#the action scenes felt so anticlimactic i just
Text
Finale Thoughts
The show stuck the ending far better than I thought it would and when compared to the preceding episodes it knocks it out of the park. That being said, I think because the bar was so low going in, that it makes this episode feel spectacular when really every episode should have done this well, at minimum.
Solo Lessons and Ares Battle
I'm so happy they included the one-on-one training sessions with Luke since its so essential to foreshadowing. I also liked the setting in the woods but why was it like autumn/fall in the flashback lol? However, I think that did unintentionally add a dreamlike quality to the scene which I did really like so whatever I'm here for it.
That being said I do wish these scenes were in episode 2/3 alongside the other chb stuff instead of being a flashback in the finale because it makes it just so on the nose that Luke's the traitor. However, the shot panning from Luke's extended sword to Percy's on the beach ate I can't lie.
Honestly it may have been interesting if they had established some of the solo lessons early on in episode 3 and then done periodic flashbacks to expand on them throughout the series. That way, its not so obvious that Luke's the traitor in the final hour and we also get cool transition shots and establishing that Percy is thinking about what he's learned from his lessons with Luke.
#Relieved that the Ares and Percy fight was not a single sword strike and then cut to black. Glad we had some action. Still think we should've pushed the limits much harder tho.
Oh but Percy's wave did go hard. They actually made the wave much bigger than what happened in the book and now I'm just sitting here wondering why we couldn't see some more of this instead of 10,000 cut to black scenes every time Percy uses his powers.
I wish we had gotten this Ares's reaction from the book when he lost: "The roar that followed made Hades’s earthquake look like a minor event. The very sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide." Show Ares's reaction seemed so anticlimactic in comparison.
And no curse???? huh??
I know Ares was like "we're enemies 4 life now" but the curse and dialogue from the book goes so unbelievably hard: “You have made an enemy, godling. You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware.”
Why couldn't show Ares say that??
Olympus, Zeus, & Poseidon
[Insert aw, she's ugly John Mulaney Meme]
sorry Olympus could've should've been prettier.
Like Olympus in the book felt a lot more wondrous and lush and colorful. But in the show it seemed so dull. Idk if its cause the "war's happening" or whatever it was just bland. a wash of dull-looking cgi and then an instant cut to the Big Palace.
Lance Reddick's Zeus was amazing tho. He had that godly presence I've been waiting for.
And Toby Stephens's Poseidon? oh I loved it.
I especially loved their conversation in greek.
I still wish however they would have done effects on the gods' eyes. Like glowing with energy or something when they get emotional. I felt like I was waiting to see electricity burst from Zeus when he was yelling at Percy.
And so it turns out that the reason why they changed it to Percy missing the deadline in the show was to create a situation in which Poseidon surrenders a war for his son.
And listen, if this scene existed in a vacuum I'd be so here for it. I guess a part of me can't fathom the solstice being anything other than a hard deadline. I enjoy the scene without context, within context I have mixed feelings about it.
But the "do you dream?" convo between Percy and Poseidon. Oh my god no notes. I loved it.
Some more book dialogue that I wish made it: “You did well, Perseus. Do not misunderstand me. Whatever else you do, know that you are mine. You are a true son of the Sea God.”
Luke's Betrayal
Okay here's where we get some high highs and low lows.
Some things I sincerely liked:
The setting. Fireworks going off in the background. The lantern illuminating the side of Luke's face with the scar. So visually nice.
Luke actively trying to recruit Percy! I've always joked that if Luke was just a little smarter he would have tried to persuade Percy to join his side rather than immediately kill him. And I do like that the show went this direction.
While I do mourn the loss of the scorpion them battling via swords is a great subversion of the sword mentor/mentee dynamic they share. It makes the scene tense and fast pace.
And its all of the above that makes me wonder why we didn't have more of this throughout the show: talking while battling, visually appealing and dynamic settings, unique visuals, etc.
I love how triggered Luke was at Percy's mention of meeting Hermes. I still hate how much Hermes introduction bogged down the show but damn if it didn't lead to one singular funny moment.
Percy getting a hit in on Luke and then immediately apologizing
"I didn't think you'd give the shoes to Grover." Oh that was cold.
Walker and Charlie deserve their flowers and more they were fantastic and carried.
Now things I DIDN'T like:
I don't like how Percy pieced it together with the information he did have... which honestly isn't a lot in the show? If he was going to figure out that Luke was the traitor I would've have had Luke show more of his bitterness like he did in the book. Like the fact the show never even mentioned Luke's failed his quest loses the entire element of Percy succeeding an "impossible" quest and being celebrated while Luke only got a scar and a chip on his shoulder from his failed one.
Luke's scar shoulda been worse idc.
Percy should have been mortally wounded. That's where we run into an issue with there being no scorpion because yeah, a fatal sword injury probably would've been a bit much to depict. I also 10000% think that Luke is enough of a baby to get his daddy issues triggered and then try to off Percy for it even if his original intention was to recruit him.
Also the fact that you see Luke raise his sword for a damning blow and then the very next day you have Percy like "I don't think Luke was trying to kill me." and Chiron agreeing? asdlkfjsdlkf WRONG.
Also, sorry, I don't like that Annabeth was there.
But if you're gonna have Annabeth there, her reaction to Luke betraying her and trying to hurt Percy should've been way more severe than a solemn "I heard everything."
She shoulda been crying, questioning, yelling even if she had suspected him. It's one thing to suspect it, it's another to see the person you consider your family to actually prove it true.
(And this isn't on Leah! It's 100% on the directors cause what was the thought process here? Her brother figure betrays her and she's like :/)
And sure, in the book Annabeth isn't actually all that surprised by Luke's betrayal when Percy tells her about it... but we also never got to see her initial reaction to it. Percy was out for 2 days.
Just, if book Annabeth had been there, she would've been so emotional and that's okay!! let Leah show off her chops!
Sally
I mourn book Sally. I mourn her arc. I mourn the power of Sally unapologetically petrifying Gabe with Medusa's head.
One of the most iconic storylines from the book and it was sanitized in the show to the point that it lost all sense and meaning.
Honestly one of the biggest disappointments of the show for me.
Other
I love the fact that a flower is the searcher's license for satyrs its just so silly and sweet.
I love Annabeth sincerely hugging Percy but also using it for strategizing purposes it feels very on point for her.
Also her braids at the end!! so sweet!
I am very very bitter that Percy didn't see the fates. This + the changes made to Sally's characterization and arc... the show truly doesn't get it.
216 notes
·
View notes
Note
Do you think about the whole Rick Prime thing? Did it kinda feel anticlimactic???
Yeeahhhhhh, but... I think that's the point!
At first, I was a little bit disappointed with how they handled the arc. I really thought Prime was going to be the Big Bad! Having the whole climax of C-137's arc with Prime as a mid-season episode felt oddly... dismissive? It was like it wasn't even a major event.
After sitting on this for a bit, I think I actually love how they've handled it. I think this is the first time I've really seen the show take something that perfectly fills a 'Television Run' format (i.e. big events at the ends of the seasons for cliffhangers, and so on) and subvert those expectations into something more like 'Real Life.' In my opinion, a lot of the show is shown as how characters involved view the events, especially in terms of tonality. That's why so much of the show fits these media formulas-- Rick views his life as a show.
I often refer to the majority of the show as 'Rick's Director's Cut' because we get events skewed from his warped perception of his own actions. (You can even think of 'Morty's Mindblowers' as Rick literally editing footage into a better story.) Of course, we see why he's sympathetic. As the viewer, we understand why he's doing what he's doing, even if we don't agree with it. He views himself as the 'sitcom dad'-- comically fucked up and abusive, but secretly caring. Rick believes that he's got just enough heart for his actions to be excusable, forgetting that the people he hides his intentions from aren't getting the 'full picture' like the viewer is. From Morty's perspective, Rick does these things for no reason-- unless you count not liking, caring about, or valuing Morty. Of course, we know that's not the case, but Morty doesn't. His family doesn't.
The Prime arc is fascinating to me because of the contrast between how Rick viewed it versus how it happened from the perspective of the viewer. Rick went into the Prime arc thinking it would be a massive, badass epic where the underdog comes out on top and the audience is satisfied with the conclusion. As the audience, this is probably the first time we haven't really been able to click with that, you know? It was unsatisfying, even for Rick, and now he's sort of saddled with, 'Oh, shit. This is real life. What comes next?'
Sure, they're little guys on our television screens. To them, though... that's real life. Real life is messy. Real life is unsatisfying. Real life is disappointing, the editing is sloppy, arcs aren't linear, and dysfunction and substance abuse aren't silly character traits.
The whole point is: What happens now?
