So.

I just read Candy. I haven't touched Meat yet, and will do so tomorrow.

I'm seeing a lot of people who are upset and angry at the epilogues, and honestly? I liked Candy. The first 20 pages or so were hard to get through, especially THAT page, but once I got nearer to the end, I couldn't put it down. It feels like, (as dumb as it is to say this about epilogues,) Hussie is setting up for some really cool shit, and I'm super excited to see where things go from here.

There were some characterizations that people might deem as being out of place, but honestly? Oh wait uh, spoilers under the cut I guess.

Rose felt perfectly in-character for having all her Seer powers taken away, and seeing her happy for the first time ever was so fucking refreshing, she deserves it.

Kanaya as well. So happy, and I just wish we got to see more of her.

Dave and Karkat were perfect together, and I’m sad that they didn’t get together, but I suppose it’s okay considering that Karkat fulfilled his destiny of being a leader of an army, and Dave got the Big Plot Shit that happened to him, so in a way, the Dave we have now, DID get to spend eternity together with Karkat. (Also Dave’s eulogy was the most heart-wrenching thing I’ve ever read, I haven’t cried like that since... Homestuck.)

Jane was extremely upsetting. I don’t know if y’all read Bladekindeyewear’s blog, but they had a theorypost a long time ago about Jane’s ultimate fate as being the servant of Lord English, and that she’d take the new title of the Batterwitch, and in Candy, she essentially did. John totally lampshades it all by saying that she’s nothing like what he remembers his Nana as being, and I think if we get more to this story after this, it’ll be cool to visit what that essentially means for Jane.

Jake is a fuckhead, and I always hated him. And then Candy happened. Now that couldn’t be further from my feelings. He’s still by no means my favourite, but the chapter where Jane uh... Anyways, let’s just say I feel for him. And he opened up to John about his feelings, and not only did what he said make sense, it got John to finally get off his ass and try to be a good father which...

John. Jeez this kid messed up. He was unsatisfied with the way paradise was, and he still chose to stay in it because ??? His life starts off going exactly how he wanted it to go, where he married Roxy, and had a kid, and was a good dad, but he couldn’t get out of his own head that he had fucked up and everything was “wrong” somehow, so he ended up getting right back to where he started. LITERALLY! He went and hid in his old house before Jake and Tavros came and knocked some sense into his skull.

Jade is complicated. There’s some implications of some things I’m not going to get into, but besides that, honestly? She pretty much fits exactly the mold I’d have expected of her living in a society where she can do anything. She’s just doing whatever she wants, and a lot of that is sex, and I mean... Sure. I don’t like what she did to Dave or Karkat, but I think she literally didn’t realize that she was doing that. I think she genuinely thought she was doing them a favour, and she seemed happy with it all. I didn’t like what happened between the three of them as a result of her actions, but I also don’t think it was bad characterization or anything.

Vriska’s self-realization was really genuine, and I loved it. Also shoutouts to Vriska (Vriska) for the callback. Great meme 10/10

Aradia and Sollux were a nice reunion, even though they didn’t really... DO anything? idk, I’m always happy seeing happy!Aradia.

Callie uh... idk, she just effed off the face of the planet through the whole thing pretty much? I imagine she’ll be pretty important in Meat? Dead Jade was something that the story desperately needed, and that Callie gave us some super important information, and my brain is exploding just thinking about the implications of it all, and I fucking love it. I’m going to say it again I FUUUUUUUUCKING LOOOOOOOOVED THAT SHIT!

I saw the word “Obama” and went through literally every stage of grief, but ultimately it ended up in one of the best speeches in Homestuck, and legit made me think of one of my best friends who has almost said the exact same thing about gender and sexuality verbatim. And then it also lead to the hypest paragraph of text that’s ever been written.

“And then, time seems to stop altogether. As if the aspect itself has suspended its forward motion, bowing before the unprecedented transformation taking place. It defers to its greatest knight, risen anew. “ HELLO?!?!?! WHY ISN’T ANYBODY TALKING ABOUT THIS? IT’S SO FUCKING HYPE AND I CAN’T BELIEVE Y’ALL

Roxy. Roxy is my favourite character in the comic. She’s one of my favourite people ever. She continues to be that. That shit she said about gender? That’s some real shit. She’s fucking valid, and everything she did in Candy makes total sense given the context of what she said in her last talk with John. It’s totally not crazy to believe that she did all those things, and said all that, and felt those things.

We’re not going to talk about Dirk because there’s some shit going on that I literally don’t know enough about to have an opinion on. Maybe after Meat I’ll revisit Dirk in like a... theorypost? I’ve never made one of those before, but we’ll see.

Anyways, the Epilogue I read so far was a good read. I ultimately enjoyed the experience, and I’m honestly excited for Meat, and whatever new experience is in store after that. Candy made my brain happy in a way I haven’t felt in a really long time, and I’m thinking of making some theories about what happened here, and what it means for the future. It’s exciting.

Also if you read this without having read the upd8, first of all, what’s wrong with you? Second, please don’t read Candy if you’re not in a good headspace. There’s a chapter I described at the top of the post simply as “THAT chapter” and it goes into detail of a character making plans to, and actually committing suicide. It goes into detail about how the death felt, and it makes the whole thing seem as if it was a good thing. I am not okay with this chapter’s existence, and narratively, you could probably just skip that one and still get the same takeaway.

