. i personally think that we need to see that every time (since they did say there will be a 3rd)
the creativity of the stages were amazing, even if the creativity of the challenges themself could have been improved. the literal underground theme was so cool. i feel like next they could do a jungle or something so its like Survival and not just Repeatedly Pulling/Pushing/Carrying Big Weights like a Worker in the Mines
i really like how you still manage to stay attached to every competitor. the writers are smart by treating them kinda like a character (showing their motivations, personality, backstory) which really makes the audience sympathize and root for them.
i also really like how people from everywhere were able to fight. like didn't a cosplayer beat up a top athlete or something 😭😭😭
the redemption fight was cool as hell but i feel like it couldve been better balanced as well
i like how they dont really push unlikely narratives. even if youre an underdog everyone roots for, if you lose then you lose and they show the brutal truth. though i do believe that one team had so much potential if only the challenges werent ooga booga lift/push/pull big heavy weight like come on 😐
i like how its realistically unforgiving of errors in strategies or like small mistakes because thats life, if you make a mistake in the field then you fall behind
i dont like how when theres challenges with simultaneous equipment, there is a slight chance that its rigged on one end like the scandal in s1, but this time apparently the monkey bars on one side weren't giving? i don't know, but it really takes away from the core of the show if the equipment isn't effective and fair for everyone.
anyways that's some of my thoughts, am EXCITED AND HOPEFUL FOR SEASON 3 :))))
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
So, watched Dragon Ball Superhero, and you can tell whoever write it wanted it to be chock full of references and call backs for Fans.
A couple things.
1) As people already mentioned, Piccolo's house really does look like Nail's Traditional Namekian House on Namek, while also creating small Kami Observatories while meditating.
2) The movie is a combination of the Cell Saga, the Bio Broly movie and the Garlick Jr Movie (not the filler arc mind you the original movie... Tho you can see one major reference to the filler arc too).
3) Piccolo really is the best father figure in this show ESPECIALLY given how angry he gets over Gohan possibly becoming another Goku to his own kid preferring other interests over raising her (interests being his work rather than training as is for Goku of course).
4) Anyway, the movie is, as mentioned, half Bio Broly half Garlick Jr. The Resurgent Red Ribbon Army hires Doctor Gero grand son to build the proverbial Android Army to face off against the "secret evil organisation" Capsule Corp and it's Traitor Androids and Alien Conquerors, and start their operation by targeting the weakest links in the organisation according to their research, them being Piccolo and later Gohan.
5) First, the Elephant in the room. Yes, Doctor Gero fucked, we knew that already, Android 16 was based on his dead son Goku killed when he wiped out the Red Ribbon Army as a kid, his anger and rage against him was literally based on that (hence him putting the earth destruction bomb within the robot copy of his son of course, dude was still really twisted). Doctor Hedo, his grandson however, is actually not the son of the dead RR soldier Gero son, but ANOTHER son who left the kid orphaned at a young age when both him and his wife died in an accident.
6) Side note, yes, his grandmother is Android 21. Yes, Doctor Gero fucked Android 21 from FighterZ the fighting game, she's confirmed as canon in the Super timeline now.
7) Perhaps due to being orphaned at a young age, Hedo seems obsessed with Superheroes, hence why the two Androids he does create, Gamma 1 and 2, are both based on a Superhero motif. Before anyone asks, NO, there was NO GREAT SAYAMAN In this movie, which is a TRAVESTY and the GREATEST INSULT IN THE HISTORY OF ANIME. What a missed opportunity.
8) By the way, VIDEL FINALLY GOT A JOB! She's a martial arts and self defense instructor, which fits her Dragon Ball Z characterization quite well. Unfortunately, we don't see anything from any of it, because the writers are still dragon ball writers is a miracle she has a job at all right now.
9) Goku and Vegeta literally spend the entire movie locked up in Beerus planet fighting each other for no reason, like, completely removed from the narrative which was honestly GREAT we got fucking tired of them cheapening all movies they are in. Finally other characters have time to shine. Broly is also there being a Fanboy. His girlfriend and his other friend are hired to become Beerus maid and cook respectively as a result. Yes the god of destruction has a crush on Broly's girlfriend.
10) Anyway, classic Garlick JR movie plot, Pan gets kidnapped and Gohan has to save her, Piccolo already infiltrated the organisation to stop them from within, usual shit.
11) Dr Hedo is also working on the Cell Max project, but isn't so sure about it since he's incredibly unstable and isn't planning to activate the thing any time soon. Cell Max, basically Giant Semi Perfect Cell, gets activated during the climax of the movie.
12) The movie finally remembers a lot of Namekian lore for Piccolo to finally get him on par with the other characters in terms of strength. He gets his "Potential Activated" like Guru did on Namek to Krilin and Gohan, he grows to giant size like Slug does and like he did at the Martial Arts Tournament, and he gains a new transformation, Orange Piccolo, which is very similar to the power buff he gets during the Garlick Jr filler arc as his old Earth Demon Powers reawaken (here is implied it's Kami's original powers before the split activating tho since it's from Shenlong as a buff).
13) Gohan also finally gets his time to shine by activating back his Zen powers at the sight of his daughter being in danger, and he does fight against Gamma 1 pretty evenly, both Gammas implied to be on par with Goku and Vegeta btw.
14) Cell Max is activated by the RR leader, which is Red's son (Red being the original leader of the RR), and we do have a pretty big raid battle against him (I'd argue this is a reference to the Hirudegarn movie since Gotenks is also there, tho they fail the fusion). Krilin has a moment of glory during it by using Solar Flare on Cell, a classic move of his, to blind him for a combined surprise attack from anyone.
15) Side note, one of Gero's data collecting bugs shows up again, it's created by Hedo tho as a spy bee.
16) Anyway, Gamma 2 sacrifices himself to weaken Cell Max to save his brother and their creator, which btw is a really nice inversion of original Gero and his creations. I would have loved a scene exploring 18 (who is also there with Krilin btw, she shows up for the raid boss scene) trauma at seeing 1) Cell Again and 2) the grandson of the man who made her what she is and the way he genuinely seems to care for his creations unlike Gero. We don't get any of that because we have to be dumb action packed anime mind you but a bitch can dream.
17) Anyway, climax of the movie is Orange Piccolo becoming giant and holding Cell Max still so that Gohan can kill it in one attack, and yes, it is LITERALLY the Raditz Piccolo Goku fight down to the very end.
18) Piccolo gets his arms destroyed and is seemingly killed in front of Gohan which is what triggers yet another trasformation turning him into GOHAN BLANCO.
GOHAN BLANCO REAL.
19) Gohan Blanco is stronger than Cell Max in his depowered, damaged state, which is admitted by Gohan and Piccolo to be, at full power, stronger than both Goku and Vegeta, and manages to beat the shit out of him with one punch, before Piccolo, who has regenerated, can come back and wrap him up in his limbs to, again, do the Raditz fight on Cell Max.
20) GOHAN BLANCO FIRES A SPECIAL BEAN CANNON TO DESTROY CELL MAX WHILE PICCOLO HOLDS HIM DOWN. NO SHIT.
21) Cell is defeated but his body starts bloating up like original Semi Perfect Cell before his explosion, only for everyone to run away from him before he can blow anyone up. A bit anticlimactic mind you for a reference but still.
22) Gamma 2 is the only good guy casualty in the movie, and his body disappears. No one mentions bringing him back with the Dragon Balls btw which is BULLSHIT especially given how much his brother and "father" were devastated by his death and heroic sacrifice. You could argue since they mention how both Gamma 1 and 2 were created from scratch rather than from adapting a human that they are Androids like 16, 13, 14 and 15 were "Androids," so they have no soul to bring back so to speak (case in point, Hedo pretty much teaching them all they know of the world, among them the concept of Heroism) especially given the only other androids we see from Hedo are using corpses he stole from the local morgue as a base, not living being like 18 and 17 (Reference to Android Number 8?)