In real life, what happens after your abusive parent passes away or you finally get revenge on the person who tore your life apart? In real life, what happens after you beat the shit out of the guy who assaulted you? Or after your dad apologizes for walking out on you?
There's actually a Malcolm in the Middle scene reminiscent of this concept. Francis was blamed by Lois from the time he was born for ruining their relationship. Throughout the entire series, his arcs deal with their broken relationship. When she finally apologizes, the pinnacle of his hopes and dreams-- the only thing keeping him alive, it doesn't help. It doesn't fix the years of psychological abuse he suffered, or the fact that he's as broken as he is because of her failure as a parent.
youtube
Another great example is in Adventure Time, when Finn thinks he's ripped Martin's arm off for causing him to lose his own. The revenge doesn't help. (Sorry, not digging for a link to the scene lmao.)
Those things aren't satisfying on their own. The fantasies and daydreams we barter through aren't feasible cures. That's real life. What happens afterward is what you do next. That can be a tough pill to swallow. There's no quick 'fix-all' for everything that's fucked you up. What helps? Hard work. Dedication. Time. Therapy. Grief. Acceptance.
Rick never really worked through the grieving process, you know?
There was Denial and Anger:
And where he got stuck... Bargaining:
After Prime's death? Depression:
Four decades later, we're finally on the cusp of Acceptance.
That's what that look into the hole was. That's what putting up Morty's picture was. That's what choosing to walk away was.
Acceptance.
In conclusion of my long-winded rant, I liked the Prime arc. Fits nicely into the season after the finality of 'Fear No Mort.'
Well done, writers.
Thanks for asking! <3
122 notes
·
View notes
Text
PERCY JACKSON TV SHOW REVIEW
(SPOILER ALERT! I Did Not Like It)
It has been 16 long years since I first picked up The Lightning Thief, and once again...I am faced with an adaption of one of my favorite books that is so painfully disappointing. And now that the tv show is completely out, it's time to purge the collection of thoughts I compiled on it:
Starting on one of the (few) positives, the cast was incredible. I know for a FACT that they are all wonderfully talented individuals, and I aim all of my gripes with their acting at the directors and writers.
So much telling. So little showing. Stop explaining the plot and the mythology to me. SHOW it to me. Explain later only when necessary.
And yet, some things weren't explained at all! I know, as someone who read the books, what blue food means to Sally and Percy. But the show never explains its significance. To the unknowing watcher, it's just a weird quirk, not a small rebellion between a woman and her kid against the life they're stuck in. It baffles me what the writers chose to over explain versus under explain. There's no clear reason for either behavior, and it permeates the writing in a bad way.
There's also a lot of the kids just being dragged from point A to point B by an outside force, rather than their own actions. They never really felt alone or even in danger on their quest, because gods kept showing up to help them along. I did not like that.
These kids aren't allowed to be kids. I stg you could make them teens or young adults and the dialogue/their actions would be the same. That's not good.
Why do they always have all of the information!!!?? They immediately know it's Medusa. Echidna introduces herself and they immediately know who she is and that it's a Chimera in her bag. They immediately know what the Lotus casino is. Why? It makes the stakes feel so low, rather than the mad dash scramble in the books that happens a lot when characters have to remember the myths and how to beat a monster mid-fight. And it makes all these scenarios so boring!!!
Also so many of the fight/chase scenes were boring or anticlimactic. The only good ones I can think of were in the first two episodes, and then one with Ares. Someone actually slipped in some good choreo in those few fights, but completely forgot to add it in to....the rest of the show....
There's very little about the show that feels magical. CG is used, obviously, but at times it feels like they should've gone further with it, or used it even more, and they just....didn't. The visuals end up feeling clunky and not very cohesive, with zero whimsy. Hate to make this comparison, but the Harry Potter movies were VERY good at showing the lines between the magical world and the muggle world, and the tension that occurs when the two interact. There is....none of that in the PJO series. Zip. Zero. And the mythological CG that is there is more often than not static or boring.
Break for a positive! I actually really liked that Percy was learning mythology from Mythomagic. The show wasn't really consistent on that point - saying it was his mom instead most of the time - but that was such a fun and clever way to work in the card game and make it plot-relevant. As someone with ADHD, I can confirm I would also learn mythology WAY better if it was for my favorite game.
Ok back to the negatives - Wtf is up with the portrayal of the gods? For one, they're boring to look at. Nothing about their designs makes them feel 'godly' and while that's ok with some gods (Hermes for one, tho I have issues with his weird beige sweat suit look) why is Ares just some regular ass biker dude? Where are the flaming eyes?? And radical skin-leather bike?? He couldn't even have a CUSTOM bike with red bloody paint and boar heads and chain link handles or something???
And the gods are way too fucking nice. Sorry. I don't have an issue with Hermes being nice but. Ares having a heart-to-heart with Grover? When his presence is supposed to stir everyone up into a rage? And Hephaestus sees Annabeth refuse to give up on her friend and just goes 'awww, ok, you and Percy can go, and take my rival's shield back to him too cause I'm just so nice.' Sorry, no. I'm fine with gods being helpful - Hephaestus helps (reluctantly) in the later books. But it was at a price! A favor for a favor! Not a 'get out of jail free' card just because he was moved by normal ass human compassion!!
Hades gets his own bullet point because who the fuck was that. As a child of Hades, I'm offended that this sweet fruity guy just wanders up and goes 'hey, how's it going, wanna snack?' like, that is NOT my dad. My dad had skeleton soldiers filling his halls and a garden of jewels and a voice so loud it rattled the whole Underworld. Whoever that was in the show was a pathetic imitation.
The point of the first series is to work up to Percy throwing it in the gods' faces how awful and neglectful they've been of demigods and specifically their own children. Demanding that they do better. But if they're already showing compassion and 'humanity' in the context of the first book/first season of the tv show....Percy starts running out of ammo against the gods. There's no coherent story progression where Percy spends years seeing the worst of the gods and the best of them at very distinct, important times of his life and his story. It no longer feels like a massive change they have to make in the system, something that deserves a godly favor for Percy to demand of them. Luke no longer feels like his fury at the gods is wholly justified. The whole series begins to crumble because the gods already have a good reason for being how they are, rather than being thoroughly selfish assholes who only dote on demigods when they do something really cool. And the exceptions are presented at intelligent moments that prove to Percy when he most needs it that the gods can be better, they just need a forceful push to get there.
That being said, where was Percy getting the info that the other gods were feeling scared and abused by Zeus? I love the balls on this kid, but like...when did he make these assumptions and why? That whole scene felt really unearned.
Also Olympus was BORING. And EMPTY. And DARK. It looked like we were just back in the Underworld. Which. The Underworld was fucking boring too. Some neat visuals, sure, but put that in some high fantasy show. Not this one.
One last positive before my final point - there were some pretty good jokes scattered around. Not nearly enough, but I did really enjoy the Dionysus introduction and a handful of lines from Percy. Also releasing the animals in Vegas - Grover being like 'oh, you were worried about the humans' got me good.
The final word that kept spinning through my head after finishing episode 8 was: Pathetic. Luke's betrayal was pathetic. No deadly scorpion. No commitment to that period of time in the books we were convinced he really was evil. And Gabe just stumbling on the package with Medusa's head in it? PATHETIC. Percy outright asked his mom if she was being abused in the book, and she took fate into her own hands to statue-ify that bastard. But no. The show was through-and-through just a pathetic, watered-down version of an incredibly fun, emotional, brutal, exciting series of books. I know there was a lot of heart behind this production, but I did not feel it at all. But what else should I have expected from modern Disney?
#i could probably go on for years but#i am tired#and already went through this once with the movies so#now i merely wish to expel my thoughts and then let the memory of this show fade from my mind
55 notes
·
View notes
Text
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR OFMD S2 EP6-7 under the cut
Ok, that was A LOT. I have so many feelings but no coherence so i'm gonna do this bullet point form but def not in order, just in order of me remembering wtf happened lol
-IZZY AND WEE JOHN IN DRAG!!!!! Wee John looked STUNNING with that Divine-esque appearance and Izzy had that transmasc drag king kind of thing going on (iykyk) that made me love him even more
-Izzy singing LA VI EN ROSE took me tf out!!! i'm glad he got to finish it after the *ahem* distractions bc Con's voice is so beautiful I could listen to it forever. We better get it in the album!!! Also someone posted the lyrics translated and i cannot get over the lyrics:
"It's him for me,/And me for him, for life/He told me, he swore to me, for life"
-But not only was he singing the second half had fucking gentlebeard doing the dirty in the next room asdfghjkl which.....was hot, ngl. The passion was electrifying. I'm sorta glad we didnt rlly see it with everything that happened after bc it all kinda left a bad taste in my mouth.
