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fernsnailz · 2 months

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February 2024 Review Roundup

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

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

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

House of Leaves

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

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

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

Doctor Who (Series 1-4) (rewatch)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rebuild of Evangelion

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

APPARENTLY NOT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

High School Musical 3

kinda slaps just a little bit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avatar The Last Airbender (2024)

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

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

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

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

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

Some YouTube videos i liked in February:

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

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

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

Hazbin Hotel

well i didn’t like it

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

Hell is real and it's just Red Chicago

The setting of Hell is kinda boring in this show.

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

A boardroom

A video store

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

Various streets

Another boardroom

A BDSM club

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

A porn studio

A bar

Another bar

A town square (full of cannibals)

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

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

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

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

3 SHOTS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY

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

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

First, we see Adam teasing Charlie.

Then, it cuts straight to this shot:

A few things here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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codeearth · 2 months

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Little scene for an AU I have (role reversal with the Water Tribes starting the war and Toph being the Avatar). It’s the equivalent of the Southern Air Temple episode.

The colours aren’t right but they were the only ones I had on hand.

I’m never gonna write a full fic for it since I have so little concrete ideas, just little scenes here and there and ideas for characters arcs, but I still like the concept! Idk, maybe I’ll write a one shot or something

#atla #atla fanfic #role reversal au #sketch #Toph is now ✨traumatized✨#Zuko has acquired a new sister #Azula doesn’t like the vibes here

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foxglovecove · 6 months

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In which the Loki variant from the episode that lives in my head dies in battle with He Who Remains (Kang? Is it Kang? Are they one and the same? I haven’t watched Quantumania so I’m unclear if this is supposed to be the same character? I’m assuming so?)

Anyways, this is just self-indulgent art cuz I’ll never be able to write the story I have in mind but I can attempt to do some scenes from it.

More ramblings under the cut

Originally I was thinking Sigyn would also wear Loki’s colors to show they’re a united front, but I like the idea of her having her own color palette and then each of them having some small details as a nod to the other, at least when it comes to their battle clothes. I gave Sigyn here blue and gold with some green here and there for Loki, and Loki got a bit of Sigyn’s blue.

If they had been given a chance to grow old together their colors would probably blend more as sometimes happens with old couples (ha), but alas they never got that chance. Sigyn also gets pointy elf ears cuz who knows maybe she’s a descendant of the Dark Elves somewhere along the line. Who’s ta say?

Back to the story/episode idea:

It’s been about a week since TVA Loki and Mobius have shown up in Sigyn’s timeline. They’re still searching for this timeline’s HWR and haven’t had any luck so they decide they need to draw him out. Not sure how yet, it’s a WIP, but at any rate one evening there’s a party at the palace. Not sure why, maybe someone’s birthday, or they’re just having a good old fashioned “it’s winter, let’s feast” party or something idk.

Everyone’s having a good time but Sigyn has been a bit melancholic since Loki returned dredging up old memories. She leaves the party discreetly and goes to this one long hallway where there’s a massive long memorial relief depicting Loki’s life, culminating in the battle where her Loki was killed.

She’s alone, or thinks she is, as she runs her fingers over the carving of her Loki. She smiles as tears form, she’s thinking about their time together when she senses someone there with her. She begins to speak:

“We were just kids when I met him. You…him…” She turns as our Loki comes out of the shadows to stand beside her. “Millennia ago now, but I remember it like yesterday…”

So she walks Loki down the hallway telling him their story. How they fell in love, how Thor had decided he didn’t want the throne because he fell in love with a mortal woman and how her Loki didn’t want it either, he didn’t feel worthy of it, but he was. And he was good at being king, he was loved by his people and they all mourned with her the day he died

Scene ends with her holding Loki’s face in her hands and just smiling and saying thank you cuz she got to see him again. Loki’s full of all the emotions and before Sigyn wanders off into the night he hugs her and holds her for a while. She also takes the opportunity to “borrow” Loki’s TemPad (unbeknownst to him. She’s a trickster too, after all, learned from the best). She’s curious about this whole time jumping, fate of the multiverse stuff

At the end of this so-called episode, after they’ve caught this timeline’s HWR and returned to the TVA with him so they can read his temporal aura and hopefully prevent the meltdown of the loom, Sigyn has a talk with her sons, telling them it’s their time to rule. When she’s alone, she pulls out the TemPad, activating it: it’s time for her to have adventures of her own

#Loki show #my art #loki variant #king Loki of Asgard #variant #Sigyn #WIP #love and death #Loki #MCU #norse mythology #magic #goddess of victory #victory giver

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ambeauty · 1 year

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I have some many thots and feelings on the season opener of Titans Part 2. I’ve literally had all day to process these thoughts and I hope they come off well intended. Well DCTK was something… I’ll make this a compliment sandwich. In the caul’s folly ep I loved how hands on Dick and Kory were. Dick constantly checking on her meant everything to me. 🥹🥹🥹 That was when I really floated to the ceiling. It is something so wonderful and so beautiful about seeing Dick be a literally shoulder for Kory to lean on, even with how strong she is. That’s how their relationship has always been but not seeing them shy away from each other physically meant a lot to me.

Now Kory not knowing how to read ancient tamaranean was a choice.. and the fact that the vision was not discussed was also a choice… How does the heir to the throne not know their ancient language. I can see if she forgot like when she had amnesia and maybe it would’ve curled over better if she said I can’t translate this right now, it must have gotten loss when I landed. IDK something to prove she hadn’t studied her own race’s native language as the next in line monarch, even if she didn’t want it.

However the Diner scene, when Dick sat next to Kory I have to say I was very pleased. Like that’s really her man without being her man.I can’t deal with them. I love how Kory went ahead of Dick to talk to the cops too. She was gonna use that charm by any means necessary and then Dick stepped in like “Baby, I got this.” 🤭🤭

Now here’s where things get shakey for me. When Kory starts to feel sick and Dick takes her back to the RV, where the hell does he leave her while going to meet with the sheriff? Was he not afraid someone wouldn’t find her after? Idk him going to visit the sheriff alone just didn’t sit right with me. And constantly leaving her “alone” throughout DCTK gave me some friction. Just didn’t seem like the smartest of ideas. But likely she didn’t wander off or get taken.

Ok so here’s my ultimate gripe with the episode. This episode was supposed to be about Dick & Carol & Ted & Kory… and I feel like they only got about a fourth of the episode. I feel like this was an episode full of very flavorful tastings of something reallly really special. I feel like if Tom could’ve written the episode of just Dick & Kory he would’ve went so crazy and I wanna see that version without all of the extra plot points like TimBer and Brother Blood. I wanted Dick & Kory actually communicating about why they put them together as a marry couple since it seemed so outlandish that they could be in bed together 🙄 (y’all have fucked multiple times.. be fucking for real) I would’ve liked you to remember it but yeah idk it was weird. Like funny but weird.

At this late stage of the series the tiptoeing and longing and pining of this ship is tortorous and TIRED. We should not fucking be here. I am sorry. We shouldn’t. Dick should’ve tried to snap Kory out of her spell by telling her some of her memories that intertwined with his. A conversation about the Mar’i vision should’ve been discussed there. I feel like it won’t ever be fully discussed because when do they have the time???

I am just forever upset that so much of s3 could’ve been giving us this but they had to throw Barbara in there for some sick reason. We should’ve gotten all of this pining last season so we weren’t spending majority of our final season there. I feel like the moment we see Dick and Kory happy and in love it’ll be over. Like 5 minutes of it. And what was the point of spending 11 episodes pining. IDK. I know Dick and Kory would have such a beautiful relationship once it’s finally said and done and I am perturbed that I am going to have to spend time exploring it in fic alone.

I just don’t wanna have to write fix it fics because that means that I was unfulfilled by the media and that was fine last season they had time to fix it on their own but the way they went about it here leave so much to be desired.

In conclusion. Dick telling Kory he would never leave her was sooooooooooo sweet. A perfect moments in the midst of a lot of shit and although he didn’t tell Kory directly. She knows how he feels. Idk when they will actually have the talk if they actually have the talk but I am sooo ready to see it. For my little DickKorian heart there’s so much riding on this conclusion. And I hope I can feel satisfied in the end. Right now I feel edged to the end of oblivion not gon hold you.

#dickkory #dc titans s4 #I am happy for y’all i swear #but me on the other hand i just need some more #they didn’t hug #dick held carols hand not Kory’s but yeah the optics can tithe me over #how much longer #how much longer do we have to nibble on these little bits and pieces #i am ready for my whole fucking meal GREGORY

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zukkacore · 3 months

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Imo the new PJO shows greatest strength is definitely Riordon’s craft maturing since the lightning thief in terms of…. Thematic coherence?

I think PJO has always been fairly thematically coherent & impactful in its messaging but especially at first the books feels much more like fairly lighthearted action adventure road trip narratives that are extremely episodic and more focused on being entertaining than having something To Say. Which, they’re books for middle schoolers, I think an “adventure road trip with some unserious monster slaying” is a perfectly serviceable concept and in execution riordan is admirably gifted in that his writing can be entertaining for both the primary demographic kids but also adults.