23) In a post credit scene we find out Vegeta win his fight against Goku, finally managing to beat him in a fair fight, much to his delight, causing Broly to cry at the sheer manliness of the scene or some shit. His girlfriend just thinks they were being stupid. This is probably a subtle dig at previous Dragon Ball media being just a fight fest in the eternal dick measuring contest between Vegeta and Goku, with Broly being there as the audience, whose character was originally the perfect example of everything wrong with Dragon Ball before Super gave him a better Backstory and a Girlfriend and also some emotional depth (IE Absurd power levels and generic mega battles between more and more powerful Sayan forms).
24) All in all, a surprisingly good movie honestly, I'm just glad we gave Gohan and Piccolo time to shine.
75 notes
·
View notes
Text
Stayed up late last night to finish Final Fantasy XVI, got a wee bit overwhelmed but had some time today to process my fragile emotions ☺️
Ultimately it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought. In a surprising turn of events, the final act more than made up for such a terribly paced, tedious mid-game (in my opinion.) I do feel as though the final 5-10 hours are what the rest of the game was supposed to be like.
There’s only one deal-breaker for me in particular that’s really preventing me from seeing this a top-tier FF title (which I believe indicates the bigger problems of the game as a whole) and it’s a shame I feel they missed the mark so badly when what they gave us was so close to being truly great.
LATE-GAME SPOILERS AHOY…
JILL FUCKING WARRICK.
How badly they dropped the ball on this Queen, oh my fucking God.
I think it’s important to try keep some perspective that XVI is not an ensemble game like the other FFs before it, and I may be basing a lot of my disappointment on viewing Jill as a main character, when really this is the Clive show and they are not considered equal.
Jill had the potential to be one of the best FF women in the franchise, but sadly was nothing more than a side-character to carry along covergirl Clive’s story.
She has one of the most harrowing backstories making her one of the most hardened women protagonists we’ve seen in a FF game, but at the same time is still a warm and likeable character. The writers tried to explore 13 years worth of trauma and abuse within a single story chapter (which was one of the game’s highlights tbh) but you can tell overall they just didn’t know what to do with her. One moment she’s swearing bloody vengeance and running a man through with a sword like a stone-cold killer, then she’s right back to playing Clive’s doting sidekick.
I maybe expected too much in terms of the party system, but she spends over half the game out of commission - along with playing damsel in distress twice - which is a bit inexcusable to me since she’s one of the best fighters, never mind the fucking Dominant of Shiva (who was so utterly under-used don’t even get me started!)
This was actually one of my favourite FF romances as it felt like one of the most authentic, but at the same time it’s all from Clive’s POV.
Clive taking her Eikon really fucking rubbed me the wrong way with a feeling that I couldn’t quite explain. I was glad later on when Joshua called him out on this but then they just hand waved it all off like no big deal. They later tried to put some kind of closure on this in a 5 minute scene in an optional sidequest, but this whole part of the plot was just a disgrace for me.
I find the whole alpha-male genre really off-putting and the game repeatedly tries to tell us that Clive isn’t alone, but most the gameplay involves him putting characters on the sidelines unless the plot demands otherwise. The grand finale relies completely on this idea that Clive isn’t fighting alone, but the fact of it is that he doesn’t have allies he has followers.
Jill’s role in the ending was a complete shitshow but by that point I’d already accepted the fact that she was basically just a prop for the story. Making her stay behind, sobbing as her man goes off to war was a real fucking choice, and the finale was a total sausage fest (and not the good kind.) And then at the end she cries some more, cause this script was written by a bunch of men during the early 90s apparently. (Note: One of my all time fave FF characters is Yuna and her ending was so fucking heart-shattering and powerful, and pretty much the exact opposite of whatever this is.)
I think they had such an incredible foundation for what should have been one of the most complex and interesting characters in FF, but decided they didn’t really want to do that because it would take away from Clive and I think the game as a whole suffers for it.
There are so many problems with this game, let’s be honest, and I think the handling of Jill is one of the biggest red flags that something is just not right here.
Maybe if this wasn’t a Final Fantasy game then it wouldn’t be as much of an issue, but we’ve gone from ensemble casts of memorable and empowered characters, to one guy and his band of sidekicks and I don’t think it works for the series. Let’s leave the broody male protagonist tropes back in Games of Thrones season 8 where they belong.
8 notes
·
View notes
Note
tropes- how do you feel about Trope soup, where a fic has multiple tropes that combine a lot of different stuff into either making a good or bad story?
Like for example, a dead Inko would lead for Izuku to temporarily angst then recover from it with the support of his friends and teachers, forcing the latter to step in and be a responsible authority instead of doing nothing. Conversely, a dead Inko with Izuku experiencing OOC moments, OOCness and bashing from characters who don’t deserve it, unjustified Dadzawa, the Bakusquad are better friends than the Dekusquad etc.
I feel like the moment you start writing to many what ifs, you lose sight of the original idea of what mha is and the scope of the story you’re writing. Your stories are based off of one change of a nail and how it results in butterfly effects that justify stuff like Bakugo receives Consequences(usually this isn’t used enough in general), but you keep the original idea of who these characters are and what they represent. Stories like Suspected Traitor Izuku lose sight of the original idea just for the wangst and add in so much tropes in the form of bashing the characters that Izuku gets along with.
Part of the issue with trope soup in general is writers missing the difference between tropes and themes. You overdose on tropes and it can drag down a work since it's just flat out doing too much. Say if you do do dead Inko! Actually look very in depth on how this would effect Izuku. Don't use it as a lazy means of having someone adopt him. Hell, even if the focus is to be on adoption, look at the why the person decided to do so, how Izuku is handling both that and Inko's death, and how things would ripple from there.
Yes I use specific tropes. Yes I literally have multiple TV Tropes pages. However, after the Nail I generally also am trying to look at themes and the ripple effects. A lot of the Sticks and Stones verse in reality is why, you well, have to think before you speak. Why you *can't* be careless (there's a reason part of the summary of WMH is 'loose lips sink ships and carelessness will drown you') or assume just because you think something, doesn't mean people will agree with you (Tensei, Bakugou, Aizawa). Sticks and Stones is going to look at the value of PR in heroics, and also the idea of breaking and making new legacies. And well, actions have consequences. I think Hori really does drop the ball there in canon. Why if you do all of this, how it'll ripple. Characters may get involved sooner. Groups may get involved sooner (like here with the HPSC; they're arguably the best group to actually look at UA's issues as a school which are very much there).
I will be blunt. Certain major arcs? Gonna be very different as a result of the events of TBYS. We may still see 'In Spite of a Nail' situations (like Shigaraki basically clocking in on Bakugou like he does in canon, but in this case for a much more logical reason), but not as much as you may think.
I really fucking hate it when you do a For Want of a Nail and then closely follow stations of canon. Don't do that. A lot of times it doesn't even make sense. It's honestly just lazy writing. Do I get why authors do it? Yes. Do I think they necessarily should? No.
In Words May Hurt I did still have the LOV attempt to attack at USJ. However the actually USJ incident doesn't happen because as a result of the events of TBYS the class is canceled. Shigaraki does still have an interest in Bakugou, as I've noted, but he doesn't actually know which student he is right now. He just knows one of the heroics students used basically lethal force and views that as a good potential recruit. As is very clear, Stain is still going to attack Tensei, however his *reasoning* is very different (and tbh avoids being whatever weird troll logic he used in canon).
I will confess certain stages of canon aren't avoidable. The Sports Festival literally has to happen, it's part of the scheduled school year events. USJ can be skipped however since class cancellations happen for various reasons including a sick teacher. Training camp can be canceled if UA decides the potential risk is too high. I'd argue Kamino or an equivalent can't be avoided (All Might does need to go out in some form of blaze of glory/we do need AFO out of the way for a while for LOV progression). You don't however need to have the same reason for Kamino to happen.
So. Um. Yeah not terribly fond of trope soup since a lot of time it's more authors wanting to shove as many tropes as they can in a fic and not necessarily thinking it through, or realizing there's a difference between trope and theme.