Also Stede Bonnet canonically gets turned on by violence confirmed
Or trauma. Whatever.
-What else happened in ep 6 cause all i can think of is drag and singing and sex-
-oh yeah there was that shortlived sexually-charged torturer who i distinctly recall him being in another scene in the promo so unless that got the cut perhaps he's not dead...?
-Lupete missing all the action cause they were doing the nasty all night lmao so real
-Jim best wingman (gender neutral)
-Stede...Stedey boy, can I call u that? Now i'm gonna say this nicely, but WHAT THE FUCK DUDE? Stede in his white guy w undue confidence era fr. Zheng Yi Sao was so right for what she did truly
-But in all seriousness i feel like this whole thing in ep 7 was such a parallel to s1 but also a very necessary bit of conflict in their journey together that was bound to happen. THey want different things and neither is wrong or right for that. Stede did react poorly tho but like he just had sex w the love of his life, his first man, and Ed the very next day is like "aight i'm out". I'd be pissed too. After killing someone which we know is a big trigger for him historically.
But Ed also had a valid reaction. He's wanted to retire for a while and stede knows this but it hasn't seemed to have sunk in quite yet. He fears that Stede only sees Blackbeard and...its fair of him to have that impression tbh. These are two messy, traumatized dudes who have never had a real relationship and there's gonna be bumps. I hope we get s3 so we can better explore that like Djenks wants.
-Ok back to the fun stuff:
-Izzy barging in on GB and the docking joke. love his cringefail ass.
-IZZY IS HAPPY FOR ED EVEN IF ITS NOT WITH HIM
#growth
-the edizzy apology which was so typical of them. i expected it but bc i'd been building it up in my head all week w twitter pals it felt a bit anticlimactic but thats not the shows fault. it was very much in character and if they're satisfied so am i. i always have fic for more
-stizzy commiserating over losing ed pls thats all i've ever wanted!!!!!
izzy: "when i told him i loved him he-"
stede, like he's heard this story before: "shot u yes"
and the look they gave each other after!!!!! stizzy nation how we feelin?!
-izzy being like "stede no" when he was on his macho bullshit w zheng yi sao (also motivated by trauma bc he just lost ed, he cant lose MORE family!!!). i just like how protective iz seems of stede now.
-izzy''s "you're good for him" CRYING THROWING UP ETCETERA
-ed catching 1 fish and deciding thats his life now. adhd realness fr
-the swede whew is it hot in here or is that just jackie's effect on her husbands?
-jackie and ed actin like old friends. swede highkey shading ed adfghjkl
-anyway im sure there's more but i need to rewatch. there r things i wont go into bc its possible spoilers for the finale (tho its mostly just speculation some is based on bts not everyone may have seen). i am looking forward to and terrified for the show to end next week thats all i'll say
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hazbin Hotel 7-8 (Spoil McNoil)
Hazbin Hotel is indeed not an action show.
But at least they tried to have some action.
Should they have tried tho?
(I'm gonna start out ripping, but, I don't hate this show, it's actually pretty funny that does some things super well but then just bumble fucks other big moments)
I mean, here's the thing, they're great at street fights, apparently. Vaggie vs Lute was pretty brutal, I felt like I was watching two bird tear eachother apart. Like a scene out of Gardians of Ga'Hoole.
But the ninja anime fantasy, martial arts type stuff was pretty weak, and didn't really track as something the characters would utilize. Like, Alastor is a cannibalistic voodoo serial killer from 1930's New Orleans. And twice before we've seen Alastor grow and contort to intimidate, kill, etc. But he doesn't do any of that against Adam except for that one aesthetic moment. Instead it's got generic "Tentril powers, GO!" vibes. Husker and Charlie also have this problem. Why is an American Gambler using cards like ninja stars? He can fly dude-- or, can he?
Can Husker fly?
And Charlie- like, she has a sheild, but she can only really use it to protect herself :/ Like, girl, just go inside.
Lucy beating the shit out of Adam was cut so short, Like, 2 secs and 4 punches b4 Charlie goes "DAD STOP ITS TOO MUCH"-- no, let Lucy COOK; I think it would have actually been an interesting point to make on how the reason Lucifer gives for discouraging the Hotel is sinner's being "The Worst", yet here he is clearly having a fit of violence (an understandable one but, Charlie, who's never even been to heaven except for a bs court hearing, has to remind a high-ranking angel to have mercy.) Charlie, razz and Dazz transforming didn't really do anything-- it actually felt more like a game of thrones reference, which would be fine if Razz or Dazz DID anything except die. They also didn't explain Carmilla's motive for helping them well. Like, neat entrance, but the build ups to the pay offs didn't exist :,O
And the voice acting: These guys are great singers, but the noises they make when they get hit, their mid-battle dialogue, is so corny and tonally off for certain characters. Like, Alastor and Charlie's yells in particular are- pardon my accent but cringe af.
Charlie in particular has so many anti-climatic moments. If they meant for her to not be particularly good at fighting, maybe establish that and not have all these super dramatic badass magical girl moments that just lead to her getting dunked on. It was so anticlimactic jeezuz christ.
And really it's more about picking a tone, the anti climactic moments could have been funny if they framed it as a funny moment or a joke, but it's framed seriously so it's read seriously.
But, who doesn't bumble fuck around how to end something though. I've read some juicy, golden touch stories that really freaked out on the gas and steering at the end. So, this isn't anything uncommon, especially for relatively new creators.
They have flaws, who doesn't. I loved so much about this show even when my first impression going in was just cringing at it not being what I expected. This is a critique of love, guys, I genuine wish the best for this show, bc it's apparent that when Viv has the freedom and breathing room she needs to plan and pace, she can cook up a good ass goddamned meal (See: Helluva Boss, Season one). This was them crunching and smushing a ton of story and moments into too-few episodes, which, looking back could have been done better, but its easy to see how something can be better once it's done and out in the world. (See: literally any amature artist 2 seconds after posting their work)
The season finale ended with so many good set ups tho! :D
Lilith vacaying in heaven, having made a deal with Adam.
Alastor becoming desperate for a way out, having made deals with Vaggie and Charlie-- And far more explicitly there against his will. Also--is a future antagonist?
Yes PLEASE. I love that they showed Al loosing his shit through his eyes even with the smile he's always wearing. And they built this up before hand having him talk previously about wearing a smile, basically as a mask.
PENTIOUS
YOU REDEEMED FU-
(I was actually cringing at Pentious the entire time inep 8, I'm sorry but he's so hard to take seriously-- even his "death" was funny as hell. I love him but its like how someone loves a clumsy puppy that destroys your house without neither malice nor remorse)
Also: The exorcists switching leaders- I am wondering how things are gonna change with them, especially given how much more sadistic and violent Lute is. Like, Adam just liked laughing at sinners. He saw them as insults to his existance, his mini-me hates and seems like she just enjoys violence and malice, using ego and "they deserve it" narratives as an excuse to indulge in acts that ordinarily would lan someone in hell.
Overall-- Not the best season finale I've ever seen, execution-wise through these 8 episodes (like, Vaggie got her wings learning to fight for love, but she's been doing nothing but supporting and protecting Charlie this whole time. There was no hint that she was bitter or wanted revenge). They definitely needed to pace and build things better but there's so much to love. Like, Seeing Alastor in his element with Rosie and Nifty was so fun, even if they were small moments (his laugh is so stiff tho, c'mon Al.)
The finale did a good job setting up the future, but I don't have much more to say than that. Hopefully, now that they know they're getting a second season, they'll just, breathe on this one a bit more ya?
I'm glad I watched it, I cried, I laughed, I cringed, I yelled at Pentious for subjecting me to second hand embarrassment. It's great :,D
Also- I hope he doesn't read this and takes it the wrong way, but Vox reminds me of my brother-- Especially with the scenes where he's watching the battle :,D
#hazbin hotel#spoilers#alastor#alastor the radio demon#charlie morningstar#it was ok#season 1 finale#brownthoughts00
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
NIMONA SPOILERS
Ok ok this was one BANGER way to end pride month. The queer rep and overall queer allegory is such a win for us.
Anyways moving aside from that I love how all the characters actions were believable and make sense instead of them just acting to move the plot. As the audience we all realize that what happened to nimona was unfair but it makes sense why ballister and ambrosius would act like that (the brainwashing and manipulation was written so well). It also makes sense why every other character would act like that based on their ideologies including the director (still fucked up though). I'm pissed at gloreth to an extent too but I get it, she was just a kid and kids are easily influenced. Still the whole scroll thing is another story.
Also THE TWISTS I thoughts I'd figured out the twist when I felt off about the director but then a whole other series of twists with nimona and gloreth unfolded which made everything make way more sense.