But they’re not books that just suddenly decided to half-heartedly have a theme (unlike other kids fantasy from the period I don’t dare namedrop lmao), because of all the foreshadowing and the motivations behind the antagonists (one antagonist in particular), it’s clear he probably had a thematic direction for the series, even if I don’t know how planned the initial 5 book run was. I really do admire what the book has to say abt bad systems that are set up to leave certain folks behind, and what parents owe to their children, & abt how easy it is to fall for charismatic leaders promising for a return to glorious prelapsarian past instead of trying to provide real solutions.

In the series, what I’ve really been enjoying is how every interaction and monster doesn’t just feel episodic, each monster feels like a facet that is part of the central thesis regarding the gods & their relationship to their children. I think the writing strength does a lot of heavy lifting because while overall I think the show is pretty solid, I do have a few critiques.

Mainly one of the frustrating things probably has something to do with budgeting. Scenes that are very thrilling and action driven in the book are truncated & often replaced with a lot of kinda slow oddly paced walk-&-talk scenes. Probably bc that’s much cheaper to shoot. Riordan himself seems to be fairly transparent about the changes he’s made in adaptation due to those limitations.

The effects for tv show cgi are not perfect but pretty impressive (I’ll reiterate, for tv cgi, the bar is on the floor….) but there’s a weird emptiness or sterile quality that makes the world feel not so lived in. Idk I think this was the most apparent to me in the casino episode, which I know riordan hates the movie & we joke abt the poker face scene but I was honestly kinda bewildered at how lifeless and boring they made the intentionally enticing distraction of the lotus casino seem. I get there can’t be gambling, but maybe an arcade? A buffet? Something?

I sound like I’m really going in on the show but I’m really not, I’ve been really enjoying the adaptation so far. The flaws are not show-ruining but I do think they culminate in a result that struggles w pacing & lacks the propulsive energetic quality of the books. Which, adaptations can be different, but to me that quality was always a strength of the series that imo I would’ve prioritized in adaptation. What saves some of the problems for me is that even tho a lot content is kinda delivered in this weird inert way of the actors doing their best to bring life to scenes where people are standing around stiffly and exchanging dialogue, the content itself is really good. His knowledge of his own characters & their dynamics, their desires, their place in the narrative, is so clear. The emphasis placed on Sally Jackson in particular & her influence on Percy & his values is a great additive element to the show. Again, the thematic coherence that has evolved since the lightning thief is in full display. For example, before last nights episode, I was actually saying to my mom that I hoped they would cut the procrustes water bed scene bc that chapter always felt weirdly fillery and goofy in its tone, but it was integrated in such an organic way that I really liked it!

I’ve been saying for like a decade that I thought PJO’s monster of the week episodic structure would make a better show than movie, and like. All im saying is that being apollo cursed with the gift of prophecy isn’t always a bad thing

#shut up janelle

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sannoh-rengokai · 1 year

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The Worst X Reaction:

Boyfriends, boyfriends everywhere.

Maybe spoilers ahead, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Things I liked:

THEY FINALLY GAVE TSUKASA A REAL ROLE AND STORYLINE 🙌 If you’ve read my reaction to The Worst, you know the lack of depth for Tsukasa and his friendship with Fujio was one of my biggest gripes. I didn’t like the series telling us they were best friends and partners but they never actually showed us their bond. There was no substance to their friendship and I hated it so much BUT THEY HEARD MY COMPLAINTS FIXED IT. Not just on the Tsukasa/Fujio friendship but also on the complete under utilization of Tsukasa as a character. Like the guy was literally the main character in Episode.0 then he was just... there... for The Worst? There was almost no point to him as a character especially after they brought in Fujio’s childhood friends (and yes, I’m still mad about that lmfao) but this time around they actually gave him some depth. Fujio might be the leader but Tsukasa is the core and heart of Oya High and I won’t hear anything different. (I still haven’t seen 6 from The Worst so if this changed before X whoops lol)

If Murayama could see Todoroki now, he would lose his goddamn mind lmfao. TODOROKI SAYING HE HAS FRIENDS TO PROTECT NOW??? I have been waiting SIX YEARS to hear those words coming from his mouth AND IT FINALLY HAPPENED AND HE CALLED FUJIO “HIS” LEADER ON TOP OF THAT? I’m crying my baby boy is all grown up 😭💕 This is the most character development he’s gotten since season 2, where is Murayama to see this?!?!?

“Fishing buddies” Todoroki and Odajima. Listen, LISTEN. I expected like one jokey throwaway line about them being fishing buddies but then I got a full fledged genuine friendship between them?! I’ve been fed, this will fuel me for an eternity. I ship it so much.

Odajima being That Guy for Housen while Sachio is away. He got so much screen time I was shocked lol.

I really liked the way the Raoh storyline went. I figured they were going down this route when they kept stressing the ~legend~ of Raoh then I knew the moment Fujio saw the orphanage he was going to crumble like a wet paper bag for him lol.

I said this on a personal post but the innocence of this movie compared to The Worst or the main series was really cute. Like, sure they’re being violent little shits but it was purely about teppen and they kept it between themselves. There was no secret drug rings or yakuza, just a bunch of dumb kids being dumb kids. I’m just saying it was nice to not fear for their lives for once lol

Things I didn’t like:

They could have gone a bit farther with the Fujio/Tsukasa friendship still but I’ll let it pass this time around.

Amagai doesn’t deserve Suzaki and no one got to call him out on it. He should have actually stabbed Ryo and showed real remorse if they wanted me to believe he cared about him. I don’t believe it. This is poor writing. This is my issue with Fujio and Tsukasa all over again lol

The repeated scenes from The Worst were a bit meh. Did we really need everyone’s healthy partner to get hurt this time around?

I think that’s it? Idk I don’t take these movies too seriously on the plot side, just the character side and that was chef’s kiss this time so I loved it!!!

Also people who don’t like ~the power of friendship~ cheesiness need to find something else to watch. It’s been this way since season one??? What have you been watching? It’s saved Noboru, Murayama, Hyuga, Chiharu, Kohaku and literally (almost) everyone since then. Hello????? How do you make it this far into the series hating the power of friendship? lmao

#high&low #high&low the worst x #I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING I WANTED #this movie was made for me specifically :)#but i'm still waiting for my daruma movie lol

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variousqueerthings · 5 months

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I’ll scratch his eye out / It wasn’t me who ran doctor. That was always you

The Magicians Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar. listen, yes Missy is a stupid name, yes I hope I never have to hear the "oh Missy you're so fine" joke again, but fuckn. Michelle Gomez just kills in this role. and also, look. look. there's some absolute bangers in every era and the Master gets it in this episode when she says, "We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilisation, and infinitely more complex." ohhh one could talk about these two messy benches forever

anyway, we have a rating's system and because this season is made up of two-parters, we rate it as a two-parter!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 8/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 7/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 5/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

I basically feel like the second episode pulls up the first one, which is fair, the first is largely a set-up. but I also just think the second episode is better in that you've already gotten past the stuff that maybe annoyed you a bit, and now you've bought into the concept that you (I) weren't completely onboard with and it's chill now. also I just. what am I gonna do? it's the Master. everything is better when the Master is there (not for Clara of course, but for me)

but hey, I would call this a good episode! you hear me M*ffat, I think you're capable of writing a good episode!

OBJECTIFICATION: we're ok on the whole on this front. there's still a liiittle bit of that "Missy is a Lady Now And Says Mad Lady Things" but it's not at all as bad as just last season, and actually we do get some genderbending, as well as non-heterosexualisation of the Doctor's and the Master's relationship

PLOT-POINT: Clara has evolved. not onscreen though, she's just working for UNIT now, alongside her school teacher job. she's also very... idk impressive? she gets stuff that UNIT people don't get, which puts UNIT as a whole to shame, including Kate Stewart whom I feel hasn't been given much to do so far since her introduction in s7. that's a whooole other can o' worms though

I feel like part one Clara is categorised a bit differently to part two Clara. I feel weird about... well, the way I feel about Clara as a character. I still feel like she doesn't fit for me, and that may be because she never had an introduction that worked for me, and I'm not sure why the Doctor continues to put faith in her as a Companion after the events of season 8, or why she would be involved with UNIT at all, or how she moved from end-s8 to beginning-s9.

but then her and the Master!

I do like that she's out of her depth opposite Gomez!Master, it humanises her more than when she's travelling with the Doctor and seemingly just becoming whatever the Moment needs her to be (incredibly smart, out of her depth, waiting for the Doctor to cue her, confident or scared, asking questions so the Doctor can be smart, etc). she tries to be very cool and capable, and Gomez!Master outsmarts her with ease every time in a way that puts her in very real danger. and Clara tries to be on the same wavelength, and just... fails to be, because the Master is a terrible no good person who loves fucking with her. it's great Companion-but-evil dynamic

she gets taken down a peg and that works, but I do wonder about the peg she was on, so to speak. whether that peg, as it were, was good character-writing. this is pretty neat, but that's the thing about Clara that I think is a problem. her foundations as a character feel rocky to me, not because of what I feel we know about her (relatively consistent as of season 8 -- control-freak, which is the most consistent characterisation from the beginning, as well as being someone who is quite self-centred in her emotions and her priorities. she's also someone looking for fun and adventure, and often doesn't have a big thought about far-reaching consequences, she's very In The Now), but why others react to those traits in the way they do. why was there not more on the idea that she could kill someone? why does she work with UNIT, other than being a Companion? what are her relationships with people? (a note on s9 as well, her family never makes another return, which is a shame considering how we left her grandmother)

so, maybe I felt a bit of satisfaction watching the Master playing cat and mouse with her, but I'm not sure if I was meant to feel quite that gleeful about it?