27 notes
·
View notes
Text
Yosuke and Teddrick Hanamura, I am going to miss you idiots.
I have written an entire post on the tragedy of Yosuke. He is, like Chie, very much a work in progress. You can look at the arc of his character like a lobbed ball and guess his eventual trajectory and landing. I hope for Yosuke, it will be a soft one. I fear instead he will bust an ankle on impact and cry about it, but he'll be okay.
Also someone please wife this man before he winds up married to some woman in the most agonizing comphet marriage of all time. Yosuke is a homosexual and by god he needs a boyfriend.
Character Accuracy to Their Arcana: ZEEEEEERO. He's a High Priestess.
aaaaaaaand this is the second time i cried playing P4G, the first being Kanji's Max SLink scene. Oh my god the tears.
This fucking character should be nothing by irritation. On paper, on script, Teddie is annoying and too much to handle and overbearing (ha). But like, Sam Riegel is the fucking all-star winner of the entire cast imo for making Teddie work. I have been continuously baffled by how much I adore this mascot bear, but his story was so genuinely moving and affecting, he's my second favorite character in the game. The fucking PATHOS.
I am so happy that Teddie made himself into a real boy. If he didn't, Nanako wouldn't have made it. The world is richer for his self-decided presence in it.
Love you Teddie.
Character Accuracy to Their Arcana: 12 out of 10, it's immaculate from start to finish.
I have such mixed emotions on Naoto.
Going into this game, Naoto was the character I feared the most. There is a lot of right-minded anger about how Naoto is handled by the game. As I said before, I tempered my expectations dramatically for playing.
Naoto disappointed me but not because the Gender Thing. With the clarity of hindsight and some context from a trusted source, I get what they were going for with Naoto. But while they were always a fucking gem in the MSQ and group scenes, Naoto's SLink was one of the weakest in the game. I think that at some point, the writers (or someone who had say over the writing, lbr) got gunshy around what they created with Naoto, and as soon as he joins the party, it feels like all the interesting parts of his set-up are shelved.
Which I don't know which I would prefer honestly? A solid attempt at dealing with Naoto And Gender that winds up being a huge fuckup, or this defanged version of a character arc, where all Naoto's potential is visible in the MSQ but just goes poof in every other scene.
That said, her fashion is INCREDIBLE and she gave us multiple incredible moments in the story. Walking out on the beauty pageant and still winning? King shit.
Character Accuracy to Their Arcana: Difficult to say since so much of Naoto's arc feels completely aborted. 4 out of 10 for what was actually on the screen canonically.
I don't have much to say for Yumi! Except in her final scene she sasses Reverie for running away from being her boyfriend, which is funny. ALSO SHE SAYS SHE'S GOING TO GO INTO POLITICS AND I LITERALLY SAID THAT WHEN WE FIRST MET, THAT SHE'D BE GREAT IN POLITICS? Holy shit what a called shot, go me.
But Yumi unfortunately innately suffers from being a Sun arcana after the shocking good and profound P3P Sun Slink. It was an impossible act to follow. She's fun tho! I liked her!
Character Accuracy to Their Arcana: eh. 3 out of 10. sorry.
God what a roller coaster of a pair.
Dojima was frankly a piece of shit for a LOT of this game, albeit a well-meaning one. The moment he sent Reverie after a crying Nanako rather than going himself really truly stressed my dedication to completing his SLink, I wanted to bail so badly. But his portrayal in the game is deeply sympathetic. The game is highly aware he's a fucking mess and a shit father, and it gives him space to become better. Which I like better than a hopeless case. It was real touch and go there for a while though.
Nanako really was the glue that held the plot together, wasn't she. It was kind of heavy-handed. Like, I didn't know what was going to happen to Nanako, but I did call very early that something was going to happen to her, to propel the plot. As this game's Justice Child, she's much weaker than Ken honestly and as much as it pains me to say, she should have been Temperance. There is very little judgement passed by her, there is no great clarity from her. She's a child, and she's wronged and neglected, and those things get better, but there is no recourse.
(Which is okay with me as a rehabilitationist myself.)
Character Accuracy to Their Arcana: VERY LOW FOR BOTH TBH. 2 out of 10. Dojima and the Fox should have swapped, I am dead serious.
okay i would have fucked this up but a friend told me i needed to say no here or i'd miss the true ending. it'll have to wait until tomorrow, as it is midnight and I gotta SLEEP.
tomorrow, we finish P4G.
19 notes
·
View notes
Note
The 911 writers taking a page out of the RNM playbook and missing every logical emotional beat imaginable is depressing beyond belief. This show has so many good ships and established dynamics and they're failing most of them at the moment. Great individual episodes that almost feel like they happen in a bubble with little follow-up. How do you drop the ball on the Madney reunion so badly after the Boston episode? A blink and you'll miss it kidnapping that not even your partner is allowed to react to let alone your friends? Important stuff all happening off screen? Someone should tell KR this isn't a CW show.
While this show definitely hasn't sunk to RNM's level yet, they sure are pushing it right now! I said in the tags on another post that almost everything feels so shallow and surface-level right now. Hen is getting A Storyline right now which is GREAT and AMAZING and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Literally everything else is just scenes happening for these characters and then forgetting about it immediately, and maybe bringing it up 3 episodes later. Maybe. The potential is THERE. The synopsis for 6x04 and 6x05 and the promos/set up were sooo juicy and I was so excited and both episodes I got to the end and it was like...well, that was An Episode I guess. Is that all?
And I know we all wanted Madney back together but a LOT of that had to do with Boston bringing them back together only for them to break up the next episode OFF SCREEN with little info and barely any follow up for the rest of the season, only to tease couples therapy where we could see them working on their issues to GET back together only to drop it completely! If you're gonna do a shitty breakup for the *drama* then at least give us the drama! Now it's just suddenly resolved and they're fine? That's bullshit. Boston showed us once again how great JLH and especially Kenny can be. He's criminally underrated and he absolutely delivered on every bit he got in season 5 around this storyline. But now he's back to being the "comic relief" and as Hen said, he's SO much more than that. As a Madney fan, I'm really disappointed in how all of this has been handled.
Someone really does need to tell KR that this isn't the CW, or Grey's Anatomy, or Law and Order: Wee Woo edition. She can't run production for shit and she doesn't understand what always made this show special (the interactions between the firefam that she keeps wanting to do off screen), and different from other procedurals on TV. Please for the love of FUCK, get her out of the drivers seat.
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
Mayans M.C. - 04x10 - 'When the Breakdown Hit at Midnight'
So much. So much. I'm on my lunch break, so let's just dive right in, shall we?
Spoilers Under the Cut
Phffffff. Okay. I want to start with something that I loved. TIG. Omigosh, how I have missed Tigger. He was the breath of humour that this whole series has been missing. (That's one of my Major Gripes, is how deep and serious-Nah, y'know what? Let's gripe in a few paragraphs). When he was greeted with a, "Hi, Beautiful", I knew what kind of scene we were walking into. "Don't you dare kink-shame me." I... I loved that line, so much. I picked up on a bit of a tonal shift in his character, which I choose to attribute to different writers, but most of it felt like Classic Tig. I just... I have missed him, so dearly.
That leads me right into something else that I loved, which was Tig's discussion with Alvarez. Oh, hell, was that scene beautiful, and much needed. Mn. They know what they are getting into, and that they are stuck in a younger man's game. But, if they want to survive said game, they still have to play, age be damned. They're on opposing sides, and they can't do a damned thing about it (despite Marcus' best attempts).
Speaking of Alvarez... How dare they? That even the ones who know what war will cost them, and have wanted to avoid it from the start, are suddenly willing to go all-in? I can understand some of them changing their minds, but... everyone? I'm actually glad that Taza wasn't around for that one. (And, yeah, I may have missed a bit of that scene, because I was outside feeding the cat that some asshole dropped off. I want him to trust me, so he was my top priority... Then, my dogs barked, off and on, through the rest of it). Anywho, I'm honestly relieved that Alvarez is out, if only for his own sake. I don't know that it will keep, and I don't believe it will save him, but, for right now, I can breathe a little easier.