The parallels in nimonas flashback scene to what happened between ballister and ambrosius and also to what happened between nimona and ballister. All the emotional moments also hit me like a truck full of the world's heaviest bricks. It's so well written and relatable.
Speaking of relatable, I relate to nimona so much. It's that feeling of being outcasted and that changing from just a kid to being just, angry. It's honestly a miracle nimona ended up that nice. Also the line, “I don’t know what’s scarier. The fact that everyone in this kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart or that sometimes I just wanna let ‘em.” Like HELP. It's like that feeling that you hate those thought bt you help but feel it. It's not like you want to kys but you wouldn't mid being killed. I relate to her way too much to be good for me. Like having this chaotic personality and going into anger in a breakdown because no you're not going to cry over the past. When you let your guard down for once you just end up feeling betrayed all over again and it hurts. I'm healing and opening up myself so I think nimonas finally getting that too.
Her dynamic with ballister was everything to me. I'm a sucker for found family and my senses were tingling. That patch up scene had me ready to burst. I love how they defend eachother and how ballister slowly starts becoming more chaotic (aka fun).
I have a many mixed feelings about the ending cause I genuinely cried when I thought nimona died and while I'm happy she's back it makes the whole thing feel a bit anticlimactic. I feel like her death was impactful and bringing her back is kind of an eh move. Not mad though.
The animation, style, voice acting and basically the whole production was just 👏👏👏👏👏
Overall this was a very good movie and i hope disney is kicking themselves over dropping it. Usually I have mixed views on netflix but today I love them very much for allowing this movie to see the light of day.
27 notes
·
View notes
Text
percy series ep 3 thoughts
so you can't rate shows on letterbox'd so i'm going to log my pjo thoughts here: (spoilers for ep3) (watched 27 dec 2023)
oracle scene was funny. for all the show onlys, it seems as though grover is the one kind of being built up as the character who's going to betray percy (at least in the beginning of this ep), which is an interesting choice.
on the action sequences (part 1): i do think the action sequences are pretty lackluster. when i rewatched the percy jackson lightning thief movie, the action and violence and reactions seemed very proportionate - like, the appearance of a horrifying monster actually had impact, whereas i feel like in the show, the pacing and choreography make it seem pretty banal.
the fight with the fury on the bus was uninteresting and didn't seem like much of a fight at all. annabeth's supposed to be quick and athletic and a really skilled knife fighter (skilled enough that she can even use a knife as her primary weapon instead of a sword) but there so far hasn't really been any proof of that. i'm willing to be a lot more generous though because the actors are very young and the target audience is clearly much younger than i am as well, and it's obvious that for those reasons they're trying to avoid violence/body horror/gore. however, the fight scene with clarisse in ep 2 was incredibly well-shot and choreographed, and it had action and movements that felt real and impactful, so i don't know why they don't try to achieve the same things with the other fight/action sequences.
on medusa: i was so interested by the way they were going to decide to portray medusa's story, especially because of sally's comment in ep 1 to percy about perseus being a hero because 'he killed monsters' like medusa: "who said she was a monster?"
i loved em's line: "the gift the gods gave me is that I cannot be bullied anymore," which initially insinuated to me that this adaptation of medusa is the one who was sexually assaulted by poseidon in athena's temple, so athena made it so no man could pull that with her ever again, but then they went with the "athena decided I embarrassed her and needed to be punished" story which i kind of feel like isn't totally consistent with the "gift" narrative? i mean they can be mutually exclusive in that what may have been originally a punishment from a god can be taken as a gift since she has to live with and make the best of it, but when medusa called herself "a survivor" and talked about "bullies" (a term that makes sense in the context given that it's a kid's/middle grade show) i will admit i was hoping it would go a different direction. alternately though if she were a SA survivor i don't know if killing her would have been the right move in the end lmao and ik they had to kill her for the plot.
i do think there was a more overarching message of the importance of understanding the unheard/unrepresented sides of stories as well as the lesson for annabeth that the gods aren't infallible and morally just but are petty and vindictive and cruel and humanlike. so i think the story was dealt with pretty well, all things considered.
on medusa and the action sequences (part 2): again, i think medusa's death scene was pretty anticlimactic. (this is not because i see them as adaptations of equal quality or even on the same playing field at all, but again,) to compare it to the pjo:tlt movie - the movie's medusa fight scene had a lot more impact; the tension and fear and stakes felt a lot more heightened and real while still being quite comedic/entertaining.
cool idea, in the show, using the hat to turn medusa invisible, but again, i wasn't ever actually convinced that the characters felt scared, under pressure, winded/tired after fighting, or even emotionally scarred by the intensity of the moment/having to decapitate someone. while all of the other scenes portray high emotions very impactfully and earnestly (i.e. sadness, wistfulness, loneliness, hurt/comfort), i have yet to be convinced that any of the demigods have been even a little bit frightened of any of the monsters, from the first fury attack at the met, and this unfortunately makes the stakes seem much lower.
while i understand the focus of the show is on character building (mainly through the dialogue), i don't see why the fight/action scenes can't be just as visually compelling and impactful. the emotional tension between the characters and the depiction of each character's internal conflicts, while powerful, can only do so much if the plot itself isn't supporting those developments, and I feel like the addition of the action sequences in the books serves to elevate the storyline to match the emotional stakes. they can tell the story as much as they want thru voice-over and dialogue, but the characters' physical actions represent just as much about the characters and their choices and motivations as their direct interactions with each other. i think maybe some of this stems from not wanting the story to be misinterpreted or to in any way resemble the movies, but you have to trust your audience. you can't just say everything explicitly, and if you do have to, then i don't think a tv show is the right medium in which to tell the story, which is typically my main issue with book-to-movie/tv adaptations.
anyway, while this seems like a lot of criticism, it's really only that one overarching problem that stands out to me. i obviously love the source material and (anyway would argue that i have to love it in order to want to think about it this much) the show itself, and the actors, and this has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with the fact that it's extremely extremely obvious how thought-out, how deliberate every single minute detail is. if there's one thing at all that matters to me, it's creators who care about their work, and this is a perfect example of ones who do.
on tv show percabeth: BRO "I CHOSE HER 'CAUSE I COULDN'T IMAGINE WE'D EVER BE FRIENDS" ???? FUCKING INSANE THING TO PUT IN THE SCRIPT LIKE?? they were NEVER this explicitly antagonistic toward each other in the books holy FUCK i mean. this drastically changes the trajectory and future impact of the slow-burn. the books were strangers to friends to lovers - maybe strangers to annoyances to friends to lovers if we're being generous, but the show is really going for that enemies to lovers arc huh. the fan edits are gonna go so fucking crazy once we start getting toward the final 2 books. and for them to only have one itty-bitty kiss midway thru botl with no emotional catharsis or resolution until the tail end of tlo? we're all gonna be absolutely frothing at the mouth for it when it finally finally finally comes around.
excited for next week!! i've been dying for the st. louis arch scene.
#pjo#percy series#percy jackson#walker scobell#leah sava jeffries#review#episode 3#analysis#thoughts
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
so din becomes a cop at the end 😐 he starts working for the new republic. he… truly would NOT do that but. the writers did that. they made him a fucking cop.
honestly if people genuinely enjoyed the season, i’m happy for them. i’m not going to shame someone for enjoying something, but i wish there was a safe place to properly express my frustration at it without people coming out to defend the horrible writing and characterization. like god forbid that i ACTUALLY have opinions… damn.
making din a landowning cop was just so wrong. like i’m glad he got to settle down with grogu and thank god there’s no dinbo- but the finale felt so. sad. like it just wasn’t as amazing as it could’ve been. sure there were cool moments, but how the writers progressed the plot was anticlimactic and it was just so disappointing. i had so many high hopes for this season and the writers went fuck all and decided to make this season just as marketable as possible. istg we’re gonna start seeing ig-12 and grogu toys with stupid “yes” and “no” buttons. that’s DISGUSTING. and then they brought back ig-11 in the finale. like was his sacrifice NOTHING to you? was his death not enough for you guys to respect him? just because he’s a droid does not mean you can just fuck around with his corpse and bring him back. it’s always “respect the dead” until it’s a droid. blah blah “droids aren’t real people” it’s still borderline if not outright racism.
moff dying was sad. he kinda just stood there as fire exploded around him. i think there could’ve been better ways for him to go. the way he died in the finale left a LOT of opportunities for him to come back (like anakin after mustafar). him crushing the darksaber was also anticlimactic. it happened in half a second. as much as i’m glad the saber is gone, i think we could’ve explored SO much more with it’s lore and it’s force sensitivity or we could’ve seen it used better in action before it had to go.