COMPLEXITY: SOOOO this feels like a finale plot in an opening story, and I can acknowledge that was probably an experiment, but maaan would I have enjoyed this as an actual finale episode with a bit of season-long teasing and build-up more

EDIT: OKAY I REALISE WHAT THE ACTUAL EXPERIMENT OF THE SEASON IS! TWO-PARTERS LET'S GO! still think this one would have been a very good finale, rather than an opener (I think the next two that I just watched would have been good openers, anyway)

EDIT 2: having watched the finale episodes, I think this was a better episode than that, personally, or at least not right at the beginning... we'll see if I change my mind when I review those episodes, but I thought hell bent was... odd

on the whole it's quite simple, Davros is calling for the Doctor because he's seemingly dying, and here I stop again because I've been having some conversations about DW's broken continuity, but I do think M*ffat pushes that more than he should within this prolonged era -- that is RTD-onwards, and bringing Davros back "just cos" at this point without explanation is juuuust, feels a bit like more work could have been done to make that make sense rather than the montage with the snake man. snake man btw. cool concept, I guess, but for some reason Did not work for me, and I think it's because it makes no sense for him to be there other than to be a cool concept -- yes yes he captures the Doctor a few times, but there could have been a non-snakeman doing that, especially considering this the Daleks. why work with snakes?

snake-conglomeration I should say. no what was that, confederate? constellation? a communion of snakes in the shape of a person. see, cool concept, shouldn't have been this episode iiin my opinion, gimme a whole snake-centric episode

oh yeah, we have another montage and the snake conglomeration is like oooh new spooky villain, and the Doctor is pretending or thinks he's dying I guess -- it's that build-up that's messy, once we actually get to Skaro (wait, I didn't actually check if they are on Skaro, I'm just making an assumption) the episode comes together better in my opinion

so just like. getting past that beginning. with the Doctor playing the electric guitar and fucking with time" just cos" which I mean, the Doctor has done a bit of fucking with time here and there, but to this extent just to do it?? it doesn't work for me, it doesn't mean anything, it's just there to show off Peter Capaldi's sick guitar skills (that is Capaldi isn't it? I think it is, considering he plays guitar for the reason of the season)

also the medieval person turns out to be one of those secret daleks, and can I just say how much I for some reason Do Not Vibe with this concept. I think it's one of my pet peeves of this era - in that I cannot pinpoint why I dislike it so much - no wait, I can, it's because it's a get out of jail free card, just thrown around whenever to cause a *gasp oh no secret dalek plot* around with a side of body-horror, but not once do I think it's been useful for actual plot/feel like there wasn't just a straight-up better way X thing could've happened

I'm not gonna get into dalek-lore purism, because ehhhh, I do have some opinions, but frankly I'm not well-versed enough in classic who to blow that trumpet too much. but it feels silly. didn't the dalek have a secret killer child thing going on in classic!who though?

anyway. hope to not see these again once the era has ended

point is, M*ffat still struggles with Concepts and Scenery that are just there to "look good" but don't serve the plot

the rest of the plot once we're on Skaro, very enjoyable, truly did enjoy, obviously Julian Bleach is a king and the idea of the Doctor currently desperately wanting to believe in forgiveness and growth and just getting spat in the face for that (while still having a plan B, albeit a terrible one), yeahhh that's what I've wanted to see a bit more of

the Master's shenanigans? the sewers of decomposed daleks? Clara yelling for the Doctor to hear her? fun stuff, really truly

oh also I was initially annoyed by this one thing at the beginning, but then I changed my mind as it went along, especially with the ending, and it was because it's kind of a classic M*ffat thing, where the "smartest character in the room" has a little monologue/test situation with the "normie" character to see how smart they are

in this case though, the Master is flipping hilarious about it (even though I cannot see how Clara could have come to the conclusion she did, where does that knowledge come from, this is what I mean about her being characterised for whatever the Moment requires, because then later on the Master gives honestly Very Clear Instructions on how to control the dalek casing and Clara doesn't get it at all or have any kind of hand in saving herself in exactly the same way later on!) and then it comes back at the end with a fun little wink

Argh Gomez!Master is just so gooooood all the time. and youknow, not good, still a villain, but having a blast. do want to have more of a think about the ways the Master is characterised in each era, once I've seen Dhawan, because I think he takes a left turn once again into absolute "fuck you Doctor" villainy, and I like how their dynamic keeps me on my toes

a lot of the Stuff that M*ffat has the Doctor do that makes me dislike him, is great when the Master does it, because it's absolute asshole behaviour. when she's making people around her feel small or stupid, of course she is. when this iteration of the Doctor does it, I just don't root for him (this does however get better, as I remembered it did -- but it's a shame it took roughly a third of twelve's runtime to do so)

does it make sense that Davros is chilling and dying there and just waiting to lure the Doctor over? Mmmm wish there had been more build-up. is it great once we get there? awww yeahhh

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: the Master is alive (shocker). Clara... works for UNIT? sometimes? EDIT: OH THE WAY THIS IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS BUT WE'LL GET TO THAT WITH THE ZYGONS Davros is ali- oh Skaro is destroyed (seriously hope this is Skaro otherwise I'm just saying shit). The Doctor had some actual growth as a character at last! in a way that interacts with Gallifrey being out there somewhere and growth post-time war, it's good, it's good stuff

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara. ah, the eternal issue I think with M*ffat's companions is the way they're there to ask questions, do as their told, get into trouble, get saved, rinse and repeat

this time there is some twist, in that Clara is almost entirely hanging out with the Master and it's the evil inverse of the Doctor and Companion (as I'm sure it was meant to be). it does have Clara be a tad too flipping gullible, seriously, latest when the Master handcuffs you while a Dalek is approaching, Do Not Do What She Says!

have there be some real pushback or deliberation -- if Clara had tried to say "no this is my final straw" and the Master had idk, knocked her out and she'd awoken in the Dalek casing, or if she'd gone "I know you don't care about me, but we both care about the Doctor, so I am doing this, but if you mess with me, I swear I will find a way to get you," just... something a bit more substantial there

(another future-me EDIT: I think it's a shame as well that this is the last time Clara and the Master interact. there was actual pretty good bones in that, and they don't go anywhere)

that being said, the end when the Master is saying she died and trying to get the Doctor to shoot her and she's screaming at him from inside, fun fun fun good fun

still wish there was stronger background to Clara and the Master than "just cos" (I seem to have written that a few times this episode -- it truly isn't the most "Just cos" episode I've seen, it's just that a few hens have come home to roost, so to speak, so we're noticing that it's showing dynamics that could have been established better, but fuck it we run with them now! EDIT: I was running with them, but they never came back 😭)

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: this was fun Doctor stuff. bit of angst, bit of growth, bit of conversation with an old enemy, bit of manipulation and torture, these are classic hits, Capaldi is doing them so well after a season of just being... so dour the whole time

we may have undoured our Doctor at last! or at least made the dourness fun to watch and not soul-suckingly annoying

(I am still not sure about the whole tank-thing I thought that whole scene was oddly framed, there's "we're doing Doctor Who and so we can fuck around a bit" and "we're doing Doctor Who so we're not thinking about core things that drive our character like, idk, not randomly fucking with time")

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: Davros! why? (Just cos). that's fine. there's some mentions of things as well, fun times. I do wish Big Villains wouldn't just appear in a random episode without it having meaning that this is why they appear here, but at least this isn't a Victory Of The Daleks

“SEXINESS”: unsure where to put this, but I think this is the first episode that hints at Clara being bisexual. she mentions that Jane Austen was a very good kisser as an aside

I get that one doesn't have to show an equal amount of interactions indicating attraction for a character to be established as bi, but it would be nice if it's more than this and the clone-moment that I know is coming up (EDIT: realise the clone-moment comes from a short, and it was a terrible no-good-horrible sexist short, although I do love Clara interacting with the Tardis)

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: yeah we really don't get much more than this. another joke about Jane Austen in "Face The Raven"... it's a bit meh, on the whole

as a contrast -- ways I enjoy a bit of flirtation - the Master has this line early on about how Davros is the Doctor's arch nemesis and she'll "scratch his eyes out," and then right at the end when she saves the Doctor she also pokes him in the eye. lol. queen

INTERNAL WORLD: listen, this does nothing to fuck with the Daleks (looking at you, Asylum my old enemy) so I am happy! also the Dalek sewers, yeah, yeah I am into it

I have a question about UNIT being increasingly depicted as a secret service/secret military. I know it was always that but uh... where was that science first approach Kate? Kate, hey I have questions Ka- *gets black-bagged by UNIT who are absolutely an extra-judicial secret fucking service/paramilitary!*

POLITICS: In watching this I of course think of the Davros and disability drama that's happening around the interwebs, and firstly like. yeah, of course Davros is disabled, the Doctor literally steals his wheelchair in this episode and leaves him helpless on the floor... I think that's kind of the sort of thing RTD is responding to, acknowledge that it's an evil cripple trope

however of course, Davros is an iconic figure, and one isn't just looking for "good" people representation, one is also looking for Really Cool Characters as representation (I mean, in the children in need special he's pre-genesis of the Daleks so it's chill) -- the answer is of course just more disabled characters, in this case specifically wheelchair users, and I think maybe... don't have the Doctor stealing his wheelchair