I hope Letty is breathing a bit easier, now, too. I'm so, so glad she said her peace at the funeral. While she's absolutely right that the Club got him killed... He was also a grown-ass man, who made his own decisions. He knew the risks he was taking, and he put himself where he was, but, BUT!! It was someone else's shit-show that cost him his life. Letty needed to say it, though, and she deserved that moment. I'm glad they wrote it in for her. She has a piece of Coco, with that chartreuse Nova... And, I loved her shake of the Magic 8-Ball keychain.
Kudos to Louie for being a decent dude... Y'know, for someone who sells drugs, and produces porn. (I mean zero offense, as any of y'all's business practices are your own, and this is just about one dude).
Back to Letty. I'm also plenty relieved that she went after Hope. Y'all know I haven't been Hope's biggest supporter, but she worked so hard to get herself right. I didn't want to see her spiral back down, thinking that nobody gave a shit about her. I'm hoping they stick around the series (y'know, if). There's still so much potential for the both of them. (Gabby's death, Isaac's return, there's a little something for each of them).
Other than that, was much else really resolved?
No Taza. Whelp. Okay.
Miguel Knows. It's about damned time, too. I guess I was hoping for a bit... more to the reveal, you know? I didn't want to see Felipe get shot, and we still have no evidence that he wasn't, but it might have lent itself to the storytelling. (Again, I'm glad he didn't get hurt, that we know of, because I fucking love him). If all goes well, I'm hoping Felipe gets one son that's worth a damn. They can't all be duds with the father-son relationships. (At least I never wrote that EZ/Miguel fic, huh?).
I don't really even want to get into the deal with Packer's younger brother being... Ugh. I'm sorry. Unless I missed a whole lot of somethings, this bit feels like sloppy writing. (Any Nip/Tuck fans out there? The Carver seasons? Yah-huh. That kind of sloppy). I hope someone takes care of him, in Manny's name.
MANNY. Boy, am I steamed. What the fuck did they put him in there for, just to snatch him away? And, so violently? So horrifically? This is what I am talking about, with sloppy writing. We already hate Isaac. They didn't need to force the point home, quite like that. I was kind of hoping he really was a Fed, y'know? There's still a chance that he could have been, and that his death will be a catalyst for the Sons to get looked into, right along with the Mayans. Still doesn't fix the evil that they've committed. So devastating.
Yeah, I'm still talking about Manny. I'm honestly kind of heartbroken over him.
My heartbreak extends, next, to Creeper. How dare that bitch? The softest target. She basically just called him the weakest link in the chain, and I want to take a chain to her. Now, he's doing what he can, as the most exposed and vulnerable member of the Club, to try and protect them. He probably thinks it's what he has to do, as the cause of the issue, and as the most disposable dude in the bunch. GRRR. I'm so fucking mad for the man!!!!
Mm. Again, I had some emotions, last evening.
So, in the category of little things that irked me...
Did El Banquero have an actual point and purpose, or...?
Is that what Potter wanted of Adelita? Ah, why? I don't get it. I mean, sure, Power Broads, and all that, but.
They're really forcing this Old Lady feel on Sofia, huh?I know, I'm not feeling it.
And, now... The EZ-shaped elephant in the room. What the fuck is he doing?! Once he darkened Bishop's door, it was obvious the fix was in. I was hoping he'd fail with his vote, but... Yeah. I could complain for an hour about how much this anti-hero-turned-villain arc is pissing me off, but I think my opinions on that are in good order. Now, El Presidente can deal with whoever torched his selling point. I want to say it was Angel, but with that form... Hmmm...
I want to close with this little beauty, for anyone who hasn't, or even has seen it. See it again. I'm still in stitches over it.
Until Season Five...?
P.S. Sally made it, and that makes me happy.
18 notes
·
View notes
Text
Strange New Worlds
I am still digesting Strange New Worlds: All Those Who Wander
Here there be Spoilers:
.
.
.
.
I am still so angry about the ableism and the teasing us with what looked like could have been a really interesting character and rare representation if they had wanted to explore it, then yoinking it right the fuck away, that I'm struggling to work out what to say, but I'm going to try.
The thing is, I actually was liking it up until that point despite the issues and some choices I was not best pleased by. I rather liked them making Pike the man Kirk ended up spending his entire adult life trying to be and not pulling it off. I was cool with them showing how Uhura started to become Uhura, because it meant that character getting a real arc, and they definitely are showing the canonical character's strengths, even if the drifted into Starfleet thing was not a choice to my taste. This is a thing early 20somethings can struggle with. Just because I'm not the intended audience (I hardly ever am outside of things like Torrchwood, Black Sails, and Our flag Means Death) doesn't mean a thing is bad, if that makes sense. I really like the Nurse Chapel upgrade, even though I have concerns about what they might do with her Spock wise. (I'd rather see her with Erica Ortegas). They gave me men in my age range to look at who are worth looking at. I liked the pretty doctor, but I am really hoping there is more to him in season two. I really, really liked Erica Ortegas, even though I feel like the writers didn't bother to develop her properly, trusting Melissa Navia's charm and swagger to paper over them not bothering to give her an arc. I rather liked them giving the original series network execs the finger by bringing Una back. I have hopes that La'an's arc will do more with recovering from/learning to live with trauma, since they laid some ground work there.
I don't want to get into the whole Spock T'Pring issue or the Spock issue in general because that's a whole other massive and complex ball of string and I wanted to be asleep an hour ago. Just... take as read my thoughts are complex here and I'm still digesting, okay? (Update: two and a half hours ago as of this going up on Tumblr Sunday morning.)
And then there was Hemmer, who was my favorite, once they started to give the actor things to do, because the actor was really fun to watch and it's hard to emote that well through that much make up. (Yes, I know the actor knew when they hired him. This isn't about that). Seriously, they had all the ingredients to do all sorts of interesting things with him. They could explore his culture. They could explore his back story. They could expand on the nubbins of a character they had only started to hint at that i had every faith that the actor could have pulled off. There was so much potential for this to be a break out character and... They decided to fridge a rare character with a disability played by an actor with a disability on the first day of Disability Pride Month because... Why? Shock value? Because they realized killing off the barely characterized fat character by himself wouldn't pack a punch and we know a bunch of the characters need to survive for ToS? (Were there any other fat characters with names on the ship? it's possible I missed one, but the fact that I can't think of one is telling. Fatphobia is an exhausting problem in media too). Because they need to make the Xenomorphesque Gorn the new Borg so instead of killing some red shirts, they decided to kill the OC off with the most potential who also happens to mean a lot to an under-represented group of viewer Paramount doesn't care about to make the stakes feel real?
I don't know, but I'm so angry about it, I'm not sure even Ortegas and Chapel can keep me watching, or my curiosity as to how certain other threads develop. (Not a sentence it would have occurred to me at any age I would be writing about nurse Chapel until this show premiered). I have a year to think about it, but I don't trust them any more at it will take a lot to win me back to this show.
Which brings me to my other main point: a lot of the problems not counting the finale are because they had so much stuff that needed to be in the first season and not enough time. We know fuck all about Ortegas and hemmer's backgrounds and lives. They didn't get arcs of their own. Lots of characters had stuff seeded for future season(s) that would have had some essential breathing room if they'd had an traditional trek length season for wiggle room instead of the shortened prestige format.
Trek needs that room to breath in order to work a lot of the time. You have all these characters in a first season to meet. They need to establish a group dynamic. The audience needs enough exposure to each to get an idea of what's their deal, basically. (Ex: Pike's foreknowledge of his fate, Una being a secret Illyrian, La'an's Gorn trauma, etc.). Every episode needs a puzzle or an actiony thing or a mystery or whatever plot. Every episode needs to advance one or more character arc.