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Fear the Walking Dead (S03E03) TEOTWAWKI Airdate: June 11, 2017 @amc @amc-walking-dead Ratings: 2.504 Million :: 1.02 18-49 Demo Share Score: 7.25/10 @amc-fearthewalkingdead TVTime/FB/Twitter/Tumblr/IG/Path: @SpotlightSaga **********SPOILERS BELOW********** Ever start watching an episode and ask yourself if what you are watching is even the right series? That's how 'TEOTWAWKI' kicks off FearTWD's 3x03, in a bit of a complete mindfuck... And since that's exactly how we like our horror, I gotta say that this is exactly what we want from creators Robert Kirkman & Dave Erickson when it comes to this series. S3 started off with a 2-parter, the first of which was a complete mess... It did its job however and quickly moved the pieces and characters of a show that had felt largely displaced since the S2 mid-season finale, when all the characters were quite literally separated and repositioned. Part 2 raised the stakes and showed a new leader emerging to the family forefront. No not Jeremiah Otto (Dayton Callie), tho Jeremiah is quite the enthralling question mark with tension radiating from his being, unmatched to any other current character on the show... The reference belongs to Madison (Kim Dickens) who has grown from meek, frightened wannabe-humanitarian in S1 & S2 to strong, focused, matriarch at the start of S3. Her switch is so refreshing, it reminds me of my favorite aspect of TWD Universe, with the evolution of Carol over the course of 7-Seasons... Without her I'm not sure I'd keep coming back to the show again and again through rough patches of writing and that spacious chapterized-style storytelling that TWD has adopted and clung onto so tightly. FearTWD is no different, it's shown us that it can go up & down and back & forth, but that the viewer should show allegiance, because the reward is greater than the risk... The slow-burn and psychological & sociological heavy emphasis creates compelling television, period. Here we are, and in just 3-episodes it feels like like FTWD has literally leaped across the Grand Canyon. The set-up is REAL. The writers and creators, this episode specifically written by S1 'Revenge' contributor Ryan Scott, have positioned Matriarch vs Patriarch, or at least that's what I'm begging for it to eventually come down to. Nick (Frank Dillane) remains the family wild card, but seems to fall in line under the sudden soft-motherly authoritarian switch Madison has embraced, even attempting to sway Luciana to stay put and stick to the plan that Madison is forming. After all, 'some plan' is better than roaming with 'no plan', Nick should be very well aware of this firsthand. Alicia (Alycia Debnam-Carey) remains her mother's faithful, running off to what her mother thought was a Christian Rock band/teen bible study group. Alicia quickly finds out that Gretchen Trimbol's (Rae Gray) Bible Band is really an angsty get-together that resembles the most normal thing to teen life Alicia has probably seen in years, maybe ever. They smoke bongs and center their group in a basement that oddly resembles the one of 'That 70's Show', placing a zombie head in a birdcage named Jeff in the middle of their teenage pow-wow... Just consider him their post-apocalyptic, living-dead, magic 8-Ball... Only Jeff doesn't tell them their futures, but they do joke and speak for Jeff, which I can see taking a very hard and disturbing left turn. Sure, it's almost relieving and funny in a way for Alicia now, but there's something significantly unsettling about this whole picture. Teenagers can be dangerous, they haven't developed a good sense of empathy yet, which makes them borderline sociopathic... And in this environment, that's a terrifying thought. While the teenagers and Jeremiah Otto gain steam in the 'potential threat' department, Troy (Daniel Sharman) almost seems to be losing his menacing edge... Proving once more that where you start out in the TWD Universe isn't where you necessarily end up. That's not to say that Troy won't have some sort of relapse and engage in a psychotic break, but his almost overkill 'Dudley Do-Right' brother, Jake (Sam Underwood), and the revealing of the boys' now deceased, drunkard mother, Tracy Otto (Emma Caulfield), paints a picture of two boys that withstood damage and went separate ways in terms of psychological consequences. If one is ying and the other is yang, then underneath their surface lies an opposite of their light and dark essences... Meaning, I don't necessarily expect these two to stay in the positions that they currently hold forever. If anything, Jake is far more passionately devoted to his father than Troy. This may actually prove useful to Madison and her clan somewhere down the line. Irony can always be expected and absorbed in the realm of post apocalyptic, psychological horror. Victor Strand (Colman Domingo) is basically on another planet, riding around, searching for someone he shouldn't be... His former associate, Dante (Jason Manuel Olazabal). Strand has been running scheme after scheme since losing his money in Katrina and not all of his financial victims fell for his deep, silky voice and natural charisma like his late partner, Thomas. Dante was basically waiting for the man to show up, clearly excitable and boisterous on his arrival, showing off his ruthless tactics and liquid currency then threatening to throw him over a large dam and then actually throwing him in a cage. Remember folks, if a character doesn't die on screen, then they are most likely still alive. I've heard a lot of talk about Daniel being some kind of mirage, that's clearly not the case. I would have preferred to see some sort of fire damage to Daniel's face or body, though we may see signs of that later, but I guess showing that would immediately ruin the excitement and mystery of Daniel's sudden reappearance. FTWD continues to move into the right direction, now slowly positioning characters into their natural positions instead of tossing them where they need to go as quickly as possible as shown in the S3 opener. There's a lot of talk about ratings, which I have included at the top of the review. While it's true that FTWD has slowly tapered off from a massive start in S1, it's still doing quite well for a show on cable. It remains AMC's 2nd highest rated series on the network. Just because a show doesn't get TWD like numbers, doesn't mean that it isn't successful. It looks to me like FTWD has found its cushion, so to speak, and will most likely waver slightly above & below this current number, barring premieres and finales. Even dropping a few more points in the coveted 18-49 demo will not hurt this series one bit. FearTWD carries on...