I'm not sure what the response was at the time, I don't think this is the worst in disability I've seen this show do, buuuut optics maybe not the best way to go about this plot, especially as Davros is depicted really truly helpless in a semi-comedic way

I think because people -- and I might assume M*ffat here as well -- really often don't think of Davros as a disabled character, it's not the same in their head (or wasn't the same, I won't put this on M*ffat now- well I am watching Inside Man, so his general disability writing is still atrocious, but none of them are wheelchair users so who knows on that front) as, say, the Doctor stealing a wheelchair that looks like a wheelchair from someone who looks like we'd usually expect someone using a wheelchair to look (that is, not as a science fiction villain -- although if that's your vibe, you do you!)

it's an interesting lack of Seeing that I think that moment highlights, especially as otherwise -- including in this episode -- Davros is depicted as an interesting, multi-faceted evil character

big write-up to say mmmmm maybe not that particular thing again, but on the whole it's Davros as Davros has been historically depicted and as far as I can tell there wasn't a massive fuss about Davros being disabled to begin with... we just need to do more now (and like hey, hey, I too wish disabled villains upon all of our households, because villainy is fun, but the evil cripple trope is absolutely real, and I'm hoping this conversation about Davros is opening more doors and not closing our fun villain door just to depict us as goody goody two-shoes all the time -- but I don't think so. I'm glad this introduced the trope to so many people for the first time who'd never even heard of it before, I think that's a big win)

(also hey, are there Davros cosplays with functional wheelchairs? I need to know, I'm sure there are)

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

it's really all about the Master and the Doctor-and-Davros dialogue and the Doctor screaming in pain and that bit at the end where the Master almost has the Doctor kill Clara

that's the good stuff!

#im watching nu!who #im watching capaldi who #the measurement

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releasemefromthevoid · 2 months

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MY ATLA LIVE ACTION S1E8 THOUGHTS

EP7

Alright guys, this is the end of it. Not gonna lie, I thought this was a little… underwhelming. They’re focusing a lot on the aftermath of a battle, which could be cool if done correctly. I wasn’t that into it.

At the very least, this episode, the visuals went crazy! We had the red color grading when Tui was captured, and the monochrome gray with the specific highlights when she was dead. La’s possession of the Avatar looked incredible as well. They sold it as a fairly awe-inspiring moment, but I think this moment was undermined a little in other ways.

I think there are a lot of little inconsistencies throughout the show that really culminated here. Some of my worries were resolved, but some of them really weren’t.

In any case, I think this was fine for a season finale. It fit the tone of the show and went harder than the other episodes to end things off.

I’ll write a full series review tomorrow, I’m trying to go to sleep.

Live reactions under the cut

well i do love seeing strategy sokka

disappointed by the lack of catapults on the ships so aang couldn’t creatively use them to destroy the ship

did iroh just tell zuko to swim in freezing waters? lol

wait we already did koh, so what’s up with tui and la? how are we gonna figure out where they are? are we even gonna see the spirit oasis?

oh so. we’re introducing the war balloons now? early for the fire nation? with a vague reference to the mechanist? how’d they even get the plans? sure do wish we’d seen more about those before, besides just making them. maybe used one to take down the firebenders invading the northern air temple? maybe a fire nation soldier could’ve found the remains of a balloon. just a thought

the. ice moon?

AND YET THEY INTRODUCE THE CONCEPT OF LION TURTLES NOW!! this is BAFFLING to me

so tui and la only take physical form once a year in this version? huh

and he’s gonna kill tui with KURUK’s spirit knife. interesting macguffin

THEY ALMOST KILLED OFF MOMO????!!! JAIL

okay so there is the spirit oasis. and they’re using it to bring back momo

sorry that was actually genuinely deeply upsetting. they just did something illegal i swear to god. don’t fuck with the animals

i am Not believing that katara is skilled enough to fight zuko. sorry but it’s not happening. she hasn’t even been trained. “you found a master haven’t you”. no zuko, she hasn’t. NO ONE HAS TRAINED HER. “yes, you’re looking at her.” katara, someone called you a master once, girl, that doesn’t mean you Are one

good lord that’s so red. i like that they kept that visual cue though

tui: dea. the color grading on this is still good too. the only colors we really see are the flashes of yellow and red with the fire balls being thrown around. theoretically, everything else should be grayscale/monotone, with the exception of yue’s blue eyes (which i don’t believe are blue in this adaptation). i don’t really have complaints about the look of things

okay la, your turn

do we need a “reality of war” moment again? tbh i feel nothing for these people.

oh yue’s eyes ARE blue. chill

hey what do you mean “you’ll be lost forever”. something something killed in the avatar state killed forever can’t reincarnate

okay la possession looks cool as hell. obsessed with these visuals

though idk if it’s just me, but people are really trying to get the “avatar is gone”, “there’s no more avatar”, “you’ll be lost forever” thing across huh. i feel like that kind of undersells the moment when seemingly everyone knows what’s going on.

zuko’s gonna fight zhao now why? purely so zhao can give zuko a moment of realization, got it

and then he tries to kill zhao. i still think zuko would never.

and now zhao is almost certainly dead, because iroh pushed him off. and zuko didn’t have that moment of offering mercy, and zhao didn’t have the moment of rejecting that mercy. this IS a downgrade

woahhh hahn dead confirmed. wish i could celebrate, but he’s nice now

so pakku is NOT becoming katara and sokka’s grandfather in this one. i bet we won’t even learn the significance of katara’s necklace

SHE IS NOT A MASTER STOP SAYING THAT. SHE LEARNED OFF OF ONE (1) WATERBENDING SCROLL WITH ZERO SUPERVISION

sorry are you relying on bumi for earthbending training? you haven’t even started waterbending. this bumi is barely reliable from your interactions with him

oop there goes omashu. weird that we’re seeing the takeover

okay. sozin’s comet. i thought you were taking that out? was that just a lie then? shouldn’t aang know about that? might actually make him learn waterbending. considering the series just ended. and he HASN’T EVEN LEARNED WATERBENDING YET

liked: the visuals went so hard, no kataang romance

worried about for potential season 2: zuko's arc

disliked: zuko and zhao's fight, katara "mastering" waterbending despite never having trained with a master, aang literally not even once showing that he was the avatar outside of the avatar state (not learning ANY waterbending)

#atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender live action #atla live action #atla netflix #long post #that's all folks #stay tuned for full series recap

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spymaster-and-socialite · 1 year

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(ooc: get to know me, turn edition!)

stole this from @cabbxges-and-kings lol :3

Favourite Season: it’s a tie between s2 and s3 for me lol. imo s2 and s3 are the two best seasons in terms of plot, but i can never pick a favorite! i associate s2 with romance and a happier, more upbeat vibe (it’s the season of jpeg and annlett!!) and s3 with high-stakes drama and a tenser, slightly more angsty vibe, and BOTH ARE SO GOOD.

Least Favourite: oof...... i have to say s4. i have a soft spot for s1 because it’s obviously what got me hooked on the show, and i love rewatching it and getting reintroduced to all the characters. s4 feels a little bit rushed (which, to be fair, is because we were robbed of a s5!!) and andre is gone, which automatically makes me like it less LDFKHJDKS... but i do love the peggy and abigail team-up and abe’s weird redcoat arc is fun, so it gets points for that.

Favourite character(s): john andre is my little meow meow blorbo and i am his number one fan LDFNJD <3. i have so many others that i love, but apart from andre, i probably relate the most to peggy and anna (though for some reason i struggle to write anna sometimes lol). i could literally talk all day about why i like andre, but i actually did a post about that somewhere else on this blog HAHA.

Least Favourite Character: ugh it’s GOT to be benedict arnold. sorry to any arnold fans/fans of the real historical figure, but the way he’s portrayed in the show is so gross and seriously gives me the ick lol. nothing is worse to me than a man who plows over other people’s boundaries and thinks he’s entitled to everything ever, which is exactly what arnold is lol. i USED to really not like richard, but tbh i think he’s a really intriguing character who adds a lot to the show (even if much of it is just as an obstacle to abe’s plans LOL, he’s a really interesting representation of a certain brand of loyalist). oh, and i also have an issue with robert rogers for randomly going after andre (why?? >:( ) but he’s funny, so he gets a pass lol.

Favourite Romantic Relationship: you know i’m the number one jpeg stan. they’re just the best! andre and peggy just check off every single one of my (highly specific, picky af) ship requisites: vaguely austen-esque ballroom meet-cute, witty banter, kinda hate each other at first but only bc they’re the same person, can finally stop performing around each other, GET RANDOMLY QUAKER MARRIED, barbie and ken vibes, Tragic Lovers, the fucking braid...... need i go on? i love them.

Favourite Friendship: ooh... ben and caleb are great, ofc, but also, peggy and abigail!! and for a slightly more niche one, i love robert townsend and rivington’s dynamic HAHA. (omg and robert and ANDRE... idk if they count as “friends,” but their scenes together in s3 are the funniest thing ever to me.)

Favourite Episode: objectively, in terms of its impact on me and its cinematographic quality? s3e10. but i bawled when i first watched it, so uhhhh, omg this is TOUGH, but maybe s2e4 or s2e6? s2e4 has the Garden Scene with jpeg that i go insane over (one day i’ll write a full meta post about why) and s2e6 is andre’s stupid flute solo and i just love seeing them happy together lol. BUT ALSO, s3e6 (thanksgiving) is so fucking funny and i also adore that one.