The heart of Trek has always been it's characters and relationships every bit as much as the world building and science fictiony social commentary bits. When Trek works well it balances these things. (I still think DS9 is far and away the best old Trek and the Kelvinverse movies are unwatchable. No, I won't be taking criticism on this, reasonable people can disagree and you won’t change my mind). You need Serious episodes and big plot episodes (if you are TNG era or later) and silly episodes and exploring a culture or concept episodes and gee whiz episodes and weird historical exploration episodes and RL social commentary reflection episodes and cool puzzle episodes and character arc episodes, etc.. You need to be doing 2-3 of these things in each individual episode and pretty much all of them in a season. It is pretty much impossible to jam all that into thirteen episodes when traditional Trek had approximately twice as many. Were some of the individual episodes not great? Absolutely. (I grew up on ToS in endless syndication and watched the animated series in real time when they were new. A lot of the oldest trek is not great. TNG is super uneven and the first two years... not great. I bailed out of Voyager a few years in. I only managed a few episodes of Enterprise. Even my beloved DS9 had duds here and there). The thing is though? The longer seasons gave them room to shake out the bugs, to experiment, to really explore cultures, and from the start of TNG on explore character and do long character development arcs, to build a real sense of who the crew are separately and together.
The season was too short to fully develop most of the characters. It was too short to do more than give some of them, like Una, more than one character issue for us to look at. Una is an Illyrian and second in command, but what else? Dr. M'Benga is the Doctor and had a sick daughter, but what else? Ortegas is butch and an excellent pilot, but what else? Hemmer is blind and the chief engineer, but what else? And yes, I basically know the TV shows and the movies (except the third kelvinverse one, halfish of Voyager, lower decks, and most of enterprise). I loved that novel Garak's actor wrote about Garak. I think we read some of the Diane Duane expanded trek tie books on tapes on care trips around the turn of the century? I know the stuff I know pretty well, because I've seen the bits I like often. I don't know the expanded universe outside the visual media much at all. I know fuck all about Aenar and I'd really, really like to, but oh well.
I just... idk. I was really enjoying it, but I don't trust them to fix the problems. Not anymore.
To be clear, I’ve noting against short formats in general, I just feel like this was better suited to a longer format schedule.
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hawkeye rocks
So I completely shocked myself by enjoying the Hawkeye series. I’m not a Hawkeye fan at all. Like, if Thor is the Strongest Avenger, Clint is the Most Boring Avenger. I couldn’t believe that between him and Nat, the Russos decided to kill off Nat. WTF? Who would even miss Hawkeye? (I kid, I kid, please don’t send me death threats.)
But damn, I gotta say, out of the Disney+ series imho Hawkeye is the best so far. I mean, I enjoyed Wandavision, but the first few episodes were a bit slow for me (also I hate sitcoms, even though this approach was admittedly creative and refreshing for a Marvel production). TFATWAS was pretty good, with some issues (Bucky deserves better). Loki was heart-breakingly disappointing. What if?, aside from the Evil Dr Strange origin story (I legit almost cried), was some weird-ass bullshit. But Hawkeye -- now that was worth watching. For me, at least. I don’t know how hard-core Clint Barton fans liked it; if not, total respect. I approached it as someone completely outside the fandom, nor do I read the comics, and maybe it helped that I’m not invested in the character and my expectations for Marvel content is pretty fucking low by now but whatever.
SPOILER ALERT FOR HAWKEYE YOU’VE BEEN WARNED
I thought the story was solid, although I’m slightly annoyed by will-daddy-get-home-in-time-for-Christmas stuff but eh. Decent mystery, well-written characters, good plot twist I didn’t see coming with the mom. Good fights, fun car chase. Fucking PYM ARROWS!!! Humor that was actually funny. (Note to Loki writers: you don’t need to humiliate anyone or kick anyone in the balls for laughs.) Finale was satisfying, didn’t seem as long as it actually was, multiple things happening simultaneously (love that), good resolution for Clint, bittersweet for Kate, Maya, and Yelena. Good character arcs for all of them.
I got a much better feel for Clint’s personality and emotions and what makes him tick. Watching him interact more with his family was sweet. (Some serious tired-dad energy there.) I got the sense that the creative team really cared about him and successfully tried to show the various aspects of his character -- his grief for Natasha, his ambivalence with the whole superhero thing, his sense of duty, his somewhat grey-ish morality as Ronin. (Note to Loki writers: it helps if you actually care about the character you’re writing.) Good pacing, with plenty of slower, more intimate character-building scenes intermixed with action. Barton even got himself a nifty new outfit. (Note to Loki writers: it’s ok to give the main character a nifty new outfit. Really. We won’t be distracted, we promise.)
I thought the other characters were also pretty compelling. Fucking Yelena, I love her. Some serious chemistry between Yelena and Kate. Yelena and Kate eating mac-n-cheese. Yelena and Kate in an elevator. Yelena and Kate fighting through a building. I need more of those two, please.
Yelena/Clint fight, wow. Clint obviously trying not to hurt her. Yelena just solidly taking out her rage on him, like she could’ve just shot him in the beginning and been done with it, but you could tell she was releasing all the anger and pain from her sister’s death as she’s brutalizing Clint. And then when she finally takes out her gun, Clint does that whistle, and she just ... breaks. And they talk. And she holds out her hand to him. Amazing scene. Florence Pugh brings it.
Love the dynamic between Kate and Clint. Like, she’s a bit arrogant, but she admits when she messes up, realizes she has a lot to learn, and obviously respects Clint and looks up to him. And despite being a reluctant mentor, he sees her potential and calls her his partner at the end. They form a sincere and believable bond. (Note to Loki writers: you don’t need your new fave character to constantly one-up the main character or take over the plot to prove that they’re the very best-est thing ever.)
Maya -- wow, loved her. We see Maya learning to compensate for her disabilities as a child, overcoming adversity with her intelligence and determination. We see her have a strong loving bond with her father. We feel her grief when he's killed, even though he’s ostensibly a “bad” guy. We see how she’s vulnerable, with relatable emotions and reactions. We sympathize with her, even when she turns dark. And when she realizes what her rage and need for revenge has done to her, she decides to break away and create a new life for herself. So glad she’s getting a spin-off series. (Note to Loki writers: this is how you write a strong female character, not the bullshit we got with Sylvie.)
Good theme throughout the series: how do we define heroism? What makes someone a hero? Yelena’s speech about how heroism is defined by what you do, not whether other people call you an Avenger -- that was great. Later, Clint says that it’s doing the right thing, no matter what it takes. But what is the “right” thing? What if something that feels “right” to you isn’t perceived as “right” by society? If you do some “good” things and some “bad” things, how does it balance out? How do we deal with the consequences of our choices? The show doesn’t necessarily provide solid answers, but it poses these questions in interesting and thoughtful ways. (Loki writers take note: it doesn’t matter how hard you try to hero-code your fave new character. If they do bad things, it’s not heroic.)
A couple things I think could have been better:
--I wish they had explored the fallout from Clint’s time as Ronin a bit more. Clint says it was his way of dealing with The Snap, but ... like, why? Why did he choose that path instead of teaming back up with the other Avengers or something? It sounds like he kind of regrets what he did, but would he choose differently in retrospect? He was supposedly killing bad guys; does he think this justifies what he did? Is this part of why he’s uncomfortable being considered a hero? Should he be held accountable?
--Kingpin was inserted at the very end, no backstory, like what’s his deal? Seems to have super strength? Can get shot with arrows and slammed through a window with a car and he just stands up and brushes himself off like it’s nothing? What’s his motivation? Where did he come from? How did he get so strong and impenetrable? A little explanation for those of us who don’t read the comics or watch Daredevil, please.
--What's up with the dog? I kept expecting that the dog would do ... something? ... in the plot, but he was just kind of there. I mean, I’m sure he’s a Very Good Boy, but he didn’t seem to have a point and he didn’t even get a name! Doggie deserves better.