also what the fuck was that “i’m going to deal with them myself” and then he WAITS and doesn’t appear until AFTER din destroys all his clones and fucks everything up. WHAT WAS HE DOING?? was he just standing there behind the door practicing his big villain monologue? that was stupid.
good for the armorer and bo-katan for their forge ceremony, that was really nice :) also koska fighting was super badass i actually loved the choreography. axe woves my MAN you were cool.
what i didn’t understand was what the hell happened to the sickly people that the armorer brought back up to the fleet. did they just. forget? what happened to them?
there was a scene with plant life growing on mandalore after the purge and it was fucking awful. it was supposed to be all “hopeful” and “meaningful” and they said “they just needed room to grow :)” like BITCH was satine NOTHING TO YOU? you don’t even have to like satine to know that it was utter bullshit and that satine would’ve JUMPED at the opportunity to help grow gardens of indigenous plant life. not just that- but the whole season REFUSED to bring up satine’s name at all. like NOTHING. truly NOTHING. just to erase bo-katan’s horrible past and to make her seemingly all innocent and the one who was being manipulated the whole time. i LOVED bo-katan in the clone wars because she was a horrible person. it made her INTERESTING. but this season just erased that to make her “honorable” and deserving to rule. good for her i guess 😐.
was paz’s death NOTHING to you as well? not even a fucking mention- not even a “your father would’ve been proud” to ragnar. did they never retrieve the body since the base blew up? and also din beating those red dudes with grogu in comparison to paz fighting by himself was so frustrating. paz deserved better.
the whole fandom is being so fucking annoying over “din grogu ahhhhh!!!!” like just CALM down and LISTEN. there are MANY naming conventions in the world. in my culture, incorporating your fathers name into your name is COMMON and completely normal. din’s first name is probably still din, not djarin. it’s not that deep, it’s probably just how their culture refers to clan/apprentices etc. for the love of god it’s not that deep. think outside of your own way of life for a moment. it’s fucking star wars.
i have so many opinions about this season and it’s hard to just put it all out at once. i truly TRULY don’t want to be a hater, but i just can’t help but express my frustration at the writing. i’m glad that SOME people enjoyed it, but i definitely didn’t.
#star wars#the mandalorian#din djarin#bo katan kryze#the armorer#grogu#koska reeves#axe woves#paz vizsla#ragnar vizsla#moff gideon#ig 11#satine kryze#oil.#the mandalorian critical#mandalorian critical
22 notes
·
View notes
Text
Sometimes I think about my ideal Batman story, in which the Joker is killed by some nameless random Gothamite in the middle of a scheme with no build-up whatsoever, no mystique, just some henchman who he's turning on just saying "fuck it" and shooting him or some hostage managing to get free and then hit him repeatedly with their own chair until he doesn't get back up. It's quick. No one stops them. They're all too shocked it's working to stop them, and at the end of the day, EVERYONE wants that clown gone. That's the first action sequence and it's done by the end of issue one, preferably even at the three-quarters mark. (As far as I can tell he is considered dead at the moment, but it was climactic and showy and while he presumably exploded we all know he'll be back and probably be revealed to have never died at all somehow, and I want him dying in the most anticlimactic way possible.)
The rest of the arc's just dealing with the fallout. We see his body at the coroner's and confirm it is disposed of (thoroughly and in secret, so there's nowhere for assholes to visit or necromancers to try and resurrect.) People across Gotham throw parties. Some people OUTSIDE Gotham throw parties. Batman is in the cave making sure literally every means of resurrection is NOT available to the Joker, thank you VERY much, because he gets to be JUST shy of fourth wall-aware and therefore recognizes this is never going to stick and he'll be back as soon as the next writer comes on. No alternate universe versions are able to come through. There is no DNA from which to clone him. It wasn't a body double, a Doombot, or an elaborate illusion. He has been 100% confirmed to be 100% dead like three times in this issue alone. No time traveling Jokers to account for. Everyone else thinks Bruce is overreacting but when the Joker does inevitably come back ideally Bruce does get a scene being utterly unsurprised because on some level he understands that he is stuck with this fucking clown forever no matter what he does.
We get a mention that the random Gothamite IS put on trial for murder but it's unanimously ruled self-defense. This is the one circumstance where I'm willing to give this Gothamite a name. It is important to me they never appear again after this. They are here to kill the Joker and then recede back into the crowd.
Because the point is that the Joker dies like a fucking loser, because he's not some unkillable mastermind force of chaos, he's just a clown whose biggest win was killing a twelve-year-old, a feat he only got away with at the time because of an incredibly convoluted and even MORE incredibly racist plot point about him somehow getting named an Iranian ambassador. (No, seriously. That happened. It is every bit as terrible as you're thinking. There's a reason why adaptations cut it, but it's TELLING that the writers felt the need to come up with this contrived reason for why the Joker could kill Robin and live to tell the tale so they wouldn't have to utterly BREAK Batman as a character whether he breaks the rule or not.) Jason Todd is alive again. His second biggest win was shooting someone I'm pretty sure he didn't know was a superheroine, which was entirely incidental to his desire to torture her father which was ITSELF incidental to his desire to prove a point to Batman. And I have the DEEPLY mixed feelings of a disabled person who thinks Barbara Gordon's treatment in TKJ and especially editorial's approach to it was atrocious but who still deeply appreciates Oracle as a wheelchair user and such a nontraditional superhero, but ultimately: Yeah that's no longer a win for him, either.
So the Joker dies, it's made entirely clear that he is dead, he dies in a way that underlines how fundamentally pathetic he is and how fundamentally RIDICULOUS it is no one in Gotham did it before that point (because if you're going to die either way, why not go down swinging?), everyone celebrates, eventually even Batman's hypervigilance is appeased enough to eat some cake, and we get a good few years without that fucking clown everywhere until he inevitably returns. Hopefully by that point, everyone in reality considers how absolutely BORED they are of the Joker as some Ultimate Evil Super Successful Murder Clown of Doom, and when he does come back it's a version who's much more funny than scary.
Yes, my favorite episode of BTAS is Joker's Favor, but I don't think that changes the fact that the clown is overplayed and that having villains around who routinely kill is just narratively and objectively a bad choice to put with a character who you're defining by "does not kill". Like, you as the writer are weakening your own central thesis and then you have to come up with elaborate justifications why Batman Not Killing is right (because these comics are nominally still being sold to children, and also editorial will never let you ACTUALLY do it) when you could just solve the problem by not having the villains Batman fights routinely kill people. Knock it off. Yeah it's unrealistic but superheroes are inherently unrealistic, and yes, I'm including Batman, do you KNOW how much any given injury writers consider routine ACTUALLY fucks you up long-term?
Don't even get me started on Victor Zsasz.
Anyway I saw DC's doing a Joker Year One next year and just wanted to get that off my chest. Carry on.
#long post#racism#swearing#death#batman#the joker#dc comics#I don't even go here really I understand the fundamental nature of the Big Two as entities#I just feel very strongly that the Joker should die a death lacking any and all narrative gravitas#and then stay on the shelf along with all Joker-alikes for a minimum of five to seven years after#because writers are too invested in him as scary and iconic and The Ultimate Big Bad of the DC Universe and no. Fuck that noise. Kill him.#the endless escalation doesn't make him seem cooler it just undercuts your entire point. Also it's gotten old.#go play with all the other toys in the box for a while.
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
I'm..... torn on that Shogun ending. it was VERY satisfying in a VERY unconventional way that i appreciate the more i sit on it. but i was left very unsatisfied with other elements of the story that i think they could have done just a hair better with.
one, i would have liked a little more indication of how much time had passed between events. i legit have no fucking idea how long anything took except the overarching story itself. there definitely wasn't enough time spent on some important bits nor enough time for the audience to really sit with and absorb some of the more powerful moments. i was left wanting so much more in that regard, and had a very hard time being emotionally invested in the things i should have been.
secondly, the romance was just eh. i think it was well done, especially in the context of this time period, but again the lack of time spent on people and in certain moments really hindered that. i need to read the book tbh i'm sure there's so many little things throughout it we simply didn't get to see. but there just weren't enough.... influential moments between them to sell there was more than a bit of lust and fondness. and then when the big moments did happen that were meant to sell it, i couldn't buy into it. idk how to explain it other than nearly the entirety of the show it felt very shallow and more like they had a crush on each other and then ep 9 comes in with a wrecking ball of some hella deep emotion and love out of nowhere. i can tell they meant to build them up for that particular moment to hit as hard as it was intended but it just completely missed the mark for me. but, again, i think that ties into the way time was handled and not so much the way the romance itself was.