Least Favourite Episode: ugh sorry washington stans, but valley forge/s2e7 lol. i don’t like how it’s ONLY focused on washington and most of the other characters are absent. i would eat that shit up if they did an andre-centric ep like that, but i just don’t care enough about gwash sodfjhjdks.

Favourite Iconic Quote: “don’t presume you know what it is to be me,” obviously!

#turn amc #amc turn #turn: washington's spies #turn washington's spies #(ooc)

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ruffgem · 3 months

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At the beginning of COVID I set out to make an ms paint-animated cartoon with a good friend of mine via the power of texting and the internet. It was crazy cuz I actually did single-handedly animate two full 4-ish minute “episodes,” but it sucked because I didn’t realize til it was too late how… different… our senses of humor actually were. LOL. like no shade but she was like, studying modern-day SNL for her writing (she was in charge of writing each episode, I did the animating) and I was like fuuuuck…. That’s like. actually the exact opposite of what I personally find funny. and also she took the advice “write what you know” way too seriously because I always wanted our characters to get haunted by demons but she was always like “I dunno… that’s not really realistic…” WHAT! why would u make a cartoon if nothing crazy happens in it? just write a sitcom with real life actors then!! but anyway I could sorta live with it because I could insert physical comedy into the animation which I thought helped fix some of the unfunny shit. sometimes. also, she was lowkey dictatorial about the character design (my domain!!!!) and even the voices we used for our characters (mine was annoying!!!) (IT WAS GIVING MORDECAI AND RIGBY!!) so the project sucked lowkey. Even though I still love that friend dearly we just simply… suffered from creative differences. Rest in peace. But I’m kind of proud of the fact that I actually animated two whole episodes by myself so maybe I will share them one day… but idk if I’ll ever be removed enough from them to do that. but I also hate the idea of doing all that work for nothing. But it happens sometimes frankly. U LIVE AND U LEARN!!! anyway it’s been like 4 years so I’m less haunted by it now… hmmmm I think im going to make another cartoon myself (or with my brother (we have the same mind)) yay!!!! *Adds it to my insanely long and unrealistic list of Shit I Want To Do*

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bvannn · 3 months

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Weekly Update February 2, 2024

I think I’m mostly better. The medicine I take is once a week, and it’s supposed to last me all week. Last week it brought me through about Tuesday, this week I was good until Wednesday, hopefully next week it’ll last the full week. I’m doing fine today too because Fridays are when I administer it. I think I’ll be fine real soon. Unfortunately I am swamped with homework, but I can manage it pretty soon.

This week as far as art projects was mainly me messing with music. I found the trick to getting good electronic instruments, and that is a little free plugin called Krush. I don’t know why music software companies like mortal kombat so much that they spell everything like that, but the ones that do make nice stuff so I won’t judge. I also started fiddling with Melodies for some instrumental themes for OCs, Shaun and Romeo are first up for that, planning to make progress tonight. Cleaned up my other project files as well and found a nice bass and drum line I must’ve made while I was delirious on medicine after surgery bc I don’t remember making it but it sounds nice so I’ll keep it. I’m the process of cleaning up a Zelda medley, I’ll probably post the piano version of that alongside the full instrumental. Finally, another one that’s set for vocals even though I technically haven’t finished the first one. I’m impulsive. The first one is just missing vocals and lyrics really so once I’m in a good headspace I’ll try to lyric out both of these in one go and fiddle with vocaloid after I know what words I want.

I also finally started prodding at Vocaloid 5. I’m going with v5 over v4 because it has a more user friendly UI and I’m under the impression that the attack and release feature is unique to v5, although I may be wrong on that. I’m still not sure exactly which voicebanks I’ll want to use, obviously the Kagamines would be a good choice because having a male and female option packaged together is cool, but the Zolas are also a package deal and have a bit more variation amongst them. I’m not sure how well they do English though, since they’re not built for it. I mean I guess people won’t really care, people still seem to be big fans of the Vflower English songs even though she’s also not built for english *or the genre most of those songs are* and they eat them up anyway. The Zolas are also less marketable than the Kagamines or Vflower, though. Also I guess Miku is an option and probably an inevitability if I do start making vocaloid music but I don’t need to start with her, you know? Idk maybe I’ll keep working on song stuff and consider which vocal fits the best, maybe I’ll draw them a bit too, see how much demand there is.

I haven’t been doing any comic work because I’ve still been sick, plus now I’m waffling since I don’t have a big animation project anymore and I guess I could fill the void by making that project an animation, but I’m still unsure. It might be smart to do both, and at a minimum my thumbnailing out the comic makes sure that everything is paced correctly and the dialogue flows. Tonight I’m hoping to pick back up where I left of before I got sick: I had finished the first third of the first ‘episode’, and was moving on to act 2.

Today especially I’ve been bit by the TTRPG bug again and kinda want to write out and draw stuff for that, but normally I do my best conceptual writing while I’m delirious in bed after my sleep medicine is kicked in but before I fall asleep. I stayed up late last night alternating between chemistry homework and playing ghost trick so tonight should be a good night for writing. Maybe I’ll get more comic outline writing done too, who knows.

And finally I also just really need to get more drawings done. I posted those epithet challenge ones the other day, which people seem to like. And I really want to do a drawing of Lynne, I like her because she reminds me of an OC of mine, can’t say which one or why though because that’s a spoiler for both characters. I really need to do more art in general, so I threw together a wheel of small little doodles to do, but all that still relies on me having free time, which is a lot scarcer now that I’m working. Still, if I get back into the habit of chugging out those comic pages, I can probably do a little more.

I’m still not sure what to do tonight. I keep flipping back and forth over whether I want to do music or drawing, and end up with little in the way of posting. I did find out that I can post audio to tumblr easy now, so I’ll try to do that more often. Idk. I’m exhausted from today specifically, and this past week has been busy, but I’m hoping it’ll die down and I can do more this upcoming week.

#weekly update

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letstrywritingmaybe · 3 months

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I’m so fucking tired, the switch to being a morning person is wild. I’ve never been that girlie and I never thought I could be but I’m loving my new job so far. Literally couldn’t be happier, I’m sure as it goes I’ll find things I may not enjoy but so far it’s been amazing. But again this was my first week and I don’t know shit yet. Enough about that, writing wise I’m so sorry I’m super behind. I’m still determined to keep weekly updates for the sibling verse, (delaying posting cause I’m supporting Palestine.) But I want to do multiple updates and at the very least give Vordark my beloved the weekly updates. But I’m too tired to try and write right now, so it’ll have to wait till tomorrow or maybe even Sunday. I’ve been working like nonstop the past three weeks and I don’t even have my Pens to keep me energized. Don’t even get me started on irl relationships with people, I’m still upset. But yeah I’m hoping to be on it soon

Update: dreaming up yet another shinshi verse I can’t write cause I have too many WIPs and I just can’t. But I’m hoping to start the next chapter of the sibling verse before I have to actually get up and ready!

Update 2: I started the next chapter of the sibling verse but had to do some errands and now I’m tired again. I’m gonna nap then watch the mean girls movie then hopefully finish the chapter. We shall see (I did finish the chapter!). Alright, I should have the full day today besides football and airport run way late. So I’m hoping to pick back up on the valentines event, then midnight rain, then the pov series that’s taken me too damn long already to start *sigh but also I would like to read one of my book books too. I’m feeling so behind in everything, and while it’s cause I’ve been so busy. I just wish I could be more on top of things, but I’m only human and it’s been very exhausting existing lately. Most of it is still very filling and I really do truly love my new job but there’s so much I have to learn!

Update 3: irl continues to be a lot. I did not get to go about my day off the way I wanted. It ended up being way stressful, but on the bright side I booked another trip cause of course I did. Okay now I’m gonna try and write. The curse of my main character energy continues, please just let me live my filler episode dreams!!! 😭😭😭

I’m halfway through with the valentine event I think, and idk why I’m exhausted. But I guess I’ve had a long week and today was a lot also. I’m gonna take a nap before I have to go to the airport and pick someone up. Idk if I’ll get more writing done after, and any tomorrow but I will try. At the very least, I’m going to update either the sibling verse or midnights. I believe I’m caught up on comments now, I love when I get to read fics! But now it’s time for bed cause unfortunately I need to be a morning person. One more day off but it’s going to be very busy with rl stuff again *sigh hoping I get some writing done but I’m not holding my breath. Now excuse me while I continue to dream about this fic I have no intention of writing, it’s another memory loss one cause of course it is

Update 4: I’m about to go to sleep cause I need to be a morning person (yes I’m going to keep talking about this until it actually happens) but I think I’m done with the valentines event! Super short chapters so it wasn’t that hard to do, but I’m just glad I got it done! Now I can go back to working on my projects I wanna do once I get used to my schedule. Also I ended up updating the sibling verse instead of midnights cause of my time stamp thing, but I will try again tomorrow

#cynful babbles #I just feel like rl has been a lot and lots of ups and downs #almost too much for me to handle but luckily more good things than bad but it’s making me feel on edge

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methinmycoffee · 1 year

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~~Spoilers (S26 E6)~~

A season finale to be remembered (forgotten). Eh, here's what I thought anyway.