Anyway, now I like Hawkeye and I’m sorry that I said he has no personality. He’s cool. I swear to god, Marvel is so hit-and-miss these days. I was just about to give up on them, and then those fuckers pull off something like this and I’m just ... well, now I’ve got to see what happens to Kate and Maya, and will we see Yelena again, and ...
#hawkeye#loki series critical#bcs apparently some people can't stand to see any criticism of the loki series#marvel#MCU#disney plus#hawkeye show#hawkeye series#hawkeye spoilers#yelena#kate bishop#loki deserves better#are you listening kevin feige
25 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Mandates
Just wanted to share my thoughts on the pro-ported mandates because they cast a shadow on this comic.
“Game characters cannot have relatives unless they were estabilished in the game canon, i.e. Cream and her mother.”
This one is understandable and you can blame Penders for this. Mind you that most licensed comics of gaming franchises don’t actually delve too much in personal family relationships or expand on them. So this is expected and honestly Sega should have put the screws on Archie decades ago about this.
“Game characters can not die. There are workarounds for this, such as being Mistaken for Dying or "Mistaken For Dead”
Again. Yes. Not a big deal.
“Game characters cannot have wardrobe changes unless approved. Chao Races and Badnik Bases has some characters (mainly the female game characters) wear different clothes for extreme conditions. Male characters remain the same.”
This is a useless rule but whatever. I mean Sega, you are the ones putting bad wardrobe choices on the characters so again it’s whatever.
“Sonic can't be shown getting too emotional (i.e;cry)”
This is one that it complained about because it really wouldn’t matter unless it is called attention to. A lot of superheroes don’t cry. But that doesn’t prohibit them from expressing themselves. IDW Sonic has been sad. He has been pissed. He has been furious.
Is this not too emotional?
Is he not expressing himself appropriately?
I don’t even know why this is brought up. When in this comic has Sonic not been expressive or displaying the appropriate amount of emotion? When did Sonic needing to cry be necessary?
“Game characters cannot enter in a relationship.”
Oh GOD YES. Don’t threaten me with a good time.
“All major Character Development must be approved by SEGA.”
Yeah, of course. Let me remind you that Penders and Archie ruined any strand of trust Sega could have in comic media. They played loose at first and all of the sudden, they are involved in a lawsuit about characters in a Sonic comic that they didn’t even know about. They probably lost a video game business relationship because of it. If they want to be involved in the comics, fine. That means that they are now forced to World Build. They have to invest in it now and not just be like Lucas Films and let anybody do anything with their flagship title.
“Much like the post-reboot of the Archie comic, the words "Mobius" is banned—the planet is simply called "Sonic's World". Unlike the Post-Boot, which allowed the names "Mobian" and "Mobini", anything related to Mobius is banned in this comic.”
…Of course but how about you throw the writer’s a bone and I don’t know, name the fucking planet. If it is not Earth, give it a name.
“Sonic must always win at the end. Even if he and his friends are at the losing end in an overarching story (the Metal Virus arc, for example), they must come out on top when it concludes.”
I don’t even get this rule and the knee jerk hatred for it. Why even have it? Why even share the existence of this rule? Archie Sonic didn’t really lose too bad. It’s more on how you frame a victory. The fact of the matter is that Eggman is still actively trying to conquer the planet. Sonic stops him but Eggman still has control of land and has military installations all over.
This rule is offset by this. While Sonic can’t lose, Sonic can’t completely win.
“Characters and material from other licensed properties (Sonic the Comic, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)', Sonic Underground, the OVA, Sonic X and the Paramount films cannot be used. This rule extends to characters and redesigns done by the current writers. The only exception is Sticks from Sonic Boom, and that's because she was created by SEGA themselves and showed up in non-Boom media, but any ideas regarding her use still need to be okayed by SEGA.”
First off I am glad that Sticks was spared by this rule and I look forward to her eventual inclusion. Second, again, this is not much of a big deal as it was expected. Sorry Freedom Fighter fans but honestly deal.
“Male characters, sans Eggman, can't wear pants, which was also a thing in the Post-Reboot, albeit never explicitly stated. The inverse is also true; female characters have to have some form of lower clothing.”
Okay this is a pedantic rule. It is so weird with how precise it is. Like…huh?
“Classic characters such as Mighty, Ray, Nack/Fang, Bean, and Bark won't appear in non-Classic issues, as Sega doesn't want Classic and Modern Sonic to mix.”
One of the most bullshit mandates fueled by the nostalgia boner fans created. Like this is stupid because Archie Modern Sonic has added more character and depth to all of these mentioned characters than any of the Sega Sonic games they appeared in which only amounts to 1 or 2 at most. Why neuter your own potential stories with this stupid limitation?
“According to Ian Flynn, a specific incident involving Shadow's characterization when he's exposed to the Zombot infection was written in a specific way because of Sega mandating that he be written as an "overconfident asshole rival" character, similar to Vegeta. He later followed up with an explanation that out of every character, Shadow has the most mandates and notes attached to how he's portrayed. According to the podcast, Sega says that Team Dark is no longer a thing. The three members are not a team and they have never worked for G.U.N.; Shadow also doesn't even consider them friends.”
This is my opinion is the worst rule. First it’s contradictory to the character Sega introduced us to. Stop trying to be like Dragon Ball for once and actually be your own thing. It’s one thing if we are changing it because Shadow was unpopular because of his personality. But no one likes this Shadow. People miss the somber but reserved Hedgehog that continued to fight in spite of the world betraying him. Hothead Shadow is a cheap Knuckles. And I don’t even understand why Shadow even has so many mandates when he wasn’t the most egregious offender. Knuckles was.
Also, Team Dark aren’t a thing and Shadow doesn’t even consider them to be his friends. First off that doesn’t even fly in your own games. Who outside of Sonic does Shadow interact the most? Rouge. They have teamed up and were a packaged duo since their inception. When Shadow appeared, Rouge appeared right next to him. If Rouge was in a game, so was Shadow.
Team Dark or just Rouge has fought alongside Shadow in every game they appeared in. Who else does Shadow talk to if not Rouge?
“Sega has stated to Flynn that only male hedgehogs are allowed to go Super with the Chaos Emeralds.”
Except in Sonic Mania.
“Ian isn't allowed to directly reference a game, since the comic is supposed to be its own thing.”
Okay. Not only is this rule stupid. But it’s untrue.
This references the end of Sonic Forces.
The first page of comic.
It has referenced Sonic Adventure, SA2, Sonic Generations , and Sonic Unleashed.
This referencing Shadow the Hedgehog.
I don’t believe this rule exists and even if it did, it is dumbest rule since the whole point of this comic is to base it off the games more. The dumbest rule.
“Knuckles is not allowed to leave Angel Island unless he has a very good reason to.”
For decades, people have complained that Knuckles routinely leaves the island. For decades. Now does this mean Sega is going to 1. Use Knuckles and 2. Amplify the importance of Angel Island and the Master Emerald? No. Again, this criticism should be levied at Sega because they often conveniently forget Knuckles purpose and just hand wave it instead of giving Knuckles more to do on the island like I don’t know, have other entities invested in attacking him.
In summary, here is what I think is going on. Do I think most of these mandates are real? Yes. Given what happened to Archie, I do think Sega is doing some brand alignment. I think they got the clamps on.
But what I think is going on is a Japanese cultural thing called Power Harassment. It is normalized abuse of power. Sega of Japan is normally laxxed about their brands. They don’t mind blatant rip-offs of their mascot nor do they get stiff about fandom creations or mods. The comic division, however, is getting tough love because not only did it cost them a publishing deal, but ruined a relationship with a high end developer. So the IDW writers and staff are being subjected to intentionally hypocritical rules and strict mandates that they know don’t make sense until they’ve shown to be obedient.
A lot of the mandates aren’t strict. But some are so asinine that I don’t think they aren’t aware with how stupid they sound imposing those rules. Like Shadow is the most narratively complete Sonic character and yet, Sega puts this tight mandate as if Archie Shadow was the most egregious thing. Archie Shadow was overpowered. He wasn’t out of character like Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were. They can’t be that stupid or be that intentionally dense. So they want to see if the writing crew can follow orders. That’s it.
