CON CRUNCH IS REAL I THINK IM GONNA JUST START HOT GLUING SHIT TOGETHER TONIGHT FUCK IT WE BALL!!!!!!!

“bye”

I need to talk about my TAZ finale thoughts and tumblr, you're the easiest place to do it. Spoilers under the cut.

First, I gotta say, I used up all my luck on this today. My department is one big room with two smaller offices (my boss and my coworker's) while my desk is just at the end against the wall. So I'm not really ever alone unless no one else is here. Well, my one coworker is on vacation this week and today, my boss was out for a few hours because we have a customer in today. He only came back when I had like 8 minutes left. I am so so thrilled that I got to listen almost completely uninterrupted for almost 3 straight hours and I got to laugh when I wanted and cry/get teary when I couldn't help it. So thanks Pan or Istus or Jefandrew, whoever made that possible.

Anyway, that was great. We got our big ass boss fight that the boys destroyed. (honestly I think my 3rd or 4th favorite part of the entire finale was "92." "Fuck you.") The way the bonds from the Stolen Century arc paid off was really neat. Fucking Merle just using his 9-second stone just to use it. (Griffin: "Why did I give YOU this mechanic?!") Fucking Merle also calling in his bonds without really thinking them through. "The indecipherable shape of Garfield the Deals Warlock." Taako's 3 or 4 final fuck you lines to The Hunger. Fisher and Junior! That mental image of Taako blasting Sunbeam with Magnus' hand on his shoulder and Merle's arms wrapped around his legs and all the white threads connected them. So good.

Then we got the meta train scene (scuttle buddy!) which I took to interpret as "Jefandrew" standing in for all the storytellers talking to the characters that inhabit their stories (although I was with Travis and, at first, thinking "Gary Gygax?") and how the characters are the ones that drive the story, even when they're not controlled by other actual people. (And a way for Griffin to thank his family, too). Gonna be thinking on that scene for awhile, for sure.

Then it's a year later and Taako & Lup (with a body!) are goofing around in the kitchen and Merle's getting dressed in something fancy and we find out what they've been up to. Taako being a global brand is just perfect and I love how much he likes and trusts Ren to help out with his ridiculous sounding school. And Angus! ANGUS MY BOY. Oh god I love him so much. ("I know about the silverware.") And Merle finally stepping up and no longer being a deadbeat dad and fuckin' Mooky ("I'M OKAY!") and insisting on being called "Earle Merle" (I'm laughing again just thinking about that) was all so great. Mavis and his little heart-to-heart was my first tear, though. I cannot believe Merle fucking Hitower Highchurch made me cry on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS throughout this podcast

. Then I realized this event they were having was not a one year celebration of the Hunger being defeated but a wedding and it's a big ol' lesbian wedding for Carey and Killian and my heart soared. And then Magnus gives his best friend a little pep talk before the ceremony and it's all sweet and funny, especially once Magnus talks about his last year and he's training rescue dogs oh my god (and named his own after Johann!). 

Then Griffin, instead of adding a little color to this story with an NPC, drops this fucking bomb:

"How does Magnus die?"

FUCK. F U C K. fuuuuuuuck.

One of my favorite things about this podcast (which I listened to all of in about 6 weeks) has been how invested in Magnus Travis is. It really made me love the character all the more and this being the scene we end his story with just....fuck. I'm seriously about to cry just remembering it about two hours after I first heard it. And Travis talking about how when this story started, Magnus would have wanted to go out in a big battle in a blaze of glory but now he'd like to go peacefully as an old man, and he does, surrounded by everyone (thanks elf and dwarf ages) and Kravitz takes him to a cottage and even though I knew it would be Julia and his dogs, it still fucking broke me. 

"And one last time, Magnus rushes in."

Aaaaand I'm crying at work, again, and more this time.

Fuck that was just so good. I'm so late to this party, like I said I just started at the beginning of July, listening on my commute and sometimes at work, and laughing at these goofballs play DnD, but I'm so glad I got to experience this story. It's one of the more extraordinary ones I've experienced in a long time (and considering most of my free time is just watching TV, movies, reading comics, and playing video games, I consume a lot of stories). Thank you, McElroys for one hell of a universe, I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time.