Let's start with the positives:

I honestly enjoy Rick. He's funny, entertaining it's nice to see Garrison's impact on a positive influence in his life. I'll touch more on him in the negatives, but for now he's a generally good character. Me yelling "DUMP HIS ASS!" at the TV is good, because it means I am genuinely invested in this relationship. Even though I think Rick is far too good for Garrison, I don't mind that they're together. It's the new Clybe, a garbage fire reality TV couple.

Funny. Hehehe. I very much enjoyed the comparisons to like, a party addict but it's just Trump and he's getting a bunch of people to rally with him. Especially the scene in the bathroom where it’s like two guys doin’ it but they’re just screaming about America.

Stan is a nerd, but in a fun way. Good for him. A little out of left field, but good for him.

I enjoyed the parallel to Randy and Garrison's relationship. Especially at the end, when they reveal that Randy needs Sharon like Garrison needs Rick. Even though it's not healthy or fun for Sharon and Rick to deal with their partners, they're sort of stuck babysitting man-children they feel responsible for. Deep, but sort of fun and not as serious as I'm making it sound.

Let's middle with the negatives (idk man):

I DO NOT LIKE RANDY! Why did they do that to him? Honestly my Quest For Rankings(tm) has made me a little sad because I miss the old Randy. Since when is he an asshole with little regard for Stan's goings on? Since when is he a party guy who only cares about tits and booze and really hates Sharon and Shelly? Since he started to suck, around the time of season 20 but really going in full swing around season 22. This Randy was especially insufferable, and I do not enjoy him and Stan having a dumpster fire relationship.

Style feel divorced now. Matt Stone's characters had zero lines in this episode, so idk what's up with that, but Stan got to pick one person to play with all spring break and he chose To(l)k(i)en? Not in my canon. Seriously, I feel like this section should be longer because I’m so mad. I don’t like the change. I don’t think To(l)k(i)en doesn’t have a place in the show, but it’s not as the new Kyle.

We don’t need another bad relationship. Idk, I like Rick, but I think that maybe instead of constantly creating identical, toxic relationships where characters who used* to be fun become angry and bitter just like the aging writing staff. Give us some Stendy resolution. Give us a nice Sharon and Randy (shandy? Handy?) episode. Make a Creek episode at all. I know I complement the parallels between Garrison and Randy’s relationships, and it works well for in individual episode but imo it’s a little bit too much for every couple to constantly hate each other now. Matt and Trey must be having trouble in paradise.

*note: this is very in character for Garrison, actually. But maybe just set all that aside for a while and give us a good old fashioned Stan and his current lover (Kyle, Wendy, To(l)k(i)en even) against a clear evil without an agenda. Throw in Cartman and Kenny too.

And We’ll end with some Nitpicking:

This is honestly our season finale? This is it? A pretty decent Garrison plot and a shitty Randy plot? No main four classic adventure? No check-in for Cartman and his regular house? No hard reset away from Stolkien and back towards Style or away from Tregridy? Okay. We’ll see how the Paramount specials pan-out then.

I’m so tired, man.

The house party was a weird thing that came out of no where. Like, Randy threw water on a stripper that he hired to harass his son and his “friend”, and then the pimp(?) (not really sure, but I don’t think that’s how strippers work) was like “I’ll shoot you” so Randy said “I have drugs in the barn” and then Andrew Tate(?) was like “Okay let’s get hammered then.” And then he invited everyone he knew to a random weed farm in rural Colorado and they had a party? K.

A final thought:

I don’t usually do this. But I feel like this over-analysis was a little meaner than I usually am with these. So I’m going to put this out there: I don’t mind this episode. (5/10). It’s not evil. It didn’t kill my first born. I think Garrison’s plot was solid and in line with his character. I am just tired of toxic relationships. I don’t think this is specifically on Garrison, in fact I think the problem is more with Stendy and Shandy or whatever. I don’t like that Randy sucks now, and I didn’t like his half-assed “boys should be boys” attitude. I believe he can be done correctly, but something different needs to be done.

Also I don’t hate To(l)k(i)en, I’m mostly just mad at what’s been done to the show, and his shift to Stan’s best friend is part of it. I don’t mind Stolkien either, I’m not opposed to it, I just personal don’t think that To(l)k(i)en is that interesting and I miss the before times.

This is a call to the South Park team! You can be good. You can do good. You can write good (well). I have faith in you. If I was the only one who saw these problems, then the issue would lie more with me, but I’m not and I don’t think it is. But I have Faith! DikinBaus was good! Cupid Ye was good! Deep Learning was good! You can do some Deep Learning yourself and process what about those episodes worked, and we can get some kickass specials this summer. I believe in you! <3

#sp spoilers #south park #sp spring break #oh my lord I’m so tired #I didn’t write this one on the bus on the way to school #it’s spring break so I’m writing this at midnight #I’m tired #sorry if this one is a little meaner #honestly I just feel like the writing team can do so much better #that’s why I’m a little disappointed #this isn’t Family Guy #(even though I also kinda like that show)#this is South Park #this episode is about as good as Japanese Toilets for reference #anyway stay safe out there #<3

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27emailsicantsend · 2 years

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Season 3, Episode 7 Thoughts

I know this is literally me skipping straight to the end, but I absolutely love seeing Maddox doing the opening recap. I’ll be honest, I thought she was just going to be a series regular for this season only and that the Maddox/jet storyline was just for this season. It was going to be wrapped up in a pretty bow for camp. But the ending with Maddox having feelings for Ashlyn makes it seem like this isn’t the end? I don’t know if they will have her return next season (which idk how because I think they’re from Cali, not SLC) or have her and Ashlyn writing and then maybe bring her back for an episode or two next season? I’m just really curious how this storyline will play out. That’s the one thing about this show. I see storylines (like ricky and lily) and think they’re going to go on and on and they end in like, one episode. But then I see other ones (like p*w needing to break up) and think they will end in a few episodes and they go on for longer than expected. I really am kept on my toes quite a bit with this show

Lol this is a small detail but during the recap they overlap the sounds from one scene to the next and when EJ rejects Gina’s promposal, the show overlapped that scene with the cheers from color wars and Jet winning 😭 I’m weak that is so funny

This is going to sound freaking weird, but I loved the scene of ricky eating the pizza. It was really cinematic?? Like the budget was showing. Idk why it all went to Richard shoving his face full of hot grease but I’ll take it. It kind of reminded me of a scene you would have seen in something like those cartoons come to movie (captain underpants, diary of a wimpy kid, etc.)

Also i doubt Joshua was acting at that point because i heard that’s why people don’t eat a lot in movie scenes: because they have to take bites for every single take. And having to eat bites of something for 20 takes in a row can really add up… so he might have been feeling a little ill after depending on how many takes this scene was

Lol the fact that ej was compared to a 1980’s villain and then wears THAT attire to the dance (it could be late 1970’s). He really went fully into character 😂

I LOVE Carlos and ricky’s friendship. Ricky helped Carlos with seb and I think Carlos not only caught on to what gina was saying last season when she talked about “someone” bothering her, but he also sees that ricky has the hots for gina, so he might have connected some dots. I’ve been saying this for a hot minute now but I think Carlos and Ashlyn are going to be key players in rina getting together and they kind of already have been. Ashlyn knows Gina’s backstory and Carlos knows about Ricky’s crush and that gina was bothered by “someone” (him) last season. It’s going to be cool to see how it all plays out, but I love Carlos being on the lookout for ricky. Especially where he can be known to “instigate” or “stir up drama”, I think he and ricky have a good enough friendship that Carlos has his back and that’s why he warned ricky the confession could be shown sooner than he thinks. I’m totally rambling but it’s only because it makes me feel soft inside 🥺

And Carlos used his one phone call to know more about the tea?? I don’t think it was all for ricky, but like, he probably asked because he was looking out for him. I’m just AHHHHH

Ricky throwing up over gina. He screamed (yelling at the cameras and Corbin about best summer ever), he cried (in his bunk), and now he’s throwing up. The perfect trifecta ❤️

I loveeee seeing all the girlies get dressed up beforehand together. It’s just so cute. Some of my favorite moments with my friends are just in the time we’re getting ready before we go out and we just hype each other up. This scene just brings back those happy mems ❤️

This has been pointed out on tumblr (as well as some of my other thoughts probably so I’m sorry if I’m a little repetitive) but I love that Gina talks about the possible history of camp prom and then they parallel it with ricky. Great minds think alike ig

Ashlyn you’re so cute!! And I love that they made her coming out a big thing for her but not big in a negative way. They kind of handled that scenario more with Maddox, but with Ashlyn it’s just been chill. She learned more about herself like she would a new hobby, and she finds it positive because “her dating pool got bigger”. It was also cute to hear her say she has a crush on Val. Obviously there is going to be some… discussions had when she gets with big red again because they’ve made it clear this season they’re still talking, but for now I am just enjoying seeing Ashlyn finally accept who I have seen her be since season one with her sword 😂

Something that bothers me about gina saying in front of all the girls, including Ashlyn EJ’s COUSIN, is that she felt like EJ’s been ignoring her. I guess maybe they didn’t want to make it their business but why didn’t anyone say anything? Is it because they thought gina could handle it on her own? Idk it just makes me sad that they knew he’s been a tool but it seems everyone’s kept quiet with him

JET

They really were leaning into the 70’s vibe with him huh 😭 it’s so good. I just can’t stop thinking of him sitting in the cabin picking his hair to get it that big and it’s like, one my favorite hc’s ever. Maybe he had the other boys helping him? Lol