But that’s just my take.
88 notes
·
View notes
Photo
Michael Trevino Talks The Valenti Legacy & Roswell, New Mexico's Exciting Season 3
So, I'm just jumping right in here. Kyle has had a lot going on in season three, to put it mildly. How would you describe his journey so far this season?
Well, as I'm sure you know, Kyle is continuing to put out fires. He's there for as many people as he can be, but he's definitely called upon. And whenever he's needed, I feel like he shows up, but in episode 3x09, that's going to air next week, I think we kind of see things. He's reached his limit. And you sense his frustration. And I feel that it's warranted even though it comes in a bit hot, but we're in season three, and his life has taken a turn. And he's finding out more and more about his own family history, and I think it's just been a bit frustrating for him.
Sure. And while Kyle was recovering, the audience got the big bomb dropped on us that Ramos is Kyle's uncle. And that adds another layer to the Valenti history and legacy. So can you kind of speak to where Kyle currently is in regards to his feelings about his father and his feelings about the legacy of his family?
Well, I think what the writers have done is really, from season one to season three, has painted a picture of who Kyle's father was. Who is Jim Valenti? And at first, we thought he's this great guy that Kyle had looked up to and always wanted to make proud. And maybe that is the driving force in everything and anything that Kyle does. Well, now we're finding out a bit more about who Jim really was. We've been on this journey of season two with Jesse Manes, that whole interaction. And now we're finding out a bit more in season three. And that really flips Kyle's world upside down. I don't see how it couldn't. So he becomes this angsty, frustrated individual because you're thinking you know somebody, and you're finding out all these different things about him or her. And so with Eduardo, I feel that it's like, "What else? What else am I missing?" What else can be thrown his way? Because now we find out that, yeah, Eduardo, "Oh, you're my uncle. Interesting. Why hasn't anybody ever told me that before? Where have you been? Can you help me understand what is going on?" And when you think about that, Kyle probably thinks, "Well, who am I really? What is this really about?" So I don't know if he's, maybe, in the middle of wondering or questioning his own identity of what is this Valenti code? Has that been a lie? Because that's something that he's lived by, so that's where we're at.
Will we get to find out more about what happened the night that Kyle was attacked?
No, not really. I'm trying to think fast here of exactly, no, I mean, when we started episode 309, we find out, has he been in a coma? Was he injected with something? Was he knocked out? So, it was briefly explained, but I think, more so, we get into Eduardo and Kyle. Who are they to one another? And that is a jumping-off point for Kyle.
You touched on this a little bit earlier, but Kyle is not only the doctor that everyone needs, but he's also a confidant as well. Can you speak to Kyle's role, how you see Kyle's role within his group of friends?
Yeah. I think Kyle is somebody that you can depend on. He's somebody who has everybody's best interest at heart. If you call upon him, he's going to be there for you. And I think that what I've enjoyed about being on the show is how Kyle is interwoven between all the storylines, everything that's happening. He is a part of that, in some capacity. So that's been fun to play just as an actor with everybody on our cast, but that's just going to continue. And I feel like it's just going to get heavier. Just a heavier burden on Kyle, on what else needs to be done, how he can help, what is asked of him, needed of him to finish off the season.
And that also kind of flows into my next question, which is that Kyle is a character that has deeply personal relationships with pretty much all of the core characters, but is there a certain dynamic that you wish could be explored a bit more on the show? Like this season, we've got you with Michael some more and some more with you and Rosa, is there any particular dynamic you'd like to see explored more?
Great question. A hundred percent. Kyle and Isobel. I want to see it. I want them to...what is their dynamic? Cause I think the energy that Lily brings to Isobel is so... it's not infectious, but it's... it is infectious, but it's also, she just has so much energy. She's a ball of energy, and I want to see...and she's powerful. She's just fierce. And so, I'd like to see more Isobel and Kyle scenes. What is their friendship relationship to one another? And I'd like to explore that.
Yeah, that'd be great. Cause I also think with Kyle, every person he gets to interact with brings out a different side to him, which is really nice to see as well.
Yes, very much so. I'm glad you noticed that because it's true. It's true. And that's why I picked Isobel because I think that out of everybody, you see the most, you see such a different side of Kyle whenever he's interacting with Isobel. For whatever reason, I feel like it's always there compared to any other character. And so, I'd want to explore that more.
Yeah, I'd like that too. So last season, we saw Kyle in a relationship with Steph, but this season we haven't seen him pursuing anyone romantically. Will that be something that changes as the season progresses, or will his focus kind of lay elsewhere?
No, I think the focus at this point is not only is he going to be more involved with Deep Sky and Eduardo. But everybody, in some way, is going to have to deal with Jones. And that's gotta be priority number one. So, I don't see any time for any romance.
Earlier in the season, Kyle was presented with an opportunity to potentially leave Roswell for new opportunities. If that were to ever happen, which I hope it never does, where do you think Kyle would end up?
Ooh! That's fun. I think Kyle would go to New York. I think he'd go to the East Coast. I think he'd want to be in the big city. He'd want to be in Manhattan and just have that energy. Because we all love Roswell, but it is a bit of small-town living. And so, I think I would see him pursuing more in the medical field in the big city.
This season feels like a bit of a rebirth in some ways. And it's been a lot of fun for the audience. So, is there anything about season three that you particularly enjoy? Not just for Kyle, but the show as a whole?
Ooh. Listen, where we're at now in the season is Jones. Jones is our "big bad," if you will. And what's fun is, one to see Nathan Dean play two characters, right? And trying to see him add different layers to both of them. So that's been fun. I know last season he was working his ass off, and I think it shows. But to do that, to play two characters, is a lot. I really enjoyed him tackling that, but all of us have that in common, right? It's like, okay, we have to all come together, join forces almost like it's The Avengers or something to take care of Jones. This is our big bad. This is priority number one, and this is what we have to take care of. And I know in the later episodes, it's everybody joining forces. I mean, it's exactly what you would think of all of us in one scene, coming together, being like, "Okay, we got to get rid of this guy. How do we do this?" And everybody has their job.
I know you are shooting season four now. What is it like being back in Santa Fe and stepping back into the role, and how much do you enjoy filming in Santa Fe and everything that kind of goes with it?
Well, I noticed, we shot season three a little later in the year, and so it was the dead of winter; it was freezing. I think you can see that in the episodes that are currently airing. We may seem like we're not cold, but we are freezing, freezing. I liked that we started a bit earlier for season four. So right now, the cold hasn't set in yet. We're shooting very beautiful exterior shots, and it's been nice. It's been nice. The show is still going. I do want to thank all the fans that continue to watch week to week and are still invested in the story that we're telling and the characters that we're playing because we're getting into that rare territory. It's season four, and we're all still happy to be here. We're all still working. I've been on series' that last a long time. And sometimes the dynamics can shift, right? But I can honestly say that I think everybody on this series is happy to be here and happy to work and grateful for that. And so, it is a nice feeling. We're plugging away right now. It's season four; things are going really well. I really like these episodes. And it's a different energy because we're working, but then we're also able to get instant feedback on which episodes are airing currently. That's a really nice feeling, but me, I enjoy Santa Fe. It's a beautiful part of New Mexico. And we're all great right now until maybe in about a month and a half until it gets freezing again. But right now, we're good.
Yeah, and congratulations to you because, like you alluded to, getting four seasons nowadays is no easy thing to do. So, you guys should be very proud of that.
And trust me, I'm reminding our cast every chance I get. I'm like, "Hey, this is a good thing here." I think people are still engaged in what we're doing. People are still tuning in. And so as long as that's happening and we're doing our jobs, everything should be fine.
This is just a little bit of a fun question. If you could think of a Vampire Diaries character that you would like to see swoop into Roswell for a bit, who do you think that would be?