I'd have liked just a TINY bit more action. Just a smidge. a crumb more. and not even necessarily in the sense of fighting. A scene of anjin being a clumsy but serious oaf trying to learn how to use his katana properly after that scene with yabu and buntaro for example, would have been great. hell, get mariko in on it to correct his form and turn up the heat between them a little more. sure, her weapon is a naginata but she's still know the basics he doesn't. and it bothered me immensely he was never shown to be WTF about her being a Very Skilled Fighter when, yknow, european women are not, at all. Or, idk, let this master pilot of ships actually have more chances to show off his skills they talk up for the duration of the show. idk, there just needed to be like two or three more small scenes of something else happening.
for all the ways lady ochiba was built up, she ended up being such a letdown and boring as hell. they could have cut about 80% of her screentime and still had the same outcome honestly. i saw that ending twist coming the minute she accepted the proposal but the whole damn time i was expecting her to have her own cunning agenda and games to play. but nope she's just. there. serving looks.
and then there's mariko. i haaaaaaaaaaaaaate the trope she ended up being in with such a burning passion. dear god do i hate a classic fridging. the only redeemable part of it is that it was, essentially, what she wanted. that said, i don't think it could have been pulled off any other way since she was based on her real life counterpart. buuuuut, then they go an skip her funeral entirely??? yeah now that pissed me off something bad. it's one thing to fridge the girl but then just brush past it like nothing was just an unacceptable way to have handled that. I'm also miffed to find out she was supposed to be much more toranaga's advisor than what she was in the show. why the choice to downgrade her to just a translator?? why do such a vitally important character who carried the story such a disservice? idk man, THAT alone almost ruined it for me. it was just poorly handled. period.
BUT, as a whole? beautiful and amazing and fun and very very intriguing. I think the rather anticlimactic ending is kind of gorgeous in a strange way. and the weeaboo nerd in me enjoyed the fucking hell out all the meticulous attention to accuracy. I'll probably rewatch it a few times just to watch things in the background and admire all the detail they put into everything lmao i think it's definitely worth the watch even with my disappointments. i really hope we get some cut scenes released too cause i'm sure there's a hell of a lot that didn't make it in the show.
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Episodes 3 & 4 Thoughts I'm definitely doing this for every episode, I apologize for nothing
Very Tim Burton vibe. Like Cat in the Hat/Tim Burton/Series of Unfortunate Events. The whole set felt...weird. Fun weird. A little distracting with how busy it is? But I still like it. It added some levels to "this universe is silly, that's just what it is" so I can accept it
Usopp is not one of my top Straw Hats but Jacob Romero makes his delivery a lot more likeable. I felt genuinely bad for him at the end of E3. I wanted to root for him, see him prosper.
I'm not sure why they gender bent Sham but I'm more offended by that fuckass wig than I am having female Sham.
Kuro in the live action delivers in a way the anime couldn't succeed in. He's genuinely got horror movie villain to him instead of just being annoying. He's got the looks and the portrayal in spades.
Kaya is her own person and I love that for her ♡
Zoro's backstory was 1000% WASTED here. Not only was it not fitting, because it made Zoro feel like the main character of the episodes when it should have been Usopp, but it did NOT deliver. The young actors felt stiff, the story line got sliced to pieces and rearranged, Kuina felt more like a lost love than an old rival...there was so much I didn't like with it. I know they needed to put it in the show SOMEWHERE but the choices weren't great.
The penultimate scenes with Kuro though? It hits.
I miss Jango though :(
Arlong's guest spot really wasn't necessary but it works with the flow a lot better than Koby showing up.
The Garp reveal happened bizarrely early but with how much they included the Marines, I guess it makes sense?
The ship is gorgeous ♡
Overall I'm giving it an 8/10. It had SOLID SOLID moments and reimagining of the story. However, we lost Usopp to a degree and why he wants to be on the crew. In return we got Zoro's story, where the ball also fell. The end of the episode also kinda...went anticlimactic. For all the perfect setups they gave, they really just went "and that's what happened! :)" which cheapened it. But the strong points were strong enough that it made up for the pitfalls.
#one piece#live action#review#opinion#it wasnt bad#i liked it actually#but it could have been better#kuro#luffy#usopp#zoro#kaya#nami#straw hat pirates
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
Okay I finished Leo/Need. Final thoughts below the break.
Stuff I liked:
It feels very realistic.
I mean not the part about hatsune miku taking you to a pocket dimension created by your feelings, but like. I remember being a lonely teenage girl and, in many ways, Leo/Need captures that experience very well. The conflicts, the characterizations, and (with a few exceptions) the dialogue all feel very familiar.
The end wraps things up nicely.
There are some Project SEKAI stories (cough VIVID Bad cough) where the end feels a little rushed or anticlimactic, like the writers were fighting against that 20 episode format.
Leo/Need, on the other hand, felt very satisfying to finish. The band is back together, Honami has come clean to her other friends, Ichika told the others she and Saki have written their first song. They’ve tied up the loose threads while still leaving a lot to be explored in event and side stories. It’s very “the end of this chapter, the beginning of the journey,” vibes.
Saki’s fucking fantastic.
I love, love, love Saki. Her design, her characterization, her motivation is everything to me. The other characters I needed a bit to warm up to, but they do a very good job of making Saki bubbly, energetic, and endearing from beginning to end. She was, hands down, my favorite thing about this story.
Stuff I did not love:
It feels very realistic.
“But Walmart, you said you liked the realism! Why would it be a pro AND a con?” Well gimme a fuckin second here, let me explain.
Leo/Need is very true to the depressed teenager experience. There is miscommunication, there is weird, illogical snap decisions, there’s jumping to conclusions. It’s true to life—but that doesn’t mean it’s interesting.
For many of us, myself included, being a teenager was/is frustrating. It’s confusing, and lonely, and honestly, very annoying. It was annoying to live through and as much as I hate to say it, it was annoying to read.
There is no conflict.
The opening of Leo/Need sets you up to think these characters have had some huge fight. It’s heavily implied that Ichika in particular said something to piss Honamori and Shiho off. This would explain why she’s so hesitant to tell Saki what happened, because she doesn’t want her friend to see her as the villain.
The problem is, nothing happened.
There was no fight. There was no huge, explosive event. There was just three teenagers miss-communicating. This is supposed to be a twist, but it reads like a cop-out. It’s boring.
Again, this isn’t unrealistic—I’ve seen friendships fall apart over miscommunications and good intentions like this, especially when I was younger. It happens in real life all the time.
It’s realistic. But that doesn’t mean it’s compelling storytelling.
Saki’s fucking fantastic.
“Wait, you already did this one too, why did you put two things in both pro and con—“ shut up, it’s my list.
Saki’s great. She’s interesting, she’s multi-faceted, she has an in depth backstory.
Her returning to school is the catalyst for the entire story. I’m nearly every episode, her actions are what drive the narrative forward.
So why isn’t she the main character?
Reading from Ichika’s POV gives us a lot of flashbacks from when Saki was gone, but since the conflict is basically nonexistent, these flashbacks are arguably unnecessary.
Imagine this story reframed from Saki’s POV. Imagine hearing her inner monologue when Honamori and Shiho brush her off when she gets to school. Imagine her practicing that song to impress Shiho, knowing she’s pushing herself too hard, but thinking getting her friends back together is more important.
Imagine getting this sinking feeling in your gut knowing she’s going to push herself too far, knowing somethings going to happen. Then imagine that scene where she collapses from fever while they’re playing hitting that much harder, because you’d been dreading that moment happening.
Cool, did you imagine it? Did it make you feel stuff? Did it feel compelling and heartbreaking?
Cool, so I ask you again, why didn’t we get that?
Final thoughts:
Overall, I enjoyed this story. Really, I did.
Is it my favorite PJSK main story? No. Do I have a lot of criticisms of it? Yes.
But I like it. I like Saki, especially. And I think with the way the last few episodes wrapped up, I’ll enjoy the event stories a lot.
So yeah. If Leo/Need is your favorite, I definitely see the appeal, no disrespect at all. I didn’t come here to start shit, just sharing my thoughts.
#really though I did like it#it’s just definitely not my favorite is all#leo/need#final thoughts#pjsk#live tweeting#saki tenma#project sekai
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Shadow and bone s2 spoilery thoughts. Major spoilers for the changes from book-to-show.
For context I've read through the entire book series about twice.
Unsurprisingly, the actors were great. The sets, costumes, and creature design were awesome.
Choices on moving storylines were...interesting.
Didn't realize until part way into ep 2 that this season covered the last 2 books of the main trilogy, as well as some events in SoC.
Really emphasizes how long Mathias was in Hellgate, but also because he's now only interacted with 1 character from the main cast in 2 seasons, it feels weird and disconnected.