“No I already did that jet” PLS Maddox you dont have to be so loud

Ricky and his cleavage is SENDING me. Boy, if only 😂 i saw someone post pics of him on twitter where he wore even deeper v necks irl (josh) and i just love when shows make little call outs like this. Like in Valentine’s Day when Taylor Lautner says he is uncomfy taking his shirt off. Just GOLD

There’s some camper in the background getting dressed and to idle he is doing little dance moves and I don’t know why but it’s killing me 😂 like he couldn’t think of anything else to do. And then sometimes he just stands there like 🧍 Just watch him next time you rewatch this scene hahahaha

“Like slapping?” PLS RICHARD again why is everyone on this show so LOUD. Just so out of pocket and for what 😭

I love that JOJO is a guest star but is still wearing the most Jojo siwa outfit I could think of. They really weren’t going to let her get out of loads of colors and sparkles

I actually feel a little bad for Jet. Like I know he screwed up but over time we’ve learned that a lot of his actions weren’t intentional and I think Maddox just refused to listen to his side so much that is caused more catastrophe than what it was worth. This scene was hard to watch because it seemed like Maddox didn’t care what the explanation was going to be or how hard he was trying, she was still going to decide to be mad. I’m glad they didn’t drag it on much past this because I think I would have started to dislike Maddox instead of understanding her side, which is not what I wanted to do

Lol Maddox saying, “maybe I do need a friend” and jojo just nods like, “please girl I know” hahahahaa I don’t think jojo meant to make that face though

This is completely irrelevant but I remember watching this thinking how much I wouldn’t enjoy this dance because I wouldn’t know ANY of the music. I’m probably in the older crowd of people who watch this show and even I don’t know a lot of 70’s music so I don’t know how literal gen x’ers would be having that much fun dancing to it

Carlos you do NOT look like miss Edna from hairspray. Hairspray is one of my FAVORITE movies of all time and that is not what he is giving 😂 i don’t get this joke. I think there were about a million other references that would have gotten closer. I think he looks more like a Cheetah Girl than anything but that’s just me

Look I KNOW ej is stressed about the play, but ricky is right. He could have waited even an hour or two and then returned back to his work. As much as EJ doesn’t want to be like his dad, the workaholic side seems exactly like a “Cash” quality and I don’t know that he realizes that yet

Interesting that ej chose a quote about Kristoff wondering why Anna chose to be in a relationship with a guy she just met. This was foreshadowing to the break up later, no doubt

Also if you have the captions on, ricky says in quotes “wait. You got engaged to someone you just met?” And then NOT in quotes, to Carlos, he says “he’s got a point” (talking about Kristoff). Even ricky is wondering why someone would just jump into a relationship with someone they barely know. I know this is definitely more towards p*w, but this could also reflect ricky trying to date lily as a last resort as well. There are just layers and layers to this show guys

THE BEST PART

YES RICKY CHOKE

I mean what-

Just like this man is literally DUMBFOUNDED by Gina’s beauty

His reaction is 10 times bigger than her own boyfriend’s

I said this before but her BOYFRIEND asked if ricky was ok. If ricky needed air 😭

Ricky’s eyes are THE BIGGEST heart eyes i ever did see. The other time they get this big is in their convo scene outside the barn when they’re on the bench

And also gina left him speechless??? Like that’s queen behavior.

Not only is he speechless but he is sweating and shaking!!! Someone get this boy some milk! 🥛

Like gina honey, ej was never going to care about you like ricky does and this whole scene proves it

Not to mention ricky and Carlos see her first… EJ looks up a few seconds later when he’s not so immersed in his work! They purposely leave him looking up a little bit later in the camera. That is symbolism people!! He is putting his work and everything else in front of seeing gina. He looks at her second because the person who puts her first is already looking! (They do this again later in the episode when she is sad and looking for ej and the person who sees her first, ricky, is already looking at her yet again!)

And can we talk about the ROMCOMIFICATION of this entire episode… well season? I know it’s intentionally supposed to feel like one but this scene did it justice. The slow motion, music in the background, gasps ricky is trying to gasp next to her boyfriend… I literally feel like I’m just watching one of my favorite movies right now. AND, this is my favorite “boy sees pretty girl” reaction I think I have ever seen… ever. Which is saying a lot because I watch a LOT of romance.

And like, they show Ricky’s face first and you just KNOW that he sees gina. EJ’s dialogue about needing to “stay in the zone” helps set this up, but even without it, you can just tell how WHIPPED this man is from the second he sees her. And while we never saw it, let’s not pretend he didn’t do this every time he saw her this season because she honestly looked SO CUTE in every outfit

All 3 girls were serving breakfast lunch and dinner as they should!!!

Again the show breaking the fourth wall “you refuse to dance in front of people” “I have two left feet” and one of the biggest things jojo is known for is dancing hahahaha

I love the swing in the cabin it’s so cute

I like that Maddox’s parents weren’t upset about her being gay. They alluded to this in the first few episodes, so I’m glad that was a misdirect and that her parents were nice to her about it

“The night’s not over, neither is the summer” I really hope this means that some of the characters spend time together throughout the summer and that the show talks about it a little in s4. I answered an ask tonight about this and how cute it would be if rina spends summer together before school starts

THE PIN ARE YOU K-WORDING ME

But does anyone realize the implications of this!! We never see Ashlyn tell anyone she is queer in the show but Carlos shows up with the pin. And she talks about it a little in the cabin when she talks about “vibes”. This means that within the span of one night she’s already opening up to people about it which I think is so sweet! I am just so 🥺🥺 proud of her!

As much as ej has been not the ✨greatest✨ I really appreciated this part with him reassuring Carlos. It brings me back to the other seasons EJ’s which i liked quite a bit. (Aside from the beginning of season 1). It feels very much like something HE would say and not this self-centered version he’s becoming. I like seeing that part of him still inside him.

I also feel really fondly of Carlos storyline because body image is something frequently addressed in women. While it is a bigger concern for women, it doesn’t mean that men don’t deal with it. You ever wonder why there are gym rats that are typically male? That’s typically a body image/low self-esteem thing they are trying to cope with. It’s nice to see some male perspective on this topic too ❤️

SEBBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY he is so cute 🥺 the show feels so much more whole with him back. I am really excited to see the full cast (ig outside of nini) back together next season. They just work so well together and play off each other in a really nice way. It’ll feel complete 💕

I’ve also seen this talked about so i wont say too much on this, but I think it’s really important that we recognize why ricky didn’t say anything when gina asked him to dance. This shows his character development. He actually looks a little misty eyed when gina asks (like seriously i have it paused rn and it looks like he might cry). And I think that’s because he might feel not only a little like a second choice, but also because he wants to dance with her so bad but knows it would be hurtful to ej after their little back and forth they’ve done all season. Literally three cheers to josh for his acting this season because WOW. You can just see so much complexity behind his thoughts in this moment and really feel the hurt, confusion, and fear that he’s working through in that moment. He walks away out of overwhelm again and it’s just… AHHHH

I’ve seen some people say they don’t like this version of “I wouldn’t change a thing” and some of the other music this season but I actually have liked the campiness of the songs. I think they did a good job making them their own without taking away from what they used to be. This was a really fun version of this song and I think it was well performed

Also, I LOVED the line “maybe we’re ready to be happy again” are you kidding me?? 🥺 that was SO SWEET. It’s just so simple but I think that’s how sibling relationships work. While there might be tough dynamics at times, for the most part, a lot of the relationships started off as simple. Playing together, little fights on the playground, getting tucked into bed by your parents. This line brings back the simplicity of who they used to be and the song reempahsizes that because it was her favorite to sing when they were little. It was just a well-worded speech from Maddox

“If you’re thinking of dancing, you’ll regret it if you don’t” MR CASWELL. ELTON JOHN. Do you have ANY idea the words you speak? Or do you just say words and hope they mean something? Because his emotional insight as of right now is about at a 0 🙄

And then he LOOKS AT GINA and walks out?? Either he knows he messed up big time or he really just could care less about making things right with her. I think both things might be true at this point. I didn’t even notice him leave this part until this second watch around. Elton john is who is gonna drive me insane song, that’s who

Ok seb chile like this song wasn’t even meant for them but they just ran up and took the mic and the seb decided to absolutely slaughter everyone else’s performance with his vocal run but slay ig

I made a post about this already but the lyrics they used to overlap this scene with gina being sad because the partner she was SUPPOSED to have the last dance with was ej. But as I noted earlier homeboy left. So when she looks, she sees ricky (also noted above that he’s already looking at her). “I can’t stay mad at you for anything” “we’re Venus and mars” (completely different planets- gina is change and ricky is stability), “the harmony to every song i sing” gina is the music in ricky which is why he has the rina cue every time he gets stronger feelings for her. There are LAYERS TO THIS. I want to scream from the rooftops how much I love this show and I still don’t think it would be enough

And then Ricky trying to cheer her up?? But then he’s probably thinking he hurt her when he didn’t dance with her and that’s why she isn’t reacting, so then he stops. But also technically he is still dancing at gina (not really with but I digress)… so this could be like him still showing up for her in the best way he knows how. He is such a silly, sad boy 😭 literally just a golden retriever it hurts so bad

Did you hear how Ashlyn said “we have heard… SO much about you?” Oooh i don’t know that Maddox’s feelings are unreciprocated 👀

RIP P*WELL 2B-3x7 YOU WONT BE MISSED

This entire scene is just gina stating was Rina’s have been saying since day one about why p*w doesn’t work

Timberly GETS it or else it wouldn’t be stated so explicitly in the show

He is putting everything, even this important scene where gina wants to check in, before gina. Her asking him to put the binder down was a lot bigger than maybe this scene is making it out to be. She’s been asking him to put his work aside all season and she just never comes first to it

And listen, I said I don’t want to talk about this too much and I don’t, but the age gap allegations aren’t out of proportion! I’ve seen people say the age gap shouldn’t matter. If they love each other they will make it work… which yes and no. But gina is literally stating IN THE SHOW that their ages and life stages are in completely different points. That EJ isn’t a camper anymore; he’s acting more like an adult/post camper in charge of the younger ones.