Oh, damn. That's a great question. I'd love to have more time to think on this, but off the top of my head right away, gut reaction because I'm envisioning my buddy, Zach Roerig, in a Sheriff's uniform. And I'm envisioning Max in a Sheriff's uniform. And I don't know why I want them to... maybe they don't get along. Maybe there's a new sheriff in town. I don't know what. I don't know what, but it would be very awesome to see Zach Roerig play Matt Donovan in Roswell, New Mexico. But him be that character. Have him be Matt Donovan and just kind of react to what's going on here. And if it's the same character, you'd think he'd be like, "Okay, first I was dealing with witches, werewolves, and vampires. I'm coming to this town. You're telling me there's aliens here." Let's make this a comedy. I want to see that play out. That would be hilarious.
Yes, it really would be. Last question for me, with this season winding down, is there anything you can tease for us about where Kyle's story goes from here?
I think what we're going to see him and Eduardo be allies to one another, and Kyle's involvement in Deep Sky is going to be greater, and everybody has to come together for this guy, Jones. It's all hands on deck. Cause Jones is very powerful, manipulative, and we have to get him out of here.
25 notes
·
View notes
Text
Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 18X09
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
Wow was this episode disappointing. As far as Mid-Season Premieres go this one was anti-climactic as hell. I wasn’t even going to write a review for this one, but then I had a few people reach out to me and ask if I was going to do one and that they wanted to hear my thoughts. As the saying goes, flattery will get you everywhere and what my fans want they get. So here it is. My thoughts on the Mid-Season Premiere. I honestly thought that Owen would die in the crash and I'm honestly shocked and disappointed that he didn't.
Owen has never been my favourite character, but more importantly I think his death would have opened up a lot of interesting story possibilities and would have made more sense given the circumstances. I definitely found the arc anti-climactic. At the beginning of the episode I felt dramatic tension but as the episode went on that ebbed away into nothingness. They hyped up the Mid-Season Premiere so much and they had such a great set up, but then the follow up was super anti-climactic and there were no real ramifications from the accident apart from Hayes' decision. If Hayes is indeed leaving, I'm going to be heartbroken. He's one of my favourite characters on the show.
I was initially very excited about the doctor assisted death storyline as I thought it was interesting way to bring Owen’s story full circle before killing him off. I hate the way they handled it in the Mid-Season Premiere and honestly, I’m just really confused. As a Canadian I'm familiar with my own country's law that governs medically assisted dying, but I'm not familiar with the laws in the United States apart from the fact that I know that the laws differ from state to state so I didn't question what Owen said when I watched the episode.
In addition to my weekly episode reviews I’m also part of the TV Fanatic Grey’s Anatomy Round Table and when discussing this episode another panelist who is more familiar with the United States’ assisted dying laws brought up something I didn’t know. Which is that Washington State passed the Death With Dignity Act in 2008. Curious, I did some digging and found out that to qualify for assistance under the act you have to be a adult resident of the state of Washington which means that as long as the other soldiers who Owen wanted to help were living in Seattle they would qualify for help under the Act.
Which effectively means that the entire storyline is nonsensical and pointless. Grey's already did a storyline in which both Teddy and Owen were involved concerning doctor assisted dying so bringing it up again in a way that doesn't even match the law doesn't really make any sense. It seems to be more about shock value than the truth which I think is disrespectful to people who require access to medically assisted dying and their loved ones.
Like many of you I'm both livid and devastated about Hayes’ decision to resign and the fact that Richard Flood is likely leaving the show. His character had more potential than most of the characters introduced on the show. The problem was never Hayes or Flood's portrayal of him but the fact that the writers never let him live up to his potential or gave him any good storylines. Richard Flood does such an amazing job portraying Hayes and they did so much build up and back story for him in Season 16 only to go nowhere with it for the last two seasons which has been incredibly frustrating to watch.
Cristina would be pissed, and they completely dropped the ball on an amazing relationship and storyline for no discernible reason. There are so many ways they could have gone. They could have done a great blended family storyline with him and Meredith, they could have had him mentor Jo, they could have delved into his relationship with his sister-in-law more, the list goes on. If he is in fact leaving, I will miss him tremendously, but I hope if he is leaving it's to move onto a series that will appreciate him and give him a storyline worthy of his time and talent. Similar to when Tom Koracick left the show I miss his character, but I felt like they weren’t giving Greg Germann the kind of material he deserved.
The one standout storyline in this episode for me was Levi’s. Jake Borelli did an amazing job in this episode and delivered some A+ acting! He conveyed a lot with very little dialogue, and I liked the way Jo handled the situation. She wanted to help Levi but she recognized she couldn’t do it alone and so she found Helm and another resident who could help her help him. Something I didn’t like though was how they literally established through dialogue that they were going to take Levi home to get some rest and then Nico finds him outside sitting on the curb? What? He could have easily been run over by an ambulance. I also didn’t like how cruel and harsh Webber and Bailey were towards him especially since Bailey suffers from OCD as a result of a similar incident.
I think when it comes to this storyline things are going to get worse before they get better. When it comes to Megan and Farouk’s storyline. I honestly thought that Owen was going to die and Farouk was going to live so I was surprised and disappointed that they both lived. It felt very anti-climactic. Dr. Hamilton's fate was likewise a complete afterthought for me. He was rude to Meredith in the Winter Finale and I hate the Minnesota storyline, so I'm not invested in his journey at all. I love Peter Gallagher, but this storyline isn't doing anything for me. I'm also confused by how they plan on wrapping up the Parkinson's storyline because a cure doesn't currently exist in the real world. Killing off Dr. Hamilton would be a way to resolve that, but it doesn't look like they're going that route.
I was super disappointed by the fight that we saw between Amelia and Link and how her moving on with Kai was handled. I think both Amelia and Link came off badly in that fight and they took Link from the most loving and supportive guy to a complete jerk over-night. They also destroyed all of Amelia's growth and progress post-tumour with no explanation. I loved Amelia and Link together and I'm sad that they're over. I don't think I'll ever been into her and Kai. I agree with Meaghan that Amelia should have talked to Link and explained how she was feeling both while they were still together and when she decided to pursue things with Kai. During their fight she acted like they had talked about all that, but we never actually saw that happen.
I also didn’t like the gaslighting comments and how that was handled. Neither of them was gaslighting the other and for them to throw that word around so casually is really disrespectful to the experiences of people who actual have been gaslights, characters like Jo for example and people in the real world. I also didn’t like the way that Kai being non-binary was handled during Link and Amelia's fight. That was not the time for Amelia to bring that up and it made Link look bigoted when previously there was no indication he was. Speaking of Link, I am so not into his relationship with Jo. I figured they would hook up at some point, but I thought it would be farther down the road. I'm super not into it. That whole hook up scene made both characters come off as super unlikeable and stupid.
I lost all respect for both of them. I also don't like that Link is clearly rebounding and Jo is apparently so in love with him that she can't see it. This is going to end badly in my opinion. I greatly disliked this episode overall apart from Levi's storyline which was interesting so I don’t have a favourite quote or moment, but I did like the moment at the end where Maggie and Winston were talking and she realized he believed in miracles and she didn't know that about him despite the fact that they're married and I really like Winston's response about how she took a leap of faith with him anyway.
I think the thing that upset me the most about this episode was that they had such a great set up coming off the Winter Finale and they totally blew it to the point that I don't think I'm going to enjoy the rest of this season or next season. I'm not into any of the couples. I'm not into the storylines, apart from Levi's journey, and I'm just really disappointed.
Until next time.
#grey's anatomy#cormac hayes#merhayes#owen hunt#maggie pierce#winston ndugu#kai bartley#amelia shepherd#atticus lincoln#amelink#levi schmitt#jake borelli#richard flood#doctor assisted dying#Thoughts#review#critique#no time to die#18X09
13 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
nemuri-nanago
nemu appreciation blog
ansems
BIANCA ANSEMS
sontonglylove
Untitled
caroline19880527
无标题