The script was...interesting, to say the least. They took Jesper's unaffected demeanor and made him so goofy, and 4th wall break-y, it wasn't funny (most horrendous line was the 5 of crows line, since it emphasizes both this and the last point). Meanwhile there were parts that could have been filled in with better dialogue that underlines relationships and connections.
It feels like story line choices about what plot threads to place where we're more for "how riled up can we get the fanbase to demand a season 3?" Instead of serving the story.
I wish they would have set up the structure clearer. It's a huge ensemble cast, with a lot of material to cover, but it felt like 90% of the tome we see the crows, they're scrambling to justify why they're still interacting with the Alina side of the story, so they take half the plot from this fan favorite book, and half ass the story beats so it undercuts scenes like Kas's revenge, and fighting all of the Dregs.
Kaz's story should have been told in 1 solid flashback the first time he was triggered, then refrenced when he's reminded of it, the viewers stay in his emotional headspace instead of trying to figure out what happened every time. Telling the story but by bit works in a book, but it was jarring and confusing to speed through.
Nikolai really got the short end of the stick when it came to smashing the 2 books together. We don't get enough Sturmhond, his identity reveal is undercut without the tailoring changes, and he just comes up super fast and there doesn't seem to be that underlying comrodery that Alina has with him in the books. They don't make each other better, they're just two morally good people in bad circumstances, existing in the same room. Now it seems they're going to try and extend Malina's story into s3, it's going to crowd the Kos and RoW stories.
Changing the entire seawhipe story probably is the most upsetting thing. Why don't we get to hear about his lore? Alina kills him with a sunburst during a fight with the seawhip- not in a fight between the darkling and sturmhond's crew. We don't get the weight of the action that every step closer to achieving her goal, Alina is killing magical folk tale creatures. We don't get the sense that as she's more powerful, she's loosing her humanity to that power. I think what they were going for was the idea of "the stag gave Alina power, but she took it from the sea whip so his scales aren't powerful enough" but I could be wrong?
What happened to the collar????
The last ep of s1 is no mourners, s2's last ep is no funerals. But they hold a funeral, with a speech given by the king before the funeral pyre while the main cast reflects on what the darkling, and his fold had done to their lives.
Pushing the Apperate's story/sun summoner cult off made the ending anticlimactic. One of the best things about the original trilogy is that it really could have stopped there, and it had an appropriate amount of catharsis. Alina makes the choice to surrender herself to an unknown power to stop the darkling- and she looses that power to do so. Now we have a defeated BBEG, but without the narrative weight. Again, I can see how they'll tie the missing elements into the end of RoW- but because they've taken the property and made some genuinely bad choices on story/script, I don't know if they'll get the demand for s3.
They wouldn't commit to fully fleshing out the plot of Six of Crows to dangle that over the fans. The more I think about it, the clearer that is to me. Which I feel like is going to rush the miracle plot line, and the plot in Fjerda down the road. They also rushed Jesper and Wylan a little, but I can forgive that because we don't need additional queer based trauma.
What I can't forgive is revealing Jesper's powers so quickly and unimportantly.
For the most part the directing served its purpose, but it was nothing to write home about. I am a little tired of action cam/slow mo so we can see and appreciate every landed punch, especially during the entire moat sequence.
I can see where someone said "let's tone down the love triangle angle." But then they took out Alina's internal conflicts that don't have to do directly with someone romantically inclined towards her. Taking out the pressure from the cult, and the betrayel of finding out the twins were apart of it, toning down her connection and care for Genya leaves her with only trying to brute force shut down the fold, and trying to keep Mal alive.
The entire 3rd act has me so messed up with what plots actually happened where, I'm rereading the series to reassure that it was well written.
Skipping Alina's frustration of being underground for months, being indebted to the apparate, and Nikolai's disappearance lowered the stakes of the final battle. It underplays Zoya stepping up to join the main cast. The desperation and feeling like the world may indeed run out of Grisha isn't there.
There should be been a more concerted effort to show the fact the twins are Alina's guards, specifically. They felt really useless. Especially when the Darkling attacks and Tamar looses Alina. That doesn't read Saint protector to me.
I get not every production company wants to attack the topic of child soldiers but that was supposed to be a defining line between the darkling and Alina. Again, messed up because the took another of the pressure book!Alina has and just never addressed it.
I liked the addition of the Zemeni helping Mal and Alina escape- but I feel there were ways to show it where Malina still got found by selling her hair pins.
The entire library scene kicks the story off in a poor way. They have the Zemani librarian use her powers to open a drawer that's 5 inches away and it feels unnatural. This library magicly has the exact right map Alina needs with invisible ink she found, that was apperently waiting for a sun summoner? Why wasn't holding it up to the sun working???
Overall I'm bummed. I wish netflix just initially green lit the original trilogy and shot the plot for what it was, and once they saw s1 work out, approve the SoC/CK spin off, or maybe approve s1 for shadow and bone and s1 for SoC, and schedule those to premiere 6 months apart. So then the 2 year wait for s2 of the main trilogy doesn't feel so long. They even could have teased it the way they dropped 2 extra eps on the sandman or stranger things last season. 1 month after the premiere, drop a SoC episode that is the backdoor pilot for the crows.
There's stuff I've listed that I'm sure probably happened that way in the book and I'm misremembering or totally misread it. I just feel the way I perceived s&b was more compelling than the s2 that we ended up with. Like I said before, I'm rereading now to figure it out.
13 notes
·
View notes
Note
I think him not deleting himself is a better way for the story when it comes to meeting the people he's affected, I just think that the way he deleted himself was better way for the story for himself. I think they handled his attempted suicide and attempt to fix things really well, because not only does it show that you can't actually change the past or future of teyvat unless you're an alien variable, but also that he was willing to take his life for a person he spent hundreds of years "hating" just because he learned they didn't betray him. It just fits really well with how he still hadn't moved on from the death of the first people who let him exist as himself.
I'm explaining this kinda messy because I'm hungry rn :/ but what I mean is I think what they did with the story was the best for both teyvat lore in general and also his own self, but if he's to meet the inazuma squad in an event or something I think it's gonna be kinda messy to write it well. Like maybe they'll just include a line that's like "oh yeah the traveller told me about you etc etc" and I don't really want that, but I also don't want one of those black background white text "wanderer explains what he did in the past" so even though I really like the way it's written I'm kinda worried for the conclusion of his own arc (kaedehara buddhist enlightenment) because I can't think of a way to show it well without it being either very long or anticlimactic
YESSSS i agree with you onn that. i think ive talked about how i do like (from a storytelling perspective, not.. you know.. LOL) the severity and SWIFTNESS of his decision to erase (kill) himself. it was very stomach-dropping in the moment if you were someone that already cared about him. i actually remember putting the game down and walking over to my roommate to just sit in silence for a little bit LMFAOOO. it exemplifies how impulsive & swayed by emotion he is and just how deeply his self hatred motivates his actions as well as his EXTREME DESIRE to love and trust others (and how he felt like he couldnt for so so so long). but i also think it effectively shook any mistaken preconceptions other players might have had if they werent as invested in his character (people who thought he was irredeemably evil or inherently malicious in character, it's pretty hard to believe that about someone who can regret their actions so much and so quickly and immediately try to correct what he's done at his own expense). i'll try and go find & reblog my initial thoughts ab the quest tbh i wanna go reread what i wrote.
from like an authorial perspective, erasing himself from irminsul feels very much like one of those "i want to write this so bad because i think it is a fascinating development for this character, but it does not fit in with what i want to do with this character in the future and therefore might be more trouble than its worth as it undermines other plot points i would like to achieve with this character" which when i encounter that i usually write the scene to get the inspiration OUT but treat it as a separate timeline or a "what if."
this is legit completely personal opinion so it doesnt rly fucking matter at all but i honest to god don't find "no matter what you do, the past cannot be changed" something to be particularly interesting. so i guess thats why i have so many qualms with this direction. maybe its bc like. duh. to me. and maybe bc im not particularly invested in the overall story, so i didn't catch anything it might move along in the traveler's development. So i guess thats why im a believer in 'this could have been done differently and better. some Other way for him to find out about niwa.' especially because i've already had a myriad of qualms with the storytelling regarding scara before this point. so my perspective is a bit warped by opinions .
i think i just HATTTE the clunkiness that i expect to follow in regards to his character relationships. like there is something so uncomfortable about it to me like, i just.. u word it very well. it's gonna be Messy. and im always stressed about "messy," especially because i already felt like the storytelling behind his resolution was Already messy. the quest itself re-iterated his past .. so many times... i remember getting Annoyed... (through a) already accessible lore, b) that stupid academic paper, c) irminsul scene d) the "storybook", ANDDD e) re-living his memories... it felt very repetitive, almost overkill to me). so im just dreading what's to come especially if has to re-hash things to characters in-game that have already been explained to the player literally four sometimes five times over. i just want to get to new developments, NEW plot-points, NEW storylines and i want them to be COMPELLING and i want him to develop COMPLEX and MOVING and STRONG character relationships.