Then when ej tries to make a point that ricky is the problem (an argument I’ve seen) gina again says, it’s not about him! Because it isn’t. Ricky had been minding his own business and just being a good friend. In fact he put p*w first several times above his own desire to be with gina. He even did it IN THIS EPISODE in front of gina when she asked him to dance. She states that she just wanted a future with ej! That the problem lies within p*w’s relationship!

And then she NAILS IT ON THE HEAD with what Rina’s have said a million and five times. Gina is CHANGE. She doesn’t want maybe. She wants stability. Someone who shows up and stays. Not someone who keeps her on her toes and uncertain all the time.

And that they were great for five minutes at the beginning of the summer. They were only a honeymoon phase like Hans and Anna!

“Could it really be over if it never got a chance to start?” But when it is boiled down to it, there were no fireworks. There was no chemistry. The thing that they were hoping and searching for that would make them last was never there (which was stated last episode)

SEBS COMEDIC TIMING IM DONE. THE SILENCE IS SO LOUD

And then him just walking away 😭

I saw someone comment about how they were thinking about how long and how hard seb must have been searching for ej just to say that and that makes this part SO MUCH FUNNIER

This gives the same energy as when the whole cast was fighting and ricky completely unprovoked was like, “JET AND MADDOX ARE SIBLINGS???”

Not ricky dumping his traumas from s1 on a stranger 😩

Ricky is SO soft in this season. What an interesting parallel AGAIN to gina wanting to come first and ricky literally leaves his convo halfway through to chase after her and make sure she’s ok 😭 I’m so-

And then the show just stating the parallel to the homecoming dance. The only other parallel i wish they had was gina pouring a drink on ej 😔 maybe in another life

But this scene shows so much care and compassion from ricky. When she drops the things out of her purse and he just reassures her that it’s really ok while helping her pick up the mess she’s made (read that last sentence again there might be symbolism there). He just wants to help her feel ok about her feelings and that is soooooo

And not only here, but later on when he’s about to reveal his crush, he sees that she is vulnerable and it’s not a good time. If he was a jerk he would do it at the time because he would care more about his needs getting met. That HE was heard and he got this worry off of his chest. It would be s1 ricky behavior. But this time, because he sees that gina just needs him to be there for her, he puts his needs aside to make sure she’s ok. “Love is putting someone else’s needs before your own”-Olaf.

But also look at Gina’s face when he tells her he has something to say. And the tone of her voice? You can’t tell me she didn’t sound excited? Intrigued? I think she was hoping ricky might have opened up about his feelings tonight but again, he knew it was the wrong time and place. But when it’s the right time? Right place? The payoff is going to be SO GOOD. And she said thank you when he told her it can wait. Like she appreciated him not putting too much on her right now since it wasn’t the right time. I don’t think she’s upset at all about waiting for what he has to say here.

THE RINA CUE I’M- just wheel me away 😭 I’m not gonna survive this season

Also I think Dewey cutting in was our way of knowing that it could have been a kiss but I also think it wasn’t supposed to be heavily implied. They don’t lean into it or get close enough to have one. They just look at each other close and it’s in these shared moments that we can see that spark between them. I said this in another post but their shared looks are almost more intimate than a kiss and I think that says something about just how deep their relationship goes.

Kourtney’s song being a prayer is so beautiful. She has mentioned being religious before (singing at church) and so I think it’s sweet hearing her bring this part of her into her music

Also Dara wrote such a lovely song. I am really impressed by the writing and singing talents of this whole cast. They’re just so talented and it shows well in these deeper moments.

Kourt climbing the wall to overcome her anxiety is symbolic of else climbing the mountain to overcome her fear. She talks about how her ice powers live in fear and the way to calm them is with love. We see that the love kourt feels from the other girls calms her enough to climb the wall. ❤️

Ricky and carlos calling each other bro is something so special to me?

Also i like that ej was the one who dunked ricky with water. Idk it kind of made me feel like this was the show hinting at them possibly becoming friends… again? I know it’s been debated if they were or not but at the beginning of the season and a couple times last season it seemed like their friendship was starting to go somewhere. The scene when ricky comes in the cabin and they both say their night was confusing…. I kind of wish we would have seen a little more than that. A discussion about why could have been healing and bonding for them, but I understand with time constraints and the need for gina to tell ricky she broke up with ej why they didn’t. I’m just saying… it might have been a nice scene. I really do hope that now that p*w is bones, maybe ricky and ej can find a place to try to heal their hurt friendship again

“You’re one of us now” this was so?????? After her feeling so left out and distant from everyone it was really sweet seeing them verbally say that she belongs

Carlos explaining the show premise to seb 😭 this is the seb i missed sm!!!! Can’t wait to have him back next season ❤️

RICKYS GLEE AND HUG when carlos called him his hero 😭😭 you cannot tell me they don’t have the SOFTEST friendship in the world. I’m so obsessed with their dynamic!!!!

And now that gina feels better, ricky starts to tell her but then he’s sees ej so he backs off? He KNOWS they’re broken up, but he AGAIN doesn’t want to put his fear (or need) in front of gina when she’s already been through so much that night. His decision to just hold off was a HUGE sign of his growth… especially with how quick and on the spot he made that decision

I already talked about this a lot in an ask so I won’t get too deep into it but I have been bothered by gina saying “friendly fibs” are ok when she went off so much about how she hates liars? I think she had to say it so that ricky wouldn’t feel bad about walking around what he wanted to say for the sake of not stressing gina out on an already difficult night… but this line felt SO counterintuitive? Idk. I just found it a little off? I’d love to hear your guys’ opinions on it though

And you can’t tell me gina didn’t know where this convo was going. The lead up to it was ricky talking about WDYKAL and how intense it was romantically… like cmon. My girl might be a little heart broken but she’s not stupid. This is gina porter we’re talking about here. I’m just waiting for the “say it”, so he ACTUALLY states what he feels instead of dancing around it one of these days. (Maybe episode 8??)

I don’t feel like we’re going to have to wait until next season for the pay off with this plot (of ricky confessing his feelings because of the doc). It would be weird for them to make a whole plot around Ricky’s feelings and this documentary, as well as the scene in the bushes for a whole season- just for there not to be any conclusion to it this season. The seasons, while a part of a whole show, still act as complete stories within themselves. The documentary and summer camp are a complete story that needs resolutions that lead into potential cliff hangers next season. I think gina will find out Ricky’s feelings because of the doc but the cliff hanger will be that we won’t know hers and they won’t get together until next season. That wraps up the storyline this season but still rolls over into the next season to make the season feel more enmeshed with the show as a whole

Ok ricky don’t act so excited they broke up 😭 lmaoooo

The third “good night Ricky” of the show 😭 and then the look back???? Why are andi Mack plots making an appearance in hsmtmts?? Lol

I’ve seen some people say she looked back because she knew there was more and wanted him to say it and ricky didn’t because he thought that him fibbing had ended that problem. Which yes, could be. And also look at that smile on her face?? Ooh she knows there’s more and it’s some VERY good news for her

But either way, gina is going to find out about the doc, so fibbing doesn’t really resolve his issue, but maybe he found resolve in just letting it be instead of trying to get on top of it or fix it due to stress. Ricky you’ve grown so much my boy 😭

The “buckle up” was another parallel to “buckle up wildcats” 🥰 cuteeeee

Also what the h*ck is gonna happen episode 8? As I’ve said in another post, reviewers said they aren’t getting early access. Literally ALL of us are in the dark outside of a couple of screenshots and a title. We knew drama would be stirred up ep 5 but people still had access to it, so to me that seems like the show wasn’t AS worried if a review accidentally said too much. But where this is SO secretive and we know Channing and Corbin want MORE drama than before, me thinks this episode is going to be 3x5 on steroids. Even Sofia said there will be twists and turns we weren’t expecting. I’m freaking scared for 3x8 😂 but also hyped. If you have any guesses or predictions (spoiler free please!!) feel free to send them my way!

I love how much Tim is putting into the show even OUTSIDE of it. His care for making sure things go exactly the way they need to makes these episodes more exciting and thought provoking. I just feel more invested in this show than I have in one in awhile and that feeling is really nice ❤️

Gosh this was long!!! I didn’t think I had so much to say but I guess I lied hahaha enjoy ig if you make it this far!

#rina #ricky Bowen #gina porter #ricky x gina #seblos #seb #carlos #hsmtmts #high school musical the musical the series #Maddox #jet #ashlyn caswell #Madison #episode 7 #episode thoughts #rambles

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