#AOEUHGHHH#this is probably just a symptom of caring more ab a single character than the overall story he is a part of tbh#cuz we all know idgaf ab genshin like that#tw suicide
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Guild Codex: Demonized
4/5 stars
Hello to this series that has consumed my life the past couple of days. What is wild is that I almost did not read this series. I saw in the reviews that the demon was in a contract with the heroine in exchange for cookies, and I was like, that sounds overly comedic and I personally dislike it when comedy dominates fiction, so no.
But after reading the first two books in the Red Winter trilogy by the same author, I decided to give this one a try.
LUCKILY IT WASN’T ANYTHING LIKE THAT (the cookies were something the demon had no choice but to accept because they were both desperate for a contract at the time) AND THIS SERIES HAS ETCHED ITS PLACE AMONG MY FAVOURITE BOOKS.
I just binged this entire series (all four books) from Sunday to Thursday, wtf. I started the first book on Sunday and finished it on Monday (I think??), then tried to take a break but ended up bingeing anyway. The first book was pretty much near perfection; there was almost nothing I could critique about it. Every scene with Zylas (ZYLAS!!!) hit the spot and while I feared their exchanges would become repetitive, each scene was chef’s kiss and had a purpose that led to a greater picture. The other three books weren’t as perfect, especially the last one, but they still had me in an iron-grip and had me zooming through all of them.
The last time I was this engrossed in a series, it was with Cruel Prince. I think it was my obsession with Zylas that really sucked me in. I haven’t loved a male lead like that in a while. At some point, I thought he even rivalled Cardan (now, maybe not? I don’t know). He was rude, cruel, even kind of sociopathic in the first book, which made sense because he was a demon. I was so worried he’d soften up right away and just end up behaving like a normal person (which so many books make the mistake of. Being arrogant but tortured does not make a male lead a demon, just a stereotypical hero, thank you very much) but he was always so unpredictable. I loved how he touched Robin’s hand - then grabbed her into the summoning circle and asked how her blood tasted. It was totally out of nowhere in an otherwise soft moment that had lulled me into a false sense of security.
I also loved that he wasn't considered strong for a demon, and had to use his cunning to fight a lot of times. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° My heart almost broke, though, when Robin forced him to fight the demon from the First House and nearly got him killed. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhh. I don't know why, but I found that plot point soooo good.
Also, in the second book, him harassing Socks (the cat) was EVERYTHING:
I also really liked Robin - she wasn’t the badass, snarky heroine that I’ve read in so many fantasy books. She was timid, and combat-wise really useless. She had to struggle to make herself useful during battle, and was more book smart than street smart. AND I LOVED IT. It was such a refreshing change from what I was used to, and what I’d been looking for. I’d even asked Reddit for recommendations… I wonder why they didn’t recommend this to me? Or maybe they did, and I forgot.
But I digress.
I think Annette Marie is really talented, and while the language is very straightforward and not very pretty or flowery or anything like that, the story is extremely well-written. My eyes started glazing over when the action got too intense, though, and I ended up skimming the fight scenes. I’ve never really cared about action in fiction, if I’m being honest. I always skim that, including in thrillers.
The last thing I’d like to add is that after Robin and Zylas consummated their relationship in the last book, their tension kind of ebbed for me, and I wasn’t as invested in them anymore. I’m not sure why - was I so invested in their slow burn that I didn’t care afterwards? I also think the sex scene was meh, and could have been done with better foreplay and all that shit to make it more intense, because it felt - no pun intended - kind of anticlimactic. If the romance is slow-burn, so should the. Fucking. Sex!!!!!
(Also I would have liked Zylas to be more... in pursuit, lmao, but that's neither here nor there.)
Overall, it was so FANTASTIC, and I just loved, loved, loved their little makeshift family with Amalia (GO AMALIA!!! Loved how Robin and her formed a friendship that lasted all the books) and Socks. I was terrified of finishing the series too fast because I’d have a massive book hangover, so… yikes. Thankfully, I think I’m okay, because the last book wasn’t hitting as hard.
I hope I'm okay...
Also, some of my favourite quotes:
❤️❤️ (Can I also say I'm obsessed with his tail? FIRST CARDAN, NOW ZYLAS. WHY DO I KEEP FALLING FOR MEN WITH TAILS?)
- 20 July 2023
#booklr#bookworm#guild codex: demonized#Annette Marie#reading#currently reading#book blog#bookish#fantasy books
6 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hey Cat! Did you like the new episode?
Okay, I finally watched both Revolution and Representation, and I can say off the bat, Revolution was the stronger of the two.
Obligatory spoiler warning if you're not caught up on ML.
An issue ML has always had is pacing, and I feel like Representation was very info-dumpy at times. Honestly some of that info should have been told in earlier seasons rather than all at once like that, plus it was a weird choice to go with the whole theater performance for that exposition imo, but eh.
Revolution was really good though in my opinion. I like how this season has been all about time or the lack there of. Gabriel is running out of time so he is taking bigger and bolder actions because he's getting desperate to accomplish his goal. On the other hand, Adrien and Marinette have been taking their relationship slow because they thought they had more time, but Gabriel's fuck up is becoming their problem too. There are a lot of moving parts this season for better and worse.
I loved seeing Adrien trying to communicate with Marinette but as always his father was in the way (indirectly this time through Chloe but still). I loved their kiss scene. You could say I'm a fan of big dramatic gut punching kisses like that as I've written one myself for them before. I love that Nathalie and Gorilla ship Adrinette (Gorilla tearing up after pulling them apart in the end that's adriens real dad yall!). Adrien trying to open the car door hurt my heart so much.
Then the whole Ladybug and Chat Noir growing up part. 💘 That was a top knuckle touch moment. I kind of wish it had come during a bigger battle like a season finale or some such, but it was still a touching moment with the citizens of Paris rising up to fight for them.
I also loved Marinette throwing Chloe's shit right back at her in the end. I know Chloe is young and deserves more redemption than Gabriel fucking lock my son in a padded cell because he won't break up with his girlfriend and I'm an adult psychopath Agreste, but at the same time, it's vindicating to see her lose everything. I've always thought that in order for Chloe to change she needed real consequences to her actions, and while I'm not holding my breath for a Chloe redemption, this is definitely going to do something to her for better or worse.
Representation was the weaker of the two imo. It just felt very disjointed and anticlimactic. I know it's setting up the finale, but it was kind of boring imo. The best part was Chat Noir fighting Gabriel and screaming his feelings at him. It's rare that Adrien gets to cutloose and speak his mind, especially to his father, so I did enjoy him telling his dad to get fucked. And how even when his whole world is falling apart, he still left his lady a cute voice-mail.
I am so OOOOOOO at the almost reveal. We could've had it alllllllllll. If he had stayed for 2 more seconds!! They were right there!! I hate them so much! I love them, but AHHHHH 😤
I did also like that Nino wore Marinette's crown the whole episode 😂 It wasn't much but it made me laugh.
Idk how I feel about Kagami and Felix knowing Marinette's identity, but I'm guessing since the finale is next and this is the end of the Agreste arc it likely won't matter much.
Idk. Overall, this season has been better than other ones as far as getting things moving and actually delving into the plot, which is interesting, but at the same time, I think they rushed a lot of things the past couple seasons. Again, pacing is a huge issue with this show, and I think if they just adjusted the sequence of events and spread some of the plot out more it would be a great show. I would have loved for Felix to be fleshed out more prior to Feligami happening. Senti theory should have been confirmed in s3, and we should have gotten that backstory back then. Or at least sprinkled throughout s4.
Curious for the finale. I'll be ranking the s5 episodes as well as adding them to my overall episode ranking after the finale airs and giving my final thoughts about the show as a whole up to this point. After that, I think I'm gonna take a bit of a break from ML. I'm going to visit my sister in a few weeks to see Taylor Swift (!!!) So, maybe I'll be back in August. I do also have a Zelink fic swirling around in my brain, so I might dive into that too. Idk I haven't written in like 6-7 months. I've been slow roasting some ideas though. I'm not completely abandoning ML, I promise! I will definitely stick around through at least mid s6 as far as keeping up with episodes, then depending on how s6 is going with the new writers will determine if I stay longer term. If I did drop off from watching canon tho, I'd likely still write fic for a while. I do love the kiddos and have lots of ideas left for them. You're not all rid of me yet.
Anyway, see you on the other side of the finale, lads. Godspeed.
5 notes
·
View notes
